Archive for the ‘Guns’ Category

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Gratuitous gun porn (#6 in a series)

Friday, December 27th, 2019

You know that guy who says “Nostalgia is a moron“? And has bought several guns because of his childhood nostalgia?

Remember that other guy who says that he thought the Remington XP-100 in .221 Fireball was the coolest gun in the world…when he was six years old?

And that guy who has this thing for small-bore handguns?

Remington XP-100 in .221 Remington Fireball. Burris pistol scope.

Purchased from a fellow S&WCA member at the 2019 Symposium (though we went out into the parking garage to make the transaction, rather than doing it in the exhibit hall/dealer’s room: and he was also a Texas resident, so this was a fully legal private sale). There was a discussion on the forum about grail guns, I mentioned this as one of mine, and he reached out to me and said he had one in his safe that wasn’t being used…

He made me what I thought was a very good deal, threw in 50 rounds of handloads and 50 rounds of empty brass, and was very flexible when it came to payment arrangements. Thank you, S&WCA member who shall remain nameless here to protect his privacy!

Posted in Guns, Photography | Comments Closed

Quick followups.

Friday, December 20th, 2019

Two quick, mostly throw away items:

1. I was reading Serious Smith & Wessons the N- and X-Frame Revolvers last night, and ran across something interesting: according to Mullin, S&W designed the X-frame revolvers so that the cylinder was long enough to chamber the .223 Remington cartridge.

Beyond the fact that a revolver in .223 is a wonderfully silly idea (and I’d probably buy one): overall length of the .223 Remington is 2.26 inches. Overall length of the .221 Remington Fireball: 1.830 inches. At least one of my ideas doesn’t sound so silly now…

(And a long overdue thanks to Ygolonac for weighing in. I like your idea, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.)

2. More on the Tom Coughlin firing: it may have been motivated in part by Jacksonville’s record. But another part of the motivation may have been that Coughlin managed to make a lot of people upset.

Like the NFL Player’s Association.

Coughlin changed the clocks because his philosophy is, if you’re not five minutes early to a meeting or commitment, you’re considered late. It’s one of the ways he emphasizes accountability. Another way he does that is by fining players for rules infractions, including for missing doctor and rehabilitation appointments during the offseason.
That, however, is prohibited by the NFLPA, which released a letter on Monday that said former player Dante Fowler Jr. had won a grievance against the Jaguars after being fined 25 times for more than $700,000. The letter also noted that more than 25% of the grievances filed by NFL players over the past two years have been against the Jaguars and that “you, as players, may want to consider this when you have a chance to select your next club.”

Posted in Books, Firings, Guns, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment »

And speaking of Christmas…

Friday, December 20th, 2019

I’ve been good this year, Santa. Do you think you could bring me one of these?

I don’t need the tactical operator: just the truck and the minigun. You can even leave it in the driveway along with the ammo, so you don’t scratch up the hardwood floors.

Posted in Cars, Christmas, Guns | Comments Closed

Noted.

Monday, December 16th, 2019

McThag has a pretty cool post up at his place.

Using the CBS News list of the “Deadliest US Cities”, he’s gone through and documented not just the murder rate, but also what party the current mayor belongs to, and how long that party has held power.

4. New Orleans, Louisiana. Murder rate: 37.1/100k. The mayor is a Democrat and the last Republican left office in 1872!!!

Posted in Guns, Politics | Comments Closed

Random silly custom gun ideas.

Friday, December 13th, 2019

More random gun crankery.

I’ve written before about a couple of my silly gun ideas. I came up with another one a couple of days ago, and thought it’d be interesting to maintain a place to document them. Just in case I win the lottery or something. There’s no real point, or practical purpose, for most of these: they’re more “I think it would be amusing to have…”

  • A Scout rifle build on the Browning X-Bolt Micro Composite platform. This is actually an idea that I think is both practical and useful: claimed weight for the X-Bolt is 6.3 pounds, so I’d estimate 7.4 pounds with a scope and sling. That comes in under maximum weight and the length is right. The only things I think are needed are a third sling swivel, and some way of mounting a long eye relief scope forward on the rifle.
  • A 4″ revolver chambered in .17 HMR, built by Smith and Wesson on the Model 51 frame. Basically, a .17 HMR Kit Gun. (Of course it would have adjustable sights.)
  • A N-frame or X-frame Smith chambered in .221 Remington Fireball.
  • An old XP-100…rechambered in .224 Valkyrie. I’m not a gunsmith, but I’ve seen at least one XP-100 rechambered in .223, so this seems feasible. The .224 bullet is listed as 0.2245 inches in Wikipedia (I know, I know), while the .221 Fireball is listed as .224. .224 case length is 1.6 inches, versus 1.4 for the .221. SAAMI pressue is 55,000 psi for .224 vs. 52,000 psi for .221. The only problem I see is the base diameter: .221 is .376 inches, while .224 is .4207. On the other hand, instead of .221 Fireball, maybe you could go with 7mm BR: you’d have to change or sleeve the barrel, but the 7mm BR has a .473 inch base diameter. So maybe you could close up the 7mm bolt a little, instead of trying to machine out the .221 bolt? (I wonder if a 7mm bolt would physically fit into a .221 XP-100. Obviously, it’s not something that would fire without work, but do the parts physically interchange? Is it basically just the same bolt mechanism?)

I’m open to hearing other people’s ideas, if you care to leave a comment. I’m also open to comments from people who know more about gunsmithing than I do, especially comments along the lines of “You can’t do that, and here’s why…”

Posted in Guns | 1 Comment »

Random gun crankery, some filler.

Wednesday, December 11th, 2019

Col. Cooper, call your office, please.

Scout rifles. You know, for kids. Seen at Cabela’s over the weekend.

(Okay, technically, it isn’t a true Scout rifle. Beyond the fact that it is a toy gun, it is also lever action, while a true Scout would be a bolt gun. Cooper discussed the possibility of a lever action Scout, but I believe he considered that a pseudo-Scout. Also, I’m not clear what “caliber” it is “chambered” in. On the other hand, it probably does make weight and length for a Scout, and it does have the Scout style “scope” and mount…)

(Semi-related stupid. By way of Mike the Musicologist.)

Speaking of semi-related stupid, I could spend a lot of time and effort, and increase my blood pressure, by going after the latest stupid statement about guns from Art “Dammit” Acevedo.

But I don’t have to, because Lawrence sent me this handy Twitter thread that does the same thing.

But of course Art’s department was busy executing innocent civilians.

Speaking of the elusive MtM:

I wanted to title this “The Hat Squad”, but I got the picture back, and…where’s my hat? Obviously, I had it on in the other photo, but why wasn’t I wearing it in this one? And what did I do with it?

Posted in Christmas, Cops, Guns, Law, Stupid | Comments Closed

More bibliohoplophilia.

Sunday, November 24th, 2019

I made it down to the South Lamar Half-Price Books yesterday for the first time in a while. Good gun books have been scarce on the ground, but I found this:

Sixgun Cartridges & Loads by Elmer Keith. You can get reprint editions on Amazon fairly easily, but this is (as far as I can tell) an original Samworth/Small-Arms Technical Publishing Company first printing from 1936. Amazon lists one of these for $45.85+shipping in “acceptable” condition. I’d probably put this at “acceptable” condition, too: it has some jacket wear, and there’s underlining and writing throughout.

I paid $50+tax for this one, which may have been a little high (prices on ABE Books for this edition seem to be all over the place), but it has character. And I didn’t have a coupon, alas.

On the other hand, I did (through a series of work events) fall into some Amazon funny money, which I used to check off the last Timothy J. Mullin book on my want list:

Serious Smith & Wessons the N- and X-Frame Revolvers. Look for the smiling face of Archduke Ferdinand Elmer Keith on every copy!

I already had the other two Mullin S&W books (Magnum: The S&W .357 Magnum Phenomenon and The K-Frame Revolver: and I also have a copy of Letters from Elmer Keith: A Half Century of Advice on Guns, Ammo, Handloading, Hunting, and Other Pursuits) and I’ve had this one in hand for about 90 minutes now.

But it looks like there’s a lot of fun stuff in it. I’m kind of a sucker for N-frames to begin with, but:

  • I had no idea there was a run of 3″ .45 ACP guns for Lew Horton. Want.
  • I had heard about the John Ross Performance Center .500 Magnum, but literally only within the past week: Mullin devotes a considerable amount of space to it. (For the people who aren’t as much into Smiths as I am: imagine a .500 Magnum X-frame, but with a 5″ barrel. Sort of a larger, heavier, but still packable and shootable variant of the .44 Magnum.) S&W makes a 3.5″ stainless version (which looks absurd to me), a 4″ stainless version (maybe not so bad) a 6.5″ stainless version with a compensator, and 7.5″ and 14″ stainless variants (and I may be missing some). But this looks like a well-balanced gun for field carry and use: I’m thinking if I were to pick up a .500 Magnum, this would be the way I would go.)
  • There’s a nice section of Keith gun photos from the auction.

I’m sure I’ll find more as I go through this: I’m hoping to have down time to do so during the upcoming week.

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia | Comments Closed

DGU

Tuesday, November 19th, 2019

Two local defensive gun use stories that I want to note (without much comment) for reasons:

1. Uber Eats driver gets into a standoff. Noteworthy because the Statesman is highly specific about the guns:

Palomino then pointed a black, semi-automatic Glock handgun at the man, the court documents say.
The delivery man pulled out a Sig Sauer P238 handgun and pointed it at Palomino.

2. Running gun battle in South Austin Sunday night.

The incident happened in and outside of the Mustang Pawn Shop near the Stassney Lane intersection. A witness says that shortly before 7:00 p.m. several men, armed with assault rifles got the drop on an employee. Once inside they smashed a jewelry display and grabbed what they could. When they ran out, the store owner reportedly gave chase with a shotgun.
A shootout followed, which apparently smashed a window at a business across the street. The violent confrontation was justified according to a neighbor, who didn’t want to give his name but knows the store owner.

The store owner apparently disabled one vehicle the robbers were using, but they managed to get away in a second vehicle.

Some of those who spoke to FOX7 said they sought cover by falling to the floor. Others said they are frustrated by the growing crime problem.
“It’s an overflow of gang wars and little thugs that are running around that have access to all the guns, and how they do it is, they just kick the door in and take them,” said the neighbor.
The solution, according to the resident, is simple but potentially deadly.
“Start shooting back, all the people around here, are pretty much armed.”

Posted in Austin, Cops, Guns, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

You’re going down in flames, you tax-fattened hyena! (#60 in a series)

Tuesday, November 19th, 2019

Dennis Tyler, the mayor of Muncie, Indiana, was arrested by the FBI yesterday.

Tyler is charged with theft of government funds, according to a federal criminal indictment that was unsealed Monday. He is accused of accepting a $5,000 cash payment after allegedly steering “lucrative” excavation work to a local contractor.

…

With his arrest, Tyler joins at least six other Muncie city officials or business leaders taken into custody in connection to a corruption probe launched in 2016 by federal authorities related to bid-rigging, fraud, money laundering and other organized crime.
He is also the fourth person to be arrested in connection to the investigation so far this year.

The linked article goes on to detail the long sordid history of the Muncie corruption scandal, and is worth reading.

Hat tip on this to Lawrence, who also did the legwork so I didn’t have to. Yes, Mayor Tyler (a Democrat) is also a member of Crooked Mayors Against Legal Gun Owners!

Is anybody keeping a count of crooked mayors against guns?

Posted in Guns, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Recent acquisitions (some bibliohoplophilia)

Saturday, November 16th, 2019

Half-Price Books had another one of their coupon sales last week (the 4th through 10th).

Unfortunately, this was a busy week for me between voting and Wurstfest and meetings and other things, so I didn’t get as much of a chance to shop as I would have liked. Also, the gun book pickings have been kind of slim recently. Even the big central Half-Price has gotten rid of a lot of their fancy leather-bound books.

The only gun book that I found was A Varmint Hunter’s Odyssey by Steve Hanson for $10+tax after coupon. This is another one of those books published by the (now sadly defunct) Precision Shooting Press, and as I’ve written before, I like to snap those up when I find them.

Other than that…I found a nice trade paperback copy of Popular Crime: Reflections on the Celebration of Violence by Bill James to replace my old hardback. I enjoy this book (though James sometimes makes me go “What?!”) and didn’t realize that the trade paperback had some additional material. (Including James’s list of his 100 top true crime books.) $4.24+tax after coupon.

And I also found a good copy of The Annotated Tales Of Edgar Allen Poe by Stephen Peithman for $6+tax after coupon. Oddly enough, I did not have a collection of Poe’s short works previously, and it is a well known fact that I’m a sucker for annotated books…

…so now I’ve got my eye out for a copy of The Annotated Poe by Kevin J. Hayes. Because you can never have enough Poe.

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia | 2 Comments »

Well, how do you like them apples?

Saturday, October 5th, 2019

I went over to GT Distributors this morning for Glocktoberfest. Oddly, while it isn’t terribly far from my office, I don’t make it over there that often: they tend to be more police and tactical oriented, and have less on the vintage S&W side. (Bill Orr, the founder, is a highly respected member of the S&W Collectors Association. It’s just that vintage Smiths aren’t their main line of business.)

But I had some Glock related stuff I was kind of looking for, and thought I’d swing by and check out Glocktoberfest.

Of course, they were doing door prize drawings. I went ahead and signed up, even though I never win door prizes. Then I browsed a little and waited for the door prize drawing at the top of the hour.

I’ve got my ticket out and am listening to them call the numbers. As I said, I never win door prizes, but hope springs eternal, right?

Then they called my number.

Well, okay, then. I don’t want to make a big deal about it: this was one of the hourly door prizes, not the big final prize (a new Glock). But the hourly prize was one of those snazzy 5.11 Tactical RUSH 24 backpacks. It’s kind of like walking into some place, hanging out for a bit, and then someone hands you a $100 bill right out of the blue.

(And I did pick up a few relatively small items: they were selling used Glock 22 and S&W M&P .357 SIG/.40 standard capacity magazines for $10 each. At that price, I figured I’d pick up a couple of each as a hedge. I also picked up some of the tchotchkes they were giving away for free, a Glock 42 magazine +1 mag extension for experimental purposes, and some FMJ .380 auto.)

They did take my photo for promotional purposes (with my enthusiastic consent) but I don’t see it on Facebook yet. I hope I didn’t break the guy’s phone…

Posted in Endorsements, Geek, Guns | Comments Closed

More hoplobibilophilia.

Monday, September 2nd, 2019

Half-Price Books is having a 20% off sale over the long holiday weekend.

I haven’t found a lot of good stuff at the past few sales, but that didn’t stop me from going. And I think I see a break in the drought. I found some non-firearms related stuff:

I wouldn’t be posting, though, if I hadn’t gotten lucky and found some gun books. Which I will put after the jump…

(more…)

Posted in Books, Guns, History, Hoplobibilophilia, Law | Comments Closed

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