Brief historical note, suitable for use in schools.

June 4th, 2024

Brief because I have written about this before. (Previously. Previously. Previously.) But today is a significant day.

Today is the 50th anniversary of Ten Cent Beer Night, one of the top three greatest events in sports history.

I do not see any acknowledgement of this on the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network site. Or on Cleveland.com. Or on MLB.com. Gee, you’d think they are embarrassed or something.

If you live in Cleveland or Euclid, Collision Bend is celebrating once again.

Please drink responsibly and leave your fighting pants at home.

I just bought two new pairs of fighting pants, and you want me to leave them at home?

The legendary Tim Russert was a college student at the time and attended the game. He is quoted as saying, “”I went with $2 in my pocket. You do the math.”

Verne Lundquist interviews players:

There are quite a few Ten Cent Beer Night videos on the ‘Tube, but almost all the ones I’ve found are from third parties years after the fact, and I don’t want to link them here.

Edited to add: Hooray! And thanks to my beloved and indulgent aunt and uncle!

“10 Cent Beer Night: An Oral History of Cleveland Baseball’s Most Infamous Night”.

Two naked women ran in front of his car.
“I thought, ‘Oh, it’s THAT kind of a riot,’” he says.

Posted in History, Sports | Comments Closed

Plug plug pluggity plug.

June 1st, 2024

I am ashamed to admit it, but I get jealous of other bloggers sometimes. They got promo stuff from companies, or they get people reaching out to them directly making them offers, or just get more attention. What do I get?

But I mostly do this because I want to, not for glory or recognition or free stuff.

Yesterday, I noticed that one of the bloggers I read regularly was contacted by a certain company looking for a plug for their review. I admit, I did feel a certain twinge of jealousy, but not too much: this is a blogger I owe a favor to, so I wasn’t too upset.

Then I got an email from the same people, asking for a plug for the same review. And they were nice about it, so why not?

Widener’s has posted a review of the IWI Camel. I feel like there’s at least one person in my audience who will be interested in this, as the Camel is an ambidextrous battle rifle in the same vein as the SCAR, brought to you from the people responsible for the Uzi and Galil.

There are so few rifles on the market today that are fully ambidextrous. In the last decade, I’ve met more left-handed shooters than I can count. I feel for so many of them who have to manipulate the gun uncomfortably. The IWI Carmel rifle has an ambidextrous safety, magazine release, bolt catch, and non-reciprocating charging handle.

It uses AR mags, and the author says it shoots sub-MOA groups even with a suppressor.

The Carmel comes at a higher price point with all these amazing features. The Carmel’s MSRP is $1,799, which might seem high, but it’s on par with a customized AR-15 (minus the AR having ambi controls). To put the price in perspective, a quality AR-15 will cost anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. It likely won’t have an ambidextrous safety, magazine release, or bolt catch. You can purchase an aftermarket ambidextrous safety and install it, but that can run another $50 and more if you need a gunsmith to install it.
An adjustable stock such as the LUTH-AR MBA-3 Carbine Buttstock costs north of $200 but allows you to set an AR-15 up to you. You can also change your AR-15’s gas by installing an adjustable gas block. However, this adds to the cost and potentially requires a gunsmith to install it.

As someone who has heard a lot about adjustable gas blocks recently (NOT that I’m BITTER or ANYTHING: no, seriously, I love my friends), this is good to know. And $1,800 compares favorably with the SCAR.

My only complaint with this review is that I can’t find a total round count in it. I’d like to know how many rounds they fired in testing.

If the Camel sounds like your cup of tea, check out the review at Widener’s. And thanks for thinking of me, guys.

Posted in Admin, Guns | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 1, 2024 (part 2 of 2).

June 1st, 2024

Doug Ingle, lead singer and organ player for Iron Butterfly.

Mr. Ingle was the last surviving member of the classic lineup of Iron Butterfly, the pioneering hard rock act he helped found in 1966. The band released its first three albums within a year, starting with “Heavy” in early 1968, and, after a lineup shuffle, cemented its place in rock lore with its second album, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” released that July.
“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” spent 140 weeks on the Billboard album chart, peaking at No. 4, and was said to have sold some 30 million copies worldwide. A radio version of the title song, whittled to under three minutes, made it to No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100.
But it was the full-length album version — taking up the entire second side of the LP in all of its messy glory — that became a signature song of the tie-dye era. With its truncheonlike guitar riff and haunting aura that called to mind a rock ’n’ roll “Dies Irae,” the song is considered a progenitor of heavy metal and encapsulated Mr. Ingle’s ambition at the time:
“I want us to become known as leaders of hard rock music,” Mr. Ingle, then 22, said in a 1968 interview with The Globe and Mail newspaper of Canada. “Trend setters and creators, rather than imitators.”

Obiligatory:

Adding to the legend of the song was that it was essentially an in-studio soundcheck that became the final version.
Don Casale, an engineer at the session, had asked the band to run through the song so he could set the recording levels, but he hit “record” as the band meandered through a sprawling free jam featuring solos by the guitarist Erik Braunn, fills by the bassist Lee Dorman and a two-and-a-half-minute drum solo by Mr. Bushy.
“After 17 minutes and five seconds I ended the tape,” Mr. Casale recalled in a 2020 interview with The Rochester Voice, a New Hampshire newspaper. “I then called down to the band and said, ‘Guys, come on up and listen to this.’ They loved it.”

Obligatory 2:

Darryl Hickman, actor. Other credits include “Network”, “Looker”, and “Sharky’s Machine”.

Burning in Hell watch: Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton. I won’t go into detail about his crimes, out of respect for the sensibilities of my readers: you can click through to the linked article for that if you wish.

He died of natural causes at the age of 74. Two weeks ago, somebody rammed a broken broomstick through his head in prison, so naturally he died.

Posted in Law, Movies, Music, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch: June 1, 2024. (part 1 of 2)

June 1st, 2024

Specialist Fifth Class Clarence Sasser (United States Army – ret.) passed away on May 13th at the age of 76.

Sp5c. Sasser received the Medal of Honor for actions as a medic on January 10, 1968. From his citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp5c. Sasser distinguished himself while assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion. He was serving as a medical aidman with Company A, 3d Battalion, on a reconnaissance-in-force operation. His company was making an air assault when suddenly it was taken under heavy small-arms, recoilless-rifle, machine-gun, and rocket fire from well-fortified enemy positions on three sides of the landing zone. During the first few minutes, over 30 casualties were sustained. Without hesitation, Sp5c. Sasser ran across an open rice paddy through a hail of fire to assist the wounded. After helping one man to safety, he was painfully wounded in the left shoulder by fragments of an exploding rocket. Refusing medical attention, he ran through a barrage of rocket and automatic-weapons fire to aid casualties of the initial attack and, after giving them urgently needed treatment, continued to search for other wounded. Despite two additional wounds immobilizing his legs, he dragged himself through the mud toward another soldier 100 meters away. Although in agonizing pain and faint from loss of blood, Sp5c. Sasser reached the man, treated him, and proceeded on to encourage another group of soldiers to crawl 200 meters to relative safety. There he attended their wounds for five hours until they were evacuated. Sp5c. Sasser’s extraordinary heroism is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

From the NYT:

As they arrived at a rice paddy, one helicopter was shot down. Mr. Sasser was “dumped,” he said, into the mud. Instantly he felt a bullet rip through his leg. Dozens of American soldiers were killed in minutes. As the injuries piled up, the company was left with only one of its four medics — Mr. Sasser.
A cry went out among his brothers in arms: “Doc! Doc!”
He heeded their calls.
He dashed through gunfire to one group of soldiers, and as he moved one to safety, a rocket explosion tore through his shoulder and back. But he kept running, through a barrage of rocket and automatic weapon fire, to help two more men. Injuries multiplied across his body: excruciating hot shell fragments embedding in his flesh, a ricocheting bullet slamming against his skull.
Mr. Sasser saw a safer way to move around the rice paddy. Rather than standing up and leaving himself open to attack, he lay down in the mud — which was two-and-a-half-feet deep, he estimated — and moved by grabbing one rice sprout after the next to pull himself along, almost like swimming.
He encouraged another group of soldiers to crawl to relative safety and spent hours continuing to attend to his comrades’ wounds until he ran out of medical supplies.
“The only thing I could offer was, shall we say, mental support, emotional support,” he recalled in the oral history. “Which I thought was part of medic’s job, too.”
About 4 or 5 a.m. the next day — nearly 20 hours after Mr. Sasser landed in the rice paddy — he and other survivors of the ambush were rescued.

He was also a Texas native. He studied chemistry at the University of Houston before he was drafted. After leaving the service, he attended Texas A&M: that university awarded him a honorary doctorate in 2014.

He often spoke about the privilege of being a medic. He got first choice of rations. Everyone called him Doc. He was an object of reverence. All of that, he said, explained, his battlefield bravery.
“There’s no way that I could have, in my mind, not went to see about someone when they hollered medic,” Mr. Sasser said in the 1987 oral history. “Repayment of the adulation these guys heaped on you demanded that you go.”

Congressional Medal of Honor Society webpage.

Fort Hood renamed one of their buildings (a medical training facility) after him in 2022.

According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, there are 61 living recipients.

Posted in Heroism, History, Obits | 2 Comments »

Obit watch: May 30, 2024.

May 30th, 2024

Bette Nash has passed away at 88.

Ms. Nash was the longest serving flight attendant ever. She started working for Eastern Air Lines in 1957, and kept working: first on the Trump Shuttle, then US Airways, and finally American. She never officially retired.

Wearing white gloves, heels and a pillbox hat, Ms. Nash served lobster and champagne, carved roast beef by request and passed out after-dinner cigarettes.
Things have changed a lot since then — the smoking is gone, and so is the carved meat — but Ms. Nash remained largely the same.

…

At a ceremony at Reagan National Airport to mark her 60th anniversary, in 2017, American Airlines presented her with a pair of diamond earrings and a $10,000 donation to the food bank where she volunteered.
Then she went to work, loading passengers for the next shuttle to Boston. As the plane taxied to the runway, a pair of fire trucks doused the plane with a water-cannon salute, an honor usually reserved for retiring pilots.

Richard Ellis, artist with a speciality. He specialized in sea creatures.

Mr. Ellis had no formal training in marine biology, conservation, painting or writing. But in fusing his artistic flair with an encyclopedic knowledge of ocean creatures, he became an invaluable, sui generis figure to conservationists, educators and those curious about sea life.
“Richard was an enthusiast, and he absolutely adored the natural world, especially the sea,” said Ellen V. Futter, the former president of the natural history museum, where Mr. Ellis was a research associate for many years. “He wanted everybody to share his appreciation and joy from the beauty of it, but also to feel the same sense of responsibility to protect it.”

…

His photorealistic paintings of whales were sold in an art gallery and published in Audubon and National Wildlife magazines and in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His more than a dozen books about marine life — especially his tomes on whales, sharks and tuna — made him, in the view of the best-selling author Simon Winchester, the “poet laureate of the marine world.”

I know I have a bias in the direction of photo realistic and representational art. But Mr. Ellis’s work looks fantastic: I would be proud to have an original Ellis hanging on one of my walls.

Posted in Art, Obits, Planes | Comments Closed

I hear the train a ‘coming…

May 29th, 2024

…it’s rolling ’round the bend,
And I ain’t gun book blogged
Since I don’t know when…

Sort of scans, don’t it? And it was April 25th.

Anyway, I have a stack downstairs that’s getting precarious, even more so than the stack upstairs. So here’s a few for today, and maybe a few more in the next few days.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia, Planes, Smith and Wesson, Travel | Comments Closed

Obit watch: May 29, 2024.

May 29th, 2024

Elizabeth MacRae, actress.

Other credits include “Eddie and the Cruisers II: Eddie Lives!”, “The Fugitive” (the original), “77 Sunset Strip”, “Hawaiian Eye”…

…and “Mannix”. (“A Puzzle for One”, season 6, episode 11. She played “Diane Glover”.)

Posted in 1970s, Mannix, Obits, TV | 1 Comment »

Happy birthday to you…

May 29th, 2024

Happy 150th birthday, G. K. Chesterton!

“The Innocence of Father Brown” on Project Gutenberg.

“You attacked reason,” said Father Brown. “It’s bad theology.”

The Society of G.K. Chesterton.

Posted in Bagatelle, Books, History, Religion | Comments Closed

Obit watch: May 28, 2024.

May 28th, 2024

I didn’t want to post an obit watch yesterday because I thought it would distract from Memorial Day. So catching up…

Bill Walton. ESPN. Boston Globe (archived).

Richard “It’s a Small World” Sherman. NYT (archived).

Don Perlin, comic artist. (“Moon Knight”)

Adele Faber, author. I’m not a parent, but I have heard a lot of raves for How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk.

FotB RoadRich sent over an obit for Al Ruddy. He produced a couple of movies, and co-created “Hogan’s Heroes” and “Walker, Texas Ranger”.

Not exactly an obit, but Lee Goldberg wrote a nice tribute to Roger Corman.

He was cheap, but he paid us on time, treated us well and was a wonderful, creative collaborator.

Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Obits, Sports, TV | Comments Closed

Ángel of the morning…

May 28th, 2024

Ángel Hernández has retired as a baseball umpire “effective immediately”. ESPN.

This seems more like one of those “retirefirings”:

Major League Baseball and the Hernández were negotiating a financial settlement over the past two weeks and came to an agreement during the holiday weekend, according to USA Today.

I do so love a good classical reference:

“I have decided that I want to spend more time with my family. Needless to say, there have been many positive changes in the game of baseball since I first entered the profession. This includes the expansion and promotion of minorities. I am proud that I was able to be an active participant in that goal while being a Major League umpire.”

…

Hernández has been a lightning rod for controversy and is universally viewed as the worst umpire in the game by players, managers and fans of the sport.
The poor reputation he has dates back almost two decades with player polls by Sports Illustrated in 2006 and 2011 ranking him as the third-worst umpire and an ESPN poll in 2010 putting 22 percent of the respondents as viewing Hernández as the worst in MLB.
Hernández umped just 10 games during the 2023 season because of a back injury, but he got 161 calls wrong, according to Umpire Auditor.

He sued MLB in 2017 alleging racial discrimination, but the case was thrown out of court.

And since I have the song stuck in your head now…

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

The wreck of the Evans.

May 27th, 2024

Not everyone in the military who dies is killed in combat. Accidents take more than their fare share of brave people. And those folks are just as worthy of remembrance on Memorial Day as the ones who died in action against the enemy.

I’ve had this in my back pocket for a while. It is a little early to post this, but not too early, and it seems appropriate for today.

Some time back, I got a wild hair and went chasing down the military’s “sole survivor” policy. I think the Sullivan brothers led me to that, which in turn led me to the Melbourne–Evans collision. I had never heard of the Melbourne–Evans collision, and was quite shocked to find out that there was a major US Navy disaster I was unfamiliar with.

In 1969, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was conducting an exercise, Sea Spirit, in the South China Sea. Two of the ships involved were the US Havy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans and the Royal Australian Navy light aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne.

At night on June 2nd and 3rd, the Melbourne was doing anti-submarine exercises. Evans was one of the escort ships assigned to the Melbourne. Melbourne was going to launch an anti-submarine aircraft, and ordered Evans to assume the “plane guard” position. There had been one near collision with another US ship (USS Everett F. Larson) a few days before, and the Melbourne’s commanding officer had warned all of his escort ships to be careful. He also increased the minimum separation between the carrier and escorts to 3,000 yards.

In spite of this, the Evans turned towards the Melbourne. Melbourne sent messages to the ship warning the Evans that it was on a collision course. Evans acknowledged the messages, but didn’t take any action. Melbourne’s captain ordered a hard turn to port: at about this time, Evans turned hard to starboard to avoid the collision. This put Evans right in the path of Melbourne, and at 3:15 AM, the two ships collided. Evans was cut in two. (Wikipedia has a good animation of the two ship’s paths.)

The bow section of the Evans sunk rapidly, while the stern stayed afloat. 74 crew members of the Evans died. It is believed that most of them were trapped in the bow and couldn’t get out before it sank. The crew of the Melbourne behaved, in my opinion, quite heroically. All of the survivors of the Evans were located in 12 minutes and rescued within a half-hour, and the Melbourne’s crew did their best to make them comfortable.

When 74 sailors are killed at sea, you can expect an investigation. The commander of the Evans, Albert S. McLemore, was asleep when the collision happened, though he had given orders that he should be awakened if needed. Of the two men who were standing watch, one had failed his qualification exam for standing watch, and the other one was on his first trip to sea.

The US Navy and the Royal Australian Navy conducted a joint board of inquiry. The results were, and are, controversial:

Presiding over the board was USN Rear Admiral Jerome King, a posting that was controversial as he was the commanding officer of both the forces involved in Sea Spirit and the fleet unit to which Evans normally belonged, and was seen during the inquiry to be biased against Captain Stevenson and other RAN personnel. King’s attitude, performance, and conflict of interest were criticised by the Australians present at the inquiry and the press, and his handling of the inquiry was seen as detrimental to Australia–United States relations.

It seems like the collision was pretty much 100% the fault of the Evans, but nobody wanted to place all of the blame on the US Navy.

Despite admissions by members of the USN, given privately to personnel in other navies, that the incident was entirely the fault of Evans, significant attempts were made to reduce the US destroyer’s culpability and place at least partial blame for the incident on Melbourne. At the beginning of the inquiry, King banned one of the RAN legal advisers from attending, even as an observer. He regularly intervened for American witnesses but failed to do so on similar matters for the Australians. Testimony on the collision and the subsequent rescue operation was to be given separately, and although requests by American personnel to give both sets of testimony at the same time in order to return to their duties were regularly granted, the same request made by Stevenson was denied by King. Testimony of members of the RAN had to be given under oath, and witnesses faced intense questioning from King, despite the same conditions not applying to USN personnel. There was also a heavy focus on the adequacy of Melbourne’s navigational lighting. Mentions of the near miss with Larson were interrupted with the instruction that those details could be recounted at a later time, but the matter was never raised by the board.
The unanimous decision of the board was that although Evans was partially at fault for the collision, Melbourne had contributed by not taking evasive action sooner, even though doing this would have been a direct contravention of international sea regulations, which stated that in the lead-up to a collision the larger ship was required to maintain course and speed. The report was inconsistent in several areas with the evidence given at the inquiry, including the falsity that Melbourne’s navigational lights took significant time to come to full brilliance. Several facts were also edited out of the transcripts of the inquiry.

Commander McLemore was court-martialed, and found guilty of “dereliction of duty and negligently hazarding his ship”. The two watch standers were also court-martialed, pled guilty, and were convicted of “dereliction of duty and negligence”.

As a result of the inquiry, the commanding officer of the Melboure, Captain John Phillip Stevenson, was also court-martialed. He was chaged with negligence for “for failing to explicitly instruct Evans to change course to avoid collision and for failing to set Melbourne’s engines to full astern”.

Evidence presented during the hearing showed that going full astern would have made no difference to the collision, and on the matter of the failing-to-instruct charge the presiding Judge Advocate concluded that reasonable warning had been given to the destroyer and asked, “What was [Stevenson] supposed to do—turn his guns on them?”. Of the evidence and testimony given at the court-martial, nothing suggested that Stevenson had done anything wrong; instead it was claimed that he had done everything reasonable to avoid collision, and had done it correctly.

There are two theories on why Captain Stevenson was even court-martialed in the first place. One is that it was an attempt to appease the US Navy, “which had court-martialled three officers from Evans and had threatened to prevent US ships from operating as part of Australian-led forces if no action was taken against Stevenson”. The other is that the court-martial was intended to clear Stevenson.

Stevenson’s defence submitted that there was “no case to answer”, resulting in the dropping of both charges, and the verdict of “Honourably Acquitted”.

However, Stevenson’s next posting after the verdict was “chief of staff to a minor flag officer”, which was seen by him (and, I gather, pretty much everyone else in the RAN) as a demotion.

Following the events—publicly considered to be another scapegoating of a commanding officer of Melbourne…Stevenson requested retirement, as he no longer wished to serve under people he no longer respected. This retirement was initially denied, but was later permitted.

The US Navy made a training film about the incident, “I Relieve You, Sir”.

Unlike other naval casualties during the Vietnam War, the names of the 74 Evans crew killed are not inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Despite operating in Vietnamese waters immediately before deployment to Sea Spirit, and being scheduled to return to activities supporting the war effort after the exercise, it was determined that as Sea Spirit was not directly linked with US operations in Vietnam, and the exercise took place outside the geographical limit for the conflict as defined by the outer edge of Market Time operations, the crew was ineligible for inclusion on ‘The Wall’. Exceptions to the geographic limit rule have been made for other personnel killed as part of the conflict but not in Vietnam itself; for example those involved in operations in Laos, and those dying in transit to or from Vietnam. However, an act of Congress specifically permitting the inclusion of their names on the memorial is required: legislation to have those killed in the Melbourne–Evans collision has been introduced on several occasions, but has so far failed to gather sufficient support.

Three of the men killed on the Evans were brothers: Radarman 3rd Class Gregory Sage and Seaman Recruits Gary Sage and Kelly Sage. They were the first members of the same family allowed to serve on the same ship since WWII. There are memorials in Niobara, Nebraska (their home town) and Gurnee, Illinois. “The names of her 74 crew killed are inscribed under a flagpole at Long Beach Shoreline Marina.”

The stern of the Evans never sunk. It was towed to Subic Bay, stripped for parts, and used for target practice.

In December 2012, Stevenson announced that his son had received a letter from the Australian Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, saying that he was “not treated fairly” by the government of the day and by the RAN. It also said, “Your father was a distinguished naval officer who served his country with honour in peace and war … Should your father have continued his naval career, the Chief of Navy advises me that he would undoubtedly have been competitive for flag rank.” Stevenson also said that he was supported throughout his ordeal by his wife, who had died just five months before the letter arrived.

One of the most unusual aspects of this story, to me, is: this isn’t the first time HMAS Melbourne collided with another ship. She collided with the destroyer HMAS Voyager on February 10, 1964, under what sounds like similar circumstances: Voyager was supposed to be plane guard, but turned into Melbourne’s path and was cut in two. 82 men died in that collision. And, similarly, the captain of the Melbourne at the time was initially railroaded.

The USS Frank E. Evans Association.

The Lost 74.

Posted in History | Comments Closed

NRA annual meeting 2024: a collection of random thoughts.

May 24th, 2024

I ordered a set of Cocobolo grips for my Browning Hi-Power from Hogue. They aren’t terribly expensive and look nice: I handled a set of walnut grips (I believe) at the show and was favorably impressed. They should make that old gun look a little better.

Hogue is offering a discount code that’s good through May 26th: NRAAM24HOGUE.

Lyman also sent over a discount code for their sites: NRAENTRY for the Lyman website (20% off), and NRAENTRY (15% off) for their Mark 7 reloading website. Valid through June 3rd.

The Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network is offering $100 one year memberships through May 31st with code 2024NRA. I have heard nothing but good things about ACLDN: FotB (and official trainer to WCD) Karl is a board member. I plan to take advantage of this offer before the 31st.

XS Sights also has a promo code good through May 31st: NRA24 gets you 24% off. Which is great, because I plan to order a set of ghost ring sights from them for my social shotgun.

I picked up some chamber flags at various points during the meeting. I bring this up because: have you ever seen folks giving out chamber flags and wondered about them? Who do you order them from, and how much? There were at least two vendors at the show who would sell you custom chamber flags. The one I have in front of me right now, Manufacturing Services, will sell them to you with your custom (black and white) art for 60 to 85 cents each (the more expensive option has printing on both sides) with a minimum order of 100. That seems to me to be very reasonable, if you’re doing something like a Boy Scout Scouting USA firearms exercise and want to have something to give to the kids.

If you’re interested in what I’d call more “conventional” NRAAM coverage, The Firearm Blog has that. I haven’t watched it yet, but they have an interview up with Jerry Miculek about the new Smith and Wesson Model 327 WR. S&W was running a contest at the show: I figure my odds of winning one are somewhere between “slim” and “out of town”, but you never know.

One thing I did buy from S&W was one of their snazzy limited edition NRAAM 2024 hats:

This should be fun to put on my display table at the symposium.

When I say “conventional” above, I’m not sneering at TFB or anybody else. For me, when I go to cover these things, I like to highlight the more obscure vendors who don’t attract the same press attention as Colt or S&W, and the people who are nice to me. Like the guys at the Ruger booth, or the Hornady podcast folks, or Marissa Brinkman who edits the Texas State Rifle Association magazine. That’s where I get my joy. Well, that, and winning stuff in drawings.

Speaking of which, unless there are two “Dwight B.”s who live in Austin and went to the NRAAM, I apparently won one of those TagMe by Ocufil systems. I plan a report once it arrives and I go through the setup and testing process.

Fun story: there was a guy at the show (and I wish I could remember his, or the company’s name: maybe one of my friends will fill this in for me) who was giving away his product in return for reviews. The product was a Glock 17/19 magazine with a key lock at the bottom. Once you inserted the mag and locked it, the gun was secured: you couldn’t remove the mog, you couldn’t fire the gun, you could work the slide and eject rounds, but that was it. Unlock it, and you had a fully functional Glock. You don’t even have to remove the locking magazine, it feeds normally with the mag unlocked.

Edited to add 5/27: Thanks to FotB John for providing the name of the company: GoSafe. I’m pretty sure this is a different company than the one that sells industrial safety equipment, so I’d recommend using the embedded link. GoSafe does say they are working on equivalent products for the Smith and Wesson M&P and Sig Sauer, but as far as I can tell, those are not ready yet. Also, it does look like they make a version for .40 S&W Glocks, which I do not recall them mentioning (or having) at the show.

The hilarious thing about this was: none of the four of us currently own a Glock 17 or 19. I own two Glocks, but neither one is a 17 or 19. Probably the single most popular gun in the world, and zero out of four of us own one. (I overheard an interesting conversation on the bus between another gentleman of the press and a couple of attendees. The member of the fourth estate was opining that, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, his gun of choice would be a Glock 19. 9mm ammo should be readily available, the gun is so popular that you should be able to find spare mags and even entire guns easily, you can stockpile parts kits to keep it running, and it is simple enough to work on that even I could probably fix one.)

I don’t think I’m going to be commissioning one right away, as I have another holster priority ahead of it, and I’m saving money for the Smith and Wesson Collectors Association symposium in a few weeks. But there was a company called Palmetto Leather Works that had a nice looking holster for a Browning Buck Mark, complete with magazine pocket. It reminded me of a vintage George Lawrence holster that I bought Mike the Nusicologist for Christmas one year, and I could easily see this being modified for a Model 41.

Speaking of holsters, it amused me greatly that Galco is rocking the 40th anniversary of the Miami Classic, aka the “Sonny Crockett“. $440 is a little rich for my blood, but the thought of carrying a Commander length 1911 in a shoulder holster tickles my fancy. (I’m pretty sure Galco still catalogs an updated non-custom shop version of the Miami Classic.)

Shoutout to the Ranch Products people, who are always nice. Shoutout too to Wolfe Publishing, who saved me $10 and a trip to Barnes and Noble by giving me a copy of the latest Handloader.

I made it by the U.S. Armament Manufacturing booth, and did get to briefly handle their reproduction DeLisle carbine. TFB has coverage of this as well, but not tied to their NRAAM coverage. I think it’s an interesting gun, but for me, not $5,999 interesting (plus $200 for the tax stamp, since it is a Class III weapon). At least, not unless I win the lottery, and I’d buy a BAR reproduction from Ohio Ordnance Works (or even a real BAR) first. I can see the DeLisle being a fun toy…if you’ve got used car money to spend. Those reproduction Colt 1903 and 1908 pistols look nice and expensive too.

I picked up a card for Rugged Rare. They make some nice looking concealed carry bags (which I don’t need) and belts (which I do need). They are producing Smith and Wesson licensed leather belts and wallets. I actually thought their belts were very reasonably priced, and I wish I had bought one: I just couldn’t fit it in with all my stuff. And unfortunately, it looks like their website caters more to retailers than individual purchasers. I can’t even see the prices without setting up an account, and I can’t set up an account without uploading a business license.

We went by the Precision Small Arms booth, too. They make really nice looking reproductions of the “Baby Browning“, which I’ve always thought was a neat little gun. I’ve heard all the .25 ACP jokes, but the gun you have on you is better than the one in a safe at home, and these are a very discreet option. We also handled some guns at the Seecamp booth. I’ve always heard good things about Seecamp guns: yes, they’re more expensive than a LCP, but they’re also (I hear) extremely well made and reliable, and are often carried by people who need a backup gun that 100% works.

I have a card for Powder River Precision, but I don’t know why. It may have been for their 10/22 stuff. I also have a card for Shilen, but I know why: if I ever need a new barrel on one of my guns, I’m going to them.

Pigpen51, we went by the Tisas booth. I still haven’t shot one, but I did get to handle a few of them. Yes, these were show guns, but I was fairly impressed. They seemed like solidly made 1911 clones, and I’d really like a chance to run one for a bit. They are also importing clones of the Inglis Hi-Power, which seem like nice guns. Maybe not as nice as the new FN guns, but the Tisas Inglis is also about 1/3rd the price. I’m not sure about parts compatibility: I wish I had thought to ask while i was there.

Oehler, who is here in Austin and makes chronographs, told me they’re looking for somebody. It sounds like they want a sort of jack-of-all-trades. That is, some one who can do tech support, assist in set up and testing, read a schematic and identify components, and generally do what’s needed. I don’t imagine this is a huge company, and I have no idea what they are paying. But if you’re recently retired, healthy, and looking for a job to supplement your retirement pay, this might be a good opportunity.

That’s all the business cards I had stuck in my badge holder for later reference. I still haven’t gone through the big bag o’ stuff that I set aside to go through when I got back. I want to try to do that this weekend. I also want to get another gun book post up, and maybe even a gun post. And I have some non gun-related work to do for some of the other organizations I’m involved with.

For a three-day weekend, it feels like it is going to be full.

And Marissa Brinkman is probably saying to herself, “This guy really needs an editor.”

Posted in 1911, Guns, Holsters, Smith and Wesson | 1 Comment »

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