Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! (Random gun crankery.)

December 21st, 2023

Previously on WCD.

This is going to be a shorter than usual gun crankery post, since it touches on a lot of things I’ve written about before.

For example, I’ve written a lot about .45 ACP revolvers with moon clips. As I noted in that post, the first one I shot was a S&W 625 JM at the late Smith and Wesson Shooting Sports Center.

I’ve also written a lot about Jerry Miculek. You remember Jerry Miculek, don’t you?

He used a 625 to set the 12 shots with a reload in 2.99 seconds record. I don’t think it was a 625-8 JM, as I believe that was introduced after he set the record. (The Standard Catalog says the 625-8 was introduced in 2001, as an engineering change that added the lock. It also says the 625 JM was introduced at SHOT in 2005.) But it was a 625, it was almost certainly modified by the Performance Center to his specifications, and he almost certainly had input into the design of the 625-8 JM.

Even though it is a stainless steel revolver, the sort-of dull (I think “bead blasted”) finish isn’t obnoxious to me. So when one of these showed up used at my official arms dealer…

Rockin’ the signed JM hat there.

Unfortunately, it does have the internal lock (or as some call it, “the Hillary hole”).

I didn’t get keys for the lock. (I did get moon clips, and a moon clip tool.) It came unlocked, and I’m not sure I’m ever going to use the lock. But here’s a fun fact for you. Do you know where you can get keys for the internal lock on a S&W revolver? Amazon, that’s where.

I think that “gold bead” (which is probably not an actual “gold bead”, but I can’t think of a better description) sight is very nice. I’d love to take this out and shoot a bowling pin match or something similar with this one. This also wouldn’t be a bad barbecue gun, with a nice holster and maybe some tasteful engraving.

Here is another interesting fact: Smith and Wesson claims to offer Performance Center gunsmithing services. The “Outdoor Package Large Frame – N” looks particularly interesting. I’ve measured the trigger pull on this one, and it comes in right at 11 pounds. That’s probably not out of line, but I wouldn’t mind shaving some off of that. As long as it goes “bang” when I pull the trigger.

Sometime after Christmas, I plan to give them a call and see what the backlog for those services is. I know I’m not the only person wondering, and I also get the feeling that S&W (like everyone else) is being pinched by the gunsmith shortage.

Review of the 625 JM from The Firearm Blog.

Coming up: two more followup teaser posts, plus another post about a gun I’ve written about previously. I’m hoping to get at least one of those up before Christmas.

Posted in Guns, Smith and Wesson | Comments Closed

It’s beginning to look a lot like gun books…

December 20th, 2023

…everywhere you go. At least, here on this blog.

Last Friday was my last day at work until January 8th. Some of this is me burning PTO before year-end, some of this is corporate holidays, and some of it is mandatory corporate shutdowns.

I’m planning to do more gun book posts and random gun crankery during my vacation, including a few things you’ve seen teasers for. So strap in, my people. It’s going to be a fun couple of weeks.

Why don’t we start out with a slice of history? After the jump…

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Posted in 1911, Books, Guns, Hoplobibilophilia | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: December 19, 2023.

December 19th, 2023

TMQ: It’s money time in the NFL

What does that even mean? And why does TMQ feel compelled to start off with horse racing metaphors?

After the jump, this week’s TMQ (which you won’t be able to read in its entirety unless you subscribe to “All Predictions Wrong”, which is the actual title of Gregg Easterbrook’s Substack)…

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Posted in Explosives, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Filibusted.

December 18th, 2023

D.J. Smith fired as coach of the Ottawa Senators. Also out: assistant coach Davis Payne.

Five seasons as coach. I don’t have a full record, but the team hasn’t made the playoffs at all under Smith “…with their strongest finish coming last season when they went 39-35-8 but finished six points behind the Florida Panthers for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.”

The other problem is that the team is completely screwed up. “restricted free agent forward” Shane Pinto is sitting out a 41-game suspension for gambling on sports.

Less than a week later, the club fired general manager Pierre Dorion on the same day the Senators lost a first-round draft pick for their role in an invalidated trade back in 2022 involving Evgenii Dadonov and the Anaheim Ducks.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 18, 2023.

December 18th, 2023

Lieutenant Colonel John Robert Pardo (USAF – ret.) passed away on December 5th, at the age of 89.

Captain (at the time) Pardo was a principal in of the most unusual flying stories to come out of the Vietnam war. On March 10, 1967, he was flying a bombing mission over Vietnam in an F4-C Phantom. Also flying with Cpn. Pardo and his weapons officer (1st Lt. Steve Wayne) was another Phantom flown by Capt. Earl Aman and 1st Lt. Robert Houghton. They were bombing a heavily defended North Vietnamese steel mill.

Both planes were hit by ground fire during the bombing run. Capt. Aman’s plane was the most seriously hit of the two. It lost a lot of fuel. So much fuel that there was no way Capt. Aman’s plane could make it out of enemy territory.

In a selfless act to save his fellow airmen, Pardo pushed Aman’s jet using the nose of his aircraft against Aman’s tailhook — a retractable hook on the underside of the plane used to assist with landing.
Pardo helped Aman’s Phantom decrease altitude by 1,500 feet per minute and guided the plane back into friendly territory.
Both aircrews then safely ejected over the Laotian border and were rescued by friendly forces.

This maneuver became famous as the “Pardo Push”.

Though it would seem his command would be greatly pleased with his selfishness, Lt. Gen. William Wallace ‘Spike’ Momyer, commander of the 7th Air Force in Vietnam, would reprimand him for sacrificing his multimillion-dollar jet in a rescue.
Facing a court-martial, Pardo was saved from punitive actions by his wing commander, Col. Robin Olds, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Ltc. Pardo was awarded the Silver Star for his actions, but it was awarded twenty years later. Why, I do not know.

Aside from his Silver Star, his awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart, Air Medal with twelve Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Meritorious Service Medal.

And he was a good Texas boy. Born in Herne, died in College Station.

Here are two videos from the ‘Tube. One short:

One a bit longer:

San Antonio Express News (archived), which provides a few interesting details:

Fifteen years earlier, in 1952, Air Force Brig. Gen. Robinson Risner, a longtime San Antonio resident and Korean War fighter ace, had done something similar, pushing a crippled F-86 out of enemy territory to open water 60 miles away. The pilot of the damaged plane, Lt. Joe Logan, bailed out but drowned when he became tangled in the lines of his parachute.

…

But Pardo unknowingly had put himself on a collision course with an Air Force general who had earlier gained notoriety for criticizing the Tuskegee Airmen, the group of pioneering Black aviators who served with distinction during World War II.
Reports circulated that Lt. Gen. William Wallace “Spike” Momyer, commander of the 7th Air Force in Vietnam, wanted Pardo court-martialed for the risky maneuver.
Pardo was not court-martialed, but Momyer told Col. Robin Olds, Pardo’s wing commander, not to decorate him. That didn’t bother Pardo.
“I didn’t do it to get a medal,” he said.

Posted in Heroism, History, Obits, Planes | 1 Comment »

Christmas! In December!

December 15th, 2023

And I got an early Christmas present. Really, more like two early Christmas stocking stuffers, but it is the thought that counts.

The worthless LA Chargers got stomped by the Las Vegas Raiders last night, 63-21.

And I guess pretty much as a direct result of that (though everyone was saying it was coming, I think the timeline was accelerated), Brandon Staley is out as head coach. Tom Telesco is out as general manager, too.

ESPN. Since I prefer to link to local coverage when I can, here’s an archived version of the story from the LAT, but I know some folks may not be able to read that. (It hasn’t made it in the Wayback Machine yet.)

Staley’s teams finished 24-24 in the regular season and made one playoff appearance. In his first year in 2021, the Chargers were eliminated from postseason contention on the final snap of the regular season.
The defeat at Las Vegas was a record-setter, the Chargers surrendering an all-time high in points for a game. Also, no Chargers team ever had trailed by 42 points at halftime.

You know what I say: shut the franchise down, throw all the players out of the NFL, reduce all of their facilities to rubble, plow the rubble into the earth, and sow the ground with salt so nothing ever grows there again.

Posted in Firings, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed

Obit watch: December 13, 2023.

December 13th, 2023

Andre Braugher. NYT (archived). Tributes. IMDB.

Damn. Even my mother commented that he was a really good actor.

Det. Frank Pembleton: What you will be privileged to witness will not be an interrogation, but an act of salesmanship – as silver-tongued and thieving as ever moved used cars, Florida swampland, or Bibles. But what I am selling is a long prison term, to a client who has no genuine use for the product.

In between, he portrayed a character based on a real-life doctor on the 2000-01 ABC series Gideon’s Crossing from Paul Attanasio, the creator of Homicide as well.

I remember that being a swell series as well. It only lasted one season.

NYT obit (archived) for Michael Bishop.

Shirley Anne Field, actress. IMDB.

Posted in Books, Obits, TV | Comments Closed

Can’t get no antidote for blues…

December 13th, 2023

Craig Berube out as coach of the St. Louis Blues. ESPN link for those who are having problems with archive services.

He was 206-132-44 over about six seasons, and his team won the Stanley Cup in 2019. The team is 13-14-1 so far this season.

Posted in Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

TMQ Watch: December 12, 2023.

December 12th, 2023

A brief musical interlude:

With that out of the way, this week’s TMQ (which you won’t be able to read in its entirety unless you subscribe to “All Predictions Wrong”, which is the actual title of Gregg Easterbrook’s Substack) after the jump…

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Posted in NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | 1 Comment »

Quote of the day.

December 11th, 2023

I am saying don’t avoid things that delight you.

–McThag

(So, about that Super Redhawk in .22 Hornet…)

Posted in Bagatelle, Guns | Comments Closed

TMQ watch update.

December 11th, 2023

We wanted to get these two links up ahead of this week’s TMQ Watch, as they reference things that were discussed in last week’s TMQ (and the associated TMQ Watch):

1. “NFL officiating crew under scrutiny after missed calls”

Officials are evaluated on every play of every game. League officiating staff analyze the performance of every official, both for the calls that are made and those that are not. That review results in a grade which plays a major role in determining how to help the officials improve their performance as well as decide which officials will officiate in the playoffs. There are also year-end evaluations of every official.

2. “Mahomes, Reid criticize offside call that negated Kelce lateral TD”

“I’ve played seven years [and] never had offensive offside called,” Mahomes said. “That’s elementary school [stuff] we’re talking about. There was no warning throughout the entire game. Then you wait until there’s a minute left in the game to make a call like that? It’s tough. Lost for words. It’s tough. Regardless if we win or lose, just the end of another game and we’re talking about the refs. It’s just not what we want for the NFL and for football.”

It isn’t like we’re Switfies, or generally biased in favor of KC, though we are biased against Buffalo (which, we guess, is pretty much the same thing). Nor did we see the game. But, yes, this seems kind of like ticky-tacky officiating.

Posted in NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | Comments Closed

Quote of the day.

December 9th, 2023

[David Mamet] was once “phone pals” with legendary director Stanley Kubrick for the briefest of times, for instance. “He called me from his home in England. We spoke for two afternoons, mostly about guns,” he recalls.
“He was a competitive pistol shot; I was too. I of course wanted to steer the conversation to film gossip, but firearms, like aviation and sexual dish among their aficionados, trump all.”

(I knew that Mamet was a shooter, and I’d love to sit down and talk guns with him sometime. I had no idea that Kubrick was also a shooter. And frankly, I have all sorts of questions about that, mostly about how you can be a competitive pistol shot in England. I suspect money helps a lot.)

Posted in Guns, Movies | Comments Closed

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