MOLLE Overload! Oh and a S&W Model 30.

So Odysseus over at By Other Means posts today about a MOLLE attachment for Motorcycles.  How timely. I get a lot of uh, ribbing for my current range bag. 

"What the h**l do you have in there?" Uh, a lot. Today this arrived on the door step delivered by the brown truck of happiness. 

Why get another bag for the range? Well, I'm going to a two day class next weekend with A Girl and Her Gun and I have been told it is in a remote location. No time to pop out for lunch. OK. So I need something to hold food and all the other little things you might need for the range. 

Oh, MOLLE stuff! I hope I don't get the sickness and get addicted to that! It looks like a bad problem to have.




Whoops! It has started! 

So now for this. Tam over at View From The Porch posts about everyone taking pictures of pretty much the same Pistol and posting it on the Interwebs. I get that. I am at times embarrassed to throw up pics of my run of the mill hardware.

Not this one though. 

 









Although the little Smith is rather pedestrian, the engraving stands out to me. Who was Mae Crawley? Was the engraving to lament the passing of a loved one or a declaration of love lost? What motivated someone to have this Revolver engraved so? 

According to the Smith and Wesson Historian, the Model 30 Hand Ejector was introduced in 1896 and fired the .32 S&W Long cartridge. It stayed in production until 1976. This is a nice J Frame Revolver to me. Not so much because of what it is, but because of what it meant to someone. 

It is things like this that make me think there will not be a Glock or Kimber Historian on the payroll with those companies.   

Oh, I just noted that the backpack is "VTAC Field Tested". Oh crap!
 
I need to check that nothing fly's off of the thing! It has happened before with other VTAC stuff. More important than a backpack too. 

The Fiber Optic left this sight. S&W replaced it but I am still leery.










 
 
  

Colt-Fu

I wish it would be like this:





It's not. I do have these tools though. A DVD transferred from VHS. Good job on it though. 

My Colt Official Police seems to be "throwing-by" after firing.   



So the library grows. Shop manuals and technical diagrams will only get you so far though. I used to simply rush in with a tool back in the day. I am not a gunsmith, nor a mechanic by my definition. The Colt is pedestrian, it's value slight. I want it to work though. I will let you know how this works out! 

Oh, If you are of the mind to work on or find out more about a piece of hardware you have, I cannot recommend these books enough. Well written and loaded with almost everything you need to inspect and repair. 

You don't see this every day!

Yesterday was the Bowling Pin match at the range. A young man and his wife show up for the first time. He drove up in this:

Heh, a VW convertible sporting the window sticker above. He ran the steel around six seconds on six targets. Great guy to boot. Gives the story about the bug. I think the thing has more miles under MAC or AMC than rolling! Nice couple and interesting story on the Bug.   

Remember this? I picked up the parts for a rebuild yesterday:

I of course spent the money for the "high performance" rebuild kit. Heaven forbid I choose the "mediocre performance" one.

Remember the Colt Official Police? Well good news and bad here. 15 yards? 

I will take the accuracy, but the thing has a problem. I can't figure out if it is the hand or the bolt. She will shoot, but the cylinder goes too far to the right after shooting locking the action. Moving the cylinder counterclockwise ever so slightly will put it back into battery.  

My I Frame Colt-Fu is lacking. There is an old school app for that though. 

It will be here tomorrow! 

Oh, the Friends of the NRA Dinner? I converted US Currency into this:

  








Useless paper (wait, almost redundant statement). I had a good time, met a lot of people and this dinner raises 50 to 75K for the NRA Foundation. A good cause and good people. Case in point? We started off with the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone there knew it.     

Oh, got to play with something that had a fun switch too! Not at the Dinner though!








Got a proof for some business cards before going to the printer today. What do you think?

Wish me luck!

Maybe I will win something!

The Morning Started Off Bad....

I was greeted with this cheery message from my dear old friend this AM:

Sigh.... This is bad news! So I wander into work and announce to my guys that my coffee maker is dead. Steve points out that he is in fact feeling pretty good and points to the coffee maker in the shop. It is loaded with the nectar of the gods as always when I arrive. 

So I break out the "Use hammer to break glass" backup here at stately manor.

 

















Whoever designed the user interface on this thing deserves to be shot though! I should not have to read 16 pages of stuff to program this thing for a start time. Maybe one of these?

 

Oh, its a Phone Too!

I can't leave well enough alone with the iPhone. I found some apps that might be of interest as well as a little accessory to make range time without a training partner a bit more challenging.

First this app. 



You can change all the settings for different targets and speeds. 

 














I'm not thrilled to give this guy a buck 99 American after his stand on open carry. I need to talk to my developer to see if we can do better. 

The other app is the Surefire shot timer. 

The thing about this timer is that it should be able to calibrate to your shots as opposed to the person next to you on the range. Field testing is warranted! I also hear that if close enough it will detect dry fire. I will let you know. 

This works well.

 











I am all about less stuff in the range bag though!

So how to get the iPhone stuff to where you can hear it on the range? 

I searched and searched for the Peltor connector that allows you to jack into its audio circuit.

 












I gave up. Cables are the last bastion of profit for electronic retailers IMHO. I hate to pay for them. I had no luck with Google Fu, and my favorite goto source for everything like this has a 25 buck minimum order. Sigh.... I got one of these. 

 





















Oh, protip! If you are using electronic muffs stick some desiccant in the muffs.

You come off the range sweating and rip these things off as soon as you can. Instead of throwing them in the range bag, wipe them down and stuff a packet in them. They will last much longer! 

Next, we look at jacking iTunes into range time! 

 

I am sorta surprised. Sorta not as well.

So today Mr. Curmudgeon decides to go to his home range as he is known for. This time however Mrs. Curmudgeon wants to go too. After my adventure with her some time ago I really did not see this one coming. I probably should have though. This lady will not yield until she has total knowledge and skill for whatever endeavor she chooses. 

She starts with a Browning BDA .380. A step up from the .22 revolver. Mr. Curmudgeon reports accurate hits at 7 yards. 

His BDA is sweetness and light. 

Congrats to her! Of course Mr. Curmudgeon is up to his old tricks at the range! Sorry I could not be there.

 

Congrats!

My 9 new shooters today did well! I was most impressed by a thirteen year old in attendance today. His Father was with him as we ran through the class. 

Tomorrow? Concealed Carry. So I have to bring out all the "holster fail" and some "holster win".

Wish me luck. Of all the things I do I am always worried that I do this right. Much is on the line here and I only have eight hours.

On a Wing and a Prayer

So tonight as I prepare to teach again tomorrow I run across this on the front porch.

A bird has decided that for tonight my porch is home. Good enough for tonight after today's travels. This rung a bell. I have been here for over 6 years. Many modifications and dollars to make it "my home". They have been modest, but the bird makes me think. Dann at God, Gals, Guns, and Grub blog comments on some of this. For tonight I am glad to have my traveler. As someone once said: "A house needs two hearts, even if one is a mouse". I will take my winged friend tonight.  

Tired....

This is.

So I wandered off the reservation and got one of these.Wired this is.

iPhone 4s. I attempted to let a friend know about the thing and she is a road warrior for a living. As I go to the bathroom, I get this missive. 

Heh, I do love snarky stuff from my friends, it keeps me sharp! 

So the first thing I try is to see if the Alpine unit in the daily beater that is equipped with an iPod interface will charge the thing. No joy.  

Well OK but the Alpine at least recognizes it. Sorta. 

I can understand the fanbois. This phone is a computer that oh by the way makes phone calls. I'm not drinking all of the Kool-Aid yet though!



 

.

Ethanol. It Sucks!

Corn should be eaten first by tasty animals that will be converted into meat. Secondly by us as a side dish for the aforementioned meat. Corn in my cars, not so much. It has become a retched chemistry experiment over the years. Now this:

Fuel leak on the carburetor. Crap! 

I look like a chemistry major already with these additives at the pump. 

 









Now it looks like I need to add this too:

 













I know you can take steps to minimize this crap but I refuse to do so. Why? Because:

This is the way my Cousin and I built it! Oh, so long ago.

Quote of The Day

I hate to say it but it came from...ME! 

Personal instruction today and I made the comment that I don't like Glocks while we are talking about grip on the Pistol. Student notes on the "I love me" slide I present at the first of the class that I am a Glock Armorer. 

Me: "I don't have to like them to work on them".

Thanks, be here all week and try the fish! 

The Colt Official Police

So get to the place and examine this Revolver. The Colt Official Police was manufactured from 1927 to 1969 in .32-20, .41 Colt , .38 Special, and .22LR. It was offered in 2", 4", 5", and 6" barrel lengths. This specimen is nickel plated, but a blued version was also made. This one was made somewhere around 1939. Sigh... Another Historian letter. Click to well, you know on the pics.

This revolver showed holster wear as evidenced by the left grip and some weathering to the right hand side of the pistol that would be exposed to such. Other than that she locks up tight, little endshake. I could not get a feeler gauge larger than .0015 between the cylinder and the forcing cone! Barrel looks great, so does the crown of the barrel. 

I'm glad she is here. Her older sister needs some company. 

Police Positive in .32-20. 

Maybe this will count to keep the tricked out name badge current!

Shoot her tomorrow and I will let you know how it goes. I will give her a bath too afterward. 

There continues to be an urgency among people. Those that are not willing to wait for scheduled classes. I have several over the weekend. We shall see how it goes. 

Excuse me while I whip this out!

I have a line on a revolver for sale. I'm not telling y'all because if I do it will be gone before I get there tomorrow. So I gotta pack and need this:

And of course I have done my homework:

Wish me luck! I hope it is what they say it is and works! 

 

Can You Help?

I have never asked for anything here.  I am making an exception for a friend of mine now.  His name is Tyler and I really don't want to say that he works for me.  Technically he does, but I prefer to say that we work together. 

He is a Deacon in his church, teaches Sunday School, a devoted Husband, Father to two adopted Daughters, and a Grandfather to 1.5 Grand kids. His Family is tightly knit and his Brother and Father live within walking distance from his house. 

Our professional relationship can simply be summed up in the fact that the man is extremely talented and works hard to make me look good. On a personal note there is this from my Blog. 

He is riding a bicycle to the beach. From here to raise money for MS research.  It is a haul. MS has touched his Family and he is committed to this. Not bad for a 50 year old. He continues to amaze me. His story about his motivation is here. Me, I'm using the Company matching program to double my donation. 

If you can, anything you can give would be greatly appreciated. If you can't, I will send you a picture of Tyler as he is now riding a bike to work. Its not pretty =) ! 

Thanks!

  
 

Enjoy the Decline or AKA: Gaming the System.

So today I get a little yellow slip in my Mailbox at lunch. It tells me that since a signature is required for my three packages, they are waiting on me at the Post Office. I immediately go to the Post Office. If my packages actually were loaded on the truck, they would not be at the Post Office at this time, yet they were there.

There is no urgency here. I hear two people out of earshot talking about how politicians greed has brought the USPS to this point. HA! USPS will be insolvent in a couple of months due to pensions more than anything else. 

Finally, a young woman reviews my slip of paper. Starts to look in the envelope sorter for my packages. I tell her they will not be there, they are heavy. She finds my packages in the bottom of a canvas roll around cart. She gamely attempts to pull one out of the cart and simply tells me: "We are supposed to be able to lift 70 pounds and I told them I am not doing that". That was the quote of the day right there.  

I ask her if she can hold the door open for me as I retrieve the packages. She does so and I make three trips. 

Inside the boxes we find this (click to enbiggen):

So lets recap. For a total of 47.10 bucks American, one box of 4000 rounds of 9mm jacketed bullets at 115 gr. weighs in at 65 Lbs, not counting the packaging. The 2000 rounds of 230 gr. .45ACP run the same. The 1000 rounds of .380 at 95 gr. weighs in at 13 pounds. Total for all three packages 143 pounds. Humped from here to here:

Heh. So how are the bullets? 

They will work!