Thanks Guys!

What a thoughtful and useful gift from my friends at work! A pair of Wiley X Valor polarized sunglasses.

So all I need now is to grow a beard, buy a shemagh and I can be an operator operating operationally like this guy =) 



Dude, Srsy? Why don't you just use that pedal on the right hand side of the floor board and leave. Oh, and if you are going to fall out the back of a vehicle like a drunken hooker at least be wearing some platform heels and a mini skirt, K? 

Many thanks to my friend over at eIAft for the video! He is a great instructor and passionate about what he does.

Thanks again to my friends for the gift and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Mine has been postponed until Saturday. 

Hmm.. I AM holding it wrong!

Operators operating operationally it seems =)  With "Ordnance Delivery Devices" no less.

A True Gentleman

Tam and several others posted about Jeffros misfortune. A home burned to the ground. No insurance. I responded with a very modest donation to help. I was not expecting this in the mail though:

I figure if someone is rebuilding from total loss of possessions and a family home that this task of a true Gentleman would be the last thing on the list to do. He did not. I am stunned. 

Go check his Blog. He still posts, and I hope we are helping the best we can; this tribe of electronically connected people is truly amazing. 

 

Is today the day?

 

If you run across a tricked out DeLorean today, I would avoid it. Just sayin'

Much hay has been made for nothing.

So A Girl gets hurt and there is much drama surrounding it on the Blogosphere. Many have chimed in, some deriding, some praising. Well hey. Lets start here from my own experience. I teach new shooters 6 at a time on a indoor range. I teach CCH classes with a live fire test. I do everything I can to keep the students safe first, secondly myself. I weigh about 160 pounds soaking wet with a Colt Commander on my hip. Empty handed force on force training for me? Maybe not.

I do every thing I can to stay safe. Guess what. It does not always work out.

We make our choices. The fact she posted it speaks volumes. We learn from mistakes. Mine may not be as painful as hers, but she made the choice to do it. I applaud that. I say that "you don't know until you go".

My choices have not been as painful as hers, but I was not there when the attack happened that motivated her to take this path. Nor was I there when I see the people showing up for my Concealed Carry Class for whatever motivated them to be in class.     

I made a top one hundred list!

Woo-hoo! Unfortunately it is a top one hundred worst cars of all time. I'm in good company. Vega? Check. Aztek? Check. Yugo, check. Edsel, got it!

I only came in at 84 though. I'm disappointed! 

A 2002 X Type. I still cannot resist a pretty face! 

It is not as bad as the press would have you to believe. Just have one of these charts handy. You will be Ok! 

 














 

Hmm. Drunk Dude's Got Talent!

LOL!

Story of My Life... and A Idea!

Well without the gunplay, or girl, but you get the idea!

While looking at this guy's channel I noted a tutorial on how he does the effects. It's right here:

So guess what? How can I introduce the concept of slide action and some recoil to new shooters without going live fire? Ta DA! Airsoft gas blowback 1911 is on the way for this weekend! As it shoots 6mm plastic pellets, I might be able to get one of these in the muzzle and practice rapid fire with the laser target!

Oh, I taught basic video software stuff at the Community College. I know this software somewhat! I will worry about that stuff later.

Thanks!

Over at "By Other Means", the proprietor saw fit to award me with this:

Odysseus runs a great Blog that is eclectic and entertaining.

These are the rules, as copied from his site.

1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award

3. Pick our five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.

4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

So here they are. I will keep it to five, but anything on my Blogroll gets my attention. 

Anna's Clue Tank- A wonderful blog and Anna is a keeper! Her topics include "art, politics, war, technology and whatever else strikes her fancy".  

Barrel Smoke- A everyday read! Guns! 

Bells A Ringing- Mostly Guns and shooting but some random entertaining stuff too!  

Way Up North- The Rev. Paul comments on life in the great white north and offers up some occasional spiritual guidance. I call him Shepard and the flock he has here must be keeping him busy!   

We the People- A one stop shop for just about everything! 

Thanks again, and I have noted that some in my Blogroll have apparently drifted off into the sunset. I will try to update!  

Go Here!

Another person has decided to be responsible for their personal safety. I applaud this and recommend you give her all the support and guidance she may ask for in this space. 

The fact she called out the contest offered by a girl and her gun and noted the gifts offered by the community here is profound.

Go stop by and say "Hello" to Anne! I am glad she is here and I know my followers will welcome her. 

HA! Gun Song!

Odysseus over at By Other Means has a link to a funny song. Go look. Me, I do have preferences, but as he says over there, whatever works for you is fine by me. Reminds me of auto mechanic humor when I am in these spots. Mechanic pushing a car into a stall: "Well, at least its not mine"!

No one got hurt!

In my previous post it seems some were concerned about my personal safety. I am pleased to report no fatalities. Much Turkey was consumed. So my big time waster tonight has been the fact that I can search youtube on the satellite TV. I came across two versions of the same song.

Here is the first. 

Here is the second.

I like the song for many reasons. If it matters I like the first version better. If you went to an ELO concert and remember it you were doing it wrong! 

Another Blog Out There!

For a bit more on today's events, go visit Anna's Clue Tank. I find her Blog interesting and eclectic enough to keep me interested. From Her post for what happened on November 11th through time:

Twenty four years after the guns fell silent across the fields of France, the sounds of battle reverberated again in France and in fact across the whole world. Vichy French forces in North Africa signed an armistice with the invading American and British forces. While Hitler ordered the invasion of Vichy France itself.

It's good stuff! 

EAS Test

Meh, I have heard this before. I'm not impressed FEMA!

Sellier & Bellot .45 Auto Review Part Two

On a beautiful Fall day, I watch the air show from my front porch while drinking coffee and then proceed to the range for live fire testing of the S&B .45 ACP ammo.

If you remember from part one, I disassembled a round to check measurements. Today we go at it! 

First the Colt Commander. Here are the Chronograph results:

Good enough and well within specs! A low of 775FPS to a high of 814.

So now we move to the Smith and Wesson Model 625-8:

Here are the results:

Good enough!

So now we go to a Springfield Armory TRP 1911:

Again, acceptable performance IMHO.


Now to the HK-45:

Results? 

Again, good enough! 


Then we have the "fire everything" string to clean out the box of ammo:

Again, not bad! 


So now a peek inside the high tech testing facility:

Accuracy? It seems the bullets will end up where you shoot. One string at 15 yds:

My thoughts? You can do far worse in ammo than this. I find it perfectly acceptable and we had NO failure to feed or fire across all platforms. The brass reloads well to boot. 


I have no dog in this race, I make my own ammo. You can do MUCH worse than this stuff on the commercial side in my humble opinion!

Go check out bulkammo.com. Website is easy to navigate and they did ship fast! 

My thanks to my friends at the home range! 

FTC stuff: I was compensated for this review with the box of ammo. My opinions are mine. Your mileage may vary. Offer not good in Alaska or Hawaii. See store for details. 

 

Sellier & Bellot .45 Auto Review Part One

So Steven at bulkammo.com shoots me an e-mail asking if I would review something. I ignored it. Hey I'm a busy guy and what's in it for me? Besides there can't be that many people wandering by here to check on my pedestrian ramblings right?

He sends another email a couple of weeks later. I say sure this time around and several days later a box of 50 S&B .45 auto shows up at stately manor.

First I have to say I have a history with this Czech Republic ammo. It is sold at the home range. I reload brass recovered from same. I have shot it many times. This is the hardest I have worked for a box of ammo!  The selection they have for this caliber is here. 

I will of course use this for testing:

I will run it through a Colt Combat Commander with a 4.25" barrel. While I am at it I will run it through a Para Ordinance 1911 too.

I am interested in seeing how the physical dimensions measure up on this ammo and never had a chance to do so. So, I take a round apart. 

First, OAL. Well within specs!

Then, since I don't know what powder is used I was curious to see what the load weight was. This powder looked totally different than powder I use for reloading. Weight was almost identical though. 4.1 grains or so. 

 

230 Grain bullet? Let's find out!

Dead on it!


Brass Length? Well within specs:

Bullet diameter? Much the same:

Brass? Looks great!

So I hope to run some through the chronograph Sunday. I have to make a day trip tomorrow to shoot this:

My home range can't handle rifles unless in handgun calibers. I perhaps played a part in that. On the plus side I get to see old friends. 

FTC Stuff: Yes I did get a free box of ammo in exchange for this review. I spent more time so far on this than the box of ammo is worth and if the ammo sucks, the next review will accurately report it!

 

HA! Karma is somthing! UPDATE!

I got the city wrong. It's Richmond! 

The Roanoke Tea Party wants to be reimbursed for: "cost of permits and other fees to use the same area in which Occupy Richmond has settled for nearly the past two weeks for free".

HAHAHAHA.....Catches breath.... HAHAHAHA! 

Full story.  

h/t to Free North Carolina!

Nomenclature Change!

In honor of the conversation going on here, there has been a nomenclature change at stately manor. This:

Shall no longer be known as a "Smith and Wesson M&P VTAC 9mm Pistol". All obelisks and pylons with this reference shall be stricken. The name will never be spoken here again.

Henceforth the correct nomenclature shall be: "plastic 9mm bullet hose". 

So let it be written, so let it be done!  

Heh!

From USA Admiral comes this image:

I LOL'ed hard! USA Admiral here.

I'm a supporter

Check the right sidebar. I found out about it at "insert witty title here". Here is one of the best reasons given that motivates me to do what I do. If you can spare some time or change to help domestic violence centers where you are please do so. I met many wonderful people during a fundraiser for my local shelter.

Helping these victims find a voice has to do some good!