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Friday, August 31, 2012

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.










 
 
  

Thursday, August 30, 2012

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. 











Monday, August 27, 2012

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?
















Saturday, August 25, 2012

Thursday, August 23, 2012

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?
















 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

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! 

 

Monday, August 20, 2012

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.