Random Stuff
My week, and some gratuitous name-dropping
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Massad Ayoob
was in the area
the last couple of weeks for his yearly round of teaching up
at Firearms Academy
of Seattle. We generally try to get
together for a meal during his stays, and finally managed to do so
last Saturday evening. We had our usual good time, catching up on
family news and the latest gossip in the industry.
Interestingly, for the first time in a long while he was actually teaching with one of his own guns as opposed to using a test/evaluation piece. The gun in question was a Langdon-prepped Beretta 92. I'm not a big fan of bottom-feeding handguns, as you know, and the 92 series is - for my little hands - the worst of the lot. I had to admit, though, that this one was pretty darned nice (for an auto, you understand.) I wouldn't have believed that a Beretta double-action trigger could get as light as this one and still ignite primers, but he reports it to be completely reliable.
When it rains, it pours, and Monday morning found me having brunch with AFGWWWTRA (who?!?), who was on a quick pass through the area. What did we talk about?
Cattle. Yes, cows. Well, there was also some talk about hunting, and of course the obligatory chat about how wonderful revolvers are, but cattle were the subject du jour.
Yes, this is a glamorous job alright!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Interestingly, for the first time in a long while he was actually teaching with one of his own guns as opposed to using a test/evaluation piece. The gun in question was a Langdon-prepped Beretta 92. I'm not a big fan of bottom-feeding handguns, as you know, and the 92 series is - for my little hands - the worst of the lot. I had to admit, though, that this one was pretty darned nice (for an auto, you understand.) I wouldn't have believed that a Beretta double-action trigger could get as light as this one and still ignite primers, but he reports it to be completely reliable.
When it rains, it pours, and Monday morning found me having brunch with AFGWWWTRA (who?!?), who was on a quick pass through the area. What did we talk about?
Cattle. Yes, cows. Well, there was also some talk about hunting, and of course the obligatory chat about how wonderful revolvers are, but cattle were the subject du jour.
Yes, this is a glamorous job alright!
-=[ Grant ]=-
|
A few snippets of my mind
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
For the 3rd time in 3 months, I'm
working on a 9mm revolver. It is the 3rd Ruger SP101 in a row that
has CrimsonTrace LaserGrips installed. Finally, it has the 3"
barrel.
All these "3"s are starting to become unnerving...I feel a bit like Rod Serling.
---
Michael Bane has a podcast at the top of his blog page these days, and it's pretty darned good. I'm hoping one of these days he'll see fit to make it available as a subscription through iTunes (or one of the other podcast sites) like every other podcast! (Hey, Michael, that's a hint! I listen to podcasts as I work, and having one that's not in the same place as the others interrupts my workflow!)
Seriously, though, it's a great listen. Check it out.
--
Funny how training manifests itself. We're remodeling the kitchen, and I'm making good use of my Bostitch nail gun. I've noticed that I keep my trigger finger straight along the side of the head when I'm not actually nailing, just as one should with a firearm. I guess that safety training really has been ingrained!
--
Speaking of safety: handling guns all day long, as I do, always has a certain amount of danger for accidents. That's why I don't allow any live ammunition in my shop, period. If you do any dry fire practice, follow that same rule: no live ammunition anywhere in the room where you're practicing, no exceptions!
--
-=[ Grant ]=-
All these "3"s are starting to become unnerving...I feel a bit like Rod Serling.
---
Michael Bane has a podcast at the top of his blog page these days, and it's pretty darned good. I'm hoping one of these days he'll see fit to make it available as a subscription through iTunes (or one of the other podcast sites) like every other podcast! (Hey, Michael, that's a hint! I listen to podcasts as I work, and having one that's not in the same place as the others interrupts my workflow!)
Seriously, though, it's a great listen. Check it out.
--
Funny how training manifests itself. We're remodeling the kitchen, and I'm making good use of my Bostitch nail gun. I've noticed that I keep my trigger finger straight along the side of the head when I'm not actually nailing, just as one should with a firearm. I guess that safety training really has been ingrained!
--
Speaking of safety: handling guns all day long, as I do, always has a certain amount of danger for accidents. That's why I don't allow any live ammunition in my shop, period. If you do any dry fire practice, follow that same rule: no live ammunition anywhere in the room where you're practicing, no exceptions!
--
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Folks, I don't make this stuff up...
Friday, May 11, 2007
The Friday Surprise articles
usually present themselves well in advance of the time I need them.
There's just so much interesting stuff going on in the world that I
usually have no problem finding a topic.
Not this week. It really shouldn't have surprised me, as this week has just been a disaster from the start, but it did annoy me. I just couldn't find anything interesting to write about.
Luckily my old nemesis, The Squirrel, went on another rampage.
-=[ Grant ]=-
Not this week. It really shouldn't have surprised me, as this week has just been a disaster from the start, but it did annoy me. I just couldn't find anything interesting to write about.
Luckily my old nemesis, The Squirrel, went on another rampage.
-=[ Grant ]=-
I'm playing catch-up today
Monday, May 07, 2007
Back from serving as assistant
teacher in a rifle class this weekend, and am just beat. My back
hurts; my chiropractor has been making a mint off me for the last
few months, as I seem to injure myself with greater regularity as I
age!
Students reported that ammunition (this class required 700 rounds) was extremely difficult to find, particularly in .223 (5.56mm, if you prefer.) It wasn't so much the price - although ammo prices are high, and getting higher by the minute. No, the major stumbling block was availability; they almost couldn't find what they needed in sufficient quantity for the course.
As a result, we saw a lot of "second tier" ammunition in this class: Fiocchi, Sellier & Bellot, and Wolf.
Luckily, no major ammunition problems presented themselves. In the past, S&B .223 has shown a disturbing tendency to lose the primer cups during ejection. Invariably, those little things would work themselves into the trigger mechanism, and tie up the action. This time we saw none of that. Perhaps S&B has gotten their act together (again)?
Fiocchi seemed to work fine, and the Wolf steel cased is....well, Wolf. I'd personally restrict its use to those guns (Communist-bloc) designed for steel cased ammunition, as the steel is rough on extractors designed for a diet of brass cases. If you insist on using it I'd recommend you keep a spare extractor on hand.
After working these classes for the past several years, and seeing all kinds of autoloading rifles used to shoot large amounts of ammunition over a weekend, I've come to a conclusion guaranteed to raise hackles amongst rifle debaters: the AK-47 series of rifles have proved to me that they aren't as reliable as scuttlebutt makes them out to be, and the AR-15 series of rifles aren't as fragile as that same scuttlebutt says they are. This particular class proved that again: two AKs experienced problems while all of the ARs ran flawlessly.
Boy, am I gonna get hate mail for that one!
(Final thought: if you have a Ruger Mini-14, use only Ruger magazines. Period. Nothing else will be reliable in that model. This opinion is validated in nearly every class, as it was again this time. Yeah, I know Ruger only makes 20-rounders; if you want more, get a different rifle!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Students reported that ammunition (this class required 700 rounds) was extremely difficult to find, particularly in .223 (5.56mm, if you prefer.) It wasn't so much the price - although ammo prices are high, and getting higher by the minute. No, the major stumbling block was availability; they almost couldn't find what they needed in sufficient quantity for the course.
As a result, we saw a lot of "second tier" ammunition in this class: Fiocchi, Sellier & Bellot, and Wolf.
Luckily, no major ammunition problems presented themselves. In the past, S&B .223 has shown a disturbing tendency to lose the primer cups during ejection. Invariably, those little things would work themselves into the trigger mechanism, and tie up the action. This time we saw none of that. Perhaps S&B has gotten their act together (again)?
Fiocchi seemed to work fine, and the Wolf steel cased is....well, Wolf. I'd personally restrict its use to those guns (Communist-bloc) designed for steel cased ammunition, as the steel is rough on extractors designed for a diet of brass cases. If you insist on using it I'd recommend you keep a spare extractor on hand.
After working these classes for the past several years, and seeing all kinds of autoloading rifles used to shoot large amounts of ammunition over a weekend, I've come to a conclusion guaranteed to raise hackles amongst rifle debaters: the AK-47 series of rifles have proved to me that they aren't as reliable as scuttlebutt makes them out to be, and the AR-15 series of rifles aren't as fragile as that same scuttlebutt says they are. This particular class proved that again: two AKs experienced problems while all of the ARs ran flawlessly.
Boy, am I gonna get hate mail for that one!
(Final thought: if you have a Ruger Mini-14, use only Ruger magazines. Period. Nothing else will be reliable in that model. This opinion is validated in nearly every class, as it was again this time. Yeah, I know Ruger only makes 20-rounders; if you want more, get a different rifle!)
-=[ Grant ]=-
Writer's block day
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
It's one of those days: I can't
come up with a decent topic. It's a combination of a lack of
creative urge, coupled with a ton of "real" work to be done. The
two conspire to give me keyboard constipation.
(Speaking of work - what's with all of the 9mm revolvers that are coming in lately? I've had a half-dozen in the last 4 months, with several more to come! And to think - I don't own one of my own. One of these days I'll have to look into remedying that oversight.)
Back to the non-topic: since I can't seem to do any "thinky", I'll do some "linky": Tam finally puts a revolver in her blog. Is the world as we know it coming to an end?
-=[ Grant ]=-
(Speaking of work - what's with all of the 9mm revolvers that are coming in lately? I've had a half-dozen in the last 4 months, with several more to come! And to think - I don't own one of my own. One of these days I'll have to look into remedying that oversight.)
Back to the non-topic: since I can't seem to do any "thinky", I'll do some "linky": Tam finally puts a revolver in her blog. Is the world as we know it coming to an end?
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Surveilling the squirrels
Friday, March 16, 2007
As you know, I've been on top of
the growing Squirrel Menace. I've alerted you to the pack of
squirrels
that kills dogs, and I've kept you up to date on
the squirrels
that take down planes. It's a tough job, but it's
important to the security of the free world!
Luckily for us all, there is finally one website that dares to expose the deeds of the most notorious squirrels on the planet. Scary Squirrel World: Profiles in Terror is where you can keep up on the most heinous of the squirrel conspirators.
Squirrel in top-secret SEAL training
I'll sleep easier knowing that they're one the job!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Luckily for us all, there is finally one website that dares to expose the deeds of the most notorious squirrels on the planet. Scary Squirrel World: Profiles in Terror is where you can keep up on the most heinous of the squirrel conspirators.
Squirrel in top-secret SEAL training
I'll sleep easier knowing that they're one the job!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Fun water tricks
Friday, February 16, 2007
Things you didn't know could be
done with water!
First, what happens when water hits a horizontal impeller being driven at high speeds? Patterns that look almost like solid glass!
More pictures of water polyhedra here.
What can you do with a waterfall controlled by a computer? Jeep Corporation figured it out!
-=[ Grant ]=-
First, what happens when water hits a horizontal impeller being driven at high speeds? Patterns that look almost like solid glass!
More pictures of water polyhedra here.
What can you do with a waterfall controlled by a computer? Jeep Corporation figured it out!
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: Dealing with doggy poo
Friday, November 10, 2006
Here in suburbia, everyone (save
for me) appears to have at least one dog - the latest fad amongst
the upper class, it seems. The trouble with having dogs in a
suburban area is that people take them for walks. When they are
taken for walks, they relieve themselves. When they relieve
themselves, they do it on
my lawn!
I'm tired of it, and now I have inspiration to tackle the problem - watch this video for a great tip on dealing with clueless dog owners.
Somehow, it fits right in with the recently completed election. I leave it to you to deduce the connection...
-=[ Grant ]=-
I'm tired of it, and now I have inspiration to tackle the problem - watch this video for a great tip on dealing with clueless dog owners.
Somehow, it fits right in with the recently completed election. I leave it to you to deduce the connection...
-=[ Grant ]=-
FRIDAY SURPRISE: In honor of the 13th
Friday, October 13, 2006
Since this is Friday the 13th, I
thought I'd share with you some link that are a little on the
"eery" side.
The first deals with the Battle of Los Angeles: did we fight extra-terrestrials in 1942?
Second, check out the Glore Psychiatric Museum: a weird exhibition of madness and how we deal with it.
Finally, take a listen to one of my very favorite podcasts: HomeTown Tales - "because every town has one."
Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
The first deals with the Battle of Los Angeles: did we fight extra-terrestrials in 1942?
Second, check out the Glore Psychiatric Museum: a weird exhibition of madness and how we deal with it.
Finally, take a listen to one of my very favorite podcasts: HomeTown Tales - "because every town has one."
Enjoy!
-=[ Grant ]=-
Everyone needs a hobby...
Monday, July 17, 2006