Balancing Work and...Work

I have to admit it's gotten harder to blog while getting the new SHOOTING GALLERY site up and running...you spend 5 hours or so a day on the Internet and when you're done, it's hard to spend a another hour in my "free" time. Both Walt Rauch and Patrick Sweeney have been lifesavers, contributing to the new site. THANKS, guys!

I did a short podcast yesterday, but the sound levels still aren't where they need to be. Supposedly, if I pony up another grand or so for hardware, I can "easily" remedy this situation. Yeah, right! I'm going to fiddle with it again today and see if I can get it good enough to post...it's on shotguns, the Internet and misinformation, BTW.

I also waqnt to finish fitting a stainless steel frame to Thumper, my oldest Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum. I fit a Belt Mountain locking basepin yesterday — won't back out under heavy recoil.

I have had a brief change of direction, though. I was thinking of using Thumper as a field gun, something with a little more authority than my current knockaround gun, a Bowen .30 Carbine Blackhawk for when I'm up in bear country. Given that mission, I started thinkng that a lightweight aluminum frame makes more sense. The steel frame is substantially heavier. Ditto for the ejector rod housing...keep the stockaluminum rather than the reflex change to steel.

The reason for the frame change-a-roonie is that I actively dislike the "Dragoon" frame that Bill Ruger slapped onto the New Model Super Blackhawks. The grip is both too big for my hand and that straight-back Dragoon trigger guard will occasionally pop my knuckles in heavy recoil.

Old Super Blackhawks are, to me, one of the greatest values of all used guns. The damn things are practically indestructable, will take heavy loads, are as accurate as all get-out and can be found in great shape for under $300. When I used to answer questions about guns for magazines and websites, the most frequent question was always "I have an 'X' and I want to load it up to MAGNUM VELOCITIES...which powder should I use?" My answer was always this: Ya wanna Magnum, go buy a Magnum. The $300 bucks you spend on a Super Blackhawk will pay for itself by keeping metal scrap out of your face.