Monday, September 04, 2006

Running on Empty...

...after all day at the range filming a COWBOYS on shooting on the move with cowboy guns. Kinda cool, I think. I may do a SHOOTING GALLERY on a similar subject, to wit, using 19th Century technology to protect your 21st Century ass. I know Thunder Ranch ran a couple of cowboy self-defense classes, but none of that info really trickled into the mainstream, so I thought I might do some trickling of my own.

If I wasn't so tired — 3 AM was darned early this morning! — I'd probably opine about the unfortunate death of Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin. In truth, I never watched any of his shows...his voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but hey, in my continuing vein of honesty, if you play out there on the edges of the Known Universe, sooner or later you screw with something that screws you back. That is the Unmutable Law of Nature, which takes no prisoners and doesn't actually care whether you're a nice guy or Hannibal Lector.

If I may toss a couple of cents in from experience, each time you go out there to the edges of the K-U, you believe absolutely — at least, I believed absolutely — that it was a fresh throw of the dice, that the odds reset themselves to evensies for each new extreme experience. Except that they didn't, not really...with each new throw of the dice the odds shifted a little more to the House...you cut the edges a little closers, accepted margins a little finer, were just the tiniest bit slower to respond...but that was okay, because every toss of the dice was a new game, right? Odds are odds.

If you're lucky, you wake up in the middle of the night, sit right up in bed and reel from the notion that you are alive not because you are good at what you do, or faster than the average bear, or willing to train harder, or any of the myriad number of things that are under your control — although all those things may be true. Instead you realize that you are alive because the dice rolled your way a couple of times, but the game itself is rigged. You are going to lose.

Then again, I'm really tired, which makes it unlikely that I'll finish my ROBOTICS DEMYSTIFIED book tonight. Go read Austin Bay's far superior commentary on Mr. Irwin and ponder Leonard Cohen's profound words for the evening:
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was it Hunter S. Thompson who wrote something about jackrabbits and road running, just inches in front of the spinning tires of death?

I think it went something like "Once a jackrabbit gets addicted to road running, it's only a matter of time before he gets flattened."

Anonymous said...

Concerning cowboy self-defense classes. Maybe a brief comment on your blog about the best self-defense ammo for cowboy shooters who also want to use their guns for home defense such as .357 vs 45LC.

Michael Bane said...

RE: cowboy self-defense ammo...in truth, I'm pretty good with boring cowboy ammo like Winchester Cowboy as long as you're in the big bore arena.

In .45 Colt it's a 250-grain bullet @ 750 fps; .44 Special Cowboy is 240-gr @ 750 fps. .45 ACP ball, a proven manstopper, is 230 grains at 850 fps. I'd take .45 Colt or .44 Special lead cowboy ammo in a self-defense situation. In a perfect world, you might buy a box of SilverTips in either caliber and see where they print with your gun— I'm assuming that cowboy guns are sighted in for cowboy loads...heavier bullets going slower. I have a Cimarron Sheriff's Model .44 Special cowboy snubby, and I just keep it loaded with cowboy loads by the bedside when I'm on the road doing COWBOYS stuff. Don't think it's a problem. WALT...FRANK J....disagree...agree???

In .357, however, I suggest sticking to the proven 125-grain JHP loads. or the 145-grain Winchester SilverTips. Either one gets you home!

For years when I was young and poor, my .38-40 New Service Colt was my primary self-defense gun, with factory 180-grain JSPs at close to .41 Magnum velocities. I never felt undergunned with it and still wouldn't.

Not much experience with the .44-40, but I suspect my thoughts on the .45 Colt would apply.

Michael B

Anonymous said...

I had visit with Walt about a related subject some weeks ago. I believe in big bores ---- BUT I also believe in velocity because after all we are talking handguns. So, I've come to the conclusion after shooting a whole bunch of small criters you want a big bore and at least 1,000 fps of velocity for halfway decent results.

You know the kind where they don't run around complaining about it afterwards...

All The Best,
Frank W. James

Anonymous said...

You and Frank are both correct.
Frank's way, you just don't get to shoot them as much!

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