Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to SHOT We Go...

Blogger's been down, but — not surprisingly — my plane is delayed. I will drag my sad and pathetic self into Orlando sometime this PM; then tomorrow go out to the Orange Country Polcie Range and lob a bunch of rounds down range.

Which, BTW, is the present leader for the name of my "Internet" show, DOWN RANGE WITH MICHAEL BANE. Sounds kinda catchy...I'll be floating it around the Press Room at SHOT to see how it floats.

I got an interesting e-mail from Walt Rauch after I posted that I'd be carrying a snubbie to Orlando. Walt got "caught out" after 9-11 caused all flights to be cancelled. He had to drive across the country with his J-frame and a baby Glock. As a result of that experience, Walt now only travels with full-sized guns:

Consider this though, what handgun would you want to have if you had to find your way home after another 9-11?
[...]
A full-sized gun is a pain as it takes up space and adds weight to my bag and I never carry it at the other end of the trip - but damn it! - I know I'll have a full sized handgun to work with if needed!

I gave it some thought and decided he was right. Instead of one of the snubs, I packed the SIG 225, my regular carry gun, along with four mags and an extra box of Hornady 124-gr JHPs I had lying around the gun room. So there. BTW, Walt's also carrying a SIG 225 to the Sunshine State...I know SIG purely hates to hear me say this, but the now-discontinued 225 has become, in effect, the thinking person's 9mm. It's a single stack (8-round mags), conceals easily, shoots like a dream and is reliable as dirt. The only significant drawback for me is the lack of Crimson Trace Laser Grips for a discontinued gun. I may even suck it up and try a 239...as I mentioned months ago, Diane Nichol likes hers.

A lot depends on how much I like the small carry version of the 220 .45, which I should be shooting and videoing tomorrow.

In the meantime, I continue to suffer piteously from the back muscle I mortally offended while shoveling — or should I say continuing to shovel — ALL THAT FRIGGIN' SNOW! It hurts so bad I'm having fantasies about Vicoden...hell, forget Vicoden...let's go straight to morphine, or one of those spinal blocks they give pregnant women who are NOT married to Tom Cruise! I suppose it's too late to reserve a camel to carry me around the Orlando Convention Center.

I'll post as much as I can...hopefully, I'll be able to lay my hands on either a toolroom prototype or the working drawings for UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES' John Ross' dream S&W .500 Magnum...I'll line one up to give away later this year. I'll also go annoy Bob Morrison at Taurus about the .223 pistol and his "tickle and tease" about Taurus producing a new Broomhandle Mauser...the ultimate home defense gun, you ask me!

That's about enough of this...I've gotta go buy a couple of thousand Advils! Tally-HO!