Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Good Morning, I Think!!

From this morning's Boston Herald:

Yesterday, while Texas Gov. Rick Perry was campaigning at the Iowa State Fair, a reporter from Politico.com asked him whether he was armed. Perry, a known gun owner and enthusiast, refused to answer the question.

“That’s why it’s called ‘concealed,’ ” Perry told the reporter.

Amen, brother! Interestingly enough, I then turned on morning TV and watched Fox spend 15 minutes savaging Rick Perry and the Tea Party. Man, this is going to be a bloodbath of a campaign!

Another interesting read that is not yet on the Internet if from IDPA's "Tactical Journal," where my friend Ted Murphy argues quite convincingly for the sport to allow hard-shell kneepads. IDPA has traditionally banned the hard-shell pads as gear an average person (not a Washington lobbyist, of course) would not wear on the street. The hard shell pads are also perceived as giving a competitive advantage to people willing to throw themselves into a kneeling position. Wow...if I remember really hard, I can remember being willing to throw myself into strange contortions for matches!

Now I'm paying for those contortions, assorted other stupid sports, marathons and ultramarathons, etc. My knees are shot. Oh well, I never thought any of that cool stuff was going to be free! TINSTAAFL! After my last marathon, Big Sur, a few years ago, I got the exciting news that both my knees would eventually have to be replaced. "When?" I logically asked. "How are you with pain?" my knee guy answered. So I've spent the last 5 or 6 years experimenting with various and sundry weird gooey stuff being injected into my knees every 12 months or so, and when that failed eating Celebrex like popcorn. As long as I bicycle a lot, the knees don't hurt too bad. The SHOT Show marathon on concrete floors, however, is a laff riot!

I mention this because at GUNSITE a few months back I got cute and decided that since my knees were on a pretty good roll (I'd forgotten my hard-shells), I'd do all the kneeling positions. Bad plan, Michael-san! Paid for that Mr. Stupid act!

In fact, one of the reasons I stopped shooting some of the more aggressive shooting sports was the very real fear that it might push my knees to the replacement point. I heard from my pal Dick Henie, the master gunsmith, yesterday and he regaled me with stories of his newly replaced knee (Knee #2 will be replaced after SHOT). Getting old isn't for sissies!

Frankly, when I shoot the IDPA Worlds (as my score will not be recorded or posted and I am not eligible for prizes, etc.) I will probably seek the Match Director's permission to use hard-shells under long pants. I think Ted makes a lot of sense on this. I'm perfectly willing to sacrifice my knees in a Real World encounter, but not for a match score.

I see that Charter Arms has finally rolled out its .40 S&W snubbie revolver, the pit bull. On its face, it's a pretty good idea, given CCW carries who favor the .40 S&W cartridge -- obviously not me -- a snub reviler as a pocket option. It'll be interesting to see if the Pit Bull takes off. There have been several runs at small frame rimless cartridge revolver, and they generally generated more flash than heat, but most of those have been in 9mm.

I also see that powerhouse Beretta is getting into the super lucrative mini-9mm sweepstakes. The Beretta Nano is a striker-fired (a first for Beretta), polymer-framed single stack mini-9mm,, although Beretta was quick to say the platform would also carry a .40 S&W. I have to say I've been really lax over the years in spending time with Beretta's handgun products outside the ubiquitous 92 in various flavors. I'm going to make a concerted effort to change that. No word on when the Nano will be available.

16 comments:

Windy Wilson said...

That shows that Rick Perry is smart enough to be President. His response avoids any accusation of pointing his weapon at anyone.

NotClauswitz said...

Strange that FOX would savage him, I thought they were part of the Great Rightwing Conspiracy? I say go Charter Arms! The S&W .40 is a very common caliber and the lack of a wheelgun platform seems obvious in retrospect.

DamDoc said...

I had to quit running and bought a good elyptical machine... no problems since.. but i am only 57... loosing weight helps too.. (22 pounds in 11weeks on weightwatchersformen.com .. it works if you have a little disipline).. but, we are just postponing the inevitable!

DamDoc said...

just heard that NRA supported one of the Democrats in the Wisconsin recall vote today... WTF??????

Dillonhelp said...

Ask Rob Leatham how his recent TKRs worked for him!

"gunner" said...

good answer governor! i haven't settled on a candidate choice yet, except for "anybody who is not obama or his clone" but it would be amusing to see the secret service's reaction to their boss joining them on a range day. as well it would be amusing too seeing some of the "world leaders" he'd have to deal with wondering if he's personally armed when they think about getting fiesty.

Anonymous said...

Good for Perry, Shame on Fox !
The 60's would have been a lot different if Khrushchev and Kennedy had gone eye ball to muzzle over Cuba.
Tom B.

Metalchemist said...

Remember the song "Smiling Faces"?
Here are the lyrics.
http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_undisputed_truth/smiling_faces_sometimes.html

If you look into Perry's past you'll find out...
1) He was a Democrat (turned Republicrat)
2) He was Al Gores campaign manager in Texas.
3) He's all about the NAFTA super highway, as well as turning highways into toll roads. Just look at Texas.
4)He's pushed carbon taxes on Texans.
5) He's a Globalist in disguise.
6)Ever hear of "The Builderburg group"?
Research it. The mockingbird media say's it dosen't exist....
But it does. Rick Perry was summoned there this year (2010), as was Obaaaaama and "Heir" Clinton during their campaigning (remember when all the MSM reporters were hauled onto air farce 1. Obaaaaama and Clinton were no shows onboard, and the media were basicly shanghaied. Then the story was they (Obaaaama and Clinton) wanted to have a private meeting....
They were attending The Builderburg meeting in Chantilly Virginia. Shortly after Clinton stopped slamming Obaaaaama and basicly stopped campaigning against him.....You see they are ALL corrupt and DO NOT address the issues that are really affecting this country.
The turth is really out there, as well as being "outthere" (stranger than fiction.)
The question is, "are you willing to accept the truth?"

The time to wake up is NOW.
Don't be decieved by the controlled media.

Semper Peratus !
Acta Non Verba!

Metalchemist said...

My mistake it wasn't air farce 1.
It was a chartered jet.

nj_larry said...

Ron Paul, Karl Rove, and the Fox "almost news" channel will try to destroy Rick Perry and Michell Bachman as they did to Palin. It is going to be a LOooooong year to the elections.

Right now Barry is on his tour of the Midwest in his armored bus. Two MILLION OF OUR DOLLARS for the pair. Of course you know where the bus was made? Canada! And this is his JOBS tour !!...Just it wasn't AMERICAN JOBS...The laugh is on us.

MikeO said...

The Beretta Nano is interesting. Wonder if this means a compact and full size striker fired gun are on the way from Beretta?

"gunner" said...

you mean "the magical misery tour" in which the bus gets planed in by an air force jet, the cake boy gets off air force one, rides around for an hour or so,speechifies to a rent-a-crowd then hops back on the big bird, while the bus gets loaded on the c-41 to repeat at the next stop as "da prez" relaxes from the road with a drink or two, and we get to pay all the bills.

ExurbanKevin said...

In a real-world encounter you won't have an RO behind you yelling "COVER!" if you step into the line of fire.

USPSA, 3 Gun, IDPA are all games. The minute you keep track of the score and the time, it's a game. The only question is, what rules are you going to have for your game?

Dave S. said...

""just heard that NRA supported one of the Democrats in the Wisconsin recall vote today... WTF??????"

What is his record on gun rights?

Why do shooters think the NRA is a Republican/conservative organization? It is a gun rights organization. If Lucifer himself was good on guns and was running for county dog catcher against a gun-rights-squishy Republican, the NRA would have to support that ol' Devil. As Nathan Arizona would say, that's their whole damn raison d'ete.

Nick said...

Michael,
You should look at partial knee replacements. Less invasive, less rehab etc. My Mom had them done in Denver in October of 06 and was climbing into a deer stand 6 weeks later. We are from TX but went to Denver to have it done. I can give the docs name if you email me. (don't want to splash it everywhere)

Since then my aunt and two friends Mom's had it done as well. Way less downtime and worked great for all of them.

Be Well.

Durga said...

Mike, although it's always desirable to put off surgery if you can, the patients I've talked to who've had knee replacements always say, "I wish I'd done it 10 years ago".