Kansas City Here I Come...

...actually, here I am! On a morning after the successful passing of Senate S-397, who in Gun World isn't breathing a sigh of relief! More than $200 million in ten years, defending against BULLSHIT lawsuits...that money could have gone into R&D, or dividends back to stockholders, or, heck, ammunition. That money came straight out of our pockets!

THANK YOU to the National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sports Foundation! Remember, NSSF's Heritage Fund financed our defense of the lawsuits and lead attorney Larry Keane never lost. The NRA was relentless — exactly what I pay them to be.

To quote the old Jefferson Starship: "Look what's happening on the street/Got a revolution/Got a revolution!"

I say now's an excellent time to CONSOLIDATE OUR GAINS and move forward to GRIND THE BOGUS ANTIGUN MOVEMENT into the dirt of history.

BTW, got into KC at midnight last night and ran into SHOOTING GALLERY fans, the airport cops! Man, I will NEVER get used to how cool that is!

Off to the gun show...and, no, I won't be shopping...will I?????

Paging Harrison Ford!

I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so

The Vapors
Turning Japanese

This from the BBC:

Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a "female" android called Repliee Q1.

She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner.

She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.

[...]

"Repliee Q1 can interact with people. It can respond to people touching it. It's very satisfying, although we obviously have a long way to go yet."

Well, what can I say, except to note that all across America men are right now checking their credit card balances..."No, really, sweetheart, she vacuums and she takes out the garbage! ...Oh, she may look 16, but she's no different that the dishwasher...In fact, she is the dishwasher!...No, no, she was built that way...I asked if they had a model with smaller...you know...eyes, but they said that cost extra...Really..."

Hump Day 24 Hours At Home...

Meanwhile, in transit...

• Briefly, I had a chance to shot one of the pre-production versions of U.S. Firearms' 1910 Commercial 1911 replica. This is a beautiful gun! Amazing finish, exactly duplicating what you might have gotten from Colt in 1910 (I've seen one of the few original 1910 Commercial Colts). I love the bright bluing on the safety, slide stop, etc. — period correct. I was so impressed with this gun that I decided to do a SHOOTING GALLERY episode on U.S. Firearms, which is committed to producing letter-perfect replicas of American historic guns manufactured entirely in the United States. This is a must-have for 1911 fanatics! Remember, y•ou heard it here first...

• A little singing cherub tells me that the military specs for the new Army handgun will probably be delayed a month or so. Soounds to me like the fun will begin in the late fall. The worldwide firearms industry is really gearing up for this one — I'm getting reports of some really interestng hardware being cranked up. I'm filming as much as can — not surprisingly, I'm under a bunch of non-disclose/information embargos...but you're going to be impressed!

• In the interest of fair and accurate reporting [LOL!], Monday we were shootiing a bunch of 1911s up in Fremont, NE, at Bill Laughridge's Cylinder & Slide Shop. Laughridge, in addition to being the 2005 Pistolsmith of the Year, once said in print that I should be banned by federal law from owning a Dremel tool. We had a plethora of current manufacuted 1911s, so we hauled 'em out to the Elkhorn Rifle Range to use up some Winchester ammo. Here's the surprise...the 1911 I shot best? An relatively inexpensive Charles Daly Empire model. Suprised the hell out of me. This is a very nice 1911...fit and finish are on par with any of the product out there. I asked Laughridge, who's probably second only to John Browning in number of 1911s dinked, if he'd had a chance to work on any of the Phillipine-made Charles Daly, and he said yes and that he didn't have a thing to complain about with the guns. LISTEN UP all you 1911 gunbloggers! The Charles Daly 1911s look like a major BEST BUY to me!

• This weekend, I'm headed for the big antique arms show in Kanasa City. My goal is to survive the two days of the show with my credit card balance intact! I sincerely hope I don;t see a reasonably priced .44 S&W Hand-Ejector...or a really nice S&W 1917 Army .45...or a bargain basement S&W .38/.44 Outdoorsman...or...well, you get the picture!

Why Parrots Should Have The Vote...

I've always thought my parrots — Ripley, the African Gray; Cleo, the blue-and-gold macaw and Bishop, the big greenwing macaw — should have the vote, since they're clearly smarter than anyone in the magazine business, virtually all of the Democrats I've ever met and at least one sitting Supreme Court Justice.

Here's more proof, from Wired:

Call him a birdbrain if you must; he'll probably take it as a compliment. This is because Alex, an African gray parrot, is a prime example of birds' abilities to exhibit higher brain functions than humans usually give them credit for.

For the past 28 years, Alex has been under the care and tutelage of Irene Pepperberg, an adjunct associate professor of psychology at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Pepperberg, who grew up with common budgerigar parakeets as company, began her work after seeing early episodes of Nova that showed language work performed with other types of animals.

[...]

But perhaps the most intriguing thing is what Alex seems to have taught himself, which Pepperberg calls a "zero-like concept." Humans don't usually understand the concept of zero until they're several years old, and Pepperberg has never heard of a bird having a similar comprehension.

That's right...while your yellow lab was agonizing over the concept of "fetch the ball" and your kitty-kat was struggling with "finding the litterbox," Alex the parrot was discovering the concept of zero.

We'll Always Have Paris...

Rodney Crowell originally wrote these words about driving legend Richard Petty, but I think they're particularly apt this morning:

So what can you say 'bout a man built for speed?
The Master Mechanic gave you what you need
Survival on instinct
A heart that don't bleed
And a winning tradition of a vanishing breed...

I got up early this morning to watch Lance Armstrong ride into Paris, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Damned if I didn't tear up, too.

I raced with Lance once...sort of...at a sprint triathlon championship down in the Florida Keys. I had the best race of my life, my bike speed average was more than 26 mph. Of course, Lance and the other pros finished in a different Geologic Era than we age-groupers. As I got to the finish line, there was Lance, shaking hands and congratulating us as we came in. Shocked the hell out of us...usually, the pros were long gone by the tme we came it, with their massage therapists or on the way out of town to the next race. We always understood — we were just playing, but for those guys, it was for real, a job.

"Hell of a job,"Lance told me as I crossed. Thank you, I said.

Cancer has writ large across my life. And it's still writing, through the lives of people I love. When I think about cancer these days, I don't see green and yellow lines etched across a life monitor, or hear the steady rhythmic beat of a respirator or smell the antiseptic stink of intensive care. I see Lance Armstrong riding into Paris.

Hell of a job, Lance. Thank you again.

Serious Fitz!

I'm dead tired in my hotel room, but I had to tell you guys this story.

Remember I bought that Fitz Special last week? So we're filming with Mike Janich today, who collaborated with Colonel Rex Applegate on his last book, and Janich whips out a guncase. "Check this out," he says, handing me a really slick Fitz Special — a .45 Colt New Service cut to a 2-inch barrel, trigger guard cut in half, bobbed hammer, reshaped front sight, elephant ivory grips fitted with the proper Colt medallions.

That is, I say, a really nice Fitz!

Mike says, "Ready the engraving."

The sideplate is engraved "To Rex; From Fitz."

"Holy crap," I said. "Is this the gun J.H, Fitzgerald built for Rex Applegate before World War Two?"

Yep indeedy — it's not A Fitz Special, it's THE Fitz Special.

Is this an example of synchronicity?????

Phasers Set To Barbecue!!!

This from C/Net Tech News:

Riot control ray gun worries scientists

Scientists are questioning the safety of a Star Wars-style riot control ray gun due to be deployed in Iraq next year.

The Active Denial System weapon, classified as "less lethal" by the Pentagon, fires a 95GHz microwave beam at rioters to cause heating and intolerable pain in less than five seconds.

The discomfort is designed to prompt people caught in the microwave beam to move away from it, thereby allowing riot-control personnel to break up and manage a crowd.

But New Scientist magazine reported Wednesday that during tests carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, participants playing the part of rioters were told to remove glasses and contact lenses to protect their eyes.

I'm thinking that's actually a plus! Mount a big loudspeaker and play Metallica. When the Metallica stops and a man loudly suggests that you remove your glasses, pants with metallic zippers, heart pacemakers and any plates in your head, you know you're in the soup — literally!

Say what you will, this will never replace the 1911!

OTOH, we're talking the most useful picnic accessory since the portable refrigerator!

Blistering Hot Wednesday

it was the hottest July day in Denver history — like, 300 degrees, or soemthing like that. I could tell you about my physical this morning...NAWWWWWWWWWW! Instead I'll tell you why I should NEVER be allowed in gun stores. I stopped by this store to sell something, a set of really beautiful Nill Grips for a SIG that were just too fat for my hands. Nill grips are seriously expensive, and this gun store guy has been after me for months to sell the grips (since I was talking a mega-deal). So I dropped off the grips, and...before...I...could...get...out...of...the...store, the guys says, "Say Bane, you ever seen one of these?"

He fished around and comes up with a Fitz-ized 1917 S&W .45 ACP. I've seen a bunch of gnawed-up S&Ws — gnawed up a few myself. The Ugliest Gun In The World is a bastardized 1917. This, however, was one of the best Fitz Specials I've ever seen — the barrel had been cut off at the end of the ejection rod and professionally recrowned...call it a 3-inch barrel. A correct front sight had been fitted VERY professionally, and the grip frame rounded and fitted with custom rosewood grips. It was fitted with a spurless hammer and a short-stroke action (looks a lot the work from the 'smiths at Gun Craft in Ruskin, FL, who used to specialize in putting PPC actions on N-frame Smiths). It's parkerized, which is period correct but ugly.

Okay, LAYAWAY, since I'm not made of money. How could I pass up a professionally done Fitz Special? What else could I have done? Anything else WOULD HAVE BEEN WRONG!

How much do you want for the grips, the guy asked.

Take if off the FITZ, I replied...

Michael is BORED!

Yes, it's Tuesday and I'm bored. I thought it might be theraputic to touch on those things that are boring me to tears today:

• Judith Miller doing time. As a professional journalist, there was a time when I believed in reporter "shield laws" — laws to protect reporters who chose not to reveal confidential sources — the way television evangelists with big hair believe in Jesus and Brylcream ("A little dab'll do ya!"). I've come 180 degress on this one. Journalists are civilians, no different from people who are not reporters. Yes, a free press is incredibly important, but you can have a free press without offering legal protection to people who are mouthpieces for various and sundry parties with axes to grind. Confession time: I have used unnamed sources numerous times in stories. I can't think of a single time when the unnamed source was "make or break" for the story.
• Cherubs and seraphim...ah, you say, Bane you miserable hypocrite! You use unnamed sources routinely in this blog! What I do is pass along, for lack of a better word, gossip. Scurrilous, sleazy, opinionated gossip. That the vast majority of it is true is just a happy coincidence. I am not a newsgathering organization...which brings me to the second thing that's boring me to tears, "citizen journalists," the blogoshoere's increasing lust for legitimacy. You could, as one empassioned email to me read, be a journalist, a reporter, out there reporting on important things just like CNN or the NYT! Yeah well, I've been a reporter for my entire adult life; the first check I received for covering an event was in 1968. We don't need more reporters; we need more independent voices! Say what you will, but "objective journalism" has fundamental limitations; it on its own will not yield accurate coverage of events, trends, etc. Don't believe me? Then explain how the American press, easily the most objective, most responsible press corp in the world, could have screwed up so badly on guns.
• Teachers who sleep with their students. Okay, already! I saw the David Lee Roth video back in the 1980s. There is a measurable difference between a kid of eight years old and a kid of, say, 14 or 15 — especially a male kid. I know, because I used to be one. I recall a teacher I had when I was, like, 15, who'd come into class, hike up her skirt and say, "Look, class, I got a run in my stockings!" All of us poor fragile young males spent the rest of the day having hot flashes...somehow, miraculously, we survived this blistering sexual innuendo unscathed! Yeah, fire 'em and, if sufficiently eggregious, put 'em in jail...but SHUT UP about it! Snore nod on the whole thing! And teachers, go find a different way to get your 15 minutes!

Well, I gotta go finish a book proposal!

Some notes on the Remington pump .223

Just a couple of notes on the Remington 7615 pump .223. I'm a big fan of the rifle because I think police need the additional firepower afforded by a carbine, and the 7615's design similarity to a Remington 870, the uber-police shotgun for the last, like, three centuries, gives that gun a huge advantage in today's training environment.

In an ideal world, I would heartily suggest Thompsons in 10mm backed with 12 gauge 870s for most cops. It's hard for me to imagine an urban situation (short of War of the Worlds) that couldn't be resolved with that combo.

More Handicapping...

Meanwhile, back at an older post...

H&K...Pros — Yes, the Big Doggie. There are rumors all over the biz that H-K is driving the push for a new handgun. H-K hired ace 1911 gunsmith and Special Forces guy Larry Vickers to help in the development of a new sorta-1911 pistol. H-K execs have lunch with Beltway power brokers on a daily basis. They've been developing the "next generation" of American battle rifles for about 100 years. Their guns have the reliability of 1962 Volkswagens...they just keep going and going and going and...etc. They build the SOCOM .45 for various and sundry SF units. Tom Cruise uses an H-K in "Collateral." The MP-5 subgun has been the definitive machinegun for decades and may be one of the finest military weapons since John Browning started tinkering. Cons — God help me, but their handguns suck. They have the ergonomics of the black bird statue in "The Maltese Falcon" — big, black, heavy and awkward. As one Special Forces heavyweight told me, the only know useage of the H-K SOCOM .45 gun, which, in fact, weighs the same as a 1962 Volkswagen, is in Bruce Willis movies. "Sucker needs wheels!" he told me. The high bore line in most H-K pistols makes them a bitch to shoot — it took Tom Cruise 30,000 live rounds to get up to speed for that speed rock sequence in "Collateral." A 1911, 500 rounds and California LEO instructor Mike Dalton could have done the trick in an afternoon. H-K failed to renew their decades-long R&D contract with Bruce Gray, arguably the best technical 1911 mechanic in America, just before they signed on Vickers. Despite zillions of leaks to the contrary, the H-K XM-8 is NOT a slam-dunk for the new military rifle. (and my little cherubs and seraphim tell me that the various 6.8 versions of the existing M-4 system seem to have the inside track over the more exotic XM-8) New H-K buzzguns to replace the aging MP-5 system have not met with the unqualified success of their predecessor. Expensive? HA! H-K keychains cost more than many perfectly adequate handguns.

Here's the Cliff Notes version...H-K needs a home run, which coming up with the new military pistol would certainly be. And they have the Rolodex to pull it off. SIG has already been through one set of trials and passed, they know how to develop guns, and they're relentlessly pursuing — and winning — government contracts. S&W would kill to be a spoiler in this game, and as readers have noted hiring Ernie Langdon, late of Beretta, SIG and the Marine Expeditionary Forces, was a good move. Don't rule out Mr. Glock's machine, especially with the Austrians getting ready to break ground on an American factory (Whoops! Did I say that outloud????). And Ruger, Springfield and Kimber are just waiting in the wings.

Remember, as the great gambler once said, the lion may indeed lay down with the lamb, but that's not the way to bet! If I was calling my bookie, here's what I think he'd tell me:

H-K even money
SIG 2-to-1 odds
Glock 3-to-1 odds
S&W 5-to-1
Ruger 10-to-1
Springfield 10-to-1
Kimber 20-to-1

Summer's Almost Gone...

Morning found us calmly unaware
Noon burn gold into our hair
At night we sailed the laughin' sea
When summer's gone
Where will we be?
— Jim Morrison

At the very least, I owe you an explanation for my absence of blogging. Twofold — I'm on the road all of July filming, and it is brutal. We did four shows in a row in Califiornia this week, 12 hour shooting days in 106-degree heat. Can't say that I'm big on writing when I finally stumble back to the hotel room!

Secondly, and more importantly, there are some pretty serious things going on in my personal life right now, and those things absolutely require all my attention. In an effort to do that, I've shifted my travel schedule so I'm constantly coming back home for a day, day and a half. I am profoundly mentally and spiritually exhausted, and even though I've pretty much written every day since, like 1972, I find myself looking at a blank screeen with nothing to say.

Things will get better, I have faith.

A quick summary of the USFS WAR FRONT:

• The Second Amendment Foundation is finding evidence of a widespread US Forest Service conspiracy to close shooting and hunting areas, verifying my gut feelings! It appears that because of the budget required and the lead time necessary for collateral material (such as metal signs) that this was approved at a very high level, probably inside the Beltway.

• Forest Service shills are now admitting that the legal basis for their antigun attacks is the redefining of "roads" as "occupied areas." Amazingly, this redefinition was apparently done at an administrative level; that is, nobody asked the attorneys about the legal implications of antigun advocates deciding to make laws on their own!

• There are so many roads on USFS land in the West that the ruling effectively ends shooting on most USFS land; there is no exemption in this ruling for hunting, and USFS has issued no statement reaffirming the right to hunt.

• Apparently, the USFS actions have ended hunting for disabled/challenged hunters on USFS land. Those hunters were, by law, allowed to hunt from roads. The new ruling flatly ends that right.

To summarize, as an equestrian guy told me Wednesday, USFS sees the national forests as "their private parks, and only they have the right to say who comes to visit." My friends, they do not want us pesky shooters and hunters as visitors! As I've said earlier, NO COOPERATION WITH USFS RANGERS until this is settled.

On the GUN FRONT:

• I received my Ugly Gun holster from Rusty Sherrick...it is brilliantly executed and one of the finest crafted holsters I've ever seen! What amazes me is that he was able to translate my rambling description of what I wanted into fine horsehide. It's a vertical belt holster for a 6-inch 1955/1917 .45 ACP S&W revolver. I conceived the holster both for field carry and for ICORE/USPSA revolver competition, which mandates stability on the belt, the ability to easily reholster the gun and a covered trigger guard.

Rusty addessed the stability issue by using his double loop system — a belt tunnel on the holster and a second belt loop to the rear of the holster. The result is that the weight of a heavy gun is distributed along the belt. The holster extends about half an inch above the fat .45 cylinder and is just tight enough to retain the gun but quickly release on a clean draw. There's a reinforced horsehide band to stabilize the opening of the holster and to facilitate reholstering, and while the trigger guard is covered the holster is cut away to allow a full hand on the grip.

This is one of the finest holsters I own! I can't recommend Rusty enough.

• I just received one of the new Taurus single action Gaucho cowboy revolvers. I haven't shot it yet, but the fit, feel and finish is excellent, on par with anything currently available and certainly the equal (or better) of the zillions of Italian clones out there. Mine's in .45 Colt; I'm hoping to round up a couple of the .357 Gauchos to use in cowboy competition.

In other stupid news:

• I ground through 75 miles of the Triple Bypass bicycle ride last weekend, including 11,140 foot Juniper Pass and 11,910 Loveland Pass. I bailed on the lower Vail Pass, which was part of my game plan. All in all, I'm happy with the ride — it hurt, but in some sort of sick way it was fun. My Sweetie zipped right through the whole 120 miles, whipping up the three passes like a rocket!

Thanks for putting up with my sporatic posts!

Handicapping the Big Guys

I spent a bunch of time yesterday on the phone setting up several SHOOTING GALLERY episodes, and it gave me a chance to get a feel for the buzz around the anticipated new sidearm contract for the U.S. military. I thought it might be fun this morning to handicap some of the companies who will be major players should the Trials materialize. In no particular order: GLOCK — Pros...the most widely issued military sidearm on earth; the weapon of choice for the rank and file of American law enforcement; a long-proven reputation for indestructability; the Glock "safe-action" trigger; price. Cons...despite a huge American presence, still a European company; Glock .45s haven't shared in the legendary reputation of the 9mm and .40s; lack of an external safety, which has typically been a military requirement on large purchases.
KIMBER — Pros...the gold standard for 1911s; choice of Marine Expeditionary group, LADP SWAT, etc.; an American success story; ability to quickly turn around custom models; aluminum and polymer framed models. Cons...builds "traditional" 1911s with single-action trigger; no alternative trigger designs.
SIGARMS — Pros...the 226 9mm was the only gun other than Beretta to pass the military trials in the mid-1980s; issue gun for SEALs, Coast Guard, Homeland Security, Texas Rangers, etc.; arguably the most reliable, durable gun on the planet; has one of the best .45 single stacks — the 220 — ever made; multiple trigger options. Cons...expensive expensive expensive...the reason they lost the military contract last time around; early versions of SIG's 1911, the GSR, was perceived as not to SIG standards; as with Glock, at heart a European company.
RUGER — Pros...a dark horse, but Ruger is the American manufacturing powerhouse; 5000-gun Army contract that has been, according to my cherubs and seraphim, a big success; a reputation for building "tanks;" new P345 .45 has been big hit with civilians and cops; the only American manufacturer who can run with Glock in terms of price. Cons...relatively unknown in military circles; lacks the big bucks "military consultants" who broker these deals.
SMITH & WESSON — Pros...the S&W Performance Center, the best turbo-speed R&D development facility in the business...a highly regarded 1911 that has steadily chipped away at Kimber's dominence of the market; a variety of different "platforms" that can carry a .45 single stack gun; an American company. Cons...at various times, issues with qaulity; a recent series of corporate upheavals and missteps.
SPRINGFIELD ARMORY — Pros...the XD, Springfield's re-spin of the Croation HS-2000, has been a huge success; a veteran 1911 manufacturer, including the TRP-PRO, the FBI contract pistol; makers of the SOCOM 16 MIA rifle — the gun most American special team guys in Iraq wish they had. Cons...some corporate uncertainty in the distant past; off-shore manufacturing; occasional quality issues on lower end guns.
HECKLER & KOCH — Pros...the 800 POUND GORILLA, the undisputed front-runner.

Handicapping the Big Players

I spent a bunch of time yesterday on the phone setting up several SHOOTING GALLERY episodes, and it gave me a chance to get a feel for the buzz around the anticipated new sidearm contract for the U.S. military. I thought it might be fun this morning to handicap some of the companies who will be major players should the Trials materialize. In no particular order: GLOCK — Pros...the most widely issued military sidearm on earth; the weapon of choice for the rank and file of American law enforcement; a long-proven reputation for indestructability; the Glock "safe-action" trigger; price. Cons...despite a huge American presence, still a European company; Glock .45s haven't shared in the legendary reputation of the 9mm and .40s; lack of an external safety, which has typically been a military requirement on large purchases.
KIMBER — Pros...the gold standard for 1911s; choice of Marine Expeditionary group, LADP SWAT, etc.; an American success story; ability to quickly turn around custom models; aluminum and polymer framed models. Cons...builds "traditional" 1911s with single-action trigger; no alternative trigger designs.
SIGARMS — Pros...the 226 9mm was the only gun other than Beretta to pass the military trials in the mid-1980s; issue gun for SEALs, Coast Guard, Homeland Security, Texas Rangers, etc.; arguably the most reliable, durable gun on the planet; has one of the best .45 single stacks — the 220 — ever made; multiple trigger options. Cons...expensive expensive expensive...the reason they lost the military contract last time around; early versions of SIG's 1911, the GSR, was perceived as not to SIG standards; as with Glock, at heart a European company.
RUGER — Pros...a dark horse, but Ruger is the American manufacturing powerhouse; 5000-gun Army contract that has been, according to my cherubs and seraphim, a big success; a reputation for building "tanks;" new P345 .45 has been big hit with civilians and cops; the only American manufacturer who can run with Glock in terms of price. Cons...relatively unknown in military circles; lacks the big bucks "military consultants" who broker these deals.
SMITH & WESSON — Pros...the S&W Performance Center, the best turbo-speed R&D development facility in the business...a highly regarded 1911 that has steadily chipped away at Kimber's dominence of the market; a variety of different "platforms" that can carry a .45 single stack gun; an American company. Cons...at various times, issues with qaulity; a recent series of corporate upheavals and missteps.
SPRINGFIELD ARMORY — Pros...the XD, Springfield's re-spin of the Croation HS-2000, has been a huge success; a veteran 1911 manufacturer, including the TRP-PRO, the FBI contract pistol; makers of the SOCOM 16 MIA rifle — the gun most American special team guys in Iraq wish they had. Cons...some corporate uncertainty in the distant past; off-shore manufacturing; occasional quality issues on lower end guns.
HECKLER & KOCH — Pros...the 800 POUND GORILLA, the undisputed front-runner; the very definition of "military-industrial complex;"

The Devil's Right Hand

The Devil's right hand
The Devil's right hand
Mama says a pistol is the Devil's right hand
— Steve Earle

Well, to make up for absenteeism, I've been trying to think up some scurrilous gossip meat in Gun World to throw to you ravening wolves out there. I may have found just the tidbit...now, you didn't hear this from me, and I'll deny every saying it...but the cherubs and seraphim are singing about a new military-wide contract for sidearms. Not just the Marine Expeditionary guys, who got Kimber .45s in natty desert colors, but the Whole Shebang, the Big Enchilada, the Giant Cammie Salad Bar.

It's not much of a secret that no one has been happy about the 9mm M9 Beretta's performance in the Sandbox. A lot of the problems are endemic to 9mm ball ammo (it is a world-class crappy manstopper and always has been; soldiers don't get to use trick rounds like the Hornady TAP I carry in my nine) and double-stack magazines. Double-stack magazines work by having all the cartridges roll as each round is stripped off the top by the slide. Dump a bunch of sand in there and it's like trying to make hot, passionate love on the beach...lotsa sandy friction!

Friction means the magazine spring is working some serious overtime. Lots of stories of soldiers stretching their tired M9 mag springs (although the Army seriously discourages this practice). Ask any IPSC shooter about the care and feeding of big stick mags, and you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know about spring tension!

Realistically, the solution is...long drum roll...some sort of single stack semiauto, a la the 1911, in 45 ACP. Forty-fives don't have to expand to knock one on one's ass. It is a proven, reproven and proven yet again manstopper in all sorts of military arenas. Single stack magazines don't suffer like the double stacks...each round is just pushed up by the magazine spring, no cartridge calisthenics required.

The Teams use 'em; the Marines use 'em; hell, LAPD SWAT uses 'em. Every gunmaker on the planet (and probably on most of the nearby solar systems) make some sort of single stack .45 that they sell the hell out of. It is debugged technology!

Betcha the specs for the trial guns — which should be handed down on marble tablets from Mt. Olympus in anywhere from two to six months — will be for a .45 single stack (or some other magazine with proven deep-sand reliability) with a rail for picnic accesssories. I figure there's about 50% chance of seeing a polymer frame as part of the spec, or at the very least a weight limit that would mandate polymer or aluminum frames. I'd also be surprised if the spec didn't push for some sort of non-traditional DAO trigger, a la Glock, SIG, the Springfield XD, whatever, which would put the heat on pure 1911 guns and their SA trigger systems.

Notice the Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) has sort of slipped off the table. Turns out that in addition to being the Devil's Right Hand, a pistol is damned efficient!

What's Coming Up

Bullet points for the next couple of days:

• In USFS news, Senator Wayne Allard's office has stepped into the fray. We're discussing a series of remedies, including a Memorandum of Understanding with USFS regarding shooting areas.
• USFS brass are less then thrilled with Ranger Christine Walsh's comments on shooters and hunters. I spoke with one of the higher ups at the Whittington Center in New Mexico last week, and he was "distressed"to hear one of his Ranger administrators had instructed her Rangers not to even speak to "people with guns."
• CSSA is ramping up pressure on the USFS. I'll be talking to them today.
In other news:
• I bombed one of 12 stages at the HELL ON WHEELS cowboy regional in Cheyenne last weekend. Essentually, I unknowingly smacked the sights of my rifle against the guncart, then proceeded to drop four rifle shots on the stage. I'm thinking...I have a sight pictured! Well, I did. Let that be a lesson to me! Great match, though...wonderfully run!
• Holy Terror, a.k.a. Randi Rogers, whom you've met on COWBOYS won high overall at the match, becoming the first woman ever to win a regional level match in any of the handgun-based sports. An amazing performance! Congratulations, HT!!
• Heard from Remington Law Enforcement early this AM...they're swamped with positive calls about the SHOOTING GALLERY episode that premiered yesterday about the company's new pump action .223 carbine. Imagine an 870 that takes AR magazines. I decided to devote a whole show to the carbine (and slip in a bunch of GUNSITE's excellent carbine class!) because I thinkk it's a significant police gun. The pump shotgun has been a staple police gun since 1897, and the training programs tend to be excellent and debugged. Transitioning to the .223 pump carbine is easy and painless. I'm not dis'sing departments who've gone over to AR-15 in semi or M-4 full auto carbines, but I know from personal experience that semi or (especially) full auto training requires a wholesale revamp of the training procedures to avoid the "spray and pray" mentality that accompanied too much of the transition from revolvers to semiauto handguns decades ago. That show also featured Dave Spaulding, one of the finest law enforcement trainers in the country — thanks, Dave!

Post Holiday Hangovers...

So, yesterday was the day I was going to catch up on a huge amount of blog info...ha! The best laid plans, etc...

Instead, we had a parrot emergency. Bishop, our huge Green-Winged Macaw, broke a blood feather. Essentially, new feathers, as their growing in, have blood flowing in them. Lots and lots of blood! If the feather is cut or broken, blood flows out. Imagine a soda straw stuck into one of your veins. Bishop managed to break a huge primary wing feather...a big soda straw!

Two other points — parrots are prey animals, and unlike your dog or cat, when they're hurt, sick or in pain, they hide it, and hide it well. It's that pesky evolution thing...parrots that did a bad job of hiding their infirmaries ended up as something's dinner and out of the gene pool. Plus, birds don't have a whole lot of blood to lose, and there's a very real danger that the bird will bleed out before the caretaker realizes there is a problem.

It's an easy-fix problem — pull the feather. Harder than one might think with a pissed-off, furious, in-pain two pound macaw. The first we noticed there was a problem was when she began painting the walls and ceiling with blood splatters. It being the Fourth, there was not a single avian emergency vet within an hour's drive — too long with her bleeding that badly.

We "toweled" her — imagine capturing a spinning rotary saw in a beach towel — then sorted through her blood-soaked wings to find the feather pumping blood. She trusts us, and she's been towel-trained. But she hurt, and holding a bird on its back is about as unnatural as it gets. Usually, when a parrot is on its back, the bird has "lost the air" and is in a last-ditch defense against a predator.

Eventually we got the feather out (pliers!); calmed her down; cleaned her up and got her eating. She's fine this morning...she lost a lot of blood, so she's a little sluggish, but she should be 100% in a couple of days.

That was my holiday!