Nudge Nudge Wink WInk Say No More!

Okay, this picture is just to whet your appetite...DON'T SEND ME ANYTHING YET!

This is the BRUCE GRAY/SIGARMS GSR Giveaway Gun that could be yours very soon!!!

How good is this gun? The bottom line is that it is every bit the equal of the high-end 1911s in the safe, including my Wilson Master Grade, my C&S Full House Custom and my Richard Heinie "Original."

My spec on the gun included:
• Two-tone Stainless Frame/Nitron Slide
• Bar-Sto fitted match barrel
• Novak adjustable rear sights w/dovetail post front
• Crisp 3-pound trigger
• Blended extended mag-well/checkered flat mainspring housing
• 3 tested Novak mags
• Everything "cleaned up" and fitted

Check out the test target — that Federal ball at 15 yards.

Still to come for the Giveaway Gun are high-end Crimson Trace exotic wood laser grips, a practical/tactical Kydex holster set-up from Chris at Ready Tactical and the SPECTACULAR Kirkpatrick Leather custom one-off "BBQ Rig" completely carved leather holster and belt. Tequila bought the rig to California with him yesterday, and it was just beautiful...Mike Kirkpatrick outdid himself!

Hard to put a value on a package like this, but it has to be approaching $4000. I didn't want to just give away a gun now and then...I wanted the gun to be something I would have built for myself, an heirloom gun.

We'll be announcing details of how you can enter on the SHOOTING GALLERY site, the SIGARMS site and on the show real soon...
Meanwhile, I'm gonna shoot your gun some!

Buzzards Gotta Eat...Same As Worms

So today I got to handle Clint Eastwood's Walker Colt from The Outlaw Josey Wales, the Colt from Pale Rider and a couple of John Wayne's guns...yeah, my job pretty much sucks, but someone has to do it.

So I'm in a Mexican restaurant in SoCal eating a reasonably good guacamole with some sort of blistering salsa when I realize I'm being buzzed by cherubs and seraphim, who I've been ignoring lately. One of the little darlings, who looked vaguely like a Slovakian fashion model — dressed in about half of a Christina Aguilera performance outfit — after a three-day glue bender, lit on my shoulder.

"The SOCOM pistol final specs are coming in August," she whispered.

"Beat it," I said. "You said it was due in April; besides, I already know it's coming in August."

"That was my sister," she sighed, the tip of a decidedly pointed tongue touching my ear, "who doesn't know a thing about military bureaucracy...I can tell you something she doesn't know..."

"Beat it."

A whispering sigh..."suppose the spec contains a 'currently in production' clause? No toolroom prototypes? That would change the whole dynamics, wouldn't it?"

"Not going to happen," I said. "Too many big players frozen out."

"One of those big players is on the market," she whispered; I felt the touch of silky skin on my ear, "...or will be veeeeeery soon..."

"Bad seraphim!", I said. "Back to wherever seraphim come from..."

She ruffled her wings like an irritated — but slutty — parrot. "The Carpathians," she said, "where people still believe in us." She leaned close and I again felt the tip of a tongue. "If you get me a strawberry margarita and tell you dirty little secrets about Colt..."

"That's it!" I said. "No Colt! Absolutely NO Colt! I don't want to hear anything at all about Colt! Next you'll be telling me it's going to be auctioned off on eBay..."

"Clever boy!" she said. "Almost..."

First Measuring Sheep Farts...Now This

...and a tip of the ole yellow-stained hat to James Taranto at OpinionJournal:

How is dingo urine gathered? Carefully, study says

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian researchers say they have discovered a new repellent that can help with everything from rehabilitating old mine sites to reducing the amount of roadkill. It's dingo urine.

House GOP Inadvertantly Wakes Up...

...it must be summer, since our rollicking Representatives appear to be shaking themselves awake and are realizing that — OH CRAP! — they've got to get re-elected in the fall!

How else to explain that after addressing critical issues like allowing condo owners to fly the American flag (no mention was made of the Jolly Roger, however, the flag of choice here at Ripley's Ranch), the House of Reps will finally consider some gun issues. This from Fox:

Two measures relate to the rights of gun owners. One would prohibit the confiscation of legal firearms during national emergencies, barring practices such as the one that officials said arose in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit.

The measure is backed by the National Rifle Association, which has hailed the recent passage of a state law in Louisiana."The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina became the proving ground for what American gun owners have always feared: the day that government bureaucrats throw the Bill of Rights in the trash and declare freedom to be whatever they say it is,"Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, said in a statement posted on the organization's Web site.

No word on what the other gun issue is...national reciprocity for concealed carry permit-holders is on the table somewhere (way back on the table...probably still in the kitchen). Fox also notes that nobody thinks any of this stuff will actually be made law, but it's a happy sop to those of us who will decide whether the GOP retains its majority come November.

Meanwhile, back at the Helpless Pitiful Giant, aka, the United Nations, the U.S. has already thrown a turd into the gun confiscation punchbowl. From the Washington Times:

The United States will oppose any international effort to limit access of U.S. civilians to legal firearms but supports stronger controls on arms imports and exports, a senior State Department official said yesterday.

"The U.S. Constitution guarantees the rights of our citizens to keep and bear arms, and there will be no infringement of those rights," Mr. Joseph [Robert Joseph, the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security] said. "The United States will not agree to any provisions restricting civilian possession, use or legal trade of firearms inconsistent with our laws and practices."

Ah shucks! What's a Sri Lankan lacky (Sri Lacky?) to do? I guess what all the other U.N. lackies do — just keep sucking on George Soros' money teet and socking away the loot in some Swiss bank account so one never has to go back to whatever Third World hellhole one is representing on the world stage. Of course, that could be my cynicism talking!

Also from the Times, the lovely and insightful Katie Couric will be touring the country proporting to do what she never did in her slot as an interviewer on the Today Show — listening. This from Cal Thomas' column:

Emulating the "listening tour" of Hillary Clinton when she first ran for the Senate, the newly minted anchor of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric, will soon embark on a listening tour of her own. Executive Producer Rome Hartman says, "It's an attempt to hear from regular folks on a whole broad range of things that help us make decisions on how we can better serve our viewers."

It's so heart-warming when American royalty reaches out to us little people, the "regular folk." And it's so exciting for we peasants to see real Manolo Blahnik slingback f&%k-me shoes in person! We live so far in the Out Back that my Sweetie, sad to say, cannot readily identify a pair of Manolos on sight, so visits like this one help us bond with the Blue State intelligensia who know so much more than we small fry. La Couric is going to be in Denver...I wonder whether her advance people might allow l'il ole me to speak with Her Highness? I'd never ask her why she called Sarah Brady one of the "greatest Americans" ever, or why she hectored Charlton Heston — one of the real greatest Americans ever! — about the need for more gun control, or why the Today Show, according to Media Watch, is one of the most overly biased antigun shows on television and how she's going to reconcile that with the news concept of "objectivity"...no siree-bob!

All I want to know is, honey, where did you get them shoes?

Bear Karma!

So I come home from Boulder to find that a bear has pissed on my front porch. My neighbor managed to grab some pixs! As a dedicated conspiracy theorist...I post an article on Bruno; a bear shows up and pisses on my porch. Coincidence? I think not!

Okay, I'm SORRY AS HELL about Bruno, but I didn't have anything to do with it!

And where did a bear get an internet connection up here, anyway?

Something's going on, I tell you!

News From the Eastern Front

Some folks, sang Brother Lyle Lovett, say there ain't no bears in Arkansas. Well, there sure as hell ain't no bears in Barvaria, as Bruno the Hero Bear fell to relentless Tuetonic efficiency:

BERLIN - Bruno has eaten his last sheep.

The 220-pound brown bear who knocked over honey pots and ravaged livestock, who roamed the Bavarian Alps like an outlaw on the run, eluding farmers and Finnish hounds, was tracked by three hunters and shot just after dawn on a partly cloudy Monday.

The first wild bear known to have to meandered into Germany in more than 150 years was "painlessly done away with" near the town of Rotwand, said Otmar Bernhard, undersecretary of the Bavarian Environment Ministry. "We will perform a genetic examination of the bear, then preserve and exhibit him in the museum for man and nature in Munich."

German engineers labored feverishly under brutal deadlines to complete the "Monster Garage"-like transition of a new Porsche Cayenne into a mobile "Feral Bear Containment Facility"...naw, that's just an on-going cultural slur. But "painlessly done away with"? I'm amazed they didn't issue a statement that Bruno was "relocated to the East..."

So meet a bear and take him out to lunch with you
And even though your friends may stop and stare
Just remember that's a bear there in the bunch with you
And they just don't come no better than a bear

Get Down From That Tree Or Else!

From the Washington Post:

BREMERTON, Wash. -- A sheriff's deputy who was trying to get a man down from a tree shot and wounded him after mistakenly pulling a gun instead of a Taser, authorities say.

The deputy, a five-year veteran of the force whose name was not released, was placed on leave while Thursday's shooting is investigated.

Deputies carry both a Taser and a gun on their utility belts. The Taser, or stun gun, is similar in shape to the compact .40-caliber gun the deputy carried, sheriff's spokesman Scott Wilson said

Monday Words; Assorted Trivia

"We are all travelers in this world
From the sweetgrass to the packing house..."

Robert Duvall
Broken Trail

Now that's a eulogy! I once took a cab ride in NYC from Battery Park to Central Park with Robert Duvall. We were coming home from some high-speed party with Waylon Jennings, who spent the entire party looking like he'd been sucking lemons, and it had started raining, so cabs were in short suppy. I was able to grab a cab, and Duvall asked if he could hop in with me.

The result was a fascinating conversation with a brilliant man. Regular blog readers know I haven't cut actors a lot of slack, largely because of famous art critic and one-time rock and roll lunatic Dave Hickey's classic admonition, "You don't have to be nice to be good." He could have added, "You don't have to be smart, kind, courteous, , quick, clean, or, in the case of Tom Cruise, sane...etc..." to that quote. But Robert Duvall was all of those things.

I'd sure as heck ride the trail with him. And, no, BROKEN TRAIL isn't LONESOME DOVE, but heck, what is? It's still a darn good western. BTW, I know it may be heresy, but I don't think LONESOME DOVE s the greatest western movie ever...for me, that's JEREMIAH JOHNSON. Yeah yeah yeah...SEARCHERS SEARCHERS SEARCHERS...I'll take Utah over Monument Valley.

You'll notice I'm a speck less caustic today, largely because I had my first weekend at home in months and months. Did you know that there's more to life than work? Who'd'a thought it? I actually did some gardenng this weekend...well, my Sweetie did the gardening; I did things like "fetch the hose," "fetch the clippers," "pull the weeds." I'm also been informed by said Sweetie that it's time for me to "shoot the squirrels, chipmunks and voles." AH! My favorite rite of summer! Today I'm decanting my TACTICAL THOMPSON (Center) .22, with Choate folding stock, Harris bipod and a really really expensive scope from my pals Mickey Fowler and John Pride, so I can guarantee hits at the (measured) seven yards to my Sweetie's flower garden.

Cry havoc, and let slip the Roly-poly Puppy of War!

But before we let the Puppy breathe, consider this intelligent commentary from the Washington Times:

At a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-sponsored conference, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- who brags about tracking New Yorkers' blood sugar levels and driving down cigarette consumption with high taxes and a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants -- called for "an aggressive, comprehensive public health strategy" aimed at "deadly menaces [that] result from our choices," including "tobacco addiction, unhealthy nutrition, and excessively sedentary lifestyles."

As to government efforts to influence what we eat and how much exercise we get, Mr. Bloomberg acknowledged "some people may call that too intrusive." He dismissed this with a relabeling: "I call it dynamic and effective public health." You say tomato...

R.I.P. Harriet

From MSNBC:

SYDNEY, Australia - A 176-year-old tortoise believed to be one of the world’s oldest living creatures has died in an Australian zoo.

The giant tortoise, known as Harriet, died at the Queensland-based Australia Zoo owned by “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin and his wife Terri. Irwin said he considered Harriet a member of the family.

“Harriet has been a huge chunk of the Irwin family’s life,” Irwin said Saturday. “She is possibly one of the oldest living creatures on the planet and her passing today is not only a great loss for the world but a very sad day for my family. She was a grand old lady.”

She was also smarter than the Australian Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet, plus she remembered Charles Darwin as a "party animal."

Hamilton Bowen .44 Special!

My DROPPED SHOT column is up on SHOOTING GALLERY.

Otherwise, I'm taking today off! So shoot me!

More Fun with the Forest Service!

This is actually pretty funny...remember I told you about the Rainbow People migrating through the mountains? Well, the main herd swung north to more fertile pastures near Steamboat Springs. This is from the morning's Denver Post:

Forest Service officials on Wednesday removed a checkpoint that had become a flashpoint for an uncharacteristic uprising by the peace-espousing Rainbow Family, a counterculture group gathering near Clark for its annual dose of feral, communal life.

The move came after the Forest Service said nearly 200 Rainbows surrounded 15 forest rangers and pelted them with sticks and stones Tuesday as they attempted to control the flow of people in and out of the site and issue citations because no one has filed for a large-gathering permit.

The confrontation forced rangers to retreat.

"We have disbanded our checkpoint that we had the other day, but we still have a significant law enforcement presence in there patrolling the area," said Denise Ottaviano, spokeswoman for the agency.

My goodness...sticks and stones! Well, I guess that could break their bones, but words can never hurt them...unfortunately.

I assume this means the Greenies have gone back to their usual job, which is harassing shooters who are attempting to enjoy their rights on USFS land.

This calls into question what Forest Service "Rangers" actually do. I mean, they whine endlessly about "not having the resources to do our jobs," yet they have unlimited resources to stage bogus public meetings, staffed by literally dozens of USFS employees on paid time and including law enforcement on paid time, aimed at shutting down shooting on public lands.

They issue no citations littering or make "arrests" for illegal dumping — instead going to the local media to blame shooters. They have no records for any of the egregious "problems" they claim; they "tell different truths" with impunity to media and public officials alike when anyone questions them and — the ultimate indignity — when they're actually called upon to do something, they run yellow-dog with their tails between their legs from a bunch of tie-dyed hippie chicks with sticks.

I say if we're going to keep paying these "public servants" for whatever it is they do, we provide them with big floppy shoes and bright red balls for their noses. At least they'd be entertaining while they're flailing about.

Don't Forget Your 4th of July Cards!

Pity poor Prasad Kariyawasam! The poor U.N. Ambassador from Sri Lanka, who is spearheading the United Nations' effort to end firearms ownership by anyone except dictators, mass murders, presidents-for-life, terrorists and other human vermin, has gotten "100,000 letters" urging him to stand down. This from MSNBC:

"I myself have received over 100,000 letters from the U.S. public, criticizing me personally, saying, ‘You are having this conference on the 4th of July, you are not going to get our guns on that day,’” said Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka’s U.N. ambassador.

“That is a total misconception as far as we are concerned,” Kariyawasam told reporters ahead of the two-week meeting opening on Monday.

Yeah right...that's why they invited 500 antigun groups, because they're not really antigun!

Anyhow, go to Stop The Gun Ban and send your own greeting cards to these simpering weasels. On my note to Prasad, I urged him to concentrate on the things the U.N. is good at doing, such as stealing food from starvation victims, raping children and standing on the sidelines while some U.N.-sponsored thug commits genocide...after, of course, first disarming the victims!

A Few Random Thoughts on the "Gun Ghetto"

I apparently started this morning at a deficit...i.e., I overslept. Let me just say that I never oversleep...I am far too over-stressed to oversleep. But I did, which means I couldn't minister to the needs of the parrots like I do every morning, because I had a very important phone meeting.

The net result is that every person and every animal in the house is mad at me...hell, even the goldfish seem pissed off.

Oh well...I suppose I'll survive. I've been thinking, though, about the "Gun Ghetto," but first I want to tell you about my current reading list. One of the greatest things about the Internet is that it allows me to quickly and efficiently find and buy books. Lately, I've been beefing up my gun library. I mentioned that I reread the new edition of Ed McGivern's FAST & FANCY REVOLVER SHOOTING (1938). Through Amazon, I've been able to run down original editions of Elmer Keith's SIXGUN CARTRIDGES & LOADS from 1936 and a newer edition of SIXGUNS BY KEITH.

Through Amazon UK I was finally able to get a copy of Peter Robins' GENTLEMAN & WARRIOR: THE LEGEND OF W.E. FAIRBAIRN, which I've been looking for a long time. I added the Robin's bio to my copy of the Fairbairn/Sykes SHOOTING TO LIVE and the Michael Janich/Col. Rex Applegate BULLSEYES DON'T SHOOT BACK.

Okay, you're asking, why would I waste perfectly good money on old books about shooting? I already have a pretty impressive library of firearms-related book — many of them signed, I'm pleased to say — so why scour the Internet for more?

There are a bunch of reasons, I suppose, not the least being that this is my chosen field. I like the history, the antecedents, the back-story on what we all take for granted these days. It's fascinating to me (and apparently only to me...LOL!) that Ed McGivern coined the phrase "practical shooting" in the mid-1930s and that Rex Applegate and W.E. Fairbairn pioneered and in many way perfected the style of shooting we think of as "the modern technique" long before WW2.

I grew up reading Keith, Bill Jordan, Skeeter Skelton, Jeff Cooper and that most unrepentant of sinners, Charlie Askins, and like a lot of kids of that time period, I dreamed of their adventures; to borrow a phrase from Ed Bruce's The Last Cowboy Song — "wished to God we could have ridden their trail."

Of course, the irony is that the world I was growing up in — the one where kid could ride his bike with a Winchester 62 pump strapped on it to the hardware store for .22 cartridges; the one where farmers paid a bounty on snapping turtles and water moccasins and plinking was a perfectly socially acceptable activity — was in the process of vanishing forever.

My old friend AMERICAN HANDGUNNER Editor Roy Huntington and I were at Thunder Ranch a few years ago sharing one of the bunkhouses with a few other people. Roy and I were up late (ED NOTE: you prudes cover your eyes for the next few words) drinking assorted adult beverages when Roy said something that stuck with me: "Do you ever think that maybe we're the ones who inherited the legacy of Keith and Skeeter and Jordan and those great guys? That we're the ones carrying it on. Doesn't it just completely humble you?"

No, I don't think I can hold a candle to Saint Elmer (although I would argue that Charlie Petty could), and Skeeter Skelton was indeed one-of-a-kind (although I believe Frank James comes darned close to that personal superbly competent style). People like Walt Rauch, the formerly famous gunwriter Dean Spier, Mas Ayoob, Craig Boddington, Tom Gresham and others are carrying those big torches, and I'm just happy they tow me along with them.

But let's talk about the "Gun Ghetto," a phrase we use when talking about writing for the gun magazines as opposed to, say, Esquire (from an economic standpoint, that's the difference between a $500 story and a $4500 story..ouchie!).

I've been doing some consulting lately with high-speed sorts — people who wear suits — in New York and Washington. Whenever I interface with the world I used to live in, there's always the implied question, "Good lord, Michael! What have you done to yourself?" What got me thinking about that implied question was a call from a producer friend of mine about his new show, which wasn't about guns or hunting...he's no longer in the ole Gun Ghetto, so I suppose there's hope for me.

Ironically (there's that word again, and unlike Alanis Morrisette, I actually know what it means), I've spent most of my adult life working my way into the Gun Ghetto, and I can't for the life of me imagine anything I'd rather be doing (except, of course, finishing the sequel to ALL NIGHT RADIO, if only for the steamy sex scenes). We are carrying on a great legacy, and we are fighting for the most important of human rights, and damned if it's not fun, too!

So on that note, I'm going to the range and blast off some .44 Specials...maybe a few .22s and the occasional .45 ACP.

And heck, I think I'll end this with a Garth Brooks song:

He said last night I ran on to Jenny
She's married and has a good life
And boy you sure missed the track
When you never come back
She's the perfect professional's wife

And she asked me
Why does he ride for his money
And tell me why does he rope for short pay
He ain't a'gettin' nowhere
And he's loosin' his share
Boy he must've gone crazy out there

Gun Blog Community

I've been meaning to mention this and get it linked off the SHOOTING GALLERY site, but there is a "Gun Blog Community," essentially a gathering place for all the various gun bloggers.

Check it out!

Congrats, John!

Just a note of congratulations to our good friend John Bickar for his most excellent performance at the USA Shooting National Championships last week.

John won GOLD medals in men's standard and centerfire pistol and a SILVER medal in rapid-fire pistol.

I met John when he was a resident athlete in Colorado Springs; he's presently a student at Harvard, where he's striving to make all the rest of us look stupid. In addition to being a great shooter, John worked with us in the NSSF Media Education Program and is always ready to get out and promote shooting.

Good job, bro!

A Quick Quote to Start the Week...

"Change ain't lookin' for friends
Change calls the tunes we all dance to..."

Al Swearengen
Deadwood, Season 3

On the Way Home

I was going to hang around Morro Bay for a day, but the temptation of dinner with my Sweetie was just too much, and I'm at SLO grabbing an early flight back to Denver.

This may come as a total shock to you all, but Jerry Miculek won his umpteenth International Revolver Chanpionship yesterday. As usual, he told me that he was not shooting nearly as well as usual, and that the younger guys were nipping at his heels. The only person nipping at King Jerry's heels was none other than Rob Leatham, looking strangely lost with a revolver in his hand, and he wasn't particularly close. Unofficial scores put Rob second, with revolver-meister and SHOOTING GALLERY regular Vic Pickett in turn nipping at Robbie's heels. Unofficial scores also put the lovely Lisa Farrell crushing her competition for a sixth Limited Class (iron sights) world championship. At the Hogue party last night, Lisa noted that no one makes remarks like the heard early on — "That's a mighty big gun for a little lady..."

You'll see it all on SHOOTING GALLERY, of course.

I was, as I mentioned, TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY with the finished Randy Lee/Apex Tactical S&W 629 Super Gun I commissioned. The base gun was an S&W 629 Classic .44 Magnum with a 6 1/2-inch barrel. Normally, Randy specializes in pure competition guns — more than 60% of the 200 shooters at the IRC were shooting Randy's guns, and the other 40% left him guns for next year!

That means comeptition calibers — .45 ACP in S&W 625 in 6-shot revolvers or a variety of .38/.357 or .38 Supers in the 6,7 or 8 shot L- and N-Frame S&Ws. For speed of loading, the competition guns use moon clips. For rimless (okay or semi-rimmed if you insist) cartridges like the .38 Super or .45 ACP, the moon clips are a cinch. But in recent years, pioneered by Dave Hearth at Hearthco, precision moon clips are available for rimmed cartridges, with the clips tatching onto the small groove just above the rim of the cartridge.

I knew that Dave had cut moon clips for .44 Special/.44 Magnums in the past, and I always thought such a modification would make for a pretty nice field gun. Of course you can use speedloaders, but I've probably emptied more speed loaders into my pocket than I have into the cylinder of the intended gun. Of course, I'm clumsy as all get-out.

I had a 629 Classic in the safe — the Smith .44s are my favorite guns of all time, inching out the 1911 for a place in my heart. The gun balanced like all the big S&Ws, perfectly, but was a little heavier than my baseline M-29 6-inch due to the full underlug. I asked Randy if he would considered overhauling the 629, taking it almost to the level of his competition revolvers.

Specifically, I wanted one of his world-class trigger jobs, but one that would work with any out-of-the-box primers — normally. revolver competition shooters standardize on Federal Primers as the easiest to pop. I also want the cylinder machined for moon clips and have Randy go through the gun, relieve any stress points and head off any additional problems.

As it happens, he had access to a titanium cylinder from an S&W 329PD, which he suggested he fit to the 629. The HUGE HUGE advantage of a titanium cyclinder is that it has less weight than stainless steel. That means the revolver's hand, which turns the cylinder as the trigger is pulled, has less work to do. One of the hardest aspects of getting a great DA trigger on a big frame S&W is the weight/mass of the cylinder...that Newtonian "bodies at rest tend to remain at rest until acted on by an outside force..." thingie. The bigger/heavier the cylinder, the more "outside forces" necessary to start it turning. Titanium is also tougher than stainless, an added plus.

The interesting thing to me was that the weight difference with the titanium cylinder in place made the 629 feel and handle almost exactly like my old M-29. Because the moon clips fit very tightly into the small goove, the .44 Special cartridges were pretty rigid, which made loading with the moon clips extremely easy. Dave Wilson graciously loaded me up some puff-ball 205-grain bullets with Hodgdon Trail Boss powder; hte combination of the mild Specials (essentially a cowboy action load) and the full-underlugged 6 1/2 inch barrel made the big Smith run like a staple gun; I had a single "B" hot on my 2 stages of fire, with the other "A's" on top of each other as fast as I could run the super smooth trigger — not nearly as as, I might add, as the "real" shooters!

I finally had to pry the gun out of all the testers' hands...as long as there was ammo, everyone wanted to try the .44. I think this is a pretty good oexample of competition technology trickling into the mainstream. I'm looking forward to getting the gun home and testing it with 240-grain magnums and the heavier field loads, but I think it's a definite step up for the revolver. I'm also interested in the life expectancy of the moon clips, which are presently as sharp as Ninja throwing stars. I'll do a full report — with pictures!!! — on the SHOOTING GALLERY site a little later.

I'd also like give a nod to the Internation Congress of revolver Enthusiast, ICORE, who sponsor revolver shooting world-wide. ICORe has avoided the trap that has snagged so many of the otehr action shooting sports...ther's plenty of "run-and-gun," but there's also precision shooting at 50 yards and plates that are far enough away to guarantee that you'll look at your sights. Match Director Nelson Dymond and his match staff did an excellent job of blending speed and accuracy. I wish I could have shot the whole match!

Sorry — Dial Up Hell!

I mean, you stay at a hotel that lists "High-Speed Internet," except that means in ONE FRIGGIN' ROOM!

Not mine, either.

Instead, I get a Coke machine next door that runs all night in a room the size of a crypt. I got dial-up, barely...so I'm going to go to the Hogue soiree and leave the long posts until I get home.

Let me say, however, that the Randy Lee .44 Magnum supergun is, indeed, a super gun. I was shooting like, five or six grains of Trail Boss under a 205-gr lead bullet (graciously loaded up for me by Dave Wilson...thank you very much!), and it was like shooting a .22. The trigger is flawless — smooth, light (it's that titanium cylinder, doncha know) and a super clean break. The gun was so good it made me almost look like I knew what I was doing!!!

Maybe I can talk Randy into a SHOOTING GALLERY giveaway gun later this year...

WSJ Article

Sorry...you gotta subscribe to get the whole enchilada!

Here's the part with me in it:

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Few industrial names are as woven into U.S. history as Winchester.

It was the rifle that won the West. Jesse James swore by his. So did Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull. It was also the rifle that won the Saturday matinee. Jimmy Stewart starred in a movie about one called "Winchester '73," and the lever-action rifle was so ubiquitous in John Wayne's horse operas that a statue of the burly, slow-talking actor stands in the lobby of the gun maker's shuttered factory here.

Now, it has fallen to an unlikely modern-day Winchester fan, Michael H. Blank, a 32-year-old who quit his job as a Merrill Lynch stockbroker, to salvage the venerable company. Despite its glorious past, modern times haven't been kind to the gunsmith. In March the Belgian owners shut down the relatively modern factory built on a site where Winchesters have been made for 140 years, citing a bloated cost structure and slumping sales.

The move has sparked a frantic hunt for a buyer, a debate over what to do with the bronze of Mr. Wayne in the lobby, and a shot of soul-searching by gun owners themselves, who know the value of their Winchesters will soar if the factory closes forever.
[...]
"If we put out real replicas, and slap on the Winchester name, we'll have the Italians out of the business in three years," Mr. Blank predicts.

Michael Bane, a gun-industry expert and host of the Outdoor Channel's "Shooting Gallery," says Mr. Blank's business model has merit because that's where the growth is in the U.S. rifle market. He notes, for instance, that there's a fast-growing market for "cowboy-action shooting" guns. This is a sport in which people dress up like cowboys, assume cowboy names, and shoot authentic guns. That said, he's not sure it's feasible that such guns can be made cost-effectively in the U.S. "You have issues with unions, you have issues with finding the right skilled workers," he says, not to mention a tough U.S. regulatory climate that many gun makers say adds to their costs.

Read All About It

Well, for those of you who missed me in the Wall Street Journal this AM, here's the link. I say profound things about whether Winchester could be reanimated. I'd like to see it back, but with a totally different business plan.

I'm off tomorrow AM to the ICORE International Revolver Championships in California. I had planned to spend today at the range, but who the hell am I kidding? We'll film all day Saturday, and I'll try not to shoot myself! I'll be able to shoot a little of the match on Friday afternoon, and maybe a few more stages on Sunday. I'll be shooting the Randy Lee 629 with .44 Specials replacing the 'way too dirty .44 Russian stuff.

Rig-wise, I remain boring as dirt, with a Blade-Tech Dropped-Offset plastic holster on my usual Wilderness Tactical Products Original Instructor Belt (5-stitch; 1 3/4-inch). I'll be carrying the moon clips on some California Competition Works "Shoot A Moon" moon clip holders. I'll beat the lovely Lisa Farrell into taking photos and get 'em up on the SHOOTING GALLERY site ASAP.

And while I'm on the subject of revolvers, I've been reading a new edition of Ed McGivern's FAST AND FANCY REVOLVER SHOOTING; actually rereading...I read the 1938 book the first time when I was in junior high. I had forgotten what a great book this is...Ed was a crotchety old bastard, but he knew more about shooting a revolver well than any living human.

I was surprised to discover that Ed apparently coined the phrase "practical shooting." Here's the reference from the book:

What we are pleased to here call practical shooting simply means doing the same thing we do on the targets, but without any guides or marks of any kind to assist us. We must do these things much more quickly and with less preparation, and conclude the performance with less lapse of time, and be able to repeatedly within the much shortened time periods until the desired results become a certainty of performance.

Failure to connect properly with with sure hits on an opponent under actual conditions which exist during hold-ups, bank robberies, etc., for which it is generally understood that we are preparing and training our pupils, would, no doubt, mean that said pupils would "fade out of the picture" entirely, and perhaps permanently; therefore, training for practical conditions is a very different matter than ordinary target shooting for recreation or in competition for prizes or medals. There are no re-entry rules that apply after you are dead, such as are in force in certain target shooting matches.

Amen Brother McGivern!

And finally, I just got an email raving about trainer Matt Burkett's new podcasts. Matt is indeed one heck of a trainer; go to his site and check it out!

Words to Ponder Profoundly...

"Don't I long for the day when a draw across the throat made a resolution."

Al Swearengen
Deadwood, Season 3

New Season (FINALLY) for SG & COWBOYS Coming Up!

Yep, it's almost NEW SEASON TIME!

You can find the preliminary line-up for SHOOTING GALLERY here.

COWBOYS is here.

It's going to be a great season, and it's hard for me to pick my favorite shows. You can't miss the Knob Creek stuff or the SHOOTING GALLERY Challenge, where we give away $5000 to the last person standing. Plus in COWBOYS, do not miss the Perils of Tequila episode, where we get to kill the hapless Tequila over and over again!

I'll be fleshing out show descriptions and adding some pixs over the next couple of weeks.

As always, THANKS FOR WATCHING!

Quick Like Bunny...Win SIG 226!

My pals at SIGARMS are giving away another piece, this time a SIG 226 Blackwater Edition. Go here to sign up, but do it quick, because the contest ends June 30.

Hurry, Little Grasshopper, and win nice gun!

BTW, not to whet your appetite or anything, but coming later this summer is the first of the SHOOTING GALLERY giveaway guns, a Bruce Gray Custom SIGARMS GSR 1911 (courtesy of our pals at SIG) built to my specifications. It'll include all the natty stuff that I like, such as custom high-end wood CT Laser Grips, both a Kydex "practical" holster and a totally custom one-off Kirkpatrick Leather "barbeque" holster (maybe I've been hanging around the Texas Rangers too much lately...) and some other nice thingies. Yeah, it'll be worth gobs and gobs!

We Win One...

...but we lose some others.

On the plus side of the board, the courts struck down San Francisco's voted-in handgun ban; this from the SF Chronicle:

A judge struck down San Francisco's voter-approved ban on handgun possession Monday, saying local governments have no such authority under California law.

Proposition H, which passed with a 58 percent majority in November, would have outlawed possession of handguns by all city residents except law enforcement officers and others who need guns for professional purposes. It also would have forbidden the manufacture, sale and distribution of guns and ammunition in San Francisco.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren agreed with the National Rifle Association, which argued that Prop. H exceeded the powers of local government and intruded into an area regulated entirely by the state. The NRA sued on behalf of gun owners, advocates and dealers the day after the measure passed. Enforcement of the measure was suspended while the suit was pending.

Yes, this is a good thing. A better thing would be selling San Francisco to Singapore as long as they agreed to let the SF restaurants continue to take dollars. It's hard for me to grasp why any person would willingly vote to be disarmed and helpless, especially in a city that has seen its share of violence against racial/sexual minorities. I think it once again points out the distance between us and the antigun minority — not only can we not communicate, but we are so far apart in world views that we might as well be from different planets.

I mean, we know where this ends, right? Look at my ancestoral Scotland, now officially the most dangerous country in the developed world:

A United Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America.
[...]
The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults.

Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.

This is from today's news in the Scotsman:

Guns are replacing knives as the "fashion accessory" weapon of choice among Edinburgh gangs, senior police officers have warned.

Criminals involved in the city's drug trade are among those carrying firearms as status symbols, police said yesterday.

The warning comes as it emerged that Lothian and Borders Police firearms officers are now authorised to draw their weapons on the streets an average three times a week.

Apparently that rich blowhard Bloomberg doesn't read the papers. The Scots, BTW, who virtually ban all weapons, are bleeting for more laws. Yeah, that'll work! What a pathetic end for a country that produced a William Wallace and invented the claymore!

The issue with the BATFE and the question of who is or is not a manufacturer of firearms is not going away. Apparently — and I say apparently because I don't have any direct information except what's all over the Internet — the Feds raided KT Ordnance, a manfuacturer of the so-called "80% frame kits," that is frame kits for 1911s, a SIGARM 228 clone and various and sundry AR products that are machined to the 80% finished level, with the customer doing the final work. KT's website is down, but here's an archives version from The High Road forum.

Here's the JPFO link, and I suggest you do a search for additional info. Frankly,. I am tiptoeing around this one until I can get some hard information. I think it's fairly obvious that the "manufacturing a firearm" issue is the new battlefield, but I'm totally unsure (as were my NRA contacts) as to where the battle lines are drawn.

More as this develops...

Sputter; Start; Sputter

Yup, it's another Monday...this one is grinding a little slower than usual, since I didn't get home until the Wee, Wee (as opposed to wee-wee, which is an entirely different beastie!) Hours, thanks to a series of thunderstorms that colsed the Denver airport and gave me a golden opportunity to ponder the runway at Colorado Springs while we sat on the ground for hours and hours...

Anyhow, the S&W/California Highway Patrol imbroglio continues apace. Here's the original story. Essentially, the CHIPpies decided to replace their aging S&W 4006s with almost 10,000 shiny new S&W 4006TSWs. Such things are competitive bid siutations, but the only other bidder, SIGARMS, was disqualified because it turns out SIG doesn't make a Smith & Wesson .40 pistol. Hmmmm...in Californication, that's known as "business as usual." SIG is less than enthused — this from the morning's SHOOTING WIRE:

Exeter, N.H's SigArms, Inc., is claiming California Highway Patrol (CHP) broke the law when it recently awarded a contract for more than 9,000 pistols to Springfield, Massachusetts-based Smith & Wesson...

Here at Poo-Flinging Blog World Command, we thing CHIPpies should be issued rubber band guns if for no other reason than Eric Estrada...there is no statute of limitations for bad taste!

I spent the weekend at the Sportsmen's Team Challenge in San Antonio, mostly hanging out with my old pal Jim Clark of Clark Custom Guns in Louisiana. Jim and I started shooting IPSC about the same time (i.e., when the shift from flintlocks to percussion pistols was almost complete), although Jim had been shooting matches under the tutelage of his father, the great pistol-meister Jim Clark Senior, since Jim Jr. was in his crib. Jim Jr., of course, has both genetics and shooting talent — Jim Clark's dog actually shoots better than I do! I'm goign to get down to Louisiana pretty soon and give you guys a whole show on Jim...

I also ran into my erstwile competititor Jim Scoutten for the first time since he found a home on the The Outdoor Channel. How's the deal going, I asked?

"I'm not going to say anything to you about that," Scoutten said, "because every word of what I say will end up on that damn blog."

Say it ain't so!

Happy Monday...

Kinetic Sculptures

Anyway, as I was saying, I was explaining to my Sweetie this AM about the lovely kinetic sculpture on the front porch, when she cut me off short — "It's not a kinetic sculpture," she said. "It's 5000 rounds of .44 ammo and get it the heck off the porch."

People are so cynical these days!

I had planned to shoot up a bunch of that .44 this week in my Subjective Recoil Experiment, where I was going to try and get a handle on how to adequately define the simple phrase, "It kicks like a mule."

However, since I am apparently still on a freakin' roll, the Permanent Sinus Infection was re-diagnosed as shingles involving the optic nerve of my right...ie, dominent...eye, essentially the old chickenpox virus from my childhood dropping in for a pleasant visit. Luckily, it's a minor case (I'm told), but it's being treated very aggressively. The eye doctor also "suggested" that I might avoid my contact lenses and any activity that places "additional stress" on my eye. Like, I asked, target shooting? Duh...

I wasn't planning on shooting at the Sportsmen's Team Challenge this weekend, but I do plan to shoot at the International Revolver Championship in California weekend after next. I had actually hoped to do pretty well in however much I shot (no, there's never time to shoot an entire match!), but the travel schedule and now the eye problem have definitely conspired to put a crimp in that.

As I mentioned before, Randy Lee at Apex Tactical built me a spectacular gun, an S&W 629 Classic .44 Magnum fitted with a titanium cylinder from a 329PD machined for full-moon clips — don't worry...you'll see lots of this gun and Randy Lee on the show!

No, the .44 is not nearly as gamey as a 625 in stubby, easy to reload .45 ACP a la the sainted Jerry Miculek, but 1) I had a 629 handy and 2) I am a huge fan of the .44 cartridge in all its permutations. So why the hell not?

My original idea was to shoot stubby .44 Russians, which is pretty close in length to the .45 ACP, out of the gun, but the Black Hills Cowboy .44 Russians I have, while extremely accurate, are dirty as all get-out...not a big deal in a single action cowboy revolver, but a huge issue in a DA revolver cylinder cut for moon clips and used in competition...the unburned powder gets under the extractor star and...you get the picture. Machine gums up.

This is, BTW, one of those strange areas in shooting where it's easy to confuse competition and the real world. Yes, dirty burning powder is an issue for competition loadings, but I have shot TONS of dirty burning reloads with Unique and Bullseye powders through .44 Magnums, Specials and Russians over the decades with no problems (except for occasional grousing at cleaning time). It's not an issue in field gun, because I'm not speed-reloading it a bunch of times in a row before cleaning — even blowing away the loose powder. It's not an issue with a self-defense revolver because I'm usually shooting hotter lighter bullet loads, which tend to burn cleaner.

Anyway, we're going to Winchester .44 Special Cowboy loads, which burn cleaner. If the gun doesn't like those loads, Randy will have to tinker some together for me — for which I'll owe him Big Time!

The big joke is, of course, that it's not me shooting my gun — it's Randy and the lovely Lisa Farrell, both of whom shoot better asleep than I do awake. Lisa of course will be defending her World Revolver Championship (the 5th or 6th) in a couple of weeks. I think she has arranged for me to shoot in her squad, so I can be humbled and humiliated publically.

Well, it'll be fun, and the Hogue range in Morro Bay, CA, is one of the most beautiful places to shoot in the country. Plus the Hogues throw a spectacular party after the match! I wish you could all be there, although I suspect Aaron Hogue is glad he won't be buying the drinks for all of you lushed!

I've also decided that I'm going to forward my own S&W 329PD Air Lite .44 Magnum on to the great Jim Stroh at Alpha Precision for some minor work. The gun is in beautiful shape and already fitted with the Hogue X-frame softie grips — thank you, Walter Coates! — and I was going to use it for a month or so in the Recoil Tests. However, I'm very hopeful about beginning filming on Big Bore Chronicles, our handgun hunting show, this fall, and I specifically bought the 329 as a carry gun for when I'm filming. It needs a trigger job — don't they all!!! — and while I like the Hi-Viz fiber optic front sight for competition, I simply do not like them in the field. That's because they're plastic and I've broken off far too many of all the brands of fiber optic sights.

True, the Hi-Viz sights are the sturdiest ones of the lot...the fiber optic tube is encased in solid plastic, as opposed to just suspended between two posts...but still, s&%t does happen. I've asked Jim, who's been overhauling my carry/field revolvers, to fabricate a front sight for the 329 with a 14-carat gold bead, my front sight of choice. I may go to a set of the Hamilton Bowen "Rough Country" S&W rear sights, but I am going to stick with the V-shaped "Express" rear sight as opposed to notch and post. I envison this gun as strictly a back-up, and if it has to be bought into play, it'll be for a snap-shot. The Express V rear sight and gold dot front is perfect for that application — just read the old African hunter books!

My plan is to sight the gun in with the Bufflao Bore 255-grain Keith bullet loads designed specifically for the 329PD, then hold over/under for .44 Special practice load...I'll probably use the Winchester Cowboy in that role. Again, I envision this as a very specific use gun, essentially (as I've mentioned before) in a role presently filled by Thumper, my short-barreled .44 Magnum Blackhawk, or my packing gun, a short-barrel .30 Carbine Blackhawk rebuilt by Hamilton Bowen.

I figure it'll take Jim a couple of months to get the 329 sorted out to my liking, so I figured I'd better let him get started!

Blogger Appears Back to Normal...

...this AM!

Sorry for light postings, but I've been fighting Blogger the last couple of days. Maybe the Internet is just hopelessly clogged up, like my head from the Permanent Sinus Infection.

...more after I drink a pot of coffee!

A Day Without Zombies...

...is just like yesterday! Well crap...no Undead; no Satanists; no vamps; no decent movies...and no final spec for the new SOCOM pistol!

How long, does one suppose, it might take the Powers-That-Be at SOCOM to grind out these specs? It has already taken longer than it took John Browning to invent the 1911, as well as substantially longer than the creation of the universe. My cherubs and seraphim — at least the ones who survived yesterday's opening of the Hell-Mouth — tell me that the issue is whether to require percolators and water coolers on the new pistol.

Anyhow, when I was in Texas, which is about 20 miles north of the Hell-Mouth, the Texas Ranger guys I ran into were mighty proud of their stainless steel Springfield Armory "Texas Ranger"-logo'ed 1911s. As you all know, because you're all smarter than two whip factories, the Rangers were the first law enforcement agency in America to adopt the 1911, which they did as soon as there were 1911s to adopt. They did this because they spent a lot of time alone in very dangerous places, an environment where the 1911 did and still shines. These days, the issue gun for the Rangers is the SIG 229, but they're authorized to carry the 1911 .45s if they qualify with them. The 1911s are also the "barbeque pistol" — the gun you wear to festive events — of choice, preferably in a tooled leather holster.

I swear, after a few days in the Panhandle I find myself looking at the Ted Blocker Wild Bunch 1911 holster or a floral-carved San Pedro Saddlery Pike holster for my 1911s. Good lord...I'm going native!

06 · 06 · 06

"When the moon is in the seventh house
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love is in the stars!"

WHOOPS, wrong prophecy! Sorry about that, Satan's Minions wherever you might be! How do you get a job as a "minion," anyway? Is there an education requirement? Job experience? Willingness to have carnal relations with a goat and/or Paris Hilton? I suppose I could go to Monster.com and look it up, but I think today should be a festive day...both me and Charlie Petty have our revolvers stoked up with silver bullets coated with garlic and lard, so we're ready for either jihadists — no more than six, please! — or the Undead, whichever comes first. Of course, we pray we won't have to use the piece, because...silver is expensive!

Well, for a guy with an email address that includes "666," it's a Big Day. Later this afternoon, I plan to sacrifice an innocent margarita on the savage alter of thirst. But since the Apocalypse is clearly at hand, I thought I'd recap the Seven Signs of the Coming Endo, just in case you missed any:

10: The cancellation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
9: The marriage of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.
8. The adoption of a 9mm handgun by the U.S. military.
7. The birth of the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes Demon Child.
6. The return of strip joints to the Vegas Strip.
5. The election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of Sodom-on-the-Pacific.
4. The death of Buck Owens.
3. The re-election of Ray Naglin in New Orleans.
2. The return of Paula Abdul.
1. Hillary Clinton.

Finally Got Out on New Bike!

And it worked exactly like I hoped it would work. As you recall, a few weeks ago I got a 29-inch Gary Fisher mountain bike for the dirt and fire roads around my house, with maybe a little singletrack thrown in for good measure. My Sweetie and I rode our bikes up to an old ghost town nearby, a known knee-buster of a ride, and I was very pleased! I'd post a picture, but Blogger is having one of its periodic nothing works fits...

In stuff coming up this week, I got a case of the very new Cor-Bon .500 S&W SPECIAL ammo, both the .375 grain "Light Target" loads and the 275-grain Barnes X JHP bullets. My plan is to take them to the range and run them out of my 7.5-inch .500 Magnum, along with some heavy .500 Magnum loads and try to get a rational comparison. I'll also bring along an M-29 .44 Magnum with some 240-gr JHPs and some .44 Special 200-gr SIlverTips to try and put the recoil in perspective for you guys.

I'm also going to continue working with the new Charter Arms "Bulldog" .44 Special snubbie. So far, the little monster is shaping up to being one of the "sleeper" buys in defensive handguns. I want to get a few hundred rounds through it before I start ringing bells in churches, but so far it has been a rock solid little piece.

Hopefully, by tomorrow, Blogger will have straightened itself out a bit, too...

Some Notes Before I Head for Armadillo...

...or Amarillo...whatever...the place in the George Strait song. We're going ranch rodeoing for COWBOYS. It should be about 300 degrees and sunny.

When I get back, my new S&W M329PD should be here. I bought it — Hear that? Bought! — after shooting the one Hamilton Bowen had dinked around. The short version is that it's an ultralight .44 Magnum revolver. You see lots of these 26 ounce babies on sale at gunshops with the notation, "Barely fired!" That means someone bought it, took it to the range with a box of 240-grain JHP screaners, fired four, then returned the gun to the gunstore and went home to soak their hand in ice. Lightweight guns recoil a lot...that's what you get for sleeping through high school physics!

However, like most of the guns in the "don't weigh a thing" genre, the 329 is meant to be carried a lot and shot a little. Hamilton Bowen believes the 329 is one of the best, most useful guns S&W has made in years with one proviso — that it be fitted with the Hogue grips designed for the big X-Frame .500 blaster. Those grips are fitted with a soft sorbothane-like rubber pad right where the grip meets the tender web of the hand, and they will soak up recoil. Yes, yes, the wood grips are pretty, and perfect for people who like pain. Otherwise, go to the S&W accessories part of the website and order: S&W Accessories #29467 ($35) Model 500 Impact Absorbing Hogue Square Conversion grips. Your hand will thank you.

I got the gun, which already has the softie grips and a Rob Leahy Sourdough Pancake holster, because we're putting together a new handgun hunting show, and I'm loath to go into the field without a gun...particularly, a gun of the .44 Magnum persuasion (and yes, I know I'll probably have to pony up for a hunting license to carry during season blah blah). I've got M29s and M629s, but they are heavy beasties; a viable alternative would be Thumper, my packin' .44 Magnum Blackhawk fitted with an aluminum frame and a short barrel. But Thumper will hit you hard with a heavy load, heavier than the lighter 329 with trick grips. My ultralight (and much loved) .44 Specials are hindered by the necessity of no more than 200-grain bullets in the smaller L-Frames.

When I was up at Hamilton's, I was surprised at how much I liked the M329, since I'd disliked the other ones I'd shot. Besides, I got it at a great price and I can always rationalize another .44 revolver!

BTW, after many, many requests, I'm happy to announce that in mid-June we'll be going to St. Louis to film the exclusive SHOOTING GALLERY interview with John Ross, author of the controversial hit novel UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, semiprofessional S&W gadfly, machinegun fanatic and the only person I know who uses a cut-down S&W .500 Magnum as his daily carry gun!

Hey, you can ONLY see this kind of stuff on SHOOTING GALLERY!