Formal Portrait of Chief Justice John Roberts

Can you spell "gutless?"

The Fires...

A thunderstorm is passing over the Secret Hidden Bunker right now...so far, there's a little rain — thank God! — but fire-spotters with binocs are stationed a little up the hill from my house in the hopes of catching a lightning-triggered fire before it can boil up like the Colorado Springs nightmare or the High Park monster.

The Boulder fire is far away from us, but, quite frankly, every one of us who lives up here is pretty badly spooked. Everything is so dry that green leaves will powder if you thump them with your finger, and it has been amazingly hot for far too long. All fireworks are cancelled, but there's always some idiot out there with a sparkler or a cigarette butt.

I guess we're not that different from our ancient ancestors on the African veldt...if it comes, nothing to do but run.

Driving home from the airport this afternoon I saw lightning repeatedly hit the ridge lines above Boulder; the sky to the south was dark from the Colorado Springs smoke plumes; to the north, smoke from High Park. Today I upgraded and renewed my NRA Arms Insurance. The computers are backed up, and I'm going to spend tomorrow making sure our bug-out stuff is ready to go if another fire lights up nearby us and making sure my firearms inventory is up to date.

I'm also making a call to Liberty Safes and ordering their best fire-rated safe, a Magnum 56, to replace my older, lower-rated Canon. My primary Liberty safe has an excellent fire rating and that particular model proved itself in the California wildfires of a few years back....one of the reasons I chose it!

I don't know how my friends on the fire lines can do it...I understand some are being shuttled to Colorado Springs. The damned Greens have fought the slurry bombers for years, and a year or so ago our Beloved Leader in Washington cancelled a 50 year-old contract with one of the companies running the fire-fighting planes, leaving the fire services desperately short of aircraft. Obama's office today refused to talk about the cancelled contract.

But, oh boy, Obama will be visiting Friday...couldn't come sooner because of fund-raising commitments, you know! I hope all Colorado residents will remember in November that the Greens and Barack Hussein Obama were and are perfectly willing to let us all burn to save a couple of fish and make sure that Hollywood money keeps rolling it.

A Great Day @ Colt

Cool time at Colt yesterday! That's me on the Colt M2012 .308 bolt gun they announced at NRA, BTW, which is one sweet rifle! It's dangerous to put me next to a stock of ammo!

New Product Catch-Up

I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to catch you all up on some new products I've been using and projects that are moving forward.

First up, You know I mentioned the Ruger SR-22 .22 LR plinker wasn't all I hoped it would be — an SR9c or LC9 clone in .22 — but that it was still a neat little gun that I decided to keep. Well, if you're going to keep it, you need something to carry it in.

For that I went to my friend Rob Leahy at Simply Rugged Holsters in Prescott, AZ. I have at least half-a-dozen holsters from Rob, and I used them more than any other of my far-too-many holsters. That's because they simply work better than most of the rest.  Take a look at this Cuda holster for the SR-22 and its accompanying magazine pouch.

Heck, it's simple! Three belt loops give you some options...traditional strong side, cross draw. It protects the little gun. It provides an easy draw. It is all-day-wear comfortable (easy to forget the thing is on!). Rob's Sourdough Pancake holsters are the most versatile holsters made, and they conceal a big revolver amazingly well.

Visit his web sight, and don't overlook the best ammo pouches in the world. Rob is a real gentleman and builds only the best....here's what's weird...in a world of dreadfully expensive leather goods, Rob is holding the the line on holsters for working men and women!

You guys also know I'm pocket pistol sort of guy. For years I've recommended the DeSantis Nemesis as my choice for pocket holsters. However, while I was out at GUNSITE last week I picked up a pocket holster from Tuff Products for my Ruger LCR and 101.

You know I've raved about Tuff Products' Quick Strips and carrying pouches for the same. Their pocket holsters live up to the raves for other Tuff products. This is an excellent pocket holster and it has been drafted quickly into service!

Finally, check out my Sweetie's 1911 Tactical Solutions .22 (on a Kimber Target frame) with it's new muffler. After a 7 month wait, the paper cleared on 2 of my suppressors, both from Tactical Solutions...a Cascade screw on (pictured) and a now-discontinued Sawtooth integral barrel for a Ruger Charger.

Yes, it is quiet! RE: the Charger, I love the stupid thing, although it is neither fish nor fowl. The long-term project is a short-barreled, suppressed rifle...that means another $200 and 6-month wait before I install the Butler Creek folding stock with appropriate modifications. Here's a picture of Project Charger so far:

As usual, Project Charger will change over a lot of the internals to Volquartsen, my choice for the finest trigger group in the world.

I'm still agonizing over my handgun for Ruger Rimfire competition this season. Strangely enough, I'm thinking of splitting the baby and going to a Mark 3 frame rebuilt by Majestic Arms...I'm agonizing between a Tactical Solutions Pac-Lite top end, which will carry the suppressor as well, or sticking with the Mark 3 Target top. I like the weight of the Mark 3 Target steel top end...I've considered the Ruger 22/45 Lite, but I have mixed emotions. The Mark 3 Target shoots so good! Decisions decisions!

On the Fires...

I want to say a profound thank you to the men and women on the fire lines of the many fires buying in Colorado, especially the High Park fire, which has been burning for weeks just north of the future home of the Secret Hidden Bunker. I have friends on those lines, and they are my heroes. I also want to send my condolences to my many friends — people I shoot with every week — who have been burned out in the High Park fire. Some of my friends had 10 minutes notice to grab what they could and run. Ten minutes! Stop what you're doing right now, look around and think, "I have 10 minutes to take those things most valuable to me before everything else in my life is reduced to ash." Just think about that. Then think about the men and women who put their bodies, their lives, between that raging hell of a canopy fire and people's homes.

DRTV and I will have some announcements on help for the fire victims next week.

I would also like to note that the wire services are full of reports of a second fire (and another in Utah) caused by "target shooting." Current, shooting is (and has been all through the spring) banned on a segment of the national forests in the Front Range, and my understanding is that theban will be expanded to most of the Front Range tomorrow.

I question whether "target shooting" in the sense we use the words are the cause of the fire, especially when the reports stem from the U.S. Forest Service, which has a long-term antigun agenda. I would, however, like to say quite bluntly to the shooters in the Front Range that we need to obey the restrictions! And in areas that aren't restricted, for god's sake use your heads! No tracers; no steel core surplus ammo (which will, rarely, spark off rocks); above all, no "exploding" targets of any kind! I also suggest carrying a good-sized fire extinguisher with you, as well as a shovel. Make sure any fire you start is out out out!

I live up here in the restricted zone, and yes, this has put a huge crimp in my shooting practice for the year. But yesterday it was 91 degrees at the Secret Hidden Bunker — the first time in 13 years the temperature has hit those highs at almost 9000 feet! The humidity is in the single digits, dead dry. Right now, the wind is down as the temperature climbs once again into the 90s, but it will come up hard in the afternoon. What that means in simple, easy-to-understand terms is every single spark goes! And with winds gusting 30-40 miles per hour, there's no stopping it.

I fully support criminal prosecution of anyone who starts a wildfire, regardless of how they do it.

Last Minute Internet Video...

In Arizona for a day collecting some last minute video for DRTV for next week's GUN STORIES Season 2 launch next week...sliding this one under the wire!

Now We Know...

...just how high in the government Fast & Furious went...

Tuesday, and Already Behind the Curve!

But first, the news:

Bicyclist Allegedly Attacked by Frozen Sausage-Wielding Thief The alleged victim told cops that his attacker swung frozen sausage links at him before hitting him in the head with a wrench...

We bicyclists are now frozen with fear...I'm considering caring a frozen Kosher hot dog with me at all times when I'm on the bike. Does anybody make an insulated shoulder holster for a frozen weiner?

Spent some time at the range working with my competition AR...as I mentioned, I'd sighted it in at 25 yards. On this most recent trip to the range the 100-yard range was open, so I was able to tweak the sight-in at 100, then spend a little time verifying it at 75, 50 and 25 yards. I realize none of this is probably going to help me at the Crimson Trace Midnight Sun night 3-gun in July, but I at least have a lot of faith in my JP rifle. I'm also getting a much better sense of how the Leupold CQ/T works, and I'm getting used to the circle/center dot reticle.

I got the Briley 10-shot tube for the Remington Versa Max, which I'll probably install today. Both guns will be running Streamlight TLR-1 HP 200-lumen rail-mounted lights, with standard TLR rail lights as back-ups. Also a big case of CR123 batteries! LOL!

BTW, had a very nice lunch yesterday with Rob Pincus, where we caught up on each other's various and sundry projects (and Rob has a ton of them!). You'll see one of Rob's newest training videos on SHOOTING GALLERY/DRTV next season. Rob is presently sporting the World's Ugliest Beard, the result of a lost bet. Makes him look like an extra in Hatfields & McCoys.

Saturday Match Results!

Shot yesterday at Pawnee Station near Ft. Collins, a big club with a solid roster of excellent shooters. Going back over my scores at Pawnee over the last year, I can see I've had more trouble at that club than others in the area.

I'm (very) happy to say that after my decidedly mediocre performance in the state championships last weekend, I was able to put together my best match at Pawnee, and maybe my best ever. I finished up 13th out of 86 (4th in my division, which tells you how competitive the club is...the new state champion won the division in 4th place overall).

More importantly, I "found" a level of speed for my raw times I've been working toward...4 of 6 stages were under 30 seconds, including a blistering 23 seconds run for 10 rifle, 10 pistol and 4 shotgun. The other 2 stages were 30 and 31 seconds. Not saying I'm gonna be able to be the all the time, but it gives me something solid to build on.

Sort of reminds me of "draft training" back when I did triathlons. Occasionally we'd have a friend drive his pick-up along county roads at specified speeds while we'd draft behind him...essentially "teaching" our body how it felt to ride at that speed. My challenge is to not slip back into my comfort zone, which'll be hard with the  big regional match, Hell on Wheels in Cheyenne in 2 weeks.

Bus Comin'!!!

Be sure to check out today's DAY BY DAY comic strip, at the bottom of the blog page or here, at Chris Muir's homepage. I'm not the only person who thinks there's a bus with Mr. Holder's name on it...

Reloading Day...

...where I locked myself in the gun room and cranked out 700 .357s. Happy happy joy joy joy! Also working on ELITE TACTICAL UNIT and a competition thing I can't talk about yet. Got my BRILEY 10-shot tube for my Remington Versa Max, so I may use it in the Crimson Trace night 3-gun match next month. Probably be running Streamlight flame-throwers on the long guns. Definitely my JP rifle with the Leupold CQ/T. Ruger SR9. BTW, am having a SR9 built up with a Trijicon RMR by TSD Combat Systems. The drawback is the slide won't allow co-witnessing iron sights like on the Glock or the FNH, but I really want to give the system a try. If it works, I may replace my bedside Sig Sauer 226 9mm with an FNH .45.

Nice piece from Tam on the ridiculousness of laws that make inadvertantly "flashing" a concealed weapon a crime:

 The proper action is to join the 21st Century and to eliminate the ridiculous "mandatory concealment" language that was a sop to the gun prohibitionists and makes you the laughingstock of most states in the Union, regardless of your feelings on Open Carry (and I don't OC myself, for whatever that's worth.) 

I have said repeatedly the one of the greatest unintended consequences of the OC movement is the "decriminalization" of inadvertantly showing a concealed weapon. I live in an open carry state (Colorado), but when I go to Florida or Texas, I have to be extra special careful because their laws are nonsensical. 

Wonderful piece from brother Massad Ayoob in BACKWOODS HOME magazine on taking a less-than-high speed gun afield:

Do you ever find yourself putting the modern, high-efficiency firearm back in the safe or the gun case, and heading out to the range or the field with something more “traditional” instead?

Great piece...read the comments!

Chicago...America's Own Little Mogadishu

There were 3 interesting stories on Real Clear Politics this AM about the festering pustule that is Chicago. The first, from City Journal, tracks how Chicago has gone from being the center of an urban revival to just another piece of "flotsam" circling the bottom of the bowl. The title of the article itself is interesting: "The Second-Rate City?"

The other 2 articles were about the favorite pastime of Chicago youth...beating the crap out of innocent people. From the Chicago Tribune:

"I saw the mob of them ... young teenagers, tweeners between 13 and 15 years old, like young kids you'd see at the mall," the doctor said. "The thing I remember clearly was that they were enjoying frightening people. They went after a food delivery man on a bike. Then they went after me. It was like 'Lord of the Flies.'
"And then they hit me with something, a hard blunt object on the back of the head, and I went down," the doctor said.

The other story, from the Sun-Times, somewhat agonizingly explains that the apparently endless examples of Chicago mob violence isn't about race, but rather "random acts of terrorism" brought on by the fact that the little darlings have too much testosterone and no jobs.

And BTW, Chicago is on track to become the most dangerous city in America, homicide-wise...I suppose those homicides are "random acts of terrorism" as well.

Hmmmmmmm...I wonder what might put a dent into these "random acts of terrorism?" I'm thinking "harsh language" is probably not the right answer.

Final Results...

...from the state match, 74 out of 170...sigh...better next time!

Hope springs eternal...

Still Treading Water...

...did get to spend yesterday at the range with family members, and it was Big Fun. Ran newbies through a lot of guns, and it's always great to see people's faces light up when they realize how much fun shooting is.

I also rediscovered and "old friend," my Henry Golden Boy .22 that I haven't shot in ages. I hauled it out for the newbies to shoot; then I remembered how much I liked shooting it. The Golden Boy is just a wonderful little gun. Given my performance with the rifle at the Rocky Mountain Regional Raid, I should clearly be shooting the Golden Boy a lot more! I guess it all comes down to the fact that .22s, especially .22 rifles, are great things to shoot...heck, everybody should own a few! Get a Golden Boy, get a 10/22 and you will be the HERO of every kid in the neighborhood! Unless you live outside the United Sates in some place like Australia, California, New York or New Jersey, where you will be considered something only slightly less reprehensible than a serial killer.

Sunday Back @ Home

So I am apparently continuing my streak of "shooting great right up until the big match, then reverting to less-than-good on Race Day." No train wrecks or massive failures at the wonderful Colorado state cowboy championships, The Rocky Mountain Regional Raid, Friday and Saturday in Byers, CO, but I was chased around the range being pecked by the Ducks of Mediocracy for 2 days. I had 3 -- count 'em! -- rifle misses in the match. Three! By way of comparison, I haven't had 3 rifle misses in the last year. Obviously, Michael needs to do some reconstructing on rifle technique.

Had a wonderful time, though...great posse of good friends. Am now 3 weeks out from the regional championships, Hell on Wheels in Cheyenne. The great thing about competition is there is always redemption.just around the corner!

Light blogging will likely continue as my Sweetie and I have visitors at the Secret Hidden Bunker. I suspect there will be mountain biking, as said Sweetie wants to break in her new Trek Mamba. I'm also going to be running a shooting class for our visitors one day.

BTW, here's an article on the Power Line blog I think everyone should read, Some Thoughts on Guns and Civil Rights:

If freedom lives in the hearts of the people, courts and other authorities will most likely fall into line eventually. If it doesn’t, no document, not even the Constitution, will be enough to preserve rights that are under attack.

Should be words to live by. We have preserved gun rights because we held those rights in our hearts. Now, with so much of the Constitution under attack -- Drones, anyone? -- the most important thing for us is that we have to believe in the Founders' vision of America.

Day One...Colorado State Championships...

...sigh...

Says it all, doesn't it? Was able to put a couple of stages together, but my rifle and I seem to be having a substantial disagreement as to who's the boss. So far. It's winning! Plan to make a few minor changes tomorrow and see if I can get it back on track. Very pleased with both my shotgun and my pistol.

Wednesday, Sort Of...

Ask me how long it takes to hang a screen door...I dare you! Well, maybe if I spent more time watching HGTV, I'd be better at it. When it comes to home improvement, I'm pretty much all blunt trauma...larger hammer! I reread Ray Bradbury's "The Naming of Names" from the MARTIAN CHRONICLES again today. It was a story that, the first time I read it so very long ago, made me see the world in a different way. As most of you figured out a long time ago, I was pretty much a Heinlein guy..."an armed society is a polite society" and all. But that Bradbury story made me think, oddly enough, about the power of the state and how that power could be exercised. but in an amazingly oblique, and simple, way. Do young people read Bradbury any more? I doubt it.

A Mixed Day...

...we're having some work done in the kitchen of the Secret Hidden Bunker, so the day was sort of scattered. I spent some time with the new Check-Mate mags for the Para Carry 9...the notch needed to have a few thousandths shaved off the top to latch properly. While I was at it, I broke the gun down, cleaned and lubed it and even remembered how to put it back together. I'll take it to the range tomorrow and see how the new magazines work. Mostly though I want to focus on my 1873 Winchester clone and make sure I'm seating the rifle dead bang on my shoulder every single time.

Interesting blogpost over on my friend Caleb's Gun Nuts Media on why he does what he does -- shoot, compete and write about it. In truth, I still love competition...I guess it's in my blood. I put a lot of time, focus and, yes, money in my cowboy action shooting, and it thrills me to move up in the ranks. Still, in the end for me it has always been the guns. I'm fascinated by the hardware, the ballistics, the challenge of each different weapon, the incredible people I'm met. As the years have passed, I've also seen more and more of my focus shift to self-defense and the martial arts aspect of firearms. I always figured the best line about what I do came from the Charles Remington character (played by Michael Douglas) in THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS:

"My story is, somebody invented gunpowder, and I rode it around the world..."

Paul Gomez, R.I.P.

I was notified today of the passing of Paul Gomez, a fine trainer and at 41 years-old much much too young. Paul was the great master of the AK-47 platform, and an exceptional person to spend time with. He ran Gomez International Firearms Training. Details are sparse at this point, but I refer you to fellow trainer Andy Stanford's moving eulogy on the S&W Forums.

I understand that members of the training community are going to be putting together a Paul Gomez Memorial Conference, with all proceeds going to Paul's children. I will unconditionally support that project, and will keep you all informed.

Rest in peace, brother...

Funny, That's Exactly How I Feel About the MSM!

CONGRESS

Erupting Urinal Soaks House Press Gallery

A big splash occurred on Monday morning at the House Press Gallery in the U.S. Capitol. No, this wasn’t one of those unexpected guest appearances for celebrities to talk to reporters about some favorite cause. This splash came from an exploding urinal. More specifically, something suddenly broke in the piping of the third-floor urinal, and water began spewing from beneath the men’s room door...

Rats!

My run in the top 10 finishers/division winner in local cowboy matches came to a screeching halt yesterday in Cheyenne when I got a leeeetle bit sloppy and dropped what should have been an easy pistol shot...the 5 second miss penalty bumped me down to 13 out of 60, 2nd in my division. Strangely enough, I felt a little awkward on the shouldering the rifle...not totally sure what that's about. I'm going to spend some time this week on the range working drills in advance of the Colorado State Champioships next weekend. Looks like my focus will be on the rifle, with some Bill Drills for the revolvers.

RE:The Leupold CQ/T, the circle/dot reticle set-up isn't optimal for my permanently damaged right eye...it seems to prefer some sort of crosshairs with an illuminated center dot. I guess most of is frustration that I dont have the vision of a 20 year-old...LOL! If you recall, I had a vicious battle with shingles that settled into the nerves around my right eye a few years back...After many many thousands of dollars (non-reimbursed, on my self-employed person's health policy) and literally years battling the shingles and a plethora of site effects, I ended up having both lenses replaced, but not before my right retina had been permanently scarred. I shot left-handed for a long time, but went back to my dominant right eye after the lenses were replaced.

I plan to work wih the CQ/T for a month leading up to the Crimson Trace Night 3-Sun shoot in July and see if the familiarity helps.

Sunset at the Bunker...

Yeah, sucks to live up here...

Spent the day at the range working with various and sundry ARs. I got to ramp my Sweetie up with a sort of condensed AR 101, and she was-- as usual -- super. She is a talented shot, as evidenced by the wall in her office of cowboy action shooting trophies. I mostly worked with my J.P. Rifles' AR, now fitted with a Leupold CQ/T. Weird, but the CQ/T is definitely not my favorite scope by far, but I shoot very well with it...'splain that to me! I can think of about 5 things I don't like about the CQ/T right up until the point I look at the targets. The targets don't lie.

I think both my Sweetie and I are going to start shooting 3-Gun. I'm going to set up one of the Stag competition guns with a Swarovski 1-6, then see which one my Sweetie likes. Shotgun-wise, it depends. I have an FNH SLP, which is one heck of a shotgun, but my inclination for me is to set up my Remington Versa Max, the SHOOTING GALLERY Shotgun of the Year...3-Gun parts for the Remington are starting to come onto the market...I have a 10-shot tube on order from Briley. My Sweetie is talking about shooting her FNP 9mm; I'll default to the Ruger SR-9 9mm that I shot in the IDPA Worlds.

BTW, I'm exploring putting a red dot on one of my SR-9s. I'll let you know as soon as I get a verdict from the gunsmith, and you'll see it on SG if we can pull it off.

BTW BTW, check out this "My Little Pony" concealment holster! It cries out to me...maybe the holster maker could do something in Early Cartman...

BTW-cubed, I've been carrying my old STI LS-9 for various and sundry reasons, mostly I like shooting the thing. I'm going to be up at Colt later this month, and I am thinking about a Colt Defender in 9mm...I'm also considering an STI Total Eclipse, but darn, that little sucker is expensive!