A Usual Fun Weekend

Spent yesterday shooting a cowboy match up in Ft. Collins. No scores yet, but I did well. This was a 5th Saturday match, so more prone to weirdness in stage design...which is fun. Once again, am running a little slower, but am dreadfully consistent. In October, I'm going to focus on speed. Interestingly enough, my Sweetie and I will be shooting a 3-Gun match next weekend, the kind with ARs instead of lever action rifles. Should be interesting, and different.

John Richardson (and many others) are at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Orlando...am looking forward to his reports. I'm glad to see how much the industry has adopted the Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 meme. Just a quick note — I've been credited with pointing out the birth of Ver. 2.0; more correctly, Paul Erhardt and I made the initial observations.

I've been rounding up magazines for the Sig Sauer P938, which is harder than one might think. I bought the only one at Midway, then a couple of more from Sig's online store. A bit pricey, that. I want to shoot the little 9mm in a IDPA Back-up Gun match (the 3-inch barrel is easily under the IDPA 3.8 inch requirement). Am also waiting for extra Taurus "Slim" mags. Have actually been carrying the "Slim" with a CT laser in a Simply Rugged Cuda holster (the same design holster I use for my knockaround Ruger SR22 pistol. I'm pretty much convinced that the mini-9mms are a real breakthrough in concealed carry...yes, they are harder to shoot than both their slightly smaller .380 brethren (from which they sprang) and their slightly larger "compact" sized cousins, but the more I carry them, the more I like them as carry guns. I'm planning on filming my second Panteao Productions "Make Ready With" concealed carry video in March of next year, and the mini-9s will play a big role.

Interestingly enough, I have a Charter Arms 9mm snub on the way for T&E. I've shot the .40 S&W version, but am much more interested in the little 9mm. Shame it doesn't come in red and black...

There's an on-going battle at the University of Colorado in Boulder on CCW for students. You can get a good idea of the shape of the battle from this article in the local dead tree media. A part of me wanted to gear up for an expedition to Boulder to attend Brady shill and professional "victim" Colin Goddard's talk on campus just to ask him how he lives with himself.

I note that Brother Ted has a new series coming on the Discovery Channel. I also hear that several other gun shows are in the works on networks other than the one for which I labor.

Next week is an AR build week. We'll be putting together the .22 LR tackdriver based on the Spike's Tactical Lothar Walther-barreled upper and the JP custom lower (probably MagPul or ACE furniture). Hopefully, we'll also build the ultralight breakdown on the ATI Omni polymer lower and the TAC2 Discreet Carry Kit. Upper is still undecided, although I have a Stag here. Both of these builds will be filmed for SHOOTING GALLERY and our still-hidden-in-the-box Internet project. The suppressed Ruger Charger, sort of a crash tutorial in overhauled the 10/22, which is so easy to overhaul that even I can do it, is also on the menu.

Well, a long blogpost is a good excuse not to address the wreckage in both my office and the gun room, the consequences of too much travel...I suppose I'd better at least try to clean up one or the other!

A Second Massive "WHEW!"

So we now have 10 of the 12 scenarios needed for next season's THE BEST DEFENSE in the can, or whatever the digital equivalent of that hoary film cliche is, and I am seriously relieved. We once again upped the ante with the scenarios, and I and the whole production team believe they are the best we've ever done. Our starting scenario is a neighborhood watch guy who starts following a suspicious person...hmmmmm, where have I heard that before...and we take you guys through every step both tactically and legally.

Coupled with the grueling SHOOTING GALLERY schedule, including the Poland trip, I am simply burned up. I'm going to take next week to spend some time at the range and catch up on a bunch of stuff.

Tough Night!

We finished up our "active shooter in a theater" scenario for THE BEST DEFENSE last night. Man, these "big box" scenarios terrify me...not to mention my Sweetie, who handles show logistics, and producer/director Matt Shults. There were lots of moving parts to this one, and it went off without a hitch. Thanks to our Pod People who came up to be in the "audience," as well as some of our cowboy friends, neighbors we drafted, Mike Janich's students and even the Drama Club at the local high school. Many of them died well...and repeatedly!

I did get about 30 minutes of "WHEW!"...followed immediately by the next crisis de jure! LOL!

Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 in HUMAN EVENTS

Written by my friend Richard Johnson:

Instead of the image of the white male father dressed in flannel taking his son off to the woods for the traditional deer hunt, the new image of gun ownership is much broader and more diverse.  The members of the 2.0 gun culture are more likely to own an AR15  with a suppressor than a Winchester Model 70.  And, you can rest assured that a new gen gun owner is likely to be carrying a Glock or KelTec when you run into them at the local coffee shop.

Book Bomb Day — Rawles' "Founders"

Tomorrow, Tuesday 25 September, is Book Bomb Day for Jim Rawles' new novel FOUNDERS: A NOVEL OF THE COMING COLLAPSE. Jim, as you know, runs The Survival Blog, and FOUNDERS is the 3rd novel in his "Coming Collapse" series. In case you've been napping, the function of a "book bomb" is for as many people as possible to order the book on the same day from Amazon to raise the book in the Amazon ratings. Jim is one of the Good Guys, and The Survival Blog is an indispensable resource....buy the book!

Spam and Other Sludge...

I see the spammers are busy again on the comments section. As near as we can tell, most — almost all — of this stuff comes from China. If I were a betting person, I'd say these are test and/or practice runs from Chinese infowar guys, maybe something those guys do when they're sitting at their terminals and bored. It runs in waves and the posts constantly shift just enough to slip by our junk filters. Annoying as crap, and, if one thinks about it, slightly more sinister. So my apologies...I'll delete them as I catch them.

And speaking of war, I get it that Apple is at war with Google. That said, the new version of Safari (6.0) really, really sucks hard. Apple eliminated the Google Search window in favor of some supposedly do-it-all window that actually does nothing well. Yes, it can be fixed with a free applet, which I have done, (and yes, I have lots of browsers...Firefox and Opera are arguably more annoying than Safari) but as structured it is nearly completely worthless. Thank you, Apple! May your development division be hounded by Chinese spam crap.

There is an very interesting interview with Paul Barrett, author GLOCK: The Rise of America's Gun, in the Los Angeles Review of Books. It is certainly no secret that I have serious reservations about the book, and Mr. Barrett, whom I know personally, and I have had our issues. Still, this is an excellent interview for several reasons...it highlights the huge gap between our side and their side, in many ways the absence of a "common language." LOL! Definitely worth reading.

In other world-changing news, Defense Distributed has come up with enough cash to continue their Open Source project for a handgun that can be "printed" from a 3-D printer. This from Forbes, which is worried:

The Wiki Weapon Project, hosted by a group that calls itself Defense Distributed, set out in July with the goal of raising enough money to hold a design competition among 3D-printable software models for a working gun capable of firing at least a single .22 caliber bullet that can be printed on a relatively cheap RepRap 3D printer.

As your basic nerd-boi, I find this fascinating! Wired Magazine is also reporting that MakerBot is bringer new inexpensive 3-D printers to the market with expanded features:

This is MakerBot’s Macintosh moment. Just as nearly 30 years ago Apple made desktop publishing mainstream, the aim with the Replicator 2 is to take something new to the masses: desktop manufacturing.

Indeed! Finally a Star Trek replicator for the masses! Well, not quite. I have talked to both individuals and companies using printing technology on firearms, including the guys (HaveBlue) who "printed" AR-15 receivers, and yes, they followed all applicable laws. It is not illegal to build your own gun. This from the ATF FAQ website:

Q: Does the GCA prohibit anyone from making a handgun, shotgun or rifle?  

With certain exceptions a firearm may be made by a non-licensee provided it is not for sale and the maker is not prohibited from possessing firearms. However, a person is prohibited from assembling a non-sporting semi-automatic rifle or non-sporting shotgun from imported parts. In addition, the making of an NFA firearm requires a tax payment and approval by ATF. An application to make a machine gun will not be approved unless documentation is submitted showing that the firearm is being made for a Federal or State agency. [18 U.S.C. 922(o) and (r), 26 U.S.C. 5822, 27 CFR 478.39, 479.62 and 479.105]

I know some of you might think this is a weird analogy, but just as desktop publishing was the "killer app" that shoved laser printers into the mainstream, and — heaven help us all! — pornography was certainly one of the "killer apps" in the early days of the Internet, I wonder whether weapons might be one of the "killer apps" (forgive the inevitable pun) that drives 3-D printing...as much as I'd love to print my own little green tractor, the concept of a modern day "Liberator" pistol is indeed fascinating. A point we've made for years is that guns are really old technology, and not particularly complicated at that.

Another Dawn @ Another Airport!

Am in danger of drifting off at any moment...hoping to stay awake long enough to make the plane. Had a nice dinner last night with Joyce Wilson of IDPA, the Panteao guys -- Fernando Cohelo, Tom Yost & "Super" Dave Harrington -- my friend Paul Erhardt, When the Balloon Goes Up blogger Ron Larimer and our official IDPA "Crash Test Dummy " Katie Rowe. Was big fun...stupid stories abound! 

While I'm sleeping my way across the country, read this cool piece in The Captain's Journal blog: "Save the planet - Buy an AR!" You KNOW where I stand on that!

Well, first in order to correct some misconceptions, it is simply a farce to claim that gun ownership is declining in America.  Second – and let me be clear about this – magazine capacity is a non-negotiable.  But third, note the use of the AR to save the terrain, protect indigenous species, protect the plant life, prevent erosion, and save the farmers.

It’s like the health benefits of red wine or coffee.  Is there anything an AR can’t do?

Read the whole thing...

Note To Self...

...it turns out that if you let your iPhone get soaked when you're out on the range all day in the rain, it doesn't work, like, 100% anymore. If Steve Jobs were still alive, stuff like this wouldn't happen. Oh well, it sorta works...if you have my number and need to contact me, send a text. At least until I can get an iPhone 5, whenever that is.

I ended up doing more shooting today than I intended to do, falling back on one of my two Ruger SR-9s, which have been workhorses over the years. I shoot them; they work. I take them apart every so often and hose them out...they just keeps running. I would like Novak sights, but I always forget about that when I put the guns back in the safe. Today I was just lazy and carried the SR-9 in a Galco Yaqui slide, which, untruth, works totally fine and may be the most versatile holster on earth. I don't like slides for a gun the size of the SR-9 (say, Glock 19-ish) if I'm going to be sitting down a lot for fear of bumping the barrel and pushing the gun partially out of the holster, but there was no problem driving around today.

I talk a lot tomorrow on the podcast about my first impressions of the Sig Sauer P938, which was overwhelmingly positive. I would like to have all the edges knocked off, a la the Kimber Solo, and I'm hoping that Crimson Trace cooks up a natty set of LaserGrips like the ones for the Solo. Obviously, I haven't shot the 938 nearly as much as the Solo, but so far I'm very impressed.

BTW, speaking of mega-cheap home security, I hauled out an old 20 gauge Remington 870 that I bought for $100 from a gun store going out of business about a decade ago. I added a Nordic Components tube I'd picked up cheap and a set of discounted plastic furniture...took it to the range Sunday just to try it out. What a great little gun! Be super for home defense, especially for a smaller-framed person. Yeah, I'm not going to replace my own 12 gauge 870, but it's a nice little gun for even less than one would pay for a new Mossberg 500.

Catching Up Before Getting Back in Harness

Despite the fact that my brain is still working at about only 30%, I saddled up and went to a cowboy match in Ft. Collins' Pawnee Station yesterday AM and lucked into a 7th overall finish (over 68 shooters) and winning my division. I wasn't shooting as quickly as I can shoot, but I was consistent, the legacy I think from my practice before the Ruger Rimfire Challenge match. Most of my practice before RRC was on rapidly acquiring the target and getting the first shot off quickly, followed by a one-shot, one-hit mantra. Yes, I know that the current is shoot fast, faster, fastest and wait (hope) for your accuracy to catch-up. Sadly, I remain Old Skool on the topic...I'll leave it to history to decide whether Mr. Earp actually said, "Speed is fine, but accuracy is final," but that is how my mentors taught me.

When I'm tired, shooting guns I'm not familiar with, when the weather goes south, whatever, I default to "deliver the shot."

Today is probably a range day — I've got a Stag AR-15 that needs to get sighted in and no matter how long I keep stalling the dang thing refuses to sight itself in. Man, that's the next breakthrough!  Assuming I pound the scope onto the rifle in preparation for today's session, I'm also talking my long-awaited Sig Sauer P938 9mm SA for a few rounds. I have to say I was blown away by handling the little gun...I think the Sig the only mini-9 I haven't shot. As you recall, I got in a P238 .380 to use in some eps of THE BEST DEFENSE with the full intent of returning the gun when we were finished. It was such a superb shooting little gun that I couldn't bring myself to return it. Am hoping the P938 lives up to my admittedly high expectations.

I'm fiddling around with a short piece for SHOOTING GALLERY 2013 on an ultra-lite breakdown AR-15. I've got a TAC2 Discreet Carry Kit for the basics, but I'm trying to decide on a donor gun. I'm waiting on one of the ATI polymer lowers, but I'm halfway thinking of one of the Bushmaster Carbon 15s, which certainly blow hot or cold depending on the reviews. My goal is an ultralight, easily packable gun, but one that works all the time as well.

I wish you could all make a swing by the Secret Hidden Bunker this time of year...the high aspen are all going golden, the air is crisp and there is no more beautiful place on earth.

Back in the U.S.

After almost 2 weeks in Poland shooting buzz guns and the like! Big Big Fun, and you'll see it all on SHOOTING GALLERY Season 13. Got home late Wednesday, but couldn't get my brain to turn on yesterday...was like bald tires slipping on sand.

People in Poland were just wonderful. We were there as guests of Pioneer Arms, Frabryka Broni Lucznik and my friend Uli Wiegand from I.O. Inc. The whole idea got started when SG Producer John Carter and I we're blown away by the cowboy SxS hammered shotgun made by Pioneer.

Will write more today after I finish sorting through calls, email and various crises.

A Note on 9/11

This is the first time I've spent the 9/11 anniversary out of the country. Last week, I spent the day at Auschwitz in southern Poland. Outside of the horrific days I spent watching what was left of the World Trade Center -- and of my countrymen and women -- burn, it was one of the most powerful days of my life. I'll be takling about it next week on the pod, but for today I want to say mourn our dead and bless our heroes, pray for those in the shadows woes job is to keep us safe. Take a moment to remember Israel, living under the threat of a second Holocaust.

The world has become an increasingly dangerous place. As I have said before, the quest -- the Great American Constitutional Quest -- stands balanced on a knife's blade...a fraction of a movement in the wrong direction, and the quest, the quest that has been the savior of the world, will fail.

The 11th Anniversary of 9/11, and we dance upon the abyss with gay abandon, blind to the voices who cry warning.

More Non-Sporting Guns!

PS...on the current Internet kerflunkle

The PM-63 has no...let me repeat that...no "sporting purposes!" Or spurting porpoises, for that matter. Nonetheless, if I can have one in a semi pistol config, I will pay the $200 toll to the Feds and turn the little jewel into an SBR with no sporting purposes, either. Perhaps I'll hunt miniature elk, or go to war with the Munchkin  Hegonomy. See, I live in the United States, where our right to own and use even little guns like, oh I don't know, let's just take a wild shot and say an H-K MP-7, which we'll be using in a totally unsportsmanlike manner in next month's RAPIDFIRE series, is a protected Constitutional right.

Just in case we've all forgotten, the "sporting clause" is exclusively used  by people who are planning on taking you guns and leaving you with your hand on your Mr. Weasel. When anyone used said phrase, the proper response is to say, "No thanks!".  Then quickly go buy the gun in session, Domtt let the naysayers use in, nether 

New All-Time Favorite Sub-Gun!

 

The Polish PM-63 "RAK" in 9 x 18 Mak...man, these things so rock! I gotta say that in the balance, I like them more that Czech Skorpions, which I like a lot. I'll have a report on the pod a week from this Wednesday, and you'll see the rock-and-roll video on SG next season.

Had a really nasty little virus end of last week, but it seems to have passed with nothing lingering but a nagging headache. Was NOT a lot of fun! Frankly, I don't have time in the ole schedule for being sick...LOL! 

BTW, in a couple of weeks we're going to be modeling some recent in-the-headlines shootings for THE BEST DEFENSE in the Denver area, and if you're a Pod Person and would like to be a part of the sim, please email me (mbane@outdoorchannel.com) and let me know. Be a great chance to meet Seeklander & Janich!

Shocker!

Sorry...been crazy busy! Plus, have tried to post from the phone while I was running around, but (as you can tell from my picture of SG Producer Mike Long having coffee), it has been sorta problemic.

I see History Channel is ramping up their new gun show, Family Guns, and it looks like one I might actually watch...unless, of course, the son starts yelling at the father American Chopper style, then I'm outa there.

My pal Kevin Dockery is once again ran his super-cool Armory at the big Dragon*Con SF convention in Atlanta last weekend. Somehow, I'm always working...otherwise I'd be a screaming hoot...not to mention hot alien women.

And finally, from HuffPo, of course, comes this little ditty:

Amid a continuing national gun control debate, a young California man has died during a game of Russian Roulette. It is at least the fourth death that has occurred during the deadly shooting game in the last eight months in the U.S.

"Continuing national gun control debate?" Kinda strikes me more as "Darwin in action." RR isn't a "shooting game," it's what morons do when the bottles are all empty...

Belonging to the Right Club

Was excited to learn from the DNC that I belong to the government! Wow! I'm honored and a little humbled...I can't wait until I get my permanent bar code tattooed on the inside of my left arm!

Also, I'm honored to be allowed to pay for aging college "students" contraception! That's why I work as hard as I do, so little Jill (and Jack) can finish their 10-year degree in Norwegian Lesbian Sports Literature, 1659-1917 inclusive, while working their way through the Kama Sutra.

I'm going to spend the day looking at exotic sniper rifles, and I'll feel better.

BTW, a couple of more data points from Charlotte, the first from Peggy Noonan at WSJ:

Beneath the funny hats, the sweet-faced delegates, the handsome speakers and the babies waving flags there was something disquieting. All three days were marked by a kind of soft, distracted extremism. It was unshowy and unobnoxious but also unsettling.

There was the relentless emphasis on Government as Community, as the thing that gives us spirit and makes us whole. But government isn't what you love if you're American, America is what you love. Government is what you have, need and hire. Its most essential duties—especially when it is bankrupt—involve defending rights and safety, not imposing views and values. We already have values. Democrats and Republicans don't see all this the same way, and that's fine—that's what national politics is, the working out of this dispute in one direction or another every few years. But the Democrats convened in Charlotte seemed more extreme on the point, more accepting of the idea of government as the center of national life, than ever, at least to me.

Finally, and powerfully, Michael Goodwin at the NY Post:

This is not mere class warfare. That’s just a tactic. The goal, as it always has been for his kind throughout history, is to accumulate power that the elite can wield without accountability or checks and balances.

  Give the man his due. We have not seen his like in our times. His charisma and political skills are unmatched. If only they were admirably used.

Obama promised to unite the country and, his lie exposed, is now determined to win re-election by any means necessary. He may succeed.

Beware, America. The wraps have come off.Obama is unbound and the delegates in the convention hall went home in full revolutionary spirit. They don’t want to unite America. They want to conquer it.Barack Obama did build that.Peggy Noonan

Test Post ... Ignore This!

All Over the Place!

Hoping to try to keep up!


-- Post From The Road