Notes from the Front Lines

Sorry for a couple of day's absence...vicious intrusion of the Real World. I may do some Wednesday Gun Porn this afternoon...I'll bet you'd like a look at the new little Detonics' blaster, which does, in fact, feel better in the hand than virtually any of the small 1911s. I've also got to go into Boulder and visit my FFL guy, who tells me there's "product waiting."

In the meantime, a couple of things that caught my eye this morning:

From Daytona Beach, a little tidbit about hookers who've had enough:

Women involved in prostitution in Daytona Beach, Fla., have reportedly armed themselves and are searching for a serial killer behind the slayings of three residents.

"Rather than run from the man police labeled a serial killer, streetwalkers here in Daytona Beach along Ridgewood Avenue say they are seeking the serial killer out," Local 6 reported Tarik Minor said. "They believe the man responsible for murdering three women here is someone they have come in contact with."

"We will get him first," streetwalker Tonya Richardson said. "Yeah, we are going to get him first. When we find him, he is going to be sorry. It is as simple as that."

Good for them! Those of us in the self-defense side of the industry sometimes overlook the fact that self-defense is a basic human right for everyone. If you catch him, girls, you might want to consider turning him over to the law, however...

I've been doing some heavy reading over the last few days, media kits from some of my erstwhile competitors. For those outside the loop, a "media kit" is the pitch package to potential advertisers. The reason I've been sunk in this is I've been outlining SHOOTING GALLERY's Recommended Products Program.

What I'm going to do is have me and our experts pick products we recommend. Those products can then carry the "SHOOTING GALLERY RECOMMENDED" tag. The deal is that the "Recommended" designation is NOT FOR SALE! Companies can't buy our recommendation — it only goes to products we use and can personally recommend.

My rationale here is that we're talking about products that might be used in a life-or-death situation. I'd be more than happy to sell out if the product was, say, Jello or high-end sneakers. In fact, if any sneaker companies (or Jello, for that matter) are reading this, give me a call and I'll sell my butt lickety-split.

But we're talking about guns here. We're talking about products that are associated with shoot-outs. Suffice to say that I believe we in this industry have a moral and ethical responsibility when we recommend product and/or training to be aware of the "what ifs." The SHOOTING GALLERY Recommended program acknowledges that responsibility.

Upon reading through media kits, I found myself amazed at what other people were willing to sell — about 25% more than your average high-end call girl. At least hookers only sell their bodies...apparently some of the "professionals" in this industry are willing to sell their names, their endorsements, whatever they have to sell, as long as the bucks are there. I find it pretty repulsive.

SIGH...I guess that means I'm never going to be able to sell out for the big bucks! Crap, there goes the Lexus!

Oh, one of the biggest secrets in the industry right now is the status of ShootingUSA on OLN. According to show host Jim Scoutten, in an e-mail to me, the show is "evolving, not ending." OLN has jerked the show around pretty badly as that network begins moving in a different direction — think hockey & Survivor reruns — and rumors coming out of the network said the shooting show would not be renewed.

Yeah, we're competitors, but it's not like the airways are flooded with shows about shooting. The loss of one is a Bad Thing. Good luck on that "evolution," Jim!

TOM CRUISE KILLED "CHEF!"

The BASTARD!

This from MSNBC:

Isaac Hayes has quit “South Park,” where he voices Chef, saying he can no longer stomach its take on religion.

Hayes, who has played the ladies’ man/school cook in the animated Comedy Central satire since 1997, said in a statement Monday that he feels a line has been crossed.

“There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,” the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.

[...]

Last November, “South Park” targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called “Trapped in the Closet.” In the episode, Stan, one of the show’s four mischievous fourth graders, is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won’t come out.

Ben Stein on Hollywood

Here's a beautifully written piece on last week's Academy Awards by Ben Stein in AMERICAN SPECTATOR:

Hollywood is above all about self: self-congratulation, self-promotion, and above all, self-protection. This is human and basic, but let's not kid ourselves. There is no greatness there in the Kodak theater. The greatness is on patrol in Kirkuk. The greatness lies unable to sleep worrying about her man in Mosul. The greatness sleeps at Arlington National Cemetery and lies waiting for death in VA Hospitals. God help us that we have sunk so low as to confuse foolish and petty boasting with the real courage that keeps this nation and the many fools in it alive and flourishing on national TV.

Well done, Mr. Stein. I will, however, go see V For Vendetta, which is already being flayed as a thinly veiled attack on the war on terror by the Matrix's Wachoski brothers, largely because I like to see things blow up and Natalie Portman in skimpy clothes. Which, I suppose, makes me a guy. Or a hypocrite...

A Tiny Bit of Gun Gossip

Well, Winchester-branded lever guns may be headed the way of the dodo the end of this month, but my little cherubs and seraphim tell me that the Winchester '94 — or rather the non-Winchester '94 — will, like the Terminator, be b...a...a...a...c...c...c...k! As soon as the last dust settles, start watching the skies, America, for an octagonal-barreled, color-casehardened absolutely beautiful faux-Winchester. And when you see it, for heaven's sake BUY one of the damn things, or else we'll all be here again in a few years!

So, the Joint Military Pistol contract is apparently substantially less joint, with the Army — the reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally big dog in this fight — and the Navy abandoning ship, leaving SOCOM to press on. Apparently, the best and brightest minds of our military establishment couldn't come to an agreement over whether the new pistol should or should not have a thumb safety. Is it any wonder we're having trouble bringing democracy to Iraq when we can't negotiate a freakin' thumb safety? So what appears to be happening...and as you know I don't really know anything...is that SOCOM is going to soldier on with the specs for a non-thumb-safety version for warriors who can keep their fingers off the trigger, roughly 49,000 units, while the Army and Navy lick their wounds and decide whether they want to go forward on the other 600,000 pieces with a thumb safety for trigger-challenged ordinary standard soldiers.

A few months back, one of my little cherubs...or maybe it was a seraphim...told me that it was unlikely the larger military contract would go forward, because it would be nigh unto impossible to explain to the military challenged dweebs in Congress why they should spend substantially more bucks schlepping big fat heavy .45 ACP, as opposed to those itsy bitsy 9mm, cartridges to various and sundry deserts around the world, since it would cost more money which would be better spent on domestic spying technology, Rolls Royces and a six-pack of yachts.

Our pal Walt Rauch is in Germany for IWA, the European equivalent of the SHOT Show, so watch the SHOOTING GALLERY site for updates from the world capital of beer and over-engineered military hardware. Also, read Patrick Sweeney's piece on some of those pesky combat myths. I believe I've been able to quantify why so many 1911s get sold, and I'll be posting a long piece on the SG website this weekend outlining my revolutionary, ground-breaking, paradigm-busting, totally unsupported conclusion. You don't want to miss that...do you???

Yippie-Ky-Aye Time!

Got to Phoenix too late to post anything last night...suffered critical brain shutdown! First, thanks to GUNSITE honcho Ed Head for stopping by and commenting. Eds retired Border Patrol and one of the three nicest guys in the world...he and the rest of the GUNSITE crew make it easy for us to work there.

We were shooting Ed's new Hans Vang left-hand receiver/right-hand trigger group 870 pump. The rationale here, as pioneered by GUNSITE instructor/USPSA Grandmaster 3-gun shooter Steve Hendricks, is that with a left-hand reeiver you can load the gun through the ejection port without having to reach under gun...a much faster way of working the pump. Your strong hand (assuming you're right-handed) stays on the gunstock, allowing you to respond instantly to a change in teh threat level. This bears A LOT more looking into, because it's a very intelligent system...interesting that, once again, a technique moves from the laboratory of competition into the Real World of defense training!

BTW, one of the things I really like about GUNSITE is that school's willingness to try anything that works...these are the most experienced firearms instructors in the world, and they NEVER stop learning, testing and trying to figure out a way to make a technique better, more effective, etc. There's also a deeply grounded belief that simplicty is better...and you had better believe that it is!

One of our sister shows is doing a piece on, "The Eight Steps to a Correct Concealed Carry Draw." Eight steps? EIGHT STEPS? Step One should be make funeral arrangements, because somewhere around Step Three you're gonna get yourself capped by a guy who just draws the gun!

Gotta go COWBOY UP at Winter Range...hopefully, I can sneak away for an hour or so and test the little Detonics .45 blaster I've got with me!

LE Buckshot/Slugs

You know, I'm too tired to get into this tonight, but we did a series of patterning exercises with regular and various types of law enforcement/reduced recoil buckshot today and I was really surprised. The LE stuff, including the new Hornady #00 and the Remington 8-pellet (vs. the traditional 9 pellet) #00 were just amazing.

As soon as I'm not shot (so to speak), I'm going to write this up on the SHOOTING GALLERY site, because I think it may change your mind about derfensive shotgun loads. It certainly has mine...

BTW, go by the site to ready Walt Rauch's great piece on Old Time 1911 Accuracy! The new SG site is really starting to shape up...it's drawing great traffic, and you going to be seeing more and more original material.

Tough Biathlon!

Now this is what I call a REAL Olympic sport!

Now Here's a Collectable Shotgun...and Other News

Check out this sawed-off beauty!

Why is there a sawed-off shotgun on the International Space Station? To fight Alien invaders? In case of war on Earth so the Cosmonauts can kill the US Astronauts? NO.

Read the following paragraph and you will see that Russians take the Wolf problem very seriously:

“In 1965, two cosmonauts overshot their touchdown site by 1,200 miles and found themselves deep in a forest with hungry wolves. That's when Russian space officials decided to pack a sawed-off shotgun aboard every spacecraft. It took Russian search crews more than two hours to locate the spacecraft and another two hours for helicopters to get support crews to the landing site.”

Shotgun-wise, my arm and shoulder are BEATEN TO DEATH! We started the day with about 65 slugs, at ranges of 20-100 yards. Then we shifted to #00 bucks, about 300 rounds of it...ouchie!

After lunch, I switched from my plain-vanilla 870 to one of Hans Vang's Super De-Luxe 870s...really a nice shotgun! Built on this guy, it features Hans' patented comp barrel, his special rifle sights, his dome-shaped special safety (which takes a little getting used to, to be sure) and his otehr bells and whistles. I've decided I'm going to order one just like, because it is a superb defensive shotgun.

Gotta go schmooze...

Oh My God They Killed Edgar...

...the bastards! I gotta say, 24 remains my favorite guilty pleasure. You gotta love a show where Jack Bauer shows a suspect's wife in the knee to get him to talk. But killing Edgar, everyone's favorite nerd...man, that is harsh!

Been lobbing 12-gauge rounds downrange all afternoon, thankfully mostly birdshot, out of a plain old boring Remington 870. Tomorrow I may shift to one of the trick Remingtons LE the illustrious Greg Foster from Remington Law Enforcement shipped down (along with cases and cases of ammunition, bless his little heart!).

Am using the SIG P225 as the transition pistol...Instructor Bill Murphy said he got one just like it for his daughter, since it's a girly pistol. Most everybody else is LE and has Glocks; the tactical guys have 1911s. Kimbers are very popular. It is GUNSITE, after all. Murphy is a great instructor...he's got a CCW book/DVD package coming out in a couple of months, and I think we're goign to feature his ideas on the show.

I've already picked up some really good tips on working an 870, which I'll try to convey in the show when we film. And, yes, I'll show you Greg's trick stuff, too...

BYW, I sent the Ruger Flat-Top off the Dave Clements at Clements Custom Guns this AM with a list that includes:

• Replace/repair ejector rod and button
• Fit oversize base pin
• Trigger job
• Recrown muzzle/recut forcing cone
• Replace ejector housing with steel replacement
• Color caseharden frame/high polish blue remainder of gun
• Jewel hammer
• "Touch up" anodized frame

I decided to leave the gun in .357 and keep the 4 5/8 barrel. It'll be a keeper!

I'm also going to talk to Hans Vang tomorrow about him building me a really nice pump shotgun. Hans has been after me to send him an 870 for years and years, and he does build one heck of a shotgun...ask the door-kickers in Afghanistan and Iraq! Not only is he a great guy, but his gunsmithing shop in Chino Valley (just south of GUNSITE) is across the street from a really good Mexican restaurant...more than this you can't ask!

BTWBTW, am getting GREAT response on the new SHOOTING GALLERY site! Several people have mentioned how great it is to have internet access for some of Walt Rauch's great writing. be sure to check it out...AND SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER, TOO!

Okay...That's Funny!

The Oscar opening montage of what "real" cowboy movies were like...

Am off to GUNSITE tomorrow oh-dark-DARK-thirty for the 260 Combat Shotgun class with Bill Murphy. We're also going to go to Winter Range for COWBOYS..."I wish I could quit that Mr. Tequila! Where's my sheeps?"

More from Prescott!!!

PS: Sent the Flat-Top to Dave Clements for restoration.

GOOD HEAVENS! I can't believe I'm listening to that POSTURING ASSHOLE George Clooney! Actors don't really think they're anything more than the human equivalent of toilet paper, do they? Brief relief, followed by a pull of the ole lever...Eric Cartman has more political sensibility than George Clooney on this best day, and is cuter to boot. I live for the day computer simulations replace these toads!

Pimp-slapped!

Okay, maybe I'm a little late to the party here, but I LOVE the fact that the blog has been run through a PIMP TRANSLATOR and translated into...pimp-ese, I guess for lack of a better word.

Yo, check it here, bitch!

Bizarrrely Erotic Asian Tattoos...

No, I won't even copy the pixs and put them here...you gotta go there!

The Case for Lasers

I've written about this before, but I'd like to direct you to my article on lasers just posted on the new, improved SHOOTING GALLERY website. I'm a big fan — so much so that I think no defensive gun should be without a laser/ I like the Crimson Trace Laser Grips becase grips are NOT a mission-critical part...the grips break...big whoop...

There's also a column by Walt Rauch just up as well. Read it here.

OKAY...Here's my plan...

Anything longer than a few paragraphs that is clearly "an article" in nature is going onto the SG site. I intend to post a link to every article here on the blog as well.

And yes, I'll consider contributors to the SG site, and, no, I DON'T PAY A PENNY!!!!

I Don't Need It, and I Shouldn't Have Bought It...

...but the sad little lost puppy needed a home!

In this case, the lost puppy is an original Ruger Flat-top .357 Blackhawk. This little revolver, circa the late 1950s, has not been converted to the transfer bar system and shows only minor holster wear. I'd put it at 90-plus percent. The stag grips are original, an $8.50 option from the factory at the time the revolver was made.

I had originally eyed it as another Hamilton Bowen or Dave Clement .44 Special conversion platform, but it may be in too good a shape for that.

I'm going to post a link on the Sixgunner forum and ask those honest-to-goodness experts for their opinion.

At least the little Ruger is safe at home now!

A Few Thoughts About Lever Guns...

...before I go see Capote this afternoon.

I've noticed on several of the gun lists an on-going controversy about lever-action rifles used as primary or secondary self-defense guns. Here's a short summary of the controversy. Yes, rifles have a place in a home defense battery for all the reasons that rifles have always had the edge — easier to shoot than handguns; more powerful than handguns; more precision than shotguns; greater range if necessary, etc. As my friend Jimmy Q. said, right after he got back from blowing stuff up in Vietnam and long before the phrase was picked up by name-brand trainers, "The function of a handgun is to get you to your rifle."

Given that, which rifle? It sorta comes down to two — the classic cowboy lever gun and the classic "everybody's got one" AR platform .223 carbine. Yeah, you can argue for an M1A (the current Springfield SOCOM II rifle is a revelation...its' also friggin' $2000!), any AK platform gun, some obscure choices, but, really, the game comes down to the two biggies.

I've got both, and I tend to come down on the side of the pistol cartridge lever gun. In my own case, the available self-defense rifle is a Winchester '94 Trapper carbine in .44 Magnum. loaded with Black Hills .240-grain JHPs. My reasons aren't exactly rocket science — I like the .44's ballistics over the .223, especially in the context of what the self-defense rifle in my situation might be used for. I don't have property, a farm, a ranch or a situation where there might be a long shot in a self-defense situation. In fact, I can't imagine taking a rifle shot longer than 50 yards (or the distance from the bedroom window to the base of the driveway, whichever comes first). Within those distances, the .44 Magnum is a proven hammer...thousands of deer and pigs can't be wrong! The Trapper wil shoot little tiny groups at 50 yards, all day long.

You can argue that the downside of the lever platform is the absence of that 20-30 round magazine. Fair point, but again, in what context might the gun be used? In my home, I'm unlikely to be facing crazed packs of Somalis or even five or six pissed-off jihadi, situations where pure firepower becomes a big big plus. Instead, I'll be looking at one or two (three on the outside) home invaders who are unlikely to storm my fortified bedroom. With nine rounds in the Winchester's tube and a 50-round box of .44 Maggies, I can lay down a steady stream of very deadly fire for a long, long time...at least, until the local cavalry arrives.

Secondly, I shoot cowboy action stuff pretty regularly, so I practice a lot with a lever gun. So does my Sweetie. That's a critical point to me. If, on the other hand, I shot three-gun regularly, I'd want my self-defense rifle to be the same platform as the rifle I practiced the most with, probably an AR (loaded with low-penetration .223s designed for SWAT cops). Just like with handguns, the "best" rifle for you is the one you practice the most with. A tool is only "best" within the context of "use."

A Sneak Peak at the New SG Website

It's under construction, but you can take a back-door look here.

I'm trying to incorporate a lot of blog technology into it, to make it a dynamic, fluid site, one that you'll alll want to hit once a day or so.

Maybe I'll include some subliminal mind control stuff, just to make sure!

Airport Cattle Call!

I missed this least week, the WSJ's incomparible Peggy Noonan on airport security:

So we're all talking about port security this week, and the debate over the Bush administration decision to allow an United Arab Emirates company to manage six ports in the United States. That debate is turning bitter, and I wonder if the backlash against President Bush isn't partly due to the fact that everyone in America has witnessed or has been a victim of the incompetence of the airport security system. Why would people assume the government knows what it's doing when it makes decisions about the ports? It doesn't know what it's doing at the airports.

If Ms. Noonan would really like to light up the boards, let me tell you about getting an explosives' hit off one's laptop. Lights and buzzers start flashing, as if you've finally won a middling slot jackpot in Vegas...people being moving away from you...the nice man behind the machine orders you to place your hands, palm down, on the table until the men with guns get there. And then — this is my second favorite part! — a man with a gun asks if you can give a "credible reason" why the sniffer "smelled" explosive residue on your laptop.

Other than, say, you're operating a bomb factory out of your suitcase.

In my case — not surprisingly — it turned out not just well, but funny. The smell of testosterone was so strong I moved at 1/2 speed, asking permission before each step. "May I take my hands off the table?" "My I get a business card out of my wallet?" Etc. Standard Third World Operating Procedures, evolved to keep me from being iced on the side of some jungle road by a 16-year-old with an FN-FAL. Except, of course, I was in a major U.S. airport (which is, I guess, sort of like the Third World these days, except it's harder to bribe the officials).

The TSA guy on the sniffer looks at my card and before I can say anything else says, "Hell, I watch this guy's show all the time! He blows stuff up every week!" Well, every other week, I think, but I grin and keep my mouth shut. Everybody relaxes...I sign a couple of autographs, hand out some SHOOTING GALLERY pins, shake hands and make my flight.

Back when airport security really started cranking after 9/11, my friend and mentor Walt Rauch, who — like me — is demonstrably paranoid, said that it was all smoke and mirrors, but with a decidedly nefarious purpose: "They're getting us ready for what comes next," he said.

Which is, I asked?

You've traveled, Walt said to me. You've seen it all before: "Your papers, please!" "Come with us while we verify your identity." "You need to be detained, and, no, you can't make a phone call to your attorney." "Get in line for special processing..."

Reading Peggy Noonan's column, I can't help but thinking that Walt is, unfortunately, far too correct...a bad moon is rising out there.

One more airport story. I got pegged for "additional security measures" because I'm on the list as someone who travels with guns — before you all start baying, "What list?," it's the list everyone claims doesn't exist...the one that gets me comments like, "I'm sorry, Mr. Bane, but you're not eligible for internet or curbside check-in. You have to go inside." Or, "Are we carrying a gun today, Mr. Bane?" Or, "Are you aware, Mr. Bane, that it is a federal felony to not declare a firearm if you're carrying one?" Or, "Are you sure you're not traveling with a firearm today, Mr. Bane?" Of course there's no list! Anyway, I digress...

So I get shunted to the windowless room, where I assume the crucified position before being ordered to and try to similarly assume an air of indifference, or maybe distain.

"So you think this is all a joke, huh?" my examiner says, poking me pretty hard with his cattle prod-cum-metal detector. "You frequent fliers don't give a darn about what we're doing here..."

Couple of years ago, I say, dooming myself to missing my flight, I spent some time with an Israeli security guy. I don't think this is a joke. I know this is a joke.

"You spent time with the Israelis?" my examiner said, lowering his prod. I nodded. "You're right," he said. "Get the hell out of here."

And an aside, from yesterday's USA Today:

WASHINGTON — Congress is headed toward approving a plan that would require employers to check every worker's Social Security number or immigration work permit against a new federal computer database.
Critics see the move — aimed at stemming illegal immigration — as the beginning of a government information stockpile that could be used to track U.S. residents.

"We're getting closer and closer to a national ID card," says Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Kangaroo Dookey for Brains, and Other Comments from Down Under

And speaking of men with brains consisting entirely of hoppy animal crap, a few words from Australian Prime Minister John Howard:

"I did not want Australia to go down the American path," he said.

"There are some things about America I admire and there are some things I don't.

"And one of the things I don't admire about America is their ... slavish love of guns. They're evil."

Yeah, that's right, Bubba...pour yourself a Foster's and pretend you're smarter than wombat on crank. We may stage an expedition to Australia later this year, to show some Australians slavish love of guns! I'll bet there's more than you think

And what are Howard's loyal subjects doing? How about, obtaining guns by any means possible. This from the Courier-Mail:

Gun ownership explodes

GUN ownership is on the rise in Queensland with evidence the tough restrictions introduced after the Port Arthur massacre nearly a decade ago are losing their effectiveness.

Despite bans on certain types of weapons and a successful buyback and amnesty, police figures show there are more firearms in the community now than three years ago.

Have you ever noticed there's nothing more pathetic than faux-Brits, except possibly faux-French?

LOTR Revisited

From the internet, presented without comment:

"Jack Bauer could have gotten that friggin' ring to Mordor in 24 hours!"

Now for Something Entirely Different

I've spent the last couple of days reading a fairy tale, Neil Gaiman's 1998 Stardust. It's a real fairy tale, too, complete with fairies, witches, true loves, happily ever after and no political point whatsoever.

Gaimen's a graphic novelist, of course, and a heck of a novelist...I loved American Gods.

Anyway, when you need a break from the Real World, try Stardust. You'll feel better, I promise!