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A gunnie Christmas

Posted on by Caleb

So, say you’re like me, and all you really want for Christmas is ammo, magazine holders, or other accessories for your hobby.  However, your family and friends like to be “creative” and get you gift cards to places like Amazon, which would be great if I wanted books and DVDs…but what I really want are Blackhawk double-stack magazine holders.

So, I go to Amazon.com last night, and type “Blackhawk” into the Amazon search engine, not really hoping for much…and lo-and-behold I am greeted with a veritable cornucopia of Blackhawk products. Consider this may way of helping you gunnies out there turn silly, non-MidwayUSA giftcards into something you can use.

shooting/sports

Steel tonight!

Posted on by Caleb

Our friends at Marion County Fish and Game will be shooting steel under the lights tonight – and sadly, I won’t be there.  The Real Job(tm) is having our holiday party tonight, which I am compelled to attend by both office politics and a love of free beer (not necessarily in that order).

This is the last match of the 2008 MCF&G Steel season, and it’s been a lot of fun for everyone.  It took me a while, but I’ve finally found a niche in the Single Stack division, and intend on carving out a nice little seat at the top in 2009, but we’ll see how that goes.  I hope to see you there next year!

ammo

Magical Bullets that turn into dust

Posted on by Caleb

My lasted order from www.frangiblebullets.com is on its happy little way to me.  I’ve never tried any of their .40 S&W ammo, so I ordered a broad variety of rounds to see how they run in my gun.  Coming to me (hopefully tomorrow) I’ll get the following rounds:

  • 50 rounds of Sinterfire/AccuSwage 105 grain rounds
  • 50 rounds of Sinterfire/AccuSwage 125 grain FP
  • 20 rounds of ICC Ammo 125 grain frangible hollow point
  • 50 rounds of ICC Ammo 105 grain VT/Non-Toxic round

All the rounds that I’m ordering are frangible ammo, using similar bullet construction technology to achieve full projectile destruction on target.  The 105 grain rounds are loaded over a charge that would be appropriate for a 135 grain bullet, and the 125 grain rounds are powder equivalent to 165 grain rounds.

The 20 round box is ICC Ammo’s “premium” defensive round – the first 1/2 of the bullet fragments in tissue, creating the “glaser safety slug effect” of a massive but relatively shallow permenant wound cavity.  Unlike the Glaser or other frangible rounds, the bottom 1/2 of the bullet remains intact and continues on like a wadcutter, cutting a deep wound channel into the target.  In fact, ICC’s ammo was tested and meets the FBI’s penetration protocols.

Hopefully I’ll have the rounds in hand before my next match, and I’ll be able to give you a rundown on how they work out of my Para 16-40.

humor

Find the Hunting “Advocate”

Posted on by Caleb

Thirdpower ask where Ray Schoenke, the alleged advocate of 2nd Amendment rights and hunting stands on the challenges hunters are going to face in the new administration.  Because the “H” in AHSA does stand for “Hunters”…so…Ray, where you at?

(Sarcastic comment: you mean the AHSA doesn’t stand for American Hasidic Sewing Association?)

humor

Word of the Day

Posted on by Caleb

The word of the day is “metro-tactical” – meaning a guy who likes to dress well but still dresses himself around his heater.  Your average metro-tactical guy is a study in confusion for the liberals, as he likes to shop at both Banana Republic and Gander Mountain.

On a side note, whenever I try on clothes (a rare occurence) I bring my carry gun in an IWB holster with me.  There is nothing worse than buying a nice fitting pair of jeans, and then trying to tuck a 92FS into an IWB holster and finding out that your fitted man-jeans are too tight for you to carry a serious defensive firearm.

self defense

Laaaast niiight…

Posted on by Caleb

She said baby just carrying your gun.  With apologies to The Strokes (you’re supposed to sing the title of this post), we did have a great show last night.  While we opened the show with the usual banter, the next 40 minutes were a solid and productive discussion of the defensive mindset and its application to the citizen who carries concealed.  We had multiple call-ins, but I’m pretty safe to say that the highlight of the show was the call we received from LawDog.  When you listen to the show, you’ll have to crank up your volume to hear him, but it’s worth it.  Along with our other callers, he offered up some excellent advice on preparing yourself mentally for the eventual fight. If you’d like to download the raw .mp3 file of the show, please click here.

I’m going to download a copy of that, and hopefully this evening cut together all of the caller segments and boost the gain on those so that if you’d like to, you can have all of the advice LawDog offered up in a handy “Caleb free” format.  A brief summary of that advice, and the advice from other callers follows.

  • Decide now where your line is.  Decide, in the light of day, for what, for whom, and when you’re willing to fight.  Where is the line at which you say “enough”?  It’s different for everyone, and is a cold, hard decision that you should make right now.
  • Get a lawyer.  If you ever have to use deadly force, the best thing you can do is have a lawyer you can call immediately, even if you’re 100% justified in the shooting.
  • Train.  Realistically.  If you can find force on force training, get it.  If you’re into martial arts, make sure that your training includes full contact (with pads) sparring, because “slap-and-tickle” point sparring is not the same as a jarring punch to the ribs.
  • Be situationally aware.  Criminals are predators, and they hunt where the prey is good.  By being “heads-up” you make yourself significantly less attractive as prey.

Honestly, we had another 2 or 3 hours of content, and the topic of self-defense, mental preparedness and situational awareness is one we’re going to revisit in the future.  In the meantime, download last night’s show.  You won’t be disappointed.

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gun control

Guns, ESPN, and the death of critical thinking

Posted on by Caleb

So, I listen to ESPN Radio pretty much every morning on my drive in to work – the Mike and Mike show is quite often funny, smart, and does help me stay up to date on the water-cooler conversation topics so that I can blend in better with my coworkers.  Plus, I like team sports.

Now, this morning, I tuned to the radio over to my local ESPN affiliate (AM 1070 The Fan) and I hear these two guys talking about Plaxico Burress’ negligent discharge, and the topic of guns in the NFL in general.  Then, Mike Greenburg says something that shocked me – apparently some NFL insider said that they estimate that 75% of NFL players “carry” (their words, not mine) guns.  Not “own” or “keep at home”, but “carry”.  Now I do somewhat doubt the veracity of that statistic, but whatever, we’ll run with it.  The part of that conversation that killed me is where both anchors seemed to be in agreement that NFL players shouldn’t carry guns, because they’re big musclebound guys, and should be able to “take care of themselves”.

It’s nice to see that the meathead mentality is alive and well.  I used to know some guys who played college football, who just couldn’t understand why I’d want to carry a gun, because there was this mentality that if you couldn’t “fight” with your muscles/bare hands, that somehow you weren’t worthy of self-defense.  It’s funny that some things never change.  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though that the meathead school of thought continues past college and into adulthood.

To get back to that 75% number, I am 100% in favor of professional athletes carrying and owning firearms…with the caveat that they are held to the exact same legal standards that you and I would be held to.  If, as a professional athlete, you want to own a gun, you had better follow every  single teeny legal detail, right down to dotting all the “i’s” and crossing your “t’s”.  Because when you don’t, it gets in the news.  And then I have to people on Sportscenter, who are completely ignorant on firearms issues offering up opinions about who should be “allowed” to carry a gun.

So remember that, professional athletes.  You’re in the public spotlight, so it’s incumbent on you to remember that you’re not just an ambassador for yourself, but for all gun owners.  So don’t do stupid things like carry illegal, forget the four rules, etc.