External Extractors

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Weerd Beard

Hilton Yam is my kind of guy. He likes 1911s, but he doesn’t REALLY like them until he beats a bunch of them to death to see how well they’re made.

It appears he was at the NRA convention, and is currently taking a look at the S&W1911 E Series.

Now I happen to have a pair of older-gen S&W1911s. Both I bought used, and both I’ve put a good amount of rounds through. S&W stuck fairly faithful to the Colt 1911 pattern, one diversion is the Schwartz Safety firing pin block and the other is the external extractor.

Firing pin blocks in 1911s is a solution seeking a problem. I get what they do, and why lawyers demand people have put them in most guns out there, still are there ANY instances of a 1911 discharging from a drop in the field? A drop discharge of a 1911 without a firing pin block requires the gun to land firmly on the muzzle and with enough force to get the firing pin to overcome the return spring AND dent the primer. It can happen, but frankly unless the 1911 is going down a narrow shaft to prevent it from turning while dropping, the magazine would likely be the heaviest part of the gun so it would rotate the muzzle away from the ground as it falls.

The external extractor just makes a lot of sense. Look at any non-1911 gun (including guns made by John Browning) what do you see by the ejection port? An External extractor.

Go read Hilton’s post so I can spare you the technicalities, but because the M1911 was NOT designed for an external extractor, it means that most people who attempted it fail. I will say from my brace of S&W1911s S&W got their extractor correct. They work.

I’m glad to see Hilton Yam seeing it as working too. Makes me sound a little less crazy.

….a little.

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Quote of the Day: Kristopher

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Weerd Beard

Seen over at Alan’s

If Texas wants a better written law, I would suggest following Wyoming’s lead:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl3/wyoming-constitutional-carry.html

http://www.libertarianpunk.com/2010/03/wyoming-governor-signs-firearm-freedom-act-into-law/

Anything less simply proves that Texas is just full of girly-men and sheep who are afraid of firearms.

Now Texas has some of the best deadly force laws in the country. So much I wonder why they actually have CRIME there because that old Texan is just gonna shoot you for being an asshole. I think I remember Alan telling me they lead the nation in NFA tax stamps.

Still with places like Texas and Florida which are both have reputations for being crazy gun-friendly, it amazes me they both have such goofy carry laws, like restrictions on open carry, and guns in restaurants that serve alcohol. New Hampshire and Wyoming have you guys beat…you gonna let them do that? Hell even hippie-dippy Vermont is easier going than Texas!

Is Texas really gonna let their ass get beat by a skinny rich kid living in a Yurt in the woods?

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Vote Early, Vote Often

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Weerd Beard

Lucky Gunner has been taking a great interest in the gun blogging community, they’re hosting a shoot on Memorial Day (Can’t make it, too much travel time already this year, and I have guests visiting) and they got together with several bloggers over the course of the NRA Convention.

I’m super happy to hear they nominated me for “2011 Best Gun Blog – Up & Comer”. There are a ton of other great people both in my category (seriously if you don’t vote for me, there are a few other people who are just as deserving. Linoge, Mike W and Cemetery , are all good bloggers and good people who I personally know and read) and there are lots of others. So get in there and vote!

And if you happen to vote for me in the process I won’t fault you that error in judgement! 😉

Thanks for the Nomination Lucky Gunner, it means quite a bit to me!

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Crappy Day for some People

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Weerd Beard

Seems that Blogger is messed up right now. I had a Blogger account back when I was still running my Livejournal. Around the time I was thinking of starting up a big-kid blog, I thought about just moving over to that site.

Still I thought about reading and commenting on the various WordPress powered blogs, and I liked them better.

Bummer for those of you on Blogger, and hopefully the d00ds at Google will sort that out.

**UPDATE** Looks like Blogger is back up! Glad to see you guys running again!

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Friday 13

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Weerd Beard

I dunno about you guys, but due to the goofy mystique of the weekday calendar number combination I’ve always taken note on how I fared when a “Friday” and a “13” pop up.

You know, overall I rather enjoy them, and certainly nothing bad comes of them.

This morning has been no different. Woke up fully rested (in a week where oddly I’ve been wanting to crawl back into the rack as soon as I learn its morning, and time to make the donuts. (For those that don’t know, I’m a crazy morning person who’s prone to have his eyes pop open at 4am for no reason and I just start my day)

The wife and I watched an Episode of NCIS (AKA “The Abby Show”) made a nice breakfast, and here I am.

So we’ll see. Certainly happy it’s Friday. How about you?

Oh and for those who are into freaky-deaky superstitions one I always hated (and on the few times it did happen, nothing bad happened of course) was shipping out on a Friday. Working offshore is dodgy business…why chance it more by fucking with the Gods?

Oh its also bad luck to re-name a boat. An amusing story is when they were making the movie “The Perfect Storm” they took a boat and painted it to look like the Andrea Gail. I was in Gloucester around the time when they were filming, it was eerie to see that boat mocked up to look like one lost at sea. Well a few years back, they were trying to figure out what to do with it. No fisherman wanted it, and there was talk of turning it into a floating museum for people to walk around a mocked-up fishing boat. Well while it was tied to the dock there was an electrical problem and she burned to the waterline. Just a logical happenstance, but I blame the name-change.

Of course just to point at myself and laugh, there’s a guy who owns a small fleet of boats in Portland Maine. I won’t name names just to be fair, but his boats are named in series. As in “Woman’s Name”, “Woman’s Name II”, “Woman’s Name III”, there are a BUNCH of them. One of those boats sank in a storm. The crew was able to get to the life raft. I will say there was some dubious actions by the Coast Guard and word is there was a healthy settlement years later.

Well this same captain had since bought another boat. This boat happened to be painted blue with white superstructure. Blue boats are another bad luck, but also one that isn’t often followed. the Superstition is that the sea takes possession of anything blue, and you don’t want her to own your ass. But the sea is GREEN or Grey in the Gulf of Maine, or George’s Bank….so really?

Still one day while I was offshore I was killing time with some binoculars seeing what other boats that were around me. Recognized a few….and one looked familiar. Well I saw this blue boat, and I could read the name on the stern….it was the sunk boat!

Turned out it was just that new boat, and the captain had changed the name. Struck me as tempting fate. Of course I just looked up this boat’s name, to see how common knowledge the sinking of the first vessel is. Well I found the SECOND boat had actually responded to a distress call and saved the crew of a sunken fishing boat a few years back.

So so much for superstitions, huh?

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“Gun Death” Pervert

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Weerd Beard

Evidence May Lead to More Kidnapping/Assault Victims of Spring Lake Park Man: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

Story here

Heuer, 48, was charged Wednesday morning with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of kidnapping. The charges stem from the kidnapping of an 8-year-old girl from a St. Paul laundromat that triggered an Amber Alert on Sunday.

Pervert raping young girls (possibly a large number), but no guns used, so this is the type of violent crime that doesn’t really concern those who use the term “Gun Death”. When somebody says “Gun Death” this is what you should think of, and know they could care less.

h/t Maddmedic

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Quote of the Day: We Want to Talk!

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Weerd Beard

This just goes to show the anti-rights people are not only stalker Trolls,but totally out of their minds.

@SebastianSH No, we think your constant attacks on gun violence prevention advocates and the ugly comments you allow on your blog = harass.

This is a tweet from Coalition to Stop Gun Violence in response to Sebastian questioning the underhanded nature of them “outing” him.

First up let’s point out the ONLY reason why they’re doing this is to intimidate. People in the past who have done this have made threatening phone calls, both to the blogger in question, their family, and to employers. Made fraudulent police reports, and made threats to attack one’s family. Also there’s the very real threat of creating a shopping list for people who steal guns. You see pro-rights people actually want LESS gun death, by these trolls actions they are asking for MORE.

Now to go into the issue at hand, I read Sebastian’s blog every day, and I’ve met him in person a few times. I don’t know him extremely well, personally, but if I had one complaint to make about him was that he is a little TOO tolerant of the ignorant and bigoted actions of the other side.

I think he is too tolerant of trolls as well as the leadership’s action in the opposition. Now that’s a very minor quip, and it shouldn’t be taken as anything but. Frankly its more of a reaction that I get from the world at large, as you all should know I speak my mind, and don’t parse words, and anybody who’s met me in person, knows that the words on this page, and the various podcast recordings, aren’t any different than if you were sitting across the table from me.

That being said Sebastian is a MASSIVE asset to the 2nd Amendment, and to the NRA, and I’m glad he’s on our side.

So with all that, how the hell can Sebastian’s statements of facts and reason be even remotely construed as “Harassment”? Furthermore the above tweet and actions from the network of gun control Trolls (note you will not, now, or ever, see an anti-rights figure claim this behavior is ANYTHING but above board, and you’ll note if you brows the various channels that most of the people from Joyce and Brady are PLEASED with these tactics) shows exactly how ironic their latest chant of “We want to talk” or “We want to discuss the issues” that they have recently been spouting.

Again they have no desire to discuss ANYTHING with anybody. What they want is to be obeyed. If they are NOT obeyed they will make threats and advancements against the individual until we yield, or their organization is no more.

I wish no personal ill will against the people on the payroll or volunteer roster of the various outlets of the Brady Campaign or the Joyce Foundation. I have no respect for them as people, but I hope they all live long and happy lives. I do hope that their organizations go bankrupt, their laws fail, the politicians they endorse are defeated, and their ideology as a whole becomes as popular as the Jim Crow south from which it first sprang from.

I don’t know about Sebastian, but I, and many others will continue to work hard to achieve these goals.

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GunPorn

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Weerd Beard

This weekend me and a few friends got talking about guns (I know shocking) I mentioned that Commander Zero hunts deer with a PTR91 which is essentially an H&K G3. As soon as H&K came up my friend mentioned the P7

While I don’t know how I feel about such a radical gun overall, it certainly is EXTREMELY mechanically interesting, with its squeeze-cocking action for a Single-action-only gun that requires no thumb safety, and for its interesting gas-retarded blow-back design, and its REALLY low bore axis. Its also known for reliability issues thanks to the gas piston, as well as getting unpleasantly hot after a short round-count, thanks again to the hot gasses being shunted close to the shooters hand in the piston.

Gun Nuts has uploaded a video of Iain Henderson showing Shelley Rae how to run the P7

Cool video! I haven’t met Shelley, but Iain did buy me a beer and lick my face! 🙂

I won’t lie, I liked it!

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State Theft

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Weerd Beard

So I heard this story last night and it really pissed me off.

A 15 year old found an envelope filled with $2000 in cash. Despite living in a cramped apartment with her large family, she turned the money in so that the authorities could find the rightful owner. I won’t lie, $2000 is a chunk of change most people would miss severely. Its also something one should be more careful with.

The owner couldn’t be found, so its only natural that the young woman should be able to pocket the cash….she earned it, don’t you think? Nope!

The Police have declared that THE CITY OF DALLAS get to keep the cash! Obviously the two grand would do a lot better in their pension or overtime fund than it would to a girl who likely doesn’t even have her own bedroom.

Seriously, ANGRY! This is nothing short of Theft. From what I’ve heard Ashley has received an anonymous check for $4,000 from somebody in Texas, goodness knows how many other Samaritans have stepped forward to reward her.

Seems also the press has caused the cops to sweat. Good!

I had a much less grandiose story. I was walking around town and just outside of a bank I saw a pair of $20 bills laying in the doorway. I of course picked them up, and thought about what to do. Its cash, so there’s no way to determine ownership, and by nature of exchange the person holding it is the owner. Furthermore there was nobody around to have dropped it. I remember thinking “You’re being an idiot” as I walked into the bank and told them the story. The teller said “There’s nothing we can do, keep it!”

I did feel better about that money in my pocket thanks to the 3rd party, still I was stupid to have attempted to turn it in. Even if somebody had said “Oh yeah that’s my $40!” how can you prove it?

I hope this story becomes a long line of good fortune for Ashley!

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“Gun Death” Brick

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Weerd Beard

Yep, a Brick

An 87-year-old woman who police said was beaten in the head with a brick and died a few weeks later

Her son beat her to death with a brick! Obviously we need more gun control to reduce “Gun Death”, right?

h/t Bob

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