They are my Most Favorite Guns

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Thought I’d share my two favorite guns. Both are from Springfield Mass and both are in Stainless, and both are short-arms.

The top is my #1 fave. Its my first handgun, my 5″ Stainless S&W1911. It has the billboard slide, which I actually like, and it was used and appears to be some fucked-up mixmaster project gun. I kinda got taken on the price with this gun, but after some work done by Greg Derr I had the trigger completely replaced by a custom fitted mid-length shoe, trigger job lowing the pull weight to 4.5lbs and I had the Full-length guide rod (Which was one of those shitty-two-piece ones!) replaced by the GI norm. I love 1911s, and this one is just great. Stainless finish means its corrosion resistant, and scratches don’t effect the gun. S&W Double-Diamond Hogue rubber grips aren’t much to look at but they’re VERY comfortable to hold. LOVE this gun, and that’s why its #1!

#2 is my S&W 617 10-shot with a 4″ barrel. For range guns I really dig on 4″ barrels, they have a long enough sight radius but still have a reasonable overall length. I picked a revolver for my first rimfire pistol because I had heard so many horror stories about .22 auto-loaders jamming or only liking certain ammo. Also I see .22 LR as a volume cartridge, 200 rounds is just a short range-trip for me, and most auto-loaders have small magazines with sharp lips, so stuffing all those rounds into charge-holes is far easier.

Gun came with a nice trigger that has only gotten better with age, the heavy steel L-frame means recoil is negligible, and of course the stainless materiel is resistant to weather and wear. The sights are black-on-black which I don’t like, so I just dabbed a little white-out on both rear posts and on the front blade, its all it really needs for my fun-work.

I had a sad range-trip a few months ago when I found that two (actually 4) chambers had gone out of time. I sent it back to S&W and they replaced the cylinder, the star, and the timing pawl, now there’s barely a drag-mark on the wheel….I’ll need to fix that!

I must say both of these guns are GREAT choices if you need a recommendation!

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Interesting Cartoon

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Linoge Brings us This gem:

Now on its face its both funny, and true. The Brits banned guns, and “Gun Crime” (the useless metric they were attempting to lower) went up. Ha, stupid law!

But me being the dork I am I looked at the picture more closely. The British snot is being faced by 6 arms…three are holding guns (unknown if any are loaded or real) the other three hold a knife, a Knuckle Duster, and a broken bottle. Even if the Brits were successful at banning guns is the Snoot any better off? No, Three (or More) guys with knives, Brass Knuckles, broken bottles, pipes, or sticks are still going to kill your ass with minimal effort.

How about we ban EVERYTHING (first we need to pretend that somehow people will begin drinking their wine out of plastic bottles, and trees will grow rubber limbs, and rocks will stay planted on the ground…a ripe impossibility) Now what does the cartoon show?

A middle-aged British snot being accosted by 6 young gentleman armed only with fists and feet and bad attitudes. Not only is the last scenario impossible, but is accomplishes NOTHING.

Of course let’s say all six of those guys were at a funeral the night before because a buddy of theirs had attempted to rape a woman who had a .38 in her purse….how does that change the cartoon?

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Gun Control and Ornithopters

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Several people are mentioning This Turd By Paul Helmke entitled “Who Would Oppose Closing the Gun Show Loophole?” Its been their recent Meme they’ve been trying out along the lines of modifying their cause with the adjectives “Sensible”, “Reasonable”, and “Moderate”. Why wouldn’t you want “Sensible Gun Control?” Reading this hog wash an image came to mind:

Leonardo Da Vinci’s schetches of Ornithopters.

Leonardo, born in Vinci, Italy, possessed a genius which went far beyond simply being a remarkable artist. He was, perhaps, the first European interested in a practical solution to flight. Leonardo designed a multitude of mechanical devices, including parachutes, and studied the flight of birds as well as their structure. About 1485 he drew detailed plans for a human-powered ornithopter (a wing-flapping device intended to fly). There is no evidence that he actually attempted to build such a device, although the image he presented was a powerful one. The notion of a human-powered mechanical flight device, patterned after birds or bats, recurred again and again over the next four centuries.

Da Vinci was a smart guy, and he knew there would be a way for humans to break their earthly bounds and fly. Being a smart guy he looked at stuff that CAN fly, birds, bats, insects, ect and tried to copy them. Of course humans are NOT birds, bats or insects, we’re built very heavy for strength and durability of terrestrial travel, we’re big creatures (and when you look at the wingspan of Da Vinci’s machine the creation was unnaturally large, and our musculature is built for distance walking, not wing flaps (hell humans are even shitty runners compared to most things in the animal kingdom).

Of course humans Did learn to fly, and its a success. So much that on September 11th when the nations air travel was grounded after the terrorist attack, many of us were suprised at how eerie the sky looked without the sign of a passing airliner.

While we have Helicopters, Airplanes, hovercraft, rockets, and gliders, there are no successful Ornithopters for manned flight. Again Da Vinci was a smart man but he didn’t know all the physics and biology in the late 15th century that we knew in the early 20th century.

Turns out that no matter how smart Da Vinci was, building a “Bird Machine” was just a bad idea and would never work.

As a former supporter of Gun Control I get how non-evil people can support it. It does seem like a good idea when oversimplified on paper…just as Da Vinci’s sketchbook gives us wonder and hope even today, only when you try to put it in reality it just doesn’t work, and can often backfire so badly as to exacerbate the very problems it attempts to solve.

Why do I oppose closing the so-called “Gunshow Loophole”? Well besides the obvious fact that the “Gunshow Loophole” laws are never about gun shows, nor do they address a loophole in the law, even when implemented (Like here in Massachusetts) is accomplishes NOTHING. It doesn’t and won’t work. Its a goddamned ORNITHOPTER!

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Gun Law Silliness

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Weerd Beard

So all this talk about Blemished Bullets has reminded me of a funny story. When I first got my C&R FFL one of the first guns I bought was my CZ-52 its not a great gun, and I rarely shoot it, but its an odd piece of history, and a very strange gun mechanically, so I’m still very happy to have it. I called up J&G sales who had some in stock at a good price after I had faxed over my license. They’re a great company and I’ve always been happy to do business with them. When I bought the gun I also decided to buy a case of ammo for the gun, as 7.62x25mm is an odd duck and you can’t find it at every shop like more common calibers. The nice sales person informed me that federal law stated that pistols could not be shipped WITH ammo, so I would be given two separate packages with my order. I said that was fine, but noted the silliness. Of course it was fine, what difference does it make if my order shows up in 1 box or 7? But why does the government accomplish in this fool’s errand? (And no need to get into the stupidity of needing an FFL in the first place to buy a single pistol from the 1950s for my private collection) So I gave them my credit card info and they told me they’d ship the gun that evening.

I hung up the phone and went on with my day…but not for log as my cellphone rang, it was J&G. They regretted to inform me that the person who rang up my sale failed to note my address, and that the company has a policy not to ship ammunition into Massachusetts. The reason why is best chronicled here

It IS perfectly legal to ship ammunition into Massachusetts, only to do so legally the recipient must have a Massachusetts FID or LTC (and which is required for which ammo is even more confusing, as you need an LTC if the ammo is handgun ammo….but even tho I was buying a CZ-52 handgun and ammo for it 7.62×25 certainly can be used in a Rifle) and the company just didn’t want to bother with keeping my LTC on file as well as my FFL as it just complicates things.

So they didn’t not send me my PISTOL, they sure sent me that, but they didn’t send me ammo for it. I actually ordered my ammo from another company (no link to protect them from foolish lawsuits and bullshit Stings) online, tho I could have driven up the street to a shop and bought some after showing my permit….or Driven to New Hampshire or Maine, or any other damn state and bought my ammo no different than I’d buy a holster, a book, or a gallon of milk.

It Cost J&G some money (and I mentioned in the previous post that Midway USA sells blemished bullets. I’d love to buy them too, and they’d love to sell them to me, but they can’t) It cost me some time, and it overall accomplished nothing but harassment to me. But then again that is the Face of Gun Control.

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Be Prepared

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Decided to throw up another “Gun Death?” post for the day when I heard this local story:

Police tell us that a father and son have been stabbed during a home break-in. This all happened around 1 a.m. this morning in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The search is still on for the suspect.

It happened around 1 a.m. on Pearl Street. Cambridge police tell us a boy heard a noise inside his home on the first level of his duplex. The boy went down to investigate, and when he confronted the suspect, the father came down to see what was going on and a struggle ensued.

“The homeowner and son were both stabbed. The male father received multiple stab wounds,” said Sgt. John Boyle. “It’s an active investigation.”

The son was stabbed once. The victims were sent to area hospitals, and police tell us their injuries are non-life threatening and they are expected to make a full recovery.

I have no idea what the motive was, but a man broke into their house, with a KNIFE and stabbed both of them. Thankfully the wounds appear to be non-fatal. Still not only is this violent act not “Gun Death” as the anti-freedom bigots like to parrot, but it would be a GREAT time for some defensive gun violence on behalf of the father protecting his home and his son. Sorry but going toe-to-toe with a knife-wielding man at 1am is not a good place to be in.

So carry your guns, and be ever vigilant.

Oh and FYI Cambridge Massachusetts is one of the more difficult towns to get a permit to OWN a gun, and unless you know somebody important who has a connection to the chief of police, you will NOT get a carry permit as a resident. Of course this is coming from a man typing this in Cambridge carrying a gun, so that little policy makes no sense unless we realize that gun control is only there to discourage and harrass lawful people.

Be Safe people!

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Circular results

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Weerd Beard

So I’ve been going over the footnotes for the page referenced here.

Mike W. noted that the group is indeed a Joyce Foundation funded group, doesn’t suprise me, nor should it have suprised me that I found several of their “Facts” were “Supported” by VPC studies (who are also Joyce Foundation Funded)

Just read through them some of the data is US Government data which is actually pretty good, tho they only focus on “Gun Death” to make the data somehow seem relevant to their cause. Doing searches on the names of most of the private study authors tho finds that the vast Majority of them wrote their reports thanks to Joyce Foundation grant money. People like David Hemenway, Garen J. Wintemute, Susan B. Sorenson, and Linda E. Saltzman. After finding so many of their studies were funded by the very group writing the report referencing the study I got bored.

But Essentially The Joyce Foundation funds unscrupulous researchers to violate basic ethics to cook up a “Study” that supports gun control. Then the Joyce Foundation funds multiple “Grass Roots Groups” that then turn around and write reports that reference the very studies their parent organization funded as “Support”.

Pretty impressive when the only people who support you are being paid by the same people who sign your paycheck….

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Deadly Firworks

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Today’s “Gun Death?” story is a local one.

A nine-alarm inferno that engulfed a block of abandoned warehouses in Roxbury Saturday night was sparked by fireworks set off by people possibly living there illegally, Boston fire officials said.

Four or five men on the roof of 31 Norfolk Ave. set off fireworks that traveled to the roof of 57 Norfolk Ave., according to spokesman Steve MacDonald.

The fire department called the blaze accidental and said the men, who have not been identified, may be cited.

Thankfully nobody was hurt as it was a non-residential building and no Fire Fighters were harmed, still there is nothing that could have prevented a similar case from setting an apartment high-rise on fire.

Burned by negligent handling of fireworks (which are illegal here in Mass) is yet another tragedy that won’t count as a “Gun Death” to those who only care about limiting freedom.

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CREEPY!!

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Odd video, guy follows Sarah and Todd Palin around an Airport for a while with a camera and no other motive. Acts weird and defensive when questioned, and Todd notes (as does anybody watching the frame) he’s shaking like a dog shitting peach-pits.

Nice to know Airports are Gun-Free Zones (OK it likely isn’t but if you’re boarding a plane you’ll need to check your guns at the ticket counter)

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Do not Care

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Weerd Beard

On the Gay Test the comments over at Uncle’s got me thinking about some of my answers.

Its not gay or straight that I just don’t care about a lot of things. Ask me about Name brands, I could care less outside of a few items (like Knives, Guns, vacuum cleaners, and Cars). I have no idea who makes messenger bags, and I think they’re kinda lame anyway, a backpack is much more comfortable to lug around. The Back Pack I use in my day-to-day is made by LL Bean. Why Bean? Because Dad works there during the holiday season and bought it for me for dirt cheap. I have a lot of LL Bean stuff because of that. I also had a lot of Nike Sneakers because until recently my Uncle worked for them.

I cut my own hair. Why? Because I have zero desire for any odd styling. I buy a $30 trimmer, I buzz my hair down to 8mm, my beard to half-an-inch (sometimes longer, sometimes shorter depending on the weather and my mood) and I do this once a month. When the trimmer dies, I toss it and buy a new one. The last time I got my hair cut by somebody accepting cash was for my wedding, might be the last time I do that before I’m at the convalescence home.

When I first moved in with my soon-to-be wife she did a load of laundry and tossed out all my socks and underwear that had holes in them. Realizing she may have crossed a line she approached me cautiously.

Her: “When I was doing laundry I decided to throw away your socks and underwear that had holes, I hope you didn’t mind”
Me: “Nope”
Her: “Well it was like 5 pairs of each so you might want to get more.”
Me: “Oh yeah, good idea”
**pause**
Me: “Where does one GET socks and underwear?”

I wasn’t being coy, I honestly had no idea. I have since learned, socks, underwear, and 90% of my clothes come from two locations: Christmas, and Birthdays!

Yep, Mom and Dad, and the Wife will usually secure me some socks and underwear as well as sundry clothes that they know I like (seriously I’m not hard to shop for) and that has me covered for another year. Usually more as I end up having to send off older stuff, or stuff I don’t like as much to charities.

I’m sure there are gay guys who give as little a shit about such things as I do. Hell I knew a gay guy who didn’t know how to cook…not hamburgers, not Mac N Cheese. I cook most meals on the weeknight at Casa De Weer’d, So on that metric I’m WAYYY gayer than him….or something.

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War on Some Drugs

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Weerd Beard

Overall Massachusetts is an overbearing nanny-state that’s a drag to live in if you’re a grown-up. (Thankfully its full of “Progressives” who are simply adult children who still need a Mommy standing over them….unfortunetly “Progressives” by nature are hateful and miserable people anyway, so the point is moot) Still sometimes we get things right:

The law established a civil fine of $100 for those caught with an ounce or less of marijuana. That replaced what had been a criminal offense carrying a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine, also for possession of an ounce or less of the drug.

It was actually a very popular initiative. Also with the wide-spread problems of Violent crime, sexual assault, and Political corruption here, I’m also glad to hear that the penal system isn’t bothering with a bunch of goofy potheads. But there’s a new wrinkle:

Some Massachusetts towns have given up enforcing a law that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying the law is written with too many loopholes to be effective….Police officials say that with most civil citations, such as speeding tickets, there are repercussions for those who don’t pay the fines. In some cases, police can even levy criminal charges against people who fail to pay.

But they cannot do so in the case of possession of less than an ounce of pot. The only recourse for city and town clerks offices is to take offenders to small claims court, which clerks say isn’t worth the time or effort to recoup $100.

“The ticketing of the individuals isn’t effective without a back up or other consequences for nonpayment of fines,” New Bedford Police Chief Ronald Teachman said.

Other officers say they’re handcuffed because the law doesn’t require people caught with small amounts of marijuana to provide identification.

“If they tell you their name is Yogi Berra or Ronald McDonald, nothing allows for further positive identification,” Sampson said.

Very amusing. Now here’s the kicker, go click the above link and read the whole story. See if you can find what’s missing from the report. I’ll wait….

Ok notice what was missing? How about a PROBLEM with this loophole? Cops are writing tickets that they can’t secure the fine. Turns out a ballot initiative that didn’t legalize a drug, essentially DID legalize it. Anything else?

Not as far as I can see. The cops are saying essentially people are smoking pot, and the cops can’t really stop them….and the problem is? Is there more violent crime? Are young girls prostituting themselves on the streets to buy some Mary-Jane? Are students showing up tweaked out of their mind? Has Reefer Madness Descended on the Bay State?

Nope. Much like the “Blood in the Streets” anti-gun doom-and-gloom prophets, relaxing our pot laws have done jack-and-crap to our society at large, and the only people suffering is the Police force who is acting butthurt because they can’t generate revenue as effectively with this law as with speeding tickets.

Maybe rather than fixing a non-problem, we’ll just dump the bullshit law?

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