What Would You Do?

Got the above in email today. To me it has to be a "joke posting", or else the Sarasota, Florida police department is criminally negligent for not filing charges. However, it bears some consideration as there was a similar incident, involving a car in a mall parking lot, that happened in Texas some years ago.

So, there are some obvious questions. And I, or this blog entry, are not really looking for specific answers, so much as to give points to consider.

Assume these things for the sake of the scenario:

1. You are legally armed with a concealed handgun. This handgun is on your person, in the normal place you carry it, and of the common model and caliber that you typically carry. Essentially your "normal" concealed carry firearm.

2. You are at a grocery store with your children. If you don't have children, then it is nieces and nephews, small siblings, or the children of your best friend.

You have just left the store and have pushed your cart to your vehicle. One child is inside the car, belted in and reading a book. The other child is outside the vehicle helping you to unload the groceries into the trunk area.

An elderly woman approaches you with a drawn handgun. She is obviously upset, angry, and this is directed at you. She points the firearm at you and tell you "If you don't get away from my car I am going to kill you!". The child inside the car, belted in, starts to scream and cry, and the woman with the gun leans into the open door with the handgun now pointed inside the car, and communicates to said child to get out of the car.

In this moment, less than a few seconds, you feel you have time to make a clean draw of your firearm and take a clean shot.

Would you?

September 11, 2001

I still remember.

Mossbergs, Taurus's, etc.

Did a lot of shooting this weekend. Too much, really.

Saturday, went out and shot a some semi-tactical. The range is all crazy right now, which I will get to in a minute, so it limited the work we were able to do. Still, it was productive. The general themes?

1. Sugar Cat shot a Mossberg 500-A I picked up just the day before. 18" barrel, 5+1, and I got it at a steal, so I couldn't turn it down when offered. This is a Monday morning built piece, as it has the nicest and smoothest action you can imagine. The only vid I have of her is at very close range shooting at falling plates. Nothing really "tactical" about it, but just wanted her to see that it functions exactly the same as the 20 gauge she has. The nice thing now is that we have 3 shotguns in the house that are all exactly the same in form and function. A Mossberg 20 gauge with short barrel, a 500-A and a 590.



I ran aabout 350 rounds of more of ball through the Taurus PT1911, and a bit of JHP (Hydrashocks). It functioned smoothly and without incident. Far better, obviously, than the PT 24/7 of a few months ago. At 16 feet, rapid fire, it looks like so:














Not too shabby, I think. Ran a few drills with it, shooting from barricade and a running drill. There is a lot of work being done at the range right now, some of which you might see in the vids. But basically, there is construction equipment, mud, piles of dirt and gravel, and all kinds of building material laying about. So we are really restricted in what we can do. However, when the work is done, it is going to be a first class facility for I.C.E. and D.H.S. to use, as well as the local P.D. that the range "belongs to". Anyhow...



I am shooting the 1911 from behind barricade, with a reload. When I transition to the left, from right, I get hung on the barricade leg which sort of puts me in a weird spot. So I have to recover from that and continue. Educational in the sense of "what are you going to do if you are shooting from barricade and trip up?"

This is me running a forward shooting, then right lateral drill. Because of the construction, very limited in what we can do. Still, good stuff. Advance with double tap, right and shots all the way down. A reload you can't see, and then head shots lateral to the left.



Here is Sugar Cat with her Glock 19 shooting from a chair. Her holster is not really a "tactical holster" so it gets in her way at the draw. Maybe time to get a new one....




This here *may* be me at the exact point of recoil on the 590. Sort of an interesting shot...














On Sunday, went out to the range again and shot rifle. Had to negotiate a narrow cut in between some heavy mud and a backhoe to get to the rifle range, but we made it. Spent from about 8:30 AM to 1 PM shooting Mosin Nagant 91-30's, trying to find one (out of 4) that shot decently. Found one that patterned (open sights, sitting and off a sandbag) that patterned a 4" group consistently at 75 yards. But that process took about 150 rounds, and by the end of it my shoulder was pretty well beaten up. At one point a rifle that was patterning well started to sling them and I quickly figured that I was not pulling the rifle into my shoulder enough as I was getting a bit recoil sensitive (Catfish will love that). I quickly went back to shooting properly, but I was getting near the end of my useful abilities.

As well, put some JHP rounds through eh PT-1911 during a couple breaks, and Sugar Cat practiced a bit more coming from draw with her Glock and cycling the Mossberg from shoulder.

Coming Back With A Vengenance

"He's a guy and I wanted him to remain looking like one."

Burning Stumps

There seems to be a bit of stump burning expertise, as evidenced by the comments on the "No Profit in Porno" post from a few days back.

The stump in question was sawed to about 4" off the ground and is hollow. However, it is also oak, and the outside perimeter was still healthy when brought down. Seeing as it was still drawing water (root wise) even after cut for some time, it makes for a pretty hardy stump!

As Reuben noted in the comments, the only way to do it efficiently is to keep the fire oxygenated. Via a hair dryer in his suggestion. I use a leaf blower for this same effect.

Should I take on the Playboy project for stump burning, I would start building a bank of some type around the stump. As it is hollow, the inside bowl is perfect for adding tinder and small bits. Even plain charcoal.

The key would be to get a very hot bed of coals burning inside and out, I think, and keep the oxygen going and give it time. A judicious application of leaf blower would work, as well as occasionally working the stump walls with an axe to open the walls a bit.

We shall see.....

Ed Coan - USPF Nationals 2007

Last meet before retirement of one of the greats in powerlifting. Ed is a class act athlete who always let his lifts do his talking, and even though his age has slowed him down a bit, he still puts up lifts that are mind blowing.

Five Reasons Why It's Not Your FFL's Fault That....

You can't get the firearm you want at the price you want....

1. If it is a consignment piece, the dealer does not set the price. Yeah, we know it is a bit overpriced. But we don't lose in the deal, and if Bubba thinks his Mosin Nagant is worth $150.00, and there is empty rack space, we might just take it in. Maybe not quite that extreme, but most of us try to help out regular customers who are in a cash bind or need to get rid of certain items. We don't set the price on consignment items. We can either accept the price, add reasonable markup, or refuse to accept it. If it is too much, you really don't have to buy it.

2. If it is a commodity piece, like Glock, Taurus, Smith and Wesson, Charter Arms, Kel-Tec, Winchester, etc., we are almost not going to budge on our price. If it is priced at $502.99, you better be prepared to pay $502.99 (plus tax) or find another place to buy. Why? Because there is very little markup on firearms like this. Why? Because of the internet and the educated consumer. Gun prices are like gas prices. They are practically posted on the street. I can't mark a G-19 up $75 over my price and expect to sell them. In fact, as a small timer in the retail end, I can often find NIB firearms for sale on Gunbroker.com for the price I am getting them wholesale. I don't sell many NIB commodity guns, but if I do, my markup is so tight that it makes no sense for me to negotiate down on it. I would rather just not put my money down on the front end to make only $10 on the back end. If I was selling 100 items a day like this, it might make sense. However, I don't. If you want the gun $5 cheaper, find someplace that sells it $5 cheaper.

3. Just because you know "dealer cost" doesn't mean you get to pay it, or you can set the price. Had a fellow the other day with a "dealer catalog" for a well known manufacturer of AR-15 platforms. He found an M-4 styled carbine he wanted and he knew the dealer price was $795, via the catalog. He told me "I don't want to pay over $900". Seeing as how if I "gave it to him" at dealer cost ($800) the sales tax alone would amount to another $65 or so, it hardly makes sense for us to even talk. So we didn't. Having dealer cost or dealer catalogs does not make you a dealer, nor entitle you to dealer cost. It may give you an educated view on what markup might be, but if you want dealer cost, or want to set your price at whim, become a dealer.

4. No, we don't know everything about everything. Some of us know a little about everything, or a lot about a few things. But we are not walking encyclopedia of:

a. The highest and lowest Blue Book value of a 1965 Browning Blastalot, wood furniture, 3 screw Commander Frame with a left hand thread, sight unseen. Nor do we want to spend all day looking that stuff up for you just because you might want to sell it.

b. What that mysterious and random magazine/grip panel/barrel belongs to, nor do we want to trade it for 3 boxes of bullets.

If I can help you, I will. But there are only 4700 internet forums of experts who would be glad to post to you at length about those items and their origins. Maybe even buy them from you.

5. The truly "good deals" we can pass along, we like to pass along to the people who have treated us right in the past. If you want to know when the Wilson Combat "Sentinel" can be had for about $700 less than what they are offered on Gunbroker, then treat your local FFL right. Use him to do your Mosin Nagant transfers. Buy his bullets or targets or cleaning supplies. Don't make a nuisance of yourself, but then again don't be a stranger. I have sold a lot of firearms at "good prices", and there have been a few others where I have called/emailed a few folks and said "I have a Blastojammer Tactical Elite Combat Competition Model, 15 mags, and a case of ammo that I can get you into for $500 less than the pistol and 2 mags retail for!" Mostly because those people I "like". And they are not afraid to spend good money when they have it. And they help me sell things that they don't want or need, by passing along the info to thier friends. Are you one of those folks?

Gun Prono

No money in this kind of porn, either.

Taurus PT 1911. Nice looking piece, and set up well. Not my cup of tea considering the issues I had with Taurus reliability in the past. But if this thing performs as well as it looks, it ought be a winner. I will leave it to someone else to find out, however.



















Wilson Combat "Sentinel". One hell of an expensive handgun, to say the least. A bit out of my budget, or at least if I was going to pay cash. But, then again, most things are out of my budget. It is a sweet piece, none-the-less....













And...another Wilson Combat. A full sized 1911 platform, and coming in a bit cheaper than the compact above, although still appropriate for those with champagne tastes, a KZ-45....














Cosmetically, this pistol is very understated. However, when you handle it, you can tell there is something just a bit different going on. Certainly in comparison to the Taurus up above.

No Profit in Porno

That blog title ought generate some hits, but it is true. No profit in porno. Or at least in old Playboy magazines.

Friend of mine owns one of those rental storage lots. You know what I am talking about. Chain link fence, punch code, bring your own padlock, pay by the month. These things get used for lots of reasons, some legitimate and some not, but a significant amount of those units are used by people getting divorced or otherwise splitting up, or people who have been otherwise evicted from their premises. The theory being, for them, "I will put my stuff in storage for a few weeks until I get back on my feet, or find a new place to live." Sounds good in theory. But what seems to happen a lot is that people don't get back on their feet very fast. Or their mom/brother/best friend lets them move in, but doesn't want all the stuff in their garage. So, it sits in storage.

Eventually because of financial woes, disinterest, or who knows what, the rent is defaulted on and the entire lot of possessions goes up for auction so that the warehouse owner can try to recoup some of his or her losses, as well as put the defaulted upon unit back into a money making state, rather than just sitting idle, yet un-vacant.

So, this friend lets me know of an upcoming auction at her lot. She needs some help before the auction, so I go and help her and I spot a few bicycles that I want for my son. So, the day of auction I am down and bidding on a unit. Now, when you bid on a defaulted unit, you are bidding on (and buying) exactly everything in the unit. You are required to empty the unit within 48 hours. In other words, you can't (for example) see a unit packed wall to wall with junk with one Tiffany lamp, and bid the unit and win, and then take the lamp and leave the junk. You buy it all, and weed out the treasure from trash at your own leisure, and off premises. As well, you are bidding and buying "on sight", and not necessarily on knowledge. The unit is opened, and everyone is given an opportunity to look inside, without entering it, and that is what you are bidding on. So, typically, you see a few big items (furniture, boxes) up front, and the rest is a mystery. Sometimes, all you see are boxes stacked high and packed deep. You can use your imagination on that, as to would you spend (gamble) $10, $30, $100 to load up 10 to 40 unopened boxes to take home and look for the mystery prize? What will you find? Lots of out of style clothing? Dishes and small appliances? Camera gear? Or just lots of empty boxes? But, the main point being, if the unit is packed pretty deep and it is a "divorce unit" or something similar, you are going to get the types of things, buried in the back, that can't be seen, but represent some aspects of a persons personal life.

Now, before you condemn this process as scavenging or being a vulture, which is certainly can take the flavor of, it is a required legality to do it. Obviously, the warehouse owner cannot let people store their things for free and indefinitely. But the only legal way to get rid of it is to auction it off. And the majority of the stuff makes its way back into circulation. Most of the bidders are not people looking for a couch for the house, or for lawn furniture. They are people who own or operate some level of business that works on the "resale" or "used" market. Anything from an antique shop to a clothing consignment shop.

So, anyhow, in this process of helping out and buying the storage unit with the bicycles, I end up with a footlocker and a very large box worth of Playboy magazines. That is a LOT of Playboys. There is really nothing else of note in this collection. A few other non-pornographics, but 99.9% Playboys. Now, if I was 12 years old, I would have hit the Mother Lode. Sadly, I am not 12. My son is 12, but he won't be hitting this Mother Lode. Sorry, boy. If you want Playboys at 12, you will have to get them the old fashioned way. Steal them from somebodies dad. Only this Dad is keeping a close eye on them.

Unfortunately, the market for used Playboys, or even unused ones, is both saturated and very much a buyers market. E-bay listings for the things are a joke. Even the ones you would think might have some small value, like the Bo Derek or Suzanne Sommers spreads (no pun intended) are essentially worthless. If, according to the E-bay bidding, I had a collection of black and white or 8 color hardcore Gay mags from the 1970's as large as this Playboy collection, I would be shopping for a home in Palm Springs as soon as my PayPal account cleared. As it is, my collection represents a more mundane, less exciting brand of compulsive weirdness.

However, with about 10 gallons of diesel I bet these things will finally burn out that stump in the backyard.

Femis Lambrionidis

this guy is a monster. Considering his age and (relatively) light weight for the lifts he makes, he literally plays with these weights. The speed he benches with, considering the long pause he takes, is mind blowing.