Travelogue

I’ve been on the road a ton over the past month, here are some shots of my latest ports of call.

London:

Germany:

<—That’s Pork Knuckle bitches!

Southern Utah:

Chaco Canyon, New Mexico:

Mesa Verde, Colorado:

Good Day At The “Range”

I decided that I wasn’t going to shoot at the usual locations today. HGC is a mud-hole right now, I don’t like Doug’s, and Get Some looked crowded. I threw a bunch of stuff in the Rover and headed West. I got to the Grantsville exit and scouted a couple of locations until I found an isolated horseshoe canyon. I obviously wasn’t the first one to find this spot, there were hulls and brass all over the place. I set up a folding table and got down to business.

I brought my:

STI Spartan

SA Loaded

Para Nite-Tac

XD Service

Beretta PX4

Saiga 12

Remmie 870 w/compstock

I’ve been traveling a lot lately and not only have I not had time to shoot (it has been months), but the SA and the Beretta aren’t even broken in yet. Today was the day to start to take care of that problem.

Here’s the odd thing; apparently the time off was good for me. I shot better than I ever have. I couldn’t miss. I was tearing the centers out of targets, running cans up the hill, obliterating hand thrown clays.

Ran through ~1000 rounds of .45, mostly through the SA and the Beretta. Nary a hiccup. At first I experienced a little trigger sting from the Beretta but it stopped after about 50 rounds. The SA ran like a swiss watch, the trigger is really nice now that I swapped out the ILS and have run a few hundred rounds through it. It is almost as good as the STI, almost.

I had been contemplating getting rid of the Para because I just couldn’t get used to the LDA. Well, that plan is off; it didn’t bother me one bit this trip. I kind of just stopped thinking of it as a “1911 with a funny trigger” and thought of it as part of the same family as the XD and PX4. Strange how a little change in perspective can have wider ramifications.

The Saiga just gets more fun the more I shoot it. I bought it primarily as an HD gun, but I may have to pattern it. I think I could hunt with this thing. BTW the 10 round mag is such a riot. If you have a Saiga 12 you must buy the big mag, it is so worth it. I was only planning on going through a box of shotgun shells, but I was having so much fun I went through all I had (6). What is that, 150 rounds?

I was planning on taking a few pics too, but instead I just shot and shot and shot.

What a day!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been in Germany and Chicago, I’ll post updates and put up some pics over the next few days.

Obama’s Campaign Posters

I finally figured out what Obama’s campaign posters remind me of:

Why is he using cold war propaganda style posters?

Lil’ Help For Fellow Gunnies

I have come up with a pretty good solution for storing/transporting my semi-autos. SKB makes a wheeled case that is ideal for this application. You can get the SKB 3i 2011 at your local Guitar Center. It is nearly identical to the Pelican 1510DF but cheaper and GC always has them in stock.

So on to the work I’ve done for you.

With this case you also get diced foam inserts that are rectangular; 41 squares wide (x axis) and 23 squares high (y axis). Count 3 squares from the left and top edges of the foam for your starting point. Then remove 17 squares on the y axis by 2 squares on the x axis. This will give you a slot that a 5″ 1911 will slide into upside-down. A 4″ poly gun like a Springer XD or Beretta PX4 requires 14 squares on the y axis and 2 squares on the x axis. By spacing every 3 squares and creating another slot, you could fit up to 7 well-protected 5″1911’s in one case.

The beauty is that you can fit your magazines in the same size slot. You can fit 10 single-stack 1911 mags in a 17 by 2 slot, or 5 double-stacks in same. Or for more protection; one single-stack mag can fit in a 1 by 3 slot, one double-stack fits in a 2 by 3 slot.

Note 1: You can increase the number of magazines if you go 3 squares on the x axis and put the magazines in side-by-side. The downside to doing this is that the slot is now item specific instead of generic.

Note 2: Resist the urge to reduce the spacing between slots to less than 3 squares, you lose too much support by going less.

*OPTIONAL*Once you have created the slots in the two layers of diced foam, spray glue the two layers together and let dry overnight. This lends a lot of extra support and basically welds the two layers into one solid piece.

I’ve had to order a few new sets of foam to work out this arrangement, now you don’t have to.

*EDIT*

I’ve gotten some comments and suggestions concerning moisture control for this project. Desiccant packs work well and can be microwaved for re-use. Also silicon impregnated Gun Socks have been recommended as sleeves to control oxidization. Both very good suggestions.

Baltimore or Less

Just got back from a quick trip to Baltimore and unfortunately didn’t see much. I was working non-stop so mostly all I saw was the inside of a warehouse, cab, and hotel. I was there while they were having a freezing rain storm and everything was covered in a sheet of ice. I’ve experienced freezing rain before when I lived in Illinois, it is as I remembered. The drive back to the hotel was white-knuckle and there were crashes every 1000’ or so.

I was there to train a large live sound company in the use of our software. I don’t want to get too deep into it since software training is one of the most boring topics in the world. I’ll just say that it went quite well and all of my goals were accomplished.

I was introduced to Old Bay Spice, a pub called Monaghan’s, and The Salsa Grill. We went to Monaghan’s twice, I had the dry-rub ribs (off-menu) and the beef stroganoff, and both were quite good, nice and home-style. The Salsa Grill was interesting because I’d never had Peruvian-style food before. I had the Goat Stew and it was quite good, but the tapas plate was outstanding. They have stuffed and grilled papas that I could eat all day long.

I got into a political discussion that was quite surreal. I was talking to a self-described Baltimore Liberal. The odd thing was all of his positions were what I would consider to be very Conservative. He wanted to close our borders, he wanted to have a strong military presence in Iraq with no withdrawal timetable, and he wanted lowered taxes. He was also spouting some free-market rhetoric while at the same time contradictorily talking about universal health care. I innocently told him that his positions sounded much like McCain’s and he just about had a brain embolism. I haven’t seem someone get that angry during a political discussion for a long time.

Once he calmed down he asked me who I was going to vote for and I told him that I didn’t like any of the candidates for the following reasons:

• Obama is anti-gun. I’m not a one issue voter, but Obama’s 2a position is abysmal. IMO if you are anti-gun you are anti-Constitution; no quarter.

• Hillary is a champion of the Status Quo. She also recently quoted from Marx’s manifesto in a speech. “Each would pay according to their ability.” Sorry Hillary, that isn’t only ideologically suspect but also just plain stupid. Also, the nation rejected her health-care plan the first time around, why are we re-considering it now?

• McCain sold his soul to Bush. Bush’s hit-squad smeared McCain up one side and down the other and what did McCain do? He kissed Bush’s ass. All his talk about being independent, all his hot-air about the “Straight-Talk-Express,” when it got down to it, he kissed the establishment’s ass.

• Huckabee is a christo-fascist whack-job. Need I say more?

• Ron Paul is actually my favorite and he doesn’t have a chance in hell. Despite the fact that I like a lot of what he has to say, he is totally in la-la-land when it comes to foreign policy. If the past 8 years of Bush and 9/11 hadn’t happened, then maybe a more isolationist stance would work. Now? Uh-uh, no way.

I added that IMO if you are socially liberal (and I am for the most part), you can’t lose with the front runners. All of them (excepting Huckafreak) are quite socially liberal. However, if you have concerns about the right to bear arms, privacy/domestic spying, free association, the increased militarization of the police, property rights, basically the entire Bill of Rights and other semi-important stuff; then all these guys suck. Hard.

He said he wanted Bloomberg to run and I just smirked. I told him that being a Westerner has given me a strong dislike for smug coastal urban meddlers like Bloomberg. I am tired of guys like Bloomberg and Guiliani making their crime, race, and poverty concerns national issues. These are local issues that require local solutions. Clean up your own house before trying to tell me how to clean mine.

I’m not saying I’m right, but I really resent urbanites condescendingly telling me how to work within my community. Your immediate five blocks of crime-ridden over-crowded paved-over blight is not a microcosm of the world. In other words: You don’t know shit.

I could tell he wasn’t used to people contradicting him, but he’s not my boss, and IMHO if you are gonna ask, you should have the stones to take the answer.

Attention Local Gunnies

Larry Correia, yep the same guy that wrote Monster Hunter International, also owns a local gun store called Fuzzy Bunny Movie Guns (FBMG). He is moving his store to a much larger and better location. The grand opening will be on Monday the 11th and he has stocked the store with all kinds of boomy goodness. FBMG will be running various specials to celebrate this move; Larry says the “Economic Stimulus Package AR” will be particularly attractive. Also the whole FBMG crew just got back from the SHOT show, so I suspect they might also have some interesting data to download.

The new FBMG location features a very special and heart-warming thing: Parking! For reals, parking. The old place had a grand total of zero parking spaces so even one more space would be an improvement; however, this new location has 30 spaces!

Drop by and say hi to Larry and check out some inventory you probably won’t find anywhere else.

FBMG

13200 S. 48 E.
Draper, UT 84020

My Kid Again…

You guys will just have to suffer through the occasional random shot of the boy.

NAMM ‘08

Just got back from the NAMM Show (National Association of Music Merchants). This show is always interesting. It is more of freak show rather than a business show. I’ve been to so many of these now that I really have lost count.

Remember all those guitars that gave you VD and the strippers that gave you splinters (and vice-versa) back in the ’80’s? Well, they are alive and marginally well; congregating at the NAMM show. What ever happened to that spandex-clad-poofy-haired-she-male guitar hero from the’80’s? It(S)He is over in the Schecter booth wanking furiously: Wheedly-wheedly-wheedly-wheedly! Surrounded by a crowd of 50-somethings with dyed black perms bobbing their heads and grinning appreciatively. Their lips stretched across their dentures like latex over a proctologists sweaty hand.

The strangest are the aging groupies -no, scratch that. The strangest are the decrepit hair-metal geezers that apparently find aging groupies attractive. It is almost as if they find the groupie uniform attractive: fishnets, leather mini, red satin bustier, knee-high stiletto boots. Somehow, they are able to ignore the veined, puffy, used-up female barely stuffed into the uniform.

Fortunately, among all this dross, there are still exciting products being produced and exciting music being made. I took some shots of the things that caught my eye. Obviously there aren’t any shots of the many wasteoids I saw, not enough space on my memory card…

New Suhr amp that blew my mind, 15 and 30 watts of pure tone.

Amazing guitars from Gerard Melancon:

Steve Adelson jams at NAMM on his Stick

Stu Hamm, great bassist.

Graham Blyth, founder of Soundcraft

Here are some after-hours and jam-session shots:

Monster Hunter International

My buddy Larry Correia just finished his first book Monster Hunter International, and it is a doozie. Here is my Review:

Nazi Vamps Must Die

Monster Hunter International is Punk Rock in book form, DIY in every sense. Fueled by a diet of b-movies, Lovecraftian Cthulu mythos, snappy merc-speak, gun-culture, and twisted humor. This book is a riot from the first snotty chord of the opening fight sequence to the final mosh-pit of pagan power plays.

Corriea takes on every expectation, every horror-movie cliche; plays them and then smashes them onstage. Each time I thought I knew where the tour bus was heading it veered off onto a dirty, dark, bumpy road. Sardonic humor peeking through the oppressive kudzu-draped trees like flashes of sunlight.

The state slogan: Share the wonder that is Alabama takes on a slightly different, slightly insane tone after reading MHI. Other-dimensional time-bubbles would be a great tourist attraction.

Except for all the killing.

Resolutions? Aw Hell, Resolutions…

Yes it is that time of year, the time when I make a list of stuff that I will never accomplish. Lose weight, spend more “quality” time with whomever, balance this or that, finish the shit I resolved to do last year, etc. This year I’ve decided to KISS (keep it simple, stupid), in no particular order:

1. Smoke More

2. Drink More

3. Stop Saying “Awesome”

4. Ride More Than I Drive

5. Compete In Something

6. Get Caught Up With Band Stuff

7. Sit Less But Rest More

8. Be A Good Dad

9. Take Better Pictures

10. Be Less Of A Dick (every list needs something impossible, right?)

I’m pretty sure I can do most, if not all, of the things on this list. Hopefully next year I will experience the luke-warm glow of accomplishment, instead of the tepid shrug of indifference.

Or something…

Merry Giftmas And A Happy New Beer

The gifts were plentiful, too plentiful. how do you tell someone to chill-out on the gifts. “No please, no more generosity, I can’t take any more free stuff.” The in-laws have gone baby-ballistic, neo-natal-nutso, bambino-bonkers, infant-insane, kid-crazy, and lad-loopy. I know that this is what grandparents do, but some modicum of willpower must be exercised. I don’t want to be forced to be the bad guy, but I might have to put my foot down.

For giftmas I got my wife this:

I first checked it out at the Apple store in Manahttan and was impressed with both the audio quality and the design. She got me a comfy leather club chair.

I’ve got it set up in my studio and I can’t wait to fire up a cigar, pour a scotch and just sit.

We got the kid this:

By far the best gift we received was a night out. G-Ma and G-Pa watched the little hellion for a couple of hours while my wife and I went to dinner. We got to do adult things again for a change. We went to Tiburon, one of our favorite restaurants. I had the steak and foie-gras and my wife had the elk. She also had the chocolate mousse and it had the best presentation I’ve ever seen. It looked like a verdant forest floor in a glass. I know that the description doesn’t sound appetizing, but it was truly fantastic.

Happy-Merry to all.

Slippery Slope Is Real

The U.K. is now set to ban imitation swords. How far will U.K. subjects allow this to go? Will sharp pointy sticks be next? I have many friends in the U.K. and I can promise that discontent is running high. They are polite about their discontent (they’re British after all) but they are unhappy. Crime rate keeps going higher, with no end in sight and the honest subjects have no means to defend themselves.

I’ve been over this and similar topics many times with my brothers from ol’ blighty. One of my British friends kept telling me about how their cops didn’t carry guns. But on my last visit I kept pointing out to him all the cops that were armed, auto MP5’s, H&K’s, and Glocks. The cops here in the U.S. don’t even carry automatic weapons. Apparently this was a shock to him (and others), seems the national myth of unarmed Bobbies is strong. Strong enough to blind him to what was plain as the nose on his face. Now in the U.K. everyone is armed except those who need to be. This generated no small amount of grumbling and discontent and then the subject of taxes came up.

Everybody knows that the U.K. tax rate is high, but they also have a bunch of stealth taxes. The one that got everyone’s knickers in a twist was a congestion tax. If you travel into London you have to pay a fee to “use the roads.” Y’know the same roads they already pay taxes for. I was shocked but was assured that is was the same as toll roads in the U.S. “No, it isn’t” I replied, “toll roads are privately owned and maintained.” A distinction without a difference, or maybe it makes all the difference?

Next on the plate was health care. I’ve been told over and over again by various talking heads in the U.S. that the British health care system is superior to the U.S.’ Except for one little thing; it isn’t. I have another British buddy with a pretty serious health issue. He has to stay here in the U.S for as long as he can because he can get the treatment he needs under our company insurance policy. Treatment he tried and failed to get in the U.K. Not only wouldn’t his insurance in the U.K. cover it, the treatment wasn’t even available. It seems that we have another national myth. Sure anyone in Britain can walk into a clinic and get some aspirin, but for anything more serious, or out of the ordinary, you are shit out of luck.

Again, how far will U.K. subjects allow this to go?

More pics of my kid.

Less than 5 minutes old on the weighing table, he gripped my finger quite hard just after I took this shot. I’m pretty sure that means he is going to be a genius.

My ferocious goddess and her titan offspring.

The first time Grandparents. This is the first time my FiL has ever held a newborn. He only held his kids after they were a month old. He claims he was afraid that he would drop them, I think he was afraid of getting puked on.

He’s got the correct position with his picking hand, his fretting hand needs some work.

As per suggestions from many friends, the day we came home I read The Sneetches to Cole. He fell sound asleep before I finished the first page, but I finished reading it to him anyway while my wife softly cried next to me.Thanks for everyone’s kind words and suggestions, I’m going to try a catch a quick nap.

I’m a Dad!

Meet Cole my newborn son; 8 pounds 9 ounces, 22 inches tall.  He and his Mom got pretty beat up while he was on his way out, but they are both doing great now. 

Salt Lake Tribune Wets Pants

In today’s STAFF EDITORIAL the Salt Lake Tribune argues that Open Carry of firearms is a bad idea for the following reasons:

 

1. Open Carry is not specifically called out as legal therefore Open Carry is a gray area legally.
2. Due to the law requiring that the gun be two mechanical actions away from firing, Open Carry is therefore of dubious value.
3. Open Carry is dangerous because the police or criminals may shoot you.
4. Open Carry may frighten the public.
5. Open Carry only makes sense for hunters.

Sleeping is not called out as specifically legal, does that make it a gray area legally? No, that, by definition makes it legal. The reason Open Carry is not specifically prohibited is because such a prohibition would be unconstitutional. The law requiring a gun to be two mechanical actions away from firing is a fairly recent local development and I would argue an infringement of the Second Amendment. Roll back this useless law and the utility is restored to the firearm as well as the “shall not be infringed” clause. Additionally, not having a firearm at all is of far, far less utility than a firearm two actions away from firing.

Criminals do not carry openly so the police can breathe easy and somehow refrain from shooting anyone with a gun on their hip. Training and education for the police and the public seems to work well for Concealed Carry, why would Open Carry be any different? The worry should be for the criminal who has a concealed weapon and no regard for the law.

As far as frightening the public:  Utahn’s are built of sterner stuff, I am confident that a gun in a holster in a “compromised state of utility” as mentioned earlier, poses little threat. The fear may come from ignorance, but the cure for ignorance is education, not acquiescence. Additionally, is the need for public safety now so high that the potential of “scaring” someone is grounds for restricting the Second Amendment? Especially since crime statistics do not support this irrational fear.

The point of open carry has nothing at all to do with hunting and I suspect that the majority of Utahn’s can find the intestinal fortitude to deal with the free exercise of the Second Amendment. This editorial along with its companion “news” piece published the day previous strikes me as clumsy apprentice journalism. Perhaps Second Amendment articles / editorials are an initiation ritual for young green journalists?

The Bill of Rights is a complex topic that deserves a considered and professional treatment, not off-hand ill-considered sensationalism. I find it contradictory for a newspaper, a medium that lives and dies by a broad interpretation of the First Amendment, to be so eager to narrow the interpretation of the Second Amendment. How disappointing.