For the addled posting schedule… Still trying to recover from surgery…
Anyhoo… Some ‘good’ news for our side of the aisle.
Much to the mainstream media’s chagrin, the FBI’s report on the number of NICS checks conducted on gun sales in April contradicts their claim that the firearms industry is experiencing a “Trump slump” in 2017.
Full article, HERE.
This pretty much backs up what we were hearing at the NRA convention too, so I’d tend to believe this rather than what the MSM is putting out…
Two and a half hours of surgery yesterday, now feel like 9 miles of bad Texas road, or supposedly that’s what I look like…
Take the worst sinus headache, the worst sore throat and throw in a broken nose… And that’s pretty much me right now. But I’m home with PP and Kaya, and friends, so it’s all good!
Regular posting will resume when I get off these meds… Wheeeee….
Gonna be out of action today and tomorrow at the minimum for a tune up on my sinuses and a few other things…
Posting may resume Saturday, depending on how I’m feeling, or how many pain meds I’m on. Or maybe PP will put up a guest post… She’s flying in to ‘manage’ me for a few days…
Anyhoo, go read the folks on the sidebar!
Final thoughts and one more gun…
It was great to see the usual suspects, and chat over/around coffee, munchies etc. in the press room, on the floor and at various off-site locations! 🙂
Not as big as Houston, but the second largest Annual Meeting. And, as I’ve said before, this one was MUCH more relaxed. I think that was a good thing!
So, on to the gun. I ran into Phil Schreier on the floor and he asked if I’d seen the museum gun. “Nope.” says I. He smiled and said go to booth 457 and tell Mike Carrik I said for you to get a brief.
So I trot my happy little butt over that way, and lo and behold…
Anybody recognize it?
It’s an original Girardoni Air Rifle!!!
The lockwork is interesting in that it does NOT strike a primer, but hits the equivalent of a Schraeder valve (like the valve stem on your tire), to fire the gun.
And the 22 round magazine (closed)
The 22 round magazine (open) 
A complete, correct copy of the one remaining ‘tool kit’ from an Austrian museum. Note the four tubes, they are the ORIGINAL speed loaders!!! L0( And the long tube in the foreground, is the ‘pump’ to pump up the air reservoir.
And here is Phil’s great presentation on it!
Thanks to Mike Carrick for his brief on it, and letting me get up close and get the photos!
Thanks to those who’ve cross posted Rimworld- Into the Green!
I am putting Rimworld- Stranded up for free today through Saturday. It was actually supposed to go up for free yesterday, but I screwed that up… sigh…
Anyhoo, get it free and enjoy! Just click the cover below…
And I would appreciate honest reviews, if you have time. The more reviews, the better the chance of folks being willing to take a chance on us indie writers.
Thanks in advance!
It’s ALIVE!!! 🙂
Available on Amazon as of today, both in paperback and Kindle.
They don’t have both of them linked, soooo…
Kindle is HERE, at $4.99, and paperback is HERE, at $14.50. Sadly, since I’m not able to print mass market, the paperback price is higher than I’d like… Sorry.
The blurb-
Unfortunately, he’s about to find out that he’s not as retired as he wants to be, and that his new home system comes with dangers, politics, and Dragoon sightings of its own. What promised to be a boring retirement will turn out to be anything but.
One of the ‘things’ I noted today is that there doesn’t ‘seem’ to be the urgency of the last years on the convention floor, or in people’s faces…
While not complacent, they seem much more relaxed, IMHO.
One of the things I was asked to do, was to compare the new Wilson double stack 9mm against the standard single stack 9mm. Here’s a lousy picture of the back straps. I apologize for that, but the double stack is only ‘slightly’ thicker.
This pic shows how Wilson gets away with that…
The double stack is again on the left, the side walls of the frame are integral to the grip surface, and MUCH thinner by comparison than that of the frame and grip panels on the single stack on the right.
Prices are in the $2800 range, give or take the options one chooses.
Sadly, I’m not going to be able to stay for Sunday due to other commitments, but it’s been good to see old friends, spend some time walking the floor and seeing the ‘new’ toys, etc. and avoiding the drama llamas that seem to keep popping up.
Today was ONLY 4.4 miles… Sigh…
The instructor meeting was interesting, in that Instructor Lead Training (ILT) has been added back to the instructor portfolio, so we, and the students, have an option other than forcing students to do half their training online before they ever see an instructor.
Thanks to those who’ve stopped by and read my updates, and remember next year is Dallas!!!
The crowd ‘seems’ to be down, compared to last year’s Friday. Probably due to the president being here, but a couple of other things play into that, IMHO, one is Atlanta traffic itself…
People don’t want to fight it, getting in and out can take an hour or more, just from Atlanta metro itself. You move out to a 50 mile radius, now you’re talking two hours or more.
Another is the ‘relaxation’ of the pressure on gun owners with the election of President Trump.
And honestly, the third is probably cost. When you figure in gas, food, etc. not counting hotels, you’re talking easily a couple of hundred dollars for three or four people. If you add in hotel, now you’re talking three-four hundred dollars a night.
Talking with various LEOs, service people, and event staff, the common response is how polite every one is (Armed society is a polite society), and how many veterans are attending. Everything from WWII to the ongoing Afghan/Iraq/Yemen/??? Dust ups.
One thing I’ve noticed, is the number of people with prosthetics who are not hiding them, wearing shorts, or short sleeved shirts. And no one comments, or shies away. I saw one little boy fist bump a vet with a hook, smile, and then say, in a high piping voice, “Thank you for keeping me safe.”
And speaking of safety… Ladies carry options…
Hiding Hilda caught my attention…
They had the largest selection of purses/carry options for women that I saw at the entire show. She is also manufacturing some of her own designs, like the quilted purse (shown front and back), with the zipper carry pouch on the back. She’s proud of the fact that all the lines she carries are American made too!
Survived the first day, some new stuff, some old stuff, and ALL of us old farts are getting old(er)…
Spent about 20 minutes talking with Ken Hackathorn at the Colt booth, and we decided that we are getting too old to play this game, and that the generation coming up now does not have any real understanding of the basics not only of guns in general, but the basics of ballistics, understanding the true differences between revolvers and semi automatics, and the truth behind many of the Internet/urban myths about Glock’s versus 1911’s, 45 versus 9 mm, and 223/5.56 versus 308/30-06. They think that 30 minutes on the Internet makes them an expert! Once they’ve done that 30 minutes of research, they can go to the range and shoot perfect X’s all day long, because that’s what they do in their computer games. They don’t seem to realize that the real world does not have a reset button.
Anyhoo… A few pictures from today of guns! That’s really what we’re all here for right? First up, the new Colt Cobra. I like the new, bigger trigger guard, especially if one is wearing gloves. However, people who have shot it in testing say there is an issue with light strikes, and failure to fire with a 7 pound trigger pull.
Wow I hope the Cobra and Colt both succeed, I’m getting a whiff of the R 51 debacle all over again … sigh…
In the dream a little/dream a lot category, there are always the show pieces from Rock Island Auctions… Old Colts, old Winchesters, etc… but this year…
Elvis is in the building! Two Colt Pythons, fully engraved, plus his diamond crusted chief deputy badge from Shelby County Tennessee. Ballpark estimate on the values is $150,000 to $175,000 per pistol and $30,000 to $50,000 for the badge.
And they are pretty sure that they will get very close to those prices, if not more! Now on a more realistic level, a couple of rifles from Axelson Tactical.
First up, the Texas special and 5.56.
And last, a prototype sniper rifle and 6.5 Creedmore with a carbon fiber barrel build by Proof Research. This one is a one off, built for Charlie Melton specifically for striping training.
Actual cost on this rifle, they’re not saying! 🙂 But it is a beautiful piece of work, extremely accurate, according to Charlie. And before you ask,he is not being stupid on the velocities out of the gun he is well under 3500 ft./s, to minimize barrel ware.
That’s it for day one, hopefully I will get a few post up today, if I see anything of interest thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the pictures!
The usual suspects… Are in their usual locations…
The crowds aren’t ‘bad’ so far, in that you can still move and actually get to look at things. Hit up Trijicon and got some red HDs for the Glocks, went by Colt and found out that ‘one’ of the cuts they’d done was the iconic Colt pins… sigh
These were taken from the press room at 0830…
Went by Axleson Tactical, drooled over the new 6.5 rifle they are putting out, and spent a few minutes chatting with Charlie Melton, who is now retired from the SEALS and teaching sniping and tactical carbine/pistol classes at charliemikeprecision.com. He’s the real deal. I can vouch for that.