Helped a lady work on some issues with pistols today, she can’t really rack a slide well, so it was try a revolver day. She brought her .22 magnum Ruger, and we started with that, then worked through some different revolvers, and how to load a cylinder with both speed strips and speed loaders.
By the time we were done, with Lawdog working on the trigger pull with a laser grip, her groups were under four inches, and everything was minute of bad guy, with everything she shot! So if anybody has a spare S&W Model 60 with a three or four inch barrel, we can make a good home for it… 🙂
On breaks, I put a few rounds down range, with small, medium, and large pistols…
Agent at 5 yards, and yes, it’s a belly gun… sigh… 5 inch group
Diamondback at 7 yards, 3 inch group
Python at 10 yards, 3 inch group
And just for S&Gs… Brought out the old SAA. 3 inches at 10 yards.
BUT, I have to admit Lawdog out shot me with it at 10 yards! But he cheated, he used a two handed grip… 🙂
So fun was had, everybody is more relaxed and smiling, and I’m calling this one a win all the way around!
Andi, a member of our Blogorado family, has suffered a stroke, which was misdiagnosed initially, leading to complications. She doesn’t have medical insurance, and is having to fund her rehabilitation on a pay-as-you-go basis. Several of us have pooled our resources by donating guns from our personal collections, and we’re offering them as an incentive to raise funds for her, along with some non-gun prizes (jewelry, books, etc.) for those who’d prefer them. The Go Fund Me is HERE. Jenn as a personal post up on Andi, HERE.
You’ll find photographs of all the prizes in three parts: here, here, here, and here. There is an additional package it’s number 14! A full polish on a stainless or nickel plate on a blued handgun. This is from Reflections Chrome Plating up in Maine! Remember, donate to the Go Fund Me, HERE, and email your receipt to [email protected] in the raffle!!!
As I write this, we are at a little over $14,300, so a little less than 60% there. The raffle will continue until the end of November, so basically two weeks left! The drawing will be via a random number generator on 1 December. First number drawn gets their pick, second number gets their pick, and so on.
Thank you to all that have contributed both packages and donations!
I’m actually surprised the NYT even published this, but Kalashnikov is going to private hands… After 70 years the Russian government is giving up control!!!
Short and to the point, even! I wonder which side of the political spectrum this reader is on? And I’m guessing we ‘triggered’ them… 🙂 Now I did three tours stationed in California, so I ‘know’ how we were treated out there. Just sayin’
‘Scuse me, but we’ve written FICTION. We didn’t hide who we are, or try to couch this as anything other than fiction! As far as the parallels the various authors chose to draw with reality, well, there are plenty of ‘indicators’ in the media that California would love to actually secede from the US.
In the growing chasm between Trump’s Washington and California—principally on climate change, but also taxes, health care, gun control and immigration—Brown is functioning as the head of something closer to a country than a state.
Don’t believe me? Read the article, HERE! And this is just ONE example…
Political propaganda… Really? More like the logical extension of what Californians are actually trying to do!
And I’ll just throw this one in… One of the first reviews, and a five star-
I received the book as a gift from one of the authors and thoroughly enjoyed all the stories. Some of them seem to be a little far-reaching – unless you’ve had the misfortune of living there.
It was even more special in that Rich, one of my readers, actually gave myself and Juvat (blogger at Chant du Depart) the six hour tour!
Rich was the educational director for a number of years, and we got a lot of the back stories that went with the exhibits.
However, there was a bit of a problem… You see Rich is retired Army, I’m retired Navy, and Juvat is retired Air Force…
So there were a number of, how can I say this, interesting, side conversations over the course of the day. I’m proud to say that Juvat only shot his watch off twice, though (Ex-fighter pilot)… 🙂
Seriously, this is one museum you should go see, if you possibly can. Rather than just WWII, they actually go back to the turn of the century, and the lead up to the war. Lots of visuals, some not real pretty, but accurate. Great use of videos, video tables, and fantastic displays! They also do live action recreations a couple of times a year!!!
Since we were ‘walking, we’re walking’, I didn’t get a lot of pictures, but there are many very moving displays and videos available. Being a sailor, I had to go with the PT boat, though…
Boat-309 is the only restored World War II combat veteran Higgins class PT boat on public display in the United States today. It actually served in the Med, and fired over 100 torpedoes in combat, and was credited with sinking five enemy ships. She was also responsible for the capture of an Italian MAS (PT equivalent) boat. PT-309 was nicknamed “Oh Frankie” following a meeting between the boat’s first skipper, Wayne Barber, and Frank Sinatra at a night club in New York City just prior to her departure for the European Theater.
With the assistance of PT Boats, Inc., PT-309 was located in Greenport, New York operating as a charter fishing boat. She was purchased in 1994 by the Admiral Nimitz Foundation for the museum. She sailed under her own power from New York to Galveston, Texas, a 45 day journey.
After nearly three years of dedicated work by a volunteer crew that included Seabees from the Houston area, the PT-309 has been almost completely restored. More than a quarter of the boat’s original planking was replaced. She was “commissioned” in the Texas Navy in 1998. Members of the SeaBee unit were present in uniform for the event.
Stern, and you can see the decking work going on…
Looking forward, Port forward torpedo rack is empty, aft is a MK-13 torpedo.
Mid-ships port side twin 50 mount
Forward 20mm mount, and forward hatch to the crew quarters.
TBM Avenger, one of three or four airplanes in the museum. This is what George H.W. Bush was shot down in.
And Togo’s study. Built as an exact duplicate in Japan, then taken apart, and reassembled in the Japanese Peace Garden in the museum.
And a video of a TBM flying… Big and noisy, but they got the job done, more than once!!!
Thanks Rich and Juvat, truly a great time! 🙂
Then I took a speed run down to Alpine, TX to meet with another author, a former Marine sniper and retired LEO, and do some looking around in that area, since I hadn’t been down there since the late 60s. Good times, and actually saw a NEW Colt Cobra in the wild. Sadly I didn’t have the spare coin to buy it… Dammit…
Then a ‘lovely’ six hour drive home in misting rain… So I’m sorry if folks didn’t get many comments out of me, but I didn’t even turn a computer on till I got home.
Andi, a member of our Blogorado family, has suffered a stroke, which was misdiagnosed initially, leading to complications. She doesn’t have medical insurance, and is having to fund her rehabilitation on a pay-as-you-go basis. Several of us have pooled our resources by donating guns from our personal collections, and we’re offering them as an incentive to raise funds for her, along with some non-gun prizes (jewelry, books, etc.) for those who’d prefer them. The Go Fund Me is HERE.
You’ll find photographs of all the prizes in three parts: here, here, here, and here. There is an additional package it’s number 14! A full polish on a stainless or nickel plate on a blued handgun. This is from Reflections Chrome Plating up in Maine! Remember, donate to the Go Fund Me, HERE, and email your receipt to [email protected] participate in the raffle!!!
As I write this, we are at almost $12,000, so a little less than half way there. The raffle will continue until the end of November, and the drawing will be via a random number generator on 1 December.
Thank you to all that have contributed both packages and donations!
Veterans’ Day was originally called Armistice Day. This day was set aside to reflect and remember the sacrifices men and women made during World War I in order to ensure peace. This truce was signed on November 11th, 1918 at 11 A.M. after 5 years of fighting.
The first official celebration was on November 11th, 1919. In other countries it is known as Remembrance Day. It was not until after the Korean War in 1953 that President Eisenhower signed the bill that officially changed the name to Veterans’ Day. But even today, a moment of silence is observed at 11am to mark the truce that ended WWI.
To honor the veterans, I want to share with you an interesting story passed via the military side of the house…
Here’s an interesting story of Naval Aviation. “Point of interest… about 3 minutes 12 seconds into the clip, here, you will see an F6F Hellcat, it’s hydraulics shot away during a strafing run, pancake on the carrier deck and slew into the island.
A deckhand was crushed between the aircraft and the superstructure and killed. The number on the plane is 30.The lanky pilot sitting dazed in the cockpit is a gentleman named Andy Cowan. Sadly, he died in 2008 at age 88.
A friend of mine was able to attend his lecture in 2006 or 7, and got a copy of the presentation. He was amazed at the man’s memory and his emotions all these years later…
To this day he cannot recall this accident without a tear coming to his eye. Andy is a marvel. He has absolute total recall of those bygone days.He is regularly invited back to the Naval War College to give a powerpoint demonstration to the young fighter jocks of today’s Navy. They hang on his every word.
A living link to the past… to the days when you got up close and personal to kill the enemy.No over-the-horizon missile kills…
Andy was the longest serving Navy fighter pilot in WWII. He was on his shakedown cruise off Gitmo on December 7th, 1941. The carrier Ranger made flank speed to Norfolk and the pilots were transshipped to San Francisco by train, then sped to Hawaii by ship.
He saw Pearl not long after the sneak attack, and again is unable to speak of it… a horrible disaster. He immediately went aboard the Lexington and in the course of the war had 4 carriers shot out from under him as he fought in every major Pacific battle… Coral Sea , Midway, Battle of Santa Cruz, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima … you name it. Credited with 4.5 kills, he flew with Butch O’Hare, Cmdr Thatch (inventor of the ‘Thatch Weave’), flew with high scoring ace David McCampbell… served under Admirals Nimitz, Bull Halsey…
He has studied the Japanese side of the Pacific War and is a recognized expert on their side of it. He can reel off the names of all their capital ships and admirals and battles from memory.Remarkable man… and still alive to tell the tale…”
