NRA Convention, Day 2…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
The crowds were heavy yesterday, and today was even MORE crowded…  


And people were just as polite today as they were yesterday…  


An interesting note from the Press Room, the ‘suits’ studiously ignored all of us peon bloggers, to the point of even refusing to sit at the table with us when seats were open!  Kinda interesting…


Anyhoo, some pics of things of interest from the convention floor!

 I had a chance early this morning to chat with Les Baer for a few minutes, and discuss the upsurge of women coming into shooting/self defense. He’s developed (or maybe I should say re-developed) this little beauty, a small 1911 package called the Stinger. It is specifically designed for easy carry/concealment with a shorter frame and their Comanche top end.  This particular one is in .38 Super, which Les says also making a comeback.  For women, this is pretty much an ‘ideal’ size and with the .38 Super, a pretty good stopper too! You can see the gun HERE on Les’ site.  As always, Les’ products are top quality, and he DOES support his customers!

Leatherman One Hand Tool (ONT) Prototype

According to the folks at Leatherman, this tool will probably hit the market in September 2012, and all the tools, knives, screwdrivers, etc are available for one handed operation.  Price point is yet to be decided, but it will be ‘reasonable’…  Something to think about for those who ‘need’ a one handed tool

Ronnie Barrett with the one of one  30th Anniversary M-107

Ronnie with the representative from HAVA, as Ronnie presents a check to the organization for $67,900+ in donations from the ‘drawing’ for the M-107…
Pretty Impressive!

And I couldn’t resist this one…

This lady said this was going up in her front yard (and her hubby said ‘she’ bought it on her own)!!!  Think this might be a hint NOT to mess with this particular little old Lady…

And the “protesters” that were supposed to be out in force from ‘that’ organization??? Zip, nada, none…

The only Hippie I saw was one coming out of the Convention with a t-shirt on that said Venison- It’s what’s for dinner…

Go read Daddy Bear, Jay G, Phlegmmy, Lawdog, Sebastian, Days, Farmer Frank and others as they have reports up too!

More later with some ‘fun’ guns…

Oh my aching…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Well, it’s official, Jay G is a blogging fool…  I think he put up either four or five posts already today at the convention!


We met up with Ian Harrison on the way down, and had a good chat with him, and based on conversations with NRA officials, the estimated number of pre-registrations is 60,000+  


All the usual suspects are here, except Say Uncle, sadly he had to back out this year… 


Sebastian is covering the legal and speeches as always, Jay, myself, Dennis from Dragon Leatherworks, Daddy Bear (don’t ask about breakfast), has a post up HERE on his first impressions and I agree with him!


AD finally caught up with us, and we became the multiple amigos…


We wander hither, yon, and back, with folks breaking off to look at specific things (note to self, keep DB away fromt he swords…)


A few pics of things that caught my interest!

Took a pic of Jay taking a pic of the M&P

Outstanding factory engraving…

More outstanding factory engraving, and yes they are S&W, but I still appreciate quality work…

DB wanted to play with these…

“I” wanted to play with these… The top gun is a 1 of 1000 Winchester 73 in 45-75 with a 30 in barrel ($180,000)

The ‘original’ Judge…  Colt Revolving Rifle in 45-70

Black Powder no less…

Jay! You BROKE it…  Jay, playing with the takedown 10-22…

Nice little Colt .22 on a 3/4 size Colt Frame (by Colt)…

Ronnie Barrett’s 30th Anniversary give away gun…

Yep, believe it or not, a SHORT BARREL .50 BMG M-107
This will be the ONLY one of these built, so truly a one of a kind rifle…
And all the benefits go to Honored American Veterans Afield!!!

“Off the record” conversations with Cold Steel, Ruger, S&W, Colt,  Barrett, FNH, hell, basically everybody I talked to today said sales are up, some are expanding shifts (S&W), some are expanding facilities (Cold Steel), and some are working hard to just keep up with orders (Ammo to go, Brownells, Magpul)…

Once again I noted how polite everyone is, both in and out of the Annual Meeting, and how patient folks were on the display floor (actually waiting to take turns handling weapons)…

Off to dinner and a well deserved beer 🙂  Anybody have anything specific they want me to look at, shoot me an email!

Let the blogging begin!!!

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Well, Jay G is off and running… As usual 🙂

We haven’t been here 15 minutes, and I think he’s already put up three posts! I’ll be sucking hind tit but we’re heading to the floor now.

Kudos to the NRA folks, media checkin was about 2 minutes total, and most of that was standing in line…

We’re Heerrrreeee…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Look out St. Louis…


Thanks to Jay G for ‘organizing’ the first get together at the NRA-AM 🙂

Tomorrow we descend on the Convention Center and the drooling begins!

More later…

The Military doesn’t teach anything useful…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Other than how to kill people…


That was the opening statement today when a few of us that flew together back in the 80’s got together for lunch.


We all kinda looked at the guy that made the statement, since he is a Washington Lobbyist now (and yes we made HIM buy)…


He laughed and said that was a statement made by one of his female co-workers who is a dyed in the wool DINK yuppie liberal.


At that point we all started laughing…


And comparing how we aren’t taught anything…


Of our group of pilots/NFOs, one is a 2-star Admiral, nine are consultants, one is a CEO of a large company, three are VPs or directors for major corporations (like Eastman Kodak), three are airline captains, two are lawyers (one heads up the Maritime Law group for a major NY firm), four are directors of major government programs (GS-15 or SES), a couple of others own small companies, one is an airport manager for a large airport in the SE. Oh yeah, and one is an English Professor at a large Midwestern college (don’t ask me why)…


On the enlisted side, one is a corporate pilot, flying Gulfstreams as the Captain, two are facilities managers, one for a major hospital in Florida, the other for a high rise in Houston; three are now managers with various defense contractors, one is an engineer for Southern Pacific (something he always wanted), one is an operations manager for FEDEX in Memphis, and one is a ‘beach bum’ (who also happens to have an any ocean/any tonnage master’s license and when he ‘works’ it’s for Maresk as a Captain)…


So, why are we succeeding?  To put it simply, we came up with these things:
it’s the work ethic that was instilled in us by the military
the integrity/honesty we were taught
the leadership we’ve demonstrated over the years
Praise in public, counsel in private, give credit where due, and take blame for problems/issues
Never bring up a problem without offering a solution 
and we’re all too damn dumb to not do the best job we can for the $$ we’re paid…

Implicit Associations Test…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
If you’re truly bored…  The Implicit Associations Test (there are a number of them), are done by Harvard. Link HERE


I took the weapons one just for S&Gs during lunch and here were my results…


I believe my results are a function of a career in the military, exposing me to a variety of cultures both here and abroad; and handling weapons my whole life.  It IS interesting to see what some folks said though, and I cannot help but wonder if the skew is a result of WHO is taking the test… Just sayin…

Your Result

Your data suggest little or no association between White American and Black American with Harmless Objects and Weapons.

Thank you for your participation. Just below is a breakdown of the scores generated by others. Most respondents find it easier to associate White American with Harmless Object and Black American with Weapon compared to the reverse.
Race-Weapons score distribution

Reaping the Lost…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

MQ-9 Reaper

The 29th Attack Squadron Airmen at Holloman AFB, NM used an MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft launched from there to help locate missing kayakers in the Gila National Forest near the base. This was the first time that an Reaper was allowed to operate outside of Holloman’s FAA-approved airspace to assist in a search-and-rescue mission,  according to Holloman officials.
“To be able to fly in the national airspace, there is a lot of coordination that has to take place to allow this to happen,” said Maj. Dustin Pittman, assistant operations director of the base’s 29th Attack Squadron, a flying training unit that operates Reapers. “This is a big step forward to . . . extend ourselves outside our normal flying ranges,” he stressed.
Air Combat Command received the call for assistance on the search and “as soon as the approval came, the 29th Attack Squadron had plans ready and people in route,” added Pittman. The Reaper provided overhead imagery of a riverbed, aiding authorities in locating the two missing sportsmen on April 2.
They done good 🙂  And I’m pretty sure it was NOT loaded out like the one in the picture…
Once again, the military stepped up to the plate and assisted in saving lives, and where is the coverage in the MSM???
…crickets…
Sigh

Playing games…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Once again, the administration is playing ‘games’ with our military retirement…

The INTENDED consequences were that I and all other retired and active duty military personnel in all branches of military service would be taxed on thirteen months of pay (the thirteenth month was the January 02, 2012 pay that was received on December 31, 2011 and accounted as 2011 pay).
Count the days.
This increased my taxable income enough that part of my Social Security became taxable.
Wait!….What?
In case you did not know, Social Security IS taxable. Now you know about another democrat party lie.
To continue: this shifting of income from 2012 to 2011 put me in higher tax brackets. It also made part of my Social Security taxable which bumped me into yet another higher tax bracket.
The end result was an additional $251.00 in income taxes. This was effectively a reduction in pay of $251.00 for that “thirteenth month”.
That may not sound like much, but it is more than one month’s basic utilities (gas, water, and electric) for me.
How would you feel about that?

I have to admit I ‘missed’ this one, but Al’s point is VERY valid… $251 times how many retirees?  That equals BIG $$…


Once again borne by the military!


You can read the whole post HERE…


Sigh… It just keeps getting better and better… NOT!


h/t Al

Time sink warning…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
These are absolutely hilarious…  And you WILL waste a bunch of time going back through their archives… 🙂

Their link is HERE
h/t JP

Bubba Wins!!!

Posted on by March 6, 2013
I’m a pretty lousy golfer, but I ‘do’ enjoy watching good golf, and this afternoon there was some outstanding golf…


It’s called the Masters at Augusta.  Now I know Snigs hates it, cause she has to put up with the idjits and assholes, but it’s some of the finest golf played in the USA.


And today was no exception…  


Bubba Watson, a character who never met a hook or a slice he didn’t like, hyper, jittery, prone to blow up at the wrong time; hit what can only be called a great shot out of the pine straw 50 feet into the rough on Number 10 and put it on the green, while Louis Oostuizen who had also missed his tee shot came up short from the second cut of rough…


Bubba made the putt and literally broke down in tears, and interestingly enough, was congratulated by a number of the other pros who had stuck around to watch… You don’t often see that anywhere, but Bubba is well liked by all the pros out there for his attitude and upbeat way of dealing with life’s little issues…


He admitted in the interview after the win, he’d never gotten this far even in his dreams, and didn’t even know what to say…


Congrats Bubba, and well done for never giving up!!!