My Community Service Letter To President Obama

Yes I really sent a letter to President Obama today. I sent it via an email to the White House this morning. I have to agree with him, I think volunteering for community service is a good thing. That's why I used to be a soccer coach, an assistant coach at little league, and both an assistant coach and coach for a roller hockey league for quite a few years. I have also done a few other things to help out - mostly through my local herpetological society. I have been doing community service or years now with no prompting from the president. Truth be told though, I have not done all that much of it lately and his incessant talking about it has reminded me to offer to lend a hand once again to my community. The letter I sent to the president follows:

Dear President Obama,

I am a registered Republican but I can see merit to some things across political lines. I see merit in your call for community service. Of course, I see community service as good only if voluntary. So, I plan to do my part through an educational program for the youth of my community. In that regard, I was wondering, how does a person obtain federal stimulus monetary assistance?

I would like to start a program to teach youngsters about an American tradition. This program will include teaching local youths about our Constitution and about our rights. It will be open to children from the ages of 12 up through 17 (with their parents’ permission). It will be offered at no charge to the participants. It will teach about our freedoms, rights, liberties and our responsibilities as Americans. It will include participation in a sport that is hundreds of years old and that has been enjoyed by American Citizens of both genders and by those of all racial, ethnic, religious and secular backgrounds.

The cost for this would be more than I could afford on my own. I am willing to donate several hundred dollars a year and my time toward this program but the price to use a proper facility with a classroom and practical training area will likely prove more than I could afford. There would be the costs of teaching and insurance. I imagine this could run into several thousands of dollars if I had even as few as 25 students per year.

I believe that teaching our youth the proper way to enjoy their right to keep and bear arms is an important but often forgotten national responsibility. Not only would such a program teach our youth about the RKBA, and about shooting sports, it would also prepare them in the event they are ever called upon to take up arms to defend our great nation in military or law enforcement service. I sir, with your financial help, am willing to serve my community in this manner. Are you ready to help me do so?

Best regards,
Glenn Bartley

I am quite serious about my offer. After I receive my positive reply from Washington, I plan to contact the National Rifle Association and the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association to see if they have any pointers on how to put this together. I almost cannot wait for the positive reply and all the money that the government is sure to put into this program to help the youths of my community learn about their heritage to keep and bear arms.

All the best,
Glenn B

Community Service Hair Cuts

Here is a joke someone emailed to me yesterday, I have also received it in the past, it has been going around for awhile but maybe you have not seen it yet.

The Hair Cut:

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut. After the cut, he
asked about his bill, and the barber replied, 'I cannot accept money from
you , I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased
and left the shop. When the barber went to open his shop the next morning,
there was a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at
his door.

Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his
bill, the barber again replied, 'I cannot accept money from you , I'm
doing community service this week.' The cop was happy and left the shop.
The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a 'thank you'
card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.

Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his
bill, the barber again replied, 'I can not accept money from you. I'm doing
community service this week.' The Congressman was very happy and left the
shop. The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen
Congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut.

And that illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens
of our country and the politicians who run it.

How true - sad but true - and not really a joke is it except maybe when told by a politicain to another politician.

All the best,
GB

Biweekly Gun Shots 20 - I'd Rather Be In Philadelphia...

...well maybe not if I had this little pistol pointed at me. This is a replica (firing replica or so I would think) of the infamous Philadelphia Derringer. It is a neat little gun, and I speak from experience. Back in the early 80's (the 1980's not the 1880's) I bought a CVA Philadelphia Derringer kit (I am pretty sure the one pictured is the CVA brand since it looks exactly as I remember mine except for the bluing). Basically what you got were all the parts in a box and you had to put them together and finish them in order to get something that remotely looked like the one in the picture. I say remotely if only because I was unable to do a hot bluing job on the barrel of mine and had to settle for cold bluing which did not leave anywhere as nice a finish as has the one in the picture. In addition I think the wood finish on mine was a bit nicer, but not by much. By the way, I found that pic at: http://thehighroad.us/showthread.php?t=321129&highlight=Philadelphia+Derringer.

When I opened the box for mine - which was a CVA brand - I read the directions before doing anything else. That was a good idea otherwise I may have been very frustrated very quickly. You see the inletting of the wood was only partially completed, probably 90% or so and I had to cut it, gouge it, and sand it to make sure all the metal parts would fit. I suppose that made it a bit more fun than just snapping it together like a plastic model. By the time I was done mine looked a lot like the one in the photograph accompanying this blog except as I said for the barrel which was blued but much lighter despite numerous attempts to darken it.

If I recall correctly mine was in .45 caliber. It was a blast to shoot. I used something called Pyrodex, if I remember right, for gunpowder. Technically it was not an explosive as is black powder but was instead a propellant. You have to be very careful with this stuff and with black powder - any spark can set it off. The fact that it was not listed as an explosive made it easier to buy. It also was supposedly not as corrosive as black powder, but I always cleaned out the barrel well after shooting mine and I changed the nipples frequently. The nipple to which I refer are that part of the gun under the hammer over which you fit a percussion cap as an ignition source. It basically funnels the spark from the cap to the powder charge.

This derringer was my first experience with black powder shooting (and it has been very limited since then). Shooting it opened up my eyes to a few things. First of all - when you pull the trigger you hear a little pop when the primer ignites. Then after a lag of a second or split second the gun fires with a bang. It takes the powder a bit of time to ignite as compared to brass cased ammo. When the pistol does fire there is a huge gray cloud of smoke that exits the muzzle as the bullet goes down range. In essence when guys in the old days shot at someone, not only did their target have time to get out of the way, but they lost sight of their target due to the smoke. Then they had to reload. Reloading included pouring a measured charge of powder down the barrel, then placing a wad (cloth patch) and the lead ball down the barrel and ramming them home with the ramrod. Then you cocked the pistol, placed a cap on the nipple, took aim if you could still find your target, and you fired again. Wow, what a way to shoot it out but that is pretty much the way it was done.

Of course, I never depended on my Philadelphia Derringer for anything except fun shooting. I used to blast gallon water jugs with it and that would burst into a spray that you could actually see as it spread out further than the cloud of smoke from the barrel. If you did it right and took the wind into consideration you could avoid a face full of smoke and even have the smoke blow to the right or left to give you a clearer filed of view sooner. I wonder if position on battlefields were ever chosen with that in mind. The little was not all that accurate at any good distance but i could hit that at which I took aim out to at least 10 yards. Not bad in my opinion, and lots of fun at that.

I don't know if CVA is still in business. I googled "CVA Philadelphia Derringer" kit but only found old info on them. There are other companies offering such pistol kits today though, so if you are interested in getting one they are available. Where I live, here on Long Island in NY state - they do not require a pistol permit unless you have the components with which to shoot them such as powder and percussion caps. Dixie Gun Works offers a decent variety of black powder gun kits including a Philadelphia Derringer - see: http://www.dixiegunworks.com/default.php?cPath=22_162_194.

I had that gun for years and am pretty sure I brought it back east from California where I purchased it when I was in the Border Patrol. I probably sold it, I seem to think it was at a garage sale or gun show, or something like that, so I may have still owned it when we bought our house. I do sort of miss it. It was not very high quality, the trigger was horrendous, but it was a fun gun for sure. I may have to pick one up for myself some time down the road, probably a higher quality brand this time. That will be some time in the future though because for now, I still have my sights set on something a little larger like a bolt action hunting rifle in .308. Enough on this stuff for now, I have got to go get ready for work - working a late shift tonight.

All the best,
Glenn B.

Biweekly Gun Shots 19 - Use Only The Proper Ammunition In Your Firearms

No, not any talk about a favorite gun tonight, nothing about a gun I want to buy, or one I'd love to shoot or one that looks pretty fancy. Tonight I thought I would give you something else, some information and my opinion about ammunition and how to avoid getting hurt or even killed because of simple mistakes you can make with it. Before you read on I insist you read my disclaimer on the right side of my blog and read the disclaimer that follows this sentence: What I am about to say is my opinion - it is not advice. If you follow what I am about to say you do so at your own risk and hold me harmless. If you tell anyone else this information you also hold me harmless and you indemnify me if they use it or they pass it on and someone else uses it and so on ad infinitum. It is not that I think the info I am about to give is bad or weak, it is that I don't trust your lawyer, or another guy's lawyer, to leave me alone should you ever hurt yourself or someone else hurt himself, then you or he mention to a lawyer you or he did just what I said I would do.

The first bit of advice I can give you about ammunition is to always use the correct ammunition for any firearm you intend to shoot. This may seem like advice for the simple minded or for the bran dead but in truth it is one of the cardinal rules of firearms safety and has been at least since shortly after the cartridge was developed for firearms. Now you may think that it would take idiots to try to use the wrong sized ammunition in any particular firearm they were shooting but it is actually a common mistake - an all too common mistake. So how does it happen? Well let's use an example. John Q. Gun-enthusiast goes to the range to shoot some trap. He brings along his fancy 12 gauge O/U with engraved silver receiver and his equally elegant and engraved 12 gauge semi-auto bird gun. He also brings along junior and his brand new 20 gauge semi-auto shotgun.

They get to shooting. Dad shoots away and shows junior how it is done. Junior watches intently as his dad grabs round after round from his ammo pouch and feeds them into the O/U, then fires away as each clay bird is shot arching fluidly through the air. Then it is junior's turn. He goes to the line and follows suit. Much like his dad, whom he has paid attention to during his lessons, he shoots down disc after disc. Those clay birds just did not stand a chance with an eye like his. He is eager to shoot more and during a break between rounds he asks his dad if he can shoot the 12 gauge for one set. Dad says sure and gives him 25 rounds of 12 gauge shells for his ammo pouch.

When the time comes, junior steps to the line and loads the O/U. He shoots at the first target. Then at the second. There is no bang, no recoil, no anything. Apparently the round misfires on the second shot. He unloads and then feels ashamed, only one round is ejected and there is not another round in the other chamber. he must have only loaded one. He loads again in anticipation of the next round. A double is released. He fire and boom the first clay disc is shattered. He fires again but this time the gun goes KABOOM, junior drops the shotgun and falls to the ground clasping his face. Dad and the range officer run to him - they see his face is bleeding badly but his safety glasses have saved his eyes. His left hand and arm are also bloodied. The shotgun barrel has burst. What happened?

What happened is that John Q. Gun-enthusiast failed to remind junior to take all the 20 gauge rounds out of his ammo pouch. All he needed in there was one 20 gauge round to get mixed in with the 12 gauge rounds. He loaded the last time that he loaded, then as they do on some ranges he stood at his point with muzzle down awaiting his turn. When the muzzle pointed down, the 20 gauge round slid passed the chamber into the barrel where it wedged. When he later loaded the same chamber with a 12 gauge round and fired it, that load hit the 20 gauge round and the gasses in the barrel had nowhere to go except to burst the barrel. It happens folks - really it does.

Another example of the wrong ammo put into a shotgun actually involves the correct gauge shell being used for the gun you are firing but yet it is the wrong ammunition. I am not talking about trying to fit a 3" shell into a 2 3/4" chamber either. I am talking about use everything of the correct size, for instance a 2 3/4" 12 gauge round in a shotgun that takes that size shell. I am also talking about trying to fire a shell using modern propellant (gunpowder) through a barrel that was made for black powder or for shells that had less of a charge than does modern ammunition. That to which I am specifically addressing myself is a situation whereby someone obtains a Damascus steel barrel shotgun. They are things of beauty folks and the temptation to fire them is great but truth be told if you fire modern ammunition through one of them you are risking loss of limb or maybe even life. Damascus steel was never meant to withstand the pressures given off by modern shotgun ammunition. DO NOT FIRE MODERN AMMUNITION THROUGH A DAMASCUS STEEL BARRELED SHOTGUN. Heck do not fire any ammunition through one unless you first have a shotgun with any parts made from Damascus steel certified as safe by a qualified gun smith. Those Damascus steel barrels have a way of corroding between the layers of metal (which is basically how they are constructed) so that the barrels become unsafe over time and a danger to not only the shooter but to others nearby.

Moving on: Another example of using the wrong ammo in a gun would be such as when a pistol shooter at the range is shooting a 40 caliber and another shooter is shooting a 9mm. If they reload their magazines at the same table there is a chance that the 40 cal shooter may inadvertently pick up and load a 9mm round into his magazine. He then steps to the line and loads the chamber, then fires. Yes the weapon can fire. Will it hurt the gun - not likely. How could it hurt the shooter? Well you see the thing is that the 9MM round will likely not extract properly because the shell casing has expanded further than it should have and becomes wedged in the chamber or because the extractor claw slips off of the smaller round. This is a silly mistake to make at the range and is one best kept at the range where it causes not much more than embarrassment when a range officer has to help the shooter dislodge the spent casing from the pistol. It can be a much more serious problem on the street or in the home in a defensive shooting situation. A jam like that in the heat of the action, so to speak, can be all it takes to get you killed as you are trying to defend yourself against an armed bad guy who now has an advantage that you will most likely not overcome too easily.

Use the right ammo folks - make sure of it. Never mix different calibers of ammunition - it could get you badly injured or maybe even killed. Shoot one caliber at a time, put that ammo away before you shoot another. Look at the ammunition you are loading into your magazines. Make sure it is the right stuff. A few extra seconds while you are loading in the safety of your home, or while at the range, can save you a lot of grief later. This applies to pistols, revolvers, rifles and shotguns and any other firearms of which you can think. If using black powder firearms make sure to use not only the correct projectile but the proper propellant and the correct amount of it. If reloading ammunition be careful to follow all of the correct specifications.

Of course there is yet another reason to pay attention to the ammunition you are loading. Each time I open a box of ammo, or am about to use any ammo in a firearm, I give it a visual inspection. Sometimes this means I turn the round, each round, in my hands to examine it - this especially before 'loading for the street'. Why do I do that? Not just to make sure the ammo is the correct caliber, heck all I need to do for that is look at the stamp on the casing. So why take the extra effort to turn it around and look at it from all angles? I am looking for malformed casings, split casings, bullets not seated properly, for high or low primers, or even for bullets with no primers. This is a frequent occurrence among ammunition, even ammo from reputable manufacturers. Ammo can be damaged during manufacture, during boxing, or during shipment. It can also be manufactured with defects. if you are going to put your life on the line by defending yourself with a firearm - you may as well make reasonably certain that not only your firearm will work but that your ammo will feed, go bang, extract and eject - then do it all again. There can be some manufacturing effects that are hard to see, you might miss them, but rest assured that you will be doing yourself a favor by looking for the defects that you will see.

You also want to listen to your shots when you are firing. What you are listening for are squibs. This is something you have to learn at the range from experience because if you do it while in a shootout - well let me just say your ears can fool you when under stress and you may misinterpret not hearing your shots come out loud as a squib while in a stressful situation. A squib occurs when the ammunition is loaded with only a primer and no gunpowder (that is technically but I would think it could also happen with too little gunpowder). What happens is you fire the gun, it goes bang instead of BANG and the recoil is virtually nonexistent for that shot. Then what do you do? Do not fire again. Examine your firearm. make sure there is not a bullet stuck in the barrel, it does not always get stuck but sometimes the squib round will not clear the muzzle. This can happen because the primer did not give off enough force to push the bullet all the way the length of the barrel. The thing is that most people do not know what is a squib let alone realize when one has happened. So what they do is they keep on firing. In most instances, as I understand it (based upon word of mouth from other shooters) the squibbed bullet that remained in the barrel is simply pushed out by the next one that you fire. That is if you are lucky. If not, the gun's barrel could potentially explode as with the shotgun above; this is reportedly less likely though because both of the bullets are the correct diameter for the gun. What sometimes does happen though, probably more often as I have been told by others, is that the barrel is ringed. In other words the is now a ring shaped bump around the perimeter of the barrel due to momentary excessive pressure cause by one round blocking the path of the other. If you ever are buying a used gun and see that it has a ringed barrel my advice is to walk away from the sale. If you ever fire a gun, and see the barrel has become ringed, stop firing it and have the barrel replaced or just stop using that gun.

Now when shooting under stress, such as in a home defense situation where your life depends on it, you may not notice a squib round has been fired. Then again, on the other hand, you may think you have had one when in fact you have not. Sometimes when shooting under stress loud noises are seemingly reduced in volume to the person who is stressed. You have to determine what to do if you think you fired a squib, and there is not much I can really do to guide you as to whether or not you have had one under such circumstances. If you find yourself thinking that you actually have fired a squib in a combat situation there are a couple of things you can do. Before I mention them, allow me to remind you that what I am about to say is my opinion - it is not advice. If you follow what I am about to say you do so at your own risk and hold me harmless, if you tell anyone else this information you hold me harmless and you indemnify me if they use it or they pass it on and someone else uses it ad infinitum.

One thing you can do if you think you have a squib round during such an encounter is to continue firing if the situation calls for continued firing. In other words if the bad guy is still posing a threat of death or serious bodily harm to you or to another innocent whom you are protecting you can keep shooting if the law where you are allows for such, hoping that the squib round will be expelled from the barrel by the next one and that neither will be an obstruction for yet another shot if needed. If you are too afraid of the consequences of firing a round with a possible squib round stuck in the barrel what can you do? You can examine your firearm. This is up to you but remember a bad guy is still posing a threat of death or serious bodily harm to you so you have to judge if you have the time to check your weapon for a squib round and to determine if is your body's reaction to a stressful situation playing a trick on you or not. Note I am not talking about the wrong sized ammo being used as in the example of a 20 gauge round going down the barrel of a 12 gauge. In such a case, if I reasonably believed such had happened, I might use the gun as a club or a spear or just run away - and about that I am dead serious.

I can tell you this: I have shot one person in my lifetime so far. It was during a holdup attempt - yes he was trying to rob me. When I fired, I immediately thought my gun must have jammed because I felt almost no recoil and the shot's bang seemed awfully low in volume. I glanced at the pistol saw it was in battery (I may have even tapped and racked but it was long ago and I don't recall for sure) and fired a second shot at a second bad guy. The first guy had been hit already and was not a threat at that moment; the second guy was getting out of a car with a revolver in hand. That shot was deflected by the windshield but was enough to send them both out of there at high speed. If I am ever in such a situation again I will keep trying to fire so long as the threat presents itself and so long as my gun keeps shooting no matter how light the recoil feels to me. If the gun stops firing I will reload or clear the jam. Again that is my opinion on what I will do - it is not advice. The only advice I will give you here is that you have to be able to decide what to do in any such situation - there likely will not be a range officer or tactical instructor looking over your shoulder screaming "gun" or "shoot" or "clear the jam" or "seek cover" or "run away" or whatever. So get your training now from a qualified instructor before you find yourself in a situation for which you are ill prepared.

Of course there are other things you can do if your gun jams and you cannot clear it but that is for another discussion - back to the possible problems with ammo and how to avoid them.

There is another way to mix up ammo that I did not mention above when talking about loading 9mm ammo into a 40 cal pistol, the following is a fictional example but has happened to people whom I know:

Shooter-X was at qualification recently where he fired with two different caliber pistols. One was a .40 caliber pistol, the other a 9mm pistol. Shooter-X used different holsters for each pistol, but used the same magazine pouch for the magazines of both, this despite the fact that one pistol was a full sized H&K and the other a Glock 26. Shooter-X used the H&K and Glock mags in the pouch at the range because each fit well enough for the range where they do not need to be as secure as they would on the street. Well, when shooting was done, Shooter-X loaded all his mags for the street. He got the right ammo into the right magazines. He loaded the H&K up on the line, then he loaded the Glock. No problems at all - each gun was loaded correctly in the chamber as was each mag in each gun – as was each spare magazine. So where was the problem? Shooter-X did not notice it until a day or two later so maybe you don’t see it either.

For some reason - just habit maybe – Shooter-X reached over and felt his magazine pouch wondering if the snaps were secure. Yes they were closed but something felt wrong when he did that. Shooter-X took another feel and knew what it was, then he looked to confirm what was wrong. Have you guessed it? He was carrying his primary sidearm for work - the H&K - but he had Glock 15 round magazines in his magazine pouch. Luckily for him he had his spare H&K magazines in his tricky bag (if you do not know what is a tricky bag find and politely ask a Border Patrol Agent). Also luckily for him he had not been involved in a shooting incident during which he had to depend on magazines to reload his H&K. Get the picture? He sure did. Had someone asked him - he would have sworn he put the right magazines into the pouch - that is right up to the moment those magazines either did not fit or function properly into the gun at hand. For Shooter-X, it would have been ugly! For the bad guy – it would have been an opportunity not to miss (no pun intended – this is serious business folks)!

That is enough for you to take aim at now. Safe shooting my friends.

All the best,
Glenn B

Today In History - WW I German Soldiers Attacked By Monsters

It may sound incredible and the Germans who saw them advancing probably did not believe their own eyes but indeed monsters - of a sort - were advancing on their positions in Battle of Flers-Courcelette an offensive in the Battle of the Somme. The Germans had been expecting a British infantry advance but indeed had never imagined what was coming at them. As a German war correspondent reported it:

"Two mysterious monsters slowly approached us, over the cratered landscape. The monsters approached slowly limping, swaying, swinging but they kept moving towards us. No obstacles could stop them, a supernatural force seemed to drive them forwards. Our machine gun fire and our head weapons ricocheted off them. So they had no trouble wiping out the crews of the advanced shell
holes." 1

What the Germans were seeing, on that Sept. 15, 1915, were not monsters out of a science fiction novel. Yet, for all practical purposes, they could have been because the Germans though valiant were as helpless against them as they would have been against an invasion of alien spaceships. You see the things that they saw advancing on them, the things that wiped them out, were a new type of war machine the likes of which the world had not seen before and that thing came in good numbers. It was a division of troops supported by tanks, about 21 of them that actually made it into warfare that day. What they saw was probably a lot like the one pictured, a British Mark 1 male tank (they also had a female model with less firepower). Even though faced with monsters the Germans showed great bravery in the face of such beasts. As reported by a British war correspondent:

“They were very courageous. Despite the tank’s machine gun fires, they attempted in desperate rage to assault the wandering tank fort and to kill its crew, They hauled each other up in the air, climbed on the roof, searched for hatches and openings and fired into the slits with pistols." 2

Despite the valiant attempts of the Germans the tanks helped achieve a feat that had been virtually unheard of during the trench warfare of the War To End All Wars. The British forces advanced about 3,500 yards in one day - this during a war where victory was claimed after advances of a mere few feet.

There were drawbacks to the tank. For one thing they were notoriously unreliable. many broke down, others got mired in mud and so on. Yet the British and french believed in them and hurried to improve and develop more efficient models. The Germans believed that artillery would master tanks - a mistake they paid for with defeat. How things changed by WWII when the German Army through use of air forces, artillery and tanks followed by huge infantry advances heralded a new form of warfare known as the Blitzkrieg.

Today we have the M1 Abrams Tank here in the USA. Just compare the specs for it to those of the British Mark 1 and you will realize that we have come a long way since the first use of tanks in warfare on this day in history in 1915. I imagine though if I was in an infantry unit and was armed with only a rifle, even in today's world of warfare, and saw an antiquated Mark 1 advancing on me all guns firing away, I probably would not be as valiant as were those German soldiers way back then.

All the best,
Glenn B

footnotes:
1. & 2. http://www.todayinhistory.de/index.php?what=thmanu&lang=en&manu_id=1580&tag=15&monat=9&weekd=&year=2009&weekdnum=&dayisset=1&lang=en

No Won Gun For Me

As nice a day as I had yesterday with my nice drive to, and my spending lots of my money at, the NY Metro Reptile Show - you might think the stars were shining down on me especially since I also had a fairly traffic free drive home. The sun was shining, the skies were blue, yes it was a fine day. Fine enough for me to get even luckier and win a raffle?

Nah - who am I kidding even thinking I was in the running. I just don't win raffles. I don't mean not ever do I win some little thing- but I do mean not ever do I win any really nice prizes. There were some really nice prizes in yesterday's raffle held by the Eastern Arenac Sportsmans' Club. As a matter of fact there were 10 really nice prizes - all firearms. I bought myself 4 tickets and was given another one as a sign of friendship and appreciation for past tickets I have bought. Even with that extra ticket though , I suppose I did not stand a chance. I mean if I had won something terrible like an 8.5 earthquake or a storm with purple lightning and green hailstones the size of coconuts would have probably followed me home and ruined the day. I just am not that lucky.

Of course, there were ten lucky winners. All I can wish them is safe shooting with their new toys. No they are not toys, they are real guns - but if you are an adult you should get my drift. Man oh man could I have had some fun with one or two of them but now that is for someone else to do. As for me, I'll have to wait for next year's raffle and try again. For a list of the winners - go here.

All the best,
Glenn B

NY Metro Reptile Show - Report

If you are interested in reading my report on the NY Metro Reptile Show of September 13th - go here.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Did Not Forget...

...that it was the 8th anniversary of 9/11 yesterday. I know none of us have forgotten. It ate through my gut yersterday thinking about it and I'll leave it at that.

All the best,
Glenn B

Gun Show Report - The Gun Show At Middletown

We hit the road this morning about a half hour later than expected and because of rain added another 15 minutes on top of that. We wound up in the parking lot at the Orange County Fairgrounds at about 0945. I had hoped to be there by 0900 when it opened. No matter though because as it turned out while we had a lot of fun looking at guns we did not buy one. They just did not have anything that I wanted and had something Brendan wanted but I talked him out of it. He was sort of salivating over a Mossberg shotgun with pistol grip. When I explained that it would be about near impossible to practice with that at any local range he saw the light. He started looking at Mossbergs and Remington 870s with either conventional or collapsible stocks. When he realized how much money he had already spent on AK mags (two of them), T-shirts (two of them), an AK-47 bayonet, a pocket knife and 3 bullet key chains he realized he had spent over a $100 and did not have enough left for a shotgun. I told him if he wanted one to go for it but maybe he should first look at some stores like Dicks Sporting Goods or Gander Mountain. I explained to him that when I go to a gun show, unless I see a really great deal on a new rifle, shotgun or pistol I would not buy it at the show because chances are I could get a better deal at a store that sells guns. I also clued him in that mostly I am looking for a good deal on something used at any gun shows I attend. He decided that maybe the old man knows something after all and held off for now.

As for me, I was in the market for some ammo cans and a Marlin XS7. There was not one new Marlin in .308 to be found in the place let alone the specific model I was seeking out. I also wanted some odds and ends like a good bore light, some .50 ammo cans and maybe some gun cleaning supplies. The ammo cans usually go for $6.00 apiece from a certain vendor at this show and today was no exception for single cans at that price. I was disappointed to find out that they were not less expensive if bought in groups of 4 or more. They usually price em at 4 cans for $20 but would not do so today. I bought only 2 of em - all I really needed for now but would have taken 4 had the price been right. I also picked up a field surgical kit (small one in OD pouch with scissors, hemostats, a couple of 18" sutures, and two surgical blades. Not a bad thing to have in with the survival or hiking gear. I don't know if it was a good price on that or not, but you don't see em often so I figured I'd go the $22 for one. As for the bore light - forget about it. All any vendor had was the same junk type I got there last time, or one other type that looked even junkier. I have a junk one already (the thread stripped within a year) and a better one I have had for many years. I will buy a better one at a sporting goods or gun store at a later date. I also brought Brendan a small AK 47 sticker, some strike anywhere matches (impossible to get where I live), and a really neat cut metal sign that you have already seen in the picture herein.

We left at about 1230 and headed out to eat with an idea of maybe going back in. We stopped at Gander Mountain before eating, looked around at prices on rifles and shotguns and left there empty handed too. I was a bit miffed at myself for forgetting my bait bucket and portable air pump. I had wanted to buy some minnows for my turtle tank - fish on the fin for my turtle - gives him exercise as he tries to catch them and nourishment too if he actually does catch any. Oh well, next time for that. After Gander Mountain we got ourselves some nourishment at a Ruby Tuesday. The service was good and the food fair to good. Not bad at all. We then moved onto Dick's Sporting Goods just about right next to the restaurant. It turned out that neither they nor Gander Mountain had the Marlin XS7 in .308. GM had one that was a XS7Y (I imagine that Y stood for youth model as it was shorter in the stock than a regular one). GM also had the XL7 in .30/06. I'll wait for the XS7 in .308 if I get one. We also saw a few Remington 770s and a few Remington 700s. Brendan told me the Remington 700 was supposed to be a great shooter as per an American Rifleman article he had read some time back. Of course, because I would have liked to have read up on them, we don't seem to still have that issue. I also want to do some checking on the Remington 770. They were going for about $300 scoped. The Remington ADL with bull barrel in a dull finish and camo stock was going for about $500 with a $45 or $50 rebate making it even a better deal. They had another Remington 700 with dark blue finish - no bull barrel - but it looked nicer than the ADL and cost more money.

I will be looking again at the Remington 700 though, it looked pretty nice and I will be inquiring about a Marlin XS7 locally too. I may yet buy a rifle in .308 before the weekend is out but now have more decisions to ponder! Then again who knows, if I break from my usual luck of pretty much never winning anything, maybe I will win a rifle in the raffle I am entered in that goes off tomorrow. I am not betting on it though!

After Dick's we headed home. A quicker ride home than it was going to the show and nicer for me because Brendan did the driving on the way home. Allin all it was a good day. There are two things though sort of irking me though that I should have done before leaving the gun show that I neglected to do. One thing I should have done was to look at a Mosin Nagant 91/30 that they had for sale for $89.99 at one table. The problem there was a big jerk who would not let me get in to look at it. He was standing in front of it for over 15 minutes and would not move despite me politely asking him to do so. The dealer heard me ask at that and did not ask the guy to move. Seems he was waiting to buy a rifle for about $50 more than that one while the dealer was already busy with someone else. Oh well, if the dealer did not want another sale that was okay with me. Now it is not the fact that I did not get to look at that rifle that irks me, it is the fact that I did not tell the guy blocking the table to go screw himself.

The other thing I should have done was to have looked at a Remington rifle they had at another table. It was chambered in 30/06 and looked nice on the outside. It had a bent bolt and it looked a lot like some sort of Mosin Nagant and the ticket on it said it was built for Russia by Remington. They were asking $150 for it. I have to look that one up on the Internet tonight. I planned to look at it then sort of forgot when we left, and I suppose I thought we were going back again before shoving off for home but that never happened. Oh well...those rifles I want in .308 were in my sights.

All the best,
Glenn B

Centennial Bridge Shooting (account of shooting corrected)

Check out the video.

A police officer is seen to stop a suspect (of an assault) on a bridge by way of the view from his dashboard camera. The suspect does not obey the commands of the officer and the officer is starting to back away and finally shoots the suspect with a TASER. The TASER shot is ineffective and the suspect then attacks the police officer. They go off camera, and you can hear the police officer struggling and taking punishment as he does so. Then an off duty police officer from another state arrives on scene and renders aid to the uniformed officer. As he renders aid, the uniformed officer is able to draw and fire his service weapon fatally injuring the suspect - all off camera - but from the looks of the uniformed officer when he comes back into view I would have to think the shooting had been justified. Of course I am taking a few other things into consideration. The suspect was much bigger than the police officer, he attacked failed to comply with the legal orders of the officer, he attacked the officer violently, the officer was heard to be gasping and struggling, one of the officers after arrival of the off duty one was heard to command the suspect to cease his attack repeatedly, the audible leads one to believe the suspect kept on attacking, an officer is heard to say something to the effect if you don't stop I'll shoot, shots are fired, the suspect comes back into view of the camera and is now compliant to the commands of the officers. One would probably think, as did I initially, that the off duty officer fired the shots but this article explains how it came to be that the uniformed officer, the one who was being attacked, actually fired the shots that killed the suspect. The article also explains that the shooting was found to have been justified and gives some more info about how savagely the officer was being attacked saying one of the officer's eyebrows had been bitten off by the suspect.



Imagine what would be the case had there been no video and audio footage of this event. I can assure you there would be marches, there would be tons of accusations or racism against the police officers, Al Sharpton and his gang (or those like him) likely would be protesting (they may be anyway for all I know), there would possibly be race riots. I don't know what is happening as a result of this shooting - maybe all that is taking place despite the video but I don't know one way or the other because this is the first I have heard of this event. Of course, this took place at the end of July this year so if it bad things happened in reaction to the shooting they may have calmed down already. I would hope though that anyone who saw this video realized that the use of deadly force by the officers was in all likelihood necessary and justified.

Now imagine another thing, no matter what else takes place, both of these officers will live with this for the rest of their lives. Because of what they did a man died. Because of what that man did they were forced to do what they did and the suspect died as a result. One of the officers lost his eyebrow because it was bitten off of his face. My bet is that you would not give a second thought to his returning to work - but do exactly that for a moment. Think about having all of that stuff happen to you - your weapon not doing the trick (the TASER), a guy taking control away from you and beating you like a mad man then biting off part of your face, it all probably seeming helpless, then help arriving and still the guy keeps attacking you , then you having to shoot him, then the guy dying. Would you be able to go back to that same job? Man oh man that has got to be a tough thing to do. Remember this is not the army during war - this was just another ho-hum day on the streets of Davenport, IA. My bet is he goes back to the job and does it until he can retire. Don't forget the other officer, it cannot be easy for him either. Yeah they both did right, they were both justified, but I'd be willing to bet my pension both have ethics, morals and an upbringing that told them killing another human is bad. They will live with that forever, hopefully they will be able to come to terms with it. They both did damned good.

A Side Note: Being an LEO for virtually 30 years (my 30th anniversary is on the 28th of this month) I find myself compelled to point out what I think was one mistake, but a big one, that the uniformed officer made in his handling of the suspect (my opinion). He had the suspect climb over the railing and he was between his cruiser and the suspect when the suspect came over the rail. I think it would have been better for the officer to have climbed over toward the suspect from a good distance after he first had him kneel. This way the officer could not have wound up basically pinned between his cruiser, a moving lane of traffic, the rail and the bad guy. Sure the officer could have arranged it so the suspect would have been in that pinned spot, but the officer still would have been in danger from oncoming traffic had the suspect then attacked him. Just look at it again and imagine the suspect had pushed the officer in the other direction and that cars had kept coming. On the other hand, had the officer gone over to the side of the rail on which the suspect had originally been standing there would have been much less potential for the officer to be pinned with moving traffic on one side of him. I am not making note of this to fault the officer but rather to give him and others something to think about when handling a suspect in the future - don't let yourself get boxed in - you need to be able to get away and get some maneuvering room should things go bad.

Of course, as I see it, both of the officers acted in exemplary fashion. I know some may find fault with the big bad officer who used politically incorrect words and cursed at the suspect. To them I say - great a life - that officer was saving one and I don't care what he said while doing it the right way.
All the best,
Glenn B

If I Buy A Rifle Today...

...and then win one in the raffle, for which I have tickets tomorrow - what am I supposed to do? I would almost bet that if I buy one today, I will win one tomorrow, probably something similar to that which I buy today. Oh well - who could complain about that! I guess in answer to my own question I would just have to enjoy shooting both of them.

All the best,
Glenn B

Biweekly Gun Shots 18 - Marlin XS7

Both Brendan and I have had a hankering to find ourselves a current manufacture bolt action rifle suitable for big game. he has specifically suggested something in .308 caliber. he must take after me somewhat because I think the .308 is a great all around caliber and besides that for a large rifle caliber the ammo can be had at a decent price. Most decent rifles in .308 probably start at around $450 to $500 in price. But there may be a less expensive offering out there that while costing less gives as much value as the more expensive rifles. That would be the Marlin XS7.
The Marlin XS7 received a great write up in a recent issue of Outdoor Life magazine. They compared about 10 or so newly available rifles on the US market. The XS7 received note as the best value. It received something like a C+ for workmanship a B for accuracy and a B+ for value. Not bad marks. While I am somewhat concerned about the C+ for workmanship, I am not that concerned because they gave a marlin lever action rifle the same grade for that. I have owned three marlin lever action rifles and I always thought the craftsmanship was at least a B+ to A. I would risk this rifle being close to that in my estimation.

As far as accuracy was concerned they said that out of the best eight groupings this rifle achieved, the average group was about 1.4 inches. They did not mention at what distance they tested the rifles, but my guess would be it had to have been at 100 yards. That is none too shabby. Not as good as some others they tested maybe, but ones with much better accuracy seemed to have had a much higher price tag by about double the price of this rifle.

So what is the price that I keep mentioning. Well, it is an amazing one at that. It has a MSRP of about $340. At that price I may buy two of them. Well one first to check it out and if a good shooter, and if well made, and if it fits me and Brendan - I may have to buy another. If not then just think of all the ammo I can buy for this rifle with the money I would save by buying it over one of its more expensive competitors.

Here are the specs from the Marlin website:

Calibers: 7mm-.08, 243 Win. and 308 Win.

Capacity: 4+1

Action: Centerfire bolt action, Pro-FireTM adjustable trigger system; fluted bolt; two-position safety; red cocking indicator

Stock: Pillar-bedded black synthetic with raised cheek piece and Soft-Tech™ recoil pad

Barrel: 22” precision button rifled, target crown (6 grooves)

Twist Rate: 7mm-08 - 1:9.5” r.h., 243 Win. - 1:10” r.h., 308 Win. - 1:12” r.h.

Sights/Scope: No sights provided. One-piece scope base included

Overall Length: 42 1/2"

Weight: 6¼ - 6¾ lbs

I kind of wish this came with a wood stock as does the Marlin XL7, but it is not yet available in wood. I just like the heft of the wood stock especially since it usually helps cut back the impact of recoil. Then again, unlike a couple of my military-surplus rifles this one comes with a rubber recoil pad.

I am off to the gun show at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown, NY tomorrow and may just have to shop around for one of these. I have already seen it at The Little Store in Roscoe, NY for $325 (or was that an XL7?), so I am hopeful to get it for a bit below MSRP. If I don't see one there I can always order one at my local gun shop or check with Dick's Sporting Goods to see if they stock it. (I have a love hate thing with Dick's Sporting Goods if you have not realized it yet; lately they have been pretty good as compared to other times when I could not stand their service.)

All the best,
Glenn B

Early To Bed...

...and early to rise, left lots of sleep in my eyes. Man, I hate having to wake of at 0350 to get ready for work. It is an early one for me to day hunting down some bad guys. No blogging last night because of the early bed thing, only a smidgen of a blog this morning because I am short on time, so I'll try to blog this evening when I get home from work.

All the best,
Glenn B

6 More days - Wish Me Luck Or Buy A Ticket Yourself

The title of this post refers to the fact that Greybeard by way of this post at Greybeard's Gripes was good enough, not all that long ago, to remind me that: On Sunday, September 13, 2009 the Eastern Arenac Sportsmens Club will be holding its annual raffle for 2009. More info on the raffle can be found here. You safely can bet I purchased a few tickets, and you also can bet I was quite surprised because Greybeard threw a couple of freebies my way this year. I have not had any luck on the past couple or three raffles for which I have bought tickets from this club so I guess he was feeling sorry for me which is okay by me! Nice guy.

If you went to the link above for more info on the raffle, you can see there are some really good prizes being offered - all firearms. In all, there are 10 prizes and as per the site only 700 tickets at most will be sold. Odds of 1 out of 70 seem pretty decent to me - if it does to you why not see if they still have any tickets for sale. If you are not going to buy a ticket or a few, then please wish me luck. If you are buying a ticket, now that I told you about this raffle, well then I wish you luck. Of course I want to win, but with 10 prizes there is a lot of winning to go around. I have got to say, that 1st prize sure sounds extra nice since Brendan and I have been hoping to get a bolt action rifle in .308; then again all of them sound nice.

All the best,
Glenn B

Not Quite A Bad Night Fishing - Even If I Was Looking Green

This post should have come before the last one 'Not Quite A Bad Day At The Range' but then I have never had great timing. I went out fishing on Saturday night - despite the shoulder, neck and back pain. The fishing actually made it worse by at least a bit but then went I went to the range yesterday the knocking about my shoulder took may have made it better just a bit. Maybe it knocked something back into place. For sure it bruised my right shoulder like I have not seen in a long time.

Oh well, back to the fishing trip. Since it was a night trip I did not have much choice of that for which to fish. It was bluefish and striped bass or nothing. It really was bluefish or nothing. I say that because while the Captain Al out of Point lookout, NY advertises they will be fishing for both, the truth came out when a mate told me that stripers rarely if ever go for cut mackerel baits in our neck of the briny deep. That was okay with me. I boarded the Captain Al at about 1815 (6:15PM) and there were already a few souls aboard awaiting the trip. By 1900 (7:00 PM) there were about 25 to 30 people aboard. We shoved off from the pier at about 1910. I am guessing it was about an hour before we got to the fishing grounds. Any other boat in the area would likely have been there in 1/2 to 3/4 that time - the Captain Al is a slow boat. Slow or not I choose her more often than not when I go fishing on a Party Boat because the crew has a reputation for remembering that the paying fares are the customers who put the money in their pockets both by way of the $45 fare and tips.

Once we started fishing, calls of fish on came within seconds. People all around the boat were hooking and reeling in 4 to 12 pound bluefish. The action was frantic, yet I had not even a bite. This went on for hours and the tide was slack for most of that time. Not a good thing a slack tide when you are hoping to reel em in. A moving tide, often the beginning of the outgoing seems to really spur their appetites. Saturday night was no exception because at about 2230 (10:30PM) fish started to bite again and the action picked up as the tide moved faster. The sad thing about that was that it was all too soon time to leave. Nonetheless, I hooked into what I thought was a fish, then thought was the bottom, then knew was a monster blue. The guy next to me kept yelling "you got the pool fish" and I was sure I did until I realized my line and another guys were tangled. I thought he had the fish, then he said nope it was on my line. Then we saw the fish, it was only a few pounds. So why did it feel like a monster blue - not because of the lines being tangled but because my blue had wrapped my line around an anchor line. I was pulling up a small amount of fish and a lot of anchor line. Oh well. After about another 1/2 hour I hooked a pretty good sized one, my guess is about 10 pounds which is pretty big though not huge. It really looked as if it could be the poolfish. Then soon after that they tooted the horn three times and we were headed back to the dock. Me with only two fish, the guy to my left with one, the guy to my right with three (he only caught his after I got my first one). We were back at the dock by about midnight. The trip went from 1900 to 2400 - not that long being not everyone had done to well. Some though had up to about 7 or 8 blues aboard. Others had a mixed bag with mostly blues and maybe a seabass or two. One guy caught a pretty big eel.

I was a bit disappointed because they did not stay out longer. One of the reasons I choose the Captain Al again and again over the years is because they usually stay out an hour or two later if people are not really catching a lot of fish. ) I suppose this was the exception, I hope it is not a new trend. Oh well, on the way back in, I had my two filleted, and another guy gave me a smaller one and a huge one. That could not be beat since it would make for two good meals for my family. While they were filleting them I had the mate pause and throw mine on the pool fish scale. Wow it was the best so far. Then they weighed a few others and mine held out, though I was pretty sure the guy who gave me the two fish had a bigger one. Not longer but fatter. He had two that beat mine, and his heaviest stayed on the scale. Both of his fish barely beat mine so I was not too disappointed, I had a good one beaten probably only by an ounce or two of weight. About 15 minutes later into the filleting of the fish for other people, an older gentleman had his weighed and it won out handily. It was a real monster blue, my guess is 12 pounds or more and yes they do get quite a bit bigger than that but that is around the starting size for monster bluefish. So as it turned out, I had the fifth biggest fish on the boat.

I also should point out something about the picture of me I have included in this post. I took it of myself with my camera phone while on the boat under whatever type of light the boat had shining. The little red streak over my left shoulder is the moon just above the horizon a bit and streaked from the movement of the boat (click it to make the pic bigger). The overly greenish pallor of my appearance was not due to my becoming seasick; I have never had that pleasure -close, very queasy and sick feeling, but never spewed forth chum. Instead the sickly hue of my complexion was due only to a trick of the boat's lights. There was a young lass who did get ill and obliged her fellow fishermen by chumming a bit and I have to say I just don't get it. The seas were almost a smooth as ice on a lake. I suppose for some folks all it takes is the suggestion to get them going. Her side of the boat benefited from the chum though, I kept hearing yells of fish on from near where she let loose.

All in all, it was for me a good trip, and as you have heard me and others say before it beat working because 'a bad day fishing is better than a good day working'. My friends this was not a bad day (night) at all. More fish would have been better, a little longer fishing would have been nicer, but it was a good crew, the company from the other fishermen nearby to my spot at the rail was excellent, and I had just an out and out fun time.

Besides that, I grilled the bluefish a couple of hours ago and it was absolutely delicious. I also sauteed some in a pan along with a special marinade I use just for oily fish and that too was excellent. My wife and daughter both liked it too (which was a real surprise since bluefish does have a strong flavor to it). When Brendan gets home my bet is he will gobble up the leftovers to which I was looking forward.

All the best,
Glenn B

Not Quite A Bad Day At The Range

I went to the range today even tough I only left my house late and wound up there at about 2:15PM. Maybe I should not have gone. Some knucklehead in a grey BMW SUV almost drove me off the road. I think he was drunk. I called the police; they never responded but that is another story. It was an omen too.

Of course that story blends into this one, because the police called me back, just before I was about to start shooting, to say the officer was in the range parking lot looking for me. I went up to look for him and he was nowhere to be seen - apparently he went to the wrong range - there are one or two others in the vicinity. Well I thought he went to thee wrong range, as you will see he probably never even showed up. When I started to go back down to the range, there was some guy moving my cased rifles over to a bench looking over his shoulder at me. I asked what business he had to move my rifles without asking me and he started to yell and scream that he was a range Nazi officer, and he had every right to do so, and how dare I leave my cased rifles in an open case on the ground. I explained, rather loudly myself, the another range officer had instructed me to leave them right there until a cease fire and he had better ask me to ever again touch my firearms. Well yet a third range officer, one I know as a senior or supervisory range officer, came over and he tried to butt in calm things down. I explained that the guy yelling at me had a knack for yelling at folks at the range and the butting in guy knew it because I had witnessed this same act before a few times with him yelling at other people. The rifle moving range guy started to more or less say I was a jerk who should be expelled from the range and we went back and forth a bit. It soon was over or so I thought but low and behold there came the first guy who told me to put the case where I had left it. The place from which the guy who moved it said it should not have been, and what does this first range officer ask me. "Sir, can I move or would you move the rifle case to over there?" Over there being exactly where I had it when the other guy picked it up and moved it saying it was a violation of range rules to have left it there. What is it they say about too many chefs spoiling the broth! It was going to prove to be a day - wouldn't you say.

Back to the police for a moment. As it turned out the police later called me again to say there would be a delay in an officer responding to my call and if I wanted to wait quite some time I could do so. This was about 20 minutes before the range closed and over 2 hours or so since I had made the call to the police. I told them to forget it. Allow me to get back to shooting which I somehow managed to squeeze in between this call and the range officer and me getting into a tiff. By the way we both apologized to one another for getting loud with one another and all turned out fine. I guess maybe the guy had a point - he did not know me and they get lots of assholes to deal with and I have to agree with him they do get a lot of assholes as you will see was the case today. No not me, don't go there because even the range officer agreed that I was not one once we got to talking and once he saw me shooting.

Before I got into the tiff with the range officer, I had gone to the range shop, bought about 8 targets, and paid my fee. The total was about $23.50. A lot for only about 2 hours shooting time - that was all the time left since they close at 4:15. Oh well, I figured it was then or wait another couple of weeks because next weekend I have other plans that do not allow for range time. I got to the range and somewhere in the whole mess mentioned above I actually had the time to set up on the range with a decent selection of rifles and get to shooting them. I had my new Mosin Nagant 91/30, my Mosin Nagant M44, my Yugoslavian SKS, and my Marlin 336.

I shot the Mosin Nagant 91/30 first. I used a Shoot-n-C target. It is one of the targets that shows the greenish ring around the bullet hole for great contrast. As it turned out the 91/30 is a shooter. From the bench with no support except for the bench (as in no sand bags) I did purdy near good at 50 yards. No competition grade shooting, but I certainly could have lit up a whitetail deer at that distance. Why 50 yards? Because it is easier to sight in a newly acquired rifle at 50 than it is at 100 yards. Maybe the next trip I will try to shoot it at 100 yards. Besides that I rarely get a shot at a deer over 50 yards, and i may just take this thing hunting with me. I'll have to remember to use the lollipop sight picture though. Aiming dead on at 50 yards and it shot high even with the rear sight set to its lowest position. It was pretty much right on for windage. In the pic there are three groups of 5 shots. The first group is slightly to the right and high. The second group is slightly to the left and high but not as high - using Kentuckty windage (and elevation) to adjust for having shot right and high the first time. The third group (yes that is five shots, look very closely) is the result of using the lollipop sight picture which made it near perfect for elevation although I again shot to the right a bit, but I did not compensate for windage this time. I need to adjust the front sight slightly for windage and it should be as good as it will get for me.

I then fired the M44 but was not impressed. It did not shot okay now that the bore is clean. My first group was not so good, the shots were pretty low. I needed only to adjust the rear sight up to notches to get the right elevation and I got a decent 3 shot group with the 2nd set of 3 rounds (see the pic two pics down, look at the shots fired on the buff colored paper to the right of the target. There are 6 shots, those were from the M44. I aimed at that area to not mistake those shots with my shots fired from the Marlin when I was sighting it in. The M44 also needs front sight adjustment a bit to to the right but not all that much. I was aiming in the center of the buff colored area and as you can see the shots were to the left somewhat (the right edge of the pic was pretty much the right edge of the buff colored paper).

I also fired the Yugo SKS which has never been all that great of a shooter. Still though it shoots consistently to the right, so again I need to do some adjustment for windage on its front sight. Yes a common factor among these three rifles is that the front sights are adjustable for windage. In all I fired to 10 round groups for a total of 20 shots out of the SKS. The first group was higher up, the second was lower and tighter in together. Not great shooting but not terrible either.

I also sighted in the Marlin 336. I took the scope off of it to clean it when I noticed a smidgen of rust at the edge of the scope mount the other night. Much to my dismay the area under the scope mount had a sizable rusty spot, like half of the area. I cleaned it and took off some of the finish doing so; shame on me for not removing the scope mount at the end of the hunting season last year. Live and learn.

In all I fired 15 shots out of the Marlin to sight in the scope. I fired 3 way to the left, then 3 closer to the center, then 3 even closer, then 3 way off to the right. I think what sent them way off to the right was that I probably adjusted the sights further right to get them from the 9 ring to the center, got distracted by a range officer BS'ing to me to tell me how I was shooting, then readjusted the sights before shooting again. So I essentially doubled the adjustment and look what it did, it put me right in the same area of the 9 ring on the opposite lateral side of the target (except for the one flier in that group). When I adjusted back to the left half of the last adjustment to the right - well, the shots were right where I wanted them. I fired 15 more shots, on a new target later on, with ammo from a few different manufacturers with pretty much the same results. I use a 200 grain bullet from Winchester, Federal and Remington ammo brands. The Marlin is ready for the hunting season for me. Now Brendan has to try it out because the scope usually needs some adjustment between where it has the rifle shooting fine for me and where it does likewise for him. Either way it is good enough for either of us to bag a deer.

Now when you looked at the second target for the Marlin, the one with all but one of the holes in the red, you may have noticed that there are 16 shots instead of 15 on the paper. That has a bit of explaining needed. I was firing on a 50 yard target. The guy immediately to my right was firing a pistol at about 7 yards (maybe 10). The range is set up with 2 rifle lanes next to the pistol lanes, followed by all rifle lanes to the right of that. I was pretty uncomfortable with the asshole next to me a few times that I noticed he had laid down his pistol on the bench pointed at my position. The bench for pistol shooters is a bit too far back in relation to the benches for the rifle shooters, so that if you fiddle with a pistol over the bench and it turns left or right it is pointing at the shooter next to you who is shooting rifle. The set up sucks, and his shooting safety skills sucked. So did those of the woman accompanying him. She pointed her pistol at me at least once while racking the slide and once again while trying to clear a jam -of course trying to clear the jam with finger on the trigger. I said something to the range officer and I suppose he spoke to them. But I digress - don't I and I certainly do not need my blood pressure to rise again today.

That shot - number 16 - all by its lonesome self out of the red and into the white - was not fired by me. In fact, I was looking through binoculars, to get an idea of where I had been shooting, when I suddenly saw a new hole appear in my target. That was right after one of those two assholes next to me fired off a pistol. I almost could not believe it, there is no way he could have been aiming at his target and actually hit mine, or her either for that matter, no matter how bad a shot could be either one of them. I figure it had to be either on purpose, or maybe one of them was again trying to clear a jam with finger on trigger and the gun pointed awry - but at least downrange this time if that was indeed the case. I figure it was on purpose because I think it was pretty obvious I had complained about their lack of range safety to the range officer. Luckily they finished up right after that and left before me so I had some safer time to shoot during the last round of shooting. Man oh man, public ranges can be frightening. I wonder where the range officers were when these two were pulling there goofball stunts with their pistols! Did I mention above somewhere I should have known this was going to be a day!

Oh well, it was a decent day at the range regardless of all the shenanigans that went on. How could I think it was even a decent day. Well I did not get shot or otherwise injured. I fired all 4 rifles I had brought with me. I did fair to middling with two of them and purdy darned good with the other two. Finally, a mediocre day at the range is better than a good day at work (unless you are at work shooting at the range) - so it was a decent way to spend a couple of hours on my day off. Note I did not say a bad day at the range is better than a good day at work as you would say a bad day fishing better than a good day at work. Why not? Because a bad day at the range means your gun blew up, or you got shot by some jerk who had no concept of firearms safety. Be careful out there - please shoot and handle firearms safely.

All the best,

Glenn B

Wasted day - well maybe not...

...that is not if I go fishing tonight. I had been planning on going to the outdoor range at The Long Island Shooting Center of Brookhaven today but let too much of the day slip by to make the trip worthwhile. They charge about $23 per day for shooting pistol and rifle, and $5 per trap session; the drive is about 60 miles each way to reach the place. Well by the time I got done puttering around the house it was about 1:30 and they end shooting at 4:15. Since it would take me over an hour to get there that would not be worth it at all. So I decided to go to the nearby indoor Nassau County Rifle and Pistol Range. They are closed on Saturdays and Sundays and I would swear it is September already, and well within their business hours, but they just did not - maybe would not - answer the telephone. Not like it was when Republicans ran the county - oh well. maybe they are still closed since this is Labor Day weekend. You would think they would be open though since the Nassau County website only says they are closed on weekends during July and August.

So, tough noogies for me I suppose. I had wanted to try out the latest acquisition - the Mosin Nagant 91/30, and to shoot the Yugo M44 too. I was also going to sight in the Marlin 336 since I removed the scope and scope mount to clean the rifle (much to my dismay finding some pretty bad rust under the scope mount but nothing terrible). Now that I had the scope on and off and on again, it needs zeroing for sure. I also had half a mind to shoot the Yugo SKS and to find out if the stripper clips I bought actually are made for the SKS and function properly in it. Well, I suppose there is always tomorrow for the outdoor range. I think I will leave right after breakfast.

As for the remainder to today, there is not much to do. I may go out fishing tonight if the party boats are not too crowded. yeah, I know, good luck this weekend. Then again I may get lucky. They are fishing at night for Striped Bass and Bluefish; I always bring a bottom rig too to see whatever down there might be biting if the blues and strippers are not. I have gone home with a bagful of Ling in past years when others had nothing. The boats leave at 7, I like to be there by 6, so I have plenty of time to do whatever else I can think of before heading out at about 5. I suppose I ought to spend at least an hour or two making sure my rod, reel and tackle box are in order. If I do go out it will probably be on the old and very slow captain Al. A slow boat but usually excellent mates and good fishing. There area lot of other boats to choose from, but in recent years I have chosen them for the few trips on which I have gone fishing. See: http://www.thefishingline.com/party.htm.

I also suppose I am taking a chance that I will throw out my back or shoulder. They are still both aching but not as bad as they have been over the past week, especially the past couple of days. The Arthrotec pills I was given by the doc are working somewhat, but not all that much to tell the truth. Still though I am feeling a bit better. Maybe that bit better is good enough to handle a bite from a nice bluefish or a cow striper. Mmm, broiled Striped Bass and grilled bluefish sound really good for tomorrow after the range.

All the best,
Glenn B

Heosemys depressa - Supposedly Spotted For The First Time...

...in the wild, or so says this article. Now while this gives me sort of a thrill, because I am into reptiles and amphibians and am a turtle/tortoise keeper, I am not necessarily writing about it here just because of the sighting. Rather, I am writing about it because of the ridiculous claim in the article about the sighting. You see, the article states:

"Known only by museum specimens and a few captive individuals, one of the world’s rarest turtle species — the Arakan forest turtle — has been observed for the first time in the wild."

Hmm, do you see anything wrong with that sentence. No not grammatically, rather with what it is claiming. It is trying to say that this species of turtle has never before been encountered in the wild by mankind until an intrepid team of naturalists found it recently. That is absolute bullshit (sorry I just hate it when reporters make ridiculous claims). You see in order for this turtle to have been discovered in the first place, well someone had to find it in the wild. In order for there to have been captive specimens, someone had to observe it in the wild and then catch at least one of them.

The article then goes onto say that a few specimens turned up in Chinese food markets in 1994. I wonder where does the author or the article think they were found. Does he think they came from an Arakan Forest Turtle farm? Is it possible that maybe they came from the wild and that it stands to reason whoever caught them observed them in the wild? Then the article says that before that they had last been seen in 1908 when one was collected by a British army officer. I wonder, did he collect it on sale at the turtle farm, or did he 'collect' it in the wild?

Besides the sort of silly sounding statement that none have ever before been observed in the wild, it seems they may have the wrong picture to go with the article. When I checked on the Internet the pictures I found looked more like this one (click on the pic once at that link for a slide show) than the ones pictured in the article. Now then, they could be youngsters that look different than adults, or they could be a subspecies that has a darker color.

I don't know about you but poor reporting like that kind of bugs me. That is especially true when talking about more important things in my life than the Arakan Forest Turtle. No it is not that I consider these turtles unimportant, just that reporters screw up often on things that are of more importance - you know like so called Global Warming (now amazingly referred to as climate change). Of course, the AP had an even more ridiculous claim in an article about these very same turtles and all you have to do is read the headline to see what I mean: Discovery of Extinct Species: Arakan Forest Turtle. I mean it would be pretty hard to discover a living example of an extinct species - would it not? I give them credit though as they immediately explain in the first sentence of the article that the species was "...believed extinct...".

As for the turtles themselves, well I am always interested in such things. Turtles have always fascinated me, maybe because my first pet was a Red Eared Slider. My uncle took me to a pet shop on Broadway in Brooklyn, NY to buy that little guy many years ago. Sadly his future probably was not as rosy as that of the Arakan Forest Turtles in question, he did not live all that long - just a couple of years. Then again, having that little turtle created a lifelong interest for me as to collecting, keeping and breeding reptiles and amphibians. They get only top notch care from me, maybe even better care than is given to some of the handful of Arakan Forest Turtles in captivity. When it comes to hard to breed animals, especially reptiles and amphibians, many breakthroughs are made by private keepers as opposed to zoos and wildlife sanctuaries. My bet is that if the zookeepers would be humble enough to seek the advice of some advanced/expert (not me mind you) private turtle breeders they might improve their success rate with this species markedly. To date very few have been propagated in captivity.

All the best,
Glenn B