I don't fish anywhere nearly as much as I used to do. Heck, even when I lived in El Centro, CA in the middle of a godforsaken desert, I fished more than I have in the past few years back in NY. Well, as I said, I went last night. I took the Super Hawk out of Point Lookout, NY for Ling. We traveled south for about an hour and a half and then started fishing. After just a few minutes I hooked up and as I was reeling in I felt a second bump on the line. I knew what that meant and it did not mean that my fish had been taken by a bluefish or shark. When I had reeled in so that I could see the ling (red hake), I was elated to see what I had caught and shouted out "watch your heads, double header coming over the rail". I thought that was a harbinger of the good fishing to come but it wound up the fishing was only so-so. In all, I hauled up 9 ling from pretty small ones to medium sized one. Not a bad catch but not a good one either - a bit less than mediocre at best. I am not complaining though, just stating fact; I have been out where I have caught absolutely nothing and some fish are definitely better than no fish even though they cost me $9.22 apiece with the fare, poll money and tip.
I used a fairly heavy rod, one of two I brought along. Seems I did not learn from making that same mistake on my last trip out - last summer. Near the end I switched over to the lighter action rod that I had and I caught 5 ling in about a half hour. I decided to make the switch after losing several baits without ever feeling a tug on the line. With he lighter rod, I felt every little nibble and it was enough rod for ling. One thing I did learn well, many year ago, was not to place both hooks down on the bottom. One of the mates set up my hooks and sinker and did just that. I asked him to change to put one hook about 18 to 24" above the other. He told me that would be pointless since ling only feed on the very bottom. I insisted and he did it for me, setting the top hook about 18" above the bottom one. I caught 6 fish after he changed the set-up for me, 5 of the 6 were caught on the high hook. Hopefully he learned something from an old coot like me and will change how he sets the hooks for ling in the future.
Speaking of mates, I am none to sure I will use the Super Hawk again. The mates were pleasant enough but when one of them starts fishing before even all of the fares have been set up to fish - something stinks and it's not fish coming over the rail. Two of them were fishing right next to me leaving only two others to help the fares. I usually go out on the Captain Al, from the same dock but it has not been doing any night fishing for ling. They go out for striped bass at night. I will probably go with them, the Captain Al next time. The crew on the Captain Al is usually much more attentive to the paying customers. Now, I do have to say that the two mates who did not fish were pretty attentive but one was much better than the other. The better one was the guy who did my hook set-ups. The other guy came over and helped clear a few tangles but when he did so, all he did was got the two lines untangled from one another and then handed the remaining tangled up line back to each fare to undo themselves. Very unprofessional. They work for tips and while I gave the guy who did my set-ups a very nice tip (that I imagine they share), he was the only mate who was worth any of it. Mates can make the whole trip a good one instead of bad by being courteous, attentive, untangling lines, gaffing big fish, and giving tips to people about how to hook the fish for which they are fishing. Not once did I see any of the mates correct one of the fares, who was close to me, and who kept jerking the hooks right out of the fishes mouths and who also often slacked up after a bite that said person lost several fish. The mates were not paying attention to things like that but had thy been doing so, there would have been ore fish in some buckets - including mine. One of them should have told me my rod was too stiff for ling. Instead, when I got aboard, I asked if that rod would be good. The mate, without even glancing at my rod, said: "It will be fine". It wasn't and as I said above, I caught 5 fish in half an hour after switching to the lighter rod. Oh well, I will remember that next time out.
I should mention that one of those first two that I caught missed be the pool fish by a very small margin, too bad because winning the pool would have paid for the trip plus some. As for size, I am guess that most, if not all, of the ling that came over the rail were between one and two pounds. A three pounder would have been huge for this trip. Other fish that I saw caught were a sand shark, a skate and a couple of eels.
All the best,
Glenn B
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Ammo Almost As Old As Me
In my last post, there was a pic of some ammo that I may or may not have bought recently, here it is again.
One of the types of ammo pictured is 7.62x54R, a good sized Russian rifle round for the Mosin Nagant rifles. Military surplus of that ammo is available at decent prices regardless of the current ammunition shortage and ammo buying frenzy. I guess that the Soviet Union and other ComBloc countries must have produced millions or tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of rounds of it; I say so because there almost seems to be a never ending supply of old military surplus stock of it out there for sale.
You can see three ammo cans of it in the center of the above photo. They are the green cans, center of picture. Each of those cans should hold 440 rounds. To your left, as you look at the photo, there is another can, kind of silver in color but with a good amount of white corrosion on it - it is plainly marked 7.62 on its top. That is also a 440 round can of 7.62x54R ammunition. The amazing thing about that can of ammunition is that it is only about two (2) years younger than me and the gunpowder used in the ammo is only about one (1) year younger than me. I have no idea if the ammo inside the can is still good after being in storage for about 56 years but I intend to find out. No, I am not admitting it is mine or that I bought it, just that I will have a chance to test it in the not too distant future.
The Sixth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot is going to be held on August 3rd somewhere in New England. (It will be held at a secret location, not because anything weird or extreme will take place but in order to honor the land owner's privacy.) I intend to take that can of ammo with me, and if I can figure out how to open it, without it taking up all of my shooting time, I'm going to try to get every round of it shot that day. Nope, I don't mean Brendan or I will shoot it all, 220 rounds of 7.62x54R apiece would more than certainly put a hurtin' on our shoulders that would preclude us shooting anything else for awhile. Instead, we (or I if only I attend) will shoot as much as we can and I will also give out a good amount of it to anyone else who wants to shoot it out of their Mosin Nagant rifles. It should be a blast. If I remember right, last year, someone had a machine gun that fired this caliber. If it is there this year, I could donate ammo to be fired through it (so long as I get to shoot some of it). Whatever, it will be fun shooting it up - if it still fires and my guess is that it will do so nicely. It has corrosive primers and they seem to last forever in relative terms to other ammo.
Getting back to that ammo can and how I know it is almost as old as me. As can be seen in the lower of the two pictures that accompany this blog post, the ammo can has markings on it. The top line shows the caliber is 7.62. The bullet type is seen in the next marking - the thing that looks like nnc; if I am not mistaken that symbol means the bullets in this ammo are light ball. The three symbols after that, looking like a lower case r followed by a ) and that followed by a K, denote the case type; which in this instance means bimetallic copper washed steel case. On the lower line, the first marking on the left (your left) is the cartridge lot series and lot number. That is followed by the number 57 which is the year in which the cartridges were produced, so this was made in 1957. Then there is the number 188 - there is some controversy as to what this number means - some say it is the factory identifier and others say it is the day of the year that the ammunition was produced. If it stands for the day of the year that the ammo was manufactured then it was produced on July 7, 1957. I tend to believe though that it is the factory designation as that would be more important in identifying the ammo in the event of problems with it. The next symbol that looks like a broken rectangle is of unknown significance but may indicate the bullet tip color (which indicates the type of bullet when the bullet is no longer in the sealed tin, like when you have it in clips) - such as light ball, heavy ball, armor piercing or incendiary. The letters after that indicate the gunpowder type. The two numbers appearing one over the other with a line between them, like a fraction, indicates the lot number over the year of production of the gunpowder. In this case the year the gunpowder was made was 1956. That is followed by the letter T that indicates the source of the gunpowder.
If you think I am making all of this up off the top of my head, or that it is all bogus, let me just say that I am not. I found the info on the Internet so how could it be wrong! Seriously, it looks to me as if someone did a lot of research to come up with exactly what the codes mean as can be seen here at the source I used: http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmoID01.htm#Klimov. I would be willing to bet it is more fun shooting it than researching it; so, my thanks go out to whoever did all the research.
The other thing that I hope will be fun, and not a pain in the butt, is opening the ammo can in question. It certainly is not much like the typical Russian 'spam' cans and thus the can opener I have for them will obviously not work on this can. There is what appears to be a pull tab on the can (lower right hand corner as you view it). With any luck, I'll just have to grab that with a good pair of pliers and lift and pull it all the way around the can. If not, then I suppose the my K-Bar fighting knife will come in handy. Once I get it open, the real fun will commence.
All the best,
Glenn B
One of the types of ammo pictured is 7.62x54R, a good sized Russian rifle round for the Mosin Nagant rifles. Military surplus of that ammo is available at decent prices regardless of the current ammunition shortage and ammo buying frenzy. I guess that the Soviet Union and other ComBloc countries must have produced millions or tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of rounds of it; I say so because there almost seems to be a never ending supply of old military surplus stock of it out there for sale.
You can see three ammo cans of it in the center of the above photo. They are the green cans, center of picture. Each of those cans should hold 440 rounds. To your left, as you look at the photo, there is another can, kind of silver in color but with a good amount of white corrosion on it - it is plainly marked 7.62 on its top. That is also a 440 round can of 7.62x54R ammunition. The amazing thing about that can of ammunition is that it is only about two (2) years younger than me and the gunpowder used in the ammo is only about one (1) year younger than me. I have no idea if the ammo inside the can is still good after being in storage for about 56 years but I intend to find out. No, I am not admitting it is mine or that I bought it, just that I will have a chance to test it in the not too distant future.
The Sixth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot is going to be held on August 3rd somewhere in New England. (It will be held at a secret location, not because anything weird or extreme will take place but in order to honor the land owner's privacy.) I intend to take that can of ammo with me, and if I can figure out how to open it, without it taking up all of my shooting time, I'm going to try to get every round of it shot that day. Nope, I don't mean Brendan or I will shoot it all, 220 rounds of 7.62x54R apiece would more than certainly put a hurtin' on our shoulders that would preclude us shooting anything else for awhile. Instead, we (or I if only I attend) will shoot as much as we can and I will also give out a good amount of it to anyone else who wants to shoot it out of their Mosin Nagant rifles. It should be a blast. If I remember right, last year, someone had a machine gun that fired this caliber. If it is there this year, I could donate ammo to be fired through it (so long as I get to shoot some of it). Whatever, it will be fun shooting it up - if it still fires and my guess is that it will do so nicely. It has corrosive primers and they seem to last forever in relative terms to other ammo.
Getting back to that ammo can and how I know it is almost as old as me. As can be seen in the lower of the two pictures that accompany this blog post, the ammo can has markings on it. The top line shows the caliber is 7.62. The bullet type is seen in the next marking - the thing that looks like nnc; if I am not mistaken that symbol means the bullets in this ammo are light ball. The three symbols after that, looking like a lower case r followed by a ) and that followed by a K, denote the case type; which in this instance means bimetallic copper washed steel case. On the lower line, the first marking on the left (your left) is the cartridge lot series and lot number. That is followed by the number 57 which is the year in which the cartridges were produced, so this was made in 1957. Then there is the number 188 - there is some controversy as to what this number means - some say it is the factory identifier and others say it is the day of the year that the ammunition was produced. If it stands for the day of the year that the ammo was manufactured then it was produced on July 7, 1957. I tend to believe though that it is the factory designation as that would be more important in identifying the ammo in the event of problems with it. The next symbol that looks like a broken rectangle is of unknown significance but may indicate the bullet tip color (which indicates the type of bullet when the bullet is no longer in the sealed tin, like when you have it in clips) - such as light ball, heavy ball, armor piercing or incendiary. The letters after that indicate the gunpowder type. The two numbers appearing one over the other with a line between them, like a fraction, indicates the lot number over the year of production of the gunpowder. In this case the year the gunpowder was made was 1956. That is followed by the letter T that indicates the source of the gunpowder.
If you think I am making all of this up off the top of my head, or that it is all bogus, let me just say that I am not. I found the info on the Internet so how could it be wrong! Seriously, it looks to me as if someone did a lot of research to come up with exactly what the codes mean as can be seen here at the source I used: http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinAmmoID01.htm#Klimov. I would be willing to bet it is more fun shooting it than researching it; so, my thanks go out to whoever did all the research.
The other thing that I hope will be fun, and not a pain in the butt, is opening the ammo can in question. It certainly is not much like the typical Russian 'spam' cans and thus the can opener I have for them will obviously not work on this can. There is what appears to be a pull tab on the can (lower right hand corner as you view it). With any luck, I'll just have to grab that with a good pair of pliers and lift and pull it all the way around the can. If not, then I suppose the my K-Bar fighting knife will come in handy. Once I get it open, the real fun will commence.
All the best,
Glenn B
An Ammunition Buying Hypothetical - Or Is It? I'm Not Telling.
Why would I (or anyone) buy ammo that I (or anyone) thought was being sold at too high a price? Well, I live in NY and the NY SAFE Act will require me and other new Yorkers to jump through hoops to buy ammo in NY in the future and will wind up eliminating any chance I, or any other law abiding NY resident, has of ever again purchasing it online (unless the law is repealed - and one can hope). So it would be prudent for a New Yorker like me to stock up on as much as possible so long as the price, would be kind of, sort of, almost reasonable for the current situation and not at the high end of price gouging.
Did I ever say if I actually bought all that ammo (my guess would be that there are about just over 7,000 rounds of it pictured) or if it is even mine. No, I didn't! I am not going to either. Don't ask - don't tell or something like: 'It's none of your business Governor Cuomo, Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand or Representative McCarthy'. Come to think of it, it's none of your business either petty tyrant Bloomberg - especially since I do not live in NYC.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Paula Deen versus Robert Byrd
I am not a Paula Deen fan, I do not think I ever heard of her (and if I had then I forgot all about her) before the recent blow-up over her having used the word "nigger". When I saw the accompanying poster, the comparison of her to Senator Robert Byrd, I had to share it because it shows the hypocrisy of those who make a big deal over such things along political lines. When it suits them to keep someone on that they like, then so be it regardless of their transgressions. Yet, when they want to drag someone down and figuratively press the life out of them, it becomes just like the Salem Witch Trials. Once accused by the mob - you are guilty and without chance to repent or save yourself and you are doomed to a terrible end leading to oblivion. It is a sad world in which we live when speech, maybe in anger, in jest or just in bad taste speaks louder than our accumulated actions of a lifetime.
Think of it - no matter how many times she said such an offensive word, was it worse than Senator Byrd being a member of the KKK and recruiting others to join it. Not only was he a member and recruiter for the KKK, he reportedly was elected to be his chapter's top officer. See:
Did Paula Deen's success deserve to be destroyed while the libtards kept reelecting Senator Byrd and praising him as a great and wonderful Senator. T
All the best,
Glenn B
Normal LGBT Community Folks We Are Supposed To Tolerate???
 |
| I'm sorry officer, was I dressed inappropriately in public! |
There are, I think, way too many examples of absolutely horrendous freaks people, like these pictured, who live and play among the LGBT community and who get that community's full support and acceptance as normal. If this is what we, heterosexual folks, are supposed to tolerate as normal in our lives, as they parade around out in public like that, then I think we are long overdue for a cleansing Apocalypse of sorts to straighten things out. Of course, I could be wrong, the one on the left could be a real woman (ROTFLMAO).
Photo blatantly lifted from:
http://knuckledraggin.com/2013/07/gotta-be-california-again-16/
A hat tip to Wirecutter for posting that one.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sixth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot - Late Start But Our Planning Has Begun
Last year, Brendan and I attended the Fifth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot at a zooperzeeKrit location in New England. About a week or two ago, I sent Jay G and email to inquire when the Sixth Annual Northeast Bloggershoot would be held. Apparently I missed his first two blog posts about it in early June and early July (I do not know how as his blog MA-rooned is probably tied with Knuckledraggin My Life Away as the blogs most read by me). He told me it is set for August 3rd.
Of course, being The Great Procrastinator, I put it on the back
burner and forgot all about it. Today, I checked out Jay's blog and saw that he had a reminder and update about the bloggershoot and suddenly I smelled something burning in the kitchen. Yep, that pot full of hurry up wait to make a hotel reservation, that I had put on the back burner, was smoldering and boiling over. So I decided to get it done and made a reservation for a hotel up near the site of the shoot. In most years gone by I probably would have chosen a Motel 6 for a trip like this, but since we will be staying just one night I figured why not do a little better and made a reservation at the same place as last year in a Holiday Inn; that way I will add points to my IHG Club account (formerly Priority Club).
Now, I have got to decide what to bring along the line of boomers. I guess a lot of that will depend upon of which ammo I have an abundance. With ammo prices the way they are and with the evident shortages of ammo, I will have to be frugal as to what ammo and how much of it we shoot. Someone asked other blogshooters to bring any surplus .40 S&W. I think I have some extra that I can afford to trade, so I will bring it along. I am none to sure yet as to what I will bring along to shoot. I am pretty sure though that the boomers will include a Mosin Nagant or two, my Remington R1 1911, my Glock 26, an SKS and an AK and at least one of my son's ARs and his Mossberg 500. Then there will b the mandatory 22 pistol and or rifle from our collection. I guess it is high time to start doing an inventory of the ammo locker and to inspect and clean our weapons. A maintenance cleaning is overdue anyway.
All the best,
Glenn B
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Obama and Other Democrat Graphics
I report, you decide. Would you vote another democrat into office - not me - not ever (not that I ever have). A hat tip and my thanks to Peter Q for sending me the email with these graphics even if thy are some of the most disheartening pictures I have seen of the current economic state of the USA.
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, July 15, 2013
So The BSA Will Apparently Accept ...
...a scout into their ranks who sucks on the private parts of 10 twinks a day but not one who sucks down 10 Twinkies a day. Well, that is how it appears to me anyway. I think there is truly something wrong with the BSA when they not only accept gays into their ranks but seemingly will tolerate gay scouts in the tents with other young boys (starting next January) all while not allowing obese scouts to participate in their current jamboree.
Putting gay boys in with other boys may well encourage more cock sucking and ass pounding sex between underage minors - not exactly why I would want to send my son to a scout camp but I suppose different strokes for different folks. Preventing the obese from participating in physical events may well only help demoralize them and thus probably help expand their waste lines. Don't we want the obese to exercise - or have I been confused by all the stuff I have heard about them needing to do just that. Maybe it is that the management of the BSA would prefer these boys lose weight by sucking twinks instead of cutting back on sucking down Twinkies and getting some good wholesome exercise at their jamborees; that would say more than a mouthful about them - don't ya think!
If I understand these BSA policies correctly, then I think that those in charge of the BSA, who voted in these policies, should be ashamed of themselves and should resign.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/15/ready-set-exercise-boy-scout-jamboree-takes-health-conscious-turn-at-new-wva/
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_23663127/scouting-leaders-focused-jamboree-not-gay-vote
A Totally Flabbergasted,
Glenn B
Putting gay boys in with other boys may well encourage more cock sucking and ass pounding sex between underage minors - not exactly why I would want to send my son to a scout camp but I suppose different strokes for different folks. Preventing the obese from participating in physical events may well only help demoralize them and thus probably help expand their waste lines. Don't we want the obese to exercise - or have I been confused by all the stuff I have heard about them needing to do just that. Maybe it is that the management of the BSA would prefer these boys lose weight by sucking twinks instead of cutting back on sucking down Twinkies and getting some good wholesome exercise at their jamborees; that would say more than a mouthful about them - don't ya think!
If I understand these BSA policies correctly, then I think that those in charge of the BSA, who voted in these policies, should be ashamed of themselves and should resign.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/15/ready-set-exercise-boy-scout-jamboree-takes-health-conscious-turn-at-new-wva/
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_23663127/scouting-leaders-focused-jamboree-not-gay-vote
A Totally Flabbergasted,
Glenn B
It's Not Just Obama...
...it's all of the politicians who want to legalize them that suck. Yet, since Obama is at he helm, I must say, this billboard is excellent. Fuck Obama.
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Fruit of the Week - 4th Edition (as well as a bonus 3.5 Edition)
There was a good deal of fruity goodness in the house this week, as opposed to last weekend when I had to use fruit juices. In fact, this week, I did not wait until the weekend to mix up one of my concoctions. I started a bit early on Thursday because I went to Costco and added some fruit to the shopping cart that day. I wound up with a fresh pineapple, and 2 pounds of cherries, to add to what my wife already had at home.
So, for Fruit of the Week - 3.5 Edition, I pitted about 20 cherries (nice dark red Bing type cherries), cut up a nectarine, peeled a couple of bananas and cut up the pineapple. I'd guess that a cup and half to two cups of pineapple went into the blender with two bananas, 20 cherries, a nectarine, half a cup of OJ and 8 or 9 ice cubes. I added 4 ounces of Appleton's Rum and it was exquisite even if the pineapple was on the tart to pretty darned sour side.
Tonight, for Fruit of the Week - 4th Edition, I used up more of the pineapple (and it sweetened over the few days the chunks were in the fridge), a nectarine, a huge plum, about 2/3 a cup of blueberries, and a banana to which I added about 1/2 a cup of Crystal Lite lemonade (the blender will not turn the fruit into a smoothie unless there is some liquid in there first). I also added the squeezings from half a lemon and about 8-9 ice cubes. This was truly excellent by itself but after a taste or three, I added about 4 ounces of potato vodka. Delicious is not good enough a word to describe it.
Wow, I sure have been eating more fruit than usual for me, as of late.
All the best,
GB
So, for Fruit of the Week - 3.5 Edition, I pitted about 20 cherries (nice dark red Bing type cherries), cut up a nectarine, peeled a couple of bananas and cut up the pineapple. I'd guess that a cup and half to two cups of pineapple went into the blender with two bananas, 20 cherries, a nectarine, half a cup of OJ and 8 or 9 ice cubes. I added 4 ounces of Appleton's Rum and it was exquisite even if the pineapple was on the tart to pretty darned sour side.
Tonight, for Fruit of the Week - 4th Edition, I used up more of the pineapple (and it sweetened over the few days the chunks were in the fridge), a nectarine, a huge plum, about 2/3 a cup of blueberries, and a banana to which I added about 1/2 a cup of Crystal Lite lemonade (the blender will not turn the fruit into a smoothie unless there is some liquid in there first). I also added the squeezings from half a lemon and about 8-9 ice cubes. This was truly excellent by itself but after a taste or three, I added about 4 ounces of potato vodka. Delicious is not good enough a word to describe it.
Wow, I sure have been eating more fruit than usual for me, as of late.
All the best,
GB
Saturday, July 13, 2013
George Zimmerman A Free Man - Found Not Guilty but now...
...the NAACP wants to push the U.S. Department of Justice, run by that Black Panther protecting piece of shit Holder, to file a civil rights action against him. It is amazing how a group that purportedly is fighting against racism would keep trying to perpetrate it through this case where the only known racial remarks, between the two players, were made by Trayvon Martin. Of course, should the NAACP admit that there was no racism in this case, except for that caused Mr. Martin, by them and by Mr. Martin's supporters, and that race for the most part is not an issue in this country with a half white and half black president (who ironically enough considers himself black thus playing the race card himself), they would crumble and be no more. They won't do that though, too much money in it for them and too many idiots out there buying it all.
As it is, the jury has spoken and George Zimmerman is a free man, at least until the feds try to rail road him. You can almost bet they will try, what can we expect under the auspices of a half-breed who in essence refuses to accept he is half white and his ethically deficient henchman Holder. Hmm, maybe there should be an NAAWP but I digress, this is about justice, and Justice is truly blind when it comes to the color of one's skin or at least it was in this case.
All the best,
Glenn B.
As it is, the jury has spoken and George Zimmerman is a free man, at least until the feds try to rail road him. You can almost bet they will try, what can we expect under the auspices of a half-breed who in essence refuses to accept he is half white and his ethically deficient henchman Holder. Hmm, maybe there should be an NAAWP but I digress, this is about justice, and Justice is truly blind when it comes to the color of one's skin or at least it was in this case.
All the best,
Glenn B.
Transparency in Government - But Obama's Glass House Still Opaque
Really amazing but certainly quite true, no doubt about it. Yet, so absurd and not right that it almost boggles the mind.
All the best,
Glenn B
The Kentucky Gun Co. - A Class Act
I had never heard of the Kentucky Gun Company prior to the assassination of Bardstown, KY Police Officer Jason Ellis on May 25th of this year. You may recall reading about him in the news; he was shot after stopping to remove some debris from an exit ramp off of a highway. The killer had evidently left it there and called it in and had pre-planned the assassination, if not of Ellis then of any officer who would have responded.
Then somewhere, I do not remember where, maybe on a firearms forum or on a gun blog, or on Facebook, I read that the Kentucky Gun Company (http://KYGunCo.com) was holding a fund raising raffle event for the family of officer Ellis. As I recall, the tickets were $5.00 each and the prize was a Henry rifle. I was really amazed, and I use that word literally, to have received an email from the president of KYGunCo yesterday with an attached video announcing the winner of the rifle. No, I did not win; I received the email because I had bought a few raffle tickets from them and thus made a donation. While the video was part of my amazement, what amazed me was not so much that they sent out a video to make the announcement but the content of it. That content reflected what I am sure must be the nature of all those involved with the fund raiser and the making of the video. That nature and the outcome were beyond my expectation. You have to watch the video to understand what I mean.
The folks at KYGunCo are a class act. The dedication of a small company, its owner and its employees, to do something nice for the family of the fallen officer, and the response coming from what assuredly was mostly the firearms owning community, was impressive. Together they raised a substantial amount of money for the fallen officers family and showed me that all is not lost in America.
All the best,
Glenn B
Then somewhere, I do not remember where, maybe on a firearms forum or on a gun blog, or on Facebook, I read that the Kentucky Gun Company (http://KYGunCo.com) was holding a fund raising raffle event for the family of officer Ellis. As I recall, the tickets were $5.00 each and the prize was a Henry rifle. I was really amazed, and I use that word literally, to have received an email from the president of KYGunCo yesterday with an attached video announcing the winner of the rifle. No, I did not win; I received the email because I had bought a few raffle tickets from them and thus made a donation. While the video was part of my amazement, what amazed me was not so much that they sent out a video to make the announcement but the content of it. That content reflected what I am sure must be the nature of all those involved with the fund raiser and the making of the video. That nature and the outcome were beyond my expectation. You have to watch the video to understand what I mean.
The folks at KYGunCo are a class act. The dedication of a small company, its owner and its employees, to do something nice for the family of the fallen officer, and the response coming from what assuredly was mostly the firearms owning community, was impressive. Together they raised a substantial amount of money for the fallen officers family and showed me that all is not lost in America.
All the best,
Glenn B
Ray Kelly As The New Head of DHS - Oh No!
So, Senator Chucky-cheese Scummer Charles Schumer is saying there is no doubt that the current NYPD commissioner, Ray Kelly, would be excellent as the replacement for Janet Napolitano as head of DHS (source1, source2). He quotes Kelly's leadership of the NYPD, mentions how Kelly as thwarted terrorists, and even that Kelly has equipped the NYPD with the capability to shoot planes from the sky (remember Bloomberg calls the NYPD his army). Well, based on my recollections of Kelly as my boss and based on my opinion of Kelly, I have my doubts. I would bet so too does Schumer and the media. You see, there is no mention of any statements by Schumer that Kelly already headed up a federal agency and no other mention of it in the news reports I have seen. Do you wonder why that could be?
Kelly was, as I recall, the commissioner of the United States Customs Service when morale in that agency hit rock bottom. If you are wondering why, let me give you a few examples: He apparently believed that there was a very high degree of corruption in the Customs Service. Yet, despite his statements to that effect, there were not large scale numbers of corruption arrests in much higher percentage during his reign than before he was the boss there. Why not? Moist likely because, like in any law enforcement agency, corruption existed - but it was nowhere nearly as bad as he seemingly believed or fantasized it to be.
Then there was the case of a black Jamaican woman who was searched by Customs Inspectors after arriving at JFK airport aboard a Jamaica Airlines flight. She claimed she was stopped because of racism and racial profiling. Kelly, as I recall, immediately agreed with her, seemingly without checking into the facts of her case and she was suing the government over it. Indeed there had been profiling, but not of her due to her race. The profiling was routine and legal. You see, the flight had been profiled, as were many other flights targeted that were coming from known narcotics transfer and source countries and as for having had transported many a smuggler in the past. Jamaica was both a source country and transfer point for illegal narcotics that would be smuggled in the US. The flight was a choice flight for smugglers to use. People on that flight were often subjected to Customs searches based on that knowledge as well as over considerations.
In addition, as I remember, there was the legal blooper of the century made by Kelly when he in essence said that Customs officials were illegally searching people at the border because they were doing so absent probable cause and that he was going to eliminate that illegal practice. Had he even done one tiny little bit of research on the subject of Customs search authority and border searches he would have realized that Customs searches, at the border or its equivalent, do not require probable cause and can be performed on as little as a hunch on the part of a Customs official. He would also have learned that such searches had been upheld as legal by SCOTUS many years before Ray Kelly was born. Customs searches, at the border (or its equivalent) are very different in scope of authority that are most other searches conducted by law enforcement officials. Kelly though, barged right into the Customs Service, with preconceived legal notions and with his prior hang-ups over the amount of corruption he perceived in the NYPD and he weighed down Customs with them. Add to that the fact that almost every other memo, signed by him, for about his first 6 months or so in charge, to reach field personnel (at least those I saw) had to do with integrity problems that he perceived and you can understand how morale plummeted under his reign in Customs.
To be quite frank, he was in my opinion the biggest asshole in charge of any government agency that I have ever seen except maybe for Janet Napolitano but if he takes her slot he is, I think, sure to surpass her ineptness. When he was in Customs, it was rumored that he was supposedly gunning to get the directors spot in the FBI. In fact he was in the running for it: "Kelly, who has been leading the city’s police department for more than a decade, was considered a one-time contender to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the Clinton administration" (source). He did not get that position but left Customs and returned to the NYPD. Many Customs personnel, whom I knew, were happy to see him go and many NYPD officers seemed none too happy to be saddled with him again. I imagine it was his inability to adjust to federal service and his apparent misunderstandings about legal issues (in my estimation also his ego driven overall piss poor performance and his seeming paranoia about corruption) in the Customs Service, under Clinton, that assured he would never sit in the seat of power at the FBI. Funny how Schumer is not quoted as telling us anything about Ray Kelly as the Commissioner of Customs and how he was passed over in the selection process to lead the FBI - isn't it! And no that's not George W. Bush's fault.
In my opinion, and I am nowhere near being alone on this point, Kelly is a super ego maniac. He evidently does not give a rat's ass about the rights of people he is supposed to be serving nor about the Constitution he has sworn to protect and is supposed to uphold. He instead seemingly acts as if he is the puppet henchman of a despot (take your pick of either Clinton or Bloomberg or both) and that he is mostly employed to see their will is done without regard for the law unless such concern is politically beneficent to his bosses or himself. Just take a look at his number one pet project on the streets of NY - Stop and Frisk. I think it is a racist system of profiling black, Hispanic and even white people. Just ask any white guy who has had the nerve to let the cops see him walk through a black neighborhood at night. Strange though, you hear little or nothing about that in the media but if you are a white guy traversing a black neighborhood you seemingly are a likely target of the NYPD stop and frisk program based only on your race.
As noted above, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has bragged that his army is the third or fourth largest in the world- he made it quite clear that he was referring to the NYPD as an army. Mr. Kelly never once corrected Bloomberg to tell him that he is in charge of a police department and not an army nor that it would be illegal for Bloomberg to be running an army in NYC. Kelly apparently just kisses the asses of those with whom he is in favor and with those whose ultra leftist politics he agrees in order to advance his own power hungry agenda.
In my opinion, Ray Kelly would be about the worst possible candidate for the job of running the Department of Homeland Security under any administration that would be mindful of the Constitution and of the rights of the People. Under the current administration though - he might fit in perfectly and I have little to no doubt he would be willing to pull the trigger (or order his personnel to do so) when aimed in law abiding and patriotic citizens of the United States of America to promote his bosses political agenda.
Of course, I guess to be absolutely fair, I should mention that I think he would, in all likelihood, be a step up from Janet Napolitano as the head man (yes that pun was intentional) at DHS. So, instead of being the ground on which the dog has shit and pissed, he would be the shit itself. If you want to see another petty tyrant in charge of a department in Washington, then do nothing. If you want someone in charge of DHS who is actually qualified for the job and who will support the Constitution, then I think you need let your elected officials know, immediately, that you oppose Ray Kelly as the head of DHS.
All the best,
Glenn B
Kelly was, as I recall, the commissioner of the United States Customs Service when morale in that agency hit rock bottom. If you are wondering why, let me give you a few examples: He apparently believed that there was a very high degree of corruption in the Customs Service. Yet, despite his statements to that effect, there were not large scale numbers of corruption arrests in much higher percentage during his reign than before he was the boss there. Why not? Moist likely because, like in any law enforcement agency, corruption existed - but it was nowhere nearly as bad as he seemingly believed or fantasized it to be.
Then there was the case of a black Jamaican woman who was searched by Customs Inspectors after arriving at JFK airport aboard a Jamaica Airlines flight. She claimed she was stopped because of racism and racial profiling. Kelly, as I recall, immediately agreed with her, seemingly without checking into the facts of her case and she was suing the government over it. Indeed there had been profiling, but not of her due to her race. The profiling was routine and legal. You see, the flight had been profiled, as were many other flights targeted that were coming from known narcotics transfer and source countries and as for having had transported many a smuggler in the past. Jamaica was both a source country and transfer point for illegal narcotics that would be smuggled in the US. The flight was a choice flight for smugglers to use. People on that flight were often subjected to Customs searches based on that knowledge as well as over considerations.
In addition, as I remember, there was the legal blooper of the century made by Kelly when he in essence said that Customs officials were illegally searching people at the border because they were doing so absent probable cause and that he was going to eliminate that illegal practice. Had he even done one tiny little bit of research on the subject of Customs search authority and border searches he would have realized that Customs searches, at the border or its equivalent, do not require probable cause and can be performed on as little as a hunch on the part of a Customs official. He would also have learned that such searches had been upheld as legal by SCOTUS many years before Ray Kelly was born. Customs searches, at the border (or its equivalent) are very different in scope of authority that are most other searches conducted by law enforcement officials. Kelly though, barged right into the Customs Service, with preconceived legal notions and with his prior hang-ups over the amount of corruption he perceived in the NYPD and he weighed down Customs with them. Add to that the fact that almost every other memo, signed by him, for about his first 6 months or so in charge, to reach field personnel (at least those I saw) had to do with integrity problems that he perceived and you can understand how morale plummeted under his reign in Customs.
To be quite frank, he was in my opinion the biggest asshole in charge of any government agency that I have ever seen except maybe for Janet Napolitano but if he takes her slot he is, I think, sure to surpass her ineptness. When he was in Customs, it was rumored that he was supposedly gunning to get the directors spot in the FBI. In fact he was in the running for it: "Kelly, who has been leading the city’s police department for more than a decade, was considered a one-time contender to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the Clinton administration" (source). He did not get that position but left Customs and returned to the NYPD. Many Customs personnel, whom I knew, were happy to see him go and many NYPD officers seemed none too happy to be saddled with him again. I imagine it was his inability to adjust to federal service and his apparent misunderstandings about legal issues (in my estimation also his ego driven overall piss poor performance and his seeming paranoia about corruption) in the Customs Service, under Clinton, that assured he would never sit in the seat of power at the FBI. Funny how Schumer is not quoted as telling us anything about Ray Kelly as the Commissioner of Customs and how he was passed over in the selection process to lead the FBI - isn't it! And no that's not George W. Bush's fault.
In my opinion, and I am nowhere near being alone on this point, Kelly is a super ego maniac. He evidently does not give a rat's ass about the rights of people he is supposed to be serving nor about the Constitution he has sworn to protect and is supposed to uphold. He instead seemingly acts as if he is the puppet henchman of a despot (take your pick of either Clinton or Bloomberg or both) and that he is mostly employed to see their will is done without regard for the law unless such concern is politically beneficent to his bosses or himself. Just take a look at his number one pet project on the streets of NY - Stop and Frisk. I think it is a racist system of profiling black, Hispanic and even white people. Just ask any white guy who has had the nerve to let the cops see him walk through a black neighborhood at night. Strange though, you hear little or nothing about that in the media but if you are a white guy traversing a black neighborhood you seemingly are a likely target of the NYPD stop and frisk program based only on your race.
As noted above, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has bragged that his army is the third or fourth largest in the world- he made it quite clear that he was referring to the NYPD as an army. Mr. Kelly never once corrected Bloomberg to tell him that he is in charge of a police department and not an army nor that it would be illegal for Bloomberg to be running an army in NYC. Kelly apparently just kisses the asses of those with whom he is in favor and with those whose ultra leftist politics he agrees in order to advance his own power hungry agenda.
In my opinion, Ray Kelly would be about the worst possible candidate for the job of running the Department of Homeland Security under any administration that would be mindful of the Constitution and of the rights of the People. Under the current administration though - he might fit in perfectly and I have little to no doubt he would be willing to pull the trigger (or order his personnel to do so) when aimed in law abiding and patriotic citizens of the United States of America to promote his bosses political agenda.
Of course, I guess to be absolutely fair, I should mention that I think he would, in all likelihood, be a step up from Janet Napolitano as the head man (yes that pun was intentional) at DHS. So, instead of being the ground on which the dog has shit and pissed, he would be the shit itself. If you want to see another petty tyrant in charge of a department in Washington, then do nothing. If you want someone in charge of DHS who is actually qualified for the job and who will support the Constitution, then I think you need let your elected officials know, immediately, that you oppose Ray Kelly as the head of DHS.
All the best,
Glenn B
What Was The Worst Gun You Have Ever Owned...
...as in the unmitigated most poorly
constructed or designed piece of junk that you have ever shot a bullet,
shot or slug through. While I have owned several guns that I have really liked,
others that were okay, and a fair amount of others with which I was not pleased,
you might think it would be really easy for me to select which among them was the
worst clunker. Yet, it is sort of a tossup between two or three of
them and I thought each a piece of junk for different reasons.
The first real piece of garbage gun I ever owned was in fact the very first gun I ever owned. I should have thrown my money into the trash can for all it was worth. It was an RG 25 auto, a diminutive pocket pistol that I bought while living in Las Vegas. I would have been very lucky indeed to have been able to have gotten off 5 or 6 shots in a row without it having a failure to feed or to extract or to eject. Being I was a newcomer to buying guns, I did not know what to look for and the guy behind the counter who sold it to me was no help there. Live and learn. I wound up taking the gun apart and disposing of its pieces fairly far apart by throwing them into a deep channel, in salt water, far from Nevada. By the way, in case you were wondering what the initials RG stood for, I think they meant Rotten Gun.
My next firearms purchase did not come for a few years after that but as I recall it was a either a Beretta 70S or a Beretta 950BS (one was followed shortly by the other). At least my second purchase was made with some forethought; I studied up on what to buy and bought quality guns made by a world renowned gun manufacturer. No problems with them, in fact they were great and the 70S still is great. (Well, I have my 2nd one that replaced the first when it was stolen back in the early 1980s.) After that first piece of junk, the RG 25 auto, I had made up my mind to become more knowledgeable before buying any more guns and I pretty much have stuck to that for almost all of the guns I have bought in later years. There were a few bought on impulse but I have to point out I already knew the reputation of the manufacturer if not the specific gun I was buying. After reading that last sentence you might think that I would never again have bought another clunker but you would be wrong.
I guess the next piece of junk gun I bought was actually two of them since I bought two different versions of the same model revolver. When I was in the Border Patrol, we got a deal offered to us by Smith & Wesson for a direct sale from the manufacturer on S&W Model 66 revolvers with 2.5 and 4 inch barrels. How could I resist, bought one of each. My anticipation while waiting for them was pretty intense and I was full of excitement as I opened the boxes for each. I took out one of them, checked it over, made sure it was unloaded, pointed it in a safe direction and dry fired it. The clinking noise it made, when the hammer fell, was almost as high pitched as a sonar ping. It had also made a grating noise as the trigger traveled rearward. Something fell out of it when I opened the cylinder to check it again. That something landed in my hand and had apparently fallen out of the opening in the frame through which the trigger goes; the something was metal shavings. A quick shaking of the pistol revealed more shavings still inside the works. The 4 inch model was somewhat better but also contained metal shavings, made grating noises until the shavings were cleaned out of it and also made two twangy pings each time the hammer traveled rearward. In other revolvers, that twangy ping would have been a set of a low pitched clicks. I sold both of them. I am not two sure those were worse than the RG 25 that I had owned previously but they were just as disappointing if not more so. Smith & Wesson was supposed to have been a manufacturer of high quality firearms but they were junk as far as I am concerned. I was not the only one with those problems; as I recall, every one of my coworkers who bought them had the same issues with them to one extent or another.
Sometime after getting back to NY after my Border Patrol days, I decided to buy a Ruger Mini 14. I used them at work often and was a fairly good shot with them. I liked just about everything about them, in fact I liked then more than an AR. So, I got myself one. I could not hit paper at 50 yards and believe me I was shooting at a big target. I adjusted the sights over and over again and finally was shooting a widespread group of about 15 inches or more at 50 yards. I sold it to someone by way of either GunBroker.com or AuctionArms.com. I warned the guy to whom I was selling it about me not being able to hit the target with it. He shot it and got back to me telling me it was a virtual tack driver! I did not get it then and am not sure I get it yet but think that maybe it was the ammo I was using - which may have been the wrong grain weight for the Mini-14. I have shot others since, all with no problems, in fact was an excellent shot with them. So, I am not sure it was the gun that was a clunker but for me, at the time I sold it, I sure thought it was one.
Then there was the Marlin 9mm Camp Carbine (commonly called the Camp 9). It was a 9mm carbine that was advertised as being a great defensive weapon. I read review after review about it being an excellent firearm. It had a number of features I liked such as being fairly short, using the same caliber that my then work issued pistol fired, it also used the same magazines that the S&W 6906 (which was our work issued pistol at the time), the safety was at the forward area of the trigger guard, and as I remember - it was not too expensive. Again, it was touted, by the gun gurus, as an excellent choice for self and home defense. How could I not buy one and yes, I bought one. As soon as I took it apart for a thorough cleaning I came to hate it and realized one of its design features was one of the poorest I have ever seen in any firearm. It had a pivoting feed ramp. I guess the fact that the ramp pivoted was not too bad, it probably assured good feeding although I have never see a pivoting ramp in any other firearm I had handled. It seems that this novel design required something else that was novel in the form of a tiny coil spring that had to be set under the feed ramp just right in order to assure that it pivoted into place properly each time it fed a round. The spring gave a small amount of upward pressure on the ramp. Why it was designed like that is beyond me, you would think there would be no need for the ramp to pivot if it had been designed properly in the first place but there it was and there was no getting rid of it. What was easy to get rid of, although not intentionally, was the little spring I just mentioned. The first time I cleaned it the spring fell out of the nook in which it was seated and it took me hours to find it. Yes there it was, shown on the diagram of the rifle but there was no notation explaining that it was not permanently seated or held in place by anything and that it would just fall right out if you were not extremely careful. Once I found it, subsequent to a lengthy search after it had fallen out, I realized that getting it back into place just exactly right was no joy either. If you decided to clean this gun while afield and dropped that spring in leaf litter, forget about finding it unless you had a good magnet with you or had as much luck as a group of at least 14 Leprechauns. That one design feature alone made the Marlin 9mm Camp Carbine worthless to me as something upon which I would depend to defend myself. I sold it and do not miss it in the least. Since I had mine, I have heard several complaints from other owners of them about that same dratted spring.
When I think of it, I do not know which of the above, excluding the Ruger, were the worse pieces of junk, it is a difficult decision to make. The two S&W revolvers, the RG25 and the Marlin 9mm Camp Carbine each had pretty bad flaws. Considering that the S&W revolvers and the Marlin carbine had great reputations as being very good to excellent firearms, I can easily say that they were much more disappointing to me than was the RG 25. I paid all of about $40 to $45 for the RG, out the door and brand new. It was a fine example of getting what you pay for. As for the others, I paid decent amount of money for each and should have gotten a much higher amount of quality than I got with the RG. So, while quality was lacking in the RG, I have to say it was also pretty much absent from those S&W revolvers too. The Marlin Camp 9 seemed to be of fairly high quality but had that tiny disappearing spring and that was one heck of a terrible design feature as I see it. I guess when it comes down to it, the RG 25 and those two specific S&W Model 66 revolvers (note I have owned another since then and it was greatly improved) tie for the worst guns I have owned. The Marlin 9mm Camp Carbine edges them out as a better gun just by a tiny bit, an edge smaller even than that pesky little spring.
Then there were the guns that I almost owned but avoided after a little bit of checking them out before taking the plunge. Some of them were the not so fine pieces as a: Jennings 22, Erma KGP-69 (a .22LR Luger look alike), a High Standard Sentinel (steel framed combination gun with cylinders for .22LR and .22 WMR), High Standard Derringer, Marlin Camp 45, but I suppose I am getting away from the original topic.
So tell us, what was the worst gun you have ever owned?
All the best,
Glenn B
The first real piece of garbage gun I ever owned was in fact the very first gun I ever owned. I should have thrown my money into the trash can for all it was worth. It was an RG 25 auto, a diminutive pocket pistol that I bought while living in Las Vegas. I would have been very lucky indeed to have been able to have gotten off 5 or 6 shots in a row without it having a failure to feed or to extract or to eject. Being I was a newcomer to buying guns, I did not know what to look for and the guy behind the counter who sold it to me was no help there. Live and learn. I wound up taking the gun apart and disposing of its pieces fairly far apart by throwing them into a deep channel, in salt water, far from Nevada. By the way, in case you were wondering what the initials RG stood for, I think they meant Rotten Gun.
My next firearms purchase did not come for a few years after that but as I recall it was a either a Beretta 70S or a Beretta 950BS (one was followed shortly by the other). At least my second purchase was made with some forethought; I studied up on what to buy and bought quality guns made by a world renowned gun manufacturer. No problems with them, in fact they were great and the 70S still is great. (Well, I have my 2nd one that replaced the first when it was stolen back in the early 1980s.) After that first piece of junk, the RG 25 auto, I had made up my mind to become more knowledgeable before buying any more guns and I pretty much have stuck to that for almost all of the guns I have bought in later years. There were a few bought on impulse but I have to point out I already knew the reputation of the manufacturer if not the specific gun I was buying. After reading that last sentence you might think that I would never again have bought another clunker but you would be wrong.
I guess the next piece of junk gun I bought was actually two of them since I bought two different versions of the same model revolver. When I was in the Border Patrol, we got a deal offered to us by Smith & Wesson for a direct sale from the manufacturer on S&W Model 66 revolvers with 2.5 and 4 inch barrels. How could I resist, bought one of each. My anticipation while waiting for them was pretty intense and I was full of excitement as I opened the boxes for each. I took out one of them, checked it over, made sure it was unloaded, pointed it in a safe direction and dry fired it. The clinking noise it made, when the hammer fell, was almost as high pitched as a sonar ping. It had also made a grating noise as the trigger traveled rearward. Something fell out of it when I opened the cylinder to check it again. That something landed in my hand and had apparently fallen out of the opening in the frame through which the trigger goes; the something was metal shavings. A quick shaking of the pistol revealed more shavings still inside the works. The 4 inch model was somewhat better but also contained metal shavings, made grating noises until the shavings were cleaned out of it and also made two twangy pings each time the hammer traveled rearward. In other revolvers, that twangy ping would have been a set of a low pitched clicks. I sold both of them. I am not two sure those were worse than the RG 25 that I had owned previously but they were just as disappointing if not more so. Smith & Wesson was supposed to have been a manufacturer of high quality firearms but they were junk as far as I am concerned. I was not the only one with those problems; as I recall, every one of my coworkers who bought them had the same issues with them to one extent or another.
Sometime after getting back to NY after my Border Patrol days, I decided to buy a Ruger Mini 14. I used them at work often and was a fairly good shot with them. I liked just about everything about them, in fact I liked then more than an AR. So, I got myself one. I could not hit paper at 50 yards and believe me I was shooting at a big target. I adjusted the sights over and over again and finally was shooting a widespread group of about 15 inches or more at 50 yards. I sold it to someone by way of either GunBroker.com or AuctionArms.com. I warned the guy to whom I was selling it about me not being able to hit the target with it. He shot it and got back to me telling me it was a virtual tack driver! I did not get it then and am not sure I get it yet but think that maybe it was the ammo I was using - which may have been the wrong grain weight for the Mini-14. I have shot others since, all with no problems, in fact was an excellent shot with them. So, I am not sure it was the gun that was a clunker but for me, at the time I sold it, I sure thought it was one.
Then there was the Marlin 9mm Camp Carbine (commonly called the Camp 9). It was a 9mm carbine that was advertised as being a great defensive weapon. I read review after review about it being an excellent firearm. It had a number of features I liked such as being fairly short, using the same caliber that my then work issued pistol fired, it also used the same magazines that the S&W 6906 (which was our work issued pistol at the time), the safety was at the forward area of the trigger guard, and as I remember - it was not too expensive. Again, it was touted, by the gun gurus, as an excellent choice for self and home defense. How could I not buy one and yes, I bought one. As soon as I took it apart for a thorough cleaning I came to hate it and realized one of its design features was one of the poorest I have ever seen in any firearm. It had a pivoting feed ramp. I guess the fact that the ramp pivoted was not too bad, it probably assured good feeding although I have never see a pivoting ramp in any other firearm I had handled. It seems that this novel design required something else that was novel in the form of a tiny coil spring that had to be set under the feed ramp just right in order to assure that it pivoted into place properly each time it fed a round. The spring gave a small amount of upward pressure on the ramp. Why it was designed like that is beyond me, you would think there would be no need for the ramp to pivot if it had been designed properly in the first place but there it was and there was no getting rid of it. What was easy to get rid of, although not intentionally, was the little spring I just mentioned. The first time I cleaned it the spring fell out of the nook in which it was seated and it took me hours to find it. Yes there it was, shown on the diagram of the rifle but there was no notation explaining that it was not permanently seated or held in place by anything and that it would just fall right out if you were not extremely careful. Once I found it, subsequent to a lengthy search after it had fallen out, I realized that getting it back into place just exactly right was no joy either. If you decided to clean this gun while afield and dropped that spring in leaf litter, forget about finding it unless you had a good magnet with you or had as much luck as a group of at least 14 Leprechauns. That one design feature alone made the Marlin 9mm Camp Carbine worthless to me as something upon which I would depend to defend myself. I sold it and do not miss it in the least. Since I had mine, I have heard several complaints from other owners of them about that same dratted spring.
When I think of it, I do not know which of the above, excluding the Ruger, were the worse pieces of junk, it is a difficult decision to make. The two S&W revolvers, the RG25 and the Marlin 9mm Camp Carbine each had pretty bad flaws. Considering that the S&W revolvers and the Marlin carbine had great reputations as being very good to excellent firearms, I can easily say that they were much more disappointing to me than was the RG 25. I paid all of about $40 to $45 for the RG, out the door and brand new. It was a fine example of getting what you pay for. As for the others, I paid decent amount of money for each and should have gotten a much higher amount of quality than I got with the RG. So, while quality was lacking in the RG, I have to say it was also pretty much absent from those S&W revolvers too. The Marlin Camp 9 seemed to be of fairly high quality but had that tiny disappearing spring and that was one heck of a terrible design feature as I see it. I guess when it comes down to it, the RG 25 and those two specific S&W Model 66 revolvers (note I have owned another since then and it was greatly improved) tie for the worst guns I have owned. The Marlin 9mm Camp Carbine edges them out as a better gun just by a tiny bit, an edge smaller even than that pesky little spring.
Then there were the guns that I almost owned but avoided after a little bit of checking them out before taking the plunge. Some of them were the not so fine pieces as a: Jennings 22, Erma KGP-69 (a .22LR Luger look alike), a High Standard Sentinel (steel framed combination gun with cylinders for .22LR and .22 WMR), High Standard Derringer, Marlin Camp 45, but I suppose I am getting away from the original topic.
So tell us, what was the worst gun you have ever owned?
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Pork Prices May Soar - So The Media Is Finally Reporting It...
...but I blogged about it on June 25th. So not only do I blog about what the news media has already doled out, I sometimes beat them to the draw.
Media reports:
http://money.msn.com/now/post--the-virus-that-could-hike-bacon-prices
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57593163/pig-virus-migrates-to-u.s-threatens-pork-prices/
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2540621632001/virus-could-lead-to-higher-pork-prices/
My blog report:
http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2013/06/expect-price-of-bacon-to-skyrocket.html
I beat the media by over 2 weeks with my prediction that pork prices may soar because of the virus. I must be some sort of a perspicacious pig predictor (too bad I did not buy pork belly futures two weeks ago). Next thing you know, they will report it is an Islamist plot to devastate the pork industry or a plot by Obama to do the same (but I just said that in other words did I not). Oh well...
All the best,
Glenn B
Media reports:
http://money.msn.com/now/post--the-virus-that-could-hike-bacon-prices
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57593163/pig-virus-migrates-to-u.s-threatens-pork-prices/
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2540621632001/virus-could-lead-to-higher-pork-prices/
My blog report:
http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2013/06/expect-price-of-bacon-to-skyrocket.html
I beat the media by over 2 weeks with my prediction that pork prices may soar because of the virus. I must be some sort of a perspicacious pig predictor (too bad I did not buy pork belly futures two weeks ago). Next thing you know, they will report it is an Islamist plot to devastate the pork industry or a plot by Obama to do the same (but I just said that in other words did I not). Oh well...
All the best,
Glenn B
Mantyhose - Please Tell Me This Just Ain't So...
...and if it is so, tell me - why weren't they named Pansyhose as I think the name would have been much more suited to most men who will wear them. Yeah, I know, the metrosexuals of today would say I am manty-phobic or something like that. The truth is I am not afraid to tell it like it should be: pantyhose and stockings are women's wear and what are Mantsyhose but pantyhose with a letter changed. After all, it sure as shit does not appear like the gender of those wearing them has changed because every guy in the pics on the Mantsyhose website and in the accompanying video looks like a wussie to me.
It was bad enough when my son bought me some tight Under Armor long-johns but at least they were in Realtree camo. What can I say, I have values and sensibilities of yesteryear.
All the best,
Glenn B
It was bad enough when my son bought me some tight Under Armor long-johns but at least they were in Realtree camo. What can I say, I have values and sensibilities of yesteryear.
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, July 8, 2013
Bacon Just Isn't Enough...
...when you think about all of the other delectable goodness in a pig. Which would you rather settle for, a lifetime of eating just bacon or the whole delectable swine-ness of his highness - The Holy Whole Hog? Me, I prefer to go whole hog.
Mind you, I can not do it all at once. I have to get mine in shoulders, buts, loins, tenderloins, chops, ribs, standing loin rib roasts, hams, pigs feet and knuckles as well as the jowels and belly of the beast and its bacon. It is all ever so good. Take a look at some of these pics, all found on the web, and let your mouth water.
If all you eat is bacon - you don't know what goodness you are missing.
All the best,
Glenn B
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| The Whole Hog, or what's left of it. |
Mind you, I can not do it all at once. I have to get mine in shoulders, buts, loins, tenderloins, chops, ribs, standing loin rib roasts, hams, pigs feet and knuckles as well as the jowels and belly of the beast and its bacon. It is all ever so good. Take a look at some of these pics, all found on the web, and let your mouth water.
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| Ham, probably a shank roast, skin on. |
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| Ham Shank Roast. |
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| Pork Breakfast Sausages, good at any time of the day or night. |
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| Rack of Ribs. |
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| Standing Pork loin Roast. |
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| My very own Roasted Pork Tenderloin & German Potato Salad. |
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| My very own, Smoked Pork Tenderloin. |
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| Short Ribs. |
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| Smoked Ham, bone in. |
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| Apple Stuffed Loin Pork Chops. |
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| Melt in your mouth goodness, Pickled Pigs Feet. |
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| While the list above is not complete, how could I omit this. |
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, July 7, 2013
I Wonder - Did The Crowd Roar With Applause...
...as Brazilian soccer referee Otávio Jordan da Silva de Catanhede was: rushed by assailants, tied up, stoned to death (one hopes he was dead before what comes next), quartered (major limbs cut off), beheaded - all on the soccer field. I also wonder, did anyone continue to cheer when his head was paraded around the field and staked at midfield. Somehow, I can not imagine it otherwise than at least some of the crowd cheering on they who were committing this brutal murder as such seems to be the state of the liberalized world today. People nowadays have little regard for human life and even less for respect of the law.
Now, there is good chance he deserved to die since he reportedly had just killed a soccer player, Linda dos Santos Abreu, by stabbing him to death. (I'm not saying he should have been killed but that maybe he deserved to be killed.) It seems that Jordan and Santos got into an argument over a call made by the referee. During the argument, Jordan reportedly pulled out a knife and fatally stabbed Santos who died while being taken to a hospital. Enraged family and friends of the player reportedly stormed the field and carried out swift but grisly revenge on the referee. Why law enforcement had not already arrested Jordan is unclear but it could well have been a rapid spontaneous reaction to the stabbing and he could well have been killed before he family even knew that Santos had died of his wounds. Still though, if this was a sanctioned match with police presence, shouldn't the police have done something to try to stop it - all that was done to him must have taken at least several minutes. Of course, that is supposing they were at the game which may not have been the case. Yet, for the assailants to carry out the killing in the gruesome way they reportedly did so is only an indication that we live in sick times, very sick times at that.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/07/brazil-soccer-referee-killed-during-match-his-head-displayed-on-stake-midfield/?test=latestnews
My advice, never attend a soccer game - not anywhere, not in Brazil where this happened, not in Germany, Nigeria, India, England and not here in the USA - not anywhere. Madness and bloody violence are all too frequently something that happens before, during and after soccer matches. Of course, if you can attend one while armed, so you could be able to defend yourself, you might consider going but that would probably be illegal, at least, where I live, they don't let us carry machine guns here. Anyway, I do no think I would chance it.
All the best,
Glenn B
Now, there is good chance he deserved to die since he reportedly had just killed a soccer player, Linda dos Santos Abreu, by stabbing him to death. (I'm not saying he should have been killed but that maybe he deserved to be killed.) It seems that Jordan and Santos got into an argument over a call made by the referee. During the argument, Jordan reportedly pulled out a knife and fatally stabbed Santos who died while being taken to a hospital. Enraged family and friends of the player reportedly stormed the field and carried out swift but grisly revenge on the referee. Why law enforcement had not already arrested Jordan is unclear but it could well have been a rapid spontaneous reaction to the stabbing and he could well have been killed before he family even knew that Santos had died of his wounds. Still though, if this was a sanctioned match with police presence, shouldn't the police have done something to try to stop it - all that was done to him must have taken at least several minutes. Of course, that is supposing they were at the game which may not have been the case. Yet, for the assailants to carry out the killing in the gruesome way they reportedly did so is only an indication that we live in sick times, very sick times at that.
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/07/07/brazil-soccer-referee-killed-during-match-his-head-displayed-on-stake-midfield/?test=latestnews
My advice, never attend a soccer game - not anywhere, not in Brazil where this happened, not in Germany, Nigeria, India, England and not here in the USA - not anywhere. Madness and bloody violence are all too frequently something that happens before, during and after soccer matches. Of course, if you can attend one while armed, so you could be able to defend yourself, you might consider going but that would probably be illegal, at least, where I live, they don't let us carry machine guns here. Anyway, I do no think I would chance it.
All the best,
Glenn B
Someone At Fox News Needs A Geography Lesson
It always amazes me when I see or hear glaring errors in the media. One would think that in order to report the news, a person would be required to have a certain amount of education and integrity and that among those who apply for reporter jobs, only the best of the applicants would be selected (I would expect that sort of section process for almost any job). I would think the process would be likewise for they who proof and edit news reports. Sadly such does not seem to be the case, at least based upon what I have seen in online news reporting lately.
For instance, take a look at this regional listing for current news, in the northeast United States, that I found on FoxNews.com under the header: U.S.:
Not only does it show the error once but twice. Come now don't tell me you don't see it! Someone please tell me, since when would news about an jet crash in San Francisco be considered news that took place in the northeast United States? That type of mistake is not uncommon either, just take a look at this:
The same story is also listed under regional news for the southeast U.S., it is mind boggling. Even a kid in the 4th or 5th grade would should know that San Francisco (the SF in the link about the crash) is on the west coast. The misplacement of these links, under the wrong regional header, is nothing new and certainly not only one made by the news crew at Fox News. I have seen similar inaccuracies on the websites of CNN, the BBC, MSNBC and other media outlets.
News reporting, as of late, also seems plagued with other glaring errors as well in such things as grammar, punctuation, spelling that would make one think some of the news articles were written by the semi-illiterate. All of those gaffes seem minimal though when compared to some of the reporting that has been presented to us though, it seems that all to frequently the media just can not get their stories straight on important events. That, and the political partisanship expressed by many major media companies gets me to wondering just exactly how it is that the Supreme Court of the United States keeps upholding the freedom of the press for the media when in fact it is more like the media is a group of political hills - or at best fiction writers not at all reporting the news but presenting the tallest of tall tales I have read in years.
I guess, when I think about it a bit, I should not be surprised by the terrible grammar, the abysmal lack of knowledge on basic school subjects such as geography, the glaring political partisanship or any other fault with media reporting when it seems they in the media strives to sling mud more so than they strive to accurately report the news. No wonder, that when I pick up a newspaper, I go straight to either the funnies or the crossword puzzle.
All the best,
GB
For instance, take a look at this regional listing for current news, in the northeast United States, that I found on FoxNews.com under the header: U.S.:
Northeast
southeast
News reporting, as of late, also seems plagued with other glaring errors as well in such things as grammar, punctuation, spelling that would make one think some of the news articles were written by the semi-illiterate. All of those gaffes seem minimal though when compared to some of the reporting that has been presented to us though, it seems that all to frequently the media just can not get their stories straight on important events. That, and the political partisanship expressed by many major media companies gets me to wondering just exactly how it is that the Supreme Court of the United States keeps upholding the freedom of the press for the media when in fact it is more like the media is a group of political hills - or at best fiction writers not at all reporting the news but presenting the tallest of tall tales I have read in years.
I guess, when I think about it a bit, I should not be surprised by the terrible grammar, the abysmal lack of knowledge on basic school subjects such as geography, the glaring political partisanship or any other fault with media reporting when it seems they in the media strives to sling mud more so than they strive to accurately report the news. No wonder, that when I pick up a newspaper, I go straight to either the funnies or the crossword puzzle.
All the best,
GB
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Fruit of the Week - Third Edition
Not much fruit in the house this weekend so I did something a bit different for me. I mixed some Apple Juice, OJ and honey with a good sized dollop of Appleton's Rum. Not bad at all. Got those nasty bastard Islamists and their heinous and cowardly killings of children mostly off of my mind.
All the best,
GB
All the best,
GB
If This Is What Allah Wants - Fuck Allah Where He Breathes...
...preferably with a .45 ACP. I would gladly do it to Allah, to Mohammad and to any of their followers who would attempt to duplicate an attack like this in my presence. Hell, if Jesus Christ, Buddha, Vishnu, or any other god or prophet (or any of their followers) tried likewise, in my presence - I would gladly give each of them an oral enema (or a shot to center mass) with my 1911 in order to protect the innocent from they who are hell bent upon dealing out death and or severe bodily harm to innocents. Many of the dead and injured were children - fuck the cowardly bastards who carried out this attack. See:
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/06/19318588-29-boarding-school-students-burned-alive-shot-dead-by-islamist-militants-in-nigeria?lite=
I am sick and tired of not saying it as it should be said. FUCK ISLAM if this be what it spreads. Anyone else, in the free world, or any so called moderate Muslims, who do not think that everything and anything must be done to prevent more such killings, in the name of Allah, is a piece of pig shit.
Infidel forever,
Glenn B
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/06/19318588-29-boarding-school-students-burned-alive-shot-dead-by-islamist-militants-in-nigeria?lite=
I am sick and tired of not saying it as it should be said. FUCK ISLAM if this be what it spreads. Anyone else, in the free world, or any so called moderate Muslims, who do not think that everything and anything must be done to prevent more such killings, in the name of Allah, is a piece of pig shit.
Infidel forever,
Glenn B
I Give Up - I'm Letting The Real Me Out
For most of the time that I have presented this blog to you, I have remained mostly conservative, somewhat libertarian, usually very objective, more often than no very logical, properly civil, usually cordial and fairly proper in my language. I have also remained respectful (as long as you gave me respect too) and so forth. From now on, while that does not all go out the window, I have to tell you that I am going to allow some of it to be flushed right down the shitter. I have, for awhile, been tending to lean that way, and once I started to do so I watched the daily visits to my blog decline by quite a bit. Regardless, I am about to speak much more freely without constraint of conservative formality or any pretense that I cannot and will not be a foul mouth who can tell it like it is at all times but now use more o f the language I was brought up using.
Now mind you, I have told it like it is, as I see it, all along. Make no mistake of that. It is just that from this point forward, I will begin to take liberty with my right to free speech and say whatever it is I want to say in any god damned way I want to say it. This does not necessarily mean I will utilize foul language in every post, nor that its use will be overboard, but I'll be damned if I am going to restrain myself from using it any longer, when I think it more than appropriate to get my point across. If you do not like it, either lean how to put up with it, or don't read my blog.
All the best,
Glenn B
Now mind you, I have told it like it is, as I see it, all along. Make no mistake of that. It is just that from this point forward, I will begin to take liberty with my right to free speech and say whatever it is I want to say in any god damned way I want to say it. This does not necessarily mean I will utilize foul language in every post, nor that its use will be overboard, but I'll be damned if I am going to restrain myself from using it any longer, when I think it more than appropriate to get my point across. If you do not like it, either lean how to put up with it, or don't read my blog.
All the best,
Glenn B
Today In History - Happy Birthday George W
I bet you never before realized that George W. Bush was born on July 6, 1946, the day after the bikini was debuted. I have to say, while I did not think him all that great of a president, I certainly thought of him as being far better than Jimmy Carter, whom at the time GWB was president, I thought was the worst president by far in my lifetime. Now though, someone else has far surpassed Carter as the worst president ever and Obama makes Bush look like he was a superstar. One thing about Bush, he was a truly patriotic American and I am none to sure the current one is either a patriot or an American. Well, anyway, I just wanted to wish GWB a very happy birthday.
Now that I think of it, I guess good things come in threes. July 4th - Independence Day, July 5th - Bikini Day, July 6th - GWB day.
All the best,
GB
Now that I think of it, I guess good things come in threes. July 4th - Independence Day, July 5th - Bikini Day, July 6th - GWB day.
All the best,
GB
Friday, July 5, 2013
Today In History 1946 - The Beginning Of It All In Two Pieces
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| Micheline Bernardini wearing the first bikini, in 1946. No 'respectable model' would wear it. So, the 19 year old Micheline, who was nude dancer, donned it for all to see - much to the delight of most men since that moment in history. |
My posthumous thanks to Louis Reard, thank you sir so very, very much for so very, very little!
Video Source:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bikini-introduced
Photo source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MichelineBernardini.jpg
All the best,
Glenn B
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