Another one I could see whom someone else may kick in his arse and more than once. Not condoning, just saying.
All the best,
Glenn B
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
At Last - Wile E. Coyote Wins One
RIP Road Runner. Beep-Beep (as I always heard it) no more; or, if you prefer, no more Meep-Meep.
All the best,
Glenn B
De-Nuclearizing North Korea - Bullshit
If it is not one Clinton then it is the other and this video goes back to the first one and his promise that his agreement with the North Koreans would put an end to their nuclear program and thus to them being a nuclear threat. Just look at North Korea now! It is stunningly amazing that anyone could ever believe one word out of a Clinton's mouth.
All the best,
GB
All the best,
GB
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Any Of My Readers Shoot 338 Lapua?
I am selling a box of it via GunBroker.com at a better than decent price with free shipping. It is one (1) box of 20 rounds of Hornady Match 338 Lapua, 285 Gr., BTHP. Factory fresh old stock.
If you are interested, go here.
All the best,
GB
If you are interested, go here.
All the best,
GB
Monday, October 23, 2017
The Walking Dead - Season 8 Opener...
...was not an eye opener. I could barely keep my eyes open, it was that boring for the most part. Frankly, I think the opening episode of season 8 sucked. Besides being boring, it was way too drawn out to get only to where they got and thus went almost nowhere. To add insult to injury, they are doing that ridiculous time warp shit again - first being in the present, then suddenly in the future (and there is no apparent good point to it), then back to the present on a time warp seesaw. (My advice to the creators of the show - please leave the time warps for Star Trek.)
Yet, they possibly could have saved the whole episode and maybe the whole season had the Gabriel (the priest) just lived up to his namesake (the Archangel Gabriel) by simply raising his gun and blasting Negan to hell when Negan asked him if he was wearing his shitting pants. Maybe the addition of a wisecrack reply would have helped a bit, something like: "No I don't but I sure hope you are wearing yours" with Gabriel immediately letting loose a full auto blast of the entire magazine's worth of ammo into and from Negan's nutsack up to his face. Then Gabriel could have thrown
Negan's body outside for the zombies and Gabriel could have made his escape while the walkers feasted on that psychopathic leech. Yep, maybe - just maybe - that would have made the episode great and given me hope that it would be a good season.
One other thing, when Gabriel agreed with Rick that it wasn't all about him (Rick), I thought for sure Gabriel was about to become a gonner. Don't know why, just felt it in my gut. I was kind of happy to see that reformed once upon a time spineless bastard survive but man how I wish the creators of the show would have let him redeem himself completely by offing Negan like I just mentioned. Of course, that is pretty much how they could open episode 2!
All he best,
Glenn B
Yet, they possibly could have saved the whole episode and maybe the whole season had the Gabriel (the priest) just lived up to his namesake (the Archangel Gabriel) by simply raising his gun and blasting Negan to hell when Negan asked him if he was wearing his shitting pants. Maybe the addition of a wisecrack reply would have helped a bit, something like: "No I don't but I sure hope you are wearing yours" with Gabriel immediately letting loose a full auto blast of the entire magazine's worth of ammo into and from Negan's nutsack up to his face. Then Gabriel could have thrown
Negan's body outside for the zombies and Gabriel could have made his escape while the walkers feasted on that psychopathic leech. Yep, maybe - just maybe - that would have made the episode great and given me hope that it would be a good season.
One other thing, when Gabriel agreed with Rick that it wasn't all about him (Rick), I thought for sure Gabriel was about to become a gonner. Don't know why, just felt it in my gut. I was kind of happy to see that reformed once upon a time spineless bastard survive but man how I wish the creators of the show would have let him redeem himself completely by offing Negan like I just mentioned. Of course, that is pretty much how they could open episode 2!
All he best,
Glenn B
Friday, October 20, 2017
I Spent A Litle Range Time Bonding With...
... a couple of new acquaintances this afternoon. It's not like I met anyone new to hang with but I did have two brand new rifles (new to me anyway) that I wanted to get acquainted with at the range and a new set of grips on my Ruger Redhawk. So, I decided to go today and run a test fire of each gun.
The first gun to come out of its case was the KDF Model 2005 that I bought last week at the Hessney Auction. It was billed, for the auction, as a KFF Voere but there is no such model in 22LR and thus it did not take me long to figure out that the rifle I bought must be the KDF 2005, the only semi-auto model in 22LR that I could find as manufactured (or imported) by KDF.
I was a bit anxious about this one because I was unfamiliar with the specific type of semi-auto action that was operating it. My biggest concern, at first, was that the only way to get the bolt to travel forward was to pull the trigger. That had me concerned that maybe I had bought a clunker. A little research gave me the answer though - this model fires from an open bolt. Place the loaded mag securely into the mag well, pull the bolt handle pretty much straight down, maybe 1/2" at most, from a captured position and it is ready to fire with action in the open position. Squeeze the trigger and the bolt moves forward and fires it. It then returns to the open position for the next shot. I do not see the upside of this type of mechanism because if you wanted to use the rifle for something like squirrel hunting on a rainy day, the inside of the action would get soaked. I am guessing that firing from an open bolt has an advantage for it if you wanted to try converting it to fire full auto (which I am not about to try since it would be illegal). I do not know why that would be an advantage but I do know that some full auto submachine guns fire from an open bolt and thus there must be some perceived advantage for that feature on full auto guns. As it is, according to the Blue Book of Gun Values (online), ATF banned further importation of this rifle some years ago. It does not say why that was done but I am again guessing it has to do with it firing from an open bolt. Enough of that drivel, let me tell you how it did.
I fired about 50 rounds of 22LR ammo from it and used two brands of lead round nose. The first bunch I fired were Magtech 40 grain lead round nose. They fed and fired without a glitch. I had a bag of loose 22LR ammo with me of a wide variety of leftover rounds but instead of using those, I cracked open a box of the infamous (because it is often horrendous as to its lack of reliability) Remington Thunderbolt ammo. I fired off a few magazines worth of it (the mag holds 10 rounds). Everyone one of the Thunderbolts fed without fail and everyone of them boomed their thunder too.
As a matter of fact, from a standing unsupported position, I was able to get a group size of 2". No that is not great but it wasn't bad considering the ammo I was shooting was the Remington Thunderbolt and that I was firing unsupported. In fact, five of ten shots that I fired gave me a one hole group and the other five were spread around that group. I am guessing it would have been much better had I used the bench for support (or a tree or a knee if out hunting).
Next up was the brand new Mossberg MVP Long Range - Tactical (aka: Mossberg MVP LR-T). I cleaned it a bit before heading to the range. Wanted to make sure it would work smoothly. I have to point out one thing I noticed right away before even one shot was fired. The mag was difficult to load even past two rounds. I had to press down with the round canted at almost a 35 or 40 degree angle to get them in the mag. My guess is that will ease up with use.
The PMC ammo I shot through it was 5.56x45mm, 62 grain, green tip-LAP ammo, I also fired some Federal ammo though it that had three failures to fire. Later found out that was the fault of the ammo as the failures to fire also happened with the same ammo in my Ruger Ranch Rifle. I only had one box of that particular ammo, so no great loss.
In all, I fired 60 rounds through the Mossberg. As for how it shot, I fired a test target at about 30 yards (longest distance on my local indoor range). Before I tell you how it did in my hands, let me say that I slapped a scope onto it before leaving my house. That is pretty much literally what I did too. The scope was the one I had on my Savage Model 93 BVXP before sending it in for warranty repairs to Savage. It was still in its rings and I just attached the rings to the Picatinny rail on the Mossberg and tightened the screws. I had no clue if it would be even on the paper at 30 yards. Here is how it did, with me firing from a standing unsupported position (and I am no rifleman):
The first gun to come out of its case was the KDF Model 2005 that I bought last week at the Hessney Auction. It was billed, for the auction, as a KFF Voere but there is no such model in 22LR and thus it did not take me long to figure out that the rifle I bought must be the KDF 2005, the only semi-auto model in 22LR that I could find as manufactured (or imported) by KDF.
I was a bit anxious about this one because I was unfamiliar with the specific type of semi-auto action that was operating it. My biggest concern, at first, was that the only way to get the bolt to travel forward was to pull the trigger. That had me concerned that maybe I had bought a clunker. A little research gave me the answer though - this model fires from an open bolt. Place the loaded mag securely into the mag well, pull the bolt handle pretty much straight down, maybe 1/2" at most, from a captured position and it is ready to fire with action in the open position. Squeeze the trigger and the bolt moves forward and fires it. It then returns to the open position for the next shot. I do not see the upside of this type of mechanism because if you wanted to use the rifle for something like squirrel hunting on a rainy day, the inside of the action would get soaked. I am guessing that firing from an open bolt has an advantage for it if you wanted to try converting it to fire full auto (which I am not about to try since it would be illegal). I do not know why that would be an advantage but I do know that some full auto submachine guns fire from an open bolt and thus there must be some perceived advantage for that feature on full auto guns. As it is, according to the Blue Book of Gun Values (online), ATF banned further importation of this rifle some years ago. It does not say why that was done but I am again guessing it has to do with it firing from an open bolt. Enough of that drivel, let me tell you how it did.
I fired about 50 rounds of 22LR ammo from it and used two brands of lead round nose. The first bunch I fired were Magtech 40 grain lead round nose. They fed and fired without a glitch. I had a bag of loose 22LR ammo with me of a wide variety of leftover rounds but instead of using those, I cracked open a box of the infamous (because it is often horrendous as to its lack of reliability) Remington Thunderbolt ammo. I fired off a few magazines worth of it (the mag holds 10 rounds). Everyone one of the Thunderbolts fed without fail and everyone of them boomed their thunder too.
 |
| Not great but none too shabby. |
Next up was the brand new Mossberg MVP Long Range - Tactical (aka: Mossberg MVP LR-T). I cleaned it a bit before heading to the range. Wanted to make sure it would work smoothly. I have to point out one thing I noticed right away before even one shot was fired. The mag was difficult to load even past two rounds. I had to press down with the round canted at almost a 35 or 40 degree angle to get them in the mag. My guess is that will ease up with use.
The PMC ammo I shot through it was 5.56x45mm, 62 grain, green tip-LAP ammo, I also fired some Federal ammo though it that had three failures to fire. Later found out that was the fault of the ammo as the failures to fire also happened with the same ammo in my Ruger Ranch Rifle. I only had one box of that particular ammo, so no great loss.
In all, I fired 60 rounds through the Mossberg. As for how it shot, I fired a test target at about 30 yards (longest distance on my local indoor range). Before I tell you how it did in my hands, let me say that I slapped a scope onto it before leaving my house. That is pretty much literally what I did too. The scope was the one I had on my Savage Model 93 BVXP before sending it in for warranty repairs to Savage. It was still in its rings and I just attached the rings to the Picatinny rail on the Mossberg and tightened the screws. I had no clue if it would be even on the paper at 30 yards. Here is how it did, with me firing from a standing unsupported position (and I am no rifleman):
 |
| 13 shots, all on paper and only one of them not on target. I am happy. |
Two things I'd like to say about that - I think I did okay and I guess I set the scope pretty well just slapping it into place on the rail and tightening the screws. I'll have to take it to an at least 100 yard range, preferably 200 yard one, to really see how I can do with it resting on sandbags on a bench.
After that, it was onto the Ruger Redhawk with its new grips. I picked up a pair of new - old stock Pachmayr grips for the Redhawk at the Hessney Auction last weekend. I bough them from a guy whose wife had the high bid on a box with 15 Pachmayr grips for different guns in it. I had asked a dealer, I knew who was going to bid on the same, if she would sell me that one set of grips if she had the high bid on the box of them. She told me it would be too complicated to sell me something at the auction and I just walked away. Lucky for me, the other lady had the high bid. When I asked her if she would sell me the Redhawk set, she had me ask her husband. I offered him $10 for the set of grips and he said sure. They had gotten the box of 18 pairs of grips for, as I recall, and $80 bid (making it $86 with buyer's premium and tax). That worked out to about $4.77 per set of grips. I should have bid higher myself and then sold them if I had the high bid but I really am satisfied with just the one set of grips.
 |
| The Ruger Redhawk with its original wood grips. They offer way too little to grip onto especially up at the top in back and front. Thus the few times the web between my thumb and forefinger was bitten & bloodied after firing this beast. |
 |
| The Pachmayr grips cover more of the frame, are much more bulky & offer more grip to hold. They make the Redhawk ever so much more controllable. |
As for those grips on the Redhawk, yes they made a difference - a big one. The revolver still kicks like a mule, at least when shooting 300 grain semi-jacketed soft points but the kick was absorbed by the grips much more than by the original wood Ruger grips that came with it. They are quite the improvement. The ones I got are an older version and quite beefy so to speak. Thus they offer a lot to grip onto and offer more protection to the shooting hand while making the recoil much more controllable. They were well worth a mere ten bucks. I may actually have lots of fun with the Redhawk now, or at least more fun than the limited amount I had been enjoying already - limited because of had badly it was on the hand before these new grips.
All in all, a nice hour at the range.
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Work Sucks - Again
Well, maybe I should say that having to work sucks especially since I am retired! Anyway, I worked the last four days and thus the lack of blogging. Hopefully I can resume with some gusto tomorrow once my anticipated hangover is gone. Since I will not be working tomorrow (except maybe for some yard work and gun cleaning) I am working with some diligence on getting a hangover right now.
All the best,
GB
All the best,
GB
Monday, October 16, 2017
Where Were Your Guns Made?
I just picked up a rifle in 22LR over the past weekend. It was made in Germany. When I bought it I realized that, even though I own a German made pistol, that is my first rifle that was German made. Started me to thinking from which various countries of origin are all of my guns. I currently own guns that were made these 10 countries:
USA
Austria
Brazil
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Poland
Romania
Russia
Yugoslavia
There may be one or two more to add to the list but I think I got them all for the guns I own right now. I have also owned guns from at least two other countries of origin: Canada and China.
What about yours?
All the best,
Glenn B
USA
Austria
Brazil
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Poland
Romania
Russia
Yugoslavia
There may be one or two more to add to the list but I think I got them all for the guns I own right now. I have also owned guns from at least two other countries of origin: Canada and China.
What about yours?
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, October 15, 2017
I Am An Addict - A Regular Gun Auction Junkie
Really, I am an addict. I am completely addicted to firearms auctions or at least to the auctions run by the Hessney Auction Company LTD. in Geneva, New York. Mind you, I do not necessarily think that is a bad thing, in fact I kind of think it a good one - that is as long as my wife never finds out how many guns and how much ammo and other things I have bought from them nor how much I have spent there. Truth be told, I am carful to stay within certain spending limits and because of that I am kicking myself in the back o my pants' seat today.
Yesterday, I attended yet another Hessney Rod & Gun Auction. I drove about 310 miles to get there on Friday for the auction preview. I got there at about 430 and while I didn't quite get there when I would have liked to, at 3PM, when the doors open for the preview I still had enough time to look at just about everything. If you are wondering why I got there so late, it was not because I woke up late or anything like that. Yes, I am The Great procrastinator but try not to be when it comes to getting to the auction; so, I was up at 0530 hours and started getting ready. Besides packing for the trip, getting ready meant that I also had to appease she who must beobeyed adored before leaving home. That meant I had to take care of my critters, mow the lawn, sweep the sidewalk and driveway, rake the leaves, bag the leaves and whatever else it took to remain on her good side.
After all that was finally done, I was off telling her I was going upstate. She assumed I was going to her brother's house for the weekend, maybe thinking I was going hunting. I considered keeping her in the dark but I figured I had better tell the truth just in case she would see me walking back into our house with a new gun or three when I returned. So, I told her and she was just as disinterested as she is normally whenever I tell her something. That is a good thing if only because it is in line with the saying on one of my favorite t-shirts, so much a favorite I am wearing it as I key in this post - let me show you.
Now you may think I am smiling because of the sentiment on that shirt and guess, in a manner of speaking you would be right. In other words, yeah I bought a couple of new guns yesterday. I also bought a rifle scope, a pistol case, some ammo and some art work (outdoorsy stuff). I guess that since my wife was awake and watching television when I slinked in through the side entrance to our house last night, you might think she got up to greet me and saw my newly acquired firearms. If that is what you think, it means you have not been paying attention to this post (or previous ones) when it comes to the interest my wife has in me! That too is a good thing in some regards, like being able to get those new guns down to the basement undetected. While she pays so little attention to me and the guns, I still wonder if he ever checks in the checkbook to see how much I have spent at the auctions. Who knows and who cares since she has not killed yet killed me over it.
So what did I get:
As you can see in the caption of the last one, I am planning on making good use of that one. As for the other artwork, I guess my basement can use the two prints. Where I could hang that wooden plaque, and it is fairly good sized and heavy, is beyond me. Maybe it will become a gift for my brother-in-law for his house!
Then there was the ammo:
Lest you think that I am spending beyond my means, try to remember I said I stay within certain limits and thus my addiction does not get too badly out of hand. I may have to skip lunch for the next year to recoup the cash I spent but won't it be good if I loose 50 pounds of more! Actually (and yes dear, just in case you ever read it, this is the truth) I got almost everything at exceptionally good prices. The only thing on which I maaybe overbid (as far as the guns and ammo go - who can tell with the art) was the 308 WIN ammo. I got that for not quite but just about what I would have to pay in a store nowadays. Everything else was a steal - well I paid for it but you know what I mean. As for he art, the big oil painting was considerably less than a half a c-note and the prints were less than the oil painting and that was for both of the prints combined. The deer on wood - that was $10.00. Besides getting good prices on it all, some of it is already for sale so that I can recoup some of what I spent. No guns for sale, at least not yet, but I am selling some of the ammo and the scope.
Yesterday, I attended yet another Hessney Rod & Gun Auction. I drove about 310 miles to get there on Friday for the auction preview. I got there at about 430 and while I didn't quite get there when I would have liked to, at 3PM, when the doors open for the preview I still had enough time to look at just about everything. If you are wondering why I got there so late, it was not because I woke up late or anything like that. Yes, I am The Great procrastinator but try not to be when it comes to getting to the auction; so, I was up at 0530 hours and started getting ready. Besides packing for the trip, getting ready meant that I also had to appease she who must be
After all that was finally done, I was off telling her I was going upstate. She assumed I was going to her brother's house for the weekend, maybe thinking I was going hunting. I considered keeping her in the dark but I figured I had better tell the truth just in case she would see me walking back into our house with a new gun or three when I returned. So, I told her and she was just as disinterested as she is normally whenever I tell her something. That is a good thing if only because it is in line with the saying on one of my favorite t-shirts, so much a favorite I am wearing it as I key in this post - let me show you.
 |
| If that saying does not hit the mark then I'm a blind shooter. |
So what did I get:
 |
| Mossberg MVP Long Range Tactical in 5.566x45mm |
 |
| KDF Voere in 22LR. According to this link, BATFE found this to be unsuitable for further importation into the US of A. My guess is that this fires from an open bolt and that could be the reason for the importation bn. Inquiries sent to KDF. |
 |
| Wish it came out better in the photo, nature scene with Whitetail Deer on wood. |
 |
| I think the critter facing off with the porcupine is a Wolverine, fearsome beasts they are indeed. |
 |
| Mountain Men, reminiscent of Charlton Heston and Brian Keith in the movie The Mountain Men. If you are into the days of the fur trapper - watch that movie. |
 |
| A really nice oil painting depicting ducks about to come down on a pond (is it landing when not on land). It's big - 24"x48" and almost did not fit into my Toyota Corolla, I had to lower the back seats to get it in the car. It's going to be a house warming present for my daughter and son-in-law's new house. |
As you can see in the caption of the last one, I am planning on making good use of that one. As for the other artwork, I guess my basement can use the two prints. Where I could hang that wooden plaque, and it is fairly good sized and heavy, is beyond me. Maybe it will become a gift for my brother-in-law for his house!
Then there was the ammo:
The two things with the best bids, relative to retail prices, were the Mossberg MVP Long Range Tactical rifle and the Hornady Match 338 Lapua Ammo. Then again, the KDF Voere was less than a hundred as well. I think I did okay. Of course, now that I bought all this new stuff, I have to sell some of my older guns; that is just how it works out now ever since I have been married;. Well anyhow, my wife thinks I sell them and yes, I really do sell some now and again so I can buy others but somehow it never seems to balance out.
There is an upcoming Hessney Rod & Gun auction scheduled in December but chances are I will not be going to that one if only because I will need money to buy some Christmas presents for the family. Besides that, I really am trying to shed my gun auction junkie status by fighting off those seemingly unavoidable impulses that I get to travel northward each time I read an email about an upcoming auction. Time will tell though. I may be there in December no matter what I think now about me being strong enough of will to sail on past that one while tied to the mast as was Odysseus when the Sirens sang their alluringly irresistible song to him and his men. By the way, did I happen to mention, 'Hi my name is Glenn and I am an addict...'
All the best,
Glenn B
Thursday, October 12, 2017
More Of My Kind of Luck - Guns This Time
What was it - maybe two years ago or a little more than that back when my fairly new (I bought it new and had only lightly used it) Taurus PT145 Millennium Pro had to be replaced due to a recall. Instead of them sending me another model of semi-auto pistol in 45 ACP, Taurus sent me a piece of shit (my opinion) PT140 G2 Millennium in .40S&W! Apparently others think it a piece of shit too since I have been unable to sell it for less than the lowest retail price that I have seen on. It is still new in the box. and probably will remain in that condition until I can sell it. Taurus outright refused to send me a 45 to replace my 45! I will never, and I do mean never, buy a new Taurus product in the commercial retail market.
Then about a year ago, I bought a Rock Island Armory M1911-A1 Full Size pistol. I had to send it in because of a problem with the slide stop not snapping into place without the slide stop plunger needing to be manually depressed before doing so. My local dealer told me he did not think of it as much of a problem, if any, but I sent it in anyway on the recommendation of Armscor. Lucky for me I did so because Armscor (parent company of RIA) found a major flaw in how the frame had been milled and told me it could have led to catastrophic failure down the road. They sent me a new gun - same model and thus I think they did much better than Taurus in that regard.
Then it was Savage Arm's turn. I had sent a Savage Model 93 BVXP to them due to a problem with its magazines not seating or feeding properly. They supposedly repaired it. Then they returned it to me. When I received it, the shipping boxes were virtually undamaged but when I examined the gun it was obviously and badly damaged. Seems it had to have happened at Savage Arms. I contacted Savage Arms and they had me ship it back to them; more on this in a bit so it stays in chronological order but first to Marlin.
Back in July, I ordered a brand new Marlin 1895GBL. Got it in record time through a dealer on GunBroker.com. Was in a factory sealed box. Looked at it quickly, at my FFL when it came in; it was too quickly. It looked okay but I was not wearing my reading glasses. I set it aside for about a week or two and then finally took it out to clean it prior to an anticipated range trip. When I was handling it, I felt a screw that was not seated properly. I think the tenon into which it was screwed was stripped. I also found an internally rusted part that could be seen when the lever was pulled out. I sent it to Marlin/Remington for repair. They called me and left me a message, not too long ago, saying it needs to be replaced. Waiting to receive a new one.
Back to Savage. Today, Savage Arms called and left me a voice mail. The rep said that they are going to replace the Savage Model 93 BVXP but they no longer produce the same model and want to offer me some alternatives. Not bad, they offered me two similar models that probably retail for more than did the one I had. The one the offered at first was the 93 BTVSS. Here is it:
The second one they offered, after I asked if they had it available, was the 93 BRJ. Here is it:
Okay, I like that, that is a class act. I am going to call them tomorrow, after I think over tonight, to tell them which one I want. One is similar to my original but in stainless and with a thumbhole stock. The other is similar but with a blued steel fluted barrel. I had been leaning toward the one in stainless but am back at I have no clue right now.
Was hoping my son will chime in on this before I have to make the call but he texted me earlier saying he has been working 16-17 hour days because his job just lost 7 people thus I guess he is pooped. Let me take a moment to check the text messages again.... Ah, there was one from him saying the stainless one looks nice. Yes, I must agree but then again so to does the other one look nice. I don't think I have any guns in stainless right now though, so maybe I'll have to go for that one. Decisions - decisions but Brendan's input has me again leaning toward the 93 BTVSS!
I do not know what it is with me and my new guns having to be replaced and had been thinking that was bad luck . Maybe though, like Brendan told me a few days ago, it is all a good thing. After all, the manufacturers found whatever problems were the reasons they decided to replace these guns for me and thus maybe prevented one from blowing up in my face. That is true at least with the Taurus, RIA and Marlin. As for the Savage, the problem was they evidently ruined my original model 93 but they certainly seem willing to make up for that in an excellent fashion. Maybe my luck is actually improving.
Damn, it's Friday the 13th tomorrow!
All the best,
Glenn B
Back in July, I ordered a brand new Marlin 1895GBL. Got it in record time through a dealer on GunBroker.com. Was in a factory sealed box. Looked at it quickly, at my FFL when it came in; it was too quickly. It looked okay but I was not wearing my reading glasses. I set it aside for about a week or two and then finally took it out to clean it prior to an anticipated range trip. When I was handling it, I felt a screw that was not seated properly. I think the tenon into which it was screwed was stripped. I also found an internally rusted part that could be seen when the lever was pulled out. I sent it to Marlin/Remington for repair. They called me and left me a message, not too long ago, saying it needs to be replaced. Waiting to receive a new one.
Back to Savage. Today, Savage Arms called and left me a voice mail. The rep said that they are going to replace the Savage Model 93 BVXP but they no longer produce the same model and want to offer me some alternatives. Not bad, they offered me two similar models that probably retail for more than did the one I had. The one the offered at first was the 93 BTVSS. Here is it:
 |
| Savage Model 93 BTVSS in 22 WMR |
The second one they offered, after I asked if they had it available, was the 93 BRJ. Here is it:
 |
| Savage Model 93 BRJ in 22WMR |
Okay, I like that, that is a class act. I am going to call them tomorrow, after I think over tonight, to tell them which one I want. One is similar to my original but in stainless and with a thumbhole stock. The other is similar but with a blued steel fluted barrel. I had been leaning toward the one in stainless but am back at I have no clue right now.
Was hoping my son will chime in on this before I have to make the call but he texted me earlier saying he has been working 16-17 hour days because his job just lost 7 people thus I guess he is pooped. Let me take a moment to check the text messages again.... Ah, there was one from him saying the stainless one looks nice. Yes, I must agree but then again so to does the other one look nice. I don't think I have any guns in stainless right now though, so maybe I'll have to go for that one. Decisions - decisions but Brendan's input has me again leaning toward the 93 BTVSS!
I do not know what it is with me and my new guns having to be replaced and had been thinking that was bad luck . Maybe though, like Brendan told me a few days ago, it is all a good thing. After all, the manufacturers found whatever problems were the reasons they decided to replace these guns for me and thus maybe prevented one from blowing up in my face. That is true at least with the Taurus, RIA and Marlin. As for the Savage, the problem was they evidently ruined my original model 93 but they certainly seem willing to make up for that in an excellent fashion. Maybe my luck is actually improving.
Damn, it's Friday the 13th tomorrow!
All the best,
Glenn B
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
I've Got That Kind Luck
Got taken out this past Saturday night for dinner by my wife with our daughter, son-in-law and grandson (was missing my son bigtime since he now is living in AR). It was a birthday celebration for yours truly. We had a really nice meal in a Portuguese restaurant. I had some things I like a lot like braised goat (yummy), octopus, mussels, scallops, shrimp, and lamb. The seafood was in a couple of hot appetizers. The goat was my main course and the lamb was a chop my daughter let me have from her plate. Also had a couple and a half of beers.
I took only one bite of the lamb. Just as I passed my tonsils and was on its way down the tube and overwhelming aftertaste of rotten meat hit my taste buds. Shame on me for either not going right to the head to force myself to upchuck or for not having a double shot of vodka or other strong spirits. Everyone at the table excluding the rugrat, told me I was out of my mind and that it was just the sauce! The rest is pretty gross and pretty detailed - thus below the cover:
I took only one bite of the lamb. Just as I passed my tonsils and was on its way down the tube and overwhelming aftertaste of rotten meat hit my taste buds. Shame on me for either not going right to the head to force myself to upchuck or for not having a double shot of vodka or other strong spirits. Everyone at the table excluding the rugrat, told me I was out of my mind and that it was just the sauce! The rest is pretty gross and pretty detailed - thus below the cover:
Saturday, October 7, 2017
I Guess I Need To Hit The Range
I just received my latest shipment of am today consisting of 300 rounds of 44 Rem. Mag. and 500 rounds of 38 Special. That could keep me busy for about three or four range trips.
All the best,
GB
All the best,
GB
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Bump Fire Stocks Are On Sale...
...but not for sale prices! While perusing the news on the Fox News and One America News Network websites yesterday, I saw a bunch of headlines referencing what the media calls "bump stocks" which are better known (at least to me) as 'bump fire stocks'. I guess that the numerous media references to these stocks is to be expected considering that the evil dirtbag in Las Vegas had several rifles outfitted with them. There has been an awful amount of balderdash about how they convert a semi-automatic into a fully automatic weapon. In fact that is not what a bump fire stock accomplishes as you still need to activate the trigger one trigger squeeze for one shot which a bump fire stock allows the shooter to do at a very high rate as opposed to a full auto weapon with which you pull the trigger once and it keeps firing long as the trigger is held back. With that and with all the bad press and with the bad mouthing they have been receiving from politicians who usually want to blame the object and not the person misusing it, I took a look online to see how much their prices had jumped because - I was sure they had indeed gone up in price quite a lot.
Two websites of manufacturers of them apparently had none available for whatever reason. I suspect the reason is that they have discontinued selling them because of all the bad press and because they are afraid someone may purchase one or more and commit a copycat act of heinous violence. Of course, they really may be out of stock too as I am guessing they are selling like crazy. One of those company's sites simply said: "We have decided to temporarily suspend taking new orders in order to provide the best service with those already placed." That was SlideFire.com. When I tried to access the other site, BumpFireSystems.com, I received this error message: "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable". I tried them several times yesterday and today with the same result. AtlanticFirearms.com, a retailer of SlideFire.com products, had bump fire stocks advertised but stated they were out of stock and expected more to come into stock. Their advertised price was $149.95. Before the Vegas shooting, that had been the going price as far as I am aware. I guess being out of stock, or claiming to be out of stock, or not having the website available was to be expected.
After trying those three websites, I also ran a search for 'bump fire stock' on GunBroker.com. What I found there, I suppose, was also to be expected and that was in the form of the price increases I had imagined would come due to the late notoriety of these devices. There were several for sale on GunBroker, both new and used. Some of them had reasonable minimum opening bids such as $99.00. There is no reserve on that one. Others though had required opening bids of as high as $699.00 and maybe some were higher. Now, if you doubt that these will sell at such inflated prices like that, I also took a look at some auctions that already had bids and found one that had had a minimum starting bid of $300.00. That one also already had a bid of $1,025.00 placed on it for a single bump fire stock! See it here before the listing closes in about 44 minutes from me writing this. It's selling for about 6.8 X it's original retail price and that folks is crazy. I guess it is like Ralph Kramden once said though, it's: "a mere bag of shells" (at least to some folks). The free market is a good thing, especially when you have what others want badly enough and they are willing to spend, spend, spend!
And yes, of course, I bid on one but just for shits & giggles as we used to say. My starting bid was .01 cent and my maximum bid was $50.00.
All the best,
Glenn B
Two websites of manufacturers of them apparently had none available for whatever reason. I suspect the reason is that they have discontinued selling them because of all the bad press and because they are afraid someone may purchase one or more and commit a copycat act of heinous violence. Of course, they really may be out of stock too as I am guessing they are selling like crazy. One of those company's sites simply said: "We have decided to temporarily suspend taking new orders in order to provide the best service with those already placed." That was SlideFire.com. When I tried to access the other site, BumpFireSystems.com, I received this error message: "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable". I tried them several times yesterday and today with the same result. AtlanticFirearms.com, a retailer of SlideFire.com products, had bump fire stocks advertised but stated they were out of stock and expected more to come into stock. Their advertised price was $149.95. Before the Vegas shooting, that had been the going price as far as I am aware. I guess being out of stock, or claiming to be out of stock, or not having the website available was to be expected.
After trying those three websites, I also ran a search for 'bump fire stock' on GunBroker.com. What I found there, I suppose, was also to be expected and that was in the form of the price increases I had imagined would come due to the late notoriety of these devices. There were several for sale on GunBroker, both new and used. Some of them had reasonable minimum opening bids such as $99.00. There is no reserve on that one. Others though had required opening bids of as high as $699.00 and maybe some were higher. Now, if you doubt that these will sell at such inflated prices like that, I also took a look at some auctions that already had bids and found one that had had a minimum starting bid of $300.00. That one also already had a bid of $1,025.00 placed on it for a single bump fire stock! See it here before the listing closes in about 44 minutes from me writing this. It's selling for about 6.8 X it's original retail price and that folks is crazy. I guess it is like Ralph Kramden once said though, it's: "a mere bag of shells" (at least to some folks). The free market is a good thing, especially when you have what others want badly enough and they are willing to spend, spend, spend!
And yes, of course, I bid on one but just for shits & giggles as we used to say. My starting bid was .01 cent and my maximum bid was $50.00.
All the best,
Glenn B
Monday, October 2, 2017
I Anticipate A Lot Of Anti-Gun Fallout...
...over what happened in Las Vegas. Let's face it, the politicians taking political advantage of this tragedy is already taking place. That is evident by way of the remarks reportedly made by Hillary Clinton (source) and Fauxahontas Warren (more here). It seems that leftists in general are already going apeshit, many saying something to the effect that they feel no sadness over this since mostly conservatives go to country music concerts. CBS reportedly already has fired an attorney they had employed because of a statement or tweets (or whatever) she made saying something similar to that I just mentioned; more at the source.
Living in NY, I am quite familiar with the knee jerk reactions that leftist politicians will make in response to this tragedy. My guess would be that the NY S.A.F.E. Act will somehow be strengthened and it will happen quickly and without any review (a review is required by law) just as how the S.A.F.E. Act was passed in the wee hours of the morning and then pushed upon an unsuspecting public. FUAC.
On the other hand, many people are reacting in a much better way and are sending in donations to help the victims, praying for them and their families, volunteering to help and so on. According to a new conference on Fox News this evening, the Clark County Commissioner said that over 15,000 contributions amounting to over 1.5 million dollars had already been made. I am not one much for prayer but figure it cannot hurt and have said quite the few already, especially for that those who were severely wounded will fully recover.
Getting back to my anticipation of a lot of anti-gun fallout, I also did something I consider very practical, especially in an anti-gun hysteria state like NY and ordered some ammo on which I was short. It really would not surprise me if the immoral and unethical anti-gun goons in the NY legislature, along with Petty Tyrant Cuomo, try to ban all guns and ammo within NY in the very near future by using this terrible incident as political ammunition to accomplish such.
A donation by me is coming next once I find out an official site through which to donate relative to this incident alone.
All the best,
Glenn B
Living in NY, I am quite familiar with the knee jerk reactions that leftist politicians will make in response to this tragedy. My guess would be that the NY S.A.F.E. Act will somehow be strengthened and it will happen quickly and without any review (a review is required by law) just as how the S.A.F.E. Act was passed in the wee hours of the morning and then pushed upon an unsuspecting public. FUAC.
On the other hand, many people are reacting in a much better way and are sending in donations to help the victims, praying for them and their families, volunteering to help and so on. According to a new conference on Fox News this evening, the Clark County Commissioner said that over 15,000 contributions amounting to over 1.5 million dollars had already been made. I am not one much for prayer but figure it cannot hurt and have said quite the few already, especially for that those who were severely wounded will fully recover.
Getting back to my anticipation of a lot of anti-gun fallout, I also did something I consider very practical, especially in an anti-gun hysteria state like NY and ordered some ammo on which I was short. It really would not surprise me if the immoral and unethical anti-gun goons in the NY legislature, along with Petty Tyrant Cuomo, try to ban all guns and ammo within NY in the very near future by using this terrible incident as political ammunition to accomplish such.
A donation by me is coming next once I find out an official site through which to donate relative to this incident alone.
All the best,
Glenn B
Las Vegas...
...what a depraved tragedy, more at the source. Pray for them. What more could I say right now.
All the best,
Glenn B
All the best,
Glenn B
Sunday, October 1, 2017
If They Sold Them...
...some fan-boy type would buy them and tell you how they were the greatest things since pumpkin pie!
Happy October,
Glenn B
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Monty Hall Chooses The Prize Behind The Exit Curtain...
...and I can only hope for him that he has stepped through the threshold to Paradise. Monty Hall, co-creator and long time host of Let's Make A Deal, has made his last deal and has passed away from suspected heart failure at age 96. The man gave me a lot of laughs back when I was kid watching him and all the whackos on his show. I remember that the first show I saw on our very first color TV, back in the mid-sixties, was Let's Make A Deal. As we watched, I turned to my older brother and said in amazement - 'look at all the colors' (meaning of the audience's wild costumes) and my brother turned to me in in as sarcastic a voice as he could muster said something like 'what did you expect, it's color TV'! I just shut up and watched.
More on Monty Hall here.
All the best,
Glenn B
More on Monty Hall here.
All the best,
Glenn B
Paladin Press Closing Shop
After 47 years in business - Paladin Press is closing shop. I think maybe I have ordered one or two books from them ever. Then again, I am guessing others may find them their go to book seller when it comes to firearms and training related books among others like those on knives, prepping, improvised weapons, fighting styles and so on. They are closing down at the end of the year, last sales on November 29th. They say to stay tuned for drastic price reductions. More info here: http://paladin-pressblog.com/2017/09/28/paladin-press-is-closing/
All the best,
Glenn B
All the best,
Glenn B
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