Man On The Street Question: Who Won Last Night's Debate (asked hours ahead of actual debate)

It is truly scary to believe that Americans are so darned clueless; yet, those same Americans will probably flock to the polls to vote. My bet would be that most of them, at least the ones in the embedded video, will vote for Obama. You will note that not one said Romney won 'the debate'. Maybe that is because it has got to be a stronghold of liberalism where the man on the street interviews took place in which the reporter asked passers by whom they thought won last night's debate.

The clinker was that there had not been a debate the night before, the actual second debate between Romney and Obama was scheduled for, a few hours later, on the evening of the day on which the questions were asked. Just listen to the answers given and you will immediately understand the meanings of the words stupid, clueless, ignorant, moronic, self-important, egotistical, dishonest, Californian (as Wirecutter would says, it has got to be California again), and so on. 

Then again, there is the last guy. He is the best by far and is unlike any of the others. He is asked the question and seems almost shocked. Then he honestly professes his ignorance. My guess, he is either a Republican or a Libertarian!

Hat tip to Peter Q for sending me that one.

All the best,
Glenn B

There Are Monsters Among Us - Some Closer Than We Think

I just finished reading an article in the Miami Sun Sentinel. It is about Anthony Mangione, a former Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement  in Florida and a former Customs Agent. As you are probably aware, I retired from Homeland Security Investigations last November. HSI was formerly known as ICE. ICE was an agency formed in part by combining the investigative branches of U.S. Customs and the Immigration and Naturalization Service under DHS back in 2003.

There is a good chance that I worked with this guy sometime in my career, or under him on a temporary assignment. It makes me sick to think such might have been the case. He does look familiar, very familiar and looked that way the first time I saw his face plastered all over the news last year.
 

He is, in my opinion, a monster. He was indeed very close, a lot closer that I thought such a despicable and heinous man could be just in that he worked for the same agencies as me. It makes me ashamed to have worked for those same agencies even though I doubt the agencies ever even had a hint that he was a child pornographer. He was supposed to protect kids instead of exploiting them. Heaven, and he know what other criminal acts he may have done involving children.

For more info, see: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/fl-anthony-mangione-child-porn-20121013%2c0%2c7813574.story 

I can only hope that they give him the maximum allowable sentence.

All the best,

Glenn B

Stay Jobless - Vote Obama

That says it well. Hat tip to Bob C for sending me this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Vote Against A Gun Ban - Vote For Romney

Last night, at the 2nd debate against Mitt Romney, the Obamessiah said he would try to reimplement the Assault Weapons Ban AND also said he would look into sources of other violence after saying his hometown of Chicago is plagued with violence by criminals using cheap handguns.

"But I also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don’t belong on our streets. And so what I’m trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced. But part of it is also looking at other sources of the violence. Because frankly, in my home town of Chicago, there’s an awful lot of violence and they’re not using AK-47s. They’re using cheap hand guns."  Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/in-debate-obama-abandons-under-the-radar-path-to-forcible-citizen-disamament.

Folks, it is plain to me and should be to you - he has just declared war on supporters of the 2nd Amendment and has said it pretty plainly that he is against weapons from those manufactured for the military to inexpensive handguns. That could cover almost all of them out there when you give it some thought. It sure as heck covers a huge number of firearms now legally owned by citizens and legal resident aliens within the USA. If you vote for this guy Obama and not for Mitt Romney, I think you may as well consider yourself a traitor to our rights as Americans. I almost certainly would think of  you that way!

All the best,
Glenn B

The Hessney Rod & Gun Auction, October 2012

As I already mentioned, in one of my recent posts, I took a drive up to Geneva, NY this past weekend to attend the Hessney Auction Company Rod and Gun Auction on Saturday. I headed out on the road at about 1:45 in the afternoon. Nope, I was not an early starter, I had things to do before I left. They included some chores in the house, going to the local county police department to pick up a purchase document for a pistol (I had one already but wanted another just in case) and some other few things that needed doing.

I was hoping that my departure hour would have been early enough to avoid Friday afternoon rush hour traffic but as you can see from the pics, both on the highway and on the city streets I had to drive through in the Bronx to get from one highway to another, I hit heavy traffic. It took me about 6 hours and 45 minutes to get to Horseheads, NY, and that was about 50 miles short of my final destination on a trip of 302 or so miles total. I decided to stay overnight at Horseheads because they have a motel 6 in that town. I see no reason to cough up big bucks just to sleep in a place that is fancier. They even had free Wi-Fi so that kept me busy making some last minute checks on the auction catalog to see if I had missed anything on which I might want to bid.

Come Saturday morning, I was out of bed at about 0530. I showered up and packed my stuff, then headed outside to the car. It was dark outside and cold too. I did not stay outside long. I packed my stuff into the trunk and started the car up, left it running and ran back inside because the thermometer on my dash said it was only 26 degrees outside. I waited about 10 minutes before heading out and by then the heat was just starting to blow nicely. That is a good thing about small cars, they heat up quickly. I stopped at a McDonald's, grabbed an OJ, a coffee and a couple of sausage biscuits, the absolutely greasiest ones I have ever gotten but I wolfed them down nonetheless. The I was off, headed north at about 0630.

I guess I got to the auction house at about 0730 or so. There was one guy there ahead of me waiting outside. There were also a few folks inside, setting up and two people in a roach coach (they have pretty good food and are really pretty clean) setting up right outside the entrance to the auction house. Shortly after that others started to arrive. I met Joe Hessney, he runs the show, reintroduced myself to him (I had met him in April or May at a previous auction there) and asked when they would open the doors. he said at about 0815 -once all his staff had arrived. he was right on the money because that is right about when they opened. I went in and registered and was assigned number 87; last time I was there I had 77. Then I took a look around at what was being offered up for bids. Too bad I did not drive all the way up on Friday, in that case I would have been able to attend a preview on Friday night. It would up okay for me though, I had enough time to see all of the guns on which I planned to bid, many other guns too and some other firearms related and non-firearms related items.

I also took a quick spin outside the auction house where they had a tent set up with 4 old cars under it. There was a 1950 Ford, a 1938 Chevy, a 1940 Business Coupe (I think a Chevy) and a 1954 Buick with a claimed 12,000 original miles on it. Too bad, I did not see them get auctioned off, I was busy inside doing my preview of the guns. I also missed a good deal of auctioning of hunting and fishing and some shooting gear that was auctioned off first beginning at 0930 The cars went up for bids at 1000. These were some pretty nice cars. Sadly, the one I liked best is the one of which I got the lousiest pictures, it was still covered with frost when I started to snap away.

After taking the photos of the cars, I headed back inside and it was time to start bidding on guns at about 1030. I had a seat in the second row, center, so I would hear everything the auctioneer said (even when his mike would fail which it did a few times for a few seconds each time) and I would get another fairly close look at anything I wanted to bid on.

The first item up for bids, in this portion of the auction was. a Ruger No.1 in 45-70 Government, with was a Weaver 4x scope sling. Bidding, in the early stages of these auctions may seem swift to those who have not attended a few similar auctions before but to me it seemed to drag on a bit. I guess that was for a couple of reasons. First off, I would not be bidding until item #8 came up. Secondly, and probably the thing that had most to do with making it seem slow to me, was the fact that the auctioneer, at this point of the auction, gave more time for bidding or at least kept hawking longer trying to get higher bids for each item offered. This could be, in part, due to the fact that virtually all of the firearms offered early in the auction are in very good to shape. Later on, when the auctioneer speeds up his spiel and gives the bidders less time many of the items up for sale by that point are often less in less desirable condition than those in the beginning of the auction. Of course, he gets faster as time runs out, so it would make sense to them to have the less desirable things go when they cannot devote enough time to them to try and get the bids a little higher. Such was the case at this auction as with other I have attended. Not complaining - just saying.

When item #8 came up for bids, I was ready to bid. It was a Savage Model 99R in .358 Remington, It was in excellent condition as I had seen during the auction preview. I was ready to bid up to a certain amount but the bidding on it was very swift and the amount up to which I had decided to bid was surpassed rapidly so I wound up not placing a bid on it. It sold for $775, which was about $350 more than I had planned on bidding. I did not bid again until item #20 came up. It was a Sig Sauer P-220 in .45 ACP, as new in the box. For some reason, this semi-auto pistol was listed, in the auction catalog, as a double action revolver; brain farts happen. It was also listed “as new in box’. I must say that that part of the description was spot on. I bid on it but the bidding surpassed my top bid of about $450 by a single bid. It sold for $475.

The next few items up for bidding, that were of interest to me, were all Savage Axis rifles in various calibers.. There were five of these rifles all with stainless steel barrels and black synthetic stocks and all had scope already , mounted. They were all in like new condition and were all listed in the catalog as being unfired. A quick look at each during the preview showed that to be a bunch of hooey. Each and every one of them had fouling in the barrel and a quick swab of the muzzle or breech on each, with the finger tip of the white cloth gloves I had been wearing during the preview, showed a good amount of carbon fouling. Nope, I do not normally wear white cloth gloves, it was a requirement for anyone handling the firearms during the auction preview and the gloves were supplied by the auction house. When you realize that some of the guns auctioned off were originally bought for as much as $15,000 to $20,000, you can understand why.

As for those savage rifles, despite previously having been fired as far as I could tell, they were in excellent to virtually new condition. I was willing to bid up to $250 on the first one up for bids. It was in .308 caliber and would make a fine hunting rifle. I based all of my bid limits on information I had gleaned from the 2012 Standard Catalog of Firearms. The Savage Axis in .308 sold for $300. I was disappointed. The next two of the Savage Axis rifles also sold for $300 each. The fourth one up for bidding, in .22-250 sold for $350. The fifth and final one up for bidding was in 30-06 Springfield. It too came with the 3x9 scope. It too seemed to have been fired before but was also in almost new condition. Like the others it came with the original box and papers. The bidding had stalled at $275 for a moment. So, I bid $300 on it, fifty more than I had planned. (I bid higher than I wanted to spend as a calculated risk, to try to get the bidding up so someone would spend then and not on other items I wanted later.) Right after I bid, the bidding picked up again, there were another four bids and it sold at the highest price of all of them - $450. The final price would also include a 10% (on cash sales) or 13% (on credit or payments by check) buyer’s premium (that is how the auction house makes money) plus sales tax of 7.50%. The total would be: $532.13. These rifles sell for less than that brand new, at an online dealer. ‘Buy It Now’  prices at GunBroker.com are at about $400 to $425. Granted, you would have to pay an FFL and shipping, which would probably add about another $25 for the FFL and $25 for shipping; so say - $475 on the high end. And that is for a brand new rifle.

A note on the items listed as “unfired" that seemed to me to have  been fired before. When I saw them at the preview, I noted all of those so listed (that I examined) to be in excellent condition but also noted that, in my opinion, some of them had definitely been fired before. My guess is that maybe when some of these come into the auction house, they are indeed unfired, but that someone who works there takes them out to either test them or have some fun with them. I think the latter because I think the owner of the auction house must not know about it. Otherwise, I doubt very much he would list them as unfired and then leave obvious evidence, in the way of fouling, in the barrels and actions. It  is beyond reason for them to list guns as “unfired” when fouling is evident . They would be putting their reputation, and thus their business, on the line. Yes, they do indeed have an excellent reputation. As for the fouling, when it is there, and it is not always in every gun listed as “unfired – some are clean as a whistle - it always appears, to me, to be very fresh. Sometimes there is a bit of oil mixed in with it. So, it seems the guns have been cleaned, or still had gunk from the factory in them, then fired and left dirty. This really makes me suspect that someone, who is an employee of the auction house, is firing them unknown to the owner of the auction house. I could be wrong but that is my theory right now.

A few really interesting shotguns were auctioned off shortly after those Savage rifles. They were both Kriegoff K-80 12 gauges. One of them had Suhi scroll engraving work and a 32” CT/CT, T/S barrel and a 34”Uns CT/TS barrel with titanium choke tubes. The gun also had an adjustable comb and an aluminum hard case. The auctioneer had the original receipt for this piece. New, it had been purchased for $15,000. This one was in excellent condition. The bidding on it was pretty fast and steady right from the outset. It shot up quickly and sold for $7,250. It must be nice to have money to invest or just spend like that because that shotgun certainly was either an investment or a rich man’s toy.

The next item on which I had wanted to bid was #45, a Colt Detective Special. It sold for $350. I never bid on it and I think that the top bid was way too high. While examining it during the preview, I noted that there was a large patch in the barrel that seemed to be pitted by rust. Although otherwise nice, it was not the gun for me. The very next item up for bid was a Smith & Wesson Model 19-2, chromed .357 revolver, with a 2.5” barrel. It was listed “as new”. It was in truly excellent condition but was probably not new, at least as I saw it. There was an obvious cylinder ring; otherwise though, it looked almost new. I wanted that one and had planned on bidding up to $450. I wound up going as high as $500 on it but a guy, who I am pretty sure was a dealer, outbid me at $525. I only bid as high as I did, again hoping to bid him up. Had I gotten the high bid though, I would have been happy paying the $500 plus the 10% buyer’s premium and sales tax; it was a  very nice piece. I have been looking for a revolver to add to my collection and that could have been it had the bidding stopped there. As luck would have it, I do not have it. After bidding on the S&W, I waited through another 19 auctions until item #65 came up before I bid again.
 

 

That item was a Marlin XS7 rifle in .308 caliber. It was listed as unfired in the box. As I said above, not all of the firearms they list as “unfired” appear to have been fired. This one actually looked unfired. It was in excellent condition, virtually new and in the box but without papers (there may have been a manual too but these thing sometimes have a way of getting stuck to the fingers of previewers). Well, I decided to bid on it. It also seemed that one of the same people, who had bid on the Savage Axis rifles and who had the high bid on at least two and I think three of them, also decided to bid on it. I realized it was the same person because of her rather distinctive voice. I started the bidding at $100, someone else bid $125 and the same lady, who had bid of the Savage Axis rifles, came in with a bid of $150. I think that after the first three bids, it was down to just she and I bidding on it. I started the bidding at $100 and it quickly went up in increments of $25. As it turned out, I fell in with a bid of $225, thus when she placed the next bid she was at $250. It was decision time again, should I go another $25. I did and that is where the bidding ended, at $275. That was good for me because while I had wanted one of these rifles for a while now, I certainly was not willing to bid any higher on this one. I wound up paying $325.19, in total, with the buyer’s premium and sales tax added. That was not great but not terrible either when you consider these are selling for between $320 and $399 new (through online dealers) and I would have to add at least $25 for shipping and $25 for an FFL fee plus whatever would be the cost of shipping insurance, probably a few bucks more. Working at the low end of that range, a new one would have cost me around $375 a $50.19 difference over the one I bid on. So, while not a super great buy, it was okay. At least I did not pay more than it was worth retail as some had done with the Savage Axis rifles and I am happy the lady bidding against me on the Marlin had not decided to overbid again like she had on those others.

I bid on several other firearms. I am not going to detail the condition of each or tell how the bidding went on each; that would add pages to this already long blog post. I will write in detail about the one more gun that I bought but as for the others on which I bid, I will simply list them all and the amount for which they sold; suffice it to say that I did not have the high bid on any of those. I bid: $500 on #91, a Bushmaster XM-15 E2S carbine, it sold for $775; $400 on #118 a Winchester 71 Deluxe rifle in .348 Win caliber, it sold for $1,900; $350 for a Winchester 9422 XTR in .22 S, L & LR, it sold for $525; $150 for #140 a Mauser Model 1910 pocket pistol in 6.35mm (25 Auto) and it sold for $200; $250 n #150 a Savage-Anschutz Match 64 in 22LR that sold for $425; $325 for #152 a Remington 513T Matchmaster that sold for $350 (to the same guy who got the S&W model 19-2 that I had bid on earlier). I have been kicking myself in the butt over not going higher on that one, it was in pristine condition but I had set a limit of $350 for my bid on it and the other guy happened to wind up at that amount as the bidding went on. I also bid: $250 on #186 a Remington Gamemaster, model 141, in .35 Rem, it went for $450; $150 on #227 a Mitchell Mauser48, 8mm Mauser, with the complete kit, it went for $500. Soon after that, the bidding got to the rifles on the left side of the room as you faced forward. Al the others, so far had either been up front or on the right side. We were now getting to a mixture of those that were in pretty rough to very good condition whereas the ones that had come before were mostly in good to excellent condition. Among those, I bid: $125 on a Remington 581-S, it sold for $150; $225 on a Norinco Type 56 SKS that sold for $275.

 

 

I then placed a few bids on item #313. It was a Winchester Model 37, 12 gauge, shotgun. The dealer tried to start the bidding at $150 but he dropped it down, rapidly (bidding was in high gear by then), to an asking bid of $25 but had no takers. He asked if anyone had any interest. I blurted out "ten dollars"! Too bad that as soon as I bid, a few others joined in where none had shown interest before then. Maybe shills, maybe not, probably just others thinking, 'hey - he bid, that gun must be worth something so we have to bid now too'. I wound up with the high bid at $80 and that was a fair price. This is an old piece, no serial number, that is pitted all over the exterior of the receiver and near the breech end of the barrel. The bores are clean, no rust at all that I could see and the action operates. Total cost, with buyer’s premium and tax: $94.60. I saw one selling on GunBroker.com for $399.99 (in much better condition) and saw a quote, from The Blue Book of Gun Values, listing them at $80 in 60% condition (this one is better than that but maybe not by much). It probably would have cost me about $130 had I purchased it online with shipping and FFL transfer fee included. I am going to see if it shoots and if so I will have some fun with it not caring about the surface pitting on the barrel and receiver. That was it for bidding on firearms for me and close to the end for everyone because the last firearm up for bids was #351.

After the guns, there were still a large number of lots to auction off. These things included items like duck and goose decoys, wildlife prints, mounted whitetail deer and moose heads, militaria – including a sword cataloged as a Tiffany Saber that sold for $1,500 (and in my estimation was not an original Tiffany because the pommel was brass and not iron - but I am no sword expert by a longshot), and lots of ammunition and firearms accessories like scopes.

I bid on: a hand colored set of three numbered and signed duck prints on which I had the high bid of $25; a pair of sun/wind/rain goggles, with two lenses - one green and one dark gray like sunglasses - with ballistic protection, in the box, at $10;  a French made pillow case, circa WWI, showing both the US and French flags on which I had the high bid of $10; several boxes of ammunition that I did not have the high bids on; two post ban (yes NYS still has a hi-cap mag ban) Beretta magazines for 92 series 9mm pistols at only $29.56 total for both, tax and premium included. (They were a steal for factory made Italian Beretta magazines that look as if they were never used.).y last bid was for a box of 50 rounds of PMC .45 Auto that I got for $17.73 (an average price online for inexpensive 45 ammo without shipping added). That last one for me was item #690 out of 707 although the bidding stopped at #699B. That was because items listed in the catalog after that were all of the vehicles that had been auctioned off earlier in the day.  I stayed right up until the last item was sold.

 

Somewhere in all of that, I took a couple of breaks. Once or twice to stretch and to grab a bottle of water out of my car and once to grab something to eat from the truck outside the auction house entrance. I put down a pretty good Italian sausage on a long roll, smothered with raw onion and mustard. Not bad at all.

Once the auction had ended, I paid up at the counter, paying in cash to avoid the extra 3% for credit card and check purchases. I loaded up all the non-firearms items into my car; they had been handed to me right after I bid on each. Then went back inside, to a side room where they had the guns waiting for the buyers, and gave my receipt to one of the ladies handling the paperwork and NICS checks. I filled out the required ATF paperwork and had to wait about 10 to 15 minutes for my NICS check to be completed. I passed the check, brought my receipt to another person, got my guns, checked the serial number of the Marlin to make sure it was correct, looked for a serial number on the Winchester just to make sure they did not miss one, and then loaded the guns into my trunk. I was about to hop into my car when I saw Joe Hessney come outside I walked over to shake his hand and say goodbye until the next time I can get up that way. He is a gentleman and a nice guy; I hope to get to know him better – maybe over a cold beer someday. We talked for a little bit and then it was time for me to get going. The trip home was overly long, overly tiring and broken up by two stops. One for me to grab a quick bit to eat and the other for me to make a quick stop at a Wal-Mart in Middletown, NY to pick up a couple of boxes of .308 ammo for my new Marlin XS7. I have not fired it yet, I need to get a scope for it. That should be soon as I am thinking of taking this gun on my deer hunt in November. More on that in a future post.

 

All in all, it was one heck of a fun trip. I love the auction thing and this time, as opposed to the first time I attended a Hessney Rod & Gun auction, last spring, I stayed away from making impulse bids on items I had not previewed. I also spent a lot less than when at that other auction although I had about 2K with me, this time, and was willing to spend every penny of it had the prices been right on items I had in my sights. As it was, I was outbid on several of them but I am happy with what I got.

By the way, in case you are interested, their next auction is on Saturday, Octber 27. It is an estate auction. They have another Rod & Gun Auction coming up on Saturday December 8th and there are a few other auctions between those two. I wish they were not so far from my home, I would be a frequent bidder.

All the best,
Glenn B

My Browning Citori Lightning Shotgun Is Up For Sale

I have decided to sell my Browning Citori Lightning, Grade I, 12 gauge, over/under shotgun. If you are interested in viewing the auction, it can be accessed via this link:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=311807542

The reason I am selling it is to get some money for an AR-15 build on the stripped AR receiver I just won. See my post, about that, immediately prior to this one.

This post is not an offer to sell nor a for sale advertisement, it is merely an informational post about the auction of my shotgun.

All the best,
Glenn B

Yee-Ha - I Won An AR-15 Stripped Lower

I hardly ever win anything and I mean that most literally. I am lucky to have won a total of $300 (or less) over the course of having bought thousands of paper lottery tickets and scratch-off tickets. I rarely win in Casinos. I have bought tickets, each year for several years, for firearms raffles and have never won anything. Likewise with most other raffles I have entered. When I do win something, it is usually on the low end in monetary value or usefulness to me.

Then again, every now and then, some good luck shines through my black cloud and the rainbow's end falls at my feet. I recently made some donations to Kilted To Kick Cancer through Jay G's fund raising efforts. He had some very nice prizes up for grabs for they who donated at least $10. For each increment of $10 that you donated, you got an entry for the prize drawing. Let me just say, because I had only made a few smaller charitable donations earlier this year, I decided to make a a more sizable set of donations through Jay's efforts to kick cancer; after all I have a personal vendetta to fulfill against it. Thus, I had a bunch of entries.

The prize that I won, or a reasonable facsimile of the prize I won, can be seen below (click it to enlarge):

 

I said reasonable facsimile because that is not the exact receiver that I have won, it is a sample. What I have won, is an AR-15 stripped lower receiver, donated by York Arms. York Arms will do custom serial numbers, caliber markings, and Safe/Fire selector markings as well as magwell engraving as part of this prize package. I have some things in mind already, like maybe Ballseye's Boomer (or Blaster) right under that same but a bit smaller sized serpent and maybe SAFE and ARMED for the selector switch positions. I am thinking of my initials followed by my birth date as the serial number or maybe Ballseye696 (696 was a once lucky number for me). Of course I have to be legally eligible to receive it through an FFL (as of this past weekend, at the time of my last NICS check, I was still legal and hopefully should remain so).  I have the FFL in mind, they only charge $25.00 and do excellent transfers.

 

Now I have to decide if I want to take the chance of trying to build an AR-15 myself, from a kit, or if I want to have Wally at York Arms build the rifle for me. Kits I have seen go for about $450 to $650. I am not going to go for anything fancy, pretty much a standard, or so I am thinking. I would guess, that the kit plus the labor, would probably amount to around $650 to $800 for what I want but have to check with the company on that to be sure. The $450, if I do it myself, sounds a whole lot better but that means it might not be finished for years and that there will be a lot of cussing going on in my basement each time I try to get it done. Still though, I am going to check on how to get it done and if it looks simple enough, I may try it.

 

Any advice, that anyone would like to offer, on whether or not I should try to build it myself, would be appreciated in the comments section.

 

All the best,

Glenn B




Regular Gas Only $1.84 A Gallon!!!

 

 

Need I even suggest for whom you should vote to save America?

 

All the best,

Glenn B

PS: A hat tip to Bob C. for sending me this one.

 

Just Got Home After a 305 Mile Drive...

...and then sat down and did the math about my 6 hour and 45 minute trip. Yep, it took me that long to drive only 305 miles. I averaged 45.18 mph on the way home. That sucks! Granted, I stopped to grab a bite to eat and also stopped at a Wally World to pick up a couple boxes of .308 Winchester Ammunition (that's right kiddies, I has me a new toy). The thing is though, that took, at most, all of 45 minutes for both combined, If I take off that 45 minutes, then my real average speed was 50.83 mph. Not much better. Heck the speed limit on much of the ride was 65 but then there were all those 30, 35 40 and 45 mph zones on the route chosen by Garmin.

This snail's pace has led me to believe that my son is right on the money about Garmin GPS devices - they are, in his and now my opinion, essentially worthless pieces of crap. I had mine (my son gave me his otherwise he probably would have thrown it out) on the trip. I decided to use it to get home and at first it sure seemed to have given me a faster route. After all, I had it set for fastest route. Then, it took me through the heart of several villages and through city streets in Ithaca, NY, in heavy traffic, on my trek home. It also tried to steer me out of my way into New Jersey. Had I just returned home the reverse of the way my trip to Geneva, NY had gone, I probably would have taken off at least another 1/2 on the trip. I did not depend on a GPS to get there but used Map Quest instead. Map quest made a whole lot more sense in the routes it provided. Oh well, live and learn.

New Gun Pron coming soon since there is a new gun in the house. More about that maybe tomorrow night (I will be busy most of the day and probably unable to blog until tomorrow night).

All the best,
Glenn B

Here I Am In Horseheads, NY...

...so if you are guessing that I made the decision to go to the firearms auction tomorrow, that I wrote about in my post immediately prior to this one, you would be right. I am, about 50 miles from the auction location, here at Motel 6 in Horseheads.

The town and village name of Horseheads has to be one of the oddest names I have ever heard of for a town and one that I like very much. So, I just checked the town website and clicked on the town history link. At that link you will find what is a brief but most assuredly interesting story that tells how the name came about.

I doubt that I will be blogging more tonight. I want to review the auction catalog once more to make sure I did not miss anything on which I might place a bid as far as guns go. They are also auctioning old cars, a new vehicle, militaria, hunting and fishing equipment, taxidermy mounts, decoys, ammo and firearms accessories and maybe another thing or two. I am mostly interested in the firearms and will only check the catalog for them tonight. There is a chance I will also bid on something else since last time I was at this auction house I bid on a deer head mount and a dagger too (and brought them home since I had the high bids on them) but as I said my sights are set mainly on the firearms.

I hope to get to the auction house by 0730. I am not sure when they open but that should get me there early enough to register without waiting too long on a line and will give me a good amount of time to preview items. On my previous trip, I got to see many of the guns the night before the auction but not this time. I will have to do all of my previewing tomorrow morning. That means an early to bed time for me, within the hour.

All the best,
Glenn B

Gun Auction Spurs Some Decision Making

Decisions always seem to have to be made and thus my little gray cells get a workout choosing the course of my day. For instance, I received a flier in the mail, only a couple of days ago, for a gun auction about 300 miles from my home that takes place tomorrow. I had been planning on visiting my nephew for a belated b'day celebration tomorrow but now that has changed. I am not saying for sure that I am leaving, to drive to the town in which the auction will be held, sometime later today, but if things turn out just right over the next few hours, then I'll have that decision to make.

I already decided to visit my nephew on Sunday instead of Saturday. Now to see if I can: get an oil change for the car, money from the bank, a purchase document or two for a pistol or two from the police department (it sucks living in the repoobliKista comunista de Nueva Yorkistan) and get some few things done around the house. I would have to accomplish all those things before it would be too late to take off within a reasonable time frame to make it to the motel at which I already have a reservation. I have until 6PM to cancel the reservation without penalty but sure would like to leave home, if I decide to make the trip, at least a few hours before that deadline. Leaving by 2PM would be okay I guess. Decisions, decisions, all based on how and when things turn out - so maybe I had best get a move on.

Since I just took my new thyroid medication only 30 minutes ago I have to wait another 15 to 30 before breakfast. It says to wait 30 to 60 minutes before eating and I split the difference. I take it at waking, and sure woke up late but had my first good night's sleep in months, almost a full 6 hours without getting up once!While I do have to wait a bit for breakfast, I suppose going upstairs and preparing it will take up that time quite nicely and get me one step closer to some fast paced bidding. So, without further blabbing by way of blogging, I am off to begin my day and toward making the decision as to whether or not I am going to that firearms auction.

Oh yeah, I have one other important decision to make - how to break this, just right, to the wife.

All the best,
Glenn B

Google Translator Ain't Worth A Damn

Here is the way Google translated the name of my blog over in France:

Ballseye de baby-boomers

Somehow, I think it misses the point. Oh well, what do I care about whether or not the French read my page. Funny thing though, somebody over there took a look at my Marlin 336 disassembly and reassembly post. 

All the best,
GB

Oh The Joys Of Post Radiation Life...

...are seemingly never ending. Tomorrow morning, I will start taking medicine for low thyroid hormone production to boost those hormones. Seems my thyroid has started to get sluggish and probably explains why I have felt like run down crap for the past couple of months or so. Can be due to age and such but they think it probably a product of my having gone through getting my neck broiled by radiation treatments last year. That was over with early  last November but it  apparently just keeps on giving more joy as time goes by.

It is better though than had it not worked. The real bummer is, I will probably have to take this crap for the rest of my life - or so it says in the info sheet from the pharmacy. Then again, if it makes me feel better -  suppose that's going to have to be okay.

At least the doc told me that both my blood pressure and my triglyceride level had dropped. The BP was 124/82. The triglycerides fell from about 450 to a decent normal range, I think 139. I guess that a couple of weeks of cutting out an ice cream bar per night had something to do with them getting lower, maybe cutting back on the beer too. The vodka and other hard spirits, that I have been drinking in place of some of the beer, may have helped there since carbs convert to triglycerides. As usual, my cholesterol levels were very good; they are virtually always good ice cream and beer or not.

The doc also told me, I lost a couple of pounds. That is also good since having low thyroid hormones often means you gain weight. Nice to see I bucked that trend.

All the best,
Glenn B

In Honor of Jay G Shaving Off His Stache...

...as part of a pledge raising promise he made for Kilted To Kick Cancer, during September; I figured the least I could do to sow some solidarity was to shave the beard. Sorry Jay, my stache stays.

This is my new profile pic, taken tonight. I know its a lousy pic but that is exactly how I wanted it to look. Well, maybe I would have liked to look about 30 years younger and in better shape but you get my point (and if you don't, tough noogies).

All the best,
Glenn B

U.S. Department of State - Bizarro World Style

I don't know what it is that makes the Obama Administration think that the American people will keep buying into its bullshit on almost every topic imaginable but here they are doing it yet once again. Do they expect to get a rise in the polls from this sort of obviously outlandish falsehood?  They are now reportedly claiming the the State Department never said the attack on our consulate, resulting in the deaths of our ambassador and three others, was related to the so called anti Muslim video.

See: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/10/state-department-denies-concluding-film-sparked-consulate-attack-in-libya/

The sad thing is that there are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of the American public who will buy this story, from the Obama Administration, as 100% truth. Truly, we do live in Bizarro World!

All the best,
Glenn B

Eat Some Roaches (& Maybe Some Worms) - Win A Snake

That was seemingly the idea. Then there was the added requirement of you eating the most bugs, after all it was a bug eating contest -something like the hot dog eating contest at Conney Island each year except this time the food was apparently alive and tasted nothing like beef.
 
It was called Midnight Madness and the contest reportedly was held by Ben Siegel Reptiles of Deerfield Beach, FL this past Friday night. (Side note: I have been to the shop once when I visited my uncle down in Florida. Nice place and nice folks running it. I have also dealt with them online.) The winner was said to have been Edward Archbold. He supposedly ate dozens of roaches and worms all for the sake of winning a snake, a python valued at $850.00. They said Ben Siegel was reported as saying that Mr. Archbold "was the life of the party". How ironic a well meant comment. Shortly after having won the contest, Mr. Archbold complained of feeling ill. He started to vomit. Someone called 911 for him and he also called 911 himself. He wound up outside the store, my guess would be waiting for the ambulance, when he collapsed. After that, an ambulance transported him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy is planned. My guess is that he did not die from eating the bugs. That is my guess because I would not think you would be poisoned that quickly by anything they could have living in them or on them. Of course, I am not a doctor nor a pathologist and they will make the final determination, I am just guessing. 

I have always thought that reptile keepers tended to lean toward either being weird, doing weird things now and then, or just liking weird pets. I know that by way of personal experience since I have been keeping them (the reptiles and amphibians not the keepers) since I was about 8 or 9 but now I am convinced more than ever. I am not saying that to deride the memory of Mr. Archbold, there is not anything necessarily wrong with weird as long as it is not harming anyone in any way or violating the law - it just means being different in a sort of far out way.

Eating those bugs, to win a snake, classifies as kind of weird in my opinion. I have to hand it to the late Mr. Archbold though, and to the other contestants, they did something I would probably even be somewhat squeamish about even in a survival situation if bugs were the only food and I was starving. A guy who would eat bugs, to win a contest with a prize of a snake, now that is a different kind of a man. Yet, everyone who met him that night thought he was a nice guy and I would have no reason to doubt that at all had I not read here that he had once been convicted of indecent exposure. Yet, doing something weird or being different, like by eating roaches, in and of itself, does not preclude one from being a nice guy, just ask any of the herpers you know. Indecent exposure, well depending upon the circumstances, that could mean something altogether otherwise as to whether or not he was a nice guy, at least in my estimation.

All in all, it was a life cut way too short. Mr. Archbold was only 32 years old or so said the reports I read.  My condolences to the family, friends and loved one, of this fellow herper.

All the best,
Glenn B

Sources:  
http://myfox8.com/2012/10/09/florida-man-dies-after-winning-roach-eating-contest/

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/man-dies-eating-roaches-587314
 http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21008744010489/man-dies-after-live-roach-eating-contest-in-fla/

The Most Arrogant Man In The World

This video is friggin' great even though I was rather expecting to see a new 'most interesting man in the world' gig when I received it in an email from a friend. The line about Joe Biden having been selected as VP just to show the world that Obama did not need a VP had me laughing so hard and so loud for so long that I had to play the rest of the video over because I missed it due to my laughter. I have never, not ever, heard a better explanation of why - that useless, foul mouthed, bumbling, arse wipe - Joe Biden was chosen to run as Obama's VP. That line alone would have made the video absolutely precious even if the rest of it had sucked. Of course, the rest of it was just about as funny - and sadly - just about as true!

A hat tip to my good friend Bob C. for sending it to me in an email!

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Résumé - This One With A Bit Of A Bang

If you read my blog, with any regularity, then you know I have been putting in for a lot of jobs over the past few months. I finally got one too and I like it.

Yet, I sent out another résumé just today. The job I have set in my sights with this application is a bit different than most. It is as a writer for The Firearm Blog. They are seeking writers and I figured why not me. I don't know if they offer any type of compensation but regardless, it sounds like there would be the potential of receiving firearms and other firearms related items for reviews. That might make it worth it without any compensation. It would also be a welcome change from my usual blogging in that blogging for them would mean no political blogging, just firearms related posts. Well, on their site anyway, I imagine I would continue with my usual in BallseyesBoomers. 

Wish me luck, I am guessing there will be plenty of competitors who all are shooting for the same position.

All the best,
Glenn B

Interuppted By A Bandit On My Way To Aurora

I had just settled back, much like Plainclothes Detective C-7 Elijah Baley, for the long trip through the stars to the distant planet Aurora. Baley in a spaceship and me in a chair on my patio, under the light of one incandescent bulb and the stars, Isaac Asimov's - The Robots Of Dawn - in my hands and open in front of me. As I read on about Baley commencing his trip to Aurora, I was interrupted, suddenly aware of a low and really guttural growl coming from behind my right shoulder. It was Pepe, our adult male Chihuahua, who had just been at my side . He was growling as I had never heard him growl in all the 6 plus years we have owned him. I turned to see what it was at which he could be growling like that, automatically reaching for the Glock 26 on my side, half expecting an intruder to try to make his way into my back yard. Then as I twirled around toward the commotion, there he was, masked and all, a thief in the night climbing over my gate and with one bound my mutt Mimi sprang out of the side doorway growling at him as well. The intruder jumped from the fence and was then, in a split instant, climbing up the Dogwood tree next to our fence. No sooner had I gotten my flashlight out and on him than he was already 15 feet over my head and still climbing. Suddenly, as Pepe kept on barking and growling wildly, I heard a swooshing sound to my left and thought maybe there were two intruders but then realized it must have been Mimi jumping over the fence into our neighbor's yard to position the intruder between herself and Pepe who was still on our side of the fence. I called out to Mimi to come, and she ran round, from the neighbor's yard, to the front side of our house and up to the side gate which I opened for her to come back inside. As I opened it though, Pepe ran outside at once.

I went after him without delay. I was not really concerned about the burglar. I had never seen one in our area before but it was treed and why should I worry about a medium yet good sized raccoon anyway. Pepe was nowhere to be seen and I called and called. He just took off like a bat out of hell once the gate had opened. Maybe by then, the raccoon had come down and headed the same way, I did not know. All of a sudden, I head someone down the block calling out in the darkness - "here he is" and I saw Pepe running back toward me. Jus as he was about up to me, he veered sharp right into our neighbor's lawn to head toward the backyard. Right then, I also heard a commotion in the backyard, I guess the bandit was making its escape in that direction. I had forgotten about Mimi and just kept calling Pepe. (Mimi jumps the fence with some frequency, Pepe has never run out of the yard like that on his own and I was much more concerned about him winding up getting thrashed by the coon than I would be for the larger Mimi.) Well, in a moment or two, Mimi came running over to me as I called for Pepe, and thankfully our little rat Chihuahua Pepe was right behind her. I opened the side gate and they were both back in our yard. I got them both inside right away, then accounted for Lucy, our other adult Chihuahua, and for Roxie our 65 pound mutt, they were still both inside. Actually, Roxie had come down and come out once she heard the commotion but by the time she was outside, I think the raccoon was gone so she lost interest right away and went back inside. Luckily the puppy A-B (said like Abby but meant as in "A-B Something" or "A-B Normal" for the brain that was used in the movie Young Frankenstein) was at my future son-in-law's place with his two Chihuahuas.

I have lived in this house for about 20 years now. I have seen a  lot of squirrels, a rabbit or three, a few Opossums and have seen damage done to one of the tops of my plastic garbage cans that I figured was from a raccoon (or rats) - but until tonight, I had never seen one of those masked critters in the flesh anywhere near our house. That was a bit of a treat and a bit of a scare with a minor pain in the butt trying to get both dogs back on the property but it was fun in the long run. Had I lived in most places, other than in the overpopulated part of NY in which we live, I might have blasted that masked bandit and would have been BBQ'ing or smoking it by tomorrow. Oh well, as it turned out, he lives to steal another night and I can go back to my book.

All the best,
Glenn B

Obama's Debate Notes (well maybe and maybe not but funny as hell)

Had me laughing my arse off ! Click to enlarge so you do not miss a thing. I don't know the author, could have been Obama himself, I suppose. Hat tip to Peter Q for this one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Which Is The Most Ignored Rule Of Firearms' Safety

My guess would be that most folks, who are familiar with firearms, would probably say that the most overlooked rule of firearms safety is the one about keeping your finger off of the trigger before being ready to shoot or maybe the one about keeping it pointed in a safe direction. Violation of the the nose picking finger rule might lead to the most accidental discharges (whether or not negligent on the part of the handler) and pointing a gun unsafely may be the most violated rule. Yet, my guess is that neither is near being the most overlooked rule of firearms safety, overlooked as in forgotten, ignored or simply unheard of in the first place. As a matter of opinion, based upon about 48 to 49 years of personal shooting experience, with me being an enthusiast who has shot frequently for 33 of those years, and with about 15 of those as a firearms instructor, I can say with nary a doubt in my mind that the most ignored rule of firearms safety is that most people do not bother to properly:

Whenever practical, you should learn the characteristics of a firearm and how to operate and shoot the gun safely before handling it. Then, once you have learned 'hands off', you need to learn 'hands on' how to use it and how it handles, at a firearms range, until you are proficient in its use. (my words)

Now, some of you may think that what I just said is not one of the rules of firearms safety. You may think there are only 4 rules of firearms safety and that they will prevent all accidental discharges and other safety violations (negligent or otherwise) and that you have to follow those 4 rules to the letter in absolutely every case of handling a firearm. If that is what you think, let me tell you that you are dead wrong on all counts. Firearms' safety is much more complicated than just 4 absolute, rules that simply and absolutely do not work as absolutes in the first place. 

Think about it. Knowing how a gun operates and being knowledgeable of its handling characteristics (in general), before handling it, is one of the most intelligent and important things you can do when it comes to firearms safety. How many times have you seen some pick up or accept a firearm from another person, that he or she has no idea how to operate properly. They try to do this or that with it, such as maybe open the action, remove a magazine, operate the safety (if there is one), load it, shoot it and all they wind up doing is violating one or more of the so called 4 rules because of them becoming flustered by their ignorance. Usually it is the one about keeping it pointed in a safe direction, followed by the booger picker on the trigger thing - just watch someone to whom you hand an unfamiliar gun that has a different operating characteristic than most other guns. Even if they do not violate one of the 4 rules, watch them as they try to figure out how the guns works. Most folks, who are fairly experienced with guns do not bother to ask: "is there any characteristic of this gun that makes it handle differently than most" or "hey, how do I operate it" or "can you show me how it works". Most will not bother to ask to look at the manual for it, most will just take it and start fiddling with it as they expect it to operate like any other gun they have handled before. When it doesn't is when things can get dicey and very unsafe.

I am not the only person in the world who thinks that learning the proper operation and handling characteristics of a firearm is an important safety rule. As a matter of fact, I earned at least 10 rules of firearms safety at the young age of 8 years old. Back then it was the job of firearms instructors to teach you them and the rules often were printed up in their manuals, the ones that came with new guns. The rules could also be found in books about shooting and were offered up for your knowledge at events like hunter safety courses. Today, many years since I was an 8 year old, many firearms related organizations and companies post firearms' safety rules on their websites; you will be hard pressed to find any of the major ones listing a mere 4 rules.

Here are the ways that some of those companies and organizations list the particular rule I have been writing about:

The NRA says it like this, on their website:

"Know how to use the gun safely. Before handling a gun, learn how it operates. Know its basic parts, how to safely open and close the action and remove any ammunition from the gun or magazine. Remember, a gun's mechanical safety device is never foolproof. Nothing can ever replace safe gun handling."

Remington Firearms lists a veritable litany of firearms safety rules in the manuals (PDF) for their firearms and on their website (make sure to click on each rule for a full explanation of each). They call them the 10 commandments of firearms safety, here is number 10:

"Learn the Mechanics and Handling Characteristics of Your Firearm. Not all guns are alike. They have different mechanical characteristics that dictate how you should carry and handle them. Anyone who plans to use a firearm should first become totally familiar with the type of firearm it is and the safe handling procedures for loading, unloading, carrying, shooting and storing it.
 

Before you even unpack your new Remington firearm, read this instruction book from cover to cover and familiarize yourself with the different component parts of the gun. Then read, understand and follow the Ten Commandments of Firearms Safety in this book."

 

Wow, did both of them actually say that you should become familiar with a firearm before you handle it. They sure did, didn't they! And so you should when possible, for the sake of being safe with firearms. Of course, like any rule, there are exceptions. You would not want to wait for instructions or take the time to read a manual in the event of an emergency wherein an unfamiliar firearm was available to you as your only method of self defense. In addition, there are those times when you might come int possession of a firearm for which you can not find a manual and for which you can not find, within reason, anyone willing to tell you how it works. You would have to learn yourself in each instance but in one their would be an immediate need to go hands on and in the other you could at least give the firearm a good looking over before attempting to operate any of its mechanisms.

 

I have a gun like the second that I just mentioned. It is a military training rifle in .22LR caliber. It didn't come with a manual. I made several attempted to locate a manual for it, by way of the company from which I purchased the rifle and via online inquiries on gun forums, commercial gun websites, gun auction sites and the like. I did not come up with anything, so I posted on a few forums that I could use some pointers on how it operates; nothing was forthcoming from those inquiries either. I have had the rifle now for about a year. Yes I have 'handled' it but I have not shot it. Not even put one round through it since I got it last November. Now that is not solely because I have not familiarized myself with it by way of operating instructions. It is also because I got it when I was pretty bad off due to cancer and I put it in a corner out of the way for future shooting fun.

 

Recently, I took it out and tried to figure it out. It certainly has one of the most different looking actions I have ever seen for a single shot rifle but I think I could handle and shoot it safely but that only after hours of  me trying to figure it out first. I should note that when I did handle it to examine it, I always made sure there was no ammunition available anywhere near the rifle, that it was pointed in a safe direction and that my finger was off of the trigger or any moving part unless  was certain I had it pointed in a safe direction. None of that necessarily means that if I take it to the range and try to fire it, I will do so without a mishap, as I am still not completely familiarized with the workings of the action of this rifle. Yet, based upon my experience with other guns, and upon my hours of examining this rifle, I will test it at the range someday soon. I will let you know, after my testing, how it went or in other words if it blew up or will continue to be a fun to shoot gun for years to come. Again, my guess is it will fire safely even though I did not familiarize myself with it by way of a manual, although not for lack of trying on my part. I figure, I am familiar enough with firearms that I have figured this one out properly enough and safely enough to take it to the range for a test firing but I have to admit I surely still would like to have the manual or other instructions giving me full knowledge of how to operate this rifle in a safe manner and as to how to disassemble and reassemble for maintenance.

 

As I said above, their are some exceptions to the rules and this  training rifle may just have to be one of them. That is if I ever intend to fire it. Of course, I will take every other reasonable safety precaution while doing so. As far as the great majority of firearms go though, I strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with their mechanical and handling characteristics before you handle them. I do it myself whenever I can and that is almost always with very few exceptions. The best way to do that, if you can, would be by reading its manual and by having those characteristics explained to you by someone already  thoroughly familiar with that particular type of gun. In the absence of one, then do the other. Better safe than sorry especially since accidental discharges can have consequences that last forever.

 

All the best,

Glenn B