Has The Pentagon Declared War On U.S. Citizenry

It seems as if the Pentagon, under the leadership of Barack Osama Bin Hussein Obama, has struck a direct blow against the citizenry of the United States of America and against The Constitution, which all military personnel are sworn to uphold, by its seizure of the capability of DefCad to distribute plans for The Liberator via the Internet. The Liberator is DefCad's plastic, 3D printed pistol.

According to a report by FoxNews.com, the Pentagon has scrubbed the plans, for making those guns, from the Internet. (source)

This is what you will see, at the very top header of the DefCad page:

"DEFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."

If click on the Liberator icon, you will wind up on a page where this is seen:

"Download: This file has been removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."

If the above is true, if indeed the Pentagon, or the U.S. Department of Defense Trade Controls, has forced those plans off of the Internet, then it has almost certainly violated our Constitution, specifically the 2nd Amendment and as I see it the government has declared war on its own people by using the military to take such action within our borders.

Folks, the US Department of Defense Trade Controls oversees import and export of defense article (as in national defense, like military weaponry). There is no possible way, as I see it, that this plastic pistol, that reportedly feel apart after firing only 6 shots, could be justifiably deemed a defense article under the purview of this department or of the Pentagon. What this appears to be is the U.S. Government, and U.S. Military's central command, actively abrogating the rights of U.S. Citizens on U.S. soil. This is what we have been fearing all along - a military takeover of the United States and it could well be commencing with this move.

We are now, as far as I am concerned, living in a Fascist nation wherein the government has begun taking military steps to control of industry just as the Nazis did in Germany. The Obama Administration repeatedly has negated our rights, seemingly toward no good end and without Constitutional justification or authority. Obama certainly seems to proving himself a tyrant and dictator of current times with little to no regard for the rule of constitutional law, in my estimation.

It may be to late to bury your firearms to protect them from illegal government confiscations but, if need be, let's hope it is not too late to dig them up to prevent any unconstitutional, illegal, fascist confiscations of plans from our arms industry or any illegal and tyrannical denials of our rights and liberties.

With trepidation,
Glenn B

I Am Not A Prisoner of Ammo Buying Urges - I Am A Free Man!

My Absolute Last Ammo Order - As In Concluding, Ultimate, Ending, Closing, Terminal or final order of ammunition that I shall have ever made online as one several days ago for Winchester, 115 grain FMJ, 9mm ammunition. I promised myself that I never again would order ammo online or buy it from any other source. I promised myself that because I know, deep down inside, I am not an ammo hoarder. Nor am I a guy who goes out and shoots up his entire stores of ammo on his next range visit only to be left wanting for more of it. I am a sensible, oft frugal, reasonable, law abiding (well I do jaywalk and forget to move my vehicle for alternate side of the street parking now and then, among other such minimal infractions) firearms owner who is not addicted to buying as much ammo as I almost can afford whenever it becomes available. Nor am I a worrywart, who is overly concerned that zombies are suddenly going to rise up and take over America (well, depending on your definition of zombies that is) while trying to kill of the rest of us.

My Absolute Last Ammo Order - As In Concluding, Ultimate, Ending, Closing, Terminal or Final order of ammunition that I ever shall have made online, or anywhere else, was one made several days ago for Winchester, 115 grain FMJ, 9mm ammunition. As soon as I ordered that, I promised myself I never again would order ammo online or buy it from any other source. I promised myself that because I know, deep down inside, I am not an ammo hoarder nor an ammo buying obsessive/compulsive. Neither am I a guy who goes out and shoots up his entire stores of ammo on his next range visit only to be left wanting for more of it like a junkie shooting all of his dope and soon needing another fix. I am a sensible, oft frugal, reasonable, law abiding (well I do jaywalk and forget to move my vehicle for alternate side of the street parking now and then, among other such minimal infractions) firearms owner who is not compelled into to buying as much ammo as I almost can afford whenever it becomes available. Nor am I a worrywart, who is overly concerned that zombies are suddenly going to rise up and take over America (well, depending on your definition of zombies that is) while trying to kill of the rest of us.



Neither am I concerned, and thus forced to buy ammunition, just because some folks think it is the devil himself  who is in power in Washington, D.C. (I think maybe it's his cousin but not actually the devil) and that he and his minion want to destroy the American way of life and are well on their way to having done so. That is not really happening though - is it? Isn't it normal for the government to buy billions of rounds of ammo, armored vehicles, lots of rifles with 30 round magazines (that they cleverly call personal defense weapons with standard magazines when they buy them but call assault weapons and high capacity magazines when in the hands of free citizens) and have their civilian servant forces prepare for armed encounters against the citizenry. I mean, are we a socialistic/communistic type of a country - or what! Am I worried about all of that? Nah, not me but I am a practical sort of a guy and want guns and ammo in good supply anyway - but not too much and I don't need anymore ammo.

As I was composing all that, calmly sitting here at my computer, suddenly I heard something like this. It was the call to arms of http://gunbot.net alerting me that the price of one of the calibers of ammo I have earmarked had a price drop to my personally preselected price level. I went to their site and saw that the alert was for .32 Auto. Suddenly I heard a voice saying: 'Holy low priced horse shit Batman, did you see that? Prvi Partisan 71 grain, FMJ, .32 ammo is on sale at Widener's at only .24 cents per round as per gunbot.net!'  I thought: Wow, those are pre-second term election ammo prices; how can I not pick some up before it is too late. "No - No- NO - DO'T BUY ANYMORE" is what I was also thinking. The urge was strong to buy and seemed as strong to avoid buying. "I know I can do it!", thought I. Then I heard another sound, like this except it was booming and getting faster, I began to realize I was perspiring, even salivating. It was like this. I had to do something to stop it, to make that feeling go away, to dissipate the thoughts of: 'I gotta get some quick before it all sells out'. Oh what to do?

I knew how to make it stop, at least for the immediate future. I selected the number of boxes of ammo and filled in all the other required info then, I pressed "Submit Order".  It was almost as if I had no will of my own. Ammo buying, its like this and it is over and over and over and over an over again, maybe until there is no more ammo to buy. Another 250 rounds of ammo is about to be on its way to my doorstep. Oh my, can't anyone help me end these nightmares.

I really don't need any help; mind you I can do it by myself. I know I can beat this on my own. I don't need no stinking shrinks or counselors or interventions or friends on whose shoulders to cry. No sir, no ma'am I don't need your help. I know I must fight it, I know I can do it. I am resigned to it, to not buying one more single piece of solitary ammunition ever.  I will not be pushed into making anymore ammo deals. I will not index myself as some sort of ammo buying freak, I am not a prisoner of a compulsion to buy ammunition, I will make no more ammo deals for a single bullet. (Click), I am not a prisoner of imagined uncontrollable  ammo buying urges. I am a free man!

Later 4 U, I have got to go check http://gunbot.net/ while I still have the freedom to do so.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Likely Effects Of NY State's 7 Round Magazine Law

Repeal the NY SAFE ACT. Nothing else needs to be said, just do it. A hat tip and my thanks to Peter Q for sending me this one.

Al the best,
Glenn B

250 Rounds of Aguila .45 Ammo Left On My Doorstep

I must be getting old and forgetful because today I received an order of 250 rounds of Aguila, 230 grain, FMJ, .45 Auto ammo, that I kind of, sort of, somehow forgot that I had ordered. That also could be because I recently made a couple of orders of 9mm Ammo or just because it was no big deal for me to order ammo. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I love finding ammo at my front door, I just wish someone else was paying for it.

All the best,
GB

The Liberator - They Actually Printed A Working Plastic Pistol...

...and I have to admit I was dead wrong because I thought it possible, when I first heard of this project, that it was all a hoax for them, Defense Distributors (aka: DefCad.org) to get donations and maybe pocket them instead of really figuring out how to "print" a working gun. What can I say but I am a cynic. I owe them an apology for my having thought that and I think maybe a small donation too, especially in light of the fact they have made the plans freely available to anyone.



Edited to add: Donation sent.

All the best,
Glenn B

Intense Shootout Footage - Police Versus Bad Guy In Middlefield, Ohio

The video, at the following link, is intense or in other words very graphic and extremely violent in nature. If you do not want to see someone die, don't watch. It is the complete start to finish dash cam video of a police cruiser showing a subject being stopped by police for running a stop sign and then getting out and opening fire on the officers with an AK-47 and the officers taking down the bad guy. It took place in March 2013, in Middlefield, Ohio.

http://video-embed.cleveland.com/services/player/bcpid649725534001?bctid=2350624009001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAQBxUNqE~,xKBGzTdiYSTvTgY_KEDQxGs6uqT6UiMm

This video and the accompanying and very informative linked article tell a story about how shit can hit the fan very badly and very quickly. There are many things you can learn from it, both what to do and what not to do if you are ever involved in a shooting. One of the most important things to do would be to keep your cool. I think you will realize, after watching the video and listening to the audio (there is audio once they make the vehicle stop, it does not come on until then), that the officers stayed pretty cool under fire. Yes, the female officer is heard screaming once, or at least I think it was her BUT she was pretty calm under fire, AND remained so after being hit twice by gunfire. Her voice is steely.

The male officer must have stayed calm enough because he hit the bad guy with 9 shots. He fired a total of  29 rounds and the female officer fired 17 rounds. Yes, that means that it seems that a total of 46 rounds were fired by the officers (other reports say 50 but so far all agree that the bad guy had 19 injuries. Only  bullets were recovered from his body. Either 10 bullets passed through him or some passed through and others caused multiple wounds (only guy I ever shot had 5 bullet holes from a single bullet) or only 9 hit him and they caused all 19 wounds. In the best case scenario, the bad guy was hit 19 times. The officers reportedly fired a total of 47 - 50 rounds depending on which report you read. Officer Savage (the male officer) reportedly fired 29 - 33 rounds (again depending on the report you read) and Officer Thomas (female officer) 17 rounds. With 19 hits at best, that leaves 28 - 31 shots out in the ozone, so to speak. That may not seem like great shooting on the part of the officers but let me say, it just isn't the same as shooting at paper at the range - NOT AT ALL because paper does not shoot at or in any other way threaten you.

I know what it feels like to be confronted by an armed pair of thugs and shoot at them. I can say without a doubt that it is nowhere near the same as anything I have ever encountered at the range as far as my reaction and actions went. Luckily for me, my first and second shots were well enough aimed to end the confrontation. There is nothing to prepare you for it though, nothing in your law enforcement training, nothing you see in a movie, nothing you read in a book or online. Not even this video can prepare you for how you will react and act at a moment when your life is on the line. I cannot fault the officers too much for missing with that many shots, I am sure that the pucker factor was in full force when this got underway. My guess would be though that, if they remain on the job, they will practice shooting more than before.

Luckily for them, the bad guy was an even worse shot. He shot 33 rounds at the cops. He apparently missed with all of his shots except possibly for one or two, the shot that took off Officer Thomas' finger and the one that hit her in her thigh. While every report I have read says that the bad guy shot off Officer Thomas' index finger on her left hand, I wonder about that a bit. I know for a fact that some police officials also have to be wondering if that is really what happened to her finger. Chances are she is right handed, as are most of us, and if she is I am wondering if it actually was a shot from the bad guy's gun or one from her own pistol that shot off her index finger. It happens. If she is lucky, no one will ever question it that all that much or the doctors were able to determine without a doubt that the was from one of the bad guy's shots. Yet, for now, it is something to consider if you are a shooter regardless of who shot her finger. A self-inflicted gunshot to the off hand, as you bring it up to get a two hand hold on the gun, is not that uncommon an injury as all too often the shooter places that hand in front of the muzzle as the shooter brings up the gun with the other. The cause, in this case, had she actually shot herself in that finger, probably would have been that she was on an adrenalin overdrive. Note, I am not saying she did shoot herself or even that it is likely but that such things do happen and you should be aware of it if you are a pistol shooter.

Note again, Officer Thomas was cool under fire. She had the wits about her to calmly communicate with her partner right from the get go. She tells officer Savage that "he is hiding something" referring to the bad guy. She got out of the patrol car, walked around to the other side behind it (using what cover she had) and then starts to approach the bad guys vehicle. She warns officer Savage as the dirt bag gets out of his car with the gun. She returns fire as does Savage (who fired from inside the car through the cruiser's windshield). She is hit. A break in the action takes place with the bad guy on his knees and Savage, also calmly, asks Thomas if she is hit. Listen to her reply  she is one cool person even after having been hit. She calmly and with determined steeliness communicates with her partner, telling him to cover them and she will call dispatch. She calls it in and her partner starts to fire at the scumbag who is again seemingly preparing to engage officer once again - watch closely in case you did not notice but as the officer starts shooting at the subject, who is on his knees, it appears he is trying to change magazines or to somehow manipulate the action on the rifle.

It is only once the piece of shit has been riddled with bullets and is lying on the ground, not moving, that the officers both loose some of that calmness. Officer Savage can be heard screaming: "send back-up now" as Officer Thomas gives out their location and other info.

To me, it sounds as if a passerby approaches the police officers and asks if they are okay. I do not think that is their dispatcher, even though that is when officer Savage calls for back-up, because the voice then says "I have a pis..." but immediately shuts up when he is cut off by Savage again as Savage again calls for back up as Officer Thomas calls in that she is hit, needs and ambulance and gives their location. The fear and shock in both of the officers' voices is readily apparent but note again - only after the bad guy is already down. Then, that same unknown voice says:  "How bad you hit?" to which Officer Savage starts to reply, in a low calm voice again "probably..." followed by something I could not understand.  It sounds like he is talking to someone right there with them. Then that same unknown voice says: "Hold on, hold on, is he dead?"

I think it was a passerby who was offering to render assistance and that he initially had been about to say 'I have a pistol, I can help' or something like that. I could be interpreting it all wrong, it could be the dispatcher's voice, but I have explained why I think not. Folks, I bring this up because if you ever approach police to render assistance, do not tell them, as one of the first things you say:  "I have a pistol" especially only a moment after they were just engaged in a fatal shootout - unless you are absolutely sure they realize you are one of the good guys and I really do mean that you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN they know you are one of the good guys. Mistakes happen and people get shot because of mistaken intentions and mistaken identity during heated moments such as these. Let them know you are there to help by saying something like: "Officers can I help, are you wounded, I know first aid" or ask "should I call 911 for assistance" or tell them "I just called 911 and told them what happened, help is on the way, what can I do to help you" (*which might be the thing to do before you go to help the officers). Do not interrupt them during a radio call for assistance. Hold your tongue until that call is over. It would be a terrible fate to be wounded or killed by the officers when you were trying to help but they, in their shocked states of mind, mistook you for an accomplice of the bad guy.

Speaking about shock and mental state, did you notice that even after the bad guy went down onto the ground in the prone position, and was apparently stopped from being a further threat, and taking no more hostile actions, the officer(s) kept firing. Is that the way it should happen? Probably not under the law the way it is written. Is that the way it happens? Yes, quite often. Was whoever was still firing wrong and doing something illegal and unforgivable? You can bet that someone who does not understand what is taking place would quite likely say that was totally wrong and unforgivable. My reply is: NO, they probably were not wrong! While it may readily appear that the bad guy was probably no longer a threat, we are watching a video of the event and not involved in it. We are not on an adrenalin overload. We are not operating with a mental processing overload. We are home, on our computers, probably relaxed and enjoying a cold one; the officers had just a moment before been under fire and both were injured and that changes things. It is a known fact, that in such situations, the innocent party involved often keeps shooting until the gun goes dry due to physical and mental state in such a situation. Another thing is that the officer had to convince him or herself that the guy was no longer a threat. They shot a lot of shots before he went down and even after he was obviously hit, he kept firing at the officers. So, the officer likely still thought he was a threat. In addition, you can bet that not only are the officers on adrenalin overload, they are suffering from a mental processing overload and are also in shock while at the same time having a super elevated heart rate and blood pressure, they are under extreme stress. Things seem to take place in slow motion, sounds are not as loud as usual, you scream to be heard because you think you are not speaking loud enough. You have tunnel vision. It is even possible that they perceived him as still moving, all that stress can and does sometimes make you hallucinate during a gun battle. You are super stressed. They were scared for their lives and remained so, even after the sack of shit hit the ground, up until the second or two later that they were able to process he was down and not moving and then stopped shooting.

Back to the guy with the mystery voice, for a moment. I have to hand it to that guy, he asked the all-important question when he said: "Hold on, hold on, is he dead". Once the bad guy was down, and the shooting was over, neither officer apparently thought of immediately approaching an handcuffing and disarming him - not necessarily in that order. Now, there is a good chance they did think of it only moments after the video cut off and did so. There is also the better chance that they were waiting for back-up. Me, I am not sure what I would have done even though trained to check the guy out and handcuff him whether or not I thought him dead. Why? Because had the guy still be alive, even though he looked dead to me, he was laying atop a potentially loaded AK-47. I addition, the officers had no idea what or who else was in the car. You cannot assume it was only him. To approach or wait for back-up is a judgment call that you hope you get right. Waiting for back up could mean, if he were still alive, that he could attack again and you would be in another gun fight and be pretty low on ammo, same if an accomplice had been hiding in the car. But at least you could get behind better cover in the meantime, again something the officers seemingly did not do, it seems as if they stayed with the cruiser. Of course, had they approached and the guy was still alive, or had he an armed accomplice hiding in the car, all the same stuff could have happened. The point is though, don't ever think, that just because someone went down it is over. Make sure it is over, and if you can safely do so, secure the subject (even if you think him dead) and then secure the area (like his vehicle to make sure there was not another bad guy hiding in it). If you think it is not safe to do so, then get behind cover, do a tactical reload, check for injuries to self and partner, stop any bleeding, and wait for the back-up to arrive as you continuously observe the downed bad guy, his car and the area in general.

One other note about being a person who inadvertently winds up in the middle of such a situation or even just on the edge of it. Did you pay any attention to the white car that drove up in the oncoming traffic lane while the shootout was going hot and heavy? The driver stopped the car, maybe because he saw the police cruiser's light flashing and wanted to do the right thing, maybe because he saw the gunfight, then sat there for a moment and I am guessing suddenly realized what was happening and what he or she should do pronto. The driver's next actions were the correct ones if safely possible, get the heck out of Dodge by getting away from the danger (don't drive by it or through it if possible).

All in all, I think those two officers did a fantastic job. While I would like to have seen more of their shots hit the bad guy, I must again point out it is not like shooting at paper targets; bad guys are shooting at you in situations like these and that is a major game changer. They handled themselves pretty darned well and rid the earth of a piece of crap. 

What we likely are all left wondering now, is where was the guy going and what was he about to do with the guns, ammo, gunpowder, explosives handbooks and the like that were in his car. He was evidently ready to do something as opposed to just transporting it all otherwise why the AK-47 in the passenger compartment either ready to go or ready to load and go. Maybe we should consider ourselves very lucky that it was those two police officers who were not sitting around eating donuts, not sleeping on the job, who decided to do their jobs and go after a guy who ran a stop sign and then were on the ball enough to take out a seeming psycho who pretty much outgunned them. For all we know he could have run that light because he was in a hurry to get to the library to get a book about gardening but somehow I highly doubt that.

A hat tip to Kerry F for sending me the link to the video that got me looking into all of this.

Sources:

http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2013/05/03/news/doc5183fccf74a53428767507.txt?viewmode=fullstory

http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2013/04/27/news/doc517b176a8157a382533942.txt?viewmode=fullstory

http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2013/03/13/news/doc5140ab7acd457648079697.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Other related articles:

http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2013/03/11/news/doc513df548ea98f390006667.txt

Stay safe,
Glenn B
 

Maybe I Don't Want To Continue Working As A Security Guard After All

Here is a video clip, purportedly shot at Roosevelt Field Shopping mall, pretty close to my house, that shows a pretty much totally naked guy (no shirt, pants down around his ankles, undies too) running amok through the mall and trashing a store. For a split second, when he was bent over and pulling on the front door of the store, I vaguely thought he was someone I knew. I have seen that guy since yesterday though and since the video was added to LiveLeak yesterday, it could not haven been him or so I would hope. Luckily, my son does not, nor do any of his friends, own a pair of red shoes, LOL.



All the best,
Glenn B

NY State Armed Guard Training Course Completed

I never imagined working as a security guard in my retirement but that has been my lot since I got a job last July.  It helps pay the bills. What would better help pay the bills though would be if I could get a job as an executive somewhere but since that is not about to happen I will settle for an armed guard position and increase my current pay by anywhere from 150% to about 250% per hour. That will be okay. So I took the armed guard course I have been blogging about for the past couple of weeks.

The final class was today. We shot rifles, shotgun and then practiced transitioning from shotgun to handgun. I scored 100% on each of the shotgun and rifle courses. I have to admit, it would have been close to impossible for me not to have done so and for even mediocre shooters not to have done so. of course, there were some who did not score as well but only a couple or a few. One guy scored a 70 with he shotgun which was surprising since we were firing at only 15 yards but then again, some of the guys were shooting both the rifle and shotgun for the first time ever and I think he was one of them. Anyway, as I understand, he passed by the grace of getting the lowest passing score.

As far as he rifle goes, I fired an AR15, don't know the make, with a red dot sight on it. I really did not bother sighting in with the rifle, I simply brought it up, pointed it, and fired. Yes, I saw the sight but even when I saw a double image of it, I kept firing and got all my shotgun the scoring zone for a perfect score. I was firing as fast as I could fire for: one stage of five rounds at he head, one stage of 10 rounds and another of five rounds, both of those at the torso. I am certain I would have put a hurting on a bad guy had it been one of them instead of paper at which I was shooting. Had the target been at 25 yards, I would have concerned myself with aiming for a bit of precision but no way I was about to do that so close in at 15 yards. I think I fired faster than anyone of the other 4 shooters shooting at the same time as me by almost half their time to fire each volley.

Until today, I probably have not fired the shotgun more than twice in the past year and a half, if that much. I used my personally owned Remington 870 pump action shotgun. It always has been one of my favorite firearms and I was not at all disappointed with how I shot it today. I shot as fast as I could shoot, reacquired the front sight (did not pay much attention to the rear sight at that distance but I did have it in the picture each time) and shot again, repeating until empty. I was much faster than anyone else of the other 4 shooters who shot at the same time as me and I mean MUCH faster. (The Remington 870 being one of my preferred weapons, I am quite familiar with it and how to shoot it fast and accurately.). I also am certain I was much faster than anyone else on the other two relays. We shot two volleys of five shots. I had a decent group with the shotgun, seven of ten shots going into a medium fist sized hole and the other three not more than an inch from the center of that hole. One guy, maybe two, had a better group than me but they both were shooting pretty slowly. I did not do bad at all for not having shot that gun in way too long of a good while.
 
As for the transitioning to pistol, we brought up the shotgun, with an empty chamber, gun cocked, dry fired, and when it went click had to draw and fire two shots from the pistol. I had my shotgun on a combat sling and merely dropped it and drew and fired the Glock 26. I was obviously faster than anyone else by several seconds. We did that three times. Four of my shots went right through the hole already punched by the shotgun slugs. The other two were centered left to right but a bit lower down. More than good enough, I was quite pleased with my little bit of transitioning from shotgun to pistol shooting as I was with the rest of my shooting today.

Sorry for the terrible photo of my target but that is how it came out with my cell phone's camera in the pretty low light at the range. The Red lines mark the shotgun slug holes, the blue lines mark shotgun wad holes and the green lines the two of six pistol shots that did not go through the shotgun slug group in the center. All the other smaller holes were from the .223 rounds fired through the AR-15. 

Now, I have to wait about a week to 10 days to receive my certificate for having successfully passed the course; then send in an application to change my guard license from unarmed to armed and wait for the new license to be sent to me. maybe another month after I submit my application for the license change. I guess, I should have the armed guard license by the end of June give or take a week or two. Once I get the new license, I will start applying for a new job. Before I do that though, I will offer my current employer my continued services, but as an armed instead of unarmed guard, for a pay increase. I like it where I am working, like most of the people who work there, can tolerate the others, have a really good boss who has good bosses himself, and if they agree to keep me on as an armed guard (they have been considering going to armed guards), I would be quite happy to stay there.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Thought On Burying The Remains Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Boston

I think that what is left of Tamerlan Tsarnaev should be buried in Boston, in a cemetery open to the public, in a location made known to the public. I strongly encourage Bostonians to strive for his remains to be buried in that manner in Boston. That way, the people of Boston can visit his grave to piss on the headstone and pour pigs' blood on the ground under which he lies, on a daily basis, for eternity.

All the best,
Glenn B

So What Are The Chances Me Or One of My Classmates Will Be Arrested Tomorrow...

... or at least searched and detained for questioning, as we head toward the Mitchell Athletic Complex to go to the Nassau County Rifle & Pistol Range (which is immediately adjacent or maybe even in that complex) with pistols, shotguns, rifles and ammo, to attend the last day of our armed security guard training? Normally, I would not even think about such a possibility. Tomorrow though will be a different kind of day with the Long Island Marathon being run, parking for it in all the lots around the range (and probably some arsehats parking in the range's spots) and the starting point for the Marathon being very close to the range. Security is going to be "heightened" and you can bet it probably will be extreme in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. According to one news report I read:

“You can expect to be challenged,” Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said. “If you’re going into any of the designated areas there’s a security check point before you go in, every bag will be searched.” (source)

I can't wait. The only good thing we have going for us is that the class was supposed to begin at 0800 but has been pushed back to 1100 because of the race and all of the security. Somehow though, I get the feeling there will still be a good amount of security in that area, at that time, because a lot of the runners' cars will be parked close by since the range is so close to the starting line.

I guess that tomorrow, before leaving the house, I had best make sure none of my pistol magazines are accidentally loaded with more than seven rounds, that I have my wallet and that it contains my pistol license, that I leave my AK-47 at home and all that kind of hooey because I sure don't want to be given the treatment by some overzealous officer who thinks he has stumbled on NY's version of MA's TERRORISTA#1 if they search my car and find a few pistols and a shotgun in it. Of course, I will also bring along my good manners so, that if stopped, I would only speak to the officers with what could be seen as courtesy and respect and I would hope they would do likewise to me.

I am hoping for a good day at the range and nothing more. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

All the best,
Glenn B

Firearms Qualifications Today

Well, as I expected, I passed the qualification course of fire for the armed guard training I have been taking. I was allowed to shoot one gun twice for score or to shoot two guns and get scored for each of them. I opted to shoot the Glock 26 first. I scored a 96 out of 100%. I was not overly happy with how I shot the Glock, I should have achieved a perfect score but didn't. I dropped two shots, one going low to the left on which I fired to soon after a reload. I fired as I was punching the gun out before aligning my sights and it was akin to anticipating recoil. The other was outside the scored area and was shot at 25 yards. Looks like I jerked the trigger or had too much finger on it. There are no excuses for either of those shots.

I shot the next qual course with one of my Beretta 92FS pistols. I scored 100% on that one with a pretty good group too - all center of mass in the torso (except for the head shots that were right where they were meant to be, center of mass in the head). That one I was happy about. I'll just have to keep practicing what I preach with the Glock until all the shots are in there for a perfect score.

We spent all of our training time firing on the range today, so - it was a fun day. Beside the qualification courses of fire, we also practiced malfunction drills, multiple target acquisition and shooting, and also shooting while moving. It was the bare bones basics for each but I had a great time. I virtually always have fun when shooting at the range.

Tomorrow we will be shooting rifle and shotgun. Shooters were told to bring in their personally owned 12 gauge pump action shotguns and patrol type rifles (like an AR-15) although that is optional because the instructor has some we can shoot. I will probably bring in my Remington 870 (if I can find it) but that will likely need at least a light application of oil or maybe even require a good cleaning, tonight. I am going to be cleaning the Glock 26 and the Beretta 92FS and am thinking since I have to clean them, I may as well clean the shotgun too (remembering that a clean gun is a happy gun).

I am looking forward to another day of firearms training. Once that is out of the way, as I understand, I will receive a certification that I have taken and passed the course. About a week after I get the certification, I will have to send in my applications, along with the original of my unarmed guard license. (How ridiculous can  they get because if it gets lost in the mail I will have to apply for another and was told it takes 6 months to be reissued if lost!) Then, within whatever is the normal time frame, I should receive my armed guard license in the mail and I will be able apply for and hopefully get work as an armed guard for much better pay than I make right now. I suppose time will tell if that works out.

All the best,
Glenn B

Is It Just Me and You - Or Does Anybody Else Think A Revolution Is Coming?

The answer is that 29% of the American
voting public believe that an armed revolt is going to be necessary in order to protect our rights and liberties. According to the survey, 44% of those who said yes are Republicans. That leaves a whopping 56% of OTHER THAN REPUBLICANS who also answered that they believed an armed revolt will be necessary to protect our rights and liberties. Looking into that a little deeper will reveal that those numbers must mean there are an awful lot of Democrats in the mix, along with Independents, who also thought so because those are the other two big groups of voters.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/02/poll-shows-2-percent-voters-think-armed-revolution-might-be-needed/?test=latestnews

Note that, those who said a revolution was not going to be necessary amounted to only 47% of the polled, while another 24% either declined to answer or were uncertain if a revolution would be needed. My bet would be that most of the undecided/refused to answer probably also believe one is coming but were smart enough not to say so.

All the best,
Glenn  B

Oh Toto, I've Got A Feeling We Should Be In Kansas Forevermore...

...or in Kentucky, or Arizona, or Utah or any other Right to Keep and Bear Arms friendly state.

Kansas: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/03/kansas-governor-attorney-general-holder-spar-over-new-state-gun-law/?test=latestnews

Arizona: http://nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2013/5/arizona-governor-brewer-signs-two-pro-gun-reforms-into-law.aspx

Kentucky: http://gun.laws.com/kentucky-gun-laws

Utah: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/28/utah-lawmakers-aim-to-resurface-gun-rights-measures/

All the best,
Glenn B

Another Few Dealers Added to My Link List

My ever expanding list of gun dealers, firearms parts and accessories suppliers, ammo dealers and firearms auction sites has grown by two three. The list contains only dealers from whom I have made purchases or online services that I have used such as online firearms auction houses. The two dealers I have added are:

Buffer Technologies

Palmetto State Armory

I ordered ten 10 round magazines, for my Beretta 92 series pistols.  They had them at a great price of $15.00 each. They are Italian made, Beretta factory manufactured magazines from what I can tell, and from what it said in the ad and on the invoice (in other words the genuine article). My guess is these were police or military surplus (although I do not know why any military would order 10 round mags) that were in storage for awhile. They had a dull finish on the outside possibly made that way or possibly caused by slight amount of surface rust, only seen when I cleaned them with white cloths wetted with Gunzilla.  It is possible they were refinished on the outside surface but I do not think so. The insides and the springs look brand new, just the outside had either a dull finish or the finish that was dulled by the slight amount of rust. These were a great buy since Beretta recently offered the same magazines at about $44 apiece but had none available when I looked to them to order some. I am happy they were out of stock at Beretta and in stock at Buffer Technologies. They shipped fast and shipped to NY even though many companies refused to ship 10 round mags to NY, after passage of the NY SAFE Act, even though it was legal to do so. A hat tip to Buffer technologies. By the way, those mags sold out overnight but I am happy to say I posted the info about them on the forums at Long island Firearms and at least a few folks said they picked some up.

As for my order with Palmetto State Armory, I ordered 500 rounds of American Eagle, 115 grain, FMJ, 9mm ammo from them last week. It arrived yesterday, was waiting on my doorstep when I arrived home. I would liked to have seen them ship faster than having to wait 6-7 days just for the item to be shipped and then a couple more to receive it but I can understand the delay with the ammo buying frenzy that has been taking place because: 1. Obama was reelected, 2. Obama is extremely anti-gun as opposed to anything he said otherwise and he always claimed to be gun friendly, 3. Gun control laws being passed by emotional twits in state governments to oppress our liberties and destroy our rights instead of executing dangerous violent criminals and lock away the mentally ill, 4. The government buying huge quantities of ammunition to supply Obama's civilian force to make it as strong as the military (a campaign promise or post-campaign promise in his first term). But I digress. Palmetto State Armory shipped my order of ammunition reasonably well packaged, sent what I actually ordered and had a pretty good price for the ammo at the current time It went for $17.99 per box of 50. Note, I did not say a great price nor a price from before the ammo buying frenzy, I said a pretty good price and since the next closest offer I saw for the same ammo was double that price, yep that was pretty good. Hopefully that is a sign that ammo prices will soon fall.

I should note that it took at least 3 order attempts and a total of about 40 minutes for my to be able to place an order with them. My guess is that even DHS was trying to order from them at that price.

I would gladly do business again with either of these companies.

By the way, I found that lower ammo price by checking with:

GUNBOT.net

I guess I am really adding three sites to my link list. GUNBOT offers an invaluable service to the ammunition consumer by listing, in virtual real time, ammunition as it becomes available and the prices at which it is selling.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Basics of Trigger Finger Placement - Helping Oldtime and New Shooter Alike

It is never too soon to learn or too late to relearn one of the basics of pistol shooting, specifically Trigger Finger Placement, but it could turn out too late to learn if you wind up needing to depend on your pistol for self-defense or defense of others and have not learned it already. Note there I a subtle difference between it never being too late to relearn and too late to learn when it appears in words but it would likely be the difference between life and death in the real world. If you don't understand what I mean, you are hopeless, don't read further.

Ok, so you decided to read on; I imagine that means you understood what I meant and are still alive and capable of learning or relearning before it is too late.  (If you are pretty much an idiot, thus virtually incapable of learning, but just curious, it means you are still alive and there is, at least, an outside chance for you yet.)

I have been an avid pistol shooter since I was in my mid-twenties. That means I have been shooting pistols, with regularity, for 33.5 years now - almost to the day. In that time I have been a terrible shot, a passable shot, a mediocre shot, a good shot, an expert shot and intermittently a distinguished expert (intermittent with expert), then again a fair to good shot, back to an expert and distinguished expert all over again. I pretty much made progress in that order, then declined, then once again made progress just as outlined in the previous sentence. Of course, there were some times in there, when I was not consistently, a distinguished expert or an expert but once I had achieved the ability to qualify as an expert shooter, I rarely fell below that mark except during the odd qualification course when I was off my mark. I had collateral duties as a firearms instructor, for about 14 years, when I was employed as a federal agent; and I am currently a certified NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor for pistol and shotgun. You can rest assured, I know the basics of pistol shooting.  Mind you, I am not bragging, just giving you my background because it is pertinent to what I said about it never being too late to relearn pistol shooting basics regarding trigger finger placement.

Back in June 2011, I attended an NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor School for pistol and shotgun. I did very well but I was shooting groups somewhat to the left. It wasn’t much, certainly not enough to concern me when shooting even out to 15 yards but at 25 yards I was not doing as good as I should have been doing. Even the course instructors did not seem concerned by it.  Then one of the instructors mentioned something to us, about how to teach other shooters, the proper way to place your finger on the trigger. The light bulb lit up and I tried it just the way they had shown it. My shots were back on center target in virtually no time so long as I did it just the way they told us to do it. It was almost like I had learned it for the first time but I knew better. It was more a case of me getting lazy, forming bad habits, and not thinking I (already a good shot and an instructor) could have forgotten one of the basics. The truth is though, I had probably had my bad habit for a few years because I consistently had been shooting like that with my Glock pistols, be it my issued Model 19, my issued model 26 or my personally owned model 26. Another firearms instructor, on my job, adjusted the sights never thinking to check my trigger finger position; he was guilty, as was I, of thinking I would not be making a novice’s mistake. Then when I was issued a SIG 229 DAH, I also sometimes shot like that. Same was true  with my Beretta 92FS pistols but I shot them nowhere nearly as much as the Glocks or SIG once each respectively became the issued pistols at my agency and never noticed it that much when shooting the Berettas. In addition, Glocks and SIG were all double action only pistols; the Berettas are double action on the first shot, then single action for subsequent shots and what I was doing wrong effected my shooting less when firing a single action pistol because of the shortened trigger travel and the smaller amount of strength to pull the trigger in single action mode.

Getting back to the NRA class, I had been using my Glock for most of the class. I had to change to one of my Berettas, luckily I had to foresight to bring along a back-up pistol, because the front night sight on my Glock dimmed and it became almost impossible to sight it in in low light situations. I continued to use the Glock during daylight shooting though and had planned on sending it off to Glock in July of that summer. As I said, during the course the instructors covered the basics of how to place the trigger finger on the trigger as well as all the other basics of pistol shooting. Why – because they wanted to make sure that all of the seasoned shooters taking the course, some previously qualified as instructors like me, had not forgotten and would not forget any of the basics when instructing new students. I was happy for it because I realized why I was shooting to the left just a bit. Shortly after that though, I pretty much stopped shooting for the greater part of a year. I was diagnosed with a bad case of throat cancer in the mid-summer of 2011 and went through treatments from the late summer through most of the fall. I forgot all about shooting except to make it to the range at work, for quarterly qualification in October 2011 before the treatments had really gotten to me badly as they most certainly were about to do. With all that going on, I pretty much forgot about the sights on the Glock needing replacement.

Sooner, well actually later, I sent in the Glock to get new sights, I think that was in April or May 2012. I opted for what I thought would be standard iron (steel) sights. That June, I was dismayed to receive the pistol back with plastic (actually polymer) sights and having Glock tell me those were now their standard sights. Again, after some procrastination, I sent the pistol back to Glock, in December 2012 (yes 6 moths of procrastination) that time specifically saying I wanted Glock manufactured Iron (steel) sights. I got it back fairly quickly with the iron sights on it. Now, it may seem like I took a really long time to address the problem with the sights but truth be told, I was not shooting at the time and did not give a rat’s arse. I had not shot at all between October 2011 and March 2012 when I finally was feeling well enough, after beating the cancer, to go to the range. That got me thinking about the Glock all over again and shortly after that I sent it in for repairs. Yeah, there was a long time in between the polymer sights on the first repair and the iron sights on the second repair – mostly because I was not shooting a lot because I was still not feeling all that great. The most shooting I did between October 2011 and December 2012 was at the 5^th Annual NE Bloggershoot at a supersekrit location in NH. Otherwise, range trips were few and far between. It was not until this spring that I really started shooting again in earnest, about a year and three quarters after first finding out was ill.

I guess I shot the Glock twice this spring, since I had received it with the iron sights on it. As before, I was shooting to the left. I thought it was he sights and that they needed adjusting. After all, I was not shooting like that with my Beretta 92FS pistols or my Beretta 92SB. How soon I had forgotten the lesson I learned in June 2011 at the NRA training. I blame it all on what the docs and nurses called chemo-brain. Between the chemo and the radiation my brain was probably partially roasted and memory failed me a bit more than it had before that. It’s not like I am walking around with a buddy named Al Z. Heimer, in fact it has improved since the months after the treatments but I did forget or just not think about some things after going through all that. One of those things was trigger finger placement.

Then, just two weekends ago, I started to take the NY State Armed Guard Training Course in order to get an armed guard license. The course is 47 hours long and takes place over a period of six days, in this case all the days being spread out over three weekends. On day one, I shot to the left, pretty miserably when taking aimed shots using the sights. I was not happy; my groups were 2-4” to the left at 7 yards, 4-6” to the left at 15 yards and 4-“ to the left at 25 yards, most of them being 6-8 inches to the left. Since I was about the second best shot there, the instructors focused on the weaker shooters and only one mentioned the possibility I was jerking the trigger. I mentioned my poor performance to another shooter and chalked it up to the sights needing adjustment as had been done with on previous Glocks I had fired, and on this one when it had the night sights. I said I would ask an instructor if they had a Glock sight adjustment tool the next day. The other student said: ‘don’t  bother, I will bring mine in for you’. He did just that on Sunday but, as luck would have it, I never got a chance to use it and that was lucky for me. As it turned out my shots kept grouping to the left even though I knew I was not jerking the trigger and thought I had been doing everything correctly. I figured I would use the sight tool the next weekend.

The Friday night of the following weekend, weekend two for the class, I happened to watch this video (it is long but was well worth the watch for me and it was quire amusing – note: never try the shooting and target holding stunts depicted in said video as they are extremely dangerous): RARE - LASD Pistol Team Exhibition, Historic, 1936, Color enhanced.



If you don’t watch any more of it, watch the section beginning at 5 minutes 52 seconds into the video and for a few seconds after that. You will see what I was doing and what I should have been doing. In the video, the instructor walks up to the shooter and corrects his trigger finger placement. (Of course, if you watch carefully, you will see the shooter push his finger back to almost the original position and you can bet if he shot like that his shooting would have suffered for it but remember they were mugging it for the cameras.)

Well, I was doing pretty much what that shooter had been doing. I had as much of my finger shoved through the trigger guard, as I get through it, with part of the middle section of my trigger finger resting on the trigger itself and thus the rear section of my trigger finger resting on the right side of the fame and partially on the right grip. That is begging for your shots to go to the left if you are a right handed shooter, or to the right if you are a left handed shooter. All I had to do to correct was to simply place the center of the pad of my trigger finger on the center of the trigger and do everything else the same as I had been doing. Doing so immediately corrected my shooting because it moved the rest of my finger off of the frame and the grip panel. Now, instead of me squeezing (pulling/pressing) the trigger back and at the same time pushing to the left with the second knuckle and rear part of my trigger finger (which is what happens when you hold with too much finger on the trigger), I was pulling the trigger straight back and the rest of my finger formed an arch that was not touching the gun.

My shots were no longer off to the left, I was hitting center of mass. Although still not shooting as good as I used to shoot, my group was wider than I would have liked it to have been, I have to say that the change was quite remarkable. All in simply adjusting my trigger finger on the trigger and then keeping it that way. The next day, I placed my finger on the trigger in the same manner. When we shot two qualification courses, I got 100% on each. I think one other shooter out of 14 of us equaled that but my group sizes were better than his. Sure that made me feel good but the important thing was not how I felt but that I had relearned one of the fundamental lessons of pistol shooting that I had forgotten somewhere along the way. It also reminded me that, in most cases it is not the gun that causes anyone to shoot poorly - it is much more likely due to what we used to call piss poor shooting skills or what today one might call, in a much more politically correct world, user error.

Now, granted, I could have explained the poor shooting technique to you and then told you how to properly apply your finger to the trigger in all of one or two short paragraph(s) but I like telling the whole story. I figured in this case it would show how applicable getting it applied correctly is to the new shooter as well as to the seasoned professional shooter and that the basics are something you always need to practice if you want to keep shooting on the mark. I hope that the longer version has made it sink in just a little better than would have the shorter one. If I have bored you, and you ever need to come back to read this again, then just read the last couple of paragraphs above; they should work for you, they contain the basic premise of proper trigger finger placement.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Dark Continent Eludes Me

Since I began tracking visits to my blog, I have always hoped to find that, at sometime in any given 24 hour period, I would have had visitors to my blog from the 6 continents (yes I realize there are 7 continents but I am talking ones with countries located therein and thereby excluding Antarctica). While it may have happened already, it has not done so to my knowledge. I have come close several times, for instance today, when I looked, I saw that I had visits from 5 continents but that as usual, the Dark Continent eludes me.

Oh well, today is still just another day in Paradise.

All the best,
Glenn B

Poisoned OJ at Starbucks - Motive a Total Mystery???

Police are in essence reporting that they have no clue as to the motive of a California pharmacist, Ramineh Behbehanian, who allegedly placed two bottles of poisoned orange juice onto the shelves at a San Jose Starbucks. The juice was reportedly tainted with enough rubbing alcohol to kill someone had they taken a drink of it. I would suggest to the police that they look closely at the subject's name and that it may give them a clue as to her motive(s). Granted you cannot judge a person by their name, but her name could point law enforcement in the right direction to look for a motive even if she stays mum and lawyers- up. Once pointed in that direction, authorities could then seek other clues and evidence and if they found such could use it in her prosecution; if they don't find anything they could look elsewhere. To ignore her likely ethnicity, would definitely be ignoring a source of her possible motive(s).

If the above was not hint enough, let me just say that the name Ramineh is a common name among Iranians and among other Muslims. Now, she may or may not be Muslim and her motives may or may not be related to Islam, but her name is certainly a clue (no matter how small) as to her possible motive(s) and the clue should be fully investigated in light of the fact of another recent religiously motivated act of terrorism.

Of course though, I understand the police not wanting to give any hint they think that her motive may have been religiously motivated because authorities have to be ever so sensitive to avoid possibly insulting the Islamic community as opposed to how they would treat, another community and maybe it is too early to determine what was her motive. Yet, whether she is Islamic or not, kissing the asses of Islamic terrorists, until they finally destroy America, is not the smart way to go, so I pray they are at least investigating that possibility. Doing a thorough investigation based on all the facts would be smart. I am not hopeful that will happen - remember it took place in California.

Sources:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/30/california-woman-accused-sneaking-juice-mixed-with-rubbing-alcohol-into/

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/17997139-pharmacist-accused-of-planting-poisoned-orange-juice-at-starbucks?lite=

All the best,
Glenn B

Weren't German Doctors Trusted Good Little Nazis

It seems not to have changed since the 30's and 40's right up through today. Here is a fine example of doctors, albeit American ones, playing the part of good little government snitches and enforcers so that the government can come in and rip apart people's families:

http://www.news10.net/news/article/242734/2/Couple-fights-to-get-baby-back-from-CPS-police

I never realized that the words "Heil Hitler" were in the Hypocritical Hippocratic Oath but they must be in there someplace with doctors behaving like that!

All the best,
Glenn B

Aguila .45 ACP, 230 Grain, FMJ Ammo - Decent Price Alert

AIM currently has, as I type, Aguila .45 ACP, 230 grain, FMJ ammo, in stock, for sale at $21.95 per box. That is the best price I have seen in way too long.

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=AG45FMJ230&name=Aguila+.45+Auto+230grn+FMJ+50rd+box&groupid=32

All the best,
GB

Another Fine Day At The Range

I spent this morning and a bit of this afternoon at the local indoor range. As it was yesterday, I was attending the armed security guard training course. We shot revolver today as well as shooting two qualification courses with semi-automatic pistols. I did very well; I scored 100% of the revolver course and 100% on each of the two semi-auto courses. Mind you that was not difficult, at least for me. We shot at a standard silhouette target and anything inside of the 7 ring was considered a hit and worth 2 points. Only shots outside the 7 ring were points off and scored 0 points. That made it a big area in which to place all of my shots.

 

Normally, if that same target is used for a law enforcement qualifications, anything in the X, 10, 9 and 8 rings would be scored 5 points, any shots in the7 ring as 4 points and anything in the black but outside of the 7 ring would count as three points. (Note that head shots, during the phases of fire requiring head shots, are counted as 5 points). Using that scoring method, I also would have shot a perfect score but this time it would have been scored as 250/250. That would have qualified me as distinguished expert in my former agency. By the way, that scoring method is noted on the particular targets we used, see the upper left hand corner of the target in the accompanying photo. If scored as per the scoring rings on the target, I would have shot 482 out of 500 since we shot 50 rounds and the top scoring rings, the X and 10 ring, were both scored as 10 points. Breaking it down, I had 5 shots in the 8 ring, 8 in the 9 ring and the remainder within the 10 and X rings except for the 4 head shots that also counted as full score of 10 points each. Not too shabby for an old guy.

For this course though, they counted everything inside the 7 ring as a hit and anything outside as a miss; each shot within the 7 ring counting as 2 points with a possible high score of 100 for 50 shots. As I mentioned above, it was pretty easy to accomplish a perfect score. Yet, only one other shooter out of a total of 14 of us scored 100%. The targets used were the B27F like the one pictured in this post. I did not get a chance to take a photo of my actual targets today as the instructors kept hold of them so they could later record the scores.

I have got to point out that qualifying, if not getting all shots within the 7 ring, should have been fairly easy even for a mediocre shooter, who has received decent firearms training in the past. That is my opinion based on an awful lot of shooting experience and 14 years as a firearms instructor. Still though, not everyone qualified on the first attempt. The low scores on the first qualification attempt were two scores of 58, shot by two shooters and I think about 2 or 3 others did not qualify on that attempt. The low scores on the second qualification were two or three 70% scores; 70% was the lowest passing score - so everyone qualified that time around. Judging by the gun handling techniques and shooting skill levels of some of the shooters, it seems apparent to me that some of them have not handled a handgun in years, that is if they ever actually had handled one before they started this class. They have been learning the basics in this course though and have improved substantially since last week. My guess is that everyone will qualify even if a couple only just barely, next week, during the actual qualification course that counts toward obtaining the armed guard license.

Yesterday, the lead instructor told me he would not want to be the guy at whom I was shooting. It is nice to know that I still have it in me to shoot a very good score. The cancer and cancer treatments knocked the rat piss out of me back in late 2011 and I was still feeling the effects, pretty badly, throughout early to mid 2012; I was not sure I would ever shoot as good again as I used to shoot in the pre-cancer days. I guess I started shooting again in the spring or summer of 2012. While I still maintained proficiency with handguns and long arms, I certainly was not shooting anywhere nearly as good, as I used to pre-cancer. So, now that I am back at the point where I am at least doing very well on qualification courses of fire, I am feeling pretty good about it. The realization that I have not lost my shooting skills made today just another Saturday in Paradise, as are each and every one of my post-retirement and post-cancer days, no matter what day of the week you think it is!

All the best,
Glenn B

Just Got Back From The Range,...

... not too long ago, where I shot three courses of fire for the armed guard training that I am currently taking in the hope of getting an armed guard license. I must admit, I am fairly pleased with my shooting even though it was not the best, by far, that I have ever shot. We shot 60 rounds of slowfire at a standard silhouette and then 50 rounds in a qualification type course on a printed bowling pin type target (for some reason, mine was the only target with circles drawn on it, I am guessing the larger one was about 6 to 8 inches in diameter). I am pleased because last week was only the second time, as I recall, that I shot my Glock 26 since getting it back from Glock, months ago, with newly installed sights and while I did not shoot as good last week, I have improved markedly in one week. I had been shooting several inches to the left at as close as 10 and 15 yards. I thought that was caused by the sights because previously, on both my current Glock 26 and on a previously issued Glock 19, I had to have the rear sights adjusted slightly to the right. Today, I went back to the basics to determine if I may have been doing something wrong with the Glock 26 and its new sights. I adjusted how my finger rested on the trigger and made sure to arch the trigger finger a bit so it was not riding on the frame. That was all it took and my shots were in there at center from left to right.



Sorry for the lousy picture, it was taken with my lousy cell phone.

 

I had 7 fliers out of 50 rounds. Well 6 of those rounds were not aimed shot fliers as they were shot from the hip as soon as the pistol cleared the holster and there was no aiming, not even point shooting per se. The first 3 were to the left and the next in center from left to right but low. I certainly can improve on those 6 shots, and will try to do so, but for now they were more that good enough and were not indicative of a problem with me aiming in the pistol. The 7th shot was a flier at 10 or 15 yards during one handed shooting, that one went high to the left. Otherwise, my point shooting shots and aimed shots all were in a decent to fairly good group. We shot from 10 feet out to 25 yards. The accompanying pic will show you what my target looked like once the shooting was done.

The highest possible sore was 100%. You either were I the hit zone or were out of it on this particular target and all of my shots were inside. Funny thing though was that I scored a 96 out of 100%. I could not figure it at first but then saw that the instructor was marking two points off for each of two holes that were on all the targets. While they looked just like bullet holes they were not, they were the holes through which the target hanger held them. I asked if he was taking points off for those holes and he said 'sure'. I pointed out that those were there to insert the target hangars and he said something to the effect of 'whoops' and rescored he few he had finishes scoring already. We both got a laugh out of that.

That was it for the day, back to the range tomorrow for more classroom training and more shooting. We are slated to do some slowfire revolver shooting and then some combat shooting with the semi-autos. I have got to say that I am enjoying the course immensely, not only because I am shooting fairly well but simply because I enjoy shooting and I also enjoy receiving firearms training from competent instructors. Besides being competent, they have all been nice gentlemen and seem like all around decent guys. I know, when I am paying them, they should be that way but the truth is that all too often, in recent years, you get less than you pay for in such training situations. You can wind up with a veritable  arsehat know it all, who knows little to nothing, trying to tell you how to do something and screaming at you for not doing it his way. Not so with these guys, they are pretty old school when it comes to taking care of their customers and showing us respect and they seem to know the subject matter well. In addition there have been some little extras they have given us. As they did last week, they supplied coffee and bagels for breakfast and then supplied a nice 6 foot hero for lunch. I think it does not get much better than that.

They are Safety Quest LTD; I think all the instructors are Suffolk County PD officers or retired from that department. I guess I should give them a free plug, their website is at:

http://www.safetyquestltd.com/.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Lost Blogger...

...in this instance would be me. I just have not thought a whole lot about the blog this week, been busy with work ad getting warranty stuff on my failed appliances straightened out and whatever. Sorry about that. I will post something, other than this post, later today or tonight.

All the best,
Glenn B

Sooner or Later They Will Get It Right

Click it to big it, if you really want to read more of their bullshit.

Is The Ammo Buying Frenzy Causing Sites to Crash

About a half hour ago, as I write, I checked http://gunbot.net to see if I could find any 9mm ammo at an almost reasonable price. Palmetto State Armory was shown at having Federal 115 grain FMJ 9mm ammo at .36 cents per round. The next higher price for similar ammo was shown at .72 cents per round. I jumped on it and ordered 500 rounds - or I guess I should say I tried to order 500 rounds. I submitted my order, or at least clicked the icon to do so, two times and each time, after several minutes of waiting, I got a message saying my order did not go through. I am on try number 3 right now, it has been "Submitting order information..." for well over 20 minutes now. My guess is that folks must be sitting around, watching their computer screens, to see when gunbot updates with available ammo at lower prices than otherwise offered and then pouncing on it in a frenzy of orders and that is either crashing the retailers' sites or slowing them down so much that many orders must not be getting through to them. It is not my Internet connection, every other site I go to comes up almost instantly. So, my guess is, it has to be he Palmetto Armory site and that it is being overloaded with orders.

Is anyone else having a similar problem? 

Al the best,

Glenn B

Edited to add: I just got an email, thanking me for my order, after over 30 minutes of waiting. The thing is though that I still have a window saying: "Submitting order information...". I hope that does not mean that one of my earlier orders got through even though the earlier order screens both indicated that those orders failed to go through.

The Home Appliance Blues

A few weeks ago, the fridge went kaput; over $400 to fix it and the expected remedy by American Express who told me they would cover the cost has not come through.

Then two weeks ago the vacuum cleaner died, or at least the power head for it went belly up. Not fixed yet because the number of the repair shop, that Walmart gave me (I have a Walmart extended warranty on it) was someones home number or so it sounded. When I finally called Walmart to get the right number, today, they told me they too had tried to set up an appointment for me and could not get through to that number either them. So instead of sending me to another repair shop, what did they do? They told me a check is in the mail (one of the three great lies along with "I love you" and "I won't ---- in your mouth"). They claim to have sent me a check for $249 and change (I hope they did not say for $2.49 because it seems strange they would send me about $20 more than I paid for the vacuum cleaner but they could be considering inflation - on Mars). Yeah, that is sort of good news but not all that good. I will have to spend that plus another $200 to $600 bucks on a vacuum cleaner that works and that certainly will not be another Hoover. I was told Mielo has a good rep and good machines but they cost a large bundle of green. Thus, I am still considering others, hopefully less expensive others.

Then today, the washing machine repairman was here second time within a week. He told me that it is shot (or did he say it should be shot). I have no idea how much I will be compensated for that under the extended warranty but it looks to be that I will receive 62 to 72% of the cost of a new one, more if it is another GE model. My bet is that, since we had this machine for 5 years or so and it needed at least 4 repairs in that time, that we will go back to Whirlpool or try a Maytag. More money has to be spent on that.

So, if I am getting at least partially reimbursed on each of these why am I singing the blues. Well, I will have to spend money, out of pocket on each of them no matter what (unless Amex pays for everything if they pay anything at all for the fridge repair). That means less money for me and I need ammo. Now, tell me please,  how the heck is a guy supposed to be able to afford ammunition at the current prices with all these appliance repairs and replacements to be done!!!!!!!!

Man, they sure make everything like shit in recent years.

All the best,
Glenn B