This is why we have internets

So we can see someone's toddler rock out to Pantera's 'F'n Hostile'

Holy crap... 10,000 pageviews!

I noticed yesterday that I hit 10,000 page views. That's pretty cool. Thanks to everyone who has read and commented on my demented ramblings.

Now, I need to come up with some content for you guys.... With a hat tip to Robb Allen, here is a story of a roadrager getting shot in the groin for being a dumbass:
Guns in the News: "Ow, my balls!" edition

I am so looking forward to this.

The Gormogons: 8-Year-Old's Thoughts On Firearms

Granted, I have a few years until mine is ready to shoot, but I am already planning for it.

Home Experiments

This story starts off, as most good stories do, with a half gallon bottle of Everclear.

If you have ever woken up in a strange place without your pants, then you probably been introduced to Mr. Everclear.

For some unknown reason, I have had the wild hair to try and make whiskey at home. Since it is blatantly illegal to distill your own corn squeezin's at home- and it would involve a raid run by the same people that did Waco and Ruby Ridge- I wisely decided to start off with the commercial equivalent to White Dog. That would be the embryonic start of Trashcan Punch and a severe headache- Everclear.

I researched this fairly indepth. Well, as indepth as a lunch hour on the Home Distiller Forums will allow. So, I mixed Everclear 50/50 with distilled water, in several mason jars. In 4 jars, I did simple infusions. One was cracked black pepper, one was basil from the garden, the next was sundried tomato, and the last was a control. Just a 50/50 mix of Everclear and distilled water.

These will sit for 3 days, getting shaken once a day. Then they will be strained and used for beverage mixers.... if they aren't just flat out disgusting.

One jar I set aside, and added a spiral stick of medium toasted American white oak. This will be cycled every couple of days between the garage and the refrigerator. Going from 100+ degrees in the garage to 37 degrees of the fridge will hopefully simulate the effects of being in barrels in an aging shed for several years. I know it won't be the same, but I hope to make something at least drinkable.

You can actually see this is starting to take some color from the wood, and it is only been aging for 30 min at this point.

Updates to follow. If you see me posting random weirdness with misspellings- then I am probably sampling the goods.

Bourbon Bacon Brownies

I think I'm going to have to make these:
Bourbon Bacon Brownies

Why? Because "Eff You" is why!

New Ruger .357 Bolt Action Rifle

Just got this on an email from Ruger. .357 Bolt Action M77. text from the email:

"Ruger is proud to announce the Ruger® 77/357™, a lightweight, bolt-action rifle chambered in the venerable .357 Magnum and fed via a rotary magazine.

The bolt-action 77/357 features a five-round rotary magazine and is offered in the Ruger All-Weather® configuration, which includes a durable, weather-resistant stainless steel barrel and receiver and a rugged, black composite stock. Although it is fitted with fully adjustable iron sights, the 77/357 also ships with patented Ruger scope rings, allowing a variety of sighting options for this lightweight (5-1/2 pounds), quick-handling rifle."

Looks cool. I like goofy strange guns, and this one fits the bill.

Old School Thutty-Thutty Porn

I was messing around with the MacBook, and finally reinstalled some of my photoshop filters that got corrupted a while ago. So, I figured it was time to take some pics of an old favorite gun and post 'em.

Back when I was in college in a mid size West Texas 'city', I went into an old dusty pawn and gun shop and saw this old sweetheart on the wall for a heck of a price. At the time I was a starving college kid with very little money. I was working greasemonkey jobs to pay for school and beer, and could not afford this. But I did not have a levergun at all at the time, so it followed me home. I checked the serial number shortly afterwords, and found it was built the same year I was born. Right then it earned a permanent home in my collection.

No filters and natural

A couple of clicks, and here it is

Pushed two stops...whatever that means

Add some grain.

Hope you enjoy! Point out the strange thing in the pictures in the comments, and I'll... well, I'll say "Yup, that's it!"

Bullet List

The Miller has started a 'Bullet List' meme

It's like a 'Bucket List' but for guns/ shooting. What do YOU want to do, shooting wise, before you die?

Only without the leather pants.

1- Knob Creek. I need to make the homage to the Knob Creek Shoot once before I die. ESPECIALLY the night shoot. Search YouTube for that if you don't know what it is
2- Harvest a deer at close range with a handgun.
3-Harvest a deer with an iron sight mil-surp rifle
4- 7.62x25 Carbine. Either build one, or buy the Wiselite Sterling clone
5- Shoot a 50BMG at long range. I have access to all of the elements for this. Just need to get them in the same place at the same time.
6-Own something full auto. I have FIRED full auto a bunch. Just need one o' my own.
7-Have my own place to shoot. It does not have to be as nice as Hickock45's place, but some place I can shoot that I own.
8- My own place to hunt. I love my lease, but it's not the same as owning it. Hell, as long as I'm wishing, I just wish to own the lease.
9- Build a gun from scratch in my shop. I have researched AR, AK, and 1911 "80%" kits, and I want to do that.
10- Shoot more.

I had to reach to make it to 10. But I think it is a pretty good list. Good mix of "yeah, I could do that" and "only if I win the lottery". What's your Bullet List?

9mm 1911s

I MIGHT be getting a chunk of change prised free from the family budget for more gun stuff. Am I going to get the accessories I need for other guns? Scopes, Slings, holsters, another CCW Belt? Will I get the conversion kit to De-castrate the Saiga?

Nope, I want to buy another gun.

"You have an effing problem."

I would like to honor the 2011 Centennial of the Army's adoption of God's own handgun- the 1911. I have a Mil-spec 1911, and a nice carry 1911... So, what do I 'need'*?

A Range 1911. One that is cheap to shoot and shares ammo with some of my other guns. Also, one that shows the 100 year evolution of the 1911... Yep, I 'NEED'* a 9mm 1911.

What I would like is an STI 2011:

MSRP: $2790. Not gonna happen.

Well, STI offers a lower cost, single stack 1911:

MSRP $1110. "Honey, If I get this one, I am SAVING $1680!!"

Yeah... So I am looking at other options. Here are the ones I have come across:
Springfield Armory
Para USA
Smith & Wesson
Kimber
...and Rock Island (Hey, I could actually afford that one!)

What am I missing? Is there another option? Any experiences with any of these, or thoughts?


*'need' is based on the Projectile Enthusiast definition of need, i.e.: I don't have one yet. I might have one sorta like it, but not EXACTLY like this one.

Range time- a full day of friends, firearms, and food

Oh, THERE'S where I left the guns...

Spent all Saturday out in the blazing hot Texas sun, refreshing some rusty self defense skills and playing with guns.

45er has a pretty good writeup

It was fun. It was hard. It was humbling... I realized that I have not been practicing NEARLY enough. My pistol skills were doing OK, but my carbine skills had gone to crap.

But I was rocking the latest in tactical headgear.

So, once again, I resolve to do more dry practice at home. I have to keep the skills fresh.

It was fun to be in one of the places I love the most, doing one of my favorite activities. Even if you don't do as well as your mental image (we are all Superman in our own minds) thinks you will, getting trigger time is always worth it. And getting better is always a worthwhile activity.

RELOAD!

We got time to run some really cool guns. I am a HUGE fan of this 'Krink' copy that started life as one of those goofy Draco pistols, and is now just a hellacious little fighter

I know that is not the real name. I just like the word. KRINK!

The only thing we did not work on a lot was long distance work. The longest shot we had was maybe 40 yards

Take that, dirt!

We finished the day with some good beer, grilled steak and venison, and Whisky Brownies.

Today's lesson? Get out and SHOOT. Turn some money into sound. Work on your skills. Have fun.

Even if it's hotter than hell.

Hey! New blogger... and a good friend.

The guy that I mentioned in my last post about becoming a 'Projectile Enthusiast' (I need to trademark that term) just launched his own blog:

Barrel Smoke
45er is a father, shooter, hunting guide, great cook, an all around great guy.

Check it out... yes, that means BOTH of you that read my ramblings.

How I became a 'Projectile Enthusiast'

Jennifer is asking bloggers to post how they became shooters.

Well, first thing I need to do is clarify that I am more than just a shooter and gun nut. A few months ago, after geeking out on some slingshot stuff, and then brushing off my 6th grade era sling shot skills- I decided I am more of a Projectile Enthusiast. I like anything that launches a projectile at a target. Guns mostly, but I shoot bows, blowguns, slingshots, cannons, golfball launchers, etc... pretty much anything that involves a projectile and a target.

How did this happen? Honestly, I truly believe that it is inherent. I was born this way. I cannot remember a time that I was not drawing guns, building ways to launch pebbles, using sticks as toy guns, and all that juvenile boy stuff. Heck, here is a true story- In the first weeks of me being in kindergarten, I got in trouble for organizing a pissing contest. Yes, an honest-to-God pissing contest. I got several boys in my class standing on the handicap hand rail in the bathroom stall, pissing for accuracy into the toilet.

I grew up without someone to teach me how to shoot. My Mom did not let us play with toy guns (at the time I thought she did not like guns, but I found later in life that it was more of a 'Rule 1' kind of thing- don't even point TOYS at something you don't want to shoot). So my natural need to shoot was satisfied by spitballs, slingshots, and blowguns (and one VERY dangerous activity*) until I moved to Texas and joined 4H and got into Archery.

Then things took off. I won statewide competitions shooting a hunting bow alongside people with competition setups that were trying out for Junior Olympics. I found out I was pretty damn good with a bow. I went hunting, and this bled into airgun shooting, then into a couple of smallbore shoots, and one round of skeet.

I was hooked. Guns were cool. I had to have some. Luckily, I lived very close to the guy that I still shoot with to this day. He had a .22 and a backyard that we could shoot in. I was busting ass mowing lawns to save up to buy a Marlin Model 60, when my Aunt gave me my recently departed Uncle's Remington 760 Game Master .30-06 pump action. Up to this point, I had ZERO real guns (and a couple of clandestine air rifles), and now I had a detachable mag .30-06.

I burned through ammo in that thing like there was no tomorrow.

I bought my Marlin Model 60, and learned the joy of an afternoon with a 500 round 'Brick' of .22LR. It has all been downhill since then.

I never had any real 'training', or introduction to guns, outside of a buddy of the same age that HAD been trained by his dad and reading every single thing on guns that I could. This was pre-internet, so it was all books and magazines. I never was taught correct stance, grip, sight picture, or anything. I just inferred it from reading, or figured it out by trying. The reason I mention this is as a caution to all us gun nuts on the internet. Out there are MILLIONS of young people with no traditional 'Dad' to teach them guns. They all have computers, iPhones, etc... Be careful what you say, how you do things, and BE NICE TO NEWBIES! The person with a dumb question could be a 9 year old that loves guns and shooting and wants to be like us. You slam that kid down for being wrong or asking the same question you have seen 1000 times, you are going to show that kid that gun people are assholes- and he will grow up to vote against us.

*when I was about 6-7 years old, I dug the old Marlin Bolt action 12Ga that my Dad had left behind out of my Mom's closet. My mom thought she was smart and had hidden the ammo in a Tampon box in another closet that you needed a ladder to get to. Yep. I found the ammo, took the gun outside, figured out how to load it and shot a tree. Second lesson of the day- you CANNOT HIDE ANYTHING FROM KIDS. Do not assume that you can. They will find it. Luckily I did not die or shoot anything other than an old white oak.

Two weeks now....

My favorite time waster on the internet has been down for 2 weeks now. What am I supposed to do?!?