New Leather Gear- El Paso Saddlery Crossdraw and Cartridge Slide

While strolling through the Fun Show  I was surprised to see one of my favorite holster companies, El Paso Saddlery, had a booth.  I stopped just to tell the guy there that I was a customer and I love their leatherwork.

Turns out that the guy at the booth was Robert Taylor, Director of Sales for El Paso Saddlery.  I struck up a nice conversation with him, and mentioned that I had been carrying in one of their rigs for years.

You can tell the age of the photo from the vintage cell phone

I also have a nice crossdraw rig for an S&W 686 with the cartridge belt...  I don't have a good pic of that whole rig, but here is a crop without all the identifying stuff

I use that rig when woods bumming out on the lease.  Carrying that with a full load of cartridges in the loops and the Marlin .357, I'll good for anything.   Why cross draw?  Because I usually have a rifle slung on the other side, and this keeps the wheelgun from banging into the long gun.

I mentioned to Robert that I just bought an SAA clone, and would love to get a holster for that.  Well, we talked for a bit, and he made me a great deal for the holster and a 12 round cartridge slide.

I walked out with a beautiful #44 Outfit crossdraw holster and slide that I was totally not planning on buying.  I am so happy with this purchase.  I had to do a picture for this post, but I was running out of light.  So this is adjusted a bit.

Damn straight.

The craftsmanship of this, and all of my EP Saddlery holsters, is just... perfect.  Beautiful leather, perfect stitching, and that leather SMELL.  If you need a holster, these guys should be on your list.  They have been making holsters since 1889, and they have it down pat.  For concealed carry, the Street Combat holster I have pictured above allows me to carry a freaking N-Frame Smith and Wesson under an untucked polo shirt.  It is a well thought out and useful bit of gear.  They cost money, but they are worth it.

 Oh, and over the weekend, I started the antiquing process on the Pietta SAA clone.  Spent about half an hour with a scotchbrite pad.  Here is the 'before' pic:

Dark, matte black.  Cheap, but not... nice

...and the 'in process' pic

Getting better!

I'll do a couple more treatments like that, and make it look old.

This pic just looked good, had to include it.

Reflections on a great weekend

This was pretty close to a perfect weekend.  Only things that would have made it better was getting to go shoot, and finding any *%#%*ing gunpowder in stock at the gun show.

Saturday morning, That Wife and I took That Kid to his t-ball game, and he was the one that got the medal for doing a good job.  He was super ecstatic for finally getting the medal, so that was a high point for the weekend.  The weather was gorgeous, so That Wife and That Kid went to go lounge in the MIL's pool while I went to the Fun Show!

While there was no gunpowder to be found, and prices were wildly varying - One table had a WASR AK for $1100, and 5 tables over was another WASR for $650- but supply was getting better.  Every table had ammo.  Every table har ARs, AKs, and pretty much every other flavor of Evil Black Rifles.  Prices have not come back down all the way yet, but they are trending downward.

I picked up some minor stuff, a cheap light, a holster (I'll do a full review soon), and a little CRKT neck knife that I'd been wanting for a while:

I left the show, joined the family in the pool, and just enjoyed the rest of the day.

Sunday, we had a great morning outdoors with the family, then That Wife and I went to see Willie Nelson in concert at The Backyard for Willie's 80th birthday.  It was a great concert, Willie's son Lukas rocks, and the finale of the show had Randy Travis and David Allen Coe on stage with Willie and family. 

Look for a report on the new leather gear coning soon. 

It's Willie, damnit!

Fun Show!

Local celebrity sighting

Game Cam Self Portrait

This is the definition of overkill

This past weekend, 45er delivered me my game camera from the hunting lease.  I started going through the pics just to see what as on there, and came across a pic of me walking past the camera at the end of the morning hunt.

Yep... 3 guns on frame.  The DPMS AR-10 for long range shots, the Ruger Super Redhawk .454 for close work, and the EAA 10mm.  Why the 10mm?  Well, just in case.

Thought it was funny.  This is what happens when a 'hardware geek' goes hunting. 

A REALLY good point

A buddy just sent that in email, and I thought it needed to be here.

Us -vs- Them

I know that there are billions of pixels killed on the internet over the whole "us -vs- them" mindset of Government (including Law Enforcement) versus the Citizens.  Especially when we have the whole episode of the Watertown Ghetto earlier this week where all sorts of law enforcement and Military locked down a whole city and violated everyone's rights to try and hunt down a bomber. 

People were imprisoned in their homes, held at gunpoint, forcibly searched, had their right to free travel restricted, and were generally treated like cattle. 

Rule 2: Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.

We have a nice little example of this pop up here this morning.

Let me give you some backstory: 
-Last weekend, the Travis County District Attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated while having an open bottle of vodka on the front seat.  
-She says she wont resign, that there is no conflict of interest since her office does not prosecute first time DWI Offenders
-Lehmberg tries to plead guilty and get this adjudicated and gone ASAP, before charges are even filed, leading LOTS of people to speculate she was trying to cover something up.
-DA goes to jail.  "...by taking the a longer sentence, she avoided probation, as well as the conditions of probation, which may have included no alcoholic beverages"
-Dashcam video is released!  As suspected, there was more to the story.  She was combative with officers, tried to use her position to get preferential treatment, put in restraints, leg irons, and a spit/ bite hood.

Now here is what blew my mind this morning.  The Austin Police Association (Union) called for Lehmberg to step down.  Not for breaking the law... not for endangering the very citizens and society they are sworn to protect... but for "the way Lehmberg treated the Sheriff's Deputy's who arrested her, saying it reflects a lack of respect for officers."  Unbelievable.  Totally an "Us -vs- Them" mindset.  The police union did not care about the law, just the treatment of the officers.

We need to end that attitude.  Cops and LEOs are citizens.  They are supposed to be US.  They need to look at anyone they are dealing with and see themselves.  There is no 'thin blue line'- there are just citizens that are entrusted by society to enforce our laws.  

BY THE WAY- the officer in the dashcam video (linked above) needs a medal, a promotion and a raise.  When he found out it was the highest law enforcer in the county that was being arrested, he said (paraphrasing) 'Treat it like you would any one else'.  THAT is a good Law Enforcement Officer, and someone doing the right thing even when it could be his political downfall.  It's what all LEOs should strive for, in my opinion.

This is why I like the Makarov

Well, ONE of the reasons.

The Mak has a lot of strikes against it.  Tiny sights, DA/SA trigger, a Decocker, grip angle is like the horrid Gen 1 S&W Autos, a heel-clip magazine release, and it fires a somewhat anemic cartridge.

But here is what it has- Reliability.  Affordability.  It's easy to work on, and available.  I have recommended Makarovs for years as a good choice for a low budget defensive automatic.  Are there better choices?  Sure.  Is it better than most at it's pricepoint?  Yes.  As a matter of fact, I find it is probably the best at it's price. 

If someone is on a Hi-Point budget, send them to a Makarov.   Looking at a Bersa- suggest this as an option.  Cheaper, and 9mmMak ammo is a LOT more available than .380 right now.  If they are looking at a Taurus of any stripe- DEFINITELY send them toward the Mak. 

I watched that video today and thought I'd share.  Good stuff.

Quick range report- Kahr CW9

Finally had the time and spare rounds to take That Wife's new carry gun to the range for a quick function test.  No surprises... well, no surprises from the gun.  I have my own Kahr (MK9), and knew what to expect.

with a nice High Noon holster

 I spared 100 rounds out of my stockpil... uh, INVENTORY, ran a target out to 7 yards, and ran it every way I could to see if it would fail.  Fast, slow, two handed, on hand, weak hand, limp wristed... it just ran like a top.  No stoppages of any kind.

 The test is not done.  Next will be the wife running it to make sure it works for HER.  Also, running it with whatever kind of hollow point ammo I can find.

 I did do a slowfire group at 7 yards, offhand.  It is an accurate pistol.  Threw the first 2 rounds low, but that could have been the nut behind the trigger.

And here is the one surprise-

That there is a Federal American Eagle 115 grain Full Metal Fuckup

It's either excited or cold.  Not sure which.

Dehydrators- Suggestions?

My old POS dehydrator decided to leave us, and now I am looking to replace it.  I've done some research, and an about ready to pull the trigger on a new unit.

This will be used mostly for making snacks.  Vegetable chips, dehydrated fruit, some meat drying (I have a smoker for real jerky), and also for long-term storage of vegetables and fruit.  Dehydrate them, and then seal em in a vacuum bag. 

Anyone have any suggestions?  Here are the front runners that I'm looking at:

Open Country 7 Tray at Bass Pro:
pro- Inexpensive, know someone that has one and likes it, lots of capacity
con- not much in the way of control.  Basically on and off.

Open Country Square:
Pro- Not too pricey, more controls, good capacity
Con- Not really any reviews to be found online.

Necso 700 watt
Pro- Inexpensive, good reviews, more controls
Con- Limited capacity (unless you buy more trays)

LEM 10 Tray
Pro- LOTS of capacity, Great control, Great reviews
Con- Expensive, large

Nesco 1000 Watt
Pro- Lots of Capacity, Great reviews, Good controls, Lots of accessories included
Con- More expensive, Largish. 

I know Excalibur is the gold standard, but they are very expensive to get one with more than just minimal carrying capacity.  I'm open for any input!

Random Links

PETA is planning on helping hunters work on their aerial shooting skills

Full Service robber:  Robs store, then shoots self in leg

Those kids ain't yours.  They belong to the collective.

Man faces weapons charges for defending self from bear

Hoarding

Damnit, I cannot find any of the powders I need for the reloading press in stock in the Austin area. 

All you ijuts that are panic buying and hoarding powder and ammo can go eat lead paint.

Saw this over at Wirecutter's place.  Made me LOL:

I love Jeff Qunn from Gunblast.com

"I figgure it's for one of those iPod things..."

"Even grown men are wearing backpacks..."

"OK, we just shot the little guy."