I’m rarely able to leave a gun show without buying something.  I had been contemplating the purchase of a more upscale .22LR pistol (although there’s nothing wrong my S&W 22S).  I compared a 22S target model with custom grips with a Buckmark Field 5.5”.  The Buckmark won out because the grip fit my hand better and I’ve heard nothing but good things about them.  Here’s a picture for those that might be interested.  I’m not entirely sure what prompted me to want another .22 pistol.  Maybe Kim du Toit implanted this gun in my brain through his insidious gun-a-day plot .

I’ll be taking this one to the range this week to see how it performs and I’ll also be updating my gun page with it soon.

Update: The guns page has been updated (direct link here).

I ended up buying quite a bit more than the requested 100 rounds yesterday.  I got a case of .38Spl for my Windicator and the Ruger, some .380ACP for my Sig, and several different types of .308 for the Remington.  It came to 1470 rounds total.  I also bought a bunch of cleaning supplies and accessories, like this “maintenance center” (scroll down to the RMC-1).  I was impressed by how sturdy it was, despite being made of plastic.  It also can be used as a shooting rest.

My coworker, who went with me to Cheaper Than Dirt, ended up buying 2600 rounds (one case of .38Spl, one case of 7.62×39, a brick of .22LR, and a couple of boxes of .45ACP).

I was looking forward to trying out my new rifle, but it appears that the rifle tube at Bass Pro is booked up for today and tomorrow and the only open slots for Friday are in the afternoon, which interferes with work¹.  Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait until Saturday or Sunday.  In the mean time, I’ll take the Windicator to the range tomorrow and report back on its performance.

¹ That’s been one of my pet peeves about range time.  There’s an outdoor range not far from here, but it is only open from 9:00am to 6:00pm (or when it gets dark).  Their fees are pretty reasonable, but they just don’t fit my work schedule during the week.  Bass Pro isn’t as convenient for me in terms of distance (it’s in Grapevine), but their hours are better (so I can go after work).  I’d go more on weekends, but I usually have some other activities planned during that time.  Oh well, if that’s my only problem, then I haven’t got much to complain about .

National Ammo Day is upon us.  Remember to get out there and buy at least 100 rounds (GFWs, please see me after class for alternate assignments).

I will be searching for fodder for my newest arrivals:

I’m going to get several different brands/types of .308 to see what my 700P likes and I’ll probably acquire some .38Spl for the Windicator.

I’ve updated my guns page with my recent acquisitions (here and here).  I’ve also reconverted all the image files to blur out serial numbers and to make them smaller (by as much as 800K in some cases).

I expect to have a range report on both of them sometime this week.

There will be a gun show and military expo at the Dallas Convention center this weekend (see this link for my summary of shows in the area).  I haven’t been to this particular venue before, so it’ll be interesting to check out what’s on display and what’s for sale.

I’ve always been primarily interested in semi-auto handguns, as you can tell from my collection.  However, I’ve taken an interest in trying my hand at rifle shooting.  I’ve been doing a little research and I’ve decided on a bolt-action in .308.  I have several reasons for this choice.  First, .308 is fairly plentiful since it’s a common cartridge, it has good long-range potential, and it has good “knock-down” power (not that I’ll be using it for such, I hope).  The bolt-action mechanism appeals to me somewhat as an interesting departure from all the semi-autos I currently have (simpler to operate, less to go wrong, etc).  I won’t get into the semi-auto vs. bolt-action accuracy debate (I know it’s possible to be very accurate with a semi-auto).

I’m going to be looking closely at what’s at the show with an eye towards finding something that feels right in regards to how it fits me and how it balances.  I’ll also be looking at scopes.  I know that some people regard variable power optics as too much complication, but given my intended usage (it will be for range use only—I don’t hunt), I don’t think it’ll be a problem.

I guess all this is really just rationalization for my decision to add another gun to my collection .

On the news front, this situation with the liability verdict in Florida has left me steaming mad.  The killer broke into the gun owners house and stole the gun.  That, in and of itself, is sufficient grounds in my book to shield the owner from liability.  A person’s home is his castle, meaning that he may store firearms there any way that he sees fit and that satisfies his own needs for safety.  If I were to leave a loaded gun on my kitchen table, it’s nobody’s business but my own, since I don’t have any kids (or anyone else, for that matter) running around the place.  Anyone who steals that gun is automatically in violation of the law.  This is simple common sense, which seems to be in short supply in that Florida courtroom.

I think the thing that really pisses me off is that the jury found no fault with the killer.  Despite his claims that “the gun just went off” (yeah, right, they do that all the time), let’s not forget that when he stole the gun it wasn’t loaded.  The killer loaded the gun himself and took it to school.

Finally, if I was the distributor (who was found 5% liable), I’d file for bankruptcy or go out of business before I’d pay this.  Hopefully, it’ll be overturned on appeal (or maybe the judge will see the light and change it).  It’s a matter of principle.  The verdict is assinine.  If we let these bastards win here, they’ll be going after other industries next.

One other infuriating thing about this case is that the lead attorney has an anti-gun agenda and was involved in the lawsuits against the tobacco companies (unfortunately, I don’t have the link handy, one of my coworkers showed me the news site with that bit of info this morning; I think it was a Florida newspaper).  This speaks volumes about the real motivation behind this case.  He’s got a hatred of affordable and concealable guns and he repeatedly uses the (horribly offensive) term “Saturday Night Special” to describe them (conveniently forgetting to include the original first word of the phrase).  Perhaps I should also pick up a small, affordable, and concealable handgun this weekend, just to spite bastards like this (I’d get a Raven if they were still made).

There are only 13 days left until National Ammo Day. 

Unfortunately, the situation with .45ACP for my Kimber Ultra CDP II has reached dire levels.  Firing at least 100 rounds per week has taken quite a toll on my stocks.  I still have quite a bit of Wolf ammo, but the Kimber doesn’t like it.  So I was forced to order a case of Sellier & Bellot from Cheaper Than Dirt.

The Wolf, in addition to being inexpensive ($7.49/box of 50) is decent ammo and works well in my other handguns (both 45 and 9mm).  However Sellier & Bellot is some of the best ammo I’ve found for the price.  In .45 ACP (230 gr FMJ) it can be had for $8.97 per box of 50.  It uses brass cases and it seems to leave the gun cleaner than the Wolf.  That certainly beats the $12.97 per box I paid for UMC at the range today (and I am of the opinion that the S&B is better than the UMC).

Anyway, I will still be buying ammo on the 19th to show my solidarity.  I’ll just buy some in one of the other calibers that I use.  It looks like I’m running low on .380ACP, so that might be a good candidate.

The other gun that I took to the range today was my EAA Witness 9mm.  I mention this because someone posted a comment in an entry from my archive where I described my initial impressions of this gun.  Josh asks:

I also have the compact version of the witness 9mm.  I have been very happy with it but was wondering if anyone had tried the conversion kits for this gun in either .22, 40 or 45.

I haven’t personally tried one of these and I haven’t seen any at the gun shows (although I have to admit I haven’t looked closely).  Even though I find the Witness in 9mm to have fairly light recoil, the idea of being able to practice with .22 ammo appeals to me because of both reduced cost and reduced recoil (a box of Wolf 9mm 115 gr FMJ goes for $5.79, which could buy quite a bit of .22LR).  I’ll keep my eye open at the next gun show to see if one of these conversion kits shows up, although I suspect that I’ll probably have to order it if I want one (there aren’t many Witnesses at the gun shows).

Update:  It appears that Kim du Toit has been playing with a .45 as well today.  He had some problems with S&B in his gun and is planning to try PMC.  The PMC is excellent stuff, but a bit more expensive ($10.14/box of 50 in 230gr FMJ).

Gun Shows for the Dallas/Fort Worth area between now and the end of the year:

• October 26&27: Big Town¹
• November 16&17: Dallas Convention Center¹
• November 23&24: Mesquite Rodeo¹
• November 30, December 1: Dallas Market Hall²
• December 14&15: Big Town¹
• December 28&29: Fort Worth Convention Center³

¹ North Texas Gun Club, 214-341-2895
² The Dallas Arms Collectors Association Inc., 972-223-3066
³ High Caliber Gun Shows Inc., 281-331-5969

I compiled this list for personal reference, but I thought it might be useful to have it available.  There is contradictory information out there and this stuff is kept in a lot of different places.

Suman Palit excoriates some GFW¹ nutbag who had the gall to vomit forth the following steaming pile:

The obvious question is: What fresh outrage and what sort of body count would it take for voters to conclude that at some point the constitutional right to “bear” arms must be abridged in new and more imaginative ways?

The only outrage is that someone so idiotic could get an article into Newsday.

¹ GFW = Gun Fearing Wussy (thanks to Kim du Toit for this excellent term).

This has been building all day, ever since CNN.com plastered it on their front page that the make of the sniper weapon was a Bushmaster.  It finally came to a head for me on the way home.  I was flipping through the news and talk channels on XM and I came across someone talking about Islam.  During the commercial break they did one of those short news roundups, this one being from the Wall Street Journal.  The news reader intoned that Bushmaster was taking a lot of heat and that it was using “loopholes” to sell its guns. 

As soon as I heard that I thought my head was going to come off.  I wouldn’t be suprised if steam was actually coming out of my ears as I cut loose with a stream of obscenity that is probably still floating over Lake Lewisville¹.  This was a couple of hours ago now, so I’m finally calming down a bit (at least to the point where I’m not yelling at the TV and radio anymore).

My first thought was what exactly in the blue hell does the make of the rifle have to do with anything?!  Who gives a flying flip who made the damn thing?!  Some whacko nutbag killed a bunch of people and these idiots are nattering about the make of the rifle!

I swear I’m going to give myself an aneurism if I keep this up.  I usually know better than have anything to do with CNN (or any of the other mainstream news outfits).  These idiots wouldn’t know a Busmaster from a DPMS from a Colt from a Rock River from a Les Baer, etc (you get the point).  Now they’re presuming to tell me (who happens to own 14 guns, including a Bushmaster XM15 E2S) about guns?

That’s pretty rich coming from people who think that shell casings exit a gun’s barrel and who feel the need to explain how the evil scary black gun works (see link). 

But none of this really matters to anyone but the prosecution (which can use the gun against the killers).  The ultimate responsibility for these killings rests with the people who did them.  These idiots don’t ever stop to consider that guns don’t just get up and start shooting people.  It takes a person to make them function and it’s up to the person to be responsible for what happens.  It’s easier for them to blame the instrumentality than the personality.  I suspect they’ll be the same ones crying when the shooters get the death penalty².

Idiots!

Next we’re going to be hearing about “ballistic fingerprinting” and registration and a whole raft of nonsense.  Those of us who own guns are going to be spending the next few months fighting this crap, although there may just be some hope for the future.

Personally, I’m going to support the gun industry any way I can.  I’ll be buying a bunch of ammo on November, 19th and maybe a new gun this weekend.  Politicans should take note that I become a a single issue voter at times like this and I have a long memory and no allegiance to any political party.  Anyone who votes for any anti-freedom victim disarmament measure will never get a vote from me again.

¹ If that sounds familiar, it’s because I borrowed the phrase from a movie (with a slight modification).  You’re welcome to guess which one.

² I’ve been meaning to write about the death penalty.  I’m coming to oppose it, but only because I don’t trust the state to get the facts right when applying it.  I still strongly believe that certain crimes warrant death for the offender.  This a perfect example.

Update:Instapundit has a link to this post by Alphecca.  I like how this guy thinks.  I may have to add him to my links.

The next time some politician says that he or she just wants “sensible” gun laws, remember that he really means “I just can’t say publicly what we want to do — we have to take these things slowly.”

Found via Instapundit.