Thursday, August 30, 2007

Ketchup Thursday

From the BRADY CENTER:
News Release
In Communities Across America, Huge Crowds Protest Gun Violence

For Immediate Release:
08-28-2007

Contact Communications:
(202) 898-0792

Washington, DC - Advocates for laws making it harder for dangerous individuals to get firearms demanded action at events in more than 25 cities and towns from District Heights, Maryland to Seattle, Washington and from Dallas, Texas to the Twin Cities of Minnesota, on a national day of protest organized by the Reverend Jesse Jackson's Operation Rainbow/PUSH and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Yes indeedy, this week America was rocked by stunning numbers of antigun demonstrators in cities across the country, just like Brady said. Sure, you heard about it. As many as two (count 'em) people turned out in Seattle, while dozens — dozens, I tell you — turned out in Washington D.C. Alphecca has the details.

My take on this is simple...despite the deluge of recent mainstream media on how "gun control" is a superhot topic once again, it...isn't. The Dems, especially the Blue Dogs, are praying all the media baying and howling doesn't actually lead to anything that might require them to take a stand. The Republicans, on the other hand, are hanging around airport restrooms hoping to get dates, which is, I suppose, as good an election strategy as any. At least they have a strategy now. If a member of Congress slips me a business card under the door of my restroom stall, I'm going to elevate Mr. Weasel and send a liquid message on what I think of the last eight years...no wait, that might be just what the Congressperson wants...

Plus, who's the brain-dead "media expert" at Brady who's too stupid to know when not to send to a release? Maybe that rocket scientist can get a job doing spin for Larry Craig...

I note the passing of Atlanta Olympic bombing hero Richard Jewell yesterday. I shot a major Glock match with Jewell a few years back, and he and I sat down and talked a bit. I was struck that here was a guy who truly suffered because of the government and the mainstream media. Even as late as yesterday, the Atlanta Constitution was bitterly fighting any settlement to Jewell for their libeling the HELL out of him! He was one of the good guys, a hero...go with God, brother.

S&W has asked me to return my 329PD so their engineering department can perform an autopsy and see what happened when it seiaed up. I think that's appropriate, so I'm going to send it up today. I will keep you all informed.

I'm moving ahead with my return to USPSA competition, to wit, in the soon-to-be fully accredited Single Stack Division. I ordered a new holster and pouches from Blade-tech (I gave away my last 1911 Blade-tech holster, and NO, I won't give one to you!) and a competition belt from The Wilderness. I'm still leaning toward the STI Trojan .40. This will require me to crank up the Dillon, which is frightning in and of itself. Maybe I can find a couple of thousand loaded .40s from my last run at USPSA. I'll let you guys know my first match, so those of you who are local came come out and make fun of me, then buy me an adult beverage to assuage my shattered ego!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As you are the first high profile person to experience a S&W internal lock failure, does this mean that the hatred of the locks is no longer "much ado about nothing" ? Any chance someone with an ounce of common sense, and the power to change things at S&W will remove the idiot locks, or make them optional?

Michael Bane said...

In all honesty, probably not, which sucks majorly hard.

I think I understand the "how" of it now...essentially, the safety on "flag" pops up each time the gun is fired. Sometime you get a "perfect storm" — the flag flys up so high and so hard that it catches the hammer on the way down, thus seizing up the gun.

Remember, it was Safe-T-Lock that bought S&W a few years back, not the other way around.

In fairness, I have put tens of thousands of rounds through S&Ws with the lock, including .500 Magnums shooting some truly loony-tuns loads, and ever had any problem.

I think the danger area is Scandium frames and heavy bullets. With the lightweight frames, the recoil impulse is so fast that it causes the flag to slap up as high as it will go. I was shooting the gun DA (as I usually do with a DA gun) and as fast as I could get the muzzle back on target — exactly what one would do in a dangerous game or self-defense situation. The hammer dropped before the flag had returned to its rest position.

I'll be interested to see what the engineeers have to say, and I WILL let everyone know.

mb

catfish said...

welcome to Single Stack, I've been shooting it most of this year in preparation for next year's "full on" status in USPSA.

What do you think we can do to get more folks shooting SS??

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