Squirrel Aftershock

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I’ve always known people who hunted. Always. And yet, I’d never been myself. I remember my grandpa always had a freezer full of venison, elk, and wild birds. He was hard-core. He carved a lot of walnut stocks, and I saw him turn a barrel or two on his lathe. I’m not sure what he was doing to those things, but he was cutting metal off of them one way or another. I loved that place. It always smelled like wood and metal and machine oil. He had a welder and every tool known to man in that little shed. He never looked too thrilled about us kids coming to his magical wonderland workshop though. Regardless, he sporterized more military rifles than I’ve laid my hands on, and wild-catted more calibers than most avid handloaders have dies for. This includes a rifle that started life as a K98, chambered in something he and his brother called “.375 J.B. Express”. I have no idea what that is, but it sure sounds cool! He had a Japanese Arisaka with the bolt handle bent over. He left behind a swath of project guns, some complete, some not started, and a few that were somewhere in between. He died when I was twelve. After that, I had friends, relatives, and even coworkers who hunted (maybe not to such extremes, but constantly and in plenty).

With the slap-dash hunt that Jennifer and I went on that produced a single, tasty rodent for us, a fire was lit in my soul. Something inside me came alive that I can’t totally describe. I’ve thought more about five-round rifle magazines and safety orange this week than I had in the combined previous thirty-three years. What I do know is that today I took delivery of a box. It didn’t come off the Brown Truck of Happiness, it was the other guys this time. This box contained three boxes of ammunition, each with three-color printed graphics and a foil label on the end. This stuff is so guaranteed to kill Bambi that it has depictions of antlers all over the packaging. It has a clever little diagram on the back of the box illustrating the skived tip, pressure-formed core, molecular-fused jacket, and optimized boat-tail profile of the projectile itself which “unleashes performance unthinkable by any other means”. I figure that if it’s really all that badass, it will kill pigs just fine. This stuff cost as much as my self-defense ammo, and it looks way fancier. What in the world is happening to me?!?!?

Then again, I laughed until I snorted, watching my fifteen-pound cat try to crawl into the 4x4x6-inch corrugated cardboard box the ammo was delivered in. Yeah. Good luck with that, genius! :D

Derringers – Please Stop.

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Alright, people. I really don’t want to get into a fight about this, but it’s a risk I’m going to have to take, and please don’t take this as an insult. I’ve tried to be nice about these things, but they are now driving me nuts. Go and look here. I’ll wait. It gets even worse when you add the word “cobra” to the same search. In fact, it even gets this ridiculous:

I don't remember making that...

What is that old saying? Photoshop is the highest form of flattery? I don’t know how I became the de facto derringer holster maker. I don’t want to be the de facto derringer holster maker. I should probably point this out as well before I go on this rant. Again, I’ll wait. Ready? On with the rant!

Anything you can do with a derringer, you can do better with a different gun. There. I said it. Usually people think they want a derringer until they learn the truth of that statement. There are a lot of folks that errantly think that a large hand gun will be awkwardly difficult to conceal, and will weigh them down. Most people are shocked at how big a gun they can easily wear with the right holster. Some think of a little two shooter as being the absolute most compact gun available. This may have been true at one point in time, but it very simply no longer is. These guns may be charming in their classic style, but they are not accurate shooters by any measure. Although derringers are an economical choice, there are other affordable guns out there. They very simply are not an ideal choice for any reason.

At least once, Tam quoted her “Shootin’ Buddy” as saying:

The less somebody knows about guns, the more they want a derringer.

Although I find this statement to be humorous, and I may have it engraved on a derringer one day, I don’t find it to be completely accurate. I would be far more apt to say that the less somebody knows about holsters, the more they want a derringer. And, that is no insult. Too often, ignorance is used as an insult when it should not be. Ignorance is merely a vacuum of education. I know of nothing more advantageous than well-directed ignorance. Frankly, it’s people that already know all the wrong stuff that you have to watch out for! No, when I’ve asked my derringer toting customers why they choose the derringer, more often than not it’s because they don’t feel like they can carry anything bigger than a derringer. This saddens me, because 99.99% of the time, it is patently false.

When I started making holsters as a hobby, I had friends and family ask if I would make holsters for them. One of Jennifer’s coworkers asked me to make a holster for his .38 Special Cobra. I was really excited to get to design and make a holster for a Colt Cobra revolver. But no. He sent his Cobra Derringer home with my wife for me to make a holster around. He described the format that he wanted in a holster. I sighed, I drew, I cut leather, I stitched and dyed, and delivered the brown and red thing that you saw in the Google searches linked above. This was something like the third holster I ever designed. I’ve had so many people from the internet contact me for a copy of this holster. At this point, I’ve learned so much about making holsters that this one makes me cringe. I could design a better, more useable, more concealable, more comfortable, and more easily accessible holster for the same gun in about two minutes while heavily sedated. Plus, two ammo loops? Seriously? If you’re really going to go to the trouble to carry a reload for your derringer, you should be carrying your spare ammo in strip loaders, not in leather loops. Then again, if you are carrying a gun, you should carry something more than a derringer, in my humble opinion.

My brother carries a full size 1911 and two ten-round magazines concealed by an untucked t-shirt. He’s 5’3″ and weighs about 140-lbs. No big deal. Sometimes he carries his 9mm XD when he wants to travel a little lighter. Jennifer and I went to a Halloween party this year and dressed ‘goth’. It was pretty fun. I wore tight leather pants and a fitted, sleeveless t-shirt. I carried my M&P45c in my tuckable rig, tucked in under said fitted t-shirt.

Bang bang!

The host of the party as well as several other guests were guessing (nearly taking bets) all night as to whether or not I was packing. Including a local cop who was a guest at the party! Frankly, I might have forgotten I was carrying had they not been constantly reminding me with their banter. I did reveal that I was carrying my M&P plus two magazines much to the shock and amazement of everyone there, who had all pretty well decided that it was impossible that I could have been armed. For size reference, I’m 5’6″ and weigh 145-lbs. My wife is 5’4″ and weighs about 120-lbs currently. In other words, she’s not big. Oh and, she’s cute and she dresses like a girl. Her daily carry is the mammoth FN FNP45 Tactical with two extra magazines.

Sci-Fi calls it a tactical "Wheaties Box."

That’s FORTY SIX ROUNDS of .45ACP that she has on her person, in case you don’t feel like doing the math yourself. It has a 5.5-inch barrel threaded for a can and is noticeably larger than a Government model 1911 in every dimension. If my wife can comfortably tote around that kind of firepower without being detected, I can put a gun on you. I don’t care who you are or what challenges your situation presents, I can hide a gun on you. I can hide a gun on you that will pack more than two shots of deadly force that will be comfortable to wear and easy to access if the need arises.

I’m not asking everyone to carry a gun the size of a toaster that’s threaded for a can and milled for a co-witnessing optic. Just carry something competent enough to give yourself a fighting chance! In the paragraphs above, I have shown three examples of not especially large people wearing full-size fighting pistols chambered in .45ACP with extra magazines full-time. If you see me clothed, I’m probably wearing my gun. I personally do not even own a compact gun. I would like to get myself some pocket pistols and snubby revolvers, but I just haven’t yet. Frankly, full-sized pistols and revolvers are far better research material for someone who designs and makes holsters. They’re more of a challenge and they stretch my skills. When I can hide N-frames and full frame pistols on you, the pocket guns are easy. But the point is, it’s easy to hide a gun that’s plenty more firepower than a two shooter.

So, you may ask why shouldn’t you carry a derringer if you want to? My friend and accomplished firearms instructor, Will, refers to these things as “a really loud pocket knife” since “if you are close enough to poke them, you’re close enough to shoot them.” This seems to match my personal experience with their accuracy, or as I like to say, if the muzzle is brushing the target, you’ve got about a 50-50 chance of hitting it. The gun I was referring to was the aforementioned Cobra .38 Special with the 2.75-inch barrels. The two barrels did not shoot to the same point of impact, for crying out loud! Take a look at a high quality snub-nosed revolver for contrast. With its 2.125-inch barrel, I can reliably hit a smaller passenger car at well over 500-yards with Jennifer’s S&W 640.

Yes, that's what I'm doing here.

You may ask what if money is an issue. What if you can’t afford the $750 MSRP Magnum snubby? Not everyone can afford that. I can appreciate that. Their model 442 has an MSRP of $300 less, and its aluminum frame is practically the same weight as the derringer (respectively 15oz vs. 14oz empty per each manufacturer). There are other, less expensive revolvers in the same format for even less money from Charter Arms, Taurus, and others, not to mention the new polymer/aluminum offerings from S&W and Ruger. Aside from these, there are too many guns to list in this write up that meet the bill for affordable protection. Keep an eye out at pawn shops and the used racks at gun stores.

What if you don’t like wheel guns? Great question! Please take a look at this very well made chart which illustrates to scale FORTY tiny pistols in five common centerfire calibers in addition to a J-frame revolver and a full size 1911 for comparison. Save it to your hard drive. Every time you hear someone saying that they’re thinking of getting a little gun, print it for them. Take a look at this:

Tiny weapons!

What you see here are three of my solid aluminum dummy guns. These are made dimensionally identical to the real thing. From left to right, you have Ruger’s LCP, Cobra “Big Bore” Derringer, and Rohrbaugh R9. Size difference? Maybe a hair. What do you think? With the gun in the middle, you get two shots of .38 special if you can manage to thumb cock the hammer and squeeze the stiff trigger before the bad guy makes you eat it. You’ve got seven shots of .380ACP in the Ruger. Even better than that, you get seven shots of Honest-to-God 9mm in the Rohrbaugh. The pistols recharge incredibly faster too. In the days that the Bersa Thunder was considered a small .380, I might have conceded that there was a place for a two-shooter. Not anymore. Now, the Rohrbaugh isn’t even so unique as there are new sub-compact 9mm pistols being released all the time.

What about the thickness of the guns? Does a .38 derringer have an advantage there? Let’s see…

The Ruger measures in at a svelte .81″ thick.

The 9mm Rohrbaugh measures a paltry .88″, shockingly enough.

The grip on the derringer is about 1-1/8″ thick. Even at its rear sight/barrel hinge, it measures a relatively portly .94-inch:

Going back to my beloved snubby:

Is this gun ever NOT dirty? No, it's Jenni's! :P

Even across the cylinder, the J-frame measures 1.3-inch. We all knew it would be wider than the derringer, but it’s not by much. Personally, the payoff in firepower, accuracy, and shootability is well worth the size difference to me. My point is that there are options. Every example you can come up with in which a derringer would be ideal, I can come up with another gun that would do the job that much better. Please don’t go armed with nothing but a derringer. At least, don’t let the excuse be that you don’t think you can carry anything else. A good holster can do things that seem downright miraculous.

Am I telling you not to get a derringer? Of course not! If you want a derringer, please get one for yourself. Just make sure it’s not your go to gun. Get a good holster for a good gun to protect yourself. I’d love to make you a holster, but if you use this advice to buy a good holster from someone else, I won’t have my feelings hurt either. Am I saying that there’s not a niche for derringers? Well, not exactly. In fact, I’ve often thought that maybe I should get a derringer and keep it loaded with shotshells to use as a snake gun at the farm. I may have just convinced myself to get a snubby instead!

Squirrel!

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Yesterday, Jenni and I took steps to go further down the rabbit hole of gunniness. Neither of us have ever been hunting. I dispatched an errant rabbit once, but that was about the extent of my animal harvesting experience. The rabbit got hit with a 25-grain .22 CB Cap. The slug went in in front of the left shoulder and exited behind the right. The lungs were liquified and death instantaneous.

We had been scouting squirrel activity in a particular Sooper Sekrit location for months. Yesterday, Jenni and I woke up early (for a Saturday), gathered guns and ammo, swung by Academy to pick up our Resident Annual Hunting Licenses and continued on to said location. It was easily below freezing and the tree rats were not very active. Our boots and socks proved not to be sufficient insulation. However, I had some chemical toe warmers in my BOB that we employed. It ALWAYS pays to be prepared.

We saw only three or four large squirrels in the trees, but didn’t have much of a shot at any of them. Until one large female approached us towards noon. Jenni nearly got her several times with no success. It was not that she took a missing shot either. It was that the squirrel moved into a less shootable position before the trigger broke. It was when I had her sighted in that she stretched out and presented her left side, as though she heard a noise coming from that direction. I cracked the shot off. The animal sprung two feet straight up and collapsed into the brush below.

“Nice!” said Jenni. When we collected the game, we could not immediately see the injury. She looked so pristine in fact, that I put another shot into the base of her skull from point blank just to be sure. It wasn’t until we started skinning her that the initial shot was obvious. The shot went in just in front of the left shoulder and stopped at the lower rib cage on the right side. Lungs were liquified, death instantaneous. I don’t know why people complain about having to chase small game after the shot. Just destroy the lungs so you don’t have to worry about it! :P Honestly, if every hunting shot I take is so ideal, I’ll be shocked and feel very lucky.

The shot was at approximately 40-yards with a Winchester M69A (.22-lr bolt action), with a 26-inch barrel and a Lyman micrometer peep sight. I was shooting CCI .22 CB Caps again. This combination is so whisper quiet that hearing protection is laughably unnecessary. In fact, this is quickly becoming my hunting caliber of choice. It’s quiet, it’ accurate, and it’s devastatingly deadly. The animal was about 24-inches long from nose to the tip of the tail.

We skinned and processed it into meat before the carcass was cold, saving the heart (still intact), liver, and kidneys. I’m drying the tail as a trophy, Jenni is tanning the pelt, and I placed the head and paws on my brother’s front porch as a prank. He didn’t appreciate my humor, so I cleaned it up later because I felt bad.

jan 21 squirrel

Observations:
*I wish we had been able to take ten squirrels each, but it was not meant to be on this trip.
*Now, I want to shoot something bigger. I can’t wait until DanielS comes for our feral hog shoot. I hope I get a 500-lb sow! -But, not with .22 Short.
*While Jenni was sighting the animal in, she commented that her heart was racing. I had to smile, as I completely understood the sentiment.
*I now understand why some people devote their entire lives, every second of their free time in fact, to hunting. It is that gratifying.
*Although we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, I can understand how this is definitely not for everyone.
*Never eaten squirrel before, but there’s enough meat in the freezer from this one that it should make a lovely little dinner for the three of us.
*The toe warmers made the trip. Next time, I want a thermos of something hot to sip on as well. Spiced cider would have been a life saver.
*I now realize that I want to carry all kinds of meat packaging material, para cord, folding utility knives with those hook blades instead of the trapezoidal utility blades, latex gloves, hand wipes, and a shock and weather-proof digital camera.

Wait. What?

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So, I’m on email lists with a few different companies, mostly because of when I signed up for contests and giveaways. One such company is The Gun Source. On Wednesday I received a marketing email from them which contained among others, the following image:

TacShot

???

It certainly looks as though the front and rear sights and optic don’t line up with POI. Then, it has the 45-degree rail adapter with nothing attached to it and an awkwardly mounted flashlight. How many sighting systems do you need on a shotgun, anyway? I’ve never really wanted anything beyond a good bead at the end of a vent rib. It’s completely possible that this is an odd perspective and everything lines up like it’s supposed to on the actual gun, but it certainly does look like a gun that somebody just threw a bunch of available crap on for the photo.

Damn Straight, We’re Winning!

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Elle Magazine published a great article that very nicely illustrates the mentality of a new shooter.

My first thought is, I can’t believe how loud that was. I’m wearing earplugs, but you don’t just hear the firecracker noise in your ears; you feel it with your whole body. Even if, like me, you’ve never handled a gun, they figure so heavily in the entertainment we watch—from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to Sarah Palin’s reality show to movie trailers and video game commercials—that firing one for the first time is a weird combination of startling and banal. Guns are (pardon the pun) loaded with so much cultural baggage that you think you know what to expect. You don’t. TV gunshots sound and act no more like real gunshots than construction-paper snowflakes resemble real snowflakes.

My next thought is, I want to do that again! I have an immediate, exhilarated reaction. Partly it’s that what I’ve just done initially frightened me, so there’s a sense of a limit overcome. For many people I know, guns remain unreal—the accessories of fictional characters, or at least of the Other, not you and yours. Yet to fire a gun is to realize you can do it: You can operate one, understand how it works. Shooting gives me a rush that comes from a feeling of (admittedly incomplete) mastery.

H/T to Guns, Cars, & Tech via Sebastian

A Holster For A Soldier

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Cross-posted from InJennifersHead.com

click for giantification

Yeah, it’s cool. It’s all leather. It’s digicam. These pictures have not been edited. Not even cropped.

How’d he do that? Nope, I’m not telling. It’s a special magical proprietary process exclusive to TheHolsterSite.com. Got an image you’ve always wanted on a holster? Talk to Michael.

All that is freaking cool, but it’s not the coolest thing about this holster.

Not in the least. The coolest thing about this holster is that it will soon be on the hip of a soldier in Afghanistan. And we don’t even know which one. All because Michael got an email that said this.

I am the platoon sergeant for a small detachment stationed at a small FOB in Afghanistan. My unit is hosting a super bowl party for ourselves and the US CAV units that we support here in Afghanistan. Also invited are all DOD contractors and DA civilians. We will be sending an invitation to all of the coalition units that are represented here. Currently there are 14 other countries that are represented.

Our intention is to have a football pool for the game. No fee will be required from those who participate as gambling in not permitted and there will be officer along with lower enlisted present. We would like to give out 20 prizes, during commercials (as we cannot view the super bowl commercials on AFN), 1 at the end of each quarter and 2 during half time. No one will be permitted to win more than 1 prize as to ensure that at least 20 people receive a prize. My command and I that are hosting will be exempt from receiving a prize to ensure the appearance of propriety.

We are seeking donations as our FOB has only a small PX with the bare necessities. We estimate that at least 250 people will be in attendance due to the weather. Our hanger has the best heating system; we also have a projector that we brought with us that will allow us to project the game onto a 12×30 white conex that is inside.

Any help in this event will be greatly appreciated.

And since Michael is really not kidding when he tells you he supports our troops, he answered.

Dear Sir,

Sounds like a worthy cause. How would a promotional, custom, hand-made leather holster to fit a Beretta M9 as a prize giveaway sound? Please let me know. Thank you!

–Michael

The holster pictured above is currently winging its way to Afghanistan. Wanna see more pictures?

Of course you do. Like the picture above, clicking will make huge.

Robb Allen Wins.

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In a comment on Tam’s blog:

Robb Allen said…

Typing with your nose sounds like fun. Let me try….

petedrf piperf opickjedf as pec kj of piuvkd peoppers

That *IS* fun. Now, let’s try typing with my forehead!

About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him — and I didn’t know how potent that part might be — that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Huh… that was odd.

My sides hurt.

I Just Can’t Stay Quiet

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By now, I’m sure you’re all familiar with the inflammatory comment by Paul Helinski of Guns America.

Now the question is when you are going to start qualifying internet media? We have to crawl over nobodies who can install wordpress and have nobody reading anything they write, It isn’t so hard to qualify internet media using Alexa.com and Compete.com. Why do you waste the manufacturers’ time and make the real internet media have to deal with wish I were internet journalists who are just using your stamp of approve to solicit review guns and accessories? You’ve created this giant gorilla in the room and we all have to deal with it, and you may think the industry takes your numbers seriously, but everyone sees things for what they are. If you are serious about bringing value to your exhibitors, you need to vet the press list.

Hey Jackass, all of those “nobodies” from the internet were your customers.