Make that SELF-employment! I’m feeling pretty good, actually. Apparently, I need to put together a real workspace. My back has been hurting, and I’m getting sick of seeing work laying around. Getting laid off sucks, but being in the first wave is a blessing in disguise. It seems noble, but going down with the ship could not be a good thing. I know that now I could get lulled in by the “I don’t want to work” bug, but if I make myself make a habit of doing what needs to be done, it will work out. Last night, I did work on a holster for a little while, even though I said I wouldn’t. Explanation: I’ve seen way too many of the self-employed work at all hours. I decided that I would work within hours and not otherwise. Last night, I had to trim and wet-mold a holster so I could dye it today. It wasn’t dry until this evening, so I was going to dye it and face another holster this evening. Then, we got a storm. I can’t dye when it’s raining, and the adhesive won’t set right when it’s raining. So, I blew it off. This is the first time I’ve felt relaxed since Thursday, and it feels WONDERFUL!!! Two days in, two orders well underway. I even finished a holster for Jenni. (I have a friend that makes jewelry. His wife gets diamonds as random presents. Jenni got the short end of the stick, apparently.) If that is any sign, it is going to work. I still need holster orders, people! Get off your duffs and buy!
I am vaguely aware that my son often watches this show on Cartoon Network or maybe Nick (I believe) called Avatar. I’m not one of those disconnected parents that sees the T. V. as the babysitter, and have watched this show with him on multiple occasions. It seems like an innocent enough fantasy story with nothing that I find terribly objectionable in it, but I find it so mind-numbingly boring that I couldn’t tell you who the characters are or anything that they’ve ever done. What I’m watching for is to make sure that some stranger isn’t filling my kid’s head with crap that he doesn’t need. I heard somewhere that they were making a live-action, silver-screen, feature-length version of this show, and I know that he’s going to want to see it. Then, I started hearing these rumors about Avatar hitting the theaters this weekend. “Great,” I thought, “Let’s take kiddo to a matinee on Saturday and check out this little flick. So, I looked into it a little.
So, what’s with the blue people? I don’t remember much about the show, but I don’t remember blue people. the chick looks pretty hot, if you can get over the weird eyes. Actually, that’s kind of… Wait a minute! Marines? I don’t remember Marines being in the cartoon, much less the central characters. Where’s the munchkin with the arrow tat on his gourd? I’m not sure this is the same movie that I’m thinking of at all!
My lovely wife then explained to me that I was confused. It’s James Cameron’s political propaganda picture Avatar that’s coming out on 12/18/09, which has absolutely noting to do with the cartoon that I don’t really remember. She explained that the movie that I was thinking of is The Last Airbender coming out this Summer.
Airbender? Really? I thought the show was called “Avatar.” I had pizza last night and have been bending air all morning. Does that count? Still, that looks a whole lot more like I think it should. Apparently, I’m not the only one that thinks this is a little confusing.
This is just too weird. When they come out with the live action version of Ghost in the Shell, will they name it “Innocence” due to a copyright technicality? Will there be some random pile of special effects and heavily-weighted agenda message coming out half a year earlier that steals the title by legal technicalities? What about Cowboy Bebop? Is there nothing sacred in Hollyweird anymore?
Just like clockwork, I fill up the gas tank on our car every five days. I have pushed it to six from time to time, but it seems that when I do that, I’m sweating over the tank light until I make it to the gas station. On the down side, the engine has an 11:1 compression ratio, and doesn’t run worth a crap on anything short of premuim. On the up-side, the tank only holds twelve gallons, and the car sips on that at an average of 26.5-mpg. Yesterday was the day in question when it was time to fill up.
The station that I prefer to go to is near Jenni’s office, but it’s kind of a rough corner. It’s not that I ever fully let my guard down – I’m just not the kind of person that ever takes it for granted that I’m ’safe’, but I have my more relaxed moments and my more guarded moments. When I’m at this gas station in particular, I’m usually on high-alert, carefully observing everything happening around me.
While I was filling the tank, I noted the other cars and drivers in the parking lot and at the pumps. It’s funny that the people I notice don’t necessarily seem to notice me there. I watched a silver Pontiac Vibe pull into the parking lot and up to the ‘FREE AIR’ compressor thingy. I watched as a mid-thirties, brunette girl stepped from the car, wearing a pair of khaki-colored pants and an unprinted, white T-shirt. This struck me as odd, since it was close to freezing, if not below. When she turned to close her door, I saw a full-sized, polymer semi-automatic in a belt holster on her right side.
It appeared to be a S&W M&P or something similar. The magazine floor plate looked like the M&P’s anyway, but I was trying my very hardest not to stare. I glanced around the parking lot, and it was very clear that nobody else had noticed. I looked back in her direction, and she had turned so that I could only see her left side, and the gun was out of sight. For a fraction of a second, I wondered if I had imagined it – until she turned with the air hose in her hand and I caught a full view of the profile of her sidearm again. Once she was done airing up her tires, she pulled around to a gas pump and proceeded to fill up her tank. I left the gas station while she was doing this.
When I picked up Jenni from her office, I told her about the whole experience. She said that it didn’t really surprise her, as she’s seen many people in that little part of town open carrying. She noted that they are usually young women alone, or people on motorcycles. Personally, I can fully understand why anyone on a bike, or without some kind of group support would want to be armed in this neighborhood. Honestly, that’s a big reason that I got my CCW permit – most places that I hang around are extremely safe, but I do pass through other areas that raise my red flags.
Having said all that, public open carry is explicitly illegal in the State of Oklahoma. I know people do it, because I’ve seen people do it on multiple occasions. Working retail, I had a salty, old, regular customer who kept a nickled revolver on his hip at all times, and in plain sight. And then, I’ve had many experiences like the one yesterday, where I’ve witnessed an ununiformed individual openly packing heat. (Maybe that’s why she was down to her T-shirt in freezing temperatures! ) In any case, I have to wonder how people get away with it. You don’t just wander around, obviously breaking the law as a lifestyle and still not get caught. I could understand how someone might do it out of ignorance, but that would only last until the inevitable confrontation with law enforcement. Perhaps they know some kind of obscure, legal loophole that has so far evaded me? There has been a pretty hard push to legalize open carry in the state, perhaps these people are deliberately breaking the law as a protest to that end? In any case, it does boggle the mind.
Ipreviouslyposted about a prayer request. An event occurred today that has me really freaked out. I plead for your prayers. This could totally suck. Right now, I’m trying to tell myself that I’m freaking out for nothing, and everything is going to be just fine. I want to believe that is true, and I think it is true. But, if this goes south, I very literally may not live through it. I don’t think it will go south. I’ve been through this particular struggle before. It was the single most harrowing experience I’ve ever had, and I’m set up for it better this time. Of course, any traumatic experience rearing its ugly head again will cause that irrational fear. This will not be my last blog entry, but I’m scared. I don’t like being scared. I like to know that everything is going well.
Things have been going well for a while now. A couple months ago, I actually wondered when we’d reach the next bump in the road. Well, we have now. I’m still not ready, in my heart. But, I will do everything that I can. I need all your prayers right now. What I was hoping against is what I’m staring at right now. It feels as though my head is in the cobra’s mouth.
My boss was a bank manager. One time, there was a robbery. The robber assaulted the bank with a .22 caliber hand gun. He said that when that thing was pointed at him it was “THIS BIG!!!” He used his hands in a 2-inch circle to show the muzzle from his perspective. I’m hoping that’s what this cobra is. Always the optimist, I’m not going to let go of the idea that it may not be nearly as bad as I perceive it.
Anyway, for the fourth time, I ask for your prayers, this time more than ever before.
This really sucks! I’ve got some upcoming material, but nothing that I can really write about right now. On top of that, I’ve been a little preoccupied lately. That certainly hasn’t done well for my blogging motivation! Needles to say, Jen has been working through some issues (at a startling rate, I might add), and I’ve been facing my own demons since they tend to be intertwined with hers. Perhaps one day I’ll feel brave enough for full disclosure on such things. That might be good…
Anyway, I’m looking forward to writing up my post on this wacky, new holster that I’m making for my sister-in-law! I finished the structural forming and did some structural testing last night. The good news is that it works! It holds the gun very stable and the draw and reholster are quite quick and easy. The scheme is pink and purple, so she’ll love wearing it, and it shows off a lot of gun! The bad news is that the belt-loops are TIGHT!!!! My brother will probably have to help her get dressed when she wears the thing, at least until the leather softens up enough that it isn’t a fight to put on a belt. Also, it’s no CCW holster. It doesn’t retain well enough to keep it away from a BG, but I don’t know how much value there is in that anyway. It very decisively does not pull the gun in, so the butt prints in anything short of a very heavy coat. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post pics of the finished product soon.
Jen recently suggested that I write up a review on S&W’s586 L-Comp, as I carry two of the suckers every day. Of course, I blinked at her and asked her why I hadn’t thought of that. I am looking forward to writing said post, but I’m going to need some fresh pics to do that. It’s been rainy and nasty, and I haven’t had a chance to clean and oil them, and any other excuse that I can think of to cover my laziness… I’ll get on that before too terribly long. I’d like to get some good range pics for that post. If all goes well, I should be able to get some this weekend.
Anyway, I know it’s been a little dry. Anybody care to loan me another gun to review on here?
p. s. – Oh, I almost forgot! I’m still looking for a sewing machine. Juki makes one that I need to spend some more demo time on, but I think it will do what I want it to. I’ll let you know how that comes out. If/when I do buy a machine, I’m going to have to get rid of some crap and do some rearranging. (I hate housework!)
So, a few weeks ago, my friend Instinct was asking about the installation of the Meprolight shotgun beads that I installed on our Winchesters. Now, my disclaimer is that I am NOT a gunsmith. I do a little work on my own guns from time to time, but I do not do this sort of thing for hire. I simply am not professional enough with this sort of thing to take on the liability of it. That being said, I told him that it’s really easy. You just get a 6×48 tap and the coordinating drill bit, remove the old bead, drill and tap the hole and thread the new sight in with some Loctite or nail polish on the threads. He said that sounded too complicated, so he shipped the barrel from his 870, ‘Bruce,’ and sight half way across the country to me to have me do the job! LOL! I received his barrel yesterday, and installed the bead last night. It will be shipping out to him today. During the installation, the Evyl Robot Empyre got silly and emailed back and forth with Instinct and a mutual friend, Gatakitty, for the whole procedure. That went as follows:
Oh, I’ve never been to heaven,
But I’ve been to Oklahoma….
Evyl Robot:
Now, I’m gonna tell you… The factory bead did not unthread, but broke off in my vice grips. It is steel, and a PITA to drill. I scuffed the finish a little on the block trying to get it flat. I’m not worried about that since you’re about to duracoat. It is ever so slightly off center – I’m talking about thousandths of an inch. I’m not real happy about that, but it will probably never make a difference. With the finish applied, you won’t see it, and I doubt it will screw with the POI. You should be able to easily tune to it with your rear notch anyway, once you’ve installed it. Honestly, you probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t mentioned it, but since you are a friend, I couldn’t just not.
You should be pleased to hear that I got the Tech Sights ordered for the Ruger 10/22’s in the house, and I should see those sometime this week. I’m looking forward to getting those installed and start playing with them. I haven’t heard anything bad about them, and it should be good to see if they meet all of my expectations. I still need to pick up some more magazines for all three guns prior to Appleseed, but we’re getting there.
Also, last week I got my new stocks ordered for my twin carry revolvers. I did order the round butt finger grooves…
in padauk…
I got my check and order sheet mailed off on Thursday, August 20. Snail mail will probably take about a week to get there. Kim Ahrends said that they are running three to four weeks on orders recently, and snail mail will probably be another week back. So, I’m looking at five to six weeks from the 20th. That should put them in my greasy mitts at the end of September, hopefully.
They’re going to be really pretty! I know that I’m going to have to make myself a matched pair of holsters when they come in. The holsters I wear are structurally perfect, but they have visibly taken a beating in my torture testing. With my newer finishing methods, I expect their replacements to look good for longer, even under the same duress.
I started looking at getting some extra moon clips for these as well. That’s something that I definitely want to do, but I’m not going to be able to do that right away. I’ll probably order my 7-shot, .357 moon clips from Ranch Products. They sent me a sample and pricing, and I like what I see. The sample is slightly thinner than what came with the guns, so it accepts all types of brass. The Winchesters don’t want to go into the clips that came from S&W, however strange as that may be. The Ranch sample works well with all of the .38 and .357 that I have laying around the house, and slips into the cylinder easily. I’m impressed. And, all of this gunny shopping has me on a roll!
Jenni has mentioned that she would like to have her 640 cut for moon clips.
A lot of people complain about clipped .357 Magnums, saying that the long cartridge is difficult to manage in a moon clip. With our experience with guns that accept moon clips, I could not disagree more. (Please pardon the dark photos.)
To me, any double action .357 Magnum revolver should be able to accept moon clips. To someone that has never used clips or speed loaders, the moon clips do feel awkward. To someone that is familiar with the use of speed loaders and not moon clips, they feel doubly awkward. To someone who has spent a little time reloading a .357 with moon clips, they are incredibly fast, and offer many advantages that you simply can’t get using any other device. You don’t have the bulk of a carried speed loader, extraction is a solid, one-piece ejection, and you don’t have to stop to pick up your speed loader and loose brass in your range session. Clean up becomes one piece for every six, seven, eight, or nine – depending on the capacity of your cylinder.
Even then, you can still load from loose ammo, speed loaders, or speed strips with a gun that is modified to accept clips. Here’s the video from TK Custom, showing the machining process and demonstrating the utility of the finished cylinder:
So, I’m thinking of sending off Jenni’s cylinder for this treatment, and I’m thinking of doing it soon. It looks like the going rate for the machining is ~$100.00. Since I don’t have access to a CNC mill, the charge seems very reasonable – especially since these people do this repeatedly to many guns. Clark Customs will machine the J frame cylinder for $100.00 and throw in one moon clip. Additional moon clips run $3.99 each from Clark. Ranch Products doesn’t charge nearly so much for their clips, but unfortunately they don’t make a .357 J frame clip. It looks like they are in fairly low demand. I’ll probably get her about 25 additional clips from Clark when we have the work done. Ironically, I’ll be able to get 100 of my seven-shot clips from Ranch for the same price.
Anyway, that’s what’s on my mind. Well, there’s that and the whole Ted Kennedy deal, but I don’t really feel like getting all political and stuff today. I’m sure you understand.
) In any case, I have to wonder how people get away with it. You don’t just wander around, obviously breaking the law as a lifestyle and still not get caught. I could understand how someone might do it out of ignorance, but that would only last until the inevitable confrontation with law enforcement. Perhaps they know some kind of obscure, legal loophole that has so far evaded me? There has been a pretty hard push to legalize open carry in the state, perhaps these people are deliberately breaking the law as a protest to that end? In any case, it does boggle the mind.
