I hate YouTube.

I was checking out Dave Sevigny's record setting FAST drill video over at Pistol-Training.com. First, I gotta say: "Wow." Dave is one heck of a great shot. Second, looking around YouTube has gotten to be no fun at all.

There's a bunch of great vids, showing all kinds of interesting stuff, especially shooting. Jessie Abbate just impresses the heck out of me with her skills, and there are some good learning clips to be seen there, too. Good, useful stuff.

Its just...YouTube has got to shut down the dumb ass comments. I can't stand 'em anymore. There are way, way too many people that have no idea what they're talking about, talking...and talking...and talking. With the amount of garbage pecked out on a keyboard over there, Chap Stick could make a killing on Crack Chap, for all the out-the-ass comments there. There needs to be some kind of check system to prove that the jackass that is posting of what he has no knowledge of, and that he gets smoked for it. Its just out of control.

C'mon, Barack Hussein Obama. Fix this. You're all set to mandate a playoff system for College Football and to pay for mortgages that need to fail. The least you can do is to take a moment and fix this. It makes as much sense to get involved with this as it does for most of the crap you and your cronies in Congress are perpetrating, and at least this won't hurt me...unlike your Stimulus plan.

A great quote from Pat Rogers

Found this posted on LF by Pat Rogers, in a discussion of the scout rifle concept that Jeff Cooper espoused ( and had a moment of popularity of, and saw fade away into obscurity again). Pat's comment is in the context of the rifle, not the popularity; all that stuff in parenthesis is my opinion. At any rate, he said:

"I don't hunt, but prefer to buy guns than not."

I knew there was something to like about that guy. He's on to something there. :)

New grips is Tru Grips

I finally got the sandpaper grips for my Glock 19. These are the same grips that my buddy Matt has on his guns, and I really dig how they feel and how sticky they are. And, these grips really fit TIGHT. The other grips I had were stick on panels. These are a wee little bit more involved to install, but its still an easy process. Unlike a lot of guy stuff, though, reading-and following- the directions is pretty much required!

These are by TruGrip. Near as I can tell, TruGrip is a small company owned by a guy named Eric Wesselman. I think this is a part time concern, but regardless of how big or small his company is, this is a great product. With the current dominance of the Tactical Tupperware in competition, grips like these are one of the few modifications that can be made to one of the Plastic Fantastics to make them better. He makes them for Glocks, MnP's, and even that nasty Springfield XD that everybody asks for but nobody can explain why they want. I can't essplain it, and apparently neither can anybody else. lol!

At any rate, here's the pics! If you have a polymer fightin' gun, give these a try. You'll like 'em.

The Stimulus Package and Free Range

Birthday Present to me: The Next Glock 19

I thought that my birthday present to myself was going to be a case of 9mm ammo, which I bought. Turns out, that wasn't all I was gonna have. In addition to the ammo and being taken to dinner at The Longhorn Steakhouse (prime rib was great) on the 12th and Joe's Crab Shack in Nashville on the 13th, I bought myself a "used" Glock 19. I won't tell you how much I got it for, but I will admit that the price was obscenely low. And, as you can tell, while this gun was sold as used, I'm not sure it had much more than a couple of rounds chambered, but probably never fired.




That copper-orange colored stuff is anti-seize, and is applied at the factory. There's no holster wear at all on this gun. Basically, it was sold and never used, so I got it at a smokin' used price. If I tell you how little it was, you'll really hate me, so I'm not gonna tell ya.

I took it to the range today, put a little oil on the rails, and ran a magazine through it. Hard to believe, but it didn't bobble or hiccup even once. It's as accurate as my former G19, and is as easy to shoot as all of 'em are. Its boringly reliable and puts bullets where ya point 'em. Pretty much like every Glock I've ever fired. If they weren't so damn reliable and cool, it'd be somewhat anti-climactic.

I also acquired a Seiko Dive Watch through an incomplete-at-this-time trade. Looks like it's gonna cost me my spare Troy BUIS and some new AK mags. That's a pretty even trade, maybe a bit high on my side, but I dig the hell out of the watch. Once I get a good photo of it. I'll post it up so we can all agree that it's yet another Seiko Dive Watch. In the meantime, here's the crappy one I have. Left to right: my Seiko 5 that I traded a box of 158 grain .357 magnum Hydra-Shocks and a couple speed loaders for (didn't have the gun anymore, so it was all spare stuff), the new Dive Watch, my 1970 vintage Seiko automatic, and a 1900-era Waltham pocket watch that belonged to my grandfather. That one probably deserves a post of its own, and some good pics.

My job does not suck: Surefire X400 play time!

Our local Surefire Military Sales Rep (how much cooler a job could you have than selling lights, rails, suppressors and Surefire gear to the Army? His job doesn't suck even more than mine doesn't suck) let us check out the new X400 light for a bit before it gets shipped off to have an article written about it. This thing is freakin' awesome! I can see hanging it on my soon-to-be purchased Glock 19, as well as on the rail of Schwaggie. Tremendously bright light (go figger; its a Surefire) and an even brighter laser. Its a much more visible laser than I've seen from other companies. Of course, I'm a Surefire fan and this is just my impression of it by messing around in the showroom with it, but even so, it's damn bright and easy to see.

We found a couple things out, though: as is, it won't fit the MnP because of the shape of the trigger guard and how it slopes upwards towards the frame (an adapter plate that moves the lock bar rearward will solve that problem), and the XT-07 can't be used on it at the 12 o'clock position on the Daniel Defense M4. Still, this thing is a winner, and is built with typical Surefire beastliness. Now you see why I wanted out of manufacturing and back into the showroom, doncha? lol!

The New Daniel Defense M4 Carbine kicks ass!

We got the first of our DD M4's this last week, an initial shipment of 5. Four are already gone, and we're a little surprised the fifth is still there. That's probably a good thing, since the others went before it had even really been on the shelf for any length of time. I shot some pics that I posted on LF, and the phone started ringing.

This rifle is a very serious value, and a very serious working gun. Daniel Defense didn't cut corners on this gun. Its got everything you'd want in a Mil Spec gun: MP tested barrel, carrier and bolt (not batch tested. Each part is tested), Mil Spec barrel steel, Mil Spec receiver extension, properly staked carrier key screws, F-marked FSB's, and its built to a standard. The extras are nice, too: Magpul MOE stock, DD's new 12.0 FSP Omega rail, DD's cool new vertical grip, their new A-1.5 rear sight, ladder rail covers, and machined in-house upper and lower receivers. The lower has what they're calling an "enhanced magazine well", which means its flared a little more at the base to act a little more like a speed chute, and to guarantee that it'll work with all the good mags. In fact, it comes with a P-Mag from the factory. For $1599.00, this is a LOT of rifle for the money.

There are better descriptions of the DD M4 elsewhere, so I'll leave you with what I've already typed out, and I'll go ahead and throw my photos up here, too, even though they're shared on a couple forums already. What can I say? Its been quite a while since I've blogged. I seem to be doing this lately: extended times away from blogging, an then several posts in a day. I kinda hope I don't make that a habit! lol!

Hardshell case even has the Daniel Defense logo on it:

What you see when the case is opened. Notice the P-Mag on the right under the manual:

The rifle out of the bag:

Little bit better view of the receivers, rear sight and MOE buttstock, as well as the cleaner rail/receiver interface:

Close up of the muzzle end of the rail, Mil Spec barrel, A2 flash hider and the new DD vert grip:

It comes with DD's brand new 12" FSP Omega rail. This thing is just cool. Notice the scallops on the rail channels. DD does attention to detail:

Detail shot of the new vert grip, and the ladder rail covers:

The carrier key staking job. This is what it's supposed to look like:

The Magpul arumilum trigger guard. I have this same part on Schwaggie; its the HEAT! Covers the gap and makes plenty of room for shoosting with reasonable grobes on...and it looks cool as hell:

It's me, but I lives by da PERSEC! I love how far out I can grab this fore end:

Serious crimp!

This weather is killin' me lately. If its not crappy, its changing rapidly, which does two things: first, it means that Saturday shooting before work isn't usually pleasant. We've been shooting in high wind, biting cold that just cuts through your cold weather gear, rain, and rain when it's warm. Not the best of conditions, to be sure

There isn't much of a spring rainy season here; we get dumped on quite heavily at times, but we only get a couple/few days of rain at one go. In the spring, the weather is awesome for shooting: kinda cool with high clouds and sun. Good weather to be running my new black iridium Sweep lenses in the M-Frames. If I can't shoot good, I can look good. lol! Spring is going to be the time of much shooting, especially matches before it gets to the deep summer, brutally hot AND humid season.

That's been the biggest bummer for me: the weather is just wreaking havoc on practice. I'm still out there almost every Saturday, but I really need to shoot some more to get to where I want to be. I am reasonably fast, but not as accurate as I wish to be. There are two ways to get there: shoot a lot more, and get the trigger on my MnP tuned up. Ideally, I'll have both.

I'm going to start shooting matches again, just for some variety in training. Our local Surefire Military Sales rep (coolest damn job in the world, believe me!) has been working hard to get IDPA off the ground in this area, and only Matt has been able to go shoot 'em. The next one is coming up in March (probably), and I'd like to get tuned up to where I don't finish last. From what Matt said, that probably won't be what happens, but somebody's gotta be last. Haven't decided where I'm gonna shoot most; CDP or SSP. I'm going to be picking up a Glock 19 this month as a combo birthday present and reward from the company for all the extra hours I put in during our spin up to post-hurricane security operations down in the Gulf states. I know it doesn't sound like much as its described; "they're going to allow me to spend my money on a Glock", but the price is so obscenely low that it is a "thank you". Since they can't give it to me, this is, by far, the next best thing.

So, it looks like the match guns will be one of my 1911's (in addition to the work gun pictured elsewhere on my blog, I have Series 1 Kimber Custom Royal), the MnP9 with the 10-8 rear sight, and a Glock 19. I have the option of getting a 17 which are in as-new condition, but I have magazines for both the 19 and 17. If I get the 19, I can use both. If I get the 17, several of my magazines will be useless until I get a 19. At this point, ammo is so expensive that if I get a second gun (I'd have a 17 and 19, then), it'll seriously squeeze my ammo budget. I like competing with the 1911. I shot my custom SA in matches in San Diego fairly regularly, and used both 1911's in classes back there. I really like the 19, but it's kinda small for my size XXL hands, and that will put me at a disadvantage in the match. As long as I shoot the match tactically, I don't really care where I finish, but if I can avoid last, that's what I'd like to do. Besides, I carry the MnP every day. Once my Safariland ALS for the MnP shows up and I get it dialed in, it'll be the gun I'm most used to. I've had the Man Guns longer (that SA I got in a trade for an SnW 4006 about a dozen years ago), but as I said, I have the MnP with me daily right now, and when it's slow, I do such things as practice drawing, moving short distances and simulating shooting, and like that in the store. I only do that when nobody's around, so I do a decent job of avoiding looking goofy to the public.

I really would like to pick up another case of PMC Bronze 9mm, but damn, that stuff is hard to come by right now. Jimmy's looking for ammo all the time, and he was able to secure some Magtech stuff that came in this week. We've got some American Eagle right now, but I don't know when we'll see more, or what it's gonna cost. Between the ammo and the weather, I'm almost surprised I've been able to shoot at all! lol!