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!

Six Day Work Weeks are Hard on Getting Pics Done!

I was recently gifted the very cool LRT Tip Off mount for use with my Po Boy, and as I posted earlier, a KAC flash hider for Schwaggie. My MnP recently got a 10-8 rear sight installed, and the only pic I have of that is the promo photo from 10-8. I really wanna get some photos done, but having to work six days a week these days means that's tough to do. Its also why I blog so sporadically. Add to that "Burn Notice" being back on the air with new episodes, and the influx of knuckle heads doing stuff to get themselves banned from the forum, and blogging becomes a casualty of a lack of time! I'll do what I can to get it taken care of soon. I hope.

I Promised DirtCrashr

My bro DZ Hitshard took these at SHOT, amongst some other great pics. Its the new DD A1.5 rear sight, that will be standard on the new Daniel Defense carbine. I think I mentioned in the previous SHOT post that ATS will be seeing the first of our sizable order towards the end of February. They're gonna sell like hot cakes...or cold cakes, if that's your preference...or whatever type of cakes means "selling really fast" to you.

Some thoughts on SHOT

As I have done many times before, I attended the SHOT show last weekend. This time it was back in Orlando, Florida, which I didn't mind. I wasn't really planning to go to SHOT, but then I looked at it from a different perspective: it was in Florida this year, in early January. Five days to get out of Kentucky's windy, cold winter to warmer climes. I decided I had to attend. Turned out to be fine timing, too, as on Wednesday as I was flying out, it was somewhere between 40 and 50 degrees. When I checked the Weather Channel on Thursday morning, it showed that Nashville was at 9 degrees. That's good timing.

I decided not to bother with taking pics this year. There are tens of thousands of shutter monkeys taking better photos than I am capable of. There's great photos of stuff I missed every year. Luckily, there are some pics of some of the shenanigans I was a part of. In the end, that was what SHOT was for me: shenanigans punctuated by a small amount of business, a large amount of playing with guns and knives, and an even larger amount of meeting people (customers, vendors, old friends, and what I call La Familia: the members of LF) and seeing some of my favorite people.

This show was about what I expected in terms of product. So many companies are cash strapped this year that they either downsized their booths or didn't attend with one. It appeared to me that TAG, for instance, only brought their new stuff to prominently display. They make great gear, and have some killer new MTV carriers. There were some cool new guns, most notably Daniel Defense's new in-house carbine. They're making just about everything with this gun, with the possible (I don't know for sure) exception of small parts like springs and detents. Its an awesome value, even moreso considering the parts that are on it. More on this rifle later when ours show up; we ordered a hundred of them. Due in end of February.

Overall, though, this show was more about the people than stuff. One of our moderators, and a friend of mine, is a Jacksonville SWAT cop who got in touch with a couple of shooters from the Austrian SOF. These two men proved that being a professional doesn't have to do with the size of a country's armed forces, it has to do with the quality of the individuals. These two were very, very professional, and were fanstastic ambassadors of their country. They were also incredibly good sports, putting up with the Americans in the bunch making "shrimp on the barby" jokes.

The Baconforce/MCLMM Representative from Scotland picked me up at the airport and then went to dinner with Jeromy and myself on Wednesday night. If all Scots are as cool as Brother Murray is, that's a country I have to visit. If they're not, I'll still go, as Murray is one of my favorite people in the world. I wish there was more time to spend together. Sometimes SHOT gets in the way of the very thing it helps to bring about.

I met some straight up shoot you in the face warriors, too. I was introduced to a number of Sergeants Major, some active, some retired, all amazing. One of the guys I met online that I met at the show works for LaRue Tactical. I met his dad through my friend Bill Harsey, who was at the Chris Reeve Knives again this year. The father is a former SOG RT guy from the Viet Nam era. The amount of information he has at his fingertips is pretty amazing. What a great man. That's to be expected, though, as all of Bill's friends seem to be pretty damn awesome people.

I'm going to have to continue this later, as I have to get ready for work now. I don't know if I'll edit this one, or start anew. I think I may continue the rambling in another post. The Meat Dot deserves a post all of it's own.

Best and Brightest

Saw this pic in a thread of "fail" pics and posters on "my" forum, and couldn't stop chuckling. We're at war with the Best and the Brightest. If it weren't for their significant numbers, this conflict would have been over quite some time ago. I bet if he were able to legally vote, or in Chicago, he'd have voted Obama.

Vince is even worse than Billy Mays

I was hoping that the Shamwow would be the only product we saw being hocked by that Jersey weirdo Vince, but alas, that's not the case. He was selling some kind of chopping thing called the Slap Chop. He even makes a comment along the lines of "you're gonna love my nuts" after chopping a handful of them. All I can think is "Slap Chop...I'd like to do that to Vince".

Its a disturbing trend to see infomercials condensed into a 15 to 30 second format. It was bad enough that they existed in the first place because there was unsold airtime. At least you knew if it was a half hour or more long (remember Tom Vu?) it was gonna be cheesy and low quality. Now they're trying this quick hit thing that I'm sure is much more effective. I mean, if people thought Obama was a good choice for President and that we needed a Democrat majority in Congress, clearly their attention span is short enough to allow them to make these kinds of poor decisions. Vince is capitalizing on American ig'nance. Good for him, bad for America.

More parts: 10-8 rear sight for the M&P9

I decided that I needed to try something different with the sights on my MnP. Having three dots is, I think, slowing me down, as I attempt to align the dots rather than the sights. Additionally, the Novak rear sights that come on the MnP are a wedge design that is much less effective to use for the racking of the slide using the rear sight as a "hook". That lead me to start looking for other sights, and through recommendation of better shooters than I (not that hard; most people shoot better than I do), lead me to the 10-8 Performance rear sight.

picture belongs to 10-8 Performance

The sight's notch is a "U", rather than a...uh...one of these: "|_|". What I am hoping is that the deep notch and the serrated face will help me zero in on the front sight. I know I'm dropping shots from time to time because I'm not staying on the front sight in an effort to go faster. The sight is thick enough to add a tritium vial or vials to, but my plan is to get only the front sight with tritium. After that, I have some other work to be done, and then this gun will be finished...as finished as an inveterate tinkerer such as I can be.

I've heard a lot of good things about Bowie Tactical's trigger work for the MnP, but I've also heard from one of the Cool Guys I know that the back log has gotten very long. There are others getting into the MnP/Glock/whatever other polymer pistol you have sweepstakes, some of them even posting on their websites that those guns are the only ones they're working on anymore. Additionally, the SnW Performance Center shows some custom work for this gun. I think what I may do is have them (SWPC) install a tritium front sight, and do a trigger job on the gun. Express service is a five business day turn around. The polish job probably isn't crucial, as I don't have access to really crappy ammo, but it won't hurt my (so far) 100% reliability, either. Most of what I've read of the PC sear is that it both lightens and crispifies the trigger. I don't know if he gets a "harder" reset or not, but that's about the only thing I wish the MnP came with. Glock triggers reset much more positively.

I've really come to like the MnP a lot, but I haven't forgotten why I was willing to trade my G19 for it in the first place: I have a line on another G19 at a very attractive price. If it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't have done it. I've got some G19 magazines and some G17 magazines, so I gotta get another 19 to make all those usable.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the proper tools in the shop to fit the rear sight, so I left it with Hal Wade at Tennessee Custom Gunsmithing. I'll have it back early next week. I'm figuring on about Wednesday before I can get it. Luckily, he's got the range that Matt, Paul and I shoot at, so if I remember to bring a little ammo, I'll be able to check it out at the same time...assuming I'm not laid out by being at the dentist tomorrow.

New Parts: Knight's flash hider

My friend hooked me up again. Since he's already got several of the excellent Knight's Armament Co. 's excellent flash hiders, he gave me one. Brand new. He even installed it. I have the best friends. I don't have any pics, but I will add some once I have some new shots. I think it kind of makes up for the jacked up molar I have that I can't get taken care of until Monday.

I guess they don't wanna sell 'em

I've been wearing my Danner Agitators for about two and a half years now, and they're pretty much well and truly used up. I've almost walked the sole off these things. I'd replace 'em, except for two issues: my employer doesn't carry Danners anymore, and they've discontinued this model. Can't figure that one out; we always seemed to sell quite a lot of 'em.

I have several friends that have Merrells, of various styles and makes. They've all got good things to say about 'em, so I figured I'd brave the crowds on Saturday and head out to Opry Mills Mall in Nashville. It was a balancing act: not really wanting to be at the mall on the Saturday after Christmas, versus knowing there were three different stores that carry Merrells, as well as a bunch of others that I would be willing to try. However, that's not how it all worked out.

I went to every place that had hiking boots, and to be honest, there were almost no decent sales going on. At best, there were a few styles that they had thin stock of, marked down to, at best, 20%. Most were along the lines of 10%. They still had quite a bit of stock; I was able to try on three or four different styles and brands. That's not always easy, as I wear a 13 wide. That's to be expected, since I'm 6' 6". I have fairly small feet for my size, and can ususally buy off the rack. That wasn't the case this time around. Stuff I was interested in was either full retail, or they had 5's and 6's left, with a puny discount.

Seems to me, if you're gonna depend on Christmas to make your year as most retailers do, you'd want to move as much product as you could so as not to have to pay taxes on it. That would seem to say that the economy, while not doing well, isn't quite as crippled as we'd been lead to believe. Stuff not being on sale, and indeed being priced at the regular retail price after Christmas, is a sign that they either misjudged badly (unlikely, because so few places were doing the normal deep discounting) or they felt that it wasn't the strategy that was necessary. Either way, I didn't buy any Merrells yesterday, or North Face, or Columbia.

But I didn't walk away empty handed yesterday. The Oakley Vault store pretty much always has stuff at the full retail price, so I don't generally buy stuff there. There are ways to get that stuff wholesale, if you know the right people, even though we're not an Oakley dealer anymore.

When Oakley is dumping footwear, they discount it very, very deeply. What I ended up scoring from the discontinued section was a pair of the Flak Low tactical shoes. I would have prefered the mids, or even the highs, but for $20, I'm gonna rock these until they fall apart. Yeah, that's right: twenty bucks. Even online most places have 'em between $80 and $90+. To say the least, I'm quite pleased. These are going to work nicely at the SHOT show in a few weeks.

San Diego is whipping Denver right now. Looks like the Chargers are gonna take the AFC West crown. All is right with the world tonight.

Good timing: wore out my slide stop

I've had my Springfield Armory 1911 A1 Lightweight for, oh, a dozen years or so. Its been getting customized over the course of most of that time, and is almost finished. Once I decide what night sights I wanna have low mounted on it (I'm thinking about 10-8's for it and the MnP), its gonna get refinished and then the work will probably stop. Probably.

The original slide stop that was one of the first things I had customized, was a King's extended part. At the time, I shot a Weaver stance with crossed thumbs. With that method, having the gas pedal didn't hurt.


However, I reached a plateau in my shooting, and wasn't getting better. I came to the realization that "Do whatever works for you" was, in fact, a very stupid philosophy if one wishes to be the best one can be at a given pursuit. The Way is thumbs forward, with a version of the isosceles stance, and being extra sure not to hook your support hand index finger on the trigger guard.

That posed a problem with that original slide stop; I was overriding it regardless of how I gripped the gun; I was either holding it down or pushing it up. I knew I needed to change the part, but we were out of stock at work, so I put it off.

Well, we got some Wilson Bulletproof slide stops in right about the time I found that my baby wasn't locking back in empty mags. I had worn out the original slide stop after ten or eleven years. Nice timing! I picked up the new Bulletproof part, and found that it didn't need extra fitting. That's a good thing, since I don't know of any 1911 smiths around here. I don't let anyone who's not the best available wrench on my guns.



I'm quite pleased with this new part; if I had known the what's up, I'd have had it on there all along. I guess JMB really did know what he was doing with that part. I still believe that 1911's have to have beavertail grip safeties and extended thumb safeties to be a usable fighting gun. Add to that high profile, quality sights, and you've got something goin' on.

I can't tell if this is an artsy shot; I kinda think it is. Since I don't have to pay for bandwidth, I'm gonna go ahead and put it up.


Lastly, here's the off side of this gun, for the sake of completeitude.


Couple things to note: the finish appears to be kinda two toned because, through shooting the hell out of it, I've rubbed most of the finish off the frame. This gun has an arched mainspring housing, where my Kimber Custom Royal has a flat one. I can't tell the difference. I shoot the SA better, but that's probably just because its got a hard fit Bar-Sto barrel in it.

The background I shot these on is my new TNF hooded fleece. It was a gift from a connected friend of mine; he's a cop that's got a lot of friends. There's no model name on it, and the numbers don't tell me what it is, either. What I know about it is that it's made in the US of A, and similar jackets are seen in pics of very high speed dudes. I'm pretty sure I know where it came from, but I can't prove it. Doesn't matter; I have my story and I'm stickin' to it. :)

San Diego Chargers: What is goin' on there?

I'm keeping tabs on some football today, essentially procrastinating the taking of the laundry to the laundromat. The 12-1 Tennessee Titans had something to play for this week: a win and a Steelers loss gained them home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They lost. The Chargers, on kind of the opposite end of the scale at 8-5, trailed the Kansas City Chiefs through almost the whole game. They took a one point lead with :36 left. That's really unacceptable.

Jeff Fisher's job is not in jeopardy. Norv Turner's, though, absolutely has to be. I wondered why they made that hire in the first place, since the Chargers should have been very familiar with Turner when he was with the hated Raiduhs. Since the Chargers probably won't make the playoffs with one of the highest powered teams in quite a while, his job and most of his staff will have to go. Ron Rivera may be able to stay; I guess that'll depend on how much management likes him. The question then becomes: who's going to replace Turner?

Another reason to hate me: new S&W M&P 9

I lucked into quite a fortuitous trade this week. One of my friends had a .300 Whisper AR upper that he wasn't planning to use, so he traded it to a local dealer for the only thing that was of remote interest to him: an Mn'P 9mm cop gun. The cop guns come with three mags and don't have the magazine safety in 'em. 

So, he got rid of an upper he didn't really want for a pistol he didn't really want, and came into the shop with it. He knew I had a Glock 19, because I traded my Glock 30 to him to get that 19. He also knew that I was looking to get an MnP to solve some of the issues I was having with my 19. He asked what I had to trade for it, and I told him the truth: right now the only thing I have to trade is my 19. He thought about it for a moment, and asked if I wanted to trade it straight up, the MnP with three magazines for the G19 and 3 magazines.  I really like the G19, so it wasn't necessarily an easy choice to make, but I decided to do it. I know, it was obvious, but I made the right choice.

ATS started back with Saturday hours today, but arrangements were made for Matt and Paul to work. That is as it should be: I had a new, unfired firearm, and that just can't be allowed to stand. They both agreed that it was something that had to happen. I only had a hundred rounds to test it with, but I hadda use what I had.

I don't know if the MnP is more accurate than my G19, but I do know that I shoot it better. I shot noticeably tighter groups with it, and I do know why that is: the 17 round magazines of the MnP mean that the grip is a bit longer, and my hand fits it better. Because of the sheer bodacious size of my giant bear paw hands, manipulating reloads was a bit of a job with the G19. The magazines occasionally dragged on the bottom of my hand. That grip simply wasn't made for me. Additionally, I overrode the slide release fairly regularly, so I didn't always have the slide lock back. That's all attributable to trying to run the premier small carry gun when it doesn't fit quite right. 

What I found out today was that the MnP is a better platform for my physical attributes. In a lot of ways, the MnP is a refining of the Glock. Its not necessarily the G19's equal, but it has couple of features that are key. Other than having a grip frame that fits my hand better, it also has a short beavertail tang. The Glock has been known to cut the back of my hand because I have so much beef in the back of my hand and I take the highest grip I can. The MnP allows me to get up into the gun, but still protects me from blood loss. Bottom line: I'm very well pleased with the MnP in most areas: a grip that fits me better, no bleeding, and good accuracy.

I'm not sold completely on the sights. They're either Novaks, or a Novak design. The sight picture is fine, but the wedge shape means that they can't be used as a way to rack the gun. They're also not night sights, and that's going to have to change. If I can get the 10-8 sights with tritium, I think that's what I want to do. I have to give props to SnW, though, because the sights on my new kid were well regulated on elevation, and dead on for windage. 

The other area that the MnP falls short of the Glock is in the trigger. The sear break is a little creepy, but different from the Glock. The reset, though, isn't as good. If I can find somebody who can fix that up, and make the reset more like the Glock in terms of a positive "snap", that will go a long way to improve the MnP. As it is now, its a feature that I tolerate and may have to get used to. Of course, I have 100 rounds through my MnP; my Glock had 2200.

Does this mean I'm done with the Glock? Absolutely not! Glocks are still among the handful of real combat guns that have just about everything: adequate triggers, good accuracy, simple manipulation, and a legitimate 100,000 round service life. I think I may end up get a Glock 17 next, but another G19 is definitely in my future as well. 

Much is said about how "Glocks are uncomfortable", and "I just don't like the way they feel". I recently heard a statement from one of the LF forum members that answers those questions directly: "Unless its a female, I don't make choices based on feelings".  What the MnP and Glock both have is that once you shoot one and make it run, you kinda turn it in your hand and stare at it with your eyes bugged out a little, while saying "Where has this been all my life?"

An important video

Of particular note in this video, pay attention to her last few comments. Also note how Chuckie Schumer's expression says "I've already made my mind up, regardless what you say".  Her definition of what the 2nd Amendment is really for is exactly what the Framers had in mind when they wrote it.

Funny Dream

I dream pretty regularly, but its been a long, long time since I was able to remember them. Most of the time, I don't remember them at all, and on the occasion that I wake up remembering one, I can't usually retain it. That may mean something, but I really don't care. If they don't revolve around shooting, then there's not a lot that's interesting about them anyway.

Last week, I did have a dream I remembered, although I woke up before it had completely run it's course. Where I remember it starting was in the showroom. Matt E. and I were both near the back of the store, talking about something important, like whether to pick up a Glock 17 or an MnP next. We both look towards the front of the door as we hear a vehicle pull up in front and jump on the brakes. Five masked bad guys come charging through the door (I'm not really sure how they got in so fast and so well stacked, since the door opens out, not in) and start splitting down the front of the store. Matt and I each take opposite sides of the room; I go right, he goes left, and we draw and start shooting on the move. In this case, we were both running Glock 19's, but I wouldn't have felt odd about the dream occuring with 1911's. 

The five miscreants (you can always tell a miscreant in a dream, because whether its cold or not, they wear full face beenies) split three to my side, two to Matt's, and we hit each with multiple shots. They're all down, and we clear their weapons. Somehow, we know the Police are coming, but we apparently had plenty of time for what happened next: Matt and I start arguing that it's not fair that I got three and he got two. I guess he was offended that only two went his way, but it's my dream. If it's my dream, then I gotta be the star, right? At that point I woke up, so I don't know how long it took the PD to get there. Since those guys all know who we are and that we roll armed all the time, I don't think, in the dream, that they were in any particular hurry to get there. lol!

Tropic Thunder: a comedy that's actually funny!

My schedule didn't match up to see Tropic Thunder in the theater, which I regret now. I watched it on DVD this evening with homeboy and shooting partner Paul J. The interesting part of the experience was that the film was a Whollyweird comedy, and yet we were both actually laughing! I'd have never thought that possible if I hadn't seen it muh damn se'f.

I'm usually lukewarm on Ben Stiller. His movies can be quite funny, but more often he falls into the "cute" catagory for me, such as with Night at the Museum. Unfortunately, they're gonna do a Night at the Museum II. He was great as White Goodman in Dodge Ball, but that wasn't a Ben Stiller movie as much as it was a Vince Vaughn vee-hickle. In Tropic Thunder, though, he was outstanding.  There were times that I forgot that he was Ben Stiller and I believed he was Tugg Speedman. With some actors, that's easy to do; Robert Downey Jr. should be up for an Oscar for his performance as Jeff Lazarus, "I know what dude I am. I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude! ".

The best part by far, though, was the parody of Whollyweird as a Whole. The drug addict, the agents, the deal makers, the Method actors, the consultants, and more, all skewered. While America was laughing hysterically, there were plenty of folks in The Biz squirming in their seats. After the flick, Paul and I were laughing at various lines that were added to the Chrystal Method's "That's the Name of the Game" ride out credits song, and we agreed that it seemed hard to believe that this movie got made. I still marvel that somebody green lighted a movie that made fun of what they do. For that reason alone, this one's worth seeing.

There's a lot of profanity in this flick, which is kinda typical for a comedy these days. I guess a lot of people find swearing funny; I'm not really one of those. This is still a funny movie, and I really do wish I'd seen it on the big screen with the digital sound system. Woulda been fun!

Alternate Thanksgiving

Since I didn't go home this year, and all of my friends are either deployed, deploying, or out of town, I stayed home and busted out the grill. Here's what was on it:

a big fat porterhouse, seasoned with EVOO, sea salt and fresh ground pepper, and a two (should have been one) cream cheese stuffed, maple bacon wrapped Poblano peppers. Had an Amber Bock in the fridge, so I macked that, too. I had some garlic and rosemary potatoes and some old fashioned potato salad, but I couldn't get to that stuff. It had to wait for Saturday afternoon. Managed to stuff some Phrench Silk pie down my neck, too, but didn't get a photo of that.

Solemn Holiday Post

My buddy Justin sent this to me today.


In 1986, Peter Davies was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University .

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Peter approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee, inspected the elephants foot, and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Peter worked the wood out with his knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Peter stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Peter never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Peter was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Peter and his son Cameron were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Peter, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Peter could not help wondering if this was the same elephant. Peter summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing, and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Peter legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

QOS

Went and saw Quantum of Solace yesterday with my bro M4Guru. While disappointed in the $4+ Coke that was not really a Coke, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I may end up dropping some spoilers in this post, due to my stream of unconsciousness writing style, so caveat emptor. I don't know if that applies here, but the only other Latin I could remember off the top of my head was "Otium cum dignitatum", which means "leisure with dignity".

The important thing with this movie, and Casino Royale that precedes it, is that the New Bond is a much better couple of movies than any of the previous iterations of Bond movies. Bad attitude, loose cannon, ass-kicking-sans-gadgetry Bond is miles better than the more recent, gadget dependent Bond characterizations. The constant references to Bond goin' haywire and killin' ever'body are both comedic and apropos. The only drawback is that they've got him running a Walther PPK/S mouse gun, rather than the "They finally get it!" P99 of previous movies. That's really my only complaint; I'd much rather see him running a Glock or MnP. A custom tuned 1911 is probably beyond the realm of possibility with Bond, but a man gun would be schweeeeet.

SPOIL-ISH!

The other thing that I really liked, and a number of people have said they didn't like, was the new bad guy organization: Quantum. Its sort of an economic Al Qaida, an organization with a cell-style structure and even more secretive than anything we know about now. MI-6 didn't know a thing about them at the beginning of the flick, so its gonna be interesting, over the next couple films that Daniel Craig is signed on for, to see how this group becomes exposed and taken down.

There were still a couple things that I didn't "get", as I saw it only once so far, but I think it's entirely possible that those questions will be made clear later on. They did a nice job of conveying the sense of "everywhere and anywhere" with Quantum; they have a very, very long reach. Its going to be interesting to see how they are developed over the next couple of movies. Its all very sinister, but Bond will kill 'em all if the film calls for it...which, of course, it will. Which is, of course, why I'm such a fan. lol!

Quarrantine. It could have been good...

I'm not gonna bother with post election rants right now; both of you who read my blog have a pretty good idea where I stand on that issue.lol However, that's not to say I'm not gonna be ranting!

Spoiler follows.

I went to see Quarantine with Matt E. and Paul J. about a week ago, partly because it looked cool and partly because there's not much else of interest in the local theater right now. It looked like an interesting take on the zombie genre, and it proved to be that...and less, in a couple of areas.

Starting back with Blair Witch Project, the Bouncing Handi Cam (BHC) technique was born as a new and creative way to film a movie. It was innovative at the time. Unfortunately, several other movies have taken it up as a plot device, such as was done with Cloverfield. Now its getting tired and isn't creative anymore. And there's more that goes with it, too.

Despite what directors may think, you don't have to wave the camera around like a spastic drunk for me to remember that there's a guy with a hand held camera that's giving us his perspective on what's happening. It may come as a shock, but if the same dude has the camera throughout the movie, its not all that tough to remember who he is and what he's doing. People, in general, can keep track of such things. Do us a favor, director-type personages: bounce it a little at first to give us the effect...then quit it. I'm not willing to get motion sickness just to watch your damn movie.

An additional, equally irritating corollary to the BHC style of filming is the absolute stupidity of the people who are getting filmed. There are cops at the apartment building, who have 15 in the gun and a couple reloads each. If there are three of 'em, that means there's 135 available rounds, and there were maybe 20 people in the whole building. Call me crazy, but if you have to shoot an infected body, chances are you're gonna have to do that for everyone else that gets infected. You know from recent experience that the building is sealed, and that the paramedics can't do anything about the infection. That being the case, kinda seems stupid to feed your neck to somebody you know has been bitten, doesn't it?

I'm getting sick and tired of people who should know better, acting like morons. If you can't have 'em act like they would be trained to act, DON'T PUT THEM IN THE DANG MOVIE! That ranks in Stupid right up there with backwards sights on rifles and endless magazines. There are tons of people that can be experts for movies that can fix the Stupid if the director is smart enough to pay attention to what they say. Most of the time, they aren't. Its getting to the point that directors are the cause of everything that irritates me about movies. If I find another director that gets it right, I'm gonna go see every damn thing he does. At this point, it looks like Ridley Scott comes closest...but he's smart enough to listen to his advisors. I'm thinking there's a trend to be seen there...

Hell Yeah I Voted Today

Got my ballot cast this morning before work; just barely before work! The line was pretty impressive. I'm glad to see people getting out to vote for a change. Not "vote for change", but voting rather than not voting.

And, since this is my blog and I can say whatever the hell I want to, I'm gonna state this as clearly and succinctly as I can: if you voted for Obama and voted for democrats in the House and the Senate, you've ruined America for many generations to come. That inexperienced spacktard of a junior Senator's moronic ideas are going to drive America's economy and standing as an economic, business, and military power into the ground. The buzzword of "McCain is Bush's third term" doesn't mean nearly as much, or be anywhere near as damaging as Obama being Carter's second term. If that's how you voted, you screwed up and I will blame you long after Obama's impeachment has forced him from office.