The Wandering Minstrel

The three volumes in this trilogy are titled “Forty-Five Auto Colt Pistol.” “Thirty-Eight Special” and “Luger Nine Millimeter Parabellum.” The books are shown with their covers open.

A bumper sticker I saw in the parking lot at work inspired the following graphic.

One of these is currently parked outside of one of the buildings at work. I was curious and looked it up on WikiPedia:

The M109 is an American-made self-propelled 155 mm howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s. It has been continually upgraded and improved to today’s current version, the M109A6 “Paladin” which is only used by the US Army. The US still maintains a number of M109A5’s in its forces. The M109 family is the most prevalent western indirect-fire support weapon of maneuver brigades of armored and mechanized infantry divisions.

The crew of the M109 consists of a section chief, driver, three gunners who prepare the ammunition, load, and fire the weapon, and two gunners who aim the cannon. The gunner aims the cannon left or right (deflection), the assistant gunner aims the cannon up and down (quadrant). The M109A6 Paladin needs only one gunner and two ammunition handlers for a total crew of six.

Go on in, fly . . .

They’re having a party in there and you’re invited.

Got a better caption than that? Pass it along in the comments . . .

Smith & Wesson 686 - .357 Magnum, 2 3/8 inch barrel.

Flash® slide show by Minstrel. Photos courtesy of Damsel.

OK - so I was tired and it was dark this morning when I got dressed to head to the shop. When I got home, I was chastised by the better half for wearing non-matching patterns in public.

“Why do you camouflage your asymmetrical saggin’ ass while the top half is shouting ‘Eat at Joe’s Hawaiian Bar and Grill?”

She didn’t complain about the revolver in my back pocket, though.

Click the pic for big.

(Cross-posted at CB&D)

What part of this common sense advice did this guy not understand?

Store guns so that they are inaccessible to children and other unauthorized users. While specific security measures may vary, a parent must, in every case, assess the exposure of the firearm and absolutely ensure that it is inaccessible to a child.

A three-year old boy “got hold” of his father’s Glock 21 while riding in the back seat and shot the off duty LAPD cop in the back. The man was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Now, two years after the fact he and his wife are suing Glock Inc., the maker of the weapon; the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club, which sold him the gun in 2003; Uncle Mike’s and Bushnell Outdoor Products, which manufactured a gun hip holster for the firearm; and Turner’s Outdoorsman, which sold him the holster.

The man claims the safety on the Glock 21 is “non-existent or ineffective to prevent accidental, unknowing or inadvertent discharge.”

I call bullshit. I own two Glocks. The safeties on them work just fine as long as your brat can’t put his booger-picker in the trigger guard. Do you see the little lever sandwiched in the trigger assembly? The trigger can’t move back until the lever is depressed. Simple, effective and elegant.

I’m truly sorry that LAPD lost one of their own to this tragedy and I’m sorry for the ex-cop’s injuries. Other than that, the cop, his wife and the attorney they retained should all be ashamed for blaming one stupid event on everyone but themselves.

Safety Features of the Glock: Continue Reading »

Since there seems to be some interest in the Sentry Model E5251-T safe article I posted a couple of days ago, I thought I would post a view with the door open. Visible in this view on the top shelf are one of the pistols and some magazines. To the left of that is where I keep valuable and vital documents in the so-called ‘ammunition box.’ Below that are three actual ammunition boxes with probably six or seven hundred rounds of reloaded .38, 9mm and .45 ACP. The long guns are all shotguns - two twelve gauge and one twenty gauge. Click on the image to get a closer look.

I keep a magazine for “Little Boy” - my 9mm Glock 26 pistol - loaded with 10 rounds of these Winchester Ranger® +P+ - the box warns “Use only in modern firearms in good condition,” and “DO NOT use in UZI firearms.” There is a bunch of other common-sense disclaimers about safety, etc., but I thought the specific invocation of UZI to be interesting.

Here’s a couple of photos of the loaded magazine:

One of these days, I have to take some of these to the range and see what “40,000 C.U.P.” feels like.

Thanks to Damsel for the photos.