The Wandering Minstrel

This is the weirdest-looking shotgun I’ve ever seen. One of the American Rifleman blogs posted about the Mossberg 500 Chainsaw being shown at SHOT Show 2011:

Clickable image - The Mossberg 500 Chainsaw

Built on the iconic Mossberg 500 action, the Chainsaw is a pistol-grip pump-action shotgun with no stock. While guns like this are desirable for home defense, they’re notoriously hard to control while firing, a problem that Mossberg has solved by attaching a wrap-around chainsaw-style hand grip to the pump. Intended to be fired from the hip, this top handle allows the user to cycle the action while simultaneously maintaining leverage above the gun to help tame muzzle flip.

In addition to the chainsaw-style grip, the 500 Chainsaw has a stand-off barrel that can be used to breech doors and three rails that can mount accessories.

Click the link to see another view of the Chainsaw Grip.

During the past week, we went to Lowe’s and purchased some pieces for our patio. The chairs we bought were already assembled but we had to put the table together ourselves. After giving up on the primitive Allen key and tiny wrench that came with the parts, we used some small tools that I bought last week. We finally got it together, but next time, I’m going to pay the fee for the store to assemble the thing and save myself the @$#*& blister I got putting it together.

The chairs needed some padding so The Better Half picked out some southwestern seat cushions (cushion pattern can be seen in the inset). We ate our Sunday dinner today while sitting at the patio set (which is temporarily serving as the dining room furniture). Clickable image.

I have no practical use for one of the 33 round magazines that Glock offers for the 9mm pistols, but I thought I would add one to my collection of stuff I don’t need for posterity. I logged on to my Cheaper Than Dirt account and shopped for one of the hi-cap mags. When I found it in the on-line catalog they promptly notified me that they were backordered. I logged in to Midway USA, went through the same drill and found that they were also out of stock.

So I assume that when it came to light that the deranged motherf**ker in Tuscon was using one of these, the anti-gunners started calling for bans on hi-cap mags. Just like the rush on ammo after the Obamination was elected, that the market demand for them went asymptotically skyward.

I ordered one anyway - if and when they are in stock the item will ship.

Our friend and fellow gunblogger DrJim named his blog after a quote attributed to Admiral Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy: “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

Frank Brownell wrote about this in his latest Frank Talk About Guns in which he notes that there are a lot of hunters and rifles in America.

America’s Hunters. The World’s Largest Army.

The state of Wisconsin has gone an entire deer hunting season without someone getting killed. That’s great, considering there were over 600,000 hunters that got permits this year.

Allow me to restate that number: 600,000

Over the last two months, the eighth largest army in the world - more men under arms than Iran; more than France and Germany combined - deployed to the woods of a single American state to keep the deer population under control.

But that pales in comparison to the 750,000 who are in the woods of Pennsylvania this week. Michigan’s 700,000 hunters have now returned home. Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia, and it is literally the case that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.

And that is just FOUR states.

The total population of registered hunters in America today ranges from 23 million to 43.7 million individuals. (Based on annual data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.) As long as the American Hunter retains his right to Bear Arms, America will forever be safe from foreign invasion of troops.

OK - I admit I wasn’t born when this beauty was minted, but I saw my share of these when I was a knee high to my Dad, who was a Chevy man. He would point one out when it would drive by. The Better Half caught this photo on Wickenburg Way as we drove home from our Phoenix Metro shopping expedition yesterday. Clickable image.

Update: You may not be able to see this animation on your RSS reader or if you have JavaScript disabled. Thanks to Liberty Sphere for the link.

It’s nice to see that Wyoming may soon be joining Vermont, Alaska and Arizona where Constitutional Carry laws restore our second amendment right to carry our loaded firearms. After the Wyoming House and Governor Mead (R) approve the measure, it will go into effect. Kudos to the Wyoming Senate for finally passing the bill.

Clickable image “Town and Country Magazines” courtesy of The Better Half

Speaking of Constitutional Carry, The Better Half and I usually carry our guns when we go outside of our home. We live in a low-crime area but carry around the house because of snakes, coyotes and javelina, all of which frequent our semi-rural neighborhood.

Her revolver is always loaded with .38 special +P ammo while I change the magazine depending on where we plan to be. If we’re at home, I insert the shot shell magazine in my 9mm Glock. If we’re heading to the Phoenix Metro area, I load the magazine with 9mm +P HP ammo. You might say four-legged and two-legged varmint ammo, respectively.

I found this interesting little “tactical racker’ while browsing the on-line version of the February 2011 edition of American Rifleman today. I’m getting a little older and this little gadget might make racking easier for me considering my mild case of arthritis, hence my interest. The device replaces the slide cover plate.

From the article:

The Racker can also be hooked onto one’s belt or boot heel, making it easier to chamber a round with one hand. It is machined from billet aluminum, is anodized in black, silver, blue or red, and it offers universal fit for 9 mm Luger, .357 SIG and .40 S&W Glocks. Another version for .45 ACP and 10 mm Auto Glocks is also available.

I think they’re a little pricey at nearly $50 but might be worth it for me. The website for the vendor given in the article is www.hatfieldsgunsmithing.com.