Category: The Gun Thing

Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them

Amen To That

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

SOTI, Chris Cypert talks approvingly about revolvers as self-defense weapons:

I set out to learn all I could about revolvers, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to use them effectively for self-defense. Did I learn that revolvers are obsolete relics of the previous century? That’s what I expected, but instead I learned that revolvers are still more than sufficient for self-defense and can even be the optimal tool in certain contexts. Let’s examine the strengths of revolvers for armed citizens and self-defense.

And then he goes on to list all of them.

As most Readers know, I keep a S&W Mod 65 next to the bed — my “bedside” gun — because in any kind of bad situation, a revolver is like a fork:  you pick it up, and it works.

No scrabbling for a safety, no racking of a slide, none of that.  You get it in your hand and pull the trigger… bang!  and it’s all over.  (Okay, bang! bang! bang!  etc. as the need arises.)

It’s that instinctive action that makes me do the above.  Gawd knows that I have practiced for countless hours with my 1911, and its operation is by now about as automatic and instinctive as I could possibly get it.  And it’s the reason I keep it under the revolver… as a backup, because I do believe that by the time I’ve emptied the Model 65’s cylinder, I’ll be awake enough to grab and operate my 1911 (which is always kept cocked and locked anyway), should I need more than six shots.

This is my way, and if yours is different, that’s fine — whatever works for you, works for you.

But just as Cypert learned about the excellence of the revolver as a self-defense piece, maybe my argument will help you, and perhaps at a time of the direst emergency.

Think about it.

Wood & Blued Steel

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Reader Mike L. stumbled on an excellent post at Reddit which featured this vision of gunny loveliness:

If that doesn’t make your morning, let me tell you:  it sure did mine.

The guy’s thoughts are pretty much mine as well:

While there’s nothing wrong with ARs (I own a few myself) I’ve always been intrigued by the sheer variety of firearms and am way more attracted to fine walnut and blued steel then most “tactical” arms.

The guns pictured are a newly-acquired Ruger No 1 338 Win Mag I found for stupid cheap and an old Smith and Wesson 19-3.

I dunno about the .338 Win Mag — it’s not my favorite large caliber, and that might have stopped me from getting this particular No. 1 — but as it’s not going to be a gun that I would shoot often, that’s probably not important.  (Now had it been chambered in .300 Win Mag, .300 H&H Mag or .375 H&H Mag…)

Right-click to embiggen.  It makes a nice wallpaper pic.

Here, Eve…

Marketing / Advertising, The Gun Thing

…just take a little bite of this apple (from my Inbox):

As any fule kno, I’m NOT in the target market (so to speak) for one of these puppies, but sheesh… it sure is tempting.

Doc Russia had the best comment when I showed it to my buddies on WhatsApp:

It’s a good thing that by the time I get my guns out of hock, this sale will be over.  And I don’t need yet another caliber in Ye Olde Ammoe Locquere anyway.  (Keep talking, Kim…)

Hopeless

Anti-Gun Nannies, The Gun Thing

That word describes so much about FJBiden, but this one is especially so:

President Joe Biden spoke to the NAACP and called for Congress to “outlaw” AR-15s and similar rifles in the wake of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Biden began by saying, “If you’re going to speak about violence, you’re going to speak about guns.”

He said, “An AR-15 was used in shooting Donald Trump, this was the ‘assault weapon’ that killed so many others, including children. It’s time to outlaw them. I did it once and I will do it again.”

…followed by all the old lies about infant mortality, which we’ve heard before ad nauseam.

You know, when it comes to a lone asshole with a gun and an agenda, an unscoped AR-15 poodleshooter in the hands of a callow 20-year-old loser might actually be less dangerous than, say a scoped Savage 110, chambered in .308 Win in the hands of an experienced hunter (of any age).

No doubt the Communists would be all about banning “sniper rifles”, then.

Feckless bastards, and that goes especially for FJBiden who, if his brain was operating at any level higher than warm rice pudding (a big “if”) might be taken seriously on this issue.

As it is, just file his feeble rantings about assault rifles with all the other sludge emanating from his wide-open cakehole, and ignore.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Custom Mauser 98 (.375 H&H)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

I once heard a very cynical man describe engraving guns as akin to engraving a hammer or an anvil:  “Looks good, doesn’t do nothin’ for it.”

In pure common sense, I agree with him.  However, as someone who appreciates great skill and craftsmanship as much as anyone alive, I deplore such cynicism.

You see, art doesn’t have to be functional;  it just has to excite.

And right on cue, we have this example from Steve Barnett (and right-click to embiggen and enjoy):

Let me start off by looking at the lines of this Safari Custom rifle as a whole:  without a single cut of engraving, that is one exquisite rifle:  lean, curved in all the right places and just plain beautiful.  Now let’s look at the engraving:

 

Good grief, that is so lovely, and so tastefully designed that it makes my heart race.

Now let’s look at the price:  $13,500.

Before anyone gets to having palpitations and fainting fits, allow me to point out that a new Mauser M98 Diplomat in the same caliber runs for:  $15,000.

Functionally, it is identical to the custom rifle;  aesthetically, it’s not even in the same zip code, let alone ballpark.  Lexus, meet Lambo.

And finally, I know that someone’s going to say that they’d be too afraid to take the Safari Mauser out on an African safari, lest they scratch or somehow mar the finish.  Me, I say phooey:

  • dropping the rifle out of an unlatched gun case onto concrete and scratching it up:  a terrible accident
  • scratching the rifle on some ugly African thorn tree while stalking a lion or Cape buff:  a battle scar.

And yes (sigh), I know you can get a Ruger African rifle (in .375 Ruger, though) for a little more than a tenth of the cost of both the above Mausers.

Oscar Wilde once described a cynic as a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.  I think the old pederast nailed it.