Working at home Atkins-diet lunch: low-carb beer, cigar and a book

Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?

Whatizzit? A Savage 1907 .32 Pistol, or a Savage 1917? Or is it both?

What we have here is a Savage .32ACP semi-auto pistol. But is it the Model 1907, or the Model 1917? Or is it somewhere in between, a little of both? That's what we concluded at the gun shop where I work.

Here's the Bluebook listing and a photo of the Model 1907:

MODEL 1907 AUTO PISTOL

- .32 ACP or .380 ACP cal., 9 (.380 ACP) or 10 (.32 ACP) shot mag., 3 13/16 (.32 ACP) or 4 5/16 (.380 ACP) in. barrel, blue, fixed sights, metal (early mfg. in .32 ACP only until ser. no. 10,980) or hard rubber grips, exposed cocking piece. Mfg. 1910-17.

And here's the Bluebook listing and a photo of the Model 1917.

MODEL 1917 AUTOMATIC

- similar to Model 1907, with spur cocking piece and trapezoidal grips. Mfg. 1920-28.

Now compare those two photos and the descriptions to our Savage .32. Ours has the spur cocking piece and the close-together slide serrations of the 1917, but lacks the trapezoidal grips. It has the normal-shaped grip of the 1907. It's not one or the other, but a combination of the two, so we called it a Savage Arms Model 1907/1917 .32 ACP/7.65mm Single-Action Semi-Auto Pistol.

And here's the kicker. If you use the link above to go to our gunbroker auction, you'll see it comes with a genuine Savage 1917 box with label and factory papers. The previous owner who sold it to us certainly thought it was a Model 1917.  Whatever it is, some Savage collector will get an oddity.

Sign the petition to bring the madman from Iran to the criminal dock

Christians United For Israel has an alternate plan for the madman from Iran instead of rolling out the red carpet at the United Nations to give this rabid idiot a soapbox to spew forth his poisonous doctrine.

We believe that the next time Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears before an international tribunal, it must not be as an honored guest before the United Nations General Assembly. It must be as a criminal in the dock of the International Criminal Court.  And we have some very important friends who share this belief.  We have joined forces with these friends to produce a powerful new video promoting our petition to indict Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the crime of incitement to genocide.

For the sake of those who died in the Holocaust he denies,
For the sake of those who would die in the Holocaust he threatens,
For the sake of all who could be victims of future genocides.

Watch the video and then sign the petition.

S&W 317 .22LR 9-Shooter soon to have a new home - with new grips

What's better than a 6-shooter .22LR revolver? How about a 9-shooter .22LR Revolver?

 I've been lusting after a S&W 617 Stainless .22LR 10-shot revolver, but haven't had the cash to get one yet, when lo and behold, someone trades in a S&W 317 9-shot .22LR revolver at the gun shop where I work.

My only caveat for the S&W 617 is the black-on-black sights, which my aging eyes don't see so well. But the S&W 317 has a green-fiber-optic HiViz front sight, just like my S&W 22A-1, my favorite .22 pistol.

So into the layaway safe goes the 317. It's also much lighter than the all-stainless-steel 617 with an alloy barrel with stainless-steel liner, alloy cylinder and alloy frame.

The only thing I don't like about it is the black-rubber grips. Not only ugly, but a bit small for my large hands.

But that little problem is easily solved as it is a standard round-butt K-frame S&W.

I've had my eye on some Jerry Miculek competition wood grips and this would be the perfect fit for them.

IMHO, there is nothing better for an ugly set of rubber grips than a really nice set of wood grips to replace them.

And if they're designed by the world's greatest S&W revolver shooter, the one and only Jerry Miculek, well, how could it get any better than that?

Now all I gotta do is scrimp and save my pennies and pay off the balance of the S&W 317 and I will have yet another fine firearm suitable for work or play.

I use all my .22 pistols for both, practice with cheaper ammo, and also for students in my N.C. Concealed-Carry Handgun classes to use.

North Carolina law does not specify what caliber or type of handgun a student must use for the firing qualification part of the course and many of my students elect to use my .22 pistols rather than their own serious-caliber guns, which not only cost more for ammo but are harder to shoot than a .22.

And while I'm on the topic of nice wood grips, I also ordered a nice set today for my S&W 29-3 .44 Magnum.

I didn't care for the checkered target grips that came with my square-butt 29, when shooting .44 Magnums they are not comfortable. At all. Ouch!

I got a set of Pachmayr Decelerator grips that solves that problem, but alas, they are ugly.

So I've been looking for some nice wood grips with finger-grooves, like the factory ones on my S&W 65-3, and guess where I found them?

The S&W website, of course. Duh. Why didn't I think of that earlier?

Sometimes I ain't the brightest bulb in the patch, but every now and then a blind hog finds an acorn.

Para P12-45 shines; G29-.357 Sig stumbles; PF-9 CT Grip on red dot

This Saturday I had the choice of going to a local Friends of the NRA banquet or going shooting. Since the gun shop was supplying the guns, I knew what would be on hand for a chance to win a ticket on, so I passed on the NRA meeting. Nothing tripped my ticker so I took the day off instead and went shooting.

Any day at the range is a good day and I finally got a chance this afternoon to go to DeWitt's Range and do some shooting. It had been so long the rangemaster forgot my name. It's been a real busy summer and the gun shop where I work has been working me so hard I just haven't had the time.

But today had an urgency to it as I just got back my Para P12-45 from the Para-USA shop in Pineville, NC, where it got the PXT power extractor and a new guide-rod and recoil-spring assembly.

The first two magazines of ball ammo produced one stove-pipe and a couple of feeding jams, but after the teething period was over, all was well. As I finished out 114 rounds from nine magazines, no more bobbles.

I was shooting standing rapid fire from 10 yards at the 11x17" Redman target, just function testing, but I did slow down with the last magazine and try for a head shot. Two out of 12 in that little red head and three in the neck ain't too bad for old codger who don't see so good any more.

And she passed the acid test, one full magazine of my preferred carry load, Winchester Ranger-T 230-gr., and a mixed magazine of two other Winchester loads, one Remington and one Federal, all without a bobble.

I am delighted to welcome the P12-45 back into my carry rotation for work and elsewhere.

Round two was another unmitigated disaster for my Glock 29 subcompact 10mm with a .357 Sig barrel from Lone Wolf Distributing. I loaded up some range ammo and some Ranger-T JHPs for a second test and the results were even worse than the first. I never got a successful feed of JHPs without a jam. Worse than the first time out, when I did manage to get a few rounds off without a jam with the same JHPs.

It does feed the range ammo OK, so the problem is undoubtedly those JHPs sticking against the front wall of the magazine well after they slide too far forward in the wider 10mm magazine than .357 Sigs are used to feeding from. Every jam resulted with the nose of the JHP stuck against the front wall of the mag well.

My last hope of redeeming this disaster is to find another hollow-point load that will feed right from the G29 magazines, but this may be a lost cause. But I won't give it up until I've tried all my other .357 Sig JHPs.

My G29 is heavily customized, specifically set up for Double-Tap 10mm loads, so I probably should just be content with a great-shooting 10mm Glock. But it would be nice if I can make the .357 Sig barrel useful.

Round three was another success, and two out of three ain't bad. My Kel-Tec PF9 just got a new Crimson Trace Lasersight and I wanted to try it out. On a bright sunny day, the red dot did not show up well on my 11x17" Redman targets, but well enough to make a few holes and confirm she shoots to point of aim.

A few of the holes are from my G29 .357 Sig in between jams before I gave up on it.

But most of the holes are from four magazines from the Kel-Tec, eight at the time, standing from both 7 yards and 10 yards.

Good enough to give me confidence in carry with the Crimson Trace Lasergrip.

IMHO, a small pistol like the PF9 really needs the red dot lasersight and I'm confident that when push comes to shove, it most likely won't be in bright sunlight. It will most likely be in low light or even no light when a CT lasersight could be the difference between life and death, life for me and death for any possible assailant.

I'll feel a lot better about carrying the PF9 for backup or sole carry with the Crimson Trace Lasergrip.

Chiappa Rhino .357 Magnum makes underwhelming first impression

I'm underwhelmed. The long-awaited arrival of what I thought might be my next snubby finally came in today at the gun shop where I work. The Chiappa Arms Rhino Model 200DS .357 Magnum is about as plug-ugly as I expected. They don't call it the Rhino for nothing. It's about as ugly as a Rhino, which ain't pretty.

I like the concept, a revolver with the barrel aligned with the bottom cylinder rather than the top. The lower bore axis has a lot to do with controlling recoil and the video I posted of a Rhino being shot proves it.

But the actual revolver itself sorta shouts "Chiappa" which ain't a good thing. The other Chiappa firearms we have in stock are pot-metal 1911 .22 pistols and I have not been impressed with them at all.

The Rhino seems to be more of the same. And it's quite odd too. The lever on the left side is the cylinder release. It has a steel barrel liner and 6-slab-sided cylinder, but the rest is all alloy of some type, including the trigger and the external hammer, which is actually just a cocking lever, not the actual hammer itself. It has an internal hammer which does the actual work of detonating cartridge primers.

The grip is a bit small for my hands, too, but overall I just wasn't impressed with the "feel" of it. Maybe the shooting will be the proof for the pudding, but that won't happen for me unless we get a used one. I'll be posting the Rhino on gunbroker.com on Monday for $700, which is a bit steep for what you get, IMHO.

And it has an odd double-action/single-action system. You can cock what appears to be the hammer for single-action shooting, but it's an external cocking lever which really isn't the hammer and after it's cocked, the lever then flips back forward to serve as a rear sight notch. And how do you decock it?

I read the manual. Hold the cocking-lever back and pull the trigger, then lower it slowly. Sounds like a plan for disaster to me. I foresee Rhino shooters getting frequent-visitor points at their neighborhood ER.

Thomas Jefferson looks at today's nation and asks "WTF happened!?"

I gotta order me one or more of these NRA t-shirts. Thomas Jefferson was not the leftwingnut "progressive" liberal that modern historical "experts" would have us believe.

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.” Thomas Jefferson

Here's a few more pithy quotes from Thomas Jefferson -- American:

"The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." ~ Thomas Jefferson

“The republic will cease to exist when Government takes from those who are industrious and gives to those who refuse to work.” -Thomas Jefferson

"As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also." ~ Thomas Jefferson

‎"Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. ~ Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." ~ Thomas Jefferson

And let's finish off with a video. Writer of the Declaration of Independence and one of America's Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson said some rather prophetic statements when compared to today's current political conditions.

You're welcome.

Para P12-45 gets PXT upgrade at Para-USA, plus a little extra service

My Para-Ordnance P12-45 finally came back from Para-USA in Pineville, NC, today, where I sent it back in early July for installation of the PXT power extractor upgrade. The PXT will hopefully solve its nasty habit of jamming occasionally. I was happy as a clam at the beginning when I bought the P12-45 which the previous owner had customized by Cylinder & Slide with ambi safeties, a new trigger and grip safety and perhaps some less-obvious changes.

But after the first 200+ rds. or more of flawless performance with FMJs and JHPs, I ran a magazine of hollow-points through for a test and she jammed. Twice! In one magazine! I cannot abide a carry pistol that is not 100% reliable, so off to Para she went for the upgrade. The PXT is internal, so there is no external difference. But hopefully the internal change will make her reliable. As President Reagan used to say, trust but verify. I'll be verifying her reliability this Saturday.

But the PXT upgrade is not the best part of what Para did while my pistol was in their shop. I sent a note along with it asking for some directions and/or advice on how to field-strip the P12 as it was a monumental pain in the posterior. With the help of a Kimber buddy, I finally got it apart by inserting a bent paper-clip in the hole in the guide rod, like a Kimber, then removing the barrel bushing with a wrench, then finally getting the recoil-spring and guide-rod assembly out so I could remove the barrel.

With the two of us working on it together and cussing frequently, it took half an hour to get it apart and another half an hour to get it back together after I cleaned it. Until then I had contented myself by cleaning the barrel while still in the slide. Getting the slide off was a snap, but getting the recoil-spring and barrel out was impossible until my Kimber buddy assisted me.

But God bless Para, the tech whose name is Jamie Woodard sent me a note explaining that in addition to the PXT, he installed an "updated recoil system... that will increase efficiency." Now all I have to do, he wrote, it take the slide stop out, remove the slide, pull up on the recoil spring and remove it and the spring plug. Then use the bushing wrench which he so thoughtfully provided to remove the barrel bushing. In 30 seconds, I was done with disassembly and happily cleaning the barrel from the breech end, as it should be done.

Then after all parts were clean and lubed, I applied some Slide Glide to the slide rails and in another 30 seconds it was all back together. I'm a mechanical klutz but even a klutz like me can take apart a more-or-less standard 1911 and put it back together. I learned how to do that in Uncle Sam's Navy back in boot camp in 1967 and thank God that got drilled in my head then. It's still there now.

Now for the acid test, does she still jam or will the PXT put an end to that problem? Time will tell.

Habitual liar Mike McIntyre lies to get re-elected to Congress

Mike Adams has a few choice words for North Carolina Congressman Mike McIntyre, who is lying like a dog about his opponent in a mad scramble to avoid the anti-liberal-progressive-leftwingnut flood coming in the fall election. His latest column is headlined Habitual liar for Congress.

What's he lying about? His opponent, Ilario Pantano, wants to eliminate the IRS and the entire income-tax structure and replace it with either a flat tax or a similar program that is called the Fair Tax. McIntyre is running ads saying Pantano wants to raise taxes by 23% when in fact the Fair Tax would lower taxes for all of us.

Ilario Pantano is a supporter of the Fair Tax and he needs our help. Please call Congressman McIntyre (910.815.4959) and ask him to stop lying about the Fair Tax. Please also write to WWAY TV3 and email WECT asking them to pull the ads due to factual inaccuracies. They are under no obligation to run ads that misrepresent pending legislation. Those ads are not an example of political opinion. They are an example of political malpractice. Besides, privately-owned news stations are not bound by the First Amendment, which is designed to regulate governments...

Mike McIntyre used to be an honorable man. Now he is a political whore. We don’t need any more of his kind occupying that domed brothel on the Hill.

One thing you gotta say about Mike Adams, he don't beat around the bush. Tell it like it is Mike!

9mm Kel-Tec PF9 gets a Crimson Trace Lasergrip accuracy boost

If any pistol needs a Crimson Trace Lasergrip -- and all could use one -- the ultracompact 9mm Kel-Tec PF9 simply cries for one. The smaller the pistol or revolver, the greater the necessity for a lasersight to take the focus off the ridiculously short sight radius and put the focus where it belongs, on the threat in front.

The Kel-Tec PF9 has a 3" barrel, which I can shoot fairly accurately, but with a CT Lasergrip I'm expecting to do better than just fair. I'm expecting an improvement not only in accuracy but in total overall effectiveness. The 8-shot head-shot group at right is shot from 10 yards standing Isosceles hold with my PF9 with iron sights. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Today my PF9 got a CT Lasergrip and I can't wait to try it out. As soon as I installed it, I got a pleasant surprise, no adjustment necessary to align the red dot with the iron sights -- dead on center of the three dot sights!

And since I already have total confidence in the iron sights, I can do the same with the CT Lasergrip. But I still want to testfire it. That'll have to wait until Saturday, but I'm going to carry it tomorrow as is. Woo hoo!

Self-evident truths on Christianity vs. Islam: Obama's double standard

Sometimes the most profound truths are "self-evident" as Thomas Jefferson so ably penned when he summed up why the early American colonists were willing to take on the greatest military power in the world at that time to fight and die for their "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" as endowed to all men by our Creator.

Townhall.com columnist Ken Connor points out one of those self-evident truths in the recent incident where the entire Obama administration rolled out the cannons to bear on a pastor of a small church in Florida.

Many Christians in America today feel that their religion is under attack, and with good reason. An attitude of skepticism and downright hostility towards Christianity has taken hold in many corners of society, resulting in actions that test the charity and tolerance of even the most pious believers. Revered Christian icons have been immersed in urine and smeared in elephant dung in the name of "art" (with the patronage of the federal government, no less), Jesus Christ and his followers have been portrayed as gay lovers in an off-Broadway play, personal faith testimonies and religious groups have been censored on high school and college campuses across America, a veterans' cross memorial in the California desert has been the target of an ACLU lawsuit, and Bibles have been burned by the U.S. government in the name of "diplomacy."

Despite the role that Christianity has played in the character and formation of the United States – despite it's status as the majority religion in America and one of the three great world religions – I don't recall a single instance where a President and a Secretary of State and a general intervened on behalf of Christians with a plea for respect and restraint directed toward provocateurs who denigrated their faith. I certainly cannot recall any instance in which an anti-Christian provocateur has been told by such luminaries that his actions against Christianity might prompt Christians around the world to commit violent acts of retaliation. An offense against Islam, however, is a different story. When rumors began to circulate that a fundamentalist Christian pastor named Terry Jones was planning to burn the Koran on September 11th as a sign of American opposition to Islamic terrorism, darn near the entire government – from the military to the State Department to the FBI, even the President himself – weighed in. 

And if that double standard so clearly illustrated by the incident doesn't get your blood to rising, take a few minutes and read Doug Giles Sunday column, 29 Reasons Why BHO Is the Greatest President Ever (If You Hate America)

Sunday wisdom from Chris Muir on the only thing Obama has ever run

I know of only one time I've ever agreed with Jesse Jackson on anything, but he spoke the truth when he said about Obama, "He's never run nothing but his mouth." Of course, the same is true of Jesse Jackson. But he's not President, he just wanted to be.

Stolen from Oleg Volk's website: http://www.a-human-right.com/.

Some self-defense advice from Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch

“Make (your attacker) advance through a wall of bullets. I may get killed with my own gun, but he’s gonna have to beat me to death with it, ‘cause it’s going to be empty.”

-Clint Smith

Déjà Vu, All Over Again: "More Guns, Less Crime"--Bradyites weep

The NRA-ILA reports what the criminals already know and what the gun grabbers refuse to know, that more armed citizens means less crime.

Paul Helmke and Dennis Henigan -- spokesmen for the beleaguered Brady Campaign these days -- are old enough to know what a phonograph record is, so for their benefit we'll put it this way:  At the risk of sounding like a "broken record," gun ownership has risen to an all-time high, and violent crime has fallen to a 35-year low.  Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, according to the FBI. This included an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery. 

Since 1991, when total violent crime peaked, it has decreased 43 percent to a 35-year low. The murder rate, less than half what it was in 1980, is now at a 45-year low. Throughout, the number of guns that Americans own has risen by about four million a year, including record numbers of the two types of firearms that the Brady folks would most like to see banned -- handguns and the various firearms they call "assault weapons."

I'm certainly doing my part. My most recent N.C. Concealed Carry Handgun class was the biggest group I've had since I started teaching about a year ago, 12 people, and half of them were women. Plus it was about equal racially, half black and half white.

Crime knows no racial or sexual boundaries. As they used to say out West, "God created men, but Col. Colt made them equal."

Constitution Day reminds us our founding fathers were revolutionaries

I'm a day late but Happy Constitution Day! My net buddy Andy sent this video to me last night and I went to bed early and slept late, but here it is, better late than never. Andy sent a few appropriate quotes along with it.

"Why is the constitution of the United States so exceptional? Well, the difference is so small that it almost escapes you. But, is so great, it tells you the whole story, in just three words.......We The People." ~ Ronald Reagan

And here's a few extras from Andy for this day after Constitution Day, always true any day.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." (John F. Kennedy)
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest."
"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"
"An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject."
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
"Those who trade liberty for security have neither. "
"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."
"The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other."
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not"
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."

GSG 1911-22 Pistol vs. Chiappa 1911-22, you get what you pay for

Damn. Just when I was thinking I was through buying handguns for a while, guess what comes in at the gun shop where I work?

A 1911-style .22LR pistol that's not a piece of junk. It's the new GSG M1911 with wood grips, one of three models made in Germany by GSG and imported by ATI of Rochester, NY.

It's got ambi-safeties, a big plus for lefties like me, plus a genuine grip safety, dovetailed sights front and rear and an adjustable trigger. You might say those are pretty standard features for any 1911-style .22LR pistol, but they ain't.
Let's take a look at the previous first entrant in the field, the Chiappa Model 1911-22. It's made in Italy and imported by Chiappa USA and has a rudimentary dovetailed rear sight, fixed front sight, no grip safety, no ambi thumb safety and a fixed trigger.

So if you want to adjust the sights, and according to all reviews I've read, it consistently shoots high, you have to file down the front sight. Not good.

The GSG 1911-22 not only has dovetailed sights front and rear, they give you two extra front sights in the box to adjust up-down for point of aim.

And I've handled both and I gotta say, the Chiappa just feels cheap and the GSG feels very nice in the hand. Both have alloy slides and frames, but the Chiappa is made of something they call "Chippalloy" which looks like pot metal to me. Every new one I've seen came out of the box with at least one blemish in the finish, which is available in black, tan or OD green. The GSG has a nice black finish with no blems outa the box.

The "cheap" Chiappa is selling for $269, the GSG 1911 with wood grips is selling for $330. Looks like $61 well spent to me. I've already got a .22LR slide for my Sig P220 SAO .45 ACP pistol, but I may not be able to resist one of these really nice GSG 1911 .22 pistols for long. It's true you get what you pay for. And in comparing these two 1911 .22 pistols, I think you get far more than $61 extra value with the GSG.

Steyr S9A1 goes to work in DeSantis holster on DeSantis gun belt

My new Steyr S9-A1 subcompact 9mm went to work with me yesterday at the gun shop in a rig I haven't worn in a while, a DeSantis Speed Scabbard.

I'm not really ambidextrous, which is equally skilled with either hand, more like ambiguous. My right hand is my "strong hand" meaning I throw right-handed.

But my left eye is my master eye, so I have to shoot a long gun from my left shoulder.

I eat and write left-handed, but almost everything else I do right-handed.

The gun term for oddballs like me is cross-dominant, in my case left eye/right hand.

But it comes in pretty handy if you want to wear two handguns, one main and one backup, which is what I habitually do at the gun shop, along with some of the other workers there.

We've had one midnight burglary and one attempted armed robbery during the less than two years that I've worked there, so it behooves us to be ready for anything. In addition to what we carry, there's always a loaded shotgun in easy reach in the gun shop.

So the new carry combo I tried out has the DeSantis rig with S9-A1 in a forward-cant position over my right hip pocket with cell phone on a DeSantis belt and pocket knife clipped in my right-side pocket.



On the left side is my Bianchi Accumold paddle holster with my S&W 396 Night Guard .44 Special revolver.

My new DeSantis gun belt held the gear very comfortably all day. It's the first genuine gun belt I've tried, 1-3/4" wide vs. the 1-1/2" belts I've been wearing. I gotta say after only two days of wearing the DeSantis gun belt I will have more genuine gun belts in my future.

I have read that a good gun belt is better than any off-the-rack belt and now that I've tried it, I found it's true.

I've been buying belts at the local Western wear store, but this plain-Jane DeSantis belt is much more comfortable for all-day wear than any of my other belts.

"Religion of peace" Ground-zero Mosque Imam: "Silence! Or I kill you!"

As Larry the Cable Guy says, Jeff Dunham's act with Achmed the Dead Terrorist is funny, I don't care who you are, that is unless you're an Arab terrorist or the Ground-zero Moque Imam. H/T to Doug Giles.

First, check out Doug Giles report on what the "Religion of Peace" Imam of the Ground-zero Mosque said about critics of the plan to build his new soap box.

Imam Feisal Rauf, fresh from his Middle East “Good Will Tour,” where he went to spread the message of inter-faith love, unicorns and candy canes (and not to raise money to build an insulting victory mosque at Ground Zero to speed U.S. domination) appeared on Larry King Live last Wednesday night and said something that seemed sorta … kinda … well, threatening—which was peculiar given his “world healer” status, his Mr. Rogers persona, his affinity for Justin Bieber, his Benny Hinn wardrobe and his religion’s peaceful, easy feelin’.

For those who missed it, Feisal Rauf, whose name according to CAIR translates in the Farsi to “fluffy love,” told Soledad O’Brien, the unbiased and competent guest host of Larry King’s wildly popular talk show, that if bigoted Americans don’t desist with their opposition to the much needed, therapeutic and ecumenical community center built by the followers of the sweetest faith in like, forever, that the insulted Islamists will have no other recourse but to start blowing crap up! 

And then listen to Jeff Dunham and Achmed the Dead Terrorist.

A vision of America post-feminist-progressive-Obama-revolution victory

Chris Muir's Day by Day Sunday cartoon is a perfect illustration of a brief conversation I had with a pair of "progressives" this morning in my adult Sunday School class. During prayer requests, one member mentioned 9/11 being the day before and requested prayer for our troops. I made a considerably non-PC comment about "Arab terrorists" which prompted an expected response from the two "progressives" in my class.

Husband "progressive" says Arab terrorists were justified on 9/11 by what America has done in invading their lands. I asked what Arab country we had invaded to provoke 9/11 and wife "progressive" responds, "Iraq." I shut down the exchange at that point and went on my Sunday School class.

But being the U.S. invasion of Iraq began in March 2003, how did that justify the attack on New York City and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001? Pre-emptive terrorism based on what we would do 18 months later?

Steyr S9-A1 perfect at range, Glock 29 .357 Sig barrel conversion not

My new Steyr S9A1 9mm subcompact got a brief workout after my concealed-carry class on Saturday. The rangemaster was working on his anniversary day so he wanted to get home to the wife as quick as possible and I didn't get to shoot for long after my class finished.

But the S9A1 was perfect for 30 rds., 20 rds. of FMJs and 10 rds. of JHPs. I expect nothing less from a new Steyr. Perfection is expected. I hope to go to my outdoor range next Saturday for a more extensive workout, plus JHP testing for carry.

I also tested another hollowpoint load for my S&W 396 Nightguard .44 Special revolver, some Hornady 180 grain JHPs. They patterned about 3 inches low, so the Speer Gold Dot 200-grain JHPs remain my carry load for shooting directly to POA.

The third test of the day was a new Lone Wolf .357 Sig conversion barrel for my Glock 29 10mm subcompact and results there were a bit disappointing for the brief test.

It fed and fired the Speer frangible range ammo just fine for three 10-rd. magazines, but I had two jams on one 10-rd. magazine of Winchester Ranger-T JHPs. I finished the mag with no further problems after slamming the pee out of the back of the mag to firmly seat the rounds. With .357 Sig-length rounds in a 10mm mag, there's a lot of room for movement away from the back wall of the magazine. Both jams resulted in the nose of the round stuck against the front wall of the magazine just below the ramp, so it's pretty obvious they started out feeding too far forward.

It's going to take a lot more testing with hollowpoints before I can declare the G29 with a .357 Sig barrel ready for carry. If it don't feed right 100% percent of the time, I just ain't gonna carry it. Perfection is a necessity for any carry gun of mine.

How to celebrate 9/11 in the land of the free and home of the brave

Tomorrow is 9/11 which I propose we should celebrate by shooting an Arab terrorist. If Osama isn't available, any Arab terrorist will suffice.

I'll be teaching my monthly concealed-carry class tomorrow, which is entirely appropriate, so let's review the four elements of justified self defense under North Carolina law.

1. You must believe your life to be in immediate danger. (OK, he's a terrorist. Terrorists terrorize with gun, knife, bomb, whatever. Shoot him.)

2. A reasonable person would agree with you. (If you're a terrorist, what reasonable person wouldn't want to shoot you?)

3. You must not be the instigator of a deadly assault. (I'm the victim, he's the terrorist. He started all this crapola on 9/11/01 with a cowardly attack on innocent men, women and children in America. He started it, but we shall finish it.)

4.) You must not use excessive force to counter the deadly threat. (Yes, officer I shot the terrorist five times. Why? Because when I pulled the trigger the 6th time, my revolver went "click.")

Or as the police officer testified in court about a deadly shooting, "Why did you shoot him 17 times, officer?"

"Because that's all the ammo my Glock would hold."

How much force is reasonable to kill a terrorist? You keep shooting not until you think he's dead, but until the terrorist knows he's dead.

Rhino revolver could cause a halt to brief suspension of gun buying

I shouldn't say this out loud, much less put it in writing here in my blog, but I must admit I'm sorta kinda caught up on gun buying. For a while. Maybe. Anyway, I'm pretty well fixed right now for carry handguns and fun guns, too, so I've resisting putting something in the layaway safe at the gun shop where I work for about a week now.

And I did the heretofore unspeakable, I actually put a gun back in the counter after first laying it away, a North American Arms .22 Magnum mini-revolver. I'm not a woman, but I can change my mind. I might get an NAA .22 Magnum one of these days, but not right now.

I'll probably fall of the wagon soon as I have some money to blow and one thing that would do it would be this new Chiappa Firearms Rhino revolver. With the bore axis down low, it looks every controllable in .357 Magnum. The barrel aligns with the bottom of the cylinder instead of the top like all other revolvers.

I really like the looks of the stainless steel model with the 2" barrel.

If this strange-looking beast shoots as sexy as it looks, it's gonna be a real hot seller. We don't have any Rhinos at the gun shop where I work, but they'll show up sooner or later.

Until then, here's a video of the Rhino .357 Magnum in rapid fire. Note it has very little muzzle flip.

Lone Wolf delivers .357 Sig barrel for G29, grip sleeve for Steyr S9A1

My order from Lone Wolf Distributors arrived today with a couple of accessories I ordered.

It still says Glock Model 29 10mm on the slide of my customized G29, but on the inside it is now a G33 subcompact .357 Sig with its new barrel from Lone Wolf.

The only outward sign is the Lone Wolf logo and the 10-357 on the top of the bolt on the new barrel. Fit was perfect, drop in and go. Can't wait to take my new G29/33 to the range Saturday for a test spin in .357 Sig.

Lone Wolf also sent me a Qwik Grip rubber slip-on sleeve for my new Steyr S9A1 9mm subcompact. It took a few squirts of Gun Scrubber, a flat plastic stick and a few choice words, but I finally got it on. It fits literally like a glove and I like the textured surface. I got big mits and I like grip sleeves on some of my pistols.

And I can't resist showing off my new Nill grips on my Sig P220 SAO .45 ACP. I took the .22LR slide off and put the .45 ACP slide on and wore it to work at the gun shop yesterday. Beauty and function, too.

So there's three to test-fire at the range Saturday, G29/33, S9A1 and P220 with the new grips.

And there's a fourth for the range, too. I bought some Hornady .44 Special hollow points that I want to try in my S&W 396 Night Guard. It's gonna be a busy day at the range after my concealed-carry class finishes.

Ethel arrives from Alabama just in time to take her shooting Saturday

I recently ordered a new Steyr S9-A1 subcompact 9mm pistol from Steyr Arms, the Alabama importer for Steyr Mannlicher of Austria, and when it arrived it had black spots on the left side of the slide. I shipped it back to Trussville, AL, after talking to their salesman. He said the new Mannox finish on the Steyr pistols occasionally had that problem and they would fix it.

I got a call yesterday from a very German sounding gent named Herbert in Trussville who said he had removed the spots with some very fine steel wool and it was now ready for prime time. Did I want the same one back or another new one? Do I want to pay another $20 for the FFL transfer fee, or just get my original pistol back for no extra charge? Duh! I voted for the same pistol and it arrived today. Obviously it was over-nighted from Alabama and here she is, spotless and bright and shiny. The slide is a shade lighter also, which I think makes it look even spiffier.

Only one thing left to do now. Take her out for a spin and see how she shoots. I think I'll call her Ethel. I've got a concealed-carry class Saturday, so I'll get a chance to shoot Ethel at the armory indoor range. Range report to come later.

Blessed are they who put up with the old geezers like me today

Feeling about 163 today with a relapse of an old disease come back to haunt me. So I took special joy from this invocation from a little old lady at a dinner for a retirement home in Omaha.

World's dumbest bicycle rider shows up at hospital emergency room

Every time I teach a concealed-carry class, when I get to the part about how to choose an adequate caliber for a carry pistol, I tell a story my daughter the ER nurse practitioner told me.

One Sunday, she sees this guy come riding up to the ER ambulance entrance on a bicycle. He can't get the doors to open so he rides around to the patients entrance and comes in. He reports he's been shot and asks for treatment. The nurses figure he's drunk or something as they saw him riding around on his bicycle, but he keeps saying "I tell ya, I been shot!"

Then my daughter comments, "Well, he does have a hole in the back of his shirt." They pull the shirt up and sure enough, there's a little piece of lead sticking out of his back.

They send him to x-ray, which shows a small hunk of lead stopped at a rib, an inch or so from the back side of his heart. The ER doctor on duty takes a pair of forceps and pulls the slug out, says it's about .25 caliber.

Which proves once again, friends shouldn't let friends carry mouse guns.

Meanwhile, doofus can't keep his big mouth shut and tells the nurses "my m-----f----- wife shot me for beating her up." So they tell the police who arrive to investigate the shooting and doofus goes off to jail.

Moral of the story: If you shoot somebody with a mouse gun, shoot 'em in the eyeball. And if you get shot for beating up your wife, don't brag about it. On second thought, do brag about it and then go straight to jail.

How Americans have treated Muslims vs. Muslims on Americans

Nill Grips finally arrive from Germany for my Sig P220 SAO .45/.22

My very first set of Nill grips finally arrived, all the way from Stuttgart, Germany, via Battleboro, VT, about about two months of waiting. And the wait was worth it as I gotta say, they're beautiful and feel good, too.

As you can see they're for my Sig P220 SAO, normally a .45 ACP but wearing its .22LR slide in the photos.

Can't wait to try them out in both .22LR and .45 ACP next weekend after my concealed carry class.