Ugh… it’s Monday, and here comes the week’s first problem:
So to stop getting all wet, herewith Teh Funny:
Okay, that’s not especially funny, except that its original caption was “America, Baby!”
But to continue:
Which reminds me, I have to make a doctor’s appointment soon…
And finally, a little Gun Geek humor:
And just to further brighten up your day, Hope Hicks is returning to the White House:
Now get on that plane, and take off.
Sheriff Jim talks about the myths of self-defense carry, and a couple of times I found myself nodding in agreement along with him. Here’s one of them.
On long trips I carry a backup S&W 637, but it’s not all that easy to get to (certainly not as easy as my 1911), but I always had that nagging feeling about that “Two is one, one is none” trope — specifically, if you’re carrying a second gun in case your primary gun fails, then perhaps you need to have more faith in your choice of primary in the first place, and get a better gun.
That said: even my faithful Springfield 1911 has failed, twice, and fortunately, both times at the range. The first time (at around the 25,000-round mark) was when the slide stop broke (snapped halfway through), but the remnant of the pin still held the gun together through the rest of the shot string when the mag was empty. So in a self-defense situation, that might not have been so bad.
The second failure was more substantial: at the 35,000-round point the safety catch broke, almost literally disintegrated in the gun, and the gun became inoperable. (Fun fact: when that happens, the grip safety also becomes inoperable, so the 1911 is not safe to carry with a round in the chamber.) It didn’t matter about the rarity of this event — not only had I never heard of it happening, but the gunsmith hadn’t, either; nevertheless, it did happen, and I have to admit that it left me quite shaken.
So maybe, just maybe, Old Faithful isn’t that faithful after all — which makes an argument in favor of carrying a backup.
OR:
Maybe a revolver makes a better choice for a primary carry gun — I know, six, seven or even eight rounds aren’t the same as the fifteen-round mag in yer Glock — but revolvers are inherently more reliable than semi-autos, so…
Here’s the big “but” (and it’s bigger than Kim Kardashian’s): would (say) a S&W 686 have been as reliable as my 1911 after 25,000 full-power loads, or is that an apples-oranges comparison? What about a S&W 625 (which is chambered in .45 ACP like the 1911)? Would that have lasted longer without a breakage (at, say, 25,000 rounds) than the 1911?
I have to tell you, after the 1911’s safety broke, I first started thinking about carrying a revolver instead of a semi-auto, and it’s something that weighs on me to this day. I am very much tempted by the 8-shot Mod 627:
Eight rounds is what I carry in my 1911 anyway, and while a revolver loads a little slower with a speedloader than a mag-fed semi-auto, it’s not that much slower (after considerable practice, which I’ve had).
This is what happens when you start looking at the carry myths (thanks, Sheriff Jim) — you start to rethink all sorts of long-held habits and beliefs.
“The one thing that I got from the professional hunters is that they don’t plan for when everything works right—they plan for when everything goes wrong. And, just like the smart defensive shooter, it effects their choice of guns, gear and tactics. And that, I submit, is a good way to stay alive.”
There you have it.
The other day, a friend asked me to give him advice about crossbows — specifically, serious hunting crossbows, not the recreational (toy) type — as he’s been invited to a bowhunt for wild turkeys (I think) later on in the year, and for various reasons, a “regular” bow wouldn’t work for him.
It irked me that I couldn’t tell him anything — my interest in launching deadly projectiles has always involved gunpowder — so I turn to you, O My Readers, for advice.
He doesn’t have any budgetary constraints (lucky bugger), so he’s looking for the best you can get, with all the info related thereto: bow brands, draw weight, the proper arrowhead type for turkeys, sighting device, etc.
In Comments, please.
A thoughtful post (as always) from Peter Grant, containing this insight:
[The company] sources a very large proportion of its products from that country, but its suppliers there — factories and exporters — are closed, and have been for weeks. No-one knows when they’ll be open again. The company is finding it very difficult to line up alternative suppliers fast enough to ensure that their products can get here in time to replace Chinese ones on their shelves as they run out. If they can’t . . . they’ll have to close their doors. It’s that simple.
Thousands of Chinese factories are closed because of the corona virus epidemic over there, and products of all kinds (not just the types referenced in the above excerpt) are not being shipped.
This, by the way, is why every country needs its own manufacturing base. I know: sometimes there are considerable cost savings to be realized by outsourcing production to cheaper (i.e. foreign) facilities — but those savings are only to be had if there is no disruption to the supply chain. Come disaster — and given that China is one of the most consistently pox-ridden nations on Earth, and the source of so many of the world’s diseases — it should be clear that all those trumpeted “savings” are going to evaporate faster than Jeffrey Epstein’s emails.
Of particular concern is the fact that most pharmaceutical products are now either made in China, or else manufactured using Chinese raw materials — not just prescription meds, but also OTC stuff like analgesics. Loyal Readers may recall that I myself had a scare in this regard a little while back, and learning my lesson from that, I set up a forward supply of my two most critical medications.
If you’re dependent on such meds, I hope you’ve done the same.
And just in passing, I should point out that all this has validated Trump’s initiatives in bringing manufacturing back home to the U.S. — although I doubt that Big Pharma ever responded, even though they should have — and if there is any criticism to be made here, it’s that Trump hasn’t pushed hard enough, through tariff protection of local manufacturing entities.
You see, it’s not just about protecting local workers, laudable though that may be; it’s about strategically protecting the country from situations such as these. And we need to do a lot more of that, if the current catastrophe teaches us anything at all.
As Longtime Readers may recall, back in late 2017 I spent an idyllic week at The Englishman’s holiday cottage in Boscastle, Cornwall.
What with all the storms, massive rainfall and such that have been hitting Britishland recently, I emailed him to see how Boscastle was coping — the place was flooded out not long ago, To assuage my concerns, he sent me a link to a livecam that shows the river on its way out to the bay. I’ve had it open on my desktop every day since, and watching it has the same effect on me now as being there did then.
If you go there, you’ll see that the post-flood drainage system seems to be coping well — I watched it mid-storm last week and the river barely rose a foot. (For reference sake, the cottage is that white house down the path which runs along the left bank of the river. )
Off-camera to the immediate right of the pic is where you’ll find outstanding fish & chips, and its proximity to the cottage meant daily visits for nom noms.
I cannot recommend this village, and The Old Store House cottage highly enough if you want to get away from it all for a week or so. If you do book the place, don’t forget to tell The Englishman how you heard about it — I don’t get anything from him, of course, but I would like him to know that his unbelievable kindness in letting me stay there has brought him some reward.
Your suggestions in Comments.