Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Boss 12ga

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Whilst idly browsing the shotguns at Collectors, I happened upon this wonderful piece:

Now, one might balk at paying $27,500 for a gun made in 1907, but one would run the risk of being called ignorant of Boss & Co.’s storied heritage.  And unlike some other marquee shotgun brands (Purdey coff coff ) who are part of the Beretta conglomerate, Boss is independently owned.  And as Boss has been in existence since 1812, one might assume that the London-based gun company is well-known to many discerning gun owners because of the excellence (“Best”) of their products.  And one’s assumption would be correct:

It should be remembered, by the way, that it was Boss & Co. who designed and made the very first over-and-under shotgun, back in 1909 (okay, I’ll forgive them this heresy) so in this, at least, John Moses Browning was a copier and not an originator.

And Boss haven’t made only long guns, either:

Boss & Co. are unashamedly devoted to making a premium product, and only a premium product — hence the term “Best Only”.  And yes, that premium comes at a steep price;  but to own a Boss shotgun is to own a work of art and a piece of history and heritage like few others.

And that’s the reason why I think that the old 1907 shotgun at Collectors is an absolute bargain.

Bondi Reflections

Anarchist thugs, Muzzies, Psychos, Resistance

Right up front, I’m going to say that I hope I’m never in a situation like one of the several mass shootings we’ve just seen.  I’m no hero, I’m too old for that kind of thing, and there are too many bad outcomes (for me) should I get involved with — i.e. by shooting back at — asshole gunmen on a spree.

That said, I also hope that if the situation is inescapable that I will have the gumption to perform my civic duty, i.e. by not running away and hoping that law enforcement will take care of everything, and doing my level best to end the threat.

I also hope I don’t get shot by the frigging cops, which is what seems to have happened in Sydney because to the untrained and panicked eye, the target becomes any guy holding a gun (or, in the case of the OzCops) and even standing next to the gun he just used, with his hands in the air.

What a shit show.

For those who think that I’m being silly to imagine such things happening, living as I do in north Texas:   let me remind everyone that there was just such a mass shooting at an outdoor mall in Allen, just up the road from my house, only a couple years ago.  (What makes it all the more chilling was that both New Wife and Mrs. Doc Russia had gone out shopping in Allen, and might well have ended up at the mall in so doing.)

So no:  if we’ve learned one thing from all this, it’s that this shit can happen anywhere.  And we would do well to be prepared to deal with it.

Once again, I’m absolutely not hoping that I get involved in some of this mayhem;  but at the same time, I will admit to doing some mental role-playing in my head, dredging up all the old “Coinops” (counter-insurgency operations) drills I learned back in those far-off days when we all carried muskets and bayonets.

One thing is for sure, though:  I will not be a helpless victim.

Erratum

Housekeeping, The Gun Thing

When talking about my recent acquisition, I referred to the S&W .38 revolver as a Model 60 — my mistake, as Reader Ken had originally told me that it was a Model 10 M&P (Military & Police, for those not familiar with S&W’s various nomenclatures).

Of course, I’m an idiot and can only plead Old Fart’s Disease plus (if I may make just a feeble excuse) my complete confusion with Smith & Wesson’s cuneiform-style of model numbering.  (And I mean “cuneiform” in terms of its incomprehensibility and not how they write it — although it wouldn’t surprise me if their next revolver model is termed as a.k.a. M&P, I mean why the hell not?)

Anyway… I seem to have wandered somewhat off the track — yet another symptom of OFD — so let me wind this up by making a fulsome apology.

And yes, I’ve gone full Winston Smith and corrected the earlier post, not because I’m like the New York fucking Times, but because for some reason people sometimes use me as a reference, and I wouldn’t want the mistake to cause confusion.

All that apology stuff aside, I should point out that this lovely gun shoots a lot better than I can shoot it:  at 25 ft distance, 2″ groups rested and palm-sized groups offhand.  Interestingly, I’m more accurate shooting .38+P than regular .38 Special ammo.

It has replaced the little Model 637 snubbie as an alternative carry piece to the 1911 if my clothing requires a smaller profile.

The only question remaining to be asked is:  Why the hell did it take me so long to get one of these fine guns?

[exit, kicking myself]

Reader Suggestion

The Gun Thing

Yesterday I told you to expect a story about how I came to possess that S&W Mod 10:

Here’s that story.

A Longtime Reader of my acquaintance — i.e. we’ve met in person and spent more than a few minutes chatting away — wrote to me and asked me a favor.

You see, his personal circumstances are changing (and not in a good way, which absolutely sucks), to the extent where he’s going to have to get rid of all his guns.  He’s managed to do that for most of them, but for reasons that everyone here will understand, he didn’t want to get rid of his treasured Model 10 because of all the history he’d had with it.

So he wanted to find a “good home” for the thing, with someone who would treasure it in the same way that he had, and not neglect it or gawd forbid, just sell it.

Hence:  the above gun, which now resides chez  Kim.  (And thank you again, Ken, for this most wonderful gift.)

Now comes the interesting part.

He didn’t just send me the Model 10;  he also included in the box* a little gun which I’ve always been fond of, fired quite a few times but never owned:  a Bersa Thunder .380 ACP.

Now, as I explained to Ken, I need another semi-auto pistol like I need a second New Wife (to paraphrase another Longtime Reader GT3Ted), and besides, if I think the 9mm Europellet is an inadequate self-defense cartridge, the weeny lil’ 9mm Short (.380 ACP) is going to be even less adequate.

However, I have taught plenty of women to shoot over the years, and I can recall at least three who ended up owning a Bersa simply because the little gun fit their hands nicely, the operation thereof was easy and the recoil very friendly.

And here’s the thing:  I know a woman who doesn’t own a gun herself, but who works from home and is there alone during the day while her man is at the office.  True, she lives in a decent neighborhood with a nearly-non-existent crime rate, but “nearly-non-existent” is not zero, as any fule kno.  She’s not anti-gun herself — she grew up hunting with her father — but she’s never owned a handgun, and would like to try it out.

So, as I explained to Ken, I’m going to pass it over to her with the proviso that there is absolutely no obligation for her to keep it:  if she likes it, all well and good.  And if she doesn’t, she can just return it to me.

Ken, by the way, was perfectly okay with this plan when we discussed it, and told me that as he’d read about how I’d done the same thing with a couple of my previous lady shooters, he’d passed the Bersa on to me with precisely this end in mind.

Side note:  Longtime Readers would about now be asking me why I would saddle someone with an inadequate sidearm chambering, but there are two responses to this:  any gun is better than no gun, and a “friendly” gun will always be used if necessary.  Also, Ken being the thoughtful man he is, he’d included a couple boxes of Hornady’s Personal Defense loads (which make the 9mm Kurz cartridge a lot more lethal) as well as a couple boxes of FMJ practice boolets.

So there is is.  I’ve taken the Bersa to the range already to test it for function, and it does perfectly well, chugging through the Hornady as well as it handles the FMJ rounds, with no stoppages.  And when next I see the young lady in question, there’ll be a gift from Santy under the tree for her.

Tomorrow I’ll be talking about something else that Reader Ken and I discussed.

————————————————————-

*which, by the way, went to my Merchant Of Death; so the transfer was perfectly legal, and fuck you ATF.

No Man Should

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Shootin' Time

There’s a wonderful Afrikaans idiom which goes, “Ugly is one thing, but stupid?”   (The “stupid”  is pronounced “stchoopid”, which makes it all the meatier.)

Which was my first impression when espying this little offer from PSA:

“UGLY” is for the gun;  “STUPID” is for the schmuck who’d pay nearly three grand (or the non-sale four-and-a-half grand) for this foul thing.

I don’t care how well it shoots (we’ll ignore the 9mm Europellet because in this case, the chambering is irrelevant);  this is not a gun that any man should be carrying, or competing with, or — guess who would — showing off to his friends along with his $100,000 diamond-encrusted Hublot wristwatch and $750,000 Lamborghini Astarigida*.

Ugh.  I need to get to the range and shoot some nice guns.  (see below)

*colloquial Italian expression for “erection”, i.e. “stiff rod”.  It’s what all modern Lamborghinis should be named.