My favorite toy
What your carry ammo says about you, according to Eric at GunMart Blog. Sample:
Sellier & Bellot – “I am a member at more than three gun forums, and I buy all of my ammo online.”
…and:
Magtech – “This is my first gun.”
That’s funny right there, I don’t care who you are.
Over at Insty’s, Stephen Green commented on this little story that he couldn’t imagine going into a Levi Strauss store ever again, and I agree.
Levi Strauss announced on Tuesday it would be creating a new gun-control group with billionaire Michael Bloomberg and donating millions of dollars to a collection of established gun-control groups.
I don’t wear jeans often — in fact, I last wore them about a year ago, so I’m hardly in Levi’s target market anyway.
But that’s not the “temptation” I refer to in the headline; this is.
A couple weeks back I gave a woman a “lyft” to the airport. She’d just come out of the Levi Strauss store here in Plano, and as we drove off I asked her what she’d just bought there. She said “Nothing; actually, I work for Levi Strauss.”
For a moment I considered — really considered — whether I should act like someone from the Left would act, and terminate the ride then and there, declaring that as a member of the National Rifle Association, I refused to provide a service to an organization which supported gun control.
I didn’t do that, of course, because I’m not some virtue-signaling asshole. What I could have done was start to talk about how much I loved guns, and shooting, just to piss her off; but I didn’t do that either because that might have “triggered” the woman into giving me a one-star Uber rating at ride’s end, running the risk that she was a virtue-signaling asshole (she was a San Francisco native, so the odds would have been high).
As it stands, though, I’ll just have to content myself with never again buying anything associated with Levi Strauss (which would be Dockers, Signature and Denizen).
Bastards.
From Brit Reader Quentin, asking (for a Brit) a hypothetical question:
“Do you have any thoughts on which pistol to use with wildlife, not goblins? After all, shooting snakes and other critters was one of the main uses of pistols.”
My answer:
It kinda depends on the size of the critters. Basically, a .22LR will handle 99% of critter-elimination needs (shotshells in the case of reptiles). Larger critters may need a little more, but I struggle to think of many.
Myself, I carry a little NAA Mini-revolver in .22 Magnum (loaded with two CCI shotshells and three hollowpoints) if I’m out doing my morning walk (angry unleashed dogs, for the shooting of), or if I’m ever out in an area where there may be snakes and such. 
(I’ve actually shot a couple of snakes with the rimfire shotshell, and the result is that the worm just goes limp — lights-out with a single shot.)
But any rimfire revolver would do, of course:
That’s a Colt Peacemaker with .22 LR / .22 WMR cylinders. For us mere mortals who don’t want to spend two grand on a rimfire plinker, there’s always the cheaper option, such as the Ruger SP101 double-action:
… or the single-action Ruger Bearcat (.22 LR only):
…or Single Six (like the Colt above, with the LR/WMR interchangeable cylinders):
…as well as the usual S&W K-22s, etc. (like this “Heritage” model):
[drooooool]…
Where was I? Oh yeah, critter guns…
If anyone has any other suggestions, I’ll happily entertain them in Comments.
From the Knuckledragger (one of my favorite reads) on some study or other:
“Personally, I think this is full of shit.”
As do I. The title of the piece is: “Let the arguments begin.”
None from me. And this comment alone puts the man squarely into my foxhole:
“And as a side note concerning those folks that didn’t have any spare ammo to shoot with me, if I can’t walk out to my truck right fucking now and find at least a 20 round box of 45 and 357 stashed in there, I’ll kiss your ass.”
A couple months ago I found a loaded 1911 mag in the glove box. I have no idea how long it’s been in there…
According to this guy, the only three chamberings one needs to hunt everything in the U.S.A. are the following:
To paraphrase Sheriff Margie in Fargo, “I’m not so sure I’m agreeing with your rationale, there.”
I don’t agree with the rifle choices (the 12ga. is a no-brainer), for the simple reason that they don’t pass the “To Be Found On The Shelves Of Bubba’s Bait & Ammo Store In Bumfuck, Anywhere” test. Granted, the 6.5mm Creedmoor (a.k.a. the “flavor of the month” cartridge) and .338 Win Mag are fine cartridges, but are they sold everywhere? I doubt it.
Also, two chamberings aren’t enough. We can sit and argue the point all day about which rifle cartridges are the best — and I have no problem with entertaining said discussion in Comments, of course — but I am of the opinion that the “hunt anywhere / anything” criterion in the U.S. of A., given the wide variety of terrain and game we have, cannot consist of fewer than three centerfire rifle chamberings, to whit:
…and a credible argument can be made for an additional, larger cartridge for grizzly in deep brush, such as:
I know, anything a .308 can do, a .300 Win Mag can do better; but let’s just add a little real-world experience by acknowledging that the .300 Win Mag costs twice as much as its little cousin, and also because recoil / owie shoulder.
All that established, feel free to suggest your three favorite rifle chamberings in Comments, especially when taking the “Bubba’s Store” criterion into account. Explain your choices, if necessary. I’ll be adding mine later.
Yesterday I renewed my Texas State Rifle Association (TSRA) membership — in fact, I “upgraded” to the 3-year package — and paid for it using my CitiBank credit card because Citi are a bunch of gun control-loving bastards.
Even better, I’m currently on a “lowered” promotional APR of 1.99%, so they get diddly out of this renewal except the transaction fee.
And as soon as my balance is paid off (before the expiration of the promotion period duh), out come the scissors.
Oh and by the way, it’s an “affinity” card with American Airlines so I get frequent flier miles with every purchase. However, American now refuses to carry my (or anyone’s) shotguns and rifles when I fly over to the U.K., so fuck them too.