NRA Board of Directors

My NRA Board of Directors ballot is now stamped and ready to mail

Thanks to sound recommendations made at some of the gunny blogs, I was able to mark 18 candidates. The ballot allows for 25, but for some reason many candidates did not have anything pro or con written about them; I hate to throw darts to choose names.

I have done my duty.

/Me

Stop the pending "Assault Weapons Ban"

To those politicians supporting ANY ANTI-GUN LAW, including any “assault weapons ban” I PROMISE TO VOTE AGAINST YOU AND I PROMISE TO CAMPAIGN AGAINST YOU. If you are appointed instead of elected, I will oppose whoever appointed you. That is my pledge.

“It’s only common sense!” If the existing gun laws do not work, new gun laws will not work. Quit wasting our time. Don’t pass new laws turning us into criminals just because you are impotent against Mexican drug lords. Quit lying to the citizens. Secure our borders. “It’s only common sense!”

In case you haven’t heard, the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting.

Election Day in November of 2010 is not too far off. Go ahead. Vote for an “assault weapons ban.” Make my day. Maybe you’ll be reelected, maybe you won’t.

Dear Republicans, quit taking the vote of gun-owners for granted.

Dear Democrats, don’t underestimate the voting power of pissed off gun-owners.

Dear gun-owners, bless you if you are voters, and please learn to vote if you are not. Don’t ever think that your rights cannot vanish. If you are a big talker and don’t vote, you are only breaking wind.

Barney Frank versus the Northern Trust

Barney Frank is getting all horny over the Northern Trust throwing a lavish promotion for its PGA event. Barney needs to shut the hell up.

First, the Northern Trust is NOT a troubled bank, it was not one of the players causing the meltdown of our financial system.

For some reason, perhaps it was a rare attempt to reward GOOD BEHAVIOR, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Paulson ASKED the Northern Trust to take a share of the TARP funds. If Barney Frank wants to do some bitch slapping, he needs to hunt down Paulson and Bernanke.

The Northern Trust is part of the solution and NOT part of the problem. Under TARP, Northern Trust sold the U.S. Treasury $1.6 billion in preferred stock and warrants. The company pays the Treasury $19.7 million in dividends each quarter. The U.S. Government will get no less than 100% of OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS back from the Northern Trust. My guess is the U.S. Government will make quite a profit on the deal and it will help offset losses on the TARP money “loaned” to the troubled banks.

The Northern Trust’s PGA event is “business as usual” and requires no apology. It is good for their business, and it is good for the charities that rely on the Northern Trust.

As an interesting historical perspective, on March 6, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt closed all the banks in the United States. When they reopened, the people in line outside the Northern bank offices were there to deposit money instead of withdraw it. Some things haven’t changed.

Legendary holster maker Lou Alessi has passed away.

Another legend is gone.
Louis F. Alessi

Born in Buffalo, NY on Oct. 28, 1944

Departed on Feb. 21, 2009 and resided in (G) Getzville, NY.

ALESSI - Louis F. February 21, 2009. Beloved husband of Idamarie (nee Taglialegami) Alessi; beloved father of Alexandra P. Alessi; son-in-law of Martha Taglialegami; brother-in-law of Kenneth (LuAnn) Moliterno; uncle of Matthew Moliterno. Friends received Monday and Tuesday 2-4 and 7-9 PM at the GRECO FUNERAL HOME, 2909 Elmwood Ave. (near Sheridan Dr.), where Funeral Services will be held Wednesday at 9 AM and in St. Pius X Church at 10 AM. Mr. Alessi was a Vietnam War veteran. Share your condolences www.GRECOFUNERAL.com.

Smith and Wesson Walther PPK and PPK/S Recall

Smith & Wesson has identified a condition that may exist in certain PPK and PPK/S pistols which may permit a round to be discharged without the trigger being pulled. When the manual safety is disengaged, Smith & Wesson’s Product Engineering Group has determined that the possibility exists in certain firearms that lowering the hammer may cause a chambered round to fire.
CLICK HERE

Happy Valentine's Day

“Buy her diamonds,” say the commercials on radio, television, and the internet. Cram it, it ain’t gonna happen. I don’t care how much these commercials try to shame me into feeling cheap or unsuccessful, there ain’t gonna be any Valentine’s Diamond. Nor will there be a new Lexus in the driveway, wrapped in a big red heart-shaped ribbon.

Many women, if not most, hate Valentine’s Day. Not having a significant other, or having one that doesn’t deliver a gift, can be painful. Valentine’s Day is a cruel day of angst. Even if she has a love, and he has righteously shown up with a dozen roses year after year, eventually she will wonder why the loser hasn’t bought her a Rolex like Mr. Successful in the TV commercials.

The only guys that like Valentine’s Day are trying to get laid. Most guys hate Valentine’s Day. Roses can jump to $100 a dozen in some areas, and giving the obligatory heart of chocolates is cliché and considered cheap. When she says she doesn’t want anything, you guys best know that you had better show up with something, and you had better hope she did not see that damn Lexus commercial.

The legend says St. Valentine died by execution. I am sure it wasn’t just revenge for womanizing. Once Valentine started giving out the gifts, he was doomed; the other men knew women would expect gifts forever. If Val had quietly jumped from bed to bed, he would have died a worn out old man. Nope, he just had to start handing out his flowery business cards. The horny little bastard got what was coming to him; that short, fat, bald, incontinent hit man named Cupid put an arrow through Valentine’s cheatin’ heart.

We now need to find out if the fool that started Sweetest Day is still around, and if he is, we need to lynch his sorry ass.

With eternal love, and all of that other saccharin rot, “Your Valentine,”

/Me

Rossi 20-Gauge Double Barrel Coach Gun

Here is a Rossi (Overland, AKA Overlund), 20-gauge side-by-side shotgun, a nice little coach gun I picked up as part of an estate sale several years ago. It will chamber 2 3/4" or 3" shells, and has a 20" barrel. Made in Brazil and imported until somewhere around 1988, it was also available in 12-gauge. It has functional dual hammers and dual triggers. There is a definite choke in the barrel, but there is no way for me to measure how much choke; it seems a bit more than improved cylinder but that is just a guess.

Participants of “Cowboy Action Shooting,” aka CAS, are the most common owners these guns. Some people think they are ideal for home defense, others think they are an abomination. Although it is not a Lupara, its legal compactness could have some advantages for a defender. Some feel the external hammers make it safer and offer tactical advantages while others disagree. My humble opinion is that almost any gun can serve for home defense if the owner does his or her part. What is ideal for others may not be ideal for you. Some say the 20-gauge is too light for home defense, other say the lower recoil is an asset. All choices are for you to make. It is nice to have options. Click here for article evaluating the 20-gauge for home defense.

I have read where some people have used these Rossi guns heavily with no problems, and I have also read where the external portion of the firing pin peens readily; one writer said 50 rounds, another said in 250 rounds. If you are considering buying and using a gun that is no longer made, be forewarned that repair parts may be difficult to arrange.

For safety reasons, in 1960 Federal began to set the standard in the U.S.A. of using the color yellow for 20-gauge shotshells. Some may notice the blue color of the 2 ¾’’ 20-gauge shotshells in the photo. These 0 buckshot loads were made in Mexico.

Click here to read some history of the shotshell.


EDIT 5/16/2009

This blog entry gets a lot of attention, and the Rossi gun is no longer available factory new. If you are considering a coach gun for home defense, take a good look at the Stoeger Double Defender as profiled on The Firearm Blog (Click here).

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Waiting for the Obasm

The economy is still naked and unresponsive. As far as stimulus, we all are waiting to see the true size of Obama’s package, which Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank lovingly helped to prepare. They promise it as being huge compared to Bush’s package. Time will tell whether bigger is better. Bush’s idea was to stimulate with multiple short jabs and plenty of promises. For the most part, he let his aging staff do the work while he slept. Obama says that for anything to explode, he needs to move fast and provide multiple hard strokes aimed at injecting stimulus into a variety of areas, including toxic assets. He says we can expect some pain before things begin to flow smoothly and that results will take time to trickle down. So far, we have seen little response to his dry lip service. Obama is reluctant to let Senators have a hand enhancing his package by adding pork, so for now it just hangs there. Until there is something solid, we can do nothing but wait. Bush or Obama, big package or small, fast or slow, as always we the taxpayers will eventually get it in the end.

Harrington and Richardson Topper

Watching the highlights of the Clint Smith defensive shotgun / firearms videos brought a Cheshire Cat grin to my face. There was a time in my life when the only heavy artillery I could afford for hunting and home defense was a single-shot break action shotgun. One of those old guns I still have, an approximately 27 years old, single barrel 12 gauge H&R Topper, much like the one Clint Smith was demonstrating in his videos. I even used a stock mounted shell holder similar to what Clint had on his demo gun. My Kolpin shell holder has lost all elasticity over the past quarter century and no longer will fit snug to the stock, but I still keep it even though it has no tactical or practical use. I’ve made a note to buy a new one.

Back then, my hunting companions were forgiving, no one every kidded me about “the poor man’s gun” although I referred to it as my “peasant pheasant gun.” I sported it for wing shooting while my companions all carried expensive Browning shotguns. No, I will not lie and say that I shot as well with my Topper as they did with their classy guns; I am a lousy wing-shot with any gun, but for me hitting a running rabbit was usually a sure thing with the Topper.

As a kid, I noted that almost every home we visited in Tennessee had a single-shot 12 gauge leaning in a corner. Every barn also seemed to have one. My parents grew up in an era when a shotgun often kept a family from going hungry. Poor farmers made due with the basics, and the single-shot shotgun was often all they could afford. They are the most basic utility shotguns available and their simplicity is a thing of beauty to me. They are a part of my family heritage.

Lawyer Up

No matter how innocent you believe you are, whenever it comes time to talk to the police, it is imperative that you remember your constitutional right to SHUT THE HELL UP until your lawyer advises you otherwise.

EDIT: The highlighted end of the above sentence is a link to a site with a couple of very informative videos. Nope, I'm not in any trouble.  

EDIT  2/13/2016:  The old link went dead so I relinked elsewhere.