How many people shot during 2015 near where you live?

According to the interactive map located HERE, during 2015, 4 people were shot within a 5-mile radius of my domicile during the past year, 2 fatal and 2 non-fatal. The closest shooting was 3.22 miles away.

This 400-pound dude was allegedly one of the offenders.  He allegedly murdered his estranged wife and had the Lake County Major Crimes Task Farce (not a typo) chasing ghosts all over northern Illinois.  Many hours after the task farce members went home, King Kong turned himself in at the police station a mile down the street from where I live, at the time when my wife and I drove by the station on the way home from dinner.

Colt Combat Commander Grail Gun

My favorite local gun store came across this via an estate transaction.  It belonged to a cop.  The finish and overall general condition are not bad at all.

The serial number begins with 80BS2 which makes it a factory blue steel gun somewhere around 1982 vintage; that is a few years before when some Colt Commanders were made from stainless steel; if the serial number contained SC instead of BS that would designate a factory satin chrome (satin electroless nickel) finish.  A fair guess is that this gun was chromed / nickeled in the aftermarket; yes, it is possible that it was sent back to Colt for refinishing.  Wherever it was done, it has been with this pistol for a while and still looks pretty darn nice.

Syd has a an interesting story about Colt Combat Commanders with the 80BS serial number prefix.

IMHO the trigger on this pistol is very sweet.    It feels very pre-series 80.

Yep, I just had to have it.  It should make a good shooter.  This completes my lust for "all things 1911."  I did the paperwork and paid for it today; I will pick it up on Monday after satisfying the requisite Illinois waiting period (plus an extra day or so just for the heck of it).

EDIT:  CLICK HERE TO READ EVERY BLOG ENTRY THAT I DID ABOUT THIS PISTOL

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May your Christmas be as happy as can be

For many folks, the season from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day can be a very rough time.  If possible, please hang some thoughts and prayers on your tree for those burdened with broken hearts and empty chairs.

Winter Solstice 2015

Today is the day.   "Shortest day of the year!" my father would always exclaim with faux optimism on the morning of each December Solstice, all the while glaring at the stark realities in his soul that mirrored tenfold the frigid world outside his window.  "From here on out, the days get longer and brighter.  Shortest day of the year!"

... and then kind old Santa smiled and asked the politicians, "WTF kind of Christmas Gifts do you want Santa to help you douchebags steal for yourselves this year?"

Here are some of the goodies that OUR elected officials shamelessly awarded themselves.

Feel free to enlighten me as to how (or why) both (or either) of the two major political parties can be considered righteous when it comes to stuff like this.

I remain convinced that BOTH major parties are self-serving white-collar criminal empires.

My Country My Ass

Wanna have some fun and push the curmudgeon over?

Besides, he is just asking for it!

Heh heh heh!

Smith & Wesson Model 36 Chief's Special

I always wanted a S&W Model 36, but very few people that have them are willing to give them up;  finding one in good condition at a fair price has been a long term challenge.  Smith & Wesson does offer the Model 36 as a "classic," but it comes with that insufferable frame lock.

This Model 36 (vintage maybe around 1988 or so) recently turned up at Schranks Smoke'n Gun in Waukegan, so I filled out the adoption papers and took the little Chief home after the requisite Illinois waiting period.

The pocket holster is a left hand Del Fatti PH3 horsehide natural finish.  This revolver will keep the original grips; for the most part I prefer the rubber boot style grips on my J Frame revolvers but these nostalgic grips will suffice.

The Federal .38 Special Nyclad 125 grain standard pressure load is not a wimpy puff puff cartridge;  when fired from my alloy frame revolvers the load sometimes can be a wee bit punishing to my arthritic hands.  When using that load in a steel frame snubby (as is the Model 36), recoil usually feels just fine and dandy.

Merry Christmas to me!

UPDATE:  CLICK HERE to read about it finally going to the shooting range.

52-years since the assassination of POTUS JFK

I am surprised that this topic is not splashed all over the interwebz.  Maybe it is getting to be like the assasination of POTUS Abe Lincoln, just pages from a requisite high school history class.

There are many of us who remember the JFK assassination very well; for some of us, the anniversary is a day of reflection.  Time will erase all of us, but hopefully the pages of recorded history will endure.

It was a crazy world back then.  I suppose the world is no less crazy today.

Other world leaders at the G20 Summit keep asking POTUS Obama the following question regarding the Daesh

Subsequent to the Islamic Terrorist attacks in Paris, latest polls have Vladimir Putin surging ahead of all Republican and Democrat candidates in the 2016 United States Presidential Race

When our homegrown leadership fails in the war on Islamic terrorists, you'll be glad that we have Vlad!

(Mr. Putin was born in Hawaii and has a valid birth cerificate to prove it.)

Our national hero cop, buried with honors befitting a king, was not killed in action. His "murder" was staged; he killed himself because he was a selfish criminal and a common fraud.

This whole thing is sick. 

I have been told by more than one "regular cop" that most gung-ho "tactical cops" are nut-jobs that cannot be trusted.  Point taken.

Lake County, Illinois has a long history of law enforcement corruption.

Ken Null SMZ holster for Beretta Cheetah 84 FS

The pistol has been here over a month now and I fancy that the Beretta 84 FS will work out to be a fine personal-defense concealed-carry piece.  It is not too big and not too small; it is kind of like a muscular Walther PPK sans the painful hammer bites and slide cuts.  It has the same capacity as the Browning Hi-Power but is chambered for the 9x17mm rather than the 9x19mm of the Grand Puissance. Still, 14-rounds of .380 ACP can hardly be considered unsubstantial defensive firepower.

Securing holsters for this pistol has been hit-and-miss; some holsters designed to fit this pistol really are marginal at best while other holsters intended for use with other pistols worked out well for use with the Cheetah.  It may take some time, but I'll put together a good kit of holsters for this pistol.  To see if the size and weight of the Cheetah was tolerable for me to use with the narrow straps of a Null SMZ shoulder holster I simply carried it for two weeks in a SMZ holster sized for a Colt D-frame revolver. There was plenty of sloppy space between the holster and the slide and frame of the pistol, but the pistol was secure and the draw-stroke was surprisingly 100% functional.  After a favorable trial period with the Cheetah in the revolver SMZ,  I gave Null Holsters a call.  I ordered the new holster last Wednesday and it arrived on Monday morning; lightning service is typical when dealing with Ken Null.

Ken wasn't quite sure about this one when I placed the order; he didn't have that model gun (or dummy) in his collection.  Still, I never doubted for a moment.  On the packing slip he wrote that he was confident that he got it right but if I found otherwise I was to simply ship it back. Heck, I worked with the gun and holster for several hours and found the fit and function to be just fine and dandy; I even had enough confidence to wear it to dinner at one of the finer local restaurants last night.  I have worn the rig all day today and intend on giving it an indefinite run.  It looks to be winner, but I expected no less.

Halloween Roses?

Yep, we are still blessed with roses even after a couple (or more) of (moderately) sub-freezing mornings.  

The Knockout brand of roses has been very trouble-free for us.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Our first freeze for the Autumn of 2015

It was 31 degrees F this morning.  The little pool of water left in the birdbath was not frozen solid but the surface was frozen all the way across.

Hopefully we will now get a good long stretch of Indian Summer.

The steel wheels on some old Chevy Astro Vans and GMC Safari Vans may be hiding dangerous rust-through damage

At a distance (with one of the abandoned lakefront OMC buildings as a backdrop) the wheels on this 16-year-old >178,000 miles (AKA "Clunker") GMC Safari Van look acceptable.

Close up, for the most part, they still look okay.

Now lets remove that durable, non-removable, chrome facia (it is mounted to the steel wheel with an industrial-grade adhesive) and see what is hidden from view.

 Yep, on all but one wheel, the steel is rusted clean through in some very critical structural areas.

Not all of the wheels on all of the Chevy Astro Vans and the GMC Safari Vans were made the same way and not all of them have had 16-winters of exposure to road salt, but these wheels certainly do look to be a high-speed-pothole away from causing a serious situation.

The tires on this van are 5-years-old but have less than 15,000-miles on them; there is plenty of tread left.  Because of some slow leaks, earlier this year I had the beads on all tires cleaned and sealed; I also had the valve stems replaced.  The point being is that a well known, highly respected tire outfit missed the fact that all of the wheels on this particular vehicle were unsafe at any speed.

Although the old tires were salvageable, I decided to order 4 new tires to go with the requisite 4 new wheels.

The Beretta Cheetah 84 FS .380 ACP is top quality, old school, made in Italy elegance.

Beretta Cheetah 84 FS 

Caliber .380 ACP (aka 9mm Kurz, 9mm Corto, 9 Short, 9x17mm)

Double action / single action

Barrel length = 3.8''

Magazine capacity = 13 (10-round available for those suffering triskaidekaphobia)

Pistol height = 4.8''

Pistol length = 6.1''

Pistol width = 1.4''

Sight radius = 4.9''

Weight = 23.3 ounces (unloaded)

Frame = alloy

The 84 FS does kinda look like a shrunken version of the Beretta 92 FS. 

If asked to choose a half-dozen models of .380 ACP pistols as my favorites above all other available models of .380 ACP pistols, I would have to decline the request.  Of all the different models of .380 pistols that the market has to offer, I have affection for only a very few, the Beretta 84 Cheetah being the most recent (and likely the final) addition to my small but eclectic .380 collection.  The Cheetah is intended to be a shooter (as opposed to a "Safe Queen") and a carry piece once I feel comfortable with it at the range, and subsequent to logging substantial time carrying it inside appropriate holsters.  It may take up to a year for me to see if this pistol suits me like I believe it will.

Each of the three .380 pistols in the above photo will fit into the side pocket of all brands of my bluejeans.  Simply fitting into a pocket does not make a handgun a practical pocket carry. The easiest pocket carry is obviously the Seecamp, followed by the PPK.  The Cheetah is akin to pocket carry of the chubby little Glock 26.  If the pocket bulge is going to be equal I would likely opt for the 11-round capacity of the more powerful 9x19mm G26 over the 14-round capacity of the 9x17mm Beretta 84. However, for knock-about shoulder holster carry or IWB carry, the Beretta suits me a bit better than does the G26. The Beretta also fits my hand far better than does the G26.

The thumb safety on the PPK flips UP to fire.  The thumb safety on the Beretta 84 FS flips DOWN to fire. That would be confusing during a life threatening situation; it is unwise for me to carry both of those pistols at the same time or to frequently alternate carry between those two.  The Seecamp has no external safety; it is a simple point-and-click self-defense device.  The Seecamp internal safety blocks the trigger when the magazine is removed.  The Beretta Cheetah internal safety "disconnects" the trigger when the magazine is removed.  The PPK has no magazine safety.

Capacity of each (with a full mag and a round in the chamber):

Beretta 84 FS = 14 rounds

Walther PPK = 7 rounds

LW Seecamp = 7 rounds

The most felt recoil is with the Seecamp and the least is with the Beretta (although, unloaded, the steel frame PPK and the alloy frame 84 FS Cheetah weigh about the same).  As far as getting the most velocity out of the .380 ACP, the longer barrel of the Beretta should lead that race followed by the PPK and then the Seecamp.

The Beretta has a bit more sight radius than does the PPK.  The Seecamp has no sights whatsoever but many shooters find the stylish little last-ditch-self-defense belly-gun capable of adequate accuracy at surprising distances.

In the above photo, the Walther PPK is stacked on the side of the Beretta 84 FS Cheetah.  The Cheetah is a bit longer and a bit taller than the PPK.  Sized to fit the 13-round double-stack magazine, the grip of the Cheetah 84 is far thicker than that of the PPK.  Although it is a bit more difficult for me to conceal than is the PPK, the added ammo capacity is an attaction and the Beretta is far more comfortable in my hand.

CLICK HERE for this Beretta Cheetah 84 in a Ken Null SMZ shoulder holster.

CLICK HERE for a Beretta brand Cheetah 84 IWB holster review.

CLICK HERE for a range review of the Beretta 84 in January of 2020

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Another project for this year is complete. After many years, we can again park a car inside the garage.

That photo of the snow covered Chevy Cobalt is from the 2015 Super Bowl Sunday Blizzard.   I made a promise then that I would clear enough crap out of the garage so we could park at least one car inside before the next winter.  Not all of the crap in the garage was ours.  Some was storage for an evicted next-door neighbor (from 4-years-ago), some was from my Daughter's family when they moved to a new house that has no garage or basement.  Most of the crap, however, was mine.  It took some doing, but I got it done.  When will our two car garage again fit two cars?  Ahem, well, that will take further effort and engineering.   Perhaps I can have it done by the end of next year.

Photo of an illegal space alien prowling around our back patio.

There goes the neighborhood.

Come on Mr. President!

Fair is fair.  You just needed one bad day of fate during your youth and it would have messed you up forever.  You were only one choom session or "doing a little blow" from being THIS GUY instead of growing up to become the POTUS. 

PLEASE RELEASE non-violent drug users of all colors and cultures from our prisons.  Wholesale Presidential Pardons are in order.  You want a legacy like no other in history?  THIS IS IT!

... but ... but ... but ... THAT'S AGAINST THE LAW!

The badguys get their guns from where?  Seriously?  Golly, I never would have guessed.

Politicians need to pass a law requiring people to obey the law ... or sumpin' like dat.  I thought that the skinny little New York billionaire and all of his mothers had this figured out already.  Disobeying the law should be against the law; that's just common sense.

In the meantime, what we need are more better signs!

This blog post contains gratuitous photos of pure filth

(Obviously, the replacement filter is on the right)

I finally got around to changing the cabin air filter in my 10-year-old Chevy Cobalt.  Actually, until recently I did not know that there was a filter anywhere in there; over the years, most all of the maintenance of the car was done by a dealer and never once was there a mention of a cabin air filter.  Live and learn.  I was researching something unrelated when I ran across the video for changing the filter.

We bought the car brand new in 2005 and I figured we would put around 10-years on it before we started shopping for a new one. Since I reckoned that we only had a couple of more years left on this car at the most, initially I was going to just remove the filter rather than replace it.  Once I saw how much crud it had filtered out over the years, I decided that replacing the filter was likely worth the small amount of money and bother.

Actually many types of signs do save lives

(Source )

STOP SIGNS, for instance, do save lives if obeyed.  Ummmmm, however I do believe she is wrong about the NO GUNS signs.  IMHO, other than as a hollow political statement, signs declaring NO GUNS are worthless; the gun-toting bad-guys will ignore them and the gun-toting good-guys may just take their business elsewhere.

Deifying or demonizing a flag when it suits your needs

EDIT:  These may be bogus

Review of the Ken Null Model UNS IWB Holster for the Glock 43

This is one of those moments when something old is something new.  Currently I am putting this new holster through its paces as an everyday carry.  I had a great deal of trouble finding an IWB holster for my Glock 43 that was suitable (for me) so I decided to go radically retro;  this Seventrees design from K. L. Null Holsters has roots all the way back into the 1960s.  Above is a copy of a page from a 1969 Seventrees catalogue showing the UNS of 46-years ago.

As with the Walther PPK, the Glock 43 is compact enough to cause problems for the IWB holster designers;  there is a very narrow "sweet spot" of having just enough holster.  It is also difficult to avoid designing a holster that sits either too high or too low.  IMHO it takes someone with intuition and experience to design a stable, comfortable IWB holster for PPK size semi-auto pistols.  At a recent gun fair I decided to try a local holster maker's (a fledgling business owned by a group of Cops) IWB Kydex holster; I donned the holster with its G43 dummy gun and gave it a simple tug-test;  the holster promptly flipped OUT of my waistband and hung from my belt with the dummy gun's muzzle pointing up at my torso.  I politely declined to buy the $50 holster and suggested that the design needed to be further refined.  

I love the detail work on the snap belt loop on the Ken Null Model UNS; it looks a lot like, and may function a bit like, a sewn belt tunnel.  Ken offers this holster for 1.25'' and 1.5'' belts (mine is for a 1.5'' belt).  Bad experiences made me grow to detest mass produced holsters with large, one-size-fits-all 1.75'' belt loops; unless the wearer is sporting a belt that is 1.75'' wide, those holsters don't stay where they are supposed to stay.

Putting this holster on and taking it off is very quick and easy; I can do it in the dark; I don't need to drop my trousers or use a mirror.

(Above) This is the side of the holster that faces the body.  Note how the sweat shield is boned to curl a bit over the end of the slide;  I believe that to be a subtle part of the holster's passive retention.  Once it was broken in, this holster provided a fast draw along with good passive (no snaps or straps) gun retention, a combination that is hard for holster makers to achieve.  The G43 handgun comes out of the holster quick and easy but it does not come out before I want it out;  I am an active old geezer and have no use for any holster that cannot comfortably keep a gun secure during physical activities.

Unlike the explosion of crudely designed and expeditiously manufactured hybrid holsters, this old-school leather holster has no sharp, square edges.  It easily slides into place and then stays where it is supposed to stay until the wearer is ready to remove it at the end of the day.

Made in the USA by a Marine Corp Veteran

Thanks again, Ken.

CLICK HERE for the full K. L. Null Holsters Website

DISCLAIMER: As always at this blog site, this product review is simply a good old-fashioned campfire chat; this is not an opinion on what you should or should not purchase or what you should be using.  What does or does not work for me could be many country miles away from your tastes and needs.  All products I review for this blog are purchased at retail price by me.  I do not accept payment, discounts, "freebies," products on loan, demon alcohol, drugs, or sexual favors for doing any review.