11/13/2022 - BLOG COMMENTS are again allowed and are moderated to exclude only the bots, advertisements, racial / ethnic pejoratives, and embedded links. I'll attempt to honor Chicago's historical "Bughouse Square" concept of free-speech and open debate --- spanning the curve from the far-left to the far-right. /JZ
Blogging to you from the Northeastern Badlands of The County of Lake, in the state currently known as Fatmanistan, DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP inside the heartland of the Banana Republic formerly known as the USA, WELCOME TO THE NEXT CHAPTER! WARNING! ALL FORMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ARE ADDICTIVE; EXCESSIVE USE MAY LEAD TO MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS, REDUCED JOB PRODUCTIVITY, INSOMNIA, SOCIAL ALIENATION, GENITAL ULCERS, BLINDNESS, POLITICAL EROTICISM, AND / OR DEVIANT FUNAMBULISM. NOTICE: NO GUNS OR AMMUNITION ARE FOR SALE VIA THIS BLOG. (No, I will not trade my Colt Python for some lubricious adventures with your trophy wife and a future first-round draft pick.) CAVEAT: This blog is not suitable for viewing while at work, while inside a public library, while inside any public or private school, or while inside any public or private restroom. Do not view this blog while driving a motor vehicle or while piloting an aircraft. Viewing this blog may be illegal inside the EU, NYC, Chicago, Seattle, and other parts of the Third World. THIS BLOG CONTAINS (albeit often very childish) ADULT-CONTENT. DISCLAIMER: This blog is a hobby, it is not a livelihood. Even though much of what I blog about relates to firearms collecting and recreational shooting, I am not an expert (by any measure) on any facet of guns, shooting, hunting, or personal defense. Entries at this blog are akin to good old-fashioned campfire chats or post hunt bourbon-fueled barroom-bluster; I offer no opinion on what you should or should not purchase, or what you should be using or doing. What does or does not work for me could be rugged-country-miles away from your tastes and your needs. All products, places, and miscellany that I review for this blog are purchased / rented / leased at retail price by me. I do not accept payment, gifts, discounts, freebies, products on loan, distilled spirits, recreational pharmaceuticals, plea-bargains, probation, parole, Papal Blessings, Presidential Pardons, or sexual favors for doing any review or blog post. TRACKING COOKIES: Google et al stick tracking cookies on everybody. If you are online, you are being spied on via one method or another, for one reason or another; 'nuff said. You may be able to minimize your online DNA residue by using Tor and Duck Duck Go. Vive la liberté! Vive all y'all! Ante omnia armari. To each of you, thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Security Lighting redux #1

Seven years ago I put in some fashionable security lighting; one of the fixtures (shown above) went on each side of the garage door and a matching one went by the front entrance.  Time and weather has taken a toll on these three units; the motion detector and the dawn to dusk detector on each fixture went dead.  Further, they no longer worked as normal "off and on" switch operated lights.

I was sloppy and let the front of my house go dark;  that's not a good idea in this area.

I had an incident (yes, I did call the police, but I fell back to sleep after an hour of waiting for them to show up; dunno if they ever did) very late the other night (the darkest side of the early morning) that motivated me to get my security lights back in order.  I decided to skip friendly, neighborhood aesthetics and went for ugly, expeditious, affordable function.

 The above fixture is now on the West side of the garage door.


The above fixture is now on the East side of the garage door.


You get the idea.  During the daylight hours the industrial-grade-ugliness of these units sends the message that my house will be very well illuminated at night and that I am not screwing around trying to be polite; go prey on the neighbors.  After dark, the motion detectors decide when to light things up; I have the range of the motion detectors of each unit set to overlap.  I checked the function of the units out after dark and they really do cover the driveway (and everything in it) with a flood of light all the way out into the cul de sac.  While the lights may attract the attention of the neighbors (not that they ever bother to call the police until the morning after) I also believe the amount of light will not annoy anyone other than the prowlers (I stayed below the maximum wattage of the fixture, but I will upsize the bulbs if I feel it is needed).

The security light fixture on back of the house that I put in seven years ago still works but my guess is that it is nearing the end of its service life;  I think I will purchase another one of the above fixtures and install it back there.

Today I will shop for a somewhat more fashionable security light fixture for the front entrance.


Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Kicking the gun-buying habit

Once again, after swearing that I had purchased my very last firearm forevermore, I ran across something that almost rated as a grail-gun;  an old stainless steel S&W J-Frame Model 60 .38 Special (the stainless version of the Model 36).

It was tough to do but I had myself pretty much talked out of buying it before I got to the LGS.

At first glance, this older revolver looked to be in decent enough shape.  A quick hands-on inspection revealed that the cylinder would bang into the barrel shank on closing.  Furthermore, there was a timing issue; the cylinder consistently failed to carry up on the same two chambers.

The asking price would have been good for a mechanically sound Model 60, but this one needed some work.  I took a pass.


Thursday, May 19, 2016

So far this year I have been to the shooting range once a month


I only made one New Year's resolution.   Even with that modest goal, it is hard to get motivated; shooting just isn't as much fun as it used to be.  It is nice to have a range within minutes of the house; other than cleaning the gun(s) afterwards, it does not take much work.  Still, the thrill has turned shrill.  This business of getting old is really getting old.

Maybe next month I'll take a couple of booming big bore revolvers out for some exercise; that usually plants a grin on my mug.








Saturday, May 14, 2016

Beth from Smoke 'n Gun in Waukegan has the Browning Black Label 1911 .380 ACP in stock



The following is a Facebook message from Beth at SNG:

"Hi everyone - this is Beth. I can't tell you how excited I am to share this with you! Back in January, I went to a shoot sponsored by one of our distributors. I shot dozens of firearms that day, but had a definite favorite: the Browning 1911 .380acp pistol. I liked it so much that I ordered 6 of them direct from Browning, but haven't received a single one. Until today!
Those of you who know me understand that I am a relatively new shooter. This gun was flawless for me. This pistol looks like a miniature 1911 and it fit my hand perfectly, unlike a full size 1911. The 5 inch barrel makes the recoil manageable. While a bit long for concealed carry, it was very light. The sights were great - I was dead on with every shot the first time I fired this gun (the video was my second time shooting it and the end of the day - I was a bit tired). Plus it has the well known quality of a Browning.
We received 3 of the Black Label Pro model, complete with night sights. I encourage you to stop in and check out this gun. I've been waiting so long for this and can't wait to show it off!"






Seriously, this 1911 .380 looks to be a really cool pistol.




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