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!

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Smith &Wesson 442 Airweight .38 +P range time at 5 Star Firearms in Zion, Illinois

IMHO, one of the sweetest concealed carry handguns on earth is the S&W 442, be it carried in a pocket holster, IWB holster, OWB holster, or a shoulder holster.  It is ever so light and easy.





IMHO, the 442 loses all of its sweetness once the trigger is squeezed and a cartridge fires.  Recoil is stout even when using mild loads.  Using the +P (SAAMI Plus P Loads) in this light alloy-frame revolver becomes very challenging.  Further, the sights on this short barreled J frame S&W are rudimentary; distance multiplies errors in aiming.





For this venture, using +P 158 grain semi-wadcutter hollow-points, I decided to shoot the equivalent of what Illinois requires for obtaining a concealed carry license (15-feet, 21-feet, 30-feet, 10-rounds each distance; 21-rounds of the 30-rounds fired have to land inside the scoring zone).





Since the pseudo-qualification turned out okay, I decided to have some fun and I switched over to 130-grain standard pressure FMJ loads and then rolled a fresh target out to 70-feet.




Wow, that kinda sucked.  At 70-feet my first shot was "on paper, in the pink," but just barely (it was not inside the scoring zone, so it counts as a miss).  I decided to roll the target back out to 70-feet and try it again.



Double suck; same thing, I scored another miss.  No doubt about it, 70-feet is far beyond my level of competence with this revolver.  Don't get me wrong, in a quality machine-rest the S&W 442 is probably capable of putting all shots inside the 10-ring of the target at this distance, but my handgun skills are not anywhere near up to that task.





Sooooooo I ran the target to 50-feet and finished off the remaining ammo as fast as I could load and fire.   Heh, a quarter century ago a target 10-feet downrange with holes sprayed all over like that was as good as I could score with the airweight.   With practice, maybe by the time I am 200-years-old ...


Thank you 5 Star Firearms for having Monday as Senior Citizen Rangetime Discount Day!  Your team is always polite, friendly, and professional; your facility is just downright outstanding.  You are a treasure to Lake County, Illinois.





Friday, September 15, 2017

Holster Review: Bianchi Remedy Model 57 for the Glock 19



NOTE:  
OWB = Outside the Waistband 
IWB = Inside the Waistband
G19 = Glock 19

PHOTO ABOVE: This is the side of the holster that faces away from the body.  Leather quality, finish, stitching, and tooling are good.  This $45 - $55 OWB belt slide holster is intended (by me) to be primarily for range use, provided that I get around to getting myself "holster certified" at the ranges where I usually shoot.





PHOTO ABOVE:  This is the side of the holster that faces the body.




PHOTO ABOVE:  For full-time use as a concealed carry holster, for my tastes it sits just a wee bit lower than I like, but it is good enough.  General all-day comfort is okay.  Access from the driver's seat is okay if I wear it on the point of my hip.  As I mentioned earlier, this OWB holster is mostly for use at ranges that get nervous about IWB holsters, but I'll use it for knock-about concealed carry on the occasions when open sores from tertiary syphilis or senior-citizen diaper-rash limits what I can stick inside my pants.

Need I mention that holstering requires care in NOT GETTING A SHIRTTAIL TUCKED INTO THE HOLSTER WITH THE HANDGUN?  Glock type triggers are especially disagreeable to a coexistence with items of clothing that sneak inside a holster.





PHOTO ABOVE:  My Gen 4 Glock 19 in the Bianchi Remedy holster prints a bulge that is hard to hide even under my oversized frumpy-fat-old-man shirts.  I did wear it to several public places (grocery stores, department stores, restaurants) and nobody freaked out and called in the gendarmes soooo I'll assumed nobody cares about my lumps.  For concealed carry of the Glock 19, I much prefer using IWB holsters such as the Ken Null UNS or the Lou Alessi PCH; both of the aforementioned pull the butt of the G19 tighter against my body than does any OWB holster I looked at.  IWB holsters make for better concealment, but having a decent OWB holster for the G19 gives me options.




Tuesday, September 12, 2017

A short visit today to Caliber Gun Range (FKA / AKA GTR Sporting Club) in Waukegan, Illinois

Stopped in at the Caliber Gun Range today around 3pm for a quickie.  

This was a Senior Citizen Appreciation Day (or something like that ... I honestly did not know until I got there) so I got to shoot for FREE (yay me)!   I keep promising myself to go to this range more often but life often insists on setting my priorities.

The facility is still safe, clean, friendly, well maintained, and professionally staffed.  In fact, every aspect is looking real nice.  I got to say "Hi" to a pair of old familiar faces.

I only stayed long enough to churn 45-rounds of ammo through my 1993 vintage S&W 442 airweight at 15-feet and 21-feet on the 8-inch targets ... my hand ached like hell later but I sure did have fun while I was at it.

If you are from the Lake County, Illinois area, check out the Caliber Gun Range website.
You may find something you are looking for.





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