Category: The Gun Thing

Not just the guns, but all the stuff that goes with them

Evolution

Drive Time, Gratuitous Chick Pics, Gratuitous Gun Pics, Old Fartism

In my innocence, I always imagined that evolution was a Good Thing, in that v.2.0 would always be an improved version of v.1.9.9, and so on.  (Of course, that belief has been massively degraded by having to deal with software companies, but that’s for another time.)

I understand, therefore, that evolution is not necessarily an improvement, but by and large it has proven to be so — a 2021 Corvette is a much better car than its 1961 ancestor, at least mechanically speaking.  As for its shape?  I’ll let you decide:

Regardless of the shape change (ugh), I think we can agree that the 2021 model performs much better than the 1961 model, mechanically speaking, because let’s be honest, engine technology, materials and things like suspension- and brake technology are better now than they were sixty years ago.  And even the modern shape is no doubt far more efficient in terms of air management than the older one, so at least there’s that.

Now let’s talk about guns.  Here we have a situation where the technology has hardly changed at all, materials have improved somewhat, but (say) a .22 pistol’s operation and efficiency have stayed pretty much the same.

So sixty-odd years ago we had .22 pistols that looked like the High Standard and Beretta:

 

…which, I think we can all agree, did an excellent job of putting the boolet into its intended destination.  Modern pistols, of course, do just as good a job of that — pistols like the FN and SIG:

 

…but for all their improved technology and materials, they somehow end up looking like a dog’s ass.

To return to the cars for a moment, it’s as though the Corvette:

…somehow ended up looking like this:

I know, I can hear y’all now:  “The old fart’s lost it again, jabbering about the Good Ole Days.”

Yeah, maybe.

But I’d still rather own a Beretta 101 than any of the current crop of .22 hand-bricks.

And to wrap this whole train of thought up, I want somebody to explain how ideals of female beauty like this:

…have somehow evolved into this:

Same form, same basic functions between the two models… but ugh.  No thank you.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Winchester Model 64 (.32 Win Special)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Kimmy likes this one:

The Model 64 was produced from 1933 to late 1957, and from memory well over 65,000 were made, making this rifle not especially rare.  (It was re-issued in 1972 for about a year, chambered only in .30-30 WCF.)

What is rare about this rifle is finding one in excellent condition, because like most lever rifles of the era, they were used hard and often.  No safe queen, this one.

And as always, you can’t go wrong with the excellent .32 Winchester Special cartridge, which turns the .30-30 “deer” round into a more powerful “black bear” round.  Its only drawback, of course, is its scarcity (and therefore 4x the cost) compared to the .30-30 WCF.

That said, just as a dangerous game rifle chambered in .375 H&H is not going to be used that often (and its ammo cost is therefore irrelevant), the same can be said nowadays for a Win 64 in .32 Win Spec — it has become a specialist rifle rather than an everyday one.  So if you’re doing a black bear hunt in Pennsylvania or Maine, for instance, you could do a whole lot worse than carrying one of these into the woods.

And I love that breech-mounted peep sight:

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Ruger GP100 (.357 Mag)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

As I was browsing through my daily fare of (gun) porn, I stumbled across this beauty:

I used to own a GP100:

For some reason, the grips (as pictured above) didn’t seem to fit my hand properly, and then there was that Ruger trigger — although in mitigation, I was comparing that pull to my Colt Python’s — and the barrel was too short for .357 Mag shooting comfort, so I ended up selling it to buy something else.

All that said, if I look at the stainless model in the first pic, with its Hogue grips and 6″ barrel… hmmm, how much would a Ruger trigger job cost?

Thousands of people love and shoot the GP100, so who am I to argue with them?

And the final comment:  I eventually ended up shooting the Python to pieces;  I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have done the same with any GP100, using the same number of rounds.

Clueless Moron

Anti-Gun Nannies, Gummint, The Gun Thing

President Braindead issued his latest piece of stupidity a few days ago, and of course hilarity followed soon after:

President Joe Biden told NowThis News during a Sunday interview that he is pushing to limit gun owners to having no more than “eight bullets in a round.”

I know, I know;  it’s just another bit of Biden Droolspeak, and of course it’s laughable.

What’s really laughable is that an 8-round magazine capacity restriction (for that is what the First Moron is actually talking about) won’t ever pass into law, and even if it did, it’s unenforceable.

Or maybe Ol’ Stumbles really wants to turn few score million gun owners into de facto  criminals (which frankly, given the Socialists’ penchant for controlling the population, is not that far-fetched).

Roll on, Election Day 2022.