Category: The Gun Thing

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

Job Opportunity

Celebrities, The Gun Thing

Email from Longtime Friend Gibby:

“Idiots are working as ‘armorers’ on film set… You should be doing this work and not idiots (don’t care who her dad was!). Reach out — I’m am sure you could get this sort of piece work (forgive the horrible pun…) if you put your resume out?”

No doubt I could.  Except that it would probably require that I:

  1. live in California and
  2. work in Hollywood, which in turn would mean
  3. being exposed to show business people, and
  4. paying taxes to the State of California.

Nope. They’d have to pay me more than they pay Alec Baldwin — and I still wouldn’t do that.

Let ’em all kill each other.

Letter To Alec

The Gun Thing, Tragedy

Here’s an interesting headline:

The sequence of events on set that led to Alec Baldwin accidentally shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins remains unclear but there are a handful of options.

…none of which are relevant.

Look, I know that Alec Baldwin has the mental capacity of a bag of cement, so all that follows below is wasted on him.  But here are the simple rules which, had they been followed in sequence,  would have prevented Baldwin from shooting an innocent bystander.  They are universally known to us serious gun owners as “Cooper’s Rules” (after the late and much-missed Col. Jeff Cooper):

RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

Had Baldwin known anything at all about guns (he clearly doesn’t), he would have checked to see whether the round loaded in the gun was live or a blank (they look completely different from each other).

RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY

Had Baldwin not been a complete tit (he is), he would also have made sure that the gun was pointed in a direction where no one was standing, or else told whoever was standing in front of him to get out of the line of fire, even if he had made sure the gun was loaded only with a blank.

Cooper’s last two rules are not relevant to this tragic story, but nevertheless, here they are:

RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET

And that’s all that need be said.

Belated Recognition

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

I have to say that I have not been remiss in not talking about Othias and Mae at C&Rsenal before, simply because I only recently discovered this outstanding EeeewwChoob channel.

That said, an impossibly-long amount of watching has since followed — I probably spend about two hours a day watching this pair talking about, and shooting, the old rifles that I love so much.  Between Othias’s historical background on the guns’ development and manufacture, and Mae’s well-informed opinions on the guns’ actual operation, it’s just about a perfect show for an old gun geek like myself.  And when they’re talking about a gun which I own, I feel an irresistible urge to get it out of the safe and work the action while I’m watching.  (I won’t even talk about the irresistible urge to go to the range afterwards.)

Between this show and Ian McCollum’s Forgotten Weapons series, there is a veritable encyclopedia of information about guns — so much so that from now on, I’m not going to do any lengthy exposition on the guns I feature in my Gratuitous Gun pics, but simply hand them over to one or the other of these two channels where they are covered.  (If I do a range report, however, I’ll put my two cents into the mix.)

Damn, I love this gun thing.

Blood Sports

Friends and Family, Hunting, Travels

As the searing North Texas summer temperatures have begun to slide into glorious fall cool, I received these pics from Mr. Free Market, currently experiencing the usual Scottish weather for this time of year:

Not that it’s stopped him from doing the usual…

Doc Russia’s also Over There, but no reports of his activities.  (He’s probably sleeping outside in the rain, because USMC.)

As much as I enjoy being in Britishland, that weather is best endured by sitting in a warm pub with a roaring fire on the background:

…and with the usual fare at hand:

That’s my idea of roughing it.  I’m too old for all that running around in the rain–freezing my nuts off–falling over screwing up my knee–without ever seeing a deer nonsense.

“So There I Was…”

The Gun Thing, Travels

…up in El Dorado, Kansas — just me, Reader JimW and a whole bunch of other Old Pharttes who love old rifles and such:

…plus boatloads of ammo for said old beauties, so that new shooters and old ones alike could shoot away to their hearts’ (and pockets’) content.

Which I did.

The event is actually a fundraiser for the local WWII museum (which, sadly, I didn’t get a chance to go to, but will visit next year).  The fundraising works as follows:  you pay $2 per round, all proceeds of which go to the museum.  I should point out that all the ammo provided comes from Reader Jim’s personal ammo locker, and the guns from his gun safe, so I hereby anoint this man a National Treasure.

Next year, I will be repeating the trip, and will bring along the Son&Heir.  Let’s make it a Nation of Riflemen event, shall we?  I urge everyone who can possibly make it to mark it in your calendar for around this time next year (Jim will supply the date when it’s finalized).

I need to meet more of you guys in the flesh — let’s face it, we’re all getting older and time is passing by — and this seems to be as good a reason as any, and better than most.

Having done the drive up from Plano (6 hours), I can attest that it’s not too bad from Texas provided that you do as I did on the way back, and avoid I-35 like the plague.  (U.S. Routes 377, 177 and 77 take you almost to the front gate of the range.)  I drove because I took a couple-three of my old ladies (K98k, SMLE and M1 Carbine) in case there weren’t enough guns, but as it turns out, they weren’t needed.

My advice, therefore, if your drive is too long or you’d rather fly, is to fly in to Wichita (ICT) on the Friday, rent a car and drive the half-hour to El Dorado.  There are plenty of hotels available, so accommodation shouldn’t be a problem.  You don’t need to bring any guns (unless you want to), so the flying thing should be limited to the usual PITA nonsense from the TSA goons at the airport.

And let’s have some kind of NoR dinner at one of the local BBQ places in El Dorado after the event — I tried two whilst up there, and both were good.

Watch this space…