If you ride...

So, I'm goofing around on Facespace, and out International VP posts a link to something that sounds cool. If you ride, and use an Android, you REALLY should check this out Needs some tweaking (like being able to contact more than one person), but every rider should have something like this!

A new way of doing "spring cleaning"

And today, we take another from the “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore” file… If you wanted a handgun before 1896, you were pretty much stuck with a revolver. Although there was an autoloader design or two out there, none had really met with much success. And then Mauser entered the fray…

From Wikipedia: The Mauser C96 (Construktion 96) is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 20th century. The distinctive characteristics of the C96 are the integral box magazine in front of the trigger, the long barrel, the wooden shoulder stock which can double as a holster or carrying case and a grip shaped like the handle of a broom. The grip earned the gun the nickname "Broomhandle" in the English-speaking world and in China the C96 was nicknamed the "box cannon" (Chinese: 盒子炮; pinyin: hézipào) because of its square-shaped internal magazine and the fact it could be holstered in its wooden box-like detachable stock. It was used by the Latvian anarchist Peter Piaktow in 1911 and was therefore known as a 'Peter the Painter' gun by the IRA. The Mauser C96, with its shoulder stock, long barrel and high-velocity cartridge had superior range and better penetration than most other pistols; the 7.63x25mm Mauser cartridge was the highest velocity commercially manufactured pistol cartridge until the advent of the .357 Magnum cartridge in 1935. Approximately 1 million C96 pistols were manufactured by Mauser, with the number produced in Spain and China being large but unknown due to the loss, non-existence or poor upkeep of production records from those countries. 

 Carried by no less a luminary than Winston Churchill, the C96 was the first successful autoloading pistol, and still serves in the modern era in an oddball fashion (being found on the silver screen on the hips of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker). This example was my first experience at internet gun buying: found it on Guns America for $350, needing a LOT of work. Including relining the barrel: someone had started to bore it out to rechamber in 9mm. After a trip to a specialist in FL (no longer in business), I have the wonderful piece you see before you.

He still has problems: need to replace the sear, sear arm, and follower: he doesn’t always want to reset his trigger, and the follower doesn’t hold the bolt back quite far enough to insert a stripper clip. Oh… commercial .30 Mauser isn’t exactly common, so prepare to be spending time at the reloading bench of you get one. Why “he”? Well… his name (y’all name your guns too, don’t lie) is Han, of course! Sites are graduated FAR beyond anything *I* would believe I was gonna hit at with a pistol:

Holster is by HBE. Which involved sending Eric the gun to mold it right: stunning work, reasonably priced. And this has gotten me some looks (this was my preferred “open carry march” piece).

Note about things going wrong...

OK... actually had some concern expressed about my post a few days ago.

I am not in any trouble. Someone I thought was a friend opened a business, and hired me. Worked there for 2 months, and never got paid.

That business is now Tango Uniform: they closed their doors yesterday. Criminal charges are on the owner (he has a few felony charges waiting for him in another part of the state), and POSSIBLY on his partner (who basically wrote rubber checks to all their vendors).

However, this could be a good thing: has spurred me to try something, details to follow if I can make it work... ;)

Insomnia=Return of Humpday Hardware

Ok, let’s get back in the swing of things by goin’ cowboy again…

This is one of the prizes of the Privateer’s arms locker: a Winchester Model 1887, produced (assuming I looked it up properly) pre1890.

When Spoon and I were first involved in cowboy shooting, I noticed that this model was listed as a “legal” shotgun, although I had never seen one (outside of T2). Finally got a chance to handle one at a match, and absolutely fell in love…



Of course, actually finding one for sale took a bit more time. Finally managed it a couple hours away, and stumbled on it: they didn’t know what it actually was, having it marked as a rifle (I THINK it was as an 1885). Had ‘em bring it down, looked it over, and handed them my plastic: then had to find the SN for them.



She was in slightly rougher shape: looked like a previous owner was grinding the muzzle on concrete. Figured that as I was only going to use her for CAS, I had the BBL shortened slightly. The smith smiled at me when he checked the action: said it was one of the tightest ’87 actions he’d ever encountered, and the $1K I paid was a steal.




Since then, I’ve not only shot CAS with it, but both trap and sporting clays. Not exactly the best gun for those tasks, but it preforms admirably. Despite the fact that it’s older than the combined ages of the entire squad on the line…

One note: the “tack cross” was there when I got it. Would LOVE to know the story behind it (which is one of the things I love about old guns like this).

Why did I chew out through the straps?

Well, the last couple months have been... interesting. Will give the full story at a later date (some things need to settle down a bit, including potential criminal charges). Suffice it to say that I got seriously scammed by someone I thought was a friend. Will give full details after all the smoke clears...

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As some may remember, last year I FINALLY got a Harley. Had a small problem with her in June: she threw her compensator on the way back from Kentucky. No problem: took her to the local HD shop, and they made it all better.

Except that, when I brought her out of storage last week, she started making the same noise she did last June. WTF?

She's back at the shop: REALLY hope they fix her right this time!

And for starters...

I posted this once before, but I think it would be a good idea to revisit it. This is one lady's story, about what happened to her.

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At the end of eighth-grade, when I was thirteen; I was walking home from school. When I was ten houses down the street from my house, there were two or three guys outside talking. They stared at me from the moment I turned the corner and started waslking down Prospect.

When I got a little closer, they started talking to me and I don't really remember what happened after that but somehow I ended up in one of the bedrooms on the second floor of the house they were in front of. I was raped in that house by two boys at the same time. The first person I told was my best friend, she called me a whore for what happened to me.

After that I did not tell anyone until I met with Strings from BACA in 2006. I didn't tell anyone because I was afraid of what they would call me after hearing those words come out of my best friend.

Today, ten years later, it still affects me. Every relationship that I have been in, I always think that they are using me for sex and then will leave me; thinking that about everyone who truly loves me has made me push them away. I feel like I am not worth anything to anyone but for sex.

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Those of you who have daughters, especially of the "invincible" variety: have them read this. Maybe it will help keep them from becoming another statistic

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month

All kidding aside, no practical joke: April is Child Abuse Awareness Month. I'll do my best to post (and, in some cases, repost) things that are important to know to actually prevent your child from becoming a statistic...