The Saturday evening friends gathered to watch some awesome Motorcycle Racing. Before the races, we sat around a table and talked bikes and riding and all of us have some different points of view… but we all agreed on one thing. Triumph. No matter what kind of Biker you are… you have to nod that Triumph owns Cool. So in honor of The Triumph Accord, Monday’s Motorcycle will be the coolest of all Triumph Motorcycles. The Steve McQueen Edition Bonneville.
Sorry about the light blogging, guys. There’s a reason for this I’ve been reluctant to share… Long day selling guns, I usually come home and chill and write and such. But lately that’s been different. Long day at work, then I go to the Outlaw Trail Theater where we are practicing for the opening of the show and as the story goes and luck would have it, I’m in the show. I’m playing two roles in fact.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
It’s not my fault… I didn’t even Try Out for it. You see, my wife is an assistant director for the production and I needed to talk to her. So I stopped by. I rode up, jumped off my bike, had a few words… and left. Well, the caste pretty much drafted me into playing the leader of the Hairy Bunch of Ishmaelites. Okay, fine. I only come on stage twice and I have no lines or dances or songs. Fine. Next thing I know, I’m drafted as Jacob as well… Some song, though brief, thankfully… but I’m on stage several times, and yes, I shall have to dance on stage… a couple times. So I am officially in another Musical. Yes, I’ve done this before. I sang and danced to another Musical… and I was in not one, but two Ballets where I did indeed perform on stage in front of pretty large audiences.
I don’t know how I get myself into these messes.
By the time I come home from these practices, I am spent. I ride my bike up to the front of Ogre Ranch, drag myself off and up the stairs, to my bedroom, where I fall on the bed and don’t move till the alarm goes off in the morning. If I’m lucky, I’ll have taken off my boots. No, don’t cry for me Argentina… I don’t need sympathy.
But if you want to see any pictures of me in Costume – That would require substantial amounts of Bribery.
We often hear about people talking about a gun they don’t like and they will proudly proclaim it to be “The Worst Gun Ever.” I’ve heard this a lot this last while… and it’s become irritating. No, Sir. That is not the worst gun ever. By comparison that gun you dislike, the Micro Eagle, The High Point, the Taurus… whatever Taurus you have… Is a Marvel of Engineering and Manufacturing when you consider the gun that truly was The Worst Gun Ever.
The Chauchat was designed by a Frenchman who looked at other guns and took ideas from several other guns… then put them all together with the aide of economical French manufacturing. Individual concepts of the design worked, before they were combined. Like Mustard and Chocolate… great with other things, but not together. That was the heart of the Chauchat. And then take those things and make them as poorly as possible.
This gun used any excuse to Jam. Like a critically lazy teenager, you couldn’t do anything to make it run. The gun used a long recoil action, open magazines, and poor ergonomics. In WWI Trench Warfare, this was completely the wrong approach for… anything. If it got dirty, it would stop working. If it got too hot, it would stop working. And when it did get too hot… and by hot I mean slightly warmer than a couple magazines worth, the bolt wouldn’t go forward to chamber a round. You had to let it cool off for 10 minutes. Nothing better than a Malf that takes 10 minutes to clear. Even when it did run, for those brief moments of effort, the gun was notoriously inaccurate. It patterned like a shotgun, but not where you wanted the shots to go. So yeah, the gun was completely useless. The French, knowing the gun was crap, didn’t like to use them themselves. So they pawned them off on other countries, including Americans who went to fight in WW First. The Americans tried to chamber it for .30-06, and that somehow only made matters worse. Oh, and recoil would make the gun shake its self to death and it would come apart if the parts didn’t just break apart. Yeah, it was that bad.
Bad quality of materials, bad manufacturing, and a bad design… That was the Chauchat. The Worst Gun In The World.
The French should stick to Fashion Designs.
Okay… no… they shouldn’t do that either.
America’s Other V-Twin Motorcycles… VICTORY. All Victory bikes are clean, slick and smooth with lots of power on tap. High build quality without the Harley Baggage. I really like the Victory line… and my favorite, is the Vegas, Baby! The 8 Ball is the one I love the most because it captures what the Vegas is all about… low slung, bad and all black.
If I was going to go back to riding a Cruiser… and one day I will… as a secondary bike… I would be looking for one of these Vegas 8 Ball machines. I just love the look of this bike. The lines. The balance. It’s a work of art. I could just look at this bike all day. In fact, this one photo alone I posted just encompasses everything that “Victory Motorcycles” is all about. It’s not just all about looks though, Victory built these machines to be ridden. Fantastic engines. Great power delivery that never gets boring.
As a second bike. Not going to give up my Street ride. I’m broke, so no need to send me links or offers for Enduro bikes… It’s going to be some time before I’m ready to get serious. But a friend offered to let me test ride his KTM 525 MXC freaking monster of an Enduro.
Plenty of torque, effortless wheelies even when you are not really wanting to wheelie. But wow… You are tall in the saddle on that machine! Stretching my legs, I could barely touch the ground with my tip toes. When braking, the front end had a good dive to it… could have been unsettling, but the bike was very solid and stable. But if I got one of these, I’d have to spend a lot of time to get used to this sort of machine. Plenty of juice for a lot of Get Up and Go. Getting on the bike is tricky. Getting off the bike is also tricky. I’d want an Eduro that’s about 2 inches shorter.
Like many others, I’ve followed the Florida Bath Salt Zombie stories with morbid interest. Drudge has also been putting up articles able a couple Cannibals.
As a public service announcement, we must address the differences between a Zombie and a Cannibal.
Zombies have no will of their own, the wander around as if in a daze, voting Democrat, and they are undead. There is ample proof of this as a great many Registered Democrat Votes in hotly contested districts are indeed from people who have died…. then this Floridian Bath Salt Zombie… Yes, Zombies are real and they are out there.
If they bite you, there is a 90% chance you too might become a zombie. That last 10% chance – that’s your buddy shooting you in the head before you turn. If he is a good friend that is.
Cannibals however are very different. They can be very intelligent, careful planners, and they can craft elaborate traps for their victims. They are still human and are just like the rest of us… except they want to eat the rest of us… My point is they look at act (mostly) like anyone else. You can’t tell who is and who isn’t a Cannibal. But that just makes them all the more dangerous. Cannibals however could be found wearing Turtleneck Sweaters, Popped Collars, Berets, and Tight Pants that are not quite long enough.
The question remains – what to do about these two types of people eaters. The answer is simple. Once identified, the same counter measures and responses work well in both cases. SHOOT THEM IN THE HEAD.
Works every time.
The More You Know…
Check this out guys. In the last pistol class, we had a young lady attend who trained as hard as she could running a Walther that didn’t want to run. She did her everloving best and got through the course. Today, Dad got her a nice present… a new SIG. Niki was so excited she was giggling constantly and doing that “Pee-Pee Dance”. The genuine delight was wonderful, radiant, and infectious… she had other customers grinning too.
Nothing better than a New Gun! That’s some awesome Pro-Level parenting, Dad. Good job!
Luke and Sarah Adams, my friends and my Holster Makers Extraordinaire have just had their first child.
The labor was a long drawn out horrible affair, but all is well now and the baby is reportedly healthy and well cared for and loved. We all hope he starts making holsters with Dad soon!
Congratulations, with all my heart. Luke, give her and the baby a hug for me!
For all you guys saying the lead time is too much – Give them your order and cut them some slack – their whole world has just changed. For the better. Your new holster will get to you and you will be happy you had the patience.
Just got home from work, and I’m sitting on the front porch waiting for the sunset. It’s a cool evening, not hot like normal this time of year. It’s feeling perfect. To my left, I can hear the wheel lines watering the field of alfalfa almost ready for the first cutting. The water it’s spraying is casts a hundred little rainbows along the line. To my right, northward, there was rainstorms earlier in the mountains, but now Sun rays are making it glow vibrant green… for now. Later this year, those rays will burn the mountains to a scorched brown. The sun is getting lower in the west… The purple mountains westward, straight in front of me on the other side of the valley has a pass shaped like Buckhorn rifle sights… Beyond it is Salt Lake, and many of my dear friends. All around me, birds are singing. Robins, Larks, Sparrows, and Doves. All claiming this as their area… I grin… Because its mine.
We finally got in a couple of the little Beretta Nano’s. A very slim single stack 9mm. It’s a striker fired gun, much like the S&W Shield. For the same price, between the two, the Shield is easily the better gun.
The Nano looks nifty at first. Cool looking lines. Unfortunately it feels kind of awkward in the hand. The trigger pull isn’t bad… it’s no Sigma, but it’s not good. I’ll call it average. But the way the gun points and feels… it’s just… not there. It’s like the Italians designed it for looks to fit within a very small box, not to be an actual firearm for a human to use. Italians are great at designing for looks first and foremost. The only Italians that design for actual performance is Ducati… unfortunately they don’t make guns.
So the gun closest to the Nano, the Shield… Shield wins. Another Striker Fired single stack is the Walther PPS. Unfortunately Walther continues to struggle for relevance in the market, and I am no fan of the PPS. Like the Nano, just because you can make it that small – doesn’t mean you should. Yet it can be done right. SIG is very close to the same size as the Nano. And for the love of all that is good and holy in the world… I think the Germans made a better looking machine than the Italians. Cleaner lines, and it looks like there are no forgotten parts on the gun.
This SIG P290 as pictured does have a higher price tag, but it is coming with Tritium Night Sights and a Laser Module…. two features I rather like on a defensive pistol. I firmly believe that night sights are not optional on a defensive handguns – they are mandatory. SIG has great night sights. The Nano… not so much. The Laser is a bonus. The actions of the two guns show a greater disparity of quality. The SIG is much smoother than the Beretta, it’s like the difference between a night with a Hot Octoberfest Beer Maiden… and the Nano’s Prison Rape by your Cell Mate at San Quentin. Which one would you want to spend quality time with?
The SIG is much better feeling in the hand, and it has a slide release that is not in the way, obrusive, or awkward in anyway. It is there, and it works. Like it should. You don’t have to think about it. The Nano’s complete lack of it… What is this? A Magnum Research Micro Eagle? Come on. Kahr hangs a squared off mailbox off the side of their guns – but at least they have them. The Nano is trying to be slick by leaving the lever off. I’d rather have the mailbox, thank you. Beretta needs to look at the SIG to see how it’s done. Also, the SIG’s texture is superior. You can grip it and it’s not abrasive… it’s just… grippier. And it doesn’t snag clothes. Just like it should. The Nano… not so much. Oh, it’s snag free. But it’s also gripless. Gripless, Pointless… The SIG P290 just makes the Nano seem a cheaper, sadder thing. It’s a good thing it’s cheaper. It will appeal to those without the means to appreciate better. Like a Hi-Point. In fact, the Nano looks like shrunken an flattened Hi-Point. The SIG, looks like freaking SIG. A weapon you can trust. It feels like a weapon you can trust. And they actually shoot very well on top of it all! I’m sure the Nano shoots just fine… but do you really want to?