Which is more important… which should I be following?
The Birth Certificate and Trump’s badgering BS or The Royal Wedding. I’m torn. I best flip a coin! Ah screw it. I’ll read WTA.
Natty Narwhale
This morning the Ubuntu updater popped up and said that Ubuntu 11.4 was available as an update. So I told the system to proceed with the update. There are some some changes.
I don’t know why.
The Barrett model 82A1 is almost Ten Grand. And I don’t know why. I can’t put my finger on any tangible reason the thing is so bloody expensive. The gun is a very simple design with no complicated machining, and it uses some very common parts. The gun is build of what looks like stamped sheet metal. Thick, but it’s still sheet metal that has some bends. Some of those bent metal parts are welded together with welds that… well… Let’s just say I’ve seen better welds in high school metal shop class. Just looking at the gun I’d say it’s a 600 dollar gun, with a 2,000 dollar barrel… so I’d price it at about 2600 bucks.
I hope he wins.
So the other day I was sitting at a red light. A dude on a Harley Sportster 1200 pulls up. I didn’t even have to look over to know what he was riding, because it’s obnoxiously loud pipes announced his approach from a block away.
Severe Storms
Our prayers are with those in Alabama and the other states effected by these severe tornadoes and related storms. There are few things that can make a man feel so completely helpless and at the mercy of God, like a Tornado or a Hurricane. Or a flood.
Llama’s cute little .22 Auto
We got here a Llama .22LR. It’s very 1911’ish, small, and cute as hell. The action feels well worn, and the finish is about 80%… but the gun still feels solid and it should shoot just fine. We took it in for a hundred bucks… Marked it for 220 bucks. It has the box, all that, and two spare magazines. My question is should we mark it for more? I mean, dang… this thing is adorable.
S&W 745
This is an older Smith & Wesson auto. I’m not sure of the value as the blue book on it only showed the 745 IPSC model, which looks just like this, but has a fixed rear sight. It’s Single Action Only. The safety lever is only a firing pin blocker, and does nothing to prevent the trigger from dropping the hammer.
The grip is slim, giving it a feel much like a SIG P220 with factory synthetic grips. The checkering on the front strap is a little rough, but it’s factory checkering. Over all, I like the gun.
Congratulations to Larry Correia!
I keep telling people to read Monster Hunter International, and his following books. They are Awesome +10. His stuff is so good, Larry is now a Finalist for the Campbell Award.
That is so cool, only a master Wordsmith can put it into words. So go read what Larry said.
The Two Biggest Gun Counter Misconceptions
At the Gun Counter, I frequently come across one of two of the most common misconceptions.
ATI Commander Update
The nice wood double diamond grips were just too nice for the ATI. They didn’t go well with the matte black finish. After awhile it got to the point that I found them just irritating. So I got some nice plain old Hogue grip panels in OD green. The matte finish on the Hogue work very well, keeping the ATI in a nice subdued scheme.
The gun is north of 600 rounds now, with only one fail to feed. Again, that failure to feed was in the first few rounds right after I got the gun, and it has never happened since. I did replace the recoil spring after those first few rounds, because the gun did feel under-sprung. The gun has been perfectly reliable since. The gun shoots point of aim/point of impact at 30 feet or so… I’ve had no complaints about accuracy, only compliments from everyone that has shot it. I’ve let a few people shoot it and no one has had a negative bit of feedback, and no one has reported any malfs.
The biggest question about the ATI is the quality of the steel. So far, there has been no unusual wear on any of the internals. So I am thinking, so far, that the steel is up to snuff. I have no reason to suspect that its a lesser quality steel alloy. I don’t think it’s anything great or special… but it doesn’t look bad at all. The only real wear the gun is showing is on the finish, which looked suspect right from the beginning. If you look at that photo closely, look at the muzzle end, you can see the wear. I’ll have Joe at Crusader Weaponry give this thing a Duracoat treatment, and that will take care of the finish – no problem. It’s a 450 dollar 1911, so you do have to cut it some slack. And finish that shows holster wear only makes it looks like you actually use the thing… I think a gun with some holster wear looks better than a gun that looks like it’s a Safe Queen. But that’s just me.