Gratuitous Gun Pr0n #155...

Now I can finally show pictures of it...

 I've had to sit mum on this gat for months: A stainless Ruger Redhawk .357 Magnum snubbie...

...with an eight-round cylinder cut for moon clips. This gets me right in my revolver feels. You know it must, because when you cut me I bleed S&W blue-and-white, but I had to have this Ruger.
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Ice, ice baby...

The Zed Drei's been garage-bound since Friday afternoon. I have to get it out tomorrow because I absolutely no-kidding have to do some chrono testing to finish up a review for Shooting Illustrated.

That's gonna be fun with temps in the teens.

I really need to get the Forester up and running again.
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Vulcan's Hobby Room

Neat video of some heavy industry going down.
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Overheard in the Office...

Me: "But is it 'Made in China'?"

RX: (examining back of power strip) "It says 'Designed in Salt Lake City, Made in China'..."

Me: "Mormon commies! They're the worst!"

RX: "Always going on about the common good and then marrying multiple women."

This amuses me, for some reason...

When you move to Lake County, Indiana, half a world away from the bloody feudgrounds in the Balkans, but you still want to build your community centers within easy mortar shot of each other.
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One Fourth...

Friday morning at Indy Arms Co.: Gen4 Glock 19 with another hundred rounds of American Eagle 115gr FMJ. Fifty in the ETS mags, and the balance in the factory mags and a new Magpul 15-rounder. This is my first 15-round Magpul Glock mag, although I've used the heck out of three 17-rounders, so I'm not expecting this one to be any less reliable.

Fifty rounds from the small magazines into the upper A-zone at ten yards, then brought the target back in to seven and fired the fifty in the ETS mags at the lower A-zone.

There were no failures of any type to report.

That makes 500 rounds through the Gen4 19 since it was cleaned or lubricated with one failure-to-fire (#205). 1,500 rounds to go.
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One Fifth...

The Gen4 19 test continued at Indy Arms Co. yesterday, with fifty rounds of Wolf Polyformance 115gr FMJ and a hundred rounds of Federal American Eagle 115gr FMJ being sent downrange. I loaded fifty rounds of the American Eagle in the ETS magazines and the remainder in factory G19 mags. The Wolf went in three factory G19 mags with the last five rounds going in that Magpul 17-rounder you see in the picture.

I arrived at the range with all the mags already loaded, so it was a quick range session. Ran the target out to seven yards and popped everything off pretty quickly in five- to ten-round strings. I wound up letting the gun sit with the slide locked back while I swept up brass, because the slide was kinda hot to the touch.

There were no malfunctions of any type to report.

That makes 400 rounds through the Gen4 19 since it was cleaned or lubricated with one failure-to-fire (#205). 1,600 rounds to go.
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Day Forty-Five:

Woke up at 5:30. Lay in bed and read the last chapter of David Drake's Counting the Cost until the alarm went off. Weatherman said the wind chill was ten below. I decided to wait 'til sunrise; it wouldn't be any warmer, but I'd be able to navigate the icy stretches better.

Kitanica, snow boots, heavy gloves, face mask. Went with a wicking base layer today. Good call in comfort vis a vis yesterday. The neighborhood streets are like oiled glass out there, except where there's some snow along the curbs.

1.01 miles in 22:49 at an average heart rate of 129bpm.

Gratuitous Gun Pr0n #154...

Ruger American Compact in 9mm. Test protocol calls for 5 five shot groups with three different bullet weights from three different manufacturers. I keep a bunch of odd lots of ammo on hand for just this reason.
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Internet Outrage Machine

I wonder what percentage of people frothing about @SmithWessonCorp's name change could correctly identify "SWHC" and what it stands for.

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) December 15, 2016

Universal Translator...

Conversational Russian is so idiomatic that automated translators usually turn out hash when asked to parse web forums. (English is no picnic, either; somebody's reading this right now wondering why a computer language program would make a breakfast dish of meat and diced potatoes.)

But it's apparently got nothing on Turkish.
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Hmmm...

Ice on the sidewalk and a wind chill of ten below? I think I'll wait for sunup again today.
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BEST. TWEET. EVER.

So You Think all #2A Gun owners are ignorant Cousin-Humping Rednecks? I would Call that Pre Judging or Prejudice. https://t.co/22iqSujvYi

— Robert N. Wilson III (@NAARobertWilson) December 14, 2016

I'm going to put my helmet on and go have some fun...

EDITED TO ADD: Well, darn. That fizzled fast.
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Vote Early, Vote Often...

Best Christmas movie ever: Ready? Go!

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) December 14, 2016

Day Forty-Four:

Woke up with the alarm clock at 6AM. It was two degrees outside. Knowing what the conditions of the sidewalks and neighborhood streets would be, I decided to wait until the sun came up.

Ate some yogurt, committed some bloggery, and suited up: Kitanica, North Face mountaineering gloves, snow boots, and shemagh. It was icy out there. Worst were a couple homes on the back straight who had decided to clear their sidewalks with salt. At low single digits, that just refreezes your walk into fifty feet of skating rink.

1.02 miles in 23:09 at an average heart rate of 127bpm.

Gen4 19...

Not too much snow in the alley, so I got the Zed Drei out of the neighborhood and over to Indy Arms Co. to put more rounds through the Gen4 Glock 19. Fifty rounds of Winchester 124gr "NATO" loaded in the two ETS magazines and a hundred rounds of Wolf Polyformance FMJ in the factory Glock 19 magazines.

Wolf primers are harder than woodpecker lips. There was one Wolf primer that didn't go on the first lick. It looked like a solid hit to me. It lit off when put through the gun a second time. Up to you whether you want to hang that on the primer or the gun.

That makes 250 rounds through the Gen4 19 since it was cleaned or lubricated with one failure-to-fire (#205). 1,750 rounds to go.

External differences between the Gen4 Glock 19 and its "Gen3" predecessor. If you ask me, the biggest difference between Gen4 guns and earlier models is that, for the first time since 1990, the .40 cal and 9mm Glocks have different recoil spring assemblies.
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Pew! Pew! Pew!

According to my logbooks, today's range session makes it 12,100 rounds through Glocks alone since last November. Cool. :)

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) December 13, 2016

Weather...

Pretty much all the sidewalk you can see on this side of the street, I shoveled today. Ours, the Democrat Next Door's, and a few feet of our neighbor to the south's as well.

About three inches of heavy, wet stuff. Would have made for a fantastic snowball fight.
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New 2,000-round project...

I'd purchased a Glock 19 Gen4 for another reason some months back, but that project didn't materialize, and so I've decided to run it through a 2,000 round test for the amusement of the internet.

The brand new-pistol was field-stripped, lubricated to factory specification, and reassembled.

Fifty rounds of Winchester NATO FMJ were loaded into my two ETS magazines, while the three magazines that came with the Gen4 19 were filled with Wolf Polyformance 115gr FMJ. The remaining five rounds left in the box of Wolf were loaded into one of my other G19 mags.

As expected, all 100 rounds fired without any failures. That's 100 down and 1,900 to go.

The Ruger American Compact had spent the night locked in the trunk of my car in the unheated garage. Between the gunk of 520 rounds and whatever lube was on the gun being a little congealed, the slide was noticeably tougher to hand-cycle, and there were two light strikes on the hard military-spec primers of the Winchester ammo. There were no failures to feed, extract, or eject, however.

A size comparison between the store's rental Glock 27 subcompact, the Ruger American Compact, and the compact Glock 19. The 12-shot Ruger is similar to the M&P Compact, in that it slots between the 10-shot G26 and 15-shot G19.
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Weather Whining...

Finishing up a test for a magazine and today was supposed to be chrono day. As recently as lunch time yesterday, the weather gurus were saying that today was going to be Mostly Cloudy with a high of 34°F before the temps took a nosedive tonight.

I figured that I could chrono at MCF&G today and use tomorrow to shoot some benched groups indoors at Indy Arms Co...

I wake up to the news this morning and the SNOW PATROL logo is scrolling across the screen.

WTF?

They're calling for 1"-3" between now and lunchtime, which is guaranteed to make the roads a mess during the morning commute, plus I'm not sure I want to try and slither the Zed Drei down the gravel road to MCF&G with fresh snow/ice on the ground. I mean, I'm pretty sure I could get it down into the range without sliding into Eagle Creek, but getting back out again could get pretty sporty on that steep stretch.

And the Forester is still deadlined because I need to come up with the scratch for a used or rebuilt transmission.

And the mailbox is still living up to my pet nickname for it: "the empty box of crushing disappointment bolted to the front of the house".

Yuck.

Oh, well. Tomorrow will be better.
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