And so it goes...

A train full of congresscritters derails and who gets killed? Some poor random taxpayer.
If I had any religion left to lose, this would do the trick. pic.twitter.com/g1xc3Ke3kE

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) January 31, 2018

Zero Context QotD...

Zero Context QotD: "The Venn diagram of people who own "drone" trainer blades and people who own pistol bayonets looks like the business end of a coach gun."

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) January 31, 2018

Another hundred...

Another hundred rounds of Lucky Gunner's .357SIG ammunition got sent downrange yesterday morning in the ongoing effort to make the Surefire XC1B say uncle.

Also seen in the picture is a review gun for an upcoming Shooting Illustrated piece.

Four back-to-back mag dumps of .357SIG leave the slide too hot to touch, for what it's worth. The XC1B continues to work, and the mounting screw hasn't loosened.

Yesterday's shooting brings the total round count on the light to 750 rounds. There's another three hundred rounds from Lucky Gunner yet to go, and if the light's still running after that I'll just have to bolt it to my Glock 29 or something. If .357SIG won't do the trick, maybe 10mm Auto can.

It still lights...

Monday morning was back to the grind with the Surefire XC1B-equipped Glock 32 and a hundred rounds of Lucky Gunner's Remington 125gr FMJ .357SIG ammunition in an attempt to see if this light will wilt in the face of all that muzzle blast.

I had wiped the grease (and powder residue) off the lens after the last session and I was too lazy to head down to the basement to get more, so as I headed out the back door, I dabbed a fingertip in the bowl of congealed bacon grease in the fridge and dabbed that on the lens instead. I figure that if Pam and Crisco both work, why not bacon fat?

With the fresh recoil spring in the gun, it ran fine. I function-checked the light at several points during the range session, and it continued to function normally.

With this session, it has put up with six hundred and fifty rounds of .357SIG with no hiccups.

Also, the mixed smell of burnt gun powder and bacon fat borders on intoxicating.
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Overheard in the Office...

RX: "Organic yogurt? I like it a lot better than that inorganic yogurt."

Me: "I hate mechanical yogurt. Also, Mechanical Yogurt is the name of my next band."

"Black is the New Pink"

Wherein the guys from InRangeTV host a panel of experts discussing the best way to pander to a very important market demographic...
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What did John Farnam tell us?

Big shootout in Indianapolis! Bar fight turns into shooting! Two dead, three wounded, and two of the wounded are critical. Also, the bar's security guard was among the wounded.

This is what the TV was blaring at me as I woke up this morning, and so I hit the intertubes to see the details.

Oh. I knew something was up when the newsreader referenced the nearest big intersection as 16th and Sherman, and the online story corroborated that as having the incident occurring in the 1300 block of Sherman Ave.

This isn't technically The Swamp, but it's Swamp-adjacent. "The Swamp" being the near-Eastside neighborhood traditionally largely populated by the unemployed descendants of the unemployed denizens of Appalachia who flocked to the factories of the North and Midwest during WWII and the postwar boom years.

The near-Northside, once known as "War Zone D", is pretty gentrified these days. There's a wine bar at 16th & New Jersey, where there used to be trash fires and bum fights thirty years ago. But venture too far east or west on 16th from the enclave between Meridian and College, and you're back in the hard 'hood again.

If you were to ask me "Hey, Tam, I'm in Indianapolis for a week and I'd like to get into a gunfight. Where should I go?" well, 42nd & Post would be at the top of my list, but the parking lot of a bar at 13th & Sherman at 0200 on a Sunday would be pretty close behind it.
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Leaving Las Vegas

So, along about Wednesday, I got to wondering how I'd miscalculated my packing so badly. I always pack enough socks and underthings for fresh ones every day, and enough shirts to have a clean one every day, plus an extra shirt in case I spill something on myself.

But by Wednesday it was pretty clear that I was going to be one day short on socks and underwear...until I checked my itinerary and noticed I was leaving at 12:05 AM on Saturday, not 12:05 PM.

Anyway, I didn't get any sleep last night other than a couple thirty minute catnaps on the plane, and I'm flat wore out. I'll write stuff for y'all tomorrow, when I'm coherent.
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Prose and cons...

So, I did a quick straight up report on Mossberg's 590M.

More thoughts later.
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That went well.

Another day at SHOT, another RECOIL story (or two).
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I don't want to grow up...

Let's see if I can hold off doing so for another year.
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More writings...

• You can't swing a Galco Miami Classic without hitting a 10mm Auto pistol at SHOT this year.


• If you're gonna snowflake, snowflake all the way. (And yes I would.)

Happy JMB Day!

Today is the day we celebrate the birthday of the guy who invented the basic operating systems of half the stuff out there on the SHOT Show floor.
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Another thing I wrote...

...can be found here.

Share and enjoy!
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Day One

I wrote a thing last night instead of partying. Actually, a few things, but that's the only one up so far.

Now to get my game face on. I don't want to mess this up.
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So, this is a thing that happened...

Waking up and finding a still-in-the-wrapper Pmag in the pocket of the jacket I was wearing the night before, with no recollection of how it got there, is the most #SHOTShow thing that has ever happened to me.

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) January 23, 2018

Long day...

Ow, my legs.

I am told by my phone that I've covered over four miles today, not counting all the standing around.
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I wrote a thing.

It can be read at RECOIL's site.

I had fun writing it.
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Verklempt

I got a notification from my friends at Indy Arms Co. that a package had arrived for me. A reader had sent me a birthday gift, and would I like to come and pick it up or should they hold it 'til after SHOT?

I allowed as how I had some shopping to get done at the local Meijer store just across the street, and I'd swing by on the way and get it.

I found myself standing in the middle of the gun store with eyes full of tears...

Thank you very much!

I took a minute to get my $#!+ in a sock before heading over to Meijer's for groceries and sundries. While there I swung by the magazine rack to see if the new RECOIL was in. It was.

The first issue of RECOIL with my byline in it. I do wish Pat were here to see it, even though I know what his reaction would be...

Important tip...

I frequently get asked via email or FB Messenger or whatever to offer CCW concealment advice to a male reader's Significant Other.

I'm 5'12" tall, I work from home, and I dress like a hobo. I'm currently wearing jeans a size too big, a nylon web instructor-type belt, and an untucked and unbuttoned overshirt that I like not only for its gun burka properties but also because it has cavernous "document pockets" that will swallow small notebooks and an Olympus Pen E-PL1 and the other things I use in my day-to-day work.

Is this how your Significant Other dresses every day? If not, I probably don't have a lot of specific concealment advice for her, just a lot of vague stuff and hints I've gleaned from other friends.
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