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Post by captbart on Jul 11, 2016 14:36:56 GMT -5
EB, No one is "totally prepared". If you think you are, you had better check what you have missed. The ancients had a saying, "As rare a thing as a black swan" meaning something was impossible. Then the British explorers found black swans in Australia so now it means something that could have been foreseen but was not - a "Black Swan Event". In T1, Burt's comment about "...underground G.d d...n monsters" was recognition of a Black Swan event.
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Post by captbart on Mar 23, 2017 9:12:53 GMT -5
"Thats not the first time I've heard someone say the prepared guy dies in a movie, I am not totally prepared, I'll admit that-I do have plans though and they don't involve taking things off others. I also grow my own food now. I think putting yourself at risk just to see if you can is pretty reckless, especially not with a real plan that makes any sense of not dying if you don't do so well on the test. Night of the Shriekers was a great episode, it was a very survivalist Burt episode."
I'm also not totally prepared - I'm finding that due to medical issues as I age, my odds of surviving TEOTWAWKI are going down. I just hope that if it ever comes to it, I can emulate Black Hand Kelly's grand exit. He was done, he knew it but as long as he had a round in the chamber, we was shooting! My kind of guy; apparently he really affected Hiram's outlook on life. After some thought Hiram does take action. Further his descendant, Burt, espouses many of Black Hand Kelly's ideals.
It is amazing to me when I hear my grandkids say something I said to my kids when they were little. You never know how far the ripples of your life will spread.
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Post by captbart on Mar 24, 2017 10:40:42 GMT -5
Real moment: A wildlife guide un a Scandinavian country was taking tourist to see the big brown bears on an island. A grouchy bear started toward a small group and the guide pulled his revolver and fired a warning shot to scare the bear. Didn't work; he empty the revolver into the bear and the bear ate him. Seems that the guide didn't want to harm the bears so he carried a .22 revolver! I guess a .22 noise maker would discourage a curious bear but it obviously wasn't nearly enough for a really ticked off bruin. Further, shooting the bear with that caliber really made it MAD. It roughed up a couple of the other tourist before they managed to get away. I see a couple of takeaways from this story. First: if you are going with a guide into the tall and uncut do NOT assume that the guide knows what the heck he is doing! Just because some clown has a web site and calls himself a guide or an outfitter does not mean he can give you a good trip or even provide for your safety. Do some research and make sure you can play 'you bet your life' with this guy! Second: a .454 Casull or a .460 or .500 Smith makes a LOT more noise than a .22 AND can provide some reasonable deterrence to being eaten by a bear.
Always remember: Mother Nature is NOT your friend - she WILL kill you if you give her a chance and anytime you are not sleeping in bed you are responsible for your own survival!
Just my not so humble opinion of course.
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Post by captbart on Apr 26, 2017 10:36:11 GMT -5
OK, a Reel gun moment. I'm a Big Bang Theory fan. As a retired astro-physicist I understand most of the weird jokes. (Watching with my bride I was explaining one of the inside jokes and her comment was "my God, I married one of THEM") That said I saw a rerun the other day where Leonard takes Penny to a gun range. Penny picked up the Glock, dropped the mag, and racked the slide to very the empty gun. Just what I tell everyone I teach to do first. Then she places the gun on the tabIle, Leonard picks it up and shoots himself in the foot. With the unloaded gun for crying out loud! While I all for people learning how to handle firearms and Leonard's "I've played Grand Theft Auto, I KNOW how to handle a Gatt" state just before he shoots himself is a classic case of being smart doesn't keep you from being STUPID. While I approve the message, even the subtle "empty guns can and do shoot so don't get careless" message it still raised the hackles on the back of my neck that the cleared gun fired.
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Post by captbart on May 3, 2017 11:07:30 GMT -5
Real gun moment: I'd just gotten home, taken off my vest (I dress western, the vest conceals the belt guns) when there was a knock on the door. I quieted the dogs, opened the door and saw a windows salesman. I stepped out talked a minute, said no to the sales pitch and as I turned to go back inside, he noticed the guns and said,"Expecting trouble?" My answer was "no, if I were expecting trouble I'd have a shotgun in my hands." That led to a discussion of why carry and when. Two takeaway points:
1. It took him way too long to see I was carrying - I could tell by his body language when he noticed. 2. Being obviously armed made it really easy to make him accept the "no" to his sales pitch.
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Post by captbart on May 19, 2017 9:54:17 GMT -5
Real gun moment: this one on me! I carry a Ruger .357 in a cross draw holster almost constantly. Going to the restroom I often place the revolver on a shelf to prevent it from being dropped out of the holster. During this trip I left it on the shelf in our RV. I had finished my business, pulled up the jeans, patted the holster to be sure the gun was on my hip, and left. My bride gave me a really bad time (deservedly so) for forgetting my gun.
Moral: If you are carrying a weapon, check for the GUN not the holster! Just because you have the holster does NOT mean you have your weapon.
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Post by Mr.ELBlanco on May 22, 2017 9:25:09 GMT -5
Haha, thats always a fear in the back of my mind- leaving it somewhere. I don't usually remove it in public ever though.
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Post by captbart on Jul 30, 2017 12:17:37 GMT -5
Real Gun Moment: Some years ago I was at the range and was using up some older ammo that had not been stored as well as I thought it should have been stored (from my mother-in-law). It was commercial ammo (not reloads) but one round made a funny sound. I started to fire the next round (revolver shooting) but I decided that something in that last round didn't sound right so I unloaded and checked. That last round was about half way down the barrel! Had I fired again, at best I would have messed up the barrel, at worse? ? I've had a similar incident with a 9mm Makarov but the weak shot didn't fully cycle so I was already checking for the problem. In either case, had I just clear the Makarov or fired the revolver again, it would not have been a good thing. The moral of the story if something doesn't seem right with a firearm, assume it is wrong and STOP shooting until you know everything is OK. You are playing "you bet your life" when using a gun. Second moral is always, always, always us solid, fresh, properly stored ammo as your immediate reaction, self defense load. A gunfight is NOT the time to have a gun or ammo malfunction. Just my not so humble opinion of course.
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Post by captbart on Jul 30, 2017 12:19:30 GMT -5
Real Gun Moment: Some years ago I was at the range and was using up some older ammo that had not been stored as well as I thought it should have been stored (from my mother-in-law). It was commercial ammo (not reloads) but one round made a funny sound. I started to fire the next round (revolver shooting) but I decided that something in that last round didn't sound right so I unloaded and checked. That last round was about half way down the barrel! Had I fired again, at best I would have messed up the barrel, at worse? ? I've had a similar incident with a 9mm Makarov but the weak shot didn't fully cycle the action so I was already checking for the problem as I cleared the jam. In either case, had I just cleared the Makarov or fired the revolver again, it would not have been a good thing. The moral of the story if something doesn't seem right with a firearm, assume it is wrong and STOP shooting until you know everything is OK. You are playing "you bet your life" when using a gun. Second moral is always, always, always us solid, fresh, properly stored ammo as your immediate reaction, self defense load. A gunfight is NOT the time to have a gun or ammo malfunction. Just my not so humble opinion of course.
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Post by Mr.ELBlanco on Aug 9, 2017 19:02:31 GMT -5
Haven't had anything like that happen before, but I can stress make sure you have the right ammo in the gun. Once my dad attempted to fire a 5.45x39mm round in one of my .223 ARs. The rounds are fairly similar if you aren't paying attention and they were both steel case we were shooting so it blended right in, sad part was I didn't even own a 5.45x39 at the time *I do now* but it was mixed in from a previous range day with people. The attempted chambering of the cartridge did not go so well and it became stuck in my chamber to the point a gun smith had to remove it, I broke cleaning rods trying to tap it out.
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Post by captbart on Sept 1, 2017 10:44:42 GMT -5
Haven't had anything like that happen before, but I can stress make sure you have the right ammo in the gun. Once my dad attempted to fire a 5.45x39mm round in one of my .223 ARs. The rounds are fairly similar if you aren't paying attention and they were both steel case we were shooting so it blended right in, sad part was I didn't even own a 5.45x39 at the time *I do now* but it was mixed in from a previous range day with people. The attempted chambering of the cartridge did not go so well and it became stuck in my chamber to the point a gun smith had to remove it, I broke cleaning rods trying to tap it out. Mr. EB, One of the reasons I always, AWAYS, insist on providing the ammo for my weapons, no matter who is shooting them or why. I have fired a friends gun, with hand loads his father had made years before. It was a Model 29, S&W, and it shot .44 Special beautifully. It shot .44 Mag, factory loads well, but shooting the handholds (Why would you want a "hotter than normal" .44 Mag round?) proved problematic. The rounds enlarged one chamber to the point that when I fired it, it shaved lead off of the slug and spit it back hitting my ear. I was using ear plugs instead of sound barriers so the chunk carved a groove in the top of my ear and it bled profusely. Not serious but dramatic. Thing is, it could have been very serious. I get a little relaxed around friends who are gun savvy and this time it, quite literally, it bit me. So, if you are in my neck of the woods, you can shoot my guns but it will be with my ammo!
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Post by captbart on Oct 22, 2017 12:08:35 GMT -5
Real Gun Moment: I was at a gun show and saw a guy selling American made AK-47s. I was not in the market for an AK at that time but I was curious so I asked if I could handle one. The sales guy said "sure" and handed it to me. Much to my embarrassment, I could NOT figure out how to take it off "SAFE". For me at that time, in a gun show with literally thousands of rounds of ammo for sale, I was holding a very expensive club!
The moral of the story is I don't care how your daily carry weapon works, if you don't know how mine works you are at a disadvantage. Tom Horn's escape attempt in 1903 failed and he was hung because he did not know how to take the safety off of a Luger that he had taken from a deputy. A "found" gun is a club if you do not know how the weapon functions and it can get you killed; ask the ghost of Tom Horn. The best way to acquire familiarity with a variety of firearms is to go to a gun show and handle as many different types of weapons as possible. Even one you don't particularly like, you should still at least know how to make it safe to handle.
Just my not so humble opinion of course.
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Post by captbart on Feb 25, 2018 22:37:41 GMT -5
Reel Gun Minute: There is a movie out there called "One for the Money". It is a bit of a chick flick - adventure- murder mystery combination. I rather enjoyed it actually and the gun play is humorous as the heroine learns to use a 5 shot .38. If you want to win points with your lady, try getting this dvd and watching it together. www.amazon.com/One-Money-Katherine-Heigl/dp/B004EPYZRGIt is around $5 but it is fun. My problem with the film is the occasion where the heroine manages to get 7 rounds (sometimes more) out of the 5 shot revolver. So you get the appreciation from your lady, get to watch what is generally a decent movie while you get credit for watching a "chick flick" with her. Finally, she may decide that if Stephanie (heroine) can handle that .38 she wants you to teach her to shoot. A win all the way around.
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Post by captbart on Nov 7, 2018 10:41:24 GMT -5
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Post by captbart on Dec 2, 2018 11:00:48 GMT -5
Real Gun moment: I was at the range shooting cap and ball revolvers. (According to the Feds, these are not "guns" but lots of folks met their maker due to these so I consider them guns). Anyway, I'd reloaded several times, a little time consuming process, and was shooting again. The gun went bang, bang, pop! OOPS! The cap had fired (actually it was quite fragmented) but the chamber still had the ball in it. So I very carefully removed the cylinder (it still had 3 loaded chambers)verified the barrel was clear, reinstalled the cylinder and fired the remaining chambers. I REALLY hate working on loaded guns. Then I tried to figure out what to do about the malfunctioning chamber. I removed the nipple from the chamber and added 20 grains of black powder, reinstalled the nipple, added a cap and fired the chamber clear. Bullet impact was quite low (it was an 1860 Army 44-40 revolver so it was a "weak" load)but everything was clear.
Lesson to be learned: NEVER let yourself get distracted when loading or reloading (applies to cartridge reloading). While getting a double load with BP is almost impossible, it can be very easy with modern powder and quite catastrophic is fired.
If in doubt, empty everything out and start again.
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