See the Snubnose Files post here http://www.snubnose.info/wordpress/self-defense/new-rule-on-guns-in-national-parks-takes-effect-february-22/ for more information.
This has needed to be done for many years.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
THE 3" S&W K FRAME BARREL AND OTHER K FRAME MODIFICATIONS: THE PROJECT MODEL 67
Recently I posted here NEED SNUBNOSE BARREL FOR EITHER A K FRAME M67/15 O... about my search for either a 2.5" or preferably a 3" inch shrouded barrel to put on my Model 67.
I've got some emails out to knowledgeable Smith and Wesson type folks, to try to find out if a Model 65 Ladysmith 3" or Model 13/65 3" barrel (in .357 Magnum) would fit my K frame Model 67, since they are both based upon the same frame.
I'm also hunting pawn shops and gun shows for either the Model 65 Ladysmith or the Model 13/65, either with a 3" barrel. I'd love to have a shrouded barrel, meaning that the ejector rod underneath is shrouded by a metal compartment, as opposed to being exposed as with the Model 15/67/13/65.
The Ladysmith featured a shrouded barrel. In any event, any new barrel will also require a new ejector rod sized for 3" possibly, and those seem to be in some supply. I've been hitting some of the gun and gun parts auction sites, and no luck yet, but I feel certain I will find a 3" barrel that I like.
To again address the question of why I would need such a revolver, since I own several ultralight snubnose revolvers, all I can say is go spend some time shooting a couple of boxes of your normal carry ammo through a 12 ounce or 15 ounce wonder and a similar sized revolver that weighs twice as much and is made of all steel.
Yes, the ultralights are a joy to carry, but go to a combat range where you can run through a variety of targets and situations with your gun, again using your regular ammo. See whether you shoot multiple targets better with a steel gun or an ultra light gun. If you have a chance to shoot your regular ammo through a steel gun with a 3" or 4" barrel, see how much more accurate the longer barreled and heavier gun is compared to the ultralight.
Like a lot of other folks who carry weapons for self defense, I had forgotten just how much better my heavier pistols shot. That 1" extra of barrel that a 3" barrel gun has makes all kinds of difference in accuracy and a few extra ounces in gun weight makes all the difference in the world in recovery time and target acquisition. Trust me on this and try it yourself.
I have found the sights I want to put on my Model 67, and will be ordering them this week. Cylinder and Slides fixed sights that bolt to a the adjustable sight Model 67 configuration. They look like they would be much more snagless, a key for a carry weapon. That and some Pachmayr grips will start the project.
See how target acquisition and accuracy can be affected by gun weight
I've got some emails out to knowledgeable Smith and Wesson type folks, to try to find out if a Model 65 Ladysmith 3" or Model 13/65 3" barrel (in .357 Magnum) would fit my K frame Model 67, since they are both based upon the same frame.
I'm also hunting pawn shops and gun shows for either the Model 65 Ladysmith or the Model 13/65, either with a 3" barrel. I'd love to have a shrouded barrel, meaning that the ejector rod underneath is shrouded by a metal compartment, as opposed to being exposed as with the Model 15/67/13/65.
The Ladysmith featured a shrouded barrel. In any event, any new barrel will also require a new ejector rod sized for 3" possibly, and those seem to be in some supply. I've been hitting some of the gun and gun parts auction sites, and no luck yet, but I feel certain I will find a 3" barrel that I like.
To again address the question of why I would need such a revolver, since I own several ultralight snubnose revolvers, all I can say is go spend some time shooting a couple of boxes of your normal carry ammo through a 12 ounce or 15 ounce wonder and a similar sized revolver that weighs twice as much and is made of all steel.
Yes, the ultralights are a joy to carry, but go to a combat range where you can run through a variety of targets and situations with your gun, again using your regular ammo. See whether you shoot multiple targets better with a steel gun or an ultra light gun. If you have a chance to shoot your regular ammo through a steel gun with a 3" or 4" barrel, see how much more accurate the longer barreled and heavier gun is compared to the ultralight.
Like a lot of other folks who carry weapons for self defense, I had forgotten just how much better my heavier pistols shot. That 1" extra of barrel that a 3" barrel gun has makes all kinds of difference in accuracy and a few extra ounces in gun weight makes all the difference in the world in recovery time and target acquisition. Trust me on this and try it yourself.
I have found the sights I want to put on my Model 67, and will be ordering them this week. Cylinder and Slides fixed sights that bolt to a the adjustable sight Model 67 configuration. They look like they would be much more snagless, a key for a carry weapon. That and some Pachmayr grips will start the project.
See how target acquisition and accuracy can be affected by gun weight
Saturday, February 13, 2010
VACATION SENSATION
Recent events have left the entire El Fisho household in a state of exhaustion. We need a vacation.
Stat.
It won't be much problem agreeing where to go, but it's gotta be soon. Spring Break is near. The past couple of years, we often go toward Port Aransas or Rockport. I actually catch more fish in Port A than in Rockport, and certainly see more huge schools of fish in the morning waves on the beachfront in Port A. There is nothing like the quiet peaceful solitude of surf fishing at sunrise in Port A and watching the sun rise literally through the swelling waves, illuminating schools of fish, dolphin and sometimes sharks. Sunset is equally a great time to fish, and on the right tide I've always caught more fish during sunset. It's harder to spot the schooling fish, absent the rising sun behind the waves. And it's a different type of calm, a resolved calm.
So Port A is always high on our list as a destination. The past couple of spring breaks have been very uncrowded down there, to the point of being in stark contrast to the late 90's and early 2000's where families like us were vastly outnumbered by students. Now it's vice versa.
We went to Alpine, the Big Bend, Fort Davis and it's envirns a couple of years ago for a short Christmas vacation. It was great, as was our previous trip to that area in the 90's via the Amtrak train from Houston. This time, we took the family truckster, and did a lot of sight seeing. We saw baby mountain lions wandering in the Ft. Davis State Park, and at the Observatory there was still lots of snow and ice on the ground at the higher levels.
On our way back home, we took the long way north from the Observatory at about 3 in the afternoon, heading towards I-10 through huge ranches. We spotted huge herds of javalina running fast through the landscape around us, stopping to try to count the waves of hundreds of these fast creatures occasionally visible through the waist high grasses.
Alpine, like many towns, has virtual deer infestation. I means, hundreds of them descend to feed at night. You can catch tons of them, some quite large, feeding at the city golf course and park and the surrounding neighborhoods. Be sure to drive slowly starting at about 4 or 5 p.m. because DEER ARE EVERYWHERE at sunset for a few hours.
One town that has always baffled me is Marfa. Having driven through there fairly thoroughly, taking in the sights and just looking at the homes in town. I know there are quite a few businesses, there, but my friends they are well hidden. We've tried to find places to eat there, and perhaps we didn't ask around enough. But there was seemingly no one around. Maybe you have to be Randy Quaid or Dick Degeurin to know where to go, as they both maintain places there. I remain to be impressed by all I have read, but frankly I guess we have not caught Marfa on the right day.
We enjoyed visiting the Great Wolf Lodge American Waterpark and Hotel in Grapevine last year. An indoor water park, with the attendees limited to booked hotel guests. On certain Sundays and Mondays the place is hardly full, leading to lots of room to enjoy the facility. It's family friendly and the food there is actually decently priced and absolultely excellent. It's worthy of a big free plug from me and here's the site: http://www.greatwolf.com/grapevine/waterpark.
This summer we are going to likely do Sunny Southern California for vacation, and hit Legoland for El Fisho Jr. and then onto LA for The Princess and The Mrs. I've been going to LA enough lately to really be able to show them around with some authority. There's great fishing AND great eating out in Malibu, at several small reasonable places I like especially if you hit it early in the week.
Of course, it'd be nice to slip by the Baked Potato in Studio City on a Monday night to catch native and former Houstonian John Zeigler holding forth on one of his guitar jams like he used to have a Blythe Spirits in Houston the late 80's and early 90's. There's just never no telling what kind of great musical genres, guests and musicians will be hitting the stand. Somewhere between rock and jazz and Texas blues lies the essence of John Zeigler. Catch him if you're ever in L.A. He's worth planning a trip around and is often playing at the Baked Potato, along with lots of heavyweight L.A. music cats you've heard of (if you know much about music for the past 30 years at all).
There are legendary stores of all types and shopping districts in L.A. that interest El Fisho immensely. Local owned legendary fishing gear stores (like those in Florida) with huge selections and great products not likely to be found elsewhere, or often on the internet. There is, of course, Music Store Row, on a small part of Sunset in Hollywood.
There, on two sides of the street, lay hours of manly diversions for guys like Billy Ray and me. Sam Ash. The Sam Ash drumstore across the street. Carvin. Mesa Boogie. Guitar Center. And tons of other cooler, small music shops all over that part of town and just through the Hollywood Hills on Mulholland to Ventura in Sherman Oaks.
Of course, there's the stars and the drive through Beverly Hills and so on and really there are so many beautiful parts of LA and the coast and Southern Cal and it's envirns that it's hard to do it justice even in a week. And of course, we've got kinfolk in Vegas, and the drive from L.A. to Vegas via Barstow and the desert is something everyone should do and see at least one time in their life. I'd like to make that drive again.
So we got lots of places we want to go, and we're certainly ready to do some vacationing.
What about you?
Stat.
It won't be much problem agreeing where to go, but it's gotta be soon. Spring Break is near. The past couple of years, we often go toward Port Aransas or Rockport. I actually catch more fish in Port A than in Rockport, and certainly see more huge schools of fish in the morning waves on the beachfront in Port A. There is nothing like the quiet peaceful solitude of surf fishing at sunrise in Port A and watching the sun rise literally through the swelling waves, illuminating schools of fish, dolphin and sometimes sharks. Sunset is equally a great time to fish, and on the right tide I've always caught more fish during sunset. It's harder to spot the schooling fish, absent the rising sun behind the waves. And it's a different type of calm, a resolved calm.
So Port A is always high on our list as a destination. The past couple of spring breaks have been very uncrowded down there, to the point of being in stark contrast to the late 90's and early 2000's where families like us were vastly outnumbered by students. Now it's vice versa.
We went to Alpine, the Big Bend, Fort Davis and it's envirns a couple of years ago for a short Christmas vacation. It was great, as was our previous trip to that area in the 90's via the Amtrak train from Houston. This time, we took the family truckster, and did a lot of sight seeing. We saw baby mountain lions wandering in the Ft. Davis State Park, and at the Observatory there was still lots of snow and ice on the ground at the higher levels.
On our way back home, we took the long way north from the Observatory at about 3 in the afternoon, heading towards I-10 through huge ranches. We spotted huge herds of javalina running fast through the landscape around us, stopping to try to count the waves of hundreds of these fast creatures occasionally visible through the waist high grasses.
Alpine, like many towns, has virtual deer infestation. I means, hundreds of them descend to feed at night. You can catch tons of them, some quite large, feeding at the city golf course and park and the surrounding neighborhoods. Be sure to drive slowly starting at about 4 or 5 p.m. because DEER ARE EVERYWHERE at sunset for a few hours.
One town that has always baffled me is Marfa. Having driven through there fairly thoroughly, taking in the sights and just looking at the homes in town. I know there are quite a few businesses, there, but my friends they are well hidden. We've tried to find places to eat there, and perhaps we didn't ask around enough. But there was seemingly no one around. Maybe you have to be Randy Quaid or Dick Degeurin to know where to go, as they both maintain places there. I remain to be impressed by all I have read, but frankly I guess we have not caught Marfa on the right day.
We enjoyed visiting the Great Wolf Lodge American Waterpark and Hotel in Grapevine last year. An indoor water park, with the attendees limited to booked hotel guests. On certain Sundays and Mondays the place is hardly full, leading to lots of room to enjoy the facility. It's family friendly and the food there is actually decently priced and absolultely excellent. It's worthy of a big free plug from me and here's the site: http://www.greatwolf.com/grapevine/waterpark.
This summer we are going to likely do Sunny Southern California for vacation, and hit Legoland for El Fisho Jr. and then onto LA for The Princess and The Mrs. I've been going to LA enough lately to really be able to show them around with some authority. There's great fishing AND great eating out in Malibu, at several small reasonable places I like especially if you hit it early in the week.
Of course, it'd be nice to slip by the Baked Potato in Studio City on a Monday night to catch native and former Houstonian John Zeigler holding forth on one of his guitar jams like he used to have a Blythe Spirits in Houston the late 80's and early 90's. There's just never no telling what kind of great musical genres, guests and musicians will be hitting the stand. Somewhere between rock and jazz and Texas blues lies the essence of John Zeigler. Catch him if you're ever in L.A. He's worth planning a trip around and is often playing at the Baked Potato, along with lots of heavyweight L.A. music cats you've heard of (if you know much about music for the past 30 years at all).
There are legendary stores of all types and shopping districts in L.A. that interest El Fisho immensely. Local owned legendary fishing gear stores (like those in Florida) with huge selections and great products not likely to be found elsewhere, or often on the internet. There is, of course, Music Store Row, on a small part of Sunset in Hollywood.
There, on two sides of the street, lay hours of manly diversions for guys like Billy Ray and me. Sam Ash. The Sam Ash drumstore across the street. Carvin. Mesa Boogie. Guitar Center. And tons of other cooler, small music shops all over that part of town and just through the Hollywood Hills on Mulholland to Ventura in Sherman Oaks.
Of course, there's the stars and the drive through Beverly Hills and so on and really there are so many beautiful parts of LA and the coast and Southern Cal and it's envirns that it's hard to do it justice even in a week. And of course, we've got kinfolk in Vegas, and the drive from L.A. to Vegas via Barstow and the desert is something everyone should do and see at least one time in their life. I'd like to make that drive again.
So we got lots of places we want to go, and we're certainly ready to do some vacationing.
What about you?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
LIFE WITHOUT SHEBA
My longtime dog Sheba died this morning, a few months past her fifteenth birthday. By all predictions from numerous learned A&M trained vets in Houston, they said that she likely wouldn't live past seven years, with a likely lifespan of five years, due to an epileptic condition that arose after she was about a year old.
Treated with massive shots of some kind of barbituate, which had to be squirted into her mouth with a water and drug filled syringe during the attack, the attacks came twice a year for the first few years of her life, then the attacks stopped some years ago. She thrived and was a loyal family companion her entire healthy life. She only required medicine when she was having an attack, but again, the docs said that although it was necessary to give her the doses of strong medicine during an attack, that it's use would cause wear and tear on her heart.
Treated with massive shots of some kind of barbituate, which had to be squirted into her mouth with a water and drug filled syringe during the attack, the attacks came twice a year for the first few years of her life, then the attacks stopped some years ago. She thrived and was a loyal family companion her entire healthy life. She only required medicine when she was having an attack, but again, the docs said that although it was necessary to give her the doses of strong medicine during an attack, that it's use would cause wear and tear on her heart.
I had gotten Sheba on a cold and rainy December day, right after Christmas, just over 15 years ago. Turned out to be the then-future-but-as- yet- unmet Mrs. El Fisho's birthday. I had actually wanted to get a dog that year for Christmas, and toured shelters looking for an animal I thought I could get along with.
One morning at work, my secretary came in carrying a bundle of black fur that was a five or six week old Sheba. She had been soaked, and although my secretary had dried her, she looked soaked and traumatized. I held her and we bonded instantly.
My secretary lived outside Houston WAY in the country, on her way to work that day and seen Sheba thrown into a ditch by a car in front of her in some sort of bag. The ditch was, of course, filled to the brim with water from the driving rain, and had not my secretary intervened, Sheba would have likely drowned.
Despite the crowd gathered at my secretaries desk cooing and petting the pretty pup, when I left to go to my office she followed me, leaving behind about ten people. Once in my office, she jumped into my lap, and that was that.
A trip to the vet revealed her age to be 5-6 weeks old and the old A&M vet offered the following possible history, based upon the events that led to my secretary finding her. He guessed that since she had been fixed at too young of an age, that she came from a shelter, because they tend to fix dogs too young at times. He guessed that because she was mostly lab and probably a bit collie that her chewing and puppy hyperactivity led someone who brought the dog home for a family dog thought better of it a few days after Christmas.
No matter, for she was mine now and I was hers. I was single, and had recently decided to swear off dating for awhile until I met someone I absolutely felt was worthy of dating and a long term relationship. That is why I had decided to get a dog some weeks before.
We took a road trip for New Year's Eve a couple of days later, up to Ricky Ray's family place in Hunt County, up past Plano. My good friend Smitty and I put Sheba in the back floorboard of the Honda I owned and off we went to meet Billy Ray and Ricky Ray for an impromptu New Year's party. Billy Ray was then living in Lubbock, and I in Houston, and it was much closer for both of us to meet at Ricky Ray's then to attempt to meet in either Lubbock or Houston.
It was cold up there in North Texas that trip, down into the teens. Sheba and her heavy black hair loved it, and she cavorted over several hundred acres of pasture as we walked Ricky Ray's property line and did some holiday rifle shooting. I'm not much of a hunter, but she was pointing birds on that trip even though she was all of six weeks old.
Soon, I met my future wife, and upon making acquaintance with Sheba, Sheba decided she had a new owner in my wife and daughter (THE PRINCESS) to be. After we got married, and settled in to our new life together, Sheba and my wife's dog became constant companions. Sheba had a special fondness for The Princess and would often sleep cuddled up next to her in bed. Sheba loved her Princess.
A few years later, along came El Fisho Jr. and Sheba once again decided that she had a new owner.
When El Fisho Jr. was a small child, he was given to coming into our bedroom at night and sleeping on a small couch we had in the master bedroom. Sheba would dutifully follow El Fisho Jr. from his room, where she liked to sleep on a small loveseat, and jump up onto the couch in our room with El Fisho Jr. She would wiggle herself under his head and torso so to be his pillowed, positioned so she could look out and keep all hazards away.
Sheba didn't tolerate the other dogs coming near El Fisho Jr. He was her boy, and there would be no discussion about it. The only time she ever growled was when another dog tried to steal her chewy rawhide/pig's ear or tried to get near El Fisho Jr. Her growl quickly deterred the other animals of any thought of playing with HER boy unless the wife and I were around.
Soon after getting married, Mrs. El Fisho discovered that Sheba had a like for butter and other dairy products. Cake batter, sticks of butter, food that has butter in it, pans- bowls-plates-utensils that once touched butter were not safe on the kitchen counter if you left the room for a moment. Sticks of butter would just DISAPPEAR off the counter, wrapper and all, with a large black dog smacking her lips after veritably swallowing the stick whole.
She could jump straight up high enough in the air to see what the neighbors were doing over a six foot backyard cedar fence until she was 10 or so, and was flat out fast when chasing a ball or a squirrel or bird. She was so fast and stealthy that she often did catch birds in her youth.
Sheba always had an ability to predict an approaching storm, particularly thunder storms. The worse the storm was coming, the more freaked out she got. If it was a minor storm she'd just slink around the house scrunched down with her tail between her legs, but if it was a major thunder storm, she would shake and quiver as if she was at the North Pole and it was 50 below 0. This action would begin about two hours before the storm would hit.
Several of her vets said that they theorized this storm sensitivity was because of her medical condition of epilepsy, which is based on electrical issues in the nervous system, that perhaps she had a heightened alertness to electrical energy in the air.
In any event, I could ramble on and on with stories of my life about my loyal friend Sheba. I probably will write more about her, and the joy she brought our family. I'm glad her passing was easy and natural. Two of our previous dogs, also shelter/rescue dogs, had to be put down to end their suffering. Sheba just basically got really tired early this week, and I was with her as she was having a mild stroke.
She was my late night companion, from the first day I had her. I'm a night owl by nature, as was she, particularly in her later years. She cared far more for human company rather than that her fellow dogs and cats. She was a member of the pack always but with an opt-out clause when she didn't want to participate.
I just really miss her, and there is a pallor over the El Fisho household with a void that is bare and open. The other dogs know. The cat knows. We, of course, know. El Fisho Jr. wanted to help me wrap her up for her final resting place, and I think he got some closure out of that. He later said prayers for her and has a lot of questions.
I know she is in a good place right now, surrounded by my family and friends who knew Sheba in life and who have moved to Heaven. I also firmly believe that most dogs are better than most people I've known, and surely our Lord takes care of animals in the afterlife. I just have to believe that.
I miss her.
THE SMITH AND WESSON MODEL 340PD: ULTRALIGHT .357
CREDIT: PROGUNS.COM
This gun is the gun referred to in a response to my last post MORE CONCEALED CARRY REVOLVERS - SNUBNOSE .44'S by a great blogger named BLACK INK who has a blog called STEALTH where in the below post he (I presume) deals with
THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE'S ANTI DEATH PENALTY AGENDA REDUCES IT'S CREDIBILITY ON THE ISSUE TO THAT OF AN EDITORIAL RAG.
BLACK INK is a far more erudite and cutting edge writer than I. We talk about different types of topics on our blogs. His is in my blogroll, because I like to read him regularly.
BLACK INK indicates he owns and is extremely satisfied with the above-pictured pistol. He shows excellent taste in a fine self defense pistol. As an aside, I don't know if BLACK INK is an outdoorsman, but this is also the ideal low profile outdoor activity pistol for snake and critter protection. A couple of rounds of snake shot followed by some solid nose bullets takes care of everything from snakes to small gators or wild hogs.
The 340PD is an amazing weapon. It weighs in at 12 oz empty, and is a five shooter J frame of the Centennial design. Why is this weapon amazing? Well, there are several reasons.
HAMMERLESS DESIGN: This hammerless design (actually it has an internal hammer) is the gold standard for a concealment handgun design. It can be carried and more importantly, drawn from a coat or pant pocket if the need arises, and likewise doesn't snag or print as much as a external hammer gun does for belt or IWB carry. It is ideal for winter carry in a jacket pocket or pants pocket, and that's recommended with a nice pocket holster.
RELIABLE: Smith has been making the firing mechanism of this particular gun for about a half century. This DAO action has stood the test of time.
LIGHT WEIGHT: Obviously, it's amazing. You ARE NOT going to find a more RELIABLE GUN that weighs less than this gun.
SAFETY: The hammerless design and the DAO trigger combine to make a very safe gun and one that you feel comfortable carrying around your loved ones with a high safety factor. Snubnoses with external hammers can accidental discharge upon careless reholstering, particularly in IWB holsters. Or can accidentally discharge when a hammer catches on a pocket. This revolver has no external hammer.
AESTETICS: I like the barrel design, it's flattened and has a nice front sight, particularly the hi-vis models. I question the need for such a tall front sight, absent an actual rear sight of some sort (instead of a groove) and one of the few suggestions I might make for change would be a nice fixed rear sight like the one pictured on the Night Guard series made by Cylinder and Slide. But as it is, it's fine system even with the minimalist rear sight that it has
I would also go with a bit longer of a grip, just enough to provide a purchase for the three fingers of my shooting grip handhold. The model of this gun that I shot was clad in the nice rubber boot grip variety, which left the bottom inch or so of my main shooting hand little finger dangling with no support. Where concealability is paramount, use of these grips is great and recommended. Remember, A GUN is better than NO GUn.
But given my druthers, I'd like just a shade longer grip. No matter there. That's just personal preferance. This gun, and the hammerless ones like it in .38 Special +P, according to a blog post I saw somewhere, either are the biggest or among the biggest selling guns of all time. Reliable. Accurate (at the range intended). Safe. Easy to master. Five almost 100% shots.
As any reader of this blog knows, I'm a big snubnose fan. I own several. This is one I'd like to own, and although it's not on the buy/want list at the present time, if a deal presented itself on one, well, one never knows what might happen when a deal occurs.
I've had a hankering for a gun similar to this, except made out of all steel. The Model 40, which has a grip safety and is chambered for .38 Special +P. I generally only carry and shoot .38 Special +P in revolvers rated for .357 Magnum as far as any defensive carry goes. My LE days showed me in several shoots I saw that the .357 Magnum is a penetrating son of a gun. The .38 Special +P, from all the studies I read back in the day, was doing better at manstopping than all but the .45 ACP caliber. The .38 Special +P had the advantage of some limited increased barricade penetration ability over the .45 Auto, as well as a flatter trajectory over the .45 ACP for longer range shooting.
So to me, if I'm gonna carry a revolver rated at .357 Magnum, I'll likely be carrying 38 Special +P in it. I tend to want a bit heavier revolver if I am going to be shooting heavy .38 Special +P or .357 Magnum ammo. I realize the concept of owning self defense handgun that might be a handful due to it's light weight but carried because it is the largest handgun that will be concealable in hot climes like Texas.
So the more I look at this 340PD, the more I like it. I'm going to have to shoot the one my "friend's wife" owns. He sure seemed to like shooting it a lot for a gun that was his wife's.
And Smith and Wesson began making the "Safety Hammerless" design way back in the 1890's. That's over a hundred years of making hammerless pocket pistols. My father owned a specimen of one of these pistols made in 1893, chambered in .38 caliber (not .38 special). A friend of his loaded him some JHP loads to carry, loaded at standard pressure and the like, and he carried that as his carry weapon for many years. Old schooling it with a top-break Safety Hammerless S&W that was made before my father's father was born.
Here's a review by the folks at the online magazine GUNBLAST about this basic gun, although the model number is different. http://www.gunblast.com/SW-340MP.htm
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
MORE CONCEALED CARRY REVOLVERS - SNUBNOSE .44'S
The above guns are (top) The Smith and Wesson Model 396 Night Guard, a five shot .44 special. Underneath it is the venerable Charter Arms Bulldog, this one with a 3" barrel and a bobbed hammer for DAO.
At the Air Marshal link below, I discussed some of the merits which I believe in regarding large bullets that travel slowly and expand significantly to prevent overpenetration of the intended target.
Of course, there are many schools of thought on caliber vs. bullet size vs. speed vs. bullet type. I'm no expert, but I've investigated and studied numerous police, bad guy, homicidal, suicidal and accidental shootings. And although even the lowly .25 auto and .22 are quite deadly in the right spot and/or in the right hands ON the right victim, it seems that shootings with larger calibers more often result in one stop self defense shootings.
While the concerns of bullet over penetration regard planes here at FEDERAL AIR MARSHALS, the same concerns apply to most self defense situations in America. Whether at home or in the car or out in public, the protection of the general public is more important than the shooters personal safety. "No innocents get hurt", should be the credo of the self defense shooter.
I just think that common sense and what I know about physics and bullet behavior tells me that a top contender for the perfect home defense gun, behind the 12 gauge shotgun, is a .44 special or a similar (.45 auto or long colt) revolver. If loaded with one of the newer self defense loads featuring reduced recoil large high expanding hollow point bullets, you reduce the dangers of your bullet going into another room of your home or even outside of your home. The goal is for the bullet to stay in the target.
I have said that I owned two Charter Arms .38 revolvers in the early 1980's that I was not satisfied with. This is true. However, I've always been impressed with the Pathfinder .22 pistols they made back then as well as the .44 Bulldog. Just after I wrote the post linked above about Air Marshals, I ran into a friend, a member of the constabulary, who had just gotten a good deal on a Bulldog.
I haven't seen it yet, but my friend said he'd been wanting one for 25 years. My friend is a meat and potatoes big bore pistol man. He's carried as his duty weapon a Glock 21 since 1992, when he traded in his 1911A1 for the Model 21. But he's wanted a Bulldog for off duty for years, and now has one. I can't wait to see it.
I myself would like to check out one of the Night Guard Model 396 in .44 Special. A five shooter, it's got to be about the same breadth as a Colt D frame or six shot Smith. It's harder to find stats online as to revolver width than it is for semi-autos. I have not yet seen one in person but I am ready to be impressed, based upon what I have seen and heard.
Most of the Night Guard series, which are in a variety of calibers, are six shooters. This is particularly true of the big bore calibers. I'm glad they are making at least one five shot in .44 special.
Here's the specs for the Model 396:
SKU: 163423
Model: 396
Caliber: .44SP
Capacity: 5 Rounds
Barrel Length: 2 1/2"
Front Sight: XS® Sight 24/7 Standard Dot Tritium Sights
Rear Sight: Cylinder & Slide Extreme Duty Fixed
Overall Length: 7 3/8"
Weight: 24.2 oz.
Grip: Pachmayr Compac Custom
Material: Scandium Alloy Frame/Stainless PVD Cylinder
Finish: Matte
It's a super nice gun with very nice sights. It's a bit heavier than the Bulldog, but I'm guessing that weight might come in handy when shooting it. The grips also look good and like they are large enough to allow a full hand purchase of the grip. Although I've been hankering for a revolver with a 3" barrel, this 2.5" might be the ticket.
For years and years, the .44 Special was a top law enforcement and personal defense caliber in this country. I've always liked it's recoil in a revolver, as compared to magnum loads of the .44 and .41.
And of course, the .44 Special and it's breathren, the .44-40, were the favored caliber of bluesmen in Texas and the rest of the south. Witness the lyrics from this blues standard .44 below. I used to play this song with a band I drummed for, and always thought it a soundtrack to the often turbulent old time bluesman's life.
Well I walked all night long, with my .44 in my hand (2x)
Now I was looking for my woman, found her with another man
Well I wore my .44 so long, Lord it made my shoulder sore (2x)
After I do what I want to, ain't gonna wear my .44 no more
Now I heard my baby say, she heard that 44 whistle blow (2x)
Lord it sounds like, ain't gonna blow that whistle no more
Now I got a little cabin, and it's number 44 (2x)
Lord I wake up every morning, the wolf be scratching on my door
Of all the versions of the song that have been done, and they are legion, Howling Wolf and Johnny Winter's remain my favorite. I appreciate the works of those who came before and inspired them, often playing their blues on acoustic guitars unaccompanied by anyone. And the stories that are the blues and those who played it in the last century are sometimes sad ones, doused in alcohol and escapades and ending badly in violence and gunplay. And often, those guns were .44's or .44-40's.
Read more about the song here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-Four_(song)
SLAMPO AND THE GOVERNOR
I read Slampo's blog often. He's funny and he comes from the same town as I do (although it ain't by far the town he and I grew up in!) and we share many political insights and observations. He's far more astute than I am (like Seinfeld and Twain and other observers of human behavior, he "sees" things in ordinary life that need commentary that most of us see but do not put 2 +2 together) and he has a very quick wit. Or perhaps he has a very slow wit and is good at saving up those slow witty thoughts and compiling them in posts.
So go here, to be highly amused and educated at the same time regarding the Democratic candidate debates this week "watched by perhaps dozens of voters across Texas". http://slamposplace.blogspot.com/2010/02/shami-white-sleepy-time-with-mexican.html
Slampo hits some other funny high notes in his review regarding comments by hair products magnate and Quaker/Muslim candidate Farouk Shami, noting that one should be able to at least pronounce moratorium before one wants one on executions. Slampo also opines regarding the, and the quite unusual "day without sunshine" quote by Shami here:
"The one indisputable Shami-esque moment came when the hair-care magnate, in answering some question on border control, said––and we believe he was grinning wildly when he did––"Without Mexicans it would be like a day without sunshine." (By which he meant, if we can interpret: "A day without Mexicans--that is, people from Mexico, as opposed to Mexican Americans--is like a day without cheap, easily exploitable labor.")"
My mom just loves Bill White. She's just ready for him to go on and run against Obama and just forget all this foolishness about being Governor. She's lived in Houston sixty years, since moving there from East Texas with my father as soon as high school and the military would let them. And they never looked back to East Texas as a place to live, once living in Houston. Like many others from East Texas, they became Houston. And for several decades, Houston was them.
And out of all of the mayors, good and bad, that Houston has had since the folks moved there, she just loves her some Bill White and thinks he is the first good mayor Houston has had, probably since Fred Hofeinz.
It's unfortunate that a guy like Bill White gets term limited from his mayoral spot, where at least my mom thinks he was doing some good.
Things need changing in this state, drastically in some regards. Although I agree with a lot of what Perry has done the last decade, our educational systems are in deep need of overhaul and massive cash infusion. Our children are our most precious asset and we're paying teachers nothing. They need to be making double what they are making, and the testing laws changed to allow schools to teach and not test. Montessori does, and quite well. My youngest is not even being taught how to write cursively, because that time is needed for TAKS test practice.
Our criminal justice system is holding the line and despite the problems inherent in policing and incarcerating mankind, we do a damn good job in this state with the dedication of thousands who deal with the scum for the rest of us.
We've got other problems, Lord knows. So does everywhere else. All things considered, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
If I could live anywhere in the State, I'd likely want to be living my days in Port Aransas near the beach with a small cottage up in Central or East Texas somewheres so that I'd have a permanent retreat from the beach and a hurricane hideaway where family photos and the like could be kept, safe from the always possibility of raging waters.
So go here, to be highly amused and educated at the same time regarding the Democratic candidate debates this week "watched by perhaps dozens of voters across Texas". http://slamposplace.blogspot.com/2010/02/shami-white-sleepy-time-with-mexican.html
Slampo hits some other funny high notes in his review regarding comments by hair products magnate and Quaker/Muslim candidate Farouk Shami, noting that one should be able to at least pronounce moratorium before one wants one on executions. Slampo also opines regarding the, and the quite unusual "day without sunshine" quote by Shami here:
"The one indisputable Shami-esque moment came when the hair-care magnate, in answering some question on border control, said––and we believe he was grinning wildly when he did––"Without Mexicans it would be like a day without sunshine." (By which he meant, if we can interpret: "A day without Mexicans--that is, people from Mexico, as opposed to Mexican Americans--is like a day without cheap, easily exploitable labor.")"
Slampo is a funny boy.
In any event, read the posts at his site for the past couple of months on the Governor's race, starting with this most excellent review of the debate this week between the shiny-coiffed long shot Farouk Shami and former Houston mayor Bill White.My mom just loves Bill White. She's just ready for him to go on and run against Obama and just forget all this foolishness about being Governor. She's lived in Houston sixty years, since moving there from East Texas with my father as soon as high school and the military would let them. And they never looked back to East Texas as a place to live, once living in Houston. Like many others from East Texas, they became Houston. And for several decades, Houston was them.
And out of all of the mayors, good and bad, that Houston has had since the folks moved there, she just loves her some Bill White and thinks he is the first good mayor Houston has had, probably since Fred Hofeinz.
It's unfortunate that a guy like Bill White gets term limited from his mayoral spot, where at least my mom thinks he was doing some good.
Things need changing in this state, drastically in some regards. Although I agree with a lot of what Perry has done the last decade, our educational systems are in deep need of overhaul and massive cash infusion. Our children are our most precious asset and we're paying teachers nothing. They need to be making double what they are making, and the testing laws changed to allow schools to teach and not test. Montessori does, and quite well. My youngest is not even being taught how to write cursively, because that time is needed for TAKS test practice.
Our criminal justice system is holding the line and despite the problems inherent in policing and incarcerating mankind, we do a damn good job in this state with the dedication of thousands who deal with the scum for the rest of us.
We've got other problems, Lord knows. So does everywhere else. All things considered, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
If I could live anywhere in the State, I'd likely want to be living my days in Port Aransas near the beach with a small cottage up in Central or East Texas somewheres so that I'd have a permanent retreat from the beach and a hurricane hideaway where family photos and the like could be kept, safe from the always possibility of raging waters.
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