VEERAPPAN: KING OF THE JUNGLE

I came across the story of VEERAPPAN, THE FOREST BRIGAND, THE BANDIT KING, the outlaw bandit who for decades roamed the jungles of remote India poaching elephants and competing with the government for the harvest of Sandlewood. Along the way dispatching hundreds, many government workers and law enforcement, to an early grave.

And I came across this story by another blogger when looking for pictures here http://iaminsearchoflight.blogspot.com/2010/01/great-indian-robin-hood.html who lives in that region and to him VEERAPPAN is more of a hero Robin Hood type. The bloggers name is Stephen Sunny Sheesen and he lives in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, which is one of the states where VEERAPPAN was really King of the Jungle for decades. And I give full credit to Mr. Sheesen for that great title idea.

I like history, and don't think I'm glorifying anyone who would kill a lawman. But his life, and the circumstances of his life, and those who pursued him and those he pursued, are a lot fuzzier in the light of the locale where his life and times took place. Nonetheless, hero or villain, his is a highly interesting story in these days of nothing interesting. You wouldn't think anyone would be able to live the rogue life like this guy did for so long, but it goes to show the standard American Joe like me not thinking about the truly wild and somewhat lawless parts of the world that still exist.

This story comes from a place where the tiger and elephant roam the jungles. The places in India where these exploits took place, in a broad swath of land covering 6,000 km² in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, are hardly the kind of places we hear about everyday, unlike Afghanistan or many obscure places in Africa with strife, suffering, poverty and rampant warfare and violence. I figured places like this existed but frankly, despite being the spouse of a rampant world traveler and somewhat knowledgeable about current international events and different parts of the world.

Killed in 2004, the web has lots of disjointed information without attribution, and of course this is exactly the stuff of legends. But even the most diligent effort by the New York Times leaves a lot of questions about this guy unanswered. For instance, if you live in abject poverty and the government and it's workers do not, is it not unlike the American immigration and Revolution to rebel against a government not of the people? If things get wildly brutal as they go along because there is no uncorrupted justice systems, and the ever present politics, are you as bad morally as a man who is in a so-called "civilized" country doing the same things?

Let me present it this way perhaps, as if I were his defense lawyer. Regardless of what kind of outlaw he became, he never did get justice before a jury of his peers.

We have a jungle area that covers three administrative States, probably set up by some British bureaucrat in India two hundred years ago or so, not taking into account various tribes and local politics. In doing so, as per the caste system of India, those who have get and those who don't have don't get much. So here you have a fellow raised in the traditions of his people, stemming back hundreds if not thousands of years.

And like many parts of the world, the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. Living in the jungle, I suspect there were few if any benefits of any sort coming from the national government of India, and I'm pretty sure there are millions of starving folks in India and well as numerous political, terrorist and Kashmir conflicts that make this tiny corner of India look pretty insignificant to those ruling India, and indeed, to the rest of the world.

I would submit that two circumstances of VEERAPPAN's life bear close examination. First, The apparent spark of VEERAPPAN vs. GOLIATH, the death of his sister, and later his brother, which he attributed to police torture and both setting forth bloodbaths of violence, with the police and government employees mostly on the receiving end of all that. It would be enlightening to have some different perspectives on these events, particularly from the point of view of VEERAPPAN.

Secondly, the circumstances of his death are interesting. On the site above, there is a picture of VEERAPPAN's corpse. Single bullet hole to the forehead, and his lifelong trademark HUGE moustache down to a mere shadow of it's former self. I didn't post that picture here, but if he was killed in a Bonnie and Clyde style ambush, riding in the back of an ambulance as claimed by authorities, why wasn't he riddled with automatic fire? From what I've read about VEERAPPAN life and times, if fired upon, he'd fire back, and he didn't seem the sort to go around without a firearm or two.

His exploits are far more detailed in the available English language news media of that part of the world. He's like a Bonnie and Clyde that got caught once but quickly escaped and then unleashed a brutal homicidal attack on police and some citizens that lasted for decades. And couldn't be caught for the longest time.

One thing is for sure. Whatever Veerappan set out to be, by the mid-eighties had become a homicidal maniac killer, and quickly lost the Robin Hood ingenue he created for himself in the beginning. The New York Times Obit features some wider range on his age, from 50 and 60 at the time of his death, while most Indian media outlets put his age at 53 or so. Likewise, many of the obituary accounts I read in Indian media said he killed his first elephant at 10, whislt the Times say it was age 14. Wiki says he would have been 52.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/magazine/26VEERAPPAN.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

No doubt he did some good for the villagers in his broad territory, hopefully more good than bad. Probably more than the government.

But here's a clip of his story from Wiki. It makes you wonder what the real story is, as there are always two sides to every story, and sometimes more than that.

Veerappan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veerappan

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan

Born
January 18, 1952(1952-01-18)

Died
October 18, 2004

Alias(es)
Veerappan

Occupation
Elephant poacherSandalwood smuggler

Spouse
Muthulakshmi

Children
3

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan (Tamil: கூஸ் முனிசாமி வீரப்பன், Kannada: ಕೂಸ್ ಮುನಿಸ್ವಾಮೀ ವೀರಪ್ಪನ್ ಗೌಂದೆರ್,

January 18, 1952 – October 18, 2004) commonly known as Veerappan, was a notorious dacoit, or robber bandit, of India. He was active for a period of years in a broad swath of land covering 6,000 km² in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. He long defied three state governments and Indian Border security paramilitary forces, maintaining at one point a small army numbering in the hundreds.


He was wanted for killing approximately 184 people,[1] including senior police and forest officials, poaching about 200 elephants, and smuggling ivory worth US$2,600,000 and sandalwood of about 10,000 tonnes worth US$22,000,000. He had a price of Rs. 50 million (Rs. 5 crore or US$1.1 million) on his head, but evaded arrest for 20 years until he was killed by police in 2004.[2]

Early years
Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, alias Veerappan, was born at 08:17 hrs (IST) on January 18, 1952 in Gopinatham village in Karnataka to a family of cattle-grazers. He was commonly known as "Molakai" in his childhood days by the locals.


His gang of forty members indulged in killing and kidnapping, taking revenge[citation needed] for what government officials had done to the local people who lived near the forest. Most of his victims were police, forest officials, informers and movie stars. He felt the police were responsible for the suicides of his sister Mala and brother Arjunan. He was also known for his kidnapping of prominent people for ransoming, starting with a forest official in 1987. He trapped and brutally killed senior Indian Forest Service [IFS] officer Pandillapalli Srinivas on November 10, 1991 in the Namadalli forests of Kollegal taluk in Chamarajanagr district. He also killed Harikrishna IPS, senior police officer, Shakeel Ahmed, along with others on August 14, 1992 near Meenyam of Kollegal taluk by ambushing the police party in a raid.


He married Muthulakshmi, in 1991. He had three daughters Yuvarani,Prabha and another.

Robin Hood image
Veerappan had a Robin Hood-like image as a social bandit among some villagers adjoining his native village Gopinatham.[3] Sympathetic villagers are said to have covered for him and kept him informed of police activity. They also provided food and clothing to the gang. However, the villagers said they helped him out of fear of reprisal, and that Veerappan helped the villagers with money only to protect himself from being captured. Veerappan is known for being ruthless to villagers who provided the police with information.


Special task force
In 1990, the Karnataka government formed a Special Task Force to capture him and put an end to the menace. Soon after, the task force captured several of Veerappan's men. In February 1992, the special task force killed his lieutenant Gurunathan. SI Shakeel Ahmed was single-handedly responsible for Gurunathan's capture. Three months later, Veerappan attacked the Ramapura police station of Kollegal taluk in the Chamarajanagar district, killing several policemen and capturing arms and ammunition. In August 1992, Veerappan laid a trap for SP Harikrishna and SI Shakeel Ahmed and killed them along with four others. In 1993, the task force arrested his wife Muthulakshmi.

Indian actor Dr. Rajkumar was kidnapped by Veerappan in 2000. He was held for more than 100 days before his eventual release.

On February 17, 1996, he ambushed a team of Tamil Nadu STF personnel from a high ground while they were on their patrol vehicle. The police were able to counter attack and called for backup. The ambush which took place in the evening claimed the life of a Police Constable named Selvaraj from Madurai and seriously injured other police officers including Police officer Tamilselvan. By the time the Karnataka police arrived the bandit and his crew had fled.
A little over a year later, on July 12, 1997, he kidnapped nine forest officials at a place called Marapala in the Burude forests of Kollegala taluk, Chamarajanagara district. He made demands for releasing them, including amnesty, but none were met. The hostages were released without being harmed in the last week of August the same year.

On July 30, 2000, Veerappan kidnapped the famed southern Indian film star Rajkumar.[4] This placed the Karnataka government in a political dilemma of whether or not to call in the army. The decision was that to do so would set a poor precedent. Thus, Rajkumar was held for 109 days and was finally released without harm on November 15, 2000. There were allegations by several people that about 500,000,000 rupees were paid to Veerappan for the safe release.[5] A police official later suggested that 300,000,000 rupees ($6.5m) had been paid for his release.[4]

On August 25, 2002, Veerappan abducted H. Nagappa, a former state minister. Nagappa was found dead in the forest three months later. The reward offered by the Karnataka state government was increased to 50,000,000 rupees (US $1.25 million at that time.

Religion
Veerappan attended the Bannari Amman Kovil temple regularly and was known to be a strong devotee to Kali, a Goddess in Hinduism. It is also said that he built a Kali temple. Veerappan belonged to the Vanniar caste. Some people of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which is based on that Vanniar caste, hoisted a half-mast flag of their party on the death of Veerappan.

Death
On October 18, 2004, following a tip-off, Veerappan and his two associates were allegedly killed after being arrested by the Tamil Nadu State Special Task Force, near the village of Papparapatti in Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu.[6] Veerappan's wife claimed that he had been arrested a few days earlier, interrogated and killed by the police (Veerappan had repeatedly threatened, if ever brought to trial, to point a finger at every policeman and politician he had bribed to ensure his three-decade long run from justice).


According to media reports, postmortem photos of Veerappan with a bullet hole above his left eye seemed to contradict the official story that the STF, lying in ambush, stopped the ambulance Veerappan and his gang was traveling in, offered them surrender and gunned them down when someone from inside the van opened fire.


Veerappan was buried in the village of Moolakadu, Tamil Nadu. The police said they did not let the burial take place in his home village in Karnataka, fearing the large crowds that had gathered there. Although the police had planned for a cremation, this was objected to by the relatives of Veerappan suggesting that exhumation would be required if there was ever a subsequent investigation into his death. Thousands of people turned out for the funeral, while others were kept away from the burial ground by heavy security.[7]

Rumors persist that Veerappan may have stashed vast sums of money and treasure, in secret forest caves, which remain undiscovered.[4]

Timeline
Timeline of Veerappan's activities:[8]
1970
Joined a gang of poachers.
1986
Arrested and lodged at Boodipada forest guest house but escaped under mysterious circumstances (reportedly bribed a police officer).
1987
Kidnapped and hacked forest officer Chidambaram. Kidnapped and killed 5 members of a rival gang.
1989
Killed 3 forest personnel of Begur forest range.
1990
Killed 2 police personnel as revenge for killing of 2 members of his gang.
Killed another 13 police officials of Karnataka. The Karnataka government constitutes Special Task Force (STF) to catch Veerappan.
Shot and beheaded Karnataka deputy conservator of forests, Srinivas as revenge for Veerappan's sister Mala's suicide (the victim's head was traced 3 years later)
1992
Attacked a police station in Ramapura, killing thirteen policemen and stealing arms and ammunition. STF killed 2 gang members in retaliation
Trapped STF police official Harikrishna, SI Shakeel Ahmed and 25 constables through a false informant. Killed 29 of the party using hand grenades and bombs.
1993
Blew up a bus of 43 passengers including police and civilians, using a landmine.
Killed 17 policemen of Karnataka special SP Gopal Hosur's party.
Tamil Nadu government deploys Border Security Force (BSF)
Joint operations of BSF and STF arrested 9 gang members and killed 6. Three policemen were killed.
Veerappan requested amnesty. Victim's relatives opposed any government negotiations
1996
Killed a police informer.
Killed another 19 police personnel.
Assassinated police official Tamilselvan and killed a constable as revenge for the suicide of Veerappan's brother Arjunan in police custody.
1997
The gang kidnapped wildlife photographers Senani & Krupakar.
Apparently killed heir apparent 'Baby' Veerappan.
Kidnapped and released another photographer Krupakar.
Kidnapped and executed 9 Karnataka Forest officials from Burude forests.
2000
Kidnapped Kannada film actor Dr. Rajkumar. Released him after 109 days (ransomed).
2002
Kidnapped and allegedly killed former Karnataka minister H. Nagappa. There are other sources, including police of Karnataka who claim that the bullet in the body of the former minister was from a rifle used by the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (possibly the rifle used was stolen from Tamil Nadu task force).
2004
Killed, presumably by Tamil Nadu State Special Task Force members

SIG SAUER MODEL 238: SEEN AGAIN AT THE RANGE

Next to us at the range yesterday was a young couple who had gotten concealed handgun permits and had been trying out various weapons for some weeks now deciding what they liked. They were very nice kids and were wanting some protection from the big city and the darkness that calls itself violent crime.

I was impressed with their rental selection, and he told me they had made their final choice and would be buying their guns today. He had narrowed his choice down between a Glock 19 and a Springfield XD in 9mm, and she was between the Ruger LCP and Sig Sauer P238 in .380.

Both were good shooters, although new and on the slower side, taking great care to learn their routines and practices they had been taught by their CHL teacher. They had been taught well.

I watched as the young lady fired two mags full of head shots into her FBI target at 7 yards with some good speed and excellent control and postitioning. Same with the torso groups the young man was firing.

I keep seeing more and more normal folks at the ranges these days, teaching others to shoot and learning themselves, as I have always done. As always, El Fisho Jr. attracts attention with his good shooting.

I liked the way the P238 feels. It's a nice sized gun, and reminds me of the Llama .380's with 1911 styling in the 70's and 80's. It's really what Colt should have done with their 1911 .380 years ago. It's much quieter and shoots much more accurately than either the Ruger LCP and is a ton more quieter than the Walther PPK/S.

If Sig only made a .22 LR version of the P238, they'd sell a ton of them. Outdoorsman like me would love to have one a P238 in .22, and for those who carry as a defensive weapon, they could have an identical practice weapon with which to train inexpensively in these times of high dollar ammo.

THE 2010 GLOCK 36 IWB CONCEALMENT HOLSTER OF THE YEAR AWARD AND REVIEW: HIGH NOON MR. SOFTY

I realize the title to this post sounds mighty official, and of course, I vest all of the powers and recognition appurtenant to my position as blogger El Fishing Musician, El Fish or El Fisho to my friends, upon the High Noon Holster company for their excellent product. Let me say also that this holster is extremely reasonably priced. Shipped to Texas for $34.95 via UPS.

But I'd pay $100 for it and I'm glad I don't have to pay that much for this great of a holster.

Without going into details of my past, I've legally carried a gun, either as a police officer or a concealed handgun license holder, for going on 30 years. Add another 10 to that for all of my hunting and fishing experiences whilest always carrying some sort of handgun for snakes and such. Mostly when I was a kid I'd carry a lightweight Ruger Bearcat, replete with Mexican made western cowboy holster and loops. But other times I'd be made to carry carry a very large handgun, such as a Ruger Blackhawk .41 Magnum, when a "getting too friendly with people and challenging them" bobcat or gator had been sighted on the large year round flowing creek that ultimately merged with the San Jacinto River about 10 creek miles downstream from where we had a place outside of Houston in deep Montgomery County.

All this gun carrying has left me with distinct ideas of what is comfortable for me, and what works for me. I also to a large degree believe in minimalism in holsters and leather, but at the same time value stability even more.

I want my gun to stay in my holster and my holster to stay where I put it.

Now, I've had many friends recommend these highly complex looking IWB concealment holsters that have these HUGE wings and snap on belt straps and take up a good 5 or 6 inches horizontally across the area under the pants, all in a so-called effort to conceal the gun. I've tried these holsters, and they were not comfortable to me at all. I didn't find them particularly concealable either, as the wings tended to poke out quite a bit if bending or turning.

The High Noon Mr. Softy has a trailing edge under the trigger guard that provide about 2" or so of extra leather on the underside of the barrel side of the gun, and this sort of leather shelf reduces any chance of printing through the pants. Simplicity and function.

And although of course like most handguns it works best with a real gunbelt, a thicker sometimes interior reinforced belt made of double layers of leather sewn and glued together. But the beauty of the Mr. Softy, and to some extent that companies similar holster the Bare Asset, are that they will work with single thickness leather belts of 1 1/2" just as well as with a thicker gunbelt.

I've used department store belts made of single thickness leather but good leather with a bit of stiffness to it, the kind I might wear with jeans or a business casual outfit, and these standard everyday belts work great with the Mr. Softy. Sometimes, comfort is a consideration in concealing a handgun, despite what some experts say. And if it makes you more likely to have that firearm with you if some random violent crime occurs, then it all works out.

So I have have a great deal of favorite holsters I like to wear. I found an Askins Avenger in prime new condition made to fit the Glock Model 19, and it fits perfectly, although I'll mention that since the M19 is longer than the M36, the holster is about 1/2" longer than it could be. Still it conceals very well but works far better with a real gun belt, meaning a double thick piece of hunky belt better to support a firearm.

The Fobus paddle holster and belt holster for the Model 36 are also a joy but both need a good gun belt for stable carry, the belt model moreso than the paddle. But it is quick on and off.

A Tagua leather belt slide is also a frequent holder of this gun. Again, I store fit my M36 into the M19 holster the store had, and it fit just perfect. Tightly held but easily drawn.

Any of these belt holsters are going to be preferred over an IWB holster for comfort, and now that it's getting cooler, and clothes a bit heavier with the occasional jacket, then concealment with a belt holster is easy. But I still usually have the Mr. Softy in the backpack with me, in case temperatures rise and jackets get shed and some concealment is needed.

I've been wearing the Mr. Softy IWB holster I bought used nearly a year ago on a very frequent basis, particularly in the warmer months when clad in Polo or T shirt and shorts/jeans. The Glock 36 .45 ACP single stack just disappears under the regular sized T shirts I like to wear when not concealing a handgun. The only other weapon that carries this easy is any J frame in a Safariland #6 IWB holster.

It inserts easy and quickly into the pants, and the clip tightly holds the holster to the belt for drawning. Reholstering can be done but with a gun like a Glock with no external thumb safety, I prefer to just quickly remove the holsters, reholster the gun then reinsert. Safer. Easier.

Although the Mr. Softy is a straight drop, when wearing a heavier gun belt I have had no problem with it being repositioned in a halfway FBI forward cant and holding that position well. It's a deep riding holster, which is of course why it conceals so well.

One addition I'd like to have is the thinnest possible mag holder incorporated into the front of the holster, which has a reinforced edge for reholstering. No matter what size my body has been, skinny or, er um ah a little beefier, when wearing an IWB holster there is a slight gap at the front of the holster twixt skin and pants. Just enough to hold one extra mag for the Model 36 in the most concealable way possible, attached to the front edge of the holster. I'm telling you High Noon, it's an option.

The service from High Noon, as far as shipping and such, is excellent and speedy with good communication and tracking. Several friends have bought these and really like them as well, and have gone on to purchase other High Noon holsters for other guns, as have I.

I have sent several emails asking which holster might fit a gun not listed in particular selections, and never got replies. I didn't bother to call, but I'll still deal with them, although it seems like someone could be answering emails from repeat customers.

Their products, particularly this one, are very reasonably priced and since the Mr. Softy is a stocking item, order on Monday and have it Thursday or Friday at the latest.

Here's a link to the pages for the Mr. Softy and for High Noon:

http://www.highnoonholsters.com/Product_Line/_Mr_Softy/_mr_softy.html

http://www.highnoonholsters.com/index.html

High Noon has all kinds of holsters for all kinds of guns. I particularly like the holsters for the 1911 types pistols that have skin guards over the hammer area.

Although I have not bought Mr. Softy for a J frame yet, I understand they work well with the J frame revolvers as well.

SMITH AND WESSON MODEL 325PD AIRWEIGHT .45 ACP

No, I haven't bought one yet, but I'm scheming at this time for trading a gun and some somewhat hard to find gun parts for popular used guns I no longer have to a gun dealer friend of mine who can find me one of these in short order as I don't think they are currently made right now. They are of recent manufacture however, having seen several NIB guns on several auction sites for not too bad of prices. But I'd be happier with a more decent price and a lightly used gun in excellent condition.

So before I launch into my current fascination with this gun as a fall, winter and spring carry gun, let me explain a brief history of my me with revovers.

Of course, if you've read any of my posts about the GREAT shooting I've had with my S&W Model 22 Model of 1917 that I've droned on about elsewhere, you know I had long neglected this gun but find it an absolute joy to shoot and it has become highly accurate now that I have practiced somewhat with it. My friend El Bar nicked a coke can at 20 feet on his second shot with it a couple of months ago.

I've long loved the .45 ACP cartridge, carrying one of several Colt Commanders, A Star PD and a Detonics at times as a police officer years ago. I shot competitively with my Glock Model 21 when they first emerged in 1992 for several years, and for nearly 10 years replaced my 1911's as carry gun and frequent shooters, and now I tend to carry a Glock Model 36 in 45 ACP caliber, a single stack, seven shot, subcompact .45 that fits my hand perfectly.

My Glock 36, like the Model 21, has been flawless with my shooting of it. It is slimmer than the other Glocks, and a bit longer in the grip than the subcompact Glock .45 ACPs. For me, damn near the perfect carry gun.

And I've longed loved revolvers. My father's law enforcement days and subsequent prosecutor career led him to believe that revolvers were one of the few guarantees in life. Five or Six shots, Pull Trigger, Goes Boom. Back in his day, the only hi cap 9mm was the Browning Hi Power and later the S&W 59. He was unimpressed with either of thee hi cap 9mm's.

Growing up, we always had some kind of autoloader rifles, pistols and shotguns around, some old and some new. Rifles and pistols. But my earliest pistols were revolvers. An H&R double action 9 shot VERY LOUD .22 revolver and a Ruger Bearcat .22. In addition to guns my dad bought, he and his gun friends from college and law school often traded this and that and found deals for one another for what they were wanting.

So I got to shot an incredible amount of guns coming up of all kinds with my dad and his police, lawyer and fireman friends. We had deer aplenty on several tracts of land around Houston, and he let his buddies hunt and set up feeders and the like out there since we wern't much into deer hunting then. My dad and I liked a good saturday or sunday EARLY morning dove or quail hunt on our places, and some my earlier memories of hunting revolve around hunting on diverse properties we owned in and around Harris county. Plus, he had lots of friends with places near and far on the Gulf Coast and East Texas.

Of course, I always brought fishing gear even in elementary school on these jaunts as I was a fishing fool back in elementary school, but again, that's another story.

My father always favored the .38 Special, particuarly in +P loads in all steel revolvers. He came to like, for carrying on the family places for hogs and snakes and bobcats and the like Ruger Blackhawk in .41 Caliber and a Thompson Contender in .410/.45 Long Colt, and often had a .22 revolver of some sort in his immediate vicinity when carrying one of these big guns.

But his for his official duties and personal protection, he carried (legally, I add) generally a .38 Special of a great variety. He favored 3" Barrel snubbies with larger handgrips, but had favorite Chief's Specials too. And several of the Taurus variety.

So I guess in grained in my head was always this opinion, from my dearest father. And when I was in law enforcement, it ws revolver days. Me with a Python in uniform, a Colt Cobra or HK P7 or Colt Commander off duty. Later, I carried various autos on and off duty and then began to shoot in local police and civilian combat shooting competitions for many years.

I intitially shot these courses with my Python for some years, and with speedloaders and the frequent ammo changes required by many of the courses I shot, I was not at too much of a time disadvantage because I've spent a lot of training time with speedloaders.

But then I fell into the tuned race .45 guns, having a real nice one at one time, with a hair trigger far too dangerous to use a a carry gun, and besides, it was a full size Gold Cup model. I stumbled across one of those radical back leaning race holster rigs for a song at a used holster bin at a gun show, and for $20 and my old police belt I had quite a competition rig.

But then in early the Glock 21 came along, and it shot like a dream compared to any of my 1911's ever. That gun was used for many years in shooting competitions, mostly combat and police type competitions, flawlessly with somewhere near 10,000 rounds though it flawlessly.

I also shot some of these courses with a Browning Hi Power Practical model and an HK P7 later model with the heat guard.

But through it all, revolvers were often my personal carry choice, interspersed with a Beretta PX4 Storm subcompact and a Glock M36. I'm not slow at reloading a revolver under stressful or non-stationary circumstaces through training and some long ago (mis)adventures as an officer, both with speedloaders and with the more likely companion, speed strips. I can reload a revolver, through 30 years of training and experience, damn near as fast as an autoloader shooter, at least in competition where large capacity magazines hold no advantage over revolvers, and although my revolvers don't hold as many rounds as the autoloaders doesn't mean their superior accuracy won't stop bad guys.

But I prefer large caliber guns for stopping power, having seen and worked many police and bad guy shoots over the years. Many. Enough to be on the side of the debate that big bores have more chance of stopping with one or two shot stops in defense situations.

So some time ago when I got to shoot the 325 PD at a local range, I was highly impressed. It was equiped with rubber Hogue or Pachmayr and the recoil was not bad, not much worse really than my huge Model 22 Model of 1917 with Pachmayr Signatures. The 325 PD is an airweight coming in a 21.5 ounces, nearly half of the larger 1917. But far more concealable.

I used to plainclothes carry my Python for many years, both in a Roy Baker pancake and a Jackass Leather Shoulder rig. A large revolver can be concealed well.

So today it brought pangs of desire to see a fellow shooting the Model 325 PD and rekindled that feeling I had recently when I shot the Model 325 PD. I have a gun I wanna trade with a gunsmith dealer friend who is interested in it, and I might have to do some talking and get him to find me a nice 325 PD to do some trading on for some old gun parts and a pistol.

I envision it in some sort of old ultraconcealable Buchheimer mini-pancake or even a Galco Speed Scabbard or perhaps a Bell Charter Oak N frame snubbie belt holster. I actually have a N frame sized snubbie holster, a Buchheimer that just sort of came with a holster trading deal, and I suspect it would fit the 325 PD well. I've got a old Safariland upside down shoulder holster that will fit it as well, again from another trade. The Safariland had to be refurbished on the leather arm strap, but it's good to go now.

So I'm all ready to do some dealing, which is particularly appealing because it could likely involve little if any cash changing hand. I used to buy a lot of extra firing pins and springs from Numrich in the 80's for guns I had then that I no longer do, and there is some pretty cool revolver and auto parts that fit lots of guns in the used market needing repair. My buddy deals in new and used guns, in a small but high volume shop, and has a gunsmith there who has done good work for me.

Here's some stuff I wrote on this coolness of the Model of 1917 gun back earlier this year that reflects just how good of an alternative to a cocked and locked 1911 this gun can be.

THE SMITH AND WESSON MODEL 1917: FEELING THE LOVE

SHOOTING IMPRESSIONS: SMITH AND WESSON MODEL 1917 ...

And there may be a few others on the virtue of the Smith and Wesson line of revolvers shooting the .45 ACP cartidge.

PERFECT TIME AND WEATHER FOR TEXAS FISHING

The weather in these parts is perfect for fishing. I'm going to try to squeeze some creek or small river fishing in this next week. It's a good time to go fishing, as fish are supposedly stocking up on protein for the winter ahead. Or so I've heard. They don't hibernate, of course, but the chain of life in freshwater slows during the late fall and winter, only to come raging back in the spring.

Before I launch into where I might go freshwater fishing over the next few weekends with the family in some sort of country rental cabin fishing locale, let me give this fishing report from my friend the inveterate saltwater fisherman, Terry.

Terry went to do some seminar going down in Corpus for week, and went early and stayed late, taking his kayak. Using only one lure, a Norton Bull Minnow, he landed an incredible amount of fish in two places: Packery Channel and on the Jetties at the Yacht Club harbor in downtown Corpus. Specks mostly with a smattering of redfish with a HUGE red from the channel and some flounder I think.

I'd tell you the color of this highly successful Norton Bull Minnow lure but I'm confused. Terry seems to have told me a combination of several different names, so the name I wrote down when he told me might not be the proper name. Pictures seem to be lacking of some of the full product line everywhere it seems, although I seemed to find one that sorta fit the description. He didn't have it with him when he was telling me the name of it, but he described it and *I think* I may have figured out which one it is.

He fishes it with a jig head, with a rattler inserted in the body of the Bull Minnow. No popping cork.

Terry took two highly successful trips to Packery Channel in his kayak, landing specks and some reds and the HUGE red that pulled his kayak around a bit and then fished on two separate occasions on the downtown jetty, catching specks. He mentioned catching something else, I think a flounder, and I was surprised he didn't catch a mangrove snapper down around the Corpus downtown jetty, as I've caught them there before.

So as of two weeks ago, Corpus had some happening fishing going on in those two locales.

And onto some freshwater river talkin'.

The family needs a fall break, so to speak. We often go to Port A, so we'd like to maybe go out Llano or Mason way.

I don't care where you live in Texas, well, as long as you don't live WAYYY out in certain far West Texas where the draws and "creeks" are mostly dry, where once they flowed strongly and year round, until invasive plant species came west with the horses, cattle and other livestock that were transplanted there in the late 1800's.

I consider San Angelo to be sort of one of the gateways to West Texas, so to speak. So is Junction, further to the south of San Angelo. There's great fishing to be had in both of those places, although I profess a sincere preference for fishing the Llano River anywhere it is located, and therefore Junction is a more favorite locale of mine, whereas Billy Ray prefers San Angelo and has kinfolk and family history ties there.

From Llano to Mason are lots of places where access can be had on the Llano for fishing, although it takes some prior internetting to get in contact with the folks and make arrangements and so on. I've fished at peoples places, which sometimes had deer cabins for rent, on more than one occasion on the Llano.

We like being near a town of maybe 3,000 or so, which guarantees a handful of decent places to eat or some sort of store for the forgotten or the emegency item, and perhaps a county or other museum or sightseeing stuff. There's lots of history all over Texas, and tons of small communities have museums and stuff and are just dying to show you all kinds of cool stuff.

As a firearms enthusiast, and a student of the old west, I'm always amazed to see the impements and tools of daily life, as well as the occasional old "family" gun or knife on display. You just never know what kind of cool stuff you see in small town museums, and it gets you thinking about how spoil't we are in this Electro-Computo-Stereotized day and age we live in.

There are a few gems of public access on this river, one I've found where a boat or kayak can easily be launched as the public area is right on the river where you can park right there next to the river to unload/load your boat. Not really a boat ramp but if you can lift a jonboat or similar small craft right into the water and be fishing in less than a minute.

We and I both prefer to find a cabin somewhere near a more charming small town where El Fisho Jr. and I can fish and Mrs. El Fisho can read and ipod and such. River or creek or small lake, it matters not so long as the place is on the upscale side of decent (I prefer a more decent cabin myself) and we can cook and there are nice facilities and there is some sort of outside balcony or porch.

There are tons of places to go on lakes and rivers and creeks all over Texas. Whereas in the early 2000's it was difficult to find a wide variety of rental properties or cabins on a small/big lake or river/creek, it's far more easy now. Just google cabin and the name of the river and you'll come up with all sorts of websites about rentals in that area. Often the C of C has a link to various cabins as well.

Ask questions about the fishing, of course, and if it's a river look for a property that has a dammed up section or deep holes for some better chances at fishing. Many places come with some sort of rowboat or jonboat, so ask about that too. You might need to rustle up some oars, anchor, and life vests if they don't have them.

If the cabin is actually pretty close to the river we stay near, or in the case of a lake, an elevated cabin with a porch over the lake that you can actually fish from, then that's a nice setup too. A have a small duffle bag with a variety of pretty small rod holders I've gathered cheaply over the years to attach with clamps or stakes to a wide variety of surfaces, and we like to do some live bait and catfish chicken liver fishing if we're fishing at night. I always tie these rods in rod holsters to something with paracord or some good rope. If I'm fishing for catfish, then I might tie the reel and the rod both with several cords to a nice sapling or tree near the river instead of a holder.

I've also used PVC pipe rod holsters and clamped them harmless to trees using zip cords that can easily be cut off when through fishing with no damage to the tree. Often, these are the most study rod holster being thoroughly lashed to a tree, and if you've got your drag set properly, then you're in good shape. Still, when doing any kind of fishing where a stake mounted rod holder is not firmly grounded or where a "Y" shape stick is forced into the ground, keep an eye on that rod if a big old hongrey river catfish hits it

The Neuces River offers great fishing and has some motels and cabins available that are the river.

*TIP: If you plan on doing any fishing with any sort of food like bacon or chicken livers or ANY SORT OF CATFISH STINK BAIT, THE SEMI-SOLID DOUGH BAIT KIND, whatever you do if your fishing off of your porch on or on the bank near the river, DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR TACKLE BOX OPEN where a LARGE RACCOON can jump down right in the middle of your tackle box and grab your open plastic pouch of stink bait and hook himself with a couple of lures at the same time, since said tackle box is open and the stinkbait is laying sorta draped over several open trays of lures with sharp hooks on them. Trust me on this, this is not a good place to be without a sidearm being very close to your hand, with one P'd off raccoon hooked in your tackle box you being in close vicinity.
Just a friendly tip.

So there are lots of ways to spend your money in Texas with Texas small businesses and regular folks with a side business like a cabin rental. By staying in cabins owned by regular folks, who either do it as a business or simply have a few cabins on the family place and rent them out to help pay taxes, there are lots of really nice and picturesque places one can light for a few days of enjoyment and rat race escaping.

To us, it's camping with an upgrade. An isolated river or small lake cabin is better than camping or RV'ing in a State Park, with rules and regulations and all that. With a private cabin rental, close to the water, an outdoor extension cord and a cheap portable work light casting out onto the water and the fishing area can make for some mighty nice night fishing, and you're likely not to be able to do that in the State Park.

So pick that place you've been wanting to go get away from it all. In this economy, it's quite doable, and I've found a willingness in discussions with property owners to be very flexible on discounting their normal rates. Business is down everywhere and folks are spending less money on travel and vacations.

And I'll note that I've found some mighty cool "working sheath knives", fishing gear of all types and handgun holsters in a variety of small town antique, curio, resale and consignment shops. I've got a mighty cool holster and several fishing rods and reels and a very cool "working knife" with a solid blade and a leather covered and stamped handle. Very unique. Bought it out near Uvalde for $2.00 about 30 years ago.

There are still bargains to be had in some of these places, and again, I suspect some serious bargaining can take place on the prices in this economy. Or so I've found and heard. Furniture. Art. Saddles. Tack. Jewelry, photos, spurs, , clothes,boots and just all kinds of items. All sorts of farm implements and things from the olden and not so olden western days for either functional or decorative purposes.

NEED HELP WITH REPLACEMENT SPEAKER FOR FENDER MUSICMASTER BASS AMP

Maybe some Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp (MBA) enthusiast will catch this site on a google search and be able to give me some help. The original speaker in my Musicmaster Bass Amp has been reconed and refurbished so many times as to be rendered fruitless to attempt again, as it was illin' and there was no fixing this time. So said everyone I took it to.

I need a good speaker to play bass at room practice levels. Any recommedations would be very welcome, and links to sellers of them would be even more better. I would prefer new speakers of some brand, any decent brand, that work well with this amp, but would consider an excellent condition used speaker. I'm just curious what speakers work well with this amp for bass applications, or even guitar applications.

So I bought a used 12" guitar speaker made for tube amps by a speaker company in Austin. It was on ebay by someone who had bought it from them and was cheap and ended up sounding great when played with a guitar. It sounds great with guitar, and particularly to me, with single coil guitars like the Strat and the Tele.

I'm not a great bassist but I am when using digital media like garageband or dedicated digital multitrack machines by Fostex and many others, because with the digital, if I can play a phrase or even a measure of a rhythm, I can digitize-electrostereolyze it and cut and past it just like a word document. Repeating it. Changing it.

I can pull off doing a song live or two on the bass in the slow blues rock genre, but that's about it. I'm a bedroom bassist, and have been since age 14 when a brand new Red Fender Musicmaster Bass and Amp came my way as a birthday gift. I was already well into drum set drumming and taking piano lessons, and felt that the bass was the best natural progression for a drummer to learn how his rhythm partner thinks and plays.

So I'm a lot better at theorizing what I'd like a bass part to do than I am being able to play a song length version of it on bass, or guitar for that matter, but I can damn well pull off playing a phrase or a measure or a lick and then play over that with guitar or keyboard. I then add live digital drums to it and the real time playing of the drums pulls together the playing which sometimes can sound sampled.

But I'd like to do a little bass recording with it. It sounds anemic, frankly, at anything above a minimal level with most electric bass playing of any consequence, but I have found it especially nice for recording fretless bass guitar.

I have two fretless basses. Lest you think I'm rich, one, a Rogue with P and J pickups that has a plastic unlined fretboard that is incredibly easy to play for the novice fretless bassist. came on craigslist for $40 delivered to my door. I forget the name of the material that the fretboard is made out of right now, something like ebonite, but it's the same stuff that's on lots of other low and mid range fretless bass guitars like the wonderful Squier Jazz Fretless that's made right now. It's actually quite forgiving for the error prone bassist *raise hand* and the ebonite material seems to make chording without frets much easier.

The other, an SX Jazz copy in beautiful Lake Placid Blue and a rosewood lined fretboard came as a gift via a friend to return a big favor I did for him. He was an old bandmate, a guitar freak, and I had asked him what he thought about the SX line of Fender jazz fretless bass copies being sold by Rondo Music.

He actually already had one, a P bass copy, and loved it, despite having quite a bass and guitar collection of expensive guitars. He said lots of people use them as platforms to build good custom basses, and others have been happy with them stock, save for some string, bridge and tuner changes. So one day, the UPS man brought a present that was this SX fretless Jazz bass sent by my friend, and I have to say, the finish is excellent and the sound is quite jazz bass like, particularly for a $109 guitar.

So I've got a grand total of $45 dollars invested in my fretless bass playing. I have not had much time lately for playing them but look forward to playing them soon in some recording with Billy Ray. Billy Ray, in addition to being a namesake of Stevie Ray (posthumously by me and our friends, anyway) because of his rocking guitar playing, is also quite a good bassist as well, but only has fretted experience.

And the Musicmaster Bass Amp is perfect for recording fretless bass. The tubes are more forgiving than a solid state amp to any minor variation in chording for a player like me, without having to use distortion or reverb to mask the variations as with solid state. I can play the bass direct into the Musicmaster and get a great tone that just gets better, or to a point, the louder the volume goes.

As I've written before, the Musicmaster Bass Amp is much revered these days as a guitar amp. I've known several that had double Musicmaster Bass Amps linked by some kind of DBX gizmo that "electro-stereotyzed" the six string guitar signal between the two amps, and adding a stand alone Fender reverb to this setup that also got stereotyzed between the two amps. It works well, dang well, particularly for recording.

The Musicmaster Bass Amp "breaks up" fairly quick with the guitar, meaning you can get some great Texas blues sounds out of it at fairly reasonable volumes, the kind of. olumes the wife and family can tolerate much easier than the Mesa Boogie .50 Caliber, which now resides with Billy Ray.

So by changing the speaker, the Musicmaster bass amp becomes a great universal guitar amp, particular for recording and home recording. I just need a good bass amp speaker, because Fender no longer makes this speaker and I really don't want to sort among used Fender speakers in search of a keeper.

GARCIA MITCHELL 300 TRADE

THE PICTURES ABOVE SHOW FROM TOP DOWN AS FOLLOWS:

I traded for a pristine version of the reel pictured in the bottom photo, a Garcia Mitchell 300. I couldn't find a great pic of the version of the 300 that has the free spool lever as shown in the bottom photo, so otherwise it looks like the new reel as shown in the Garcia Mitchell advertisement which has a different later model free spool lever.

Though a stroke of luck, a friend emailed several weeks ago to announce he had obtained a NIB (new in box) Garcia Mitchell 300, complete with extra spool, and that it actually appeared unused and NIB. He said he knew I'd be wanting that reel, and bought it just for me. Or rather, to trade with me.

I met my old freind David in the late 80's, as both of us would be hitting the same estate sales and garage sales in all parts of West Houston from Montrose to Rice to West U to Bellaire to Tanglewilde and all sorts of nice neighborhoods in between. We had different tastes in what we were looking for, and were about the same age. I was in law school and he was working as a police officer.

My fishing buddies and I had stumbled upon a garage sale one day, with some nice fly tackle. I ended up with a pristine 9 weight Sears Ted Williams Fly Rod (note to fisherman who like old gear: The Ted Williams brand was reserved for the best of Sears fishing tackle) and a great Pfueger fly reel for $10. We basically did a pick of who got what and I lacked a heavy bass and light to medium saltwater rod and so that was my first pick.

I decided that this was a great way to buy old sturdy tackle for a reasonable price. Sort of being able and having the money to buy all the fishing toys I wanted in my youth, but for a much reduced price. I've always worked on my own lures, rods and reels, particularly cleaning and maintaining reels and seeing how they worked mechanically. I have restored partially one bamboo pier rod of my granfather's, and I'm just lacking the proper sized handle or the repair part to fix his handle, which is leather wrapped and was such good leather despite being over 70 years old it cleaned and restored to near new with very little effort.

So I digress.


My friend had an ulterior motive in excitedly telling me about this Garcia Mitchell 300 that he had, new in the box. Since the mid-90's, Dave has wanted an Garcia Ambassador 5000D reel that I've had and that was in about 95% condition.

He has wanted it bad. I've made him offers on other items of small tackle or .22 rifles that he had but we've never been able to reach common ground on something to pry my hands off my 5000D. He once had a nice copy of a Browning .22 that loads through the stock, and I offered some cash + the 5000D, but he wouldn't hear of it.

I bought the green 5000D (stands for Direct Drive) in the mid-70's when still in high school working at K Mart with my employee discount when my regular red with pearl handgrip Ambassador wasn't cutting the mustard going after largemouth bass in the upper jungles of Lakes Conroe and Livingston.

I used the 5000D for many years for that purpose, but sometime in the early 80's I cleaned it and put it away in it's box where it has remained ever since. I sorta moved away from chasing freshwater large lake bass at that time, moving towards saltwater and freshwater trout. I was not the greatest large reservoir BIG bass fisherman. I could occasionally get onto some sizeable fish, mostly wormfishing, but was much more successful with other kinds of fishing both in big impoundments and in rivers, creeks, small lakes, and any kind of saltwater fishing.



For a time in the mid-70's, the green Ambassador 5000D was THE REEL you saw on every Texas bass lake and in all the tournaments on TV. Back then, my bass lake fishing was limited to Conroe, Livingston and Palestine, and that's what I saw everyone using and after buying one, I saw why. It had the gear muscle to horse bass out of thick cover and had a great drag.

I saw several big time bass fishing tournaments when I was young, and noticed that endorsers for other tackle brands always seemed to have a few of the Green Ambassador 5000D's attached to some rods in their covered rod storage area. Out on the boat would be their endorser gear, but I always suspected that when they were in the backwoods of the jungles of Lakes Conroe and Livingston out of public view, they were using the good stuff like the 5000D.

In the late seventies through the present day, fishing tackle has become big business and the advances in quality of all kinds of fishing equipment, like everything else in the world, has brought about some amazing products. There are so many good makers of spinning and bait casting reels that I can't list them here. During the early boom of the "new" fishing tackle products in the US, Lew Childre came out with some amazing product. Daiwa began selling tackle that was even better than Garcia, in my opinion, as the quality of Garcia began dropping over the years from being one of the best general tackle makers out there to selling stuff that wasn't near as good as the old stuff, with rare exception on some of their baitcasting reels.

As years went by, bait casting reels by other reel makers, notably the Shimano Curado, for me eclipsed both Ambassadors I usually used in freshwater, the red 5000 and the green 5000D reel and so I relegated them to storage and occasional use on fishing expeditions with Billy Ray..



My friend knew I would hardly be able to resist this trade. Over the years he had offered one after another Garcia Abumatic or Garcia Mitchell 300 or another in the Mitchell 300 series as a trade for the 5000D. My friend knows well my intense affection for both the Garcia Abumatic 290 and 170 as well as the family of reels from ultralight to saltwater in the Garcia Mitchell 300 reel range.


And so we did the trade and I'm sure each of us feel much better about our end of the deal. He thought this reel was from the 70's or 80's, but upon checking this website http://www.mitchellreels.net/index.php?option=com_easygallery&act=categories&cid=540&Itemid=72, it seems that this reel is from the time period between 1958/59 (begin serial numbers at 1550000) and 1967/68 (end serial numbers at 7900000. My serial number falls squarely in the 58xxxxx range, so I guess it would be an early to mid 1960's reel in pristine NIB condition.

Another person might covet and collect this reel, knowing it's value will increase, but I plan to use it as intended, to fish. The way I see it, to quote the Matrix, it's the reel's KARMA to go fishing and catch fish. Machines are not alive, of course, but really, how much stuff can I collect and not use?

I have no unfired guns. No unused knives. No unfished rods and reels. I do have a box of lures that my grandfather had that were NIB and some lightly used reels and braided dacron fishing line to load them with that I have set aside for making a display to him, with some pictures of grandpa mixed in to give El Fisho Jr and the Princess.

But I use my stuff and like using my fishing gear. Every now and then, when I pass a garage sale, I see fishing gear and I stop. 90% of the time it's generic stuff or in bad shape, but every now and then there's a deal on a tackle box or rod or reel.



So now that I am the new owner of a brand new 45 year old (give or take) Garcia Mitchell 300 plan to mate it with my Texas made American Rodsmith spinning rod that I won in a charity auction last year. Earlier this year, I had found a later 1980's model Mitchell 300 used that was not made in France to use with this rod, but this new reel mandates that the 1980's Mitchell will be assigned to another rod. The 1980's Mitchell is a great reel, but has a mostly plastic or composite instead of steel case and many interior parts are plastic and not steel or metal.



My first Mitchell 300 has been more or less permanantly mated to a Lew's Speed Stick spinning rod that I got in high school. That reel was purchased new a few years before buying the rod, using lawn mowing money. It's been a great reel and was made for the Lew's rod. I especially like the Lew's spinning reel grip used on the Speed Stick. It covered the foot of the reel in a soft plastic/rubber sleeve, thus making the entire grip the Pachmayr equivolent of a fishing rod handgrip. Comfortable and very slip free. I don't understand why another rod maker has not either bought or adapted this handle design for spinning rods since Lew's stopped using it in the early 1980's.



Here's another website where I got my serial number information from: http://users.skynet.be/mitchell-collectors.org/articles_datingmitchell.html and the home page for the Mitchell Collectors site is here http://users.skynet.be/mitchell-collectors.org/index.html



I figure that if I sold the 5000D on ebay toiday, it could've fetched somewhere between $75 and $150, depending on how motivated a buyer was looking for it. In today's economy, I would have considered myself lucky to get an even $100 off of it but in the late 1990's and early 2000's there is every chance that the 5000D would have brought over $200 in an ebay auction. I would put about the same value on my end of the trade, the Mitchell 300 reel, perhaps more since it is a Second generation reel that is NIB.


Note that the picture from http://www.joeyates.com/zencart/images/Reels/mitchell300.jpg shows a picture of a used reel the same series as the one I got. Except mine is in the box and is new. Notice the selector level for the free-spool feature of the reel does not resemble the selector lever used in later editions of