Looks like Winchester is now making their Ranger Bonded ammo in .38 Special +P, and it seems to be geared specifically towards snub revolvers.
This is akin to Speer’s Gold Dot (GDHP) 135 grain .38 Special +P, which is geared specifically towards snubs.
I wonder how the two compare out.
Meantime, I’m still going to load my snub with either the Remington 158 grain .38 Special +P LSWCHP (R38S12) or Buffalo Bore’s 20/20C. Old school, but well-proven.
Yeah, this is an old video:
But like he said, “here’s hoping the voters remember some of this crap when the mid-term elections roll around later this year.”
Consider this a reminder.
To bring Sasha home we had to drive 2000+ miles to Georgia and back. Spending about 37 hours on the road, we saw many interesting things.
In our drive across the southern Unitied States, if it wasn’t a chain like Dunkin Donuts, then it was always a “palace” that sold donuts. I lost count of how many “Donut Palace” stores we saw, and as far as I could tell they were all locally owned and 100% independent (at least, judging by the storefront and signs).
What makes a palace go with a donut? Why not a Donut Hut? Cruller Castle?
Permit me to introduce you to Sasha:
Sasha is an 8 month old Kuvasz puppy. From AKC’s entry:
Bold, courageous and fearless, the Kuvasz is an unparalleled livestock guard, able to act at just the right moment without instruction and cover rough terrain for long periods of time. One of the larger working breeds, he is well-muscled and agile. His double coat features a coarse guard hair that protects a soft, fine undercoat. The hair ranges from straight to quite wavy, but must always be white.
[…]
Temperament
A spirited dog of keen intelligence, determination, courage and curiosity. Very sensitive to praise and blame. Primarily a one-family dog. Devoted, gentle and patient without being overly demonstrative. Always ready to protect loved ones even to the point of self-sacrifice. Extremely strong instinct to protect children. Polite to accepted strangers, but rather suspicious and very discriminating in making new friends. Unexcelled guard, possessing ability to act on his own initiative at just the right moment without instruction. Bold, courageous and fearless. Untiring ability to work and cover rough terrain for long periods of time. Has good scent and has been used to hunt game.
And… she’s the latest member of our household. 🙂
She’s 65 lbs and growing. She’s a big dog. She’s just what we wanted.
Wife might be a cat person, but she grew up surrounded by dogs. Me, I had some dogs as a kid but I wouldn’t say I was ever a dog person — without a doubt, I’m a cat person. I have not wanted a dog. Wife has wanted us to get a dog since the day we got married, but I’ve always said no. A few years ago I finally gave in and approved getting a dog, but it had to be a useful dog.
You see, I don’t care for most dogs, or to be honest, most dog owners. I don’t like dogs that aren’t well-behaved, and that’s typically the fault of the dog owner. If I’m going to have a dog, it’s going to be well-behaved. I also don’t like drool, “dog smell” (be it the dog or the house smelling like dog), or a dog that views every random stranger as a friend. Thus, just going to the pound was not an option: any old random dog wasn’t going to work. Plus we had to get a puppy because we have cats and don’t need them to become a snack. Furthermore, the dog has to be substantial, because if you can drop kick it, it’s not a dog. 😉 So I gave Wife my criteria and she set about researching breeds.
Oh, one key criterion? Protection and guarding. People say any dog can provide this, but I’ve experienced far too many dogs that are rather useless in this situation. I want a dog that truly groks the notion of protection and guarding.
Wife spent about the past 3 years researching. It’d be a combination of her researching, finding something, floating the idea by me, I’d critique, then we’d get sidetracked by something in life and couldn’t act on it. But I think that all worked out well because if we acted on some of the breeds we considered in the past, I think we’d be unhappy.
A few weeks ago I was looking at the Crazy K Farm’s website (due to muscovy duck information) and found their link to a website about livestock guardian dogs. That sounded good to me, the sort of dog we’d like. I told Wife about the website and she read up on them (some for the second time). The Kuvasz breed seemed to fit exactly what we wanted, so Wife presented the breed to me and I agreed it sounded just right. So we started contacting breeders — it’s not a common breed, so there are only so many breeders. The first breeders we contacted were going to have litters but it wouldn’t be for 18 months. That didn’t thrill us, but we kept looking around and eventually found a breeder with a unique situation!
A puppy had been adopted by a family, but that puppy wasn’t working out with that family. The family already had an elderly dog and the Kuvasz pup was strong-willed and dominating the elderly one… that wasn’t a workable solution for them, so the Kuvasz puppy was returned to the breeder at about 6 months of age. So the breeder was looking for a good home for the girl. We spoke with the breeder at length about this particular puppy and she seemed to be exactly what we wanted. The breed itself has the temperament and characteristics we want, and this particular girl seemed to have all that we wanted. Plus that she was 8 months old gave a few advantages, like she’s already housetrained, crate trained, and hey… she’s big! She’s already a formidable force. But she’s still very much a puppy.
This, of course, is Sasha.
By the way, we didn’t name her. Sasha is the name given to her by her first owners, but we’re keeping it. She responds to the name, and gosh if it doesn’t just fit her well.
So, opportunity presented itself. We did NOT plan on this. I had just come back from California and now had to turn around and drive to Georgia to get a dog.
Yes.
We drove.
2000 mile round trip. 18 hours straight there, 19 hours back (pit stops lasted a little longer on the way home). We drove out, met with her and the breeder for a few hours in the evening. Stayed at a hotel that night, then went back the next morning for another meeting, paperwork, and driving home. So, a lot of driving in a little time.
But it’s been so worth it.
At first, she was in guard mode. She didn’t know us, so she properly kicked in as we expected her too. But after a little time she warmed up to us, but was still wary. While the drive home was long, I think that helped her accept us. She was well-behaved the entire drive back. We would talk to her, pet her through the bars of the crate, and just lavish as much love on her as we could. I am working to establish myself as Alpha, and so far that seems to be setting in. Good thing too, as she’s wicked strong.
We let her trot around the house, on a leash, to explore and get to know her new home. After about an hour we introduced the cats. They aren’t sure what to make of her, other than it’s a big thing with teeth. But they do seem curious of her, just well… understandably on edge. 🙂 Sasha tho, she just wants to play with them. One of the cats got cornered and got very defensive, and Sasha took that as an offer to play. Cat wanted nothing to do with it, but seeing Sasha act as she did I take as a good sign.
As of now? I think she’s accepted us as family. We’ve received kisses. She watches everything we do: when I walked into the kitchen, she kept her eye on me. Movement outside? She was right at the window. I’m sitting on the couch with my MacBook Pro in my lap to type this, and Sasha is resting on the floor at my feet.
I think she likes us. 🙂
She’s receptive to our commands. She has a huge tail wag when she sees “Momma” (Wife). We’re able to hug her, pet her tummy. I also think she’s got a special protection mode going for the kids: when they move about she watches them, and when they come back to her she expects a little hand sniff to say “OK, we’re all fine”. It’s all very good. Even the cats are starting to mellow out in the same room (tho at a safe distance).
I know some people will look at us as crazy for going about things as we did. Picking a particular breed and settling for nothing less than our criteria. Using a breeder (tho this wasn’t like typical breeder purchase… it’s more like a rescue). Driving 2000 miles in 54 hours. But you know what?
You do crazy things when you’re in love. 🙂
Yes… I admit. I’m in love. Maybe I wasn’t a dog person, but Sasha… she’s changed me.
Now, we need to go to PetSmart. Got a few supplies to pick up.
I knew it would happen.
That guy goes shooting a rifle on the University of Texas campus, and it revives the whole “concealed carry on college campus” debate.
Dallas Morning News has an article.
John Woods, a UT graduate student who organized an anti-gun rally last year, disagreed. He said that having more guns on campus wouldn’t improve security.
“If there were multiple students running around with guns, it would’ve made the police’s job a lot harder this morning,” Woods said Tuesday. He was a student at Virginia Tech University in 2007 when a gunman killed 32 people, including Woods’ girlfriend.
And your proof for this is where? Yes, you’ve got a lot of emotional investment in the matter, but when we’re making policy we cannot make it based upon emotion, it must be made on fact and reason.
He said gun backers don’t understand that training to get a concealed carry license is “just eight hours in a classroom and a couple of shots at a target that’s not moving in a range – a very, very controlled situation.”
Actually, it sounds more like you don’t understand what is involved in getting a concealed carry license. I’m licensed by the State of Texas to teach CHL courses, so I know exactly what it takes to get a CHL. But I know what you’re doing — you’re minimizing, you’re trying to paint a particular picture that skews favor towards your stance. What would work better? Presenting facts and irrefutable proof.
Nevertheless, you are correct that the CHL testing doesn’t involve a moving target. But have you seen the testing and qualification courses that go on in some police departments? I think you’d be surprised to find out how many police officers aren’t that great a shot, and how many civilians are.
Katy Bacon, a [Bill] White spokeswoman, said “[Gov. Rick] Perry wants to mandate allowing guns on campus” but White believes “students, parents, administrators, and security personnel should decide.”
We mandate allowing guns everywhere else? What makes a college campus different? As evidenced by this past incident, college campus’ are not surrounded by an impenetrable force-field that keeps evil out and away. Evil can and does happen anywhere. Why should people be denied the ability to defend their lives? These cowards choose “soft targets” because they know they will not meet with (equal or greater, or just any form of) resistance. Why do people want to legislated being at the mercy of these evil cowards? What sense is there in that?
“I can’t think of any way that the situation yesterday would have been improved by additional guns,” said John Woods, a graduate student at UT-Austin who attended Virginia Tech in 2007, when a student gunman killed 32 people, including some of Woods’ friends.
Woods urged state lawmakers in 2009 to block a bill that would have allowed guns on campuses. It failed.
If a gunman is on the loose, and people try to shoot back, missed shots can pose their own danger to bystanders. And the number of guns can make it difficult for police to determine “who are the good guys and who are the bad guys,” Woods said.
He advocates preventive measures, like making mental health services available and putting locks on the insides of classroom doors.
There are mental health services available, and already laws on the books regarding mental health status and gun ownership. They help, but they can only do so much. I mean, this Tooley guy… no records of that. There’s always a first time, and no paper-trail is going to help that sort of crazy.
Locks inside classroom doors? To what end? Rifle rounds aren’t stopped by locks nor flimsy classroom doors. Besides, that implies a strategy of sitting still and becoming a victim. Why are you engaging in that mentality? If someone suggested putting locks on doors as a rape-prevention strategy, they’d be laughed out of the room.
Well… elections are in a month, and the 2011 Texas legislative session is coming. It’s going to be interesting.
There’s this local band called Leannasaurus Rex. Well, they’re not Austin-local, but they’re nearby and not some big national act. But they make good music.
Check this, “If Lovin’ You Is Wrong”:
another good jam: “I Don’t Need No Doctor”:
They’ve got a new album out called “Hot Summer Jams”. It’s a breath of fresh air… real musicians making real music, live, without a net.
The Texas State Rifle Association Political Action Committee was supposed to publish their voter’s guide a few days ago… have yet to see it on the website, but hopefully it will appear soon.
Meantime, my issue of TSRA Sportsman just arrived. Here’s what’s relevant for my districts:
Governor – Rick Perry A+ (endorsement). Bill White – B
Lt. Governor – David Dewhurst A+ (endorsement). Linda Chavez-Thompson ?? (didn’t return questionaire and/or has no voting record; may be hostile to 2A issues).
Attorney General – Greg Abbott A+ (endorsement). Barbara Ann Radnofsky A-
Comptroller – Susan Combs A (endorsement)
Texas Land Commission – Jerry Patterson A+ (endorsement). Hector Uribe ??
Agriculture Commissioner – Todd Staples A (endorsement). Hank Gilbert A-
US House of Representatives, District 25 – Donna Campbell AQ (Q means has no voting record thus the grade is purely based upon questionnaire response). Lloyd Doggett F.
Texas Senate (SD 25) – Jeff Wentworth A+ (endorsement)
Texas House of Representatives (HD 47) – Paul Workman A (endorsement). Valinda Bolton C.
Hopefully the TSRAPAC will have the full guide up soon.
Here’s a link to the NRA PVF’s Texas voter guide.
Updated: Of course, just as I post this, TSRAPAC posts their guide. 🙂
This past weekend I assisted with a Beyond the Basics: Handgun class. This is an intermediate class, and while you didn’t NEED to have a concealed handgun license (CHL) as a prerequisite, certainly some students come that way. Before class begins, we need to ensure everyone is properly outfitted, so if you have gun on you, unload it (so we can do dry-fire drills); if you don’t have a gun on you, get a holster on and put your unloaded gun in it. So to make this happen, we intercept people at the parking lot, take them to the range and get them prepped.
Decided this time to approach things differently, opening with the question: “Do you have a CHL?”
Certainly, some people said no and we went about things as normal.
For those that did have a CHL? the follow-up question was, “so you have your gun on you, right?”
We were met with more than a few “no”, which I followed-up with a disapproving look and “Why not?”
Reasons were numerous. Some people misunderstood policy, so here’s an excerpt of KR Training policy:
In the Parking Lot Before Class
You should arrive with your guns unloaded, stored in a case or a bag.
“Unloaded” means no ammunition anywhere in the gun. Magazine out, chamber empty, hammer down.
Do NOT carry a gun uncased from the parking lot to the classroom or range.
If you have a CHL and you arrive wearing a loaded handgun, leave the gun holstered until directed to unholster by an instructor.
If you were not wearing your carry gun when you drove through our front gate, do NOT put it on and load it in the parking area.
Put it in a case or bag or in your holster and bring it to the classroom unloaded.
So, if you have a CHL and are wearing your gun, that’s not a problem. Just leave it in the holster until we tell you otherwise.
One person arrived carrying, but because he knew he was going to a class, he had loaded up at home with practice ammo. That’s not good. You should continue to carry your “social ammo” at all times. You will be given an opportunity to switch from social to practice ammo before things begin (and if you’re in doubt or we forget, you’re always welcome to ask or speak up).
But the bottom line is this: if you have a CHL, why aren’t you carrying?
The implication there is ALWAYS carrying.
You cannot know when the flag is going to fly. If you are so fortunate as to be able to know or predict that, then you should take the preferred course of action and avoid the situation entirely. But since I’m unable to predict when evil people will do bad things against me, I just have to be prepared — always. YMMV.
To paraphrase Tom Givens, carry your damn gun, people!
“A preliminary injunction is hereby issued, enjoining and prohibiting the city of New Orleans… and all others claiming to act on their behalf from implementing the automated traffic enforcement system or otherwise issuing speeding or red-light tickets using an automated commercial ticketing system,” Judge Irons ordered.
Attorney Edward R. Washington III argued that, as a matter of law, the program was illegal. The city immediately appealed the order on the grounds that it would lose a tremendous amount of money were the system to be shut down.
“Without the nearly $15 million in expected revenue from this source for next year and the remaining $5 million in anticipated fines for 2010, this decision, if upheld, will impact essential city services and could result in layoffs and the closing of city facilities,” City Attorney Nannette Jolivette-Brown said in a statement.
So yeah… red light and speeding cameras…. yeah… they’re all about public safety *wink wink*
Remember, like many things in life, follow the money to find the truth.
Stuff From Hsoi 