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I said: Shotgun, baby!

June 16, 2025

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Recently, I pulled out the shotgun for some range practice. I prefer the manual shotgun over the semi-auto I got for my wife. I, like most people, can shoot the semi-auto much faster, but I prefer the manual. Both have been reliable guns, but I modified the manual a bit. I added an extended tube magazine and matching spring to carry more rounds. I like to keep the sling rubber banded until I need it to organize the safe. Most off-the-rack shotguns marketed for hunters have a plug that prevents you from loading more than three of the possible five rounds. This is considered sporting. But for gun games and self-defense, I want to carry a few more. I replaced the magazine follower with a metal plug; the original was plastic. I thought the fore-end was too slippery and wide, so it went goodbye, and a smaller, grooved grenade-style grip replaced it. The biggest fault with a manual shotgun is the tendency to short-str...

Cowards?

Are snipers Cowards? It is easy to understand that point of view when you or your loved ones are injured or killed by a sniper. It is probably true when it occurs outside of a war zone by a VCA. Let me get this straight from the start, I never served. I never spoke to those that did and served as a sniper. All I ever did was read “American Sniper” as well as “Marine Sniper” about Carlos Hathcock. Frankly, after reading about the training, about the skill, the discipline and the dangers involved, it is hard to believe any military sniper on any side is a coward. While I may not agree with their politics, it is hard to imagine a coward going out day after day to confront his enemy with a price on their head. Read about the sniping duels between the Russians and Germans in WWII and one word that never comes to mind is coward. However, this is America. A place where you can express your view, just as I am expressi...

Cookin' with Kydex

Shortly after the invention of the handgun the early shooters must have asked the question “Where the heck do I put this thing when it’s not in my hand?” Some of the early answers were to tuck it in your belt or pants. Whatever problems arose from that carry mode led to the idea of a holster. This question continues to plague us today. We’re still asking how do I carry this thing when I’m not using it? The word holster seems to have some connection to the Norse hulstr or sheath. Early holsters were little more than leather funnels. Other materials were tried. Witness the classic wooden holster for the broomhandle Mauser. I can’t find the reference, but I remember reading about J.D. O’Meara who carried two triggerless slip guns in specially tailored leather lined pant pockets during the late 1890s and early 1900s. An excellent, but limited reference is John Bianchi’s “Blue Steel and Gun Leather” for a mid-20th century history o...

So What Is it?

I’ll give you hint. Bull's-eye shooters know better than to store this in oak boxes or this happens. It’s a badly corroded lead .22 bullet. I took the photo at 35X with a Scanning Electron Microscope to show the crinkly surface. It’s lead carbonate. It should be metallic lead. . This one is in great shape. I can even see my reflection in the bullet. So what happened to this happy-go-lucky little .22LR? As Ricky use to say “You got some ‘splainin’ to do Lucy!” But I’ll let the Navy conservators do it for me: “The chemical process is: Acetic and some other acids, in the presence of carbon dioxide, (in the air) catalyze with lead to produce lead acetate and lead hydroxide. Lead acetate and lead hydroxide together react with carbon dioxide and form lead carbonate. Lead carbonate then releases acetic acid and the process becomes self-sustaining.” I used to hate those ads for genuine Civil War battlefield bul...

The Cardboard Whisperer

Stay....Stay.....Easy boy!...

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