Author: oddball

You know you’ve been busy when you manage to get your hands on a Sig p365 for a couple weeks and you haven’t managed to get to the $#%^* range.

I promise I’m not dead, and there will be content.

I sure you’ve already heard of the shooting at the Waffle House near me.

And by near, I mean “the cops knocked on my door in the manhunt” near.

Funny thing, though, I read the next day that the police were instructing my neighbors to lock their doors and stay inside, for their safety.  I’ve talked to one lady who actually had her house searched.

Me?  I think the officer heard me tell the wife “it’s ok, it’s a cop” before unlocking the door.  He then saw me with a pistol on my hip, and the wife behind me holding a bo staff bigger than she is.

The first words out of his mouth were “So… I’m guessing you’ve seen the news…” and instructed me to remember to call them if I saw anything.

I guess he figured that he would have already heard if the guy chose my house for shelter that night, and the rest was redundant.

At a martial arts seminar this weekend, I heard a version of “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” that I hadn’t heard before: “to go fast, you must first master slow.”

Considering it came from a guy that studied under Bruce Lee, has been teaching for decades, is in his 80’s, and could probably destroy me before I knew what happened, I’m going to believe him.

I need help.

Does this count as gun porn?

A couple weeks ago, I was reminded while visiting a friend the importance of having someone else watching what you’re doing.  He was getting ready to take a class that included some disarm, and other hand to hand techniques.  This particular class was an advanced class, and he already had a clue what they were going to go over.  I asked him to show me some of the stuff, since 1. I was curious, and 2. I have a fairly considerable background in martial arts.

We went over what he already knew.  There were a few spots where he was not exactly doing something right, and we worked on them.  With other things, just him talking through what was going on helped him out.  Of course, there was also pure and simple repetition that helped.

While we didn’t get a chance to go to the range this time around, we have in the past.  He is, by far, a better shooter than I am.  I think every time that we went, he’s given me pointers.  It’s usually been things like “shift your off hand a bit,” or “shift your balance a bit.”

These things are often difficult for you to figure out on your own.  Even if you do video it, and actually spot issues, you’re probably not in a position where you can practice the improved techniques immediately.  Often times, we feel like we’re fast/powerful/in good form when we’re not.  Having someone else that knows what to look for can instantly tell you what to improve.

Of course, a trainer is going to be the best at this (that’s their job!), but a friend that is at least roughly as good as you are can be a very useful training aid.

So, my wife’s sister has a bit of a fear of knives.  Somewhere between “healthy respect for,” and a full on phobia.  Normally, if she’s not surprised with it, she can keep it under control.  Not being a jerk, I try to behave and not freak her out.  There have been a few times that I haven’t been paying attention, pulled out my pocket knife, snapped it open to open something, and made her jump.

I was doing pretty well this Christmas.  In part because of the the new Spyderco Manix 2 that my dad gave me this year.  One of the benefits of the ball bearing lock used in that knife is that you can open in a lot quieter than you can something like my Endura that is under spring tension.  I don’t think I made her jump once!

Then I opened a present to my from her father… a Woodsman’s Pal.

I opened it up and heard her exclaim “ahhh! Keep that over there!”

oops.

My dad and I have a tradition of shopping for each others Christmas presents.  It’s easier to just say “you have x amount of money, what do you want?” than trying to guess.  This year, I decided that my gift from him would be a Spyderco Manix 2.

I’ve been interested in Benchmade’s Axis lock for a while, and carried either a Spyderco Endura or Delica for years.  For whatever reason, Benchmade’s Griptilian just hasn’t grabbed me.  The Manix 2 basically has Spyderco’s take on the Axis lock, but has Spyderco’s signature look and feel.  I’ve handled one in the past, but wasn’t able to purchase it at the time.

So, I had my dad order me one.  And this guy showed up on my door a few days later.

I played with it for a little while, and something just didn’t feel right.  I finally figured out that I had accidentally had him order the “lightweight” version of the knife.  They made it lightweight primarily by removing all the metal that they could.  They’ve managed to cut the knife down from 5oz to 3oz.  This savings is almost entirely in the handle (the metal of the blade is also different, which I assume is done for weight reasons), which means the balance feels off.  The all plastic handle also just feels cheap.  I’m sure it’s up to abuse, but it just doesn’t feel like it.

Fortunately, the order was through Amazon, so, after calling my dad, we set up a return and ordered the right one.  and this guy showed up today.

This one feels a lot better.  I don’t think it’s purely the weight, since my standard EDC Endura weighs in at less than 4oz.  I handed the two knives to my wife (very much not a knife person), and she told me that the lightweight one felt like crap and I should get rid of it.

I will say that I like the “Volcano” grip pattern on the lightweight knife over the generic rough texture on the heavier knife.  That said, the lightweight one is definitely going back.

Interestingly, the lightweight actually has more material on the spine.  I’m guessing it’s needed to provided extra structural support.

Ruger Blackhawk in .30carbine and a NAA mini-revolver in .22lr.

If you say that something is bad because there’s a *chance* that you might flag yourself, and then go on to advocate appendix carry?

Yeah… don’t expect me to take you seriously.

(also, oh hey! I’m not dead!)