Guns, Cars, and Tech

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  • Interesting find in my grandfather’s dresser

    This last weekend, my grandparents moved from the home they lived in for 50 years to an assisted living facility near my mother’s house. As a part of that, I got a couple of pieces of furniture that they bought when their house was new. A couple of days later I went to go put clothes in the dresser we got, and I found this:

    image

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    Neat! And it was full, too!

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    I’ve never seen copper shell casings before. I’ve heard of CBs, but i didn’t realize they looked like this:

    image

     

    Neat find. I wouldn’t shoot them out of a semi-auto, which is all I have. (And no, they’re not worth anything. I checked.)

     

  • Pro-tip, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED Edition

    When trying to do a multi-line insert in Notepad++, remember: The keyboard shortcut is ALT-SHIFT-DOWN.

    Doing CRTL-ALT-DOWN is completely different.

  • The damn things keep following me home!

    So, this past Friday, I was kind of depressed.  I think it’s because my birthday was Saturday, and I didn’t have much planned because just about all my friends had already made plans to be out of town or with their families or moving family members from out of town.  Seems to happen every year.  Maybe if I actually tell people more than a week ahead of time, that might be different.

    To rectify this, Naienko decided that we needed to go shopping… specifically at gun stores, electronics stores, and/or book stores.  I tell ya, she abuses me terribly.

    So, at one of the gun shops on the north side of town (I had recently been to most the ones on the south side), I spotted a couple Bersa Thunder 22s.  I think I’ve mentioned that I love my two-tone Bersa Thunder 380 before.  It just feels sight, looks damn cool, and I’m probably most accurate with either it or my XDm compact (strange, I know).  Of course, there’s also the big plus that their pistols are on the inexpensive side while still being dependable.  And… well… the SS version of the Thunder 22 followed me home.

    The 22 is essentially the same gun as the 380 (and the Thunder 32).  According to Bersa’s website, it’s about and ounce lighter and .2″ shorter, but the same length and thickness.  I’m pretty sure that height and weight difference is in the slide, which is noticeably slimmer when put side by side with the 380 version.  This means that, unlike many of the “big name” .22 copies of centerfire guns that have been shrunk a bit, the experience should be as close to the same as possible.  The .22 also differs from the .380 by having bright orange dots painted on the sights instead of the usual white ones.  Like the rest of the smaller Thunder series, the .22 comes with 1 magazine.

     

    Which is which?
    The 22 with its “bigger” 380 sibling below it

     

    I did get a chance to shoot it on Sunday, and I think I’ll keep it.  Unfortunately, due to the nature of the session this past Sunday (mostly “we need to blow off steam”), I didn’t get any good targets to really show how well the gun shoots.  I will say that it was at least as accurate as I am and is a pleasure to shoot.  The orange sights are much easier for me to pick up than the white ones.  I remember reading years ago on the old BersaTalk forum (now apparently dead) that many folks go out and get similar color nail polish to paint over the white dots on the 380 for that reason, and I can see why.  The much lighter .22 rounds mean that there’s none of the sharp recoil bite in the webbing of the hand that many folks complain about with the Bersa .380 and other small .380 pistols.  The magazine also hold 10 rounds instead of the .380’s 7.

    This is a fun little gun.  I’ve seen some folks suggest people who are afraid of larger caliber guns.  I’m not sure about that, but that’s more due to the idea of carrying a .22 for self defense.  I think this would be a great gun to introduce folks to shooting with, since many .22 target pistols are configured significantly different from your standard carry pistol.  I’m going to enjoy it since I’ve started carrying the 380, and .380 ammo is significantly more expensive than .22 (and it wasn’t that long ago that it was impossible to find).

  • Handling problems at unsupervised ranges

    So, this past weekend, I was at a local unsupervised state run range with a few friends to have some fun and blow off some steam.  The range is set up with a 50 yard berm on the left, 100 in the center, and then a 25 on the right.  We had set up on the left so we could use the 50 for the short range stuff, and one of the 100 yard targets for the bigger rifles.

    I was watching one of the guys try my Henry GoldenBoy when I spotted someone walk down range to set up targets on the 25 yard berm!  I immediately tap my buddy on the shoulder and let him know what was up and to cease fire.  I ask my other buddies if they had hear the call to go cold, and they say they had not.  I ask the group next to me, and they had not.

    *sigh*

    I walk over to the guy as he’s walking back to have a little “chat.”  I kept it good natured and explained to him why he should check before wandering down range.  Turned out he figured it wasn’t an issue since we were shooting a good deal to his left and we would have had to really screw up to shoot him.  I agreed, but told him that I’m a bit paranoid about such things.  He understood, and actually came up to us as he was packing up and thank us for not jumping all over him.

    Just a reminder that good folks can do stupid stuff.  Remember that people tend to be there to enjoy themselves.  Safety is important, but so is having a good time.  Of course, had he started shooting while I was down range, I may not have been so friendly with him.

  • AT&T 4G LTE Speeds in Nashville

    Alternate title: Why I’m keeping my Samsung Galaxy S III

    I did mention I bought one, right? It came in yeterday. Should be available in stores June 28th.

    My first test was 19mbps! NINETEEN! I’ve had recent cable speeds slower than that! It averaged out to about 14 after several tests, but it beats the pants of Sprint’s service at a measly ~200k. I love living in the future.

    LEft: Galaxy S III on AT&T. Right: HTC EVO 4G LTE on Sprint

    Like I said in my post about returning the EVO, some people might say it’s not fair to compare AT&T’s 4G network to Sprint’s 3G, but again these are real-world results. I don’t actually care what Sprint’s network is capable of if I can’t actually get that level of service.

  • Bill Whittle on Fast and Furious

  • What size tires does the Dark Knight Batmobile have?

    Freaking HUGE ONES!

    (okay, the answer is 18.5/44×16.5 Interco Super Swamper IROKs)

    Yesterday I took my lunch break to go see the newest Batmobile, called “The Dark Knight Tumbler” and that piddly little bike thingy called the BatPod. It’s neat. Unfortunately, they didn’t let me test drive it.

    Protip: Don’t stand 6 feet away from it when they start it up. Loud does not even begin to describe it.

    Pictures below the fold:
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  • Why YOU should call the cops if you ever display your weapon

    I came across this story this morning, and I’ve got some thoughts about what happened. The reporting is pretty slim, so I could be completely wrong, but here goes.

    “Victim” and “suspect” are being mutual assholes on the highway. “Victim” decides to teach “suspect” a lesson, and gets out of the car to, er, administer that lesson.

    The alleged victim stated he then exited his own vehicle, “to see what the other driver wanted.”

    “Suspect,” who has his two kids in tow, then persuades victim to get back in his car by flashing his Glock.

    At that point Keller reportedly began yelling, cursing and pointed a handgun.

    I imagine the yelling and cursing was “Get back in the fucking car” or “Don’t come any closer, asshole.” Both would be appropriate if “suspect’s” version is accurate:

    Keller stated he “may have been” riding the complainant’s bumper on Memorial Boulevard. He reported the other motorist “locked his brakes” in the road, exited and approached his car. Keller admitted to then showing the other driver he had a gun, but claimed not to have pointed it his direction.

    So that’s why you call the cops if you ever have a defensive gun use. If the guy you may or may not have been tailgating* escalates the situation by forcing your vehicle to a stop and advancing towards you and your children, it’s probably time to put your hand on your gun. The rule is “first to call 911 is the victim.” I suspect Keller didn’t because he was carrying illegally**. The details around where the victim was when Keller showed his gun are important–and missing from the report. If the victim was within door-opening distance and still advancing, presenting the firearm would be appropriate. If he was 40 feet away, it would not.

    If Keller felt he was justified, he should have driven to the nearest gas station and called 911 to report the incident. Instead, the other guy did that and Keller was arrested.

    Cooler heads should have prevailed, and Keller should have made an effort to get away if that was practical. If you carry a gun, you know how a physical confrontation can end. It’s your job to avoid that, no matter how it makes you look in front of your kids.

    *The best thing, of course, is for Keller to not have been tailgating in the first place, but I know people who consider less-than-one-car-length-per-10mph to be tailgating, even during rush hour.

    **Suspect is not in my current database of Tennessee residents with Handgun Carry Permits. He could have just gotten his, but I feel like the reporter would have mentioned that. The article doesn’t mention that Keller was arrested for carrying without a permit, nor what the two counts of reckless endangerment were actually for.

  • Zimmerman re-enactment

    His lawyers posted the video earlier today, however the 650mb download was apparently killing their server.

    They now point you here to see it.

    The rest of the material, including audio interviews with investigators, can be found here.

  • Possible deal alert

    Even though Woot has a rule about not posting deals on actual firearms* (fortunately, we have places like SlickGuns for that), they don’t seem to have any issue with advertising or even selling gun accessories.

    Today’s deal on sport.woot.com is a S&W Micro 90 for $37.99 + $5 shipping.  I haven’t really done any research into this item, so I don’t know how good it is.  Woot (and Amazon) claims that MSRP is right at $100, so I’m guessing it’s better than the stuff you normally see for $40 that quickly falls app art.  I might get one just to support them offering such things.  Remember, Woot changes what they offer daily, so if you want one, I’d go ahead and get it.

    *They used to, but enough folks got their panties in a twist that they were selling those evil, horrible things that they decided to change their policy.