From the NYPost:
(Previously. Please note that my linking this is more for my own amusement, and should not be taken as an endorsement of the article; while I think it makes a good point or two, I also think it comes close to suffocating itself in the usual entitled whining that seems to characterize far too many (but not all) New Yorkers.)
There’s an interesting obit in today’s NYT for Michael Brown, who passed away on June 11th at 93.
Brown (no relation, AFAIK) was one of the major figures in the “industrial musical”, which I have touched on previously.
More:
If that was all Brown had done, this would still be a pretty interesting obit. But there’s another story: Brown and his wife had a good pot of money, and knew an aspiring writer who was living in New York and having trouble balancing her writing and her job.
So for Christmas of 1956, they gave their friend a present:
…an envelope with her name on it in the branches of their tree.
“I opened it and read: ‘You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.'”
That writer was Harper Lee. And now you know…the rest of the story.
Geoffrey Hawk, 44, the owner of a gun business called “In Case of Emergency,” was showing a semiautomatic .380 handgun and accessories to Krysta Gearhart, local TV station WNEP reported.
But there was a round left in the weapon and during the demonstration the would-be customer took a slug in the thigh, raising the question, are gun shows safe?
Another article quotes the vendor as suggesting that someone chambered a live round while his back was turned, running background checks. Which raises some questions:
But it gets better.
…
This took place in the parking lot, not inside the show itself, and took place late in the day. My guess is that Redacted #2 unloaded his gun before going into the show, and was reloading it as they were leaving. Count the Four Rules violations here.
(And a tip of the Hatlo hat to Guffaw.)
Some advice for those of you who choose to celebrate today:
I didn’t just buy guns at the S&W Collectors Association convention. I also bought some old paper, which I’ve slowly been scanning in.
I thought I’d upload this one, since it touches on two of this blog’s fairly recent obsessions. This dates from 1944: I am not a lawyer, but based on my understanding of copyright law, it is in the public domain unless S&W renewed the copyright in 1972. I am doubtful that they did, but if I receive evidence to the contrary I will remove this.
I have some more in this series if this proves popular, and if I don’t get a DMCA challenge.
(And I apologize for the bleed-through; these were done on fairly thin newsprint. I did try putting some black construction paper behind the pages to see if that would cut the bleed, but it didn’t help as much as I thought it would.)
One of my cow orkers sent me this link. As far as I know, it isn’t proprietary.
Warning note: this site seems to be optimized for Chrome.
Even though it has been widely reported (and I had a busy morning), I can’t let Eli Wallach pass without notice.
This brought a smile to my face:
Edited to add: According to (I know, I know) Wikipedia, he graduated in 1936 with a history degree. Assuming he started in 1932, $30 then is about $520 now. If I’m reading this chart right, a history major today would be paying $4,673 a semester if they were a Texas resident.
Not that I’m grinding an axe or anything…
Headline in the LAT:
Elliot Rodger used knife, hammer, machete in killings, attorney says
But of course what we need are more gun control laws.
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For reasons I can’t fully explain, I’ve wanted a revolver chambered in .45 ACP.
When I went to my first S&WCA convention in Sturbridge, I was able to shoot one at the Smith and Wesson Shooting Sports Center. The gun I rented was a Model 625 JM. (The “JM” is for “Jerry Miculek”, who shoots for the Smith and Wesson factory team. The 625 is the gun he used to fire 12 shots in under three seconds, including a reload.) Model 625 revolvers show up used fairly frequently, and I’ve been tempted by them. But either I’ve not had the ready cash, or haven’t quite been able to overcome my bias against shiny guns. (Also, many of the used ones I’ve seen have these kind of pastel grips, for want of a better description, and those also turn me off.)
I think my affection for the .45 ACP revolver has something to do with being drawn to the oddball and unusual. With most revolver cartridges – your .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .44 Special/Magnum, etc. – the cartridge has a rim around the bottom. When you go to unload your revolver, there’s a little metal piece (“extractor star”) that catches the rim and pushes the cartridge out of the cylinder. With most automatic pistol cartridges – 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP – the cartridge doesn’t have a rim, so there’s nothing for that bit to catch on, and the cartridge remains stuck in the chamber until you push it out with something like a pencil or cleaning rod.
This wasn’t a big deal until World War I. The military couldn’t get 1911 automatic pistols fast enough to supply everyone who needed a sidearm. Their other choice was to issue revolvers, but they didn’t want to deal with the logistics of having both an automatic pistol and a revolver caliber. They wanted revolvers that could easily use the same .45 ACP cartridge that the 1911 used. One of S&W’s engineers invented something called the “moon clip”, which comes in “half” and “full” moon variants. Cartridges snap into cutouts in the clip (a half-moon clip has three cutouts, a full moon clip has six), and then the clip is loaded into the gun. When you go to unload, the extractor star catches the moon clip and pushes it, and the fired cases, out of the gun. Moon clips are basically a primitive form of speedloader. Not that it matters that much in a defensive gun, but they are also a lot cheaper than a speedloader. (Amazon will sell you an eight pack of full moon clips
(Side note: you can also get revolvers and moon clips in 9mm and .40 S&W. There’s also been a trend towards moon clips in some of S&W’s .357 Magnum revolvers.)
Here’s a video from YouTube that explains how moon clips work. And no, I’m not just dropping this here for my own reference.
Model 34-1 with 2″ barrel, next to pre-Model 34 Kit Gun for comparison purposes.
The first trial of Malcolm A. Smith has ended in a mistrial.
Strippers. Always with the strippers. What happened?