Archive for the ‘Guns’ Category
Previews of coming attractions.
Friday, September 18th, 2026Travel notes: Springfield, MO.
Friday, September 18th, 2026Mike the Musicologist and I were in the middle of a used bookstore in Springfield, Missouri, browsing the shelves. MtM came up to me and said “Let’s go.” in that tone of voice. You know the one I’m talking about: not mean, not angry, but that tone of voice that tells you “Some s–t has gone down and we need to leave right now.”
He told me in the parking lot as we were heading to the car. It was in a Signal group chat we both belong to, but I hadn’t been looking at my phone. It seems to me like we spent a couple of hours (but it may not have been that long) in the cafe at a Barnes and Noble making calls to other people and trying to figure out next steps.
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We had dinner with Lawrence and some other mutual friends of ours and Andrew’s on Monday night, the night we got back to Austin. I remember thinking to myself, “If ever there was an appropriate time for the ‘Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?’ joke, this would be it.” Then Lawrence walked in and made that joke.
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I’ve been running flat out for the past couple of days. I got up Tuesday morning, after a short sleep, to find out that I had to deal with an Internet outage (that Spectrum didn’t fix until Wednesday morning) and also with our trash. I paid someone to deal with the trash so I didn’t have to deal with it when I got back. They failed. Enough said.
So this is really my first chance to catch up and explain myself and my adventures last week. Of course, it has taken me a few days to write this.
Random crankery.
Saturday, August 29th, 2026First off, a matter of somewhat pecuniary interest, since I’d like to keep good relations with Jacob and the Widener’s blog folks.
Jacob was kind enough to send over a link to a recent post: “1986 VS 2026: Guns And Ammo Pricing“.
Jacob goes through and compares prices between 1986 and 2026, and does some historical and cultural analysis of the changes during that period (the rise of the Internet, regulatory factors, panic buying after certain events, etc.)
In 1986, a box of 9mm cost $22.50, or about $0.45 per round.
In 2026, it averages $10.00 per box, or $0.20 per round.
Even without adjusting for inflation, that’s a dramatic decrease. When adjusted for inflation, 9mm is significantly cheaper today than it was in the 1980s.
My main quibble with Jacob here is: that’s really the only place where he mentions “adjusted for inflation”. Though he does say:
Firearms: Moderately more expensive, but roughly in line with inflation
I would have liked to see more of a breakdown of this.
The two inflation calculators I use are: the US Inflation Calculator and the CPI Inflation Calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
If we plug some of Jacob’s numbers into those calculators and compare 1986 to 2026 dollars:
- The $249 in 1986 Glock 17 would be $758.63 in 2026. A veritable bargain, since Jacob has it for $649!
- The $79 Ruger 10/22 would be $240.69 today. MSRP on the cheapest 10/22 I could find on Ruger’s site is $339, Jacob has it for $349 (which is also correct: Ruger has various models with various prices, of course.)
- The Colt AR-15 Carbine that was $499 would go for $1,520.30 adjusted for inflation today. I find it hard to do a direct comparison, because so much depends on configuration, but MidwayUSA lists a Colt AR15A4 for $1136.41. Another bargain! (Jacob has it for $1,099.)
- Your $5.49 .22 LR ammo would come out to $16.73 in 2026 dollars.
That’s probably enough examples. I’ll leave additional analysis as an exercise for the reader. I’ll note that both of the calculators I use gave exactly the same numbers for the 1986-2026 comparisons: I suspect they draw from the same source. Generally, $1 in 1986 is equal to $3.05 today, so you can use that as a factor when doing your math.
I like Jacob’s post. I just think it would be worthwhile to do a direct 1986-2026 dollar value comparison as part of the analysis. Jacob (or anyone else, for that matter) is welcome to flame me in comments if they think I’m wrong.
After the jump, a couple of books, mostly because I’m done with them and would like to move them from the downstairs stack to the upstairs shelves.
Random pop culture crankery (with a little bit of gun stuff).
Tuesday, August 11th, 2026This is from Rock Island Auction, and is a promo for an item in an upcoming auction. But it also touches on one of this blog’s areas of interest. And some friends of the blog are currently working their way through “Miami Vice”, so…”The Bren Ten Origin Story”.
Changing gears to something that’s a little less gun crankery, if MeTV sticks to their schedule, Thursday morning’s episode (8 AM Central, 9 AM Eastern) of “Perry Mason” will be “The Case of the Final Fade-Out“. This is the final episode of the original run.
The general consensus of opinion seems to be that “Mason” got progressively weaker as time went on, and season 9 has issues. While there are some good episodes in this season (I like “The Case of the Midnight Howler” and “The Case of the Cheating Chancellor“) there are some that are just remakes or stunts. (“The Case of the Dead Ringer” stands out in particular as a stunt episode. This season also includes “The Case of the Twice-Told Twist”, the only episode to be filmed in color. While I don’t consider that a “stunt” – they were preparing to move to color if the series had been renewed for season 10 – it is yet another juvenile delinquent episode.)
However, “Final Fade-Out” is a lot of fun, and a great way to end the series. There are a bunch of inside jokes, many of which are documented in the IMDB trivia. Many of the people who worked behind the scenes got (uncredited) on-screen roles in this episode. Even ErleStanleyGardnerTheCreatorOfPerryMason makes a cameo appearance as a judge in the second of the two courtroom scenes.
This is a fun episode. I always find it worth re-watching when it comes up in reruns, and I recommend it if you have not seen it previously.
Obit watch: August 11, 2026.
Monday, August 10th, 2026Former Representative Ben Jones (D-Georgia). THR.
Most people would know him as “Cooter Davenport” on “The Dukes of Hazzard”. Other credits include “Movin’ On”, “Smokey and the Bandit”, and “The Lincoln Conspiracy”.
Tedde Moore, actress. Other credits include “Police Surgeon”, “Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story”, and “Odyssey 5”.
It has been a bad few days for people of the gun. One of my book buddies in the Association has been sending me obits.
Tom Marx passed away in February, but his death was announced only recently.
From the same obit (by Massad Ayoob in Backwoods Home), Greg Moats.
And Steven Dodd Hughes, gunsmith, author, and photographer.
I think I actually bought a gun from him about 14 years ago. I remember him being a pretty darn good guy and a pleasure to do business with.
Joyless fun-suckers, sucking all the joy out of everything.
Sunday, August 9th, 2026One of the things that I have learned, admittedly fairly late in life, is: if you see something specifically called out in rules or guidelines that seems odd or out of place (for example. “DON’T buy a parrot figuring that it will be a fun surprise for me.”) that thing is more than likely there because someone did it and it caused…issues.
What brings this to mind?
The longer version of the story: two Cornell students who had some spare time on their hands, rifles, and appropriate permits, went hunting and CillED A. BAr.
Having killed the bear, they did what any normal person would do: they took the bear back to their dorm and dressed it out in the kitchen. (Their original plan was to go to a friend’s house, but “their friend’s place was unavailable”.)
“We were really diligent,” he said. “We made sure we did everything by the book. We knew we’d be under scrutiny.”
As Mr. Chin and his friend carved up the bear in the first-floor kitchen, some of their peers were studying at nearby tables. Other students walked by and took pictures.
“Most people were really curious,” he said. “Like, ‘Hey, we’d love to try some.’”
“We were just explaining, like, ‘Hey, none of this goes to waste,’” Mr. Chin said.
But, sure enough, some joyless fun-sucker (probably a vegan) complained, and the university started an investigation.
Turns out:
The police probably did not file charges because no crime had been committed, would be my guess. However, Cornell has decided to ban wild game processing in residence halls anyway.
There have been no other known instances of wild animals being processed in residence halls, Ms. Knewstub added.
For those students who would like to hunt, she said, “there are many certified vendors near and around campus who can work with hunters to process game.”
I am left with some questions, though. How do you make “black-bear pastrami”, and what does it taste like? (Somehow, I doubt you can use a standard pastrami recipe, and a quick Google search did not turn up a specific black bear one.)
I’m also vaguely curious about what rifles they used, and where they kept them.
(Short true story: I know someone who, when they were in school, wanted to take their shotgun back to the university with them so they could do some bird hunting. This was a fairly large university in Texas, but not one of the ones you usually think of. This person’s plan was to keep the gun at a friend’s house…the HMFWIC that was in charge of this person instead arranged for the shotgun to be kept at the home of a close personal friend of theirs. Namely, the university’s marching band director. Who, I was given to understand, was pretty heavily armed his ownself.)
(Guys, if you want to move to Texas after graduation, I’ll be happy to sponsor your application. The bear hunting here isn’t great, I don’t think. But we’ve got other game to make up for it.)
Shortish lazy gun book blogging.
Tuesday, July 28th, 2026First of all, I recommend you go over to the Revolver Guy blog and read Darren S.’s article, “The RevolverGuy’s Reading List“.
I think this is a pretty swell list. And yes, there were a few on there that I was not previously familiar with.
Changing gears a bit…I’ve found out some interesting information about this old Smith and Wesson. I have not received the actual history letter yet, and I want to wait on that before I post. I’ll update when I do get the history letter, and I’m hoping that my saying “I have not received the actual history letter yet” will cause the history letter to show up before the weekend. Because the fundamental perversity of the universe tends towards a maximum, as we like to say around here.
Changing gears a bit again…Jacob at the Widener’s Shooting, Hunting & Gun Blog sent me a nice email about their recent blog post: “Armor Piercing Rounds: 308 Winchester?” I swear that I had already seen this post and that it was linked somewhere else (maybe McThag linked to it?) but AP ammo is something I’m interested in, the email from Widener’s was flattering, and I might want to take Jacob up on his offer (“If you ever need a caliber or two sent your way, let me know.”) one of these days.
There’s also a YouTube video with Chad Finchum, who’s a NASCAR driver. I don’t follow NASCAR as much as I did when I was younger, but I do sort of keep an eye on it. Haven’t watched the video yet, but I’ll embed it anyway.
Changing gears a bit again (I feel like I’m driving an 18-wheeler. On the downhill side. Of Wolf Creek Pass.)…I’m not sure if this actually qualifies as “lazy”, but I did want to get this in. The moderately lazy part is that it ties back to a book I’ve previously written about, so I can cover it in a shorter post.
Obit watch: July 14, 2026.
Tuesday, July 14th, 2026Sam Neill. Other credits include “Event Horizon”, “The Hunt for Red October”, and “In Cold Blood” (the 1996 mini-series: he was Alvin Dewey).
I have not seen this anywhere else, but Smith and Wesson posted a nice tribute to the late Dr. Roy Jinks on Linkedin.
Obit watch: June 25, 2026.
Thursday, June 25th, 2026Dr. Roy G. Jinks passed away last night. I’m sorry that I don’t have anything to link to at the moment.
Dr. Jinks was a driving force in Smith and Wesson collecting. Arguably, he was the driving force. He was one of the founders of the Smith and Wesson Collector’s Association. He was a long time S&W employee, working in multiple positions within the company (including as their official historian for quite a while). He did more to preserve S&W history than any other person. And he wrote the definitive (though about 1980) history of S&W.
This is a great loss. I will perhaps have more to say about this in the coming days. I will say that we were (sort of) friends, in the sense that he could probably have picked me out of a police lineup, and we talked pretty regularly at the Symposiums.
Shirley Lord, writer.
Excuse me. That’s “bosomy dirty book writer Shirley Lord“, as the late lamented (by me, anyway) “SPY Magazine” used to refer to her.
Lawrence gave me copies of a couple of her books one year. I have to say, “steamy” is a pretty accurate description of those books. I also would accept “kinky”.
Am I lazy or what? (Random gun crankery.)
Wednesday, June 24th, 2026I was armed to the teeth with a pitiful little Smith & Wesson’s seven-shooter, which carried a ball like a homeopathic pill, and it took the whole seven to make a dose for an adult. But I thought it was grand. It appeared to me to be a dangerous weapon. It only had one fault—you could not hit anything with it. One of our “conductors” practiced awhile on a cow with it, and as long as she stood still and behaved herself she was safe; but as soon as she went to moving about, and he got to shooting at other things, she came to grief.
–Mark Twain, Roughing It
According to Wikipedia, the source of all vaguely accurate (and a lot of inaccurate) information, the events of Roughing It took place between 1861 and 1867. So it is likely that Twain’s “pitiful little Smith & Wesson’s seven-shooter” was something very much like this:
That’s a Smith and Wesson, Model 1, Second Issue.
Noted. (Random gun crankery.)
Thursday, May 28th, 2026The Revolver Guy blog has a long, but swell, piece up on the “Lipsey’s Exclusive John Taffin Ruger Flattop Perfect Packing Pistol“.
As I said, it is long. But it goes into a lot of detail, putting the PPP into the context of Mr. Taffin’s life, work, and preferences, as well as covering the design considerations that went into it…and even giving a range report.
Previously on WCD. I’ll mention that, since I wrote that piece, I did acquire an actual Ruger/Lipsey’s Perfect Packing Pistol in the 5 1/2″ length, with a stainless steel finish. Not exactly what I wanted, but it’ll do to ride the river with. And the stainless finish is probably better for outdoor use, anyway.
(I have not seen any of the blued PPP guns in either barrel length show up on GunBroker. I do check periodically.)
I also acquired one of the serial numbered PPP holsters from Barranti Leather Co. for the PPP, as well as a second non-serial numbered but same style and pattern holster for the other Ruger. So now I’m a two-gun man. I just need a couple of things to complete the ensemble: I have a hat on order, and Mike the Musicologist is trying to talk me into getting some custom boots made, which I might do after the hat gets here and if things hold together a while longer.
Yeah, I know, but these things are indulgences, and I’ve got some jingle in my jeans. Especially now that Cisco stock is at $119 a share…
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Wednesday, May 13th, 2026Oh, wait, I’m sorry. That’s not the question the NYT is asking. The actual question is:
…
…
By the early 2000s, AKs from Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish and Russian companies made up a chunk of the market. Rifles imported from Russia remained highly sought after, especially after the Clinton administration’s assault weapons ban expired in 2004. The U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also bolstered the gun’s popularity, as returning service members often favored AKs because of their prevalence in their own combat experiences.
That changed in 2014 with Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and its proxy war in eastern Ukraine. The U.S. sanctions on Russian companies that followed effectively banned Russian AKs on the U.S. civilian market.
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Gun news.
Tuesday, May 5th, 2026A few months ago, I mentioned that Beretta was engaged in a hostile takeover bid for Ruger.
Yesterday, the two companies announced a “strategic cooperation agreement”.
This is good news for me, if I want to sell my Ruger stock. (Full disclosure: I own Ruger stock.) As I write this, Ruger is trading at $41.04.
Beretta had been promoting four individuals for seats on the Ruger board. But, according to this agreement, Beretta will “nominate up to two independent directors following the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and regulatory approval. At that time, the Company will temporarily expand the Board. The nominees will be subject to Ruger’s Nominating and Governance Committee process and qualification criteria.”
Also, per this agreement, Beretta will not, “among other things, initiate or support any proxy contest or similar action,” for at least three years. “These provisions, together with other provisions in the agreement, are designed to safeguard Ruger’s independence and stability while increasing alignment of Beretta Holding with all shareholder interests,” says the release.
I have no idea what this actually means. Will Beretta start selling Ruger guns in their retail stores? I’ve never been to a Beretta retail store: the nearest one to me is in Dallas, and I have the impression that they cater more to people who drive a Bentley or Rolls rather than a Honda. (On the other hand, that Red Label III is supposedly really nice.)
Will Ruger start making more left-handed guns? Or even some ambidextrous ones, like Beretta’s BRX1? That’d be nice.
I report, the market decides. I wish I could give some definitive answer, but I don’t think there is one right now.
Relatively quick gun book blog.
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026While Mike the Musicologist and I were on our way to the hotel for NRAAM, we stopped by Collectors Firearms in Houston.
Collectors has a section of books for sale. Books aren’t a big part of their business, but they have some. And the section had a “20% off” on everything sign.
This was on the shelf.
The Custom Revolver. Bowen, Hamilton S. Bowen Classic Arms Corporation, Louisville, 2001.
I have a copy of this, and have read it, but in a Kindle edition. The original hardcover is long out of print.
I think this is a wonderful book. Mr. Bowen starts out with a detailed analysis of the famous Keith #5 and goes forward from there, covering things like “Basic mechanical detailing”, “Cylinders & Cylinder Conversions”, finishing, grips, and pretty much every aspect that goes into building a custom revolver, based on his extensive experience building custom revolvers at Bowen Classic Arms.
(Fact that I think is fun, and I’m probably the only one: Mr. Bowen mentions at one point that you can take a spare .22 LR cylinder from a S&W Model 53 Jet, and bore it out to .218 Bee.)
After reading Mr. Bowen’s book, I wanted to send a gun off to BCA for work. But I needed both a gun that was worth it, and the money to do it. Those things came together in mid-June of last year, and I emailed BCA to get the process started…
…only to be informed, politely, that Mr. Bowen retired effective June 1st, and they were no longer accepting custom work.
They were very kind about it. I even got a personal email from Mr. Bowen himself, thanking me and stating that he plans to work on some book projects, including an updated edition of The Custom Revolver. (BCA is still in business, but just sells parts.)
I’d call this “almost fine”. There’s one tiny little white spot on the top front cover, but you have to squint to see it. Other than those, the book is in fine shape.
Collectors had a $65 price tag on this. I confirmed with them that this was correct, and that the 20% off discount applied. So I got this for $52, plus tax.
The cheapest copy currently on ABEBooks is $274.95 in “good” condition, and it goes up from there.
I’m telling you, books in gun shops, especially gun shops that have been around for a while, are your best bet for the gun book collector.
NRA annual meeting: more collected thoughts.
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026I added both an “NRA” category (for general NRA things) and a subsidiary “NRAAM” tag for annual meeting coverage. This should make things easier next time I want to print off my NRAAM coverage for a press pass (though they never ask to see that). But that won’t be for a while: the next two annual meetings are in Atlanta and Orlando.
FotB Andrew sent over a link to the HouChron‘s coverage of the meeting (archived).
Oddly, I never made it back to the press room after I picked up my credentials. The last time I went with credentials, the snack and drink offerings in the room were mingey, and I intended to see if they were better this year.
The quality of the tchotchkes seemed off this year. Mostly pens, pins, stickers, and morale patches. And paper. So much paper. Oddly, also, a lot of lip balm. Hogue was giving away those really nice gun mats again, in two different sizes, which I would say was the best giveaway of the show. Buy stuff from Hogue. Second best: lens pens from Holosun. Buy stuff from Holosun. Also, I really like the foam earplugs Aguila hands out: they are cheap and disposable, but they’re also compact enough to slip in a go bag, just in case I get a chance to shoot and didn’t bring my full range bag.
I did buy the Hi-Lux scout scope (previously). I got it at a slight discount as a show special. Rings are on order. (Ruger‘s customer service was incredibly nice and helpful when I called them to ask what rings I needed.)
Note: for most vendors, it is this blog’s policy that we will pay full retail for products, or a “special show price” that’s generally available to everyone at the show. I won’t accept free merchandise from most vendors. Though if SIG wants to send me that .22 Creedmor for review, or Glock wants to send me a gun, or CZ wants me to review those Spitfire inspired CZ 75s, I won’t turn them down.
One of the things that I don’t think gets enough appreciation at NRAAM is the collector’s organizations, which are grouped together (towards the back of the show) in what we like to call the “collector’s ghetto”. These groups put together excellent displays that take a lot of time and effort: if you ever go to an annual meeting, you should make a point of visiting this section. We had a great time hanging out with my friends in the Association, who were also gracious about offering us water and seats when we needed them. I also belong to the Winchester Arms Collectors Association, and they had a nice (but smaller) display. Both of the Ruger collectors associations were there as well, but I didn’t see the Remington collectors.
Wilson Combat wasn’t there, which disappointed me. I’d been holding out until the meeting to buy a copy of Mr. Wilson’s new book. Now I guess I have to mail order it.
One thing that I thought was incredibly neat was the leather gun racks from South Texas Slings. Here’s how it works: you have two leather straps. At the top of each one is a clip that goes on to the support post for your car’s headrest. At the bottom is a metal clip, kind of like a belt clip but a little larger, that clips on to your seat back pocket. (The clip position is adjustable.) You put one strap on each seat (front or rear).
The straps have two adjustable leather loops. Once you’ve got them attached to the seats, you can just slide your long gun in and adjust the loops to fit. Viola! It’s like a pickup truck gun rack, except made out of leather and for your family sedan, and doesn’t obstruct your rear window!
I find this a very clever idea: I missed out on the show special, but I just ordered a set of these for the Honda. (I don’t plan to keep guns in the car, but I do want a better solution for taking long guns to the range.)
One of our party also greatly admired the work of Modern Rugged Leather, and I concur: they make some nice looking gear.
We were walking around and went past the 4D Reamer Rentals booth. Now, I do not need a chamber reamer at all: I would leave this to a professional gunsmith. But a flyer on the table headlined “Ackely Headspace” caught my eye. Turns out, one of the principals of 4D Reamer Rental is the guy who wrote the book on P.O. Ackley (which I’ve read and recommend). So we had a good conversation.
I do think we saw the Bear’s Leg at the Henry booth, but I wasn’t paying much attention. As someone who is into the .45-70, this really does not fill a need for me. But I can absolutely see a backpacker in bear country carrying this, and I would gladly try one if someone offered.
We had very good meals at Killen’s Barbecue in Pearland, and Goode Company Seafood. We had a spectacularly good meal at the Rainbow Lodge. (I’d been to both Goode Seafood and Rainbow Lodge before.) Our other meal was really just snacks and appetizers at the GOA mixer (previously mentioned in this space), because none of us was really hungry. Breakfast was at the hotel (the Wyndham Downtown) and was good but a little pricey.
The nice thing about the hotel was that it was literally across the street from a church. Since the exhibit hall closed at 5 on Sunday (and we left a little before that, having seen everything) I was able to hit the 5:30 PM Mass (or, as a friend of mine calls it, “the desperado’s mass”, because that’s your last chance for the day).
It really is a beautiful church.
I think this pretty much covers everything I wanted to hit from NRAAM. If I think of anything else, I’ll post an update. And I owe everyone a gun book post (actually, more than one), coming soon.