7/29/10

I Don't Think He Knows What That Means

Saw an interesting article in the Denver Post yesterday.  Apparently the DA was concerned that a Denver police officer used "unauthorized ammunition" in his Smith & Wesson poodle shooter.

Personally I was more concerned that two officers opened fire on bad guy with gun and managed to not only completely miss said bad guy, but also hit innocent bystanders.  If you want to hit what you are aiming at practice, practice, practice.  It sounds to me like these two LEOs should hit the range a bit more often.

ETA:

A bit more info can be found at the Denver DA's website.   Included in the report is a picture of the M&P 15 used to miss the suspect.  One thing that jumps out at me is that he is using iron sights...at 2 A.M.  Maybe the use of a red dot isn't authorized by the department either.

7/28/10

Trick Shooting Good, B.S. Not So Much

I finally got around to watching the most recent episode of Top Shot.  I figured with trick shooting there would be some fun scenes and maybe the drama llama would stay away.  Unfortunately, only one of those figurings were correct.

The B.S. started after the red team lost.  They decided to vote the one guy who made the shot that no one else on either team made into the elimination challenge.  When the two guys who didn't make a shot voted for Kelly, I almost shut off the DVR right then and there.  They both spouted some nonsense about how the guy who had previously gone to two elimination challenges and won was not versatile.

In the end Kelly showed how non-versatile he was by once again out shooting his competition with something other than his weapon of expertise.  After this last show, I'm not sure if I'll watch it again.  That $100,000 has some of the contestants doing some shady stuff, and I don't really find it entertaining.

7/22/10

Tactical Tim

I'm a USCCA member and subscribed to the Concealed Carry Report.  I still haven't decided if I will re-up when my initial year is over.  On the one hand, they have some excellent writers in their magazine.  On the other hand, there's Tactical Tim.

I generally don't pay much attention to Tactical Tim, or anyone proclaiming themselves to be "Tactical".  Recently though, in the Concealed Carry Report there was a link to TT's "No B.S." review of the Springfield XD-45 compact.

I own and enjoy a full size XD-45 and was curious to see what TT thought of the compact.  After watching the video and reading the writeup, I have come to one conclusion.  Tactical Tim's "No B.S." reviews contain more B.S. than an arena right after a Professional Bull Rider three day show.

Just a few of Tactical Tim's misses.
  • While it may feel similar to a Glock trigger, the XD is actually a single action trigger.  It is not as TT states numerous times a DAO handgun.
  • Being a SA gun, the grip safety is less redundant than TT suggests in his review
  • He hoped that the XD would fix all the issues a Glock has.  The XD has a great grip angle, issue solved.
Between the gun B.S. and the renew now B.S. I just don't know if it is time or money well spent.

7/20/10

Reasons Colorado Is Cool

At my favorite sporting clay spot, they recently had their annual ATF shoot (drink Alcohol, smoke Tobacco, & shoot Firearms).  Unfortunately I was unable to attend.  But per this biased review, it looks like the fine folks from the Independence Institute put on a good party.

Barring a zombie outbreak, there's always next year.

Well You Don't Say

Apparently, firing all city employees and replacing them with contractors doesn't result in complete anarchy.  In this case, it means improved services, lower insurance rates, and the ability to fire under-performers.

The money quote is all the way at the bottom of the article.
“Remember the Soviet Union?” said Hector Alvarado, who heads a civic advocacy group. “They had a lot of bureaucracy, and they lost. Maywood was like that. Now people know if they don’t work, they will be laid off. Much better this way.”
Downsizing government can and does work.  Hopefully this is the first of many communities to take this approach.

7/14/10

From The Wayback Machine

I got a rather unique gift from both of my sons for fathers day and have been meaning to share.  Unfortunately, my scanner has not been very cooperative.  Last night I beat the treacherous piece of technology until it agreed to do its job.  The results are below.  First up is the three year old.


 Next is the six year old.


As you can see they've got me pegged.  Hopefully my wife answers the door when child protective services come to ask me a few questions.

7/10/10

Neighbors

This story of some local boys getting liquored up and playing with an "unloaded" handgun has a fairly predictable ending.  The comments however were a bit surprising.  My favorite below:
I know it's trite. I don't own a gun, but I was always told "never point a gun at anything you don't intend to shoot."
 Even guys that don't own guns know the rules, as it should be.  The guys commenting on this story are the kind of neighbors I would like to have.

7/3/10

Bear Aware

A good few number of folks head out camping around this time of year.  Just remember that there's bears in them thar hills.  You don't have to go deep into the back country to find them either.  Have fun and stay safe.