KeeWee's Birthday Surprise

Off to Walmart and then grab a quick dinner in Oak Harbor, so she thinks!




After Walmart and a cruise through the dollar store, we stopped by the new Navy Memorial for Naval Aviators in Oak Harbor.



Very impressive. Many of the bricks are engraved with the names of aviators or flight crews lost while performing their patrol duties.




A list of some of the patrol squadrons.




To get to the Naval Aviator Memorial you park at the Skagit Valley College parking lot and it's a short walk through the campus to the memorial. Here's a sculpture on the campus.




After the Memorial visit we stopped by the grocery store to replenish our food supply, then to go get some dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, the Mi Pueblo in Oak Harbor.




From left to right, KeeWee, "Evil Al", Rainy, LouG and Luke. Every one has won at least one pin shoot.

When we walked in to the Mi Pueblo, guess who "Just" happended to be there, a bunch of our pin shooting "extended family" !! Lou and I had managed to get everyone invited without KeeWee finding out. What a fun surprise. We had a delicious dinner, got a chance to visit, and just plain had an enjoyable evening.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
K E E W E E ! ! !

(gotcha!!)

For KeeWee's side of the story click here!

Deer Hunters

Two deer hunters were standing on a ridge near a highway in rural Minnesota on the opening day of deer season. They both saw a trophy-class buck meandering towards them. As the one hunter raised his gun to shoot, a funeral procession came slowly by.

The hunter lowered his gun, took off his hat, and stood with his head bowed until the procession was past. Of course by then, the deer was long gone.

The other hunter exclaimed "Wow! That was the most sportsmanlike act I've ever seen! You allowed this trophy buck to escape while showing such compassion and kindness toward someone's dearly departed. You are a great humanitarian and a shining example to sportsmen throughout the world!"

The first hunter nodded and said; "Well, we were married for 42 years".

hat tip to ChuckL.

It's KeeWee's Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear KeeWee!

Happy Birthday to you!

Today's KeeWee's birthday, so drop by her blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!

This get's you there!

Pin Shoot Seminar AAR

At 9am this morning around 20 new pin shooters and old timers gathered in the Central Whidbey Sportsman/s Association clubhouse in Coupeville, Washington for a pre-season pin shoot seminar taught by "Evil Al" Lindell, our club's pin guru.

After Al's presentation, he presented the proposed rules for the new "Big Bore" revolver class. We will give it a try for a couple of matches and see how it works out. If we have a good number of entries, we'll keep it in the program, and if not, we'll drop it out. So far it looks like we have more than enough shooters to make it a good class.

The six shot per table limit in the big bore revolver class adds another element of strategy to the game. For example, if your opponent knocks over his first two pins but they don't go off the table, he only has four shots left, but five pins to get off the table. Unless he gets a lucky "two-fer" shot, he's going to leave one pin on the table. If you have shots left for all of your pins, speed no longer is the deciding factor. You can slow down and be sure to hit every one solidly to get it off the table. However, if you are watching your opponents pins you aren't watching your own, so YOU just might be the one with the pins left on the table! This is going to be interesting!

After the clubhouse session, we headed out to the pin range for some pin shootin' ! The sun had come out and the weather was exceptional for this time of year. Everyone got a chance to shoot some pins and go through a simulated matchup.

It was a fun day, leaving us eagerly awaiting the first pin shoot of the year on March 10th.

Hope we see you there!

Pin Shoot Seminar

Mr. C. and Rainy in Rimfire. Always a close matchup!

Tomorrow, January 27th., at the CWSA range in Coupeville, WA. we will hold our annual bowling pin shoot seminar. "Evil Al" Lindell, (not really evil, but it makes a good handle) will be the main instructor, but there will be a number of other experienced pin shooters in attendance to answer any questions you may have.

If you are curious about handgun pinshooting, or are interested in giving it a try, drop by the CWSA clubhouse tomorrow morning at 9am. After covering range safety and pin shoot procedure, we will go to the pin range for some real time hands-on pin shootin! There will be opportunity for all attendees to get in some shooting, even if you don't have something to shoot.

For the ladies, don'r be bashful! Come on out and give it a try. Some of the best pin shooters in our club are ladies!

Come see what it's all about!

The Knack

The Knack

This one's dedicated to Og The Neanderpundit, Chris Byrne the Anarchangel, and Engineering Johnson. I'm sure some doctor had the same conversation with my parents, too.

This one's for you, guys!

Hat tip to Fuze!

Friday Cat Blogging

It seems these folks had an unusually high water bill. Here's the problem......

Olympia Conference Call II

On Wednesday several bloggers and several Washington State Republican Representatives gathered by conference call to discuss several issues to be addressed during this year's House session. Rep. Doug Erickson from Ferndale, Rep. Bruce Chandler from Grainger, Rep. Kerry Condata, and John Rothlin were present representing the Republicans, and Jim Walker, Stephan Sharkansky, Jim McCabe, one other blogger (I didn't get his name), and I were representing the blogosphere.

The discussion on Tribal agreements with the state, and expansion of tribal gaming to off-reservation areas was particularly interesting. Presently compacts between the tribes and the governor's office do not have to go through the legislature for final approval. A new bill is proposed to require legislative approval of tribal compacts. With the legislature so heavily stacked with Democrats anyway, it's something of a moot point as they are unlikely to over-ride the Governor's tribal agreements. Still, if it was to pass, it would perhaps allow greater visibility of tribal agreements for the general public.

A good point was made about the apparent hypocracy of the Democrats to outlaw internet gambling, while allowing expansion of tribal gambling. I suggested that it probably had to do with Democratic campaign contributions from tribal groups, and on line gambling being a competition for the tribal gambling. It got kinda quiet for a few seconds, so I suspect I might have been close to the real story on this one.

We discussed campaign financing a bit, and the Governor's suggestion to limit campaign contributions for judicial races so the judges would remain impartial. There was a reference to a quote from Justice Richard Sanders comparing funding for judicial campaigns relative to the cost of the gubernatorial election on a per-vote basis. The quote can be found in a guest editorial authored by Justice Sanders that ran in the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

There is also a bill under consideration to require mail in ballots be returned as undeliverable, rather than sent on to the voter's forwarding address. The idea is to stop ballots from one district being sent to voters no longer residing in the district. The down-side that I can see is that voter's who move to another location but are still within their original district will have their ballots delayed, and it will be up to the county auditor to determine their new location, then re-send the ballot. I think I trust the Post Office more that I trust the county auditors. It's already illegal to submit a ballot to a district where you no longer reside, so how about enforcing that? Just a thought.....

At the end of our conference call we were given the opportunity to bring up other bills in the works. I brought up the "Gun Show Loophole" bill, and the "Firearms Safe Storage" bill. The Dem's are pushing really hard for the gun show bill, even though the primary sponsor admits that it will have no effect on crime as criminals don't buy guns at gun shows to start with! SHEEESSSHHHH! What's the name of that reddish-blueish-purplish color again? I think it starts with an "M".........

The safe storage for firearms bill doesn't seem to have quite as much pressure behind it, but the Dem's want to push it through too. Enforcement will be a problem with this bill. I guess the plan is that they can't actually enter your home to see if everything is stored per the reg's, but if they are in your home for some other reason and they find something not stored to their satisfaction, you're busted.

It was an interesting conference call, and I have to admit that I kinda feel sorry for the Republicans in Olympia. Not only are the outnumbered roughly two to one by the Dem's, even some of the "Republicans" are RINOS and side with the Democrats when voting time rolls around.

Since any bill proposed by the Republicans is pretty much doomed anyway, perhaps rather than trying to find a watered down bill to propose that the Dem's MIGHT go along with, how about proposing some heavy duty new stuff, and propose repealing some of the legislation that really needs to go. Of course, you'll still lose (you were going to anyway) but you now have some stuff to bring up in the next election.

It couldn't hurt........

Bloomberg Protest Rally

Sailor Curt of Captain of a Crew of One attended the Bloomberg Protest Rally and has posted an excellent report and several pictures of the event.

It's too bad that there weren't ten or fifteen thousand more protesters to get the media's attention.

Obviously Not a Texan!

Obviously Not a Texan

This one's for US Citizen at Traction Control.

Creative Hearing Protection!

Creative Hearing Protection!

Found this great picture over at Texican Tattler.

If you aren't checking his blog regularly, why not?

Pin Shooting Class Proposal

LouG and I have been talking about how we might set up a pin shoot class for big bore revolvers to give them a class of their own. Now that some rules have been roughed out, I thought I'd post them for feedback and input. Here's the proposed basic rules:

Big Bore Revolver:

.430 bore or larger, in other words a .44 Special would be the smallest permitted caliber.

Minimum bullet weight of 220 grains.

Six shot limit per table. No reloads unless you started with only five, or had a cartridge that didn't fire.

Five pins per table, set near the front of the table.

Table winner determined by which shooter gets all five pins on the ground first.

If, after both shooters have fired their six shots, and both shooters still have pins on their tables, the shooter with the fewest pins on his table is the winner of the table.

If both shooters have the same amount of pins on their tables, the winner is determined by which shooter has the fewest pins standing.

If both shooters have the same number of pins on their tables, and the same number standing, then it's a tie table, and you shoot it over.

The rest of the rules would follow the current rules and procedures used for the other pin classes.

What do you think?

Where have You Been?

As has been pointed out, my blog post production has been a bit light the last few weeks, and for good reason. The multiple power outages completely fouled up my work backlog, and only now am I finally getting caught up.

I've also sheet-rocked the furnace room, and now have it taped and down to the last couple of mud and sanding sessions to get it ready to paint. The furnace room had not been sheet-rocked, but had the fibergrass insulation between the studs. Whenever I went in there to service the furnace I'd end up itching for several days from the fiberglass. This year I decided to rock the room first, THEN service the furnace.

I now have the electrodes adjusted, a new burner nozzle installed (a Delavan .85GPH 80W if anyone's interested) and everything working just fine. I now have a new oil filter replacement element to put in, and then it should be good to go for another year or so. Sometime next week I should have the room ready to paint. After that, I will install some heavy shelving in there to store our "Power Outage" equipment and supplies.

Yesterday was a work party at the CWSA range, getting everything ready for the shooting matches starting in March. The wind storms had wiped out the canvas covers for the pin range covered areas, and needed to be replaced. With lots of folks helping, even with the wind blowing, it went smoothly. The wind had littered all of the ranges with broken limbs and assorted trash. We gathered up all that was burnable and built a big fire to get rid of it. We also hauled two trailer-fulls of other non-burnable crap to the dump. We had sixteen members there, so we were able to be done by noon.

That brings up another topic. Are you a club member? Do you participate in the range work parties at your range? Why not? I think if you don't help at with the work parties the club should add an extra twenty bucks or so to your dues. The money could be spent on pizza and refreshments for those who DO show up at the work parties!

I now have to start getting ready for the upcoming shooting season, equipment wise. There are a number of guns needing a full strip-clean-replace anything worn-lube-reassemble. I've also got to get some ammo loaded, and set up a reloading press for the .480 ruger ammo.

Next week I need to contact the Circus Circus in Reno to start putting things in order for next October's Gun Blogger Rendezvous.

It looks like it's still going to be kinda busy for a while.

Bowling Pin Shoot Seminar

Next Saturday at 9am. at the Central Whidbey Sportsman's Association range in Coupeville, Washington there will be a bowling pin shoot seminar. The seminar will be put on by our own "Evil Al" Lindell.

The first part of the seminar will be in the clubhouse and will cover all of the basic info on bowling pin shooting including classes, equipment, allowed ammunition, match procedures, and range and match safety. We will then adjourn to the pin range for some live pin shooting and match simulations. Stance, grip, tactics, and more will all be covered.

The classes for 2007 CWSA pin shooting will be Optical Sight Rimfire, Iron Sight Rimfire, Optical Sight Centerfire, Iron Sight Centerfire, and revolver. If we get enough shooters, we will also have an any sight Big Bore Revolver class for .44 Special/magnum and above.

If you'd like to find out what pin shooting's all about, here's your chance. Bring your favorite handguns, eye and ear protection (also available at the range), ammunition, and your sense of humor, because these shoots are not only challenging, but we have a lot of fun at them too!

If you do not have anything to shoot, no problem. If you would like to try a little pin shooting, I'm sure there will be several opportunities to get in a little shooting using other club member's handguns.

I should mention that full metal jacket ammunition is not permitted due to bounce back problems. Unjacketed bullets, hollow points, soft points, and plated bullets are all fine.

The pin range shooting and spectator ares are covered, so even if the weather looks nasty, we will still have the seminar.

If you have any questions, leave your question in the comments section below, or send me an email. For more information about the club and how to get there, check the new (and still under construction) CWSA website.

The Big Red Rocket

Could this be the Dem's replacement for our space program? You never know......

A Conference Call with The Washington Republican Leaders

A few days ago several other bloggers and I participated in a conference call with the Republican leadership guys in the House of Representatives in Olympia. The main purpose was to fill us in on the details of the Republican plans for the coming legislative session.

The fact that they have a plan at all is pretty amazing, since they are outnumbered by the dem's sixty-something to thirty-something. Here's a link to a PDF that explains the Republican Agenda.

Naturally I spoke up loud and clear about 2nd. Amendment issues, property taxes driving the elderly from their life-long homes, and more. One of the participants was a reporter and blogger for the Olympia (WA) Olympian newspaper, Adam Wilson.

Phil over at Random Nuclear Strikes has a post up based on Adam Wilson's blog post for the Olympian. Phil sums it up much better than I. Yes, the "Blogger from Island county wanting to legalize full auto, that'd be me (heh!).

Here's Adam's post on the Olympian blog.

Spider Boat Now in San Francisco

The Spider Boat

The Spider Boat is now in San Franciso, and the SF Chronicle's website has a story that answers most of the questions surrounding this until now mysterious craft. The article is HERE.

A big hat tip is in order for Fodder over at Ride Fast - Shoot Straight for finding the story!

Taurus PT92 Econo Race Gun - All Segments

The Taurus PT92 9mm. Econo Race gun project is now complete, after nearly a year of fooling around with it in my spare time.

So far the best load I've come up with is 4.5 gr. of Silhouette powder and a 147gr. Rainier copper plated hollow point bullet. Keep in mind that I need to be able to knock a bowling pin off of a table, not just punch a hole in a target, hence the heavier bullet and powder load. As they say, though, your mileage may vary!

Here's the links to all of the parts of the Taurus Econo Race Gun project posts.

PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part I
PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part II
PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part III
PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part IV
PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part V

Hope you enjoy them!

Major League Infidel

Found at Murdoc Online.....

Rules For Entering Montana

Rules For Entering Montana:

1. Pull up your droopy pants. You look like an idiot.

2. Let's get this straight; it's called a "gravel road". I drive a pickup truck because I need to. No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

3. They are horses, cattle, saw mills & oil wells. That's what they smell like to you. They smell like jobs to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-90 and I-94 go East and West, I-15 goes North and South. Pick one.

4. So you have a $60,000 dollar car. We're impressed. We have quarter-million dollar, air conditioned tractors that we drive 3 weeks a year.

5. So every person, in every pickup truck, waves. It's called being friendly, try to understand the concept.

6. If that cell phone rings while a flock of geese is coming in, we will shoot the phone out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear.

7. Yeah, we eat walleye & rainbow trout. You really want sushi & caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.

8. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday, held the closest Sunday to the first of November.

9. In Montana, it is not trendy and is considered very, very unsafe to criticize the USA. God bless John Wayne, Elvis Presley, Audey Murphy, Cary Grant, Charlton Heston, and Jimmy Stewart but the rest of Hollywood is not welcome here.

10. No, there is not a "vegetarian special" on the menu. Order steak or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

11. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and Alpine Touch.

12. You bring "coke" into my house, it better be brown, wet, & served over ice. You bring "Mary Jane" into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

13. High School Football is as important here, as the Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks -- And more fun to watch.

14. Colleges? Try Montana State or the University of Montana. They come out of there with an education--Plus a love for God and country.

15. We have a higher percentage of folks in the Navy, Army, Marines, & Air Force than any other state, so "Don't Mess with Montana." If you do, it will get your ass kicked.

16. Many of us are loggers, mill workers, ranchers & miners. For well over a century, we have helped supply beef for your tables, metals for cars, coal for electricity, wood for your homes & paper to wipe your sissy asses. Don't come here and tell us to stop working so you can re-make the whole State into your own no-hunting park.

17. Remember, you came here because Montana is different. It will be kept that way. We don't need or want more shopping malls, housing developments or juice bars.

18. Don't try to use your imported money to re-make Montana into the image of where you just left. If you feel this need, go back home. And yes we do hate you for buying up all of our lake-front properties.

19. Above all, if you are a lawyer or anti-gun nut, just stay away. We are very aware of the fact that attorneys have created a major industry, out of lawsuits & babying criminals with guns. We are hunters and responsible gun lovers.

20. P.S.--Grizzlies are eagerly encouraged to eat out-of-staters.

Thanks to Uncawho for this one.....

Are We Headed in a NEW Direction?

For months Democrats said they wanted to take the country in a new direction.

If the stock market is at a new all-time high and America's 401K's are back, what's the "new" direction?

• If unemployment is at 25-year lows, what's the "new" direction?


• If oil prices are plummeting, what's the "new" direction?


• If taxes for Americans are at 20-year lows, what's the "new" direction?


• If federal tax revenues are at all-time highs, what's the "new" direction?


• If the federal deficit is down almost 50 percent, what's the "new" direction?


• If home valuations are up 200 percent over the past 3.5 years, what's the "new" direction?


• If not a single terrorist attack has occurred on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001, what's the "new" direction?


• If 75 percent of Al Qaeda's leadership is either dead or in custody, and cooperating with U.S. Intelligence officers, what's the "new" direction?

Just asking...........

Rocket Gets A Visitor

It's kind of a cold and dreary Saturday, but Rocket has been keeping himself busy between naps and counting birds. Much to his surprise, one of the biggest birds he'd ever seen showed up outside his window, picking up seeds dropped from the bird feeder by the smaller birds. He's keeping a close eye on this one!

KeeWee has a couple of more pictures here.

Jefferson Airplane - Somebody to Love (Woodstock 1969)

It's Saturday morning, and if YOUR mind is "movin' Slow" like the song says, here's something to get you moving. Gracie Slick, simply amazing.....

Terry Kelly - A Pittance of Time

Pittance of Time

On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store’s PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us. This song is based on what happened in the drug store that day.

If you'd like to download the video and play it from your hard drive, you can right click on the link:

A Pittance of Time (English)

If you'd like to view it in French, right click and download this one:

A Pittance of Time (French)

Hat tip to Damiphino for the heads-up....

National Fishing Licenses - Here They Come!

From MartenLaw.com:

In its last hours, the 109th Congress surprised many observers by passing a bill reauthorizing and overhauling the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

A lot of what was done was to update and re-authorize the previously existing bill. Down near the bottom, however, lost in the other stuff, is the ground-work for setting up a National Recreational Fishing license, most likely in addition to the currently required individual state licenses.

More from MartenLaw.com:

Registry of Recreational Fishing. Previously, the Magnuson-Stevens Act regulated only commercial fisheries. The legislation will establish a regional registry system for recreational fishers (individuals and vessels). No fees can be charged as a result of the registry until January 1, 2011. Recreational fishers or charter fishing vessels licensed, permitted or registered through state programs may be exempt, if the data collected through the state program is sufficient for federal uses.

I hope you read that last paragraph carefully. No fees until 2011. That is, unless an amendment is tacked on to something else to move the date closer, so they can start collecting money sooner. The sooner they can collect the money, the sooner, and larger, their bureaucracy can be built.

First, they have to be sure that this has slipped in under the radar, and so far, it seems to have done so. Of course state licenses "MAY" be exempt. Want to make a small bet on it? Didn't think so.......

Here's some other things to be watching for:

1. National Hunting Licenses

2. National Driver's Licenses

3. National Recreational Boating Operator Licenses

There's more, but that's enough for now.

Red State Frenchmen

Until quite recently I can truthfully say that I had not yet met a Frenchman (or Frenchwoman for that matter), that was actually pleasant to deal with. It seemed that they would go out of their way to be obnoxious, that they had managed to raise arrogance and rudeness to a whole new level.

I remember a Frenchman working (?) the ticket counter of Air New Zealand in Tahiti who put all of the English speaking passengers to one side so the French speaking passengers could be checked in first. We were all going to be on the same airplane, so it didn't really make much difference, but certainly wasn't what you'd call friendly customer service.

I remember a French woman at the front desk at a Club Med in Tahiti who refused to be any help in locating my college room mate who was staying there. She would not tell me what room he was in, nor would she even take a message for him so he could contact me. I finally wandered around for a while and found him on my own. Since he was six-three he wasn't too hard to spot!

I could relate incident after incident where my opinion of the French in general sank to new lows, but that's not the point.

Early in the American Revolution (The American Rebellion in British school books) a French rich guy known as Lafayette decided to help, on his own. Since he had the money, he went out and bought the equivalent of a modern battleship of the day, then hired a crew, and sailed it to America. He found George Washington, who already had his hands full fighting the British, and volunteered to help.

Lafayette later talked the French government into joining with the Americans against the British. Lafayette was instrumental in several naval victories over the British warships. In fact, it can be argued that without the help of the French, we might still be a part of Great Britain. Now I realise that this is a historical simplification, but you get the idea.

Generally speaking, WWII was not a high point in French history, but some of the heroics of the French underground are worth noting.

Today we see a France with some major social problems, what appears to be nearly out of control socialism, questionable international arms deals, and more. The images of cars burning in the streets keeps coming to mind. Most of what I read in the mainstream media about France is not good.

Then a very small light bulb came on. Most of what I read about the United States in the MSM isn't very positive either, and just about everything I read about Iraq is not only negative and biased, but often just wrong.

Perhaps there IS another side to France and it's residents, I'm just not seeing it in the MSM. To a large degree, it's that way in the United States right now. This country is clearly split into the liberal socialist blue staters, and the conservative capitalist red staters. Could it be that there are "Red State" and "Blue State" Frenchmen too?

A while back I got to know fellow gun blogger and bowling pin shooter, Manfred, who's blog is Armes Et Tir Passion. An English translation would be something like "Firearms Are My Passion", but I think a closer 'American' translation whould be "Rabid Gun Nut!"

It didn't take long to find out that he and I see eye to eye on a lot of issues, including our passion for sport handgunning. Manfred sounds like a "Red State" Frenchman to me, and if there's one, there's more, as they say. I find that most encouraging.

So what's my point in this rambling post? First, I owe some folks in France an apology. Not to the jerks who have gone out of their way to be arrogant and rude, but to the other "Red State" Frenchmen and women, those that DO have manners, those that, like a lot of us, are just doing their best to get along and go about living their lives.

When you hear broad generalizations made about the French, or any other country for that matter, remember that there are probably some "Red Staters" in that country too. You just don't hear too much about them.

In the past I have painted the French with too broad a brush.

In the future I will be more careful.........

Taurus PT92 Econo Race Gun Project

Finally all of the parts making and fitting is complete. (At least, I HOPE so!) In this, the last part of the Taurus PT92 Econo Race Gun project, I will wrap up the last two modifications.

Unless you happen to be left-handed, an ambidextrous safety isn't too much of a concern, but for us lefties in matches where you must start with the safety on, reaching around the gun to take the safety off can be a pain!

Setting up a second safety lever on the right side of the gun is a relatively easy proposition, although it involves some hand work to get it where you want it to be. The original safety lever on the left side is roll pinned onto a small shaft that has a head on it that looks a bit like a big nail.

Partially machined extended safety lever shaft.

All that you have to do is to duplicate the original shaft, but extend a short section of the shaft out the right side, as you can see in the picture. Then make up a lever for the right side out of a piece of aluminum and roll pin it to the right end of the shaft.

Aluminum lever mounted onto the new shaft and installed into the Taurus.

A bit of grinding and filing to get it rounded and shaped to your preference, then cut a hole in the top rear part of the right grip panel so the shaft sticks through.

Finished Ambidextrous safety in place.

Put the grip panel back on, and check it for binding against the extended shaft. Finally, roll pin the original safety lever on to the left side of the shaft.

The last addition to the Taurus was to make up a compensator. I bought one that clamps on to the barrel on eBay, but it was built out of too light of material and it developed cracks after forty or fifty rounds. I had a piece of stainless shaft in the misc. materials bucket, so I sawed off a piece and started machining away everything that didn't look like a compensator.

I sketched the approximate shape on the side of the stainless piece, then machined it to my sketch lines. More machining, then boring it to fit the barrel stub, then slotting it so it could be clamped to the barrel with a clamping screw, and it was just about finished.

The finished compensator mounted to the barrel.

Finally, after rounding off all the sharp corners and contouring things a bit, it was time for a final finish. For that I gave it a quick bead blast matte finish. After putting some Loctite on the clamp screw threads, I clamped it onto the barrel.

Everything in place, and ready for the range.

All that remains is to fine tune the loads, and then actually practice enough that I can get competitive with it.

It's reliable, reasonably accurate, and was a whole lot of fun to develop.

Now comes the shootin' part.........

---

Previous Parts of this Series:

PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part I
PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part II
PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part III
PT92 Econo Race Gun Project - Part IV

---

This series of posts are a description of what I did to my own personal Taurus PT92 to modify it for my particular usage. This is NOT a Do-It-Yourself instructional series on how to modify YOUR Taurus. What you choose to do to your own Taurus is up to you and your gunsmith. Just because it worked for me is no guarantee it will work for you.

Do not make any modifications to ANY firearm without consulting a knowledgeable gunsmith first!

Olympia GFW Legis-Loonies

Washington State's liberal legislature is now back in session, and they're already proposing new gun laws.

House bill 2007-2008 HB 1026 will require all private party firearms transactions at gun shows to go through a FFL dealer. In short, no more private sales between individuals. All private salesa at a gun show would require Federal paperwork. The next step down this slope, if this should pass, would be to go the rest of the way and require ALL firearms sales to go through a gun dealer.

The second legislatorial gem 2007-2008 HB 1014, will require "safe storage" of firearms to keep them away from children. Of course, if it's locked up so it can't be easily reached, you won't be able to get to it quickly for your own defense, either.

You can comment here, at WashingtonVotes.org on these two bills.

Hat tip to Heartless Liberetarian, where this info came from!

2006 CWSA Bowling Pin Season Points

I finally got around to entering all the standings for the CWSA Bowling Pin matches for 2006. Only the first 3 or sometimes 4 finishers in any given match get points.

Congratulations to all for a fun season with lots of close matches.

Place	Overall - Top 8	Points
1	Al Lindell	73
2	Mike Gallion	70
3	Tony Ceci	41
4	Jim Pfiffer	31
5	Chris Ceci	23
6	Dennis Skog	22
7	Larrie Ford	17
8	Lou Gunn	15
Place	CF Optic Sight	Points
1	Al Lindell	34
2	Tony Ceci	19
3	Dean Hone	16
4	Chris Ceci	14
5	Pete Kline	7
6	Mike Gallion	5
7	Rainy Lindell	4
8	Gerald Rutgers	4
9	Derek Hofland	3
10	Roy VanRiper	3
11	Kim Gorham	2
12	Ted Lile	2
13	Lou Gunn	1
14	Bob Mador	1
Place	CF Iron Sight	Points
1	Dennis Skog	22
2	Larrie Ford	17
3	Steve Myers	7
4	Chris Ceci	6
5	Bill Branch	4
6	Lou Gunn	3
7	Bob Mador	3
8	Roy VanRiper	3
9	Chris McRae	2
10	John Faught	1
11	Scott Sturmans	1
12	Al Lindell	1
13	Adam Yonce	1
Place	Revolver	Points
1	Al Lindell	27
2	Tony Ceci	19
3	Lou Gunn	11
4	Mike Gallion	7
5	Chris Ceci	3
6	Bill Branch	2
7	Ted Lile	2
Place	RF Optic Sight	Points
1	Mike Gallion	32
2	Al Lindell	10
3	Jim Pfiffer	9
4	Jennifer Kelly	6
5	Rainey Lindell	5
6	Lou Gunn	3
7	John Healy	2
8	Derek Hofland	2
9	Luke Nichols	2
10	Ted Lile	1
Place	RF Iron Sight	Points
1	Mike Gallion	26
2	Jim Pfiffer	22
3	Phil Wellborn	10
4	Tony Ceci	4
5	Ben Brager	2
6	Chris McRae	2
7	Steve Myers	2
8	Al Lindell	1

"Prosecute Bloomberg" rally

From Sailor Curt's blog, Captain of a Crew of One:

The VCDL (Virginia Citizen's Defense League) is sponsoring a "Prosecute Bloomberg" rally and protest in Washington DC at the Capitol Hilton where Bloomberg et al will be conducting a "National Summit" on January 23.

Details HERE.

Bloombergs lawsuits have already run two Virginia gun dealers out of business. If his (probably illegal) activities are allowed to go unchallenged, it will only embolden him to file further lawsuits in an attempt to shut more small businesses down. The ATF has already acknowledged that his "sting" operation was potentially illegal and some have hinted that it interfered with ongoing criminal investigations.

Please, if at all possible, come out and join us on January 23 in Washington DC. A finer group of freedom loving patriots you will never meet than at a VCDL function. Come out and join the fun.

I hope they get a really good turn out!

Yet ANOTHER Windstorm & Power Outage

One reason our power went out?

Probably not covered under the warrantee.....

We had another windstorm last night, and as far as hitting our house, it was definitely the biggest one yet. One of our neighbors down the road a ways recorded 86mph. gusts. Combining that with our soil being totally saturated from all the rain, once again trees started dropping like dominoes.

Although it's tempting to grab the camera and go take some pictures of the storm damage, I prefer to keep off the roads and stay out of the way of the emergency vehicles and power trucks.

These pictures were taken several hundred yards from my driveway. This garage was well sheltered, with fences on two sides, and the third side near the owner's house. The wind came OVER his house to pick up the garage and put it into the power lines. All of the legs were either solidly staked into the ground, or attached to concrete blocks. If you enlarge the pictures you can see the blocks still attached!

Just down the road a bit from where I took these pictures there was a good sized Douglas fir broken off about half way up. Tree limbs and bits of brush are all over the roads.

I'm getting kinda tired of these dang storms........

Go Gitcha Momma.........

A redneck family from the hills were visiting the city and they were in a mall for the first time in their lives. The father and son were strolling around while the wife shopped. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again. The boy asked, "Paw, what's at?"

The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I dunno. I ain't never seen anything like that in my entire life, I ain't got no idea'r what it is."

While the boy and his father were watchng with amazement, a fat old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button.

The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular number above the walls light up sequentially.

They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then thenumbers began to light in the reverse order. The the walls opened up again and a gorgeous, voluptuous 24 year-old blonde woman stepped out.

The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son,

.......Boy..................go gitcha momma"................

Hat tip to Uncawho!

2007 CWSA Pistol Match Schedule

Here's the handgun match schedule f0r Central Whidbey sportsman's Association. Be sure to contact someone from CWSA shortly before the match to verify the date and time.


January
Saturday 27th - Bowling Pin Seminar

February
Saturday 3rd - Steel Challenge Seminar

March
Saturday 10th - Bowling Pins
Saturday 17th - Rimfire Falling Plates
Sunday 25th - Rimfire Hanging Plate
Saturday 31st - Steel Challenge

April
Saturday 7th - Rimfire Falling Plate
Saturday 21st - Bowling Pins
Sunday 22nd - Rimfire Hanging Plates
Sunday 29th - Steel Challenge Match

May
Saturday 5th - Bowling Pins
Saturday 19th - Bowling Pins
Sunday 27th - Steel Challenge Match

June
Saturday 2nd - Rimfire Hanging Plates
Sunday 3rd - Steel Challenge Match
Saturday 23rd -Rimfire Hanging FALLING Plates
Sunday 24th - Steel Challenge Match
Saturday 30th - Bowling Pins

July
Sunday 1st - Steel Challenge Match
Sunday 8th - Rimfire Hanging Plates
Saturday 21st - Rimfire Hanging Plates
Sunday 22nd - Bowling Pins
Saturday 28th - Steel Challenge Match
Sunday 29th - Rimfire Falling Plates

August
Saturday 4th - Bowling Pins
Sunday 5th - Steel Challenge Match
Sunday 12th - Rimfire Hanging Plates
Saturday 25th - Bowling Pins
Sunday 26th - Steel Challenge Match

September
Saturday 1st - Rimfire Hanging Plates
Sunday 2nd - Bowling Pins
Saturday 8th - Rimfire Falling Plates
Saturday 15th - Steel Challenge Match
Sunday 23rd - Steel Challenge Match
Saturday 29th - Bowling Pins
Sunday 30th - Rimfire Falling Plates

October
Saturday 6th - Rimfire Hanging Plates
Sunday 7th - Bowling Pins
Sunday 14th - Steel Challenge Match
Saturday 20th - Bowling Pins
Sunday 28th - Rimfire Falling Plates

November
Sunday 4th - Rimfire Hanging Plates
Saturday 10th - Rimfire Falling Plates

Handy Gizmo

At our fishing club meeting last night I was lucky enough to have my door prize raffle ticket drawn, and here's what I won. It's a 3 LED flashlight with either steady light or a strobe-like flashing light, an AM/FM radio, and a small siren, all in a small package.

The light is on the front, the oval button turns on the light, the black lever selects AM or FM. The tuning knob is on one side, the volume on the other, and the speaker is on top near the rear.


It even has a small retractable telescoping antenna.


The whole device is powered by turning the folding crank on the bottom for a minute or so. I don't know if it uses a big capacitor or a rechargeable battery to store the electricity generated by cranking, but however it does it, it seems to work as it should.

This should be a handy little gizmo for when the power goes out, which seems to be happening a lot lately........

Black Sheep Movie

It looks like KeeWee got out of there none too soon! Here's the site for the movie.

Hat tip to Dave Smock's Blog.

Hi Point Firearms Forum

A reader left a comment to an older Hi Point Firearm post about a good Hi Point Firearms forum, and I thought it was worth passing the info along in a fresh post. If you are interested in Hi Point firearms, check it out HERE!

UPDATE: Here's another forum dedicated to Carbines.

Wind Up Hard Drive

Engineering Johnson has applied his engineering skills to solving some of the problems I have been experiencing lately caused by the storm induced power outages. His first product is the Wind Up Hard drive, pictured above.

I understand he's hard at work developing a kerosene powered laptop and a coal-fired steam LCD monitor. I am particularly interested in seeing the cold-fusion wireless router he's working on......

AC Power From Batteries

As you have probably noticed, the Pacific Northwest has had a bunch of storms this year that knocked out the power . There are several solutions and partial solutions to dealing with no electricity. Generators are one solution. Deep cycle batteries and power inverters are another.

For a good discussion of getting AC house power from DC batteries, including how to set up your own system, have a look at Rivrdog's post at Paratus on the subject.

No Electricity Sucks

Just before 9am. this morning the power went off, again! The wind was blowing, and has been blowing, for a couple of days, but not a really hard blow like you would expect to knock out the power. I think what's causing most of the problem is that the ground is saturated from the steady rain. That makes the soil so soft that it doesn't take much wind to blow down the trees.

We've had more power failures this year in the last month or so than we've had in the last ten years combined. The generator fired up on the second pull. If I'd spend the money to replace the starting battery I could fire it up with the start button. One upgrade I am going to do to the generator is to put a good voltmeter on it so I can see exactly what the output voltage might be. Checking the generator with a good digital voltmeter showed it to be a bit high, so a slight change in engine speed brought it down to where it ought to be.

From the Generator I go to a good surge supressor then to a 12ooVA APC voltage stabilizer, then to an APC 1200VA uninterruptable power supply. From there I can power up my computers, and network. So far it seems to work pretty well.

Not losing the power at all would be a whole lot better, though!