No Time For a .............

Man, busy doesn't hardly cover it lately. KeeWee left yesterday morning for two weeks in New Zealand to visit her daughter for her daughter's birthday and to also spend some time with her brothers. I got a phone call this afternoon that she had arrived safely. It's a very long flight, though, and she was pretty much worn out. I sent my netbook along with her, all set upo for her email and blogging, so we may be seeing some posts from "En Zed".

I couldn't seem to get the Project Valour-IT Fund Raising Thermometer to work right on the blog, as whatever I did it seemed to wipe out the template and mess everything up. Since I couldn't get it to work right, I just wrote a blog post about the fund raiser. I did sign up to be on the Army team this year, but it looks like Soldier's Angels checked my blog and didn't see the thermometer, and missed the blog post, so they took me back off of the Army team. Doesn't matter, though, as the important thing is to raise money for Project Valour-IT.

I am starting to get some articles into magazines, and last month Front sight magazine had a short article and a picture about Steel Challenge at the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. Next issue I will have an article and pictures published in Front sight about the Prescott, Arizona Steel Challenge match. I'm also writing away on the Rimfire Race Guns, tuning the .22's for Speed and Reliability" book. I keep thinking of new chapters to include. Sure wish I could write faster. (Writing better wouldn't be a bad thing either!)

The weekend before Thanksgiving plans are to Fly to Boulder, Colorado for a filming of Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery. He's doing a program on rimfire competition and he's invited me to participate. (Or else he's REALLY desperate and no one else wants to go shooting in Boulder in the Wintertime. It could be either one, or maybe just comic relief, who knows?) BTW, I showed up on the promo film clip for Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery. There was a Dueling Tree side match at the Steel Challenge World Championships last year, and Bane & Co. were filming it. Check it out! I'm wearing the two toned blue shirt.

I am planning a venture back into Centerfire Steel Challenge competition. Presently a really competitive open class race gun is horribly expensive, usually over four thousand bucks. From my experiences with my Taurus Econo Race Gun project, I think I can build a seriously competitive open gun for a whole lot less, based on the Taurus PT-92AFS. I picked up a brand new one, still in the box, on Gunbroker for under four hundred bucks, and I already have plenty of magazines for it. I figure a new barrel and compensator, a C-More style sight mount, a C-More sight, convert it to single action only, and finally some things I've figured out to tighten it up and improve it's accuracy should do the trick.

I have a pair of Chiappa 1911-22 pistols on the way for a magazine article and a blog review. Why two? One will be reviewed as manufactured. The second one will get a bit of tuning for Iron sight Rimfire Steel Challenge. This gun will get some serious competition in the hands of some good iron sight shooters. If that works out and the gun shows promise for competition, a full blown rimfire race gun will be built up, and we'll take it racing as well.

I also have a gun review to do on the latest Hi-Point 9mm. carbine. A while back I reviewed the earlier model Hi-Point 9mm. carbine, so it should be an interesting comparison.

Yet another review will be on the early model Smith & Wesson Model 41 .22 pistol. I've got my hands on one and it's pretty nice.

I've been getting inquiries every so often asking if I would do action jobs, trigger jobs, cure problems, and so forth on rimfire pistols. I've been helping my friends out for years, but it looks like there is some demand for this and the wait is often very long at existing gunsmiths that will work on the rimfires. Under the current laws, though, I can't take in any of these jobs unless I hold a Federal Firearms License. Sure, I know there are lots of "shade tree" gunsmiths out there, but if you get busted it could be a felony, and that could not only cost you your CCW, it could cost you gun ownership entirely. Not a gamble I want to take for a few bucks!

With all of that in mind, I telephoned the local ATF office and told them what I was considering. They were very nice, answered my questions, and referred me to another phone number to order the application package. I am now in the process of getting everything filled out to send in. In Washington State you also need a state license for handgun sales in addition to your business license, and that's applied for in the county Sheriff's office. I telephoned them, and they were also very helpful. I can't apply for the state license, though, until I have my Federal FFL number. With the exception of having to include passport pictures, the whole process isn't much worse than what all you have to go through just to buy a handgun in Washington state anyway. I'll keep you all posted as this progresses.

Over the last few days I've also been helping a friend value some of his gun collection. Have you ever seen a Francotte side by side double barreled .410 shotgun? It was made in Belgium before WWII. It's engraved everywhere, even the heads of the individual screws are engraved. It's absolutely beautiful!

In my spare time I've been trying to keep up on my day job..........


WHEW!