And Now for Something Completely Different: Gun Pr0n!

Since this is supposed to be a gun blog (albeit lately it hasn't been much of a blog at all), I thought I'd change tack and, you know, post something gun related.

Last week my dad asked me to take a couple of guns that he no longer had need for and that I didn't want, and see what I could get for them.  So I took them to my favorite Merchant O'Death and was very pleasantly surprised at what the shop was willing to give me for them.  While I was there, MOD once again brought me a couple of things out of the "Special" display case, trying to tempt me. This is usually a very bad thing for my wallet. The first thing he showed me was a 6" 3-screw Smith Model 29, a Dirty Harry special - beautifully blued, no lock, hammer-mounted firing pin, in very good condition.  I haven't succumbed to .44 addiction yet, so I was able to resist temptation.

However, when he pulled this one out of the case, I couldn't help myself:


That's an old Clark Custom IPSC Open class Bullseye gun probably from the early late 80's 90's.  (See first comment.)  It would be equally good as a bowling pin gun.  Check this thing out:




Note the Remington 1100 cocking handle in place of the rear iron sight:


And the hand-done stippling on the frontstrap and the Allen screws on the front of the dust cover for adjusting fit of the slide to the frame:


From the wear & tear on the scope mount, this gun has obviously seen a LOT of use:


The first thing I looked at when he handed it to me was the price tag. Let's just say it was WELL under $1k.

It followed me home.  Soon as I get a chance, I'm going to see how it shoots.

Thank You All

I appreciate the notes of sympathy and condolence my last post (and the associated FB post) have drawn.  Thanks to all of you.  It's really appreciated.

She's Gone

Blogging will be even more sparse than usual.  Mom passed away this evening.  She was at home, and passed quietly.  Her last two surviving siblings had traveled from Virginia to see her. They got there in time.

Take care, Mom.  We'll miss you.

Bill Whittle's Latest

I've been remiss. This one's been up a while.


I knew it was bad, but not THAT bad.

Quote of the Day - Brad Torgerson Edition

"Flaming rage nozzles of tolerance."If you haven't been following the Sad Puppies assault to wrest control of Science Fiction's Hugo award away from the tiny Leftist clique that has been running it for the last decade or so, this won't mean much to you, but Brad's piece really is more widely directed than at just this one battleground.

More Global Climate Change

I'm in Burlington, Vermont this week.  This is the view out my window at just after 6PM local time today:


Yes, it's April 8^th.

Flying in to Burlington on Monday, we passed over Lake Champlain where I noticed that it seemed at least 90% covered in ice.  From the Burlington Free Press, February 17:

For the second year in a row, the lake appears to be frozen from one side to the other. National Weather Service high resolution satellite images show ice pretty much everywhere on the lake.

That's enough for meteorologists to declare the lake as "closed" or frozen over, said Peter Banacos, a meteorologist at the NWS office in South Burlington.

Burlington has had below freezing temperatures throughout February, he said. This weekend Vermonters experienced wind chills as low as minus 40, which likely consummated the freeze-over.

The lake froze completely in 2014, but this is the first time in a decade that the lake has closed two years a row. Vermonters last saw the lake completely freeze consecutively in 2004 and 2005.

The instructor of the class I'm taking here went down to the lake last night. He reported the ice is still "about a foot thick."

Atmospheric CO₂ is now at 401PPM.

Current sunspot activity is low and declining.

I know where my money is riding on this question.

Your Moment of Zen

Haven't done one of these in a while:

Absolutely Correct

Seen at Facebook, reposted here.  Click for full-size, and read the text.  Spot.  On.

Some Days...

...I wonder why I left the air-conditioned comfort of my beige cloth-covered box in the Consulting Engineering Corporation building.

Oh yeah, meetings & reports.  That was it.

They're starting to look more attractive....