The Miller: December 2011

What I Learned in 2011

Looking back at 2011 I must say on a personal level, I am glad this year is over. Too many funerals and not enough weddings. But this is a gun blog!

Lessons learned:

A well made holster is required.
Don't buy any more cheap guns that you will never shoot twice.
Buy only quality optics.
Always bring folding chairs and bottled water to Blog Shoots.
I can hit an 18 inch target at 250 yards, repeatedly, without a magnified scope, with a Cx4 carbine.
922r compliance is a pain in the ass and not that hard with AK platforms.
I need to do more Skeet Shooting.
Tactical Bacon is pre-cooked, ready to eat and actually pretty awesome.
It's easy to travel via Air with firearms.
There are more ranges around than we realize.

NRA Convention:

I attended the NRA convention this year. I met a lot of great people. Enjoyed the show. Collected a lot of blog content.

Blog Shoots:

I Hosted a blog shoot at NRA HQ early this year (thanks for the reminder Andy!) I think we will do it again in 2012. I attended Northcoast II in Ohio and Mid-Atlantic Blogshoot in West Virginia. Both were big fun. Great friends and firearms!

Additions to the collection:

My big purchases this year were a Sagia 12 and my Glock Suppressor!

--Here is to a great 2012!!

More and more women embracing gun ownership

Chicks with Guns by Lindsay McCrum

It is all over the news on TV and the web that more and more women are embracing gun ownership.

They are also touting record gun sales this year and December in particular. Guns sales were record breaking for the Christmas season.

I personally have been asked on several occasions this year to take women to the range for their first time. My own daughter, who has shown no interest beyond safety, even wants to go soon just for fun.

Concealed Carry Permits and training is way up for women in Virginia where I live. The NRA headquarters range even has dedicated classes for women, by women instructors.

This flood of guns also came with a suspicious lack of blood in the streets. That dead horse beating somehow continues by failed and weak gun control bigots. Yes. Bigots.

Bigot: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance.

"Gun Control Bigots" is how I will be referring to them from now on because the shoe fits.

--Thank you, ladies.

Chicks with Guns

My daughter bought me the coffee table book, Chicks withe Guns, for Christmas.

This book was beautifully photographed. It contains photos of women and firearms from all around the country and from many walks of life.

It's so mainstream!

"In Chicks with Guns, Lindsay McCrum has created a cultural portrait of women gun owners in America through photographs that are both beautiful and in a sense unexpected. The book explores an indelible part of our national identity, but is not thrown off balance by the natural suspicions and political ideology often associated with firearms. It examines issues of self-image and gender through the visual conventions of portraiture and fashion, but guns are presented here not as superimposed props but as the very personal lifestyle accessories of the subjects portrayed. And it defies stereotypes often associated with aspects of the popular culture of both guns and women."

I should put that Degree in Photography to good use and do one like this myself!

--Unlike all the other "Chicks with Guns" items I have seen in the past not a bikini in sight!!

Save $140.48 on BACON!!

--Available on Amazon NOW!!

Christmas Gift

My son bought me a new pocket knife for Christmas this year! It turns out the kid actually listens to me when I say stuff at display cases.

It's a CRKT EDC (Every Day Carry) with a Tanto profile blade. Easy one hand open. It also locks closed as well as open.

It is made to specifically be an every day carry knife. It's modest price means you won't be pissed if you scratched it. You will not be heart broken if you lose it.

We shall see how long I can hold on to this one!

--It is made to be used like the tool that it is.

Movie: Ballistic - Ecks vs Sever

Lots of sweet guns but the movie kinda sucked.

The Miller Rating: 4 of 10

Here is the list of guns from the Internet Movie Firearms Database:

Quotes of the Week

Linus: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ ” (Luke 2:8-14)

“You see, Charlie Brown—that’s what Christmas is all about.”

Movie: Defiance

I finally got to see the movie Defiance. Lots of good classic firearms content.

This movie made me want an MP40 really bad! They seem to old about 500 rounds before running out. The plot was based on a true story. My favorite line was, "Women need guns too."

The drifting languages and accents was a bit distracting.

The Miller Rating: 7 of 10

Here is the list of guns from the Internet Movie Firearms Database:

Give Peace a Chance

My Newest T-Shirt!

A friend of mine surprised me with a new T-Shirt gift.

--Some people know me so well...

Fun with Photoshop

I had so much fun last week mocking up a Glock Carbine I decided to mock up another dream gun.

This one combines a bullpup Keltec RFB .308 and a Saiga 12 gauge, mag fed shotgun. This has an integral suppressor on the .308. I know that fully loaded this baby would weigh a ton even though most of the rig would be polymer based. I'd probably add a LASER and a Tac light to make it weigh even more.

--A 12 ga magazine of flares, or grenades, or 00 buck or flechettes, or flash or birdshot...

Injuries While Hunting with Firearms

I ran across some very interesting stats on on sports related injuries, by sport.
You can see the whole report here.

--I cannot believe how dangerous Cheerleading is! I am not surprised how safe hunting is.

FNH USA

FNH PS90

I was talking to a gun buddy at work and he told me he had the chance to shoot some firearms made by FNH. He has been looking for a new hand gun and really liked the FNP-45 and was very surprised to see it was stamped as being made in Fredricksberg VA.

Fredricksberg VA is only about 30 miles from where I live. I wonder if they would be interested in giving a group of gun bloggers a tour?

     FNH USA Inc - www.fnhusa.com

     59B Jack Ellington Rd
     Fredericksburg, VA 22406

FNH is the maker of the PS90 carbine. I have had this guy on my list for a long time.

--Yet another reason to love Virginia.

Emily Gets Her Gun, Trying to Anyway...

Emily Miller

Washington Times Opinion Page Senior Editor Emily Miller has a blog covering our Second Amendment freedoms. Follow her on Twitter @EmilyMiller.

As part of the "Emily gets her gun" series, Emily Miller needs to find a handgun that she could buy to register legally in Washington, D.C.

Emily details her quest to get a legal handgun in Washington, D.C., the daunting nature of it. She has been overwhelmed by all that is required before she can take legal possession of a purchased gun. She talks about how she needed to get organized, make a checklist of the required steps, bring order to the complicated mess of instructions given by the city.

--Follow her as she works her way down this list.

Quotes of the Week

No kingdom can be secured otherwise than by arming the people. The possession of arms is the distinction between a freeman and a slave. He, who has nothing, and who himself belongs to another, must be defended by him, whose property he is, and needs no arms. But he, who thinks he is his own master, and has what he can call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself, and what he possesses; else he lives precariously, and at discretion.

-- James Burgh

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true.

--Major General William H. Rupertus

I Was Surprised!

The media makes our country sound so bad. We barely made the top 10 by actual count. We were not even close in the per capita numbers.

Provided by Emergency Preparedness

--Sometimes we need to be reminded how good we have it.

WANT: Glock Carbine

I have a Christmas wish. That Glock would make a pistol caliber carbine that takes the same mags as the handguns.

I took the liberty of mocking one up with Photoshop that has the features I want including the adjustable AR stock, picitinny quad rails, factory 16.5 inch threaded barrel, mag compatibility and that famous Glock price and reliability.

Glock 121 .45ACP Carbine

--If they made this I would buy it the first time I saw it!

PART 3: How to Buy a Suppressor

My GEMTech Waits Patiently

I got home from work last night to find my ATF Form 4 paperwork package returned in the mail.

The County Sheriff has added his signature to mine, the Class III dealer and dated both copies. The next step is to put the following items together in a package:

Two copies of the ATF Form 4 with pics and signatures.
Certification of Citizenship Compliance U.S.C. 922(g)(5)(B)
Two printed signed and certified fingerprint cards.
A check for $200

All of this I will scan as a file copy before it gets mailed. The process states that payment should be a personal check or money order. Mail it to:

        BATFE
        P.O. Box 530298
        Atlanta, GA 30353-0298

--Took me about 5 minutes and now I wait again. Estimated wait is four months.

Side by Side

Let me start off by stating that my daily carry firearm is a small frame 1911 .45ACP with slim grips. I carry it because it's a slim single stack. I saw this chart at pdb and thought it was awesome. head over there and read his post. I am book marking it.

--I guess I need a good IWB Glock 17 holster!

Iain Harrison Becomes U.S. Citizen

I got to meet Ian Harrison at the NRA convention this year in Pittsburgh. We were lucky enough to spend and evening with him over dinner and drinks.

We had a lot of laughs. He has a great sense of humor. We talked a while about the weirdness of becoming famous. He is a really great guy.

Anyway, Ian became a U.S. Citizen this week! On the morning of December 3rd, 2011, the 446th Airlift Wing bestowed the enormous honor of swearing him in as a U.S. citizen in the cargo bay of one of its enormous C17 aircraft. Read about it in his own words!

--Welcome home, Ian. Don't forget to vote!

My Father

I should have posted this on December 7th.

This photo of my father in Panama was taken on December 7th 1941.

He was an aviation instrument mechanic in in the Air Corp. He was stationed in the jungles above the Panama Canal when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. When they took this photo that day they had no idea what had happened in Hawaii.

--Is that an M1 Garand he is holding? Click the photo for a larger version.

Quotes of the Week:

"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators."

--P.J. O'Rourke

"Central governments have managed to turn murder from a hobby pursued at home by individual craftsmen into a wholesale industry churning out slipshod and substandard corpses in numbers that can’t be read without sounding like Carl Sagan. Even the worst serial killer has to operate at a retail level; you need uniforms and flags and stylish logos to go truly wholesale."

--Tam

"People like Bloomberg can end up in positions of such power are one of the reasons I think gun ownership is important."

--Sebastian

WANT: I need a new belt!

I am on a trip with the wife this weekend and I forgot my damn belt. This should not be a problem except I have been on a fitness program and have lost a ton of weight recently. I wish I had this one!!

--Headed to Goodwill for a belt while holding up my pants with one hand!!

Cx4 Trigger

Cx4 Storm .40

At the recent Blogshoot in West Virginia I was lucky enough to shoot a lot of various firearms.

I was paying particular attention to the trigger action on the various guns I was shooting.

OLD NFO has guns that have triggers that are soft and smooth as butter. The comparison to the trigger on my Cx4 was dramatic.

I never thought the trigger on the Cx4 was all that bad until that day. It felt absolutely sandy by comparison. I will be making a project out of smoothing out the trigger on this firearm.

--I still love it. It couldn't be that bad! I was ringing the gong at 250 yards, even with the sandy trigger.

Groupon Listens

Late last week the gun blogging community was all over Groupon for its position regarding Gun related content.

Well they actually listened.

There has already been multiple Groupons that feature guns and shooting sports.

I applaud their choice. Actually it's just good business sense because there are more shooting entheusists in this country now than ever. In fact, Black Friday booked record numbers in gun purchases!

--Support Groupon! Buy gun stuff!

BING!

TBolt was ringing the 18 steel gong at 250 yards with his M1A like a monk. All those Zombie missions have paid off in spades when it comes to that .308!

The iron sights on this baby are excellent. The trigger is smooth. I even picked it up and hit that gong four times in a row.

Now that we have discovered this new range we will be doing more training at long distances.

I wish I had brought my Armalight AR-10 and my Savage 110FP.

I love Steel targets. I am going to get a few gongs of various sized. I love the satisfying feedback of that resounding BING!

--Gotta remember to bring my the spotting scopes next year!!

Stephanie Hayden Has It

Stephanie Hayden in "Bikers vs Nazis"

What does she have?

Trigger Discipline.

They never talk about the classic four rules. They never harp on safety. They exhibit good practices though. They always warn the audience not to try their shit at home. Much of the time there is no need. I am NOT going to restore a flame thrower!!

I will restore my fathers old Fulton 20 gauge.

She always has good trigger and muzzle discipline. They always wear ear and eye protection when they step over to the single lane next door.

They have even used remote trigger pulls at time.

--If the viewing population learns any lesson from about safety from the show. Let it be one about Stephanies lovely finger...

Mid-Atlantic Blogshoot I

50, 100 and 250 yard lanes

I want to begin by thanking our hosts from Lagniappe's Lair for an excellent Blog Shoot!

I hope this becomes a regular event because this facility was excellent!

We met at the Peacemaker National Training Center in Inwood West Virginia. This is a new facility that has recently opened this year. It has several ranges for handgun, shotgun and rifle at various distances all the way out to 1000 yards. The staff was very friendly and helpful and were obviously shooting enthusiasts themselves.

The range we were set up on had a handgun range and rifle ranges of 50, 100 and 250 yards. It was a beautiful sunny day but a bit cold. Everything was frosted when we arrived. There was lots of rifle stations for everyone. I ended up sending over 800 rounds down range during the day. Mostly .22LR because I was airing out my new Ruger 25 round mags (more on that later).

We all were enjoying ringing the steel target out at 250. Old NFO brought some more of his sweet gear. His sniper rifle had the best scope and trigger I have ever used. I never missed using it. I also was amazed by the fact that I rang 250 yard steel, 4 out of 4 times, with the iron sights on T-Bolts Sweet M1A. I even managed to hit it with my Cx4 carbine and my Ruger 10/22 with some help from a spotter. It was big damn fun.

--Several more posts will follow about this Blog Shoot! Next time I will have even more long range fun!!

Quotes of the Week

"The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible -- and achieve it, generation after generation."

- Pearl S. Buck

"Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end."

- Scott Adams

"To guarantee success, act as if it were impossible to fail."

- Dorothea Brande

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

- Michelangelo

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose."

- Lyndon B. Johnson

We are Americans and we are exceptional. And that is worth being thankful for!

- Michael Bane
The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.

- Thomas Jefferson

Blogshoot

I am about to head out to the Blogshoot in West Virginia!

--Looks like it will be good weather. I will post about it later!

Product Placement!

This roll of tools was pried from the cold dead fingers of a guy on the TV Series The Walking Dead!

--I would love to keep one of these rolled up in the back of my truck!

WANT: JRC 45

I just found the carbine that I have been looking for. The JR Carbine 45ACP - For Glock Mags.

JR Carbine .45 ACP

It has the features I have been looking for:

.45 ACP Carbine
Takes Glock 21 magazines including my 27 rounders
Price: $639 retail
Simple, reliable, straight blowback operation
Ambidextrous bolt - configurable for left or right-hand ejection
Lightweight 16-1/4" barrel
Free-floating quadrail forend
Picatinny rail machined into top of receiver
Telescoping 6-position collapsible M-4 style buttstock
Standard M-4 buffer tube, buttstock, and pistol grip
Utilizes standard M-4/AR-15 furniture and trigger components
Lightweight - approximately 6.5 lbs.
Overall length: buttstock extended 33-1/2", collapsed 30-1/4"
Made in the U.S.A. (no 922r problems)

It's also available in 9mm (Glock mags), .40cal (Glock mags) and .45 using 1911 mags. I hope I can find one to handle because I want it bad! I will also be able to use my suppressor from my Glock 21! Add an EOTech to this baby and the Zombies will be dropping!!

(Update: T-Bolt had a good discussion about it yesterday)

--This will be my next purchase.

Triggers at NRA HQ

You Need These

Rainier Arms Spork

We talk about camping and survival preps pretty often on around here. It is good to find nice, light, well designed items to add to your camping gear or Bug Out Bags (BOB).

This new Rainier Arms Spork is an excellent addition to a desk drawer at work or a side pocket of your Get Out Of Dodge (GOOD) full pack.

The price is $2.99 and is very easy to order ten or twenty and seed them all over the place.

--They should make a bottle opener jaw on it!