The West

Some random thoughts:

The West is BIG. There are stretches in West Texas and New Mexico where you can drive for hours and see nothing man-made. Just scenery. And I'm not just talking an absence of gas stations (Make sure you fill up!), but not even a bill board or telephone pole. If it wasn't for the road you are on, you'd be halfway convinced you were the first person to lay eyes on the land.

Carlsbad caverns is something to behold. You walk down over 700 feet. That doesn't sound like much, but it's FAR. and that's vertical distance. The trail down is over a mile long.

There are some truly cool towns in New Mexico and Arizona. Roswell, Holbrook, and Winslow are some of the ones we stopped at.

Louisiana has no idea what Authentic Tex-Mex is. Green Chili could be worshipped as a religion. I hear it is, in some parts.

More later. I have a Meteor Crater to go see.

Streamlight

I have been a fan of Streamlight products for some time. It's an issue for me, because I am also frugal. Their lights are spendy, especially for a single-income family. I own 4 of their products: a TLR-1 HL weapon light, and 3 flashlights- a Protac 2L (takes 2 CR123s) a Protac 2AA (takes 2AAs) and a Microstream (takes 1 AAA).

I use lights pretty regular in my line of work, so I like a bright light, but one that throws a decently wide angle. When I go into a dark room, I want the light to illuminate the whole room, not just one spot. Streamlights provide a great beam for the work I do.

My Protac 2AA was being weird, and the beam would dim and brighten at random. It took a back seat to the others, because it wasn't working right. It languished on my dresser at home, and I haven't used it regularly in several months.

Recently, my Microstream also stopped working. It wouldn't turn on at all.

I had enough, and checked Streamlight's website, filled out a service form, and shipped them to Streamlight. I figured that since they didn't work anyway, even if Streamlight told me they were not covered under the product warranty, all I was out was 4 bucks shipping. I packed them up, and off they went.

After about a week, I hadn't heard anything, and wondered what was going on. I expected a call to find out stupid things like where and when I bought them, but no call came. I resolved to wait another week, then call them back.

About 3 days later, a package arrived. Inside were 2 new lights. Not in original packaging, so they either were pulled off the assembly line, or were refurbished lights, but they were not the ones I sent in, as mine both had rounded edges and shiny spots from hard use. Inside the box was a typed note, with something to the effect of "products covered under warranty. Claim accepted."

That's a stand-up warranty. I know I will keep buying Streamlight products now. Not only are they great, but they replace a genuinely defective product, no questions asked, even when it has seen hard use for several years.

Streamlight has the DLG Seal Of Approval.

Numrich

They were relatively speedy in getting my order out. It's been less than a week. Remember when ordering something meant a 6 week wait? The technological advances (and the impact they have made on things such as drop-shipping) verily boggles the mind.

At any rate, one of the cool goodies I ordered was a replacement grip set for my 1903 pocket hammerless. They look much better than the cheap faux-ivory ones that were on it.

Axe

I put a new handle on my Axe. My wife found the axe about 12 years ago while hiking, and it has been our general wood-splitting axe ever since.

I've never been one to baby tools. I take care of them, but I have no problem using them hard. When they break, I fix them, and if they are beyond fixing, I get another. Tools are to make my work easier. They are not talismans that must be treasured.

Still, maintainence goes a long way, and kept the axe working through 12 years of hard use. The old handle had been slightly splintered under the head for years, but my neighbor borrowed it to split wood after having a few beers about a month back. On one particular swing, he must have missed the log with the head, and bounced the handle on the log.

The handle was no longer smooth enough to allow your hand to slide down during the swing, so I found a handle at a hardware store for about 10 bucks.

I cleaned and sharpened the head, then repainted it. I didn't have any red, so it got a coat of tan. I got a few drips. Oh well.

After removing the old handle with a saw, drill, and chisel, I began shaping the new handle. It took about an hour with a wood rasp and draw-knife. I got it to fit right, and drove home the wooden wedge.

Last, I cut the top just a little proud of the top of the axe head, and seated 3 'keys', little metal wedges that go across the grain structure of the handle, and really make the head tight.

And now, I have a working axe again. It cost about 12 bucks, 2 hours of labor with hand tools, and some sweat. Much better than going to buy another $45 dollar axe, huh?

1375

That's how many rounds of .38 special I have. I decided about 2 years ago that I wanted to get to 1000 rounds of range ammo and 200 rounds of defensive ammo for .38 special and 9mm. I have about 525 rounds of defensive ammo at the moment, 125 factory loads, and 400 handloads. The handloads are reproductions of the old FBI load, thanks to Murphy gifting me 400 LSWCHP bullets in the 158gr. variety. Thank you, Murphy.

That means I'm a little light on practice ammo, but not by much. I'm about to start focusing on 9mm range ammo. I have about 700 rounds of 9mm, and about 200 of that is defensive loads, so i need about 500 more practice rounds.

Other ammo needs?
I only have about 100 .357 mag loads, so I need a few hundred there. I don't keep as big a balance of those, though, due to cartridge commonality with .38 special.

I could stand to get another 200 rounds of 12 gauge game loads. And maybe another 50-75 buckshot.

Otherwise, I'm good on shotgun and rifle rounds.

Probably could use another 200 rounds each of .380 and .32. I have one gun each chambered in those, and while I shoot neither very often, I only have about 150 rounds for each. 350 for each, and I would be happy, considering how often I shoot them.

And .22... always .22. Although, honestly, I have more than 500, less than 1000, and only own 1 .22, so I'm not in bad shape.

It would be smart to buy some more HS-6. I am down to about a pound and a half. I'm good on primers, lead, and brass...

So, yeah, that's where I'm at on ammo. Guess I know where I need to start focusing my buying.

Table saw

I'm not in the market for a table saw. Don't have the space to store one, don't have any huge construction projects on the horizon, I simply don't need a table saw.

But, I was surfing around on a local buy sell trade website, and someone less than a mile from me was selling a table saw for 40 bucks. I figured that no matter what brand it was, if it ran it was worth 40 bucks. I loaded the boy-o into the pickup, and we drove over.

The woman must have been in her late seventies. She was spry and moved well, which probably had something to do with keeping up with her beautiful yard. I shook her hand, introduced myself, and we walked to her shed in the back.

It was a Craftsman table saw, one of the contractor-jobsite table saws. While on the smallish side, it came with a hand built wooden stand that someone years ago took the time to build, finish, and paint a medium grey color that matches the table saw. I told her that as long as it ran, I would buy it.

I picked it up and moved it outside near an outlet, plugged it in, and pulled the switch. The hum of a big motor rotating the blade reached my ears.

"I'll take it, Ma'am."

" Oh, how delightful!"

"Ma'am, it's worth more than 40 dollars. How much do you want for it?" I pulled 6 twenties out of my pocket, and looked at her questioningly.

"Son, it was my dad's. He passed away a while ago, and it's just been collecting dust for 10 years. I want 40 dollars for it."

"Yes Ma'am. Thank you. I'll just load this up."

"Come back to the garage after you load it up."

I put it in the bed of the truck, and strapped it down. I approached the woman again, and she started handing me accessories! She had a rip fence, the blade changing wrenches, a sled, and a pusher.

"Ma'am, I appreciate it. This is worth way more than a few twenties. Are you sure?"

She gave a little half laugh, and shook her head. "Sonny, I'm glad you can use it. Better than it collecting dust for another 10 years."

It was quite for a moment. She looked up into my eyes "when you had your wallet out, I saw a card that said 'Agent'. Are you police?"

"Yes Ma'am"

She held my gaze as her lips tightened briefly. I could tell that she had a lot she wanted to say. In that moment, I could feel how much she cared for my safety, and I knew that if she could, she would tell me how the portrayal of some things that have been going on for the past few years were unfair, and that she was glad that some were still willing to be police in spite of news coverage, and community attitudes. She wanted to tell me how safe she felt knowing that we Rough Men were around, patrolling, keeping the community safe.

She breathed deep and held my eyes.

"Sonny, please be safe out there."

I spoke softly back.

"Yes Ma'am."

There are some things that are of an even greater value than a 40 dollar table saw.

Gun Shirts

I have been acquiring gun shirts lately. My wife asked me to give her a list of things I might want for Christmas a few months ago, and for whatever reason, I put "gun shirts" on the list. She picked me out a brown tee with a 1911 on it.

I enjoyed it, and wore it on weekends, and it seems I have been acquiring a few. I now have a Browning logo shirt and a Smith and Wesson shirt, too.

Now, for years, I have had an array of tee shirts, and as I have worn them out, I have been replacing them with simple, solid color tees. I looked up some time last year, and realized I had no more band shirts or shirts with crass sayings on them left from my college days. And really, I was okay with that. My music tastes have changed, and now that I'm a father, I don't find shirts with expletives on this as funny.

But I no longer have shirts that express ME. Until my wife got me a gun shirt. I now have three shirts that say "this is the tribe I'm in". And I'm happy about that.

**DISCLAIMER**  Before anyone tells me "bad guys will know you are packing" or "you'll be shot first" or whatever nonsense, know that I'm not an idiot. I wear tee shirts around my house or while spending time with friends, or when I'm in the woods, etc. I don't wear them to get liquor and lotto tickets at 2am in the bad part of town. I am aware of exactly what I advertise when I put on certain clothes, and don't go out of my way to do dumb things (ever, but especially not) when I am wearing pro-2A "advertisements".

Woods Holster

My brother wanted a "woods holster" for his S&W M&P. He wanted a straight drop, low ride holster for walking his property, hunting, and rambling about outdoors. Just a basic woods holster.

I've been pondering on the design for a few weeks, and honestly couldn't fathom why he wanted this style of holster. But it was what he wanted, so I tried to figure it out.

I cut it so that the top of the grip rides below the bottom of the belt, because he wanted it low. To help with keeping the holster close to the body, I planned a tie-down on the holster. I did some tooling on the leather to make the M&P logo, and dyed it a contrasting tan. The rest of the holster I dyed black.

The project was pretty straightforward, and it came together easily. After completing it, I tried it on.

Man, I get why he wanted a holster designed in this way! I live in a big, largely liberal city. While I'm in law enforcement, and can carry pretty much anywhere, most places around here wouldn't be considered a permissive enviornment. Because of this, I make a lot of holsters that hold a gun in tight, and ride close to the belt. Most holsters I make are concealment holsters.

My brother lives in rural north Louisiana, and owns acreage. He works in a plant, and does a lot of outdoors things like 4-wheeler riding. A holster like this is PERFECT for that enviornment.

You pretty much would have to wear a trench coat to hide it, but that's not the purpose. It's a hell of a woods holster.

Overheard at the Office

(I work with a bunch of cajuns.)

Coonass#1- "Ey, dey got dem big ribeyes on sale at de Winn-Dixie."

Coonass#2- "Yah? Which Winn-Dixie is dat?"

Coonass#1- "De one dat sells da trans-a-missions."

Me- "Wait, what the hell are ya'll talking about? I ain't never heard of a Winn-Dixie that sells transmissions!"

Coonass#2- (with a look and a tone as if explaining something to a 6-year old) "Look, you know dem half-gallons of da whiskey? Da glass ones wit dem handles built in to da bottle? Ya turn dem bad boys on dere sides, and dey look like one of dem dere trans-a-missions."

(They both look at me with an expectant look as if to say "anymore questions, ya silly redneck?")

Life in cajun country.

Cowgirl

My sister recently got into the Cowboy Fast Draw game. My dad, Pawpaw, started into it about 2 years ago with my step-mom, and more and more of the clan is slowly getting into it. First was my Nephew, who I recently made the Bowie knife sheath for, then my Brother in Law, Greg. Now his wife, my sister wants to get into it. She has been going to club meets and practicing, and asked me a few weeks ago to make her a rig.

She wanted a medium brown leather setup with fancy border stamping and teal highlights. And she wanted her CDFA Alias stamped into the belt. Also, she wanted the holster made on a Mernickle pattern, meaning with a certain cant and ride height. My dad had one of those holsters handy, so I borrowed it to get an idea for a pattern.

Her holster is a single layer of very heavy, dense hide. It probably runs 12-13 ounces and is cut from the shoulder of the hide. This means  the leather is very, very dense and is about a quarter inch thick. Mernickle uses 2 thinner layers sandwiched together. Both ways have their advantages, but I personally prefer using a single thickness when possible, so that's the way I went. I also made her holster slightly longer than the Mernickle, as on theirs the barrel of the gun ever so slightly stuck out the bottom. That will not happen on mine. Lastly, I omitted the bullet deflector. Not because they are not a good idea, but because I didn't have suitable material to make one, and they are not required for competition.

This is the end result. I think she'll like it.