Salsa ( Plus ) Time . . .

So you planted them little darlings – nursed them along – and now it pays off! Salsa is so easy and so good – there are about a zillion or so videos on YouTube – and when you realize there is no right or wrong way to do it – you’re getting there.

The fun part is you can make your salsa for your taste – tomatoes / peppers – hot? – mild? – in between? – cater to your preference / some onion – yellow – white – vidalia – again your choice / some cilantro / lime juice – lemon juice – or both! / salt – pepper – garlic powder or fresh – or both . . . YOU are catering to YOUR tastes . . .

Into the food processor and away you go . . .

Ever had salsa soup?? Just take that big bowl of salsa out of the fridge – a ladle or two in a bowl – some chopped veggies – Shazzam! – Really good cold soup to make a simple sandwich at lunch special!

Your “soup” additions are only limited by your imagination – apple slices – oranges – peaches are in season right now – just about any fruit or veggie you can think works – the cold soup thing is pretty good!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

How Does ALL that Spring Fit??

How does all that spring and all those rounds fit? Smoke and mirrors – That’s How! Not really – it’s done through 3 basic things – spring nesting – spring coiling – and lastly but most importantly – advances in metallurgy . . .

In the last 25 years or so the double or stagger stack magazine has really became the standard for auto loading pistols – pretty much across the board for 9mm.

About the only single stack magazines that are still out there are in 1911’s – and yes I know that there are exceptions – but we are talking in general terms here for the sake of keeping this post focused . . .

I was trying to think of how to illustrate where the spring and all those rounds went in the S&W magazines from a few posts back – there is no way I was going to get a pencil and a piece of paper out and literally illustrate it since my drawing skills are only exceeded by my camera skills – or possibly by my typing skills . . .

Then I remembered I had bought some translucent ETS magazines awhile back so I started pawing through my boxes of loaded magazines and found some of them – so here we go . . .

These are 15 round magazines designed to fit a Glock Brand Glock G19 – the left one is obviously empty – the one on the right has 5 rounds in it . . .

The one on the right with 10 rounds – look at the top three coils – next picture shows whats happening a little better – the magazine bodies are translucent – not transparent . . .

As the number of rounds go from 10 to 15 the top 3 coils compress completely and then ride forward and “nest” into the bottom coils . . .

I played with the lighting on this last picture for a little bit – it’s about the best I can do with what I’ve got – but – it gives you a fair idea of what is going on inside the magazine body . . .

Now you realize these have been loaded for plus or minus 18 months – with no set or weakness occurring – the capability of the bending technology has been around just about forever – and now it’s been automated – and now finally the metallurgy of the actual wire has grown up over the last 20 years or so to where the point of failure becomes more of a dirt/moisture thing than actual failure of the spring itself.

Hopefully this will help you understand and appreciate that little machine that you are using all the time and never even thinking about it with your auto loading pistol . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

S&W J Frame Weight Differences or Naked Gun(s) . . .

Two questions were asked – and I will try to answer them here . . .

Do frame materials make that much difference in weight? – And how much weight difference are there with different grips?

First a 637-2 aluminum alloy frame/stainless steel cylinder with Ergo Grips . . .

And the same 637-2 naked . . .

It comes in at 12.8oz naked – the grips add 2oz of weight to the mix . . .

Second is a 642-2 with OEM “Boot” Grips – aluminum alloy frame/stainless cylinder . . .

The “Boot Grips add about 1.6oz to a naked 642’s 12.6oz naked weight . . .

Third is a 642-2 with Ergo Grips . . .

And the 642-2 naked . . .

It comes in at 12.9oz naked . . .

Fourth is a 3″ 36-1 steel frame/steel cylinder with Pachmayr Grips . . .

And the 36-1 naked . . .

It comes 1lb 4.5oz naked – The grips add 4.4oz to the mix . . .

Fifth is the 360-1 scandium frame/titanium cylinder with OEM “Uncle Mike’s” Boot Grips – now that was a great marketing ploy to get S&W to put your grips on their “stuff”! . . .

And the 360-1 naked . . .

It comes in at 11.6oz naked . . .

S&W snubbies come in many flavors – and they can be in a bunch of different calibers depending on YOUR specific needs and purposes. S&W is even making one in .32 H&R Magnum – OH BOY! – These five are all .38 Special except the 360-1 which will also chamber .357 Magnum – which I haven’t gotten time to shoot it yet and still not sure about full power Magnums in something that light. Summertime carry in my .38 Special snubbie world is Remington 125 grain jacketed hollow point +P – even with the short barrel velocity loss you may actually get enough for expansion – maybe. Wintertime carry is 148 grain wad cutters – they cut a nice hole through cloth and keep right on chugging along.

Actually got all the S&W J frames together for a group picture – from the top going clockwise – 637-2 with Ergo Grips / what I usually carry OWB for a revolver ( or a government model 1911 in .45acp ) – 642-2 with OEM “Boot” Grips / just vanishes in an ankle holster – 36-1 with a 3″ barrel with Pachmayr / it gets carried in lieu of the 637-2 when it starts getting whiny about never getting any “love” – and seriously folks – if you ever run across a 36-1 with a 3″ barrel? – grab it – with the Pachmayr Grips it is the best pointing – best balanced revolver I have ever owned or handled – it’s simply sweet – 360-1 with “Uncle Mike’s Boot Grips” – gonna have to shoot it some to see where it lands in the mix – 642-1 with Ergo Grips – had a hard time getting it out of my pocket for the group picture – it’s like I don’t want to be outside – I’m supposed to stay in your pocket until I get to come out and go bang – bang – bang – bang – bang – the only way it would get in the group for the picture was I had to promise it a trip to the range this week – LOL!

And one last pic of the 637-2 with “summer” ammo – 5 rounds of 125grain Remington semi jacketed hollow point +p – it actually breaks 1 pound . . .

I am going to order a set of Ergo Grips for the 360-1 – even with a 3″ barrel / the really sweet front sight – the adjustable rear sight – and the added weight of the Ergo Grips it only comes in at about 13.6oz – which is not really enough weight to soak up recoil shooting .38 Special let alone full power 158 grain .357 Magnum loads . . .

To put this in a little different perspective, what you see below is a Taurus 605 ( First Series ) – all steel 5 shot .357 Magnum – plus or minus Taurus’s take on a S&W J frame – sweet little revolver – good smooth trigger in double action – a little heavy but shootable – clean crisp single action trigger break – their version of “Boot Grips” – at 23.3oz .38 Special wad cutters – and even 125 grain +p rounds are doable – not a lot of fun – but it works – PPU 158 grain semi jacketed .357 Magnum – simply put – No!! – PPU loads to full SAAMI secs on their .357 – about the average you will find out here is around 1400 fps – PPU is at 1608 fps with their 158 grain .357 – real old timey loading – they REALLY come out screaming . . .

The issue with really light weight revolvers is not the first shot – it’s the subsequent shots – I took one of the 642’s with OEM grips and one with Ergo Grips – 158 grain lead semi wad cutter +p hollow points – us old farts remember them as the fbi load -and off to the range I went – 5 shots rapid fire / reload / five shots rapid fire – using HKS speedloaders – shot the Ergo Grips first and really had no issues – the last three shots of the second string were skidding around a little but were still hits . . . the two 5 shot rapid fire strings with the OEM “Boot Grips”? It was all I could do to fuck fumble through the reload and those 10 rounds total? The first shot was right there – the remaining 9? – they were all on the paper – but all OVER the paper – it was a 2 foot x 4 foot silhouette at 10 yards – I had to use my left hand to get my truck in gear and drive home – it really sucked – hand hurt for 3-4 days afterwards – BUT – that made a true believer in Ergo Grips out of me . . .

Really tiny and light weight revolvers are a hoot – but only hits where they need to be count! I figure 125 grain +p will be where I end up with in the 360 – but of course I have to know so I will crank off some PPU loads out of it – LOL!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

From Sleepcore : Chromacolor Dreams

Had an RCA XL100 and used it until about 5 years ago – used it with an add on tuner device that grabbed the digital channels and converted that output to channel 3 or 4 – don’t remember which – the converter died but the 40+ year old RCA XL100 still lives on – gave it to a guy whose kids use it for old video games ( he is a collector ) that they like to play – amazing electronic stuff was built over the years . . .

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!