Just in case you don’t feel your age today . . .
Thirty three years ago the movie Top Gun was released. Keep smiling!! ( it scares the fuck out of people – LMAO )
Have Fun ! – Run the Gun ! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap !!
the internet – 2 1/2 – 3 hours later – no clue whatsoever it was I started looking for I ran across this site – Honest Food dot Net
and this recipe for Shrimp Mac and Cheese – so I grabbed the stuff I needed – with one substitution I did this for dinner.
Fresh out of the oven – still bubbling!!!!
Oh My My – Oh Hell Yes !! Baby put on that party dress – Just damn near went face down in the plate – real comfy food !!
Here ’tis as written . . .
This is an easy dinner that is a great riff of the classic lobster mac and cheese. It keeps well in the fridge for a few days, but doesn’t freeze well. Prep Time20 mins Cook Time30 mins Course: Main Course, Pasta Cuisine: American Keyword: comfort food, shrimp Servings: 6 people Calories: 1091kcal Author: Hank Shaw
NOTE: If you are using large shrimp, cut them into small pieces.
Calories: 1091kcal | Carbohydrates: 73g | Protein: 48g | Fat: 67g | Saturated Fat: 40g | Cholesterol: 363mg | Sodium: 968mg | Potassium: 410mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 2427IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 916mg | Iron: 3mg As I cooked it – Substituted shredded Quesu Quesadilla cheese for the Gruyvere – I really like Queso for cooking – and I couldn’t find the other – LOL . . . Use raw shrimp !! – it will be cooked just right buy the time you are ready to plate it – precooked shrimp will totally over cook and have the texture of little chopped up pieces of “sole of tennis shoe” – and almost as much flavor – Don’t ask me how I know this – I have actually screwed up several recipes over the years doing just that – just pop the tails off the shrimp – chop it up and use it!! Used an oven safe skillet rather than a casserole dish – just makes sense to me – it is already warm from cooking “the stuff” – just slip it in the oven and it continues on its merry way to your plate . . . The website I got this off of looks like it has not been updated in about 7 years – you would be amazed how many “abandoned” web sites I stumble across . . .
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! and remember – Fish Heads Are Cheap!! – Damn – Now I’m wondering if maybe I should have substituted fish heads for the shrimp????
Smith made these until springtime of 2015 – considered by many to by a “poor man’s” Model 41. The Model 41 is a full up competition gun – pricey at $1599 – “semi” mass produced but hand fitted – essentially what would be considered a performance center gun and Smith holds to incredibly tight tolerances with the Model 41 – with the correct ammo ( Ely match grade or better @ $15.00 for 50 – Damn! )- if you’re not putting everything into one hole in the paper at 25 plus yards it is not the pistols fault!
A gently used Model 41 – priced north of 1200 dollars!! – from S&W’s website the current production Model 41 – ” The Smith & Wesson Model 41 is the top of the line in rimfire pistols. Used by national level competitors for acute precision in competition . . . ” Folks I don’t believe we will ever have one of these ” found in a closet ” and reviewed on the site – LMAO!! The Model 41 is an all carbon steel gun – weighs more out of the box – by over six oumces – than my RIA 1911 !! Talk about a stable platform for 22 rim fire . . .
And if you aren’t happy with just an ordinary, mediocre Model 41 – S&W does make a Performance Center Model 41 – now if anyone out here simply can’t decide what little trinket to grab me for Christmas . . . .
Back to reality . . .
Smith went in a little different direction with the model 22A-1. A really decent price point and very acceptable accuracy – not a true target or competition pistol – I will show you the mag release and mag well in a minute and you will understand why – but a really good plinker!! When they stopped production the MSRP was around $329 dollars and the used market has a bunch out there and they tend to run in the $200 to $300 range.
Simple to breakdown – lock the slide back – push the button in that’s in front of the trigger guard and the barrel comes right off.
Hammer fired – alloy frame – the steel barrel – chamber end in top pic – steel barrel in an alloy “housing” – complete with rail – ready for a red dot or scope if the target sights don’t float your boat.
Another look at the sights
A peek under the slide . . .
Let’s take a look at the mag well and the magazine . . .
No tapered magazine – no beveled mag well – changing magazines in a real hurry – gotta shave .048 seconds- hurry hurry / quick quick – is time consuming at best – but S&W did put a button on the side of the magazine to make it a lot easier to load those itty bitty 22 shells . . .
The other issue concerning “competition use ” is the location of the magazine release – if you really get a grip on it – you can inadvertently drop the magazine – oops!!
Shown here with a Ruger 22/45 to give you an idea of size
So Bruce, do you think I should pick one up if I ran across one in decent shape and reasonably priced?
Absolutely – they are just fun little guns to shoot – S&W made them in several different finishes ( 5?) and a 4 inch, 5.5 inch, and a 7.5 inch and by the ten of thousands – they are out there and not anything you would consider rare or collectable – but really neat- me personally I would start getting twitchy at anything over $150 or so – I am not a cheap bastard! – I am fiscally conservative! – so don’t even go there !!! – LOL
And the more things change – sometimes it seems the more they remain the same
Type 14 Nambu pistol from the TokyoKokura Arsenal
I think these grips from Altamont would look pretty good on a Model22A-1 . . .
As always . . .
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
This is kind of a neat one this time – it gives you quite a range of stuff – from marketing to to field to table!
First off – J.C. Higgins was an actual person – not just a created pesona or some dreg of humanity with a pretty face ( hoolywood – lower case and misspelling intentional – star ) for you folks in Rio Linda CA ) hawking a bunch of over priced crap.
Here is a link to wiki for a blurb on him and there is quite a bit out there on the web if you want to get totally lost and snap back to reality in about 5 hours or so trying to figure out why you are watching cat videos on youtube – I actually found a PDF file of one of the inserts that came in the box with the shotgun – just click here jchiggins_model60shotgun
I apologize in advance for some of the pics – long guns are more difficult to get good pics of –
and the rest of it –
The Model 60 came in 3 main variants – plain barrel – vent rib – vent rib with a “poly choke” – and each variant came in two basic versions – a plain or field grade – and a fancy or deluxe grade – as seen here.
High gloss finish – checkering – jeweled bolt and shell lifter – really nice stuff considering this was in 1952 or so and from Sears as a house brand made by High Standard . . .
some light surface rust – considering years ( decades even ! ) of being ignored in a corner of a closet it is in quite good shape . . .
And of course you could engrave your initials on the plate !!
It came to me with a failure to eject issue – basically it was a singe shot – took the gas piston system apart and cleaned all the bits of melted , fused plastic gunk out of it – and that really sucked – did that to it about 7 or 8 years ago so sorry no pics – but I believe you can use your imagination to “hear” the running commentary that went with that task – OMFG !!
This time around – a little cleaning and a look at the “gas cup” that the piston goes in to check for dust bunnies and such. . .
Front stock off – aluminum gas shield still in place . . .
Aluminum shield off . . .
How does it know if you are shooting light loads or magnums or field loads ???
That stack of springs regulates the amount of gas – pretty much any gas the gun does not need to cycle compresses the springs and the excess bleeds off into the forearm – thus the reason for the aluminum shield.
Fire control group – mounted in a machined aluminum housing . . .
If it needs to be cleaned I can’t recommend taking it all apart – just drop it in an ultrasonic cleaner – blow it dry and put drops of CLP on the pivot points with a precision oiler – a whole lot easier than taking it apart!!
Looking up from the bottom – bolt forward . . .
Bolt to the rear – or retracted . . .
So Bruce – How can you tell if the “gas system” is plugged and needs more cleaning or not by looking at it?? How the hell do you even see anything???
Technology – Ain’t it some kinda wonderful??
A bore scope of course – the next series of pics will show you screen captures of the ports that dump gas onto the piston!!
Cool ain’t it ??? If you run up on one – and you have the time and patience to fuss and fart around with it – they are really neat old guns – Worth anything on the used market ?? If you are selling ?? Sadly not much – way to many produced for it to be rare or collectible – but if you are buying ?? – It is definitely a buyers market – I would start with an offer of $75 to $100 – stop cold at $125 – if in decent shape and it fills in a spot for me – you see them in pawn shops in the $200 – $300 dollar range – realistically they are over priced at that amount – I really am not going to go into pawn shop pricing – remember the “secret” – buy low – sell high – merchandising – suffice to say every time I have been told that I am low balling someone – well Bruce you are trying to rip me off!! – they take their “stuff” to a pawn shop and come right back to me wanting to take my money now – Please?? LOL!!
I hope to take this particular gun pheasant hunting – but the time element this year does not look like that’s going to happen – before you know it we will be eating corn beef while trying to shoot the Easter bunny cause he won’t stop with all the noisy fire works . . .
To paraphrase a popular commercial – What’s in your closet??
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
The regional chain grocery store that we frequent has a decent “liquor department” and they have “tastings” – these cute young girls work for the different distributors and give you sips of various carbonated and non-carbonated adult beverages . . .
Makes grocery shopping fun !! I don’t remember HOW long ago I grabbed this – found it under the cupboard looking for something else and broke it out for after dinner on Thanksgiving. Really GOOD flavor – tends to burn a little on the way down – but damn nice flavor and taste !!
After a closer look at the label I can wrap my head around the burn – 61.7% by volume – that is 123.4 proof – OH MY GOODNESS – but it sure is good!! – LOL
Enjoy the Holiday Season – Stay Safe – and TRY to stay relatively sane !!
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
Now kids I will admit that this adult shit ain’t ALL burritos and strippers BUT one of the neat things ( besides having your favorite burner on the stove ) is making your own sandwiches. . .
Crunchy peanut butter – honey – bacon – banana – and nutella on whole grain bread – God Bless America!!
Another really neat thing – Naughty?? / Nice?? If your concerned about Santa NOT hooking you up – go buy your own gifts – the only downside to that is you have to wrap them – LOL!!
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
I went to look for an adult sized Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas – ( yes – I know – be careful or I’ll shoot my eye out!! ) and this followed me home. One of several nice things about being an adult is having a favorite burner on the stove – another is buying your own Christmas gift. And you don’t have to wrap it up if you don’t want to be bothered with worrying about making it look good and you’re not too worried if it doesn’t – LOL
The furniture on this is real nice – the pictures don’t do it justice.
As soon as I saw the wood I told the guy “Here – take my money” a real good looker!!
And in a real caliber . . .
A variety of ammunition is available for the 45-70 , HSM makes “original” loads – using smokeless powder they essentially duplicate the 70 grain black powder loads and sure makes clean up a lot easier. This loading will work for just about anything you care to shoot – this is roughly the same load the buffalo hunters used. A 45 caliber 405 grain bullet moving 1300 FPS with 1520 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy with good shot placement will work for any game animal on the North American continent. You can shoot these rounds in just about any 45-70 as long as it is in shooting condition. Old trapdoor Springfields – old highwalls – minimal recoil in a light weight rifle like the Henry and almost none in an old trapdoor.
HSM also makes a “bear load” which takes the energy level up quite a bit – A hard cast bullet with a gas check weighing 430 grain moving at 1801 FPS with 3098 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy. Not too shabby – a bear is something different than most other game – really large, mean, plumb full of teeth and claws and considers you a food source.
Why that pistol is a real hand full – 46-70 the cartridge is damn near a hand full !! – Gotta love it . . .
Another good source of factory ammo for the 45-70 is Buffalo Bore – Their take on the 430 grain hard cast really steps out – 1925 FPS and a real impressive 3537 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy.
Factory loads for the 45-70 pretty much covers the whole spectrum = 250 through 430 grains – light through hell for stout loadings.
Well Bruce that’s all nice but what if I’m attacked by something really large and dangerous – say a rabid oak tree? Well then you can just roll your own . . .
You can get some incredible stuff – Beartooth Bullets has their 525 grain pile driver bullet – “The absolute last word in EXTREME penetration for the 45-70 Gov’t. – I foresee some future posts about reloading using the Lee manual reloading kit coming !!
Between schedules and weather will more than likely be spring before I get a chance to wring this out – 25 yards on an indoor range – Meh – 50 to 100 yards outside – Sweet!
Look out Bambi !!
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
LNIB – complete with all the usual “stuff” . . .
Sig had a neat idea with the P250 – a fire control group that was the “actual” serialized firearm – and then sell caliber “x-change ” kits – buy one firearm (functional) in your choice of caliber and the all you have to do is by a “kit” at a reduced price and you have another firearm – just swap the fire control group out and away you go. Full size – compact (which is what this is) – sub-compact / pick your caliber – 45 (which is what this is) – 40 S&W – 357SIG – 9mm – 380 – 22LR. You get a frame – slide – guide rod – recoil spring – mag – just put your fire control group in it and you are good to go. A great idea in theory. In theory. Several issues kinda stood in the way of the idea taking off.
Availability – Your kidding – right?? I saw a grand total of one kit in the wild – Virtually everybody that carried SIG had them listed – never in stock – but listed on their website – or in their catalog – the kits were never really “out” there to buy . . .
Price Point – In most listings the kit was just about right up there with the price of a complete firearm and the one that I saw in the wild was more than the price of buying the same size/caliber as a complete firearm . . .
DAO / self de-cocking / spurless hammer – for a lot of people an issue – unless you learned to shoot and shoot fast on a DA/SA revolver a Double Action Only trigger is a learning curve that most people just won’t practice enough ( damn Bruce – there’s that P word again!! ) with to become proficient in its use – remember the P250 came into the market in 2007 – long after striker fired handguns saturated the market. From my point of view the DAO trigger was like old home week – very close to K frame S&W and the bonus of 10 rounds total with 45 acp.
No doubt about it – with that profile it’s a SIG
Sig did a good job on texturing the grips except where your thumb rests – added grip tape to both sides – gives some texture to smooth slick plastic . . .
Sig had a contract to produce 45,000 pistols for the Dutch police – for a number of reasons ( most of which will probably never be known ) it withered and died. Sig also had an order to provide the P250 in 357SIG as replacements for The Federal Air Marshall’s Service P229’s – that contract falling apart is an interesting read as a stand alone story. I urge you to research that mess for yourself – when you see Alice and The Mad Hatter say Hi! for me. . .
Sig had high hopes for the P250 line – had those come to fruition I believe volume would have been high enough that the price point at retail would have possibly dropped enough to become attractive to the public . . .
The P250 just never really went over – Wiki only lists two agencies as using them – The Hong Kong Police and The Cleveland County Police ( northwest U.K. ) – really neat pistols but they just didn’t click . . .
Which led to this – virtually the same firearm – but striker fired – For my having shot the P250 DAO and really liking the trigger – the striker fired P320 was a real MEH . . .
SIG P320 – Essentially a striker fired P250 – the biggest difference between hammer fired (P250) and striker fired (P320) ?? – NO second strike capability with the SIG P320 . . . SIG added a little “shelf” for your thumb on both sides . . . But – But it’s striker fired – must buy P320 — News Flash !! — The trigger on the P250 is a better trigger – If you practice and train on it the P250 has a very good trigger – if you want to take a skill set and just apply a hardware fix to it – rather than improve on the skill set – go with the P320 – just saying – and the P320 became quite the success for SIG . . .
Oh Well – on to the P250 –
Sitting on top of a SIG full sized 1911 – sitting by itself it looks to be pretty good sized – when paired with a full sized firearm you realize it is a “compact”
Bottoms up! – P250 on the left – Sig 1911 on the right . . .
Field strip is easy – lock the slide back – turn the take down lever – release the slide and off it comes . . .
And the recoil spring / guide rod assembly is not captive – ( only took 20 minutes to find the damn thing the one time it managed to escape my clutches ) so try not to launch it . . .
Looking down the mag well . . .
Slide release . . . one for each side . . .
And one of the four tabs that the slide rides on – once you clean it – just put a bit of good grease on those tabs and a spot on top of both slide release’s – then lube the slide and away you go . . . And yes – I am going to do a post on what I am using and calling “good grease” – I ran up on a new product and it is really good – Battle Born Lube !!
Now hear is where it gets interesting – pull the take down lever out of the frame
A wee bit of wiggling and finagling – don’t forget to hold you tongue just right . . .
Actually it is not that hard to get it out of the frame – the only down side – never being able to find the different kits to swap it into . . .
Enough Barbra Streisand Bruce – are you gonna take this thing to the range or just tease us ???
7 yards – slow – aimed – deliberate fire . . .
7 Yard – 5 round dumps – It’s all in how you train and practice – the more I focus on sights – the worse I shoot -LMAO!!
Slow deliberate fire at 10 yards – the one I circled is out of the top left string – don’t ask me – I don’t have a clue -LOL!!
And finally 5 yard slow fire . . .
Bottom Line – Worth buying?? If you can find one – frame size and caliber you want? Sure – why not! ( My God!! – you know I am only going to enable you not dissuade you !! ) Don’t go overboard on the price – try to get as close to the $325 – $350 dollar range as you can – unless you just gotta have one ( I am laughing as I type this ) – if I remember correctly this one was $399.00 on sale – NIB – I think . . .
Don’t forget – BLOAT – Buy Lots Of Ammo Today!!
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
There are times that I get so far behind with this blog stuff – I almost have to speed up to stop. Getting this update posted this late is not completely my fault.
Several people asked about this little scruffy Smith that you first saw here. Poor little darling . . .
Rough – Tough Shape – but it shot so well. Took a while to get a “deal” put together that satisfied everybody – then the cerakote job took way longer than was anticipated ( the guy got busy as can be – as a capitalist I can appreciate that! ) – and then get it in my schedule to go and shoot it – and here we are 18 months down the road from start to finish.
I believe the end result was well worth the wait!!
The matte black came out better then I was hoping for . . .
You really have to look hard to find any faults with the finish . . .
Reused the grips that came with it – scrubbed them with a nylon brush and Hoppes – then really hot water – nylon brush – and dish soap – now I’ll have to look around and find another “back burner” project – LOL!!
10 yards – 158 grain RNP ( round nose plated ) standard pressure – double action – finally settled down on the last round out of the first cylinder – the next 6 laid right in – Sweet old Model 10 – nothing else quite like them. Originally published on thebrucesite October 18, 2019
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and never forget – Fish Heads are Cheap!
It started as any other day – morning formation – assignments – and George forgot the beer.
And then . . . Intruder Alert – Intruder Alert. Don’t worry everyone, we have him cornered!
My God he’s quick!
Look at him go – we’ll never catch up – sound the alarm and call out the reserves!
That yard gnome will NEVER get away from all of us!
He’s heading into the lily garden – surround him and we’ll have him trapped.
My god he’s vanished – does anybody have a visual on the gnome?
What an incredible leap – after him – AFTER HIM !!!
Nooooooo!!! He’s on the concrete – we’re screwed now . . .
Look at him go !
He’s heading into the front yard, we still have a chance if we can catch him on the grass.
Come on fellas – let’s go.
Trapped !! we’ve got him now !
Watch out ! – he’s jumped over to the lawn – arrrrrrgh – more concrete
Epilogue – he’s here – but which one? – I don’t know – gnomes all look the same to me – what are we going to do?? I know – let’s go watch a Miami Vice episode !! I’m in – me too – let’s go – I’ll make popcorn ! Alright . . .
Thus ends another day in the life of a group of pink plastic flamingos – this was last years episode – enjoy . . . originally published on thebrucesite March 28, 2016
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
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