posted by Caleb on Feb 28
Adding The Future Donut Addict to the blogroll. Based on his blog, he’s a student at Ball State, so I’ll try to not hold that against him. (I keed, I keed, at least he’s not at IU).
Archive for February, 2007
posted by Caleb on Feb 28
If anyone missed the previous post I made on mouseguns, I have been inspired to create a competitive body for mousegun shooting. An official mission statement or statement of purpose is coming later, but the gist of it would be that I want to create a place where the loads of people that carry and love these little guns can shoot, train, and compete safely. Obviously, I’m hoping this idea takes off.
Although MSL sounds like a contagious disease, it’s simply a working title for now. What I am working on (and going to share with you) are the equipment rules that we’ve come up with so far. Since this is a work in progress, any feedback is appreciated.
Remember, the stated goal is to create a shooting league or society in which people can shoot their mouseguns competitively. The idea is that competition on the goal produces a valuable training environment for people that carry mouseguns (which is a lot); additionally it’s fun as well.
Competitive Classes
Right now, we’re looking at two major classes, Revolver and Pistol (Semi-auto); with each class being further subdividing into Sub-minor caliber (.22 LR, .25 ACP, possibly .22 Magnum) and Minor Caliber (.32 ACP, .32 S&W, .32 Magnum, .38 S&W, .380 ACP, and possibly .38 Special - more on that later).
To keep the competition limited to strictly “mouseguns”, each competitive class will have weight restrictions on the pistols used, i.e. no hauling out your Ruger 22/45 to compete in the rimfire category. I’d like to limit the weight of autos and revolvers to 20-25ozs (this would allow Walther PPks and Bersa .380s). There are going to be some restrictions specific to class of weapon as well. I’m honestly not sure where the limit should be set in the Sub-Minor category, but right now we’re looking at 15 ounces. That would exclude such guns as the Walther P22 and Sig Mosquito, which is too bad; but again the goal is to limit ourselves to true mouseguns. The final weight related issue that’s been brought up is a possible bonus for people that choose to use superlight weapons, such as the NAA mini-revolvers, some of which weigh less than 10oz. Quite frankly, we have no idea how this would be implemented, but I’m open to suggestions.
Minor Revolver class
To compete in this class, the revolver must be chambered for one of the following cartridges: .32 ACP, .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, .38 S&W, .32 Magnum, and .32-20 WCF. This isn’t intended to be an all inclusive list, because we’re sure that there are plenty more “mousey” cartridges out there that can be fired through a wheelgun. A brief side note, at this time the .38 Special is on the bubble, because it’s allowed for use in IDPA and ICORE shooting, we’re leaning towards not including it.
Barrel length on the revolver class is likely going to be 3 inches or less, again provided the revolver makes the weight limit mentioned above.
Sub-minor Revolver
To shoot in this class, a revolver must be chambered for either .22LR, .22 Magnum, or .25 ACP. The weight limit on the sub-minor wheelguns is going to be locked at 18.5oz. The revolver can be single or double action, but must have a barrel length of 2.5 inches or less. This is the first category where handicapping comes to mind, as an shooting that uses a 9.5 ounce NAA Black Widow is going not going to be able to compete with someone that uses an 18 ounce Taurus. Right now, we’re not limiting cylinder capacity on revolvers with 5+ rounds - but we don’t have a good solution in place for reloads on the clock.
Minor Pistol
For a pistol to shoot in this category, it has be chambered for .32 ACP, .380 ACP, .32 NAA, and maybe, just maybe 9mm Makarov (9×18). Again, not an all inclusive list, but it’ll do for now. The 9mm Mak is right on the bubble along with .38 Special in the wheelgun world. Barrel length is limited to 3.5 inches or less; this category will also make use of the handicapping system for extremely light guns such as the Kel-Tec .32. The handicapping system will be worked out in detail once we’ve come up with the scoring system. Magazine capacity is capped at 8 rounds for this category.
Sub-minor Pistol
Pistols here must be chambered for .22LR, .22 WMR, or .25 ACP. Barrel length is going to be 2.5 inches or less, and the weight has to be under 15oz (that could be lowered). Magazine capacity is limited to 8 rounds here as well. We don’t envision handicapping to be an issue in this category.
So that’s the breakdown of the competitive classes. Again, all this is in the creative stages, and any and all feedback is welcome. We’re going to be working through the scoring system today; which will include how the handicapping system will work. After that, we’ll work on course design, which will include average round count, reloads, etc.
Questions, comments, etc can be left in the comments section or directed to my email at admiralahab at gmail.com.
posted by Caleb on Feb 27
Normally, I don’t watch Real Time. My wife and I will occasionally play a game where we see how many minutes of the show it takes until I’m ready to put a fireaxe through the TV.
Well, I caught the replay of the latest episode on Monday night, and it was great. It was great because they had this woman as one of their commentators.
She essentially spent the entire episode owning everyone else on the show all over the board. Very calmly and reasonably she made points about the radical nature of Islam that no one could refute, and even had Bill Maher (who is a notable critic of all religion) agreeing with her.
It was fantastic. Now I’m going to have to buy her book.
posted by Caleb on Feb 27
From Smallest Minority (one of my favorite sites), I’ve found this gem on “Why you shouldn’t try to rope deer”.
I’m not responsible for any coffee/beverages that you expectorate on your monitor/keyboard.
“I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that since they congregated at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away) that it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.
The cattle, who had seen the roping thing before, stayed well back.
They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes my deer showed up. 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it. It took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and received an education.
The first thing that I learned is that while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. That deer EXPLODED.
The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope with some dignity. A deer, no chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I originally imagined. The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many animals. A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head.
At that point I had lost my taste for corn fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope. I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual. Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer’s momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn’t want the deer to have to suffer a slow death. I managed to get it lined up to back in between my truck and the feeder, a little trap I had set beforehand. Kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head.almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts. The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now) tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the bejesus out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.
That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that when an animal like a horse strikes at you with their hooves and you can’t get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape. This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond I devised a different strategy. I screamed like woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and three times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now when a deer paws at you and knocks you down it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head. I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
Now for the local legend. I was pretty beat up. My scalp was split open, I had several large goose eggs, my wrist was bleeding pretty good and felt broken (it turned out to be just badly bruised) and my back was bleeding in a few places, though my insulated canvas jacket had protected me from most of the worst of it. I drove to the nearest place, which was the co-op. I got out of the truck, covered in blood and dust and looking likeheaven. The guy who ran the place saw me through the window and came running out yelling “what happened”
I have never seen any law in the state of Kansas that would prohibit an individual from roping a deer. I suspect that this is an area that they have overlooked entirely. Knowing, as I do, the lengths to which law enforcement personnel will go to exercise their power, I was concerned that they may find a way to twist the existing laws to paint my actions as criminal. I swear. Not wanting to admit that I had done something monumentally stupid played no part in my response. I told him “I was attacked by a deer.” I did not mention that at the time I had a rope on it. The evidence was all over my body. Deer prints on the back of my jacket where it had stomped all over me and a large deer print on my face where it had struck me there.
I asked him to call somebody to come get me. I didn’t think I could make it home on my own. He did.
Later that afternoon, a game warden showed up at my house and wanted to know about the deer attack. Surprisingly, deer attacks are a rare thing and wildlife and parks was interested in the event. I tried to describe the attack as completely and accurately as I could. I was filling the grain hopper and this deer came out of nowhere and just started kicking theheaven out of me and BIT me. It was obviously rabid or insane or something. EVERYBODY for miles around knows about the deer attack (the guy at the co-op has a big mouth). For several weeks people dragged their kids in the house when they saw deer around and the local ranchers carried rifles when they filled their feeders. I have told several people the story, but NEVER anybody around here. I have to see these people every day and as an outsider, a “city folk”, I have enough trouble fitting in without them snickering behind my back and whispering “there is the ding-butt that tried to rope the deer.”
posted by Caleb on Feb 27
I get a lot of links here from Mouseguns which is great, because it’s an awesome website; it’s an awesome website because it focuses on my personal favorite niche of the gun world. That of course is mouseguns (I bet you figured out where I was going with that). Wikipedia actually has a pretty decent entry on mouseguns, and of course you can always visit the website linked in the first sentence for more information.
What is a mousegun?
Well, that’s sort of a funky question; because it really depends on to whom the question is being asked. The general consensus is that it’s gun chambered for a light caliber (usually .380 or lower) that can be readily concealed and carried. Mouseguns.com moves superlight 9mm and larger caliber handguns into a category of their own, that of the “ratgun”; which I think is a great name.
Operating off the definition of a mousegun as .380 or smaller in caliber, the next defining criteria would be the weight. The Wikipedia article mentions less that 16 oz, I’ve personally heard less than 20oz, less than 18oz, and from a 1911 fan “anything not a full size 1911a1″ which did make me chuckle a bit.
What I can do with a mousegun?
Well, carry it for starters. A lot of mousegun fans (myself included) are fond of saying that “a .25 that you carry is better than a .45 you leave at home”, or “the first rule of gunfighting is have a gun”. While these are true, I would say that if you can carry a big gun, you probably should. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, back to mouseguns.
The purpose behind a mousegun is generally considered to be for last ditch defense at extremely close ranges (<7 yards). I’m generally opposed to people who drop a .32 Kel-Tec in their pocket and don’t practice with it; in my opinion a mousegun requires as much (if not more) practice than a full sized or medium sized defensive pistol. The light caliber calls for well placed shots which is not facilitated by the teeny sights or the generally small grips on your average mouser. If you’ve got one and you carry it, you should practice with the thing.
Can I compete with my mousegun?
Yes and no. While Mouseguns.com has had some postal matches in the past, it’s not a regular occurrence. Additionally, at the club level at lot of IDPA matches have a “Back-up Gun” division, into which most mouseguns would fall. If you’re looking for a sanctioning body that has rules and regulations for competition specific to mouseguns, there isn’t one that I know of.
However, I’m currently working with a few friends to rectify that situation. I was griping to said friend that I couldn’t shoot my mousers in any sort of sanctioned competition, his response was “well, form a sanctioning body, you’ve been shooting for years - and the internet is a great tool.”
With that in mind, if you’re a person that would be interesting in shooting a mousegun in competition, drop me a line in the comments section or to admiralahab at gmail dot com.
Are mouseguns fun to shoot?
Damn skippy they are. The biggest downside is that you can’t buy .32 ACP ammo in the sort of bulk that you can buy 9mm ammo; but it’s not that much more expensive.
If you’re looking for more info on little guns, head over to www.mouseguns.com and start clicking around. There’s a lot of great information on them.
posted by Caleb on Feb 26
Because I’m too lazy to mess too much with HTML, here’s my awesome Technorati Profile.
posted by Caleb on Feb 26
The Right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
It’s pretty straightforward, but it sure is inconvenient. I mean, not for us since we’re the “people” in question; but rather for those that would like to see Americans dependent on the government’s handouts. Which is for me what gun control really comes down to; a dependency issue. The people in positions of power don’t want to just take away your guns, they want to take away your ability to choose pretty much anything. They have to start with your guns because it is damn difficult to tell a man with a rifle what he can and can’t do.
It really is an issue of control. I have often said that of late, the only difference between Republicans and Democrats is what aspects of your life they want to control. I am obviously not okay with this, as I am a semi-intelligent adult, I feel as though I’m capable of making my own decisions. For instance, national health care? Thanks but no thanks. I’d rather choose the care provider that I go to. Yes, I know my choices are limited by my health insurance, but I still get to pick. Social Security? Like that’ll be around when I’m ready to retire. How about you give me the money I’m pissing down the drain on SS, and let me invest in something else, like an IRA? Gay marriage? Who fucking cares? Let ‘em get married, it’d probably be good for the economy anyway; all those queens would have lavish weddings at expensive hotels. Smoking bans? Don’t want ‘em. I quit smoking a while ago, and I still hate smoking bans. Let the market determine where you can smoke and where you can’t. You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I hate the anti-smoking Gestapo as much as I hate the gunbanners.
The point of all the above ranting is quite simple. I’m rather tired of the government telling me (and people like me) that some things are too dangerous for me, or that I’m not smart enough to save my money, that certain people can’t marry, or that my rifles and handguns are a threat to safety.
After all that ranting, I really wish I had a whiz-bang conclusion for this, but I sadly don’t. I see the government infringing more and more on the individual’s ability to live his or her life as they damn well please, and it concerns me. It also frightens me, as more and more people cry out for new laws and more protection from the Almighty Nanny State.
And while the Nanny State is trying to pass silly-ass laws about imaginary “Assault Weapons”; or writing resolutions in the House to call the President a doody-head, our borders are porous, we’re at war, and there are bigass potholes in a lot of our roads. If the government would stop worrying about maintaining their own power and controlling my life; and would start worrying about things that actually matter who knows? We might actually accomplish something.
posted by Caleb on Feb 23
Nice blog over there at the Pirate King’s place. I think I’ll be adding him to my blog-roll.
posted by Caleb on Feb 23
To my slowly growing blogroll. I’ve got Cowboy Blob, whose caption contest made me spew coffee on my keyboard, and Anthroblogology. Even though his blog’s name is impossible to type on the first try, he’s a good read.
And he likes the Colts.
posted by Caleb on Feb 23
I found it on some other blogger’s site, I just don’t bloody remember who it was. So to whomever I’m ripping off, I’m sorry.
The satirical piece did make me thing of something though. I have some friends who are in favor of gun control, but what me to take them shooting. Of course I will as I’m hoping to change their opinions. They’re sort of like the real version of the person in the story - while they’re not a fan of guns in general, they’re fascinated by the concept of firearms and curious about what draws me to them.
People like that are an opportunity to create some new shooters. Especially if you give them something cool to play with.
