Today is the 25th anniversary of the release of The Princess Bride, which contains, in my opinion, the greatest Western swordfight on film.
For the sake of discussion, here is the greatest Eastern swordfight.
I welcome your discussion. En garde.
Author: Tom Lindsay
Just a regular guy who likes to shoot and cook barbecue. Leukemia survivor. Bourbon drinker. Chemical Engineer.
Thoughts on Storage State
Ron at When The Balloon Goes Up and Robb at Sharp As A Marble commented today on how they store their guns when not in use. I thought I would share my thoughts.
One of the first things I did when I bought my first pistol was to buy a safe to store it in. I got a good deal on a 8 gun rifle safe, and I stored my pistol there when I wasn’t carrying it. Soon I bought a Gun Vault pistol safe, which is where I keep my carry guns.
One of my rules of thumb with anything I store is to give as much thought to the next use as I do about how it is stored. In other words, how much trouble will it be to get to and use? This is doubly so when it comes to gun storage.
My pistol safe is used to hold my carry pistols, so the pistols are stored there in Condition 1, that is, with chamber loaded, and full magazines topped off, in a holster. When I or my family are home, the door to the pistol safe is open. This gives us the quickest access if we need it.
In the picture above, you can see Liberty, my Glock 19, in the bottom of the safe, along with some papers. On the top shelf is a leather IWB holster I use to house The Duke, my G21SF, when it’s in storage. At the time of this photo, The Duke was on my hip in a leather belt holster.
In my rifle safe I keep all my long guns, and my pistols that are not being used for carry. Since these pistols are not in the normal rotation, they are not stored ready to deploy, although there are loaded magazines in my ammunition storage that can be loaded quickly. The pistols are stored either in holsters or gun socks or zip-up pistol carriers, with no magazines, and with a orange flagged safety shell in the chamber.
Rifles and shotguns, on the other hand, are stored in a semi-ready state, with loaded magazines in place or with tubes loaded, but with the bolts open and yellow chamber flags installed. (I would never store a long gun in Condition 1, because the trigger is exposed.) When needed, a user would retrieve the gun, pull out the flag, drop the bolt, and be ready to go. On the other hand, when I’m transporting them to the range, I just remove the gun, drop the loaded magazine free, and put the rifle in the car with the chamber flag intact.
Sometimes I store my guns totally inert, unloaded. In that case, they are put into treated gun socks. Right now, only Vassily my Mosin Nagant is stored that way.
However you choose to store your guns, it is essential that you do it consistently, and that everyone who might be called on to use them knows how they are stored. This is part of what we discuss in our family when we talk about our guns, and everyone knows it.
Knife Review – Gerber Dime
In March of this year, I bought a Gerber Dime micro multi-tool, and started carrying it as part of my EDC posse. After six months of carry, I thought I would share my experience and impressions.
The tool is very small, measuring about 2-3/4 inches long by 3/4 inch wide, by 1/2 inch thick when folded. It includes the following:
- Pliers with wire cutters
- Scissors
- Regular blade
- Box opener blade
- Flat head screwdriver
- Smaller screwdriver with file
- Bottle opener built into the frame
The tool is very compact and sturdy. I’ve made it a point to use it in preference to other tools, and it’s held up well.
The pliers work well for their size, with good leverage and good serrated teeth. I’ve used them to hold bolts and to tighten bolts. The wire cutters worked well on small gauge wire and for cutting the ends off plastic wire ties.
The scissors are really too small to be of much good. I did use them to cut some cord, but that might have been better accomplished with a knife.
The regular knife blade did well. It is plenty sharp even after six months with no sharpening.
The box cutter blade may be the most surprising part of the tool. I’ve used it the most, to open packages and even cut through cardboard boxes to open furniture.
The screw drivers worked well enough, although their size, combined with the small handle with the tool folded, makes them not very effective with anything but the easiest of screws. The file on the small screwdriver is virtually non-usable because of its size.
Second to the box cutter blade, the bottle opener may be the most useful part. Even with the short moment arm, beer bottles were very easy to open.
The tool also comes with a small key chain loop, which I removed, because I don’t carry it on my key chain, and the loop was annoying.
Now, I tend the throw things in my pocket without doing a lot of regular maintenance, and I found, when I unfolded the Dime to take a picture for this blog, that a few of the surfaces like the scissor blades had become rusty. A few passes with a bronze brush and a wipe with the ubiquitous lightly oiled gun rag removed most of it. Also, in six months of carry with other metallic objects – keys, a folding blade knife, coins – the flat black finish has scratched off in places.
All in all, the Gerber Dime has become a welcome addition to my pocket. While it doesn’t excel at anything other than opening boxes or beer, it is useful enough to carry, especially when carried along with a simple folding blade knife.
I give the Gerber Dime 3-1/2 eye patches out of 5.
FTC disclaimer – I bought all merchandise, and there was no consideration given in exchange for this review.
An Open Letter to Truthers
On this anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, America pauses to remember those who died at the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and in the fields of Pennsylvania, at the hand of Islamic terrorists. Last year, I wrote about where I was on that day, so that’s not my topic today.
Instead, I am going to put in print what I’ve felt for quite some time. Then, I won’t speak of it again, because it doesn’t warrant the energy or attention.
There are some people who believe that the attacks on our country on September 11 were part of some government conspiracy. Some believe, simply, that George Bush did it. I’m not going to discuss the reasons, because, frankly, it’s not worth it.
Now, I’m not talking about the government having unconnected intelligence suggesting an attack was imminent. That’s happened throughout history, at it’s more a sign of human frailty than of conspiracy or malice.
No, I’m talking about people who believe that someone spent months and months planting explosives in buildings in New York, then set them off with national TV cameras rolling.
Here is what I want to say to those people:
If you honestly believe that the government of the country you live in would kill almost 3,000 of its own people, yet, you continue to live here, then you are either insane, lying, or a complete coward.
What do sane people do when they believe their government kills its own citizens? How can you find out? Go to south Florida and ask. There are strong, successful people there who believed that their government was killing its own citizens, and covering it up. Why did they believe that? Because, in Cuba, it happened. And they gave up everything they had, and got the hell out of their country as fast as they could, and moved their families here.
If I lived in a country where I believed the government was capable of half of the atrocious acts that some of the conspiracy websites spout, then I would do whatever it took, spend whatever I had, to move my family as far from this country as I could. I would leave behind everything. Because that kind of country isn’t worth living in.
So, if you believe in a 9/11 conspiracy, and you still live here, I don’t want to hear it. Move your sorry ass to South America. Until then, we have nothing to discuss.
For that matter, even after that.
Fill Yer Hands 