Window shopping

So, because I can't afford to even buy one gun a year, I consider myself to be one of the relatively poor people.  There are far too many somewhat affordable, high quality rifles that are just out of my reach.  I suppose if I wanted to own an AR, I could slowly build one, but I've never been inclined to own one, nor am I that patient.  So, the only thing I can do in this economy which prevents me from even making a casual purchase of ammo, is to sit and drool over everything I feel is mandatory for me to own at some point in the near future.

So, I figure I would compile a list of all the guns, that given a few less expenditures (or heaven forbid, a raise), that are just out of reach for the time being, and why I'd really want one.  I may have mentioned most of these ones individually on here before, but here's the definitive list of semi affordable options:

The PTR 32 - Okay, so this one isn't really that cheap at all, but I've always wanted an HK that doesn't think I suck or hate me. That, and ammo prices are almost always somewhat reasonable with 7.62x39mm.

Ruger Mk II - Everyone should own a semi-auto .22, and it's near inexcusable that I don't.  Yeah, I know there is a MkIII, but the 2 still seems to be the one I want.

Sumoi M31/KP31 - the semi-auto replicas of these suckers are just way too cool to pass up.  That, and I can pretend I'm a fat Max Manus if I had one.

any lever action carbine in .357 mag - have you seen the velocities from that round out of a 16 in barrel?  It's pretty darned impressive.

Mosin Nagant - Yeah, the cheapest, most powerful gun you can possibly own for under $100, and I still don't have one.  Pretty sad when I'm even more destitute than the communists.

an AK-74 type rifle - Couple cheap ammo prices, similar velocity and trajectory to 5.56, incredibly high ballistic coefficient, along with minor armor piercing qualities, and it makes a 5.45mm rifle a must.   Though, it is hard to find a high quality 5.45 rifle that isn't an AR, while still being affordable; since the largest purveyor of 5.45 AK knockoffs in America are the drunken retarded monkeys (a.k.a. century arms).   Dang, I miss my old AK.

Winchester 1897 - Let's face it, few shotguns are cooler than the original pump action.

Uberti 1858 New Army Conversion - I blame the spaghetti westerns for the initial interest, but the ammo shortage has proven that no matter how scarce ammo is, everyone always seems to have a just a little bit of .45 Long Colt laying around.

Smith & Wesson M1917 - Because it's God's own caliber in a revolver, and was used by Indiana Jones.

CZ-52  I am very intrigued by the capabilities of the round it fires, and it totally looks like it's straight out of a 1930's science fiction comic.

I'm like a disease

Being next to the only water cooler on this side of the building, I get a lot of people stopping by.  Being the cynical, pessimistic person I am, I hate people; this makes visits a bit more awkward.  Today, in particular, I had a visit from a woman who works in the department next door.  She is one of those stereotypically attractive, intelligent, charming and upbeat, young women who is a good amount of fun to talk to, because I counter balance those attributes pretty well.  I particularly love giving her a hard time, as she was under the delusion that I would be especially susceptible to her charm, that I may more easily assist her in circumventing the system.  So naturally, I have to make life more difficult for her.  

Today she came by the water cooler, and didn't even give me the usual courtesy greeting, which was rather surprising.  I asked what was up and she replied, "Oh nothing.  I'm just fed up with people."   

"Wait, what? You?" I asked

"Well, I think I just hate people now.  Every time I have people calling me asking why I don't do things with them anymore, and I just have to tell them it's because I don't like them anymore.  I'd rather just sit at home than be with people." 

To which I said, "Oh my gosh!  When did you become like me?  Now we can share everything!  We should really hang out more."

Yup.  People skills.  I have 'em.

Cartridge conundrums

It's a shame.  I absolutely love my Jericho, but it really -and I mean REALLY- hates steel cased ammunition.    Bad.  Naturally, the Roomie and my boss and their H und K-loving kind is laughing at this situation.

Being the cheap-shot that I am, steel cased TUL was the only thing I had off hand to shoot with when I first fired the gun.  I put about 200 rounds through the thing and just watched it jam and jam again.  Lots of different little failures were going on: failures to feed, stovepiping, slide not seating properly.  I thought forever, wondering if there was a problem with the magazines, the spring, if I overlooked something while cleaning, or if the extractor had issues.

However, after a second trip to the range just a few days later (without cleaning the gun either), I loaded up with about 250 rounds of cheap brass cased ammo of various brands, and I had almost no malfunctions at all.

Granted, this problem is solely my fault for not reading up on what food this baby likes before buying it, but I still find it a bit disappointing.  Now, I'm just curious though.  I'm wondering if I got a better extractor and an aftermarket barrel, if it would make my gun more agreeable to the steel stuff.  I'm gonna have to do a little research to see if there are any modifications I can do to make it more agreeable to the steel.  In the end, I'm still using nothing but the good stuff for defense, and have plenty of mags loaded with Hydra-Shok; but all I want is to be able to do some cheap target practice in the meantime.

Also, it would be nice if I could find some ammo to try out my CZ mags that I got for 'em.

yet another musical interlude

Taking a bit of a different approach with the tune of the week, because.....well, because I can.  That and it's Adventure Time!

ITs A+ living

There are times when I feel pretty good at my job, but then there are times like last week, where I'm messing up and feeling like I'm really terrible at it.  Thankfully, I had a bit of a pick me up throughout the week.  Three people in as many days told me that I was the only one in my department who seems like they want to help and actually does so in a timely manner.  That helped me feel a lot better.

In other news, it's a Friday, and Fridays are often so darn slow because my job revolves around solving other people's problems, but there's barely any people that show up on that day.  So, I expect the day is gonna be full of a whole lot of meetings, nothing, and meetings about nothing because our boss wants to make us look busy.  We usually end up following him around the company doing this.

Busy week o work

Tonight I'll be looking forward to seeing some of the most awesome episodes of The Next Generation with J and the roomie for the one night only screening at the theater.  Other than that, can't really say much about the day, due to nothing of interest really happening yet.

Because I'm having a really hard time coming up with subjects to blog about, allow me to cheat by referring you once again to someone who has leaned to speak only when it is full of teh awesome.  So go read these.  Pronto.  it's good for your soul.

There Is No Such Thing as 'Gun Rights'
There Is No Such Thing as 'Gun Control'

There's a vast list of blogs I regularly read which are almost daily haunts for me, but Jennifer is certainly one that is on the short list of people who I can say I'm a serious fanboy of.   This shortlist includes:

Tam - the queen of all snarkiness and nerd-dom
Brigid - wow...just...wow
Roberta - anyone who enjoys living with the queen of snark must be cool
Larry Corria - well established local who is successful for good reasons
Breda - heck, we even named the dog after her!
Rob Allen - never ceases to be quotable

Come to think of it, it's been a while since I've updated my links over there on the left-hand sidebar, and there's a bunch more people I need to add to it.  I should also get over my laziness and get them a bit more organized while I'm at it.  Oh well, maybe after some Star Trek.

convos at work

Talking with everyone in my department about the lack of availability in regards to ammunition, when Lance mentioned an acquaintance of his offered to buy a portion of his meager supply of ammo.  To which he said, "The only way anyone is leaving my house with my ammo is if it's inside them!"
I couldn't help but quip, "Okay, do you provide the balloon, or is it a BYOB thing?"

internet, meet your new favorite dish

Bacon wrapped, steak fajita chimichangas.  Yeah.  You heard right.  Did I just give you a mind explosion?  Nacho House.  Go.  Enjoy.  It's good for your soul.  Though, possibly not for your arteries.  Oh, and you can get chicken ones, too.

Covered in a white cheese sauce, too.  Sheer bliss.

After finishing our meal of epic quality, being IT guys, the topic quickly switched over to hacking.  J brought up specifically the multiple hackathons that are held at various venues every year.

J: "I think I just really like saying that word.  Hackathon.  It just sounds cool."
Me: "Sounds to me like what you'd describe a serial killer convention as."

Doolittle ya know

So, on the 18th of this month an important anniversary passed us by without many people noticing.  It was the anniversary of the 1942 Doolittle raid.  In honor of that, I submit to you some more required reading about the further implications of said raid.

Reconsidering The Doolittle Raid

Like mentioned in the article, I am one of those who were taught in school the "common knowledge" relating to the event, without being told some of the finer details that might prove otherwise.  Go check it out, as it's a fantastic and relatively short read.  Ya read it yet?  Okay.  Now, time for my two cents.

One thing that they didn't mention, is the growing misconception of the target of the raid.  In recent times, I have been told (and blatantly offended) by many peers who attempt to demonize and marginalize the Doolittle raid by stating that it was not very heroic because it had targeted civilians.

This is a blatant lie.  Although all the factions targeted civilians at some point of the war, the Doolittle raid's target was not civilians.  They were the Tokyo naval yards and other factories producing military equipment. For example, a factory producing tanks will always be a high value military target regardless of how many civilians work there.  Even if that weren't the case, they still executed a very dangerous raid with little regard to their safety and a mind firmly on completing their objectives.  Aircraft and crews were pushed to the absolute edge of their limits.  Heck, they even removed nearly all their defensive armament to reduce weight just to reach their target, which was fairly well defended and ran the risk of being intercepted.  If that aint heroic, i don't know what is.

I'm so flattered

So, some years ago, I served a two year stint as a full time missionary for my church.  What can I say?  It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  Quite literally.  People often have two responses once they find out that I have done so: first, they are blatantly surprised, because they don't associate me with the "type" that would do so.  Next, they inevitably ask a variation of the question "what was it like?"  Well, because serving a two year mission is such a massive life-changing experience, it's very hard to conjure up an explanation that can encompass the full two years of extremely unique experiences.

However, to give a basic idea of what day to day life is like, I often compare it to being on deployment while serving in the military.  The only major differences between the two (that I can tell) are the extreme physical risk that goes with others trying to take yours as well.  Going on a mission kind of goes like so:

Through high motivation you decide to volunteer, never really knowing the extent of what you're getting in to, then you put in an application to volunteer and eventually receive a call, you never go where you want to go, you're put through a crammed training course that only vaguely prepares you for any actual work you will do, some of your class can't hack it and washes out, any romantically inclined relationship you have is guaranteed to end, there is a strict daily regimen and schedule you adhere to, there are a litany of regulations, rules, and protocols for you to memorize and follow, there is regular PT (though thankfully not as a punishment), you have to put up with stupid immature cohorts that on occasion hurt your own cause, along with incompetent superiors that attempt to sap what's left of your morale, the English language is slowly eclipsed by the proprietary jargon and acronyms used by your service to the point that no one understands you, you go on long patrols where nothing happens a majority of the time, march through whatever inclement weather comes, extreme boredom begins to set in and slowly makes you go crazy (momma dawg!), people are often pointing guns at you and trying to hurtle improvised weapons at you, the media at large seems to either mock or hate you, "pulling teeth" often describes trying to deal with the locals you are trying to help, you sacrifice your all to help the community and country in which you serve, with little to no local recognition of your sacrifice, and in the end you are just kind of thrown back into the world to sink or swim, and only others who served seem to understand your experience at all.....and it's worth every dang minute of it!

Despite all I mentioned, it really is an experience I wouldn't trade for all the riches of the world.  I am truly thankful for the chance I had to serve, and was sad when it ended.

But back to my initial point, which is the comparison to the military.  I was recently reading American Spartans: The U.S Marines: A Combat History from Iwo Jima to Iraq, and despite the first chapter or two being a bit moto while hearkening the spirit of recruitment ads, there was couple of bits that caught me off guard.  The first being this paragraph:

"Whenever Marines are being trained, at whatever level, talk of character building and values is never far behind.  Words like pride, discipline, and persistence permeate marine discourse.  Marines have their own language, with scores of saying and slang words.  The Corps has been referred to derisively as a kind of military cult, and more dispassionately as a kind of military "denomination".  Indeed, there are some striking similarities between the Marines and a religious order.  Both require a transformation for full membership, a kind of rebirth.  Both require the willing acceptance of a core set of beliefs   Both require an enduring commitment to a cause greater than oneself.  For the Marines, stories of Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Hue, and Chesty Puller are sacred.  They serve as scriptures do for religious groups."

And then this quote on the same page from Gen. Anthony Zinni, "What we were doing was not a job, not even a profession, but a calling.  For me, joining the Marines was the closest thing to becoming a priest."

I don't hold myself anywhere near the same regard as our servicemen, but it is kinda fun when I hear them point out some of the similarities of our service.  There are many quotes of comparing christian service to the military, but this is the first one I've heard coming from the other direction.  Cool.

Update:  Another thing I forgot to mention that makes missionary service similar to deployment, is the goggles.  Every missionary is instructed about the goggles.

Lifeless husk mode: on

What is it with women I know calling me at 1:00 in the morning?  Seriously.  Not that I mind them calling, or even them calling at that hour, but it seems to be a regular occurrence, and that is the thing that bugs me.  I like sleep, but not as much I do women, so of course I'm gonna take the early morning phone call.  Doesn't mean I'm not gonna be completely incoherent by the morning though.

And now for something completely different.  Here's quite possibly the greatest thing I will see all day, via Soldier Systems.

I love it.

So, yeah, kind of a cheap-o post overall, but rest assured that once I get some rest, I'll post something of significance.

Why? I'll tell you why.

Just in case you don't go around the same avenues of the internet that I do, I recently saw another post that is a must read:
http://lurkingrhythmically.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-so-called-rights.html

on time and on target

More Sunday tunes for your perusal:

It has begun

So, our production floor was just barely having some kind of pep rally or morale thing going on, in which they all started reciting something in unison really loud, so you could hear it all across the offices.  Since this has never happened before, a lot of people were a bit confused.  That included our new guy in IT, who approached my desk and cautiously asked me if I knew what was happening.

With the straightest and most serious face I could muster, I looked at him and said, "Yeah, it's just a communist uprising.  Happens every month or so, and ends in a revolution of some sort."

My stupid sense of humor while workers of the world unite.

I just don't know

Yesterday and today seem to be those kind of days in which everything seems to piss you off, and even the things that normally cheer you up do the same thing, too.  So obviously it was a bit hard to find the motivation to post anything yesterday.

One thing that managed to make me feel a bit better was my new found enjoyment of the show Adventure Time.  It almost disturbs me how much I've come to really enjoy this cartoon for children, but like most shows I enjoy, it has a surprisingly dark and zany sense of humor, along with some characters that are much more tragic and deep than they initially appear.  It even manages to be post apocalyptic too, with the first shot of the intro showing un-detonated nuclear ordinance scattered across the waste.  Nice.

I downloaded seasons 1-4 and am enjoying just about all of it so far.  Too bad I don't have any kids, as that would give me a much less socially awkward reason for me watching it.

Wiki walkabout part III

So last night while eating dinner, I was looking over Tam and Roberta's posts about their outing to the zoo.  Which caused me to start reading all sorts of wiki articles about the various species of sea lions and seals, which whenever I see them in person, I just cant help but think they sit, move and overall behave like large sea-fairing dogs with flippers instead of paws.  What cute little carnivores they are!

Just look at that smug face.  You can totally tell that this one thinks he looks mother effing majestic, and well, he's right.

That in turn, caused me to start looking up more about dogs, which naturally makes me look for large breed dogs.  Then, after a cursory Google search, I stumble across one of the coolest breeds I've never heard of before:  The American Alsatian.  Also identified by it's unofficial name, the Dire Wolf.  Wow, now that's a cool canine.  Check out the breeding program's website, which is far more nerdy than initially thought, as their long term goal is that they intend to replicate the prehistoric ancestor to today's dogs and wolves (the Dire Wolf) to allow scientists to better study the type.  For Science!

Dang!  That's one cool looking dog.

Disconnected; for better or for worse.

It seems (for good reason) that most of my favorite people on the internet all seem to be annoyed/amused/perplexed/pissed off by all the so called "reporting" done on the recent tragedy in Boston.  It's at times like this, after all the misinformation, conjecture and political blood-dancing, that I'm really glad I don't pay for cable or satellite TV.  I'd like to say that I don't have it at all, but apparently our complex provides basic cable for free, so whatever.  It does make me a little less connected with the events of the world at large, but I think the pros have outweighed the cons so far. 

That sad moment when

you learn some bit of important national news from someone you would never trust to give you even the smallest bit of factual information, so you completely dismiss it until you find out later that it's actually true.

Yeah, just found out about the events in Boston.  I hope the figures for dead and injured don't get worse as time goes on.  

Wow, look at me...

...consistently forgetting to post good music every week.  Shame on me.  So, I've never seen this opera, but I do really enjoy this song.  I'll have to see if the USUO are planning a production at some point.

"Que te importa que no venga" from the zarzuela "Los claveles" by Jose Serrano

why no kosher?

I have been trying to share the love that is the two massive bags of BBQ pork jerky I bought at Costco with the rest of my coworkers today, but they all either refuse, or say they don't like it without even trying it.  Sheesh!  Come on, people!  It's BBQ, it's pork, and it's jerky; I mean what's not to like here?

I tried giving some to my coworker Lance, but he just told me that he doesn't even like pork.  My response was thus,  "Are you kidding me?!  This stuff is considered unclean in over seven cultures!  It's practically guaranteed to be good!" 

visitations

Looks like I'll be having company over this weekend, and I'll have to do the usual cleanup that at least makes it seem like I'm not a complete hobo slob of doom.  Thankfully, I did do a lot of cleaning over the last weekend, so now both my apartment and I smell like like an unholy combination of bleach and shame, while being much more presentable.

It's also the birthday of a friend of mine, I find myself woefully unprepared as I had totally forgotten about it until being reminded about it just last night.  Some friend I am.  Looks like I's have to make up for it by getting one heck of a late present.  The sad part is that this is the second friend of mine who's birthday I have completely missed and/or forgotten about in a short amount of time.  I am really terrible at remembering this kind of crap.

I am you from the future...

...there's no time to explain!

Okay, so despite not having enough of a grasp on my short term memory to even make sense of the present, I realize I've been making more and more plans for the near future.  The Roomie, J, and I all have recently bought IMAX tickets to the showings of Star Trek TNG, Iron Man 3, and the new Trek movie.  Then next month will be even busier, as I'll be with the family going on train rides, seeing the symphony, among many other activities.  So, yeah.  Lots on the horizon.

In the here and now, however, is still some good stuff.  Like I just got myself a copy of Freakonomics from the family after they perused my wishlist.  I can't wait to sink my bookworm's fangs into it, but I can't forget that I owe the family some songs of praises.

it's back on

Okay, sorry for the rant in my last post.  I just had to post something to get that off my chest, or I'd end up starting a genocide of politicians.  Well, then again, I don't think "genocide" is the right word, since that implies you're killing people, and innocent people at that.  Anyways, enough about Washington's vermin infestation.

As for me, well let me tell you.  Monday was one of those mornings when I woke up with the tail end of some food poisoning or some such, the kind where your stomach is doing flip-flops, and the rest of your body is refusing to believe that one part of it is not ready for the day.  Once I actually had a chance to be up and about in the late afternoon, I saw that it was cloudy and raining all day.  It's just my luck that I would wake up sick on one of the nicest days of the year.

Thankfully, I was feeling a bit more confident after downing half an economy sized bottle of pepto, and now it seems today is fairing much better.  That, and I can totally start my day off with hot coco with a shot of gingerbread syrup.  Yum!  I dunno what's better, the coco, or my Aperture Science mug.

Don't think I ever showed what was on the other side.

It's official

The government is no longer by or for the people anymore.  Now, I'm all for downsizing government, but every time they do it, they always cut the only bits I'm willing to pay taxes for.  Like the recent news that the Air Force will no longer be flying demonstrations by The Thunderbirds any longer.

Yeah, screw the people who paid for this stuff, because that's always a smart move.

Like I've already said, I'm all for shrinking government, but the one thing I'm willing to pay even exorbitant amounts of money for, is the defense of our nation.  More specifically, to maintain the readiness and training standard that so many have sacrificed to maintain and that history has proven valid time and time again.  Large budget weapon systems often give us an edge, but far more important is the training of our forces, and the relationship they have with the public, that their most valued resource (the people) is not lost in the future.  Public relations is what ensures that

What I find funny is that despite this "sequestration", some of the big-budget weapon systems (like the bull-crap money hole that is the F-35) are still being developed, but then all the training budgets have been slashed, making those same systems near-worthless in both the short and long term.

Worthwhile technologies squandered on a completely worthless airframe.

Here's an idea, why not cut the budget for the President's bi-monthly vacations that are often spent on the taxpayer's dime (and often cost more than some military training missions)?  Or, how about cutting the insanely bloated paychecks our congressmen are getting?  Or, better yet, actually place better oversight on procurement programs (see the recent boondoggles that are the tanker and light strike aircraft), and axe all the stupid worthless fluff like the TSA, ATF, the Border Patrol (something the military should be doing anyways), that POS healthcare bill that no one apparently read before passing, and crap like the federally funded studies by collage students that look at why men like boobs (cause we don't need a study done to know the answer to that one).

So, in short, eff you congress, the house, and the president.  While you give lip service to us about sacrifice, you still sit on exorbitant paychecks, and squander our money on programs nobody wants.  I hope you feel the consequences of your actions, and that you are not only left with no one to support you, but that you may feel nothing but hated and reviled for the rest of your lives.  Being spat upon should be nicest gesture anyone extends to you. 

The search for stuff (more money)

Well, thanks to a number of games I play, along with a bunch more I discovered because of Steam Greenlight, I am in the market for a much better joystick.  The logitech one I have now has served me quite well for more casual or arcade-ish type games like BF1942 and BF2 (heck, did pretty well in IL-2 as well), but it just doesn't cut it any more for the more detailed stuff like Strike fighters 2, LO:MAC, and the myriad of others I'm wanting to try in the near future.

My current setup.  Reliable, but pretty basic.

The problem is that there is a serious dirth of good, mid-range control sticks out there.  There's simply cheap ones for under $50 (like my current one), an then there are the mega-expensive pro models that are $300-500 a pop.  As far as mid range models (the $100-150 range, that includes a throttle control) goes, there are only two choices, and they are both made by the same company (saitek/mad catz) and are simply different variants of each other.  Though they seem to be of a high quality, I am rather frustrated by their styling and button layout.

I really like the throttle control on it, but I hate the ergo and button layout of the  actual control stick.

Why in the world is there no mid-range priced options that have a simple, realistic looking type control stick?  I mean, I'm not looking for one made of aircraft grade aluminum or carbon fiber, or officially licensed by the air force or anything like that.  I just want something affordable ($100-200), that has a rudder axis, a dual throttle piece to go with it, and the styling and button layout like so:

Actual control stick for the AV-8B+

Ha! Last laugh!

For me, it's the pointless things in life.

Now that enough time has passed to have most of the bugs patched out of it, I recently bought Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic.  Mostly just because I've really been dying to try a carrier landing in the game.  Since I had plenty of practice landing at airfields, the basics were plenty easy, but the game certainly captures the nerve wracking aspects of the approach: nothing but water as far as the eye can see, hand constantly on the throttle to make adjustments, or pour on the power in case of a bolter, the carrier barely visible until you're right on top of it, all while approaching at ridiculous speeds.  Quite the situation, but I still managed to land a nice number two wire right on my first try!  Cool.

while I was gone

So, over the weekend I forgot to mention that I made a quick trip to the local zoo with the roomie, J and his kid.  It's been a while since I had been there, and we picked perhaps the worst time to go, as most of the place was undergoing renovations.  Still had a great time, but like the unprepared fool I am, I forgot to take a camera with me, so no snapshots of that.

One thing that shocks me when I go there, is just how close tigers and wolves are to their domesticated counterparts.  On reflection of this fact, we practically kicked ourselves for not bringing a laser pointer there.  Just imagine a giant 200 lb feline death machine tearing around it's cage like a house cat while trying chase after one of those!

I imagine it to be a lot like this

In other news, I'm finally stopping my nearly two and a half month hiatus from writing that cursed short story that I was having trouble with.  I really needed a fresh pair of eyes going into it, and that wasn't going to happen with my mind consumed with all the stuff I had already written.

The only bad part of this, was that when I tried to go back to proofread what I'd written, I found that over half of my story was somehow deleted, which sent me into a near blood-rage mode for a minute, until I remembered where I had saved another copy.  I'm still a bit jaded by it, considering that I know I've made improvements and added more to that portion of the story after I had saved that particular backup, so I'm sure those bits will forever be lost to the non-functioning parts of my memory.

In the meantime, I'm rediscovering the joy of simultaneously writing the last bits of the story while fine tuning the grammar and sentence structure of the existing parts to enhance readability (wow, maybe I should try that with the blog sometime?).  It proved so hard to write the portion right before the climax of the story, as I really didn't want a whole lot to happen in the world around my character.  I was hoping for more to be going on in his mind as opposed to around him, but due to a lack of imagination on my part, it's not going to end up that way, which I found a bit disappointing  but kind of inevitable.  We'll see how it turns out.

What am I doing here?

So, a few months back, my Mom got in touch with me saying that an acquaintance of hers was thinking of buying a gun for concealed carry.  From what I recall the woman wasn't completely new to shooting, but was still a new-er shooter, as she was asking for help on what kind of gun to buy.  She contacted my Mom for help, who in turn asked for my input (kind of redundant since my Mom's advice was nearly the same).  I remember throwing all the usual advice out there, such as:

- Feel free to take other's advice, but ultimately it's your choice, get what feels right to you.
- Don't take anyone's word for it, always try it before you buy it.
- If you're looking for a gun to keep around the house, just get a rifle.  If you're truly going to be concealing, get something compact and above all, lightweight.
- Also, if you're concealing, make sure you get a proper holster for the job, that completely covers the trigger and guard.
- Remember: snub nose revolvers kick much more, making them less pleasant to practice with, they don't carry as many rounds as most automatics, and for most people, they're harder to be proficient with.

So, a while later my Mom got in touch with me, and mentioned what her friend had chosen, and said to buckle up for some disappointing news.  Against all input, she chose a snub nose, featherweight .38 revolver.  Never even test fired it as far as I know.  Total facepalm moment.

Now, I will say that a revolver isn't a bad option, but why would you go for one of those when you could get something that has a larger magazine, is faster to reload (for the average shooter), has much more pleasant and tolerable recoil, and costs about the same?  I just don't get it.

To me it's like shelling out $400 for an Apple iphone 64GB, when you could have gotten a Samsung Galaxy SII (that already has better hardware) for $100, then simply get a 64GB memory card for $50.  Just wasting money because of ignorance.

Perhaps there is much more to the story than what met my ear, so maybe I'm just being overly sensitive and perhaps she does love practicing with those annoying little revolvers.  Perhaps I was totally in the wrong (which I would be happy to hear that), but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed when I initially heard it.