2nd Debate - On the record about weapons ban

Oct 19, 08:38 AM

“But I also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don’t belong on our streets. And so what I’m trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced. But part of it is also looking at other sources of the violence. Because frankly, in my home town of Chicago, there’s an awful lot of violence and they’re not using AK-47s. They’re using cheap hand guns.” — Barack Obama

So, let’s break this down a little —

“But I also share your belief that weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don’t belong on our streets….” That’s a lot of different types of guns. Every thing from a Beretta M9 and Colt 1911 to an M-16 (AR-15).

“And so what I’m trying to do is to get a broader conversation about how do we reduce the violence generally….” I think this is pretty open ended… Let me go off the deep end and mention Nazi Germany. Far-fetched, yes. Unbelievable, maybe not.

Now, the most damning statement made…

“Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced…” Well, there you go. Make your own determination of what that means. I know what it means.

But, read between the lines on the last part of the entire quote…

“Because frankly, in my home town of Chicago, there’s an awful lot of violence and they’re not using AK-47s. They’re using cheap hand guns…” I see this as a statement of more than a ban on assault style weapons. I see this as an attempt to introduce a far reaching and broad ban on many weapons. Pistols of all sorts; pocket pistols, derringers, cheap (inexpensive?) handguns. A .22 is one of the most common weapons used. Is .22 ammo going to disappear?

Be sure to vote on 6 November…..

Les

General Ramblings, Guns and such

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'Bout Damn Time!!!

Sep 17, 01:28 PM

Long, long time ago, I had a perfect match. Perfect, in the sense of, I hit all the targets. I did that with the 1875 Remington’s – 7 1/2 barrels. Real easy gun to shoot with. The time, if you keep reading the next comment, you’ll see was around 275 seconds I think. 275 seconds – not a great time by many standards, but kind of okay for a rookie (BTW – that 275 seconds was for a five stage match — pretty much a 55 second average per stage).

So, with a clean stage out of the way, on to improving the times for the matches. I’m pretty sure I’ll never have anyone give me a belt buckle for winning a match, no matter how big or small. With that in mind, it would be best to just try to improve each week, no matter how small the gain might be.

Well, that’s a crappy plan. I was shooting faster, but missing more. When the penalties for the misses were tallied up and added to the score, my times were actually starting to get worse. Slow and steady wins the race….

Over the summer I purchased a few new guns – some Cimarron Pistolero’s – 4 3/4 inch barrels. Quicker out of the holster, quicker back in to the holster. Do that twice on each stage and some time is made up. Short barrels though, it’s all a mind game, but harder to hit the bad guys with those things.

I knew I’d get back to another clean match and last Saturday, it finally happened again. Out of 60+ shooters on the day, about 6 of us were clean, so that makes it all the more special. It was good shooting and not close and big targets. Oh, and the time? Very nice as well, it was 228. That’s for 6 stages too!!

Les

General Ramblings, Cowboy Action

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CLEAN!!!

Feb 18, 03:18 PM

Went Cowboy Shooting this morning…. 1st time out with the replacement firing pin in the Henry. No test firing since the repair. So, I was slightly worried about that.

1st stage, clean shoot!
2nd stage, clean shoot!
3rd stage, clean shoot! I’m noting that I am shooting well this morning. The check of the sights on the Henry a few weeks ago (when the firing ping broke) is paying off.
4th stage – if I’m going to mess up, do it now so Murphy doesn’t do it for me on the last stage, but nope, clean!
5th stage – last stage. I have to go first on this stage and the targets are set up like I have never seen before, a new “sweep”, if you will. Guess what?

CLEAN!

That is something I had set for a goal, to shoot clean. Make sure I am hitting what I am aiming for. Today, I did that. You know what else I did? I took a good 100 seconds off of my time. Up to now, my times have been absolutely terrible. I mean, TERRIBLE!! My time today, though it would not have won any competition, it was a respectable 272.25 seconds

Clean —- very pleased….

Les

General Ramblings, Cowboy Action

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Great Customer Service - Henry Repeating Arms

Feb 16, 08:18 AM

Nowadays, we expect things to be right now! But with that said, I think we have also resigned ourselves to a fast food/Wal-Mart/convenience store/drive-thru/ATM mentality — that is, we are okay with “here’s your burger, give me my money” attitude, as long as we get an edible burger, really quick. The fact that the cashier never even looked at us while taking our order, never said “Hello”, never said “Thank you” is okay, again, as long as we can feed our self-gratification. We also really don’t care where it was made, or if any pride was put into the production – if McDonalds could figure out a way to get burgers flown in from China while still warm, for their cost of 2 or 3 cents each, guess where your Big Mac would be made —- and we would not care. Well, most of us would not care…..

So, that brings me to the point of this rant. Not only am I talking about a 100% U.S. made end product, all the parts in that end product are produced right here as well. That alone could be enough to make Henry Repeating Arms a good, if not great, American company, but they back it up with customer service that is unparalleled by anyone.

Let me elaborate…

Last September (Sep 2011), I decided it was time for me to get a lever gun. I also had to have it in .45 Colt (no… it’s not long Colt – it is .45 Colt, but that could be an entire rant in, and amongst, itself, yes?). I did what I think is some good research and looked at a bunch of rifles. No matter what I held in my hands or looked at with my eyes, nothing could compare to the Henry Big Boy, and naturally, .in .45 Colt. If you want to add price to the mix, then there is definitely no comparison — the Henry wins, hands down!!

Of course, I had an ulterior motive for buying this rifle — I had discovered the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting and this was going to be my rifle. (I don't want to take the attention of this article away from my comments about the Henry, so I won't mention the Uberti 1875 Army Outlaws or the USSG MP220F SxS external hammer Coach Gun... ....crap, too late, I just did.) So, the later part of September, October, and November, I put a lot of lead through that 20” octagon barrel. The 1st Saturday of the new year, the local range had a match (you can find that and comments about a few other matches in another post on this page). One thing I noticed at all of the matches I went to, and it has only been three so far, the rifles that the other Cowboys used all seemed to have an issue or two. Either they failed to feet, failed to eject, or something similar (one guy had a mag tube spring break, as after a few shots, it would no longer feed bullets for him). My Henry performed flawlessly on every stage, in every match.

Now, spring forward from September and all those rounds I put through the barrel and let’s land in February (actually, the very end of January). The last match I participated in, I was shooting low. Most likely, I whacked the rear sight, by which I mean, the elevator adjustment simply slipped. I figured I should get to the range and “re” sight in my rifle, just to make sure. I brought a box of 50 rounds with me, had the Henry sighted after about 20 rounds (I was shooting 10 round groups, just because), and figured what the hell, let’s burn off the rest of this ammo. Round number 49 would not fire!!! I knew it was #49 because I had two rounds of a 50 round box left. After some examination of the bolt, and subsequently, the firing pin, the nose of the firing pin broke off.

Stuff happens —- I don’t expect the gun to always perform perfectly, whether it be the 1st round (needs some break in) or the 1000th, 5000th, and definitely, not after more than that. Things wear, things stress, things just don’t go right after a while. If a gun always worked, there would be no Gunsmiths. Stuff happens, that’s what I’m saying. I’d be foolish to think that after, probably, the 2500th round down range, something wouldn’t need repair.

I called Henry the first chance I could, I think it was the 30th or 31st of January. Spoke with a gentleman named Kevin. After I explained my problem, I asked him if he would be so kind as to send me 2 firing pins, to keep one step ahead of Murphy.

Something happened though — the firing pins never came in the mail! After about 12 days (and really, is 12 days that long?), and a few phone calls, I decided I should maybe go to the top… …I sent an e-mail to Mr Anthony Imperato, the President of Henry Repeating Arms. Below is a screen shot of my inbox. You’ll note the time it was sent (which is also the same time that I read the e-mail (the bottom line in the image below), the time that Mr Imperato read the message (middle message), and the time that he replied to my message (the top message).

Here is the e-mail I sent Mr Imperato;

Mr. Imperato,

First off, and in all sincerity, I would like you to know how much I enjoy my Henry Big Boy (.45 Colt). Not only is it a beautiful gun that shoots straight and true (as long as I aim it straight and true), it is also very reliable — it has functioned flawlessly at every CAS competition I have been in.

If you have a moment, I would like to be able to call and talk with you about a little bit of an uneasy feeling that I am getting…

The nose of the firing pin broke off about 2 weeks ago when I was at the range checking my sight alignment (I was hitting a little low at the last competition, I needed to verify my sights were correctly adjusted). I called and a firing pin is being mailed to me, but it is taking so long that I am starting to get concerned. Now, it has only been 11 days, counting today, but your fine company has been so quick and efficient in the past, and with your outstanding reputation for customer service, I am beginning to wonder if the package may have been lost in the mail.

I did call earlier this week (on Tuesday), then again, yesterday (Thursday). Both times, I was told the the new firing pin was mailed and I should receive it “today or tomorrow”. It was not in the mail on Tuesday or Wednesday, that is why I called yesterday. It was not in the mail yesterday and the mail has already been delivered today, still with no firing pin.

Thank you for your time spent reading this e-mail, I really appreciate it.

Your faithful and loyal customer,

And, his reply;

Thank you very much for owning a Henry, we certainly appreciate it. I am over-nighting you a front firing pin, a firing pin assembly and a comp Henry Campfire Mug, We had mailed you two front firing pins but they must be lost in the mail, or they will show up in next days. At any rate you will see them by Monday. The tracking number will be UPS 1Z8V9F992210023244. It won’t be in UPS system until they scan it tonight.

Sincerely,
Anthony Imperato
President

Henry Repeating Arms
59 E 1st Street
Bayonne, NJ 07002

Seriously now, this is a company that I want to deal with. A great gun, well made, looks good, and is backed by a great guy with some great standards. The replacement firing pin that Mr Imperato sent arrived the very next (business) day via UPS. I had the firing pin in later that evening, no problems at all and I’m drinking coffee out of the really cool Henry mug that he sent as well!

To date, the original firing pins still have not arrived in the mail. As soon as they do, I will update that here on this post.

I had this blog post all typed up last week, as soon as I got my Henry back to working order, but I wanted to wait few days to see if the original firing pin was ever going to arrive in the mail.

EDIT – read the comment I posted about the firing pin, it came in the mail finally, no fault of Henry.

Les

General Ramblings, Cowboy Action

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Cowboy Shooting

Jan 24, 10:58 AM

Cowboy Action Shooting, I guess I should say…

2nd go ‘round on it tomorrow. I shot a match a few weeks back and it was a real hoot. The last two weeks or so have brought on a lot of anxious feelings – could not wait until the next match! There was supposed to be a match last weekend at the range for the Sybille Creek Shooters (Sybille Creek), but it was canceled because of high winds. Tomorrow, the shoot is at the Pawnee Sportsmen’s Center, home of the Briggsdale County Shootists.

But, I think I am getting a little ahead of myself….

The 1st go ‘round was with The Cheyenne Regulators, here in town. I’ve been ready to go for The Regulators for a few weeks now but the past few matches held at the Cheyenne Regulators range were canceled for one reason or another. On the 1st Saturday of the year though, there was a match.

I got my final revolver in mid December, so I had a few weekends to make sure I was comfortable with both 1875 Army Outlaws, along with the Henry Big Boy and the USSG coach gun. Even though I have put a good couple of hundred rounds (maybe thousands) through each gun and felt comfortable with them, I was nervous as could be for the competition.

The entire match was 5 stages. Lucky for me, I was able to shoot clean on the 1st two stages (no misses!). However, don’t get too excited – the times were nothing at all to be proud of. My feeling on this, it is much better to make sure I am following procedure and doing things right.

The 3rd stage was almost a disaster for me. The shooting order was way different than the previous stages and I messed it up. Even though I hit every target, I hit them in the wrong order. The final tally for that stage, because I shot out of order meant that two target were a miss. Also, because of not following the order, there was a procedural error, resulting in an additional 10 second penalty. Oh well….

After that, things went kind of okay. Took a lot of time on the 4th stage – it had a lot of shotgun targets and the external hammers on my coach gun really tend to slow one down. I don’t care – the coach gun is cool and I’m not getting rid of it!

Overall, on the 1st match I went to, I ended up finishing second in my category (Cowboy)! Again though, don’t get too excited with my success. Because it was January and still a little nippy, not too many people were there (there were 4 people in the Cowboy category, I believe).

If I can do as well tomorrow, I’ll be happy. I’d like to shave a few seconds off of each stage. I’d like to hit all the targets (a clean match!).

UPDATE — 23 Jan 2012

Scores were posted for the match. Again, second in the category, but there is nothing to be proud of there. There were only two people in the category!! I did lower my time by 29 seconds over the 1st shoot that I went to. Now, to keep working on that and get the time down to something respectable. A lot of tricks to getting a good time – I’ll be working on one of them at the next shoot. I am going to try a different shotgun slide and practice with it this week.

Les

General Ramblings, Cowboy Action

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Buku Bucks

Jul 26, 11:14 PM

Now, going worldwide, so I guess I’ll bump this one up to the top again….. and I turned the comments back on, just in case you have something to say.

AS stated on my friends FaceBook page, here are some links to his music;

Everybody Knows
Can You Promise Me
Child In Me
The One I Love

Happy Listening — try not to overload my site and bring down my page :)

Les

Music,

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TIMMY!!!

Jun 16, 10:51 AM

Les

Hockey, Bruins

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TIMMY!!!

Jun 16, 10:50 AM

Les

Hockey, Bruins

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Now, This is just hilarious!

Jun 14, 09:28 AM

I think Marchand is helping one of the Sedin Sisters wipe his face….
(wait for the image to load all the way)

Les

Hockey, Bruins

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Gameday Weather

May 26, 07:21 AM

Just a quick link to see the current weather for the Red Sox….

Fenway Weather

Anaheim Stadium

Camden Yards

Comerica Park

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Progressive Field

Rogers Centre — it’s a dome!! Check if the roof is open or closed.

YankMee Stadium

Be sure to return to my site after you check it out (just hit the back button on your browser).

Les

Baseball, Red Sox

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