Shall Not Be Questioned » You Know You’re a Gun Nut

Jewelry & Guns

Bitter — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:48:24 +0000

If you’re in the mood for an interesting read on why making jewelry is like reloading or shooting, check out this article on NRA past president Sandy Froman’s artistic hobby. The first several pages are closeups of her work.

What’s amazing is that she didn’t plan to get into the shooting sports or Second Amendment fight – it all started with a night that someone tried to break into her home while she was alone. She also didn’t plan on taking a jewelry-making class – she happened to see it starting as she walked by a bead store after dropping off some business papers at a copy shop. Yet, it turns out that she’s got a talent & passion for both endeavors.

Gun Jewelry & Other Vintage Finds

Bitter — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 19:14:15 +0000

I can’t tell you why, but I was recently inspired to type “NRA” into the search function at Etsy. I know most of you have seen a few examples of gun-related jewelry online, but I have to say that the variety available from the sellers on Etsy is the best I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t stop at your typical bullet-shaped necklace or casing cufflinks. It’s gorgeous repurposed gems and uncommon vintage pieces.

The following items are found in these stores: The Key of A, Gallo Grotte, What Once Was, resellit, With Care, The Sea Change, Andrew Modern, victoriasponge, Black Bird Creative, and Little Gems by Jax.

Starting Them Young

Bitter — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:29:34 +0000

Isn’t just precious when you can include the little ones in your hobby?

Pay attention to the front wheel in the beginning and the license plate during the 360.

My nephew might be a bit old for this sequel, but I’m hoping that he goes to see it.

Always Recruiting for the Cause

Bitter — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:00:05 +0000

I kind of miss the gun-themed custom license plates I’d see around Northern Virginia. There was a minivan with AR15FAN. One vehicle driving out of a shopping plaza near my old apartment had a Virginia NRA plate with LFE MBR. Another truck in the NRA parking lot had HCI LIES. So I am amused that a blog dedicated to amusing custom plates found this one by someone who is hopefully a recruiter:

(Photo courtesy of GR8 PL8S.)

Making Shooters the “Norm”

Bitter — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:53:24 +0000

I have a habit that I know sometimes annoys Sebastian. I talk about the Second Amendment and shooting, preferably in places where it is unexpected and might even shake a few people out of their comfort zones. However, as he has learned by now, I’m very good about putting it into a context that people can understand so that they aren’t venturing so far out of their comfort zones that they want to run in the other direction. (That’s what we call counter-productive, not “cool” or something to take pride in.)

Our first adventure on Hawai’i was the Mauna Kea Summit & Stars tour (worth every penny). Since we would be on a bus & exploring the top of a mountain together for 8 hours, our tour guide asked us to introduce ourselves (the tours are small) and tell everyone else where we were from and one passion or hobby. Aha – my bright idea bulb goes off. (Poor Sebastian was too busy taking landscape photos to see the look that would have warned him what was to come.)

Aside from meeting another couple from our area in the introductions, it was a useful excuse to say that a hobby and passion of mine was target shooting. At dinner, two other couples came up to talk to me about shooting – one a recreational & occasional shooter and the other a hunter. Suddenly, the number of people who actually shoot or who were fine with guns in the home was now the majority on the bus. Anyone who might have been uncomfortable with it before now had to deal with the fact that they were in the minority opinion in the group. The hunter and I even talked about the various species he and his family members harvest and the deer numbers of northern New York. We created a casual atmosphere for other shooters to come out of the closet and talk about their sport like it was any other hobby or interest rather than a contentious political subject.

Shooting became the norm on that bus headed to the top of Mauna Kea. Mix that with the fact that Sebastian was the only one taking decent shots of the stars (real photos to come later) with everyone wondering how to do it, and some friendly conversation over dinner, and we gave guns a happy, human face.

Gun Nut Taxonomy

Sebastian — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:22:02 +0000

Tam, coming off her great analysis of the ammunition shortage, follows up with a taxonomy of gun nuts. I’m mostly a “Gamer” and a little bit of “Trainer” and “Collector”. Probably a bit more collector than trainer.

I have guns I don’t have ammunition for, so those are pretty much pure collector pieces. But that’s pretty much just my taste, I have no discipline in my collecting. For instance, I have a Russian capture Mauser from 1938, with the German markings ground off, from the J.P. Sauer and Sohn factory in Suhl. Money wise, it will never fetch a fair prize, but it shoots well enough. I like having it. It’s a piece of history. Its owner was likely captured or killed by the Russians. Either way, it’s not likely that its owner ever set eyes on the Fatherland again.

You Know You’re a Gun Nut …

Sebastian — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 06:28:51 +0000

… when you start thinking about places you could put shooting ranges, and thinking about it in this level of detail:

As you can see there is lots of empty space in this underground garage. And with the aid of my trusty laser range finder I found places where it was 345 yards from wall to wall. It’s not really practice for Boomershoot (minimum range is 375 yards) but it’s close. And it’s would be better than anything else within 20 miles or so.

I was discussing this with some Microsoft friends at lunch the other day and they had a concern about the ceiling height. As the range gets longer the midrange height of the bullet gets larger too. Would people start hitting the ceiling beams? In particular Jim was concerned about using a 45-70 which has a trajectory resembling artillery.

It’s a valid concern. With a 340 yard zero a typical .45-70 cartridge is going to have a midrange height of over 50 inches. My AR-15 shooting it’s favorite ammo is going to have only a 7.1 inch midrange height. And my .300 Win Mag would have only have a midrange height of 6.3 inches.

Go over and see Joe’s dream indoor range. It certainly looks the part. We have significant unoccupied space in our building too, and I’ve thought it would make a great air gun range, or even a smallbore range if you could get the right backstop. We have a good 45 yards inside in the unoccupied part. Joe is more of a long range shooter than I am, and his preferred targets a bit more, shall we say, reactive. Thus his dreams are bigger too :)

My Name is Sebastian …

Sebastian — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:32:45 +0000

… and I’m a brassaholic.

Went to the range today to fire off some .44 Special. Notice a guy there doing some instructing, firing fresh boxes of .45ACP. Waited around until they finished up. The haul is 50 count of Federal .45ACP and 115 count of Remington .45ACP. Plus 114 count of NATO stamped 9mm. I don’t usually dig through the brass bucket for goodies, but when I know that the brass in question is only once fired, I couldn’t resist.

At least I’m not scrounging scrap lead to smelt and cast into bullets yet.

Heard in Our Gun Nutty Household …

Sebastian — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:40:30 +0000

Bitter: “Umm… there’s ammunition under the microwave.”

Sebastian: “What caliber?”

Bitter takes a pen and sweeps it out from under the microwave. Turns out it was a piece of expended ICC brass from Blackwater. Must have gotten away from me when I was using the kitchen sink to clean all the dirt out of the brass I picked up before tumbling it.

At An Undisclosed Location in Near Scranton …

Sebastian — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:34:55 +0000

… perusing through a friend’s collection of Mitch Rosen holsters, I discovered Bitter is a closet holster sniffer. Hardly a holster went by that went unsniffed. I have to admit, quality gun leather does smell pretty good. My kydex holster smells more like dryer lint in comparison. The day planner on the table is actually not a day planner, but a carefully crafted holster that holds my Glock 19 and a spare magazine quite nicely. That could come in handy.

Mitch Rosen Table