Google says it's not me!

Went to the range today with husband.  I was feeling kind and decided to re-try the PX4 storm compact.  Suffice to say our relationship did not improve.  However, I did get lots of failure to feed and/or extract practice.  Woo hoo!  Really, shooting is less that fun when you go through 50 rounds having to rack the slide by hand for each one...

Upon finishing, we turned in the gun and the counter guy asked how it was.  I explained that we just didn't get along at all.  He seemed to think that I was limp wristing or something of that nature.  I explained that this is the only gun (other than a Kel-Tec PF9 aka stupid tiny gun) I've had any problems with.  I was perfectly willing to accept that there is something about me and the pistol that just didn't mesh, I was even going so far as to wonder is my cross dominance and the spiffy rotating barrel mechanism just made the perfect failure storm.  No matter how much I love the feel of it, and even though I'm super accurate with it, one round at a time just doesn't cut it! 

So, I get home and do a quick search.  The FTE problem is mentioned on many boards and several review articles.  Mostly with wither women or lighter ammo.  Turns out enough people have had similar problems that Beretta looked into it and now offers replacement guide rods and recoil springs for those that are too stiff and result in problems. 

Photo from handgunmags.com as I forgot to take the camera to the range.

Ha! It's not just me!  Well, it's probably just that I'm a girl or something since the husband had no problems even when intentionally holding very loosely.  I hate admitting that I'm weak.  It happens more than I'd like in a job the requires manhandling cattle, but at least now I know that there is a problem that is more than just me.  I can't tell you how happy that makes me.  It was really bothering me that I couldn't fix the problem, no matter how I held the gun, focused on and stiffened my wrist, aligned my arm, etc.

A new awareness

Some people who start carrying mention becoming more aware of their environment.  Who and what is around them, safety concerns, etc.  I haven't started carrying yet (though my snap-pak finally came in the mail!) so haven't expereince that yet.  But I do find myself more aware of firearms in TV and movies.

It's not that I didn't notice them before, but now I'm 'aware.'  I find myself trying to see what weapon a person is carrying, counting shots, and more.  But especially, I find myself annoyed by sound effects.  It's amusing now to hear the cocking sound while seeing a pistol without an external hammer.  Or hear a racking slide without seeing any hands move.


You'd think that in some of these big budget thing they'd make an effort to do the research and get it right.  Ah well.  I figure it's just one more thing to giggle to myself about.  I already find lab scenes and animal work (especially riding) to be amusing. 

What things do you see on screen and giggle or complain (if you are like my husband) about?

Beretta PX4c

I've had this little guy on my list for a while, just hadn't gotten there yet.  But, I finally made time!  The range had three to rent, a full size, compact, and a sub-compact.  I went with the 9mm compact, small, but not too small.

KY History Museum: Part 3

These last two guns were unique in some way and didn't quite fot into the time line, so I thought I'd give them their own post.

First up, a pistol found during excavations at the old capitol building.  They have done several excavations of the privy areas and found quite a variety of items, including a woman's wedding ring.  This pistol was also found.
 

The one in the box, laying flat, is the actual found pistol.  The top, upright, on is a similar pistol to show what it should look like.





Next up is the cane gun!  This cane belonged to one of Kentucky's former governors.  It has a reed outer case and has a 28" barrel.  More info and a better picture can be found here.

  
And that concludes your photo tour of the firearms of the Ky History Museum.  I hope you've enjoyed the ride.  I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area and interested in history.  There's lots more to see than just the guns.  I'm sure husband and I will go back before long, if only to visit the Military History Museum.  Stay tuned!

KY History Museum: Part 2

The museum was designed to be very interactive, there were drawers to pull open to leanr more about certain artifacts or answer questions.  There were rooms set up to replicate buildings and camps and such from the time depicted.  I had quite a bit of fun checking corners and doors and drawers to be sure I didn't miss anything.  I was playing around like a kid!

These are som of the items I found in those hidden nooks.  Not as much info on the plaques about them, but I enjoyed the game of hide and seek.

KY History Museum: Part 1

The museum is laid out as a time line, and most of the weapons we was were in the first half or so.  My understanding is that the more modern firearms are housed in the Military museum.

My apologies in advance for the blurriness and bad light on some of these, taking pictures of things behind glass is not my forte.  Honestly I was surprised that no one ever came up and told me we couldn't take pictures.

If you want better pictures and more detail, plus items that weren't on display, you can search the museum's object collection here.

Spur of the Moment Trip

Sorry for the unscheduled break.  Research has had me  a bit crazy.  I had a week at work that required two overnight at the farm with my steers.  Thus, I gave myself a half-day this past Friday.  I had to run out to the farm briefly and the husband offered to keep my company.  Since we were half way there, we opted to head into Frankfort and do something touristy.  No real plan, just whatever looked interesting.  On the way in we passed a sign for the Center for Kentucky History.  "Well," we said to ourselves "we like history, let's see what that's about."


Good call.  For a mere $3 each we spent more than 3 hours wandering around a very well done series of exhibits depicting aspects of life and history in Kentucky from prehistoric time to the modern day.  We even got a guided tour of the Old State Capitol building.  I didn't even know there was an old and new capitol before the tour. 

The Old Capitol Building.  Built in the 1820 in the same location as two previous capitol building which burned.  The building was used as the state capitol until 1910.  It has a free standing stone staircase in the center, an amazing piece of architecture!

This was the architects first ever building and he did a fabulous job.  I somehow failed to get a picture of the freestanding staircase, but suffice to say it was amazing and cool!  The prison warden at the time invented a steam powered saw to precisely cut the stone for it.

Picture from KY Division of Historic Properties (http://historicproperties.ky.gov/)

 

What you may be asking yourself does this have to do with shooting?  Well, nothing really.  But the history exhibits did include several firearms, and I got pictures to share!  The old me would have looked at the guns and moved on to "more exciting" things.  But this time I found myself reading about them and looking more closely.  I still don't know all the ins and outs of the differences, especially in the old flintlocks that were there.  But they were fun to see.  


Pictures to come in the following few days as I get them sorted and sized.  I took quite a few!

Also, consider this fair warning that I ma disappear again next week as I have more overnight stays at the farm.  Woo!




Our admission also included access to the Military History Museum, but we just ran out of time.  We will definitely be back to see that though.  Well worth paying $6 again if it's half as good as what we saw this time!

Gun Show Haul

After a quick trip south to visit my parents for Thanksgiving, we headed back north.  On the way, we got a call from some friends asking if we were in town and if so were we going to the gun show?  Well...we didn't get back in in time to go Sat, but that didn't stop us making plans for that Sunday morning!

This was to be Missy's first gun show, and she had a fair bit of fear to overcome, as she had a bad experience with guns as a child.  I'm hoping to get her permission to post her story here.  Especially now that she's decided to learn to shoot!  It was interesting to see her body language change and visibly relax over the couple hours we were there. 

So, was it a successful outing? Well, we didn't some home with any new guns, but our friends bought a Walther P22 for Missy to learn on.  We are headed to the range Tuesday for her first lesson.  More on that later though.

Husband and I came home with a couple of books: SAS survival guide and  The Cornered Cat by Kathy Jackson.  I love her website and couldn't resist when i saw her book.  I'm more than halfway through already.  It's a great read. 

We also ended up with new combat gloves for him, he got a pair last year and wears them several times a week sparring with his Kung Fu students.  At the price of $10, they are cheaper than 'real' martial arts gloves, and he likes them better too.  Win-win!  I also got a spiffy tactical cleaning kit that's self contained and small enough to drop in my range bag, but still has everything I need and then some.  I'll consider it an early Christmas gift, just don't expect me to wrap it, I'm using it!