A Sunday Sermon

 

Shadow LSP

Conversation in the sacristy before Mass #2 went like this:

"Have you seen the video of the Portland execution last night?"

"What?"

"Another shooting?"

"Yes, dude rolled up on a skateboard and shot a Trump supporter who was crossing the road."

  

"Whoa."

"Yes, they cheered afterwards."

"Keep this going on and there's gonna be pushback, serious pushback."

A beautiful unicorn

Said the former artillery officer. "Let's think happy thoughts before church," replied the MC who's also a retired rodeo star, bronc. Not being slow to listen to the laity I replied, "As in unicorns, rainbows and bunnies?" The MC, who gives as good as he gets, wasn't slow either, "Just say your prayers, LSP."

A typical defense rifle

Here endeth the Lesson and while we're at it, "Get thee behind me Satan!" Vade retro Satana! 

Be brave and rebuke the unclean spirit, a murderer from the beginning and Father of Lies. Say no to the world, the flesh and Devil, say yes to the Way of the Cross, of sacrificial love which is the way of light and life.

Here endeth the Lesson,

LSP

Fog of War, Spaghetti Update

The fight against evil doesn't stop because there's a bit of fog on the road, making Lake Whitney look like a scene from an Arthurian legend. That's why you have to climb in your truck and brave the fog of war on the weather to get to Mass.

Also, like any soldier, you need to eat right in order to take the fight to the enemy, so I'm grateful for all the spaghetti suggestions and offer the following update.

I like everything about this safe space.

One senior member of the intelligence community sent in this helpful tip: "You might want to add some gunpowder for flavor." Good call, I will. An art philosopher recommended "a pinch of sugar" to reduce acidity and Marmite as a flavor enhancer. Well said, I'll take that as an imperative! Then a well known nature theologian said "add some shrooms!" Alright, I will.

Another pundit again told me to add some ginger nutmeg and a bit of chili powder to the sauce "because that's the way the Italians do it." Right on, I'm up for it.

Some Italian Handgun

Then there's the gun. Several firearms specialists said "no, a handgun is not 'optional'," you need it to "defend your dinner." OK, I'm convinced. Logic.

Defend Your Dinner! And Your Rods! With, er, a .303 Battle Rifle.

So thank you for the helpful suggestions. The quest for the perfect Spaghetti Bolognese continues.

God bless,

LSP

Gender Fluid

As we stand on the cusp of a new and adventurous year, we question the future, looking for definition, finality. Will the shittest candidate for President since Martin Bormann Hillary Clinton be locked up? 

Martin Bormann

For that matter, will Vladimir Putin be crowned Czar of Holy Mother Russia? Will Donald Trump make America great again? And, let's get down to it, what exactly is "gender fluid"?

What is it?

Hardworking staff at our Chicago Desk were quick to answer, "Gender fluid is ecological dishwasher detergent that you buy at Whole Foods." 

Whole Foods

Others wonder if it's something you change in your truck, every three thousand miles or so.

You, the reader, be the judge.

Your Old Mate,

LSP

Gun Henge

Behold the power of the Mysticke Stones.

Will their earth energy deflect the power of .45 ACP and 5.56? Will Gaia shield the black silhouette from the evil pistols and deadly assault rifle? No, it will not.

Smoldering rubble.

Moral of the story, don't hide behind a cinderblock wall. The stones won't save you.

Gun rights,

LSP

Girls Love Glocks

I took the Glock out for a quick spin at the range today, along with a Beretta PX4 Storm. Which gun shot better?

Pistols

Good question. My best shots were with the Beretta, but the best groups were with the Glock, and it seemed to me that the workmanlike Austrian performed better when firing multiple shots at speed. Less recoil means more control and greater accuracy? Maybe, and on balance, I'd say the Glock 21 does shoot more easily than the PX4. It also has 13 rounds in its magazine, as opposed to 9 or 10, so perhaps it's a good thing that the pistol appears to lend itself to shooting fast.

So what's the verdict?

It's early days yet and I'm getting used to the Glock, but right away I can tell it's a superior gun. It's simple, fast shooting and all business.

Girls Love, Love Glocks

Is it tactical? Yes. Do women like them? Of course, they love, love them. Are they accurate? Don't be ridiculous, of course they are, X Ring accurate and then some. How much do they cost? Not too much, about the price of a a couple of weekends in Dallas, or a Saturday in London.

All Business

So, go out and get a Glock 21. It's a great gun at a good price. You can read the specs online, somewhere.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Go Out And Get A Glock

Long story short. I stopped sitting on the fence like some kind of pathetic CofE agnostic, and bought a Glock, a Glock 21 Gen 4. Why? Because it just seemed right. 

Well Done, Chaps.

Waco's helpful, friendly, enjoyable, and "don't talk down to customers" Fun Guns provided the weapon at a better price than the big box stores, like Cabela's. Thanks, Fun Guns, always a pleasure to do business.

Panzers Roll! On the Moon

The pistol comes in a neat, Liebstandarte on the Moon, plastic box, advertising the brand, Glock. You open it up, like it's Christmas, and sure enough, there's a Glock with three thirteen round magazines, several alternate backstraps, a cleaning brush, and a lock. Just as advertised. There's a manual, too, and lots of gun safety flyers. Well done Glock, every gun is a loaded gun.

It's All In The Box

Out of the box, the pistol fits the hand like, well, like a Glock. But listen up, a Gen 4 Glock, which seems to have better ergonomics, at least for me, than previous iterations. Unsurprisingly, the gun strips down easily enough, a right miracle of Austrian engineering simplicity, and has an enormous recoil spring.

Enormous Great Austrian Spring

Apparently there's mixed opinions about this, but Hickock45 doesn't think it's an issue and I'd imagine it makes for easier shooting.

Anschluss

We'll find out tomorrow, when the pistol gets range tested against the PX4 Storm. Same caliber, different pistols. Who will win, Austria, or Italy? Maybe, in the end, Texas will win, but that's a given. Obviously.

Shoot straight,

LSP

CHL Texas

It took a couple of months to process, but my CHL came through the other day. This has encouraged me to get another pistol, a Gen 4 Glock 21.

Austin

One security systems consultant commented, "Texans should be afraid, very afraid." Well, maybe, but only in Austin, and they're mostly not Texans anyway.

A Glock 21

What is it they say? "The right to self-defense and to the means of defending oneself is a basic natural right that grows out of the right to life."

Gun Rights,

LSP

Shoot the CHL

I took the CHL test today at a room in El Conquistador, and very enjoyable it was too, despite having to drive through ferocious Climate Change to Waco.

The first part of the class was mostly about gun safety, the law, and why it's better to be "judged by 12 than carried by 6." That said, our instructor emphasized deterrent; a CHL isn't a "license to kill" he told us. That ended with a Mexican lunch, chicken enchiladas for me, followed by a test. It's not hard.

Then we convoyed off to a range, which was interestingly situated behind a BBQ place, and split into two groups. Group One for people familiar with their pistols and Group Two for those who were less so. I was in Group One and wondered how I'd match up with the other shooters, especially given less than stellar performance at the range lately.

But I shot alright and the Instructor congratulated me, "Good! I thought you Brits didn't like guns!"

"Chief," I replied, "I'm from the olden days." He thought that was very amusing.

That's More Like It

So a good day was had by all. Do the CHL class; it's fun, it teaches you something and improves your shooting. After you've certified, you have to send various documents into the DPS  and you get your license.

And that, my friends, is one small step in the ongoing War on Weather.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Filthy Little Beast!

I set up on the front porch to clean some guns. They were filthy, especially the ARs, but it was relaxing to clean the little monsters and all in a good cause. A clean gun is, after all, a happy gun, as opposed to a malfunctioning, dirty, nightmare.

I was a bit concerned about the front sight of my .45, which had pretty much lost its glow-in-the-dark spot. So I applied some glow -in-the-dark paint to it with a tooth pick; the paint's called Glow and you can buy it for a couple of dollars at Walmart, in the craft section. We'll see how it works.

As I pondered the newly restored sight, I reflected on Christ's words, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Notice he says "my commandments" instead of the world's, or the self's commandments.

That's counter-intuitive to us, because we've been trained to think that the world and the self are the sum and measure of all things.

They're not, no more so than the vain conceit that a dirty gun is just as good as a clean one.

God bless,

LSP

Black Gun May Day Mayhem!

It was a beautiful sunny morning in Texas, crisp and bright, so I thought I'd better make good use of time and head down to the range with a collection of black guns. Don't get me wrong, I like wood and steel, I prefer it even, but these were the guns I wanted to shoot today.

5.56

So I did. The AR's performed flawlessly, which pleased me, because I had a hand in building them. It's always good when something you've worked to create works well. The rifle variant is well-capable of MOA awesomeness, which is exactly what I was hoping for. The Ruger American .17HMR shot well too, producing the best group of the day, 3 rounds in the same hole. Then it was pistol time.

.17 HMR

I'll be honest. I wasn't too pleased with my pistol performance during LL's visit, and I wanted to fix that. "I know," I thought to myself, cleverly, "If I get a Blackhawk Serpa holster, I'll shoot my .45 like a pro." 

Whatever

The Serpa's a good holster, no doubt about it, it holds your sidearm in a vise-like, mechanical grip, and has a smooth trigger finger release. The paddle system hugs your hip too; it isn't going anywhere. Get a Serpa, just be sure to properly index your trigger finger as you draw your weapon from the holster, otherwise you might shoot your foot off. Bad result.

Serpa

But, did the holster make me a better shot? No. It didn't, and I had to shoot off a box of cheap Federal ammo at 25 yards before I got in the swing of things. 

Message to market. Neat kit is no substitute for rounds down range. There's a moral in that, if you care to draw it.

Typical Texas Range Scene

Have a great May Day evening and remember, May is Mary's month.

God bless,

LSP

Monday Shoot

Monday being Martin Luther King and General Lee Day, I figured it was a good idea to shoot some guns. So I went to the range with GWB, who wanted to practice with his new Sig and check out a Christmas gift of a spotting scope.

So we blasted away, which was a lot of fun, then went for an armed excursion in some nearby woods. That was good too, although hoped for squirrels didn't materialize, despite the great stealth and calling expertise of the hunters.

Then, right at dusk, the air was filled with wild howling. It was an eerie, untamed sound and it taught me something, Viz. If you want to call coyotes, set up near the woods by the range. 

Shoot straight,

LSP

Three Cal Pistol Shootout

Tuesday evening seemed like a good time to get some well-needed pistol shooting in. So that's what happened, the contenders being a Smith & Wesson .38 Special snubby, GWB's Sig 2022 and a Beretta PX4 Storm.

Well Done, Sig

The Sig shot the best group of the day, with GWB sending three 9mm rounds neatly into the X Ring.

Shoot the Snubby, LSP

I was pleased with the little .38 too, which consistently put bullets somewhere near the center of the target... But don't be fooled, this diminutive old-school revolver can shoot much better than that, I just need practice.

Winner

There was nothing wrong with the Beretta either and as always, fun to blast away with the explosive power of a .45.

Finished off with some rimfire plinking. And what's wrong with that? Nothing at all. Except in England, where it's banned.

Keep squeezing the trigger,

LSP

Alright There, Ye Guns

In a big effort to cheat the stereotype, I went for a shoot; nothing fancy, just an AR, a sporter Lee and a .45. I was curious to see if I was still able to use a gun and hit anything smaller than a barn door, like the silhouette of a green terrorist.

Typical Texas Range

Sure enough, the green "terr" took a beating, mostly with the AR, and I was pleased to see decent off-hand groups at 30, 50 and 75 yards. Not so good at 100, annoyingly, and I had to compensate a bit for an ironic tendency to shoot left. Some sort of trigger issue, probably -- don't pull left, LSP! The Lee shot well for an ancient rifle that I'd porch project 'smithed; it was especially good to note that the $50 2nd hand Burris Fullfield scope hadn't drifted. Well done Burris, well done Lee.

Shoot straight,

LSP