Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Weapons Wednesday - Drawing on it with a Sharpie

 No, I'm not talking about how you can cover up that gouge you made on the side of a pistol when you hit the slide instead of your sight punch. 

At work, we have a couple of contracts with assorted three letter government agencies. And one such agency recently switched from all steel DA/SA guns to Glock 19s. So, just hold that thought for a minute. 

Also, at work, we've got a repeat customer, we'll call him Henry, who loves him some high end pistols. 

And even the best top shelf out of the box pistol isn't enough for old Henry. It has to go off to Taran Tactical or Wilson Combat for a good going over. I truly believe Henry spends more time shipping and receiving pistols than he does actually shooting them. And spending an insane of mount of time pursuing the newest and greatest from Sig, Glock, H&K, FN, and STI.  

Okay, so back to our super secret squirrels and their new 19s. One of said agents, was not a fan of the new gun. Like at all. But asked for a small favor. A vertical white stripe in the center of the rear sight to help pick up the front dot just a teeny bit faster. 

Well, that required just a bit of work on my end. First thing I did was removed the rear sight completely. And verified that it was actually capable of being precisely marked in the middle down to the millimeter with my calipers. Not too bad. Removed just the tiniest nubbin of material so it set perfectly centered in the dove tail. 

With that done, I did some number crunching. Having ascertained the correct mark placement, I put the whole slide assembly in my vice and used a good flat head screw driver to ensure my paint pin made a perfectly straight line. Boom. Perfect modification. 

So, one day last week, said Agent happened to be shooting when old Henry finally decides he might as well shoot his newest 2011 just back from some gunsmith somewhere who had to change out a widget for another widget. Henry shoot a little bit and watches our Agent friend shoot her new and improved Glock with more than a little awe. 

As they're both checking out Henry can't help but ask our intrepid Agent how she shoots so good. 

And she dead ass looks him in the eye and says: "Oh, I just had Mack draw a line on my rear sight with a sharpie."

The look of sheer amazement and credulousness from Henry, who mind you, no longer shoots USPSA matches with us due to a 180 infraction which pissed him, was oh so very worth it. 

Probably enjoyed it a little more than I ought. But hopefully y'all did too. Thanks for stopping buy. 

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Tsundoku Tuesday - The Right Stuff

 "There was a demon that live at about Point One on the Mach meter."

Tom Wolfe wrote a terrifically good narrative style study of the early Mercury astronauts and Flight Test guys at Edwards.  Specifically BG Yaeger. 

I had to read it in ENG 1101 in college and couldn't believe how great a story it was. And the movie is pretty good too. Which is actually, sort of the point of this post. 

Read the book. Enjoy the movie and avoid that craptastic reboot bullshit on NatGeo. Heard it was going to cancelled. That's good. 

And I had a thought while watching the film last night. When BG Yaeger nearly buys the farm in the NF-104A, he's talking with Jack Ridley. 

Jack Ridley was killed trying to fly relief supplies into Japan in 1957. Yaeger nearly bought it in 1963.

Ridley and Yaeger were good friends. He missed his buddy and the old days of test flight. 

Just a thought. Thanks for stopping buy. And go read the book!

Somber Sunday

 So, been wearing a badge for seven months now. I enjoy it. Have had good days, fun days, bad days, and even dare I say it, boring days. Tod...