I have been getting pretty used to the gritty and grippy texture of the new 4th generation of Glock pistols.

Neither my Gen 3 G23 or my Gen 1 G17 have this sort of texture so I thought WWH45D — what would  Hickok45 do — and he’s a huge fan of Talon Grips, which he says, at least in sandpaper, help out with his accuracy and handling, so I ordered a couple sets and they were a snap to install.

Pretty much just use an alcohol wipe to remove any oil, schmutz, or dirt, and then you remove the sticker backing, place it according to the instructions, make sure the three front strap pieces go under the left side panel, and the just blast it with a very hot hair drier until everything shrinks-to-fit.

Err on the side of more heat and also make sure you press everything down and make sure there are no gaps or bubbles. And squeeze and press. Doesn’t it look great!

I installed it myself so it really must not be very tough and each grip was cut perfectly for the pistol I ordered it for.

My Ruger MkIII Target “678″ is way better than me. Reliable, hyper-accurate, solid, durable. You should get one. Even better with a Volquartsen trigger job and a set of ergo grips.

Sadly, they don’t make this tapered-barrel model anymore with the 6 7/8″ barrel, but since they’re bomb-proof, used is as good as new when it comes to an MK — some people actually swear to the MkII Rugers above the MkIII anyway, so get what you like.

Some say there’s nothing better than the MkII Government Target — it was professionally accurized and also came with a 6″ bull barrel, which supposedly does a better job at preventing muzzle vibrations and issues with rapid-fire-associated overheating which can temporarily warp the barrel just a wee bit.

That said, I will never be good enough to concerned with microvibration- or heat-related inaccuracy.

I’m taking a business trip to Atlanta between October 12th and October 15th. Pop me a note if you’re around and would maybe like to get together and connect.

Shooting anything other than .22LR is expensive. If you shoot a .40S&W pistol, ammunition is downright expensive. I am new to all of this, it being only a year since I bought my first firearm and only seven months since I picked up my 40-caliber handgun.

I would never have ever guessed that you could buy bullets via the Internet and they would be delivered to your door via UPS or FedEx. I went onto Google and searched Google Shopping for cheap bulk .40 ammunition, I think, and ended up at Cheap Bulk Ammo and ordered “40 S&W 180 Grain FMJ BVAC – 500 Rounds, Remanufactured, Bulk” for $110.99 plus $22.59 for shipping and look what arrived at my door.

No bells and whistles at all, is there? Bare bones bullets in a box. Such a bizarre culture and I really cannot believe that this is legal — amazing. And please tell me why I cannot order wine online in Virginia?

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MAKE caught my eye with these smart and fun cat 5 RJ-45  plug and socket wall-mounted key-chains and mounts, via Lifehacker

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As you may well know, I have been hiding out in Portland, Oregon. If you have seen Portlandia, you know that you cannot go anywhere in the PDX if you’re not festooned with birds on things. I commissioned Dave Stoops the crack bag-making team over at Black Star Bags to make me a large courier bag with a bird on it in reflective 3M tape.

Yes, I feel your envy boring into me. Well, you can get a Black Star messenger bag — or any sort of black star bag or back star anything — with a bird on it, just like I have done.

I have been remiss. I had intended to write about Free Hollow Books because they made one of the best selection of hollowed-out books for the private, sneaky, secretive, connoisseur in all of us.

This particular book, A History of Russia and the Soviet Union, is gorgeous, bold, bespoke, and is so dull to all but my most bookish friends.

It also fits a Glock 23 pistol perfectly. And the Glock 19, too. And the Glock 32, I believe. Yes, hollow books that are double-secret gun cases! Basically, it’ll fit most variants of the Glock compact pistol along with a couple spare magazines.

This Overheard in New York submission is particularly brilliant and is a completely soap operatic in only seven lines:

Mom: Say you’re sorry to Billy.
Tiny girl: But I’m not sorry!
Mom: Katy, you apologize right now!
Tiny girl: But you said lying was bad!
Mom: And hitting is bad too! Now say you’re sorry!
Tiny girl: I hit him with a stick because he sucks. And he still sucks, so I’m not sorry.
Mom: You hit him with a stick? (grabs Katy and storms over to father on picnic blanket)
Tiny girl, over her mother’s shoulder: I’m not sorry, Billy!
–Central Park

Via Billy Decides to Stop Sucking

How cool is this Suzuki DR650SE enduro with an after-market 30 liter safari tank. That’s 7.9 gallons of fuel which translates to just about 434.5 miles of riding on one tank at 55 mpg:

I love it when folks are helpful, even when it’s at the end of the check at the end of the meal: Tipping Etiquette:

This is the bottom of a check at a restaurant. What do you think of this? Is it a good customer experience or presumptive?

I love it when restaurants get “presumptive” because if they were being presumptive, they would have gone higher than 20%.

Via Branding Blog

So, now I have a routine in Portland: quiz night. Almost exactly three miles, door-to-door:

Steve McQueen‘s international motorcycle license! Is this not the coolest artifact ever?

Via If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats by Kimberly Lindbergs.

Here’s a spy photo of a late-design, pre-production version of the next BMW M5 via Autoblog:

What do you think?  Here’s a gallery of more photos for you, too.

I finally dusted off my bike and rolled out towards the Willamette River here in Portland, Oregon. You’ll see from the below photos and videos that it was a rare and glorious day. Biking along the river, around the river, beside a freight train with the freight cards across a bridge. Check it out:

It is amazing to think about how simple — simplistic, minimal — the action of the Glock line of handguns is.

They’re all almost exactly the same, the entire range, all starting with the Glock 17 service pistol through the 1st generation all the way through the current Gen 4. Above is my .40 S&W compact version of the Glock, known as the Glock 23.

It is broken down completely — or as far as anyone really ever needs to outside of a deep servicing that needs to be done by a gunsmith — though I am told one never needs to do it at all.

And, to be honest, some people swear that a Glock pistol really never needs to ever be cleaned at all, short of running a bore snake through it periodically.

One would expect something as fearsome, dangerous, and reliable as the Glock would be a lot more complex and a lot more expensive.

Not only are they absolutely reliable, they’re also dirty cheap — at least $200 less than anything else.

On April 8th, I went to the NRA HQ Range and spent the entire hour trying to stop flinching. Yes, flinching.

When I started the hour I was doing pretty well — but, after a while, the recoil, kick and bang of the compact .40 S&W round through the light, short-barreled, shorter-gripped, compact Glock 23, makes me anticipate the next hand-explosion, and my wrist automatically pitches the barrel down.

As though I had the nanosecond reflexes to compensate, physically, like a human muzzle break. Doesn’t work. You really have to relax, squeeze the trigger smoothly, and ultimately allow yourself to be surprised at the break.

I don’t believe that this grouping is particularly good but I am a beginner and the little pistol spooks me every time and beats me up — so I am getting used to it so really all I need to do is spend time with it.

I don’t know about you but this pistol, the Glock 23 — and all Glocks are identical in almost every way outside of barrel, slide, and grip length — is the most simple of devices I have ever seen that portrays itself as a firearm, a gun, a weapon.

Four pieces: the slide assembly, the guide rod and recoil spring assembly, the barrel, and the receiver assembly. Any more field stripping is almost never required. Who would have guessed? See?

No, I didn’t lose her to a wreck or to being stolen, I left her behind when I left Honolulu, Hawaii.  I abandoned her, so maybe she’s alive and happy somewhere, with another driver.  Aw heck, I was just feeling nostalgic about my automobiles.  First, the 1974 Triumph TR6 roadster and next my 1980 Mercedes 300D and then my 1997 Land Rover Discovery and even my 1989 Honda Civic hatchback if I am feeling very nostalgic.  Oh, and who can forget my fearsome and deadly 1982 Yamaha XJ1100 Maxim? (Man, that was the most irresponsible thing in the world and I loved it!)

This is not the same car, just the same model, though mine was the famous British Racing Green (BRG) color.  I think I really just love the yellow fog lamps and the knock off wire wheels which mine didn’t have. OK, this is a superior example and my car was held together with love and bubblegum.  However, I did bring her up to over 130mph with the top down on H1 at around 3am and it felt amazing and exhilarating and I was pretty sure she was going to shake apart or explode!

Don’t listen to the haters who say that there was a huge hole in the firewall to the engine venting scalding air to the passenger seat or that there were holes in the floor through which you could see pavement or that the car could overheat or that the Lucas electrical system broke all the time.  What’s the thing about Lucas electrical systems being the prince of darkness?  Or that my forehead stuck over the top to the windshield and that I didn’t fit.

Don’t believe anyone who said I almost killed myself in the car as I drove too fast and too recklessly on winding Tantalus road, even if they suggest that I ever hit a wet patch and spun 540 degrees, settling into my own lane as though nothing had happened, proving God and that God was British all in one fell swoop — all without stalling the car or losing my clutch or getting out of gear (well done, lad!).

Do not believe any of these things.  Not that they’re untrue but they all paint me in a very terrible way and I would rather not be painted that way.  I have always been responsible and mature.

OK, I know you want to know what that bike looked like, right?

I spent the day with my buddy Andrew at Prince George’s County Trap & Skeet Center in Glen Dale, Maryland, and had a blast.

On the down side, my new Remington 870P pump shotgun didn’t have a long enough barrel to be acceptable at the center.

On the up side, rentals are cheap and really good. A couple light and foxy Beretta semi-auto shotguns.

The weather today was cold and windy at 30 miles per hour. Bitter but after a first round (1 out of 25 clays demolished with shot) we did a second round of trap and I scored another 1/25 success rate.

I will not allow myself to be either frustrated or discouraged.

The Prince George’s County Trap & Skeet Center is a state park and is run in a very friendly sort of way. There was a skeet and a trap competition going on and it was amazing to watch these men pop pop pop orange birds out of the sky in such a wild assortment of shooting and sporting garb and the most exotic and exquisite over-under custom and ergonomic Brownings and Berettas.

Anyway, I sucked and I would love any advice you have. I couldn’t quite sort out the tracking, the aiming, where the put the bead and how far ahead to lead the shot. Andrew told me that my biggest problem was that I thought about it too much.

His game got much better when I passed on what the fellow at the desk told me: don’t aim it like a rifle, aligning three dots, but keep your eyes on the clay and keep both eyes open.

After finishing off a box of 100 rounds, we headed to Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Arundel Mills located in Hanover, MD. Partly to see if I could find a 28″ barrel for my 870P (no, but I ordered one online for $160) and partly just to continue our day of sport.

I thought that the Chantilly gun show was a mad holy land for the manly arts but oh my God!

Bass Pro Shop is such an amazing wonderland. From fishing to hunting to climbing and athletics and everything — even archery and paint guns and BBs and pellets.

Since this is hunting season, the store was picked clean. I was tempted by a Ruger 10/22 Deluxe .22LR but passed.

I will spend more time mastering the MKIII and the 870P before expanding my collection in any way.

I just discovered that Miriam’s Kitchen is always happy to receive game meat as a donation to help feed Washington’s homeless. Sounds like a very noble reason to give hunting a go.

Maybe next year after I master everything a little better I might give that a go. I have never hunted before but what the hell. Try everything once, eh?

What a smashing day. I highly recommend heading over to Prince George’s County Trap & Skeet Center. They don’t care if you’re brand new. They’re always happy to introduce you to trap and skeet.

A round of trap was $5.50 for 25 clays. Renting the Berettas was cheap, considering how nice the shotguns were. I brought the ammo with me for around $29 for 100 12 gauge target shells at Dick’s Sporting Goods on Columbia Pike in Arlington.

I will be in Berlin from 6-22 December but when I return I should have the barrel and I plan to pop back over to 10400 Good Luck Road to have a go with my very own shotgun.

No gunplay in Berlin. Germany doesn’t roll like that.

Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet Center

10400 Good Luck Road
Glenn Dale, MD 20769
301-577-7178; TTY 301-249-4252

Hours of Operation

Friday-Monday: 10 am-5 pm,
Tuesday-Thursday: 10 am-8:30 pm

This premier clay target, recreational shooting facility is open to the public on a year-round basis, providing all the popular clay target sports.

Whether enjoyed as a personal hobby or competitive sport, clay target shooting can become a lifetime activity involving leagues, outings and tournaments, year-round.  There are many events available for adult and youth from novice to experienced shooters.

Competitive, instructional and safety programs, run by certified instructors, are available.  Youth programs and a teen target shooting camp provide a safe introduction to clay target shooting.

Shotgun rental is available for on-site use and a retail store offers a comprehensive selection of related supplies and accessories.

Facility rental is available for corporate events and group outings.

Amenities

Up-to-date facilities provide challenging games for beginner to experienced shooters.

Trap (9 fields)
Skeet (13 fields)
Sporting Clays Course (winds its way through the surrounding woods)
Five Stand
Wobble Trap
International Bunker (Olympic Trap)
International Skeet (Olympic Skeet)

Shotgun shooting only – no indoor ranges.  Lighted trap & skeet fields Tues. – Thurs.

Fees

Customers may purchase individual tickets, or books of 10 tickets for a discounted price in the clubhouse.  League shooters may purchase tickets at a discounted rate. Please call for current fees.

Rentals & Outings

Facility rentals are available for Corporate or Group Outings.  Arrangements can be made for meeting rooms, catering, indoor dining (clubhouse room with fireplace), outdoor dining (under the large pavilion) and shooting facilities including instruction with Certified Instructors.  Adequate parking is available for large groups.

From small meetings to large outings, Prince George’s Trap & Skeet is an excellent venue to make your event unique.  Please call 301-577-7178 for fees and scheduling.

Retail Store/Clubhouse

The Retail Store sells most everything needed to participate in shotgun shooting sports.  This includes a variety of equipment, clothing and accessories.  Rental equipment is available for use at the facility.

The Clubhouse also offers a lodge-style trophy room with a fireplace and seating.  Vending machines available.

Location/Directions

Located in Glenn Dale, adjacent to Goddard Space Flight Center and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.

From the Capital Beltway (I-495), take Exit 22A to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Proceed 400 yards and take Greenbelt Road exit (Route 193) east. Continue through eight traffic lights and make a left onto Good Luck Road, then turn right at the next traffic light to continue on Good Luck Road. The facility is located .07 miles on the left.

I bought myself a .22LR Ruger MKIII “678″ months and months ago but it just lay there in its little green plastic box.

Today, I popped out to the world NRA HQ Range to experience their top-drawer firing range out Route 66 in northern Virginia.

When I arrived at the headquarters we have all seen from 66, there were clear signs to the range.

I parked and ported my green codura range bag in and told the lady and gentleman at the counter that I was new. They popped me on the list.

I looked around and it was packed! It was around 11:30 AM on Friday — today — and there was a queue.

They handed me some forms to fill out, a range briefing, and a test. I popped my firearm back into the car in order to use the classroom for the exam.

After acing the test and paying $10 for my range card, I bought a 100 bright of .22LR hollow points, a bright blue muff, cheap plastic shooting glasses, and only five 25-yard paper targets and was assigned lane 7. Lucky seven.

The rules were explicit and all had to do with safety and keeping the business end of the firearm downrange.

The range is an open range which is to say that folks are always firing. Keep the firearm holstered, encased, bagged, stowed, unloaded, and even when sitting empty with the breech wide open — even then and in the case — the barrel is to be pointed downrange.

Safety is key in a space like the range when people are always firing: pistols, rifles, class III weapons (with the proper license), and shotguns (but only with slugs).

I fed the magazines and burned through my brick in only 30 minutes. I would have made it last longer had I not had an appointment at 1 but I loved the time I did have. What a rush.

So, some pretty damn tight groupings at 25 feet. At 50 I could feel like I both didn’t know the pistol very well yet and the muscles supporting my arms and my pistol were not yet accustomed to it all.

At 75 and 100 feet I still hit the target but my 10-round bouts looked like buck scatter-shot. Oh well, nothing some good time at the range can’t help.

I have myself a target pistol. The Ruger MKIII that I have is a target pistol with a 6 7/8″ barrel. I was looking for one with a 10″ bull barrel but I am very happy.

The lanes are very cool. They’re modern and they’re a lot like the cool scenes you see on CSI and other cop shows with the button that sends out and brings back paper targets at the touch of a button.

When I burned through the brick, I locked back the action, removed the 10-bullet magazine, checked the chamber for a round, and then released the bolt and encased my pistol, bagged everything, swept up the brass, then exited stage left.

The doors in and the doors out are doubled to isolate noise and one is to immediately wash hands after leaving the open and hot range.

While I was loading up my trunk, exhilarated and relaxed, I engaged the guy in the van next to me, from Texas.

He told me that the NRA range is something special. More modern, exceptional, organized, and fun than the ranges in Texas, which are all just lanes and space and target.

Great to know such a great resource, adult playground, and training facility is so close. I believe the price is around $14 for NRA members and $18 for non-members.

The NRA range hours are as follows:

Monday: 10AM-5PM
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 5PM-10PM
Thursday: 5PM- 10PM
Friday: 10AM – 10PM
Saturday: 8:30AM – 10PM
Sunday: 8:30AM – 7PM

NRA Range Operational Rules

1. All Federal, state, and local firearm laws must be obeyed.
2. All firearms not on the firing line must be holstered, or unloaded with their action open and the magazine removed, or unloaded and encased.
3. All shooters must pass the NRA RANGE TEST, and complete and sign the NRA RANGE RELEASE, WAIVER, HOLD HARMLESS, INDEMNIFICATION AND ASSUMPTION OF RISK AGREEMENT before using the NRA Range.
4. Owners of Class III firearms must be in possession of any special permits or paperwork required by law.
5. Food, beverages, and smoking are prohibited on the range. (Smoking is prohibited throughout the building.)
6. No muzzleloading firearms may be fired on the NRA Range.
7. All calibers of pistols may be fired.
8. Rifles up to and including .460 Weatherby Magnum caliber may be fired.
9. Shotgun slugs may be fired. No buckshot or birdshot may be fired unless authorized by the Range Officer for a specific course.
10. Tracer, armor piercing, and steel core ammunition are prohibited.
11. Commands issued by Range Officers and Range Personnel must be obeyed immediately and without question.
12. When the command “Cease Fire” is given:
    1. Stop shooting IMMEDIATELY
    2. Remove your finger from the trigger
    3. Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction
    4. Wait for further instructions from the Range Officer
13. No one other than NRA Range personnel may go forward of the firing line unless authorized or instructed to do so by the Range Officer.
14. When the line is declared “CLEAR”:
    1. All firearms must be holstered; or unloaded and benched or grounded, with the muzzle pointed down range, with the action open, ejection port or cylinder up, and magazine removed.
    2. Everyone must step back from the firing line.
    3. No firearms may be handled while the line is “CLEAR”
15. Only NRA approved paper targets may be used.
16. Use the appropriate size target, placed at eye level, to ensure that your shots strike the backstop and not the floor, ceiling or target holder. Firing a shot on the NRA Range that results in the bullet striking anything other than the target and/or backstop, may result in a damage or repair fine and/or your removal from the range.
17. Cross firing of targets is prohibited.
18. All firing from the 50 yard line (i.e. from within the shooting booths) must be aimed fire.
19. If you are going to draw from a holster and fire (unless authorized to do otherwise by the Range Officer), you MUST:
    1. Remove the shooting table from the shooting booth
    2. Stay within the shooting booth
    3. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot
20. Only belt holsters, placed on the same hip as the shooting hand, may be used on the NRA Range. Shoulder holsters and cross-draw holsters may not be used unless authorized by the Range Officer during designated training courses.
21. You may collect your own brass that is on or behind the firing line. Brass from other shooters and all brass that falls in front of the firing line may not be collected unless authorized by the Range Officer.
22. Competitions held on the NRA Range will be conducted in accordance with official NRA rules or by the rules of the sanctioning body of the match.
23. Always wash your hands and face immediately after shooting and/or cleaning your firearm. Sinks are located directly opposite the range exit door.
24. NRA Range Officers reserve the right to inspect any firearms or ammunition for safety considerations.

A few weeks ago by buddy Oliver organized a stellar bachelor weekend which included a day out doing table trap at a sportsman and shooting club outside Philly.  A friend of Oliver’s who is a member there shared his side-by-side, his semi-automatic, and his pump-action 12-gauge shotguns with us and we were all smitten!

So, when I got back from Pennsylvania, I wanted to relive the fun.  Everyone had their favorite trap guy.  David loved the semi-automatic and others loved the double-barrel AKA side-by-side.  I loved the old 50s-era pump

Funny fact: the iconic pump-action shotgun was invented by John Boyce and was patented by John Browning and the 1897 model was built by Winchester — which means it has pretty much looked and work the same for 113 years!

When I returned to Arlington, I searched for gun shows.  For two reasons, actually.  The first reason is that I have lived in the area since 1988 and I have spent a number of years as a Virginia resident off and on and have never been to a proper gun show.  Never.  I craved that most authentically American of experiences.  Secondly, I wanted to score a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun so that I can go shoot trap myself and have the amazing experience of pumping a new round between clay pigeons.  It is amazingly satisfying and completely action hero.

So, I drove out to exit 53B on Route 66 and pulled off at The Nation’s Gun Show at Dulles Expo Center (
4368 Chantilly Shopping Center Chantilly, VA 20153) and paid my $12 and oh my god… There were easily a couple football fields full of everything Second Amendment you could ever imagine, including an over-abundance of the most badass assault and anti-terrorist weapons, including Ingram Mac-11s, AR-14s, AK-47th, H&K MP5s, M1-A1s, knives, shotguns, ammo, deployment gear, and the most gorgeous assortment of classic guns from all the way back to the founding of America, including black powder firearms.

Anyway, I couldn’t believe it. What an extreme environment!  What an intense place.  There are so many handguns, machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, etc, that I couldn’t actually even browse over the entire space.  It is a little like that scene in The Matrix wherein Trinity and Neo enter a white room and then racks and racks of modern assault weaponry come crashing forward — right?

I budgeted some dosh for a pump action shotgun, as I said, with no real clue as to what I wanted.  After walking around and talking around, I was pretty much convinced that I needed to get a Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun because, according to the people I spoke to, there really wasn’t any others.

A couple tables away there was a brand new Remington 870P — police — shotgun on consignment.  It was pristine and though a little more then I wanted to spend, it was indeed perfect.  So, I filled out my Federal and State paperwork and paid with a card (+3% to cover fees), I am now the proud owner of pretty much the most durable and iconic pump-action shotguns ever built.  Pretty much, if you ever see a shotgun in the trunk of a police cruiser, it’s almost guaranteed to be an 870P.

I sent an email to all of my buddies to share an olly, olly, oxen-free to make sure everyone knows we all own one now.  I guess I should have gotten an over-under sport shotgun made for trap or skeet but that’s not the one I wanted today.  And, as everyone likes to remind me when it comes to tools, be they guns or cameras, or even guitars: you need to get the one you like instead of the one you should have because otherwise, you’ll always be unhappy.

Here’s something pretty cool: when you enter the event with a firearm, they take a large gauge zip-tie — sort of the gauge and strength of a pair of riot cuffs, and wend it through action of whatever firearm you have, rendering it impossible to fire with the chamber open.  I think that’s a great idea — a great way to allow such firepower to safely exist in once place over three whole days. (the image to the right is a proper riot cuff and not the ties that kept all those gun visibly inoperable)

So, I have officially had a very authentic and very cool American experience.  I am no longer a gun show virgin.  Everyone was really very nice but it is pretty odd and pretty unsettling to see so many people walking around with rifles over their shoulders, with shiny pearl-handled revolvers on hips, with menacing M-4 carbines hanging from shoulders.  After I bought the Remington, I had to walk around with it for almost an hour, just holding it by my side.  It felt very weird.  I picked up some cleaning gear, rods, brushes, pads, solvent, and oil and then grabbed a black Codura sleeve, covered the weapon, and decided to bail and head on home.