Really

Give me a minute here, and I’ll try to catch up on links to people who linked to my book. I don’t want to wait until tomorrow, because nothing sucks like a Friday link.

If I fail to blogroll you at Manly Grub, feel free to remind me.

Fill in the Rest

I took the new old .357 to the range, along with some backup guns, in case my reloads failed. And fail they did, in a big way. I shot a total of 5 rounds, and all were undercharges. They left the gun barrels, and four actually managed to hit the target, but the holes weren’t clean. The target tore, as if the bullets were moving at BB velocity. I have no idea what I did wrong. I used about 8 grains of Unique, small pistol primers (not magnum), and 125-grain truncated cone Laser-Cast bullets. I am going to have to take 95 rounds apart and check them. The documentation said to use small pistol primers. Maybe there was a misprint, and it should have been small pistol magnum primers. Or maybe the powder measure acted up.

I bought two overpriced boxes of PMC .357 ammunition (158 grain) and put the reloads away.

The 27-2 is wonderful, but the grips have to GO. The front of the grips is so big, it pushes my middle finger against the trigger guard. I can’t get a good two-hand grip on this thing. Maybe it was never meant for two hands. I need to get some Pachmayrs or something. Too bad. I like the Eastwoody look of the original grips.

The trigger is remarkable. I thought the 686+ had a nice trigger, but this one is better. You can’t feel a thing until the bullet goes off.

Here are my first fifty shots, not counting the undercharges, which I covered. The shots in the center are from the 686+. The others are from the 27-2. The first three shots from the 27-2 went into the same hole. And I don’t mean a ragged hole. I mean the same HOLE. Kind of freaked me out. You can see that there is a small area where the bullets really like to go. But I still have a flawed trigger pull, so the bullets danced around it. These are all double-action shots.

Seems like I don’t shoot to the left as much as I used to. On the other hand, I’ve had the 686+ for 8 years, and I may have adjusted it.

Here are 25 shots at 50 feet. I adjusted the sights a little. I thought these would be better than they were, but the grips were starting to get to me. Maybe that was the problem. Still double action.

I decided to get out the SW1911. I seem to be turning into a 1911 man. The other day, one of the range guys watched me shoot it, and he said, “The gun shoots itself.” That was kind of insulting, but I am getting good results. Here I shot from 7 yards. I started with the 27-2 in the center of the target, single action, and then I moved to the 1911, which suddenly seemed very tame.

After that, I shot the 1911 at 50 feet. I was very happy with these shots, because while they make a big spread, they divide cleanly in two groups. I believe the crap on the left was caused by a trigger pull problem, and that if I can master it, I’ll start shooting more like the stuff on the right. Which is not bad at all.

Finally, I fired 50 shots with the Glock 22 (.40 S&W) at 50 feet. These were disappointing. I used to shoot this gun better than this. I’m wondering if it hates the ammunition I used.

Scored some free .45 brass. That’s always nice.

Am I turning into a 1911 nut? I love the 27-2, but man, those .45 reloads feel sweet.

Woe is Me

This is fricking upsetting.

I decided to make my own pita, because I was too lazy to go to the store. I figured I would be satisfied if it was edible. But it came out so well, from now on, I am going to be utterly bummed when I have to eat the store stuff. The taste was better. The texture was infinitely superior. It didn’t resist at all when I peeled it apart for dipping in hummus.

Damn it.

There was one small problem. I use my whole wheat flour so rarely, it went a a bit “off.” I think this is the reason white flour was invented. It lasts forever without spoiling. Not sure. Anyway, I need new flour, but the pita was still a thousand times better than any pita I’ve had outside of Israel.

Sometimes when things go right, you’re worse off than when they go wrong. I cook so many things well now, I am constantly surrounded by temptation. And I have the willpower of Amy Winehouse.

I guess you’ll want to know what I did.

I looked briefly at a web recipe, which you can find here. Then I ignored it, mostly. I stole the baking technique.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp. gluten (my all-purpose flour is pretty weak)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. olive oil
6 ounce water
1 tbsp. dry yeast

This is very much like my pizza dough. I dissolved the sugar in the water, which I had heated for 20 seconds in a microwave. I added the yeast, dissolved it, and waited for it to foam. I put the other ingredients in the food processor and blended them quickly. I set a timer for 3 minutes and turned it on. I turned on the food processor. I poured the yeast mixture in slowly, waiting for the flour to form a coherent glob. Turned out I needed more water; I think whole wheat flour is thirstier than all-purpose.

When it formed a glob, I quit adding water. This was at about 2:20. I blended until 1:20. Then I formed the dough into a ball and put it in an oiled dish to rise. I preheated the oven and baking stone to 400.

When the dough was nice and puffed up, I divided it into six pieces. I rolled three pieces into flat circles, using as little flour as I could. The circles were very thin; each one was around 6″ in diameter. I tossed them on the stone and baked for three minutes or so. I turned them to get them toastier on the top side, and they were out by five minutes. I baked the others the same way. They were perfect. They come out with a little flour on them, but you can knock it off.

This would be really good if you could sour the dough.

Reader sent me a funny photo. Remember me worrying about squibs in a revolver? This is apparently what happens, if you don’t notice that the bullets aren’t leaving the gun. I have to wonder what would happen if you had a few squibs in an automatic weapon.

My Hobbies

Breakfast has been delayed this morning, due to a combination of adventuresome…ness…and laziness. I had no pita in the house when I got up, so I decided to try and make some. Anything to avoid going to the store. It will probably be another 45 minutes before I find out if I succeeded.

I think I should put up a post at Manly Grub, exposing myself as a tremendous fraud and hypocrite. I should put up a photo of the breakfast I eat five days a week. Piles of fresh vegetables, pita bread, cottage cheese, sour cream, hummus, and boiled eggs. The only things in there that are even slightly unhealthy are the eggs and sour cream.

What am I supposed to do? If I ate good food every day, my BMI would be a googol. So I eat crap. Rabbit food. Shh. Don’t tell anyone.

On Saturday, I fully intend to have a mouth-watering Mickey D’s breakfast, to get the salad taste out of my mouth. And I plan to make a pizza this weekend. Until then, I will suffer.

I can’t understand how Mickey D’s makes such great breakfasts. Their other food is just sort of okay. If they quit making McMuffins and bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits, I am going to have to kill myself. There is no sound alternative. I have to have my biscuits and McMuffins, and I have to dip them in a big glob of Hunt’s ketchup while I eat.

There is something addictive in that Mickey D’s grease. It’s not like bacon grease. It’s not like butter, lard, or Crisco. Maybe it’s lithium grease. That would explain the mood-elevating effect.

An hour after eating this stuff, I get a headache and feel depressed. Maybe it’s an MSG thing. But even though I’m depressed, I’m happy. Because I’m depressed for a good reason.

You can be depressed and happy. The hippies tell us you can have global warming while temperatures drop all over the world. If that’s true, I can be depressed and happy.

A reader told me to put butter beans in my hummus to make it smoother. I thought he was high, but it works. This week I used one can of cheapo garbanzos plus a can of Winn-Dixie store brand butter beans. And the hummus is very good. I was too lazy to cook the garlic before adding it, but it doesn’t seem to matter. I’ll give you the ingredients again.

2 cans garbanzo beans, drained OR 1 can garbanzos, 1 can butter beans
juice of 2-3 lemons
several cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons tahini
hot peppers (seeded) or hot sauce to taste
2-3 tbsp. olive oil

I think that’s right. I just blast it in the food processor. If it’s too dry, I put back some of the water from the beans.

Thank God I like vegetables. Maybe they will in some way balance the other junk I eat.

I’m hoping to slap another 50 rounds of .357 ammunition together today and hit the gun range. I haven’t gone in two weeks. The weather and other factors have deterred me. I can’t wait to take the new old 27-2 out and see what it can do. I just hope I don’t have any squibs. I think I’ll take some .40 S&W ammunition and a Glock, just in case.

Latest Plan

I have a crazy thought. I know that news will amaze you.

The other day I was Googling around, and I read about a Spanish .44 Magnum. I figured it had to be a piece of crap. Then I found a few more references to the company that made it, and they were very flattering. Now I’m thinking I might try to find one and buy it. The company is called Astra, and they made guns based on the Smith & Wesson design. I don’t know if the company is around today–I forgot–but it was a respected manufacturer with a long history.

Am I insane?

Deliberately

I am behind on acknowledging blog reviews and links for Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man – The World’s Unhealthiest Cookbook. Sorry. I’m going to catch up.

I just got a great review from TC, over at Beer in the Headlights. Read it and find out what you’re missing.

Thanks, TC.

Press Still Hinky

I spent an hour making .357 ammunition for tomorrow, and I am super annoyed. I think I know why I had all those .38 Super squibs.

It turned out that the little sleevy thing on the powder measure occasionally hung on the way back down. So presumably, it wasn’t filling completely on the way up. I hosed it with One Shot and watched it carefully, and it seemed to work okay after that. I hope I didn’t miss any screwups.

I also had five or six cases which didn’t get primers. No idea what the explanation for that is. It has to be the feed. I used to think the press was rocking, causing things to align wrong or whatever, but it’s not rocking now.

In the past, spilled powder seemed to be the main problem with the primer feed. If I am remembering things right. But I’m not spilling much now.

I have a rod resting in the primer feed tube (coat hanger segment) to add weight and shove the primers on through. I thought that would solve the problem. No dice. Maybe I need to check the pawls and make sure everything is kosher.

I also have an occasional problem with the ejector wire. Sometimes a round will get stuck in it for no apparent reason.

Anyway, I have fifty rounds done, and I think I can crank out another fifty without losing my mind.

I’m a little nervous about shooting these. What happens when you have a squib in a revolver? I have this terrifying vision of a bullet stuck between the cylinder and forcing cone, refusing to come out.

Boudoir Photos

The new baby:

Unless Lying Would be Better

If you love me, and you love Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man – The World’s Unhealthiest Cookbook, take a minute and write an Amazon review. Be sure to use the link to the new book, not the old one.

And for God’s sake, don’t try to buy the old version.

It’s Here

I have to hand it to Jim from Smoke on the Water. He has good taste in guns.

A while back, he found a Smith & Wesson 27-2, in 95%+ condition. This means it’s about what you would expect if someone took it to the range once, carried it in a holster for a couple of weeks, and then put it in a safe. He contacted me and told me about it, and I arranged to buy it. And I got a very nice price.

I used a kitchen-table dealer to make the dropoff. He’s a little hard to track down, but I found him today, and I just picked up the gun. Man, is it a beauty. Except for very light holster wear near the muzzle, and some evidence of firing, it looks new. It has the nice old Smith & Wesson bluing you can swim in. The chambers are recessed. The grips are heavy pieces of walnut. Very sweet. I especially like the common-sense 5″ barrel.

I have always liked my 686+, which was probably made in ’99 or 2000. It shoots well, and it’s nice to look at. And it holds 7 rounds. But I can see why people prefer the old guns. Smooth and well-finished as that gun is, this one just seems slicker. And it has nice touches, such as tiny checkering on the strap. The trigger and hammer are wider and more comfortable, too.

It just looks like they worked harder on it.

It’s heavy as hell; it has a big frame, and the cylinder is only hollowed out for 6 rounds. You could save ammunition by beating a robber to death with it.

If the old Pythons are nicer than this, they must be very nice indeed. But they aren’t as tough as this gun. And Dirty Harry didn’t shoot a Colt.

Speaking of Dirty Harry, I feel like I really need a Model 29, just like the one he shot. I guess Eastwood trivia nuts will point out that he actually used a different Smith & Wesson on camera, but he claimed it was a .44 Magnum, so shuddup.

Thanks for the help, Jim. Next time you’re in town, you’ll have to show me how to use this thing.

Make a Note

Via Sondra K.: it turns out Linda SOG’s non-malignant brain tumor has come back. Put her on prayer blast for me, okay?

Try not to Drool

I never thought I’d sink this low. I am now a purveyor of pornography. I am putting up a gallery of food photos over at Manly Grub.

It’s very slow work. Only two albums up.

If it Were a Boat, he Could Get Out and Walk to Safety

Moxie has actually blogged. And she has “connected the dots,” RE Obama’s airplane troubles.

Air America, what are you waiting for? Hire this woman.

And We’re Still in Kansas…City

I don’t know if you’ve ever listened to The Big Dumb Fun Show, but you might enjoy it, especially if you’re under 30. Three young guys from the Kansas City area started a podcast a few years back, and now they get several million listeners per week. You can find them at this link, or you can check my blogroll. It’s just three guys having fun and playing a lot of new music. And they have live chat and an archive.

May not be appropriate for farts even older than me.

Hold Onto Your Sitemeters

I have been blogrolling people at Manly Grub. I have to type the entries in one at a time, so expect it to take a solar year.