it’s all about timing. i bought my s&w m&p9c on february 6th. i guess we’ll see how good s&w customer service is now…

update:
i received an email back from paul gazda from s&w in a very timely fashion. unfortunately, he states:

Hello, I am sorry to report, we can not extend the dates on the promotion.

i’m seeing a lot of sigs and glocks in my future.

2nd update:
well, i suppose it’s not so bad. i just discovered that midway is just now running a sale for the magazines at $30.49 each, which is only about $5 more than the cheapest (but backordered for 2 months) i’ve been able to find, and a lot cheaper than the $41 that s&w charges. I also ordered a uplula magazine speed loader. it by far had the most and best reviews. not that i need to load magazines faster - it’s just that the s&w m&p mag follower has this weird shape to it, and it’s extremely difficult to get the first round into it. on top of that, the spring is rather stiff. end result, my finger tips have been sore ever since i got this pistol. hopefully, this will solve this problem.

i came across this ar-15 lower receiver in the local firearm forum i read, arizonashooting.com. there’s a section in which dealers can post specials and general offers to the members. the above lower is a special run, with the “zombie” indicator instead of “fire” for the safety selector. it’s a limited run offered by arizona armory - his website’s not up and running just yet, but there’s a lot of good feedback on the forum.

anyway, i’ve spent some time thinking about building an ar-15 from parts, and this makes it very tempting. i’ve also added a “zombie” category to my blog - i’ve done enough posts about zombies that i think it’s warranted. of course, i’m wondering if i should go back an add the category to previous zombie posts, or if that will make the blog’s rss feed go nuts.

they had a special for today at the arizona ren faire, $10 per person, so we decided to stop by and enjoy a few hours of robing hood and renaissance goodness. no pictures this year, but i did buy a really cool athame at sabersmith.

since the schrade tactical pen came highly recommended, i thought i’d give one a try. in pink. along with a pink leek kershaw tactical knife. notice how no one bothers to match the different shades of pink.

update: i emailed this picture to daily gun pictures, a blog that posts pictures and videos of all kinds of weapons on a daily basis, and it was posted! i’m famous

in what i believe to be the conclusion of my search for the best 9mm carry pistol, i purchased a new smith & wesson m&p9c yesterday. it fits my hand very well, offers quite manageable felt recoil, features a good compromise between capacity (12 + 1) and size/weight, and well, it’s a smith & wesson, world renowned for their quality and customer service.

i cleaned it this morning, and armed with a variety of ammo types, i went off to the range. 212 rounds later, with flawless performance and no failures of any kind, i am quite pleased with my choice. while perhaps not quite as accurate as my sig p6 or s&w 5906, i did very well considering it’s shorter 3.5″ barrel, and the fact that this was my first outing. i can imagine i’ll improve with time.

cleaning went smoothly, as the gun comes apart fairly easily, and went back together without a hitch.

just as a comparison, i took this shot comparing it to my “j” frame revolver, which i’m not nearly as accurate. just slightly larger, with more than double the capacity.

and this was the best group at 5 yards. interestingly enough, the magazine without the finger rest performed as well as the one with the finger rest.

next purchase, additional magazines and a holster…

i don’t normally post about the politics of firearms - after all, i believe the 2nd amendment protects the right of american citizens to keep and bear arms. but i just had to post about this, because i can’t count the number of times i’ve gone into my local starbucks armed. interestingly enough, the first firearm i saw open-carried here in phoenix was at my local starbucks.

i have faith that starbucks won’t cave, because i’d be hard-pressed to decide between the two.

thanks to snowflakes in hell for the heads up.

and really, is that a cool starbucks logo, or what! i want to make them into arm patches only i’d change the question mark to something more appropriate.

i stopped by the range today and rented a smith & wesson m&p9. of all the polymer framed pistols i’ve tried, this one is by far the best fit. it was well balanced, featured very manageable recoil, quite accurate, and offers high capacity magazines. i liked it a lot more than the glock.

the center target was at 5 yards, the lower left at 7 yards, and the lower right at 10 yards. that’s about how well i can expect to shoot my s&w 5906 or sig p9, so the gun is more accurate than me.

while i was there, i handled a smith & wesson m&p9c, which is the smaller carry version. while i didn’t have the opportunity to fire it, the fit to my hand was actually better than the full size version. that may very well be my next firearm purchase.

i picked up a copy of with the beatles from bookmans yesterday for $8.00 used. actually, meet the beatles was the first beatles album that my older sister and i purchased way back in the 60’s. i couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 years old. for my next birthday, i got the beatles 2nd album as a gift.

interestingly enough, “with the beatles” is kind of a mixture of the two, but really brings me back across space and time. every note of these songs is permanently etched in my mind. indeed, one of my first memories is sitting on my daddy’s lap watching the beatles’ first american tv performance on the ed sullivan show.

for what it’s worth, i believe the beatles were the best musical group ever. best rock band. best pop band. best songwriters. best singers (well, paul mccartney, anyway). though back in the day, john was my favorite, probably because he was a bit more gritty than paul.

oddly enough, the official beatles web site only lists “with the beatles” on their albums page.

i have a pretty good collection of beatles cd’s, and this one makes a great addition.

we tried this “yours and mine” stuff last week on a whim. while it lubricates ok, i seem to have had a bad reaction to something in the formula. i became pretty sore by the next day, and today, a week later, i’ve made a doctor’s appointment. i’ll spare you the details, other than to say that i haven’t had to make a doctor’s appointment other than for an annual physical in years.

so for those who have sensitive skin like me, i’d avoid this stuff at all costs. what’s weird is i use the regular ky stuff for dilating all the time with no issues.

what was even more disappointing is that the nurse practitioner who was wonderful, no longer works at my doctor’s office.