i picked up a lady smith model 60 at arizona firearms & pawn yesterday. now i have a set.

i installed the apex j frame duty/carry kit in my s&w 637-2 today. took all of 15 minutes. definitely lightens the trigger pull by a few pounds. looking forward to trying it out at the range.

the theme this year? pirates. there were at least three pirate shops, and one pirate show.

and to stay up with the times, i had to get a replica of a “lassie flintlock”. along with that fetching messenger bag, and a tank top.

so i field stripped my new (to me) s&w 3913ls this morning for a cleaning. i went a little further and took off the grip, as the gun was well oiled, and some oil was seeping around the grip edges. i had to refer back to my previous s&w 5906 grip post to remember how to remove the 3913 grip. they’re the same platform for the most part.

the gun is tight, and shows very little wear. i found a 5/1/2008 date in the owner’s manual, along with the serial number and “sportsman’s warehouse” written by hand, apparently indicating when and where it was originally purchased. i thought they stopped making these a few years earlier, but the factory spent casing confirms it is 2008 production.

it was tight going back together as well – the firing pin safety lever, which is the third of three “levers” the slide has to clear for it to fully move rearward, didn’t seem to want to go down enough to clear the slide. a google search revealed i’m not the only one who experienced this, and a little more downward pressure on it, and backward pressure on the slide solved the problem.

oddly enough, after reassembly, the recoil spring guide rod was sticking out. apparently, according to the manual, i hadn’t centered it in the slide properly. it seems a little more finicky than my 5906, though that’s probably due to the smaller size, and again, newness. everything works great now, and i’m looking forward to a trip back to the range.

i picked up a smith & wesson 3913 lady smith yesterday afternoon while i was at the range. it’s a used model in excellent condition, at a very fair price with 2 magazines. i couldn’t resist. i’ll clean it up and head back to the range for a range report.

at first i thought the headline fox shoots man was some kind of furry revenge or disgruntled lovers spat. but no, it’s true.

i was reading the most recent post on questioning transphobia about angel johnson, and her horrible experience with home invasion. i have to imagine that one of the last things you want to be looking at when you open your front door is a gun barrel.

perhaps i’m paranoid. but i never answer the door if i’m not expecting anyone, especially on the first knock. if the caller is persistent, i may look through the peep hole. or steal a glance through a window. depending on my perception of the threat, i may eventually answer the door. but never without being armed.

i don’t live in the best section of town, as evidenced by the frequency of swat teams in my neighborhood. some may call me paranoid. i like to think i’m prepared.

i came across a coupon code for some 12 gauge buck shot, and thought i’d give it a try. it’s low recoil, and pretty inexpensive. the shipping was pretty high, a little over $25 for 250 rounds, but overall, still a good price. i’ve been wanting to stock a little more 00 buckshot and thought i’d get myself a little present. i’ll report back when i have a chance to try some at the range.

the timing was perfect as well, fitting in with the post earlier to day…

since i broke my foot a couple of months ago, i hadn’t been to the range. so i took today off, installed my new apex tactical reset assist mechanism (RAM) into my s&w m&p9c, and spent a little time at the range. the ram makes for a nice addition to the m&p, and it was nice to go shooting. there’s a gun show in town this weekend as well, but my foot is still too sore today to go walking around. but at least i was able to feed my shooting appetite.

so i pull into my street tonight on the way home from work, and drive into a war zone. of course, all i had was my cell phone camera, and this was the best pic. there were cops everywhere, in full swat gear, carrying their glocks and ar-15′s. apparently, they were looking for someone. turns out to be my neighbor. at least according to the block gossip. perhaps i’ll read about it in the news. maybe it’s time to move…