Seems that former 'Baywatch' babe - and little else of consequence - Carmen Electra is promoting a new investment opportunity.

She'll undoubtedly "convince" a few people to invest - and odds are that all of them will be males under the age of 35.

Hey, sex sells. Just don't expect me to don a Speedo for any advertisement

-=[ Grant ]=-

If you don't like finger-pointing rants, stop here. I'm in one of my moods.

Internet forums are a varied lot; sometimes informative, sometimes inflammatory, and sometimes downright exasperating.

This is a story about one of those exasperating ones.

On one of the forums someone made mention of a new gun from USFA (United States Fire-Arms, the single action folks headquartered in the historic Colt factory.) USFA produces superb quality firearms, and though one can occasionally take issue with their styling, one cannot fault the quality of their products.

The discussion on this forum soon centered around the "high cost" ($1400 or thereabouts) of this new gun. Several people chimed in to the effect that they, too, would "never pay that much" for a gun.

Why did this disturb my sensibilities? Because on forums and in magazines, there is an almost-constant complaint that guns "aren't made the way they used to be", along with the obligatory pining for a return to "quality" firearms. "Why can't anyone make a good gun, with beautiful blueing and perfect fit?" is a typical lament.

I saw one discussion where folks were asked to put in their wish lists to a particular manufacturer. Of course, they all specified high-end features, peerless accuracy, superb metalwork and finishing, and - get this - actually expected it to sell for "less than $500!"

Folks, this just isn't rational. In fact, it's downright silly.

The reality is that a high-quality gun - a gun that could compete with, say, something from the 1930's - is going to cost north of the thousand-dollar mark, and there is just no way around that fact. Even the best of the S&W Performance Center guns don't approach the kind of fit and finish that were commonly available in, say, 1935, but are still pushing a grand. If they were capable of finishing those guns to the degree of the famed Registered Magnums (and I don't think they are,) you'd see a minimum 50% increase in the cost - if not more.

We all have to face the reality that quality costs, it'll cost more tomorrow than today, and if you're not willing to pay for it then you really don't have much room to complain - buy a Taurus.

Rant off. (I feel better now!)

-=[ Grant ]=-

...and better pre-hire screening.

Scenario: admittedly bizarre individual is 30 feet up in a tree. Deputy, who according to the article "wanted to get him down before he hurt himself or others", decides that the appropriate response is to use a Taser. Trouble is, the deputy draws pistol instead of Taser and shoots the man in the leg!

Aside from the obvious stupidity, think about this: the man is up in a tree, approximately the height of a two-story house roof. The deputy decides that the way to get him down is to use a device that disrupts one's motor control. If the deputy had used the Taser, the man would quite probably have fallen 30 feet to the ground!

What outcome did the deputy expect - that the guy would suffer a fall from that height with no injuries? How does this square with the quote about not allowing the man to hurt himself? It doesn't, and that's the problem.

The deputy made two egregious errors - one in judgment, and one in performance. This is someone who should really be doing something else for a living...."you want fries with that??"

-=[ Grant ]=-

You've gotta check out p d b , another gun-centric blog from a pretty sharp cookie who works in a video game store. Yeah, one of those juvenile repositories of self-absorbtion and lack of sunlight-derived Vitamin D. Who'd have thought that there were actually active brain cells in a place like that?

Great read...I'm subscribed to the RSS feed, of course!

-=[ Grant ]=-

Sheeple are afraid of flashing red lights.

The short story: a bartender lost his grip on reality when he saw a flashing red light on a window display for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Apparently convinced that this was a bomb, he called the police - who, rather than using their heads, evacuated the hotel.

Why is this important to you? Because the people now taking the reigns of power and influence in this country have had their world view shaped by prime time television - where all bombs have flashing red lights and all guns are bad, and giving up a little freedom for some safety is perfectly acceptable. See the connection?

These are the people who vote for anti-freedom politicians; they sit on juries and award ridiculous "pain and suffering" judgments; they go to town meetings and, no matter what the topic, scream hackneyed phrases such as "won't someone please think of the children?" They do these things because they live in a permanent fantasy, where all bombs have flashing red lights, and they have no clue that the real world isn't like what they see on "The West Wing."

It would be funny if their actions weren't so onerous...

-=[ Grant ]=-

Poor Dan Wesson. The marque, famed for their switch-barrel revolvers, has suffered through more inept management regimes than your average banana republic (no, not the clothing chain!) Today you can ask ten random shooters about the company, and almost none will know that Dan Wesson is still in business. Their innovative revolvers - the work of the incomparable Karl Lewis - are no longer found on dealer's shelves.

How did we get to this sad state of affairs? To understand, we need to go back to the beginning of the Third Dynasty....

At the time, Dan Wesson was located in Palmer, MA. Production had reached new lows in both quality and quantity, and their strongest market - handgun silhouette shooters - were  tiring of their on-again, off again production history. Despite some interesting introductions (a line of fixed-barrel guns and a true small frame concealed carry piece, dubbed the "Lil' Dan",) the company was forced into bankruptcy. 

Into our story steps a fellow by the name of Bob Serva, who bought the company and moved it to Norwich, NY.

The problems surfaced almost immediately. The machinery included in the purchase was found to be "worn out", and supposedly incapable of making quality guns. (The irony of that statement will be revealed later.) You'd think that someone would have scrutinized a little thing like that out before writing a check, but no matter - the company invested in some new equipment, and then spent quite a long time resetting the new shop to produce guns.

Let's stop for a moment and review the revolver market at that point in history. Colt, stung by their association with certain anti-gun political elements and fresh out of bankruptcy, had all but abandoned the revolver market - and really didn't seem to care. Ruger was selling lots of guns, but their line was limited and had precious little to offer either competitors or the growing concealed carry market. Taurus was moving up in the market, but suffering from a reputation for having quality control problems (a perception which persists to this day.) The market leader, Smith&Wesson, had problems of their own: an apparently effective grassroots boycott, a persistent rumor that they were a hair's breadth away from bankrupcty, and being put up for sale by their British owners. 

The market was in turmoil; it was ripe for a quality product, particularly one with unique features not available anywhere else. With all the competitors preoccupied with their own problems, market share was there for the taking - and Dan Wesson was in a good position to grab some. They had a line of revolvers that was strong, accurate as all get-out, and far more versatile than anything the competition had to offer. In addition, they had the Lil' Dan, which with some attention could easily address the burgeoning demand for concealed carry guns, and a fanatical (though shrinking daily) customer base. (I oughtta know - I'm one of those crazies who loves his Dan Wessons!)

So, with a brand new acquisition, new machinery, and a market ripe for the picking what did the owner of Dan Wesson do?

Right - he introduced a line of 1911 pistols!

The introduction of the 1911 guns seemed to take the wind out of revolver production. During this time, Dan Wesson made only one run of frames for the world's most popular revolver caliber, the .357 Magnum. Quality was so poor that I personally had to return a gun - ordered in for a special client - because the sideplate gap approached .006" in places! The action was awful, and the hammer and trigger had been slapped into the gun with no finish work whatsoever. The production manager apologized profusely, and hand-selected a replacement - which was only marginally better. This is when I learned that all of the frames had been made in a single run in the first year of the company's revived production, and most (if not all) apparently suffered from this egregious fault. 

Remember the irony I alluded to? Even the much-maligned Palmer guns - the worst of the lot, made on that "worn out" machinery - had sideplates that fit correctly!

To their credit, they did try - sort of. Dan Wesson placed small black-and-white advertisements in relatively inconspicuous places in the gun magazines. The ads were pitiful: poor design, bad graphics, and too much room taken up with religious symbolism. (Before the hate mail comes in, understand that I have no problem with religious symbols in the right place and at the right time. An advertisement for a firearm in a gun magazine is neither the time nor the place.) The average small-town "nickel shopper" advertisement looks more professional than anything Dan Wesson was able to insert into glossy national magazines.

Magazines weren't the only marketing avenue, however. Recognizing the power of the internet, they put up a website - but it would be a couple of years before they bothered to procure their own domain name, instead using the site under the domain name of their ISP. The site was horridly designed, didn't work on anything other than a 17" monitor, and didn't even have much information. (Hey, I know their product line, and if it was difficult for me to figure out what was what, imagine what a new customer would go through!) They didn't understand what a website was really for: I saw a listing of various new grips that were available, but no pictures. An email to the company netted the information that the pictures were only available in their printed catalog, for which they charged $5! That's what we call "behind the times."

Things weren't much better with industry relations. Gunwriters, love 'em or hate 'em, are how the general public learns of, and forms opinions about, new products. I've heard first-hand stories of Dan Wesson management personally making multiple promises of test-and-evaluation samples to individual writers, but never delivering. With behavior like that, it's no wonder that Dan Wesson remained in a publicity rut.

Once the 1911s started rolling off the assembly line, revolvers took a definite back seat - way back. Parts became hard to get; Brownells even dumped the line, rumored to be tired of non-delivery. What little "innovation" centered around odd and useless chamberings. (Yep, I'm sure that the .460 Rowland - aka .451 Detonics Magnum rebadged to assuage someone's ego - was a big seller. I'm being facetious, in case you missed it.)

I suppose the argument for the switch to 1911 production was because revolvers "weren't selling very well." Of course, given the poor management of the whole mess, one would expect sales problems!

In my mind, the only saving grace during this period were some of Dan Wesson's employees. The aforementioned production manager was pleasant, honest, and seemed genuinely saddened that revolvers had been relegated to the back burner; the gal who essentially ran (and still runs) their parts and customer service operation has always been efficient and helpful (and has something of a following on the internet forums!)

That brings us more or less to the present. Roughly a year and a half ago, CZ-USA somehow acquired Dan Wesson and Mr. Serva took a job with the parent company. (He has since left CZ-USA.) So far, CZ doesn't seem to be all that interested in Dan Wesson revolvers - their website didn't even mention revolvers until just recently, and it's taken them over a year just to make their first .357 gun. Supposedly they are busy doing "market research", which to me means they still don't have a clue what to do with the wheelguns.

CZ, if you're reading this, here's some free advice:

1) Concentrate on building up to a standard, not down to a price. Saying you make high quality products, but not actually delivering high quality, doesn't count. If you need proof that this works, look at the company who took you main market from you: Freedom Arms. (If you need still more examples, Google "Tom Peters". Heck, Google him anyway - you need all the help you can get.)

2) What sells best? Historically, it's been mid-size guns in .357 Magnum. Start there; make 'em better than anything else on the market. Hunting guns in common calibers should be next (the .445 SuperMag, as neat as it is, isn't a common caliber.) You need a concealed carry piece; the market is crying for a good, small 6-shot .357 to fill the shoes of the late and much missed Colt Magnum Carry.

3) "Quality" means some attention needs to be given to the double action lockwork. They aren't smooth or consistent enough, they stack horribly, and their trigger return is sluggish. Spend some engineering money and fix those traits, and don't for a minute think that you can slide by with what you've got now.

4) Forget locks and MIM parts; make them the way the market wants them to be made, not the way some politician deems they should. (There's a big backlash against the built-in locks of your competitors; ignore this at your peril.)

5) You need a presence in competition; be visible in IHMSA, ICORE, USPSA, Steel Challenge, and IDPA. Revolver divisions are attracting more and more shooters; fInd people to sponsor, at all levels of ability. (Quantity counts in this game.)

6) You need actual marketing: proper advertising, editorial content, and a strong web presence. (Your current website doesn't cut it; if you plan to keep the Dan Wesson name, you need to establish a separate domain for it. You'll notice that the Mercedes website is separate from the Chrysler website for a reason.)

7) You'd better come up with an innovative dealer program. No matter how much you advertise, if it isn't on the dealer's shelves - and the dealers don't actively support you - you've lost a sale. (Hint: kiss up to the retail salespeople, not the boss. The guy sitting at the desk in the back room isn't who's selling the things.)

8) Don't ignore the growing women's market, but understand that pink grips and shiny finishes aren't what they want. They are sharp, savvy consumers who have different buying patterns and criteria than men. You need to learn what those are and supply products and services to match. (You have one huge advantage that no one else has, and it has never been exploited by any of the previous ownership. If you can't figure it out on your own, give me a call.)

9) Finally: if you're not going to do it right, don't do it at all - sell the revolver division to someone who will. Dan Wesson and Karl Lewis deserve it, and the legions of Dan Wesson enthusiasts deserve it. Don't let us down.

-=[ Grant ]=-

Damn interesting, that's how!

This is a site that I read regularly. Damn Interesting has regular stories about (surprise!) interesting - and usually little-known - events and happenings in the world.

This entry details an almost-forgotten radiation accident at Los Alamos shortly after World War II. Why did it happen? Someone got careless and ignored safety precautions, proof that even a PhD doesn't shield you from the laws of physics.

As I read the story, the parallel with shooting became obvious. Even the best-trained shooters get careless, or decide that the rules don't apply to them. The result is usually a negligent discharge, sometimes with tragic results.

Georges Rahbani, the best combat rifle instructor I know, says "seemingly obsessive preoccupation with safety is the mark of the professional." Be obsessive - follow the rules, and make sure everyone around you does too. Safety is the first thing that you should think of when you pick up a firearm, and the last thing you think about as you put it down. Don't get complacent: THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

-=[ Grant ]=-

Tamara K.'s "View from the porch" blog. Her tagline: "They report, I deride."
A great blend of guns, humor, gun pictures, and lots of dumb people to ridicule. Great reading from a gal who works in a gun store and doesn't suffer fools gladly.

(Hey, any blog that Oleg Volk reads is good enough for me!)

-=[ Grant ]=-

It's easy to believe that we aren't like other countries; it's hard to imagine that something as horrific as the trafficking of human beings occurs right under our very noses. But it does, and police are having a hard time combatting the problem.

This report details some of the fight against the sub-humans who engage in this "business."

-=[ Grant ]=-

A friend pointed out this article to me. Seems that the total number of legally owned firearms in America is now approaching 290 million, while our population is right around 298 million. We're close to having one firearm for every person in America! (If only they were all revolvers...)

While you're reading that article at Say Uncle, subscribe to their RSS feed. Lots of good gun news comes out of that site!

-=[ Grant ]=-

Apparently the experts at the National Nuclear Security Administration aren't as careful with their computer data as their name would indicate. Approximately 1,500 people who work for agency contractors were stolen in September 2005 - but not reported until June 9, 2006!

Yep - these are the guys I trust to keep me safe, you betcha. (In case you missed it, that's what we refer to as 'sarcasm'.)

-=[ Grant ]=-

Maybe you shouldn't be...

Seems that BofA is shipping some of their jobs to India (where else?) Not only are they displacing workers, tearing apart lives and contributing to the outflow of jobs from this country, they're adding insult to injury by requiring the to-be-fired workers to train their Indian replacements - under threat of not receiving a severance package!

Read the whole nasty story here.

I'm not a BofA customer, but if I was I'd pull my money out in a heartbeat.

-=[ Grant ]=-

Are you as tired of weather.com as I am? It started out as a great site with lots of content, but it's s-l-o-w and clogged with ads. If you need time lapse satellite or radar images, it's OK - but if what you want is just a forecast for the next few days it's a cumbersome mess.

Luckily, someone has come up with a better idea: WeatherMole. Combine the latest Weather Service forecasts with Google maps, and you've got a winning combination!

Just click on the area for which you want a forecast - WeatherMole shows you the upcoming week's forecasts for that pinpoint location. Zoom in on the map to refine your forecast point, and you'll see the forecasts change to reflect even small location differences.

If you travel, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

-=[ Grant ]=-

I'm not usually one for vulgarity, but this may prove to be useful.

It seems that if you speak certain of the infamous "seven dirty words", automated call-taking systems will often route you directly to a human being! No more trying to figure out the arcane access numbers - just cuss like a logger (or longshoreman or sailor, as your geographical area dictates) and you might just get to talk to a real person.

The Revolver Liberation Alliance blog isn't just entertaining, it's educational!

-=[ Grant ]=-

Just when I think I've seen it all, someone comes up with yet another unique use for Google Maps.

Go to this site, input a UPS/FedEx tracking number, and iSnoop will generate a Google map showing where the package is, and an RSS feed that sends the up-to-date tracking info to your RSS reader!

What else can be done with Google Maps? Check in next week...

-=[ Grant ]=-

Markoo Kloos writes a blog called "the munchkin wrangler" (no typo - he doesn't use caps on the title.)

One of his posts is titled "why the revolver?" (again with the no caps.) It's a great treatise on the joys of the wheelgun, and well worth bookmarking.

-=[ Grant ]=-

It seems that the stolen data from a misbehaving VA employee's laptop covers more people than originally thought: it now includes 2.2 million current U.S. military personnel.

But don't think that this is unique - there have been a huge number of data leaks like this in the last year, most of which you never heard about. Check this list of recent data security breaches, then go check your credit report.

-=[ Grant ]=-

When we think of images of World War I, we think "black & white." But color photography, though in its infancy and quite expensive, did exist - and was used to capture images of the event and environs.

This site has a number of pictures taken by the French during the last two years of "The Great War." Wonderful slices of history, and rarely seen.

One of my favorites:



This picture show Swiss soldiers standing guard at the border with France. Switzerland, as you know, was neutral during the war; images of their soldiers during that time period are a bit hard to find. To find one in color is a rare treat. (If you look carefully, you can tell that the picture was taken through the chicken wire that served to delineate the borderline.)

I must say that it's a bit unnerving to look through these images, and not because of gore or mayhem (there isn't any.) Black-and-white pictures are an abstraction, which is why photographers like to dabble in the medium. Color, on the other hand, is "real" - it is a record, where black-and-white is an interpretation. These pictures draw you in, and make the situations being captured on film a bit less theoretical. They are almost haunting...

-=[ Grant ]=-

Saturday, June 3, Montenegro declared independence from Serbia. Montenegro, along with Serbia, had been a part of Yugoslavia since they joined the Balkan union in 1918.

Just what does this have to do with revolvers? Well, there is a revolver commonly known as a "Montenegrin revolver", and often said to have been designed or made in Montenegro.

The trouble is that there isn't a shred of truth to those tales!

The Montenegrin is more properly termed a Gasser, having originated in the Austrian arms factories of Leopold Gasser. Gasser had factories in Vienna and St. Polten. His guns were widely available in the Balkans, and were in fact adopted by the Austro/Hungarian army.

Why, then, did these 11mm revolvers get attributed to Montenegro? There are two explanations: first, that their 11mm Long chambering was originally issued to the Montenegrin army for a single shot carbine. The second, more romantic and interesting, is that King Nicholas of Montenegro had made the ownership of such arms mandatory for his male citizenry. It was also said that the King had a financial stake in their sale!

As interesting as the tale is, though, there seems to be no hard evidence to support the King's supposed order. The name continues to live on, even if we never know absolutely where it originated.

Today, original Gasser revolvers fetch a pretty penny on the open market. If looking at one, make sure it is marked from the Gasser factory - there were any number of knock-offs made in workshops in Austria and Belgium. Such arms are sometimes of questionable manufacture and value, though are often labeled with the misleading moniker of "Montenegrin revolver" by their over-enthusiastic (if ill-informed) sellers.

Happy Independence Day, Montenegro!

-=[ Grant ]=-

If you don't yet know about Steve's Pages, you need to. Here you can download PDFs of an astonishing array of firearms manuals. Actually, not just firearms - but reloading equipment, optics, and even high-end flashlights like SureFire.

One of those "must-have" additions to your bookmarks!

-=[ Grant ]=-

I'm seeing new Ruger GP-100 and SP-101 revolvers coming into the local dealers with what can only be described as horrid factory workmanship. Wobbly cylinders, gritty triggers, and uneven parts fitting are out of place for this fine maker.

Let's be honest: Ruger has never at the "top end" of fit & finish. Admittedly, the long-gone "Six" series of double-action revolvers were awfully good, but I don't think many would argue that their replacements are in the same league. The most recent offerings, though, are looking more like the bottom of the barrel.

At the same time, their autoloading pistols are better than ever. The new P-345 is, I hate to say, really a well-fitted and finished gun - for a bottom feeder, of course! It's definitely a step above anything they've offered in that line.

Here's an idea: Ruger, transfer some of the talented folk making bottom-feeders to the revolver division - they obviously need the help!

-=[ Grant ]=-

This short article may be one of the funniest things I've read in a while...and it seems dead-on accurate, at least to me!

-=[ Grant ]=--

Great idea - turn them into a lamp! From the TechEBlog comes this:



Says the builder: “The pile of CDs that had been massing in my room was growing to epic proportions. So I decided to make myself a CD lamp. The circular base was actually cut using a template on a table saw, then sanded after clamping it in a drill press. The cold cathode lamp is from NewEgg. “

And to think I've been throwing them away all these years...once again, proof that I have no creativity whatsoever!

-=[ Grant ]=-

A new toy just arrived at the shop: an FN 'Barracuda' revolver in .357!

The Barracuda was FN's only foray into the revolver market; they were produced for a few years during the 80's. Various "authorities" say the gun was made by Astra and marketed by FN, others hold that it was made by FN and later licensed to Astra. Frankly, from my examination of the construction techniques and general build quality, I'd venture to say that it was made by Astra - and that's not bad, as Astra is a good manufacturer in their own right. A small quantity of new-in-box specimens were recently unearthed and brought into the country.

The gun has a 3-inch barrel and fixed sights, the rear having a slightly unusual profile reminiscent of the Dan Wesson Model 14 - sort of "humpbacked." Surprise: the barrel is pinned and the chambers are recessed, just like Smith & Wessons of days past. Another S&W-like detail are the four screws holding one the sideplate, with a fifth screw in front of the triggerguard. The cylinder yoke is held in with a push-button arrangement, very similar to Korth practice. Size is somewhere between a "K" and an "L" frame, and uses "L" frame speedloaders (not "K" frame, as is usually reported.)

The grips, of very nice walnut, show a definite resemblance to the checkered wood grips Colt supplied with Detective Specials in the 1980's. The grips are well-fitted to the gun; my only complaint is that they're a bit shallow (front-to-back) for my tastes. Trigger reach, even for my small hands, is quite comfortable for a "service" sized arm.

One thing I could do without is the hooked triggerguard, but it does lend an interesting profile to the piece. I'm also not a big fan of the serrated trigger (Jerry Miculek notwithstanding), though I'll admit this one is less painful than most of its breed.

Fit & finish is pretty good, but the interior is quite crude - on a par with Rossi arms, at least in terms of parts fitting. Metallurgy, though, appears to be better than expected.

The action is fairly smooth for a factory gun, but not very consistent in its travel. Single action breaks with almost no creep and just a touch of overtravel; double action has near zero overtravel, similar to a Colt action. One nice touch is the user-adjustable pull weight; on my sample, double action weight could be varied from approximately 11-1/2 pounds down to 9-3/4 pounds. I might add that my analysis and measurements were done with the gun "as is", from the box - the action is bone dry, and I expect things to improve considerably with a little lubrication.

After I get the chance to range test it, I'll be getting into the internals to see what can be done to improve this gun.

Unfortunately I didn't find out about these in time to snag one from the distributor, so I had to content myself with paying retail. (Ugh. I feel so violated!) Still, for the $300 it cost, it really is a good deal - and with only 400 imported, it's not likely that another will show up next to you on the firing line!

Pictures and an in-depth test will follow in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

-=[ Grant ]=-