I'm going to school today

I'm getting ready to hit the showers and go take my CCW class today.

 

A heartbeat.

 

hopefully a working brain as well

 

It's a permit. Issued by the TN Dept of Safety. You have to pass the written and practical, fingerprints, background check, etc.

And I aced the written and practical.

 

awesome! What will you be carrying? A .44 snubby or something more modern?

 

Knowing him, he doesn't have a hair on his ass if doesn't carry a LeMat.

 

Awesome! Imagine the false "psych!" moment when some perp thinks Maud just wounded him, until he unleashes the 16 gauge follow-up! It's the firearms version of a jab setting up the knockout punch!

 

I want a LeMat. I do have a Pietta reproduction of the 1858 Remington .44 cap and ball pistol.

For my everyday carry, though, it will be my Ruger P89DC or P91. At least until I after I finish putting a few bells and whistles on my AR and have some to spend on a new pistol.

 

Yeah, I didn't get that one either. I gave Volpone the benefit of the doubt for an accidental negrep and haven't negged him back.

 

The movie they make you watch is absolutely riveting isn't it?

 

I've always wanted to get a repro black powder pistol. Specifically, what you have and a Colt Navy 1861 in .44.

But, I've never had the stones to take the plunge because of all the nasty stuff associated with black powder.

 

Same here. I'd love to have a Gus McCrae gun, but I just haven't felt like fooling with black powder that much.

 

Funny story - A lady at church was telling us she was getting her NRA certification yesterday. We all said stuff like, "hey, that's great." "Everyone should have a license." Etc. Nah. She's getting her instructor's certificate. Don't mess with them redneck women.

 

Yeah, it's not cheap. I get a pretty good deal by ordering in bulk with the reenactors and I think I still paid about $12/pound for it last year. The hard part can be finding a shop that still sells it.

You've also got to be careful loading it and be sure to pack the cylinders with grease or you'll fire a shot and light off every cylinder. That is what's called a "bad day". Even if you pack the cylinders properly, warm/hot weather makes the grease runny and you can lose the packing.

I highly recommend the Remington repro over the Colt repro. The Remingtons have a safety notch for the hammer that makes it safer to carry with the first cylinder primed. The Colts don't have that.

 

Ed Wood had to be the director.

Yeah, that was painful.

 

Dear God!!!!1!!

I sat for 3 hours at the TDOS office today getting everything submitted for my permit.

I go to get fingerprinted in the morning and then everything is done.

 

It still takes up to 90 days in TN. The 3 hour wait was just to get up to the counter to submit my paperwork.

The fingerprints tomorrow go into the TBI and then I wait for up to 90 days.

 

I remember that day nearly a decade ago...

 

Yeah, it's something I've been meaning to do for about that long.

 

You could just be like me.

Work for three months, go to the Police Academy for four months, and then spend the rest of the year working all the shit details nobody else wants to work. Then you can carry when and wherever you want!

 

I have a bunch of black power revolvers - I was on a kick for a while - but I got real sick of cleaning them. Haven't shot one in a looooong time. I have a Walker (of course), an 1860 .44 Army, and an 1862 .36 Navy with detatchable stock. Got 'em all from Navy Arms. The smaller ones are Ubertis, and I think the Walker is an EMF.

The Walker speaks:

 

Yes, they are a pain in the ass to clean. The brass cartridge is the greatest invention since sliced bread.

 

I remember coming back from a weekend of shooting and dumping all the pistols into the bathtub, spending god knows how long scrubbing them, blow-drying them, wiping them down, oiling the shit out of them....

No. Fun. At all.

 

It's the one part of reenacting that I deplore. You march out to the staging area, spend 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the scenario, doing the battle, march back to the crowd and fire the volleys in salute of all veterans, then march back to camp. You're wearing a wool uniform, tired, and sweating like a horse. Then you have to boil a pot of water and clean your weapons.

That's on Saturdays. On Sundays, you're spared cleaning weapons after the battle, but you have to strike the tents, pack all that shit in your truck and drive home. When you get home, you have to unload your equipment and put all that shit away.

Then you clean your weapons.

You darn well better have it clean before the next event because they conduct weapons inspections and a dirty rifle or pistol means you have to fall out of the ranks and go clean it. While the entire battalion points at you and laughs.

 

I went to nursing school for 2 years and then spent the next 22 years doing shit details that nobody else wants.

And it didn't entitle me to carry and handgun.

Probably for the best, 'cause some patients just need killin'.

 

You guys are doing it the hard way. Everybody I know that has blackpowder weapons simply rinses them off in a hot shower (after removing the wood, of course), wipes them down dry, and then sprays them liberally with WD40.

 

I pour boiling water down the barrel and let it run out of the cap nipple until clear. Then I patch it out with black powder solvent until the patches are fairly clean. (You never get 'em perfectly clean.) Then I spray WD-40 down the barrel and patch it dry. I go over the exterior with powder solvent, expecially around the cap nipple. I take the nipple out and clean it with powder solvent and WD-40, and clear it with a nipple pick. I go over all the exterior metal with gun oil.

At least twice a year, and extra if I've done an event with rain or a lot of dampness, I take the lock plate off and WD-40 the hell out of the sear spring. I've seen a couple of springs fail over the years. (Not on my rifle.)

 

^Not that it's gotten a lot of use in the last 100 years, but the spring on great-great-grandpa's Bridesburg is still fine.