August 4th, 2009 in Guns! by Jay | 8 responses
This isn't 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.
A few months ago, I went to a gun show for the purpose of helping a friend pick out a new pocket gun. For concealed carry, a ‘pocket gun’ is really ideal for a lot of people. Of course, some guys like to carry a full size 1911 and wear a khaki hunting vest like Walter Sobchak, but most people are a bit more discreet.
My companion laid out his specs:
- Something that would fit in a front pants pocket without sticking out of it.
- At the same time, the handle needs to be long enough so that you can grip it properly.
- Lightweight.
- No small calibers (22, 380, etc)
This didn’t seem like too tall of an order, but it turned out to be really challenging. Most modern revolvers found at gun shows are Smith & Wesson. S&W manufactures a large variety of revolvers, an Airweight model, and some even have scandium cylinders. Yes, scandium, a word that most haven’t heard since you had to memorize the Periodic Table. You can even find them with pink grips, if you are so inclined.
But there was a problem. Either the handle was too short, so that you couldn’t grip it properly, or it had a large grip that essentially ruled out pocket carry. That’s when we found the third bowl of porridge: The Ruger LCR.
One fine wheelgun, shown with Remington Golden Saber +P hollow points.
I knew it when I picked it up. They’ve probably tested this handle on a thousand hands to come up with this grip. Of course, it’s not like picking up a large gun with a perfectly comfortable grip, but it’s large enough to hold correctly without being too small (such as a Glock 26 without an extended magazine). The Ruger LCR is chambered in 38 Special, and an optional model comes with Crimson Trace Lasergrips.
Ruger has come up with a new trigger system for the LCR, which they call the Friction Reducing Cam. Without getting into the nuts and bolts of it, this new system is designed to reduce the ‘stacking’ effect of traditional double-action triggers. It’s difficult to test out trigger pulls at a gun show since they run zip ties through the action, but if you see this pistol at a gun shop, be sure to compare this trigger to other revolvers and you’ll be very impressed.
Viewing the overall structure of this gun, you’ll notice that there are no sharp edges, and the hammer is shrouded. This makes it an very ideal weapon for purse carry. The rubberized grip is intended to reduce recoil, and it won’t slip out of your hand easily.
When shooting this gun for the first time, I was very impressed by the trigger pull. An ideal trigger will ‘surprise’ you when it fires, and this is the only wheelgun I’ve seen that does this.
I’m a good shot, but when it comes to snubnosed revolvers, I generally don’t shoot well at twenty yards or so. This gun was no exception. However, as any tactical self-defense guru will tell you, if someone is going to attack you, they’re probably not going to do it from twenty yards away. Snubbies are intended for close encounters. If you look at some older Colt revolvers, the manufacturer didn’t even add sights, just a slight groove along the top of the gun. At three or seven yards, this pistol will do exactly what you want it to do. And it comes with a nifty zipper case.
I’ve read that this pistol prefers +P rounds. This wasn’t available at the range I was shooting at, so I didn’t have a chance to experience the difference.
Of all these great features, there was only one downside: recoil. After firing about twenty rounds through this five-shooter, your hand will notice. The heavier a gun is, the less recoil you will notice. This lightweight alloy and polymer frame (they call it a Monolithic and Aluminum frame) is great if you plan to carry it in a front pocket or purse for extended periods of time, but running through a box or two may make a sensitive hand sore. If the handle was wooden, the shock would be distributed evenly throughout your hand. Though the handle segment of the frame is wrapped in thick rubber, you can still feel it punch into your hand.
Don’t let this bother you. If you ever need to use this gun to protect yourself, recoil will be the last thing on your mind- you’ll never even notice it. However, if you plan to spend several hours at the range per week just for fun, then this probably isn’t what you’re looking for.
This innovative revolver does exactly what it was built for. In fact, it recently won “Gun of the Year” at the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Awards last month.
The price was $600, which was good bit higher than the S&W revolvers surrounding it, and the going price at the other stands. My buddy bought it, and he’s been very happy with it. The only thing that bothers him about this revolver is the fact that I took another friend to a gun show two months later, who picked up a new Ruger LCR for$385.
August 4th, 2009 in Insanity! by Jay | no responses
So, this Houston website 29-95.com had a little shindig at The Cellar Bar. 5o cent Lone Stars, they say. Starts at 7.
Well, I’m not one of those cats that goes all the way home, showers, and changes into street clothes. I’ll just show up and do my thing. Sometimes I’m glad I’m not a butcher.
So I showed up at about 5:15 with R.T. Martinez right behind me. I pulled into the parking lot, and saw something odd. All of these scantily-clad women started walking into the place.
“Over here, dumbass!”, Martinez yells. Turns out that the bar I’m going to shares a parking lot with The Diamond Club, a gentleman’s establishment. Since there were no cars in the parking lot, and I didn’t have enough meth or prescription medications on hand for a budget-minded evening at a tiddy bar, I chose to back up my car into an empty parking spot in the then-empty Cellar Bar parking lot.
The Cellar Bar wasn’t open yet, so we went across the street to The Velvet Melvin to kick back one or two before the Cellar Bar opened.
There was some kind of fashion shoot going on when I got back to the Cellar Bar. I’m not sure why they chose this particular establishment. I’m guessing it had something to do with the mirrored wall. Maybe they were going for some sort of Debbie Harry/Enter The Dragon thing. I walked in between the photographer and his subject on accident, and he was very polite about it.
I offered to strip down to my Homer Simpson underwear to help out, and he politely refused. He offered me his card, and I politely refused.
I hung out with the 29-95 crew for a while. What a great bunch of people! I drank 50 cent beers, made some new friends, and had a fantastic time.
The National Beer of Texas.
Then it was time to go. Everyone I had met that evening was on the back patio I had backed up to before. The difference was, now the parking lot was full of cars, and there was no way to get my giant boat of a car out of there without some serious engineering skills, or some kind of crane/hoist contraption.
I went to the patio and asked Joe Mathlete for a hand. He was happy to oblige, under the condition that I would agree to accompany The Mathletes on the hurdy-gurdy at their next show.
Joe Mathlete’s expertise, expounded by a team of engineering gurus on the Cellar Bar patio, assisted with an inch-by-inch extraction of my boat-car from the premises.
August 3rd, 2009 in Guns! by Jay | 3 responses
Had a great experience at Top Gun Range yesterday.
Since the gun range is in the Galleria area, our customer demographic consists of precisely:
- 40%: US citizens who enjoy shooting guns
- 40%: Foreign visitors who are here for business or vacation and take the opportunity to shoot guns because it is not allowed in their country.
- 15%: guys who are trying to impress exotic dancers they met on the nearby Richmond Strip, and ultimately fail.
- 5%: Folks who show up that we will never, ever allow to shoot guns at a gun range. I’m not sure why they show up.
Although foreign visitors consist of 40% of the gun range demographic, there are none more fun to hang out with than the employees of Air France.
France means business.
Although I couldn’t understand a word they were saying, these three and two more stewards/stewardesses really enjoyed hanging out in Houston with a real cowboy such as myself. They have seen lots of guns in American and maybe French movies, but they have probably never had a taco.
The tragedy.
After they went shooting, the girl in the middle asked me if I had a rubber.
I thought she was being a really bold French person and I took it as a compliment, until I realized she was asking for a rubber band so that she could roll up her target and bring it home with her.
August 1st, 2009 in Insanity! by Jay | no responses
Most people call this a Gyro. But it is a Taco, dummy.
Greeks, quit trying to put your own things in a taco and calling it something else.
August 1st, 2009 in Tacos! by Jay | 2 responses
When you visit a taco truck, ask for a “soda naranja”. Even if you don’t care for orange soda, understand that this is what real caballeros wash down tacos with when it’s too early to drink beer. It’s imperative for these few major reasons:
- This will effectively establish the fact that you know just WTF you’re talking about. This may keep them from putting lettuce and tomatoes on your tacos. If you walk away from a taco stand with lettuce and tomatoes on
your taco, I hate to break it to you, Ace- but you’ve failed.
- Orange soda goes great with genuine tacos.
- Because real tacos are chased with either cold beer or cold orange soda. That’s the way it is, and if you don’t like it, go to Casa Ole and drink a bunch of crappy honky margaritas that were composed with that artificial sweet and sour stuff that kiddie popsicles are made of, and while you’re at it, enjoy some crispy ground-beef pseudo-tacos that might consist of floor scraps purchased from the Alpo factory.
- It tastes a lot better than the US version of orange soda
- The thick glass and large bumps on the neck of the bottle are designed to make it an optimal weapon, in the case someone should try to take your taco or salsa from you.
Disclaimer: If anyone reading this happens to be from somewhere other than Texas or California, I understand that quasi-Mexican food can be very palatable, and you may not even have access to a Taco Bell. I love this country, and every night I think of you and weep, swallowing the fact that many of my fellow Americans may never experience real tacos. Or real salsa.
Damn.
July 31st, 2009 in Insanity! by Jay | no responses
Sure, I would love to try your new Anus Burger. Thanks for asking.
July 31st, 2009 in Tacos! by Jay | one response
Since “Link Road” goes in several directions, I had a hard time finding The Rose Garden. It was recommended by an older fella named “Pee Wee” that I met at The Tall Texan the day before.
When I stepped in there, I realized that 29-95’s review of Rose Garden was very accurate, but much more positive than what you’ll see below.
This is similar to the barber shop you hated as a kid.
This place is small. Really small. I walked up to the bar and ordered a Miller Lite like a badass.
When I walked in, the crowd looked as if they had been there all day discussing what they would do when I got there.
Which would be understandable if I was dressed up like a woman this warm Wednesday evening, but I only do that on the first Tuesday of each month, so it was disconcerting.
The music was loud. Too loud for a country bar. It wasn’t country music, but some kind of country/Polish hybrid music that you might hear in New Braunsfels during a daytime festival.
For a moment, I was David Koresh holed up in a burning closet while the ATF blasted “Achy Breaky Heart”. It was true sonic warfare, and it worked.
I hate this place.
July 31st, 2009 in Tacos! by Jay | one response
The C&F Drive Inn is on North Main, just inside 610. I think they have about four kinds of beer in stock, which is really unnecessary because everyone is drinking Miller Lite.
Swanky.
You can get one beer for two dollars, or you can get a bucket of six beers for 12 dollars.
The bartender is a really sweet lady named Yolanda who has worked there for around 30 years. You will recognize her by her big hair and charming smile. She will keep serving you cold beers until you start trouble or fall down more than once. She will even put your beer in a koozie, with the logo of a local bail bonding company imprinted on the front.
Behind the bar you’ll see Bandito’s t-shirts for sale, and an autographed poster of a pre-Channel 2 newscaster Jennifer Reyna. Folks here say they’ve known her since she was a little girl, and they are all very proud of her accomplishments.
There is an internet jukebox, which is usually playing country, Tejano, or Ranchera music. If you see a local homeless guy that walks funny with a perpetual grin on his face, that’s Smiley. He picks up the place.
Out back is a patio area, where you’ll usually find someone named Albert or Roland barbecuing several chickens. And yes, they know exactly what they are doing. On the weekends, they often throw benefits for people in the neighborhood going through hard times.
It’s a good place to catch a game, and though the crowd might seem stand-offish at first, they’re a great bunch of folks. Oh, and if you happen to get here when there are a hundred motorcycles parked in front, then you just got there on the wrong day. Cruise down the street to Dan Electro’s or something.
The Channel 2 Traffic Lady.
July 30th, 2009 in Tacos! by Jay | no responses
Located on Irvington, north of Cavalcade, you’ll see this beautifully painted bright blue chicken joint on wheels that looks like it costs a small fortune.
That is not Taco Lugy’s.
Taco Lugy’s is right beside it, and looks kind of like a junior high science project which was constructed without parental supervision. Note that there is absolutely no way to see inside this truck. They’ve placed their friggin’ rack of chicharrones right in the window.
This is not uncommon among taco trucks. I’ve never worked inside of a taco truck, so I’m not going to speculate. Okay, I’ll speculate a bit. On a hot day, when you’re trying to keep things refrigerated properly and stay somewhat cool, you want to block out all of the sunlight you can.
I ordered an orange soda, and it was ice cold. I chose the al pastor taco, because this particular taco will tell me what this stand is all about. Here’s the kicker: this taco was ONE DOLLAR.
This taco was fantastic. Unlike the Mexico City-style al pastor tacos I discussed about Sierra Caliente, these were devoid of pineapple, marinated well, and had a bit of a pan-fried taste that I really enjoyed. There could have been a slight trace of cinnamon in the marinade.
The red salsa was good, a little watery.
I forgot to mention that a single sunbeam jumped out of a cloud and illuminated my taco. But this always happens to me.
Don't be afraid of a dollar taco.
July 30th, 2009 in Insanity! by Jay | 2 responses
70,000 evacuated from Bryan, TX, and I was lost in North Houston, trying to find the elusive “Rose Garden” so I can get my Scary Bars category started. Ended up a long way from my destination, on Irvington Street. And I saw something beautiful.
A long street lined with taquerias and taco trucks. A world unknown. A Holy Mecca of tacos. A place for me. Miklos Rozsa’s soundtrack from “El Cid” played out loud in the air.
So of course, I set out for the crappiest looking taco truck I can find. Because I know tacos, and this is what I do.
I found Tacos Lugy’s. That’s right, “Lugy’s.” Then I found Rose Garden, and then I went to the C&F Drive Inn, where I learned about more tacos around town.
Oh man, I’m having a blast.
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