I was today years old when...

[Dennis in MA]

I grew up watching my father work on everything. He really wasn't a patient man(something I inherited, but working on it), so I would just watch. He tried bringing me on side jobs when i was a little older but i would just end up cleaning the site instead of learning about electricity. When I got my car and something broke, quite often with a 72 LTD, I would ask him how to repair it and he would tell me what his father told him," Go to the library and get a repair manual." It seemed like a dick move but what he was teaching me was self sufficiency. He would wait until I was just about to light the car up and would come out and show me , but other than that it was book learnin'.

My dad was terrible at car mechanicking. We had a 60-something Buick Electra with a failing exhaust. Instead of asking for a mounting clip at the NAPA or bringing it to a shop to get it secured, he kept using things like coat hangers. Go figure, it didn't work. LOL.

He and my brother (who inherited the 75 Dodge Dahht Swingah) would get the Chilton manuals and STILL get lost. I think they just didn't understand how mechanical things worked.

But my dad didn't help b/c he didn't know he was supposed to. He was tossed into the deep end b/c my grandfather felt my dad was too. . . . . sensitive. Well, when you're born in 40, your dad gets shipped off to France in 42.5 and comes home in late 45/early 46 and you're raised by your mom, grandmother and 2 aunts, go figure, you might come out a bit sensitive.

I think my grandfather was a man's man and very popular. So it bothered him that his son wasn't a man's man b/c someone might call him on it. Instead of being proud of who his son was, he chafed at it. My dad didn't become a carpenter (like his dad) or a mechanic (like his younger brother). He studied computers and accounting and had a lucrative career wearing white shirts instead of blue. I don't think until my dad was in his mid-30's that my grandfather actually got it.

I've developed a LOT of compassion for my dad's lack of teaching in teh past few years. Plus he'll be 83 next month. Not much changing going to happen there. LOL.

But I did benefit a ton by my dad's "just go do it." That's not to say there wasn't a better way - which I've tried to do with my kids.

 

[SIGNES]

I was today years old when I learned Sig has published a Safety Bulletin: Light Bearing Holsters for Pistols on September 7, 2023 which you can read either as:

1) SIG is doing CYA due to issues with P320's continuing to go off 'on their own' because 320's suck.
2) SIG is making a point that will help people avoid accidents because light-bearing holsters are, in fact, intrinsically less safe.

do think there's definitely some CYA in the notice but don't think 320's are prone to random self discharge and the advice is solid.

My likely to be extremely controversial here opinions are: Glock-leg was a thing. 320 Leg is a similar thing. 320s and 365s are incrementally more dangerous because they are essentially always 'single action' and they lack a trigger dingus. This increment is very small due to many other safety mechanisms built into their designs. EDCing with a light is, for most users, a bad idea for the reasons cited in the SIG bulletin and because using a WML can lead to violating the basics of gun safety (don't point at anything you're not ready to destroy), may encourage you to draw when you shouldn't (target and threat are both too distant) when in urban and suburban. conditions. For these reasons, I do not carry with a WML. I would (and do) have a WML on nightstand gun.

The 'EDC a Roland Special' thing is poser and, there's a case to be made for having and using a manual safety if you're going to compromise the safety features that come with a holster with proper retention and trigger protection by carrying a gun with a WML.

I also think manual safeties can be a mitigating factor and especially favor them for the guns with WMLs.

 

[LT5]

I always like to say I try to learn something new every day.

Invariably, someone will say "what did you learn today?"

"Not to touch your wiener to the toaster oven when wearing wool socks", will prevent them from ever asking again.

Be right back…….

 

[SIGNES]

I was today years old when I learned...

More about ND issues when departments transition to new sidearms and some surprisingly dumb things that people do with WMLs.

LA Sheriff Department’s Swap to Smith & Wesson M&P Highlights Inadequate Police Training "

"A deputy was inexplicably directing traffic with the weapon-mounted light rather than with a flashlight as trained by the LASD."

 

[SIGNES]

I was today years old when I learned...

That not only will (at least some, it may vary based on dept. resources) MA police cruiser computers show the officer you have an LTC when they pull up your plate but that they can call up an inventory of all your 'not a registry, it's only a transaction record' firearms. I was also told these lists aren't always correct due to name similarities, data 'age' and other factors.

Telling the officer you have an LTC seems reasonable-ish on the basis of officer safety and avoiding escalation if you're seen carrying, it is a mixed bag. Should the cruiser computer also enumerate where I have exercised my other constitutional rights?

While, personally, I'm not worried because while any press coverage of a stop/accident I was in could surely make a 'thing' of the size of my collection, every last item I have is 100% legal and legally acquired/built and documented per MA law, this is creepy AF and would seem to run afoul of: 28 CFR § 25.9 - Retention and destruction of records in the system (3)

 

[Dennis in MA]

I didn't get LTC info, but one time 4 years ago stuck in a cop car in 95 degree heat when my engine blew up, it showed my license, my wife, my daughters' all of our cars. It was shocking how broad AND how fast it was to provide info. Funny was "you don't have any outstanding warrants or anything do you?" before I gave him my license. LOL. He was doing it more to show me than "check me out" but didn't want me to get jammed up. ROFL!!!

 

[KBCraig]

It’s odd that MA has that info. When I retired in 2014, MA didn’t list any useful information on a NCIC/NLETS inquiry.

Felony arrest, okay. Disposition? Call the PD. We dunno, call the court. Never heard of it, call the CA. Who? Call the PD.

Repeat.

 

[Broc]

I didn't get LTC info, but one time 4 years ago stuck in a cop car in 95 degree heat when my engine blew up, it showed my license, my wife, my daughters' all of our cars. It was shocking how broad AND how fast it was to provide info. Funny was "you don't have any outstanding warrants or anything do you?" before I gave him my license. LOL. He was doing it more to show me than "check me out" but didn't want me to get jammed up. ROFL!!!

Why is that shocking? ... you can log into the RMV site and see it.

 

[SIGNES]

I was today years old when...

I learned that, like a baseball glove, how you break in a leather holster can make it either utter garbage or a perfectly fitted gloriously comfortable option. Religiously parking the gun in the holster before you put it on your belt makes a huge difference to break-in.

If you don't think you like leather holsters but find kydex a gun-marring discomfort, try a quality leather and break it in properly before writing off leather as an option. (but, leather's really not a good choice for a holster you're going to drill hundreds of times with so, have your draw mechanics down and drill just enough with the leather to draw reliably)

 

[SIGNES]

I was today years old when I learned...

...that nobody who demonstrates Tetra Grease on the YouTubes has ever read the instructions:

1. Clean the firearm thoroughly, Tetra® Gun brand cleaners recommended, Tetra® Gun Grease should be applied only to clean, dry parts.
2. Apply Grease to high friction and wear areas and work into the metal surfaces several times.
3. For best results, buff Grease into the metal surfaces until semi-dry. Grease embeds into metal pores and is effective even when a grease layer is not visible.
4. Repeat application as needed.

"Embeds into metal pores" is what we call bullshit and, 'repeat application as needed' is a hint they know it is.

But it's actually a good thing the demoers just blob a little on a small bit like an extractor spring to aid assembly and/or smear some on locking surfaces and slide rails for some lubricity having ignored the instructions because slimy stuff make bits go slidey, slidey.

Just put a little one, give it a wipe so it's not a big ole prone clogging glop just like the demos and yer done. It works but it sure ain't magic. (Anyone remember Slick50 ads on T.V.?)
Gun lore can be is as dumb as 'Hi Fi' lore.