Eye Protection

A few days ago I recieved the following E-Mail from Paul at Lucky Gunner:

Hey Art
Andrew & I tested both cheap and expensive ballistic eye protection,
"box-o-truth" style, to see how well they stand up to hardcore damage.

Many sryofoam heads later, we learn't that older lenses are much more
easily broken (probably because of exposure to UV light), and cheap eyepro is
cheap for a reason!

Because of these tests, I have decided to upgrade the cheap eyewear I carry
in my range bag for guests.

If you think your readers would find this interesting, perhaps you could
share it on your blog.

Kind regards,
Paul

It certainly makes me think twice about the eye protection my guest and I have been using here at HomePlace. I believe you will find this well worth checking out.

Art

http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/eye-protection-shooting-glasses-review/

English .65 Double Barreled Flint Lock Handgun

.One of the joys of the Internet (for me anyway) is a weekly E-mail from INTERNATIONAL MILITARY ANTIQUES listing wonderful specials I usually can't afford but love to look at. I think of it as a weekly visit to a museum. Personally I think there is an advantage to IMA's website. At the museum you look at the objects behind glass. You have no way to turn it this way and that to look for details.

IMA gives us eighteen beautiful, large images of this icon exposing loads of detail.

Perhap it isn't as good as actually holding the weapon, but how often will a museum let you do that?

OK, some of the smaller museums...maybe.

This week one of the offered items was, as the title suggest, an English .65 Calibur Double Barreled Flintlock Handgun.

The barrels are about nine and a half inches long.

The weapons over-all length is fifteen and a half inches.

The weight isn't listed, but one look and you know it isn't going to be light.

As ono of my old friend used to say, if it wasn't love at first sight it was very serious lust.

This beauty would have been a personal purchase item for a British Officer. They were built in the Napolenic Wars and saw service for some years after.

The maker was Durs Egg of London.

I confess to a second reason for being so fascinated by this weapon.

Of late I have been re-reading S.M. Stirling's Nantucket series.

I can't help wondering if Mr. Sterling had seen one of these before writing, or while researching the books.

You can bet Marian had.

If anyone is interested, it's available. I don't recall the exact price, but it was between $14,000.00 and $15,000.00. I won't be inquiring about it at this time.

Should International Miltary Antiques object to me using these photos let me know and I will take them down at once.

Strange Bed Fellows

Apologies for my absents of late friends and neighbors. I won't bore you with excuses, I have been a touch preoccupied. An incident occured a few minutes ago that got my heart racing. Once I calmed down a bit the thoght came to me "This would be an interesting blog." So here it is.

Being a plesant Texas day of not terribly over 100 degrees I became restless and could think of nothing that would be more relaxing than shooting holes in something. Running down the list of hole punching aids I thought of my trusty Colt 1917 revolver.

This loyal companion currently spends most of it's time under my pillow where it is readly to hand in the evenings should the need arise. Before any of you say anything, there are no children of any age allowed in our bedroom, so no lectures about gun safes and trigger locks please. But I digress.

I walked down to the bedroom to fetch the colt for our outing. Most of the time I would simply run my hand under the pillow to get it. I am SO glad I didn't this time and picked up the pillow instead.

The main difference between this photograph and real life is that the scorpion was under it, right in the path my hand would traveled to get to the revolver. Here's a better look.

This boy and girls is the Bark Scorpion, a well known villian in these parts. I have lived in the West and South West all my life and have encountered these guys on a regular basis. I never got stung until we came here to HomePlace. My poor, long suffering Helene has been stung twice.

BUT NOT THIS TIME

In this case the villian was dispatched by the enthusiastic, adrenaline driven application of another battle tested weapon, the house shoe.

Helene frowns on me shooting anything on our bed. By the time I was finished the vile creature was an unrecognisable stain on the sheet, which is now in the washing machine. I'll go shooting once I get it into the dryer.