We'll see how this works.

My friend John Shirley had trouble getting past the Blogger security devices to make a comment, and that's not acceptable. (Maybe the lag from down range was the problem. It's not a user error, I don't think.) So I'm disabling the Turing Test. I will still keep Comment Moderation on, so though I may be dealing with more s p a m, hopefully no one else will.

A new reason for Breda to fear octopi.

As we all know, Breda is bothered by octuopodes. She claims there are reasons.
Apperently, when featured in CNN news stories, they draw moronic speculation like belly button lint.

The stupid-- it burns.

Our nation.

Our President said today that we can't do much about the immigration problem until we have done something about the illegal employment problem. I happen to agree. We need to do something about the large pile of sugar that's sitting out.

Well, it appears that our President says that he wants to hold our estimated 11M illegal immigrants accountable. Okay. I agree there, too.

Barack Obama says that deporting them all would be untenable. As much as this irritates me, it's probably partially true, though exporting illegal border-crossers would certainly decrease the work taken to document them. Okay.

He says that we should make them "get right with the law" before they can get in line to apply for citizenship. Okay.

He says that they should be fined* (for a felony), and admit that they did wrong, and lean English, before they can apply for citizenship. Okay. (Side question: When are we ever going to push for English as a national language? Until this is done, frankly, the English language requirement to be a citizen seems unwarranted.)

He claims that this puts them in at the BACK of the line. I wonder.

He also claims that "there are, right now, more boots on the ground on the SouthWest border, than ever before." He also claims that crime on the SW border is down to less than it has been in 20 years. This is clearly a set-up to deny further funding to border security.

So it would appear that the President's answer to Border Security is to largely to make the illegal citizens legal.

As a guy who's constantly dealing with undocumented aliens, I'm actually not quite as disgusted with this as you might suspect.

Understand: I'm NOT anti-Mexican. I'm NOT anti-Hispanic. I'm NOT anti-immigrant. I wish to hell that the race/ethnicity/xenophobe argument was gone, frankly; it's a red herring. I'm first and foremost unhappy that the documented citizen has to pay taxes and answer for violations of the law, which the undocumented alien does not. So I'll admit that our President managed to actually speak to my interests in this speech.

But I suspect that he'll hold border security hostage until the Republican votes for the new immigration bill are in. Mark me on this one.

_______________

By way of Tamara, I read of a little girl who insists that her mama keep her promises to be patriotic. I had to wipe my eyes to see to type a response.
___________________________________
*How much? Set the price point too high, and no one is buying. Set it too low, and everyone will buy.

Might wanna pick other friends, meth head edition.

Suppose you're a multi-time loser. Suppose you've committed scores of felonies, been arrested for dozens, and been convicted and served time for a good half dozen felonies, each of a different flavor. Some are for stealing. Some are for hurting people. Some are for doing drugs. Some are for selling drugs. You're an equal opportunity felon. Now suppose you're going to go do some more drugs, in a town 25 miles from home, and you pick up a buddy to do those drugs with. So far, the one good decision that you've made in life is that you haven't gotten inked while in the joint. You're unmarked. You're polite to the cops when you're stopped for a minor infraction. The cops might let you go with a warning or a ticket, without snooping. But not your friend. But your runnin' buddy has prison tats on his arms. And on his neck. And on his fingers. White power tats. White supremacy gang tats. All are clearly the work of an amateur prison tatooist. This causes the cops to sniff a little more into both the histories of your buddy, and yourself. This inquiry into your colorful past, heretofore unknown to the cops that just stopped you, causes a closer look at you and your car, which leads to your methamphetamine being found.

Protective camouflage fail*.

_ _ _ _
Now suppose that you're another multi-time loser. You've done some time for beating on your old ladies, and for different drug offenses. Your most recent wife, whom you've lately divorced, has moved back in with you. When you get irritated at her for not making you dinner, you slap her upside the head. She runs out and calls the cops. They see that she's been smacked, and take a statement. She mentions the methamphetamine that you so like to do. She gives the cops a detailed description of its location. She then, as a rent-paying resident of that apartment, gives the cops consent to look through her apartment, shared by your own wife-beating self. The cops go up, knock on the door, and arrest you for the assault, and for the meth that they find handily.

Relationship fail.*

Does it seem to you that you might want to associate with different people? I'm just sayin'.

____________________________________
*Of course I'm not speaking about anyone specific, here. I'm just talking figuratively, you know?

The spatter of matter.

The new theory, supported by some radio and X-ray astronomy that even I can sort of grasp, is that black holes spit out quite a bit of energy in the form of twin jets from their poles. This is easier for me to understand than just the Hawking radiation that we first were hearing about in the late 1980's and early '90's.

It makes the superdense things seem less of a curiosity, to me. We always wondered where matter might go. I know. It's foolish to think such things.

But it brings to my mind that old question about recycled mass. I've heard various speculations about how, given the way that water evaporates and then gets redistributed, we all have likely molecules of water in us that ran down Jesus Christ's (or Herod's, or Moses, or David's, or Muhammad's) throat. What of interstellar matter that gets split off and spat out by a black hole, only to feed a nearby galaxy, then be pulled into the ever-growing black hole? Surely there's a chance that some of that matter will be recycled and spat out again. Some even again.

Embracing capitalism with a capital C.

My wife and I have decided that we hate being poor.

We have very little faith in our retirements being there for us, as managed by our employers, or by our government. We would like to save it ourselves.

But at the rate the dollar is shrinking, simply "saving" it is madness. Might as well use cash for home heating. So now, as is most of the time, it is a good time to invest.

Truthfully? It's a GREAT time to invest. Stocks are low. The dollar hasn't bottomed out. The upswing will eventually come, when the panic sellers realize that it's time to pull their heads out of the sand, dust off their hands, and get back to business. There are bargains to be had out there.

The one that I look at a lot is oil. This country, along with the world, runs on the stuff. And for all our happy nattering about reducing our dependency on it, the world market is thirsty for it. But right this minute, that lovely commodity has fallen from over $120 a barrel to under $48 a barrel. (Gone are the days when a character actor formerly known as Major Nelson could create a huge stir by proclaiming at a convention that this nation would soon see $50 a barrel, as in the early '80s.) I'm trying to decide between futures or shares in oil companies. But I still won't ever own Exxon stock. Screw'm.

Then, too, we look at mutual funds, like Vanguard. Sure, they've taken a kick to the huevos, lately, but in the long run, they perform. The thing is, I don't want to buy a single share of a company that took bailout money from the feds. We cops think a lot about the old "fruit of the poisonous tree," and I don't want any. I also don't want to do business with banks that took bailout money from the government. You know how there are those "ethical funds," that only have stocks in green, fair-trade, no rain forests endangered, free of animal testing companies? I want to buy shares in a "No Socialism" fund. I'd buy as much as I could afford.

We're looking at buying in little steps at a time, say $2000 per purchase. When the bucket fills back up again, we'll buy another $2000.

We're ready to spend some money to make some money, here.

Economy.

I've mentioned plate matches, right?

Five stages. Each stage has 5 randomly-arrayed steel plates at ranges from about 5 yards to maybe 20 yards. Most would fall in the 7-10 yard range. At the buzzer, you draw your pistol, and shoot each plate. If you miss, you may shoot as many shots as you desire to hit each plate. In the Stop Plate matches that I like, the time is stopped when you shoot the plate with the red metal stem stand. Misses count as 5 seconds off your time.

Each stage is shot 5 times, with the worst string thrown out from each stage.

At five stages times five strings times five plates, that's 125 rounds if you shoot it clean. It's fast, and a good opportunity to shoot a lot.

Lots of guys bring race guns, with comps, super sights, and race holsters that hold their pistols by magnets. Many shooters don't even carry their pistols in their competition holsters, and carry their pistols up to the line in a carrying case, because they don't trust their holsters to hold their pistols securely. (When I'm king, there'll be some changes made. If you don't trust your holster to safely carry your firearm, you shouldn't put your firearm into it. ) Some have enormous pistols in minor calibers.

Then there are some that use it as an opportunity to train with their carry guns. Dad and I usually take 1911 .45 acps. I have taken my 1930's vintage Colt Officer's Model Special 6" to that match a couple of times, and that's a duty-worthy gun. (I've also taken that pistol hunting, and have killed a ouple of javelina with it.)

I told Dad yesterday that I wanted to load some ammo for the next match. What caliber? .38 Special.

I'm going to take my 2" Chief's Special Airweight. Under a pound? Check. Short sight radius? Check. Capacity of just 5? Bobbed hammer spur? Double check. No room to miss and still be competitive.

Let's be honest with ourselves-- I'll NEVER beat those machine-gun like guys with the gamer-guns. NEVER. I can practice and get good, but some of those guys shooting poofter 9mm through 3 lb comped pistols are just scary good. So I'll need a calender to measure my times.

But if we're also honest with ourselves, we'll note that I carry that little Chief's Special M37 more than my 1911. I carry it WAYYY more than my big-framed, heavy-barreled 6" Colt .38. Thus I'm far more likely to actually need to show proficiency in the Real World with it. Harder to shoot? Sure. But that just means that I need to practice more.

Why not shoot 125 rounds, against time?

Today Dad and I set up the Dillon Square Deal B for a light 158g LRN load over a little Unique.

Now I need to get some more speed loaders. I guess I'll order some of those SafariLand Comp1 loaders. :)

Somebody oughta tell 'em.

I found this in my email box this morning:

DHL Worldwide Express
Unit 6/7, Kingsway Interchange
11th AvenueTeam Valley Trading Estate
Gateshead, Tyne & Wear
NE11 0JY

Dear Valued Customer

We wish to re-confirm to you of your certified Bank Draft valued US$600,000.00 deposited by the Heritage International lottery Company here in UK in accordance with the United Kingdom Revenue Inland Commission for immediate delivery to your home destination. You are hereby requested to contact us (DHL COURIER/DELIVERY SERVICE, for onward processing and delivery of your package with us before the expiration of your certified bank draft.

For your information, the Governing board have paid for the Delivery(DHL Standard) Charges, Tax Clearance Certificate from the Inland Revenue office indicating that you certified bank draft is free from Drug/terrorism, and Money laundering or meant to sponsor Terrorist attack in your Country. Note that these funds are freely donated to you to meet with the objective of Human Growth, Educational and Community development in this year 2008.

However, you are directed to furnish us with £400 only being Hardcover Insurance Fee, this is our company's precautionary motive in case of demurrage.

Also you are requested to confirm to us your recent contact information to which your package would be delivered to:1. Full Names: 2. Home Address 3.City 4. Zip 5.Country 6.Telephone No.

Should you expedite action, you are requested to contact our receiving officer;
Rev. Soso Maxwell
Email Address: dhl_uk@mail2uk.com mailto:dhl_uk@mail2uk.com
Tel : +44-703-192-2512
Fax: +44-700-603-5117

You will be given a tracking number, routine way bill and the date of delivery as soon your contact with us to enable you track your package via online.

Yours Faithfully,
Nguyen Christine.
Customer Service Center.
© 2008.

I wonder if my phisherman has heard the news that DHL is shutting down its express shipping?

Well, I'm sure they'll figure it out when greedy idjit email recipients stop sending their personal information to some stranger on the Internet for the promise of the princely sum of $589.04.

All about the ratings.

Overheard between Olympic officials at the end of the 1992 Olympics:

Official #1: Well that was good. The ratings could have been better, but I thought it turned out okay...

Official #2: Yeah, about those ratings... have you seen our precious metal costs lately? They've gone right through the roof!

Official #1: Well, part of the problem is that we've got so many events. Maybe if we cut some...
Official #2: Actually, I was thinking of adding one, and using the popularity of it to charge more for the franchise bennies.

Official #1: Add an event!?! Are you frickin' crazy!?? Which event?

Official #2: Actually, it's two events: Men's and Women's Beach Volleyball.

Official #1: How the hell will that help?!? We've already got Men's and Women's Volleyball.

Official #2: Uh, have you seen the uniforms?

Official #1: Make it so. Make it so right-the-hell-now.

Official #2: Already got it slated for '96.

Examining the Theme project.

Well, I thought it went pretty well. Everyone came through, with one exception. ;)

But SaladMan, in my comments, was correct: there wasn't a whole lot of diversity of thought. We mostly picked apart astrology (a topic well worth tearing apart), with little variation. (I tried to think of a couple of stories on the topic that I knew, and relate them with something like a narrative style, but I only succeeded in a middlin' fashion, IMHO.) Well, that would be my fault, in the choice of topic. I picked this little confederacy of bloggers because I like the way they think. They are critical thinkers, and they are at least a little bit proud of it. Don't mistake that for arrogance; if you're not proud of the way you think, then why should anyone listen to what you have to say?

Well?

Well, what about feelings?

I can hear the groans in the audience, right now. "Oh, good Gawd. Matt G's going to get all touchy-feelie on us, now. What's next? Hopey-changey? A Barrack Obama sticker on the bumper of his squad car?"

No, but feelings influence us. We don't just like this or that because it's logical to do so. Otherwise, I've got friends (very smart ones) who would have: Married the rich girl, Entered the lucrative career, Bought the ugly house, Abstained from moving to be with the one they loved, Never "wasted" all that money on art. How much money, for example, have you spent just on the appreciation of music in your lifetime? (Include concerts, media, media players, speakers, opportunity costs, support costs, and promotional costs.) I am surprised to find that, even with my spartan lifestyle, it comes to several thousands of dollars for me alone. Not something a "critical thinker" would spend money on, is it? Well, yes it is, for most of us.

My point is (I know I had one around here, somewhere.... oh, there it is.) that we're all moved by our emotions on at least some level, and I think, in my excitement to pick a topic that I knew our little group could write on, I picked one that could generate little more than disdain.

Well, seven six people writing critical pieces with disdain can be technically well done, but could possibly get tedious for the reader, neh? Some variety is in order.

It so happens that two of the writers to whom I aimed my collaborative theme-writing plea are very, very good at emoting in their prose. Hell, one even showed up. :) (AD, I'll stop the digs, when you turn in your late assignment. Heh.) The other one wrote an amusing "history" of our topic, with pseudo-characters, even.

Imagine what they could do with a more open topic, without a stigma.... I'm thinking something along the lines of "first kiss," and "lumber," and "marijuana," and "hunting," and "firm buttocks," and "meat," and "necessity of killing," and "the relative merits of sex in humans," and "retaliation," and such. See? Critical thinkers can get emotional about more than just "Ford vs. Chevy," and "Glock vs. 1911."

I promised not to pick the next topic. I leave that to..... LawDog.

Tell us what's next, 'Dog.

Blogging On A Theme: Astrology.

See also Tamara, Marko, Atomic Nerds, LawDog, and Ambulance Driver's take on this theme. I've got no clue what they wrote. Hate the theme but love the idea? Then give us some feedback. But go read theirs, too. They probably did their homework assignment more than an hour before turning it in...
_____

"A touchstone to determine the actual worth of an 'intellectual' -- find out how he feels about astrology."

--"The Notebooks Of Lazarus Long," Time Enough For Love
by Robert A. Heinlein.

_____

When I was in police academy, 14 years ago, my otherwise estimable academy coordinator told our small class of 15 that "60% of career police officers are Libras." This from a woman with a couple of degrees, a Master Peace Officer license, and an entire police academy under her. I looked around the room. Two nods, a grimace or three, and a lot of frozen faces. I hope mine was in the last category-- I'd hate to have that good woman (an excellent instructor, and still teaching and serving as a peace officer) perceive any disrespect from me.

I later found out that one of the grimaces was from a guy who was some other sign, which was the foil of Libra (I can't recall which that would be-- what's the opposite of a balance scale? A goat? An arachnid? A pair of twins? Perhaps a crustacean...). He was afraid that this would mean that he wouldn't get or be able to retain a job as a cop, because of his destined contradictory nature to the needs of the task.

Meanwhile, I, who had cinched one of the two Libra billets in my class, thought that the whole concept was utter bunk. First, I knew a few career cops, including my father, and none that I could recall had birthdays anywhere near mine. Second, I knew 'way too many people who did have birthdays near mine, who no more should become cops than I should become an exotic fan dancer at cocktail bars for tips... read: Not at all.

Finally, it would simply have been too remarkable of a fact for me to have just then heard of it for the very first time at the tender age of 22 years, all lived within a cop's family. Ain't no way.

And, in fact, my venerable coordinator was (on that particular facet of her knowledge) full of steaming crap, bless her pea-pickin' little heart.

---

Imagine if we ran the criminal justice system with an eye toward following the "science" of astrology:

We would man extra officers during certain cycles of the planetary and stellar alignments. (Contrary to ever-popular and almost understandable belief, there is zero correlation between crime and lunar cycles. I say again: Zero. Don't believe me? Look it up. Yet I know some cops and more than a few emergency workers who believe in a significant increase in emergency calls when the moon is full.)

We would, while performing field interviews, check the astrological sign of the suspect to determine how to deal with him, and whether or not we should call for backup... you know-- like maybe a Virgo, because this guy's an Aquarius, and thus you *know* this interrogation is going nowhere.

"Your honor, I had to skip that step in the use of force continuum, because this guy was a Taurus, and you know how they can get..."

At the jail, they would segregate populations using a classification that looked not at all to the relative security risk of the given inmate, but more toward whether their zodiac assignments were compatible. Skinhead and Black Panther? Well sure... if they were under complimentary star signs.

Judges would consult star charts before applying indeterminate sentencing.

Voir dires would predictably become attempts to learn what sign the potential juror was born under.

Anti-discrimination laws would be passed for people born under opposing signs.

Finally, anti-defamation civil attorneys would begin to make their nut, defending the rights of the downtrodden signs.

- - -

I've always looked askance at astrology. How the hell did it manage to score the "-ology" suffix away from the real science of astronomy? And why were some otherwise apparently intelligent people giving it any credibility?

I remember how, when in 8th grade and I took Earth Science, my moronic science teacher got to the astronomy portion of the course. We were made to memorize the signs of the zodiac, and repeat them with their dates in a test. For credit in science class. This was the same bitch who gave me a B on my working metal detector that I had entered in the science fair, because I had duct-taped the variable trimmer capacitor (cleverly stolen from an old car radio at a junk yard) to the hoe handle that I had built the whole thing upon. This sucker could detect a 10 penny nail under a yard of dirt, and I had soldered the breadboard myself, but she didn't like the look of duct tape.

Her name was Mrs. Bead. And she can't sue me for libel, because it's all true.

How close does it have to be?

Well, they've just discovered a smaller planetary system (I almost said "solar system," but I think that's reserved to our own star.), using a nifty new technique called microlensing.

They figure that, given how quickly they found the two gas giants in that planetary system, they're going to find a lot more. Only problem-- that star is 5000 light years away, which means that live television newscasts reporting about Enoch (Methuselah's daddy) inventing the eyed needle are just now getting to that star.

Too far.

But how far is close enough?

Let's just say we manage, using RamJets, light sails, or (most likely) nuclear pulse propulsion, to get a starship to average 10% of c. That would take us about 40 years to reach our closest neighboring star, Proxima Centauri. Hm. A 30 year old man would arrive at aged 70, and would find that he had no one to yell at to turn that damned music down, because there's nothing there.

Well, we're already planning to send one kind of exploratory craft or another to Alpha Centauri B.

Well, whoopie. Time to put some men and women on a ship, and send them. Why? Because Longshot and Daedalus both will take ~100 years to get there, plus another 4.5 years to report back.

Bull puckey. Longshot's expected payload is 30 tons. Double it --triple it--- and send humans.

Back to that original question: how close (by which I mean "how short a time") does it have to be? 5000 years is too far. 30 years or so is okay. Now we're bargaining. 200 years?

Surely what with cryogenic sleep, embryonic storage, robot technology, and a skeleton crew, we could do a few generations?

Would you do it?

Are you thinking that we should?

I do.

Get this thing moving. We don't have all that much time.

What's the point?

Note: This is a post about guns, and gets very slightly technical. If you're bored to tears by such drivel, you are forewarned; come again and see what I've got tomorrow.
_ _ _

I recently had business at the house of another cop.

I was in uniform, and he asked me what happened to my 1911 pistol. I had to admit that I now work for a department that issues Glocks, and expects me to carry one on duty. I allowed that I was able to do decent work with one, just not the higher-end shooting that I had been doing with my personal 1911.

"Speaking of 1911s, you want to see what I just bought?" he asked me.

Aha! I could see that he was eager to show me, and hey-- I'm always up for some show-and-tell. "Sure," I said. "Let's see what new play-pretty you got." To be honest, I was kind of curious.

As he unloaded the pistol (I appreciated his attention to safety) which he had just retrieved from a back room, he said, "I'm actually quite proud of this one." He handed it to me with some reverence that made me want to wince; if I didn't like it, I was clearly going to have to fib about it, to avoid hurting his feelings.

I looked down in my hand at a Springfield Operator, a semi-custom out-of-the-box 1911 .45 acp. His had been customized some more, making it undoubtedly more than the MSRP of $1100.

The black "Armory Kote" finish was blacker than black, and seemed to repel dust. The stocks that he had on it were some kind of very hard, checked grey stocks that had a slight cut-out for the thumb to more easily access the magazine release. They felt good. The 20 lpi checking was on the back of the flat mainspring housing, and on the frontstap of the frame. It had medium-profile tritium sights that gave a good sight picture. It had a bump on the extended grip safety, and a short hammer spur. It had an extended safety, which the ball of my overly-long thumb found easily. It had slide serrations on the front as well as the back.

I could deal with all of this, just fine. Actually, I liked it.

But.

It had a magazine funnel. These were originally popularized during the bastardization of IPSC, by making magazine changes faster. They allow the opening in the bottom of your magazine well of the pistol larger, thus making it easier to hit with blinding speed with the full magazine that you are inserting. There are problems, however:

1. To work (with blinding speed, or with any speed at all), the magazine must be longer than the standard 7 round magazine introduced 97 years ago. The standard method of doing this is to attach a "bump" or buffer pad to the bottom of a 7 or 8 round magazine, to extend its length. If you have a standard-length magazine designed to fit flush against the bottom of a standard 1911 pistol, you're going to have to press it in with the tippy-tip of your off-side thumb. Which is not fast.
2. This extends the length and bulk of your pistol, right where it sticks out from your body. Range shooters love this-- it absolutely can make the pistol easier to shoot. People carrying pistols begin to realize that they hit doorframes and such. They also become much more difficult to carry concealed.
3. It's one more part hanging off your gun.
4. It makes disassembly slightly more complicated.

Ambidextrous safety. I'm more amenable to them than some, because my mom's a lefty and her 1911 always had a Swenson ambi safety-- I thus grew up with an ambi-safety'd gun in the house, and shot one a lot. But if you're right-handed anyway, why hang more crap off your gun? Especially with the right side (for left-handed persons) safety also being oversized and extended? This can interfere with some holsters, and generally makes things bigger and less likely to go bang.

Flat mainspring housing, long aluminum trigger. One, or the other; either your hand is big, or your hand is small. Why increase the trigger pull with the longer trigger, but put a thin flat main spring housing in? I have big hands, and like an arched main spring housing a la the 1911A1.

Light rail. I can take 'em or leave 'em. I don't like that my boned holsters might not work with 'em, and I don't like that some people will rely on weapon-mounted lights to investigate sounds in the dark. Shining your weapon-mounted light into an unknown corner means that you're pointing your weapon at a previously unknown corner. No bueno. That said, they're great for dealing with known threats, in conjunction with dedicated lights. Training is needed, and the right mindset. I'll call that one a wash. (But damn, they're ugly.)

Rear sight raked back at a sharp angle, from the front. I suppose that this is to allow easy re-holstering. But they also disallow one-handed racking of the slide on jeans or table-edges.

Mediocre trigger. For better than a grand, I want that trigger to give me a surprise break, no creep, and a minimum of over-travel. I got none of this, on about a ~5 pound trigger. Not bad, mind you-- just not anything special. Come on, folks-- it's a single action pistol that's supposed to be an elite combat gun-- gimme a really good trigger.

Finally, it had the deal-breaker: A Full Length Guide Rod. It is this piece of metal for which I have entitled this blog entry. I ask, without a hint of snark in my voice: What is the point of the FLGR?

See here a picture of a field-stripped 1911 pistol (made by Colt) that I found somewhere in the public realm. You see that stubby tube of metal stuck in the right side of the recoil spring? That is the standard, and proper guide rod for the Model 1911 pistol, as John Moses Browning designed it. Its purpose is to give the end of the recoil spring an interface to press its force against the pistol's frame, as the recoil spring begins stacking its load against the slide as the slide moves rearward with respect to the frame. The entirety of the spring is enclosed within the dustcover of the frame and the front of the slide.

A Full Length Guide Rod is, relative to the pistol, a fairly new addition to the M1911. It replaces the standard length guide rod, and runs down the length of the spring, keeping it really, really straight. It is approximately the same length of the barrel, and when the slide is pulled back, it protrudes out beneath the barrel of the 1911, like this, or like this.

To accomodate this, a FLGR must have a special bushing (red) that allows it to protrude out the front, replacing the proper recoil spring plug that John Moses Browning designed almost a century ago. In some instances, the FLGR uses a hex-head (purple) to be unscrewed to take it out. That's what my friend's used.

This requires extra tools to disassemble the M1911 pistol. That's a shame, because the 1911 pistol is actually quite easy to field strip, as demonstrated to me regularly by my 9 year old daughter, who only requires a pencil or a pen (to remove the firing pen retention plate). (Teaser: we're working on her times, and will soon present high speed demonstrations, as soon as I figure out how to make video work.)

It also makes it more likely to break down, by increasing the number of bearing surfaces and parts. Also of interest: In a pinch, an empty .45acp case can be used to replace a missing recoil spring plug. (How could one of those go missing? Well, when the pistol is disassembled, the recoil spring is under some pressure. Things can sometimes get launched.) But if you're sporting a FLGR, you cannot utilize such field expedients.

Speaking of field expedients, in the case of a combat-worthy pistol, one might want to plan for the exigency of racking the pistol, one-handed. With an original-designed 1911 pistol complete with a standard-length guide rod, one need only to press the bottom of the slide (where the recoil spring plug is) against a hard edge, like table top or a door frame, to rack the pistol. With a FLGR in place, this is not very possible. Also, "press checks," wherein one pushes back on the slide slightly to assure that a round is in the chamber, are harder to accomplish with the FLGR in place.

Full-length guide rods don't only require more tools, they require more skill to break down.

So what's the point of the FLGR?

I've been told that they reduce the likelihood of the recoil spring "kinking". I have asked around among my gun afficianado friends, and I can't find any of 'em that have ever seen a "kinked" recoil spring, except for out of a pistol that blew up from a double-charged reloaded case (in which case, the pistol was ruined). I've been told that they somehow "buffer" the pistol. (By friction?) I've been told that they improve the accuracy of the pistol. I think that this is the one that really sells to most people. With a FLGR in place, the pistol feels tighter. It seems to rattle less between shots. There is a perception that the FLGR makes the gun shoot tighter.

A false perception.

When I got my brand new Kimber Stainless Classic 1911 (Series I. Seriously: they were made a lot better back then.), I took it out, and fired a couple of groups off of a sandbag rest at 25 yards with the factory FLGR in place. I then took the factory FLGR out and replaced it with a standard-length guide rod, and a standard recoil spring plug. I fired several more groups out of it, and found that they were precisely the same as the previous groups. Not "about the same." Not even better. Just, exactly, precisely, not-even-a-little-bit-different, The Same. I never put the FLGR back in.

The only possible benefit that I can possibly see to having a FLGR in place is that it adds a minute amount of weight to the muzzle, to assist in reducing muzzle flip during recoil. To that end, why not get tungston ones?

So why are they so prevalent among custom pistols? Even gun-smart men and women whom I respect are often carrying them. Why? Replacing the "custom," hard-to-use and hard-to-disassemble Full Length Guide Rods requires only that the guide rod and the spring plug be replaced. These are some of the cheapest parts for a 1911, and do not require hand-fitting. The cost should run less than $10 to replace them with old GI gun parts. (Which is what I have in my go-to gun.) Once disassembled, a nine-year old girl can put them in, without hesitation, the first time she tries. (I see her do it all the time.)

_ _ _

I commented on the parts of the gun that I liked, and I asked him about why he kept the FLGR for a duty gun. I just couldn't help it. He blinked, and said that he hadn't thought to do otherwise. I offered to show him the difference sometime. I hope he takes me up on it.

Is it almost that time again? Should we start a pool?

Tamara asks:

Given the antics of Putin, Musharraf, and Chavez lately, isn't it about time for some high-profile Barking Moonbat to warn us that Chimpy McHitlerburton is planning to mobilize his mindless Christian Right zombies to get the Twenty-Second Amendment repealed and make him Maximum Leader for Life? I mean, Vishnu knows that there was a tiny but vocal minority of bunker-dwelling right wing nut jobs saying the same thing about President Bubba back in '99 and '00.Or is this already being bandied about and I'm just not trolling the right part of the Pinkonet?

Actually, I was just thinking that it's about time for the alarmists to again trot out the old saw about how "Our government is going to declare a national emergency, and cancel the elections! We know! We caught them planning, saying they were just preparing to 'delay' the election, but WE know the truth!!!"

(Checking my watch.) Oh, is that next week? Okay.