The Weekend on One Wheel

Sometimes I think there should be a regulation barring Pisces from serving as paratroopers. They're astrologically predisposed to foot problems as it is and as anyone who has ever jumped out of perfectly good airplanes can tell you, you don't exactly land gently. So if it's not my Abductor Hallucis wanting to fold my foot in half, ala oriental footbinding, it's the occasional bout with gout.

So, instead of taking the Mini Winnie to town as I had planned, I was holed up in the house all weekend. I can't report on how the sighting-in process worked out. That'll have to wait. I did find a nice dowel with which to do it when I get back on both wheels. I picked up a sponge-headed paintbrush at the local Wal-Mart, removed the sponge bit and shaped down the business end so that its center would line up better with the rear (or front if it comes to that) sight.

Speaking of the Mini Winnie, I forgot to mention how surprisingly clean it stayed after firing. In my range bag I keep an old flannel wipe to give whatever firearm(s) I take to the range a good wipedown before stowing them in their cases for the trip home.

Now, I've always been more of semi-auto EBR guy, but of late I've had the hankering for some old school hardware. I was very surprised when I gave the Mini Winnie a pre-stow wipedown. The areas around the chamber and even around the muzzle were relatively clean. And this was after firing over a hundred rounds of magnum ammunition.

The lack of a semi-auto mechanism no doubt contributes to the clean-firing nature of Model 94. Instead of using the recoil or expelled gases to cycle the bolt and chamber the next round, the shooter has to manipulate the finger lever of the Model 94. This keep most of the 'extra bits' that fly out of the chamber of a semi-auto during the cycling process from flying around and gunking up the firearm.

At least, that's my theory anyway.

My last 'must have' was the Cx4 Storm made by Beretta. It is a nifty little carbine, capable of shooting better than the shooter, but geez, is it a dirty shooter. Had to give the wipe a bath when I got home. It shares ammunition, and even magazines, of pistols such as the 92FS. As I've said before, I like the idea of feeding a long gun and a handgun with the same food, especially for a SHtF (Shit's Hit the Fan) gun. It has some tactical and strategic pluses and minuses as a SHtF or grab-n-go gun, but in comparison to the Mini Winnie, the minuses outweight the pluses.

It's an EBR, that fires 9mm (as well as .40, .45, and 9mm Israeli) and is capable of excepting 20 round magazines. Just the mere sight of it would send a hoplophobe into a tizzy. Not to mention to 9mm is not exactly something with which you can put meat in the pot. It's a real nice shooter, and damn pretty, at least to my eyes, but not exactly something that's ideally suited for the SHtF gun I'm looking for.