Gun Thread: NoVAMoMe Week Edition!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Celebratory Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be June? Do you know what happens in June? Do you know?

Q: Weasel, what happens in June?
A: The NoVAMoMe! The NoVAMoMe happens in June!

The cultural event of the season is nearly upon us and we look forward to seeing a bunch of all y'all next weekend!

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

OK, I think I promised a sword update and here 'tis.

Week before last I carefully boxed up the blade and mailed it to my togishi or sword polisher, following his carefully detailed instructions. Why so careful and detailed you ask? Well the objective is two fold; a) to protect the blade, and 2) to protect the people handling the parcel. The blade has both sentimental and economic value and I do not want to see it damaged. Also, I don't want to get a call from the Postal Service informing me a Package Transport Engineer was fatally skewered by the still exceedingly sharp blade sticking out the end of the box. With me so far?

So the recommended methodology is to secure the blade to a 1" x 3" board using electrical wire through the peg hole in the tang, and then complete the process of protecting the blade with heavy paper and strong tape. The whole thing is bubble-wrapped and placed into a shipping tube. Regrettably, I did not photograph the finished package because it was complimented by not one but two postal workers. With insurance it was about $50 to ship by registered mail, and a few days later I received the following from my togishi.

I've had a good chance to study your blade. This is an absolutely authentic antique Japanese blade. It probably dates from the mid-1600's. It looks like it is from Mino province, possibly from the town of Seki which was a major sword production center for centuries.

The blade is a traditional forging and it looks like it has a complete hamon (temper line) and boshi (temper line around the point), so it should be completely restorable. There are a few small defects that will not be completely removable such as a small open weld spot, about 1/8" in size, about 1" up from the tang on one side and a visible black weld line about 3/8" long about 4" up from the tang on the other side. These may be improved significantly by polishing, but probably can not be completely removed. This is common and to be expected in an authentic hand forged blade of this age.

I should be able to start on your blade next week. It will probably be about 3 more weeks after that to get it finished.

So now I wait, and to say I am excited to see the finished product is something of an understatement. Again, the polishing restoration is done completely by hand which is why it takes time. Frankly I am a little amazed someone has the capacity and dedication to work on something like this for so long, but again, this is for a museum quality restoration. After lengthy conversations with the togishi we agreed this is the proper way to treat this antique item of art. I have asked for some photos of the process to share here, but evidently they will likely not show much and was cautioned as follows to manage my expectations:

I will try to make some in progress photos but they are generally not too interesting. Just variations of shiny and scratchy right up until the last few days.

So sit tight everyone, shiny and scratchy photos to follow!
Remember when SNL was funny?

Cigar of the Week
This week our pal Nato sends this excellent review of the Macanudo 1968

After 10 months of failing at shot-gunning I pulled out the old CZ455 and parked up downwind of the warren. 12 shots, 12 less vermin. Praise be to fundamentals! Going home, I passed a random tobacconist and asked for "A cigar. a big one" This is what they gave me.

I am generally leery of dark wrappers because I prefer a milder smoke. BUT... This cigar hates sugar! The violence it did in my mouth to the Vodka-Red Bull is astounding. Down the gullet! 2 mins later it played well with the Zywiec porter. 20 minutes later I found out it loves the bourbon. I like the even burn. I like the flavour of the second half. I don't know how to read cigar labels. Does anyone in the horde know what this is and what others I should look for if I like it?

Excellent, Nato! Thank you! I also like your well-loved Zippo!

Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.

Cigarsinternational.com
Cigarpage.com
Famous-smoke.com
Cigarsdaily.com
Neptunecigar.com
Smallbatchcigar.com
Bobalu Cigar Company
Cigarbid.com
Nicks Cigar World New!

A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid

Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!

Ammo Link-O-Rama
I'm really very seriously not kidding around anymore. Buy Ammo
AmmoSeek - online ammo search tool
GunBot - online ammo search tool
SG Ammo
Palmetto State Armory
Georgia Arms
AmmoMan
Target Sports USA
Bud's Gun Shop
American Elite Ammo NEW!

This week's mailbag entry is from our pal WTM. HA! Man, isn't this the truth!

Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!

That's it for this week - have you been to the range?

posted by Weasel at 07:00 PM

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