Well, I ended up going back to the range a day earlier than planned; this morning. My wife wants to go to the AppleJack Festival in Nebraska City tomorrow. Today after lunch we went to one of the Omaha malls. She bought a bunch of clothes. I bought some stuff for my shotgun, at Dick’s Sporting Goods: a 25 capacity plastic shotshell case – more convenient than digging 5 shells at a time out of the cardboard boxes they come in; a sort of wallet-style shotshell belt pouch that holds 10 shells; and a 12″ by 36″ cleaning mat. I also bought an nice gun bag for my shotgun at Wal-Mart before hitting the range. Shotgun pictures to come.

Before trying out my shotgun for the first time, I fired another 4 mags (48 rounds) through m PT111 again. No problems. My aim is all right. I won’t be winning any competitions anytime soon, but I can hit the body of a man-sized and shaped target.

Shooting the shotgun was fun. I’m glad I got a 20 gauge. It has more than enough recoil: not too much for me to handle or so much that it is no fun to shoot or throws off my aim, but enough to make me a little sore. A 12 gauge would probably be impossible for my wife to manage. As it is, she’ll probably have some trouble with the 20. I’ll have to get her to practice at least a little. I shot 15 shells of Federal Premium Vital Shok #3 buckshot and 10 shells of Remington Express #3 with the 18.5″ barrel. The Federal ammo had a noticeably more pronounced kick. It’s a good deal more expensive too. I seem to have a knack for hitting the upper-left torso of the target every time (from the sternum to the left side and shoulder, and from the upper stomach to the collarbone – good heart and left-lung shots). I’ll try the field barrel and slug barrel later. I think I’ll look for some slugs that can be fired through a smooth bore as well; #3 buckshot will be my primary home defense load but I don’t think it would hurt to have a few slugs on hand for that security barrel as well – perhaps one or two on the stock cuff.

I went to The Bullet Hole on Tuesday to fire off a few rounds with m PT111 and to pick up my shotgun. I fired 4 mags (48 rounds) without a hitch. I shot far fewer rounds this time to economize on ammo and to go slow, focusing on improving my accuracy.

The shotgun is awesome so far. I’ll run some ammo (#3 buckshot) through it for the first time when I go back to the range on Sunday. And in a bit of excellent timing, my security barrel was delivered Wednesday. It’s remarkable how much more maneuverable and lighter the 7.5″ shorter barrel makes the gun feel. I already have a stock cuff shotshell holder for it. It puts five extra shells within easy reach right on the gun itself. I’ll probably buy a side saddle to mount on the receiver too. Pictures to come.

Including unjustified arrest, a falsified (er…”incomplete”) police report, and extortion. Read about it here: “Chicago Man Sues after Prostitution Arrest.”

Now does that seem like a(n) (ab)use of police power to you? Or doesn’t it?

A young lady working at a McDonald’s accidentally spilled too much salt on some of the meat. She and a co-worker and her supervisor attempted to wipe the excess salt off before serving the meat in hamburgers. In hindsight, perhaps they should have thrown the meat away but could they have known in advance that they couldn’t get enough of the excess salt off? Well, the police officer in question returned to the fast food restaurant complaining that the burger made him sick. He questioned the young lady and then arrested her for ‘serving food without regard for the consumer’s well-being.” Samples of the “tainted” meat were even sent off to the crime lab.

The young lady, Kendra Bull, gets to the heart of the matter: “If it was too salty, why did (Adams) not take one bite and throw it away?” For crying out loud, it’s just salt!