[Growing up in the 70s and Wheaties]

I'm sure you gents are feeling the same way I felt when one of my aviation heroes, Charles A. Lindbergh, was found to have fathered ten children by seven different European women from 1957 to 1967.Fortunately his wife was dead by the time it came out. Funny how some people go about finding happiness at the expense of others, isn't it?

[Growing up in the 70s and Wheaties]

Jenner's one thing. But pleasepleaseplease don't tell me Tony the Tiger......................................................

[Johnson City has a new Academy Sports]

......and a new bunch of Sporting Goods employees gets to call their buddies for first dibs every time any .22 ammo comes in.

[AK AK AK AK AK]

I call photos like that Feinstein Smelling Salts.

[Johnson City has a new Academy Sports]

Yessir. Academy has some really good prices.

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

Heard of a similar incident when I was in the military. An African oryx got caught in some barbed wire fencing surrounding an area of the base. The MP shot it 14 times in the head with his 1911 and the animal continued to struggle. Someone went back to the station and grabbed an M14 and shot it several times in the chest.

Yeah, if this guy had known where to shoot it, a common .22 pistol would have done it. Los Angeles Animal Control used to drive me nuts by showing up with pristine beautiful Colt .22 DA revolvers for dropping injured animals. Temptations, temptations.

[The Hi Power Walking Trigger Axis Pin]

Lots of owners of the various Hi Power pistols, the Browning, FEG, and FM Hi powers have run into the problem of the trigger axis pin walking out the side of the gun during firing. Once it starts this, tapping it back in only lasts for a few shots before it starts to walk again. So here is an explanation of how and why this happens and a few remedies I’ve used successfully to cure this problem in my Hi Power pistols. First, here is a photo of the pin we’re talking about.

 

[url=http://s275.photobucket.com/user/jaypee3843/media/PICT0590-2A_zpsybnte4nu.jpg.html][/URL]

 

The problem begins with a need to remove the trigger, and with a misunderstanding of what holds this pin in the gun. If you look down into the frame at the trigger, as in the next photo, you’ll see that the trigger spring rides under the trigger axis pin in a groove put there just for that purpose. Seeing this, many owners conclude that the pin is held in the gun by the spring riding in the groove made for it in the pin’s shaft. 'Fraid not. The trigger spring has nothing to do with holding the trigger axis pin in the frame. The slot is simply a place for the tail of the spring to get neatly tucked away and routed back towards the rear of the trigger body. As in this photo.

 

[url=http://s275.photobucket.com/user/jaypee3843/media/PICT0687_zps0xy4oazk.jpg.html][/URL]

 

Hang on to your hats because Mr. Browning was smarter than all of us. The trigger axis pin is held in the frame by a tight squeeze fit of the pin into the slightly undersized right side hole in the frame. And this is where the mistake is made - The pin is driven out in the wrong direction. It must never be removed by driving it out from left to right, because that enlarges the hole and destroys the squeeze fit. The same applies to installing it from right to left. The pin must always be installed rounded end first from left to right, or from slide stop side to ejection port side, and it must always be driven out from right to left. When the pin is driven in or out improperly, the damage is done to the hole in the frame, not to the pin, so it does no good to replace the pin. You have to fix the hole. Really? How the heck do you fix a hole?

 

Well, the fix given by Browning is to degrease the right side hole and paint a coat of modeling enamel into the circumference of the right hole, let it dry, and then reinstall the pin from left to right. Now, sometimes one coat isn't enough, and you may even have to go to a thicker substance to return the hole to its factory dimensions if the damage is bad enough. A friend of mine uses fingernail polish, and I once fixed a rather bad case with a coat of construction adhesive. But remember to let it dry....you aren't gluing the pin back in the hole, you are just restoring the tight squeeze fit between the pin and the hole.

 

I haven’t had a lot of luck with the modeling enamel working well unless you use multiple coats, and I would prolly go directly to the construction adhesive if I was going to use this technique again. The one I repaired with construction adhesive has done a lot of shooting for five or so years and has never moved. But whatever substance you use, remember to let it dry at least 36 hours. You want it hard as a rock when you drive the pin back in.

OK, now let’s talk about a non-factory authorized repair. There is another way first mentioned on the 1911 Forums several years ago by a couple of very smart gents, and it works extremely well. In fact, it's my favorite. First the trigger and pin are removed and the frame is laid on its right side. Then a  roll pin punch of an appropriate diameter is passed through the left side trigger axis pin hole so that the "ledge" of the roll pin punch is resting on the "ledge" of the inside lip of the right frame hole, with the "tit" of the punch projecting down into the hole. Once the punch is positioned, you simply tap it lightly in order to peen the inside lip of the hole. I usually do this three or four times around the circumference of the hole, or just enough to give the hole a good, solid, bite of the pin. Like I said, it's permanent and works very well. I've done it to three PJK-9HP's in the past couple of years and haven't seen any "walking" of the pins since. But remember, tap the punch LIGHTLY.

 

I don't know if you want to try and repair the hole in a gun that is still in warranty, so I'd probably call the manufacturer and get some guidance on it. But if this is a problem for you, I've used both of these techniques and they work very well. Hope this helps.

 

Essone

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

Any shot fired in the line of duty has always been evaluated and criticized to death by everybody from Internal Affairs to the Broom Closet Monitor, so a burst would be treated accordingly under existing procedures. No new rules would be needed.  No other event In a cop's life subjects him to the detailed and voluminous scrutiny of a shot fired in the line of duty, even if he didn't hit anything. 

 

Once upon a time an officer I worked with had to put down an injured steer, so he fired six +P+ 125 grain .38 special rounds into its head at point blank range, and they all bounced off. He obviously didn't know how to kill a steer. So his Sergeant, being a bit of a joker, wrote the following recommendations on his evaluation of the shooting incident:

 

"1. Recommend officer be allowed to mount privately owned telescopic sight on state owned revolver."

 

"2.  Recommend officer be allowed to carry more ammunition, especially in confrontations with armed cows."

 

For the next month every time the officer walked down the hall somebody would hide in an adjoining room and yell "Moo - Bang!"

 

Police work used to be fun. No more.

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

Well, matter of fact they tried something like that once upon a time. Our pump shotguns had plastic seals around the barrel/mag tube/action bar area and every time you racked a round into the gun it broke the seal. After that you had to write a lengthly explanation of why you had racked a shell into the shotgun, along with a visit to the Captain's office. So, you guessed it, nobody would rack a live round into the shotgun any more because of this.......And it was instrumental in getting four officers killed in the same fire fight in a place called Newhall. Google "Newhall Massacre" and see what you get. There are NO simple issues or simple solutions when you start talking about cops and guns, especially in a free society. 

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

Why doesn't someone start a separate thread on this subject. We've drifted this one waaaaaaay off topic.

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

I have mixed feelings on the full auto/semiauto issue. I was the weapons training sergeant in four different stations during my career and I know very well that some guys in uniform have natural abilities with firearms and some are totally without that talent, tending to shoot and handle the gun like they got it out of a book. Also, adrenalin is always in abundance during armed confrontations, so in my mind's eye I can see a nightmarish scene where a scared, overexcited cop of the second description above steps out of the car and rips off an ill-considered burst down the sidewalk and into a crowded bus bench.

However, aside from being a cop I was also trained as Light Weapons Infantry in the Army and I want no part of any firefight where the other guy has a machine gun and I only have a semi-auto. That's a suicide mission. So the best I can do here at this time in history is to say that I would be comfortable with selected, carefully trained officers carrying machine guns when and where needed, and not necessarily by every officer on routine patrol as a matter of course. As a friend of mine said about having an AR-15 for home defense: "If we really need an AR to defend our homes with, then we have a much worse problem than the one we're shooting at." The same applies to the issue of cops carrying machine guns. Cops should always be given every weapon they need to defend themselves with in protecting us, but are we to the point where the standard Ameican beat cop needs a machine gun to defend himself with? Man I hope not.

Like I said, I'm really conflicted about this.

I really think the issue here is the broader issue of the militarization of law enforcement. It's very troubling to the public that cops are starting to look like soldiers, and it's even more troubling when you consider that it might just be necessary. I hope it isn't, but.......my friend DID buy an AR to defend his home with, so ?????????????????

[Selling Handgun ???]

I only sell pistols or AR's to friends or relatives or someone I shoot with that I know very well.  I never need the money so bad I have to run all the risks you gents mention above by selling them out in the public arena, so I guess I'm one of the paranoid ones too. I'm a member of a 1,300 member gun club and run the club's military matches, so I'm exposed to a lot of people who I know to be responsible and legally eligible to own pistols. 

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

 

............................I do have one question. Why is it that, at least the department I was part of, fellow officers would try to protect those bad officers?  I have also personally witnessed good officers struggle with the decision to do the right thing because they know once they report a bad officer they will be labeled as a rat. And even after being reported I have seen bad officers be allowed to resign that should have been fired. I have even sat in on meetings where the administrators will give the bad officer a letter of recommendation if the officer agreed to resign without fighting it. I will also say that as a supervisor I did try to fire every officer that deserved to be fired only to be frustrated by an administration that would allow them to resign and go to another jurisdiction.

 

I

I think all of this falls under the general title of "people." The things you bring up here are true enough, but are far from being common only to law enforcement. Different managers are willing to go to different lengths to get rid of a bad apple, as you point out here, but in agencies subject to Civil Service rules and other contracts, it's pretty hard to get away with this stuff. In small agencies having no such rules however, all bets are off. If they aren't subject to labor rules, then the frailties of men tend to rule supreme and that can lead to some pretty obnoxious goings on. In my experience, once you give the authorities power to get rid of the bad apples, then they start using it against the good ones they may not like, so the unions act to restrict this power and provide some job protection. But once you do this, once you deny them this power, then the bad apple goes back to the top of the food chain. So there is no good answer to all this stuff. You just have to do the best you can with what you have to work with and go to work somewhere else if it gets too deep to wade in.

 

As for protecting other cops, nobody wants to be a rat and cops are no different than other people in that regard.  After all, Joe Paterrno covered for a serial child molester for years and he never wore a badge in his life, nor did all the church officials who were deeply steeped in religion and nonetheless covered up the same thing on a massive basis for years..........and it goes on and on and on. "Coverup" is one of the favorite words in journalism when it comes to affairs political as well. A cop after all is a guy who was looking for a job and found one. No special angelic virtues were imparted upon his appointment and he is subject to all the frailties of other men having authority and responsibility.They are expected to live up to a higher standard and most of them do, but some don't and some supervisors and managers don't do their jobs in keeping the bad ones out either. All I can say is it ain't right, it's just the way it is, and you just have to keep on truckin' to make it as right as you can. End of Epistle.

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

Any time, sir. Glad to clear it up.

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

And just for the record, nobody hates bad cops like the good ones do.

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

Slightly off topic I suppose, but this really jumped out at me....  That's 5 funerals every 2 years.  Maybe I'm showcasing my ignorance, but that's way more than I would have expected.   How big was the department?  All in the line of duty?  Feel free to ignore me if you don't want to talk about it... just having a hard time wrapping my head around that. 

Yes, it was and is a very dangerous job, and the figure of 68 is correct. All were in the line of duty. The size of the Department was 5,500 uniformed of all ranks with about 4,700 on the road during my years. Total officers killed in the history of the department since 1929 are 230, with the lion's share of them since the '60's. In the 22 years since my retirement another 49 officers have been killed in the line of duty.

 

I won't be offended if you want to go to the site and count them yourself. My math in my old age ain't nothing to write home about, so feel free. It also gives the dates and causes, which may also be interesting to you. If you'd like to double check my addition, count the deaths between March, 1965 and December, 1992, which should be 68, and from then to today, which should be another 49.

 

The site doesn't show disability retirements, which were running around 80% during my career. That means that a new officer only has two chances in ten of retiring with his health intact. It's probably higher now, and the Department also has picked up a couple of thousand more officers since I left. Here's the link to the Officer Down Memorial Page: https://www.odmp.org/agency/504-california-highway-patrol-California

 

My username is my old radio call sign. I was the senior Sergeant in the region, so my call sign was S-1. I simply spelled it out as "Essone." hope all of this helps. I think a lot of guys will be surprised at the figures.

[A thought from a member on the LE threads.]

I really appreciate your words, sir. I don't mind criticism and I'll always try to offer a perspective from the other side of the badge as best as I can, even in the case of very inflammatory incidents that have a lot of people riled up. But 68 guys in my outfit died in my 28 years in the field and derision is something that goes down hard with me for that reason. So thank you very much for your insightful comments. You'll probably notice I've eliminated my avatar, signature, and pared my profile down to nothing. I was leaving TGO for the reasons you mention. I'll put them back tomorrow and stick around. Thanks again.

[Excessive use of force by Police?]

That's the problem with high speed pursuits - effective countermeasures to stop one once it starts are mighty scarce. About all an officer can do is basically sit back there at 120 mph until he or the other guy crashes or runs out of gas, unless somebody can get in position out ahead with a spike strip, or unless the law in that state and departmental policies permit the use of roadblocks.  But then a spike strip or roadblock used against a 120 mph motorcycle can get the agency in a lot of hot water too because the motor rider is probably going to get killed.  Evading arrest in most states is a misdemeanor, as is reckless driving, and the use of deadly force is usually unlawful in the apprehension of a misdemeanor violator. Gunfire into the tires gives you a car out of control at 120 mph, endangering everybody else on the road and again invoking Catch 22 by being a form of deadly force since it throws the high speed vehicle out of control - not to mention being one of the most dangerous things a cop can ever do. High speed ramming is just as likely to get the officer killed as it is to stop the other guy, and again constitutes deadly force.

 

I was a highway patrol supervisor in another state and part of my job was managing these pursuits. They're a real problem for which there is no good solution and I hated the @#$%^things. Also, being the  cop involved in one is the most terrifying thing you can ever do - screaming down the road through intersections and past driveways at night, radically overdriving your headlights on an unfamiliar highway in an over mileage, beat-to-crap standard passenger automobile with a heavy duty alternator and a bunch of colored lights at 120 mph just ain't my idea of fun. Usually the biggest problem we had after one ended was getting the pucker marks out of the seat covers. :pleased:

 

Anyway, from the other side of the badge they're an eelray itchbay.

[Makeovers gone bad]

I just sold a '63 M151....well, most of it was a '63.

There's nothing even remotely Jeep about them. Ford and AM General built those. They're tough but I'm glad mine is gone. Too damn difficult to get parts for. The ole humble M38 was a MUCH better design, but that's just my opinion which is worth precisely squat.

Then let us be worth squat together because the M38 was the best jeep the Army ever had. Our standard anti tank weapon in Europe was the M38A1 with a 106mm recoilless rifle on it, and it takes a tough little machine to pull that off. The troops loved them.

[Supreme Court ruling on illegal searches]

The courts have been tightening up the rules on search and seizure by the police since the 60's. I think this is just a predictable continuation of all the previous rulings. I'm a little shocked though that the 8th supported it in the first place. They sure wouldn't have where I plied the trade. 'Course we had the 9th, well, why spoil the conversation............. :pleased:  

[Supreme Court ruling on illegal searches]

From what I can see, the court is objecting to a traffic violation-based fishing expedition conducted without a reasonable suspicion that another violation exists. From the syllabus: "He found no reasonable suspicions supporting detention once Struble issued the written warning." From what I read in the syllabus, this decision would not seem to preclude searches and seizures arising from traffic stops as long as there is reasonable suspicion of a violation of law discovered after the stop was made. i.e. visible drug paraphernalia, burglar tools, bloody clothes, etc., etc. What it does is effectively outlaw the "cop's hunch" alone as a valid reason for a detention and search, and makes any evidence discovered in such a search inadmissible. That's the way I see it anyway.

[I took the plunge... My first CZ!]

Interesting... What is the difference between the CZ 75 and 85 series?

The CZ 85B is simply an ambidextrous CZ 75B, having a right side safety lever and slide stop lever. Also the '85B is only available in 9mm, whereas the '75B can be had in .40 caliber. That's about it. My wife is left handed and I always carry a gun she can handle too - finally bought her one of her own. She's about as big of a CZ fan as you're going to find.

[I took the plunge... My first CZ!]

I wouldn't be too concerned about getting a jammomatic. I bought my first CZ 85 in 1992 and have had four others since and have only had one malfunction in all those years. It was caused by a damaged magazine, not the gun. So like I said, not to worry. If you'd like to know a little about how the CZ has changed over the years, there's a 99 cent Kindle book entitled "The Evolution of the CZ 85" that compares the Pre-B and B guns. It's at http://www.amazon.com/EVOLUTION-CZ-85-Jerry-Paregien-ebook/dp/B00DOPTMF2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429474381&sr=8-1&keywords=the+evolution+of+the+cz+85+kindle+edition

[I took the plunge... My first CZ!]

Oh yeah, no way I'd try to carry the 75B.  I could definitely see a Compact in my future...

Don't be totally deterred. I've carried a CZ 85 or 85B since the early 90's. It's not much different than carrying a 1911 or Hi Power; Suptayu, but entirely possible.

[California Implements Statewide Ban On All .45 ACP Ammunition]

I'm a California native who has lived in Tennessee for nineteen years, but I still have family out there and try to stay up on what the idiotic state legislature is doing on gun issues. If you want information about a gun issue in the state, California gun owners have a really busy gun forum called www.calguns.net.  It has over 207,000 members, with over 27,000 active members. It is really fast moving - I listed some mags for sale with them and my WTS post moved three pages back in only 24 hours.

 

My experience is that If the State or local governments do anything or even propose anything detrimental to California gun owners, you'll hear the howling the loudest on that website.