Back from Dallas just in time to lay on the floor in front of the TV and watch the Cowboys fuck themselves in the ass...

And I DON'T mean I went to Big "D" and picked up a DVD of Brokeback Mountain. I tell ya what, they never cease to amaze me. Stumble bums! Bless 'em, there's always next year, I suppose.

The trip to Dallas, to the Gun show, turned out to be a lot of fun. Left here at about 930am. Swung by the drive-through at Jack-in-the-box for breakfast (a supreme croissant with mayo- to die for), and then zoomed up north. Got to the outskirts by 1130, when a buddy called me on my mobile.

One of my colleagues out at the collage, a geography teacher, is an avid civil war buff and reenactor. He lives on a bunch of land up near Gatesville, north of Ft. Hood. We've been planning to get together and shoot for a few weeks. A few of his buds (all civil war reenactors) and I are showing up at his place Sunday morning and while they shoot civil war muskets, .58 or .69 caliber, or thereabouts (LOTS of fun), I'll be plinkin' away with a few of my AKs. We'll make lots of noise.

I knew we were gonna get together and shoot on Sunday, and I was planning to meet up with another friend in Dallas and do lunch and maybe a movie, so didn't go to great lengths to see if this guy wanted to drive up Saturday and do the gun show with me. I called Friday evening and left a message on his machine just in case he wanted to go, kinda hoping he wouldn't want to. Shit man, I had other plans. Places to go and people to see. I mean, the FHB has a responsibility to his fuckin' public, you know what I mean?

Anyway, I got to the outskirts of Dallas and guess who calls me, FROM THE GUN SHOW? It was hilarious. Turns out he and a buddy from Waco (another reenactor who's gonna be there Sunday) had headed up at the crack of dawn and had plans to go and do stuff after, so he didn't call me. I told him my version of the same story and we had a good laugh. We ended up meeting at the show and passing as we went up and down the rows. He took an old percussion rifle up there to see if he could sell it, and when we connected he was walkin' around with no rifle and $500 in his pocket. Good boy. I'll see him tomorrow morning and we'll waste a lot of lead.

Got to the show at about noon, and I tell ya, I've never seen such a crowd at Market Hall before. Fuckin' ant hill. Something about the Democrats being in power makes gun sales skyrocket, I guess. I had to stand in line for 15 minutes, with the line snaking out the front door, under the trees and out to the parking lot. I couldn't believe the crowd, and nether could any of the other folks in line by me. Thank God it moved fast. Once I got in I went right over to see my gunsmith, who always has a table there, and he went out to his truck to get my newest toy. $525 later, I'm the proud owner of a new custom built Tantal, a Polish version of the AKS-74.

I bought a parts set (a set of Polish military surplus parts lacking the receiver) a few years ago, bought a receiver last year at a show in Ft. Worth, and handed it all off to my gun smith. One interesting thing about a Tantal is that the military version had a selector lever on the left side of the receiver, as well as the typical selector lever on the right side that all Kalashnikovs have. Turns out my parts set included this lever for the left side, and my gun smith knew a guy who could set it up and make it work. He also had the correct Polish markings engraved on the receiver. It looks great. Can't wait to shoot it tomorrow.

The show was fun. I saw lots of cool stuff, but mostly the same stuff that one usually sees. This time though, I saw something very cool that I didn't know existed. The salesman called it a "Beowolf". Check it out.


At first glance it looks like a conventional AR, M-4 carbine type, civilian version of the M-16, with a lot of after-market stuff attached to it. There's a million of these out there. They're a huge draw at these shows. It looks conventional enough, but then you focus on the ammo and yer head begins to spin. Check it out.


Turns out its a new short .50 cal. round designed for the military, and now available to the civilian market. God Bless America, I tell ya what! It's a .50 cal. carbine, using the same clip as an M-16, same firing pin, and everything else accept the barrel and a few other things.


Note the difference between this new .50 cal. and a conventional .223, usually fired from and AR.


20 rounds of this new ammo fit in a government issue 30 round AR clip. I couldn't believe it. The guy said the military was using them to shoot out engine blocks, and that the coast guard has a lot of them. They're a lot easier to use than a Barrett in close up situations, I guess.

Anyway, after the show, I went to Duncanville and met up with my other buddy, a literary agent who's just finished a big book on Custer. I handed off a book I'd just finished that he'd said he wanted to read. No Country for Old Men, by Cormack McCarthy. Check it out. It's pretty good. One of his best, I think, even though there are a few problems. I won't go there. Check it out. We went to eat Stromboli's at a local Italian place and then raided a Barnes and Noble for about a half hour while waiting for our movie to start.

I picked up a couple of 2007 calenders at 50% off. Always wait till January to get calenders. Then we went to the multiplex and saw Children Of Men, which turned out to be very good. I'd heard a few iffy reviews of it, but I liked it a lot. It's not that there aren't holes in the plot, and issues with the plausibility of a few things, but I still liked it a lot. Some amazing scenes. Lots of hand held camera shots, including one continuous scene that goes on for about 10 or 15 minutes. Amazing.

After that we split company and I drove home in the rain. Stopped in Hillsboro and picked up some creamed shrimp for dad at a Chinese food place there (imagine that), and then drive on down to Temple to deliver it. The Cowboys were ahead by about 3 points when I got to the folks, but they'd self destructed by the time I got home to watch the end. Again, there's always next year.

So, It's late, and I've got to get to bed so I can go shooting in the AM. So buzz off. I'll see ya in the later, maybe with pictures of the action from the digital camera. Of course, if I wake up and it's still raining, I ain't getting out of bed. Anyway, later on. Peace out.