LOTS GOING ON WEDNESDAY!

[Michael Bane]

Posted this on my FaceBook page, but wanted to dupe it here:

Lot going on!!!

We decided to open SHOOTING GALLERY this season (Wednesday night) with our 2 part New Zealand hunting trip...we do one hunting trip a season on SG, and John Carter and I really liked how the NZ shows turned out. Dianna & Ryan were great traveling companions! This is SG's 16th season, making it the most successful shooting show ever! What a great team!

We're starting THE BEST DEFENSE. With an episode Imfeel very strongly about, modeled on the Charlie Hebdo terrorists' attack in Paris. I know the whole team -- Mike, Mike, Marty, Producer Jeff Murray and DP Brandon Green -- feel the same way. Everyone who has seen this episode describe it as "scary." In the wake of subsequent events, I strongly urge you to watch this episode! Even if you only learn one little tip, that might be the piece of information that makes all the difference should you be caught in this ring of hell. Please watch.

I did a link a couple of minutes ago on Ed Head's exhaustive and authoritative review on DRTV of the new Ruger American pistol. Ed has been on top of this since the project's beginnings, and although admittedly prejudiced I think Ed has done a magnificent job in chronicling the birth of a new gun.

This week's DOWN RANGE Radio focus on the new Lipsey's/Larry Vickers "Grey Glock," in this case a G19 as spec'ed by one of America's great masters of the pistol. I'm too much of a wuss to have put too many rounds through it in the bitter cold, but I will say unequivocally that it is the best out-of-the-box Glock I've ever shot. The Vickers's/Wilson sights are superb. Listen to the whole thing without fear of my quirky musical taste, since this week my Sweetie, now that we finished our 23rd Christmas together, chose the music!

ALSO ALSO...as I announced a week or so ago, I will be signing autographs, giving away copies of TRAIL SAFE and the novel ALL NIGHT RADIO and generally B-S'ing at the TACTICAL SOLUTIONS booth at SHOT this year. We will have day, time & booth information here on DRTV when it's finalized!

Michael B

[billt]

I saw both of those episodes. Both were very good. I think the day businesses will have to have some type of auto locking device to "beep you in" isn't that far away. Especially for newspapers and the like. On a lighter note, you really looked wore out climbing up that mountain in New Zealand! What was the altitude, (ASL), when you got to the spot you took the Stag at? Nice shot by the way. That thing dropped like it was hit by a freight train.

[Bic]

Kinda like this Glock ?

[Michael Bane]

They are nice Glocks, aren't they? I was talking to my old pal Ken Hackathorn last week, and he brought up that he had snagged one as well and wanted to know my opinion. After I told him, he unequivocally agreed. BTW, I've seen some of grey frames for sale here and there…if I can get a good price on one, I might grab it for a future build.

BillT…wasn't the elevation (3-4000 feet), but the many hours long steep climb, like giant stairs. We couldn't take the obvious way up because we'd be in the open. There were points when I thought my knees were going to explode. To train I'd done a lot of hiking over broken ground with weights (which, of course, is just super deluxe for knees anyway), but the unrelenting bone-on-bone grinding pain in the knees just wore me down. Somewhere about 3/4 of the way up was when I decided to get the knees replaced ASAP. LOL! Thanks on the shot. Swaro made a huge difference…like magic in low-light.

Michael B

[billt]

I can imagine how you felt. It was the first thing I thought of while watching. I've got 2 bad knees myself. One, (left), I blew out back in 1972. I had full reconstructive surgery done on it, and it's never been the same since. Really bothered me back in the cold damp climate of Illinois.

The other was done in 2000 with orthoscopic repair. It's not much better. 7 minutes a day on the treadmill at full incline at 2.5 MPH is about all they can take. I doubt I could have kept up with you guys. It's hell to get old!

[Sponsor]

[Michael Bane]

At least I've known for a long time that it was coming…first "shot knees" diagnosis was after the Big Sur Marathon in 2003…you expect your knees to be cooked after a marathon, but the swelling just wouldn't go down. Ironically, I had 3 days of Janich knife training after the marathon, and afterwards I was a hurting puppy. After all the imaging, that was when the orthopedist told me he'd Google'd me, and what did I expect? LOL!

Probably should have moved on it sooner, but you know how the song goes. The collagen injections work sort of, but running — the way I always kept the weight off — was out of the question. And it didn't stop the pain, just throttled it down. Over the last few years, it's been collagen with cortisone injections, which scares the hell out of me, given cortisone's awful side effects.

After 15 weeks of rehab, my destroyed right knee is now stronger than the left, which was always "the bad one."  Hurts like a screaming m-f, but my PT person, who has had similar surgery to mine, says that, basically, I'm back to "baseline," bones in both knees rubbing on bones. I gotta keep stretching the right quad where it's been reattached to the kneecap (squats), but every squat Right knee replacement surgery is Monday after SHOT. Left knee "ASAP," probably early November is best case given production schedules. Hoping the left knee and me can handle one more round of collagen/cortisone.

Not whining…just is what it is. I figure I can start back shooting 3-Gun maybe in April…have a boar hunting trip in the Smokies planned for May with the .458 SOCOM…with luck!

mb

[Bic]

Michael said:

"They are nice Glocks, aren't they? I was talking to my old pal Ken Hackathorn last week, and he brought up that he had snagged one as well and wanted to know my opinion. After I told him, he unequivocally agreed. BTW, I've seen some of grey frames for sale here and there…if I can get a good price on one, I might grab it for a future build."

Yeah, love it. I am going to put a Ghost Rocket 3.5lb connector, that I have around here, in it though to see if it helps with MY ongoing "not letting it reset" problem

[billt]

Mike,

I lunched my left knee pushing my car out of the snow. (Yet another reason I moved to Arizona). I had my ass on the trunk, and my foot up against a lamp post. When I gave it all I had, I could hear everything rip. It almost immediately filled with blood from all the internal tearing. I made it to the hospital, and the doctor told me he would have to operate. They did 2 days later. I thought it would be a cake walk. Boy, was I ever mistaken!

I was in the hospital for a week, and on narcotic pain meds for almost 2-1/2 months. Off work for 3. I couldn't run for almost a YEAR! Then, if that wasn't enough, I had adhesions. (The skin healed and stuck to the bone). I had to go back into the hospital, be put under again, and have "closed manipulation" done to break it free. It was without question, the most painful experience I've ever been through. I don't know how some of these NFL players do it?   

[Michael Bane]

RE NFL players, I don't either! The first couple of weeks set a new baseline for pain (and I had a couple of doozys!).

That old joke about "Take care of your knees; you're going to miss them when they're gone," wasn't so much of a joke after all…

mb

[ellis4538]

Missed both recording (the old fashioned way VCR!) SG and TBD twice Wed. because our stupid cable co TW added a feature where the box shuts off to save energy unless you are there to keep that from happening!  Called to ask how to shut it off and they couldn't tell me using the remote we have!!!!!  Bummer.

Richard