I was chatting with the owner of my local Ye Olde Gunshoppe this afternoon when a fellow walked in from the range and up to the counter, carrying a Smith & Wesson 638 Bodyguard… or at least most of its pieces.

He’d been shooting away with some PMC factory ammo when the frame let go at the barrel threads, launching the barrel downrange and allowing the cylinder/yoke assembly to fall out the front of the broken frame.

No injuries, fortunately, and everything BUT the frame was completely intact. The cylinder and barrel (which was recovered from downrange) were in perfect condition, with no bulges or signs of obstruction. Fired cases were unremarkable. The shooter reported that the gun was only a year old and had seen some use but no abuse; no handloads and no +P ammo.

My best guess is that some kind of tiny stress riser or fracture started when the barrel was first torqued in, gradually growing until the catastrophic failure.

This was only the second serious failure I’ve seen first-hand; the first was a fellow who locked up his Remington 700 with a way-too-hot handload and broke the bolt handle off trying to beat the action open. While that case was obvious operator error, this one spooked me a bit. First, the shooter seemed to be doing everything right when his gun suddenly came apart in his hands… and second, his revolver was nearly identical to the one riding in my pocket as I type this.

Update: sold, nothin’ to see here.

Actual writing soon. SRSLY this time. And a rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all 3 of my loyal readers! Stay tuned!

It’s now official, 2008 is the Year of Getting Awesome T-shirts From Cute Bloggers. Why’s that? Because this came to me in yesterday’s mail. And no, I’m not tellin’ you who sent it.

I’ll be wearing this when I get sushi on Monday, 20-degree weather be damned!

One year ago today I discovered a cold, hungry little fluffball curled up and mewling on my back porch. Here he is now:

He ended up being ridiculously expensive for a “free” kitten, but he’s worth the trouble.

Today’s mail brought me this truly outstanding Christmas present from Squeaky Wheel:

Yes, my very own wireframe Puffy T-shirt, made of a 50/50 blend of Awesome and Win. Thanks, Squeaky!

Sonic’s Rendezvous Band – Goin’ Bye

I’ve been taking a little unannounced blog-cation here, largely cuz, well, sometimes you get that not-so-bloggerly feeling.

Life’s been mostly routine, aside from a few minor medical emergencies involving the last surviving grandparent. School’s winding down for the semester (one test to go, woo!), I’m once again WAY behind on my Christmas shopping, and I continue to spend too much time goofing off on the computer.

The current reading material is Kernighan and Pike’s The UNIX Programming Environment, which is still fascinating and surprisingly relevant despite being almost 25 years old. Things have changed, sure, but not as much as you might expect. Particularly interesting so far is the discussion of how files, directories and inodes work. My own understanding of the topic was a little fuzzy until I read through that part of the book.

I’m also slowly migrating almost all my systems to OpenBSD. The “real” server, server-toy and laptop are already switched over. When the G5 Power Mac reaches retirement age (damn, I just realized it’s now 5 years old!) it’ll probably get replaced by a generic PC running, yup, OpenBSD. It really is that damn good.

That said, I would not recommend OpenBSD as a first foray into UNIX-ish operating systems. If you’re curious about UNIX/Linux or just sick of Windows, get an Ubuntu or Knoppix disc and a good introductory book, and wade in slowly. OpenBSD’s a wonderful operating system, but it is NOT newbie-friendly and the user community doesn’t suffer fools gladly, or at all, really.

And finally, if you’ve been going through TD-withdrawal and just NEED more of me, hop on #gunblogger_conspiracy and join the fun. Of course, if you read through the vicious and out-of-context quotes posted on the Gunblogger Conspiracy website you’ll get the impression that I’m some kind of maniac sex pervert. I blame Paul for that.