New Books read...

I have read 2 of the three new books I bought and downloaded this week.  I will promo the 3rd one later.  The Authors are friends of mine and I swear they planned this when they released them around the same time....ain't they supposed to space them out so we can savor them like fine wine  rather than load up what you can dodging the heavyweights at the buffet line at Golden Corral?

Get Book from Here

Whoever said retirement was quiet never met John Cronin...

The old man may have retired for the final time from the Sheriff’s office, but there are still cows to run, court cases to testify at, and consultation calls to tap decades of experience. And that’s not even counting the cold cases he’s still trying to solve...

With his granddaughter Jesse running the gun store and managing the ranch books, and her husband leaning how to fill Cronin’s shoes on investigations and arrests, John is keeping busy training the next generation, while settling a few old scores!

    This is a blurp from the book on Amazon.  I have read all of J.L Curtis's offering and they are all good.  This is number 6 of the trilogy...yeah let that sink in...the storyline and material was good enough that it way passed the initial  thought of 3 books...3 books HAH, we got 3 more out of the series, and the last one is "Sunset" and it closed up a lot of loose ends, but the ending is vague enough that if J.L wanted to, he could add a "Lucky Number 7"...Just a thought Jim.
      Well anyway the "Gray Man" series is a story of a retired deputy Sheriff/investigator of a Texas Sheriff Dept named John Cronin, who is a Vietnam Veteran, and also a veteran of the drug and cartel wars in South America in the 1970's and later.  The story also has his granddaughter who he has raised and she is also law enforcement  and run the ranch and the gun store/range on the property.  The protagonist are what we on the south call "Good People", you would love to have them as neighbors and friends.  I have gotten to know all the characters in the series and I feel like they are old friends and comfortable like a favorite coat.  Well worth the read.

Get Book Here

Never cheat on a succubus.

Martin Shelby's latest client is a woman out to hurt her husband where it matters most to him - his pride. She's teamed with the best lawyer in town, and The Boogeyman is out to find the evidence to turn her shark loose in divorce court.

But indulging a taste for younger women isn't the only shady thing her husband's been up to, and the blood in the water is all too real as the body count starts mounting.

     A bit of background, Martin Shelby is a PI or private investigator and he hangs his shingle in Louisville Kentucky and some of his clients deal with supernatural events, in this book, Zombies.  If you live in the Louisville Area, you will recognize some of the scenery because Tom actually lives in the area.  I spent a lot of time in that area because my best friend transferred to Kentucky Truck Plant from Atlanta Assembly plant and I went up there quite a few times to visit him and my other friends but I digress.  Well anyway a lady hires Martin to get dirt on her husband whom she is convinced that he is screwing around, and a regular PI assignment veers into the supernatural.   Well worth the read.  It will help if you get the first 2 books also, it will help in providing background.  Although this book can stand alone, it makes more sense to read the others.

Impeachment Day,,,?

  Well the hate filled democrats have done it, they will vote impeachment articles on President Trump today.  They have been throwing a 3 year temper tantrum over Trump winning and blocking the coronation process of Felonia Von Pantsuit, the designated successor of the anointed one.  How dare Trump and those deplorables block history in the making and besides we are college educated and live in the cities, so we know what is best for all those backward hicks so we will throw a tantrum, and hold our breath until he leaves. 

    Well the 2020 elections are coming up and the field of democrats that are running against Trump are looking pretty weak, so after the Mueller Report laid a big fat zero, the subsequent hearings went nowhere, so the democrats have one chance left to try to beat trump from winning in 2020...

The Horowitz report pretty much excused the FBI despite the biased shown by the upper levels against Trump.  My Dad is friends of several rank and file FBI agents and they are disgusted by what they have seen, the FBI was supposed to be apolitical, but they have been weaponized by the prior administration to go after people perceived as a threat to the democrats and the deep state.

And speaking of impeachment, the democrats that won in red districts, who vowed in their campaign to "be different and listen to their constituents" are being pressured to support the party line and those democrats know it will most likely cost them their reelection in 2020 because their districts are red districts and oppose impeachment.

They don't know what they are doing to the social fabric of this country.  In the past, if your side lost, well you sucked it up and dealt with it and ran a better candidate next time.  When Obungler was president I didn't like it, but I was an adult about it and accepted it and hope for better results next time knowing in 4 or 8 years, that person will be gone.  That is how it works here.  We don't have 20 or 30 year reigns of strongmen and one political party like a lot of countries.  The Founding fathers knew what they were doing when they designed the system we have. Impeachment is a very powerful tool, to be welded reluctantly, I remember the Clinton impeachment, What Bubba did was far worse than what Trump was accused of doing.  Clinton committed perjury, and was caught and because he was president he was brought to trial in congress.  he was acquitted and remained very popular, and the GOP got burned by the process.  At a side note, he did lose his law license.   What Trump is accused of doing is "abuse of Power" strictly by a "he said/she said" or 2nd hand knowledge and Schiff had only democrats working on his panel to find information to try to impeach Trump. 
     This process is purely a political witch hunt to try to block Trump from winning in 2020 and as a side note if RBG kicks the bucket, it will be used against him to prevent him from appointing a successor, and the next president in 2024 if he is of a different party than congress will be impeached, no matter what it is, because the democrats used "impeachment" as a political tool.  If the President in 2024 is a democrat, he will be impeached if the house is GOP because it will be payback and that is not good.  The peaceful exchange of power has been a hallmark of our political system and it keeps us from going to war with each other.  the last time the Democrats went totally off the rails was in 1860 when they refused to accept the election of Abraham Lincoln, and it created the 4 years of "sportiness" called the Civil War.  The democrats have forgotten history and if history is an indicator, "we will live in interesting times" and I don't want that because it will be far worse.

Monday Music "Living After Midnight" by Judas Priest

I am continuing my run of songs that you would play if you saw this outside your house on your home security cameras...This discussion started over on the book of face at the "Monster Hunter Nation, Hunters Unite".  Several people started throwing what song they would play for their bugaloo moment.

You get ready for the main event...

Several Judas Priest songs apparently fit the bill for this theme.  


"Living After Midnight" is a song by British heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was originally featured on their 1980 album British Steel, which was their first gold album in the United States selling more than 500,000 copies (and eventually went platinum for selling at least 1 million). The song speaks to the hedonistic, rebellious spirit of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and is among the band's most popular songs.

The song title came about when Glenn Tipton awakened Rob Halford with his loud guitar playing at 4 AM, during the band's stay at Tittenhurst Park to record British Steel. Halford commented to Tipton that he was "really living after midnight", and Tipton replied that Halford's comment was a great title for the song he was working on.
On live performances, the line, "I took the city 'bout one a.m.", is sometimes changed to the particular city or venue the band is performing. For example, on the DVD Rising in the East, lead vocalist Rob Halford sings, "I took the Budokan 'bout one a.m.", in reference to the stadium in Tokyo, Japan, that hosted the concert. On the Westwood One recordings from the 1983 US Festival Halford recites, "I took some acid about 1 a.m ..."

The music video, directed by Julien Temple and shot live at the Sheffield City Hall, begins with drummer Dave Holland playing an invisible drum kit. During the guitar solo, fans on the front row play along with their cardboard guitars (which were the prominent fan symbols of the new wave of British heavy metal movement).
This song has been covered by The Donnas on their album The Donnas Turn 21 (2001), by Saul Blanch on the tribute album Acero Argentino: Tributo a Judas Priest (2006), by L.A. Guns on Hell Bent Forever: A Tribute to Judas Priest (2008) and by Iron Savior as a bonus track on the Japanese release of their Condition Red (2002) album.
It was covered by Disturbed on the Tribute to British Steel (2010) CD by Metal Hammer UK music magazine, incorporating the opening drum salvo from "Painkiller". It also appears as one of the bonus songs available with some distributions of Asylum (2010), and also features on their B-sides compilation album The Lost Children (2011).
The guitar solo in the song is played by Glenn Tipton.

Did a good thing today.

Well I am doing this post and watching the Army/Navy Game, looks like Navy will win...Dang....Oh Well.

    Today My son and I participated again with "Wreaths Across America".  Normally I would have rode with the "Patriots Guard Riders", but with the weather being iffy and my motorcycle being surrounded by Christmas stuff, We just took my sons Truck.

Before we hit the road, we stopped by our favorite place,  The great Krasnovian Franchise.  We left and headed down the road.  It took a couple of hours but we got here..

The Main Marker at the Gate.

It was cold, dreary and cloudy when we got there, but when the service started the Sun came out and the sky cleared up.

The Service started, and after the National Anthem followed by "Taps" and several speeches by various VFW and Patriot Guard leaders, they had a person representing each branch present a wreath.

My Dad representing the Army laying the Wreath at the Memorial.

After the ceremony everyone headed to distribution points to start laying the Wreaths on the headstone of a veteran.

And we spread out laying Wreaths on the Headstones...

We kept going until every headstone, got a Wreath...

This was one of several sections.

 A Soldier from "My War".

My Dad, My Brother and my Son, it truly was a family affair.  My Niece was also present as was my Aunt and her husband who was a Squid Navy Veteran off the U.S.S Yorktown.

 My Uncle Don, My Dad and My Son.

 She asked me if my son was planning on going into the Service.  I replied "I am torn, part of me wants him to join, to pay his obligation as citizen of the Republic, and  to serve.  Part of me says, "no" my family had paid the debt since the revolutionary war, and if it skips a generation, it isn't a bad thing and I will not force him either way."  She seemed to agree with the sentiment.

BTW, Navy did win the CinC cup...This year.  But this is one game that everyone wins.  We all represent the United States.

 

Been really busy

To my 2 readers, I apologize for the delay in posting, I have been working a lot of overtime and Christmas activities on top of it, don't leave much room for posting.

   I will post in a day.

Monday Music "Don't Fear the Reaper" by BOC

I am continuing my run of songs that you would play if you saw this forming up outside your house on your home security camera's

And you get a song ready for the main event...

I have loaded several weeks of songs into my scheduler thingie.  This has been a fun theme to run.


"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult from the band's 1976 album Agents of Fortune. The song, written and sung by lead guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, deals with eternal love and the inevitability of death. Dharma wrote the song while picturing an early death for himself.
Released as an edited single (omitting the slow building interlude in the original), the song was Blue Öyster Cult's highest chart success, reaching #7 in Cash Box and #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1976. Critical reception was mainly positive, and in 2004, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was listed at number 405 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 500 songs of all time.


"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was written and sung by lead guitarist Buck Dharma and produced by David Lucas, Murray Krugman, and Sandy Pearlman. The song's distinctive guitar riff is built on the "i-VII-VI" chord progression, in an A minor scale.The riff was recorded with Krugman's Gibson ES-175 guitar, which was run through a Music Man 410 combo amplifier, and Dharma's vocals were captured with a Telefunken U47 tube microphone. The guitar solo and guitar rhythm sections were recorded in one take, while a four-track tape machine amplified them on the recording. Sound engineer Shelly Yakus remembers piecing together the separate vocals, guitar and rhythm section into a master track, with the overdubbing occurring in that order.
Mojo described its creation: "'Guys, this is it!’ engineer Shelly Yakus announced at the end of the first take. ‘The legendary once-in-a-lifetime groove!’ ... What evolved in the studio was the extended solo section; it took them nearly as long to edit the five-minute track down to manageable length as it did to record it."
The song features prominent use of the cowbell percussion instrument, overdubbed on the original recording. Bassist Joe Bouchard remembered the producer requesting his brother, drummer Albert Bouchard, play the cowbell: "Albert thought he was crazy. But he put all this tape around a cowbell and played it. It really pulled the track together." However, producer David Lucas says that he played it, a claim supported by bandmember Eric Bloom.

In 1976 Rolling Stone named "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" the song of the year and, in 2004, the magazine placed the song at number 397 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time";however, the 2010 version of the list moved it down to number 405. In 1997 Mojo listed the song as the 80th best single of all time, while Q ranked "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" number 404 in its 2003 countdown of the "1001 Best Songs Ever."
When The Guardian released its unranked list of the "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear" in 2009, the song was included. The publication wrote that the song's charm "lies in the disjuncture between its gothic storyline and the sprightly, Byrdsian guitar line that carries it." In his book The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made, rock critic Dave Marsh ranked the song at number 997.

 "More Cowbells"

The song was memorialized in the April 2000 Saturday Night Live comedy sketch "More Cowbells". The six-minute sketch presents a fictionalized version of the recording of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" on an episode of VH1's Behind the Music. Will Ferrell wrote the sketch and played Gene Frenkle, an overweight cowbell player. "Legendary" producer Bruce Dickinson, played by Christopher Walken, asked Frenkle to "really explore the studio space" and up the ante on his cowbell playing. The rest of the band are visibly annoyed by Frenkle, but Dickinson tells everyone, "I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!" Buck Dharma said that the sketch was fantastic and he never gets tired of it but also lamented that it made the song lose its 'creepy' vibe for some time.
A segment of the song was performed by Red Hot Chili Peppers on May 22, 2014,  as the conclusion of a drumming contest between the band's drummer Chad Smith and actor Will Ferrell. In a repeat of the 2000 SNL sketch, Ferrell again played cowbell for the rendition, which appeared on an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Got a new Pistol..

 I picked up a Beretta Model 81.  the pistol was a Law enforcement turn in from Italy.  I am not sure what year the pistol is made, but I will see if I can figure out when the pistol was made.  the pistol qualifies for C&R purchases due to its model's age.  The pistol series first come out in 1976.

Pistol has a couple of nicks in the finish, but overall the pistol is on very good shape and I am pleased with the purchase.  The Pistol has a great ergonomic feel.

Classic Firearms had a special running on the pistols, $199 plus tax and shipping and FFL charges.  I did buy the extra magazine though.  I gotta find time to go to Macks Place of Employment and shoot the pistol and a rifle that I recently bought.

Happy Birthday to Old NFO!

 This is the guy that got me started blogging about 8 years ago...so blame him for foisting me on the blogosphere.  Old NFO besides being a real nice guy and a class act, has been around a while...This was the guy that had the tiller when Admiral Farragut stated "Damm the Torpedo's full speed ahead" and his flagship the USS Hartford as they sailed past the Confederate Batteries protecting Mobile Bay during the American Civil War.

                              You can see Old NFO on the Tiller during the battle.

This Gentleman was by no means ready to hang it up, he continued to serve, He was with Admiral Dewey in the Battle of Manila bay in 1898 when Admiral Dewey broke the Spanish fleet at Manila with superior gunnery and ships.   

As I understand it, he was on the bridge with Admiral Dewey during this battle.

Not content to just sail, he started working with the new arm of the fleet, the air arm.  Old NFO became an accomplished aviator....I had to look for his first plane

 Here is Old NFO earning his wings for the first time...

After many years and many airplanes and many adventures Old NFO finally retired and became an author where he writes several kinds of books and they are an awesome read.  Please go to his website Here and check out what he has written and visit his spot on the web.  I know the article above is a mild exaggeration but the man is really larger than life and a class act and I sincerely wish him a "Happy Birthday."   

 

 

The Cannonball Run record was broken...

  Sorry about not posting Yesterday, I worked overtime and was unable to post like I wanted to.  This would have posted Yesterday.

 I remembered the movie "Cannonball Run" and it was hilarious, and even now it still is one of my favorite movie.  I also remember a movie called "The Gumball Rally" 
     It was one of the Counterculture movies that thumbed their nose at the "Nanny State 1.0 that was on the horizon that culminated with the Jimmy Carter Presidency. 

 "The Gumball Rally"

"The explanation of the breaking of the record.

The cast of 'The Cannonball Run', directed by Hal Needham in 1981.

Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Records are made to be broken—even hair-brained, statistically improbable feats of chutzpah like the coast-to-coast driving trial known to auto enthusiasts as the Cannonball Run. Recently, a trio of relatively unknown perpetrators completed the unregulated run from the Atlantic-to-Pacific in a scant 27 hours and 25 minutes, shaving an hour and 15 minutes off the previous record of 28 hours and 40 minutes set in 2013 by Ed Bolan and Dave Black. 

Just like those who participated in the original “Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash,” created by legendary Car and Driver contributing editor Brock Yates in 1971 and made famous by the “The Cannonball Run” movie franchise starring actor Burt Reynolds in the early 1980s, the latest speed addicts to break the record record, which was first set by Yates and legendary race car driver Dan Gurney, Arne Toman and Doug Tabbutt started their adventure at the infamous Red Ball Garage on Manhattan’s Eastside in New York City and ended at the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California, the same finish line used in nearly every coast-to-coast attempt since the original.

The record-setting Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG in front of the Red Ball garage.

Berkeley Chadwick

While the newly minted record holders may not be household names, Toman and Tabbutt, are no strangers to the sub-set of enthusiast culture that follows the unofficial society of continental speed records. In fact, the dynamic duo has been involved in previous New York to California events before, including the Sea-to-Sea Express, a low-brow beater challenge that celebrates pop-culture with themed teams.
For this attempt, the team prepared an all-wheel-drive 2015 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG sedan with upgraded turbos and inter-cooler; fast and stable, it was de-badged to increase the stealthiness of the vehicle’s already unremarkable exterior. A custom fuel cell was fabricated to hold a large amount of fuel and dual fillers were fitted to speed up gas stops. Numerous electronics were employed, including the dual radar detectors, laser diffusers, a police scanner and of, course, a CB radio. The drivers were assisted on the record run by newbie Berkeley Chadwick. As the team lookout, Chadwick scanned the horizon with gyro-stabilized binoculars for any possible entanglements with law enforcement.

According to Road & Track, who broke the story, the attempt started at 12:57 a.m. on November 10th. The team traveled along I-80, I-76, I-70 and I-15, receiving help from a network of lookouts along the route who notified them of potential speed traps and traffic jams. Nearly derailed in Colorado and Utah by the one-two punch of a slow-moving county sheriff followed by a sudden loss of engine power spirits began to wane.

Doug Tabutt at the wheel heading into California.

Arne Toman

Spirits were later buoyed by a motorcycle-riding volunteer in California who offered to run at about 130mph in the left lane using his high beams to clear a path for the AMG: “You guys tuck in behind me and I’ll clear the way for you.”
By the time the team rolled into the Portifino Inn under under cover of darkness, they had set a record, but were welcomed only by an empty parking lot. No idle bystanders, champagne-spraying supporters or trophy-wielding officials were there to mark the occasion. Finally, a bored police officer happened by and after agreeing to stage a few photos lamented how dull his night was. Setting transcontinental speed records is a lonely business—if you’re doing it properly anyway.
With the non-celebration complete, the numbers were tallied from two Garmin GPS units—one verified by a third party. In addition to the record-setting time, the team averaged an impressive 103 mph, spent only 22 minutes and 33 seconds refueling and hit a top speed of 193mph.

The record-breaking team arriving at the Portofino at 1:22 AM.

Arne Toman

That’s right, one-hundred and ninety-three miles per hour! Which brings up an interesting point: Are the guys worried about any retro-active actions from the authorities? Not really, but Toman said he’ll be waiting a year to release any potentially incriminating video of the feat. While there will inevitably be no shortage of people attempting to beat the record, Toman won’t be one of them. He says this run is his last. 

Monday Music "You Got Another thing comin" By Judas Priest

I am continuing my series of songs that you could play if the alphabet agencies show up at your door

And you get ready to blare the music and load up...

Apparently Several Judas Priest songs lend itself to the bugaloo event...So I will space them out a bit on the scheduler thingie.

"You've Got Another Thing Comin'" is a song by British heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was originally released on their 1982 album Screaming for Vengeance and released as a single later that year.

 In May 2006, VH1 ranked it fifth on their list of the 40 Greatest Metal Songs. It became one of Judas Priest's signature songs along with "Electric Eye" and "Breaking the Law", and a staple of the band's live performances. "You've Got Another Thing Comin" was first performed on the opening concert of the Vengeance World Tour at the Stabler Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on 26 August 1982 and had been played a total of 673 times through the 2012 Epitaph Tour.
The song reached No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, making it Judas Priest's only charting song in the United States. The song is written in the key of F-sharp minor.
Guitarist K.K. Downing on the song:
“You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” was without doubt the song that broke Judas Priest in America. By the summer of 1982, it wasn’t just getting heavy rotation in our stronghold areas of St. Louis and San Antonio. That song was everywhere. You couldn’t turn on a rock radio station anywhere in North America without hearing it. Bizarrely, it almost didn’t make it onto the album Screaming for Vengeance. It was only when we’d reached Florida for the final mixing of the album that the pieces of a track that we’d had lying around without ever committing to fully finally fell into our laps. And when it did, the song’s appeal seemed like the most obvious thing ever. “How did we miss it?” Tom Allom said. “I don’t know. But you could just imagine putting this on, getting in the car with the sun shining, and then blasting down a freeway,” Rob replied: “That’s it!” we all agreed. “It’s got all the elements of driving song. ”We hadn’t been aware of that intangible ingredient when we wrote it, of course. But there’s no doubt that it had the kind of beat and tempo that, even if you were driving and going just thirty miles per hour, when you heard that duh-duh-duh-duh intro, you’d be simply compelled to accelerate. On top of that it gave you a happy, carefree feeling that was just so undeniable. Better still, everything about America at that time seemed to revolve around the ethos of “get in the car, turn up the stereo, and drive.” It was the ideal song for the time

 Judas Priest in 1982

Oliver Winchester was born 209 years ago...

I got this from Alex at Ammo.com and he asked me if I would post this on my blog and I have no problem doing so.  The Pics are compliments of "Google" and the Garand Pic is mine.

Oliver Winchester was born in Boston, on November 30, 1810. He started his career with a clothing company based out of New York City and New Haven, Connecticut. After successfully running this aspect of his business, Winchester began to look for new opportunities. Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson (yes, that “Smith & Wesson” who later formed the Smith & Wesson Revolver Company) acquired and improved a rifle design with the help of shop foreman, Benjamin Tyler Henry. Talk about a genius cluster! In 1855, they began to manufacture what would be known as the “Volcanic” lever-action rifle. The company would become incorporated as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company; its largest stockholder was Oliver Winchester.

 Volcanic Lever Action Rifle

After limited success with this new rifle, Winchester seized the opportunity to take control over the failing company and renamed it the New Haven Arms Company. Although initial returns were slow, Benjamin Henry, the company’s leading engineer, improved the Volcanic repeating rifle’s design by enlarging the frame and magazine to accommodate the all-new brass cased .44 caliber cartridge. This ingenuity put the company on the map, and in 1860, the patent for the infamous Henry rifle was issued. The next  six years of production produced over 12,000 Henry, many of which were used in the Civil War. In the following months, Benjamin Henry, angered over what he believed was inadequate compensation, filed a lawsuit for ownership of the company. Oliver Winchester hastenly reorganized the company as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company to circumvent this issue. 

 Model 1866

The Model 1866 soon rolled out as the first Winchester rifle. Based on the Henry rifle, it came with an improved magazine and a wooden forend. In the following years, larger caliber rifles such as the infamous Model 1873, “The Gun That Won The West”, brought more notoriety and foundation to the company. Although Mr. Winchester would miss the opportunity to see his company’s greatest achievements; he passed away in December of 1880. 

 Model 1873

Winchester Repeating Arms Company’s collaboration with John Browning brought about much success with a host of shotguns, including the still produced Model 1885. The turn of the 20th century hosted a series of new arms developments, many from the top engineer at the time, T.C. Johnson. But it was the start of the First World War that set development and production requirements into full force. The company became a major producer of the .30-06 M1917 Enfield rifle for the United States military, and worked once more with Browning to develop the .50 caliber BMG.

During the war, the company borrowed heavily to finance the expansion. In an attempt to pay down its debt following the war’s end, they used their surplus production capacity to manufacture consumer goods such as kitchen knives, roller skates, and refrigerators. The strategy was a failure, and the Great Depression sent the company into bankruptcy. John M. Olin’s Western Cartridge Company purchased the Winchester Repeating Arms Company at auction in 1931, with plans to restore the brand to its former glory. The Second World War helped this cause tremendously as Winchester produced the U.S. M1 Carbine and the M1 Garand rifle during this time period. 

 My Garand with the Serial Number "Squiggled out"

Over the following decades, the Olin Winchester-Western division struggled with rising labor costs and other companies’ cast-and-stamped production methods. By 1980, Olin decided to sell the company back to its employees, which re-incorporated as the U.S. Repeating Arms Company. Olin retained the Winchester ammunition business. U.S. Repeating Arms went bankrupt in 1989, and after a number of sellouts to forgien holdings companies, the New Haven plant closed its doors on January 16, 2006, after 140 years of producing rifles and shotguns. 

In August of 2006, Olin Corporation, owner of Winchester trademarks, entered a new license deal with Browning to make Winchester brand rifles and shotguns once again. The Model 1885, Model 1892, and Model 1886 are all produced by Miroku Corporation of Japan, then imported to the U.S. by Browning. Currently, Fabrique Nationale d’Herstal (FN) makes the remainder of Winchester’s rifle and shotgun lineup in various locations around Europe.

Winchester-branded ammunition continues to be produced by the Olin Corporation. Some of the most successful cartridges ever invented have been under the Winchester name: the .44-40 WCF, the .30-30 WCF, the .32 Winchester Special, the .50 BMG, the .270 Winchester, the .308 Winchester (the commercial version of the 7.62x51mm NATO), the .243 Winchester, the .22 WMR (aka the .22 Magnum), and the .300 Winchester Magnum. In North America, the .30-30 and .308 Winchester are some of the best selling cartridges in firearm history. 

Through its history, the Winchester name has experienced great successes and significant failures; but it’s truly an important story to know in the realm of firearms. Here’s to the man that started it all, happy birthday to Mr. Oliver Winchester.