In Darby, Pennsylvania  this past week a psychiatric patient opened fire inside a small office inside Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital killing a caseworker and wounding a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist was able to draw his own weapon leaving the patient in critical condition with three gunshot wounds.


     Hospital policy prohibits staff from carrying weapons inside the facility. In some states it is considered a felony. This story had me asking the question: Should hospital employees be allowed to conceal carry while at work? As we can see in this tragic situation the psychiatrist was able to save himself and who knows how many others.


Next week I will be doing a post on concealed carry while wearing scrubs.


     Let me know what you think in the comments section.

  

         Commentary on NRA News Commentators Episode 78 

                    The Isosceles Stance
            Is it right for you?

                  Firing the Harrington and Richardson Model 088




I've neglected my blog for some time now. However I am back and picking up where I left off. For those of you read the first two posts,you know I started this blog about doing a cheap diy project on my shotgun.(You can read the first two posts by using the link at bottom). To catch everyone up I was gifted a Harrington and Richardson  Model 088 12 gauge. It comes with a fixed full choke and 3 inch chamber.

     Today I headed to my local indoor range to fire this shotgun for the first time. I had been itching to do this for months. I was nowhere near done with anything I said I wanted to do and was a tad nervous. What had been done was finally clearing the barrel of the rust deposits. With a barrel brush and half a can of WD-40 I was able to completely clean the barrel. Amazingly the barrel looked brand new.



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Project #1: The Shotgun Part 2

In my last post you were able to see my new (to me) 12 gauge shotgun and the rough condition it was in.

     I have since field stripped the shotgun to get a better idea of the damage and to give it a good cleaning.
The weapon is in pretty bad shape. The surface rust on the blueing wasn't my biggest concern. It was the rust in the interior of the barrel and the breach that had me concerned.

Step number one was to give the barrel a good cleaning. I soaked a brush in the tried and true Hoppes #9 Solvent and ran it through the barrel. After repeating the process about 7 or 8 times I went to run a patch through the barrel. Alas I had no more patches. Might be a good idea to pick some up. Pro tip: Torn sections of a triangle bandage work just as well. Eventually I ran a "patch" through clean. Success except for the small pockets of rust that remained. At that point I set a $85.00 budget on this project. Chances are that barrel may need to be replaced. So until I have a gunsmith weigh in the barrel is done.

Small pockets of rust inside the barrel.

Another view of the barrel before cleaning.

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Make shift patch after first run through barrel.

 

The breach after field stripping.

The breach also had a fair amount of rust. The good news there is that it appears to be easily corrected and only contained to specific areas. The action works great and appears to be rust free.

After inspection I gave all the metal a nice soak in Rem-Oil in an attempt to stop any further corrosion. I also ran a light coat of Rem-Oil down the barrel as a preventive measure.

     
           The next steps are going to be:
        1) Have a gunsmith look at the barrel.

Soaking the metal in Rem-Oil.

2) Price and purchase a re-blueing kit
3) Buy some patches so I don't have to use triangle bandages!

Project #1 The Shotgun

I was recently gifted a Harrington and Richardson Model 88 not to long ago. It is a single shot 12 gauge holding 3" shells and sports a 28" barrel. It was manufactured with a full fixed choke. From the pictures below you will see what the project is going to be.

The "BA" serial number indicates that the weapon was made in 1983.

Unfortunately the gun had been sitting around unprotected for some time. The stock shows some wear and tear but nothing that can't be refinished.