Trailrider #896

The ejector springs in the Rossi '92's probably came from the trucks on a railroad boxcar! I have some early Puma and M95 Rossi's, and had to cut a turn-and-a-half off the ejector springs and then compressed the spring in a bench vise! Haven't had any problems, and as I keep my trigger finger out of the guard until the action is fully closed, I'm not sure if the hammer will fall. Mine are in .44-40 and .44 Magnum, respectively. Glad you weren't seriously hurt!

Part of the problem with the Martin B-26 was the fact that it was initially placarded to land at too LOW a speed, which led to stalls and crashes! It had such a bad reputation that AAF Chief Hap Arnold asked Jackie Cochran to fly the plane, his thinking being that "if a woman could fly it" male pilots could. What Cochran found was that the approach and landing speeds needed to be higher. In addition, Martin added length to the wings, which increased the surface area, and decreased the stall speed. After the modifications, and changes to flying speeds, the B-26 became an excellent medium bomber. The A-26, later redesignated the B-26 Invader was a much better attack bomber, and a number were used in Korea, with a bunch more .50 cal. MG's in the nose, and IIRC some 20mm as well. Yes, a number were converted to civilian business planes. (The plane in James Garner's movie, "Cash McCall" was just such a plushed-up B-26.

One 7-1/2" and one 5-1/2", both have .44-40 and .44 Magnum cylinders fitted. The .44-40 cylinders have tight .425" throats, but with hardcast bullets, shoot very accurately. 1-5/8 inch 5 round groups at 25 yds on the bench! Haven't shot much since the pandemic, and otherwise busy. Now having some problems with my right thumb cocking dualist style. When the weather improves may try to get back into it, cocking left-thumb if necessary.

All well and good. But if the bird started to spin, a lot of the crew could get pinned in by centrifugal force! Same was true of the BUFF (B-52). The BUFF's that had more crew in the belly than there were downward ejection seats had to try to crawl to the holes left by the seats and dive out. According to some reports a number of people didn't get out. Bless them all! The long and the short and the tall!

Do you mean the gold bullet or the Colt's SAA becoming grape shot...in all directions?

U.S. shot down at least 70 drones and possibly 2 ballistic missiles. Jordon also shot down a number of drones that passed over their airspace. Appears most of the missiles were aimed toward the less populated Israeli areas in the South. First reports by Israel are minimal damage and one young girl was injured! Still not sure if this was a face-saving effort on the part of Iran, or what. They can say to their people, "We responded to Israel's killing of those generals in Syria. Question now is how Israel will respond. Just have to wait and see...

Iran has fired over 200 drones. cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at Israel! The U.S. has shot down at least one drone (from a ship?). Does Israel have enough AAA supplies due to a slowdown in replenishment by the U.S.? If Israel becomes eccitentially threatened, how will they respond? Iran better watch out. Because whether Jerusalem acknowledges it publicly or not, they have the capability of turning Tehran into a trinitite parking lot! Pray it doesn't come to that!

Subs, especially SSBN "Boomers" and current attack subs are ships. But, they are referred to by their crews as "boats". The senior petty officer on a sub is referred to as "Chief of the boat." I think even the WWII fleet subs were ships, but referred to by submariners as "the boat".

Hollyweird strikes again. OTOH, the sci-fi show I watched on TV as a kid...Tom Corbett, Space Cadet...had rockets landing by backing down on their flaming exhausts. Supposed to be in the year 2350, a world beyond tomorrow. Of course, we knew that was science fiction. Never happen, right? I think SpaceX has done it 279 times last count!

NO! Sorry, I will NOT make a holster for this monstrosity!

Yup! Or Red Skelton's "Mean Widdle Kid".

Teddy Blue was a good friend of Charlie Russell, and married Granville Stewart's younger daughter. The book is a great read!

I used to fly Ozark Airlines DC-3's from Peoria to O'hara Chicago when I was in college. One time, it was at night, and I was the only passenger onboard! I asked the stewardess (that's what they called the ladies in those days) to ask the captain if I could come up to the flight deck., as I was an Air Force ROTC cadet and had dreams of punching holes in the sky (didn't happen ). Captain said yes, and I stood between the seats. Full moon and a 10/10th undercast below us. What a sight. "In '51 they tried to ground the noble DC-3, And so some lawyers went before the CAB, The Board examined all the facts, behind their great oak portals, And then pronounced these simple words: The Gooney Bird's immortal! They patch her up with masking tape, With paper clips and strings, And still she flies, she never dies, Mathusalah with wings!" - Oscar Brand

Oh, when I saw "It Froze Over", I thought you were referring to Hell...Michigan.

As far as taking off with one engine is concerned, it would depend on how powerful each engine is, and also if both engines were close to the aircraft centerline. If outboard on the wings and you are below Vmc (minimum control speed), and you lose an engine, you pull back power on the good engine or you may wind up on your back, which could ruin your whole day! At least that is what my IP's taught me when I got my FAA light twin rating.