Editor Dave Duffy tells me this blog is getting a good response.  Being a Luddite who doesn’t know from blogs, I’ll take his word for it. 

            I’ve tried not to be intrusive to reader responses, and let everyone have their say. Lots of good stuff!  A few comments do cry out for response, though.

            Anyone interested in more on the Dillinger matter may find my reconstruction of his shooting death at the Biograph Theater in Chicago in 1934 to be of interest. It’s on the stands now, in the July/August issue of American Handgunner magazine, under the continuing “Ayoob Files” feature..

            I mentioned that I was teaching in Harrisburg when the Heller decision was announced, and Jason the Saj commented that he’s from that area, and he was sorry he missed it. No sweat, Jason, we’ll be doing it there again next year. Stay tuned for date announcement at the Lethal Force Institute website at www.ayoob.com.

            Speaking of Heller, Dex wrote, “Scalia’s trips to the metaphorical woodshed with Stevens and Breyer are the most entertaining part of the opinion.”  I’ll second that!

            In re: the discussion of the Hi-Point pistol, lots of folks made cogent comments about the value of low-price, entry level firearms. Armed Jew remarked, “I’d really like to see Mr. Ayoob put these critters through their paces on the range.”  Been there, done that, bro.  Found the most reliable (100% so) and accurate was Hi-Point’s .380 model. I’ve also noted here already, as did several who commented, that their 9mm carbine is particularly nice.  I can also tell you that, according to dealers I’ve talked to, Hi-Point customer service is second to none.

            When I sent in a dispatch from the Midwestern floods, Brogan was concerned about cops entering homes without warrants under those circumstances. He saw it as “…another Katrina wrapped in a different package.” I hear where you’re coming from, Brogan, but I have to say I didn’t see any trampling of rights here.  In life-threatening disasters, emergency service workers – including police – have not only the right but the duty to check apparently abandoned dwellings to make sure there are no injured or infirm people inside who need to be rescued.

            Lots of folks shared their personal thoughts on “grail guns,” and every one mentioned was a fine and desirable firearm.  I only saw one I could help with: Heavyduty wrote that he’d love to own a round-butt, four-inch barrel specimen of the Model 681, Smith & Wesson’s fixed sight  L-frame (.41-frame) .357 Magnum in stainless. Almost all those revolvers were produced with square butts. There’s hope, though: attached is a photo of one of my 686s, the more common adjustable sight version of the same fine revolver. This one had its grip-frame reconfigured to the round butt shape by ace gunsmith Bob Lloyd. I can’t find Bob’s address, but there are lots of good Smith ‘smiths who can do the same job on the still available (if increasingly hard to find) square butt Model 681. Some 686s in the 4”/round butt configuration were also produced by S&W for US Customs, and surface occasionally on the collectors’ market.

            And finally, darn it, the bobcat never did come back.  L

4” S&W 686 rebuilt to round butt configuration (grips are Hogue) by ace gunsmith Bob Lloyd, who also trimmed the cylinder latch, bobbed the hammer, and did an outstanding action job. This gun won the New Hampshire IDPA Stock Service Revolver state championship a few years ago.