Remora holsters review

I haven't posted product reviews, not sure if it is something I plan to do more often. But any rate here it goes. Recently I came across Remora Holsters on the vast interwebs. My first thought was immediate dismissal. In photos these holsters look to be nothing more than bigger versions of the common and cheap pocket holsters. However I needed a pocket holster so I tried I one. I figure at worst, I end up with a decent pocket holster, at best, it works as intended.

My initial thoughts couldn't be further from my assumptions. The built quality is more substantial than that of the typical pocket holster. What is most apparent is the heavy, high resistance rubber found on the outside of the holster body. The idea is that this material is substantial enough to anchor the holster in the waistband and keep it from moving. As a matter of fact it works so well it was difficult to remove from the plastic bag it was shipped in.

The inside of the holster is made from a substantial feeling nylon material. In between the two layers appears to be a neoprene like material. I am unsure of what it actually is, but it is thick enough to keep the bits and pieces sticking out from the gun from sticking you in the side, yet thin enough to add virtually no width to the gun.

Carrying the gun inside the waistband proved easy with a small .380. It worked well in just elastic band shorts. I was very impressed with the small sized holster, so I decided to try it with a bigger, heavier gun. I ordered one for a officer sized 1911. The model in particular was a Rock Island compact. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, even with the significant weight of an all steel gun, the holster didn't move at all. It stays anchored well against an undershirt. But even more surprising, it is completely anchored against skin.

The .380 model was ordered with their one handed re-holsering option. This is essentially a piece of plastic sewn into the holster mouth which allows it to stay open against the waistband of the pants. While it does make it easier to put the gun into the holster, it isn't quite one handed, but it beats taking the holster out and reinserting the whole affair. It does make pocket carry a bit more difficult.

Overall I am very impressed with these products. I can see myself quickly expanding my collection to handle most of my other often carried guns. Next on my list is giving their dual magazine carrier an honest try. I will update more with the results of that test. But so far, I have been converted to a Remora believer from a skeptic. When I first saw these I assumed these were another gun show fad designed to do nothing more than take money from gun owners pockets. But I was proven dead wrong, these are a simple but stunningly effective first rate product.

Masterpiece Arms Protector II Review.

Hi all


I am posting this on my favorite few forums and blogs (and here because it's mine) because I had a hard time finding reviews on this model.

This is a review of my Masterpiece Arms Protector II. I have searched far and wide for a review of this gun before deciding to pick it up ages ago. As it seems, there aren't so many examples of this gun on the internet. What appealed to me is the steel construction and the lack of MIM'd parts on the gun. The gun resembles a Seacamp .380, the main differences include the added beavertail, barrel porting, and the placement of the magazine release.

First impressions. This thing is light for a solid steel gun. When I picked up the plastic hardshell box it came in I immediately thought someone at the factory forgot to put the firearm in there. The gun comes packages with one magazine, a +10% magazine spring and a flat baseplate to replace the one with the finger rest. I tried the flat base plate, and did not like it. The extra mag spring wasn't needed as the gun functioned ok without it. Also included is the most worthless trigger lock I have ever seen. It is like the one that Big 5 uses, it is simply a large screw with plastic blocks on either side. The head of the screw has two holes that a spanner type key fits into.

One thing to note on this gun is it is capable of firing without a magazine. However there is a warning not to. The side of the magazine functions as the internal surface which the trigger bar rides against. If it's not there, it will disconnect after releasing the hammer. The fix for this is easy, it just involves removing a grip panel, but not something you want to do out in the wild if it can be avoided.

The slide was very stiff when first handled unboxed. This is typical of most .380 pocket guns. However after the initial run of 100 rounds it is much easier to use. Keep in mind that the recoil springs (there are two) need changed every 200 rounds. I would highly advise keeping a few extra on hand, the manufacturer sells them at a great price.

At the range I fired three types of ammo. Hornady Critical Defense, Aguila JHP (both 90 grn), and HPR 90 grain XTP JHP. First I ran 25 rounds of the HPR ammo. At first I noticed that some of these rounds were too long for the magazine. Not all of them, but maybe one out of five. Then I ejected a round that was chambered half way through a magazine and noticed excessive bullet setback. I fired a few more rounds and had a high failure rate due to the bullet taking a significant set. They did the same thing in my Sig P238 as well. I was able to compress the rounds by hand, so I blame this solely on the HPR ammo. The other rounds did function 100%.

Down to the actual shooting. This gun lacks traditional sights. Instead it has a U-channel down the top of the slide, and continuing to the barrel. It does what is meant to do, but it will never be a bullseye gun. The farthest I shot at was 20 feet. I didn't produce the best group I ever had, but all of the rounds were easily center mass. In retrospect I should have taken a picture of the target. Recoil was stout, but not as bad as I expected. Those two small holes for porting really do their job. The Aguila and HPR produced a decent flash from the porting. But the Hornady Critical Defense didn't produce any that I could discern. And no flash was visible with any ammo if you were focusing on the sight. My two complaints are that the grip panels may need touched with a fine grit sandpaper at the rear by the beaver tail as there is a very slight edge to them. And the magazine release is hard to manipulate. But when taking the grip off ( because I forgot to insert an empty magazine when dry firing) it pops right out. A little Flitz along the edges that interface with the spring and the cut out in the frame, and a drop of good lube and it works much more smoothly. Also about 25 rounds in plus some good lubing the slide is much easier to manipulate.

All in all for under $300 this is an excellent buy. It's not without the limitations many other pocket .380's have. But for the same price range as a Kel-tec (who I love by the way) its a great choice.

Removing the Republican Party off of Life Support

Dear RIght Wing Crackpots

I supported you for years, I have always enjoyed the idea of a lean government with an appreciation for personal freedoms. When the Tea Party came around, I believed in the message, I believed in Americans taking the governmental focus away from lobbyists and big money and making it about the citizens again. It wasn't long before that movement and the political party got over run by extremists that are the likes of the American Taliban. Strict adherence to a historical story supported entirely by faith and it's related literature (the Bible), desire to control a women's reproductive choices, the fear mongering and vitriol directed at those who disagree with them that is just one step shy of inciting physical violence. And most importantly their extremists views have either forced good Republicans out of office, or made those in office share their views in the public eye in order to keep their jobs. 

For the last and final time. Your god is not real, evolution is real, so stop shoving your non-existent puppet master up my ass every time I read about the 2012 election. Abortion is none of the governments business, and if two dudes want to be in a relationship and receive the same tax benefits as a married couple, who gives a shit? I don't see how restricting any of these things increases freedom, but I do see how it mandates people live the Christian lifestyle that you so boldly want to force on all of us. 

Right now the extremists would call me a filthy socialist anti-American terrorist. But let me lay this out really clearly for all of you, because quite frankly I don't care what you think. Here are my opinions, you decide where I fall in your mind, because the titles of this two party system have led to nothing but a wide divide in this government that has managed to accomplish nothing. 

Gun control: Against it, restricting liberty has not shown to reduce crime. Data has shown it for years, end of discussion. 

Abortion: I am not pro-choice, I am straight up pro-abortion. Too many kids are born to mothers who are unwilling or unable to raise them. They then become a burden on the taxpayers. Allow easy and legal access to abortion without the mandated "guilt ultrasounds". See that respects freedoms, and is fiscally responsible, suck on that Paul Ryan. 

Gay Marriage: If I hear the word abomination one more time my head may explode. For the last time, get your superstition out of my government. All your strict adherence to the bible tells me is that you are too stupid, scared, or lazy to make decisions based on your world experiences. Besides the references to homosexuality in the Bible are questionable at best. And this is operating under the premise that the stories in the Bible are real to begin with.  A friend of mine who is a devout Christian said that he personally does not agree with gay marriage, but he does realize that his church isn't the government, and not everyone shares his views. This is the most enlightened approach to this subject I have heard so far. For crying out loud, let gays get married, their homes will probably look better than ours anyway. 

Immigration: The system is broken, however illegal is illegal. Amnesty is a bad idea, I do not believe in rewarding those who break the law. Do I have the solution? Nope, and I don't claim to. But I am at least willing to talk about it without breaking the debate down into partisan name calling. 

Drug laws: I am in support of the regulation of most controlled substances. I have first hand witnessed the effects of these substances, and they do destroy people. And lets face it, most drug users never get caught, so I can reasonable say that it is the drug itself, not the fallout from the legal system that deregulation would prevent. 

The Economy: Hell if I know, but all I know is we seemed to be doing fine when the commercial and investment banks were split. A piece of legislation that went into effect as a protection after the Great Depression. It seems as if the American public never learns. 

The Death Penalty: Firing squads are much less expensive.

National Defense: We spend a ton of money on it. But we got leveraged into that position by the rest of the world. We have somehow assumed the default role of "World Police" while other countries "support" us by sending a case of ammunition and a few soldiers. However I do believe in solidly wiping any country off the map when they become an active aggressor towards us. However not in this new sensitive post-Vietnam war style, in the "George Washington crossing the Delaware river at night on Christmas and kill you in your sleep style". 

Healthcare: There is a problem with healthcare this country. I am not sure the new laws are the way to fix it, as a matter of fact, I am pretty sure they are not. I do however think that some regulation needs to exist in areas where it hasn’t in the past. Lets look as the drug companies and the frivolous lawsuits. The other crisis is too many people receive healthcare. There is no reason the tax payers should be providing life extending treatment to chronic drug addicts and people unwilling to take interest in their own care. If your not interested in managing your life, than I am not either. That being said, there is a segment who need care and can not afford it. Again, I do not claim to have the answers, but I am willing to discuss it. Which is more that you can say about the asshats we keep employed making these legislative decisions. 

I am going to commit the absolute worst sin a Republican can commit. I am changing my political party on my voter registration. I have dabbled in Libertarian, and Independent, but thats not a strong enough message. I believe the Republican party is dying, it is a matter of time before the cancer of religious extremism does them in. And I want to do everything in my power to speed up that process. Think of it as a political mercy killing. The sensible conservative party has become demented, very expensive to keep alive, a huge burden to it's family members, and is shitting it's bed every night about the time the nightly news comes on. It is time to remove it from the ventilator, and maybe hold a pillow over it's face if needed. Although I do not support President Obama and many of the decisions he has made, I don't support the Republicans about as much. I am therefore changing my party to Democratic. 

Don't cry, when things get better I will come back. But I am trying to send a message by shrinking the numbers as much as I can. You can't turn around without hearing how much your vote matters. That may or may not be total bullshit. But I can imagine that the number of registered voters surely matters to a political party in an election year. 

Holy Crap

Holy crap guys! I just realized that I haven't posted on here in two years. I am busier than ever with life. I have decided to finish my undergraduate work and attempt to get into a medical school. And I have transferred to work in an Emergency Department. My days working in the field are pretty much gone. I miss it, but I don't miss the political crap I had to deal with due to the nature of working as a volunteer in an EMS/Law Enforcement agency. The plus side, is the Emergency Department has given me many more great stories, and I have learned so much more in the last year than I have in the last 8 years of working in the hospital on the med/surg floors. I will try to be better, I promise.

The best opening line ever. June 1st, 2008

At work when we get a patient admitted I will read through the patient care report that the paramedcs write. And last night I think I found the most epic opening ever. The patient was a female who was drunk to the point of no return. The first sentence simply said “Patient was found on a party bus.” Just for a moment think about how great your night must have been up until that point. She was certainly having much more fun that the patient that was “Found spread over the hood of a GMC Yukon”.



It’s the simple things that keep me amused.

Surgery 2

Well.... It's done. Overall the surgery went smoothly, the tumor is out, and they were able to reattach the bone and sew my ass up. That's great. However you get a totally different perspective of healthcare from being the patient. That being said I have had some really good experiences and some not so good ones. I don't even remember the post-op recovery period. I do however remember being moved to the ICU. The day nurse I had on the day of surgery was great. She was very helpful to me and my family. Pain control was excellent. Overall a great A+ experience. My night nurse however started out strong, but as time went on really couldn't give a shit. She was short with my wife, which I didn't appreciate. But the most infuriating part was the approximately 7 hour gap in pain medication the day after surgery.

Now please understand me here. I am not one of those people trying to get drugs. I haven't ever really been on pain meds until this experience. However, imagine this. You have been laying face down for a four hour surgery. They cut through your skin, and some of the most dense muscle in your body. Then they saw off the rear portion of two of your vertabrae, open the dura, and cut out a nerve root, slowly slice off a tumor, and reseal your dura, screw your bone back on, and then sew up the muscle of your lower back, and stich the skin. That muscle contracts every time you do anything. Even a simple cough causes pretty siginficant pain. And now imagine that 20 short hours after this, all of your pain meds have been discontinued because this nurse had the forsight or the willingness to simply change an order in a computer, or even enter the room when you asked for help. Unacceptable. I guess I simply wasn't exciting enough for this critical care nurse.

Fortunately that day I was transferred to telemetry. The nurse there was someone I had known for quite a while. She was great, the night nurse was great, and then I was lucky enough to have her the next day. I spent three days on tele, and then was discharged.

The Neurosurgeon, Internal Medicine doc, and Cardiologist I saw while inpatient were all great. I am lucky in the respect that I work with my Internal Medicine doctor. So when this all started I had the luck of picking the Neurosurgeon. The Cardiologist was a random assignment as far as I was concerned. But I got lucky, and he is a good guy.

More people than I expected came to see me, and I heard from just about everyone I knew on the internet. I am very thankful for all the support from my friends. And for God's sake my wife. That poor woman, I have been such a pain in her ass. Just ask her about it.

Overall I am home, and recovering. All things at this point are looking good. I am able to walk fine, albeit slow at times. I am not on anything for pain, and the incision is looking good. If I had to put a number to it I would say I am 98& independant. I am still stuck with lifting restrictions however. So we follow up with the Neurosurgeon and he wants to scan the rest of my back and brain. So until then...

Surgery 1

Well for those of you that don't know already I will be having a surgery August 5th. Fortunately and Unfortunately the surgery will be at the hospital I work at. Three months of chronic lower back pain ultimately led to an MRI of the lumbar spine being done. Those images revealed a 2cm tumor in the spine. Surgery should be quick and easy. Hopefully I'll get some wicked bad ass tumor pictures to put up here. So far things seem to be going pretty smoothly, aside from the original back pain, but we will all have a nice sigh of relief after the pathology results come back. A week or so in the hospital, and some out patient physical therapy and hopefully I will be as good as new. Plus I will get a shiny new airport security pass to go with some new hardware. The plus side is I will have some free time at home to write more. I really haven't been as current with this site as I would like to be. Maybe I will piece together some articles or some kind of educational material. Or maybe I will be doing some mad rantings. Whatever the case, hopefully I will put some good stuff up.