Girls with Guns Friday #1 - Cowgirls

Happy Girls with Guns Friday!

This weeks theme will be Cowgirls/Saloon Girls.

We'll start with one of the hottest women to ever play a cowgirl:
Raquel Welch made cowgirl history with her portrayal of Hannie Caulder in the 1971 film with the same name

 That same year another western called The Legend of the Frenchie King was made staring an Italian hottie name Caludia Cardinale, who actually looks a lot like Ms. Welch.

 This is Claudia

The 2006 movie Bandidas starred the smoking hot latina pairing of Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek

Some other Cowgirls

Here is Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell, Madeleine Stowe and Drew Barrymore in the 1994 Western Bad Girls

A couple more cowgirls

 Competition shooter Jessie Duff in Cowboy Action Shooting from the Downrange-TV show Cowboys
Cowboys once appeared on the Outdoor Channel, it has been gone for awhile now, I wish they would resurrect it

If any of the pictures above belong to you and you would like them taken down or credited to you, please let me know

Project Night Prowler

This is part of a series of posts on building affordable guns. See also:
Building an inexpensive Home Defense Shotgun
Building an inexpensive Hunting Rifle 


I bought a rusty Marlin model 60 at the gun show. The price was only $50, so I figured, what the hell.

This is what the gun looked like when I got it (not actual pictures, but you get the idea). The gun was missing the front sight and was also very dirty (neglect didn't end with the rust).

 The Marlin Model 60s have an aluminum receiver and cheap birch stocks.

There wasn't much sense in restoring the gun, its value would not appreciate much. You can find these in good to excellent shape for $80-$150.

So I stripped the gun & cleaned it up by doing a complete detail stripping. I also polished some of the internals.

I painted it flat black, I also found the proper front sight and screw in my parts bin, don't ask me where I got it, I was just lucky I guess.

 I bought a scope mount that fit the 11mm rail on the top of the receiver

and a Bushnell 3-9 x 50mm lighted reticule scope. The lighted reticule & the large 50mm Objective will make it easier to get the varmints on target at night.

The scope sat a little high, so I wanted to add some sort of raised cheek rest.

I thought about one of these from Blackhawk,
I bought one of these for my Savage model 9317 and I didn't like the way it tied on to the stock, but it is a non-permanent modification.

I also considered one of these Kydex adjustable ones, but the price was more than I paid for the gun.

 I ended up buying one of these universal cheek rests from ATI. They are affordable and they screw to the stock for a solid mount and one more thing....they are made in the USA! You can find them here

I taped the cheek rest in place and drilled the holes

Then attached it with the provided screws

Project Night Prowler is complete

Here is a breakdown of what I spent on this project:

Gun: $50
Front Sight: $0
Scope: $39
Scope Mount: $15
Universal Cheek Rest: $10

Grand total = $114

Girls with Guns: How not to do it

I decided to start a new tradition, on select Fridays I will post my favorite pictures of girls with guns, each Friday will have a different theme.

A couple of years ago I published a calendar of Girls with Guns featuring women who actually know how to shoot. I enlisted some help from the famous pro-Second Amendment blogger and photographer Oleg Volk

Here is the sample page that we put on the back of the calendar
Front cover:

 I wasn't 100% satisfied with the results, but I had limited control as I was not the only photographer and I didn't have sufficient time to dedicate to the project.
 
To be honest I don't really care for the "cheesy" pictures of girls in bikinis with guns. I prefer pictures of girls who look like they belong with a gun.  I also do not appreciate it when they use fake or air-soft guns.....

So I decided to post some pictures of how not to do it.

Beautiful girl, nice back drop, but why is she holding an AK-47 and standing on a boat in a bikini?

 This one fails on every level

 Fake guns, no backdrop??

 I don't even know where to start with this one......

 Again, nice looking girl, a gun that appears real, but what is the story, and where is she supposed to be? A dark wind tunnel?

 Another major fail, toy guns...

 Fake guns again, no backdrop and phony outfit

Those are the bad, here are some good ones:

 OK now here is what I am talking about, she is armed with both a pistol and a rifle, both period correct (1873 Winchester, 1873 Colt). She is in a corral, and appears to be watching for the herd or approaching bad guys?

picture courtesy of William Bates photography

This appears to be a civilian training with the military? See the personnel in the back ground. She even has the correct Beretta pistol.

 This one is 1/2 way there, nice back drop, right gun, but the outfit needs to be a bit more realistic

 I am not big on cosplay, but if you are going to do it, do it right like this girl, playing the part of the Tomb Raider

Photo courtesy of Nelson Fatagraf (Facebook page). The model is Tya (Facebook page)

 Here is a great Bond Girl type photo, she has what appears to be a real gun (1911) and she looks like she is hiding near an aircraft, perhaps to get the jump on Max Zorin? (A View to a Kill?)

 If any of the pictures above belong to you and you would like them taken down or credited to you, please let me know

Our One Year Anniversary

It has been a whole year since I started this blog.

I thought I would post an update on some highlights of my posts to keep everyone up to date and to reflect on some of my projects.

Don't worry, this is only a partial list of the 84 posts on my blog.

My 1st post was about firearms finishes and what I learned in the process of restoring guns.

A Lesson in Refinishing

I then documented my first attempt at the HOt Salts Bluing method

A New Start

I did a post on a hunting rifle that I did my own Camouflage painting on I will follow that up with a post this summer showing how it was done

More Camo

I followed up that post this year with a post on how to build an inexpensive hunting rifle

Building an Inexpensive Hunting Rifle

My Father & I started (and eventually finished) a complete restoration of a Winchester model 1906 pump action .22 rifle. At the completion of the project, my Father gave me the gun as a gift.

Father & Son Project


I thumbed my nose at the Hoplophobes with my Tacticool 10-22

Something for the Hoplophobes

That post got updated after my search for a better 10-22 gun stock

Stock Options

 We looked at the advantages of Stainless Steel Media Tumbling


Stainless Steel Media Tumbling

We took a look at the guns used by Hollywood in our favorite films

Movie Guns

 We documented the refinishing of a walnut gun stock using Birchwood-Casey's Tru-Oil

Stock Refinish

We examined the Zombie Gun Craze

Zombie Guns

We followed that up with:

Theme Guns

Pink Guns
 
After searching for and buying a new gun safe, I shared what I had learned 

A Primer on Gun Safes


I started some new projects, finishing knives by installing the handles and polishing

New Project: Knives


We examined some of the more exotic guns both modern and antique

Exotic Guns - Antique

Exotic Guns - Modern

Another restoration project, a very rusty Ruger Standard Pistol from 1951

Redemption for an Unloved Gun

We took a look at the copy cat guns in the industry

Attack of the Clones

We attempted to settle the dispute over the benefits of reloading by comparing costs

To Reload or not to Reload

I showed how I polish my stainless steel handguns

Polishing you Gun

We explored options on keeping tabs on your gun collection

Record Keeping

I performed a trigger job on a Ruger SP101

Trigger job for a Ruger

While searching for a new stock for my Mossberg 590, I displayed the options available

Mossberg 500 Stock Options

We took a gander at the anomaly colloquially known as "Kabooms"

Kabooms

I documented the modifications to my Beretta CX4 Carbine

Beretta CX4 Carbine Mods

I profiled the process on saving gun screws that were messed up by using the wrong screw drivers

Fixing Buggered Gun Screws

We examined and dispelled some myths regarding the Winchester Model 94 receivers.

Winchester Model 94 Rifles

I started a Firearms Dictionary, explaining terms, nicknames, and abbreviations used in the gun world.

Firearms Dictionary

We explained and cleared up some of the worst myths and legends involving guns

Gun Myths and Legends

In honor of Elmer Keith's Birthday I documented the history of my favorite cartridge: The 44 Magnum (look for a similar write up on the history of the 357 Magnum)

The 44 Magnum

I found a sporterized Arisaka at the gun show for cheap, I decided to improve upon the previous gunsmith's work. Stay tuned for updates on this project

Latest Gun Show Find

Sporterized Arisaka Redux Part 1


I performed an action job on a Ruger 10-22, this is an easy project that almost anyone can do to improve the performance of this iconic rifle

10-22 Action Job

This was a review of one of the guns in my Shotguns post, this was a documentation on how I built a home defense shotgun for cheap

Building an Inexpensive Home Defense Shotgun

We did an update on the movement of women into the gun world, this post displays many of the new products designed for worm

More Pink


A brief history of Ruger's Security/Service/Speed Six line of double action revolvers

Ruger's 1st Double Action Revolvers

The post from earlier this week in case you missed it, the title explains it

Creative uses for Ammo Cans

Creative uses for Ammo Cans

Surplus ammo cans have been used by American Sportsmen for years to store their boxes of cartridges.

They have long been used as sterile containers for First Aid Kits

 


Of course people use them for magazine storage as well

 They have also been used to store valuables 

Because they are airtight, they found a use as humidors for cigars

 Then people began using them for storing and organizing all sorts of items. MTM Case-Gard makes trays that fit inside the 50 cal cans

Not sure who made these ones, but its the same idea

People have used them as saddle bags for motorcycles

As a center console for your Jeep

External storage racks for Jeeps as well

As an airbox for your engine's intake?

 How about as a portable MP3 speaker box?

A bug-out Radio?

A computer?

A mailbox?

As a lamp base

As a shadow box?

What a minute, a camp stove? Really?

They have been used to hide Geo-caches......

 Just be advised, they are not rust proof. This poor High Standard Sentinel will never be the same