February 2020

Charitable Causes

Code of Vets – A Great Veteran Charity

February 19, 2020 By The Grey Beard Biker™️ 4 Mins Read

When a lot of people see me and my biker brothers rumbling down the road they often times think we are a bunch of thugs. And while there are inevitably biker thugs, there are plenty of thug lawyers (Duh, Captain Obvious), business executives, salespeople and politicians (another BIG Duh!). What these apprehensive non-bikers don’t realize is that most REAL bikers are family men (and women) that have great friends, hold down real jobs and are very active in their communities.

We are also very generous with charities we believe in. One of our local groups is Bikers Who Care. This great organization hosts a summer camp for children battling illness and injuries called Camp Rainbow. They also run the BWC Toy Run – which every September collects thousands of toys for needy families in the area. There are plenty of great charities supported by the biker community – another of which is one of my favorites: Bikers Against Child Abuse. But, by far, my favorite charities support our armed forces. Every Memorial Day Weekend your ever-lovable Grey Beard Biker rides to the mountains to take part in Smoky Mountain Thunder – a charitable organization which for the past 20 years has worked to raise awareness for POWs, PTSD and other veteran causes. But here I am rambling on when what I really want to do is tell you about another great charitable organization which helps veterans – Code of Vets.

Code of Vets

Living near Fort Campbell, I have many brothers and sisters in either the 101st Airborne Division, 5th Group Special Forces or 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). We ride together, break bread together and once in a while throw back an adult beverage with a nice cigar (okay, sometimes it’s more than one adult beverage). Our veterans and active duty military service members are great people and very genuine. But often, they are away from home on deployment for long period of time – leaving family behind. Some suffer from the long term effects of injuries and PTSD. And worst, some never make it home – leaving a family behind. Additionally, there are financial struggles, family issues and many other difficulties they face on a daily basis.

I first heard about Code of Vets on Twitter. If you were to type in #CodeofVets in the Twitter search box, you will find thousands of Patriots who support this 501(c)(3) organization. Most of us know of several national veteran organizations such as Wounded Warrior Project, the USO, Homes for Our Troops and Tunnel to Towers. These organizations are all well known for their work, but larger organizations also have lots of expenses and staff salaries. This reduces the amount of support they can provide our veterans and families. What makes Code of Vets so unique is that it’s a grassroots organization. Your donation to them is not slashed by the heavy expenses incurred by the large charitable veteran organizations.

About Code of Vets

One of the strengths of Code of Vets is their ability to use social media to reach out to veterans in need. As its founder, Gretchen Smith, has stated, the organization’s output is literally “virtual boots on the ground.” They are able to connect veterans in crisis with other veterans who have experienced similar challenges. Code of Vets, and its partners, can assist veterans trying to navigate the bureaucracy which is the VA, get professional help for their medical and emotional needs and even help with their financial needs. Their staff is comprised of volunteers dedicated to helping veterans. Gretchen has told me that 99% of donations go to support veterans with the only real costs being credit card processing fees and accounting services.

But, there is no one who can tell you about Code of Vets any better than Gretchen:

Gretchen Smith explains what the Code of Vets does

Our veterans need our help. Your ever-lovable Grey Beard Biker encourages you to donate to the charities of your choice. But for veteran causes, you cannot find a better organization to donate to than Code of Vets. To learn more about them, or to donate, click HERE. You can be assured that almost your entire donation will go to support our veterans – which is why we donate in the first place. Please feel free to reach out to me via email with any questions. I will forward these directly to Code of Vets for response.

Until next time, keep the shiny side up!

Ride to Live! Live to Ride!
Grey Beard Biker™️
gbb@TheGreyBeardBiker.com
@Biker4Life on Gab

Gun Talk

SIG Sauer P365 SAS – Review

February 9, 2020 By The Grey Beard Biker™️ 6 Mins Read

SIG Sauer is one of the finest pistol manufacturers in the world. Your ever-lovable Grey Beard Biker owns many P-series pistols and several of their 1911s. The P365 was released on January 8, 2018 to very positive reviews. It was a unique pistol for the legendary manufacturer of semi-automatic pistols and rifles, in that, unlike their other compact 9mm, the P938, this pistol in its stock form comes with a double-stack magazine which boasts 10 rounds. If you carry with one in the chamber, which everyone should do, this compact pistol has 11 rounds of 9mm firepower in a gun smaller than my hand.

Introducing the SAS version of the P365

**The P365 SAS comes with a hard plastic case, pistol and both a flush mount and extended 10 round magazines**

SIG Sauer has manufactured the SAS version of their popular P-series pistols for years. SAS stands for SIG Anti Snag, which provides snag free draws by smoothing out the slide and the side controls. And while the P365 is the best-selling pistol in the United States, the SAS model was not released until October 2, 2019. As you will learn, this may be one of the very best, non-Legion, SIG pistols made today.

When I was looking at P365 pistols, I looked at the stand P365, the P365 SAS and their new P365 XL. My plan was to buy the standard model, because the XL was larger than I wanted for a compact carry. But when I looked down the slide of the SAS, and saw there were no standard tritium sights, I was taken aback. The P365 SAS has a unique flush mounted tritium sight which brings the sight axis down nearly to the barrel. This inevitably makes the pistol more accurate – which I confirmed on the range. It is essentially foolproof. You have the pistol lined up properly when the tritium dot appears. Granted, in a serious self-defense situation, which is more often than not at very close range, you will not be lining up the sights – you will be pointing and shooting!

Disassembly

**The P938 SAS fully disassembled for cleaning**

Taking down a P365 is like every other P-series – a proverbial piece of cake. Remove the magazine and cycle the slide to eject the cartridge from the chamber (double-check by cycling the slide again – you can never be too careful). Remember, a pistol without a round in the chamber is nothing more than a damn paperweight in a self-defense situation. The next step is to lock the slide back – and the P365 SAS is different here – you use either a medium size flat screwdriver – or my preferred tool, a nickel – to turn the takedown screw clockwise a half turn. There is no takedown lever on the SAS version of the P365. Release the slide and turn it upside down. Depress the stainless-steel guide rod and spring to remove it. Lift the chamber side of the barrel up and slide it backwards out of the muzzle – removing the barrel. The gun is torn down and can be cleaned.

**The takedown screw is visible directly above the trigger**

To reassemble the pistol, reverse these steps. The SAS takedown screw rotates automatically to the lock position when you release the slide so you can put your nickel away once you remove the slide. Cool beans!

**The P365 SAS slide and stainless-steel guide rod – notice the rounded edges on the slide**

Shooting the P365 SAS

My overall impressions were very positive with this newest offering of the P-series SAS pistol line. Sight acquisition is superb, which was a pleasant surprise. I was a bit concerned about the flush mounted sight, but it may be better than standard combat sights. Time will tell for me as I carry this pistol over a longer period of time.

**The tritium flush mounted sight is terrific – when you see the illuminating you are lined up**

Top view of the flush mounted tritium sight

I have larger hands. Other compact 9mm and .380 ACP pistols I have tried are uncomfortable for me to shoot. My hand tends to swallow these up and the muzzle lift during rapid fire often proved to cause inaccuracy for follow up shots. This was true for my last compact carry 9mm – the SIG P938. This gun was a beautiful example of what a compact concealed carry firearm should be. But it was a bit small for my hands and the muzzle lift was noticeable. The double stack magazine allows for more comfort with my gargantuan mitts and the muzzle life was much less noticeable due to the fact that SIG ported the barrel and slide on the SAS model – an ingenious idea which is long overdue for smaller caliber compact pistols or larger caliber models like my 10mm P220 SIG. Based on my search of SIG Sauer’s website, the P365 SAS is the only vented model pistol they make.

**Fully assembled SIG Sauer P365 SAS with the 12 round magazine installed**

The P365 SAS proved to be both accurate and easy to shoot. Unlike most compact striker-fired pistols, this model has a very crisp trigger and operates single action only (SAO). The trigger pull weight is not listed on their website, but I would judge it to be in the 5.5-6 pound range – with 6 pounds being what other reviewers have measured. With the vented barrel, follow up shots were quite accurate.

Summary

If you are looking for a compact concealed carry pistol, I would highly recommend the SIG Sauer P365 SAS. The retail price on this model is $580, compared to the P365 standard at $500 and the XL at $590. For the extra $80, I would highly recommend the SAS because of the sights and the vented barrel. You will have to compare the size of the XL to the other P365 models to see which you like better. I also purchased the extended 12 round magazine as it fits my hands better and provides 13 rounds of 9mm power.

Until next time, ride often and keep the shiny side down!

The Grey Beard Biker™️
gbb@TheGreyBeardBiker.com
@Biker4Life on Gab

Grey Beard Biker Ramblings

Embarrassed

February 7, 2020 By The Grey Beard Biker™️ 6 Mins Read

Yes, I said it. I am embarrassed. The world watches the United States. And I might say they watch what goes on here closely. Today, our country is more partisan than I ever recall it being – and that is saying a lot. Like many of you, I watched a most amazing State of the Union Address earlier this week. President Trump rightfully highlighted all of his major accomplishments. He was sincere. He offered to reach across the aisle to help with a school choice and an infrastructure bill. But everything fell on deaf ears on the Left.

We Learned our Lesson

The Republican Party has turned into the new party of inclusion. We learned our lesson when we rushed to impeach Bill Clinton – and Clinton actually broke the law. Not surprisingly, he was not convicted by the senate. We paid for rushing into a partisan impeachment during the next general election.

Then, starting in 2009, we managed to survive eight years of an Obama administration which had plenty of scandals of its own. Just in case you have forgotten them, here is a partial list of them:

Operation Fast & Furious for which Attorney General Eric Holder refused to comply with House subpoenas
Hillary Clinton email scandal
IRS targeting of conservative organizations (Lois Lerner)
Benghazi
The hacking of the Office of Personnel Management which exposed personnel files of Federal employees
Solyndra
Paying the terrorist supporting regime of Iran for the release of American hostages
Biden’s quid pro quo with Ukraine to fire a government prosecutor investigating his son – something which was largely unknown during Obama’s tenure but is well known now

There was plenty a Republican controlled House of Representatives could have used for impeachment – but we never yelled to impeach him. Republican freshmen representatives never screamed they were going to “impeach the mother fucker” on their first day in office – as Rashida Tlaib did. Conservative celebrities never threatened to move out of the United States. Conservatives were not pictured holding the severed head of Obama. There was no wide spread call for impeachment. Period.

Fast Forward to 2016

Even before Donald Trump was formally nominated by the Republican Party, there was noise of impeachment. Obama oversaw a FBI which illegally obtained FISA warrants to spy on Carter Page – an American citizen. Representatives such as Jerry Nadler, Maxine Waters, Adam Schiff and others were screaming for impeachment while Trump was president-elect. It has not stopped since. When the Russian Collusion narrative failed, they jumped on an alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine as enough to impeach Trump.

After wasting their entire first year in the majority, the house Democrats impeached Trump over nothing. They have done absolutely nothing for their constituents for nearly 13 months. It is absolutely beyond despicable.

This is an embarrassment

This has been a week which has provided more evidence of an economy humming along in hyperdrive, falling illegal border crossings and a president willing to reach across the aisle to get things done for the people. Additionally, we got to hear the closing arguments of house managers and the president’s counsel. We knew going into last weekend that the Senate majority leadership had defeated the Left’s attempt to retry their impeachment case by inserting new witnesses. Throughout last weekend, and early this week, we heard nearly every Democrat say how unfair this was. They said, “How there could not be a trial without witnesses.” Blah, blah, blah! Cry me a damn river.

**Courtesy of the awesome https://www.grrrgraphics.com/**

My embarrassment increased exponentially with the State of the Union Address on Tuesday night – and it had nothing to do with the speech. President Trump had ever reason to be proud of the accomplishments of his administration. But it did not matter how good the news was for ALL Americans – the Leftist crybabies would not cheer for the good which is happening right in front of their damn eyeballs. The things which are positively impacting their constituents. The only exception was Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) who stood up and applauded very regularly while sitting next to two of the biggest sour apples of the bunch: Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Kamala Harris (D-CA). Even things which should have received bi-partisan support did not: an original Tuskegee Airman who was promoted to brigadier general, a young black girl who was given a scholarship to attend a school of her choice and most glaringly, a family reunited when the husband, who had been serving overseas, appeared in the stands to surprise his wife and two children.

But what really sealed the entire embarrassment deal for me was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). We had to sit through the entire SOTU while watching her make faces, roll her eyes or shake her head. And then at the conclusion of the address, while the house chamber was shaking with applause, she proved just how partisan of a damn witch she is by tearing up the official speech in front of all of America – and the world. Maybe it’s true that when an aging senior citizen starts going downhill they actually start acting like a little child again. Because that was exactly the way she acted. Like a damn child.

Wednesday Healed All Wounds

**The Liberal rag, WAPO, proclaims, “Trump acquitted!”**

While it was no secret that Donald Trump was not going to be convicted by the Senate, it was quite a relief when it really happened – made better by Chief Justice John Roberts proclamation that DJT was acquitted of all charges. The voting went fully along partisan lines, with the one exception of Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) voting to convict Trump of abuse of power. It goes to show just what a damn RINO he is – and in my humble opinion it will cause his constituency to fire him during his next election. I had hoped that Sinema would stray from her Leftist partisan hacks and vote against conviction, but after applauding during the SOTU address, I am sure she was dressed down by her party’s leadership.

Looking Forward to 2020

I wish I believed this was the end of the partisan witch hunt. But old Jerry Nadler has said he may subpoena John Bolton to testify in front of his house committee. I am fairly certain we will see no mellowing of feelings on the left and nothing substantive will be accomplished by the House of Representatives before the 2020 General Election – an election I am hoping will sweep a Republican majority into the House of Representatives, increase our majority in the U.S. Senate and sweep Donald J. Trump into a landslide victory. Because the Democrats need to pay for acting like little children.

The Grey Beard Biker™️
gbb@TheGreyBeardBiker.com
@Biker4Life on Gab