Huey's Gunsight

Fort Hood shooter asks for delay in Courts Martial...

2012-02-02T10:30:00.002-05:00

Major Nidal Hasan, the "accused" Fort Hood shooter has asked for a delay in his Courts Martial in order to prepare further as "purely a matter of necessity of adequate time for pretrial preparation." according to his appointed defense attorney. WTF? Over 2 years, multiple psych evals have declared him sane, multiple witnesses including MPs that he shot at as witnesses....WTF?

Story on CNN

...what a DOUCHEBAG!!

You know, I thought about finding a pic of him in uniform and then said F' that, being depicted in the same uniform of the soldiers and civilians he killed is a privilege that he does not rate!

Over 2 years ago Major Asshole...sorry...Hasan...no I like "Asshole" better.. went on a killing spree with a FN Five-Seven pistol in a SRP center at Fort Hood, TX...killing 13, mostly soldiers (who he specifically targeted instead of civilians), and wounding many others. His act to most of us was clearly a calculated slaughter aimed at his fellow service members under the pretense of Jihad. Even though the Army has failed to recognize this as a terrorist action there appears no doubt in my mind based upon information that has made its way to the publics attention..

Hasan had been in contact with radical Islamic groups before the shooting.
Hasan shouted "Allah Ahkbar" (God is Great) before the shootings, a statement said before killing sacrificial animals and Kaffur (Infidel)...

...and most importantly....

He apparently told Army officials of his beliefs including going off topic on a presentation he was giving to expound on Islam and saying that "non-believers would be sent to hell, decapitated, set on fire, and have burning oil poured down their throats"...yeah.

Well, to their credit Army officials have been able to provide proof that they discuss Major Assholes situation and what to do with him. I don't know if it was fear of the PC Police, being labeled as discriminatory or simply indeciveness, but the Army brass allowed this guy to be on the chess board long enough to even be selected for deployment, which may have well been the trigger for this tragedy.

You are a traitor Major Asshole...you could have applied for CO status or simply resigned your commission or refused to deploy and faced the consequences...instead you decided to wage war on the same soldiers that once called you comrade and slaughter them unarmed.

You are also a coward. Now that you have been caught after your crime you ask for delays and probably leniency in sentencing that you denied your victims.

As a traitor I hope you are sentenced to death and as a coward I hope you fear every second of your miserable life until this government you so dearly hate strips it from you.

But don't worry about the end so much Major Asshole, I got somebody that is real anxious to meet you....

...you and him are going to be great friends I'm sure....

Got a new toy, surprise its not another rifle...

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Of course we all know guns are not toys....

Bought myself an iPad 2 through a purchase program at work. I have been working with them at work for the past few months and with the iPhone in the pocket it seemed like a logical step considering I think that they are fantastic devices and I love the styling. Here it is at lunch today being used to read the new book about Glock I talked about last month (btw, I did not win a copy, I bought this iBooks copy)

Other apps are available for the gun type crowd including ballistic calculators, shot timers and firearm simulators..such as this little app (its free with a few pistols, but you need to pay for more guns)..

Cool, huh?

Anyway, what good is a tech toy with out a "tactical case" to carry it in...you know, in case you have to fight a cyber war or something.. so I bought one of these Maratac Tac-Pad cases from Contycomm of course...

It seems pretty cool, I like the soft inside and the nylon exterior, I am not going to be low crawling or anything like that but would like a carrier for it so I don't scratch the exterior while in another bag with magazines and what not flying around in it. I like the Maratac stuff I have gotten from Countycomm before, all of it is quality made and rugged, and they have some other neat stuff on their site. The also have their own demo on YouTube of the case and all the reviews I can find for it are postive....plus its was only $16.50...compare that to other cases on the market..win.

A fool and his money I tell ya....

February poll...1911 or G21

2012-02-01T11:11:00.002-05:00

Had a bit of fun with a pre-poll thread over on WTA on this same topic just to see what would happen. The 1911 and the G21 (Glock in general) seem to be on the polar opposite ends of the steel vs. polymer, old vs. new or less filling vs. tastes great ongoing-and-never-ending controversy in the gun world. I don't want people to over think this too much so I will lay out the following parameters:

This is a gun that you would carry (open or CCW) to defend yourself
The Glock is carried with 1 mag + 1 in the pipe, the 1911 is carried with 2 7 round mags (1 inserted with +1)
The 1911 is carried condition 1 (Cocked and locked)
The 1911 is a service/duty model but has 3 dot sights.

That should level the playing field for the 2 of them...just pick one and vote...comments are very welcome...as always.

Polls up the entire month of February.

And the winner is....9mm

2012-02-01T10:03:00.001-05:00

Well, winner in this past poll results that is....the question was What caliber is your current CCW?

Here's what you had to say...

I got to say these results are about where I thought they would be...with the current popularity of the pocket 9 format a lot of people (me included) are now carrying something like my LC9 or similar (and the choices just seem to grow constantly). The .40 and .45 were really not that far behind and if you take them together the adage to "use something that starts with a "4" " seems to be the predominant thought indeed.

Honestly, you can read and skew the numbers in so many different ways...I am just glad so many took the time to vote and that the same number of people are exercising their 2A right to defend themselves.

So Iran wants a piece of us....

2012-02-01T09:30:00.000-05:00

...screw it, I say let them have at us and see what happens. Let's face it, we've been itching to get some payback for the entire hostage deal since the 80's...now they are working on nuclear weapons and our intelligence agency thinks that they have been actively working target lists in NYC and building intel on our defenses. Let bomb them back to whatever time they think they came from.

Iranian head idiot in charge of stupid crap and crazy theories...

Generally I don't like using this forum to saber rattle, but enough is enough. They are like freaking the North Korea of Southern Asia...ever so often they throw a fit just to get something their way...and just like the Norks they have an mega-maniacal lunatic running the country ...Amenaje...ah...Admeznijerk...er... Ahkmedjusuk... damn, its like another Khadaff/Gadafi/Quadaffy thing. Whatever his name "President Alphabet" is about as wacko as they come in the international community...threatening other nations (Israel is of course a favorite) and generally being a PITA to the world. He also has a not-so-stellar record of human rights in his own country as well. Oh and lets not forget these....

What is that? Oh for the uninformed that my friends is a EFP-IED, explosively formed projectile improvised explosive device. Its a special little weapon that was employed by the insurgency against US and Coalition troops in Iraq. Basically its a copper place with a shaped charge behind it. That's the plate there on "top" of this one....its concave now but will pop "inside out" when the charge goes off forming a pointed projectile that will pierce through the armor of many of our vehicles over there...with usually bad results for our troops inside. The round is normally placed on its side with the plate end aimed at a road and buried in a berm or hidden with debris. Truthfully its a sound technical principal and used in our M21 anti-tank mines. Many of the ones that our troops captured had "made in Iran" all over them. Thanks douchebags. My friend Steve almost had his ass handed to him by one of these (which luckily went under his vehicle!). So if in any way a few cruise missiles or tactical bombing sorties could make up for them all the better.

Sure they got the largest and most powerful Army in the region according to CENTCOM...guess what, so did Iraq and see how well that went for their standing Army in 2003. They suffer from the same fault as all of these strongman regimes...centralized control..we cut the head off of the snake or otherwise isolate individual pockets of their Army and they are screwed. It'll be interesting how to see an Air War end up between both of us but I think it will turn out like we think it will....

An NO, I don't believe any doomsday prophecy associated with 2012 and a Madman in the Mid-East or whatever...I do believe in 500 and 1000 pound JDAMs though...

Pics from the 'net....

2012-01-31T10:30:00.000-05:00

Been away from this blog for a few days, sorry. Sitting here in the bunker cranking out a few posts to put out for the next few days...and then I am on vacation (holiday for you European types). Going to warmer regions for a week with the family, might chime in once while there if I run across anything worthy of mentioning on the gun front, but doubt it. Going to maybe try and push some stuff out for next week before I leave..we'll see......

Back to the post... Often I run across some funny stuff on the internet in the form of pictures....and sometimes you gotta think a bit when you see them... Here are a few examples...

#1 Old Lady with guns...

OK, that's a funny story right there. But I have to take a sec and question the "what are you afraid of / not a f___ing thing" line. Yes, I know its a joke. But many will look at that and high five themselves mentally thinking "hell yeah, packing my piece I fear no evil either..for I am the baddest mothere....blah blah blah". Yeah, you go buddy...right to your grave. Fear is a natural, essential part of being human. Anybody who has told you that they have faced death or danger without fear is either lying, crazy, stupid or a combo of any of the three.

The fight-or-flight response is a natural response to fear and the difference between those that fight and those that fly is not necessarily determined by whether one is armed or not. I assure you that most of those "black ops" guys all the mall ninjas try to imitate in dress and equipment have one thing that they don't. An acknowledgement of fear. Being brave isn't necessarily being fool hearty or blindly jumping into danger, its doing so knowing the danger but doing it regardless of the fear out of a sense of duty or honor to a higher calling or commitment. Once one can acknowledge their own fears they can then learn to manage and control them in order to work with fear, and not against it. That little "Spidey sense tingling" feeling one might get right before an ambush on patrol, the slight shiver that a police officer might feel before entering a dark alley that causes him to ready himself, the increased heart beat a CCW holder might feel when they notice the three 'hoods at the corner are sizing them up as they walk buy that causes them to move there had where its accessible to their weapon...all of this is fear. Its caused by ones awareness of the environment and the bodies reaction to stimulus it receives (sight, sound, smell, ect) and past training and experience that tells the brain to "watch out". Heed its warning, its your own version of a "early warning system".

Like in the 1986 movie Wall Street where Gordon Gecko talks about greed...Fear Works! Those who think that a gun will enable them to conquer fear by itself are destined to either fail and freeze or over react when they are confronted with it in a life or death situation. A gun is a tool in your arsenal of self defense, its not a magic wand that will make all things right it and of itself. Train yourself to deal with fear and use it instead of fighting it...

#2. Velociraptor Free Workplace...

Found this on my neice's FaceBook page. I've seen a couple different versions of this on the internet. Yeah its funny, funny and whether the person who made it or those that read it realize, it makes a point about guns as well. Its modeled after those "gun free zone" signs that we see often. This is obviously made to make fun of them and does so rather well.

What it also does is point out how ridiculous the "gun free" signs are as well. A sign like this will no more prevent you from an attack by and extinct dinosaur than a gun free sign will prevent someone carrying a gun intent on doing bad things from walking through a door. Does anyone actually think any workplace shootings have been stopped because the disgruntled employee who packed a pistol and a bag of ammo and went to work to shoot his fellow workers got to the door and said "dang, I guess I can't go in now!". Of course not. What signs like that do is to legally (at least in Ohio) limit the ability of legally armed citizens that, in most cases, have passed background checks and obtained some level of training to carry a gun from freely entering businesses that think signs like this make a difference. Sorry folks, criminals do not obey laws..or signs for that matter..hence the name "criminals"..as in "one who commits a crime".

I have stated it before and will so now, guns are not for everybody. A fully armed society may be a "polite" society in some views but is unrealistic and unobtainable to boot. Even in societies that have mandated martial participation in pursuit of the common defense you do not find 100% participation. There is a town in Georgia that mandates by law all residents own a firearm...but its an unenforceable law. In the meantime you have two types of people that carry guns...those that do it legally by either position (police/LE) or choice (licensed CCW) or those that illegally (criminals). Only one of those two categories will obey those signs...which one do you want in your establishment? I know the one will be in there regardless (criminals) so what is the sense letting the law abiding ones stand outside?

**************************************

Pictures are powerful communication tools. Before photography painting and watercolors were one of the most important forms of visual communication available. Paintings took days if not weeks or even months and years to paint, in which time the artist had ample time to develop and shape the message he wanted to convey to the audience. Since the dawn of photographs, especially the explosion of digital imagery, TV and the internet we are bombarded by visual stimuli. Its so bad that many Americans have only a "sound bite" grasp of the meaning of images presented to them. They judge the meaning of an image solely on the second it takes to absorb the reflected light into their eyes, transcribe it to the brain and make a preliminary decision on its meaning. Sometimes we need to slow down on what we see and think about the deeper meaning of what we observe and how it might apply to our otherwise buy lives. While taking an art class in college I remember the professor telling us that art appreciation was not a passive pursuit. An active mind and critical eye are required to fully assimilate and images meaning...any less and you are simply a mirror looking across the surface of an oceans, reflecting what is on the surface without ever knowing what lies beneath.

2012-01-26T18:30:00.000-05:00

Today a friend a work told me that her dad wanted to know who this Pete guy was that was commenting on her post (about her boobs none the less)...she replied "oh, he's my gun friend.." I can live with that...

I am "the gun friend" to any and all that need one....just look what you get out of the deal...

You might be a country lawyer if.....

2012-01-26T15:40:00.001-05:00

From my friend Katie's FaceBook page....West-By-God-Virginia resident and fellow veteran...

"You know you are going to be a country lawyer when your Mom keeps asking you about what kind of gun you want for law school graduation (because the rest of the family is asking her). I guess a set of pearls is just out of the question. BTW, I knew the answer right away. :)"

Personally my guess for what she asked for...

Couple of British items for you...

2012-01-26T15:30:00.000-05:00

Queue "God Save The Queen"..............

Brits and Argentinians starting to kick political dirt on each other shoes over the Falkland Islands....again.

Story on CNN.

Wow, almost 30 years since the first Falklands War (I know its called something else in Argentina - The Malvinas but I speak English..sorry) and both countries as starting a war of words over these rocks again. In the first meeting the the Brits came out winners and kept the Islands after recapturing them from an Argentinian invasion force..but at a relatively steep cost. The entire war is remembered as being a very rough and uncomfortably affair for both side fought in the early parts of Winter in that part of the world. The French exocet missile became famous as well as the Harrier jet fighter. It was a war of logistics for the Brits having to fight a war at the other end of the Atlantic Ocean with the Argentinian mainland within fighter distance for their attacking aircraft. On land the going was rough on both sides due to the terrain and weather and fighting was fierce. One notable anecdote was that both sides were basically armed with the same battle rifle, the Belgian FN-FAL (called the L1A1 by the Brits). The main difference was that the Argentinian models fired fully automatically and the L1A1 was limited to single shot.

Actually the main difference was in who was behind the trigger. Many of the Argentinian troops were conscripts lead by professional NCO's and Officers, the Brits fielded a professional all volunteer military just like us Yanks...and we tend to fare fairly well against conscript armies lately..

"Hey their rifle.....

....looks like my rifle!"

Hopefully this will just be a war of hot air this time and a peaceful resolution will be reached. If not if will be interesting to see if the Argentinians learn any lessons from last time or would history repeat itself?

And if they do go down there....I hope the Brits don't miss having some of these guys around....

Gurkas bear brunt of British Military cutbacks...

"Cutbacks!?!?...we'll show you how to cut something!!"

The Gurkas, the stalwart fighters from India and Nepal known for not only for their fierceness but
honor to a political bond long since obsolete to the British Empire, shall soon face deep cuts in their ranks from the same empire. The BBC is reporting a 400 troop reduction from the regiment that comes on the heals of a previous 150 man reduction. While not a large by number as some other reductions, as a percentage of the total force this is quite a drop in their numbers. The Gurkas have a storied past with the British military first as Indian Regiments under British control and then as an actual unit of the British Army after England released India from the empire. The Gurkas themselves have always been a step below the regular British soldier in the hierarchy of the British Army though. Their officers were (until a few years ago) given viceroy commissions instead of royal commissions - which meant that an officer of the Gurkas was technically subordinate to an officer of any rank in the British Army. Also, the benefits and pay were of a different - and lower - scale of the British soldier as well. There is an active movement of former Gurkas trying to obtain equality in both benefits and status for those who serve the crown in the Regiment, including rights to citizenship and pension. I hope them the best in that pursuit.

And finally to complete the Brit military theme for this post....

The Chinese National Synchronized Suicide Team...

2012-01-26T11:00:00.001-05:00

Another "WTF" moment found on WTA....

Uh, comrade...once the pin is pulled Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend....

Pure propaganda for sure, some guesses to whether or not this is real..my money is that there is a charge in the hole being detonated remotely. Still, it looks good on film...but has limited value in combat.

Sorry! No ROK M1 Garands from CMP for us!

2012-01-25T20:14:00.002-05:00

I know I have been teasing all of you with the rumors that the POTUS would be allowing the ROK to get some old battle horse M1's over here - and assuming that they would be offered via the CMP for what are very reasonable prices. CMP sent out an email tonight that stated, in part....

GARANDS FROM KOREA: Once again our phone lines and email boxes are flooded with requests for information on the purchase of M1 Garands from Korea. The Korea Times reported last week that the U.S. Government had approved Korea's request to sell 86,000 M1 Garands to U.S. importers. CMP is not a firearms importer and if these rifles are sold to U.S. importers, they will not come to the CMP or be sold by the CMP. We will not have any information on the sale of these rifles.

Damn! And no mention of carbines either! So if you do happen to get your hands on one of these rifles it will have an importers name and location scratched on the receiver and probably pay a lot more than the $530 that CPM is offering them for..

Sorry if I got anyone's hopes up...including mine! Makes me feel lucky for getting my Greek M1 when I did in such good shape.

LCP shopping story #2 - how did that get in the safe!

2012-01-24T05:30:00.000-05:00

OK, so at the end of my first story about LCP shopping I stated that I basically did not only need to shop at the store that I had the credit at...reason: I don't have it anymore. What? Yeah I used the credit to help pick this up...

Its a Universal M1 Carbine. I know, I know...dream gun and all of that finally acquired. Not so fast, this will NOT be a permanent part of the collection. After the war many companies made copies of the M1 Carbine, some using USGI parts and others just making a carbine that looks like a GI issue model but differ in the internals....this is one of these. To the best of what I can find on the internet this is a "3rd Generation" Universal carbine made in the late 60's or early 70's. It incorporates a lot of cost savings features that gave rise to a not-so-stellar reputations. You can find these often on gun auctions and sales sights going for hundreds less than USGI models. I found this for $350 and had to do it, for no other reason as a "filler" in the collection or maybe a knock around gun down the road.

There are several features on it I already do not care for but most of them are minor gripes:

The stock is too "new" looking and has a lacquered finish..a good USGI one should have a worn stock like my M1 Garand does.
The short stroke single piston design was changed to a dual piston system..why, I don't know, but the originals were not known for failure so why change?
The bolt seems to be more or less GI in nature, but the operating rod is hollowed out where it engages the bolt to cam it in and out of the receiver and the charging handle is a bent piece of metal attached to it instead of a single piece unit like on a genuine article.
There is no bolt lock back on it other than on an empty mag it appears the bolt will hang on the magazine follower, this makes removing the magazine more difficult since it is being held under pressure from the gas system springs.
The rear sight is a ramp type affair but is very loose and sloppy..the peep site moves to each range marking but is not very tight and moves easily. The windage screw does not move the sight with "clicks" and is mushy and uneven to boot.

So with all that, why the hell did I get it? I don't know, I just love the look of the M1 Carbine and I figure if the Korean USGI ones do make CMP I should be able to sell this one for what I paid for it and trade up I guess, in the meantime I at least get a "feel" for what I am after.

I did get it torn down and cleaned (looks like some crud was in there from the Reagan administration era) and lubed back up with some Slipstream grease and the action seems to work smoothly. Overall, it looks like a duck, it acts like a duck but until I can get to someplace to shoot it I won't know if it sounds like a duck.

More thorough review and evaluation once I get to shoot it.

Oh yeah, and I still need that pocket pistol.

LCP shopping story #1..there ain't no vanilla?..

2012-01-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

So, as I said last post I went looking for another pocket pistol in .380 again the other day, specifically a LCP. why? I seem to have a habit of selling these little pocket pistols to people "in need" and was looking to get some cash together for another purchase, which turned out to be my Springfield 1903. Well I have had both the P-3AT and the LCP before and find them functionally the same for the most part, the LCP is just a better finished product. Since I have the LC9 now I thought having the LCP would just make sense.

When I paid off the gun fund recently I sent in too much money and ended up with about a $120 credit at the store. Well that would make a nice dent in the price of a basic LCP at around $300 - $330 for sure! All I want is the basic model, I don't need lasers and such, been there already. All I need is to put a dab of orange paint on the front blade of the pistol and it works fine for a really up close and personal defensive pistol. A simple blued finish, decent holster and and an extra mag is all that this pistol needs in my book.

Pocket perfection in my book...

Went to the store on Friday evening after work..walked in and took a number and waited my turn. When I was called I told the guy I wanted a LCP and was ready to buy. We went to the case...this is what they had in stock...

the Crimson Trace Model....$399

the "Governor Ricky Perry Coyote model....$399

the NRA half camo model.....$399

the ultra fancy engraved model.....$399

and finally, the Zombie Slayer special.....$399

Wow, no basic no frill models in stock, just those. I was dumbfounded. Now this is probably just an indication that a lot of people think the same way I do and want just a basic pistol for this type of CCW. These pocket guns are not designed for real recreational shooting or anything other than what they are designed to do. I have already talked previously on here about the use of lasers on these guns and how I thought they did provide some utility, but were ultimately not a "have to have" item for them. Engraving and coyote and zombie specials? WTH? I guess you can dress a pig up and charge extra to show it off at any fair can't you?

It has been said that vanilla is truly the finest of the flavors. Although sometimes referred to as "plain old vanilla" the thing that makes it great is that it doesn't pretend to be something its not. Many times ice cream companies will blend vanilla in with cookies, fruit and other stuff, but in the end its still vanilla that carries the flavor to the consumer. Same thing with a pistol like this...you can slap "Atomic Powered Banshee Slayer" on it, but its still a plain old .380 pocket pistol in the end. A caliber that most consider the bare minimum to carry for self defense to boot...hardly what one one choose to slay zeds I think. I will keep looking in the future and checking back at this and other stores....why not just the store I have a credit at?...ah, that will be story #2....

Maybe in the end I will just end up with one of these again...Kel-Tec did me right last time...

The iPhone...the mouse gun of the camera phones?

2012-01-23T06:17:00.000-05:00

Don't really talk tech on this blog much, minimal at best. Kind of surprising because I work in the IT industry, but then again this blog is mainly oriented to the 2A/Military/Gun Culture crowd and not the geek sector...although they are closer linked than some may realize. And btw, I mean no disrespect by using "geek", I use that term to describe myself sometime. Anyway, a recent event makes this post even more ironic that I may explain in the future, but not now and not here...

I was reading articles on Flipboard on my iPhone today and this article caught my eye...

Why the iPhone Should Have A Dedicated Shutter Button, by Matthew Panzarine, www.thenextweb.com

In the article the author articulates reasons why the next generation iPhone should have a physical shutter button for the camera feature in lieu of using a "soft button" on the touch screen or double utilizing one of the existing volume buttons on the phone. The camera on my iPhone is one of my favorite features on it and the iPhone has replaced my normal cell phone, point and shoot camera and MP3 player all in one device. Pretty nifty, especially since the camera in my iPhone 4 is better in terms of resolution than any previous digital camera I have owned. Movies are also great and as you may have notices using the iMovie application (available via the Apple App store) I am actually able to make basic videos for this blog and post them directly from the phone when I need to. Now I know a lot of you reading this use the Android platform and scoff at people who use Apple's hardware as being slaves to the Apple Machine and all of that, I get that, I really do, hey my own friends say that sometimes. When my wife and I went to upgrade out phones last year the iPhone is just what we both liked in terms of features and appearance and has worked well for us. So if you are an android person good for you, I am an iPhone user..good for me.

Back to the article...in it Panzarine points out that the camera is one feature that Apple is really pushing in its phone and is making big strides to have the best available on the market. The fact that the camera is such a selling point should mean that in the iPhone 5 Apple should include a specific hard button for it, firmware to maximize performance and speed (already done for the most part in the iPhone 4S) and redesign the positioning on the lens and flash for more ergonomic pointing. While the iPhone will never be able to replace a high quality, purposely designed digital camera in terms of features or performance, he points out that "The best camera is the one that's with you.". Gee, I have heard that before.... a lot. But instead of cameras its usually aimed at the rational for carrying a small "mouse gun" in .380 or similar caliber in ones pocket instead of a .45 or other such similar full sized pistol as a CCW choice. (see, we're back to talking about guns now!)

Like the old saying goes "A LCP in the hand is worth two 1911's in the safe"...I may have add libbed that just a bit there...

I personally prescribe to this theory, that a gun carried and ready to be used is better than one left at home in the safe. Yes, ideally in a perfect world I would leave the house with a 1911 or Glock strapped to me all the time. Hell, if I KNEW I was going to be in a armed confrontation I would say screw the handgun and load up with the 870 with Winchester PDX-1 12 gauge buck-and-ball rounds or my AR. The truth is in my world that I simply cannot carry a larger framed handgun on my easily enough at certain times to make it worth the benefit-risk evaluation. I live in a relatively nice section of Central Ohio - by choice mind you, the old neighborhood was going down so the wife and I moved as is our ability to do so. If I want to go to the local grocery store a few miles away to grab a gallon of milk at 11pm, statistically I am pretty sure I will not be assaulted based upon past assaults in the areas over time. Of course we all know that just like your 401K statement, past performance does not indicate future potential. The is a slight chance that an assault on my may occur still does exist. The risk is so slight almost not to warrant attention, but that is how a sheeple thinks and not not a ram. I would arm myself, but accordingly to the threat level. In most cases this would mean sticking a small pocket pistol in .380 (most likely a LCP or P3AT) that I have trained on and utilizing good defensive ammo in. This is especially true in the hot, humid summers we get here in Ohio where all I may have on are shorts, a t-shirt and sandals.

Back to the phone, I never would have normally put the connection between my CCW piece and my iPhone together but now that I think of it, it makes total sense. My iPhone goes almost everywhere with my now, it even goes up to bed with me here in a bit tonight (its also my alarm clock). I bet it is as close to me during the day as it is with a lot of people. Think of this, next time somebody asks you why they think that it should be a PITA to get a CCW license ask them what they would think if the government all of a sudden made it a requirement to have a license to carry a smart phone...I mean as many accidents that it causes in cars it could happen, right? Anyway, when the schmuck stammers out about their rights being violated to free speech as they see it under the 1st Amendment or something like that...point out that its the same feeling for use that embrace the 2nd Amendment when we talk about our CCW's. Difference is of course that smart phones are not mentioned in the original document but the right to bear arms certainly is.

Speaking of pocket pistols...went out looking for a LCP to replace the P3AT that I sold recently....couple of stories about that later...

That gun done been JESSE'D!

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

When someone generally says a gun has been "bubba'd" or "bubba upped" it generally implies or brings to mind an image of a redneck type sort hacking away at a barrel with a rusty hacksaw with duct tape and a Dremmel tool nearby to complete their "masterpiece". The web is awash with stories and pictures of weapons that have been "bubba'd", both intentionally and unintentionally, by folks trying to make their weapons "cool", "tactical" or "bad ass"...here are but a few examples from the net...

A bubba job for sure, check out how the carrying handle has been cut away for the rail and the mounting job on that way to large scope for a SBR..because we all know large power optics go on an 11" SBR and not a red dot or other CQB optic..as well as a bipod...

I have posted this pic before, in his defense this is supposedly a bubba job for laughs..still cost a Mosin its life though...

OK, technically a bubba, but if that barrel was cut and recrowned properly and that rail is attached solid I think this is a bubba job that might fall into the category of "useful modifications" as a scout rifle style mod...

OK, so you get the drift...

A few weeks ago a web friend from the WTA boards, named Harm, dropped that he was thinking about chopping down his #4 Enfield to a "tanker rifle" sized carbine. A what? A "Tanker" or shortened rifle. The term "Tanker" is thrown about to describe a full powered rifle shortened to a carbine length build. Why tanker? I don't know, supposedly some armorers in WW2 took M1 Garands and somehow chopped them down to the sling swivel so that tank crews could have something more powerful than pistols to use if they had to abandon their tanks that would still fit and maneuver inside the cramped confines of a Sherman Tank. Don't know where I heard that so don't ask. There were some variants of the Enfield during WW2 that were chopped down "jungle carbine" versions of the rifle for the troops in the Pacific theater, but it did not have a stock running the full length of the barrel. I was skeptical of the idea at first and the thought of chopping a perfectly good specimen down made me shudder a bit. But it wasn't what I wanted but what Harm wanted and he had another WTA member, JesseL, do the work...wonder how it turned out?

Well, here is the #4 Enfield before any cutting...

Here is a composite pic of Jesse working on it through several stages....

And here is how it turned out...WOW!! BEAUTIFUL!!

I have to say that this is an awesome looking build! It retains the classic lines of the original rifle while giving Harm a shorter, more handy rifle to keep for field or home use. The most important step in the build I think would be the cutting and re crowning of the barrel. The crown is the last place in the barrel that the round engages the rifling so any error here will affect accuracy down range. Recrowning via counter boring is quite common - that is drilling back into the barrel itself to establish a clean crown - and many Mosins or other such surplus rifles may show them. It is no shame to have one, it actually means you probably have a better crown than what was on the piece before they did it..and better accuracy after. The nice thing about this chop job was that it gave a clean end piece to crown so it looks factory I am sure. I also like the fact that Jesse was able to keep the original front sight post assemble and barrel band for the rifle as well. Too many people seem to just chop the barrel and add a rail to mound a red dot or other optic and call it a day. Not here, by keeping that hardware on the rifle it really adds to not only the keeping with the original appearance but is a stamp of class and professionalism in my book.

Jesse and Harm are friends and live somewhat close in Arizona I think so I don't know what this may have cost him to do, or if he would be willing to recreate the effort for others. If you have something similar in mind for yourself and like what you see here, email me and I will ask Jesse if he would entertain any offers.

So now I have to add another term to the shooters lexicon...when a bubba is a weapon that has been hacked upon by an unqualified and less than talented gunsmith or other individual that ruins the weapon either functionally or aesthetically by altering it by unsightly means.....

....then a weapon that has been skillfully modified by a knowledgeable and talented artisan and the result enhances not only the utility of the weapon in some manner but also maintains or enhances the aesthetic beauty of it as well...

it's been Jesse'd!!

Oops....

2012-01-19T15:54:00.002-05:00

Thought I had a couple of posts scheduled to go live today...appears I scheduled them for TOMORROW...damn these short weeks....anyway, thanks to Terry on FaceBook here is a little something to munch on until then....

Getting tired of waiting on the C&R license...

2012-01-19T10:30:00.000-05:00

Been over 2 months now and I know that is about normal....and I did have that one little screw up on my part I had to correct and resubmit...but I have read other people's accounts of how they got them in a month or less!! Every day I go home expecting to find the postman has delivered an envelope with it in it so I can start mailing copies to J&G, AIM Surplus, CTD and other places to start buying stuff....I already have my eye on a few C&R eligible pieces and look and research more and more every night...sooner or later I will break and buy one without the license anyway...online prices seem to be better than what I can generally find around these parts, as well as available inventory....

Still tired of waiting....screw it...going to buy a Mosin today.....

The Kinks, one of the leading bands of the British Invasion way back when...

Castle Doctrine

2012-01-17T14:30:00.000-05:00

James over at Hell In A Handbasket posts a story about somebody who tried to gain entrance into his apartment without permission. Thanks to a locked door and loud dog James did not have to use the loaded gun he keeps close at hand and the result is that nothing happened and nobody got hurt. In another local story, a burglar is caught breaking into a man's house and the homeowner apparently beats him to death. Ouch. Two totally different outcomes there.

There is no info available on the person(s) who attempted to open James' door but the deceased in the other incident pleaded to felony burglary charges in 2010. How much you want to bet whoever was (unwisely) testing the waters at James' apartment probably had a similar record. In both cases the use of force is or would of been probably justified by the use of what is commonly referred to as "The Castle Doctrine". Going back to the Magna Carta and English Common Law which proclaimed that "every mans home was his castle" it was a trade off at the time for the English crown to renounce some power over its subjects and lower lords in return for being able to remain in power. Many of the concepts were passed onto the "New World" and indeed are found in our own Constitution this very day. In modern times the "Castle Doctrine" has evolved into a law based on the basic premise that a man has a right to defend his home and family by any means necessary against persons intent on doing them harm by trespassing and any other egregious acts. I am not a lawyer and there is no single federal law covering the "Castle Doctrine" as it applies to the US, so please check your local state laws in regards to specifics in your home state.

Recently the Castle Doctrine received significant coverage when an 18 year old widow shot and killed a intruder armed with a knife to defend herself and infant son. Notice how Oklahoma is a "red" state in the above map....castle doctrine tested and approved.

In Ohio, in basic terms it means that the homeowner/resident of a property has the right to use any force deemed necessary to protect themselves from a person who unlawfully presents themselves as a threat to the safety of the owner/resident or their family. It also provides civil protections to the owner/resident from prosecution in civil court for damages inflicted to the attacker on his or his families behalf. In Ohio we have a "stand your ground" clause that also means that the person defending themselves has no duty to retreat from the confrontation. In other states there is sometimes a duty to remove yourself from the attacker, if possible, before using force. For example, attacker breaks down front door, you lock yourself in a bedroom and retrieve your handgun and tell them to leave, they break the door to the bed room and come at you with a knife...at that point the duty to retreat would of been sufficed in order to utilize deadly force.

This is not, contrary to popular belief, a "shoot first, drag them over the threshold" law as some would seem to want to have you believe. You still must show that a reasonable threat was presented and also that the person present was their illegally and that you were not engaged in illegal activity at the time...so you can't shoot the guy that tries to rob you in a drug buy at your crib when he pulls out a knife...sorry...well, no not really. I am 6' and about 250lbs and have had training in some self defense techniques. I would be hard pressed to show a judge and jury why I needed to shoot an unarmed, 120lb, 69 year old man who shows up at my door and will not leave, insisting he lives there. Again, use your brain and look up your local laws to be sure you know what you can/can't do when employing the castle doctrine to defend yourself, your family and your home.

Those pesky 1903 sights solved via a source all but lost...

2012-01-17T13:16:00.000-05:00

A great site is back online...surplusrifle.com which has been absent from the net from some time is now available at the following IP address:

http://207.36.233.89/index.asp.

There was no explanation for why the site was down on its front page and and it appears that it has not been updated for some time. I don't know what the deal is other than its a great site for doing some quick reference for those milsurp rifles you may come across. I was finally able to look up the 1903 Springfield I have and look what I found concerning that pesky ladder sight: (Cut and paste from surplusrifles.com, all credit to the writer there for the info contained)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found the rifle's rear sight was fairly complex and I could not figure out which notch or aperture to use. So I set off to do some research and this is what I found.

To use the rear sight's adjustable notches or apertures the sight leaf is lifted as shown in figure 3.

To adjust windage (left or right) turn the windage knob (as shown in figure 4). Each graduation marking equals 4 minute of angle at 100 yards.

I believe that the 1903 has one of the most accommodating rear sights found on any early 20th century battle rifle. Imagine a sight being produced for a rifle with no less than 5 sight notches and apertures (3 adjustable and 2 set for specific distances).
To adjust for elevation loosen the elevation knob on the right and then slide the aperture up or down (as shown in figure 5).
Figure 5 shows a type 4 sight leaf with graduations from 100 to 2825 yards. The 1903 had seven different leaf types (ranging in max graduated distance from 2000 to 2825). The leaf's left side scale ranges from 200 to 2820 while the right side scale ranges from 100 to 2825.

Ref	Name	Range Used
a	Top "U" Notch	2850 yards
b	"U" Notch	1400 to 2750 yards
c	Battle Sight Notch	400 to 530 yards
d	Bottom Sight Notch	100 to 2450 yards
e	Peep Sight	100 to 2350 yards
f	Windage Scale	Eleven per side (each marking equals 4 minute of angle at 100 yards)

Figure 6 shows the 1903 battle sight picture that is set at 400, 530, or 547 yards (depending on sight type and cartridge used). The battle sight was used for the following: A soldier using the battle sight could hit a man between 100 and 400, 530, or 547 yards (depending on sight type and cartridge used).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow, that is just the info I needed for that rifle!! A maximum range of 2,850 yards! Who could see that far? Not many people, it was actually more likely intended to be used to volley fire great distances at advancing cavalry or other such troop formations to create a beaten zone of fire for the enemy to advance through.

New Magpul mags

2012-01-12T12:58:00.002-05:00

Thanks to The Firearm Blog for this info...

Magpul has introduced new mags the PMAG 30 M3 that are yet another evolution of their nearly universally liked PMAG line of polymer magazines for the AR. Unlike the shotgun stock and forearm that they recently announced, I am not so "meh" on these magazines. Seems to me that the design changes were either mostly cosmetic (dots for writing numbers on them..good idea but my paint pen has worked well on mine) or more geared toward working on the SCAR and other next generation assault rifles in the same class as the AR. For me, the changes are not enough for me to change out my existing first and second gen PMAGs in my kit for the new ones, but its nice to know that Magpul is not sitting on their laurels and are looking forward with designs..

Wow, sometimes I can't figure some people out...

2012-01-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

I cannot understand how some people in this world think. Yes I know we are all individuals but this was a mind number for me. This was a FaceBook thread started by an online friend of mine Erik (not the paratrooper and who works for Beretta BTW)...pay attention down the page when "Monika" chimes in....I think she is a liberal...well, yeah she obviously is with her "I know it all but will tell you I am open to discussion knowing damn well that my opinion will not change" style....

This all started when Erik posted this picture...

And here is the conversation thread (if you didn't know I am "Pete" in real life and below)

Ali XXXXX practice gun control, use both hands

Erik XXXXX Yes ma'am :)

Chris XXXXXX Guns are bad mmmmk .. If we just got rid of all the guns no one would have guns to shoot anyone.

Angela XXXXXX Careful what you say, You don't know who is American. Canadians on the other hand are cool, safe and prefer to snowboard and play hockey then shoot guns:)

Preston XXXXXX Really? I know a couple of canucks who'd shoot day in and out more than those other things

Angela XXXXXXXX Hey hey hey..I was just saying that if you want to get away from gun, come to Canada. It is a privilege to have a gun not a right.

Chris XXXXX You'll never be able to get away from Guns. My comment was 100% satire.

Brad XXXXXX Canada's Crime Rate 50 % Higher than U.S.

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/24/150547.shtml

Chris XXXXXX This ladies and gentleman is why I own a gun. It is also why I will not date any female who does not have a gun, taser or the like. Having dated a girl who was raped by my room mate. I WILL NOT allow such an event to occur again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia

Brad XXXXX and castle rock v gonzales

Angela XXXXXX Wow. That is all i am going to say. ( I am a proud Canadian)

PrestonXXXXXX Okay, so what my wife was trying to say is that Canadians are bit more focused when it comes to guns. Though by the numbers there are less gun owners than non gun owners.

Chris XXXXXX You say'n we not focused!?! You say'n we ignant! COUSINS! Git ur guns. w'be goin out.

Chris XXXXXX I'm not saying anything against you or your wife. I meant no disrespect really. Its just even when focused, I believe a gun is a right. Just like self-defense. It evens the playing field among me and my assailant. I'm a big guy, but theres always someone bigger. My life is too precious not to defend. As are the lives around me.

Preston XXXXX Trust me, I agree completely. Think of The origins of the Castle doctrine. That comes from the magna carta, buuut every Canadian doesn't think that right applies to them anymore and thus they lost it.

Angela XXXXXXX Easy there Hubby:)

Angela XXXXXX Lets just go with this. Canadians can play by their own rules and the Americans can play by their amendments.

Erik XXXXX Hey now folks..

Ryan XXXXXX
There is a pretty strong sentiment in Canada to relax restrictions on legal gun ownership and self-defense...

But it is extremely hard for people, even Americans, who have not been exposed to firearms for an extended amount of time to unde...See More

Monika XXXXXX
The constitution and amendments were written in times when there was neither organized police nor army. Today there was no need for private gun ownership based on 2nd amendment.
Polish Constitution was the 2nd in the world (written a few years after yours) and the 1st in Europe. Since then it has been rewritten a couple of times because the times changed. Many other countries have rewritten their constitution to adopt to current times.
Instead of living in the past, America should write a new constitution and get rid all the amendments, especially the 2nd one because it does not apply to today's system.

Erik XXXXXX
Monika, I welcome your viewpoint and input and value that you are indeed entitled to it, however I must disagree with it.

The purposes of the 2nd Amendment go much deeper than just for self protection. I don't have the time to go into as much depth as I would like at this time, but I'd be happy to do so later on if you'd like. Suffice it to say that self protection is, while an integral part of the 2nd Amendment, not the entire point of that particular Amendment.

Mark XXXXXX
Monika, it's always more helpful in these kinds of discussions to acknowledge the current reality rather than just talk about what we all wish should be. We all have our own versions of utopia that aren't always compatible with others versions, and more to the point, utopian thinking never results in real change. Utopia is a place that can never be.

You just can't get rid of all the guns in this country. There are too many, nobody knows where they are, and people aren't going to give them up willingly. So how do you make your view of what's right a reality under those circumstances?

Pete XXXXXX
No organized police or Army? seriously..head...4th point of contact, remove former from latter please...ever heard of the Continental Army?...you know the one that Washington commanded...still around in 1887....police? you think the entire system of laws and punishment just went away when the Brits left? And you do realize we have written and adopted new amendments (hence the term) that have not only added to the Constitution but have also removed former parts of it? And yes, if I were Poland and coming out of half a century of communist rule I might write a new one myself...tell you what just for the Polish remark I am going to go buy that Polish Tokarev that I looked at the other day after seeing Erik's..and hey, lets get rid of that pesky 1st amendment you libs throw around so much...

Monika XXXXX Erik send me an email about the other reasons for second amendment and what the word militia means (there is no need for militia now so that is my reasoning against the 2nd amendment)I do not read about the pro and contra for second amendment by others so it would be nice to hear other views.

Pete XXXX well, there is no "need" for the airbag in your car until an accident either...

Erik XXXX Monika, I'll do that this evening.

Monika XXXXX
Pete, I have lived for many years in many countries and I have more international take on things. Poland is not the only country that changed their const. And now I haven't heard of continental army but will educated myself unlike you not by buying a gun but by reading about it and broaden my views and knowledge
Mark I understand your view. It's not utopia that there are countries in Europe that exist and function without private gun ownership. It took probably decades to make that work but it was possible. So I don't think it's utopia.
Most people are happy if they have a dry and warm place to live, friends and family and some food to share with them. That is the basic happiness. They dont think about guns. And then there are few that need to have guns to be happy.
Question: why do you have or want to have a gun? What is it about that it makes it so important to you?

Mark XXXXXX
In the case of America, I think it is utopian. I think you may be underestimating just how many guns there are here. Last I checked, there are well over 320 million guns in this country. Very few states require any sort of registration with any agency, so we don't know where they are or who owns them. And we know that the vast majority of gun owners simply won't give them up willingly.

Take that into account with the complicated and time-consuming process of amending the constitution and it's pretty clear that it's something that will never happen. At least with the consent of the people anyway. And without that, what do we have? Not much.

You're right about one thing, we don't need guns to be happy. I was happy before I ever owned guns, and I could live a nice life without them too. But I enjoy them. I get satisfaction from shooting the same way that an archer does when he puts his arrow right in the bullseye. And the way I see it, they're legal for me to own, I'm a respectful and thougtful person, and I am capable of owning them without putting anyone else at risk. So if something bad does happen, earthquakes, riots, etc, (which aren't unheard of in socal), I have the ability to take care of myself, my family, and my friends and neighbors.

I mean, if you can think of a way to ensure that criminals as well as law abiding citizens won't have access to firearms, then that might be a more valid argument. But I've been thinking about this subject for a LONG time and I have yet to hear a compelling argument about how that happens.

Pete XXXXX
I to have lived and worked in foreign countries.... Kuwait, Afghanistan......Europe is a mess...their forced socialist agendas have weakened their economies and lets not also forget that their "enlightened" views lead to two world wars..not exactly a winning record...I too am happy to have a warm place to live, food to eat (and I do eat indeed) and friend and family to share them with...and I own a gun to help protect all of that...the one thing you miss out on the 2nd amendment that Erik was dancing around that ultimately the 2nd amendment was provided a general check against the government....we allow ourselves the right to revolution if we see its the only way to remove an corrupt and unjust government...at the time the constitution was written we had just thrown out one government and left ourselves the means to do it again..thus the allowance in our USC for both organized and unorganized militias to be recognized..now do I actually see another armed revolution in this country, no...but then again I bet European saw a failed art student leading Germany into the 3rd reich either...

Pete XXXXX I would give mine up if somebody would pass a law giving me an armed security detail like many politicians get to sit and watch over me and my family....

Monika XXXXX Pete, Germany being a socialistic country has currently 7.7% unemployment rate, which one cannot say about USA right now.

Monika XXXXXXXXXX
but that is outside the scope of this conversation. I dont believe in guns however I will go sailing in a year or so and I am thinking about getting a gun for protection. Nevertheless, in a country that the Police forces work well, there is...See More

Monika XXXXXXXXXX Pete, there will always be some people who think differently. In every country there are some crazies. As an example, you just had yours a year ago that shoot the governor and few others. Europe changed since the WWII. So has USA. Maybe it is time to move on

Pete XXXXXXXX
but JC, you just said you were thinking of getting one...which is it? a society without gun or one where you can buy one if you think its in your own self interest...maybe when you are out on your boat you can float on up the Rhine and settle in Germany with their excellent police force..I hear they have plenty of jobs there...food fairly well sucks but that too is outside the scope of this conversation...and one last thing, why the hell do people attack you so much?

Monika XXXXXXXXX I am an open minded person who listens to other opinions. I would be very happy to hear to yours if it is constructive and learn more why it is important that the US citizens need a gun. Dont you feel safe in your country?

Mark XXXX So how do you get rid of the guns that are already here Monika?

Ryan XXXXXX
If the US stopped trying to adopt socialist policies which in turn destroys business and jobs, we wouldn't be so bad.

I'll take freedom and unemployment over servitude to the state.

Think of it this way, America has always been the exception to the norm. Why should we start changing now to be more like Europe? A lot of people in Europe continue to immigrate here. It must not be all that bad. If people prefer Europe, they should by all means move there.

The revolutionary war was partially sparked over British troops attempting to disarm colonists.

If you think the basic principals in the Bill of Rights are out dated and archaic because they were adopted over 200 years ago, take a look at most English common law and other legal systems in Europe.

I have firearms for several reasons. Self-defense is the most basic human right aside from reproduction. This includes the right to defend against a tyrannical government. Target shooting, collecting, etc are all separate hobbies themselves.
Think about this, America has never been invaded successfully. We have two large oceans on each side and 50% of households have at least one gun in them. That is why no one has tried even during the World Wars, etc.
An armed populace is one reason America had such a hard time in Vietnam. We weren't ready for farmers and villagers with guns that didn't look like soldiers.

Ryan XXXXX Most basic human instinct/natural right* sorry I'm on my phone.

Monika XXXXXXXXX Ryan, agree with you on many points you have made. I would like to say something to all of it but and it is something we can talk and talk and talk. So, if you ever wanna meet and talk about it then I am up for it :-)
Pete, what can I do that I had parked my car beside an asshole who couldn’t driver? The other situations: bad Karma, bad judgment of people? The point was not my personal life, but the experiences I had in different countries with the police forces. You are becoming personal and straying away from the subject and therefore your argument becomes weak.
Mark, if I tell you how I would go about it, you probably would not like it. But if you ever want to talk about it I am open to discussion on more private ground than FB.

Angela XXXXXX Hey Ryan. I am a gun owner up North in Canada. Non of these comments offend me in any way. No hard feelings, eh :)

Pete XXXXXXXX yours was weak to start with...you want a gun free utopia but want one yourself now that it may suit your needs...you can't have it both ways comrade..oh wait, thats how NYC issues CHL permits..yes I guess you feel that you and you alone are the only person "enlightened by your experiences" to own a firearm for your own protection...and how do you know that karma won't put another bad person in your path - or more importantly to me, mine or my family..I would rather have the right to defend myself and them than rely on a police fore that A) is not right there at the exact moment I may be in danger and B) has no legal requirement to protect me anyway...you are the sheeple we always talk about Monika, except you...I have talked to your kind before, "open minded" as long as I say the same thing you are..want to change the world for the better as long as it fits your view, I bet you occupied recently, didn't you? Socialist paradise, all for the common good as long as I get to sail around the world then...with my gun of course which you can't have...

Monika XXXXXXXXX Pete, Only because I am thinking about one does not mean I am gonna get one, it is something I consider, in case I decide to sail into more dangerous areas. I do NOT think about getting a gun while I live here and never thought about one while I was in Europe. Do you see the difference? I live here, I feel safe, I dont need a gun. But you do

Pete XXXXXXXX you don't live where I do now do you? you make it sound like we are in the same apartment complex or something...it looks like we are half a country apart to me...the same reason many of our current gun laws are allowed to be state issues instead of federal ones...what might be right for you may not be right for me...

‎Pete XXXXXXXX...and buying and owning a gun in a country that allows you to do so legally doesn't make sense but putting one into your boat and sailing into international waters and foreign ports does?

Monika XXXXXXXXX Pete, we should stop this conversation here. If you want to say what you think send me an email. I think right now this became some sort of your personal vendetta against me.

Monika XXXXXXXXX BTW I live close to Oakland, one of the most dangerous cities in USA...

Pete XXXXXXXX Oakland...damn, I'd buy a gun..and don't take it personally, its my vendetta against every anti 2A out there in favor of taking away my constitutional rights...

and I'll end this here....

Sorry, lengthy I know. What I can't get my head around is that this woman, Monika, has been attacked not once, but twice and still doesn't see a need to defend herself until now when she is talking about getting one when she sails around the world. WTF? What is it lady a gun free utopia or not? You can't have it both ways, outlawing guns except for yourself as you see fit as a liberal...oh wait, I think that is how NYC issues concealed carry licenses....Honestly the way her name is spelled, her pro European lilt to her views I think that she is actually Polish anyway (confirmed by Erik this afternoon), her views are probably already cemented in her mind. I wonder if she ever visited the sites of Auschwitz, Belzec or Sobibor and think how those folks might have felt about self defense?

There is nothing wrong with being a European, I enjoy all of my readers there that I see on my stat counter and wish you all the best. No I do not agree with how you run your countries necessarily, but an ocean - like a good fence - often makes for good neighbors. I would like to think that if you are from somewhere other than the US that forbids gun ownership that you come here because you hope to change that someday.
As for me, I thank my God that I was born an American! No, things are not perfect or pretty in the USA, but I still would prefer to be here than anywhere else!

Ohio news: Canton unemployment numbers increase by 1...

2012-01-11T18:17:00.002-05:00

Police officer Daniel Harless who threatened to execute CCW holder fired by the city of Canton, Ohio.

You may remember this incident from June of last year from here in the Buckeye state. It made national press and has been used to show the bias some police have against CCW holders...justified or not this was clearly a case of an over-the-line officer going way beyond any reasonable amount of self restraint. Given, the "suspect" in that case did not do enough in my book to let the officer know a head of time, but both officers made what seem to be gross mistakes in the handling of the situation.

It is notable that former-officer Harless claims he suffers from PTSD since 2003 when he was attacked while on duty, but if this is his defense why was he allowed to be on an active status for so long without any treatment? Also the question is raised in the article about not only a trial he recently testified at while supposedly "mentally disabled" according to his union at the time but incidents of police brutality his is accused of prior to the 2003 incident that he claims triggered the PTSD that lead to his behavior.

Doesn't look like news reports for Harless are going to end anytime soon.

Estimating range with an EOTech...

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

Knew you could do this just never found a video demonstrating it so well...I will have to try this at the next Posse shoot when I get some distance and people to use...of course it will remove my EOTech from my rifle first....

This reminds me of an email I sent to EOTech a few years ago and their response...at close distance the lower tic mark on the outer ring is a 7 yard zero on the rifle..helpful if you have an AR with a fold down front sight..for me anything up close I can usually engage with just centering the front post in the EOTech window that close...

My emailed question...

From: Pete[mailto:XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 1:31 PM
To: XXXXX, Deb @ EOTECH
Subject: Use of the lower 65 MOA ring as a 7 yard battle sight

I just purchased an XPS-2 and must say I love it.

I found a vid online that has one of your spokesmen stating that the bottomportion of the ring (I assume where the lower vertical tic mark meets it) isthe 7 yard CQB aiming point (obviously due to height over barrel issues with a50 yard zero). I cannot find any documentation that supports thisanywhere and wanted to know if this is confirmed true, a rumor, or just one ofthose "inside" tricks learned through use, like the use of the ringto estimate distance on a full height target.

Thanks, and again, nice job on the sight. Glad our troops are using it.

And the company's response....

Hello Pete,
That is indeed true, but it is not published as the sights weredesigned for a 50yd zero with the 5.56 round.    Mostly LE usesthem for close range and for the most part, putting center mass in circle will sufficebut for a precision close shot that aiming point when properly zero’dwould be correct.
All close range aiming points should be validated by live fire.
Sincerely

Mike XXXX
Customer Service Manager
L-3 EOTech
1201 E Ellsworth Rd
Ann Arbor Mi 48108
734 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"speed means survival"

Zo is right...don't hate Bill Maher...

2012-01-10T15:09:00.002-05:00

Sure he was a second rate comedian before his show on HBO....still is in IMHO...
Sure, I can't watch his show without wanting to throw something through the TV most of the time...
Sure, he pits the most popular liberals he can find against usually weak or obscure right wing guests to be fair...

But as Zonation points out you're hating the player, when you should be hating the game...

Remember when Rush Limbaugh had his show? Yeah, me neither really...he did have one back in the early 90's for a while...had guests from the right wing of the isle on the show as well as popular guests like Ted Nugent and Lee "God Bless the USA" Greenwood (for those of you that missed Desert Shield/Storm)...but it never was "mainstream" by any real means. Dennis Miller had a show on HBO for a while too, his sense of humor I think was to dry and highbrow to last on that network... who do we have? There are conservatives in Hollywood, but who is young and charismatic enough to make a show work? Norm MacDonald, thats who? He has the comedy chops, generally leans to the right and with the correct amount of coaching and PR work could be a very convincing alternative to the Bill Maher vibe. Of course he is not an American and that could turn a lot of people off so here is another wild card you might not think of...Adam Sandler...yep, registered Republican. We might have to wait a few years until the movie roles slow down for him, but he is popular, funny, has made a slew of popular and successful films in liberal Hollywierd and most of all, has played to a populist mindset of character selection in most of his films. His films generally show a common man with his head and heart in the right place that can succeed by following his dream and trying hard to achieve a goal (Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, Mr. Deeds).

I think that would be awesome...of course now that I say that it will never happen, but a guy can dream about a show like that the same way he can about an SR1911 being dropped in my lap...

Why doesn't Ruger make a pump or semi shotgun?

2012-01-09T09:25:00.001-05:00

This is a thought continued from a WTA thread....

Ruger is probably one of my favorite manufacturers right now in terms of the amount of offerings they have that appeal to me. Some of you may not think so highly of them for one reason or another, but this is just my opinion, again your mileage may vary. The offer everything from deep concealment pistols (LCP), duty weapons (SR9/40, P series), O/U sporting shotguns, and AR (SR556), the premier .22 autoloader in the 10/22 and a whole bunch of other stuff...

But where is the pump or semi shotty for us? Hey Ruger, listen up! Is the market so dominated in the segment you would target by Remington and Mossberg that you simply choose to focus elsewhere? Are there some patents you cannot work around in the design process that is keeping you out? What's the deal? Stevens, H&R and NEF offer cheap pump shotguns aimed at the budget crowd, I bet you could too. You have announced a bunch of .22 handguns recently and a new .30-06 rifle but can't come up with a 12 or 20 gauge sporting/defensive shotgun to offer?

If you did this you would come really close to offering something in pretty much every category that a sporting/recreational/defensive minded shooter could use...all under one roof. That would be impressive.

And how about a SR pistol in .45 ACP.........

More on Glock: The Arise of America's Gun

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

Got a comment posted this evening from a woman going by "tvlady" who said she was the wife of Paul Barrett, the author of the Glock book that ENDO is giving 11 copies away that I posted of a few days ago.. Her comments are in the original post for you to read, but she included a link to the Amazon sales page for the book (its in the comments as an unlinked URL) and this video, which I watched...you should too...

"...how it became the Google of the gun market..." I like that analogy...

Coming out of the gate he makes a remark that you would think a Jew from New York would be anti gun, and for a large number of people, you would be right. While I do realize that many people fitting that description would normally be associated with leftist politics that normally do not favor gun ownership I do not try and lay this label on people. I have stated on more than one occasion on this blog that I consider the 2nd Amendment a right applied to ALL citizens regardless of political affiliation and still stand by this. It was recently reported somewhere (sorry cannot recall the source or the exact percentage) that 40+% of people identifying themselves as democrats own guns. Matter of fact, our last governor in Ohio was a pro-gun democrat and of the members of "the posse" that I often shoot with I would probably be called "the liberal" of the bunch. I strongly believe it the 2nd amendment which gives us the power to defend the fact that we do have different political views to speak out in support of and don't have to read from someones little red book as "the party" dictates. Just so we are clear on that...

I like what he says in this video. Gaston Glock's story is full of interesting details and violence to be sure. What I think I might like about this book is it does not seem to be written by your typical "gunnie". Paul states that he has maybe been to the range shooting 20 times in his life, most recently in conjunction with this book. Hell, I hit the range 20 or more times a year and bet a lot of you do to. He does not seem to have a whole lot of bias or preconceptions being dragged into his writing and is indeed (according to his remarks) writing a book for both the pro and anti crowd.

Personally, I am going to wait and see if I won one of the copies from ENDO's contest before I buy it from Amazon or another bookseller, but either way I probably will have this book read before the end of Spring.

Thanks for the video link tvlady!

Happy B-day to Presley, Elvis, SGT, US Army

2012-01-08T20:47:00.001-05:00

Oh yeah...and also "The King" of Rock-n-Roll...

Today would of been Elvis' 77th birthday, while not a HUGE fan of his music (the style and sound was a bit before my time for me to be a major fan, but I admire the guy's career and how cool he was - at least before he got hooked on drugs and bloated near the end). Elvis did something that few people in his position (especially today) would do, he allowed himself to be drafted at the height of his career. Yep, 1958 - 1960 Elvis was drafted, completed basic training and served in Germany as a scout during some of the most volatile years of the cold war instead of pressing for some gig entertaining other soldiers on USO shows and such, like he probably could have done.

See that M113 in the background? We were still using modified versions of that vehicle in Iraq in 2007!!

By accounts on this site Elvis did more than just show up too, he seemed to go the extra mile in order to show that he wasn't being given special treatment. He did get some special attention though, he had a public affairs captain assigned to him whenever the press was around to make sure the didn't say or do anything to embarrass the Army since of the increased attention that would be given to him...he never did. Even after he got out he just passed off his service as just doing what everyone else should have done given the circumstances...something he passed on as a joke in the 1961 movie Blue Hawaii playing a soldier discharged from the Army who returns home to Hawaii. In the movie his mother (played by a young(er) Angela Lansbury) says a couple of times about her boy being home from the war..and both Elvis and his movie Dad have to remind her that there was no war going on (even though "advisers" were in Vietnam it was still a non-event to most Americans in 1961).

As a side note, my high school wrestling coach, Mike Albert, has made quite a career of his Elvis impersonation that he used to do during practices...being a guest on Oprah (one of the few times I would of watched that show) and other TV shows as well as touring the country with members of Elvis's own band. Here's a quick vid..

Happy Birthday Sergeant Presley!

C&R wish list

2012-01-08T10:06:00.000-05:00

Not much new to report on the pending (hopefully ;-} ) C&R license. I got the application back in December because I failed to initial some blocks (attention to detail private!!) but other than that still waiting. With my acquisition of the 1903 I have thought about what guns I will want to add first to the collection....

Came up with a "short" list...

M-1 Carbine...my "Holy Grail" for my gun locker right now...God willing the Koreans and the POTUS will help me out on this one...
Polish P-64 9x18 pistol...cheap and relatively useful if you exchange the springs apparently as a CCW
Tokarev T-33 7.62x25 ....cool 1911 inspired knockoff...relatively cheap...good ballistic performance
M1985 Nagant pistol.....real cheap...to go with my Mosin...speaking of which...
91/30 Mosin rifle....$80 - $90? Get two....
Mauser 98k....had one...got rid of it...regret it ....correct this...
S&W "Victory" model .38 revolver...like the one former President George HW Bush carried as a Navy pilot in WW2...not exactly cheap but doable...plus its a S&W revolver..
CZ-82 pistol...another Eastern European service pistol available since the great commie going out of business sale of the 90's....

Now, if I only had a big pile o' cash....

Iran threatens US Carrier group in gulf...our response? We rescue Iranians!

2012-01-06T13:27:00.001-05:00

Someone in Tehran's PR department is probably going to be hung for this...

News just breaking over at CNN....

The Iranians were upset at the carrier battle group for the USS John Stennis and have been sabre rattling for the past few weeks about it...we step in and rescue 13 Iranian sailors from the clutches of pirates holding them for the past 45 days...something that their own Navy obviously couldn't do...

Take that Iran....

Damn, we take out pirates like brushing lint off of our sleeves these days...even at Easter sometimes...

Hmmmm, I wonder if a drone from the USS Bohica could of done this job....oh, wait, it has a gun for shooting pirates and stuff....ironic this happened just moments after the other article auto published...

New Navy carrier design.

2012-01-06T13:13:00.000-05:00

The Mad Ogre posted this article on his FaceBook page earlier today about the USS Gerald Ford, the newest, and biggest carrier scheduled to join the fleet in 2015...now that is a big boat!! (relax my squid readers...I know the difference between a boat and a ship..just teasing you!)

USS Gerald Ford (artists rendition)

My thought is this....the use of UAV's (unmanned aerial vehicles - like the Pradator drone) is becoming so commonplace in today's military that maybe its time for the Navy to think about a dedicated UAV launching platform that it can use to project air power over the horizon at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated manned flight carrier would cost. I mean if you are going in to bomb targets can't a drone get the job done without putting a pilot at risk? Lets think about it....

The ship could be a third of the current carrier's length, if not less.
UAV's could be launched via rocket assisted ramps and do away with a normal flight deck.
Recovery could be done by flying them into a net or other restraint system or simply landing them in friendly areas to be picked up and reused.
"Pilots" would stay aboard the ship in relative safety..hell, the Air Force has pilots in the states controlling craft in Afghanistan...the pilots could sun themselves in San Diego in the day and bomb the hell out of terrorists at night.
Give it some 5" guns, the normal AA systems (R2D2) and ship-to-air and ship-to-ship missles.
Maybe incorporate some unconventional warfare stuff..high tech intel gathering gear and ability to host a SEAL team.
Helicopter pad on the aft for search-and-rescue or recovery of UAV's.
Being only a third of the size of a carrier it would be more fuel efficient and having UAV's wouldn't need a crew nearly as large.
It would not replace the standing aircraft carrier fleet but supplement it...for dedicated single target missions the reduced size and radar signature would make it a viable strike option..like it is currently from land based platforms.
Conforms to the transition of parts of our current Navy to a littoral (shallow water) fleet.

Just a thought.

Most people don't know this but I often thought of joining the Navy when a younger man. I often checked out the large color picture books from the library of Naval ships from WWI and WWII..it just amazed me how large those things were and floated. I went to the recruiters...Navy guy was off sick..Army guy was taking people out for pizza and movies....the rest is history.

USS Bohica UAV assault craft (Bad Artists rendition)

Huey's Manly Movies #5: Battle: Los Angeles

2012-01-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

Picked up a flick from my local Redbox machine last week that turned out to be better than average in my mind. Yeah, kind of heavy on drama at times and a few "WTF" moments in terms of military strategy and tactics shown versus what I know...but overall enjoyable. Think about the movie Independence Day but not so sugary....and on the ground...

Huey's Manly Movie #5: Battle: Los Angeles

Date: 2011
Major Manly Stars: Aaron "Kurt Douglas doesn't have a patent on a manly butt chin" Eckhart, Jim "hey! I'm on true blood" Parrack, Michelle "I always play the tough girl" Rodriguez,
Manly Themes: Fighting, Marines, killing Aliens, stuff blowing up
Plot: World coming to an end thanks to aliens? No worry, the USMC is here to help!
Trailer:

As you can see from the trailer the cinematography on the film is really good. Even though some scenes are clearly CGI you don't get distracted too much by it with the human element of the film being played out.

Fairly decent portrayal of Marines I think in this movie, although just as with a lot of similar movies too few people are depicted doing way too much of the work....I know, its fiction. The film even uses more or less accurate uniforms and equipment. At first I thought they missed the mark on the helmet and that the Marines were shown using the old PASGT Kevlar ("fritz", "K-Pot") helmets...but apparently the marines kept the overall design of the K-pot and updated its construction and harness system, unlike the Army which designed an entirely new helmet. Weapons (generally AR's with M64 optics) are correct and there is are realistic reloading sequences. Another nice touch is that the featured unit, 2nd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment is located at Camp Pendleton and the other Army unit mentioned, the 40th Division, is a unit of the California National Guard...both are geographically correct for the region depicted in the movie.

General plot line, a swarm of objects are seen headed towards the earth but slow down before they hit it and splash into the ocean...alien cyborg things emerge and start to lay waste to everything in their path. Aaron Eckhart portrays a soon-to-be-retired Staff Sergeant who suddenly finds himself tasked with leading a platoon/large squad of Marines into a battle with an unknown adversary. They soon advance through smoke and find themselves engaging bi-pedal alien fighters in a race to rescue civilians trapped at a LA Police station. On thing I thought was cool was the aliens, while shown being bigger, stronger, faster and more agile than humans, still relied on projectile weapons for their main armament. Unlike Independence Day, there are no ray guns or other such weaponry that we cannot match, although they do have many technological advances in the end its just a good 'ol shooting match. They eventually find a wounded alien and in a somewhat gruesome scene tear into it with their hands and knives trying to find out how to kill it as most of their rounds seem to impact them with little effect.

OK, for the most part the film is "realistic" for a sci-fi fantasy flick of this nature. There is the obligatory scene of self sacrifice by one of the Marines to save his troops, the death of fellow Marines to make the hardest hard core veteran shed a tear, the "dark secret" harbored by Eckhart that comes out in the storyline via another Marines attitude and some over the top action. All of this is taken well and good up until the point that they finally save (most of) the civilian and are on there way home in a chopper when they notice a blacked out area...I know what I would be thinking...Mother Ship! Yeah! Anyway, Michelle Rodriguez has been along for the ride throughout most of the movie so far as an Air Force Intel specialist (in the field with a rifle and knows how to use it?) that for some reason has hidden the fact that her mission was to find a weakness in the enemy and order an airstrike? Really, she kept that a secret from Marines fighting the aliens? Well, I guess if she said that right up front that may have taken priority over rescuing the civilians and thrown the plot off course. Anyway, the group goes out, finds the mother ship, targets it with a laser and shoots its with a AT4 from hell/on steroids and eventually another Air Force missle flies in from somewhere and takes the mother ship out...making all the flying alien craft crash and the Marines advance on line shooting at retreating aliens...hell yes...

Then the Marines go back to digging holes and running into walls at Camp Pendleton...The End.

My 1903....Barry Pepper Style

2012-01-06T05:43:00.000-05:00

Got a chance to go shooting at Blackwing Shooting Center in Delaware, Ohio this past weekend with two old friends from my Operation Noble Eagle days at Ft. Knox...Major Chris and SFC Pat (last names withheld to protect the innocent). Had a good time, got to get the first rounds downrange with the 1903...at $44 a box of 20 rounds for "acceptable" .30-06 on the range I didn't get to shoot it much, especially since I also had to feed the M1. It functioned pretty much like I thought it would...perfect. The action with rounds in the weapon is as smooth as it is empty. Since I shoot left handed I cycled the weapon "Barry Pepper" style (from Saving Private Ryan), reaching over the stock to cycle the action....sorry for the noise in the video, #1 its a range and #2 had a bunch of yahoos a few lanes over acting like idiots telling each other how cool they were and what great shooters they were hitting "more or less" COM at 10 feet!

What Black Helicopters?

2012-01-05T15:21:00.001-05:00

Damn!....my truck!

Some good news...

2012-01-05T11:13:00.004-05:00

The cousin of my friend Heather who was shot by his hunting partner and I wrote about a while ago is doing much better according to her! Good news! Don't know more than he is recovering well and will leave it at that. As you may remember Heather is the lead singer for the band AthenA here in Columbus and a friend of the blog. Again, safety is between the ears folks, not a switch on the gun...be careful out there.

Free Glock book drawing over at ENDO...

2012-01-05T11:01:00.001-05:00

Win this book over at ENDO here...

All you have to do is leave a comment with a valid email address...simple.

I will probably buy this whether I win it or not....

Ruger...is .22 "the new black"?

2012-01-04T16:57:00.001-05:00

In the span of a month you've announced the SP101 and LCR in .22 and now the SR22 as a .22 auto to complement your other Mark III .22 pistols....what gives? Is .22 that big of a seller that people can't live but without the thought of another three .22 pistols on the market?

Just wondering....

And you thought it was a Walther...didn't you?!?

Justified...its not just a TV show...

2012-01-04T13:51:00.002-05:00

Justified....what local Police are calling the shooting of an armed stalker breaking into a 18 year old mothers house who defended herself and her 3 month old son with a shotgun...check out the story and video from ABC news...

Okla. Woman Shoots, Kills Intruder: 911 Operators Say It's Okay to Shoot

OK, I am not seeing where the dispatcher said it was OK...more of a wink-wink-nudge-nudge statement saying she couldn't tell her to do that but for her to do what she had to do to defend her baby...tacit approval I guess.. The poor woman just lost her husband on Christmas day to cancer and on New Years had this lunatic and co-lunatic come a knocking with a 12" hunting knife. Proof of the lunacy...the guy brought a knife to a gun fight...hmmm...gun in the hands of the good ~~guy~~ gal, knife in the hands of the bad guy...my God we need to ban hunting knives now!! I dare any of the Brady or Bloomberg idiots to dispute the use of the firearm in this case to defend this young lady and her defenseless child.

Yeah, I'd kill to protect him if he was my son as well....I bet some anti looks at this and says "but she had a DOG there to protect her!"..guess what idiot, dogs don't use shotguns..

Now I do have some issue with the TV crew having her point the shotgun at them..that breaks a couple of the cardinal rules of gun safety right there...(1) that of treating a gun as if it was always loaded and (2) never pointing a gun at something you wouldn't shoot otherwise. Speaking of that gun it was a side by side shotgun...maybe a coach gun by Stoeger, dunno didn't get a good look at it in the video..hey that Clint Smith fellow was right, they do make good defensive weapons! Hey, here is out friend the Mad Ogre with a bit about Stoeger coach guns....he makes some good points about "tactical" being taken too far...

And I need to check out that TV show Justified soon as well.....

Oh, and here's another word for you..."Ironic"..that is when George Stephanopoulis on ABC news seems to report favorably on this when he was a senior policy adviser under the first Clinton Administration...you know the one that gave us the wonderful 10 year ban on so-called "assault weapons"...

Tracers at night...shooters delight

2012-01-04T09:51:00.001-05:00

Had to steal this from ENDO....

Reminds me of night qualification one time when I had a friend load me up with a mag of all tracers....normally we got one round in 5 or so, but I had a full magazine of them. You shoot at 25 meters at a pop up target that was dimly illuminated and tried to knock it down 10 times. Range NCO went nuts when he noticed that I had all tracers but let me finish anyway...he he...good times....

Tactical note to shooters....tracers work both ways...

Wow, thats a lot of guns....

2012-01-03T13:31:00.003-05:00

News reports across the web today about the large amount of guns sold in the week leading up to Christmas...

By Nick Allen, Los Angeles, The Telegraph
7:17PM GMT 01 Jan 2012

According to the FBI, over 1.5 million background checks on customers were requested by gun dealers to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in December. Nearly 500,000 of those were in the six days before Christmas.

It was the highest number ever in a single month, surpassing the previous record set in November.

On Dec 23 alone there were 102,222 background checks, making it the second busiest single day for buying guns in history.

Wow, that's a lot of guns...especially since those background checks have got to include a bunch of multiple gun purchases in them...I bought one two days after Christmas (the 1903) so make that 1,500,001 according to my book....

The fact that this is making the news, along with stories about women being the largest growing group of gun owners and the like is heartening to me..and frightening. I am afraid that the "antis" will use this sheer number of weapons in the hands of the public as a fear mongering story along with the misuse of them by criminals as a way of forcing more gun control into local legislations in the coming year. Far and wide gun ownership is a protected right in most parts of the country right now. But there are areas that do not favor gun ownership AT ALL..New York (unless you're juiced in with the local politicians), Washington DC, Chicago, a large portion of California, New Jersey....just to name a few. Yes, the ownership of firearms is allowed in many of these places, but the restrictions on them in many cases are so strong as to be a practical ban on their use. Even with the Heller and McDonald cases behind us there is still a lot of legislative and judicial work to be done to keep these rights as the founders intended intact. The fact that our current POTUS has not made an aggressive move against guns is surprising to me. I remember lines 2 and 3 deep around the gun counter in November 2008 as everyone tried to buy up before the dreaded announcement of more restrictive gun laws. The entire "Operation Gun Runner" thing is maybe making a delay on it now, but with an election coming up his stance may change radically to rally voting blocks and a second term as a lame duck could give him the incentive to really put the screws to the issue...

Gun Control works....in all the wrong ways....

"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
Adolf Hitler, 1935

Goodies for the carbine.

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

Got a box from CheaperThanDirt.com today...

Repro oiler and sling
Repro mag pouch
3 new Korean (KCI) 15 round mags
2 boxes of Tula .30 carbine ammo

Well, wanted to try and make this look a little more "authentic" but since the carbine itself is not USGI I didn't have any problem getting some Chinese made stuff to stick on here...sling color is too dark, mag pouch is a bit off...mags are too smooth...all OK in my book. Once I get it to the range if it all works it works.

For those that may be asking themselves about the ammo pouch, this is a repro of the magazine pouch that was issued to go on the standard web belt during the war. It did not take long for the troops to realize that if they took the barrel and receiver out of the stock (a 5 minute operation front to back, if that) that they could place a ammo pouch on the stock and have a total of 3 magazines on the weapon at all times, a total of 45 rounds. That was almost an unheard of amount at the time. Generally you see pics of the pouch on the other side of the carbine, but I shoot long guns Southpaw, which causes me to have mine on the "wrong" side of the stock. Again, no big deal to me.

Wow...the AR vs AK debate...Dr. Seuss style...

2011-12-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

Springfield 1903....mine!

2011-12-30T14:30:00.000-05:00

OK first off lets get this out of the way...this is mine now...a 1903 Springfield!

Finally a reason to use the term " doughboy" in a sentence with my name that doesn't refer to my waistline...

This story is kind of out of the annals of the "how the heck did this happen" chapter of the blog. I told you last week that the Regent R100 had been sold to finance another project to write about. After considering my choices I decided I wanted to get another 1911 and work my way up the cost ladder on them, with getting a C&R piece a secondary choice. The pistol I landed my aim on was the new Ruger SR1911 for a number of reasons...cost, apparent quality and features to name a few. I had to save up some more cash so I was content to wait for this purchase. In the meantime I had decided for pure vanity reasons I might trade up the P3AT for a LCP (Again!) so I would have a Ruger lineup of the LCP, LC9 and then the SR1911 in the safe. I mentioned this in passing to Kev that informed me that he had a co-worker in the market for a CCW pistol and he would buy it. I kind of figured since its colder now I could pack the LC9 until I got some money together to get a smaller mousegun (LCP) when it got warmer. Like the last .380 I sold I saw myself selling it almost in 3rd person one again, but it was done. All of a sudden I had the cash to get the Ruger SR1911 though! I started calling around Tuesday to find one locally and was totally let down! All the shops in the Central Ohio area are sold out and nobody knows if Ruger will be able to get any out soon. Bummer!

My daughter had spent the night at my parents while my wife and I went to the Jeff Dunham show on Monday so I picked her up Tuesday afternoon (took the day off from work). On the way home I decided just to take a small side trip to The Powder Room gun store in Powell, Ohio just to "look around". I thought maybe I might luck out and find a SR1911 in the case they just happened to get in that day. What I found surprised me...matter of fact the damn thing just about jumped out of the rack into my arms and called my name. In the shop they have several "merry go round" stands with various mostly used long guns for sale...Mosins, old hunting rifles, Chines and Yugo SKS' and the like. One in the stand caught my eye...the sling looked familiar with its double hook clipped leather eyelets and the humped hand guard on top of the stock..a Springfield! Well, since the SR1911 seemed to be a far off dream at this point and something else to save for and this was right in front of me...well...you know what comes next! Cha-ching!!

The rifle is associated with the WWI Doughboy and co-starred with Gary Cooper in the WWI feel good war film Sergeant York. Most people assume that the Springfield was the only rifle the US used in "The War to End All Wars"...not true. In fact the US used as many, if not more Model 1917 Enfield rifles chambered in .30-06 than they did Springfields. Also fact... Sergeant York used an Enfield to kill and capture all those Germans! And speaking of movies....

How I see myself with a 1903..

Gary Cooper in Sergeant York

...and how the rest of the world probably sees me with one!!

Lou Costello in Buck Privates

The Springfield 1903 was adopted by the US Army in response to the sub-par performance of the Krag-Jorgensen rifle versus the Spanish Army armed with Mauser rifles during the Spanish-American War in Cuba. The US Army looked around to see what their best option was and basically came back with "lets rip off the Mauser, the Krag and anything else we like and make one ourselves". And that they did...the design was so much like a Mauser in some respects that for a while the US was forced to pay royalties to Mauser...I believe that stopped sometime around WWI for obvious reasons. Instead of being made with various configurations and barrel lengths, the Army decided on a 24" barrel as the only one to be used on the 1903 and so it replaced both the rifle and the carbine models in previous designs into one configuration with an overall length of 44" and weight around 9 pounds. The rifle was originally issued with a spike bayonet, but President Teddy Roosevelt rejected this and saw that the rifle would eventually get the iconic 16" M1905 bayonet, and later the 17" M1917 bayonet. Sadly (as I have written about before), most of these bayonets were chopped down to 10" during WWII and issued at the M1 bayonet to be used with the M1 rifle. Being that they use the same lug and handle dimensions, any M1 bayonet can be used on a Springfield 1903.

At The Powder Room, my 1903 (left) next to a Yugo M48 Mauser, the similarities to the bolt and action, to include the tang mounted rotating safety are evident.

The rifle had a reputation to being accurate out to incredible ranges as many a German found out the hard way. The Marines at Belleau Woods and soldier of the 3rd Infantry Division both left impressions on the Germans they faced, both captured Germans and documents recovered off of German bodies bore reporting of American marksmen that could pick off individual targets at 800 or more yards...and not just snipers either! This was far in widespread excess of what the Germans had encountered to that point and made them think twice about being anywhere "safe" when above the trench lines going forward.

#8 of the top 10 combat rifles of all time...not too shabby!

The rifle has many attributes of the classic Mauser action, dual locking lugs and an over sized extractor provided strong and reliable performance. Along with this it also retains the unique 3 position safety mounted on the rear of the bolt. When flipped to the left side it allows the rifle to be operated and fired normally. Flipped all the way to the right and the weapon is on safe and the bolt handle cannot by cycled. When placed in the center position the trigger cannot fire the weapon but the action can be cycled manually to empty rounds from the magazine. Pretty neat and advanced for a design well over 110 years old now!

Three position safety and, unlike the Mauser, a knurled knob allows you to manually cock the action if required...the two light marks perpendicular on the stock is where is was repaired at some point to keep from splitting..

It did keep one feature of the Krag in that there is a magazine cut off switch on the left side of the receiver that when placed into the down (off) position would cut off the magazine feed and turn the rifle into a single shot weapon. It actually blocks the retraction of the bolt beyond where it can engage and strip a round from the magazine, but not so far as not to allow the single insertion of rounds into the chamber. This feature was probably to please the old brass that approved the rifle and harkened back to a time with single shot trapdoor rifles and the such were the norm. At one point troops were actually ordered to keep this turned off and load rounds manually one at a time, keeping the rounds in the magazine as a reserve! As a side note, as this is where the bolt retaining latch is on a regular Mauser action, placing the switch in the middle position so its 90 degrees from the rifle allows the bolt to be removed.

Magazine cut off in the "no fun" position.

My particular rifle has a receiver with a "high" serial number (above 800,000) from 1918 and was indeed made by the Springfield Armory. This is important as rifles with "low' numbers are generally considered to be unsafe to shoot in general as some production issues with the method used to temper the steel may make them liable to shatter under high pressures. The barrel is marked as a Springfield Barrel from June of 1942. The only other marking I can find on the rifle is a small "r" stamped on the bolt arm, indicating it was manufactured by Remington. The stock is not a traditional straight stock (which was not really liked by the soldiers anyway) but instead is a "scant" stock. During rearsenaling of the 1903 for service in WWII there were many rough blanks for the rifle stocks available, a simple change to the lathing process with the wood available enable a slight pistol grip (scant grip) to be included on the stock to help in handling the rifle in aiming and reducing recoil. All of this indicates to me that the rifle is either a arsenal rebuild from WWII, a CMP rifle assembled by the gunsmiths there or a very good custom build of the model.

The rifle was originally chambered to fire the .30-03 round, which was a heavy, round nose bullet traveling at 2,300 fps. This resulted in a very loping trajectory that the Army found hard to train troops to use, so in 1906 the ammunition spec was changed to a 150gr Spitzer round traveling at 2,800 fps that shot much straighter and became the venerable .30-06 cartridge that American servicemen and sportsmen have been using for over a hundred years now. The 1903 used a 5 round internal magazine that was fed using 5 round stripper clips. This was pretty common place in those days. The use of the magazine cutoff actually allowed a soldier to load his magazine, engage the cutoff and then load another single round, turn the cutoff back to the "on" position and engage the safety....in fact giving him 6 ready rounds to have on hand!

Speaking of aiming, the 1903A3 added a rear peep sight right at the rear of the receiver...mine being an original receiver has a ladder type sliding sight with apparently four, count 'em four, separate aiming apertures! Three are notch type apertures and one is a peep. Elevation is adjusted by loosening the wheel on the right of the sight and moving the aperture assembly to the required range. Windage is adjusted by moving another wheel on the right side of the sight base. Other than those two facts I have no idea how to use it yet, but I am researching it. It does appear that this thing is calibrated out past 2500 meters..and loot at the notch on the top of the ladder! Its like our troops were supposed to sit in Paris sipping congac and champagne, elevate their sights and their rifle and engage targets all the way in the Somme!!

4 sighting apertures on the ladder style sight!

The rifle designers must have known that the sights were going to be complex to use and included a single "battle sight" notch on the top of the ladder sight usable when it was folded down...."battle zero" for the 1903 is 500 yards by the way!!

To hit a target at 500 yards all you need is this!

Front sight duties are taken care of by a simple blade sight that is drift adjustable for windage during initial zeroing of the rifle.

There is a hood for this that is easily available, might pick one up...

Overall, my rifle seems to be in really good shape. Both metal and wood on it are in excellent condition and the bolt operates very smoothly. In addition it has a 1903 patterned hook sling that I have only seen used in videos marked 1918. Original? I don't know but it certainly looks it...and it too is in good shape. I understand the basic premise of using it as a loop sling after attending Appleseed shoots, but I will need to get some more info before I use it.

I love the way this rifle looks and feels. Comparing it next to the M1 Garand in the safe was a very cool experience. Here I was with two rifles that helped shape history...one that fought in WW1 and WW2 and one called the "the greatest single battle implement ever devised by man." by one of the greatest Generals that ever lived (that's Patton for those that don't know). We often think of the foolish loss of life in WWI as GI's went "over the top" into machine gun fire armed only with a bolt action rifle. After handling the 1903 I can see how a soldier carrying this would carry a sense of confidence that it could get him out of trouble faster than he got into it. It was said in WWI that the Americans brought the best target rifle (the 1903), the Germans brought the best hunting rifle (Mauser) and the British brought the best battle rifle (the Enfield). I have to say having looked at all three I think that's a wrong conclusion. I am bias, yes, but the Springfield '03 is simply a rifleman's rifle...robust, accurate and reassuring. Yes, its not the most original of designs but it is what Americans sometimes do best...adapt and improvise what they have to make the best they can. Where as the M1 was a technological evolution of the battle rifle for the US, the Springfield was the apex of the bolt action design and to me was the best battle rifle of WWI.

Two old gladiators that can still dish out some pain to folks a far ways away....

I still have to shoot this rifle to see how it handles, but based on my knowledge of this rifle so far I expect to love it! More info after range time, whenever that is...Ohio in the Winter is not known for its rifle range abundance.

Knife on your back? Are you nuts?

2011-12-30T13:30:00.000-05:00

Check out this image, especially what is circled in purple...its a Cold Steel tanto I believe...

This is a still pic from a YouTube video from a guy who does a few reviews now and then on that site. A lot of you probably know who it is, I am not going to drop names though. No need and I don't want to possibly start a flame war over something so trivial as this. Its just I cannot fathom the location of that knife in the pic. My thought on this WTH? I have trained and worn body armor and I would never think of putting a knife in that location. I can't see how reaching over your shoulder for your knife would be beneficial in any sense of the word. The vest he is wearing does have gear attachment point there, but I think that site is better suited for a radio or other such devise that you set once and forget.

Nothing against this individual, hey, he's out there testing gear and equipment like I wish I had the time, resources and location to do so. Its not like I am throwing stones in a glass house here, he and I are at totally different levels in this public forum 2nd Amendment stuff...fact is we are both working at the same goal, to provide the best possible information and opinion available to anyone that will listen to us...a lot more people watch and listen to him than me...so win for him on that count.

Weapon seizures up?

2011-12-30T07:41:00.001-05:00

Just saw a story on my local CBS affiliate about vehicle related gun citations/arrests/seizures being up 28%. Hmmmmmm? My first thought is that folks don't understand the latest CCW rules that went into affect this fall. If so fail on them... Will research a bit more later and update.

Btw sitting in my driveway writing this....safely

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Huey's Manly Movies #4 - Dog Soldiers

2011-12-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

You know what, zombies are quickly becoming so yesterday. Everyone has a movie or TV show out now featuring them, they are all over the pop culture radar and more and more books are being written about "surviving the zombie apocalypse". Now werewolves on the other hand...

Got a treat for you to watch...Huey's Manly Movies #4 ~ Dog Soldiers

Date: 2002
Major Manly Stars: Kevin "I am Lucius Vorenus from HBO's Rome" McKidd
Manly Themes: Fighting werewolves, plenty of guns
Plot: A squad of Brit grunts gets hunted down in the Scottish highlands by a pack of viscous, hairy hell raisers with big toothy fangs...
Trailer:

I love this film, just to get this out there right off the bat. Its got that well-made-but-independent feel to it. I like the actor Kevin McKidd and loved his character he played in the HBO's series Rome..seriously now, do you think a dude that dressed like this is going to take any shite from werewolves? nope..me neither.

I am Sparticus!...oops, wrong series..

The films starts with a couple being introduced to coitus interuptus wolfie style, followed shortly after by Private Cooper (McKidd) being chased through the woods by an unseen adversary, werewolves? nope, just some Brit SF types he is trying to avoid in their version of SFAS for what is probably their version of Special Forces, the SAS. He gets caught by the unit commander, Captain Ryan, who orders him to shoot a dog. When Cooper refuses, Ryan shoots the dog commenting "if you can't even shoot a dog what use are of you to me?". This sets Cooper off who strikes Ryan, who sends him "back to the squad". Hmmm, I don't know a whole lot about the Brit Army, but I am pretty sure our SFAS course doesn't work exactly like that...

never did this myself..too far away from the coffee machine and donut box for my tastes...

Anyway, Cooper is returned to being a "squaddie" and in the next scene is shown being choppered into a remote hilltop along with the rest of his squad. His squad is lead by the seasoned Sergeant Wells who gets to tell a war story around the campfire for a bit in the movie to prove he's "been there". Oh yeah, I should mention that these guys are in a training exercise where they are trying to sneak past special forces units defending an area...hmmm...seems to be that should be the other way around. I should mention that they are carrying the Brit SA-80 rifle with blank adapters attached..kind of like this one...

Man, that guy's vids are getting longer and longer...still cool stuff most of the time. Anyway, they need to sneak by in a deep ravine or some other stuff that they spot on a map..cool. On the way there they break every noise and light discipline in the book for moving undetected. They talk, whistle, light campfires, move along the topographical top of a hill instead of the military crest of it (moving silhouetted against the sky instead of skirting it so you are against the background of the hill) and other stuff as well.

Anyway, you see at one point that the squad is being observed by none other than Captain Ryan from the first part of the movie, who is then beset upon by some unseen enemy (OK at this point you know its a werewolf). Next thing the squad comes upon an obviously over run outpost containing the remains of special forces soldiers and one very badly wounded Captain Ryan. Cooper and crew quickly ditch their blank firing SA-80 for whatever is lying around with live ammo to include a SLR (Brit FN-FAL), a shotgun and MP-5 amongst other weapons. They grab Ryan and start moving out to their evac site when they are beset upon by an "unseen" enemy in the forest. You know they are werewolves by this point but the film makers only give brief glimpses of them moving amongst the trees. Matter of fact, during most of the film all you see are brief glimpses. The scenes that you do see the werewolves in their entirety they move very slowly. This is because the actors wearing the costumes are on stilts that caused them to be fall hazards during filming.

bad doggie..bad, bad doggie!!

The squad is losing the foot race with the werewolves with one member being killed after impaling himself on a tree branch and Sergeant Wells having his stomach ripped open by one of the wolves. That is until a Range Rover shows up out of nowhere with a biologist driving who gathers them up and speeds them to a nearby house. A siege is started by the wolves against the soldiers inside the house and you eventually learn that the homes inhabitants are the werewolves and also that Captain Ryan was trying to track and capture one of the wolves using Cooper's squad as bait...and then he turns into one and jump out of the house...wanker.

Bleeding bait?...Ryan, that wanker! You gotta admit, the Brits have some cool looking "kit"

Not to give too much else of the ending away but needless to say there is some mano-a-wolfo fighting up close and personal like, explosions, gun play aplenty and a predictable plot twist/surprise in it that ends with Cooper being the lone survivor...and maybe leading to a sequal? All in all its a great flick to watch on a Friday evening at home...alone...with all the lights off...and the windows and doors locked....yeah, that's the manly way to do it.

The Black Keys: Your touch...hollowpoints?

2011-12-29T22:40:00.002-05:00

A coworker got me into this Akron, Ohio band The Black Keys..apparently all the rage with the hip kids these days...good sound and all...check out this video....

I feel like the first time they get shot is how folks from New Jersey and some other locations view regular round nose ammo and when they get shot the second time at 3:01 in the video and fire shoots out and stuff is how they view hollowpoints!! Prove me wrong!!

Tactical single point sling...back before tactical was cool...

2011-12-29T15:00:00.000-05:00

From the pages of Forgotten Weapons...a cool little sight for the "cruffer" in all of us..

So the Kaiser says to me, he says "hey that's a good looking purse there"..and I'm like "a purse?, do you ever spend any time with your troops?"..we both lol'd over it...big joker that Kaiser is...

This German officer is rocking his C96 Mauser with attached wood stock/holster in a single point sling configuration that would make the boys at Magpul proud. As a side note, take a look at the other soldiers around him...testament that even though they were "Huns" or "Krauts" the Germans we and the allies faced in WWI (and WWII) for that matter were just soldiers like we were (save maybe for some of the SS extremest units) caught up in the horror of war. I mean look at the schlub in the background with his cap all slouched and using a cane, does he really look like he wants to be there?

The C96 was one of the more popular semi-autos of its day...its 7.62 high velocity round could impact an impressive 545 ft/lbs of energy on a target. Winston Churchill himself was famously a fan of it after using one in the 2nd Boer War. Its unique internal magazine, long barrel (all the better to get extra velocity with my dear) and unique "broom handle" grip made it a iconic pistol of the early 20th century. The pistol was so unique in its appearance it was even used to base the "blaster" pistol used by actor Harrison Ford as Han Solo in the 1977 movie Star Wars..

I come from the Bohemian quadrant...hence the slack-ish appearance and lack of a real job...

Feel good post of the week...8 year old thanks soldiers at Atlanta Airport..

2011-12-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

Check this out....love this kid!

(Can't embedd the video, just go to Fox's page and view it)
8 year old welcomes soldiers in Atlanta.

I remember being in that very same spot by the USO lounge where he is shown, now when I was there this kid would of been 2 or 3, but its nice to see some kids getting it right from the start. I hope I get the chance to repay this kid his kindness to other soldiers somewhere down the line if he does enlist.

Range Review....Kimber Custom II vs. Regent R-100

2011-12-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I got to satisfy a little curiosity of mine. I had gotten rid of my Kimber II 1911 last Winter to a friend looking for his first gun, Harold. This past Summer I decided I wanted another 1911 and decided I wanted a more basic, "budget" 1911 and went with a Regent R100 1911 (which I just recently got rid of to finance another project). The Regent was a fine gun, but I found myself desiring some more "bling" than the base model offered and ended up having a beavertail safety and commander style hammer installed along with a "competition' trigger and improved rear sight. I was satisfied with the work, it made it almost look like my old Kimber. I was interested to see how they would shoot side-by-side, and thanks to Harold I got a chance to find out!

Here are out two test subjects...the Kimber Custom II on the left, and the Regent R100 on the right. And that is the exact Kimber I used to own too, cool. Notice how they both look fairly similar.

Both are 5" full sized 1911 pistols with Hogue grips, plain notch and post sights (both with the front sight post pained orange by yours truly). The Kimber has a full length guide rod and Swartz style grip activated firing pin safety, while the Regent has a traditional "short" guide rod and a "series 80" trigger activated firing pin safety. All other specs for these two pistols that would affect the results of a shooting comparison are similar in nature otherwise.

The Kimber cost around $700 new and has nothing replaced on it. The Regent was about $450 new and I had another $125 in parts and $50 in labor putting it to where it was at for the test, so comparative prices for both were real similar. The test would be to see if the lower priced Regent could shoot with the more expensive Kimber (this is Kimber's "budget line" pistol BTW) and also if the extras I had done to the Regent worth it.

Both pistol felt about the same in the hand, but upon closer inspection you could tell some obvious differences between the two, the Kimber was just nicer overall. The Regent is a fine basic 1911 for sure, but the fit on the Kimber was just better, as you would expect from a more expensive build. The biggest difference was the triggers. The Regent had a "trigger job" done as part of the fitting of the parts by the gunsmith at the Powder Room that installed them...it greatly improved the formerly heavy pull on the traditional trigger on that gun. It still couldn't touch the crisper break of the Kimber though.

I got there ahead of Harold and decided to shoot a bit and warm up...first mag I got the first ever FTF with the Regent...ammo was Federal 230gr FMJ, first time I had shot it in this gun....mag was one of the Kimber 8 round mags I have..notice the round started to feed but then stopped on the feed ramp before being chambered, first and only time this happened...

Later I would have another few issues, but upon closer inspection I discovered it was just me.. I had my grip adjusted on the gun to where my "thumbs forward" approach was actually causing me to engage the slide stop..check out the following vid and notice how the rounds have NOT moved forward from the magazine and attempted to chamber...

Just goes to prove its not always the equipments fault! So in reality that is ONE FTF in about 400 rounds through the gun at this point. Not too shabby. Anyway, this was the result of a couple of 5 round strings at about 7 - 8 yards with the Regent...

Not a thing wrong with that group...I would hate to be on the receiving end of those rounds.

After Harold showed up and we swapped war stories and fondled each other pistols we got down to shooting. After Harold got warmed up we shot five rounds out of each pistol at targets and got the following results....

Far from scientific, but I do take something away from this "test"...its not the pistol but the shooter, and a better pistol will make a shooter better as well. Obviously, I shoot more than Harold. His groups really did not change much from one gun to another, and actually if I had to pick a "tighter" group I would have to give the nod to the Regent in his case. I should point out again that at 7 yards both of his groupings would be torso hits with .45 ACP rounds to his target...good enough! I definitely could feel the better trigger and slightly better sights on the Kimber working for me...but again, those rounds from the Regent would of done the job just as well. I should point out that I used both a "center hold" and "6 O'clock" hold on the Kimber...I adjusted my POA because I couldn't believe I was getting a group like that and had to see if the rounds still impacted in the same place if I changed my aiming point...they did!

Say Hi Harold..."Hi Harold"

So was it worth it? Spending the extra cash to improve upon the original Regent out-of-the-box versus the Kimber? Hard to tell truthfully. I guess I should have shot them side-by-side when I first go the Regent and then again once I got it upgraded. I do remember the trigger that first range trip being a lot stiffer than it was when I got it back from the gun smith though. I would say after mulling it over here at the keyboard for a few moments that the answer is....."NO". If you are looking for a "budget" style 1911 and price is your major decision driver the Regent is as good an most and better than some of the other 1911's out there for the price. If you are looking for a custom "race gun" platform to start with, it can be done, but for what I feel is the performance it was brought up to compared to the cost to obtain it against the purchase price of the unaltered Kimber...well, it seems like a waste of time to me to have to go through the trouble of obtaining the parts and paying a gun smith (and keep in mind that Brian at The Powder Room is very reasonable) for what basically seems to be 2nd fiddle to a gun at around the same price point right out of the box.

Again, either gun will puts rounds in a torso, but for a gun to be used for scoring type competitions that extra accuracy does make a difference. Your mileage may differ of course.....

Death isn't funny, dead terrorists are...

2011-12-28T15:48:00.000-05:00

Went so see comedian Jeff Dunham this past Monday with my wife and some of her coworkers and their husbands. Funny show, plus Jeff donated $10,000 to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank to help feed the needy in Central Ohio. He is a ventriloquist and has been plying his craft since the 80's. One of his most popular characters is Achmed, the Dead Terrorist. Yep, you read that right, Achmed the Dead Terrorist. Kind of funny that he made a comedy sketch out of one of this countries most hated stereotypes.

Achmed is a snarling skeleton with some facial hair and a turban on its head. Turban? Yeah, I guess nobody told Jeff that the scarf Arab terrorists (and just about everyone else) wears in the gulf region is a "shemagh" (most common name) and not a turban. Sure, there are Terrorists in India too, but again another typical incorrect stereotype by Americans. Much love to the Sikh warriors out there rocking their turbans! Anyway, Achmed is supposedly a dead suicide bomber and gets a good portion of the show dedicated to him. Achmed's famous line when confronted with a question is "Silence!...I kill you!".

Jeff told a story on stage of how he was approached by a woman in Georgia at a show that said her son was a Navy SEAL (honestly, I think every poser in the US will be calling themselves a Navy SEAL after this war...just like posers claimed to be Green Berets after Vietnam and Rangers after Panama and Somalia). She told him that why she didn't often know where he was she knew he was in good spirits because he sent her a patch that had Achmeds face in the center and the words "We killed him....now we'll kill you" around the edge!

It was a good show and we even got luxury box seats to boot! The view was better than the video below makes it out to be.

So lets hear it for dead terrorists!

Random Gun I came across: The Detonics Combat Master

2011-12-28T11:58:00.001-05:00

At a home the other day picking up the couple that live there to go to a show when the husband lays a pistol case with this in it in my lap....

Wow! a Detonics Combat Master. This is the pistol that pretty much created the "micro" 1911 niche with its 3" barrel and bushing-less design. It is basically a chopped down 1911 with some modifications to make the timing and action work in such a shortened version of the original JMB design. It uses a multi-spring captured recoil rod to handle the stout .45 ACP recoil as well as doing away with the barrel bushing in favor of a bell shaped barrel muzzle to fit into the slide. Another prominent feature is the relocation of the rear sight to just behind the ejection port and the removal of slide material to form a gentle slope leading back to the hammer. This was to facilitate the carrying of the weapon in "condition 2" with a hammer down on a loaded chamber and the rapid "cowboy" cocking of the weapon upon drawing. Now, carrying in Condition 1 (loaded chamber, hammer cocked and weapon on safe) is the more preferred method these days but for a "compact" pistol (weighing at 32ozs!) this was workable concept in the 70's.

This style of 1911 is now back in fashion with the passage of CCW bills from coast to coast and the renewed interest of daily carry. Kimber comes to mind predominantly with their CDP line of compacts, but there are other offerings in the market as well. Carrying 6+1 rounds of .45 ACP, while the weight may be heavy compared to polymer CCW choices, the dimensions lend themselves to daily carry.

I did not get to shoot this particular pistol, and only meat pawed it for a few moments. Still it was a nice run in with some quality steel.

Things I hate in movies #4 - Sights? We don't need no sights!

2011-12-28T08:36:00.001-05:00

Long holiday weekend behind me, I hope you enjoyed yours!

Sights are such pesky things on firearms, don't you think? I know the folks in Hollywieird think so...because you never really see anyone use them. Part of it is that if an actor actually uses the sights on a rifle or handgun they will obscure their faces to the camera...not good to a producer that may be paying millions to the actor to use that face in their film. Also, firing from the hip seems so much more cooler I guess...

Come on folks...sights are there for a reason. I know people that have a hard time shooting a tight group using that set of sights on their weapon, let alone winging it. A long while ago I did an article based on point shooting that I gave some credit to using in limited circumstances. In the other 98% of circumstance using the sights is still the proper method to use. Not only do you ensure you know where that round is going (Rule #4 again!) but also think about it...if using the sights was so slow and ineffective wouldn't it reason then that all of the major competitors in the shooting sports NOT use them? Well, guess what...they DO use them! So should you!

Now, Commando again with the Arnoldator...with AC/DC to rock out to...hip shooting extraordinaire here..

Merry Christmas to all!!

2011-12-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

I hope Santa brought you everything in the caliber you asked for!!

PPR wishes you a Merry Christmas...

2011-12-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

I remember Christmas in Kuwait 5 years ago this week...pretty hard being away from your family no matter where you are at...for those folks spending it away with the threat of mortars, rockets and IED's its even suckier than that. We were lucky, Christmas at AJ was lonely but bearable. We even had a local Kuwaiti family come and give gift bags to hundreds of troops there the week of Christmas, to include a new prayer rug for each of us!! A little funny considering they circumstances, but here was a Kuwaiti citizen who obviously remembered what US troops did for him and his country in 1991 giving back what he and his family could (given the guy was loaded, as are a lot of Kuwaitis attached to the royal family). A lot of guys tossed the rug but I have kept mine as a reminder that we are all one people in the fight against extremist terrorism, despite our religious differences.

Me and my tree, Camp Arifjan, 2006

Oh yeah, PPR forgot to mention those guys and gals in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Qatar and other places...Merry Christmas to all of you in theater, just now beginning Christmas day...stay safe this year...