Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Excellent Civil War gallery

Over 200 original pictures from the Civil War **NSFW: Graphic pictures of bodies**.

There's some seriously hard looking men in these photos, and half of them look drunk. I would never have blamed them if they were. It's wild to see pictures of my hometown in ruins. This town is bristling with history from the war and, unfortunately, we lose more and more of it every year as the population here increases. The county responds by turning large pieces of land into historical "battlefield" areas and parks to keep developers from raping what's left of the place, but then the parks won't let you do anything on the land but glance at the monuments and such. Who knows how much history is buried in the many parks here, waiting to be found by folks with metal detectors. Still, if you're looking for history on the Civil War, you'd be hard pressed to find more of it in one place than any of the counties along the Rappahannock river.

Monday, November 28, 2011

What's worse than a weekend with three sick kids?

How about a weekend with FOUR sick kids!?!! Yaaaaaaay!

Fevers and snot and much much worse are my idea of a good time. I forgot I signed up for that.

Thanksgiving was great this year, and I have much to be thankful for. It broke my heart to have to eat thanksgiving lunch/dinner with both my family and my wife's family. Eating twice the food was tough, but I hung in there.

I am no longer the owner of a 1911 (temprarily), but will soon be the owner of an H&K P30. With that, there are two holsters on order for it; one of which will be here sometime in the next six months, the other should be here this week. Ammunition is on order and has been rolling in, and night sights should be here any day now, too. It's all coming together.

When I have time this week (riiiiiiight) I'm going to have to put in some hard labor to make a sufficient backstop for the amount of shooting I plan to do in the next several weeks, just to be extra safe. These days there are houses all over the place, so I want to know precisely where my rounds stop. The old target shed has long since collapsed into heap of ruin, not long after I took these pictures of it:




It's been replaced by the steel Nevco targets, and I plan to add more. I drag those pictures out every once in a while because I get a kick out of them. There's a lot of holes there!

Good concept for optics

I've voiced my opinions on 1st focal plane reticles on low power optics before because I think it's a ridiculous concept for the most part, but then I read Kyle Defoor's post on the U.S. Optics SN-4S and how it has a reticle on both planes, and I was impressed. What a great idea. The large outer ring stays the same size between 1 - 4 power, with only the ranging reticle growing in size.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I'm strapped with my Glock on my block. . . .

. . . . .ready to let loose on any Nevco targets that I spot.

This weekend I picked up two 8" round AR500 steel targets with hangers from GreenTop, and set them up and tested them out. I'm a big fan. After shooting Andy's steel at 200 yards with a rifle, I was sold, so when I got the opportunity to buy them sans shipping cost, I jumped on it.

I was fortunate to find the leftover 9mm rounds that were hidden from that range trip with Andy, and my brother, his girlfriend, and I shot up the 150 or so rounds to ring in the new steel. It was a good time. I'm also shooting with the aide of a shot-timer now, so I have no excuse to not get better at shooting.

I'm not using the Zack holster anymore, but have instead resorted back to the Bladetech IWB after a bit more modifications to make it conceal better. It's now an abomination, which is the title I now refer to it as whenever I speak of it. The Abominable Bladetech hides a full sized Glock 17 like it's not even there, and will do it all day long without any problems, even while driving or sitting for hours. It dawned on me how dangerous having screws inside the trigger guard can be if they ever decided to back out, so I epoxied the rubber plug thingy to the outside of the holster, and it's very secure. I also added some padding and stuff, as well as some duct tape, and it's now a sight to behold. Damn, it's comfortable though, and fast, too. I'm averaging around 1.9ish seconds from a concealed draw, which is not too shabby. I'll have to get some fresh pictures out there for folks to laugh at.

Like they say: if you can't be a good example, then be a horrible warning!

A Zack holster review

The Truth About Guns reviews the Zack holster from Dale Fricke, and it's very informative, including a short video of it in action. There is some hate for the concept in comments, as well as some hate for AIWB in general.

I didn't try carrying with the Zack anywhere else on the waistband other than in the front, and I also didn't try canting the weapon. One thing I noted in comments was that the gun carries better if you adjust the slack out of the cord so that it takes the weight of the gun and keeps the trigger guard area off the belt.

I also added in my thoughts on the best part of using the Zack for AIWB: you don't have to holster a loaded pistol down into your pants -- that being the most dangerous part of AIWB carry. You will notice that he snaps the Zack onto the Glock while it is out of the waistband, and then tucks it in.

Monday, November 21, 2011

First remove the beam from your own eye

Andy notes that many "gun control" states that pride themselves on strict gun laws aren't comparing so well to states with a bit more freedom. Maybe New York City Mayor Bloomberg should take a break from bashing Virginia and tend to his own issues.

Prandtl–Glauert singularity

Never heard of it referred to that way; to the layman, it's a sonic boom.

Looking through those pictures, tell me you can't hear Guile from Street Fighter saying "Sonic Booom! Sonic Booom!

I dig this multi-use shovel

The pun. . .the puuuuun!

Anyways, The Crovel looks like a solid piece of gear to own for when the zombies attack while the world ends, or if you just got your XTerra stuck in the mud during a thunder storm. My truck is outfitted with a machete, an axe, and a WWII folding shovel that my Opa had on his back when he was in Korea (I don't know if he had it with him on Normandy, but I wish I had known to ask). It would be handy to have all of those tools combined into one.

You CAN stop a train!

Many years ago I witnessed a 2,500 hp mud-bogger with 44" paddle tires puke a red-hot piston through the hood and into the air under full throttle. I thought it was bad ass. Seeing the aftermath from when a train ejects a piston is still pretty cool, but more than a little scary.

What goes up must come down!

That feeling again

When you're driving down the road to work and you think your cellphone is vibrating on your belt, only when you check you realize it's just your gut rumbling.

"Dammit, woman! I just left the house not fi. . . . . . .oh. Hmff."

Don't lie, fellas! You've been there before!

Friday, November 18, 2011

&*%$#@ TOYS!!


Toy making dude #1: (Holding up shitty plastic stegosaurus) "HEHEHAHAHAHAHAH! Dads of the world will cry out in lamentations when they step on this toy!

Toy making dude #2: "Dude, stegosaurus didn't have that many spikes on its tail. They had like four or something. Is that. . . .metal?"

#1: (Petting the toy now) "Yeeesss. Yeeeeeessssss! Tuuuuungsteennnnn! I've put tungsten in the tail spikes, and razor blades in its back plates!"

#2: "You're gonna get us fired. Why don't you just stick with using plastic like we're supposed to? It's just supposed to be a simple toy."

#1: "But tungsten will penetrate even the toughest callous! Perforate the feetses, it will!"

#2: "That's not right, man; that's going to fuck somebody up! You should be locked in prison for the rest of your creepy, screwed up life! You're insane!"

#1: "MHOOHWHOOHWAAHAAHAAHAAHAA!!!"


And there I was, on my ass on the carpet in the dark holding my wounded foot. With my head on the floor, tears were welling up in my eyes, which were shut tight like a lock; stars speckling the blackness. I had fallen prey to the toymaker when I stepped right onto his cruel sadistic trap with bare feet.

"Curse you, plastic moldsman!" -- Dwayne. LaFontant! From the movie Over the Hedge


I haven't stepped on a plastic dinosaur in a few weeks, but I did have one of those PETS toys take me down a few days ago, and yesterday morning I walked right into a large plastic plaything in the dark in the hallway while holding a kid, almost planting my face into a wall. I've fallen more times than I can count due to toys on the floor, and last night I told my wonderful wife that we need a 35% reduction in toys to make room for the ones we will be getting next month. My idea was met with the comment to not bother, that the kids won't be getting many toys this year, which is precisely what I have heard every year. I'm skeptical.

When I was a kid, I recall many times when I left my toys out on the floor or on the stairs. Leaving them on the stairs was a serious offense, and my sister and I would be playing in a bedroom when my dad would come roaring in, spanking assess like it was the end of the frickin' world. I never understood why he got so pissed off from stepping on some green plastic soldiers. The man is huge -- my big-buff-rough-and-tough-and-stuff father who could kill six bears with his hands gets mortally wounded from a small, inanimate object? Whaaaaaat?

Now I know.

I see myself very soon creeping stealthily about the house while everybody's asleep, like an angel of death with a trashbag, sweeping up all the toys that I loath. I will cast them in a fiery furnace and burn them into a brittle, black ball of charred plastic while I laugh maniacally at my work. Soooooooon!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

On self defense ammo

I was wondering yesterday morning about why some ammunition manufacturers put "Law Enforcement Ammunition" on the front of some of their self defense ammo. To me, it could potentially offer some litigation in a shooting, but not in the way that's normally discussed.



One box of ammo in that picture -- Federal Gold Medal Match -- is not branded with a law enforcement logo despite it being a common choice amongst police who use rifles. That specific load is perhaps the most used round by police snipers. Both the Federal HST and Winchester Ranger-T are labeled "Law Enforcement Ammunition," while the Speer Gold Dot is labeled "The Choice for Law Enforcement" - a little less damning. I note that there's no federal law that I'm aware of that prohibits the use of this ammo to non-law enforcement. It's only company policy.

The argument goes that if the common man shoots a home intruder or violent scumbag using such ammo, that a prosecutor has an angle against the shooter because he used ammo that's designed for cops. I think that line of thought doesn't hold water because most police agencies chose ammo -- handgun ammo in particular, which is what I'm talking about in this post -- because it consistently meets a variety of criteria: meets the FBI requirement for handgun ammo; feeds reliably in the department's duty weapons; doesn't induce premature wear in duty weapons, and is accurate enough to be serviceable. Does any of that sound like what you would want in a handgun load for your personal defense weapon? It does to me.

Notice that nothing in there has anything at all with being more effective at killing people. It's agreed by the FBI, who's testing is considered the gold standard, that in order to "protect. . the life. . and the life of others, [and] to prevent serious physical harm [when applying deadly force to a human being]" -- "it is done with the explicit intention of immediately incapacitating that subject in order to stop whatever threat to life or physical safety is posed by the subject. Immediate incapacitation is defined as the sudden physical or mental inability to pose any further risk or injury to others." Emphasis mine.

Nothing in the preface of the FBI's standards for handgun ammunition, or anywhere in it for that matter, have anything to do with killing. The death of a subject of a police shooting is a side effect; one that is unintentional and unplanned: "The concept of immediate incapacitation is the only goal of any law enforcement shooting" -- and this is the only goal I would have if I were involved in a shooting as well, and should be for anyone who defends their life from another person.

In order to satisfy the FBI's minimum 12" penetration requirement in ballistics gelatin, in the many different barriers that are often encountered in shootings, simulated barriers are shot through into the gelatin. This is done for consistency and testing purposes. The barriers are: heavy clothing; auto glass; wallboard; plywood, and steel. Notice that in the linked ballistics information for Winchester Ranger-T, there's nothing there about killing potential. That's because there is none. Can you think of any scenario where you would want your ammo to perform against those barriers if you had to shoot someone to protect yourself, your family, or an innocent life? I can.

A common argument advocating for the common man to carry law enforcement ammo in a personal arm is that the ammo has been tested to perform in a reliable and predictable manner, and those virtues are something that one would want. If you had to gun down an attacker at a gas station, wouldn't you want to be using a load that has been tested to the highest standard? As I pointed out, cops aren't issued ammunition because it has a higher killing potential; their ammo is designed to feed in their weapon, and be accurate and predictable. Those are the same reasonable requirements that I want.

The reason I think that these ammunition manufacturers are walking a dangerous line with their "Law Enforcement Ammo" label is that it can be claimed that the ammo is somehow more dangerous or deadly, and because of this it can't be trusted to the common man - only police. Again, while it's obvious that police don't use this ammo because of killing potential, a police agency may still have to prove in court that their chosen fang-face-patriot-ninja-death ammo wasn't in the best interest of the deceased subject who was gunned down by one of their employees. So then my question is: what reason does a manufacturer have to make such a stark and divisive statement for their ammo? They could advertise that their ammo has met law enforcement standards, which would be far more defensible than branding it LEO only. I think that making that statement can be misconstrued, and that they would do well to ditch it in favor of something less damning.

Spotsylvania handgun accident

Yes, the one I blogged about the other day. Some new information has come out, in that the victim was carrying his Glock tucked in his waistband without a holster. With the gun carried this way, there's nothing covering the trigger guard, which creates a dangerous situation in that something can inadvertently come into contact with the trigger and cause it to fire. A friend of the man said it's likely that he was carrying the gun loose in his pocket. I have a friend who carries a full up Glock 17 loose in his back pocket on occasion, and I've warned him about the dangers. I've offered him a holster of his choice from the many that I own, as well as instruction and ammo, but so far life has been too busy for it to happen. I'm going to push harder for a range trip now.

With a gun shoved into the front of the pants, discharging it can put a round through the femoral artery, which is the main strike against appendix carry. If carried in a serviceable, quality holster, and proper care is taken during re-holstering, this sort of accident is avoidable.

It's crushing to hear that this happened to an innocent man, in front of his kids, no doubt. My father-in-law called my wife when he found out because he thought it was me: I shop at that store with my four kids; I have a minivan, and I carry a gun. I'm thankful for the air in my lungs, and my prayers go out to the man's family.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Don't get your freak on

This garbage about stopping shooters from enjoying public land. . . . the Interior Department can shove this right up their interior.

I'm severely agitated over this because of the similar situation here in Virginia. This area used to be good-'ol-boy land: a place where my fellow hillbilly heathens and I gathered together to hunt, fish, shoot guns, shoot bows, and otherwise have a great time on God's green earth. That was back when the county's population was manageable. Now, my county and the surrounding ones are awash with yuppie families who moved down in droves from New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland to live in the "country," which has put the word "history" into "historic" Fredericksburg. Now you can't fire a slingshot or clap your hands too loud or one of these pathetic people will call the police out of fear.

I wish they would all leave.

My only hope is that I can convince my wife, our family, and several friends to move the hell out to a state where I can go for a walk without hearing the sound of traffic and sirens; where I can step out on my porch in my underwear and fire an overbored rifle at a distant crow without wondering how long it will take for the cops to show up to measure my backstop; where I can park my truck in the driveway knowing that at night, thieving little shits aren't going to syphon off all my gasoline before scattering a handful of trim nails under my tires; where it doesn't take me an hour to drive five miles to work or the grocery store.

Now you're telling me that the government wants to get involved in taking away the dwindling places where folks want to enjoy shooting? All because spineless hippies that are scared of their own shadow might "freak out" at the sound of gunfire?

There are plenty of places that these chicken-shits can go where shooting is already banned. Let them go there. The meek people who would use the government to intrude on peaceable folks, how about they go take a fucking shower instead of worrying their stinky little heads over hunters and shooters. How about a bill that makes the Interior Department send their high-falutin' asses right back where they came from? I don't like wimpy people around my kids; it creates a public disturbance. It's a social issue, get it?

Two can play at this game.

You can't convince me that they're seriously scared that an elk hunter might shoot their dog when these days urban folks are terrified that police will do the same thing when they raid their home looking for a pot plant. I guess these days there's no place safe for Cujo.

So, my question is: the hippies think they have a right to live in a place free from good folks who like shooting firearms? Good. I accept that, as long as they accept that shooters and hunters have a right to live in a place free from the sight of cowards out riding their high horse.

I think the next time I see someone who's fearfully looking at my openly carried Glock, I may have to whip out my cell phone and call the cops:

"The lady is obviously not of sound mind, officer; she looks like she might do something crazy any moment, like make terroristic threats or something. Oh, she just peed down her leg. Take her away, boys!"

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Assault Thingy shootout


Jacksonville police said Monday that it was an AK-47 assault rifle in the hands of a man who was shot Sunday morning by an off-duty officer as he tried to rob a Family Dollar store.
The off-duty cop shot the scumbag with an AR15, thus ending the debate about which rifle is more awesomer. Good shoot!

Valley of the Jolly Green Giants

A MilitaryPhotos thread on US Air Force Pararescue and Special Operations. Those boys get it done!

Years ago I looked into Pararescue, because it's a cool job with lots of medical and specialized training, but I was far too broken physically to get in. I do appreciate those who made it, though!

Venison jerky

Years ago, my family would make venison jerky, which became somewhat of a problem because the more you make, the more you eat. It's not like defrosting half a tenderloin to cook for tomorrow's game; you make jerky in huge batches, and it sits there waiting to be snacked on. A friend at work makes jerky and brings it in every now and then, and it got me on the idea of making some.

Too bad there's a Game Stop or Home Despot in place of every deer stand I used to have. How many Game Stops does a town need, anyhow? If I did have the time to shoot and clean a deer, I don't have anywhere to hunt, which leads me to think that I need to not put so much effort into dodging them in my truck on the way to work.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Open carry is getting awesome

I don't know where this is at, but it's a good indication of what open carry used to look like.

A tragic handgun accident

Update: The man was carriygn the gun loose in his waistband.




Liz Scott said the victim was in the driver’s seat of a minivan when he apparently went to unbuckle his seat belt and hit the trigger of a Glock 40-caliber handgun. A bullet was fired into the victim’s hip. He looked at his wife, who had already returned to the van, and said, “I just shot myself.”
There has to be more to this story, but my heart goes out to the family of this man, who did not survive. The store in question is where we grocery shop, so I'm a little apprehensive to hear the name of the man that lost his life; there's a good chance I may have known him.

There is only one account that I know of a gun firing in a holster where the owner was not handling the gun, but it is very very rare that it happens that way. Usually the owner has the gun out of the holster, and a finger or foreign object finds its way into the trigger guard, which is exactly the conclusion that I came to when my wife read this article to me last night. It's not known at this time whether the gun was in a hip holster, or whether it was in a pocket holster. It does sound to me like the femoral artery was hit, which is why there are some who do not carry over their appendix. I've never thought that it matters much where you have your gun holstered if you have a AD/ND, anywhere can cause a fatality.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy Veteran's Day!

Today is a day to give thanks to our Veterans. Too bad there are people who have to be reminded to be respectful sometimes:



Y'all have a great day!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Video game blogging

Aaaaaaaand Battlefield 3 is. . . . .

Terrible.

This game sucks so bad I doubt I will even finish it. I just quit playing not only for the gheyness, but also because it's boring. I'm a first person shooter type of gamer, and I'm known for being able to love the bitter with the sweet, but this game is bad. I don't have many positives here, so I'll tell it like it is.

The storyline sucks. The structure is so rigid that if you stray too far looking for cover you will be DQ'd. Bad guys appear out of thin air; you can watch this happen so much that it becomes something you start counting, like a pet word or someone who knifehands when they talk. Oftentimes your weapon has zero effect, like there's a glitch that keeps the game from acknowledging your hits.

Worst of all, there's these little story/video clips in almost every mission where you are 98% detached from what is going on, but are obligated to hit a random button every five seconds or so to keep from getting your ass kicked by some Iranian or Russian dude. The developers couldn't figure out how to make your character fight like a real Marine, so they make you watch it happen, and if you don't realize what's going on you will get stabbed to death. They should have left that stuff out; or at the very least, if you're going to add a fighting part into the game, give me some real controls so I can fight. Don't make me watch ten seconds of a struggle, and then quickly flash the "B" button and expect me to pick up the signal that I'm supposed to be interacting.

The entire game is senseless like that. The execution of it is as bad as it gets. The graphics are good, and the weapons are pretty cool. The rest sucks. It's my opinion, but I note again that I am the guy who plays the devil's advocate and sees both sides of everything. This game is not worth your time.

ETA: I don't have the time to play multiplayer online, so I stick with the campaign. I can't speak for multiplayer, but I think the campaign is garbage.

ETA2: What this bloke said. And I'm not even done listening because the wife and kids want my time. Wives in general have no clue as to what video gaming is all about. But that's ok; you are loved just the same.

ETA3: Kids are in bed, so I gave it another shot. Now it's not just ghey, but it's preposterously ghey. There's a scene where an enemy jet is engaging your Recon team, and it must be hyper realistic because it doesn't matter what you do, that jet will kill you. It can apparently shoot through anything, so there's no point in hiding. The game is super scripted, which is not what I would have expected from Battlefield. Y'all are slipping!

Random thoughts about stick fighting

I see advertised time and time again in self defense schools about using a cane as a weapon, but I rarely see anyone using a cane these days. It doesn't make sense to me to learn tactics for a weapon that hardly anyone carries, but it did get me thinking. I see senior folks walking in subdivisions every morning, and most of them are carrying a good sized sturdy stick. This isn't something I see every once in awhile, either; literally I see some stick carrying old dude with an angry look on his face at least once a week, and I have to say that if I were a scumbag, it would be a deterrent. I'm a physically capable individual with no doubts that I could overcome someone twice my age if they were unarmed, but I would be hesitant enough to attack a potential Korean war veteran with a nasty case of untreated PTSD and a treated hickory stick.

So, what about stick tactics?

Happy Birthday, Marines!!




Errrrrr!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Appendix IWB on the cheap

I've been experimenting left and right with affordable ways to appendix carry a handgun, and I've had a decent amount of success. Here's some stuff I've been messing around with:



Click the pictures to make them bigger, and also feel free to browse my growing four+ year old collection of pictures at Photobucket.

The Bladetech Nano (top left) for my Glock 17 is a well made holster, and is suitable for AIWB carry if you're not too concerned with concealment. It's very thin, light, and the attachment loops are spread apart which keeps the profile thin for waistband comfort, but it also doesn't tuck the gun's grip in towards the abdomen. I've tried to modify it to make it conceal better, and I have one more idea, but so far I've struck out. I think it set me back about $35, and for that price it's a steal.



Next to a plain old Bladetech IWB holster that I've modified, you can see the difference in the belt loops and that there's less holster overall. Keeping those loops out to the side makes a big difference, as the amount of thickness stuffed in between your belt and jelly roll is minimal:



I've had great success with the Bladetech IWB, and I had to do some more modifications since my last post. I've now mounted the plug/spacer/old-rubber-piece-from-a-rifle's-buttstock directly to the holster, instead of to a strip of leather, and it works better, but the screws holding it on are dragging on the trigger guard. Back to the drawing board.



The DeSantis Sof-Tuck I got on sale at Midway for $15, and it's a very sturdy and well made holster. It is a bit thick, as the tuckable J-hook piece adds material between the gun and the waistband, but it does hold the Glock 26 well:



I recommend the baggie-over-the-gun-stuffed-in-the-holster trick to loosen it up a bit. I didn't get any concealment pictures of it with the Glock, but you did see the same holster a few days ago with a Kahr CW9.

The Zack holster is still good to go. I've modified it a bit so that I can put the gun on and take it off the belt without unholstering the pistol. This is done as a margin of safety, as unholstering a gun and laying it on the car seat next to you while you jack around the front of your pants is not exactly the safest idea:



I've even modded it since that picture was taken by drilling new holes in the back of the belt clip, near the top, and running the cord through there. The gun sits at a perfect height in my waistband, doesn't move around, and is still tuckable for concealment if you so desire:




A word of caution here: because the Glock 26 has such a short slide, it can pop up out of your waistband if you have a spare tire around your guts. Since there isn't much slide down inside the pants, if you push your gut out while bending over down to the ground, there is enough leverage against the grip to potentially shove the whole piece out of your belt. I can make it do this, but I have to try to make it happen. It's a double edged sword -- the Glock 26 conceals so well in this holster because the grip is short and doesn't stick out, and the Glock 17 is way more secure because its longer slide gives opposing leverage preventing it from coming out, but it doesn't conceal as well because the grip is longer. I wear my pants low enough that the gun sits just below my gut, so in effect my jelly roll becomes a retention device, so I can make the Glock 26 work.

I also found an AIWB holster where I didn't expect it: inside my pocket. I was thinking about the Remora holsters the other day, which don't expose any clips or loops or such, and it struck me that the DeSantis Super Fly is basically the same thing, so I gave it a whirl:




I'm happy to report that it works perfectly. I left the detachable shield thingy on it to give more traction, and was careful when tucking it that I didn't jam my shirt up underneath of it, so that if I had to draw it it would yank the whole thing out. I did have all day comfort without any movement or loops showing, so there's another option for carry. I have one of these also for the Glock 26, and I'm going to give that a go to see if it will work.

So there it is. Cheap AIWB solutions. It's a dirty job, but someone has to throw themself onto the alter of concealment. Folks, it's not easy trying on holsters all day, taking pictures of your crotch in the dirty mirror in the kid's bathroom, but I do it for you, dear readers!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Lion, tiger, and bear medicine

On the left hand side of this article is a list of official reports from the Deputies that shot and killed all those animals in Ohio during the Exotic Animal Apocalypse. It's an extremely fascinating read. There were detectives shooting tigers with buckshot, and SRT guys shooting everything with M4s.

If I ever get to go on a safari to hunt the big five, I'll do my best to convince the government to let me take my AR instead of something larger than .375 caliber!

Hat Tip to Hell in a Handbasket.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Change

I was at my parent's house on Saturday to drop off my wife's new laptop for repair (who would have known that the device didn't want a glass of juice?), and I had about a fifteen minute window to shoot my pistol with my brother. The day before, I handed over my Glock 26 to my sister, who has struck a notion to start carrying something because of all the attempted abductions going on in the area (another one in my town yesterday), and also because some creepy scumbag tried to take one of her kids not quite a year ago, so I committed to leaving the Glock 17 in the house for the wife, and took up my beloved 1911.

The only holster that I own for my 1911 that works for AIWB is a crappy leather Bianchi that I had cut the thumb break off of some time ago. It's concealable, but was way too tight for a railed gun, so I had left it in the gun safe for a couple of weeks with the pistol wrapped in a plastic baggie to loosen it up. That worked out alright, but the huge metal clip had a tendency to let the holster come out during the draw still attached to the gun, which was happening on Saturday. It was all laughs though, as I had intentions of getting a suitable holster anyway -- I just needed an internet connection and one would be on its way.

That's when it happened.

I was doing one-shot draws from concealment against my PACT shot timer when I got a click instead of a bang. I had this happen to me a few times with this gun with the first rounds I ever put through it, but it never happened again since then. I found out only in recent weeks that Kimber 1911s are equipped with the Swartz firing pin safety system.

I hold a pistol with a ludicrously high grip; so high that I usually get slide bite from Glocks and whatnot, but I don't mind because the gun is really controllable with the bore closer to my hand. I would hold higher if it wouldn't bind the gun up -- I could even have slide rails built into my hand flesh to allow the slide something slick to run against. Where I run into trouble with 1911s is that my hand is sometimes up so high on the beavertail that I don't disengage the grip safety, so the hammer doesn't fall; and specifically with the above malfunction, I have enough pressure on the grip safety to allow the hammer to fall, but not enough to disengage the Swartz safety. And now I know why I sometimes get clicks instead of bangs.

I've never liked the grip safety on a 1911, but I have learned to deal with them well enough so far. At this point though I don't want to take the chance at having that happen at an inopportune time. And so after some thinking, and discussion with my brother who's advice has a great deal of weight with me, I've decided to sell off my 1911 and try my hand at something different. The main reason I shoot a 1911 so much is because of the grip angle, and thus my ability to naturally point it where I need it to go. I'm shooting my Glock 17 great, but I still hate the grip, and it's just a scootch larger than I would like to conceal, and I also wouldn't mind some extra safety available when holstering a loaded weapon that's pointed at my groin and femoral artery, so I want a gun with a hammer.

I need the capitol from my 1911 to expedite my next buy - a H&K P30. There's nothing wrong with my 1911, it's just that it doesn't suit my needs, and I intend to pick up another one day in the near future -- one that doesn't have a rail, but does have crappy sights, a spur hammer, no beavertail, in blued steel. The H&Ks latest offerings have a grip angle along the lines of the 1911, and I hear their triggers and sights are simply awful, so I'll be upgrading along the way. Fun times ahead. . .

Friday, November 4, 2011

Shooting while pregnant?

My wife and I have had discussions about this in the past, considering her being pregnant for pretty much five continuous years. Will it hurt the baby?

The only thing I thought about as far as being harmful to the baby was the noise. Unborn babies can hear voices (no, not the creepy kind!), such as the mother and father's, and can also hear music and stuff. No doubt the noisy blast from a firearm can cause damage, or at the very least scare the poor kid. For those reasons, my wife hasn't fired a gun in years (it breaks her heart. . .(not really)).

I didn't even think about any of the other things that might be harmful. With that information especially, my advice is to not do it. I found that article on ARFCOM from this thread on the subject.

And knowing is half the battle. . . . (that brings you back, doesn't it?)

Fast follow-up shot

With a little more control, this girl could be on to something with the new .500 S&W double-tap technique for dangerous game.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Survey says. . . . . .

YES!! Women should carry handguns for personal defense!

Oh, what do I win?!?!

If ARFCOM ran a Deadliest Warrior episode

Could a modern day Marine Expeditionary Unit, sent back in time, destroy the Roman Empire? Someone asked the question, and ARFCOM answered. From my unofficial tally, it's about two-to-one odds against the Marines for some of the dumbest arguments imaginable. It really got me thinking though about if ARFCOM ran a giant episode of Deadliest Warrior. There would be a complete list to the cartridge of all the shit an outfitted MEU has at its disposal, from M9s to M1A1 Abrams main gun rounds, against all the cleverness (snicker!) and weapons a 2,000 year old civilization had:

(In an overly enthusiastic, raspy voice) - Marines, the Deadliest Warriors of the modern age attack with bloodthirsty hunger wielding weapons of terrifying awesomeness and DEEEEEEEATH!

(Geek voice) - "Here we have a modern fighting force with modern weaponry. The Marines, while honorable, courageous, and committed to accomplishing their mission, often forget their sole purpose in life of killing everything they see and get sidetracked due to raging hormones and desire for strong drink. Some of the weapons the Marines will be using on the show are:"
(Raspy voice)
The M16 A4 rifle!
The M9 pistol!
The M240Bravo machine gun!
The M249 Squad Automatic Weapon!
The MK19 machine gun firing 40mm grenades of DEATH!!
The LAV-25 Amphibious Assault Vehicle with 25mm automatic gun!!
The M777 Howitzer firing 155mm high explosive rounds!! OF DEATH!!
The Bell AH1Whiskey SuperCobra!!! IT'S AIRBORNE DEATH!!!

(Raspy fake voice again) - "But the Romans strike back with a deadly arsenal of their own!!!!"

(Geek voice) - "The Romans were like smart and shit, and were known to change their tactics to win decisively against other large, primitive and starving forces fighting in massed clusters with weapons made from bronze. Here are some of the things our Romans will be using against the Marines on the show:"
(Raspy voice)
The Gladius! Three feet of low carbon steeeeel!
The Javelin!! Five feet of wooden DEATH!!!
The Shield!! Thick wood and bronze protected a Roman warrior FROM DEATH!
Whores! Slutty assassins who woo warriors!! TO DEATH!!
Chlamydia! Burning penal discharge of DEATH!!
Syphilis! The rashy kiss of crotchety DEATH!
Sour Wine! OF DEATH!!


(Geeky Canadian voice) - "I think the Romans are going to win this one. They were unbelievably clever, definitely enough to defeat the Marines' two millenia of technology, tactics, and complete knowledge of history. Aaaaand, nobody has ever thought of Marines being clever enough to adopt their strategy to defeat a numerically superior force. Also, a Marine Expeditionary Unit has a finite amount of ammunition on board, estimated at about one and a half million small arms rounds and hundreds of thousands of high explosive rounds, as well as a supply of batteries and fuel for only a month of operations. Once those run out, they're fucked."

(Other Geek voice) - "Yeah, you make a good point about the Marines having a limited supply of ammunition. But the Romans though had an infinite number of warriors who were not only super skilled with close range weapons made of primitive steel, but they were also like mad smart, too! They had so many warriors that they would never run out. When four Marine Corps M1A1 tanks annihilate a one hundred thousand strong army with all their leadership in a ten minute engagement, Rome would simply send in a hundred thousand more. The beauty is that Roman warriors don't even need training; they just wander out of the morning fog and stand ready in formation."

(Geeky Naval Special Warfare guy) - "I'm going to go with the Marines on this one. The Roman army, while admittedly super clever with their aquaducts and all, would not operate all that well as a fighting unit once all their generals and leadership were assassinated silently in their beds at night by green faced Marines with night vision goggles and suppressed rifles. And considering the devastation that a 155mm artillery barrage has against a force wearing body armor dispersed amongst rocks and cover, much less a formation of malnourished troops shoulder to shoulder in an open field wearing leather and wood, I'd say that if there even was a head on battle, it would be over in two minutes. One or two battles per region and that whole area would fall, which would destabilize the empire, and then the Marines would own all the harlots and booze they wanted."

(Geeky guy) - "Hmmmmm. Good points all around; it looks like it's going to be a tough call. But once we get all the data loaded into our sim, it will give us the answer."

(Raspy voice) - "Representing the Roman army are two Greek cooks from Manhattan, both direct descendants from warriors who fought in the Roman army."

(Greek cook) - "We're gonna kick their asses! Romans had gleaming muscles and thick chest hair under all their ridiculously effective armor, and had trained from before birth to wield a sword! No contest."

(Raspy voice) -"Representing the Marine Expeditionary Unit are two Marine Corps war veterans who, as Force Recon Snipers, killed thousands and thousands of terrorists across the globe using the devestating power of combined arms!"

(Marine, with a huge dip in his mouth) - "This is a fucking joke, right? I mean, we aren't talking about a MEU occupying a large land area or conquering every last city; all we need to do is slaughter a few hundred thousand Romans and the empire will break up. We'll take Rome on the first night!"

ETA: (Raspy voice) -- "WHO! IS! DEADLIEST!!!"

Yes, I have a wild imagination floating around in all this bitterness.

Gun P0rn: Wheel guns are real guns

There's two pages of revolver pics here so far to wet your whistle, and thirty seven pages here if you're the kind of fellow who gets a little damp around the brow area from the sight of wheeled blue steel.