So you think you have some cool action pics of you and your friends shooting the Bryco on the range, do you?
Well feast your eyes on this shooty goodness thread at Militaryphotos.net affectionately titled "Fire!" Your .380 is no match for the 155mm or the T.O.W. Missile!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
The Izula done got its har' did
She shore's puuuuurrrrdy pawwwww!!!
I'm fresh out of 550 cord at the moment, so I played around with some boot laces that I had and came up with a better grip for the handle. Yes, the cord wrapped handle will pick up funk and water which can be uncomfortable, but the real reason behind wrapping the handle is to have some cordage handy if your plane goes down in the Alps. 550 cord is perfect because it can be used as-is for building a shelter, or you can pull the internal strands out of it and use it to affix hand made broad heads to your arrows for slaying Bambi's baby brother. Mmmmmm. . . .backstraps!
Too bad bootlaces don't have the internal guts to make primitive arrows; I'll have to order some from Saigon Sam's. While I had the time, I took the shitty metal clip off of that abomination of a cell phone case that I bought from Maxpedition - yes, the very one that abetted the death of my Blackberry this past winter - and drilled some careful holes in it to use on the Izula's sheath.
I used two Chicago screws from a Blackhawk Serpa holster to hold it together, and I have the ability to change the angle if I so desire:
Once I get some 550 cord, I'll re-wrap the handle and my fixed EDC knife will be complete! MUGH-HUH-HWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Here is a way to comfortably carry all day and have the knife instantly available to either hand for the very moment you get that JuJubes stuck in your teeth in a darkened movie theater:
Add in not one, but TWO shiny new Brownells catalogs and things get super cool in a New York instant:
Imma gonna hit the Brownells website like a ton of bricks here in the very near future; there's a couple of AR upper builds I have in mind that will get my undivided attention soon.
But back to the star of our show: I found out on the ESEE website that the steel of choice in their knives is 1095, which happens to be my fav. Some consider 1095 a pain because it rusts fairly easy unless you take proper care, but you can't beat it for its ease of sharpening, the nasty edge it holds, its toughness, or how freakin cool the edge looks when you get it polished!
Try that with your super steel!
I learned to sharpen knives when I was a little boy using bench stones. Many folks prefer to use one of the fixed setups, which I can appreciate, but bench stones give a very rounded edge radius vice the beveled radius that you get from a fixed rig. That has many advantages in my world, one of them being a smoother cut in flesh - like when you're skinning a flock of alpacas or scalping tangos after your berserker rage settles down.
I find that factory edges from all manufacturers pretty much suck, so the first order of business is to remove that sucker and put a worthy one on. That takes some elbow grease to do, especially for big knives like a Ka-Bar:
Fortunately, Ka-Bars have 1095 steel in them so it's not too bad; the one in the picture I sharpened in Iraq in 2006 and haven't touched since. One night I fell in the back of an RG-31 on a road in Hit, and the blade cut through the stitching in the sheath and hit the floor, putting some dings in the blade. Last night I finally got around to addressing them, and I could shave my face with the edge it has now.
And while I have the stones out, why not just knock the edge off them all? My little Benchmade 3550 auto has 154CM steel, which can sometimes be fickle when it comes to sharpening; this one's no different. I find stainless in general to be like that at times, and last night was one of those times because the Cold Steel Spike didn't want to take a sick edge either. It does take a pretty nasty point though.
The smaller stone is a hard Arkansas which is decent for removing material to get the edge radiused like you want, and it does OK for getting a fine edge. My stone of choice for radiusing is a soft Arkansas, but I generally follow up with the hard Arkansas so that the edge will take a good polish; if you only use the soft stone before a polish you can't get rid of the micro cuts that the stone leaves behind. The larger stone in the picture is a translucent Arkansas which is only used for polishing: it does not sharpen. Once you get the blade as sharp as you can get it on the hard Arkansas, or if you get a bur on the edge which you can feel by dragging your thumb perpendicular to the edge, than it's time to put it on the translucent stone. Follow that up by stropping it on the top of the wood case that my father made for me and you can go shave a whole litter of puppies with it. Of note is that I use basically any oil on the hard or soft Arkansas, but use none with the translucent stone as it doesn't have large enough pores to soak in the oil. The outcome is that you have a lot of wasted effort when your blade rides just off the surface of the stone instead of on it.
I'm fresh out of 550 cord at the moment, so I played around with some boot laces that I had and came up with a better grip for the handle. Yes, the cord wrapped handle will pick up funk and water which can be uncomfortable, but the real reason behind wrapping the handle is to have some cordage handy if your plane goes down in the Alps. 550 cord is perfect because it can be used as-is for building a shelter, or you can pull the internal strands out of it and use it to affix hand made broad heads to your arrows for slaying Bambi's baby brother. Mmmmmm. . . .backstraps!
Too bad bootlaces don't have the internal guts to make primitive arrows; I'll have to order some from Saigon Sam's. While I had the time, I took the shitty metal clip off of that abomination of a cell phone case that I bought from Maxpedition - yes, the very one that abetted the death of my Blackberry this past winter - and drilled some careful holes in it to use on the Izula's sheath.
I used two Chicago screws from a Blackhawk Serpa holster to hold it together, and I have the ability to change the angle if I so desire:
Once I get some 550 cord, I'll re-wrap the handle and my fixed EDC knife will be complete! MUGH-HUH-HWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Here is a way to comfortably carry all day and have the knife instantly available to either hand for the very moment you get that JuJubes stuck in your teeth in a darkened movie theater:
Add in not one, but TWO shiny new Brownells catalogs and things get super cool in a New York instant:
Imma gonna hit the Brownells website like a ton of bricks here in the very near future; there's a couple of AR upper builds I have in mind that will get my undivided attention soon.
But back to the star of our show: I found out on the ESEE website that the steel of choice in their knives is 1095, which happens to be my fav. Some consider 1095 a pain because it rusts fairly easy unless you take proper care, but you can't beat it for its ease of sharpening, the nasty edge it holds, its toughness, or how freakin cool the edge looks when you get it polished!
Try that with your super steel!
I learned to sharpen knives when I was a little boy using bench stones. Many folks prefer to use one of the fixed setups, which I can appreciate, but bench stones give a very rounded edge radius vice the beveled radius that you get from a fixed rig. That has many advantages in my world, one of them being a smoother cut in flesh - like when you're skinning a flock of alpacas or scalping tangos after your berserker rage settles down.
I find that factory edges from all manufacturers pretty much suck, so the first order of business is to remove that sucker and put a worthy one on. That takes some elbow grease to do, especially for big knives like a Ka-Bar:
Fortunately, Ka-Bars have 1095 steel in them so it's not too bad; the one in the picture I sharpened in Iraq in 2006 and haven't touched since. One night I fell in the back of an RG-31 on a road in Hit, and the blade cut through the stitching in the sheath and hit the floor, putting some dings in the blade. Last night I finally got around to addressing them, and I could shave my face with the edge it has now.
And while I have the stones out, why not just knock the edge off them all? My little Benchmade 3550 auto has 154CM steel, which can sometimes be fickle when it comes to sharpening; this one's no different. I find stainless in general to be like that at times, and last night was one of those times because the Cold Steel Spike didn't want to take a sick edge either. It does take a pretty nasty point though.
The smaller stone is a hard Arkansas which is decent for removing material to get the edge radiused like you want, and it does OK for getting a fine edge. My stone of choice for radiusing is a soft Arkansas, but I generally follow up with the hard Arkansas so that the edge will take a good polish; if you only use the soft stone before a polish you can't get rid of the micro cuts that the stone leaves behind. The larger stone in the picture is a translucent Arkansas which is only used for polishing: it does not sharpen. Once you get the blade as sharp as you can get it on the hard Arkansas, or if you get a bur on the edge which you can feel by dragging your thumb perpendicular to the edge, than it's time to put it on the translucent stone. Follow that up by stropping it on the top of the wood case that my father made for me and you can go shave a whole litter of puppies with it. Of note is that I use basically any oil on the hard or soft Arkansas, but use none with the translucent stone as it doesn't have large enough pores to soak in the oil. The outcome is that you have a lot of wasted effort when your blade rides just off the surface of the stone instead of on it.
So, the long and the short of it all is, go forth and purchase thee an ESEE Izula and sharpen it! It's therapeutic! Take the laces out of Paw Paws snow boots and dressy the lass up! Take a couple of days off from work and spend the night in the back yard whittling marshmallow roasting sticks and fending off wild bears. Or, you could be like me and only use your darling shiv for trimming your cuticles while watching Deadliest Warrior. Which, speaking of, the season finale this week pitted US Navy SEALs against Israeli Commandos, and their close range weapons of choice were the Cold Steel Recon 1 (in one of my pics above) and the Ka-Bar, respectively. If you look close, just for an instant, you can see that the SEAL broke the very tip off his Recon 1 when he massacred a ballistic gelatin torso. Coooooool!
Brownosing Shatner
DC shooter-the-younger is telling tall tales in an attempt to increase his notoriety, which is probably all he has left to cling to. Too bad he doesn't get to ride Ol' Sparky to get the fame he really deserves.
Also, it is an insult to continue to call him a sniper which degrades professional snipers world wide. Shooting unarmed people at 75 feet does not make one a sniper, only a murderer.
Also, it is an insult to continue to call him a sniper which degrades professional snipers world wide. Shooting unarmed people at 75 feet does not make one a sniper, only a murderer.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
This is my pillcase; there are many like it but this one is mine
So there's a new gal in my life. Her name is Ana. . . . Anaphylaxis. She randomly visits me every month or so while I'm hammering down a chicken salad sandwich like it's the last one on the planet, and I've been getting concerned at her aggressiveness.
To counter the aggression, I have some sort of magic pill to take that's supposed to make the bad thing stop, and just in case that doesn't work, I have also been given epinephrine injectors to carry around for the rest of my life. Lovin it.
Since I'm having issues remembering to carry all this cool medical goodness, I have been looking at ways of convenient EDC transport; and because I can't seem to buy something unless it will help me in the wake of a post zombie-penguin apocalypse, I usually go for the multi-purpose equipment. I'm also a sucker if the word "tactical" comes up anywhere in the description of the item, because we all know tactical stuff cuts through the BS and gets the mission accomplished.
Enter the ESEE Fire Kit, cos' you never know when you will have to set a zombie-penguin horde ablaze in Vietnamish typhoon after waking up from anaphylactic shock! Also, it has enough ass to hold the humongous pill capsules that I have to carry around to keep Ana at bay, and also a compass so that I can find my way back to the Mi-171 with the rest of the operators:
I had to cut those suckers down just to get them to fit; and seriously, this was the only thing I found large enough to take them, so it was the only option that I'm aware of. Adding a Nite Eyes carabiner to it lets me put it on my keychain with the rest of the stuff that I'll never need. While I was ordering the ESEE Fire Kit, I also picked up one of the highly regarded ESEE Izula knives because. . . .well, who doesn't need another neck knife, right? Every self respecting corporate yahoo like me needs at least two of them, so there it is. BLAM!
I have a Cold Steel Spike necker already, and it's a really affordable knife that is probably impossible to destroy:
It's a bit longer than the Izula, and the blade is super thick, but it isn't as wide. The Izula is built to last lifetimes, and is an ideal blade to use to create your own civilization after the zombies destroy the one we currently have. I envision the Spike as a good blade to silently get in between the vertebrae of the zombie sentry barring access to Piggly Wiggly, but not so much for building the island hamlet of your dreams.
As for the two massive auto injectors that I'm supposed to have close at hand whenever I eat, which is pretty much at all times, I have no idea how to practically EDC it. I'm betting that they would carry smartly in a AR15 magazine pouch, which pretty much every American wears on their belt in public to keep their carbine topped off. So I probably wouldn't stand out, right? Who would notice?
And before you say it, I already have one of Maxpeditions man-purses, and it's good to go. My wife loathes the thing, so it's a no go for public carry. Truthfully, I'd rather keep them in the truck, but the heat will destroy them, and if they froze, well, than I'd just get a nasty needle stick without the good stuff. No joy. I'll figure something out though, and until then, I have magic pills in my fire starter pill case! Yay!
To counter the aggression, I have some sort of magic pill to take that's supposed to make the bad thing stop, and just in case that doesn't work, I have also been given epinephrine injectors to carry around for the rest of my life. Lovin it.
Since I'm having issues remembering to carry all this cool medical goodness, I have been looking at ways of convenient EDC transport; and because I can't seem to buy something unless it will help me in the wake of a post zombie-penguin apocalypse, I usually go for the multi-purpose equipment. I'm also a sucker if the word "tactical" comes up anywhere in the description of the item, because we all know tactical stuff cuts through the BS and gets the mission accomplished.
Enter the ESEE Fire Kit, cos' you never know when you will have to set a zombie-penguin horde ablaze in Vietnamish typhoon after waking up from anaphylactic shock! Also, it has enough ass to hold the humongous pill capsules that I have to carry around to keep Ana at bay, and also a compass so that I can find my way back to the Mi-171 with the rest of the operators:
I had to cut those suckers down just to get them to fit; and seriously, this was the only thing I found large enough to take them, so it was the only option that I'm aware of. Adding a Nite Eyes carabiner to it lets me put it on my keychain with the rest of the stuff that I'll never need. While I was ordering the ESEE Fire Kit, I also picked up one of the highly regarded ESEE Izula knives because. . . .well, who doesn't need another neck knife, right? Every self respecting corporate yahoo like me needs at least two of them, so there it is. BLAM!
I have a Cold Steel Spike necker already, and it's a really affordable knife that is probably impossible to destroy:
It's a bit longer than the Izula, and the blade is super thick, but it isn't as wide. The Izula is built to last lifetimes, and is an ideal blade to use to create your own civilization after the zombies destroy the one we currently have. I envision the Spike as a good blade to silently get in between the vertebrae of the zombie sentry barring access to Piggly Wiggly, but not so much for building the island hamlet of your dreams.
As for the two massive auto injectors that I'm supposed to have close at hand whenever I eat, which is pretty much at all times, I have no idea how to practically EDC it. I'm betting that they would carry smartly in a AR15 magazine pouch, which pretty much every American wears on their belt in public to keep their carbine topped off. So I probably wouldn't stand out, right? Who would notice?
And before you say it, I already have one of Maxpeditions man-purses, and it's good to go. My wife loathes the thing, so it's a no go for public carry. Truthfully, I'd rather keep them in the truck, but the heat will destroy them, and if they froze, well, than I'd just get a nasty needle stick without the good stuff. No joy. I'll figure something out though, and until then, I have magic pills in my fire starter pill case! Yay!
Only you can prevent spear gun violence
The teens told investigators that Connar and a friend were being dragged behind the boat while holding on to separate rope lines when Connar was struck by his friend's spear gun in the upper chest.Yeah, officer, seriously, it totally was an accident that I shot a spear gun off the back of the boat striking my friend center mass. Honestly, and no, I'm not high on freon right now, and haven't had anything to drink but soda. Just soda sir.
I mean, I guess anything could happen these days, but who here really thinks that some joyriding teen bumped an errant spear gun laying on the deck and it just happened to fly aft of the boat and hit a teen on a rope flailing about in the water? Yeah, I didn't think so either.
This appears to be another senseless spear gun violence incident triggered by that devil's elixir, Zima, and could have been completely avoided if we simply registered spear guns or just ban them altogether, license boaters just like we do with sex offenders, and brought back prohibition. If you're against this clever plan, than you are only advocating for unsupervised teens to get wasted while operating a vessel at high speeds on the water with a high caliber spear gun in their hands.
Where's your common sense?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Whoodunnitt?
In the murders of four, maybe five innocent people, who do you think did the disgusting deed?
Was it Miss Scarlett with a candlestick? Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe? Was it Jason Thomas Scott, with an almost two decades long record of violence and mayhem? I dunno, I dunno. . . .that's a tough one.
Meethinks it was Scott; that's just my simple minded opinion though, based on what limited deductive reasoning my simple little mind is capable of.
ABC News weighs in with The Stupid:
So the real question is what dumb ass signed off on his release the last like six times? Who actually looked at all his violent criminal accomplishments in his record jacket, and then said "hell, he deserves a ninth chance," and then put blue pen to paper and loosed him back into the free world so he could murder these wonderful people? Why isn't their face on the news next to this scumbag? Why isn't their name on the indictment next to Scott's? I want to see it! Do they not deserve to be there? Are they not just as guilty? How many of these sworn public officials were instrumental in this guys last release?
Jointly and severally, they are all responsible.
I just can't understand what in the hell is going on. We give lawmakers an office with a mahogany desk and a computer so that they can conjure up the largest scumbag-charging statutory web that humankind has ever allowed; we buy cops body armor, assault thingies, and police cruisers so that they can catch the scumbags or at least gun them down where they stand; we give prosecutors and judges public immunity so that they can boldly cast as many statutory stones at the scumbags as they can; we pay the finest engineers to build massive disciplinary structures to safely warehouse the scumbags out of range of society's eye, and we staff them with badged folks who are empowered to control every aspect of the scumbags life when they get there. So tell me, why is it that hyper violent scumbags are not hung the fuck up in an eternal mess that we've built just for this purpose? Is there some sort of problem that we're not aware of?
Keep. The. Scumbags. Locked. Up. It's that easy. Just stop letting them out.
Was it Miss Scarlett with a candlestick? Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe? Was it Jason Thomas Scott, with an almost two decades long record of violence and mayhem? I dunno, I dunno. . . .that's a tough one.
Meethinks it was Scott; that's just my simple minded opinion though, based on what limited deductive reasoning my simple little mind is capable of.
ABC News weighs in with The Stupid:
If he is a serial killer, the new question facing investigators is whether they caught him at the start of his reign of terror or whether there many more victims to be found.Uuuummm, it seems to me that he had been caught and released many times "at the start of his reign of terror", as he has an extensive criminal history starting at age TEN! TEN! HE WAS TEN!! Didn't some law enforcement creature at some moment in time actually take his oath into consideration and say out loud "Lookey here! Puff the magic laptop says that this fruitbat has a proclivity for hurting people that don't deserve hurting. Perhaps we should do society a favor and lock this piece of shit up for the rest of his life so we don't see his face on the news or his name on a docket for gunning down families in their homes." It would seem though that there are too many absent minded officials these days who can't combine simple fucking logic with their oath and their blue pen.
So the real question is what dumb ass signed off on his release the last like six times? Who actually looked at all his violent criminal accomplishments in his record jacket, and then said "hell, he deserves a ninth chance," and then put blue pen to paper and loosed him back into the free world so he could murder these wonderful people? Why isn't their face on the news next to this scumbag? Why isn't their name on the indictment next to Scott's? I want to see it! Do they not deserve to be there? Are they not just as guilty? How many of these sworn public officials were instrumental in this guys last release?
Jointly and severally, they are all responsible.
I just can't understand what in the hell is going on. We give lawmakers an office with a mahogany desk and a computer so that they can conjure up the largest scumbag-charging statutory web that humankind has ever allowed; we buy cops body armor, assault thingies, and police cruisers so that they can catch the scumbags or at least gun them down where they stand; we give prosecutors and judges public immunity so that they can boldly cast as many statutory stones at the scumbags as they can; we pay the finest engineers to build massive disciplinary structures to safely warehouse the scumbags out of range of society's eye, and we staff them with badged folks who are empowered to control every aspect of the scumbags life when they get there. So tell me, why is it that hyper violent scumbags are not hung the fuck up in an eternal mess that we've built just for this purpose? Is there some sort of problem that we're not aware of?
Keep. The. Scumbags. Locked. Up. It's that easy. Just stop letting them out.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Oh please
Spare me the pathetic environmental guilt. You know what really causes divorce? Incompatible people.
If your community, or your marriage can't survive an oil spill in the area, for richer, for poorer, than how do you think that it can possibly survive sickness and health? It just doesn't compute.
It sucks that because of an oil company's incompetence the locals can't fish right now, it really does, but the fact that a few people decide to dump their spouse or eat a magnum because of the spill just underlines an existing problem. I hate it that when something happens in the environment, the media and hippies try to cast this vast net of despair over every little thing they can, as if every soul is linked intrinsically to the slow demise of the Arakan Forest Turtle.
People are either going to cling fiercely to the life that the Lord gave them, or they're going to give it up the first time the going gets rough. A disaster is no fun for anyone, but the show goes on. I wonder how pissed my wife would be if I offed myself because I haven't been able to fish in couple of years? Think that would solve anything? Would the media rush to my house and interview her if I wrote a letter correctly blaming real estate developers for destroying every place to hunt and fish in a five county radius before filing for a divorce?
So boo-freakin-hoo. The gulf will return to normal, one day, and the fish will return. Until then, I'm sure that some developer on the East Coast is hurtin' for some roofers. Come one, come all.
If your community, or your marriage can't survive an oil spill in the area, for richer, for poorer, than how do you think that it can possibly survive sickness and health? It just doesn't compute.
It sucks that because of an oil company's incompetence the locals can't fish right now, it really does, but the fact that a few people decide to dump their spouse or eat a magnum because of the spill just underlines an existing problem. I hate it that when something happens in the environment, the media and hippies try to cast this vast net of despair over every little thing they can, as if every soul is linked intrinsically to the slow demise of the Arakan Forest Turtle.
People are either going to cling fiercely to the life that the Lord gave them, or they're going to give it up the first time the going gets rough. A disaster is no fun for anyone, but the show goes on. I wonder how pissed my wife would be if I offed myself because I haven't been able to fish in couple of years? Think that would solve anything? Would the media rush to my house and interview her if I wrote a letter correctly blaming real estate developers for destroying every place to hunt and fish in a five county radius before filing for a divorce?
So boo-freakin-hoo. The gulf will return to normal, one day, and the fish will return. Until then, I'm sure that some developer on the East Coast is hurtin' for some roofers. Come one, come all.
Wouldn't that be an "unsecured" facility?
While the juvenile was being held in a secured intake room in the facility the juvenile gained access to his personal duffel bag that contained a handgun hidden in his clothing. The juvenile removed the handgun from the bag and fired several shots within the intake holding room.You can't say it's secured when a scumbag teenager is able to get ahold of his roscoe and go Capone on the place. I think that security in this country is mostly for show, or at least it seems that way.
You would think that it would be pretty easy to completely disarm a teen and keep him locked away safely, but apparently it's harder than that.
This is not how to honor heros
The Missouri senator whose subcommittee is investigating potential contracting fraud at Arlington National Cemetery said the number of mislabeled graves there could be in the thousands.It looks as if a family hero of mine - my grandfather, who's smiling in a picture to my right, and his wife, my grandmother - are among those missing at Arlington. You wouldn't think it would impact the family too much considering that they're dead and all, so it's not like they're inconvenienced in any way; but we promised to take care of them after they passed, and so did the US government. Ultimately we both failed, as their whereabouts, and their very existence, cannot be verified at this time.
On the other hand, I find it deplorable that the two men responsible for making this mess will get to retire in peace with honor.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Kid wields assault thingie
"I've always talked to [my children] about safety and security in the house," he said, "Especially when I'm not at the house. I tell them that he has to protect his sister and mother."He taught his son well, because the 15 year old used what I presume to be an AR15 to add new orifices to one of the three home intruders. It's hard to argue with a guy protecting the home with a rifle!
I'm of the opinion that you don't leave your kids at home alone until they are responsible enough to defend it, and it looks as though this Deputy believes in the same.
They've done foreclosed on the Death Star!!!
That's the only reasoning for this that I can think of: Darth Vader is so desperate in the wake of the economic downturn that he has resorted to armed robbery just to stay alive. It's kind of odd though that he uses a handgun when he could have just used a Jedi Mind Trick to make the teller hand over the cash.
In other news, it seems that some folks at a Comic convention are in need of a little guidance, as stabbing someone in the eye with a pen because they're sitting too close is something we would have hoped would be left behind after grade school. I guess the pen is pretty mighty, but I'm still not all that impressed with its utility as a weapon; unless of course we are talking about the new tactical pens that cost more than a good folding knife.
And while we're on the subject of the utility of weapons, have y'all been watching the show Deadliest Warrior? Super cool show. I see some things that might not stack up in the really real world, but overall it's a neat show. You've got some smart guys who pit two different warriors from throughout history against each other, and do scientific tests on the weapons. The effects are horrific. Check it out some time.
In other news, it seems that some folks at a Comic convention are in need of a little guidance, as stabbing someone in the eye with a pen because they're sitting too close is something we would have hoped would be left behind after grade school. I guess the pen is pretty mighty, but I'm still not all that impressed with its utility as a weapon; unless of course we are talking about the new tactical pens that cost more than a good folding knife.
And while we're on the subject of the utility of weapons, have y'all been watching the show Deadliest Warrior? Super cool show. I see some things that might not stack up in the really real world, but overall it's a neat show. You've got some smart guys who pit two different warriors from throughout history against each other, and do scientific tests on the weapons. The effects are horrific. Check it out some time.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
More flashlight stuff
At Sniper Central forums I found this post from a flashlight enthusiast who has five pages of side by side comparisons of many of today's kick ass lights.
The post is a big help to those trying to decide between several lights, as he has pictures of them casting light in his backyard.
The post is a big help to those trying to decide between several lights, as he has pictures of them casting light in his backyard.
Sunday evening suppressor p0rn
Quite a nice display of suppressed firearms for your viewing pleasure at Ernie's House of Whoop Ass. **Site NSFW**
The Prison Guard Loophole
Mexican prosecutors say guards at a prison let inmates out and lent them guns to massacre 17 people at a party, then allowed them to return to their cells.I'm betting that the guns the guards lent to the killers were of US origin, so count this as 17 more senseless deaths from US gun show assault thingies.
Friday, July 23, 2010
More tacticool guns than you can shake a stick at
I'm dead serious; if you want to shake a stick at em', you're going to be there for awhile. **56k be gone**
It is actually the second page of the gun p0rn I linked to yesterday from Militaryphotos.net. The second page is mostly ARish weapons, as well as H und K. I had to take a cold shower about half way through from AR overload.
It is actually the second page of the gun p0rn I linked to yesterday from Militaryphotos.net. The second page is mostly ARish weapons, as well as H und K. I had to take a cold shower about half way through from AR overload.
Hey buddy, gotta light?
This post is a comparison of flashlights, and a quasi review of my shiny new Fenix PD20 that was waiting for me on my counter yesterday after work.
This flashlight comes with a pocket clip, a nifty little nylon case, a spare rubber tailcap in case your one year old gnaws through the first one while in line at Target, and a short lanyard. It did not come with a CR123 3volt battery. I won't use the lanyard, but the case is designed very smart: the closure is simple velcro, and it has a plastic loop sewn on the top for attachment to stuff with a carabiner; it will also slide onto a 1 1/2" belt (and perhaps a 1 3/4" belt I think), and it has a flap on the back with velcro to attach it to a tactical vest with MOLLE. All of this in a minimalist package:
The light itself is not much larger than a car key and fob, as you can see here:
The PD20 gives out a maximum of 190 lumens, which beats out pretty much two of any of the other flashlights that I have combined, and this is in a chapstick sized light that costs about $60 with shipping. It has a waterproof aircraft-grade aluminum body with six modes that are very easy to operate: click on the button on the back and you are in "Turbo Mode" with 190 lumens. Tap the button and it pulses with a 190 lumen seizure causing strobe that will strain your eyes in about a second and a half - I would know because I set it to strobe, placed it head height in a blacked out room in my basement and proceeded to try to look at it at a distance of six feet. I won't ever try that again.
To use the other four modes, just twist the bezel an eighth of a turn and click the light on for a 9 lumen beam. Tap the tailcap to increase the beam from 9 lumens to 48 lumens, again to 96 lumens, and lastly an SOS strobe. Tap again to go back to 9 lumens. The whole concept of how it operates took me all of sixty seconds to master, to the point where I can snatch it out of my pocket and have it on in any mode in probably two seconds.
Holy smokes, was that a flying squirrel or a bat?!?! Click the tailcap once to light up the world and find out. Oh snap, it's a gangbanger, a serial killer, or a lawyer?!?! Then tap the tailcap for strobe and he will lose interest in you and whip out his twirling chem lights and start dancing. Lost your nitroglycerin pill under your desk? Twist the bezel an eighth of a turn and clicky the tailcap. Trying to signal the Pavehawk to land and pick up you and your airsoft buddies? Tap three more times on the tailcap and you come home a hero. Easy enough?
Now, how does it stack up to the competition? I have yet to do a full run against my line up of many Surefires, several Streamlights, and one GLOCK light, but I do have a comparison against a Surefire 6P LED, and my trusty Surefire E1e.
I only had time for a quick test, as the sun had already come up and it wasn't pitch black like I would have wanted. First up is the E1e that has been in my pocket every day for four years. I bought this one in a PX in beautiful Iraq, and it has served me well. 15 lumens of light with a click on tailcap that will last for an hour and a half with a fresh battery. I've replaced the bulb in it once, and that is the only maintanance I've had to do:
I love that the clip on the light is positioned so that you can clip it onto the brim of your cover (hat, to the non-military) and have basically a headlight. I have used it like that to find helmets, dropped ammunition, and the like in some of the worst environments imaginable. It's a great idea. The only problem I have with this light is that since it does not have enough ass to blind a formation of hostels long enough to reduce them with my carbine, I have to carry a bigger light on my belt for that purpose. This one is only for finding car keys at night and such. That means two lights instead of one, as well as a holster for it somewhere on my belt, so I have less room to carry a grappling hook or thermal imaging device. But I normally carry a bigger light when I go out for the evening with the family, and for that I carry the Surefire 6P LED:
This one replaced my ancient 6P, and it has I think 90 lumens with a twist on tailcap. It's a good light, and is practically bomb proof, but I'm starting to see that maybe Surefire's Research and Design team has been slacking as of late, because my little Fenix light handily kicks its ass, and with half as many batteries:
The Fenix also has features that $250 Blackhawk lights have, like the strobe, as well as some other useful features like the small wings that not only protect the tailcap, but allow the light to stand on its end on a table; you have to see how useful that can be. I am now going to update my entire fleet of lights with Fenix lights, and it will cost about as much as one high tech Surefire. The fact that I now have one small light that not only fits in my pocket, but will serve in many different roles goes a long way to reducing my day to day loadout, and is nice to have while I am in corporate America where fist sized lights don't mesh so well with slacks. Of note is that the PD20 has a pocket clip like the E1e, but it is facing the wrong way to be clipped onto the brim of a cover (hat). It is designed to clip the light to your pocket face down to protect the lens, but I am happy to report that you can pop the clip off and turn it around when needed, so it has the headlight capability too.
All in all, I am very much impressed by this light. At $60, I'm going to get another one for the hell of it, and I'm looking hard at ordering some of their larger lights as well in the near future. If you are not into the CR123 batteries, they have many lights that are just as bad-ass, but use AA or AAA batteries instead. It really is amazing at how far this technology has come in such a short period of time.
This flashlight comes with a pocket clip, a nifty little nylon case, a spare rubber tailcap in case your one year old gnaws through the first one while in line at Target, and a short lanyard. It did not come with a CR123 3volt battery. I won't use the lanyard, but the case is designed very smart: the closure is simple velcro, and it has a plastic loop sewn on the top for attachment to stuff with a carabiner; it will also slide onto a 1 1/2" belt (and perhaps a 1 3/4" belt I think), and it has a flap on the back with velcro to attach it to a tactical vest with MOLLE. All of this in a minimalist package:
The light itself is not much larger than a car key and fob, as you can see here:
The PD20 gives out a maximum of 190 lumens, which beats out pretty much two of any of the other flashlights that I have combined, and this is in a chapstick sized light that costs about $60 with shipping. It has a waterproof aircraft-grade aluminum body with six modes that are very easy to operate: click on the button on the back and you are in "Turbo Mode" with 190 lumens. Tap the button and it pulses with a 190 lumen seizure causing strobe that will strain your eyes in about a second and a half - I would know because I set it to strobe, placed it head height in a blacked out room in my basement and proceeded to try to look at it at a distance of six feet. I won't ever try that again.
To use the other four modes, just twist the bezel an eighth of a turn and click the light on for a 9 lumen beam. Tap the tailcap to increase the beam from 9 lumens to 48 lumens, again to 96 lumens, and lastly an SOS strobe. Tap again to go back to 9 lumens. The whole concept of how it operates took me all of sixty seconds to master, to the point where I can snatch it out of my pocket and have it on in any mode in probably two seconds.
Holy smokes, was that a flying squirrel or a bat?!?! Click the tailcap once to light up the world and find out. Oh snap, it's a gangbanger, a serial killer, or a lawyer?!?! Then tap the tailcap for strobe and he will lose interest in you and whip out his twirling chem lights and start dancing. Lost your nitroglycerin pill under your desk? Twist the bezel an eighth of a turn and clicky the tailcap. Trying to signal the Pavehawk to land and pick up you and your airsoft buddies? Tap three more times on the tailcap and you come home a hero. Easy enough?
Now, how does it stack up to the competition? I have yet to do a full run against my line up of many Surefires, several Streamlights, and one GLOCK light, but I do have a comparison against a Surefire 6P LED, and my trusty Surefire E1e.
I only had time for a quick test, as the sun had already come up and it wasn't pitch black like I would have wanted. First up is the E1e that has been in my pocket every day for four years. I bought this one in a PX in beautiful Iraq, and it has served me well. 15 lumens of light with a click on tailcap that will last for an hour and a half with a fresh battery. I've replaced the bulb in it once, and that is the only maintanance I've had to do:
I love that the clip on the light is positioned so that you can clip it onto the brim of your cover (hat, to the non-military) and have basically a headlight. I have used it like that to find helmets, dropped ammunition, and the like in some of the worst environments imaginable. It's a great idea. The only problem I have with this light is that since it does not have enough ass to blind a formation of hostels long enough to reduce them with my carbine, I have to carry a bigger light on my belt for that purpose. This one is only for finding car keys at night and such. That means two lights instead of one, as well as a holster for it somewhere on my belt, so I have less room to carry a grappling hook or thermal imaging device. But I normally carry a bigger light when I go out for the evening with the family, and for that I carry the Surefire 6P LED:
This one replaced my ancient 6P, and it has I think 90 lumens with a twist on tailcap. It's a good light, and is practically bomb proof, but I'm starting to see that maybe Surefire's Research and Design team has been slacking as of late, because my little Fenix light handily kicks its ass, and with half as many batteries:
The Fenix also has features that $250 Blackhawk lights have, like the strobe, as well as some other useful features like the small wings that not only protect the tailcap, but allow the light to stand on its end on a table; you have to see how useful that can be. I am now going to update my entire fleet of lights with Fenix lights, and it will cost about as much as one high tech Surefire. The fact that I now have one small light that not only fits in my pocket, but will serve in many different roles goes a long way to reducing my day to day loadout, and is nice to have while I am in corporate America where fist sized lights don't mesh so well with slacks. Of note is that the PD20 has a pocket clip like the E1e, but it is facing the wrong way to be clipped onto the brim of a cover (hat). It is designed to clip the light to your pocket face down to protect the lens, but I am happy to report that you can pop the clip off and turn it around when needed, so it has the headlight capability too.
All in all, I am very much impressed by this light. At $60, I'm going to get another one for the hell of it, and I'm looking hard at ordering some of their larger lights as well in the near future. If you are not into the CR123 batteries, they have many lights that are just as bad-ass, but use AA or AAA batteries instead. It really is amazing at how far this technology has come in such a short period of time.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Senile Disfunction
This most bizarre story about an armed robber is so sugar coated with sweet empathy from the author that it would almost make me laugh if it weren't so fucking disgusting.
"Poor old man with a cane and an oxygen tank is so misunderstood; he's got so many health problems and all that he had no idea what he was doing."
Well, no shit, but a rabid dog has an ailment too - that doesn't mean you stand there like a goon and wait for it to bite someone's kid. You do the responsible thing and take care of the problem quickly, before it gets worse:
Yeah, I see that he had emphysema from all the crack he used to smoke right before he took property away from a human being after threatening their life with a weapon. Asking someone nicely while pointing a gun in their face is not asking nicely; it's a demand.
The only thing that's misunderstood is why that old bastard didn't need to rest because one of his potential victims ventilated his lungs with some well aimed gun fire, instead of being corralled into the bathroom like some docile little fury critter.
Back to the pity party, our preacher/pitiful old man/saint-who-must-endure-dialysis was mingling with the locals in a department store, when suddenly his senility started nonviolently acting up:
OK, enough of the snark. Let's get down to the point that irks me even more than the gratuitous pity.
This fucker was born and raised in New York, lived a life of violence, attacked person after person after person, was thrown in prison time after time, and yet he was free again to go about harming innocent people. That about sum it up? Here's a glimpse of his stats:
Folks, you have to see where I'm taking this. This fish wrap of a news paper uses examples of violent people like this to advocate disarming you, so that in the end there are more unarmed lambs to be shooed into a bathroom and locked down by the same violent people.
More importantly, this is a clear example of a law enforcement fail -- it was against all common sense to let this guy out of prison in the first place. Don't public officers swear an oath to protect the United States? Isn't the United States comprised of United States Citizens? Some of those Citizens live in other states, like Virginia for instance, so it's important that states like New York be diligent in keeping their scumbags locked up so they don't come down here and fire weapons at people I care about. It shouldn't be the responsibility of a Maryland State Trooper to pursue him up to the point of his death because New York couldn't hold on to their trash.
I get that some people should get a crack at rehabilitation. I really do, and I absolutely agree with it, but they should not get a third chance. After their first chance is up and they have served their time, if they then commit some violent act on a citizen, the last signature on the documents that authorized the release of the scumbag should be the one holding the bag as personally responsible to pay the claim of the damaged family, whether it's a prosecutor, judge, cop, or multiple idiots on a parole board - they should be held personally liable. If one of these monsters from another state injures someone in my family, I'm going to find that signature and get my return.
"Poor old man with a cane and an oxygen tank is so misunderstood; he's got so many health problems and all that he had no idea what he was doing."
Sometimes he disguised himself as a friendly doorman — “Good afternoon,” he would say, before drawing a gun — or a messenger or a Vietnam veteran, the authorities said. He once used two knives during a robbery."B-b-b-but but, HE HAD AILMENTS!"
Well, no shit, but a rabid dog has an ailment too - that doesn't mean you stand there like a goon and wait for it to bite someone's kid. You do the responsible thing and take care of the problem quickly, before it gets worse:
“He was kind of running in and carrying a gun, and told my employees that he didn’t want to kill anybody, and for them to get on the floor, and they followed his instructions,” Mr. Chamblee said. “He asked the young lady for the cash, and she gave it to him.”"Ohhhh, but he asked the young lady for the cash, nicely and all, and on top of that he has emphysema you see? He didn't want to kill anybody!"
Yeah, I see that he had emphysema from all the crack he used to smoke right before he took property away from a human being after threatening their life with a weapon. Asking someone nicely while pointing a gun in their face is not asking nicely; it's a demand.
The gunman ordered the three employees into a bathroom and barred the door with a chair. Then he needed to rest."He needed the rest because he was so frail, being an old man and all. Poor guy."
The only thing that's misunderstood is why that old bastard didn't need to rest because one of his potential victims ventilated his lungs with some well aimed gun fire, instead of being corralled into the bathroom like some docile little fury critter.
“He was a good person. He prayed — preached, he did. He really served God. He served him the last 10 or 20 years.”Actually, it sounds to me like the only thing this shitbag served the last 10 to 20 years was hard time at the behest of the very society that he waged war on, as I somehow doubt that God approves of one of his flock savaging innocent people, ass.
Back to the pity party, our preacher/pitiful old man/saint-who-must-endure-dialysis was mingling with the locals in a department store, when suddenly his senility started nonviolently acting up:
The customer bolted for the rear, where there was an exit. The gunman turned to Mr. Tezcan and asked, “You want one?” Mr. Tezcan said. And he fired, leaving a knuckle-deep divot in a metal shelf displaying shirts. Mr. Tezcan ran for the rear, too, and the gunman fired again. That bullet tore through eight suits, back to front on a rack, before stopping in the breast pocket of a ninth. A third shot also missed."See? The fragile choir boy is so fragile and helpless that he can't even fire a hollowpoint bullet through the backs of two fleeing people! He wasn't even trying!!"
OK, enough of the snark. Let's get down to the point that irks me even more than the gratuitous pity.
This fucker was born and raised in New York, lived a life of violence, attacked person after person after person, was thrown in prison time after time, and yet he was free again to go about harming innocent people. That about sum it up? Here's a glimpse of his stats:
In Manhattan’s Midtown North detective squad, Lt. T. J. Moroney called him a “heavy-duty career criminal” with at least 134 convictions, mostly for robbery, on his record.Mostly for robbery, got it? Just so we're clear, this guy was known to be violent for his entire life, and demonstrated this fact at every waking opportunity, and yet a panel of morons on a parole board committed 1st degree jackassery by letting him loose on society to rob thirty eight people in two months. Brilliant!
Folks, you have to see where I'm taking this. This fish wrap of a news paper uses examples of violent people like this to advocate disarming you, so that in the end there are more unarmed lambs to be shooed into a bathroom and locked down by the same violent people.
More importantly, this is a clear example of a law enforcement fail -- it was against all common sense to let this guy out of prison in the first place. Don't public officers swear an oath to protect the United States? Isn't the United States comprised of United States Citizens? Some of those Citizens live in other states, like Virginia for instance, so it's important that states like New York be diligent in keeping their scumbags locked up so they don't come down here and fire weapons at people I care about. It shouldn't be the responsibility of a Maryland State Trooper to pursue him up to the point of his death because New York couldn't hold on to their trash.
I get that some people should get a crack at rehabilitation. I really do, and I absolutely agree with it, but they should not get a third chance. After their first chance is up and they have served their time, if they then commit some violent act on a citizen, the last signature on the documents that authorized the release of the scumbag should be the one holding the bag as personally responsible to pay the claim of the damaged family, whether it's a prosecutor, judge, cop, or multiple idiots on a parole board - they should be held personally liable. If one of these monsters from another state injures someone in my family, I'm going to find that signature and get my return.
Gun P0rn overload
You must check out this thread on gun posters at Militaryphotos.net.
Most of the guns are Chicom type, but there's some other cool stuff in there though. This will be a valuable resource for me when I start doing Movie Guns posts again, right after my kids get married and move out of my house. . . .in about twenty five years.
Most of the guns are Chicom type, but there's some other cool stuff in there though. This will be a valuable resource for me when I start doing Movie Guns posts again, right after my kids get married and move out of my house. . . .in about twenty five years.
That man shot Jesus!!
No, really.
Obviously compensating for a small penis, this man shot a violent gangbanger to death in his home. I'm glad all the non-scumbag people survived the ordeal. I couldn't imagine. Sucks though that his son got shot and locked up.
I hate the "make my day" crap the media perpetuates. If anyone is compensating for anything, it's them.
Seriously though, doesn't that old man look mean as hell? Why type of moron would try to break down his door?
Obviously compensating for a small penis, this man shot a violent gangbanger to death in his home. I'm glad all the non-scumbag people survived the ordeal. I couldn't imagine. Sucks though that his son got shot and locked up.
I hate the "make my day" crap the media perpetuates. If anyone is compensating for anything, it's them.
Seriously though, doesn't that old man look mean as hell? Why type of moron would try to break down his door?
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