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.

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."

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.

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?

Fake cops raid home

This one in Michigan, the scumbags forced their way into the home. They had badges and radios, and the home owner approached them thinking they were cops. At least he had the common sense to evacuate his family beforehand.

I've talked about these before.

Nothing good will come out of letting a random cop into your house if they ask you, so make sure you challenge each and every one of them by asking for a warrant signed by a judge. If you are the one who called the cops for something, than that's different; I'm talking about when someone alleging to be a cop knocks on your door. Of course, what actions to take if they don't show you a signed warrant and bust down your door is up to you personally. Be careful.

Dazzle me, baby!!

“Out of control” is how the Ocean City Police chief describes laser pointing in the resort town."

"Those crazy kids!!!" (shaking fist).

The chief reminds me of Old Man Clemens from the movie Billy Madison - "eck, poop again!!!!" "I'll get you damn kids for this. You're all gonna die!!!"

Maybe Ocean City should pass strict ordinance banning green lazers. You know that would work. The very best part of this article almost made me laugh oatmeal through my nose, which would have been pretty cool:

SIMPLE_PIG_FARMER - When people harass and annoy me with their little laser pointers, I just return the favor with mine and it seems to solve the problem pretty quick. Of course, my laser pointer is a sighting system attached to the trigger guard of my Glock.

Good one!

Double trouble, or a triple threat?

Prince George's county police know who murdered four people, and they can't do anything about it because the alleged scumbag is in jail.

They noted that the man's home was raided over gun violations, and that guns were confiscated, but they don't mention the timeline so that we can deduct whether or not he was murdering before or after the raid. I presume before the raid, but I'd like to hear it straight from those who know.

I'd also like to know the rest of the man's criminal history, because you know he has one. It's got to be there. You don't wake up one day and decide to murder two families; you're born a scumbag, and have probably shown everyone just how irresponsible you are over the twenty something years before you commit to horrific violence.

How many chances did this man give the justice system before the murders? Nobody seems to be asking that.

Party like it's 2999

Star Wars is here to stay, if this is any indication.

Is there anything that contractors can't do? I mean, shooting down flying aircraft with a lazer from a ship? How scary cool is that?

H/T to Ace.

Brownell's opens Police Store

Clicky the linky to go to Police Store.

Just what every broke guy needs, a place to spend money on really cool stuff! Hell yeah!!

Ammunition Pr0n!!

Because gun pr0n is so yesterday.

Do you feel that freedom?

Caaaahrrreeeeeepy! It's like the freakin Eye of Sauron!

The bare essentials

How about some Friday evening EDC gun and knife pr0n! I've been meaning to get this one out for a couple of days, but technical difficulties abound.

What is EDC? Extra Delicious Cutlery? Evil Devil's Chili? Nope, EDC is Every Day Carry.

Knives and guns go together like peanut butter and jelly; coffee and cigarettes; brandy and cigars. I thought I would show off my new cutlery next to some bear essential protection gear, and perhaps make a habit of it with some similar posts every now and then. Perusing threads like this one at AR15.com and this one at Bladeforums gives many new ideas that may make your life easier.

My day to day carry gear depends on the situation; if I'm going out for the day with my family I'm gonna be armed to the teeth - I double up on everything. Sometimes though, you aren't going to gear up with your 6" 1911 in 10mm and Springer EMP in an ankle holster just to go out to gas up the car. I know, I know, that's precisely when the tangos will spring on you; I'm here to tell you though that there will be times when grabbing something small will be the way to go. When you have to run out to Food Lion for baby formula at 0300, small things work.


Click to make bigger and more beautiful.

Just the bare essentials. I can drop that stuff in the pockets of my jammies in about two seconds and be on my way. I will not, however, be getting into a running gunfight with suicide vested terrorists to save the day; this set up is anti mugger/banger gear only.

The Benchmade 3550 represents a watershed moment for me - normally I carry at least a 4" knife. Like most people, I consider a knife a useful tool first, and a last ditch weapon second. I've read about incidents where a knife was successfully used to stop an attacker, but I'm rarely without a firearm, so I think of the knife as more utilitarian. Smaller blades are great for opening boxes and such, but a larger blade offers more edge for useful things like cutting up vegetables for my lunch.

Nowadays there is all this super steel out there that is great for everything but sharpening. Since I use a knife every day, I can't afford to be sending the thing back to the manufacturer once a week for a touch up; I use bench stones for that. My Cold Steel Recon 1 has been my EDC knife for over a year now, and the AUS-8 steel is good working steel. It may not hold an edge quite as long as S30V, but it takes only a minute or so to bring the edge back with the help of a translucent Arkansas stone. This new Benchmade has 154CM, which in my experience is also good working steel that takes a fine edge. It cuts carrots well, too!


Click to make bigger and more beautiful.

You will not find me clothed without a knife. There are very few circumstances in life where I am without this simplest of tools; it is something that separates me from the animals. With a good knife in my pocket, I can survive anywhere under basically any circumstances, with much confidence. I could start my very own civilization sans people with one well made knife, if I had the time. Let's hope that doesn't happen!

If you get a chance, dig through some of those threads linked above; you would be amazed at how smart some of this gear has become. I was browsing yesterday and found out that the 15 lumen Surefire E1e that I bought four years ago is ancient technology, and that there are many palm sized lights out there that could kick its ass. One will be in the mail shortly.

So, what's your EDC blade/heater combo? Is your knife for cleaning your nails and skinning bucks, or do you envision it more for reaching the frontal lobe of a determined zombie after you've ran your carbine and sidearm out of rounds? My plan is to put together some sexy glamor shots of old knife and blaster teams that I used to carry in my day for your entertainment and commentary. Stay tuned!

Gun show poophole

Yesterday the news was awash in coverage of the meeting in congress from families of the Virginia Tech massacre. These folks were asking congress to pass federal law aimed at making private sales at gunshows go through a background check. This seems to come up several times a year, so I'll address some of the issues with this.

The main argument against is that there are tens of millions of gun owning Americans that will not be told that they cannot sell their personal property to another American unless they get government approval for the transaction. This is entirely missed by advocates of new federal law. If I want to sell my Marlin .22 rifle to my brother, I'll be damned if I'm gonna ask for permission. This goes the same for an AR15 as it does for a Mossberg slug gun.

On top of this is that there is no mechanism in place that I'm aware of that would even allow it to begin with. Can anyone walk me through how Joe Schmucketelly would be able to conduct a background check on John Quincy Public so that he can legally sell him his Colt Peacemaker? Who provides the forms? Who does Joe Schmucketelly call to do the check? Who pays for the call? Who pays the cop who has to conduct the check? Has anyone conducted a study to find out how many Police officers and federal agents will need to be hired for each state to entertain the capacity to do these checks? How will Joe Schmucketelly be required to keep the record, and for how long? Or would somebody else be required to do it? Will ATF agents then be authorized to come to Joe Schmucketelly's house and audit his records? Who is going to provide the training needed to properly and legally assert the forms on the buyer, and who pays for that?

None of this is insurmountable, but how long will it interfere with American's rights until this whole process can be implemented and working smoothly? Do any of these people care?

So really - they might not realize it - they're asking for a fiction, which ultimately means that if congress does pass such a law, and tomorrow an American has to provide for a background check in order to sell a personal firearm to another American, there is no means to do it, so the law becomes a de facto gun ban. Raise your hand if you want to be the person to tell America that their personal property is now frozen in place.

The obvious elephant in the room is that despite what the "panel of experts" (snicker) found in their report in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, the scumbag murderer did not buy firearms from a gun show. I saw on the news last night, and can't seem to find it this morning, a reporter talking about how the two murderers at the Columbine massacre bought their firearms at a gun show, which is flat out wrong. Three of their guns were purchased at a gun show by an 18 year old girl who would have passed any such background check, and the fourth was sold to them by a friend, which was already illegal and would not be any more so with the passage of new federal law.

The thing that grinds in the minds of gun owners is that there is no "loop hole" in the law; a gun dealer that wants to sell guns at a gun show has to conduct a background check, and they are licensed by the federal government who provides the infrastructure to conduct that service. Those advocating the passing of new federal law are saying that the government will have to provide for the licensing and service to tens of millions of people. This would ultimately create a massive federal agency. Maybe that is their secret hope.

Turning my mind to the offense, would that mean that every Tom, Dick, and Harry that wanted to sell a firearm would need to be licensed by the federal government in order to have access to the N.I.C.S.? If I have to have a license to sell a gun, than by selling the gun aren't I now acting in a public capacity, and not a private one? Doesn't that make me bona fide gun dealer? Wouldn't that enable me to buy directly from the wholesaler, or possibly even the manufacturer? Do these folks really want tens of millions of bona fide gun dealers able to buy and sell as they please from Smith and Wesson, without regard for quantity? How many federal, state, and local gun laws would that render obsolete with the swipe of a blue pen?

The anti-gun folks may not realize how well they have it right now. Best leave the hornet's nest alone.

Convenience store shooting on tape

In Detroit.

The store owner lives, fortunately. Three things I noticed right off the bat: one, the scumbag with the goofy hat didn't have a round chambered in the pistol; two, the same scumbag didn't know how to work the gun in the first place, as he tried to shoot, tried to chamber a round again, and then the gun looks like it went off when he wasn't ready; and three, he shot the store owner while his friend was in the line of fire trying to manhandle him.

Let's hope that scumbags from sea to shining sea are just as incompetent with their weapons.

Here we go

"ARMS DEALER BUSTED IN ARIZONA!!"

Weeeeeeeeell, maybe not so much. I may eat crow over this one, but I doubt that it will come to that.

First and foremost, if this guy was such a dangerous human being, than why was he only briefly detained? What is he charged with? So far I only see him "accused" of a "federal firearms violation.

Second, where are all the "assault thingies" that he was allegedly selling? All I see are walnut stocked pump action Winchesters and pearl handled 1911s. Whoopidy doo.

Next, ATF agent Tom Mangan is running this piece, so that should tell ya that this might not be on the up-and-up.

Lastly, if the guy used to be a licensed firearms dealer, than it makes sense that he would have "over a thousand" firearms at home, and that he would be a collector. So he still buys guns, which would be "replenishing" his stock in ATF speak.

As for him not conducting background checks, is there a mechanism in place for private Citizens to conduct them? If not, and I don't believe there is, than that accusation should be retracted. You can't accuse someone of not doing something that they have no way of doing in the first place.

Seems to me that there is the typical lack of substance here, and that maybe the ATF needed a scalp to nail to their wall. It was this guys ticket they punched. Too bad.

Cop kills swordsman

Crazy sword wielding articles aren't that hard to come by these days. This one is like all the others, kinda blah, but the point remains (feel my pun!) that sharpening a piece of metal is easy to do, and swords are every bit as effective as a weapon as a firearm.

In through the out door

Yeah, it's the title to a Zeppelin song, but it's also the title to a post about the shitty court system in Central Virginia.

Burton Leon Brown III, 28, was charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and reckless discharge of a firearm. Brown was placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond.

So what does this happen to do with Zeppelin again? Nothing, but it has everything to do with several municipalities and counties in Virginia previously letting a violent and dangerous guy out of prison over and over again so that he can joyride at 2 a.m. while firing his gat out the window of a car within a mile of my house.

I don't what the hell is going on in my AO, but y'all need to get your shit together and start holding on to these guys. I'm tired of hearing about some vicious yahoo getting the kid glove treatment his whole life from my county court, and then doing something really stupid that gets people hurt.

Back to this particular yahoo, a quick search of his name in the Virginia court database reveals that this scumbag has such accolades as obstructing justice and assault and battery of a police officer, making him already a felon who cannot legally own a firearm. There's lots of other piddly stuff in there too, but the fact remains that this guy has a history, and now he needs to be history.

Just so we're clear here, if I rack up charge after charge in a particular locale, and then sometime later punch a cop, I can go about my business after paying $900 and change and giving up my drivers license for a month and a half. Good to know. I wonder how much I would have to pay out for shooting a handgun up in the air while driving?

The persecution has begun!

"Early on Thursday morning, wildlife biologists and technicians descended on the park and netted the birds. The biologists, who work with the wildlife services division of the United States Department of Agriculture, then packed the geese two or three to a crate and took them to a facility where they were gassed with lethal doses of carbon dioxide, said Carol A. Bannerman, a spokeswoman for the wildlife services division."

Holy smokes! Thousands of geese across America are being rounded up and exterminated.

Too bad they didn't pull up with a box truck full of Winchester shotgun shells and let the locals make a day of it. Think about if they charged ten dollars admission per goose - that's a profit that could go towards fixing the roads or installing gunshot detectors or something. And don't tell me it's inhumane; it's much more ethical than netting and gassing.

So what about the carcasses?

The bodies are frozen, chopped up and fed to captive raptors and bears.

Coooooooooooool. Now, I'd pay to see them fed to raptors and bears! I'd pay triple to see them fed to raptors and bears while still alive!! I wouldn't pay to watch homeless people eat them though. But it is a good cause!

The lesson that we can all take away from here though is to not poop in the park, or you may be the one netted, gassed, and fed to a homeless guy. Nom nom nom nom!!

Target practice, cartel style!

Militaryphotos.net has a good thread on the guns of the Mexican drug cartels.

Gunshow guns, the whole lot of em'. What, you don't believe me? Have you noticed at how far the prices on gold plated AKs have dropped?

Yeah, me neither.

Ever the optimist, I notice the piss poor gun handling of these guys, as well as their "marksmanship." I mean, who doesn't fire rounds into the air when they go to the range?

Update: Check out the Browning 1919 machine guns! I just turned several of those down a few days ago from a sale offer through Bass Pro Shops. They were giving them away with the purchase of Barska spotting scope, but I already have a pile of 1919s rusting away in the closet. Sometimes I think that getting machine guns is too easy here in the US.

First aid stuff

Something on my "to do" list that is long overdue is to put together some first aid kits; one for the car and one for the house. My Xterra comes with one that's pretty nice, and I've even added a couple of things.

If you're shopping for things to put in one, or are trying to start from scratch, go on over to Hell in a Handbasket for some ideas. Also, check out the comments section for some reader weigh in. Excellent ideas in there!

Shootout ends well

Everyone got shot, and everyone lived. Well, so far: the bad guy is still fighting for his life. I don't have much sympathy for an armed robber.

The CCW wave is gone in Virginia

It looks as though most of the Virginian's who wanted to carry a concealed gun have already kissed the royal hand: permits are down the first part of this year.

Never leave a man behind

A good article on how a Soldier from WWI was found in France and returned to the family in the US. Some forensic and gool ol' fashioned investigative work was involved in this; I had no idea that DoD had such assets out and about looking for our fallen every single day. Good to know.

This comes on the heels of my family finding out that my grandfather, who served in WWII and Korea, and my grandmother, may be lost in Arlington National Cemetery due to the rampant stupidity that was discovered there recently.

Hopefully Pvt. Thomas Costello gets better treatment.

Traced to the US, no doubt

Adding more and more nails to the Mexican Drug Farce coffin, militant cartel gunman attacked Mexican federal police this weekend with grenades. Who wants to bet that the grenades were either M61 or M67 type made in the USA?

Any takers?

I ask because that would mean that, you know, the grenades could be "traced" to the US. Probably came from a gunshow, or the back of an NRA gun dealers van, or even Gander Mountain - they had a buy-one-get-one-free sale on foreign and domestic grenades this weekend. I hear that next month, they're giving away mortars to the first twelve people to buy a gun safe, so keep your eyes peeled!

What's old is new again: Home Improvement Edition

Regarding yesterday's A/C fiasco, I dialed up a number from the Good Ol' Boy network to ask an electrician buddy of mine about what he knows about central A/C units. Electricians know probably more about the HVAC trade than folks in any of the other trades combined, and even that knowledge is extremely limited.

You HVAC boys have that market shut like a lock.

My buddy didn't have much information for me other than he would come over and help me in any way he could. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, SailorCurt dropped me a comment with a link to a post he did on fixing his A/C unit. I read that post several times.

Could these frickin' things be that simple? I've set dozens of A/C units on the pedestal, leveled them, and then wired them up, but I've never really looked inside of one. The voodoo involved in making them work is the specialty of the HVAC boys; they go down deep within the heart of these units and add magic potions mixed from elven babies blood and unicorn tears. The units themselves are expertly forged by the hands of mighty dwarfs, crafted from the finest aluminum hewn from inside the Stickitooomeee mountains. I just envisioned them being so complicated considering that they cost thousands of dollars, they have to be installed by experts licensed. . . LICENSED!!. . . to add the magic potions, and some of them are even powered by trains that you can't even see! Nothing can stop those ones.

So imagine my surprise when I opened mine up and found out that Yup, it's just a run-of-the-mill compressor with a radiator like thingy surrounding it, and a simple motor with a fan. A consult with Google-The-Wise showed that the HVAC boys affectionately refer to them as "squirrel cages."

I've got it now.

Armed with SailorCurt's post, and my new found confidence that I can swap out a motor and make it work as long as the compressor is still good, buddy and I set about to make my world a better place. Good buddy noted that he had an A/C unit that the Direct TV installer had climbed on and broken, but that the fan motor and capacitor were still good to go. It was about five years old, but had only operated for a few weeks when the incident happened. Basically it was all brand new, but would it fit?

Like a glove!

Now the only problem I had was that the new fan spun the wrong way; the 3-blade fan that came with the new motor was too big, and the 4-blade fan that was on the old motor was pitched the wrong way. New motor with old fan went into the A/C unit, and managed to get my house down from this, taken last night:



To 81 degrees this morning. I went out to check on things this morning and the A/C was kinda milling super hot air around the unit, instead of blowing it out the top. These A/C thingies are really pretty neat; the fan pulls the coolest ambient air around (the air closest to the ground) through the coils (radiator looking doodad) and up out the top, all while also drawing the super hot air around the compressor (at the bottom of the unit) out the top with it. It's like the radiator in your car, only with the fan on top of the motor blowing the hot air out a big vent in your hood. Smart!

Thinking about it last night, I realized my remedy was to cut the thin aluminum blades of the fan that was on the new motor. Measuring carefully and guiding the Sharpie along by edging my fingers along the curved end of the blade, I marked off about an inch and a half of blade which was easily scored by a razor knife. The cut part peeled right off just as pretty as you please. The fan's hub is steel, and I didn't mess with it. One thing to know is that the fan is balanced, so cutting it runs the risk of making the whole unit wobble when it spins. Mine now has a barely perceptible wobble, which I can fix with the counter weights from my old fan. . . .on a cool day; it's good to go right now. When I fired it back up this morning, I could see it draw the ambient air through the sides of the unit like it's supposed to, and hot air was blowing right out the top.

All should be well now!

My kids were up until close to midnight last night, and everyone was in a foul mood from the heat. We had little room fans set up all over the place to make sure there was some circulating air, but it was still miserable. The bad part about it is that all of this could have been prevented with a little preventative maintenance.

The reason the old fan siezed up is because one of the two 125 volt lines that feed the motor had long ago come loose - long enough that the exposed copper was slightly corroded. The fan, running on half power, and with a full load from struggling against the heat wave on the East Coast, over taxed the capacitor, which was visibly bulged when I took off the electrical panel cover on the A/C unit. If I had shut the power off and looked over the daggone thing this spring, I probably could have avoided the whole fiasco entirely. Just the same though, ordering a new motor and capacitor costs less than a hundred bucks, which is way better than calling Home Despot to send out a barely trained installer to replace your A/C unit for $5,000.

Some things can be done yourself.

I'd like to give a big thanks to SailorCurt for his very helpful post! I really appreciate it!

What was old is new again

I got my Suunto watch back yesterday. Truth be told, Suunto had the watch fixed and back out the door in about a days time, which is awesome; the reason I got it back yesterday is because FedEx took their sweet ass time during delivery. Looking back, I dropped the watch into the package on Thursday the 24th, Suunto emailed me about the price to fix it on the following Monday, and had it in the mail on Tuesday. That's fast.

I did have to pay $55 for the service since the watch was well out of warranty, but for my troubles I basically got a brand new watch. They replaced the case, the face, and the bezel; I also got a new set of D-rings - I had ordered these with the crappy velcro strap about a year ago and used them with a Zulu strap which I highly recommend. The crappy rubber strap that came with the watch rotted off, so it needed a high quality replacement.

Let's recap.

Here is what I sent:



And here is what they returned:


I didn't buy this watch to wear to the Prom; I bought it to withstand the harshest environments on the planet, which it has. After four years of abuse, it looked like it was flogged with a sock full of nickels, and now it looks cool again.

I'd say that Suunto makes a great product and stands behind it. Good on em'.

Now I want to buy more of their stuff! See how that works!

It's all about the timing

The A/C unit in my house went out yesterday in what is the start of a week long heat wave. The sleeping conditions were rather eventful last night, to say the least.

Good times.

The fan was seized up this morning, but I managed to get it spinning again with the help of a meat fork from my grill. Maybe with some tender care the thing won't die on me yet. If its time really has come, I will be shelling out the equivalent of a new rifle for a new A/C.

My 3rd of July

What a great day! Yesterday I spent a few hours casting bullets while everyone around me was shooting fireworks into the air. Sure, the bigger ones wake the kids up every now and then, but this comes around once a year, and I like the scenery.

Anyhow, I learn more and more every time I give this a shot, like not smelting at 900 degrees unless you want fluffy purple bullets. The zinc wheel weights usually float to the top, but when the heat is high they can and do melt. Ooops.

Here is yesterday's booty:


Click to make bigger and more beautiful.


See those eeensy weeensy little ones? Those would be 102 grain boooolits for my Kel-Tec P3AT! No more ammo shortage for this guy. Dies are in the mail. Now to expand on my shell casing collection, and I will be mass producing those as well.

Range report to follow hopefully in the next week or so. In the meantime, I'm going to smoke my single stage press making .45 ACP. The zombies could be braying on my door as early as tomorrow, so I have to be prepared.

Happy Independence Day!!!!

Stay safe out there!

Or you could just wear bubblewrap

"Strong currents, debris such as tree branches and slippery rocks have caused injuries and deaths. It is safer to enjoy the river from somewhere outside the water, rather than in it."

Yeah, nothing sucks more than enjoying cool clear water by getting in it. What a moron.

If you can't swim, than wear a life jacket and swim with sober friends; you won't have any problems. It is a deadly river, sure, and you wouldn't know by looking at it. The reason people drown in it all the time is because they're usually drunk, or can't swim (well), don't use the buddy system - it's really just a lack of what is generally refered to as common sense.

I hear that skydiving and lion taming are very safe, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to give it a shot on my own; common sense says that I would find some competent buddies to help me out, and I wouldn't be shitfaced on my first try. Lions look all nice and cuddly and all, but I know that looks can be deceiving. That's why I would be careful.

Every year though, several people drown in the Rappahannock, and usually two drown on the 4th of July. Sometimes a child drowns, and it breaks my heart. The parents are always to blame; youngins should be wearing their life jacket, and both parents should be sober.

The numbers are sobering: 85 people have drowned in the river since 1985. The last ones were in June 2008. The victims were a 51-year-old Stafford man and a teenager from Maryland.

Sobering is the key word that people don't get.

So enjoy the water. Get in it if you can; it's a very historic part of this nation, and it's a cool place to be. Sure, if you want to tie one on then stay on the shores, but if you're of a sound mind, don't let this "official" rain on your parade.

An Arsenal of One

During the night, someone broke into the vehicle and made off with a Colt M-4 rifle, two loaded M-4 magazines and two loaded .40 caliber Glock magazines. The thief also took two sets of handcuffs, two Montgomery County Police badges and a baton.

One rifle = arsenal. This is, of course, NBC News we're talking about; sensationalism runs rampant in this organization. They are but one half step above grocery store tabloids that run stories about bat-boys and B1 bombers on the moon.

Interesting that a Maryland cop gets issued an automatic weapon, and then leaves it in the car overnight to get stolen by a scumbag. Can Maryland Citizens own full auto weapons legally? I bet if they do, they don't leave them in their car.

No word on why the thief bothered to risk life and limb to steal such a weapon from a cop when he could have just been issued one at a Virginia gun show for a few dollars.

Ooooh Oooooh!! A caption contest!

You must enter!

It seems that Clay Jones, on his blog at Fredericksburg.com, has an opinion, and he wants you to be a part of it!

Go on over and show Clay just how much you treasure his anti-gun opinion, would you?

Here's my entry:

More stupidity on the Virginia restaurant carry

You absolutely have to check out this shamelessly biased video on the matter from NBC Washington.

That is no accident. In case you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, the commercial at the beginning of the video is a cyber-stealing awareness video that has two masked men with rifles walking into a bank while firing on full auto.

Jackie Bensen is the reporter in the video, and whether or not this is her doing, she is still accountable.

She did give Jim Snyder of the VCDL a crack at his take on the law, which he helped push through. Still, there's just no covering up the bias.

Virginia laws in effect today

Concealed carry in restaurants that serve alcohol is legal today, as well as being legal to transport a firearm in a vehicle's locked compartment. Also, you can ask Master to renew your concealed carry permit by mail, and court clerks now have to tell you that you can appeal a denied concealed carry permit.

Not too shabby.

Do notice some of the people's confusion in the comments at the article.

Oh yeah, and check out the picture to the article on NBC Washington's front page. Smart anonymous reporter takes you back to the Wild West, despite the Wild West not being very wild. Predictable.

Confirmation Proclamation

I have always looked on in wonder about how pointless the Judiciary Confirmation process is, considering that Supreme Court nominees get confirmed pretty much regardless of what they say.

Howevaaaaah, it seems that they do sometimes catch these judicial creatures making statements that they soon violate; in this case the wise Latina doublespeak between DC vs Heller and McDonald vs Chicago.

Not that that changes anything; it's all one gigantic fiction that we keep on watching for some reason, like we expect a drastically different outcome despite knowing damn well what's gonna happen. Old Yeller doesn't live in the end, and judges are human and have opinions.

Weird.

Gun rights in sheep's clothing

The old policy prohibited town employees, except police officers, from bringing firearms into town buildings or properties during working hours. The new policy bans weapons on town property unless they're legally permitted. It will allow employees to carry weapons in places where other residents could.

There is a whole lot in that paragraph to address.

First, the old "policy" exempted cops, of course, but more importantly barred town employees. Policy is not law; thus it was not unlawful for town employees to carry, but getting caught meant potentially getting fired. Citizens however, were not held accountable by this policy as they do not risk losing their job.

The new "policy" is where the meat is. Again, it's policy, not law. As the article describes it, this policy now allows everyone to carry as long as it's legally permitted. To be contentious, there is a big difference between legal and lawful; the latter meaning true law, and the former meaning color of law, or basically fiction.

In my opinion, this new policy under the guise of freedom and 2nd Amendment rights is really a dangerous way of making people think that they have more, when in fact it seems written to control people under color of law. A wolf in sheep's clothing, if you will. What it boils down to is that town employees want to carry without the worry of losing their job, which is understandable to say the least, but the method towards this end is to give up more of their rights - keeping in mind that the employees rights were not threatened before this new policy - in exchange for being "allowed" by the local government to carry.

In short, they're offering the same entity that discriminates against them more control in exchange for not discriminating. It's the same as telling the bully that steals your lunch money that you will clean his room every week if he doesn't steal your money. And I am sure that this is being haled as a gun owner's victory.

On the flip side, there is the typical resistance from the scared senseless folks that can't bear to see anyone armed and capable of protecting themselves, and they offer to the local news man the predictable "guns near kids" sacrifice. Also, do not miss the NRA, Pro-Gun spokesman mouthpiece giving his burnt offering of "this is going too far." Sometimes the Redcoats are dressed in Mossy Oak.

My point is to be careful of what you wish for. Everyone wants to be able to carry where they want; just be sure that you don't give away a right for a promise to be left alone.

Little beauties

Last night I got done with my first full batch of 45 ACP.



Putting each one together is like watching a child grow.

I'm so proud!!!

I am going to mass produce ammo like never before. Just the thought of being able to shoot my 1911 lifts my spirits.

.380 ACP is next; the mold should be here today. Now I just need some time.

Something someone mentioned to me the other day though when I said that five gallon buckets of dirt hung from trees make awesome animated targets, he said that that was a "green" way to shoot, as I wouldn't be putting lead into the environment. I guess so! I'm goin greeeeeen man!!

It's also a good way to save lead. Not that I'm that stingy; wheel weights cost very little, and the amount of bullets that can be made from one bucket of them is amazing. However, it sure would be easier to re-melt lead bullets than to melt wheel weights with the metal clips. I'm gonna make this lead last.

Guns incorporated

The Second Amendment applies to cities and states too? Not just the federal government?

Who knew?

This news is making the rounds, and it's sickening to see how many journalists still think that the Constitution "grants" rights. What exactly do those folks learn in college again?

Range report

Saturday I went out to see how my rifle likes the 168 grain Federal Gold Medal Match. I went back out to the old pond; only this time I took a weed eater to clear the vegetation, as I learned my lesson well from last time. Still, I ran the weed eater out of string and bent my machete in the two hours it took to cut a shooting lane.



I got there right at 1000, and the temperature was already above 90. After clearing a lane and setting up targets, I was soaked with sweat down to my knees. The humidity was at 48%.

A week ago I bought a 4 foot plastic folding table to shoot off of. I've eyed them for a long time, but all the folding tables I've come across are too rickety for range work, but not this one. It's good to go. It sure makes things easier than shooting off the hood of the truck, and it was nice to be able to drive down to the targets with A/C instead of walking.



With the table set up, I laid out the rifle and commenced to setting up the chronograph. I also walked down and set up a target at 100 yards to get these rounds zeroed. In that ten minutes time my rifle was almost too hot to touch just from being out in the sun. As for my target, I used a piece of thin cardboard from a pack of orange dots as it was field expedient, and also because I could measure it with the range finding reticle on my scope. I paced the distance off to start with, and between my well calibrated eye and the scope reticle, I'm convinced I was at 100 yards. Some teenage scumbags stole my rangefinder, so I'm learning to use other methods.

As it turns out I couldn't see my shot holes on the little six inch piece of cardboard, so I went back out and put up a piece of drywall that I had brought along to shoot my new 45 ACP handloads at. I got dialed in pretty nice, right after I shot a half inch three shot group just outside of the top right dot.



I wasn't there though to shoot groups at 100; I was there to dial the rounds in at 285 yards - as close to 300 as I could get on Saturday. My first three rounds I used .7 MILs hold over instead of the 1 MIL that I was supposed to use, which put me just under the bottom black dot. Despite that, they were tight, which made me happy:



I then fired off a five round group at the bottom black dot, which I pulled the first round high and to the left, and marked it so in my book before clicking off the next four rounds. That group made me happy too, discounting the first shot.

At that point, the gun was blistering hot. Normally it takes between ten and twenty rounds to get this gun to warm up a bit before it will shoot tight. It likes to run hot. Saturday was the exception, as there was no hiding from the sun, and I had to wrap the barrel with a wet T-shirt and stuff the whole gun in the case for twenty minutes just to be able to fire off another three round group. I would alternate shooting it and my little AR15 to keep from sitting around - notice the three little shot holes near the top black dot. Apparently the drop compensation chart that came with the Burris Fulfield II scope is off: those rounds were aimed at the bottom dot. Not a bad group though.

The mirage was terrible, and worse with each shot fired and minute passed. I have little to no experience shooting with mirage, and combining that with my sweat soaked face not getting a cheekweld, and you have a recipe for some piss poor shooting.



That would be my last group fired, this time at 256 yards, measuring 2.831". The three shots on the right are from the AR15. At least they're minute-of-groundhog.

As usual, here's some through-the-scope pictures. First, the Horus Hawk:



And the Burris on seven power:



Last but not least, I shot almost twenty rounds of my wheel weight handloads of 45 ACP to see how they did. I intended to shoot a lot of them that day, but I had had enough of the bugs and the heat.



Powered by six grains of Unique, they averaged in at 858 fps, which is dead on as a substitute for ball ammo. I'm happy as can be about that. I was shooting off hand at fifteen yards, not shooting for groups, and they all stayed within the front sight post. Can't do better than that for target fodder.

I am now going to mass produce some more 230 grain LRN ammo so that I can actually shoot my 1911, instead of just dreaming about it. I haven't shot the thing in many months due to ammo not being readily available or affordable. I am also going to stock up on the FGMM as it seems to shoot well in my gun, and JBM Ballistics says it will make it close to 950 yards or so. One day I hope to test it out.

Obviously she should be stripped of her gun rights

And all others as well. We wouldn't want "individuals with known or suspected ties to terrorism" from exercising their rights now would we?

Hopefully the FBI will give her a special redress number.

Come to think of it, terrorists have long used kids as weapon delivery vehicles. Why not ban kids in general from flying? Perhaps that's too extreme. Maybe every child should be physically searched, just in case, ya know? It's not like they're going to resist or anything.

It kind of reminds me of this.

A utopia free from fear

Isn't that why DC gunlaws are so restrictive? To make sure that Citizens feeeeeeeel safe? To make them free from fear?

Well now, that ship has sailed. DC folk are no longer feeling safe these days, and who can blame them?

As the rest of the wholesale community got back to work Thursday, vendors worried that the escalating crime in the area will soon put them out of business.

“Yesterday, about 10 or 15 customers told us that they’re afraid, even during the day time to walk around this area,” said Shaikh.

“I’m still scared. I couldn’t sleep all night,” said Suleman Hussain, who owns a nearby business. “We’ve been here for only a year and a half, and I don’t know, I don’t want to be here anymore. It’s too scary.”

But but but, there's cops and stuff; many of them with super high tech equipment that will warn them at the precise moment a scumbag ends your life. Look, there's even a big brawny cop standing next to some crime tape, diligently writing important stuff in a little notebook. All is well in hand.

And a harsh notice to all you vile crooks out there that feed on the soft underbelly of society: crime will not be permitted! It simply won't be allowed! "We can't have people out preying on the community like this."

See how easy that was? Chief Lanier is now going to commence "getting them." She's now going to round up the murdering hooligans, or have a stern face-to-face talk with them to find out what reason and cause they have to rob and kill.

Please Citizens, there's no reason to arm yourself for your own safety! The cops will be by with their notebook shortly. Peace be still!

You know, these incompetent goons insist on disarming everyone because nobody but the po-po can be trusted to provide for their own safety, as they may all go berserk and shoot up presidential motorcades with their sub compact Glocks, so I'm thinking that the community may have a claim against the DC police here for failure to make them feel safe.

Canadians: the new terrorist menace

I casually read the headline to this article, and knew it was a load of bullshit before I even clicked.

Police arrest driver of weapons-laden car near G20.

Tell me the first thing that comes to mind is that the guy has like an SKS or something in his trunk, and the cops and the press are making mountains out of it? Or perhaps a .25 auto and some fireworks? Maybe a couple of shotguns, a Beretta 92F, and a old Marlin .22 to make it an "arsenal?"

Nope. So what did this crazed, lunatic terroristic fellow have in his car to make it "weapons laden?"

Canadian police Thursday arrested the driver of a car laden with five fuel canisters, a chain-saw and a home-made crossbow close to the Toronto center where G20 leaders will meet.

Man, was that car laden! It was like so totally laden, that it could have easily been called Bin laden! Actually, now it can be called BEEN laden!! Get it! Been laden?!?!

I should be a counter terrorist, because my wit and humor would no doubt be helpful on long stakeouts, watching black hearted men surreptitiously planning the next massive bombing while innocently filling their lawn mower with highly explosive elixir of Allah.

Hell, everyone is potentially a terrorist these days, or even practically a terrorist. Who knows how many unregistered gas cans are within the Canadian border. And this guy had a fucking half empty soft drink, and you know what those can be used for. . . . .

Inside the car they found five blue and red fuel canisters, some only partially full, a half-empty soft drink bottle, a bundle of arrows with red and yellow tips, as well as a large chainsaw, the homemade orange steel crossbow and a baseball bat.

Everyone knows that a crazed madman with a baseball bat can take out an entire little league team!

Three medium-sized suitcases were found to be stuffed with batteries, scribbled notebooks, and a copy of "100 ways to Make Money on the Internet."

There was also a tall, oversized wooden paddle, a bottle of cleaning fluid, and a dirty sleeping bag stuffed in the trunk.

Is it me, or does the anonymous reporter that wrote this garbage remind you here of the janitor from Billy Madison, at that scene where he's in Eric's office with a list of all the petty childish things he witnessed Billy doing? "Billy likes to drink soda. Miss Lippy's car. . . is green." Connection, no?

Anyways, the day is now saved, thanks to the daring bravery of 20,000 the most courageous and under worked mall ninjas on the planet. Good save guys.

Allegedly, the terroristic book "100 ways to make money on the internet" is subversive fodder for the violent and easily manipulated mind, written by none other than the ghosts of Attila the Hun, Hitler, and Glen Beck's great great grandfather. The cover is even made of the skin from a thousand slaughtered Jack Russell puppies!!

So just how close did the madman get to the G20? A thousand feet? A hundred feet? Ten feet?

Nope. Less than half a mile.

That's what you call danger close!

Meanwhile, as this nutcase Canadian was getting aggressively interrogated for endangering the lives of countless Canadian babies and interrupting the peaceful utopia of Toronto, what were those 20,000 brave cops doing to maintain the tranquility?

A swath of downtown Toronto has been ringed with steel barricades, schools and businesses have been closed, and one level of the main Union Station has been shut, leaving only local trains able to ferry passengers.

Just so we're clear, guy driving through town with some gas cans, a bottle of mineral spirits, and a sleeping bag = the most dangerous threat in the world; ten battalions of doogooders with body armor, automatic weapons, and tear gas turning downtown Toronto into FOB G20 and arresting people with gas cans = necessary keepers of world peace.

Some more keepers from this shit article:

"We are not up north, or deer hunting so these weapons were a matter of concern."

I would say that the stupidity, reckless endangerment, and needless violence by Canadian law enforcement is a matter of concern too. And is he suggesting that people hunt with gas cans and a chainsaw? Don't think so? Well, how about this gem:

"This is an ongoing investigation," he said, adding the car was "filled with weapons of opportunity."

If this moron had a clue, he would know that every human being that lives in a modern residential structure has access to countless weapons of opportunity that are far more powerful than a chainsaw or crossbow. Why don't you just lock up everybody then?

He said the hazardous materials team would be analyzing the contents of the fluid containers to see what they were, and the arrested man had not yet given any clear explanation of what he was doing.

I gather that the guy can't give a clear explanation because he's bound and gagged, and probably has some big federal goon's arm and eight-cell Mag light up his ass, looking to "anal-yze the contents of his fluids." Get it? Anal-yze?!?!

I'm so funny.

This is what you get when you give Big Brother the keys to protect you from everything.

Actually, don't even waste the minute and a half of your life reading that article. It's rubbish. It's kinda telling though that during a meeting of the world's most powerful bankers, and during the coordination of an army of cops of this size, that we would hear about something like this to justify the whole mess. It seems like nobody really gives a damn about a bunch of rich bankers, so something has to be made up and perpetuated by the press to make the masses of sheep think that the efforts of their taxed labor is going to a good cause.

Yay world peace!!

On warranties

Use them if you can. A sign of a good manufacturer is if they both include a decent warranty, and if they honor that warranty. It has to be both, or the warranty is crap.

Car manufacturers are the perfect example of what not to do.

They may advertise a good warranty, but they try as hard as possible to not honor it. I've had every type of warranty known to man from car manufacturers, and at the end of the day they are going to screw you, so don't bother. They make their money on repair work, not the car itself. I've had car manufacturers consult with lawyers; take apart pieces of my engine and take pictures of it to send to HQ for an opinion; send experts to the dealership to look at the repair, all in the name of doing whatever it takes to make money.

There are companies that make other products that do whatever it takes to make their customer happy, and thus spend more money on buying more of their products. T.A.D. Gear is a good example of this: remember the jacket that I bitched about this past winter? They sent a pre-paid shipping label to my house so that I could send the jacket back to them. Turnaround time was about a week, and I had the jacket back, good as new. That's good service. I can't wait to buy more of their stuff, comfortable knowing that when I break it, they will stand behind their gear.

I'm going to test the customer service of another company that I have thus far held in high regard: Suunto.

Waaay back at the beginning of 2006, I bought one of their Vector watches for my all expenses paid vacation to beautiful Ramadi, in sunny Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Good times. Good times.

Since then I have replaced a couple of batteries, and one wrist strap. This is one tough watch, and I love it dearly, but yesterday the pin hole for the wrist strap broke, which leaves me checking my wrist for the time. I feel like I lost my hand.

It's out of warranty, and I don't have the fundage at the moment to buy a new watch, so I've been kinda bummed. Checking out the comments on the Suunto website, the company responded to a customer who had some negative things to say about a broken watch out of warranty; they said that for a nominal fee, the watch could be sent in for a facelift where they replace the housing and band and basically give you a new watch. That's fantastic service right there! Other commenters speak highly of this non warranty warranty, so I gave Suunto a call and they confirmed it.

Using their handy dandy website, I got a FedEx label printed up, the watch boxed up, and the whole shootin' match in the mail. The friendly lady on the phone also informed me that there was no wait time at the moment, so my watch should be back in a jiffy. I'm happy cos' it saves me several hundred dollars to replace an expensive watch.

Here is a pic of my watch shortly after I got it:


Notice the temperature reading on it says 122 degrees F.

Here is a picture of it before going into the FedEx package:



It's pretty beat up. This watch has been through hell for sure, and it's lasted this long. A facelift will be nice. I'll give an update with details when I find out how much it's gonna cost, and what they're going to do.

Wyatt Earp's gunfight testimony

Super bad-ass! Click on over to Hajisplace for a look at a sworn affidavit of the events up to and including the gunfight at the OK Corral.

That's sure to stop crime

DC is imposing another curfew on residents who are 17 and younger.

Personally, I wouldn't let my kid stay out after midnight anyways, but it sure as hell wouldn't be because of some silly statute. I have to wonder though if anyone actually believes the gun toting gang bangers will follow the letter of the law.

Something tells me that they won't, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Predators in the wild

When wandering the great outdoors, be advised that there may be dangerous predators afoot, such as this nutjobby gollum like creature.

Frickin' weird!

I love the fact that the victim decided not to "give him what he wants" and provide police a sketch later, but instead pounded the creature's face in and ended the attack. If only they all ended that way.

But what about the NyQuil?

I thought that taking away everyone's cough syrup made it impossible for the crazies to make meth in their kid's room?

I feel flim-flammed!

So does that mean I can buy NyQuil again without providing a hair and urine sample?

Firearm training in Mexico!

It looks like Mexican businessmen need meat puppets to protect them from the cartels. I can't blame them.

Of interest is that there is only one day of live fire. Also note the part about Mexican Special Operations Soldiers, as well as SWAT cops, changing sides and joining the cartels.

You don't reckon that they bothered to take their issued automatic weapons with them, do you?

Ammo giveaway at The Survivalist Blog

M.D. Creekmore at The Survivalist Blog – a survival blog dedicated to helping others prepare for and survive disaster – with articles on bug out bag contents, survival knife choices and a wealth of other survival information is giving away a 1,000 round case of 9mm – 124 Grain FMJ (a $200 value – donated by LuckyGunner)! To enter, you just have to post about it on your blog. This is my entry. Visit The Survivalist Blog for the details.

What are you waiting for? If you don't have a blogger account, you can make one here.

Rule number four!!!

Yikes!

That's some good fortune that that family has. Firing rounds up into the air is a big no no.

Drive-bys and Go-Gos

The DC mentality never fails to impress.

In response to a drive by shooting of nine people earlier this year, some of the families of the victims want to ensure that no one else in DC has the means to protect themselves from the rampant violence. Their means is to lobby congress to prevent the pro-gun bill that gets attached annually to the DC voting rights bill from ever seeing the light of day again.

These people no doubt just want the violence to stop, so I don't cast any stones at their end result, only the means.

At the first link, notice how all three of the men who carried out the shooting had extensive criminal histories. This happens again and again and again all throughout America: some scumbags that have made a career out of hurting people decide to elevate their crimes to murder, and the first thing the community and bureaucrats do is try to make things safer by taking away weapons from everybody, instead of focusing on the real problem of keeping these scumbags locked up in the first place. Or, sometimes when the bureaucrats go at it alone, without the help of grieving families, you end up with efforts to ban Go-Go joints, or pizza shops, or dead end streets, or high school football; anything but an attempt to strike the root of the issue.

The opportunity to prevent violence like this drive-by in question occurred years ago, but sadly was lost by the same people who are now trying to stop it by trampling the rights of everyone else. Again, I don't question the heart of these families, or the politicians who are listening to them, but I have to say that if they are not looking at fixing the revolving door policy of DCs criminal justice system, than they are only helping the next murderous teenager in carrying out his crime.

It's not the guns; it's the criminals. When the criminals show a pattern of violence, then put them away for good and you will have your remedy. Why aren't the outraged families screaming about the violent criminal history of the three scumbags? There will never be any shortage of weapons for criminals, but there can definitely be a shortage of scumbags if they are kept in a cage.

Feel good legislation will only take an opportunity away from the good citizens, and aid the DC scumbag in achieving their crimes.

Happy Fathers Day!!

What did you get for Father's Day?

I got stitches!! I should have listened to my wife, who told me not to do any work today. Instead, I had to defy her orders and work outside under the deck for awhile; at one point I thought that maybe some Vicotin and a smashing headache would enhance my afternoon, so I jumped up and banged the top of my noggin on the edge of a beam.

I knew it was bad when I took my hand off my head and it was dripping with blood and pieces of meat. Head wounds apparently bleed profusely. All I could smell was blood.

After I got some stitches, I noticed how dry the weather was, so I broke out my casting equipment for an innaugural day of making bullets. Freakin awesome!



The learning curve was rather quick, and I noticed that it takes a very long time to get a 5 lb. pot heated up and broken in. With that out of the way, I was kicking out 230 grain round nose bullets like a champion. Discounting the 30 or 40 bullets that I screwed up, I ended up with 205 serviceable rounds that I can load, and eight 1 lb. ingots for another day. I didn't even put a dent in the bucket of wheel weights that I have, and it is one of four.



I still have to prep my brass and size these bullets before I can get to loading them. About two hours including cleanup is what I had for the day, and that's huge in my world.

I'm pretty thrilled.

I'll let you know how they shoot when I get them loaded and to the range.

A sorry excuse

"And despite having more than 300,000 graves at the site, the cemetery does not have a computer database to keep track of those buried there. Records are still kept on paper."

P-p-p-p-p-p-pooooooooor meeeeeeeee. I don't have a computer!!! It's not my fault!!!

Burying a veteran on top of another veteran shows that there's more to this than "we don't have enough technology." These two incompetent morons deserve some jail time, not taxpayer funded retirement. How exactly is that punishment?

They were "forced" to retire, see?

As for the technology part - how in the world did General George Washington kick so much ass without so much as one lousy laptop? Hannibal bitched about Windows crashing all the time, making the task of personnel tracking a real pain in the ass, but he still managed to give the Romans hell for 17 years. And King Leonidas, I hear that his abacus malfunctioned, and that there were only 298 Spartans at Thermopylae.

Reams of paper and stone seemed to work just fine for the better part of ten thousand years, and two government jackasses can't even account for the dead for less than twenty.

Crazy Times

I've been on travel again; this time to Texas. I would like to take this opportunity to say that the people who design the roads in Texas must be so high on crack that they contaminate every one around them with their toxic stupidity.

When navigating a Texas highway where you are not intimately familiar, you can count on the fact that by the time you see the sign that you are looking for in order to find your way about, if the county even bothered to put one up in the first place, it will be either too small to see until you are ten feet from it, or it will be so perplexed with little road maps and such that you won't be able to read it. Also, it will probably be white instead of the traditional green, as Texas loves to distinguish itself from the rest of the union, and just as surely as the sun rises in the East, the damn thing will not reflect the light from your headlights, so as to make it impossible to see in the dark. There is also the matter of the sign being on the opposite side of the road where you need to turn. Every time.

And while I'm on the subject of street signs, I would like to give a shout out to Sea World to perhaps install a few so that people not from the area may actually find this establishment without driving around in the middle of nowhere looking for the place. You would think that this all common sense, but I can assure you that once you get off the highway, the only way you will find Sea World is if you happen upon it by accident. The shark display is fantastic, by the way.

A couple years back, I was traveling so much that I spent a good third of every month on the road somewhere, or in the air. I'll tell ya, I'd rather drive ten hours in a rental car than go through one security checkpoint at an airport. The whole process is designed to be as humiliating as possible, and I can't see at all where it provides any security whatsoever. TSA is too busy feeling up grandmas and soccer moms to catch Al-Qaeda, or their laughing at the ding-dongs that they get to see with their fancy new scanners. I have to be on a list somewhere as I have to go through one of those "random" machines every time I fly.

If you haven't flown in awhile, it doesn't matter one bit if you have the metal detector friendly shoes or belt any more. Your shoes have to come off, period. I decided this time to use one of 5.11's tactical belts with the polymer buckle, thinking that I could spare myself the part of removing my belt, but pretty boy TSA man with his $90 shiny thing on his shoulder though it best to go ahead and make me remove it anyways so he could give me a fondling, even after I went through the peeping tom machine so the voyeurs could get a good look at my junk.

As far as they have gone with this theater security in airports, I consider those checkpoint people to be less than human, to the point where I would sooner feed my sandwich to a fat puppy than a starving TSA agent. And that goes for the customs people too. If you want to get strip searched by those perverts several times, just go through customs in uniform. Seriously, they will strip search you every time. I guess enforcing their will on the low hanging fruit is much easier than risking a law suit for stripping the guy in the dishdash.

Since I generally frequent military bases when I travel, I do not take a pistol with me as it would be pointless. This time though, it would have given me peace to have it with me. San Antonio is a rough place; while wandering around on foot, the natives instantly took note of my presence, and I could feel their eyes sizing me up. In every major city in America, there are rough parts of town; the trick is to identify that they are not the place for you to wander through flashing your camera, and skirt around them. Sometimes I blunder into them by accident, and it's never fun.

The one that sticks out the most is when I was circled by teenagers in a car while out on foot in Saint Louis. Ten more minutes and it would have been dark, and my ass would have ended up a bad smell in a dumpster.

These days, I advise travelers to drive to their destination. Get a rental car if you have to. If I travel anywhere on the East coast, it is so much cheaper and faster to get a rental car and drive across four states instead of burning up a day at airports. I haven't had a straight through flight in years, and by the time you get done fiddling with shuttle buses and luggage carousels, you will have burned up most of the day anyways. If you drive though, you miss out on all that "special attention" that TSA loves to give you.

I give up

I'm done handloading for the LR-308 for now. My last batch of handloads were too hot when the temperature got in the 80's, so I made a new batch for an OCW test that were loaded with 42.8 - 43.2 grains of Varget with a 175 grain Nosler CC bullet. I had those rounds loaded for two months, and I finally got the chance to shoot them, and it turned out to be a cluster fuck.

I should have known better.

It always starts raining the very moment I start shooting. Every time. This has been a phenomenon that has plagued me for years, and yesterday was no exception. I decided that I would spite mother nature and shoot anyways, to hell with her, but the lightning got pretty serious. I sat in my truck in the middle of the woods, stuck like shit because of the aforementioned lack of traction that was a direct result on Nissan engineering incompetence.

The wife watched the kids for a few hours to buy me the time to shoot, and I spent an hour waiting on the rain, forty five minutes digging out my XTerra, and fifteen minutes setting up to shoot my rounds.

The shoot was a disaster.



First, the humidity was so high that the moisture in the air made seeing the target an absolute challenge.



After I fired three rounds from each of the loads, I realized that I was about out of time, so I picked up the pace. The sun came back out and made it so that I could just barely make out the one inch black diamonds, to the point where I was guessing where they were. It was the most challenging light I have ever had to shoot in. I should have just quit.




The range was 121 yards, and my velocities were averaging between 2,400 fps on the low end to 2,490ish on the top end. Too low for what I'm looking at.

So, I have placed an order for some 168 grain Federal Gold Medal Match, as I have decided that since it is a rare occasion that I can go out and actually shoot, I had better spend it shooting and not fiddling around with handloads. One day when my kids are in school, and I have a little more time, I'll be able to find the right load for that gun.

I'm pretty bitter about this, but it's the right thing to do. I can't figure out when life became so busy that one does not have the time to enjoy life. Something has to change.