Technology Super Fail

Blogging from the shattered screen of my Samsung Captivate, I must apologize for the lack of activity as of late. Despite being busier than Ive ever been, all electronic devices within a six foot radius of me have taken a colloctive bed-shitting, which counts as the paramount reason why I have not been blogging. My laptop with its shiny new hard drive(its third in two years) has given up the ghost yet again; this time within a month of its rebuild. Orbitz gave me an error for three days on my travel itinerary, but I was smart and saved the original email on my work email account on my phone. By the time I got my phone to send it to my yahoo account, it had arroused my anger to terminal levels. Blogging will continue when I can find electronic technology that does not suck.

A day to remember

Go here to learn why June 5th has been proclaimed Open Carry day. If presidents can create federal hollidays, than bloggers can create blogger hollidays!

Why do I suddenly have Madonna in my head?

Being polite doesn't mean expect others to be

A man open carrying a handgun at a gas station is shot by some scumbag for asking for a thank you. In my experience, and armed society is indeed a polite society; but if someone doesn't say thank you when you hold the door for them, just let it go.

Need a vacation?

Taking a cruise is for sissies! For your next week or two of relaxation and time away from the stresses of work, book your trip to the Extreme SEAL Experience!

View more videos at: http://www.nbcwashington.com.

This course looks pretty bad ass. I'm digging all the cool weapons you get to shoot, and the wandering around in the woods putting holes in targets. I prefer though to watch mud wrestling instead of actually doing it, and I'm soundly convinced it's a lady's sport. It may be your thing though.

There is also a sniper/breacher course where you get to blow up doors, break windows, rappel from rooftops, and shoot rifles from helicopters. One day when my kids are old enough, my wife and I will have to take a family trip!

AR build identified

Mike at Mike's Spot correctly identified the AR that I'm building as a MK12 Mod 0 Special Purpose Rifle. Wikipedia has some good information on their MK12 page if you want some background history, and if you have a hankering for some lustful MK12 SPR p0rn, look no further than ARCOM's MK12 picture thread.

I started this build for several reasons, the first and foremost being a tribute to troops who have used this type of weapon in combat. A close second is that I believe it to be the sexiest AR rifle in existence, and when my rifle is completed I will whisper sweet nothings in its ejection port and take it to the prom. It's that beautiful.

Since it started out as a clone, I have done my best to pick parts that are correct for the rifle. Sometimes it doesn't turn out like I wanted it; for instance I ordered the A.R.M.S. #40 folding rear sight, but I ended up with the #40L - the low profile version - which is not the correct sight, but is actually better in that it sits flat with the receiver. This means that I won't have any issues with mounting my scope forward of the sight. Other things like the lower receiver being from DPMS are not as important to me because I'm not going to spend a great deal more for a Colt or whatnot - not that there was a specific receiver when NSWC Crane built the things for SOCOM to begin with. I also went for the SWFA Super Sniper 3-9 scope instead of the Leupold MK4, as I am not going to spend twice as much for an inferior scope. In my opinion, the SS scope is more on par with Nightforce than Leupold anyways. If you have not seen SWFA's lineup of Super Sniper scopes, than you are missing out on some fine optics.

I'm still waiting on my bolt, barrel, and upper receiver from Les Baer, which I am setup to send to ADCO to profile it to take the OPS Inc 12th model muzzle brake and collar, and I have to pickup a bolt carrier and some A.R.M.S. #22 rings as well. In the meantime I stuck the PRI forearm on an upper that I had lying around, stuck it on top of the completed lower, mounted the scope on top with a Bobro mount, and did some dry firing. I'll have to post a pic when I get the chance.

There is still the question of what caliber this sexy beast is going to be chambered in. . . . . . .

Unconventional weapon violence

With so much focus on firearm usage during a crime by anti-gun folks, I take the time point out that the true weapon is the one who wields it. The adage of "guns don't kill people; people kill people" really is true. Virtually anything can be used to deadly intent by a madman:

AN assailant has sprayed a Roman Catholic priest with flammable liquid and set him alight during mass in a church in Lithuania, police in the Baltic state say.

Gasoline and lighters are readily available, and can be used to kill or harm. So can swords, machetes, and knives, which are not only readily available, but can be made by hand in a short amount of time. Mankind has been using fire and edged weapons to project force since the beginning of time, and they are still effective today.

The Sum of it's Parts: Part 1

This afternoon I put together the lower receiver for my AR project. I couldn't wait any longer, and since the barrel won't be here for a couple more weeks, and even then I have to send it back out for some profiling, I needed something to do in the meantime:



Hmmmmm. What kind of magazines are those? And an A1 buttstock and ERGO grip? What's up with that? Looking back at my BAG Day post, can you put two-and-two together yet?

Last night I coated the DPMS lower receiver and buttstock with Dark Earth Alumahyde II from Brownells. If someone had asked me to describe the worst conditions possible for applying a semi-permanent coating to a firearm receiver, I would have noted yesterday. A huge thunderstorm kicked my ass as I was putting the Alumahyde on, and I was hiding under a tarp holding the piece by a strand of 12 wire while the skies came down. The instructions say to not handle the piece for 24 hours after application, but I would suggest in hind sight a few days more to let it cure; even while I assembled the lower this evening, the coating was tacky and scratched easily. Also an FYI, the stream that comes out of the can is very fine, and is a flat 6" wide. I'm a big fan. I used three coats which ended up being perfect.



Everything went together well. The trigger is a Geissele, which is not spec to the weapon that I am cloning (that's a clue), and neither is the DPMS ambi-safety. The buttstock is from Fulton Armory, which I found out is in Maryland after it got to my house two days after I ordered it. The lower parts kit is from DPMS; and if you have already ordered a match trigger and/or the pistol grip of your dreams, you can also get a parts kit without those things for around $30. Midway and Brownells were out of stock at the time I ordered.

If you do figure out what type of build I'm doing, then you have to figure out the cartridge it's chambered in (it's not a .224" bore). In the next month I should have a functional rifle, meaning that I can start load development, but I am a year or more from acquiring all the kit to make this a complete weapon system. I'll get there eventually.

Force Protection Equipment Demonstration VIII

This is the second FPED trade show that I've been to, only this time I was asked to staff a booth as a Subject Matter Expert. I didn't have time to wander as much as I'd have liked, but I got to see a few cool things.

If you recall, I've posted about this show before; there's nothing new under the sun, or not a whole lot of new stuff since the last one, so I didn't take a ton of pictures at all the crazy surveillance equipment.

Probably the coolest thing to report is that I got to meet Mike Janich, who was attending the Spyderco booth. I made sure to thank him for his work on The Best Defense show, and then he answered some questions for me about Spyderco's H1 stainless steel. At 2 o'clock, Mr. Janich started letting the demo knives go at 50% off, and I picked up a Pacific Salt model for the beach this year:



The reason I appreciate The Best Defense is because Mike Janich and Rob Pincus cover topics that will interest John Q Public. Sure, I find shows that cover how to set up level IV armor for convoy ops or the responsibilities of the 3rd operator in the entry team stack to be very interesting, but I don't need them. The Best Defense covers things like how to interact with law enforcement while lawfully armed or how to deal with an aggressive person in a parking lot; things I can use.

Back to the FPED show, the first thing I did when I got there early on the second day was heckle the L3 guys and their EOTech and FLIR wares. They let me take a picture of this EOTech XR500 sight for the M2 Browning Machine Gun. They said that in testing, Soldiers and Marines were making 1st round hits at 800 yards with it, and I believe it. Sure beats the iron sights:



Notice the drops in the reticle to compensate for range.

Next they let me check out a FLIR camera mounted on an M4 upper receiver in front of an ACOG sight. I wanted it for shooting hogs at night time, all $20,000 worth, and by the time I whipped out my cell phone camera for some reticle shots, the L3 guys were about done with me. I knew I was being annoying at that point, but I got some pictures out of it before the guy took the rifle from me:





In that 2nd pic, the treeline is 412 yards away according to the range finder that they had. These pictures don't do any justice to what you actually see through the camera and sight; I have every confidence that I could make head shots at that tree line. Clear as a bell.

I didn't catch the name of this company, but they make a humongous EOTech-like sight for the M2 BMG, but without the drops in the reticle:




Neat stuff.

The rain at the show was brutal as we had lots of thunderstorms, and sheets of water ran down the tarmac leaving 2" puddles to stand in for hours on end. Most of the vendors there were showing surveillance equipment or armor. I saw a big Smith and Wesson logo on a tent top which drew me in, only to find out that S&W makes Force Protection equipment too; there were no firearms. Most of the weapons were props for sighting systems. It seems that spying on the enemy is paramount to killing them outright at this show.

I still had a good time, and plan on being there next year.

Busy

Going to a military type trade show for the next couple of days. I should have some really great pictures to upload, but until then, posting may be light.

Uhmmmm. . .friendly fire incident?

You know it's bad when you can't definitively tell whether a country you are supposedly allied with for the task of fighting a war is a friend or not. This recent incident between Pakistani militants military and a US gunship may or may not be blue-on-blue.

The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force said U.S. helicopters were in Afghanistan near Forward Operating Base Tillman when they responded to incoming direct and indirect fire from over the border in Pakistan, presumably from militants. The helicopters initially did not return fire, but when a second round of incoming fire began, they did fire in response.

I have to ask the Pakistani militants military troops involved: just how many Apache gunships does Al Qaida have these days that you would shoot at it thinking it's your enemy? Seems odd to me that you would shoot at a machine that you know damn well belongs to an allied country, especially one that can resist that sort of gunfire while it turns around and destroys you. There is simply no cause for them to shoot at it, so that leads me to believe that either Pakistanis are completely fed up with our shit, or the gunship fired first. Considering that dark skinned men with beards carrying AKs could be construed as being bad guys from five hundred feet up, the Pakistani account of being fired on first seems likely. You would still think that they would try to wave off the whirling contraption of death instead of shoot at it; they had to know that the Apache would win that stand off.

Either way, check out the video to see what Pakistani militants citizens think about our dear president. And consider me shocked that they don't believe that bin laden was getting his fap on while looking at goat porn or whatever they found on his laptop; it's obvious that the Pakistanis are a freaky bunch of folk who don't mind at all keeping the internet porn industry in business.

Random gun picture thread. . . . .

. . . . .is full of random gun pictures.

Firefox has encountered a fatal error

Very strange.

A Hagerstown, Md., man said he beat a fox to a death after it bit his wife and attacked the couple's dog.

That's an odd way to use a shotgun. Must have been out of shells. Never underestimate the damage a critter can do to you - even a small one.

Gun Free Zonage

DC residents who wish to buy a gun have a huge problem on their hands: the one business in the district that can legally transfer firearms has lost its lease, and will take awhile to move to a new location and get set up. Naturally, some people are pissed:

Michelle Lane lives on Capitol Hill, and wanted a gun for protection and target practice. She bought two guns in Virginia: a Ruger LCR revolver and a Kahr K9 Elite 9mm. After buying them, she found out she couldn't have them shipped into the city.

"It's not fair," she tells WTOP. "I followed the law. Criminals bring guns into the city. It's frustrating."

I bet. Trying to do the right thing and not be contentious is basically going against the grain in DC.

While DC officials are doing their best to throw responsibility for this jammage on the back of Mr. Sykes - the man who has been doing transfers in the city, and who has now lost the lease - you can plainly see that the district has tried to paint this business into a corner in what could only be considered an effort to keep other businesses of the like out. DC politicians will usually saddle up their high-horse for other civil rights, but not for gun owners. That's the responsibility of someone else.

The zoning laws are particularly interesting:

Approval of a new location for Sykes isn't the only road block delaying District residents from getting handguns. Zoning requirements on where gun dealers can locate are strict, making it difficult for Sykes or any potential gun dealer to find a suitable location.

Kevin Shepard owns Second Amendment Safety and Security, and has had a Federal Firearms License since 2008, but has not been able to find a location to open his business. He says the zoning requirements are too restrictive.

"It's impacted my economic liberty," Sheppard says. "I'm trying to start a business and they're making it too difficult."

Again, painting the business of firearm transfers into a corner. And the idea that barring a business from selling or transferring a gun within 300 feet of a school is just asinine. What difference does that make? It's only a political diversion to parry the fact that DC does not want lawful gun owners in the city.

From The Sentinal.

Blogger back up

For a couple of days last week I couldn't log onto my blog. Strangely though, I noticed that others with blogger accounts were posting away, so I don't know what that was all about. It also looks like some comments got taken off as well. Sorry about that.

All the cool kids are doing it

Nancy at Excels at Nothing is enjoying the comforts of open carrying (OC) a firearm while out in public. To her surprise, the local SWAT team didn't show up, and the gun didn't crawl into her ear and lay eggs in her head causing her to go berserk and make the streets awash in blood.

Here in the Old Dominion, South of Fairfax of course, the carrying of your gun openly will pretty much get you no attention whatsoever. Everyone is used to seeing it to the point where it's no big deal. I used to OC all the time, but not so much anymore with the growing popularity of pocket carry. I mean, even if I strapped the Kel-Tec on my belt for the world to see, who's going to notice that little thing?

Aside from the usual politics and arguments of whether OC or concealed carry gives you an advantage comes the understanding that OC gets the nod for being more comfortable. You don't have to modify your wardrobe to conceal your piece, and that is significant as far as I'm concerned. Belt holsters that are not made to squish your all steel firearm tightly against your skin will feel much better at the end of the day. Trust me. And to those I know who carry in a shoulder rig, they report to me that that's the most comfortable way for all day carry, and also note that it's way more convenient to take on or off than a belt holster. Utility is a wonderful thing.

Failure to stop

Mountain lion takes two shots from a tranquilizer gun before finally succumbing to something a bit more potent.

The Tueller Drill for real

The Tueller Drill - or 21 foot rule - shows that a threat with a knife can get in a fatal blow on a person with a holstered handgun if that person is within 21 feet of the threat.

Some people discount the severity of a threat armed with a knife, as did these Nicaraguan police officers. ***Warning - graphic content. Two police officers are killed and several wounded in this video.***

Watching that video showed me how fast one guy with a knife can end lives and maim others. There was quite a bit of shooting from the officers with rifles, and it's unknown how many of their shots connected. The assailant finally did go down, but was still drawing breath when they put the cuffs on him.

I noticed that none of the cops had their weapons trained on the guy when he made his move. There was some complacency there that you can see in this longer version of the video that starts minutes before ol' boy goes all stabby. One well placed shot could have stopped the attack before it began, but once it commenced, the cops were on the defense and the assailant was moving fast. I also noticed that every cop he attacked was trying to retreat and fell down in the process, which is why gun schools often teach their students on proper footwork when moving. I would imagine that this wouldn't have played out like it did if it happened in the US. After he failed to drop the knife in a moment or two, he would have been Tazed, maced, and then savagely beaten before being handcuffed, and probably one officer would have been positioned for a lethal shot from a firearm.

The history of the M16

I don't have a lot of time to discuss, but check out this lengthy read on how the M16 cut its way into the arms of our military.

Found over at Ace of Spades.

Redhawks and Deagles and knifeguns, Oh My!

The Mexican drug cartels have a unique taste in weaponry.

I see a Desert Eagle, some scoped Ruger Redhawks, a North American Arms mini-.22 revolver, and what looks to be a San Juan Enterprise Powell Knife Pistol. There are some other odd looking trinkets in there too, but the named weapons I thought were cool.

Guns off campus

DC can't seem to keep their scumbags in order. With armed home intruders robbing Georgetown students at will, it's a wonder that students aren't offered shortcuts through the red tape to own a firearm for home protection. Students have quite enough on their plate already without having to worry about reading the Study Guide on how to properly jump through all the legislative hoops needed to own a gun. I think fear qualifies as a significant distraction to study these days, so maybe it's time something is done about it.