Robert Smythe

I found a neat old interview of a gun expert of Colonel Townsend Whelan's stripe. Whelan was a gun writer and and expert in the first part of the 20th Century. One of his buddies and peers is Robert Smythe.

During my Marine experience, I became familiar with most of the small arms with which the Corps were equipped at the time. Here I will mention but two, the famous Garand (semi-automatic) .30-06 rifle M1 and the Marine’s long time favorite – the .45ACP. With the rifle, I made Expert, (this rating gave me a $5.00 per month bonus in my pay), while with the Colt Model 1911 pistol, I fired a 91 percent score to tie the record fired on the Pistol Range at Camp Mathews.

These, (and other) experienced with the .30-06 cartridge and the .45ACP purposes for which they were designed to be used, they were "tops" in the Marine armament. I used them effectively then and I consider them most effective now. May I repeat Colonel Whelan’s pronouncement, "The .30-06 is never a mistake." The .45ACP, in the Colt pistol, for combat or personal defense is also, never a mistake

Check it out.

Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves

The guy that sits next to me at work races cars. He has a Mustang from the early 90s that he uses. I'm thinking of buying it off of him. I'm gonna need SOMETHING to drive around the wasteland in when the economic collapse occurs in a week or two.

Changes, I must make:

• add a Super Charger, so I can outrun mohawk-sporting anarchists on motorcycles, and hockey-mask wearing strongmen.


• add a 55 gallon drum as an extra fuel tank


• get a loyal dog to ride shotgun.


• booby-trap the gas cap to keep thieving auto-gyro pilots from stealing my gas.

Suppressors

Suppressor, also known as Silencers, are considered a Class III item. That means you can get one, but you have to jump through all the ATF hoops per the National Firearms Act of 1934 as if you were registering or acquiring a machine gun. The requirements are similar to modern day Conceal Carry Permits but with an added $200 tax added to it.

But if you want to do all that, I found a website that will provide you with the product. AWC Systems Technology.

Some of you are asking, "Why do you want a silencer? I only thought bad guy assassins used those." Well, that's true for Hollywood, yes.

People don't consider the perfectly legitimate advantages of a suppressed firearm, and how they might outweigh the disadvantages, even if those disadvantages aren't spurious.

Guns are loud. You have to protect your ears or risk damaging yourself when using them. Why NOT protect the health of the user? The purpose of firearms in any situation is never "to damage hearing." There is even a significant push, because of disability outlays to officers, of making suppressor use routine with police officers.

They are also cheap. Most suppressors probably don't cost as much as the $200 tax stamp.

And they are a joy to use. Shooting a suppressed .22 rifle at targets... The quietness (it's far from silent) almost eliminates flinching and you can hear the impact of the bullet on paper targets, so you can tell if you hit something without resorting to reactive steel targets that ring. Unless you want to. Steel targets are fun too.

Military Morons

Military Morons

No, I'm not denigrating our military.

It's a website full of gear reviews.



Take everything you read on the internet with a grain of salt, naturally. These guys have information, but, as Tam says, "Everyone on the Intarwebz is an expert..." But it looks like some good stuff to read there, to me.

Zombie Links

I can tell right now, YOU are not ready. Well you gotta be! And the first part of preparation is to educate yourself. Now, chances are, no matter what I tell you, when the Necropalypse happens, you will probably curl up into the fetal position murmuring "ThisIsNotHappening... ThisIsNotHappening... ThisIsNotHappening "until something eats you. But I'ma gonna try to edumacate you, just in case something sticks.


Check out this treatese on zombie physiology.

Here is a bibliography of training zombie sources.

And this is info on RoMERO type zombie hunting group from the Ye Olde Dayf, pre-FLATULENT. ( Ghoul Elimination Organization. Rapid Multi-Eradication Recon Ops, of which I am affiliated, and the precursor to that organizatio: Former-Living Anomaly Targeting Unit, Law Enforcement Nexus Team.)

Oh Noes! The ZOMBOCALYPSE!

This is a zombie hunter faq, from Zombie Squad.

...and, of course, don't forget zd.o Zombie Defense Dot Org

Zombie apparel items and Zombie garden gnomes.

What is Good? *

Marko at his Munchkin Wrangler blog is having guest bloggers do his thing for a week. He didn't ask me. I'm not as famous as his actual guests (Squeaky, then Breda, etc.) and he has standards to maintain, so. I am right out.

The theme his guests are writing to: "Things That I Love." Sounds like an English Composition assignment for High School. Well, I need blog fodder. I'll adapt the theme to my needs.

All Good Things In Life Are Brown.

Yes, you heard me. Think about it.

Coffee.
Chocolate.
Stout
Porter
Steak (the outside.)
Tobacco
Leather
Bourbon (or for you furrener-o-philes. Scotch. I don't understand the appeal of Scotch, but for those that do, I'll grant it is a 'Good Thing.')
Scrapple
Gravy.
Ronald Reagan (the man loved his brown suits)
Truffles and Shittake Mushrooms
Whitetail Deer
Cardboard packages left on your stoop by a man driving a brown truck.
The Mississippi river
Firewood
Pancakes and Waffles and Maple Syrup
Roux
Baked Beans
Porkpie and Derby hats
Bread (yeah, lots of stuff featured at Home On The Range)


And. Naturally. Walnut furniture. As cabinetry, or in the form of grips or stocks on a firearm. Pearwood, Applewood, Mahogany and Rosewood are also pretty shades of brown, but Walnut is King.

All brown. All good things.

Are they all good FOR you? Of course not. That's part of what makes them 'good.' Some are. In moderation, perhaps ALL are. But you can't have too many fine milsurp guns. Or too much Reagan.




[* What is Good? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women]

1632

There is a fiction series out... The first book is called 1632. The bulk of the series is written by Eric Flint, but he collaborates with David Weber and several others.

The premise intrigues me. In the year 2000, a sphere 10 miles in diameter surrounds and transports the town of Grantville West Virginia back in time and space to the year 1632, but lands them in Northern Germany. This is during the middle of the 30 Years War. The series expounds on how they cope and how this momentous event changes the world. The town quickly realizes that they aren't going to be able to maintain a late 20th Century technological level, (you try to make a laptop computer using the resources of any small town. Or a cheap lightbulb, for that matter) but they CAN re-tool to a 19th Century tech base with ease. High School students that learned first aid are as good as most doctors (they know what germs are), and farming techniques and knowledge is an order of magnitude better, even without tractors.

But there is plenty of gunnie content.

One townsperson that came back is an Olympic level rifle competitor (biathalon). And she is DEADLY as a sniper on the battlefield. And enemy generals don't expect to be targetted... A town of hunters, with modern bolt action rifles, that wear camouflage, and are going up against men with muskets in dense formations is a military revolution in 1632. And a dump-truck, converted to run on natural gas that town had access to BEFORE the time shift, makes a superb armored personnel carrier after you cut firing loops in the sides. The enemy muskets can't penetrate the steel. No one has invented socketed bayonets in 1632 yet, so an army that fields this up-time innovation can eliminate the need for intermingling men with polearms with the riflemen/musketmen (vital to have pointy things to discourage cavalry.)

The scenario really set's the mind a thinkin'. What would YOU do? With half a brain, in partnership with motivated local German allies, you can get rich pretty fast. If you survive. And you think of something.

Let's say you are master gunsmith. You can make, from scratch, a mauser style bolt action rifle. You are that good. You happen to have a basement full of machine tools and precision devices, a massive lathe or two, a big old milling machine, others, all running on 3 phase power with 5 horsepower motors. You are well setup. And the town has a power plant providing you with reliable power. So? Where are you going to get the bar-stock? Metallurgy at the time can get you a quantity of wrought iron, but not the quality steel you are used to. Fine, you simplify. Maybe you can make trapdoor style Springfields. Single shot breech loaders and you'll have to make them a bit heavier than you had to because of the steel available. And where are you going to get the cartridges? Stamping out brass in quantity to form a cartridge case will take a whole 'nother supporting industry. Not to mention smokeless powder will require ANOTHER industry. And primers for cartridges, or even mere percussion caps, is another problem you might not be able to solve as a mere master-gunsmith.

So you are down to making flintlock rifled muskets. Good. The lock on guns at the time were wheel-locks and match-locks, so you are ahead of the game. Your German tradesmen allies know how to make muskets so you can employ locals to make rifles in quantity. The Minie-Ball innovation of the 19th century (conical shaped bullets with a concave bottom that helps the base of it expand to engage the rifling, obviating the need for a tightly sealed, patched, round ball) can be cribbed quickly and your flintlocks will load as fast as any other musket of the day, but you will field a force with much greater effective range. Until the enemies catch up you will have a crushing advantage, if you can turn out rifles quickly. As YOU would be the factory foreman, training up a cadre and increasing your workforce by orders of magnitude.

Hopefully someone can solve the problem of making percussion caps and you can have Civil War era rifled muskets. If someone can solve the cartridge making problem you can just about touch the 20th Century again. Not having Brownells on the other end of a phone line is a real hamstring.

There are other problems I'm not considering in getting your modern arms factory off the ground. Where do you get the precision tooling? Ok, you can make some. You are a master-gunsmith. What about something as simple as screws? Sure you can make those too, but they won't be interchangeable. Better go to the library and hope they have stuff about Harper's Ferry Arsenal and how they tried to develop a system of interchangeable parts there. There will be pressure on your shop to make OTHER parts and machines for other industries, too.

But you didn't have to be a master gunsmith to get rich in 1632. If you were a hobby farmer with a few modern bred 20th Century sheep you have the seeds to a superior wool industry with product better than any available. If you were a stoner Hippy in the 20th C., well your skills growing weed and making LSD is the start of great pharmaceutical empire.

Maryland CCW

For those that aren't local I thought I'd give the lowdown on my State's conceal carry rules.

This is my understanding.

First, we are a May Issue State. Which means they usually say no, you may not. All applications go through the Maryland State Police. And they only will consider it if you own a business that deals with a lot of cash, are an embassy guard that works downtown and occasionally forays into Maryland, or are a retired police officer or some other type of quasi Law Enforcement Officer, like a Private Detective. Those get rubber stamped pretty quick, generally. There are exceptions. Like DC police that live in Maryland have had trouble getting a conceal carry permit, while they carry concealed in DC as part of their job. If you are just some regular Joe you have to have documented recent threats against you. Threats, not a threat. There has to be police reports attesting to that. And once that threat is gone, they won't renew your CCW permit. This threat method is how Pro Gun Progressive got his permit, and it took him MONTHS to get it, despite near weekly incidents with gang members in his Baltimore neighborhood. And it expires 2 years from his application date. He's friendly with his local cops and they were a big help, but apart from moral support they can do little besides document the threats in reports.

But once you have the permit there are very few restrictions. You can carry in the courthouse, in a bar, and in church. Not bad, huh? Better than Virginia's rules. But if you don't give out any permits there is no reason to restrict where.

Maryland also has pretty strict transport rules. You have to have the firearm unloaded and locked away in your vehicle, separated from the ammo. The occupants can't have easy access to the firearm. Which is difficult if your vehicle is a Jeep and you can reach anywhere a gun case could be from the driver seat, and you have no trunk. There is arguments over whether you are permitted to have your ammo in magazines (the rules are cloudy and can be interpreted both ways.) They don't mention speedloaders or clips in the law, so load up the Garand clips, but not the M1A magazines. And you have to be going someplace legitimate with a firearm in the car or returning from there. Someplace legitimate is like going to the range, going hunting, taking the gun to your gunsmith, or even to a picnic where you will be plinking, and I've heard no horror stories about someone stopping at a store along the route to the range getting into trouble, but I won't push it.

Every year a law is introduced at the Maryland Legislature to change the words May Issue to Shall Issue, but the committee that oversees gun laws has a chairman that won't release it for a vote. There has been progress in the past few years, changing attitudes, but it is slow going. The Eastern and Western parts of the state are rural and more gun friendly, but the suburban-urban corridor from Baltimore to the DC line your typical anti-gun enclave.

Greaseman Lives?

Greaseman lives!

Now the radio station he broadcasts from on Saturdays is contradicting the earlier rumor... No confirmations of his death by any reputable mainstream sources.

Say what you will about the LIEberal Mainstream In-The-Tank Media, they are reliable on obits, generally. If the Post doesn't say you are dead, chances are you haven't started the Long Dirt Nap, yet.

Greaseman Dies

The Greaseman died today. Nino Greasemanelli,

aka:
Sergeant Fury
Johnny Bulky
Phil Suckalooski
The Punk
Big John Advocado
Irving Greasmanowitz
The Doo-Dad Daddy
Johnny Law
Johnny Rico

and... Fudgeman

(don't call him Dude, and don't call him Bingo)

He has sailed the goodship Grease off into the sunset. I will miss him, lumbering by, smelling of cheap gin, unfiltered Camel cigarettes, Aqua Velva and occasionally... methane. No longer will he be pulling me over on a routine traffic stop looking for any excuse to drag me out of the driver's side window to use his nightstick and liberally apply a wood-shampoo.

Waddle doodle daddum waddle doodle doddem day.

As they used to say, back Ol' Mexico City...

AMF! Adios, my friend.

PS. This better not be a spoof/prank by the evening drive-time DJ at 101... the wikipedia entry had the date of death as today, then removed it waiting for mainstream confirmation.

Springfield '03

There's been some interest when I mentioned the Springfield '03 in the post about trade-ins for my Colt. It's a fine rifle in very good shape. The serial number dating of it says it was manufactured in 1918, AFTER the receiver tempering problem was addressed. (The older tempering method was imprecise and can lead to cracked receivers under firing pressures, in some instances. Disastrous, but not my worry.) It was passed down to me by my father in law, and my interest was it was the rifle we drilled with in my ROTC years.

According to the armory marks, it was re-barrelled in 1942.

I like it, well enough, but it shoots left. I had to crank the windage almost all the way over to center the shots on the bull.

I half considered getting it tapped for a scope mount but the gunsmith took a look at the condition and BEGGED me not to. A $200 modification would take $500 off the value of the rifle. My Luddite tendencies, and respect for history kicked in, and I quickly agreed with his assessment. When I reported this exchange on this blog, Tam was also relieved I refrained from butchering the piece and introduced my to the term "Bubba-ized." As in "Don't you DARE bubba-ize that rifle!"

But I don't shoot it, much. Bolt action and me don't agree. Mainly because of the right handed nature of the beast. It's sights are notch and leaf, instead of peep. I prefer peep. If I need an iron-sight rifle for hunting I can use the M1A. Or, if I want to use a scoped rifle I can use the Garand (I added a scout scope mount to the Garand. But don't worry, the modifications are easily reversed, returning the rifle to it's original Navy-Garand configuration.) The windage issue on the '03 really bothers me, too. I shouldn't HAVE to crank it right over. It's too quirky. So the rifle stays well cared for, but comes out but rarely.

And yes, I'll hunt with an M14 semi-auto clone. Military style rifles have 'sporting use' besides target competition. And even Obama promised not to ban my hunting rifle.

Magazine Question

Do Sig P226 mags fit in a Sig P229, if both are the same caliber? And vicey versey, obviously...

Google and the SIG website aren't so forthcoming on that tidbit as I'd figured. If I had to guess I'd say no.

Field Stripping the M14

Decent pictorial of fieldstripping the inestimable M14/M1A. I found it useful.

Carry Holster Test

I’ve been conceal-carrying. No, not OUTSIDE my home. That would be illegal in Maryland. I’m just practicing with a holstered pistol on my waist to see how various holster types feel.

Surprisingly, when I found the right spot a little to the rear of hipbone on the left side, they are quite comfortable. A vertical mag carrier on the other side is a little bit troublesome and digs in a bit, but there are horizontal magazine carriers out there to try. You don’t notice it there, much at all. Sitting in a soft easy chair or an office chair is cake. Standing carry is never a problem, by design.

The difference between the Paddle type and the Inside the Waistnand (IWB) type are, the paddle is MUCH easier to re-holster, but the IWB is better hidden. Obvious. So, go with the IWB for all but the most jacketed outside opportunities. Most likely, I’ll go through life NEVER having to unholster it, but if I did, you only have to unholster it that one time, there isn’t a lot of out then in, out then in. The Paddle is good for any future IDPA interests, where you practice more of a real life scenario in friendly competition with other shooters.

Of course, my leather holsters are decent quality Galco products, but there are better ones out there. The Milt Sparks IWB is thought very highly of, and it’s loops are separated more for a better shirt tuck. And I have a spare paddle style Serpa holster made of plastic that has a more positive locking mechanism to secure the gun in place than the snap on the Galco paddle.

I might like a Small of the Back holster for comfort, but there are anecdotes out there of falls on an icy sidewalk causing spine injuries, and back there it is easier to be disarmed by surprise.

There is one other option that is even MORE comfortable. The manpurse option. Either something like the courier bag Carteach reviewed or a fanny-pack style. There are downsides to those. The fanny pack is decent for not attracting attention, but it’s dorky. The courier bag LOOKS a bit more obvious these days, and Carteach bears that out, and it’s dorky. They ARE manpurses after all. There is the risk, because it isn’t attached that it can be put down and forgotten or even purse snatched (how humiliating to be a man that got purse snatched…) then your firearm is out of your control. Holsters are less likely to get separated from your body. Everywhere except the bathroom, where standard ablution contortions tempt you to detach the holster from your belt to accomplish the task at hand. The risk here is that the gun might fall in the terlet, or that you will put it in the toilet seat cover dispenser and you’ll forget you jammed it in there and walk away. The TSA guards have a habit of this at airports. Best solution to that is to put it in the crotch of your underwear while you sit there, like a suburban dad in his backyard hammock. Better your holster touch your skivvies than to forget it in the bathroom for an unauthorized someone to find.

I kinda like the courier bag Carteach reviewed, anyway. I don’t carry a lot of gear, normally. I have no cell phone or personal data assistant. I wouldn’t keep my billfold in there. If I had a bag like that I’d definitely add a flashlight and multi-tool. A chapstick. But that’s not much gear. Almost not enough to justify the hassle of the bag. Even adding something like an iPhone to the mix still seems sparse.

I rejected a shoulder holster out of hand. I have one to go with the Bianchi mil-style belt holster, but I don’t wear a suit jacket much and if I did I’d want to be able to take it off on occasion.

Other than the man-bag or carrying a tiny .380, how DO people carry in the summer with gym shorts and t-shirt? Or are you just stuck wearing nothing but cargo shorts and 2 shirts, t-shirt and button-down? And even then forced by excessive printing, or revealing you are carrying with an unsightly ‘bulge’ (heh), to carry smaller guns.

Trade In 2

Well, the verdict is pretty much in. Keep the Colt, save for the SIG. Thanks Breda.



And I must correct My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast (MBtGE.) Yes, the gun fails to feed sometimes, but that is with the less than ideal after-market magazines. I have ONE pristine original mag to go with the pistol that works just dandy. It's as reliable as your Kel-Tec. You need to stop limp-wristing it...



The after-market mags are range-only. And I do need to get some practice time with it. The teeny tiny military sights are hard to acquire. Maybe the better grip I've been practicing will help with the pointing.


One more data point: The serial number indicates that this gun is a 1921 manufactured gun. It's confusing, calling the 1903 Pocket Hammerless in .380, a model 1908 Pocket Hammerless, when there is ANOTHER Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket gun chambered in the proven MAN-stopper .25 caliber. How many different models did they make in 1908? Colt couldn't have called it a 1907 to avoid confusion? Did colt have to keep throwing around the word 'pocket' all the time? Sheesh. If it was a .32 caliber 1903, the serial number would mean it was made around 1906. I'm going with the 1921 date, myself.

Trade In

So, when I asked “Should I trade in the too-nice-to-use-almost 1903 Pocket Hammerless for a nice user gun I lust after, the Sig P229 SAS.” I got 1 comment offering advice. From My Buddy the Gun Enthusiast.

I should ask Breda to post the same question. She gets better foot traffic and people love her. Unlike me, who lives on the blog equivalent of a dead-end dirt road with a washed out bridge slowing traffic, and people throw garbage at me to drive me away. (note to person who threw the pork chop bones: THANKS! There was still a bit of meat on a few of those! Maybe someone DOES love me.)

But Comments wasn’t my only input. I asked around the secret cabal of target shooters at work, and some of the Romero guys I could talk to had opinions.

So, the vote had a ratio of 3 to 1 against getting rid of a gun to get another. Despite my desire to get rid of one ammo type in the inventory (.380) and add another on (.40) as part of at least standing pat on my ammo-inventory philosophy. The best argument was this: In 15 years are you going to wish you still had the Colt, or in 5 years are you going to look at the Sig and say “Gee, I wish I had bought this 3 months sooner…”


The 1903 Colt pistol is still more practical than the Springfield 03 rifle, and I’d never dream of getting rid of that. For both sentimental and historical reasons. And it doesn’t fit in with the simplified ammo inventory philosophy.

And I was enamored with the 1903 less than a YEAR ago. I should give it a chance to grow on me. The reasons I got it are just as valued to me now. It’s still a great gun, designed by Browning, and would be the gun to grab now, if I had CCW, and was leaving the house in a wardrobe that prevented other options. In other words, a few times a year, tops. And in that role it would be just fine. If I MUST sell it, I should let it appreciate in value, at any rate.


[update: So now, thanks to Breda the consensus is in. Overwhelmingly so. Keep the Colt, even if impractical. And, Earl? I live in Maryland. They only give regular people a CCW here if you have powder burns to show the cop because some miscreant missed you that first time.]

YouTube Garand 'Clips'

YouTube is great for the variety of information presented. Just searching on the Garand gives you a plethora of video posted by enthusiasts with how-to's. They aren't the authority, these YouTube posters, but they are a great start.

Cleaning the Garand:

Watch you don't ding the crown with the cleaning rod. A rod guide can be helpful, but be careful even with those.

and...

These guys are having some issues shooting blanks, loading 2 and a time, with a 8 round clip. I admire their enthusiasm, but I'm a little concerned with their lacksadasical 'range' safety attitude. At any rate, they have a malfunction loading in a non standard manner (just 2) and do a quick malfunction fix by half field stipping the rifle, quickly restoring functionality. SO they are at least initimately familiar with the piece's operation. And, at least they are using blanks:

and...

Here is a tribute to the 'ping' sound the clip makes when you are out of ammo. They strung together short clips from several war movies.



I don't know about the myth that surround that ping noise. Supposedly, the enemy would bum rush you squad when they heard that, knowing you were out of ammo. I don't see it. If YOU were an enemy soldier would you do that? The guy that ran out has the rest of his squad there to back him up.

Even going up against a lone GI with an entire squad, 8 vs. 1, if you had to run more than 25 yards the GI could conceivably be topped off before you got there. He might have a service pistol with 7 more pistol rounds to dissuade you, and he might have done that OTHER myth regarding the 'ping'... He might have shot a few and tossed a spare, empty, en bloc clip to simulate the sound to draw you up. Either way, you hear lots of talk about the ping myth, but little first hand accounts from WWII or Korean War veterans. Sure if it happened to someone he's most likely toast, but there were bound to be SOME survivors of this situation that could attest to it.

Ammo Prices

So, a gun buddy was complaining about ammo prices again. He’s spoiled. He remembers a day, not too many years ago, when 1200 rounds of surplus SA 7.62x51 cost $140.

I’m just waiting for an older codger to regale me with stories of:

“Back in MY Day, the gummint would pay ME to haul away surplus ammo. If put 10,000 rounds in the pick ‘em up truck they’d give me a brand spanking new C-Note. Back then, the back of the hunnert dollah bill had a picture of a buffalo doing it’s dirty sinful bidness on some poor Okie’s bean field. Ben Franklin looked much younger, too”

Well, I don’t remember them days so it doesn’t bother me that ammo isn’t a dime a round. I got into the hobby at this price, and I don’t hesitate to practice at these prices. The horror stories don’t intimidate me. I am blissfully numb and ignerint, and just assume that this is how it always was.

Of course, if prices go up to $3 a round, I may be a bit put out.

Law of supply and demand will apply. Commodities prices will go up AND down. Ammo factories will make extra to make more profit. Wars end. Laws about selling surplus ammo change. Let’s hope they go the right direction so I can one day brag about dime a round ammo, and tell stories how before that it was a DOLLAR a round. And before that, I heard, the gummint paid you to haul it away.

Other People are Noticing

Noticing that since Palin has been in the lower 48, magnetic compasses have been acting screwy...

Fact

Fact:

This is just a known.

The chances of a Zombie Necropalypse are much greater and more dire of a danger than the threat from Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warmening. Plan accordingly.

I won’t tell you where a Jacobin induced Reign of Terror falls on the likelihood scale.


“Reign of Terror II: This time, it’s personal… Rated NC-17”

Sorry

I had to moderate comments again. The post I put up about Ken Blanchard was elicitting some unseemly commercial spam that was a bit OT. Spam is punishment for the lows I've sunk to regarding goatse and Tam's tattoo design.

[WWTD? She'd hunt me down like a varmint that ate up her 'maters and spring peas that she had babied in her garden since March, THAT's what Tam would do... I should have thought of that...]

Blog Tattoos

I woke from a strange dream. It was a gun blogger get together at some watering hole somewhere. After many, many carbonated adult malt beverages we all decided that we needed to get our blog names tattooed on ourselves.

Sounds like a great idea! Snowflakes in Hell can get a snowflake with a flame motif, or just his blue blog title image. RobertaX can get a big bold 'X'. Breda can have a scripted word 'Fallacy' on her shoulder that would fit her personality. Maybe in Gaellic. Uncle is easy. Papa Delata Bravo can put the morse code on himself. Jovian Thunderbolt is easy. I bet Sailor Curt already has a Navy tattoo. Jay G is a little harder, but Stuck in Massachusetts is doable. Armed Canadian can have crossed rifles under a Canadian flag. A Captain Ahab from Mody Dick is a good idea for Caleb. You can work out a Turk motif, or the map of Turonistan on his back.

You run into trouble when you get to Tam. Somehow a tramp stamp of the words 'View From The Porch' doesn't seem like the most flattering body art to put on the woman. So we'd have to get her REALLY drunk.

What did YOU get at the Fun Show?

I ALMOST bought a $200 Remington model 11 shotgun as a parts gun. It'd be a hassle to wait for the approval and I can probably get a crappier $100 parts fun and steal the barrel off of it. Ah well. Use the rest of it in case stuff breaks on the primary. I HAVE a short and a long barrel for my current Model 11, but the long barrel has been monkeyed with by a home gunsmith, hammering in bad rifling. The other options is buy the parts shotgun, swapping off the barrel, and reselling the lesser for about what I paid for it.

No other guns called my name.

You know what I DID notice? Even with all my interest in guns and history, there is still so much I don't know. I noticed myself thinking "that looks like that blurfl that was supposed to be a competitor for the Tommy gun in WWII and didn't work so great. I'm not sure of the name, and I could be in wrong ballpark entirely." There is so much still to learn.

I did get some small ammo cans to help sort ammo and accessories.

A Serpa holster followed me home, thanks to the recommendation of the Blackwater Gun Blogger Jarrett Extravaganza people. What the heck, they're inexpensive. The holster I selected is a lefty version for the 1911.

I got some Bubinga grips for the self same 1911. Now the gun is more 'me' than Springfield.

Bought one of those fancy flashlights that are as bright as the sun.

And the Magtech box of 250 .45 rounds will be good for practice.

I did get to handle the compact SIG P239 and confirmed my concerns. The handle is too small. My pinkie half dangles off the grip. With a magazine in the well I'd have a bit more support, but you know... the gun isn't THAT much more compact than the 229. And neither are much bigger than the 1903 Colt Pocket Hammerless. But the SIGs have the much more capable .40, and I shoot the 229 much better than the .380. Plus, If I could conceal carry, there are more compact .380s out there for summer use in a pocket. With bulkier clothes I could carry a 1911 or P229. Probably the P229, but I haven't decided. Open carry would, hands down, be the 1911.

Not having any money, but wanting to get a pistol has got me thinking... Maybe I could trade the Colt 1903 for a Sig P229? Will I regret that? I only have a few boxes of .380 ammo, and I could trade THEM off to MBtGE for boxes of .40 cal... I need advice. Don't all talk at once. The Colt is a good gun that I got on wait of Tenring's Denise and Tam's reviews, but so is the Sig a good gun.

[By the way, if you ever decide to get a lifetime NRA membership, do it at the table outside the gun show. It's $250 cheaper...]

Black Man with a Gun

Kenn Blanchard, the Black Man with a Gun (multiple websites!), comments on zombie shoots on one of his NUMEROUS podcasts.

He recommends , at this podcast, shotgun slugs, and not a rifle, but I think he is worried about what is behind the target and not wanting to cause collateral damage, recommends against using a rifle. It's valid advice in a mixed environment. Level 3 outbreak, situation. If you have a total necropalyse, Level 4, might as well use that rifle and not care what is behind your undead target

He is also concerned about what do with retired undead bodies. They would stink up the place, and you'd have a lot of them.

A Word on Product Endorsement

NO ONE pays me anything except for a small little IT contractor company that has set me up a nice 9-5 job as a sysadmin drone. It's a living. Pays well. Isn't too boring. I feel like I contribute to the success of the company there.

The NRA doesn't pay me wheelbarrows full of cash for writing a gun blog.

Engage Armament doesn't give me considerations for saying nice things about their gun shop.

And Magtech doesn't throw in free ammo for saying their cartridges don't suck, has a reasponable price, and I have shot a mess of it with no problems.

Carteach made me think of maybe reminding folks that I ain't no paid shill. Just a regular unpaid enthusiastic-amateur shill.

That said, if anyone DOES want to pay me, I'll take your money. And tell folks that you pay me here, of course.

[hint NRA: a free lifetime membership would be nice. I don't even need the leather jacket swag that comes with joining. Who am I kidding. They have no reason to help me out like that when they get the same treatment for free, anyway.]

Denali

I wrote the entry about Jeff Cooper and that Into the Wild guy, a few posts below this, weeks ago as a filler post. Certainly written before the GOP convention. But he mentions Denali. THAT is Sarah Palin's Secret Servce code name. Hmmm. Synchronicity.

Defensive Pistolcraft DVD

I got my hands on a DVD of a 1987 Jeff Cooper video series. Four volumes of "Defensive Pistolcraft." Part of my effort to get my hands on training materials. It's not as good as going to a class, or going to Gunsite for a week (oh what a joy that would be) but it is something.

The video quality wasn't great because it was a DVD taken from old VHS tape, but it's upfront that its information is valuable enough to release it in that form. For that I am grateful.

The material is review from all the stuff I have read that Colonel Cooper wrote, but seeing the techniques demonstrated was good reinforcement. And I am a Cooper Fanboi, so it was just pleasant to see the man speak. He even peppers the lecture with some stories.

Thanks to the Gunblogger/Para/Blackhawk/Jarret training, I learned that I am not holding the pistol tight enough. Jeff Cooper would also say I am not holding it tight enough.

I saw his 5 count presentation drill. Grip, Up, or Clear, click, smack, frontsight or look, shoot or press. In other words, with your eyes on the target, First grip the pistol as you would shoot, finger off the trigger, but the rest of your grip as you would when firing, the support hand moves out at belly height. Then pull the pistol up from your holster with your . Move the gun forward, muzzle down, while disengaging the safety with an audible click. You next smack your support hand into position and your arms are now in the Weaver postion gun still pointing down, but the angles are all right so you just have to pivot up at the shoulders to bring the piece to bear in front of you, your finger enters the trigger guard at this step. Next, you DO pivot it up to our eyes, taking the slack out of the trigger, and shifting your view focus from the target to the frontsight, pausing ever so slightly at the top, culmination of the lift so you don't keep proceeding up. Pausing even for a microsecond. Finally, press the trigger and shoot, the hammer falls.

It seems like a good drill, and I have no other instruction for drawing from the leather.

Of course he emphasizes the 4 rules of gun safety. And the color coded combat mindset. And I learn/confirm what the Flash Sight Picture is.

He goes on to explain the Hatcher Units extrapolated by General Julian Hatcher that explains a lot to Jeff Coopers satisfaction the effect of bullet ballistics on living tissue. Cooper thinks the Hatcher formulas go a long way to explaining real world conditions because of the real world data gathered 100 years ago, rather than relying on simple foot-pounds of force comparison or the results from ballistic gelatin tests. That information was new to me, and fascinating.

The bumper music and transition scenes was pure 1980's and kind of odd, but I can overlook that.

Never

Some of you have been around the Intarwebz, this delightful series of tubes bringing you wonders from all over the world.



There is a seamy side to the Web. One where you see things you just can't unsee afterwards. The part you protect your children from. Rule 34 always applies. Simplified, Rule 34 means, if you can think of 2 things, someone, somewhere, has made p0rnography out of it. And posted it on the internet.



One thing you should NEVER Google... I'm serious, do NOT Google this and click on the 'Official Site' for it, is an internet legend known as 'goatse.' Do NOT ever look at goatse related items. Trust me. You DO trust me, don't you?



However, if you can't resist, get some to take a picture of your face without revealing what comes up on the monitor, AS it comes up on the monitor in front of your eyes, if this is your first time. Then post the picture of your facial expression and leave a link in my comments. That 'look' cracks me up. Known as "first goatse pictures."



There are still plenty of people out there that haven't had their innocence robbed. Don't do the same thing to unsuspecting relatives. It'll scar people. They'll want to bleach their eyeballs. They'll curl up in the fetal position. It isn't pretty.



But don't even do it. I don't need to be cheered up or anything.



Anyway, something reminded me of goatse, from Smallest Minority. It's on his left margin, and I stole it to show here. It's probably intentional on someone's part.

[one of the advantages of goatse is if someone 'hotlinks' one of your images, stealing your bandwidth. you replace your picture with one of goatse and link to your original image with a slightly altered filename. your website has the wholesome pic, but the interloper now has the evil that is goatse on THEIR website until they realize what happened. hilarity ensues and you teach a lesson. DON'T STEAL BANDWIDTH. ]

UPDATE: ESPECIALLY don't search for goatse at work

From Jeff Cooper

From the Cooper Chronicles:

"Perhaps you have noticed a new book by Jon Krakauer called "Into the Wild," in which he recounts the dismal demise of a young man of the alienated generation who decided he would wander off into the wilderness and live off the land by his own wit and ingenuity. The trouble was that, as with most of the alienated generation, his wit and ingenuity were insufficient, and he starved to death on the northern approaches of Mount McKinley during the summer. It is quite possible for a serious woodsman to survive on is own in the wilderness. The great Charles Sheldon did just that many years ago when he took off alone into the wilderness of Denali to spend the winter discovering what the mountain sheep did in the cold weather. He came out in the spring with the information that he had sought - but he knew what he was doing. Hippies as a rule do not know what they are doing, and, as in this case, they often fall victim to what may be characterized as arrogant incompetence."

Dang Hippies.

I think Mr. Cooper has it right, there. But I just like how the man could turn a phrase.

MOA rule of thumb, odds and ends

So I found a rule of thumb for the sights on my Garand and M1A. (I guess it would work with other .308 ball mislurp type ammo shooters with about as long a barrel. A Minute of Angle is a Minute of Angle. And here is something I didn't know: In humans, 20/20 vision is the ability to resolve a spatial pattern separated by a visual angle of one minute of arc.)

First, zero for 100 yards. In the case of Garands or M1A this is generally 8-12 clicks up from bottom. Shoot at things at 100 yards or less at this setting.

Then, 2 clicks for up to 200 yd (+2 clicks from 100 yd zero)

3 clicks up from 200 to 300 yd (+5 clicks from 100 yd zero)

12 clicks up from 300 to 600 yd (+17 clicks from 100 yd zero)

Or 2 for 200, 3 for 300, 12 for 600.

Not the best rules of thumb if you want get the forehead of a Zombie, but it will get center of mass for a Goblin Brigand.

Which bring me to the problem I had with World War Z and the SIR, or Standard Infantry Rifle.

I need to double check, but army units were equipped with a .223 firing rifle, with iron sights, based on the Kalashnikov design, and making head shots at 300 yards from the kneeling position with nearly every shot. For hours and hours and hours. It just doesn't seem right. At 300 yards the period at the end of this sentence is about the size of a zombie head. Even with LOTS of training thats difficult.

Sorta ruined the whole book for me...

KIDDING!


And here is a source of online military manuals in pdf form.

And a source for ordering targets, including AQT targets. You can also get them from Appleseed's Fred, but during the shooting season there might be some minor shipping delays.

I Remember

Yes I do.

Wish list for Fun Show

Wish list for gun show:

M1A mags, maybe.

Cool grips for the .45 (lefty slot, remember!)

Don’t need bulk ammo. My gun guy, Ted, got a good supply of surplus that I, and the Garand and M1A, like.

Spare parts for anything?

Dream pickup: M1 Carbine. Starting to warm to it too much in an impulse purchase kind of way. Better be careful.

Could a Camp Carbine .45 tempt me? Naw. Well...

Not gonna spend much. Budget is tapped.

This Is Disturbing

Days of Our Trailers has a theory on why Kim Jong Il has been missing from public.

Some say he is dead. Maybe for 5 years.

Days of Our Trailers theory is that the Dear Leader is UNDEAD!

It's disturbing, if true, if his theory holds up. (I better check the Home SCIF to see if there is any word on this and possible future RoMERO missions. Might be heading back to 'Asia.' What you don't have a SCIF at your house? Pity.)

Disturbing for other reasons, too, as you can see.

[actually, that's a picture of me on a typical Friday and Saturday night. I photoshopped the North Korean dictators head onto my body.]

[ok, no I didn't.]

Romero, Egypt

Here's a more entertaining story on one of the Romero eradication missions. I think it was 2006. Probably. Pretty sure. I don't have the records here to double check. We were near the upper Nile in Egypt. Pretty sandy, pretty remote. We thought there would be a lot more but apparently there was only one Zed. Seems like a lot of resources wasted for one Shamblor, but better safe than sorry. And like I said, there were indicators there were more, and if that one had infected others. the whole thing can snowball, as you can imagine.

Well it took FOREVER to find this one. We had a HUGE rainstorm, probably the first precipitation in 30 years there, and that made it sloppy, and it made it harder to pick up the track of the Zachary Tango (Romero speak for Zombie Target. Sometime Zebra Tango.) Re-acquiring took forever. Once they found it it should have been a can o' corn, but the sun baked the ground up pretty quick, so now the dust was solidified and hardened and the track faded again. We ended up in a long line with all assets combing the area like we were looking for a cub scout, lost in the woods. We had orders NOT to engage if we reacquired, but to fall back a good ways and wait for the teams to re-assemble near that position. Too many solo Romeros and Flatulents before them met a bad end doing a 'lone' zombie and letting their guard down. Besides, he wasn't going anywhere.

If we had found him. This search went for days. We were re-routing satellites and such all over the place trying to find it. Slippery little bastage managed to get behind us, TWICE, somehow.

When we did find them, assembled, and took care of it (even then it was in a weird place, not what we expected at all. He was on the entire opposite flank than the satellites said he'd be.) The guy next to me said the funniest thing I have ever heard in my life. This was the one time I actually peed my pants laughing when he said: "Well, the blood hound may have burned his nose and ears off in the barbecue pit, but at least we don't have to eat it."

Heh. It still tickles my funny bone. Like the Family Guy Ipecac scene.





I know, I know, no one else thinks it's that funny reading it. But the timing of the moment, the delivery, our fatigue, the buddy that said it was all perfect at that time. You really had to be there to appreciate the genius.

Tally this trip, 1 zombie retired. Truth effectively suppressed in the middle of the middle of nowhere. No injuries to Romero team. Cover story back home: I used the 'Great Uncle Died Out in Oregon, Funeral Tomorrow' one. You're welcome...

Ooops.

Obama said:

"If you’ve got a gun in your house, I’m not taking it. Even if I want to take them away, I don't have the votes in Congress. This can't be the reason not to vote for me. Can everyone hear me in the back? I see a couple of sportsmen back there. I'm not going to take away your guns."

Wrong way to say it, Mr. Obama. And it is telling as to his state of mind on the issue.

What he should have said was:

"If you’ve got a gun in your house, I’m not taking it. Even if somebody else wanted to take them away, they don't have the votes in Congress. If they did have veto-proof majorities in Congress, I'd still veto any gun control legislation because it is an enumerated right that I refuse to be a part of violating. This can't be the reason not to vote for me. Can everyone hear me in the back? I see a couple of sportsmen back there. I'm not going to take away your guns."

But he didn't say that. So he didn't allay any justifiable concerns people might have on how he would act on this human rights issue as President. It can be argued it is a step backwards if that was his intent.

Basic Pistol Training Bleg

The most common pistol training available around here is NRA Basic Pistol.

Has anyone taken this course and elaborate on what you 'get'?

I was wondering if I'd take much away from it. Hours describing pistol types, parts of the pistol, what a cartridge is, what sight picture is would all be a sort of review. But the range time and a bit of coaching might give me a pointer or two I had not considered before, making it all worthwhile. If that is what is offered. I'm pretty sure that is what goes on, but I don't know for sure.

Plus the trainers might have information on where to secure further, later training on my shooting technique.

What say you all?

Tweaking the List

I've been looking at the Master List thinking it needs adjustment for future considerations. Notice: nothing on the Primary list.

I added that SIG P229 SAS that captured my affection is now on the Secondary.

Jay G had a bit of an idea that kicked me in pants. He's looking for a lighter kicking rifle, as he realized he is rifle-poor in the functioning semi-auto department. He has plenty of heavy stuff that works, including one or 2 heavy semi-autos, but he wants something that won't push him around like he was skinny kid named Eugene in a school yard with a pocket bulging with lunch money.

And THAT turns my mind to carbines. I have light rifles. A pump .22LR Taurus Model 62, a lever action .357 Marlin 1894C, but no semi-auto's. I'd like a rifle sized weapon, lighter, handier, with a lighter, less expensive cartridge. Maybe something I could promote to the Primary list.

So, what is out there?

Of the .45s:

The discontinued Marlin Camp Carbine .45 ACP is always in the back of my mind. It hits all my criteria, with ammo inventory simplification, and the added bonus of MAGAZINE inventory simplification, as it takes the same 1911 mags as the pistol. But there is something missing about it. That certain something. What I need is a couple of manufacturers to come out with similar ones with different bells and whistles or something else to tempt me and push each other on to greater quality. But that's not going to happen.

KRISS Carbine is tres cool, and available now. Tres pricey too.

A deLisle repro has the magazine commonality bonus with a 1911, but the bolt action minus. Plus even the repros are rare as hen's teeth.

Kel Tec and Highpoint are budget makers of something in the right vein. But the budget aspect has a drawback too.

Then there is this:

The Beretta CX4 Storm has proprietary mags, but it has an appeal. For goodness sake it is used on Battlestar Galactica as a prop gun because it looks so futuristic. It might be too freaky Disney-future. I'd have RobertaX make me a Steampunk Discombobulating Disintegrator Ray-Gun in her lab and tote that and feel less out of place. (Something in a 40 watt range) I'm pretty sure Roberta is doing piece work for Dr Grordborts.

For non .45 caliber carbines...

Some of the AR platforms could fit the bill, but that's a bit of a leap for me. Might make the jump to AR ownership some day. But my loyal readers, both of them, know I am not a fan, generally. The ammo is cheapish, but it's a bit robust. The Para Carbine the gunbloggers at Blackwater training sampled has some uber-nifty features. Have to wait for the price of that to come down.

There is the venerable M-1 Carbine. That gun appeals to the Milsurp Monkey that rides on back and smacks my head whenever it sees WWII guns (little bastage!) The round is light enough on the kicking, but relatively expensive. And I'd eventually want to match it up with revolver that fired the same cartridge, just because. So it'd get expensive, eventually. It'd certainly be fun, and I know the action. Heck, the full-auto version M-2 is a pussycat to fire.

Update: I forgot the other futuristic carbine to go with the KRISS and CX4. The FN PS-90, civilian version of the P-90. Frank James at Corn Beans and Spent Brass had a great field test of his at his blog. It's a nifty gun with a new, and a bit expensive, cartridge. People tend to hate it for that tiny 5.7x28mm cartridge, but they forget that this gun isn't to replace .223 sized NATO stuff, it's to replace the 9mm popular in subguns that police like to use now. I'm looking at YOU HK.

Hmmm.

That moves me to some ideas for some purchase even farther in the future. I've been toying with the idea of getting one of each. Just to have. Of US Military long arms. I have 3 now, why not more. Now I have the M14 equivalent, the Garand, the Springfield '03. I kinda lean to the M1 Carbine. Adding an Enfield M1917 (or just a garden variety No. 4 Mk1 would be close enough for me) and a Krag and maybe some kind of single shot 1873 Trapdoor Springfield .45-70 would be simple enough. And fun. Maybe a Swiss K31 for fun, too. I'd have to research the subject more.

But that could be a slippery slope to a BAD collector jones. One that would suck all the money out of my wallet from now to the end of time. It would add to the ammo inventory extensively. And I'd have to figure out how to store and secure multiple more rifles. Hmph. I dunno. I'll add some to the Tertiary list and see how it feels.

Update: WWTD? What would Tam do? Heck, it's what has Tam DONE. I'm sure Tam is not lacking for a carbine she likes and has been known to possess some esoteric milsurp rifles...

Holsters

The legendary Jarrett/Blackwater/Para Gunblog Train-O-Rama Sans Obama included some work with Serpa holsters that many participants thought highly of in their after-action reports.

They're not shabby looking, especially for any eventual IDPA work I might try. I like the idea of leather, and won’t eschew good horsehide, but I’ll try out plastic and nylon holsters, if they are good uns. And Caleb at NRAhab liked em, so... That's a glowing endorsement as far as I am concerned.

The other holster type that's been bandied about the last couple months in the gun blogosphere has been thte Milt Sparks type. Primo leather craftsmanship with a Tam endorsement.

Me? I have a Galco paddle, a Bianci military style, a Galco IWB (inside waistband), and an inexpensive nylon type for the Revolver. Oh, and an inside the pocket style for the Colt 1903, just in case. All decent, but middling sorts of shootin' arn toters.

Topographical Maps

Source of Topographical maps

For hunting bigfoot in YOUR backyard, since that one in Georgia got away.

I loved reading charts and maps. From the one of the Chesapeake Bay where my grandparents lived, to the one around my house that showed where the old railroad trestle was.

Best part about that website is you can select an area and purchase the map and have it mailed to you. Nifty!

Why I Hate Vegetables

Understand?

Mandatory Palin Post

I don't know about this Sarah Palin VP pick. First, she used to get up at 3 AM to hunt Moose with her father. She did this while still in High School. I am against ALL of it. Getting up at 3AM is bad. Moose are cute, killing them is bad. And I hate High School Kids. It's a hat-trick of badness. And speaking of hat-tricks; she's considered a Hockey Mom. Hockey? Wasn't the NHL disbanded in the early 80's? Does anyone even know the RULES for that game? I thought since global warming melted all the ice rinks that it wasn't even possible to play the hockey matches anymore.

Also, I'm not sure I want a President or Vice President that can shoot better than me. What if she decides she wants to hunt me down in a "World's Dangerous Game" scenario? I'd be a goner. And we already know about Vice Presidential predilection for playing that 'game.' I hear Al Gore has a necklace made of human ears that he DIDN'T collect during Nam, but as trophies while Veep.

Speaking of shooting, there is video out of her shooting an AR-15/M-16 platform rifle. Poodle-shooter, poops-where-it-eats, Mattel Toy Company manufactured rifle? No. Thank. You.

What else is wrong with this Palin pick? Plenty! She's short! She's near-sighted! She's right-handed. All bad bad signs.

She's over qualified. She has more business experience and executive experience than Obama, Biden, and McCain combined. That's all we need. A know-it-all on the ticket. It ruins the flow, the feng shui if you will. McCain should have picked an abject moron to balance out his opposition's ticket to keep things fair. Too bad Biden was already spoken for.

Ezekiel

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee." ~Ezekiel 25:17

Romero, Garden State, February 2008

"OW! Hey! YOU want sumthin’ to bite on?! I got something for youse to bite on, right HERE!” ~DING!~

Ah, the sounds of New Jersey. Accents and aluminum bats impacting skulls.

~DING!~

We had an outbreak in the suburbs of Newark last February. No Stryker vehicles this time for the LAST team, and a lot of the Kinetics guys wear street clothes as their urban camoflage. We rolled in in the standard non-descript gray vans and small Ryder rental trucks.

This outbreak was easier to cover up from the media. People in Jersey are used to people acting weird and murderous. And the fact that people were wearing winter clothes offered some protection from Zombie bites. (We don’t cover up to prevent blame from being spread, as you’ve probably guessed, but to minimize the possibility of mass panic. If people knew all that went around them they’d fudge their union suits. )

The cold weather also helped abate the smell. Which is good because I drew corpse collection duties this trip. This can be hazardous. First, no suits. We don’t need to wear BH-4 suits in any case, but it would nice to have a bit more protection. We wear BH-3 suits when it wouldn’t be disruptive to innocent witnesses. We can’t do that when you are pretending to be the local medical examiner’s corpse collection crew. Just rubber gloves, and maybe a mask. And we are in a hurry to load up and get out of Dodge, and mistakes happen when you are in a hurry. The risk is a ‘Twitcher.’ Maybe a Zed just got his spinal cord severed, and not brain popped and still could move it’s jaw. Of course we all have a concealed pistol for this, but when you are in a hurry to get them in the meat wagon you might get a finger too close to the teeth, and.... The Kinetics guys are professionals and hate to leave a hazard like this in their wake, and they would feel horrible if one of the team got infected because they didn’t destroy the entirety of an undead brain on a sweep through, but that is little consolation when you are standing there with a severed fingertip and less than 48 hours to ‘live.’ But the Kinetics guys are human, they make mistakes. And that leaves the rarest but most dangerous clean-up hazard. A zombie that was missed, entirely unnoticed, in the sweep and is just waiting to jump out at you during clean-up. (I HATE it when they do that. )

Anyway, I actually HEARD the quote at the top of this post, sitting at my station, while the Kinetics guys slowly worked their way through a neighborhood sweep. That was help from a concerned civilian. New Jersey people don’t tolerate impolite and pushy folk. And Zed IS that. The good news is, he took out the ghoul and the bite didn’t penetrate his parka. Gun control is pretty severe in the Garden State, but those aluminum bats are everywhere, and many have never touched a baseball in anger. That's not the bat's purpose, playing Abner Doubleday's sport. And when folk tee off on a miscreant, in this case Zombies, they usually go for the head. So New Jersey is actually better off than, say, Texas. For Zombie Outbreaks. People might shoot at a ‘bitey’ interloper in Texas, but they tragically go for center-mass, initially, leaving the undead shamblor a few more moments to close and sink the incisors in. Baseball bats are for heads. And the one I overheard wasn’t the only “Aluminum Shampoo” applied during this outbreak outside of Newark. Gotta love it. Don’t mess with Joisey.

Tally this trip, 9 zombies retired. Truth effectively suppressed. No injuries to Romero team. Cover story back home: I had the ‘flu.’ You’re welcome.

Thunderbolt

"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as the night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." ~ Sun Tzu 500 B.C.

"I had everything worked out, down to the last detail. But when I went to execute the plan, I tripped and fell down. Skinned my knee pretty bad. That's gonna leave a scar..." ~ Jovian Thunderbolt


Hat tip to Home on the Range for having the first quote. Try to be more like the first, less like the second

++++++++++++++++++++++

"The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm" ~ Charles Caleb Colton (sportsman and writer, 1780-1832)

"Does it look like rain? Better get the slicker." ~ J T Bolt

+++++++++++++++++++++

"The flame from the angel's sword in the garden of Eden has been catalyzed into the atom bomb; God's thunderbolt became blunted, so man's thunderbolt has become the steel star of destruction." ~ Sean O'Casey (Irish Playwright 1880-1964)

"Cool submarine, Captain! What does this button do? -click- " ~ J T Bolt

They Skinned Pinky

Sometimes I surf my blogroll --------->

looking at their blogrolls in search of new-to-me blogs to read and maybe add to my OWN dang blogroll. A couple of very gooduns that aren't quite firearm themed are LawDog and CowtownCop. Police blogs. Exceedingly well written police blogs.