E (again) is for...

“E” is for Egress, you must board it up tight.

“L” is for Loved-ones, avoid after a bite.

E is for...

“E” is for Evade, flee, to save your ass.

“R” is for Reload, you have to do it real fast.

! is for...

“!” is for !&%@*!, the curses you’ll swallow.


“W” is for Water, at least across that, ghouls can’t follow.

I is for...

“I” is for Infection, the cause of this mess.

“E” is for Extermination, it might be for the best.

M is for...

“M” is for Mankind, now that they’re gone.

“B” is for Big Bomb, the option not done.

Z is for...

“Z” is for Zombie, undead in kind.

“O” is for Other-Zombie, sneaking up from behind.

[with apologies to Edward Gorey]

I'll Be Bock.

Well, it’s RoMERO training time again. I’ll be out of pocket for a while, and posting will be limited.

I’m sure I won’t be able to do any weapons training on the taxpayer dime. As you know, I am not on the kinetic end. The closest we ever get to zed contact is simulated scratching on, and rocking of, our modified Stryker command vehicle. We don’t even simulate turret work to brush off the other support vehicles with SAW fire. Especially not with the budget cutbacks we’ve been having. Soon we'll be training with broomsticks and pick-em-up trucks with a sign on the side that reads, "Tank."

I am very concerned about the budget restriction throughout the organization and our ability to properly contain outbreaks. Things are tough all over, economically.
Regular posting will resume apace. In the meantime…

Cool!

Found some bullets!

100 .308 I didn't know I had.

It's gonna be a good day.

USMC quals

Chatted up a Marine about marksmanship qualification in the service. At least his experience a few years back.

You no longer get $5 extra a month if you shoot Expert, like you did in WWII era. And $5 was money back in the day.

But shooting Expert DOES help you in points toward getting a promotion in the lower ranks, through E-6. (Staff Sergeant)




They shot at 3 different ranges, using a variety of positions and a variety of shooting speeds. All semi-auto.

200 yards/meters, sit kneel stand for slow fire, kneel for rapid fire

300 kneel and prone slow, kneel rapid

500 prone only

And the Marines are very good at practicing those position, called ‘snapping in,’ on young Boots, getting the muscle memory ingrained to make it automatic

They throw in rapid fire and slow fire in there, and they shoot at a full size silhouette target of a simulate chest and head. Presumably about the shape and size of what the enemy would present to a Marine looking to shoot him. If the enemy was less careful and exposed more, that was just gravy for the Marine, but for qualification they wanted semi-realistic shapes to the target. You aren’t going to be shooting at a round ring in battle.

Here are what the Marine's shoot at. The taller "E" one is the 500 yard target:





Regular military types shoot at something a little different at 25 meters with simulated longer distance stuff. Easier to do when you don't have LONG rifle ranges to practice at:




They do do traditional ring-target shooting yes. Mostly in boot camp. And they do do random pop-up steel targets, but my Marine co-worker didn’t have chance to do that.

You have the option to use a loop sling if you so desire and where appropriate. Never on standing.

During slow fire there is an extra smaller area on the ‘Dog’ or D-Target that counts for double. So 2 points. It’s how you can score 65 with 50 rounds. There is no ‘score’ other than that. You hit, or you miss, or you might hit extra good and score double.

Some thoughts… I wish I could shoot well enough to just qualify Marksman. Shooting well enough to qualify Sharpshooter or Expert would be the bees knees. Of course to realize that dream I’d need a lot more practice, and practice is hard to come by. I don’t have a 500 yard rifle range on the same parcel of land I sleep on, like Marines do. And I don’t get paid to shoot with free ammo and access to free expert instruction like Marines do. Of course I am not forced to do a bajillion push-ups at 4 in the GOTTDAMM morning, the negatives can outweigh the positives, at times.

But I can devote more time to rifle shooting, yes. It’s a matter of prioritizing my shooting over other activities, and I am always looking for ways to help maximize the shooty goodness.


~~~


My Marine contacts are even saying that the Bad Guys in Afghanistan are starting to train away from just rocking and rolling on full auto and trying to HIT the good good guys. Bad guys getting away from spray and pray? What will they think of next?

~~~

Hey, look. My old service, the Navy, has a Marksmanship Team. Shooting NRA style service rifle stuff.

USA Yesterday

As you probably know, the Thune Amendment for national Conceal Carry Reciprocity didn't make the grade. It needed 60 Senator's votes to go forward and it got 58. Still, not bad. We'll get em next time.

Snowflakes in Hell found a LOVELY editorial about it in USA Today and he pointed out the idiocy.

"It makes no sense to make cities such as Los Angeles and Boston, which have significant urban crime, to conform to the politics of rural places."

Snowflake notced that quite a few cities HAVE plenty of CCW now.

Lessee, I, with the Utah out of state permit, can personally carry a conceal firearm, right now, in Cleveland, Philapelphia, Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Richmond, and many other so-called-by-USAToday 'rural' areas.

I wonder if the people of those cities know that USA Today thinks they are all a bunch of ingnernt cousin-humping hayseed yokels that probably have never seen a flush terlet or a stop light? Good thing USA Today doesn't sell any papers in those places, huh?

Grenade Pocket Carry

I thought this was interesting. Safepacker holsters. Kinda big holsters that might fit in an oversized pants pocket.



Thier advantage is that they don't LOOK like a holster, and that's where they can be of use to someone conceal-carrying. Sort of a hide-in-plain-sight sort of strategy. Might not be as quick to access as other holster types, but it may still have a place in some circumstances.

We Got the Funk

Everyone has the funk. "Just not feelin it..."

Tam
Carteach
TenRing
Breda
Brigid

Folks are too depressed to blog or, in some cases, engage with the political process. Excellent. Relax your vigil. It’s all in the O-Plan. Sleep, you crazed gun nuts! Be sad! Soon you will have nothing to trouble you as the Soma works its magic, my Eloi… They already got tranplanted Chicagoan Kim to quit, they're after the rest of us!

I’m sure it’s not all that. But it’s like we have a hit of Seasonal Affective Disorder in the middle of summer. Folks are just down. Even I have been a little mopey, and sorely tempted to skip a day of blogging. You may have noticed some short posts, too. I hope this trend reverses all around.

Man in the Moon

Holy Shit! Man Walks on F***ing MOON!

CCW Insurance

For those that haven't seen or heard...

There was talk about the gun blogosphere about CCW insurance, to help defray the not insignificant legal costs that can be incurred even after a fully justifiable self-defense shooting. 'Kickie' the 300 pound ex-linebacker and home invader, depite being a meth addict, had a mother that loved him and may drag you into civil court in a wrongful death suit. (h/t joe huffman.)

Ahab, an insurance guy when not running a radio show and competing in something called the Bee-Ant-She Cup shooting competition, is a little bit leery of this insurance type. He didn't say it is a scam, but that it might not be worth the high premiums that 'surplus' lines necessarily have. So, there is the counterpoint.

(is that how you pronouce it? Bee-Ant-She? Or is it Bye-Ankh-Eye?)

Hippy Boithdey

To me.

2 years.

100,000 visits a few days ago.

Not so New anymore.

Safety Tip From NPR

NPR was interviewing a reporter that was in Iran during the recent unpleasantness.

I listen to NPR for OPFOR recon. Always good to know what the forces to repression and evil are thinking. I think they are just starting to realize that the People won't sit still for Socialism and extending Thought-Crime laws to the loyal opposition.

Anyway, the reporter gave up this handy tip for fighting the Man. He was doing it in Iran, but it works against any tyrants that are trying to disperse a righteous demonstration

Fire is good for driving away tear gas, so if you get tear gassed, get your grill up and running and attend to you meat. Get your face in the smoke/heat plume. It neutralizes the tear gas. It'll keep you from crying.

Power to the people.

How Trollop's New Gun Shoots

The Trollop Fohty Fo, Single Action, 7 yards:

Just a teaser. Longer range report to follow. That's her shooting, btw. I can't shoot that good, as you all know. And remember, her first range trip EVAH was about a year ago.

Safety tip: Don't get the Saucy Trollop mad at you.

Quote

From Snowflakes in Hell regarding Sotomayor's questioning of the Heller case. She said she has a relative that hunts, and she is all over the value of hunting.

Snowflake said: "Last I checked, Dick Heller wasn’t trying hunt anything in the District of Columbia when he brought that case."

That's a first class bit of snark right there. Bravo Zulu.

For those in the back of the class that slept through the lecture, hunting is a happy benefit of the Second Amendment. It is not, in any way, its primary purpose. Your right to bear arms isn't so you can get your bag limit at deer season.

Some Senator should have ask that wise Latina if she has actually read even a gloss of Heller. We have to assume she either didn't read anything about a very significant court case, she DID read it, but her reading comprehension is fatally flawed, or she DID and she is purposely obfuscating. All three reason are exclusionary, or should be, for her sitting on any judicial bench.

Hammer Time!

I posted this pic of Trollop Fohty Fo:




But one commenter's and some offline folks' eyes were drawn to this:

Mike W. said... "You know, the really interesting thing about this picture is the hammer.What's the story there? "

Anyone can see that that is part of Aunt Roberta May gunsmithing set! (Aunt Bert for short) A house warming gift a few years back. It came with a set of pretty pliers, screwdriver, tape measure, and wrench. Every piece as elegant as the hammer. A purty set of tools for a purty gal. Carried over on a ship from the Old Country in a your immigrant's haversack and passed through Elles Isle some 267 years ago.

Let me tell you how a typical gunsmithing session goes down for me.

I go to Trollops house with a small screwdriver, knowing there will be 2 or three small screws to deal with. She need to attach new grips and a new rear sight.

The sight is easy, but there is gunk/oil in the screw hole the sight mounts to the frame on. All I have is a screwdriver, so I get a few q-tips and a tooth pick to get the grease on out of there. The right tool for the job. Toothpick.

The toothpick was also vital to apply poor-gunsmith's lock-tite. I put red fingernail polish on screw threads before tightening it down. You might be able to see a dab of red on the paper towel. It might not work perfectly, but it caused no harm and could help.

So to get the new grip on, I have to take the Hogue grips off. Easy enough. There is a little spring steel thingy on the bottom of the grip frame the Hogue uses, so that comes off. There was a pin hold that dealie on, so I used the pretty hammer pictured, the toothpick, and a bottle cap from a Diet Mountain Dew bottle to keep the frame pin from resting on the counter while I hammered away. You needed the toothpick to drive the pin further because with one side flush with the frame you still couldn't pull the pin through.

That finished, I fit the grip and realize that pin I just hammered out was needed to hold the wood on, so, back it went. Tappa tappa tappa. Now the grips go on like they came from the Smith and Wesson factory were made to fit to 629-2. Good reason for that. They were ordered from the Smith and Wesson factory.

There you go. Kitchen table gunsmiffery in all its gory glory. It's like sausage making. Best to not inspect too close.

Platform Arguments

Why we have platform arguments

We inherit them, partly. The inertia from the old timers.

Mostly it is self justification. We selected our firearm carefully, with much research and consideration. Weighed in our mind which feature we valued most and prioritized the others. Once all the compromises are made and we have our choice we have now chosen what is ideal for us.

Now we expand that, to after the purchase. We are challenged, or perceive to be challenged, on our choice, and we get defensive. We are invested in our choice. And then we rant. Generally humourously, intentionally or not. Often tediously.

Of course, in the back of our minds, subcounsiously maybe, we KNOW that our argument is, "This blurfl is the best designed more perfect firearm. FOR ME." Forgetting the 'for me' part is where the platform jihads on the internet start. But it IS true. You blurfl is perfect. Perfect for you. If it isn't you usually know what gun you are looking to get to have the best hog leg for you. And it's a wonderful thing. So these platform arguments ain't no thang. But that's the reason for them.

That and the fact Glock owners are clinically INSANE.

Trollop's Progress

Before I go into the range report for her new .44 monster, named, appropriately, "The Fohty Fo." Here is continued range progress with the 'Fohty' by XD:

Dang she is getting good. 7 yards-ish.

Sometimes...

Sometimes when I see a link for Hi-Point, I read Hi-Power, and when I click the link to see the John Moses Browning goodness, I get something, well... not John Moses Browning.

It's a bit abrupt.

It's not BAD, per se... It's just not nearly as good. It's like expecting Elvis and getting a Jerry Lee Lewis impersonator.

It's like a problem with truth in advertising, but all in my brain.

Ruger Discontinues Scout

I saw the announcemtnt that Ruger was discontiuing their scout-esque rifle on Firearm Blog.


I guess Cooper's Scout rifle concept was another answer looking for the question. Unless it was before it’s time, or something. That's gotta smart. I hope Cooper's ghost doesn't haunt me now. Hell, I'm still a kool-aid drinker. I still want a scout.

Or was Cooper really the lonely voice in the wilderness, and no one heeded his righteous call?

I checked out the Ruger model a while back. They didn't make a lefty was my impression, so... I dismissed it from my mind.

And the scout concept get's further from my mind, too. Pure Scout concept. I think I like several scout characteristic, and may subconscoiusly seek them out on all rifles from now on.

How to know if you are a gun nut

How to know if you are a gun nut? Not the easy answers, like "you have 4 gun vaults and need a 5th..." type of gun nut. The bare minimum. Where you cross the line from mere gun owner to gun nut. The gun nut Rubicon, where on this side, you can go to swanky city-liberal cocktail parties and word gets out about your gun and you aren't ostracized, but on that side... you don't get an invite to the next party.

• If you got more handguns than you got hands, you are a gun nut
• If you have 2 rifles that do the same thing (2 semi-auto .22s, 2 lever action .30-30s, 2 M1 Garands), and you didn't accidentally inherit one of them through no fault of your own, you are a gun nut.
• If you have 4 or more rifles that do differents things, you are a gun nut.
• If you have a rifle that takes an ammo type you can't find after checking 3 randome gun stores in a normal ammo market (not today's market, but what we had this time last year), you are a gun nut. (I mean, how much Arisaka ammo is there our there? It can be found, yes, but it's not always out there.)
• If you know what a tround is, you are a gun nut.
• If you conceal carry, but have one gun you carry during the week, and another gun you carry for special occasions like wedding, graduations, and church services, you are a gun nut. (there are plenty of CCW people out there that aren't gun nuts, and carry because they have been threatened specifically.)
• If you became a member of the NRA or other pro-civil-rights org. because some anti-gun politician of famous person annoyed you, you are a gun nut.
• If you read gun blogs more than twice a week for 6 weeks, you are on your way to being a gun nut.
• If you have gone to more than one gun show, paying your own way, since the creation of the term 'gun show loophole,' but disagree with the statment 'no man should have a gun smaller than a canned ham,' you are a gun nut.
• If you become aware of an associate of good character that took a concealed loaded gun to a public place like a Mall or parade and your thought wasn't 'oh my! oh no! someone could have been hurt accidentally!' but rather, 'good move. you never can tell,' you are a gun nut.
• If any part of the speech fragment 'small town, bitter people clinging to their guns and religion and their antipathy to people not like them,' annoys you, but especially gun part, you are a gun nut.
  
  

Did I miss any subtle nuance?

Trollop Pic

Here is Trollops new .44. With it's new dress on. Ain't she purty? What say you? Kablamalama!

You know how folks recommend a minimal battery of firearms, like: "you need a rifle, a pistol, a shotgun, and a .22 of some sort..."? This counts as her rifle.

Crud!

My Big Computer went Tango Uniform this week. TU is Latin for "bought the 3'x6' farm" or "assumed room temperature" or "taking the looooong dirt nap." It's been sick lately. Limping a bit. It was never right in the head. I replaced every part in it once, it seems. Weird things went wrong with it. Like the Motherboard went bad. Little caps on the first video card exploded. The power supply stopped working within a month. Most of it under warranty at the time. And it was the first machine I 'built' myself.

No big deal for the blog, as I do that on the Little Computer. But it's still a pain. I don't think I can listen to Gun Nuts Radio on the Little machine, fer instance. And now I will have to try to recreate all those web links and reload all those games I had and still want to play.

I built it back when World Of Warcraft was new, to play that game. So it was getting on in years for a gaming system. I don't think I'll build one again. I'll have the next one sent ready built, with ala carte features. Let someone ELSE figure out where the teeny wires for the LEDs go.

But there goes any hope for new Blastomatic in the near future. I need a good working computer to get me through the Obama administration more than I need another hog leg. Ya know, the guns will last through past the retirement of the 66th President of the United States. This new computer that I'll get won't see the 46th inaugurated. Odd that.

Another casualty of this purchase? Firearm training. Hmmm, I'll have to see what I can swing with that.

{UPDATE: The computer is no more. It has ceased to be. It has joined the choir invisible. It's pining for the fjords. It's bleeding demised. It's passed on. It is no more. It's expired and gone to meet it's maker. It is an EX computer.}

Snub Size

Notice anything different about these two snubbie revolvers?

Ok, apart from the fact the top model is a 640, all steel, and shoots .357, and the bottom is a Airweight 642 that shoots only .38+p, what is the difference? Both are J-Frame Smith and Wesson revolvers. Both are DA only models. What else is different.

Yeah, the grip looks different. Both are made of that rubberized Hogue material, but the 642 looks smaller. The 642 doesn't have the full underlug on the barrel, either, but concentrate on the grip.

Could the 642 grip go on the 640? Because grip size is where people will notice you are carrying CCW. Shave a bit from the grip and you make it more concealable. And those two grip styles, above, are the two standard rubberized grip types.

It's hard to tell without holding each model in your hand. But that 640 (top) is bigger, all around, isn't it? Sure looks it. Not just the grips. Even with the same frame designator, J. Or am I seeing things?

This is important. Size and concealability is what you are looking for with a snubbie. I'd live with the extra weight of the all steel 640, and probably just shoot .38 +p though it anyway (same witht the 642) but not if it is bigger.

I'd swap the grip out in either case to something like this:

There has been a run on the blogospher talking about the rubberized grips are grappy around clothes and can hang you up a bit. The fact those rosewood grips go on either model makes me think that the two varieties of black rubber grips go on either model, but I don't know that.

Remington Ad

I saw this linked to at the Hessian's blog:



Now if THAT isn't a good ad for someone looking for a hunting rifle that shoots 7.62 in bolt action, I don't know what is.

I keep agonizing over which bolt action rifle to get myself, and I always come back to Remington as the factory rifle to get if I accept no subsitutes.



Lefty models in .308:



Model 700 SPS



Model 40 XB



Models I wished were available in lefty:



Model 700 VTR



Model 700 XCR



Model 700 XCR LR



Bonus:

And how about THIS model 7615 for a lefty .223 carbine? It isn't shooting pistol ammo, it's .223, but it has the AR magazine, and it's appropriate for lefties, AND it already has iron sights.

Model 7600 can shoot .308... No M1A magazine, but it does have a drop out 4 rounder. Hmmm... Scout rifle...

[UPDATE: Look at the ad for the M24 at the top of this post. There is a front sight! Where is the rear sight in all that? Why doesn't Remington offer an iron sight arrangement?]

Pickup

Trollop picked up her .44 on the 4th. Remember? This one.

I'll post pics when the new grips arrive. And the new sights. We'd shoot but the indoor range near us is a little hinky about shooting a gun that can't reliably hit the target and might hit the target trolley inadvertently...

Seems like it took awhile to take possession, huh? What with the shipping time to the transfer FFL, then the 7 day waiting period, which is really like 8+ days depending on when the paperwork went through, then 'gettin round to it' because it's not like the gun can be shot til the parts come in. Such is gun purchasing, today.

Anyway, that's what we did this weekend. Plus the sunburn.

Fahr-Woiks

Carbon Fiber M14

Oleg Volk has a better picture of a Carbon Fiber Stock for the M14/M1A.

I was worried that the fore rails would add too much weight, but they seem to be slimmer and less beefy than I worried.

Interesting.

Great, more coveting. Expensive covetting.

Tacks Evasion

I got a ticket

So I was driving down the road minding my own buissness, and actually doing the speed limit for a change. When all of the sudden I see some idiot kid hanging out the passenger window of the car in front of me...then I realize he is throwing something out the window.

I look down at the ground and I see something shinny in the road, so I'm dodging left, dodging right, trying to avoid the shinny objects he was throwing out the window.

Then it happens I look up in my rear view mirror and there is a nice red and blue lightbar flashing behind me with what I can call some annoying wailing going on too. I pull over and stop. The officer walks up to me and asks for my license. registration and insurance info. He asks me if I know why he pulled me over, I say, "sure I was all over the road," then I try and explain to him why I was dodging left and right.

Well to this point the officer really doesn't believe me, but he goes back to check the road...I see him walk about 60-75 feet away, bends over picks something up, then again over there bends over picks something up, then he returns to me and holds out his hand.

In his hand he was holding what looked to me like thumb tacks, he then proceeded to give me a ticket for tacks evasion.

Snubbie Ammo

Snubbies are short revolvers. The pressure pushing the projectile out has less barrel length to build up optimal pressure and achieve as high a velocity as possible.

I knew this, but didn't think about it.

A snubbie with a 1 7/8" barrel will have different performance than a the same ammo out of a 6 inch barrel revolver.

But special ammo for a revolver? I never even considered it may exist until I noticed a throwaway comment by Tam, and filed that little nugget away in my wetware.

A cursory internet search quickly turned up a Speer Gold Dot specific to the snubbie, ammo. There may be other brands, but it's good to know and record here for future reference later, when I do get a snub nosed revolver. I'm still unsettled as to model... (can you tell I've been thinking on it?)

Another option for ammo for the snub nosed is the .38 +P semi-wadcutter hollow point, I think referred to as the 'FBI load.' It's all lead, and if it work right it doesn't go THROUGH bad guys and hit things you'd rather leave undamaged behind, but leaves a quarter sized and shaped lead disk in the bad guy.

[Bob from The Drawn Cutlass has some excellent extra data in the comments: "And yet another fine load for snubs, Airweights and Scandiums in particular, is the 125-grain Nyclad hollowpoint recently re-introduced by Federal after several years off the market. It's standard velocity, and thus doesn't have the recoil or wear problems that the +P cartridges present, yet still expands reliably due to soft lead construction combined with a large-cavity hollow point, held firm by the nylon coating. This round has a fine reputation and is the self-defense cartridge to use in older .38 Special revolvers that can't handle +P pressures" ]