Minor Ammo

Minor ammo buy day. I needed to top off some rounds that I had expended at the last rifle range - Hap Baker - trip. Argentine and South African surplus 7.62. Another box here and there for what I shot. And a box of .380 for the Colt 1903, just to have, and a box .30-06 for the Springfield 03, just in case. It's a safe queen and 20 rounds is a paltry amount, but that's ok.

I even got a combination lock for the trigger of the 03. I'll use it when moving rifles outside the house, and the keyed one I own has a flaw. What if I lose the key? With the combo lock I only have to remember the number. And that is easy. Same as my luggage lock. 1111. Don't tell Corky.

But I have a goodly amount of ammo stockpiled. To me. I know, I know, "you can never have too much wine or too much ammo," yes, thank you Kipling. It's more of a 'minimum level not to dip below' and a lot of fresh ammo bought at this point goes toward near-future use at the range. If I wanted to increase this minimum I'll have to think of better storage areas for it. And if I copped to 20 ammo cans of .308 the less enlightened members of the family would turn up their noses and cluck their tongues and mutter, "what are we to DO with this T-Bolt..."

For the record, I don't have 20 ammo cans, full of .308 or anything else.

TV Review: Jericho

Never saw this when it was on, but thanks to the magic of Netflix... I'm on disk 3, 12 episodes into Season One. Beware, spoilers below.


The premise is: Small town Kansas after the US is hit by multiple nukes. Unknown enemies.


And it's not too gun oriented. It took til episode 10 or so before they thought it might be a good idea to start thinking about training an armed security force. Poor planning. It's more than a month and a half into the crisis, too. And they've known that there was NO state or federal government to speak of, that there was a sketchy guy outside of town, that neighboring towns were in shambles at a minimum and they were relatively ok.


Way too sleepy, those townfolks.


Hawkins warned them the first day, and the Sheriff and a deputy got shot for their trouble, at prison bus. No follow-up on where the prisoners went.


When a town person got murdered they called it "the first murder in 30 years" I guess they forgot about that sheriff.


There is one tertiary character that is a gun nut. A real one. You barely see him, but the impression is that he is crazy. Yup, everyone with more than 2 guns is crazy. Paranoid. Why would anyone do that, be a gun crazed Second Amendment fanatic with a bunker. You'd think a nuclear attack would really happen... Oh wait. It did.


They went to him for a spare geiger counter. Still made him sound and act crazy.


There was a kid that found a train full of food. He snuck SOME back to town to give to his grocery-store owning boss, but didn't TELL anyone about it. If I were the mayor I'd have him horsewhipped in the town square for not telling.

And by the 12 episode they are jumping the track, assigning the instigators of the attack to some shadowy semi-governmental group that may be going all rogue and home grown terrorist.

Mmm Hmm. Is that a shark tank they are jumping with a motorcycle? Suspension of disbelief, suspended. Or unsuspended. Whatever.

Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

How to Survive a Riot

Thanks to WikiHow Click the link. Good tips, but most of it is common sense. Not being where the riot is is the best tip.

This is why I love people. And Democracy. Hooray mob rule!

There is a reason we have a Federal Republic and not a Democracy. It's because the framers of our Constitution knew what a mob was, and instituting it as a from of national government is as disastrous as it is when an innocent is amidst mayhem seeking Jacobin Anarchists.

Like a wise man once told me, "The whole world has gone to heck since they let that Elvis kid on the TeeVee."

Well, that's not true. I see the French Revolution as the true start of modern tyranny. Yes, I said it, the FRENCH.

Anyhoo, the French Revolution didn't invent riots, but they got it refined pretty well. Regardless of HOW a riot starts though, it's a good idea to know how to extricate yourself from one

MACHINE GUNS

"The ones that run are VC! The ones that don't run are well disciplined VC!"

Flashback: Quang Tri, 1967, when the nametag on my uniform said 'Greasemanelli' but everyone knew me as... SERGEANT FURY!!!


My gunshop guy, Ted of Engage Armament had a customer shoot at his property, WAY up in Frederick Maryland, 10 miles up Route 15 from the city. For those familiar with the area, going north on 270 you come to the scenic overlook, you see the town, and on the horizon there is a line of mountains. He's nestled up against those mountains. You do down a 2 lane road for a bit, then a gravel road, then across a rickety bridge, then up a dirt road, then along a muddy logging trail. Impossible without 4 wheel drive. He, and a few other like minded people brought every machine gun they owned. You paid a fee to participate and had to buy their ammo.


Which machine guns were there? Which WEREN'T? I mostly watched, but fired some of them. Particularly older stuff.


The first one I tried was no fooling around. An MG42, used by the Germans in WWII. It fires belted 7.92x57mm ammo. This set was corrosive surplus from Bulgaria. Powerful. It didn't sound like it does in the war movies. It seemed slower. But the dirt impacts down range looked like I was unzipping the soil.

The second I tried was another Wehrmacht classic. The MP40 submachine gun. It fires 9mm pistol ammo from 30 round mags and it is as gentle as a baby. Very easy to control. Just a wonderful piece of history and privilege to get to fire it.

The only other one I personally fired was an M-1 Carbine made with a select-fire switch. A bit more kick than the Schmeiser (MP40) but still fun. And the action is similar to the M1 Garand so I was familiar with the function already. 30 round mag for this one, too. (update: Sailor Curt picks a nit and lays down the real gouge. It was an M2 Carbine. Good call, Chief. Thanks. That's why I am the Newb Jovian Thunderbolt and you are Da Man.)





I fired those 3 because they were guns that kill lots of Commies. And no one likes Commies.


Stuff I wished were there were the M-60, the BAR, and I wish the Bren that was there was working. I watched Full Metal Jacket the night before in anticipation of the M-60. They left the Chauchat at home.

I saw the Ma Deuce fire, but didn't try it myself. It was also having issues and was mostly working semi-auto. The report wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.


What WAS impressive, report wise, was the shorter gun firing .223 and the HK G3s that were there. The short guns were loud, as I'd heard. A lot of propellant is escaping and adding to the shock wave. The G3s, while not short, use a full size rifle round and had a significant blast wave.

To start the session, the shop owners son shot a can of blackpowder that was in a 55 gallon drum with his bolt action .223 and the explosion launched the drum back into the woods. (We've had a bit of rain otherwise they wouldn't have done that)


The only gun I brought was the 1911. There were a few bowling pins to shoot and I surprised myself at being able to hit them regularly at 40 feet. And I got to try out my new holster that way. During one to the ceasefires I inspected the pins and found one with a pristine .223 round sticking out of it. It just didn't have enough Ooomph to get all the way through. So if your skull is as tough as a bowling pin you don't have to worry about getting shot by an M-16.


Other fun things I saw shot? There was a MAC-11. It has a CRAZY fast rate of fire. rrrrrrrrip! and it is empty. The Uzi's had suppressors and were pretty quiet. One guy had a Thompson submachine gun and another a FN PS90. There was even a Glock built to shoot full auto. The brass flying through the air looked like rain.


I'd never buy a machine gun. Too expensive to purchase and to shoot, and few places to shoot it.


Everyone there was very polite and friendly and safe and were just having a great time.


With luck there will be pictures available electronically and I'll post them when I get them. You may even see ME in them. I didn't bring my camera as I didn't know how welcome it would be.

With that all said, I'll end with: "BOOdadow Boodadow bow bow bow bow!!!!!"

New Acquisition and Range Report

Almost as cheap as a tank of gas...

Taurus Model 62 pump action .22 rifle.

Squirrels beware!

I've had a hankering for a .22 that was a little more appropriate for a left hander and was a heckuva lot of fun. As with the 1894c, Kim Du Toit raving about this gun influenced my choice. He got Mr. Free Market Fairy Tales coveting one at Auld Sod.

This rifle is the first new gun, apart from the 1911, I've ever bought. Most of the others I own are more than 50 years old.

And it's the same rifle (or maybe she had the Winchester that this Taurus model is a clone of, but THAT rifle costs $900+ these days) Ellen Barkin used to shoot a score of 94 in This Boys Life at a turkey shoot. Kicked Robert DeNiro's butt. He shot a 24 with some bolt action tube fed job with peep sights. Later he said "the gun just won't shoot right. It's the third one I bought and none of them have shot right." Yup, 'Dwight,' it's the rifle's fault. I have THAT problem all the time, myself. It can't be my fault, as I am perfect. If I had a good rifle I'd shoot 10 rounds thought a single dime sized hole 3000 yards away. With my eyes closed. And drunk. In a 40 mph cross wind. Mmmm hmmm.

That Winchester version WAS available at my gun shop for a little while sitting right next to this gun. Side by side the elegant, lithe Winchester made THIS gun look clunky. That one was way to dear for a non-collector like me at four times the sticker price of the Taurus. Still, the Taurus I got isn't too shabby looking with real purty walnut.

You load the tube with a dozen or so cheap .22LR rounds, pump, aim, shoot. It's light and simple and I couldn't wait to test it out.

So, luckily, a Range Trip was in the offing to try it out. It's an indoor range, pistol style, but they will let you shoot rifles that use pistol calibers. You have to shoot standing, or off-hand, but that was fine. This trip was a function test, only.

My rifle target was the lower right. 75 feet. The lower left are some holes Corky and Chuckles shot to try out the gun. Yup they shot better. I was just pleased at the function and enjoying that. The ones way off, the fliers, I at least knew they were going to be when the trigger broke. I'll take it bench shooting soon and see how small I can make a group. I'll have to remind myself if I ever DO need to shoot a rabbit to keep from starving that I better steady better, preferable against something.

The OTHER, top two, targets are all shots taken with my 1911 with the .22 conversion kit. Breda gave me a tip that she got from her instructor and I wanted try something. I shoot low and right with the .45 and my left shooting arm is straight across my body and straight. The supporting left arm is bent a bit at the elbow. My thought was maybe that arm is pulling my shot down and right. Breda's tip was to squeeze the support hand a little tighter.

I tried shooting my regular way to see if it fell where I expected, low and right. Well... Some. But the .22 through it just shoot different than the .45. Look at the top left target above. Not gravitating to the lower right at all. Typical. Whenever you make assumptions ahead of time, you make an ass out of "u" and uh... "mptions". Or something. It did shoot low, and that's ok, just not consistently right.

Anyway, my correction didn't help too much. Some maybe. Enough to try it next time with .45. The result was: instead of pulling back, the palms pushed towards each other.

Breda's tip worked better, if for no other reason than that it helped my trigger squeeze be smoother. I think I have a tendency of 'lobster pinching' with the left hand, in that that my thumb moves as well as my trigger finger, trying to pinch together. Even a slightly firmer grip with the support hand noticeably helps this flaw. And I am not going to argue with a better trigger squeeze. If your trigger squeeze is perfect then you are well on your way, I think. And certainly I am. More practice, naturally, will help. And all this practice is fun, even if the progress and improvement is slow.

Bottom right is where I really concentrated. 25 feet. Thanks Breda, that tip may be the shizzle, if you readers will permit me to slip into the vernacular.

Note: THAT one, the careful one bottom right has more noticeable standard low and right flaw, but the squeeze was better so the shots fell tighter. Baby steps.

The top left is with the palm to palm push, top right and bottom left is settling in with a combination of both tips, but mostly Breda's, and the shooting was fast and casual.

New Holster

A Bianchi M12 Holster. It's ambidextrous! Or is it amphibious? I always get those two words confused. And designed for large automatics. Fits the 1911 just fine, though it was made for the Beretta M9/92 issued in the US Military.

You can add accessories like this shoulder rig I found on US Cavalry:

Or this drop leg version from Specter:

I haven't gotten the accessories, and the holster just attaches to a pistol belt, as is.

The holster even has a little gun-cleaning rod for cleaning and no proper gun cleaning kit is available. Why do I need it? Well it'd only be for open-carry, and the likelihood of me doing that very often would be remote. Maybe for IPDA competition. It'd be good for post-Zombie holocaust, certainly. And I may want to try some sort of shoulder rig in colder weather in the event I am ever able to carry concealed.

Why do I have to justify extra gear to YOU readers? All both of you. It's not like I got a fifth 1911 or something. I can see having a spare pistol, but 4 spares? Not yet.

.22 semi

Are there any more choices for a .22 semi-automatic mag-fed rifle out there BESIDES a Ruger 10/22? Ruger seems to be the default and I was a pondering the alternatives.

Sure Browning and Remington make them. And Marlin did too. But the Ruger has about 458,609,862,345 aftermarket parts, and is probably the cheapest. Convince me I should look at others.

Era of Andy Taylor

My Mom has a very dear friend. Let's call her 'Priscilla.' Mainly because that is her name.

She grew up in a cop family in the 50s and 60s (grandfather and uncle, both in Boston) and when it came time to look for something to do after graduation she figured she'd give law enforcement a try.


The thing is, in the mid 60s that was something women didn't often do. So she was a pioneer. When she got through the Police Academy and started working as a patrol woman in a small Connecticut town she found out she HATED it, but she had to stick it out for a year. Why? She was the first woman and wanted to make it easier on the second. If she quit after a month they'd say she and all women couldn't cut the mustard.

At the Academy they taught her shooting with a straight on 2 handed stance. .38 Special revolver of course.

Priscilla only had cause to fire her service weapon once. She was dispatched to an apartment complex due to a threatening character. Snake. Black Racer. Four feet long. Dispatch told her to grab it, shove it in a bag, and take it somewhere. She was having none of THAT. Following procedure she made sure of her backstop, drew her pistol, shouted "Halt, Police!" and then there was one less snake terrorizing Connecticut.

Now when you fire your pistol in any department there are reams of paperwork you have to fill out, as did Priscilla, answering many questions. Questions like.

"Was the perpetrator armed?"

Yes!

"Did you identify yourself as a Police Officer before firing?"

Yes!

"Did the perpetrator die at the scene?"

Sadly, yes.

"Was the family of the perpetrator notified?"

No. No known family located.

Never was she required to dress all in black and throw flashbang grenades into occupied rooms as part of a dynamic entry, shooting any dogs as a matter or policy and backed up with an armored personnel character. I guess she was lucky that way. But everyone in her department was, back then.

Accessory list

I need a master list for ACCESSORIES, I guess. There are so many little bits. Parts for one. But I have most replacement parts covered. A spare recoil spring plug, for one, considering how many times THAT flies across the basement shop when I clean the 1911.

I need more accoutrement, if I may use the Surrender-Monkey language. Pistols belts, holsters, molle gear, chest rig to store magazines, first aid kit, a decent surefire-style flashlight, a pack of some sort. Not JUST to fight zombies and Jacobins, but to go camping again. I haven’t been backpacking since I was in the boy scouts. Real camping, not the car-camping I’ve been doing where I have a pick-up truck worth of stuff within 100 feet of me.

One thing I will NEVER find is good boots. I never have and probably never will. My feet pronate, I have sesamoid bones making me pigeon toed, and a crappy right knee. I’ve never found boots that fit and rarely find decent shoes. Heavy boots exacerbate the knee problems, and ill fitting boots are just painful even after a break-in period.

I am resigned to fight zombies in worn out sneakers.

And if my feet are ok, I can hike for miles and miles.

As for the other gear… get it in all black and look like tacticool mall-ninja? No. I prefer OD Green. You look less silly in that anyway if you are using your gear for dual use, happy-family-hiking AND opposing the undead horde.

What Generation?

Of course.

I'm no hippy! Dang Boomers. Smokin' dope, growing their hair long, listening to Beatles albums and bad-mouthing their country.

And she is kinda cute:

Memorial Day

This is my grandfather, Peter:

He is my height. The only one in the family as tall as me. Before the war he was a horticulturalist.

I love this pic. It's got a bit of a "What're YOU lookin' at?" going for it.

He enlisted in the Marines just a few days after my Mom was born. His service record we obtained via the Freedom of Information Act shows he went to Twenty Nine Palms (I believe... San Diego at least) for basic, then to Guadalcanal at "Camp Cactus," then he shipped out with 1stBn/7th Marine Regiment (First Division) to land on Peleliu, under Herman Hanneken and ultimately under the command of Chesty Puller (who was a good Marine, and a good Marine was he). He was a radioman in the Headquarters company.

He never left the island.

His Silver Star citation reads partly like boiler plate. Typed up by some clerk in Washington to not untowardly alarm his family. Words like "savage burst of hostile machine gun fire" and "died instantly" are listed, but they ring hollow.

I'd love to read what his CO wrote up recommending him for the decoration, but those record may well be lost to history.

What DOESN'T ring hollow in the cite is that he volunteered to repair communication wire breaks under fire to keep contact and coordination with fighting units who were battling "fierce Japanese resistance." This all happened in the Southwest sector of the battle. And he died on 19 September, 1944.

Here he is again:

===============

My other grandfather (not pictured) was too old and too near-sighted to join up, proper. At first. He wanted the Navy, but had to 'settle' with the Army after Pearl Harbor, age 35. Before the war he ran a Five and Dime called Kresge's, and had a college degree, so they made him a Captain and he ran a PX or two in Pennsylvania. My grandmother cried and cried when he got orders to go to Europe, but they were eventually rescinded. He left the Army a Major in 1954 and he lived through to the 21st Century.

I think of both of them, now, on Memorial Day.

Zombie Instructional Films

By the Lone Banana:

Damn Commies

And Bad Idea Films:

Blog Roll

I am streamlining my blog roll. While I enjoy them all, and a few unlisted ones, I want to restrict them to sites that more primarily stick to firearm interests and are prolific. Criteria is pretty loose, even then. As a rule of thumb, if you mentioned boomstick stuff in the last month or so I am keeping you.


Of course, the removed ones probably didn't know I listed them in the first place, so, they won't miss not being there. Yes, I'll still read them.

Momma

I'll be out of pocket for a few days. Visiting my Momma in Florida. I hate airline flying, but maybe it will be easier this time as there is no connecting flights to deal with and I am not checking my luggage.

Got some entries queued up, tho.

Hap Baker Rifle Range

There is a rifle range in Westminster Maryland. It's called Hap Baker and it is the Carrol County public range. It's nestled into the back of the county dump. They call 'dumps' landfills now and there are fewer rats to shoot at night, but the vibe is similar. At the dump. The range is very nice.

Took a brand new shooter. It's my girlfriend. Or she let me call her that after I picked her up down by the waterfront and made certain financial arrangements. Let's call her 'Saucy Trollop' until she fins this blog, yells at me, and make me change it. What are the chances a Baltimore street walker check the internet that often? Anyway, she is a vegetarian and she has never shot before. But based on her performance at the range, if she WANTED to eat meat she could harvest just about anything.


I brought the bolt action .22, the .357 lever gun, and the Garand, and since my buddy Frozen was there she got to try SKS, AR-15, and a Mosin M44 in 7.62x54. I stepped Saucy Trollop up through the calibers, telling her what to expect. She did fine with all of them until the Garand and I double checked with her because of the kick. Like a trooper, she tried it. And loved it. The Garand is her favorite. I was SO proud.

She liked the Garand so much partly because it is semi-auto and there was less to do to fire the next bullet. No bolt or lever to deal with. And my Garand has a Scout scope from Leupold on it, and shooting with a decent glass is a joy.

Anyway, here is her 100 yard target with the Garand:

She shoots better than me. Sorry for the picture quality. Here is her shots at the 25 yard target with the .22 and .357 lever gun:




That hole dead center? Her first shot ever, I believe. I half expected that.

I can make excuses that I was distracted by teaching her, and had to break up my shooting session some to instruct her, but those would be just excuses. She is just pretty durn good. I need to take her pistol shooting. If I find her on her 'corner' again.

Frozen's Mosin kicks like a mule. It was fun just experiencing that. It fell like it was MORE than the .30-06, but it's been a while since I shot that.

Frozen had issues with the iron sights on his DPMS AR-15. It was shooting to the side and with the rear windage sights cranked all the over it didn't get better. It was only after that he realized he was correcting the wrong way, and kicked himself for the mistake. Ooops. That won't help. He'll run up there and try it again real soon I am sure.

Near the end of the session, I relaxed a bit more and tried to boost my confidence shooting at the 25 yard target with the .22 and 1894c. THAT felt good. I was shooting tuna can size groups or smaller. Rabbit or woodchuck head size groups. The .22 makes me hanker for a pump .22 for more plinking goodness. My .22 even did ok at 100 yards. Here is the 25 yard confidence boosters from later in the day:

And a couple 100 yard ones.




Notice the .22 even made it out that far.

I noticed that regular milsurp ammo in the Garand shot better for me than the match grade stuff. Though Frozen's work with the good ammo showed it was probably my fault.

A spotter scope is critical for self critique at 100 yards. Hap Baker provides one at each shooting station, which is nice. I need to do something about rectifying that lack of gear. The one there was a cheap model, but it did the job quite well enough.

And next time I hit the rifle range I am going to have to adopt the same regimen as pistol shooting: Maybe go alone, and only bring one or two rifles.

My usual flaws applied. Go SLOW. Be patient. Squeeze the trigger. I need to work on ALL of that. When I DID settle and methodically breathed and squeezed that shots were much better. I want to have a few 100 yard targets I can be proud of.

Armed Canadian has offered to take me shooting, and he is an NRA instructor. Are you reading my Canadian friend? Any weekend in June would be great except for the weekend of the 21st. And all but the last weekend of June. I need to get more ammo for that session as I blasted through my spares down to the minimum inventory level.

The fun with that .22 at the 25 yard target, hitting rabbit-head sized targets makes me itchy for another .22 rifle. I might have to promote something to the Secondary want list.


So now I have recruited and taught, as best I can, a brand new shooter. Before this, I've rekindled the interests of other shooters than had been away from the hobby, and I got at least one to renew his dues to an organization that directly supports the 2nd Amendment. I've done the minimum requirement for gun enthusiasts. If we all did this, things like Heller would never be in doubt and zombies would be scared to come to this country.

Shooting is Fun

You know, prepping for zombie or goblin attacks is one thing, and challenging yourself to improve is another, but dang, this hobby is just plain fun.

I guess I never really forget that fact, but it’s nice to sit back and reflect.

The smell is unique. Both of the cordite propellent AND the cleaning chemicals after. I love the feel of the pressure wave on my face, which is more noticeable when the guy shooting next to you is firing big bore magnums out of his Africa gun. It’s a joy just to make holes in paper, as you are in control of a small bit of measured destruction. Like a sand castle, it’s fun to build it up, it’s fun to knock it down. Well a watermelon is fun to eat and fun to burst into a bajillion fragments with a .30-06.

Plus, shooting is relaxing. Concentrating despite the cacophony and chaos at the range. I’m not the first shooter to note the zen like state you have to achieve to shoot well, steadying so many different factors, breathing, aiming, stance, arm position, hand postion, squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing. It isn’t a wonder that one aspect of Zen meditation that has been used for centuries is archery. Similar discipline over all of your form is required.

Range Report, May

Went to the range to practice with my 1911. The usual flaws. Some mags were better than others, depending on my concentration. The ones where you see halfway decent groups are from where I was more carefully squeeeeeeeeezing the trigger.






Then I played with a silhouette. The first 3 mags were at 25 feet. The first toward the torso with 2 hands. Usual. The next mag left handed, one-handed, aiming at the head was surprisingly good! All in the circle with the left hand. And with one handed right handed, aiming at the head, they were all over the place. The misses were the right hand.





But why am I more accurate with just one hand?! More to think on and try to improve. Obviously I am pulling low with that second hand up there. Well, maybe...


The next mags were center mass points of aim at 50 feet. All hit, it seems. A silhouette target sure helps the self-esteem because you can project, "I'd hate to have holes in ME at ANY of these locations." And you think you are doing better. I won't be shooting zombies in the eyeball of choice yet, though.



Corky found himself more accurate today when firing fast, and not accurate at ALL one-handed. He wasn't over-thinking his shot placement. Which is good because, as I mentioned, he is considering doing IDPA stuff sooner rather than later.

1911

There is a reason you dial 9-1-1 when you need help. It's because it's the last 3 numbers of Browning's model 1911.

What Hath I Wrought?

Corky just bought a handsome SIG in 9mm. He intends to get a .40 caliber pistol of some kind next. Oh dear. Metal guns, though. So there is a bright side. And the grips on those are very handsome. It's a 226, I think, and he'll correct me if I am wrong:

MBtGE is shopping for ANOTHER plastic gun. The Springfield XD. In .45 ACP, at least. To go with his Glock 21.

Apparently my influence on their model selection is not as prevalent as I'd have hoped. At least they are getting MORE. This is a good thing. But I'd hope they'd select an all metal pistol in the venerable .45 ACP caliber and 100 years of real world testing. Not too many models fit that requirement. In fact, just the one. But they don't listen.

Quote from MBtGE "All I really want is... more."

Corky's big justification is get pistols for future IDPA use. No 9mm to be had at the local Wal Mart right now, he found. My influence on ammo purveyor selection is limited as well it seems, Wal Mart being more hostile to gun owner lately.

And Frozen may have gotten the same model SIG...

History Bleg

Tam brought up Second Kharkov on her blog. It made me realize a significant hole in my history knowledge. I know very little about conduct of operation on the Eastern Front. Partly because neither side spoke or wrote in English so their histories aren't as disseminated because of that extra layer of complexity translating all the stuff. And partly because the Wehrmacht was lead by Hitler, a very bad guy, and the Red Army was lead by Stalin a very very bad guy, and we are close enough to the actual events to want one of the adversaries in the epic struggle to be good guys rather than 2 of the most evil, evah.

Anyhoo. Can anyone recommend a very good, engaging, history of that front? 1940-45.