More XR9S

I mentioned Oleg had some photos and info up the other day, looks like he's got some expended rounds, along with some video links in the post.

Looks quite controllable for such a small package.

20ga Fun

Had the day off, and the weather was as close to 32 degrees as it gets these days, so despite the rain, we hit up the range for some shooting.  Thankfully the rain apparently went north, so we only had to deal with the quarter mile visibility thanks to the fog.

On the upside, the little 20ga 870 is just as much fun as I hoped.  Slugs aren't too bad out of it either.

Pistol is a S&W .45acp of some form... I forget what.

Still air makes for pretty pictures too.

As always, click to embiggenate.

Chamelioline Cloaks? For the Realz?

Hardcore 40k fans will have no doubt read Dan Abnett's fantastic Gaunt's Ghosts series, and will know the Tanith First and Only are famous for their scouting and stealth abilities, the later of course being strongly augmented by their use of one of the Imperium's most underused technologies, Chamelioline.  While never really explained, Chamelioline seems to be a sort of fiber interwoven into their camouflage cloaks that changes color and blends with their surrounding environment.  I can only assume it's a type of fiber, as it is only used in cloth uniforms utilized by certain elite Imperial Guard units, some Assassins, and some Astartes chapters for their scouts.

All cool and whatnot for the geeky 40k fan like me, but it turns out that there's a company, Hyperstealth, looking to make what they call SMARTCAMO, an adaptive camouflage material that blends in with the surrounding terrain colors.

Guy Cramer, the CEO of Hyperstealth, gave a presentation at the International Camouflage Symposium in Brussels back in October featuring a video of the stuff.

The video was of an actual camouflage cloth around his arm, which could change colors between Desert and Woodland and anything in-between, the colors also showed the ability to become brighter than the desert colors for use in a late fall climate or even snow. Cramer announced at the end of the presentation that the video was to be released on the HyperStealth web site after the conference.

 Apparently since the presentation he has been asked not to release said video by the US Military.

However the release goes on to mention that the material was developed using "fractals" to create feedback loops in the pattern and nanotechnology.

Some seriously cool stuff being worked out.  They also apparently have developed a system for vehicles that not only works as a visual camo, but stealths it out from a large chunk of the electromagnetic spectrum, something the Imperium apparently never figured out (stupid religious views...)

But if all that isn't Science Fictiony enough for you, SSD is tossing some more conspiracy level fodder into the mix.

Then, we find out that Dr. Joseph Resnick, Lt. Col. Timothy R. O’Neill, Ph.D (U.S. Army, Ret.) and Guy Cramer (of Hyperstealth fame) have owned mineral rights for 95% of the side of the moon that faces Earth, the polar regions and 50% of the far side of the Moon since 2007. And that isn’t to mention their mineral rights onMars!

So this has got to be it, they have found some rare mineral on the Moon that makes SMARTCAMO™ work. Now the question is, how did they get it back to Earth?

Taurus Poly Revolver

Taurus looks to be getting into the plastic wheelgun game with a polymer framed .38+P 5 shot compact.

It's actually not too bad looking, and I do like the user accessible hammer (allowing you to manually cock for single action shots.)  The grips are just printed to look like wood, but it's a nice touch and keeps the weight down to a minimal 18.2 oz.

(H/T - The Duck)

'Nother Bike Project

At least with much less work.

So even though the Single-speed project is underway, I picked up another project bike today.  Then drove across town like this and thought it was the most hilarious thing ever.  Maybe I need more sleep...

Little 16" Specialized Vegas for $10 at a thrift store.  Thankfully I've got some time to fix it up and get it ready before my oldest nephew is big enough to fit it.

ETA-

Cleaned it up and got a better picture.

Clean and no rust!  Surprising for a steel frame 'round these parts.

Every Question from Every Gun Forum

Parts II and III.  The first few seconds of III made my tummy hurt from laughing.  (Again, swearing and whatnot.)

Daniel Defense Vickers Tactical Training

Featuring Larry Vickers!



I don't know if it's my bleary sleep deprived mind, but the trailer for the DVD (first mentioned here) just makes it seem like it's all about "The LAV."  The one biggest thing I like about the MD Art of the Tactical __________ discs is that when it all comes down to it, they're about the training and techniques, there is no long drawn out introduction with a roll call of Chris or Travis's qualifications and why they're so awesome for instance.  Yes a qualified instructor is important, but it's just sucking up screen time on a DVD. If it really bugs you, throw a printed insert in the case explaining about why you're so awesome.

Be back in a bit, I need to get some coffee.

The Decemberists

Because I'm a jerk, I've had this song stuck in my head for like three weeks.  Thought I'd share.  (Try to not get too hung up by the singer looking like he's in mid-stroke... still sounds good.)



Their song "Yankee Bayonet" is also pretty darn good. I do enjoy good duets.

More Guns

Does not mean more "Gun Violence."  Normally I hate stats, but I bulldozed my way through this one just because I like the subject.  Imagine that, Helmke lying about something...

More about that stubby...

Showed a drool worthy pic of a stubby breacher shotgun from AAC's facebook page a few days ago.

I asked if they knew anything more about it, turns out to be Remington MCS.

Correct, that is a 10" Breacher in a Remington (made by Bladetech) SRD holster. The Kydex holster is designed to clamp the magazine tube/barrel between the fore grip and the frame. It is MOLLE compatable and can swith from right to left handed if you desire.

Cool stuff indeed. 10" barrel and one of the sexiest pistol grips I've ever seen on a shotgun.

Ruger AR Uppers

Ruger is now offering the top half of their piston driven AR separately.



Steeply priced at $1500...



Boberg XR9S

Oleg has some pics and range report goodness.  I've been intrigued by this little thing ever since I first heard of it. 

It's kind of like a bullpup pistol, with the chamber sitting right above the mag.  What does this mean? A 3.35" barrel in a 5.1" package.  More accuracy, and more velocity in a gun the size of a .380acp, yet chambered in 9x19mm.  The Boberg site can be found here.

M&P15-22 Stubby Mag

I don't know how I missed this, but S&W is offering a short 10 round mag for the little AR clone.

I'll probably snag one or two for bench shooting.

The Labyrinth

With sock puppets and Neil Gaiman with a mullet. Enjoy!

Too funny...

Robb's made more money off his blog this year than the VPC raised in donations.

Of course I have too, just off those Amazon links alone...

Merry Decemberween to Me

Test fit some parts that came today.  They're pretty good looking, better in person.

Truvativ Hussefelt with a 38 tooth ring and a Howitzer BB.  Pretty beefy and should hold up to my big body thrashing the thing on the trail.

Blog List

I occasionally catch them in the Sitemeter, but if you link to me on yours, I'd love to return the favor and add your blog to the list over there in the left column.  Just let me know.

Quest for Caffiene

Caleb got a Decemberween present.  It's plain out awesome, and given my blog's name, I thought you guys may be interested.

"I Want" gun porn of the day

From AAC's facebook page-

"Keys? We don't need no stinkin' keys!!"

Multitasker Ultralight Review

Click through to open the box-

Sig .50bmg Pictures

The other day I mentioned Sig is coming out with a .50bmg rifle, among other things.  TFB has pictures.

Ruger LCP-CT

Ruger sent out an email yesterday announcing a factory option for the LCP with a factory installed Crimson Trace trigger guard, and included pocket holster.

A laser on such a diminutive gun sounds like a great idea to me, especially with the minuscule and non-adjustable iron sights machined onto the slide.

The pocket holster is also a fantastic thing to throw in, as the majority of these guns will be riding in a pocket at some point, and it's a good idea to keep lint and whatever else pocket crud out of the gun, and more importantly out of the trigger guard.

MSRP for the CT option is $548.00, or $190 over the non-CT version.

Rem 700 Bolt on Bolt Handle

From Kinetic Research Group. 

The "Bolt Lift" is exactly that, a bolt on oversized bolt handle for the Remington 700 rifle that requires no modifications to the rifle.  Currently only in black, but Tan and OD likely in the future.

(H/T SSD)

Son of Guns

Looks like there's a new gun related show coming out next month.  Discover Channel is premiering "Son of Gun" on January 24.  The show looks to be following a similar format to the handful of random manufacturing businesses they follow around for a few wacky antics filled episodes.  This time it's Red Jacket Firearms, known for doing Saiga conversions and suppressors (apparently even 12ga cans... come to think of it, a suppressed SBS Saiga 12 would be quite awesome...)

If nothing else, it's nice to see firearms getting more mainstream.

Lancer L5 AWM

Lancer Systems have announced a new polymer AR15 magazine to be officially announced at SHOT (well, pricing and availability to be announced then.)

The "Advanced Warfighter Magazine" looks to be an evolution of their current translucent polymer mags, with a more robust feed lip assembly and improved floorplate for easier disassembly.

The follower is supposed to be an anti-tilt design, which if true would alleviate my biggest complaint about their current generation of translucent mags.  (I can get pictures of what I mean later tomorrow if people are currious.  I've got two Lancers around somewhere.)

The body is also textured for better handling.

Coffee House Culture and Its Downfall

In 18th-century London, the slang phrase for withdrawal as a method of birth control was “to make a coffee-house of a woman’s privities, to go in and out and spend nothing.” (This, according to a contemporary dictionary of vulgar slang.) All these years later, freeloading is still an issue. Zeigel says he sees students come into the Golden Roast with their own food and drinks, just to use the free Internet. Shaun Parrish says there’s a reason why Java no longer has free refills—they can’t afford to. Because while he doesn’t like to think of coffee as a commodity, it is one, and it’s one with skyrocketing prices.

Sucky thing to do, and I don't understand why they'd let them stay.  I guess it must be some hippie thing to let the freeloaders hang out.  I guess we're just more courteous here.

On the other side of things, I do agree that slow drip coffee is all sorts of delicious.  I've only had it once at a place out of town, but it was well worth the wait.

I did kind of have to giggle about this too-

But the market has expanded so much that even crappy liquor stores carry random varietals and tape reviews from Wine Spectator next to the price tags. I’ve seen Grenache at convenience stores in Georgia. The Olive Garden has an Amarone on its wine list. An Amarone! And none of that would have happened without the Gallo brothers popularizing mediocre wine.



Like the way Starbucks has popularized mediocre coffee.

And if you've read my handful of coffee posts before, you know I feel much the same way about them.  Yes, I applaud their politics, but charging a dollar more per cup does not improve the flavor.

Sig's 2011 Products

The Sig Sauer Handgun Blog has the skinny, the P210 looks to be returning, and the 7.62x39mm carbine has made an appearance.  Part way through the list is this one too-

SIG 50 .50 CAL BMG, 29″ Barrel, 5 Round Box Magazine, Bi-Pod

It should be interesting to see Sig's take on a big rifle.

Cold

Woke up, the car wouldn't start (put a brand new battery in it last year when it did this, and now that it's cold again, same problem. Grr.) so, angrily, I bundled up and took the single speed to the coffee shop.

Two years ago, I pretty much road the thing nearly all winter, even through some nasty snow storms.  I don't remember it being all that bad, just made sure to put on the long underwear and a good hat.

As I was coming home, I could only come down to two conclusions.  Either Global Warming is indeed a load of crap, or I'm simply becoming less tolerant to sub-arctic temperatures.  Even with my shemagh wrapped around my face and my heavy deerskin mittens, I couldn't wait to get back inside. The bridge of my nose seems to always take it the worst, and hasn't yet recovered.

I'm leaning towards the first.

Darkship Thieves

I picked this one up after the fantastic Larry Correia suggested it to his readers a little back.  In so many words, I'm very glad I did.  It has been a very fun ride, and one of the better space operas I've read in a while.  So good I had to come on here and let you guys know about it as soon as I finished (seriously, I finished the last sentence, pulled out the netbook, and typed this up.) I'm just going to go ahead and steal some of Larry's words on this one-

Darkship Thieves is classic sci-fi and it is very good. Honestly, reading it took me back to when I was a teenager and first discovered Heinlein. It is kind of a libertarian space-opera adventure. Sarah’s got big ideas, visualizes an interesting future, and writes a really fun main character. Athena Hera Sinestra is a troubled, snarky, pain in the ass, stubborn, rich kid, with an attitude. Basically she’s a badass, she’s funny, and you can’t help but root for her.

And I've got to say, I agree 100%. 

M&P22 Photo

Buds Gun Shop has a picture.

Word is they're being manufactured by Walther, and will be in 10 or 12 shot flavors.

I'm hoping it fits in standard M&P9/40 holsters.

First mentioned rumors here.

Bang

Gifts for Guys

From Gear Scout.  I think I'd be happy with just about anything off that list, save for the chew tin pouch (that stuff kind of grosses me out...)

Dummy

Fine Art

Playing a little with photoshop.  The original photo wasn't quite what I wanted, so I messed with it a little, and I think it turned out alright.

Magpul RSA

The Railed Sling Attachment is now shipping out to retailers.  It looks to be a good alternative to what I'm running right now, and the price is much better than similar options, so I may be looking to pick one up in the future.

Time of year

It's finals season and I woke up with a splitting headache and an old Army injury demanding I earn this month's disability check, so forgive me if there's not much happening around here the next week or so.  I do have some gear reviews on the horizon, some great products I'm excited to get the word out about.  In the mean time, real life has to butt it's ugly head in.

Every Question From Every Gun Forum

Brought to you by a couple talking cartoon puppies.  (Careful, there's a couple f-bombs at least...)



(Found it on Gear Scout)

I see your...

...Couch Ninja, and raise you a Hotel Lounge Sniper.

Golly Gee Whiz!

This is to inform you that your email have been selected for a cash prize of £950,000.00 and a brand new BMW X6 Series Car from the BMW AWARD DEPARTMENT in London Uk. Contact Dr Smith Goodluck by Email: bmwautomobilecompany43@yahoo.com.hkwith the following: Names:, Country/Address of resident:, Occupation:, Date Of Birth:, Phone Number

It's from a doctor, Dr. Goodluck no less, so it must be legit, right?

Somehow I don't think so... say hello to my gmail's spam bin.

M&P .22lr pistol?

And not the AR clone.  Somebody on ARFCOM found this.  A Google search pops up a few more retailers with similar ads.

Would be nice.  There were hopes of this last year, but SHOT Show came around and it didn't appear.  Maybe this year?

Heh.

It made me giggle a bit too.

Restrepo

I haven't seen it yet, but I want too.  I guess you can buy it here.

(It's on the wishlist over there <--- if you want to get a blogger a nice Holidays gift...)

UCP RIP?

Gear Scout says yes.  Couldn't have happened to an uglier camo.

QOD

Robb sums up why I avoid debating gun banning and the like in any social situation.

The thing is, she’s a standard gun banner. Devoid of facts, bases her opinions primarily on emotions, can’t let people comment on her blog without approval, and completely lacking in any real common sense. I have no issues with other gun bloggers relentlessly poking fun at her, but for me I have other things to do, like clean the lint out of my belly button or trim my nose hairs.

If I realize I'm talking to somebody who's on the other side, I generally just change the subject or leave the AO.  It's simply not worth the time or effort really, I'm not going to change their minds, and I have enough frustration from everything else in my life.

I will admit that I did break my personal rule once, but there was much alcohol and a cute girl involved.

Back to the lot...

It was bugging me that I couldn't get to the same spot I took the first couple shots from last night, but I was able to get in there this evening, about 40 hours after it first started falling.

I still nearly got the car stuck in a drift getting there.  The stuff piled up deep in some spots, especially with the wind wipping across our largest parking lot.

The nearest big box store made some cash out of the deal, I saw more than a couple students walking from the store to their cars with brand new snow shovels.

Must be crappy out...

So I checked the stats for today, and noticed they were slightly higher than normal, which is weird for a Sunday.  Then I thought about it for a second, and checked the handy little map on Sitemeter-

Reminded me of another map-

Sorry... geography moment...

But I do agree, nice day to stay in and surf the blogs.  Too bad some people have to work...

Snow

Most of it's stopped falling, just blowing around now (calling for -25 or lower windchills through the night though.)

Dad got the money shot after clearing the driveway this morning though-

Most of it in about a 24 hour span.

Cat $hit One

Don't know how I missed blogging about it, but episode 1 of the animated series "Cat Shit One" has been floating around for a while.  Cute fluffy bunnies with guns is always a good thing, especially when they pute so much detail into said guns.

And it keeps coming...

I wanted to get a picture from the same spot as last night, but that parking lot is unnavigable at this time without some serious ground clearance and traction.  Instead enjoy the view of the sidewalk in front of the office.  Grounds cleared the sidewalk not too long ago, but the stuff keeps falling and the wind keeps blowing.

On a less exciting note, which may develop into a much more exciting one, the wiper blades on the squad car have more or less self destructed due to the ice.  Good times.

Front Towards Enemy

Ick.

This was about an hour ago-

Supposed to keep up until maybe late at some point tomorrow night (ok, tonight.  Some of us haven't gone to sleep yet though.)

Already pushing three to four inches, rumors are somewhere from 8-12+ by the time it's all done.  Joy.  Snowshoes are in the back of the car, just in case.

Update:
Same location about two hours later-

The little Chevy after running for 15 minutes-

Poor little thing.

Anyway, bedtimes for me... as the sun comes up.

More Cool

Antikythera Mechanism built out of Legos.

Weekend dose of cool

Scrollable panoramic view of a P-51 cockpit(like you're sitting in the seat. Up, down, left, right, zoom.)  Pretty freakin' sweet.

Multitasker Tube Update

I got one a few months back, and wrote it up here.  It's still rocking, and since then I've added a few things to the case, so I thought I'd toss up some pictures and mention what's what.

I picked up an Otis M16/M4 cleaning kit recently, and tossed a couple items into the Tube's case, making for a decent "quick problem solver" sort of kit.  I think I'm pretty well covered for most issues I've run into with using dirty dirty Wolf and the like.

I added the short cable and bore brush from the Otis kit, along with a little bottle of CLP.  Between this and the Boresnake that lives in my ACS stock, I feel pretty well covered (I do need to grab the broken shell extractor out of my range bag and toss it in here now that I think of it...)

I've run into the problem of a stubborn chamber on the range before. Thankfully a squirt of CLP and a run through with a Boresnake took care of things, but having a dedicated chamber brush makes me feel better.  The Tube is threaded to be compatible with Otis components, and makes a great handle for the short cable and chamber brush.

Just lock the bolt back, insert the brush through the ejection port, and give it a few turns.  Follow it up with a pass or two from the Snake, and it's good to go.

Multitasker's full line is well worth checking out, and the Multitasker Tube still remains a great addition to your range bag or SHTF kit, or whatever you keep your AR stuff in.

Oh, I'll be reviewing another one of their offerings pretty soon too, as soon as I get a chance to try and break it.  Here's a teaser shot though.  Serendipity, thy name is Multitasker.

Nicely done...

For the 2nd time ever, nobody died hunting deer in Wisconsin.  Except deer of course.

1,000lb Max Capacity Camel

So ease up on that straw.

Blegh.  It's nearing the end of the semester, so there's that, but a goodly amount of other little annoyances have decided this is the week to stack up.  Midway shipped a 12ga mag extension, which doesn't fit the new shotty for some reason, and the Galco holster I thought I'd try out does not work with M&Ps with the thumb safety, so I was looking forward to the post office at this time of year.  Add a handful of other recent issues with various parcel services and I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just hand deliver everything.  Less stress and I'd get to see the country!

Unfortunately I got off to a late and extra grouchy start as the little Chevy did it's party trick of draining the battery as it sat overnight.  It likes to do this on average about once a month, regardless of anything being left plugged in.  The battery's less than a year old too.

No big deal, just pop the hood and jump it, and it's fine for another month.  Except winter is upon us, and apparently neither car at the house will have a working hood release until April when the cable thaws out.  Nothing like crawling under a car in the snow and gravel to wedge your hand between the radiator and hood support to trip the latch when you're already grumpy.

There's a handful of other things, but it's not worth dwelling on.  I just felt the need to vent a little.  I'm going to sit down and read a book and sip on some coffee before choir and then play games the rest of the day.

Guns and Coffee Slingers

A Dutch Bros. employee violated company policy and shot a bad guy during his late night shift with his concealed carry piece.  Rather than getting all butt hurt, his boss gave him 30 days paid leave, picked up the tab for counceling, and the company is going over their "no weapons" policy to see if it truely is the best idea.

I kind of wish there was one around here, I'd go buy a cup.

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I'd hog all the fun for myself.  I need to hit up bars more often durring blizzards.

WI CCW News

From Nik Clark yesterday:

Greetings in Freedom. 

Constitutional Carry continues to pick up steam in Wisconsin.  There is senior leadership in both the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly who are advocating, and will be introducing legislation to repeal 941.23 and 167.31 (and clean up some of the other laws that infringe on the right to carry in Wisconsin) to bring true right to carry; "Constitutional Carry", to law-abiding citizens of Wisconsin.  No permit taxes, no government registration, no expensive government training mandates. 

Based on the information I have, I genuinely believe that "Constitutional Carry" has the inside track to pass in Wisconsin this spring. 

Its critical to get in contact with your legislators to ask them to support "Constitutional Carry".  We need as many legislators as possible to sign onto this legislation. 

This link will take you to a "Constitutional Carry Legislative Initiative Flyer"  It is 2 pages, but is intended to be printed on 1 page (front and back) 

http://www.wisconsincarry.org/pdf/WCI_constitutional_carry.pdf

 I urge you to PRINT out this document and MAIL it to your State Senator and Assemblyperson. 

 Emails are quickly discarded, but mailing this document assures you that along with others who will mail this document, it WILL end up in your legislators office on a desk and it will be read.

 Call your legislators. Ask them what their position is on concealed carry.  DO NOT try to debate with them if they do not express support for Constitutional Carry.  They are politicians and its very unlikely you'll change their mind trying to debate them with one phone call.  Rather listen to their position, POLITELY share with them your views and ask that they would consider supporting it as well.  Then mail this document to them.

 Your phone call along with hundreds of others WILL have an effect on some legislators.

 Pass this document along to your friends and family who support the right to carry in Wisconsin.

 Lastly, if you haven't already, visit: www.wisconsinccw.org  this site is a joint effort between Wisconsin Carry, Inc and the United States Concealed Carry Association.  The commercial on that page is currently running on the radio in the Milwaukee market.  We hope to draw enough funds to run that commercial across the state.

 That page has an online petition as well as an action plan to contact your legislators. (make sure to read the 3-step action plan on the lower left side of that web page.

 Carry On!

 Nik Clark

Chairman/President - Wisconsin Carry, Inc.

nik@wisconsincarry.org

Pretty cool

FG-42

Why digital is great

Aside from ease of processing, it's sooo much cheaper.  Plus card capacity is nice too, I usually run an 8GB card in my DSLR, and at highest resolution it will still hold 1000+ photos.  Beats the snot out of a little 36 exposure roll.

Surefire going for the hi-cap mag market

With quad-stack box-ness in 60 and 100 round flavors.

I will say the 100 rounder look absurd, but apparently their pushing more towards the 3-gun crowd rather than the new Marine LMG (I don't see that 100 rounder going prone anytime soon without it's on little trench...)  They're of metal construction, it'll be interesting to see how the inside is setup.  According to SSD they should be "officially" announced at SHOT, and available next March.

Quads are nothing new, as Tam reminds us, but it's still interesting to see something available.  No word on Magpul's quad though, should be interesting to see what the price comparison will be between molded polymer and welded aluminum though.

More- Gear Scout spoke with the guy's at Surefire, seems they're actually pushing them more towards your standard infantrymen, calling them "anti-ambush mags."  Check out their article for more info and some more pictures.

Mmm... Booze.

Tam forgot to plan for 21st Amendment day, and is stuck in a dry Sunday state.  Thankfully I'm not, so I need to pick up some beers after my concert (I'm currently out! The Horror!!)

I remember a Sunday when I was stuck in Minnesota getting ready to go overseas.  A bunch of us Wisconsin natives were trying to track down some beer and weren't aware that you can't buy any on Sundays there.  Just seemed so... wrong.

Seen it before...

But a reminder is always welcome.

Check your ammo!

Locked & Loaded

A pretty decent profile of an OCer down in Madison.  Decently researched and well written.

Of course PSH ensue.

 One thing for sure — let a few folks go nutso or a couple of gunfights erupt in a bar and you will see a rapid change in the public attitude toward weapons, concealed or open, and soon after laws would be changed.

Just like in those 48 other states that allow CCW...

(h/t to The Duck)

As the snow starts to fall...

My Ska intake seems to increase.  It's like vitamin D for my ears.

Oleg makes a good point.

As always.

Neat stuff

"Unusual Guns," ie, guns that look like something else.  Some of that kind of stuff is ingenious, I love the pocket watch.  I wonder if it'd be possible with modern electronics and micro-motors and stuff to make a modern equivalent with a working watch...

I can stop whenever I want...

...I swear.  I just don't want to yet.

In the "so cute it followed me home" category is my newest acquisition.  An adorable 20 Gauge Remington 870 with the shorty youth stock and an 18" barrel.  It was just so darn cute tucked into the rack surrounded by all the big 10s and 12s.

I need to get some pictures of it with something for scale.  I didn't believe it was a legal length barrel until I got home and took a tape measure to it.

It's the Magnum version to, so it will accept 3" shells.  If I ever settle down with some cute little lady, I wouldn't feel too out-gunned with her backing me up with some Magnum Buckshot rounds, even in a 20ga.  In the mean time, I'm sure it will make a handy training tool, and should be all sorts of fun in general.

Convenient

Palmetto State Armory has AR lower parts kits with the pistol grip and trigger guard swapped out for Magpul MOE equivalents.  I've got at least two, maybe three plain pistol grips and two or three trigger guards laying around from prior builds, good to see this option out there.

It's been nagging me as well.

Is this really a victory?  Because it really strikes me as a bit of a waste of resources, let alone the borderline entrapment.  Did we at least gain some intel on his contacts or anything?  Did he even have any contacts other then FBI agents playing make-believe?

Ah Hippies...

Overheard in the coffee house-

"It says he used two 9mm semi-auto handguns.  Where would you even get your hands on something like that?"

I don't know... any reputable gun shop?  I have no idea what news article he was reading, but sometimes it's mind boggling at how detached certain parts of society are.  I think this just cries out for more education.  (Although I'm fairly certain the hippie in question is a professor at the college, either English or Communications... so there may not be much hope for this case.)

To look cool...

...right?

Caleb hits on a couple subjects I've been to overworked to talk about, numbering mags, and the importance of "pressing out" when you engage with your handgun.

I've been numbering my mags ever since I had more than 2 of any kind for my primary mag-fed systems (ARs and handguns.)  Somebody asked me a while back why, and I simply said "because when one craps out I want to know which one it is.  Crapload cheaper than replacing them all..."  Watching the light come on in his head was great.

The press-out (moving from a high-compact hold, pressing the pistol straight out at your target) is also a key concept in fast shooting.  It clicked for me when I was watching The Art of the Dynamic Handgun and Travis was explaining it.  It's all about conservation of movement, something the Magpul guys are all about.  Smooth is fast.  Caleb's post makes a lot more sense than my caffeine deprived mind can convey at the moment, and he's got a link to some videos too.  Well worth your time.

Made more betterer

"Improved" HK416 in 300BLK.

Wisconsin CCW Ad

60 second clip for Constitutional Carry:



Aside from the first little "inside the house" bit at the beginning(not really a CCW situation,) it's pretty good.

A little pick-me-up

on a crappy day (at least here, the weather is full of suck.  At least the stuff falling out of the sky has finally solidified...)

Anyway, enough whining, go read.

One plus of living in Wisconsin

Milk. In glass bottles. At the regular old grociery store. If I wasn't lactose intolerant I'd be all over that.

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Good Question

Breda poses one.

I just think it's because we gunbloggers are such diverse and dynamic people.

100 Best

Movie Spaceships

Flipping through killing some time...

ETA:  Now that I've flipped through, good to see Serenity in the top 10, if not for the design of the ship, but for what it stands for.  As for the number one choice, well, it may be heresy in some circles, but really?  Just because it's from Star Wars?  The most overrated franchise I can think of? Lame....

Work

I was hoping to get some stuff up, but I've got a total of 15 hours on the clock today at work... ick.

Hooray!

Back in September I talked a bit about some gloves, and quite a few readers ordered some from the link I provided, and picked up some other stuff while you were at the Amazon.  Amazon, in return, gives me a cut depending on how many things you guys buy after linking from the ol' blog.  It's a pretty sweet deal, and gives me some extra motivation to keep this thing going.

As I said, September was a pretty good month, higher numbers means a higher percentage, and there were some higher priced items bought.  An hour or so ago they sent me a gift certificate code, and I finally ordered the lens I'd been planning to get for a while for significantly less than the regular price.  So now I'll have some good zoom ability (I've been running a 35mm primary almost exclusively, great for shallow focus portrait stuff and low light, but no zoom) and you guys are to thank for a good chunk of it.

Confidence Inspiring

FedEx looses radioactive package.

Black Friday

A friend sent me a text at oh-dark-thirty rejoicing in the fact that they were actually in line for the checkout already at Best Buy, and glad to simply be inside (wind-chill is currently sub-zero.)

Thankfully I still had an hour and a half of my shift left, so it didn't wake me up or anything.  Now I'm sitting in my usual caffeine dispensary sipping a nice warm cup and waiting for some fresh cooked, locally produced eggs and getting some much needed words put up around here.  I may poke around the interwebs over the weekend and see what other bike parts I can find for a project I have in mind (already got a set of wheels for $70!)

I'm fairly certain the only retail place other than the coffee house I'll be visiting today will be the comic shop since I was busy playing Army all Wednesday and missed the new books for the week and for some reason he was closed yesterday.

Wheeeeeeeeeeee

Combine a decent amount of sloppy snow and freezing rain with my little car's lack of anti-lock brakes along with the city's budget saving decision to avoid spreading salt at intersections that the streets manager can't see from his office window, and you get me simply going around the block on the way home rather than making that last turn onto my home street after work.  Not for a lack of trying mind you, but physics will be physics.

Neat

Long Day

A good 400+ miles of driving, mostly in a Humvee. Hopefully catching up in a couple days.

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Mmmm.... Coffee...

Second shift in a 24 hour span.  Being understaffed at work sucks some times.  Thank the various gods for coffee.

Flow...

I've been watching a lot of Danny MacAskill videos the last couple days.  His flow is just amazing and he makes things look so effortless.  Plus the cinematography in this one is just fantastic-


I started riding park bike way too late in life to even think I'll get that good, and thanks to an old Army injury I can never ride a rigid fork on stuff like that.  Regardless, I think we can all appreciate the planning and grace of execution that he puts into his riding.  Imagine shooting a practical match with that good of flow...

National Buy Ammo Day

It somehow got eclipsed with all the stuff going on, so I need to go pick some up.  Probably just some more 9mm Tulammo, but it's the thought that counts right?

I hate this time of year...

It's all of 32 degrees out at the moment, and I'm nice and warm in a coffee house (it's the radiating hatred from the hippies at the gun stickers on my EeePC, I swear) full of delicious coffee and chicken and wild rice soup.  Unfortunately I have to go back outside in a half hour and go to my last class for the day. (Granted, can you really call choir a class?)

Sadly, I know that it's only going to get colder for the next few months, and snow will only be pretty for about a half hour before I remember that it makes lots of my usual pastimes nearly, if not entirely, impossible.  I need to get rich and get a winter home in Arizona...

Browning 1911-22

Browning's apparently coming out with a .22lr chambered 1911 clone.  Cool.

Unfortunately (at least in my mind) is that they've decided to follow the Sig Mosquito and build it to be about 80% of the size of the centerfire equivalent.  Le'sigh, as the French would say.  I don't quite understand the reasoning for building scaled down .22lr clones unless you're going for the novelty approach like the old half-scale Tippman Browning Machine Guns.  Those were cute.

Apex Kit inbound

Finally broke down and ordered the Carry/Duty kit for the M&P9, should be here and maybe installed in time for Thanksgiving break.  In theory it'll lighten it up a little and smooth everything out.  I've heard all sorts of good things about them, so I've got decent hopes.

I guess I should break down and get my hands on a trigger pull gauge if I want to do a good review of it... anybody know who's got them cheap?

She does beat up the brass...

CETME Modelo C, full auto, filmed at 1000 frames per second. Pretty cool.

From Perro over at Military Firearm.

Vickers & DD

Larry Vickers and Daniel Defense have teamed up to provide a training dvd.  Could be a decent alternative for those who can't get past the fan boy feel surrounding the Magpul Dynamics offerings.

Congratulations!

Caleb Giddings Joins The Cheaper Than Dirt! Team

I'm a bit jealous.  One of my life goals is to convince somebody else to pay for my ammo.

Bored....

Schedule change at work has left me with Monday afternoons/evenings off.  Don't know what to do with myself.  Unfortunately it's November, so by the time I'm done with classes there's not enough time to get stuff together and get to the range before it starts getting dark.

Hand Sheaths 0.5

A familiar blogger guest writes a post over the Mechanix Wear blog.

Sharp eyed readers may have noticed the gloves I've been rocking lately, and now I can let the cat out of the bag.  They're a pair of prototype Mechanix Wear 0.5 tacticals, and they are quite the sweetness for light duty shooting gloves.

Hopefully these are Tacticool enough for Tam.  ;)

.22lr SCAR

If you haven't noticed, I like .22lr clones.  I've only got two at the moment, but they're both lots of fun.

The Maddened Fowl has found another one, this time a SCAR from ISSC.  If it's priced right it could be fun.

Movie Guns

Always a fun topic.  Americanrifleman.org has thrown together a list of their 10 favorite ones.

>:P

About 15 minutes ago the slow rain that we had all night subtly changed into snow.   Thankfully it's melting as soon as it makes touchdown.

Ha!

Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey of McAlester, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., headed to their minivan, only to discover that its front and rear passenger-side tires had been slashed.

To make matters worse, as their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police.

Your Daily Awesome

From Oleg.

Huh. Looks like I'm not the only one...

It looks like somebody's producing "training" SAPI plates, something I wondered about recently.  Unfortunately, despite being "training" plates, they're still rated for 5.56 and cost $150+ a piece, plus are restricted to LE/Mil sales.  I guess it's a start...

WisconsinCCW.org

Wisconsin Carry Inc. has joined up with the United States Concealed Carry Association to create WisconsinCCW.org, with the goal being Constitutional Carry in Wisconsin.  The sight's pretty new, but there's already 611 signatures on the petition.

It's hard to tell sometimes...

...if some things are serious, or a joke.  It's even worse when the Taurus Judge is involved.

1911 .22lr Conversions

So I'm contemplating a conversion slide deally for the 1911 to get some good cheap training, and the little Walther just doesn't cut it (controls are all in the wrong place and the gun is tiny.)  Anybody have experience with any of the kits out there?  I'd prefer to keep it under $300 or so, otherwise I'd just attempt to track down a GSG1911, but I have yet to see one offered at my usual places.

Good

Follow up from the flag issue in California I mentioned yesterday- it looks like the school pulled their collective heads out of...... you know, and reversed their decision.

Well that was a let down...

It's always great to drive 30 miles in the rain to find an empty building and a handful of guys standing around going "isn't there supposed to be a gun show here?"  At least I know I'm not crazy since there was at least two other guys in the parking lot, and another guy walked into the nearby gun shop to ask what the heck is up with the gun show a couple minutes after I did.

M4 Upgrades

This is the most logical solution in my mind, and it's good to see the changes coming down the line. Military.com reports:

Upgrades to the M4 include a more resilient barrel, ambidextrous controls and a full-automatic setting. Add better ammunition, and Soldiers will have a more lethal weapon to fight insurgents, according to Program Executive Office Soldier, which introduced the improvements.

The Army says they plan to start issuing them to guys going to A-stan in the near future.

(h/t Uncle)

Yeah... I want one.

Can we get these imported? Please??

More .458 SOCOM

From Oleg Volk.  No pictures this time, but:

In complete darkness (two hours after sunset), the 16" rifle with 300gr SBR ball showed minor red glow entirely contained in the flash hider.

If only ammo wasn't so freakin' expensive...

Eww.

After the better part of a weeks worth of unseasonably warm weather, we're back to a proper Wisconsin November.  Currently 39 massive degrees, dark, grey, and drizzly.  Ick.

Probably go hit up the gun show in the small down down the road and see if I can't cheer myself up.  May be optimistic and keep my eye out for a S&W 442 without a hole in the side or something comparable.  If all else fails, maybe a little Kel-Tec.

250 rounds of Dot Torture...

And all it did was make me feel like I suck.  Seriously, it's possibly the most humbling shooting exercise I've done yet.  If you haven't tried it, print some off and do it.

Maybe I can blame the TulAmmo or the mediocre factory trigger on the Smith.  I was pushing a lot of shots left (me, not the gun, if I took my time and concentrated they were spot on to point of aim) so this may have been the last push for me to place an order with Apex. Then again, maybe I just need to shoot more... A lot more...

Meanwhile in Kalifornia

School Forces Boy to Take Flag Off Bike

Veterans' Day

Thanks to all my fellow service members for all sacrifices, past, present, and future.

.458 SOCOM

Oleg Volk's been pimping the .458 SOCOM cartridge the last couple days, and I like what I've seen.  I've been intrigued by the concept since the inception, and he's got some pretty good arguments for it.  Of course his photos don't hurt either.  If it weren't for ammo costs I'd probably build one up for pure S&G factor alone.

How You Are Seen as a Soldier

From ENDO-

Looks about right.