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.

Petition to Repeal Wisconsin Statute 941.23

To:  The Legislature and Governor of the State of Wisconsin

The people of Wisconsin demand that Wisconsin Statute 941.23 be repealed as it is unconstitutional on its face and in violation of Article I, Section 25 of the Wisconsin Constitution and the Second and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution as was decided in the United States Supreme Court decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008), McDonald v. City of Chicago No. 08-1521 (U.S. June 28, 2010, and most recently in Wisconsin under State v. Donald L. Schultz, 2010 WI App 124 Jon M. Counsell Circuit Court Judge presiding for Clark County. 

The people of Wisconsin demand their constitutional right to keep and bear arms which is a fundamental right, not created by the Second Amendment, but secured or recognized by it. The right to keep and bear arms is therefore not to be abridged by any State law. Wisconsin Statute 941.23 must be repealed under the application of the Fourteenth Amendment. Therefore, the people of Wisconsin demand the right to keep and bear arms for self defense and protection, weather open or consealed and to enjoy that right without imposing any governmental restrictions in doing so. 

Statute 941.23 bans the carry of concealed weapons.

The petition is available to sign here.

False Spring

It got up into the lower 60s today.  Part of me (a large part) deep down hates that.  It's tricking my lesser instincts into thinking we've skipped winter, which would be awesome. It's only going to make the next few months that much worse.

In the mean time, I tried to hurt myself.   Got some decent pictures though.

I'm trying to forget that moments later I failed to clear the box with my back tire and now my headset's messed up...

I wonder...

Just saw a post about some low priced body armor at SSD, and it made me think about a conversation I had with shooting buddy Cro a couple months back.  I tend to run a very minimal vest on my own time (right now I'm favoring a bare bones Tactical Tailor mini-MAV) but he likes to run a full out plate carrier for training, which makes sense, seeing as the most likely time either of us will be engaging active targets is while wearing full IBAs with plates. (He even more so for the next few months... he says the mountains are pretty there though.)

The downside of this is that we're both poor college aged Reserve or Guard soldiers.  While being pretty serious about our weapons training, we plain don't have the scratch to drop on some plates, even the dirt level cheapest ones, to get the fullest effect out of training with that sort of setup on our own time. (And if you think plates don't make that big a difference when you're shooting, you've never shot with plates before.)

So we got to wondering, why aren't there any dirt cheap "plate simulators" out there?  Something made out of a hard material with the same weight at a hard plate, and coated in blue plastic with "FOR TRAINING USE ONLY" or something on there, with no ballistic rating?  That shouldn't be that hard for one of those blue-gun makers to figure out.  Keep them under $50 or whatever and I'm sure all the poorer mall ninjas would pick them up, not to mention a decent amount of part time soldiers who want to push their training to the next level.

Sig 7.62x39 Rifle Announced

Late last week it was revealed that Sig will be coming out with their 556 type rifle chambered in 7.62x39mm, and possibly using standard AK mags (may look like this.)  While I'm not actively looking for something like that (I feel the AK platform does everything I need for that particular cartridge,) it is always good to see new developments and options.

Utilizing the proven and abundant AK mag is also a great idea.  I can't help but think part of the AR's popularity is that there are possibly hundreds of magazine options these days, and having some weird proprietary magazine seldom helps sales. Unless you can produce them in decent numbers and for a great price (S&W M&P15-22 at less than $20 comes to mind, now that they're easier to find.)

Grumblecakes

At some point this weekend the facebook page picked up a couple more "fans," or "likes," or whatever it is this week.  Not a giant crowd like some of the others, but the small victories can be fun.

I hate being away from home during a daylight savings switch.  It never fails that I'll forget to reset my alarm clock, and thankfully this time it meant I was in my car and halfway to school an hour early, not cursing for sleeping through my first class again.  So I diverted my trajectory to the coffee shop and pulled out the netbook, and got a cup of delicious Mexican Chiapas so fresh that I don't know if it will cool down fast enough to drink before I have to actually get to class.

That's about it really, but I thought somebody would get a little laugh at me.

Sleep

As I sit watching the sunrise from the passenger seat of a 5-ton dump truck, I can't help but think of how nice and warm and comfy I was in bed a couple hours ago...

Not that I don't enjoy army stuff at times, but a November sunrise is aweful late in Wisconsin. And cold. At least the heater seems to work in this truck.

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Almost 100...

Fans on the facebook.  Neat.

Off to be a soldier for the weekend.

Ripped Pic of the Day

So my Mossberg 930 apparently has the ability to make any user appear to have arms constructed of pure awesome.

Not too bad...

Aside from the State Assembly position, I'm not too disappointed in today's results.  Unfortunately a few of the people I was hoping for got knocked out in the primaries, so there were a couple votes against rather than votes for, which always kind of suck.  Oh wells.

But on the upside, AG Van Hollen keeps his job, and I'm more than happy with that.

High-Larry-Us

The target at the end got me big time... the dogs are still barking.



My copy's in the mail...

Woot!

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Today's the Day!

I'm not going to tell who to vote for (contractual obligations and whatnot), but I will tell you to take a few minutes and do it.

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Lame...

So my old beat up Wiley-X SG1s finally gave up their long battle with life, and finally broke down and got an eye exam and some new sunglasses (my prescription hasn't changed since I got glasses my senior year of high school...)  Nice looking Colombia branded wrap-around type with polarized polycarbonate lenses (by the way, prescription wrap-arounds!  Awesome!)  Decent eye protection with good coverage.

The lameness, however, is what they included for a "case."

Yup... A little cloth draw string pouch.  The last pair of glasses I got, a pair of cheap $40 pair of plastic frames with the cheapest lenses available, came with a hard clamshell case... the $250+ Ti flex-framed superlight polycarb lensed regular glasses I wear all the time came with a hard case.  Unfortunately the new shades don't fit in those cases, so I have to shop around and find a hard case they will.

Oh well.  I should just be glad to have sunglasses again.