Libertarianism

Say Uncle has some good points on it.

You meet someone, discuss Libertarianism with them and they’re all cool with the end the drug war and lower taxes stuff. But when you tell them that you’d end Social Security and Medicare, that you’d let gay dudes get married, people should own machine guns, and let the banks run amok, then you lose them. People like the cool parts of Libertarianism but not that other icky stuff that goes with it.

 Kinda sucks that people just don't want to take the time to actually figure out what it really is.

Shotty

My arm looks huge!

USP Thoughts and Impressions

Dan picked up an H&K USP 9mm for a good price brand new, so he was willing to overcome the whole "you suck and we hate you" thing and buy it.  He almost didn't because of that, but he likes how it feels anyway, and they are pretty decent in quality, so more power to him.

I'll admit, it's a decent looking gun.

Look, Tupperware!

Overall, the fit and finish is quite nice, as you'd expect from something with H&K stamped on it, and it fit both of our slightly over-sized hands pretty well.  It came with fixed sharp three dot sights, and handles and points pretty well.  We didn't really do much accuracy testing, just a roughly kill zone sized target at up to 25 yards. (it was an impromptu evening range trip primarily to just blow of some steam... pretty well accomplished aside from the poor AR bolt...) Boils down to if it were a goblin, it would have been hurting.

Down to my opinions on it.  I'm pretty meh.  The checkering on the front strap is a bit too course and sharp for my likes (it's cut, er molded, at like 8 lpi...). The front strap has to be my biggest complaint.  It sure provides a pretty aggressive grip, but just holding the gun hurt my fingers to the point of distraction. The grip is also much boxier than my Sig, and the muzzle flip is pretty snappy, more so than my Sig even without the light.  (My only major complaint about the Sig.)  On the other hand, Dan has been a revolver guy up till this point, so he didn't really notice the flip at all.

No malfunctions were experienced in the 100 or so rounds shot through it, where my (albeit much much dirtier) Sig had 2 stovepipes in the same amount of rounds.  She needs a good scrubbing.

Another down side is the proprietary H&K rail, something Sig went away from by the time they got around to the Pro2022 series in favor of a 1913 standard rail.  I'll never fully understand why some makers insist on their own system when there's a fantastic industry standard out there... and I'm not at all surprised H&K is one of them.

Warm and Fuzzy II

80 year old kills armed intruder early this morning in Chicago.
And of course being Chicago, there's the possibility of the elderly vet being charged with possession of a handgun.  Thankfully:

A high-profile Chicago attorney has already stepped forward offering to represent the man pro bono if he faces charges for possessing a weapon.

"Self-defense isn't just a right, it's a duty," said attorney Joel Brodsky. "If this man is prosecuted for saving his own life it's not just a travesty, it's justice turned inside out." 

Warm and Fuzzy

A piece of scum gets what he deserves.  Complete with a post beating mugshot.

The fight soon moved outside, where Nguyen's mother continued to batter the attacker's face with the shotgun. To, the mother, kept up her barrage until the man gave up and neighbors came helped keep him on the ground until deputies arrived. 

And in Alabama, some more victims double it. (More pictures!)

The victims noticed that Taylor’s gun had no magazine in it and so was unloaded, Barnett said. They then decided to fight back, he said.

I love the inclusion of the pictures.  Hopefully some more stupid pieces of crap decide to not take the chance to end up looking like them after reading about it.

(h/t Say Uncle)

The Debate That Won't Go Away.

Fox News on the "M4 Debate," complete with a "fact box" "comparing" the M4 and AK.  Of course throughout the article they mention that the M4 is far more accurate, and that the AK is not the threat that they're worrying about at extended ranges.  But I guess comparing the M4 to the AK makes for a better read or something.  Of course they've also gotta make me cringe in the first paragraph:

The AK-47 uses a larger bullet, which leads to more kickback upon firing.

At least they didn't follow that up with how big the "clips" are...

The article also links to an Army Times article on the issue, which brings up the issue with barrel length and it's effects on the 5.56 ballistics.

“Unfortunately weapon engineers shortened the M16’s barrel to irrational lengths,” Fackler said. “It was meant for a 20-inch barrel. What they’ve done by cutting the barrel to 14.5 inches is that they’ve lost a lot of velocity.”

Something I've been saying for years.  I think the Marines are on the right track with their M16A4s and heavier bullets.

For a more amusing read though, The Firearm Blog brings us yet another article from Fox (really, is this like this weeks "mess with the interns" subject? How many articles do you need?) that seems to have been "researched" by said interns in a drunken haze.  Fox's "military analyst" brings us this gem:

Scales said the U.S. military simply needs to engineer a better weapon – he said the M8, a weapon that was under development before being halted several years ago, could be revived and improved for Afghanistan.

You mean that XM8 abortion of a rifle that fires the same 5.56x45 round out of a whopping 12.5" barrel in the basic configuration?  I think Fox needs to reconsider asking Mr. Scales for his opinions on small arms.

 I think this is one of those issues, that no matter what they decide on for a solution, there's still going to be an interweb full of Keyboard Generals tearing into the decision.  7.62 will have too much recoil, 5.56 is only making .22cal holes, if they pick 6.8 everyone will scream they should have gone with the 6.5... etc.

I'm going to wait and see how much effect the XM25 has over there before I really put too much thought into it.