Morning Recoil Therapy

Some range time and coffee time with Cro this morning.  Also finished off all the photo ops needed to take a good look at his Egyptian FN-49 (so if that interests you, should have that up towards the end of the week, a crapload of photos to edit...)

Also, RRA NM AR-15A4 is all sorts of sweet.  And ringing steel at 100 yards with the M&P15-22, standing, offhand, is too much fun for my own good, even if I only hit the target 1/3rd of the time.

Follow that up with lots of gunny talk in the very hippie-vibbed coffee shop... hehee...

Stay Classy Madison!

Well, the occupiers anyway...

A neighboring hotel’s staff alleged voiced concerns about having to recently escort hotel employees to and from bus stops late at night due to inappropriate behavior, such as public masturbation, from street protesters.

Apparently that has prompted the city to not renew their permit... Knowing Madison politics, I almost find that surprising.

(h/t Boots & Sabers)

Still Alive

Just working night shifts the tail end of this week, and I don't sleep well to begin with.  Rest assured, I am well insulated from the insanity to the south for the time being.  (Although I think I may need to consider keeping my gear packed and uniforms ready...)

I make myself laugh...

Forgive the crap-tastic webcam pic, but I thought it's pretty funny that I'm sitting in a hippy haven type coffee house (seriously, there's a guy on the other side of the joint with a "Card Carrying ACLU Member" sticker on his laptop who I've heard ranting and raving about the Governor several times...) posting things on my gun-centric blog and wearing this shirt...

The pure political incorrectness of the back alone should cause an aneurysm in somebody here.

It's also the first time I've ever turned the webcam on on my little Eee PC, and I've had it for almost a year...

Support Libertarianism

By buying these brands.  Apparently the Koch brothers give hippies raging screaming fits (despite their support of Gay rights, the legalization of drugs, and stuff like that...) so there's a push to boycott certain brands they're heavily invested in.

Of course the cyclist in me saw COOLMAX® fabric, and the range rat gunny in me saw CORDURA® fabric right after that.  Also it's something to note that the first half of the list reads like a building contractors shopping list, and I thought building new houses was good(?)  Seriously though, that list is probably 90%+ of what's in your closet, plus what that closet is made of.


(H/T SayUncle)

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...

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.

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)

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.)

Gun Control for the...

...WTFness?

Some people...

Mild coffee shop rant... (aimed at another customer though)

So if you're too busy talking on your cell phone to correct the poor girl making your drink to the fact that you wanted a small triple mocha soy latte and not the large one she charged you for and made you, why did you bother to hang around taking up counter space while I wanted to order a simple cup of black coffee until you were done with your phone call just so you could complain?

Wow...

Not the kind of poster you'd expect to find in Cali.

First Timers

There's a bit of it going around right now, I think it got started by somebody complaining about suggesting women buy .38spc revolvers this time... (we all know my feelings on that crap...)

Anywho, I've had my fair share of first timers out at the range, and I think I've got a pretty good system down.  The pre-planning almost always involves the question "well, what do you want to shoot?(No, really, anything.  If I don't have it I probably know somebody who does.)"  The range trip referenced above for example was strongly based on that question since there were a couple new/newish shooters in the bunch.  (The answers, if you're interested, were "...something cool!" and "an AK, who doesn't like stereotypes?" (Adam is of loosely middle-east decent and has a good sense of humor about it))  Of course things always start with .22lr of some shape or form to get the basics down, plus I don't care how much .22lr people shoot up.  It's cheap enough that I'm cool donating it to the cause.

In my opinion, the most important thing with a new shooter is to make sure they have a good time.  The basics are important, because hitting your target is 3,000 times more fun than just making noise (which is still fun as hell by itself), but like with any habit, you need to hook 'em early.  Standing around lecturing and nitpicking every small detail of their technique can come later.  On the other hand, give a young dance major raised in a strongly liberal household an AK and a bunch of balloons... (ah memories...)(eta: Adam's not the dance major. She's much cuter.)

That brings up another good point, targets.  Paper's great for honing technique, but instant feedback is much more pleasurable.  Not everyone gets pleasure out of punching tiny little groups in the 10 ring, but I have yet to meet the shooter who doesn't love that "PING!" of a steel target.  Pick up a couple party packs of 100 balloons from Box-mart and you're set for some great first time targets.  Less walking too, there's no doubt if you hit it.  (Can be a nice change for us regular shooters too, put a couple small ones out at 100 and see who can pop theirs first... off hand... with 22's.  And some 8" steel at 300 with .22lr pistols is downright hilarious, especially when you hit. Pop........................................................................ping!)

And don't push your first timer either.  If they don't want to shoot the Earschplitten-Shoulderbreaker, that's fine.  Of course they very well could change their mind after you fire off a couple shots and show them it's not going to hurt them (in the BSA Climbing/COPE world we call it "Challenge by Choice.")  I'm sure we can all agree that guy who gives the 90lb girlfriend the .500mag and laughs as it bounces off her forehead should be punched, so don't be that guy.  But if they're perfectly happy popping balloons at 50 yards with the 10/22 all afternoon, just make sure you've got enough balloons.

Whatever happens, just make sure they have fun.  If you take out a first timer and they actually enjoy it, they're gonna be shooters for life, and that's why we win.

Huh... would have guessed more...

You are 8% hippie.

Ok, you conservative soul. Do you even believe in global warming? Loosen that necktie a little, and try some organic food. It actually does taste better. And go to a farmer's market--they're fun.

Are you a hippie?
Take More Quizzes

I do think it's a little biased.  I mean, yeah, I drink soy milk, but that's for medical reasons, not for moral reasons.

Although I'm not even half the hippy Breda is!

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

So I ducked into Best Buy to get a car charger for my new phone after closing formation, and as I'm checking out, in full ACUs, I mention how the little pen thingy on the card reader hates me.  He says something about thinking the computers they have are older than him (and really, they may be...) and says "maybe the government should do something about it."  I'ma go ahead and assume that the majority of the readers around here will know the tone used for that statement.

Sigh...

Why Liberals Should Love the Second Amendment

Pretty well thought out and decently written argument.  It's too bad that the people who really need to read this have such huge blinders on that they'll just write it off as crazy-talk from the title alone.  Oh well.

(H/T SayUncle)

FORBIDDEN!!!

Was going to link to a new scope development out of Israel, but Panera Bread's network says that The Firearm Blog is forbidden content, so no linky.
Steve, if you're reading this, be aware that you apparently strike fear into the hearts of sandwich makers.

Mythbusters

So we all (well, us gun people anyway) tend to rag on the Mythbusters and their mediocre gun knowledge, but watching their “Top 25 Special” did give me a bit of a warm-fuzzy.  The second one featured was Kari talking about how much she likes guns, primarily cutting down a tree with a minigun.  She said something along the lines of being a vegetarian hippie from California and never even thinking she would ever shoot a gun, let alone end up loving them.

I think every time I’ve seen her shooting on the show, she has a huge smile, the kind of smile Breda was talking about the other day.  Quite the awesome.

Heh.

After talking to one of my co-workers who lives locally, the random coffee house I stopped in at yesterday is by far the largest hippie-haven of La Crosse.  Nobody seemed too offended by the gun-company stickers on my netbook or the Bravo Company hat on my head though...

Good coffee though, and not too bad a price.  $2.10 for a cup, including one refill.  There's a used book store next door too, but my checking account said I couldn't even risk poking my nose inside there... another time perhaps.

What's a good way to set your coffee shop up for a hold up?

By actively making cops unwelcome.  I guess they just hope their karma will keep them safe (although I'd imagine that treating a human being this way simply because of their profession doesn't help out your karma much...)

My usual caffeine distribution center is all sorts of borderline new age and hippie-ish, but not too long ago they hosted a "morning coffee with the SPPD" sort of event, where the general public could come chat some of the city's finest in an informal setting. (I had classes, so I missed out on it, but the concept seems like a great idea.)