How...?

How do people without trucks own houses?

1,876lbs of pavers and a little spruce tree.  Didn't even feel it driving home, not bad for an F150.

Browncoat Kilts!

What an inopportune time to have far too low of a bank account.

AltKilt is holding a sale on their "Browncoat Uniform Kilt", which is a pretty shiny look methinks.  Good chance to get a higher end modern kilt if you've been wanting one.

Operator Jenga

Equipment Operators that is.

Time Off

Of course winter returns when I finally have some. So hot coffee and light reading before game store geekery this afternoon.

Brr.

To go with the snow yesterday...

I try not to complain about weather too much, and snow in April is not that abnormal for Wisconsin, but single digit temps this late are.

I'm Certifiable!

At least in the state of Wisconsin.

Friday we had our final day of class, and officially graduated from the state Basic Law Enforcement Academy program.  So... I now have some free time again, and will be transitioning to a "real" cop job.  Hooray me!

Go Home Winter

You're drunk. It's the middle of April...

That was a first.

Never had an Army range shut down due to lightning striking the 150m target and shorting out the entire computer system before. Pretty crazy.

Apparently one of the medics got the strike on video, gonna try to track it down.

ETA: Still from said vid. Neat.

Rainbow!

Apparently the sun was in just the right spot to give my GoPro a "unicorn filter."




Oh well.  Anywho, target was a chunk of drywall at 50 yards, so I'm not going to complain too much about a couple misses in there.  Do need to get my hands on a sight pusher one of these days though, was shooting just a touch left.

All in all, it was a good way to burn off the afternoon.

Crazy for the day-

Meteorite nearly strikes a skydiver.

Weekend Update!

Not much to say, working my butt off with school and work.  I did clean out the truck the other day and found nine bucks!

Last week we powered through Firearms (the instructors said we probably did around 600 rounds each, not bad for 35 students on 4 lanes...)  The M&P performed excellently, and one of the instructors tried to buy it off me.  I was pretty stoked on Monday after I shot a clean qualification, and then I topped it with 100% on the written test the next day (go figure, I know gun stuff!)  Of course it's always fun to spend a week shooting somebody else's ammo.  On a positive note, the Wisconsin state standards are actually fairly decent for a basic duty pistol course.  My only complaint is the malfunction drills (not a fan of "phase 1/2", I'd rather do a 10-degree tilt and ID my problem before making it worse. That's just me though.)

Thankfully, next week is 'Spring Break' (yeah... spring... sure......) so I will actually have a few days off before actually getting overtime later on in the week.  Then three weeks of class left! (Well, two weeks of classes, and a week of scenarios and final evaluation stuffs.)  Hopefully that means more regular posting here!

Oops

300BLK in a 5.56 barrel...

(from the facebooks)

Up Nort'

Been one of those weeks, did a 10k XC ski race last weekend across Lake Superior (just a little bit).  Did better than I expected for my second outing of the season...

Promptly got dumped on Monday, tossing 6 inches on top of stuff. It got warm the next couple of days and the "winter" storm rained on us last night. It turned into snow in the middle of the night. I guess that's a good thing, only an inch left in the yard stick so it can't snow much more, right?

Good Read

Blue Collar OODA Loop.

Grip Therapy M&P Edition Part II

Finally got psyched up enough to stipple the ol' M&P9.  I had dropped a pre-stippled grip on it a while ago, but still felt it needed some more purchase.  After lots of time spent looking at other ones online, and figuring out what I liked as far as looks, I busted out the wood burner (I picked up a sweet adjustable one with lots of interchangeable tips, all sorts of sweetness.)

MHI challenge coins also showed up today, so photo prop!

I also did two index pads on the frame at the front of the trigger guard.  I've had a chunk of grip tape on the reaction side for years, and went with a more permanent solution.

While I was at it, I also slightly undercut the trigger guard and smoothed that spot out, something I've been meaning to do for a while.  I choke up on the gun pretty high, and have worn a raw spot on my middle finger right at the knuckle after some longer range days, so this should be a nice change.

Next on the list is a new rear sight, just gotta decide if I want to stick with the tritium vials or not.

School's Cancelled

At some point I need to get the snowblower going and knock down the drifts in the driveway.

DAAT Recovery

Three days of getting beat up and lots of physical stuff. Thankfully O'so has a Special Release night going. Faster Than Dawn Brett dark ale. Tonight only. Yum.

And the ridiculous...

And of course, it's detachable (spikes optional).

SHOT '14

Just a couple things that really caught my eye looking through the coverage this year.

I was right about the R-51 and AAC-

Sexy and it knows it.

And Crye (of all new people) are taking a swing at breaking the shotgun mold.

Double-action revolver style from what I understand, with a 6 round magazine.  Coolness.

Turtle Skin Tactical Gloves: Withstand 28ga Needle

I can easily see how this could be a good thing for LEOs and Corrections personnel.

Over the Mantle

Finally hung up my first "rifle" in a place of honor.

My Grandfather made it out of an old broomstick and some scrap lumber, with the finish carving on the stock done by hand (yup, spoiled from the start with a custom stock!)  All three of us brothers had one, with our first initial carved into the butt. Mom found it a couple weeks ago doing some cleaning, and thought (quite rightly) that I'd like to take it home.

Light (but possibly interesting) Blogging Warning

Today I started the Wisconsin Basic Law Enforcement Academy, which is a 40 hour a week/13 week long course at the local tech school.  Long, tiring days, but lots of info and hopefully shifting jobs at work (for much higher pay and more sponsored training opportunities.)

So yeah, light talk here, and I'm gonna be a cop in a few months if everything goes right.

MagPod Entering Production

Happy New Year everyone. Sorry for the long absence, but we are happy to confirm that MagPod is in production as we speak (ETA around March), and we have been issued our first US Patent. Additional patent(s) pending.

It's taken a while, but it's OneUp's style to ensure a product won't hit the market until it's good and ready.  It has certainly come a long way from the prototype I got to beat up a couple years ago.

Seems Humid...

For this time of year.

Not quite the -75° windchill predicted, but it's still early.

G42

In my opinion, too little, too late.

The two things you always hear from the GLOCK fanboys are "carbine" and "single-stack 9mm."  So GLOCK jumped on the now overcrowded micro .380 bandwagon.  And unless the guy in the video has tiny hands, it's in the same size category as an M&P Shield or an LC9.

I'm sure it'll sell (it says GLOCK on the side afterall,) but I don't they'll have problems keeping up with demand.

Mmm...

You want cold?

We've got cold!

* Wind Chill Values... 20 To 35 Below Zero Saturday Night AndSunday. 40 To 55 Below Zero Sunday Night Through TuesdayMorning.
* Other Impacts... Exposed Skin Could Freeze Within 5 To 10 Minutes.

And the Packers can't figure out why they're having trouble selling tickets to this weekend's playoff game... (which means a potential television 'black-out' in most of Wisconsin.  That'll make for some angry drunks Sunday.)

Currently the temp is at a balmy -1°F, although it's breezy out there and feels like -16°.  Conversely, less than a week ago we topped out at a positive 40°F.  Go home Wisconsin, you're drunk (not that it's a surprise to anybody.)

I guess when you skip a winter, it decides to make it up to you!

ETA: We've got the lowest number... what do we win?

Remington R-51

Fixed barrel with a locked breach, and eventually will have a threaded barrel model. MSRP under $400.

Aside from the backwards looking rear sight (which makes sense from a CCW standpoint, just looks goofy) it's got a nice retro-futuristic look to it.  The fixed barrel and locked breach combo would be great for suppressor use too.

Awesome Weather

Is awesome.  A couple days ago it almost hit 45, today's high was -4 (windchill is currently cutting an extra 10 off that...)

Tonight's Entertainment

Hooray home ownership!

ETA: Heh, I didn't realize I took a picture of the Spanish side of the box.  It's a fancy humidifier that mounts to the heating ducts and taps into the water line, so you don't have to fill it.  Supposedly it'll handle our house plus another 500 or so square feet, and if all goes according to plan I won't have horrible sinus issues for the rest of the winter.