Begone 2020!
I would say that 2021 cannot be worse, but I am reminded of an Indian (dot) proverb:
"Just because you have beriberi and your wife is having relations with your best friend; it does not mean your house can burn down."
Here's hoping that things will improve.
There's many routes to it being better, we've only to take them.
It's about time they followed up on Death Magnetic!
What?
This will be the second album since Death Magnetic?
Wow.
And I used to be a fan.
I didn't even know about Hardwired... to Self-Destruct.
Wow.
St. Anger was the first album I didn't buy.
Lars did a damn fine job of alienating me by not shutting his cock holster.
Sad really.
It's telling to me that I haven't listened to Death Magnetic but once or twice.
Florida might have Florida-Man, but sitting on the back porch in shorts and a t-shirt having a cigar and a beer on Dec 31st more than makes up for it to me.
It's inspiring, but the inspiration is going into scheduled posts, not live, so I'm adding filler!
More filling! Less great!
Amazon Prime recommended it to me.
I was pleasantly surprised!
This is just under Safety Not Guaranteed for me and indie time-travel movies and just above Primer.
I am not sure if Predestination is an indie or not. It's my all time favorite time travel film.
Steins: Gate is up there too, but it's also up there with Primer for hard to follow.
I want a hippopotamus Model 59 for Christmas New Years
Only a hippopotamus Model 59 will do
I don't want a 459 doll, no 5903 dinky Tinkertoy
I want a hippopotamus Model 59 to play with and enjoy squee
I want a hippopotamus Model 59 for Christmas New Years
I don't think Santa Claus The Lovely Harvey will mind, do you?
He It won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him it through the front door
That's the easy thing to do
I can see me now on Christmas New Years morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo Model 59 hero standing sitting there
One of Harvey's co-workers is all freaked out by how many of her friends have bought firearms lately.
They even mentioned that many of them used their $1,200 stimulus payment to do the buying.
"That's not what that money was for!"
It's not?
But, Dearie, Congress has the authority to arm the militia.
I'm not bitching that they, for once, did something Constitutional.
Gun stores overwhelmed by customers returning $600 guns for $2,000 guns.
I know I'm watching what Congress is up to, it will affect if I get a pristine Model 59 or not.
We've even talked about 9mm vs .45 ACP.
But what about a 1911 in .38 Super vs a S&W M&P 45C?
Again, the M&P is 2 lb. loaded. The Gov't Model is 2.8 lb.
Reloads for the M&P are 0.5 lb. The Gov't Model are 0.4 lb.
M&P has 8+1 shots. Super 38 has 9+1.
45C does 2d-1 pi+ per round. Super does 3d-1 pi.
With hollow points this increases to 2d-1(0.5) pi++ and 3d-1(0.5) pi+
Average damage is 10 for .45 ACP and 12 for .38 Super.
90 points downrange for the Smith, 120 for the Colt.
The blued steel 1911 has soul; an elegant weapon for a more civilized time.
The plastic fantastic has durability and a brutish aesthetic appropriate to the primitive savagery of today.
Dear Black People,
While you're celebrating a teenager getting her life ruined for uttering CENSORED.
I will present you with a choice.
Either it's such a harmful word that it can never be uttered.
OR
The context of its use matters and must be considered before we consider if any harm has been done.
You're already using the latter choice based upon how you speak to each other and letting "musicians" use it extensively in their lyrics.
By ceding that there is a context where the word is harmless, you're admitting that it is not always harmful.
I know you're going to hate this next part, but you're going to have to start listening to how someone meant it rather than how you took it.
Why?
Because that "music" I mentioned earlier? It's becoming part of everyday American culture. You are teaching people to use the word on a daily basis in a manner that has nothing to do with race or racism.
When you use it to mean "dude" or "buddy" and that's the only context some young person sees it in, they are not going think anything about using it themselves.
So, either get used to it being used all the time by everyone, or start demanding nobody say it at all, ever.
I think the fact that we have to look so hard for someone to punish for racism as this says that it's rare as hen's teeth.
If your M7 holster is black, it's actually an M9 holster.
If you're trying to buy a repop one, you will often see them listed as M7/M9 as if they are the same thing.
Except for the color, they are.
Update:
Color is not the only indicator... Even if it's black now, if it left the factory brown, it's an M7.
This is why they gave up and just said M7/M9.
I'm trying to find out if the fittings materials is also a deciding factor. The M9 commonly has plastic parts, if the M7 had metal only it'd be a way to tell them apart even if both are black.
Being, presently, obsessed with getting a S&W Model 59; I bumped into something I didn't know existed.
They made them in .30 Luger!
There's one on Gunbroker now for the price of an actual Luger; $2,999.99 start, $3,399.99 buy it now. (Link will expire, so if you're reading this years from now, that's a dead link.)
Except for some proofs (Italian?) and the 7.65 on the barrel hood, it's indistinguishable from a 9mm gun.
One of the stupid friends has a problem.
She just cannot help herself from being the white knight whenever I have a complaint about the service at any place she's had no problems.
She has to explain to me how it really is and always manages to make it seem like it's my fault that it went wrong for me and right for her.
And she can't figure out why I keep getting mad at her.
The most recent is a place I've never actually been!
Based on the name of the place I chided her hubby about his dinner choice.
It's not an Irish place, it turns out, so his blackened shrimp and grits wasn't near so incongruous.
I asked how it was and they indicated good.
So I checked their web page. What there is of it. It's a "web page coming soon" landing page.
But they have a Facebook page.
So I looked for a menu link.
They have uploaded images of the menu.
You can make out the names of the dishes, but not the descriptions. Opening the image in a new tab gets it almost legible.
It's Facebook's processing of the image, not the restaurant's fault.
When I mention the illegible text and scanty web page; our hero springs into action!
It works fine for her, on all her machines and phone, with four different browsers; opens right up into a fully legible, full-page image.
I congratulated her on having better hardware and software than I do.
She asked why I'm taking it so personally.
There is no gorram excuse in the verse to have a shitty web page in the 21st Century. None.
If you're relying on Facebook to carry the load of a web page, you're either a moron or so cheap I don't think I'd trust your decisions about food purchases.
The M1916 flap holster for the 1911 is far less universal than the M7 tanker holster.
Just the Astra, and Browning fit from the previous list.
It's replacement, the Bianci M12, a very close relative to the UM84 (if not the same thing) lives up to the meaning behind UM (universal military) and fits everything on that list (except the long barreled .22's).
I've accumulated a couple three stupid friends.
They're great people, lots of fun, but stupid.
It would be better if they weren't textbook examples of Dunning-Kruger.
What I have realized, though, is they're the people I'm accumulating because the smarter folks assess me, then avoid me.
THAT is depressing.
If posting is light for a while, I'm processing this.
Fatman is nearly the stupidest premise and most ridiculous concept for a movie I've ever seen.
And I enjoyed every minute of it.
Shut off your brain, eat your snack from the lobby, relax and let the hooks do their work.
It works and it's fun.
Pure mindless entertainment.
It was designed for the M1911A1.
I knew from my trip to the Czech-German border that a Glock 17 would fit.
I'd seen them used with Beretta M9's.
Apparently, just about any normal sized automatic will fit!
S&W M&P 9
A fucking Luger!?!?!
Checked, but not pictured:
Astra 400 - Fits.
FN/Browning Hi-Power - Fits.
S&W Model 39-2 - Fits like it was made for it.
S&W Model 915 - Fits.
S&W Model 910 - Fits.
S&W M&P 45C - Fits.
S&W Sigma SW40F - Barely fits, trigger guard binds.
Glock 21 - Almost fits, can't get the tie-down strap latched.
Thanks to everyone who loaned me a gun for this test!
UPDATE!
Additional loaners have been checked.
CZ-75 P01 - Fits, but strap is very taught.
High Standard Sport King - Fits.
Stoeger Cougar 8040F - Fits.
Further UPDATE! 12Oct22
Astra 600/43
S&W 59
UPDATE! 08Apr24
Cz Cz-52
Ruger P95
The SJW's are upset that Mel Gibson made a movie and he's got the temerity to still exist after saying things that should have worked to get him cancelled.
Fatman is in the queue.
I swear, this is not my circus and these are not my monkeys.
I promise I fed the meter when I parked my elephant.
HONEST!
The Lovely Harvey's very first gun is a S&W SW357V sku 120124.
Two-tone stainless slide, black frame.
Made from September 1998 to January 1999. Hers was made on September 30, 1998.
The Standard Catalog optimistically says, "Values not reported. Likely to bring a premium for rarity."
She paid $260 for it in '99.
I am sure there's a S&W collector hankering to fill this hole in their "every variation of the Sigma" display...
... and willing to pay upwards of $275!
Hang onto anything long enough and it becomes a valuable collector's item.
Anything.
The trick is not dying of old age before "long enough".
That's got a massive effect on the crude CFR here in FL, if true.
That changes today's value from 1.67% to 0.100%.
That makes it the flu.
It also aligns things to how deaths of people with the flu have been reported for years and years.
Someone with stage 4 lung cancer catches the flu and dies, we don't count that as a flu death.
Someone with stage 4 lung cancer catches COVID and dies, we don't count that as a cancer death.
I'm wondering if the new spring fashions will be pine-tar and feathers for our political class.
Somewhat related: FL Dept of Health did not tabulate numbers on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day. The day after we got really high percentages of tests being positive (going from 8.6ish to 22ish percent), but the totals were inline with what the daily totals had been for weeks. Interesting anomaly.
Rendezvous.
I knew the word, and what it meant.
What I didn't know for many years was how it was pronounced.
I was reading about the Gemini program and the rendezvous in space.
Being unfamiliar with the word, I looked it up in the dictionary and got the definition.
I was too young to have learned the pronunciation symbols, and asked my mom, "What's this word?"
Being busy with kitchen stuff, she uttered her standard reply of, "sound it out," because I was constantly hitting her with words WAY outside her vocabulary.
So I did.
Renn Dez Voyz is how I said it for a really long time.
It wasn't until I was watching a documentary about the Ronn Day Voo in space... CLICK.
It's not the first time this happened.
Since it was available on Kindle, I decided to finally get my own copy of the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson (4th Edition).
It's a book I long ago should have broken down and purchased.
Got my new debit card from the account where my VA disability is deposited.
Call to activate it and they say I called from a number not associated with the account. Please contact my financial institution.
Try the land-line. Same thing.
Ugh.
I'll bet it's associated with the original land line from years and years ago.
Now I need to call them during their, literal, banker's hours on Monday.
Mutter, mutter, mutter.
Got an email from one of y'all, pointing out an error.
I fixed it.
Got another email, "you fixed one of two of the same error."
"What the Hell are you on about?" I politely reply (<- this is VERY paraphrased)
They quote me the passage with the remaining error.
And I still don't see it right away.
I hate when that happens.
My mind was reading what I'd intended to say, not what actually got typed in.
I'm going to try to paraphrase myself to be clearer...
When a machinist talks about tenths, they're talking about ten thousandths of an inch.
They know what they're talking about, but sometimes forget that for the rest of us a tenth is 1/10" not 0.0001".
I am seeing a similar trend with medical types (and I know a surprising number of them thanks to Harvey having once worked in rest-homes).
Case Fatality Rate is defined as the number of deaths over number of people diagnosed.
That's it. No consideration for the number of times a patient was tested negative. No allowance for a single patient to have been counted twice if they've contracted the disease again.
Just deaths/diagnoses.
Many places have started calling this equation "crude case fatality rate" to distinguish it from other calculations of CFR.
The numbers being bandied about by several people calculate out to the mortality rate restricted to the population under their care. This is wildly different from the CFR much of the time and often depends on anecdotal diagnosis from symptoms rather than a clinical diagnosis.
A classic being cited lately has been interstitial pneumonia. Many of the people who've died with COVID and interstitial pneumonia are of an age where the lung damage could be from asbestos. This is called usual interstitial pneumonia.
That makes the UIP a comorbidity with COVID.
Interstitial pneumonia caused by Wu Ping Cough would be idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
I looked it up.
It hardly matters to the patient who cannot get enough air, but it completely changes if the patient died from or with the rice rabies.
What I am seeing from Harvey's former associates is no attempt to differentiate between UIP and IPF; and an alarming tendency to consider the presence of either as a diagnosis of COVID.
Gee, how did the death numbers get inflated?
Jill Biden (Ed. D) keeps insisting on being called Doctor?
OK, she got a doctorate in education.
Technically correct.
But the truth of the matter is we wouldn't even know who she was if her last name was still Jacobs or Stevenson.
Mrs Joe Biden is only having a snit about this title because of whom she married. She's not being dismissed out of hand for insisting on the title because of whom she married.
In short, she's a nobody who's in tight orbit with somebody.
Trust me, I know from nobodies.
See my blog?
Something kind of fun over my many attempts to get a degree...
Math.
My first attempt at getting a degree was aerospace engineering.
Calculus is a cut class for AeroE at Iowa State. You don't pass, you don't advance into the core program.
The score you need to pass it unreasonably high as a limiter to the number of students entering the core classes.
If you just wanted to learn calculus, you took a different class with lower pass/fail standards, to be an engineer student, you learned calculus.
After three tries I passed. I also ran out of tuition money and tolerance for the BS of being a college student.
After a break I went back and was going to be a psychologist. Statistics are an astonishingly large part of psychology.Probability and statistics are, despite what so many people say, not not difficult. They are tedious, but they are not hard. But I burned out when I learned what the actual job would be. I loved the science, hated the employment prospects.
I took what I'd already learned and got an associates in machine design and drafting. A translator between those who engineer and those who build. That kept me fed until the peace dividends put experienced engineers in competition with me for mere drafting jobs. Why have someone who was merely qualified when you had someone who was overqualified and desperate to take the job at virtually any salary offered?
Back to college...
I ran into math again when I finally finished a degree and got my Business Admin sheepskin.
Accounting.
Accounting is not really math. It's really just arithmetic. But it's a way of organizing the number to give meaning to the numbers which can express beyond just figures. Fascinating, really. A BBA doesn't delve all the way into accounting, but it does give enough to grasp it.
All of that is a long-winded way to say, "with the data I have, from the source I took it from, my numbers are absolutely correct."
If there's a fault, it's in the source's data and not what I did to it.
Today's CFR is 1.69 from Florida's numbers which I have been tracking since March. The reason I started tracking it is they don't have a history. You can't check yesterday's numbers, so I put them in a spreadsheet.
Something about being a autodidact polymath is the checking of terms when entering new territory.
That little Wikipedia article on CFR really helps explain why the people who're most confused by the simple fucking math here are nearly always in medicine. They're not using the correct term when they say CFR and have group-thinked themselves into believing they're correct and everyone else is using it wrong.
It's like a machinist saying tenths when they mean ten-thousandths. It's wrong, but they know what they mean among themselves. It's only when they try to explain it to someone else who is using the terms correctly that things break down.
At least machinists can (usually) remember to correct themselves to say ten-thousandths.
I was going to allow the comment and do some refutation...
But it is better to post a snarky YouTube clip.
You sound like you know what you're talking about, but even a cursory check reveals you're bullshitting.
A walking breathing Appeal to Authority Fallacy.
How do I know?
Because I checked every point.
There were some things that did check out, but at the end of the day, the wheat isn't worth the chaff and I don't think I want to subject my audience to it and a tiresome point by point fisking of it.
I will limit it to two things.
There's books full of word definitions, even some good ones online, you are not Humpty Dumpty so the words mean what they mean, not what you wish them to mean.
It is better to know a great deal less than so much which isn't so.
Always remember when a magazine talks about doing something on a budget that NASA and the US Military have a budget too.
Florida is still running about 8.75% of tests for Wu Ping Cough are showing positive.
Some a little lower, some a little higher, it's a mean.
When we have a spike in positive tests, there's a corresponding spike in testing.
It's hard to gauge the epidemic on this basis, especially since it doesn't appear that the problem of testing iterations has never been addressed. Testing positive might mean nothing at all.
But if someone is artificially inflating the numbers through increased testing with overly sensitive methodology; it's creating great news.
The death rate is not keeping up with the infection rate.
Crude CFR is down to 1.70. What that means is 98.3% of the people tested positive have lived through it.
And I am still not convinced that the people listed as COVID fatalities died FROM it rather than WITH it.
FuzzyGeff braved the winter winds of Ioway to capture Jupiter and Saturn at their closest approach.
Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GX8
MFT Panasonic G Vario 100-300mm II Power OIS
ISO 1600, 1/30s, f/5.6, 300mm, brutally cropped.
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| Canon EOS M50: EF-S 55-250mm IS II: f/5.6, 1/30", 250mm, ISO 400 |
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| Canon EOS M50: EF-S 55-250mm IS II: f/8, 1/20", 250mm, ISO 800 |
Pretty low in the sky, so there's a lot of air before you hit vacuum here.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to be changing to an RF mount camera before too long. KA-CHING!
What's an R5 going for now? 3.6 Mosins?
But, you see, she isn't.
She says that she's not closing down her business in California.
As far as California is concerned, that's not moving and the "terrible policies, tyrannical government overreach, ridiculous taxing," and "so much more corruption", is going to follow her to Indiana because that's how Cali rolls.
You leave anything in your name there and they consider you to still be a resident and follow you to the ends of the earth for their cut.
Even better, they're talking about reducing the residency requirement to merely being in the state for 60 days total to be subject to their insane taxation schemes.
President Trump, veto this porkbelly piece of shit.
What are they gonna do? Vote you out of office? Condemn your moral fiber? Hate you more than completely and fully?
Veto this shit.
I'm not sick of winning yet.
Time and again, when I attempt to visit one of my friends who lives behind the dubious security of a gated community I am confronted by the morons the community association hires to run the gate.
We are not talking Alan Pinkerton here. We're not even talking The Pinkertons.
They're not motivated to do anything.
So you wait for five minutes after pulling up to the visitor's box and hitting the call button.
Then another five to ten while they call the wrong number for the place you're trying to get to.
This assumes that the person in question even has their cell phone on.
It also assumes that the unmotivated drone on the other end of the line bothers to get back to you while you're sitting there idling...
At 15 minutes I generally give up.
At five attempts to get in, I stop trying.
It really pisses me off too.
This is keeping me from delivering a battery to Mr Willard to get his phone back in service.
One thing I noticed, though, is there is no barrier to entry for a pedestrian, bicycle or motorcycle.
I have a bicycle!
I can park at a nearby business and pedal my ass in the rest of the way.
I didn't get a pic of Jupiter and Saturn at closest approach because it was cloudy and looked to remain so.
Of course, it cleared up just as soon as I got someplace without my camera.
FML
Not that it would have been a great shot with the high altitude ice hazing everything up.
Nightmares all night.
The only one I can remember is, at least, a new one.
Home defense scenario.
Details are vague and fading fast now that coffee is working its magic.
But...
I've successfully subdued one intruder when the other, who was prone on their belly, produces a gun, rolls over, springs to their feet and we shoot it out.
I don't get hurt, they get dead, but I'm slide-locked and the first one has disappeared.
And I cannot get a single one of the other guns in the house deployed. Either they're not where I think they should be, or they're stuck in their spaces.
Then I woke up.
Freud would probably say I'm suppressing an urge to have sex with a salamander or something.
A while back I noted that the S&W 915 preceded the 910 to the market.
They're both 3rd generation S&W autos derived from the model 59/459/5900.
It just hit me that the names are related to capacity.
The 915 originally shipped with a 15 round magazine and the 910 with a 10 rounder.
It was staring me in the face the whole time.
It makes me wonder if the 909 originally came with a 9-rounder, S&W lists a 9-round that fits all the 39 series guns.
Fine by me, but I intend to be a rat like a Bielski.
I noticed a long time ago that the few Jewish populations that fought did much better than the majority who didn't.
France, Germany and Poland also lacked a rifle behind every blade of grass.
It occurs to me that if I'm to be a S&W person who's listed as a playtester in GURPS: SEALs in Vietnam, I simply must have a Model 59.
Next year, the earliest examples become Curios and Relics.
Edit: Will a 915 suffice as a placebo placekeeper?
It's been noted before that the main purpose of the police is to protect suspected criminals from the citizenry so that the innocent can be sorted from the guilty in a fair and even-handed manner.
The citizenry has been noticing that this has been breaking down as more and more laws are passed (or repealed) which serve only to protect criminals from the citizenry and to prevent the criminals from being punished.
They're watching criminal advocates disguised as elected officials working to defund the police.
The criminals are certainly happy with the idea that the cops aren't coming.
Where they're not going to be happy is when the citizenry realizes; The cops aren't coming.
If there's no cops to investigate the dead burglar, there's no reason to not shoot them dead.
There's no reason to worry about shooting them in the back as they run with your property.
There's no reason to not follow their getaway car to their house and kill the rest of them too.
Vendetta will return.
We don't want that, but it's clear someone thinks they can enable criminals without it returning.
PS: Once vendetta starts to return, what few King's Men remain who try to keep vendetta from supplanting them, will be counted as foe and treated the same as the criminals they're protecting.
Such drastic realignments have happened more than once in America, in living memory.
The good news is once there's a few corpses and crime is dealt with, and the criminal's protectors displaced or dead, Americans have traditionally closed shop on vendetta and put the law back in place.
I'm kinda proud of this shot.
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| Canon M50, EF-M 15-45; f/4, 25", 23mm, ISO 100 |
Just a little streaking from the exposure time, but the fire pit illuminating the tree is cool.
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| Canon M50; EF-S 55-250: f/5.6, 1/30", 250mm, ISO800 |
I can almost get the ring-gap for Saturn.
There was once a time when I would never have described myself as a "Smith and Wesson person".
I liked Colts. I liked Glocks.
I didn't dislike S&W, it's just that they didn't make anything that really spoke to me.
The M&P 9 Shield is only the second S&W I've ever bought new. The pink gripped 640-3 was the first. It was also the first S&W I put an Apex kit into.
The ElectrolySmith is my second M&P, the M&P 9 was the first. Some might say that the '46 made .38 is my only M&P owing to a lack of M in the current semi-auto's sales.
I don't know why it took me so long to warm up to S&W, I am sure that their pandering to Slick Willie had something to do with it. At least nobody had to actually die before S&W repudiated that deal.
The M&P 9 Shield should have a Rcl of 2 not 3.
Giving it a 3 means changing a lot of small .380 and 9x18 guns official stats.
Installed an Apex Tactical Forward Set Sear and Trigger Kit into the M&P 45C today that I paid for myself.
It makes the trigger quite a bit lighter and crisper than the factory model, plus changes the geometry to more resemble a 1911 than a... I don't know what the factory trigger resembles.
Something that always gets to me with the M&P trigger is the snap and overtravel. It makes me twitch to the left quite often.
Trigger pull went from 7 lb. 2 oz. to 4 lb. 10 oz. with the silver "duty/carry" trigger return spring; that's in the same territory as my beloved Super 38! With the green "extra strong" spring it goes to 5 lb. even. I think I prefer the stronger spring.
Installation is... involved. You've got to take the frame completely apart and you need to slide off the rear sight to gain access to the striker block. It's not complicated at all, but there's some fiddly to deal with and several chances for a 'sproing' to bite you.
M&P 45C vs M&P 9 Shield.
As shown, both are 8+1.
The .45 is 2 lb. with 0.5 lb. magazines. The 9 is 1.5 lb. with 0.3 lb. magazines.
The 9mm fits easily in a pocket if you use the 7-round magazines. This is reflected by the Bulk -2 of the 45C and Bulk -1 of the Shield.
Loaded with hollow-points the .45 does 2d-1(0.5) pi++, the 9mm does 2d+1(0.5) pi+.
The 45C's range is 150/1,600; the Shield 140/1,600.
You need a ST of 10 to avoid skill penalties with the 45 and 9 for the 9.
They're equally hard to keep on target with Rcl of 3 for both. One kicks harder, the other has small grips. GURPS recoil is a "controllablity" for follow-up shots rather than a measure of actual recoil.
This is compensated by getting an Acc of 2 instead of 1.
Because Acc doesn't come up much in a dynamic fight and since 9mm will average about the same damage to a torso target (1-20, avg 10 for .45 ACP and 3-18 avg 10) and the 9mm is lighter...
The discerning GURPS conceal carrier will pack the smaller and lighter M&P 9 Shield in favor of the bigger and heavier 45C.
My Gods things have changed. Back in 1876 even a journalist was required to be a man.
"Let no easy-going journalist suppose that an Indian campaign is a picnic. If he goes out on such business he must go prepared to ride his forty or fifty miles a day, go sometimes on half rations, sleep on the ground with small covering, roast, freeze and make acquaintance of such vermin or reptiles as may flourish in the vicinity of his couch; and finally, be ready to fight Sitting Bull or Satan when the trouble begins, for God and the United States hate noncombatants."
J. Finnerty
In the before time...
There were once so damn many variations on the M&P it got tedious to keep them straight.
This leads to real work replacing or upgrading things.
Originally you had the option of having an external lock, or not.
You could have a magazine safety, or not.
You could have a thumb safety, or not.
If you chose the thumb safety, you couldn't choose the external lock (and vice versa).
This led to there being two frames*.
One that could accommodate the lock, one that could accommodate the thumb safety.
This led to there being three sear blocks.
One with the lock, one without the lock and one for the thumb safety.
Each of the three variations could come with a magazine safety as well, so a total of six assemblies.
Confused yet?
It gets better.
If you your gun didn't come with the external lock or thumb safety you also got a little plastic plug that filled the key hole in the frame.
None of this would matter in the slightest, but S&W upgraded them in 2009 or 2010 or so; bringing the count to 12 variations!
They changed the size of the sear plunger and put in a stronger spring.
This STILL doesn't matter unless you try to install an Apex Tactical trigger and/or sear. You need the newer, larger plunger for those kits.
Happily, Midway will sell you a no-lock, no-magazine safety block and a no-lock, yes-magazine safety block with the larger plunger. They will not sell you a thumb safety block.
It looks like Midwest Gunworks will sell you any variation.
Nowadays...
Gone is the very unpopular external lock.
S&W only makes one frame* (the thumb safety variation) and two sear block assemblies (also the thumb safety version). If you don't have a thumb-safety, you'll have two filler plugs where the safety enters the frame. The difference in the sear blocks is whether you have the lever for the magazine safety.
The safety can be installed in either, sometimes it is from the factory.
* Per frame size that is. 9mm/.357SIG/.40 and .45; Full size and compact...
Yes.
Yes, you can mount your Ka Bar pistol bayonet to an M&P 45C.
I knew my readers desperately needed the answer, but were too embarrassed to ask.
There's a reason that I've got JavaScript nearly completely blocked...
Maybe you should consider a less "modern" web site and not rely on it so hard?
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| Canon M50: EF-S 55-250 IS II; f/5.6; 1/5", 250mm, ISO 800 |
I'm playing with the settings and, without success, trying to get the ring gap on Saturn to show up. It means sacrificing the Galilean moons in the shot, but it'd look so cool!
I'm not quite there yet, but you can really see Saturn's outline now.
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| Canon M50: EF-S 55-250 IS II; f/5.6; 1/40", 250mm, ISO 800 |
It's possible as I reduce the amount if light getting in that I might just be able resolve the banding on Jupiter.
At present I am hampered by needing to go inside and put the images on a computer to see the results. The teeny screen on the camera doesn't zoom in far enough to see.
There's a steady trickle of Lorcin L-25's on GunBroker.
I am surprised that the bidding is very active and the average price is running more towards $150 than $100.
People WANT these things.
I'm surprised!
I think I'm going to back and do some research and see if this is true of the other zamak guns.
The cost of several trigger kits and the time for installation coincide with the specs to upgrade a pistol to Fine (Accurate). Well, the costs coincide if you paid a gunsmith to do the work.
That's a +1 to the Acc!
Bwahahahaha!
In the three posts below this one, we're comparing the effect of the M&P 45C and M&P 9 in GURPS on a common self defense scenario.
Our Stabber gets entirely too close and lives through too many shots.
Regardless of the caliber.
The number of shots fired is very similar.
Having more ammo is nice, but not needed for this scenario.
I also expect things to run very differently with live rolls to hit and for damage.
With a skill of 15 one has to consider that with two yards of space left between me and Stephen the Stabber, I might consider aiming for something more delicate than the generic torso.
Changing to All-Out-Attack (Determined) gives a +1 to the attack, but means I can't dodge...
Vitals are -3 to hit.
15 + 1 - 3 = 13
With the 45C and these damned average rolls of 10...
Double tap will land both hits.
2d-1(0.5) pi++, on average will get 5 points delivered, which triples to 15 per round. Two shots gets 30 damage done. All the same rolls that Stephen made before get made again.
Thankfully, he misses as he enters close combat and a step and attack lets us try again at 1 yard.
Same chances to hit.
Same double tap to vitals and we're at 60 total points delivered and Stephen ain't stabbing nobody no more.
The M&P 9...
Same chance to hit.
Gotta double tap instead of triple because we don't wanna accidentally hit some innocent downrange behind Stephen.
2d+2(0.5) pi+ will stick 8 points which triples to 24 per round. Two shots gets 48 damage done.
Lather rinse repeat.
Two more rounds and 48 more damage and Stephen is still dead. Technically dead from the third shot, but...
Let's say I'm packing the gun writer approved M&P loaded 17+1 with two spare 17 rounders...
We spot Stephen the Stabber focused intently on us at 7 yards.
He starts moving towards us and the fight begins!
He's an average straight 10 human, so he moves 5 yards the first round.
Lacking Fast-Draw I use this same round to ready my gun.
He closes the remaining two yards, enters close combat and tries to stab me with his small knife.
We're going to assume he put a whole point into his Knife
skill and has a 10 skill. He's countering the -4 of move and attack
with a +4 from all-out-attack (determined). On average, he'll hit.
1d-3 imp to my torso. On average a mere point which becomes 2 damage.
BUT my dodge and retreat of 11, on average lets me avoid being stabbed and moves me out of close combat.
This puts me at a range of 1 and a skill of 15 to hit a torso sized target.
I triple-tap Stephen and my average roll will land all three.
Average damage rolls on 2d+2(0.5) pi+ gets me... 9 points of damage with each shot or 27 total.
Stephen needs to roll for consciousness (since all rolls are average here, he does) and to see if he dies (again he does). Plus since it's three major wounds three checks each for knockdown and stun (also makes).
At
the beginning of his turn, he needs to check consciousness before
acting, but his average roll will succeed against his average HT...
He gets a -4 from shock from the wounds, again countered with +4 from all-out-attack. Step and Attack. Hits.
I, again dodge and retreat.
Three more rounds at range 1. 27 more points of damage. Many more rolls made, Stephen will attack again!
Step and attack. Hit, dodge and retreat, 27 more points. Auto death for Stephen.
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight.
But let's say that I've got a better basic speed and act first!
I'm still readying while he's moving the first five yards, but now I get to fire at a range of 2 instead of escaping from close combat.
-0 for range. -0 for torso. 27 points of damage.
Now Stephen's move is reduced to 3. He will close the last two yards and enter close combat.
-4 for move and attack, -4 for shock, +4 for all out attack (determined); he misses.
-2 for bulk on my pistol. Double tap 13 to hit, roll 10 with rcl 2; both hit; 18 more points.
Last round of shooting is the same.Let's say I'm packing the demonstrably inadequate M&P 45C loaded 8+1 with two spare 10 rounders...
We spot Stephen the Stabber focused intently on us at 7 yards.
He starts moving towards us and the fight begins!
He's an average straight 10 human, so he moves 5 yards the first round.
Lacking Fast-Draw I use this same round to ready my gun.
He closes the remaining two yards, enters close combat and tries to stab me with his small knife.
We're going to assume he put a whole point into his Knife skill and has a 10 skill. He's countering the -4 of move and attack with a +4 from all-out-attack (determined). On average, he'll hit.
1d-3 imp to my torso. On average a mere point which becomes 2 damage.
BUT my dodge and retreat of 11, on average lets me avoid being stabbed and moves me out of close combat.
This puts me at a range of 1 and a skill of 15 to hit a torso sized target.
I double-tap Stephen and my average roll will land both hits.
Average damage rolls on 2d-1(0.5) pi++ gets me... 10 points of damage with each shot or 20 total.
Stephen needs to roll for consciousness (since all rolls are average here, he does) and to see if he dies (again he does). Plus since it's two major wounds two checks each for knockdown and stun (also makes).
At the beginning of his turn, he needs to check consciousness before acting, but his average roll will succeed against his average HT...
He gets a -4 from shock from the wounds, again countered with +4 from all-out-attack. Step and Attack. Hits.
I, again dodge and retreat.
Two more rounds at range 1. 20 more points of damage. Many more rolls made, Stephen will attack again!
Step and attack. Hit, dodge and retreat, 20 more points. Auto death for Stephen.
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight.
But let's say that I've got a better basic speed and act first!
I'm still readying while he's moving the first five yards, but now I get to fire at a range of 2 instead of escaping from close combat.
-0 for range. -0 for torso. 20 points of damage.
Now Stephen's move is reduced to 3. He will close the last two yards and enter close combat.
-4 for move and attack, -4 for shock, +4 for all out attack (determined); he misses.
-2 for bulk on my pistol. Double tap 13 to hit, roll 10 with rcl 3; both hit; 20 more points.
Last round of shooting is the same.
You don't realize how many shitty little knives you've been using around the shop until the last one is too dull to cut drawn butter and it's time to sharpen them.
While it's tedious, I don't really mind so much.
The nice thing about a shitty shop knife is when it breaks, you shrug and toss it.
You don't feel compelled to try and fix it or pay to have it repaired because it cost as much as used Glock 19.
Gods forbid you LOSE the expensive knife...
I admit, they are very nice. They hold their edges longer, the don't break as often.
But the 10x as expensive knife doesn't hold its edge ten times longer than the cheapo. The cheapos don't break ten times as often.
I think I'd want the expensive one out camping or trying to live off the land.
In the garage? Sitting on my desk? The worst that can happen is I need to wait a day to get it replaced.
But, since I seem to accumulate these cheap knives, I just change to a different one when it gets dull or breaks. Sharpen the survivors as needed.
For the record, the most useful knife I own, and keep in a pocket, has been a non-locking Victornox Super Tinker or its larger, and discontinued, cousin the Champion. The Champion is the Swiss Champion without the pen and pliers.
Took the top off The Precious and headed to Sarasota to see if Siesta Key Distillery had one of their bottles converted to candles The Lovely Harvey likes.
Nope. They didn't have the blackberry sage scent, just pumpkin spice.
Had "breakfast" at Freddies Frozen Custard and Steakburgers.
Hit the Sarasota Classic Car Museum.
Hooked up with friends and had a couple flights of beer at Big Top Brewing.
All the while just enjoying my hot-rod.
At about the mid-point home I realized something.
The C6 Corvette is not a sports car. It is a Grand Tourer.
The last Corvette that could rationally be thought of as a sports car is the stripped down C5 fixed-roof-coupe. Stripped down from the GT normality of the C5.
The C4 also fits the criteria for Grand Tourer, so GM has quietly been succeeding at this for a while.
I think the C1 and C2 fit into the sports car category. The C3 doesn't fit either, not well.
Grand touring fits American roads to a tee, and it was good to get out for a short road trip.
Chainsaws were invented (in Scotland) to perform symphysiotomies!
Hoe Lee Phuc!
There's just nothing at those links that's not in the "ewwwww" category.
Conceal carry permit applications running double the average of the past two years!
In October, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services received
its highest number of concealed weapons license applications in state
history with 38,349 new CWL applications, along with 8,590 renewal
applications.
Based on one set of numbers, the teflon coated AP pistol rounds might be +P pressures.
I have stats for that! (Audience who isn't into GURPS, "SIGH, of course you do...")
+P gives a 10% boost to damage and range.
AP drops damage to 70%.
You do one then the other... so you end up with 77% damage compared to ball with AP +P.
38 Special: 2d pi for ball, 2d+1 pi for +P, 1d+1(2) pi- for AP, 1d+2(2) pi- for AP +P.
38 Special is G$ 0.30 per round. +P is G$ 0.45. AP is G$ 0.45. AP +P is G$0.68.
9mm follows the same progression: 2d+2 pi for ball, 3d-1 pi for +P, 2d-1(2) pi- for AP, 2d(2) pi- for AP +P.
Prices are the same in GURPS dollars as .38 Special.
Why do Floridians tend to love Cubans and despise New Yorkers?
You never hear a Cuban saying, "things are better back home!"
I've been reading about "national divorce" and breaking the USA into three or more, smaller, nations.
A huge concern that comes up again and again in these speculations is the loss of America's position as a global superpower.
They are hinting at the concerns that China will rise to replace us.
I think they're forgetting that we're paying for what power China has now. If we break up, and cannot maintain our global power, that also means we won't be able to afford to keep China powered up either.
I am not certain the downsides of no longer being the world's police and disaster relief force counter the benefits of not needing to worry about it.
This is coupled with the hilarious idea of watching people from New York having to get visas to come to Florida and having to pass immigration control and get citizenship to vote here.
$1,200 reloading turret press.
Of course, their ad copy disparages the "uncontrollable 3rd party tolerances" because it's designed to use standard dies and shellholders.
Theirs are coming soon...
But I ask... does this extra precision matter?
The reason I ask is I know some serious shooters using a Lee single stage to do their work and getting prize winning results.
Never mind how long this thing will take to pay for itself, because I know damn few people who reload who're doing it to increase performance; they're doing it to save money.
I ordered a couple of 10-round magazines for my 45C on 01DEC20.
AIM printed a label on 03DEC30, but didn't bother giving it to USPS until 07DEC20.
From there, they got to Cincinnati, with an expected delivery on 11DEC20, and they stopped reporting.
"In transit, on time," until they were late, and now "In transit, arriving late."
No indication that they ever left Cincinnati.
This is pretty routine for shipping around the holidays.
I am bemused at USPS.
I am fucking furious about AIM dicking around for days and not heading to the post office.
I propose a change in doctrine, if not a Constitutional amendment, where if a case is rejected or dismissed for a lack of standing; the court MUST identify precisely who DOES.
Refusing a case on a lack of standing makes an implication that the case would have merit, if only the plaintiff had standing to bring the case before them.
I am thinking that if they had to tell us whom actually did have standing, they'd be taking more cases because they'd be seeing those plaintiffs coming forward immediately after such a rejection.
How long until the Hunter Biden scandal becomes the "Make way for President Harris!" Joe Biden impeachment proceeding?
I had figured they'd use his failing health as their excuse, but his family dealings (now that the media has taken notice) are even better because it takes them off the stage.
Is anyone else surprised that SCOTUS won't rock the political boat?
Their mission has become "defend the status quo" at all costs.
A lot of the above assumes that we're not in a hot war over the issue in the next couple of days, because while Texas might not have had standing, the legislators from the named states who'd joined the suit certainly did.
I'm going to keep taking pics of Saturn and Jupiter until the closest approach or the weather blocks me.
Most cops are wearing DR8/2*, some are wearing 12/5*.
When the teflon-coated armor piercing bullet controversy broke, DR8/2* vests were fairly new and just starting to see widespread usage.
So, how well do these cop killers do?
When all this started, in TL7, .38 Special was a common cartridge and often found with criminals who shot at cops.
Ball is 2d pi. Expanding ammo is 2d(0.5) pi+ with a 4 in 6 chance of expanding. The steel core (AP), teflon coated rounds are 1d+2(2) pi-. Tungsten core (APHC), teflon coated rounds are 2d(2) pi-
Performance against a DR 8 torso is...
Ball 0-4 (avg 0) will penetrate resulting in 0-4 points of damage.
Hollow-Point 0 penetration. but a chance for 1 point of crushing from blunt trauma.
AP 0-4 (avg 1) will penetrate resulting in 0-2 points of damage.
APHC 0-8 (avg 3) will penetrate resulting in 0-4 points of damage.
Surprisingly, these numbers from GURPS pass a reality check. It's just not as great as people think it is.
It's that change to small piercing that messes up armor piercing small arms ammo for killing people.
The modifier isn't applied to equipment, a point of pi++ is the same as pi- to a radio or radiator or what have you. This is why the military develops and fields AP rounds for rifles and machine guns.
It's also worth noting that a belt of "AP" is going to be groups of three rounds of ball, one round of AP and one round of tracer not all AP.
Real armor piercing ammo is NOT small arms at all.
I just noticed a dishonesty in discussing Wu Ping Cough deaths versus "The" Flu.
The people pitching the idea that WPC is far worse than the flu are comparing it to seasonal flu.
Seasonal flu has a case fatality rate around 0.1 to 0.15.
WPG is running 0.1 to 1.0.
Yes, worse than seasonal flu.
But not near as scary as pandemic flu.
The 1957 "Asian" and 1968 "Hong Kong" flu's CFR were 9 to 10%.
Isn't is amazing that we didn't panic and shut down the world for those far deadlier epidemics?
It almost makes one start to suspect a more political motive...
It suddenly occurs to me that most of the people who swear to defend the Constitution, don't have clue one about what the Constitution says.
And we let them.
In Traveller anyways.
In reference to the previous post, any society with an FTL drive can measure the speed of light directly by "simply" motoring past their beam and receiving it then looking at the elapsed time for the distance.
Teleportation counts as FTL, so many fantasy and sci-fi settings could test the speed of light directly as well.
The Colt Super 38 became popular in the late 20's because of its reputation at punching car doors and what concealable body armor there was.
A silk vest has DR 4/2* (flexible, higher DR against piercing and cutting, lower against everything else).
Note: every ten points of damage stopped by flexible armor will impart 1 cr damage to the wearer if the round doesn't otherwise penetrate.
A car door has DR 8.
.38 Super's 3d-1 pi's average hit is going to penetrate either. Getting 0-9 (avg 1) through the door; 0-15 (avg 5) through the vest.
This compares to the very common .38 Special's 2d pi doing 0-4 (avg 0) against the door and 0-8 (avg 3) through the vest.
.45 Auto from a Thompson does 2d+1 pi+ and gets 0-5 (avg 0) through the door which becomes 0-7 (avg 0) to the torso of the occupant. More gets through the vest doing 0-13 (avg 6).
The Super 38 is a lot easier to hide than a Thompson.
A .45 Government Model's 2d pi does 0-6 (avg 0) to the occupant of the car and 0-12 (avg 4) to the wearer of the vest.
Modern ammo against a modern car or vest...
Cars got easier to shoot into. Vests got harder.
A modern car door, thanks to making them lighter and lighter to serve the Gods of the EPA only gets a DR of 3 unless you roll a 1 out of six and manage to hit the DR 10 crash-bar.
A concealable vest gives DR 12/5*.
Hardly anyone packs ball anymore so the 2d+2(0.5) pi+ of hollow-point 9x19mm does 0-0 (avg 0) to a cop's vest. Ghetto Gary firing cheap, Wal Mart Blazer with its 2d+2 pi is more likely to penetrate the vest, but still only gets a 0-2 (avg 0).
.45 ACP isn't going to hurt the cop unless they do enough to score some blunt trauma.
The ubiquitous 16" AR does 4d+2 pi. Bog standard 55gr ball is doing 0-14 (avg 4) through that vest. Difficult to come by M955 does 4d+2(2) pi-; doing 0-10 (avg 5).
Some Randy the Redneck and his .30-06 and 7d pi will punch 0-30 (avg 12) with practice ammo and 0-27 (avg 0) with 7d(0.5) pi+ soft points. Barrel destroying surplus M2 "black-tip" and its 5d(2) pi- does 0-12 (avg 5).
The earlier version of the concealable vest only get DR 8/2*. Still a common vest because it's much cheaper than the one with better protection.
Still basically immune to hollow point 9mm and ball 45. Ball 9mm will do 0-6 (avg 0). The AR will get 0-18 (avg 8) with ball and 1-11 (avg 6) with tungsten core. 30-06 will do 0-34 (avg 16) with FMJ, 0-39 (avg 7) with huntin' ammo and 1-13 (avg 10) with AP.
Hollow points have been around since TL5.
Modern hollow points are wonders. The expand almost every time and don't typically cause feed problems.
TL5-7 hollowpoints reduce the malf by 1.
Pistol rounds have a chance of not expanding, roll 1d for TL - 3 or less to get expansion (2 or less at TL5, 3 or less at TL6, 4 or less at TL7, 5 or less at TL8 and they just always expand at TL9+).
If they don't expand, they revert to their ball stats. 2d+1(0.5) pi+ becomes 2d+1 pi, for example.
This failure to expand is part of the core argument for calibers which begin with 4.
Ball .45 ACP is 2d pi+. That will do 3-18 (avg 10) to a torso all day. HP increases to 2d(0.5) pi++ which does 2-22 (avg 12).
9mm ball is 2d+2 pi, which does 4-14 (avg 9). 9mm HP is 2d+2(0.5) pi+, which does 4-19 (avg 12) which compares favorably against .45 ball at the price of poor feeding and a chance that it doesn't expand costing you 25% of your damage.
But modern rounds feed just fine. Since .45 and 9mm average the same, more beans is more damage.
But prior to TL8... .45 ball shines because it cannot fail to expand and doesn't affect the malfunction rate.
Historical gamers take note.
With that history in mind...
.38 Super is 3d-1 pi, which is TL6 and does 2-17 (avg 9) in ball form. HP ups this to 3d-1(0.5) pi+ and 1-24 (avg 12).
Revolvers don't have feed problems from HP.
.38 Special is 2d pi, also TL6 doing 2-12 (avg 7) in ball and 2d(0.5) pi+ in hollow point for 1-16 (avg 9)
.357 Magnum does 3d pi from ball, 3-18 (avg 10) and 3d(0.5) pi+ from HP, 3-25 (avg 14).
.44 Magnum is 3d+2 pi+ in ball for 7-30 (avg 18) and 3d+2(0.5) pi++ in HP for 8-38 (avg 23) but it comes with a "sharp but controllable" Rcl 4.
Today is 14 days, or two weeks, since Thanksgiving.
Florida is not under any real kind of lockdown, so if the doomers were correct we'd have seen a gigantic jump in cases as families infected their relatives who came over and attempted suicide by tryptophan poisoning.
11,335 new cases today from 139,689 new tests; 8.11% positive. Positivity has averaged 8-9% for months, so no huge spike in cases.
Hospitalizations are averaging a half percentage increase per day, but the "maximum" number of active admissions doesn't change much 4.5 thousand or so and holding steady for the past month.
Deaths are not keeping pace with new cases and the crude CFR keeps dropping, 1.79% as of today.
That CFR simply must be inflated compared to the IFR because lots of people don't bother to get tested despite getting sick (I didn't bother at the beginning of November when The Boy and I got a flu-like disease that clung for 2-weeks while The Lovely Harvey mocked us with her perfect health); or because they've caught it and aren't showing symptoms.
If we haven't had the big-turkey-day spike by the 17th, I think we can make a case that Wu Ping Cough is endemic in Florida.
8+1 in an M&P 45C vs 12+1 in an M&P 9C.
Acc 2 vs Acc 2.
ST 10 vs ST 9.
Rcl 3 vs Rcl 2.
2d-1(0.5) pi++ vs 2d+1(0.5) pi+.
Skill, as determined from bowling pin shoots: Guns/TL8 15.
Pull the pistol and start firing at the bad guy at 7 yards.
Acc doesn't matter because we're not going to give the perp a chance to use their full move of 5 to reduce the range to 2 while we aim.
7 yards is -3 to hit dropping our skill to 12 to hit the torso.
Fire the full RoF of 3...
3d6 will average a roll of 10, so with an average roll we will land one round with .45 and two with 9mm.
Damage dealt with hollow points of each against our t-shirt wearing assailant will average out to 12 points for .45 and 10 each for the 9mm for 20.
In both cases, the assailant has received a major wound (Basic Set p.381) and will have to make a HT roll for every bullet that hit to avoid being stunned and knocked down. The .45 requires them to make a consciousness check against HT. The 9mm requires two consciousness checks and a death roll against HT.
To continue their assault, they have to make an additional consciousness check at the beginning of their turn or black out.
It's not a picnic to be hit by either round.
If they do manage to stay awake and really want to keep coming, their move just got cut in half from the wounds and they advance 2 yards at us, bringing the range down to 5 yards. That's -2 for range bringing our skill up to 13.
Three more shots.
On average we hit with two rounds with either gun.
12 each from the .45 and 10 each from the 9mm (on average, always on average).
Our stupid assailant has to make the same rolls as before for major wounds. Consciousness check for each round. Two death rolls for 45 now that they're at -26 HP and two more for 9mm now that they're at -30.
They make all these rolls, don't take the hint, and keep coming! Two more yards, range 3, skill 14.
Two hits with the .45, three with the 9mm.
-50 HP for the .45 and auto dead. -60 for the 9mm and auto dead.
Nine shots expended for both guns.
5 hits with .45, 7 for 9mm.
The .45 is locked to the rear, the 9mm still has 4.
But what if we aimed and fired at a range of 2?
+2 for Acc, no range penalty. Skill 17.
Both guns will land all three shots.
12 damage three times for .45, 10 damage three times for 9mm.
Three major wound checks each. Three consciousness checks each. Two death rolls each.
With a HT of 10, on average, they will make all of those and will advance to close combat the next round.
In my experience, though, a 10 HT and having to make 8 rolls to keep going means they aren't going to keep going no matter what the averages say.
Likewise, if the .45's single hit rolled max damage at 7 yards it'd do 20 points, major wound, consciousness and death. If we rolled minimum for the nine's two it'd do a mere 3 hits per shot for 6 total. A single major wound roll only.
On the flip side, the .45 could only do a single point of damage, barely impeding our villain and the 9mm could max out for 18 points per round dropping the bad guy to -26 and scoring two major wounds, two consciousness, and two death rolls.
I've seen both scenarios happen!
When I acquiesced to the idea that modern 9mm hollow-points, bullet per bullet, were as good as .45 and that because the nine could carry more rounds for the same size and weight...
I stopped stocking .45 ACP.
Now I'm all in love with this M&P 45C, and had to scrape the bottom of the ammo cans to find two boxes of Federal SXT 230gr to load it up for carry.
I've got gobs of 9x19 and hardly any .45 because .45 was for occasional range trips to have fun with the M1911A1. I'm so out of love with the Glock 21, shooting it is never a consideration. I keep it mostly because it's the gun I've owned longest of all my guns and managed to hang onto it through several bouts of "sold everything else."
Now I'm short on .45 when an ammo panic is going on that looks to be a deep and sustained panic which will take years to clear.
Just in case you didn't get the memo email.
Freedom Munitions has suffered a data breach.
December 08, 2020NOTICE OF DATA BREACHDear Angus,Freedom Munitions recently became aware the personal information of our valued online customers may have been compromised as a result of unauthorized access through an e-commerce vendor. We are taking this seriously, and want to provide you with information about this incident that may affect you, as well as suggestions on actions you can take to protect your privacy and security.What happened?Freedom Munitions became aware of a possible security issue with the third party e-commerce system supporting online purchases. It involved attackers who accessed order information and used malicious programming code to steal credit card information used when our customers made purchases.Our third party vendor determined how the situation occurred, how many customers might be affected, and what would be necessary to stop the problem. We believe the security issue has now been resolved successfully and all malicious code removed. We continue to monitor our system closely to insure there are no more attempts made to gain access to any information.How did this affect customers?Customers who made online purchases at FreedomMunitions.com between October 16 and November 26 were potentially affected.Just because you made an online purchase during these dates does not automatically mean you are a victim of actual fraud. We want to fully inform all of our customers so you can take action to protect yourself from any potential or ongoing harm.What information was involved?The information that may have been viewed included your: first and last name, home address, email address and, for customers who made online purchases between October 16, 2020 and November 26, 2020 credit card data.What should you do now?As a precautionary measure, we recommend that you remain vigilant by reviewing your account statements and credit reports closely. If you detect any suspicious activity on an account, you should promptly notify the credit card company that issued your card.Your credit card company should also protect you for any losses over $50 as long as you report any potential theft as soon as possible. You should also contact the three credit bureaus and place a free fraud alert and/or security freeze on your credit files. Their contact information is:
Grabbed Willard and helped him get some of his running around done today.
He's definitely more mobile than last time I managed to stop in an see him. Definitely on the mend!
He was having so much fun, he barely hissed at the sun.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"
Often attributed to Edmund Burke.
I will not stand by, doing nothing, while evil is being done when it's within my power to hinder it, even slightly.
911 is the least I can do.
The irony is, if it is found to be a forcible felony (domestic abuse is) then shooting his ass dead would be perfectly legal in Florida.
A difficult legal slog in court, but the black letter law appears clear.
This is strongly related to "the good guys don't hide" which is why I am having these chats with y'all.
To do nothing when you can stop evil with almost no effort, is a form of cowardice if you ask me.
I'm not a coward, I've been tested.
I know that I passed.
Look at the tested, and think there but for the grace go Ye.
Not a coward, I went and found out.
Knock on wood.
I just watched what appeared to be my neighbor's son assaulting his girlfriend/wife right outside my bedroom window.
I am of such mixed feelings over dialing 911 over it.
I gots the post-fight/flight jitters going on but good.
We've had wet floors after showers the past couple of weeks.
We initially blamed careless usage of the shower-curtain or the old and stiff curtain itself.
Being more careful with the new, supple curtain didn't cure the issue.
Today I noticed that there was water dripping from the single-valve thingy.
It uses the dreaded Moen cartridge.
You don't have to search for long to find a removal horror story.
I read the online instructions and got mine out. P/N 12801 which is the same as the more commonly found 1225.
When I tried to get the new one in, it stopped about 3/4" of an inch from seating.
The new part had a metal part flush with the back of the plastic sleeve. The old part had a cavity there.
Assuming that something was still in the valve body, I probed carefully and got no movement.
FUCK!
Called a plumber.
He looked in the valve and agreed that it looked like there was something up in there.
Turns out it was just the very end of the slider part of the valve rubbing copper onto the brass.
The difference between the flush and cavity was the position of the slider in the sleeve.
The part that I ended up paying a professional for was learning how much force is needed to get a new one to seat.
Happily, he only charged me for the service call, not any work.
