Well That Sucks

I just found out...

Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, Georgia closed in May 2021 and they're tearing it down.

Marv used to head up there every November to do the Southern Super Heavy Shootout.

Alas, it is no more!

ArachnoThag

Transhuman Space has corpsicles.

That means if you've the means, you can bridge the time difference from today to be alive in 2100.

I'd be a "mere" 131 years old!

My scenario is that I win the lottery big time then invest in the Apple of the next hundred years to become ludicrously wealthy.

This gives me access to the advances in medicine that lets me live long enough to take advantage of other advances and... be woken up when what might have killed you has a cure.

But something I've mentioned before about being me is an allergy to mushrooms.

Much of the food stuffs off Earth is based around fungus.

What good is it to be stupid rich if I can't go have a Mk.1 eyeball look at The Great Red Spot or that ridiculous bauble of Saturn?

This ghost is going to get a new shell!

I'm thinking something like a giant mechanical spider with a complete set of EVA gear built in!

I could be a belter!  Definitely need a bright purple synthetic hair mohawk glued to the top of my "head". 

This is probably too expensive a concept to actually play, and if I'm the GM it'd be the most literal Mary Sue ever played by a Gamemaster.

I Certainly Feel Better

Honest Outlaw left his M&P 9 2.0 Compact outside for a bit more than three months.

It doesn't appear to have hurt it functionally.

The Only One Even Close

The only "real" pistol I've bought that approached a Hi-Point in price was my Sigma SW9V.

Just a whiff more than $200 out the door.

It promptly broke.

Ultimately, it didn't cost me anything to get it fixed, because S&W went way beyond what I'd have expected for warranty care on a second hand gun.

None of this is new news.  I detailed this on this very blog as it was happening.

I got this gun on a whim.

What if I'd bought it and needed it to actually work?

That's the risk of used guns.

It's also why you should shoot your new purchase a bit before betting your life on it!

Something about this particular gun comes to mind.

Is it a rare collectable now that the SW9V slide has been factory replaced with one from an SD9VE?

It Comes With Sufficient Magazines

 

I will give Palmetto State Armory props for including enough magazines with their Dagger pistol.

At an impressive price too.

Threshold

The threshold between pi and pi- damage in GURPS for .30ish caliber is somewhere between the 1,990 ft/s of .30 Carbine in an M1 Carbine (4d+1 pi) and the 1,600 ft/s of 7.62x25mm Tokarev in a PPSh-41 (3d pi-).

The 1,250 ft/s of .30 Super Carry from a 4" test barrel (2d+2 pi-) is far below this threshold.

Plan your character accordingly.

Anti-Hi-Point

If the Hi-Point is the cheapest example of a gun that reliably sends lead down range, there's an opposite end of the spectrum...

There's many guns that cost far more than the average Glock (also known for being ugly and boringly reliable) which offer nothing over the more prosaic guns.

Honest.

I am not sure I should name names... but how many times have you heard something like, "The best $600 pistol you can get for $1,100!"

There's a lot of that out there.

What distinguishes one pistol from another besides the logo on the side?

They all go bang most all the time.

Most of them are accurate enough for social situations.

They are all available in a suitable chambering.

You can even choose a size and capacity from a list of options.

It was an accident of fate that put me into Smith and Wessons after a long association with Colt and Glock.  (Another thank you to Willard for pushing me over the brink!  Though FuzzyGeff gets some credit here too.)

In a lot of cases it boils down to whether you want a safety or not.  Glock, no.  M&P, if you'd like.

Now there's even a choice between plastic polymer and metal for the frame with some models!  Though you pay some extra tariff for something that's not hydrocarbon based.

The world is your oyster for pistol selection!

Especially if you are willing to buy used.  There are some stupid good deals out there in guns that used to be owned by a police department.

Hi Point

Something that's true about Hi Points:  They go bang.

They go bang as often as guns costing a LOT more.

They're simple.  There ain't much to go wrong, and what there is rarely does.

If you don't have much money and want a gun that goes bang in a readily available caliber, you aren't going far wrong with one.

There's many Youtubers who've tried, and failed, to kill one.

With that said, I don't own one and won't own one.

I think they're ugly and they don't interest me at all.

But that's a subjective reason to not get one.

Wandernde Null

Anyone remember in the way-back when Germans were saying that once their G36 got hot, the zero shifted and they started to miss?

The German government investigation moves slow, but grinds fine.

Random sampling of rifles reveals no change of zero in the guns in the inventory.  This was also noticed by many gun bloggers shooting their semi-auto clones, but the semi-auto clone might not meet the same specifications as guns for the Heer.

These same rifles all met the accuracy standard required of the specification, which is on par with other 5.56 battle rifles.

At the end of the day it turns out to be a training issue and not a weapon issue.

To the point of not being certain that rifles going into combat being zeroed at all.  !!!

But the real issue is the Germans not getting training that let them react constructively to incoming fire then blaming their poor response on the tools at hand.

PS:

If someone can find the article I read, I'd appreciate it.  It was in German and I read it translated by Google.  It was published this year amid the debates about actually spending the money to replace them.

My search history got wiped when I forgot to isolate it from CCleaner...

PPS:

It's the gun!  No it isn't!  Yes it is!  Nuh uh!  Uh huh!  Repeats in several cycles around this gun in the German media too, so this latest "revelation" could be just another cycle.

How Many Pounds Draw

In GURPS bows and crossbows are rated in terms of ST.

You have to be as strong or stronger than the rated ST of the bow to get it to full draw and get the stated stats.

Because of the way the arms store and release energy, the partial draw of a lower ST will not give the performance of that lower ST.

Douglas Cole has made a formula that translates ST to lbs.

Bow draw = 0.5 x ST^2 

So...

98# bow is ST 14
128# bow is ST 16
144# bow is ST 17
180# bow is ST 19

A ST 10 bow would be a mere 50# 

You can revers the formula too.

ST=(2 x draw)^(1/2)

So a gym class 35# fiberglass recurve bow is a ST 8 bow.

A Hearty Thank You

That Fucker Fleetwood has purchased a gun.

He has refused to divulge the identity of this gun.

His accomplice, Marv, has been sworn to keep the identity of this gun secret.

When confronted about why it was a secret and if it was for a surprise or from shame, That Fucker Fleetwood, indicated shame.

Further waterboarding grilling questions have eliminated Heckler & Koch.

Hi-Point has NOT been ruled out.

So I've been singing, in Kindergarten cadence, "Willard bought a Hi-Point!" over and over.

While I'm not really expending much energy to the mystery, for some reason it's really tickled my amusement button.

So, thank you, Willard, for providing me this welcome distraction from wrenching on the car!

Victory

Wheel hub is replaced.

Test drive reveals no odd smells, vibrations or noises.

We're cautiously optimistic that this fixed the proximate problem.

Just The Tip

I took a bunch of pics of my Zombie Green™ dyed PMAGs to try to show what they looked like to someone on Arfcom.

One pic delighted me, so I'm sharing here!

Nawt Vidja Gaims

The games that I've been posting about are table top role playing games, not video games.

In fact, calling any video game a "role playing game" is utter poppycock!

The playing the role part is the same use of the word as an actor playing a role.

Video games don't have that.

You move a playing piece around the sand-box, you don't play a role.

And The Horse You Rode In

Got Moxie apart!

The old hub shown with hub removal tool.

Despite all signs pointing to the wheel bearing, it's possible that the RF caliper piston is hanging up a bit.  It didn't want to squeeze back into it's bore at all.

That'd be odd since it wasn't pulling to the side at all and there was none of the obvious stuck caliper smell.  It's an unmistakable smell!

I'll put the new hub in and see if the problem is fixed.  If not, $75 and a short road trip from now, I can have a new caliper.

Bug Hunt

I just remembered I have a ton of shit for 2300 AD too.

That should be an easy conversion to GURPS too because it's mostly in real units and the tech is hard sci-fi except for the stutterwarp FTL drive.

Then there's stranger science fiction like converting Star Frontiers.  That's really D&D in space without the magic.  Not a very compelling world, but the tech is hard science enough to be understandable without a lecture.

Lots of options out there for space.

All three of you players are reading this, how's about some input in the comments!

-> <- This Close

FuzzyGeff will be down and I wanna do some gaming!

We've already got characters for Traveller: Interstellar Wars, but I noticed that the stacks of miracle technology was causing some problems with Marv.

There's some intuitive implications of that tech to his character that aren't intuitive to the player.

If we want to stick with science-fiction and space, there's Transhuman Space.

That's hard, crunchy, science-fiction set in the not too distant future.

I am not near so familiar with the setting as Traveller, but it lacks the filling a thimble from a firehose effect I've been doing with Interstellar Wars.

Marv would have to state a preference.

Twilight: 2000 I can do at the drop of a hat.  It, at least, has a simple start and is easily comprehended.

A throw-together fantasy world has also worked well, but not sure what interest there is among my seasonal and tiny group.

Fantasy Old-West is something I've got ready because I've got my world for my novel already in GURPS terms.  This is also an easy setting to explain, and since it's based on the white folks exploring on the other side of the spook-hole, there's not a lot of background they have to be taught that their characters should know that their players won't.

Gun Nerding

Watching the miniseries prequel to Yellowstone, 1883, and I spotted something I would not have noticed even a few years ago.

Sam Elliot's Colt revolver has post-1896 features.

Half moon ejector and push-button cylinder pin latch being what I noticed.

It's not ruining my enjoyment, it's just interesting that I noticed.

I Know What I Plan On Doing

Diabolical Canadian, James Cameron, has stated that Avatar 2 will require two billion dollars at the box office to break even.

Further, he says that if it doesn't make money, he will not make any more Avatar films.

It is, therefore, our sacred duty to not pay to see this film.

No more Spacecahontas / Dancing With Nantangs!

Thanks!

While 2022 has been a shit show in a lot of ways...

I am alive.  After ramming that tree in The Precious there was some realization that it could have gone the other way.

The Lovely Harvey is making excellent progress recovering from breaking her shoulder.

We were missed by Ian.

There's a roof over my head and food in the pantry.

I have the best friends.  That cannot be overstated.

Almost Worse

Been researching gas masks for my T2K conversion.

An alarming number of filters in the cold-war era use stuff like asbestos, or worse.

Hurray!  You don't die from inhaling that chemical agent!

But you die from mesothelioma later on.

It's the kind of thing the evil T2K GM keeps track of to ruin a long-running character's day when they've successfully managed to settle in and get rebuilding society good and established.

Reawakened

Watching Peaky Blinders has reawakened a want for a Webley.

Not too strong, mind, but still there.

I was once fascinated with British firearms and amassed quite a collection before the muse left me and I disposed of them.

Only the SMLE Mk.III* remains of that, but I never got a Webley.

The lack of ammo dissuaded me back in the early '90's when I was accumulating.

Actually, I think that's true again!  There's no ammo readily available now, but for a different reason.

Or Perhaps Not

Nine years ago I was thinking that you could use magic to get around heating up the metal to make a good quality sword.  "Good" being the default GURPS weapon quality.

I am thinking that shape metal, while it would mix things up to get the correct percentages of impurities to make iron into a steel; it would not give the crystalline structure required.

So you're still going to have to heat it up.

But magic would certainly allow you to make your initial block with the correct proportions.

CHUNK CHUNK CHUNK

I cannot say I wasn't expecting it.

I bought the parts almost a year ago.

The wheel bearings in Moxie were going bad last year.

I'd already done three of them...

RF decided to do more than give a warning whine today.

With a wheel shaking "chunk chunk chunk" as we limped her home.

Whelp.  Got some work to do now.

I hate how these things fight coming out of the knuckle.

Harnessing Photons

I'm embarking on adding fog lights to The Beast.

Tonight I tested the lights and harness I bought.

The problem here is the G8 headlight switch grounds the lead rather than connects it to 12v as the harness expects.

Prolly an easy fix for this.

Even if I have to replace the relay part of the setup, the price of the harness was essentially the same as the two plugs for the H10 bulbs in the light housings.

Small Arms Protective Inserts

SAPI stands for small arms protective inserts.

While checking to see what the NIJ rating was for them, I found they have their own rating system.

Based on the verbiage, they're all semi-ablative protection.

SAPI is supposed to stop 7.62x51mm, 7.62x54mmR and 5.56x45mm ball.

ISAPI adds the ability to stop 7.62x39mm 57-BZ-231 API.

ESAPI (rev A-E) adds being able to stop .30-06 M2 AP.

ESAPI (rev G and J) adds 5.56x45mm M995 AP.

XSAPI adds 7.62x51mm M993 AP.

That means that SAPI is good for 7d+1 pi, or DR 25.

To stop 7.62x39mm API's 3d+2(2) pi inc you need 23, but since it still has to stop the 7d+1 pi of 54R, it's still 25.

We know from NIJ IV you need DR 35 to stop M2 AP.

In GURPS terms M995 and M993 aren't any better than M2 AP, so still DR 35.

So:

SAPI and ISAPI are DR 25 semi-ablative.

All revisions of ESAPI and XSAPI are DR 35 semi-ablative.

That was easy, right?

Meanwhile North Of The Border

It would appear that Canada is poised to ban all semi-auto rifles and shotguns.  Or at least most of them.

Linky

I wonder how many snowbirds will be staying down here after this.

CD Eject

The Australian sourced radio in The Beast has a neat feature where you can rip a CD-A disc into flash memory on board the radio.

I only have 2 of 15 discs ripped at the moment...

So I ejected The Boy's favorite MP3 disc and tried to insert a new disc.

It ejected, but the "there's a CD loaded" icon still appeared on the radio.

UGH.

Forcing a CD into the slot anyways would still eject the rest of the way, but wasn't being accepted.

I repeated this a couple of time and hit the slot with some canned air and it eventually started registering that the CD was absent when it ejected.

Must be a stick pawl or something inside the box.

All is well... for now.

I Think I Found Them All

Let's hear it for back-ups!

When the Drobo died, it took out a few large files.

I thought I still had them because their names were in the directories where they were supposed to be, but I found a few of them that wouldn't open.

While trying to figure out why, I noticed they were 0kb instead of a few mb in size.

Dammit.

Something went wrong moving them from one drive to another, I guess.

Happily, for most of them I have more than one copy and they 0kb was replaced with a known good.

The couple I was short, they were readily recovered from off-site sources.

Still Dead

Like Franco, John F Kennedy is still among the daisy pushing set.

Happened before I was born, so I don't really get into the mystique.

I still wonder, though, what he knew about the Clintons.

Bigger Wrench

Going to embark on doing the inner tie-rods on The Beast soon.

I discovered that I don't have a big enough wrench.

The flats appear to be 32mm.

I don't even have a Crescent® Swedish key adjustable wrench that's big enough.

Looks like a trip to one of the stores carrying the new inner to get a wrench and hoping that the one on the car is the same size.

Prolly get the correct size wrench AND a new crescent wrench that will go big enough.

The best news is that the placement of the rack is such that I can get a wrench on it and don't have to resort to one of those tube-and-adaptor socket dealies.

Something that's mildly amusing is not a single video of someone doing this is shown holding the rack with a pair of soft jaw pliers when they're taking off the inner.

The service manual says to do so.

Heck, they're not holding that thing with anything, and some are pounding that inner off too.

Modern Ancient Armor

Beans left a hell of a comment!

I have not researched police and prison armor sufficiently to give him a decent answer.

But here's a couple of points...

Most of my armor ramblings are game effects, not reality effects.

At best I successfully translate a real world item into game terms in a manner which gives a believable effect in the game.

Armor is more complicated than the game stats lead you to believe most of the time.

GURPS has provision to make armor as complicated as you'd like it to be.

Does Kevlar® provide less protection against icepicks?  You can give your armor a split DR and specify a lower amount against a particular kind of attack.

An icepick would do impaling damage so you say DR 12/4* and note that the lower DR is used against imp.  Flak vests are to protect against fragmentation, which is cutting damage (cut) so the vest still does well even if it's vulnerable to a stiletto.

Pickle barrel plastic is about the same resistance as boiled leather for less weight.  Numbers could be generated once I got numbers for the mass difference.  Plastic will also require less upkeep!

Because plastic scales are lighter than leather, though, a split DR with a lower value against crushing (cr) damage might be appropriate.

Kydex® strips in a Kevlar® backing is actually modeled on ancient styles of armor; jack of plates or brigandine.  Everything old is new again!  Stats would be some increase in DR and reduction in mass from the TL2 or 4 versions.

There's more to unpack!  Especially to make stats for the modern versions.

Breaking A Subculture

When certain other blogs started tossing around the CENSORED word, I objected.

I keep saying it's culture, not genetics which is the problem.

Handwaving Freakoutery gave a succinct way of saying what I've been trying to say:

Here’s an unfortunate truth you need to process. In modern urban black culture, black boys fight. They resolve their grievances in an honor culture because they can’t trust the authority to resolve them, and honor cultures resolve differences with duels. Always have.

and how did they come to distrust authority?

You know what systemic racism is, don’t you? It’s when a law or policy that has no apparent racist intent, when applied in combination with other societal factors, produces a disproportionately bad result to a particular race.

He cites a couple of examples.

What that means is we have to regain the trust of this subculture at the same time as forcing them to abandon it and join our culture.

Bizarrely enough the way that used to be done was with something that strongly resembles racism.

It was, "If you're going to act that way, you don't get to leave your little section of town.  We catch you outside that little section acting that way, bad things happen to you."

Anyone who left that section of town and behaved in a civilized manner as a member of the wider culture, got to remain outside and take advantage of the greater opportunities afforded by being a member of that culture.

Classic carrot and stick approach.

The Irish passed through this crucible.  Twice!

Italians did it.  I remember talking to my grandfather about it.

Catholics (!) did it.

Asians did it, and did it differently from Europeans.

Blacks were well on their way of doing it when the real racists decided the make the ghetto inescapable.

Red-line laws.  Family breaking financial incentives.

Those make sure the people who can act civilized are forced to live among the barbarians, and eventually join barbarian culture to merely survive.

Lather, rinse, repeat for a couple of generations and...  Here we are!

Fixing it now will be grueling and brutal.

In the end, we get solid citizens and we do serious hurt to actual racists.

Hurting racists is good.

Red-Flag Fail

Not sure if I should point this out, but...

Red-Flag laws won't work because fifteen seconds after they were passed and gun owners read what it was, they made provisions to not be disarmed even if every gun in their house was seized and their ID flagged to keep them from buying from an FFL.

This will be used to justify registration, because without knowing about every gun someone owns, you can't be sure your red-flag seizure got all of them.

Honestly, the entire shtick of "hold still and let us fuck you because it might save one life" no longer has any weight to it.

Fucking us won't save any lives and we're very much aware of it, thankyouverymuch.

Part of the problem is assigning motivations which aren't actually present to the owning of a gun.

It's why most gun owners are familiar with the concept of projection and wonder if the people trying to ban guns are possessed of the motivations assigned to gun owners.

I'm sure you've heard a liberal acquaintance say something like, "I couldn't own a gun, I'd murder someone!"  Never phrased so bluntly, of course.

They believe that they'd murder their significant other after a fight, so that's what everyone else would do too?  Therefore anyone who's having a spat must be disarmed?

I can't speak for anyone else, but if Harvey really pisses me off, I remove myself from the situation and go for a limp or drive.  Coincidentally, leaving her with all the guns while I let the flight/fight stuff in the bloodstream run down.  In a way, I choose "flight."

At no point was anyone in any danger, even if I choose to stay and keep arguing.  Even with all the damn guns here.

I don't leave avoid harming her, I leave to break the circular nature of this kind of argument that most every couple has from time to time.

Red-Flag laws are pre-crime punishments that assume that any argument will become a fight and every fight ends with someone getting shot.

If there was even the slightest hint that someone slinging false accusations would be punished for it, perhaps I'd be more relaxed about it.

If the guns were returned with the same haste in which they were taken, perhaps I could relax about it.

Hell, even the option to "upgrade" the red-flag check to a Baker Act (Florida's specific name for an emergency involuntary commitment) might be better.  Then the person gets taken away from the pile of guns, locked up in a hospital, and evaluated to see if they're dangerous.  If not, they get to go home.  End of line, and the hospital stay is cheaper than lawyers and hearings.

But that's not on offer because they don't really want to save anyone from anything.

I Think I Found Where 2.1 Pounds Went

My M16 Stahlhelm is only 2.9 lb.

That got me to wondering.

My helmet is also a mere 0.06" (1.5mm) thick.

That's just DR 4 not the DR 6 promised in High Tech.

Change mandated by reality check noted!

Body Armor Comparisons

A bog-standard USGI size-large PASGT vest covers areas 9-10 with DR 10/5* with shoulder protection of DR 9/5* for 10.1 lb.  Approximately $200.

An AR500 Tetsudo with Level III plates gives areas 9-10 DR 26 (DR 1 for the carrier's padded cloth and DR 25 of semi-ablative plates - Front and Back only!) for 19.4 lb.  $240.

Medieval and Renaissance armor isn't as good...

DR 9 bronze heavy plate gets you to DR 9 over areas 9-10 for 24 lb. and $12,000.

DR 10 bronze heavy plate is 36 lb. and $18,000.

At TL4 you can get a hardened steel cuirass that gives DR 10 for 24 lb. and $15,000!

Fluting without hardening is the same price and protection but 21.6 lb.

You can go all out and go with fluted, duplex heavy plate which is masterfully tailored to your body...

DR 10, 12lb.  $126,000 (better get two!)  Still not quite as good as a PASGT vest you can get at a gun show...

Of course the TL8 PASGT vest is pricier with 5 tech-level jumps to double the price each time... $6,400 using the standard system to buy one at TL3 (assuming it's available at all).  $7,680 for the Tetsudo...  Halve those prices at TL4.

Without special dispensations, making a modern character for a medieval world is expensive!

Happy Thoughts

Just sifting through my pictures and stumbled across this one.

These are things I got from my grampa.

They are priceless to me, even if they've little value to anyone else.

Glitch

My conversion of Twilight: 2000 to GURPS started out life using MS Word from Office 95.

It got saved-as into OpenOffice, then edited with OpenOffice, NeoOffice or LibreOffice depending on what OS I was using while editing.

Recently, it's begun to show its age by showing about five pages blank.

If you close and reopen, many times the pages are restored, but it's irritating.

I might have to undertake the laborious task of retyping everything from scratch to detach from any lingering legacy formatting incompatibilities from using an ancient version of Word to start with. 

I guess that one could have worse hobbies...

More PASGT

The PASGT vest is NIJ II or IIA depending on the exact place it's hit.

That gives us DR of 9 or 10.

Because it's flexible armor, that means DR 9/5* or 10/5*.  Higher value against cutting and piercing.

I'll be generous and call it 10/5*.

My size large example tips the scales at 10.1 lb.

One of these protected me from both hatch coamings and a spent .50 Cal AP round.

Obviously, DR 10/5* is not really intended to stop bullets, but these things have been known to stop 9mm.

Let Me Ax You Something

 

Canon EOS M50, EF-S55-250mm: f/5.6, 1/320", 154mm, ISO 800

Soft focus effect from shooting through the screen door.

Head

After weighing my Stahlhelm M16 and noticing that, except for weight, it conforms to the DR 6 heavy helmet from GURPS: High Tech, 5 lb. by the book, I got to wondering how that TL6 WW1 helmet compares to other adventuring wear.

My M16 is 2.9 lb. (size 64) with its anachronistic M35 suspension system and gives DR 6.

TL2 DR 6 medium plate for the skull runs 4 lb. unpadded or DR 7 and 5.2 lb. with padding.

The TL8 PASGT helmet is NIJ IIIA rated, so DR 12 at 3.4 lb. (medium size).  GURPS: High Tech says that such helmets should be DR 5 and 3 lb.

I tend to go with real world numbers where I can find them.

Every time I drag out my kevlar, I notice that the helmet cover still has PFC rank on it.  This was my "inspection" cover.  I turned my "field" cover with the SGT rank on it in with my helmet when I ETS'd.

As a private fucking citizen, I've never changed the rank on the helmet I got from a gun show in Des Moines.

Punch Your Weight

This cuirass failed to stop a cannon ball at the Battle of Waterloo.

This brass over steel design would have GURPS DR 10, front and rear.

The 6dx5 pi++ ball doesn't look like even slowed down passing through the (likely) 11 HP torso of the hapless carabiner François-Antoine Fauveau.

The average hit from that ball is 105 points, so 95 penetrates to deliver 190 points of damage to Frank.  124 more than needed to get to auto-death.  That drops back to 62 points to punch through the back plate with 52 points remaining for anyone behind Monsieur Fauveau.

I'm betting he felt pretty safe in that before he took that hit too.

UPDATE:

Mr Fauveau might just be fictitious.

Boom

The W82 warhead for the 155mm M785 shell would have continued development for Twilight:2000.

In GURPS terms 2kt does 6dx4,000 cr ex plus linked 6dx2,600 burn ex rad sur.

The 500 lb. Mk.82 GP Low-drag does 6dx33[6dx2] cr ex.

The Mk.84 GP Low-Drag bomb that's the heart of every 2,000 lb weapon in the inventory will deliver 6dx72[6dx2] cr ex.

The pussy little warhead in a GBU-39/B small diameter bomb does just 6dx15[6dx2] cr ex.  The larger warhead on the GBU-39A/B does 6dx30 cr ex.; by comparison the ancient (but similar weight) Mk.81 GP Low-Drag what does 6dx23[6dx2] cr ex.

A 16" High Capacity Mk 13 shell from an Iowa class does 6dx62(2) pi++ plus follow-up 6dx26[6dx2] cr ex.  Explosive D, aka "Dunnite" or ammonium picrate has an REF of 1.13, near as I can tell.

An M67 fragmentation grenade does 9d[2d] cr ex.

Just in case you're curious!

No Interchange

.38 Super Magazines for a Colt Gov't Model will not work in a Star Model M.

They could possibly be modified to work, because they don't latch, but it's probably not worth the effort.

But Willard and I have conducted the experiment so you don't have to!

This Combination Is Just Right

 

This combination, a S&W M&P 9 2.0 Compact in a Galco Miami Classic, does something that no other gun-bra arrangement has done.

I forget I'm wearing it.

The muzzle and butt don't hit things like larger pistols did.

The weight doesn't drag the straps down against my neck like heavier guns did.

It's nearly identical to toting the M&P 45C, but there's an ineffable factor that makes the 9mm version better.  Add in that I shoot the smaller bore gun better and it holds more rounds...  Winning.  (I didn't even have to upgrade the trigger!)

I am so very glad that Bud's was blowing these things out a few months ago.

Counterpoint

It has been correctly pointed out that if you already own a, proven, JMB that's working...

THERE IS NO GORRAM REASON TO WASTE MONEY REPLACING IT WITH SOME NEW HOTNESS!!! 

Really.

The 1911 you've been shooting well for 20 years?  Keep it.  You're not going to do better with a Glock 19 until you spend some serious time at the range getting familiar with it.

I know this gives Gunwriters® and gun makers the vapors, but...

If you already have a pistol you can hide on you in a readily available caliber, you're set.

Be content!

Me?

I'm fascinated with guns and love playing with the new shit.

Don't follow my example.

Of course, I'm fascinated with old guns too, and have done some empirical testing showing that the S&W 39 you got from Dad's sock drawer will suffice in the real world; even if it's a bit heavier than a Glock 19 and has fewer rounds.

You can hit the archives here to see the convoluted path I tread.

Mystery

I changed out the battery in Moxie.

When I brought the old battery in, so as to avoid the core charge, the counter person asked, "what can I do for you?"

That made me ask, "Do people ask for something besides, 'new battery'?"

His co-workers looked around the other registers expectantly...

"I'm afraid that I can't discuss that in front of a customer," he replied.

His co-workers were hugging themselves laughing!

Now I wanna know what recent event involving a car battery at AutoZone yielded this response.

While I Love Me Some JMB...

I am a fan of John Moses Browning.

I own several of his creations and a couple he gets undeserved credit for.

Fine guns, nothing wrong with them.

Well...

Except for that whole obsolescent thing.

Dude's been dead for 96 years.

His last designs weren't much of his by the time they hit market and Saive's been dead for 52 years and he'd been retired for 16 years before that.

But we're getting to the point where "I'm not driving no infernal combustion engine Robert Fulton's good enough for me!" proportions.

Don't get them started on double or triple expansion engines let along them new fangled turbines.

And when you say you don't like these new guns, and are sticking to Browning, these new guns ARE Brownings!

Except for materials they work just like Saive's improvement to the tilting barrel premiered on the Grand Puissance.

I love my Hi Power, but I'm packing a souless plastic pal who's fun to be with.

Improved materials, lighter weight, more capacity, smaller package, more resistant to corrosion and lint.

There's just no down side.

Then when you add in that Gunwriters® have to run thousand round torture tests to distinguish between models and that so many are passing the excessive torments...

Yeah.

Now that the rant is done.  Don't comment without saying "rutabaga" to prove you got this far.

I've carried 1911's in two calibers (.45 and .38 Super).

I've pocketed a 1908 Pocket Hammerless in .380.

I've toted an FN Hi-Power a time or two. 

They do the job.  They did the job.

They did it as well as any gun I've ever carried because I've never, once, had to draw or fire in self defense.

Nothing about new guns being a vast improvement in many objective ways makes the old JMB guns no longer work!

Nothing about new 9mm hollow point technology makes a .45 ACP ball round make smaller holes.

These old guns still work.  Note my carrying a S&W 59 for a while: I was testing that they still work.

The take-away isn't that the old, proven, designs no longer work; it's to not close your mind and to be open to changes which make your experience better.  But not too open or you will end up being a jaded Gunwriter® who no longer derives any joy from shooting.

Sensible

Smith and Wesson's new Equalizer pistol uses the same magazines as the Sheild Plus.

That's a really sensible decision.

Artemis Launch

You can just barely see her in the clouds low and left of center.

It emerged well after the solids were gone.

I zoomed in and got a poorly focused look.

And didn't get much more.  As it went downrange it got back into the clouds.

The moon was nice.

Caught Orion too!  I keep hoping to catch Betelgeuse going nova.  Better focus, but longer shutter.

Things Could Get Sporty In DC

 Gateway Pundit posts,

[T]he financial collapse of FTX, which is exposing evidence that the Democrats, some Republicans, the Ukrainians and FTX organized an elaborate financial kickback scheme. The scheme involved promising members of Congress who sent money to Ukraine a hefty contribution in turn from a Democrat benefactor. In this case, the owner of FTX. Once the U.S. dollars were credited to Ukraine’s account, President Zelensky and his partners diverted some of the proceeds to purchase crypto currency from FTX. FTX, in turn, sent some of that funds back to the cooperating members of Congress and the Democrat National Committee. This scheme is unraveling. The dummies mistakenly believed that crypto is untraceable. Nope. Thanks to block chain, eminently traceable.

Isn't that interesting?

Will this end up being like Epstein's client list?

Am I Cassandra Or What!?!

It wasn't that long ago when I asked, "how long until ATF changes Glock to readily convertible?"

It appears that VPC either reads this blog or the rash of seizures last year got their juices flowing.

No word on whether anyone at ATF is listening to Ms Rand, but it's something to be aware of.

If the world was consistent, a Glock switch would be ruled to be an MG in an of itself because of drop-in auto-sears and lightning links.

Still Missing It

I remember way back when the TEA Party first started.

TEA was an acronym.  "Taxed Enough Already."

It got lots of support.

It was genuine grass-roots stuff.

I even went to a couple of the rallies to listen to the speakers and cheer the good points they were making.

But once it hit a critical mass of popularity...

The media equated it with being a division of the KKK on one side and it attracted some RINO components on the other.

With the RINOs came funding and an abrupt change of message and a serious toning down on topics which we'd call "draining the swamp" today.

So the Tea Party faded away.

But the dissatisfied people didn't.

The early rallies had created an information cascade.

A lot of people realized that they weren't alone in their feelings about how things were running and started going to the primaries.

You know, where the nominees for the offices are selected?

Trump did not lead this parade.  He was simply not one of the pre-annointed Republicans on that dias during the debates and people rejected the business as usual Republican pablum.

Do not misunderstand me.  I love how he shook things up.  The Left still has not cancelled the good that he did, and they are trying oh so hard.

But Don missed something important.

He got the nomination because he matched us better than the other choices.  In many ways he still does.

But he is not the leader.  He is not the founder.  It's not HIS show.

But he doesn't seem to know that.

And that makes me reluctant to vote for him again.

He's going to have to convince me that he's in it for me, not him, this time.

I don't think he even wants to, assuming he even can.

Let There Be Light!

The previous owner of The Beast "upgraded" the headlights to LED bulbs.

It was not an upgrade.

Clue: If the bulb maker spends more time talking about what the material the thing is made from and the color of the LED than things like output...  Not a good brand.

Happily, Sylvania makes some outstanding H11 bulbs.

I chose the Silverstar Ultras.

It's nice to be able to see again!

Comparing the Beamtech LED bulbs to some standard Sylvania bulbs, I start to see some issues.

The LED is considerably farther forward in the capsule than the filament of the incandescent.

That probably moved it well forward of the focus point of the reflector.

The next problem is the LED just shines left and right and not 360° from the filament.

For the driver's side capsule, in particular, that meant almost no light made it to the road.

If you must upgrade to an LED H11 bulb, I'd say avoid the Beamtech brand.

Getting Angry Is Part Of The Process

I hate computers to a certain degree.

It mostly comes from the planned obsolescence model of the operating systems and software.

What's wrong with the old machine?

Nothing, except it's been abandoned by the people writing the software.

This is especially important to me because the planned obsolescence people have also changed to a rental model for the software.

So, in addition to buying new hardware every couple years, you're expected to pay a monthly fee for the tools you need the machine for.

Of course, there's lots of free software out there that you don't have to rent.

Open Office replaced M$ Office here, for example.

I've even moved to a free OS with Ubuntu on the laptop...

But the desktop is Ye Olde Ancient Mac Pro.  While it runs Win7, there's a lot of stuff on OSX that I still use regularly.  Not online, of course, 10.6.8 is a "tad" vulnerable.

Today, JT generously donated his time to demonstrate his Qnap NAS and show that it could be used from the Mac.  And the Ubuntu laptop, and the Win7 machines and the Win11 machine.

The Mac being the hardest and most frustrating part of the game and Apple's display of a Venture Brothers-Like "PROBLEM" just sets me off while JT is doing his level best to find the right combination of variables.

I'm not made at him.  I'm angry at the planned obsolescence and changing things just to change them that software companies love.

Veteran's Day

Today, in the USA, it's Veteran's Day.

A day set aside for those who went in and came out.

It seems odd to have to say it, but today is not for the fallen in the USA; that's Memorial Day.

It isn't for those whom are still serving; that's Armed Forces Day.

If you know a vet, buy them a beer, take them out to dinner, get them laid.

Remind them of all the freebies available!

When you hit the places giving out freebies, be gracious and buy something that's got big margins (like a beer) because it wasn't so long ago that nobody but us and the post office remembered Veteran's Day at all. 

Today is for us!

Cleaners of latrines

Pickers of cigarette butts

Operators of buffers!

RIP

Kevin Conroy, the voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman from Batman: The Animated Series has passed on.

To my mind, he was the definitive Batman.

Fuck cancer.

Better Than Feared

The tar paper flipped up from the flat roof.

The roof structure is in excellent shape though!

I still want to call in a pro, but we're looking pretty minor for roof repairs all things considered.

Some soffet and flashing needs replaced, but...

This could have been so much worse.

Live From The Crimson Hellscape

Ian was as bad, or worse, than Katrina and many places are already looking better after Ian than places in New Orleans look today!

I'll take the hellscape.

Part of my roof gave up under the winds from Nicole, so we're going to be joining in the parade of claims.

Happily, it's the flat roof over the porch and not the peaked roof over the living area.

Looking at it, I think I can flip it back down let it be its own tarp until we can get a roofer on it.

We're expecting to be paying most of it thanks to the deductible.

Nobody hurt and the inlaws have no damage.

A 9" branch snapped in the back neighbor's yard and landed precisely between his house and shed.  There would have been no damage, but Spectrum's line from the pole held and swung the branch against his house.

Lots of small branches and debris.

Someone Missed It

I am becoming aware that it doesn't matter what I've said before, only what I said last matters to some readers.

I said, and I stand by, that Trump being Trump probably cost several candidates some votes and generated an opposition which probably would not have materialized had he not endorsed candidates.

But where, in that position, is "I think Trump was a bad president who accomplished nothing of value in his four years in office,"?

I mentioned that he's polarizing.

I voted for someone else in the primaries.

I was surprised he'd won, but I Grokked that he was nominated because the other candidates weren't going to make it.

I was really surprised when he defeated Hillary.

But I am not surprised he's a single term president.

Almost all the great stuff he did, he did in concert with the Republican leadership.  When he went off on a tangent, he didn't get much done.

He is an outsider and doesn't know how to get things done using the system.

The problem is that insiders who know how to get things done, don't.

His disruption of the normal ways of doing things was welcome, and his downfall.

He's too thin skinned.  Too petulant.  Too... himself.

If you want a great example, he's attacking DeSantis because Ron is not ruling out going for the presidential brass ring.

Not over any DeSantis policy that doesn't align with Trumps.  Not for doing something that Trump would not have.  Not for standing aside when Trump would have taken action.

Nope.

Having the temerity of considering putting his hat in the ring for the presidential primaries in two years.

Speaking of great things, the despicable Cocaine Mitch did more for us in a very concrete manner than Trump by simply getting judicial appointments done and vacancies filled with originalist judges.

Bruen wouldn't be a thing without the two of them working this.  I give them credit for working together.

But Trump did not proactively fight the Wu Ping Cough lockdowns, did he?

That was governors.

Fauci works at the pleasure of the president, why didn't Mr Trump fire him?  It was obvious long before the election...

Those things have an effect on voters.

MAGA has a lot in common with GOA.  No compromise, purity of essence shit always gets us nothing.  Especially when the leader of MAGA costs us elections.

Because I Can

Dug out the parts for my original Space Transporter set.

Sadly, several pieces were broken, the tail fins and 90° flats in particular.

Spending more on shipping than parts, I replaced them.

I got an extra set of the LL924 1x4 bricks to keep the numbers the same and...

Et Voila!  

Not in too bad of shape considering I've kept the parts banging around in a big bin for 34 years!

She's a lot smaller than the modern counterpart.  Much smaller than I remembered.  Or I'm a lot bigger than I was when I first got her.

Pissing Off The Wrong People Too

As the election wore on and the Trump supported candidates did worse and worse...

I am starting to wonder if, while having fun watching him piss off the people I don't like, if he was also alienating some of the people I do.

The dude is very polarizing.

I still say that him getting the nomination in 2016 had more to do with a rejection of the party establishment than an endorsement of Trump.

I am starting to re-evaluate the Biden election somewhat.

It's making me wonder if people simply hated Trump enough to risk Mumbles rather than put up with four more years of him.

Hate IS motivating, after all.

Happy Birthday

 Just under the wire!

A toast, but no picture this year, of Guinness and Jameson for our beloved Neptunus Lex on his birthday.

He is still remembered.

He is still missed!

UPDATE:

This did not publish as it was supposed!

Form

"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."

W. Churchill.

The spam trap, which I should check more often, caught several impassioned defenses of racism from my "No Room On The Sidebar" post.

Not a single one signed, all anonymous.

Heroes all? <- Internet needs sarcasm font.

Tossing the N-word and blaming their race in the main post and admitting, in the comments, that it's not just that race whom are guilty of that particular crime without using any pejoratives to describe the non-black perpetrators...

THAT is why the blog is not in the sidebar any longer.

I've no problem with stating facts.

Black people commit crimes disproportionate to their number.

It's a problem.

I don't think it's genetic, I think it's because we've stopped applying the melting-pot model to our society.

I know who to blame for black culture being kneecapped.  It's not the genes and if you don't aim your sights at the racism of Democrats in the late 50's through the late '60's I've a bridge for sale.

Blaming genes for the problem is falling for their narrative.

You've got to address the root causes of things to ever effect change.

Sadly, I don't have much past identifying that original kneecapping that goes towards fixing the issue.

But I have observed at how effective calling our side of the aisle "racists" has been, and is keeping any progress on the very issue of this festering sub-culture that exists in enclaves all across the nation from being made.

Using the language of racists undermines efforts to fix the problem while helping the other side to prevent it from being solved.

And you fell for it.

Feeling clever about it now?

Displacer Beast

I sat down to try and figure out how to do a displacer beast in GURPS.

It's a simple enough effect to describe.

The beast you see isn't where it appears to be.

It appears to be 3' from where they actually are.

The problem is using the rules to create the power rather than just declaring an effect.

I started out thinking of making them invisible then building a complex illusion power...

Displacer Beast (AD&D Monster Manual p.28 and AD&D 2e Monstrous Manual p.56)

49 Points

Attribute Modifiers: ST+6 (No Fine Manipulators -40%) [36]; DX+3 (No Fine Manipulators -40%) [36]; IQ-6 [-120]; HT+1 [10].

Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Per+2 [10]; SM+1 (2 hexes).

Advantages: Catfall [10]; Claws (Sharp) [5]; Cutting Striker (2 Tentacles, Extra-Flexible, +50%; Long +1, +100%; Cannot Parry -40%) [26] Damage Resistance 4 (Tough Skin, -40%) [12]; Extra Legs (6-legs) [10]; Illusion of self mimicking own actions (Linked with Invisibility, +10%; Independence +40%; Accessibility, mimic actions, -60%; Mana Sensitive, -10%; Visual Only -30%) [13]; Invisibility (Linked with Illusion, +10%; Switchable, +10%; Mana Sensitive, -10%) [44]; Night Vision (5) [5]; Teeth (Sharp Teeth) [1]; Temperature Tolerance (1) [1].

Disadvantages: Cannot Speak [-15]; Horizontal [-10]; No Fine Manipulators [-35]; Social Stigma (Wild Animal) [-10].

Racial Skills: Brawling (E) DX+2 [4]-15; Jumping (E) DX+2 [4]-15; Running (A) HT+2 [8]-13; Stealth (A) DX [2]-13; Survival (Plains) (A) Per [2]-12.

Add 120 points to bump the IQ back to the starting 10 and you have an Exalted Displacer Beast for 169 points!

The point of this exercise is to make things with GURPS which are fiat with other games.  To demonstrate that it's capable of doing anything that any other game can do, plus make it so it's playable as a character.

Performing My Civic Duty

 

Got there just before the lunch rush.  No waiting.

Harvey went with her pa right as the polls opened and she found out that we're the second biggest district in Pasco after Dade City.  We've ballooned from 4,000 voters to 7,500 in just four years!

Despite many fears, we appear to be getting redder not purpler.

Stahlhelm M1916

A while back Willard gave me an old German helmet.  Size E64.

 

It didn't fit right, so I put it on the back burner and was saving it for some time when my muse told me to use it in a pic with one of the Finnish rifles.

I noticed it sitting there and decided to figure out why it didn't fit.

First off, this is not the Great War correct suspension system. 

It's obviously be refurbished during its long life, but by whom and how recently?  I dunno.

I suspect very recently because that leather is unworn.

When they updated the suspension, they updated the chin strap too.  The original strap had metal loops that hooked over lugs down near the edge.

The reason it didn't fit was someone putting a band of 1/8" thick foam tape around the inside of the liner.

I removed it and then adjusted the laces and now it fits like it should!

I am ready for the Somme!

NOT!

Update:

It weighs 2.9 lb. and should be good for DR 6 to the skull.

No Coffee For Me

"Buy Me A Coffee" has just enough negative reviews to make me think that it's a bad risk.

Too many reviews that say, "I never got my money" or "I was unable to get my money to whom I wanted to support, even though my money was taken" to justify making an account.

PayPal is a better risk!

I'm not taking the PayPal risk, so...

Maybe we should talk about y'all donating to Subscribestar.  I am halfway to receiving donations there, because I am making contributions already.

I'll try to keep you posted.

Multipurpose Meme

 

Every Once And A While

 

It's a panic attack trigger when the tinnitus shifts from 7,500 to 6,000 Hz.

It always freaks me out!

Gods I Hope They Don't Mess This Up

Devotion is due out around Thanksgiving.

I'd heard this story before.

Before the book the movie is based on came out.

Spoiler, it does not have a happy ending.

But it does have heroism aplenty.

But I am betting there's going to be a subplot of how the Navy opposes having a black guy becoming a fighter pilot and how much the other pilots in the ready room hate him.

Hollywood always does stupid shit like that.

The truth is he was accepted readily and well liked among his fellow aviators.

The color that matters in that crowd is the color of the wings.

It Can't Be That Much Better Can It?

I'm noticing that the M&P 9 Metal has hit the shelves.

For a solid $200 more than it's plastic progenitor.

On one hand, that's still $400 cheaper than a new FN High-Power, on the other; one has to ask if it's 1/3 better than the polymer frame because that's what they're asking for here.

This tracks with S&W's MSRP when I compare like features to like features so as to get as close to an apples to apples comparison as I can.

The truth will be in the shooting, but I'm not going to be shooting one unless S&W happens to be reading this and drops me an email.

I will happily take one to the range and see how it compares to their older versions of the gun.

Assuming they want an honest review.

I'm never sure.

On the other side of things, being honest, the M&P 9 2.0 Compact is so much better than the M&P 9 1.0 Full-Size that I'm seriously considering trading the 1.0 for a 2.0 full size.

The Sheild Plus is definitely a big improvement over the OG Shield.

They do make improvements with each iteration which are generally worth having.

Though, I don't know if I like the gray on the metal version.

The Sound Of Silence

I am told this clip makes a sound.

I cannot confirm if it does because, apparently, it matches the sound in my skull at all times.  Actually, that's a lie.  I can hear it if I really crank the volume and make it louder than the sound in my skull.

It's eerie playing it for people without hearing damage.  The look in their eyes as they contemplate that noise never ending is interesting.

A Bit Rich

The chili cook off yesterday was in support of a charity called Warrior Wellness.

They've got a sporting clays shoot coming mid-November and, while I'd like to waste some ammo, I don't have the $150 a head to sign up.

I notice the venue and it rang a bell.

There are other charity shoots at this venue and they all have the same sort of sign-up fee.

It makes me wonder if the venue is siphoning up a large chunk of the entry fee.

I was about to ask people to hit the tip-jar to help Harvey and I enter... then remembered there's no Paypal link anymore.

This sucks.

If you see a "Buy Me A Coffee" link over there (or if that part in quotes changes to a link) then you'll know I figured it out and am taking donations.

$300 and Harvey and I go.

$450 we add Marv.

$600 we add... JT?  Willard?  We're short on shooters here.  Maybe Bubba!

WHAT?

I have good days and bad days with my hearing and tinnitus.

I was all but deaf yesterday.

I can hear that people are talking, sometimes I can tell they're speaking to me, but I just hear sounds not words.

Most of the time, when this happens, I can figure it out the third time of them speaking slower and louder.

This normally lasts a couple of days then I'm back to being able to hear OK again.

I say OK, because there's definitely some hearing damage from...  All the loud noises in the Army.

Back in 1990 they didn't check for shit like tinnitus when you ETS'd, and getting it worked on now is a pain in ass.

But after the bullshit of them not bothering to follow-up on my car accident, I think I might just make a point of demanding aid for my hearing.

Three Gallons Of Chili

Let's get something out of the way, Texans.

Chili is poors food.

Poors don't have meat, but they do have beans.

So beans in your chili is more valid than meat.

Notice that there's "chili con carne," and "chili con queso" but no "chili con frijoles"?

It's not because beans are never in chili, it's that beans in chili isn't worth noting.  It gets noted when rich people stuff gets added.

Now that is out of the way...

I made 12 quarts of my turkey poblano chili for a charity cook off.

Came in second or third, but got lots of compliments!

Even if it's bean and pepper turkey stew, it's damn good!

Research

TM 43-0001-27, regardless of date, is simply wrong about M882 9mm ball.

It is the only source I have found that claims that it's 112gr and not 124gr.

Now I can sleep well.

What is interesting is how many people have asked that same question and gotten a, "why does it matter?" response.

Because I want to know.

Because I am curious.

I ask, "why don't you want to know?"

It, in the long run, doesn't matter.

Plugging the numbers into GURPS gives the same damage and range as 115gr ammo.  It's not even up to +P terms as far as GURPS is concerned.

And all of this fell out of noticing that Phrobus slide for the M9 that never really went anywhere.

When π = 3, there's not really a distinction between all the various normal loads of 9x19mm (or the pistols that fire them).

Sadmin

You might, or might not, notice that the blogroll got a little shorter when you've clicked "show all".

Today I undertook the sad duty of moving the inactive feeds from there to the "Used to Entertain" section.

Dammit.

I reiterate, unless I'm dead or cancelled, there will be a "goodbye" listed here before I quit.

I really wish that some of the defunct blogs had done so.

It Is Not Rocket Science

I am constantly amazed at how long it takes people to order food at Chick-Fil-A and Taco Bell.

Neither place has a large menu.

They both have like six menu items.  There just isn't that much to choose from.

Why does it take five plus minutes to make a selection?

Cartridge 9mm Ball NATO M882

According to TM 43-0001-27 Army Ammo Data (29Apr94, 20Dec96 and 18Oct05), M882 has a 112gr FMJ slug loaded to 31,175 psi (average) and 36,250 psi (maximum) going 1,263±5 fps at 5 yards.

Cartridges of the World, 11th edition says M882 has a 124gr FMJ bullet loaded to 27,000 psi max average propelling it to 1,251±25 fps at 16m.

I am thinking that the Cartridges of the World is correct here.

Bartocci talks about early NATO ammo being hot and the spec in the TM is definitely running higher pressure.

I'm having a lot of trouble finding the actual spec. even if I have no trouble finding the specifications...

Chris Bartocci On The M9

Mr Bartocci is always worth giving a listen to.