Speaking Of Exonyms

Nazi is an appellation to members of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei  or National Socialist German Worker's Party.

It was intended to be derogatory.

So, if you set out to strip all offensive exonyms you need to stop using the word Nazi.

Or you need to start defending why it's OK to offend some people and not others.

If you manage to do that, you will find that you didn't need to strip exonyms from your writings.

Some people do live up to the stereotype.  Even if you go out of your way to not offend them. 

Shiny Let's Be Bad Guys

The descent into woke at Steve Jackson Games continues apace.

"Sensitivity reading" is the process of editing a manuscript to replace privileged wording – phrasing favored by majorities, the powerful, or the elite, whether in the region of publication or globally – that is offensive to, reinforces negative stereotypes of, or erases the less privileged. Examples include calling a physically disabled person a "cripple," calling a mentally ill individual "nuts," referring to a minority group using a disrespectful exonym, dismissing the contributions of a group, or implying or outright stating that everyone in a certain group is a criminal or less intelligent. The goal of the procedure is to remove negative overtones that target ability, ethnicity, gender, geographical origin, religion, sexual orientation, wealth, etc., rendering the writing more inclusive and equitable without loss of meaning or clarity.

Kromm, GURPS Line Editor

Considering that the people making those sensitivity changes are the epitome of powerful and elite...

But it's an effort doomed to fail.

You cannot make something completely non-offensive to everyone.  The fact that the attempt is offending so many people in the hobby is a sure clue to that truth.

A lot of noise is being made about "exonyms" and how they offend the people so labeled.

Gypsy and Eskimo come up most often.

Sioux and Commanche...  Those are not the words those tribes called themselves.  Those are the, deliberately, offensive labels their neighbors applied to them.

But if I say Oceti Sakowin, or Numunuu, will you know whom I speak of?

The Blackfoot don't call themselves that.  They call themselves Siksikáí'tsitapi.  You will not find my wife being offended by the name of Blackfoot.  Me?  I'm saying Blackfoot because I will BUTCHER their name in their language.

I know where Gypsy comes from.  The Roma people, living according to their own rules, are not good neighbors.  Having earned that reputation, they really haven't earned a lot of right to complain when the stories grew a bit past the truth.  And by the way, the only Roma I've met who are offended by the term Gypsy are exactly the same kind of race-grifter you'd expect them to be.

Eskimo vs Inuit is the same thing as Sioux vs Oceti Sakowin.  Someone else's name for them.  The Inuit are insulted by how Eskimo was used.  Fine.

Give English some time, though, and your preferred name will be used in exactly the same way.

Remember, English, despite not being a tonal language, can magically change the word "Sir" to mean CENSORED.  I seen't it! 

Uniformity

Something kind of dull about making soldiers for gaming is the uniformity.

They all, basically, use the same gear so there's not a lot of personalization to do.

Well, there's some, but...

If one takes the personalization too far one ends up looking like the crew from an action film where no two characters use the same weapon, cartridge or magazines.

My T2K conversion gives a price break for buying weapons that are issued to the character's home nation.  That encourages them to use the standard weapons.  That discourages personalization...

C'est la vie!

Technologically Improved

Making GURPS characters is greatly aided with a spreadsheet.

It does the math for you and that means it's super simple to do things like checking to see if raising a stat by a point and lowering the points spent on skills, but retaining their levels, is more or fewer points in total.

Most of the time this kind of min-maxxing doesn't, quite, pay off.

Sometimes, though, it does!

Somewhat belatedly, I am making the three NPCs that FuzzyGeff and Marv have linked up with in my Twilight: 2000 game.

It's something of a playtest for my T2K to GURPS conversion too.

We've found a couple three mistakes that are simple to fix thanks to the same technology that let me type it out and make a pdf file to share with people.

Comrades

I've found about five people I've served with on Facebook.

We're mostly Gen-X, so spotty about getting on social media.

Some of them have even replied after so many years of not being in contact.

Kinda neat.

A Good Run

Ed Iskenderian has passed on at the ripe old age of 104.

If you know who he was, then I don't have to explain.

Fake Tube

Palmetto State Armory used a screw they epoxy'd into the gas tube hole of the front sight base to hold the handguard cap.

Because it interfered with triangle handguards, I tried removing it and created a "would not screw back in" condition.

So I ordered a pistol gas tube and cut it down to provide a block to rotation at the handguard cap.

A longer gas tube would have been better because it would have been straight here.

No matter!  Thag have hammer!

Now there's a stub of a gas tube to help hold the cap steady.  There's a washer-like slip on fastener that I cannot recall the name of that would be perfect for holding the cap forward...  As soon as I remember what they're called I will order some.

Update: Retaining washer!

Kinda neat looking in the cooling holes and seeing gastubisinterruptus.

Wile E Coyote school of gunsmithing for the win!

Since I Have Magazines On The Brain

MSG Jeff Gurwitch (SF soldier type) did a review of his personal experience with several AR mags.

and

I'm still trying to figure out what magazines were what in that ATEC report, I noticed that both Mission First and Daniel Defense have shape that would preclude them being used in an M27 magwell...

Unsafe Storage

A Florida woman is in trouble because her kid showed up at school with her Lorcin L-25.

Her five year old kid.

The child doesn't seem to have had much nefarious intent, no ammunition was found with the gun.

She's being charged with violating the safe storage laws and child neglect.

Oops!

I've got mixed feelings about the laws about safe storage.  I think you should make every reasonable attempt to keep the kids and guns separated while there's no adult present as a matter of being a responsible parent.

I don't like making it illegal to fail in that effort.  At least not criminal.

I guess the neglect charge is a, "well if you'd been paying attention the child would never have gotten to the poorly stored gun."

I really hate blanket charges like that.  Vague laws make for bad arrests.

Crossing The Aisle

I still say that the cops are a bit too quick to employ deadly force.

Especially if it turns out that Pretti got shot because the officer that disarmed him had a negligent discharge from Pretti's gun after disarming him.

He deserved to get arrested for what he was doing, but if he was a threat with that dogpile on top of him...

Officers, learn to dogpile better!

If he had a second firearm and was trying to get it out to shoot the dogpile, then good shoot.

But where's that second gun?

I've long maintained that the cops should be held to the same standard as any other citizen when it comes to shooting someone.

The main complaint is that would make it too difficult for cops to do their jobs.

I says that letting us non-cops use the same, looser, rules as the cops wouldn't make it harder for THEM at all.

Just sayin'.

Gasparilla Lacking

Tampa has an annual festival honoring a pirate.

I realized that I don't even own a cutlass.

Then, thinking of pirates, I realized that I also don't own a rapier.

I tended to take a point and edge rapier for my pirate characters because fencing weapons got bonuses in GURPS 3e that were worth having.  They're not as unbalancing in 4e.

Not that I even have the first clue about how to wield either properly.

Well, maybe the first clue.

I was a fair hand with an epee once.

Once.  Long ago.  When I was very young.

I've never used a short sword past a wakizashi.  Prolly similar enough to a cutlass, but I'd never claim to have been proficient.

Come to think on it, I don't have a proper piratical flint-lock either!

Probably not fill any of these empty slots, I don't cosplay any more.

Works Fine For Me

Something that comes up again and again when talking about whether a given product works or not is whether the reader's experience is different from the author's.

I own several things that are working correctly that got massive negative reviews, for example.

I also have a Magpul 17-round magazine for a Glock that doesn't work well in my G17.2; despite rave reviews and people constantly assuring me that they work in their gun.  Yet they never offer to buy mine...

But the biggest case of "works fine for me" is when the military tests their fav and it comes up wanting.

I will clue you into why there's such a disparity.

That thing you bought:  You paid for it.  You expended time and effort to get it.  It is yours.  You assign value to it.  You will not deliberately try to destroy it.

That thing PV1 Snuffy was issued:  He did not pay for it.  He expended no real time and zero effort to be issued it.  He didn't sign for it.  He's not really responsible for it.  If it breaks he will get a new one without repercussion.  He will deliberately try to destroy it during testing; he's been ordered to.

An item that performs at a match or on the range but dies when Snuffy gets it...  Not a good choice for Army or Marine issue.

Failure to survive Snuffy doesn't make something bad, it just means it's more fragile than an anvil.

Which brings us to that report I (poorly) sampled earlier.

What seems to be wrong with most of the magazines in the test with lots of failures is weak springs.

Bolt over base attributed to the mag is the shot column not moving up quickly enough to get the next round into the path of the bolt.

The pecking of the bullet tips into the aluminum portion of the feed-ramps is the same sort of thing.  The round is high enough for the bolt to grab it, but not high enough to miss the "M4 ramp" in the upper receiver.

Failing to lock to the rear is either weak spring, poor follower design or both.

The test recorded how many rounds had been fired, how many rounds were in the magazine when the failure occurred, how many times the magazine had been used...  It's pretty exhaustive.

If only they'd told us which vendor was which letter...

At this time I am thinking the rumor that 'Golf' was a Gen 1 Lancer might be suspect.  What I need to refute it is whether you can get a Gen 1 Lancer to fit and feed in an H&K M27 aka HK416.

Doubts About The Rumors

I happen to have all five variations of the 30-round USGI magazine!

Wondering if the 'India' magazine could be an EPM, I decided to weigh them.

OG 1969 emerald green follower: 4.1 oz.

Black follower: 3.8 oz.

Light green follower: 4.0 oz.

Tan follower: 4.4 oz.

EPM: 4.3 oz.

A window PMAG M3 is: 5 oz., 5.3 oz. with the dust cover.  'Foxtrot' matches!

The lightest 'India' magazine in the report is 4.97 oz.  I don't think 'India' is a USGI 30-rounder.

'Golf', 'Juliet' and 'Kilo' are in the correct range.  UPDATE:  'Kilo' is the tan follower "legacy" magazine.  'Lima' is the EPM.

Further, the USMC released a report to National Review which TFB linked to that says that they tested the EPM in the M4, M16A4 and M27.  The ATEC report says that 'Golf' and 'India' didn't fit in the M27.

They also mention that they tested against the legacy magazine, which I think is the tan follower mag.

I think that 'Juliet' is the EPM and 'Kilo' is the tan follower.

Deciphering ATEC Project Number: 2014-DT-ATC-M4CAR-F9278 Report Number: ATC-11684 (Poorly)

The magazine makers are labeled A-L.

Alpha is 8.45 oz.  Bravo is 3.86 oz.  Charlie is 5.41 oz.  Delta is 8.92 oz.  Echo is 4.45 oz.  Foxtrot is 4.97 oz.  Golf is 4.34 oz.  Hotel is 3.94 oz.  India is 4.98 oz.  Juliet is 4.32 oz.  Kilo is 4.30 oz.  Lima is 4.23 oz.

Tested in M4A1, M16A4 and M27 weapons. 

Alpha is heavier than the others, prolly a steel magazine.

Delta is heavier than the others and works well in the M27, making me think that it's the H&K High Reliability Magazine.

Foxtrot is a Magpul windowed PMAG M3.  We know that because Magpul pointed it out.

Golf is rumored to be a Lancer Gen1 L5.

India is rumored to be a USGI Enhanced Performance Magazine (EPM).  Debunked!

Kilo is the legacy tan-follower USGI magazine.

Lima is the Enhanced Performance Magazine.

No rumors as to what Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Echo, Hotel, India and Juliet are. 

Golf and India did not fit in the M27.

Class I failures can be corrected by the user within 10 seconds with tools on hand.  Class III failures require an armorer.

M4A1 results:

Alpha: 4 failures.  3 weapon, 1 system.

Class I: 1 system.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Bravo: 10 failures.  8 magazine, 2 weapon.

Class I magazine: 8 bolt over base M4A1.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Charlie: 10 failures.  5 magazine, 5 weapon.

Class I magazine 3 double feed, 1 bolt over base, 1 OTH; weapon 3 bolt over base.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Delta: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I weapon 1 bolt over base.

Echo: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I no failures.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Foxtrot: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I no failures. 
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Golf: 29 failures.  1 ammunition, 28 magazine.

Class I 1 ammunition, magazine 22 failure to lock to the rear, 1 BLE.
Class III magazine 2 OTH.

Hotel: 5 failures.  1 magazine, 4 weapon.

Class I magazine 1 bolt over base.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

India: 19 failures.  16 magazine, 3 weapon.

Class I magazine 16 failure to lock to the rear.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA, 1 OTH.

Juliet: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I no failures.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Kilo: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I  no failures.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Lima: 4 failures.  4 weapon.

Class I  weapon 2 failure to eject, 1 failure to extract.

M16A4 results:

Alpha: No failures.

Bravo: 2 failures.  2 weapon.

Class I: weapon 2 bolt over base.

Charlie: No failures.

Delta: No failures.

Echo: No failures.

Foxtrot: No failures.

Golf: 3 failures.  1 magazine, 2 weapon.

Class I: magazine 1 failure to lock to the rear; weapon 1 bolt over base.

Hotel: 1 failure.  1 magazine.

Class I: magazine 1 double feed.

India: 1 failure.  1 magazine.

Class I: magazine 1 failure to lock to the rear.

Juliet: No failures.

Kilo: No failures.

Lima: 1 failures.  1 weapon.

Class I: weapon 1 BLE.

M27 results:

Alpha: 5 failures.  1 magazine, 4 weapon.

Class I: magazine 1 bolt over base; weapon 2 bolt over base.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Bravo: 79 failures.  36 magazine, 30 weapon, 13 system.

Class I: magazine 1 double feed, 25 bolt over base, 1 stuck round; weapon 29 bolt over base, 1 BLE; system 12 bolt over base, 1 BLE.
Class III: magazine 2 OTH.

Charlie: 51 failures.  19 magazine, 32 weapon.

Class I: magazine 3 double feed, 13 bolt over base, 1 FSR; weapon 29 bolt over base.
Class III: magazine 1 OTH; weapon 1 FRA

Delta: 1 failure.  1 weapon.

Class I: weapon 1 bolt over base.

Echo: 1 failure.  1 weapon.

Class I: 1 bolt over base.

Foxtrot: 4 failures.  1 ammunition, 3 weapon.

Class I: ammunition 1 failure to fire; weapon BLE.
Class III: weapon 1 FRA.

Golf: Did not fit in magazine well.

Hotel: 1 failure.  1 weapon.

Class I: 1 bolt over base.

India: Did not fit in magazine well.

Juliet: 15 failures.  3 ammunition, 4 magazine, 7 weapon, 1 system.

Class I: ammunition 3 failure to fire, magazine 3 bolt over base, 1 stuck round; weapon 7 bolt over base; system 1 failed to chamber BLE.

Kilo: 6 failures.  6 weapon.

Class I: weapon 3 bolt over base, 2 fail to fire, 1 stuck round, light strike.

Lima: 17 failures.  1 ammunition, 8 magazine, 8 weapon.

Class I: ammunition 1 failure to fire; magazine 4 bolt over base; weapon 8 bolt over base.
Class III: magazine 1 OTH.

Considering the number of weapon failures with the M27 compared to the M4A1 and M16A4, I think we can put to bed the whole "pistons are better than direct impingement" argument.

"System" stoppages don't have an identifiable source.  BLE is associated with the bolt breaking and/or the nose of the round getting stuck on the feed ramp, OTH seems to be a generic "other" cause.  FRA is some kind of feed ramp failure.

The most common failure, overall, was failure to feed because of bolt over base.

Golf's most common failure mode was to fail to lock to the rear.

Again, if anyone has a list of who was what vendor, or even which 11 vendors were tested, drop a comment!

Also Also

I noticed that all three plastic magazines (Orlite, PMAG and Thermold) I have around here have a constant curve profile inside the magazine.

It's a lot easier to pull off making the inside and outside follow different contours than sheet metal.

Now I want to get more examples of plastic fantastic magazines to see if they do it too.  I bet they do.

I don't have them here already because PMAG has been working for me since... 2013?  2017 at the latest.

I tend to settle on something that works and stick to it.

What I'd been using was USGI aluminum bodies with Gen 2 Magpul anti-tilt followers.

The sand colored PMAGs is where I made my first big purchase of them and they've been working.

I still have all those aluminum bodied mags.

I think FuzzyGeff is the only person I've surrendered a magazine to since 1994...  And that was just to standardize on the M3 PMAG.  He got all the OG, Rev-M, MOE and M2 mags.  Many of them color matched his carbine, so it was serendipitous.

But there's reasons to be cautious about adopting new.

Working just fine at the range is one thing, working in a match is another and working after coming in contact with a private is yet another.

The Army tested a bunch of magazines and resolutely refuses to tell us which letter is what brand!

I've slogged through much of

ATEC Project Number: 2014-DT-ATC-M4CAR-F9278

Report Number: ATC-11684

on Scribd's free portion of their site.and "Golf", which is rumored to be Lancer, has a lot of failures, but they're nearly all a failure to lock open on an empty magazine.  I'd love to get a copy that didn't interrupt every 20 seconds to make me watch a counter run down.

Before Its Time

I noticed that the Orlite magazine is a constant curve design.

This was something of a Holy Grail item for the M16 which didn't end up working in Aluminum because several dimensions of the magazine well weren't critical and were, essentially, toleranced by other dimensions.

That meant that the constant curve magazines developed by Colt would work in most M16's, but not all of them.  You can't issue that to troops and the "not all of them" is a large enough number that you can't do a recall of the guns that didn't work just so the magazine would fit.

So, we dealt with many iterations of the straight then curved 30-round USGI magazine with various followers to address the issues.

But back in 1982, Orlite Engineering took a crack at making a, not only, constant curve magazine that worked in the IDF's M16A1's, but also was made from polymer.

Sadly, they don't appear to have worked very well.  Well enough to stay in production for ten years, but still...