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There's scanty information about Soviet and Russian artillery rounds.
I need the weight of the projectiles, type of explosive and weight of the filler.
I have this in abundance for Western rounds.
So I have given up on the internet and bought a copy of Janes Armour and Artillery, 97-98.
Since my primary focus is on WW2 and T2K, it should suffice.
I hope.
It wasn't super expensive, so fingers crossed.
Saw this on Facebook:
But I do have more books than guns.
I think I have more books about guns than I have guns.
All it really means is I have a metric shit-ton of books.
There's nothing about having more books than guns that predicates having few guns.
I was struggling to find information on 8x50mmR Lebel as it changed over the years.
I glanced to my right a moment ago and realized that I had forgotten to check the definitive book on French military rifles!
Chassepot to FAMAS, by Ian McCollum, has the information I was seeking in it. I've only owned it for seven years!
It fine tuned my numbers and show that High Tech and Adventure Guns version of the Lebel are using the Balle M stats and the Pulp Guns 2 version is using Balle N.
The irony is I'd just looked up stuff about .280 British in Thorneycraft to SA80 which is right next to it on the bookshelf at my elbow.
On one hand, it's sad that a series I am enjoying will never have another book written by a dead author.
On the other hand, at least you can know you have all the books they wrote.
It's especially nice if they completed the series before they died.
Tolkien got out the whole Lord of the Rings.
Saberhagen got out the entire Empire of the East/Swords series.
I don't think that Rosenberg had finished with the Guardians of the Flame series, but he had not come back to it in the four years between the last book and his death; but he had been writing other things.
I don't know if Herbert got to the end of Dune because I didn't manage to finish the books he wrote, let alone the ones that come later by someone else.
Somewhere around here I have the compiled CoDominium book, "The Prince" which is supposed to have all those stories save the Motie books.
We're on the clock with the Jhereg novels. Stephen Brust is not a spring chicken any more and he's got two books left to write.
I have never read a word of A Song of Ice and Fire, despite enjoying the first few seasons of Game of Thrones. I think George RR Martin is gonna run out the clock on that one and it will be an unfinished series with a dead author.
The book Les Liaisons Dangereuses is set in the same year it was published, 1782.
Since it's main characters are all French nobility, they only have seven to ten years or so before the revolution overtakes them.
Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil will not have to suffer her humiliation long...
Andre Norton wrote a book, "Star Rangers."
I read it in junior high.
I recognize the cover of the copy I got from ebay.
I remember a line or two, here and there.
But the book was as if I'd never read it.
If you wait four decades before you re-read it, it's gonna be fresh again!
Huzzah!
There's a second book set in the same universe, "Star Guard," that came in the same clump of Andre Norton books that I got "Star Rangers" with. I only found out about "Star Guard" when I started looking around for "Star Rangers.
Looking forward to reading it!
I know who Johnny is!
Well, it's a strong theory.
Johnny is who the greasers from The Outsiders are fighting for against the soc's in the big rumble.
Stay Gold.
There's rumors flying that Neill Blomkamp is going to make a new Starship Troopers movie.
Further, the rumors state that he's going to stick to the book.
That's better than the previous attempt by Paul Verhoeven, if true.
Not sure how well the book can be translated to film, but I've seen a Japanese anime that did a better job than Paul "Everything Military Is Nazis" Verhoeven.
I've ranted continuously that if you're going to license a property, then DO that property.
We've got a few great examples that show that it's a good plan.
The Hunt for Miss Red October. <- This one stands out because other adaptations of the Clancyverse failed to adhere to the books and didn't do near so well at the box office.
The Lord of the Rings.
Harry Potter.
300.
Dune.
Stick to the source material and the fans who've been keeping the books in the best seller rack since... a long fucking time ago will plant their asses in the seats with popcorn.
Notice that the fans will forgive some departure from the text because they understand the differences between the mediums. But you have to hew close to the source!
I'm watching "The Order" and they mention "The Turner Diaries" many times.
I've heard of this book many times.
I've seen it for sale at a couple of gun shows. You know the guy who has all the Nazi memorabilia? Yeah, that guy sells them.
Being a curious monkey, I wondered if it counted as a banned book and how easy it was to lay hands on a copy.
Amazon does not carry it.
Books-A-Million does.
Interestingly, if you can read German, Amazon will sell you a copy of Mein Kampf. Well, they'll sell it to you even if you can't...
Every title that the liberal types say was banned by Florida's so called, "Don't say gay," law is readily available on Amazon.
So much for being banned.
Not that I want to actually own anything on that list, or a copy of The Turner Diaries.
But it's interesting to see what is banned vs what is not available.
Phil Foglio and Nick Pollotta co-authored an amusing science fiction novel titled "Illegal Aliens."
It was a book I gave away to people to share my enjoyment.
To my horror, I discovered that later editions didn't have the illustrations that Mr Foglio made for the book.
Thanks to the wonders of the intertubes, I have secured a first printing and I now have an illustrated copy again.
I wonder why the illustrations are omitted from current editions.
Chugging away at George MacDonald Fraiser's Pyrates.
I am enjoying this so much more than the Flashman books I've attempted.
I knew he could write something I'd like! Because I'd enjoyed "Quartered Safe Out Here."
But it was striking me as familiar...
Then it hit me! Nick Pollotta used a style very similar to this in his Bureau 13 books.
It's fun.
THE distributor for comic books, Diamond, has declared bankruptcy.
That's a bummer because I have so many fond memories of comic books.
But I haven't actually bought a comic book for a very long time.
Just a graphic novel here and there.
I have, in my box, the start of several new titles. Maybe 10 or 12 issues that just... stop.
I see books on the shelf that look interesting and see that we're on issue 150 and realize that I need 149 back issues so I put it back.
I've been burned on buying based on the cover (and thanks to those baggies you can't look inside pre-purchase) and finding I didn't like the art inside or the story wasn't related to the cover.
It's the culmination of small things that led me to stop spending my hard earned on comic books.
It would appear that I am not the only person who'd gradually tapered off their purchases.
It makes me sad.
Especially with the gaming side of the comic shop being in upheaval as the companies who make the games seem determined to drive off over half of their customers by virtue signalling an ever more fractured side.
I really hope that both industries survive and recover, but they're going to have to do something they, presently, hate: Return to mass appeal.
It occurs to me, after seeing the combat wheelchair for a Pathfinder mini, that since GURPS has "no-legs" listed as a disadvantage it could not be written in the current political environment. How dare you abilists declare that having no legs is a disadvantage! Prepare the effigy of Steve Jackson for burning!
The 2023 version of The Three Musketeers (Part 1, D'Artagnon) is set in 1625.
There sure are a lot of flintlocks in 1625 France.
Even worse than on a c1600 Dutch privateer trading vessel (cough cough Shogun).
The weaponry in this new version of Dumas' work is decidedly 18th century, and so is the costuming!
There are ample paintings of many of the historical figures to guide the filmmakers... But, nah!
17th century costuming is... elaborate (and expensive).
Even so, they missed on how elaborate the 18th century stuff was as well. The 1988 version of Dangerous Liaisons is an excellent example of getting the costuming right.
But no, let's have everyone dress like a commoner from a century too late.
When Richard Lester does a better job with weapons and costumes...
But with that out of the way, was it any good?
I cannot say if the new version is closer to the book or not; it's been too long since I've read it.
I will say it was a good version of the story. I enjoyed it a lot.
Eva Green did well as Milady. Francois Civil was a decent D'Artagnon and Vincent Cassel a solid Athos. Aramis and Porthos are present, but not prominent.
I liked it, and look forward to seeing part 2.
I've been reading Joel Rosenberg's "Guardians of the Flame" series since it first came out in 1983.
I'd missed "The Road Home" (1995) when it was published and have only purchased and read it recently.
However, I did purchase the next book, "Not Exactly the Three Musketeers," in 2000 when it hit the shelves in paperback.
I just finished reading it for the first time last night.
It took me almost 30 years to get around to reading the last book in the series with the original cast and I owned the next book in the setting for almost 25 years before reading it!
Wow. Just wow.
Woo Hoo!
Got my answer!
And why would a search for the M60 series work? Not for M60 stuff.
But the information was there for the M728 CEV.
The M32, M32C, M32E1 and M32CE1 scopes are the primary sight for the M48 and M60 series tanks.
The M32 and M32C are infrared (Night Vision 4). The M32E1 and M32CE1 are image intensifiers (Night Vision 5).
It's got a reticle in it and is 8x (7.1x for the E1 versions) and will tilt up and down with the gun.
The commander cannot see the same images. Though they can both use the M105 sight that's coaxial with the main gun, it's visible light only.
The commander has the same aiming reticle as the gunner's periscopic sight inside the rangefinder, which is also slaved to the main gun.
Who has a copy of one of these?
TM 9-2350-258-10 M48A5
TM 9-2350-260-10 M60
TM 9-2350-215-10 M60A1
TM 9-2350-257-10 M60A1 RISE and RISE Passive.
TM 9-2350-222-10 M728
Need the dash-ten not the dash-thirty four!
For the M60's and M728 the commander gets a similar scope, M36 or M36E1. It looks like it's connected to the M85 machine gun in the cupola.
The M32 and M32C are introduced in 1958 with the M48A3. The M32E1 and M32CE1 are introduced with the M60A1 RISE Passive in 1980.
Night vision for the driver is introduced in 1952 with the T41 scope (Night Vision 2). This is upgraded to the M24 in 1953 (Night Vision 4).
Took my father-in-law to the used bookstore to get him a fresh batch of western novels.
I found the book on the right:
It's a 1919 printing of the 5th Edition.
It is substantially different from my 1990 printing of the 23rd Edition.
A bonus is the log tables! The 23rd doesn't have them. In 1990 they expected you to use a calculator.
It's neat to see what something I'm familiar with looked like 105 years ago.
Not a very effective ban if they're for sale in the open.
But the point they're attempting to make is these books have been removed from some audiences for various reasons at various times.
If you'd like an example of an actual banned book: Go to Germany with copy of "Mein Kampf," and wave it under a cop's nose.
I remember the debate about AAFES selling it in on-post bookstores and how it was banned for reals in Germany. The books were sold with a warning that you shouldn't take them off-post because even the status of forces agreement wouldn't protect you from prosecution.
Despite enjoying "Quartered Safe Out Here" I am not a Flashman fan.
I have attempted "Flashman's Lady" and "Flashman and the Redskins" and have found myself, both times, screaming, "GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT!"
These books are 200 pages crammed into over 500, each.
So I never finished "Flashman and the Fine Points of Cricket" or "Flashman Has Sex with A New Orleans Whore." because I kept wondering when The Lady or Redskins would actually fucking appear.
That he wrote 12 books to this pattern and people enjoyed them baffles me.
A while ago I wondered about a fantasy series I remember buying, but never reading.
The books are long gone, but I think I finally found out what series it was.
"The Iron Tower" trilogy by Dennis McKiernan.
