KTKC

Let's see if that works.

I love you AD, but your site is Teh Suxxor.

Clicking on me in my kilt with my claymore SHOULD now link to the correct donation page.

It's You

I've noticed a tone to coming's out.

In a nutshell it boils down to:

HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!

Yes, this situation was created entirely to cause you stress and to make your life more complicated.

Related.  If the person you are attempting to help shies away or reacts with fear from previous "assistance"; you are NOT helping.  You get a point for trying but you lose three for fucking it up.  It's like replying to "I'm drowning!" with "I got your car to start!"

Irony We Meet Again

I scanned the envelopes I mailed off to the sheriff and BATFE.

The stamp to ATF is a "Liberty" forever stamp and the sheriff got a "Justice" forever.

Luck of the draw about which stamps I used too.

NFA Trusts

We still don't have the text of the actual change to the rule concerning NFA Trusts, so panic is not indicated at this time.

What we do have seems to indicate that they're going to add a Chief Law Enforcement Officer sign-off on a trust's Form 1 and 4.

That's the part that sucks, since a decent sized hunk of the NFA trusts out there are made specifically because that CLEO refused to sign off on their individual forms.

Some states have law requiring the local official to sign them.  If we get this rule, I'd like to see that.

Adding a background check to the trust's responsible person?  It's an added irritation, but it's not like I didn't go through it when I got my carry permit.

The real solution is to eliminate the NFA or at least rationalize the shit out of it.

There's no reason that NICS can't be the background check.

There's no reason that your friendly neighborhood FFL can't collect the $200 tax.

There's no reason that your friendly neighborhood FFL can't then issue the stamp and hand you your NFA item.

The extended process of mailing in all the forms and other materials is not, I say again, NOT required by law.  The process is promulgated by the ATF itself and is mere regulation.

The law merely defines the weapons being regulated and that $200 must be collected to make or transfer one.  The requirements about background checks and such are regulation and the laws that came later saying felons and such can't own firearms at all.

Over and over I heard when we were winning the CCW battle was that we just can't ever win on NFA because the public is all askeerd of machine guns.  The NRA conspicuously doesn't give a rats ass about NFA and the one organization that purports to support NFA sure seems to have "ensure that the value of machine guns never goes down" as its mandate and that works at cross purposes with someone who just wants a 14.5" barreled AR and a can.

Write your congress critter.  Law trumps regulation.  We can call it the "Fuck You And Your Rich Uncle's Money Firearm Owner Rights Restoration Act."  Kill off 922r while you're in there.

Sidebar

You may notice a new pic on the sidebar.  Update:  It was removed for two reasons.  First, the coming out was a total non-event.  The gun blogs are apparently quite accepting of transgender.  Second, the support I was showing was not in any way reciprocated publicly; with my issues I was told privately to "grow up" or "get help".

Erin Palette, the gunblogosphere's bratty little sister, has come forward and shown us that she is a "he" via a photo.

She's posted a very long explanation of what's going on and says it far better than I would here.

I'm on her side here, so if you've something negative to say about it, don't bother I'll just memory hole it for you.

On My Faith

I simply don't find the divine in what surrounds me.

I've seen the world behave more in step with Shinto than any of the Big Three Monotheisms.

So I've decided to let the world prove itself to me.

God most certainly knows what it would take to get me to Believe if He has the powers attributed to Him.  Assuming He exists, He refuses to do what it would take to get me to believe and since that too is well within His grasp, we can only assume that my lack of Faith is part of His plan.

Who the hell are you to knock on my door and attempt to thwart the will of God?

The temerity of some people!

Analysis

Sebastian reads the whole thing so we don't have to!

It raises an interesting situation.  Italy manufactured their own M1 Garands.

What this EO means is Italian Garands are importable but American ones are not.

I'll take a dime bag of what the president is having, please.

And since these genuine weapons of war are so completely deadly:

MR. PRESIDENT; NAME ONE INSTANCE IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS WHERE A GARAND WAS USED IN A MURDER.

Find a single case and I will let you attempt to convince me that we need to do "something".  Without that, though, fuck off; adults talking, here's a ball.

O O OO O O

I've been watching The Big O lately.

It's anime.  It has giant robots.

I imagine the pitch meeting though...

Creator: Then Roger Smith summons his giant robot which bursts up through the street and...
Producer: That seems a disruption of the narrative and a distraction from the overall plot, why does the giant robot burst up through the street now?
Creator:  Because GIANT ROBOT!
Producer:  I'm with you.

And in many ways that's kind of how it is.  There's an episode plot, a series arc and some fights with giant robots that may, or may not, have anything to do with either.  And it's OK.

There's even a half satisfying ending that "explains" the existence of the robots.

All in all, good fun and far more consistent than Pacific Rim.

Yeah, I said it.  A Japanese pseudo Batman with a giant robot aimed entirely at selling toys of same is better than a giant budget hollywood CGI film.  Even if the explanation for giant robots in the anime is BECAUSE GIANT ROBOT!!!eleven!!

By the way...

Fucking Morons

I am an atheist.

I have several atheist friends who are some of the smartest people I know.

We're all being slandered by the actions of idiots like this.

You fucking morons!  The cross shaped hole in that beam is from someone making a memorial icon.  The part that is not present in that photo is the icon, not the remaining material.  Removing that cross from the beam did not make the beam a religious icon in any way and to say so means you have no fucking clue whatsoever what an icon is.

You've especially got no clue about symbology.  A cross as it relates to death in the USA doesn't mean Christian, it just means a memorial to the dead.

Once again I am watching fools defining something on their own and declaring their definition to be the meaning.  Because symbols are mutable they can mean something quite different to different people.  Intent comes into play.  Especially since the meaning the symbol has can be gained at a later time.  Hindu swastikas anyone?

In a memorial, who is being honored?  The dead?  God?  The wino who lost his favorite patch of park to the memorial's location?

Did you even think to ask?

I was going to ask if you had something better to do, but clearly you don't have anything resembling a productive life and exist only as a parasite on the labors of your betters.

You guys are just attention whores who are worried that nobody cares about how you don't worship God.  Guys, your worries are over!  Nobody cares that you don't worship God.  Now, go back to wherever you came from and look deep into your navels and realize that religion is a deeply personal and private decision and very few practices matter to anyone outside a particular sect.  What that means is your decision to not worship anything, regardless of how you came to it, is essentially irrelevant to everyone else.

Rule 1, don't be a dick.

The Check Is In The Mail

$30 is winging its way to Atlanta, Georgia in the same envelope as ATF Form 7CR (5310.16) and 5330.20.

No good can come of it.

Useless Endeavor

The NAACP has put out the following as part of "Trayvon's Law"

Ending racial profiling; 

Repealing stand your ground type laws; 

Creating law enforcement accountability through effective police oversight; 

Improving training and best practices for community watch groups; and 

Mandating law enforcement data collection on homicide cases involving people of color.

OK, pick.  End racial profiling or mandate it.  They've called for both.

As with so many things, the NAACP doesn't understand history.

Stand Your Ground in Florida is the result of people who'd obviously defended themselves legally being arrested and charged anyway by overzealous prosecutors.  The law was changed to clarify the intent of the legislation that had been on the books for decades.

The ironic twist of this change in the laws has a measurable benefit for minorities!  Wanna bet the skin color of most of those prosecutions of clear self-defense?  At any rate, SYG has been used successfully more often by minorities than whites, and the increase in successful claims of self defense for minorities under SYG has been larger.

Repeal of this law will revert things to their prior state and will affect minorities more than whites.

I agree in principle with the other things, but not in the methods they're calling for.

The police are supposed to work for the community they serve.  I'd go so far as to require them to live in their jurisdiction without exception.  The members of the community should be able to control their police force, firing the whole lot at whim if so desired.  It's the inability to affect such change that's one of the core problems getting law enforcement back in it's proper peace officer role.

Laws serve man, man should not be a slave to law.  The police have become the overseers.

If you really want to end racial profiling you've got to make the difference between a black man and a white man not matter.  They're going to have to be interchangeable and equal.

I'm all for that.

The thing is...

When the demographics of a neighborhood begin to shift to a darker complexion, crime does increase.  It's a sticky little fact we're not supposed to notice, or if we do; not supposed to mention.  People would be less concerned that the guy across the street was black if that fact wasn't true.  And that's the most unfair way of saying it too.  A black guy, his wife and kids move into buys the house across the street, I can almost bet you that there's going to be no change in the neighborhood.  Why?  Because that guy is almost definitely like me!  He'll have a job that pays his mortgage and his bills.  He'll have a distinct interest in seeing that his house retains its value and will maintain it.

I fear that house selling to someone looking for an investment property who's absentee from the area.  Too many times they rent to someone who cannot afford to keep things up or even pay the rent regularly.  The most fearsome renter is the title 8.

I've yet to see a title 8 house that wasn't gutted by the time the person who "rented" it departed.  I've personally had to live across one that was a hive of criminal activity.  Guess what the "racist" cops did about it?

Nothing.  Apparently if a deputy doesn't see the item being stolen, then nothing is missing.

We moved.  It happened again!

Our windows were shot out by the tenants with a bb gun.  We caught them in the act!  They ran inside and by the time the police arrived, nothing they can do since they didn't actually SEE it happen.

This time we were lucky enough to know the number of the owner.  He didn't like that we'd call him every time his tenants did something offensive.  They were gone not long after he came by to chew us out and saw his house!  It was the sweetest apology I've ever gotten.

What was the race of the two "families" in the crime ridden section 8 houses?  Doesn't matter, does it?

Whittling

Sold my Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless.

Well, sold pending funds.

A friend of mine has been wanting a hammerless for a long time now and since it's the only .32 ACP gun in the whole house...

Sold, American!

Don't Watch

I am officially giving up on cable original programming.

It just hit me how many of them were promising and canceled before living up to that promise.

Deadwood, Rome, Magic City...  all excellent, all gone.

Then you have tales of how Breaking Bad was nearly nuked, and a false conclusion was inserted at the end of season 4 because they weren't sure of there being a season 5.  That coming after how narrowly it dodged the ax at the end of season 3.

From now on I am buying boxed sets of concluded shows only.  This way I can be assured that there's a conclusion to the story (or not).

I feel so very sorry for all you Game of Thrones fans out there.  HBO has yet to complete a series that's lasted longer than two seasons.  Count yourselves lucky that we're getting a season 4 and expect that there won't be a season 5.  Why do I say this?  Because, despite the good ratings, HBO isn't committing to more than the season that's in production.  Without that commitment you can have all manner of bullshit disrupting the future.  Like an actor deciding that they just don't want to come back and who's free to leave because there's no contract holding them to the show.  Then there's securing shooting locations, keeping the CG staff who're familiar with the art guidelines, costumers... yeah.

I also notice that they're slowing down how long a season is.  First two seasons were basically a book each.  Third and fourth are half a book.  George RR Martin is kind of famous for his make a glacier look like a raging river pacing, slowing to match might not be the best TV plan...

Chop Chop Nom Nom

We've lost all semblance of sanity here and made potato soup in the height of summer.

Tater soup is a winter comfort food!

For all the comfort and joy it brings, it's insanely simple.  I guess that comfort foods should be.

Not for the first time I noticed that I really enjoy the preparation.  It's as relaxing as a good day at the range for me to make a meal from scratch.

Buycott

I bought a couple of coffees from Starbucks today.

I am far from a regular customer, so I hope that I offset some of the lost revenue from the anti's protest boycott.

I asked, casually, if business was off today.  The barrista indicated that it was pretty much normal for a Saturday, maybe a bit busier because this is the first day in weeks where we didn't have massive thunderstorms all afternoon.

Belief

Here at Haus Der McThag we believe in continuous animal abuse.

Evidence of said abuse.

Poor little Shi Shu.

Actually he was completely unable to sleep until I put the pillow on top of him.  Then there was a deep sigh and he finally fell out.  Proper placement of pillows are essential for the comfort of the Noble Shiba Inu.

It Takes A Special Kind Of Incompetence

Unions kill all businesses they touch, even a guaranteed money maker like shaking your money maker!

Link

Of course it could be that there's no market in SF for looking at nekkid wimmins...

Repeat

I mentioned in comments at Confessions of Street Pharmacist...

Someone said, "Custer had better odds than blacks would have in a race war."
Wrong analogy.
Blacks have the same odds as the Indians should the declaration of war be accepted by the white population.
I've said before that it's possible that some day in the future we will look back and think that, perhaps we'd been too harsh and that we should allow blacks a place at the table again.  Someone will remind everyone of the war and it will be agreed that the boot will not be lifted off that particular neck ever again.
I am sad because the decision to have that war is not in the hands of the people who will win it.  And once won you'll be hard pressed to convince anyone that actions that make apartheid seem like segregation aren't just sound policy.
I guess I am an optimist, I still think it can be avoided.

I've said pretty much the same thing before.

Pacific Rim

Not a review.

It reminded me of something far better.

"You're a louse, Roger Smith." R. Dorothy.

If you're going to make a live action anime, just do the anime scene by scene.  American writers don't get the playing field so it will be deeply flawed by comparison.

These Were Popular With A Couple Of My Players

The SPAS-12 was a staple of modern gaming in the 80's and 90's.  Games rarely reflect the reality of things...

Simple Test

All you have to do to tell if something is racist when a black guy does it is to change it to a white guy doing it.

If it's racist when the white guy does it, IT IS RACIST.

If changing the skin tone doesn't matter, then it's not racist.

Simple.

Same test works for sexism.

Likewise, if the same behavior is OK when your guy does it and not when the other guy does it, then it's OK for anyone.

It's called consistency.

Better make up your minds on "CENSORED", folks.  It's either OK to use it (because you do) or it isn't (because I can't).

Pick.

I am OK with either course of action, but you need to decide.

The same applies to everything that President Obama is doing that was condemned when President Bush (43) was doing it.  If it's wrong for 43, it's wrong for 44.  If it's OK for 44 but not for 43, then you're a hypocrite.

Esoterica

Let's say I have a gun I wanna sell to a friend who lives in another state.

If I am there on a visit can I take the gun to an FFL that's local to him and then do the transfers or do I have to ship it from my place to the FFL?

I wanna be all legal about this, it'd just be handier to do the interstate transfer from hand-carrying it to the FFL than the bother of shipping it.

Herk Update

Sisinlaw reports:

Getting stronger, speaking more, speaking clearer and remembering more each day! Cleared to eat regular foods! During tomorrow's rounds they should be determining when his feeding tube can come out and looking closer at the bone fragment and hip in his left leg to address his pain. Hopefully they don't have to surgically remove/correct anything right now with all the progress he has made. Today they estimate 3 more weeks with next week possibly setting a target date for discharge.

Legal Oddities

The interaction between state and federal law is interesting at times.

In Florida; it is illegal to own certain NFA items.

790.221 Possession of short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, or machine gun; penalty.—(1) It is unlawful for any person to own or to have in his or her care, custody, possession, or control any short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, or machine gun which is, or may readily be made, operable; but this section shall not apply to antique firearms.(2) A person who violates this section commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s.775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.(3) Firearms in violation hereof which are lawfully owned and possessed under provisions of federal law are excepted.

You'll notice that there's an exception.

What if the Feds legalize those things?  There's been talk of ending NFA for silencers and short barrel rifles.  If you can't properly register them, are they illegal in Florida now?  The law as written sure seems to say that.

Interestingly, it appears that silencers are not prohibited by Chapter 790 which is where all the gun laws live.  Additionally I am not finding any Florida law about silencers at all.

Kilted To Kick Cancer 2013

Click on the tubby bastard over there to your right and you'll be taken to my donation page.

My goal this year is a very reasonable $500.

The best way to get there to NOT donate through the big boys pages.

Don't you think they've gotten enough free loot and swag?

Time for us little guys to get some attention too, I says.

Must Be Nice

It must be great to be so well adjusted and mentally healthy that you can declare anyone who isn't a loser.

To be physically healthy and secure that you'll remain that way forever.  Knowing that you'll never have to deal with an illness or injury that drops life from worth living to why bother.

To know that absolutely every problem is surmountable with the resources you have at hand and that will forever be true.

Yeah.  Right.

You know what, asshole, you've obviously never been there.  Or if you have belittling people is your way of coping with what you've convinced yourself is something shameful.

Here's one, prick, did you know that someone can have a chemical imbalance that makes them so depressed that suicide seems like a solution to all the problems?  It doesn't make them a loser, it makes them unwell.  It's idiots like you that drive them to taking their own lives because if they know you think they're a loser for contemplating it.  You are validating the decision by belittling them, not helping them avoid it.

It was assholes like you that nearly got me to pull the trigger.  People with nothing wrong with them who lacked the perspective to see things from any view but their own.  A complete lack of empathy which only cements the idea that one is not worthy of further existence.

Fuck you!

And don't even try to say you had close friends or family who've killed themselves.  Your attitude says multitudes about how much you cared.  You didn't and you don't.

You clearly have no idea what it is like to be that far down the hole.  I do because I've sat in the bottom of that pit.  It was more chance than design that I found a path out of it.

You should stick to talking about things you understand.

Just Sayin

Mexico, it's all I'm sayin'.

Arms Race

Jeff wonders: "Sometimes I wonder if posting these stories only encourages the mutants to “upgrade” their choice of weapons."

Read his complete thought, I've snipped pretty good there.

Let's say that citizens arming themselves DOES cause the mutants to up-arm as well.

I think it's still a new win for the citizen.  Before the villain could use a knife or even bulk to subdue the victim.  With an armed victim, an armed assailant has parity, at best, and even odds are a win for the law-abiding overall.

Gun armed criminals doesn't make the situation worse than if potential victims were unarmed either.

Another thought along these lines.  Against an unarmed victim, there's no change in outcome.  An upgunned criminal can force that outcome some of the time, again no change.  Upgunned victims can force a dramatic change in the outcome and that eliminates the criminal forever.  That level of win alone makes the risk of the criminals seeking better armaments worth it.  Saves lots of tax dollars too.

Gun Games

For a little while I was doing trap and field shooting with the little local league at the Ames Ikes.  I actually got pretty good with it and took a lot of good natured ribbing for using this gun:

One thing trap and field has going for it is you essentially stand in place each stage and there's no clock running when you move from station to station.

I checked out three gun the other day.

I'll never be competitive if I try it.

With my fucked up leg my best speed is a slow amble.  "Let's all go to the bathroom and get a snack while Thag runs his stage."  All that running and sprinting is off my menu.

It sure looks like fun though.  Bet that fun would evaporate paying for the ammo.  Yes, I will keep telling myself that.  While I sit in the classroom watching the squirrels frolic...

Do they have gimpy leagues?

Just For Marv

12 gauge 1 3/4" ammo.

Rifled Slug                             3d+2 pi++      100/1,200                           +1 Acc, Rcl 4
4 and 1 Buck                         1d-1(0.5) pi-      30/600          shots x11

#7 1/2 Birdshot 5/8 oz.          1d-5(0.5) pi-      10/300          shots x219

Extracted

Tam's little tribulation with a non-MIM replacement extractor gave me cause to check to see if my 870 has MIM or steel.

Mine appears to be steel.  Yet another item that's not supposed to be that way on my Express.

There are many lists of things that change from Wingmaster or Police guns to the lowly Express and mine seems to have just gotten the matte finished receiver and it used to have the plainer wood.

I am starting to think that mine's an early Express and the finish was the only change in them.  Oddly, you can't readily date when an 870 was made unless you have the original barrel.  I traded the 26" vent rib barrel for a 20" cylinder bore when I had the Sage rifle sights installed.

Something else I noticed when I was playing around.  The locking lug for the bolt is a firing pin block if the action is unlocked.

Simple

Is the government doing X?

Are they able to do it?  If 'yes' then they are doing it.

It's really that simple.

It's not even huge overarching conspiracy, it's simple human nature.

This is why I support conditions where it's impossible for the government to do things, not merely forbidden.

Ear Wormin'

Thrash Punk Metaldesu?

Shotgun On The Brain

Many shot sizes are not commercially available.  The previous post also made some assumptions about the load.

Here's what I found was readily available in a catalog I had laying around.

12ga 2 3/4"

000 Buck   1d+2 pi         50/900    shots x8
00 Buck     1d+1 pi         40/800    shots x9
0 Buck       1d+1 pi          40/800   shots x12
1 Buck       1d(0.5) pi-     40/800   shots x16
4 Buck       1d-1(0.5) pi-  30/600   shots x27

#2 Birdshot 1.25 oz.           1d-4(0.5) pi-  20/400  shots x109

#4 Birdshot 1.125 oz.         1d-4(0.5) pi-  20/300  shots x152
                     1.25 oz.            1d-4(0.5) pi-  20/300  shots x169

#5 Birdshot 1.25 oz.           1d-5(0.5) pi-  20/300  shots x213

#6 Birdshot 1 oz.                 1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/300  shots x225
                      1.125 oz.         1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/300  shots x253
                      1.25 oz.           1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/300  shots x281

#7 1/2 Birdshot 1 oz.           1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/300  shots x350

                            1.125 oz.   1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/300  shots x394

                            1.25 oz.     1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/300  shots x438

#8 Birdshot 1 oz.                 1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/200  shots x411

                      1.125 oz.         1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/200  shots x462

                      1.25 oz.           1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/200  shots x514

#9 Birdshot 1.25 oz.            1d-5(0.5) pi-  10/200  shots x731

Shotgun Gaming

In calculating the stats for the #4 birdshot I hit the point in GURPS that so turns off most players.  Complicated math that needs to be massaged to match published values.

It's like reading stereo instructions written by a liability attorney.

The good news, you can generate the game effect of any size shot.  The bad news is it's irritating.  It's not immediately clear that the damage from the smaller shot is different from the 00 in the weapon stats.  You first need to calculate the damage for a slug, then apply the shot-shell modifiers to that damage to get the final per pellet effect.  And I found a "fudge" when converting from 12ga.  A 12ga slug is 5d, but the math doesn't match for the default 00 Buck until you make it 4.25d.

What they really should have done is made a table with the common shot sizes listed.

Like this?

12ga 2 3/4"

000 Buck, 1d+2 pi; 50/900; Shots x8
00 Buck, 1d+1 pi; 40/800; Shots x9
0 Buck, 1d+1 pi; 40/800; Shots x12

#1 Buck, 1d(0.5) pi-; 40/800; Shots x16
#2 Buck, 1d-1(0.5) pi-; 30/700; Shots x20
#3 Buck, 1d-1(0.5) pi-; 30/600; Shots x24

#4 Buck, 1d-1(0.5) pi-; 30/600; Shots x27 [SEALs in Vietnam says 1d(0.5) pi- but it predates the rules in High Tech.

F Bird, 1d-2(0.5) pi-; 30/600; Shots x42
T Bird, 1d-2(0.5) pi-; 30/500; Shots x54

BBB Bird, 1d-3(0.5) pi-; 20/500; Shots x65
BB Bird, 1d-3(0.5) pi-; 20/500; Shots x75
B Bird, 1d-3(0.5) pi-; 20/400; Shots x89

#1 Bird, 1d-4(0.5) pi-; 20/400; Shots x108
#2 Bird, 1d-4(0.5) pi-; 20/400; Shots x131
#3 Bird, 1d-4(0.5) pi-; 20/400; Shots x164

#4 Bird, 1d-5(0.5) pi-; 20/300; Shots x203
#5 Bird, 1d-5(0.5) pi-; 20/300; Shots x255
#6 Bird, 1d-5(0.5) pi-; 10/300; Shots x338

# 7 1/2 Bird, 1d-5(0.5) pi-; 10/300; Shots x525
#8 Bird, 1d-5(0.5) pi-; 10/200; Shots x617
#9 Bird, 1d-5(0.5) pi-; 10/200; Shots x878

Oh, wait, I see why it's not tableized now...

Rehab Report

Sisinlaw says:

Herk is doing well, getting stronger everyday. Had his trach removed yesterday morning and it looks great already! Working with therapists next week to come up with some plans of action when he leaves so my parents and I can figure out how to keep the wheels turning through all of this! Herk is expected to be there another 3-5 weeks (they think 5 max) then will be following his outpatient plans.

She's posted some pics to Facebook.  Herk looks like he's had a MASSIVE stroke.  The entire right side of his face is completely slack.  But there seems to be spark in that left eye!

It's just starting to set in to me just how bad this accident was.

She's also selling off some of the bikes and quads to help offset the costs.

Zombie Gun

As per norm, this will be in GURPS terms, since that's where the zombies are!

Why don't you want to use a shotgun?  The answer is the ammo is heavy and bulky.  The bulky part doesn't really come up in game.

On the surface a 12ga pump seems ideal.

00 Buck does a mere 1d+1 pi, but you get nine per shot and you can take two shots per round.  That makes the RoF an effective 18 and you get a +4 to hit with a Rcl of just 1!

The downside to buck is your range is kinda pathetic.  1/2 damage range is 40 yards and max is 800.

Birdshot seems a great deal, you get 2x203 for a rate of fire.  +9 to hit!  Range is 20/300.  Damage is woefully pathetic, 1d-5(0.5) pi-.  What that means is any armor encountered is doubled and any damage that penetrates the armor is halved, with 0 DR counted as 1.  So the average 0 points rolled (min 1) becomes 0 pentrated and that becomes 0 actually done.

Shotguns have a lot of special rules.  Inside 10% of the 1/2d range the RoF changes from 2x9 to just 2.  You get to multiply the basic damage by 4 though.  The enemy gets to, likewise, multiply their DR by 4.  Against unarmored zombies, DR isn't really a problem.

Slugs are pretty devastating.  They get that x4 damage at all ranges and no increase to the target's DR.  They also increase the 1/2d range 2.5x and max 1.5x (100/1,200).  So instead of nine 1d+1 pi per shot they do a single 5d pi++ per shot (shotguns are large bore!).  Of course Rcl is now FIVE!!

Averaged...  A 00 Buck pellet should do 4 points each and a skill 14 character at 20 yards will land three of them on a person.  At 4 yards you may as well just take one shot because on average you just get the one, but it will do 16 points.  Slugs at 20 yards do 34 points on average but the average to hit roll is a miss (best do some aiming!).

#4 Bird will land 8 pellets (out of 406!) at 20 yards with that average roll and then will do no damage.

Hey, the rules even reinforce the "you don't need to aim" myth.  Except what we real world shooters think of as aiming, GURPS considers pointing.  The aim maneuver is a bit more involved.

Next a tactical pump shotgun holds 7+1 rounds.  A hunting gun, 4+1.  Seven rounds weighs 0.9 lb.  Reloads take two seconds per shot.  Four rounds of shooting, sixteen rounds of loading.

It's not a lack of puissance that makes a shotgun a poor zombie apocalypse gun.

By comparison.  Your bog-standard 16" AR-15 carbine...

Damage is 4d+2 pi (average 16), RoF is 3 and ranges are 750/2,900.  A magazine holds 30 rounds and takes 3 seconds to replace.  Ten rounds of shooting, three rounds of loading.  An AR gets 60 shots in the time it takes a shotty to get reloaded from 8!  It has the same aiming issue as slugs, but you can take shots farther out.  Oh, those 30 rounds only weigh a pound.

Even more fun if your scenario allows you to grab a military or police gun (or if you're "good with tools") the RoF for an AR is around 15!  That's a +3 to hit and makes two hits at 20 yards!

But those are averages.  What about best cases?

Our skill of 14 at 20 yards is a mere 8 (-6 for range).  The best we can roll is a 3.

12ga 00 Buck.  +4 for RoF, so a 3 makes it by 9 so 10 of 18 pellets hit!  If there's no DR on that target that's 20-70 points of damage.

12ga slug.  No bonus to hit, so a 3 makes it by 5, so both rounds hit.  20-120 points of damage.

12ga #4.  +9 for RoF so a 3 makes it by 14 so 15 pellets hit.  Those do 15 raw damage, -15 for the DR of an unarmored target for 0 penetrating and then 0 actual damage done once the pi- adjustment is made.  But 1 whole point of blunt trauma, for a total of 1.

5.56x45mm semi-auto.  No bonus to hit, so a 3 makes it by 5, so all three rounds hit!  18-78 points.

5.56x45mm full-auto.  +3 to hit, so a 3 makes it by 8.  Five rounds hit.  30-130 points of damage.

As you can see, the damage is very similar, but the reloads and weight are the clincher.

Legality

Been reading an exchange between the FAL Files resident Raging Asshole #1 Gunplumber and some others.

While he's a Class A Fucking Prick, GP does know his stuff.

At point is an FAL that someone is trying to sell.

It's engraved with FN's name and their model number.  It's actually an Imbel receiver.

GP is trying to explain that it's still an Imbel no matter what else is engraved on it.

What he's missing is that the Gendarme Locale (or should that be policia local since this is California?) will see the markings of a rifle that's banned by name and ignore that it's really an off-list receiver.  While you might beat the rap, you aren't beating the ride; and that assumes you have the wherewithal to fight it, which many don't.

Still, it's legally an Imbel.

What is interesting is two of my guns are no longer legally their original markings.

They are now legally the new engraving, McThag Trust and no longer the old NoDak or Anvil Arms.  That's because they've been through the NFA process and my trust is the legal manufacturer now.

This process was not required of the person who marked up the Imbel to make a recreation of a FN rifle.  Just like my NoDak lowers are engraved with Colt's stuff on the magwell.

I just wish that GP would stop going out of his way to be an asshole to anyone and everyone.  People aren't going to remember he was correct about it and walk away educated, they are going to walk away thinking "what a total douche" and the lesson will not stick.

Inversion

It must have been something I ate.

I am afraid to look in the mirror for fear that I am inside out from the efforts.

99 Years

Holy snot!

99 years ago today, the Panama Canal opened for business.