Astonishing

I find it amazing that a man so full of hate as Mr Takei has the temerity to call someone else bigoted.

Have A Bowl Of Spoo

Vir Cotto is gone.

As is the actor who played him.

The Babylon 5 reunion show is going to be pretty lightly attended.

Forgot To Take This Pic

The Lovely Harvey's Cheyenne, being a registered evil baby killing assault short barreled rifle with a 14.5" barrel, can accept any bayonet made for an M16.

Being a carbine build based on the movie Platoon, an M7 is the most appropriate for the photo.

I've taken stock of the bayonet supply here and I am short three bayonets for available lugs.

Since two of them are FuzzyGeff's I am not too worried about the lack.

It's also a warning about how easy it is to ease into having a collection...  At one time an M7 bayonet was to me, the same thing as it was to the Army, a bayonet.  Then I started checking to see who made them...

Turns out they've become collector's items.  Imperial Cutlery made, Colt's marked, M7 bayonets are $99 each from Apex Gun Parts.  $58 for an M8A1 scabbard.

Snagging a BOC or Conetta with a scabbard for $35 each seems a real deal anymore!

It also seems that, to save money, buying a new-made USMC bayonet is the better plan than vintage.

...For A Man Will Buy Revenge With His Soul

It may do nothing at all.

But I've closed what doors I can networking with what friends whom will.

For thy heart, for thy heart, who hast wronged me!

Eddie Slovak Cannot Be Reached

We're going to start sitting a jury for Bowe Bergdahl in October?

OCTOBER?!?!

I know the wheels of justice turn slow, but damn.

1,036:15 Of 400

The PK-01VS is still trucking along.

1,036 hours, 15 minutes out of a rated lifetime of 400 hours.

It's nice when things work better than expected.

Implications Abound

In the Michelle Carter case, she texted her ex to kill himself, even talking him out of aborting the attempt that led to his death.

She's been convicted of manslaughter.

Celebs had better take note of what they're exhorting people to do, because it sure appears that we've got a precedent here.

Fake News

Nobody seems to have considered that the motive of the baseball shooter might have been accomplished.

The entire goal might have been to cause the Republican team to lose the next day.

If so, that's mission accomplished.

If you think that sounds far-fetched, just hit a sports bar and listen to the hue and cry of the fans root, root, rooting for the home team.

Do They Listen To Themselves

Being pro-Moslem and pro-LGBT is a lot like being a pro-slavery abolitionist.

They simply do not go together at all.

Irony

Starting to notice the violence of the left.

There's something deliciously ironic about the Democratic supported hard left mobs attacking another violent creation of Democrats, The KKK.

I also wonder how long before antifa becomes labeled as a right-wing creature.

It seems to happen over and over.

Not Completely Original

Not my original thought, but I think it's not being said so plainly.

Pandering to the mob is not speaking truth to power.

Can You Think Of Anything More Cynical

Than a throwing star painted camouflage?

Those things disappear into the underbrush when they're chrome plated.

Might as well throw them at the garbage can, because one throw and they're disappeared for good as if you had thrown them away.

There's Always An Inlet Or A Fjord

File under "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, thrice is..."

I cannot help but notice that every time we start making headway in Congress, some nutter goes off and derails it.

The nutter always seems to be of Democratic bent.

FFS this is getting to be too damn consistent.

I don't like conspiracy theories for serious, but the seeming consistent timing is sure stressing Occam's Razor and random nutter.

Is It Close Enough

Is UPS close enough to USPS to call it a postal shooting?

Another 7.62

7.62x51mm is superior to 5.56x45mm for most things.

Reaches out farther, superior wounds...  about 30% more range and 40% more thump.

UGH.  But it's HEAVY.

My beloved right arm of the free world, the FAL, can't quite have two spare magazines for the same weight as an M4gry.

The loaded rifle is 10.9 lb. and the loaded magazines are 1.6 lb. each.

The basic load for an FAL was 4 spare magazines, 100 rounds total.  That comes to 17.3 lb.  You could carry 300 rounds with your M4gry and still be carrying less weight.  7.62x51mm is not 3x as effective as 5.56x45mm... as much as it pains my romantic bones to admit.

The basic load for an AKM (8.7 lb. loaded) was 3 spare magazines, 120 rounds total.  That's 14.1 lb.

The basic load for an AK-74 (9.1 lb. loaded) was 3 spare magazines, 4 stripper clips, 180 rounds total, but only 120 quickly available.  16.3 lb.!

An argument can be made that 7.62x51mm can do things that 5.56x45mm cannot, and can do everything that 5.56 can.  If you need more range and thump, you need it and how.

But if you don't need the extra range and thump... it's useless extra mass and a greatly reduced number of rounds.

A SCAR-H loses some of the better performance because of a shorter barrel, but the rifle is a bit lighter (8.8 lb. loaded with 20 rounds).  The magazines weigh the same.  So with 100 total rounds it's "just" 15.2 lb. or more an M4gry with 240 rounds...

No That Is Incorrect

Repeat after me.

7.62x39mm is not vastly superior to 5.56x45mm.

Not in Vietnam.

Not now.

Not ever.

Your prejudices are showing.

They're remarkably similar in wound ballistics actually.  We've got years of data to compare them now and 5.56 has not been shown to be inferior to x39, vastly or otherwise.

5.56x45mm has an edge in exterior ballistics because it's going faster so the bullet is arcing closer to the point of aim.  This shallower arc also lets it get hits farther out.

7.62x39mm would have an edge with heavier bullets being a little less affected by crosswinds, but since they're slower there's more time for the wind to act on them so it's a wash.

The AK has not been proven to be a vastly superior rifle to the M16 series either.  If anything, the M16 has proven superior to the AK over the years.  Mud test, anyone?  The sights on the AR series nuke the standard AK sights too.

While the AK might be more tolerant of extreme abuse, aren't you calling yourself a rifleman?

The kind of abuse you're worried about a rifleman doesn't subject his weapon to; an untrained conscript does.  Are you conceding that you're untrained?

While we're on this topic, that AK gains its durability at the price of mass.  Everything about the AK is heavier than an AR.

A 16" AK will tare around 8 lb. without a magazine and a loaded 30 rounder made from plastic will add 1.5 lb.

An M4gry with a 16" barrel tips the scales at under 7 lb. and adds just a pound when you add the magazine.  The M4 profile isn't the lightest available either, you can brush 6 lb. with a "pencil profile".

A "basic load" for an M4 is a loaded rifle carbine and six spare magazines (210 rounds total).  13.7 lb. using Harvey's M4gry (7.7 lb. loaded) as an example.

Willard's Yugo (9.3 lb. loaded) will only get two spare steel magazines (90 rounds total) under that weight benchmark (12.9 lb.) and almost gets three loaded PMAGs... but not quite.

My PSAK (8.8 lb.) does get three PMAGs of spare ammo (120 rounds total) for a total of 13.3 lb.

I also want to bring up another dirty little open secret about the AK and 7.62x39mm round in the form of a question.

IF 7.62x39mm IS SUCH HOT SHIT WHY DID THE SOVIETS DEVELOP A REPLACEMENT THAT EMULATES 5.56 RIGHT AFTER THEIR EXPERIENCE IN VIETNAM?

Go ahead, take your time replying.

Shooter From Illinois?

Gee, that Firearms Owner ID really slowed him down, didn't it?

Illinois has a form of mandatory background check too.

Never mind that shooting at people is illegal in Virginia.

Crossing state lines to commit a felony is illegal.

If he didn't have a valid Virginia concealed handgun permit (Virginia accepts Illinois' permits) it was illegal for him to have had a centerfire rifle with a magazine that would hold more than 20 rounds because the shooting was in Alexandria.

One gets the impression that these laws don't really affect behavior.

Update:

According to his own Facebook page, he was a Bernie supporter.  (Who knows how long that link will be live)

242

Today, in 1775, the Army was born.

It wasn't the United States Army, for there were not yet a United States.

At this point it was just an authorization for Infantry.

Two days later it was found necessary to add an Adjutant General Corps...

When thinking about this, consider that a medical corps wasn't added until July and artillery wasn't added until November.  They needed lawyers before they needed cannon and horses.

Grunts, what can you do?

You Can't Buy This

But enter to win...

Well, I can so buy that.

You list who makes the bag and the entire contents; and you give me what the MSRP of buying the bag and contents would be.

So, yes, I can buy that.

What is more likely is that I cannot win that.  I don't win.  Never have, never will.

Lack Of Excitement

Now that Yahoo! has ceased to be an independent entity, it seems apt to mention Excite's long, slow decline.

Excite was once my home page.

It had a useful news aggregation gizmo and the TV listings were shown at the bottom.

Over time the news categories became less useful, or were eliminated.

At the beginning of the month the last feature I used routinely was eliminated, the TV listings.

I've not been this bummed about an internet thing since the "Mindspring Minute" ads stopped running on the radio.

Well Fuck

I hope that Representative Scalise, Mr Barth, Mr Mika, and agents Griner and Bailey make full recoveries.

Now we wait for word on the gunman's motives.

I read one story where someone was quoted that the shooter had asked if it was Republicans or Democrats on the field before the shooting began.  That's a rumor at this point.

Since it's been about a couple of hours and the FBI has not issued a statement telling us that it isn't terrorism, I think we can safely assume that it's not Islamic Extremism this time.

Fingers Crossed

Legs Crossed.

Eyes Crossed.

Hot Buns Crossed.

Sebastian reports:

My biggest piece of advice for the GOP is to sit in their damn seats until the thing is passed and sealed up so we don't get another rat fuck bastard from New Jersey inserting shit in under questionable circumstances.  Like we did with FOPA.

Trollslayer

I remember Warhammer Fantasy Role Play.

I wonder if Lego knows they issued a Trollslayer...

I Could Watch This Stuff All Day

Skill Check

Shooting at 25 yards, -7.

Aiming for the 8" diameter -0 circle at the center of the target, -6.

Aiming, +4.

No rush, no fuss, safe at the range, +10.

Net modifiers +1.

Now, I managed to get all 20 rounds into a 2" group.  2" is a -9 to hit, so we can figure I made my to-hit roll by 3 for all 20 shots.

What should my Guns/TL6 (Rifle) skill be?

Hmmm...

Well 10 or less is a 50-50 chance to hit.  Half of my rounds fall out of a 1" group.  1" is -11 to hit.

If I accept that 1" is the threshold where I get a 50-50 chance to hit it...

10 = Skill + 4 (acc) + 10 (no pressure) - 11 (size) - 7 (range).
10 = Skill + 14 - 18.
10 = Skill - 4
14 = Skill

To hit the 2" circle that I never missed, is a 12 or less.  With a skill of 14 I should have had about 25% of my shots outside the 2" circle.

To hit the 8" circle, which I also never missed is a 15 or less.  One shot should have been outside the circle.

My skill might even be higher since I was peering over my glasses at the front sight and the target was pretty blurry.  I do have the Bad Sight - Farsighted (Mitigated) [-15]. disadvantage.  Because the front sight is within 1 yard there's a -3 DX penalty... but I don't think that's quite it since without my glasses I can see the front sight fine, the rear sight is indistinct and the target fine.

If all that is true, my skill would be 17 or so...  But I don't think my vision is actually to the point of qualifying as Bad Sight, yet.

Depending on my DX, I've put a lot of points into shooting.  If my DX is 10 and my skill is 14 that means I've put 12 points into Guns/TL6 Rifle.  But wait... again!

I learned to shoot on TL8 firearms, so I have Guns/TL8 (Rifle) not TL6.  That's a flat -2 penalty to shoot the older gun, which would give me a skill of 16 and if I have a DX of 10 that means I spent 20 points learning to shoot a rifle.

Based on how well I tend to shoot a pistol, I think I am running off the -4 default from my rifle skill.

Grampa Gun

When my mom's father died, I inherited his old .22.

It's a 1930's made Remington 341A Sportmaster.

Tube loaded, bolt action in .22 Short, .22 Long or .22 Long Rifle.

20 rounds of CCI 29gr CB .22 Short, 25 yards.

.22 Short CB is marked as "Sub-Sonic, Low Noise" right on the box with an advertised velocity of 710 fps.  It is definitely low noise.  It's just a bit louder than dropping the striker on an empty chamber and you can distinctly hear the sound of impact over the sound of the shot.

Long ass barrel and subsonic ammo; who needs a suppressor?

15 rounds of CCI 40gr Mini-Mag .22 Long Rifle, 25 yards.

Still hits minute of rodent after near 100 years.

My Aimpoint Became Official

I bought an Aimpoint Comp M4s a long time ago preferring the lower location of the battery compartment to that on the Comp M4.

It appears since then that the military has adopted the Comp M4s as the M68 Close Combat Optic (CCO).

Not to be confused with the M68 CCO or M68 CCO.

You see, the Army doesn't distinguish between the three different models of Aimpoint.

Aimpoint thinks they're three different models.

The Comp M2 is NSN 1240-01-411-1265 and was added on 17MAR95
The Comp M4 is NSN 1240-01-540-3690 and was added on 16MAY06
The Comp M4s is NSN 1240-01-576-6134 and was added on 07AUG09 (after I bought mine).

Personally I'd have called them M68, M68A1 and M68A2...

Well, not even.  The only difference between the M4 and M4s is the location of the battery compartment, so mounts and operation are identical.  But some differentiation should be made because of batteries between the Comp M2 and the later two!

RISEing To The Occasion

Marv has been in contact with RISE and they have told him they are sending him a shipping label for the malfunctioning trigger group.

Marv reminds me that he had no problems with this trigger before he put a can on the gun and another is giving no problems in his 6.8 either.

This very well could be an outlier.

I'll report on what happens.

Down Select

Marv's RISE Armament RA-140 was apparently not up to the rigors of the increased bolt velocity from adding a can to it.

The nice sharp edge on the back of the hammer is a well radiused edge and the disconnector doesn't want to grab it anymore.

Getting fairly consistent hammer follows.

Bang Pop Pffft

22/45 and suppressor testing at the range today.

First, unmuffled:



Second, the dedicated .22 suppressor



Third, the 5.56 suppressor.



Bare it shoots center and low, the .22 can a little high and right.  The 5.56 can fires dead center.

Full Suppression

The 5.56 suppressor has the same threads as the miniature one.  Once you've done the first round pop, it's nearly silent with .22 Blanks.

As Softwarejanitor noted in comments, this more effective model is VERY nose heavy and ungainly.

Inconsistent

Why is it that there's people who are A-OK with Rachel Dolezal being "black"; but if a black person is "too white" then they're Uncle Toms or Oreos?

These identity games run both ways.

Not As Suppressed

Marv's second Form 1 suppressor is ready for its debut.

The original plan was to use a clamped on muzzle device on a Ruger Mk II, but that didn't sit concentric with the bore.

So Marv bought himself a spiffy, threaded barrel, Ruger Mk III 22/45.

With some .22 blanks, he did some sound checks.

It's nowhere near as good as the 5.56 model he made for his AR.  It noticibly reduces how loud the pistol is, but it's hardly quiet.

Cultural Misappropriation

I just realized that by buying a 1911 in .38 Super I committed appropriation of Mexican culture.

Especially since I dressed it up with the ivory grips.

Update:

I realized when Beerd chided me for not being cocked and locked that I posted a pic of the pistol with the hated long trigger.  So you get a bonus pic with my preferred trigger and it's on safe, as is preferred.

2017 You Can Stop Sucking Any Time Now

Adam West has passed on at the ripe age of 88.

For many of us, he was the defining Batman for years and years.

His turn on Batman the Animated Series as The Gray Ghost was outstanding, he essentially played himself.  Interestingly, the part wasn't written with him in mind at all nor was the character based on the older version of Batman.

Time Saver

There!

I've just discovered that I was holding Ian to too high a standard about accuracy in his videos.

I've been informed (not by Ian) that I should not have made any comment to him getting a bit of gun trivia wrong.

Therefor, I will no longer darken his door with my clicks so as to not give the white knight who jumped to his defense any more things to complain about.

This will save everyone time.

I've a long standing policy of not doing something for entertainment past the point it stops being fun.

The internet is rapidly approaching the point where nothing is fun anymore.

Moar Maffs

We "established" in AWB Math that a 9x19mm handgun did more damage than a .45 ACP because you had more ammo and 11 times 90% is more than 8 times 100%.

This is true, if you don't miss any shots and have the time to deliver them.

The normal rate of fire (RoF) for a semi-automatic handgun in GURPS is 3 per second (or turn).  Yes, you can shoot faster and there are rules for that but they have penalties we don't want to introduce here because I don't wanna (though I might anyway).

A .45 ACP Colt Gov't Model has an Acc (accuracy) of 2 and Rcl (recoil) of 3 with a ST (strength) of 10.

A 9x19mm Glock 17 has an Acc of 2, Rcl of 2 with a ST of 8.

ST won't be a factor so we can skip it from now on.

The average person has a DX (dexterity) of 10 and, to be honest, zero training with a handgun.  Default skill level for the average person with Guns/TL7 or TL8 (Pistol) is a whopping 6.  A person who's attended enough class to gain a point in the skill gets a 10.  A 10 on 3d6 is a 50-50 chance with no penalties.

Always remember that GURPS has harsh penalties built into the combat rules, a person at a range can get up to +10 in bonuses because of the lack of stress from being not in actual combat.

In GURPS 3e a point was 200 hours of study and practice.  4e is less well defined.  It gets murkier when you consider that the skill is used for things besides shooting too.

Traditional pistol range is 7 yards, or a -3 penalty.

The untrained person firing without aiming needs to roll a 3 or less at 7 yards to hit a torso.  Here .45 is better because there's literally no chance of getting a second hit.

The minimally trained person's skill of 10 gets a 7 or less chance to hit with the first round without aiming with either gun.  With .45 a roll of 4 or less lands two rounds.  With 9mm a roll of 5 lands two and a roll of 3 lands three!  Potentially 9mm is better, but those aren't good odds, especially considering that a 7 or less is a mere 16.20% chance; but you are more than twice as likely get two hits with a 9x19 than a .45 (4.62% vs 1.85%).

If you take the second to aim first, the +2 to hit does help a bit.  .45 hits on a 9, 6 and 3 now; 9x19 on a 9, 7, and 5.  9 being ten times as likely to get three hits as .45!  Bearing in mind that a 4.62% chance is not that large...

However, are two shots of .45 as good or better than three of 9x19 since the odds are similar.

On average, the .45 will do 20 points of damage and the 9mm 27.

Again, this is against the Torso.

If we were trained to aim-small, miss-small and we aimed as small as possible on the torso, we're really aiming at the vitals.  That's an additional -3 penalty.

Now .45 hits on a 6, 3 and can't.  9mm hits on a 6, 4 and can't.

Average damage for two hits is now 42 vs 54...  This is because there's no difference between pi+ and pi when you hit the vitals, skull or eyes.  Odds are you're wasting two shots from either gun at full RoF at this range/skill level though.

A range of 7 yards might be a tad unrealistic, an assailant is probably charging you.  Probably with a move of 6 yards per second if you include sprint bonuses.

That means all the fun happens at one yard!

Another "odds are" statement.  With a charging assailant, the untrained person is probably going to open up on the bad guy at 7 with all three rounds, then fire again at 1 yard with all three rounds.

Chances to hit are 3, can't and can't at 7 for either gun and 6, 3 and can't for .45 or 6, 4, and can't for 9mm.

The trained person aims at 7 and only gets to fire once the range has closed to 1.  -3 for aiming at the vitals, 0 penalty for range and +2 for Acc.  Chances to hit are 9, 6 and 3 for .45 and 9, 7 and 5 for 9mm.  Just going for the torso changes things to 12, 9 and 6 for the .45 and 12, 10 and 8 for 9mm.

So, yes, in GURPS terms you want to use a 9mm and not a .45.

But wait!  That's all ball ammo!  What about hollow-points?  Same progression with narrower margins on the torso, same margins on vitals.

Found On Facebook

Pat MacNamara Supports Waiting Periods

That's from a Facebook exchange that someone screen shotted from Facebook or Twitter, tmacsinc being Pat's login.

The video referenced also appears to show him supporting universal background checks (but that could be clever editing unlike his confession on Facebook).

A couple things, Pat...

No three any number day waiting period has been shown to correlate with any reduction in crime at all.  The few times it's come up in court the existence of a waiting period upgraded the charge to first degree murder because once you'd done the waiting period, you'd clearly planned on doing the crime.

In a burst of spontaneous passion I decide to murder everyone who lives in my home...  I can take my pick of several guns I already own.  A ten year waiting period isn't going to affect me, let alone three days.  However, since I have not decided to murder anyone, a waiting period is an unjustified delay to an exercise of my inherent rights.

In actual crimes of spontaneous passionate murder, "blunt instrument" is the preferred tool.  Look it up!  There was also a brief period of time where the preferred blunt instrument was a Bell rotary phone.

Now, let's talk about universal background checks (UBC), shall we?

UBC is registration, full stop.  Anyone who supports it is anti-gun and not our friend.  Do not give them your money.

PS: See how I did that UBC acronym?  Saying "universal background check (UBC)"?  That's how you avoid confusion now that every three letter set is the initials of at least three things to know that I am not talking about the University of British Columbia or the University Bike Center.

Hasselblad

I've a certain fascination with photography even if I'm not a photographer of any note.

I remember when Hasselblad was an impressively WOW brand of camera.

Now it's a phone accessory.

And I WANT one.  I don't have the phone it attaches to, but I'm willing to upgrade the phone.

Verizon Wireless is practically giving the things away.