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There are several places which have a very high percentage of their populations fully vaccinated.

They are experiencing surges in Wu Ping Cough that are similar to when there wasn't any mRNA treatment.

It suddenly occurred to me that if this "vaccine" worked at all then any surge in the disease must be much smaller because the vaccinated should be immune and there should be many fewer people who are susceptible to the disease to catch and spread it.

That's how smallpox and polio worked.  More people immune, fewer people catching and spreading until; poof!  No more smallpox or polio except in labs and biowarfare facilities.  Every successive wave of the disease was smaller than the one that preceded it.

Now there's a report from Israel that suggests that more people died of the mRNA treatment than would have died of the disease.  I definitely wanna see that data!

DR-200

I bought this gun new in 1995.  It had an atrocious thumbhole stock on it, but I fixed that with an Ace Ltd. fixed stock and pistol grip.  The lack of bayonet lug was solved with a clamp-on unit I originally bought for my L1A1.

This pic was snapped some time before April 21, 2007, but the old Kodak DC3200 recorded every picture with the date of 31DEC99.

Not once in the 12 years I owned it did it fail to function.  It even worked with the worn out USGI surplus magazines that failed to work in Kaylee.  People look to Israel for weapons that work, but I think that South Korea might be a better arbiter.  Their situation is just as existential, but their potential foes are far more serious about the craft.

It had its down sides, though.

The front sight was WIDE and occluded far too much of the target at anything beyond 50m.

The main reason I soured on it was the utter lack of parts support when Kimber of Clackamas, Oregon went tits up.

I lived in fear of something breaking and having no way of fixing it.

So, being a good hot-rodder, I traded it to a buddy for a cat-back exhaust system for my '91 Biscayne!

My buddy traded it to Mark Serbu for a Super-Shorty shotgun.

Everyone wins! 

Every once and a while I check to see what a Daewoo is running.  They're damn rich for my blood.

Nice To See Them Finally Admit It

Link

The gun control people have been claiming for decades that the National Guard is the militia, and therefore we unwashed peasants don't have any right to own a firearm.

But there it is.

From a government source no less.

It All Started In 2016...

I bought a passel of Gen2 PMAGs in foliage green to match the foliage green furniture.

Up until that point I'd been using the bog standard aluminum 30-rounders.

The only problems I've ever had was with some old Center Industries mags I got from a friend who was in the Iowa National Guard.  I suspect they were in the discard bin and he liberated them.

They wouldn't feed the last three rounds in an AR, but were fine in my Daewoo DR-200.

New springs and Magpul anti-tilt followers and they're back in service.

Those five mags were my ONLY mags for quite a while.

I liked the combination so well I bought some from Bravo Company.

I still maintain that there's nothing inherently wrong with the USGI 30-rounder once the light green follower shows up, as long as the spring isn't worn and the feed lips aren't cracked or distorted.

I decided to give PMAGs a try because I kept hearing stories about how well they were working.

But what made me buy a shitload of them was a mention of those feed lips.

Aluminum can bend past its elastic limit and show no sign of doing so.  That will leave the lips out of spec and cause the magazine to be unreliable.

The plastic that PMAGs are made from will break before they deform past their elastic limit.  So if they're out of spec, it's visible as cracks.

But bonus!  There are several reports of badly cracked PMAGs still feeding fine.  The 2 and 3 gunners swear by them.  That's an endorsement, because they abuse their shit worse than a crunchie.

So far no other model has lifted my skirt.

Hmmmmm

I can't believe I never tried this.

Game a charging Moro against various handguns from the era with GURPS.

I wonder if I'll get the anecdotal results and have the Moro drop like his strings were cut with a .45 but be able to kill the shooter with a .38.

Who STILL Makes A Crappy AR Mag?

The comments on crappy AR mags is digging up some real "gems" from the past.

SHUDDER

Kids these days won't remember the dark times.

I am wondering if this is the silver lining of the dark cloud of the 94 ban on cosmetic features.

It killed the companies making the shitty magazines.

What I really want is an unredacted copy of the USMC Aberdeen test that got the PMAG to be standard issue.

Rumor is that Lancer did very poorly, but I'd like to see for myself.

But You're Not Law Enforcement

Dude, you're an everyday citizen without the special immunities of a King's Man.

You don't get to justify your actions using their language.

The attempt just proves to the jury that you think you are a Sworn King's Man doing the King's Work.

You will be forcibly put in your place.

Not saying you should be, but pucker up.

Who Makes A Crappy AR Magazine?

I can remember the days of Orlite and Canadian surplus Thermold magazines.

Who else rememebers USA brand magazines?  Those were very hit and miss.

I sit here wondering if there's a truly horrible AR magazine made any more.

Wait... Lemme start over.

A truly horrible standard capacity magazine.  Marv has an atrocious 100 round double drum from KCI.

I'm totally in the dark except for reading people complain on the internet.  There's lots of lists that haven't been updated in years.

I bought a lot of USGI magazines and PMAG M3's and because they've been working, never looked for other alternatives.

The only magazine outside those two forms we've snagged is a Hexmag to color match Marv's Behind Every Blade of Grass carbine.

I've read several places that like Lancers.

Who's had a good or bad experience with an AR mag lately?

It's A Promise Not A Demand

The protestors chanting, "No justice!  No peace!" aren't saying that there will be no peace until there is justice.

Judging from their actions they're saying there will never be justice or peace as long as they are around.

Mencken was an optimist.

Too Easy?

I do so love listening to some 25 year old who ETS'd with a 70% service connected disability that was upgraded to 100% at their first board complaining that VA disability is too easy to get.

I'm at 10% with all my doctors agreeing that the service connected condition is the cause of my deteriorating mobility and no joy on even getting that board.

Grumble.

The Cloud Means Someone Else's Computer

In the process of backing up my data I noticed that barely 1,000 of the 11,000+ songs I have were still available to download or play from iTunes.

While much of that library comes from ripping from my pile of CD's, a decent sized chunk of it was purchased from iTunes.

And if I hadn't downloaded it and saved it... the music I paid for would be gone.

If you're not allowed a local copy, you are renting the media.  At best.

Even worse if you're locked into a proprietary format that only runs on their player.  Like movies and TV shows from iTunes.

Quote Of The Day

"The last place you want to find yourself in a self-defense situation is one controlled by blue politicians.  Ironically, these are also the places where you're most likely end up in a self-defense situation."

I keep looking at what the cops and district attorneys in places where BLM and Antifa have been destroying things do.

The savages are let to run free and anyone who tries to stop them is arrested and charged.

No savages are charged if they happen to be arrested.

In effect, burn, loot and riot is legal in these areas.

My only worry is containment.

Keeping this in the blue areas.

The problem is the "sensible" people who move out of these areas can't see themselves as part of the reason that these areas have this problem and they (innocently?) attempt to recreate the conditions where it happens.

Lawfare

If Rittenhouse is convicted, I can certainly see someone like him in the future who's beset by the mob and forced to defend themselves to say, "In for a penny, in for a pound!" and rather than keep running towards the cops to spit on their hands, raise the black flag and wade into the mob firing.

If there's no path that leads to exoneration, what have they to lose?

This will inch towards a feeling that, "if that's the case, then preemptive strike is preferable."

This is fire being played with live on court TV.

Change For Change's Sake?

Dottie is heavy.  She always has been, and Magpul furniture is heavier than USGI stuff.

I am wondering if I should change over to the black stuff I have in the bin from the OD Green that she's wearing now.

It's not like I can't change her back!

A Superior Greek

I've a quote from Heraclitus over there on the right.

Here's another good one, considering my bout with an inferior Greek poet:

“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny - it is the light that guides your way.”
― Heraclitus

Some Lessons Stick

I feel no shame about the idea that we dropped two atomic weapons on Japan in 1945.

In fact, I kinda brag on it every year.

Dropping those bombs meant that Operation Downfall was never implemented.

That saved countless American lives.

It also saved countless Japanese lives.

The invasion of Japan would hardly have been unopposed and the resistance met during the island hopping campaign led US planners to think that casualties would be extremely severe.

The atomic bombs disrupted the hold the Japanese Army had on the reins of government, and allowed a surrender to be made that didn't lead to another war in a generation or two.  I note that in the intervening 76 years we haven't had to drop another nuke on Japan.

The alternate history theory that the military controlled government was on the verge of petitioning for an end to the war, if true, would have led to conditions that would have guaranteed a fresh war with Japan in much the same way Germany started a second war in the late '30's.

This war would have been with atomic weapons on both sides because Japan wasn't really all that far behind us in the research.  Giving them 20-30 years to finish that research would have meant they would have the bomb come WW3.

How many lives have been saved from that never happening?

This is actually just a long form way of saying, Nikole Hannah-Jones doesn't know shit about history.

Nobody Tell Roberta X

It appears that if you've caught Wu Ping Cough and survived you've no reason to get vaccinated because you're not going to catch it or transmit it to others.

Utopia

Being a Right Honorable Traveller Grognard, I tend to be dismissive of the Space Opera of Star Trek.

Traveller has its space opera components, but is solid, crunchy, science fiction nonetheless.

Star Trek doesn't let it's technology be solidified far enough to allow any conclusions follow to their natural end.

How many problems would be solved should any of several transporter malfunctions be researched and reproduced reliably?

The main problem with Star Trek is that it's a utopia.  The technology is so miraculous that many conflicts and motivations shouldn't be present.  We could ignore that, but they've shown us the tech that solves the problem.  This is far more evident in Next Generation than the OG series.

Traveller, on the other hand, assumed that humanity would remain human even five thousand years from now and the conflicts we carry would remain.  There's no magic technology that solves human nature or eliminates supply and demand in a way that allows Marxism to be realistic.

And I am a snob about it!

BUT NSN Doesn't Always Mean Issue

While every issue piece of equipment has an NSN (NATO Stock Number), not every item with an NSN is an issue item.

Some items with an NSN are foreign issue items, but are standardized for NATO, like the Magpul EMAG for the UK L85A2 and a black-windowed PMAG M3.

Other NSN items are for items that a unit can purchase with their own funds, but aren't in the supply system.

It's sometimes hard to sort them out, especially since lots of non "USGI" plastic magazines have an NSN.

Veteran ≠ Expert

Plastic magazines ARE USGI issue.

NSN 1005-01-659-7086 is the number for a medium coyote tan 30-round PMAG M3.

This is also the magazine the USMC issues as standard now that you cannot get the gray-bodied, tan-follower NSN 1005-00-561-7200.

The Army has accepted it as a standard magazine as well alongside the NSN 1005-01-630-9508 tan-bodied enhanced performance magazine.

I think the idea that the Army doesn't use plastic magazines as issue should be discarded.

It's not 2015 any more.

Save The Wave

Got my first wave from a C8 driver today!

The people in the newest generation of Vette, especially if it's their first Vette, often don't know about "The Wave".

Just as Porsche owners flash their lights and Jeep owners leave ducks under the wipers, Corvette owners wave.

Some generations are more likely to wave than others.

C1 and C2 owners typically don't return the wave to C4 and newer.  They will not initiate the wave to C3 and newer.  They're a dour lot.

C3 and C4 owners wave enthusiastically, especially if returning the wave from a C6 or newer! 

C5 owners are the exemplar of wavers.  No prejudice up or down in generation.

C6 and C7 owners are tentative wavers.  This is because there are a lot of second owners in this population as the original owners transition to the C8.

The generation one removed from the newest typically won't wave at the newest.

The newest often doesn't wave at all, as detailed above.

But We Don't Have A J43600

Charging the AC system on a C6 Corvette the traditional way has an oddity.

With the conventional gauges and the temperature/pressure tables in hand, we set out to add R134a to replace that which was vented overboard because he had to replace his radiator.

I learned this the hard way once too.

The oddity is you attach the gauges, add some freon R134a then fire up the car with the AC set to its lowest setting with the windows down and the blower running full tilt.

Just about when the low pressure side is nearing the desired range, the high side starts heading for the stratosphere.  Often rising far enough that the high-side pressure cut-off kicks in.

"That's odd," we always say.

Shut off the car, let it cool down a bit, restart and check the pressures and they've fallen off a lot.

Add more R134a as normal and both pressures climb right up where they belong and cold air blasts from the vents.

We've come to call it "burping" the system.

My car did it, my buddy's car has done it and we're starting to think it's normal if you're not using the very expensive automatic AC charging cart the dealer will have.

Why Magazine Disconnect?

When playing with C&R guns I've noticed a few Browning designs which initially did not have a magazine disconnect and grew one in later production.

I've long wondered why and there doesn't seem to be a definitive, or authoritative answer.

I speculate that some people got shot with the, then, new fangled semi-automatic firearms because they thought that taking the magazine out completely unloaded the pistol.

The addition of magazine disconnects to existing designs happens almost all at once in the early 1920's.

Magazine disconnects aren't really common, but they aren't uncommon either.

Most of the time they appear on guns destined for military or police use, so I think that their presence was mandated by the buyer's request for proposals.

Other times, I am not so sure.  S&W's 39/59 series of guns likely has the disconnect from being proposals to the Army, but there was a lot of changing done to the X100 to make the 39, and omitting the disconnect would have been a simplification if they'd wanted to do it.  I think that someone in 1950's S&W liked the feature and included it.  Then it became a distinctive feature of the line-up and remained until the third generation ended production in the very early 21st century.

California's absolutely idiotic laws have driven its inclusion in several modern designs.

I'm on the dislike of the feature side of things.  I tend to avoid designs with it or remove it from them where I can.

Model 459 Magazine Disconnect Removal

First you take out the rear sight assembly.

There's two plunger pins for the elevation access, you push them in and angle the sight so they don't pop right back into the holes, then lift the rear of the sight up to clear the cut-out and slide it out to the rear.

There are three spring loaded plungers to keep track of, be careful!

Then you remove the screw that nominally retains the rear sight ears.

Then the rear sight ears just slide out of the dovetail in the slide.

Yeah right.

Archimedes to the rescue!

The direction Marv pushed it out unmasked the firing pin block first.

Except for leaving out the plastic plunger and its spring, assembly is the reverse of the disassembly.

What If

There's a lot of people condemning Kyle Rittenhouse for being there that night.

Being there at all, regardless of his being armed or not.

What if he'd never shown up to help?

What if he'd not had the rifle?

Both are presented in terms of nothing bad would have happened if he wasn't there and armed (other than the riots, looting and arson, I guess).

I have a what if.

What if the police weren't derelict in their duty to protect the community?

I am aware that the supreme court has given them permission to be derelict, but that doesn't change the question, does it?

What if the district attorneys in Kenosha had prosecuted the few rioters arrested aggressively and harshly?

The government of Kenosha left its citizens to their own devices against a violent mob and has the audacity to blame someone else for their failure?

If riots and lawlessness didn't spread so, I'd be tempted to say, "we don't need no water, let the motherfucker burn."

What Is It With My Hard Drives All Of A Sudden

Not too long ago, I had to replace the main storage inside the Mac.

Now the Drobo went tits up.

Because I do back up my important stuff all I lost were movies and TV shows.

I was considering deleting a lot of them anyway, so it's easy to be philosophical about the loss.

The Guns They've Stopped

This very moment, 103 years ago, the guns stopped.

In France it is the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

In most of the Anglo-Sphere today is Remembrance Day, their version of Memorial Day.

They wear a poppy in their lapel and remember the fallen.

Accidental Art

 

I was being considerate and using a flashlight instead of the kitchen light to pour a drink and the way the light illuminated the glass tickled my fancy.

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.

How Did Willard Miss This?

He's got an extensive Star collection.

He's got an extensive pile of .45 ACP handguns.

But he doesn't have a Star Megastar?

Now THAT is a Horse Pistol™!

Also Of Note

It would appear that Volkspolizei Lugers which have forced-matched serial numbers on the parts are not hit near so hard in value as the more common mix-master parts guns.

That's because the renumbering was done by real armorers as a factory-level repair/refurbishment and not gunsmiths making a mismatched pile of parts into a gun.

The functional end result is often the same, but apparently this matters to collectors.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 246 you fucking jar-heads!

Have some cake and a beer.

That Didn't Work

Marv and I were going to take a series of pics showing how to remove the magazine disconnect from a 459 with the target sights.

We were unable to get the rear sight protector to move in its dovetail.

Rather than force it and possibly break something, we've abandoned the attempt.

And before someone explains to us to remove the screw that's hiding under the rear sight, we did.

It's just tight and we don't wanna resort to bigger hammer unless Marv really wants to disable the magazine disconnect.

I Have A Suggestion Then

Steve Phelps, NASCAR's president, said Friday the top motorsports series in the United States does not want to be associated with politics “on the left or the right.”

OK, Mr Phelps, but if you don't want to be associated with politics, you're going to have to stop doing the politics of the left with your constant woke bullshit.

That will mean standing up to Bubba Wallace and telling him to stop being political in everything he does.  He's hurting your brand and you're helping him.

It will mean just ignoring what the fans are chanting in the stands.  You've no real control over them anyway, so you shouldn't be trying.  The attempt to silence them just places you in the political position you're claiming you don't want to be associated with.

You long ago ejected your core fan base by trying to cater to demographics which proved to just be sampling the idea of watching round-dee-round racing.  The constant rules changes to appeal to a non-core audience critically damaged your brand; perhaps irreparably.

Volkspolitzei Ost-Berlin

The Mauser Luger had a couple of proofmarks that I didn't even think about, but finally got around to looking up.

Them's East German Volkspolitzei (or VoPo) acceptance marks.

Still chasing the flower marking on the frontstrap.

Update: Berlin police marking for East Berlin Sector One with is the Mitte borough.

Map showing the numbered sectors:

 

Berlin districts (1945-1990):
West Berlin    American Sector I    Kreuzberg II   Neukölln III   Tempelhof IV Schöneberg V  Steglitz VI  Zehlendorf    British Sector A  Tiergarten B  Charlottenburg C  Wilmersdorf D  Spandau    French Sector a  Reinickendorf b  Wedding	East Berlin    Soviet Sector 1   Mitte 2   Prenzlauer Berg 3   Friedrichshain 4   Pankow 5   Weissensee 6   Hohenschönhausen (from 1985) 7   Lichtenberg 8   Marzahn (from 1979) 9   Hellersdorf (from 1986) 10 Treptow 11 Köpenick

Cops On Set?

Alec Baldwin wants cops to replace professional armorers?

Do we all remember where the term "only one" came from?

Um, yeah.  Let's let cops replace the armorers.

Never mind how many times we've seen the absolute worst gun handler at the range turn out to be a cop.

Never mind that most cops don't do more than the minimum required to keep carrying their service weapon, and don't understand anything gun related outside that extremely easy and simple regimen.

Replacing an armorer with a cop isn't going to solve what happened with Alec Baldwin.

The first thing that has to happen is to crush the idea that the actor isn't responsible for what they do with the gun on set.  Then back our way up to standardizing training and procedures for Hollywood to follow when handling guns on set.

What follows from that is a professional association of armorers who maintain that standard and provide credentials for their members and assurance that such standards will be adhered to on set.  To the point where you can't film a firearm without one.

But a badge will not give any of that, nor guarantee that some retard who can memorize lines and pretend to be someone else won't fire a live round if you hand them a loaded gun.

Conviction By Jury Intimidation?

I am old enough to remember when lynch mobs were wrong.

But, OK.

Fine.

Mob justice?

OK.

I want to remind y'all that 'vendetta' is an Italian word.

That Appalachia's "feuds" descend from Scotland's version of vendetta.

But, go right ahead and kick that hornet's nest.

Threaten that jury into voting to convict someone who's innocent of the charges.

When you prove that the cops and the courts don't work, where are we?

Lemme be more specific about "we".

We the majority.

You know, folks who outnumber you by a lot?

We who actually know a bit about this shit you're stirring up?

Wanna bet the average deer hunter can get packed up and relocated before you even hear the shot that gets the person you're confused just collapsed?

You're very vocal and easy to find when you're doing your terror routine and seem oblivious to the idea that someone else might abandon the law as fully as you have.

Go ahead.  Flick the switch to "kill motherfucking everyone" from "obey the law".

Western Civ is good at this.  The American Indian is the only group that can answer, "what happens when?"  Victoria's compassion no longer lives in the heart of Western Civ, so don't count on there being Liberal Reservations.

Nazi's and Commies will go, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT ESCALATED FAST!"

We'll feel guilty afterwards, but you won't be here for it.

Will you heed the warning?

Happy Birthday Lex

Jameson for courage.

Guinness for strength.

We miss you, Sir.

That Face When

Rittenhouse's Lawyer: "That's a photo of you, yes?"

Lefty: "That looks like my bicep being vaporized"

Rittenhouse's Lawyer: "And it's being vaporized because you're point your gun directly at him, yes?"

Lefty: "Yes"

Rittenhouse's Lawyer: "It wasn't until you pointed your gun at him, advanced on him, that he fired?"

Lefty: "That's correct"

 DA's response to the above quoted segment.

TL7 VS TL8

MecGar's 17 round magazine replaces the 14 round magazine that came with the pistol in 1975.

How?

The spring windings are completely different (MecGar on top).

The MecGar body is slightly longer.

The MecGar also gets a little extra length inside because the floorplate attaches around the outside of the body instead of being inside.

Three extra rounds for just 1/4" more magazine length.