The turret missile rack carries 12 missiles and can fire one per (20 minute) turn.
The light missile array carries 600 missiles and can fire 24 per turn.
The heavy missile array carries 1,200 missiles and can fire 36 per turn.
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05 March 2015
04 March 2015
ARRRRRRRGH
There is nothing so frustrating as trying out an unfamiliar design system in a game and having your numbers not match the samples.
GURPS: Traveller Interstellar Wars I am looking at you!
I can't get my numbers to match their numbers for the Iiken class scout-courier.
I can get very close, but not quite. I'm using the number of systems they say they used but I end up with seven dTons of extra cargo space; 5.6 tons heavier empty and 21.8 tons heavier loaded which is doubly wrong because 7 extra tons of cargo space should make it 35 tons too heavy all alone, so it should be 40.6 tons overweight if all the assumptions were the same.
ISW is another example of the ship rules changing things so that the feel is altered. It doesn't feel like Traveller anymore.
On the plus side, it's sure an interesting part of the Traveller history and set so far in the past of the more normal Third Imperium that maybe it shouldn't feel like Traveller.
Update:
The feel of the ship design comes pre-disrupted by the change in fuel requirements. GURPS fusion power plant don't consume tons and tons of liquid hydrogen every month.
GURPS: Traveller Interstellar Wars I am looking at you!
I can't get my numbers to match their numbers for the Iiken class scout-courier.
I can get very close, but not quite. I'm using the number of systems they say they used but I end up with seven dTons of extra cargo space; 5.6 tons heavier empty and 21.8 tons heavier loaded which is doubly wrong because 7 extra tons of cargo space should make it 35 tons too heavy all alone, so it should be 40.6 tons overweight if all the assumptions were the same.
ISW is another example of the ship rules changing things so that the feel is altered. It doesn't feel like Traveller anymore.
On the plus side, it's sure an interesting part of the Traveller history and set so far in the past of the more normal Third Imperium that maybe it shouldn't feel like Traveller.
Update:
The feel of the ship design comes pre-disrupted by the change in fuel requirements. GURPS fusion power plant don't consume tons and tons of liquid hydrogen every month.
Ammo Notes
GURPS Traveller missile racks hold a certain amount of ammunition each.
GT missile come in two sizes: 250mm and 500mm. 500mm is restricted to the Imperial Navy. The other races have missiles of similar size and are similarly restricted.
250mm Turret Missile Racks hold
70 missiles at TL7
75 missiles at TL8
76 missiles at TL9
77 missiles at TL10+
500mm Turret Missile Racks hold
8 missiles at TL7
10 missiles at TL8+
The 50 ton missile bay uses 250mm missiles and holds
3,500 missiles at TL7
3,700 missiles at TL8
3,800 missiles at TL9+
The 100 ton missile bay uses 500mm missiles and holds
800 missiles at TL7
1,000 missiles at TL8-9
1,100 missiles at TL10+
The 500mm missiles do, on average, twice as much explosive damage or three times as much kinetic damage per missile. Because GT RoF is 1 missile every 20 minutes and each rack can only control one missile, and a missile can run for up to an hour, this matters a lot.
The 50 ton bay can fire and control up to 50 missiles. The 100 ton bay can fire and control up to 100 missiles.
GT missile come in two sizes: 250mm and 500mm. 500mm is restricted to the Imperial Navy. The other races have missiles of similar size and are similarly restricted.
250mm Turret Missile Racks hold
70 missiles at TL7
75 missiles at TL8
76 missiles at TL9
77 missiles at TL10+
500mm Turret Missile Racks hold
8 missiles at TL7
10 missiles at TL8+
The 50 ton missile bay uses 250mm missiles and holds
3,500 missiles at TL7
3,700 missiles at TL8
3,800 missiles at TL9+
The 100 ton missile bay uses 500mm missiles and holds
800 missiles at TL7
1,000 missiles at TL8-9
1,100 missiles at TL10+
The 500mm missiles do, on average, twice as much explosive damage or three times as much kinetic damage per missile. Because GT RoF is 1 missile every 20 minutes and each rack can only control one missile, and a missile can run for up to an hour, this matters a lot.
The 50 ton bay can fire and control up to 50 missiles. The 100 ton bay can fire and control up to 100 missiles.
GURPS Version
A Straight Conversion of the Sydkai...
Subassemblies: SL Hull +10, 20x Turret +5.
Powertrain: Engineering, 200 Maneuver, 80 Jump Drive.
Fuel: 600 Jump Fuel Tank.
Occ: 11 Staterooms, 83 Bunks, 16 Low Cargo: 43.44 dtons
Armor:
Hull: 500 all facings.
Turrets: 500 all facings.
Weaponry:
16 Turrets with 48x 500mm Turret Missile Racks (3 per Turret)
4 Turrets with 12x 405-MJ Turret Lasers (3 per Turret)
Nuclear Damper 25 mile range.
Equipment:
All: Basic IR and Emission Cloaking, Basic Stealth. Hull: Genius Hardened Command Bridge, Hardened Basic Bridge, Electronic Warfare, 2 Military Sickbay (10 beds), 18 Drop Capsule Launcher, 18 Drop Capsule Ready Rack, 54 spare Drop Capsules, 1 Brig, 1 Armory, 1 Safe, 1 Complete Workshop, 210 dTon Spacedock (for 1x 60t Fast Cutter, 1x 50 Modular Cutter, 4x Astrin APC and 3x spare cutter modules), 2 Contragravity
Statistics:
Size:
Payload: 217.2 stons.
Lwt: 6,545.93 stons.
Volume: 2,000 dtons.
Maint: 124.04 mh/day
Price: MCr 667.69
HT: 12
HPs: 90,000 [Hull], 1,200 [each Turret]
sAccel: 3.06 Gs/3.16 Gs empty
Jump: 3
Subassemblies: SL Hull +10, 20x Turret +5.
Powertrain: Engineering, 200 Maneuver, 80 Jump Drive.
Fuel: 600 Jump Fuel Tank.
Occ: 11 Staterooms, 83 Bunks, 16 Low Cargo: 43.44 dtons
Armor:
Hull: 500 all facings.
Turrets: 500 all facings.
Weaponry:
16 Turrets with 48x 500mm Turret Missile Racks (3 per Turret)
4 Turrets with 12x 405-MJ Turret Lasers (3 per Turret)
Nuclear Damper 25 mile range.
Equipment:
All: Basic IR and Emission Cloaking, Basic Stealth. Hull: Genius Hardened Command Bridge, Hardened Basic Bridge, Electronic Warfare, 2 Military Sickbay (10 beds), 18 Drop Capsule Launcher, 18 Drop Capsule Ready Rack, 54 spare Drop Capsules, 1 Brig, 1 Armory, 1 Safe, 1 Complete Workshop, 210 dTon Spacedock (for 1x 60t Fast Cutter, 1x 50 Modular Cutter, 4x Astrin APC and 3x spare cutter modules), 2 Contragravity
Statistics:
Size:
Payload: 217.2 stons.
Lwt: 6,545.93 stons.
Volume: 2,000 dtons.
Maint: 124.04 mh/day
Price: MCr 667.69
HT: 12
HPs: 90,000 [Hull], 1,200 [each Turret]
sAccel: 3.06 Gs/3.16 Gs empty
Jump: 3
Feel
Erin's reworking of the Skdkai class makes me notice feel.
Way back in the original Classic Traveller (CT) rules you couldn't mount 4x 50 ton missile bays (why do they only displace 30 tons on the spreadsheet?) and 16 turrets on a 2,000 ton ship. You couldn't mount particle accelerators or fusion guns three to a turret either.
You got one turret hardpoint for every 100 dTon not given over to weapons. You were allowed one bay per 1,000 dTon of ship and that tonnage couldn't be used for hardpoints. In effect, one bay eliminated ten turrets.
So a 2,000 dTon ship could mount two bays and no other weapons. It could mount a single bay and have ten turrets.
Major weaponry (also known as a spinal mount) were limited to one per vessel and eliminated their own tonnage from the equation.
In theory you could mount a Type E meson gun (1,000 dTon) on our 2,000 ton ship and have either one bay or ten turrets. However it would need at least a power plant rating of 35 to fire the spinal mount and that would be 1,400 dTon for the plant and fuel... Illegal for such a small ship to mount.
Then back to turrets...
Book 2 and Book 5 disagree...
Book 2 lists four turret weapons and single, double and triple turrets. You can mix and match to your heart's desire.
Book 5 allows up to three each of Missile, Beam Laser, Pulse Laser or Sandcaster per turret, two each of Plasma Gun or Fusion Gun or one each of Particle Accelerator.
So... On our 2,000 dTon ship we could have 16 turrets. Using Erin's mix of type we'd end up with 4x single particle accelerator, 4x double fusion gun, 4x triple pulse laser and 4x triple sandcaster. We should mount four more turrets because the CT rules don't allow us to mount a bay now.
GURPS: Traveller (GT) preserves the feel of CT with its ship design system (You get 1 hardpoint per 100dTon of ship minus tonnage of spinal mounts. Turrets take up one hard point, bays take up ten.)
Megatraveller (MT) Lost the Traveller feel by being overcomplicated just for complexities sake.
Mongoose Traveller (MgT) tried. I am given to understand that the reason that Erin's ship is so out of whack with the feel of CT is Mongoose screwed up, if you have the errata you have limitations akin to CT imposed on you. By the time Erin gained access to those errata, Murder Hobo Gmbh was loose with a ship that violated them.
She chose to leave it be.
But what's she's deliberately changed is the feel of the game.
This doesn't make me right and her wrong. It doesn't even mean I'd hate playing in her world. It doesn't mean I am a purist who opposes changing the feel, because I have done it more than once myself.
Aside: The original ship had 16x triple missile organized into 16 batteries and 4x triple beam lasers organized into 4 batteries. So 16x FP 2 for the missiles and 4x FP 3 for the lasers. Not really well distributed... I'd put the lasers in two turret batteries so 2x 4 FP instead of 4x 3FP; then I'd break the missile turrets into four batteries of 4 FP.
Ideally I think I'd mount a 50t missile bay (FP 9), 6x triple beam lasers in three batteries (FP 4 each batt) and 4x double fusion guns in two batteries (FP 5 each batt).
GT let's you put the weapons into batteries in an ad hoc manner.
Not sure how Erin has her batteries organized.
Way back in the original Classic Traveller (CT) rules you couldn't mount 4x 50 ton missile bays (why do they only displace 30 tons on the spreadsheet?) and 16 turrets on a 2,000 ton ship. You couldn't mount particle accelerators or fusion guns three to a turret either.
You got one turret hardpoint for every 100 dTon not given over to weapons. You were allowed one bay per 1,000 dTon of ship and that tonnage couldn't be used for hardpoints. In effect, one bay eliminated ten turrets.
So a 2,000 dTon ship could mount two bays and no other weapons. It could mount a single bay and have ten turrets.
Major weaponry (also known as a spinal mount) were limited to one per vessel and eliminated their own tonnage from the equation.
In theory you could mount a Type E meson gun (1,000 dTon) on our 2,000 ton ship and have either one bay or ten turrets. However it would need at least a power plant rating of 35 to fire the spinal mount and that would be 1,400 dTon for the plant and fuel... Illegal for such a small ship to mount.
Then back to turrets...
Book 2 and Book 5 disagree...
Book 2 lists four turret weapons and single, double and triple turrets. You can mix and match to your heart's desire.
Book 5 allows up to three each of Missile, Beam Laser, Pulse Laser or Sandcaster per turret, two each of Plasma Gun or Fusion Gun or one each of Particle Accelerator.
So... On our 2,000 dTon ship we could have 16 turrets. Using Erin's mix of type we'd end up with 4x single particle accelerator, 4x double fusion gun, 4x triple pulse laser and 4x triple sandcaster. We should mount four more turrets because the CT rules don't allow us to mount a bay now.
GURPS: Traveller (GT) preserves the feel of CT with its ship design system (You get 1 hardpoint per 100dTon of ship minus tonnage of spinal mounts. Turrets take up one hard point, bays take up ten.)
Megatraveller (MT) Lost the Traveller feel by being overcomplicated just for complexities sake.
Mongoose Traveller (MgT) tried. I am given to understand that the reason that Erin's ship is so out of whack with the feel of CT is Mongoose screwed up, if you have the errata you have limitations akin to CT imposed on you. By the time Erin gained access to those errata, Murder Hobo Gmbh was loose with a ship that violated them.
She chose to leave it be.
But what's she's deliberately changed is the feel of the game.
This doesn't make me right and her wrong. It doesn't even mean I'd hate playing in her world. It doesn't mean I am a purist who opposes changing the feel, because I have done it more than once myself.
Aside: The original ship had 16x triple missile organized into 16 batteries and 4x triple beam lasers organized into 4 batteries. So 16x FP 2 for the missiles and 4x FP 3 for the lasers. Not really well distributed... I'd put the lasers in two turret batteries so 2x 4 FP instead of 4x 3FP; then I'd break the missile turrets into four batteries of 4 FP.
Ideally I think I'd mount a 50t missile bay (FP 9), 6x triple beam lasers in three batteries (FP 4 each batt) and 4x double fusion guns in two batteries (FP 5 each batt).
GT let's you put the weapons into batteries in an ad hoc manner.
Not sure how Erin has her batteries organized.
02 March 2015
Directional
The Angry Beavers™ at Century missed something on the Star B.
The extractor pin is directional. The round end goes up and the flat end is flush with the bottom of the slide.
Guess how they had it.
If you put it in upside down like they did, it walks up and out of the slide.
The extractor pin is directional. The round end goes up and the flat end is flush with the bottom of the slide.
Guess how they had it.
If you put it in upside down like they did, it walks up and out of the slide.
Stock Exchange
The stocks on the B and Super B are interchangeable! That's nice to know since there's damn few places that have B stocks and several places that have Super B.
I figured it had to be so since the stocks on the Super have the cut for the slide stop post from the B, but the Super lacks the post.
As a bonus I think the wood looks and feels better on the Super B, likewise the plastic on the B. I wonder if Willard will want to swap.
01 March 2015
Dammit Again
Just saw Interstellar.
When Cooper gets his faceplate cracked and is disabled by the in-rush of ammonia atmosphere my suspension of disbelief broke.
Why?
Because for a small leak in a poisonous atmosphere you turn up suit pressure to above ambient. In fact it's a good plan to have your suit set slightly above ambient pressure just in case there is a puncture.
NASA's A7L had controls for suit pressure and it was intended for vacuum only.
When Cooper gets his faceplate cracked and is disabled by the in-rush of ammonia atmosphere my suspension of disbelief broke.
Why?
Because for a small leak in a poisonous atmosphere you turn up suit pressure to above ambient. In fact it's a good plan to have your suit set slightly above ambient pressure just in case there is a puncture.
NASA's A7L had controls for suit pressure and it was intended for vacuum only.
28 February 2015
OMG They TOUCHED
I met a friend at the range. While we were loading magazines one of my 6.8 rounds rolled over and touched one of his 6.5 Grendel rounds...
It's A Super B Super B
It's Super Beaky, YEAH!
I got a B, Willard got a Star B. Echeverria Modelo B Super in 9x19mm.
He paid less and got a gun in far nicer shape! Mine's C&R, he paid an FFL for a transfer.
The Model B Super is an evolution of the Model B, so they basically work the same. The big-huge differences is the 1911 style swinging link has been replaced with a High-Power style locking ramp...
A loaded chamber indicator...
Magazine disconnect... (US Patent)
...And it uses a swinging take-down latch instead of pulling the slide stop out like a 1911. (US Patent)
Update: links to some interesting patent information added. Thanks Dan!
I got a B, Willard got a Star B. Echeverria Modelo B Super in 9x19mm.
He paid less and got a gun in far nicer shape! Mine's C&R, he paid an FFL for a transfer.
 |
| Inside too! |
A loaded chamber indicator...
 |
| Empty |
 |
| Loaded |
 |
| The magazine pushes that little bar in and that unblocks the trigger. That bar also locks the take-down latch from swinging while there is a magazine present. |
 |
| Locked. |
 |
| Unlocked. |
Hyperbole
"I am going to take this gun and kill all of them!"
"What if you can't get ammo?"
"Then it will take longer!!!"
That'd be a great throw-away line in an action film.
Just put a "Special Thanks to Angus McThag" in the credits if you use it.
"What if you can't get ammo?"
"Then it will take longer!!!"
That'd be a great throw-away line in an action film.
Just put a "Special Thanks to Angus McThag" in the credits if you use it.
Why Do You Even Have A Web Page
Dear Vendor...
The internet is an amazing tool that allows you to reach your customers in amazing ways.
Stop treating it as an electrified paper catalog!
Potential Customer
How many times have you run into a web page where you have to call during business hours to get a price? Or worse, have to call to actually order the item? I won't even discuss the places that expect me to print out their order form and then mail them a check.
It is not 1979 anymore!
This business model is only one step above a web page listing the address and telling me to stop by the brick and mortar location...
OK, when you're open at 3am, when I'm shopping, I will.
PS: That other vendor who has a web page that tells me the price and lets me order with my debit card or paypal? They got the sale.
The internet is an amazing tool that allows you to reach your customers in amazing ways.
Stop treating it as an electrified paper catalog!
Potential Customer
How many times have you run into a web page where you have to call during business hours to get a price? Or worse, have to call to actually order the item? I won't even discuss the places that expect me to print out their order form and then mail them a check.
It is not 1979 anymore!
This business model is only one step above a web page listing the address and telling me to stop by the brick and mortar location...
OK, when you're open at 3am, when I'm shopping, I will.
PS: That other vendor who has a web page that tells me the price and lets me order with my debit card or paypal? They got the sale.
27 February 2015
Stated Goal
I endeavor to live only places where the winter temperatures are expressed in destructive devices calibers in inches with summer temperatures that would make good tank guns in millimeters.
Ye Olde Calibre Warres
I once read that a chambering is not really successful until you can buy it off the shelf at Wal Mart.
I bought two boxes of Federal Fusion 110gr 6.8 SPC at Wal Mart last night!
They'd had the SKU on the empty shelf for about a year, and last night actually had some. I am not unhappy. Giddy is more the emotion.
I predict that a SKU for .300 Blackout is coming. Probably soon.
I bought two boxes of Federal Fusion 110gr 6.8 SPC at Wal Mart last night!
They'd had the SKU on the empty shelf for about a year, and last night actually had some. I am not unhappy. Giddy is more the emotion.
I predict that a SKU for .300 Blackout is coming. Probably soon.
26 February 2015
Precipitate
Because I am not part of the solution...
Got some XM855 ammo and SS109 from Wal Mart via Willard and added it to my existing pile.
This effectively prevents someone without ammo from getting some...
Got some XM855 ammo and SS109 from Wal Mart via Willard and added it to my existing pile.
This effectively prevents someone without ammo from getting some...
25 February 2015
A Ponder
Getting licensed to drive a car, which everyone says is a privilege, is cheap and easy. Driving the car is subject to simple and easy rules and regulations.
Getting licensed to carry a firearm, which is widely regarded as a right, is affordable rather than cheap and moderately difficult because of the paperwork and classes in even "shall issue" jurisdictions. Carrying the gun is subject to complicated, capricious and confusing laws and regulations.
I am SO ready to treat guns like cars!
Getting licensed to carry a firearm, which is widely regarded as a right, is affordable rather than cheap and moderately difficult because of the paperwork and classes in even "shall issue" jurisdictions. Carrying the gun is subject to complicated, capricious and confusing laws and regulations.
I am SO ready to treat guns like cars!
Good News!
Looks like the trigger on a Spanish M-1916 Carbine is the same part as on an M-1893 Rifle.
This is good because Numrich doesn't list a trigger for the 1916...
This is good because Numrich doesn't list a trigger for the 1916...
Useless Information
I have the flight manual for the USAF F-4C, F-4D and F-4E (10Jan70).
Interesting read.
The odds that I will ever be able to put this information to use are exceedingly slim.
What it will probably be used for is to apply limits to my simulator flying which aren't imposed by the game.
For example, on the F-4C you can jettison the centerline 600 gallon fuel tank if it's got less than 60 gallons in it. You can jettison it if there's more than 450 gallons in it. You cannot jettison it if there's between 60 and 450 gallons remaining.
I also learned that there are two different models of centerline tanks. McDonnell's can be carried at any airspeed the airframe can take. Royal Jet's is limited to 600 knots indicated airspeed or mach 1.8.
The manual also answers a question about loadouts I'd had before.
The 370 gallon wing tanks are more limited in airspeed and g than the McDonnell centerline. The USMC and Navy preferred the centerline tank to two wing tanks because of this. Interestingly, the USAF F-4C had stability problems with the centerline tank that didn't seem to be present with the 85% similar F-4B.
I am starting to wonder if the USAF invested heavily in the Royal Jet tank and the USN in the McDonnell. Have to find contracts for that information and that requires an IV drip of energy drink while chewing a teabag.
Interesting read.
The odds that I will ever be able to put this information to use are exceedingly slim.
What it will probably be used for is to apply limits to my simulator flying which aren't imposed by the game.
For example, on the F-4C you can jettison the centerline 600 gallon fuel tank if it's got less than 60 gallons in it. You can jettison it if there's more than 450 gallons in it. You cannot jettison it if there's between 60 and 450 gallons remaining.
I also learned that there are two different models of centerline tanks. McDonnell's can be carried at any airspeed the airframe can take. Royal Jet's is limited to 600 knots indicated airspeed or mach 1.8.
The manual also answers a question about loadouts I'd had before.
The 370 gallon wing tanks are more limited in airspeed and g than the McDonnell centerline. The USMC and Navy preferred the centerline tank to two wing tanks because of this. Interestingly, the USAF F-4C had stability problems with the centerline tank that didn't seem to be present with the 85% similar F-4B.
I am starting to wonder if the USAF invested heavily in the Royal Jet tank and the USN in the McDonnell. Have to find contracts for that information and that requires an IV drip of energy drink while chewing a teabag.
24 February 2015
Related
Tam Posts
Gun laws may now be as lax as they have ever been in my lifetime.
Being a December baby I just missed being able to mail order a Solothurn from my crib. Oddly, I had the money from the baby shower...
However, even if the gun laws have never been more lax in my lifetime, I don't really have to look back all that far to see that they aren't as lax as they've ever been.
Prior to 1968, to order that Star Modelo B I would have just mailed them the check and they'd have mailed me the gun. Today I have to use an FFL and a common carrier. The only reason that I could have it shipped straight to me is that I am an FFL and it was a Curio and Relic eligible gun.
I collect .25 ACP pistols. This sort of gun has never really been much made inside the US. There were many designs from several nations all importing their wares into the US market until 1968. Many of those pistols remained in production for decades more.
Did you know about the Glock 25 and 28? Not sporting enough for importation.
However gun laws STILL aren't as lax as they've ever been in my life, I can also remember when you could get complete parts kits from overseas for any number of military arms less the serialed receiver. You didn't need to worry about how many parts were foreign made as long as it wasn't an NFA item of some kind when you were done and that your receiver was US made.
I can remember when you could take that parts kit and make yourself a genuine selective fire gun from them.
Until I moved to Florida, the gun laws were heading basically one direction with just the occasional holding action but never a reversal. And moving to Florida was merely going someplace the ratchet hadn't advanced as far as Iowa.
FOPA was the only reduction in Federal gun control in my lifetime for about two thirds of it. Although I can't readily think of a single repeal of any Federal gun law outside of FOPA. AWB expired and I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't had a sunset clause it would still be law today.
But... The states have been reducing gun control in leap and bounds in the past ten years. The courts are ruling, in our favor and using the standard model for the second amendment while also generally applying strict scrutiny. That's a huge positive!
I have hope that by the time I die there will be considerably laxer gun laws in this nation, I even have hope I will live to enjoy it.
Gun laws may now be as lax as they have ever been in my lifetime.
Being a December baby I just missed being able to mail order a Solothurn from my crib. Oddly, I had the money from the baby shower...
However, even if the gun laws have never been more lax in my lifetime, I don't really have to look back all that far to see that they aren't as lax as they've ever been.
Prior to 1968, to order that Star Modelo B I would have just mailed them the check and they'd have mailed me the gun. Today I have to use an FFL and a common carrier. The only reason that I could have it shipped straight to me is that I am an FFL and it was a Curio and Relic eligible gun.
I collect .25 ACP pistols. This sort of gun has never really been much made inside the US. There were many designs from several nations all importing their wares into the US market until 1968. Many of those pistols remained in production for decades more.
Did you know about the Glock 25 and 28? Not sporting enough for importation.
However gun laws STILL aren't as lax as they've ever been in my life, I can also remember when you could get complete parts kits from overseas for any number of military arms less the serialed receiver. You didn't need to worry about how many parts were foreign made as long as it wasn't an NFA item of some kind when you were done and that your receiver was US made.
I can remember when you could take that parts kit and make yourself a genuine selective fire gun from them.
Until I moved to Florida, the gun laws were heading basically one direction with just the occasional holding action but never a reversal. And moving to Florida was merely going someplace the ratchet hadn't advanced as far as Iowa.
FOPA was the only reduction in Federal gun control in my lifetime for about two thirds of it. Although I can't readily think of a single repeal of any Federal gun law outside of FOPA. AWB expired and I'm pretty sure that if it hadn't had a sunset clause it would still be law today.
But... The states have been reducing gun control in leap and bounds in the past ten years. The courts are ruling, in our favor and using the standard model for the second amendment while also generally applying strict scrutiny. That's a huge positive!
I have hope that by the time I die there will be considerably laxer gun laws in this nation, I even have hope I will live to enjoy it.
Inside A Star
Star B that is...
The B is often referred to as a 1911 derivative, but there's not much similarity under the skin except for the way the barrel locks and how to field strip it.
They use different styles of extractors. The Star is external.
The firing pin is retained by a pin that goes up through the slide, under the rear sight. There's no firing pin stop to remove at the back of the slide. Should you ever need to access the firing pin, you've got to drift out the rear sight to remove the pin.
On the frame, most people notice there's no grip safety and that the thumb safety can be engaged with the hammer down. Many also notice that the mainspring housing is integral to the frame and not a separate part.
The trigger mechanism isn't the same either, I took some pictures of it.
The trigger pivots on the pin near the scallop in the upper right, that pushes the dog-legged trigger bar to the rear...
Which presses agains the sear (pointer), which releases the hammer and thegun weapon pistol goes "bang"...
The gun cycles like a typical 1911 so I'll skip that. The next difference is the disconnector (pointer); when in battery the place the pointer is pointing sits in a recess in the slide...
When the slide moves to the rear, it pushes the disconnector down and that presses the trigger bar out of alignment with the sear.
Once the slide is back in battery, releasing the trigger pushes the disconnector back up into its recess and the trigger bar clicks back into alignment with the sear.
This trigger mechanism is much easier to make than what's in the 1911, which is likely why Star went with it. In many ways it's a better trigger than what many modern 1911's end up with too. This example breaks cleanly without any creep at all. I've still to borrow Marv's trigger scale.
The B is often referred to as a 1911 derivative, but there's not much similarity under the skin except for the way the barrel locks and how to field strip it.
They use different styles of extractors. The Star is external.
The firing pin is retained by a pin that goes up through the slide, under the rear sight. There's no firing pin stop to remove at the back of the slide. Should you ever need to access the firing pin, you've got to drift out the rear sight to remove the pin.
On the frame, most people notice there's no grip safety and that the thumb safety can be engaged with the hammer down. Many also notice that the mainspring housing is integral to the frame and not a separate part.
The trigger mechanism isn't the same either, I took some pictures of it.
The trigger pivots on the pin near the scallop in the upper right, that pushes the dog-legged trigger bar to the rear...
Which presses agains the sear (pointer), which releases the hammer and the
The gun cycles like a typical 1911 so I'll skip that. The next difference is the disconnector (pointer); when in battery the place the pointer is pointing sits in a recess in the slide...
When the slide moves to the rear, it pushes the disconnector down and that presses the trigger bar out of alignment with the sear.
Once the slide is back in battery, releasing the trigger pushes the disconnector back up into its recess and the trigger bar clicks back into alignment with the sear.
This trigger mechanism is much easier to make than what's in the 1911, which is likely why Star went with it. In many ways it's a better trigger than what many modern 1911's end up with too. This example breaks cleanly without any creep at all. I've still to borrow Marv's trigger scale.
22 February 2015
I Think Your Bias Is Showing
I'm watching a show where a lead character was just revealed to be gay.
The plot of the series is a little convoluted so I was trying to see if something that was mentioned earlier tied into that reveal.
I didn't get definitive confirmation on the plot point but I did find someone who was reviewing the show.
Did you know that the show had nothing worth watching until the reveal of a gay character?
I didn't realize that I wasn't enjoying the story, characters and plot until this last episode because there wasn't a homosexual male lead character. Wait... I was enjoying this show before this!
I am still enjoying it, actually. They did the reveal well and it made several things from the first season go click-clunk. It's a period piece and they handled the situation in a manner consistent with the characters and the period too. Not bad!
But to base your enjoyment entirely on there being a gay male character is alien to me.
The plot of the series is a little convoluted so I was trying to see if something that was mentioned earlier tied into that reveal.
I didn't get definitive confirmation on the plot point but I did find someone who was reviewing the show.
Did you know that the show had nothing worth watching until the reveal of a gay character?
I didn't realize that I wasn't enjoying the story, characters and plot until this last episode because there wasn't a homosexual male lead character. Wait... I was enjoying this show before this!
I am still enjoying it, actually. They did the reveal well and it made several things from the first season go click-clunk. It's a period piece and they handled the situation in a manner consistent with the characters and the period too. Not bad!
But to base your enjoyment entirely on there being a gay male character is alien to me.
21 February 2015
Maybe It Was Better
I remember a show called "Civil War Diaries" where famous actors read letters and journal entries from selected Civil War soldiers. They were presented with just enough history lecture to give the letters context.
The troops writing these letters were predominately educated in one-room school houses that were funded locally.
These letters show excellent sentence structure, spelling and grammar. The "selected" portion of the show was picking letters with poetic content or where the troop had something to say that underscored the history lecture.
I've seen web pages where tests from this era are put online to see if we modern folk can pass them. After you get done taking it and saying, "shit, that was hard!" you see that it's a fourth grade test on the topic. "But I went to college before I learned most of this," you meekly whimper...
Now we pour vast amounts of Federal money into education, orders of magnitude more (and that's accounting for inflation!) than the one-room model had available, and we're getting almost literally nothing out of it.
Need to see confirmation?
Go no further than any internet forum. But you needn't go that far, most of us have "that friend" who still sends text messages from a smart phone that look like, "luv u 2 b bak l8r"... I remember when that short-hand was developed, it was when the length of a text message was truncated so far as to make the limit on Twitter seem like War and Peace. Plus text messages weren't free then, you paid a nickel each!
The troops writing these letters were predominately educated in one-room school houses that were funded locally.
These letters show excellent sentence structure, spelling and grammar. The "selected" portion of the show was picking letters with poetic content or where the troop had something to say that underscored the history lecture.
I've seen web pages where tests from this era are put online to see if we modern folk can pass them. After you get done taking it and saying, "shit, that was hard!" you see that it's a fourth grade test on the topic. "But I went to college before I learned most of this," you meekly whimper...
Now we pour vast amounts of Federal money into education, orders of magnitude more (and that's accounting for inflation!) than the one-room model had available, and we're getting almost literally nothing out of it.
Need to see confirmation?
Go no further than any internet forum. But you needn't go that far, most of us have "that friend" who still sends text messages from a smart phone that look like, "luv u 2 b bak l8r"... I remember when that short-hand was developed, it was when the length of a text message was truncated so far as to make the limit on Twitter seem like War and Peace. Plus text messages weren't free then, you paid a nickel each!
20 February 2015
Opportunity Cost
I deeply regret my decision to buy tires for The Precious instead of this...
http://www.amazon.com/Deinonychus-Actual-Teaching-Quality-Recreation/dp/B008FCLWFC/ref=sr_1_380?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1424493576&sr=1-380
Here's a link to the vendor. If you need bones or a dead animal encased in acrylic, they have what you want!
http://www.amazon.com/Deinonychus-Actual-Teaching-Quality-Recreation/dp/B008FCLWFC/ref=sr_1_380?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1424493576&sr=1-380
Here's a link to the vendor. If you need bones or a dead animal encased in acrylic, they have what you want!
ARts And Crafts
Took my shattered remnants of the M16A1 lower receivers and made a key fob.
The 9,xxx,xxx serials supposedly indicate they were destined to be military assistance. These rifles probably were never issued and were likely destroyed for a lack of customers.
The 9,xxx,xxx serials supposedly indicate they were destined to be military assistance. These rifles probably were never issued and were likely destroyed for a lack of customers.
You can't expect law enforcement to pay for a rifle when they can nab an ex-Army one for free. The A1 isn't stylish enough to market at foreign customers and The Hughes Amendment to the FOPA eliminates nearly all domestic interest...
What's left but to scrap them?
The saddest part is the entire gun was likely tossed into the shredder whole. There are people who will pay good money for those retro parts, and our government policy is to shun that money.
UPS Truck Is A DeLorean
The oddities of the international date line and time zones make real time tracking give strange results sometimes.
Quote Of The Day
Just like we can't drill our way to lower energy prices and energy independence, we can't kill our way to victory. I guess next it will be we cannot eat our way to obesity.
19 February 2015
M855 Letter
First, M855 and other SS109 variants aren't armor piercing ammunition by bullet construction under 18 U.S.C. §§ 921(a)(17) (B) (i) because the bullet core is not constructed entirely of steel. It is lead and steel.
Second, it's not covered by 18 U.S.C. §§ 921(a)(17) (B) (ii) because it is literally .22 caliber not larger; also the jacket does not consist of 25% of the total projectile weight.
Third, target shooting is sporting purpose and a change in the legal status of this ammunition creates an undue burden on the private citizen by eliminating a large supply chain of readily affordable ammunition.
Fourth, this ammunition is in "common use", (see Heller vs DC for definitions) and as the courts continue to expand on the meaning of that term it will expose this reclassification as a waste of taxpayer money and agency effort.
Fifth, because this ammunition is in widespread common use, if there were a marked tendency for it to be used against the police or for other nefarious purposes, there would be abundant stories and cases to cite pointing to the misuse of it.
Thank you for your time.
Angus McThagSuncoast, FL
This is my second attempt to send this. The email address for ATF appears to be bad.
Out Of The Thirty Aught Six Business
I decided that I wanted tires for The Precious more than I wanted a Garand.
Turns out that Willard wanted a Garand more than he wanted an unspecified here sum of cash.
Rational self interest on the part of both parties yields an agreeable transaction on all sides.
I enjoyed my time with the M1, but truth be told it went to the range far more often as a "you've never fired a Garand?" than as a "I want to take out MY Garand and go shooting."
I like my FAL a lot better for a .30 caliber battle rifle.
Turns out that Willard wanted a Garand more than he wanted an unspecified here sum of cash.
Rational self interest on the part of both parties yields an agreeable transaction on all sides.
I enjoyed my time with the M1, but truth be told it went to the range far more often as a "you've never fired a Garand?" than as a "I want to take out MY Garand and go shooting."
I like my FAL a lot better for a .30 caliber battle rifle.
Minding Our P's and Q's
I lost the link, but...
I read a nice article about wondering if it was our business to fix things in the middle east anyway.
It also indicated that are several parties who want us to rearrange things to their liking so they don't have to get their skirts wet.
First of, I think we do need to fix this shit with ISIS.
Second I think that when we do, we should do it without regard to the interests of others except as the coincide exactly with ours.
It's time for America to look out for America and Americans.
I read a nice article about wondering if it was our business to fix things in the middle east anyway.
It also indicated that are several parties who want us to rearrange things to their liking so they don't have to get their skirts wet.
First of, I think we do need to fix this shit with ISIS.
Second I think that when we do, we should do it without regard to the interests of others except as the coincide exactly with ours.
It's time for America to look out for America and Americans.
16 February 2015
That Can't Be Good
Went to have the tires on The Precious balanced since they were messing around with the tire pressure sensors and had the wheels off anyway.
The left front went on the dynamic balancing machine...
AND FUCKING FLEW APART!!!!
Woah!
Dude! I drove down to the shop on that thing!
New front tires are on order. No money for rears, which are likely in just as bad a shape and like all things Corvette, they are fiendishly expensive.
The left front went on the dynamic balancing machine...
AND FUCKING FLEW APART!!!!
Woah!
Dude! I drove down to the shop on that thing!
New front tires are on order. No money for rears, which are likely in just as bad a shape and like all things Corvette, they are fiendishly expensive.
Originality
Colt's Patent Firearms...
Have they had a completely original in-house design since Sam Colt passed on?
It doesn't seem like it when you see they shopped Browning heavily, hit both Star and Astra up pretty hard plus Stoner y Sullivan de Fairchild.
Compounded that they were the makers of Thompsons and many many outside machinegun designs (and Browning surfaces here again).
Have they had a completely original in-house design since Sam Colt passed on?
It doesn't seem like it when you see they shopped Browning heavily, hit both Star and Astra up pretty hard plus Stoner y Sullivan de Fairchild.
Compounded that they were the makers of Thompsons and many many outside machinegun designs (and Browning surfaces here again).
15 February 2015
Descendant
Do you think your Colt Mustang or SIG P238 are tiny M1911s?
While playing around I noticed that the have a lot more in common with Star than they do with Colt.
Pivoting trigger, no grip safety, manual safety that can be engaged with the hammer down...
The Ballester Molina has a similar relationship to the Star.
Tam induced update.
Hey look, I'm the last person to notice!
Tam induced update.
Hey look, I'm the last person to notice!
Alternative States
Since we're probably going to have a panic run on 5.56x45mm ammo here, what's the state of the alternate AR calibers?
6.8x43mm SPC: 15 loadings listed from 6 makers. 7 available from 4.
6.5 Grendel: 5 loadings listed from 2 makers. 3 available from 2.
.300 AAC Blackout: 12 loadings listed from 10 makers. 12 available from 9.
.300 Whisper: 3 loadings from 2 makers. None available.
.30 Remington AR: 4 loadings from 1 maker: 3 available.
None of the alternates got more variety since last time. All of them are more in stock now though. The lack of variety in the loads could very well be due to the market deciding what they want to see, especially since the "same" load from two different makers is counted as two loadings here.
Ammo Ban
While we're writing comments in a vain hope to head off the ATF...
Have our comments ever changed what they've planned on doing even once?
All of this goes away if we could get a different, smaller, group to just eliminate the regulatory jurisdiction from the agency in question.
Congress could pass a law exempting M855 tomorrow.
It's their fault that BATFE has any authority at all in this matter.
It's OUR fault that Congress does nothing about it. Collective our. I am sure every one of my readers gets out there and votes and votes for liberty expanding candidates...
The thing is the loyal opposition isn't pro-gun for the most part. They are merely not anti-gun. I think we've got a bit of Stockholm Syndrome going on here sometimes.
The thing about M855 is that it really is armor piercing ammo according to 18 U.S.C. §§ 921(a)(17) (B) (i) because it has a steel core in it. It's actually a miracle that we got an ATF ruling exempting it in the first place. Ooops, I was right the first time. The steel core isn't the entire core, so it doesn't meet the AP construction standard in the law, which means the exemption was applied erroneously in the first place.
What needs to change is the law. That means someone in Congress has to actually introduce such changes to the floor. Something that's been conspicuously lacking from the loyal opposition for a long damn time.
On the "plus" side of the coin is that with both the US Army and USMC going to "green" projectiles from green-tip projectiles... Production of M855 was going to stop soon anyways. Just look at the ready supply of .30-06 M2 AP...
There is even less doubt that M855A1 is an AP round with its entire composition being steel or copper alloy.
And judging a round AP based on composition is stupid. .50 BMG M2 ball is a lead core FMJ, and it's going to punch thicker armor than even the most exotic 5.56 round made. Changing the composition of the bullet makes it armor piercing compared to ball ammunition of the same type. And even then not by much depending on the composition and thickness of the armor.
Have our comments ever changed what they've planned on doing even once?
All of this goes away if we could get a different, smaller, group to just eliminate the regulatory jurisdiction from the agency in question.
Congress could pass a law exempting M855 tomorrow.
It's their fault that BATFE has any authority at all in this matter.
It's OUR fault that Congress does nothing about it. Collective our. I am sure every one of my readers gets out there and votes and votes for liberty expanding candidates...
The thing is the loyal opposition isn't pro-gun for the most part. They are merely not anti-gun. I think we've got a bit of Stockholm Syndrome going on here sometimes.
What needs to change is the law. That means someone in Congress has to actually introduce such changes to the floor. Something that's been conspicuously lacking from the loyal opposition for a long damn time.
On the "plus" side of the coin is that with both the US Army and USMC going to "green" projectiles from green-tip projectiles... Production of M855 was going to stop soon anyways. Just look at the ready supply of .30-06 M2 AP...
There is even less doubt that M855A1 is an AP round with its entire composition being steel or copper alloy.
And judging a round AP based on composition is stupid. .50 BMG M2 ball is a lead core FMJ, and it's going to punch thicker armor than even the most exotic 5.56 round made. Changing the composition of the bullet makes it armor piercing compared to ball ammunition of the same type. And even then not by much depending on the composition and thickness of the armor.
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