The NSA Is Fookin' Listenin'!

 We were talking about this with Willard this very evening!

It, in turn was mentioned by The Chieftan's Q&A.

30-06 Comparisons Continue

We're continuing the comparison from this post by adding a Winchester pre-64 Model 70 and a definitely post-64 Model 670.

All three guns came with iron sights.  Of note, though, is while the Model 70 comes ready for scope mounting from the factory, that stock is dropped for the irons.  The 670 has a raised comb that makes you really have to scrunch your cheeks to get down on the irons.

I've compared the 54 to the 70 before.

The pre-64 Model 70's bolt is so very similar to the 54 that they nearly interchange.  As such, it's a controlled round feed design.

Neither gun can be fed from stripper clips.

The 670 is an even more de-contented version of the post-64 Model 70.  As such, it is a push-feed.

What does that mean?

Controlled feed means that the round pops up into the bolt face with the extractor already in the groove.  It is held, and controlled by the bolt and the extractor all the way into the chamber.  You can chamber a round with the gun upside down.

Push-feed doesn't control the round until the cartridge case's shoulder hits the chamber and the extractor clicks over the rim as the bolt is closed.  If you try to chamber a round upside down, the round will fall out of the action.

But you can see how many fewer parts and machine operations are needed to make a push-feed bolt here:

Fewer parts and operations make a gun less costly to make and thus make it more affordable.

Gun writers hated this change to make the Model 70 more competitive with the Remington Model 700, which is also a push-feed design.  I've compared the pre-64 70 to the 670 before too.

The Day The Unbearable Lightness Went Out

Guinness for strength.  Jameson for courage.

 

It has been ten years since Lex crossed the threshold.

It does not seem that long.

Today I really feel like I need the courage more than the strength.

We miss you, Lex!

Sure Doesn't Look Like It

Is the Russian Air Force Actually Capable of Complex Air Operations?

I remember that the Soviet Mig-27 pilots were pretty shit-hot in the way back days before Gorby admitted defeat.

That was then...

It makes me recall something I've thought of before.

Combat experience is ephemeral.

Think about it.

The US went from fighting, and winning, a global scale war to being unable to stop North Korea from taking over all but Pusan just under five years later.

What happened to all that institutional knowledge?  Why was it forgotten so quickly?

The good news, for South Korea anyways, our way of doing things allowed the knowledge to be recreated and recovered fairly quickly.

It's a system that requires some dedicated core cadre of professional, career, NCO's and officers.  They carry the torch to the fire and at least know the theory of what they're trying to do and have read that it used to work.

The Russian system consists entirely of short-timers below middle management officers.  There's no core cadre to carry the flame, so everything they learn is lost as soon as the soldiers who know it leave the service.  The career officers are far more focused on their career than war fighting, because war fighting just doesn't come up all that often.

Oh and conscription is inferior to an all volunteer force unless you just want a wall of cannon fodder.

Vietnam was where we learned that hard lesson.  We weren't getting the level of performance from our Army we wanted because the troops were short timers from day one and we rotated individuals in and out rather than units.  And many other mistakes we don't tend to make any more.  There's books on this.

Books that, apparently, have never been translated into Russian.

Nothing says that they won't learn on the job and quickly; but they're starting behind the curve and the Ukrainians are inside their OODA loop.

God Must Love It

If nature abhors a vacuum, why is there so much of it?

Likewise, noting that how much of the universe consists of nothing, God didn't really make all that much percentage wise.

Welcome!

Three people from Finland have visited this humble blog in the past day!

This is the first time I've noticed visitors from Finland, even with all the Finnish Mosin content.

Welcome!

For The Grand Daughter Fleetwood

 

Stolen From Irish

FREEDOM!

Though it's hardly a comprehensive listing...

We Have So Many New Houses Around Here

It reminds me of:

Faster Than I Can Type

The 12 year old Verizon stuff has been removed and brand new Frontier shit has been added.

It's quick.

Tests about 50% rated speed while watching a video from YouTube and Sling in the living room.

As Similar As Different

The Winchester Model 54 and Remington M1903A3 have a lot in common and many differences.

 

They look quite different with one being a full-stock military battle rifle, the other being a sporting gun.  Both are in God's Own .30-06.

Both have controlled round feeding.

L: M190A3 R: Model 54

Model 54:

M1903A3:

Both have 5+1 capacities and can be loaded from stripper clips.

Model 54:

M1903A3:

Both guns are clearly influenced by Mauser.  The M1903 to the point of having to pay for patent infringement to the losers of a war.

The bolts are different.  The ejector locations are not the same and there's no safety lug on the Winchester.  The safeties work the same, but the Winchester has a shorter throw thanks to an aftermarket upgrade to clear a third-party scope that's no longer present.

Weighty Decision

Let's be honest with ourselves.

Many of us aren't in peak physical condition, like every gun writer clearly must be.

Why do I say this?

Because of how stylish appendix inside waistband carry is.

It just doesn't work with a big ol' gut hanging out over your belt, does it?

Happily there's lots of other options, but they don't get much press, do they?

It's Complicated

My opinion of law enforcement is complicated.

On one hand there are admirable people doing a job that needs done in an exemplary manner.

These are the people who run to the sound of conflict and make peace without exceeding their mandate or trampling on their fellow citizen's rights.

There's not much one can say beyond, "Good job!  More of this, I hope you're promoted to leadership."

I do not support the defunding of the police.

On the other hand are the bullies.  They are why I demand a reformation of the police.

The empty uniforms that demand respect because they're wearing it.

The person will advocate for and enforce laws which are patently unconstitutional.

The person who's interactions with the public make the public distrust the cops as a whole.

For professional law enforcement to work in a constitutional republic where The People are the sovereign entity, the relationship must be... MUST BE! a partnership.

Sir Robert Peel put it very eloquently, “The Police are the Public; the Public are the Police. The Police are paid to give full time attention to duties that are incumbent upon every citizen in the interest of community welfare and existence.” 

The police I hate are the ones who think that they, exclusively, are the arbiters of the duties incumbent.  They believe that the public has no role to play in the interest of community welfare and existence.  Despite the fact that THE PUBLIC is the community entire.

This inversion is something which should enrage you as a member of the public.

The police, as a whole, look to their own interests first and the interest of the community is a tertiary, at best, concern.

One need only look at their opposition to any expansion of gun rights over the past fifty years.

Officer, you want me to respect you and be on your side when someone calls you a pig, you're going to have to be on my side when the community's interests conflict with your desires.

Your desires are supposed to be secondary to the interests of the community.

Look to why they call you a pig rather than the fact they did.  Fix that if you can.  Punishing someone for saying it is forbidden by the constitution because when you put on that uniform YOU ARE THE STATE and not an individual.

In short, learn your place.

You are subservient to the community and the citizens, not the other way around.

303 Day

A 106 year old rifle for three oh three day.

Or is that three* oh three* day?

Found The Problem

The Lovely Harvey's job consists mainly of teleconferences.

Because she splits between her mom's and here, it's imperative that the internet be robust.

Ours has been spotty and I have finally exhausted all of the possibilities that it's on my end.

Frontier did all their remote testing and discovered that my router is the culprit.

Ever since Frontier bought out Verizon FIOS in my area I was officially a 50/50 mbps customer, but was throttled by the legacy Verizon router, that has just become unreliable, to 25/25.

They offered me a new one.  But that would make it the fourth router of this model I've had since they took over.

If I upgrade my speed I will cease being a legacy customer and actually get the speeds promised.

For a net $5 more a month I can get 500/500 speeds.

They get here Saturday to do the upgrade.

Cowboy Stew

4 Slices bacon, chopped
2x 12oz packages of kielbasa, sliced 1/2” thick
1 lb. Hamburger
1 white onion, diced
2-3 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbsp flour
1-1/2 tsp chili powder
1x 14.5 oz. Can petite diced tomatoes
2x 16 oz. Baked beans
1x 7 oz. Can chopped green chiles, undrained.
1x 15 oz. Can sweet corn, undrained.
2 large russet potatoes, chopped into 1/2” cubes.
1 cup water.
Parsley for appearance
Salt and pepper to taste.

Crisp bacon, set aside.
Brown kielbasa in bacon grease, set aside.
Brown burger with onion, add garlic at end.
Add salt, pepper, flour and chili powder.  Stir and cook 1 min.
Add remaining ingredients, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour.

I change the baked beans to Bush's medium chili beans and skip the extra water and parsley.

It's verra nice!

Hans? Polen? Ja?

 

 German is an amazingly concise language at times...

"Hey there, Hans, wanna get the lads together, arm up and invade Poland?" translates, accurately to, "Hans, Polen, Ja?"

Losing Hearts And Minds

There was a story that came across the transom when I still had my real-name Facebook account.

It seems that a cop noticed that the customer name section of his receipt said, "PIG," when picking up his lunch.

Said cop complained to the Fraternal Order of Police and they called up the business owner who fired the employee on the register.

I commented at my real-name Facebook account that sure was going to win the person who already hates cops over.

A meatspace friend (who works at the next county over's sheriff's department) excoriated me that I never had to worry that my food would be fucked with because of how I was dressed.  And besides the person who did the PIG was prolly someone who got arrested for "didndunuffin" and was nursing that grudge for being busted.

OK.

Folks who knew me back when might remember that I was third generation biker.  I was also a punker in the midwest in the late '80's.

I am certain my food order was adulterated more than once because of how I looked.

The difference is that the cops did not care, or if they did they supported the people who'd spit in my sandwich.

I've never been a "day person" and when you look different at 0300 you get extra attention from law enforcement.

I've been amazingly law abiding since I separated from The Army, and I DO hold a fucking grudge against law enforcement for all the time I spent waiting for them to discover there was no crime to associate with me.  I was literally not doing anything when I was selected by law enforcement for attention.

But!

Siccing the FOP on a burger flipper to get them fired is exactly the wrong thing to do if you want that person to stop writing "PIG" on receipts.  Even if they were holding a grudge from an earlier conviction, getting them fired will not ease that resentment.

Good work, officer unfriendly and your multi-million dollar bully organization.

You've cemented the hate and it might provoke a stronger response than an insult later.

Law enforcement needs a much thicker skin than they display of late.

I have not even touched on the idea that an agent of The State has demanded the speech of a citizen be restricted because it hurt their precious feelings.

Officer, you could go find a job doing something productive.  Something where generations of assholes and bullies haven't created a general resentment from people who want nothing more than be left alone to be odd.

Paging Technomad

Reader and meatspace friend Technomad is a fan of autogyros and Stanley Steamers.

The Stanley was actually quite influential, just not on the world of cars...

Enjoy the vid!

Good News

Better that it'd never gotten to this point, but...

It appears that at the end of the proceedings, there will still be a National Rifle Association.

It also appears that Wayne La Pierre and cronies will be getting the bulk of the punishment, or at least they've shifted to be the main focus of what's going on.

As it should be.

They're the assholes that fucked the place up, they should be the ones who're punished for it.

Better and more detailed analysis here and here.

I was genuinely shocked that the charges that New York brought had merit.

That shock has grown to outrage at the people responsible for shepherding the organization for the benefit of the members, including my life membership holding ass.

BEBoG Finally Tally

I got reminded of the WWSD v BEBoG aspect that never got accounted.

James Reeves of TFB reminded me by doing a review of the Civil Defense Rifle version.

For the record, it's $1,699.99 for the WWSD, $1,249.95 for the CDR and $585.91 for BEBoG.

He's getting 2" or so at 100 yards.

What a coincidence!

That's what I'm getting with a PSA upper.

Admittedly, I had to retorque the barrel-nut, but that's cheap and easy.

I am having a bit of trouble seeing what I get for the extra $668.04 on the CDR, especially since I can make a complete spare gun for the difference.

Connectivity Problem

I'm getting internet in dribs and drabs last few days.

The ice cream is still free, there's just not as much flowing out from my keyboard.

I think it's just my house, the 'Rents and Marv appear to be unaffected.

Chrome works a bit better than Firefox, which doesn't help on the Ubuntu machine.

Until the issue disappears as suddenly as it appeared, you're definitely getting what you're paying for here.

Mass Denial

It appears that BATFE is bouncing back any and all Form 1 for a silencer on the grounds that you can't make a suppressor without making parts and every single part is, in and of itself, a suppressor.

I shit you not.

Write your congress critter and see if we can get some traction for a bill that redefines the damn things as an assembly or at least restores the definition to the serialized portion of that assembly.

Even better, get them to remove silencers, SBRs and SBSs from the NFA altogether.

I'd say to scrap the whole NFA, but there's no appetite in Peoria for things making that much sense.

Heeeeeey Baybeeeeeee

DiFi's hubby passed away, putting her back on the market for anyone willing to launder her Chinese business deals through the thin veneer of marriage.

Do you dare to be her fourth hubby?

Willard Relays

Willard tells me that he's read an account where a couple of Russian tanks had been abandoned by their crews after running out of fuel.

The locals, helpfully, towed them away and refueled them.

Sadly, when the Ukrainian government asked after them, it turns out they had been lost by the locals in a tragic boating accident.

I Haven't Seen Anyone Comment On It

I've seen several photos of Russian POW's wearing NBC detection tape on their uniforms.

I think that's significant.

Does anyone else think that matters?

UPDATE: Just in case...  NBC tape is chemical detection tape only.  It doesn't detect nukes or bio.

What's supposed to happen is that it changes color to let you know you've brushed against something that's got a chem agent on it.  As has been mentioned in comments, LOTS of things give false positives.

But the fact that the Russians are wearing the tape means they were expecting someone to be using chem weapons at some point.

Also note, chem tape is worn differently and is very distinct from the arm-bands that some units are wearing for IFF.  Hint, look at their legs.

I Do So Love Reading People Who've Never Been In Combat Writing About It Like They Know

The helos flying with impunity are doing so because the Russians have achieved LOCAL air superiority.

That does not imply that they've managed to get air supremacy.

Notice that those two terms are different, because they mean different things.

Air superiority can be fleeting and temporary, but it means the enemy is not flying where you're in control at this time.

Air supremacy is when the enemy doesn't fly at all.

AND NEITHER TERM HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH GROUND FIRE, TRIPLE-A, SAMS OR IADS.

Example: Coalition forces had complete and dominant air supremacy over Baghdad; but no control over the ground thus all the tracers...

You don't build your air-head into a contested landing zone if you know what you're doing and the Russians actually do know what they are doing here.

Sabre Drill

While Marv and Harvey were tending a nice fire in the firepit, I decided to get some exercise for my right arm since it's been very much sidelined by the accident.

So I grabbed my cavalry saber off the wall and did some basic drills.

My forearm is very rubbery now.

The good news is my shoulder is not in pain and I got nothing hurting from the ribs!

Huzzah!

I can tell there will be some sore muscles tomorrow, but that's OK.

45 Pictures

 

Top Row (L-R) M1911A1, Star PD, SIG-Sauer P220, S&W 625-3 Model of 1989.

Bottom Row (L-R) Glock 21, CZ 97B, Kahr CT-45, S&W M&P 45C. 

 

Only the Glock and Kahr have no factory means of altering the grip.

To be fair, we're going to have to go shooting.  .45 is a bit hard to come by at the moment.

 

The Contenders

There isn't much to differentiate between most of the forty-fives in GURPS terms.

Just adjust the shots, weight and reload times, really.

Oh, and prices...

That Reminds Me

I really wish someone would make a damn clone of the Finnish AK.

The scanty few Valmet imports are breathtakingly expensive.

C'mon PSA!  Get on it!

Hakkaa Päälle Bitches

Putin has threatened vague bad consequences to Finland and Sweden should they seek to join NATO.

Putie, Baby, Finland beat Russia every time it attacked without US material support.

But, what if they take you at your word?  Now.  While you're all distracted?

Can you shift your forces back North in time while still making sure Ukraine doesn't bite you in the ass?

What if Sweden joins in.

They've been fed up with your incursions into their waters with your submarines for years.

I think they've got the sand to seriously fuck up that giant naval base you've got up there.

Just sayin'.

Besides, both these nations are bug-fuck nuts.

Never fuck with crazy, Vlad.

Good Shoot

 Pasco Theater Shooter Not Guilty.

Here's An Idea

If China goes for Taiwan we should reunify Korea.

Make them react to us for a change.

I'm Old Enough To Remember

Remember when it was Kiev not Kyiv?

Peking not Beijing.

Saigon not Ho Chi Min City.

Bandar Shapur not Bandar-e Emam Khomeyni.

Salisbury not Harare.

There's many others.

I Dunno What They're Doing

In my quest to replace The Precious I've been tracking a particular '49 Chevy Styleline DeLuxe.

The car is at a local branch of Streetside Classic Cars.

It's as original as you want such a car to be.

The big changes are an r134 AC system (essential for Florida), 12v electrical system, electric fan for cooling and auxiliary gauges added.

It appears to be a straight, rust-free restoration running the original 216 stovebolt and three-on-the-tree.

I've been watching Streetside Classic Cars relist this thing for a month.

It's not bidding over $12k and that doesn't make reserve.

They list it as a classified ad with "make an offer" active and end the ad early to relist it as an auction minutes later.

I think they're in violation of ebay's terms of service because they are required to respond to my offer, even if they end the ad early.  My offer got no response and they ended the ad early to relist as an auction.

I don't know what they're up to, but selling cars doesn't appear to be what they do.

Dim Recollection

I remember in a way-back...

Ukraine was petitioning to join NATO.

Russia wasn't happy about that, Poland had just joined...

In the talks something to the effect of, "you have to stop actively antagonizing the Russians, you know," was stated.

"Why would we stop doing that?" was the crux of their reply.

For me that was a headdesk moment and foretold what is happening today.

Ukraine and Russia were going to have this war eventually, and letting Ukraine into NATO or the EU would just drag everyone else in like WW1.

What's surprising is none of Europe, NATO or US aligned ourselves to send troops in the event of an invasion.

Not Mutually Inclusive

I hear that Putin is calling the leadership of Ukraine "neo-nazi" and Zelenskyy is countering that his government cannot be neo-nazi because he's Jewish.

While that's a damn good defense against the charge of being a nazi, it's not air tight.

Nothing about National Socialism demands antisemitism.

It's entirely possible to be full on fascists without being antisemitic.

Italy did it, for example.

Antisemitism is a common feature of fascism, but not an integral part.

All that said, I have no idea if the accusation of nazism is true or not.

Considering the accuser, probably not.

Neither side in this is particularly saintly.

If we're going to be slinging comparisons to nazis, we need to point out that Hitler invaded a couple of places on the pretext of protecting German descended peoples living there.

Putin is explicitly doing that.

Pot, Kettle, similarly dark shades.

Armed

 

I don't know what he's planning here, but...

WAR!

I always wondered what the average person felt like when Hearst started publishing headlines about USS Maine blowing up.

Yellow journalism is alive and well in America today!

And here we were worried it'd died.

Rejoice!