The Year in Review: 2012

2012 was a big year in my life. Not in a good way. I will be glad to see it over.

The most notable event was the death of my closest brother. He was 54. He liked to go shooting with me but he was the worse shot I ever saw.

In 2012 I did 381 posts and got about 300,000 hits. My goal was to average about a post a day and I managed a bit better than that. The blog flowed easily this year.

I added a few items to my collection. First was a JR Carbine that uses Glock .45 mags. I also had it threaded so it could share the Gemtech suppressor I bought for my Glock 21. I finally got the paperwork back on the suppressor.

The Axe

I also inherited a Remington Vantage 1200 .177 and a Henry AR-7 from my brother. 

In addition I bought another AR-15. This one has a 7 inch barrel and is currently configured as a pistol until the SBR ATF paperwork is back. I plan on getting a suppressor for it in 2013.

I got lots of accessories like a hot green LASER, Slim Grips for my 1911,  scopes, Another EOTech, Grips and stocks and slings.

I finally got the parts and repaired my TEC-22.

I got two deer this hunting season and an awesome smoker to cook them in!

I attended multiple blog shoots, drank many beers with fellow bloggers, ruined my back and fixed my teeth. 

My daughter left for college. 

The Election: I was on the losing side but still think it was the right side.

Quotes of the Week

Have you ever tried to reason with a child in the middle of a full-blown, red in the face, snot coming out of their nose, gasping for air, crying fit?

Yeah? Well, welcome to the national conversation on gun control.

--Breda

"How many more tragedies does it take before we do something? How many more children have to die before this country realizes that No-Gun Zones create perfect locations for violence? You cannot stop criminals and mad men with laws, you can only stop violence with the fear of armed victims." 

-- Alan Gottlieb

Zombie Survival Gear

Time to Write, Email and Call

If every person that ran out and bought a Sport Utility Rifle or bought mags for their AR15 were to contact their representative it would be a flood. Even if you didn't run out and buy in panic you should write. This is not the time for Apathy.

Do it. Don't wait.

Here is where you can find your Representatives.

Here is where you can find your Senators.

--I may write them every week.

The New Smoker

My favorite gift this season is an electric smoker!

My favorite effort so far was the venison tenderloin.

I brined the venison in apple cider and soaked the apple wood chips in cider as well.

I rubbed the tenderloins with seasoned sea salt, pepper and minced roasted garlic.

After placing the tenderloins in the smoker, I placed a pound of fatty bacon on the upper deck in the smoker so it would drip directly onto meats.

Oh. My. God...

--The whole family, including my daughter, said, "Best. Venison. Ever..."

Murry Christmas!

Quotes of the Week

"Okay, from this point forward I'm going to assume that anyone who suggests gun control as a viable solution is a non-serious person, prone to magical thinking and a willful ignorance of the facts."

--Breda

"It's better to have a knife and not need one than to need a knife and NOT have one"

--My Dad (I feel the same about guns)

“By calling attention to ‘a well regulated militia’, the ‘security’ of the nation, and the right of each citizen ‘to keep and bear arms’, our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason, I believe the Second Amendment will always be important.”

--JFK

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.

--Thomas Jefferson

Sandy Hook Facts

There is a good set of facts regarding what happened at Sandy Hook in, of all places, Wikipedia.

The fidelity gets better as more facts are revealed.

--This is the kind of facts that the media use to give.

An Opinion on Gun Control

Larry Correia over at Monster Hunter Nation took the time to write a really good essay on Gun Control.

Go read it.

The Mag Hunt

So I decided to try to hop on the bandwagon and invest in another 10 Magpul PMAGs for my AR15s. None of the local gunshops have any now. Actually had a guy laugh on the phone because they had a pool going on the number of phone requests. They were up to 267.

The Web is not much help either:

 

 

 --How high will the price be when once again available?

Placebo Laws

--The Ruger Mini-14 is a great rifle. Politicians know when they make placebo laws to keep the sheep quiet...

Mass Killings Stopped by Armed Citizens

Here is a great list of mass killings stopped by armed citizens that is quoted from: GUN WATCH

There are several documented cases where armed citizens have stopped mass attacks by gunmen. Let me list a few: 

Pearl High School Link

Appalacian Law School Link

Muskegon Shooting Link

New Life Church Link

Santa Clara Gunshop Link

Aniston Shoney's Shooting Link

Golden Food Market Shooting Link

AT&T store Link

College Park Link

Trolley Square Shooting Link

Winnemuca Shooting Link

Parker Middle School Dance Shooting LinK

Destiny Christian Center Shooting LinK

Tyler Courthouse Shooting Link

 Posted by Dean Weingarten  at  12/16/2012 04:12:00 AM on GUN WATCH 

Head over there to see the full detailed list instead of jut the links.

--Let me know if you can think of more! 

Gun-Control Ignorance

From the National Review:

"How many times do the same arguments need to be refuted?"
...
"Guns are not the problem. People are the problem — including people who are determined to push gun-control laws, either in ignorance of the facts or in defiance of the facts."
 ...
"There is innocent ignorance and there is invincible, dogmatic, and self-righteous ignorance. Every tragic mass shooting seems to bring out examples of both among gun-control advocates."

 --I will be keeping this URL handy in the coming weeks.

Let's start with some easy things

From Facebook

Anti-gun opportunists are running full throttle on this mass murder. We need to rally again because this administration will begin taking action on gun control while emotions are high.

Here are a few simple things that I believe would actually help prevent this kind of murder in the future:

• We need to admit that the Gun Free Zone placebo experiment has failed. In the end it has become a crime magnet, making them far less safe . I do not support requiring teachers and administrators to have guns but don't stop them if they want.

• Install steel fire doors for classrooms. They should also have "Lock Down" bolts on the crash bar inside. Like fire exit crash bars, a lock down alarm will sound if the bolt is thrown and authorities will be automatically summoned (like fire alarms). The bolt, bars the door from the inside, making it impossible to kick in or breach with a gun. Run "Lock Down" drills like fire drills or the old "Duck and Cover" Civil Defense drills I did as a kid.

• Create Administrative Office air locks for ALL school visitors. At my kids schools I can just walk in. Combined this with REAL lock down procedures.

• Hit every media outlet with heavy fines that mentions the mass killers name. Not just the first, every one. Procedes should go to the victims families. These mass killings are done so they will be famous. Fuck that. The name when referencing these assholes should simply be "The Coward".

--That was just a quick list off the top of my head. What else can you add?

Bug Out Vehicle BOV

Just in time for the pending Zombie Apocalypse!

The Mercedes Benz Unimog

Just squish your way through the Zombie hoards.

It has a nice camper and is the closest to a half track you might get for crushing Zombie heads!

--I'll take two please. (after I win the Lotto)

Quote of the Week

Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened in CT this week:

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

--Morgan Freeman (Update: Freeman may not have said this)

Gunn Free Zones

Gun Free Zones

Evil and Insanity

The problem is mental illness and evil.

Gun control won't stop innocents from being murdered. The opposite is more likely. Guns are used millions of times a year to protect the innocent.

Arson was once the main tool of the insane. Pray they don't return to it. Please recall that Klebold and Harris had set up a propane bomb in the cafeteria meant to go off during lunch. Police said it would have killed as many as 150.

If guns were magically gone, innocents would still be murdered by evil . The tools would just be different.

--Burn in Hell.

Gunsmith Fantasy Meme

Suppressor Internals

Last week TBolt posted this:

"We were playing around with this idea at work, me and some of the other gunnies there.  Coffee break, you know how it is.

If you could devote 10000 hours of your life to learning how to be a first class gunsmith, what would you specialize in?"

For some reason I have been thinking about it a lot this week.

I would specialize in custom suppressors. Both screw-on cans and integral suppressors.

I am currently shopping for a very quiet one for my AR15 SBR. I would love to be able to smith one. I have even looked into the paperwork required to make one. $200 as expected.

--Shhhhh. Be verwee verwee quiet...

Knife Meme

Jumping on the Meme bandwagon:

Take the knife out of your pocket and take a picture of it.  Post it on your blog.

Today I was carrying two. I usually have the Skeletool on me but some days, usually pants related, I carry the SOG as well.

--It's better to have a knife and not need one than to need a knife and NOT have one. (I feel the same about guns)

Doing Right?

In TBolts post yesterday he was talking about our weekends hunt. He was asking himself  "what is he doing right that I am doing wrong...?" because I was the lucky one this weekend and got two.

Here are the things I think I am doing right:

Deer Hunting Season Wrap-Up

• Scout in advance. make sure there is traffic where your are going to sit.
• Get in and settled an hour before sunrise.
• Camo. You must blend in VERY well.
• Be still. Very still. Even your head. Move your eyes. Don't creak your chair or even move your feet. They hear you.
• Don't make even the tiniest sound. You can hear a chip monk move 50 yards away and your hearing sucks.
• You must be comfortable enough to not move at all for 5 hours. No stretching.
• Don't smell like anything. No farting, bad breath, soap, food. Gasoline on the bottom of your shoes even.
• Don't fall asleep.
• If it's cold enough to see your breath, breath in through your nose and out into a scarf. That cloud can bee seen far away.
• Remember that you are hiding from squirrels. Deer won't go where the squirrels are quiet. It takes an hour of sitting and not moving for the damn squirrels to forget you are there.
• Eat something. Your stomach growls louder  than you think. Have a breakfast bar.

 --There is probably more. Got anything to add?

Time, I gots to have mo...

Recently, I have been writing a Sci-Fi novel that I have been thinking about for a couple years now.

A few weeks ago while filing some papers, I discovered I have about 200 pages of notes for this story.

A friend at work just got a novel published and inspired me to go for it.

I have tried with other stories in the past but fizzled out. I am going to hammer through an entire first draft this time, based on an outline.

Blogging has gotten a bit thin because of it. Both reading and writing blogs.

It's not a problem for me. I'm still having fun with it.

It's kind of interesting trying to foresee the kind of firearms that will be used in the future. Let me know if you have any ideas?

--And just to ensure sales I am including Nancy R as a character!

Another Hunting Note

I always takes a small camo backpack hunting with me. It holds lots of handy items.

The standard contents include things likes knives, a rain poncho, orange flagging for tracking, bottled water, extra ammo, power bars, and other items.

I discovered two things I did not have this time.

Para cord and rubber gloves.

The gloves I could easily do without. They just make cleanup of your hands easier later.

I really missed my para cord though. I was hunting from a trees stand. A pretty tall one too. I unloaded my shotgun and looked for the cord to tie to my sling and pack so I could haul them up after I get situated. No cord. So I put my unloaded shotgun diagonally across my backpack via the sling and up I went.

I got to the top of the ladder and only had about a square foot to turn around. It was so awkward with the extra bulk. When I turned The barrel clanged hard on the stand. Nice. TBolt heard it 300 yards away.

Finally got seated and secure but it was a huge pain in the ass to struggle out of the pack and sling way up there.

Getting down was quicker. I just dropped the pack to the ground.

--I did get two deer though.

Quotes of the Week

"The TSA as it exists can't die soon enough."

--Christopher Elliot

"Newsflash: grown men who wear makeup and get plastic surgery so they can discuss other grown men playing ball games on television might not be intelligent/informed enough to offer commentary on anything other than sports!"

--Breda

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty."

- Thomas Jefferson

Went Hunting Today

I went deer hunting with TBolt this morning.

Got into my tree stand about an hour before sunrise. I didn't have to wait too long.

At about 7:45am I was taking a break and had just quietly opened an energy bar. The crunching in my ears was so loud I almost didn't hear the footsteps.

I stopped chewing and turned toward the sound. I saw it moving through the trees. 

I got a bead on it while I was holding my energy bar on my teeth. It paused about 30 yards away. I shot and it dropped where it stood.

A second later a second one ran out and paused in the clearing as well. Dropped that one too.

The pic on the right is of the inside of the chest and clearly shows four entry and one exit wound. If you have a strong constitution, click on the photo for a closer look.

TBolt cleaned one and I cleaned the other.

--It was a good day.

Shotgun Bayonet

I was asked once, "Why the hell do you need a bayonet on a shotgun."

The answer is simple.

--Because when you quickly run out of rounds those Zombies aren't going to kill themselves!

Evolution of the Rifle

Evolution of the Handgun

Medusa Model 47

Last week I posted about mufti-caliber options as a survival readiness issue. A pile of people emailed me about .357 revolvers being able to shoot 3 types of rounds.

And then a frequent reader, Weston, sent me a link to the Medusa Model 47.

It can use many different Cals:

• 9x17mm, .380 ACP, 
• Browning Short, Corto, Kurz,
• Kratak 
• 9x18mm Ultra
• 9x18mm Police
• 9x19mm Parabellum, Luger, NATO 
• 9x20mm Browning Long
• 9x21 IMI,
• 9x23mm Largo, Bayard Long 
• 9x23mm Steyr,
• 9x23mm Win Mag, 
• 9x25mm, Mauser, Export
• 9mm Glisenti,
• 9mm Rimmed,
• .38 Auto, .38 ACP, 9x23mmSR 
• .38 Super Auto, Colt Super, 9x23mmSR +P
• .38 Short Colt,
• .38 Long Colt, 
• .38 Mid-Range,
• .38 S&W, .38 S&W Corto, .380 Rimmed
• .38 Special, 9x29mmR 
• .357 Magnum, 9x33mmR 
• .356 TSW

--I'd have to actually try it. Has anyone ever seen one?

Interesting Idea

I can remember when I outgrew my small steel safe. Back then I didn't have room for a bigger one in my bedroom closet.

If I had thought of this idea I would have done it. You could get one from Freecycle.org or Craigslist.com for free! Simple locking freezer refit would be an inexpensive solution to keeping your guns safely locked away from kids and hidden enough to keep a lot of smash and grab burglars away. It would be easy to add a dehumidifier too.

I like to attribute via links but this one came in via Pinterest!

--And inconspicuous yet handy solution!

Quotes of the Week

I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul.

--George W. Bush

Death is the enemy. I spent 10 years of my life singlemindedly studying, practicing, fighting hand to hand in close quarters to defeat the enemy, to send him back bloodied and humble and I am not going to roll over and surrender.

--Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure, First Snow, 1993

Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.

--A. Sachs
Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

--Ronald Reagan

Three Guns

Here is the list of three guns that I believe should be in everyones safe:

Ruger 10/22:

This is just a great all around firearm. It is reliable, useful, fun to shoot, cheap to buy and cheap to shoot. You can get all sorts of accessories for them including decent capacity magazines. It is a great rifle to use for teaching people to shoot.

Mossberg 12 gauge pump shotgun:

The Mossberg pump series of shotguns come in many variants. Modest prices. Classic wood to tactical. Lots of different rounds available. Great for Skeet and Trap as well as home defense and hunting everything from squirrels to deer. Tons of after market upgrades for it as well.

Glock 9mm:

Glock makes a series of 9mm's that have many form factors. They all take the same mags including the 33 round factory mags.

These handguns are reliable, high capacity and simple to use, clean and maintain.

--If I could only have three guns it would be these three.

Flying Camera From Animal Rights Group Shot Down at Pigeon Shoot

Sometimes there is goodness on the News:

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

--Someone should send them a tank you note for the excellent target.

Survival Firearms

This video is a list of 5 survival guns that are all under $300.



--Not a prefect list but good concepts and examples.

Interesting concept

--I'd buy this if the price is right.

Life is NOT Fair

My Daughter is off to her first semester at college. She needs to know a few things.

I recently received this old email forward that is still floating around the Internet. I don't care who wrote it. It's the message it contains.:

• Life is not fair -- get used to it! 
• The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. 
• You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both. 
• If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. 
• Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity. 
• If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. 
• Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. 
• Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. 
• Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time. 
• Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs. 
• Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
  
  

Quotes of the Week

“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”

-Voltaire

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."

–Paul Valery


"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop."

–Confucius

If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old.

–Lord Chesterfield

Custom Zombie Lowers

I am seeing more and more Zombie themed gun accessories for AR15s and other guns

The bright green furniture is the most silly.

The EOTech Zombie sight is great.

The lowers with safety indicators completely crack me up.

If I were to get one, it would be like this.

--Or an additional full-auto position.

How to...

On Being Thanksful

This morning I woke up and made coffee and put a pile of Orange Cinnamon Rolls in the oven.

In the quiet I consider all that I am thankful for.

The list is long. It has more than beer and pie and bacon on it.

Take some time today and be thankful.

For everything.

--Because if you are reading this you are better off than most of the world.

Prep Tip of the Week

The Prepping Book of the week is a classic from Mel Tappen: Tappen on Survival

Tappen died in 1980 but there are still a lot of good points in his book. Click the link above for a PDF of the full text.

Three Days:

Here is your first goal in preparations, three days. You can be bothered to prep for three days of trouble, right?

Keep three days worth of gear, food and water in your car, and your Bug Out Bag (BOB), and at work, and where ever you spend a lot of time.

It's easy. Use some space in the back of one desk drawer. Put a stocked book bag in your locker. Stash a milk crate of items in the trunk of your car. And/Or put together a  fully stocked backpack BOB.

Don't forget the importance of what is in your pockets ALL the time. You better have at least a multi-tool knife of some kind!

--Rule #2: Be Prepared

California AR

Here is yet another example of how dumb assault weapons bans really are.

This is a picture of an AR15 that is "California compliant".

Are you kidding me?

No flash hider, no pistol grip, folding stock, no bayonet, and a 10 round magazine. Now it is completely safe and legal for civilian use.

--A total farce.

Holster Problem

I have carried a compact 1911 in a Crossbreed Deluxe holster for years, I love it.

When I decided I was going to carry my Px4, the Crossbreed Deluxe was a natural choice when I discovered they made one for the Px4.

I have been using it now for about a month now and unfortunately it has a problem. A bad problem.

The holster presses the mag release button all the time. I never had the mag drop out but if I had needed it that is some very bad mojo.

The photo to the right shows clearly the wear point where the mag release was getting pressure.

I plan on contacting Crossbreed to see if they can do anything. Otherwise I think I will cut a circle out at that spot.

--Let me know if you have had this kind of issue or have any ideas.

Quotes of the Week

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

--John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

Chuck Woolery and the Constitution

Chuck Woolery is my new hero.



--Watch this video. He makes concise points that can be used in conversation!

Prep of the Week

Book of the Week

I am going to start a new weekly feature called Prep of the Week. I hope it will be common sense things everyone can do to help their families and a bit more security. I'm not going to talk just about stockpiling guns and ammo. I will talk about real practical preparations. I will recommend a book. Talk about survival oriented firearms. Lots of other things.

I will even talk about current events:

• Thousands of people are still without power from Hurricane Sandy.
• The US is hurtling toward financial disaster.
• Our increased indecision and perceived weakness invite attacks from extremists.

What to do?

First off you need to assess where you are right this moment. If the power went off right now, how ready would you be? Water, food, shelter and security?

The Rule of 10s - Will you be OK in:

    10 minutes - computers crash, clocks blinking
    10 hours - freezers begin to thaw
    10 days - store shelves are empty, water runs out
    10 weeks - riots, looting, population migrations
    10 months - organized criminal ransacking
    10 seasons - starvation and ammo worth more than gold
    10 years - new civilization begins to formalize

-- How ready are you?

Sensible?

World War Z

I saw the preview finally for World War Z.

I really enjoyed the book and I am looking forward to the movie. I will do my best to forget the book while watching. The trailer looks like it will have some major gun love:




--I think that when it comes out we should have a movie night!

Nations Gun Show

Nations Gun Show! Let me know if you're going!

The Nations Gun Show is this weekend.

I was not going to go this time because my cash is a bit low.

I was thinking that it might be interesting to see prices and  availability.

I need to get a pile of .223. I could always use another case of .45 ACP. Only if the price is not crazy!

--Maybe I'll take my son. He can carry really heavy stuff!

USFA Zip .22LR

A friend emailed me this pic asking if I had ever seen it before.

This is the USFA Zip .22 Long Rifle.

It has not actually been released yet. I think it will be a while before we see one in the wild.

MSRP will be under $250 and it takes the Ruger 10/22 mags.

It's designed to be a handgun, and SBR or even a picitinny belly mounted secondary system.

Their website launches on Dec 1st.

There is a cool video over there too.

--Looks like it may be fun.

Thank you for your service...

--My father was in the Airforce already when WWII broke out. He served in Panama. I miss him, still.