All posts by MadOgre

Weapons

Less is More?

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There are two pistols in 9mm that I actually want.  As of right now, everything on the market on most gun store shelves… I don’t want.  I just don’t… they don’t do anything for me.  I’ve no interest in them.  But coming soon, we’ve got a couple that have made me raise my Ogrish Eyebrow in interest.

First is the Strike One pistol from Arsenal Arms.

The second is the Caracal pistol.

 
The Strike One, to me, just seems really interesting and I really dig the super low bore axis and full 5 inch barrel. I’d like to see some accuracy tests. I’d like to do some accuracy tests. The new action and some innovations in this gun make it most interesting.
The Caracal has been tested by our friend Rob Pincus and he is all over this handgun… If Rob really likes something like this, it’s worth taking a look at. I’ve read what’s out there, seen the pics and vids…. But I want to get one and shoot it.
Now, none of these handguns are any revolution in hand held weaponry… both are firing the same 9mm rounds that everything else is, and as a result, we’re going to have the same terminal ballistics, effective ranges, and ammunition supply as everything else. So why do I want these guns? Because I’m looking for something other than the same routine. For the last several years I’ve become painfully jaded about the handguns on the market… there are no perfect handguns out there. Maybe there is something here that is getting us closer to that. Both of these pistols have something in common, other than in caliber… Simplicity. They are both very simple pistols in design and mechanics and that’s something I truly appreciate… when Less can be More.
Take my new Motorcycle for instance… the Superhawk really is a very simple bike. It’s a simple V-Twin with very little technology going on in there… other bikes of it’s type are using computers and electronic fuel injection… The Superhawk has a pair oversized carburetors and a choke lever. But everyone how has ridden one as almost universally agreed its one of the best rides – in the world. It gets there not just by being simple, but by doing simple very well. So simple, it smacks of elegance.
The Glock Pistol illustrated this beautifully when it took the world by storm. Yet the Glock is not perfect at all. Rob Pincus has pointed out his distaste for the requirement of Dry Firing the weapon to disassemble it. Springfield has corrected this from the XD series in the XDM series. The M guns don’t require it and the mechanism is about as complicated as a Slingshot. Maybe that’s what I am looking for… the simplicity of design, distilled down the it’s most basic form that interfaces with the shooter like it was coded in the very DNA.
Until we achieve a completely Matter-Energy Conversion power source that can feed the energy requirements of hand-held Directed Energy weapons or Electro-Magnetic Mass Drivers… we are going to be forced to continue to use cartridges as we know them today… and Simple Elegance is the best we can aspire to.

Automotive

My Honda Superhawk 996

34 Comments

Well… I did it again.  After looking at Kawasaki’s, Suzuki’s, Yamaha’s, and a couple Hardly’s… I came home with another Honda… another Red Honda.  This is the Superhawk 996, a V-Twin.  Yes, I sold a Honda with 4 cylinders, 4 Carbs, 4 Pipes… and bring home a Honda with 2 Carbs, 2 cylinders, and 2 pipes… and it’s Twice the Bike.  I am not nearly as fatigued from the ride from Orem, and admittedly I got home a lot quicker.

This bike really and truly is a Torque Monster.  In Orem, on State Street… about 5 blocks from where I bought it, I was nearing an intersection that had turned Yellow.  So I just goosed the throttle like I always did on my Magna… expecting a quick burst of speed, nothing big, just enough to get through the yellow light.  That’s not what happened.  What happened was this hairy beast of a monster let out a roar and I wheelied through the intersection like a madman.    Thankfully there was no Law Enforcement around to witness this because I don’t think they would buy my excuse.

Carving up the canyons on the way home was pure enjoyment.

What’s funny though… the motorcycle “Wave”.  I saw a lot of motorcycles out today… passed by tons of them going the opposite direction.  I used to always get “The Wave” from other bikers.  Not One.  Not that I cared or expected it.  But there it is.

The Superhawk is a strange bike, I’ll admit that.  Very light and narrow for a 996cc machine.  The bike wants to cruise at 80 MPH at 4K RPM’s.  Just really sedate compared to the Magna at the same speed.  It just burbles along… singing it’s song… and then I downshift and open the throttle… and the Superhawk gets straight up PISSED.  The whole tone of the engine changes and the power comes on in a huge way.  110 horses and 80 pounds of torque come to bear… this is a great deal more power than the Magna had… and the Magna is considered a “Muscle Bike”.  Huh.   The Speedo on the Superhawk goes up to 180 MPH.  I didn’t test that… but I believe it can get up there.  I did inadvertantly hit a triple digit speed making a pass on a long straight.  The speed rolled on effortlessly and the bike felt solid as a rock.  I was shocked when I looked down and saw how fast I was going.  I instantly pulled that in…. One doesn’t want a ticket on the first day of ownership… that’s bad luck.

Overall, I am full of Happy Happy, Joy Joy feelings with this motorcycle…. and it looks so good… I don’t think I could ever get tired of looking at it.  In fact, I sat on the porch of Ogre Range just looking at it for the longest time.  Gorgeous bike.

Weapons

New Gun Opinions

8 Comments

We got in the Ruger SR22 and the new TC Dimension.

First the Ruger.  Of the small .22LR tactical pistols… SIG Mosquito and Walther P22 are the most common of these… I think the Ruger is the best one made so far.  Very good machining and good polymer. It doesn’t feel cheap.  Fixed barrel, so it has great accuracy potential.  I like it, if I am honest.  But it does have a really crappy trigger… hopefully the trigger smooths out with use.  If it did, the gun would really shine.  Ruger needs to clean up the toggle-like triggers and make a version that has an extended threaded barrel with target sights.  So, yeah, I think it’s worth buying.  If you look at one in the store – ask the Clerk to put on the Large Grip.  Feels great in the hand with the bigger grip on it.  (and my hands are not huge… really kinda average. My glove size is just “Large”)

TC’s new Bolt Action Switch Barrel.  Clever idea… futuristic styling… interesting way they do the barrel swap with an included torque wrench system that makes the barrel swapping consistent… adjustable length of pull with the stock spacers… overall, someone did their homework coming up with this one.
But I hate it.  I don’t actually like anything about this gun and I would be money this gun is going to be a huge commercial flop and TC should stick with making Encores with new names.  I think this new gun looks like a SciFi Channel prop and feels like something made by NERF.  I hate that rifle.  Fortunately TC is making a solid rifle in the VENTURE series if you want a TC Bolt Action… great price for the performance value and you can’t go wrong with it.   For 450 bucks you can get a whole new rifle… verses 300 for just a new barrel.  Come on.  Metal Tube, or a whole new rifle in that new caliber you want.  I understand every penny counts, but really?  Unless you are a wildcatter and are coming up with new stuff to test – and you don’t want an Encore for some reason… Well, then maybe this new Dimension is for you.

Uncategorized

The Tap Out Affliction

13 Comments

I think Jersey Shore has washed up in the Uintah Basin like an unwanted fist pumping oil slick.  Vernal is a few years behind the rest of the country… thanks to a self induced communal isolationism that Vernal as a community is proud of.  When things wash in, it does so like Katrina into New Orleans… The Jersey Shore thing is all over now, yet the local Young Ones are not quite sure how to apply it.  So we have the Hair and the tight Tshirts that have print that look like enlarged French curtains, as if thats the coolest thing ever… then tight jeans only half on their buttocks and Carhart boots while the guy jumps down out of his Dodge 3500 Diesel as the sun glints off the metallic sticker that they carefully leave on their perfectly flat brim ball cap.  What I don’t get is that most of these guys have literally never been further outside of Utah than Craig Colorado.

My words of advice to these Young Ones… Guys, just be yourself.  You live in Utah.  In the country.  You are surrounded by Cattle and Oil Fields.  The biggest thing that happens here in Vernal is the annual Rodeo and NRA Banquet.  Embrace who you are.  Because if you strip off the Imported Faddish Sillyness – You guys are Cooler than Jersey Shore.  You are better than that.  You ask the JS Crew to get anything done and they’ll ruin it.  Ask you guys to get anything done… and you will repair a Diesel Truck to move an Oil Rig and then gather up a herd of Beef and get it loaded into a trailer… all before breakfast and the next day you’ll go out and hunt a trophy elk and tag it and bag it.   You guys Get Shit Done.  You are independent.  You are capable.   Be proud of that and don’t lower yourself to emulate a pack of slobbering useless idiots on TV.

Automotive

Sold the Honda Magna

16 Comments

Saturday I unexpectedly made a deal with a family to sell my beloved Honda Magna. The day before, I was having lunch with my Bride and we talked bikes. I decided to just keep the Magna and tweak it to better suit my needs. Seat, tank, pipes. Simple enough.

Then after lunch on Saturday some folks come in to the gun shop and we come to an agreement.  I’m actually kinda torn on selling it.  The VF750C’s engine is truly one of the very best engines ever put into any motorcycle.   Honda really needs to bring back the Magna, but with some more modern upgrades.  But as I say farewell to this bike, I’ll be able to make acquaintance with a new bike.  There are three main options.
First option, is a Kawasaki ZX-1100.  Full sized sport-touring bike.  This is a long range road interstate warrior… exactly what I want and need.  This bike has the range that I wish I had invested in off the bat when I got the Magna.  But it had been awhile since I rode, so it was wisdom to get into something to get my Biker Blood flowing again without spilling it.   But a bike like this… it’s a lot of machine. It’s a Starship that can cross the country at Warp Factor 10 like other bikes cruise at 60.
Second option, if the first one is taken before I get to it… is a Yamaha FZ1.  A Standard Liter Bike, all around easy bike to run on, but with good sized fuel tank that would get me where I wanted to go.  Not the most exciting of machines, but an all around solid bike that would do very well for me.
The third choice actually surprised me.  A Zuke Boulevard.  It’s not much bigger than the Magna, but it does have the fuel tank that I want.  It lacks the Hasty that the Magna has, but with the better fuel economy, bigger tank… it doubles the range that the Magna had. Electronic ignition, computer controlled fuel injection… it would be a very nice machine.  And it’s larger, more comfortable than the Magna… I could deal with that happily but it would be settling.

A lot of guys are telling me that I need to get a Harley.  Sure, I could do an XR1200.  Or a cool Dyna set up like Jax Teller’s… but I don’t want a bike that is loud, and you are just not finding them for around three grand, because that’s all that I’m spending.  I don’t want to Bank Roll a Bike.  I’m not going to carry a note on something that can so easily be ripped out from under you by an idiot in a Cage.

I’m crawling all over KSL.com’s Classifieds.  But if anyone out there knows of a GOOD bike for around 3 grand… hit me up.  I’m open to good suggestions.