All posts by MadOgre

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Being back in Utah for a visit…

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I’ve been looking for suitable jobs for me in Utah, as my family would like to move back.  They are Utah at heart.  And I have to admit, I’ve enjoyed visiting again, very much.

Hanging out with Steve Ting again was awesome.   We went to Sean’s Smokehouse BBQ and then to a sporting goods store – Sheels.  Impressive place.   Sean’s Smokehouse – that place is awesome.  The food is GOOD BBQ.  And I’m picky.  Everything I sampled was excellent.   But more importantly, Sean’s supports the RKBA, as evidenced by the decor:

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They have a Hot Wings challenge that I will, one day, defeat.   Great food, did I mention that?  The place is awesome.   Look it up and check it out.

I’ve got a lot of friends here that I would love to go shooting with again… I did get a chance to go shoot some Prairie Dogs with Ben Thompson.  Which was very good and therapeutic.   But to be honest, I just didn’t feel the blood thirst that I used to.  But a couple really good pops with the .17 HMR was satisfying.

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I think I would really love to move back to Utah’s Wasatch Front area.  Probably on the southern side of it.  I tell you what though… Cafe Rio.  Utah has a TREASURE in Cafe Rio.  Chipolte is popular and common – but not nearly as good.  Cafe Rio smokes Chipolte and all the other places like it.  Chipolte’s is good… but the flavors tastes off in comparison.    So you Utahn’s or those that live near one – ENJOY it.  Savor it.  Seriously.  I could go there every other day.

The traffic is bad… but honestly, after dealing with Atlanta’s traffic, Utah’s worse isn’t really all that bad.  Except for Draper.  Draper Utah is just… Retarded.  No where else the NO EYE CONTACT GETS THE RIGHT OF WAY rule is in such effect.  That and you can’t make Left Turns where you need to, but you can make U-Turns where you don’t.   Draper is the model of Bad City Planning.

Vernal has grown and changed in some places and has stayed exactly the same in others.  Basin Sports is still THE place in Utah to buy your guns and gun related products.  But there is no way I could go back and work there again.

 

Government, Weapons

The Army wants a new pistol again?

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We’ve been playing this game off and on for a long time now.
But what the hell?  Let’s play…

They Army is wanting something fresh.  Which means the Good Old Boys are not in the running… The SIG’s, the Colt, the normal choices are out.  They want something new.  But the Army is all about having that Manual Safety.  That leaves something from HK, one of the FNH FNX pistols, or the Beretta PX4 Storm.   I’m betting on the Storm.  Okay – just a couple years ago, the US Army threw down a contract with Beretta that’s basically good for five years.  So we’re looking at at least another 3 years of Beretta M9’s.  Then late last year, the US Army dropped 49 million dollars on holsters for the Beretta M9.  And now they want to shake that tree?  Doesn’t make sense.  But the Military never let that stop them before.  Making sense is for Civilian Contractors – not the Actual Military.   But since there are contracts in place, it kind of makes sense that the replacement will be a Beretta.

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The Px4 Storm would be a great sidearm for the Military.  The safety and trigger are the exact same that they are used to, so no new training issues.  The Storm’s action does a great job of reducing felt recoil.  Accuracy and Reliability are top notch.   Mostly likely though the M9’s replacement could be an M9A1… which all those new holsters will already fit.  But really this isn’t so much about the pistol, but the cartridge.

Basically the Army is looking at more powerful rounds.  .357 SIG, .40 Cal, and .45 are the likely candidates of course.   I’m not sure the US Army wants to go back to the .45 because they Army loves higher capacity and going back to .45 Auto would show they made a big freaking mistake going away from it.  Even though we have a history of using .45, dumping it, going back to it, then dumping it again… Picking something else would break that cycle of abuse.

Realistically this means .40 cal or .357 SIG.  Either way, I’m fine with these choices.   But if I had my druthers, it would be the .40.  Between these two.  Of course, I’d love it if we went to 10mm.  But that’s just not happening because 10mm is never going to get the recognition that it deserves.  Because of The Prophesy.  It’s written.

I like the heavier bullet weights with the .40.  But on the battlefield the higher velocity and greater accuracy will give the .357 SIG the edge.  .357 SIG just makes it easier to hit the target when it’s at unknown distances.  The Sig round also gives us better barrier penetration.

The downside of cost is not a consideration for the US Military.  But the requirement of more frequent spring swaps will be.  The military is not used to replacing parts at regular round count intervals.  But this is something that they can get used to doing.

So a Px4 Storm or an M9A1 chambered in .357 SIG would be a likely and logical replacement to the 9mm M9.

Government

Standing with Israel.

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The story of the 3 young lads, kidnapped and murdered in Israel truly breaks my heart.
Hamas is to blame, but Palestine as a  whole is accountable.  Their whole culture is about hate.  They teach hate from a young age and feed off it for the rest of their lives.   Truly disgusting.  What’s worse is the Palestinians the news agencies find to comment on it.  Even more disgusting that the killings were not seen as a bad thing by these people.   All they can do is point bloody fingers at Israel and get completely hysterical and froth at the mouth.
I found the response by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be absolutely on point.   Netanyahu had composure and dignity and righteous anger…  Man – how would it be to have a Leader like that in the USA?
With everything going on in the USA – we look to Leadership and we find none.  Instead, we have a limp noodle that is destroying America as much as he possibly can. 

Weapons

My two main guns now

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I know I’ve been packing a Glock 23 for years… but lately I’ve been doing that less and less.  Really it’s been relegated to Car Gun Status now, so I always have it close when I’m out and about.   But what I carry on my person – that’s changed.

10464352_10203310469695910_5109397919341637312_nMore and more my Go To pistol has been my Beretta 92FS, and I’ve been carrying my 1911 a LOT more.   As I type this post, it’s the 1911 that’s sitting by my left hand.   Don’t laugh at my desk… I know it’s cluttered, but then again, so is my mind.  So it all works out.  That’s my beloved GI… which had a light issue with cracking grip panels.  That was the worst thing that could have happened, because dang it… now I’m thinking about changing other parts.  Like a Beaver Tail and a Commander style hammer… and if I am doing that – I might as well change the sear and trigger… You guys know the drill.   The grips were the lid to a bloody Pandora’s Box of tweaks.   Why?  Why the hell did I do that? I could have got some double diamond checkered wood grips and have been fine.  But no… I asked my friends for some regular old black plastics… thought I’d cheap out… not thinking about how they fecking changed the whole dynamic of the pistol and it’s in my head that I could change other things.
And now I’m looking at the Beretta 92FS and thinking… “You know, Wilson Combat is now making Beretta parts.”  They have a slick short reach trigger… No… NO!

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No… I’m not going to mess with my Beretta.   That’s become the Go To Gun.  My Almost EDC.  I’m not doing that.
But the 1911…  Well… that’s different.
I’m thinking why not have some fun with it?  I can detail strip it blindfolded, and that sentimental GI memento cherry has been popped with the black grips.   Why  not?

But you know what I really want to do to it?  Have a Color Case Hardened Finish done to it.   Kinda like this:
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Deep polished blued levers and safety, but the slide and frame – Color Cased.   That is just sexy to me.   I don’t know.
What do you guys think?

Uncategorized

Things I’m tired of seeing…

18 Comments

scifidoorB18.jpgb3be5c9d-3a99-4b08-93c7-d498e457ca61Larger1. Complicated Doors.
Doesn’t matter if it’s Ancient, Magic, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Alien, Vampires or whatever – the door to something important or even not important… is a complicated fecking mechanism of some sort that opens from the center with improbably numerous pieces and parts that have to move out of the way to unlock and thus allow the door parts to move away in any number of interesting and complicated ways.    Or barring that, they are just Ginsu Blade Fast and Scary… How come they can’t just be freaking doors?  What’s wrong with a regular damn door?  I bet if there really were Aliens out there, interior doors in their homes would be simple doors or maybe a bead-curtain. Not some mechanical device that rivals the workings of a Swiss Watch.  Because Aliens wouldn’t have a Complicated Door Fetish.  They would probably want efficiency… like a latch on one side and a couple sturdy hinges on the other.  The alternative to the Complicated Door is the massively oversized door out of impossibly heavy material and construction.   If the movie is really trying to hard, you will have a Massively Oversized Overly Complicated Door.

2. Crouching Slides that tear up the floor.
Any Boss-Fight anymore has this.  The Hero gets knocked back, but instead of sprawling like he just got smacked down, he slides away from the adversary in a Hero-Crouch Pose that’s solid as a rock, and as he’s sliding, he’s ripping up the ground.  Concrete, Marble, Tiled Floor – whatever it is – it’s getting ripped up in that power-slide.

2.5.  Exaggerated Action Crouching.
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3. Oversized Bladed Weapons.
ikkicon20This was once just Anime stuff, but it’s starting to pop up in other places – such as Tom Cruise’s new Sci-Fi remake of Groundhog Day.  The Hero Chick had a Sword worthy of a Japanese Cartoon.  Let’s leave them in Japanese Cartoons.

4.  Massive Collateral Damage to Private or Civic Property.
Superman.  Batman.  Pacific Rim.  Star Trek.  Avengers.  Lately it’s not safe to park a car or be in a building or even just in a city where a Super Hero is.  Because he’s going to use it like a Wiffleball Bat or get slammed through it like a missile, or he’ll just throw it.  Whatever it is you have – screw it.  It’s Collateral Damage in the great war against evil.  Geico doesn’t have Giant Monster/Hero policies… but maybe they should.  Because The Man Of Steel doesn’t give a damn you just dropped ink on a 450 dollar a month Car Note for that new Mercedes.   Hero is going to use it to smack the Bad Guy into your Office Building and then toss your sweet new ride you have a 72 Month Loan on.

Weapons

Favorite Blade Roster

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I have a lot of favorite knives, but most are from only a few sources.  I’m set in my ways… so mostly I like the Plain and Plain Edged versions of these knives instead of Serrated or Coated if those are options.  And some are no longer in production .  I also favor larger knives as a bigger blade makes work easier.   The Spyderco Native is probably the smallest of the knives on this list outside of the Spikes.  Why I like the Spikes so much?  I’ve no idea – I just do.
Is there a knife on this list that you like too?  Or is there a knife on this list that you just hate?   Let me know.

Fixed Blades:
Ka-Bar Becker BK9 Combat Bowie*
Ka-Bar Becker BK2 Companion*
Ka-Bar Becker BK11 Necker*
Ka-Bar “Big Brother”.
Ka-Bar “Warthog”.
Buck Omni Hunter 12pt*
Cold Steel Recon Tanto
Cold Steel SRK
Cold Steel Trail Master
Cold Steel Marauder
Cold Steel Scottish Spike
Cold Steel Tokyo Spike
Spyderco Warrior (Formerly known as the REKAT Hobbit Warrior**)
Ontario Marine Raider

Folding Blades:
Buck 110
Buck 110 Paperstone*
Spyderco Native*
Spyderco Native Stainless**
Spyderco Endura
Spyderco Police*
Spyderco Ulize
Spyderco Chinook*
Cold Steel AK-47*
Cold Steel Voyager
Cold Steel Recon Clip Point
Cold Steel Vaquero Grande*
Cold Steel Espada XL G-10*
Cold Steel Talwar XL G-10*
Benchmade AFCK***
Benchmade Rift Osbourne
Benchmade Bedlam*
Benchmade Onslaught
Benchmade Mini-Onslaught*
Kershaw Knockout*
Kershaw Blur

Hawks:
Anything Designed by RMJ Tactical

*Especially Favorited
** Unicorn Knife – Always wanted, never been able to snag.
*** Wish they would bring back!

Weapons

Something going on at Kel Tec

3 Comments

Last couple weeks I’ve been stopping in at a lot of gun shops.  And there is something I’ve been seeing that I’ve not ever seen before.  Lots of Kel Tecs in stock.   KSG’s and RFB’s.  The Unicorns.
Something is going on at Kel Tec… They are kicking ass.