All posts by MadOgre

Gear

Lucid HD7 Gen 3 FDE

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I’ve tested the original Lucid HD7 and found it to be most excellent.  One thing that continues to impress me is the unit’s ability to handle recoil.  Even after much pounding on an AR, the POA/POI was not changed from when it was zeroed to where the last accurate shots were placed.  Granted this was a short test, only 300 rounds, but I’ve seen slight shifts on some other red dots in this price range.  The first Gen HD7, I beat the hell out of it on many different hard recoiling guns.  I have the impression that the Gen 3 is every bit as tough, if not tougher.   The optic I used to run on my personal AR has been an EOTECH, and has been for years.  This Lucid HD7 has replaced that Eotech.  Because of a couple advantages.  A, more precise aiming reticle and B, much longer battery life.  The Battery life really pushed it over the top for me.  Long lasting, common battery type is a WIN for me.  I only have a couple flashlights that run those Surefire 3 Volt Batteries, so I don’t buy them very often.  And when I do I usually order them or pick them up when I am in certain stores.  AA Batteries can be had anywhere, cheap, and I have them around the house.  This commonality is an advantage.  With the Lucid, I’ve never had to wait until the sporting goods store opens to get my Red Dot to power on again.  I’ve had that problem with the EoTech.

The Gen 3 version has some worthy improvements.
1. Turret Caps.
2. Better Reticle Patterns.
3. Better Clarity and Brightness.
While the price may have come up a bit on the Retail side – it didn’t come up much and it remains the best optic for an AR under $400. I’ve seen these got for as low as 219.99 and as high as 249.99.
Overall – These sights are a Win. Buy one!

Continue reading Lucid HD7 Gen 3 FDE →

Weapons

The Greatest Gun In The History Of The World

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What is the Greatest Gun in the entire History of The World?

Before we can ask that question, let’s quantify “The Greatest”.  Most of the time people will refer to the Greatest as the Most Influential.  Or the Originator of some function that is thought to be important.  Or longest service. Or the most cloned and copied.  Or whatever metric puts their favorite at the top.  So what makes a gun “Great” here for this discussion?   Let’s make the criteria based on some points… Not in any order of importance:
Ergonomics:  How it fits the User and other Users.  The ease of use of the controls.
Accuracy:  Consider both Actual Accuracy, which is accuracy from a machine rest or bench rest, and Practical Accuracy which is what one can get from the gun in field conditions.  These are two separate things.
Utility:  How many uses it can be applied to, or be adapted to other uses.
Power:  Consider both the power of the individual round and capacity of the rounds in the magazine.
Range:  Not Max Range – but it’s actual practical effective range, and combine that with the Accuracy factor and you see just what you can do with the gun and how far away.

Now lets look at the guns, taking in these metrics, apply them to the INDIVIDUAL GUN and not Genealogy or History of the gun.  So for example don’t look at the MG42 and then say the Maxim is the Greatest because the MG42 was built off design evolution from the Maxim… or whatever you want to objectify as great.  If you want to quantify the Maxim on it’s own, the MG42 takes those traits and improves on them.  Lighter, less maintenance, less support required, greater reliability, etc. So based on individual merit, the MG42 is certainly the greater gun.

My knee jerk reaction would be to go with something like the Colt 1911 Government Model Pistol.  But that’s Nostalgia talking and not looking at the actual metrics set forth for the individual gun.  The Utility and Power factors point the needle to the Remington 870.  While it’s certainly adaptable for length of pull and using different shells gives you great utility, it’s limitations in Ergonomics and Range and other factors really hamstring the old girl.  Shame… Because it’s probably my favorite single firearm.  But we are not talking about Favorites.  Remember that.  We’re talking Objectively.  Which brings me to my conclusion that I can’t even being to believe that I’m about to reach here…

The Greatest Gun In The History Of The World:

The AR-15.

Just look at the results of a Google Image Search of “AR-15 Rifle“.  So many variations it boggles the mind, all built off that wonderful AR Lower Receiver.  The AR-15 can be configured and reconfigured to be The Right Tool For The Job for just about any situation that calls for a Firearm.  By pulling two pins you can change it from one caliber to the next, with rounds from .22 LR, to .50BMG, to freaking Arrows… yes, there is a Crossbow Upper for it.  You can use it as an SMG or Pistol Caliber Carbine, Main Battle Rifle, or Hunting Rifle.  There is a Muzzle Loader upper for it.  I’ve even seen a Single Shot Shotgun option for it.  You can change the parts to change the Ergos to make the gun feel great for just about any shooter.  Right handed, left handed, Ambi, it doesn’t matter.  You can put a Silencer on it and make it quieter.  You can put a Loudener on it and make it louder.  (No, seriously, someone made that.)  You can use it for Home Defense, Plinking, Competition, Hunting, Law Enforcement, and Military Actions.

The AR-15 Rifle is the Greatest Gun in The History Of The World.

 

Uncategorized

Disney Whore Factory

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lindsay_lohan_parent_trapI don’t know why this popped up on my Feed from YouTube… maybe because social media friends I don’t actually know liked these videos and that’s why it became a suggested video or whatever.  But a video of Miley Montana or whoever she is… “Twerking”.  Evidently she has a couple of these videos.
This was the Disney Child Star of the Country Star with the heart condition.  I think her dad’s song was about just this thing.
Good hell I am so glad I don’t have enough Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice in my system to have gene-seeded a Girl Baby.
Because she would end up at some point probably watching something from Disney.   Other than your average American High School, Disney seems to be in the Lead for inventing Whore Idols.

Lindsey Lohan – Epic Train Wreck.   At least Miley Cyrus cirus citrus circus surplus (sp?) has someone to look up to.  Is that a career path?  Go from Adorable Girl to something attractive (Lohan was hot as an older teen – yeah admit it – you thought so too) and then straight to graduating with a Master’s Degree in Crack Whore thanks to a full ride (too soon?) scholarship from Disney.  lohan26n-1-web

Let’s look at the path.  Disney teaches through these young children that Parents are stupid and clueless clowns and kids always have it figured out and are right in the end.   They give these kids Money and Fame.  And instill in them a sense of entitlement and that they can do whatever they want and their Fans will support and adore them.   And then at some point they end up dancing on a stripper pole.

If I had a daughter I’d have nothing Disney is my house.  Is this how our Culture wants us to raise our daughters?  I have friends and family with daughters and just don’t know how they can do this… The cultural influences to utterly destroy girls is in full force.  Sexualize them, objectify them, and let them self abuse themselves into state sponsored baby factories.  Democratic Voter Vending Machines.

Thank you Disney for turning out people girls can look up to as role models for success and standing up for the Good and Right things in life.  I don’t know… Maybe this is a Preacher’s Daughter sort of situation.   But when my Boys are looking at Girls, who are they seeing these days?  Tramp Steamers on a collision course with a train or are they seeing young women with strength and dignity and value as human beings and daughters of God who should be treated with respect and put on a pedestal?   How can I raise my boys right, when the cultural influence is to ask a girl if she spits or swallows?  We can’t turn to Social Media – good hell…  We can’t turn to the mass media and entertainment.   So where can my boys find lessons outside of Dad’s Lecturing?  Reading Books.   Good Books.   Literature.  Classic Literature.

But those books are no longer found or encouraged in Schools.  Thanks to “Common Core” Education.

When children are raised in such a culture, what is the future going to look like?

 

Edit Update:
This was posted before MTV’s VMA Show. Before Cyrus’s “Performance”. All I can say about that is that I found it to be utterly revolting. Twerking as it’s called is not dancing. Its vulgar. I’m no prude, but its disgusting. Cyrus has proven she has no talent, so pulling this sort of stunt was all she had. Because thats what it was. A stunt.
She needs to get over the novelty that she has girl parts. Flat and sad girl parts.

Uncategorized

The Jerry Doyle Show.

5 Comments

Holy Crap. The Jerry Doyle Show! On the Radio. WINNING!
Do you guys listen to Jerry? He freaking rocks. And he’s on a local radio station. Awesome.

For uninitiated, Jerry Doyle is the cat that played Garibaldi on Babylon 5.  He’s a Conservative, ran for office, stands behind his beliefs, and is a solid American.  He makes so much sense he makes you want to throat-punch a Political Science Professor.

Made my night hearing Jerry on the radio again.  Jerry, You The Man.

Uncategorized

Looking

16 Comments

Yesterday morning my wife and I went to look at some motorcycles.  Huge dealership not too far away.
Honda, Zukes, Yamaha, Kawasaki.  All bike types.  They had everything.
Many bikes to drool upon.
But one bike specifically caught my attention and held it and I’ve not been able to think of anything else.  It’s like it was designed for Me.  It fit.
The Star Bolt R Spec with the Ogre Green tank.
Its not a fancy bike. Or fast. Or anything special.  Its just a simple motorcycle.
I love it.  I’ll have to get one some day.

Military

Another Marine Battle.

8 Comments

 

BATTLE ERUPTS OVER MARINE CORPS TRAINING DOC THAT CITES ‘LACK OR LOSS OF SPIRITUAL FAITH’ AS POTENTIAL SUICIDE RISK FACTOR

Read this article.

Might not be a popular concept, but it pans out. The wicked taketh the truth to be hard. 
Working with vets suffering from PTSD showed me very clearly that Servicemen who had faith, then went through the trauma and lost it – are truly at great risk. Having faith to begin with helps a great deal. Because there is a huge aspect of Self Worth for the individual soldier and faith helps one feel his self worth. Doesn’t matter what your faith is – You don’t have to be issued a religion. But a Belief is powerful here. I think a great many fall because The Adversary tears a marine’s or soldier’s faith down, then tears down their self worth… then he has them. If they keep the faith, then that armor protects them.
Now the Adversary wants to regulate the Faith out of the Soldiers and Marines.  Which is only going to result in more suicides, more pharmaceutical treatments, more mental health cases that cause loss of gun rights and more institutionalization where all of it could have been taken care of with Faith.

Weapons

Shooting fast

17 Comments

There is a tidal movement to shooting pistols as quickly as possible.   Instructors and wannabe “Know It Alls” are using 9mm to accomplish this.  More bullets, smaller and lighter… rapid fire.  This movement was very slow at first.  Then The Art Of The Dynamic Handgun video came out.  Haley and Costa rocking those M&P’s like they were SMG’s looked cool.  Then all the sudden everyone wanted to shoot like that.  Who wouldn’t?  Those guys look like rock stars doing it.
Some instructors I know have been teaching that stuff for some time, but MagPul videos really did open the flood gates.
I understand the arguments and theory surrounding the use of 9mm and shooting fast… and that’s all fine and well.  I can shoot that way myself if I want to… Even with a .40.  However, I find myself moving more and more to bigger and harder hitting rounds.  Slower fire but well aimed.  Heavier for caliber load selections, bigger bullets, make the shots count.  Shooting the 9mm’s the other day… 9mm Just doesn’t do it for me.  Oh, I know all about the Modern Ammo.  You know what?  That Modern Ammo is really good in bigger calibers too.

Yes, I know all about Ballistic Gel Penetration comparisons.  However that isn’t the whole picture when it comes to wound trauma and terminal ballistics.  It’s not the whole picture when it comes to barrier penetration and deflection.  Those Gel numbers are engineered, people.  The results are just what the ammo companies want you to see.  To get those numbers some loads are hopped and the others are neutered.  Some rounds open more and others slower so those penetration numbers look great in the gel tests.  Again – these Gel results are engineered to show just those results.  Why?  To sell ammo of course.  “See, our 9mm is just as good as the rest.”

Porsche does the same with their sports cars.  Boxster, Caymen, 911.  The Caymen being detuned to fall perfectly in between the two other cars… when it has all the potential to beat the 911.  But that’s another story.

I remember an incident where 9mm pistols were being fired at a windshield… the bullets were glancing off.  One round of .45 Auto, fired by a steady hand penetrated that windshield and ended the situation.  There are also incidents of 9mm failing to really even jostle a maniac when it impacted.  FBI Miami Dade, anyone?  Bank of American LA, anyone?  The search for Magic Bullets is now as it has always been, an attempt to find a Unicorn.  Don’t glue a paper cone on the head of a goat and tell me that’s its a Unicorn.  I’m not buying it.  Not even if you run a whole herd of them past me as fast as possible.  They still look like goats with paper cones on their heads.

As far as “Fast” goes, fast is good.  But fast follow up shots are not as important in a gun fight as the first round.  That first shot is the most important shot you will take in any engagement.  It needs to be made fast.  But not at the sacrifice of accuracy.  Shot Placement remains critical.  Using a smaller round that can be fired at a higher cadence, if that’s your beat, that’s fine.  I’m more Heavy Metal than Techno.  I’d rather have slower heavier beats.  See, I hear so many guys say, yeah but I’m more accurate with 9mm.  I call bullshit.  I’ve seen many guys who advocate shooting as fast as possible… cant keep a group.  Why?  Because they are losing the front sight and jerking that trigger like a 14 year old with a Playboy… They are giving up the Fundamentals in favor of Rapid.

Bullets hitting tissue is a rather predictable science.  The only variables are the vector through the anatomy and the barriers the projectile have to penetrate before hitting that anatomy.  The bullets all pretty much have the same effect.  Displacing fluid (like rocks hitting water) and tearing and pulverizing the permanent wound channel.  Bigger heavier rocks displace more fluid.  That’s just a fact.  Try it out at your closest body of water.  That water gets displaced and then it comes back.  In water, you have some cavitation effect briefly and what is left is the permanent wound channel that allows blood to flow out.  The bigger the whole, and the more torn up that wound channel is, the more blood is going to flow out.  That’s just a fact.  And ask any hunter, the more blood you have flowing out, the less you have to track that deer.  You put that wound channel vectoring through a heart, or CNS… Winner Winner Venison Dinner.  That is meat on the table.  For a defensive situation, that’s a Resolved Problem.

But then there is another problem.  The fact of the matter is that no matter what school of thought you have – you remain legally liable for each and every round you fire.   So I’m going to slow it down a notch.  Fire a bigger and heavier bullet.  And make sure those rounds go where I want them to go.

I know a few guys that can fire super fast, with accuracy.  A few.  And I’m not saying they should change… because that is working for them.  But I’m just not feeling it myself using small calibers.  I’m following Sun Tzu here.  “Hit first, and hit so hard your enemy can’t hit back.

Sure, all handguns are less ideal than rifles or shotguns… but some are better than others.  I’ll take my .40 calibers with my 180 grain loads.  I’ll take my .45’s with 230 grain loads (when I used to prefer 185’s) 

I think instead of drilling so much on Balance of Speed and Accuracy drills…   I think more emphasis should be on the drills from the holster to the target from a Buzzer.  Because that shot… that first shot right there is the key.  You have to be fast on that shot.  Before the threat can shoot you back or get to you with a knife, or cut the throat of a hostage or whatever reason you have that justifies the use of deadly force.  I want to make the most of that first shot.   I’m not looking at Gun Fight Averages here.  Because most gun fights are 1 point something average or 2 point something.  You know what they all have in common?  That first shot.

Make the most of it.