Weapons

Enter The Beretta

35 Comments


Beretta’s have been passe and over played for a long time now… Since the first Mel Gibson Lethal Weapon movie.  Robocop packed a Beretta.  The Grammaton Clerics of “Equilibrium” packed them.  The Matrix was probably the last of the big Beretta Block Busters.

The Original 92. Note the Safety Position.

And people kinda got tired of seeing them.  So they pretty much disappeared from the Big Screen.  Replaced by Stainless finished Glocks quite often.

Well, Beretta came back big time in TAKEN 2.  A long extended Chase Scene featuring Beretta 92FS‘s, 90-Two, and Storm Pistols.   And they looked awesome on the Silver Screen.

Yeah, still looks awesome.

But is this a good thing?  I mean, isn’t the Beretta old school 80’s?

We all know the US Army just purchased a freaking ton of them, making it the handgun for the US Military for at least another 5 years.  Probably longer.  Why?  Because the 92FS is a very high quality pistol with reliability like the Sun Rise.   They are super smooth, consistent, accurate, soft shooting, and extremely safe handguns.  I will argue they have the safest of actions of any semi-auto handguns.   Yet, when they are run properly, they are just as fast as anything else.

The Classic…

The other handgun that US Military uses is the SIG P226 and the 228… Which are very good indeed, but during the Handgun Trials, the Beretta did indeed outperform the SIG’s.  You can argue that all you want, but the Beretta won it.  And if you were on the selection board, you would have given the Beretta the nod too.  I think what makes the 92 so good is what makes it so distinctive… That open slide.  A common upgrade to many handguns is to open up the ejection port.  I’ve never heard of anyone wanting to open up the 92 anymore.  Clear ejection.  Any gunk getting in there gets blown back out too.  The feed geometry is ideal.  It’s almost a straight shot in from the magazine into the chamber.  Unlike a 1911 or other guns which makes the cartridge have to do some gymnastics to get loaded.    And then there is the locking block.  Under the barrel there is a winged wedge-like block.  This is what locks and unlocks the action, allowing the 92 to be naturally and inherently smooth… Probably the smoothest action of any locked breach handgun.

Is that an Elite II?

The classic 92FS is also a very good looking handgun.  It looks cool.  There is something wrong with you if you can’t appreciate the lines and curves of the 92… It just looks like what a handheld weapon should look like.  And I think the newest version of the 92 looks awesome.

If there is any downside to the 92, it’s the size.  The 92 is indeed a large handgun.  But then again, it’s supposed to be.  It was designed to be a Full Sized, Duty Sidearm.  For the guys out there packing only a handgun in their Fight against Evil, the Beretta was comforting, it had some heft, sure, but it also had something few other handguns had… a huge capacity. 15 Rounds!  Back then, that was amazing.  Now, 15 isn’t a huge capacity… but then again, I’ve not seen a guy that can shrug off 15 rounds of well placed 9mm hits.  A big gun is a comfortable gun for shooting… felt recoil… accuracy… They are just easier to go the distance with than a small gun.

Look at the swept lines… Sexy!

Beretta is the oldest company on the planet.  They know how to make a good product.  Sure, they have had a few flops… Such as the 9000 model.  But overall, you can’t beat Beretta’s track record.

We’ve seen a marked upswing in Beretta sales locally.  They are coming back in popularity, so expect to see more of them in the Media and Cinema.

Uprising

Zombies Still Rule

16 Comments

Zombies are still the Ultimate Horror Creature.   At no point are Zombies a Romantic Figure or Anti-Hero.  At no point are people trying to Make Peace with the Zombies.  At no point is there an attempt to Understand the Zombies.  Because they are fucking Zombies and absolutely Haunt humanity.

Zombies are in the Bible:

Zechariah 14:12-13
And the LORD will send a plague on all the nations that fought against Jerusalem. Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the LORD with great panic. They will fight their neighbors hand to hand.

Zombies are even in the very oldest of our stories, The Epic of Gilgamesh:

I will raise up the dead, and they will devour the living,
I will make the dead outnumber the living!

Zombies are found in every era, in every culture, in every country in the world.  They scare us more than anything else and have always done so.  And they always will.   Which is why Zombies are like Bacon.  They make everything better.  Even my Music Playlist is Zombie Heavy…

Training, Uncategorized

Gunfightercast vs MadOgre

17 Comments

Just a heads up.  There is going to be a little competition at some point in the future, next year.  An M4 Throw Down, between myself and Daniel “Shaw of Japan”.
The Smack has been Talked.
See, last year Daniel and I had a little competition going on with Pistols.  I won.
The Young Jarhead wants to take on the Old Grunt on his terms now… Carbines.  I’m Game.
But I think I want to make this something more.   Let’s take bets… Donations… With the pot going to The Wounded Warrior Foundation.
The Challenge should be a tactical scenario perhaps?  Such as a Kill House or Jungle Walk… Timed of course, but with accuracy deductions, like IDPA scoring.    Shaw of Japan, since he lost last time, gets to go first here.  He sets the pace on his run.  A Judge will also award or deduct points based on his Tactical Performance…. IE, use of cover during a reload, slicing the pie, etc.   After he does it, then I make the run.  To be fair… Neither of us will see the course of fire ahead of time.

 

Weapons

Zero Distance

11 Comments

I think I am going to Re-Zero all of my Long Range Arms for 300 Yards. Take your favorite Killing Guns, get out your favorite Ballistic Calculator and really look at your Trajectories. Between your 0 yard and your normal 100 or 200 yard zero range, look at the highest point in the arc to that range. Now change your zero range and push it out to 300 yards. Really not much effective difference there is it? Now take a look at the trajectory between your zero to 400 yards at both 100 or 200 compared to a 300 yard zero. Here’s what I’m seeing. I hold on the Kill Zone regardless of range. No more of this “Hold on the top of it’s back” BS. At most, even with a gun that drops a lot, such as a .308 or .30-06, I might hold at the top of the kill zone – but I’m still aiming for Kill Zone and hitting in Kill Zone. This works out especially well with the Magnums and their flatter trajectories. The old stand by of 100 yard zeroes is still needed for some guns, but for your Hunting guns, it doesn’t make any sense. And that wild ass guess of “Two Inches High at 100” is starting to kinda do the same thing, but without actually knowing what your gun is doing. So next time I go out to zero, I’ll start at 100 to know where I am at, then push it out and actually zero at 300.

Automotive

The Perfect Line

5 Comments

There is no feeling like finding the perfect body position, leaning the bike over… you have the perfect entry speed… and you find that perfect line.  You and your bike are one and you cut the apex like a Neurosurgeon.  The aches and pains from a long day at work are far behind you.  You don’t feel your age anymore.  You just feel the Speed and the Road, and the Revs of the Engine as you look through the turn at what’s out there.  The tires are gripping, but at that hairy edge… but you roll on the throttle and bust out of the curve like a Patriot Missile, just almost kissing the outside of the lane.  The perfect line.

There is no other feeling like it.  None.

I had that Perfect Line tonight.  My God it was amazing!  My knee had been hurting bad. But then suddenly… I didn’t feel it anymore. Lost in the unadulterated thrill of murdering that apex and I could feel the front tire raise off the ground at the exit. It was like a beautiful High that I wish you guys could have felt. I wish you could have been there!

Weapons

It’s Marketing, Remington. You need some.

28 Comments

The .260 Remington is a great round.  Don’t think so?  We’ll get to that later…

Check out the 6.5 Creedmore.  The Rifle Shooter’s Darling Cartridge.  It leaps tall buildings.  It is Sub-MOA to a Grand.  It’s made of accuracy.  It’s everyone’s favorite round.  Right?

Well, how come the 6.5 Creedmore is so popular when the .260 Remington isn’t?   Ballistic-wise, they are almost identical with the .260 actually having a slight performance edge.  Accuracy?  Sixes really. But 6.5 Creedmore is the one people are looking for.

The difference is Marketing.  Remington doesn’t know how to do it.  They had something good YEARS before the Creedmore came out and Remington let it flop.  Basically overall performance is like a .25 WSSM, before that round came and went.  It’s one people are always asking for too… yet there is the .260, sitting there, ignored.  Even by Remington!    It makes no sense.  They should be all over the .260.    But they just don’t get it.

Government

Vice President Debate Prediction

10 Comments

Tomorrow night we are going to watch Joe Biden say some seriously stupid crap. 
Here’s what’s going to happen.  He’s going to go with the Party Line, quoting from his flash cards they’ve been prepping him with.  He’ll start out fine. 
Then he’s going to get frustrated because Ryan is going to dissect him… then he’s going to spew some epic level stupidity.
Or he thinks he is doing well, gets cocky, and then spews epic level stupidity. 
Either way, Joe is going to show his ass and it’s going to be a huge win for Ryan. 
But the Media is going to minimize it and dismiss it all as Bidenisms, and play it off, because it’s “just Joe”. 

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