Category Archives: Weapons

Automotive, Food, Weapons

Live Radio

4 Comments

1502522_10202272232460628_202345075_n

So this weekend I drove to Atlanta Georgia to do Armed American Radio live in the studio.  Normally I call in, but there were people to meet and we’ve been wanting to do this for some time.  We’ve been doing AAR for 5 years now and damnit, it was time to be in the studio.

I got there Saturday afternoon… and Mark, being a Pro-Level “Pit Master” had his smoker up to temp with Meaty Goodness ready to go.    A whole smoked, beer can chicken.  Smoked to a deep red color… just beautiful.  Perfection.  Then he treated me to two unusual items.  One, was a Smoked Meatloaf, dubbed the “AAR Gunsmoked Meatloaf”.  Guys, this is freaking legit.  I’d order this in a restaurant and not ask the price.  It’s that good.  I watched Mark’s preparations for this carefully.  I will be making this myself.  Then the other thing was a surprise.  Bologna.  Smoked Bologna.  Forget everything you know about Bologna.  Amazing food.  Mark truly is a Pit Master.  He could open a restaurant.

Being in the Studio is a whole new dynamic to doing the radio show.  It was a fantastic experience and I learned a lot.  I learned some from the radio station in Vernal, Utah… but this was a whole new ballgame.  I really enjoyed the face to face interaction which makes the conversation flow naturally and improves the whole vibe.  This was the best episode of AAR that I’ve done.  The feedback was very positive and I would love to do this again, and look forward to the next chance I can get.

Listen to it here:  AAR SHOW ARCHIVES. Look for each of the three hours of the 1-26-14 Show.

524629_10202267781789364_106518461_n

Mark drove me around in this Camaro SS.  A real SS.  The car is BADASS.  Borla pipes, big bore V-8, torque enough to skin Godzilla.  It’s a monster.   Rolling around Hotlanta in a murdered out SS… Fun as hell.

We popped some rounds through a few guns, had a great time at that.  Mark wanted to break in his SIG 938 pistol and now he is convinced that I am right when I say that the SIG 938 is the best pistol that SIG makes.

Weapons

SHOT 2014 Impressions

15 Comments

This year’s SHOT Show was pretty optimistic compared to the last couple years.  Last year it felt more like a funeral as there was a heavy cloud over everything.  Year before, the ATF arrested a bunch of guys from S&W, which put a wet blanket on a lot of folks.  This year… The table was turned.
Our friends at Tannerman’s Trading Company snapped THE PHOTO that captured the Spirit of SHOT this year.

1609803_10152227583106289_1527628208_n
Ryan Horst spotted this and nudged Travis Bishop who snapped this classic picture that has gone viral.  It’s all over Facebook and hitting the blogs now.  (Even mine!)  Agree with this or not, it’s a good example of Peaceful Resistance.  One of the ATF Agents did admit he laughed at it.
I’ve posted on Facebook my impressions of some of the guns I took the opportunity to check out.

Glock 42. It’s the best .380 Auto now. Take that for what its worth… There is no reason that wasn’t a 9mm. Glock will own the .380 Market – Yippy Skippy. 4 years late, Gaston.
The Glock 41 is awesome and I must have one. Points and feels better than a 21SF in my hands. I will have one. I’m a sad Ogre that it will not be available in 10mm. Glock seems to be done with 10mm. Hopefully Lone Wolf can make a conversion slide/kit for that.
I really can’t tell you how much I dislike the Remington R-51. The feel of it in the hand was disappointing. Longer than a Solo, and a little taller… but the action when I pulled the slide back was just terrible. Notchy doesn’t begin to describe it. The grip safety is horrible too. Oh, it will sell. For awhile. I wouldn’t take one as a gift. I’d rather have a blister on my belt line than an R-51. I consider it suspect they would let a few people shoot it at Gunsite, but not let the gun press shoot it at the Media Range Day. Disappointed and Suspect move. Now, if they got rid of the Grip Safety and the stupid action and made it with a normal lock system… the gun would be good. Maybe.
Sig’s 320 really is an adhock mashup of putting a striker system in a P250. It was disappointing and I was hoping for better from SIG. Trigger felt Twangy. The gun felt more like a toy than a serious weapon to me. If this is SIG’s push for future pistol development… I find it very sad. I heard one guy say that S&W and Springfield better take note! I about laughed until I saw the dude was wearing a SIG badge. Yeah, no bias there.
Walther has a 5″ barrel version of the PPQ. THIS is the Sleeper of the SHOT SHOW. No fan fare. No glitz. Just a quiet presence in the small Walther booth. I freaking love it. I’ll get one of those too, one of these days.

The other weapon that I am impressed with and ogled was the Desert Tech’s MDR.  A Caliber Changeable Bullpup that can be run ambi.  Very well thought out, and handles well.  Feels good.  Looks good, and you can shoot it right or left handed without changing anything.  It’s impressive.  To say the least, I want it.  I think I’m going to have to start saving up.  Because it can go 5.56, .300 Blackout… and .308.  I’m quite smitten with it.  Photos of that are found here.

 

Weapons

Glock’s Model 42, their new .380 pistol.

25 Comments

Okay, the cat is out of the bag on Glock’s new Model 42 pistol.  It’s a sub-compact, single stacked .380 Auto, according to TFB.  Check the link for the apparent specs.
Now, a lot of people have expressed disappointment over this pistol, even though it’s not been released yet.  I’ve even muttered that Glock is about 4 years late on the .380 Craze Wave.  Colion Noir has even said that “It’s the gun no one has asked for“.

You know what though?  I think it’s brilliant.  Look at what this little Mini-Glock is going to be and compare it to what’s already on the market.   What is it going to compare with?    Ruger LCP, KT P3AT, S&W Bodyguard, the Kahr something or other… I think Glock is just Depth Charged everyone else in the Little .380 Market.  What’s one thing none of the other .380’s have?  A decent trigger.  Is a decent trigger important on a little gun?  Sure as hell it is.  Even more so.  Try to shoot a Mouse Gun accurately.  It’s damn near impossible.   So if Glock rolls out the 42 with their stock 5.5 pound pull, and if it has a decent barrel in it… the 42 will have instantly blown everything else out of the water in that market segment.  And if we have easy to swap sights like normal Glocks… fantastic.

Pocket Pistols remain a popular choice for Concealed Carry.  .380 isn’t the New Hotness anymore… That was taken by .410 Shotshell firing revolvers and then by 9mm Sub Compacts… but .380 Auto remains popular.  Glock took their time engineering it.  So what?  SIG took 2 years to roll out a .40 cal pistol, and they did that with the 229.  This was back when SIG took time to do actual engineering, sure, but see, Glock is even more careful.  We’ve not seen Glock’s Pistol Caliber Carbine yet, have we?  And that’s been rumored since before there was an Internet.  I think I first heard about it on my Dial Up Prodigy account.

I’m not saying I’m going to rush out and get a 42.  But I can see it banging the gong for a lot of folks who want something as concealable as possible, yet still want to be able to shoot it. I think the 42 will be a real winner.

Weapons

Why I prefer Glock

11 Comments

It’s all about simplicity, really.  Nothing needs to be tuned or tweaked.  Nothing needs adjusted.  Out of the box, you could take it, unprepared to a 500 round pistol course and run it without problems.  Then when you get home you can throw it in your gun vault and neglect it for as long as you like.  When you take it out again, it will still run.
Any “upgrades” are optional.  Such as sights.  You can shoot it just fine with the factory sights, but may find improvement with some aftermarket options.  But that doesn’t effect the reliability.  It’s out of box performance is exceptional.  Easily the best I’ve experienced.  Even better than S&W M&P’s and XDM’s, both of which are outstanding systems.  And while many complain that Glock is uncomfortable – that’s something that is easily changed like the Sights.  You can do it yourself.  At home.  With some sandpaper and a soldering iron that you can buy for 10 bucks from Harbor Freight. I did.

Weapons

Shooting just for some fun.

3 Comments


It’s good to get out and just pop a few rounds for fun. Nothing serious. Brought a couple of my boys out, joined by Louis Quarleno and we just had some fun shooting just for the fun of shooting.

The guns were my Daniel Defense DDM47vLW, and a Bushmaster ACR. Both great rifles. No malfs. No problems.
I have to say that my Daniel Defense keeps creeping up the later in “Favorite Rifle Ever” category. It’s the Light Weight version, but with the Battle Comp 1.5 on it – there’s just no recoil to speak of and the accuracy is right up there were my Rock River Elite A4 was, but the Daniel Defense is 1/2 the weight of that beast. The other thing I really like on the Daniel Defense is the Lucid HD7 optic. Simple, Solid, and it just works. I love the reticle options, but pretty much just always keep it on the T shaped option, because it’s fast and accurate… or I should say that I’m the fastest and most accurate with it.

Oh, and as you can see, I was playing around with my Drift HD Camera. The Glocks came out too, but no video of that. Even though we did try to mount the Drift HD under Q’s Glock 17. It worked, but the video result was just boring.

Weapons

Shockwave Technologies Raptor Grip.

8 Comments

This was one of those “What the hell, I’ll try it” sort of things.  With a big “I’m glad I did” sort of results.   I was in the market for a new stock, but not exactly for a pistol grip… so I’d likely have passed this up until our friend Ryan Horst at Tannerman’s Trading Company offered this to me.

1463644_10201826800685112_121060649_n

 

This is a synthetic product that is reminiscent of the results of the old school mod of chopping down a standard wood stock.  It’s got that look and feel, but with a better finish.  Compared to some other pistol grip, or Breacher grips out there, this has a better look and feel.  Better in that it looks more traditional.  It is both solid and comfortable and during recoil, it feels more comfortable than most standard pistol grips out there.

1454971_10201826801245126_1321051266_n

 

Mounted on a standard factory Remington 870 HD model, it helps make for a nice compact Home Defense weapon.  It begs to be used on an SBS or AOW shotgun.  The Raptor Grip is not for everyone.  The purpose is more specifically CQB in tighter areas, or for where you need to transport a potent weapon in as compact a package as possible.  This isn’t for any Duck Commanders out there.

1456503_10201826800965119_123126961_n

You can see it removes a lot of length from the weapon, while keeping a legal OAL.  Any shorter here and I’d have to be doing some ATF Paperwork.

Available from Shockwave Technologies.  For the Remington 870, NEF and H&R Clones, and IAC Hawk shotguns.   Also available for Mossberg 500 and those related shotguns.

Weapons

Since I was 17 years old…

15 Comments

Since I was 17 years old, I’ve consistently said that “They need to build an M1 Carbine that fires 9mm and feeds from a regular pistol magazine.”  I think I’ve said this on just about any gun forum I’ve talked about the M1 Carbine on.

And now, finally, many many years later… Someone has done just that.  Using common and easy to find… and cheap to acquire, Beretta 92 Magazines.  I’d have rather Glock, but barring Glock, Beretta 92 is the next best choice.

I love this idea.  I’m completely jazzed about it.  I’m looking forward to seeing many modifications to these… all manner of custom work.  The thought of one of these in a Paratrooper configuration just makes me weak in the knees.

Some will ask about the Company.  Citadel.  These guys are in the Philippines… state of the art facility.  And have put out some very decent 1911 pistols for very reasonable prices.

I’m unsure of the state of that facility now, giving the disaster that has befallen the Philippines with that Super Hurricane that almost wiped the whole country off the map.  But here’s to hope.

Weapons

Colt M45 vs Apple Power Mac

4 Comments


Apple Mac Destruction with Colt M45 1911 Pistol, and a SIG 1911 TACOPS. Both .45 Auto pistols. Both just as accurate, both just as powerful, and both just as reliable.
The Colt though is quite expensive. The SIG is a bargain in comparison. Between the two though… which would I buy?
A Glock 21.  For myself.  But between these two guns, I’d buy the SIG 1911 TACOPS.   If given the choice between these two guns, say as a gift, and I could pick one… I’d still pick the SIG.  Reason being is that I like the checkering and the mag well funnel.  Sure these could be added to the Colt, but the SIG doesn’t come with the pretension and attitude.  It just works.  And it does it without the drama and fanfare.

The finish on the Colt is an odd color.  It’s too damn yellow.  I don’t know what color that is supposed to be, but it’s yellow.  And while the finish is applied just fine, you can see a lot of tool marks under the coating, especially around the frame rail.  I’d think a pistol of this legacy should have a better exterior finish.  I have not yet examined the interior though.
The slide pull is nice and slick.  It’s very smooth.  As is the trigger.  Which is, well, flat out amazing.  However the SIG’s was almost as good.  One thing to note – Both of these pistols had yet to be fired until these first shots recorded.  Both guns were smooth and accurate, to the point that I couldn’t determine if either one had an advantage.

Notes on this computer… I have to admit that I very much love the Architecture of these machines. As a former computer tech, working on these is awesome. So easy to drop the side open and everything is laid out and accessible. Exactly in the way that Dell, HP, and Gateways are not. No one had a better case design.
At one point I had ever ram slot filled and it had two hard drives. It was a great computer. But it wouldn’t take OSX and after awhile all the software just became so far out of date that it rendered this machine useless. It was quite sad for me to retire it, because I loved it. The second HD with crucial data was pulled, as was the RAM, to be used in another machine.
Before I pulled this machine off line to give it this Going Away Party, I did make sure that it was running. I could have thrown Linux on it… Yeah, I know that. But I’ll get more use out of this video than I will a Mac based Linux box.

Weapons

So I’m sitting here…

13 Comments

…With this Beretta 92 in my hand.  And I’m looking at it…  It’s just gorgeous.

BerettaDTOM

It’s worn.  Well worn.  But still tight and smooth and accurate… just a great shooter.  My wife and I ran an errand real quick.  She had a Red Box video she needed to return.  Well, we get to the Red Box location, which isn’t the best spot in town for hanging out at a vending machine at night.  She’s about to bounce out… and turns and says, “Okay, you got my back.”  And then she says “How are you going to back me up?”  She hadn’t noticed I had a weapon on.  Plus 1 for the G-Code OSH Standard on a simple Paddle.  I was able to jump up, slip on the OSH+Paddle, and away we went.  No bothering with threading a holster through the belt loops or such.  Speed to Action… I like that.  I’ve become quite the fan of the paddle.
I said, “9mm, Baby.”  To which she nodded and then exited the OPC.  (Ogre Personnel Carrier) There was a couple very suspicious and thuggish looking types milling around at the corner, from which the Red Box isn’t very far away from.  I felt quite confident with the big Beretta.  Stoked up with a 17 round mag of Hornady Critical Duty.  The thug with his hands in his coat pockets and a hood up over his head would not have been able to have reached my wife before being completely ventilated.
I wasn’t even worried about that though.  The thug was more concerned about the bitter cold than my wife with her DVD of Much Ado About Nothing, as Directed by Joss.  It was a bone chilling 46 Degrees F out there.  Brrrr… I actually turned on the heated seats.  But that’s another story.
Sitting at home now, with the Beretta… I have to say, there is something about the 92.  It’s large, solid construction, it’s heft, I have to say… I really like it.  A lot.  It’s just about the only DA/SA gun that I actually like anymore.  At least, like enough to want to buy one, or to bother taking out and shooting.  The way the action feels like it’s on roller bearings… so smooth… so… creamy.  And thanks to Slipstream and a D-Spring from Beretta, the trigger feels just as smooth as well.  This old battered Beretta… It’s just gorgeous to me.