Left Lane Campers

05/26/2016 MadOgre 14 Comments

Dear Carolina Drivers, I love you guys. You guys are some of the best drivers in the Nation. No, seriously… you really are! You guys are polite and friendly… you guys let people merge and there are few times when horns get used. You guys are great.
Save for one thing. Some of you guys are chronic Left Lane Campers. You guys are awesome until you get on the Freeway where you move all the way to the left and just camp there. You guys are going to just set that cruise control to the speed limit, and just ignore the whole freaking world around you. Or worse yet, you decide to set your pace to the freaking truck right next to you! Either way, you are in violation of a simple principle…
SLOW TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT.
Let me make it easy for you.

If there is no one in front of you, and people behind you… You Need to Move Right.

If there are people Passing you on the Right, you need to move to the Right. Let’s give you an example… Look at this picture:

Now… We see 3 vehicles. A Blue Van, a Silver Car and a Blue Car.
The Blue Van is a LEFT LANE CAMPER. He needs to move his slow ass over to a lane on the Right. GTFO of the Fast Lane!
The Silver Car is needing to back off a bit. But he’s trying to communicate to the Left Lane Camper… But you can’t. Left Lane Campers are too busy text messaging to pay attention to actually driving.
The Blue Car, if he’s over taking the other two, is probably contemplating moving to the right and passing on the right. When he does so, the Silver Car is going to be fed up with the Blue Van’s bullshit and he’s going to move to the right as well, but without looking because he now has anger issues. As as result, the people in both cars are going to explode and die… all because of the Flaccid Left Lane Camping Sphincter driving the Blue Van.

Don’t be a Flaccid Left Lane Camping Sphincter. Don’t make people explode and die… Move to the Right.

Random Image Drop:

Training

Shooter 3.0

05/26/2016 MadOgre 3 Comments

Say hello to Shooter 3.0.

Let me back up to explain what I’m talking about. Shooter 1.0 is the generation of people who grew up with guns as just part of their every day lives. They grew up learning the traditions of shooting, and of hunting, and of gun safety and it was never a mystery to them.
Shooter 2.0 is the non-traditional group of new shooters who had no background of firearms, but took up an interest from movies, tv, and video games and wanted to try them out in real life. Shooter 2.0 comes from a diverse demographic background, but are usually younger, enthusiastic, technology savvy, and are willing to learn everything they can about firearms. They don’t look like Shooter 1.0’s typically… because Shooter 2.0 may have Tats, Piercings… and do not look like or dress like they came from that Conservative Upbringing that 1.0’s came from.

Shooter 3.0 is a bit different. They are primarily people who are waking up to the realization that the Second Amendment applies to them. They are primarily women, and primarily Women of Color. Black, Asian, Indian, and Latino Women are the bulk of Shooter 3.0, with Black Women being the largest segment of this group. Shooter 3.0 often comes to the table with no background in Firearms Knowledge from any source or media… But they know that they have the RIGHT to learn. And that’s a BEAUTIFUL thing!

For the last couple of years I’ve been the guy manning the booths at public events and being that ambassador to the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade. We see a lot of people walking by. Having a Booth for a Gun Range at these public events has been an education.

Shooter 1.0 guys tend to ignore us almost completely. They are “Too Cool For School”. They will walk past, keeping their heads forward, but eyeballing us as hard as they can rotate their eyeballs in their skulls. Once in awhile, they will ask us for some information “For their friend”.

Shooter 2.0 guys will ask us about what guns we carry in stock, and will ask about tactical training opportunities… and they will often bring their boy friends or girlfriends who are not yet comfortable. Their Safe Word is “Breakfree”. We get a few of the 2.0 people a day at whatever location we are all.

Shooter 3.0’s are the ones who walk straight up to our booth, they smile, they ask good questions about all the learning opportunities, and it’s the Shooter 3.0’s that are signing up for the classes. Because. They. Can. They are proud to embrace the rights that they have been told is for Other People. Guns are a Man’s Thing. Or Guns are for Rednecks. And they now know that a RIGHT in America is for All Americans. And here’s the great thing about the Shooter 3.0 Crowd… 3.0’s actually Listen. They drink in the FREEDOM like a dehydrated guy crawling in from the desert drinks in water. The 2nd Amendment is for them too. Self Defense is a Human Right. And we WELCOME them into the Freedom Lifestyle.

Shooter 3.0 Students are the ones filling our Concealed Carry Classes.

The black women as a group are also the ones having the most fun with all of this. We’re seeing them coming into the range with their friends more and more often… when only a few years ago we’d almost never see any. They are having a blast! The Freedom Lifestyle welcomes everyone. When you are at the range – there is no Hate, there is no Racism… You find that at Liberal Arts Colleges.

Unfortunately there is some Sexism. You find that in some of the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Marketing and in some of the SHOT Industry Vendors… Looking at you EAA, specifically, and a lot of others generally… Can we NOT actively try to alienate the whole new customer base that is keeping the industry rolling? Just asking.

Government

How I hope it plays out…

05/22/2016 MadOgre 8 Comments

Hilary and Trump finalize as the Candidates…
As we get near October, the FBI pushes for the prosecution and Hildabeast is Indicted.
The DNC scrambles and whoever they put up gets soundly trounced by Trump.
Here’s why I hope Trump Wins: SCOTUS Picks. Specifically for this guy:

Thomas R. Lee, Utah
Born: 1964
Position: Utah Supreme Court
Background: Justice Lee, who has held his current post since 2010, is the brother of Senator Mike Lee of Utah (who endorsed Senator Ted Cruz in the Republican primary) and the son of Rex E. Lee, who was United States solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet with Senator Mike Lee a few times, Back in, what was it? 2010 when we were both running for office. Mike Lee impressed the hell out of me with his absolute in depth knowledge of the Constitution, his reverence for it, and his love of the freedoms that it gives America. His patriotism was clear. He had said that he was “Raised that way”. If Mike was raised that way… then his brother Thomas was raised that way too. And THAT is the kind of man we NEED in the SCOTUS.

Trump will have the pick of 1, and probably 2 more Justice seats. This will fundamentally make or break our Nation. If we get in 1 liberal… it’s going to suck. If we get in 2 liberals…. Our Nation is truly finished. I am not being overly dramatic here, but the fact of the matter is that the Liberals/Progressives/Communists will Legislate from the Bench everything they can’t get done in Congress and there will be zero hope for our country.

Weapons

The OGRE EDITION 1911

05/16/2016 MadOgre 18 Comments

I was asked about my ideal 1911 Configuration… The Ogre Edition 1911, if you will. My dream 1911.

It’s really simple. We’re going to start with a Lightweight Commander platform, give it a Beavertail and a Commander style hammer. The rear sight will be neither a GI or a Novak, and it wont be adjustable. It has to be able to facilitate one hand slide-racking in an emergency. And it’s going to have the “Bobtail” conversion not just for looks, but for feel and concealability.

The Muzzle end will have a deep target crown and will be flush with the bushing. Also note, it’s going to have a Bushing and a GI style spring plug.

The front sight will have either a Trijicon HD, Big Dot, or Gold Dot front sight post for MAX Visibility. NO FIBER OPTIC. The rear will be nice wide notch, sans the 2 rear dots. I don’t like double dot rears.

The overall gun will be slightly “Melted” to soften any hard edges.
Serrations will be simple GI style, with nothing forward.

The grips will be rich Cocobolo wood, thin, and low profile, edges slightly rounded. The front strap of the grip frame will be 30LPI checkered.
The gun can either be all black, or black over a light colored frame.

The Caliber will be 10mm.

This is my ideal 1911. Though no one as of yet makes it.

EDIT: UPDATE:
Ha! Looks like my tastes have not really changed all that much…

The Ogre Edition 1911

Uncategorized

Kassarine Lost

05/14/2016 MadOgre 9 Comments

Prologue:
“Where is he? I can’t see the bastard!” Wallace craned his head around, looking into the clouds and sun.
“He’s playing with us.” Quinton moaned from the radio position, holding a rag against the hole in his gut.
Wallace looked back at the cockpit’s instruments. He could see daylight through the holes. The artificial horizon was drilled through and what was left of the compass had fallen out and was now behind the rudder pedals. Most of the cockpit was splattered with blood. Some of it was the Hendrick’s, the pilot. Some of it was his own.   The pink chunks of brain matter across the canopy was most likely all Hendrick’s as well.
The Lancaster shuddered. This time, not from more hits, but from engine two, which had just failed. He reached out to throttle back the damaged engine. His whole arm burned from fingertips to shoulder. The ragged hole through the forearm was a good indication of why his arm burned, and why that was all he could feel. He saw his hand hit the throttles, but he didn’t feel them. Wallace concentrated and made his hand hook the lever and leaned back to pull it. The lever moved some, but it was slick with blood and his hand slipped off. He couldn’t grasp the lever enough to make it move anymore.
Wallace looked up through the shattered canopy and was about to say a prayer when he caught sight of the BF-109 that had been killing them.   It was directly above them.
“Look at that, Quinton.” Wallace said. “I found him.”
Quinton didn’t respond.
Wallace let out a sigh of resignation as the German fighter rolled in the air and dove. He almost didn’t care anymore. He saw the glittering of the muzzle flashes as it began it’s attack, but the firing stopped.
The BF-109 flashed passed the cockpit. Wallace lost sight of it again so he turned his attention back to the flying the stricken aircraft. The Lancaster was down to two engines, leaking all it’s fluids, leaving a trail of smoke, and was losing altitude by the minute with half its crew dead or dying. Wallace tried to at least keep the wings level and the nose from pointing down, but his hand slipped again and fell back into his lap. He felt so tired…
A glint of sunlight caught his attention outside again and he turned to look at the German fighter, just feet away. The German pilot was clearly visible as he waved, and then curiously, peeled off and took a heading away from the British bomber.
“That’s it, bugger off now.” He tried to laugh, but only coughed on the blood in his throat.
Wallace could only guess he had run out of ammunition. Not that it mattered. They were as good as dead anyways.   He looked out and saw they were down to about two thousand feet. The only thing he could see below was rolling sand dunes of North Africa. At least they wouldn’t drown.
Wallace tried to grab the yoke with both hands again. Only one reached it. The other hand dangled from the arm that didn’t want to rise. He looked down and saw the gaping hole in the leather jacket at the shoulder. Blood was pouring from it at an alarming rate. Not much he could do about it.
When he looked out again, out to the ground ahead. He saw what looked like a dry lake bed. Maybe he could put the Lancaster down there. With the same effort as pushing a truck, Wallace pushed the left rudder pedal. It moved only so slightly… but it was enough. The lake bed was soon straight in front of him.
His eyes were heavy. He wanted to sleep.
But he had to land the plane.
Don’t worry, he said to himself. The plane would land all on its own… One way. Or another.
He closed his eyes.

Weapons

AREX REX Zero 1

05/12/2016 MadOgre 22 Comments

A Rep from Arex came by to show us their new REX Zero 1 pistol.
At first glance it looks like just another SIG knock off, like we’ve seen before. But there’s something different about this one, and it warrants a closer look. First thing you’ll notice is the Ambi Safety where the classic SIG slidelock lever is. So it does have a manual safety. The Magazine release is Ambi as well, and works and feels exactly the same from either side. Deliberate push but not too much effort… damn near perfect actually. And the magazine (comes with two 17 rounders – they have no desire to sell to California or other restrictive states) drops freely and cleanly.

The gun is very SIG-Like. With full length rails and much of the architecture is classic SIG. Remember when I said the Slide Lock is a Safety? Well, these guys made the Decocker the Slide Lock Lever as well as the Decocker. So it works like a SIG, and it works like every other gun on the planet, all in one Lever. It’s really very clever. Kudos to the engineer on that. What surprised me is the nation of origin. Slovenia. Slovenia is a nice little country surrounded by Croatia, Italy, Austria, and Hungary…. a region that is very beautiful, but not know for Technical Exports into the USA, but evidently they do well exporting to the rest of Europe especially in the more technical aspects of the automotive industry… So they do have the technical chops.
Miss Slovenia kinda looks like a Discount Kristen Stewart. But I wont hold that against them.

The gun breaks down just like SIG, the Barrels look like they could be interchangeable as well. The internal machining is very clean, like a SIG. The only real departure is the normal coiled spring instead of the multiple coils.

The Magazine locks at the front-center which makes it naturally Ambi. The Mags look to be very well made, smooth, and seem to be of high quality.

The test example had very even wear marks, with the wear only finish deep… very normal looking. And all the parts, fitment, and finish seem to be of very high quality.

Typical SIG take down. No surprises, no warts found. It’s an impressive gun. I did put some rounds through it… and it functioned reliably. The trigger was smooth, no grit, no stacking… it was very SIG-like. But it was a bit heavier than my SIG P220’s trigger. Not much, but I noticed it. This did not hamper the gun’s accuracy. It shot VERY accurately. I’m not going to show the target, because after I shot it, other shooters followed on the same target. But trust me – the accuracy was very good.
The only downside to the pistol that I found was that the dovetails looked strange… and when I asked the Rep, he informed me that they are proprietary and nothing on the After Market will fit. (Same with the Grips) He then told me that they are working on other Sight options for the gun. The standard 3-Dot sights are fine for most shooters… but Defensive Shooters will want Tritium sights and Competitors will want Fiber Optics. I did not ask how easy it would be for a Gunsmith to cut the dovetails to fit a more common type… but I imagine it could be done rather easily.

Talking pricing, this is where it’s Un-SIG-Like. You’ll be able to find these retailing anywhere from 200 to 400 dollars less than a SIG 226. And that makes this gun a very viable option – but remember this was just my initial impressions from a brief (But careful) examination and a brief range session…. I would love to test one through a 2,000 trial.

My take away is that if I want a Discount SIG, I’d find a good used SIG and buy that, instead of this one that has different sights and different magazines and will need different holsters, I’m sure. But if I wanted a brand new gun that is unique and operates more like a normal gun but still has that SIG look and feel… well… this is that gun. It has a lot going for it and buyers will most likely be very pleased with the purchase.

For more Information on the REX Zero 1, check out the factory website.

Government

Politics

05/04/2016 MadOgre 30 Comments

I’ve been avoiding talking politics on MadOgre.com lately. Because I feel that Politics is dirty and talking about it here is like soiling my own bed.
But we’ve had some big news tonight. Ted Cruz dropped out of the race, effectively making Donald Trump the defacto Republican Nominee. As much as I am disappointed that Ted Cruz didn’t win – I have to give him the nod for doing the right thing. Staying in and contesting the whole mess at the convention would have torn the Republican Party to shreds. Oh, and it does deserve to be shredded like taco bell lettuce… the problem though is that would mean leaving the Democrats/Communists/Progressives unimpeded in doing whatever the hell they want to destroy the USA.
For that reason, we need to support Donald Trump.
Man – I really dislike saying that. The man is a clown, a bully, a liar, and a swindler… and a Landlord. I find him to be despicable. But at least he is not Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders – who I find even more so. Those two want to destroy America. Trump at least wants to make some Money. We can understand Trump’s motivation. It’s simple. Trump is a Capitalist. Pure and simple. Clinton is power-mad and obsessed with controlling everything. She’s the wicked witch of New York and would sell our souls to the Soviets to secure more power. Like she’s pretty much already done. Sanders wants us to become the new Soviets… Socialists are just Communists that haven’t taken power yet. Hillary Clinton really does need to be indicted. Until she is – I can no longer believe that we are a Nation of Laws. Hillary’s sins are long and grievous. She’s a cancer on Capital Hill and is the icon of everything wrong with politics.

I know a lot of you guys are all “Never Trump”, and not even now that he’s the Nom. But think about this. Judicial Appointments and SCOTUS Nominations. We’ve already got one Open Seat to fill. Who do you want to fill it? Someone Hillary and Bernie nominated? Or Trump? We know the sort the Leftists would nominate. Trump – at least it’s a wildcard… a chance it’s someone not completely disastrous. Both Hillary and Bernie have sworn to destroy the second amendment – the Keystone of the Constitution. And they could. Don’t think it could happen? Look around the rest of the world. UK. Oz. And others… Oh, you better believe it could happen here too. Who would have thought that the Trump would be the Nominee? 5 years ago, I’d have laughed in your face – but here we are.

We had hoped we’d get another Ronald Regan. But most of America didn’t like that he was of Cuban heritage and was born in Canada. Never mind that he knew and loved the Constitution like no one else save for Mike Lee (R-UT). Never mind that he fought for the Constitution against the SCOTUS, and against Congress – and even against his own party. The only guy out of the whole pack of 16 options, that had such a track record of supporting and fighting for the Constitution… and you let a Game Show Host beat him. That’s who you want us to put on the world stage. The Game Show Host… we’re going to put a Game Show Host up against Putin. A Game Show Host is going to stare down China. A Game Show Host is going to be the Commander and Chief of our Armed Forces… That’s your choice.

America – you sicken me.

I am done with politics.

Mad Ogre

Monthly Archives: May 2016