Weapons

Unpossible!

5 Comments

There is a certain outdoors oriented magazine that recently did a test on cheap rifles.  They took the most popular rifles that retail for less than 500 bucks, and did a quick and dirty accuracy test.

Weatherby Vanguard
TC Venture
Marlington X7
Savage Axis
Ruger All American

The results were than the Marlin X7 rifle handed it to all the others.  Drastically.  According to this test, the Marlin was much more accurate than all the others, showing a one hole group compared to the other’s patterns.

Okay.  I’ll buy that.  This Marlin X7 was more accurate with the Test Ammo than the others.  But they didn’t test other loads through the other guns.   Generally what happens is that one gun can favor one particular load more than others.  As is this case.  In spite of what this test shows, I’d much rather have a TC Venture or a Vanguard than the Marlin X7.
The Savage is at a disadvantage here.  At 299, it’s the cheapest.  But for a hundred bucks you could drop in a Timney trigger.  But it up to the 400 dollar range, still well within the test price range, and then you would have a very competitive rifle.

I’d like to see this test conducted again, with the Savage trigger swapped, and with a number of different loads tested for a more “Accurate” test result.  Because I’ve personally seen groups from the Vanguard S2 rifles and the TC Ventures that were just amazing.  I’ve also heard reports from more than a few Marlin X7 owners that these rifles are indeed shooters.  I can’t deny that.  One is from a source that I will not question.  I have nothing against the Marlin rifle here… But fact remains that this test was rather shallow and only skimmed the surface.

Crusader

What to get him for Christmas?

6 Comments

Everyone that reads MadOgre.com either is or knows someone who is into Firearms one way or another.  Military, Security Contractor, Law Enforcement, Sports Shooter… or just a Collector.   A Gun is a Machine, simple as that.  And like all Machines, need to be cared for.  Part of that is Lubrication.  A really great gift for any Gunslinger is SLIPSTREAM.

Order Slipstream straight from Amazon.com.  Whoever you give it to, will love it.  They will appreciate this more than those Golf Club Cozies you got them last year.

Slipstream also works on other types of Machinery.  It has been used on Robots, Aircraft, Cars, Trucks, Hovercraft, Motorcycles, and Earth Moving Equipment.  NASA has used it on Spaceships.  No, I am not kidding or exaggerating.   Any machine or device that has one part moving against another part – does so better with Slipstream.   But it was developed specifically for guns.  All types of guns.  I’ve tested it in over 400 different firearms and have had great results in all of them, results hands down better than any other gun lubricant tried.

Give the gift of reliability for Christmas.

Uncategorized

Bob Costas is an idiot

6 Comments

I wasn’t going to talk about that Sportscaster idiot, Bob Costas.  But he said something else that just about lit me on fire.
“Young men can’t own guns without something bad happening.”
Bob, you are a dunderhead and you can shut your manpleaser now.  Around here, all the young men own guns.  No, I don’t mean some… I mean damn near all the young men around here own guns.  Plural… more than one gun.  Lots of guns.  They buy guns all the time.  I live in an area with what is probably the highest concentration of privately owned guns in the entire world.  There is little else to do out here in Vernalstan.  Your options are Shooting, Off Roading, Drinking, and Fooling around with girls.  Or there is usually a combination of those options to some extent, but being a good community with good kids out here, the drinking is very much minimized compared to other places. So that leaves a lot of Guns, Trucks, and Girls.   Not a bad mix, in my opinion.
The kids around here are smart, they do things, they make things happen.  They work.  And they play.  I like that a 17 year old kid can come in and talk about Exterior and Terminal Ballistics of a .270 WSM and compare it to a 7mm Remington Magnum and pontificated which is more ideal on Elk verses Mule Deer.  And he will have the photos to prove he knows what he’s talking about here.  This is their culture.  This is our culture.  This is who we are here.  We have offroad capable vehicles and we have guns.  Some are more city oriented with their flat brimmed caps that I don’t understand, but they grew up hunting.  Others are cowboys right off the ranch.  Even the Video Game Playing Nerds around here have a nice AR-15 and a 9mm Semi Automatic of some sort and love to pop Tannerite when their new game mod is downloading.

Bad things, according to that slackbrained Sportscaster, should be happening all the time.  But they don’t.  Not around here.  The big difference here verses, oh, say, any city with a Democratic Governance, is EDUCATION.  Our kids around here know guns.  So they are not dangerous with guns.  In other places, guns remain a fascination and mystery because they are not taught.  Rifle Marksmanship used to be taught in Schools.  This is no longer the case.  Since Firearms are no longer taught in schools, bad things have happened.  The solution is more education, more access to firearms, more training, and more range time for all the kids.

Bob… Go back to talking about guys playing with their balls.  Leave our Guns and our Freedom alone.

 

Automotive

Monday’s Motorcycle: And it’s a Ducati

17 Comments

Ducati has made a very interesting machine.  It’s a Motorcycle… but I just can’t tell what kind.  I’m talking about the Multistrada 1200.

The bike a technological powerhouse.  ABS, Traction Control, and the valve tech that Ducati uses in their racing bikes, just tuned for low end power and smoother riding.  It gives fantastic on road performance… but it isn’t a sports bike.

It’s more of a Supermoto, or as they call it in Europe, a Motard… or as Sports Riders call it, Motor-Retard.  But the haters can just hate, because Supermotos are just straight up fast and agile where ever they want to go… and they can go anywhere.

So it’s an Enduro?  The Multistrada is very offroad capable… compared to a ZX-10, but not so much compared to, say, a KTM… er… damn near any KTM… Anyways… still, the Multistrada is no two wheeled Jeep, but it’s not scared of dirt.  Not at all.    It’s more suited to street, but since it can do dirt as well, it gives the Ducati a great deal of versatility.

And what I like about the most… it’s got legs.  It has range.  You can go anywhere… everywhere… I love that about motorcycles, and this bike can do everything.  It’s a bike that either has serious split personality issues, or it’s a bike that really can do it all.  Surprisingly, it’s not even that expensive.  The new Honda NC700ABS Vanilla is 8999,  and it is heralded as a Bang for the Buck winner…   The Multistrada starts out only Two G’s more.  Two G’s more for some real performance, sex appeal, and a 1200cc engine that is seriously awesome.

Ducati Multistrada

PRICE
MSRP: $11,999

ENGINE

Type…a-c 90-deg. V-twin
Valve arrangement…sohc, 4v
Bore x stroke…94.0mm x 71.5mm
Displacement…992cc
Compression ratio…10.0:1
Transmissio…6-speed
Final drive…chain

CHASSIS
Weight…486 lb. (wet)
454 lb. (fuel tank empty)
Fuel capacity…5.3 gal.
Rake/trail…24.0 deg./3.90 in. (99mm)
Wheelbase…57.6 in. (1462mm)
Seat height…33.5 in. (851mm)

SUSPENSION
Front…43mm inverted cartridge fork adjustable for spring preload, compression and rebound damping

Rear…single shock, adjustable for spring preload, compression and rebound damping

PERFORMANCE

Horsepower…82.9 hp @ 7750 rpm
Torque…66.9 ft.-lb. @ 4250 rpm
Corrected…1/4-mile* 11.44 sec. @ 113.22 mph
0-60 mph…3.82 sec.
0-100 mph…9.63 sec.
Top-gear roll-on, 60-80 mph…3.92 sec.
Fuel mileage (low/high/average)…33/46/41

 

Weapons

The Conclusion of No Glock November.

24 Comments

For the month of November, I carried a Beretta 92FS, and nothing else. Here’s what I relearned and had hammered into my head. You absolutely can carry a Full Sized automatic handgun for Concealed Carry. At first it was unusual because the gun was larger and heavier than what I was used to packing. When Adams Holsters sent me the new Sharkhide Crossroads rig, all the sudden packing that beast of a Beretta became much easier and comfortable for all day carry.
When I say all day carry, what I really mean is “If I’m wearing pants, I’m wearing my gun”. And the Beretta, once I got used to it, was really no problem.
The Crossroads rig is a nice wide pancake style outside of the waistband type holster. This distributes the weight and the profile and really is the most comfortable type of holster you can use. The big 92 just became a part of me for the whole of November.
By week 3, I was very much enjoying the big gun.
There were a couple times when having a big service auto was indeed a greater comfort. There was a moment when I came out of a location late at night and walked across the parking lot to my Bike. A couple large, thuggish looking guys were parked not very far away, leaning on their truck, drinking beer. I make no judgement on their poor choice of domestic horse-piss, or their choice of Brokeback music they were playing. But what concerned me was their increased level of attention to me as I approached. Having the Beretta almost whisper to me “We can take them”, was a great assurance. The other time was when I came home, and through the shadows, a brief flash of red Eye Shine caught me by surprise. In the story I wrote, “UPRISING USA” and “UPRISING UK”, I have evil characters called “Red Eyes” which are demonically possessed zombies. And here at Ogre Ranch, I just saw red eyes shining in the shadows along the side of my house.
I jumped off my bike, drew the Beretta and covered where the eye shine was. I could see something there… but I didn’t know what it was. My flashlight… I had one with me… was in my backpack, doing me not a damn bit of good. The Beretta in my hand allowed me to stand my ground when a more sane man would have backed off. Just then my wife drove up in her Explorer and the the sweep of her headlights illuminated the creature that I was damn near ready to light up.
It was Mule Deer Buck… Just standing there, looking at me, sniffing at me. It turned and bounded off as the car passed.
Having a large creature breathing and standing there… and you don’t know what the hell it is… it can be disturbing.  Bears are in the mountains just behind Ogre Ranch… and I hate bears.  Pooh even makes my trigger finger itch.  The idea of having a bear here did not make me happy.  We had one before, about seven years ago.  A small black bear.  No big deal, but still… it’s just the bear that mauls more people than any other.  A 15 round mag full of PDX1 backed up with a couple 20 rounders was plenty enough for a bear.  Even a shadowy nightmare bear.  Nightbears.  I hate Nightbears.  We also have Cougars out here.  Lots of them.  Older women and the Mountain Lion types… Both are highly dangerous…  And their are the Coyotes and Feral Dogs that come around too.  But the eye shine was much higher than cougars and canines.
I had to laugh a bit as the big buck deer bounded away and disappeared.   It’s the unknown thought made that brief moment rather scary.  In that brief moment, the big service auto was a comfort and a half.  Of course, I’d rather have had one of my 12 Gauges, but I didn’t feel like I was holding a squirt gun.

November is now passed and that means I have the option of not wearing my Beretta 92FS.  December First, I put on my Glock 23L and instantly appreciated the lighter weight of it.  But as the day went on, I found myself missing the Beretta.  The heft of it.  Pulling it out, the Glock just didn’t have the pleasing lines and good looks of the Beretta… it was disappointing.   I’ll be rolling with the Beretta more often now.

Automotive

KTM 990’s

12 Comments

I keep going back and forth between the KTM 990 Supermoto and the 990 Adventure R models.  It’s not like I have any hard on for KTM, as I had one and blew the engine the first month I had it.  Since I’ve sold the ZX-11, I am without a Long Range bike and this makes me feel like I’ve had my wings clipped.  Reason I sold it is due to my knees, but the position on these 990’s is one that I can still do… I sat on a 990 Adventure R, and it’s doable for me.  Some of the other ADV bikes, not so much.  I’m not sure about the position on the Supermoto though, I’ll have to find one first.  The peg position is the same, but the seat height plays a factor here too.

I’m also thinking about turning my 525 MXC into a Supermoto.  Primarily for better On Road riding as this KTM is now my Daily Rider.  I don’t need Knobbies for the Highway.

The Internet's Original Critic