MARCH 2009

03-31-09:  Thanks guys, for all the well wishes. They are appreciated. Yes, I get to be feeling down sometimes and when I do, I turn to things that cheer me up. Like exploding prairie dogs with my .22-250... and other things.

MUST HAVE GUN CASE: Brownells new Three-Gun Competition Case lets shooters carry an AR, a shotgun and a pistol all together, eliminating the multiple case juggling act. Available in Black (084-000-324) and Coyote (084-000-325), the case features a main compartment that is fully padded and equipped with a divider to keep an optic-equipped AR-style rifle, a competition shotgun, and a handgun safe and secure. Nylon straps with hook and loop fasteners let you strap the guns in to prevent movement. One of the three outside compartment includes a soft pistol rug for your handgun while the other two provide plenty of room for magazines, cleaning supplies and accessories. See the links over there in the right... click them and order a new case!

The show 24: The badguy agency is “Starkwood” and a direct rip off of “Blackwater”. These guys are packing biological WMD's and are going to use them on Americans. This pisses me off. Blackwater is manned with good men. I know a bunch of them personally. Blackwater is nothing of the sort that would do what 24 is talking about. They are good and honorable men.  The purpose is to make people fear companies like Blackwater. This is bullshit. I'll never watch as episode of 24 again.

China just wants to be our friend. Sure. This is disturbing to me on several levels. America's power to project military force flows through our aircraft carriers. This is a major threat. China's military is built upon principles and actions all developed to counter the US Military. The main focus of that is killing our Navy of course... and that mean our carriers. If China can kill our Carriers, they cut us off at the knees.

03-30-09:  If it weren't for bad luck... Last week, one of my boys – almost broke his arm here at Ogre Ranch while playing in the garden. Later that same week, that same child broke his nose while launching sections of log from the catapult he built. Then Mrs. Ogre has an episode where she stopped breathing last Monday... she's fine now... and now tonight, my oldest son breaks his arm falling off the back porch, a complete break of the upper left arm. It's times like this when a Father has to look at himself and wonder if it's something that he has done to make God punish his family.

I'll admit to having faith issues... but I always continue to pray for my wife and children.  Fat lot of good that's been doing. We've been to the ER 4 times in the last 3 weeks. It's not just these things... there are other things too that I do not want to discuss.   Sure, I've seen miracles... but for awhile now, all I've seen is suffering.  My son is on MORPHINE!  My faith is at its end.

Smack Talk from the FNH Rep? So while I have been having a couple days off... the FN rep comes in and drops some smack talk behind my back. “Gun Writers are the Worst Shooters,” He says. WTF? That's bold talk coming from a traveling sales guy. The Gauntlet has been thrown. I wager that this Gun Writer can out shoot this Big Mouthed Sales Guy. Handguns and Rifles.

Chalk this one up to yet another reason why I do not – will not – own another striker fired pistol. Read this. I know Strikers have a huge following and I sell a ton of them... XD's, M&P's, Glocks, you name it... I'll pass on them personally. 1911's, SIG's, HK's, CZ's... I prefer pistols with hammers. When reholstering, one can simply put his thumb over the hammer. If you feel the hammer start to move – you know something is interfering with the trigger... some of your shirt, your finger, something is wrong and you can fix it. With a striker fired pistol, you know something is wrong when the gun goes BANG unexpectedly and then a medical team has to fix it. I've often said that guns are like poisonous snakes.... it only takes a split second of disrespect or inattention to have tragic results. A hammer is just something else that can help keep you from getting snakebit. At least that is where my personal comfort level is. Forget the whole Glock KB thing... look at the Glock ND thing instead. No, and I'm not meaning to pick on Glocks... this is just what this shooter in the linked story was shooting. Undoubtedly one modified with an extra light disconnector so when the shooter put the gun back in the holster with his finger in the trigger guard – he didn't even feel it before it went off.

03-29-09:  SIG 556 problems: Yesterday's Tactical Carbine 1 Course had a few SIG 556 rifles in attendance. One of them was brand new out of the box. Good old boy from the oil fields picked it up from me and I helped him with the choice of optics and magazines. He hadn't even fired it yet before the course. Now, other SIG 556's that had been fired right out of the wrapper had no problems. Mine didn't. But this cat's SIG just didn't want to run at all. So we poured in some 3-1 with the S&W brand on it... a dealer sample that S&W sent me. It's good stuff... like Breakfree CLP but a touch slicker. It helped a little. Then we switched the gas system to the other setting, fired it a couple times and turned it back. I was getting more frustrated with this than Randy was... I don't like selling guns that don't work right. Well this SIG was basically a straight pull bolt action for most of the course... then something started to happen. It started running. Instead of single shots, it started giving us pairs, then handfulls and before the course was through, it was running pretty damn good. The thing about these SIG rifles... they are serious use rifles... they like full power loads launching heavy bullets. That's their preferred meal. You feed a 556 that stuff... and you are going to have a Happy Sig. Well, by the end of the course, Randy knew how to run his rifle, it was zeroes, running good, and he's ready for action. That is what it's about.

Guys, it's now more important than ever to seek training. Handgun and Rifle... and if you like shotguns – get that too. I've got a massive amount of respect for the venerable 12 gauge... guns do not get more versatile or potent than that. Two guys at yesterday's course brought out shotguns and we ran the same movement drills with the shotguns as we did with the rifles. The targets were just obliterated. Rifles put out some good precise tightly focused violence, but a shotgun just throws down the chaos and devastation like nothing else. Gotta love it. Back to where I was getting at... sorry my train of thought got derailed. It's more important than ever to get training. We've got drug Cartels from Central and South America moving in to the US. Two weeks ago reports had them in California, Texas, and Georgia. Friday, I heard reports of them in Southern Utah. They are spreading like a wildfire through our nation. The Cartels are the most violent hardened criminal elements you will ever see. They don't play by the normal rules... they will go after you, your family, your dog, your parents, they will not stop... they are pure evil like Al Capone never was. They make Capone look like a Sunday School Teacher.... and they are in our back yards. Now we have the Russians back in the game. They are back in Cuba and now they are moving on the Arctic... and the US is doing nothing about that. In fact, the only ones doing anything about the Russians – are the Canadians. I'm all for Canada stepping up – but we can not let the Canadians defend us. Historically this just can't happen. Canada may be their own country – but they are North America... they share our soil. And the Russians are wanting to move in and crowd it. We can't let this happen. Another reason we can't let that happen is that the Arctic has more oil under it than the rest of the globe if reports are to be believed. If Russia taps that unchecked then Russia will become the worlds more powerful nation. Again, that's something that we can not allow. With Russia surrounding us and the Cartels in our back yard, and the threat of domestic unrest... we've got to be ready. We can't just have the tools and supplies. Those would do us little good. We have to have some basic skills to go along with them.

Sportsman's Whorehouse: Sportsman's has been circling the drain for some time now. The guy that owned it blamed the downturn in the economy. This was an outright lie. The economy right now is in a slump – but the Gun Industry is up by about 8 billion %. Everyone is selling out on everything and all the gun makers are back ordered... yet Sportsman's is suffering from the down turn in the economy? BS. The problem Sportsman's had was that the owner got everything in on terms, failed to pay and all his accounts went 90 to 120 days past due with regularity... meaning he was burning his bridges because he wasn't paying his bills. He couldn't pay them because he wasn't making profit he was just continually paying debt. So it was HIS down turn in economy. He burnt his bridges and no one would ship him. So after THE ELECTION, Sportsman's which was already short on product, quickly sold out and had a hell of a time getting anything else in to sell. The other thing that happened was that his buyers were morons. All the sales reps knew that if you couldn't sell anything, you went to Sportsman's and they'd buy it. Like toothbrush lasers or solar powered toilet paper roll holders. So they were bringing in crap that wouldn't sell, going into debt for it, not paying their bills, and burning bridges with the industry. So while everyone else in the industry is doing great – these guys never got that business bump because of bad management, bad planning, bad buying, and bad credit. Basically everything that could be done wrong – they did it wrong. Sure they hired some nice folks... but they didn't know anything about what they were selling. Because they just hired Clerks and not Sportsmen. So if you go in, had a question... they could only read you what's on the back of the box because they had no experience. Experience is worth a great deal to a buyer if you are unsure of what you are looking for. Which is the majority of guys going into Sportsman's. Sportsman's was great if you already knew exactly what it was you were wanting... if not... Heaven help you. Because the people at Sportsman's couldn't. I'm not going to miss Sportsman's.

03-28-09:  The Carbine 1 Course went great yet again... in fact, better... smoother. Now, at the end of every course, I ask the group what I can do to improve the training. The answer has been the same. Reload Drills. They are absolutely right. The Tactical and Speed reloads need more drilling... The stoppage drills need more drilling too, but the Reloads need to be pounded more. When you practice at the range – practice your reload drills. If you have a stoppage, practice your SPORTS. Drill these actions into your brain and into your muscles. You can't practice this stuff enough.

My next course will be Carbine 2 and will be including the use of sidearms and transitions to sidearms when needed. We will also work on room clearing and dynamic entry. Course 2 will be much more aggressive and faster. Round count will be higher.

Truck Update: I did a full oil change again yesterday. I've found a new favorite oil and I'm full converted to it now. Valvoline's full synthetic. It's slicker than Mobile One. A lot more. I'm a car guy, so I'm kinda in tune to my vehicles more than most folks... and I swear... I can feel a difference. My Chevy has never been happier, and the engine is running cooler. Smoother. With a tangible increase in power.

This afternoon a fellow in town has a nice Mustang. Now, a truck like mine would usually lose a drag because trucks put the power to the rear wheels on a light axle which translates into wheel spin. Well, in four wheel drive mode – this doesn't happen. This allows me to apply all the power straight to the pavement. This put me a full length ahead of the Stang. A GT might have a 5.0 V-8, but it can't touch my 5.7. At least not in the quarter mile.

I don't want to do this very often... because I swear it sucks up a quarter tank of gas! Sheesh.

03-25-09: Yes, today was my birthday... No, I don't need a bazillion emails wishing me a happy day... I already assume all of you wish me well. So we can get this out of the way. We all grow older and I don't expect anything for the mere accomplishment of surviving another solar cycle. However, I must admit that I do feel better, stronger, healthier this year than I did last year. So maybe that is an accomplishment?

China says they want to dump the dollar and proposed a new global currency. Then that A-Hole, Geithner says he's open to that.... and the value of the dollar drops. The Obama administration is doing everything that it can to ruin this nation. Weaken our economy, our energy foundation, everything they touch crumbles. This is making me really miss Bush.

I like the pounding the UK PM took. Someone needs to say the same thing to Obama.

 03-23-09: Do you like Ron Paul or oppose abortion? You may be a member of a militia, according to a new report by a government information collection agency: Some things just make me want to hang my head in shame. That our Great Nation is coming to this. Read this crap. Judas Priest. If you believe Obama is for gun control – you are an extremist. If you are against abortion, you are an extremist. This is bullshit. No sir! I am not an extremist – I'm an American! Damn it! Do you see what they are doing? Putting out the peer pressure that you shouldn't do or even THINK certain things or behave in a certain way... labeling you as Fringe or Extremist or worse yet “Militia”. Well, I've news for you – you are probably already a member of the “Militia” if you are between certain ages comprising the majority of American Males. What I don't like is being “Watched”. Oh I know full well I'm being watched. There's probably at least 3 or 4 people who's offices are in and around the DC area who's job is to keep an eye on me. I'm Christian. I'm an angry white male. I'm prior service. I'm educated. I'm politically aware. I'm outspoken. I'm a gun owner. I'm conservative. I home school some of my kids. So of course I'm being watched. That's what they do. I'm probably on the agenda of several of these Fusion Centers. Does this make you as sick to your stomach as it does me? Why is our government spending so much time and effort spying on us? This isn't what the government is for. They should be spying on our nation's enemies. North Korea, Iran, China. If we spend half the effort on China as we do our own people, we'd be ahead of the game. A word to those who Monitor me: FUCK YOU. Your patriotism is twisted and misguided. Not mine. You are part of the problem. Not me. Fuck you.

Okay... back to more civilized topics.

SIG has become a favorite of the store where I work. Sure, they've always been... but now? We are all owning SIG's more than ever before. The SIG 556 is now owned by 3 of us, and more than that own a SIG pistol. I've got several SIG's of my own and one more on the way. That's a pretty strong endorsement of the brand. You can go to any Gun Store and you'll see the guys behind the counter packing different brands... usually everyone is packing something different. Everyone has strong opinions and good reasons for each. But all of us getting into SIG? This is rather unique. I've not seen this before at a gun shop.

I love this knife: I ordered a Hissatsu and it finally came in. I'm jazzed about it... this thing is one serious kick ass knife. Just holding it, it's happy stabby time. It's going on my field gear.

I had a question about the C3 and how to reassemble it. It's just like a standard 1911, just with a shorter grip. It's pretty much standard... there is no trick to it. But just for kickers, I did a video showing you how I do it.

03-20-09:  The first IDPA match of the year for our local group: It went great and we had a very good turnout. Lots of new shooters. This was also my first match with the SIG P229. We didn't have a lot of steel plates to knock over, but the ones we had – were felled just fine by the .40. I was shooting 165 grain loads, factory Winchester and CCI Blazer Brass. I had zero malfunctions. The SIG shot in perfect SIG fashion... putting the rounds right where I aimed the gun. The only problem I had was my normal IDPA issue – I always aim too low so some of my shots end up dropping a point just outside the center scoring circle. I have no complaints really. Actually I quite enjoyed shooting a .40... the recoil was low, my followup shots were much faster, and it didn't risk not knocking down a plate. I'm completely satisfied with the SIG.

I just need my new gear... holsters and mag carriers.

I think I am almost completely sold on M-Pro 7 Gun Cleaner. It's fast and easy to use... I simply spray it onto the part I'm cleaning, and wipe it off. The metal is left clean, but not degreased like what Gun Scrubber can do to it, and yet the metal's surface is not oily either. It's almost soapy. I don't know if it is, but it doesn't smell like Hoppe's and there is no chemical stench about it either. If I use other cleaners in the house, Mrs. Ogre gets less than happy with me. With M-Pro 7, she doesn't care. Now that I think about it... that's how it cleans... like a soap. I don't know – but it works great. I'll follow up M-Pro 7 cleaner with a good gun lube, such as Tetra gun oil, and the gun feels better than it did brand new. When I clean my magazines out, I'll take out the spring and follower, spray out the body with M-Pro 7, wipe it down, and that's it. I don't need to oil anything, as oil would attract more dirt and grime and make matters worse.  I don't know about your mags, but the SIG mags don't need anything else.  I don't mean to sound like a commercial, but this stuff is damn near perfect.

I heard a commercial on the radio that irked me. It was for Veterans... some group reaching out to Vets... it had a few voices as if talking to a Vet. Kids voice: “Did you ever kill anyone?” Adult's voice, like a father figure: “So are you going to get a job now or what?” The way the commercial is played out it is as if these questions are overwhelmingly burdensome, and these poor Vets can't handle it and that they are Victims. This pisses me off actually. Because Vets are not Victims of anything. The are Patriots who stood up... they made a choice. And they do not need to be treated as victims, they do not need to be treated special. What they need, is to simply be treated with respect. That's it. Because they don't even ask for your thanks... though they deserve it. So if you want to help your loved one who is a Vet – don't sign him up to be psycho-analyzed by some punk who studied psychology in school but has never served. I've worked with a lot of vets and trust me when I say they don't need that bullshit. The most therapeutic thing I found wasn't a “Group Session” or prescriptions to drugs. It was a Fishing Rod and a Cold One. Recovering from Combat PTSD or just getting back to the world after being over there... its about finding self value again. Take some time to process the meaning of things. Let them get away from things. Spend some time with some peace and quiet. These guys are Vets, not victims. They are big enough to sort things out themselves. They've been through hell and back, they don't need your bullshit.

03-19-09:  Our new Thomas Paine speaks exactly what we as a nation needs to hear:

This plan is simple. The Tea Party... check it out and get ready for it.

03-18-09:  I am tired of hearing about AIG, and these bonuses. The Gov is doing everything they can do to make AIG look as bad as possible and make the new AIG CEO, Liddy, look like the villain even though he just got there after this shit-storm started. Who's the real villain here? The Government. So don't be fooled by the dog and pony show... it's the Government. The Government making laws about things they don't understand, without even reading the bills before them they are casting votes. This is like a Blind Man telling you what Blue is.

The Government needs to stay out of Business, because it's none of theirs. That is not what the Government is for.

I gotta give Obama credit for one thing: His willingness to do something about the Southern Border. Bush completely ignored the border issue. And because of Bush's limp dick approach to Mexico, the Cartells have moved in and now we have people getting their heads cut off. If Obama can secure this crap – that's going to be a huge feather in his cap. Because you can't brag about keeping America safe, if we leave our back door propped wide open. It's because of that, that I consider Bush a failed president. His other policies have done rather well, and that's great. But not good enough for me.

03-17-09:  Just how free is our Country? Read this site and watch those videos. This is going to make you go through the roof. I'm livid. You are going to be super pissed off about this. Especially this video with the State Troopers. Wowl Those Troopers are way off base. The idea that if you are informed or believe in freedom – you are a terrorist. This is so backwards. The Government wants ignorant subjects, easy controlled, dependent mindless slaves. I can't even recognize my own country anymore.

Our man Ben has a take on this: “I thought I'd weigh in on this since I have a unique perspective being at the end of training (academy) as police officer.
I did not read the whole article but what I did is shocking.  Let's talk about the trooper.  You and I know he was so far off the reservation that its ridiculous.  This is a straight fourth amendment issue right down the line.  No law was being broken nor was there any reason to suspect, according to that version of events, that there was.  So nothing close to reasonable suspicion.  Therefore we had no position to demand the ID and certainly no authority to bust in the door.  I find this story doubtful because it made no mention of them making, quite literally, a federal case out of it.  The trooper broke the law and as a agent of the government violated their civil rights.  There may be state laws and I know that there are Federal laws, both civil and criminal, that this trooper should be held to.  This is that couple's lottery ticket.
There is an affirmative defense for cops.  Actually there are two.  If civil rights weren't actually violated then the officer is in the clear.  But they were in this case.  If the civil rights were violated but another reasonable officer with the same training and experience would have thought it was reasonable and legal then the officer is in the clear.  Neither of these things apply to the officer and since it sounds like he was sent to do what he did by his department then it will be the department that has to pay.
Terrorists are discussed a great deal here at the academy.  They expand the idea of terrorists from just Islamofascist nut-jobs to street gangs and motorcycle gangs and folks like them.  This is especially true of the city I'm going to.  The gangs are undermining public safety and terrorizing the people in some areas.  The idea that Libertarians or educated citizens are terrorists has never even been hinted at.  In patrol procedures we were told to be very careful of extreme constitutionalists.  There are nutters out there flying the constitutionalist flag that will choose the worst place to pull over for the cop (i.e. traffic stops) and the Staties and City cops were warned that they may not recognize our authority to enforce the law because our bosses are appointed whereas the deputies' bosses are elected and so they will more likely respect their authority. 
That was mentioned once and without emotion.
All that to say that I think this is an unacceptable aberration (if it is happening at all, it defies belief) and that that trooper's career should be over.  The story is unacceptable from start to finish.
Perhaps my state is different but everyone here is about teaching us to hunt down the bad guys and not about screwing with Joe Citizen. Ben”

03-16-09:  I really don't know why I seem to be on a SIG SAUER kick... but I'm itching for the SIG GSR 1911 Blackwater edition. This seems to be the alter ego of the Kimber Tactical Entry II, but better built, without plastic and MIM parts, and for less money. Kimber has done something that I thought couldn't be done... they seriously and quite effectively turned me off of them. You see, it's their Pro Staff Program. Last year, the Pro Staff was a simple program that allowed Gun Dealers to buy Kimbers at reduced cost and they listened to Pro Staff suggestions. Such as mine to build the Tactical Entry II gun in the first place. Then this year, Kimber wants Pro Staff Members, to continue in the Pro Staff, by completing online “training” which I found personally insulting. It wasn't training... it was a commercial, done by the same folks that do online “training” for retailers that hire kids. I found this distasteful and emailed Kimber. They told me I could twist in the wind. This curdled my fondness for the brand. I'm thinking my Kimber Tactical is going to turn into the Blackwater Edition. This handgun has all the features I like, and nothing I wouldn't want.

The name “Blackwater” is interesting. Named of course after the private contractor firm that has had so much negative press... but now that firm as changed names. What is SIG going to do with these Blackwater Edition guns? I've always thought the paw print logo was cool. Anyways, I'm thinking of getting one. Just thinking about it.

Speaking of SIG, my GSR 1911 C3 is continuing to delight the hell out of me. The accuracy of the C3 is remarkable. I aimed for, and hit, a 2 liter pop bottle at about 50 yards. Nailed it. Try that with a Kimber Ultra... that ain't going to happen.

03-13-09:  I talked to SIG the other day. They are 80 Million Dollars in Back Orders. That's a lot of orders. That's an impressive figure for any gun company. Good for them.. That's guaranteed business. Unfortunately that means there are a lot of folks that are going to have to be patient. I think a lot of the sales surge has tapered off because the availability of the guns everyone wants to buy has been backordered. We ordered a Sabre Defence rifle for a Co-Worker of mine. They said 4-8 weeks. Then 8 weeks later they said “Oh, 'bout a year.” So that order was canned and he picked up a SIG 556 SWAT instead. Ammo is the same way. All the stuff we want is not available. Reloading is just as difficult.... Kudos to RCBS, Hodgdon powders, and Nosler... they've been keeping us in business. Alliant, Hornady, Speer and the others have dropped the ball for us. Springfield, SIG, Taurus have been keeping the guns flowing to us... which is great. These shortages here, they are of our own making. Especially in the arena of ammunition. If people would chill out, things would get back to normal. My favorite is the guy that asks “Why not?” when I tell him we don't have any of the ammo he wants to stockpile. “Because we lost an election” is my only answer anymore... Come on. Seriously? Your going to ask that of us when you can see people walking out the door with armfuls of ammo? I especially love it when that same guy actually gets angry about it. Like it's our personal fault that we inconvenienced him... so he can't buy those 10 boxes of .44 Mag that he's never going to shoot anyways.  I can understand wanting to sock some ammo away... that's cool... but be try to understand that there are a lot of other folks out there wanting to do the very same thing.  This is a nation-wide issue here and it's not just to put you out.  And if you do find it... or if we get it and it's more than what you paid for it last time (last year) you purchased it... Don't cry about it being more expensive.  Overwhelming nationwide demand tends to limit availability, and that can sometimes mean prices go up.  That's the way capitalism works.  We fight the price gouging by throttling the amount you can buy.  5 boxes per customer per day per caliber.  Now, don't get made that you can only buy 5 boxes.  If we allowed you to buy all you wanted, we wouldn't even have any for you to buy.  The guy an hour ago would have purchased all of it and no one would have the change to get any.  Other guys raise the prices to throttle purchases.  I've seen a 20 round box of 7.62x39mm at 10.5 a box.  Ouch.  That's a gouge.  We feel a limit is more fair to everyone. 

03-11-09:  If you notice, I have some advertisements up. Please visit them. When you buy stuff from them off my link, I get your support. I only have links to stuff that MadOgre.com Readers use. Outdoor Gear and Gun Related stuff.
If you need Optics, email me direct. Swarovski Binos and Spotting Scopes especially. Contact me first before you buy anywhere else... I'll throw in a goody for you. I just ordered a Swarovski 10x42EL for my own personal use. Binos don't get any sharper or brighter than that. If you know anyone shopping for glass – have them contact me. I'm one of the only Gun Bloggers out there that is a total Glass Freak. I love good glass... great glass can transform your outdoor experience like nothing else. I spend probably an hour a day looking at optics, comparing optics, checking prices and seeing how those prices stack up on the quality you pay for. This is for Rifle Scopes, Spotting Scopes, and Binos. Binos, I believe, are a critical asset to your gear. Everyone should have at least one good set.
Most guys say “I never use them” because they don't have a good pair or they don't know how to use them. Once you get a good set, and you know how to use the glass – you find you use them all the time.

03-09-07:  The SIG GSR 1911 C3: What can I say? I had to have it when I first saw it and I've been working on getting one for a long time... today was the day it came home with me. Sexy little minx, the C3. The C3 is SIG's answer to the CCW question. Colt used to make a pistol called the CCO, a gun that I have always wanted since I first saw it. Then Colt dropped it because Colt is run by a pack of useless idiots with balls slightly smaller than your average sun-dried raisins. Well, SIG, being smarter than the average bear, is making their own flavor of the CCO concept. Commander length barrel on top of an Officers sized frame. This is, and I am not saying this lightly – the PERFECT concealed carry combination.

You know how I've said that Kimber makes “one of the best” production 1911's out there? Yeah, well SIG is the other part of that equation and they do make The Best production 1911 out there. I'd like to see some top gunsmiths make some top end customs based on the SIG GSR's. In the photos, take a close look at the frame to slide fit. No, scratch that... Go to a stocking SIG dealer and look for yourself with your own eyes. To get better than that, you are going to have to buy a full house custom built gun for at least double the money... and even then I really don't think you can get better than that. Not when you are talking Stainless and Aluminum... now if you were doing a solid steel gun with the same steel on the frame and the slide – maybe it might look tighter, but you can't actually make it any tighter. There is ZERO play in this C3's frame to slide fit. There is no play in the barrel.

Kimber still makes some great handguns, don't get me wrong. I'm still a huge fan of Kimber's Tactical series. But SIG's GSR's? They've taken it up a notch. The reason I got the C3 was that I wanted a good compact 1911, but I wasn't quite sold on the Ultras... It's the Bushingless Bull Barrel that turned me off. The C3 has a Bushing. It has a GI type follower... no full length guide rods... no paper clips required to take it down... no gimicks or bullshit... just a solid 1911 the way John Moses Browning would have approved of. Say hello to my new daily carry gun. To get better than this – I'd have to buy a Wilson Combat or a Nighthawk Custom.

Shooting the C3, I couldn't be happier. It's A+ on the Accuracy Score. Even out to 50 yards, it was precise. Reliability is exactly what you come to expect with SIG, meaning it was flawless. Yeah, you can say I'm a hard core SIG fanboy now. So what do I think is better, the SIG or the Kimber? Read this post again. The SIG's don't use plastic mainspring houses, let's just leave it at that.  Pictures and Video coming, as always.

03-07-09:  Tactical Carbine 1 Course: It went well. It also showed me that I need to change a thing here and there, reorder it to make it flow a bit smoother.  While it could have had a little better flow, it still went well... I'm pleased with it.  I should have spent more time on certain things, like the different Prone positions, SPORTS, and clearing Double-Feeds.  I'll take more time on those next time.  I'm going to advertise the next course and open the flood gates. This course was attended by our IDPA guys, who are all good shooters and know safety. The next course will be filled with students who are not going to be at that level. And with a larger group, I'm going to need a second instructor. I'm going to need help. I'm thinking Alan or Larry, a couple local shooters here.  Tactical 2 is going to involve more shooting on the move, shooting in, around, and through vehicles, transition to handguns, and it's going to be a lot more aggressive and stressful for the students.  So if you've come to 1, your going to love 2...

The SIG P229 at the Course. While I didn't use the SIG during the course today, I had it on me. It was riding in an old Nylon holster from Blackhawk or some other tactical shop. I've had it forever. But I've not had the SIG for very long. So I go to demonstrate the Strong Side Urban Prone... and I get down, grinding my new SIG into the dirt and rocks. At the time I was thinking “Oh hell, there goes 'the new' I'm going to have a lot of gouges and scratches in it”. After I got up, I looked down at it and sure enough – it's covered in grime, mud, and small rocks and looks like hell. Back at home, I took my time cleaning The Rock to procrastinate the cleaning of the SIG. It was with great reluctance that I sprayed the SIG with some Mpro-7, scrubbed it with my Tactical Toothbrush, and wiped it off. Not a scratch on it. Not a mark on it. Not even on the plastic grips. It still looks brand new. Awesome.

Some HTML error has come up that keeps this page from rendering properly in IE. I can't find what the cause is. Any idea? It rendered okay before I monkeyed under the hood. Of course in Firefox and Safari it renders perfectly and a lot faster.

03-06-09:  The other day I went into Staples to look for a new laptop. Hordecaster, my beloved HP laptop is dying. T-man from WTA hooked me up with a backup unit that I've been having to use as a fall back. It's an older Dell and it's running Windows 7 and doing fine, but it doesn't have the speed or capacity that I need. It's older hardware. Older, but running great on Win7... that's a serious endorsement of Windows 7. But I need a serious hard core laptop. Because, I'll admit it... I'm a closet Gamer. Late at night, i'll game. Left 4 Dead, COD4. You beat. My favorite games are the Horror FPS types. I need a machine that can handle that. Lots of lappys out there for 600 bucks, but I need a dedicated 512 meg graphics card (preferably Nvidia), dual core at 2.4ghz or faster, 4 gigs RAM, and a huge and fast HD. Staples had a lot of decent laptops at pretty good prices... but nothing that fit my bill save for one unit... that was 1250 and it was another HP. Now, I like my HP because it's a solid unit. Build quality is great and it's a sturdy unit. I picked it after cracking open all the major laptops to fix the bloody things when I was still doing the IT career stuff. Now I don't do that any more so I am out of the loop. For 1250 bucks, do I want another HP or do I want something different? Dell's are great, but maybe something like Falcon Northwest? Alienware? I don't know. I'm out of the loop on laptops. I've had Hordecaster for 4 years and haven't looked at the new stuff since then.

While internally processing just exactly what I want to teach tomorrow at my Tactical Carbine course, I needed to cave. While caving, I went through this webpage's HTML code and pulled out an unbelievable amount of crap. It's amazing that this page rendered at all, it was so garbled. Much like my thoughts. It was scary. I'm still not done cleaning it up, but I can already tell the page loads much faster, and I don't have like.. old emails hidden in the HTML code. No, I'm not kidding. It was a mess. Okay, back to work planning the details.

03-03-09:  A Good question came in via email: “Hey George, I realize that you probably get alot of emails of people asking for advice for rifle purchasing, but I have something for you that might be a bit easier to answer. You see, I've already bought my .308 semi (Saiga w/ 21' barrel and w/ all the available trimmings) and I've been thinking of procuring an AR type rifle next. Was looking into purchasing a RRA A4, and building it up to a DMR type of rig; but then I heard about these Charles Daly set-ups. Checked your sight and even "you" ,The Great Speaker of Truth who holds back no measure of wrath for DGI, had good things to say about them. So, in short, I'm kinda hoping that when your shop gets the CD models in that maybe you would be willing to do a side by side comparison to your RRA M4 rig. You know, for quality differences, out of box accuracy, trigger handling and overall feel. Stuff like that. Because if the higher CD price tag, for a DMR starter build, from Charles Daly would be worth it; then I'd kick myself to no end for no being patient and simply waiting. I now that your M$ is no DMR, but the comparisons between the two brands would carry over to the other models as well. Thanks Ogre. Sgt. Bowen”

Well, you've seen my videos on YouTube about the Charles Daly. Well, check this out. This is the RRA Elite CAR A4, the same model that I have. Mine is decked out with Surefire rails and light, Magpul grip and rail covers, and a Vltor stock and topped with an EoTech, and I threw on a flip up rear from a S&W M&P rifle. I like mine a great deal. Now, I liked the Charles Daly rifle a great deal as well. In fact, as far as base rifles go, I did like the CD gun better than the base RRA gun. Most of the guns are pretty much sixes... but the CD rifle had a better external finish. Smoother and blacker – if that makes any sense. After 3K+ rounds through the Rock, the Rock is much much smoother and the trigger is a lot better than it was new and better than the CD. Really the best one to get is the one you can readily get. There is no point in waiting for one when the other is right there. If you can get one cheaper than the other – go for it and put the money you save into a good combat optic, spare mags, and a good sling.

I think we've been going about everything all wrong. The stock market is crashing and Obama says it's a good time to invest. What do we invest in? Tech companies? Gold? Guns? Well if we look carefully at the amount of dollars invested and the amount of dollars returned – the best rate of return on your money is not in the stock market – but in the DNC. You pay in just 500K you get about 20 Million Plus in return. No stocks or money market account can match that performance. Invest in Democrats!

03-02-09:  So what do you think if this video?  Discussion on WTA, here.  Give me your opinions there.  Is this guy a Patriot, or a Traitor?  I expect YouTube to pull this video down soon, so watch it ASAP. 

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OGRE TRAINING:

Carbine 1 May 9th

Basic Pistol May 9th

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