NO V EMBER 2007

11-29-07: After driving the Kia Sportage for a couple weeks now, and then hopping into my Contour... I am struck by just how shitty the Kia really is. The Contour suddenly feels like a supercharged BMW M3. As soon as Mrs. Ogre's Montana is fixed and back on the road, the KIA (Killed In Action – feh... fitting name) will be mothballed until Ogre's Oldest Son needs a car. Instead of buying him something else, I think the Kia will do just fine as a first car for a teenager. It's not fast enough to get into trouble with and it doesn't have the fuel tank capacity to let him get very far away. I think this would have actually had been the car my Dad wished he could have forced upon me when I started driving, instead of continuing the family Audi legacy. (Foxes, 4000's etc) While such a car wouldn't have allowed me to collect tickets for numerous traffic violations, I wouldn't have turned out to be such a good driver as I am, with a great appreciation for vehicle dynamics and the ingrained passion for curves and a lust for ticking the apex much like the nipple of a gorgeous woman's breast. Instead, my oldest son will learn how to off road and will learn how to appreciate going anywhere. Cow Girls dig that out here, so he'll be fine. If he decides he wants to learn how to drive better, I'll send him to Skip Barber.

Speaking of Gorgeous women... Mrs. Ogre is very close. Very close indeed. We just might have a new little clan member tomorrow. For those just tuning in, she is pregnant, due date was Thanksgiving, so we are in overtime. This will be our 6^th Son. If you count the one we lost, he will be our 7^th... so he may or may not have magic powers. We shall see.

11-28-07:  Stevo asked a tough question: “Is the new CZ better than your beloved 336?” I was just thinking about this yesterday when my oldest son and I was out hunting for a coyote I saw on the way home... I took the CZ with me to test the Leupold scope. We only observed one rabbit at the time. Reason for this was fresh ATV tracks and a pile of .22 LR brass. So the result is we/I only took a shot at one rabbit. The hit connected in the side of the bunny, just to the rear of the center of mass. I've hit rabbits such with the .30-30 and the result was the rabbit looked like it had swallowed a lit M-80 and hit by a Ford F-150 all at the same time. The 7.62 X39 FMJ round I fired made a wound that looked very similar to a .22 Mag or a .223 soft point. Bigger entrance wound but the exit was about the same. I've shot rabbits in the past with Wolf JHP ammo and the wounds were only slightly larger on the going out side. The .30-30 does have a hell of a lot more shock effect on impact, and it uses a heavier bullet for greater momentum. I've used it to kill an elk at 200 yards and it did so with authority. The elk was DRT. (dead right there) I think the .30-30 loaded with Hornady's new LEVERevolutions is effective out to 300 yards easily. This might be farther than most guys consider the thuddy for, but that's fine. Now the 7.62X39MM does have some advantages of it's own. It cuts the wind better at longer ranges... I've killed coyotes past 600 and that's freaking amazing... and I've found that it can penetrate deeper, even harder targets such as junk water heaters, fridges and ovens. (all too common game species found wild in the desert) I'm not going to doubt the Russian's effectiveness... it's proven. A good brush cartridge for up to medium game. The best thing about the 7.62 Short Russian is that it's freaking cheap. Which makes it ideal as a selection for young shooters, profuse shooters, and guys who want something very small and still effective. So the cartridges are pretty much a wash... as the Army says “METT Dictates” (Mission, Enemy, Terrain, and Time) so it depends on what I plan on doing with it. Now for the rifles. The Marlin has a customized action and trigger so it's super smooth and light, and thanks to that, and the shorter, stiffer barrel with the target crown, it's very accurate. The Super Marlin holds 5 rounds, is fast handling and can cycle a fresh round into the action in a blink. The 527 is lighter and faster handling but a touch slower on the cycling. It doesn't hit quite as hard, but it hits farther out. The Marlin has a nice Rooster Cogburn vibe going for it. The 527 channels a small SMLE. The Marlin cost me about 500 bucks, which is about what the CZ cost me considering I'm using an old scope, but the CZ didn't require time away at the gunsmith's. Which one is better? That's hard to say. I guess if I had to pick one I'm going to go with the Super Marlin considering I built it up exactly how I wanted it and every time I pick it up, I fall in love with it all over again. Considering both rifles as offered out of the box? The Marlin has a worse trigger, it's longer, and heavier meaning it handles no where near as well as The Super Marlin does... so in that case, I'd take the CZ. Out of the box, the CZ does everything I want and delights me every time I use it. So if I was to recommend one for Urban or Brush used, I'm going to recommend the CZ 527.

Now that I've said all that, I'm curious as to see what is possible with the CZ after some creative gunsmithing. To make it make it an even better Urban Brush gun, what could we do it it? First thing I'd like, is the option for some higher capacity magazines. I like the short SMLE mags, and I wonder if it's possible to do the same here... modify it to fit a short double stack. This would also allow top down loading so you can recharge the mag without having to remove it. One suggestion that came in last week or so ago was to remove the detachable magazine all together. This would work, especially considering it would slick up the appearance and allow that top down recharging that I like on bolt actions. Unfortunately either one of these would be a major rebuild and probably wouldn't be worth it unless some sick genius gunsmith comes out with a way to do this effectively and cost efficiently. Preferably with a drop in stock replacement or something like that. If that stock could also hold a spare loaded magazine at the ready in the stock like the Steyr Scout or the Walther G-22. But let's not go too far and make the little carbine something it isn't. It's more of a Scout Rifle than the Steyr is when you groove the true purpose of the Scout. Ballistic wise the 527 is lacking. The .223 version is popular and a lot of guys should consider it if you are a .223 fan. The 7.62X39 isn't a long range thumper, and lacks the punch of a .308. The alternative out there now is the 6.8SPC round and that works but you lose the advantage of cheap-common ammo. So to really embrace the Short Russian and to enhance the Urban Brush mission I would suggest that we could fit a suppressor to the muzzle end to make it less unpleasant to fire from within structures. This can also enhance the weapon's accuracy. That's a win-win... keeping the ammo cheap and making better use of it. The optics for an Urban Brush Rifle (or UBR for short) in this Short Russian cartridge is probably a simple fixed 4 power, as I've found.. but to cover all the bases we need something more flexible. There are a world of options. Ideal? We want a wide field of view and a reticle that is both easy to see, but precise enough to make accurate hitting out to the UBR's max effective range. The Trijicon ACOG 4X32 is perhaps the Holy Grail, but you have to be King Arthur to afford one for a 500 dollar rifle. What your choice is for this, that's up to you. An illuminated reticle would be nice, but that makes your choices complicated if you want magnification. For the ultimate UBR I will say that you do need that illumination. Well, that's all the time I have right now. G'night.

11-27-07:  You all know that Mrs. Ogre, preggers as she is... is still and has always been a Dancer. This means, Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance are going to be on TV when the shows are aired. I've seen quite a few of them. Yes, the Ogre can appreciate a good Tango, and can even dance several flavors of Ballroom himself. Samba, Viennese Waltz are favorites. Well, back to the Dancing with the Stars: Marie Osmond has been on and doing rather well. Is it just me, or is she freaking hot? She's amusing to watch, but not much of a dancer... but still hot.

The Leupold did very well on the CZ 527. I think it's a good match if the scope can continue to handle it. The 7.62X39MM does have a sharp kick to it. Not real bad or anything, but given the very light rifle it can be hard on a scope, as the Bushnell scope I had on it first found out.

We got a couple new pistols in from Springfield that I thought they had dropped from production. Evidently they haven't. They call it the Combat Blacken Stainless, or something like that. It's a stainless 1911, blackened, with the flats polished. It's damn fine looking handgun. Price is reasonable. We are retailing them for $769.99 This puts it right there on par with the Kimber Custom II and other Above Average production 1911's. While the Combat is loaded with the now standard Novak style sights and beaver tail grip safety, it has a standard GI style thumb safety. Sorry for the poor photo quality, my camera is lame.  The picture doesn't do the gun justice.  It's really sharp looking.  ZZ Top would approve.  The results are a well usable weapon without being too full of its self.

Interesting things China is doing. Such as buying a fleet of 160 Airbus passenger jets. But how many of those will actually see use as a commercial passenger plane? Maybe 9 of them? What are they going to do with the others? Shin Tao said that an Airbus could easily pack 4 -6 Sunburn missiles. That's an impressive payload. We also see Chinese version of April 8, 1940. Germany's invasion of Norway. A surprise and sudden massive landing of troops into airports just secured by paratroopers. Japan would be virtually defenseless. Imagine those planes loaded up with standoff weapons or troops, squawking commercial IFF with posted flight plans... It would be a new Stealth. Long range strike aircraft that our Air Force guys would not want to fire on. Who wants to shoot down a plane full of tourists? China watched us do the same bringing troops into Baghdad and Panama and they took notes. Those airliners could ferry a massive number of troops. But they can't just charter Delta Airlines like we can. They need their own. So they just bought them. Japan is only just now realizing that there is a threat here. They have no idea how deep and serious this threat is. Japan does not want to look into that abyss and I don't blame them. The implications are more than just frightening. It would force them to make drastic changes in their society. Restructure their country. But they need to do it quickly, because they do not have much time. If I was Emperor of Japan, I was give every Japanese swinging dick an automatic rifle, spare magazines, and a shit load of ammunition. Japan's defense is only possible if they take to heart their fear of invading the USA in WWII, a rifle behind every blade of grass. There is no other way Japan will be able to deal with it. I'd give the Japanese women rifles and handguns too. Because they are the ones facing the worse threats... China will not rape the men to death like they will those tasty-cute Japanese girls wearing school girl uniforms.

I'm torn on the new S&W i-Bolt rifle. On one hand, I like that it's a good shooter, consistent and accurate as any good rifle should be. On the other hand, hate it because it looks very cheap and nasty and the only thing I can compare it to esthetically is a cross between the Winchester Super Black Shadow and a Stevens Model 200. Molded in sling swivel attachments like that means you can't mount a bi-pod. Not that you should, but if you wanted to, sorry. That was a retarded move by S&W. This gun is pretty much a cheap version of the new TC Icon rifle with cheaper finish, and a seriously cheap stock. The end cap on the bolt is cheap too... the whole thing drips of cheap. Yet it has a great TC made barrel and a very good Timney trigger, which means that this new i-Bolt very well could be the best beater/truck/work gun to come out in a long time. Great shooter, but you are not afraid to take it out on rough hunts. You know what? I'm liking it. I just wish there was a Stainless option to go with the synthetic stocks. Synthetic stocks require stainless... that's just the way it should be. To do otherwise is to fail to achieve the gun's full potential.

Songs of the week: The new GNR Welcome to the Jungle. Its good to see Axle Rose has put on a little weigt and toned down that weird sway he used to do. Funny how such a scrawny as punk with a high screechy voice can somehow actually pull off a good degree of cool. Forgive me if I was living in the past a little here today, remembering my Good Old Days which were actually not as good as my Good Right Now Days, which are pretty damn good and I have no complaints. But I remember doing stupid shit back then that I could do and get away with or survive if I did them today. The next song is from Collide, it's called Euphoria. I've mentioned Collide before but didn't link it that I remember. If I have, please forgive me. The chick has a hauntingly beautiful voice, and she's gorgeous for a Goth chick. Some have said she's “Emo” but that's not true. Emo is Goth for Pussies, and Collide has too much Edge for those black care bear hugging emotional wretches. I bet if you called this chick an Emo to her face, she'd probably snatch your eyeballs out of your head and feed them to her pet velociraptor or something. Now, the last one here is from one of my favorite groups... The Cult. The song is “She Sells Sanctuary”. Not sure why I picked his one, The Cult has lots of good songs. This one brings back memories of an old girlfriend that had forgotten about until earlier today when I heard the song on the radio. I don't miss her, but I do wonder what she's up to these days. Don't remember her name. That's enough music break for now.

Another bloody CZ 527 Carbine post: I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but I've had the perfect scope for the 527 for years and years. A old fixed 4 power Leupold. It's so old, the original black finish is all gone and has a nice brownish purplish finish that just looks awesome on the blue and wood carbine. See for yourself. I'll have to take it out and shoot it as soon as I get the chance. I like the look and the little scope doesn't change the handling dynamics of the small rifle. The scope had to be mounted as far forward as it could be, but the result is perfect eye relief for me. It should shoot very well.

11-25-07:  Torchwood: Late last night my oldest son and I were chilling out and watching some SciFi stuff. We had been enjoying this show called Torchwood. Well last night we got a shock ending to the show... turns out Captain Jack is flaming gay. They showed him kissing another Captain guy... like a Tom Cruise in Top Gun kind of kissing. We didn't know Captain Jack was gay and this wasn't the way we would have wanted to find out. My son decided that he doesn't like Torchwood anymore, and I have to agree with him. Look, I don't care about gay people what they want to do with themselves... but that doesn't mean I want to see it on my TV. Blocked.

Battlestar Galactica: Caught the last half of the mini movie “BG: Razor”. Wow. Now THAT is some seriously good Sci-Fi.

Don't Load Your Gun like This Guy: Fellow broke several gun handling rules all at the same time. Didn't end well for him.

I've mentioned before that I ordered Night Watch & Day Watch. I can honestly say that these are some of the most incredible films I've ever had the pleasure to see. If there are other Russian films that are anywhere near as good as these are – there is a whole new world of cinema to explore. I'm impressed. Not just in the story, the depth and twists in plot... not just in the effects... but also in the direction and pacing. I'm glad to see the Russians are capable of creating something other than Fighter Bombers and RPG's. The Men In Black style old truck is classic. Everything about these movies are very well done. You guys have got to check these out. Amazon.com to order them or Netflix them if can... but get these movies. Get them together. They are amazing. Get them before the 3^rd one comes out. You wont want to have to play catch up. I can't recommend these films enough. I've not seen a foreign film so well done since the Spanish flick “Devil's Backbone”.

Forgive the lack of gun posts, I've not had time to really go shooting or hunting or anything. I've been staying close to the house lately because of the pregnancy. I'm working a couple gun reviews for MadOgre.com... you can see the unlinked reviews that are not finished yet, and a couple others not yet hinted at... such as the CZ 527 Carbine and a Head to Head Challenge between the Ruger Mk II and the Browning Buckmark pistol.

11-24-07:  Later:  The Utah State Trooper Tazer Incident: There is more to this story. First off, the normal speed limit is 65MPH. The very short construction zone has no warning signs of a lower speed limit ahead. Instead of a 10MPH drop down before the 40 zone, it just drops all the way down to 40. And the signs in both directions are not at the beginning of the zone... they are right about in the middle. Meaning it's a blatant speed trap and not ticketable. You take this to court, they will have to drop it. The Trooper made so many mistakes in regards to officer safety that it isn't even funny. Yes, the driver was a punk, but the Trooper could have done a whole lot better according to the video. Now, here's the kicker. The video is heavily edited. We don't know what the whole story is. The driver got the video from the UHP and cleaned it up and posted it on YouTube. While the natural reaction is to be pissed... I sure as heck was... it's time to look at it objectively, and understand there is more to the story that we wont know for some time. Also, in the State of Utah, the Trooper could have wrote "Refused to Sign", handed the driver the ticket anyways. If the Driver didn't go to court or pay the fine, bench warrants and suspensions would have followed forcing the driver to step up. Another kicker... it doesn't look like it, but the driver was going 68 when the Trooper locked him in on the radar... that's speeding in or out of the construction zone. The Troopers I've talked to about this incident wouldn't have normally pulled him over for 68, but in a construction zone, yeah. Now, I still don't like the situation at all... I don't believe in speed limits at all when the road goes across the surface of the moon and nothing is out there between towns like out here where I live... but I can calm down about this all now.

Earlier:  Surviving Hell Day: Black Friday was a monster day for sales at our little gun shop. We were moving Champion Gun Safes, SIG pistols and Howa Rifles left and right. It was a good day. I know a lot of guys are saying the economy is down and retailers are suffering. Maybe in some areas, but we did at least 20% better this year, than we did last year on Black Friday. I sure as hell sold more guns. Mounted more scopes, and all around hopped around like a cat on a hot tin roof. I enjoy selling guns, talking guns and all related articles. It's a good thing to be paid for your hobby. The only thing I don't like about it is the retail mob on Black Friday. Some people can be so shockingly stupid the day after thanksgiving. I have no sympathy for them. You wait until the one day when everyone thinks they have to do their shopping, and you get pissed because there are people in line, and loss leader sale items are sold out hours ago... because they were all purchased by people who waited in line for hours in the cold just to save 3 bucks off that stupid thing they think they have to have.  If that's you, then you are a moron and I feel sorry for those around you.

“Calling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like calling a drug dealer an unlicensed pharmacist.”

Email from one of The Horde, regarding the State Trooper Tazer incident: “One of the reasons I love the United States is because we are The People, and the government serves Us. Socialized states like the UK, France, and elsewhere seem to think their citizens are there to support the government and treat them as serfs. They trample the rights that are common to every man, such as the right to self defense. Because our nation was created by men who had had enough of that crap, we are able to live in a country that recognizes (for the  most part) that the government is here to serve us, and we are (for the most part) treated accordingly. We need to stomp out this kind of behavior as soon as it rears its ugly head. This officer, good as he may be otherwise, needs to receive a serious slap-down that will illustrate this point. Law-abiding United States citizens should be treated with respect. - Josh”

That's exactly right, Josh. And thanks for the email. When I read the news from England, I am constantly saddened by such a fall of a once great empire to a continually falling small island nation. England is becoming a country that is afraid of it's own shadow. I've read the news of UK Veterans can't swim in public pools because they might scare children... not that they have, but that they might. That they ban anything that could possibly be perceived as some how potentially threatening. That there are even more surveillance cameras there than any where else in the world. What saddens me the most is that the USA is going that way. Look at the news coming out of San Francisco... ban loving buggerers are weakening the American Soul and it sickens me. Combine that with the increasing move for Absolutism is our Governing authorities and so many people who shrug it off saying “Well, that's the law and if you don't like it, change it.” And yet no one ever does. America is going down the toilet because Good Men stand by quietly and do nothing. Citizens, even those that go a couple miles per hour over the speed limit and those that have the cheek to question the police, are not to be prodded with electrodes and shocked misbehaving cattle. It's the American Way to question authority. That's what makes us Americans. Let's not stand by and do nothing. Everyone needs to contact your local representatives and the State of Utah and call for this trooper to be fired, or if not fired, transferred to Parks and Recreation to pick up trash all day long. Maybe then he could learn the Serve aspect of “Protect and Serve”.

Email about the Country's needs: “Ogre, I just visited your site for the first time and I am thoroughly pleased. Your straight forward, honest, and politically incorrect views and statements are exactly what this pussified country needs. I'm tired of those loose lipped liberal ferries and their political mumbo jumbo. Next time someone asks you about the guns in Romeo and Juliet give me a call. I'd be happy to bitch slap them in your honor. Matt S. Idaho. Sent via BlackBerry”

Thanks for the Email, Matt S. Normally I do my own bitchslapping, but I tell you what... if you come across any guy (straight guy) in Idaho that even talks about that movie, you can bitchslap them them for me so I don't have to come up there to do it. Appreciate the hand. What this country needs, Matt... and what I was going to get to in the above rant: When I said that Good Men stand by and quietly do nothing – I'm talking about VOTING. I know too many good people that say that they don't vote. Because there are either no “good candidates” or that their votes don't mean anything. The cause of both opinions is a simple matter of education. We have to take it upon ourselves to educate those around us. Votes do matter. Look at the election fiasco in Florida. It came down to only 500 votes. 500? That's the attendance at a school play. That's how many people went through the drive through at my local McDonalds in one day. 500 is nothing. But it turned out that 500 was everything. We need everyone to vote. And don't be a single issue voter. You write down all the issues you believe in... then vote for the candidate that will damage those issues the least. That's the best we can do right now. Until we can effectively change the structure, that's all we can do. We have to vote in all our Local Elections, our Primaries, and any time that there is a ballot to be cast, you vote. And when you go to vote, you drag everyone you can to go vote with you. Doesn't matter party... just get them to vote. Because it does matter. Voter apathy is exactly what the politicians are counting on. Voting is what separates us from most of the rest of the world... because we can effect change. Without violence. Without strife. With just a simple ballot, we can change everything. Those who don't vote... you are the Good Men who stand by and do nothing... and you disgust me.

No, Mrs. Ogre has not given birth yet.. we are still in a holding pattern. Your support is greatly appreciated, thank you for all the well wishes. It means a lot. It could be any time... could have been any time for the last two weeks. Official due date was on Turkey Day, but the little man just wasn't ready. What can I say?

11-21-07:  Just to give you guys a heads up... Mrs. Ogre is on the verge of giving birth. She's laboring hard core right down to 5 minutes apart and then the labor just shuts off like a switch was thrown. And that has been happening around 4 Am. I've had so little sleep the last couple days, I can count the minutes on my fingers. I'm so tired it hurts.

The video of the Utah State Trooper tazering the guy for allegedly speeding: Lots of emails on this and I do find this to be an outrage. I can see a lot of points of view about an Officer's use of Force... but this crosses the line. I live in the Uintah Basin. I know right were this happened. In fact, I often go shooting about 200 yards away from where this happened. Quite a few of my magazine photos are taken there. This is on highway 40, just west of Vernal about two miles at most outside of town. If you watch the video carefully, you will see that the patrol car gets in front of the 40MPH sign and it would be very easy to not see the temporary sign because of the cruiser. Normally the speed limit is 65 there. The guy wasn't going very fast at all and the guy stopped immediately... that shows compliance. The trooper never answered the man's reasonable questions. When the Trooper said the guy was speeding and the guy didn't think so, the trooper could have said, the sign is right there, and pointed to the 40 MPH sign. Notice that when the officer puts down the clip board - he immediately pulls the Tazer. He doesn't give the proper warnings, and tags the guy so he's laying in the traffic lane - and then leaves him there... even leaves him there in handcuffs. This is in violation of Utah Highway Patrol's guidelines for use of the Tazer, and a blatant safety violation, putting the guy's life in danger. When you handcuff a guy, you do so to protect his safety as well as your own. The trooper didn't do that. The trooper only handcuffed the guy because he was on a power trip. You don't Tazer a guy just because he instantly doesn't fellate you because you think you are a god. This would never have happened if the Trooper had the attitude that he was enforcing the law - the law which is there for the purpose of keeping citizens safe - instead of having the attitude that all must be subject to The Crown and obey instantly. A big part of being an Officer is communication and calming people down so you don't have to use force. It looked to me that this guy failed at every step. This trooper should not have a job. I understand the use of force, and I do understand that the driver was being a stupid punk... but if the Trooper handled this differently, none of this would have happened.... stupid punk or not, the trooper has the responsibility of handling the situation properly. I know the Deputy... he's an alright guy, but obviously didn't see what happened... because it didn't happen the way the trooper reported it to the Deputy. If the Trooper was in the right, why did he have to lie to the Deputy? He lied because he knew he was in the wrong. Simple as that. When I first saw this video 24 hours ago, I reported it to the Vernal City Manager and the local DA. I know a lot of the Troopers and other Law Enforcement Officers out here... I sell them guns and ammo... most of them are good folk. But this Trooper's actions reflect poorly on all of them, and Vernal City as well This situation reminds me of the movie “Anger Management” when Adam Sandler is in the airplane, “Sir, Please calm down!”

Now if you think this Tazing was bad, this is even worse. A deputy shoots a guy's dog in the guy's own yard, right in front of the guy's little kid. Blows holes in the dog, but doesn't kill it, then drives off and leaves it there. This is another case of “Cop That Needs To Be A Garbage Collector.” The Deputy also needs to pay the vet bill plus other damages, then be prosecuted for animal cruelty. I've had to put animals down before, and you do it with one shot to the brain so the animal doesn't suffer. You don't blast at it like you are a dumbass teenage shooting at street signs... but if this was a legal action the dog would have been taken into custody, and taken to the vet so the dog could be euthanized humanely. This is disgusting.

What I don't like the most about both of these cases are the Deputy and the Trooper are still out there abusing their power. For the citizens they are “serving” it isn't innocent until proven guilty – it's guilty until you go to court and prove your innocence. Child Molesters are treated better than the victims of these Officers.

Amazon.com has sent us a couple movies that I'm going to watch when I get the chance. Night Watch and Day Watch. I'm too tired to watch them tonight, and Mrs. Ogre might be going to the hospital for delivery any time now... so I don't know when I'll be able to watch these... but I can't wait to. I'm conflicted.

11-19-07:  I know this is going to be “rubbing it in”.  But the CZ 527 came with me shooting today. No scope, just a simple leather sling... and it's fantastic. The rifle handles so easily and lightly... it's like a sportscar of rifles. It's super fast and light. Bringing it from being slung on the shoulder to up onto the target takes but a blink. Laying the sights on the target and pulling the stock tight into your shoulder pocket is as natural as anything. The trigger is, well, let's just say that I'd love to have this trigger on all my rifles. Accuracy is not just acceptable, but very good. While the benched MOA might not be impressive, the natural ability to make practical hits is what sets this little carbine apart. You can easily put your bullet within 2 inches of precisely where you want it to go, standing, kneeling, squatting... if you aim, you are hitting. Simple as that. The action, with a little practice, is quick. The 5 shot magazine is perfectly fine for the carbine's purpose. This isn't an assault rifle, even if it uses an intermediate cartridge. This isn't a target rifle, even it makes hitting a snap. This is a light carbine, chambered for a meaningful, yet cheap and easy to obtain cartridge. It's just about ideal as a brush gun in areas with thick foliage. It's .30 caliber cartridge will not easily be deflected by leaves or twigs. It will penetrate branches and keep going. It's short enough and light enough that you can easily carry it in tight spaces of the woods or urban jungle. You can easily clear your home with it... I did, and maneuvering it around doors and corners such was easy. It handles easier than most rifles for CQB work... certainly easier than the AK, which feels like you are trying to maneuver a refrigerator on a hand truck in comparison. An M-4 might be lighter than the AK, but not any easier and not any quicker. It just might be a perfect Scout Rifle. Let's look at the Scout Rifle definitions:

A maximum unloaded weight, with accessories, of 3.5 kilograms, 3 kg optimal.

• An overall length of 1 meter or less.

• A forward-mounted telescopic sight of low magnification, typically 2-3 diameters. This preserves the shooters' peripheral vision, clears the ejection port of the rifle, makes possible the use of stripper clips to reload the rifle, and eliminates any chance of the scope striking one's brow during recoil. Cooper has stated that a telescopic sight is not mandatory.

• Ghost ring auxiliary iron sights: a rear sight consisting of a receiver-mounted large-aperture thin ring, and typically a square post front sight.

• A "Ching" or "CW" sling. Against common practice, Cooper advocated the use of a sling as a shooting aid. The Ching sling offers the convenience of a carrying strap and the steadiness of a target shooter's sling with the speed of a biathlete's sling. (The CW sling is a simpler version of a Ching sling, consisting of a single strap.)

• A standard chambering of .308 Winchester/7.62 mm caliber; 7 mm-08 for locales that forbid military chamberings; and .243 Winchester for young or recoil-shy people. Cooper also commissioned "Lion Scout," chambered for the .350 Remington Magnum cartridge.

The CZ 527 is in 7.62X39MM, and is "... a general-purpose rifle is a conveniently portable, individually operated firearm, capable of striking a single decisive blow, on a live target of up to 200 kilos in weight, at any distance at which the operator can shoot with the precision necessary to place a shot in a vital area of the target." It is so light as to feel like it might only weight a couple pounds... even if it is actually under six. It's short enough to qualify. Since the scope is optional, it passes that. The only thing it lacks from Cooper's definition is the Ghost Ring sights. Instead, it uses a sturdy fixed bladed rear sight. I don't think the type of sling you decide to put on your rifle should define the type of rifle you have. But I have a simple leather single strap sling, so that qualifies. This might not be Cooper's idea of a Scout... but we can put a forward scope mount on it.

Now I don't have to try to validate the 527 Carbine by trying to pass it off as a Scout... but as far as doing anything a Scout can do, the 527 Carbine can do. Really, I think maybe the Scout comparison is the wrong way to go. A better comparison to the purpose and application is the M1 Carbine actually, but of course this is a bolt action and not a semi... but being able to be carried and fired by anyone... seriously, this rifle is absolutely a delight. I have not enjoyed a new rifle this much since I got my Marlin cut down. Really I think I was actually trying to turn my Marlin into the 527 Carbine. At least to make the Marlin as easy handling and easily hitting as the 527 is. It's good, but not as good as the 527 is naturally, out of the box.

The 527 can be improved. First, the scope bases that are built in to the receiver should be standard Weaver. There should be a factory option to easily bolt on a forward scope rail. The action is not rough, but it is not smooth either. Sure, smoothness will come in time and use, but it would be nice if it was smoother out of the box. And lastly, the stock should come with spacers to put under the recoil to lengthen it as needed for the shooter. It is a tad bit short. I would like a Stainless and Synthetic option, but I do appreciate the blued and wood classic look.

11-18-07:  IDPA observations: One of the stages we shot yesterday at that IDPA match had the shooter lay on his back, and engage two targets while on your back, heads to the targets. This means your gun is upside down. After you shoot the first two, you can roll over and engage two more targets and one steel plate to stop the clock. I had no problem with the stage, my speed was good and my accuracy was excellent. Yeah, I surprised myself. What also surprised me was who did have problems. A fellow was shooting a very nice CZ PCR and he tried to shoot the stage several times and just couldn't get the gun to run upside down. He didn't have any problems before that stage, and he didn't have any after either... but that PCR just didn't handle shooting upside down. This was interesting. I've never seen a CZ have any problems before. Because of this, I had to see if my P-01 had similar problems. The PCR and the P-01 are very similar guns. Guess what? It didn't. I was relieved.

The best way to make the M-16 an effective weapon is to hang one under the barrel. Such as this. Normally I like the 40MM, the good old M203... you can use buckshot loads. But this is nice too. The video shows the use of the low energy rubber pellet loads. Notice there is no recoil. Regular loads are going to have some push to it. Still... I'm liking this system. Now if you could load this with 12 gauge grenades... that would be a huge step up from the M-4. Now, if the idea is to hang a less than lethal weapon under the M-4, then the idea is horrible and should be dropped like a hot rock. Why? Because one weapon with two triggers, one to kill and one to punish? That's going to lead to some seriously bad situations. Say you've got a kid throwing stones, and instead of peppering him with little rubber pellets, you zap him with a 3 round burst to the chest. This isn't cool.

Music: I was asked some time ago if I could make a Song of the Week post. Including links to download the MP3 or whatever. Well, I took the idea and shelved it. Now, I'm thinking it isn't such a bad one. After all, I have excellent taste in music and I can appreciate talent when I see or hear it. I've also recommended music that is no main stream stuff and have opened new musical doors to The Horde who wouldn't have otherwise have enjoyed it. I stumbled upon an interesting band that I've listened to and have found to be most interesting. The are a celtic hard rock band called Beltaine, and you've not heard anything quite like this before. No, these are not your Dad's Chieftains. Yes, normally if you think of a heavy metal band with a Kelt vibe, you would probably think of Celtic Frost. But that's not the choice of the moment... too obvious. Speaking of Celtic music. Have you heard of “Celtic Women” They are group of some seriously talented ladies... listen to this. Hypnotic and angelic, isn't it? Normally Ave Maria is sung by young boys... not a beautiful full figured woman. YouTube has loads of these ladies singing... check them out. Ave Maria isn't their best. If you hit a music store, buy a CD or two... your women will love it and it aint bad background music for the house.

11-17-07:  This morning I went and shot with the local IDPA group: The group here is a good bunch of guys and I really enjoy shooting with them, when I can. Normally I work the 3^rd Saturday of the month, when they shoot. But today, I told the shop I was going to be late coming in. I shot well. I could do better, but I shot well. If I was going to Grade my accuracy today, I'd give me an A. Speed out of the holster was a C. Speed of reloading was a B. I didn't drop any points on several stages and only a couple on the others... but I never hit a No Shoot target and I didn't have any failures to neutralize. Now, what I did flub up on was a procedural. IDPA rules say that if you eject a mag that still has rounds in it, you have to keep it in retention – you can't just drop it. Well, I dropped one. I was counting my rounds fired and was one off... Damn it, Damn it, Damn it. Oh well, I still had a good time and my Kimber Tactical Custom II did not fail me once... has never failed me so far... I still say that it is the best 1911 you can buy for a cool Grand. I regularly shoot with guys packing .45's that cost double... they have no advantage. Seriously... none. We all know you can't buy competence, you can't buy skill... but sometimes a really nice gun that meshes with you in just that way... it can give you an edge. If you can get it for 1,000, why spend an extra 800? Granted, Wilson does have an advantage when it comes to their Armor Tuff Finish... that's an awesome finish. But I don't need it. At least not now.

The UHR package from CZ is sorely tempting me. Temptation beyond my capacity to withstand. I was talking to a customer of mine who is into long range shooting. He's wanting a new rig for some moderate to long range hunting, with the ability to really reach out there. But he wanted it in a caliber more reasonable than .30-378... less recoil than an Ultra Mag, and easy to reload. Simple... .300 Win Mag. He was considering the Accumark until I mentioned that CZ has their UHR rifle. He's going to order it as soon as he can convince his wife. Yeah, I can't help with that. I'm looking at the same problem myself. I'm getting by with a less than ideal platform myself. The 700 series is fine, and actually a great starting point. But I could use a better stock... and a better barrel. I think at that point I could really extend my range and consistency. My scope, I could use some more magnification too. 12 power is great, but I'd really like to go up to 18. Coyotes are not big and already I'm getting them to hide behind my fine plex reticle. Oh well... If I can see them I can kill them on the spot so I guess I'm doing something rifle... but it has taken me a couple years and countless boxes of shells to get to where I am now. Instead of buying a new rifle like I usually do, I'm going to rebarrel this one and get a new stock for it. I'm thinking a McMillan stock and a Jarvis barrel. I'll keep the 7mm caliber as I've grown very fond of it and I know what it can do. Now, even though this is the case... I still want something with more smack down capacity. I need to pick a scope out for my 700 CDL .300 Win Mag, and I'm thinking a VX-III 4.5-14 because I have no imagination... well... no, I have no budget for that VX7-L 6-18 with the varmint reticle. I think that's the scope I'd use to top the UHR. The Nightforce is great, but I'm more comfortable with Leupold.

The Short Forty Four is also itching in my mind more and more... Especially after Hordeman Dennis – magnificent bastard – sent us links to something that was long over due. CCW holsters for Single Actions. Oh HELL YES... I'm loving these. A Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 Mag with a 4” barrel, in one of those rigs... Man, I'd pack that happily. Big revolver, concealable, that is freaking awesome. Jeff Quinn over at Gun Blast reviews one of them... the concept works. I've got to get one. As soon as I can swing that .44 I'm wanting, I'm ordering one. And by that I mean after the baby comes and we finally get the Pontiac Montana fixed (still haven't) and I sell the Kia Sportage, then I'm buying some .44 Mags. Slow to reload some might say? Feh... maybe I'll just get two then. This is, after all, the 100 year John Wayne commemorative year... good time to buy some Cowboy Gear, eh?

11-15-07:  I'm wrestling with a serious question here. With the news of the new Hornady LEVERevolution rounds in .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum, I have to get some new guns. I need a rifle-revolver combination. I'm going to go with a Marlin 1894 and a Ruger Super Blackhawk. The only question I need to answer, and no one can help me on this – it's a personal choice here - “Stainless or Blued?” I'm leaning blued at the moment, but I really appreciate all the qualities stainless has. I see and understand both sides of the argument. But I'd be more likely to go stainless if you could get the Marlin, from the factory, with synthetic stocks.

Ooh... look at this. The new Ruger Vaquero Montado looks sexy as hell. If it was in .357 I'd be all over that.

Yes, I've got a fondness to the Western Style of firearms. I will not hide that fact. I do not consider myself to be a cowboy and I do not pretend to be one. But I do like some aspects of the cowboy style. The hats are fantastic out here in desert country... keeps the sun off better than boonie hats and/or ball caps... and hey, both Rob Zombie and Ted Nugent wear them so that makes them bitchin. Cowboy Boots are also extremely kickass footwear. They look good formal or casual, they are comfortable, and they have been in style since the 1800's. Classic Americana and I love all things American. They go with my jeans and my truck. Ahem... even though my Bronco doesn't run. Damn it.

Email regarding China from Shin Tao: “That's how I see it, yes. China was a pioneer in deceptive warfare long ago when most other armies thought it was really clever to march straight into each other like zombies. China will not go against a risk vs benefit calculation either. To risk a big war over a pointless prize like a bombed-out, smoldering Taiwan makes little sense. Taiwan just sits there waiting for an attack. Japan however, is asleep at the wheel and dazzled by it's own superiority. To risk a war to take Japan makes much more sense. They would have an instant Empire and a new level of fear and respect from the whole world. They don't HATE the Taiwanese. They hate the Japanese. A direct move on Japan would catch everyone with their pants down and result in quick and brutal victory, followed by long, satisfying, oppression. Japan's house shields are down. I think all the blustering about Taiwan has been a huge distraction that fooled everyone. People should know that China's first offensive priority after building up a modern military, is to repay the Japanese for how insanely horrible they were in the 30s and 40s. Asia doesn't forget things and move on like Western Europe does.” Shin and I have been discussing China and possible/probable future warfare. The whole situation with Taiwan, we think, is a big Rope-A-Dope and we have all our assets in the wrong position because of it. If China pulls the trigger on Japan like we predict, we will not be ready to react and they will be dug in like ticks before we can do anything meaningful. Getting China out of Japan will be almost impossible with military action, it would be a matter of treaty. In the mean time, millions of Japanese would be raped to death. Japan and China both have long and honorable military histories, but Japan has got soft while China has hardened their resolve. Considering the serious damage China is doing to China, they are going to have to move on Japan just for the rice fields.  Two links that need to be looked at.  First.  Second.  The outlook is grim.

.338 Federal: The question of weather or not the non-magnum .338 Federal is a worthy cartridge has been answered. A co-worker at the gunshop has used his new Kimber 8400 Classic in .338 Federal to take a very plump cow elk. The bullet smashed through one side and out the other, dropping the elk like it was pole-axed. The bullet passed through the liver and basically turned that vital organ into pudding, the shock was so great. When he picked it up, it ran through his fingers like a handful of Cosby's Favorite. What is a bit troubling though is the hold over required to make the shot. He had to hold a foot over the cow's head at a range of 600 yards shooting up hill. This is a pretty steep drop, making the .338 Federal a short to medium range brush cannon. I can still see this as a fantastic round for suppressed applications. Terminal performance as demonstrated out of a light carbine? Brutal.

11-14-07:  Screw it: I was going to dive into some criticism for Venezuela's batshit nuts president for housing human slavers and threatening Spanish investments... then on to China and their inevitable kicking of Japan in the junk.  But I'm not going to do that.  Instead, I'm going to play my new guitar all night until I sound like Angus Young or my fingers are bruised to the elbow, whichever comes first.   It's an Ibanez RG770FM that is cool as hell and I look fantastic with it, as long as you can't hear me play it. Special thanks to Sgt Matt for this one!  I'll put up a picture of me looking like a Guitar Hero at some point in the future, but not today.  Instead of spinning my opinions on the previously mentioned issues, I'm going to link you guys up with something more entertaining than advanced Chinese laser guided munitions and Euro-Fighter knock offs.

JERICHO: Now THIS is how to do a game review. G4 needs to take note. I'm a Clive Barker fan. I like horror shows, and horror games even more. Undying is still one of my all time favorite games. So when I heard about Jericho, I was pumped. Now I see this review, and considering all the other reviews I've heard about Jericho... I think I might just have to take a pass and wistfully think about how cool it could be and not spoil the fantasy.

You guys got to watch those other game reviews... freaking brilliant work. I especially like the Halo 3 review.

11-12-07:  Got this in the email: Effective immediately, STI International has halted all shipments of firearms to California. The company will no longer sell any firearms to civilians or law enforcement in the state. The move by STI comes after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed microstamping legislation into law. "This law is not going to stop criminals, it is only going to hurt law-abiding citizens in the state," STI's Pauletta Skinner told Bullet Points. "We felt like we had to take a stand against this law."

Good for STI! I hope all other gun makers follow the lead and stand together. If they all stand together, California will have to repeal this asinine law. When their law enforcement agencies all the sudden have no options for replacing sidearms – they will rattle the doors of the governor's office.  I want everyone to contact STI and tell them that you stand behind them on this.

Veterans Day: Just a word to you cake eating civilians out there… You don’t say Happy Veterans Day. You don’t say Merry Vets Day. But just because you don’t have a meaningless Seasons Greetings for it doesn’t mean you don’t say anything. This isn’t some fat bunny in a sled passing around Jack O’Lanterns because it’s Santa’s birthday… This isn’t about some old fable-become-tradition. Veterans Day is a day for those that are still alive, and for those who are dead… those who died for your freedom to flip soldiers the bird and to call them baby killers and spit on them in the airport. Veterans Day is for the guys that died fighting for your personal independent liberty… It’s for that Veteran that walks with just a slight limp and seems otherwise fine, but he doesn’t have a spleen because an enemy of our country blew it out his back with an AK-47 so you can get 15% Off that new leather fat-ass reclining couch that your going to sit on to mock the President from while watching your 42 inch plasma TV flipping through the channels trying to find some Friends rerun. Veterans Day is for the guy that came home while all his friends didn’t. Veterans day is for the woman who gave up the best years of her young adulthood so she could press her hands over the sucking chest wound of some guy from her own home town 6 thousand miles away from home. Veterans day is for that old woman over there that raised 2 kids alone because when she was young she sent her handsome young husband off to fight for your freedom and came back as a flag folded into a triangle. That’s what Veterans day is for… and what do you say to those people who served? You just say “Thank You”.

Interesting article about Hybrid Trucks: Read it here, then I'll break it down for you. Let me explain this to all the city dwelling folk. I live in truck country. We use trucks out here day in day out. Big trucks. Real trucks. Not cutesy little truck-utes. Four by four trucks. Let me tell you straight up - Hybrids don't work in real trucks. Real trucks have to be able to run all the time, even when parked. The engines have to be able to pull massive payloads and carry tons of tools and equipment, power arc welders, and keep the heaters going full blast in the winters... because a lot of trucks out here in our winters will freeze up if the engines are shut off during a hard cold. And when I say hard cold, I'm talking 35 below like it was last year. Hybrids have to recapture electrical power by breaking. That's great for in the city. But out here in my desert, this method is just about useless. Now BMW has an interesting form of a hybrid engine that does have potential... BMW calls it a "Turbo Steamer" and reclaims energy by capturing heat loss. Most of the energy lost in an engine is from heat going to waste. Now in the real world of a working truck, capturing heat makes sense, and it could even work in the dead of winter. This is going to be the only way a hybrid is going to even make a lick of sense. Out here where we live, say you want to go anywhere... you can literally drive for hours before you have to touch the breaks. Regenerative braking will do nothing out here. Now let's talk about who is using these trucks. Working guys. Cowboys and oil field workers. Guys that don't drive BMW's and Mercedes. Already the trucks they drive are expensive as hell and these guys are credit strapped just to get them... they cost around 35 thousand dollars for a new truck. A hybrid truck is going to be over 40 grand and that's a low estimation. Now what about the environmental nightmare of all the batteries? Car batteries only last so long. They wear out. Now instead of spending 80 bucks to replace your one battery, you have to spend about 5 grand to replace a bunch of them... and where do you get rid of all those batteries? Holy crap, this is an environmental disaster. A very expensive and unworkable disaster. Look, just keep your hybrids out of our trucks, and we wont drag you behind them.

I'm kind of tired of something and I don't know how to get it off my chest. So I'm just going to blow it out. Name Brand Parts on guns. For example, I was talking with a fellow the other day about his rifle. It was a Saber Defense rifle... then the guy spend, I kid you not the next five minutes just going over all the after market parts he switched out, by name. The longer he went on, the more puffed up his chest became. Half the parts contained the word “Tactical” in the name. It was as if he was singing some Gregorian chant. When he was done I said, “So you have a Saber AR-15.” He seemed to deflated somewhat, for just a moment. He wanted to know what the trade in value was and expected it to include extra money because of all his “upgrades”. It was still a Saber rifle and it was still in only 95% condition... “But I've put 1200 bucks into it!” I nodded. “Yeah, you could have got two of these or a Wilson Combat AR for that much.” He wasn't too happy. He left if in a huff, but this is just the nature of the business. You don't add value to a gun when you take it apart and replace the parts from a dozen different manufacturers.... all the parts. Even the retaining pin for the firing pin. Not only does it not add any value, 99% of the time they don't even add any actual functionality. Look, if you break a part, go ahead and replace it. But if the gun is new and the part still works – why replace it? It was as if he thought that if he got his M-Forgery upgraded enough GSG-9 would drop down though the ceiling tiles and recruit him. This guy was an extreme example, but I talk to guys like this all the time. If you want to spend money on your gun, any gun, do things to it that actually improve the way it shoots or handles. I mean, hell, this cat spend like 45 bucks on a gizmo that changes the sling attachment point – he bragged about that – but he didn't even have a sling! I don't care who make weaver scope base you picked... it's still just a friggin weaver scope base. How about this, Hero... instead of endlessly replacing parts that haven't even been worn in yet, how about you buy some freaking ammunition and get that gun out and learn how to actually use it. You can not buy skill off the shelf. You can not order proficiency off the net. Spend your money on yourself, not on the gun. Because it doesn't matter how much money you put into it, if you don't know how to use it.

11-11-07:  Just Say No To The Clintons:  This is a work in progress... I'm going to be adding to this as I see fit. 

Digged Down: I've noticed something lately. About half of my comment on Digg.com have been deleted. They show up in my profile and history, but in the thread they are just not there. I suspect a moderator on Digg is just deleting them out of spite. I find this very annoying and is making me think I want to drop Digg off my links.

McCain: I never liked the guy. Now I like him even less. His Mom made the comment, but I'm pretty sure that he feels the same but just didn't say it. We also see where he gets his turkey neck from. He and Guliani have turned out to be some of the least desirable candidates.

I've read some posts on a couple different gun boards that shooting game at long range is not ethical. Long range isn't ethical? Ethics has nothing to do with the range, it's about the individual hunter's ability to put the bullet exactly where it needs to go to take the animal cleanly. For some guys, this is 100 yards, for most it's out to 300 and that's respectable. But for others, that's just point blank. This is how it's done in Utah: Video Clip One. And now Video Clip Two. And Clip Three. That is some outstanding shooting. Notice that these guys are not using .50 BMG's. They are rolling with Weatherby Accumarks. It's all a matter of how you use your weapon... you have to know your gun, know your capabilities with your gun, and know when to not attempt to take a shot that is outside of your personal limitations. The guys that made those three videos teach long range shooting courses. Anyways, the videos show that not only is hunting at long range possible, but it is also ethical. I've personally not taken big game at such ranges... but I do kill coyotes. If I was going to go for a deer or speed-goat, I'm pretty sure I could do it now. But I've been working on long range shooting a lot this last two years. Last year, I wouldn't have considered it.

Freepers Creepers: I've heard too many people talk about Free Republic and how I need to get on there or that I need to read something from there. Guys, I like Free Republic in that it's doing some good work... I do. Now, just today I registered as a “Freeper” and I was going to post some responses to things... but I just can not stand the layout. I am spoiled with good forum software. Freep's lay out is a decade out dated. Now, I know it's all about the content, I get that. This is why I can tolerate The Drudge Report. But Freep's layout is just so damn awful that it makes it a total cock up.

11-10-07:  I want one of these: Magnetic Hybrid Motorcycle. I'd paint that thing red and name it Akira. Okay, sure, it's a spiffed up scooter, but it's a COOL scooter, and that doesn't happen very often.

Email from Jim Scabanski leadville420@yahoo.com: “I was reading your blog and it's obvious that you believe Democrats will try to ban guns. Q: Has there ever been a Democratic president that tried to ban guns in the past? A: No you dumbass. Q: Have legal guns ever been confiscated from law abiding citizens under the watch of a Democrat president? A: No you dumbass. Q: Have legal guns ever been confiscated from law abiding citizens under the watch of a Republican president? A: Yes you dumbass. You ever heard of Hurricane Katrina? President Bush (fucking moron) was in charge when legally owned guns were removed/confiscated from law abiding citizens in New Orleans. Funny, you didn't hear shit about that from the "liberal" media, did ya? That's because the fucking media isn't liberal. Broadcast networks are owned by RICH CONSERVATIVES. Those rich conservatives aren't going to let anything liberal slip by and go out to the masses. Use your fucking brain (you do have one, don't you?) and stop listening to Rush Limpdick. Try and think for yourself once in awhile. Just don't blow a brain cell--I'd hate for you to get hurt while trying to think for yourself. I know you're used to listening to 30 second sound bites from CNN and Rush Limpdick for all your info. But do try and think for yourself a little bit in the future. Dumbass. You're a complete dumbass. Fear the Republicans. Not the Democrats.”

Thanks for the well reasoned and rational sounding argument, Jim. Normally I don't respond to grade A morons like yourself... but you seem to be such an enlightened example... So how do you explain HR 1022? How do you say the Democrats are not trying to ban guns after you read that? If Democrats are not trying to ban guns - then why does this bill have 57 co-sponsors, not one of which have any party affiliation other Democrat? FACT: Democrats are gun grabbers. As for your reference to the New Orleans confiscations: You are right. It did happen under a Republican President's watch. But it also ended under the same and it was ordered by Democrats in charge at the local level. As soon as something happened, PRESTO – the Democrats ordered the guns seized. Look at similar mass disasters in other areas where the Republicans are in charge... oh, say... ANY of the other last major floods in the last 20 years. They did not stick their hands out demanding FEMA give them money. They did not throw a hissy fit and start seizing guns. They just simply rolled up their sleeves and got to work. And what does a President, and The Media have to do with local politics in New Orleans when Bush (that guy you think is stupid but earned better grades than John Kerry) authorized millions of dollars to improve the levees but the Democrats who were running New Orleans did nothing with that money? That was a failure on the State level. A State run almost completely by Democrats. They saw it coming and did nothing. Not only that, but the very people of New Orleans did nothing right up to the very hour the storm hit. Reports came out that just before Katrina hit, people were still bar hopping. They didn't care. If they didn't care, why should I? They could have prevented it all. Evacuated, boarded up, improved the levees... but that sounds like work and they didn't want to do that. It's so much easier to blame Bush and Fema, isn't it?
You sir, are not thinking clearly. I can tell by the number of profane words you've throw, that you are more emotional that you are logical. You are either stupid, or you are an emotional bitch. But I'm suspecting both. See, your email is a perfect example of Benford's Law of Controversy. Cheers!

Those of you in The Horde that cares to give your opinion to Jim, please feel free to do so.  He did not specify any desire for privacy in this matter.  Seeing as he is so grossly misinformed, he is probably asking for clarification on the matter.  

Elijah of The Horde lays down the Smack: “Hi George, I read that email by that GFW. He is clearly misinformed or has memory loss. I point to these articles where Clinton abused his Executive Orders to ban guns: Link One. Link Two. But of course no Democrat President has ever tried to ban guns. Best Regards, Elijah.” For those of you who don't know, GFW means “Gun Fearing Weenie”, a term penned by Kim Du Toit. That was a shot into the X Ring, Elijah. Nailed it.

I know it's not popular, but I love Rush Limbaugh. The popular thing is to distance yourself from him, even for conservatives. The reality is that the man is brilliant and has some very interesting perspectives and good reasons to back up his opinion. I am not saying that I agree with everything he says, in fact, he pisses me off at least once a week. But the well reasoned arguments he puts forth are one side of an argument and I happen to like hearing both sides on any given issue. This is why I also listen to NPR. Just so happens that NPR pisses me off a heck of a lot more and I rarely ever agree with anything there, but I still listen and give thought and consideration to their side of the issue. You see, people, (and I'm talking not to The Horde here, but to those Liberals who do occasionally read MadOgre.com) you need to look at both sides for proper perspective. Develop your own opinion and stop regurgitating Liberal Talking Points that have all been proven to be false just because they sound good at the time. BTW, I also listen to Beck, Drudge, Boortz (who is probably a favorite), Medved, Hannity, and Hewitt. All very interesting. NPR, for those who are appalled at the idea of Liberal Propaganda, is a fantastic source of news and information that the other guys don't touch. While the main line conservative pundits are all rehashing the same story, NPR is most of the time off on something else. Maybe ducking an issue, but at least it's a new subject. Such as human rights violations in China and their forced abortions and executions. They can have very good reporting when they want to.

Back to the New Orleans gun grabbing. Everyone of those police officers involved and those that ordered them to do it, should be arrested and charged for violation of our constitution. Treasonous acts.

Interesting report about Ballistic Fingerprinting. Check this out. Anyone who advocates ballistic fingerprinting doesn't know the first thing about the subject and should not be taken seriously. Now while you look at that video, check out the other video links on that page. One of them was a statement from Mitt Romney. You can find that video HERE. Guys, while Mitt Romney isn't perfect... He's my choice at that time. When you listen to Mitt, take not that he has a good, wide angle view of the subject and is possible the best choice short of Ron Paul, who just doesn't have a chance at the National Level. Mitt does. There are a number of vido clips regarding Mitt. When you go through them, Mitt sounds pretty dang solid.

11-09-07:  Something Wicked This Way Comes: From Hornady, LEVERevolution rounds for .357 Mag and .44 Mag. Hell yes! I can't find any details on these cartridges yet... but this is something I've been begging for all year. Crap! You know what this means? An 1894 Marlin .357 rifle is in my future. Or the .44? I'd love another .44 lever gun. This is some awesome news.

The Quick and the Dead: Sharon Stone is hot. Russel Crow is cool. Gene Hackman is a force of nature. But this movie is such a steaming pile of crap. The plot is shallow, weak, and cliche', the dialog is juvenile... everything about it is sad. How can you have these three actors together in a western and have such a cockup? Man, this movie could have been such a triumph. It could have been epic.

Coyote Hunting: I've got the Kia running again and first thing in the morning I'm going coyote hunting. The weather is cool, the coyotes are hungry and on the move, and the bounty is on. (speaking of the Kia, funny how the name is K. I. A... but at least it's running) One thing we have found this season, is that our effect on the dogs last season was dramatic. This year, the dogs are very stupid. They are not educated like they were last year. We killed off all the smart ones, leaving pups to grow up not knowing how to avoid hunters. This means our harvest of ears will be substantial... if we can get out there enough and hut them. I know some of The Horde does not agree with my belief that coyote hunting is beneficial. Take a look at this. Listen to it. Did you hear the bit that “fawn survival almost doubles”? We have Elk, Mule Deer, Antelope, White Tail, and other animals that have a difficult time surviving because of the drought. They are struggling with predator pressure and not doing well. My goal is to help them out, have some fun, and make a little money doing it. There is also the request of ranchers for a little help too. They can take losses that effect their financial survival. Calves and lambs get killed by a coyote, the rancher looses a lot of money. If a rancher loses too many, they can lose all the profit they would have made for the year. Most of my hunting is up in Daggett, because that's where the county pays a bounty. But I'll just as happily turn the ears over to a rancher for the same amount of bounty.

We had a lot of discussion regarding the .30-06 cartridge. While I do love the cartridge, I must confess, it is not a favorite. One reason is that as a long range shooter, the heavier 180 grain loads can slow down into transonic velocity after 600 yards. When the bullet enters transonic speed, it has to pass through it's shockwave again. When this happens, the bullet can be destabilized and this can through off your accuracy. If you want to use a .30-06 out here in my desert, you should use a 150-165 grain boat tail ballistic tips. The better the ballistic coefficient, the better your results out here. In other places in the country, you are not often shooting past 600 yards, so it doesn't matter. My favorite rifle range out here... starts out at 600 yards. This is why I've become such a fan of the 7MM Rem Mag. It does extremely well at extended ranges, without shoulder crushing recoil. I'm also a fan of the .300 Win Mag, but the recoil on that one can be much harsher. Do you need a big magnum cartridge to really reach out there? No. No you don't. The .308 is capable. The 7MM-08 is capable. The good old .270 is. The .25-06 is. Lots of cartridges are. Even for killing game at long range, you still don't need a heavy magnum. But those big heavy magnums... awesome fun.

The Writer's Union Strike: This is hilarious. I think we are going to find that a great many of the movies that come out in the near future are going to be so much better than those written by these hacks that are out on strike. I see a lot of collateral damage in some TV series, but it was all crap to start with, so there is only one way it can go now. This is just another example of how crappy unions can be for any industry. Any industry that is operating with a union is handicapped and puts out a lesser product. This is why our American car industry is manufacturing outside of the US and foreign makers are building here. Let's bring it down to the basics – Unions are retarded. Look at all the best movies lately.

Email: “Hi George, Just reading your comments on the woman getting annoyed about Democrats being anti-gun- perhaps she should actually take a look at what’s going on in Washington. Amazing! Got just one thing to say- take a look at the names on H.R. 1022 of the 57 co-sponsors- every last one of them is a Democrat. End of argument.”

My hell, I am sick of Liberals... I'm tired of hearing them call our Soldiers failures and murderers. I'm so sick and tired of them patronizing the enemy and doing everything they can to weaken our armed forces. I'm even more sick and tired of them doing everything they can to weaken our nation here at home. Let's call this all what it really is – TREASON. I'm not going to waste my time with Traitors... I'd rather spend it with Patriots. Read the text of HR 1022. Same old crap that they did before and it did nothing beneficial for anything other than to just simply infringe upon our rights and weaken the country.

11-07-07:  There are two Chinese places here in Vernal, Utah. One is a sit down joint that is completely average and totally over priced. But at least the food is edible. Then there is the Win On, a buffet that is endowed with supernatural magical powers. That place is AMAZING. They have the ability to suck all the flavor out of everything so no matter what dish you sample, it all tastes the same... like watery boiled potatoes. Even the wasabi is weak. Our oldest wanted to eat there for his birthday dinner, and he enjoyed it because he is young and doesn't know any better. I considered it for lunch today, but the wave of nausea that swept over me like a tsunami forced me to make alternative plans.

Tactical .308 on the cheap. Lots of emails regarding the cheapest off the shelf tactical set up that will do the job. I've talked about this before, but I will again one last time and this time I will be specific. Remington makes something that will do not just nicely, but probably better than several other entry level tactical guns. The SPS Varminter in ..308 gives you everything a tactical shooter will need. It even has the double sling mounts so you can sling on one and bipod the other. It has an 11 degree grown, bull barrel, a nice stock that features a rather cool flare on the forend that works well with bipods and looks slick. We are selling them for only $539.99 and you would have to spend a great deal more to get better. And it's a Remington so there are about 200 million things you can do with it down the road to upgrade it. Scope this up with a Mil-Dot from Millet, a huge coffee can sized objective, glass that is very bright for the money... your about 300 for the scope. Done. Want a cheaper scope, the Nikon BDC scopes would serve the purpose easily and they are easier to use than mil dots. You can get a BDC for as low as 159... That's all you need guys. Sure the Marines have 23000 sniper rifles, but you don't need that to shoot well. The SPS takes to Krylon spray can camo jobs better than anything else. I've seen the SPS guns spray painted and the paint sticks like it was thermally cured.

Utah failed yesterday. We had an election yesterday and one of the issues on the ballet was that of school vouchers. I could rant on this for days, but I wont. Let me be brief. Utah fucked up. Big time. The vouchers, had that legislation passed, would have improved public schools in ways we wouldn't yet be able to calculate. To put it in a nutshell, it would have reduced class sizes, and increased the amount of money per student. Simple as that. Huge campaigns put out the idea that schools would lose money. This is flat out untrue. The money for the vouchers doesn't come out of the public schools... it would have come out of a completely different fund. They wouldn't have lost a single penny. This would have improved public schools, and left more money for the kids and the teachers. It's like Utah failed an IQ test. The argument that the private schools are unregulated is also a fabrication because they would end up being even more regulated than the public system. How so? Because of the Free Market. Parents could regulate them with their feet. One school isn't cutting it, they could pull the student and move them to a better one. Forcing that school to either improve or fail. This is a cushion that public school has always enjoyed, the fact that pulling out isnt' a realistic option for 99% of the students because there is no free market there. Privatization is the key answer to every issue in the US... it;s the solution. Utah schools are just about the worst in the Nation and this bill would have fixed that. But thanks to the Democrat led efforts and money to campaign for the bill's failure, Utah students will remain stupid and free to be indoctrinated by the Liberal agenda. Utah, you get an F.

Speaking of Liberals... We had this lady come into the gunstore the other day while some guys around the counter were talking politics. They were talking about possible upcoming gun bans and which one would go first. While she was there, I mentioned that if Hillary won in '08 that they all would be, because the Democrats have legislation written that would essentially ban everything in the store. This lady got pissed because I slighted the Democrats. Excuse me, but it;s true. Not just .50 BMG's but Remington 870 shotguns and Marlin Lever Actions too. She can as pissed as she wants to be, but the fact of the matter is that Democrats are no friends of Gun Owners. They never were and they never will be. Look at all the anit-gun legislation that has been passed in the last 20 years and all of it has been authored by the Democrats. If you don't like that, change parties.

I wrote a lengthy letter to Mitt Romney last night. Sent it to his campaign address via email. So it's just pissing in the wind, but I felt much better doing it. If you take away the gun issue and the Mormon issue, Mitt Romney would be IDEAL for this nation at this time. With the failing dollar, a guy like Mitt could turn it around in short order. Unfortunately Mitt is soft on the second amendment even though he is a life member of the NRA. His NRA membership still has wet ink on his card and his past history has left much to be lamented. The economy is probably the most important issue in our nation right now and everyone is ignoring it because thing seem to be well in many places. This is far from true. We have borrowed so much that our credit is in the toilet and our dollar isn't worth a dollar anymore. Our weak dollar is why everything is getting to be so expensive. This is drastic here and the problem (probably because of the public school issue)is that too few people understand it. This is why I'm voting for Mitt Romney. Gun control is a secondary consideration here. We don't have to worry about China invading the US... they could just foreclose. My letter was basically a plea for Mitt to grow a backbone about the second amendment. Guns are as America as the Declaration of independence and it doesn't specify type or application – it says “Arms” not “tools”. Arms refers to military weapons.... and these days that means automatics. If it meant Muskets, then the first amendment would be limited to movable type printing presses and quill and ink.

Speaking of Free Speech: There is a Children's book out there that everyone needs to be aware of. It's called “The Golden Compass”. This is about to come out as a major movie... the movie even looks pretty good. The book sounds pretty good too. Do not let your kids or your friends kids read these books. Philip Pullman is not a writer you want your kids to get to know. The author wrote the books to kill God. Simple as that. To counter The Chronicles of Narnia, show the “other side” and to kill God. To get kids to question not just religion, but the very concept of right and wrong. This is thinly veiled Satanism without the horns. Read the Snopes report on it. I find this rather disturbing, and also that this author has other book out there, for sale at my kid's school's book fair. Keep your eyes out for it. I'm not a book burner, but that doesn't mean I want my kids reading shit.

11-06-07:  Ruger and S&W both have taken serious blows in the Stock Market. I put in a buy order last Saturday and picked up some S&W stock. It's doing very well. Now is the time to get some. I don't know if I'd get into Ruger stocks right now. Ruger has just had some major management changes, so we don't know if this is yet a good thing or a bad thing. They have since put out the new SP9 pistol, but this isn't yet known to be a good thing. I'm underwhelmed with it. An average entry into a crowded market? You know what Ruger should do? Flood the market with 30 round Mini-14 magazines and make a “SOCOM-II” version. They should also make one in 6.5 Grendel. But Ruger is hopelessly cautious and slow to bring things to market. So let's not get too excited. Even if Ruger did do a cool SOCOM II type Mini-14 with a bag full of 30 round mags, I am not sure I'd buy one.

There is a lot of debate regarding the M-16 and it's pussy little cartridge. But guys that actually know what the hell they are talking about all agree the M-16 is long overdue a replacement. The weapon and the cartridge it fires. But you know it's pretty bad if even PBS get wind how bad it is. Check this video out. This is a PBS report and it's pretty amazing. The report never even mentions the cartridge, which is suitable for little girls to shoot prairie dogs with.

My oldest son is now 14 years old today. For his birthday, we gave him the white special edition Star Wars PSP. Damn that thing is cool! Wireless internet, movies, games, all that jazz in a small light device the size of a calculator... with a screen that has better clarity than anything I've really ever seen before in a handheld. It's just as crisp as my laptop. It was like 200 bucks... same price as my alternator. We had been saving up for it some time and were able to jump on the special edition unit the day it came out. Needless to say Ogreson was delighted.... I want one now. That thing is cool. I remember when the Game Boy first came out. I got one back then... I had Castlevania and it was pretty cool for the time. NOTHING like the PSP now. I might have to sell a gun and get me one.

Naaaaawww.

I know this is going to sound strange to many of The Horde, but one of my very favorite handguns is my .357 Mag Ruger Vaquero. I took it out to one of the FBMG machine gun shoots and it garnered no small amount of snickering. AR-15.com guys have no understanding of anything that doesn't feed from a 30 round magazine or a belt. The handgunning was done at about 15 yards, and I did miss a lot because of that. The Vaquero's sights are regulated from much farther away, something that I proved later when I was able to repeatedly tag a plate 100 yards away. A lot of snickering stopped after that. Handguns are capable of more than most shooters give them credit for, because most shooters just can't run them. Handgunning is a much more demanding skill than shooting rifles or shotguns. It's fantastic when things come together and you are able to make a hell of a good shot at a distance you didn't before think you could before. Moments like that, that's the juice... that makes shooting a challenge. That makes shooting something that will never get boring. And doing that with a gun very similar to the guns used by cowboys to conquer the west... I just groove on that. I've not done a full review on the Ruger... I am going to do that soon. I'm also going to do a Head to Head comparo on the Ruger MK-II and the Browning Buckmark pistol... the top two .22's for hard use.

I'm pretty jazzed about something else that a lot of guys are not going to get.  Horde Member Tsgt Matthew has sent out a nice electric guitar... an RG770FM which should probably get here by Friday. If this is the guitar I think it is, it's a 7 string unit that is going to make my brain explode the first time I pick it up... I'm pumped... I'll be able to see what my version of Hell's Bells sounds like on something other than an acoustic.  Thanks man!

How come I've never linked to GunBlast? WTF? Well, it's linked now. Those are good guys over there, and well worth reading.

11-05-07:  I've been overwhelmed with emails regarding those tasty little Pasties. We decided to cook some up ourselves with very good results. Not quite as good as something from Wisconsin, but it satisfied.

303 Question: “How do the accuracy, takedown, and recoil of the .303 compare to that of the .308? I'm looking for something that can function with good accuracy and power out to 200-300 yards with a shorter than standard barrel. I'm thinking an old Enfield jungle carbine would be good, with the detachable magazine that can be topped off in place as an added bonus. Thanks Ethan”

You are thinking right on the money.  The .303 British is a great round... it's a softer shooting cartridge than the .308, but it doesn't give up much in the way of hitting power.
.303 Brit, 150 grains:
Muz Vel: 2685.
300yrd traj:  -9.3
.308,  150 grain BTSP:
Muz Vel:  2820.
300yrd traj:  -8.4
So the .308 is 135 FPS faster, and drops one inch less at 300 yards.  A deer or bad guy wont feel the difference.... but you will on the shoulder.  I had a chopped down SMLE and it was a FANTASTIC little rifle that I wish I still had.  I would love another one.  It was accurate, hit hard, and was easy to carry and shoot.  You will LOVE IT.

Another email, this one regarding Remington Ammo: “RE: Remington ammo. I'm an RSO at my local club, so I get to see a lot of shooters shoot a lot of different stuff. I haven't heard anyone complain about inconsistent accuracy with Remington centerfire ammo, but I have noticed not many shooters use it. One of the high power competitors won't use anything but Rem 7 1/2 primers in his competition handloads.  Of course, I've never seen him win a match, either.....I have experienced, and comments on the firing line bear this out, that Remington .22 LR ammo seems to have a higher percentage of duds than one would expect. Many of those still won't fire after being rotated in the chamber to give the firing pin a fresh surface to strike. On the .22LR ammo, I've wondered from time to time if Wal-Mart gets the "factory seconds" from Remington - production batches that statistically fail quality standards on testing - because of their habit of beating suppliers down to the lowest possible price. When I see someone on the line - usually, the plinking range - generating duds with a .22 I'll ask brand and source, and it's usually a box of 550 Rem from WM. I don't have any statistical data on this, just what I've noticed; my take is I don't buy Remington centerfire ammo, no matter how cheap it is at Wal-Mart. If they have problems making their .22 ammo reliable, do I really want to trust their centerfire ammo on a hunt? Or with my life? When I found the perfect load for my 7MM RM a number of years ago (Federal, BTW) I went back to the gun store and bought every box they had of the same lot number, and visited every store within driving range for the same. I've got over 1,000 rounds left, which at about 10-15 rounds a year for hunting  (5 to check zero, 5-10 for game) is more than a lifetime supply for that rifle.Yes, I handload, and have worked up a handload that groups slightly tighter than the Federal factory ammo (don't want the brass to go to waste...), but the 7 gets shot so little, and the Federal is so consistent (and effective) there's not much point in it. /PG”

I've said it before, but it is worth saying again. Hornady Ammunition is my favorite and if I can't get my caliber in Hornady, I'll take Federal as my second choice.

Gerber Applegate-Fairbairn Combat: I got one of these bad-boys from one of MadOgre.com's sponsors. This knife is impressive. Very large, very cool, very intimidating. The 4” blade in this one is half serrated and it has a double bevel... you could probably sharpen the dull side, but there is no need. This blade is going to have no problem stabbing anything. The handle is long, but carries easily with the pocket clip. The blade is hair popping sharp, but not as scary sharp as a Cold Steel. Probably due to the fact this blade is thick, meant for heavy duty work... and considering the knife's occupation, that “work” has sinister implications. Drawing the knife is smooth and easy thank to the simple, hand friendly shape. Opening the blade is fast with a combo thumb/wrist flick. I normally don't like the weird safety locks on some folders... like CRKT knives – I hate those. But on this one, I like it. The mechanism is a clean and clever design that integrates easily with how you use the knife. It works well and doesn't get in the way. I'm digging this knife. $79.00 This is one deadly serious defensive carry knife. Guys, I need your support, by supporting MadOgre.com sponsors. Get a Gerber or a Kershaw over there on the right side of the screen... Good knives. I love mine... get one for yourself... a treat for yourself.  You wont regret it.  Especially a Kershaw Boa, that's one of my all time favorite blades.

Hillary in a Lesbian scandal? Read the rumor here. The woman she's rumored to be snogging is a gal named Huma Abedin. Check her out. Damn... good for Hillary! Holy crap - Huma is smoking hot!  A much better looking catch than I thought Hillary could bag... I was expecting it to come out that Hillary was shagging Madeline Albright.  Sorry for that mental image.

11-04-07:  I really don't like Remington Ammunition. I've never had good results with it and most of the time when I have a problem that is ammunition related, it's either cheap factory reloaded stuff like A-Merc or it's new factory Remington ammunition. I was going to mention this yesteryday, but was too pissed about that Bushnell scope. Here's what happened... Travis and I were sighting in his 7MM for his Elk hunt. His 7 is going to be his backup rifle as his main gun for the hunt is a S&W 460 revolver. Well, Trav had some Hornady 162 grain BTSP loads and we started using them. Everything worked great and his rifle was working well. Then he ran out and pulled out a box of premium Remington ammo using the very good Scirocco bullets. His line of thinking was that he would use the Remington on the hunting trip. He'd fire a couple and it would do well... then a flier. Then another flier. Basically his group opened up to 4 inches. This is because of one simple reason... Remington ammunition is not consistent. I've seen this before in some other calibers from Remington, but not to this degree. This was pretty bad. I'm sure they are loading them with similar throws of powder into the case... a company like Remington probably has decent quality control and consistent manufacturing. I think Remington's issues come from the primers. Remington has notoriously hard primers. If there is an inconsistent ignition, there is no way you are going to have a consistent burn through the powder charge. As a result you are going to see fliers and bigger shot groups. I think CCI is just about the best Primer you can get... Remington needs to get primers from CCI and forget about that crap they use. Now, I'm not sure if that's the cause of Remington Ammo inconsistency... but that's what I suspect.

However I really do like Remington rifles. I think the 700 action is fantastic. Every action has a downside, and Remington's is the extractor. Let's just get that out of the way. But really how weak is it? Not that big of a deal The extractor might be the weakest link, but problems are few and far between. The 700's are very reliable and very accurate. They have one that I am really jonesing for over here. The Alaskan Ti. It weighs a mere 6 ¼ pounds... I think I need one in 7MM Rem Mag or .300 Win Mag. I can't decide yet. The spiral cuts on the bolt do nothing really in terms of accuracy and reliability... doesn't make it any slicker either. But it does cut down on the weight. Hey Dad, yeah, you can get me one of these for Christmas. With a Silver finished Leupold VX-III 4.5-14 B&C scope. Thanks.

Want a cool wallpaper?  Click this... large image file.

11-03-07:  Freaking Bushnell: That little Bushnell scope I put on the CZ crapped out on me. Actually what happened was that I got it dialed in and it was working great. Nailed a steel plate at 621 yards according to the Leica rangefinder. I was well pleased with the rifle and the scope. A couple hours later I was going to pull a bore snake through it and oil it. I looked through the scope on a whim and noticed something. The cross hairs had a gap in it up at the top... and the line going off to the three o'clock was crooked. Busted. I didn't think the little 527 kicked hard enough to damage any half decent scope. Well, it turns out that the scope is a “Legend” and evidently it isn't quite half decent. It's going back to Bushnell for a repair and a revamp. We'll see how it goes when it comes back... Maybe I'll put it on a .22 or something, because I've lost faith in the Bushnell. This is unfortunate, because I was liking it. Okay, well, I like the rifle it was mounted on. Eventually I'm going to top it with a Vortex 2-7 variable. Normally I would say that I'm set on a Leupold.

Speaking of weak scopes. Take a guess at what scope it is that we sell that gives us the most problems? I'll give you a hint – they are very expensive and made in Austria. Usually they lose their ability to hold a zero, but yesterday I had one right out of the box that had no movement for the windage adjustment. It clicked, but nothing inside the scope actually moved. This pissed me off. The customer dropped almost 3 Grand for the rifle and scope he wanted, and it didn't work. It was the last one too... a 4-12 TDS scope. Closest thing to it was a 4-12 BR scope, so we swapped it out for him at no cost. I hope he likes the BR reticle... I do. We've had more problems with Swarovskis than any other scope brand. I'm serious. I wouldn't put a Swarovski on any rifle bigger than a .270WSM. I just wouldn't do it.

I spend some time looking at 7.62X39MM ballistics. The old adage is that “it hits like a .30-30.” I'm still gong to test it, but I've come to the conclusion that this isn't quite true. Traditional .30-30 loads using flat faced bullets do fall short and 7.62X39MM is better. But now days we have these new LEVERevolution loads... which are 50 FPS faster, and believe it or not, have a better ballistic coefficient and loses less energy over distance and has less drop than standard Russian military stuff. If you want to make 7.62X39MM outperform the Hornady load – you are going to have to buy better ammo or reload it yourself. Unfortunately Hornady only makes one bullet with a .310 diameter. It's a soft point, so it should do well for hunting, but it has a short nose and a flat base and only weighs 123 grains with a rather sad ballistic coefficient of .252. If you go down to .308 diameter bullets, more options open up but the rifle is made for .310 bullets. So accuracy could suffer. Many reloaders say it doesn't. One day I'm going to explore that. But these days, and for the matter of my testing that old adage, I'm going to test tradition loads against the most common Russian Military type fodder.

Rumor has it that there is a company out there that does a conversion for the CZ 527 from the 7.62X39MM over to 6.5 Grendel. That's interesting... I'd be most willing to test that one... maybe on another 527, because I'm enjoying this one and I especially like how absolutely cheap it is to shoot.

One of the new guys at work purchased a Pontiac factory supercharged Grand Am. Nice looking car. It has some strong acceleration and could probably take my Contour in a straight line drag out to a quarter mile... but my car has a higher top end and it handles a hell of a lot better. So yes, he could be me if the race was short and straight. But if there is a turn or if it's longer – I'd own him. Maybe we'll have to race one of these days.

A Nation Of Sheep. Watch this video. This puts some things into perspective. I bet this doesn't sit on YouTube for long.

The new HK P30 handgun. You've got to be kidding me. $790 to $1000 for a revamped HK USP Compact?  It doesn't do anything special, it doesn't do anything different... there is nothing interesting about it... and it looks stupid. It looks like it's trying too hard to be Uber-Cool and ends up looking more like a Barak – universally awarded the title of Ugliest Handgun ever. Good job HK! Some one asked my at the gun shop why we don't stock HK weapons. “Why would want to do that?” I couldn't get a good answer to that.

11-02-07:  Excellent Article! Read This. Outstanding article. Brilliant work.

Oleg Volk's neighbor was murdered. In response, he said this “It is a duty of all people capable of self-defense to reduce the thug population, thus indirectly protecting those who cannot fend for themselves.” Amen to that.

The Pasty: When I lived in Wisconsin for a couple years, they had a food there that I've not had since I left... and I've been craving it. The Pasty. This was a meat and potato pie similar to a Hot Pocket, but larger, more filling and much better tasting. The best place for Pasties were in Madison at this little joint operated by an old German couple. Good grief they were awesome. For like 3 bucks you could get a Pasty and a 24 ounce soda and that my beloved Horde, was a MEAL. Oh man – I want one! One of these days I'm going to buy a big motorcycle and tour this nation and a couple others... and I'm going to go through Madison, Green Bay, and Osh-Kosh and visit a few places that had some good food... mostly pasties. Hmm... Dekalb, Il had a good burrito joint near NIU.. I'd have to visit there too. Rhinelander? The best place to eat was at the home of a Chippewa Indian lady. But really I'm digging on those Pasties... good grief I want one!

Interesting Email: “Re: Rudi Giuliani. This guy hit the news here in the UK for one of his current political campaign adverts in which he criticises socialised healthcare in the UK. A few people were outraged, since our National Health Service is a bit of a sacred cow but, as far as I am concerned, he was spot-on. Our public hospitals in the UK are an absolute disgrace, despite the vast amounts of taxpayers money pumped into them. The problem? Civil servants are running the show: over-staffed, pampered, unaccountable, unmotivated, ineffective, self-serving scumbags. You could take a pistol and stroll through the Department of Health offices in Westminster, shooting every other civil servant and make no difference to effectiveness. My own father in law spent some time last year in Staffordshire Royal Infirmary, a hospital so dirty and badly run that it would shame a concentration camp. The place is so filthy that there are entire species of bacteria which are unique to its wards and operating theatres and which have been named after it. The staff are so lazy that I witnessed patients having their wounds dressed by their relatives rather than the nurses. Worse still, British soldiers, wounded in battle and sent home, are more likely to die in one of our hospitals that they were in-theatre. It’s disgusting. So, well done Rudi – private healthcare is the only way to go. - James, UK”

This is a pretty good example of what is wrong with Government Employees and why Privatization ensures higher quality service. Real simple example is also Waitresses... they are partially payed with tips. This system ensures that they serve you well. Now I'm not saying that Hospitals should be move to a gratuity based pay system... but when the employees have a stake in the business, they work better. This is proven everywhere it is tried. You take something that is run well, turn it over to the Government – any government – and everything goes to shiat. This happens every time it is tried too. I can't think of any instance where the Government steps up to take over something and it is actually improved. That doesn't happen.

The CZ 527 Carbine: I couldn't stand that damned Simmons piece of crap on such a fine little rifle. I had to take it off. Now, before I did... I took it out shooting again along with a friend from work. Travis picked up the gun, chambered a round, cussed the scope, and then nailed a bullseye on a 2 inch orange target sticker at 200 yards. He's a crack shot, but to hit like that with a strange rifle with a bad scope? That says a lot about the easy handling little carbine. Remember my 14 year old son did the same thing on a hubcap sized rock at 500. Guys, I shit you not – this is the best damn little rifle I've ever owned. I've not put it head to head against The Black Marlin yet – but I will. I'll get to it. Back to the scope thing. I put a different scope on it. I don't even know what it is. It doesn't say. It's not a Legend, not a Banner, and the optical quality is actually right up there with the Elite 3200... but the Elite 3200's all say what they are. It's fully waterproof like the Elites. It's a 3-9X40 with a mil-dot reticle. It has thick posts and then drops to a very fine Mil-Dot. I like it. I think it works for me on this Carbine. The fine reticle will make shooting at small distant things so much easier. Here is the most irritating thing about it – I've not shot it yet! Aarrgh! I've still yet to actually put the 527 to paper and shoot groups with it... But I'll do it when I zero it. It might not be the most accurate or tightest shooting gun/caliber combo – but it is probably the easiest carbine to make hits with... and that's the important bit. You can have a gun that prints one hole groups but if you can shoulder it and fire it and make a hit with it, that small group ability means nothing. Yes, those are two separate things. Sometimes you find both in the same rifle, and when you do, well, then that is a magical combination. Hopefully I will find that I have both. Regardless, this little carbine is scoring big points with me. I'm going to have to take it out tomorrow and do some serious shooting. Which means bringing out the laser rangefinder, spotting scope, sand bags, and better targets.

A customer I've never seen before came into the store and asked for some ammo... .22-250. He was concerned about it being hot enough. I asked what he was hunting has I handed him a box of Winchester Ballistic Silver Tips. “Elk”, he said. I pulled the box back before he could take it. “I'm sorry.” I said as put the box back on the shelf. “.22-250 is not an Elk cartridge.” “It's fine,” he said “I killed and Elk with a .17 last year.” In all seriousness I couldn't believe this guy. “You are either bullshitting or you shouldn't have a hunting license... I suspect both. Have a nice day.” I couldn't stand talking to this guy for one moment longer. I can't stand morons... and this guy is the biggest I've talked to since the last time I talked to my liberal sister. The Elk is the most noble and majestic creature in North America and this jackass is going to be taking potshots at them with a frigging varmint rifle? Seriously, if I see him in the field during the Elk season with a .22-250, I'm going to throw him a beating.

10-30-07:  Serious Question: “George, Since you’ve been talking about scopes so much, can we talk some rifles? Let’s say I’m in the market for a “tactical” rifle. I’m going to use that description since that is how they are all marketed anymore. I’m not really wanting to spend the change on a “custom” unit and with today’s over-the-counter options, I’m not really sure I need to. I’m been looking at the Kimber line and I really like some of the things FN is producing and it really seems like we have some great value in both those offerings. CZ also seems to be coming to the table with some nice toys. Remington and Savage are nice, but IMO they’ve “Lost that Loving Feeling” and no longer have their finger on the pulse of what to bring anymore. I guess the stock is a personal thing and most are offering a variety of McMillan choices so I’m mostly interested in your voice on actions and quality and customer service. I guess this is a WWOD question since you are in with the big boys anymore. Caliber would be .308 or .300 Win and most likely the later since I’m used to it in my Browning BAR (old 70’s Belgium made gun – it is sweet)”

There are two ways to go about this. Buy or Build. First, let me go on and explain the build proposition. You can take an old Remington 700 that you have in your closet... an old beater that is ugly and in dire need of some love. Or you could buy an old 700 from a dealer with some trade ins or a pawn shop. You want one with a long action, but it doesn't matter the caliber. You just want the action. Get the 700 for as little as possible. Now that you have the action, order the McMillan stock of your choice. So you have the action, stock and now you need a barrel. I like Shilen. You can get a stainless steel match grade barrel for only $474. All said and done, you are getting your 700 essentially custom built for a heck of a great price. Don't skimp on the barrel if you take your shooting seriously. If you play your cards right, you could totally rebuild or build your gun for less than a thousand.

Now the Buy option is a bit more fun. You have lots of options and you don't have to get your hands dirty. Now the problem I have with tactical bolt action rifles is that they are regular bolt action rifles with the stocks painted black or blotchy camo. There really are no features of a tactical rifle that are not cosmetic. A good tactical rifle will have a couple qualities that one needs to be aware of. First is accuracy. It has to be accurate, nothing else comes first. After accuracy the other qualities fall into place as ease of use, stability, and it can not have a shiny wood stock. That's about it really. Everything beyond these things is just marketing.

Remington is a first option. They make several models that will serve our purposes. One being a “Tactical” model with a flat green stock. It's called the “Model 700 XCR Long Range Tactical Rifle”. Creative, that. If I remember right the price we would sell it for was less than $1200. The best thing about it is the Bell & Carlson stock. It looks serious, doesn't it? All the good bits are the unseen. The new X-Pro trigger system and the XCR finish. Popular is the double sling swivel attachment points. I think that's an over rated addition because all those bi-pods you attach to them have a point to attach your sling anyways. This is also an indication that the shooter isn't really as deadly serious. Bipods are highly over rated like Mark Wahlberg movies. Marine scout snipers shoot off of rests, usually field improvised out of their rucksacks or something. Now if you don't want to spend that much money you could get a regular XCR or an SPS rifle and hit it with some Krylon.

Most rifle makers do something similar the 700XCRLRTR (I'm not typing that again) including CZ who has their model 750 Sniper. It looks like the rifle someone would use if they worked for Darth Vader. The MSRP is a cool two grand. Actual retail will be somewhat less. That's not a bad way to go and if you wanted a sinister looking rifle, this one is my choice. But what if you don't want a sinister looking rifle? What if you want a tactical rifle that is a bit of a sleeper? CZ has that too. They call it the Ultimate Hunting Rifle and it is fantastic. Take away the militaristic Nightforce scope with it's knobby off road styling and put on something less dramatic and you have a great looking hunting rifle in .300 Win Mag. CZ does not specify what you can hunt with it. But with a guaranteed 600 yard MOA accuracy with a different scope you can hunt anything. They guarantee 1000 yards with that Nightforce. The price seems steep at first, a whopping $3450 MSRP. But the rifle sans scope is only around 1800 which puts it about in the same price range as a Weatherby Accumark. Not bad at all.

Now that Weatherby I just mentioned.. They are well known in the hunting community as game slaying bastards – and they have one for whatever game it is you are hunting. A .257 Weatherby Mag, 7MM Rem Mag, .300 Win Mag, or the ridiculous .30-378 Weatherby Magnum... which is an anti-aircraft shell necked down to thirty caliber. It can Pole-Axe an elk at 1000 yards. But Weatherby also has some of their own Tactical rifles and I know a couple police snipers that use them. Take a look on this page at the bottom. There is your sinister looking ones. I've not mentioned the FNH PBR because, well, you should already know about that one.

Freakingshitdamnhell: You guys know I don't have any good luck at all. Mine, is all bad. Remember when I said the belt came off the alternator? It did... that's not the problem. What bugged me was the why. The belts looked new. Well, I found out why. The alternator seized up. That's what caused the belt to break. This isn't an old looking unit either... the damn thing is the shiniest bit under the hood. Why it seized, I don't know. I don't care. But with the Kia down for awhile, and the Pontiac down... this leaves us with only 1 small vehicle that's operational. The Contour. I'm not a mad ogre right now. I'm furious. The exacerbating thing about this... is that I have nothing to be furious at. Not the guy that sold the Kia to me... not even at the Kia because these things just happen. It's a part of buying a used car. I know that. It's just that this is all extremely bad timing because Mrs. Ogre's due date is Thanksgiving, but in reality she could pop any time. We're trying to get things ready for all that... We have property taxes due in week... just everything is piling on and it is stressing me out. Time to listen to some soothing music and chill the hell out. I'm thinking Journey right about now. You know what... I would trade the Detonics Combat Master for a someone to come out and install a new alternator, make the car run, and throw four new all terrain tires on it. I'd make that trade right now. Seriously. I'd take that. That would be a done deal. I'd be losing about six hundred bucks in value on that deal, but I don't care. Hmmm... maybe I should hold out for an engine rebuild for the Bronco too.

I'd rather be out coyote hunting or fishing... the dogs are on the move now and are coming to any call... And now that the weather is cooled the fish are biting right up by the surface of every water in the area. This is like a magical time for Ogre type guys... and I'm freaking stuck. This is bullocks.

If I was a wealthy man, I'd probably do something silly with the Kia, just for the hell of it. I thought of this when I observed a wrecked car on the bed of a flatbed tow truck on the way to the junk yard or someplace. It was a Mazda RX8. A very small car with a slick engine... a rotary. I bet it wouldn't be all that difficult to transplant that engine into the Sportage. Since the Sportage has a ladder frame under the body, there is a lot of room for modifications that you just can't do with vehicles made with a unibody construction. Off the bat, I'd say that I'd want to put a larger engine in it with more pistons... but this isn't a Jeep. It would never be cool – ever. Not even if it was powered with the engine out of a Corvette... so why not something silly? After all, the current engine is a Mazda engine out of the Miata, so the RX-8 is a logical upgrade if you use twisted logic like mine. Fortunately for the motoring world, I am not a wealthy man and I never will be. You sports car enthusiasts will not need fear me insulting one of your favorites.

10-29-07:  Not much on my mind right now... busy with all kinds of stuff.  So we will share an email.  Queue up the Strongbad heavy metal email music: “Ogre, I shot a 6 point whitetail with the vanguard 7mm rem. mag last Saturday. It went completely through both shoulders. He took a few steps and fell. When cleaning the deer, I saw the utter devastation that this 150 gr. Sierra soft point boat tail did on this deer's heart and lungs as usual, was amazed as usual, and wondered why the U.S. military isn't using a more potent round for the troops. You could shoot a 223 through a 30" barrel and it wouldn't make a wound like this! I don't believe that there is much difference between the .308, 30-06, 7mm-08, 7 rem. mag. in the efficiency on a deer, or a human, but I can't see a 223 causing this much damage. If a human is shot with one of the bigger rounds, there is little hope for said target, whereas, there is hope for a human with a gut shot or a shoulder shot with the 223. I hope that our military will someday get it's head out of NATO's ass and arm our soldiers with a real manstoppers like the 30-06 and .45acp – Steven” Hooaah. In my mind, a cartridge that is designed to kill big game as cleanly as possible is just about the idea military cartridge. Any of them. Pick one. A cartridge that was only a mediocre varmint cartridge has no place in the hands of warriors.

10-28-07:  So Argentina has a new female President. First elected woman President in that country and the first elected woman president in the modern western world – that I'm aware of. She's not bad looking either. Better looking than Margret Thatcher at least. Unfortunately a quick glance at photos show her to be quite buddy buddy with the likes of Hugo Chavez, the paranoid, communist bastard who has Venezuela in a death grip. Speaking of which – don't buy gas from Citgo. Just saying. She seems to lean far too left for me to be comfortable with. There is a silver lining to this mess. A bit of good news we can glean from this. She's going to show us what it's going to be like here if Hillary Clinton wins the white house. Kind of a small scale simulation. We can estimate that anything that Cristina does to screw up her country, we can multiply that damage times ten and that's going to be what Hillary does to us. Of course, I am being optimistic. Hillary is going to be much worse. Still, it is going to be well worth the while to keep our eyes on Argentina for the next year or so.

MadOgre.com: Since Ogre Ranch has been Wired, I've been able to take a bit more time for the site and clean a few things up and do some things I've been meaning to do. Some minor things here and there. If there are somethings that need to be fixed... let me know. I'll put it on the To Do list. And don't say full site rebuild. I'd love to do that, but I honestly don't know how I would go about doing that and I'm not about to use Word Press or one of those other shake and back blog engines. I'm all about HTML, not a database.

Should Japan have F-22's? You can look up the F-22 Raptor yourself, and bathe yourself in pure All American Awesomeness. Now consider all possible future conflicts and how the F-22 can come to play. The only downside to the Raptor is that we don't have enough of them. Future will include China of course... and having F-22's stationed in Japan would be an asset. Having Japan buy a bunch of them and station them for us, at no additional cost to us would be a strategic windfall. Unfortunately Japan is weak on security and many of our secrets have been slipped because of Japan. This is too bad. If Japan could sort themselves out, this would be a Win-Win for both nations. However since Japan can make no guarantees, they are going to have to look for an alternative. I suggest the Israeli version of the F-16, the F-16i. Or at least look at those Israeli upgrades for their own aircraft fleet. Ideally what will happen is that Japan could get themselves sorted, and just buy as many F-22's as possible. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would be dandy, but it isn't anywhere as capable as the Raptor and it is nearly just as expensive. What we could do is lease the warbirds to Japan with our own security details. This is something we have done in the past and could easily do again.

More thoughts on the .30-06. Most detractors of the .30-06 seem to do so only keeping in mind the old Jacketed Soft Point 180 grain loads. Much like AR advocates talk about the AR's wounding capability out of full length M-16's yet boast of the M-4's ease of use.

Hornady .30-06 165gr SST Light Mag: Velocity/Energy:

Mzl: 3015/3330. 300 yard: 2405/2118. 500: 2041/1526

Trajectory in inches:

Mzl: -1.5. 100 yd 1.5. 200 yd 0.0. 300 yd. -6.6. 400 yd -19.3. 500 yd -39.

A more traditional 180 grain load is going to be a bit higher at 100 yards, and fall about 2 inches more at 500. The 165 is a little faster and flatter. Now let's look at the .300 Win Mag, the one that everyone likes and use as the base for the Aught Six Scoffs. Since I looked at the Hornady 165 grain load, let's look at the same bullet with the Win Mag.

Hornady 165 gr. SST:

Mzl: 3100/3520. 300 yard: 2478/2250. 500: 2108/1628.

Mzl: -1.5, 100 1.3, 200 0.0, 300 -6.2, 400 -18.1, 500 -36.6

Okay, the .300 Win Mag is a monster. But it's only .4 inches less of a drop at 300 yards than the Aught Six. At 500 yards its only dropped four inches less. The power of the .300 Win Mag is only 100 pounds greater. This is not a huge increase in power over the Aught Six. If you are sniping at an enemy commanding officer, you only hold one button higher on his uniform... and he isn't going to feel a difference having been hit by the Aught six. This is not much difference here... because if you were to cut just 2 inches of barrel length off the .300 Win Mag, you would have the same exterior ballistics as the Aught Six. I'm not slamming the Win Mag here... I'm just saying that it does not make the .30-06 obsolete. It does not force retirement. Now just for fun let's look at my favorite cartridge and compare them to what we've just looked at:

7MM Rem Mag 154 gr SST:

3035/3149, 2508/2150, 2189/1638.

-1.5, 1.4, 0.0, -6.2, -18.0, -36.1

Oh snap! What do we have here?  Faster and flatter by a tick and yet only a measly 11 grain lighter in bullet weight. And I must say a lot easier on the shoulder. What does this mean? What can we gain by this? We have learned that this is all much ado about nothing. In effect, in terms of practical application, these are all hitting hard and fast and in a hunting/tactical field situation – your results are going to be about the same. 99% of all creatures that walk the earth would be effectively slain with either of these three cartridges. Much like racing cars these are. There might be slight advantages from one car to the other, but the biggest differences come from one thing. The Human Factor. It's the driver, the shooter, the pilot... that is what makes all the difference. Everything else is splitting hairs and possibly even meaningless. Since only hits count, then only hits matter. If you can't take your old rifle and make that hit with it – then it doesn't matter what you are shooting with. You might as well be throwing stones and foul language for all the good it is going to do you.  Pick your rifle, scope, caliber... and spend some time shooting it.  I see far too many guys buying a new rifle and scope set up, and only buying one or two boxes of rounds for it.  This tells me that they do not take their shooting seriously.  Unless they reload, and hardly any of them do.  Might as well not even have purchased the rifle for all the good it's going to do them.   Yes, ammunition is going up.  Yes, it is more expensive to shoot these days, but that doesn't mean we shoot less.  Shooting is a perishable skill.  It's not like riding a bike, it's more like running races.  You have to train for it.  Practice.  And if you stop practicing, you may have to start all over again to build your skills back up.

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