Monthly Archives: December 2019

Choosey? Uzi.

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,Rawles had an article on his website about the Uzi the other day. As you know, years ago I picked up an Uzi after carefully trying come up with a non-SBR solution to a rugged,proven, 9mm carbine that would take down into a package small enough to fit in your average ‘three day pack’. At the time, there were not a lot of choices…while there were guns on the market that fit most of the criteria, virtually all of them were new designs that did not have a proven and established track record in terms of performance and durability. When I lucked out and fell into an Uzi, it pretty much hit all the high points in terms of what I was looking for.

You have to keep in mind that, nowadays, a ‘wrist brace’ lets you create short-barrelled ‘not a carbine’ guns quite easily, but at the time I acquired the Uzi that was not an option. So, since we are in a new era of designs and rule-bender/beater gimmicks like the wrist brace, would I still go with the Uzi.

Honestly, probably not…for that purpose.

THe Uzi is a fine gun, no two ways about it. But like the M1 Garand, or the 1911, it was a fine gun for it’s time. And times change. The Uzi has a few things going against it as a semi-auto carbine…scant availability of accessories, not ambidextrous, very heavy, virtually no optics mounting options, etc, etc. Compare and contrast the Uzi against something more contemporary like, say, a CZ Evo or Sig MPX, and you can see that the design is pretty dated and doesn’t offer the features we’ve gotten used to in more recent designs.

What the Uzi does have, in spades, is a proven history. It’s been around long enough to have figured out what works and what doesnt work. Other guns like the MPX, Evo, etc, are too new to have decades of experience behind them.

The reason I wanted a takedown carbine was to have something compact enough to be extremely portable, but carry a goodly amount of firepower. If the world came crashing down and I had a need to have a high-capacity ‘long gun’, the Uzi would be the one tucked in the bag under my desk.

Nowadays though…I’d trade it out for the Ruger PC9 in an aftermarket sidefolding chasis, or a ‘wrist braced’ 9″ AR style gun. Why? It comes down to one big factor – logistics. A half dozen Glock magazines, 17- or 33-rd, can be interchanged between pistol and carbine, streamlining logistics considerably.

Some people will, of course, say that the issue of magazine interchangeability is overblown and that the tradeoff of stepping down to a pistol caliber, versus a rifle caliber, for the sake of magazine interchangeability is a bad tradeoff. Well, as it turns out, if I wrist braced a 9″ .223 AR pistol the reduction in ballistics performance drops me down to almost identical energy of a 9mm +p. In other words, the .223 out of a ‘wrist braced’ AR pistol fairly equals a 9mm out of a 16″ carbine. There’s more to it, of course… the .223, even at the lower velocity, will shoot flatter and probably penetrate a bit better but with the similar ballistics I’d rather have the option of not having to keep two different kinds of magazines in my bag and on my belt.

I’m not foolish enough to say that money isn’t a consideration when choosing gear that may someday be called upon to keep you hale and hearty, but it shouldn’t be an overriding consideration. AN original IMI Uzi, in semi-auto, is going to set you back somewhere in the $1200-2000 range depending on a few factors like caliber, condition, and accessories. For that money you could buy two or three CZ or Ruger guns, or one gun and a metric crapload of magazines and accessories. The acquisition of my Uzi was serendipitous so I got an exceptionally good deal on mine. Your mileage will vary.

Options? The CZ Evo is sweet and I do have one with a buncha mags. It does everything my Uzi does at half the weight and price. The Ruger, once I get it geared out, will probably cost as much as the Uzi but will have several features, described earlier, that the Uzi never had. Additionally, there are other guns out there these days that give you the traits and features I was looking but those are the two that immediately spring to mind.

The future of my Uzi? I’ll keep it, of course. It’s an excellent house gun, a good vehicle gun, and it has a certain visual impact that is pretty hard to get elsewhere. But I suspect I’ll be dumping some money into the Ruger PC9 to optimize it for my anticipated needs and purposes.

Article – Elderly couple found dead buried under snow

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(CNN) An elderly couple that had been buried in snow in Arizona for an indeterminable amount of time was found dead on Friday, according to a statement from the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

The couple was identified as Ash Fork residents Richard Alexander 74, and his wife, Elizabeth Alexander, 79, the statement said. They were found a few minutes’ walk from their own home, according to the man who discovered the bodies. Ash Fork is a rural community west of Flagstaff.
…….
The couple’s car was found abandoned about one mile away, according to the sheriff’s office.
Im guessing they got stuck and someone decided “Heck, the house is only a mile or two down the road” and decided to go it on foot. And…someone got exhausted and couldn’t go further, and the other wouldn’t leave the one behind because that would have been sure death, and……..they die together. Romantic, but unnecessary.
My thoughts:
Winter Vehicle Stuff Pt. I , II, III, IV, V, VI

The Glock 44 announced today…a .22 G19

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Looks like Glock just put a big dent in the .22 conversion kit market by dropping the Glock 44 today….a .22LR Glock 19. This thing is going to be in so many firearms training programs it’s insane. I’ll take two…one with threaded barrel.

Im curious if it will have to be made in America due to import laws concerning .22 pistols. (If you didn’t know, ‘Saturday Night Special’ laws from the ’60s put some restrictions and requirements on imported .22 pistols.)

 

Gaming the system, or how I got a new Ruger PC Carbine for $369

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There’s nothing wrong with card counting, per se…. after all, what you do in the privacy of your own skull is strictly your business. But, if the casino catches on that you’re counting cards and getting a bit of an advantage they will ban you from the casino (assuming they first don’t take you in the back room for a little ‘talk’.) I think Cabela’s is about two steps away from posting my face on a sign at the register saying “Do not admit”. Why? Well…here’s the story…

The local Cabela’s had a deal where they would price match any store within 100 miles that a) had a physical presence (“Brick-n-mortar”) and b) had the item in stock. A reasonable policy, I think. And then it changed. Now they will price match any place that meets the criteria but they removed the proximity qualifier. This means if a legitimate gun shop in Arkansas has the price cheaper, they’ll match it. And that’s when my brain went into ”game the system’ mode. (I swear, my Indian name should be “Dances With Weasels”.)

Cabela’s had a Ruger PC9 carbine for $549. My dealer cost is about $430. This outfit had it for $408.99. So, I print out their advertisement off their website, print a picture from Google Street View of their physical store, and trot down to Cabela’s. Turns out, Cabela’s still had their 10% off deal going on with the gift cards. So, I bought a $410 gift card for…$369. ($410 x .9 = $369) Headed to the gun counter, had some back-n-forth with the manager (Who grumbled that he would be selling the gun at $10 below his cost..I didn’t bother to tell him that with the gift card it was actually around $40 below his cost.) And I walked out the door with my shiny new Ruger carbine at $60 below my dealer price and didn’t have to pay $30 to ship it.

You gotta remember: pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. So, I only plan on abusing this sort of policy fairly infrequently (like when theres a 10% sale on gift cards). Because even though technically it is company policy to price match in the way that they are doing it, and therefore I should be able to do it as much as I want, it would be a bad idea to piss off the people there too much.

As an aside, the history of me wanting a takedown centerfire carbine goes back quite a ways. I wanted something that could fit in a ‘three-day pack’. The AR was out because with a 16″ barrel you still had about 8″ of receiver on the end making it way too long for the bag. Choices, at the time, were pretty limited and thats one of the reasons I got the Uzi. (Note this was before the ‘arm brace’ craze.) However, this Ruger will probably replace the Uzi in that regard since it will share mags with my Glocks. Thus, a tidy  little bag sitting in a corner will fit my needs with a little carbine and pistol that share ammo and mags, allowing me to streamline logistics considerably. I am pleased. Only took about ten years.

Pearl Harbor Day

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A quiet Sunday morning…you’re listening to the radio, maybe getting ready for church, and you woke up in a world where your biggest worry was the oil leak in your car. And by the end of that same day the nation is marching to war and no one’s lives are untouched. Imagine what that must have been like…you woke up to orange juice and eggs and went to bed with a global war. The lesson there is that your whole life can change in just a moment. So..we prepare.

Minor mods

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I am not one of those guys who believe , as far as guns are concerned, that just because you can add an accessory to it, you should. Youre a sovereign individual and can do whatever you want, but for me all an AR needs is a sling, light, and good sights/scope. (Maybe a stock-mounted spare mag, but thats iffy.)

However, since I’m putting a sling on the gun I want to give myself a couple options. As of late I’ve been pleased with Magpuls two-point-to-one-point sling. Since it uses a QD attachment method, I needed a to replace the plate that goes between the castle nut and the receiver. Fortunately, Magpul makes pretty much everything I need and I put in one of their sling attachment points. Seems to work well.

I had a couple cheap castle nut wrenches for the AR laying around, but a few years back I bought a Hammerhead Rifle-Tool which is sort of an AR ‘multitool’. It was perfect for removing the castle nut and replacing it. Highly, highly recommend. Not cheap, and I’m sure someone will say “My $5.99 gun show Made In China wrench works just fine!”. May be. But I had he money, it’s made in Oregon, has lotsa useful features, and seemed pretty stout.

The point of this post, though, is that if you’re going to keep guns around, and you plan on holding onto them for a long time, it isn’t enough that you keep some spare parts around…you need the tools. And if you need tools to last you the rest of your life you don’t cheap out. I actually have a 40mm ammo can in storage full of AR parts, tools, technical manuals, cleaning gear, etc. I call it ‘support gear’. There are some ‘armorers’ packages available for the AR but too many of them are made in China or have a lot of unnecessary or useless tools in them at the expense of more useful/better tools. Much like no pre-packaged survival kit is a good one, you’re better off parting your own kit together. And, if you decide to do so (which you really should), I recommend that Hammerhead tool.

Tying one on

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As I’d mentioned last year, it seems like tourniquets are sort of a ‘newest and coolest’ sorta thing for the ‘serious’ first aid kit. I’ve been into survivalism for a long time and any references in fiction and non-fiction to tourniquets was almost always of the ‘loop a belt around it’ sort of variety. There were no ‘dedicated’ or purpose-built tourniquets that were readily available for Joe Sixpack survivalist…or if there were, you seldom read about them or came across them.

Cut to today’s episode. I’m talking with a fella I know and ask what’s up in his world. Turns out, his adult son had to go to the emergency room last night. Why? He was home, had a deer hung up and was cutting it up when he came to a frozen part of it. He put some extra oomph into his cut to get through it and the knife went into his wrist and severed a radial artery. Being alone and not precisely sure of how much damage he’d just inflicted on himself, he wrapped a towel around it and applied pressure. And applied. And applied. And the puddle at his feet just grew larger. So, he walks over to his neighbors house where the neighbor takes one look at him and calls 911. Medics arrive and….they apply a tourniquet …since at this point he’s about a quart low. They hustle him to the hospital and stitch up the leak. How close was he to cashing in his chips? Hard to say, I wasn’t there. But I am told that the amount of blood loss was rather significant and without something stopping it he probably would have been in some big trouble.

So, apparently there is a reasonable chance of need for a tourniquet outside of the apocalypse. Its not something I ever really thought to add to the first aid gear I keep around here because…well…it never seemed terribly likely to be needed. That mindset has now, of course, been kicked to the wayside. I’ll be finding a reputable vendor (to avoid Chinese fakes) and ordering a couple up for myself and one for a friend.

In talking to a few other people, it seems that severe cutting injuries resulting from deer processing/skinning/butchering are not that uncommon. Makes sense. Some guy standing alone in his garage with a hanged deer or elk slips and cuts himself deeply…I can totally see finding him the next day or two later laying DRT on the floor. Never thought about it before, but I can see it happening.

This is how you learn.

Ruger AR556 MPR impressions

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TL;DR: I have a new favorite AR.

Alright, the first thing to address is that the ‘MPR’ is kind of a ‘package’ for Ruger’s AR556 carbine. You can do a little comparison between the AR556 and the MPR by looking at the spec sheets, but, basically, the AR556 are M4-clones whereas the MPR seem to be a bit more refined with slightly longer barrels, freefloat handguards (which some AR556 models have), the very nice 452 Elite trigger, a non-birdcage brake/flash suppressor and Magpul furniture.

I liked the idea of something longer than 16″ but shorter than 20″, wanted the freefloat handguards, no front sight tower, and Magpul furniture. The trigger was icing on the cake and I really, really like it. Not so heavy as to preclude making good shots at distance, but not so light that you’d be unsafe running around Katrinaville.

My impressions from shooting about a hundred rounds downrange is very favorable. I don’t know if its the brake, the rifle-length gas system, or both, but the felt recoil and muzzle rise was the easiest of any AR I’ve ever shot. If you’re into fast followups this seems to be the rifle for you.

Other than that, its an AR. Ergonomics, control layout, etc, are all the same as every other one of the millions of AR’s floating around the planet. The nontypical barrel length, rifle-length gas system, and snazzy trigger are Ruger’s personal touches and they really are what separates this rifle from the others.

I dropped a set of Magpul Pro BUIS on there to keep handy in case the Leupold VX-R Patrol optic (1.25×4 30mm tube) craps out. The cheaper plastic Magpul BUIS would probably have worked just fine but they are a tad bulky and I couldn’t be sure they’d fit under the eyepiece end of the scope. The Magpul Pro, while spendy, fit perfectly with a little room to spare.

Added a sling because. Only other thing to add would be a tactical light and then that’s it. Done. What sorta crap you hang off your AR is your business, but I like to keep it neat and minimal. No VFG, no offset sights, no short range red dot, no monopod, etc.

The Leupold scope was my compromise to avoid spending $1300 on an ACOG. (Although I see nothing wrong with dropping an ACOG on this thing if you have the money.) I’d spent a lot of time fondling the two different Leupold AR scopes, one a 1″ tube and the other a 30mm, and decided to spend the extra money for the illuminated dot and the 30mm tube. Worth it. Dialed down to 1.25x and with the dot lit up this thing makes fast target acquisition possible and for longer shots I can dial it out to 4x. The dot, by the way, shuts itself off after five minutes of inactivity and then turns itself back on when it detects motion. Thats just freakin’ handy.

How does it shoot? Between the rifle-length gas system and the brake/comp on the end, this is the softest shooting AR I’ve ever handled. There’s negligible muzzle rise and barely any recoil. If you see yourself in a world where fast followup shots are called for, this is the gun for you. Ruger’s trigger is really nice and it fits the bill in terms of practicality…not too light, not too heavy. It’s got some take up and then -bang-… like a very very nice two-stage trigger.

Overall, I’m very pleased. The MPR version of the AR556 usually comes in around $150-200 more than the regular version but, in my opinion, it’s worth it. Just the trigger alone would be an upgrade of almost that value.

If you get a chance, go play with one. Especially try the trigger.

MSRP on the MPR is $899, but I’ve seen them on sale in the mid $500’s, and dealer prices usually run in the $650-700 range, which, to me, is a very reasonable price for such a neat gun. Zero recommends.

Just fanning the flames of panic buying

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Its hard to believe that December is actually here. Where the heck did the year go? Probably the most important thing to note is that there is less than a year until the election. Take nothing for granted, mi amigos… sure, the Democrats are scraping the bottom of the barrel but you can’t make your plans on what might happen. You have to be prepared for worst case scenarios. So… hie thee to your favorite internet vendor and load up on mags.

I lost count, but I think that for YTD I’m at something like … uhm…16 guns added to the stable this year. (Including…wait for it…three more P95DC pistols and another PC9 carbine.)

As Beto O’Dork forthrightly said “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47” and although he appears to have politically shot himself in the foot, he didn’t say anything that the other Democrats weren’t fine n’ dandy with.

So, for me, it makes sense to have a bit of a stockpile built up. I’d recommend you do the same. And if you’re one of those short-sighted simpletons who say “I’ve got ten magazines for my AR-15… thats plenty”, well, you’re an idiot. Stop being an idiot and do some thinking about how ten magazines to last you for the rest of your life is amazingly short-sighted to the point of idiocy.

2020 is going to be an interesting year, if for no other reason than because of that election. In fact, virtually every single thing that happens between January 1 2020 and Election Day, no matter how politically irrelevant, will be looked at through the lens of how it will affect the election. Putin invades Ukraine? How will it affect the election. Polar ice caps melt? How will it affect the election? The animated corpse that is Ruth Ginsburg finally comes to a halt? How will that affect the election? Xenu arrives? How will it….you get the idea. Get used to it, because all of 2020 will be like one year-long Super Bowl pregame show.

Im sitting at a point where, if the axe finally falls, and They reinstate the ’94 Ban I’ll be okay. Of course, the likelihood of them having a grandfathering provision in any new ban is pretty shaky, and having a sunset clause is pretty much fantasy. But, if I woke up tomorrow and whatever I had tomorrow was all I could have for the rest of my life…I’d be okay. But I strive to be more than ‘okay’, and so should you.

Anyway, that’s my ‘the sky is falling’ post on the subject for now. I’m sure I’ll revisit it a time or two before the election…especially if some nutjob shoots up a WalMart somewhere before then.