So that happened……
Distant Thunder
Right place, right time III
NOTE: New version of WordPress sucks..I somehow neglected to turn commenting on. Got something to say? Let’s hear it.
Okay…so there’s a Barrett M82A1 on its way to me. The gun ships with one lonely magazine. As you may expect, extra mags are expensive. But, sometimes fortuna gives me a wink and a nod…..
Me: I see you have some used M82A1 mags for sale
Them: Yup. $60 each.
Me: All of them…
Them: Uhm…How many do…
Me: All. Of. Them.
(And bring me all the bacon and eggs you have while youre at it)
So, I got eight more mags. If my life hits the stage where I’m laying prone somewhere needing 90 rounds of .50 BMG on hand….well….life just took a turn for the savage.
Article – Vermont outlaws paramilitary training camps
There are, of course, exemptions for “legitimate law enforcement activity or lawful activity by Norwich University or any other educational institution where military science is taught. it also doesn’t apply to self-defense instruction or practice without the intent of causing a civil disorder; firearms instruction that is intended to teach the safe handling and use of firearms; and any lawful sports or activities like hunting, target shooting and firearms collection.”
Here’s the problem – there are no objective standards when it comes to these sorts of things. All .gov, or it’s busybody fellow travelers, have to do is determine that your activity falls under their prohibitive rubric and…presto…your weekend with your buddies preparing for the zombie apocalypse magically becomes an ‘insurgent training facility’. Watch your head as you duck into the squad car.
We see this sort of threat in the new licensing/registration schemes being promotes as ‘commonsense’ and ‘reasonable’ gun control ‘safety’ laws – establish a requirement and then make the fulfilling of that requirement impossible. For example: to get a firearms permit they may require you to have an approved (keyword) safety training course under your belt. And then they simply deem that no available safety course meets the standard. Since no safety course meets the standard, the permit requirement cannot be met…but thats not a denial of your rights…after all, we’re not saying you can’t have a gun, you just need the approved course certification. And its not our fault theres no qualifying course available.
So, whenever a law like this comes up always ask yourself – how would Hitler use this law to his advantage. Because if there’s even a 1% chance this law can be used heavy-handedly to strip someone of their rights, then its a law that needs to never hit the books. When your right to something is conditional upon another qualifier being met, be extremely cautious….the odds are good that qualifier will then be made unobtainable. A good example is the ‘instant background check’ for gun purchases. Shut the system down for ‘maintenance’ and no one (generally) gets their thundertoy. Or require a license but the license office is only open on the 32nd of each month. Or require that a potential purchase get a signed letter from his local police who may decide that, sorry, we only fill those forms out once a month…see ya in thirty days.
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now, that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.” – Atlas Shrugged
Achievement unlocked. Title awarded: “He Who Laughs At Armour”
I am officially a Montana superpower.
The Barrett M82A1 will be here next week.
Yes, it hurt. It hurt bad. But the pain fades and the gun remains.
Glad I saved a bunch of that .50 from last winter.
Dagger
The primary reason I’m a big fan of the Ruger P95 is that for the price (usually $200), you can’t find a 9mm handgun of equal quality and durability. That doesn’t mean the P95 is the ‘best’ 9mm….it simply means that for $200 it’s the best you’ll find. There are other 9mm’s that are superior due to the P95’s dated design.
Most of the P95’s (but not all…most, though) lack an accessory rail, the sights are functional but thats about all you can say about them, threaded aftermarket barrels are virtually unheard of, magazines are proprietary, spare parts are tricky (although I’ve never heard of anything breaking), ergonomics are lacking, and finding a good holster is a trick.
What the P95 brings to the table is utter brute ruggedness, reliability, and economy.
But, if I could get rid of all those negatives and still keep the price down there in the 200’s, then it might be worth moving along to a different platform.
There are a few Glock knock offs floating out there these days, as well as a few well-regarded polymer pistols (Canik, Steyr, etc). The one that caught my eye was Palmetto State Armory’s (PSA) entry…their Dagger 9mm.
The Dagger is clearly a Glock knock-off. So much so, in fact, that the slides/frame interchange although there are some internal parts that are unique. But there’s also a rather large amount of parts that do interchange. And it takes Glock magazines, Glock holsters, Glock sights, and can be had in different colors and with slides that have features such as dot mounts, forward mounted rear sights, etc. But, what separates it from the other Glock wannabes is the price.
PSA sells the frames and slides separate for those who already have a Glock slide (or frame) around that they need to mate up to make a complete gun. So, if you don’t want to buy an already assembled gun (and its excise tax), you can order a frame and order a lower. PSA regularly offers ‘blems’ at a discount and also has ‘flash sales’. It’s that combination of discounts that made me decide to give them a try.
‘Sniper green’ complete frames were on sale as blems for $59. Okay, sign me up. And then they had a flash sale on ‘sniper green’ complete slides with threaded(!) barrels, suppressor height sights, and optics mounting plate. $199. Again, count me in.
So, for $260 I wind up with an off-brand Glock. Or did I? A gun that is unreliable or just plain won’t work is no bargain. I’ll take it to the range and dump a couple hundred rounds of ball through it.
But what is more interesting is to examine how it changes the logistics environment.
The Ruger P95DC (and P89DC) were never my ‘run out the door’ gun. When it’s time to grab a rifle, pack, and go,go,go my pistol choice will be the Glock. And the Glock is also my secondary tier gun as well, which is why I have so many. But sometimes there are situations where you don’t want to ‘waste’ a $500 pistol. A gun for under the seat of the truck, a gun hidden in a stall out in the barn, a gun tucked in a drawer at your remote cabin, a loaner for friends, etc, etc. Those are the times you want what essentially amounts to a disposable handgun. Good enough to do the job well, but cheap enough that if you lose it you don’t really care. For that scenario, the Rugers fit the bill perfectly.
For $60 more though, I get the economy of not having to buy specific magazines….my stash of Glock magazines will work fine. Same for holsters. And a large amount of my spare parts. And manual of arms. And accessories for the rail. And a threaded barrel for a can. And is a candidate for the ‘carbine/pistol combo that share a common magazine’. Since there’s no need to buy proprietary mags at $20/mag, and no need for a particular holster since I can use my GLock holsters, that would offset, I think, the $60 difference.
So, although in this case its about 1/3 more expensive than a $200 P95DC, the advantages may make it worth the extra coin. And, even at $260, youre still well below the price of most big-name 9mms. And there’s the additional economic incentive of not having to buy extra mags since the existing supply of Glock mags takes care of that side of things.
Pretty much every review I’ve seen so far seems to affirm that they’re pretty much what youd expect – a no-name Glock with mostly Glock performance. But, there’s no substitute for empirical data so I’ll be taking a couple to the range and seeing how they go.
I’ve no intention of dumping two dozen Ruger 9mm pistols on Gunbroker and replacing them all with the PSA gun…I’ve already established the logistics base, so wht not keep them? But for the places where I’d stash a P95DC, I might swap them out for the PSA and get the benefit of being able to leave extra mags, a mounted light, and any one of the huge number of very affordable holsters out there for the Glock.
We’ll see….they should be here this week.
Surreal estate
Warmer weather has finally arrived in western Montana. This can be a bit misleading because Ma Nature has a habit of giving us a couple weeks of summer-like weather to lull us into letting our guard down and then … wham!…donkey-punches us with snow and arctic cold. Sort like kicking someone in the cajones as you walk out the door.
This winter was a pretty long one. I’m looking forward to doing more bike rising, spending time at the range, and possibly looking at real estate. That’s one problem with shopping for real estate in Montana – for almost half the year its under a blanket of white and inaccessible without a snowmobile.
There’s a couple pieces of property I’m interested in going to look at. It’d be a tough swing to put the money together but I can get about ½ of it together without too much pain, it’s the other half that’s a concern. I have a fully paid for house, but after what I had to go through to get it that way I am absolutely loathe to borrow against it.
The owner of the property is willing to carry the note but at an interest rate that I think is a bit much, and, as I understand it, when you engage in those sorts of deals the actual ownership of the property remains with the seller until such time as the terms have been met. Which means if he gets drunk, slams into a school bus, gets sued, and people come after his assets that means I’m frozen out as the land, still being in his name, gets sold to mee the judgement. Or perhaps I have that all wrong, I need to investigate it.
But, as Will Rogers said, “Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” It’d be nice to have forty acres to hide in. Of course, I’d have to do some creative means of keeping the ownership information private…but one step at a time, y’know? First thing is to get the money together and buy the bloody thing. Hopefully if the weather is still good in a week or two I’ll go out driving in the boonies and take a look around at some of the prospects.
Roof Korea Birthday – ROK on, boys
‘Tis the anniversary of that unique subset of Americans – the Roof Korean.
For those who don’t recall, or, like me, never get tired of hearing the story, the Roof Korean was the name given to the Korean shopkeepers who grabbed their thundertoys, climbed up on the roof of their business, and persuaded would-be trouble makers to go elsewhere.
It’s a fascinating and inspiring story. The moral of that story is that sometimes things go sideways to the point that an AR, plate carrier, and a half dozen of your best friends with AR’s and plate carriers is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Video – 55-year-old freeze dried soup
We’re all familiar with Campbell’s Soup, right? Red and white can thats been around for a zillion years. You know the brand.
What I did not know was that for a few years, back in the sixties, they sold some of their soups in freeze dried form.
What we have here is a video of a couple guys opening up, reconstituting, and eating 55-year-old freeze dried soup. TL;DR – it was good.
This is unsurprising but still a good reminder that as long as the packaging is in good condition, freeze-drieds will pretty much last your lifetime. Does he nutritional value degrade? Probably. But I doubt it degrades to zero, which means that 55-year-old freeze drieds beats starving to death.
For those of you who missed it the first time, a Friend Of Gun Jesus did his own taste test on some old Mountain House and his results were pretty encouraging.
The point here is that if you include freeze drieds as part of your storage food program, and you protect the packaging from damage, your food should be just fine for pretty much the rest of your life.
Icom musing
So the Icom-7300 arrived the other day. It is, hands down, far more radio than I know what the heck to do with. First thing I noticed, though, was that the manual included with the thing was extremely lacking. Fortunately, the internet is a handy resource.
It appears that the 7300 ships with the ‘Basic’ manual…around 80 pages (https://static.dxengineering.com/global/images/instructions/ico-ic-7300_it.pdf) . What I wanted was the ‘Complete’ manual…which is around 180 pages (https://www.icomjapan.com/support/manual/2271/).
Does a hundred pages make a difference? Oh yes. Keep in mind, my radio experience is virtually nil…but, like a good survivalist, I need to learn (and retain) the necessary skills to make full use of this tool.
I am, unfortunately, going to have to set up a small desk in a corner of the bunker and make a little listening station for it. This means having to, once again, re-arrange thigs and make some room. Truly, space is the final frontier. At the moment, all I want to do is listen. I am told that, since I am listening and not sending, pretty much any antenna would do the job. It is unfortunate that Ticom doesn’t live nearby since he’d be pretty much the last word on these matters.
Getting a ‘serious’ radio is something I’d been blowing off for, well, way too long. There were a bunch of reasons for this…none of them really good. The biggest was the expense. The bloody thing is not cheap at almost $1200. But I suppose thats the test of your convictions about the future: do you really believe that there are bad times coming that will be bad enough that you’ll need to have your own communications network? If the answer yes then you bite the bullet and spend what needs to be spent. Another excuse is simply that things like shortwave radios are low on my list of Uncertain Goods. To my way of thinking, which may or may not be correct, I foresee the availability of things like AK’s and 30-rd magazines being more threatened than the availability of radio equipment….thus, my priorities in terms of acquisition lean towards the things that I deem as being ‘threatened’ in terms of their availability to me. As a result, a very expensive radio took a backseat. And, finally, I’ve been doing the whole paranoid survivalist thing for over thirty years…but its only recently that my life has hit the point where I can afford (barely) such grand expenditures.
So, I’ll set up a small desk in the corner of the bunker, pick up a few support items, and start getting my brain up to speed on things. Part of me is looking forward to it and part of me really wonders where I’ll find the time. But…as I said…if you really think uberbad times are coming, well, then you make the time, mister.
Guessing the weather
There were a couple greenmail well-wishes in the PO box the other day from readers who congratulated me on the blogs twentieth anniversary. Thank you much, guys…it really helps!
Life continues apace. I’ve developed a new game to play online: I go to Yahoo News and, starting at the top, see if I can scroll down an entire page without hitting an article about ‘gun violence’ or ‘assault weapons’. So far…no.
The media is flogging this quite hard these days. To my paranoid way of thinking this is simply the usual tactic of the media, no doubt in cahoots with the lefties, warming us up to the idea that ‘reasonable’ and ‘commonsense’ bans on assault rifles, magazines, permitless CCW, etc, is perfectly normal. After all, once you’ve seen nine months worth of dozens of outlets telling you something ‘needs to be done’, arent you, the generally ambivalent public, going to nod your head and go ‘yeah, I’ve read about that. Something should be done?’
It’s a form of indoctrination, propaganda, and opinion-nudging all rolled into one.
Add to that that somehow, despite what must have been the advice of virtually everybody on both sides of the political spectrum, Dopey Joe is throwing his hat in the ring for a re-election. Part of me says to let him get re-elected so we can stop all this foreplay and just get the darn apocalypse started already, Another part of me thinks that you have to have a Carter administration in order to clear the path for a Reagan administration.
My ability to predict the future is utterly worhtless. For every correct prediction I’ve made, I’ve got at least a dozen bad ones under the belt. That’s something like a 92% wrong average. But…you never know which prediction is going to be correct, so you have to prepare for all of them.
I’ve been hammering away at this blog since 2004 that the assault weapons ban would come back, and without a grandfather clause, eventually. I still believe that and I still take steps to be ready for it. I suggest you do as well.
But, in addition to the looming specter of gun prohibitions, we also have inflation, supply chain issues, and wildly dangerous foreign intrigues going on. Most of which, I think, can be mostly (though not entirely) laid at the feet of crack-smoking Hunter Biden’s dad. (And when it comes to cringe-worth Presidential relatives, Hunter Biden makes Billy Carter look like a choirboy.)
It’s not the end of the world yet. Heck, the orchestra hasn’t even warmed up. But the ticket office is open and the ushers are making sure the seats are prepared. So…..
