Quote(s) of the Day

 "What is your preferred method for prying them (guns) from my cold dead hands?"

"You're probably not going to take my guns.....because I have guns"
-Steven Colbert

Steven Colbert discussing gun control with Congresswoman Donna Edwards on the TV. Excellent. It turns out that I'm watching a rerun which means you can see the clip here.

Range Report: Glock Test Fire, Burris MTAC, Tula .223 and Commie Guns

The Glock 19 with steel guide rod and 3.5lb trigger connector was great. The lighter trigger connector really makes for a great shooting package. I do not think it's unsafe or anything, just a cleaner more crisp trigger. Wouldn't want to get some 1 pound gamer trigger or whatever but this setup is just fine IMO. I would guesstimate the increase in accuracy based on this modification is 30%. The PMC 115gr FMJ's I was shooting were great. The only sad point in this area is I only had 1x 50 round box to shoot. Along these lines I noticed Lucky Gunner has Glock 19 mags for $31 which is a good deal these days.

Brought the .22 Browning Buckmark along for the ride. I have no legitimate reason it has not been coming along more frequently. Anyway I brought it along today. The gun has been sitting well lubricated for probably 4 years, I just took it out, loaded a mag, started shooting. It was great, the odd dud but that is .22lr for ya. Being able to shoot a pistol until I get bored without consideration of the cost was big fun. I know .22 ammo is hard to come by these days though it is out there. I've stashed about 1,500 rounds of .22 during this whole mess without paying silly prices so it is out there.

The pistol shooting went better today than last time, pretty good for my current skill set/ level of practice. I credit the 3.5# connector and a half dozen mags of .22 to warm up.

I was updating some inventories yesterday. Glancing through them I found out we have a bit more than 2x the .22 ammo I thought put back. For whatever reason the number in my head was really wrong. Glad it was wrong short not long. Now I feel better about having the 3 inflation adjusted 333rd bricks of .22 ammo I got recently be range meat.

Speaking of range meat I shot that Tula 223. It functioned fine, no misfires or jams. At the risk of speaking without even semi scientific evidence I will give some impressions. It seemed to be slightly less accurate than Lake City or PMC. Sufficient for putting lead into targets but not what I would want to have loaded for the stereotypical movie shoot the guy behind the hostage scenario. If the price difference between Tula or Wolf steel cased .223 vs brass cased stuff was sufficient I would not hesitate to purchase it again.

As usual the MTAC was great. Have found it works better during the day with the illum turned off. The large heavy circle that surrounds the reticle lets you get onto target really fast, sort of like an Eotech. The only downside is I shot half the .223 I brought along at 200-400m without realizing I had the scope set at 1 power. Obviously I do better at distance with 4x magnification.

Since I was with some people the opportunity to shoot their guns came up. Played with an SKS a bit. We briefly touched on them in the Basic Guns series. The SKS is a classic import case of studs and duds. Some are awesome and others completely suck. The sucky ones could probably be fixed by a competent gunsmith familiar with the platform but it destroys the economic benefit of the SKS. Sort of like putting $ 5k into a car that once it is running will be worth $5,500 it probably isn't a great plan. The one I shot was great and had a pretty nice finish to boot. At the right price they are a decent rifle to have as an all around gun or a backup/ giveaway gun. This makes even more sense if you already have an AK and a bunch of ammo put back. Sort of like I said before my evaluation of the SKS as a rifle for $200ish is very different than for $500+.

Also got to shoot a Mosin Nagant carbine, think the guy said it was a Chinese Type 53. That gun was a hoot! Solid potential for accuracy despite very mediocre sights and reasonable scoping options are available if one wants to go that way. Best of all it's in a centerfire .30cal rifle cartridge that normal folks can afford to go shoot a hundred rounds on a semi regular basis. Aside from being a useful backup/ trade type gun it's a range toy at a reasonable range toy price. I really want one; maybe for my birthday.

Well that is what happened this morning at the range.

Knife in the Making by JP's Custom Knives

JP of JP's Custom Knives is making me a knife. It is going to be a large camp type knife. Going through the whole process with him was pretty cool. What I did was look at a bunch of pictures of knives JP has made. Sort of picked and chose the parts I wanted.

I like the blade style of this knife. It's about a 10" blade. Big but not bulky for bulks sake.

The first knive is nice but I prefer a more traditional looking handle like on this knife. So that's what is coming out of the forge and into my hands.

We didn't really talk steel, grind angles or any of that. Honestly I don't get into that. Just use knives to cut stuff, sharpen them and repeat. Anyway I would rather give a craftsmen my intent (in this case a large camp knife that can do a fair job of chopping things and processing wood) and leave him to do his thing. Of course I'm sure if you have opinions about all of that JP would be more than happy to oblige.

This knife should be pretty awesome. I can't wait for it to arrive.

Hugo Chaves is Dead!!!

This news brightened up my afternoon.

Ted Nugent Schools Piers Morgan about Gun Coltrol

Over One MILLION Page Views!

Today the blog passed one million page views. This is a pretty big milestone for me. Coming into this with some useful skills helped. Also at the time things got going I had a lot of spare time which was very useful. If you can't work smart then working HARD is a decent alternative. Between my efforts and the help of some great bloggers like Jim Rawles of Survival Blog and Commander Zero and too many more to list things grew over time.

Over the last several years my life has changed a lot. Graduated college, married a great woman I totally do not deserve, went to "the dark side", learned so many things I don't know where to start, had a son and deployed again, this time to Afghanistan.

A lot of my growing up has been reflected in the blog. It may be a little less fun sometimes as rants are rare these days heck I can't remember the last time I cursed at somebody on here. However it is probably a more productive place in terms of helping people get prepared.

It has been a long, strange and wonderful trip.I have really enjoyed meeting some great people who happen to be really serious survivalists. Almost every day I learn something cool. I learn so much cool stuff from you guys that there is just no way to action it all. In a mess of word files and tables I have all sorts of ideas just waiting for time and money to action them. If you all have picked up half as much good info as I have then my job is being done well here.

At times like these it is good to look forward. Things are moving in the direction of gun stuff because firearms training is going to be a bigger part of my life for awhile. Food storage is where a lot of our money and a decent amount of our time is going. Being able to bring you all cool contests is something I enjoy and hope to keep doing better and better.

Well I am pretty happy about this. Back to normal posting tomorrow.

Tab Clearing

Interesting tips on frugal living by Patrice at her excellent blog Rural Revolution.

A short fiction piece about a patrol taking contact by Max Velocity.

Some actual good news with a big hat tip to SHTF Blog. There really are good people out there.

What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?

I picked up some moleskin for the get home bag. Also ordered a pair of black berkey elements for the filter, a couple surplus swiss poncho's, another compass and a Cold Steel Pipe Hawk. Yeah I decided to give the hawk a shot. Worst case it is sort of a cool thing to have anyway.

The biggest thing of last week is that I got back to a pretty normal exercise schedule for the first week after getting sick. Running, sprinting and lifting. Good times.

What did you do to prepare this week?

Quote of the Day

"It's mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack. Not rationality."
- The Bride Kill Bill

Quote of the Day

"Windage and elevation, Mrs. Langdon. Windage and elevation…" — John Wayne

A Cool New Blog- Free Survivalist/ Prepper Type Kindle Books

One of the cool things about having a kindle is that there are always free books. Typically from lesser known or unknown authors who are trying to drum up some attention. This isn't the way you are going to read the newest Stephen King or other popular author but if you just want something to read it is a great way to go. Wifey is on there all the time finding random light reading. The only downside is that it takes time. You have to look through a sea of random stuff and books are typically only free for a a short time.

Enter Pam's Pride Recommendations. She links to a bunch of free kindle books that are in the survivalist/ prepper/ homesteading/ staple cooking/ etc genera. You might not be interested in all of them but some will probably strike your fancy. Since they are free you might as well just grab whatever seems interesting and check them out as time allows.

Please do be sure to confirm that the book is actually free before clicking to purchase it. As they are only free for a short time the stuff a week back typically costs money. I say that so you don't go hog wild and accidentally spend a bunch of money thinking you are getting free books. That being said it is still a good list of interesting books, most for about $3 a piece. I added a few to my wish list that looked pretty good.

Anyway I will be swinging by Pam's Pride Recommendations pretty regularly, if not daily. You should check it out. Even if you do not have a kindle give it a look. I think there are apps to read the books elsewhere like on your computer or a tablet.

Seriously?

Just get drunk and drive around with a monkey. This sounds like an episode of Reno 911.

An 86 Year Old Real Life Robinson Crusoe

Interesting story and video.

A 92 Year Old Farmer Drives Three Thieves off his Ranch

Read the story here.

Quote of the Day

"Just because you're an old guy doesn't mean you have to sit around drooling in the corner"
-George Bush

What is the Best Weapon for Home Defense?

Check out Box of Truth's recent post on the matter. In their typical fashion the BS is cut through using facts and real world experimentation/ analysis. Also they touch on a lot of myths.

Skipping to the conclusion for those who don't feel like reading: Rifles > Shotguns > Pistols.

Quote of the Day

"Why did you do that, why did you light the fuse man?" - Hugo
"Why wouldn't I light the fuse?" -Locke
"Maybe because I was running towards you waving my arms and yelling don't do that." -Hugo
"laughter... well you got a point there, I guess I was just excited."-Locke

Got Muscle Up?

Recently I accomplished a big goal of mine, I got my first muscle up. In case you do not know what that is it is a basic gymnastics move where you go from hanging by your arms from a pair of rings (think monkey bars) to over the top of them with your arms fully extended. It is a pull up into a dip and far more than the sum of its two parts. If you still do not know what it is then type muscle up into the search bar and click on a video.
Some smart folks say that before trying to do a muscle up you should be able to do 15+ pull-ups and dips. I’ve also heard that you should be able to do weighted pull-ups and 10+ ring dips. Both are probably accurate but I would say the second is more valid as this is far more of (at least initially until you can do a bunch) a strength move than an endurance move. Being able to do a weighted pull up and DEEP chest(like below your peck/ boob) pull-ups is essential. 
I have been actively working towards this goal for more than 6 months and with serious focus for the last two of them. It was probably a lot harder for me than it would be if I was around people who could do them. I imagine I have been physically capable (had the explosive pulling strength) to complete one but it took a couple months of building more strength and fiddling with the skill component to get over the cusp and actually stick one. The transition between the two moves (pullup and dip) is the hard part. Most healthy moderately athletic adults can do at least one pullup and dip (ring dips are different but after a session or two you get used to it) but having the explosive pulling strength relative to body weight to transition between the two is another thing entirely.
What is this useful for? Well first in the process of getting there my upper body has become much stronger and more explosive than it once was. As for the move itself this quote from somewhere pretty much sums it up “Far from a contrivance the muscle-up is hugely functional. With a muscle-up you’ll be able to surmount any object on which you can get a finger hold – if you can touch it you can get up on it. The value here for survival, police, fire fighter, and military use is impossible to overstate.”

As for form following function my arms are somewhat thicker and more muscular. My upper back and shoulders are getting bigger moving from a square shaped torso to more of a V. I only mention this to remind you that if looking good is a concern for you those results can be achieved with useful exercises not just stupid single joint body building stuff with little to no real life or athletic carry over.

Well this was one of my biggest physical goals for the year and is another milestone to mastering my bodyweight. 
Got Muscle Up? Got pull up?

9/11 Anniversary-Ted Nugent said it better than I could

Here is a teaser-

"America must continue to identify and eradicate these terrorist vermin. We must never surrender to complacency or apathy as we did before Sept. 11, as they are the weakest link in our chain of security. We must remain vigilant and on the offense. Where two or more of these terror cultists gather, they should expect us to drill a hole in their foreheads." Read the rest here.

 

Quote of the Day, an Interesting Post and a Good Blog

"Don't screw with the US. George Washington crossed over the Delaware river at night to attack the enemy while they slept on Christmas. We will do what it takes. We are unreasonable like that. Reasonable people compromise and give concessions to their enemy. Unreasonable people win. Be unreasonable."
-American Mercenary

I follow a lot of blogs to varying degrees. One of them is American Mercenary. I particularly enjoyed this recent post about information security and cyber warfare. If you are looking to expand your reading check out his stuff.