blogs

Post-Apocalyptic gun porn

Posted on by Caleb

While there is a large amount of crossover in the online population between gun nuts and video game geeks, I’d wouldn’t imagine that all my readers are familiar with the epic series of RPGs known as Fallout.  If you ARE familiar with Fallout, then click the link (link goes to a Russian LJ, so I can’t read it but the pictures are amazing).

Fallout Airsoft LARP.

If you’re not familiar with Fallout, get you to a used game store or Amazon and see if you can’t order the original two games, although the people that own them tend to guard them jealously.  Interestingly enough, Fallout as a video game was what helped shape my interest in firearms.  I know it seems weird, but the wide array of guns available in the game, and their presentation as simply another tool in the player’s skillset went a long way towards fueling a 19 year old boy’s enjoyment of the shooting sports.

I know I still have the CDs around here somewhere……

revolvers

Increased specialization is bad for enhancing proficiency

Posted on by Caleb

Bear with me on this one, but it’s a pretty short trip. Everyone knows I’ve taken up the lightsaber revolver as my shooting vehicle for the time being. The problem that I’m running in to though is the same one I had when I first started shooting competitively, namely that I’m bouncing around from gun to gun. With semi-auto pistols, I finally settled on a single stack 9mm, because I shoot it very well. So now I just shoot whatever division that fits in, and do pretty well for myself.

With revolvers I feel like I’m going about it all bass-ackwards. Instead of just finding a gun I shoot well that fits me, I’m trying to find guns to fit certain competitions, which is dumb. Take my new PC 646 for example. I bought it because, well it was cool and I got a good price, but now I’m looking at it and can’t actually figure out what to do with it. It’s not ideal for IDPA, as my 625 is a better fit, it has a 4 inch barrel so Bianchi is out, and for Steel Challenge and ICORE I’m better off with a 7 or 8 shot .38.

So readers, I need your advice. I’m almost tempted to just sack these two guns and buy three 686s, and then just shoot those for everything, moonclips and major power factor be damned. Or should I stay the course and just shoot the guns I have?

Someone pointed out to me in an email the following:

You have two guns that feed off moonclips, which means they do everything the same. Just shoot those guns and stop spazzing out.

Good advice, it would seem.

Uncategorized

Gives a whole new meaning to "get off my lawn"

Posted on by Caleb

SWAT gets called because a guy’s lawn is too tall.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=10651525

In actuality, they were called because when city workers showed up to cut the grass, the homeowner pointed a gun at them. I’m pretty sure SWAT callouts for lawncare are not what Mayor Ballard had in mind when he said he was “tough on crime”.

Bianchi Cup/shooting/sports

Still shooting

Posted on by Caleb

A couple of posts down, I mentioned I’m not going to be able to make it to Steel Challenge – just a time and money issue.  The 6 hours on a plane + leaving on Wednesday, etc just made it unrealistic…this year anyway.  To soothe my desire to shoot though, I went looking around for other matches that weekend, and found out that the Maryland Regional Action Pistol Championship is that weekend in Cumberland.  So I emailed the MD, and it seems that there are slots left, so I’ve got some shooting to do on the weekend of the 14th-15th of August.

The difference between the two is that Maryland is a 7 hour drive, and California is a 6 hour flight…plus the Maryland match is 1-2 days, so I don’t have to fork out the cash for a 3 or 4 day hotel stay.

Something about Action Pistol caught my fancy at Bianchi Cup – I don’t know what it is specifically, but there is an appeal to trying for a perfection, which in Action Pistol is a 1920-192x, which has never been done.  I’m sure that eventually someone will clean the entire match, and that will be an impressive day to be sure.

The other benefit about going to Cumberland, MD to shoot the Action Pistol match is that it’s a scant 2 hour drive from my old stomping grounds in Reston, so if I get some free time on Sunday and decide to not shoot the State match (separate from the Regional), I might just cruise on down and say high to some friends in the area, but that remains to be seen.

Looks like I need to haul those AP-1 targets out of storage and swing up to Wildcat to take a few runs on their mover! I’m looking forward to this match though – sure, it’s not the World Championships of Steel Challenge, but it’s trigger time, and it’s a major, so I’ll take it.

news

Gun Nuts Radio: down with the man

Posted on by Caleb

While normally we don’t do “down with government shows”, last night’s show came about as close to that topic as you’re going to see from Gun Nuts Radio.  The first half of the show consisted of our new and popular current events roundup, covering news items such as Steve McNair’s murder at the hands of his girlfriend/mistress, the Harold Fish case, and even a little Michael Jackson.  We then moved on to the last segment, which was asking people what laws they’d like to change, or modify in the hopes of helping to correct our republic.  If you’d like to download an .mp3 of the show, click here for the file.

Here are some of the ideas for changing laws that I really liked:

  1. Get rid of ticky-tac felonies (shipping wine to Indiana is a felony, for example)
  2. Repeal the direct election of Senators – honestly, if Al Franken can get to be a senator, the position has officially lost ALL its prestige
  3. Income taxes? Get rid of ’em.  It seems the .gov doesn’t get that much money off them anyway, so let’s just give it back to the people who earned it.
  4. Massachusetts’ approved firearms list – toss it.
  5. And finally, Joe Huffman’s idea: change the definition of treason so that it includes passing a law that violates the Constitution.

If you missed the live show, you missed Breda’s Kalashnikitty t-shirt, which is just a real bummer for you, and you also missed the rowdiness that is the chat room.  Of course, you can click here to download the show, but it’s not quite the same.  You may have heard that Breda has an iPhone now as well…if you want to subscribe to Gun Nuts Radio on your iTunes, just follow the directions in the link, or search for us at the iTunes Store under “Gun Nuts Radio”.

One more item – if you’re a Facebook user, you should join the Fans of Gun Nuts Group on Facebook.  As of this morning, we’re just shy of 500 members, and I’d like to see that number over a 1,000 before next week’s show.  Tell a friend, tell your mom, but tell someone you know about Gun Nuts Radio!

self defense/shooting

Badasstargets.com

Posted on by Caleb

A while back I got an email from the owner of Badasstargets.Com asking me if I’d do a write-up on his targets. I said “sure” and a few days later a roll of targets showed up in the mail. I honestly figured they’d be good for a laugh and for a nice break from shooting at NRA AP-1 targets; and I was certainly right on that count. Here are three of the four targets I received, the fourth being a “cowboy” that just didn’t provide the menace I was hoping for.

From Badasstargets.Com

The targets are huge. They actually didn’t quite fit on the target backers, so there’s a lot of slop on the sides, but that really didn’t interfere with the shooting. The shooting of course was the fun part – I had just received my S&W 625, so I decided I’d do a little El Presidente on them. I gave each target two El Pres runs and then gave them all a controlled pair in the head. My favorite target was the guy with the meat cleaver and the machete – here are his 10 rounds.

From Badasstargets.Com

See that one in his left shoulder? That one got me thinking about the targets, and their potential as a training tool, so I went and checked out the guy with the big hood and the Mosin Nagant.

From Badasstargets.Com

Sure enough, one of those hits was “on the target”, but had that been a real person, that round on the far left would have flown harmlessly by his head, through his hood and continued on down the range to wherever stray bullets go. Yes, the two in his left eye would have killed him DRT, but that missed round is actually kind of concerning.

However, the miss does point out a valuable way that the targets from Badasstargets.com could be used as a training tool. Yes, they’re fun – who wouldn’t enjoy putting some number 4 buck into a guy wearing a blood spattered smock and packing an AK? But all fun aside, the targets from Bad Ass Targets do a couple of things that an IDPA target doesn’t do. They give you a “sort of” realistic looking threat, you’re not shooting at a piece of cardboard, but rather a humanoid silhouette. Secondly, and most importantly in my opinion, they provide non-standard profiles. In a fight, your attacker isn’t going to stand there and present you with an nice clean torso shot. They’re going to be moving and presenting angles to you, so practicing on targets that are wearing hoods, or presenting at angles can actually be a beneficial training tool.

Yes, I had a lot of fun shooting these targets – but I also was able to take a couple of valuable lessons from the shooting, and I’ll be able to incorporate them in to my defensive training going forward. Thanks to Brett and the guys at Badasstargets.com for providing the targets for me to blast at!

Uncategorized

Gun Nuts Tonight: Just one law

Posted on by Caleb

So, I was wondering to myself the other day, “self, if you could change just one of the laws in this silly country, what would it be?”  I know what my answer is, but I want to know what your law would be.  Join us tonight at 9pm Eastern at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts as we talk about the thousands of ludicrous laws on our books right now, and which one of those we’d change in the hopes of making our country a better place to live.

We’ll also be talking about some current events on tonight’s show – the Steve McNair murder is an unfortunate event which the media seems intent to blame on the imaginary “gun culture”, instead of laying the blame at the feet of the people actually responsible for the apparent murder-suicide.  We’re also going to be talking about Sarah Palin’s resignation and the ripples that could cause in the US political scene.

Join us live tonight at 9pm Eastern – call in with your thoughts and opinions on the topics, and be part of what makes Gun Nuts Radio so much fun!  Visit us at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts!

news

AHSA endorses Sotomayor

Posted on by Caleb

From my weekly newsblast from NSSF, I have this little gem:

ANTI-GUN GROUP AHSA ENDORSES SOTOMAYOR . . . The American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA) — a well known anti-gun group that attempts to position themselves as pro-gun — has endorsed the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Justice. While AHSA sees nothing wrong with the SCOTUS nominee, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), two stalwart defenders of firearms rights, disagree.

You may remember just two weeks ago we talked abou AHSA on Gun Nuts Radio, and speculated that maybe, just maybe they really were trying to change their tune.  We then dismissed that speculation as madness, because as evidenced by their endorsing Sotomayor, AHSA has no interest in an individual right to keep and bear arms.  Remember, while we may have only won Heller by 5-4 split, even the dissenting justices agreed that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms.