Think about this

Equalizer

"People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic
rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's
the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even
an armed one, can only make a successful living in a
society where the state has granted him a force monopoly."

---from the Gun is Civilization By Major L. Caudil, USMC (Ret)

http://homemadedefense.blogspot.com/2009/06/gun-is-civilization.html

Imagine

Don't Buy from Cheaper Than Dirt!

You know, life is hard enough for American gun owners with un-American, wrongheaded people like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Bloomberg and Michael Moore doing everything they can to destroy our Constitutional freedoms and innate right to self defense.
Then we have Cheaper Than Dirt. They are one of the largest online retailers of ammunition, magazines and other "survival" type gear. I have bought from them in the past and been generally happy with them.



With the panic induced by the left wing gun banning crowd, Cheaper than Dirt has taken the initiative to increase their magazine and ammo prices. Some by as much as 10 times. This is extortion of their customer base and I am frankly appalled. I called Cheaper than Dirt today, let them know (politely) my complaints and told them to take me off their mailing list and that I would never do business with them again, even though I had been a customer for ten years. I hope you will do the same.  With attacks coming from the rabid and unthinking Far Left Statists, we can not afford to be taken advantage of by a company that owes its existence to the American gun owner.

Thoughts on firearms from the Revolution

George Mason's Fairfax County Militia Plan, 1775:
"And we do each of us, for ourselves respectively, promise and engage to keep a good firelock in proper order, & to furnish ourselves as soon as possible with, & always keep by us, one pound of gunpowder, four pounds of lead, one dozen gunflints, & a pair of bullet moulds, with a cartouch box, or powder horn, and bag for balls."

Patrick Henry, 1775:
"They tell us that we are weak -- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Three million people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us."

 
Samuel Adams:
"Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: first, a right to life, secondly to liberty, thirdly to property; together with the right to defend them in the best manner they can."

John Adams:
"Arms in the hands of the citizens may be used at individual discretion for the defense of the country, the overthrow of tyranny or private self-defense."


Patrick Henry:
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined. The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun."

Noah Webster, 1787:
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, because the whole of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops."



Tench Coxe, writing as "the Pennsylvanian" in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 1788:
"The power of the sword, say the minority of Pennsylvania, is in the hands of Congress. My friends and countrymen, it is not so, for the powers of the sword are in the hands of the yeomanry of America from 16 to 60. The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army, must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom? Congress has no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American. The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."


Connecticut gun code of 1650:
"All persons shall bear arms, and every male person shall have in continual readiness a good muskitt or other gunn, fitt for service."


Article 3 of the West Virginia state constitution:"A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state, and for lawful hunting and recreational use."

Virginia Declaration of Rights 13 (June 12, 1776), drafted by George Mason:
"That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defense of a free state; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power."


A proposed amendment to the Federal Constitution, as passed by the Pennsylvania legislature:"That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves and their own states or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game; and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals."

Halo P-12

P-12 with HK UMP 45

This is rumored to be a possibly forthcoming pump action shotgun called the Halo P-12.   I am going to try real hard to not get your expectations too high, though. As there may only be 0-2 of these weapons in existence. It is said to weigh less than 9 pounds and be at least 27 inches in length overall. I have not seen any data to this affect, but I think we can assume that the barrel would be at least 18 inches to keep civilian ownership easy.  The weapon is a bullpup design with a top mounted magazine in line with the barrel, very similar to the FN P-90. The magazine shares the horizontal lay of the shell (perpendicular to the barrel) and the 90 degree turn to prepare the shell for chambering.




The P-12 would be limited to 2 3/4'' shells for pump operated fire, but you can hand load and fire 3" magnums. Ejection is said to be from the bottom. The Halo Mfg website does not have any new info on the P-12 and it was orginally de to be released in 2008, but I certainly haven't seen one. Rumor has it that the design is currently being refined by Monolith Arms. I would love to see  it come to market and offer some competition to the Kel-Tec KSG. I would like to see a muzzle brake of some kind added, maybe just a standoff breacher-type, because recoil is likely noticeable in a bullpup 12 gauge firing slugs. A nice beefy rubber recoil pad would not be out of place either.

P-12 with FN P-90

Whether or not we will see this design come to market remains to be seen. Certainly there is plenty of vaporware out there these days, seemingly invented just to torment us.
                                           (I am looking at you Kel-Tec PDW. )

The strongest reason...

Missile Silo Blast Door art

This art adorns the blast doors of a Delta One Launch Control Facility for Minuteman II Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in South Dakota. With its ICBMs deactivated and destroyed per the 1991 START treaty, the Launch Control Facility and its missile silo are  now a historical site run by the National Park Service.
Grim but cheeky  I like it. 

Simple Choice

There is nothing, nothing that the police can protect that is more important than children. Demand armed local police officers at all schools.

Two more

Guess

Oppose the Unconstitutional, illegal and ineffective Assault Weapons Ban. Call and Write your Senator and Congressmen today.

Question

Leading Causes of Non-natural Deaths in the USA

Click to enlarge.

Nothing else to say

Well, except maybe a "the".

Nuclear scale

 Castle Bravo Test

Tsar Bomba test photo and a simulated blast zone overlaid on map of Paris

Barrett back on top

Well, it has happened again. The record for longest sniper kill has been broken. Two unnamed snipers from the Australian Army have made what is apparently the successful longest rifle shot in the history of warfare. The snipers both used Barrett M82A1 .50 caliber rifles. The snipers fired simultaneously at a Taliban commander, hitting and killing him. It is not known which of the snipers fired the successful shot. This will likely remain an unofficial record for longest shot in warfare as it is unknown who fired the shot or for that matter, who the snipers were. The implication being that they were both members of Australia's Special Forces, probably 2 Commando Regiment, and will likely not be identified. The distance as measured by GPS was 3079 yards or 2815 meters. At this distance the flight time of the bullet is estimated at 6 seconds. At distances like this, great skill is of course needed, but luck certainly is a major factor. It would be next to impossible to measure the crosswinds, anticipate the targets position after the shot is fired and a dozen other factors that are important for super long range shooting. The previous record for longest sniper kill shot was held by Corporal Craig Ferguson of the British Army. His shot(s) were taken at a distance of 2707 yd or 2475 m with a .338 Lapua fired from a L115A3 rifle.

I am sure that they are pleased with this at Barrett Firearms Mfg, Inc. The last three records were made using their competitor's rifles. Congratulations to the Australians, I hope they will all come home safe and soon.

Completely unrelated picture of a American sniper with a Barrett M82A1 in Iraq

More Improvised Firearms

 I actually like this one, a snub nose built into what appears to be a reproduction 1918 Trench knife.  The fact that I think it is cool would not influence my decision to fire it though.

.22 LR lipstick gun. Not very useful, but cool in that James Bond kind of way. 

I can't tell very much about this one at all, but I do like the "cloak and dagger" style of it.

 A variant of the classic pen gun, I like this tire pressure gun because unlike most of the pens, it still looks like what it is supposed to be.  Most likely a .22 like all other pen guns I have seen.

 Provided that you could keep the muzzle free of obstructions, this cane-shotgun might be useful. I think that those are 16 gauge shells.

 Another key chain zipgun, caliber looks to be one of the .32 Longs or maybe a Super .38. This seems like it would be safe enough to fire, but I don't like my fingers to be that close to the muzzle of any weapon.

 This ring revolver is neat, but I certainly can not think of a real use for it. I think the risk of a negligent discharge would be really high as well. Caliber might be .25ACP (which is probably the most useless modern round)

Things like this scare me. Thank god I live in a country where I can buy a Hi-Point.  :)

 This one is known on the Internets as the Frankengun. The photo was taken in Iraq, sometime around 2007-2008 if I recall. The weapon is a 7.62x39mm that incorporates some AK parts like the magazine, barrel and front sight (which seems to be on backwards-no matter, right?) The pistol grip might be from a Beretta 92 or 951 (likely the Iraqi-made copy of the 951)
 The muzzle brake closely resembles the one from the Tabuk sniper rifle. It seems to have a commercial rail system tactical light and what is likely a inexpensive Chinese scope. I can't tell if any of the other parts come from a real gun or not. My question is, in a country awash with AKs, why risk your fingers and nose with this thing?

We don't see very many improvised firearms with stocks, and that is too bad, because you are going to need all the help you can get to hit anything with these pieces of crap. It is impossible to say for sure by this one photo, but it looks like this is a shotgun given the large barrel and the padded buttstock. For some reason, I think this one is from the Philippines, which have a long history of improvised guns.

                             This one is not a firearm per se, but is that cool or what?

T13 "Beano" Impact grenade

During WWII, all sides tried to come up with new military products for use in the war. Some were real breakthroughs and others, well not so much. And that brings us to the T13 "Beano" Impact grenade. Standard fragmentation grenades are used by pulling out the pin which holds the "spoon" or "paddle" on. When the pin is pulled, spring pressure throws the paddle off the grenade and ignites a fuse that burns for approximately 3 to 5 seconds and then detonates the primary explosive. The Beano worked differently. Instead of a timed burning fuse, it used a pressure trigger and an in-flight arming mechanism. To throw the grenade, the user would grip it like a baseball, that is with the first and middle finger together over the top of the grenade and its knurled "butterfly cap". Then the pin was pulled and the grenade thrown. The butterfly cap would come off when the grenade was thrown and then a nylon cord attached to it would play out until it pulled a second arming pin from the interior of the grenade. This armed the grenade to explode when it impacted a hard surface. 

Obviously, this raises some important questions. What if you threw the grenade and it landed in soft dirt or mud or water? You have a highly dangerous piece of UXO is what. How much pressure is needed to pull the secondary arming pin? Would it fail to work or be pulled accidentally? How sensitive is the impact fuse?  Could you tangle the cord and butterfly cap in gear or barbed wire and cause the grenade (now armed) to come back at you like a tetherball? 

The T13 grenade was developed by the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA and manufactured by the Eastman Kodak company. The idea behind its shape was that American soldiers were almost all familiar with throwing baseballs and that they would be able to throw a baseball-shaped grenade further, more accurately and with greater ease than the oblong shape of earlier grenades like the Mk2 "pineapple" grenade or the Mills bomb. Despite accidents and deaths during the testing process, the T13 was approved for field use and some 10,000 were sent to the field for use during the Normandy invasion. It was apparently withdrawn due to a high incidence of accidents and injuries from misuse or poor design. Most existing examples were destroyed and the plans classified. There was a similar design from Italy called the SRCM 35/38 or the "Little Red Devil". It was used  during the same time period and there are many documented cases of the grenades being found in an armed, but undetonated state, sometimes killing those who further disturbed them.

Today the T13 grenade (de-milled, of course) is one of the rarest grenades from the WWII era and are very highly sought after by collectors. The baseball shape of the T13 was resurrected years later in the highly successful M61 and M67 Fragmentation grenades.

Museum of Naval Aviation, Part 2

First off today we have the A-7 Corsair II. Built by Vought, the aircraft started with their successful F-8 Crusader design.  The design was modified by (amongst other things) shortening the fuselage and deleting the ability to vary the incidence of the wings. The wings of the Corsair II are also longer and less swept back. The A-7 was designed to replace the A-4 Skyhawk in the carrier launched attack role and the aging A-1 Skyraider as well. It was the first US aircraft to feature a Heads Up Display system and also featured a Projected Map Display system (PMDS) that constantly showed the aircraft's position in two different scales. The Corsair II also had a bombing computer that was integrated to its onboard radar that allowed it to make bombing runs at a greater stand off distance and with increased accuracy. The USAF and ANG also flew a version called the A-7D which featured a license built version of the Rolls Royce Spey jet engine and and M61 20mm Vulcan Cannon. The Navy liked so much that they then made their own carrier capable version designated the A-7E. The Corsair II saw its last combat deployment with the US Navy during Operation Desert Storm and it was retired in May of 1991. They were replaced in the US Navy by the F/A-18 Hornet.

 

A-7 with A-6 Intruder (right) and OV-10 Bronco and UH-1 Iroquois (above)

 The A-1 Skyraider is one the most respected aircraft that the US military has ever flown. It was flown by the US Navy, USMC, and the US Air Force. It also in service with the Royal Navy. It saw extensive combat use with the French Armee de l'Air in Algeria and has fought in many of the post colonial wars in Africa. Designed for WWII, it was used by the US in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, were its ability to provide heavy air support with bombs and strafing runs with its four 20mm cannon made it very popular with ground forces. Many of the features of the Skyraider made their way into its replacement in the Air Force, the A-10 Thunderbolt II. Slow speed maneuverability through a long straight wing. Heavy cannon firepower to destroy armored enemy ground assets. Long loiter time to provide support as needed. (the A-1 could stay in the air for up to 10 hours) It was provided with heavy armor on critical areas, making it much more likely to survive hits from ground fire than the fighter bombers of its day like the F4U Corsair or the P-51 Mustang. It had an amazing 15 external hardpoints for up to 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg) of rockets, bombs, gun pods, mines or anything else that can cause hurt feelings. It was a radial piston engine driven aircraft in the jet age, lasting longer than anyone ever thought it might. For my money, the Skyraider could beat out the stupid Super Tucano any day for a modern COIN aircraft.

Not all the aircraft in the museum belonged to the US Navy. Of special note was the Messerschmidt Me 262, the world's first operational jet fighter. Feared in the sky for their heavy armament of four 30mm cannons and amazing speed of up to 550 mph /900 kph. These were a treasure when captured by Allied ground forces in Germany. They were tested extensively after the war and the technology were used to advance the jets of both the Navy and Air Force. Only about 1400 were ever made and only a few dozen are known survivors today.

Not an aircraft and and not a friend of them either. The Bofors 40mm Anti Aircraft gun in a double mount. This was the primary AA gun of the US Navy in WWII and the variants of the 40mm Bofors cannon are still in service today. The US versions were built by Chrysler and heavily modified from the original Swedish guns. Water cooling for extended firing burst was added and the manufacturing process itself was vastly simplified and cut down. The Bofors 40mm was responsible for thousands of enemy aircraft shot down. The Navy was reportedly so pleased with the weapon that they would telegraph the serial numbers of weapons that shot down enemy aircraft back to Chrysler. This is simply one of the best weapons ever made in the modern era. Several times, in the military forces of several different nations, people have attempted to replace it with something more flashy, more tech-y and more expensive. Then they had to look stupid when the Bofors came back like the cat in the hat. 

NAS Pensacola is the training home of the Blue Angels, which are of course the United States Navy's flight demonstration team. In the atrium, the museum displays four Blue Angel A-4F Skyhawks in diamond formation. The Skyhawk was flown by the Blue Angels starting in 1974, replacing the F-4J Phantom II and was replaced by the F/A-18 Hornet in 1986.