Kel Tec KSG 12 gauge

This is the new shotgun from Kel-Tec, the KSG. It is a bullpup 12 gauge shotgun with dual magazine tubes. Ever since it was announced a few months ago, I have been excited about it. The KSG manages to be as compact as legally possible with a 26.1" overall length and an 18.5" barrel. It is pretty neat design, almost revolutionary, the only other thing that is close to it is the South African Neostead.

http://homemadedefense.blogspot.com/2009/10/weird-guns-part-4-neostead-dual-tube.html




The magazine tubes carry seven 2-3/4" or six 3" shells apiece for a total of 14+1, which is nearly ridiculous (-ly awesome). The user can switch between the tubes with a three position lever located in the area behind the trigger guard. The lever can also be set to a central detente area to allow the chamber to be emptied with the pump action without feeding a new shell from the mag tube. The pump is linked to the bolt via dual operating bars. The spent shells are ejected down through the loading port. Once the selected magazine is empty, the user must manually switch to the other tube. There is a cross bolt safety located above the pistol grip and a pump release lever at the front of the trigger guard.

The KSG comes in at 6.9lbs (unloaded I am assuming) and while that is maybe a little heavy, you will likely want that extra weight to soak up the recoil. Which I imagine will be, ummm, noticeable even with the rubber butt pad. It has a Picatinny rail along the bottom of the pump to mount a grip, light or laser and another rail on the top of the weapon for sights. As of right now, it seems it will come bare, and that is a bad decision on the part of Kel-Tec. If I buy a gun, it should come with sights. So do me a favor and throw a cheap fiber optic on there. Forward and rear sling loops are built in, and a regular sling is included. There is a cheek rest structure that also functions as a type of blast shield in case of a catastrophic failure of the chamber or barrel. And that is nice, because, you know, your face goes there.

KSG field stripped

There have been some internet rumblings about perceived shortcomings of the the design though. One thing is recoil, which in large bore bullpups can be a bit much. Another is the fact that its extremely short overall length may lead to negative views by the media, law enforcement or the States. I could easily imagine California, for example, looking on the KSG with scorn. There are also some issues with the magazine selection lever and the trigger. But keep in mind that any design takes a little while to reach maturity and this is still a new design, not yet for sale at this time.

In the pic above you can really see how much more compact the KSG is compared to a standard pump shotgun. If the design proves solid, I think it might find a lot of acceptance in the Law Enforcement and civilian areas. MSRP has not been stated, but it has been mentioned to be in the $800 US range. Hopefully that would make it about $625-675, which I think would be a good price, I would probably be willing to pay that, but they are not going to find a lot of people willing to pay $800 for a pump action 12 gauge, no matter how stumpy.

USS Constellation

USS Constellation in 1862 by Tomaso de Simone

I recently took a trip to Baltimore, Maryland and Washington D.C. and while there I went to see the USS Constellation, the last ship to fight in the Civil War still afloat. This is the second ship of the US Navy to bear the name Constellation. The first was a frigate built in 1797 and carried 38 guns and was only the second ship to be commissioned in the United States Navy. It was the first US Navy vessel to put to sea and the first US Navy vessel to engage, defeat, and capture an enemy vessel. The ship that I saw was a type known as a sloop of war and was built in 1854 in Gosport Naval Yard, Virginia.


USS Constellation
Length: 176 feet (between perpendiculars)
Beam: 40 feet, 6 inches (molded beam)
Draft: 21 feet
Displacement: 1,400 tons
Complement: 20 officers, 220 sailors, 45 marines







The Constellation served in the Mediterranean Squadron from 1855-1858 and was mostly used for diplomatic duties. In 1859 she was transferred to the USN African Squadron became its flagship. In two and a half years, she interdicted three slave ships, including the Cora, which was carrying a cargo if 705 slaves that were set free in Monrovia, Liberia.

Constellation spent most of the Civil War cruising the Mediterranean to deter Confederate commerce raiders, cruisers and blockade runners. In 1864 she was assigned to Admiral Farragut's West Gulf Blockading Squadron.

After the war, Constellation was tasked with bringing famine relief to Ireland. It then became the training ship for midshipmen from the US Naval Academy, serving as the ship for their summer training cruises. She has even been called the "Cradle of Admirals" because so many future high ranking officers served aboard her in their youth. She then became a stationary training ship for the Naval Training Center from 1894 to 1933. The Constellation was used as a relief flagship for the US Atlantic Fleet during WWII.



In its heyday around 1855, the Constellation was armed with sixteen 8 inch "Shell guns" and four 32 pounder, solid shot firing "Long Guns". A secondary battery of two 10 inch pivot guns mounted fore and aft on the spar deck. It carried five cutters and one launch with a 12 pounder howitzer. It would have also carried a large assortment of small arms, including Model 1840 and later 1860 cutlasses, boarding pikes, hatchets, and various muzzle loading pistols and long arms. These would be kept in the armory and issued out when close action was expected.



In 1862 the ship's armament was upgraded with one 30-pounder Parrott rifle at the bow and one 20-pounder Parrott rifle at the stern; also two additional 12-pounder boat howitzers were added.




One very nice thing about the Constellation is that you get to pretty much see the entire ship. Many old ship will let tourists walk on the deck and maybe in the gun deck, but the Constellation was almost completely open. Below the gun deck is the area that most of the crew would have spent their time. It was cramped and had very low ceilings, no more than 6 feet high. One could see that sharing the berthing area with 250 or so unwashed sailors off the coast of West Africa would have been pretty awful. On the other hand, the hammocks did look pretty comfy and were wider than the jungle hammock that I sleep in when I go camping. However they were hung a lot higher up. That might not sound bad, but it is said that the petty officers would cut the cords of anyone not getting up fast enough to suit them. Which would be a pretty crappy way to start your day of backbreaking labor and risking your life. I was able to go in most of the cabins, see period surgical instruments and read the large amount of placards and so forth of historical information. I was even able to go down into the hold and bilge areas (pics did not come out) which was even more cramped.


USS Constellation is the last Civil War era naval vessel still afloat and the last all sail warship built by the U.S. Navy. In 1963, the ship was preserved as a National Historical Monument the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. In 1999 a nine million dollar restoration project was completed and returned the ship's exterior to its Civil War era appearance.

USS Constellation at Pier 1, Baltimore Inner Harbor

KA-BAR LDK

This is the KA-BAR TDI LDK, my newest acquisition. TDI is the Tactical Defense Institute and LDK stands for last ditch knife. It is intended as a backup weapon, for self defense when you can't access any other weapon. It is very small, but seems like it is pretty good quality, which one would expect when buying any knife with KA-BAR written on the side. The knife is made from a single thin piece of steel. It has a flat ground blade and an extremely acute point. It will go right through just about anything softer than the knife itself. It weighs next to nothing and has been riding in my pocket for a week and I can't even feel it in there. the blade is listed as 1.58 inches long and is pretty sharp right out of the box.



One of the scenarios that helped to inspire this type of weapon is the classic "gun retention" situation where someone is attempting to take a pistol away from you, usually when it is in a holster. One idea is that you hold onto the weapon as tight as possible, draw the knife with your weak hand and apply it generously to your assailant until they cease attempting to take your weapon, or until you can back off and draw said weapon. That scenario is mostly for law enforcement types, but as some application to anyone who might be attacked in the street.

The sheath is black glass filled nylon and feels pretty sturdy. It is about the size of a credit card and can be laced into your shoes or boots, or behind a policeman's badge for example. It came with some 550 type cord to wear around the neck, but I considered that a no-go, because you can be strangled on purpose or on accident with strong cord around the neck. I outfitted it with a ball chain, but I didn't care for wearing it around my neck that way either.


I've seen others use different grips, but the the pic below shows what feels more comfortable to me. Middle finger through the hole in the grip, index finger in the "trigger area" and thumb laying across the left face of the knife and onto the serrations along the spine. If you have big sausage fingers, this will not work for you. In fact, if you have real big hands I would recommend that you skip this neat little knife altogether. One thing I like about this type of grip is that it would be very difficult to take it away from me. There is nowhere to grab the weapon that isn't sharp and if you tried a martial arts-style wrist grab you very well could end up with a set of very nasty, deep cuts as the small blade is very easy to move around compared to a big knife.


A pretty neat little knife if you ask me, and one that will likely be in my pocket for well, ever. The LDK usually goes for about $20 US, but I got mine for a song at $11.99, from Midway USA, which is an awesome company. (Hey Larry, how about some free swag for the free advertising?)

This Day in History - June 21

1919 - The Scuttling of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow

SMS Bayern

World War I ended on November 11, 1918, but as things tend to do, not everything was quite tidied up yet. Under the terms of the Armistice, the German U-boat fleet was surrendered and no one was under any illusions that the Germans would be allowed to wreak havoc on international shipping with their U-boats again. The High Seas Fleet was another matter however. Under Article XXXI of the Armistice the Germans were not permitted to destroy their ships. Germany of course, wanted them back, the opinions of the British Royal Navy seemed to lean towards breaking the ships up for scrap, so that they could never again threaten them. The French and Italians contingents wanted a quarter of the ships each for themselves. They could at no cost, greatly increase their Naval power and at the same time, decrease their neighbors and punish Germany. (Which was of course, the point of the Treaty of Versailles, which may have helped to cause WWII, but that is another matter)


Admiral von Reuter, commanding the crew of the interred Navy, waited until most of the Royal Navy ships in the vicinity went out for a training exercise and gave the order to scuttle all vessels at 10:00am. By 12:00, when the began to list, the crews hoisted the Imperial German Ensign to their mainmasts (which they had been expressly forbidden from doing) and began to abandon ship. The Royal Navy picked up 1,774 Germans by the evening and transported them to Invergodon by battleships of the First Battle Squadron. Vice-Admiral Fremantle had sent out a general order declaring that the Germans were to be treated as prisoners-of-war for having broken the armistice and they were destined for the prisoner-of-war camps at Nigg Island.

Ultimately, 52 of the 74 ships sank including 15 of the 16 capital ships, 5 of the 8 cruisers, and 32 of the 50 destroyers. The rest were towed to shore by the British Guard boats that attempted to stop the scuttling. Nine German soldiers were shot and killed by the guards during those actions. In the inter war period, some were raised and scrapped or sunk as targets, but some remain today, many at considerable depth, and can be visited by divers.

SMS Hinderberg

217 BC - Battle of Lake Trasimene

The battle of Lake Trasimene has been recorded not only as one of the most important battles of the First Punic War, but also one of the most successful ambushes in the history of war.

The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts between the north African empire of Carthage and the Republic of Rome. Due to the daring, intelligence and and burning hatred of Carthage's general Hannibal, the Romans had been having a rough time. They elected Gaius Flaminius and Gnaeus Servilus Geminus to the position of Consul and gave them control of two armies and orders to destroy Hannibal's invading army which had been pillaging and burning its way through southern Europe.

Hannibal was an expert tactician and showed a clear understanding of the need to fight on ground that is favorable to your forces. After failing to goad the army under Flaminius to a fight, Hannibal started to move towards Rome. Hearing that the Roman army had finally broken camp and was following them, Hannibal chose his ground and arrayed his forces.


He chose a heavily forested hill region on the shores of the lake. Below the camp, on a small hill, he set up his heavy infantry forces, made up of Iberians, Celts and Africans. They would be position to attack downhill toward the Roman column's left flank when it appeared. His light infantry from Gaul was concealed in the wooded hills along with the the cavalry. They were to stay hidden until the attack began and then quickly block the Romans' line of retreat. His lightest armed troops were kept along the hills in hiding, ready to hit the Roman column in the flanks after the attack began. Hannibal had also ordered his men to light campfires on the Tuoro, to convince the Romans that they were further away than they thought. Having set up his men, Hannibal then merely had to wait for Flaminius to come blundering along into the trap. Flaminius could have waited to be reinforced by Servilius, and in fact was urged to do so. But he is remembered as a being impetuous and lacking self-control. He would live just long enough to regret those traits.

The next morning, Flaminius led his troops eastward along the road along the edge of the lake. A thick morning fog was present. Hannibal dispatched a small force of skirmishers to draw out the Roman vanguard. This had the effect of splitting the Roman force into two groups. As soon as the main body of the legions entered the kill zone, the trumpets were sounded, giving the signal for the attack.

The attack went exactly as planned and the Carthaginian cavalry blocked off the retreat route of the Romans. The Romans were taken by surprise and were being attacked on three sides, with water on the fourth. The Romans did not have time to form up their standard ranks and had to fight in a way they did not prefer. Romans armies usually did not march in their armor although this may not have been the case in this battle. The Romans were divided into three groups and the vanguard seeing the slaughter behind them, broke through the skirmishers and escaped through the forest. The rear of the column, furthest to the west was hit by a cavalry charge and forced into the lake, where many drowned. The center, with the most of the forces, fought for more than three hours with Hannibal's elite Gaulish heavy infantry before being wiped out. Flaminius was killed by the Gaul Ducarius. The Romans suffered about 15,000 dead and 5,000 captured, a total and complete defeat. The Carthaginians lost 2,500 killed and reports state that many later died of their wounds.

Also...

• Livy states that so terrible was the massacre at Lake Trasimene, that neither army was aware of the occurrence of an earthquake, which at the very moment of the battle "overthrew large portions of many of the cities of Italy, turned rivers, and levelled mountains with an awful crash."
• An ancient tradition says that because of the blood, which for over three days filled the water, that the name of a small stream feeding the lake was renamed Sanguineto, the "Blood River".
• In the surroundings of Lake Trasimene, there are further areas which retain a particular meaning, including Ossaia ("Charnel House, Place of Bones"), Sepoltaglia ("Place of Burial"), Caporosso ("Cape red"), Piegaro ("Subdued Place), Preggio (from "Peggio", "Worse"), Pugnano ("Place of battles"), and Pian di Marte ("Field of Mars").

Smithsonian's History Jokes

I thought these were pretty hilarious and I like how they point out that history is just FULL of craziness.

Living Insignia

I found these pics a couple of days ago and thought that they were kinda neat. They all date from the early WWII period and were taken at various military training sites. The last one is the entire 1st Division. I guess they took them from a tower or perhaps an aircraft. Not something you see everyday.

More Eye Pro saves

Eye Protection is awesome

It is not uncommon to here stories about soldiers whose lives were saved by their helmets or body armor. But no less important is eye protection.

Here are two photos I found today from combat operations in Afghanistan. This soldier, identified as Corporal Renaud M. of the French Alpine Hunters, took a Taliban round straight into his goggles. even though they are on his helmet in the pic, I imagine they were on his face during the incident, given the wound on his cheek. He would have certainly sustained a serious wound without his eyepro and very well might have even been killed. This is just another instance of modern protective equipment doing the great job we want it to. I often hear people complain about the amount of money the military uses up, but when I see one of our boys' life saved by that money I feel good.

Good work and all my best wishes, Corporal Renaud. And good work, nameless person who made those goggles. Taliban gunner--fuck you.

BTW- these photos were taken by Thomas Goisque, all credit to him, hopefully he won't mind my use of them for educational purposes. You can see the rest of the series here:
http://www.thomasgoisque-photo.com/site.php?page=reportages&spec=def&id=90##

A New Army - for China

Today China formally announced that the Chinese People's Liberation Arny has set up a cyber command called the "Blue Army". Anyone who has been paying attention knows that cyber crime and cyber espionage has been going on for some time and that it is very likely that many viruses and so forth have come out of China. US computer security firm Symantec states that they estimate 30% of all malicious emails come out of China. That is not to say that the Chinese government has been behind them all. It is very plausible that various other nefarious elements such as Russian and Chinese crime syndicates have used the available pool of tech savvy Chinese and lack of oversight to launder money, steal industrial secrets and so forth.

The spokesman for the PLA, Geng Yansheng, stated that the goal of the Blue Army was to improve the country's military security. He also stated that China has been the victim of computer based attacks and that the network security of China was relatively weak. While probably true, that will not likely quiet the storm of people in the West that will use the announcement of the Blue Army's existence to call for more resources to be dedicated to national information and network security. Nor should it. While we should try to be as friendly as possible with the Chinese, both government and people, we do need to realize that they might not feel the same way. Also it is normally assumed that China very dearly wishes to dethrone us as the world superpower.

The Blue Army is reportedly run out of the Guandong Military Command, has existed for at least 2 years and consists of 30 people. I find it hard to believe that a country of 1.5 billion people, with the world's largest military and a fervent desire to modernize would have a computer army of 30 people. I could get 30 nerds together in my buddy's computer repair shop by tomorrow morning. I think it is safe to assume that the real size of the Blue Army is a much bigger than that. That being said, it could be that the Chinese have compartmentalized their network defense and that the intelligence services also maintain a sizable "cyber-police" (for back-tracing). This is even more likely when you think about the steps that the Communist Party has taken in an attempt to prevent their citizens from unfettered Internet access. It is also a good bet that the powers that be in China are at least occasionally interested in checking on the online activities of their flock and perhaps, you know, read an email or two.


So, America's decision makers-- get crackin' on this or we will fall so far behind that we might as well give the country to the Chinese Communist Party (the parts of it they don't already own that is). While cyber security has been talked about a great deal, I like a lot of of other people do not believe that enough has been done to give our country adequate defenses against this new form of warfare and espionage. We need to ensure that we have intelligent, tech savvy, creative, and loyal people working on this for us. And not just as contractors working under multi million dollar contracts. We need an organic National Security cyber team. How about full scholarships and guaranteed jobs for some computer science students for a start? So, come up with some cool name and get to it Department of Defense.

Picture this, just in some ACUs

Now it is time for a funny

I've said it before, but I am going to try and actually post on my blog with some kind of regularity again. And like I have done before I will start off by posting some easy bullshit that takes no work or thought at all from me.

So, how about some funny pics.

The Real Reason the Rebels lost on Hoth:

And while it is not as relevant as it was last week...

History's Oddities

This is Comanche, reputed to be the only survivor of Custer's 7th Cavalry after their fateful battle at Little Big Horn.

The plaque states:
" Comanche, the only survivor of the Custer Massacre, 1876. History of the horse and regimental orders of the 7th Cavalry as to the care of Comanche as long as he shall live 1887."

I would think that some other horses survived and were taken by the various tribes that fought there, but it does make for an interesting picture.

Predator Tactical .500 S&W

For those of you with a lot of money to burn through...
The new Predator Tactical .500 S&W. It is a pump action rifle with a 16.5" barrel and a six round tubular magazine. The basic model comes with a Cerakote® finish in black or tan with Ashely Express sights. It weighs 7 pounds, unloaded. It was developed to maximize the ballistics of the .500 S&W cartridge, developed by Cor-Bon and Smith and Wesson for the X frame revolver. The basic idea is that with a rifle you have a longer barrel, giving the projectile greater velocity. Also, you have less muzzle flash and report because more of the hot gases are used up pushing the bullet out of the longer barrel. You can also have a longer sight radius (the length between rear sight and front sight) this makes it easier to aim, giving better results in most cases. The third benefit is that you can shoulder the weapon and steady it with your weak hand, making it easier to shoot, especially at longer range.


I have fired one(1) round from a S&W .500 and I think the pressure wave gave me a mild concussion. It is something else. Although, in felt recoil, it wasn't too much worse than the .454 Casull Raging Bull I fired. Some of you may not be familiar with the world of ballistics, so I have included two pics to help you:



First, the ballistics data. Not very sexy, but it does give one an idea of the type of power we are dealing with here. For comparison, I have a very "hot" (high pressure = high velocity) 9mm cartridge, the Cor-Bon Pow'rball. It fires a 100 grain projectile at about 1400 FPS. Most of the above loadings are that fast, but 3 times heavier.
Next for those who like a more visual representation:
This is the .500 S&W next too what was once the standard for powerful handgun rounds, the .44 Remington Magnum.



Here is a neat video of the PT 500 being shot:


Who drinks Coke Zero? Be a man and drink real Coke or drink water.

Now the truth is that this is going to be an only marginally useful gun. It would be okay for some types of hunting, but the 16.5 inch barrel will limit its range, making it a good gun only for relatively short distances, perhaps 150 yards as a practical limit. For dangerous game, I would rather have a full sized rifle and a 4" barrel .44 Magnum revolver. It is mostly a gun for rich guys to take to the range and impress their friends. Why rich guys? Because it is from a custom gun shop and is listed at $1895.00 US. All that being said, I sure would like an afternoon with this little gun and a stack of paint cans. Of course I would need about $200 for all the ammo. Oh well.


I would like to see it in a "tacticool" version with rails, polymer furniture and pistol grip with a collapsible stock, but that's just me. And if you are a traditionalist, you could go the lever gun route with the Big Horn Armory Model 89 in .500 S&W.



http://www.predatortactical.com/PT-500/PT-500-p36.html

http://www.bighornarmory.com/products/carbine.php