Guns, Cars, and Tech

Category: Guns

  • What the FedEx?

    Last Thursday I ordered 1,000 rounds of 9mm from CheaperThanDirt.com. On Saturday (Nov 12), FedEx delivered…500 rounds of 9mm. The manufacturer packages the ammo in 500 round boxes, so I was supposed to get two boxes instead of one.

    Called CTD and they verified they shipped two boxes. Customer Service also gave me the tracking number for the second box and said it would probably come on Monday. I figured the driver just didn’t realize I had two identical packages but would figure it out Saturday night.

    Well, it’s Thursday now and I still don’t have my ammo. Went to track the package, and, well…

    How does a package that originates in Louisiana and destined for Tennessee wind up in California? Especially when at one point it was within 25 miles of it’s destination and the other package in the shipment was delivered?

  • Great moments in marriage

    I was talking with Mrs. wizardpc over the weekend about taking some classes from Tom Givens (warning: auto-playing video w/sound, so mute your speakers) in 2012. Drew has already progressed from ‘never shot a handgun before’ to ‘I want to shoot IDPA’ in less than three months, and the two of us want to take Givens’ level 1-5 classes. The Level 1 class satisfies the requirement for a TN Handgun Carry Permit, and the subsequent classes build on that. Since I’ve always wanted Mrs. wizardpc to get her permit, she’s going to go with us to the Level 1 class–as soon as we figure out a date that works for everyone.

    I floated this to her a couple of weeks ago, and her reaction was, “What? Why don’t I get to go to the other classes, too?”

    That was pretty much the opposite of what I was expecting, since she has no desire to actually carry. Totally awesome, though.

    Anyway, this weekend we were talking about it some more, and we had a conversation that went something like this:

    Me: I was looking at Rangemaster’s site and they will provide a handgun and ammo for the level 1 class.
    Her: What about after that?
    Me: Well, after that you have to supply your own gun, ammo, and related gear like magazines and a holster.
    Her: Well, I guess we just need to get all that stuff for me, then.
    Me, dumbfounded: Errr, okay! Sure!
    Her: And you know the rule about buying guns: The other spouse gets an equivalent amount to spend on jewelry. Or, in your case, guns.

    I love this woman. 😀

    I’m thinking a single stack compact 9mm for her, since I’d prefer not to have to keep another caliber in stock. Naturally, she is going to pick it, but I’d like some thoughts on what she might want.

  • The failure of gun control

    Good thing we have the NFA and the Hughes Amendment to keep criminals from having machine guns.

    I mean, it’s not like some teenager can build an open bolt, mag fed automatic airgun that shoots AA batteries with enough muzzle energy to maim or kill you. And he made it out of PVC and a sprinkler valve.

    The build thread indicates attempts at rifling and 1″ conduit produce more accurate results.

  • Reminder

    Reminder to the OWS protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks: his plot failed and he was drawn and quartered. The British hate him so much that they still burn him in effigy 400 years later.

    Not sure why you’d want to emulate that, but whatever. Do what you want.

    If I thought the local “Occupy” movement could muster more than 30 or so people, I’d start thinking about carrying the AR in the truck.

  • And they were right!

    Critics said that if we allowed people with handgun carry permits to carry in parks, there would be shotgun attacks against schoolchildren on playgrounds.

    And they were right!

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. –

    Seventeen-year-old Michael Hague surrendered himself at police headquarters late Tuesday night and is confined at juvenile detention on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a gun on school property.

    Hague is accused of firing a shotgun at two teenagers on the playground of Robert Lillard Elementary School at 3200 Kings Lane last Thursday.

    Apparently one of the victims “dissed” him earlier in the day at school.

    So yes, allowing people who have carry permits (21+, trained, no criminal record) to carry handguns in state parks allowed this 17 year old to shotgun two other teenagers on an elementary school playground.

     

     

     

  • Tragedy!

    Alternate title: Two is one, one is none.

    Not a good weekend to be my equipment.

    On Friday, one of the kydex belt loops for my Raven Concealment holster snapped while I was getting into my wife’s car. I’ve had that holster for three or four years, so I wasn’t really surprised.  Back in July I ordered some IWB clips to replace the OWB loops. I hadn’t received them yet (nor had my debit card been charged),  but that hadn’t set off any alarm bells since Raven is pretty famous for multi month backlogs.
    Long story short, they switched systems and lost my debit card info. They emailed me about it, but it went to my spam folder. I’ve now ordered again, including replacement OWB loops. Expected wait time is 2 weeks.

    Related to the holster failure was my Insight M6 getting jacked up. See, I carry my Glock with a light and laser. That’s why I got a Raven holster in the first place: at the time they were the only people who offered a holster for my particular combination. I went to my backup configuration, which consists of a Serpa* for the Glock and a Fobus holster for the light. The Fobus is basically a paddle with a rail on it.

    What I didn’t realize is that it is directional. You’re supposed to carry it lense up, because there’s a block that keeps the switch from engaging if you do it like that. Yeah, so apparently the light was on for about 45 minutes straight while I was in the car.

    Right now the laser-only option works, but anything involving the lamp doesn’t. I’m hoping it’s just that the batteries have enough juice for the laser but not the light, and not that I killed the lamp.

    *Yes, I know about the safety concerns, but it’s all I have for a backup holster.

  • Awesome

    Just got a call from my FFL.

    See, when I bought my suppressor back in July, I gave them the money for the tax stamp.

    Apparently, they forgot to send the money to the ATF.

    Perhaps I will handle that myself next time.

    Counter gets reset. Dammit.

  • Not sure if serious

    At New Shooter day, there were a couple of gentlemen at the range with matching BDU (or is it ACU? I can’t keep up) pants and UnderArmor wicking shirts. Under their station I spied some high-dollar MOLLE gear and noticed a unit patch I’d not seen before.

    Towards the end of our time there, a third gentleman showed up with the same stuff. I also noticed that their ear protection doubled as a communications headset.

    Three guys, matching equipment, shooting pistols at 50 yards. And consistently hitting clay pigeons at that distance.  Seeing as 5th Group SF is about 40 miles away from this range, I was…intrigued. When we left for the day, I noticed that the trucks they came in had the same logo as their unit patches as window decals.

    I also noticed the trucks were from the wrong county if they were associated with 5th group, and that the trucks didn’t have DOD stickers. Add the fact that this was a public range and I’d seen this kind of thing before* at this range, I investigated when I got home.

    And I discovered that those gentlemen were airsofters. I was also introduced to the term “MilSim.”

    Now, I am of two minds here. My initial response upon finding out these guys are weekend SpecOps LARPers was, quite honestly, ridicule.

    These guys came to a public range essentially “in character” and didn’t let anyone in on the joke. One of my new shooters asked them if they were professionals and they responded with “something like that.” When guy #3 started unloading his gear, he took a suppressor off of an AR, swapped out what looked to be a MultiMount Adapter, and put it on a pistol. I asked him about it, because the pistol was super quiet and I assumed it was the Gemtech MultiMount. He showed it to me, explained that it was legal, and told me who made it. It was only later that I found out it was airsoft.

    People don’t like being lied to, and I feel like these guys lied to us.

    My second, later reaction was Hey, airsoft or not, training is training and these guys were good. They were, after all, hitting clay pigeons at 50 yards with pistols. Real pistols.

    And apparently this MilSim thing is a BFD, and this M7 group is a BFD in MilSim. They like, travel the country and win money and stuff.

    So, are they really any different than other LARPers?

    What about Civil War Re-enactors? Are they odd because they dress up and play around with really old guns?

    How about WWII re-enactors? Paintballers?

    This MilSim thing seems like it would be fun, and would get trigger time on the cheap. The airsoft guns these guys use probably cost as much as the real thing, but whats the price per round? Plus you get team tactics and force on force training on the cheap? Sounds like something I need to investigate.

    I just wish these guys hadn’t acted the way they did at the range.

    *Actually, one of these guys may have actually been the guy from that story. Can’t say for sure, but there was a resemblance.

  • Twinkies!

    image

    Top: Rock River AR-15

    Bottom: M&P15-22

    The thing about an AR trainer is that it needs to be as close as possible to your “real” rifle as possible. I just got the M&P15-22, but I’m already starting to duplicate the functionality. When I was taking care of my Form 4 stuff, I picked up two Magpul AFG2s. You’ll notice that the Rock River has carbine length gas system, while the M&P15-22 has mid-length handguards. I put the AFG as far forward on the RRA as I could and then matched up the M&P.

    The BUIS on the Rock River is a Troy flip up front sight and a Magpul MBUS rear sight. The M&P just has iron sights for now, so that will work until I figure out what I want to do about a red dot. I doubt I’ll add an EOTech to a .22, but who knows. I might decide to upgrade the EOTech 512 to an EOTech 557.AR223.

    Need moar gunskool first.

  • Things the Internet taught me

    I went down to my FFL on Saturday to start my portion of the cluster that is NFA Paperwork. It took 65 days for the NFA branch to decide it was okay for Gemtech to send a .22 suppressor down to a shop that makes suppressors for .50s. Whatever.

    Since I am a total n00b at this stuff, I brought all my trust paperwork. After the clerk went back and handled their end of the Form 4 stuff, he came back with some instructions. Sign here, date here, etc. Then he said I would need to take the blank Schedule A form to a notary and add the suppressor’s serial to it. Then, I should come back to the store and they would send everything off. I asked him if the ATF would need the original or if a copy would do, and he was unsure. I decided to email the lawyer who drew up the trust and ask him about it before proceeding.

    On my way back home, I thought that surely I could find the answer on the internets. NFA trusts are become more popular, so people on forums must have run into this before.

    Ho. Lee. Crap.

    This is what that exercise taught me:

    Yeah, so I decided to wait for a legal opinion. Turns out, they don’t need to see the Schedule A, and the clerk was confused by my handing him a Schedule A along with my other trust paperwork.

    Form 4s are in the mail as of today. I’ll let you know who was right, but I’ll take NRA Lawyer over anonymous gun forum dude any day.