SGN Classifieds

Yesterday I checked out a couple sites advertised in the back of Shotgun News.  One was by Battle Arms Development, featuring their "BAD-ASS" ambidextrous safety selector.  Pretty sweet, there's just the matter of $60.  The other ad was by Kitanica, the copy of which advertised tactical clothing made in the USA.  Of course I had to look.  They have the most bad-ass cargo pants I've ever seen, the PNT X.A.  $160 is pretty spendy for a pair, but high-end brand-name jeans can go for close to that, and they're certainly less functional.  (The downside is that they only come in inseam 34, but at least the pant cuffs have drawstrings.)  I'm contemplating trying out a set for potential use in my upcoming training.  In searching for reviews of Kitanica gear, I found the Tactical Pants Blog, which does reviews of this sort of thing.  Perhaps I'll try out a couple less expensive pairs of pants as well.

AR-15 Lower Manufacturers

You know, I could've sworn that I saved the link, I think it was on Arfcom, showing the various lower brands with their actual manufacturers.  For some reason, I can't find it in my links.  So here's another list I found:

Lewis Machine & Tool

• LMT
• Lauer
• DS Arms
• PWA
• Eagle
• Armalite
• Knights Armament
• Barrett

Continental Machine Tool

• Stag
• Rock River Arms
• High Standard
• Noveske
• Century (New)
• Global Tactical
• CLE
• S&W
• MGI
• Wilson Tactical
• Grenadier Precision
• Colt

LAR Manufacturing

• LAR
• Bushmaster
• Ameetec
• DPMS
• CMMG
• Double Star
• Fulton Armory
• Spike's Tactical

JVP

• Double Star
• LRB
• Charles Daly

Mega Machine Shop

• Mega
• GSE
• Dalphon
• POF
• Alexander Arms

Olympic

• Olympic
• SGW
• Tromix
• Palmetto
• Dalphon
• Frankford
• Century (Old)

Sun Devil

• Sun Devil forged billet receivers

Superior

• Superior Arms
• Lauer (New)

Aero Precision

• Aero Precision

Ruger 22/45 Mark III Field & Detail Strip

Ruger .22s are a bit of a pain to disassemble.  I found a site that not only details the field strip procedure better than the factory manual, but also has detail strip information.

HK Builds

Since I'm getting more interested in gunsmithing and was in a superfluous meeting, I went on HKPro looking for interesting stuff and, in particular, build info.

G3 DMR kit from Bravo 5
Sexy jig for bending receiver flats
...a few more build links on Calguns
HKParts' contract barrels are POF, huh?  Shit...

FH Workbench Designs

• Folding workbench
• Modular workbench
• 4 knockdown designs

OS X Burning Software

Alternatives to Roxio Toast 10, which has horrid reviews on Amazon, include Burn and LiquidCD.  I downloaded the latter two, but haven't tried burning anything with them yet.  I discovered I hadn't upgraded to the last version of Toast 7 (7.1.3) yet.

Kye Kye Kule

最近ジアダがアンパンマンのDVDを毎日見て俺は頻繁に「チェッチェッコリ」の歌を聞いてしまって頭の中で回る。歌詞の意味を調べたところ、別に意味がないと分かった。「ぴっとんへべへべ」みたいなもんだな。

Arfcom's Guide to Assembling an AR-15 Lower

AR-15.com has a detailed guide on how to assemble an AR-15 lower.  I guess I didn't have to buy a book and two videos on AR-15 builds, but it sure helps a rank novice to the art of gunsmithing.  Seems simple, but hey, most gun owners can't even detail strip their guns, so....

George Bernard Shaw

Found an old (2009.01.22) note to myself regarding some excellent sayings by George Bernard Shaw:

Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated.

The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.

The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it.

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.

Brilliant!

Plane Food

So I went searching for info on food poisoning from in-flight meals and found an article from last month that USA Today ran, noting that FDA inspectors found problems with the catering services that the airlines use.

I emailed a complaint to Delta regarding my food poisoning incident, but predictably haven't received a reply.  The FDA only has contact numbers by state, so I'd have to burn Skype creds to make the call from Japan.  Maybe when I get home....

rec.guns

FAQs from the old rec.guns Usenet group have been archived on recguns.com.  Of particular interest is the Class 3 FAQ.  Amusingly enough, I ran into a Class 2 SOT last weekend who claimed that the Class 3, etc., names didn't exist.  I knew that I'd seen them in the law before, but since he's an SOT and ought to know his business I didn't argue.  The terms are defined in 27CFR179.32.  The Government Printing Office (GPO) has online versions of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), which describe how the laws in the United States Code (USC) are to be carried out.  CFR Title 27, Chapter I, Part 179 details regulations pertaining to NFA weapons.

In the past, I've thought of studying law and becoming a pro-gun lawyer like Alan Gura, but 1) I'm of the ponderous thinking type, not the quick thinking type, and 2) I lack the faculties to memorize all that case law.  Still, it'd be worth studying law a bit, since my primary hobby is heavily regulated.

A couple other interesting rec.guns FAQs were the ones [1, 2] written by a couple of Japanese guys.  That's by far the most descriptive information on Japan's gun laws that I've seen.  Attempting to read the original text for someone who's barely competent in the language much less in their different legal system is an exercise in futility, so the summaries are a good background.  Presuming they're still accurate after 15+ years, that is!

'07 Springfield-Style Sling Use

I'd posted one link on how to use the '07 sling before, but I came across an article by Walt Kuleck, who co-wrote the assembly guide for the AR-15 that I have.  I found the vintage instruction manual pictures used to be more illustrative than the pictures in the previous link.

Magazine Storage

Need a place to put your explosives?  Check out U.S. Explosive Storage!  Funky that they fabricate such containers, but somebody's gotta do it, eh?

Other Lowers

Found a couple AR-15 lowers of interest.  Still can't find any made out of steel, except the 80% ones that you have to finish yourself, or the $1k Spider Firearms one.

Aero Precision (I think they make the AR-57 as well)
Stubborn Mule Outdoor Supply (slick looking single-shot lower, except I prefer the standard trigger guard)

Another BMG

Another .50 BMG rifle is available, from Desert Tactical Arms.  Ronnie Barrett created a monster!

Ballistic Coefficient

The subject of ballistic coefficients has become of interest to me lately.  I found a site with information on bullets and their BCs with downloadable spreadsheets.

Blasphemy

The Old Testament is badass.

Large Caliber Miscellany

So I was searching for information on loading large caliber projectiles.  Though I haven't even gotten my .50 yet, I'm already looking at larger bores....  Having found a source for 20mm Vulcan brass, I was curious about what it takes to load the monster.  That led me to a site on THR that has a bunch of links that are useful, as well as information from a guy who shoots PTRD and PTRS rifles.

The useful links:

• Reloading the .50 BMG - Good info on how it's done!
• CH4D - Reloading equipment for eccentric calibers such as 20mm Vulcan, Solothurn, and Lahti.
• The Gatling Gun - History from an Army website.
• Bartlett Reloaders - For once-fired brass.
• Pat's Reloading - .50 BMG projectiles.
• Hi-Tech Ammunition - .50 BMG projectiles.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

We had to take the MBTI test at work.  Interestingly enough, the Wikipedia entry has this to say:

Voluntary
It is considered unethical to compel anyone to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It should always be taken voluntarily.

Confidentiality
The result of the MBTI Reported and Best Fit type are confidential between the individual and administrator and, ethically, not for disclosure without permission.

We were compelled to take it, and the results will probably be aggregated at the manager level.

Anyhow, I mentioned it to the wife, and she wanted to know more about it, so I dug up a test for her in Japanese.  I found a second source as well.  She was exactly what I had her pegged as.

20mm Ammo

I found a place to get 20mm Vulcan ammo online: Brashco Specialty Ammo!!  $6 for sized brass, and $0.85 for training bullets (probably hollow).  Might be cool to get a live round just to have!  I've got some dummy rounds, but those aren't nearly as interesting.

Article on Appleseed

Washington Post ran an almost-fair article on the Appleseed Project.

About Firearms Cleaning

In pursuit of .50 BMG action, I was looking for more advice on cleaning for accuracy.  A site called 6mmBR.com has information on bore cleaning as well as words of advice regarding brushing, as in whether it's necessary or not, from various shooting luminaries.

Henshold-Wetzlar

The Hensoldt-Wetzlar scope for the G3 is nice, but the lens covers are annoying to open.  I've been looking for a replacement, but it seems like the Butler Creek ones aren't quite the right size for the bells.  A discussion on HKPro claims that the #3 covers should work.  Midway's chart, however, says #3 is 35.3mm, whereas I measured 32mm using a ruler.  I'm going to have to break out the calipers.  In further searching, I found a site that details the 3 generations of H-W scopes.  I have the 3rd gen scope, it seems.

How Asians Desecrated the Peace Sign

Pretty hilarious stuff.

Amateur Radio w/o a License

I can't remember what I was looking for, but this link has been open for a while and I needed to get it off my tab stack.  Useful links were: Nets registered with ARRL (moved relative to the article) and searchable airport frequencies.

ウェブ飲み会

ヒトはまじでこういうことするのか？

「ネット飲み会」、「オンライン飲み会」とも。わざわざ出かけるのではなく、自分の部屋で1人でパソコンの前に酒とつまみをもってきて、ネットで会話を交わしながら飲むバーチャル飲み会。あるウェブ飲み会のたった1つの約束事は、自分の酒とつまみを申告すること。「水割りと柿の種」とか「焼酎とスルメ」といった風に自分が飲んでいる酒とつまみをパソコンに打ち込むだけである。そうした後は、パソコンのモニターの画面に好きな話題を打ち込んで行くと次々とそれについての話題がほかの参加者から打ち込まれ、酒を飲みながら楽しむことができる。ウェブ飲み会の特徴は、いつでも、どこでも、何かをしながらでも参加できること。「外に飲みに出かけるとお金がかかる」「会社の友人や上司との飲み会では、説教を聞かされたり、いつも同じ話題になってしまう」といったことから、こうしたウェブ飲み会を好む若者が増えているという。サントリーの開設した「ほろよい.com」は会員制だが、自分のアバター（サイト上の分身）を決めて、テーマごとの小部屋で好きなように話すことができる。実際に会って飲み会をすると、バーチャルとリアルのギャップが出てしまうので、あまりオフ会をすることはないとか。

Proper Use of a Rifle Sling

Great tutorial on how to use a sling with a rifle, with pictures.  I was wondering how the hell to use my Brownells sling!

Ethics from the Barrel of a Gun

While looking for information on sling use for the Appleseed Project shoot this weekend, I came across a brilliant piece, "Ethics from the Barrel of a Gun," by Eric Raymond, the Cathedral and the Bazaar guy.  Maybe I knew that he was a kindred geek with guns, but I don't think I'd read this particular piece before.

Indeed, consequence-avoidance has been the anathema of American society for the past 40 years at least.  Real choices, real actions, real responsibility.  For the flavor of this alone, I'd own a gun—never mind that it's fun to shoot!

Fouling of DI Actions

There's an interesting article in Defense Review that discusses the effect of fouling on direct-impingement M4s.  The claim of the author is that the problem is fouling of the bolt carrier group, but weak springs and light buffer weights.  Perhaps I need to look into those reliability mods, although the O-ring seems to be more for automatic fire.

xkcd on Freedom

You know, I've actually thought about this before.  What would it take to completely change your life for the better?  I'm not sure what the hell I'd do if I could "fix" everything.