Category Archives: Uncategorized

Video – 10 Things That Would Happen if the United States Went Bankrupt

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In the book “The Mandibles: A Family , 2029-2047“, the US defaults on it’s national debt and all sorts of Bad Stuff happens. Its a very good book, in my opinion, except for the somewhat out-of-character ending.

Could the US actually default on it’s debt? What would happen? Well, here’s one limey’s interpretation:

The notion that a bankruptcy would kick off some type of Purge-like orgy of violence seems a bit dramatic. Crime go up? Sure. But unlike every other country that has gone through that sort of thing, there are enough people with guns in this country that a large part of the population would be quite a bit safer than the rest.  The problem with this sort of thing, as seen in places like Venezuela and similar venues, is that only the bad guys have guns. In ‘Murica, it’s a different story. I’m not saying its going to be all sunshine and stun grenades, but stuff like you see on the news in those Third World places? Mmmmm…not so much. Except for our own little pockets of Third World-like places such as New Orleans, any major California city, Detroit, etc.

Could the US go bankrupt? I don’t know enough about economics to say. But I do know this – when the US catches a cold, every other country sneezes. Just from a self-interest standpoint, it would be in the best interest of a lot of the planet to make sure the US doesn’t have something like that happen. That might mean a degree of debt forgiveness, renegotiation of terms, loans from the World Bank, etc, etc. I’m fairly confident what it won’t mean is hyperinflating our way out of it.

But…one never knows, does one? Which is why Zero had food, guns, and silver. And, really, probably why you should too.

 

Love letters from ATFE

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“This is an important message from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. ATF recognizes the essential role that FFLs perform in keeping the public safe, and we greatly value your cooperation. If you encounter indications of unlawful activity, please report it to your local ATF field office and or local law enforcement. A listing of all ATF field offices can be found at www.atf.gov. You may also contact ATF to report suspicious activity any time at 1-800-ATF-GUNS or online at www.reportit.com and select ATF Anonymous Tip Line. Thank you.”

The circumstances under which I would voluntarily engage with those morons is a very short list. This smacks of ATFE getting their ducks in a row for something.

The circus comes to town..but it never really left – Redux

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“…and somewhere at Cheaper Than Dirt headquarters, they are readying the pricing algorithms on the website for $100 Pmags.”

CTD is notorious for used GI aluminum mags for $100 each during the last panic, PMAGs weren’t far behind.

Well, not yet. CTD still seems to have AR mags at ‘normal’ prices listed on their website. I suspect that they’ve simply not gotten around to jacking ’em up by several hundred percent yet because it’s a weekend.

I give CTD a ration of crap because they really should have had a much more long-term outlook on what this sort of thing would do to them. But maybe they did…they are still in business after all, and it seems theres no shortage of customers for their wares.

How does a $99 PMAG happen?  Actually, its pretty simple. As the supply of inventory dwindles, the software keeps raising the price to slow down the sales so they never go out of stock. This normally works because most items are a) replaced in inventory fairly quickly and b) most items aren’t suddenly flying off the shelves like they’re free gold bars.  So, a couple hundred thousand people hit the website looking for PMAGs and maybe CTD has a few thousand in stock. The things are flying off the shelf at a furious clip (heh,,see what I did there?) and any potential resupply is an unknown. So, with no anticipated restock date, a limited inventory, a metric buttload of customers, and a software-driven mandate to not let things get out of stock….the price automatically goes up to apply the brakes. But demand is so high that the software has to stand on those brakes like a pilot landing on a tennis court. Result? Price changes that keep going up, up, up. And finally someone at CTD takes a moment from checking their Facebook account to see that social media is excoriating CTD and someone runs into the IT department and says “Fix this!”

But CTD should have dropped human intervention in there long before people screencapped the outrageous prices and saved them for posterity.

I’ve been to this dance before.

Watergun: coating

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You guys remember the Watergun?

Found some folks at the gun show who do cerroko…cerok..cerrocoa..cer…screw it….they ceramic coat firearms. Their prices were very reasonable and the examples of their work looked pretty good. So…I left the Watergun with them and in a few weeks we will see what it looks like. For those who don’t recall, the Watergun is a HiPower brought up from the bottom of Lake Michigan. I purchased it as a box of parts and was surprised to find 90% of the parts were present and usable. Shoots fine, looks hideous. SO…in a couple weeks, we’ll do a grand unveiling. Stay tuned.

Lights out

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So, as I mentioned, the gun show is being held in the ballroom (for lack of a better term) at the Hilton here in town. Ballroom. No windows. Large room. And i’m standing there chatting with a vendor when the lights go out. Now, the emergency lights did not come on, so that tells me the lights going out was not a function of a power outage or other unexpected event. Rather, someone simply must have turned the wrong switches down in the basement. Here’s the interesting part….as several hundred people are standing around in the dark, a handful had the presence of mind to use the flashlight function on their phones. But a very, very small handful of people had personal flashlights on them…myself included. Thus, it was easy to see who was drinking the same flavor of Kool-Aid as me and who wasn’t.

It was…amusing.

Missoula gun show

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Oh, it’s bloody hot.

This weekend is the Missoula Gun Show which is, as I understand it, the oldest and largest gun show int he state. And it happens darn near in my backyard. Or, at least, it used to. This year, for the first time since I’ve been attending it (30 years), they have changed the venue. Why? Mmmm. Not sure. I’ve heard two competing rumours and both probably have some merit. The first is that our illustrious alcoholic, obese, philandering, statist mayor’s (“The Biggest Boozer”) pet project – a “no private gun sales w/o background check” law – would make the gun show impossible and the University, who hosts the show, didn’t want to get caught up in that potentially legal morass. The other rumour I heard was something about the University charging exorbitant fees for air conditioning. The reality? Who knows? Maybe both. Eithe way, it’s going to be at the Hilton Garden Inn up on Reserve St.

I keep saying Im going to try not to spend money at these things and every bloody time I wind up ….spending money.

And, of course, the gun show is an opportunity to catch up and visit with people I almost never see except at these sorts of things…so thats pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, when the end of the world gets here I a going to have a heck of a time putting up with summer heat without an air conditioner.

Guns of Wisdom

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Went alllllllll the way out to the Wisdom gun show today. Wisdom is a really small town. In fact, it is so small….

“How small is it!?”

Its so small the “You are now entering..” and the “You are now leaving…” signs are on the same post. :::Rimshot:::

Ah, but seriously folks……..

I was there for the gun show which is pretty much the biggest function the town has during the year. In the evening they have a street dance, there’s BBQ, and you can pretty much camp in your truck by the side of the road. It’s quite nice. I hadn’t been there in a few years because, honestly, its a bit of a haul. Its in the middle of this enormous valley. An island in a sea of green hay. Seriously.

But, because of its isolation and the bucolic demographic, you get a lot of used and old guns. Me likey used and old guns. And, while I was planning on not spending more than a few bucks on some reloading gear I walked away with this:

A pre-Remington Marlin 1894 in .44 Mag. Has the crossbolt safety, unfortunately, but it also has this:

The “JM” stamp showing this gun was made before Remington bought the company and destroyed it’s reputation with crappy quality. Go look on GunBroker…the JM stamped guns bring markedly higher prices over the REM stamped guns. Price? Well Old Dude wanted $500, I wound up getting it for $400. Honestly, if it didnt have the safety I would have been okay with $500.

I have the .357 version of this gun sitting in the safe. Paid $300 for it ten years ago. I see them on GB for about $500 more than that now. :::sigh:::

Anyway, this’ll go in the safe until I pick up a Ruger .44 of some flavor to match it with.

I Sold a Glock 30 last week that had been sitting in the safe since last September, so I’m going to consider this a zero-sum game. Basically just transmuted the G30 into the 1894.

 

 

 

“Boogaloo” – news to me

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I’ve become old enough that I am apparently now out of the loop in regard to ‘those crazy kids and their slang’.

Apparently, when I wasn’t looking, the term ‘boogaloo‘ has come to mean a fighting-in -the-streets type of national-level (or global-level) bullet party. Who knew?

Come to think of it, we have had some interesting euphemism for the day it all comes crashing down, haven’t we? Lets see: Collapse, EOTWAWKI, Ragnarok, the aopcalypse, Armageddon, World War 3, Judgement Day, TSHTF, etc.

I kinda like “Der Tag”, from Heinlein’s ‘The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress’. In most survivalist fiction the day the world comes to an end is often simply called “The Day”. No surprise there, hm?

But ‘boogaloo’? Mmmmm….thats gonna take some getting used to.