Sighting in

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I have a couple 9mm ARs. One is the Angstadt Arms version, which I recommend, and the other is the KE Arms version that uses the polymer lower receiver/stock combo. Both have their advantages…the KE arms is very, very light. The Angstadt has a last-shot hold open.

I had picked up a second Trijicon MRO last week and needed to get it sighted in for the KE Arms gun, so thats what I did today. Once dialed in, it was quite easy to chew the center out of the target dots. It’s a handy little carbine that shares magazines and ammo with my Glocks.

Every single time I post about pistol caliber carbines it invariably leads to “if youre going to carry a carbine why wouldnt you carry it in a carbine caliber” or “pistol caliber carbines are stupid” discussions in comments. Every single time. So, for the sake of my sanity and to save everyone some time, lets hit the search function and just go reread the older arguments and explanations.

Speaking of 9mm. I was flipping around some blogs and came across this picture:

My current carry ammo is the Speer Gold Dot. People I have talked to who would be ‘in the know’ say that it is the pellet of choice for people who have to deal with things that have language skills. I had a disappointing experience with HydraShocks once and, while recognizing it may have just been a fluke, I have been adamant about not using them. I think my nightstand gun still has Black Talons in it, which clearly shows how long its been since I rotated my ammo out of that particular gun. My ‘house gun’, the MP5SD clone, uses Hornady subsonic hollowpoints. I usually prefer 124 gr. in my unsupressed guns. Even FMJ will ‘do the job’ as long as ‘you hit them in the right spot’, but thats a rather stupid argument. A baseball bat will ‘do the job’ if you just ‘hit them in the right spot’, but I can tell you with experience under my belt that in the real world you don’t always get the luxury of setting up your shot to be perfect. Sometimes you gotta be the first with the most and when that happens youre gonna want a little bit of extra for that ‘margin of error’. Could you go elk hunting with a .22 Mag? Absolutely. Is it a good idea? Definitely not. Sure, a perfect shot in the perfect spot with the .22 Mag will drop an elk, but you don’t always get the perfect….and when that happens you want to have extra mass, extra speed, extra power on your side to make up for less-than-perfect placement.

Life isn’t perfect. Buy the hollowpoints.

Digital price tags and labels

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SO, while I was in WalMart the other day, I noticed that the price tags for the items on the shelf had changed. If you look at the pictures from the post referenced above, the usual price tags on the shelf have been replaced with digital price tags that are remotely updated. In the old days, you had a guy trundle a cart down the aisle a couple times a week with new price stickers to put on the shelves. No more. Now, the guys in the back office can update the price on an item and it’s instantly reflected on the shelves. I admire this sort of efficiency, yes….but the cynical part of me says that this is a sign that prices are changing so frequently, probably upwards, that it makes sense to be able to change them instantly and often to keep on top of inflationary pressures.

Sign of the times? Yes. But specifically what kind of times is the better question.

WalMart find

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Speaking of TQ’s and bleeding…..I was in WalMart the other day and beheld this:

Kind of interesting. My first thought was that I would not trust a tourniquet purchased at WalMart any more than I would trust a Mexican space shuttle. WalMart is basically a retail showroom for Chinese manufacturing, and I don’t trust anything Chinese as far as I can throw it. I checked the label on this kit and it was:

“Made in USA of domestic & global materials”. Okay, my logic is if it is not exclusively “Made In USA”, then its really ‘Made in China’ and put together/packaged in USA.

However, I freely admit I may be wrong. I didn’t feel like spending $16 to find out exactly what the quality of this was because, and this may be short sighted, it’s a $16 TQ from WalMart. Just the TQ alone should cost more than that if it was a quality TQ.

A quick trip to the company’s Amazon website says, among other thihngs, “We Make Kits”. Not that they make products, but rather they make kits. Meaning, to me, they purchase components, assemble them into a package, slap a label on them, and sell them as a kit. I respect the business model, I question the quality.

But, as I said, I wasn’t going to drop sixteen bucks to find out if there’s actual QuickClot and a NAR TQ in there, or some off-brand made-in-China ‘equivalent’. Why would I? You get what you pay for in this world and I have absolutely no faith that this is going to be anything more than a accumulation of offshore-made ‘medical products’ that have been re-packaged into a sharp-looking package and trundled out to mass retailers. Who is the market for this? Probably the people who don’t want to do the math, don’t want to do the research, don’t want to spend the money, and just want to purchase something to tuck in a closet so they can say “I’m prepared”. These are the same people who buy prepackaged ‘Three day survival backpacks’ and the like. Broadly speaking, preparedness is not something you can simply outsource to a company or buy off Amazon. Your needs are unique and only you can know what you do and don’t need for your anticipated emergency. You wouldn’t call  your local grocery store and simply say “Sell me the groceries I need for the coming year”, would you? No…you know what you like and don’t like, and thus you take the effort to go and shop.

Perhaps I’m being too hard on this product. In reality, the product is not the focus of my disdain. My disdain is directed at the people who would trust this product. Bleeding to death because you tried to save $15 at WalMart instead of paying full freight for name-brand gear from a reputable, albeit more expensive, source is an embarrassing way to die.

If anyone wants to go to WalMart, buy one of these, disect it, and let me know if the quality is/isn’t there….please go ahead. Or, feel free to throw a few bucks at me through Patreon and I’ll head down there, pick one up, and give it the go.

Article – Mysterious Crime Spree Targeted National Guard Equipment Stashes

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A string of previously undisclosed break-ins at Tennessee National Guard armories last fall marks the latest in a growing series of security breaches at military facilities across the United States, raising fresh concerns about the vulnerability of US armories to theft and intrusion.

A confidential memo from the Tennessee Fusion Center reviewed by WIRED details four break-ins at Tennessee National Guard armories over a seven-week span. In one incident, thieves made off with night vision goggles, laser target locators, and thermal weapons sights, among other equipment. At others, intruders breached fences, tripped alarms, and gained access to supply rooms discovered in the aftermath to have been unlocked.

Really, this is, IMHO, one of two things – either its a buncha people wanting to gear up for the boogaloo or whatever flavor of upcoming apocalypse they believe in, or its some guys dumping ACOGS and DBALS on eBay. I’m more inclined to believe the former.

This sort of thing happens more frequently than anyone cares to admit, just not usually on a grand or organized basis. Everyone knows ‘that guy’ that stole an ACOG, a lower, a GPS, whatever, while on an exercise. In the case of guns, they usually lock the place down and send everybody out into the field until the item is found. On non-gun stuff…it might be a little less strict but I could be wrong.

Were I of the ‘insurgent’ nature, I’d say my interest would be commo gear above all else…especially the encrypted stuff. But theres a lot to be said for having NODS, IR lasers, and ACOGS in quantity.

I know that in the old days when the military still used commercial vehicles, such as Suburbans, Blazers, etc., a lot of tires and spare motors mysteriously wound up in people’s garages. Nowadays its a different story…I bet they RFID the heck outta that stuff.

But, if the military is serious about investigating this they should troll eBay and some of the exchange forums on the discussion groups. If it turns up there, you know it was done for cash and if it doesn’t turn up there…well….there may be something afoot.

Article – ‘Cult’ of tourniquets causing thousands of unnecessary amputations and deaths in Ukraine, say surgeons

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From a post at Bayou Renaissance Man, an article about how the improper, unnecessary, or overuse of tourniquets in Ukraine has led to ‘tens of thousands’ of unnecessary amputations.

The tourniquet has saved many thousands of lives and limbs in war zones around the world, but misuse of the device is causing huge numbers of excess amputations and deaths in Ukraine, say top military surgeons.

Captain Rom A Stevens, a retired senior US medical navy officer who has served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and East Africa, estimates that of the roughly 100,000 amputations performed on Ukrainian soldiers since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, as many as 75,000 were caused by improper use of tourniquets.

“I’ve seen tourniquets that have been left on for days, often for injuries that could have been stopped by other methods. Then [the patient] has to have their limb amputated because the tissue has died,” Captain Stevens told The Telegraph.

There is more to being prepared than just buying a tourniquet and shoving it in your gear. Much the same way buying a gun doesn’t make you ‘safer’ unless you actually, you know, learn how to use it. YouTube videos would, I’d imagine, be the minimum and the optimum would be one of those Stop The Bleed classes that seem to be everywhere.

This sort of segue’s into an argument that appears from time to time in the preparedness world: should you stock medical equipment that you are not qualified or trained to use? On the one hand, so the thinking goes, you are more likely to cause harm than good by using a piece of equipment, a drug, or a technique that you are unqualified to use. On the other hand, just because you don’t know how to use it does not mean there won’t be someone around who does. We’ve all read about car accidents where a bystander pulls over to help and its a nurse or doctor. You may not have the talent, but there may be someone around who does…and they need the right tools to maximize that talent.

Folks more knowledgeable than I will chime in on this subject, I’m sure. (cough*Aesop*cough)

 

Missoula Gun Show

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The big Missoula gun show this is this weekend and its a little…underwhelming. But part of that is because, frankly, theres not much left I need and even less that I want. But, I have people visiting me this weekend and we’re making a gun safari of it…hitting the gun show and all the gun shops up and down the valley. Interestingly, it wasnt at the gun show but at a shop in Hamilton where I spent the most money. This is the same shop that, back in February, I got a decent deal on a Trijicon dot. Well, they had another. And they also had an Eotech XPS-2 that was used. Wound up buying both f(used) or a good discount. Its an interesting gun store…not a lot of old stuff, but alot of used stuff. And theres some pretty interesting oddballs….for example I saw a Ciener Mini-14 .22 kit which I almost bought until I remembered Cieners reputation with his AR .22 kits. Its a pretty good shop and I highly recommend it.

Since Im playing host to out of towners from a place that doesn’t believe in freedom, theres a big range day planned today. Might take some pictures, might not. But….thats the weekend.

Gold at spot

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I’ve mentioned in the past that I sometimes can get gold at spot price, no premium. How does that work? Can it work for you? Depends. Its all about self-interest. Today, while I was jawboning with a local dealer, a fella came in and wanted to sell some 1/4 oz. gold coins. My buddy explained that he would buy it for melt at 95%. He’ll then send it to be melted down and they’ll pay him 97% of spot. That 2% difference is his profit. Now, I enter the picture and tell the dealer, I’ll pay you 100% of spot. So he goes from 2% profit to a 5% profit* (2.5x what he would otherwise have gotten) and I get gold at spot price. Pretty straightforward.

The most obvious question is why wouldn’t he just buy the gold at 95%, throw it in the display case, and sell it at spot (a 5% profit) plus the premium (which can get fairly high depending on the form the gold is in…the smaller the piece, the higher the premium.)

Well, the answer is: risk. If he buys the gold and throws it in the display case with 25 other gold coins, every day it doesn’t sell is a day where the market could go..anywhere. Sure, maybe in a month he makes a $100 profit from the change in metal prices. But he might also lose $100 if the price goes down. Why take the risk when you can get the sure thing, and get 5% all day long, all week long, from someone like me?

Will that work with everyone selling metals? Probably not. But if you say “Hey, any gold you were gonna send off for melt and take less-than-spot for, I’ll give you spot. Cash.” Again, won’t work with everyone but if you have a relationship with a seller, maybe someone you’ve done business with a bunch of times over the year, they might take you up on it.

Having said that, I almost never buy gold at anything other than spot. Gold is already expensive..paying spot and then an additional $50 for a Krugerrand or Gold Eagle just doesn’t make financial sense for me. And it doesnt make sense for the dealer to leave money on the table by selling to a melter at below-spot when someone is there, cash in hand, willing to pay spot.

So, go ask. Might work, might not. If he says no, there’s no hard feelings and if he says yes you’ve gotten a deal.

As an aside, I was there in the shop talking to my ‘gold guy’ when one of you savages called and asked if they could get some metals at spot like that Zero guy on the blog did. Nice try. As I said, it really helps if you throw this idea at a dealer you’ve done business with in the past who knows that a) you’re a good guy and b) you pay in cash immediately. Dont ever for a moment think that “can you hold onto it for a week until my SSDI/VA/SS check comes in?” is going to do you any favors. Always have the cash in hand when you make an offer like this. What the dealer wants is to make a ‘turnaround sale’. He buys it for 95% and six minutes later turns around sells it for 100%. Deals like that are fast money in the pocket for him, his risk exposure is barely measurable, and he did better than he originally planned when he was going to send it to be melted down. And now he doesn’t have to deal with the hassle of packaging, shipping, wire transfers, etc. Everybody wins…and when youre trying to make a deal, thats the kind that will fly. Also, this is very much a face-to-face kind of transaction… the deal looks better for the dealer when he can just hand you the gold and you hand him the cash. Playing phone tag, doing payment over the phone or online, packaging, insuring, shipping, tracking, etc. are all ‘friction’ that makes the deal less and less attractive.

Good luck.

* Mathematically, its not 2%. For simplicity, lets say gold is $3000/oz. He buys it for 95% of spot ($2850). He sells it for 97% of spot ($2910). Thats actually, not a 2% profit, its a 2.1% profit on $2850. Selling it to me at spot isn’t a 5% profit, its a 5.26% profit. Why? because the profit is based on what he paid (return on investment, if you please), and he didnt pay spot, he paid less than spot…$2850. Math.

Video – Exploring the Paranoid Country with 374,142 Bunkers to Hide Everyone (how is this possible?)

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I’ve made a few posts here and there about the Swiss and their lovely bunker fetish. Here’s a pretty cool video of some folks touring privately-owned former-government bunkers. I really have to hand it to the Swiss, they really don’t do anything halfway in regards to these holes in the ground.

The gun collections shown are rather impressive as well.

1am outage

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Its summer, so theres always something burning somewhere. Therefore, I didnt think anything unusual about the slight tinge of smoke in the air last night. When I finally trundled off to bed, I noticed that there was some unusually bright lights outside. I peered at the security cams and, surprisingly, theres a fire truck next door. Hmmm. I step outside and ask a basement flooding, hose-dragging, ladder monkey whats going on. Turns out a power pole down the alley was on fire. He said the power company was on its way.

I asked him, should I expect the power to go out? He said he didnt know. Alright, fine. Head back in the house, climb into bed, and about three minutes later theres a sound like a shotgun going off as, I’m guessing, the transformer or junction at the top of the pole explodes. This is followed a few seconds later by the cacophony of UPS alert sounds going off in my house as my computer and security system power supplies start letting me know theyre running on batteries.

Now, really, I could have just turned off the alarms and gone to sleep secure in the knowledge that Northwestern Energy would have the issue resolved in an hour or so. Or….I could see how my preparations for such an event were working.

I appeared that only mine and about four other houses were directly affected. Most people would have slept through it if not for that gunshot-like explosion earlier. First thing I did was turn on the floor lamp in the living room. I had bought it years ago, rewired it to DC, stuck in a 12v LED light bulb, and stuffed a large AGM battery in its base. With my living lit with a ‘normal’ looking amount of illumination, it was time to check the UPS’s. I had replaced the security camera ones about two years ago. The security camera UPS’s did fine and lasted through the duration of the event. The UPS for my router and modem, however, did not. It gave up the ghost after about forty minutes and it should have lasted much longer than that. That particular UPS is due for replacement, it seems. I need to start noting dates of purchase on my UPS’s as I replace them. I’ve just been buying them at Costco for about $125 ea. In fact, maybe I should just return the weak one for an exchange…Costco is ususally pretty good about refunds.

I had no intention of dragging out the generator unless things went on until daybreak. The freezers were full enough of frozen bottled water that I wasnt worried about their contents for at least several hours.

The various flashlights I had around the house were handy and the glow-in-the-dark tape that I had applied to things like door handles and light switchplates were also handy. Only thing I’d have done differently is perhaps just build my own UPS from scratch with a couple more durable AGM batteries.

But, always eye-opening and reaffirming to have moments like this to test out theories and systems.

Seven years in the deep freeze

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Time for another round of “Will It DIgest”.

Todays contestant is a couple pork tenderloins that went Shackleton back in 2018. Stuffed in the deep freeze for the last seven years, its time to being it back to life and see how it went.

Is anyone terribly surprised that the results are savagely anti-climactic? No weird smells, no weird textures, no alarming gastric consequences. And this isn’t surprising. Packaged properly, which means wrapped tightly in plastic to exclude as much air as possible, and kept around 0-degrees, frozen meat will keep pretty indefinitely. I think the record around here is 11 years.

The really fascinating thing about these archaeological digs is noting how the prices of meat have changed over the years. I remember when I sometimes got 85/15 ground beef for a buck and ahalf a pound when it was on sale. Nowadays its around $5-6 a pound. Thus, when you see a sale….jump on it. Also, this is why a freezer and a vacuum sealer are must-have items.