Canadian photographer Dickson Ly

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Oleg Volk

One of many interesting people met at SHOT show, Dickson runs Transgressive Media.

Posted in interesting people | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Match accuracy in a plastic rifle?

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Last year, I shot a Chiappa 15-22 at an indoor range with a 1-4x scope. At 25 yards, the bullets consistently clover-leafed. I absolutely did not expect that result from a lightweight upper on a plastic lower, especially since I am not an expert rifleman.

I asked Ron about the typical accuracy of these carbines and he told me that they are consistently sub-MOA with CCI standard velocity ammunition. I guess mine wasn’t an aberration.

The other accuracy surprise to me was the Henry rimfire rifle. It’s at least as accurate as the 15-22. Considering the barrel thickness and the trigger quality, it’s reasonable but I am used to shooting lever actions with open sights and so think of them as 50 yard guns.

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Back from SHOT show

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Oleg Volk

The 2013 show was a major success. I will be posting photos and articles from it in the next several weeks. I even managed two range trips: the first at Media Day (which was fun but extremely cold and windy) and the second on the day after the show. The second shoot, with 60*F weather and only friends present, was the fun one.


I got to try out a number of new guns, including this three-barreled 12ga. Fun! At least with birdshot, the kick wasn’t much. Until I tried it, I scoffed at the idea but now I am more of a fan. The action is short — 3.5″ shorter than a typical pump. Each barrel has its own choke tube, so it can be used for progressively tighter chokes for hunting or with progressively looser chokes for defense.  A typical hunting set-up might be #7 cylinder/#7 improved cylinder/#6 full. A typical defense load might be slug with cylinder/#000 buck improved cylinder/#buck with cylinder…or whatever other variation that makes sense to the user. The rotating strikers are similar to the old Remington derringers, with no external parts. So the mechanism is sealed against sand and the first three can be fired very rapidly.

Reloading is slower than with a pump but simpler. Eventually, this shotgun would be available with ejectors which would speed up the reloading. While the rotating striker arrangement isn’t quite the duplicate firing mechanisms of the classic safari rifles, it’s very simple and doesn’t depend on recoil for re-cocking in the event of a misfire. 12ga 3″ slugs aren’t quite the 577Nitro, but they are adequate for North American game. DDupleks makes very impressive machined steel loads, and Brenneke and Rio both make high-penetration lead loads. You might prefer the 28″ barrel version for wing shooting, but the 18.5″ is handier in the bush.

Will post photos and comments about other guns I’ve tried as I recover from the dry desert air and smoke-filled casino hallways. But for seeing friends and doing business at SHOT, I can’t recommend Las Vegas except to a complete masochist. The local culture makes New York City look almost friendly by contrast.

Posted in interesting people, shotgun | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

The transparent shotgun

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Of the guns I shot at SHOT show Media Day, the competition version of MKA1919 impressed me the most. It was the most transparent clay-busting device ever — I hit 9 of 9  with it though I am a lousy wingshooter. Felt recoil was minimal enough to ignore (below that of a 20ga Remington 1100), it pointed great with an EOTech sight and the ergonomics were just right. So despite the bitter cold and strong wind, I first broke several clays, then figured out that I don’t have to overthink the process and smoked the rest into dust. Five and ten round magazines that load like AR15, familiar interface and — did I mention that, no real recoil — made me hold onto that shotgun like it was my precioussssss. Must have looked funny because everyone around grinned with me.

They are at booth #2825.

Also worth seeing, the Tavors at IWI booth #15238.

More as I get around the show floor and as I transcribe my Media Day notes.

Posted in shotgun | Tagged , | 7 Comments

New Keltec KSG video

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Mesa Tactical | Keltec KSG

Posted in shotgun, training, weapon | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Are presidents the new royalty?

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Oleg Volk

This Secret Service White House guard with P90 submachine gun protects Obama and his family. His fully automatic weapon uses 50 round magazines.

When it comes to protection of your family, Obama objects to semi-automatic weapons and 11-round magazines. Not very equitable, it is?

In the grand scheme of things, the P90 submachine guns aren’t significant. Obama’s Praetorian Guard also has six-barreled 6000 rounds-per-minute 7.62mm machine guns with them. Since these were made after 1986, no way you, a lowly civilian, can have that!

Posted in civil rights, rifle, self-defense, weapon | Tagged , , | 32 Comments

The Vepr continues to evolve

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Oleg Volk

The original rifle was a standard 20″ .308 Vepr from Wolf Arms.

20″ barrel combined with Texas Weapons aperture sight on a dog leg scope rail = very long sight radius. Not yet installed but coming — fiber optic front sight from HiViz.

Wide stock on a hydraulic shock absorber = roughly 22WMR level of recoil.

X5L light and green laser = close-range backup sighting option. Aimpoint M2 for longer range.

TSD 20rd magazine. With rock and lock magazines, the extra length is important for leverage and not just capacity.

I swapped the original rail for Texas Weapons part and like it much better. It’s more solid and less abrasive. Magpul sling attachment on top of that to keep the rifle from rolling when slung across.

Still need to add Krebbs extended selector lever.

Posted in light/laser, rkba | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Mark Twain was right. The current gun control push is fueled by conducting a false flag operation (which Fast and Furious was and the school shootings may be), then quickly making many false claims about guns, medical privacy, freedom of speech and seeing which of the claims stick.

Experts can and do refute the claims made, but not everyone sees the rebuttals. By the time scientists and civil rights advocates can clear up the confusion deliberately caused by gun control lies, laws may already be in effect. Our enemies are counting on speed to overwhelm the American people. That’s why they are considering executive orders as an option and that’s why gun control hearings have been conducted in illegal secrecy.

If they succeed in implementing the desired level of gun control, we’ll have to fight. Surrendering arms isn’t a safe option. Stephen Halbrook explains why:

Indeed, gun owners even without guns were dangerous because they knew how to use guns and tend to be resourceful, independent-minded persons. A Swiss manual on armed resistance stated with such experiences in mind: Should you be so trusting and turn over your weapons you will be put on a “black list” in spite of everything.

In 1938, when Jews were barred from owning guns in Germany, some came to police stations to surrender their weapons. Many of them were detained immediately and sent to concentration camps. Alfred Flatow, a former Olympic athlete, suffered that exact fate — arrested for possession of arms while trying to turn them in, then sent to a concentration camp where he died of starvation four years later.

On the surface, Obama gun control appears to be more total, affecting everyone equally. Based on our experience with the medical laws, it’s safe to assume that the laws would be applied more to his opponents than to his political friends. You and I would be disarmed, Obama’s partisans would still be armed. That’s exactly how it played out in Venezuela. A huge increase in violence against everyone not supporting dictator Chavez followed.

Posted in civil rights, rkba, self-defense, Uncategorized, weapon | Tagged , | 23 Comments

Photo gear wish list

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Panasonic GH3 (or a used G2 if I am being realistic).

Olympus 60mm macro lens and 45/1.8 lenses.

Canon 70-200/2.8

In order to get money for these acquisition, I’d like to get some of my older gear sold and even dropping the prices on them. Please buy something:

Canon 300/4 IS lens now $800

Canon 200/2.8 lens $525

Panasonic LX3 camera (with 4 batteries, 8GB card) $175

Canon 420EX flash $125

Posted in camera and lens | Tagged | 1 Comment

Matching flash hiders to barrel twist rate

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Micro Defense designs for .223 (top) and .308 (bottom).

Posted in rifle | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Steel cased/jacketed ammo vs. brass-cased/copper-jacketed

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Lucky Gunner just posted an extremely informative study. I have been very impressed with one of the brands they used, American Eagle (the target above was fired at 50 yards from a 20″ AR).

Posted in ammunition, rifle | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Manticore Arms

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Oleg Volk

I ran into a couple of guys from Manticore Arms at the Rockcastle Bullpup shoot in late September. A few of their designs went home with me and I finally got the photos edited.

And this isn’t a gun part but was in the Bullpup shoot goodie bag along with a Brownells 30rd GI magazine:

I recommend checking out Manticore web site. They design and make interesting things.

Posted in tools, weapon | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

The “nobody needs” fallacy

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Does anyone really need old family snapshots? Pictures of your child as a baby, or of your grandparents on their honeymoon have no monetary worth and nearly no practical value. What can you do with them, besides looking every few years. Would you be OK with government taking away by an arbitrary decree?

We don’t need apples. Pears are close enough and can be used in the same recipes. Would you be OK with apple growing being prohibited?

Nobody needs to read Jonothan Swift. Should the books be destroyed for their supposed advocacy of cannibalism?

When we are robbed of snapshots, apples or books, we are robbed of more than sentimental value — we are robbed of free choice! Applied to guns, the claim that we don’t need them — though faulty in itself — is first and foremost ethically offensive to the core! To have a master decide if you may have a pear but not an apple, or a smoothbore shotgun instead of a rifle, or any other personal aspect of your life is the very definition of slavery. It’s the major component in learned helplessness. When our government officials behave as domestic abusers, it’s time to start wondering why.

The gun banners are right on one thing: weapons are a special case, just not the way they think. I may have a gun that I do not need. It could be less than a wallhanger, just something taking up space in the attic. But that lack of purpose goes away the second somebody wants to rob me of it — defending against brigandage becomes that gun’s primary purpose.

Posted in civil rights, rifle, rkba, self-defense, weapon | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Why is our capital less free than the rest of the country?

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Posted in civil rights, interesting people, pistol, rkba, self-defense, weapon | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Which Constitutional right would you like to lose next?

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Oleg Volk

PS: The shirt is real.

Posted in civil rights, rifle, rkba | Tagged , | 4 Comments

The proud history of gun control

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Oleg Volk

The historic background.

Posted in civil rights, rifle, rkba, self-defense | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

What if my 30rd magazine is really a 10-rounder?

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Oleg Volk

458SOCOM rifles use the standard .223 magazines which hold 10 rounds of the larger ammunition. Does this mean that 10-round .458 magazines would become very popular should the proposed ban go into effect? Their ability to hold 30 .223Rem cartridges would be just an incidental side effect. I suppose that could be made illegal — so a person with a .458 10-rounder could be prosecuted for “constructive possession” if .223 ammo was nearby. All gun laws that try to regulate technical aspects are failures from the get-go. Or maybe they aren’t failures if the intent is admitted to be mass entrapment and victimization of innocent people.

Posted in ammunition, rifle, rkba | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Why does anyone even take these fiends seriously?

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Posted in civil rights, interesting people, rifle, rkba, self-defense, weapon | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Enhanced Vepr .308

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Vepr rifle with 20″ barrel, Troy Battle Ax stock on ITT hydraulic buffer tube, Aimpoint Comp M2, Viridian X5L light/laser, SGM forend. The forend is going to be switched out for the Texas Weapons part shortly. I’d like to move the Magpul RVG further back, also the side and the bottom rail teeth seem out of spec, set too closely together.

Texas Weapons rear sight on railed dust cover from the same company provides very long sight radius, though without range adjustments of the original RPK rear sight. With 308Win zeroed at 30y, the far zero is at 280y. The trajectory height tops out at just a bit over 5″ above bore line at 160y and drops that far below by 330y. To me, that’s acceptable point blank range for a backup sight within which it’s quicker and more accurate than the V-notch leaf sight with much shorter radius. The iron sights do not co-witness with the red dot but can be used without dismounting the optic. X5L provides backup close range sighting.

Vepr rifles run fine with brass or steel ammunition. With the hydraulic buffer tube, felt recoil is above 22WMR but below 5.45×39. The buttplate is wide and the stock has useful internal storage. I need to replace the standard safety with Krebs version and put some neoprene or rubber around the stock collar just in case my face slides up against it.

Can’t wait to get more range time with this gun. It’s lighter than an AR10 and kicks less. The rifle looks homely but feels great in hand.

Posted in light/laser, rifle | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

XD9 Micro

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Oleg Volk

A slightly smaller pistol than the compact previously shown, and with an updated C5L light/laser. This pistol is one of the most common, no-frills defensive weapons out there, a Honda Civic of pistols.

Posted in light/laser, pistol, weapon | Tagged , | 3 Comments