Hanging Professor

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

A humorous sculpture in Prague. Many other photos of the same.

Posted in humor, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Where to Go for Good Pastries in Nashville?

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Since the demise of Alpha Bakery, the only passable source of baked good seems to be the French Bakery (Provance?) on 21st Ave. Are there any other good options, especially closer to Hermitage?

Posted in advice requested, food | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

How Rifle Ammunition is Made.

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Oleg Volk

This video (made by Buddy Singleton) shows the 223 production line at SBR.

Posted in ammunition | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Guns & Coffee Challenge Coins

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Virginia Open Carry sells these challenge coins to raise funds for pro-RKBA outreach. The coins aren’t very expensive, $15ea or five for $50, but they are now offered at a $3 discount with the coupon code OLEG. Get a neat conversation piece and help an effective civil rights organization at the same time! You can even get a couple for friends.

You can get many other items with that logo at ilovegunsandcoffee.com.

Posted in civil rights, rkba | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Lens Usage Notes.

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Over the last few months, I’ve often had to decide which lens to take along on trip or to field photo shoots. Looks like the winner is the 90mm tilt-shift. I take most of my photos with it. I sometimes combine it with 12mm or 25mm extension tubes to get closer focus, but not very often. So the second most commonly used lens is the 100mm macro. When that isn’t long enough, usually when I have to contend with a small backdrop, 200mm comes out. These three lenses account for over 90% of my photos. As a result, I am really looking forward to the eventual acquisition of the 70-200.

The second tier are the low-light choices, 85/1.8 and 35/2. Usually, I’d rather add light than use super-wide apertures. 24-70 is the lens of choice for snapshots and video work.

45mm tilt-shift and 300mm are in the last group, used very rarely. These two provide effects I cannot get otherwise, so I keep them in the line-up.

17-40 is currently on loan to a friend. For my use, faster 24-70 obsoleted it.

With the 90mm angle of view being preferred, it was no surprise that the Panasonic G2 was almost always used with the 45mm lens rather than the 20. That kit was gifted away. If I ever get another 4/3 system, 20-45-75 on something like GH3 would likely be the choice. Articulated LCD and fast AF (as opposed to the slow AF in DSLR “live view”) makes it preferable for travel.

Posted in camera and lens | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Left Side or Right

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Unlike all other .308 bullpups, RFB may be safely fired from either shoulder.

Hunter model with 24″ barrel shown.

Posted in rifle | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Zombies, Werewolves, Vampires and More Common Threats, Too

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Just in time for the holiday shopping season: the Triple Threat Kit. Stakes for vampires, silver-plated bullets for werewolves…which also work on zombies the old-fashioned ballistic way.

Ammunition is loaded pretty hot and works best in Coonan pistols and strong revolvers like GP100. We got close to 1600fps from the 5″ autoloader. You get eight rounds, enough for a full magazine and one in the chamber.

These would make a pretty memorable present, I think.

Posted in ammunition, humor | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Good Things Come Out of Knoxville

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Oleg Volk

3″ .357Mag revolver from Czechpoint in a custom Dragon Leather holster. Both companies are located in Knoxville, TN.

Posted in holster, pistol | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Contact Info Needed

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Could somebody help me find email of Hector Pesquera, Puerto Rico Superintendent of Police. I was not able to find it on the official web site.

Posted in advice requested | 3 Comments

Inflation Estimate

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Oleg Volk

My best estimate for inflation on my own consumer goods basket this year is 21% rather than the official 3%. Product and service quality have dropped noticeably to maintain a price point. Personal incomes have dropped largely because government spending is crowding out private spending. For the first time, imported electronics like cameras are rising in price. Imported optic have been rising in price much faster, to the tune of 40-50% over the last year alone. Personally, I do not find my own lifestyle all that greatly affected, but people who had a tight budget last year are probably in trouble now.

Over the last seventy years, average annual inflation seems to hover around 5%. Late 1970s through 1980 inflation was relatively high, and we may be returning to that state now.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Industry Connections Needed.

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Oleg Volk

For various reasons, I need the following introductions:

— Somebody knowledgeable about methods of credit rating agencies

— Marketing folks at a general outfitting company (such as Blackhawk, 5.11 or similar)

— Marketing or PR at Nikon

Any assistance in this task would be much appreciated.

Posted in advice requested | 2 Comments

One Possible Solution to .223 Ammunition Shortage.

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Every place I’ve checked is out of .223 ball ammunition. If you have a limited supply of your go-to ammo but still need regular practice, look into frangibles loaded by SBR. In my experience, they work well in AR15 and SU16 rifles and yield accuracy similar to good ball. As an added advantage, they are allowed at more firing ranges than jacketed ball because of much reduced backstop penetration and lessened ricochet hazard. In a pinch, frangibles may be used for self-defense. Their performance in tissue is apparently pretty good.

The ammo shown here was left over after out October 9 Industry Shoot. SBR still have some in stock (about 20 thousand rounds as of today), but I am not sure how long that will last as they are filling wholesale orders from the same batch.

Posted in ammunition | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Keltec RFB available on G4P

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Guns4Pennies has an RFB up for grabs.

The rifle shown above is identical to what they are offering.

Posted in rifle | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

New on CTD: Sweet Bleeding Zombies

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Ever wondered how to fight off a zombie stripper? Wonder no more!

Posted in humor, rifle, training | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Decorative Camouflage, Functional Rifle

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Oleg Volk

For full functionality, the camo pattern would have had to be a little larger in scale and more subdued in color. But this gun is mostly for fun.

On the practical side, RFB is short, handy and may be fired safely from either shoulder.

Posted in rifle | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Intrade banned, a very bad sign for our future.

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Oleg Volk

The only way totalitarian governments can exist in the long run is by suppressing accurate information. Today, US government forced Intrade.com to close, removing one of the most accurate prediction devices recently developed. This is one of many recent steps designed to make us into the New World equivalent of the USSR.

Posted in civil rights | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Two Kinds of Martial Art

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Grace knows both jiu-jitsu and teppu-jitsu. The rifle is a Crickett with 4x scope.

Posted in interesting people, rifle, training, weapon | Tagged , | 5 Comments

New on CTD: Designing Realistic Courses of Fire

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Read the post.

Posted in rifle, training | Tagged | 2 Comments

How to wake up a PC from sleep mode?

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Oleg Volk

My new keyboard has a “sleep” button on it. The cat presses it regularly. Every time that happens, I have to hard reboot as the computer won’t come out of sleep mode. That isn’t the case if the sleep is invoked from the software menu. Short of using glue to keep the button from being depressed at all, is there a solution to this? How can I coax a Windows 7 machine out of sleep mode?

Posted in advice requested | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Non-frangible 5.7×28 Ammunition

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Most 5.7×28 loads available in the US are loaded with varmint bullets designed for fragmentation. They work great on rabbit-sized rodents but lack penetration for defense against people. They can be effective under some circumstances, such as shooting fish in a barrel. Controlled expansion bullets, such as Ballistic Silvertips loaded by Elite Ammunition, provide better penetration of barriers without breaking apart. FMJ (Federal/Fiocchi) would be the next best choice, as would the original SS190 FN round but that one is hard to get. Then again, at this time it seems everyone is out of this ammo. One more argument for shopping in bulk early.

20-round standard and 30-round extended magazines combined with low recoil make this round a viable defensive option.

With a good holster, this fairly large but lightweight pistol can be carried comfortably.

Posted in ammunition, holster, interesting people, pistol, self-defense, weapon | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments