The next best thing to a firearm.

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Oleg Volk

When traveling in Europe, I found that batons were too heavy and often regulated, while folding knives were entirely kosher in most jurisdictions.

Posted in knife | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

PF22 conversion kit

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Oleg Volk

I am a great fan of .22 conversion kits. With PF9, it makes sense — PF9-22 is cheaper to shoot, has less noise and recoil and turns a 14oz defensive pistol into an 11oz kit gun. All that for $199, including a truly robust all-milled magazine. For people who can’t handle centerfire recoil, it’s a viable 10-shot defensive option in itself.

Posted in pistol | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Summer-time carry solution

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Oleg Volk

(Don’t just throw a gun in your pocket. Use a good quality pocket holster, such as JS or Galco)

Posted in holster, pistol | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Fun foto for FAL fans

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Posted in rifle, weapon | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

New on CTD: On Reliability of Drum Magazines

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Oleg Volk

An overview of drums.

Posted in ammunition, rifle | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Confirmation of effectiveness

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Just got a note forwarded to me by Keltec about this web banner:

“Your ad performed the best.”

And the opinion of the marketing firm:

“The top performing 300×250 ad is (shown above). I think the guys like the girl in the ad.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Opinions requested.

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Oleg Volk

I’ve had the good luck of working entirely with companies who pay promptly for work done. The sole exception was a client last year who requested and received a 30-day extension of payment before the contract was signed. The project was done under a time constraint, so I added my own money to pay the image retouchers. That was fourteen months ago.

Since then, payment has been promised upon production of the initial batch of guns. The company has not actually began production of the product. At the one year point, they agreed to making partial payments monthly but went back on the promise. No offer of collateral or alternate payment arrangements was made.

My options are to wait longer (with uncertain result) or to force the issue in court (probably not worth it for the amount involved). The third option would be to write off this experience as a loss and move on. In that case, I see no reason not to make the specifics public as a caution to possible customers and business partners. Your thoughts?

Posted in advice requested, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 60 Comments

Accuracy testing plans

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Buckhorn open sights are fine for up-close snapshooting, but I am not very good with them. For precision shooting, I would prefer a scope and 1-4x is a nice short range option. At 1x, it can be used as a red dot, at 1.5-2x it’s convenient for off-hand aiming and at 4x allows for relatively precise shot placement from supported positions.

Something like this set-up would work, but the Brasslite carbines do not have receiver grooves. No trouble, I just have to decide between cantilever and receiver mounts. I have both, it’s a matter of deciding which to install. Receiver mount retains the rear iron sight but seems easier to install. Suggestions from other Henry users?

A “dangerous game” scope ought to stand up to the minimal recoil of a 44Mag carbine. At 25 and perhaps 50 yards, I should be able to see the bullet holes through the scope, but at 100-150 a spotting scope will help. Since I have been shooting mostly rifle this year, a 16-48 magnification model of good quality should be a huge help.

It is small and light enough to sit on a Bogen mini-tripod but still bright, sharp and clear. The eye caps extends to allow use with eye glasses on.

Last, but not least, Brownells delivered a chronograph. I am both curious about real vs. advertised velocities and about consistency of ammunition. This device should allow me to learn both.

Posted in rifle | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Reloading ammunition: a good hobby when it’s 106 degrees outside

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Definition of a conundrum: having a great rifle and sufficient ammunition (courtesy of Federal and Hornady) but not being willing to roast or boil at an outdoor range. Indoor ranges are an option, but the extra noise isn’t to my taste, nor is the 25 yard limitation. Besides, 160 rounds of three types is just enough for familiarization — it’s one range trip’s worth of ammunition.

Pretty good ammunition, too — would be a pity to just kill paper with it. Florida feral hogs come to mind as a viable alternative to bulleyes. I also keep thinking that .44 Magnum is primarily a revolver cartridge, so it won’t take full advantage of the longer barrel. Between that consideration and the weather, hand-loading seems like a good idea. Fortunately, I have a local friend with a reloading press and 44Mag dies, and I have friends at Brownells…

Hornady XTP — should be just right for the smaller feral piggies.

Sierra JHC — same idea. I got two different kinds of bullets to see which gives better groups.

A thousand large rifle CCI primers and as many pieces of Starline brass. Brass can be re-used. Eight pounds of slower H110 pistol powder to maximize the benefit of the long carbine barrel, enough for over 2000 rounds at full charge.

Looks like I remembered everything. My friend’s cool, quiet basement reloading room beckons.

Almost everything…how the heck will I launch two thousand bullets with only one thousand primers?

Once these loads are ready, I’d like to see how they work at extended ranges (100-150 yards). A scope might be nice for testing accuracy that far out, but to all its proper time. A lever action carbine isn’t your typical long-range gun, but I am amused by trying to push guns into roles not typically associated with them. Fortunately, I have some qualified help for that process.

Posted in ammunition, rifle | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Cheek piece for rifle

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Oleg Volk

I need to find another stock/cheek piece rise like this OR find a stock that has that built in. Any suggestions on the brand and model?

Posted in advice requested | Tagged , | 9 Comments

A street performer in Prague

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Posted in interesting people | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

New person on this earth

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Oleg Volk

I’ve not seen my friends in a year. Since then, they added a third member of the family.

The kid is only five months old but already has a drinking habit. His aunt is just one of his enablers.

Posted in interesting people | Tagged | 3 Comments

And speaking of BBQ guns: Nighthawk Heinie

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Nighthawk Heinie .45 — curiously, it doesn’t seem to be a cataloged model.

Grips are this gun’s one departure from decorative: they are designed for use with shooting gloves. For carry or showing off, smoother grips would make sense.

Crimson Trace carbon fiber pattern option comes to mind, but they seem to be out of stock. Maybe use chain mail finish instead? An appropriate holster like this Sideguard would also be in order.

This is not my pistol, it was provided as a photo prop by Guns4Pennies. Photos of my own Nighthawk Predator are coming soon.

Posted in holster, pistol | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Happy independence from the United Kingdom day.

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Now that we’ve patted ourselves on the back for the deeds of long-gone ancestors, what are we going to do to gain independence from the imperial creatures closer to home?

Posted in civil rights | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Pocket carry solution

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Oleg Volk

July 4 is the traditional occasion to show off BBQ guns. The rest of the summer, most people prefer to carry discreetly, and often that means wearing pocket pistols. A great variety of small revolvers and autoloaders, such as the Ceracoated PF9 above, fit in a typical pocket of shorts or slacks.

Holsters help to break up outline of the handgun, making pocket carry very hard to detect. A person sensing trouble can even get a comfortable firing grip before removing the hand from the pocket. Unfortunately, while the weapon and the relaxed hand can both fit through the narrow pocket opening, the firing grip is a lot wider. Drawing a pocket pistol quickly can be difficult: it’s the “monkey fist” problem. The size limitations on the subcompacts turns out to be more the size of your hand and less the gun dimensions.

At the NRA show, I saw CCW Breakaways and looked into their idea. The concept turned out to be quite simple: when you draw energetically, two snaps come undone and the pocket opening nearly doubles for easy firearm deployment. The snaps are not visible until forced open. The pockets are reinforced and supplied with thin but fairly rigid plastic inserts to obscure the shape of the gun. I got a few for myself and some for my friends. It definitely sped up the pistol deployment.

Ceracoat has definitely grown on me. Tennessee in the summer is humid enough to make blued guns an iffy option. I am also not a huge fan of bright stainless due to glare. Non-glare protective finishes, of which Ceracoat is one, are quite nice to have. Tan is my favorite because it stays cooler in the sunlight, yet blends in fairly well with the vegetation around here.

Posted in holster, pistol, self-defense, weapon | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

New on CTD: Incremental Improvements of SU16

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Oleg Volk

A look at the evolution of the oldest SU16 variant, the model A.

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Akdal MKA1919

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Oleg Volk

The manual of arms for the MKA1919 is half-way between AR15 and Sig556, a lot closer than that of other autoloading shotguns.

Posted in shotgun, weapon | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Bad laws and impositions on freedom.

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Oleg Volk

I am not much of a legal expert, so my comments on the recent Supreme Court decision would be by analogy. US has had similar levels of idiocy before, in particular during WW2 and again during the 1970s. Remember “wage and price controls”? I don’t know history well enough to tell by what mechanism those specific impositions were dismantled back then, but it would make for a useful study.

My point is that this isn’t the end of the world, merely a gradual impoverishment of the population combined with a massive reduction of personal freedom. Much like East Germany, not quite on level with North Korea. The difference from East Germany is that emigration is still legal (though IRS wants to tax expats almost forever) but the similarity is that Fed agencies (particularly FBI, DEA, ATF) are trying to enlist gratuitous numbers of informants. The pernicious effect of providing monetary incentives for informing on fellow Americans to the Big Brother or the state-level “friends of the people” is going to be a longer-lasting, more detrimental cultural effect than the economic damage itself.

We’ve been through this before with the 1850-1861 events. We’ve also seen wartime laws against spies and alien sympathizers used to quash domestic dissent during both Wold Wars. Somehow, this country survived and even some of its culture. At this time, censorship isn’t yet in full swing, so we better use the opportunity to interest our friends and neighbors in that quaint notion of “live and let live”.

Posted in civil rights | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Two movies in one day.

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Oleg Volk

I have not gone to the movies in a very long time. Today, I ended up watching two in a row.

First was Brave 3D, which I very much recommend. The trailer for it did not do the movie justice. Excellent and somewhat unpredictable plot, good visuals, better acting by cartoon character than by most live actors.

Next was Snow White and the Huntsman, an utter waste of time. Lame, incoherent story, poor acting, absolutely atrocious attention to realism of the props. It would make a good candidate for MST3K.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Two movies in one day.

Fun with massive firepower

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Oleg Volk

Linoge from Walls of the City brought this shotgun last month. It was a lot of fun.

Posted in interesting people, shotgun, weapon | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments