On my way home from Dragoncon

Santana Manyard

Posted in interesting people, portrait | Tagged , , | Comments Off on On my way home from Dragoncon

If a knight was like a tank…

…a heavy musket was like an RPG. It didn’t give a guarantee of a win, but required armor to get so heavy as to be physically nonviable and prohibitively expensive.

A real musketeer would have had a sword or a knife, wooden cases for pre-rolled paper cartridges (“Twelve Apostles”), and some sort of a helmet and body armor. However, even a peasant wench could have been trained to handle a musket or an arquebus well enough to pose a deadly threat to an armored knight, something that the same peasant with a spear or a poleax would not have been able to do nearly as effectively.

Using the forked rest as a melee weapon is definitely a desperation move. It’s better to have numerous friends with pikes nearby. Having armor would also be a big plus.

This rifle would pretty much guarantee a tag out to 400 yards. With a little bit of effort, 600 isn’t out of question. Yet the journey to the repeating rifle started with the matchlock musket.

Posted in rifle, rkba, Uncategorized, weapon | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Hearing protection for musical kids.

First time on the range, both did amazingly well out to 50 yards.

Their mother, during her first range time, did even better — out to 100 yards with a .22 rimfire!

Posted in camera and lens, interesting people, rifle, sound suppressor, training | Tagged | Comments Off on Hearing protection for musical kids.

DPM light machine gun

Long stroke action, bottom ejection, pan feed. Works surprisingly well, with low recoil.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments Off on DPM light machine gun

M+M 10x Plus, modern 7.62×39

A modular, accurate rifle.
with Hi-Lux 1-4x BDC scope.
Posted in rifle, sound suppressor | Comments Off on M+M 10x Plus, modern 7.62×39

Range time with friends.

Armalite AR50A1 firing, with a bullet streak
AR50A1 venting gas
Tokarev TX3 shotgun
Small shot streak is visible.
Don Frailey makes very accurate rifles.
Longbow rifle.
Should holster in style.
Shooter ready!
Posted in rifle, shotgun | Tagged | Comments Off on Range time with friends.

Lawn mowing, Le Mans style.

My awesome neighbor, Robert, turning lawn maintenance into a rally.

Posted in interesting people | Comments Off on Lawn mowing, Le Mans style.

Trying to pick the perfect IPSC pistol…

…is no easy task for a left-handed shooter. These two, Grand Power Q100 and Walther PDP-F, were among the top choice for Laura. In the end, a 9mm M1911 with railed dust cover won out.

Posted in pistol | Tagged , | Comments Off on Trying to pick the perfect IPSC pistol…

A recent visitor from the Middle Ages.

Posted in interesting people | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Project Appleseed

Project Appleseed has long been the go-to for rifle marksmanship training. They are now gradually phasing in handgun marksmanship training.

American from Russia practices 2A-enumerated right.
An apparent time traveler fires one of John Browning’s creations.
American from Venezuela practices 2A-enumerated right.

Rifle instruction remains top-notch.

A new shooters runs 30-06 M1 Garand like a champ!
Ping! Empty en bloc ejects from M1 Garand with the last spent cartridge case.
A small-bore (.50 caliber) flintlock Pennsylvania rifle.

Historic education is addressed through lectures and reenactors.

Matchlock musket, long-obsolete by the time of the American revolution.

The training benefits young and old, newbie and pro.

Colorful, serious, accurate: a new shooter with M14 rifle.
Father and daughter team.
Listening to the instructors.
Posted in pistol, rifle, training | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Hi-Point carbine in a bullpup stock.

High Tower conversion stock for 45ACP Hi-point carbine. Kaw Valley Precision linear compensator reduces noise and flash to the user.

Posted in rifle, weapon | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A puzzling alien.

Posted in portrait | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Backyard visitors.

Posted in beast, nature | Tagged , | Comments Off on Backyard visitors.

A moody day.

Posted in interesting people | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A new face

This entire photoshoot was done with a single lens, Sony GM 70-200/2.8. At 24MP, the sharpness difference between it and the primes is negligible, while the flexibility of almost 3x zoom and image stabilization proved extremely useful. It was also good to be able to get closer cropping without me falling into the pool on the way to the model.

Posted in portrait | Tagged , , | Comments Off on A new face

…and the dog returns to its vomit: Germany and its Nazi legacy.

My friend Miggy made me aware of an interesting development: a court rules the members of the least socialist of the German political parties may not own guns. A friend who is a member of that party commented:

Long story: biased judge who obviously hates afd issued a verdict that violates several laws and ignores other court verdicts of higher laws​. I know the affected couple​: the guy is retired gsg9. He was a collector, target shooter and hunter. His wife was a collector and target shooter. They will sue to the next court​. I haven’t read his verdict but​ read one issued by the same judge against another afd guy​. You can’t deem a person unreliable only because he or she is ​a member of group x​. ​German gun law states that each case has to be looked into individually​. Party member x said xenophob​ic things​,​ member y didn​’t​: person x might be unreliable, while person y will be ok​. This judge just ignored that​. Its called “sippenhaft” or collective punishment​. Its the same shit the nazis and communists did​.

​Your brother did bad stuff? ​Tough luck, we will punish you too​, because you are related​. Basic foundation of law states that you can only be held reliable for your OWN actions​.
​These people didn’t do anything wrong or criminal​, their only crime is “thought crime” or party membership​. Hopefully​,  this verdict will, get revoked by a higher court​. Other, higher courts decided correctly that you can’t be held accountable in collective guilt fashion. I guess the next higher court will rule the same, but it costs a lot of money, and the people still have to give up their property. The affected couple probably has a financial loss of 100.000€.

He clarified that the decision affects only the couple in question rather than all members of afd, but the precedent is not good.

Posted in rkba, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Meeting in person after 15 years

I met Layla through helping VCDL in 2009. It took her until 2024 to stop by with family in tow.

Winchester 44Mag lever action firing 44Special.
Ruger Vaquero in 45Colt

Posted in interesting people, pistol, portrait, rifle | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Meeting in person after 15 years

Subsonic 300blk

At 1/3200s, the long 220gr plated bullet is slow enough to render with minimal distortion.
QD mount allows a little gas to leak out of the back of the sound suppressor.
220gr plated bullets loaded to about 1050fps
My friend Bill with his deer rifle.
Posted in ammunition, rifle, sound suppressor | Tagged , | Comments Off on Subsonic 300blk

Massad Ayoob

Mas back in 2019.

His web site.

Posted in interesting people, portrait, training | 1 Comment

Pensive

Posted in portrait | Comments Off on Pensive