VolkStudio Blog

My favorite photo of the day

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Intrepid explorer with panther.

Alexis Nicole stopped by for a photo shoot today. Gremlin took an immediate liking to her. I can see why — she’s a very impressive and multi-talented young lady.

Posted in interesting people, pet, pistol | Tagged 22LR, black, cat, child | 6 Comments

Sometimes shorter IS better: a very handy CQB package

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Oleg Volk

This is a Spike’s Tactical 300 Blackout pistol with 8.5″ barrel. It delivers fairly impressive external ballistics, but it’s still an AR pistol and requires specific training for effective use. When a friend came by with a registered short barrel lower (also Spike’s by a pleasant coincidence), we put it together and the result proved very useful.

It is light and handy, especially with the short 20 round Lancer magazine. Having a stock makes using a scope practical. Given the short range purpose, the best scope would be an unmagnified, illuminated prismatic usable with either etched black reticle or red/green illumination.

Vortex Spitfire is “always on” as the etched reticle doesn’t require a battery for visibility. Unlike a real red dot, it does have a specific eye relief distance (with a generous eyebox), so having the stock is a big help. The optic has no knobs on the left, so the left eye isn’t occluded and binocular vision can be used during sighting. My only wish for the next version would be for the addition of a vertical reference line to avoid canting at longer ranges.

Folding metal sights of good quality are present, but the robust 1x optic makes them almost superfluous.

The model, Jordanne Calvin, was unfamiliar with firearms at the start of the photo shoot but was able to handle the short carbine competently after very brief instruction. That’s a good illustration of how easy the short, lightweight shoulder weapon with an optic is to use.

Posted in rifle, training, weapon | Tagged 300Blackout, AR15, optics, scope, Vortex | 5 Comments

Walther CCP vs PPS: new on AllOutdoor

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Posted in pistol, weapon | Tagged 9x19, AllOutdoor | 1 Comment

FN PS90 vs. Kel-Tec CMR30

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Oleg Volk

PDW vs. magnum rimfire

Posted in ammunition, rifle | Tagged 22mag, 22WMR, 5.7x28, AllOutdoor, carbine, PDW | 1 Comment

Keeping track of ammunition in a multi-caliber environment: new on AllOutdoor

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Two possible solutions.

Posted in ammunition | Tagged AllOutdoor, AR15, magazine | 1 Comment

Film review: Intimate Enemies

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Intimate Enemies, 2007 French film about the war in Algiers. Available on Netflix.

Plot 8
Acting 8
Visuals 9
Props – 9
Audio effects – 10
Overall — recommended.

As war movies go, this one is fairly nuanced. The terrain and the people shown brings both Soviet and US incursions into Afghanistan.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged film, movie, review, war | 1 Comment

What does this tell you?

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Image (c) New Yorker magazine

TN bans carry in government offices, and the Army bans carry on their bases and offices. Since we know that the signs do not stop determined assassins, we can only guess that the rule-makers are more worried about their own staff. And, more specifically, about their own staff going homicidally crazy without warning and just having a weapon on them at the time. That’s the only kind of problem that the rule against carry can even pretend to prevent.

So the rule-makers for the Army and the State of Tennessee assume that enough of their own employees (other than police) are unstable, murderous creatures with no self-control. And that they would, if unable to murder others immediately, cool down and not come back to work with a weapon the following day. Either that, or they assume that the treatment they get at work would make anyone snap.

And these are the people presume to tell the rest of us how to live?

Posted in civil rights, rkba, self-defense | Tagged Army, government, idiots, malicious | 9 Comments

Sam Hoster does good work.

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Oleg Volk

What kind of gun would a man make for his daughter?

Pretty and functional. 9mm 1911 with her name engraved on the slide.

Made by Sam Hoster of Custom Defense.

Posted in pistol | Tagged 1911, 9x19, custom, gunsmith | Comments Off

Russian legislative logic at its finest

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Larger printable file available on request.

Translation:
Powerful, long-ranged rifles for hunting and sport — legal.
But even the weakest pistols for self-defense — banned.
Where’s the logic in that?

Posted in interesting people, pistol, rifle, rkba, self-defense, weapon | Tagged 25ACP, 308Win, russian, Vepr | 10 Comments

A very functional lightweight

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Oleg Volk

At the beginning, AR15 was supposed to be a lightweight carbine. MAG Tactical brought the concept back with AIR15, a carbine that’s under 4.5 pounds with the sight. While it ships with two Magpul 30-rounder, I handed it to my guest with a 20-rounder, updated but still similar to the original 1960s straight box magazine.

Judging by Maria‘s smile, she likes the handling.

Posted in interesting people, rifle, weapon | Tagged 223, AR15, carbon fiber, lightweight, red dot | 3 Comments

CMMG and Faxon Piston AR Review: new on Shooting Illustrated

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Oleg Volk

CMMG Mod4 SA and Faxon ARAK21 compared.

Since SI placed only some of the photos supplied, I will add one of them below:

Long stroke piston (top) is physically attached to the bolt carrier. The recoil and the return springs are one and the same, and that allows for folding stocks. Short stroke piston is separate from the bolt carrier. The return spring wrapped around the piston, while the recoil spring is played by the buffer in the stock. The buffer also returns the bolt carrier into battery.

Posted in rifle, weapon | Tagged 223, AR15, multi-caliber, piston, Shooting Illustrated | 6 Comments

Toni

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Writer/editor Toni Weisskopf

Posted in book, interesting people | Tagged Libertycon | Comments Off

Rear-curtain synch with radio controlled flash?

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Does anyone know of a way to get rear-curtain synch of studio flash with Canon 5D2? I can trigger the lights with on-camera flash which has that option, but optical slaving is very unreliable outdoors. I’d prefer to use radio, but I have not figured out a way to do that. Suggestions on either settings or equipment would be much appreciated!

(On Sony A7R is turned out to be a simple menu selection.)

Posted in advice requested, camera and lens | Tagged flash | 1 Comment

When in Rome…

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Oleg Volk

…I couldn’t do as these Romans, as their laws aren’t very friendly to gun ownership and less friendly to carry. The US laws are no better as far as visitors are concerned. This is the main down side to foreign travel — visitors are treated as third-class humans by governments who treat their own citizens as second-class already.

The tourist areas of Rome had quite a few security theater actors who dressed to impress. Unlike large city cops in the US, they project a friendlier attitude.

Similarly dressed-up men stood guard around embassies and government buildings.

They were backed up by rifle holders with Beretta 70/90 automatic rifles. I didn’t observe additional ammunition, but it may have been stashed out of view.

A block or two away, additional vigilant cops lounged in reserve.

Army was also in evidence, putting on a show of presence.

By contrast, police in Germany were very rarely visible. Same in Switzerland. And in the US, I see more cops in a day than during all of my foreign travels combined. Certain tasks, like speed traps are operated mostly by people in the US but mostly by video camera in Europe. At locations like airports, German, Czech, Swiss, Italian and even Hungarian cops were generally more friendly than either cops or the bluebellies in America. US makes a terrible first impression on visitors these days, both in the intrusiveness of INS and in the extreme incompetency of the airport staff and TSA.

Posted in interesting people, rifle, rkba, self-defense, Uncategorized, weapon | Tagged 223, Italy, police, travel | 7 Comments

Personal weapons can be quite personal.

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Oleg Volk

Back: my stock CZ SP01. Front: friend’s custom SP01 with a trigger job and slightly less somber finish. I went to the store with CZ75SA in mind, ended up getting SP01 because it felt perfect in the hand. 75SA came home with me slightly later.