Computer problems solved decisively.

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Turned out that the motherboard was defective from the start. A much better one and a new processor are now in place. I have very good friends who helped a great deal in this predicament.

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Updated Mosin

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Oleg Volk

K31-style loop safety, Archangel stock, Micor flash hider. K31 safety is fairly awkward, but it’s a huge improvement on the original Mosin design. Turned-down bolt handle permits a low scope mount.

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Windham Weaponry 16″ carbine

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Oleg Volk

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Girls with guns

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Oleg Volk

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The right to self-defense in New York City?

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Oleg Volk

The endgame of oppression is usually somewhere between the psychotic mass murders of the Nazi Germany or Pol Pot’s Cambodia and the more pragmatic feudalism we see now in Russia and New York City. The retiring Mayor Blomberg — famous for his anti-gun efforts country-wide — will have fifteen armed bodyguards, while the city residents generally have nothing at all for self-defense. That’s almost certainly by design, as New Yorkers have now as much to fear from the city police as from the less organized criminals.

The fees and the obstacles to the exercise of their Constitutional right faced by most residents of New York now are as prohibitive as those placed upon the freedmen of the former Confederacy in the late 1870s. Army and Navy revolvers were quite expensive, but at least they were legally available to all. Trying to obtain an Army M9 or a Navy M11 pistol in New York City would be impossible by law and doubly so by the misuse of the law by the bureaucrats. For one, both carry more than 7 rounds in their magazines — illegal under the ill-named SAFE Act. Even the percussion revolvers of the mid-19th century — not even considered firearms under Federal law — are about as heavily restricted. Where’s the Civil Rights act for those who live in NYC? Where are the Federal marshals keeping NYPD at bay to enable the exercise of the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment?

Posted in civil rights, pistol, self-defense, weapon | Tagged | 5 Comments

Visual odds and ends

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Oleg Volk

338 Spectre 250gr soft point and 300gr match ammo.

The original STG44-22 imported by ATI. They are now bringing in an improved version with more metal and less plastic in it.

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More from the archives

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Oleg Volk

AAC flash hider and QD suppressor (M4-2000)

Preparing to launch a 37mm smoke. The rifle is a Mossberg MMR with 4x Trijicon ACOG scope and a Primary Arms micro dot.

Smith & Wesson M&P in 300BLK with Dueck Defense sights and Lucid HD7 red dot.

Marlin XT22 magazine on high-visibility Visicolor targets.

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More images previously published on paper

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Oleg Volk

1920x1050px wallpaper showing Magnum Research BFR in 500JRH.

Dan Wesson Specialist, 45ACP.

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Photos for publications

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Oleg Volk

These images were all made for print magazines. Most were published, some were not — now you can see them all here.

Czechpoint .357 revolver.

Higher left hand position would have been nice.

One reason to try to flee: handgun report would give that baby something to cry about. One reason to fire: better some hearing damage than morgue or orphanage.

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Jeopardy, opportunity, ability

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Oleg Volk

The shooting of Andy Lopez for the “crime” of carrying an airsoft toy gun in California is interesting for several reasons. One, the shooter is an acquaintance whom I know through the Firing Line forum and regard favorably, largely thanks to his pro-RKBA stance on gun rights. The confluence of ability, opportunity and jeopardy will be decided by the court, but that being California, I have little doubt that they would side with police. While the airsoft rifle did look very much like a real AK47, the kid carrying it wasn’t threatening anyone and so the court would likely center the investigation on whether or not he had acted aggressively.

Everything that he ever did or wrote is getting pulled up for examination. That’s important to know for those who grandstand on the internet — even things a person wrote years ago and no longer believes would still be publicized as relevant.

One side note is that carrying a real gun would have made the kid safer than carrying an airsoft — at least he would have been able to return fire when ambushed! Even more useful would have been carrying the rifle in a case to avoid scaring the skittish locals into calling police. I’d like to think that shooting at people just walking around with rifles — airsoft or real — isn’t the regular approach in normal American states (crazy places like CA, NY or NJ don’t count). Either way, I have long been working on an article talking about reasonable conduct while armed, should try to finish and post it soon.

Posted in civil rights, rifle, rkba, self-defense, training, Uncategorized, weapon | Tagged , | 9 Comments

The happy end of the computer saga

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Oleg Volk

My friend Arli just drove up all the way from Memphis with a higher-end motherboard and processor, fixing my computer. Just in case, we tossed in an extra fan for the disk array and another for the video card. Everything is working fine now.

Posted in advice requested | Tagged | 1 Comment

One more photo retoucher needed

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Due to the increased volume of work, I am looking for one more freelance retoucher. If interested and qualified, please contact me.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

GWACS polymer lower: new on AllOutdoor

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Oleg Volk

Pluses and minuses of one-piece polymer lower.

Posted in rifle, training, weapon | 2 Comments

Computer is NOT fixed.

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Oleg Volk

We thought it was a problem with heat. Internal diagnostics were not accurate, and the fan setup was suboptimal. It took five hours of my friend’s time to figure that out. Computer ran for 45 minutes without failure by the end of my visit.

Once I brought it home, it fails within five minutes of boot-up, usually even quicker. Always the same mode of failure — screen freezes up, cursor also.

Can somebody recommend competent help in Nashville? This is extremely frustrating and spending six hours just driving back and forth made it worse. At this point, this is the most expensive and least functional computer I’ve ever had.

Posted in advice requested | 10 Comments

Computer reboots immediately after starting Windows (problem is presisting)

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Oleg Volk

I just clumsily pulled the main power cord from the battery/UPS, turning off the PC while it ran. Now it boots into Windows 7, and a few seconds later reboots. The first time it did so, it displayed a message “CPU overclocking failed”. I checked CPU setup and it’s at normal mode. Does it in safe mode, too. It doesn’t restart if in pre-windows mode, such as in a setup utility. No idea what went wrong, would appreciate advice on fixing it.

For a while, Windows wouldn’t start at all, “the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible”. Windows CD isn’t allowing a repair. Then Windows started again and is running for now.
The guy who built that computer for me talked me through turning off overclocking for sure, then it started to re-boot itself again. Unless I can get help in Nashville, I’ll have to drive about three hours to get it looked at…

Posted in advice requested | Tagged | 18 Comments

“Shoot to Win” by Chris Cheng

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Oleg Volk

For the past year, I’ve been taking photos for Chris Cheng’s upcoming book.

This book is now available for pre-order. I endorse it.

Posted in book, rkba, self-defense, training, weapon | 1 Comment

Loaner mousguns needed.

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Oleg Volk

I’d like to borrow a Browning Baby (or the similar .25 Colt, Beretta) and any flavor of NAA Mini revolver in 22LR for a test firing in Nashville. Anyone?

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Snapshots from various years.

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Oleg Volk

These have only one thing in common: they were taken with pocket cameras, either mine or borrowed.

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This is why I like Boberg XR9

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Oleg Volk

The gun is small, light, has a good trigger and very low recoil.

First, I tried it on paper.

Rapid fire from 21ft shows lack of trigger control on my part, I am still not used to DAO triggers. That said, none of the shots hit further than 1.5″ from point of aim, which is ok for a pocket pistol.

Pumpkins are fun targets, so I rolled out a fairly small, about a foot in diameter, one onto the range.

At 25 yards, rapid fire puts all 8 shots in a fairly tidy groups. Larger holes are from double hits. The advantage of the longer barrel show up on the photos showing the back of this pumpkin.

Thanks to the high muzzle velocity, 124gr Golden Sabres did a nice job of expanding even on the hollow target. Felt recoil was on par with locked breech Walther PK380 chambered for 9×17(380Auto).

I recommend. Get your own.

Posted in pistol, training, weapon | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Right rifle for left-hand shooters

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Oleg Volk

RRA Operator-L with EOTech sight, X5L RS light/laser, Magpul 40rd magazine and AFG. The fashionable hat is from Henschel.

Posted in interesting people, light/laser, rifle, weapon | Tagged , , | 4 Comments