Even the little drones can do some damage

 aircraft, awesomeness, Hmm..., news, politics, russian empire, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 302022
 

This sort of thing is not new… I recall seeing drones like this being used like this in the middle east a few years ago. I imagine China is thrilled that they are unwittingly serving as arms dealers for the forces opposing Russia… and giving ideas to those who may soon have to face Chinese forces.

Also notice: that looked like it was, before the invasion, a pretty nice house. Russia will have one *hell* of a reconstruction bill when all this is done.

 

I suspect the bomb that was dropped was a fairly simple explosive, basically a hand grenade or small mortar round.For anti-infantry purposes, this works: the video shows one guy likely killed, another guy crawling away and then stopping, either injured or dead. What you *want* is a weapon that injures as many as possible, but not necessarily kills. The dead are dead… but the injured are costly liabilities, requiring resources and personnel to take care of.

But imagine if it was a shaped-charge warhead, perhaps taken from an RPG… and smuggled into a port city such as Sevastopol where cruise missiles are being loaded onto submarines. Poke a few holes in a surfaced and docked sub and boy, you might really make a mess. If you can penetrate the torpedo compartment (honestly, I suspect it would take a fairly massive warhead to do that, but who knows) or zap a cruise missile… scratch one sub, and block one dock.

 

An armor-penetrating bomb would be useful for taking out tanks like this one that spent a good long while destroying a building that apparently had a number of civilians sheltering in the basement:

 Posted by at 6:46 pm

WalMart scares Brit Journalist

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., humor, news, politics, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 292022
 

The uncomfortably-named “Padraig Belton” who works for the BBC came to the US and forgot that the US doesn’t have British power outlets, so he went to WalMart. He reported on twitter his findings.

The whole thread is just filled with comedy gold.

There are times when I really, REALLY miss Utah. Where the local grocery store sold ammo and magazines, but if I wanted pistols, shotguns and AR-15s I’d have to walk all the way next door to the Ace Hardware.

 Posted by at 10:10 am

WWII infra-red scope

 awesomeness, history, Hmm..., science, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Apr 262022
 

Here’s a heck of a thing to have just lying about, a late-WWII era M1 carbine fitted with an infra-red lamp and scope. Not a “sniper” scope, but an early night vision system. Cumbersome as all get-out, but apparently it worked, much to the brief surprise of a  number of Japanese soldiers who tried to infiltrate Army and Marine positions under the cover of darkness.

 Posted by at 6:33 pm

It belongs in a museum…

 art, awesomeness, history, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Apr 252022
 

… and at the nearest gun store. Something like this, an exceedingly rare complete Borchardt “kit,” would make a fantastic subject for replicas. I have high hopes that 3D metal printing/CNC milling will make replication of odd designs like this possible. It would in no way whatsoever be a practical sidearm; the very first commercial semiautomatic pistol from 1893 can hardly be expected to be capable of comparing with a modern design like the M1911. Still… it’s cool as hell.

 

 Posted by at 9:02 am

Gun restoration: hey, wait….

 AARRRGH, art, Crazy, Gah., history, Hmm..., weapons, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 222022
 

A few days back I posted some videos of a guy restoring some old rusted guns. The restoration of the Luger was particularly impressive. There are a a whole bunch of gun restoration videos that run the gamut of “that’s impressive” to “that’s fraudulent,” where the firearm was pretty clearly “distressed” by the restorer.

And then there’s this one, which starts off pretty well, but then, right as I’m wondering “ok, what process is he going to use to ‘blue’ the metal parts,” it take a “ya gotta be kidding me” choice.

I guess if you just want to make it a display piece… I guess? But even so, doing it *right* seems to me to always be the correct choice.

 

 Posted by at 11:27 pm

Moscow burning again

 Crazy, Hmm..., news, rockets, russian empire, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Apr 212022
 

Well, not *that* Moscow, it’s at the bottom of the sea. And not quite *that* Moscow, but the city of Tver, a few miles to the north west. It’s *probably* not related to Ukrainian sabotage, but… who knows? It’d be a dandy target and a propaganda coup if this fire was started by some Ukrainian Doolitle raider.

Fire At Russian Defense Ministry’s Research Institute In Tver Kills Six People

Reportedly this facility develops missiles of kinds used in Ukraine, and space weapons. The claim is that the fire is due to old wiring, and looking at that ancient building, I can believe it. But that’s not a whole lot better of an explanation for losing a “space weapon” laboratory than enemy action, any more than “it just caught fire” was a better, more comforting explanation than “It caught a couple anti-ship missiles.” If their work was related to weapon systems currently being expended, perhaps they had ramped-up work hours and an increased demand on the power and other systems.

 Posted by at 7:52 pm

Moskva photo

 Hmm..., news, politics, russian empire, ships, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 172022
 

Seems legit. Notes: it’s shown in daytime, so it survived a number of hours after the late-night attack. The seas *seem* calm, belying the “sank in a storm” story. The hull *seems* to show a vertical split; the forward part of the superstructure is obscured by smoke, but it seems kinda trashed. The bow may be gone. if so… The Front Fell Off.

 Posted by at 8:43 pm

Some more mass shootings for the media to ignore

 Crazy, Forward!, Hmm..., news, politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 172022
 

Bet these won’t get a whole lot of national airplay:

Police arrest suspect in South Carolina mall shooting

“…22-year-old Jewayne M. Price, who was one of three people initially detained by law enforcement as a person of interest, remains in police custody …”

 

And this one is brand-new, with little detail. Yet I get the feeling we won’t get bombarded with news stories about this:

2 minors killed, 9 injured in Pittsburgh party shooting at Airbnb

“The shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. during a party at a short-term rental property where there were more than 200 people inside – many of them underage… Police said as many as 50 rounds were fired inside and several more were fired outside. Shell casings from rifles and pistols were found at the scene, Pittsburgh police commander John Fisher told WTAE-TV. Police are processing evidence at as many as eight separate crime scenes spanning a few blocks around the shooting scene, police said.”

I’ll bet a nickel that neither one of these stories will end up involving 3D printed guns, or”ghost guns” manufactured from kits, or even legally owned firearms wielded by CCW license holders. Neither story will end up being perpetrated by Trump voters or NRA members. Neither story will end up being useful for The Narrative, and thus neither story will end up being much more than a momentary local news story. One or both stories will likely end up being less of a “gun err bad” story and more of a “criminals should be removed from the streets” story, and we can’t have that.

 

 Posted by at 1:11 pm

Gun restorations

 art, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Apr 162022
 

Some videos of a feller restoring some old, rusted guns. I’m always interested in seeing craftsmen do their thing, especially if they’re using techniques I’m unfamiliar with.

I now have an urge to try to de-rust and re-blue some ancient crapped-out firearms.

 

 Posted by at 1:35 am
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