It’s more relevant than ever: home expedient man portable anti-aircraft missile systems. It is as yet undetermined how successful (or not) manpads have been at swatting the aircraft buzzing over Ukraine, but it’s likely a safe bet that solutions dating back to World War II are unlikely to be terribly effective. Nevertheless, as wonky as this thing is, it is undeniably entertaining as hell. The “fliegerfaust” was a late-war German desperation weapon designed to bring down low flying aircraft by launching a swarm of small unguided rockets. It is unlikely that this sort of thing would have *ever* worked against Shturmoviks or Jugs, much less against Hinds or Frogfoots… but it still seems to be unreasonably *fun.*
I’ve always figured that a Molotov cocktail would be minimally useful against an armored vehicle. Sure, it’s liquid fire, but it’s not that much when you consider it’s spread over perhaps several square years of several inches of steel armor.
But then there’ s *this:*
Reasonably certain it got a little warm in there.
UPDATE: Original video removed for some reason. Why? Dunno. One possibility: like so many videos and photos… *maybe* it’s not actually from the current conflict, but from something else. Hard to tell. However, here’s a copy:
From the already-terminated once, soon to be terminated again Twitter account “Defiant L’s,” which posts screenshots of hypocritical Tweeters, comes this masterpiece regarding the need for assault rifles:
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) February 25, 2022
Related:
I learn to use #Kalashnikov and prepare to bear arms. It sounds surreal as just a few days ago it would never come to my mind. Our #women will protect our soil the same way as our #men. Go #Ukraine! 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/UbF4JRGlcy
— Kira Rudik (@kiraincongress) February 25, 2022
You hate to see a ten-grand gun being turned into confetti, but, hey, science.
This seems like *maybe* a bit much for home defense. But I’m not gonna judge.
The AR 500 From Big Horn Armory — Half Inch Holes
The 500 Auto Max round compared to a 5.56. Note that the itty-bitty 5.56 is often called “high power” by political hacks; imagine what they’d think of the larger round. Nine rounds fit in a magazine that would approximately fit 20 rounds of 5.56. Big and powerful as the round is, it appears to be short range only, losing a lot of velocity pretty quickly. Not surprising since its aerodynamics seem to more closely approximate that of a cannonball than a bullet. Twenty rounds seems like it’ll set you back fifty to seventy bucks, so unless you’ve got a financial agreement with the Chinese like the Bidens, make sure you hit where you’re aiming. A rifle itself runs about two grand. Seems like it’d be fun on the range.
Kentucky Ballistics revisits the accident that nearly killed him. Serbu provided him a second gun for the specific purpose of blowing it up. The evidence suggests strongly that the problem was over-powered ammunition.
Props for tackling the issue head-on. A lot of people wouldn’t touch something that nearly killed them.
The one where Forgotten Weapons takes a mass driver to the range:
I think I’ve mentioned this “weapon” hereabouts before. It remains interesting-yet-meh, shooting a half-inch diameter slug of steel at seventy some meters per second. This is *really* subsonic (something like Mach 0.2) and unlikely to prove fatal barring a good head shot at close range. Still: it’s early days for this technology. Jack up the muzzle velocity by a factor of ten (require a factor of >100 more energy being dumped into the projectile, a non-trivial task) and they’ll really have something… a “firearm” capable of proper firearm performance, requiring no gunpowder and, by the time it becomes available, largely 3D printable by the average home printer… with the non-printable bits being distinctly non-firearm components, thus unregulated.
The “Luty” is a submachinegun designed by a British feller specifically as a form of protest… a protest against British anti-gun laws. The goal was to show that an average person with minimal skills and access to s basic workshop and some off the shelf hardware could make a functional 9mm submachinegun. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about this gun, but few actually go to the bother of building it. And it turns out that following the directions does result in a functional firearm, though not a particularly *good* one. It might be interesting to sic a decent gunsmith onto it, and modify the design to make it a better weapon. Better trigger, better magazine retention and basic rifled barrel.
As it is, it’s a poor firearm. But a poor firearm is better than no firearm in a situation where the badguys – criminals and/or oppressive government agents – are better armed than the citizenry. As with the old “Liberator” pistol, a Luty can be used as a way to shop for better guns.
I have one last copy of B-47 Stratojet and B-52 Stratofortress: Origins and Evolution. It is signed, numbered (#23 of 23) and comes complete with three bonus 18X24 prints, also all singed and numbered. The total *including* shipping within the US (I shudder to think what shipping overseas would be as the book is honestly fairly massive) is $62. If you would like this copy, the very last of this batch (and there’re no plans for a second batch), send me an email and I’ll send you a paypal invoice. First come, first served…
Update: SOLD.
With that headline, this could have gone *way* different. The difference between an entertaining YouTube video and a national news story? Nobody, neither The Guy nor The Cops, acted like a jackass.
Moral of the story? Listen to Chris Rock. And when you go out armed, go out Freakin’ ARMED.