“Too much gun?” Nope…

 awesomeness, Hmm..., weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Sep 212018
 

The YouTube algorithms occasionally throw out some odd videos. Like this one, which *seems* to show something cute and wholesome like schoolgirls firing a Barrett .50 BMG rifle. But since they are *Japanese* (I think?) “schoolgirls” I guess I gotta assume there’s something weird and creepifyin’ going on there. Note: some of the camera angles, coupled with the fashions, hint as much. Not, I think, truly NSFW, but maybe a little eyebrow-raising. Thus the “Continue Reading.”

But beyond the lurking threat of tentacles somewhere just off camera, what we see here are five rather dinky dames firing a very large rifle and to all appearances enjoying it. One wonders if, since these girls can clearly handle this weapon with aplomb, if the rampaging anti-gun nuts might benefit from some actual experience at the range.

Continue reading »

 Posted by at 7:19 pm

There is not enough booze

 art, awesomeness, Crazy, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Sep 182018
 

I am not a drinker. Even so, I can assure you that there is not enough booze on the planet to get me drunk enough so that I could ever think I could do *anything* like what’s shown here:

The US Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon does stuff that Hollywood would need a team of CGI artists to pull off.

 

 Posted by at 2:08 pm

Ain’t no Freedom of the Ink

 Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, news, politics, weapons  No Responses »
Sep 092018
 

California Tries New Tack on Gun Violence: Ammo Control

Beginning next year, ammunition dealers across the state will be required to maintain logs of all sales — one of many steps California has taken to limit access to bullets.  … Next July, California will begin requiring stores to conduct point-of-purchase background checks on ammunition buyers.

I can buy ammo and magazines at the grocery store. Because this is Utah, and we’re not a pack of crazy cowards, ammunition is no more challenging to buy than a can of soup.And yet, Tremonton has had a total of one murder in the last 53 years.

 Posted by at 9:05 pm

That’ll buff right out

 aircraft, awesomeness, history, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Sep 082018
 

The A-10 is a hell of a plane. There will be no more of them, and no more like them. And that’s a shame ona  certain level; a plane that can bring a pilot home after taking a Mighty Blow from the enemy is of course a wonderful thing. But the role of the A-10 is being taken by the likes of the F-35 and drones; the F-35 *should* be survivable by dint of its stealthiness and high altitude; the drones will be survivable because, well, there’s nobody to kill. A drone might have the ruggedness of a Faberge egg, but if one gets blown to bits…meh. Only money.

On the other hand, no drone pilot will ever have a story like this guys:

 Posted by at 8:30 pm

School Shootings

 dumbassery, Forward!, Hmm..., news, politics, weapons  No Responses »
Aug 302018
 

So, how many school shootings are there in a year? The government says 240. NPR, of all organizations, says the number is *slightly* lower: 11.

The School Shootings That Weren’t

Even that 11 doesn’t mean “mass murders,” or even “one murder,” but just a “shooting at a school. And of course there’s this problem:

The government’s definition included any discharge of a weapon at school-sponsored events or on school buses.

That is *incredibly* vague. Did a rabid Dire Wolf break into the school and start eating the kids and a school guard shot it? School shooting. Did the school have a sanctioned target shooting exercise? School shooting. Did the cops have a running gunbattle with gangbangers through a school parking lot? School shooting. Described in the piece is a Wisconsin school that was confused about whether or not to report students engaged in a paintball battle as an “attack with a weapon” or a “possession of a firearm.”

We are forever being told that “this sort of thing happens in America all the time.” And yet, a school shooting where kids are actually shot makes the news, far and wide. Stuff that happens all the time is, by definition, not newsworthy. If it’s newsworthy, it’s rare.

 Posted by at 8:43 am

Raise the Burevestnik

 aircraft, Hmm..., news, nukes, russian empire, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Aug 222018
 

As described hereabouts back in March, Vladimir Putin claims to have himself a nuclear powered cruise missile. I remain dubious, but the fact is that the Russians launched *something* and it crashed into the Barents sea. The Russians seem to be looking for it… and chances are fair that the United states Navy is as well.

Back in July the Russians released a video that purported to show bits and pieces of the supposedly nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile:

The video does not show the configuration with any clarity. What can be made out is that it seemed to have a fairly conventional forward fuselage designed for low radar reflectivity, with relatively simple flip-out wings of the type common to cannisterized cruise missiles. Two further points can be gleaned from the video:

1) The missile isn’t that big… seems right in line with something like a Tomahawk.

2) The facility almost seems like  a high school gym.

Both of these argue against taking the claim of nuclear propulsion too seriously. Of course, it’s a video produced and released by the Russians, so it’s impossible to say whether it is remotely accurate; it could be pure deception. But assuming it truly depicts the weapon system, it seems *real* *small* for nuclear propulsion, and the facility and the workers in it seems to be pretty lackadaisical about working around nuclear systems.

 Posted by at 8:47 pm

Fear Mongering

 Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Aug 022018
 

So, Defense Distributed won the right to post their own designs online without government prior restraint. Huzzah! But then a single judge came along and put the kybosh on that, at least for the moment. Boo. However it works out, though, there are a few statements that I believe should be recorded for the ages regarding these designs for a big, heavy, unreliable and expensive plastic zip guns:

A Push for 3-D Weapons by One of the World’s ‘Most Dangerous People’

“The people who make them will be state actors or well-financed criminal cartels who have the ability to execute well-organized criminal attacks in the United States and elsewhere,” said Avery Gardiner, the co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

…

Starting in August, Americans will be able to legally download 3-D printed guns

Gardiner fears it will make it easier for terrorists and people who are too dangerous to pass criminal background checks to get their hands on guns.

“I think everybody in America ought to be terrified about that.”

Let me repeat that for those who think that the anti-gun nuts are reasonable people and that it’s those who want to keep their rights who are the fear mongers:

“I think everybody in America ought to be terrified about that.”

“I think everybody in America ought to be terrified about that.”

“I think everybody in America ought to be terrified about that.”

Never forget who the *real* gun nuts are: those who so live in terror of inanimate objects that they will lie and try to scare people in order to keep law abiding citizens from being able to defend themselves.

 Posted by at 10:59 am

Never go full media+politician

 AARRRGH, dumbassery, Forward!, I'm from the government, news, politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jul 302018
 

Here’s your fabulously ignint news article for today (yeah, yeah, it’s from more than a week ago. You want more timely blogging… gimme money):

Sen. Chuck Schumer warns of coming online blueprints for ‘ghost guns’

Media proves how good they are at their job:

As of Aug. 1, websites will be allowed to post blueprints explaining how to make so-called “ghost guns” — guns manufactured on 3-D printers, and able to pass through metal detectors unseen because they are made of plastic.

It’s good to know that the springs and firing pins and barrels and bullets and cartridges will all be made of special metal-detector defeating metals.

Senator Chuck Schumer proves how good he is at his job:

“I am sounding an alarm that come Aug. 1, America is going to get a lot less safe when it comes to the gut-wrenching epidemic of gun violence,” Schumer said. “Ghost guns are not only scary, they’re outright dangerous in the way they can mimic the look and the capacity of a hardened, fully semiautomatic weapon.”

Schumer says three stupid things:

1) August first, just a few days now, we’ll see a statistically meaningful increase in violent crime due to the sudden availability of 3D CAD models.

2) “Ghost guns are scary.” If you’re Scooby Doo, maybe. If you realize that a “ghost gun” is a more expensive and complex product for a criminal than simply *stealing* a gun, then, not so much.

3) Fully Semiautomatic Weapons. FULLY SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS. FULLY SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS.

 Posted by at 5:01 am

Man-portable coilgun now available for purchase

 awesomeness, Hmm..., news, science, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Jul 272018
 

One The One Hand:

You can now buy your own fully functional semi-automatic coilgun:

EMG-01A

Nine hundred fitty bones for a first-gen sci-fi spacegun ain’t bad. From the video, it seems to work jsut fine:

On The Other Hand:

I have but one issue with it:

Muzzle velocity 45 m/s
Muzzle energy 4.65J

Meh. Get ten times the muzzle velocity and a hundred times the energy, then we’ll talk. The system is advertised as being 6.5% efficient, so presumably some improvements can be made there. 45 M/s is a mere 147 ft/sec, 4.65 J is a mere 3.43 foot-pounds. A .22 caliber air rifle generates about 26 foot-pounds of muzzle energy, while a .22 rifle generates around 130 foot-pounds.

For what it is, I like the looks of it. It would probably be better as a bullpup arrangement to build up barrel/accelerator length without greatly increasing rifle length.

 

 Posted by at 5:23 pm
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