Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
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Yugo SKS
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Rich girl
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
By today’s measures, a brick of .22 is almost as enviable as a belt full of .600 Nitro Express a decade ago… Photo from last week’s range day here in Tennessee. The pistol is Bersa Thunder .22— pretty good trainer for the .380 variant.
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The crowd-sourced FAL.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
Various parts of this rifle came from Coonan, DSA, Magpul and Galt’s Guns (who also did the awesome camo job). It runs great. The camo is very effective to the eye because our vision doesn’t have the selective focus of a fast tele lens.
It’s good to have friends.
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Having an awesome time in Idaho
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
Taking hundreds of photos daily, observing much wildlife (deer, turkey, quail, various raptors, ground squirrel), eating well (both home cooked meals and amazing CD’s BBQ) and hanging out with great people. Also sharpening my rifle and shotgun skills….apparently, I can actually smoke clays with the right mindset. And I now want a Beretta 390 shotgun. Shot 350-700 yard targets at Boomershoot, then short range boomers during clean-up, and 100/200 yards today. Was able to hit small metal plates with my Glock 17 at 100 pretty reliably — but 9×19 ball doesn’t penetrate 1/4″ hardened aluminum plate. Neither do 10mm Auto hollow points. Photos coming soon, I am too busy having fun to edit them now.
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Scheduling dilemma.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
This year, Porcfest and Libertycon overlap. Not sure how to be both places at once. Porcfest would be interesting and place me near some of my clients from NH and MA. But driving to it would require going through NY and that’s right out. Is there any way to get to it by land without going through CT, NY or MA?
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Scheduling dilemma.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
This year, Porcfest and Libertycon overlap. Not sure how to be both places at once. Porcfest would be interesting and place me near some of my clients from NH and MA. But driving to it would require going through NY and that’s right out. Is there any way to get to it by land without going through CT, NY or MA?
Update: Rob Pincus asked the same question and got legal advice — http://www.icetraining.info/running-the-gauntlet-legal-advice-on-traveling-from-the-free-south-to-new-england-with-guns/
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Dry fire practice with shotgun
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
Trying out a Primary Arms red dot attached to Saiga 12 through an Ultimak rail. Ear protection isn’t used until later, when live ammunition comes into use. Ten round magazine is by AGP.
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M1A’s little sister
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
We test-fired the Mini-14 and a 20″ Colt HBAR earlier. With 55gr ball, the AR15 mounting a 1-4x Trijicon Accupoint yielded 3″ groups at 100. Mini-14 shot 2″ groups with 2.5x Leupold scout scope, shown above on the M1A. So much for the inaccurate Mini! To be fair, the little carbine’s trigger isn’t conducive to accuracy under time pressure. This is a more recent Mini and we saw no stringing after 20 rounds over two minutes.
The HBAR acquitted itself with 69gr match ammo, shooting 2/3″ groups. Seems that ammunition matters a lot in calibers with widely varying twist rates.
- Aimpoint H1 micro
- Leupold 2.5x scout scope
- Ultimak mounts for both
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M1A’s little sister
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
We test-fired the Mini-14 and a 20″ Colt HBAR earlier. With 55gr ball, the AR15 mounting a 1-4x Trijicon Accupoint yielded 3″ groups at 100. Mini-14 shot 2″ groups with 2.5x Leupold scout scope, shown above on the M1A. So much for the inaccurate Mini! To be fair, the little carbine’s trigger isn’t conducive to accuracy under time pressure. This is a more recent Mini, and we saw no stringing after 20 rounds over two minutes.
The HBAR acquitted itself with 69gr match ammo, shooting 2/3″ groups. Seems that ammunition matters a lot in calibers with widely varying twist rates.
- Aimpoint H1 micro
- Leupold 2.5x scout scope
- Ultimak mounts for both
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Seeking advice on traveling around Italy
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
My parents and I are going to Italy in late May.
- In Rome we still have a choice of living either close to metro Piazza Bologna on via Michele di Lando or in a slightly more comfortable flat on Via di Santa Petronilla that is less connected to public transportation network. Any advice on which to pick?There was a once a sizable colony of feral cats next to the Colosseum. Does anyone know if they are still around with the recent reconstruction going on?
- We will spend a couple hours one morning in Piacenza. Any advice on finding a good breakfast place reachable by foot or bus from a large railway station at 6 am?
- We decided to travel some distance by car and see small towns with nice architecture. On the way from Piacenza to Bergamo, would Crema or some other town be the best midpoint for lunch break and sightseeing?
- We are also planning to spend a few days exploring the northern lakes. Our current idea is to stay in a small town on lake Como and from that base reach interesting places by car and ferries. Which towns would be best for sight-seeing? Lezzeno and Laglio are the top candidates for now (we have to be not very far from Malpensa for our morning flight back).
- If you or your friends are willing to meet there, please connect with me. Also open to suggestion if somebody wants to rent a place to stay to us. Other than the flight schedule, our itinerary has some flexibility.
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Little Ugly
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
Good, old reliable M1 carbine made ugly for the sake of greater utility. Choate folding stock with pistol grip, Magpul AFG (mainly to keep the support hand away from the operating rod), Aimpoint Micro on Ultimak rail. The carbine is held by Lyle Keeney, the designer of Ultimak rails. It’s light enough that one-handed firing is possible.
The same carbine but with a Primary Arms red dot as the more budget-friendly solution.
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Two cultures, one family.
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
One couple appears twice at their wedding, both as Americans and as Koreans.
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The perceived inadequacy of M1 carbine
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
M1 carbine is often called the “girlfriend gun” for its compact size and low recoil. It’s as often derided for the perceived lack of stopping power. We decided to test it side by side with .223, 9×19 and 10mm Auto.
1/4″ doesn’t sound like much until you actually handle the plate. Aluminum doesn’t sound like much either, until you look at the cross-section to see surface hardening to the depth of about 1.5mm and also look at the lack of penetration by the pistol rounds. In addition to firing at extended range, I also shot 9×19 at 25 yards and the bullets left only slightly deeper dents.
As you can see, the accuracy of the carbine (used here with the discontinued 2x Aimpoint CompC3 on an Ultimak mount) is plenty accurate to hit a hostile human past 250 yards. The effective accurate range isn’t that much less with unmagnified optics.
Front and back of the plate up close.
The Box O’ Truth tested .30 Carbine ball as well and found it quite adequate in penetration. Using soft point defensive ammunition would reduce penetration slightly but increase the wound channel size. In truth, .30 carbine is only slightly behind 7.92 Kurtz, 300 Blackout and 7.62×39 in energy and suffers mostly from the use of stubby pistol-like bullets that lose velocity quicker and don’t tumble on impact. For personal self-defense, long range matters seldom. Better terminal performance can be had with properly picked ammunition. Penetration, as the plate photos above show, is sufficient to defeat auto bodies and other light cover — and, not being a spitzer bullet, .30 carbine projectile doesn’t destabilize as drastically upon impact. So it’s a useful round, and it far outperforms most of the pistol cartridges used in submachine guns and light carbines.
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The perceived inadequacy of M1 carbine
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
M1 carbine is often called the “girlfriend gun” for its compact size and low recoil. It’s as often derided for the perceived lack of stopping power. We decided to test it side by side with .223, 9×19 and 10mm Auto.
(Photo by Holly Cernik)
1/4″ doesn’t sound like much until you actually handle the plate. Aluminum doesn’t sound like much either, until you look at the cross-section to see surface hardening to the depth of about 1.5mm and also look at the lack of penetration by the pistol rounds. In addition to firing at extended range, I also shot 9×19 at 25 yards and the bullets left only slightly deeper dents.
As you can see, the accuracy of the carbine (used here with the discontinued 2x Aimpoint CompC3 on an Ultimak mount) is plenty accurate to hit a hostile human past 250 yards. The effective accurate range isn’t that much less with unmagnified optics.
Front and back of the plate up close.
The Box O’ Truth tested .30 Carbine ball as well and found it quite adequate in penetration. Using soft point defensive ammunition would reduce penetration slightly but increase the wound channel size. In truth, .30 carbine is only slightly behind 7.92 Kurtz, 300 Blackout and 7.62×39 in energy and suffers mostly from the use of stubby pistol-like bullets that lose velocity quicker and don’t tumble on impact. For personal self-defense, long range matters seldom. Better terminal performance can be had with properly picked ammunition. Penetration, as the plate photos above show, is sufficient to defeat auto bodies and other light cover — and, not being a spitzer bullet, .30 carbine projectile doesn’t destabilize as drastically upon impact. So it’s a useful round, and it far outperforms most of the pistol cartridges used in submachine guns and light carbines.
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The idiocy that is cell phone carriers (ATT in this case)
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
Last year, I was able to have my phone unlocked for the trip to Switzerland. Now I find that ATT policy changed and they won’t unlock the phone until the contract is over in two years. While I can get my old, tired HTC phone unlocked, I am annoyed and will change carriers to somebody who doesn’t play this game with locked devices.
I am a little puzzled at the approach that would rather lose a long-term customer than unlock a phone for a few days — especially since I am not going to pay roaming rates in Europe in any case. I will either take my phone with me or buy a disposable in Italy, but ATT gets nothing in any case. I know that all cell phone carriers suck in different ways, and went with ATT for cell, land line and data for convenience. Now I am motivated to get rid of the land line, get different cell and data providers. Not sure how they can view it as a win.
Suggestions on replacement Internet and cell providers for Nashville are welcome.
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Father and daughter at the range
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
And an incidental illustration of Primary Arms optics in use.
Illuminated 4-16x scope with a mini red dot over it (for lining up the scope with target at higher magnification, also for close-in defense). Mounted on a Superior Arms 20″ Varmint.
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Pockets in women’s dresses
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
This pretty dress has a major drawback: no pockets! Five rounds of .303 is good, but the magazine holds ten. Where to put additional chargers with rifle fodder…
I guess the top of the dress works and isn’t much sillier than dropping a loaded Desert Eagle magazine down the neckline with later hopes of being able to retrieve it quickly.
Greeks, no doubt as a nod to the Amazon tradition, made more practical ways of carrying ammo. Not quite as stylish as the leather British designs, they were light and cheap enough to discard after use. In fact, I am not sure if the canvas bandoleer is actually of Greek production or was part of the aid from the UK or the US during their 194os civil war.
In any case, remember that these photos are fashion snapshots and not a realistic depiction of a live fire exercise. Eye and ear protection are required for actual shooting.
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Summer dress carry
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
As we have recently observed, summer dresses often lack pockets and belt loops. Fortunately, some guns are light enough that a belt thrown around the waistline can support a sufficient holster with comfort. This one, made by Simply Rugged in Arizona, works nicely for Kel-tec PMR30.
Combination holster/mag pouch doesn’t make for rapid reloads, but PMR30 does supply 31 shots before a reload is needed. A more important question, in the absence of pockets, is: “Where should she keep ear plugs?”
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You know a gun lawyer is serious when…
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
…she shoots a personalized AR15 in three-gun competition.
Rifle by Am Tac, shooter by Kincaid Law Office. As usual, if you want to actually touch off a round, eye and ear protection are required.
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Lawyer grips
Originally published at VolkStudio Blog. You can comment here or there.
No idea why the pistol was decocked for the photos. I wasn’t paying attention at the time.
Close-up of the grips to show detail.
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