Exchange

Kim du Toit
May 16, 2008
1:22 PM CDT

From The Ogre:

“What do you think of HK guns?”

“Mediocre yet overpriced and arrogant with triggers like toggle switches.”

“Oh.”

“Who are you?”

“The HK rep.”

“Oh.”

I had to quit reading to go and pee at that point.

Then George gets serious:

So HK is selling the UMC and SL8-6 and wants us civilians. The prices are high. The magazine capacity is limited to 10 rounds. I see no point, no point at all. SIG has the 556, Bushmaster is bringing out the ACR, FN has the FS2000 and the SCAR coming out… lots of really cool rifles from gun makers that don’t give the American Shooter the middle finger by neutering the magazines and limiting them to just a few shots at a time. Are they serious?  Are they really thinking that we can sell guns with a 20 round deficet in capacity with no other selling point than “It’s an HK.” What is HK doing to add value to that?  Giving away optical gunsights?  Oh, wait, FNH was doing that earlier this year.  What has HK done to for the American Shooter?  What have they come out with lately?  Rebadged USP’s? The last military gun, the MK 23 was an epic flop. The last famous thing they have accomplished is a video game cover. HK has become the Al Bundy of the gun industry. They’ve become a sitcom of their own creation.

Actually, I’d suggest that not only HK, but HK fanboys are becoming a sitcom. They’re the Kos Kids of the Gun Thing. Witness the HK forum’s response to the above.

---------------------------------

Note to Ogre: George, buddy… could you please put permalinks on your individual posts, instead of just lumping the whole string under “News”?

And Now, If You’ll Excuse Me…

Kim du Toit
May 16, 2008
10:07 AM CDT

...I’m off to the range to coach a first-time shooter, and for Daughter to get some practice.

Back after lunch…

All Over The Place

Kim du Toit
May 16, 2008
9:47 AM CDT

Via Tam, I found this little story:

“On the 2nd round I realigned my sights, slowly pulled the trigger, and all hell broke loose. I saw bits and pieces of the top of the slide cover blow. My first reaction was, “Oh crap what just happened.” My second reaction was, how are my hands?”

My guess is a reloading mistake (ie. a double charge of powder in the casing). Others in the thread differ.

I don’t know enough about the gun to pass judgement on whether it fired out of battery. But I do know that if he was shooting handloads, FN is going to say, ” You done with the basin, Pontius?”

Whatever, ask me my opinion of plastic guns again…

Coincidence? I Think Not

Kim du Toit
May 16, 2008
8:29 AM CDT

Right after I’d finished talking about not needing flying cars anymore, I stumbled across this gem:

In a nutshell, if a company can manufacture a plane that weighs less than 1,320 pounds, carries no more than two people, and flies no faster than 138 miles per hour, it can get the craft qualified as an S-LSA, meaning that owners need only a sport pilot certificate to fly it. Getting a sport pilot certificate involves only about half as much flight training as qualifying for private pilot certificate, the license previously required for most general aviation flyers.

Now read about the crazy guy who’s intent on making that a reality.

Now That’s Diversity

Kim du Toit
May 16, 2008
7:19 AM CDT

A radical notion indeed:

Chancellor G. P. Peterson of the University of Colorado, Boulder, plans to raise $9 million to endow a visiting chair in conservative thought and policy, on grounds that intellectual diversity is a good thing.

My cynical side says that Peterson is looking for an early retirement, but apparently he’s serious about this.

My favorite part is this:

Though they speak fairly well, conservatives are notoriously weak in diversity-speak and postmodern expression, as if these crucial campus tongues were some sort of impenetrable jargon. As Judith Butler once quipped, inducing a burst of appreciative laughter from her audience, “right-wingers lack libidinal multiplicity and melancholic structure, very likely because they are so sadly saddled by the binary frame and univocal signification.” Indeed, who among us can disagree?

The whole thing is a hoot. Read, and be prepared to have an outburst of unaccountable mirth.

Mosin-Nagant 91/59 (7.62x54mmR)

Kim du Toit
May 16, 2008
6:45 AM CDT

Yesterday, we looked at a rare Mauser K98. Today, we’ll continue in that vein with an equally-rare Mosin-Nagant M91—in this case, the 91/59, a carbine version of the venerable 91/30.

The M91/59 was made, as the nomenclature suggests, in the late 1950s from a modified M91/30 action and barrel, and fitted onto the M44 stock. Most seem to have been made in Warsaw Pact countries, but some of the carbines were issued to Soviet troops on garrison/security duty in Mother Russia.

The M91/59 is supposedly even more rare than the Model 38, and certainly more rare than the Model 44. Like the M38, it does not have the integral bayonet of the M44. The difference, however, is that the M91/59 is supposedly more accurate than any of the Mosin carbines—and that alone merits its ownership.

Collectors is asking $225, which, considering its provenance and value, seems like an excellent bargain.

I think it would make an excellent companion piece to my M91/30, but I don’t have the $225 [checks kids’ college fund… nope].

Oh well… I’m sure one of my Readers will give it a good home.