Search results for query: *

This issue has cropped up again so maybe we need to reexamine it. I think a lot of folks have misunderstood the familiar mantra of "shoot to stop, not to kill." It's a way of reminding ourselves that the INSTANT the threat is no longer sufficient to justify deadly force, deadly force MUST...

What's the thinking behind using a short blade for self defense? I was under the impression they were pretty poor at actually stopping an attack until you get to the short sword level. How will that help? If they push the door in, you're stuck behind it. If they shoot you, you're shot. It...

Tonight on my way home from work I ran into some troubles that thankfully ended well but offer some opportunity to rethink things. As always I feel like I was caught unaware and could have done better. I'll give a simple rundown: --I'm riding my bike, stopped at the curb of an uncontrolled...

I realized recently that my arsenal has shifted very dramatically since the Big Crunch began. Before it started, my main guns were: AR-15 carbine AR-15 retro M-1A scout Various .357's and .44 Mags One Mosin-Nagant Some black powder cartridge rifles Now I have: Six Mosin-Nagants Makarov AK-74...

On a whim I picked up a nice looking Tikka M91 1942 built Mosin-Nagant last week for $300. The barrel looked mint and these are not as cheap as they once were. The stock had some repair work done in Finland so it may have been at least issued, if not shot a lot...

I've been running into a lot of this lately. Folks get the idea that they should have a firearm, and they always seem to get a handgun for some reason. Gunstore clerks are partly to blame for this of course, and for the pernicious idea that a newbie should have a small handgun. People, men in...

I owned one of these about 10-11 years ago and liked it. And I've been wanting to get back into the eastblock handguns lately due to the fact that there's a ton of ammo for them locally but not much else. I wanted to get a nice East German model, but the sticker shock was huge. $500 or more...

The fall harvest of Mosin-Nagant rifles has come. I've recently picked up a very nice M30 (91-30) Tikkakoski and a near mint M44 Polish. Two of the finest Mosins ever made, IMHO. The Tikka stock has some repair work but otherwise it's mint. It's one of the fully Finlandized 91/30's with the...

I've been having troubles with an otherwise nice Rogers & Spencer. Using mostly CCI caps it ignites 2/3, but on about 1/3rd it hits the cap which then falls apart and spits its dusty stuff into the nipple. So I have to pull the cap off, try to clean out the dust, and recap. For two chambers...

I remember thinking back during the panic that someone could write an economics PhD thesis on the patterns that evolved in the marketplace. But if anything it's getting weirder now. And it's NOT what I expected to see. Here are a few observations from buying and selling locally and through GB...

I've been doing longsword practice this summer, and as part of the fat-old-man exercise regime, I bike the miles to and from the class every Wednesday. As it happens the Maxpedition backpack has an almost perfect carrying location for my plastic waster, which looks vaguely sword-like but is...

I see a lot more threads here about various carry knives than training threads. In fact I got to wondering what training, if any, most of us actually have when it comes to blades. I've been amazed how complicated and difficult sword fighting is, and I can only imagine fighting with a small...

I've been unable to find any answers to this one so I'm tossing it out here. I've got a nice Waffen Werks AK-74 and just mounted a Rakurs 1x scope on it. Everything seems just fine with it. The scope is properly tight and very clear. I noticed a pattern over the weekend of nice centered...

I'm looking for a man-height target for use in practicing longsword techniques. Maybe something that can be jabbed into the ground that will wobble a bit when struck. They sell padded speed balls for punching, but they seem flimsy. Anyone know of homemade or sold targets along these lines?

I've run into this situation a few times and I've never found the best way to deal with it. It happened again on Saturday. In this situation it was a man in his 40's with a young 12 or 13 year old boy, small in stature. They were sharing a bench. Dad (I assume) was angry and was mostly...

I swung by a friend's Liechtenauer style longsword class yesterday. Very interesting fencing style. Quite different from the traditional fencing I abused in college. Has anyone else gotten involved in this or the German late Medieval longswords? Apparently this is a revived school of fencing...

I've been doing some shooting with a 1942 Lithgow No. 1 Mk. III* lately, and in reading up on them I was surprised to learn that Australians continued to make and use them through WW2 and into the Korean conflict. Though I know Lithgow was making advanced arms like the Garand, they apparently...

The Finns have opened a huge new archive of photos from the wars of the WW2 era: http://sa-kuva.fi/neo?tem=webneoeng There are many of Finn Mosins and various other arms in action, as well as captured Soviet arms. It's a treasure trove. Here are bicycle/ski troops carrying what appear to...

I've been doing more shooting with C&B this "spring" due to ammo shortages, and I've noticed several of my Uberti's seem to shoot more accurately if I just fill the chambers with 3F and compress the powder a notch with the roundball. It's also very fast. Anyone else doing this? Or am I crazy?

I'm sure you have also noticed the meme "Newtown changed everything." It started appearing in the MSM shortly after the Newtown shooting, and was quickly picked up by the administration and allied pundits. But does anyone remember where it started? I was fiddling with Google to see if I could...