Category: Lies, Errors, and Omissions

The first handgun that I bought was a Kimber Custom II in .45 ACP. I still have it, and still shoot it a lot. Even underwater. It's had basically every major and minor part replaced, and it's been completely refinished, because the original finish was simply unsuited to the real world. But that's beside the point. Why did I buy a .45, especially after carrying and being completely satisfied with the performance of my issued 9mm Beretta M9? Well, that story begins in Iraq, when I was about to redeploy… Read More

While searching an old hard drive for an essay I wrote in college, I came across some unrelated documents which I had saved at approximately the same time: ATF position papers/reports on the importation of semiautomatic military-style rifles. I briefly skimmed these documents, and found several interesting points that I would like to raise. First, a brief refresher course on some recent history, with points illustrated by photographs of cute animals. Jerry Tsai, former editor of Recoil magazine, made some comments about how HK MP7s served no sporting purposes, and… Read More

I was checking out GearScout and saw this article about a review on GunsAmerica's blog. Here are some interesting quotes from the GA review: "The drop safety itself is a revelation of sorts and should make a lot of people jump up and down screaming YES! FINALLY! Few companies have dared put a manual safety on their striker pistols and this is the first in a gun that can compete with the big boys." "The FNS is the first gun from a high end manufacturer that breaks this mold and… Read More

Okay, seemingly everyone on the interwebs is talking about how the editor of Recoil Magazine said that civilians shouldn't own stuff like the HK MP7; his "retraction" was even worse, a rambling attempt to weasel out of the statement and a weak connection between supporting the troops and not wanting civilians to get their hands on MP7s. That's great and all, but it misses the real point. Recoil (sorry, RECOIL) sucked as a magazine long before this MP7 fiasco. I commented on this a while back, but here's why in… Read More

Okay, so a few weeks back, FourGuysGuns wrote an article about barrel twist rates. I had some serious issues with it from a technical standpoint - it was flat out wrong on some things - and emailed them directly with my concerns. I was concerned about coming across as rude, but they were very cordial. I wasn't sure what would come of that in the long term - if they would write more articles in the same vein, or if they would focus on other things, including, as their description… Read More

Some of my friends think that because I work in the gun industry and shoot guns and have a gun blog, I am a "gun nut" or "crazy about guns" or "obsessed with guns" or whatever. Maybe I am, and I'm just in denial. I really don't think so. There is nothing in particular about guns that truly excites me. I like the history and tradition of some firearms - those passed down from generation to generation in my family, for example, though I treat my grandfather's fishing gear with… Read More

After seeing a few photos of fake Marines recently, an 0351 friend and I bounced ideas off of each other for the details behind the awards some of these wonderful people choose to wear. You see, some of the ribbons they put on are for campaigns that took place before they were born, such as World War II. I guess when you're trying to build a stack the size of one of your manboobs, you need some filler, and that ancient campaign ribbon looks great next to your Army EOD… Read More

Earlier this week, I wrote an article about what constitutes a firearm review. It was interpreted correctly by most, but seems to have been taken the wrong way by some. I want to clarify a few things so that I am not seen as any more evil than I deserve to be - which, actually, is quite a lot. I thought the first line was fairly clear - I am getting really tired of searching for a quality firearm review to link to, only to come across regurgitated manufacturer specifications… Read More

Apparently, I am late to this party. Just before SHOT Show, Paul Helinski, who appears to be the blogger for GunsAmerica, made some comments on a post regarding internet media at the official NSSF blog that didn't sit too well with the firearm blogging community. You can read about it here, here, and here. The takeaway is that Mr. Helinski sees himself as "real internet media," and looks down on those who he feels are not. He even goes so far as to suggest that gun bloggers with small audiences… Read More

I might say a few things that will upset people in this article, but perhaps they need to be said. ... And women, please stop being the willing pawns of retards with guns and video cameras. There are a lot of idiots in the world. I don't think any country has a monopoly on them, but the (nonexistent) law of averages says the United States has to have quite a few. Unfortunately, as there is no checkbox on an ATF form 4473 that asks whether or not the purchaser of… Read More