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 19 January 2011 - YHS and Larry Correia - Author of MHI and MHV Folks, day two of SHOT Show 2011 was just as fun as day one One of the big time highlights of my day was meeting Larry Correia I’ll have reviews on both Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta soon with a review of Hard Magic shortly after I get my paws on it. I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Larry for all the time he spent with me and for being such a great guy I’m about beat right now, so I’m going to call it a night and get some rest before I go into work tomorrow. Have a great day, everyone   SHOT Show 2011 - Heading to the Sands Expo Today started off a little later than I’d planned, but I still managed to get in some quality time at SHOT Show 2011 I’ve been working on posts until 0300 the last two nights and paying the price for it, so I’m going to give a little preview tonight  SHOT Show 2011 - Silencerco's new stainless steel .22 Sparrow 8) I made it to Silencerco’s booth a little late in the day, but I really couldn’t believe the reception I got  SHOT Show 2011 - Coonan 357 Magnum Automatic in Duracoat digital camo You saw the Coonan 357 Magnum Automatic yesterday, but you didn’t see it like this! I think it’s just about as cool as you can get That’s it for tonight – I need some rest before I head back to SHOT and do it all over again tomorrow UPDATE!!!
Oleg Volk, one of my favorite photographers (with a link to his site on the right —————————————- Folks, it’s been one helluva day and I had a real BLAST I met up with Oleg Volk and our friend Mike early in the morning and we hooked up with Dan Coonan and Glenn Bellamy a bit later. Glenn is an attorney (one of the good ones I’m going to keep this post fairly short when it comes to words, but I wanted to get these pictures posted as soon as possible  17 January 2010 - Oleg Volk working with Glenn Bellamy and the Coonan 357 Magnum Automatic  17 January 2010 - Oleg Volk working with Glenn Bellamy and the Coonan 357 Magnum Automatic  17 January 2010 - Oleg Volk working with Glenn Bellamy and the Coonan 357 Magnum Automatic  17 January 2010 - Glenn Bellamy and the Coonan 357 Magnum Automatic  17 January 2010 - Oleg Volk and Glenn Bellamy discussing the next photograph  17 January 2010 - Oleg Volk and Glenn Bellamy making the magic happen I consider it to be a privilege to have been able to take the photographs above. Oleg is a superb photographer and a forceful advocate for freedom. Just getting to meet him was cool enough, but going shooting in the desert and taking pictures with him was even better  17 January 2010 - Thanks to Oleg Volk, I got to try out the Kel-Tec Shotgun!!! On 4 January 2011, Kel-Tec announced a new gun in development. Until now, they’ve only produced handguns and rifles. Kel-Tec surprised me quite a bit with their newest innovation in firearms – the Kel-Tec Shotgun or KSG  17 January 2010 - Evening and moonrise in the Nevada desert  17 January 2010 - Oleg Volk and his camera out in the Nevada desert The light was fading fast, but I managed to get a decent picture of Oleg with my own camera  17 January 2010 - Dan Coonen with his gun - the Coonan 357 Magnum Automatic  17 January 2010 - Dan Coonen with his gun - the Coonan 357 Magnum Automatic I apologize for a bit of motion blur in the second picture, but I had to get a couple of pictures posted of Dan Coonan After shooting for several hours in the desert, we headed on over to a nice Italian restaurant and had a superb dinner and great discussions. Glenn picked up the tab for all of us and Dan picked up the tip for which I am very thankful That’s it for now, but there will be much more from SHOT Show 2011 tomorrow A couple of postcards from the era when I went to Boot Camp at RTC, San Diego. These were the barracks for the first four weeks of training. After the 2-4 day, we moved to the mainside. Providing we passed all the stuff.  Barracks on Worm Island I lived in the closest one on the first deck. For real.  The Accommodations! The inside of the barracks. The Naval Training Center and Recruit Training Command, San Diego closed for good in 1997. Lousy BRAC Bastards. Should have kept this one open and maybe even Orlando and closed that dump called Great Lakes. Sometimes my Navy can still piss me off! I got an email from Infinite Arms on Friday to let me know that he’d just received some cool new items. Yep, it was a shipment of suppressors from Thompson Machine  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Wasp .22 LR suppressor  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Wasp .22 LR suppressor  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Wasp .22 LR suppressor Thompson Machine suppressors are interesting devices. The Wasp seen here is only 3.75″ long and .875″ in diameter. I haven’t fired any Thompson Machine suppressors, but I hear they’re very quiet. The Wasp does this by using an “artificial environment” which is water or another ablative substance along with a thin piece of neoprene called a “wipe” inside the front of the unit. The water cools the expanding gases and slows their expansion which helps to keep things quiet. The neoprene helps to contain the gases and slow their exit which further quiets the discharge. .22 LR ammunition is notoriously dirty and there is always a huge build-up of carbon and lead fouling. The Wasp can be easily disassembled for cleaning as you can see here. MSRP for the Wasp is only $249 which is very competitive with other options and the thread protector for the aft end of the can where it attaches to the host firearm also doubles as a keychain as well  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Poseidon 9mm suppressor  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Poseidon 9mm suppressor About the size of an average corn dog, the Poseidon is Thompson Machine’s compact 9mm suppressor. It measures 4.18″ long and 1.25″ in diameter with a weight of only 3.8 ounces. Using much of the same technology as the Wasp, this suppressor uses an ablative medium and a wipe for enhanced sound suppression, but it has another interesting feature. The Poseidon can actually use two wipes – one at each end. Using a wipe at the mounting end of the suppressor allows the unit to retain its ablative media no matter what attitude it’s held at and it also slows the evaporation of that media. Most centerfire suppressors are sealed units because unlike .22 LR ammunition it is much cleaner. The exception to this rule comes when cast bullets are used instead of jacketed projectiles. Cast bullets will have a bit of molten lead on the base which can foul a suppressor. That concern is non-existent with the Poseidon as it can be easily and quickly disassembled for cleaning. MSRP for the Poseidon is $349 which is very low for a 9mm suppressor.  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Zephyr XL .22 LR suppressor  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Zephyr XL .22 LR suppressor  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Zephyr XL .22 LR suppressor  16 January 2011 - Thompson Machine Zephyr XL .22 LR suppressor The Zephyr XL is a more conventional suppressor and is made for .22 LR firearms. Again, it can be disassembled by the user for easy cleaning, but it does not need an ablative agent or a wipe, however it can be used with water or another ablative. The Zephyr XL is 6.5″ long, 1.125″ in diameter, and weighs seven ounces. MSRP for this suppressor is $240 which again is very low  16 January 2011 - Viridian C5L laser sight and tactical light  16 January 2011 - Viridian C5L laser sight and tactical light  16 January 2011 - Viridian C5L laser sight and tactical light  16 January 2011 - Viridian C5L laser sight and tactical light  16 January 2011 - Viridian C5L laser sight and tactical light Switching from suppressors to sights and lights, I noticed this little jewel in the case at New Frontier Armory with the scopes and holographic sights. Viridian makes some really cool green laser sights and this is the first one I’ve seen in person. Green is right in the middle of the visible spectrum so it appears brighter than a red laser of the same power output. The Viridian C5L combines a brilliant emerald green laser sight with a bright 100 lumen tactical light. There are several modes of operation which can use either the light or laser or the two can be combined in either steady or strobe mode. Modes are set by pressing both side switches simultaneously. Once the desired mode of operation has been chosen, only one of the switches is pressed to activate or deactivate the sight / light combination. The C5L is the only green laser / light combination that can be mounted on a subcompact handgun and has an MSRP of $349 That’s it for tonight. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow and it’s late so I’m calling it done for now UPDATE – I emailed the kind folks at Thompson Machine to let them know about this post and to ask if they had any corrections to what I’d written. I got a very nice reply back today and I figure it’s best if I just go ahead and post the entire reply
So there you have it – I was a bit off in my information, but I always try to make it right Folks, it’s been a bit of a rough patch lately with all the overtime at work, but it looks like I’ve finally made it out of the woods In the mean time, I’ve got a FOUR DAY WEEKEND and wouldn’t you know it – I get to spend it in fabulous Las Vegas, NV Plans for my wonderful vacation include meeting several people I only know from emails, shooting in the desert, and attending a truly kick-ass trade show Yes, there will be updates between now and Thursday, but I’m looking forward to a whole pallet load of fun Well, it was a busy weekend including Friday. We only worked 10 hours – 0700-1700 for me. I don’t like getting up that early, but I’ll do it when I have to. I managed to get through the day alright and I even got to go to New Frontier Armory / Infinite Arms  7 January 2011 - It was a pretty sky, but it still felt too early to be awake At least I got something nice out of leaving for work so early – what a gorgeous sunset  7 January 2011 - This M1A is a sweet shootin' .308  7 January 2011 - Combat shotguns anyone? Some firearms are for hunting, some for target shooting, and then there’s also the ones made for self defense. There’s all three types in these two pictures.  7 January 2011 - Artsy take on the New Frontier Armory sign  7 January 2011 - New Frontier Armory after hours Guido asked me to do a few pics of the outside of the place for the store’s website. I sent him quite a few which he liked. These were a couple of my personal favorites from that group. I still like black and white even if it seems a bit old fashioned. One nice thing about digital photography is that you can get both from one image.  8 January 2011 - My Ruger 10/22 has a new lower price!  8 January 2011 - My Ruger 10/22 has a new lower price! My Ruger 10/22 is still up on the wall for sale. From what I’ve heard, $20 off the price of a new one and a soft case isn’t enough to entice people. I’ll take less and the staff know it, but the customers just aren’t interested enough to ask. Oh well, I’ll go a bit lower and see what happens.  8 January 2011 - FN Five-seveN on consignment  8 January 2011 - Smith & Wesson M&P 9C The FN and S&W pistols above are a couple of the cool handguns for sale. The FN Five-seveN (and yes, that’s the way the manufacturer writes it) is an interesting piece of equipment as it’s an oddball caliber with a small round that goes really fast. Unfortunately ammo is a bit pricey. This one includes quite a few magazines and 900 rounds of ammo. The gun itself is surprisingly light, but it’s a bit big for my hands. The S&W M&P 9C is the compact 9mm version of the Military and Police line of semiautomatic pistols. Dad has the .40 caliber version and I really like the way it shoots. The segmented trigger acts like the small inset trigger safety on a Glock and works very well. I might have to get one of these someday  8 January 2011 - Gotta love Glocks - They keep going even when they're dirty This Glock isn’t for sale – it belongs to one of the employees. I think it looks really cool with all that dirt  8 January 2011 - My Steyr M95 had sold and the K-31 went up for sale  8 January 2011 - That was a helluva deal on the K-31 These are the last two pictures I have of my K-31. I dropped it off on Saturday night and it was gone by Sunday morning. My Steyr M95 sold on Friday and between the money I got from the two of ‘em I’ve managed to outfit my new AR-15 with a few accessories. More on that later…  8 January 2011 - Yeah, there's some cool tactical black rifles in stock  8 January 2011 - No shortage of AR-15s here! Oh no, I sure don’t like black rifles too much  9 January 2011 - My AR-15 with a few upgrades  9 January 2011 - My AR-15 with a few upgrades About those upgrades – I think they’re sweet One of the fun things about this experience has been doing some of the work myself even if it’s not that much. Adding the ASAP plate allowed me to learn the joys of launching a tiny but vital spring into oblivion – I never found it. I did go back and get another one later in the evening. I’ve been assured that I’m most definitely not the first to pull this stunt and I know I won’t be the last In case you’re wondering why I’ve added flat dark earth parts to my black rifle, I have an honestly logical answer. I plan on using this gun year round including in the sun in the Las Vegas summer sun and heat. I’m making sure that the parts which I’ll grab or touch like the pistol and forward grips don’t burn my hand if I leave the gun out in the sun. I’m planning on adding something to keep the stock cool where I rest my cheek and I’ll also be adding a few rail covers on the hand guards as well. There will be many more posts about the accessories on my new rifle in the future, but I thought I’d at least share a couple of pics  8 January 2011 - Panorama - New Frontier Armory - North Las Vegas, NV  8 January 2011 - Panorama - New Frontier Armory - North Las Vegas, NV Last, but not least, I have a couple of panorama shots from New Frontier Armory’s storefront in daylight. If you’re ever looking for a great deal on guns, outdoor gear, or accessories with awesome customer service, this is the place to go That’s it for tonight. I’ve only got four more work days until I have two weekend days off followed by three days of SHOT Show 2011. Life’s getting better and less stressful and I’m remembering how to enjoy it after all the bad weather in California. Have a great day everyone  WSB-TV Action News 2 Tower Cam When I think of Atlanta, snow and ice and freezing-ass cold is not my first thought!! “Rest Of Today: Freezing rain and sleet late in the morning, then a chance of freezing rain and sleet in the afternoon. New sleet less than one quarter inch. Total snow accumulation up to 6 inches. New ice accumulation of less than one tenth of an inch. Highs around 30. East winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.” Wow. Good luck to all!! And thanks WSB-TV 2 for a great tower cam shot. Major Dick Winters has passed at the age of 92. God Speed Major. Many of us only learned of you from Stephen Ambrose and a mini series. But the interviews were amazing. http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=21783&cpage=1#comment-245502 The link is to the post at This Ain’t Hell. I was on my way home when I heard about the terrible shooting today in Tuscon which took several lives and has left Representative Gabrielle Giffords and several others fighting for their lives. I want to express my deepest condolences to all who were victimized today by an evil man. May God watch over and help those who were injured as well as those who were lost along with their friends and families. |
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Of course, as you can probably imagine it was also as tiring as well. Still, I’d do the whole week if I had the vacation time to spare 
Meeting all sorts of people I’ve only known online has been a blast!
Larry’s truly one of my favorite authors. I’ve read both 
Kinda like what happened for as long as it took to read the short story 
Thanks also go out to STI for being such great hosts 
