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Handgun Basics:

Having good trigger discipline and mastering your trigger press are essential aspects of being a responsible gun owner. Time and time again, the news keeps breaking stories about individuals shooting other individuals—and sometimes themselves—by accident. Such unfortunate events are often linked to poor trigger discipline.

On that account, this post will shed light on some of the best trigger press mastery tips that you can work on today in order to improve your trigger control and overall trigger discipline.

Let’s jump right into it!

There was a lot of work put into this article. Read it at the link.

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The old adage of “You get what you pay for” when it comes to optics is becoming less and less true every year – especially with optics like the Primary Arms SLx MD-25.  We have entered somewhat of a renaissance of electro-optics, which began, roughly in the early 2000s with the wide adoption of optics like the Aimpoint M68 and EoTech by the US military.  The civilian market quickly caught on, especially as the unholy 90s “assault weapon” ban came to an end in 2004, and ARs and other modern rifles came back in a big way.  Now, ‘iron sights’ and ‘back up iron sights’ on an AR are almost synonymous, as almost every AR or AK you’ll find on the range or at a training class is sporting some kind of optic as its primary sighting system.

There once were generally two choices:  A high dollar ($400+) option from suppliers like EoTech, Aimpoint, Trijicon, and Leupold; and a budget option ($150 and under).  The budget options were, generally speaking, of somewhat poor quality and overall lacking in reliability, durability, fit and finish, and features.  Companies like Holosun and Primary Arms have very much bucked that trend in recent years, however offering quality, durability, reliability, and features that can hold their own against many higher-end optics, at a fraction of the price.

Primary Arms SLx MD-25

One such optic is a new red dot from Primary Arms, called the SLx MD-25, which retails for $170 for the 2 MOA dot model.  If you’re short on time, the best way I can describe the MD-25 is that it’s a budget competitor to the Trijicon MRO, with a much more versatile reticle.  The MD-25 is what I would call a ‘mid-sized’ tubular red dot.  It’s dimensionally larger than a micro dot like the 20mm Aimpoint T1 or Holosun 503, but still smaller and lighter than the Aimpoint 30mm models like the CompM4/M68.

The MD-25, like the Trijicon MRO, features a 25mm window, thus giving you an optic with a near micro-like weight and size, but increasing the window size half way to that of a full size 30mm optic.  Going from a 20mm micro dot: what effect does the extra 5mm in glass and viewing area actually have?  When I shot three rifles I had with different sized optics mounted on them – one with a 20mm Holosun 503, one with the 25mm MD-25, and one with a 30mm Aimpoint PRO – I found that my ability to quickly find the dot from awkward shooting positions where my head wouldn’t be perfectly lined up behind the glass was considerably improved going from the 20mm to 25mm optic, but not noticeably better going from the 25mm to 30mm window size.  25 millimeters seems to be a kind of sweet spot of lens sizes for tubular red dots, at least for myself.

If you decide you like the idea of a 25mm red dot and want to know what you can expect to get for that $170 dollars – here are a few for the MD-25:

Many more features and attributes are reviewed at the source. What’s your “best” optic, and why? Of course, the platform matters. We’re using the Holosun 503cu on AR platforms. The price is good for an average self-defense shooter. This reminds, we need to get spare batteries.

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Stratolaunch is one step closer to a drop test of the Talon-A hypersonic prototype.

Stratolaunch, builder of the world’s largest airplane, flew a prototype of its planned air-launched Talon hypersonic vehicle for the first time on Friday (Oct. 28).

 The massive Roc carrier plane, which has a wingspan longer than a football field, carried the test vehicle Talon-A (TA-0) into the sky above California’s Mojave Desert on a flight that proved Stratolaunch’s huge plane can indeed carry the experimental hypersonic vehicles it’s designed to launch from mid-air. Videos as the link.

Video of the takeoff here.

Technical data and depth of information about this project are frustratingly sparse. But apparently, the craft isn’t powered by unicorn rainbow flavored candy wishes. One would think that Space.com wouldn’t be so shallow. Not everyone is a dumbed-down mindless drone.

Stratolaunch — the air-launch company founded by the late Seattle software billionaire Paul Allen — put a test version of its hypersonic vehicle through its first in-the-air trial today.

The Talon-A separation test vehicle, known as TA-0, stayed firmly attached to its Roc carrier airplane throughout today’s five-hour outing, which began and ended at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port. This was Roc’s eighth flight test, but the first to have a payload attached to a wing pylon centered between its twin fuselages. Roc rates as the world’s largest airplane, with a wingspan of 385 feet.

This time, Stratolaunch focused on measuring the aerodynamic loads on the Talon-A test vehicle while mated to Roc, in preparation for future tests that would involve releasing a functional, rocket-equipped Talon-A for hypersonic flight.

Roc reached a maximum altitude of 23,000 feet and a speed of 185 knots (213 mph) during the flight test, Stratolaunch CEO Zachary Krevor said.

The story from a couple of years ago on TCJ:

Tennessee landowner removed a game camera secretly strapped to a tree on his private land by wildlife officials in order to monitor his activity without apparent sanction or probable cause. Repeat: Hollingsworth’s residence was searched by U.S. government and state officials, dressed to the nines in assault gear, seeking to regain possession of a trail camera—the precise camera they had surreptitiously placed on his private acreage after sneaking onto his property at night, loading the camera with active SD and SIM cards, and zip-tying the device roughly 10’ high up a tree—all without a warrant.

Here’s the update:

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) said Mr. Hollingsworth was illegally baiting. He plead his case and got his hunting license suspended or revoked. Then he filed suit in federal court, alleging his privacy rights were violated and that TWRA had no warrant. A federal court threw out the case. Hollingsworth said the government will bleed the average person of resources and time; there’s no real way to fight this.

You have no right to privacy on your own property, and no warrant is needed to surveil you. TWRA and US Fish and Wildlife are doing this to others as well, that’s according to the news source. It’s not some conspiracy theory.

Source:

More than 500 retired U.S. military personnel — including scores of generals and admirals — have taken lucrative jobs since 2015 working for foreign governments, mostly in countries known for human rights abuses and political repression, according to a Washington Post investigation.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, 15 retired U.S. generals and admirals have worked as paid consultants for the Defense Ministry since 2016. The ministry is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, who U.S. intelligence agencies say approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Post contributing columnist, as part of a brutal crackdown on dissent.

Saudi Arabia’s paid advisers have included retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, a national security adviser to President Barack Obama, and retired Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who led the National Security Agency under Obama and President George W. Bush, according to documents obtained by The Post under Freedom of Information Act lawsuits.

Others who have worked as consultants for the Saudis since Khashoggi’s murder include a retired four-star Air Force general and a former commanding general of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Most of the retired U.S. personnel have worked as civilian contractors for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Persian Gulf monarchies, playing a critical, though largely invisible, role in upgrading their militaries.

Seems that K Street (US Government Lobbying Firms) doesn’t pay what it used to. The article is very long and detailed.

AllOutdoor.

Before accuracy testing, I swapped out the 16-pound factory recoil spring for an 18.5-pound extra power recoil spring and extra-power firing pin spring. Those +P loads from BuffaloBore are pretty hot and can take a toll on a standard recoil spring.

There were no malfunctions of any type in all my shooting. Accuracy testing was from 25 yards over the hood of my SUV, with the gun resting on a sleeping bag. In all, I probably fired more than 300 rounds in my testing. Group size ranged from 2 to 3 inches, depending on the ammo and my abilities that day. I got the best overall accuracy from the Buffalo Bore 200-grain JHP +P load, which is fast becoming a favorite of mine.

The MC Operator retails for close to $1400.00. Is it worth it? To me it is. It’s as close to a custom 1911 as you’ll find in a non-custom model. They are hard to find, so expect to pay close to retail if you find one in a gun shop.

Over the years, I’ve owned some custom 1911s from big name custom builders and I’ve built more than my share of custom 1911s myself, but none impressed me more than the MC Operator did. Yeah, you can pay more for a custom gun or another brand of 1911 with the same or similar features, but I don’t think you’d be getting more gun for your money.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that it actually is a custom gun, i.e., that SA sends this model out to a contracted 1911 builder to be fitted.  But I wouldn’t be able to prove that.

The picture at AllOutdoors is a dated model.  The one advertised over their web site looks like this (with updated grips).

I would have probably put a 22# spring in it to handle +P loads.  The only thing it needs is a slide cut for an optic.

SA is always welcome to send this gun for our review.

Chart via Charles Hugh Smith.

Quiet quitting is giving up on your job and your company without actually resigning because it’s been made clear that it’s a hopeless endeavor to effect change that satisfies the human desire for the accomplishment which drives self-worth.

All job slots are being turned into a commodity. Fill a role, and follow the rules. Try to advance; no is the answer. Try a lateral move; no. Make a suggestion; follow the guidelines like a good monkey is all you get. Procedure-driven cost reduction has turned work into a nightmare for younger workers. A profit-driven race to the bottom doesn’t include learning, growing, or contributing. A worker is a unit of production cost in the global communist drive to equalization of all assets, of which an employee is merely an interchangeable byte. This communist equality in the workplace includes salaries, options, and ever-repressive systematized drudgery based on computational algorithms to maximize profit. The American job place is demeaning to the spirit which God has given men to conquer in dominion that which He has blessed them to take charge over. The divide is not generational; the businesses have changed to garbage in –  garbage out workaday soul-crushing slogs. Every employee is a mere cog in the global communist New Order. Creativity is frowned upon as cost competition with foreign sweatshops demands throwaway products, services, and people. Companies complain they can’t find workers, and customers complain that all the products, services, and people delivering them are ineffective or worse. The companies want them that way; they have no more small business competition nipping at their heels. Lobbyists have solved that pesky problem; what do global corporations care for the customer? And therefore, an employee is also a throwaway component. Every specialization is being absorbed into the global equality blob of gray meaninglessness. The worker never sees a customer’s smiling face at a wonderful product or service delivered; all they hear are complaints that they have no power to correct. Imagine spending half your day apologizing for C-suite masters you’ve never met because your work peer is somebody who doesn’t speak English working for a bowl of rice a day in some place you can’t pronounce or find on a map. And then, they tell you to train your foreign replacement, although they don’t say it that directly. The younger generation can’t express these things because they’ve been purposefully dumbed down. Oh well, give ’em the shot; the New Order doesn’t need them anyway.

At Forgotten Weapons, Ian McCollum is asked:  “Have there been any attempts to make miniaturized man-portable chain guns? Do you think there’s a future for such a machine gun given modern advances in energy storage?”

Chain guns are a specific type of externally-powered machine gun. They have a single barrel, and used a loop of chain to control the movement of the breech and feed system of a machine gun so that it cycles under external power independent of energy taken from the firing cartridge. They are most commonly used in:

– 20mm-30mm cannons
– Armored vehicle turrets
– Helicopters
– Naval AA mounts

Read the rest and watch the video in which he offers an interesting explanation of the functionality and history. Most of the commenters add interesting pieces of knowledge about these weapons systems.

Via The Gun Feed

Charles Hugh Smith discusses how the Air Force cannibalizes to keep the illusion of a fully functional Flightline. He also shows what’s being done to the American healthcare system through this hollowing out. You’ll undoubtedly learn something from the article. This general definition is offered. (Bold in the original.)

Cannibalize is an interesting word. It is a remarkably graphic way to describe the self-inflicted destruction of a system by stripping previously functional subsystems to sustain the illusion of system functionality.

Wall street does this all the time. Investors don’t care if a company does it because the stock price keeps rising for a time. More often, they sell the lower profit-producing business units first. But sometimes, in an act of cannibalistic suicide, they will sell the money makers and bankrupt the company. This point is well taken.

An enterprise maintains a substantial cash position even as it loses money every quarter by quietly selling off its most valuable assets. This maintains the illusion of financial strength even as the enterprise is being hollowed out.

With some tactical variation, this is more or less what Cerberus Capital Management did to Remington. The Cerberus web page touts: ” Your partner to improve performance and drive value. Learn how Cerberus creates an edge for our investors and business partners worldwide.” Uh-huh?

Turning small-scale, localized finance into centralized / globalized hyper-financialization cannibalizes finance to benefit the few with unlimited access to credit, leverage and monopoly. First you borrow vast sums at low rates of interest that are inaccessible to mere mortals, take a corporation private, indebt the company and use the funds to accumulate mountains of derivatives that leverage the debt 10-fold or even 100-fold, then take the corporation public again, goose the stock and then cash out all the leveraged gains.

The newly public company has been stripmined of core assets and burdened by debt. The financiers cannibalized the corporation to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else with a stake in the business and the future viability of the enterprise.

Food is also discussed.

Highly processed products are simulacra of food that hijack our hardwired pleasure responses to heavy concentrations of salt, sweets, fat and spice and crunchy/chewy mouthfeel. The nutritional content of these products is so low and the fat-salt-sugar content so high that they are severely damaging to health on multiple levels.

The unwary consumer who stuffs themselves with these simulacra of food (shall we call it “fud”?) feels full even as their body and brain are starved for real nutritional content and real-food fiber.

A high sugar intake means gaining weight in fat. But few understand that anything that tastes like food but delivers minimal nutrition makes people fat. The reason is that your body releases enzymes and other chemical reactions to process the food; your digestive system then looks for particular nutrients found in the food based on that taste. But, with processed food, the nutrients aren’t there, so your body ‘thinks’ that something is wrong with its ability to absorb nutrients, so it starts packing on fat. Before processed foods, this is an excellent function for the body to have. In lean years and drought, this functionality ensures the body can make it through seasons, or a year, of low-quality foodstuffs until a better harvest. Lean times may well be approaching. Understanding how your digestive system is supposed to work may come in handy.

The linked article also appeared at WRSA.