Moral-Flexibility.Net

I feel like I have been hunting for the perfect rifle sling for ages.

Slings serve different purposes. Standard (or parade) slings are good for lugging a rifle from point A to point B, and for providing some support when shooting. The 1907 style sling serves as an excellent example of a sling made for steadying the rifle while shooting (this style of sling resides on my M14, and soon on my M1).

“Tactical” slings are designed to keep the rifle ready for use while the operator keeps his hands free. These seem to be broken into a few catagories.

The single point sling attaches to the butt of the rifle, just rear of the receiver and allows the rifle to naturally drop to a vertical position down the front of the operator (I have two versions of this type of sling, one on my AR and the other on my Tactical SKS, each utilizes different attachments to the rifle itself).

The two point sling (or patrol sling) consists of a long loop that crosses over the weak shoulder of the operator and back out under the strong shoulder, and attaches in standard positions near the muzzle and at the buttstock. This allows the rifle to be carried horizontally across the waist when not in use.

The three point sling is a hybrid of the first two, and allows for the rifle to be carried in “patrol sling” fashion across the waist, but with the release of a catch or tab the third point slips along one arm of the sling allowing the rifle to drop to a vertical position akin to the single point sling.

Screw it, I’m going to make my own….

Brought to mind while reading Mike’s blog, figured I’d throw it up here for amusement….

USMC Rules for Gunfighting

1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.
2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Your life is expensive.
3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.
4. If your shooting stance is good, you’re probably not moving fast enough nor using cover correctly.
5. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)
6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.
7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.
9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on “pucker factor” than the inherent accuracy of the gun.
10. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME.
11. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
12. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
13. Have a plan.
14. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won’t work.
15. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.
16. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
17. Don’t drop your guard.
18. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees.
19. Watch their hands. Hands kill. (In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them).
20. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
21. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.
22. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
23. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
24. Your number one Option for Personal Security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
25. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with a “.4″

Far from new, but some good wisdom none the less…. of course I remembered this list as having the quote “The only reason you have a pistol is to fight your way to a rifle” but I guess that was from somewhere else.

Zombie Squad is hosting Zombie Con 2005 in Missouri in June this year, and despite my scheming and plotting there is no conceivable way I can even pretend I will be able to make it.

Even if I was able to attend just crossing the border would prevent me from bringing any real interesting toys. Still, a nice zombie laden atmosphere combined with some outdoor activities would have been a welcomed distraction from the day-to-day world. Sort of camping, but with zombie movies and stuff….. how can it miss?

I’ll continue to scheme… but it’s idle scheming right now.

A sense of Deja vu crept over me this morning as I sat here at work filling in tax forms covering the past three years. I had the strangest feeling that I had been through this before. Yes, it seemed comfortably familiar.

You see I routinely fail to file my taxes.

Typically the whole thing unfolds a little like this. Tax time rolls around and I dutifully collect my slips, sheets, forms and guides and when I have them all together I begin totalling the columns on my collection of T4s (I’ve mentioned I usually have at least two jobs, right?). I usually get as far as totalling my “taxes paid” when a strange burning anger begins boiling deep down in the pit of my stomach.

A quick check of the columns confirms that the government has already taken a good chunk of my hard earned money. A small vein starts to pulse in my forehead as I once again consider the wasteful spending practices of my betters in government.

The tally completed I begin filling in the arcane tax forms, multiplying this by that, subtracting some from here, adding a little there, referring to the guide, completing an appendix or two. Strangely my anger has not disappeared. A few more minutes and with a relieved sigh I throw the material in an envelope and stick it on the shelf by my desk….

Fuck’em…

Mike and I drove out to the range for some general shooting, and some Tactical SKS field testing. 140 rounds were fired through the project rifle, and the focus of this trip was the reflex sight and the modified stock.

Reflex Sight: Sadly this sight proved to be entirely inadequate for the project. The sight itself would shift left and right by approximately 1mm (shifting the POA 1 foot to the left or right). I am not sure if this is a defect with the entire line, or with this unit specifically. This sight will be used for something else, the Barska Reddot has been mounted in its place.

Stock Modifications: The stock modifications held up perfectly. The rifle is comfortable to shoulder, and easy to fire. The pistol grip addition held without tightening and remained locked in position for the duration of the shoot.

I forgot to mention that an unexpected event was the Williams Firesight coming apart, the fibreoptic strand shook itself loose and fell out of the front sight post. Not a major malfunction (especially as I noticed and recovered it), and it has been epoxied back in place. It will be something I’ll have to monitor for future runs.

At this point I think we can officially say that one final test remains. With the reddot sight reinstalled we have to try this rifle for accuracy and see if this series of modifications have improved or degraded the accuracy of both the rifle and the shooter.

There really are two kinds of people walking the planet, those that are fans of Douglas Adams and those that have never heard of him.

Best known for his Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (although I’m more a fan of the Dirk Gently books) Douglas was able to spin a phrase like a real wordsmith, as can be readily confirmed by trying to count the number of his quotes floating around.

Of course it was with a little concern that I learned that the The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was being turned into a movie. Despite the success enjoyed by the Lord of the Rings movie, most efforts to turn successful books into movies meet with less than stellar success (more specifically they either become a commercial success at the expense of the original story, or their effort to stay true to the story falls short of the fans visualizations).

Graham has been keeping me up to date with developments relating to this project, and after reading a less than favorable review my hopes seemed to be confirmed. After reading this article I couldn’t help but feel that it seemed they were already doing damage control for the film.

We’ll have to wait and see, but like the guide tells us….”Don’t Panic!”

Maplewoods (2003) directed by David B. Stewart.
(MF Title: “Commando Recon Assault Paratroop team against the zombies”)
Starring Thomas Reilly, David B. Stewart Jr, Sean Hutcheon, John Weidemoyer and Robert Schiller.
Zombie Film Rating:

Overview: An elite army special forces unit is given a mission to infiltrate and destroy a secret weapons lab. The lab was continuing research developed by the Germans during the war, and it is believed the experiments may have gotten out of hand.

Despite the incredible danger of this mission, the unit is equipped exclusively with sidearms, denied standard fatigues and assigned a CIA field agent (you can tell, he has a CIA logo on his jumpsuit) to lead them to the facility (when maps would have sufficed). We’re left with the feeling that someone at the pentagon is giggling about this mission.

Too bad the audience isn’t….

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Well, caught the new Doctor Who again tonight, and just to ice the cake the show featured zombies….

Of course now that I am getting into the show I’m disappointed to learn that Eccelston is leaving the series after a single season. Thats a drag, but the doctor has seen more than a few actors portray him, and I suspect the series will survive.

In the meantime I guess I’ll just count this as the only program I am looking for from week to week…

Wild Zero (2000) directed by Tetsuro Takeuchi.
(MF Title: “Rock’n'Roll saves the world, free of charge.”)
Starring Masashi Endô, Makoto Inamiya, Masao Sato, Guitar Wolf, Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf.
Zombie Film Rating:

Overview: Alien invaders cause the dead to return to life around the world. The living fight against all odds for their very survival as the numbers of the undead steadily increase. The key battle in this war, however, is being fought not in London, Washington, Moscow or Berlin, but in a small town called Asahi.

Humanities best hope lies in the band Guitar Wolf, a rock and roll wannabe named Ace, a tranvestite, an arms dealer and a style-deficient club manager. The actions of these few will decide the fate of the world. Will rock and roll save the day? Can love conquer all? Do zombies date?

All these questions, and more, will be answered…..

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