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July 1, 2005

All right... since a lot of you are taking off early...

...for the holiday (and, since the Armorer's father has just had surgery (he's fine), Armorer-posting will be light... so perhaps Dusty and Bill will take up the slack (hint, hint).

Meantime - here are two relatively rare cartridges. Grognards - state your determination in a comment *then* check the comments and see what other people think. All six (maybe) of you who will try, anyway! 8^D

These cartridges are interesting in themselves, and represent special or rare applications.

This is the easy one (I think):

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This is harder, though I'm sure the Googler's will score it - there's enough info in that headstamp to lead you to the answer. Boq will probably get it without the assistance of Google.

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Here they are with a Win 32.20 for comparson.

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Since they've *both* been indentified - might as well give a shot of the bullet hiding in the depths of the Nagant round:

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Hmmm. I think there's a post in there somewhere... with pictures of Nagants, cartridges... and just how *does* a gas seal revolver work...

Trivia note: Actual fire command given in Soviet manual for the pistol:

At the fleeing deserter - Fire!

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! »

by John on Jul 01, 2005 | Ammunition

June 30, 2005

Changing Canada, one mind at a time.

Gunblogging, and a little left mugging... changing Canadian minds about Gun Ownership... One Mind At A Time. H/t, Clayton Cramer - hey, Clayton, have you tried University of Kansas Press? And add me to the list of the delusional...

Changing subjects...

Hee!

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! »

by John on Jun 30, 2005 | Gun Rights

Ah, Brit obits! and other weirdness

Ah, Lieutenant-Commander Dick Raikes - if only I had had *half* the career you did before, like you, I was "invalided out" of the service.

Of such metal was the Empire built.

A few days later Raikes heard the propeller noise of a U-boat surfacing and carried out a snap attack with his stern torpedoes; there was an explosion and black smoke, but Raikes found no wreckage. The patrol ended with an amorous whale bumping Seawolf for an hour. Raikes was awarded the DSO.

Read the rest, here. You really do want to read this one.

Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance, In Memoriam.

Moving on...

Frequent commenter Monteith sends us this... we'd like that *a lot*... it would look good in the inner Bailey next to the Trebuchet and Onager... but I think my interest foundered when I read "Purchaser to arrange own cartage..."

Jeff, complimenting my on my 'correct politics' 8^) sends us to Gun Law News, where the inimitable Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee, holds forth thusly:

A database this large is likely to contain many errors," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) during a May 12 hearing on the Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act (H.R. 98). "Any one of [the errors] could render someone unemployable and possibly much worse until they can get their file straightened out."

As they point out at Gun Law News...


But in 2002, Jackson Lee argued for the "Our Lady of Peace Act," (H.R. 4757), an expansion of the National Instant Check System (NICS) for handgun purchases.

So, the bottom line is that the rights of illegal aliens to whom some of the Constitution does not apply are more important than the rights of a US citizen guaranteed by the US Constitution.

A-yup. If yer a Moonbat, anyway.

Heh. Let's check in with Noah of Defense Tech and David Crane at Defense Review - they've got the goods on some of the stuff that finds it's way into the studies I conduct for a living. [N.B. This has been edited to give credit where credit is due.]

XM-25 Grenade Launcher

Throwbots.

HELLADS.

H/t, Jim C. (feeling better, dude?)

Remember some of the discussions in the past week of How to Lose the War? One of the counters I suggested was we as individuals and as bloggers need to paint the side of the conflict that the MSM, which both by political bias and institutional inertia (if it bleeds, it leads) won't cover? The positive aspects? Move America Forward is taking that idea and running with it - by taking a bunch of talk radio hosts over to Iraq: The Truth Tour, Live from Baghdad! Hey, face it - those guys will reach more people than most of us bloggers will!

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! »

by John on Jun 30, 2005 | Global War on Terror (GWOT) | Grenades | Observations on things Military
» Winds of Change.NET links with: Walk On Water: Those Wacky Brit Obituaries

June 29, 2005

Even Warthogs can be technically agile...

Glenn Reynolds significantly increased the level of class on his world-famous blog with this post.

The quality is terrible, but the end reveals something about the American fighting man that is the direct result of living in a free society--initiative and creativity.

Drove the Russians/Chinese nuts, it did/does.

In this case, it may have been a maintainer who thought of it, the squadron weapons officer, or maybe even a line pogue. (Really. One of my former charges used to build black boxes for the Voyager space probe but he wanted to fly. So he did--on a 5-year sabbatical from Motorola.)

Anyway, when you take an ACMI pod (the thingie you hang on your jet that collects and transmits flight data to a range ground station for training purposes) and turn it into a radio range extender, that's just, well, very, very cool.

...and we wonder why the American people take pride in their soldiers...

by Dusty on Jun 29, 2005 | Plane Pr0n

Milblogging The Completely Forgotten Deployment.

I have been a bad 'senior milblogger' and not been doing my MBWSA (management by walking surfing around) duties... seriously remiss.

I set this post up yesterday, so I could take it easy this morning. Then Bill comes along and does a Kosovo bit, two posts down. And Dusty trumped me yesterday.

Heh. I am Locutus of the Borg. Anyway...

I dropped in on SGT E, of Foxholes and Dogtags, over in the Completely Forgotten Deployment, Kosovo, and found out she's been out doing VETCAPS. Kewl! She's also been reminiscing about Basic... so if you want to remember why you've been there, done that, and don't have to do it again... check out her whole site, not just the linked post.

Oh, and didn't President Clinton promise us we wouldn't be in Kosovo, much less the Balkans, for, *how* many years now? Not that I mind... just sayin' that building stable societies ain't a short-duration task, is all - y'know - like Bill sez, down below.

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! »

by John on Jun 29, 2005 | Observations on things Military

June 28, 2005

Speaking of history as not being our long suit... and other things.

See what Castle Philosopher Kat has to say on the idea of Freedom, the Struggle for, When to Abandon.

I would note, Kat, that there are those...

Would that they had been so weak of heart at Valley Forge or Bunker Hill, who then would we be? If they had abandoned Fort McHenry, what song would we sing? At the bloody ground of Gettysburg, should we have said the price was too much, who would be the slave? If men had not crawled over inches of bloody sand to the battlements at the top of Normandy, what world would we live in?

...born in this country and living in it now - who would actually prefer that they *had* lost heart at Valley Forge, and that this nation never got it's start, so deep is their essential self-loathing and blindness.

On a completely unrelated note, Jeff at Alphecca is gun-blegging...

Too bad that everything I want for the Castle would take years to snooker you guys out of were I to try that...

Boyes Anti-Tank Rifle.
Mauser Anti-tank Rifle
PTRD
MG42
Hotchkiss Portative
Wall Gun
Schwarzlose
Maxim 08
Maxim 08/15
MG15
1st Model Brown Bess
Ferguson Rifle (scroll down)
Sharps
Tripplett and Scott (had one, once, sad story there)
Spencer
Burnside

Oh who am I kidding, anyway?

Over at Random Nuclear Strikes - 'Ware the hypocrisy of whiners on both sides of the spectrum...

Mudville notes the different approach Gunner's Palace takes on it's release to DVD. Since it never made it around here in the theaters, that's the only way we're going to see it at the Castle.

The Llama Butchers have an intriguing suggestion... though I would prefer Minot, North Dakota for Winter, and Fort Huachuca, Arizona for summer...

Here at Castle Argghhh!, we're in no danger of succumbing to that horror... Mantropy, exposed here as a service by Rachel of Tinkerty Tonk.

Barb is keeping her eye on the Gold Star Mother's flap, seemingly resolved in a (I think) proper fashion. Not the outcome, per se, but how it all came about.

Like Barb:

Take the MIT Weblog Survey

Update: Hmmm. I wonder if the *real* purpose behind the study is to see how fast what segments of the blogworld will spread a graphic and meme around... and to track the spread via sign-ins... prolly not - that woulda come from the Harvard Business School or something. This probably just is Brainiacs at work...

Okay - lunch is over, back on my head.

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! »

by John on Jun 28, 2005 | Something for the Soul
» CDR Salamander links with: Gunner Palace out on DVD

June 27, 2005

It's that time again...

This is my basement:

After having *no* Instalanches ever, and now having had 3, there are probably some new readers... It's time to drag this thing back up into the light for all you not-long-time readers. This is just a periodic post for relative newbies to the site who don't realize the real reason I set this thing up was to share my gun and militaria collection -The Arsenal of Argghhh! - with the world. I decided to move out from primary deviancy (where you hide what you are) and move past secondary (where everybody knows what you are) to tertiary - where you embrace what you are - and point out you don't know what the guy next door has in his basement... but that doesn't mean he's a nut. I did that after a friend asked me to be the guest speaker on the subject of gun collecting at my Rotary Club (which has a fair number of liberals in it) and the response was not hostile, though some were taken aback - but mostly, "Wow - that's kinda kewl, and you aren't some troll hunkered down in your basement with racks of AR15s and cases of ammo waiting for the Apocalypse..." Mind you, if you have a rack of AR15 and cases of ammo, that's fine with me, as long as you aren't (hopefully) delusional on top of that... if you are, get out more, eh? I *do* have cases of ammo, but they aren't stored with the weapons... But be damned if I'm going to spend the money on new-manufactured when there's all the nice surplus fodder out there! But that experience, along with being poked by Beth and Jonah to blog, is what got the Castle established, back on Blogspot, almost two years and 610,679 uniques ago.

As the blog has morphed over time, now and again I've gotten a little too wrapped up in the politics and the war - and, well, yes, work, too - and I've strayed a bit from my roots. A lot, really. Well, that and the great parties the Denizens throw in the comment sections now and again... It makes it fun when sometimes it's real work to maintain. SWWBO and I fought off 2,780 spams today, for example... but 0 got through and had to be slain inside the Keep. The Defenses have improved - if they are sometimes frustrating when the laser turrets fire on that comment you are trying to post.

I don't believe that I make the mistake that many celebrities make - that my opinions on things political somehow matter more than others. Not really. This is more the equivalent of standing on a soapbox at "Speakers Corner". And you have to come find me - I'm not infesting broadcast media. You *ask* my server for these packets.

Anyway - for you guys who are here because you heard that John of Argghhh! actually sometimes talked about guns and militaria - here's the navigation map to The Story So Far. They link to the appropriate archives by topic. I'm (still)working a new post on the evolution of the Vickers Machine gun - but these things take time! In fact, here's proof - I have the collecting jones so bad that I actually tracked down this - an actual Australian Army inventory sheet - so that I could fill this (procured buck-nekkid empty three years ago) so that it looks like this.

pltbox_web.jpg

Hi-res click here.

Anyway - here's some linkages to the discussions - where it says "The Arsenal" is a link to the photo-archive. (always available on the sidebar) - the rest are links to the blog archives.

Rifles
Pistols
Sub-machine Guns
Machine Guns
Gun P0rn: A Naughty Expose' of the fiddly-bits.a>
Artillery
Grenades
Helmets
Ammunition
General Militaria
Guns by Nation

And, of course, there is always the direct link to the Imperial Arsenal itself!


Visitors should also note the following caveats:

Periodic Goblin Warning (SM)

As a service to Goblins who are considering Seizing The Arsenal (this excludes LE types: y'all come with a warrant, knock [no no-knocks, please, the front door is expensive], take what the warrant specifies and we'll talk about it in court - just please take care of 'em, you know, periodic cleaning, oiling, etc. They're used to being spoiled like that) here is a periodic warning on Why Trying To Steal My Collection Isn't A Good Idea.

Note to thieves trying to figure out where I live: Once you do that, you've got to get past the living interior and exterior guard, the security system (hint, cutting the phone and cable WON'T help), and finally, if I'm home - me. WonderWife (TM) v3.x is also right handy with the Winchester M97 trench gun. I like that one because it's handy, will blow you into large chunks, but not pass through the walls of the house to annoy my neighbors. Hardwood floors, so clean-up is easy. I'm a reasonable fellow, if you surrender meekly or run away, that will be fine. Not interested in killing or maiming anyone unless you are dumb enough to attack me or my family. The furry members count as family, BTW. Do that, then I will clean the gene pool. Plus guys, impressive as it looks, it's not as valuable as you might think - and it would be very hard to move, since you would be flooding the market. Not to mention the fact that every dealer within a (classified) radius would have a list of serial numbers and descriptions within 24 hours (ain't the internet great?). Oh, yeah - did I mention that robbing licensees is a federal offense? The feds don't go overboard after little stuff, but whacking this collection would likely garner their interest - so choose your accomodations! Plus 'bangers won't like these - the ones that look like they can shoot a lot - can't, and many of them won't work properly if you hold them sideways like they do in the movies.

So, go find an easier target, eh? No - better yet - get a real job that has better fringes.


Periodic Disclaimer for anti-gunners and law enforcement surfers (I don't mind you LE types) Heck, I don't mind the anti-gun types until they start trying to send LE types to take 'em away... here we go with the Periodic Disclaimer (TM):

Everything you ever see in photos here that I own is fully legal to own, federal, state, and local - WHERE I LIVE! Your mileage may vary, such as living in the Borg Collectives of California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, etc. Though ya might be surprised to find out what's legal where you live. I am a licensed collector (which isn't a license to collect, just to receive via the mails), and that only applies to curio and relic firearms. Fortunately, that's about all I want to own. On these pages I will from time to time share my toys, much like Kim du Toit does.

Reporting As Ordered, Sir! »

by John on Jun 27, 2005 | Gun Pics | Gun Rights