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H&I* Fires, 22 FEB 2007

Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite. [Hey - trackbacks work again!]

You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place...

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Murdoc has a couple of posts of interest.
First, a gun post. We like gun posts, don't we?

Then “America is at the mall.” The author of that sentiment isn’t the first to say it, and that’s a sad, sad thing.
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JRobb brings a nasty concept to the table: Is Sadr reforming his group into a Hezbollah clone? We all saw how the mixture of functions that Hezbo brought to the table in the latest Israeli-Lebanon spat caused all kinds of trouble. Remember all that about “we own this building but not that building the Israelis destroyed” stuff? Aih yah.

‘For every measure there is a countermeasure.’ It seems like a wheel that keeps on turning, dizzyingly.
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Two from Power and Interest National Report:
a) ''Intelligence Brief: North Korea Deal Welcomed by China''
b) ''Terrorism Risk Remains in North Africa''
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While everyone has heard of the Brit draw down in Iraq not everyone is talking about the Danes. Allies is allies.
--ry

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[sound of computer flushing] Heh. Ry sank my planned morning post on the HK416. S'okay, since Murdoc has actually fired one, his post is qualitatively better than what I was gonna put up, anyway. Since I know many of you don't click through to links like that, what I'll do is provide a link to the video of the HK416 directly.

Hey, since we've been doing Cold Warrior reminiscences... how 'bout them Trabants? And with this joke, a little frisson of Autobahn driving...

A Trabant breaks down on the Autobahn and a BMW 750 stops to help the old driver.

"I'll tow you to the next service station," says the BMW driver, "But if I drive too fast, flash your lights". They set off but when a Porsche speeds past at 120mph the BMW driver forgets about the Trabant.

They start to race and pass a Police car who radios HQ.

"You won't believe," this the Policeman reports "I have a BMW and a Porsche racing at 129mph with a bloody Trabant flashing his lights to overtake!"

There are 49 more funnies in this Sun article on the Trabant. Go see which ones tickle your funnybone. Most of 'em really are funny, especially if you know the Trabant - that said, there are a couple there where it helps to have some real experience of Germans to see where the humor lies. -the Armorer
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Oh yesssss Ry, we all love diddle boom-boom thingies. Regarding the H&K-416. I’m glad to see that more and more manufacturers are thinking along the same line of thought: Snip that gas tube, and transfer most of that kinetic action on to a Push Rod.

The whole contraption reminds me of Ares Defense’s GSR-35 Conversion Kit. More to the point, the H&K-416 is a close cousin of their Shrike 5.56mm Conversion Kit. This kit converts any M16/M4 platform into a fully functional 5.56x45mm light machine-gun. From a technical point of view, the H&K may be a more robust platform, but with the gazillion M16 platforms lying around, the Shrike would be easier to sell. All you hafta do is drop in the Upper Receiver in, and VOILÁ, you have an M249 for a fraction of the cost and weight.

Me thinks I´ll Call it Minimi - BOQ
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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires.

Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute.

Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is*

The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now.

I call the post that because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to. It's also an open trackback, so if (Don Surber uses it this way a lot) someone has a post they're proud of, but it really isn't either Castle kind of stuff, or topical to a particular post, I've basically given blanket permission to use that post for that purpose. Another term of art that might be appropriate is "Free Fire Zone".

6 Comments

oh my goodness, when that border opened and the Trabbies started flowing west, it was a regular parade of gypsy clown cars... mixed in amongst them were also some truly decrepit (as only an East German could be) Wartburgs (aka: Fart-burgs, for the disgusting smell of the exhaust)... ahh, good times, good times.
 
Ooops. My bad. Well, better the computer flushing than me being tossed in the microwave and then the garbage disposal. That hurts.
 
John: I hate to say it, but you watching a video of someone firing a rifle is probably more valuable than Murdoc actually firing a rifle. A true expert I'm not. But I play one on the internets. Thanks for the links!
 
Sadly, I've heard an audio recording of an ATF Tech Branchie saying that a belt fed upper is an NFA item because it has Machine Gun Style Components. Whether they'll be trying to enforce this is anyone's guess.
 
I think the ATF's starting position is that anything is an NFA weapon. Since you can buy a semiauto M1919A4/A6 you've got to wonder. Why don't we just eliminate the SAW altogether and go with the M-240. H3ll, why don't we eliminate the 5.56 altogether.
 
We drove a Toyota Corolla and the Trabant drivers thought it was a minivan. Ours pedaled faster too. We could get up to eighty mph on the right lane of the Autobahn. And then you heard the two toned Doppler and knew that you were about to be passed by a Mercedes and an AMG with the AMG flashing its lights. How many loads of wash to the liter did the Trabant get?