You guys know what's better than getting one check from the NRA?
Getting a second one!
Parlayed some of that olf fashion counter jockey whit into this:
Not saying I'm doing this as a full time gig or anything; but it is nice to see "By Mack Culverhouse" on the Rifleman site.
If things continue apace; I'll hopefully be gainfully employed by south Georgia's largest city's police department shortly after the first of the year.
Thanks for stopping buy.
So, uh, let's see....
Jackie got promoted.
Mom died.
We moved to Florida.
And uh, I started writing for The Rifleman
https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-fighting-shotgun-myths-legends-facts/
So, been wearing a badge for seven months now. I enjoy it. Have had good days, fun days, bad days, and even dare I say it, boring days.
Today was weird. The inmate chaplain prayed for us at roll call.
There was plenty of food provided by citizens. It was most appreciated.
And we dealt with a fentantyl overdose. And I prayed devoutly and feverishly as I got gloves on, called for the shift sergeant and EMS over the radio, and broke open my Narcan pouch.
She was alive when I put her on the ambulance. So there is that.
The Braves and the Falcons both lost today. There is something to that I'm sure.
I always look at the attacks of 9/11 thought the guise of a dumbass infantry guy who had to fight GWOT.
It is weird to look at from behind a badge.
So, I went did a thing.
I swear in with the County Sheriff's Office next Monday. I'm tired of being muzzled, talked down to, and asked when the newest Blastomatic 2000 will be in.
And more importantly, I miss making a difference. And I miss doing real world stuff to help people.
I can here the questions and comments now: "But its a terrible time to be a cop. People are going to hate you."
All of that may be true. But. And big but here.
If not me; who?
If not now; when?
The Russians have invaded the Ukraine. We know that much. The Ukraine defense forces are fighting back. Rather well it seems. And the Javelin fucking rocks. Thats about all the for sure facts I'd bet money on right now.
Now, for some other things that I'd feel confident to bet your money on:
- The Russian's still don't quite grock logistics. Their MLR is a nightmare. A buddy of mine is a Transpo guy and I think this is giving him Forest Whitaker eye. It is said that me most import things to go through the artic convoy's in WWII were Dodge trucks and 55 gallon drums of gasoline. Doesn't look like much has changed.
- Russian Frontal Aviation is good. But kinda like a cocain high, those early successes are a fleeting thing.
- The Ukraine guys are doing hella good at shaping the narrative to help them. Even if the fucking Army Times seems to enjoy squashing hope. I'd hate to read what the modern Army Times would have said after Kasserine Pass or Midway.
- Let me reiterate how fucking awesome the Javelin is. It's fun to poke fun at the Militaruy Industrial Conflict but Raytheon knocked this one the fuck out. Just like the Javelin has been to a whole lot of Russian tanks. HEY OOOO
- Ukraine is trading space for time. And it looks they're doing it well. At this point; they just have to not loose.
- Conscript Armies are about worthless for anything other than shooting at other conscript Armies. Oh, and turning you're home front against you. Sorry Vlad. We learned that after Vietnam.
- In regards to the above post; much of the vaunted simplicity of Russian hardware goes back to the fact that the only professional part of their military, outside of some of the Airborne and SOF guys, are the officers. And most of those guys aren't technically proficient. Captain Ivan isn't going to dirty his hands working on a T-90. PFC Sergei will for 12 months until it time to go home and harvest wheat. Which means that tank is redlined.
- Let's clarify something. The A-Team is highly entertaining show that garnered really the only success for the Mini-14. Outside of bank robbers and white separatists. The B-Team is a great little bar in Statesboro that has good hot wings and cheap beer on Tuesday. If we want to call different tiers of Russian forces anything, let's rip a page out of "Red Storm Rising" and call them Category A, Cat B, and Cat C formations.
- And the whole have a rifle at home similar to what the Army uses doesn't seem like such a paranoid delusion now, does it Karen?
- The world has come full circle. The same guys that preached about how it took five Sherman tanks to knock out one Tiger are now simping for the Russian armored force about how the Armata has yet to be deployed. It's like the Weeraboo and Slavbois have became one big ball of anti western armored doctrine hate. Funny that. And, frankly, let's WWIII broke out in 1947. The M-4A3E8 would have eaten T-34/85s for breakfast. Where the M-26 would have left a lot of brand new West Point armor guys disappointed that they really didn't get to fight a true tank war like their older brothers did with Patton. Yeah, I said it. Don't @ me.
- And this looks like another war where the Mosin will fight against it self and loose.
I wish the guys and girls on the Ukraine the very best. Yes, this is another war for oil. And the Ukraine has some corruption in it's government. But at the end of the day, they were invaded by their larger, meaner neighbor. And I don't cotton to that.
And I also wish the best for PFC Igor and his conscripts buddies. They were sent to fight on foreign soil by a batshit crazy dictator who was mad the USSR dissolved before he could sit at the big desk.
And that represents the true horror of war. The guys who wind up fighting have no say in the beginning or end of it but just die in it.
No, I'm not talking about how you can cover up that gouge you made on the side of a pistol when you hit the slide instead of your sight punch.
At work, we have a couple of contracts with assorted three letter government agencies. And one such agency recently switched from all steel DA/SA guns to Glock 19s. So, just hold that thought for a minute.
Also, at work, we've got a repeat customer, we'll call him Henry, who loves him some high end pistols.
And even the best top shelf out of the box pistol isn't enough for old Henry. It has to go off to Taran Tactical or Wilson Combat for a good going over. I truly believe Henry spends more time shipping and receiving pistols than he does actually shooting them. And spending an insane of mount of time pursuing the newest and greatest from Sig, Glock, H&K, FN, and STI.
Okay, so back to our super secret squirrels and their new 19s. One of said agents, was not a fan of the new gun. Like at all. But asked for a small favor. A vertical white stripe in the center of the rear sight to help pick up the front dot just a teeny bit faster.
Well, that required just a bit of work on my end. First thing I did was removed the rear sight completely. And verified that it was actually capable of being precisely marked in the middle down to the millimeter with my calipers. Not too bad. Removed just the tiniest nubbin of material so it set perfectly centered in the dove tail.
With that done, I did some number crunching. Having ascertained the correct mark placement, I put the whole slide assembly in my vice and used a good flat head screw driver to ensure my paint pin made a perfectly straight line. Boom. Perfect modification.
So, one day last week, said Agent happened to be shooting when old Henry finally decides he might as well shoot his newest 2011 just back from some gunsmith somewhere who had to change out a widget for another widget. Henry shoot a little bit and watches our Agent friend shoot her new and improved Glock with more than a little awe.
As they're both checking out Henry can't help but ask our intrepid Agent how she shoots so good.
And she dead ass looks him in the eye and says: "Oh, I just had Mack draw a line on my rear sight with a sharpie."
The look of sheer amazement and credulousness from Henry, who mind you, no longer shoots USPSA matches with us due to a 180 infraction which pissed him, was oh so very worth it.
Probably enjoyed it a little more than I ought. But hopefully y'all did too. Thanks for stopping buy.
"There was a demon that live at about Point One on the Mach meter."
So, over the last few months the gun selling business has gotten stupid.
I've decided that I am going to submit to Congress a new firearms act. The clauses and tenets to be listed below:
Staccato XC vs Nighthawk TRS-Comp
By Pudge
I called Mack and told him I was going to do another handgun
comparison and he was very happy to know it was going to be a little different
than some of the budget blasters I’ve compared before. (It’s also nice to not
have to use Mack’s favorite piece of tupperware as the comparison piece!) Today
are some quick musings between the Staccato XC and the Nighthawk TRS-Comp.
I was fortunate enough to pick up my own Staccato XC about a
month ago. I decided to get one as a gift to myself and knowing that I would be
using it to protect my family and teach others how to protect theirs, was all
the justification I needed. I have been running this handgun exclusively for
the past month so when I was recently given the chance to try out a Nighthawk
TRS-Comp, I jumped at the chance to see if I chose correctly or poorly. (I do
have to preface this with the fact that I was only able to shoot and handle the
Nighthawk a little, but I do still believe I had enough time to give a decent
comparison.)
The Staccato (new name for the old STI handguns) XC is somewhat
of a cross between the duty line of current Staccatos and the legacy STI
competition guns. I have been extremely impressed with mine. It has done
everything I want of it so far. The Nighthawk TRS-Comp is their first, designed
from the ground, double stack 1911 or 2011 offering. Before this Nighthawk has
given the option of a double stack upgrade on their handguns but this is the
first model they have offered only in double stack. Both guns have an
integrated compensator into the barrel, they have full length dust covers with
rail for lights, and have a standard 17 round capacity (they use the same
magazines).
Now let us discuss differences. The Staccato has a polymer
grip whereas the Nighthawk has an aluminum grip. The Staccato uses a curved
trigger, Nighthawk a flat trigger. The Staccato has forward serrations that
also help reduce slide weight, Nighthawk comes standard without (however you
can get slide serrations as an extra option). The front sight on the Staccato
is green fiber optic, Nighthawk has a nice gold bead. The Staccato comes with
the ability to mount an optic standard, Nighthawk you can add this option. The
Staccato has an ambi-safety, Nighthawk only has a standard one-sided safety
that most of us 1911 users are accustomed to. There are some other miniscule
differences between the two that are pretty much negligible in the scope of
this comparison.
What do all those differences really mean? The fit and finish on both are amazing, which should be expected of guns in this price bracket, with the slight edge going to the Nighthawk. The optic mounting system of Nighthawk is vastly superior to that of Staccato. It allows you to use standard height sights instead of suppressor height. It also allows the optic to sit lower in the slide making the transition to a red dot easier and the Nighthawk puts the rear sight in front of the optic which has many benefits. The lack of forward serrations on an optic equipped pistol can be gotten over but I prefer them, so Staccato gets the nudge in this part of functionality. Again, most of this is all personal preference so what about the most important aspect, shootability. I think the Staccato takes a large lead here. The slide seemed to run flatter and quicker on the Staccato along with less felt recoil. The felt recoil is in large part to the polymer grip on a steel frame. It helps absorb and dissipate recoil better than the aluminum grip of the Nighthawk. The slide runs extremely flat on both guns but the Staccato shows less muzzle flip which is crucial for getting rounds on target in quick succession. Now, this is very nitpicky because either handgun will outperform even the best shooters out there but we are comparing higher end handguns so it is a game of inches to find the best. I also would never scoff at the opportunity to get or even shoot the Nighthawk again because it was a solid piece of mechanical engineering.
Some of the other important comparisons to end with. The Staccato
XC can be had for $4,300 right now, or for a little less if you are Military or
LE and go through their Heroes Program. However, that will make it a 3-6 month
wait. With the Nighthawk you are looking at least 11 months from time of order
to in your hands and $4,600 standard setup and around $5,000 setup similarly to
the XC with the option to mount an optic.
You cannot go wrong with either of these choices, but for
now I am very pleased and extremely content with my choice to go with the
Staccato XC.
Wobbly Surefire Fix
By Pudge
Hey everybody! Still alive and coming at you with a quick tip today.
I'm sure if you run a Surefire X300A of any sort you notice a little woble. They best way I've found is to put a little strip of the soft side of velcro on the back of the light. I prefer the self-adhesive type so that I can just stick it and forget about it. It will make the light lock up tight no matter what platform you run it on.
So, what's the best way to deal with the ammo panic? Dry fire? Reloading? Hoarding?
None of the above! The best thing to do is buy a rifle in a hard to fine caliber that is loaded only seasonally!
I like Model 70s. And I have come around to the short magnum bastard cartridges.
And when my best friend Huck called and said:
"Hey, I'm looking at a Model 70 Ultimate Shadow in three hundred short mag. Guy only wants four bills for it. You in?"
I of course said sure and promptly got into the truck.
 |
| I like yellow and orange |
Excuse the potato quality cell phone pics.
I had a VX-II 4-12x40mm lying around and it dropped right on there. Warne rings and bases because I get those damn free from work .
The Model 70 Ultimate Shadow is a new production, pre 64 designed gun made right before Winchester went bankrupt and got gobbled up by FNH.
Super lightweight; ergonomic, easy handling rifle. And hey, I still got 300 WSM on the shelf at the store.
Thanks for stopping buy.
Hey, is this on?
Y'all still there?
So, lets have some fun life updates and hopefully a Weapons Wednesday tomorrow.
Um, Pudge has decided that jumping out of airplanes full time was getting old. And that he wanted to grow wheat. So he moved out to the heartland.
And I got the Covids. Again. But like for real this time.
Oh, and I am in the process of becoming a State Game Warden. And holy crap. I'm fat.
But. Your Counter Jockey team is here and still kicking. Kinda.
Thanks for stopping buy.
Just some pictures of a few Saturdays ago getting to do some blasting as the 'Counter Jockey Blog Team.' Now we just need to get back out there and keep working some of the drills we found and like. I'm always looking for new drills so please comment with your favorites.
Realistic Targets-
By Pudge
After a long hiatus for life, we’re back with another
Tuesday Tips. I’m going to discuss a very simple yet effective way to help make
your 2d, cardboard target a little more realistic. It will also help you get a
better idea of your natural aim point when there is no ‘scoring ring’ to aim
at.
I took a regular IPSC/USPSA target and put a t-shirt over
it. This helps make the target look a little more like something you may have
to shoot at should the time arise. I just used an extra t-shirt that I had
laying around. I prefer to use black t-shirts because they simulate the most
extreme scenario. The black hides any hits you’ve made while also making you
work for your sights as it creates very little contrast. (Especially if you are
running black on black irons.)
Doing this allows you to see where you might aim in a self-defense scenario. I’ve never really had an issue even with low contrast targets but as you can see, I tended to be inline, just a smidge low. Still effective hits but nice to know I should aim a little higher than I think. Go try it out and you might be surprised what you find out.
As a meta intro, the thought of using a Japanese word to begin a book review gave me a bit of a Bud Light induced chuckle.
A bit of backstory:
Georgia Southern University, 2009
Our protagonist was in a bit of a bind. He had drawn a pretty good topic for his term paper in Early U.S. History, 1787 to 1830; HIST 2500 class. In fact, his topic was so easy as to lead to a bit of complacency. You, see our protagonist, spent four years of high school in NJROTC. And was a bit of a history nerd. So the topic " The Continental Navy and the early U.S. Navy" seemed like a piece of cake. Which was good because our protagonist was very busy with sorority girls and cheap beer.
And then the next thing you know, it is 2045 on the night before the paper is do. The library is closed. But the local Barnes and Noble says they have a copy of "Six Frigates" in stock. And with a bit of creative sourcing, our hero is able to finish his paper, secure a B in the course, and have a lot of fun at the AOII Christmas party.
*Insert picture her of me with a cardigan sweater and reindeer antlers on here*
So, ever since then I've really liked Ian Toll.
He has recently finished the last book of his "Pacific Trilogy" concerning the war between the USA and Empire of Japan from 1941 to 1945. I've become a big fan here lately of the historical view that the Pacific War was damn near separate from WWII in Europe. Mister Toll is also a big proponent of that view.
The first book in his series is entitled "Pacific Crucible" and covers then period of 8 Dec 1941 until the Battle of Midway. And is very well done. I have a few minor quibbles in regards to how he formats some rank abbreviations and squadron designations. Also, I'm that guy. I like footnotes on the page where they are cited. So I can highlight then and there without having to refer to the index or bibliography.
And the War in the Pacific has been rehashed a hundred different times. Mister Toll is very concise but doesn't really present anything new or Earth shattering.
That being said; I still whole heartedly recommend his trilogy because of one cogent point.
He is rightfully appreciative and does his level best to give generous and due credit to the pre-war regulars. Both officers and enlisted. He gives them the credit for winning the war. Which they so rightfully deserve and are so often neglected for. The war began in earnest on 8 Dec 1941. We won it on 6 Jun 1942. The IJN just didn't realize it yet.
And the guys that held the line and won the war were all pre-war regulars, for good or ill. And they did their jobs. And did them well in spite of obsolete equipment and horrendous pay.
Ian Toll finally gives them their due. Can't recommend his books enough.
So, this past weekend your favorite counter jockey went and hung out with everyone's favorite co-blogger Pudge,
And the Counter Jockey Ladies Auxillary also hung out. And did some shopping. And did some wine drinking. Life was good.
Pudge and I ventured out to look at old airplanes.
And I couldn't help but try and be artistic.
By Pudge
Some more recent musings to think about below.
1) If you conceal carry, what position do you carry in? Why
do you carry there?
2) Do you carry spare ammunition for concealed carry? How do
you carry it?
3) When conducting rifle training how do you carry your
spare magazines?
4) What type of firearms/military style training would you
recommend to others? What kind of training are you looking for?
5) What do you look for in a trainer?
Hope these questions get the brain working and potentially
help prioritize some things.
Today I want to expound upon mindset. And having absolute faith in your primary weapon's systems zero. Absolute faith.
I'm sure by now most of y'all seen the above video.
A couple of take aways. Guy had absolute faith in his rifle and his abilities.
Also, guy had the mindset to win. He rolled up on seen prepared to use hostile force if necessary.
As a gear take away, the LPVO is the wave of the future.
Let's compare and contrast the above with the fate of the FBI in Miami today.
Those Agents were not expecting a fight. And paid for it.
As the world turns to shit; be prepared.
Have a good rifle. Have a good zero. Have a good mindset.
1) Do you keep/prefer a minimal number of calibers so that
you have interchangeability or do you have/prefer a wide variety of calibers
hoping even in crazy times at least one will be available?
2) Are you in the camp of cleaning your guns after every range
visit or one that waits a few trips?
3) Are you against red dots on handguns? If so, do you have
a red dot on your rifle?
4) Do you load all your M4 style magazines to 30, 29, 28, or
some other variation?
5) Do you keep your magazines stored loaded or unloaded?
Just a few things to ponder and see what others do and why.
If you enjoy history and diving into the roots of current
military units around the world then this is the perfect book for you. It is an
easy read that makes you feel like you are right there beside these history
making warriors. For those that have served it will make you re-live some of
your toughest moments.
The book starts with David Stirling’s brilliant plan to wage
a new kind of warfare against the Axis powers in the vast North African desert.
It follows the heroics of these brave and daring Soldiers from their rough beginnings
in the desert through Italy and finally through the push into France and
Germany. You will feel the frustrations as the successful new unit starts being
used incorrectly by higher echelons and then revel in the victory of proper utilization.
It is again maddening to see the termination of the unit after the end of WWII
only for Britain to immediately realize there will always be a need for such a
specialized group of men.
I really enjoyed this book because in a way, the SAS are the
forefathers of the unit that I currently serve in within 7th Special
Forces Group. Ben Macintyre writes a very thrilling book that is definitely worth
a read.
