Month: November 2023

Utility Over Beauty?

Good Stuff

In my Saturday post of Favorite Things (Part 1), Reader JC comments:

“With your well-known love for God’s Own Pistol, I’m surprised a custom 1911 was not on your list.”

Well, yes.  Except that I addressed the issue the previous week in my post about the Ed Brown 1911.

I dunno.  Maybe it’s that I regard a 1911 the same way as I do about a Land Rover Defender or a Toyota Hi-Lux pickup:  they are so utilitarian that fancying them up seems kinda pointless.

I wouldn’t add diamonds to a watch for the same reason, unless it was a present for a woman (because most women have an undeniable attraction for sparklies).

I love luxury, don’t get me wrong:  I am not a Puritan or neo-Amish type.  But as with all things, luxury has its place, and utilitarian tools ain’t one of them.

Here’s another example of what I’m talking about.

I would prefer an Estwing hammer over a bog-standard Lowes-type budget-rack hammer, any day of the week.

But would I gild the Estwing’s metal?  Of course not.  (I might, however, be seduced into buying an Estwing with a leather grip because ooooh.)

You see where I’m going with this?

Sometimes quality has a point to where improvement is not really worth it — especially if said improvement has a 4x multiple over the original, e.g. an Ed Brown 1911 over a Springfield 1911, or a Porsche 911S over a Porsche Cayman S.

And if the original product, so to speak, isn’t total shit and is already far up the quality curve, that’s always something to take into account.

Quote Of The Day

Elections, QOTD

From RedState:

Sunday night, Austrian school economist Javier Milei gave a figurative and political curb-stomping to incumbent Argentine President Sergio Massa, beating him by ten percentage points. Not only did Milei win, but he did it in an election in which judges did not arbitrarily change laws and without huge, unexplained tranches of ballots, with 99% marked for the favorite candidate of the political class being discovered after the polls closed.

It kinda sucks when one of the exemplars of the “banana republic” concept does the democracy thing more honestly than that beacon of freedom and democracy, the U.S. of A.

It may not last, of course:  the odds are good that the defeated party will just send in the tanks — I mean, the National Guard.

We’d never do something like that, of course.

Cartridge Comparison

Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

From Rifleshooter magazine comes this even-handed look at the two “sevens”:  the 7x57mm Mauser, and the 7mm-08 Rem.  I’ve shot plenty of both, and agree with everything Scott Rupp says.

However, I’m always going to come down on the side of the 7×57, and those who know me will know quite well why.  As Rupp summarizes:

7×57

Hits

    • History, history, history
    • Case taper produces excellent feeding
    • Uniqueness counts

Misses

    • Not a short action, not really a long action
    • Can’t match the 7mm-08’s ballistics
    • Ammo, gun availability are poor

Actually, the last is true only if you’re looking for new rifles (although Mauser, unsurprisingly, offers it in their M98 line, but it’s nosebleed-spendy).

If you don’t care about that “new” requirement — and for someone who loves the “history, history, history”  thing it’s a feature, not a bug — there’s always the mil-surp market and its “re-stocked” tributary (like this example) which offer many choices.  (I have a special affection for the Oviedo rifles, as I took my very first deer with one.)  By the way, CZ used to offer the 7x57mm in its now-discontinued 550 line, so there’s always a chance you’ll find one in the second-hand market, if you’re alert — when one does occasionally appear for sale it disappears quickly, so clearly I’m not the only one who loves the old cartridge.

Then there’s the “customized” sector, exemplified by offerings such as this one at Steve Barnett:

Expect to pay a lot for a customized rifle at the hands of, say, Gary Goudy, but it’s all good.  (I lie awake dreaming about this one, by the way:  it’s a lottery rifle.)

Finally, unless you’re picky about such things, there’s nothing wrong with the old green-box Remington PSP 7×57 cartridge:  it works well on any deer, as I can personally attest, and its only disadvantage is scarcity and therefore price.  But it’s a hunting cartridge, so you’re not going to shoot off thousands of rounds anyway — although both Prvi Partizan (PPU) and Sellior & Bellot also offer it, usually for less than a buck per round.  (Remington’s Pointed Soft Point is at least double that.)

As for the 7mm-08?  I like it just fine — in fact, given my druthers, I’d choose this cartridge over the .308 Win — and as Rupp points out, new rifles chambered thusly are all over the place.  The shorter action helps, and the recoil is very manageable.  Here’s the Sako 101 Classic, for starters:

…which would make just about any gun-lover’s short list.  And, of course, there’s the Savage 110 for the cheapskate budget-conscious shooter:


…which I would be quite happy to take on any hunt.

My, how I do ramble on.  Here’s the summary.

History vs. modern.  The choice is yours, and neither is a bad one.

Scorpions, Frogs

Asshole Cops, Bad News

From Britishland a week or so ago, this lament:

Good God, they dishonoured our war dead and the police just stood and watched

Pro-Palestine mob desecrated monument to Britain’s war dead and the police told us they were powerless. That is a lie.

Outside Parliament a large gathering of protesters were both very vocal and waving the now obligatory Palestine flags and lighting flares.

The Police stood by and allowed this.

After the vote the gathering moved off and, in anticipation of them attacking the Cenotaph, police were quickly mobilised in order to protect it.

Realising that they weren’t getting anywhere near to the Cenotaph, the mob moved off to the statue and memorial of the Royal Artillery in Hyde Park corner.

There, unabashed and bafflingly unhindered by our coppers these idiots climbed onto the memorial, setting off flares, and plastering it in the flag of Palestine.

At the same time, in order to facilitate the mobbing of it, they stood on very many Remembrance wreaths damaging them and desecrating them.]

They were allowed to carry on until they got bored and moved off.

The Police did absolutely nothing to stop this and having observed this desecration no arrests were made when the idiots climbed down.

Well, yes.

…and law and order will do nothing.

I would love to see all those British soldiers who died in the Great War come back to life, fix bayonets, charge the fuzzies and not stop the killing until all the bastards are dead.  And if a few of those cowardly cops happen to get a bayonet in the gut as well, so much the better.

Then the heroes can go back to the peace of the grave with, once again, our grateful thanks.

So Much For A.I.

Bad News, Men & Women

I don’t think so, Scooter:

They all, without exception, look like washed-up whores with thousand-cock stares — and that’s after all the Instagram filters have been applied.

And I don’t know which 2,000 men they surveyed, but judging from the output I’m guessing that WASPs were not highly represented in the sample.

If this is the belle ideal  (so to speak) of choices available to young men these days, it’s small wonder that the birth rate is dropping and men are going their own way, sometimes to foreign countries to find a suitable mate.

I wouldn’t touch any of them, not even with Bill Clinton’s dick.