Kim du Toit – Page 242 – Splendid Isolation

Well, So Much For That Tagline

April 11, 2024 Kim du Toit Drive Time, Marketing / Advertising

We’re all accustomed to the advertising tagline from the Kraut carmakers which touts “German engineering” as the selling proposition for buying one of their overpriced cars.

That doesn’t seem to be the case, as evidenced by this J.D. Power survey of not so long ago:

It’s a large sample (80,000), by the way (the full methodology can be found here).

Basically, apart from all the Kraut shenanigans involved with cartels and illegal manipulations (diesel emissions coff coff etc.), it all boils down to the Germans making their cars evermore sophisticated but in doing so, more fragile and prone to breakage.

Where have we heard this before? Oh yeah, pretty much everywhere.

And people snigger when I say how much I’d prefer to drive something like a Merc 280 SL than any of their newer models…

…And For This One

April 11, 2024 Kim du Toit Lies and Untruths, Military, Numbers & Statistics

Talking about the Huns fiddling with the numbers when the results aren’t to their liking:

The German army’s accuracy has again been mired in controversy as it was revealed in a classified report the testing for their latest rifle was lowered.

The G95A1 rifle failed to pass trials with military-standard ammunition so the Bundeswehr – the German army – lowered the standards of the test, the report stated.

The manufacturers of the rifle – Heckler and Koch – were allowed to test it with civilian ammunition and at room temperature rather than in extreme heat and cold.

The classified report read: ‘Current testing by the army in laboratory conditions shows that the weapon doesn’t meet army standards when loaded with combat ammunition.

‘The army requires an assault rifle that is sufficiently accurate under real conditions with its combat ammunition.’

The rifle was ordered to replace the G36 – also made by Heckler and Koch – which was dropped after it was found to become inaccurate after sustained firing.

The G36’s inconsistency was down to a plastic channel that support the barrel would become soft when the gun heats in a quick succession of firing.

The fault was first discovered when German soldiers serving in Afghanistan complained their guns were not shooting straight after a bout of heavy fire.

As we all know, when the facts are uncomfortable and/or do not conform to the theory, they must be changed. (I don’t know how that sounds in German, but I bet it’s lovely.) Also:

Their 180,000-strong army is due to be receiving new weapons next year after it was reported that they only had enough ammunition to fight for two days.

However, the new gun’s accuracy is up to scratch according to Germany’s elite KSK troops who have been equipped with the G95A1. [as long as you only shoot it indoors — K.]

A 2015 survey of German soldiers found that only 8 per cent of Bundeswehr soldiers trusted their weapons.

Somewhere out there, Paul Mauser is spinning in his grave.

I bet they’d even do better with one of these instead…

Looks like it’s not just German cars that are starting to suck.

Out Of Your Element

April 11, 2024 Kim du Toit Hunting

Whenever someone asks me what it’s like to hunt in Africa, I’m kind of at a loss for words.

The African bushveldt, you see, is pretty difficult to hunt. Here’s a representative sample:

It’s pretty dense — not tropical jungle, though as much densely covered, and visibility is often measured in feet rather than in yards.

To give you an idea of what this means: from a standing start, a lion can cover 100 yards in about 3.5 seconds. Typical visibility in lion country: about 100 feet, as above. (Do the math.)

And death is everywhere, the minute you leave the relative safety of your Land Rover or hunting camp. It could be a mamba, a scorpion, a Cape buffalo, or any number of things with teeth and claws, for whom a human is kinda like a marshmallow: can’t run that fast, no tough hide, no horns or whatever to protect itself, and laughably slow reflexes and crap hearing by comparison to the typical prey animal.

Like this leopard:

Now you know.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Brno Mod 22F (8x57mm)

April 11, 2024 Kim du Toit Gratuitous Gun Pics

Long Time Readers will know of my fondness for full-stocked rifles like the SMLE. Try this beauty on for size, at Steve Barnett’s Very Very Bad Place:

Okay, it looks beautiful, and the chambering is of course excellent — the 8mm Mauser cartridge is adequate for almost any purpose, like its Murkin .30-06 counterpart — but I have a couple of reservations about the Mannlicher flat or “butter-knife” bolt handle.

You see, it’s lovely to look at and of course it works very well; but after more than half a dozen shots, that sharp edge starts to hurt your hand. Granted, in the hunting activity, you seldom have to shoot more than a couple of times in a row — unless things are going very, very wrong — but I must say I prefer a regular rounded bolt handle like this one to the butterknife above: