Gunfighter: A Modern Warrior's Life

Shoot 'Em Up Friday: Therapy Edition

Have you ever thought to yourself that you would like to commit an act of violence?  Do you ever think that just once, it would be nice to really let go and hit, punch, kick or smash something?

Of course you have.

We're humans... and most of you are Americans, and as such, we are violent.  No, not in a criminal way (for most of us) but we are from a violent country, that has a violent culture... a country born out of violent acts.  We like things getting smashed, don't we?  That's why our television shows and sporting events are so full of physical force and violence.

Well, I'm not giving a lecture on violence today other than to say that I, like you, want to act out, physically, from time to time.  Lucky me... I get to actually make good on my feelings.

Here is where you come in.

You have a cel phone (a Mobile for you Brits, Ozzies, Kiwis, & South Africans), right?  Odds are, you have had several in the past few years.  Odds are that at some point since you started using cellular telephones, these little gems of convenience have pissed you off some way or another.

For my part, I have had many cellular phones, and the usually irritate the crap out of me.  So, I have decided to take matters in hand, and deal with my anger, frustration, and irritation with these modern marvels of communication.  Not because I am angry mind you, but because YOU are angry.  That's right, I am doing this for your therapy, Gentle reader.  Why?  Because I care about you.  Yeah. 

Here are two likely candidates.  Both of these phones have been sitting around for some time.  Of no further use to me, I have decided that since I won't be using them to talk anymore, I should make one last use of them as blog fodder.

The phone on the left was one of the first cel phones that I ever had.  The second was one of those God-awful Nextel phones... you know them, right? they are the ones with the "direct-Connect" walkie-talkie feature?  Well, I really hated those things... here in the DC area, they lose calls all of the times... especially if you are driving anywhere near The Pentagon.

So.  I decided it was time for these telephones to make their last calls.

Many of you already know that when I do a Shoot 'em Up Friday post, I tend to use shotguns or rifles, but today, the firearm of choice is the Sig-Sauer Model P-229 in caliber .357... this was mainly because there is no real point in shooting a cel phone with a shotgun.  I mean, you'll just make a mess of perfectly good traffic cones, right?

There wasn't a lot of ritual involved in today's exercise (well, yesterday's to tell you the truth.  I blasted these phones around 6 A.M. on Thursday, but you get the picture right?  Hey.  "Get The Picture?!" Funny, right?), so I got them set up on their cones and gave them the business.

Each phone only took one bullet.  As you can see, your cel phone isn't going to go very far in saving your life should it come between you and incoming fore, so be warned!  The next time some late-night infomercial tries to convince you to purchase some new-fangled body armor made out of old cel phones... Don't Do It!

Ahem.  The first picture in this post are my phones... This is my phones on .357 hollow-points.

Any questions?

There.  Don't you feel better now?  I do.  So, the next time your phone bothers you, don't swear at it.  don't throw it across the room.  Let ME have it, and I'll get your revenge for you, because I'm a giver... and that's what friends do.  Yeah!

I hope you enjoyed Shoot 'Em Up Friday, and I hope that you enjoy your weekend. 

GF

Shoot 'em up Friday (or, GF Does A Favor)

The idea for today's shoot, came from a fellow DC area blogger, whom I met at a blogger event almost two weeks ago. As it turns out, this blogger is a former federal lawman lawwoman lawperson, and she and I have at least one mutual acquaintance (small world, innit?),but more about that later.

Today, I will be using a slug round from a shotgun (actually, I'll be using two slugs and two buckshot rounds) to shoot up a book. Not just any book, mind you, but a really crappy book by a really crappy writer, who is also a television talking head.

I happen to know that there are some bloggers who read this who are probably laugh themselves silly, or who will cheer because of what I am about to show you For them, I am particularly pleased. I share your joy, trust me.

DISCLAIMER: If you are one of this commentator's fans, please note that there are no real or implied physical threats to the author of the book (lawyer friends, back me up here. I'm on solid ground, aren't I?) I just hated his book so bad that I felt that I had to dispose of it in an appropriate manner. After all, just throwing it in the trash, where it belongs, just isn't enough.

Moving on.

I already told you that I would be using a rifled slug to shoot the book, but I am fairly certain that there may be some folks who don't know what a shotgun slug (or a buckshot round) is, so here is a quick breakdown:

A shotgun shell used for police work is a self-contained cartridge (unit) loaded with buckshot (pellets) or a slug (a solid lead mass, about the same size as a musket ball) designed to be fired from a shotgun. In the main, shotgun shells are designed like this:



In the case of a buckshot round... this is what a dissected shell looks like. You can see the shell itself (the red plastic cylinder), the wad, the cup, the buckshot (nine .32 caliber pellets... each roughly the size of an M&M):




Here is a close up of the buckshot:






This shot shell differs from a slug in that a slug is a solid mass, so instead of nine buckshot pellets, you have this (Sorry, couldn't get a picture large enough).

OK, how is that for an explanation? Sure, I know, it was probably more than you wanted to know about ammunition, but hey, let me geek it up every once in a while, ok?

Alright, enough for now, it's video time... we'll finish up afterwards, OK?









Well! That was fun!

Here are your results:





As you can see here, neither the buckshot nor the slugs had any problem going straight through the book... or the 1/2 in plywood that it was glued to. Nice, eh?



Well, kids, I am afraid that this is the end of today's installment of Shoot 'em up Friday. I'll be back soon with more.

Oh, and this post is a great segue into next week's blogging theme. Next week, I will be blogging about Man Movies. I plan to review several of my favorite "films made just for guys"

Have a nice weekend,

GF

Shoot 'em Up Friday

You didn't really think that I would let you all down just because I spent most of this afternoon on the flat, nice, warm, cozy beach?

It's is still Shoot 'em Up Friday, kids, and I filmed this last week, just for you return readers.

In 10 minutes, we are going out to dinner, but I want you to enjoy this.



Love, and seawater flavored kisses!

GF

Shoot 'Em Up Fluffy Friday!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woPDObX7r00">




Today's installment of Shoot 'Em Up Fluffy Friday is dedicated to WhiskeyMarie. Marie was kind enough to send me some really neat recipe ideas, which really went over like gangbusters!

Thanks, Marie!

I hope you enjoyed.

Disclaimer: Please note that no actual canine companions were killed, injured, threatened with violence, or forced to play a lame-ass game like soccer, in the production of this blog post. Nor did I have any real conversations with the EffBeeEye, becuase, really, who wants to talk to THEM?

GF

Kidnapping Update!

The EffBeeEye thought that I should make an appeal to Fluffy's kidnappers. So here goes:

Dear Evildoers,

Please don't kill my dog. She's a good girl, with an infectious, cheerful little bark!

See how happy she is at home?



She loves to play in the flowers...



It probably wasn't necessary to threaten her with violence!



So... please don't kill her... even if I can't come up with that kind of cash.

Gunfighter

Terrorism Hits Home

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPRdp6IyZpU]

I need your help, friends!

When I returned home from work, yesterday, I found the front door to my home standing wide open. Of course, I drew my pistol and made entry, fully prepared to kick ass and take names. What I found was shocking!

I found this picture...



...and a note demanding a ransom for the release of my dog, Fluffy.

I've contacted the FBI, and they I am supposed to be hearing from them later on today... I'll keep you posted.

GF

Shoot 'Em Up Friday, The Video Event!

Without preamble, I give you "Shoot 'Em Up Friday", The video event!









[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuMhbuM8_fM]

Well, that was fun!

My first time at bat doing any sort of online video... I am moderately satisfied with the results. Clearly, I have a lot to learn about editing and about how to edit, upload, and post what is, essentially, five minutes of video without having to use four or five different YouTube uploads... If any of you techno-types have any insight to share, I'm all ears.

I hope you liked it.

Shoot 'Em Up Friday!

Last month, The Gunfighter family received an invitation to dinner from blog-buddy Janet K. I mentioned, here, what a fine time we had. Not only was the company great, and the food fantastic (yes, tacos can be fantastic... you just don't know), but friend Janet and her housemate, Brenda, gave me a gift as soon as we arrived!

Truthfully, I wasn't expecting a gift... Surely, I thought, the gift of food and good company was enough of a token of friendship. After all, I hadn't done anything to be deserving of anything more. None of my immediate thoughts lasted for more than a heartbeat, because the gift turned out to be the first reader-donated item for Shoot 'Em Up Friday!

As you can see here, the gift turned out to be a DVD player. Janet proceeded to read off a short, but heinous, list of crimes perpetrated by the DVD player. Not only was this particular household item guilty of not working, it was also guilty of not spitting out a DVD belonging to Brenda... it was still lodged inside. The Dog! These nice ladies asked me to put this appliance out of their misery, and I am only too happy to comply.

Why? Because I'm a giver!, yeah.

So, in keeping with out tradition of taking advantage of the opportunity of teaching pints while playing, I present to you, our results:

Today, we are going to shoot this DVD player with an assortment of weapons, using various types of ammunition.

The first weapon we used was the FN-P90, which fires the 5.7x28mm bullet.

Here is what kind of hole the 5.7x28mm (hollow point) makes in a DVD casing. The hole shown here won't mean much to you without a comparison, so stay tuned. There is more... oh yes, more indeed!

The next thing we did was to shoot the DVD player (hereafter known as the "evildoer"), with an M-4 rifle, which fires a 5.56 bullet, which is only slightly larger than the first bullet that I mentioned, but has a much greater muzzle velocity, and thereby delivers significantly increased kinetic energy, which some people commonly call "knock-down power"

Anyway, here is 5.56mm bullet hole, next to the previously mentioned 5.7x28mm. Despite the similarity in bullet hole size, the 5.56 did considerably more damage to the unit than the slightly smaller, but much lighter 5.7x28mm bullet did.



Next we used the venerable Sig P-229 semiautomatic pistol, using .357 hollow points. Here you can see a major difference in the size of the bullet hole.

I will pause here for questions.

Yes? "Professor Gunfighter, haven't you already shot-up a DVD player?" As a matter of fact, I have, however, we didn't make a comparison of relative bullet size, which is the point of today's demonstration.

Any other questions? You, young lady... "Professor G, what do the letters BTHP and JHP that are printed under some of the bullet holes mean?" Excellent question! JHP stands for Jacketed Hollow Point. Which means a copper-jacketed bullet with a hollow point. Most bullets made be reputable manufacturers today are covered in a copper sheathing. The purpose of the jacket is to increase bullet strength and to prevent fouling the barrel with lead stripped from the bullet. BTHP means "boat-tailed hollow point", which is a match-grade bullet design that uses the concept of a teardrop like shape to give it a lower drag coefficient and make it produce less turbulence in its wake. Only the base of the bullet has a boat tail-like shape. The idea of the concept means that the bullet will be more accurate.

If there are no other questions, we will continue.

After punching a few holes in our evildoer, I decided that I hadn't spent all of this time setting up this shoot, dragging out the weapons and ammunition just to put three holes in it. That wouldn't be a prudent use of labor, so I decided that I would take advantage of one last teaching opportunity: To show you fine folks what an evildoer looks like after you really shoot the crap out of one of these things!

Simply put, I emptied all of the weapons that I had loaded for our demonstration into the evildoer just to see what would happen.

Behold!



Nice, eh?

But we aren't done

This is what the backside of the unit looked like. Please note that almost all of the bullets went all the way through it.











This is a photo of the electronic whoziewhatsis that came out of the unit.

***Consumer's take note: DVD players don't have a lot inside of them... sort of makes you wonder why they make these things so damned large.***



I'm afraid that our time together is at an end, my friends... but, not to worry, I'm sure that somewhere out there in the blogosphere, someone will have a question that can only be answered by sending me something to shoot up. Until then, keep your powder dry, always count your rounds, wear your body armor, and ALWAYS shoot first, shoot fast, and put your adversary down!

Oh, and Brenda? Look what I got out, just for you, dear!

Shoot 'Em Up Friday!

Dear Gentle woodland folk of the blogosphere,

Today is Friday, and you know that Friday is special. Friday here, at The View From Here, is not dissimilar from Wednesday in the North End of Boston (oh, somebody hit me with the reference... I will love you for it!). It is a day of regularly scheduled activity, that some of you have been waiting for.

That's right, kids. It's Shoot 'Em Up Friday!

Today is the day that I would normally shoot something to bits, and then teach you a little about guns/ammunition.

But not today...

Nope.

Uh-uh.

I'm not even going to pretend that what I am showing you today has any sort of practicality. There is no lesson on ballistics. There are no teaching points about tactics or the proper use of available cover.

This post about my love hatred of Crocs.

I hate Crocs.

I hate imitation Crocs.

I think they are ghastly.

As I said in my previous anti-Crocs post, a few weeks ago, Crocs are evil and they must be destroyed... well, dear friends, today is the day to do just that.

Behold:

What you see here are a pair of imitation Crocs... Imitation Crocs that used used to belong to a certain soccer-playing child that has since grown out of them.

As much as these shoes deserve their trip to the garbage can, they aren't quite ready yet... so, I have glued them to a neatly painted, and not-so-neatly lettered cardboard target backing. Just think of it as a very large greeting card from me, to all of you!

As you are all aware, I am rather fond of shotguns. When it comes to blowing holes in people or things, shotguns can hardly be beaten at gunfight ranges. However, despite my love of shotguns, I thought that I would change things up a bit, and just use my pistol.

So, after hanging up our lovely greeting card, I set myself (and my pistol) to the task of making holes in the aforementioned horribly ugly shoes.

I decided that four magazines worth of .357 rounds ought to do quite nicely, so I loaded my pistol and began putting (additional) holes in the shoes... and feeling rather good about it. **REMINDER** a magazine for the type of pistol that I was using holds twelve rounds.

When I had finished shooting, the shoes looked like what you see here at the left.

I was somewhat disappointed that they didn't look terribly worse for the wear, so rather than loading another four magazines, I did what any prudent gunfighter would do when his/her pistol is getting the job done. At this point someone will almost certainly ask: "Gee, Gunfighter, what WOULD a prudent gunfighter do when his pistol doesn't seem to be doing the expected job?" The answer is: "Go get a shotgun!" Which is precisely what I did!

I loaded comrade Remington with 5 rounds of buckshot, and went to work.

Here are your results...

This is a little more like it!

I think that these Crocs won't be bothering anyone else.

As I said, gentle readers, I wanted to give you a lovely greeting card, to not only thank you for reading my blog, but also for taking the time to indulge me in my Croc-Bashing.

Have a good weekend!

Shoot 'em Up Friday, The Return!

It's been a long time, hasn't it?

Well, your patience is greatly appreciated and your wait is at an end. Read on, O devoted reader!


What you see here is a standard Ice Cream maker, neatly boxed in it's original packaging. I received this particular appliance from my dear friend Janet O, who had no further use for it!

Janet, knowing my penchant for shooting things to pieces (all in the name of professional education, don't you know) decided that she wanted me to have it, and while she was here in the DC area, recently, she was good enough to bring it with her!

Janet, thank you so much for the donation! This selfless act of generosity will save the lives of countless Americans in the war on terror... or something.

So, here we go:

Today I'll be using my favorite weapon, the Remington Model 870, 12 gauge shotgun.

As you will see below, using a shotgun can be very efficient when you want to punch serious holes in someone. Just as a reminder, the 12 gauge buckshot round has nine, .32 caliber, copper jacketed, lead pellets inside of each round... at 25 yards, buckshot can be effective against a man sized target, but is at it's devastating best when used close up. Imagine shooting someone nine times... at once! Today, we will be shooting at a distance of seven yards.


This is our ice cream maker, fully assembled. Nice, yes? Well, it won't be for very much longer.

I wonder what sorts of ice cream I could have come up with? Probably nothing particularly good, as I have never really been into making desserts (well, with the exception of Applesauce, but you already know that).

Ahem.


This is our ice cream maker after one shot.

As you can see, the major parts are still relatively whole. The fluid that you see on the floor is the refrigerant, which was contained in the upper bowl. It began to ooze immediately... it got much, much worse!





This is our ice cream maker after four rounds. The motor is completely wrecked, as is it's casing. The coolant (as well as lots and lots of other small pieces), is/are all over the place! (and was a REAL joy to clean up.... oh, the things I do for my students!)



Yes, my friends, this ice cream maker is well and truly destroyed for all time, but I suspect you don't need me to tell you that.

Are there any questions? Yes, you in the back!, "Professor Gunfighter?, what did we learn today, that will make us better at our jobs?"

I'm glad you asked! Today's demonstration is another example of the effectiveness of a particular sort of ammunition. The term "buckshot", as you will recall, is probably the most appropriately named item in the entire lexicon of firearms! Buckshot was designed, quite simply, to kill a male deer, or "buck". It was evident from the outset that if nine (or more) pellets would bring down a large game animal, it would certainly bring down a full-sized man.

Consider, if you will, the ice cream maker, it is was made out of aluminum, steel, plastic, and other ceramic and metal parts.... do you think that any part of your body would be harder to penetrate (with the POSSIBLE exception of some parts of your skull) than these things?

There is no substitute for the shotgun in the tactical employment of firearms. While rifles are fine and very effective, nothing beats a blast of buckshot at close range. The physical and psychological trauma of being wounded massively by a shotgun round makes the tactical shotgun a one-shot fight-stopper*

Buckshot... There. Is. No. Substitute!

* Please note that there is NEVER any guarantee that a motivated or intoxicated suspect will stop after being shot one, but a 12 gauge shotgun blast to the chest is more likely to have that effect than any other weapon in most police arsenals.

GF