Plastic Ammo?

I've heard rumors about polymer cased ammo for years.  I even vaguely remember firing some, but I can't seem to recall the brand.  Anywho, PCP Ammo (I guess THC ammo was already taken?), is hoping to revolutionize the ammo market by using polymer cases instead of brass or steel.  The biggest benefit of the polymer is the fact that it is about 50% lighter (the casing that is) than brass.  Thus allowing the good guys to carry more ammo in the field. 

Additionally, PCP ammo should be cheaper to produce and supposedly more accurate.  I'll save you the physics lesson and just say the accuracy has to do with how brass expands in the rifle vs polymer.  The polymer is heat/melt resistant so it shouldn't cook off in your barrel.  Check out the video below of the PCP ammo in action. 

PCP has two varieties of .308 and one type of .223 listed on their site.  No word on pricing or other calibers.  I suppose this could be a real game changer if the cost is low and the performance is decent.  My concerns stem in how the polymer will hold up over time and in the elements.  I still have cases of WWII ammo that my grandfather purchased for dirt cheap after the war.  Could it be possible that my grandkids will be shooting my left over polymer rounds 60 years from now?  I also wonder if there will be any fouling issues with bits of plastic hanging out on the inside of the weapon. 

I'll keep you posted when more info surfaces, and hopefully this ammo will be available soon.

Hat tip: Guns America.

USMC Lt. Rob Riggle Wants You: Modern Warfare Elite

Call of Duty is tired...  MW3 felt a lot like MW2.5, and it pains me to say Black Ops was a better game.  Even though everyone has prestige'd a thousand times, Activision is looking to squeeze the last few drops of cash out of the franchise.  Welcome to Modern Warfare Elite.

Did you peg Rob Riggle as an akimbo scorpion kind of guy?  Riggle is a real life Marine turned actor, and he also frags n00bs...  Modern Warfare Elite is private club that you can join for the low, low, price of $50.  Act now and you'll get early access to new maps, expert strategies, and clan benefits.  Sorry hackers this cool guy club is for PS3 and XBOX360 users only.  Here is the official comment from Activision regarding the lack of love for PC owners:

We’ve been working closely with Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games to customize a Call of Duty ELITE membership offering for the PC. Since the PC is an open platform, it’s difficult to provide the secure data and statistics necessary for the premium tier of Call of Duty ELITE. Because of this, there will not be an Call of Duty ELITE premium offering on the PC in the near future, but we are continuing to work towards a free Call of Duty ELITE offering and will continue to update the community with more information post launch. As we stated previously, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 will support dedicated servers for our PC community, and we will also continue to provide PC gamers the option to purchase downloadable content on the PC as we always have. We are working hard to provide our PC fans the best Call of Duty experience they have had to date.

Dear Activision, your fans don't want a new club that costs money, they want a new game.  Yes, I know MW3 cost a gazillion bucks to make and several years to complete, but it is "old" already.  A few new maps ain't gonna cut it.  Unless you can find a way to make the same game, (that many fans have logged well over a 100 hours playing) interesting, simply don't bother. 

Here is the full length trailer for Modern Warfare elite:

M1 Garands inbound from Korea!

The rifle that won the war, the M1 Garand!  During WWII the US was kicking ass and helping other nations fight by lending them weapons.  Most of these weapons have come back home and are distributed back to civilians via the Civilian Marksmanship Program.  For about $500+ (and a few hoops) you can own an M1 Garand!  No joke, it is actually shipped to your home in a hard case.  God bless America!

The CMP supply has been dwindling over the years, and the rifles are running out.  We loaned Korea a TON of rifles, but because of some political headaches they weren't able to return home... until now!  According to TTAG and the Korean Times 87,310 rifles will be coming back to the US, for sale!  I guess a bunch of M1 carbines are still floating around Korean armories because of detachable mag laws and probably won't be coming home any time soon.  The Korean times said the garands will cost about $220, but I'm gonna call BS on that.  TTAG says these will probably be sold via Century Arms or other 3rd party importers.  My best guess is they will return through CMP, but who knows.  The point is these rifles are coming home, and I sure as hell want one!

S&W .380 Bodyguard Review

I had the chance to play with a Smith and Wesson .380 bodyguard recently.  My old man picked one up for concealed carry (he lives in a free state) and brought it out on a recent visit to the People's Republik of Kalifornia.  We visited the local range and I got to put some rounds on paper.

Let me start by saying this gun was purchased "used" from a firearms vendor.  I'm not really a big fan of purchasing used weapons.  I would liken it to cars, in that if you know the original owner and how they take care of their things, you are probably fine.  To pick up a used weapon at a store without knowing the previous owner, and you might be in for some problems. I could speak a bit more on this but I'll taper my waxing for sake of space.  Stay tuned for a full post on purchasing used weapons.

I really did not like the Smith and Wesson bodyguard.  The trigger pull is atrocious, and is double action only.  Back to my crappy car analogy, the trigger pull is a lot like the brake pedal.  Each car/gun has a different amount of pull and pressure that is unique to that specific car/gun.  Not only did the bodyguard take a ton of pressure to pull, it also broke pretty far back.  It felt like after I took a ton of creep on the trigger, it finally clicked way the hell back into the grip.  After about 30 rounds of trigger time I was able to settle into the nasty pull and got a pretty tight group at 25 feet.  You can see the group below the right shoulder.

The S&W .380 bodyguard comes stock with a laser sight.  I'm really not a laser guy, and frankly I kind of think they are for chicks.  Yes, I know this is concealed carry weapon, and I suppose that can make a difference in a low light situation.  The laser is ambi, and I kind of dig that because your trigger should be used for just that, the trigger only.  I'm sure you remember Tex and the Serpa holster incident... Anywho, the laser is push button operated.  The first push gets the beam, the second push gets a pulsating beam, and the the third push is off.  I'm not entirely sure what the pulsing laser is for, and I found it to be a pain in the ass.  Additionally, I had the laser die twice mid trigger pull and then magically reappear a few seconds later (all on a fresh battery).

The biggest problem I had was with the magazines.  The mags hold six rounds and the first few always fired fine.  Rounds 4 and below consistently had problems.  As seen in the photo above the rounds would slip forward in the magazine and lock the slide open.  Releasing the slide lock was usually enough to fix it, but this is still a massive problem.  This issue occurred on several different factory issue magazines. 

Out of the 50 rounds tested, I had one double feed and one failure to fire.  I pulled the trigger and got a click.  I checked the chamber indicator and saw that there was in fact a round loaded.  I ejected the round and saw a dented primer.  Before you scream hang fire, I'm going to call BS.  I've never actually encountered a hang fire, or talked to ANYONE that ever has.  I don't think the tiny amount of powder can sustain a burn for SEVERAL SECONDS or a few minutes for that matter, and then spontaneously fire.  I cautiously gave the round another shot, and it did fire.  That means this was a firearm issue not a ammo manufacturer failure. 

My old man brought this weapon back home and promptly sold it for the Ruger .380 LCP.  I'm not sure if the issues I had with the bodyguard were because it was used or simply because it is a bad gun.  Overall, I would not recommend this weapon for off duty/concealed carry.  At $400, I'd encourage you to get something else...

Why You Should See Haywire

Mrs. Foxtrot and I headed out to the cinema this weekend to see Haywire.  I really enjoyed this film, and I think you will too.  It has a TON of great action, decent story, and a fresh take on action movies.

I'm noticing a new trend in films, with a sort of hyper realism in violence and action.  What I mean is that in movies like Drive and Haywire, the action feels incredibly realistic, and gives you that "punched in the gut" feeling when you see a dude get hit. 

Haywire has a great main actress actor, Gina Carano who is a real life MMA fighter.  When I initially heard she was the lead, I thought it was going to hurt the film.  I could not have been further from the truth!  Carano carries herself with a quiet sense of confidence and command presence that makes you believe she could really beat the crap out of Magneto Michael Fassbender.  I'll also add that she is a very pretty lady, who has a cool kind of "natural beauty".

When I first saw the trailer for Haywire, I thought I was being sold a Jason Stratham over the top action movie.  Although it has good action, it isn't over the top.  I would compare this too a mix of the Bourne movies and splash of Drive.  It has the some "government agent kicking ass and disavowed" style as Bourne, and even a car chase with an innocent civilian who happens to have a car and listening ear.  There are touches of Drive with the hyper real action and bit of artistic style that plays with the colors and cinematography.

The story isn't terribly complex or full of twists and turns, but it works very well and it is believable.  Haywire isn't pinned at 11, but rather has several choice action sequences that are very realistic.  The pacing of the film has more of a slow burn (not nearly as slow as Drive), but not so much that it drags.  Also woth nothing is that Haywire seems almost completely devoid of a score running in the background witht he exception of a few transitional scenes.  During the action all that can be heard is punching and broken furniture. 

Soderberg directed Haywire (as well as Contagion, the Ocean's trilogy, and Traffic) and it does feel a little artsy at times.  There are a ton of really long takes which were very cool, and some slower scenes of a the camera following Carano down the street.  I enjoyed the slower pace of these scenes but they were not at all advertised in the fast paced trailer.  I can see why there was a big divergence between the 82% critics vs. 54%  "the audience" on Rotten Tomatoes.  The critics like the artsy feel and the fans were let down because they were sold a "different" film.

The verdict?  Go see this movie!  If you are a fan of the Bourne movies you will really enjoy this film.  Although it is a little artsy at times, it doesn't take away from the film at all.  I think Haywire is a little more of what I hoped Drive would be.  I'll also add that the strong female lead makes this a good date movie :)