Things I Learned at the New England Bloggershoot

In which I discourse upon the things I Have Learned:

1) The gun laws in the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts suck. Fuck Governor Deval Patrick and his weak nanny-state shit.

ii) New Hampshire does not suck. At all. As evidence I submit the NH residents who turned up with tricked out ARs, full auto weapons and suppressors.

3) Related to point ii, above. I got to rip off a mag from an MP5-K, which was Fun.

45.3.3) They really build stuff to last in China. The large stuffed Pikachu we hung on the backstop absorbed thousands of rounds and shotgun pellets between 11am and 5pm, and never entirely lost its shape. At the end of its odyssey, the perky yellow color was all gone, along with one ear and most of another. But it was still dimly recognizable. Quite astounding.

Subsection 2) When will we know that the gun nuts have won the Culture War? When Apple starts making guns. If you extend Apple's existing design aesthetic to firearms, I think you end up with a lot of brushed steel, rounded edges, ambidextrous safety, low recoil, adjustable sights that are as high-speed-low-drag as fixed sights, and the ability to drop in a whole range of authorized parts and accessories. You'd be able to coordinate the finish on gun, holster and iPod. But you'd only be able to buy ammo from them, and you wouldn't be able to use it in any other gun.

89a) Steyr M9. If you divide the shooting public into those who like the trapezoidal trapezoid sights on this pistol and those who don't (an arbitrary division which makes as much sense an any other arbitrary division) you can put me in the camp of those who do. They are really easy to acquire and if you have time to line up your shot, you can fine tune your point of aim very easily. Marko says he can knock (empty) shot gun shells off a berm at 20 yards with this gun, and after seeing him shoot, I believe it.

40,000,003) Hierarchy of Humor: Bayonet on a rifle: Not Funny. Bayonet on a Shotgun. A Little Funny. Bayonet on a Pistol. Very Funny. Extra points: Mount rail on bayonet and attach laser sight to ensure accurate placement of bayonet strikes.

Note, addition of rail and laser sight to bayonet elevates the configuration to Very Funny regardless of firearm.

Even more extra points: Backup, holdout bayonet in ankle holster.

89 1/2) Shooting a Russian Mosin-Nagant M44 and a Lee Enfield reinforced my desire to collect the rifles from all the major combatants of WW2. Those go on my "Guns to Buy" list, along with the Mauser K98. Hopefully they'll join my Garand in the gun safe soon.

MCXLLV) If you're going to hang out with 20 bloggers, bring your A-Game.These folks are smart, funny and interesting every day, sometimes twice a day.

Twenty Seven) Next time, we should invite a delegation from MoveOn. The only thing missing was the opportunity to show some lefties how wrong they are.

JayG and Lissa did a much better job than I at documenting the day, given that they were not only armed with firearms, but cameras and notebooks as well. Follow these links if you'd like a clearer picture of the day:

JayG's NE Bloggershoot AAR

Looking for Lissa's AAR

Too Old to Work, Too Young to Retire's AAR

Borepatch's AAR