Slick Stabbers

OK lets take a look at two very sweet knives. I have been remiss in writing this blog, somehow getting sidetracked. The knives are recent kogatana made for me by Gary Bradburn. Traditionally kogatana are the tiny, flimsy, useless side knives housed in the saya (scabbard) of a katana or wakizashi. I asked Gary to make me one as a discreet carry knife but stout enough for actual defense use. He ground the prototype with a chisel format but was not happy with it. (This is the one riding on my Bug Out Bag.) The next two came with double bevel grinds and nice clay tempered blade with hamon.

A knife this size is easily carried without creating waves of fear in the general public. There are many general uses for it besides its intended personal defense use. The blade is substantial despite being only 0.145 inches thick. Since they are each custom made the blade lengths vary. One is 4.5 inches and the other is 5 inches. The slender blades are natural piercing weapons but, as you can imagine, no slouch at slicing. The graceful curvature gives the blades the look of a miniature katana. The tsuka (handles) are full tang, copper covered, and then wrapped in epoxy saturated cord. Beneath the tsuka ito wrapping Gary has placed a high quality menuki. The menuki are decorative, but they also create a nice palm swell. Each knife is sheathed in a custom fit kydex sheath with nylon belt loop. Check out Gary’s new website and contact him if you are interested in ordering a custom Japanese style knife. You will not be disappointed that you did. http://www.bradburncustomknives.com/

Dark Side of "Democracy"

According to the purveyors of the New World Order, including our president, this is what Democracy now looks like. Somehow I never envisioned it this way. Foolishly I thought it was represented by voting booths and free elections. In my simple mind democracy was filled with more hope and fewer demons. There is good reason why Africa is called the Dark Continent. Zimbabwe, Rhodesia, Somalia, the Congo, Angola, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, by whatever name you choose, they all conjure up the same images of butchery, rape, and genocidal massacres. The symbols of African Democracy are the machete and the RPG. The color of African Democracy is red, BLOOD RED. These are the types of people our administration is supporting. Now "Democracy has erupted in the Mid-East. Can you tell the Yeman rebels from the Rawandan or Libyan rebels? I hope the first family enjoys their taxpayer paid safari to the dark continent.

Take close look at the photos sometime on the internet and the news. How many American made arms do you see these paragons of democracy carrrying versus Russian and Chinese AKs? Either way it is terrorism sponsored by the world's major players.

Storm Mountain Training Center

This post is a little longer than usual. Its something completely different and I hope you enjoy it. My pride almost kept me from having a great experience. Or more correctly fear of having that pride get bruised. Several months ago I signed up for a long range rifle class (LR-1) at Storm Mountain Training Center in WV. As the time got closer I started wondering at age 62 what sort of fool would I make of myself? My local shooting range only extends out to 200 yards and generally I was content punching holes in paper at 100 yards. Now here I was signed up for a class to shoot out to 800 yards, literally from one hillside to another. I could not back out because I was teamed to shoot with my daughter.

We showed up at the range (along with my daughter’s fiancé and his friend) at nine o-clock Friday morning for the classroom portion of the course. There were a total of 16+ students in attendance. I was packing a 35 pound backpack full of gear, including 120 rounds of ammo, and a 14 pound, scoped rifle. Everyone else was similarly geared-up. The morning session was very informative and almost overwhelming at times as we listened to lectures on the mentality of shooting, the technical and physical aspects, gear choices, ballistics, and much more. It was a no-BS presentation spiced with real world experience and a healthy amount of humor. After lunch we gathered at one of the 100 yard ranges to shoot a cold-bore shot and check the zero on our rifles. I was having problems with my zero even though I had checked it a week before. Danny, one of the instructors, took over my gun and discovered a nut had come off one of the bi-pod legs and was causing the inconsistency. Once we were finished at the 100 yard range we moved on to 200 yards. By the time I got there the instructors had run back to the admin. building and brought me a “loaner” bipod. You can imagine how grateful I was. We worked our way back to the five hundred yard line by the Friday’s end.
Saturday’s shooting was a near repeat of Friday’s except we started shooting at nine o-clock in the morning and moved all the way back to the 800 yard line, one hundred yards at a time. By now we were very grateful for the elevation and windage “Cheat-Sheets” provided by Rod and Danny. These generic sheets allowed us to get on target and then we could dial the scopes in for our individual rifles. By the time we reached 800 yards I wished I was 40 pounds lighter and 20 years younger. The weather was high 80s and humid, winds variable in direction and magnitude. The good news was that I was already beginning to feel more confident with my gear and my skills. My rifle was bought used and it came with a trigger set well under one pound pull, which made it very touchy. I was beginning to learn how to cope with that as well. One of the things that amazed me most was the ability of either instructor to see where your shot hit and immediately give you accurate scope corrections for your rifle. I cannot imagine how many rounds they have both sent down range into targets and under combat conditions. It was an honor to be in the company of men who had been there and done what was required of them.

Sunday we repeated the course with the exception of having a set number of qualifying shots at each range. There were a total of 20 shots for qualifying. Passing was a 70%. I shot an 85% and Gwynne shot a 95%. What can I say, the kid is good! What did I learn besides how to shoot better? I learned a lot about reading wind, how to adjust my scope to correct for errors, proper breathing, and how to “lay down on the gun.” The most important thing I learned was how important your spotter is and how tough that job can be. The spotter calculates wind and elevation and tells you where to set your scope. They make sure that you fed a round into the chamber, adjusted the scope the correct direction and amount, and if you miss give you a quick correction for a rapid follow-up shot. As Rod said, the shooter is just “a monkey on a string.” I also learned there is good and bad gear but it’s never the rifle’s fault when you miss. I was more than pleased with the ability of my rifle. The last shots of the day were at 800 yards in gusting wind conditions and I had 224 inches of elevation and about 68 inches of windage cranked on. I was holding a half “mil” off the left edge of the target and was happy to get one hit and one near miss. Sound like fun and a real challenge? Contact Storm Mountain Training and sign up for a course, you might just see me there. If you do your part you can expect to get more than your monies worth. Thanks again Rod and Danny, thanks a lot!
http://www.stormmountain.com

BOB knives?

This post is about the knives in, or hanging on, my BOB (Bug Out Bag). The bag itself is an Eberlestock™ Gunslinger II. These packs rank among the finest on the market. If you’re looking for a great back-pack check out their website. http://www.eberlestock.com/
So what sort of cutlery do I pack? You can rest assured that there are several folders of various quality and size, but nothing costing hundreds of dollars. One smaller bag mollied internally holds a MilTac folder, tactical pen, and a Leatherman tool. Originally I bought a Cold Steel Machete for my BOB but I had forgotten how light weight a machete is. That is nice when you’re looking at pack weight, but sucks when you’re trying to chop firewood, make tent stakes, or split kindling.

So in place of the machete, on the left-hand side of the pack, I have attached an indestructible BK&T-9 combat bowie. The bottom of its sheath is tucked into a pocket intended for a water bottle while the upper part of the sheath is fixed in place by 550 cord. In the front pocket of the BK&T sheath is a Chinese folder from Schrade. Its cheap, reasonably reliable and sharp as a razor. For an all purpose knife I included a modern kiridashi made by ECOS in the top part of the pack.

There is a KaBar TDI that I mounted on the front of my Tactical Tailor chest rig. This way if for any reason I have to dump my entire pack I still have a small utility/self-defense knife with me.
I have also added a small kogatana by Gary Bradburn to my pack. Wicked little stabber. I'll review them next week.