A very dangerous "antique" from the Shanghai Municipal Police

Once upon time, there was a Royal Marine by the name of William Fairbairn. After six years with the Royal Marine Light Infantry; he joined the Shanghai Municipal Police. Being a real leader, the Captain led from the front, in the streets. He ended up covered in knife scars; torso, legs, even the palms of his hands.


This hard won experience led to some realizations on the part of then Captain (retired as a Lieutenant Colonel). He created his own form of martial arts (Defendu), worked hand in hand with the OSS (yes, that OSS), trained a varied list of sneaky/commando type units for WWII, and wrote a book (Shooting to Live)with his training partner Eric Sykes. In this book, they wrote about point shooting; that is shooting sans sights in a disciplined and trained manner. Keep this last tidbit in mind, dear readers.


It goes without being said that I must mention the fighting knife Fairbairn and Sykes invented; the Fairbairn Sykes fighting knife, famous being for being SAS issue.


However, the purpose of this blog post is share with all of you an amazing piece of history.....


A while back ago, I noticed that Tom Givens of Rangemaster mentioned that he owned a Shanghai Municipal Police issue 1911. Now, I've learned that when Tom speaks; to listen. Tom makes a point of interviewing all of his many students who have been in shootings and collating the data in a scientific manner. Much to the contrary of what what certain trainers teach, Tom and Rangemaster teach sighted fire and find that it works in real life shootings. From Tom:

We heavily stress eye level sighted fire for everything except contact distance. We have a damn near 100% hit ratio in fights, excluding a few completely understandable misses. For example, one of my students had two armed robbers firing into his car, with him and his 6 year old daughter in it. He backed the car out of the kill zone while firing out the driver's window with his non-dominant hand. He got 4 hits for 8 shots that way. I'll forgive those misses. In most of our students' shootings, they fire 1-4 rounds and get all hits. 

Modern sights are so much more visible that it's silly to shoot from below eye level and guess where the rounds are going. Visually indexed fire doesn't always mean a perfect sight picture, but at least it gets the gun on target reliably.

  Anyway, my historical fixation kicked in when I saw mention of that Shanghai Municipal Police issue 1911 and I asked Tom for pictures.  He immediately sent them over and gave me permission to post them here and at 

Pistol Forum

.  Tom humorously postulates that Fairbairn and Sykes learned and popularized point shooting because of the wretched sights on this old warrior that were standard for the day.  He also relates that the pistol is 100% reliable with 230 grain ball ammo.  This weapon was issued when Fairbairn and Sykes were in the Shanghai Municipal Police and the odds are very strong that this old warrior saw quite a bit of action.  If steel could talk......

Anyway, onto the pictures! I will be sure to let you know if Tom has a smatchet laying around!

Happy 4th of July!

Just got the below in from someone deployed to a remote, sandy place and thought it was appropriate.


The British compound is right next door to us. We went over there last night to invite the chicks there to our July 4th party. They said they would show up. That's right dude, I invited Brits to our Independence Day party. Gotta love the irony.

Score!

World War One era US Marine Corps issue Clauss straight razor. It is en route to be honed and made shave ready. Manufactured in Ohio. Can't wait to shave with it.

Sometimes you luck out..... Many thanks to the gentleman honing it for me who refuses to accept money from veterans.

The great electrical storm of '12 or how I learned to stop worrying and love a cheap generator

I've always considered myself somewhat prepared for a natural disaster.  Food (MREs, canned goods), four 7 gallon water containers, a shitload of ammo and mags for my "go-to" weapons (AR15 and Glock 9mm), 10 gallons of gas treated with fuel stabilizer, a guard dog (Belgian Malinois), et cetera.

A storm made its way across the US Friday night, sowing lightning and 75 MPH winds along the way, going from Ohio to the East Coast.  One thing that as a Westerner that I've always hated about the East Coast is the trees.  No rolling plains here, the trees sprout like weeds, overhang everything, and you can't see more than a few hundred yards most places.  Those trees falling along with a few lightning hits left 1.5 million people on the East Coast (mainly in DC, Maryland, and Virginia) without power during one of the hottest weekends on record.  We're talking 100 degree days plus humidity.

I woke up Saturday morning without power.  No water, no A/C, and no word on when it would be back on.  I've always waffled on generators.  Cursory searches online and chats with friends gave me the impression that all generators are Chinese junk except for (in order of preference) Honda, Yamaha, and Briggs&Stratton units.  I tried to watch Craigslist for a worthy specimen but never found one with the right combination of price and power for my needs.

At BJ's Wholesale Club (remember kids, Costco does NOT allow anyone to carry a firearm in their stores unless you are law enforcement), I sat and waited for the store to open impatiently.  A monstrous Ford F350 4x4 with a huge NRA sticker on the back glass was also there waiting.  The occupant was one of those stereotype destroyers, being a clean cut African American guy packing a Glock 17.  He was there for a generator and related that Lowe's had ran out of generators at 6 AM that morning.  He and I got two out of the three remaining Champion 46515 3500 watt generators and that's all they had.  $299.00 and as my dear old Southern mother always said: "Poor people have poor ways."  Also, desperate people.  The temperature was headed to over 90 degrees before noon.  My new friend and I shook hands, wished each other luck with the weather and the upcoming elections regarding gun rights and parted ways.

I stopped off at WalMart to pick up oil for the new generator and a window mounted air conditioner.  I was in a hurry and it paid off - as I checked out with my new purchases, the registers in that WalMart went down.  I absconded with my 8,000 BTU window mounted A/C, 14 gauge power cord for the generator to my house, and my Royal Purple 10w30 oil (nothing but the best for my cheap generator!) and hit the gas stations.  Note that I said "stations," plural.  Many gas stations lost their electricity or their ability to make transactions.  I had some gas to run the generator but I bought more, planning for a week's worth of running it.  Topped off my truck too, of course.

Unboxing the generator was anticlimactic with a handy simplified "cheat sheet" being supplied.  Add oil, fill gas tank, switch choke to "choke" for starting, give gentle tug, then strong tug to starter cord, boom, it started.  Let it warm up, switch choke to "Run," plug in refrigerator and let that cool down before plugging in A/C.  An hour later, my house was at 72 degrees during the hottest part of the day and settled down to 71 degrees with appliances, A/C, and the fridge running.   The gas tank was topped off in the evening (4 gallon capacity) and ran for 12 hours on the aforementioned load.  At the 12.5 hour mark, there was an eighth of a tank remaining and power has been restored.  The generator ran flawlessly and without stutter, sipping fuel.

I suppose I could have bought an equivalent Honda generator for eleven hundred dollars more but I'm glad I didn't.

After I got the house cooled down, it was time to get my Internets up again.  Using the tethering option on my 4G Verizon LTE phone, I had smoking download speeds once again with very decent wireless range.  The below was tested on my iPad, getting the connection off of my phone.

A generator is a lot like a firearm.  When you need it, you really need it and it might take needing it and not having it to open your eyes.  I was lucky enough that I found one when I needed it.  I have friends local to this area who don't expect power restored to their homes for days and are living at a hotel.  For less than a week's stay at a hotel, you could have a generator and a cutoff switch installed at your house to route all electrical needs to the generator.

Good luck and don't be afraid to buy a cheap generator!

Some Roger Zelazny....

"Ah, but it makes a great deal of difference, you see. It is the difference between the unknown and the unknowable, between science and fantasy, it is a matter of essence. The four points of the compass be logic, knowledge, wisdom and the unknown. Some do bow in that final direction. Others advance upon it. To bow before the one is to lose sight of the three. I may submit to the unknown, but never to the unknowable. The man who bows in that final direction is either a saint or a fool. I have no use for either."

Links 06/26/12

- OSHA is here to save you from picking up ejected rounds on the range.. This is how they will ruin our sport and lifestyle, folks. Through environmental regulations.

- California Democrat Representative Jackie Speier has the brilliant idea of mandating that the TSA screen all mass transit. What could possibly go wrong? I think this and the TSA union's idea of giving their agents arrest powers are wonderful plans that will help our nation.  The irony of self proclaimed "liberals" like this moonbat and Charles Schumer encouraging institutionalized, federal racial profiling and discouraging use of mass transit cannot be overstated.

- PMC (Professional Military Contractor) is gracious enough to give a detailed report with pictures on the Beretta ARX-160. The verdict? It's a winner in his eyes.

- Power outlets with USB sockets. Ingenius. Do want.

- Mia Love continues to shatter stereotypes.

Beware the jumping, charging deer

This happened to a good friend of mine last week. The friend was driving at about 55MPH on a two lane road when he literally saw the deer coming right at him. The deer jumped so high that my friend actually thought for a moment that the deer would clear his stock Toyota Tacoma 4x4.

The deer's back hit the top edge of where the windshield meets the roof. Blood spewed forth copiously and the windshield was instantly spiderwebbed. My friend who is former Marine Corps Infantry (mustang officer), a veteran of the Border Patrol in Arizona and a now full time local law enforcement officer reacted well.

He shielded himself with one arm as he got sprayed with broken glass across his arm and his face; never losing his capacity for rational thinking as he slowed the truck down and coasted to a stop. His shooting range glasses were unusable but they did their job. The deer was beyond disemboweled. All of its organs were in the back seat, including the heart as seen below. Most of its blood was in the cab of the truck. My friend's plate carrier, a couple sets of clothes, and even his duty gear is ruined. He has to get a new truck.

All that being said, I'm extremely impressed with his composure and luck. His face is cut from flying glass as is his arm but he's fine.