A look aboard one of the freshest Navy-owned R/Vs

Posted on by Leave a comment

Ian Lawrence, captain, and crew members of the research vessel USNS Sally Ride (AGOR-28) discuss the ship’s impressive design and suite of technology.

A member of the brand new Neil Armstrong-class research vessels, Ride is a 238-foot, 3043-ton commercially designed mono hull research vessel, capable of coastal and deep ocean operations, and equipped with cranes and winches for over-the-side loading of research equipment and supplies, as well as accommodations for 24 scientists. The ship is powered by a multi-drive low-voltage diesel electric propulsion system for efficiency and lower maintenance and fuel costs.

Both Neil Armstrong-class ships have state of the art oceanographic equipment allowing deep ocean mapping and information technology for ship monitoring and worldwide land-based communication.

She is operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

A beautiful Naval image that is sure to be a classic

Posted on by Leave a comment

You could imagine this in a sepia tone and easily see an old Connecticut-class predreadnought here rather than a modern DDG.

VILLEFRANCHE, France (Dec. 19, 2016) The guided-missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94) is moored in the bay of Villefranche during a port call to France. Nitze, currently deployed as part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. (U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Joshua Murray/Released)161219-N-WC455-158 Join the conversation: http://www.navy.mil/viewGallery.asp http://www.facebook.com/USNavy http://www.twitter.com/USNavy http://navylive.dodlive.mil http://pinterest.com https://plus.google.com

VILLEFRANCHE, France (Dec. 19, 2016) The guided-missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94) is moored in the bay of Villefranche during a port call to France. Nitze, currently deployed as part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. (U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Joshua Murray/Released)

Nitze is named for Paul Henry Nitze, who served first as LBJs SECNAV and later as his SECDEF, replacing Cyrus Vance. Before that he was on James Forrestal’s staff in the big one, served Truman in NSC  positions, and had been appointed by JFK to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense. He would later be one of the main players behind the scenes in the SALT talks and Reagan’s chief negotiator of the INF Treaty in 1988.

As for the vessel, she was commissioned 5 March 2005 as the 43rd Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. A Flight IIA Burke with the super-length 5″/62 forward, she has been very active in the Gulf region in recent years to include hammering some Houthi radar sites involved in the recent missile launches threatening USS Mason and other vessels operating in international waters in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb via TLCMs.

An 8-shot 357 and the .44Spl returns to Ruger’s wheelgun line

Posted on by Leave a comment

ruger-brings-new-caliber-options-to-revolver-line

Ruger announced Wednesday they will produce their well-loved double-action wheelguns in some new offerings including a 5-shot GP100 in .44 Special and an 8-shot .357 Mag Redhawk.

The GP 100, as detailed in the above video, has been around in a bunch of .357/.38 and .327 loadings, but that was about as beefy as it got. Now, some 30 years after its introduction, is being offered in a 5-shot .44 Special with a three-inch barrel.

I’ve always been a fan of the .44Spl and for about half a decade carried a Charter Arms Pug as my CCW piece.

The once-vaunted .44 Special dates back to before World War I but fell out of favor after Elmer Keith campaigned successfully for his hard-hitting .44 Magnum in the 1950s. With just a few manufacturers marketing new revolvers chambered in the easier handling but still effective .44 Special by the 1990s, the round seemed to be staring into the abyss. Now, with modern self-defense loads (Hornady Critical Defense, Speer Gold Dot, et. al) upping the ante on what the near cult-status round brings to the table, the new Ruger offering will no doubt be popular with .44 Specialists.

MSRP is $829 but you can expect prices at your dealer or online to be closer to $700, and if I like how it handles at SHOT Show, I may be a huckleberry.

Another new entry from Ruger is a .357 Magnum variant of the Redhawk, which hasn’t been offered since 1991. Best yet, the cylinder has been reworked to accommodate 8 cartridges, which brings a whole new element to the famous “Feel Lucky Punk?” scene.

ruger-redhawk-8-shot-357-relieved-cylinder-for-moon-clips

The new 8-shooter, which still fits in standard Redhawk holsters, comes with 3 full moon clips for its relieved cylinder and a 2.75-inch barrel. MSRP is a respectable $1079.

More info (including vids) are in my column at Guns.com.

Rare Confederate Revolvers

Posted on by Leave a comment
(Photo: National Firearms Museum)

(Photo: National Firearms Museum)

These two rare birds are a set of Griswold and Gunnison (top) and Spiller & Burr revolvers made in the Confederacy during the Civil War– both more or less poor brass framed copies of New England patented guns.

About 3,700 Griswold and Gunnison revolvers were manufactured in Georgia by Samuel Griswold, a transplanted Yankee from Connecticut. This .36 caliber sixgun was a copy of the Colt Model 1851 revolver. The bottom revolver is also a Confederate .36 caliber that was made by Spiller & Burr, initially in Richmond, Virginia and later in Georgia. It was also a copy of a Northern design, following the Whitney revolver. The latter firm had made between 1,200 and 1,500 revolvers total.

Going price on these guns typically top five figures.

With these guns being so rare, they are also faked alot– as Phil Schreier breaks down on the very poor S&B copy below. (Which, if you think about it, is a bad copy of a bad copy).

Merry Christmas, but remember those downrange today

Posted on by Leave a comment
IWM UKLF-1994-004-103-9

IWM UKLF-1994-004-103-9

Men of ‘B’ Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Fusiliers on Christmas Day, 25 December 1994. Major David Crumlish has a whiskey with the men at a checkpoint in the Vitez area, Bosnia.

In October 1992, 2,400 British troops deployed to Bosnia and Croatia under Operation Grapple and became operational in November. They were tasked with providing armed escort to United Nations humanitarian aid convoys as part of the UN Protection Force, UNPROFOR, in Bosnia. Shortly afterward they stumbled on the scene of the Ahmići massacre. UNPROFOR was replaced by the much more muscular NATO-backed IFOR/SFOR in 1995.

Keeping the lights on

Posted on by Leave a comment

Thought this piece by Galen Koch was really well done.

EM1 Tony Robb and EM3 Alex Tade of the Coast Guard are in charge of keeping the lights burning at 22 lighthouses in Maine. In this story, Tony Robb describes his work and pride in the lighthouse keeping legacy.

More here if you like the above and have time to go down the rabbit hole.

CADPAT works pretty good

Posted on by Leave a comment
Photo: Cpl Peter Ford, Tactics School, 5th Canadian Division Support Group Gagetown

Skrim up that gun and helmet and you are good to go. Photo: Cpl Peter Ford, Tactics School, 5th Canadian Division Support Group Gagetown. Click to big up

Canadian Disruptive Pattern (CADPAT) is the digital camouflage pattern adopted in 2002-2004 to replace the very U.S.-style olive green material in use by the Canadian Forces since the early 1960s and is computer designed to provide protection from both the naked eye and night vision devices. It comes in Temperate Woodland (TW), Arid region (AR), Winter and Urban variants and seems very effective if the right pattern is selected.

As observed by the above image of a Canuck participating in Exercise COMMON GROUND II 2016 at 5th Canadian Division Support Group Gagetown, New Brunswick on November 12, 2016.

Sometimes copper is your best friend

Posted on by Leave a comment

Marine Special Operations Team (MSOT) 8222 was deployed to Bala Murghab in 2009-10. The team was tasked with partnering with national Afghan forces to train them to stabilize a remote valley in northwestern Afghanistan.

This specialized beryllium copper knife was used by the team breacher to cut plastic explosives.

beryllium-copper-knife-was-used-by-the-team-breacher-to-cut-plastic-explosives

Currently on exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps

This knife cut every charge used by MSOT-8222 during this deployment.

It’s a Strider BD Beryllium Copper (CuBe). These knives, made in St. Paul, MN, have a 6.5-inch blade, paracord wrapped handle, and go an impressive 0.25-inches wide. They run four-figures but are guaranteed non-sparking & non-magnetic.

They are extremely corrosion resistant and doesn’t spark like a steel blade would. Precisely the type of knife you’d want if your job involved cutting through hundreds of blocks of high explosives.

The ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ at work

Posted on by Leave a comment

During World War II the Allies dropped literally tons of arms and munitions to local resistance forces across occupied Europe to give the Germans a little heartburn.

Allied aircraft delivered over 20,495 containers and 11,174 packages of vital supplies to the resistance forces in western and northwestern Europe in 1944 and 1945 alone ranging from batteries and radios to guns and explosives.

Range Days in France has a great collection of various items supplied by the SOE (Special Operations Executive) and OSS (U.S. Office of Strategic Services) to French Resistance groups during World War II that is almost pristine.

(Photos: Range Days In France)

Click to big up. (Photo: Range Days In France)

The .303 Enfield is a U.S. made Savage No 4 Mk I* dropped into the Lot Valley by parachute. The STEN Mk II fell into the Gironde region with 48 rounds of 9mm ammo in a paper carton. The 250 round tin is Winchester-made .303 British ball. The canvas bag contains a BREN light machine gun replacement barrel.

More, including a detailed description of all the explosive kit, in my column at Guns.com.

« Older Entries Recent Entries »