Meme-of-the-Day

 

By way of follow-up (regarding China)

A lot of the problems that China experiences today, setting aside the male-female ratio that makes every party a sausage-fest; the Russians that severely mistrust them to the north, the problems of feeding 1.3 billion, etc., focus on perceptions.

What has the Chinese public been told to expect and what can the communist government actually deliver? In a democracy,  there is only so much that the government can deliver. Market forces are not completely controlled by the central government, etc.  The expectations are different. In the Arizona mountains, people would really prefer that the government stays in Phoenix or DC. That’s not true (not completely true) in China.

Chinese worker’s wages have seen a MASSIVE increase. Thus it’s not profitable for overseas concerns to manufacture there. The man-on-the-street expects to see those wages continue to climb, and if they don’t who is there to blame but the government? These sorts of expectations are not trivial matters. Chinese companies look for other markets (such as those in Mexico) to manufacture, and much of the profit earned there is NOT returned to the mother country.  When the manufacturing leaves China, so does the profit, often based on capitalization from the Bank of China. So it goes.

 

Back when Mass. had the Death Penalty

On this day in 1726, William Fly was hanged for piracy in Boston, Massachusetts.

William Fly had a very short piratical career that began in April of 1726, when he signed on to sail aboard the Elizabeth, captained by John Green and destined for West Africa.

During the voyage, Fly led a mutiny that resulted in Capt. Green being thrown overboard and Fly being elected the new captain. The pirates under Fly changed the ship’s name from Elizabeth to Fame’s Revenge and set a new course for the Carolinas, and eventually New England.

They captured five ships before they themselves were captured and sentenced to be hanged at Boston Harbor. Fly reportedly approached the gallows with disdain, even chastising the hangman for doing a poor job with the noose. Fly allegedly re-tied the noose and placed it around his own neck before exclaiming a warning to all captains to treat their sailors kindly and pay them well.

“Our Captain and his Mate used us Barbarously. We poor Men can’t have Justice done us. There is nothing said to our Commanders, let them never so much abuse us, and use us like Dogs.” After Fly’s execution, his body was gibbeted in Boston Harbor as a warning to other sailors of the risks of turning to a life of piracy.

Today piracy is celebrated on American streets. How things have changed.

 

 

The Mosin

Every Finnish Mosin regardless of the model needs to have tag on it requiring that it not be sold for more than what it’s worth, irrespective of what yuppies and nerds are willing to pay.

I know. I know that it’s accurate. You’ve ALSO seen the 9-Hole Reviews video where a Henry pushes it to 1,100 meters and it hits steel. I get it.

It’s still a Mosin.

All of the glitz and glamour fades away once you try to open the bolt and spend the better part of 20 seconds bashing it with your hand until you get just enough force for it to recock, unlock and then MAYBE spit the empty case out.

Because of the interrupter. Be blessed that the Finns mostly swapped out the original M1891 interrupter for the M91/30 three-piece one.

When the Finns gained independence, the issue of self-defense was brought up, as it usually is, no matter who your are or where you are. The Soviet Union was not happy to lose former Russian territory, irrespective of whether it was actually Russian or not. To a Russian, if the border adjoins Great Russia, it’s a buffer state.

Protecting the country against Russia’s re-acquisition was going to be critical if Finland wished to remain independent. However, there was not a huge budget to work with, they needed a pragmatic solution. They found a mountain of M1891′s both in their own arsenals and in arsenals across Europe and got the idea to just fix them. Starting with the M91/24, the Finns updated their Mosins through a variety of models like the M28, M30, and finally the M38 Ukko-Pekka. Used through the Winter War, Continuation War, and Lappland War, the Finns would mostly retire these to rear line troops in the 1960′s and 1970′s. With that, they’d naturally bleed onto the surplus market and sell.

Which is how they came to the attention of American Millenials who thought that paying $750 for an ancient Mosin was a good idea, or even possibly, an investment.

As with the K31, the big draw of these was that they were dirt cheap upon initial importation, but now that ship has slipped the anchor and sailed.

Full disclosure, the Finnish Mosins are the best Mosins you’re going to get. There are little details that make Finnish models better than the Red Army leftovers. The clean sights, the free-floated barrel, a functional two-stage trigger set the Finnish models apart. All in all, the critical flaw of this rifle is that it is a Mosin. The action is still terrible/junk. Remember that. At $50.00-$100.00, it’s not a bad purchase.

When people didn’t have firearms (yet). There were still quality issues.

 

Communist Map

Progressives want to add to the map. You’ll note that Venezuela didn’t make the map. Apparently, it’s not commie enough, and the fact that they use their currency as toilet paper isn’t appealing to the Left and big corporations when they gaze into that crystal ball.

 

Progressives Explore what they Hate

 

And then there are also DUMBS

Not dum-dums.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

46 COMMENTS

  1. I was never interested in the Moisin-Nagant. Always seemed like there were plenty of nice used guns for cheap, so I never felt the need to settle for old Russian junk. I understand that prices are up these days, though.

    Mach One underground, eh? Pretty snazzy.
    Doesn’t help their case that half of the footage is of midwestern underground business parks and storage facilities in disused mines and quarries.

    -Kle.

      • That was very kind of you to only say ‘well over’ as bupkis. My take is more like Ivory Soap percentage.

        One of the more startling things living with my father, who was rather ‘bland’ and ‘no commentive’ about a whole heck of a lot of things, was watching the original “Andromeda Strain” and him dropping “Well, they got that right” quietly under his breath during the intro to the base. Upon which, when questioned, he went ‘Totally Bland.’

        Duh. Underground bases. Everywhere. And guess what? You can buy some of them. The nicer ones were built for Corporate America, of course.

        Even better, go buy a surplus phone building built before or around WWII. That were required by fed law to be built to take hits by 500lb bombs. But that’s a seeeeecreeeeet… Woooooooo (insert wiggly fingers making spooky motions….)

        • One went vacant near where I used to live. Five stories down. I tried to make an offer to AT&Ts real estate people. No go.

          • The AT&T facility in Gardena by the 91/110 interchange is a very “interesting” structure.

            So is the “Air Force Base” on El Segundo Blvd. Conveniently located across the street from the Aerospace Corporation.

            DAMHIK…..

  2. I see a lot of Mosins at the range, mostly rifles but occasionally one of the f̶l̶a̶m̶e̶t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ carbine version. I’ve tried them and all you said was true. Would I buy one? Only for <$100. The K-31 you mentioned is a much nicer rifle though its price has really climbed as well.
    Always wanted to know the true names of cartridge components were.

    • The prices associated with arms and ammo are all crazy high. With some you get a useful return.

  4. D.U.M.B. Supposedly one under Denver International Airport. I have no personal knowledge yea or nay. If so, given how F****ed up the place is, doubt it is a threat to anyone but the users.

    • Lots of weird stuff out there, as prescribed by our ruling class at the time, i.e Pena’ and Romer. Bums.

    • There is a series of ‘secret’ facilities under DIA. Used by… DIA personnel to get around. Like the ‘secret’ tunnels under Disney World.

      Now the murals at DIA? Seriously, WTF? That’s some weird arsed shite right there.

      • DC is honeycombed. True of Vegas as well. The same is true of Metro Salt Lake City, a church thing. So is Vatican City.

        • Got lucky a few years back and invited on a tour of the LDS underground archives by a bidness associate who was related to one of their historians. They’re serious about conservation and preservation of their records, artifacts, etc., very serious indeed.

      • Many large industrial facilities have extensive “tunnels” under them. Usually to connect the basements together and provide easy access between facilities in inclement weather. Fermilab had tunnels everywhere, and they were nice to use in the wintertime. The Frot MacArthur/White’s Point area is quite literally honeycombed with tunnels left over from when Fort Mac was a Coastal Defense Artillery Base, and then later a Nike site. One of my radio clubs was allowed into most of them on a special tour, and we had access to the entire site during Field Day activities there. Fascinating stuff, and there’s WWI, WWII, and Cold War Era stuff that was just abandoned-in-place as the facility grew.

        The murals at DIA are rather strange, but the big blue horse with the lit up red eyes (“Blucifer”) is a bit over the top…..

        • The Demon Horse…disgusting to welcome people, shoulda been a Remington. Backstory is when almost finished with the statue it fell on him, killing him instantly. Poetic? Hard to know. Good thing is we’ve given up flying until – not holding our collective breath – the airlines shake off their self-imposed idiocy and the general public gets their head screwed on right.

          • Yes, I’ve heard that story about the sculptor, too. A large “Bronco Buster” would have been most excellent, although these days “End of the Trail” might be more apt.

  5. Progressives don’t like loud noises, unless it’s from their pals in the inner-city criminal class.

    The Floyd “monument shrine thingy”, erected by the reprobates, was struck by lightening and summarily toasted to a crisp…God was not happy so did a little smiting thru Gaia. The Prog’s aren’t seeing or listening to the warning…their collective ears are closed so can’t hear the warning shot across their delusional bow.

    Waiting for some MSM moron to state that “since God is white this was an act of racism.”

    Can we place them all in the D.U.M.B. facilities…the ones waay under water?

  6. Ah, the Garbage Rod gun. Everything bad about MilSurp in one heavy, cosmoline covered, conglomeration of wood and metal.

    It used to be worth it because if one broke, eh, go buy another at $50.00. So when you flip your snowmobile, again, and break your garbage rod, again, you can just go to your cabin and grab another out of the corner.

    But $750 for Imperial/Soviet/Finnish… junk? That’s the max I’d pay for a Garand or an M1 carbine. Not for a bad bolt-action rifle.

    Subtle hint. If your action is copied by just about everyone, including the enemy (who has to pay you for patent infringement during a damned war,) then the action is a good one. So, well, Mauser… Still a premium action, what, 120 years after being designed?

    The garbage rod’s action? Has anyone ever copied it for a sporting arm, or an African bush arm? Willingly? I mean, even Finland, which gave us the wonderfully beautiful Sako actions, only used and made Mosins because the damned guns were ‘there’ and ‘cheap’ and ‘common.’

    Still, if I had a couple hundred and the opportunity to buy one or two and a couple crates of ammo, well… yeah… But I’d rather have a Krag or a Springfield or a K98 if I was going bolty.

  7. And hand-to-hand weapons? It’s always nice to have a backup when your high-tech, super-machined boom stick runs out of ammo or breaks.

    Still prefer to use a sword or a spear than a garbage rod with a bayonet.

        • Put a long bayonet on it and it’s an acceptable alternative to a spear.

          Still just rather have a spear, or a halberd, or bill hook. But a good boar spear? Now that’s a cutting and slashing weapon!

          Tried Bayonet manual with Garbage Rod. Sucked. With an Enfield, meh. With a Springfield, nice. With a Garand, really nice. With a K98, really nice. Arisaka, very nice.

          If the weapon feels like an unbalanced log in your arms without a bayonet, well, it’s gonna suck as a bayonet-handle.

          The only thing the Mosin and the Enfield have going for them is their butt-stocks are usually strong enough to do a good belly-punch.

          Still rather have US milsurp, or even Kraut milsurp, or pre/early war Jap milsurp.

          Heck, even that Italian milsurp, proven killer up to 300 yards! Not as nice with a bayonet, being a tad short and light.

  10. You have a very good knack for putting things into words that I’ve pondered about. It gives excellent insight to what’s going on with the ChiComs. President Trump was making good progress at bring back the offshored jobs and factories, and then POOF! SloJo gets into office, and four years of hard work evaporates in six months.

    “Piracy” on American streets? Yeah, I guess looting and lawlessness are forms of piracy.

    One of my nephews has a Mosin-Nagant. I have little to no experience with these. I shot it a few times at the range and thought it was “OK”, but I don’t know which model it was.

    Communism…Never Has Worked, Never Will Work.

  11. Never had the urge to buy a Mosin. I have shot them but did not really care for them. Might buy an AK one of these days if the prices ever head back toward sensible. On the other hand I am still kicking myself for giving away a .303 British that I had bought at Canadian Tire back in 1972. Didn’t think I would be able to find ammo for it when I came back to the US in 75. I charge it up to the ignorance of youth.

    • Those old Enfields might take on a patina with age, but they remain potent weapons. As with all others, the prices are insane. It’s easier to reload those that to buy.

      • They were pretty beat up surplus and kept about 20 to a barrel in the Canadian Tire sporting good department. Can’t remember the exact price but it was under $40.00 Canadian so at that time definitely under $50.00 USD. It did shoot straight enough to shoot a moose which is what I wanted it for. Like I said “ignorance of youth”.

    • I’m obviously not a fan either. I can’t imagine taking one to war. I have a friend who machines them and when he’s done putting many hours of work polishing and replacing the barrels with new, custom barrels, they’re ok. Not my favorite round, not my favorite design, but they do function.

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