I am posting about this because it is self defense related.  Oakland California February 15, 2010 – 67 year old Thomas Bruso did everything possible to avoid confrontation, but still ended up having to take care of business because a guy just wouldn’t leave him alone.

The incident:

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I saw this ad in the March 2010 issue of GUNS Magazine:

Two things immediately struck me as odd:

1. It is being marketed as a good gun for home defense
2. The ad is targeting women

Maybe FN Herstal re-thought this advertisement after it was printed, because  http://www.fnhusa.com/FIVESEVENhomedefense6 does not go to any sort of relevant product page.

I don’t consider myself a ballistics expert by any means, but just like every other cartridge, I believe 5.7×28mm has its purpose.  In my opinion, close range home defense is not one of them.  I’d much rather have a bigger and slower round (9mm, .45 etc..) for that purpose, over a tiny fast one any day.   The way I look at it, is the bigger the wound(s) you create, the faster the fight is going to be over.

There is a common misconception that all 5.7×28mm rounds will penetrate body armor.  Although there are variants of the cartridge that will, they are not available to anyone outside of law enforcement.  In January of 2005 the ATF released a letter to the public outlining the capabilities of commercially available 5.76×28mm ammo.

The only relevant reason I can see for targeting women in this ad campaign is the fact that the 5.7×28mm round has less recoil than other popular home defense rounds.  The manageable recoil would allow for more accurate follow up shots.

The FN Five-Seven MSRP is $1317.19 (ouch!)

What do you guys think?

Lower receivers CNC machined from certified 7075 aluminum forgings and anodized per Mil-A-8625. Lower receivers are marked with “multi-use” for use of different calibers.

I had never heard of SI Defense until now.  I’m sure after this deal they will be a lot more well known, especially if the lowers are quality.

$500 for a custom logo though? LOL that seems a touch excessive!

$10 extra for clear anodizing, or $40 for colors is definitely reasonable though.

Too bad I already have more lowers than uppers   I’m sure they will have enough orders to keep them busy, without one from me.

SI Defense Webpage – HERE

Hat Tip: SayUncle

When checking through the boxes of ammo used, we found five or six other cases that had no rim, there was nothing for the extractor to grab hold of and therefore couldn’t extract the spent case causing a malfunction.

WOW that is not good…  This is why it makes sense to give your ammo a quick look over before you use it.  Can you imagine this rimless ammo in a self defense situation? You would almost certainly be dead.  There is no method I know of to quickly clear a casing that can’t even be grabbed by the extractor without using something to poke the casing out from the barrel end.

Will paranoia of this situation bring about a new carry product developed by Speer to fix such a situation?

Story: Police One

Hat Tip: SayUncle

Most of the pictures I had seen of short barreled shotguns were your typical Mossberg 500 or Remington 870’s… seen one you’ve seen them all.

But then I came across this:

It’s a sawed off Franchi – Renaissance Sporting 12 Gauge.  This bad boy sports dual 3″ chambers in an over-under configuration, top notch walnut furniture with well placed cut checkering, a gold-embellished trigger, and lots of engraved scroll work. MSRP – $2249

Here it is in its pure form:

I would love to be able to afford $2249 on a Franchi Renaissance Sporting to do this.  The unfortunate reality is that short barreled shotguns lack utility in everything but personal protection and home defense.  Spending that much money, only to hack off 50% of the gun, is reserved for those with deep pockets and strong stomachs.

Rob from TacticalYellowVisor.net has a few great comparison charts that he was kind enough to make public.

These charts cover all major brands, and should make it a lot easier to narrow down your next purchase based on your wants and needs.

• Comparison Chart of Major Brands of M4-Pattern Carbines
• Comparison Chart of Aimpoint Models
• Comparison Chart of Various Free-Float Rail Systems for AR-Pattern Carbines & Rifles
• Comparison Chart of Major Brands of 5.56 Sound Suppressors

Although these charts seem to be updated from time to time, they may not be right up to the current date.  They are meant as a guide, so do your own due diligence when finally deciding what to purchase.

On December 4th I blogged that DARPA was holding a competition (On Dec. 5th) where you could win $40000 in prize money.

My Predictions:

My guess is the correct answer is submitted in less than 30 minutes, on behalf of some sort of tightly knit organization.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I wonder if anyone is planning on playing dirty and attaching a bunch of fake decoy balloons at various locations throughout the U.S. … If that is the case then maybe my prediction of 30 minutes isn’t realistic.

The Winner:

The Red Balloon Team of M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

I find it unsurprising that M.I.T. won, considering the people that go there are obviously very intelligent.

What I do find surprising though is the lack of information released by M.I.T. or DARPA about the details on the network that was established that led to the win.

There is a useless PDF that the DARPA site links to – HERE and all it says it it took “less than 9 hours”.

The FAQ of the M.I.T. Red Balloon Team offers some insight into the process, but still doesn’t give any details about how many people ended up signing up and how they eventually won.

Kind of anti-climatic considering I thought there would be a lot of fake balloons launched, and other random hi-jinx.  Well maybe there was, but who knows, because like I mentioned earlier there seems to be absoultely no information about the progression of the contest.

Here is the map from DARPA on where they placed the 10 Balloons.  I wonder what their problem was with the central U.S.?

DARPA Network Challenge

The competition kicks off Dec. 5 at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, when DARPA ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ) will display 10 8-foot, red weather balloons at undisclosed, publicly accessible sites around the continental United States. The balloons will remain at their locations throughout the day, until sunset.

The first person to identify the precise latitudes and longitudes of all 10 balloons will win the prize money.

Norman Whitaker, deputy director of DARPA’s transformational convergence technology office, conceded that it would be nearly impossible for any one person to pinpoint every balloon within the designated timeframe. But if the competitors worked together as teams – using social networking forums made possible through the Internet – it is possible, he said.

My guess is the correct answer is submitted in less than 30 minutes, on behalf of some sort of tightly knit organization.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I wonder if anyone is planning on playing dirty and attaching a bunch of fake decoy balloons at various locations throughout the U.S. … If that is the case then maybe my prediction of 30 minutes isn’t realistic.

Good luck to everyone that is participating.

More information on the contest – HERE

New from SIG SAUER, the P250 2SUM!

You can now get complete out-of-the-box versatility with the SIG SAUER P250 2SUM. This offer provides you with a full-size P250, ideal for duty, home defense or sport, and all the components to rapidly convert it to the P250 Subcompact, a perfect conceal carry gun.

Two Glocks $1,200, Two M&P’s $1,160, Two XD’s $1,090, 2SUM from SIG, HUNDREDS LESS!

Enter the sweepstakes at SigSauer.com – HERE

There is an auction right now on Gunbroker where this package is going for $725 (BuyNow Price).. that seems like a damn good deal (if you don’t win the package in the Contest )

HatTip: SayUncleBlog

This video is entertaining, and the guy speaks the truth:

The Defense Department announced today the services’ implementation plans to provide retroactive stop loss special pay.  Active, reserve and former service members who had their enlistment extended or retirement suspended due to stop loss are eligible for this special pay, if they served on active duty between Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 30, 2009.

Service members may begin submitting their claim for retroactive stop loss special pay on Oct. 21, 2009.  In accordance with the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations Act, all applications must be submitted to the respective services no later than Oct. 21, 2010.  Eligible personnel will receive a payment of $500 per month for each month (or any portion of a month) that a member was retained on active duty due to stop loss. Applicants for retroactive pay who are no longer in the military had to be honorably discharged, and for those who were stop lossed in fiscal 2009, may only receive payment from one stop loss authority – either the money appropriated for stop loss special pay in the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, or the money allocated for retroactive stop loss special pay in the 2009 Supplemental Appropriations Act, but not both.

It’s Really good to see that they are doing this finally.  $500 extra a month isn’t a lot, but at least its something.

More info at DefenseLink.mil – HERE

Sage advice given by a law school professor and former criminal defense attorney:

I came across this today.  It has a very nice layout.  I wonder what some of these figures would be for 2009?

Source Jonathan Harris’ website – HERE