Q&A 22: Travel and More

I have a TSA story! I had visited Pearl Harbor and got a pen shaped like a 30.06 bullet. At the airport, after checking my bags, I noticed that the pen was in my carry-on instead of the checked bag like I had planned. I let a TSA agent know about it before the security check. He seemed annoyed and said I needed to mail it to myself. He showed me to the mail booth and asked if I needed a pen. I already had one.

1:10:53 "Germany took me by surprise..." They've been known to do that.

That “Bert” conversation would have been priceless to listen in on. “So you have flown here from the US to stay with a man called Bert whom you met on the internet? Is he good looking?” LOL.

After saying "There's not a whole let else to do in Leeds" Ian McCollum has been made a freeman of Lancashire.

Finland under snow is a must Ian, so much of the culture only comes out to play when it's cold.

I talk with Robert, the son of the owner of Ohio Ordnance, and the guy who designed the HCAR, quite often. The HCAR is definitely not out of production and they’re pumping them out like crazy

I've literally been a viewer since 2014 and I absolutely love what you're doing, but I'm finally decided to become a patron. Keep up the good work, Ian

Parts kits = my life. It sucks they get cut up, but it presents some cool opportunities for handy people. Half of my interest in firearms is building. And not just assembling like AR tinker toys, but actually laying out, cutting, welding, filing, finishing, and then shooting the reborn gun. Not everybody at the range has a Sten or Swedish K!

Re: bullpups, one advantage to them which seems to be often overlooked is that they offer a drastically reduced moment of inertia around the axis of the shoulder or central torso of the shooter. As a consequence, they're easier to use when changing targets quickly, and make the shooter more stable (there's a good study on this by Stone et al., 'Biomechanical and Performance Implications of Weapon Design'). This is because they are both shorter and also move the heavy parts close to the shoulder. This also means they're easier to use one-handed, if the shooter needs to manipulate a door or drag a heavy item/comrade while firing. One downside is that this also means they're a bit harder to aim accurately at longer ranges. They're more susceptible to the shooter twitching. The shorter length also means that even on a bipod, they're more susceptible to twitching and harder to aim than a conventional rifle.

I am eagerly awaiting that Inrange video on the SKS/M1 Modernized.

On the need for ambidextrous rifles: Don't know if this is still a common doctrine, but back in the late 90's we trained on both right- and lefthanded shooting specifically for fighting in built-up areas. Shooting lefty when rounding a right-hand corner lets you make more efficient use of cover. I still do that today, when qualifying on a police-issue MP5 and shooting past a right-hand barricade. Having bullpups that pelt you in the face with brass when switching shoulders would be bad for all soldiers in this situation, not just the lefties.

I have collapsible stocks on many of my rifles solely because my wife shoots them sometimes. Also I'm operator AF.

I like adjustable stocks between wearing armor and not. It helps, especially with scopes that have small eyeboxes. I think bayonet lugs are more useless.

All those poor Thompson gun receivers that are now scrap metal...

having a small biz that used to deal with large corps i would have done the same thing as the range and wanted my money up front. So many times 60 days became 6 months and sometimes inquiries became " sue us" . Great show as always

53:30 this aged perfectly :-D who would have guessed russian imaginary battle armor will bring full power rifle rounds back...

20:45 This is basically the process of legally building your own guns which is also why the 3d printed gun stuff is such a hotly contested thing here in the states. If the laws change on building your own guns for your own uses legally here because of 3d printing gun scares, we can no longer do things like this. This matters greatly to hobbyists and milsurp enthusiasts.

Russians don’t need safeties. If Ivan gets hurt, one can always get a new Ivan.

If I remember correctly, the Dreyse was a great contributor to Prussian victory over the Austrians but the Prussians also had a much more effective use of rail and telegraph, having learned from the American Civil War

Thank you for answering my question! Very insightful!