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The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

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  Introduction: If you get your news from just about anywhere except American television, then you probably know that there is some major happenings going on between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Like many conflicts, this one has been muddle immensely by the ultranationalist faction on either side, flooding social media with disinformation that makes their country look victorious. Although not strictly gun-related, I thought it was important to give a bit of an overview of the conflict, and try to sift through the misinformation to find out what is really going on. Taking an objective approach, the conflict is an interesting case study in modern warfare and the role that technology plays in 21st century warfare. I'm going to try and give some insight into the history of the area, what exactly is going on, and the wide-reaching externalities surrounding where the conflict is today. Details: The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is over a region called Nogorno-Karabakh, often just ca
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Beyond Stoner's AR-15

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  Introduction: Eugene Stoner and Jim Sullivan designed the AR-15 to be a lightweight, reliable rifle that could continue to run in fairly adverse conditions. The gas system of an AR rifle plays a huge role in its design. The quasi-direct-impingement gas system that Stoner designed has proven itself to be reliable enough for combat around the world. The buffer tube and bolt carrier group provide a soft, straight recoil impulse that is notoriously easy to control. This all being said, companies are continuing to iterate on the original AR-15 design and seeking to improve it further.  Details: One of the most popular design changes made to AR-15's has been in the gas system. Multiple different companies have converted AR-type rifles from their original configuration to some sort of gas-piston system. The most popular conversion I've seen is a short-stroke gas piston system. I think the most famous of these systems is the one in the HK 416. The HK 416 utilizes a short-stroke gas p
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Gun Rights and the 2020 Election

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  Introduction: Every time I think that the craziness of 2020 is chilling out a bit, something new happens that just ramps things up to a new high. With the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the stakes of the 2020 election are even higher than before. A spot on the supreme court can have long lasting implications far beyond the next presidential term. This means that the future of controversial topics, such as the second amendment, are very uncertain right now. Leading up to RBG's death, I was fairly confident in the state of the 2nd Amendment. With a new voter bloc of gun owners coming in the wake of the national unrest, I thought that gun owners could feel secure in that politicians were not going to make further moves on the 2nd Amendment. This is not the case any more. Without a pro-gun conservative in the court replacing RBG, we don't know which way the court is going to lean the next time a gun-related issue comes up. New methods of restricting gun owners are already
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Ammo: Brass or Steel Cased?

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  Introduction: Firearms are not a cheap hobby. They get even less cheap if you actually shoot them. Especially nowadays, ammo is the largest recurring expense when it comes to firearms. Lots of people solve this problem by using cheap, steel-cased ammo instead of traditional brass. This has lead to a whole slew of myths and rumors regarding the quality of steel cased ammo. Some shooters even choose to avoid the stuff all together for fear of damaging their guns. I'm going to try and go into some of the myths and some of the truths around steel cased ammo vs. brass cased. There is a significant difference between the two, and there are definite advantages and disadvantages to both, so lets get into it. Details: The first question that needs to be answered is, why use brass in the first place? There are other materials, such as steel that can do the job for much cheaper while not adding significant weight and resisting corrosion better. The answer comes from something c
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The Colorado Coalfield War

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Introduction: Because today is Labor Day in the US, I wanted to use today to look at a historical event related to organized labor in the US. The late 19th and early 20th centuries ushered in the dawn of the labor movement. With the Industrial revolution having tamed much of the west and created a massive new class of worker, the United States as a nation was grappling with where this new class fit into society. These new industrial workers worked long, hard hours is often extremely unsafe conditions. There were no organizations or regulations focused on safety or a worker's wellbeing, so much of this new labor class was mistreated or abused by company owners and their foremen. This lead to workers organizing into unions. These unions allowed workers to band together to bargain for collective concessions from company owners and industry leaders. Union efforts led to things we see as normal today such as weekends or the 40-hour work week. Because of their origins, labor organization
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Pistol Red Dot Sights

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Introduction: Innovations surrounding pistols have been largely stagnant for decades. Most modern pistols are derivatives of either the Browning High Power or the Glock. Sighting systems have also been the same since the invention of pistols in general. The overwhelming majority of pistols use a simple notch in the rear and a post in the front, with three white dots. Over the years, there have been some variants of this, including sights with glow-in-the-dark painted dots, or tritium inserts for shooting in low-light. Things are different now though, Nowadays, red dot sights that became incredibly popular on rifles have gotten smaller in smaller. They've gotten small enough, in fact, that red dot sights can now easily be mounted to the slide of a pistol without adding significant weight. Details: Pistol red dots have come a long way in a short amount of time. In the early 2000's, the idea was fairly new and limited. The first pistol red dots were essentially just r
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What's Going on with Ammo?

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  Site: SGAmmo.com Introduction: If you're into guns, and enjoy shooting them, then you know that ammunition prices have gone through the roof this year. Standard M193 ball 5.56 ammunition that could be found for around $0.23 a round in 2019, now can only be found at insane prices if it can be found at all. Shares of Vista Outdoors, the parent company of brands such as Federal Premium, CCI, and Bushnell, have quadrupled since the low point in March. What I want to try and do tonight is break down some of the reasons that the ammo supply has seemingly dried up and why shooters are stuck paying multiple times more than they did a year ago. There are a lot of things that play into this, but I want to try and look at some specific causes and the effects that they're having.  Details: One of the major reasons for the apparent ammo shortage is the fact that it's 2020. Not just because 2020 has been the most eventful year in recent memory, but also that 2020 is an election year wi
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