Ballistic February - March 2023

THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that manufacturers are producing more and better guns today than ever before, and some that are quite unique and futuristic. Take the Magpul/Zev foldaway FDP-9, featured on page 20, as a great example: One second it’s an inconspicuous black box, the next a fighting firearm with a 9mm payload of 17+1 rounds. Or how about the E-Shotgun Coil Accelerator featured on page 28. Without the use of gunpowder or compressed air, this “gun” uses magnets to sling 275-grain metal discs at a rate of about 10 rounds per second, and there’s no doubt further technological advances will only improve upon it from here. The future seems bright, right? Not so fast. While technology gets ever greater and firearms are improving year by year, there’s another side to the story.…

This issue’s question: Make $200K/year working for Bloomberg’s Everytown For Gun Safety (for life) or be stuck indefinitely in a minimum wage job but working with people who are like-minded about gun rights? The online vote count was pretty lopsided with two-to-one voting for taking Bloomberg’s money but secretly working against the company. The losing side said they simply could not compromise on their principles, no matter what the price. Favorite comments: Matheus@The_Szience “200k and buy all the guns the minimum wage guys talk about. I don’t talk to ppl at work anyway and prefer to be left alone. Also, donate some to Gun Owners Of America.” Chuck Cowherd “Money can not let you sleep at night.” Matthew Tucker@HerrArschmann “I’d rather live in a world where I’m not bound by these two miserable choices. Minimum wage? Can’t…

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan just returned for season 3 on Prime Video. This season finds him “out in the cold” with some pencil-neck boss at the CIA accusing him of treason. The action and tension we have come to expect are back again, and Jack is certainly getting better at killing people with a lot fewer moral qualms. I’m not sure if I’m getting old and senile or if I should make it more of a point to only watch when I’m not in my cups, but the first four episodes had me scratching my head and asking, “And why are these people after him again?” or, “Where did he get that phone?” or, “How did he know to go there to meet someone?” A good television critic would go…

Beer in the winter never quenches the way it does in summer. I tend to lean more toward sipping a mixed drink when it is chilly outside. When I do have a pint, it better be something pretty good all by itself. I found myself in Vegas with an afternoon to kill last winter and happened upon Hop Nuts Brewing. They have two locations, but I was at the one in Tivoli Village that was a little upscale for my taste. The place had a few dogs in the place, so I figured they would let me in, too. Angela talked me into the Green Mamba, a green tea-infused double IPA. It’s a truly unusual beer. It was very smooth, hoppy, but not bitter. The green tea finish was what…

I recently found out that a personalized Bobble Head is now within the budget of almost every man. For less than $100, a number of companies will take your face and then stick it on any one of hundreds of pre-designed bodies. For more money, you get to design the body too. I’m thinking this will be the perfect Christmas gift that I can hand out next year. The question is, what outfit would I pick that most represents me? SWAT gear and a rifle? Typing another “Brew Ha Ha” column at my computer? Ability to process grain alcohol into simple urine at superhuman speed? World’s Greatest Dad to those two or three kids…I forget their names. No to all those. I definitely would just want to commemorate my brief…

After 21 years of solid, personal service, my Tacoma finally needed more in repairs over the last year than it would cost for a year of car payments. My wife, who is equally unsentimental about me, said it had to go. The dealership had zero new Tacomas, but about a dozen used ones. The salesman said the only way to get a new one was if someone who ordered it a year ago decided to back out of buying it. Fortunately, this happens semiregularly. On the plus side, the new ones cost less at full sticker than the used ones with 15K-30K miles. “Simple supply and demand,” the salesman told us. So, I decided to buy a new one each month and then sell it the following month for more…