Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Not just pointless, but actively stupid.

It seems another company is selling felonies-in-a-box for the AR.

Out of the host of dumb things I've seen hung under a carbine barrel, this one takes the cake.

The most plausible and least stupid are grenade launchers. And by "grenade launchers" I mean actual M203 grenade launchers. Those 37mm flare things you see on folks' guns at shows may be fun, but they just have a bit too much whiff of "airsoft poser" for me to want to put one on my own gun. I can't figure out what it is supposed to do.

Next silliest are shotguns. I mean, sure the short-barreled shotguns look silly and are about as useful on a civilian carbine as a screen door on a submarine, but they do kind of make sense for breaching use in those lines of work where things get breached. (...and paint me a scenario where you're actually going to need a breaching weapon if your first name isn't "Spc.")

Dumber even than that is the M4-mounted Taser. I understand the desire for a handy less-lethal weapon, but is putting a second trigger on your plenty-lethal carbine the way to do it? One finger launches an electrified barb and the other launches a 75gr Hornady TAP: "Gee, Chief, I didn't mean to centerpunch Mrs. Johnson like that. I was just trying to calm her down with the taser..." You don't want pink mist when all you wanted was some compliance.

But this pistol doohickey? That's like a kickstand on a tank. I have sat here and scratched my head for fifteen minutes and can't think of a single thing it makes better. It makes the carbine heavier and slower to point, more likely to hang up on crap, it shoots about a foot below the sights at point-blank range and much further out than that, well, you might as well throw rocks... What does it do? What possible function is it supposed to perform? And what is rigidly covering that Glock's trigger guard so that an errant fastex buckle or leafy twig doesn't get really noisy?

(H/T to Unc.)

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Just 'cause it can be done does NOT mean it should be." is what came to mind....

wordver: "wertho" ....as in "this would be worth, oh.... less than nothing. You could not pay me to put that on a gun.

Anonymous said...

so i take it you've not seen the chainsaw yet?

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Gun-Nut-Makes-Real-GoW-Lancer-Rifle-13757.html

-SayUncle

Tam said...

I'm not counting the chainsaw, as it doesn't even pretend to be "tactical".

Vote For David said...

Col. Cooper had the answer to your questions years ago:

"What's it for?"

"To sell, of course!"

Drang said...

"Oh, but the original website sez 'Israeli Weapons', so it must be good!"

Tam said...

"Israeli" has to be the best sucker-bait word in the TactiCool marketplace. Well, except for "Tactical" itself...

Ken said...

Oh, suuuuuure, make jokes about kickstands on tanks, but did you ever try to pick up a tank what fell over? Well, did ya???!!?

Bet your next tank would have a kickstand.

Crustyrusty said...

Smart money would forget about all that dumb shit and buy more ammo :p

Anonymous said...

Thank you, I needed the laugh this morning. Don't think I've laughed this hard since I discovered Day-by-Day.

Can't wait to see somewhere on the web, or at a gunshow, for someone to add this to the Masters of 3-5-7-9 weapons crap.

The AR-and-Glock reminds me of some of the "fighting knives" I've seen. YEESH!

word verificatin "catin," as this AR-and_glock is what the cat dragged in. Can't make it up. Jim.

Home on the Range said...

I'll take my phaser with just the one setting please. Haven't needed "stun" since Ferenge Night at the local watering hole.

Anonymous said...

If it is Israeli, then don't you have to have the pistol unloaded?

Oy, veh, Moshe, the mushugina goyim will buy anything.

Shootin' Buddy

Anonymous said...

Aye, "Israeli" is the Mall Ninja equivalent of what "European" is to portly suburban housewives. I'm pretty sure it's the two types breeding with each other that leads to teenagers whom spray themselves down with half a can of body spray before they can go out. That crap's the new High Karate.

Anonymous said...

On the one hand I tend towards the answer of "Because someone somewhere likes it and wants one just because he wants one, and that's a perfectly acceptable reason."

On the other hand I just have to say "what the hell?"

Anonymous said...

It does look like the site is accualy doing buisness out of Israel they also that the glock sholder stock and the magizine as a front hand grip adapter both of which would get you unwanted attension from the BATFU.
Joat

Anonymous said...

"What does it do?"

"It doesn't do anything! That's the beauty of it!"

Unknown said...

I love to see stuff like that. It makes me feel so smart and reasonable.

Anonymous said...

I...what...it's...uh.

I think I'm stupider for having looked at it.

Anonymous said...

Looks like a good way to get killed or arrested to me.

J.R.Shirley said...

I can actually describe a perfectly good reason for such a thing. I discussed it with Jen a few years ago.

But I won't share it here, in the the clear.

Anonymous said...

I spent 2 years working with the Israelis on the TAVOR project at Continental Machine. An utter piece of crap weapon by the way, like all bullpups, and wildly overengineered.

But since the typical Israeli reservist spends most of his time in an APC and can't hit anything past 50 meters anyway (not my quote, check the Israeli Special Forces website), I suppose it will do.

However, a very kind and intelligent people, and a barrel of fun to be with.

But the arguments, the mass confusion, the constant changes and sidetracks were, at best, a source of dry amusement. A cross between a Marx brothers flick and an explosion in an Italian cathouse.

To get the project back on track the Israeli army sent over a retired General, a seriously tough old cocker named Max Gadnir, whom I would put up against any American field officer I've seen for sheer crust and efficiency. Things got done after that.

But, for all the tremendous efficiency of their regular forces, a truely remarkable bunch of people, it's a serious mistake to confuse that group with the entire population.

They're about the most likeable group of people I have had the pleasure of meeting, but with a full share of dingleberries, same as anyone else.

Fortunately, their competition, while long on nasty, is usually far shorter on brains.

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize that "Israeli" was a new buzzword. Pshew. I'm so out of the loop here, but also happy to discover that I'm inadvertently cool by using bad ass, bleeding edge Tactical Israeli Gunpowder.

atlharp said...

"New from Rube Goldberg Tactical!"

Man, wouldn't a holster just be cheaper?

closed said...

That's like a kickstand on a tank.

See what happens?

Tam said...

What do you expect when you let Renault design and build a tank?

B Smith said...

Okay, having laughed at Ken's comment, and even harder at KBarrett's link (and lest you think that this is simply the French being French): Yes, I've seen a tank- or at least an M113 PC- rolled onto its top. This was accomplished by two members of the 3rd ACR, Ft. Bliss TX, in the early 90s, who decided to race in the desert. One ran full speed up the side of a sand dune at an angle. The rest, as they say, is old war stories.
If it'd had a kickstand, the Cav would've removed it to make their PC lighter and faster :-D

Anonymous said...

"Armored Cavalry." Heh. If you really could armor cavalry, then you'd need a kickstand for the horse. Still, not as bad as the parachute packs the real Air Cav would require...

Matt G said...

Actually, racking my brain a tad, I can come up with a scenario or two, just like John. That doesn't mean that the ability to meet those situations overrides the drawbacks to such a, uh, weapon system.

And, like John, I don't think I'm going to bring 'em up here in the clear, because then I'll be attributed as being in support of this setup, for those reasons.

Tam said...

Hells bells, y'all both have my phone number! Now I'm really racking my brain...

Anonymous said...

But, but, but, it just looks sooo cooool dangling down across my chest on its single point threeway slingie-strappy-thingy bouncing on my multi-camo-patterned clip-holding thinga-ma-jigs....
emdfl
Mall-Ninja wanna be

Matt G said...

You gots ours, too, lady! (Been meaning to call for weeks, BTW.)