13 famous and salty quotations from the ultimate Marine, Chesty Puller.

(Commenting on the 22 Chinese divisions surrounding his First Marine Division. The First Marines successfully broke through Chinese lines and advanced south, destroying seven of the Chinese divisions in the process.)

“There are not enough Chinamen in the world to stop a fully armed Marine regiment from going wherever they want to go.”

You can make a functioning single-shot 12 gauge shotgun for $20 worth of parts with hardly any skill at all.

Steve Johnson takes a knowledgeable guess:

I would expect CMP 1911 pistols to be about 30-50% less than the current market price. The market price for WWII M1911 pistols is about $1000 – $4000+. $2000 seems to be the going price for Service Grade pistols.

Based on the market prices, the CMP’s pricing history and the the increase of supply that these pistols will bring to the market, my guesstimate pricing for CMP 1911 pistols are:

Grade Price
CMP Rack Grade 1911 Price – *
CMP Field Grade 1911 Price $750
CMP Service Grade 1911 Price $850
CMP Special Grade 1911 Price $1100
Other ** $1800 +

* I do not expect there to be rack grade pistols for sale initially.
** Depending on what is in the Army inventory, there could be a range of rare pistols in their own categories, but not rare enough to go to auction.

I hope the prices will be lower than my estimates. I know many of you are hoping for $500 1911 pistols but I do not realistically expect this to happen. Modern 1911 pistols are popular enough in their own right without the added attraction of being military surplus.

the late 22-year-old burglar Matthew Riggins

Fox News:

A suspected burglar jumped in a Florida lake apparently hiding from law enforcement before an 11-foot alligator killed him, investigators said Monday. His hand and foot reportedly turned up inside the animal’s stomach.

Brevard County Sheriff’s Maj. Tod Goodyear says 22-year-old Matthew Riggins told his girlfriend he would be in Barefoot Bay to commit burglaries with another suspect. Authorities received calls Nov. 13 about two suspicious men in black walking behind homes and investigated. Riggins was reported missing the next day.

Goodyear said sheriff’s divers recovered Riggins’ body 10 days later in a nearby lake, and that the injuries suggested the alligator had pulled him below the surface. “He hid in the wrong place,” resident Laura Farris told Bay News 9.

Authorities said Riggins drowned and the alligator, which behaved aggressively toward divers, was trapped and euthanized.

the late 11-foot (3.35 m.) alligator resident of Barefoot Bay who ate him.

Uniform worn by Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Fridrikshald, 1718, at which he was killed.

Are you a Democrat, Republican or Southerner?

What do you do?

It isn’t easy making a case in favor of the second (the Japanese Arisaka comes in first) least desirable military rifle from the first half of the last century, but Endo-Mike does a great job here.

AR-15: You can melt it with a magnifying glass.
AK-47: Under a magnifying glass, you can see the ingrained dirt.
Mosin-Nagant: Under a magnifying glass, you can see the soaked-in BLOOD. …

AR15: Built with custom parts, nice trigger, all the bells and whistles $1500+
AK47: Modified with aftermarket and 1,000 rounds of ammo not even $1500
Mosin-Nagant: Stock, with 1,000 rounds maybe $300, meaning you get $1200 to spend on more beer …

AR15: Lots of fancy optics available
AK47: You can bolt some stuff to the side
Mosin-Nagant: Who cares about optics when the barrel is long enough to smack the enemy over the head without even leaving your foxhole. …

AR15: Invented 50 years ago by a consummate engineer
AK47: Invented 60 years ago by wounded tank sergeant
Mosin-Nagant: Invented 117 years ago by two drunks on a budget.

Read the whole thing. It’s long, but funny.