The Ranting Thread

[Mikey]

So, it doesn't seem like my week wanted to get any better, and it's already predicted that next week is going to suck as well. I have over 14 chapters from all my classes to read, a research paper due Tuesday, 2 midterms, and a test on Wednesday...... And I have no caffeine as of right now.... this is all going to kill me! ><

Hmm. In New Jersey, we have all sorts of places where you can buy coffee... either prepared, or ready to use in your own coffee maker. They even make this stuff called "instant coffee" now if you're not fussy about taste.

[Reliant121]

When your manager turns down someone for employment you know will be reliable and decent but instead employs...what is best described as an overgrown turnip simply because he/she happens to know them well.

[Tinadrin Chelnor]

When your manager turns down someone for employment you know will be reliable and decent but instead employs...what is best described as an overgrown turnip simply because he/she happens to know them well.

Since Adecco replaced Manpower as recruiters where I work, we've had that exact problem. Aside from the fact the bitch that "manages" the Adecco side of things is a useless ****, and pisses everyone off, the only people she bothers to employ are all friends or relatives, or friends of relatives! But there's a major storm brewing now, so maybe she won't be there much, longer.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Ah, nepotism and cronyism. One of the worse things that can happen in the workplace.

[Mikey]

OK, this might be a long one. Preface: after an act of vandalism on my property, I'm (very preliminarily) conducting some research into a new hobby. One of the things my research has turned up:

While one can hunt with JHP's in New Jersey (rifle and crossbow hunting were legalized in limited seasons less than a year ago) and shoot them at a range, one CANNOT use them in defense of one's home or property. Even off-duty out-of-state LE officers can't use them for carry. Similarly, one can't use unjacketed soft lead tips, either (which I assume includes cavity-tipped semi-wadcutters.) By now Deep, Tsukiyumi, and anyone else with a clue about firearms are banging their heads against a wall; for everyone else, I'll break it down.

The above law means that if someone has to shoot in defense of himself or his loved ones, he must either use a wadcutter - completely ineffective against anything besides a paper target, and impossible to aim accurately except on a range - or more "properly," full metal jacket bullets. This is a big problem because FMJ's are the exact WRONG type of bullet to use in home defense. They have the least potential to stop an assailant, and the greatest potential to overpenetrate (or penetrate walls) and hurt an innocent bystander - as well as the greatest potential to ricochet and similarly hurt an innocent. Ironically, the type of bullet with the least potential to overpenetrate and ricochet, and the highest chance for a one-shot incapacitation of an assailant, is JHP - the kind one can't use in Jersey.

Now, I'm considering a .357 magnum revolver, which I'd most likely use to shoot .38 special +P rounds. The best round for such a gun is either JHP or the "FBI load" - heavy, hollow-point semi-wadcutters... NEITHER OF WHICH I COULD USE, instead being forced to use a round with less potential for stopping a bad guy and more potential for hurting an innocent. Supposedly, Hornady Critical defense or Cor-Bon Pow'R Balls are legal, both of which use a JHP but filled with a polymer filling in the cavity, but the point isn't changed by the fact that a technological advance found an end-around... besides, both of those use bullets that are light enough to not have as effective terminal ballistics as an FBI load, and are light enough to not reliably shoot to point-of-aim as the 158-grain SWC-HP's.

Of course, the alternative could be OC (pepper) sprays, or stun guns/Tasers. Oh, wait, those are illegal in dirty Jersey too, as are batons etc. Maybe I could use my 3-1/4" puukko to fight of an attacker with a gun.

[Tsukiyumi]

Well, fuck. That is a load, for sure.

[Mikey]

Yeah, I don't understand. Make people fire more shots, which have a greater chance of hurting an innocent.

BTW, I just realized that I said that I have a 3-1/4" puukko.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Well, that's all right. I don't know what a puukko is. And that sucks, Mikey.

[Mikey]

Well, that's all right. I don't know what a puukko is. And that sucks, Mikey.

A puukko is a Finnish knife, used as a general purpose tool for carving, skinning/cleaning game, cleaning fish, woodcraft, etc., and a ubiquitous part of Finnish culture - so much so that even though there is a modern ban on carrying weapons, most laborers will wear one with nothing being said. During WWII, many Finnish soldiers used their puukkos brought from home in preference to their bayonets.

I've had it for a while, given to me by my dad who got from his, etc., etc. I had no idea what it was and couldn't decipher the inscription on the blade, so I assumed it was a fairly antique Polish hunting knife. Well, I did a bit more research and discovered that the pattern of the blade and hilt match an older form of puukko - following that, I found that the "erudite inscription" wasn't some archaic Polish script with a family motto, but simply the mark in Suomi of one of the more famous Finnish knifemakers. It has no fuller, and a relatively plain traditional birch handle with no quillons or choil, which seem to indicate an older (pre-WWI) model; but how it came to be in my family, I haven't the foggiest.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Okay... that actually sounds pretty cool, then.

[mwhittington]

Have you considered a .327 Federal Magnum? They have roughly the same ballistic characteristics as the .357 but with 20% less recoil. Or the Taurus Judge, which can shoot both .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun shells.

[Mikey]

I did notice that Ruger makes the GP-100 in .327 Federal magnum, but I don't really know too much about the round. I just thought a .357 mag revolver would allow the flexibility to shoot .38 special, .38 spl +P, or .357 mag all from the same gun. Using .410 shotshells from a handgun is only marginally useful for defending my property from very small snakes or clearing rats from a barn at ranges of 10 feet or less - neither of which is something I'd be doing - and completely useless for anything else. I had considered a Taurus 65 or 66, but the word is that they tend to lose some cylinder lock-up causing the action to freeze. With three true cylinder locks (instead of using the ejector rod to help lock the cylinder) and no sideplates, the Rugers are built strong enough that you don't have to think twice about a used one.

[Mikey]

BTW, aren't handguns chambered for shotshells subject to the same NFA regs as shotguns with barrels under 18"? I know Taurus pulled back the release of their 28-ga. revolver for that reason.

[Nickswitz]

Yesterday Zahmbe sat next to someone in one of the lounges at the college, and when the person who had that seat came in, he asked why his seat was taken, and the person who she was sitting next to, who was a good friend of hers, responded with "boobs" while pointing to her. Had he not been as close of a friend as he was I would have decked him for it, because I find it very offensive to equate a woman's presence to being nothing better than a pretty picture. She just is used to it, I don't care how used to it she is, I will talk to him today now that I have calmed down from it for the most part and if someone who isn't that close does it again, I will either ream them out terribly, which I've done before about other things, or I will hit them, depending on how bad my day has been.
I hate guys who can't be anything more than assholes.
And what pisses me of more about this kid specifically is that a couple weeks ago, he apperently told her that he felt like they were brother and sister because of how close they were and all that bullshit. To which, he's even more of an ass. Because to claim that your like someone's sister and then turn around and the best reason to keep them around is boobs, makes you a hypocritical piece of shit.

Ok, I'll step off my soapbox now.

[Jim]

BTW, aren't handguns chambered for shotshells subject to the same NFA regs as shotguns with barrels under 18"? I know Taurus pulled back the release of their 28-ga. revolver for that reason.

I want a 410 derranger...