The Evolution Of The Magazine Pull

Magazine pulls or those attachments used to facilitate pulling a magazine out of the ammo pouch have certainly undergone quite an evolution.

It started with some soldier or marine who had the idea to use flattened 550 paracord to fashion an easier way to pull their magazines out of their Alice-clipped mag pouch.

Somewhere along the line, it advanced to making “e-pulls” using three pieces of flattened paracord along with duct tape. The center section was fused together using a household iron.

I don’t know if it was the first or second iteration that gave Richard Fitzpatrick the idea to create the original MagPul or not but create it he did. An entire company and industry followed from that.

The Magpul Ranger Plate in its many variations followed about five years later. It traded out the magazine’s original floor plate for a new one which incorporated the loop or pull. They are now made for a variety of magazine styles including the original aluminum GI mags and, of course, all the variants of the PMag. Other variations include the MagPod (not made by Magpul) which turned the Ranger Plate in a “foot” providing stability when shooting.

Just like as with immigrants where the first generation worked as laborers and each succeeding generation moved further and further away from manual labor, so, too, it is with magazine pulls. A Japanese airsoft company, Echigoya Guns & Military Hobby Shop, has created an “interesting” variation on the first-gen MagPul. It is the perfect fashion accessory for your tacticool AR.

As best as I can tell – given I don’t read Japanese – these sell for ¥1,000 – ¥1,200 or about $8 to $10 US at current exchange rates. Echigoya does have a website and they do take credit cards. These might make the perfect accessory to go with your Kalashnikitty t-shirt (if you can still find one).

Evolution Of US Army Camo Since 1981

The study of camouflage has long been of interest to me. Whether it is for military use or for hunting use, I am intrigued by the different sorts of camouflage out there. One of my favorite blogs has long been that of Professor Roy Behrens at the University of North Iowa who writes Camoupedia.

I recently came across the video below put out by Venture Surplus. It traces the evolution of US Army camouflage uniforms from ERDL up to today’s OCP aka Scorpion W2.

My own collection includes BDU Woodland, DCU or desert camouflage, the ill-fated UCP, and MultiCam aka OEF-CP.

“Concealed Carry Revolution”

I just brought in our mail and this arrived.

This is Prof. David Yamane’s newest work on the gun culture. In this case, specifically the growth of ordinary citizens exercising their right to bear arms.

I am looking forward to reading this as soon as possible.

The book is $11.95 on Amazon. Alternatively, if you would like a signed copy, you can sign up as an annual member to help support David’s research. Having roomed with David at the 2019 SHOT Show, I can attest he takes in-person research seriously as he was out the door to early morning meetings while I was still half asleep.

One way or another, buy the book and support his research!

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution And CSGV

There are times that I think that Josh Horwitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) gets his ideas from outerspace and there are times I think he channels his inner Maoist student revolutionary. Today it appears he is looking to Chairman Mao and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution for his inspiration.

The stated goal of the Cultural Revolution was to enforce orthodoxy and to wipe out those who deviated from it. In China’s case, it meant Communist orthodoxy. One of the hallmarks of the Cultural Revolution was the public denunciation of those who may have deviated from this orthodoxy. So it is with Josh Horwitz who would have made a good Red Guard.

Today, in his column in Huffington Post, he attacked not only Kurt Hofmann but those gun bloggers who have stood with him.


It would be tempting to dismiss Hofmann as an aberration — an isolated extremist with little ability to inspire actual acts of violence — except for two important factors. The first is that Hofmann’s disturbing call to use IEDs against American service members has been defended by a broad swath of the pro-gun movement. This includes statements of support from “The War on Guns” blogger David Codrea, “No Lawyers — Only Guns and Money” blogger John Richardson, the pro-gun Calumet Foundation, “Gun Free Zone” blogger Miguel Gonzalez, “Guns Save Life” blogger John Boch, “Days of Our Trailers” blogger Roy Kubicek (AKA “Thirdpower”), “Shall Not Be Questioned” blogger/NRA election volunteer coordinator Keith Milligan (AKA “Sebastian”) and “Of Arms & the Law” blogger David Hardy, among others.

Second, and more important, is the man that Hofmann himself cites in his blog (on four separate occasions) as the inspiration behind his scheme to empower “budding militia ordnance engineers”: former Alabama militia leader Mike Vanderboegh.

The real target of Horwitz is not Kurt and not the other gun bloggers. It is Mike Vanderboegh. Horwitz devoted as much time attacking Mike and his online novel Absolved as he did the rest of us. That Horwitz feels so threatened by a middle-aged man who is in tremendously poor health is telling.

After reading the post and the comments, it is obvious to me that they hate the First Amendment as much as they do the Second Amendment. To be more precise, Josh Horwitz and his erstwhile Red Guard believe in freedom of speech for themselves but not for those who deviate from their notion of orthodoxy. Those of us who deviate must be silenced, denounced, and made to confess our sins.

The ironic thing is that during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, as the child of a physician father and a research scientist mother, it would have been Josh himself who was expelled from school and his parents made to confess their sins against the proletariat.

Josh Horwitz is just as much a totalitarian thug as the rest of his minions at CSGV. No amount of education at “the better schools” will ever change that.

UPDATE: Joe Huffman is upset that he wasn’t listed among the gun bloggers by Josh Horwitz. Moreover, he does know a thing or two about blowing things up.

Counter-Revolutionaries

The Asheville area of Western North Carolina is a retirement mecca, a haven for hippies and other counter culture sorts, and a vacation destination for the Obamas.The Chamber of Commerce ran an ad campaign for years called Asheville: Altitude Affects Attitude.

The car of choice in Asheville for both hippies and registered nurses seems to be either the Subaru Outback Wagon or the Subaru Forester. It is often joked that there is a requirement to have at least one of the family cars be a Subaru if you live in Asheville

Bumpersticks are big in Asheville. One of the more popular bumpersticks in town is “Asheville Where Weird Is Normal”. Vying for popularity is “Coexist” where the letters are religious symbols for the major religions as seen below on a Subaru Forester.

About a year ago, SayUncle had a post about how Coexist bugged him. He linked to an alternative Coexist for gunnies composed of gun manufacturer’s logos.

I thought it was cool and showed it to the Complementary Spouse. Now she is a crafty one and can make something out of nothing in a heartbeat. So she took the picture, blew it up, printed it out on a color laser printer, and then laminated it. Instant bumpersticker! And given the politics of Asheville, a counter-revolutionary one at that.

We love tweaking the noses of the liberals and gun banners. The best thing about it – they don’t even realize it most of the time. She has explained the symbols to her more conservative co-workers who have to be somewhat closeted about their politics and they just smile.

New Products Released Today

A number of new products have been released today. They include a new trigger, a new innovative camo, and a specialty shotgun cartridge.

From Franklin Armory, makers of the binary trigger, comes the Trinary Firing System™. The video below shows just how it works. I’m sure it will please gun owners and infuriate anti-gunners.

From the Finnish company Varusteleka comes IanPat. This new camo pattern builds on the work done by Forgotten Weapons’ Ian McCollum.

Forget about those MultiCams and M05s already – brace yourself for the supremely historical and ultimately versatile camo pattern, IanPat! Together with Ian from Forgotten Weapons, we have developed this unique and innovative camouflage pattern that suits all terrains and needs.

Finally, from Fiocchi comes the Caw Caw Cawtridge. Available in 12, 20, 28, and .410 gauges, this shell is intended for crow hunting.

Engineered for maximum crow mortality, our new Caw Caw Cawtridge boasts a specially designed wad that delivers an exceptionally dense pattern in a shorter shot string compared to traditional shotshells. Through extensive research and development, we pushed the boundaries of innovation by not only enhancing the cartridges but also revolutionizing the packaging itself. Each box features an integrated App-based crow call with three popular calls: Feeding Crow, Fighting Crows, or Dying Crow, ensuring optimal results whether decoying birds in cornfields or hunting timber birds. Trust Fiocchi’s new Caw Caw Cawtridge to deliver devastating results against this uncanny foe!

When you absolutely, positively need to murder a murder, this is the cartridge for you!

As a reminder to everyone reading this post, remember the date.

Gaston Glock, 1929-2023

Gaston Glock, founder of Glock  Ges.m.b.H., died today at the age of 94.

Photo courtesy of Glock, Inc.

His company got its start in 1963 making curtain rods and then field knives for the Austrian military. His purchase of an injection moulding machine to make handle handles for his field knives gave him the experience with injection molded polymer. He took that knowledge and applied it to making a polymer pistol for the Austrian army. He received a patent for it in 1981 and it became known as the Glock 17. The rest, as they say, is history.

In announcing his death, the company said:

Make it simple, make it perfect.

Following this guiding principle, our founder, Gaston Glock not only revolutionized the world of small arms in the 1980s, but also succeeded in establishing the GLOCK brand as the global leader in the handgun industry. His internationally renowned GLOCK Perfection stands for uncompromising quality and maximum customer satisfaction.

Gaston Glock charted the strategic direction of the GLOCK Group throughout his life and prepared it for the future. His life’s work will continue in his spirit.

Unlike many, I’m not a Glock fan-boi. I do have a Gen 4 Glock 17 and a police trade-in Gen 2 Glock 22 but my collection contain many more Rugers, Smiths, and CZs. I have had one of those Glock field knives for much longer than I have had either pistol. Mine is marked FM 78 for Feldmesser 78 and you can see it in the picture below. It is a tough knife that doesn’t need to be babied.

The Glock 17 was neither the first polymer pistol nor the first striker fired pistol. Those accolades belong to the Heckler & Koch VP70 (1970) and the Hugo Borchardt C-93 (1883) respectively. What Mr. Glock did do was produce a simplified striker-fired polymer pistol which morphed to become the most popular brand of handgun for law enforcement and civilian alike. World wide sales of the various models of Glock pistols were estimated to be around $500 million annually in 2017. Undoubtedly, the figure is higher now in 2023.

I will not get into the details of Gaston Glock’s life. Needless to say, it has been interesting. While a little dated, the best book on his life and the growth of his company through 2012 is Paul Barrett’s Glock: The Rise of America’s Gun (commission earned). I bought my Kindle copy of it back in 2012 shortly after it was released. It makes for an interesting read.