Howdy yall. I have the opportunity to get either one of these two rifles from a family member that offered them. I could have one or the other, but not both in his own words. Both are in above average, original condition so far as I could tell. If you were in my shoes, which of these two would you have for yourself?
Continuing on my MCW spree is this lovely thing. Overall a solid 9/10 and by far the best U.S. ration ive had so far. The oriental chicken and rice main is legitimately better than some sit-down Chinese places I’ve been to, especially after dumping the whole provided mini bottle of Tabasco. Just wish the packaging was a bit better, and the placement of the tear notch is vertical rather than horizontal.
The cranberries and nut mix were as you’d expect, hard for even Uncle Sam to mess up. That said, I wish the caloric value for one of them was substituted by something that wasn’t dried fruit. Raisins or cranberries would be welcome here, but not both.
Orange beverage powder is essentially Tang. Not my favorite but drinkable certainly.
That mocha dessert bar though. That, besides the main, is the star of the show here. Complimented the coffee in the accessory packet perfectly. Moist, inviting, rich mocha aroma with a whiff of vanilla.
I had to go to three separate Dollar Trees to get the ones pictured in multiple copies. That specific dollar store chain is the only way I can get these for some reason.
Of these, I’m torn between both Tribute flavors (Cherry Lime and Mandarin Lime) as the best. These are very “early” energy drink for me, as though the National Beverage Corp never bothered to change either the recipe or the marketing since 2004. Honestly, that’s probably not far off from the truth. Makes these budget blasters all the more special to me.
Pobeda translates to "Victory", as the brand was personally created by Stalin himself in April 1945 to commemorate the victory of the Red Army over the Nazis in WWII. Like so many other Eastern Bloc goods, it was quite good and competitive with Western products for a while, but eventually got very much antiquated with little to no meaningful updates.
The 15-jewel ZiM 2602 inside was based on the French LIP R-26 from 1918 and built under license by ZiM (Zavod imeni Maslennikova) in Kuybyshev (now Samara) in Russia. They were an industrial conglomerate that made everything from paved roads to medical equipment, but they were ordered to make wristwatches as well as they had both the capacity and the technical ability to do so. Pobeda watches were made at multiple watch factories while ZiM watches were made exclusively at Kuybyshev/Samara, but they are technically identical.
However, the 2602 also holds the distinction of being the longest-produced Soviet watch caliber. It was made continuously from 1946 to the mid 2000s in the millions. Pobeda abandoned the 2602 sometime in the 1990s whereas ZiM produced it until their dissolution on June 30th, 2006. It represents the sheer power of Soviet industrialization and its capabilities, where a watch intended for as many people as possible still had such haute features as a glydocur balance and an actual Breguet hairspring all throughout its life span. It's an anachronism by modern standards, as it more closely resembles a pocketwatch movement than an actual wristwatch movement in construction, but its still totally servicable and stands as a testament to early Soviet watchmaking efforts.
Image attatched is the table I painted together with my father. It resides at his house now. Heavily inspired by Soviet Constructivism and Suprematism, my favorite art styles. Called it A Study in Lift and Counterforce. I tried and I tried to develop my artistic chops more, with some sporadic success. However, these days, I'm just too tired to do anything creative and I refuse to lower myself to AI slop.