u/blipdot2

Happy 4th everyone. Since Ken Hackathorn's thoughts on red dot optics on pistols have been making the rounds again, I figured we'd do a fun one.

Hands down, the coolest shotgun I've ever seen, let alone gotten to borrow for a weekend. I only got one day to dryfire it, and didn't get to practice patterning it beforehand (a red no shoot may have suffered as a result) but damn did it run great. The KL-12 is basically a HIGHLY custom VEPR-12 with dramatically updated controls, ergonomics, optics rails, muzzle break, feeding geometry, etc, and when I say it has almost no recoil, I mean it chucks 12 gauge and kicks like a .22. Absolutely incredible.

I mean I feel like it should almost be illegal to have a gun range in a canyon, a MK 23, and not Metal Gear Solid LARP at some point.

Dangit Bobby. Boy ain't right. Unlike that ejection pattern.

1 Round from an M&P 5.7 at 40 yards. Heart and lung box. 200lb feral pig. Direct impact through his shoulder dropped him like a sack of rocks. Massive bleeding from both initial entry, and mouth/nose indicating tremendous trauma to lungs/heart.

So I've been testing the various defensive and exotic 5.7x28mm loads and guns for about a year now. They're coming out with more and more platforms, the rounds are pretty affordable now, theres a wide variety of different loads, and people are carrying them more and more now. There's also a lot of myth, and precious little real world data, especially with the more exotic ammo.

Black Fang Obsidian Dragon 5.7 is one of the more rare and mythical varieties of defensive 5.7. The concept is pretty interesting, very similar to T6B, it is machined from a single piece of copper, surface coated for hardness, and designed to be inherently unstable in flight so that it immediately tumbles on impact with tissue, producing a large and jagged wound channel, which is what gives it it's odd fang-like appearance. A lot of diehard 5.7 guys have sworn by it as defensive ammo for years.

Well it seems they were correct. 1rd to the chest for an immediate stop on an animal substantially bigger, tougher and more aggressive than the average human is a pretty good result. I normally do a necropsy but....you would not believe the smell off a 200lb male pig after its been raining for a week. Either way, I'll call it a highly effective round.

I get to shoot matches with a lot of fun and interesting guns, but this one just made me happy. Also I won my Division (Production) with 5 Division stage wins, with a gun I've wanted since the first time I watched Ballad of Fallen Angels. Such a vibe, and so much fun. For a 35 year old gun, its still a damn good shooter.

Why they decided to launch this mid Covid, when 5.7 was 2$ a round and nobody cared, then never soft relaunch it I'll never know. But this thing is cool as hell. They made basically an AR 180 in 5.7 with a match barrel, adjustable gas, and really well designed upper then just never marketed it.

We spent a lot of time, and no small amount of money, acquiring the exact gun from the show, all the way down to the correct import marks, safety and grips. Its a super cool piece of 90s tech.

My primary gun broke a firing pin, so I ended up running most of the match with an optics cut USP45. Pretty great, all things considered.

Is running open class with a Desert Eagle practical? No. Is it awesome? Yes.