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credit: classichorrorcampaign.com

I recently posted SMM’s Top 15 Hits Of 2017.  But curiosity got the better of me, and I thought to myself: why not a top 10 of all time list? Self, I said, that’s a good idea, and after ten minutes or so of patting myself on the back of my brain, looked it up. Unsurprisingly, most, but not all, are on the top 15 list for 2017 too.

SMM has existed since November, 2011, and this scruffy little blog has been growing at a reasonable pace. It’s certainly no Instapundit, but it’s not bad, and I’ve had great fun. I hope you, gentle readers, have as well, so here we go:

Lt. J. Paul Vance
starkravingviking.blogspot.com

(1) Connecticut: The Coming Storm (50,579 hits)

This March, 2014 article is my most popular of all time to date. More than 15,000 of those hits occurred in a single day, and eventually garnered 169 comments. The article began with a fictional account of a police gun seizure raid on an average citizen’s home. The background for the article was socialistic gun control laws enacted by Connecticut, the governor’s arrogant gloating, and the State Police’s apparent willingness, even eagerness, to conduct raids on the homes of the law-abiding turned instant felons by those laws. I like to think this article, which was reblogged and linked throughout the Internet, played some small role forcing some rather blood-thirsty Connecticut politicians and cops back under the rocks from whence they came. It was the first of seven articles. The other six are:

Who Are The Police? 

Police Thinking

A SWAT Primer

Wolves At The Door

And two follow up articles in 2015:

The Storm Fizzles, Part I

The Storm Fizzles, Part III

H&K MP5-SD6: A Very Scary Looking Gun Indeed

2) The HK MP5 SD6: Good, Clean, Sexy, All American Fun     (22,711 hits)

This article, first posted in March of 2013 is a historical exposition on the HK MP5 9mm submachine gun, particularly the MP5SD, integrally suppressed version, the western world’s standard for this class of weapon for decades. Democrats have made any machine gun, and particularly the MP5SD, all but impossible to own, so while most Americans have seen MP5s in the movies, few have had the chance to fire one. With this in mind, H&K licensed Walther to build a .22LR version of the MP5SD. Apart from the different mechanisms required by the much smaller and less powerful round, and the non-functional “suppressor,” the MP5SD6 looks, feels, and functions very much like the real weapon. It’s a fun gun, and this article is being constantly read.

Glock 17 with Railmaster Pro (right side view)

3) The Standard: The Glock 17 (18,908 hits)

This article, posted in March of 2013, recounts the history of the Glock 17, Glock’s first, and revolutionary, handgun. Virtually every manufacturer now makes a number of striker-fired models with polymer frames, but when Glock, a company that had never produced a firearm, introduced the G17, it was one of those extraordinary products a manufacturer gets right the first time, a product everyone else struggles to duplicate.

By 2015, I replaced the Streamlight TLR-4 weapon light with a Crimson Trace Railmaster Pro, a much superior product, and documented that in this article. 

Dallas/Ft. Worth Area

4) The Universe Has A Good Laugh (13,769 hits)

In June of 2012, I wrote this article, the first in what would turn out to be a continuing series on the late Chris Kyle, Navy SEAL. Specifically, it spoke to a controversy revolving around a story, not told by Kyle himself, but by fellow SEAL Marcus Luttrell, where Kyle shot and killed two carjackers at a Texas gas station. Having read both of Lutrell’s books, and Kyle’s Autobiography (there are links to all in the article), and the fact Kyle was a fellow Texan, living not far from me, I was interested, and was caught up in a heated controversy.

5) Chris Kyle: The Universe Has A Second Laugh (12,497 hits)

Posted nearly a year after the first article, in May of 2013, this article expanded on the controversy as far as I wished to go. I was struck by the vehemence, even the anger of those claiming the story–not publicized by Kyle but by a fellow SEAL–false, and Kyle, long dead, a liar. Essentially, I explained why their arguments were not nearly as dispositive as they claimed, and noted I linked to all available accounts so readers could, if they wished, make up their own minds, but I wasn’t going to pursue the matter further. Still, some were outlandishly outraged I did not see things as they chose to see them. Such, as the French say, is life. Chris Kyle remains larger than life, and an authentic American hero.

Glock 26 9mm

6) A Daily Companion: The Glock 26 (12,048 hits)

This article was posted in August of 2012. Life is full of ironies, and one of the most delicious is the invention of the Glock 26 with its ten round magazine capacity (11 rounds with one in the chamber). The impetus for its invention was the Clinton Gun Ban of 1994 with its ban on magazines of greater than 10 round capacity. At the time, Glock had only two models on the retail market: the full-sized Glock 17 and the intermediate sized Glock 19, both of which remain popular, industry standards. Glock shortened the Glock 19’s grip and slide even more, and the Baby Glock, the 26, was born. Small, relatively light and very compact, it was the first truly concealable 9mm handgun retaining considerable magazine capacity. I eventually replaced the laser sight with a Crimson Trace LG-436, which I still use today. Unfortunately, that article, originally posted at Bearing Arms, is only incompletely available. I’ll have to resurrect it someday soon.

7) When Is An Unloaded Gun An Unloaded Gun? (11,706 hits)

Posted in August of 2014, this article illustrates the dangers involved when the criminal justice system fails at every level. This happens all too often where gun control laws are involved, particularly in blue states, as it did in New Hampshire. A man was arrested for having a loaded gun. The facts were his semiautomatic handgun, unloaded–no magazine in the weapon, chamber empty–was found in his glovebox. A loaded magazine was found adjacent the handgun, thus the title of the article. Justice finally prevailed, but the article is an interesting case study.

Rachel Jeantel
AKA “DeeDee”

8) The Trayvon Martin Case, Update 11: The Dee Dee Interview–Kaboom! (9,677 hits)

This case, posted in June of 2012, eventually racked up 386 comments, among the highest totals of any SMM article. One of the most important articles in the Trayvon Martin archive (available here), it is an analysis of an interview of “Dee Dee,” eventually identified as Rachel Jeantel, by prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda, a man possessed of far less competence and intelligence than he imagined, but blessed with nearly boundless corruption. The interview is a virtual comedy of errors that would have convinced any rational prosecutor never to allow Jeantel anywhere near a courtroom. But de la Rionda and his colleagues were neither rational nor competent. They put her on the stand and she helped sink their case. Read this article to see a classic case of a man ironically and comically hoist by his own petard.

credit: moodyeyeview.com

9) The Chevy Volt: And It Costs A King’s Ransom To Repair Too (Reprised and UPDATED) (8205 hits)

This article, posted in January of 2012, was an early article in my electric vehicle archive (available here).  It provoked 91 comments–a large number–and of a particular kind. I began reporting on EVs primarily because of Barack Obama’s dogmatic insistence on using taxpayer money to subsidize a class of vehicles that could never survive in the free market without such subsidies, vehicles very much not ready for prime time. While EV technology has unquestionably advanced over the last decade, taxpayer subsidies are still necessary to keep this portion of the automotive industry afloat, for the top 7% of American wage earners. The particular kinds of comments to which I refer are those of readers asserting I am some kind of lying degenerate for pointing out the costs and flaws in the EV fairytale.

Yes, it’s a backward mounted sight.

10) SWAT: Manufacturing The Justification To Kill? (7279 hits)

Posted in May of 2014, this article was a response to an article about the alarming proliferation of SWAT teams, and armed people in general, in federal government agencies under the Obama Administration, particularly agencies such the Office of Personnel Management, with no apparent reason for such personnel. The article also discusses the common misuses of SWAT teams, an issue of contemporary concern with the rising number of “swatting” incidents 

Well, there they are, gentle readers, a group of articles you thought the most interesting, or perhaps, the most infuriating. As always, thanks for taking the time to read my scribblings, and for visiting this scruffy little blog.