PinstripeSniper

Take Two - Part 1

2010-02-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

I did another hit earlier this week. This might be my last one with a gun. Why? Here's my two biggest reasons:

- With 2 high profile hits, my target audience will definitely be taking steps to be less vulnerable. I see now why IEDs are so popular in Iraq.
- Getting a rifle in and especially out of the area will become more difficult and risky. Sure I could just ditch the gun right after the hit but this is a pretty significant piece of physical evidence to leave behind. Even if I kept the gun free of fingerprints or DNA, the police could get lucky. Heck, if "ice" bullets worked, I'd use them.

Anyway, enough about my personal problems. Let me tell you about job #2.   He was another big financial cheese. I had to do a bit of discrete financial snooping to learn the name of his real estate trust. Once I had that, it was easy to look up the address of his country estate in the County Tax Assessor records.   Then I did some due diligence, drove some of the routes from his office to his house and did some stakeouts.

I don't know if his people started mixing up his travel routes after my first hit or if they were on the ball before that. Alas, while that sounds good in theory, if the actual lay of the land locks you into fairly fixed routes, especially near the office or home, mixing it up between doesn't really do that much good. For this guy, his bucolic country isolation was fatal and I'm not even talking about that close to home.

About a half mile from his house there was a T-junction at the top of a gentle slope. There was also a drainage culvert on the right side of the road leading to the T. I figured I could lay in wait in the ditch then when his limo came to a stop at the T, I'd take my shot. With the low angle, I figure I could take out the rear differential on the limo, then the gas tank and burn him out or up. I'd take the chance that his limo wasn't all wheel drive, had a self sealing gas tank or an armored differential cover.

Back at his office building, the really helpful bit was a coffee shop right across the street from the underground parking garage ramp. But I'm getting slightly ahead of myself. After I located his country house, I hiked out every morning for a week, really freaking early, like 4 AM, and went into concealment about 200 yards down the road from his main gate. Well every morning between 5:45 and 6:15 the *same* limo came to pick him up.

Hey kudos for not being at the same time every day but a 30 minute variation window isn't a big deal when there's so much concealment available. I stuck around for another couple of hours to make sure it wasn't a decoy vehicle. Of course the windows were heavily tinted so I couldn't confirm if he really was in the vehicle or not.   So yes, unless I could come up with a way to confirm he was in there, I'd be running the chance of taking down an empty vehicle.

While I am not an expert on armored limos, this one appeared to have laminated "bullet proof" glass, but it didn't seem to have the super thick (~ 40mm) rifle resistant level of protection. I based this assessment on how the limo moved - body roll, pitch and yaw during acceleration, braking and turns - it just didn't seem that heavy and a first class armor job can almost double the weight of a vehicle. If the job is done right, serious upgrades to the engine, drive train and suspension have to happen. Anyway, this probably meant there also wasn't an elaborate automatic fire suppression system or an environmentally sealed passenger compartment.

Every afternoon, I'd setup at the coffee shop, futz around on my netbook, sip a drink, nibble on a pastry and keep an eye on the parking garage. There was significantly more variation on his quitting times but the key thing that made things easy for me was that it was the same limo every time. And the thing that sealed it for me was the day he was scheduled to make a widely publicized evening appearance out of town.   The morning schedule stayed the same but the evening ride home happened a bit after midnight, again with the same limo, so I doubt they were doing empty decoy runs. That was a Zen 7 hours sitting in the forest. Good thing I have a high boredom threshold. After that, I stopped going to the coffee shop and spent several evenings at the T-junction. The driver did a full stop every time and more than half the time, there were no other cars near by.

Honestly, the thing that was weighing most on my mind at that point was what I would do about other people in the limo.    If he had coworkers in there, I was okay with taking them out along with him. But I didn't have anything against the chauffeur or bodyguards and ideally, I'd keep family members out of this. What to do, what to do...

SHOT Show Technology Transfer

2010-01-24T10:49:00.000-08:00

I spent some time at the SHOT Show last week at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas. It started off being a "Shooting Hunting Outdoor" show but with 9/11 and all the terrorism concern, a Law Enforcement section has been added. Besides hundreds of firearms and accessory manufacturers, I visited several thermal imaging vendors and one of them, Torrey Pines Logic, had an interesting product called the Mirage 1200. Basically it detects optical lens stacks like in a rifle scope or camera. It's the item at the bottom of this picture. The operater looks in one end, like a telescope, and besides displaying the general lay of the land, a laser beam is emitted and if it reflects off an optical lens stack, that location blinks on the display. The R2D2 looking thing is called a Beam 1000 and it's the permanently mounted version of the Mirage 1200. I wonder if any Hollywood celebrities use these to deal with paparazzi? The Mirage 1200 has a max range of 1200 meters and the Beam 1000, yep, a max range of 1000 meters. The Mirage costs around $40,000.

Here's a fun picture of a sniper rig at the show. They added a cup holder for grins.

There's Got to be a Morning After...

2010-01-14T22:27:00.003-08:00

I slept well and first thing in the morning I hiked back to the car and headed home without incident. If there were any road blocks they must have been taken down after several hours. I wondered what kind of a search radius or perimeter was used to try and find me? Did it include the parking lot where I left my car? Even if it did and the police recorded all the license plates, I had a decent cover. No worries for now...

What I had done was all over the news. Some called it terrorism or cold blooded murder. Others alluded to Robin Hood or even John Dillinger. How ironic. While I would agree that like Dillinger, I am also a Depression-era criminal, I'd rather surrender or be shot rather than shoot at law enforcement. And I'm not taking the money but shooting at the guys who are.

If anything, I'd go with twisting a line from Candide by Voltaire -- "in this country, it is wise to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others." Of course instead of "admiral" I mean captains of the financial industry and "by encourage" I mean "wise up." R.I.P. Admiral Byng.

So what form should my next act of encouragement take?

First Blood - Part 7

2010-01-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Damn, what happened to my air? My thoughts raced over both what caused this and what I should do next?. How could all the air have leaked out that fast without my noticing? With no more air I would have to continue on the surface and if the police weren't checking the water, I'd be okay. Or should I head directly to shore, walk back and hope for no searchers there.   I was about a mile and a half to two miles from my pack and hiking gear and another 2 miles to the car. I could walk that in less than 2 hours. It was just about 8 o'clock so I still had lots of time. It would stay dark until at least 4:30 in the morning.

Doh, I'm such an idiot. I wasn't out of air. I just hadn't opened the air valve on the tank.   I reached back to turn the valve knob and Mr. Murphy kicked in again with a sharp, vicious cramp in my right shoulder. I put my arm back down and wiggled the shoulder. Damn, it was a bad one. I should have figured this would be likely to happen from being cold and tired.   I wiggled out of the BC, opened the valve, then struggled back in. It hurt like hell when I tried to move into position with the dive scooter.

Time for plan B. Definitely nothing fancy. Just back to basics - an energy boosting snack. I pulled off my left glove and then pulled an energy gel packet out of the fanny pack and sucked it down. These normally taste like crap but right now I was like a baby on a teat. It was pretty amazing how quickly I could feel the sugars kicking in.   While it took the edge off my shoulder cramp, the muscle was tightly knotted. Still, I could now hold position on the dive scooter. I dumped some air from the BC, ditched the ditch duffle and resumed scootering.

My scooter battery died before I ran out of air. It was almost 9 o'clock and I was about half a mile and half an hour away. I still had plenty of time. I could have crawled to my hiking gear with the time I had left. So it was more a question of what would look more suspicious - me walking on shore in a wet suit and running into someone or being spotted by helicopter snorkeling at night, alone and not using a dive light.

I decided to stay in the water and swim for it. The exercise would warm me up. I unstrapped the fanny pack and then ditched the scooter.
I also figured I'd use up my remaining air now and then ditch the tank and BC and snorkel the rest of the way in. This way the tank and BC would end up in deeper water further from shore. I sucked the second tank dry about 10 minutes later and dumped it and the BC.

I took a break and had another energy gel. In retrospect I should have slurped one of these about half an hour after I hit the water. With more energy, I might not have forgotten to open the air valve and avoided the cramp. Bah. Coulda Woulda Shoulda.   I made it to shore at 10:23. It was dead quiet all around. Nothing on shore and I didn't see anything in the air.   I swam back out a couple of hundred feet and ditched my diving mask then came ashore.

I circled around to my shore gear and everything still looked clear. I hunkered down by my pack, pulled out some energy bars and ate them.
I pulled off my hood, rinsed off my face, toweled off and put on a hat. Then I jogged in place to build up some body heat. If I wasn't such a wuss about the cold, I would have changed out of the wetsuit right away and become the weekend hiker. I finally stopped fooling around and squirmed out of the wet suit and into dry clothes. I still had an extend session of the deep shivers and sure enough several days later I would be sick in bed with a head cold.

My next task was to dispose of the wetsuit and fins. I couldn't just throw them in the ocean. The wet suit was too buoyant and while the fins would sink, with all that surface area I could see them getting pushed ashore eventually. I considered burying them, and even coming back weeks later to recover them (I told you I'm a cheap bastard) but I decided to ditch the fins in the water but burn the wetsuit. The tradeoffs never end - do this or that - which branch of the decision tree would lower the odds of my coming under suspicion or leaving traceable evidence?

If a dive mask or swim fins washes up on shore, hey somebody must have dropped them or they fell off a boat -- that happens. But an entire wetsuit floating ashore, that's kind of odd. It also gives a fairly good size of the owner and perhaps even some DNA.   And how odd is it if someone finds a wetsuit buried in the ground? How accidental is that? That can't be accidental. It's a sure sign someone was trying to hiding something.

So I sliced up the wetsuit, put the bits in a trash bag, then gathered some driftwood and built a campfire. Yeah, the fire gives away my position, but I'm just an innocent camper who got cold and has nothing to hide. Fortunately there was a gentle breeze blowing out to sea so no one on shore would smell burnt rubber.   About 45 minutes later almost everything was gone. I just needed to pick out the metal remnants when the fire cooled off.   I ate some more food, real food, and I was ready go to sleep.    I hadn't dwelled very much on today's events while I was in the water but my thoughts would catch up with me while I slept and over the next few days. And I wasn't sure how it would ultimately settle and what I would do next...

First Blood - Part 6

2010-01-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

I reloaded the rifle then gathered the 12 empty shell casings laying on the thin plastic sheet I had laid down, wadded it up and headed back down to the dive gear. I didn't hear or see anyone nearby.

I put the 2 ammo boxes and the cell phone in my SCUBA buoyancy compensator vest pockets. The balled up plastic sheet with empty brass went into my "ditch" duffle and I laid the rifle on top of it for now. I checked the SCUBA tank air pressure, took one breath off the regulator then put the BC vest on and then my face mask. My swim fins were bungeed to the dive scooter and a small fanny pack holding my wetsuit hood and gloves was also strapped on. My car and house key were around my neck on a cord along with a compass and flashlight.

I put the rifle on safe then put it in the "ditch" duffle which also held my second SCUBA tank and zipped it up. My bike was laying on the ground and I hooked the duffle carry grips on the bike handle bars. I moved the dive scooter so the back end was near the bike seat and the front end by the handle bars. Then I stood the bike up while cradling and guiding the dive scooter and this also lifted the ditch duffle off the ground. I took a quick look around then awkwardly pushed the bike down to the rocky beach.

I rolled into the water and stopped when I was chest deep. I looked and listened again -- nothing. I leaned the bike and scooter against me, took off my face mask and put my arm throught the strap. I took the wetsuit hood out of the fanny pack and put it on then put my mask back on followed by the gloves. I picked up the regulator, put it in my mouth and then started walking again. About 30 seconds later I was underwater and finally feeling safe. I kept walking and pushing the bike for another 5 minutes until I was in about 20 feet of water. I pulled the ditch duffle off the handle bars and clipped the grab handle on the end of the duffle onto my BC. I ditched the bike and cell phone, gripped the dive scooter, turned it on and started cruising away on a course of 160 degrees.

I maintained a depth of about 20 feet for 15 minutes then slowly angled up to about 10 feet and turned off the scooter and listened. I didn't hear any boat motors. Now if I was jinxed and truly unlucky, I'd get nailed by either a sailboat on a night sail or come smack center under a helicopter. I turned the scooter back on, angled up to the surface, stuck my head out and checked my position relative to the lights on shore . I was heading pretty much as expected so I submerged again and continued on my original course and speed but a bit shallower at 15 feet. After 30 minutes I surfaced for another position check and a sky scan. All good so damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.

I had a 90 cubic foot SCUBA tank on my back and another in the duffle that I was cradling with my legs. I needed to go about 3 miles and if I traveled at about 1 knot for 3 hours that should do it. My air consumption would increase as I got cold and tired so I figured I'd just cruise closer to the surface to make the tank last longer. At 45 minutes total, I was about half way through my first tank which was pretty much on plan and it looked like I was about right for distance traveled too. I hope my scooter battery would go the distance. At this point stopped and ditched my rifle. Several minutes later I dumped the 2 ammo boxes.

I emptied the first tank at 80 minutes which was about 10 minutes sooner than I would have liked. To do the tank switch, I clipped the dive scooter tether to my BC, surfaced then puffed enough air into the BC so everything would float if it got away from me.

I shucked off the BC, undid the tank strap and let the tank, regulator and gauge sink away. I pulled the second tank out, slipped it into the BC, secured the strap and wiggled it back on. I put this regulator to my mouth and sucked. Nothing. Crap this regulator was the same as the one I just ditched. I took a look at the air pressure gauge - zero. Mr. Murphy had finally caught up with me...

First Blood - Part 5

2009-12-27T21:29:00.000-08:00

While I was waiting for the call to complete and trigger the fireworks, I ran through my shooting sequence. I figured I would do 2 shots on target #1 then go after targets 2 -6 and then play it by ear for the remainder of my 60 second shooting window.

Well I'm proud to say that the "fireworks phone" functioned as desired. The Roman candles fired off in sequence and as expected, the party goers all stopped what they were doing and turned to watch the fireworks. Just as the 3rd Roman candle launched I fired my first shot at Mr. Big, the party host. I got him "body, center of mass" and saw a dark wet patch wink open on the chest of his white suit as he began to collapse onto his well manicured lawn. I pulled the rifle bolt back, ejected the empty casing and then put the bolt forward to chamber a fresh round. Even though I was fairly sure my first shot was fatal, I wanted him to be made an example and shot him again in the torso.

A couple of people near him had just noticed something was not right and were moving toward him as the last Roman candle went off. Target #4, dressed as a pirate, was one of these people. I shot him, in the upper chest just as he started bending down to help and as the fire crackers started going off. This time the other people nearby could tell he had been shot. From their body language some of them were reacting and maybe even screaming in horror. My element of surprise would soon be gone.

I panned over to Target #2 who was dressed as a Prince. He didn't know anything was wrong yet so I quickly took my shot and dropped him. Those were my first 4 shots and now I had to reload. I pulled the bolt back, pressed in 4 rounds and then closed the bolt. I put my eye back up on the scope, picked up Target #3, a Viking, snapped off the shot and then moved on my next 2 targets, the Star Trek twins. They weren't near any of my earlier targets and so didn't realize anything was amiss. I shot twice and didn't miss. The string of fire crackers was ending and I used my last round on the propane tank of one of the portable heaters and started reloading again - 4 more rounds. The propane tank didn't instantly blow up like in the movies but the venting gas did spin the entire heater around and there was an impressive tongue of flame when the propane flume reached a neighboring heater.

Of course now everybody knew something bad was happening but many still didn't know exactly how and were mostly looking around confused rather than running for cover. I zeroed in on the guy dressed as a bundle of cash and shot the wad in the ass. Remember I wasn't sure exactly who this guy was so I wasn't shooting to kill. He was in a cluster of people and many of them could tell he had just been shot. He very well may have shouted out this fact as he fell. They started running away and screaming and like a flock of birds shifting in formation, I could see the reaction ripple through the party crowd. The guy wearing the wooden barrel and body stocking wasn't able to run very fast and he was an easy shot. I opened up another bung hole in the barrel by his butt. He went down and the barrel rolled him into the bushes.

Things were pretty jumbled now and I had to pan about to find another target. The Money Tree guy was huddled down by an ice sculpture of a large swan. I wasn't sure if this was a good or dumb move on his part. His branches still stuck up fairly high with some brightly colored decorations so it's not like they were providing brilliant camouflage. He couldn't run very fast in his costume either and lucky for him, I couldn't get a clean lower body shot. So I shot the golden ice goose. The body shattered, the goose neck snapped, the head went spinning and Mr. Money Tree showed prime interest in improving his rate of escape. I shot him in the ass as well and he went down near the barrel guy.

I reload again - probably for the last time - I couldn't find any of my other targets. I figured the fountain pen guy would have been another slow mover but he had vanished. So I shot out 2 large plate glass windows in the mansion and another propane heater. I used my last round on the chocolate dipping fountain. It kicked up an impressive brown splash and toppled over, rolled off the table and onto the ground.

I noticed a small fire had started where my fireworks went off. I love it when a plan goes smoothly. It was time for me to go.

Whack A Banker!

2009-12-14T23:06:00.000-08:00

An enterprising English seaside arcade has literally and figuratively had a smashing success with their "Whack A Banker" game. You pays your money and then whack the balding banker figures as they pop up at random. Business has been so brisk, the mallets are wearing out.
If you'd like to play an online version, here you go:
http://www.funnygames.co.uk/whack-a-banker.htm

Goldman Bankers Applying for Gun Permits

2009-12-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

Well these people definitely aren't stupid. Arrogant in spades but definitely not stupid...

"Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public: Alice Schroeder"
Commentary by Alice Schroeder

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- “I just wrote my first reference for a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the good character of a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who applied to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.

Read the rest of the commentary here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ahD2WoDAL9h0

First Blood - Part 4

2009-11-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

Next I changed into my wetsuit, laid out the diving gear and the dive scooter and packed up my street clothes and empty duffel bags. Everything was going into the water, even the bike which I would ditch. I figured I would ditch about 4 grand worth of gear on this run. My main target tonight probably made that much money in just 4 minutes. Now I'm not poor but I wasn't going to be able to drop this kind of money every time. Remember, I'm a cheap bastard. Maybe I could submit a paper to the Harvard Business Review on the cost/benefit of various assassination techniques.

Anyway, I grabbed my rifle and ammo, went up to my firing position and started scanning the scene. More people had arrived and the party was in full swing. About 2/3rds were in costume and about half had covered or painted faces. I tried to read the body language of people to find out which one was my main target. It stands to reason that the host or hostess of a party will more and behave differently than a party guest. After awhile I was pretty sure he was dressed as a Southern Colonel in a white linen suit. I had memorized the faces of 23 top level people in this firm but so far I was able to id only the Colonel and 3 others.

When I was walking back from setting up the fireworks diversion, I had decided that I would not shoot to kill at anyone I couldn't identify. I had a hunch that 2 of the execs were dressed as the half white/half black guys from the original Star Trek. I was sort of tempted to give em a pass for that but the more I watched them, the more confident I became they were on the list of 23. So now I had 6 targets.

I needed to pick out some more targets but couldn't recognize any others from the list of 23. So I decided I'd target some of the more obnoxious costumes. Top of the list was a guy dressed as a bundle of cash. That should get some good press - "Bank exec dressed as wad of money, shot in the ass at Halloween party!"

There were a fair number of ladies dressed in some pretty racy outfits. The harem girls and the stunning I Dream of Jeanie look alike were definitely safe along with the cutie dressed as a wood nymph.

Now the guy in the flesh colored body suit and wearing a wooden barrel, he was going to get bunged along with the dastardly robber baron, the Southern plantation owner, and the Great Gatsby. There was a guy in a fat cat suit but I wasn't sure if he was just a furry or plushie, a cartoon cat or actually a fat cat. The last batch was a bling pimp, a walking money tree, and a walking classic fountain pen.

Well that was that and so I started dialing the fireworks phone...

First Blood - Part 3

2009-11-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

So why would face painted or mask wearing guests be a problem? It's not because of some sacred clown consideration. No, it would just make target id more difficult. I figure I would spend 60 seconds shooting up to 20 rounds but probably more like just 12-15 and I wanted to get as many high ranking guests as possible. I didn't want to waste ammo on lower level people or even worse if some actors had been hired to liven up the event.

I mulled over how I would handle this as I walked back down to the SCUBA gear and set everything up. Then I went over to the gun bag and pulled out what I called my "science fair project." It was 4 Roman candles and a long string of firecrackers fused together with a cell phone igniter. The idea was if I set it off just before I started shooting, the party guests would all stop what they were doing, turn to look at the Roman candles and stand still. So they'd present a more uniform targeting situation for me.

Also the report of the Roman candles and especially the firecrackers would help mask the sound from my bullets. I was pretty happy with my homemade suppressor but I wasn't using sub-sonic ammunition and no matter how great your silencer is at muzzle blast reduction, it won't silence the acoustic signature of a supersonic bullet. I was also banking on the fireworks starting a fire. When I recon'd the area, one of the spots I considered was just 200 yards away from the estate, but I thought it was a bit too close.

I turned on the 2nd phone that I would use to call the igniter phone and checked signal strength. It was low but should be adequate so I walked back down the road, hustled toward the estate, crossed the road and then up into the brush. About 40 feet away and slightly downhill from the spot I'd have used if I really shot from here, I unrolled the bundle, gently pushed the roman candle sticks into the soft loamy soil, then laid down the phone, uncoiled more fuse and then the string of firecrackers. When I called the phone, the current going to the phone ringer would trigger an igniter that would light the fuses. The shorter fuse led to the rockets and the longer fuse would give me some delay before setting off the firecrackers. I piled a bunch of dried leaves and pine needles underneath the rockets and over the firecrackers.

So why did I want a fire to start at this spot? Well it would definitely draw the authorities to this spot they would assume this was where the shooting came from and that I started the fire to destroy any trace DNA. This would also reduce the odds that they'd look at my real shooting location and find any trace DNA there. And since this spot was inland from the road and further away from the water, it would also reduce the possibility that they would think I escaped via the water. I also tossed 8 AK-47 shell casings where I figured they'd land if I had been using that kind of gun. They came from a stash of brass I picked up at an outdoor range months ago. They were left by someone else and I wiped em for prints. Again, if the police picked these up, maybe they'd think I used a different type of gun. I'm not an expert on the finer points of ammunition but the AK and my ammo are both 7.62mm diameter. I guess if the gun forensics people were good, they'd know something was amiss but hey, maybe I'd get lucky and they'd just go with an AK as the gun. Yeah, I'm a sly, sneaky bastard. I sure hope these diversionary steps don't bite me in the ass.

Now, if you're a really detail-oriented person, you'll be wondering what if the cops trace the cellphones? Well both the trigger phone and the phone I would be using to call were throw away phones I bought with cash at 2 separate stores. Then I activated them from an open WiFi network from a netbook with a spoofed MAC address. This particular cellular service gives you 30 free message units if you activate online so I didn't have to buy any airtime cards. Each phone was like 10 bucks. Yeah, I'm a cheap bastard too. I turned on the igniter phone and headed back to the real shooting position.

First Blood - Part 2

2009-11-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

(recounting the events of early Saturday, Oct. 31 aka Halloween morn...)

I'd be lying if I said I slept like a baby. It took me a while to finally get to sleep wondering how things would go and mulling over contingencies. When I got up, I treated myself to some scratch waffles along with eggs, bacon and some coffee with melted chocolate and cream. Hey, this could be my last breakfast as a free man or a live one.

I quickly loaded up the rental car and began the 2 hour drive down. I swung by the target estate, drove past and then pulled over and parked near my special spot. I walked up to the shooting point and checked what was going on at the estate. The tent, space heaters, tables, chairs were all set up and the catering crew was setting up the BBQ grills. My firing lines looked good and my surroundings seemed undisturbed. Next I drove past the trailhead parking lot - there were a fair number of parking spaces open - looking good. I cruised by where I'd drop off my hiking pack, also looking the same, and then went to the next town over for some lunch.

I pigged out. Partly out of Last Supper paranoia and more pragmatically that I'd need the calories for a long, wet, cold night in the water. I started with a drive thru jumbo cheeseburger, fries and cheese-filled Jalapeno peppers. Then I got some fried fish and a thick chocolate malt. I'd feed one more time before going on station. For that, I popped into a grocery store and picked up some fruit, cheese, crackers and cookies then grabbed a short, digestive nap.

Fed and rested, I stashed my hiking pack then dropped off and stashed the scuba gear and then the gun and sniping gear in a separate spot. I snacked on the drive to the trailhead parking lot, unloaded the bike and pedaled back toward the hit site. About a half mile away, I did what bears do in the woods. I don't mind taking a leak in a wet suit (ahhh warmth) but steaming hot or not I'd rather not drop a deuce and then smush & wallow in it for hours.

It was fairly dark when I arrived at about 6:30. I dropped the bike near the scuba gear, checked the tank pressures, and then went up and checked the estate. It was nicely lit up and a fair number of the fashionably on time were enjoying cocktails, appetizers and conversation.

I also hit my first complication - many of the guests were in costume and wearing masks or face paint. Gah! It's a Halloween costume party. That's what I get for assuming they'd be a pack of boring stiffs...

DC Sniper Executed

2009-11-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

Well they pulled the plug on John Allen Muhammad last night. He was the elder of the DC sniper pair that randomly killed 10 innocent people back in 2002. What he did prompted some thinking on my part, mostly centering on "am I like him?"

I'd say I am not like him. I am not just killing at random. I'm selecting my targets and I take care not to hit or hurt others. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But I don't expect it to carry any weight in a court of law.

I wonder how the court of public/popular opinion will judge me...

Achoooo!

2009-11-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

I made it out and back okay. I consider it a success but with a twist. I did manage to catch one hell of a cold. Details to follow soon.

First Blood - Part 1

2009-10-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

It looks like I'll be running my first op tomorrow night. I've been observing the oceanside estate of a top financial CEO every couple of days to see if any exploitable patterns emerge. When I do my recons I look like a bird watcher. I have a pair of binoculars, a digital camera with a telephoto lens and an acoustic parabolic dish booster with an output to an audio recorder. Yep, I'm the "compleat" turkey hunter.

Well I got lucky this morning - he is throwing a "Happy days are here again" bonus party this weekend. A work crew was busy setting up a large open-sided tent, a couple of dozen portable space heaters, 2 bars, several dozen tables and enough seating for quite a few big bonus banker butts. I scanned the area with the parabolic and picked up that it's tomorrow at 6PM. This is my 4th visit to the area and I've already scoped out the best spots and distances. The spot I have in mind puts me 550 yards away. I like it - far enough away to be undetectable, pretty much out of bodyguard pistol range yet definitely in range for me.

My original plan was to shoot him when he was out walking the grounds or sitting in his gazebo. I figure it would easily be at least several minutes until anybody noticed and called the cops. By then I'd be in my rental car and out of there. I'd have to drive South about a mile on a curvy 2 lane road, go past a junction and then another 1/2 mile through the nearest town and then get on a busy multi-lane road. This exposure added up to about 5-6 minutes - 2 minutes to get to the car and 3-4 minutes of driving. The town didn't have a police department and the nearest highway patrol substation was in the opposite direction. So all in all, this was an acceptable risk.

The party would be different. As soon as I start shooting, people would be whipping out cell phones and calling 911. And someone might have some military experience, figure out my general direction, and pass that on to the police. The worst case for me would be a nearby police helicopter with night vision gear or road blocks being put up. Driving out wasn't impossible but it was too close for comfort for me. I could ditch my gear and get by a road block but shooting down a police chopper is "no go" for me.

So how could I hide from a police chopper? Well I've seen some "anti-night vision camouflage" clothing items on the internet and if the police chopper just has light amplification night vision, this might actually be an improvement over regular camo. But if the chopper has infra-red gear, there's this thing called "the laws of physics" which pretty much screws anyone brave enough (stupid actually) to ignore them. I'm definitely not going to be that guy. Yeah I might be able to rig up a camo jumpsuit with dry ice packs to mask my body heat and cool my exhaled breath to match ambient air temps but it would take way more time than I had. And how ironic if I got detected because of a cold spot from the dry ice. Bottomline, I'm not going to be that guy either.

What else could I do? Well I've been a diver since childhood so going underwater is second nature to me. So into the water I go and my new plan is born. After the hit, I'll put on SCUBA gear and use a battery powered dive scooter to make turns for 1 knot @ a depth of about 10 feet. I'll go several miles down the coast, ditch the dive gear and come out at a secluded spot. About 5 miles South, there's a popular hiking trail and I could leave my car at the trailhead.

Those of you who are operationally-minded know how my having to work alone complicates things. I can't get dropped off or have a get away car waiting. A taxi sure as hell isn't going to work out here in the sticks. "Hey Mister, keep the meter running while I take this big bag of stuff out to the woods and then come back without it 10 minutes later." I don't have any lookouts or backup. I can't brainstorm or get opinions from others. And I've never done anything like this before. I'm figuring this out as I go along. I know I am way smarter than the average bear and yet I am still surprisingly humble - enough to know that going solo is very, very risky.

Hey if true life was like the movies I'd be a former Navy Seal and I'd have a Draeger MK7 closed circuit rebreather and the very cool JetBoots.com diver propulsion system which consists of a
shrouded prop on each leg and power cables to a battery pack at the small of the back. But no, I'm not ex-military, much less Salvation Army or even Boy Scouts. That's enough whining for now. The British have a saying "We shall suck it and see." The first time I heard it, I though it would make a fine title for a porno. Well suck it we shall.

I spent several hours scouting an exit spot on the shore. I wanted something pretty isolated so no one would see me coming out of the water and also not take my stashed camping and hiking gear. There wouldn't be anything incriminating - just run of the mill gear. But worst case would be that someone finds it and calls the cops for a missing person. Or I get a Sherlock Holmes wannabe who sees a possible link to the shootings. I picked a spot about 3 miles South of the hit site. It was a stretch of low cliffs, rocky ledges and overhangs with no sandy beaches or soft ground nearby. Hopefully this would also mean no campers. I entered a waypoint into my GPS and then considered how it would look like at night and what lights and landmarks I could use to backstop the GPS. My best bet would be to angle off the lights from the town about halfway between the hit site and exit point. I figured I could get away with surfacing every 15 minutes or so to confirm my progress down to coast. So long as I didn't exhale, there wouldn't be much of an IR signature and unless the chopper was right on top of me with a searchlight, I'd be ok.

So I'm at home now. My gear for tomorrow is squared away and I'm going to wrap up a special accessory package and then call it a night. Chance favors the rested mind...

Who Took Some Pot Shots at Lou Dobbs?

2009-10-29T21:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry Mr. Dobbs! That was my fault. I was shooting at the house of the "big bonus" banker kitty korner from your house and a couple of rounds ricocheted. :-)

If you don't know who "Mr. Dobbs" is, this long, messy but honest WYSIWYG "full disclosure" link will inform you. (And no, I was not the shooter.)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=Lou+Dobbs++I%E2%80%99ve+Been+Targeted+by+Gunfire&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

And check back here in a few days - I'll be posting my first "mission report" very soon...

Financial Warfare?

2009-10-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

We've all heard about the next wave of gigantic bonuses that will be issued at certain financial institutions. And we've all heard the justification that if these obscene pay packages go away, then these financial geniuses will quit and go play in another sandbox.

And of course, we've all thought "well good riddance" to you!

Well how about this? What if we encouraged these parasites to move and go to work in countries classified as enemies of the US?

So what countries would you target first?

Nice Cans

2009-10-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

Silence is golden. I've been working on my homemade version of what's commonly called a silencer but referred to as a "suppressor" or "can" by those in the know. Basically, the suppressor retains the hot, fast moving gas behind the bullet, muffles the shock wave and then releases the gas at a slower rate. The sharp crack you hear when a gun fires is the bullet and hot gas breaking the sound barrier.

Sure I could go out and buy one. It's legal in my state and if I weren't going to go financier hunting, that would be the easy (and legal) way to go. But then the Feds would have me in their paper trail. And it would be a rather short paper trail because I want a big can that will give me both a lot of noise reduction and completely contain the muzzle blast so no orange tongue of flame will give away my position. You see, most suppressors are for pistols, not rifles.

So I'm making my own suppressor. They are actually pretty easy to make even without a machine shop. The internet is loaded with plans and even videos - try searching on "improvised suppressors" for a nice starting point. And I don't mind that I'll be saving over a thousand bucks.

Since I don't need my suppressor to last for hundreds or thousands of rounds or look "professional" my task is even easier. I'm also willing to have what's called a "wet" suppressor which gives even more noise reduction over a "dry" suppressor. You see the fluid both reduces the temperature of the hot gas and also gets picked up (entrained) in the gas stream and slows it down even more. Oil or water are the 2 fluids used most often. There are stories that even urine has been used in a pinch.

The .308 caliber Ruger M77 hunting rifle I am using has a tapered barrel with no front sight. So what I did is coat the outside of the barrel with a mold release agent and insert a wooden dowel (snug fit) into the barrel to act as both a plug and a centering guide. Then I slipped a 7/8" ID (inside diameter) metal tube 20" long over the dowel and down the barrel till it was just an inch away from the stock forend. The metal tubing had two 3/16" holes drilled on opposite sides 13" from the tube end and about 14" from the forend. Epoxy resin will be injected into one hole and then flow out the other hole after the cavity between the tube and gun barrel are filled. But before I do that, I wrapped duct tape around the bottom of the tube and then I centered and shimmed the tube on the dowel. Now I could pour the resin and then leave the gun alone until the resin completely cured. The mold release made it easy to just twist and pull the epoxy filled metal tube off. This would be the core of my suppressor.

Part 2, literally and figuratively, coming soon.

Wall St Pay is like Combat Pay?

2009-10-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

On Forbes.com several weeks ago, a former hedge fund manager (and now book author) presented the notion (in passing) that careers can end suddenly on Wall St so in a sense the high pay is like "combat" pay. <Link to Forbes item>

Well if you Wall St pukes want combat pay, I'll bring the combat live fire...

And over on the NPR Marketplace.org website,
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/10/06/pm-letters/

"Navy veteran Ralph Staples from San Diego, Calif., has a different perspective.

RALPH STAPLES: I find any comparison between bonuses and combat pay to be completely misplaced. In the risk versus reward tradeoff, on Wall Street if I don't perform, I may not get a bonus or be fired. In combat the risk is much, much higher. It is your life, loss of limbs or mental and emotional stability at stake." <Link to NPR item>

Well said Ralph. If I made the rules, I'd pay Wall St/Finance types way less and use the money to pay Teachers way more along with Cops and Military. I'd have a hidden agenda with boosting military pay - maybe we'd use em more carefully if it was more expensive...

And that's all I have to say about that...

Hardware

2009-09-17T23:31:00.000-07:00

I've decided what my main weapon will be - a Ruger M77 bolt action rifle in .308 caliber. It's got a 26" barrel, a 10X fixed power scope and a Harris bipod that clips onto a swivel stud. I got the high 30mm rings so I can go a bit larger on the diameter of the suppressor. I can regularly do 7" groups at 500 yards. I know others get tighter groups but I'm trying to keep things generic and the Ruger M77 is a fairly popular gun - I imagine several hundred thousand have been sold.
Bottomline, I am very comfortable with this setup and that's a significant thing. Oh yeah, I've also practiced on windy days and have a decent feel compensating for wind drift.

This caliber is also very widely used and available - .308 is also known as NATO 7.62x51. Most Western medium machine guns and "Battle" rifles are this caliber. Depending on who you talk to, the specific type of ammunition and barrel used, the effective range could be from 500-800 yards up to even the 1000 yard Palma competition. I've been pleased with the Federal brand 168 grain Gold Medal Match ammo.

I've already discussed why I decided against using the significantly more powerful, longer range Browning Machine gun .50 caliber because it's relatively rare compared to the .308. For similar reasons I decided against the .338 Lapua and for now, the .300 Winchester Magnum. Remember, I don't want to get caught and the .50 and .338 are sort of memorable. If I really had to deliver some solid hits at 1000 yards, I'd consider the .300 Win. Mag.

Don't get me wrong, if "Gun Santa" left a big caliber gun and a bunch of ammo under my tree I'd consider using it. One gun that intrigues me is the Bohica Arms .50 caliber upper that fits onto an AR-15/M16 lower. An upper with 24" barrel is 37" overall or 43" with a 30" barrel. Most .50 caliber rifles are very long and pretty heavy and this makes transport and concealment difficult.

Another interesting regulatory angle is that in the eyes of the Federal government, only the lower is required to be registered so you can buy the upper with minimal paperwork. However, I figure less than 2000 of the uppers have been sold so they wouldn't be that hard to trace if the Feds court ordered sales records.

The last 2 equipment items are my Leica Rangemaster 1200 Rangefinder and my Litton night vision light amplification binoculars. More later on the various bags and cases I'll be using so it doesn't look like I'm out to snipe pinstripers. Oh yes, I'll also give an update on my suppressor design and construction - remember don't try this at home!

-Pinstripe Sniper

And that's what it's all about...

2009-09-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

I have no desire to get caught. My goal is to stir things up so these finance types will think long and hard about their line of work and that bad PR, fines or even jail time will seem like the good old days. Then, after I've shaken things up, I'll disappear. So what am I going to do and how am I going to do it?

I figure I'll start with a top-level executive. Lots of these types have public profiles - online biographies with pictures, interviews, magazine articles, speaking engagements. So it will be relatively easy to id who I'm gunning for. Believe it or not, I would feel bad if I shot the wrong person. Remember that line from the movie "True Lies?" When Jamie Lee Curtis find out her husband (Governor Arnie) is actually a secret agent she asks him if he killed anyone and he replies "Yah but they were all bad people." That works for me. I also figure once what I am doing gets into the news, the highest profile guys will go to ground with beefed up security, fewer public appearances and no more sitting by windows or public appearances.

I know it's going to be tough to find a high profile target that will also have either the travel profile or office location that makes him vulnerable. Yeah, I guess I am sexist. I'd have some qualms about shooting a woman. Fortunately for me, glass ceiling or no, it's still a male-centric club. Anyway, I know it's going to take a lot of legwork to sift through the list of possibilities and build the list of probables.

Just thinking out loud here, if I find a target with a corner office and a good firing location for me I'd jump on it. So what's a good firing location? It's easy to get to (and away) it has good concealment and is less than 500 yards away. If I'm close to perpendicular to the window glass, that will reduce the amount of deflection when the bullet hits the glass. To boot, the glass could be strengthened and have a ballistic film treatment. Better still, if the target has a country estate with no neighbors, likes to spend time outdoors and there's some high ground within a 1000 yards, I'm golden.

You can take it for granted that I am good with guns. I've shot for most of my life and I know how to keep things simple. While I like "exotic" guns, I'm definitely not going to use them because it would make it easier to track me down and catch me. Remember I have no desire to be caught. For example, if I used a .50 caliber BMG rifle, I'd easily have a 1000 yard killing range and be able to ignore most ballistic protection. But there aren't that many .50 cals out there compared to medium caliber hunting rifles. And if I'm at the range with a .50, people take notice. If I'm shooting a generic hunting rifle, I'm just another guy at the range. Ammo is easier too. I can just buy hunting ammo a box at a time here and there. I figure 3 shots tops at the target and 40-60 rounds for practicing and zeroing.

I've also started building "silencers." Building a decent suppressor or "can" is actually pretty easy to do, especially if you don't need it to be compact, long lasting or dry. Most of the technology is pretty old school and really good suppressors were being made about a hundred years ago. (look up Hiram Percy Maxim) And yes I know homemade cans are illegal but what's that on top of a murder rap? You can bet your ass I'll be obeying speed limits though. Oh did I mention I have a degree in Engineering?

-Pinstripe Sniper