The myth, the machine, the shotgun

I like to test things. If this isn't apparent from my reloading addiction, then I don't know what to tell you. I started this blog almost four years ago basically to test stuff, like the live fire test where I shot a kevlar vest with everything under the sun, and due to a good discussion with a dear friend I am now thinking about what else I can do to test what I consider to be the most misunderstood weapon in the world today: the shotgun.

There are many things stated in regards to this weapon that are perhaps not founded on reality, such as the ever popular "You don't have to aim!" when talking about buckshot in a home defense scenario, or "Just racking the slide makes all badguys wet their britches!," or "It'll knock a grown man clear off his feet!" I've heard these things from drunk old codgers since I was a boy, and I have my own take on them. I've even touched on the home scenario one recently, but it was by no means comprehensive, which is why my mind keeps wandering back to the half dozen sheets of fresh drywall that I'm not using in the basement.

The one I want to address first -- the one that involves my discussion with dear friend -- is that using a shotgun with buckshot is either more or less dangerous than a rifle when used while hunting in close proximity to other hunters. The discussion started over the use of semi-auto rifles vs. shotguns with buckshot; the pervasive thought is that since buckshot is less aerodynamic than a rifle round, with a known limited range, that they are safer to use in the described environment. This comes awfully close to the rant I made just the other day about "shotgun only" hunting areas, but differs in that we're talking specifically about buckshot. Just how pervasive is the thought about safety of shotgun only hunting areas? To again quote the study at that last link:

Of Pennsylvania’s approximate 900 miles of border with other states, it was found that the centerfire rifle was unlawful along the entire boundary with the exception of western Maryland. They found that in no case was any state able to provide definitive information upon which they based their decision. In fact, most reported that they simply responded to the public perception that shotguns were less dangerous than centerfire rifles. At that time, PGC staff found there was no data to support the contention that shotguns and muzzleloaders are any less risky than centerfire rifles. They found, instead, that in the “shotgun-only” states this appears to be “an issue driven by emotion and politics rather than sound scientific data.”2

The concept sits comfortably in the minds of people, but has no weight behind it. I believe it's bunk. To go even further, I have felt that a shotgun is an inherently more dangerous than a rifle in most situations, and have felt that way since I was a boy.

In my youth, I hunted with a group of men that were known to, at times, stretch the limits of safety. We often hunted with hounds, almost exclusively in fact, mostly of the long legged breeds like Walkers or Blueticks which covered lots of ground and pushed deer hard. When an angry hound is gnawing on Bambi's mommas legs at full stride, you can either shoot or you can't; these deer are running as fast as they can, with their bellies mere inches off the ground, and opportunity to get a shot off is extremely limited. In the backwoods of Virginia, the terrain can extremely thick, limiting visibility to several feet at best. They don't call it The Wilderness for nothing. When a deer drive covered one of these areas, a shotgun loaded with buckshot was often the weapon of choice.

Now, in the name of full disclosure, I've always kinda loathed buckshot for two reasons: one, in my mind, it runs counter to marksmanship; and two, in using it you can inadvertently violate rule #4 - be sure of your target and what is beyond it. Shooting buckshot while you're on the ground, all by your lonesome -- sure, it's not hard to keep all the rounds impacting somewhere safe if you happen to shoot some doe who's farting around, oblivious to you sitting up against a hay bale. When you're in close proximity to other living, breathing human beings, with limited visibility, shooting at a fleeting animal, choosing a weapon that fires fifteen rounds or more with every trigger pull in the rough direction of your quarry is not the best choice in my opinion. Yes, you have a higher probability of hitting your target, but with that comes a higher probability of hitting Sumdood who forgot his blaze orange that day.

It was rare occasion that I would tote just a shotgun into the woods on a hunt; most of the time it was slung on my back, with a more elegant weapon in my hands, one made for surgical shots. When hunting amongst other hunters while using a rifle, which obviously has more range, the first thing you do when you get to your place in the drive is to pick out your shooting lanes. These are the directions you are absolutely certain are safe to fire in, where you know that your round will stop someplace safe. Even as a wee lad, I knew this very well; you don't deviate from your shooting lanes for any reason. If a deer comes blowing by and goes into an area where you don't know for certain there's another hunter, you don't shoot. There were very few times I felt that I could shoot safely with buckshot, and when my old man would suggest I use one I would usually look at him like he was smoking crack.

Getting back into the discussion, the argument was going towards which weapon would be better/safer/less lethal/less inconvenient to get hit with if one of your rounds happened to go in the direction of another hunter or occupied area and struck somebody. I prefer my rounds to only go precisely where I aim them, but for argument's sake, how far are buckshot pellets dangerous for? I want to embark on a journey to find out. This may take awhile, but my intention is to chronograph and shoot different shotgun loads at distance, and do the math to find out how safe they really are. My firm belief right now is that buckshot is very much lethal out to at least 500 yards or more, which is why I don't subscribe to the common belief that they are only effective at short distances, and thus safe around other hunters.

Bullets are cool

I received a box of 6.5mm 123 grain Nosler Custom Competition bullets yesterday and I'm doing mental back flips trying to figure out what powder I'm going to put behind them.



Single base spherical powders like Winchester 748 or Accurate Arms 2520 will give me lots of velocity, but their downside is that they're temperature sensitive; the double base extruded powders are generally insensitive to temperature, though not as much of it fits in the case, lowering velocity. Fish or cut bait?

I've decided to stay with Hodgdon's Extreme lineup of powder, but I can't quite commit to a choice just yet. My options are H322, Benchmark, or H4895, all of which are made of awesome. Consulting with burn charts is about as accurate as talking to the dead, and despite there being a forum dedicated to the 6.5 Grendel, there's not much real data using any of these powders. Most folks are using IMR 8208 XBR like I am, but I came to the conclusion that though it's not temperature sensitive, it's sensitive to something, I'm guessing humidity.

There's no reason at all to not try a different powder with the new bullets, if only for the sake of science. I've already primed the once fired AA brass with (gasp!!) Federal Match primers, instead of the voodoo CCI Magnum primers that everybody and their brother uses. I've yet to see an adequate explanation for them, but that's what's recommended on every gun board. People sure can be fickle, or maybe I'm just a dumb-ass. We will soon see.

From the picture there, you can see the Nosler looks a touch shorter than the 123 grain Hornady AMAX and 123 grain Lapua Scenar, but that does come with its advantages: the super steep boattail and shorter length makes for more room in the case, which the .264 LBC is in need of. So that's the trade off -- a little more powder in exchange for a little less aerodynamics. So, fish or cut bait? The B.C. (ballistic coefficient) of the Custom Competition and AMAX is advertised at .510, while the Scenar comes in at .527, but those are for much higher velocities than the .264 LBC can give, making those numbers not as realistic as one would think.

Are you bored yet? If you haven't noticed, I'm the kind of guy who has ballistics charts just lying around. Just sitting there, all over the place. I'll find some coffee stained drop/drift table that I printed out 8 years ago for a caliber I no longer have, and after reading it over and over for a month, I realize that acquiring a firearm in that caliber will settle the problem that I've manufactured in my head. How much do I have in savings right now? Hmmmmm.

When I decide on a powder and start some load development, of course I'll take pictures and walk you through all the fun! Stay tuned!

That's not the half of it

I'm amazed that there's such a response to the Fed Ex guy throwing a computer box over a fence. If that bothers anybody, their minds would be blown if they ever witnessed what goes on in the distribution centers.

Many moons ago I worked in a UPS distro center as a box kicker, and man, did I see some shit. The process of unpacking and packing boxes into trucks is nowhere near gentle, even if you are careful. You're talking thousands of packages an hour have to be shoved violently out of a truck onto rollers and conveyors, and then shoved violently back into another truck. This is done as fast as the human body will allow, and UPS doesn't issue you kid-gloves, nor do they issue common sense. I've seen heavy steel farm equipment loaded right on top of stacks of Gateway computers, boxes marked 'fragile' on every corner get stuck at the junction between conveyors and sheared clean in half, and boxes fall off conveyors into the dark abyss below, never to be seen again. It happens.

Now, some of the stuff that people see fit to send through the mail is nothing short of unbelievable. I never had live bees come through my center, like the USPS, but I do recall a live goldfish sent in a clear glass tank with plastic wrap rubber-banded around the top and a shipping sticker stuck to the side. That had to be some sort of sick test to see if it would get broke. We had a giant box of pink rubber dildos break open on a conveyor one morning; there had to have been 500 or more of them tumbling and fumbling all over the place, getting hung up on the belts, and nobody had any interest in grabbing ahold of them to put them back in, if you know what I mean. You never can tell what's in the faceless brown boxes until they bust open, spilling a thousand New Kids on the Block CDs or leopard print negligees all over the place. The worst was lip balm; break open a box of that and you would have a huge mess. By far the most destroyed item was Sylvania fluorescent light bulb tubes; those you could identify by their box, and, no lie, they were on every single truck. I would just shake my head at the stupidity of sending those through the mail - eight out of every ten boxes would be completely crushed, with white powdered glass leaking from the corners. I didn't know where the origin of the stupidity was -- from somebody who thought it was safe to mail them, or UPS continuing to accept them knowing they would have to compensate whomever for all the destroyed boxes.

If you think your mailman is rough with your stuff, you can't imagine what goes on where you can't see. Fed Ex box-kickers probably put luggage handlers to shame when it comes to putting their hands on your property, so I wouldn't get all worked up over the delivery guy. Believe me, you don't really want to know what Brown does for you.

Random thoughts about stick fighting

I see advertised time and time again in self defense schools about using a cane as a weapon, but I rarely see anyone using a cane these days. It doesn't make sense to me to learn tactics for a weapon that hardly anyone carries, but it did get me thinking. I see senior folks walking in subdivisions every morning, and most of them are carrying a good sized sturdy stick. This isn't something I see every once in awhile, either; literally I see some stick carrying old dude with an angry look on his face at least once a week, and I have to say that if I were a scumbag, it would be a deterrent. I'm a physically capable individual with no doubts that I could overcome someone twice my age if they were unarmed, but I would be hesitant enough to attack a potential Korean war veteran with a nasty case of untreated PTSD and a treated hickory stick.

So, what about stick tactics?

Barrels, bullets, and other things

I got word that the Les Baer barrel for my MK12 Mod 0 build has been completed by ADCO and is in the mail. I had to correspond with Steve, who works there, to give him the details of what I was looking for. They had my barrel for just over a week before completing the work and sending back out, which is impressive.

I need a few more parts to finish the build, but have run out of funding for the time being. I do have pictures of the upper being fitted to the lower, as well as some Alumahyde coating pics. When I get the barrel I will take some more and put up a post.

Now that I'm back to carrying the Glock, I'm going to upgrade my carry ammo from Black Hills 124 grain +P to probably Federal's 147 grain +P HST. They are more affordable than the Black Hills, and use better bullet technology than the XTP which is made by Hornady. I think that I'm going to holster shop for the 1911 for AIWB; for the moment, the Glock is set up for it and the Zack holster is working well; but while I shoot the Glock fine and all, I don't shoot it nearly as well as I do a 1911. It takes more effort to put rounds exactly where I want them to go in a hurry. I am way more practiced with the 1911, and can manufacture my own ammo for almost nothing, which is another bonus. I'm on Custom Carry Concepts' email list for a Shaggy holster when they start making them again in the fall, but I might look for something for my Kimber and give that a whirl, too.

Also, I may drop off the radar for a few days -- just giving you a little heads up. My annual allotment of responsibility is about to go up by 25% any day now, and I'll give a report on that when it goes down. I can't wait. Hopefully by then I will have all the rest of my Mod 0 parts and can sneak out of the house for some well deserved time at the range.

Bearing Arms

No, I don't mean firearms, medieval arms, or anything of the like. I'm talking Arms of the strategic type, with a couple of tactical ones thrown in for good measure.

Now, I really want you to check out the pictures in this thread regarding nuclear weapons. Seriously, go on and look at it. The next time you look at your grandfather, think of the batshit crazy ideas his generation had when designing this stuff. Then think of how you would feel as a nineteen year old Army trooper carrying a tactical nuke on your back, and then setting it up and launching it at an enemy that you can see with the naked eye. Maybe back then they had no idea that they were exposing themselves to massive amounts of radiation in several forms, or maybe they did and didn't care. With that sort of stuff - radiation exposure, I mean - there are things associated with it that can be worse than death, like a very very slow and painful death, or even having a penis sprout out of your forehead to the laughter of your friends. But it's no laughing matter.

Browsing through the pictures I can definitely see where GI Joe came from. All of the futuristic, half-human cyborg soldiers shooting lazer beams at one another doesn't seem all that far fetched now. The Ohio class submarines are both terrifying and awesome as hell at the same time, and I'm thankful that a group of demented scientists and engineers came up with the idea while hanging out at the water cooler one day at work.

Demented Engineer - "Hey Earl, you reckon we ought to come up with something really deadly to counter the Reds? I just don't think the tanks can get it done."

Evil Scientist - "By golly Sam, I think you may be onto something! If we could harness the power of the sun by splitting atoms, we could put it in some sort of clever technical device that can deliver it to those damned commies. Then we would be unstoppable!"

Demented Engineer - "I'm liking your zeal, Earl! If we took all that powerful scientific bullshit that you just came up with and stuffed it into a humongous tube, we could stow like fifty of them on a submersible ship that would then be capable of destroying the entire world! It would be great!!"

Evil Scientist - "And then we could put some of my scientific bullshit in something smaller, such as one of those right circular cylindrical devices you were pontificating about, one that would be portable enough for one of those warfighter drones to carry into battle."

Demented Engineer - "That would clean up the rest of the Reds that survived the evil holocaust. Good thinking; now let's get to work!"

Having been on a few military bases myself - some of them so spooky that I walked around with every hair on my body standing up, blading 45 degrees towards anyone I came across - I can only imagine how many dudes in white labcoats are busy at work, protractors and calculators in hand, designing crazy stuff that we haven't even heard of yet. Scary huh? What could possibly be more badass than an underwater ship carrying more ordnance than was dropped in WWII?!?!

Metal folding chairs and spandex underwear

That's all that separates the federal government from another exciting form of entertainment: professional wrestling.

Both industries use sensationalism and theatrics to make for an exciting spectacle; both have clearly divided casts of characters that can go from antagonist to good guy in a moment; both have orchestrated maneuvers for the safety of all parties; and most importantly, both have predetermined outcomes. It's all fake but interesting entertainment carefully crafted to keep you dramatically chained to the edge of your seat.

The news this morning is awash with the story of how President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner were in heated "negotiations" this weekend over issues with buzzwords like "debt ceiling," "spending cuts," "deficit cutting," "divided government," "Ministry of Darkness." Well, maybe not that last one. I'll leave it up to y'all to determine which politicritter played Rick Flair and which one played Ricky Steamboat.

Thinking about it, is there really a deficit? Does it exist? Does any of this really matter? If Americans were not struggling against perpetual debt, trying to pay off a federal deficit, they would be in a perpetual struggle to pay off something else. We have become too comfortable running like hamsters in a wheel to achieve something we believe we have to achieve.

While the fruits of the federal government's labor (funny, right?) does affect millions of people, I consider it totally fake and will continue to love my family and serve my fellow man with complete indifference. Water off a ducks' back. If anyone needs me, I will be in my bunk dreaming of one day being able to shoot F-Class, and fish for Marlin on my own boat.

Close encounter

This morning I left for work a little later than normal, and almost met my demise because of it. I like to leave while it's still dark in order to avoid all the traffic and lunatics on the highways, but I'm seeing now that it doesn't matter.

Waiting to turn left out of my subdivision onto a quiet, no-name country road that used to have significant importance during the Civil War, I have to nudge out into the half mile of standing traffic because drivers these days have no concept of the law in regards to not blocking an intersection. They can see you there with your blinker on, and it's not like they can go anywhere, but they still pull forward and block you in. Honk your horn and these people will slowly turn their head toward you and stare with an empty stare, for a moment, and then say HMM-hm-hm-mmmah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Fucking cattle.

If I turn right, I would be heading into the flow of cattle toward the main highway, which leads to Interstate 95 - the aorta of the East Coast. The hoofed creatures are all mostly heading North to DC. I almost always turn left to take the backroads because I would rather take the scenic route, which also serves to preserve life and limb, as I do not see myself dying on the highway to the hood of a former out of state, latte drinking metrosexual.

Being sober, alert, and trying to drive as safe as possible, I thought the way was clear so I crossed traffic and pulled into the opposite lane, only to almost get smashed by a little sportscar. The driver of that car skidded into the edge of the road to avoid hitting my dumb ass, sending gravel all over the roadway. His car being so low, it couldn't be seen above the line of stopped cars heading East. Being grey in color the car was perfectly camouflaged with the wet roadway, there was no way I could have seen him. I could have waited for an hour for traffic to go away, or leave an hour earlier like I used to to avoid this nonsense to begin with. Either way, I wish every driver on the road in Virginia was as skilled as this driver, because I was certain I was going to get hit. It would have been my fault. If you come across this blog, skilled driver, I do apologize.

As much as I bitch about all the non-skilled drivers that I encounter day by day, I'm admitting to myself that it's really due to there being way too many cars and people in an area that can't possibly support the excess traffic. It's simply too much. I get run off the road about once a month like the guy I mentioned above, and have several close calls a week. I work in an adjacent county, and when I was young the drive took me 20 minutes to make from driveway to parking lot. Now it takes me an hour, so I spend two hours of my life a day sitting in traffic. I know I should be ashamed, but it's not unusual to see me stopped at a stoplight in an ocean of Volvos, shaking my fist at all the bahleat-bahleat-bahleating idiots while screaming a nonstop chain of obscenities that would make R. Lee Ermey envious. Where the hell did all of you come from? Do you morons have any idea about how sad it makes me to be stuck in a gigantic intersection in front of a stripmall identical to the one a half a mile before it, reminiscing about how I used to hunt there with my friends in decades past? Then you people moved here in droves so that you could be two hours from DC, and it pisses me off.

I don't want to raise my children here amongst this mess, so I have been devoting my energy towards getting away from it. Not too far because my family and friends are all here, but I would like to get away from the traffic even though it will take me several years. I'm breaking character bringing a problem without voicing a solution, but I had to let it out. Thanks for reading my rant.

Ring around the Ruger

I cannot wait for Ruger to finally announce the commercial availability of the shit that they're smoking at this year's SHOT show. I want to live in their world for a spell just to see what it's like to be absolutely off your rocker crazy high on drugs.

While I do not own a single Ruger product, know that I am not bashing them. It's just that I've noticed a trend among that organization for building stuff that makes zero sense, and apparently I'm not the only one.

So my Bro-in-law has a newly acquired Horus Hawk scope given to him by some magnificent individual that he had proposed putting on a Ruger M77 in 220 Swift, and I attempted to procure the rings necessary to mount it for him. The problem I ran into is that the guys who designed the M77 receiver wanted to ensure that proper mounting of glass upon the blued carbon steel would be not only very proprietary, but complicated as well. The only picture of this phenomenon that I could glean off the internets can be seen here, if you do not know of what I speak.

The Ruger-only mount milled directly into the receiver is not at the same height, as if machining an even plane onto metal was too difficult. Either that or the engineer that thought of this idea was stoned out of his mind. It means your scope rings are two different heights to attenuate this ridiculousness, which severely limits your choices. If you don't subscribe to the belief in a mounting system that's stupid, you can always by bases from Leupold or Weaver, but you can forget getting a one piece. The only clear option is to order weird scope rings from Leupold and hope they are perfect for your application, as you will not find the rings on shelves in any store. It would be different if the Ruger mount is mechanically better or stronger than anyone elses, but it's not; it's built to be overly stupid.

What in the world grips the minds of those folks at Ruger? They must show up to work drunk, snort a line of metal shavings from the lathe, and top it off with a shot of cutting oil before fabricating their wild-assed ideas like $90 box magazines for short barrelled niche rifles with flash hiders. Why can't you folks just be normal?

Pistons are all the rage

While driving to work this morning, I was thinking about the accuracy bug that I've been chasing in the 308 rifle and why I still don't have consistency.

I have been a staunch advocate for direct impingement (DI) gas systems as they lend themselves to great accuracy. I've never bought into the myth that DI guns jam because of fouling, or that they jam more than any other firearm in general, and I have plenty of experience with the M16, AR15, and LR308 platforms to back that up. Sure, it fouls the action with soot, but it doesn't lead to the jams that uninformed/inexperienced people whine about on various internet forums. Discounting the defective magazine nightmare that I had with the LR308 when I first started shooting it, the only jam in one of these platforms that I can recall was 100% shooter induced. I was on the rifle range at Camp Pendleton, and I clicked off a shot on the 300 yard line which was ejected back into the action because my pinky was blocking the ejection port. This was before the days of forward grips and all, so we pulled in tight to the magazine well with our support hand.

As far as the heat involved with DI rifles, I've never worried about that too much as I don't even run my carbine like a carbine. When you never fire more than ten rounds or so at a time, why do you need to worry about snapping your bolt from all the high volume fire that will never happen? It's just never been an issue, or so I thought.

My epiphany occurred this morning as I was deducting that with the LR308, my groups always, always, always open up as the gun gets hot. I don't subscribe to the theory that it's because of the barrel; there's plenty of information and evidence about modern high quality barrels and how the point of impact does not shift when they get hot. Within reason, of course. No, my groups open up as the gun heats up overall, even if the barrel is not too hot to touch. I keep all of my targets for later analysis as I'm dorky like that, and I have lots of proof of why this is happening, and just hadn't put it together until now.

Gun powder is fickle stuff that performs differently depending on the climate where it is at. Temperature seems to me to be the big factor, as loads that you so carefully tested and approved of in the spring under clear, 60 degree temperatures go all screwy when the mercury hits 100+ degrees. Probably the main reason why Hodgdon's Varget is so popular is that it is extremely resistant to temperature changes (climate change?), but even the mighty Varget has its limits. I found this out this summer after one really hot day when I took the empty shell casings home after firing max loads of Varget with 175 grain bullets, and noticed that the cases wouldn't fit in a shell holder. Seems they had swelled a little too much. Looking at my data book shows the first five round group to average 2,547 fps, and consecutive groups going 2,603 fps.

The conclusion I came to was that it's not the barrel temperature that's causing it, but the chamber temperature. DI operating systems direct hot gasses straight into the bolt, right behind the case head. It's like hitting the back of the case with a blow torch every time you fire, and then the next unfired cartridge has to sit in that hot chamber with a glowing hot bolt until you shoot again. That is what is causing inconsistencies, and that is why the fifth round in a five round group in my warm rifle sometimes opens up. Checking through my data book, I see a variance of up to 90 fps with Varget loads, so who knows how screwed up things get with Reloader 15 or other temp sensitive powders. I would bet money that this phenomenon is why my gun will stack five rounds of 168 grain Federal Gold Medal right on top of each other, than the next group will be like buck shot.

If you think about it, you can eject a just fired .300 Winchester Magnum case out of a bolt action rifle straight into your hand, and it's kind of warm, but then try to pick up a .308 Winchester case off the ground that was just fired from a DI type AR rifle and it will immediately remove skin. They come out that hot even if it's the first round of the day. What I'm saying is that as I shoot, I'm basically cooking the round that I'm about to fire, and this increase in temperature causes pressure and velocity to climb which opens up my groups, and it gets worse with each round fired.

The solution is to either fire three round groups before letting the gun cool for fifteen minutes, use a powder that's impervious to temperature, or go with a gas piston system. The gas piston system does put reciprocating parts on top of the barrel, which can effect accuracy, but reading through the gun forums shows the technology is such that this isn't really an issue any more. The piston is getting very popular, to the point where even the Israelis are thinking about them.

I will have to take the route of least resistance and try out some of the new IMR 8208 XBR powder to find out if it is the magic solution for all of my DI problems. Looking on the IMR website shows that 8208 XBR is "totally insensitive to changes in temperature." Oh, we will see about that!

Now, I just have to find some. Last night I swung in to Ganderous Mountainous to see if they had Varget, and I found the store's condition to be exactly the same as it has been for years: deplorable. I hate that store. Not only did they NOT have any Varget, they didn't have any 175 grain Sierra Match Kings, no 165 grain Sierra Game Kings, no .223 Remington shell casings for a Stony Point OAL gauge; to tell you the truth, they really don't have much of anything. Time for a trip to Green Top!

I have some chain saw and machete work to do to perfect where I am going to test these rounds, and I'll get back to you with a range report when I get it done. If this doesn't work, I'll be looking to acquire a piston system for both ARs.

The Paranoid American

I link to this Hot Air post this morning because it really touched on how I feel. "What's a matter with you Americans?" Read it; it's spot on.

I can't speak for all Americans, but no doubt some are like me. I am naturally paranoid, and have a definite militant sort of nature. I am not at all a violent person; in fact, I am the type of person who is more than willing to give any sort of help to a stranger because I love my fellow man. I love human beings. I am drawn to serve for the good of others, at the expense of my own life if need be. And I am strongly skeptical of those who position themselves in places of authority or power and then claim that they are acting for the better of all. Most of the time they are selling snake oil.

Human beings will always have self interest in everything they do. That is not a flaw; people can still do selfless acts despite having that natural self interest. I believe that people who run for public office may very well want to help others - good intentions and all that - but the opportunity to advance their self interest goes starkly up with that power, and the road to hell I've heard is gorgeous.

I consider anyone who runs for any office to be a potential scumbag. By the very act of wanting that authority over others, as well intentioned as one may be, that individual has shown that they want to control others. Period. And at this point in my life, I am weary of people wanting to run my life for me; wanting to make my life better; wanting to take what is mine to make someone else's life better; wanting to take what is mine to advance science; wanting to take what is mine to save the whales, etc. I am weary of these intentions and I don't care about them. I don't trust you as far as I can through you, and I will not vote for you if you have ever passed a law, wanted to pass a law, or ever expressed or confessed a desire to pass a law that barred a human being from doing one thing, in the hopes of allowing another to do any other thing.

Unless you are in the business of passing laws that strip power from yourselves, or bar other public officials from meddling in the day to day affairs of Americans, than consider me opposed to your every move.

Yes, I understand that sending astronauts to the moon advances society, and that the money has to come from somewhere. I really do. But a dog can only stand to have so many fleas. You have had enough blood from me. So I'm telling you, leave my shit alone. I don't want to be a part of your vision of utopia. I am fully aware that people are starving all over the world; and if you tax 99% of every American's paycheck to buy them a sandwich, there will still be people starving all over the world. The same goes for the animals. Stop extorting my money to save the fucking dolphins, the whales, the desert tortoise, the chickens, and the polar bears: I Don't Care! They will die with or without the fruits of my labor, just like they have since the beginning of time.

When I was a kid, my parents taught me that if I took something away from someone against their will, no matter what kind of well intentioned ideas I may have, it was stealing. Taking from someone against their will = stealing. Got it. So when you take from me to give to another, it is against my will and it is stealing. Stealing! You got that! Virginia, are you listening? Governor McDonnell, are you listening? Mr. President, Congress, are y'all listening? I don't give one teensy weensy little tiny piece of shit about anything you are trying to give to me, or any other. It is not selfish. It is just reality. If you want to sit around all day conjuring up ways to stop people from doing shit, Fine. You can start by looking at ways to keep your hands to yourself, because I am not interested in any of your other ideas, and it looks like the vast majority of Americans feel the same way.

Jobs? Can y'all even create jobs? Of course you can't. You can either create the illusion that you're creating jobs, you can claim credit for creating jobs even though you didn't, or you can do us all a favor and get the fuck out of everyone's way and let them find jobs for themselves. Seems to me like y'all are the ones who caused this mess in the first place, at least in part, and you can definitely help the American people get back to work by just going home and watching some TV. Put your pen down, and go home.

I honestly can't imagine what good can come from people who go to work every single day with the intent to create a law with their name on it, just to stop someone from doing something. Why does Congress even work all day? Why can't they just meet once or twice a year, pass the budget, and then go home - just like they did to start with? When I hear some Congressman gloat about all the hard work their doing, I get really pissed off, because I know that they are ultimately working towards either stealing from Peter to give to Paul, or they are working on making some other facet of our lives illegal. If you think about it, they can't actually make something legal. Government can't give you liberties; they can only take them. So with their every day efforts, they work towards fucking you out of your liberty.

Just look at what has been done with Concealed Carry. Everyone I know smiles ear to ear when they get that paper card in the mail that says that they can carry a gun. I look at it with contempt. Why is it that people think that they can give me something I already own? A permit is not a liberty. It's not a freedom. It is exactly the opposite. Stimulus? You want to stimulate the economy? How about you give back the 30% of the labor that you forcefully take from everyone, and let them spend it on what they want. That way, it doesn't get wasted in the cogs of the most inefficient spending machine ever devised.

So from now on, you folk working on public office, just leave me out of your plans. If you must do something from day to day to draw a paycheck because you have no other skills, then work on dismantling this goat rope of statutes that you have created. Go on, there's plenty there to work on. Should keep you feeding at the public trough for centuries. Humanity will flourish when you scumbags finally move out of the way.

Update: Case in point. President Obama, you have no business meddling in this. You are Commander in Chief, not the head of college football; you were not hired for this. It is not your job. That you have focused even a moment of attention on this on public time means you are wasting the public's money which you do not have permission to use. Put your pen down and stay in your fucking lane!

Comments and other such things

Hi folks! I just wanted to say I appreciate everyone who comes here for a read, and I thank you for your comments!

No, I'm not going anywhere; it's just that I stumbled upon my spam folder in my email, and for some reason all of my comments have been going there. I thought I had that sorted out.

So, this whole time I haven't been getting my notices that someone had dropped by and left me a message. I thought that it was because of the holidays and all, or that I had been slacking so that nobody was reading.

I have a ton of comments to go through, to say nothing of the Movie Guns comments. I will get to it, but I am in a state of shell shock right now. Sorry about that.

As for Movie Guns, now that it is the new year I am on the hunt for a cheap and reliable computer to hook to my newly repaired Big Ass Monitor. Right now I have to resort to posting on my wife's little laptop, or bringing my work laptop home from time to time. Once I get a new computer, it's game on.

I'm looking forward to it, and I am looking forward to reading all of the stuff y'all have sent me in the past couple months.

Some thoughts

Everybody is talking about the tragedy on Ft Hood, and there are a few things I'd like to point out that I haven't seen mentioned.

First is that the public at large is entirely clueless as to how military bases work in regards to weapons possession. Despite what you may think, these bases are "Gun Free Zones" in every sense of the term. A news anchor asked a Senator or Congressman yesterday if all Soldiers just walked around armed, and was under the impression that that is policy. To clear things up, weapons are stored in armories that are very much secure, and ammunition is stored in fortified bunkers at a different location on the base. Personnel, which includes active duty uniformed individuals stationed on the base, are not allowed to carry any weapon -- personal or government owned -- on base in any way they please. The only time Soldiers or Marines will be wandering around with weapons is during training.

I stress though, that this policy will not stop a shooter from buying ammo at Wal-Mart, loading up their personal weapon, and bringing it on the base. To think so is fantasy.

If you live in base housing, sometimes you are allowed to register personal weapons with the base Provost Marshal's office and keep them in your residence, but I don't believe that every base allows this. If you live in the barracks, personal weapons must be stored in the armory, and cannot be carried about freely on post. There are procedures and regulations for bringing firearms onto base for shooting events or hunting, but again, the gun(s) cannot be carried around freely.

I'm not advocating these rules, mind you. It's just the way it is. I have engaged in conversation with many people over the years who defend these rules because, it is argued, that Soldiers or Marines cannot be trusted with firearms. Firefights will break out at the drop of a hat, and there will be negligent discharges every day in the chow halls. To anyone who has spent any time in combat, these arguments are largely false.

On forward operating bases (FOBs), civilian contractors and military personnel alike are armed and in possession of ammunition at all times, and shootings --negligent or intentional -- are rare. There is a high level of stress, exhaustion, and complacency on FOBs, and while many have seen some dumbass officer fire a live round into the clearing barrel at the chow hall, NDs are not an every day occurrence. The main thing missing from a FOB that would be present on a mainside post would be alcohol, and that would no doubt cause problems. I am convinced it is an American issue. Americans are stupid when it comes to the drink, but there are other nations that do not share in our stupidity. Alcohol is a constant safety issue on bases despite the weapons policy, and our culture is to blame for it.

For those who do not understand what a readiness center is, let me fill you in. These are large buildings that usually have some sort of gymnasium or other open space in them. Soldiers, Marines, and personnel are jammed into these buildings by the hundreds in order to do all of the administrative stuff that they need to complete before heading overseas into combat, or coming back from combat. There are processing stations/booths set up for all sorts of things, like, for instance, a dental booth where a Soldier's dental records will be looked at to see if their fangs are in good enough shape to not cause any problems while they kill people in a foreign land. There will be a station where medical records will be checked and shots will be given. The chaplain station will be where a Soldier can express their concerns about Susie cheating on them in their absence, and the legal station is where your will and power of attorney will be closely monitored to make sure the stripper that you just married will be able to access every dime you make while at war. Personnel going through this hell are stacked ass to nuts in a maze of hallways while they wait for their chance to get to the open area where all the stations are. These are not nice places to be to begin with. To be gunned down in one by a scumbag wannabe hajji is the epitome of shitty.

Now you know.

For closure, if you think that the weapons policy on bases will stop a killer, just look at the news this morning. It doesn't. I am not under the belief that my fellow man cannot be trusted with a personal weapon at all times. To have been where I have been, with every swinging dick on a FOB tired, pissed off, dirty, stressed beyond all belief, and homesick after a day of being shot at; armed with automatic weapons, handguns and live ammunition; heading into a long line of people that are waiting to get into the chow hall, with nothing eventful happening day after day - tends to make me think that it's no big deal to let them keep arms on a mainside base if they want to. The alcohol thing would have to be looked into, but it could be done, and events like mass shootings would be far less painful.

Global warming is the source of all my problems

Apparently all I need to fight my kidney stone affliction is a Prius, some pot, and some hemp clothing. Good to know.

Using published data to determine the temperature-dependence of stone disease, researchers applied predictions of temperature increase to determine the impact of global warming on the incidence and cost of stone disease in the United States.

I don't wish kidney stones on anyone, but if these "predictions" are true (sarcasm folks) then two million Americans are screwed.

At this point, these damn things are no longer just causing me physical pain, or making my work days a living hell, but they're somehow causing me family grief as well. It's not like I can keep this shit secret, so everyone knows about it, and many people, now including family members, have approached me with home remedies because they care.

I sincerely appreciate it; and believe me, I will try them all, but I cannot abandon tried, tested, and experienced tactics from doctors and hospitals for untested stuff. They may help in the long haul, which I'm in for, but taking herbal stuff will not cause the immediate cessation of agonizing pain in which the human body was clearly not designed to cope with. High doses of opiates will.

Particular herbal stuff may dissolve particular types of stones in particular types of people with particular types of body chemistry, or they may not, but they definitely will not stop a large stone from lodging in my pipes causing my kidney to swell in crippling pain. Plastic tubes surgically placed in my pipes will.

On the other hand, there is a high likelihood that my stupid body is the kind that likes to collect and covet these stupid stones like some sort of retarded Gollum creature, and hospital meds will not stop that from happening.

So, I am very much open to home remedies. However, being the established realist that everyone knows that I am, I know for a bonafide fact that there is not one single "I'm telling you, this shit will definitely work!" strategy for defeating one of mankind's oldest medical problems when thousands of years of medical research and treatment still haven't pinned it down, and there are so many types and bodily factors that impact it. So don't be offended by that.

It's not completely known why rock doesn't beat paper, it's impossible to know how much wood a woodchuck chucks, and marshmallow root, more/less vitamin C, and/or sleeping with my feet facing North/Northeast while laying on a mat woven from the foreskin of a thousand virgin squirrels may or may not help cure kidney stones. There is no definitive way to tell. That's it; it's that simple.

But that doesn't mean that I won't try. . . .

This is gonna hurt!

U.S. policymakers mull creation of domestic intelligence agency

CNNOctober 22, 2008

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The United Kingdom has MI-5, which roots out spies and terrorists in the British Isles.

Canada has CSIS — the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Now Congress is asking: Should the U.S. have its own domestic intelligence agency?

Yikes!

I received this article in an email from a friend. Also included was this piece on how the Joe Wurzelbacher saga goes above and beyond Obama and his loyal media minions. Here's a taste:

But the New York Times did some digging and discovered – horror – that Joe is doing plumbing without a proper business license. How dare he call himself a plumber! A license is required by Toledo, not just one license or a partnership but for everyone who is called a plumber. Joe has not taken the training courses, is not a member of the union, and cannot legally call himself a plumber.

The press reports on this were explosive, with reporters speaking as if they had caught this guy red-handed and completely discredited him. But what about the complete absurdity of the idea that you have to have a license in order to have the right to fix someone else's sink? This is Soviet like, but deeply entrenched in American professional life.

RTWT. I have actually pondered on this very issue for years as I am a school trained and "unlicensed" electrician (no I won't come over and fix your foyer light), but if I decide to build my own house I can't legally do the electrical work without an electrician who possesses a license present. I'm not a big fan. I do understand the difference in hiring my drunk heathen nephew-in-law to come over and fix my recalcitrant lighting circuits - which he will surely screw up - and picking a competent electrician who I know has taken the time to be trained in a school, state or otherwise, to do it right, but I get what I pay for; thus when my bubba friend screws up my lights it is my fault to begin with, and I shouldn't have been stupid enough to hire him in the first place. I see nowhere where this is a state problem. Just my $.02.

What a week

It seems that I have a penchant for getting busy at this time of the year. Travel is killing me, and it will get worse before it gets better. As it stands I will be in the air more than I will be on the ground in September. I hate flying, can't stand airports, and I think the security measures that we currently have are pathetic. I don't feel that the security checkpoints in the airports accomplish a damn thing but to humiliate people, and I make it a point to make that opinion known to all who work there, to include the US Customs scumbags. That may be offensive, but I could care less due to the amount of absurd and mindless handling that I have had to endure, and the shear amount of personal possessions stolen from me by those bastards over the last five years or so.

There hasn't been too much for me to mock in the news as of late because of the election. I don't usually post political crap on this blog because the whole election this year has been too much like a celebrity death match. Our biased media has again made our decisions for us out of the "goodness" of their heart, when all I wanted was fair coverage of every candidate so I could make up my own mind. So far I have refused to play along with it, and am still convinced that neither political candidate has anything for me.

Admittedly, I am now paying some attention to McCain's camp for choosing Palin as his running mate. Not that I'm convinced or anything; I vote small government, which McCain certainly is not, but Palin may be. Time will tell. Visiting the lefty blogs makes me laugh as their opinions are all over the place, and I don't believe they have realised the whole picture yet. I think they underestimate conservatives, pro-gunners, and pro-choicers. Their pointing out the lack of experience thing is laughable on its own. At least the Republicans are putting the experienced candidate on the ticket for President, instead of the other way around. The cart before the horse and all. I personally think that McCain now has it in the bag.

I am not at all loyal to any political group because I think that's foolish, but as I said I vote small government, which means I rarely vote Democrat. My disdain for Republicans is just as strong as for any of the other parties. A candidates stance on gun rights is my yardstick for measuring their view on civil rights, and how they will treat me as a citizen. I will not vote for an anti-gunner under any circumstances, but I won't vote for a terrible candidate just because he or she is pro-gun either. Small. Government. That's it. That rules out drug warriors and anti-gambling yahoos. It rules out nanny staters and socialists. It rules out McCain and Obama.

The fact that many people get all weak in the knees at the very sight of Obama is just ridiculous, and it strikes me as being dangerous. Underneath it all, US Presidents are still civil servants, and need to be viewed as such. Treating them as if they were a deity is wrong because, ultimately, it is the population of this country that runs the show. The people giveth, the people taketh away. That's how it's supposed to work anyways.

Many pundits say that Palin is a poor choice for McCain because she is not a "Washington insider." With the type of approval ratings that congress earns nowadays I wonder why anyone would want her to be. She is attacked for not having foreign policy, but Obama's foreign policy is piss poor at best, and he's running for the office of President, not Vice President. I treat every politician with outright scepticism even if their political beliefs align with mine. Even if my own mother became the President I would give her the awkward eye. Still, I'm not convinced at this point to place my allegiance with any candidate.

To tell you the truth, the promise of government run health care scares me more than anything. I've had government run health care before; it's called Tricare, and boy what a sugar coated turd that is. When I was on active duty in the Marine Corps, I can remember going to physical therapy for my back at the pool. The instructor would give you a floaty belt to put on and you would perform calisthenics for about an hour. The only problem was that there was only room for twenty two people in the deep end of the pool, including the instructor, and eighteen of those would be overweight Marine wives and three would be injured Marines trying to get off of light duty. I would be sitting on a bench with four or five other Marines who were waiting to get into the pool and start their session, but none of those large ladies ever gave up their spot, and I don't recall any of them making any progress. Three months of this told me that physical therapy was a waste of time. My visits with the civilian doctors brought more of the same; most just wanted you out of their office so they could continue to play put-put, and we're not even getting into places like Walter Reed hospital. Last I heard, Medicare wasn't doing so hot either.

Changing the subject, Movie Guns will be some time tomorrow; hopefully in the morning. The idea started out with just a few pictures, but now the whole thing has evolved into a monster. I like the monster. I have so much fun doing Movie Guns that I wish that I had the time to do one every other day. I probably wouldn't run out of films to cover either. Right now it takes about six hours to get one post complete, and usually that time is spread around five or six days. I do know that I need to go movie shopping soon. I expect that in the next couple of weeks I might get off schedule, but I will deliver as soon as I get my feet back on the ground.

Why do you carry a handgun if the first place?

There has been some gnashing of teeth over the circumstances, or rather the outcome, of this article on .380 ACP effectiveness that I originally heard about through Uncle's site. There's a piece at Too Lazy to Fail that addresses some of the concerns and it has merit. Give it a read.

I wanted to expand further and say that there are many reason why some people don't carry large handguns, so you have to think of why you carry a handgun in the first place. Because it's convenient, handy personal protection.

Remember the first rule of gunfighting: Have a gun. I ridicule the generic arguments over what calibers are effective because it's all macho posturing. Caliber effectiveness goes beyond the size of your threat, the depth of its chest cavity, the layers of denim, or the distance to the target. Your personal circumstances play the largest role in determining what works best, and if you can't afford to practice with .45 ACP, or your mom would freak if she discovered your concealed .454 Casull, then downsizing is a typical option. It's hard to argue that a .22 Long Rifle is inadequate if that's all you have with you.

I have heard of similar outcomes as the one above with just about every cartridge. I read an article in a gun magazine recently, perhaps from Mas Ayoob, where a home intruder was shot in the face with a .44 Magnum from a Ruger SuperBlackhawk. The bullet impacted just below the left eye socket, but the intruder lived to tell the tale. I have heard about a home intruder hit in the face with another .44 Magnum, this one from a Marlin lever action rifle, and that scumbag lived as well. I know an individual who survived a .38 Special round through the brain from muzzle contact. None of these rounds are considered inadequate. We hear stories all the time from Iraq where multiple rounds from a rifle failed to end the fight.

You have to carry what is realistic for your environment, and be as proficient as possible. That is one reason why I'm such an advocate of 9mm, because I can afford to practice much more than I can with .45 ACP.

The size of the weapon is a big concern. I can't carry at work because none of the guns that I own are small enough to conceal with my attire. In a post below you will see my compact .45 ACP 1911 that is way too big for me to carry at work. The same goes with the Glock 26 and Kahr PM9. I would be better off carrying a tiny .380 or .32 ACP than nothing at all, and that is something that I will have to think about.

My point is to not get discouraged over your choice of caliber because of the outcome of one shooting. Carry what works for you all the time.

Attempted baby-knapping

Via Clayton Cramer's Civilian Self Defense Blog comes this story of a man who shot it out with three thugs at his own house when they tried to rob him of his child.

When the victim, 52, said he didn't have any cash, one robber said, "get the baby", according to Avondale Police Sergeant Memo Espinoza.

This sort of incident is what I fear most. As a father I am very cautious of my surroundings when I am with my daughter. If someone steals my car while I'm paying for gas; big deal. When my daughter is buckled into her car seat and I'm filling up my tank than any attempt to carjack will be treated as a life-or-death situation that requires use of lethal force. You can try me later.

I cannot imagine the feeling that would come with such a situation were I to be unarmed and defenseless. What are my options? Stand there and let them take my child? Die because I have no way to match the force that the criminals are displaying? Not a chance. It is my duty to protect my family, and I'll be damned if I'm going to stand there empty handed while someone has their way with my kid.

And it is flat-out criminal to tell me that I do not have the option to protect myself with the proper equipment to deal with this type of situation.

What is the proper equipment? I'm a firm believer in Col. Jeff Cooper's Combat Mindset - plan A. Call me a coward, but I will avoid confrontation if possible to include someone shouting obscene things at myself or family. I don't care. I am also a firm believer in Plan's B and/or C. Anything worth carrying one of is worth carrying two of. I am a believer in having some sort of knife at all times. At all times. Those that know me are aware that if I'm not stark strip naked then I have a knife on me. It is a tool, and one that can, on occasion, be used as a weapon. You can bet your ass that if I'm armed only with a knife and you try to take my kid, than your gonna think someone hurled a 230 lb. running lawnmower at your head.

There is nothing "paranoid" about having a firearm to protect your family, no matter if you live in a "safe" area or not. Criminals look for such areas, and to be unprepared for such souls can be perilous. So be prepared.

The impact of Heller

Well, if you are watching the news this morning you would think that it's the end of the world. I hear journalists talk about "mixed reactions" and "some feel positive about the decision," yet they don't interview any of those people. It's almost like their biased or something.

Personally, I think that things are pretty much gonna stay the same for awhile. It's very likely that shootings are going to go up some, and the media will be all over it, but an increase in shootings and "gun deaths" does not mean an increase in murder. Some DC residents are going to keep a loaded handgun in their home, and they have a good chance of slaying some goblin who breaks in trying to steal, so it's probable that there are going to be more cases of "justifiable homicide," if DC even has such a thing.

Right now it looks as though DC residents are only going to be allowed revolvers, which is a start. Demonizing semi-auto pistols is kinda dumb, and I don't think that will last very long, but in the meantime, if I lived in crime riddled DC, I would be very comforted sleeping next to this.

The reason I think that the impact will be slight is that the Heller decision doesn't allow for carry. Think of the poor mother living in SE having to run out to the store at 9 o'clock at night to pick up baby formula. She can't carry a little .38 in her purse to protect herself in the parking lot, which is unfortunate. Still, her being able to stand her ground against thugs while in her own house is definitely a plus, regardless of all of the huffing and puffing by us folk of the gun about how the Heller decision wasn't a complete win for gun rights.

Think about it. They have had nothing to lawfully defend themselves with for 32 years! DC residents can't even use pepper spray. Now, in their own home, they can unlock the shotgun and actually load the blasted thing. Not only that, but they can have a handgun too! How cool is that?

Some people are saying stuff along the lines of "now criminals will be able to get guns," as if that hasn't been going on for decades now. How can they say that with a straight face? Criminals will continue to buy guns from their criminal friends, and they will probably steal them from citizens as well, but now they have a much better chance of facing grave danger on their next break-in.

Which thug is gonna be the first?

Whew! What a week

Sorry for the light blogging. My work load has increased five fold, and it is about to get much worse. I will be traveling a lot soon, which I anticipate will give me plenty of blogging time as much of the day-to-day things that I normally do will be far away. I also have some great books to get into, such as:

The Gun Digest Book of the 1911 Volume 1 - Patrick Sweeney
The Book of the AR-15 Volume 2 - Patrick Sweeney (I already read Vol 1; excellent!)
Moment of Truth in Iraq - Michael Yon

I also have some others. I don't think I will get through all of them in the next week or so, but certainly within the next few months. I have always been a very fast reader, to the point where I had difficulty in school because I was always so far ahead. These days it takes me a year or more to read a book because I have no time.

I have been spending some time in good ol' "Gun Free" DC, and I am reminded of why I do not belong there. I grew up with miles of trees and fields around me, so venturing through a city full of intricate people makes me feel like a fish out of water. I could never live there, and I'm so thankful to cross the river and get back into Virginia where I get my rights back. The main problem that I have is that I'm used to driving directly to a location and parking my car, which is not easy in DC if you are unfamiliar with where the parking garages are. Last week I paid what I believe to be a drug dealer to watch my car. I didn't have a choice. If you don't pay attention to where you're going, you can easily end up in a bad area where you may never return.

Talking with other folks who grew up in Bumkinville, Virginia, I came to the conclusion that people from DC who may end up down here can end up in the same predicament. Driving down the wrong road down here can lead you into places where you would swear Deliverance was filmed.

I recall a night during my teenage years where a bunch of us were hanging out at a local McDonalds on the side of the highway. A Cadillac with DC plates and three nefarious looking individuals pulled up, obviously drunk, and while one of them was finishing up his beer while pissing into traffic, the other was asking us if we knew where to score some drugs. A friend of mine with a fast car said "follow me." My friend led them about an hour out into the depths of the county where only those who have lived there for years dare to go, and then stopped cold in the road. As the three were looking around trying to figure out where they were, my friend dropped it into first and took off in a hail of tire smoke, leaving the old Cadillac in the dust.

That's probably the last time they drove down south.

I am planning some more shooting tests soon which I will document with pictures. I plan on using my shiny new Chrony to get some accurate velocities. Hopefully I will get the time this weekend to chrony my handgun loads.

Stay tuned