He must have been reading my blog

Former Tucson Drug Enforcement Administration chief Tony Coulson lays out some damning information in the Fast and Furious debacle. I'm going to quote a big piece of this article because it sounds an awful lot like some of the stuff someone you may know has wrote about in the past, almost word for word:

Coulson also said most other law enforcement officials in Arizona knew Newell had a gun control agenda behind his actions with Fast and Furious and other operations. “Whenever Bill would make those [anti-gun rights] statements [with inflated gun trafficking statistics], everyone would roll their eyes and say, ‘when is someone going to call him on this?’” Coulson said. “That’s because it was only weapons which the Mexican government seized which they chose to trace back to the United States.”

“[Newell] is trying to make this political statement that there is this river of guns, which then the Mexican government picked up on, and said ‘it’s your guns, that’s why we’re having all this violence here,’” Coulson added. “And there’s never any accounting for the fact that probably a majority of the guns, in terms of what law enforcement generally knows, are coming up through Central America and they’recoming from other countries. The 90 percent figure has been debunked as you go along the way. It’s actually something considerably less. … They’re just picking a figure and saying 90 percent of the weapons they seized come from the U.S. Well, really, it’s 90 percent of the weapons that they choose to do a search on results in it originating from the U.S.”

Weird. It's like Coulson is telling the truth or something. I've pointed out before that Agent Newell is almost always the guy in the news harping on gun control, and that he has to know the information he's passing to the public is BS. I've also pointed out that the real military hardware used by the drug cartels is coming from Central and South American countries in the form of US weaponry that we gave those governments, or from the Mexican government itself. Though it's not something I'm usually concerned about, it does feel good to be right!

Prepping in the news

Very surprising to me that this article and video doesn't smear the idea of preparing for a world without functioning ATMs and Food Lions, though I caution the use of the word "arsenal" to describe a 12 gun battery of .22 rimfires, shotguns, and a lone AK clone. There's all sorts of good ideas to be seen in the 5+ minute video, such as keeping a small trailer loaded up with equipment that can be used when the power grid goes down during the Red invasion. Keeping honey bees is one of the most practical ideas for a bona fide survival situation that I've seen, but sadly, I could never keep them because I'd be constantly fighting the urge to toss a burning five gallon gas can onto the hive to KILL THEM ALL WITH FIRE!!! I hate bees.

I'm sure there are naysayers out there that mock the idea of prepping; their plan in the wake of a devastating earthquake is to hide out in their therapist's office, living off the bowl of yummy lollie pops from the lobby until men with uniforms and guns rescue them. That's also a very smart idea -- the faster the unprepared die off from starvation, the more furry faced resources are left over for the screwy Mormons who stockpiled 7.62x39 for their assault thingies.

The luxury bunker thing is interesting. Without getting into details, I can tell you that being below ground when a large nuclear device goes off will give you a much better chance at survival, but I question the need for such a structure when you live 150 miles from the nearest city that anyone would consider attacking. It's like keeping tools, manuals, and provisions for an exotic car you will never own. I mean, who's really going to attack Bismarck, North Dakota? You guys up there don't need a bunker. Spend your money on ammo or board games or something.

I appreciate the idea of being prepared. I don't have room in my teeny little house for cans of chicken with 15 year shelf life and a high quality reverse osmosis system. Hell, I don't even have much room for ammo! My food plan for the end of the world is to live off the abundance of squirrels, rabbits, and labradoodles in my crappy subdivision, cooking them on my MSR Dragonfly stove until we can bug out to somewhere with less of a population. That basically rules out 90% of Virginia; everybody and their brother has decided this is precisely where they want to live, so in the apocalypse you can expect half the country's population to meet their demise here when Starbucks sells out of vegetable paninis.

I got an award!

Kevin at Misfires & Light Strikes has honored me with an award!

The rules:
1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award.
3. Pick our five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

This meme has developed a theme, and that is that some folks are skipping on rule #3, which I am proud to say I am going to continue. Why should this award be limited to the number of followers? Here we are:

Mike's Spot. Here's a guy that likes to test new things and post about it. Helping your fellow man with reviews is good to go in my book.

Aaron at Sharp Tactics. Knife and gadgetry reviews are his deal, and he tells it like it is.

Haji at Haji's Place. Another tester of firearm stuff, and he posts range reports. Do you notice a trend here?

Andy at In Search of the Tempestuous Sea. A blogger I have met, Andy also is a tester of Gun Things. I dig that because I like to read about it, which influences my choices on ammo, guns, and gear. It's also entertaining!

James at Hell in a Handbasket. He posts about gunnish things, and also about history, non-firearm weapons, and lots of cool stuff. He also helps people in need with a total self defense strategy, all at the bargain price of. . . . .free. That speaks about the quality of the man.

Tag, y'all!

Testing. . . Testing

I finally managed to test some self defense loads through the Kahr PM9 this weekend. I've taken it to the range a half dozen times or so with that intent, but never got around to it. I tested the same four loads as I did for the P30.

Despite the little blaster's 10 yard accuracy, it is not for self defense at ranges of 25 yards or more; my five shot groups (if you can call them that) were tough to keep on a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper with all of those loads, fired slowly off sandbags. I shot five of each, except the HSTs of which I fired ten. That is the load for that gun, which conveniently is the one for the Glock 26 as well. Perfect.

Here's a rundown on velocities out of the PM9's 3" barrel:

124 grain Speer Gold Dot +P
- 1,145
- 1,115
- 1,135
- 1,149
- 1,122
- Ave 1,133 fps

124 grain Remington Golden Saber Bonded +P
- 1,082
- 1,069
- 1,059
- 1,051
- 1,053
- Ave 1,062 fps

147 grain Winchester Ranger-T
- 942
- 934
- 928
- 916
- 910
- Ave 926 fps

147 grain Federal HST +P
- 1,001
- 969
- 966
- 987
- 968
- 982
- 967
- 971
- 960
- 977
- Ave 974 fps

There were no stoppages. All of these rounds were unpleasant to shoot from such a little gun, with the Ranger-Ts being the less painful. None of them were any more accurate than the other, and none of them hit right to point of aim, so I should have fired them at 15 yards for that. Too bad. One day I'll put night sights on the gun, and then I'll check those loads and hopefully some other ones for accuracy at 15 yards and post my results.

SmartCarry Holster Review Illustrated

I've had a SmartCarry holster for the P30 for over a month now, and I have enough data to give a good review. There's lots of reviews out there, but I wanted to make it as inclusive as I could. For ~$50, there's not a lot of risk in buying this holster, and I think for the price it's a smokin' good deal.

I ordered a standard model from their website; I didn't go through a 3rd party to order it, and it took three days for it to get here from Florida. The SmartCarry is made from denim with a waterproof backing and seams made to prevent snags.



For the magazine pouch, to adjust for the height of your spare magazine you use a safety pin. That's all it takes. Fishing down the front of your britches for your magazine when you're at slide lock is another matter, but we'll get to that in a little bit.

This holster is worn below the belt. It works so well at concealing because it has its own belt built in; it's made from elastic and fastened around the waist with velcro. Because of this, there's no clips or loops on the belt around your pants, so there's no trace that you've got anything on you, and on top of that you can tuck your shirt in. Also, because it's in front of your body, there's no printing when you bend. Here's what it looks like hiding it under your pants:



Now, the directions say to secure the SmartCarry's straps around your "hips" so that when you pull up your pants, your belt line sits around your "waist." That is probably correct for some folks, but that's not how it works for me. I do not have an ass to speak of, so my belt and pants slide down until it stops on the only structural part in that area, which is my hips. That is what I consider to be my "waist." The gut that I have accrued over the past few years has formed a shelf above this waist, meaning that I can't make a new waist any higher than that. What I do is strap the SmartCarry straps just below my hip bones, and pull my pants up over them and I'm good to go.



In these pictures I'm wearing 5.11 Covert Cargo pants which work nicely with the SmartCarry. If you look closely under my belt loop on the right side of the picture as you see it (It's on my right as well. The pictures were all taken in the mirror) you can see the only printing you can expect with this holster with a full sized handgun, which is a slight bulge. If your pants sag down throughout the day this bulge will be more apparent as the entire grip will be right up against the belt. I give my pants a quick hike when I stand up from sitting for awhile, and it's good to go. If you're wearing this holster at work with an I.D. badge, clip it to the belt loop above the bulge and it's not an issue.



If you wear a tucked in shirt, definitely wear an undershirt because the velcro on the straps in the back will chafe. Tuck the front of your overshirt behind the SmartCarry, and I would advise tucking the back of your overshirt OVER the strap in the back because it has a tendency to ride up throughout the day, especially when you sit down.

You wouldn't want someone to notice a huge black strap sticking up!



Yeah, I've got the pregnant belly-hold thing going on there in that last picture. So sue me.

They make smaller SmartCarrys for the micro pistols. For fun I thought I'd show you how well this holster would conceal a mouse gun: here's what it looks like hiding a Kahr PM9 9mm with its 3" barrel:




There's no bulge at all. I could wear this holster with the PM9 to the gym under running shorts and nobody would have a clue.

Something most of the reviews on the internet don't mention is that while this holster works great with the right pants, it can go all wrong if you wear the wrong ones. Trust me on this. You have a lot going on in this region of your body as it is: a shirt, undershirt, underwear, pants, and belt are competing for room with a holster, magazine, and pistol. Make sure there's enough room for everybody or some of your softer bits can get mashed when you sit down, and your skivvies will bunch up when you walk.

First, you don't have to go out and buy pants with a larger waist size; keep the pants you already have and use them. Definitely try all your work pants on with this holster beforehand to find the ones that work best. What you need to be concerned about is that your pants have a deep enough crotch. If the distance between the top of your pants and the crotch is short, when you sit or bend down the muzzle of your gun will print this massive, blocky bulge that is sure to startle your co-workers at the water cooler:



Sorry about the mega crotch shot, but somebody had to do it. I don't recall the brand of pants in the above picture, but I got them from Kohls. The front of your pants shouldn't be tight or you'll end up looking like you're wearing a diaper. Or a gun down your pants. Pleated pants do help to get rid of the bulge, as do darker colors:



I wore this under LA Police Gear Operator pants yesterday in front of my family, who all know I carry, and told them to guess where I was carrying while I lifted my jacket, and they had no idea. A full sized gun just disappears. Somebody mentioned in a forum somewhere that you can wear the SmartCarry appendix style and tuck your shirt in over it:




It works okay that way, but wouldn't be my first choice. I didn't check retention like that either, so I can't speak for how well it would hold my gun while a scumbag was kicking me on the ground. Since there's no retention strap, I have to think the gun would come out in my shirt.

The SmartCarry is comfortable when you sit and when you drive. That's a big question that comes up. For me, if my pants have sagged down some and I don't hike them up before I sit, the back of the gun's slide will hit my belt, and my belt will collide with the shelf that my gut makes, which is uncomfortable but only takes a quick adjustment to fix. To prevent this I hike my belt a tad before sitting down and it doesn't happen. Driving for an hour or two, I don't have any issues or need to make any adjustments. It's like I have a 26 oz. weight sitting in my lap. No problem. When walking, I can feel the edges of the holster slightly, more so while walking up stairs, but it's not a concern. I think I could run comfortably wearing this, but I'd have to test it to be sure before hitting the treadmill at the gym.

Bathroom breaks are something to talk about. For a trip to the urinal, just follow the instructions that come with the holster and you'll be fine. There's a piece of the holster underneath the magazine and safety pin that's not occupied by metal, and you can use that to your advantage to gain that extra half inch of comfort. It's the sit down bathroom trips that are easy: again, do what the instructions say - pull your pants down and pull the holster, gun and all, up to your chest and let your shirt come down over it. It takes a moment to do this, and in the slight chance some sicko is watching you do your business, there's nothing showing and you still have quick access to your heater in case Tangos kick in the stall door.

Another concern is how fast the draw is. What good is having a pistol on you if you can't get to it, right? I went out yesterday and did some draws while on the timer so that my dear readers would know. Oh, the things I go through for y'all! While I did forget to bring a standard IWB holster to get some comparative times for (AIWB I average around 1.6 seconds), I managed to get lots of draw times on the SmartCarry, and I was impressed. I've done some dry fire at the house, but this was the first live fire I did with it. I warmed up with 50 rounds from the draw before going for time, and when I started recording times I went for 33 rounds single firing from the draw. My slowest time was 2.95 seconds, and my fastest time was 2.14 seconds, with an average of 2.54 seconds. I was shooting at an 8" steel target at 7 yards with 115 grain Federal FMJ rounds out of the P30, and was wearing the LA Police Gear Operator pants with 5.11 Operator belt, tucked in T-shirt and unzipped jacket.

From my notes, I had one draw that snagged on the front sight which pulled the holster out of my pants. The time during that draw was still 2.59 seconds, so it wasn't critical. I also fumbled a draw - from my notes it was because I'm a moron, and not a fault of the holster. The time on that one was my slowest draw at 2.95 seconds. With the snagged front sight, I found that if I didn't draw the pistol straight up, but canted the butt of the pistol down towards my foot, the sharp edges of the front sight would grab the inside of the holster and pull it out of my pants. Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire. That will keep that from happening. My technique for drawing was to hook the thumb of my support hand into my waistband, minimizing the amount of flesh which would obscure my draw, and then reach down with my gun hand and grab/draw the gun. Keep the grip angled in towards the body during the draw or you'll hit the butt on your belt, which will foul you up. Also, I found it helpful to suck in my gut some so I didn't bang my hand on my gut shelf thingie. A pro tip: before you go to the range for a practice session, trim your nails and file the edges so that they're not sharp or you will tear your gun hand up on your support hand thumb nail.

I did not try any weak hand or strong hand only draws, and I think they would be challenging without a lot of practice. One thing that bothers me about this holster is if I'm holding a child in one arm -- will I be able to draw? It would certainly take longer than a draw from AIWB holster. I'll have to practice that one and find out (not with a living child, of course).

I found two ways to re-holster: pull the SmartCarry up out of your pants, holster the gun, and then tuck it all back in; or, do a reverse of your draw by hooking your waistband with your support hand thumb and reaching in with your gun hand. Just be sure you're watching/paying attention or you can miss the gun pocket on the holster (it's cloth and doesn't stay open) and drop your gun down your pants. Then you can't tell your friends you're a smooth operator. Going for the spare magazine is something that needs to be practiced, as my reloads were an abomination. The hard part is that you have to grab the spare magazine with your support hand, and not with the assistance of your gun hand. Also, your shirt may be fouled up from the initial draw, so there's that to contend with, too. All in all though, you have the option of a reload which is normally not available with deep concealment carry.

In summary, I'm a big fan of the SmartCarry. It's the most concealable way to carry a full sized handgun with spare magazine in comfort if you want to carry without any chance whatsoever at exposing your gun. The draw is obviously slower than IWB carry, but is comparable to pocket carry and you have the option to pull a fighting pistol instead of a mousegun. For me, it won't take the place of AIWB carry, but it works well for day to day carry. There are people on forums who say it doesn't work for them, and that may be true, but for $50 you would be well served to give the SmartCarry a try.

Don't re-chamber your self defense loads

Me personally, if I empty my pistol for whatever reason, the round I eject gets stacked at the very bottom of the magazine so that it will only ever be chambered twice. If I'm at all uncertain I have a drawer where I put them for range use. I don't re-chamber rounds over and over again.

Reason I bring this up is because there's a discussion at Pistol-Forum.com on how to cycle duty ammo, and the constant re-chambering came up. Here's a story from that thread that I think may influence people to be more careful:

THE FOLLOWING TRAINING ADVISORY WAS FORWARDED FROM GWINETT COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT - LAWRENCEVILLE, GA

In September of this year a GCPD officer was involved in a situation which quickly became a use of deadly force incident. When the officer made the decision to use deadly force, the chambered round in his duty pistol did not fire. Fortunately, the officer used good tactics, remembered his training and cleared the malfunction, successfully ending the encounter.

The misfired round, which had a full firing pin strike, was collected and was later sent to the manufacturer for analysis. Their analysis showed the following: "...the cause of the misfire was determined to be from the primer mix being knocked out of the primer when the round was cycled through the firearm multiple times". We also sent an additional 2,000 rounds of the Winchester 9mm duty ammunition to the manufacturer. All 2,000 rounds were successfully fired.

In discussions with the officer, we discovered that since he has small children at home, he unloads his duty weapon daily. His routine is to eject the chambered round to store the weapon. Prior to returning to duty he chambers the top round in his primary magazine, then takes the previously ejected round and puts in back in the magazine. Those two rounds were repeatedly cycled and had been since duty ammunition was issued in February or March of 2011, resulting in as many as 100 chambering and extracting cycles. This caused an internal failure of the primer, not discernible by external inspection.

This advisory is to inform all sworn personnel that repeated cycling of duty rounds is to be avoided. As a reminder, when loading the weapon, load from the magazine and do not drop the round directly into the chamber. If an officer's only method of safe home storage is to unload the weapon, the Firearms Training Unit suggests that you unload an entire magazine and rotate those rounds. In addition, you should also rotate through all 3 duty magazines, so that all 52 duty rounds are cycled, not just a few rounds. A more practical method of home storage is probably to use a trigger lock or a locked storage box.

FURTHER GUIDANCE:
The primer compound separation is a risk of repeatedly chambering the same round. The more common issue is bullet setback, which increases the chamber pressures often resulting in more negative effects.

RECOMMENDATION:
In addition to following the guidance provided above of constantly rotating duty ammunition that is removed during the unloading/reloading of the weapon, training ammunition utilized during firearm sustainment and weapon manipulation drills, should also be discarded if it has been inserted into the chamber more than twice. This practice lessens the likelihood of a failure to fire or more catastrophic results.

Of note about the above advisory is that if you do use a trigger lock, do not use it if the weapon is loaded. That's bad.

It's not just the primer that's effected by re-chambering; the seating depth is also effected, which is more critical in handgun cartridges because small movements of a thousandth of an inch can be all it takes to overpressure the load when fired, blowing your gun to smithereens. This is even more so with +P loads that are already running hot. If you're as safety minded as I am, it's not worth the $.50 in savings to keep reusing that Gold Dot, so stick in a range-fodder box after you eject it.

Carry bloopers

A thread at ARFCOM on embarrassing and funny things that have happened while carrying. My contributions are on page three.

The vanity of this silly country will be its ruin

AAAHHHHHGHGGGGG!!! I swear (no really!), the absurd amount of fashion and vanity that is present in this country is depressing!!

Based on Andy's sound advice, I've scoured the internet looking for a medical ID bracelet for the afore mentioned allergy problem that I have, and instead of something simple and functional the market is instead flooded with jewelry. Jewelry. Accoutrement's that make you fashionable. Somewhere along the line some yayhoo decided that simple utility should take a back seat to looking cooooool. When I was a dumb wee lad, the way to look cool was to roll your Camels up in the sleeve of your white T-shirt.

That's all changed now.

Want a life saving medical marker for your wrist? Too bad the EMT looking for one on your soon-to-be corpse will pass over it while admiring your pathetic designer tribal cuff. What is this garbage!?!? Pleaseohplease tell me: What does your conceited, vainglorious, extroverted, bubbly personality have to do with a lifesaving device crafted for the sole purpose of identifying your severe medical condition? That's right, nothing!

It's abundantly obvious that idolatry is here to stay in America. Pity.

What I'm now looking for is a solid, stainless steel band with all my allergy gibberish on it, but with the whole shootin' match ceramic coated bright red. Bright red, as in LOOOOKY HERE EMT DUDE!!! MEDICAL ALERT THINGY!!! SAVE MY LIFE!!!! Not "Looky here EMT dude. I'm a charming thirty something with a fondness for shiny beads, horses, and long walks on the beach. I like taking long showers, and sometimes I get butterflys in my stomach when the cute clerk at Wegmans asks me if I have a bonus card. I'm insecure about the dark birthmark on my finger, and sometimes I cry quietly about it at night."

What I don't need is a leather, barbed wire abomination that some off duty nurse who sprung to help my dying ass will end up too busy laughing herself to death over to administer my epinephrine. Get over yourselves, people!

Dedicatedly medicated

Yesterday I stopped at a friend's house on the way home from work to drop something off, and while we were chatting in his front yard we were swarmed by mosquitoes. In January. While pondering whether this country is in some sort of judgement, one or several of them bit me, no doubt because bugs love my warm blood more than other folk's, and damned if I didn't have an allergic reaction to it. That's never happened before. Funny thing is that it wasn't long ago that there was a discussion at Tam's blog about people who are deathly allergic to everything, of which I am one of, but with a twist: I'm not allergic to any particular thing for any length of time (except cats), but literally moment by moment. As in, I can go from never having an allergic reaction to mosquitoes, to having a nasty fit over a bite, to not being allergic to them tomorrow. Same with food. I reacted once to an omelet that I made one morning, and the very next morning made another from the same box of eggs and I was good. The danger there is that there's nothing for me to avoid in order to not have an allergic reaction (except cats), so my allergist tells me I have to be constantly prepared for the worst.

I've talked about my condition before, which I call Ana, a term of endearment, and have had to make some life changes to cope. First, I must have a brace of epi-pens on my person at all times and that has some unique requirements, such as keeping them within their temperature range, having them located where some poor schmuck who finds me not breathing on the floor of Five Guys can find them, and also having some identifying doo-dad stipulating that the reason I'm blue in color and not breathing is not because I'm throwing a temper tantrum, but because I have bizarre allergies. I haven't met most of these requirements yet; I tuck one epi-pen in my sock in the morning, and keep the other in my jacket pocket. Keeping it against my skin violates the temperature requirements, and occasionally forgetting to tuck it into my sock because I was so sleepy in the morning I left it on the coffee table for my kids to find is not working. Also, nobody would know to search my sock to find the thing if they were to find me in a ditch somewhere. On top of that, I keep a ESEE fire starter filled with several medicines on my keychain, and also some Children's Benadryl in my jacket to get things started. When I went for my Benadryl yesterday, I found many of the capsules to be crushed and ruined, so I need to do something about that.

I have an idea -- now that I've made holster making a serious hobby -- to make an ankle holster to hold the epi-pens and fire starter; I'm thinking of using clear HOLSTEX so that they can be readily seen if my pants leg is lifted up. With some neoprene and soft backing, it would keep them sufficiently off my skin as to keep them below 86 degrees F, would ensure that I have two of them in the same place on me at all times, and would be less likely to be left on the coffee table when I get dressed in the morning. As for an identifying warning that I have an allergy, I haven't figured that out. I'm sure a tattoo artist could place an informative sign on my forehead, but my wife would probably not go out with me in public anymore if I went that route. Maybe a big red sign on a huge platinum chain a-la Flava-Flav would do the trick. I don't know, but I should come up with something fast lest I get into a situation unprepared. As it stands, I have a severe allergy attack about once every other month, so I better get it in gear.

This is why we have the internet

I couldn't stop watching. It's like it was possessed!

The food chain

It's been a busy day, folks. Sorry about the light posting.

Anyhow, I just found this article on Drudge and found some of it to be amazing:

The National Park Service has counted 1,825 Burmese pythons that have been caught in and around Everglades National Park since 2000. Among the largest so far was a 156-pound, 16.4-foot one captured earlier this month.

That's a ton of snakes! More than I would have ever thought, but it makes sense considering the environment those suckers are living in. The article goes on to note the dramatic decline in small mammals around the everglades. I wonder why!

There's an alarmist theme to these everglades/constricting snake articles, and I get why, but this isn't the first time in the history of the world an animal from another continent has been introduced here and thrived. Horses and wild hogs are just two critters that come to mind. Since the Burmese Python and other huge snakes are doing so well here, it's only a matter of time before their names end up a paper tag on the end of a hunting license. And honestly, who wouldn't want one stuffed on their wall with a tall, fictional tale of taking down such a beast?

So that brings me to the question of the day: What gun for a massive python? Colt Python? Will there be an archery season? Chris Brackett will sure be excited. Will it be added to the Super Slam? Someone will have to call Jim Shockey and tell him to bring his smokepole. Personally, I would forgo the treestand and take after a trophy constrictor with a spear and loincloth. More sporting that way.

I wonder what a Boone & Crocket score would look like:

Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it.

There's a picture of one of them coiled around a good sized alligator, and you've all by now seen the picture of the one that died while eating a huge gator. It's like Jurassic Park down there!

First they came for the lead. . . .

Then they came for the copper brass .

This is the start of something very interesting. When the ATF says that a particular brand of copper brass bullet is banned because it's "armor piercing," how long before other manufacturer's bullets are banned?

Something else to think of - California is a "lead free zone" so to speak, so this really hoses the millions of rifle shooters there. And isn't it a bad idea to ban a bullet designed to penetrate deep into large dangerous critters based on the idea that it penetrates so deeply?


***ETA: The bullets are made of brass.

I know an Assault Thingie when I see it

Who neeeeeds this many rapid-fire shots without reloading from a weapon designed to kill people?



Yet another from Ace of Spades

Zombie guns are getting ridiculous

I mean, who needs two red dot sights, anyways?


Found at Ace of Spades

Cooking with CTone

I used to think I couldn't cook to save my life, but this weekend I discovered that I have some talent. In this case, I'm not talking about cooking food; I'm talking about cooking plastic!

Like a black hole, I've been pulling in all sorts of tools for a special project that I've been working on for about half a year, and while I was at it I picked up some tools for making kydex holsters. I successfully made three holsters this weekend, though I only have pictures of one. This is the second holster I made, this time for the P30 -- here is the inside piece of kydex sitting with it in the kydex press while the outside piece cooks in the oven:



The first holster was for a PM9, and the learning curve told me to block the ejection port and tape it with blue painter's tape. I tried to get a picture of the inside of the oven, but it came out kind of gross, so I deleted it. After the piece cooks for 8 - 10 minutes (270 degrees worked best for me), I slid the piece off the bottom of the flat cookie sheet and onto the press, quickly sat the gun on the pencil marks I made, and locked it down:



Here's what it looks like when it's done cooling, which takes around 10 more minutes:



I cut two pieces, leaving an ear on the front side to fold over for a "wedge" to tuck the grip for AIWB carry:



As you can see, there's plenty of definition from the molding. Too much, actually; you have to work the piece over carefully with a heat gun to fine tune it, because if you don't the gun will be stuck fast. It's easiest to mold each side by itself so you have time to possition the gun properly and get a good mold. The two halves are held together with rivets, and to do that you need rivetting dies which I used with an arbor press. I really should have taken pictures of that process, which I'll have to do with the next holster I make. Once the two halves are riveted together, I trim them to shape on a bandsaw and rough finish the edges with a belt grinder and a 120 belt, finishing up with a file and some hand sanding:



Not the greatest picture, I know. I took that one first thing this morning in my dark kitchen as the youngest Beast slept several feet away in the Swing of Peace. There's a bit more to it than acounted for in this post, but I assure you it's easy (except for belt clips; those are a PITA). You can make a kydex press with some lumber, a couple of cheap hinges, and a yoga mat, but this press wasn't too spendy, so I went that route. Basically, for the price of a decent kydex holster, I have all the tools I need to make as many holsters as I want. Cooking is fun!

The worst kind of gun owners

If this story is even true, these two morons are the dumbest gun owners on the face of the planet.

Disregarding the extreme amount of gun ignorance (Mosin Nagant being a "Russian M4" and "machine gun"), there's no sense in leaving firearms hung on a nail in plain sight in a crime ridden part of Philly. Lying to drug dealers and detectives to try to fix a jacked up situation puts this story over the top.

Crude Friday morning humor

ARFCOM's General Discussion delivers today with the thread: Describe your sexlife with the title of a movie.

I almost blew my steel cut oats through my nose before I got through the first page. You have been warned.

Detroit or Afghanistan?

Tough call. Remember this video when you're whining about your commute home today:



There's a bunch more combat videos at MP.net.

If you're ever in Nevada

Nellis Air Force Base has an interactive commie weapon museum called the Threat Training Facility. If you've always wanted to sit in a Mig 29 and make machine gun noises with your mouth, here's your chance without going through Russian bootcamp and pilot training -- though getting paid in vodka doesn't sound all that bad.

***ETA: It's 'Nellis' not 'Ellis' Air Force Base. Thanks, Old NFO!

Self defense story of the day

In Philadelphia.

A 65-year-old man riding his bicycle along a Berks County trail became the target of three teenage boys Wednesday morning.

Soon the teens became the target of the cyclist, according to Cumru Township
Police.

Fortunately, the victim survived. Unfortunately, one of the teens was killed, but such is the way of being a scumbag; it's an occupational hazard.

Raven Concealment Systems Vanguard 2

There's a thread at Pistol-Forum.com and a thread at ARFCOM covering this new holster. It's meant to be for AIWB carry, but would probably work just fine anywhere on the belt, as well as for other modes of carry. The ARFCOM thread is far less understanding towards the VG2, as there are many naysayers there that pooh-pooh AIWB carry in general. It's kind of like clicking on a "show your watch" thread and finding a bunch of morons posting pictures of their iphone.

Looking at the VG2, it seems to me that they were trying to make the original Vanguard holster adjust for ride height and give it better retention. It's the same thing I was going for with my modified Zack holster, but better executed.



The VG2 is also tuckable, and that's a big deal when you can get it, and with a projected cost of $40 or less it's a bargain. I'll have to try one before too long.

Killing them soflty with M-4s....

Killing them softly. . . . .with M-4s.

OK, more likely it was with HK 416s and belt fed weapons, but it's my post title and I can call it whatever I want!

Anyhow, Navy SEALs have been knocking off badguys left and right, and they managed to save a damsel in distress this time to boot. Save some for the rest of the military, guys! Dayummm! Good job though.

Custom ballisong

Here's a thread on the construction of a custom, titanium handled ballisong. Looks like fun. . . . .hmmmmmm.

Down with the sickness: Family edition

Two of my little people have raging ear infections, the other two have fevers, vomiting, and worse, and to top it off I wasn't feeling all that great, so I called out yesterday and took the kids to the doctor's office. One of my kids started throwing up on the sidewalk before we went in, so I knew it was going to be an adventure yesterday. Today is a full up extension of that adventure. My wife and I both called out sick, and there's a fountain of. . . .let's call it collectively "stuff" emitting from the kids. Tempers are high. It's going to be brutal.

Blast from the past

I was goofing off with the kids downstairs last night and decided to take a break and check out all of my books on the bookshelf that don't have the time to read. I came across my rifle data books from my range qualifications in the Marines and thought it would be a fun (warning: profane) post. It really brought me back. You can see from my notes that my handwriting ability was proportional to the amount of coffee I had drank, and before you ask, yes, I talk to myself just like I do in my notes. Full disclosure and all.



There's some Microsoft Paint redaction going on there. Why do you neeeeeeed to know my social security number, anyways? I don't know if it's still like this, but in Marine Corps doctrine it's written somewhere that you must emblazon everything you touch with your SSN. I have a stack of certifications, awards, and promotions that have my SSN in Ariel Bold font front and center. Every one of them. I can't put up a love-me wall with all that stuff because of it, and you have to wonder what the legal-beagles at the JAG were thinking when they came up with this policy. Enough of my bitching - here's the Rifleman's Creed for y'all that want to know the whole thing:



Sorry about the blurry cellphone pics. Click on it to make it bigger and more beautiful.

Next up we have the four safety rules, which are slightly different than the NRA's version, but not too shabby. I've also included some tactically morbid doodling on my part - call it "Blue Falcon" carry (look that one up if you need to). Giving my utmost attention to an instructor with less time-in-grade than me is not my forte.




When you go to the range in the Marines it's a two week affair; the first week is basic instruction and "snapping in", which is dry firing thousands of times, and then a week of firing that includes zeroing your weapon. Unless you have stars on your collar, as far as I know, you have to go through the whole two week process every time. The data book is meant for you to keep track of your shooting throughout the week of firing, so that when your qualification day comes, you know how your rifle is performing.

The distances you shoot are at 200, 300, and 500 yards in the standing, sitting, kneeling, and prone positions. On the 500 yard line you only fire from the prone. To get an expert score, you must shoot for 40 points or better.







Those are all from the 200 yard line, and are not all inclusive. There are Marines in the pits pulling the targets and marking shots, and it can get screwed up down there; thus the reason why I'm belittling their work scoring my target. The entire target is a six foot square framed monstrosity with a canvas or plastic backing, and is chock full of shot holes. The paper target that's glued onto the backing is usually shot to shit, and when you're marking targets you place a spotting disk in the last shot to come through, and cover the old shot holes with colored stickers called pasters. Problem is, the Marine Corps is extremely poor, so you have to rip the pasters into little bits just big enough to cover **most** of the shot hole. After a week of shooting, it makes it impossible to cover the mess that is your target, and sometimes you can't tell where the shooter's bullet went through. Scoring errors are very common. Here's what the pits look like (pardon the clarity. Cellphone picture of a 35mm picture)



The 200 and 300 yard targets are in the lower target carriage, with the 500 yard target in the upper carriage. Everyone looks to be especially attentive (snicker!) The bottom picture shows a white shot spotter in the black, and a red scoring disk in the lower left corner.

Moving on to the 300 yard line:



When a round passes through the target you can hear the supersonic crack, but keeping in mind that there are about 150 Marines shooting all at once, it can get confusing knowing whether a shot came through your target or not. Also, it is not uncommon for a shooter to shoot the wrong target, either because they weren't paying attention, can't shoot, or, in the case of high-wind ranges like Edson Range, have a 35 mph wind blow a shot from the shooter next to you into your target. At it's worst, two shots can hit the target at the same time; go ahead and figure that one out for a score! You sometimes get to talk to the guys who either marked or shot your target, and when there's a problem (careers can sometimes be on the line) it can get interesting.

500 yard line:



On this particular day I was already at an expert score before I got to the 500, so there was no risk involved with shooting for headshots for fun; with little or no wind I could sometimes hit eight or more. It's actually possible to leave the 200 yard line with 40 points, but I'm convinced that it'll only happen when the planets are aligned. There's squib rounds, gusty winds, broken parts, and incompetence in the target pits to contend with for that to happen, or to even get a perfect score (it has happend though). I don't think there's any repeatability there though. I didn't win the title of Battalion High Shooter once because of a squib round, and I've had parts breakages as well. I've also had my shots not get marked at all, like the Marines running the target fell asleep or something. A couple of times, when the Marine next to me couldn't get his rounds on the target, I would tell him to aim at mine while I would put a few rounds in his target, though not on qualification day. That day was up to him. Here's what happens in the pits when Marines get bored:



That's a Baker target for 500 yard shooting. Notice his three stars. . . .

And here's yours truly:


Derrrgh!?!

I was a skinny bastard back then. That had to have been 10 years ago at least. These days my range trips are much more leasurely and pleasant, with my only concern being to watch my language:



Now isn't that the sweetest thing?

The game of Commerce

DALLAS (Reuters) - A 65-year-old woman made it past a checkpoint and onto a flight at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday with a revolver tucked away in her handbag, and was only stopped after the plane was called back to the gate, the airport said.

This post is probably going to be controversial.

Contrary to what news article commenters say ("Oh, if it makes us safe, it's okay!"), all of this TSA nonsense has nothing at all to do with real safety and everything to do with taxing citizens via fines and charges for accidentally breaking the law. It's the same as with New York City's gun laws; these laws are designed to generate revenue in the courts, not to stop badguys, and are only changed when enough of the non-criminal element get caught as to draw attention to the scheme. And despite what angry Americans may say about all of this and how evil it is, it was done with the consent of the populace.

There is no conspiracy, nor is there evil, when the very citizens who bitch about it let it come about in the first place. Just like in the game of Monopoly, if you want to sit at the table and play, you have to obey the rules; and that means that if your thimble lands on an arbitrary square that says "Go to Jail," than you send your piece to jail. It may be nonsensical, and no true crime was committed, but it's the rules. You land on the block, you have to pay a fare.

Back to the article, notice that the 65 year old woman was not only allowed through the checkpoint, but had already boarded the plane which was on its way to the runway. The planes were only turned around when somebody realized that a mistake was made. This very well could have added up to a Jack Bauer moment in the mind of some "security officer," but in the end it was a simple accounting error: the fare for carrying a handgun on a plane was not rendered. Disagree with me if you want, but the takeaway from this is that the goons in the blue shirts are not enforcing anti-constitutional gun laws as much as they are merely facilitating the collection of a tax -- the re-venuing of currency -- on compliant, consenting persons who asked for this very thing in the name of feeling secure.

"Did you see all the knives they caught that guy with? I'm glad they got him! I'll sleep soundly on my flight to El Paso knowing that that dangerous dude is behind bars!" Feeling safe is important to many people, and I don't blame them one bit. Feeling secure is a natural human desire, and getting it at someone else's expense can make it feel even more sweet. That's not the way I live by, but I've come to accept that that's the way it is, that the vast majority of the country feel that way, and the rules are made to suit them. When somebody's thimble ends up in the fictitious slammer, the other players say "HA!" and they play right past them, because that's how the game is played. Arguing against it is like trying to stop the sun.

Now, change the rules if it bothers you, sure. Good. Great. I'm all about it. But know that when you deny one funding stream, the government with find another, and will construct an organization tasked with taking up the collection. You say that marijuana should be legal? Cool beans, but there will need to be something given in kind because there are no free lunches. I'm on a hunch that pot will be legal in the next 5 or 10 years just as citizens want, and in return for this there will be an ever larger network of sex offender laws with an agency created to enforce it. Either that or, considering the sharply divided mindset of Americans, there will be crimes against the homeland used for government commerce. If you haven't noticed yet, the struggling economy is effecting the government as well, and the predictable reaction from it is to draw funds from areas both large and small, like SOPA for a large scale revenue generating function, and nitpicking citizens for random stuff like lightbulb disposal as an example of the small stuff.

Again, there are no free lunches, and there's nothing new under the sun. If you get what you want, you have to give something in kind. Choose wisely.

New 6.5mm hunting bullets from Barnes

At SHOT Barnes Bullets anounced their new LRX lineup that includes a 127 grain bullet in 6.5mm. Word from a 6.5 Grendel forum member who talked to Barnes reps at SHOT is that the bullets not only offer a better B.C. for long range shooting, but offer expansion at velocities as low as 1,400 fps. If that's true, than it expands 400 - 600 fps slower than other hunting bullets on the market, which translates to an extra 200+ yards of killing range. At an advertised price of $38 for a box of 50, Barnes has made all this possible by making these bullets out of solid gold.

MK12 Mod 0 p0rn

A picture thread at Sniper's Hide.

A relaxing evening

After putting the kids to bed last night, I was gifted with something very rare: a couple hours of peace. With the 5th season of 24 playing softly in the background, I was able to load up my next batch of Nosler Custom Competitions for the 2nd phase of my OCW test.



After that I sized/deprimed the rest of my once-fired .264 LBC brass and primed them with Federal 205Ms. It's nice having prepped brass already on the bench; it saves time when you think up something to load, like 123 grain bullets a full grain over the book maximum.

When I was done reloading I thought I would slip off to bed, but I ended up comforting one of my kids who couldn't sleep due to coughing. Such is life.

Snotly crew

I can't tell if my kids are just sickly, or have weak immune systems, or are continually getting similar germs that cause this mess, but it has to stop. I'm starting to think the US gov't has chosen my house as some sort of test bed for cold-like viruses. The amount of snot and coughing going on has reached epic proportions, and I feel terrible for my little people because they're so miserable. That, and rocking crying kids to sleep at all hours of the night is taking away from my beauty sleep.

Oh, Mossberg!

What are you smoking?!?!

Here's some "tactical" lever actions that look pretty cool. Sort of.

Open Carry in Detroit

Several residents note that carrying openly has been a deterrent against scumbags. There's also the fudd police chief noting that he doesn't have a "quarrel" with people carrying lawfully, and then goes on to paint these lawful residents as being part of the problem of shootouts in the streets. Perhaps if Detroit's police chief did a better job of preventing the shootouts, residents wouldn't feel they need to carry guns for protection.

I love this part:

Over a 24-hour span beginning Aug. 12, seven people were shot to death and nine others wounded. That prompted Mayor Dave Bing to issue a "call to action" to city residents to take a stand against crime.

By "taking a stand", I presume the mayor and his police chief mean to be quick on the cellphone when they're victimized, or to take good notes and be a better witness. What a joke.

"Be vigilant!!"

"Take a stand!!!"

"We need the citizens help!!!"

My question is: how? How does a man or woman do any of those things without the means to? It seems to me that the people the article is talking about have figured it out on their own, and the mayor and the chief are whimpering about it. Good.

Busy weekend

I have to post this first: this was my view yesterday morning when I woke up:



I'll come back to that in a minute.

Friday I left work and started load development on the 123 grain Nosler Custom Competition bullets in 6.5mm. I used Benchmark powder this time instead of IMR 8208 XBR, partly because I love Benchmark so much, but also to take the .264 LBC in a new direction. I was rewarded for my efforts:



The groups are not tight at all, but in an OCW test that doesn't matter; you're not looking for groups, but whether several different charge weights have the same vertical point of impact, which the bottom three do. Yes, the bottom right load is over half a grain above the maximum load Hornady recommends, and if you do not know what you're doing, then do not try to duplicate my loads. Always start low and work your way up. I know this gun very well already, and I also know how to look for pressure signs.

With that said, I'm going to take the next step and narrow my charges down until I find the sweet spot, and then fiddle with seating depth. To be getting velocities over 2,500 in a 18" barreled gun with these bullets is significant, and in the future I may have to mess around with the Lapua Scenars again as there is still room left in the case with this powder.

Next up, I got invited to check out some land owned by a local hunt club, and if all goes well I'll be filling in a recent empty spot left by a previous hunter. While we were there, I got to shoot the MK12 down a power line at 652 yards, and I got to see what the 'ol girl is capable of. My first group with my handloads went into 6 inches, and as I was clicking off a second group, I was treated to the sight of a good sized black bear running across the power line at over 1,200 yards. Pretty cool. All of my other groups sucked right up until my last one, in which five shots (one of the shots from another shooter is circled) went into 2.8", four of them going into 1.3":



This is what's commonly referred to as a "refrigerator group", being a group that's noticeably tighter than any of the others. This is because either the shooter or the gun cannot produce a group like this on demand; in my case the former symptom being the relevant one. To be fair to myself, I was shooting off of a wobbly folding table, and would have done better firing prone with a rear sandbag. That wasn't an option due to the grass being so tall.

Going now back to the first picture, My family and I were invited by some wonderful friends to stay at their family's cabin up North in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The cabin was amazing, as was the surrounding terrain:


I had to ask myself why we don't live in a place like this, as living where I do now is not where I want to be. On our way home yesterday, the further the car took us from the cabin, the more I wanted to turn around and go back. When we were only about two miles away, we stopped at an intersection in the middle of "town" to check our directions for about a minute and a half, and there were no other cars to be seen; nobody pulling up behind us and blowing the horn. Of the the half dozen cars we did pass, several of the drivers waved, and not with their middle fingers, either. Pulling into my subdivistion two hours later, I had to swerve to avoid being hit head on by yahoos who were busy watching what was going on in somebody's yard. Oh well.

It was a great weekend, and the kids had a good time. Now I'm thrown back into the work week, but at least it's only four days!

If it's sexy and you know it post your gun

A "sexiest gun" thread at ARFCOm. Go check it out, or contribute to it by posting your own gun.

Mark of the Beasts

And behold! I looked, and there before me was the smallest Beast, clothed in a garment made of soft pastel blue linen, fastened with monochrome buttons of doom. He had the power to keep mankind awake for days and days on end, and on his gums were two crowns, razor sharp and white as the stars. Out of his mouth poured drool and partially digested Formula crafted by the inhabitants of the city called Costco, which stained the tunic of whom it contacted.

Then I heard the second Beast say "Dahrglah!" - his speech still bound by the Ninny from Nuk. A giant with sandy blonde hair and fiery blue eyes, wearing a large smile, he rode a horse called Corn Popper, and smell followed with him. His power was to terrify mankind by climbing to the top of everything in his sight, and to consume all the food and all the drink in his path, and to torment with Corn Popper. Then he poured out his bowl onto the land, and soggy Kix filled the carpet and soaked all who were near.

Then I saw the third Beast, and out of his mouth came an endless stream of words, a dialect far beyond his age. He wore a T-shirt and underoos, and wielded a furious temper. His power was to horde all manner of things, and to exhaust mankind with his energy and his words. And I saw the writing on his wall, and under his bed the souls of the crackers and fruit snacks that had been slain by the Beast because he would gather them while the other Beasts slept.

And behold, the fourth Beast! Riding a thousand stuffed stallions, in her hands were colored swords of wax and paper, and her power was to send forth a plague of stickers in all colors and sizes. There was no end to what the stickers adhered to: to the socks of men, and to the bedding, and to the furniture! The fourth Beast's stickers consumed everything, and her wax swords destroyed all the paper and counter-tops throughout the land!

The the two elder Beasts looked upon the four younger Beasts with bloodshot eyes and saw that it was good.

US Army uniform insanity

The Army is again looking at changing the camouflage pattern and uniform for combat. There are some really crappy patterns in there that they're looking at, which means that that's what the Army is likely to chose if the past tells us anything.

The Marine Corps did it right with the Woodland and Desert digital camo, as they realized early on that one pattern does not work in every environment. With that, the uniform is designed well, is rugged, and feels like pajamas compared to the starched Woodland BDU. If you've never had the pleasure of wearing the Army ACU, it's a shitty piece of shit; quite literally the opposite of the Marine Corps uniform. Going to the Multicam pattern was a smart move overall, I think, but now the Army is poised to piss away more funds on camouflage pattern trials.

Oh yeah? Well, how many rounds does it hold?

From this ARFCOM thread, here are guys shooting the .950 JDJ:





Some facts:
2,400 grain bullet
240 grains of powder
2,100fps
25,400 ft lbs of muzzle energy
277 ft lbs recoil energy
Cartridges cost ~$40

I always did wonder why so many reloading scales went up so high!

Humans use tools to solve problems

Sometimes all it takes is the right tool to find the solution to a problem, such as locating a defensive shotgunning course in NOVA.

A real-life self defense with a gun story

I found this story at Light seeking a subject about the author's use of his firearm to stop an attack just before it started. It gave me chills:

"As the kids reached the front doors of my car, they turned to face it from both sides. I turned to look at the one on my left, made eye contact, raised my gun ever so slightly. His eyes widened, and he turned to run. I then looked to my right, and saw what was in the hand of the kid on the other side of the car. An ASP ."

I point out that it was his observance of his surroundings that was key to preventing the initiation of the attack; the pistol he had drawn played its part, but may not have been as effective, if at all, had the scumbag busted the window before he had noticed that he was a target.

Also, be sure to read his list of key factors. I take #2 to be extremely common -- "It was in what is considered to be a safe area. A 'good part' of town." That right there is not only important for those who carry a sidearm, but it has major weight when you're talking to someone who is on the fence about carrying. I have found in conversation that people are blissfully unaware how scumbags look for "nice" neighborhoods and "safe" towns to commit their scumbaggery. This also goes against the argument that "I only carry when I'm going to a bad area." I got news for you, there's no such thing as a safe place in this world.

I live in a "safe" area, in a state known for the crime level to be below the national average, and that doesn't keep the crazies from stabbetry or lunatics from robbery. Be prepared. Always.

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!

I love War Stories

Entertaining and funny stories are what the internet was designed for, so go over to My Muse shanked me for a tale chicks and bloosuckers. The humor will fix your day!

Want a bona fide M24 sniper rifle?

The Army will be selling and raffling 4,000 of them off, starting midway through January.

Guns for sale

Bonnie and Clyde's Winchester Model 1897 and Thompson submachine gun are going to be auctioned off on the 21st of January.

Vigilance to stop gun violence

My advice to stop violence is to be a responsible man and prevent it from happening in the first place:

Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. - Luke 22:36

I decided to bend the rules tonight and go with a lamp instead of a candle because it puts out much more useful light. In that regard I also decided not to add another picture of a handgun, but instead a picture of the most useful and deadly tool that I have ever owned: my Marlin Glenfield Model 25, which has honed my shooting skills since I was six. I have shed more critter's blood and fired more rounds with this rifle than all the others combined. Easy. If given just one weapon to walk this world with for the rest of my life, there wouldn't be any hesitation, the Marlin it is.

Besides the rifle and accessories and book, the table is just as it was sitting where my kids play. I thought it was appropriate to use, stickers and dinosaurs and all, as on it rests an inert tool that know I can use with purpose to defend their lives. I keep a handgun for general defense, yes, but the Marlin is fairly capable and light, and would do the job if asked. More importantly, I could feed my family with it for several months with just one $3 box of cartridges, and that matters the most to me.

My baby is clean

I had forty minutes to spare yesterday evening -- I had hoped for more, but life can be like that sometimes -- so I ran 150 rounds of my 124 grain +P Speer Gold Dots through the P30 to ensure that they function reliably. There are those who say to run 500 or more for that, but I personally feel that anywhere from 100 - 200 rounds is adequate. If you're going to have a problem with a specific load, you'll find out rather quickly.

The sun had been below the treeline for over a half an hour before I fired the last of what I had, so I got to see if there was a flash from this load. There wasn't. I had some old Gold Dots that I think were the short barrel version, and they flashed some, and I had a partial box of 124 grain +P XTPs from Black Hills, and they flashed a lot. I always prefer to test the flash of my carry loads in low light, as with the Nuclear 1911 it was a huge problem. For that reason, I won't carry anything that makes fireballs, as I don't want to be blinded in the rare chance that I would need to shoot to save my life at night.

The Gold Dot bullet breaks into bigger pieces when it hits steel, and I could hear and see bits of it raining down with every shot. Last night was also when I discovered that my weak-hand shooting left much to be desired. I did fine with my strong hand, but had a hard time keeping shots on steel with my left. My draw times were hovering between 1.56 and 1.65 seconds from concealment under a T-shirt. Much quicker than from under a long hoodie. I also put up a cardboard target with a 6" shoot-n-C target to find out where my carry load hits at 30, 40, and 50 yards. I'll take it out all the way to 100 yards one day when I have the time. It's good to know where it hits, just in case.



As you can see, it hits a little to the right, but my grouping was OK considering I was resting my forearms on the back of a cracked lawn chair. I'll have to adjust that to center later.

All in all, I've put 1,112 rounds through this pistol without any problems.



I'm going to start reloading for 9mm in bulk very soon, and I have to place a bunch of orders for powder, primers, and bullets. I have more 9mm cases than I can count, so there's some savings there. I estimate that my cost per 1,000 rounds will run about $110. Time will tell.

A couple of days ago I was loading up some .264 LBC while watching 24 on DVD, and I thought a picture would be appropriate:



Yes, I'm a dork for 24; I have every season including the special 2-hour specials. Something you might not know is that Jack Bauer used a Sig in the first couple of seasons before switching over to a USP. It's old vs new in this pic, and one day I think I'll pickup a USP.

To wrap this up: I decided not to go for the 2,000 round challenge, and cleaned the pistol as it will be some time before I can start cranking out reloads. I'll probably document that when I do it.

Stressed to kill

Chicago has lost its marbles. The gun ban there doesn't seem to have kept guns out of the hands of scumbags, but maybe it can be said that it's prevented them from good marksmanship.

I'm on a video kick today

Slow motion gun p0rn:



Some things I took away from this video: the Glock firing confirmed what I had heard previously about the weird ejection pattern that Glocks often have. I had read somewhere from somebody in the firearms industry that slow motion footage shows the empty cases hitting all over the ejection port, making them fly in many different directions. This would be why random cases come back and smack the shooter in the face. Why Glock decided to dicker around with the recoil springs instead of lowering the ejection port on Gen 4 guns is anyone's guess. See how clean the other hadguns throw their cases?

The other thing I noticed can be seen during footage of a shooter firing a full auto battle rifle: the bullet leaves the barrel and recoil shoves the shooter back well before the bolt unlocks, which is why unsupported automatic gunfire (not in a tripod) goes up and to the right. The last time I had to qualify on the M240B, we didn't have a tripod handy, so I had to shoot off the bipods. Getting a passing score was a bitch, even with me putting all my weight into those bipods, and I had to try a couple of times to pass.

More slow motion videos here.

When the sky is torn

The sound of the 30mm cannon of the A-10 being fired is almost supernatural. It sounds like the sky is being torn in two:



You hear the explosive rounds impacting first, followed by the demonic snarl of the gun's report.

The 20mm cannon on the front of a AH-1W SuperCobra sounds menacing as well; the first time I hear one I thought it was some great Norse war horn or something. And once while watching the stars over Ramadi while enjoying a tasty cigarette I saw a bright red thunderbolt looking monster grow in the sky. It scared me for a second because I had no earthly idea what it was until I heard that tearing sound, and then I heard the twin turbine engines from a F/A-18E SuperHornet. Would not want one of those shooting at me.

Check out this thread at Military Photos.net for some more cool war footage.

Satisfactory answer to a strange question

This probably doesn't fit well on this blog, but I can appreciate it none the less. It's the real answer to why David Lee Roth insisted on no brown M&Ms. Clever.