Saturday, May 17, 2008

Defensive fire: 105 rounds on full auto

Found at The High Road, this story is from the Ayoob Files of American Handgunner - September/October 1995 involving a gun store owner who took on seven robbers with an AR-15 and a 9mm sub-machine gun.

Bad ass!

Friday, May 16, 2008

McCain speaks at the NRA convention

Reading from over at The High Road. I still don't like him. He lost me on the gun vote when he said:
Over the years, I haven't agreed with the NRA on every issue. I have supported efforts to have NICS background checks apply to gun sales at gun shows. I recognize that gun shows are enjoyed by millions of law-abiding Americans. I do not support efforts by those who seek to regulate them out of existence. But I believe an accurate, fair and instant background check at guns shows is a reasonable requirement.

Well I don't. John McCain is a scumbag; an honorable scumbag, but a scumbag none the less. Not that I would have voted for him anyways; he is not the 2nd Amendment friend that people think he is, and neither is President Bush.

I commented over at The War on Guns that I thought that the NRA should have passed on letting McCain speak at the convention because of the requirement to disarm just to see him. Then the NRA would have received my attention, and perhaps a check in the near future. Some may scoff at me for that remark, but I stand by it. I don't care what level of celebrity status he holds, if he doesn't trust his constituents when he is among them then I will not cast a vote in his favor. I don't disarm to see my own mother, so why should I disarm to see John McCain confirm that he vagely supports a right that I hold so dear.

Some say the the world has changed, that things are more dangerous now, but the reallity is that life is not any more dangerous now than it was 143 years ago. Theodore Roosevelt didn't feel the need to disarm his constituents even after one of them shot him in the chest, and he didn't even run away. He finished his speech.

I am sitting this election out. Some cry "compromise," but I call B.S. Compromise would be chosing between two candidates who you have some degree of interest in, and determining which one harbors values that are close to yours. I can say with certainty that John McCain, and definitely not those two marxist democrats, does not harbor anything remotely close to my values, so I will be here on election day.

Larry Correia said it best:
In national news, looks like Obama’s got the donkey party nomination all sewed up. So now our choice comes down to a conservative democrat versus a communist. Yay.


That about sums it up.

CTone's nuclear 1911

My primary carry piece for years has been a Springfield Armory Ultra-Compact V-10 in .45 ACP. It has somewhere around 5,000 rounds through it and it lately has become the most unreliable POS that I have ever owned. I keep getting a nosedive type jam with hollowpoint ammo that I cannot recall ever getting before that looks like it could be entirely magazine related. But what changed?
Springer


I cannot get through a box of fifty rounds without a few jams, so I tinker with it, and just as soon as I think I've got it running right....JAM..
WWB 230 gr HP close


The mouth of the bullet is not touching the feedramp, nor is it touching the extractor. The magazines that I have used for years are Chip McCormick shooting stars - 7 rounders (Officer frame), and I have not had any problems until recently. I am now using brand new Wilson Combat 7 round mags, and I still have the same problem. I have also replaced the recoil spring and guide rod.
MMmmmm ammo


Holding the two brands of magazines together shows the Wilson Combat holds the round a slight bit higher:
Chip McCormick and Wilson Combat


I have polished the feedramp and breechface which makes the gun run noticeably smoother with hardball. When I fire hot ammo like Cor-Bon through it, I often get a crazy looking stovepipe where the case mouth has four crimps in it. It looks to me like the slide is cycling way too fast and ramming the case mouth against the barrel hood before bouncing open enough to eject the case into a stovepipe; if that makes any sense. I will have to get a picture.

The ammo that I have tried so far (since the jam problem) are 185 and 230 grain CCI Gold Dot's, 185 grain Cor-Bon HP, and 230 grain Winchester White Box JHP. Hardball feeds fine, but I want ammo that can stop inside of a target. The only benefit of hardball that I can think of for this gun is the penetration that I am obviously lacking from having a short barrel with almost half of it ported. I am looking into getting a chrony to find out what velocity I'm missing.

I read on The High Road and the 1911 Forum that these 1911's with the short slide can give you headaches. Mine in particular has a 3.5 inch ported barrel. I would never recommend a ported barrel for a carry gun because if you have to shoot it inside of a car or house, it would be the last thing you ever hear. That, as well as the blinding fireball that you get in low light:
CTone's nuclear 1911


I'd make some lucky sniper real happy.


Also of note, the cases eject erratically. I re-tuned the extractor and now it doesn't hammer empties into your forehead, but it still is not like what it used to be. I would send the blasted thing to Springfield Armory for a tune up, but I'm thinking about fitting a commander length slide to it and calling it a day. I can't stand the ported barrel, and I think the extra length would give me more velocity and distance.

I've never done any substantial work to a firearm before, especially a 1911, so how difficult would it be to fit a Essex slide and an undetermined make barrel to this pistol? I've got good eyes and a steady hand, and I'm technically savvy.

What do you think?

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Another prosecutor's DWI

This one in Cass county, Michigan. Michael Taylor resigned as an assistant prosecutor after getting a DWI. I wonder if his punishment will be as harsh as everyone else.

And what is it with prosecutors and DWI's these days?

Assault trucks

It's amazing that nobody was killed.

Maybe we should....I don't know....register these dangerous machines and license the drivers, you know, to protect the children.

Licensing and registration of firearms and gun owners is the holy grail of gun-grabbers nationwide, but I fail to see how it would prevent people from commiting a crime, and I see how it would be used at every opportunity to abuse lawful gun owners.

Ban on militant looking weapons not working?

A 16 year old autistic kid shoots at kids on a basketball court with an "AK-47."

Most law enforcement and reporters wouldn't know an AK-47 from a Ruger 10/22, so I don't give this story but so much credit. In other news, AK-47's are illegal in Connecticut.

More bottle bombs in schools

Three more were set off; one last week, and two this week in the ironically named Friendly High School.

This wouldn't be the first time kids have mixed toilet bowl cleaner and tinfoil, and it won't be the last.

9 year old hold knife to students throat

Do you reckon that kitchen knives cause violence? Look for a kitchen knife ban after this one.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Speculation from a former Only One

I found this trash in a local newpaper concerning armed college students on campus. The same boring and unfounded points are cited in this piece as in others: students are too drunk and stoned to be trusted; everyone will be shooting it out with the gunman because EVERYONE will be carrying a gun; the cops won't know who the bad guy is because every student is armed and shooting indescriminently while drunk and stoned; and my favorite, that students will kill themselves because they have a gun.

First off, nobody is saying that EVERYONE will have a gun. I doubt even half of one percent would carry, making these claims pretty silly.

Second, drugs and alcohol are not just problems that are found on campus, they're found everywhere, so playing this game of students having too many temptations around them to responsibly carry is false.

Third, suicide is also not just a campus problem, and guns do not cause it. It doesn't take a genious to figure out that firing a gun at your head will cause permanent death, and the same can be said for jumping from a tall structure. I have read about several people jumping from the Interstate 95 bridge over the Rappahannock river over the years. They just pull off onto the shoulder and jump. Should we ban gravity? Or maybe put up a fence around the bridge! That will surely stop someone from jumping off that particular structure!

Genious.

There are some other things that don't add up, so let's take a look:
This is not really a Second Amendment right-to-bear-arms issue; it is a need and safety issue. Do students really need to carry guns on campus for their own personal protection, and would the presence of more guns there make college a safer place for all?

Actually, it is a 2nd Amendment issue. Why should an American's right end at the border of the campus? And need? Give me a break. As far as making it safer; it's not about making the school safe, it's about an individual's choice of personal safety. Few will carry a gun, and it sure won't make it more dangerous, so let students exercise their rights.

Within the last decade, the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a random sample of over 15,000 undergraduates from 130 four-year colleges. In that survey, 3.5 percent of the student respondents indicated they had a firearm at college. The study concluded that students with guns on campus were more likely to binge-drink, to drive drunk, and to suffer an injury severe enough to require medical attention.

So what your saying is that 3.5 percent of students defy the sanctity of the "Gun Free Zone" and bring a gun to school, rules and laws be damned, and then act beligerent. No shit Sherlock! Your signs don't stop people from breaking the law, and it's because of these people that folks like myself carry a firearm.

Were all states to allow students and others to carry guns on campus, the danger for everyone at affected schools would likely increase. We know, for example, that the No. 2 cause of death for college students is suicide. Some 25,000 college students each year attempt suicide, and 1,100 succeed.

Further, 90 percent of individuals who attempt suicide with a firearm succeed. If we do the math, as college teaches us to do, the success rate of college suicide could increase dramatically if students were allowed to possess guns on campus.


Speculation. And it seems that students already have guns anyways, so what's your point? And has it ever dawned on you that people that commit suicide with a firearm are very serious about achieving death, and that the lack of a firearm is not going to hinder their determination, making them chose another method?

If a student or a college worker is able to turn to a readily available gun as a means to resolve conflict rather than talking or walking away, the danger to all increases. Put yourself in the shoes of the campus police officer, administrator, instructor, or anyone else who must confront someone who could be carrying a gun under his sweatshirt. The tension automatically rises to a much higher level.

Again, your point is moot if 3.5 percent of the students already have guns. Campus police have to assume that everyone is potentially carrying anyways, and if a police officer is confronting a student then there is a gun within reach anyways - the cop's. The idea that students will automatically resort to using a weapon in a conflict is absurd. Here in the really real world, normal people don't resort to violence, especially those who carry a defensive arm. The folks who are dangerous carry them anyways, and they're the reason why good folks carry a defensive arm.

What about at Virginia Tech last April? Would armed students or professors have known who among those with guns drawn and firing was the real shooter who needed to be stopped? How should the police officers who flooded the campus looking for the shooter have responded when confronted by one or two or 50 students and others wielding guns as that mob ran helter-skelter across the campus quad? Could the situation, as terrible as it was, have become even more tragic had innocents shot other innocents in panic?

Here we go with the "everyone will be armed" and "massive firefight" strawman argument. Very few will chose to carry, so there won't be but a handful of armed students in a building at best. That, and if an armed student responds to a gunman, the exchange will last seconds, and the cops will arrive to find a dead bad guy or a dead good guy. Either way, it is fantasy to think that students will all pull guns and start blasting one another. Grow up.

Many people are fully capable of making good decisions concerning the firearm they carry on their persons, but the chances are really slim they would ever need to fire in self-defense or to save others.

The only true statement in this whole piece.

The statistics, even allowing for a once-every-40-years scenario such as Cho at Virginia Tech, hardly justify the extra danger created by allowing guns on campus.

Until your the unarmed person in the room with a lunitic gunman.

Your Second Amendment rights are safe; just don't take your gun to school.

Well, your rights are not really safe if they can be stripped from you when you go to school.

Clinton Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler who now serves as a crime-news analyst, lives in Spotsylvania County.

There you have it! Straight from the guy who is used to being the "Only One" armed.

How come that "Gun Free Zone" didn't stop her?

This woman wandered into a Virginia elementary school with three handguns. She didn't shoot them, and was apparently off her rocker, but how come she didn't see the sign?

Don't mess with this guy!

I found a great read at The High Road about a watch shop owner who defended himself from 11 robbers on four occasions, taking 5 rounds and killing 5 of the six robbers that he shot.

Crazy stuff, now go read.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Educating kids about firearms makes them safer

Who knew? If tactical mall ninjas in the UK are handing kids MP5's and Uzi's and saying that it makes them safer, than they must be onto something.

I blame George Bush

A study in Canada links alcohol sales and violence; saying that those who live closer to where alcohol is sold are more likely to be assaulted. Funny thing is that alcohol in Canada is sold at government stores. Coorelation is not causation.

"I think we have to be careful in overinterpreting the results of this study," said Dr. Fred Berger, medical director of the Scripps McDonald Center for alcohol and drug treatment, and clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. "The results are reporting a statistical association or correlation, and cannot, therefore, speak to causality."

Moreover, liquor is sold in far more locations in the U.S. than in Canada, and the link between alcohol sales and violent assault is much harder to pin down in the states.


ABC news shows its bias with the attached photo, even though there is no mention of guns in the entire article.

Wow...just...wow.

A 17 year old guy is bleeding out from a gunshot to the head, and this girl robs him. If you have ever been to Fayetteville, NC then this shouldn't surprise you at all.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Will he be EXILE'd?

I don't know how I missed this. Wicomico County State's Attorney Davis Ruark was arrested for DUI in February, and he had a .45 caliber Glock handgun in his car.

So what's the big deal?

Aside from being a states attorney, he is (was?) a [Member, Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council, Wicomico County, 2004]. He is also part of Project Exile. It seems to me to be very hypocritical, and now we will see if Maryland treats him like he's treated everyone else. Will he get a break because of who he is?

Why couldn't it have been Al?

Irena Sendler died today in a Warsaw hospital at the age of 98. This would be the same woman who saved thousands of Jewish kids from certain death during the Holocost, and was later passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize, which was instead given to Al Gore for his junk science.

Too bad.

Rest in peace Mrs. Sendler.

Kalifornia concealed carry

Or lack thereof. Actor Dennis Farina busted at LAX security checkpoint because he forgot that his .22 caliber terror weapon was in his briefcase, and worse yet, he wasn't even authorized by the state to carry the death machine, nor was the blasted thing entered in an arbitrary government list!

To think that someone would ignore such commonsense laws! The horror!

Some may run this guy up the flagpole - the law sure is as he is being charged with a felony - but I cannot throw rocks at this man because I've been hosed at airport security as well.

I was arrested at checkpoint once for having several knives in a bag. It was all a mistake, obviously, as I was on my way to Iraq and was not able to check my rucksack at the ticket counter. I just forgot they were in there. I spent the night in jail, while my firearm and seabag flew out to the El Paso, TX airport where I found them 18 hours later on the floor outside of the baggage claim area.

Farina better have a good lawyer. I'm sure he won't have to struggle as hard as I did to pay for one.

Wear and carry?

What the hell are these jackasses talking about? I'm pretty much speechless so I'll just quote the article:

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. -- Police said there is a new violent trend in Prince George's County called "wear and carry" killings.

Detectives said they have noticed you men carrying guns as if they are pocket change and shooting with little cause.

The name "wear and carry" comes from a statute that outlines the penalties for wearing and carrying a weapon.

According to the Washington Post, police confiscated more than 1,700 guns last year.

Most of the county's illegal-gun charges involved men between the ages of 18 and 24.


I have a feeling that they are trying to demonize those who carry legally. Why else would they run some panty wetting piece like this? They make it seem like good natured gang-banger thugs are open carrying and then randomly shooting.

The Wild West

Which, by god, is the District of Columbia.

It's a good thing you had all of those hands on all of those...d ....oh never mind. The overwhelming police presence in the city failed to make any meaningful change. DC citizens still can't defend themselves, so they're killed in droves, and all the while thousands of cops are roaming around outside to make people feel safe, but not actually safe.

Next, Chiefy will have platoons of heavily armored cops with shiny new AR-15's patroling the streets "for the children," and then DC "leaders" will have the "power trip" that they so desperately want. Seriously, what's next?

Chiefy has already run the gauntlet of stupid ideas, including the coveted "reason with them" nonsense that is ripped right out of the irrational liberal ideas for dummies handbook.

I thought you were going to "get them" Chief?

This futile clown show can only get worse because the population of DC is controled by armed gangs, and the mayor, with his armada of police cruisers, couldn't stop crime if he doubled the number of uniformed officers. Not without finishing off the Constitution anyways; we can already see that that is a possibility.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Movie Guns VII.5

As promised, here is a review of the weapons seen in the movie The Outsiders. I was asked about the make of the balisong that Emilio Estevez carries in the movie, and I had not seen this movie for well over ten years, so I picked it up at Target last night to give it a look.

There are several firearms in this movie, as well as several different types of knives. I got a closeup of some of them, but there are others that I just couldn't get a good picture of.

The first knife that I could get a picture of is a black handled balisong with a spear point blade and a false edge. It appears to be stainless, but I could be wrong. Here is Two-Bit (Emilio Estevez) flipping the knife open right before a confrontation with the Socs:
Bali flip

Here's a closer look:
Bali in face

Later, Johnny (Ralph Macchio) pulls a stag handled switchblade from his pocket. It has a strange latch that he pulls down with his thumb:
Unk switchblade latch

Unk switchblade open

This is the knife that he uses to fatally run through one of the Socs that is drowning his friend Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell), as seen here covered with blood:
Unk switchblade bloody

Afterwords, Johnny and Ponyboy seek help from their friend Dallas (Matt Dillon), who promptly gives them cash, instructions, and this revolver:
Unk revolver

As he is handing it over to Johnny, you can see a shotgun and a Hawken rifle hanging on the wall:
Hawken w/shotgun on wall

Later on, Two-Bit and Ponyboy are visiting Dallas in the hospital, and Dallas asks to see Two-Bit's balisong:
Emilio and Bali

Two-Bit always flips open the latch with his right hand while the knife is tip-up, then rolls it tip-down in his left hand, and then flips it open with his right hand. He does a good job controlling the knife, but I don't think he caries one day-to-day.

Here's Dallas holding the knife:
Bali in hospital

If you look close, you can see a butterfly etched into the hilt. You can see it better on the second picture above.

At some point, Dallas starts carrying a "heater." Ponyboy says "heaters are for kiling people." Idiot.
Unk auto

I don't know what type of gun it is, but he uses it to knock off a convenience store towards the end of the movie:
I have no idea what type of auto this is

The store owner pulls out a little revolver and shoots Dallas as he is running away with all of the cash:
Store owners revolver

I doubt the cops would have any problems with the store owner, even though he shot Dallas in the back.

Well, I have no idea who makes these weapons, but I have captured them for everyone to look at. I will try to trace down the make and model of these, and will update the post when I find something.

Update: Ahab identifies the small auto that Dallas is holding as a compact model of the Star B in 9mm. Good to go.

Now, does anyone have any idea who makes the bali?

Update: The auto knife that Johnny uses to kill the Soc is a German made Solingen Springer. Here's some more information. I found this info completely by accident.