Saturday, May 30, 2009

Gun show Gun show Gun show!!!

Oh hell yes!!

Today was a spectacular gun show that made CTone very happy.

I got there over an hour early, so I was 6th in line to get in. As I got through the door, the NRA was there in force passing out fist fulls of cash to everyone in order to "keep the gun lobby in line." Cool, cool.

Then I had to wade through the herds of uniformed Nazis, Somali warlords, Iranian generals, and the Illuminati just to get to the table where they sell reloading stuff, but it payed off because I found primers!

Now, the first thing I grabbed from that table was a five pound jug of Alliant Reloader 15. I did catch a fleeting glimpse of the ever elusive Hodgdon Varget, but my attention was quickly drawn to the cases that the friendly man was moving around behind the table. I asked him if any of them happened to be non-magnum large rifle primers, and he kindly asked how many I desired. These days a one-cartridge-box-a-year shooter would have bought every single one he had, but that would make them a douchebag. Since there was already a line of about twenty wide eyed people waiting to buy primers, I bought a thousand, which will last me the rest of the year if I'm stingy, and left several cases for the next guy to buy up.

I did not find a single solitary round of .32 ACP, but I did find several boxes of .380 ACP for $48 for 50, or $30 for 20. One table was actually sawing off arms and legs for a box of them. No shit!

The rest of the stuff I got was small potatoes. I do note enthusiastically that gun prices seem to be stabilizing some. There were the gun dealers who had some of their guns marked up a hundred dollars or more from the table ten feet away that had the same gun at a fair price. 1911s are still pretty scarce, but ARs and AKs were abundant. .223 Remington ammo was hovering around $400 for a case of 1,000, which is certainly better than the dollar a round that it was two months ago, but several of the vendors who had 9mm ball thought they were selling crack. I insist that they were smoking it for selling a box of 50 handloads for over $20 when a table around the corner was selling American Eagle for $15.

Over all, I had a good time and got some good odds and ends stuff.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Hey, look at all this stuff that didn't come from US gunshows

Grenades, suppressors, RPGs, mortars. Make sure you click through all of the pages now.

How about all of that body armor. Why, I bet those Mexican drug cartels are buying them and placing 'Policia' on it just to confuse US politicians. It's all in good fun.

And just where in the world have we seen well worn H&K G3s? Absolutely not in the hands of any Mexican military or law enforcement. Uuuugh ugh. No sir.

And those beat to shit AK-47s? There's no way those came from Central America. Nope. I heard that you can pick one of those ugly things at US gunshows. No, really!

Those nasty gun dealers artificially age them by putting them into washing machines filled with poker chips, and then let them rust all to hell in order to make it look like Columbia is the one selling them at next to nothing. Honest!

Not every business is struggling

A gun store owner in Toledo, OH says his business is doing great.

Morale destruction 101

In Michigan and elsewhere, once-sacrosanct veterans' programs are no longer safe from the knife as tax revenues continue sliding in the recession.

****

South Carolina plans to cut aid to the VFW, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans in the next budget. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn recently outlined a "doomsday" budget that would close all four of the state's veterans' home if an income tax increase is not passed, leaving more than 1,000 veterans without care.

Our military veterans are sent overseas to fight, and when they return from giving their pounds of flesh our country turns their back on them. Awesome. That's gotta be great for morale!

"Oh, but CTone, there's a recession! Everyone must give!"

Bullshit!!

I understand that there's a recession and all, and with the exception of our federal government, everyone is tightening their belts, but these veterans entered in a legal contract with the country to be taken care of when they come home. They have already given tenfold.

My criticism is directed toward the Obama administration who decided that the best thing to do during the recession is spend a decades worth of taxpayer's money on a bunch of shit that we don't need, and then groan about how it's so terrible that we have to cut funding for the people that they have a responsibility to pay for.

Unbelievable.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

My first love

Well before I had guns, there were knives; and they are my first love.

If I had the money to buy a new knife every day it wouldn't be enough. Like any utilitarian, I see the use in every tool that I encounter, and knives are no exception. I want them all.

I always carry a knife of some sort wherever I go, as they are the tool that separates us from the animals. To the squeamish people who are intimidated by the sight of a fine knife: I feel sorry for you.

There is a glorious feeling that one gets when using your over sized $250 tactical folder to part the delicate folds of that letter that your great aunt Bee mailed you. An Every Day Carry (EDC) knife is for everyday chores, or it could perhaps be to save yourself or another from a predicament where no other tool would substitute. I don't hold much confidence in the use of a folding knife for self defense; and it's not that I think that it's not possible, just that it's unlikely.

Besides, that's what handguns are for.

If you're the type of person who loves knives, then I invite you to check out Sharp, Bright, and Tactical WebMagazine. Outstanding is the word that first comes to mind as I read that site, and it has now made my list of daily reads.

Too bad I'm now focused on pouring money into reloading stuff, or I would start collecting knives again. Many of mine have been sharpened into stumps over the years, or taken away (for the safety of the world) by TSA while on my way to Iraq.

If you're on the hunt for a new folder, then check out fellow reader Knives Infinity's website. I have to refrain from smoking my debit card for a little longer, but when I'm going there to start.

LTE on spree shooters

Written by a former FBI Agent in The Free Lance Star, it mostly covers the elements of stopping a active shooter from a law enforcement perspective.
"All patrol cars must be equipped with military-style rifles and sufficient ammunition to sustain a firefight. The length of many institutional hallways is beyond the marksmanship capabilities of most police officers armed with handguns. A competent and aggressive rifle program must be part of every patrol officer's skill."
That might make some people suck air, but if you were a cop responding to a shooter in a building, would you rather enter with a rifle or a handgun? I would pick the rifle every time, and agree that a good rifle program is paramount.

As for the other elements of the equasion:
"Teachers, administrators, students, and others are most likely to confront the shooter. Some adults must be armed, trained, and courageously willing to defend themselves and other innocents."
Again, I agree. To some, if a person is not wearing some sort of uniform with a shiny thing on their chest then they are totally incapable of handling a weapon. How ridiculous.

I have heard the arguement that teachers are too busy concentrating on students to be able to handle a weapon, and that multi-tasking in that way will cause them to, like, randomly fire rounds in every direction in the event of a shooting or something. They simply can't do day-to-day things with a firearm on their person. It's too complicated.

I don't think that they realise that cops don't wander around with their hand on their weapon all day, and that most of what they do does not involve using it. If they can write tickets, break up fights, chase down bad guys, and chew gum while walking with a holstered handgun, then so can any other human being. Sending school faculty through a voluntary firearms training course and having them qualify annually, if not more, would put them on a level where they would be of use in the event a spree shooting.

If none of them volunteer, then so what? I'm sure many teachers in many states wouldn't want to participate, and I'm not saying that they would have to. But they shouldn't be denied the opportunity.

The last taste of the article, which should be read in full, is this:

"For many reasons, we will experience more of these incidents in businesses, restaurants, shopping malls, and religious centers, as well as in institutions of learning. In particular, shooters seek "gun free zones," because they know they will more likely not be opposed."

"Instead, let's be ready for them."

That's sound advice.

Eco-tyranny

How long before there's a mandate for every American to paint their roof?

Yeah, I don't think it will take long either. When the lives of babies are on the line, you can never act too swiftly.

I also note the cleverness of the article; implying that the suns rays need to be reflected to save the world from doom, and then oh so casually transitioning to man made carbon being the problem.

When someone discovers white tar and makes shingles out of them then I will look into changing the color of my roof.

I don't normally get into the weeds on environmental issues, but to the eco-geeks out there: make up your freaking mind already. It can't be every last thing in our house, on our house, in our driveway, on the planet, or in the solar system that is causing global warming. . . .or is it climate change? I can't remember if the planet is heating up or cooling down this week.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

"Sniper" does kinda have a ring to it

Alleged East Bay Freeway Snipers Charged With 85 Counts
I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb by saying that this is disingenuous bullshit fantasized by a lowlife journalist. I think he just wanted to use the words "freeway" and "sniper" in the same sentence.

What a douche.

So what was their deadly tally?
California Highway Patrol Sgt. Trent Cross said authorities believe that Wagner and Gomez used a pellet gun in numerous shootings on Interstate Highway 680 between Mission Boulevard and Washington Street in Fremont.
Do they vett reporters in school to find the most dishonest people that society has to offer, or do they just train them to be that way?

If I were a sniper I would be gravely insulted.

AK47 violence all the time

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (WSVN) -- A South Florida officer is recovering in the hospital after a suspected armed-robber shot him four times with an automatic weapon.

"A cop comes up to us and says, 'Get right inside your house right now, there's a robber running around with an AK-47,"

said a resident.An automatic AK47, huh. Sure, sure. And don't count on the media following up with what kind of weapon these guys really used.

In the off chance he did use a select fire AK47, I would blame Mexico, but I'm betting on the weapon being a SKS or a Ruger 10/22.

And how about that brother of one of the scumbags:
"if he didn't shoot at the cop, the cop was going to shoot him anyway."
It's not his fault!! He's really a great guy, I mean he was just trying to get some cigarette money from that auto parts store he robbed with a rifle. The Man has been keeping him down for YEARs, man! Why the po-po gotta be all up in hiz sheeeiiiit?!?!

I hope Florida locks them up and throws away the key.

In the 'Gun Free' paradise of Chicago

Phillip Jackson: "This is a national catastrophe that is happening while we as a country do nothing. We're asking for national attention. This is a pandemic. We will not be able to solve this problem in Chicago unless they can solve this same problem in Houston [Texas] and other cities."
I don't see how the blame lies within any city except Chicago. That's pretty thin. It's also pretty obvious that tactics like gun control and peace rallies aren't going to do the job.

So what's the problem?

Here is an interesting fact to ponder:
"Black youths, he said, are two times more likely than white youths to fail or drop out of school, and at the same time they are also eight to 10 times more likely to be victims of homicide than whites."
That may not be PC to talk about in this day and age, but it's about time it comes to national attention and gets some air time. This is not a coincidence.

Off the cuff, I would say that there is a cultural problem at hand, but how long will it be before it gets brought up on the national stage?

As far as Chicago goes, when your city has a software application for residents to download in order to help them track crime, you know that city is jacked up.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Range Report

I went out today to do some load development with the 308, and it turned out to be a catastrophe.

A little background about me is that there is a phenomenon with rain when I go shoot; it's to the point where my family expects it and wonders why I bother.

Today was no exception.

The only difference was that it started raining this time right after the very first shot, at which point we moved everything inside and shot off the dining room table (yea, I know we're white trash). I have now resorted to calling mother nature a whore as I wave two middle fingers into the air.

At the absolute soonest time I can sell my house, I am going to do so and move to Utah or Arizona so that I can enjoy my hobby in peace. To hell with Virginia. I don't care if I die of thurst because there is no rain; at least I will be able to shoot for one damn day without getting rained out.

I am not at all kidding when I say that this happens every single time.

None of this matters one bit as I had another catastrophe when my equipment failed. I'm going to have to look back through the paperwork from the Krieger barrel that I ordered from Fultan Armory for an information sheet. It seems that if you load your rounds at 2.800 inches (which is what the damned factory length for this cartridge, and the recommended starting length suggested by every bullet and powder manufacturer and anyone else who has ever loaded .308 Winchester) then the rounds jam into the lands causing the bolt to not close all the way and the round to get stuck in the breach. The bolt was stuck pretty bad, and when I got the bolt to come to the rear, the brass casing came with it but the bullet was still stuck in the barrel. Now I have 44 grains of Reloader 15 coating the inside of my gun.

Hey Krieger, a little freaking warning would have been nice!

Anyways, that little event right there will set me back another month or so, so I'm not real happy about that.

That's all I have to report.

Update: No paperwork with the Krieger/Fultan Armory Titan saying not to load your rounds to the standard length that the entire world loads to. Thanks for that.

At least I now know to load them like an entire freaking inch shorter so that I don't have to pound a bullet out of the lands with my cleaning rod. I can appreciate having a short leade for accuracy sake, but at least give a guy some warning so that cartridges that fit easily in the magazine aren't too long.

Happy Memorial Day!!

I thank all the veterans who are out and about killing for our sake, as well as all the past heroes who have done the same for America in the past.

Semper Fi

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Movie Guns XXXVII

Whew! This one took some time.

I'm going to start off with a negative by saying that blogger.com sucks. There are way too many bugs and problems with this system; like the fact that I have wrote this post over and over, but it won't save my work. I can't tell you how frustrated I am right now. I started this post on Thursday, and everytime I finish, all of my work disappears. Also, I paid to upgrade my Photobucket account because I was giving them too much traffic, and now everything with my account has changed for the worse. I figured out how to make the pictures clickable, but I have to fiddle around with the code to make it work, after which half of the text in the post is hyperlinked, so I then have to dick around with that. There has got to be a better way.

Enough of my bitching, lets get started.

A while ago I casually picked up some movies for a cheap price from Target to use for a Movie Guns post. I'm always on the hunt for easy films that I can get together without much of a struggle. This one wasn't as easy as I had hoped.

At over two hours, GoodFellas was more of a challenge than I was ready for, but it sure was worth it! This film is full of old school revolver violence, hit men, and plain jane 1911s; not to mention that it also has a first rate cast of actors. There are thirty something pictures, which is a drop in the bucket compared to some of the other movies I've covered, but the length of the film is what killed me.

Ray Liotta plays the main character, Henry Hill, who also narrates the movie from his perspective as he advances up the ranks of the Italian mafia with his friends Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci).

Going in rough order, we move into the movie where Hill is a grown man making a good deal of money for himself by being ruthless thugs. To give you an idea, Hill and DeVito are seen here taking a truck driver at gunpoint in order to steal his load:


I have no idea what type of double barreled shotgun that is. DeVito has a snub nose revolver concealed in that brown paper bag.

One day, Hill's girlfriend Karen calls him and tells him that the neighbor got a little frisky with her. Hill picks her up, takes her home, and then pulls a Smith & Wesson Model 36 from under the seat of the car:


After sticking it in his waist band, which you can tell that it starts to slip down the front of his pants, he walks across the street and uses the Model 36 to beat the neighbors face in:



I wouldn't recommend using a firearm like that; despite being made of steel, it will most definitely break the gun, or bend it out of shape at the very least. Also, clubbing someone in the head with a one pound piece of steel is a good way to kill them, but I'm sure a mobster could care less. Regardless, after the beating Hill hands the bloody gun to his soon-to-be-wife:


Moving on, we have DeVito, who is a sadistic psychopath, pulling what looks like another S&W Model 36 from his waistband and drunkenly waving it around at his friends while at a club:



This definitely isn't the last time you will see him do this. Later on at a card game, an intoxicated DeVito pulls his Model 36 and waves it at his friends who duck in terror:



Not satisfied with this, he shoots the teenager who is working as the bar keep in the foot:


Unfortunately, the poor lad survives the encounter, only to shoot his mouth off to DeVito after he comes back all bandaged up. DeVito lets his violent complex take over and pulls a M1911 out and shoots him dead:


Classy.

DeVito's character is notoriously violent, and will kill someone with the drop of a hat. Conway was joking around when he told DeVito "you gonna let him get away with that" in regards to the bar keep making a smart ass comment. DeVito, being the killer with a short fuze that he is, didn't get the joke and killed the kid in anger.

His temper will be his demise.

When a "made man," meaning that he is high up in the mafia, makes a disrespectful comment to DeVito later on at another bar, DeVito, with the help of Conway, stomps on the guy before pistol whipping him with a S&W 36 until it breaks:




This is why using your gun as a club is a last resort.

Thinking the man is dead, Hill, Conway, and DeVito put him in the trunk and go get some dinner at DeVito's mother's house. DeVito borrows a big ol' kitchen knife to use to cut the man's body up into smaller pieces, but when they open the trunk, they find out that the man is alive.


DeVito plunges the knife into the man over and over again Caesar style before Conway finishes him off with a S&W 36:




Moving on, Hill wakes up to his disenfranchised wife Karen who has him in a compromising position due to his infidelity:





I'll let you find out for yourself how this plays out.

Next we have DeVito executing a fellow mobster with a suppressed 1911 because the guy accidentally left a stolen truck with finger prints for the cops to find. It wouldn't be long before the cops were at the man's door, so it's best to take care of the loose ends:




Things start to go down hill from here.

DeVito gets whacked for his part in the killing of the above mentioned made man:


Hill is under surveillance by federal agents for selling drugs and guns, like this bag of pistols that he tries to sell to Conway:



One is obviously a Browning High Power, but I can't tell what the other two are that Conway is trying to screw a suppressor on.

As a side note, it's movies like this one that leads the general public into believing that criminals and villains use suppressors.

Anyways, federal agents raid Hill's house to get the drugs, but Karen has already flushed it down the toilet. Here she grabs what looks like a Colt Mustang from the first picture and hides it. . . well, you see:



Do you see? Yeah, in the second picture. . . . there's a gun there. . . .never mind.

Other agents catch Hill in his car as he's trying to get away. Here is an agents Browning High Power with adjustable sights pointed at his head:


I caught this picture from the police station where a female cop has a big ol' honkin revolver in a leather shoulder holster:


I have no idea what it is since I can't see enough of it to get an ID, but it sure is cool!

Last, I got a picture of Hill with a Sig P230 while lying in bed with Karen after he makes bail:


At first I thought it was a Walther PPK, but after another look I have it as a Sig.

This was a tough movie to cover. There's no skipping ahead because I didn't want to miss a picture. There wasn't much of a variety of guns in this one, but the scenes showing gun use were good. I especially liked the realism injected in some of the parts, like DeVito's Model 36 breaking into pieces when he uses it to pistol whip a guy.

This movie is a great one for a collection, and I'm glad I got this one at a good price.

I hope you enjoyed it!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Lots of goodies from the Force Protection Equipment Demo

Or FPED VII, to those in-the-know.

This event had vendors from all over the country showing off anything Force Protection, and some things not. If it's armored, electronic, CBRN detecting, or has a camera, it was at this event.

This show was also a proud sponsor of Big Brother; and I won't depress you with picures of heartbeat sensors, concealed weapon detectors, hand held x-ray machines, and FLIR/night vision equiped coffee cups, but I brought some pics for your viewing pleasure, such as this beast that is a must have for anyone serious about home security:


I finally figured out how to make the pics clickable, so click to enlarge!

Or how about the Mother Of All Shooting Systems (Mo-Ass) remote vehicle machine gun with night vision and FLIR:




For the citizens of the Trinidad neighborhood of DC.

There were tons of remote mounted weapons systems; such as this M240B:


Perhaps the Corner Shot suits your fancy:



It's really easy to control once you get the hang of it, and the video monitor is clear as a bell, even in direct sunlight.

If that's not cool enough for you, then this robot with mounted Atchisson Assault 12 Shotgun with Bushmaster Carbon 15 pistol will surely do the trick:


With the onboard FLIR camera, there's no need to even get out of bed to see what went bump in the night. Sic em' boy!!

For those of you who tend a farm in Appalachia, here's a clever way to locate and destroy those pesky deer herds that keep destroying your crops:



How about pintle mounted twin Bushmaster Carbon 15 pistols with Beta C-mags!

I know some of you are worried about having enough knockdown power with your daddy's 12 guage to back up your buddy on his dream Yeti bowhunt. Well I have the answer for you!


That, my dear readers, is a FRAG-12 shotgun shell. If that doesn't have enough ass to take out a Yeti, than I don't know what does.

If you're more into armor, and want to cruise the streets of Detroit without having to worry about stray 9mm rounds or IEDs, then you might want to check into the latest in rolling protection:




There was plenty more armor around, and even some low profile stuff for celebs, but the coolest idea was this armored thingy for "Gun Free Zone" mall police!!




As for the latest in counter-terrorist fashion, what federal agent acting as the aggressor in a training event would want to be without his inert suicide vest!?!?!


Yes sir!! That's bound to cause a mass panic the next time some SSA forgets to alert the public about that training in the NorthWest corner of the county fair!

To leave on a depressing note, it begs the question of whether these are already being tested on "homegrown terrorists" in the US:


Those are Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) that are designed to look like birds. The idea is to "hide in plain site" from any potential terrorists who are looking up. They're sure to get some use during the next VFW Wounded Warriors cribbage tournament in Dallas!

Clever huh!

Big Brother is always watching.




Four NY terrorists were already criminals

And quite obviously not Right Wing extremist veterans, but here is the really fun part:

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said he believed the defendants knew each other from their time behind bars. Relatives said Payen, David Williams and Onta (AWN'-tay) Williams were introduced to Islam in prison — a trend in prisons around the country in recent years.

"The Onta I know wouldn't do something like this, but the new Onta, yeah," said Richard Williams, an uncle. "He wasn't raised this way. All this happened when he became a Muslim in prison."

****

Cromitie told the informant last July that he wanted to join Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani terrorist group with which the informant claimed to be involved, the complaint said.


Prisons are breeding grounds for religious extremists? Who would have known.

I notice also that the four men had to "call around to various contacts to get guns," which is weird, because I thought all terrorists went to gun shows where NRA rednecks gleefully hand them the shit with a smile.

So much for that theory.

Consequenses

The environment and energy package could prove to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation ever tackled by Congress. It holds the potential to touch every industry and consumer in the nation.
Man, do I feel at ease knowing that a fraction of the Congress took four whole days of "decisive action" to decide on this "historic" bill. They have good intentions for us all, you know.

What, did I just ruin your Friday?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Hand to hand combat

I've often wondered what would be a good, all around type of martial art to learn that would suit the needs of an average joe like me on the streets.

Over at Hell in a Handbasket, James suggests boxing, as it is easy to learn the foundation to make for useful combat; even against multiple opponents, which is what my main concern would be. He has a very compelling video on that post that stresses his point. Go check it out.

Violent scumbags generally work in multiples, so a single based approach to empty hand techniques would be training to fail in my case. Also, I'm the exact opposite of flexible, and any attempt for me to do a ninja roll would result in torn things inside my body. While I'm sure you have to be limber, boxing doesn't look like it focuses on the more complex techniques that will require a greater deal of flexibility.

I will have to look into boxing in the near future.

Bringing Liberty back

Fighting for Liberty is back on line after a short hiatus.

Go over and say hi!

Guns in Parks bill moving through to the House

Where it looks like it will probably pass.
To the frustration and discouragement of many Democrats, House and Senate lawmakers and aides say it now appears likely that President Obama will this weeksign into law a provision allowing visitors to national parks and refuges to carry loaded and concealed weapons.
Well boo hoo. That's what he gets for allowing one of his stupid judges to jam up the law by ruling that citizens can't carry in parks because if they shoot some deadly critter, the lead from the bullet fired might someday endanger a salmon.

Jackass.

The rest of this article is all "dirty Rethuglicans and their evil NRA are stopping sensible Democherubim from saving the planet with sensible gun laws." Just a warning.

What I thought really stood out was what Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn said:
“I don’t like guns necessarily,” Mr. Coburn said. “What I want is those constitutional rights to be protected.”
Constitutional rights protected. Now there's an idea.

It's about time that someone in our federal government took the time to honor the very thing they swore to uphold. Good on you Senator.

Taliban using US arms - gun shows to blame

And by arms, they really mean cartridges; and by gun shows, well. . . .I made that part up.

In no particular order:
"Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, according to an examination of ammunition markings by The New York Times and interviews with American officers and arms dealers."
That's the whole thrust of this piece. The Taliban have been able to fight the US for eight years because a NYT reporter found some WOLF headstamped cartridges in 17 magazines. That's crack reporting. That's why reporters go to college. That's what makes them professionals.
The type of ammunition in question, 7.62x39 millimeter, colloquially known as “7.62 short,” [or "armor piercing/incendiary" "cop killer" "child piercing" death rounds, for the regular NYT readers - ed] is one of the world’s most abundant classes of military small-arms cartridges, and can come from dozens of potential suppliers.
So you found one of the world's most abundant cartridges in 17 AK magazines in Afghanistan, and that is worthy of this hysterical story? You guys must be desperate. I swear, it's like the guy was given a "Cartridges of the World" book by some Marine, and he read it on the john one day and got this wild-assed idea that he had now unlocked the secret codes on the headstamps of cartridge casings. I mean, what do you think:
The examination of the Taliban’s cartridges found telling signs of diversion: 17 of the magazines contained ammunition bearing either of two stamps: the word “WOLF” in uppercase letters, or the lowercase arrangement “bxn.”
Telling, you say? I must read more:
“WOLF” stamps mark ammunition from Wolf Performance Ammunition, a company in California that sells Russian-made cartridges to American gun owners. The company has also provided cartridges for Afghan soldiers and police officers, typically through middlemen. Its munitions can be found in Afghan government bunkers.
And US gun shows. Though it's not said, I get the feeling that this underwhelming bit of literature is stretching toward blaming the US for dozens of 7.62 Russian cartridges being found in Afghanistan. It's just gotta be our fault.

No wonder the NYT is struggling.
No similarly thorough accountability system exists for ammunition, which is harder to trace and more liquid than firearms, readily changing hands through corruption, illegal sales, theft, battlefield loss and other forms of diversion.
Meaning that the dozens of terrifying rounds could have come from anywhere, and that perhaps we should encourage the Afghan government to implement a comprehensive microstamping law. That will surely stop the clever Taliban from acquiring handfuls of ammunition in the future!
But military officials, arms analysts and dealers say it points to a worrisome possibility: With only spotty American and Afghan controls on the vast inventory of weapons and ammunition sent into Afghanistan during an eight-year conflict, poor discipline and outright corruption among Afghan forces may have helped insurgents stay supplied.
Finding a teeny tiny sampling of what is probably the most prolific rifle cartridge ever made is "worrisome," and is keeping highly trained reporters not only gainfully employed, but awake at night as well.

Oh, but there's more folks:
In the American ambush last month, all of the 10 captured rifles had factory stamps from China or Izhevsk, Russia. Those with date stamps had been manufactured in the 1960s and ’70s.

I'll be damned. You mean Mao Zedong and Leonid Brezhnev are behind this? I have been wondering for years how Russian AKs made their way into the country in the first place. This explains everything.

This is what passes for modern US journalism these days. To think major newspapers are just baffled as to why they're folding left and right. "Why isn't anyone reading our paper!?!?"

Good grief. I've already wasted enough of your time on this trash. Enjoy the rest of your day.