NRA Convention

I'm not as good as JayG at updating during the show.  But I am here.  A famour person licked me.  And JayG.  And Weerd Beard.  On the head.  I can understand me and Jay, but why would ANYONE wanna lick Weerd?

The famous person was top shot Season 1 victor Iain Harrison.  So, now the three lickees will probably find themselve at the range unable to hit anything other than the bullseye, and drawing from the holster, our split-time will clock in at 1.2 seconds.   It's like frogs getting kissed by a princess.

Iain was hosting a little get-together as part of his capacity working for Crimson Trace at some sports bar where the women wear more revealing clothes than at a Hooters.  In my cups, I approached Iain and said, and this is a quote, "Just because you were in the elite British Special Air Service and won a high faluting gun contest does mean I can't still kick your asOHGAWDPLEASEDON'TKILLME!!!"  Iain is a great guy, though.  HI-larious.  Friendly.  Not all stabity-stab-stabby when insulted or anything.

So it was eventful.  The evening.  Newbius got in a fight with another diner because we were making the sports bar filled-with-scantilly-clad-woman too rambunctious. (Jeez, Newbius...  wouldja quit bothering people?)

Ruger Scout

So, I've lusted after the Scout Rifle that Cooper promulgated.  I need a bolt action rifle.  And Ruger came up with a version, reviewed in American Rifleman.

I learn through the magazine that they considered M14 magazines, but rejected them for various reasons related to feeding.  Point against them.  To sell me a rifle they should have tried harder to get that feature working.  I would have found that nigh irresistable.

One other great big lack... No mention is made about Lefty versions.  Sorry Ruger.  My gun budget money stays in my wallet.

UPDATE:
And now I've held it in my hands at the NRA Convention.  Found out the why's for no M14 mags.  The variation between them and between manufacturers is too great and plays heck with the bolt action for some reason.  But there is a Lefty version planed.

New Link

Historical firearm and military esoterica, plus a name like Last Stand On Zombie Island?  Yeah, it's a natural for the blog roll.

Saw the link on Forgotten Weapons.

Quackenbush

Quackenbush, maker of air rifles, sell in calibers large enough to ostensibly take down big game.  .458... .50 calber.  They are claiming velocities north of 700 feet per second with that big heavy pellet.

Hunting Cape Buffalo in Africa with a BB Gun....  it just seems... wrong.

But the Girandoni Rifle was .46 cal, sure.   It only takes 1500 pump to get that baby going.

Wow, Look at all the Bloggers

I'm in Pittburg, by happenstance, and some gun related thing is goin on.

Wal Mart Today

I was never really boycotting Wal Mart, but I was avoiding purchasing there cuz they were asking for ID for ammo purchases and seemed to be kowtowing to the anti-gun folks.

Does this mean I don't have to worry about them any more?

Soviet Jewelry?

"Why should I care about Soviet Jewelry?  And why is the Supreme Court ruling on the Deaf Penaltly, and violins on TV?"

This local citizen apparently figured out how to get a letter to the editor off to my local fishwrap, the Warshington Post.

Bottom line, he is upset that he can buy guns.  And even take em to church in Virginia.  But he's not allowed to play online poker anymore.  And the two unrelated issues get compared and contrasted, and dammit, WHY can he do stuff he doesn't wanna and not do stuff he does?

Yeah yeah.

I don't know, buddy, I don't know.

On a similar note.  There is a Gambler's Anonynous, but I am having trouble finding a real Gun Collector's Anonymous... 

Oh I forgot

Alan Gura DID have something coming out.  Monday.  Two days ago.  That Woolard case I mentioned.

And THIS case may be the one where I anticipate the last response from State on 18 May, then it goes to the judge. Williams and Woolard are kinda similar so I am constantly crossing my wires on these 2 cases.  But this William case is a motion for summary judgment (not a writ of cert.) before the US District Court.

Ooo, that is some juicy take down, there.  You really should read that link.  Some Gura quotes in response to the State AG, Gansler:

"This is not constitutional analysis. It is the unchecked imposition of Defendants’ personal policy preferences."

"Defendants expend great effort describing what they perceive as the uniquely unacceptable harm that flows from handgun possession—an approach rejected in Heller and McDonald. They suggest the availability of long arms ameliorates the impact of the handgun regulations, another approach foreclosed by Heller. They suggest Justice Breyer’s dissenting opinion in Heller was a “concurring” opinion that reflected the majority’s views with respect to his interest-balancing approach, a topic that elicited exceptionally strong disagreement by the majority. Blithely disregarding Heller’s contrary instruction, Defendants suggest the content of Second Amendment rights must be determined by judicial evaluations of competing policy claims."  [I added the emphasis]

"If courts could affirm any governmental decision based upon social science or policy assessments, the Constitution would be a dead letter."

"Nonetheless, Defendants and their amici persist in ignoring the two words appearing in the Second Amendment after 'keep.' Their denial is not well-grounded."

"the general rule that all concealed carrying may be banned so long as open carrying is permitted, and vice-versa."  [Wouldn't it be odd if Maryland banned all conceal carry but OC became the norm?  I'd have to get more holsters.]

"Defendants suggest that their handgun restrictions pass Second Amendment analysis because Maryland law 'permit[s] . . . anyone who can lawfully possess a long gun to wear and carry it, concealed or openly, anywhere the holder of a handgun carry permit could carry a handgun.'" [Yay!  The State Attorney General says I can go just about anywhere with my loaded M1A slung over my shoulder.  I'm gonna go to the Aquarium, and then Fogo De Chao in dowtown Baltimore...]

"Some of Brady’s other claims are simply incredible. In particular, the unsupported assertion that '[c]ourts have always looked with a more wary eye on laws that impose restrictions on broad classes of people than laws that require individual determinations,' Brady could not be more erroneous. Perhaps Brady refers to the earliest origins of schemes such as Maryland’s, where the police’s individual determination of one’s suitability to have a gun permit was code for Jim Crow."

"Defendants and their amici maintain that even if there exists a constitutional right to carry handguns for self-defense in public, it would be permissible for them to deny that right to anyone who does not prove, to their satisfaction, a sufficient need to do so. The argument is basically incongruent with the very concept of rights."



Now THAT was more fun to read.

Maryland Update in Williams Case

The Maryland case regarding CCW has seen a response on a Petition for Certiorari.  Alan Gura, whom I had drinks with on the day this writ was wrote, it's his semi compatriot, Stephen Halbrook, responding in this case (so tenuous connection... well not really.  I don't think Halbrook is SAF). Williams v. Maryland is the case.

(Gura is working specifically on the Woolard v. Sheridan case.  Also in Maryland.) 

For those unfamiliar, a guy named Williams had left his gun (legally purchased, in Maryland) at his girlfriend's house.  He retrieved it and was taking it home when a cop stopped him and found the gun on him (apparently Williams was acting squirrelly, panicked a bit, thus causing Johnny Law's Spidey-Sense to tingle.)  Williams was sentenced to 3 years for this, 2 suspended.  Out on bond pending appeals.  He didn't apply for a CCW, but the argument is, it is futile to do so in MD.  It sounds like they're angling that onerous permit requirements shouldn't be an obstacle to CCW.  And also to get Maryland to recognize self defense more broadly, and self defense outside the home specifically. All from a 2A angle.  It's gonna switch the state from May to Shall issue, if all goes well.

The assumption all around is that both sides will continue to appeal until it's before SCOTUS.  Which could be what a writ of certiorari actually is.  An express train to the Supreme Court.  I don't know, I'm a slow head.  I hate reading legal documents.  It's a big reason I'm not a lawyer.  Law writing is like the boring history texts.  Though this stuff reads better than others.

UN

You know, everyone knows, that the UN exists to accumulate more power in themselves, and to frustrate the hyper-power... us, and secondarily, our Western allies.  Everyone also knows that the UN is a bickering conglomeration of incompetence that make stoned hippies look organized.  AND, we all know that the UN is very much for gun control.  Part of the whole 'control' thing.

But their incompetence keeps them from seeing that that's all wrong.  They should be FOR widespread firearm ownership.  Now here me out.

Control is vested in the richer nations, now.  It is from these that the UN needs to wrest political power

A big vehicle to institute socialism, and the requisite central planning, extends from the so-called climate change regime.   Provided they really believe their own hype 10 years ago, they were SURE of climate refugees

Now with that surety combine that with dissemination of small arms because of an internal policy change at Turtle Bay more than a decade ago, provided they thought things through back then, where they not only believe in the right to bear arms, they insist richer countries subsidize arms for people in poorer countries.

Now, the UN would be seeing 50 million desperate dislocated folks with guns knocking on our, and our allies', the West's, front door.  And these poor peoples' only friend had been the UN this whole time.  Which had provided them with free guns and ammo paid for by guilting richer member nations.

This is why I don't worry about black helicopters coming to conquer the USA.  The UN is not smart enough to figure this angle out, they won't be able to take us on.

So why don't they do this?  Well they are full of leftists, and can't be relied upon to be rational... or, they really don't believe the whole climate change thingy, and are really only concerned with naked power and to achieve this they are trying to rile xenophobes and rally them to their 'climate change' position, which is really a red herring for a socialist centralized planning policy... or they are just incompetent and big and bureaucratic and couldn't get this many conspiratorial ducks in a row if they wanted to.  They're gonna have to stumble into their power because we relax our vigilance.

This Clown Entertains Me

Mike you are so full of nonsense it is HILARIOUS. Racists? Gun owners racist? And gun banners are not?

I see...

Then there is this.



Gun control was race control until the Progressives starting applying it all the unwashed proles, black and white, in the 60's.

Need a New Holster

So I have an Uncle Mikes pocket holster for my J-Frame.   I am happy with it as it doesn't print the telltale revolver shape of the gun inside.  And the price could not be beat.  But it is wearing fast.  So I'm sorta looking for a replacement.

I don't want the hard leather kind with the outline boned in perfectly.  Without a gun anywhere near some of these holsters you can almost cite the model that it would take inside, the detailing in the leather is so nice.  Yes, nice.  They look great, but are not what I am looking for.  I like the outwardly softer holster for the pocket.  It can be firm around part to keep the trigger from getting mashed.  And i like the holster to enclose the bottom to keep lint from going UP the barrel. 

I don't know if I want leather at all.  I guess I want the next step up for an Uncle Mikes.  Perhaps the DeSanitis Super Fly.


Unless someone knows alternatives.


I'm also thinking of one day getting a belt holster for the snubbie.  Maybe a between belt and waistband style.  But that's not the priority right now/

Blog Meet

More details...

At the Drinks N Grub event there was

JayG, naturally
MBtGE
Turk Turon (what a treat to finally meet him)
CJR Multigun
Newbius
Alan Gura (still squee!!!)
Excels at Nothing and her Shorter Half, and a friend of theirs that makes Bowie knives named Michael


Frequent commenters:  Chris (igli), TheAxe - BusError, Stretch, Sid, Nikki & Rob, John... and I may have missed someone... 

But dang it was a fun night of socializing.

And Jay was presented with a VERY cool coupla knives.  I drank too much beer and MBtGE poured me into his truck and left me on my lawn, which I thought was very kind of him.


Join the 2nd Amendment Foundation.  Poor Alan was half starved.  You see, winning Constitutional court cases doesn't actual PAY anything...  It felt so good to get a bowl of soup in him before he went out into the night to ask for spare change on the interstate offramp.


You call that a knife?

AG

Oh, and Alan Gura was at the blog meet.

That's as good as Bill "Ghostbusters" Murray showing up at your birthday party.

It's 'squee' worthy.

Saw JayG

He was in MY neck of the woods.  At the closest brewpub to me.  More details later, with any luck.

Freak

And check out some of the freakish ammo ideas contemplated in the past.  5.2mm Mondragon?  5mm sturtevant?  WTF?

There is some seriously weird things considered by presumably serious people.

Lenin

Happy Lenin's Birthday you myopic death-cult hippy soap dodging tree huggers.  You make me want to smoke.  At least cigarette ash smells better than pathchoulli and BO.  And residual Weed.

Booo!

Safe House

Oh just go here and tell me you couldn't ride out the zombacalypse in style in those cushy digs...

Contrarian Adds to Battery

Work buddy, the Contrarian, went to the Nations Gun Show.  He marvelled at the cold war Civil Defense stuff (it's his thing, sorta), hung out at a Zombie Defense booth, and BOUGHT things.

He bought an AR from ZD.  They have a bunch of lowers and a bunch of uppers and you mix and match.  He got 5 mags from them, too, as well as a rifle case.  Later he found a 100 round drum magazine to follow him home to Maryland.  A 420 round can of 5.56 ammo, too.  So he went from a pot metal .22 pistol owner to an AR owner just like that.  My schemes on arming Maryland folks continue to come along nicely...

He also got a bandolier for shotgun shells.  He doesn't have a shotgun.  But is thinking of getting a Saiga.  I don't know either, but more power to him.

Seasoned

Almost all the petals have fallen off the flowering trees and green has effectively poked through this part of the world.  I've even mown my lawn for the first time this season.  With last year's gas.  So there.  I also got tired of the weeds growing up through the weak sauce azaleas bushes, so I yanked em last fall.  Put down some wildflower and Black Eyed Susan seeds.  The Black Eyed Susan is our state flower, ya know!

And I see that spring is WELL advanced down in Georgia, where Borepatch now lives.  His trees have gone to full leaf rather than half-bud half-leaf like we have here.

And Breda is just about to get the big bloomers.  Mmmmm... Breda...  Big bloomers...

Where was I?  Oh yeah!  This all reminds me of the road trip MBtGE and I took up to Breda's for the Northcoast Blogshoot, where we saw the leaves noticeably change color on the way up there.  The reverse on the way home. 

And... I am nigh out of blog fodder, can you tell?

Cyberdyne Systems

And Skynet goes live at 8:11 PM.

You can't say that MBtGE didn't warn us about the Robut Uprising.

You Know...

You know what this country needs?  More gun control.

It's a top priority on every voter's checklist, too.  Ahead of "dire economic conditions" "spiralling gummint spending" "onerous federal regulations on our day to day lives" "unsecured border and lack of immigration rules enforcement" "high taxation" and "entitlement timebomb".

Yes, MORE firearm restrictions.  Now.  That's what we need.  We don't have nearly enough. 

Metrocon Extrordinaire

I like Krauthammer.  I read him every chance I get for his articulate conservative views, and I agree with him 90% of the time.  The other 10%  includes his whiff with firearm related civil rights.  On this he is the king of the Metrocons.  A conservative that is so used to city life that the only guns he sees or hears about are on TV, in a cops holster, and on the waistband of crooks.  So Krauthammer ends up taking a very non-liberty-keeping view on guns.  Like the fact the country is more crowded and more urban makes it more civilized, or the citizens that make up the society less in need of self-defense, or our police are more competent at catching and suppressing and deterring bad guys.  And yet that's what Charles thinks.  

Or he certainly did in 1996.  He may have refined his views in the intervening 15 years.  Let's hope.

(Doubly odd, he is not in a position to put up a defense of himself, physically, and this makes him an easier target.  I have no idea if the results of his diving accident limits his ability to grip a firearm, but if it doesn't, such an equalizer would give him a fighting chance against some ne'er do well.)

[UPDATE on the refining of views, maybe.]

I Saw Zombies in Nam, Myself

 Vietnam is where MBtGE and I met.

"But T-Bolt!  You were like 5 when the war ended!"

"I didn't say I was there DURING the war."


Zombies and Nam

WWI, 03 Sniper

I always wanted a classic sniper rifle, either acquiring or converting my Springfield 03 to carry the Werner and Swasey scope. Ever since I saw one in a gun shop years ago.

It's a fools errand.

Heck, while I'm at it, I might as well wish for a Pedersen device on my 03, too, and an unlimited supply of modern .30 Pedersen ammo...

But that scope was what drew me in.  I LOVED that look.

It's performance has mixed reviews.  McBride had to use acid on the mounting screw threads as a form of LocTite to keep them from backing out because of the recoil.  That vintage scope looked kinda heavy, no?  If you look closely at the silhouette on the cover you can see that it is a Warner & Swasey

It's got some sort of suppressor/flash hider thingy, too.  I have no idea if that is period appropriate, but I'm guessing it could be. 

Anyway, lets assume I HAD a 03 with a vintage Warner & Swasey scope mounted well...  what are the chances it would WORK at all?  The thing would be almost 100 years old.  Good tools last that long, easily, but this is a precision instrument.  In my closet it would just be another cool-to-have safe queen.  Though there are people that do use them as a shooter, certainly.

I'd post a pic but it's hard to find one in the public domain.

I'm just saying I'm kinda glad I didn't up and get one when I could.

Crap, Busted

Range buddy backed out.  She is feeling poorly.  So instead of something tedious and boring like a range day, I am going to do something riveting and exiting!  Yard work.  The weather is nice and that lawn isn't going to cut itself.  It's not Emo.

Goin to the Range Today

With any luck.  Gonna bring something for practice and something for fun.  Probably the Commander and the 617.  Best part of the 617 is that keep my revolver trigger pull in shape.

I missed the Chantilly Gun Show this weekend. I can never take gun shows seriously. Why? Cuz I can't buy anything good there, generally. Sure, maybe a long gun and some ammo, but there is nothing I GOTTA have in the long gun department requiring me to search, and I'm ok on ammo just now.

Meanwhile... For your edification:

Hellcats

I just rented Hellcats of the Navy.

Somebody tell this Reagan guy that he really isn't that good of an actor, and he might want to look around for other careers to follow where he might have bigger talents and a greater chance of success.

Someone tell Nancy Davis the same thing. 

The movie was ok.  A WWII movie.  A diversion, better than B, but no work of art.  It looks like a standard early 40s war propaganda entertainment out of Hollywood, but it was made in 1957.  I'm kinda surprised it was shown to me at the Saturday Matinee growing up.



Reagan is the captain of the USS Starfish, and that got me interested in the submarines actual war record. Ah. Fake name. I half expected a real submarine with that name. Nothing with a war record like the Tang naturally, but something.


Oh, and note the title has nothing to do with Hellcats, aviation. It was strictly a submarine flicker-show.

My favorite part was the speaking role this amateur had in the movie. That was kinda neat.

So this life guard from Illinois does some movies, his eyesight keeps him in limited military service, but eventually he goes on to star in a movie with the actual Admiral Nimitz in a small role. Later, an aircraft carrier class is named after that great WWII admiral, and the actor ends up commanding all of them extant after that. More time passes and a Nimitz class carrier is actually named after that actor. Odd world. I bet a young RR would be gobsmacked if you told him back in 1940 how his life would turn out and what his legacy would be.

Oh and Reagan's vice president, a navy flier, ends up with a son that become President, too, and lands on the USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz class carrier, to announce end of major hostilities in a campaign in a war touch off by the Actor's inept presidential predecessor decades before.

All the links in history can boggle the mind if you pull on all the threads to feel out where they go.

Link

Crap.  I don't remember where I got this link, so I hope it's not some other gun bloggers'. 

It's a contemporary account about firearms ballistic investigation of the Saint Valentines Day Massacre, among other things.  And you know I am a sucker for old publications.


[update. found it. i saw it on Firearm Blog apparently and had forgotten.]

BAG day

It's Buy a Gun Day! 

What did you get? 

I got my commemorative 1911.  Colt Commander.

The Beard got his Mossberg, the Contrarian Doctor Zoidburg got his 10/22, Chuckles got an AR.

Another work buddy, Private Cowboy, got a S&W .38 of some description.

Fast Hits

"Shoot as fast as you can hit"

As fast as I can hit what?  A target the size of a quarter?  A cigarette pack?  A magazine cover? 

I may be paraphrasing here, but I believe Jeff Cooper said something like "shot placement is key."

So now I am at two contradictory goals. 

Lets say a good shooter can go faster.  Accuracy suffers, naturally, and instead of his bullet holes on the practice target getting covered by a 3x5 card, they are covered by a 8.5x11 piece of paper.  But is that hitting?  Yes, if you consider merely center mass a hit, but that wasn't the 'impression' I got from reading people like Cooper.  

Shoot as fast as you can hit.  Shoot faster, then, if you are always grouping inside a 3x5 card and a notebook paper size target is good enough for a hit, then.  I guess.  I'm sorta asking here.  There is always so fast that you shoot the ceiling, or your foot....  If you shoot your foot because you've increased the speed to ludicrous-reckless then you've sped up too much...  But, short of that, that's how I reconcile the contradictions.  If a magazine-cover sized target is unacceptable in a given situation then you need to shoot slower, naturally.  Like when a bad guy has taken cover and only offers you half a face and an arm to shoot as he tries to kill you himself.

But it's a bit academic for me.  At my slowest, my standard is magazine cover size bullet spread.  At my fastest it's about the same.  I'm not a sub 2 second shooter, but I can draw and fire inside the 2s, even rusty.  I'd still like to improve my accuracy so I COULD hit a quarter when I wanted to and had time.  Or at least that 3x5 card for a whole magazine.  I'd probably not hit that covered bad guy.


Again, it's a bit academic at the range.  You can't draw from the holster at my range, and many other ranges have a problem with that sort of thing too.  I have no private range, either.  So mostly dryfire work when I want to work from drawing from a holster.

Mayan BoB

Hurry hurry hurry

Have I got a great economic/survival opportunity for YOU.

Don't be the only one on your block without one. A Mayan End Of the Calendar, End of Existence Bug Out Bag.

You know how big gov't projects move at a glacial rate? What makes you think the gov't won't mess this big project up, too?   You'll be staring at your feet waiting for the whole thing to get on with it.  Don't be left flat footed!  You need a Patented Mayan BoB from T-Bolt Survival Industries!  Available now for a limited time!  (it's patented, so no one steal my idea.  pretty sure there will be lawyers in the afterlife.  well, some afterlifes.)


Included in your Bug Out Bag:

Condoms, 9, cuz you don't want to catch any STDs on the final 3 days because of all the frantic panicky love making with total strangers.  Besure to stretch before hand.  Drink plenty of fluids.  Thank you partner after.  Just because the world is ending doesn't mean we have to be uncivilized, uncouth barbariand

3 MRE, 3 Dasanti water bottles, 3 sporks. (Most BoBs would forget to include the sporks. And that's how we go the extra mile at T-Bolt Survival Industries.)

Wool socks, pair, extra itchy. This is survival, son, you're supposed to be roughing it, and roughing means discomforts.  Put those socks on.  Do it!

Speaking of that, a ziplock back containing a roll of generic terlet paper.  Scratchy, but not extra scratchy.  I'm not a total sadist

Duck Tape, 1 roll. It's good for everything. Especially taping up ducks. Go down to that pond where the Geese always hissed at you and your family. You weren't allowed to touch em before cuz of federal law and migratory bird protections and bribes from Canuckistan to Ted Kennedy. Well no one will care at the end of the world. Go head and wrap em up in Duck Tape like a silver-gray wriggle mummy with loose feathers. Hiss at THAT you filthy feathered poop machines.

Cigarettes, 3 packs. Pall Mall Kings. What, are you worried about, lung cancer? Are you worried you don't have a filter? Scroo that, smoke up. Be manly and look cool at the end of the world with extra long unfiltered nicotine delivery sticks. Mmmmm, that satisfies. Flavor country. Cancer Shmancer. No one likes a quitter.

Book of matches. 

Liquor, 1 bottle.  My bag will have bourbon.  Dunno what you're get.  I hope it's not something crappy like Gray Goose or Sterno fuel.   

Genuine Swiss-Army type knife.

Allahu Snackbar brand energy bars, now fortified with vitamin Q.

Assorted Chiclets


All contained in this handy, semi-durable tote bag. (Ignore the PBS logo, please.)

Normally these survival kits sell for $89.95, but they can be yours for the low low LOW price of $49.95.

Please send cash payments along with a self addressed stamped envelopes to T-Bolt Survival Industries care of this radio station. 

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

So I'm Reading this Other Book

In Deadly Combat. It's an infantryman's take on Wehrmacht activity on the Eastern Front in WWII.


I just started it, so this isn't a full book report, Teacher. I did want to give some first impressions while they are still fresh.

According to the Preface, by Dennis Showalter, the US Army consciously modeled itself off of many organizational scheme. Like number of companies in a battalion, regiment, division, etc. Down to the squad level. The Germans called a squad a Gruppe. Here the purpose of the squad size units diverge between the two forces. While the Americans stressed the individual rifleman with his Garand and his role in a fight in his squad, the purpose of a rifleman in a Gruppe was to support the machinegun, either an MG34 or MG42. Mauser rifles were to keep the machinegun covered. As long as the machinegun was protected and supplied and barrels swapped out with alacrity, the Gruppe could hold out against most anything but tanks. I kinda knew that doctrine already, but reviewing it doesn't make it any less interesting to me.

The other thing was the horse drawn or captured French-tractor drawn (the German army, as you probably know, was certainly not motorized) anti-tank guns called Paks that were very prominent in this recounting.  Pak stood for Panzerabwehrkanone.  If my High School German doesn't fail me that is Pather-defense-cannon.  It was an anti-tank field piece.  37mm at the beginning of the invasion of the Soviet Union, predominantly, and that wasn't enough to stop T-34s.  Larger versions came online as the war progressed.  The Pak 40 had a 75mm projectile and was effective enough against most Allied armor.

Anyway, reading ahead in this book, the author's division, the 132nd Infantry Division stepped off on June 30th 1941, fought through to the Crimea, shifted up to Leningrad, and retreated back to the Baltic where it was finally captured by the Soviets in 1945.  Survivors endured Siberian prison camps until 1955.  So reading about bruises and blisters on their feet in 1941 makes me think, ruefully, "you think you're miserable NOW, just wait to see what the next 15 years will bring you, soldier boy."

I chose this book because my historical knowledge of the Russian front in WWII is woefully inadequate.  Currently it is mostly "Barbarossa, Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kursk, Warsaw, Berlin" and that's about it.

Unicorns Vs. Narwhal

Local Ammo Availability

When I started this blog, it wasn't 'legal' to order ammo through catalog houses.  I'd buy a box or two at my local gunstore but the big source was Bass Pro Shops. 

Then the ammo drought happened when the Unicorn guy got elected.  And there was great lamentations and rending of garments.  And precious little ammo.

Anyway, I can order ammo online now, (the state pre-empted my stupid county) and I do, but I still use Bass Pro as a barometer of commercial ammo availability. 

It's better, but still not back to pre-election levels, believe it or not.  I could get something for every firearm I own.  I even had a choice in .380.  Target ammo for $38 or target ammo for $19.  Not much .45 but at least they had SOME.  Normally there'd be 250-round bulk packs (9mm, .40, .45, and .223) on the aisle ends but that phenomena still hasn't returned.  There was Winchester white box .40 in 100 round boxes, so there is that.  I bought one, since I was there.

Repo Code

Scarlet Letter G

So it looks like gun-offenders won't be put in a sex-offender style registry in MD.  Apparently NOT because it's a bad idea to make modern day Hester Prynnes where red 'A's or 'G's or what have you, but because the system to hand out such was flawed.   Too vague and broad.  Too much power to the police, not to the courts, so the courts smacked it down.

The fear was bad guys that failed to comply with the complicated registry, but otherwise keeping their nose clean, could be swept up and thrown in the Tanty.  Then the cops could sprain their shoulders patting themselves on the backs in congratulations over the 'arrests' after an incident.  It looks like the registry was something to do instead of something effective.

So, sort of a gun rights victory, but not really?  It's a rollback of an onerous unworkable law in the city that when in place was contrary to the rest of the state.  All sorts of reasons for everyone on all sides to hate it.

RS v JW

Randolf Scott would make a better Hondo than John Wayne.

Wayne is a good cowboy on the flicker-shows but he is larger than life.  Scott is more wiry and soft spoken and would make a better scout than Wayne in L'Amour's classic book, adapted for the silver screen.  Better in the way LAmour described him, at least.

Can you tell I just watched Ride Lonesome?



Oddly, the 1953 movie predates the novel.  L'Amour had written a short story that Wayne saw and wanted to make a movie out of.  The author did retain the right to novelize the screenplay.  So he HAD to have been thinking about Wayne when he wrote the full length book.  And there was no way for Randolph Scott to jump ahead in the casting line because it was John Wayne's baby from the get go.

Gun content? It's cowboys!

Ok, in the book, Hondo is a light sleeper and wakes ready for action. He has to, scouting in Apache territory. It's necessary to stay alive. And he sleeps with his SA Colt in his right hand. Uncocked, of course.

Maryland Update

Maryland gun control bills face up hill battle.

Good!

But the article is a bit of a hit-piece against Delegate Vallario rather than a gun control bill story.

You can NEVER have too much Duke.

Or too much America.

Lists

So Liberals like to publish lists of gun owners.  They say this is to alert people of dangers, but it's really to intimidate legal possessors and discourage folks from getting a gun of their own.  It's a violation of privacy and is essentially a shopping list for burglars when names and addressed are posted. 

They don't consider that lots of the gun owners are police officers.  Have you ever noticed police officers aren't listed in the phone book?  They don't want dirtbags they arrested that are out on parole to come visit their families.  To discourage hoplophobes like ones in the MSM and in New York City and Chicago from publishing gun owner lists again you may want to ask them why they want to endanger police officers.  Maybe THEIR names should be published and posted in police precincts.  Oh, heavens no!  The implied threat against people named and that they might be denied police protection is unthinkable!  True.  It's a 2 way street, though, hoplophobe.  SO cut that crap out.

Or, we could just just publish the name, addresses, Social Security Numbers, and mother's maiden name of everyone that works at a MSM news purveyor like Associated Press.  If gun owners aren't entitled to privacy, why are they?

Ok, but once the cat is out of the bag and, say, every Maryland resident that bought a pistol in the last 15 years is published.  A very vocal a high profile shuffle would render that list useless.  By shuffle, I mean buy and resell immediately some gun inventory.  Yes it's expensive, all those extra transaction with taxes and fees and such, but it introduces so much gray area into the idea of the list as to make it worthless.  Doing this in defacto gun-registration states like Maryland, even selling through a FFL out of state, also renders a registry useless.  If you can't consider it useless already, now, for that exact reason.

In Illinois, to foil the list publishers and privacy violators, a big vocal drive to get as many people as possible set up with a Firearms Owner ID card.  You have to have them to buy a gun there, but you don't HAVE to buy a gun.  You could double the number of cards just by getting privacy advocates and rights advocates that like privacy but don't necessarily want to own a firearm.  That's fine too..

Good Idea

For walking your dog?  What could go wrong?

Magazine

Don't forget to read your 50 year old gun magazine...

You'll notice something about he four issues from 1961.  They gun culture is worried about gun restrictions being pushed down by politicians.  And all this is BEFORE the Kennedy assassination and all the assassinations that followed '63.  Gunnie today are lucky we ONLY got the 1968 Gun Control Act, the Hughes Amendment in 1986, and the Brady Act/s of the 90s.

They also worry about not having enough places to shoot.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

What Gun For a Mole

Not, moll, MOLE.

Seems like Russian spies don't know about the 4 Rules.  Either that or she intends to bust a cap in the throat of singer Dima Bilan.

Gun Store Boogie

Have you noticed that gunstores often are behind the times with their web presence?

Buddies at work have and are complaining to ME about it.  They work in the Information Technology industry so they are comfortable using the internet to do their shopping.  One person got his Credit Card info hacked out of a gunstore's online shopping system because they didn't properly encrypt their database. 

Another buddy laments that he went to go to a bunch of gunstore's websites to check for current and specific inventory availability and there is nothing to be found.  When he went old tech and let his fingers do the walking person on the other end wasn't freely sharing information.  "How much do you retail Blastomatic2000, if you sell them?"  "Yes, we sell those"  "How much do they run?"  "600 700 800."  "$800?"  "Yes.  Maybe 1000 bucks"  "What?!"  "If we had them, that's what they'd cost." ~click~  

What the...  Standard gunstore attitude in a lot of stores is to ignore and/or alienate potential customers. Not ALL, certainly, but way too many.

I know it costs time/money to maintain a website with current inventory and pricing information, or at LEAST inventory, but it seems gunstores are resistant to the innovation no matter the cost.  And I can only guess why.  Sure the 1968 GCA and all the ATF regulations and understandable fears of flack from anti-gunners and gummint busybodies (particularly in my state) sort of incentivizes today's gun purveyors to keep a 1950s business model, but still... 

Plus gunstores tend to be a Mom and Pop style operation.  One owner or a couple of partners and a few clerks, some of them family members.  But even BassPro doesn't post its current individual store inventory.  (I bet their online shopping cart is better than Mom and Pop stores, tho.) 

The only reliable way to shop for a gun around here is to burn up the gas visiting the store in person.  If you want something specific, that's a LOT of driving.

Like I mentioned, this isn't all gunstores, by any means.  Stores that are active on GunBroker already have half their work done for them because of the necessity to post on the auction site.  I bet there is a good chance current inventory is (or can be) well represented on their own website.  But here you run into the possible problem with shopping cart encryption, again.

It's rare to see a gun store, or many firearm manufacturers, have a website that looks like it was made after 2002, too.  New websites cost money.  And why have a store online when folks have to come down to fill out paperwork and pickup their new gun 7 days later, all in person?

Anyway, that's been the frustrations of some of my gun buddies at work, just starting out.  They're not into it enough to have a favorite gunstore, and may never need a fave to haunt.

[Glock has an online presence problem, too.]

I Wanna Be An Airborne Ranger...

I met this actual Airborne Ranger the other week.  82nd Airborne.  A Major.

Of course the conversation eventually turned to zombie prep.  And knowing about my interest he asked for my comment on what he thought was the superior anti-zombie weapon.  He assumed the 12 gauge shotgun was the way to go...

~sigh~

What are they teaching these poor professional soldier with 20+ years of experience? (he was prior-enlisted)

I asked him how easy it was to reload a shotgun.  I then asked him if zombie encounters came in ones and twos, or in great multitudes.  Then I asked him how heavy 200 rounds, with  magazines, of .223 were compared to 200 rounds of 12 gauge.  The light went on over his head at that point.  Modern American military personnel are practical and flexible and able to get their heads around better tactical solutions, quickly.

It's this last item, the bulk and weight of shotgun ammo that is the biggee.  A perfected Saiga that works reliably takes the reload time issues out of the equation, assuming you can find a Saiga with magazines that are reliable.  No one is arguing that the shotgun is not effective, certainly, one on one with the undead.  But fighting zombies involves moving, if not very fast.  And moving involves carrying stuff.

I didn't have time to go into the value of .22lr (carry 10 mags in one pocket, 500 rounds in the other and you still have more shots even if you have to double tap each zed in the head and much lighter in weight).  I figured he was VERY familiar with .223 type platforms and that was where his comfort zone was. 

I need your help, though, people.  Spread the word to the misinformed masses.  Shotgun are fine for a half dozen zombies, but facing a dozen with your 9 shot tactical Remington 870 pump shottie makes all your prep go pearshaped.  

I know I keep harping on this, but folks aren't learning.


That said, I don't have a .223 my own self.  I'll have to make do with the heavier .308 and/or .22lr.  Which is still better than a shotgun.

Range with Chuckles

Went to Range over a week ago with my old shooting buddy Chuckles.  His interest in shooting had rekindled of late and he had gone ahead and bought an AR recently.  He was at the range to shop and to try out a Walther PPK from the rental counter.

He found the Walther a bit snappy.  But he still might get it.  He'd always loved the design.  I know of the Walther as a twin to my gun-nemesis; the Dreaded (and famous) Bersa Thunder!  That pistol kicks worse than a Colicky Mule that is still mad at people for putting habaneros in its fodder.  They HURT.

Well, me at least.  It doesn't seem to bother anyone else.

He still might get it.


Also at the gunstore that he was checking... .22s.  An MP5 looking .22, and a Ruger 10/22 dolled up to look like M16.  Mainly for his son, but...  it never hurts to have an extra .22


Chuckles REALLY likes that Colt New Agent.  I thought he had read about it on my blog, but no, he came about this hankering on his own.

I've been looking into it, too.  The DAO Colt I am interested in is Officer size.  The tease seems to be that it would be easy for Colt to make it in Commander size (and thus take regular 1911 magazines) if this gun proves popular and the demand looks like it is there.  It is this phantom Commander size Colt DAO that I would be interested in plunking down cash for.  By then they will have worked out the kinks in the newish trigger works on the the current gun, if any.

The only thing that bothers me right now is the odd looking grips


On to the shooting.

Here is my target.  Colt Commander on the left, Smith 640 on the right using +P .38.

That paster in the top middle is what I had Chuckles aim at for a mag through the 1911.  I use him to test my pistols because he is such a good shot.  If it is shooting right when he handles it that means the sights are actually off.  Except this time.  I'd need more testing to ensure the sights are off, but it had been so long since Chuckles shot a pistol I can't rely on him as my human pistol vise.  Still, pretty good for a guy that's out of practice, no?

And you can see why I favor carrying the revolver, still.  The 1911 groups better, certainly, but that low and right stuff...

Egghead

Another egghead trying to tell us the threat from Zombies is overblown... 

Actually, I've half reviewed this guy's book already.  The link above is to an interview of the author.

It seems to me, whenever we listened to the eggheads in the 20th Century, we ended up with another abattoir.  Better to stick with listening to 18th C intellectuals whose names don't rhyme with "Vamoose, Joe!"

And the founding fathers knew what to do with zombies.  It's why you never hear about any outbreaks in the 1790s in this country.

An Unhappy Centennial

1911 was a good year for guns.  It was also a bad year for gun rights, as the first BIG anti-gun law dates from that year. 

New York's Sullivan Act.

Like most all gun control schemes, the Sullivan Act had its roots in racism and nativism.  But it leaned toward nativism.  Too many Southern European immigrants were walking around strapped in the city, apparently, and Tammany Hall had to DO something about that.  Plus it allowed corrupt politicians to give out special favors (gun permits) to political cronies.

Grip

A good, concise, breakdown of how to grip a gun, in plain English.

My Covet Sense is Tingling...

Ohhhh, yeah.

VZ Grips for the J-Frame...

Want. 

From the ad copy: " If these are not the most comfortable J Frame grips you have held, return them."

Lancelot Link

Lincoln to BorePatch.

IMPOSTER!

I missed this!

Maryland Shall Issue, our CCW rights advocacy group noticed that a guy representing himself as a member of Ceasefire Maryland (anti-rights, natch) testified to the Committee.  Except he wasn't.  A member.  Of that organization.

Well, that's nice. 

Ceasefire MD lost it's corporate charter. 

A member of the Judiciary Committee of our General Assembly noticed this faux pas and humiliated the sucker after his testimony.