Tired

Eye knead Piece an Quite!

Undetectables

Doubt it will go anywhere, Rep. Israel (D-Nassau) want to legislate printed receivers (ostensibly as a renewal of a 1988 law that was flawed back then).  So he knows nothing about how guns work, how gun laws already on the books work, and yet he feels he needs to add to the pile with a new law of his own, the Undetectable Firearms Act. 

Part of it is a minimum weight of a magazine.  

30 is bad because of the number of bullets, 10 is bad because it is too light, and they are both made of all metal.  This is before he get into the discussion of the dreaded plastics.   Some all metal magazines weigh close to the that 4 ounces, making them conceivably verboten.

Now no magazine is legal.  Ever.  Period.  I see what you are trying to for here, Mister Congressman...

Me personally... I would never fire an actual gun made of so little metal that it was undetectable at the airport scanners.  I value my hands and face too much to take that chance.  

And MORE Rain

More money out of my pocket and into Martin O'Malley's, to fund his leftist schemes and plots and presidential ambitions.  More rain means more Rain Tax, doesn't it?

Oh?  You say it's supposed to go toward environmental improvements?  Mmmm.  Ever notice when politicians say "We need more money for teachers and firemen and to pretty up the Chesapeake" it never seems to get to teachers, or firemen, and the Bay never seems to get any better?  But some guy in a wood paneled office somewhere gets another $1200 suit or three.

I wonder if I harvested rain that fell on my roof and used it for garden irrigation and the lawn if that could get me a tax credit?  At least this isn't like some other states where it is illegal to have a rain catchment.

 

Over Militarization

THOUSAND of SWATed up masked cops combed the town to no avail, acting like an occupying power, all to find one kid that had a good reason to believe was injured and not the brains of the outfit.

A couple dozen squad cars with and Andy Taylor and a Barney Fife armed with scatter guns would have got the terrist to go to ground, as he did.  And only a pair would have been needed to apprehend the bad guy after the tip from the boat owner.

I thought we had gone to far with our police years ago.  I am really concerned now.  We citizens need to push back on this trend at the ballot box.  Qualified immunity makes it harder at the jury box, but there, too.  And I'm on my soapbox now.  SWAT abuse is real, it's wrong, it's too expensive, and it needs to stop. 

Also, I'd love to see Congress pass a law that says whatever the gun laws are in a community, the cops have to adhere to them too.  Want to carry a pistol concealed off duty?  I can too.  Want to ban Uzi's and not let me own one?  Don't issue them to cops.  Ban AR's?  Give the cops a .30-30.  You want cops to open carry a pistol on their duty belt?  Let 'regular fold' do so too.  You areguing hollowpoints are bad somehow?  Break it to the cops that they have to go back to FMJ rounds.  Want 'smart' guns and microstamping and extra trigger locks onboard all new firearms?  Start with issuing those types to the po-po.  If the cops convince you it is a bad idea to do any of those, and overly burdens them in their job, then you can't apply it to the rest of us, most importantly.  The police get the best tool for the job, and so do I.  Or that is how it should be.

At least the ownership of Tanks and APCs is the same for the boys in blue as it is for the rest of us.  No change needed there.

If cops want to play at soldier they can join the National Guard.

Batteries

Is it just me, or have the price of batteries gone up significantly the past few years?

MBtGE showed me a cheap source of 4 D-Cells.  Your big-box home centers like Home Despot often have big cheap plastic flashlights on the end of the aisle.  It comes with one of those big block cube of a battery with 2 springs on the top.  These are often called a lantern battery.  The whole thing is often much cheaper than a pack of 4 D-cells, but if you pry the casing of the cube, inside, is 4 D-cells.  But don't destroy the lantern battery upon purchase.  Maybe the thing you need the D's is for light and heck, it comes with a cheap disposable flashlight.

All over, I guess

Now that gun control failed in the Senate, the news has commentary has moved on.  Oh sure, there is a burble or two.  "The Boston Jihadists are why we need gun control!" and "I bet some Bostonians kinda wished they mighta had at least a pistol during that lockdown..."  And post Marathon gun and ammo sales are semi-surging again.  (Man 2013 is a good year to be an FFL...)  But what they have to surge, I have no idea.  At this moment...  little is out there.


So it's ok that the metrocons are moving on to the latest subject.  They, for the most part, comported themselves well during the mad dash by Bloomberg to do something.  I wish they had been able to help in states like MD, and NY, and Conn, but really?  What are the chances there?

Now...  about that supply problem...

Reports from a the Contrarian about the the Nation Gun Show last weekend suggested while we are nothing like back up to stock in supplies, there were guns available.  And they seemed to be staying available.  The panic is over and people are waiting for the prices to come back down and leaving guns on the table.   Now it's just waiting for the ammo supply pipeline to fill back up and the all round prices to normalize.   

Shootout

During the shootout between the bombers and police, Sumdood recorded the event with a smartphone.  It's a shame he couldn't have helped out by shooting at the bombers from their flank.  If it had been in Texas and he had engaged the bad guys he'd have gotten a thank you from the cops.  In Massachusetts the cops may have shot at HIM too for his trouble, and arrested after, probably.  But his chances, based on the angles, of the cops hitting him were kinda minimal. 

If it had been my house there was plenty of time for me to fetch a rifle from the safe, turning on the red dot, and being careful of the backstop, potting at least one of them.  Or disabling the car.  Or, if I noticed the pressure cooker at their feet, shooting that...  At least ONE shot.  Maybe others. 

But the photographer probably didn't have a gun.  6,000,000 people in Mass, and only 200,000 FOID holders.  So 1 in 30 chance.  A little greater if you don't count people under 21.  But there is also the thing that he might have had one gun, and that gun was a snubbie... That might put a crimp in armed response at that range.

Anyway.  Should I, though, if such an event happened in my neighborhood?  Would it be the right thing to do?  The wise thing to do?  Would it be my DUTY to help in that manner?  


-




[actually, in Texas, I bet the cops would haul you downtown.  So the police commissioner could give you a medal.  But the mayor would be pissed.  Because he wasn't able to give you a medal first.  And do you got any traffic tickets?  Don't worry about those.  Don't worry about em for a few years but try to keep it to only 10 over the speed limit if you could...]

It Rained Again

Drat.  Brief T-Storm.  That means I have to pay more taxes to the corrupt philandering Martin O'Malley.  He's using spy satellites to assess my property even now.  No really.  It's not the paranoid delusion getting beamed through my Mad-Maxian colander headgear that makes me say that, he is actually using spy satellites. Rain.

90%

"90% of Americans support new gun controls" is a canard.

/kəˈnär(d)/ Noun -- An unfounded rumor or story.

Sorta like a lie, except some people are ignorant it is a lie.  If someone says it, tell them it's wrong and a canard.  If they say it again you can call the a liar.

Sorta like the canard "75% (or whatever) of the guns in Mexico come from US gun stores."

There was a poll done shortly after Newtown, with emotions running high, where we don't know the question asked, but it was about background checks, and the people polled had no idea what kind of legislation would come to bring about back ground checks, but had assume a law expanding them that came around would match what was in their head, and before they could even know what the bill would look like, and even THEN, can we really trust the pollsters...

Well, time passed, people informed themselves, people argued, and it is certainly not "90% of Americans support new gun controls," or even "background checks" now.  It is not true now and probably never was.

It is a canard.  A lie.

Shut UP, Bloomy

Bloomberg says "Interpretation of Constitution Will ‘Have to Change’ After Boston Bombing"

Take one of those 2 liter bottles of RC Cola you hate so much and shove it up your fifth point of contact... sideways... you petty tinpot.

---

He is lucky my endorsement of some forbidden 'cruel and unusual punishement' is in the Constitution, as that may be the only thing between him and a bad end. 


---

That's your answer to everything Mike.  Perceive a problem, and the solution you always apply is to remove your subject's rights.

---

"Look, we live in a very dangerous world. We know there are people who want to take away our freedoms."  Yes.  Agreed.  So STOP OBLIGING THEM, ASSHOLE.

Self Fulfilling

I wonder of Joe Biden's "40% of guns sales are done without background checks" canard is a self fulfilling prophecy.

Look, we know the bad guys want it all.  Ban all guns, and round up the ones already in private hands.  We know that is true, with DiFi and others.  They let the mask slip.

Well, a rational gun owner, even NEW gun owner, will want to get while the gettin's good.  More folks will be looking to get an off books gun before they get another bite of the apple.  So now the false statistic of 40% might even get close to coming true.  You don't have to bury your off-books gun until they start a round up.  After the first 10 confiscations, then is the time to bury one of them.  One of them.  You need to have another for just-in-case situations.  So now there is motivation for more than one off-books gun.  And now.

I know some gunnies will think like this.  And I can't blame them.  No one wants to jeopardize their families safety.  Not while it is perfectly legal now and even if something horrible passes there is a half chance that their off book guns will get grandfathered in. 

Getting into a bad habit

Of running out of blog fodder on Mondays.  Yeahm got nuthin again...

I was in Virginia yesterday, so I was CCWing.  At a Lowe's.

All the talk about pressure cookers has me sorta wanting one.  Chili can be done with one.  Chowdah.  It's good for braising, and I wanna try some pork shanks that way.  Mmmm.  Plus KFC style fried chicken.

Another buddy at work is a better cook than me and is thinking along the same lines to get the gadget and expand his culinary horizons.  I told him, "I'll give you cash for two if you go to Bed Bath and Beyond and buy two pressure cookers for us.  Wear dark glasses and a hoodie, it's sunny out and a bit chilly."  He didn't think that was a good idea.

Does anyone else call that store Bloodbath and Beyond?

--

I'm a little hinky about all the house to house searches by SWAT teams done in Boston.  Lots of other blogs have been covering this.  Things must be done to STOP that sort of thing in the future, because had it been here and I was ordered to bunker in, I'd, naturally, have my M1A out and ready and telling any knock on the door to go away.  If the announced they were cops I'd say that it was just the homeowner at home, so they can save time by moving on to the next house as this one was well secured.  If they persisted I'd suggest, strongly, that they should come back with a warrant.  If they kicked my door in things would go pear shaped fast and no one would be happy after.  I hope my relatives, in such a circumstance, would sue the police over my wrongful death.

People have been congratulating the cops on this, but I'd say their actual behavior was a mixed bag.  Yes, they got 2 terrists and one of them was a cop killer and they did 4 days after the crime.  Those terrists will pose no further threat.  But this police state gestapo stuff doesn't cover them in glory.

--

Smile for the camera.  Just protecting and serving...

Lesson Learned

What are the lessons learned over the gun control failure?

Not for us, for the other side.  How will Bloomberg and Obama and any future banner adjust their tactics when they get an oppurtunity, again?

The narrative seems to indicate that they asked for too much in their negotiation as a starting point.  And they waited too long.  When you dance in the blood of children you have to act quickly before it clots up, is going to be their takeaway. 

So look for them, if they are able to control the legislative process, to offer something more limited and faster.  This will require riding herd on the DiFi types who LIVE for the big hearings and big gun-grabs.  I don't know if she has enough self-discipline. 

This also means if they get anything passed next time it will seem pretty innocuous.  Especially to the mass of voters that don't think about gun control either way.  Some closing of the so-called gun show loophole or some quasi registration thing.  They will, again, try to paint our side as hideous monsters for opposing such legislation and might make that stick easier if they start at a lesser restriction rather than shooting for the whole Magillah like they tried to do this time.

So... how do we work the ground ahead of time to foil such a tactic by the bad guys?

He might be the hero Bagram needs

Still don't know if a lower is illegal

A little guideline of what the new MD regime is in PDF form.

Still nothing saying you can't buy a lower this time next year.  It doesn't have any of the features that are banned.  Maybe it becomes banned when you tack the normal stuff on it.  But how would they know when I tacked that stuff on it?

Ha!

From Gay Patriot

This would have been over by now if Senate Democrats hadn't pilloried Jack Bauer and disbanded CTU. #ChloeTweets
— GayPatriot (@GayPatriot) April 19, 2013

Afeared

John Kerry recently said that foreign students were afraid to study in the US 'because GUNS'.

Now it looks like the primary suspects in the Marathon bombing were foreign engineering students at MIT (reportedly) (some kind of student... you know how the press screws up the details, so, grain of salt).  Doesn't sound like they were that afraid.

Care to revise and extend those remarks, Mister Secretary?

Wheelgun Smithing

So I referenced a gunsmithing manual.  Kuhnhausen has others, and I wanted to get a hard copy of the 1911 version.  Plus...

Looking through this... Revolvers look HARD!  Lots of skills machining and fitting that I don't have.  I think I'd have an easier time with the 1911 than to do similar complicated things with a Smith and Wesson. 

Am I going to do those complicated things, myself?  Probably not.  Not with my own stuff.  I'd rather practice on someone else's money first.  But with these resources, at least I can communicate better with a smith and diagnose things better. 

I like these books, and it made me realize there are few gun books I do like.  Jeff Cooper is a fun read.  But a lot of other titles by other authors aren't re-readable.  Hatcher, is good.  I'd like to get some Elmer Kieth that doesn't cost north of $100.  I like old stuff like period catalogs from before I was born.   These books fall into my "keep handy on a shelf" criteria more than Green Eyes Black Rifles does.

Any other recommendations, book wise?

Headline

Headline I'd like to see after that pitiful performance in the Rose Garden:

"'Peasants' Prevail over the Petulant Political Posturings of a Puny Petty Potentate"

Inspector Callahan

Been watching Dirty Harry DVDs.  I realized I must have seen them all on commercial television.  Why?  There is a bit more nudity that I've ever seen before on previous viewings 

Boy howdy did he get Model 29 sales to soar, huh?  That's common knowledge.  And he was an icon of a cop almost from the day the movie was released.

Hmmm.

Did Dirty Harry keep revolvers around a few extra years against the onslaught of semi-autos?  A litte boost of popularity that kept them in police departments just a few year longer than they would have?

Plus some more iconic cops came on the movie screan scene about the time 9mm became more acceptable in a little-c community of toters. 

(and not to mention the Miami FBI shootout and the results from that...)

McCain

John McCain voted for the gun control bill.  Good thing HE didn't win the Presidency...

And now, your moment of Zen

And I Thought Maryland was Bad....

Yo, Alan, Lawdog... 

I had no idea cops in your state were above the law.  Exempt.  And like to push around gunnies and veterans for not, 'rezpectin' mah Autoritay!'

What's the story?  Is there parts of Texas I should avoid (besides Austin) if I ever come to visit that big state?

(and note, brought to you by the Metrocon Fortnightly.  When Manhattan's National Review is looking askance at Texas over 2A issues...)

New Iron Man movie?

From here.  And there are other supes zombified there.

What?

You mean it's social acceptable to do this outside the privacy of my own home?  I am NO doing this this weekend and the Nation's Gun Show.

Pressure Cookers?

Does this mean Dems are gonna ban assault pressure cookers and I will no longer be able to make decent chowdah?

Split Decision

I wonder why the Supreme Court denied cert in the Kachalsky case.  As this article states, and I observed myself, they are a bit split at the Circuit Court level.  They will have to address this eventually.

Metrocon Sea Change

I used to harangue Hannity.  He never talked firearm rights.  And the Metrocon Fortnightly would have to pressured to give the issue the barest lip service.  Nowadays, not so much.

Lately, because it is front and center in politics, those who were once ambivalent-to-the-2nd Metrocons are now more on 'our' side than GOP legislators. 

Good.

I guess I only have David Frum to kick around anymore.  And it's only a matter of time before he registers as a Demo, I figure.

Maybe not

THIS is not encouraging.  So much for cautious optimism about the Toomey Manchin bill being maybe not so bad...

Huh

Even the Metrocon Fortnightly's official editorial policyis opposition to the proposed ''Toomey-Manchin Dog's Breakfast Inside Baseball Overly Complicated Bureaucratic Folderol Background Check Expansion Bill''

It seems like a lotta heat and no light to me, too. All sound and fury signifying nothing. The Bill, I mean. Standard chip-away at our civil rights instead of the huge slash we feared. Now if politicians that support even this small thing get punished in the elections, THAT would be something.





Hey, with a mustache Captain Piccard looks like G. Gordon Liddy

BAG

BAG day is tomorrow!

I'm not getting anything.  Or, I got mine already this year sorta. And I can't buy another until after Memorial Day.  Maryland doesn't like it when you get more than one a month. 

But what are YOU guys gettin? 

This might be the biggest BAG season, ever, what with the push to make as many Americans gun owners that the Dems have been pushing this year.   If folks aren't buying on the 15th they are using their tax refund to pay off the gun store bills...

Black Helicopters

I'm not the type that goes in for conspiracy theories.  It's just not in me to give them anything beyond the briefest cursory attention.  And then, mostly for the entertainment value. 

For instance.  I don't worry about Black Helicopters swooping in to take over the country for some one-world overlord government.  That is, I didn't.  Not until Joe Biden ridiculed Americans and implied to everyone there was nothing to worry about.  Then I went, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, shit..."

There is only one thing left that will not only confirm their existence, but mean they are on their way to get me RIGHT then.  If Jimmy Carter says there is no such thing as Black Helicopters then you can bet your last round of 7.62 that there is.

[Jimmy has informed my political existence for as long as I was aware of politics.  He is my test case by we synch up perfectly.  If I need to take a position on some unfamiliar regulation or policy I check out what Carter has said about it.  Then I fervently take the opposing view.   This rule of thumb has worked for me perfectly and I will have a reason to miss the monster when he finally shuffles off that mortal coil.]

 Anyway...  Black Helicopters.  They are almost definitely a thing.  I know because Pluggy Joe says they aren't.  You definitely should be worried. 

Guess at which part I said:

AFRICA!



Google Street View Hyperlapse from Teehan+Lax Labs on Vimeo.

Need to use it more...

You know what word I like?

Toothsome.

Those beef short ribs were toothsome.

And that's your word of the day.

Deadly Beaver

You see, THIS is why we need CCW in Maryland.

Beaver Bites Man to Death.

Who didn't know that those damn things go right for the femoral artery?  And we got LOTS of em in Maryland, trying to isolate a victim and then pounce.  They're a menace!  I should be able to defend myself from the toothy bastards.

The Tax Man

Vote O'Malley, 2016.  You'll LOVE him as President.

Him and his tax on rain. 

Yes, taxed the rain.   The stuff that falls from the sky.  Did any of that water get on you?  You owe the state money, then.

  "storm management fee" will be imposed on Maryland residents by Gov. Martin O'Malley — meaning that Maryland is essentially going to tax the rain that falls on people’s property. The bill apparently stems from an order from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the Chesapeake Bay estuary. The rationale is that since "roofs, driveways and carparks create more potential for drainage problems and water contamination," a fundraising fee will be assessed based on the size of the building and surrounding paved surfaces. We're guessing Phase 2 of the plan involves literally taking the food out of Maryland residents' mouths to sell.

Why, oh WHY did I put a driveway in?

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

If the clouds grow gray I'll tax the rain
Even if you squeal, I'll increase the pain

Cuz he's the taxman. O'Malley, the rights quashing taxman.

The idea is to limit runoff from impervious surfaces that then go to the Chesapeake.  This was done in a sort of partnership with Obama's EPA.  So, roofs, patios, driveways, like they said.  The only good thing about it is the last time Google-Sat did a flyover and took a snap of my yard from space the tree obscured the driveway area, and the dirveway wasn't finished.  I may get a reprieve of one year before my rain tax goes way up.   I'd do it again.  Better runoff into the street than runoff into my basement and down the drain.

And O'Malley OH so WANTS to be PRESIDENT.   More than anything in the whole world.  Even more than that puppy he wanted Santa to bring him when he was 4 but instead Santa brought him his parents divorce.  It's why he passed gun control laws.  Everyone knows that's an electoral winner come Novemember. 

Woodrow Wilson, Democrat...

Racist.

Like all Dems, it seems.

Gorilla Tips

Er... Guerrilla...


Sorta like a modern version of Roger's Rangers Standing Orders 

Lots of good stuff in both, and stuff that goes beyond small unit infantry tactices

The ones that make me nod my head of go "hmmmmm..." and apply to things other than patrolling in indian territory:

Keep your safety selector switch on “safe” unless you’re killing someone.  firmly believe a negligent discharge in the field should be a hanging offense

Inspect and test all magazines before conducting an operation. Ensure they feed properly and inspect for bent/damaged feed lips, weak springs, etc. Mark every magazine you own and if one fails to perform in training or inspection, throw the thing away. DO NOT PUT IT UP FOR SALE ON TOP OF YOUR GUNSHOW TABLE

Forget about shooting center-of-mass on a standard silhouette and for CQB. Yes, you should still shoot for the center of the largest piece of a concealed enemy that shows, but if you can see the torso, aim for the hips and the head

Practice shooting while you are moving. My take is: Inside of twenty meters with a rifle, and inside ten meters with a handgun, it is possible to get solid, well-placed aimed shots to the vital targeting areas of a moving hostile.  If you’re that close to a guy who is shooting at you, and not solidly behind cover, you BETTER be moving!

Telephony

I wonder how long I'll be able to keep my standard 2-strand copper wire to the pole telephones?

I don't have a cell phone.  Or smart phone.  Or what have you.

There is a chance it will be all data wifi when I eventually DO get around to getting one, and one need a 'telephone' account through a cell tower anyway.

But it's only a matter of time before the phone company says that the wires overhead that feed my house phone are simple not being used so there is no way to use regular 80s era house phones.  Unless I put some doohickey in line that will pull signals out of the air and feed THOSE to my phone.  But I won't have a wire connected directly to a switching station.  It simply will not be a service they will be able to offer.  Keeping those wires up and energized and repaired costs money and it's easier to keep the tower nodes running.

It'll be like when my grandparents were screwed because dial service was eclipsed by touch tone only in the early 90s.  Ironically, it would be easy to accept dial service now that the switches are all digitized and not so electro-mechanical...

Where am I going with this?  Telephony was invented, what?  150 years ago?  It is a mature technology.  At age 175 it might be totally gone, the way of the telegraph and typewriters and snail mail catalog sales.  But we'll still be issuing AR patterns to our soldiers.  Probably.

1911 Smithery

A kind reader forwarded me a link to a pdf gunsmithing manual, the Kuhnausen manual

Thanks!

Lots of nifty 1911 gunsmithery information.  And I have finally seen a picture of the Series 70 colletted barrel bushing.  I didn't know what those looked like.  I do now.

But the reader sent it for the specific question I had on a stake front sights.  In it, on page 37 is info on removing and installing same.  It involves Dremel tools.  And specialize jigs and what not.  But the Dremel alone...  I made myself a promise to never approach a firearm Dremel tool in hand with intent. 

Yup, gunsmith for me.  I wish mine hadn't gotten a job with Beretta Maryland.  Which, I guess, will be Beretta Idaho or Beretta Tennessee soon enough.

I got nuthin'

I do plan to get a stripped lower after memorial day.  Via auction and transfer if I have to.  All because of the new laws.  Then I am squirrelling it away somewhere.  Maybe in the freezer or in the flour bin or with the air cleaner in my car or something. 

Anything else on the List I need to get?  No.  Just some gunsmith work done.  I got enough guns, I think.  Oh sure there is stuff that would be neat to have, but nothing shouts out my name.

Here is a gunsmith question... Let's say you were going to put an ambi-dextrous safety on a 1911.  Is it better to take the gun to the smith and let HIM order the parts, or buy the part yourself and take it to him and say "put this on this and make sure everything works hunky dory for me."? 

Flattened

This week I've been flattened by sickness. 

And this week flattened by my state legislature

Only a matter of time before they ask for a turn in.  And I will.  Just the stripped lower, of course.  Flattened.

But not yet...

The way I am reading the new law...  You can't buy an Assault 'Long Gun' next year.  They name some manufacturers.  But if you get a mag fed semi-auto not made by those manufacturers and it doesn't have any of the standard copycat 'evil' assaulty-weapony features, that's ok. 

Well, a stripped lower with a, say, "SaysUncle Industries" stamped on it (thus not specifically named as verboten), doesn't have pistol grips or folding stocks or flash suppressors on it.  There is really nothing in the legislation that says no.  At least on my read-throughs.  I'm still looking.  But such a truck sized hole in Maryland gun laws are typical from this statehouse.   

MAIG means confiscation

Just ask their rep Rev. Moore.

[I'm trying to record all the instances when a gun banner talks about confiscation, so when they say 'this isn't about taking yer guns away...']

Sadly

It is done.  All over but the shouting.  Maryland falls a little further down the rathole.

Feel sad for me in this 2nd Amendment shithole.  But feel sad for yourself too in you 2nd A. friendly state.  Until it starts to roll back in states like mine, the recent expansion, now, in YOUR state is in jeopardy.  Bloomberg and his minions are just saving you for later.  While the enemy has momentum HERE, he thinks he can one day make gains THERE.

Pin

I don't even know how that front sight is pinned in place on a 1970s era Colt 1911.  I have no idea how I'd go about replacing the front sight my ownself.

I guess I need more 1911 gunsmith manuals.  Or one.  One good one. I thought I had one around here somewhere...

My guess is this is what smarter gunnies call a 'staked' front sight.  And that if I want to put something else up there the gunsmith will have to take a milling machine and make a dovetail cut.  Dang, that sounds like extra expense...

--

On a simiar note... how easy is it for me to knock the pin out on a S&W 640's front sight, then replace it?  Should I get a new pin?  I have gunsmith punches and a pin start and a non marring hammer.  Do I need any other tools?  Or just leave it to a pro?

Need That

Ooo, I need that.   Saw it on Oleg.  My Remington Model 11 shotgun had been modified to make the barrel 18.25" long.  So I don't have a bead up front.  And it was refinished, parkerized.  So sweating a new bead on there is a little problematic.  But his would solve the problem:

Well, maybe.  I forsee 2 issues.  One, the short barrel might mean that the rings of the sight would impact the head of the magazine tube on recoil when it cycles the action.  Two, at $140 the gizmo costs almost as much as the shotgun.  Not quite the same as putting an ACOG on a Hi-Point, but almost.  Too many people in this company town are getting laid off for me to add another expense to slightly upgrade a third tier go-to self-defense weapon.

Passed

The Gun Bill (SB281) has passed the Maryland House of Delegates.

 

Next step, conference, then to the Governor for his signature.

 

Bill Whittle

More Metroconage support

We vote for civil rights.  The gun banners do not.

And one of my favorite commentators, Thomas Sowell, that isn't necessarily a metrocon himself, but often appears in the Metrocon Fortnightly, also weighs in again.  Noting that guns save lives.

Voted Down

You know what would be a good amendment to the gun control bill in Maryland?  Required that convicted felons that used a gun in the commission of a crime have to serve some minimum amount of time in prison.

They tell us the gun control is keep on top of crime.

Nope, that amendment was just voted down, big time, in the state house.  It's not about the guns, it's about control.  The crime angle is a facade.

Advocates of mandatory training to purchase a firearm testified that they had no evidence it was needed, and that they could point to no instance where a CCW holder committed a felonious homicide.

My roving reporter on the scene reports that the delegates are playing fantasy baseball, watching hoops, or perusing youtube at this time.  One is shopping.  [future note:  go to statehouse, sit in gallery, record credit card numbers of gun banning legislators as they clothes shop on MY time.]

Thermostat is set kind of high today at the Statehouse.  Described as 'hot as hell' and that was probably not a coincidence.

Amendment for the exemption of Olympic Athletes in training struck down.  (meh.  I wish they wouldn't exempt cops.  Neither cops nor olympians are more special than any other citizen.  The law should apply to all or not be a law.  If there is something onerous with the law you gotta carve out exemptions then maybe your law is wrong.)

Quote from the floor, "no right is unalienable"  Oh?  Are you new to this country?

Rule One

Rule number one when you find yourself in a gunfight.  Have a gun.

Not 'have a gun whose caliber starts with a .4,' not, 'have a rifle, and a friend with a rifle,' not, 'have lots and lots of training and realistic practice,' not, 'have a magazine that has 19 or more rounds in it.'  Have a gun.  Even a .25ACP.

Now, that's not to say that getting practice or carrying a larger weapon or using a weapon that allows extra follow on shots isn't a definite Good Thing.  It is.  No argument there.  But even rank beginners that would look at their gun for a good 20 seconds if it stovepiped after a single shot can and do successfully defend themselves.   That can even work against a gang of 30 Chicago teenagers who decide that there are funner places they'd rather be.  Even against a professional stickup gang that mugs people for a living will often vamoose and look for easier pigeons.

Here's the good news when private bad guy runs into YOU, private citizen minding his own business looking like a prey but isn't really appetizing because of that pistole.  YOU aren't going to haul him off to the pokey.  YOU aren't going to chase him through back alleys, tasing him when you get him down and maybe throw a few punches in for giggles.  YOU are not a cop.  Changing his tactic to RUN AWAY is good instinctive move on his part. 

Fanatic and determined assassination squad out to end you?  You got big problems friend. That is the case of "sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you," innit?  That Beretta Bearcat  might not be enough unless you are lucky.  Face it, though, if that is the kind of bad news you run into there is little helping you.

Offer not valid if participants are drunk and have an inflated sense of self esteem and invulnerability.  Another reason not imbibe or be around drunk fools when carrying.  

Conn. Conf.

Governor of Connecticut calling for gun confiscation.  When they say, "We're not going to take your guns away, no one is saying we are going to take guns from law abiding people away," remember this label.

“I have been clear for weeks that a ban on the possession and sale of high capacity magazines is an important part of our effort to prevent gun violence – simply banning their sale moving forward would not be an effective solution.  This morning, we heard from victims’ families on that very point.  They’ve asked for an up or down vote on that provision and, whether it’s in the larger bill or as an amendment, the families, and every resident of our state, deserve a vote.  We know this is an issue that has bipartisan support, including from Senate Minority Leader John McKinney.  We cannot lose sight of our ultimate goal – improving public safety for all of our residents, including our children.”

45 is King!

Add to the long list one more reason to prefer .45ACP.  Whatever the reason the gummint is buying billions of rounds of hollow point ammo, they are buying it in .40S&W and maybe 9mm, not .45.  So ammo availability for .45 could be better.  Better to have only 10 beans in your Glock 21 magazine than space for 17 rounds, but nothing, in your Glock 17.

Then again... ammo factories run their machine a caliber at a time.  So the .45 dies get swapped out to fulfill the big .40 contract and .45 still isn't available or gets shortchanged in the production numbers.

As others have noted, if the Federal Gummint is trying to buy up the stock, why is .22 so scarce?  They aren't buying that.  Maybe this shortage is all supply and demand, like folks have been saying.

Hmm, that would be a thing to watch.  If DHS starts buying up calibers they DON'T use you might want to get more justifiably suspicious that they are trying to corner the market and keep bullets out of private hands.  Watch for contracts for .380 and .270 and .30-30 and .30-06... then start to worry there is a conspiracy agin us.