Out With a Bang

Went shooting today. Great weather, great friends. It couldn't have been better. What a great way to end the year. Adios, 2011!

Happy New Year all!

54 Apply (and the AP Can't Do Math)

26 students and 28 faculty, 54 in all (not 64), have applied for permits to carry at Liberty University.

I'M SO ANGRY I COULD BREAK MY KEYBOARD!

Shit like this just pisses me off!

Clayton Cramer's Blog: Someone Couldn't Wait Two Weeks?

Good thing I'm going shooting tomorrow.

Hmmm.... if anybody in the Maryland government wants to save the taxpayer a few bucks (I know, I know...) I'll gladly help you guys short circuit all the court time and jailing costs and what not and gladly take these fella's "shooting" with me tomorrow. As I do have to pack out what I pack in, I will need access to their freezer however.

Anti-Intellectualism

Eric S. Raymond has a must-read post up on anti-intellectualism (and don't get confused, Raymond may write like an intellectual, but he's a self-taught college drop out steeped in libertarian thought -- and a gun owner). According to his classifications, I'm a #1 and #3 type anti-intellectual.

As for commentary, the best stuff aren't the comments on his blog but the intelligentsia suck-ups on Google+ arguing that the elites know best:

William Scott Lockwood III  -  “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
― Isaac Asimov 

Eric Raymond  -  +William Scott Lockwood III But, in fact, my "ignorance" may well be as good as your "knowledge" if the question at hand is one of values rather than facts. Asimov's error - typical of modern intellectuals - is to conflate those two circumstances.

Amazing how undemocratic some of these people are. They think they are smarter than you, and because of that they think they should control your life.

blogjam

1. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has issued an order that all state employees are to answer the phone with, "It's a great day in South Carolina." Which I imagine might go something like this, "It's a great day in South Carolina. This is 911. What's your emergency?" Because this whole thing isn't stupid enough, a couple of Democrats have proposed the State Employee Pouty Face and Bitchy Attitude Protection Act. I hope Haley wins this battle, mostly because she looks better in a dress than the two dudes up against her.
2. My gift to Obama for providing us with such economic bounty has been "lost in the mail": Less than a quarter of companies to hire in 2012: CareerBuilder. Stupid fucker!
3. Clergymen clash at birthplace of Jesus.
4. Alan Korwin notes that a Federal judge has allowed a law suit defending the 13th Amendment rights of 5 killer whales to go forward. He correctly points out that every time the courts delve a little more into this type of lunacy, instead of just dismissing it immediately, that their legitimacy is eroded.

Signs that the GOP Establishment Are Cheating for Romney

By now you have probably heard that both Newt and Perry have been disqualified from the Virginia Republican primary. Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are the only two on the ballot and coincidentally are the only two to have run in a Virginia primary before, so they know the arcane rules. Both Newt and Perry submitted 11,000 signatures, more than the 10,000 needed to qualify. BUT, they didn't get 400 from each of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.

Now Romney (and Paul) submitted 15,000 signatures, which means that stupid 400 per district rule doesn't apply. Considering that the Virginia suburbs of DC make up half of the state's population, this is nothing more than a game the GOP establishment is playing. Does this sound like a setup? Because it doesn't end there.

Now the GOP establishment is requiring a "loyalty oath" to be signed by voters so that they can participate in the primary. Are they joking? No. The idealist crowd that makes up the Paul constituency is not likely to stand for that, and the establishment knows it. This oath will help suppress enough of the vote for Paul to guarantee Romney wins the state.

Add to all this the whispering campaign about the 12th Amendment disqualifying Gingrich from nominating Bob McDonnel, Virginia's popular governor, for the Veep seat. The party wants Romney, and they don't give a damn how the voters feel.

blogjam

1. Massive Mayan ruins found in the North Georgia mountains.
2. Russian Christmas train wallpaper (for your computer, not your front parlor though that would be cooler).
3. More news from Russia: the Russian army won't be buying any more AK47s. Apparently they've got tons of 'em and don't really think of them as "modern". Perhaps the ATF can help them sell their excess to Mexican drug cartels.
4. According to Bob Barr, Newt's record on guns isn't as bad as some say. Newt even attempted to reverse Clinton's AWB. During my tenure north of Atlanta, I had the chance to vote for both Newt and Barr. I'd gladly have either one of those two instead of the corrupt jack-ass I have now.
5. And here is Newt talking about the Second Amendment. (tip of the hat to Hoplorato Maddened Fowl.)

Undorking Part Uno

So last night was phase one of the undorking. Pulling the rifle from the safe I saw that somewhere along the way a sling swivel stud and come off the forend. One more strike against the ATI Strikeforce stock. Removing the action I immediately noticed that I had not cleaned this gun in a millennium.

Mini-14 action disassembled.

There was black carbon everywhere. Again, I don't care what Tom Gresham says about not spraying down firearms... he's never cleaned the gas block of my Mini-14.

And then there was the issue with the forend liner. The Hogue instructions say to take the liner out of the old stock and put in the new one. That was all fine and dandy except the liner in the ATI stock didn't look anything like the liner pictured in the instructions, and it certainly wouldn't snap in. I was under the mental delusion that this liner had come from the original, factory wood stock. After some playing around with and without the liner and some thoughts about pulling out the dremel tool, I decided to go find that old stock. Sure enough, there was a liner in it and it snapped firmly into place. I'm glad I didn't get the dremel out.

As an aside, I don't know where these people got their information but as far as I can tell they are wrong.

Here's the result of phase uno:

I think the Chaote heat shield really "works" with this Hogue stock.

The next step is to test the difference in accuracy between this stock and the ATI Strikeforce.

What Christmas is like in Hell

... or as we call it by its modern name, New Jersey:

Hudson County has violent Christmas weekend, with customers pistol-whipped during supermarket robbery, others involved in stabbings, robberies

You actually have to climb your way through a bit of assaults and robberies in Lautenberg paradise to find this:

On Saturday at 6 p.m. in Jersey City, the 55-year-old owner of Galaxia International Services Inc., a money transfer company at 2801 Kennedy Blvd., was speaking to a customer through bulletproof glass when he saw someone wearing a black garment covering his entire body and head enter, police said. 

The owner opened a door to speak with the person, who pulled out an assault rifle, pointed the weapon at the owner’s head, and pushed him into a back room with the muzzle of the gun, police said. 

The robber then pointed at a drawer that contained currency and told the owner to put money into a plastic shopping bag, police said. The robber also opened two other drawers and put their contents in the bag. The robber left with $31,216 and was last seen walking north on Kennedy Boulevard, according to police. The owner described the robber as a light-skinned male, 6-foot-1, wearing black gloves and wearing the black garment, police said.

Only in New Jersey can a guy dressed from head to toe in black carrying an assault rifle just casually walk off down the street after an armed robbery. It's like he wasn't worried anything would happen to him.

"Hey, Mildred. What do you think of the Christmas bow on the lamppost in the Johnson's front yard?"

"You mean the lamppost next to that ninja with the AK47?"

"Yeah."

"I can't really see all of it because that guys big bag of money is in the way, but from what I can see it looks nice. Any thoughts for lunch?"

Got Some Military Stuff

Want to know what it is or how much it is worth? Some military experts will be on hand January 14, 10am to noon, at the Paul and Phyllis Galanti Education Center at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond to help you figure it out. Sounds pretty cool.

Man Kills Two, Abducts 2 Year Old on Christmas Eve

As if that wasn't bad enough:

NBC12 has learned Clemons was released from Pamunkey Regional Jail on Friday - one day before the Christmas Eve crime spree.

Perhaps he's just a poor, misunderstood soul. Or not:

In June, he was convicted in Hanover Circuit Court of a probation violation and was sentenced to nine years and eight months with nine years suspended, according to court records.

Or perhaps we have some judges or probation councils who need to be taken to the woodshed.

"Illegaler" is a Stupid Concept

Yet anti-gunners seem to think felons are extremely choosy as to which laws they are willing to break. Jerry Fuhrman takes the Roanoke Times to task on their stupidity.

Just Order It From Sears

As Old NFO pointed out in the comments yesterday, it use to be you could just order them from Sears.

"The Elf Who Liked Ron Paul"

I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you got everything you wanted for Christmas. If not, just print out this advert from Colt and mail in the $84 for your very own Woodsman. It'll be shipped right to your door. That is how it works, right? The mailbox loophole?

Brew blogging

My wife informed me that we were under beered for the weekend and that I needed to quick-like-bunny hop down to the grocer and reprovide provisions. TWIST MY ARM!

To Giant it was, where I discovered they have "mix your own" craft beer deal for $9.99... 'cepting some of the craft beers have words like "Bud" and "Miller" in them. WTF!

Anyway, I could have gone with my Magic Hat #9 tried and true but decided to go with a local Virginia brewery. I've never had Starr Hill, so I used that as an excuse to scoop up some Smithwicks "just in case". I hope my selection meets David's expectations. (And see, ML, I do drink beer.)

Christmas Eve dinner is a slow cooked beef brisket from a recipe out of Southern Living over rolls topped with cole slaw. For dinner tomorrow we are going out to Sweet Rice, a local Thai restaurant. Yeah, we're all about tradition!

Gun Porn Christmas Special

Exhibit A: Take a look at the gun Christmas wrapping going on over at Old NFO's place. I am officially putting myself up for adoption as one of NFO's children!

Exhibit B: MSgt B goes cowboy on us with his Ruger Blackhawk. Drool!

Exhibit C: Over at the Firearms Blog, doorgunner Santa.

Exhibit D: David over Musings Over A Pint has a video of Santa ringing out Jingle Bells with his 1911, the obvious carry weapon for Santa.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, blogosphere!

Blogging from this point will be lite.

Have a good one.

"Endless"

Liberals tend to frustrate the snot out of me. But sometimes they have a point!

Gun Rights Activists Have Some Work To Do In Virginia

The Washington Post reports that public opinion on guns in the Commonwealth of Virginia may not be as good as gun rights advocates would like. According to a Quinnipiac University poll:

On the issue of gun rights, a small majority — 50-45 percent — said protecting gun rights is more important than controlling gun ownership, but they opposed by a nearly 2-1 ratio ending the state’s limit of one handgun purchase per month. 

On the issue of guns on college campuses, 75-20 percent said they should not be allowed.

The Washington Post does note that this poll was taken days after the recent shooting at Virginia Tech, which is sure to sway some people's emotions. And I'll note that the poll was taken together with a poll on uranium mining in Virginia. That's such an odd combination that I wouldn't doubt that Quinnipiac University hastily inserted the firearms questions because of the Dec. 8 shooting.

Still, it's not good news.

blogjam

1. East Pioria, IL, has a parade of lights every year, which apparently features a gigantic USS Enterprise, a batmobile, and a Start Wars TIE Fighter. More here of the USS Enterprise in Christmas lights.
2. A Saudi prince invests $300 million in Twitter. There must be oil in them thar Tweets.
3. I know this is gonna send you guys into a flutter. Turns out the British have determined that the rocks from Stonehenge came from some other place on that island than where they previously thought. And now that they are sure they know where the rocks came from, again, they plan to fund a recreation of how the damn things were transported 200-some miles. It's one helluva thing, I tells ya!
4. nitch: The word Americans say when trying to pronounce niche.

California Cops Caught Selling Illegal Guns

Seems that the police in California personally own thousands of "assault weapons", the kind that are off-limits to the civilian population of California, and that many of them have been illegally trafficked. If they lose their jobs with California law enforcement, there's always a place for them in the ATF.

'Gun Libraries'

This is what passes for witty anti-gun opinion these days. LAME!

Though I did like one of the comments:

Great idea! I would love to be able to "rent out" a firearm before I shell out $600-1000 dollars on it

That is a good idea. Thanks Mr. Hoplophobe, for your excellent gun lending library idea.

1.5 Mile Accidental Black Powder Shot

This story has a sad ending, as an innocent 15-year old girl died as a result of this "gun cleaning" accident. But what are the odds of it hitting someone in a rural area, much less a black powder rifle firing a projectile one and a half miles? My ballistic computer tells me that a modern .223 Hornady 75gr bullet fired at a 45 degree angle will fall 6 feet (the height of a person) in 725 yards or 0.42 miles, or in other words it will hit the ground at almost a quarter of the distance as did that black powder ball.

For Old NFO - O Come All Ye Faithful Edition

A couple of days ago Old NFO mentioned he was having a hard time getting into the Christmas Spirit, and so Midwest Chick and now Borepatch are trying to get his jingles janglin'. I see no reason why I shouldn't help a fella out!

So NFO, let me tell you what I remember best about Christmas past. At some point in my father's ministry he turned the Sunday night service into mostly a hymn singing event. It was especially great around Christmas because we would spend nearly the entire service singing Christmas hymns. Don't get me wrong, I like the more pop-based Christmas carols, but the traditional Christmas hymns are what got us reaching down to pull out our best one song after another.

It was like that, only better.

Did I mention this was in south Georgia... in the '80s. There were members of our church who truly believed that rock'n roll was the Devil's music. For a time I was even convinced that "heavy metal" bands resorted to "backmasking" to steal people over. I'm not sure what the younger me would have thought of this if I'd ever been allowed to see it:

OH MY!

For you younger readers who may never have heard of "backmasking", it was when you take a vinyl record... What's that? What's a vinyl record? It's one of those... aw screw it! Let's just do this thing YouTube-style:

Merry Christmas, NFO!

MTV Gets its Civil Rights On

Video over at MSgt B's place.

Peacemaker Class, Murphy's Law & ProudHillbilly, and Gun Nightmares

So I give the basic rifle class at Peacemaker National Training Center a thumbs up. But it was #@#!! cold up there on the mountain. Turns out only two of the 8 of us had been behind a rifle in the last 40 years. One couple brought in a Henry .22mag new right out of the box.

Yes I learned I was doing it wrong. And by it I mean shooting the rifle and possibly my cleaning process. So my technique got squared away. What didn't get squared away was my rifle. When I couldn't get on paper after the first 2 strings some hinky things started happening in that bitter cold, such as weird adjustments to my scope. Anyway, turns out the root cause was that somebody focused the spotting scope on another student's target and didn't let us know. By the time we got that figured out I was freezing and didn't feel like zeroing was worth it.

Coming down off the mountain, Murphy's Law directed me to a place 40 minutes and a West Virginia highway rollercoaster ride away where we ran into ProudHillbilly. I'll let ML tell you the name of it, but it was good. I took one look at the burger ProudHillbilly was eating and said, "Give me one of those." Gonna have to go back there again sometime when I can drink.

And HOLY COW does ML know a lot about guns!

I got back to the beltway in time to put the kids to bed, do some chores, and get some groceries for the week. By 10 I was out, but at 3am I woke up thinking about my rifle. I had a sort of nightmare that it had been zeroed and I had just been a really bad shot. And then that I managed to get some grease in the chamber, and that was causing problems. And the scope would no longer re-zero. And.. and.. and..

In the past I've heard of gunbloggers having dreams and nightmares about guns and I've always giggled to myself about it. "Silly people, letting this crap get to them." After all, there are real problems in life... such as when is my 2 year old gonna start showing the desire for potty training... and then, you know, potty training him.

Attention Attorney General Eric Holder

GO FUCK YOURSELF!

On Hoplophobia

Thinking about my post on Hoplorati, I started to look for information on Hoplophobia. Wikipedia tells us Col. Jeff Cooper (PBUH) invented the term, and then goes on to remind us that it isn't a real psychological disorder. Funny thing is there are plenty of Internet self-help sites that will help a person get treatment for it. [1] [2] [3] I just find that funny.

And then there is the money quote from this site on phobias:

Hoplophobia is the fear of firearms. Hoplophobia is considered to be a specific phobia, which is discussed on the home page. Hoplophobia is also related Ballistophobia (fear of missiles or bullets) and Harpaxophobia (fear of being robbed).

There are people who don't have a fear of being robbed? As in I could put my gat in their grill, demand their bling, and they'd just spout, "Yeah, I'm cool with that. Wanna go pop a 40?"

Add to all that Sigmund Freud's quote, "A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." The only problem is he didn't say that. Turns out Freud was saying that all the antis making penis jokes are idiots, but that's still not gonna stop me from misattributing this quote... because its fun to annoy people with it... doubly fun since it's not true.

Related: Getting Over A Fear of Guns, a really good blog post about a person who goes shooting for the first time and captures are really good picture of a muzzle blast (from a Mini-14).

Hoplic Thought of the Day

When cleaning our guns, Tom Gresham says we aren't suppose to be spraying them down with anything; we are suppose to be wiping them. I say he's never tried to clean the area where my barrel meets the receiver of my Ruger 10/22

Heading to Peacemaker National Training Center Tomorrow

How many of you ever received formal instruction in how to shoot a rifle? I never have. I have taken a couple of pistol classes, but when I bought my first rifle three years ago I never found a class that teaches the basics of shooting a rifle, such breathing, etc..., or sighting in a scope or iron sights. Everything I've figured out has come from 5 minutes of advice from range buddies here and there or the Internet (scary).

So I noticed that Peacemaker National Training Center, the range where Murphy's Law held the West Virginia blogshoot, is offering a Basic Rifle Shooting and Fundamentals Class and grabbed the last spot. This will hopefully help me out.

The class ends at 3pm and the range is open to the public until dark. If anybody's around, I'd be happy to stay and shoot or grab some grub.

blogjam

1. VIDEO: David, member of the Hoplorati, helps us document the world's record attempt for carrying pints of beer.
2. MORE VIDEO: Time lapse video of Russians doing construction: Tunnel Boring Machine. Stadium Big Lift.
3. From Mike W, Delaware legion of the Hoplorati: The 'fake woman doctor who killed man, 22, by injecting his penis with silicone during pumping party'. Link at his blog.
4. Turk, Signal Corps member of the Hoplorati, has Obituaries for Madeleine Pelner Cosman, Edie Stevenson, and a heathen named Hitchens.

Red State Update on Newt

The funniest line is at the end.

My Home Life

The t-shirt says it all!

blogjam

1. VIDEO: A homemade, very small V-12 engine. This guy did a lot of work to make something very cool. Let's be sure to ridicule him for raping mother Gaia.
2. Correlation or Causation?
3. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Don’t Know How to Use Amazon.com.

Japanese WWII Garand Rifle

I have got to get to some USPSA matches!

David, member in good standing of the Old Dominion chapter of the Hoplorati, notes the egalitarian nature of the shooting sports. Local, amateur competitors often compete on the same fields and many times in the same squads as national champions. AND WATCH THE VIDEO! The local IDPA matches I've done weren't like that. I wish they were!

The Elitism of Walmart

A few days ago Eric S. Raymond put up a blogpost titled Why I love Walmart despite never shopping there. The summary: elitist snobs look down on people who shop at Walmart. Which is true.

Elitist snobs aren't the only ones who look down on the people who shop at Walmart; Walmart does too. Wanna know why I don't shop there: they proudly cooperated with MAIG and they viewed guns as being beneath them.

blogjam

1. VIDEO: George Takei brokers peace between Star Wars and Star Trek in hopes everybody will gang up on Twilight. I say we should do what it takes to rid the world of that menace.
2. Are there any countries where rich might actually want to live that have lower tax rates than the U.S.? Does Canada count?
3. Ian Harrison, winner of the first Top Shot, becomes a U.S. Citizen. More like him, please! (tip of the hat to The Miller).

More Ammo Down Range

Most of the parts for the undorking of my Mini-14 are in (even optics). However, I wanted to see if there was a measurable difference between the ATI Strikeforce stock and the Hogue overmold stock. So before the undorking starts, I took the dorked up Mini-14 out for one last spin.

To get a good measurement, I decided to buy some extra .223 ammo from BulkAmmo.com. So I ordered up some plinking-grade American Eagle AR223 and some match-grade Hornady to supplement my cache of Remington UMC and PMC.

And off to the range I went. So here is the test. I used the rifle slot on the benches at Blue Ridge Arsenal to rest the front of the stock (not the barrel) and shot a 25 yard target with iron sights with each brand of ammo, after first warming up the barrel with 3 rounds. I waited about 3 minutes between each grouping to account for barrel heating issues, a supposed problem with Mini-14s. The results:

The middle group is the warm-up, ignore it. Starting from the lower left and working around clock-wise to the lower right is Remington UMC, PMC, Federal's American Eagle, and then Hornady. I expected the Hornady to perform the best, and it did. But the surprize in the group was the American Eagle. I was expecting it to do no better than the other plinking-grade ammo.

So I took out another target to see how well the American Eagle would do.

The first shot group is on the lower left, working around again to the lower right. Ok, so things started getting stupid. By this point I could have been experiencing the Mini-14's famous barrel heat problem. We'll have to see when this project is done. But I ordered an Accu-Strut LT based on this last test. I'll run it through its paces too.

If you are wondering why I'm testing accuracy based on the stock, here's why.

The ATI Strikeforce stock has a scout rail mounted to the heat shield. So that the iron sights can still be usable, the rail has a cut-out down the middle so the front post can be seen through the rear peep sight. That's the theory anyway. Here's a picture of the actual sight picture.

Yes, the front post is visible but the picture is so cramped that focus is difficult. And forget about fast shots. You can't do that with this setup.

With the new stock I'll be reverting back to a Chaote heat shield. There is no iron-sight compromising scout rail on that, and so I will be interested to see if that makes a difference in shooting this gun.

One last thing. I was so impressed with the American Eagle AR223, I went back to BulkAmmo.com to get more only to discover they have 500 rounds on sale right now. If you need some .223, I think that is good deal.

Gunnies and Terminology

There is an effort out there to use the word 'suppressors' instead of 'silencers' in an attempt to fight public ignorance. Some gunnies insist on saying 'silencer' since that is what Maxim used back in the day when he was taking advantage of public ignorance. By that notion, we should be referring to Coca-Cola as either a medicine or a wine, and we should 'silence' our giggling anytime the Ford Mustang II is referred to as a pony car.

Which brings me to the term 'gunnie'. I don't like it. It is too cutsie and way too easy to confuse with the term Gunny, a disservice to the Marines of that rank. I prefer to think of myself as a proud member of the Hoplorati. 'Hoplite' would due too since it actually means "man of arms" or "man with a shield", but I can understand people not wanting to be mistaken as a citizen soldier of an ancient Greek army, which is still  more preferable (and less likely) than being mistaken for a non-commissioned officer in the modern Marine Corps.

hop-lo-ra-ti [ hop-loh-rah-tee ]
plural noun, singular -to [ toh ]

1. persons possessing, or claiming to possess, superior firearms and modern self-defense enlightenment.
2. a name given to different pundits or bloggers because of their claim to superior firearms and modern self-defense enlightenment.

Sellier & Bellot .44 Rem. Magnum 240gr Soft Point

I've been having a lot of fun with my new Ruger Alaskan, so the guys at BulkAmmo.com asked me if I wanted to review any .44 Magnum rounds. They pointed me toward the Sellier & Bellot .44 Rem. Mag. 240gr Soft Point ammo, and I'm glad they did.

Being that the bullets in these cartridges are relatively large jacketed soft point propelled with a stiff powder charge, they will expand in tissue while saving your barrel from lead fouling. This makes them good for hunting and self-defense. There aren't many animals, regardless of their kinematic nature, in North American that won't take notice of such a round.

Well there is a third purpose for this ammo, and that is plinking... if you do that sort of thing with .44 magnum, which is not out of the question given the price from BulkAmmo.com. As it turns out, I did have a box of this stuff buried in one of my ammo boxes, with the price sticker still afixed from wherever I had snapped it up; it read "$41.99" (probably the reason I never shot it). The price at BulkAmmo.com is significantly better!

In fact, unbeknownst to the guys at BulkAmmo.com, I ordered myself another box of it along with some .223. And though it shipped ground, the order landed on my doorstep in 3 days. That's zippy in my book.

Sellier & Bellot (S&B) is one of the oldest ammo companies in the world, founded in Prague by two frenchmen to sell percussion caps to the Austrian Empire. This particular loading comes in a box 50, divided into two trays of 25 rounds. All the rounds were in good shape, and there is nothing to leave one with the impression that these cartridges are nothing other than good ammunition.

So how did it perform? To answer that question I decided to test it on both extremes, out of the 2 1/2 inch barrel of my Ruger Alaskan but also out of the 20 inch barrel of my Henry Big Boy. For both I shot both free standing and supported against the bench.

Here are the results from the short, short barrel of the Ruger Alaskan at both 3 yards (on the left) and 7 yards (on the right), free standing on top with supported beneath.

As you can see, the ammo is plenty accurate... the shooter not so much.

With the Henry, the shots were taken at 25 yards, a distance at which the front sight nearly covers the 7 ring of the targets. Here are the results with free standing on the right and supported on the left.

Again, the results are about the same. The ammo and firearms did their part, the shooter needs to keep his day job.

At 240 grains, there is stout recoil out of the Alaskan's short barrel but at no point did I find myself ready to pack up early. The whole box was used up eagerly. I can't always make that claim, because at the W.Va. blogshoot I had some 275 grain ammo that I got about half way through before I decided to call it quits. So this S&B 240 grain load hits the sweet spot if you ask me.

Another pleasant surprize was the cleanliness of these rounds. When I first got the Alaskan, a friend had some Magtech ammo and we went shooting. We weren't halfway through the box when we noticed our finger tips getting dirty, and opening the revolver we notice the back of the cylinder was black. This S&B ammo is noticeably cleaner.

Yeah, you can't eat off it but that is a lot less filthy than what I was prepared to deal with.

In the Henry lever rifle, there was another difference I noticed. With the aforementioned Magtechs, I had some failure-to-fires; the primers had been struck but did not ignite. This did not happen with the S&B; each round fired faithfully.

So there you have it. The S&B 240gr JSP .44 Rem. Mag. Good stuff at a good price. If you need .44 Remington Magnum, I recommend BulkAmmo.com.

FTC Disclaimer: BulkAmmo.com sent me one box. I liked it so much I bought more with my own cash. Funny thing about all of it though, this is all I have to show for it.

Put These in the 'We are Winning' Column

1) From the Telegraph, a British newspaper: The shootings at Virginia Tech aren't due to a surfeit of guns but an absence of moral law


( Surfeit - Noun: An excessive amount of something )


2) From Bloomberg Businessweek: Buddhist Packing Bond Pistol Shows American Embrace of Guns

Need Some Weekend Gun Blog Reading

I recommend the Gun Blog Blacklist.

Heading to Blue Ridge Arsenal This Morning

If you are so inclined...

Two Observations on Spree Shootings

I thought these observations were interesting:

1) From CTone:

Of all the mass shootings in recent history that I recall, the Fort Hood shooting is the only one I know of where responding officers were there in time to exchange fire with the workplace violence guy crazed muslim extremist, and that attack was ironically in a place full of Soldiers who are trained to go after scumbags with firearms but were unarmed by shitty base policy.

The Ft. Hood killer managed to kill quite a number of soldiers and civilians, all of whom were unarmed, before the police could stop him. And the first police officer to arrive didn't stop him; she engaged him and he wounded and incapacitated her with gun fire. It was the second officer who encountered the shooter outside that managed to stop him.

2) From John Wiley Spiers:

The first such campus shoot-em up occurred at UT Texas [sic, Austin], when an ex-marine began sniping and killing students from a Tower.  People driving cars and gun clubbers returned fire, laying down suppression on the Marine sharpshooter. 

When the first cop arrived at the scene he asked a man with a rifle who were all these people with guns firing back? 

"Texans."  Came the reply.  Eventually a citizen and a officer worked their way up the tower and executed the Marine.  No swat.  No "perimeter."  Just old fashioned "git 'er done..."

In other words, things would have been much worse had the civilians not been armed.

As it is with lawful civilians, guns in the hands of the police don't ensure a stop to a spree shooter. But as it is with the police, guns in the hands of lawful civilians does make a difference.

VA Tech Cop Killer Not a Student, Acted Alone

According to WTOP, the still-unidentified man who shot Office Crouse at Virginia Tech yesterday was not a student, and he acted alone.

At Virginia Tech We Lost a Good Man

By all accounts, we lost a really good guy:

Crouse, 39, of Christiansburg, Va. was shot and killed while performing a routine traffic stop when someone walked up to the officer’s car and shot him. 

Crouse, a father of five, joined the school’s police force in 2007 and was trained as a crisis intervention officer and firearms instructor and was a member of the Virginia Tech Police Emergency Response Team, according to officials.  Crouse was also a U.S. Army veteran and worked at the New River Valley Jail and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, officials said.

My condolences to his family.

UBS Advice on the Collapse of Europe: Invest in Small Calibre Weapons

Yeah... I've been preparing for the collapse of Europe for sometime now. That's what I tell my wife anyway.

From Zerohedge:

And here comes UBS to remind everyone that anything but a "fix" to a system that was broken from the very beginning, would be a catastrophe, captured probably the best in Hatheway's recommendations of assets to be bought as a hedge to a Euro collapse: "I suppose there might be some assets worthy of consideration—precious metals, for example. But other metals would make wise investments, too. Among them tinned goods and small calibre weapons."

Gotta problem with the S&P, use S&B!

a tip of the hat to Instapundit.

Blogjam

1. VIDEO: German automated parking garage. If they have time to build toys like this, I'd say their economy is doing pretty well.
2. 'Mythbusters' cannonball hits Dublin home, minivan.
3. Just a reminder: Lollipops are not defensive weapons. Use against bank robbers is not recommended.
4. Alec Baldwin. Elitist asshole. But you probably already knew that.

Shooting at Virginia Tech Today

Dancing in the blood begins in 3... 2... 1.

Check out this group of F'ing retards "liberals". Not only do they throw all the usual trumped up arguments about denying people their second amendment rights, but the first set of comments are just pure vile. I'll repeat them here because sooner or later an adult is gonna show up.

Sounds like #Occupy mentality to me.

Working and Shooting

Last week, our department held an off-site team-building exercise which consisted of going out to my boss's farm, shooting guns and drinking beer (in that order). [ Is this the point where the rest of you desk jockeys wish you worked with us? ]

Our resident Afghan vet didn't think the .22s would be any fun
until he tried it.

Since I have the steel targets and the most guns and firearms experience (frightening thought right there), I was in charge of the shooting portion of the days events. We mostly shot Ruger 10/22s at some close-in steel targets and shooting clays and various items sitting on some shot-up saw horses.

However, part of the plan was that I would swing by Clarke's Brothers and get some ammo for my M1 Garand. That didn't work out, and as a backup I brought out my dorked-up Mini-14 -- it has a Garand style action afterall. With the exception of our resident Afghan vet, most people were avoiding the bigger booming rifle until I demonstrated how to put 15 rounds into the dirt 30 yards away in 3 seconds. Suddenly everybody wanted a go and we were out of .223 within 10 minutes.

We were out there 4 hours, and during that time I noticed that somebody decided to modify my scope position on my 10/22.

I don't know who did this or why. Still zeroed though.

Funny thing is that it was still zeroed. With a little Kentucky windage we were able to hit the 8" plate I set out at 130 yards.

I would have thought .223 would do much less damage.

When I got home I did notice a little damage to the stand on my 8" Action Target. I'm guessing this happened because the shooting with the Mini-14 ended up being more from the side than head on since we moved it all the way to the end of the shooting line due to the fact that Mini-14's through brass about 30 feet.

Words Fail Me

Go over and read this post by Old NFO. Then get a good, stiff drink... you'll need it.

Blogjam

1. About Virginia's 11 death-row inmates. There's a long line to pull the switch for #5.
2. VIDEO: Stayin' Alive In The Wall (Pink Floyd vs Bee Gees Mashup) by Wax Audio. Reminds me that I'm still burned out on Pink Floyd.
3. George Allen and Tim Kaine square off in their first debate on Wednesday. Go George!

U.S. Senator Gillibrand (D-ipshit, NY)

CTone points out that Christie Christian Christin Kristin Kirstin Gillibrand, anti-gun United States Senator from New York, is being more "anti-gunner" by backing a STATE law on gun trafficking. And he has fun with their layers and layers of spell check.

Occupy RKBA: the West Virginia / DC Area Blogshoot

There's a suspicious guy in the back.

This is gonna sound weird, but even though I went to the blogshoot I got separated from the pack. I was one of the first to park up at Peacemaker's Independence range, and decided I would start my day with some pistol work. So I got my stuff and headed into the pistol pit. Well, the RSO and I got to talking about a whole bunch of stuff... guns and holsters and the usual, but we also talked about refrigeration and HV/AC and traded war stories about high voltage electricity. Before I knew it three hours had passed, and as most everyone else started filtering down from the rifle range I realized I needed to get a move on if I wanted to get all my shooting done.

And that should tell you something about the RSOs at Peacemaker. They control the range and do keep an eye out, but they aren't stuck up jerks like you find at other ranges. One of the RSOs up on the rifle side quite happily got on the spotting scope and started calling my shots. They are a very nice set of folks. If you combine that with the quality of the range, I will definitely be going back. For you long distance shooters, they have an electronic 1000 yard range. But to use it you have to qualify, which is being able to demonstrate you can put 3 rounds in a 5 inch circle at 100 yards three separate times (and the $400 annual range fee).

By the time I got up to the rifle side, I had missed all the excitement. But Stretch let me have a go on his 1917 bolt gun (nice, I want one). He also gave me the history behind it, which was neat. Old working guns are just cool. And I got to play with JB Miller's now infamous CX-4. After playing with my AR-15 on paper at 100 yards, I moved over to the 250 yard steel. I think it took my 5 rounds to get it truly dialed in, but after that I kept hitting. That was a great feeling.

All in all it was great day. I got to meet up with Andrew (the other Andy, apparently), Old NFO, The Miller, and New Jovian Thunderbolt (who can never remember my name) again. Plus I met Stretch, Bubblehead Les, Proud Hillbilly, Keads and Murphy's Law for the first time.

Other after action reports here: Old NFO, The Miller, New Jovian Thunderbolt, Murphy's Law, Proud Hillbilly, and Keads.

Thanks again to Murphy's Law for organizing it and Peacemaker National Training Center for the use of the range.

New Jersey's Top Cops Speak Candidly About Guns

These guys kill me:

Bridgeton Police Chief Mark Ott is of the opinion that no matter what is done to stop them, criminals will always be able to gain possession of a gun if they really want it. 

“Here’s one way to look at it. If criminals can import tons of illegal narcotics into the country they can import tons of foreign firearms,” he said.  

“People get what they want if they’re determined to get it. Kind of like the old phrase ‘Locks are for honest criminals.’”

You don't say!

Gun Rights enter the Republican Debate

First, Mitt Romney has now called for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder, taking a page from Newt Gingrich's play book on attacking Obama.  This is good because now the issue will gain a lot of attention. It's about damn time the GOP candidates brought this up, and its a darn shame that it had to Romney first.

Second, Ron Paul is accusing Newt Gingrich of being anti-gun in Iowa robo-calls. Maybe this will force Newt to address is past support of the Assault Weapons Ban and the Brady's national gun registry.

The San Francisco Chronicle on the Freedom Group

Mystery company buying up U.S. gun manufacturers

Amazing that they get things right when they want to:

Unlike military counterparts like automatic M-16s, rifles like those from Bushmaster don't spray bullets with one trigger pull. But, with gas-powered mechanisms, semiautomatics can fire rapid follow-up shots as fast as the trigger can be squeezed. They are often called "black guns" because of their color.

Say what! The civilian "assault weapons" don't "spray bullets"? Does Sarah Brady know you guys wrote this?

I think this was a really stupid idea for Cerberus. Remington is the big name they have, but its not like there aren't other ammo and shotgun manufacturers. I don't understand buying DPMS after buying Bushmaster, or buying Bushmaster at all. There are tons of small outfits doing AR15 pattern rifles. The real shame in all this is Marlin. Their product quality has suffered tremendously. But that just means the foreign manufacturers of lever action rifles will do better.

Blogjam

1. VIDEO: From the BBC, the Brinicle.
2. Speaking of Britain that was formerly Great, thought crimes are on the books as apparently they have the criminal offense of racism.
3. Saint Barbara, the patron saint of artillerymen, armorers, gunsmiths, miners, and anyone who works with cannons and explosives.

Alex, I'll take "What's so Great about Britain" for $200

In Britain that was formerly Great, this fruit is considered a weapon.

Alex, What is a Lime?

(This isn't a joke. It is seriously the sad condition of Britain that was formerly Great. They consider us backwards and barbaric, something the Romans once considered them, but look at what their civility has done to them; so civilized are they that they shriek at the sight of two limes.)

Back From WVa

More later, but the blog shoot was great.

Things In the Shape of a Gun are a Federal Offense

Or so says the TSA: Teen stopped by TSA for gun-themed purse

Every day we get closer to Mike Judge's vision of the future.