Wednesday - November 26, 2008
Knock me over with a feather
an actual professional journalist (well, Ok, the outdoors columnist at an upstate NY newspaper) writes about assault rifles. Ahem, writes the TRUTH about assault rifles. Catch me, I’m gonna faint.
A true assault rifle — the M-16 and AK-47 are examples — is a fully automatic military weapon capable of continuous firing as long as the trigger is depressed, like a machine gun.
Automatic firearms were restricted from civilian ownership by the 1934 National Firearms Act. By comparison, the politically labeled so-called “assault rifle” — the AR-15 is an example — looks like its military counterpart, but functions only as a semi- automatic. It fires just one round with each pull of the trigger, similar to many deer rifles and shotguns used to break clay targets.
These semi-automatic rifles can be purchased and owned by civilians who pass the standard FBI background check. Although it has a modern military look, the semi-automatic rifle’s operation is very different from a military machine gun and, in fact, is based on 100-year-old technology. It is not a “machine gun.”
Wow. Do you think he’ll go after the “high powered rifle” lie next?
Posted by Drew458
on 11/26/2008 at 10:22 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (5)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Look over here, don’t move, smile and don’t blink.
I had serious insomnia and so booted and thought ... maybe you folks might really dig this.
It does have it’s appeal.
Posted by peiper
on 11/26/2008 at 07:18 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (6)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Gun disguised as a mobile phone is seized by police .
I think we’ve seen this or something very close not too long ago. Or does memory fail me?
Anyway, I think this is really neat. Look, if bad guys can get their hands on this sort of thing, seems to me the rest of us might wanna consider one too.
Street punk wants your cell phone and you say sure. Here. BANG!
A gun disguised as a mobile phone has been seized by police.
By Graham Tibbetts
Last Updated: 2:32PM GMT 26 Nov 2008
The weapon, which is black with a dummy screen, was discovered by Italian police during a raid on a mafia gang.
It can hold four .22 calibre rounds, contained beneath the display.
The phone is transformed into a gun by sliding the keypad section.
It is fired by pressing one of the keys, with the antenna acting as the gun barrel.
A police spokesman said: “This is the first time such a weapon has been seized and shows the sophistication that the crime syndicates are turning to.
“Tests are being carried out to see if it has been used recently or has been involved in any shooting attacks.”
The raid in a suburb of Naples, southern Italy, was part of an operation against the Gionta crime family of the Camorra, the port city’s version of the Mafia.
Officers from the paramilitary Carabinieri police also seized two ordinary handguns, ammunition, bullet-proof vests, drugs and cash.
A 28-year-old man was arrested during the raid in the Torre Annunziata area but several other suspected gang members escaped.
The Camorra was infiltrated by Roberto Saviano, an author whose book, Gomorrah, was turned into a critically acclaimed film.
Posted by peiper
on 11/26/2008 at 11:05 AM
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (12)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - November 14, 2008
No Way. Really?
Gosh, I never thought it would be like this! [/snark]
President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is showing its hostility toward lawful firearm owners by “weeding out” job applicants who own firearms themselves, a Second Amendment group says.
The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) notes that question 59 – part of a 63-item questionnaire given to Obama administration job applicants – asks for information about firearms owned by the applicant and his or her family.
Found in the questionnaire’s “Miscellaneous” section, question 59 reads, “Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.”
Although it’s not clear that gun ownership would disqualify a job applicant, ISRA says question 59 shows the Obama team’s “distaste” for firearm owners.
“Question 59 provides clear insight into how Obama and his people perceive firearm owners,” said ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. “The questionnaire poses a number of questions asking the applicant to reveal any unethical activities, or embarrassing Internet chats, then wraps up by asking if anyone in the applicant’s family owns a firearm. Obviously, Obama feels that owning a firearm is akin to talking dirty in Internet chat rooms.”
Pearson says the attitude is not surprising, given that Obama – as an Illinois State senator—voted for SB1195, which included a provision calling for gun owners to be registered in the same manner as sex offenders.
“Once again, we have to ask ourselves just what candidate Obama was talking about when he said he has ‘respect’ for the 2nd Amendment,” said Pearson.
ISRA, which describes itself as an advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership, has posted a copy of the questionnaire on its Web site.The National Rifle Association also noted the anti-Second Amendment implications of the Obama’s team’s employment questionnaire:
“[A]s this litmus test shows, they have every intention of putting together an administration that is hostile to firearms ownership and to Second Amendment rights,” said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.
“One of their first official acts is to make a list of gun owners among their own employees. It proves where their hearts are. It shows what their philosophy is. This is more proof that this administration is coming after our freedom and NRA stands ready.”
As you’ve probably already seen on news pages and other blogs, or even seen on the TV news, guns are flying off the shelves at every gun store in America. And not just Evil Black Rifles and easily concealable little pistols. Anything that goes bang. Anything. NICS instant background checks are up almost 50%. In many places reloading supplies are also in short supply, and the warehouses that were full of ammunition a couple months ago are mostly empty. And all of this is before National Ammo Day, which of course is next week.
yes, I know some kinds of ammo have been in short supply for a couple of years now, because of the war effort. But if your local WalMart still has .22LR in stock, you might want to think about picking some up.
Posted by Drew458
on 11/14/2008 at 03:17 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (9)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - November 13, 2008
SCOTUS to hear another gun issue
Thank God, the Supremes are finally going to maybe make a decision on the Lautenberg Amendment. It only took 12 years for this most blatantly unconstitutional proviso to get to the top bench. If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, here it is:
People who are convicted of major felonies like kidnapping, murder, and armed robbery, are usually no longer allowed to own guns. People who get in fights or who smack others around in public get charged with Assault. Or Battery. If convicted, they pay a small fine and perhaps serve a weekend or two in the county lock up, because assault is a misdemeanor offense. Petty crime. But if you get convicted of beating up your domestic partner, a crime called Domestic Assault (or Domestic Battery) that is also a misdemeanor, you lose your rights to own a gun. Forever. That’s the little amendment Frank Lautenberg (Dipshit - NJ) put into the Gun Control Act of 1996, which was an extension of GCA 1968. . Only the way old Frankie worded it, it applies to any DA conviction ever. Even ones that happened before this law was passed. That means Lautenberg’s bit is a “retroactive law”. Or, as lawyers would put it, “ex post facto”.
Look up ex post facto in the Constitution. It’s right there under the heading that says NO EFFING WAY BRO.
The other problem is that, at least as of 1996, only 17 states had a crime on their books specifically dealing with domestic violence. All the other states lumped domestic violence under the plain old violence category. Thus, this illegal federal law doesn’t actually apply in most of the country. Which is another one of those irritating bits that the Constitution says is a bad thing; all the federal laws apply to all the states and all the people.
So a test case has bubbled up through the system, and now the 9 Robes of Reason will have to decide, again, whether a part of the Constitution that couldn’t be clearer is actually clear enough.
A Marion County, West Virginia man named Randy Hayes was, to his stunned amazement, charged with felony gun possession in early 2005. To tell the full story we must go back to 1994 and an unfortunate incident in which he pled guilty to misdemeanor battery charge stemming from an argument with his wife. The marriage failed and ended in divorce shortly thereafter. (Drew: Hayes was given 1 year’s probation)
Leap forward a decade and our story resumes with Mr. Hayes and his ex-wife angry with him over a disagreement about their son. In her anger, she called the police informing them he had a firearm. The police arrived and found a family heirloom Winchester rifle under Mr. Hayes bed. Hayes was arrested on the spot and was stunned as they cuffed him. Hayes was completely unaware that he was under any legal disability to own firearms. You see, when he pled guilty in 1994 , there was no Lautenberg Amendment, and what he pled to was a misdemeanor. However, Lautenberg is a retroactive law.
Troy Giatras was retained as legal counsel to Mr. Hayes. Giatras commented, “Because he only pleaded guilty in 1994 to battery, not domestic battery. But the federal court interpreted it as domestic battery because it was against a family member.” He continued, “In 1994 and in 1995, he was legally able to have a gun, the 1996 law was applied to him retroactively, but he didn’t even know it.”
The case went before the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia in October of 2006. The court over turned the original decision convicting Hayes, but the U.S. Justice Department decided to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court agreed in April to hear the case later this year.
Giatras made the point that this case will be very important as it will help settle the constitutionality concerning laws which retroactively affect the American people and, of course, infringements on our Second Amendment rights.
I’m not holding my breath. I fully expect the Robes to play Solomon and try and slice the baby neatly when they have no need to do so. They’ll toss out Haye’s disarming, because he wasn’t convicted of Domestic Battery specifically, just regular Battery. Then they’ll toss out the ex post facto proviso on Lautenberg. They won’t approach the permanent loss of rights over a misdemeanor conviction at all, even though that’s the core issue here. And that’s the pussy kind of justice we’ll have to deal with. Hell, in 3 years we’ll be blessing them for what will be seen by then as a radical, anti-government decision.
A little bit more on this case here, and here, and you can always search up more.
From what I understand, another aspect of this Lautenberg Amendment thing is that you lose your guns if a family member gets a restraining order placed on you. No trial, no actual criminal charges, no chance for you to speak up in court; restraining orders are issued without your need to be there. And your guns get taken away. Welcome to America, land of Due Process and No Excessive Punishment.
This is the 4th challenge for the Lautenberg Amendment. The first case, US v. Emerson, addressed only the restraining order aspect. Emerson overturned Lautenberg in 1999, but that was reversed in 2001. 3 other cases challenged it’s ex post facto nature, but they were rejected by the court.
The full text of Lautenberg can be read here. It is short, but has so damn much legalese and subparagraphing that it’s very hard to read.
( In case you can’t tell, I’m against this law 100%. I’m also against Lautenberg, 200%. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve voted against him, but he keeps coming back like a herpes sore. )
Posted by Drew458
on 11/13/2008 at 02:56 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - October 30, 2008
But, this is Joe Biden’s State!
Cops: She’s too old. And female.
(via Kim’s)
Gun purchase glitch raises question Delaware State Police stopped Alvina Vansickle from purchasing a .22-caliber pistol for self-defense because she was too old and a woman, said Superintendent Col. Thomas MacLeish.
The outrage that followed led to the revelation that Delaware State Police had been keeping lists of gun buyers for years; state law requires them to destroy these records after 60 days.
Without so much as a traffic ticket, the 81-year-old Lewes resident should have sailed through the mandatory state police background check when she tried to buy a Taurus revolver from Charlie Steele’s Lewes gun shop last August. Problems started after Steele made the required phone call to state police for approval of the firearms transaction. An employee in the state police Firearms Transaction Approval Program noticed Vansickle’s age and gender, and brought the sale to an immediate halt.
Vansickle’s application was then routed to Sgt. Benjamin Nefosky, who heads the firearms approval unit. According to MacLeish, the transaction was halted over concerns “based upon age and gender.”
MacLeish said the initial call taker “was concerned this individual never purchased a weapon before. Age and gender caused her to take caution.”
As to whether age and gender are included in the state statute as legitimate reasons to reject a firearms purchase, MacLeish stated, “No, they are not.”
Lawson said Nefosky told him he searched seven years of firearms transaction records to see if Vansickle had ever bought a gun before.
In an interview with The News Journal, MacLeish claimed all paper firearms records are destroyed every 60 days. The electronic records, however, are another story.
“Our review of our electronic records indicated we had a glitch in the system, back to August 2005,” he said. “They have since been purged.”
Oh, it’s just a computer glitch. Oh, bullshit. As someone who used to write computer code for a living, let me tell you that nothing that ever happens in a computer program is an accident. Computers do exactly what you tell them to do, nothing less and nothing more. Somebody wrote some code that kept a list of gun purchasers, and they did it deliberately. This was an attempt by the police to play sneaky games with the law.
“Oh, we got rid of the paper copy!” But kept a digital one, that could be accessed about 10 million times faster.
“Oh, don’t worry, that file has been purged!” Yeah, but what about the hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and annual full and incremental backups that have been going on since August 2005? That record still exists; my bet is that there are at least (does fast math in head) One Thousand Three Hundred full or partial digital copies of it. And you’d better call Iron Mountain because most of those won’t even be on site.
This is a lie. The Delaware cops kept this information on purpose, regardless of the law. And they have people working for them that use their “feelings” to deny you your rights. And that’s Ok with the cops: it’s just “taking caution”. But remember, now that SCOTUS has decided Heller, that Obama supports your right to own a gun. Even though he felt DC’s gun laws were constitutional before Heller was decided. And his running mate, Joe Biden from Delaware, feels the same way.
Fire the whole damn bunch of them, and then start slapping down lawsuits, from the “cautious” buttinsky woman at FTAP right on up to the Superintendent of the Delaware State Stasi Police. And the code should be gone over, every single line. Twice.
Posted by Drew458
on 10/30/2008 at 12:54 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Monday - October 27, 2008
Par for the Course
Typical college students ... ripping people off.
The Young Conservatives of Texas branch at the Houston-area Lone Star College-Tomball has been censored and threatened with campus-wide de-recognition for passing out a humorous pamphlet with gun jokes at a campus fair.
The dispute is being addressed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, which has written college officials reminding them of the college’s constitutional obligation to respect the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and to acknowledge the flyer’s contents are protected speech.
“Distributing a joke-filled top-ten list at a student activities fair is a creative way for a student group to educate its peers about itself,” said Greg Lukianoff, the president of FIRE.
College threatens students for even discussing guns
The Young Conservatives of Texas branch at the Houston-area Lone Star College-Tomball has been censored and threatened with campus-wide de-recognition for passing out a humorous pamphlet with gun jokes at a campus fair.
The dispute is being addressed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, which has written college officials reminding them of the college’s constitutional obligation to respect the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and to acknowledge the flyer’s contents are protected speech.
“Distributing a joke-filled top-ten list at a student activities fair is a creative way for a student group to educate its peers about itself,” said Greg Lukianoff, the president of FIRE.
The case developed at the school’s recent “club rush” when the Young Conservatives started handing out their list of “Top Ten Gun Safety Tips.”
The tongue-in-cheek recommendations included:
* Always keep your gun pointed in a safe direction, such as at a hippy or a communist.
* No matter how responsible he seems, never give your gun to a monkey.
* Don’t load your gun unless you are ready to shoot something or are just feeling generally angry.
* If your gun misfires, never look down the barrel to inspect it.
* Never us[e] your gun to pistol whip someone. That could mar the finish.
* No matter how excited you are about buying your first gun, do not run around yelling “I have a gun! I have a gun!”
The flyer then invited students to an informational meeting the following week.
Robert Comer, the chairman for the student group, said Shannon Marino, the school’s program manager for student activities, told him the flyer was inappropriate and confiscated his copies. When Comer appealed to E. Edward Albracht, the dean of student development, he ruled the flyer was inappropriate and cited the shootings at Virginia Tech.
Then, a few days later, Marino warned Comer the school’s legal department would review the flyers and the school might order the campus YCT branch disbanded or placed on probation.
“Lone Star should be ashamed of invoking the tragedy of Virginia Tech in an attempt to justify the censorship of any mention of firearms at Lone Star. Doing so is not only an affront to constitutional rights – it trivializes the experiences of the true victims of gun violence,” Lukianoff said.
Yeah yeah yeah, “invoking the tragedy of Virginia Tech”. What bullshit. I’m 99.78% positive that I’ve had my IMAO.us Top Ten Gun Safety Tips T-shirt since before the Virginia Tech shootings. Nor were gun jokes invented only after that event! And however well intentioned, those Lone Star college Conservatives STOLE THE WHOLE THING WORD FOR WORD from Frank J. and didn’t give him any credit:
Oh. Wait a second. Um, yeah, it’s ALSO an outrage that the college is having a hissy fit because somebody actually mentioned guns. That’s nuts. But I think those Lone Star folks owe Frank J. about $1 per leaflet.
Via Vilmar, but I cottoned onto the plagiarism thingy.
Wow. I am soooooo jealous. I’ve never been confiscated anywhere. Heck, this blog isn’t even banned in China. And I have no fatwas against me at all. I’ve got to try harder!!!
Posted by Drew458
on 10/27/2008 at 11:38 AM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Friday - October 24, 2008
Obama and the 2nd Amendment
I’m not going to go into detail about the anti-2nd Amendment votes and policies of B. Hussein Obama. You can read about them at GunBaNObama.com
I’m on the mailing list for the U.S. Concealed Carry Association. I wanted to get their Armed American Report that is emailed every Friday. The problem is the daily spam urging me to join the USCCA. I can’t class it as ‘junk’ for my spam filter as it is from the same sender as what I want. (sigh.)
It’s likely that I will ultimately join the USCCA, but not until after at least getting some training with my new toys. (training was supposed to start this weekend, but I’ve been ORDERED to work tomorrow. . . heavy sigh! They tried to order me in today, but I had an appointment with the local county government to challenge my new property valuation. They couldn’t order me to cancel an appointment with a government agency.)
In this week’s edition of the Armed American Report was the following:
I’m sure you’ve heard of the organization called “Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership”
Err, actually, no I’ve not heard of it.
more commonly known simply as the JPFO. If you know anything about these guys, you’ll know that they pull absolutely ZERO punches with the way they operate, and they take our God-Given right to self defense, and the Second Amendment VERY, VERY seriously- and I have a LOT of respect for what they do.
Well, if I merely respected the JPFO before, I admire and honor them now. Just wait until you see the absolutely beautiful FREE video they have made about the Second Amendment.
It’s called “2A Today for the USA”, and that’s exactly the message that it conveys. It’s only about 20 minutes long, and it’s an absolute MUST watch.
Having now watched it I agree. It is a MUST. Well, they are a must, it’s divided into three segments, which I will include below the fold so as not to slow the page too much . . .
Posted by Christopher
on 10/24/2008 at 11:50 AM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (8)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Tuesday - October 21, 2008
I get email
This email is from Mike Bellm, a niche gunsmith. Mr. Bellm does custom chambering and accurizing work for TC Contender and Encore firearms. That’s a brand of single shot pistols and rifles. Usually his emails are about what barrels and stocks are available right now, or how far his work is backed up. But sometimes he too gets up on the old soapbox.
--- On Tue, 10/21/08, Bellm TCs
From: Bellm TCs
Subject: Newsletter: Off topic with a political bent.
Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 1:24 PM
This Newsletter is admittedly just largely random rambling largely of a political nature. Thought I’d forewarn you in case you have far better things to do at the moment.
In the early ‘90’s election cycles, I was belly deep in politics as an NRA Elections Coordinator, 3rd Congressional District, Utah and as a state convention delegate.
That stint taught me how consuming political issues such as 2nd Amendment rights can be, and I backed out of all political activity entirely, preferring to give total service to my fellow shooters directly.
Nonetheless, at the risk of preaching to the choir, I have to at least say something as the election gets closer.
I cannot watch the current political, world, and financial picture without stepping up to say at least a little about putting 2nd Amendment principles ahead of other issues and the real risks associated with all the “change” Obama promises.
Obama’s views, quite frankly, don’t scare me half as much as a society who embraces what he espouses, including getting guns out of your hands and mine. He is only one person and cannot do much without the support of your neighbors and mine!
Obama’s acceptance by such a large portion of society is quite plainly, to me at least, another indication our hunting and shooting heritage is becoming more and more on the “outer fringe.” Your hunting and shooting values and mine are fading away as our population grows and evolves.
I could harp on “get out the vote” and talk to your friends and neighbors, etc., and you certainly should, but it will not turn the tide of general public sentiment toward the shooting sports. It can make the pivotal difference in this election, but it sure looks to me like the odds are stacked against us this time. It is time to tighten our belts, take a deep breath, and get ready for the next 4 year ride in the new America, the “Obamanation.”
Could the Bible translators have had a spelling problem? Being facetious of course, but this could very well turn out to be “the obamanation of desolation” spoken of in the Book of Daniel in the Bible and referred to again in Matthew. I’m not a doomsdayist, but sure does not look good to me.
I apologize to those who for whatever reason feel compelled to let the 2nd Amendment take back seat to other issues and vote for Obama, but I am quite skeptical of our future under his presidency.
In post-election America, as we know, “black guns,” handguns, and “automatics” will most likely be targeted first with more restrictive legislation. I’m preaching to the choir again, I know.
Fear of loss of guns tends to drive the gun business, and I would not be surprised if there is another feeding frenzy buying up guns that will potentially become harder and harder to get. Such conditions are often a time of prosperity for the gun trade, but at what expense to shooters as a whole?
I’ll close with a recent German commentary on our current political situation:
“Only the dumbest sheep elect their butchers,” as Germans should know very well.
Cheers,
Mike Bellm
**************************************************************************************************
Mike
Preaching to the choir is right. I was at a really large gun show in Allentown PA this weekend. I saw McCain/Palin signs, shirts, buttons, and banners everywhere. The only Obama stuff I saw were little cards next to the AR15s for sale that said “buy it now before Obama makes it illegal”.
Safe and happy, for the moment, within our own little world, we the shooters don’t notice that at least half the country thinks we’re loonies. Sometimes far more than half. Which is odd, since I’ve heard that more than half the citizens in the USA own firearms. I guess we just don’t speak up, due to the same kind of fear that keeps some people from having a negative opinion about Obama. Do that, and you’re a racist. Say something positive about guns, and you’re a nutjob. And that’s the way it is everywhere, with the possible exception of the true rural areas. Every city, every suburban area, even most inner parts of outer-suburbia. If you can’t see cows or corn from your window, then your neighbors won’t speak well of guns or hunting in public.
The PC zombies are out there, and they have a new master giving them marching orders. Oh Bah Ma! Oh Bah Ma! Oh Bah Ma!
Drew
Posted by Drew458
on 10/21/2008 at 04:32 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (0)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - September 25, 2008
.45-60 Blogging
I finally broke down and found somebody to make me the cases the right way. On a precision lathe. Do it the right way, it’s worth it.
First he made me a set of gauges by thinning a case rim by 0.001”. Then thinning another case rim by 0.002”. Et cetera. It turned out that the Uberti rifle was built exactly to spec, so we’re going to use a case rim thickness that allows only 5 ten thousandths of an inch ( 0.0005” ) headspace. Which is about as good as it will ever get. Once I got the gauges and found the best fit, he had the cases cut in a couple days. It only took him about an hour and a half, so it was a fun little project for him.
Cost was right too. Only cost me 50¢ per case overall including shipping since I provided the cases and will length trim them myself, and I’m returning the favor by running some posts at various gun forums and cowboy action forums giving out his email. Why not drum up some business for the guy now that he’s got the set up done? You’ve got to be a real gun nut, or a hardcore Cowboy Action shooter to buy one of those reproduction 1876 Winchesters in the first place, and brass is awfully expensive. And gun nuts and Cowboy Action shooters go to these forums all the time. This guy will make them for you from new brass cases at about $1.25 each. And that’s custom fit to your particular rifle, trimmed to length too. I think it’s a good deal.
Now to see if the gunpowder came in this week.
Precision power tools are just so freakin cool !!
Posted by Drew458
on 09/25/2008 at 06:26 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (3)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Saturday - September 13, 2008
New toys!
My weekend off coincided with a local gun show. I have . . . had . . . a few hundred dollars on hand. I was also rudely awakened about 2:00 this morning by several shots being fired somewhere nearby. Near enough that I awoke from a dream thinking someone was pounding on my front door. Worried? Hell yeah!
Plus I’m registered for a concealed-carry course next month and have absolutely nothing to wear . . . er . . . conceal.
What did I get?
Anyone have any thoughts on that?
Posted by Christopher
on 09/13/2008 at 10:11 PM
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • Guns and Gun Control • Self-Defense •
• Comments (4)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Thursday - August 21, 2008
.45-60 Range Report
Hey, we’re still alive!
Not that there was much real worry about that, but there is always that tiny little concern in the back of your mind the very first time you shoot a new rifle. Especially one built on an antique action not known for it’s excessive strength, and using hand loaded ammunition that came from a computer program that only roughly approximates reality. But we did everything very cautiously, and the program actually did a very nice job of calculating things. Four different loads at four different pressure levels, and all of the predicted results were within 50 feet per second of what the chronograph reported. That’s not bad at all. And we didn’t blow anything up, which is a definite plus. And the gun didn’t mysteriously start shooting up any schools or crowded malls, so I think the media might have been misleading us. Just a little. But we’ll beat that dead horse some other day. Let’s go off into the woods and play with guns, woo hoo!!
It was a fun time. Doc F. had not loaded any ammunition in a long long time, so I had to show him the ropes all over again. And with the both of us working at just one reloading press, we might have made some minor errors. But I don’t think we did, and all the ammo we built fired off just fine. We didn’t get any spectacular groups on the targets, but today was more of a “let’s see if we can do this and not blow the damn thing up” kind of field trip. We’ll work on building accurate powerful loads later.
The very lightest load was one known to be safe in both the original 130 year old rifles and any of the new reproductions. Back in 1876 this rifle fired black powder cartridges, but this was a load using smokeless powder. A mere 25 grains of IMR 4198 pushed a cast lead 300 grain bullet to 1250 feet per second, just a little slower than what the original guns could manage. This is a wiener load; popgun stuff. But that’s where you start out, with the lightweight no-risk stuff. Still, this is about equal to what a modern .44 magnum can do. Even this load is more than enough to kill medium deer out to about 150 yards. If you can hit them that is; the bullet is moving so slow that it’s trajectory is better measured in feet rather than inches. It’s a big lead rock and it drops like one too.
The next batch of ammo used 43 grains of IMR 3031. 3031 is a slower burning gun powder than 4198, and in this cartridge that means you can use more powder and get more velocity, but at only slightly higher pressures. This is not true for any cartridge! Every one is different, and there are no “general rules”. Follow what the load manuals say, and do everything with lots of caution. Ok, given that caveat, I’ll mention that this load pushed the same 300gr bullet more than 300fps faster, to around 1575 feet per second. But recoil was still really really mild, since the rifle weighs nearly 11 pounds. So we bettered original performance easily, and we’ve just begun. This is still a very low pressure loading, and ought to be safe in original rifles in good condition.
The third load used 35 grains of IMR 4198 and got us into the low 1700s for velocity. But there was quite a lot of variation between shots, what reloading folks call “extreme spread”. While a mere 5 rounds isn’t enough to make a perfect judgment, I’d say IMR 4198 is not the right powder to use for this cartridge in this rifle with this bullet. Pressures for this round were still fairly low, about what would be maximum for an original Colt SAA .45 “peacemaker” pistol. Not that any pistol was ever chambered for the .45-60; I’m just mentioning an equivalent known pressure level for another old black powder using gun. This is probably about as hot as you’d want to go in any original .45-60 rifle, and that’s Ok. An extra 400 feet per second worth of velocity is a significant amount. This load is enough for close range shots at elk, large bears, or even buffalo. And it’s more than ample for any deer that ever was. In the big 1876 rifle the recoil here is still mild, but creeping into the “you know when it goes off” realm.
The fourth and final load used 43 grains of XMR 2015. Calculated pressures were about the same as the third load, though velocities were a bit higher at 1750fps. But the extreme spread was quite low, only 25fps. Recoil is about the same as the third load. This one is worth looking into. With a bit of tuning we should be able to make it quite accurate, and possibly get another 100fps with another few grains of powder. We were very happy with this one. Now I just have to run over to Pennsylvania and get another jug of this gun powder. I used up my last dregs of it making these rounds. Cool, not only do I develop a good load right off the bat, I have another excuse to go to the gunpowder store!
After that we were out of .45-60 ammunition, so I got out the .356. Remember that free ammo I got the other week? This is what happens about a millisecond afer you pull the trigger:
Hey, since he gave me the ammo, I figured it was only fair if he got to shoot some of it off and share the “adventure”. The recoil pad I put on makes a helluva difference, but after 5 or 6 shots he’d had enough. Me too. We went through a box and a half of those bullets, then put the gun away. It’s fun, it’s really accurate, but the thing still has a pretty ferocious bite.
And that was it for the day. Now I’ve got to go out to the garage and clean guns and have lunch. But not at the same time. 
Posted by Drew458
on 08/21/2008 at 03:29 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (1)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Wednesday - August 20, 2008
XXX Gun Pron
Outstanding little video of the latest helicopter mounted Gatling gun. What makes it extra special for me is that this thing is built by Dillon Aero, the same company that makes my Dillon reloading press. High quality stuff.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/20/2008 at 12:07 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Tuesday - August 19, 2008
More .45-60 Blogging
Click each picture in this post to open up a much bigger version in a new window.
Part 1:A Fun Little Gun Project.
Part 2:The Two Cent Machine Shop.
Well the “2¢ Machine Shop” didn’t quite work out. I set everything up on the drill press, put in a case and started filing away at it. Just about no brass was trimmed off. I only had to take 4 or 5 thousandths of an inch. You would think you could do that with ease. I used a medium rough mill file. I used a fine triangular file. I even tried using a sharp cold chisel. Result? Almost nothing. Well, why not? Um, maybe because the pennies and the epoxy underneath them are too thick? Hmm, possible; let’s try it again with some dimes. I know that dimes are a bit too thin, so maybe with a layer of glue they’ll come out right. So I tried that one. That didn’t work either. Ok, I got some brass to come off, but it didn’t seem to be enough. No matter how hard I pushed down, or how much I kept the files moving so they wouldn’t clog up, I still wound up with rims over 0.062” thick. And I wanted 0.057”, or at least under 0.060”. So this “male” solution wasn’t doing it. Let’s try a “female” solution: instead of some spacers protruding up, lets cut a channel down. And so I did. And at first it seemed to work. But then it didn’t. The pine wood was getting a cartridge case head sized dent spun into it. So let’s try a harder wood ... here’s a nice piece of red oak. And let’s cut a precision edge this time, using a router table adjustable down to under 0.001”. Cool! Massive power tools are so much fun to play with!
But that didn’t work either. AGGRAVATION!!!! The spinning cases, which were really only just contacting the wood jigs, kept spinning a dent down into the surface. Finally I surrendered and got out some stainless steel feeler gauges and put them underneath. Hey, stainless steel. Harder than brass, right? Shouldn’t wear at all. Shouldn’t allow the cases to keep cutting a dent. And they should bring the case heads up a precise amount! Problem solved? Like hell. They didn’t do diddly. Even when I used a feeler gauge several times thicker than what should have done the job, I still could not get the brass to thin down hardly at all.
Ok, this isn’t entirely true. I did manage to thin several cases with each tool’s implementation. But after just a couple cases the tools wouldn’t work any more. And that was really frustrating. And I do not know why this happened. So, between using a tool, filing down some case heads, the tools ceasing to work, going “huh??”, designing a new tool, building it ... lather rinse, repeat ... more than a full day went by. Finally I just threw up my hands and quit.
But an hour or so later I was back. Son of a bitch, I could do each case by hand in about 2 minutes and had done so. So I went back to that. Mount the case in the sizing die, with the sizing die in a high speed hand drill. Hold the file and the case head in one hand while the other hand works the drill trigger. Veerrrrrreeemm! When the brass got too hot to touch I let it cool. And each case took about 2 minutes. Son of a Beach. And they all came out right about at 0.057-0.061”. Dubble Beach! Of course, they weren’t pretty. The file jumps around a bit and scratches the case walls sometimes. But these should be good enough for now.
Next step was shortening the length of them. I drilled a 1/2” hole in a block of wood, and sanded it down until it gave me the proper thickness for the length of the body of the cases. Next I pressed a case in from the back, and buzzed it up against a sanding disk. This took the brass down in a flash. In hindsight, I should have mounted a steel fender washer to the front of the block, as the block got a little sanded off during “production” and a couple cases came up a bit short. No biggy really, but that would be a smarter tool. For next time. If there is a next time!
Final trimming and cleanup was done back here on my case trimmer, and with the aid of an oversize chamfering tool. The little chamferer that everyone has is just barely up to cases that are 0.480” wide at the mouths. Better to use the big one that’s designed for the .50 BMG. These gizmos last several lifetimes. A couple of gentle spins in some 0000 steel wool cleans up the ends real nice so they don’t snag anything. Like bullets. Or scratch expensive rifles as they go through the loading mechanism. To that end, I also softened the edge of the rim with a sharpening stone, but I didn’t get a picture. I only have so many hands you know! You want to do this, because the milled brass edge is quite sharp. See the band-aid on my finger in the picture? Guess why! I think it’s time to just Man Up and find somebody with a small precision lathe.
Now it’s off to the doc to see if each and every case fits. Then it’s time to figure out some loads from my small selection of gun powders. Ha, just teasing. I’ve got 3 good ones figured out already. Save that for the next post.
Yeah, in theory the .45-60 is a bottleneck cartridge. That’s because it was built to shoot .454” diameter bullets. But the new Uberti seems to be made to shoot .458” bullets. We’ll verify that one too before loading up any ammo. That’s an easy but frightening process. Oil up the barrel and them hammer a soft lead bullet all the way through it. I’ve got a 7/16” steel rod that’s perfect for the job. Bashing away at a chunk of steel in a $1000 rifle. Yup, frightening.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/19/2008 at 03:35 PM
Filed Under: • Guns and Gun Control •
• Comments (2)
•
Trackbacks(0)
Permalink • Five Most Recent Trackbacks:
Once Again, The One And Only Post
(4 total trackbacks)
Tracked at iHaan.org
Thｅ advantage to having a guide with you is thɑt an expert will haѵe very first hand experience dealing and navigating the river with гegional wildlife. Tһomas, there are great…
On: 07/28/23 10:37
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We've Been Waiting For
(3 total trackbacks)
Tracked at head to the Momarms site
The Brownshirts: Partie Deux; These aare the Muscle We’ve Been Waiting For
On: 03/14/23 11:20
Vietnam Homecoming
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at 广告专题配音 专业从事中文配音跟外文配音制造，北京名传天下配音公司
专业从事中文配音和外文配音制作，北京名传天下配音公司 北京名传天下专业配音公司成破于2006年12月，是专业从事中 中文配音 文配音跟外文配音的音频制造公司，幻想飞腾配音网领 配音制作 有海内外优良专业配音职员已达500多位，可供给一流的外语配音，长年服务于国内中心级各大媒体、各省市电台电视台，能满意不同客户的各种需要。电话：010-83265555 北京名传天下专业配音公司…
On: 03/20/21 07:00
meaningless marching orders for a thousand travellers ... strife ahead ..
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at Casual Blog
[...] RTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPL [...]
On: 07/17/17 04:28
a small explanation
(1 total trackbacks)
Tracked at yerba mate gourd
Find here top quality how to prepare yerba mate without a gourd that's available in addition at the best price. Get it now!
On: 07/09/17 03:07
DISCLAIMER
THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.
Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:
It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.
- Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
- Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
- Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
- Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere
THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.
Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner
Oh, and here's some kind of visitor flag counter thingy. Hey, all the cool blogs have one, so I should too. The Visitors Online thingy up at the top doesn't count anything, but it looks neat. It had better, since I paid actual money for it.
RSS 2.0 
Atom 
