Author: Kim du Toit

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Colt Combat Commander (.45 ACP)

Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

Here’s the gun with which I learned to shoot the .45 ACP cartridge:  the Colt Combat Commander Model 70:

Now I’ve said a lot of bad things about Colt (the company) before, but I have to tell you, my Commander was an absolute joy to shoot, and I never had to do anything to improve it.  What’s more, it loaded, fired and ejected every possible type of .45 ACP I ever put into it, and within the confines of the shorter 4” barrel, it was as accurate as I could shoot it — which, I have to tell you, wasn’t saying much.  In those days, I had no patience, and every handgun shooting session seemed to involve shooting a box of ammo as quickly as possible, then heading off to the rifle range lanes to do the serious stuff, i.e. trying to get five rounds of .308 through a single hole with my Israeli Mauser.

It seemed pointless to me to spend a lot of time at the range trying to coax tiny groups out of a 4” barrel, when most self-defense situations involve distances of less than seven yards and shooting fewer than five rounds — when pin-point accuracy is largely irrelevant, really, as long as all the holes are in a sideplate-sized hole in the center of the target.

But to return to the old days:  after shooting off my first thousand rounds of .45 ACP, I could handle the Commander in my sleep, and saw no reason to spend more time than I needed “to keep my eye in”.  Ah, the silliness of youth…

To a certain degree, I still have some of that cavalier attitude towards large-caliber handgun shooting, and most especially with a carry gun.  Now, though, that’s confined to my backup S&W 637;  the 1911, however, always gets a thorough workout.

And here’s the scoop:  the smaller 1911 frames like the Combat Commander are a perfect compromise between stopping-power and concealability — for a man.  I think that women need something which either tames recoil better (i.e. a larger-frame pistol) or else should shoot a cartridge which has less recoil to start off with.  Or both.  Like this shiny Combat Commander in 9mm:

And yes, I know there are women who compete in IPSC and all that jive, using full-frame 1911s to shoot .45 ACP.  (David also killed Goliath — but that’s not the way to bet.)  The stainless Commander fits every bill for the ladies, I think.

As for me:  would I use a Commander for my carry piece nowadays?  In a heartbeat.

Rationing

Gummint, Health

Seeing as the Socialists now control the U.S. House, I suppose we’re going to start hearing the drumbeat of support for and attempts to revive the failed ObamaCare medical insurance system, as well as support for a “single-payer” healthcare system (where the “single payer” means the government, i.e. not a single payer at all, but all taxpayers — yet another way Socialists employ a euphemism to conceal the truth).

Of course, this will all be cloaked under the banner of “fairness”, i.e. free healthcare for all people being a “fair” principle (and yes, I know it isn’t free at all;  see above), all while touting the excellence of, for example, Britain’s National Health Service (NHS).

So while kicking said supporters in the teeth (always a Good Thing when dealing with socialists anyway), you may want to ask them how “fair” it is when medical services are so scarce that a service, treatment or drug is allocated to the afflicted by means of a postcode lottery — this being excellent example of the principle:

Tens of thousands of people with diabetes are being denied NHS access to a life-changing device which could spell an end to painful finger pricks.
A postcode lottery in provision means many people with type 1 diabetes are missing out on the benefits of the FreeStyle Libre gadget, which measures blood sugar levels with the simple swipe of a smartphone.
The device – famously used by Theresa May – has been available for GPs to prescribe for last year.
But an investigation by the British Medical Journal revealed a quarter of clinical commissioning groups in England are refusing to fund prescriptions for their residents.
This leaves people to either pay the £96 a month to receive it privately or miss out on the system.

I guess that technically this is fair, in that everyone has the same chance of winning a lottery… but I still want to kick random Socialists in the teeth anyway.

Terminology and Style Guideline

Housekeeping, Politics

As of today, I will no longer refer to The Other Side as “Democrats” on these pages, but as either the “Socialist Party” or just simply “Socialists”.  (The capitalization merely differentiates said party’s supporters and politicians from generic socialists e.g. most Europeans and the Scots.) This will also apply to the acronym used after a politician’s name, e.g. “Chuck Schumer (S-NY)”.

Considering how the erstwhile Democrat Party’s platform has moved ever-leftward over the past couple of decades, it would be more honest of them to actually change their name to the above, but then again honesty is not a socialist (or Socialist) attribute, and never has been, in any country.  So I’ll just do it for them, the proto-fascist scum that they are.  (And for those Lefties who wail that Socialism is not the same as Nazism, please remind them — between kicks — that Nazism is simply a subset of Socialism.)

Change, Or Else

Freaks & Loonies

If vegans were just content with living their own lives, following their peculiar little diet and getting on with it, I probably wouldn’t be ranting about them.

But no.

Vegans plan new wave of protests against meat industry as they target takeaways, butchers and abattoirs in bid do persuade consumers to turn their back on animal products.
“Veganism has been around a long time,” Phoebe Frampton, who founded the Earthlings movement in 2013, told The Sunday Times. “It used to be a dietary and health issue but modern vegans see it as being about animal rights and animal liberation.”
The Earthlings protests are peaceful, with masked campaigners standing in circles holding laptops screening “horrific” films of abattoirs to spark public interest.
However, critics see their beliefs as extreme with modern veganism goes far beyond giving up meat, fish and dairy. It also means giving up honey, silk, leather shoes and even beeswax furniture polish.
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), founded in the US in 2013, now has five “chapters” in Britain. One of them invaded a branch of Tesco in Brighton last month, with 30 protesters staging a “silent protest” in the meat aisle.
Some farmers dispute the claims of non-violence. John Wood, a Dorset farmer, set up the Facebook Meat & Greet site to promote lamb and beef, but says he was targeted by “frightening” militants.
“We have had animal liberationists turning up at our home and shouting abuse. Most of these people may be bunny-huggers, but some are dangerous,” he said.

So shoot a few, if you feel your life is being threatened.  Oh wait… I forgot that this is in Britain, where you’ll get a prison sentence if you so much as look angrily at someone threatening your life.  And good grief:  if some oaf is shouting abuse at you, use an air horn on them at close range.

As for the Murkin DxE:  try staging a silent protest in my local butchery while I’m buying my weekly supply of steak, boerewors and lamb, and your protest won’t stay “silent” for long*.  That’s a promise.

I am so sick of smug assholes trying to tell me how to live my own life.

*Note to self:  remember to take the sjambok with you to the butchery in future.

And yes: it’s made from the skin of a dead hippo.  Why do you ask?