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Hunkering Down

Health, SHTF

Here’s a SHTF scenario I hadn’t thought of before:  in-home quarantine because of the corona virus thing.  And not being prepared means this, and this nonsense:

Britons strip shop shelves of canned food and even bottled WATER amid growing fears people will be forced to spend weeks in isolation if coronavirus epidemic hits.

I’m pretty sure that New Wife and I could do three weeks’ isolation in a pinch, although Week 3 would be mighty boring fare (oatmeal, canned foods etc.).  But I think I’ll haul out Ye Olde Grabbe-And-Goe Bagge tomorrow, just to check on emergency supplies like face masks and hand wipes.

Do ye the same, O My Readers.

Afterthought:  while I have quite a lot of bottled water on hand, I also have a swimming pool not ten steps from the apartment.  The problem with pool water, of course, is the chlorine and such.  Does anyone have any ideas on filtering the taste out of it?

Comparing Old Warhorses

Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

I am often mocked because of my fondness (if not favoritism) of things of yore over their modern counterparts.  This is especially true of gun stuff, and cartridges especially.  (Executive summary:  not many cartridges developed since 1955 are that much better than their predecessors.)

One of my all-time favorites is the venerable .300 Holland & Holland Magnum, which was essentially put out of business by the .300 Winchester Magnum.  Why am I so enamored of this old warhorse (launched 1925)?

I once hunted with a borrowed rifle thus chambered many, many years ago in South Africa (I think it was either a Sako or a Sauer, can’t remember which) and in a single day’s shooting accounted for two or three impala, all of which were absolutely flattened by the heavy 180gr solid bullet.  I found the recoil far less punishing than other magnums (both the .300 WinMag and the monster .458 WinMag), and the effect on small- to medium-sized game was little different from either of the two others.

It’s not as hard-hitting as the other two, of course, when one looks at the raw numbers;  rather, the .300 H&H should be compared to the .30-06 Springfield.  Here’s a side-by-side of the Nosler offerings for each cartridge with the same bullet weight:

The Holland’s longer case holds more powder, I think, hence the slight velocity/energy difference.  Likewise, the rifle’s action needs to be a little longer than that of the .30-06 (which is already longer than, say the short-action .308 Win).

Of course, because so few rifles are made in the .300 H&H chambering nowadays, the ammo is filthy-expensive — usually over $50 / box for the cheap stuff, and it climbs into the stratosphere faster than the bullet it shoots.  By way of comparison, a box of the .300 H&H Noslers in the pic above costs just over $83/box, while the .300 Win Mag tops out at ~$70 (and the .30-06 pictured is $50).  Granted, these are all premium offerings from Nosler — but while one can find “cheap” .300 Win Mag and even cheaper .30-06, there is no cheap .300 H&H ammo.

And finally, here’s the .300 Win Mag which replaced the .300 H&H (sigh):

It’s not quite a like-for-like comparison because of the greater bullet weight, but where the difference becomes apparent is at ranges long than 200 yards (.300 H&H 2,490 vs the .300 Win Mag 2,520, and the differential widens at longer distances).

That said:  if I had to shoot twenty rounds rapid of each, I’d be okay after the .300 H&H, but would require some kind of medical attention with the .300 Win Mag.

And I’d sell a non-essential body part to be able to shoot them through one of these.  (“P.O.A.” stands for “piss off, arsehole” i.e. “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it, peasant”.)

Triage

Gummint, Health

The next time some Lefty asshole starts yammering on about the glories of nationalized medical care (a.k.a. “single payer” and all the other little euphemisms they use to conceal what the system actually is) like Britain’s NHS, you have my full permission to kick them in the crotch.

Why (other than my normal bloodthirstiness) would I suggest something so extreme?  Try this little admission:

[NHS ]Doctors have admitted that the most vulnerable patients could be denied critical care in a severe coronavirus outbreak, as they also warned that the UK is dangerously unequipped to deal with a pandemic. Under protocol dubbed ‘Three Wise Men’, senior medics at hospitals would need to decipher which patients to give care such as ventilators and beds to, with a focus on saving those most likely to recover.
…
The England-based medics told the publication that the already struggling health service would ‘crumble’ under the weight of a large outbreak, one lamenting that their hospital even struggled to contain this winter’s seasonal spate of flu and colds.

Make no mistake about it:  even in normal times, medical care is rationed when administered by the State — not just in Britain, but everywhere such a system exists — so when there’s a massive event like a pandemic (or even an epidemic in a single location), the system simply collapses and people die en masse.

Wear combat boots.

 

Errr… Wut?

Health

For obvious reasons, this one made me chuckle:

Snake venom can kill breast and colon cancer tumours really quickly, scientists claim.

As I see it, while snake venom may well be able to kill various cancerous growths in the human body, the problem will be to stop it from killing the rest  of the body once it’s done its number on the cancer.

As they admit:

Scientists admit directing the venom to only destroy cancer cells without being fatal to humans will be a challenge.
…
The team hopes to one day move forward into clinical studies with humans, but they have a lot of work to do to find the right dose.

“Clinical studies”… uh huh.  Dr. Mengele, call your office.

It’s Heistin’ Time In The Old Country

Africa, Crime

Here’s yet another reason not to have anything to do with South Africa:

There has been at least one cash-in-transit (CIT) heist a day nationally since the beginning of the year.

The report is dated Feb 14, but there’s no reason to suppose that the trend hasn’t continued.  And to show that the choirboys have moved with the times:

Anti-crime advocate Yusuf Abramjee said it was worrying that CIT robbers had become so brazen, and that they were using more explosives to blow up the vans.

There’s a guy with job security.  It’s like being a condom salesman during Fleet Week, only the number of ships in port grows each day.  (It’s also a bullshit job;  other than the criminals, who isn’t an anti-crime advocate?)

And the final touch:

National police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said that not all the CIT incidents were categorised as heists because an incident is only considered a heist if the suspects get away with money.

That’s like being held up at gunpoint, but not characterizing it as “violent” crime because the thief didn’t shoot you.

Can’t remember who sent me the article, but many thanks… I think.