Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

Dot-Mil Idiocy

Bad News, Military, The Gun Thing

I know, the title is somewhat redundant, but this beats them all (sent by Reader Tony M., thankee — I think):

After 123 years, the immortal Colt-Browning 1911 pistol has finally left U.S. military service.

The immortal 1911 really has no historical equal. It has been the longest-serving sidearm in U.S. military history. Almost every company in the business of manufacturing handguns today makes some variation of the 1911.

And yet, it’s no longer good enough for our troops?  To continue:

While nothing lasts forever, and while it’s easy to see the logistical advantage in a sidearm that uses the NATO-standard 9x19mm cartridge, it’s a sad day for gun aficionados, especially those of us with a fondness for John Browning’s 1911.

For those of little historical learning, I should point out that the reason that the U.S. Army adopted the Colt 1911 .45 ACP in the first place was that their .38 cartridges (similar to the 9x19mm) just weren’t killing savages efficiently.  But of course, people who make “logistical” choices are seldom the same ones who actually have to shoot people dead.

Never mind:  let our troops use three rounds of 9mm Europellet fired from their German-designed peashooters to do the same job as the .45 Automatic Colt Pistol bullet can do with one.

I’ll just continue to carry my 1911 and be glad of it.

Bah.

Track Away, Fibbies

Resistance

Here’s something I knew was coming:

The federal government believes that the threat of violence and major civil disturbances around the 2024 U.S. presidential election is so great that it has quietly created a new category of extremists that it seeks to track and counter: Donald Trump’s army of MAGA followers.

The challenge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the primary federal agency charged with law enforcement, is to pursue and prevent what it calls domestic terrorism without direct reference to political parties or affiliations—even though the vast majority of its current “anti-government” investigations are of Trump supporters, according to classified data obtained by Newsweek.

“The FBI is in an almost impossible position,” says a current FBI official, who requested anonymity to discuss highly sensitive internal matters. The official said that the FBI is intent on stopping domestic terrorism and any repeat of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. But the Bureau must also preserve the Constitutional right of all Americans to campaign, speak freely and protest the government. By focusing on former president Trump and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters, the official said, the Bureau runs the risk of provoking the very anti-government activists that the terrorism agencies hope to counter.

I’m 100% sure that my fevered rants and fervent support for the Second Amendment have put me on several “lists” among the various federal alphabet agencies.  But at the same time, I also know that they’re fucking incompetent — I mean, they missed the 9/11 hijackers, FFS — so I thought I’d just help them out.


(by your definition, anyway)

Let me count the ways:

  1. I believe that the United States of America is the greatest nation the world has ever seen, and I want to restore its power, prestige and majesty to its post-WWII heights.
  2. I support Donald Trump, even though I’d rather not — but he’s the best option for people like me.
  3. I believe in the Second Amendment.  Actually, I believe in all the Amendments, without reservation.  And I want all those who, like me, swore allegiance to the Constitution and its principles to abide by them.
  4. I support homeschooling.
  5. I believe in smaller government.
  6. I know that our taxes are too high and our tax laws too complicated.
  7. I believe in the Four Boxes of civic participation (letter box, soap box, ballot box and when the first three have failed or been made illegal, the cartridge box).
  8. I think that our borders need to be closed to foreign incursions, and the current illegal border-crossers in custody should be repatriated en masse, with no exceptions.

There are a few more, but I think that list should suffice.

Go ahead, assholes:  track me all you want.  I’m only one man, and I publish under my own name — no pseudonyms, no aliases, no pen names — so it should be easy, even for the likes of you.  But this is where I stand.

Multiple Goblins

Crime, Illegal immigrants

Here’s a little something that can absolutely be laid at the door of the “let ’em all in” (a.k.a. the Biden border policy) phenomenon:

A sheriff in Michigan is sounding the alarm over a rise in gangs of illegal aliens getting into the United States for the sole purpose of burglarizing Americans.

Oakland County, Michigan Sheriff Michael Bouchard, as well as other law enforcement agencies across the U.S., is warning that illegal aliens from the southern border are burglarizing members of their communities at an increasing rate.

“These are transnational gangs that are involved in this that come from South America, looking to do burglaries and violate our communities, not just in Oakland County but across America,” Bouchard said.

The Brits have been experiencing this for well over a decade, as well-organized criminal gangs (especially from Eastern Europe) have not only been expanding drug- and prostitute-related activities, but creating gangs of smash-and-grab thieves and burglary rings.  Of course, this was facilitated by the EU policy of open borders and the reluctance of Brit politicians to do anything meaningful about it — which has been mirrored most recently in the U.S.A. by feckless politicians like Biden and his lickspittle accomplices in Homeland Security, INS and even our alleged “law enforcement” officials like prosecutors and the Fibbies.

Of course, the thieving activities of organized gangs has also been facilitated by crime groups such as Black Lives Matter — a local criminal organization given free rein by both state- and local governments — so it’s not just furriners.

This has been especially true in urban areas where a gang of say twenty thugs can crash a retail establishment and loot the place utterly without too much fear of arrest, let alone incarceration.  So far, the response has just been that the affected retailer groups have shut their inner-city stores, which is fine for chains like Target or Wal-Mart, but not so fine for single-store owners who have three options:  change the format from self-service to counter-service operation;  close the store and lose their livelihood, or (in some memorable cases) employ armed guards to ensure that such raids will be met with force.

Of course, where the last of those three courses has been adopted, theft has dropped precipitously or disappeared altogether.  Which brings me back to burglary.

Most lower-middle or working-class houses offer poor pickings to any organized crime gangs simply because there’s not much to steal and the game isn’t worth the candle.  Likewise, ultra-wealthy households are often protected by good alarm systems or even armed guards because those homeowners can afford such measures.

What’s left is the vulnerable middle- and upper-middle classes who may have some stuff that justifies an armed invasion, and not the means to protect it adequately.

Expect therefore that this kind of larcenous activity is going to grow in more affluent suburbs (like, maybe, Plano TX).

And you all know what I’m going to say about that:

…and:

…etc.

If enough of these assholes are killed trying to break into suburban homes, it may make them a little less keen to try it.

Just a thought.

However, if you live in an area where wasting a couple choirboys is going to get you arrested rather than congratulated by the local cops, you may need to reconsider your living arrangements.

Caliber Comparison

The Gun Thing

Longtime Friend & Reader John C. sent me this email over the past weekend:

Kim,
I found this article (“6.5 Creedmoor vs. .308 Winchester”) and thought you might find it interesting. I have .308 dies, a .308 Savage bolt gun, and if I get the urge to build another AR I’d do it in .308 because I have the dies. Not enough difference for me to collect another caliber, I’m slowing down.
A buddy was asking about it, though, and I said if he has no .308 and is getting a new gun he should consider the 6.5 Creedmoor (CM). If he has a .308 I said stick with it. He’ll likely not ever shoot beyond 500 yards. Your thoughts?
I thought it was a pretty good article, but unless I think I’ll take up F-Class (unlikely), like the author I’m not gonna think about it for me any more.
Cheers,
John

This was my response:

John,
I enjoyed the article.  My additional thoughts are as follows.

For 95% of all shooting, anything more than 400 yards is unlikely. (Targets and long-distance disciplines excepted, and the other 5% if you’re hunting antelope in eastern Montana, for example.)

In my opinion, therefore, the only difference between the .30x and the .25x (6.5mm, .270 Win etc) is that the latter doesn’t recoil as hard. As someone once said, they’re all good enough that the deer won’t know the difference. It’s the reason I prefer the 6.5x55mm Swede over just about any other: plenty of range (further than I can confidently shoot at), lots of penetration (high sectional density/SD), flat trajectory and so on.

If you’re a devotee of the .308, it’s fine. It may be the best all-purpose medium cartridge ever made, taken across every kind of use (military, hunting or target). I just prefer not to beat my shoulder up if I can avoid it. It’s the same reason I prefer 7x57mm over the 8mm: more or less the same effectiveness, smaller bruise.

Now that said, I love shooting. I love shooting, a lot. Which means that I pull the trigger more, in a single range session, than 75% of other shooters, and under those circumstances, recoil is a big thing.

Postscript:

It’s one of those things where you really don’t have to get all worked up over finding the “perfect” cartridge — trying all sorts of different calibers, loads etc. — and letting the perfect be the enemy of the good (or in this case, good enough).

Frankly, I think that riflemen need to find the cartridge/chambering which suits their personal criteria (mine, as above: maximum effectiveness with the lowest possible recoil), then find the cartridge (bullet weight, manufacturer, muzzle velocity whatever) which works the best in your rifle, and lay in a boatload of ammo of those specs (or reload accordingly, if you’re that way inclined).

Then shoot it lots, and become a master rifleman.

…or, as the above linked article puts it:

Dept. Of Righteous Shootings

Righteous Shootings

From Melbourne (Florida, not Strylia duh) comes this little story:

One man is dead and two others wounded after West Melbourne police said a group of people broke into an apartment early Sunday and were met by an armed homeowner.

The shooting happened at about 2:25 a.m. at the Reserves of Melbourne apartment complex in the 2200 block of Launch Court, just south of West New Haven Avenue. The suspects are believed to be in their 20s, said Graig Erenstoft, spokesperson for the West Melbourne Police Department.

The latest incident unfolded after several people, possibly armed with at least one firearm, forcefully broke into an apartment, police said. The homeowner, who had a gun of unknown caliber, fired on the group, striking at least three of those carrying out the home invasion, police reported. Police arrived minutes later along with paramedics.

One unidentified suspect was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center where a doctor later pronounced him dead. Another suspect turned up on his own at the hospital and was treated for his wounds, police said. No details were released about the third person who was shot.

Hey:  one out of three ain’t bad, but clearly Our Hero needs a little range time, should any such occasions arise in the future.  (Because if his house was targeted, there may well be a repeat performance.)

Anyway:

Gunfights

Africa, Crime, Good Stuff, The Gun Thing

I remember listening to some comedy record or other a long time ago, which featured a radio interview (à la Bob Newhart) of a captured Confederate soldier just before Antietam.  When asked his opinion about Union soldiers being armed with the new Winchester repeating rifles, the Reb thought for a moment, and said laconically, in a deep Southron accent:  “Yeah?  Well that’s all well and good for you Yankees… but we know how to aim, boy.”)

I was reminded of that exchange when I read this report (sent to me by several Readers, thankee) concerning this little incident in Seffrica:

Heavily armed attacks on armored cars are so common in South Africa they are known as Cash-in-Transit heists (CIT).

“15 robbers armed with automatic rifles carried out a CIT heist in Hoedspruit, killing the Fidelity driver,“ reports YouTuber Willem Petzer.

According to police spokesman Colonel Matimba Maluleke, the suspects shot at the escort vehicle before disarming the guards (a driver and crew) of their official rifle and pistol. “Unfortunately the two guards were shot at and sustained injuries that resulted in the death of the driver. The suspects then pursued the armoured vehicle while shooting at it until it stopped. The driver of the armoured vehicle and his crew were allegedly ordered to disembark the vehicle, disarmed of two firearms and chased into the nearby bushes. The suspects used explosives to blast the vehicle and made off with an undisclosed amount of money,” Maluleke said.

All was seemingly going according to plan for our Robbin’ Hoods;  however, things went downhill for our choirboys soon thereafter:

“A community crime watch group, Hoedspruit Farmwatch, was alerted to the incident and went in pursuit of the robbers, putting obstacles on the road to prevent their escape. A shootout ensued,” Petzer writes. 

“The volunteers blocked the roads outside of Hoedspruit with boulders after they were alerted of the attack. A skirmish, lasting about 20 minutes, ensued at one of the blockades between the robbers [armed with AK-47s] and the farmers, who were armed with pistols. The farmers managed to kill 4 of the robbers and wound 3. No farmer was hurt. The other suspects fled into nearby bushes after the shootout on foot.”

Apparently, untrained criminals spraying bullets from their rifles are not a match for trained shooters with handguns.  But it gets better:

“The Hoedspruit farmwatch tracked them down using their dogs and arrested the rest of them, recovering all the money from the heist.”

One of the arrested suspects is a highly wanted Mozambican suspect who has been on the run for some time for a spate of crimes he committed in the Free State in 2022 including the murder of a police officer. The injured suspects were found in possession of suspected stolen money, a rifle and a pistol.

For background on the whole “neighborhood watch” thing, read the full report.

So to summarize:

Asshole criminals with AK-47s:  1
Trained Afrikaners with pistols:  4, plus 3 wounded and the rest captured.

I don’t know the full details, but the farmer’s dogs were likely a mixture of Boerboels and Ridgebacks.

Yeah, I’d pretty much give up, too.

We may now begin the