A Public Service Announcement To Save Our Communities From The BATFE

If you want to know where to send your comments to try to stop the proposed BATFE ban of M855 ammo, look here:

http://ballseyesboomers.blogspot.com/2015/02/take-action-against-proposed-m855-ammo.html

All the best,
Glenn B

Violence Is Not Always The Answer...

...but I think if it had come to that, the guy putting the pervert to shame would have knocked him on his ass just as easily as what he did pull off :



All the best,
GB

For The Life Of Me - I Just Don't Get This Stance

 

 It looks sexy as all get up (in her case anyway) but really, I may never understand why anyone shoots in a lean over backwards stance like that instead of leaning forward at the hips and with your back. Yeah, I understand that maybe if you are in a life or death situation, you will shoot in a stance like that just because conditions only allow it but I have also heard all of the excuses, like the gun is too big, or this is how I am comfortable, or this is how they did it in the military, or this is how I learned from my dad, or whatever. The thing is if she was shooting a 12 gauge like that she likely would wind up on her ass like this gal did:

 

 

Yeah, I know, the girl with the sub-gun had better leg position from the look of it (probably the only reason a 9mm sub-gun did not knock her over) but even if she would not have fallen shooting a shotgun like that - she damned sure would have hurt her shoulder and maybe her back.

 

So, why someone would shoot and train like that on the range is beyond me. Why anyone would instruct you to shoot in that position is even further beyond my realm of comprehension but it does happen. Just look at how this instructor sets up the shooter for her first shot, she is definitely leaning backward - not as much as the sub-gun gal but definitely backward:

 

  

You shoot like you train so, if you train like that you will almost always shoot like that and it will accomplish only a few things. It will put unnecessary strain on your back, hips and legs, it will allow the recoil to affect you worse than had you chosen a better stance, it likely will result in poorer shot placement than had you done it right and it may knock you on your arse. Still though, that gal shooting the sub-gun sure does look damned good in that position.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Take Action Against The Proposed M855 Ammo Ban

This has been going on for at least a couple of weeks now and I have seen some bloggers only begin to blog about the BATFE proposed M855 ammo ban yesterday or the day before. That got me a bit ticked off, then I thought - wow did I write about it already. In fact, yes I did, on February 13 and that was a relief to me. Folks, we need to be spreading the word and taking action now - we only have until March 16th to submit comments to BATFE.

Anyway, whether I blogged about it or not prior to today and whether or not others have spread the word as much as I think they should have been doing, I am going to once again let you know how you can help combat the proposed BATFE ban of 5.56x45mm M855 ammunition (which is by the way one of the most commonly purchased types of 5.56x45mm ammo).

What you can do is to contact the BATFE, your elected representatives, the vice president and president (and while I don't know about you I can say the last two are definitely not my elected representatives). To do so, use this link to the NRA/ILA:

https://www.nraila.org/take-action/write-your-lawmakers/stop-batfe/.

If you use the NRA/ILA link, they will send it to BATFE, the president, vice president, your senators and your congressional representative in the House. You fill in your info, hit enter and on the next page type or paste in a copy of your comments letter.You can write up your own comments in letter format or you can use a sample like this one:


Dear Sir or Madam:

I oppose an ATF ban on 5.56 M855 ball ammunition.

It has come to my attention that the ATF is seeking public input on a proposed ban on 5.56 M855 ball ammunition. I am contacting you today, to tell you I solidly oppose this ban.

Law-abiding American citizens have been using 5.56 ball ammunition for sporting purposes for decades, so this legislation appears to be a case of the government arriving at a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.

Through this proposed ban, ATF disproportionately focuses on how criminals might use sporting ammunition in a handgun. Classifying criminals as a “consumer group” in the ATF’s white paper on this topic is also disturbing, as it further implies that the industry purposely sells firearms and ammunition to this element.

I urge the ATF to permanently drop the proposed ban of 5.56 M855 ball ammunition.

Sincerely,

Your Name, Title
Address
Phone
Email

If you prefer to write your own letter, the beolw link has a good number of talking points to mention in it:

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20150218/your-action-urgently-needed-to-prevent-batfe-from-banning-common-rifle-ammunition

I urge you to take action to defeat this ban and this outrageous attack on our liberties and rights.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Shortage of 7.62x39mm Ammo - I Think Not

I will readily admit there is a shortage of 5.56x45mm M855 ammunition right now because of the proposed BATFE changes that would eliminate that ammo from the commercial marketplace within the USA. (If you are unaware of that, you must have been in on Uranus for the last week.) Of course, there is also a shortage of reasonable priced 22LR and 22WMR but other ammunition is plentiful You would not believe what I just said though, about other ammo being plentiful, if you read some of the tings I have seen posted on gun forums lately. Some folks are gnashing their teeth and wailing about the so called shortage of, or out of stock status of, 7.62x39mm ammunition. I dare say, there is no such shortage, at least there was not within the last half our that I took to check with several online dealers to determine if 7.62x39mm ammunition was in short supply or not. I found out that it was not - that is not in short supply. There is plenty of it available and at reasonable prices considering the ammo market of the last year or so. Here is what I found:

Midway has TulAmmo 1K cases at about 27 cents per round, see: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/3083371070/tulammo-ammunition-762x39mm-122-grain-full-metal-jacket-bi-metal-steel-case-berdan-primed?cm_vc=ProductFinding

Ammo Supply Warehouse has 1K cases of Wolf for about 24 cents per round, see: http://www.ammosupplywarehouse.com/product/158/Wolf-762x39-POLYFORMANCE-JHP-123-grn-1000-rdcase.html

Widner's has Red Army Standard, Romanian in cases of 1080 rounds at about 24 cents per round, see: https://www.wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=100001245&dir=

Classic Firearms has Wolf going for about 25 cents per round per 1K case, see: https://www.classicfirearms.com/wolf-7-62x39hp-ammunition-1000-rd-quantity

Natchez Shooters' Supplies has 20 round boxes available at about 24 cents per round so 1K would cost $244.50, see: http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=TLUL076200

J&G Sales has a wide variety of 7.62x39mm available on this page: http://www.jgsales.com/ammo-for-rifles-c-12_41.html?sort=4d&page=1, I clicked on the first 8 or 9 on the list and every one of them was available. The best price was for Wolf FMJ (and Wolf HP) at about 23 cents per round.

It seems those folks, whom some say are buying all of the 7.62x39mmm ammo until out of stock, have never heard of J&G Sales - one of the better known online ammo dealers nor does it seem that they shop at any of the other dealers (all well known, I think) listed because if they did so they would have seen that 7.62x39mm is abundant and readily available at decent prices.

Some of the above dealers also have other varieties of steel cased 7.62x39mm in stock, I simply listed a single example from each. Note, I only checked on steel cased ammo, many dealers have the more expensive brass cased ammo in stock as well. Some dealers also have steel cased ammo with astronomical prices, I did not bother showing results for them. A quick check of www.gunbot.net will show who has 7.62x39mm in stock. They have lots and lots more dealers listed at www.gunbot.net than the number of dealers I just checked. The bottom line though seems to be there is a plentiful supply of 7.62x39mm ammo available right now.

All the best,
Glenn B

I Was Always Told Not To Mix Liquor & Guns

...but I guess it just does not apply equally to her liquor licker and a gun, especially when it appears to be the Goldschläger of guns.

Oh well,
GB
 

They Shoot Horses - Don't They?

I have heard of hunters shooting horses before because they mistook a horse for a Moose or a deer. Until today though, I never heard of them shooting horses thinking the horses were critters much smaller than a whitetail deer. Somehow though, an off duty Sheriff's Officer (who works as a lieutenant in the corrections division of the Ontario County SO in New York) and his hunting buddy wound up shooting two horses in two different locations on one property. Now you might think they must have been out deer hunting and somehow mistook the horse for deer but nope that is not it by a longshot. The fact is they were reported to have been coyote hunting!

I wonder how intoxicated you have to be to mistake a horse for a coyote and then do it again in a separate incident on earth you could mistake a horse for a coyote but these guys are either apparently not talking about that point or what they have said has not been released; so we may never know. As a matter of fact, the horse shooting took place last month and it reportedly took NY's Department of Environmental Conservation, the investigating agency, about three (3) weeks to release any information. Imagine that, it took three weeks for DEC law enforcement officers to divulge that one of the suspects in the case was a sheriff's officer.

The not so skilled hunters killed one horse and wounded the other. DEC reportedly has fined them $200 apiece, has revoked their hunting licenses for three years and is going to make them pay restitution for the dead horse and for the vet bills for the other horse. They reportedly gave out little other information to the press. According to the horses owner, they also did not ell him the names of the suspects - so how is it that he is supposed to seek damages from them and collect what DEC says they have to pay? 

When the Ontario County Sheriff was questioned about this incident, he reportedly said he could not comment because this was a private matter. Everyone in law enforcement, who is involved in this somehow, seems surprisingly mum on this. Last time I recall though, a law enforcement officer violating the law (or even the hunting regulations) was a public issue since LEOs are civil servants (aka: public employees). In fact, any hunter violating the law (or hunting regulations) makes this a public issue and not a private one. Let's face it, if it was Elmer J. Fudd and his buddy who had shot the horses, this would have been headline news all over the state almost as soon as it had happened but it was a LEO and LE authorities seem to have suddenly clammed up.

I have to question what would have happened had this been me and my son. I am betting: we would have lost our hunting licenses for at least 5 years, we would have been fined closer to $1,000, we would have been arrested for reckless discharge of a firearm (or whatever a relative charge would be), we would have had our hunting guns confiscated, I would have had my pistol license revoked and we would have been obliged not only with restitution but community service and maybe even jail time. Of course, that is just my guess but then neither me or my son is a lieutenant in the Sheriff's department in the county where the offenses took place. Now, maybe I am getting that wrong, maybe NY is as lenient with out of control hunters as they are with out of control drug dealers and welfare cheats but I think this investigation smells as bad as a month long dead horse. 

Source: http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s3711510.shtml.

All the best,
Glenn B

He Lived Long And He Prospered...

...and, as do we all, he finally breathed his last breathe but not before being one who wound up in he hearts of the many. Leonard Nimoy, the man who made Star Trek an out of this world experience with his portrayal of Mr. Spock, has died from COPD. He was 83. (source)

I knew him not only as Spock but also as Paris from Mission Impossible and from several other roles. I have never read his poetry but he was a published poet and photographer. He gave me a lot of good entertainment though and I will mourn his passing. Hopefully he is out there right now, following the words in the last stanza of the song The Highwayman, the part song by Johnny Cash. Maybe they are on a starship together - who knows.



All the best,
Glenn B
 

Gun Stash

Maybe it would not be a good thing for me to say I have all of these guns stashed away in a secret location in my basement, under the cellar stairs, in my house, here in NY. Do you think that if I said that it might get them to come search my house what with the NY SAFE Act and all? Okay, I won't say it.

All the best,
Glenn B

My 2014 Taxes Are Not As Bad As Could Have Been...

...and may actually get better once I get all of my mother-in-laws info and add her as a dependent. Right now, we owe the feds about $1,500 and the state owes us about $475. The federal tax owed may go down to nothing once I get the MIL's info input (I have to get that from the wife, who is at work now). Who knows, maybe they will owe me, that would be nice. Either way it will be much nicer than what we owed last year.

All the best,
GB 

Blogging Hiatus - I Just Started Doing My Tax Returns

Last year I owed over 5K and told my wife to make sure her day job takes out more federal tax. Looks like they took out less. Who knows when I'll blog again, I could wind up dead from shock before the night is over.

All the best,
GB

How Out Of Touch Can You Be In The Obama Administration

Ok, so Obama refuses to callmit a global war on Islamic Terrorism or even Islamic extremism. He has said terrorists have nothing to do with religion recently. That is pretty out of touch but yesterday John Kerry took first prize in that department when he said this:

"Despite ISIL, despite the visible killings that you see and how horrific they are, we are actually living in a period of less daily threat to Americans and to people in the world than normally; less deaths, less violent deaths today, than through the last century." (Source.)

It is like what the parents of little Jewish kids told their children when the Nazis rounded them up and the parents told the kids everything will be alright. Yes, it is that bad.

I hate to inform you John Kerry but we are not safer now than we were in the last century and global terrorism is a bigger threat now than it ever has been before. I don't expect you to believe me but maybe you should listen to Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, who testified before the Senate Armed Service Committee today and who said that:

"When the final accounting is done, 2014 will have been the most lethal year for global terrorism in the 45 years such data has been compiled,".

It does not get any clearer than that and the evidence is overwhelming and building with each day and each new terrorist attack. What is wrong with you Mr. Kerry - take your head out of your arse and stop lying to the American people!

All the best,
Glenn B

Problematic One Handed Shooting

Over my many years shooting as an LEO, a firearms instructor, and a civilian firearms enthusiast I came to notice that many people's shooting abilities hit rock bottom when it comes to firing a pistol  with only one hand. The reason for this, in almost every case that I have witnessed, has been because the shooter decides to choke the chicken (as I call it). Basically the problem for way too many shooters trying to shoot one handed is that they try to hard. That is not a euphemism for them sucking either, I mean that they literally try to hard. What they usually try to hard to do is to hold the handgun steady thinking that will help them get the shot on target. Let's face it, it is a fact that holding a pistol one handed gives less support. Less support often results in a bit more wobble, or moving around, of the muzzle as you try to hold on target. To compensate for that, the shooter often exerts a tighter grip on the pistol and also locks the shooting arm's elbow and shoulder so that the pistol is held as rigidly as possible while aiming at the target all with the pistol shoved out as far away from the body as possible. The bad thing about that is that trying to hold the pistol in that manner causes a lot of stress and strain on the involved body parts. Usually sooner than later the shooter's arm (from the shoulder to and including the hand) starts to shake because of the strain caused by muscle and skeletal tension due to the position arm that the shooter has assumed. As soon as that happens, guess what happens next - the shooter again compensates by gripping the pistol even tighter and strains even more to keep the arm locked and steady. That all really accomplishes two things - fatigue and piss poor shooting.

It's a lot like I would imagine someone, who was really ticked off, would hold a small animal to choke it with one hand. A perfect example of what I am talking about can be witnessed in a brief gif file of a clip from one of the matrix movies costarring Carrie-Ann Moss.

She is the main subject in the gif. Watch her as she points the pistol at the bad guy. Look at what is happening. She is shaking like a cold and wet puppy - at least her right arm is doing so and that is the one holding the gun. I bet they had her do that over and over again a few times to get the scene just right. All it takes is about half a minute of holding the pistol like that to accomplish the shakes like that. Now look at her again and again - do you see it - the it being that: she is tense, she is holding the pistol exactly as I described with her shoulder, elbow, wrist all locked with the pistol fully extended and seems to me to probably be squeezing the grip way too hard (although that is hard to tell from this gif, I base that on lots of experience with other shooters who held their pistols the same way she is doing); all that besides her lousy trigger finger placement. The weight of the pistol, combined with you locking your arm locked in that position, puts enough strain on you to make you shake just like that and how better would most people think they could stop the shaking than by choking the chicken even harder. It is what happens, I assure you of that.

There is a way to alleviate the problem. All you need to do is relax a bit. Note I said a bit. The best way to do that when shooting one handed is to allow your shooting side elbow to bend just slightly (this works for two handed shooting as well). Bending the elbow just a tad takes an awful lot of strain off of the shooting arm and shoulder, in fact as soon as you bend the elbow just a bit, you also unlock your shoulder as it too bends in sympathy with the elbow. Note, bending your elbow a bit does not negatively affect your ability to aim nor to operate your pistol but you want to make sure you do not bend it drastically thus pulling the pistol in close enough to you for it to strike you during recoil or also causing you to bend your wrist and neck uncomfortably so as to be able to aim.

Look at the following two pictures, examples of one shooter with his elbow bent ever so slightly and another with his elbow locked.

 

This shooter, in the above photo, has his shooting side elbow bent ever so slightly allowing for reduced muscle and skeletal fatigue and thus for better shot placement at the range or when under the strain of a self-defense situation. His body is also canted slightly forward taking strain off of his back. It is a much stronger shooting position than will be seen in the next photo because in this stance both his elbow and shoulder structure are supporting the weight of the pistol.

 

The shooter in the second photo is holding the pistol fully extended as far from his body as possible. His elbow is evidently locked; thus virtually all of the weight of the pistol (and of his hand and arm) is straining the shoulder. It causes the shakes if you have not developed your muscles and skeletal structure to always hold a pistol like that and even if you have trained yourself that way, this position puts much more strain on you than holding your arm out with you elbow slightly bent. 

 

Now, maybe you have been trained all of your life to shoot one handed as this guy appears to be doing. Not only did your dad or buddy teach you that but you learned it in the military, then you also went to an NRA or some other class where they taught you to shoot one handed with your wrist, elbow and shoulder locked and arm fully extended. I will only say it once, they were all wrong to have taught you that as the strongest and best way to shoot one handed because it is a much weaker position by which to hold you pistol one handed than doing so with your elbow bent slightly.

 

Here is yet another example of a photograph of a shooter using the bent elbow technique.

 

 

I actually prefer to bend the elbow a bit more than shown in each of the pics above that show it bent but just bending it a little gives the arm a lot more strength and endurance while shooting. I know for a fact that this technique improves shooters' one hand shooting abilities, at least ones who have poor arm strength or who choke the chicken and wind up shooting poorly with one hand (this is especially so with the 'weak' or 'offside' hand). I say that because each and every shooter whom I instructed over the years, and who was shooting poorly one handed, improved when they did two things - bent the elbow slightly and relaxed their grip to a firm one instead of a death hold. Even the ones who maintained a death grip and only bent their elbows shot better than they had been shooting when they had kept their elbow locked.

 

I know other range officers who were diehard proponents of locking the elbow but who tried this after I explained it to them. They all were favorably impressed with how the slightly bent elbow relieved stress on the one handed shooting arm. They all admitted, it was a much easier position to maintain. Old habits do diehard though (I catch myself locking the elbow sometimes but as soon as I start shaking I bend my elbow) and most firearms instructors continue to teach shooters to fire one handed with the arm fully or hyperextended and with the elbow locked. It has been taught that way, probably almost as long as one handed shooting has been taught and seems to be the favorite one handed shooting hold in both the military and law enforcement as well as in competition shooting. Depictions of that technique can be found in historical photographs and artwork that date way back.

 

Yet, just because it has been long taught does not make the locked elbow method the best technique. Not only is the bent elbow technique a stronger shooting position, it also will do more to assure you keep your firearm secure in a gun takeaway attempt and probably is less likely to result in injury simply because the elbow remains flexible and unlocked. It simply is better overall in my opinion.

 

Think I am wrong, doubt I know what I am writing about? Let's try a simple test. I don't recommend doing this with a pistol because of the chances that something could go wrong even if you think the pistol is completely unloaded (as all to often proves not to be the case in accidental and negligent discharges). So, please, use something that approximates the size and weight of your loaded pistol. What you are going to do, and you need an assistant, is to grip the item (something that has little to no potential to hurt you or your assistant - so don't use a bladed weapon or tool either) that you have substituted for your pistol and hold it out at full arms length just like the guy wearing the red shirt in the photograph is holding his pistol. Make sure the arm and elbow are fully extended (hyperextended) with wrist, elbow and shoulder locked. Now hold it out like that for one minute while holding whatever is representing your gun in that hand. Have your assistant watch the clock and watch and maybe even video your arm. Think that will be easy without getting the shakes, well let me add a little twist. As you hold it in your fully extended arm, with your joints locked, aim over the top of it at a target at least 10 yards away although 15 to 25 would be better and make sure to keep it aimed at center mass.  Did you get the shakes or strain to hold it on target. And no, I don't mean did it sway or move a bit - did you get the shakes and strain? I am going to say yes you did at least a bit - correct me if I am wrong.

 

Now, take a break. Wait at least 10 minutes and exercise your arm a bit by flexing it once or three times to loosen it up from the strain you just put on it. Take the item into your shooting hand again and this time extend your arm fully but once you have achieved that, bend your elbow a bit - I would say enough so that your fully extended hand moves back and up at least an inch or two. (Or you can start with it bent without ever fully extending your arm and locking the elbow.) Now aim in on the target and try to hold the aim keeping your elbow bent just a bit. Did you strain much and get the shakes. probably not but if the answer is yes, think about if it was as soon as you did before when your arm was hyperextended with elbow locked? My bet is that is you are the average Joe or Jane, it took longer for you to become so strained as to start shaking.

 

If you did strain and start to shake, with either method, did you make the mistake most shooters make and stiffen your arm even more, or extend it fully if your elbow had been bent, fully locking your elbow joint? Did you also grip tighter on the pistol grip? Both of those actions only make you shake more as they add more strain. If instead you had flexed your elbow in and out a bit, you would have mitigated most of the strain. You can shoot comfortably, much longer, with the elbow bent a bit than with it hyperextended.

 

Are you still doubtful that what I am telling you truly amounts to the bent elbow hold being the stronger stance? Here is yet another test you can take to see which position is the steadier way to hold a pistol while shooting one handed. Hold your item, that represents the pistol straight out, extended as far from you body as possible while still in a pistol holding like grip and have your partner slowly, firmly and steadily start to push down on your hand from above - in other words your assistant is adding weight. (Please don't use a pistol loaded or unloaded for this.) Try to offer resistance with your arm still extended that way - in other words, try to hold the item representing your pistol in place still aimed in on target. Tell me, no actually tell yourself, how easy or difficult was it to offer resistance. The test is only half done.

 

Once that part I done, give yourself a break and flex a bit to loosen up. Take a few minutes rest. Now, old the item representing your pistol the way I recommend, arm extended but with elbow bent a bit and keep it aimed on target. Have your assistant do the same thing to add weight by pushing down slowly, firmly and steadily on your 'gun' holding hand. (Again, please don't use a pistol loaded or unloaded for this.) As the assistant does so, you should be resisting remembering to only use the strength in your 'pistol' holding arm to do so. Which way were you able to offer more resistance, with your elbow bent or with it locked in place. If you think it was the same each time, ask your assistant which way was easy to push your arm down.

 

Unless you are a freak of nature or did not do the tests as I explained them, you will find that the bent elbow method was the stronger. It works exactly the same way when shooting a pistol.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

 

 

Fahrenheit 451 - Islamic Style

Fahrenheit 451 was a novel (later made into a movie), by Ray Bradbury, about a society in which books were banned. If books were discovered anywhere, they were seized and burned in mass. The title of the story was supposedly the temperature at which ignited.

Today, a similar story is unfolding but it is not fiction. ISIS is destroying books by the thousands if not tens or hundreds of thousands. The most recent episode was their burning of the library in Mosul, Iraq where it has been estimated that ISIS destroyed thousands of volumes including 8,000 rare books and manuscripts. For more info see this linked article.

In Farenheit 451, hope was held out for books surviving at least in memorized form. A group of dissidents, each assigned a single book, would read it over and over again to memorize every word of every line of it. Unlike the story in the novel, where there was hope that books would remain forever in our legacy, people today are not reading and memorizing books in secret to prevent their destruction by ISIS. The truth be told, even if folks in Iraq, and other areas plagued by the animals of ISIS, were trying to memorize each word of every line in every book - it would be of little good since ISIS has made it clear they have absolutely no compunction against burning people to death as easily as they burn books and buildings to destroy them. It is odd, their sheer hatred for the entire population of the earth who are not Islamic along the same exact lines as are they as to how readily they burn works including the Bible; yet, they work themselves into a frenzied psychotic killing madness should even a single page of the Q'ran be burned. I fear the only hope we have of stopping ISIS (and al-Qaeda and the Taliban), and thus literally saving the rest of the world as we know it, is the utter destruction of each and every one who is part of it.

All the best,
Glenn B

Tight Skirts And Shooting

Ladies, there may be a darned good reason why you might not want to wear a very tight skirt while carrying a handgun and it has nothing to do with concealment. Watch the following gif and it should be self explanatory. Of course, a simple solution - other than shortening the skirt of wearing a looser fitting one - would be not to crouch when shooting.

Wearing tight fitting pants while you shoot though, looks okay to me.

All the best,
Glenn B

Back In The Day - There Were No Polymers In Guns...

and no silicone in...

Both had a certain feel -
the one of hard cold steel, 
 the other of being warm and real.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

 

There I Was Reading The Washington Times About Routh's Conviction...

...in the killings of Chad Littlefield and Chris Kyle (amen to that conviction) when I came across a link to "Bang for your buck: Best handguns under $500". I normally hate these links and the pages that pop up when you click on them, you know like the ones that promise to show sexy pics of the stars or the world's smartest dogs or whatever but this one was a link to something about guns and was on the site of a major newspaper in Washington, DC. As the Borg would have said, "resitence is futile" so I clicked away.

Amazingly enough, the page that came up when I clicked came up quickly without the delays caused by a ton of pop-up advertisements loading and there was not an overabundance of advertising period. In fact, it came up pretty quickly and I scrolled down a bit to look at the pic of the first gun, a Ruger P series pistol. There was a brief description of it. Under that there were loads of links to other "best of" type pages but I stuck with this one and clicked next. In all, there were 12 pages to go through that highlighted pistols from Bersa, Caracal, Kahr, Magnum Research Inc., Ruger, Springfield Armory and Smith & Wesson. Yes, there were only seven manufacturers represented in those 12 pages, Ruger and Bersa had multiple entries.

While it was not very informative to me, I would imagine it might get a newbie pointed in the right direction to look for a less expensive semi-automatic pistol. Yes, that means only semi-autos were covered, for some reason they did not consider something like a S&W 442 revolver to be eligible for inclusion.

I might have to take a look at some of the other gun related pages they had available, such as:

Best Handguns Ever Made

and:

Hollywood's Hottest Gunslingers

You can bet I at least looked at one of the other two already. They sure had some nice guns picked out!

All the best,
GB

They Keep Saying A Clown Nose For Your Pistol...

...is, in essence, something that will give a suspect one last chance to live . How? Basically by giving him a moment to pause and rethink if he should continue or cease his attack on an officer who just utilized a device that delivers a metal ball instead of a bullet into the criminal's body. The ball is supposed to have a shocking effect that stuns the attacker with less chance of lethality. I notice though, not once did anyone, pushing for the clown nose like device, hypothesize that by giving the suspect one more chance to live, you also are giving him one more chance to kill a law enforcement officer or other innocents! The less lethal force of the ball, instead of a bullet, could give the criminal all the time he needs to kill the cop or a bystander. 



I am all for putting an end to overuse of force by the police, I find it abhorrent. Yet, I also believe, LEOs need to be able to protect themselves with deadly force as them deem, within legal restrictions, to be necessary. While the guy pushing this device is saying the police will have an option as to when to use it, my bet is that political correctness would demand that officers use it each and every time they draw a handgun in self defense if it is issued in any given department o agency. In my opinion, this thing is ridiculous, to me it is just the same as using a rubber bullet or bean bag loaded as the first shot in the gun. In other words, I can see it as nothing more than dangerously ineffective. I also imagine that any head shot with it would hold a high probability of being deadly and it would be just another way for LE departments to increase the risk of death to citizens because the officers would be trained that it is less than, or less, lethal force. The agencies would then attempt to justify their officers having killed suspects with this device the same way they try to do with TAZER use. They will claim it was less lethal force and thus the risk was minimized - just as they say now with the rampant use of TAZERs under what often appear to be totally inappropriate circumstances.

I see no need for this thing, I think it's all hype and a way for a retired LEO to make money off of the system.

A hat tip and my thanks to Peter Q for sending me the video and for coining the alternate name of "clown nose" for the device.

All the best,
Glenn B



 

Water Versus Beer

 

 

That hits it on the head!

 

All the best,

Glenn  B

Friends And Snowflakes

 

Oh, I don't know about that one.

All the best,
Glenn B

If I Was In The Market For New Winter Boots...

...you can bet it wouldn't be these.

It had to be staged, I mean can she really be that dumb to have worn those things out on a day like that!

All the best,
GB

The Inadequacies of the M4, the M16 and 5.56x45mm Ammunition

The inadequacies of the M4 carbine, the M16 rifle and those of 5.56x45mm ammunition are discussed in: 'The U.S. Military's M4 Carbine, M16 Rifle and 5.56mm NATO Cartridge: A National Disgrace?', by author Randy Wakeman.

It is an interesting piece. That his conclusions are true would not surprise me, I have heard many of the same inadequacies expressed by others. I am not a military buff and thus do not know how current are all of the points made (the oldest date in the article was in 2010), or in other words if the U.S. government has found it prudent to replace those arms and that ammo as the main issue to our troops. Last I heard though, the M4 and M16 are still the primary small arms issued to the men and women who serve in our military and 5.56x45mm the ammo they shoot through them. I imagine, that no matter how many times it is proven that the 5.56x45mm round is suited only as a varmint cartridge (or maybe as a poodle shooter) and that it is not best suited as a military cartridge, it will remain the cartridge of choice by the DOD as long as the under table deals continue and as long as enough payola passes hands.

A hat tip and my thanks to Charlie F for sending me that article.

All the best,
Glenn B
 

Mayonaise...

...the snack of champions!

 

 

Yummy.

 

Later,

 GB

 

The Last Laugh...

...was had by Rudolph!

All the best,
Glenn B

Spousal Communications

Man, if that ain't the truth or half of it because it works both ways except with my wife it's wine.

All he best,
GB

The Oscars?

If I read it right, the post I saw on Facebook this morning indicated that the Oscars awards ceremony was held last night. Is that right? Who won? I turned on the news for a brief listen but they were talking about Obama and how he is ruing America and I just turned it off, it's getting boring hearing the same old but true stuff day in and day out.

All the best,
GB

And Yet Another Blog Added To The Blogroll

Just received an email from another blogger, David T, who gave my blog a link and I am happy to do likewise for him especially since his blog has such an alluring name: Musings Over A Pint. Besides that, he is also a firearms enthusiast. This one is listed under GRUMPS, GEEKS, GUN FOLKS AND GENIUSES - ALL NICE ENOUGH TO LINK TO MY BLOG. The site address is: http://www.musingsoverapint.com/.

All the best,
Glenn B

12 Year Old Slams Obama For Not Loving America

Out of the mouths of babes! This is one smart 12 year old.

All the best,
Glenn B

Yet Another Blog Added To The List

Just added I Aim To Misbehave to the blogroll under the header: TAKE A SHOT WITH THESE SHOOTIST BLOGGERS, NOT AT THEM. I was lured to that blog by Peter G from over at Bayou Renaissance Man when reading this post about another blogger calling him an evil man. It seems someone took up Peter's advice about Moonshine Cherries being excellent, the same advice Peter got from me. I guess that I am responsible for turning him toward the evil side, and now for indirectly turning someone else in that same direction, but it's a good kind of evil - really - it is!

The web address for the new blog is:

http://iaimtomisbehave.blogspot.com/.

While looking over the latest blog on my blogroll, please make sure to look at this particular post there. I don't often visit a site and immediately go to a linked raffle site to buy tickets but this time I did just that. I am betting on it being legitimate since the blog linking to it is linked to Peter G's blog, so I figure chances are everything is on the up and up.

All the best,
Glenn B

One Of The Few Steps In The Right Direction...

...that has been taken by Muslims to protest Islamic extremism reportedly was taken in Oslo, Norway recently. One rally though, on that small a scale (1,000 participants but no note was made as to how many were actually Muslims), is but a very a small step going in the right direction. I'd sure like to see a lot more of this around the world but my guess is that we will see many more terrorist acts committed by Muslims before we see even a few more protests by Muslims against terrorism committed in the name of Islam. More here.

All the best,
Glenn B

CDC Discovers Another New Virus - Can A Zombie Apocalypse Virus Be Far Off

Well, it looks as if outdoors types, in tick infested areas, may have something else to worry about - the Bourbon Virus. Nope, it does not have a thing to do with booze, it was named after the county in which it was discovered. They figure it may be deadly but are not sure yet. (More here.) Maybe it's because a new episode of The Walking Dead is on in an hour, or just because we keep getting outbreaks of deadly and new fangled diseases, but I am wondering if the one that causes the Zombie Apocalypse will be far behind.

All the best,
Glenn B

She Forgot Something...

...because she was in a hurry to get to the sale at Walmart.

All the best,
GB

When Vegans Ask - Just Show Them This

Shit, if it came down to it and I was starving, I'd probably eat all four starting with the pig and salad flowed by the dog and if it was the only thing left, then the daisies.

All the best,
Glenn B

Friggin Cats

 

 

Cats, it's a love - hate kind of thing with them.

 

Later,

GB

Glock Knocks The 1911 Down A Notch Or Three

What more can you say but that the Glock 19 must be one hell of a fine pistol when United States Marines prefer it over the once veritable choice of our armed forces - the 1911. Marines assigned to the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (aka: MARSOC) have been given the option of choosing the Glock 19 in 9mm over the Colt Defense LLC custom built 1911, the Colt M45 Close Quarter Battle Pistol, in .45 ACP (source). 

Colt M45 Close Quarter Battle Pistol

The custom built Colt M45 1911 pistols were chosen as the issue weapon for MARSOC in 2012 to replace Beretta M9s. The contract called for 12,000 of them plus spare parts and magazines at a whopping $1,875 each (source). Reportedly, most of the Marines currently within that command prefer the Glock over the 1911 although it was not specified as to whether it was a Gen 3 or Gen 4 model 19 that was chosen (source).

 
I have both a Glock 26 and a Remington R1 1911. I also carried a Glock 19 for many years at work. I loved my issued Glock 19, issued Glock 26 and love my personally owned Glock 26 but I also love my Remington R1 1911. I have to say though that for sheer simplicity of operation the hands down winner is the Glock. In addition, I can take the Glock apart and put it back together myself, I do not need a gunsmith to fix whatever might go wrong with it. (Yes, I am a certified Glock armorer but just about anyone who can handle a pistol properly could learn to do the same.) I surely cannot do that with the 1911 and if I could, my guess would be, it would require a set of tools to do so as opposed to the single punch pin style tool required to strip a Glock down. Also, no Glock I have ever fired ever has required a break-in period, tooling or customizing to have it deliver excellent performance; I don't think that the same can be said for many 1911s.

I am not going to debate knockdown potential of the 9mm compared to the .45ACP. I don't know why they opted for the Model 19 in 9mm over a Glock in .45ACP but that is what they have chosen as an option to the 1911. More rounds, less recoil maybe are the reasons but that also equates to less stopping power from each round. Of course, it may also mean better accuracy for a fatigued shooter and you can bet that Marines get fatigued while doing their jobs.

Whatever the reason, Gaston Glock is probably very pleased about it all.

All the best,
Glenn B

An Almost Forgotten Classic

This is one hell of a great song but I am sure that the Dew Drop Inn in this song is not the same as the one where I used to tip a few (although it doesn't sound all that much different).
 

All the best,
Glenn B

Just Ordered A Brick of 22 LR...

..at Palmetto State Armory and still almost can't believe that by the time I receive it I will have paid a total of $54.40 for it. It worked out to $39.90 for ten 50 round boxes, plus $3.50 shipping (additional shipping over the shipping for the other part of my order). I will also have to pay an additional $10 for the transfer to me from an FFL here in NY.

Just the ammo alone going for $40 still befuddles me. Virtually all other ammo has come down considerably in price (with the exception of M855 that just skyrocketed but that is another story) in recent months and availability of virtually all ammo has gone way up (again excepting M855) but for some reason 22LR is still priced sky high by most dealers. The one online exception I have seen is Cabella's but finding it available with them at their lower price is like hitting the lottery.

It's not like the ammo I just ordered is anything special either, it's Magtech 22LR, standard velocity, 40gr lead round nose ammo. I figure a decent price for it would be between .04 to .05 cents per round. I bought it anyway; I really am concerned that within the remaining time he has in office, president Obama and his cronies/henchmen will attempt something that will drive prices of ammunition even higher  (like a new tax) or may even attempt to place an outright ban on all ammo sales.

I probably would not have bought it as a stand alone item but figured, since I was already buying a hundred rounds of .308 WIN ammunition, I might as well add one brick's worth of it to the order. That only added another $3.50 to the shipping charge and the transfer fee in NY remains the same no matter how much ammo is in a single order. Such a deal, maybe I should have bought two or three or...

Now the long wait to receive it - PSA is notorious for taking about 2 weeks to ship an order. I don't mind the wait, I have more than enough 22LR to hold me over until then and well beyond.

By the way, Palmetto State Armory had a fairly decent price on Prvi Partizan .308 WIN, 180 grain, soft point ammo at $13.99 per box. I know I could have gotten a better price, by maybe a penny or two a round, on this particular 308 ammo but customer loyalty played a part in this order. Anyway, had I gotten it elsewhere, they probably would not have had the 22LR ammo in stock and maybe not the reliability that PSA is known for either.

All the best,
Glenn B

Global Warming (aka: Climate Change) Has Me Hopeful...

...that someday soon, I will once again see a sight like this blissful scene:

East Branch of the Delaware River, New York State.

In fact, Global Warming, or Climate Change (if you will) has warmed it up in my neck of the woods to an astounding 30 degrees Fahrenheit today! Can you imagine that, it's 30 friggin degrees - a veritable heat spell compared to what it has been lately.

The next thing you know it will be spring and trees will be budding and the Crosuses will be blooming and I'll be complaining about yard work.

All the best,
Glenn B

Che Guevara - A Brutal Killer & Commie

Che Guevara "...a good roll model for all of us...". I did not make that up, someone reportedly marching in an American Teachers' Union rally actually said that. Watch the look on her face when the reporter asked her to tell him a little bit about Che. That she knew almost nothing historically verifiable about him was obvious immediately, that she was the typical loony leftist who would say anything to support her ideology, whether truthful or not (such as her saying that he fought for labor rights and is a good roll model), became readily apparent within the time it took for only a couple of sentences to come out of her mouth. Imagine, she could be in a classroom educating indoctrinating your children.

Pay attention to the below video, she certainly was not the only one at that march with a similar attitude, look at all the others wearing Che Guevara t-shirts. They are the so called educators of our children. They should be ashamed of themselves. If President Obama ever wanted to apologize for the behavior of any of our citizens, that would be a good place to start but somehow I imagine he has at least one of those shirts in his own closet. He probably wears it as a nightie.

Really, pay attention to the video, learn a little history about the man that so many on the left idolize.
 

Che Guevara was a cold blooded killer who killed in the name of a revolution to instate communism. Communists have been responsible for more summary executions than were the Nazis. Did you catch the quote about not being able to determine if people were guilty before executing them, it is despicable.

If you don't believe that about him, that he was a heinous killer, and an oppressive tyrant, go to the history books and look it up or if you prefer - use the Internet. It's all there for you to see if you look for it as opposed to just seeking out leftist propaganda that glorifies him. Yet, for some reason, the same leftists who support trash like him want to take away my right to keep and bear arms. Screw them, stopping guys like him is one of the reasons we all should be well armed.

All the best,
Glenn B

Irrefutable

 

You may think that just so much fluff but in fact everything in it is supported by the attitude of 43% of the Democrat party. A recent Rasmussen poll has shown that a whopping 43% of demoncrats Democrats believe that President Obama should be allowed to disregard the courts when he decides to do so.

 

Along those same lines, President Obama criticized and faulted his predecessor President George W. Bush for allegedly disregarding the Constitution and Congress. Obama stated that if he were president he would reverse what he claimed GWB was doing. The truth be told, regarding virtually every of Bush's policies that Obama denounced, once he was in office, Obama extended or expanded on those policies (and created new and even more egregiously illegal ones) while exercising an utter, contemptible and illegal disregard of the Constitution, the Courts and the Congress.

 

I had thought that GWB was bad in his disregard for the Constitution on some issues but everything Obama does has intensified exactly the things for which Obama faulted Bush and more. In that regard, Obama has established himself as the Tyrant King of the American Presidency. As I best recall history, we in essence threw the last king and his minion out on their arses.

 

A hat tip and my thanks to Peter Q for the poster.



 

All the best,

Glenn B

  

For The Gun Owning Pussy Lover

Some guys love guns, some guys love pussy, some guys love both. The perfect thing, for the ones who love both (the gun owning pussy lovers), is right here.

All the best,
Glenn B

Bobblehead Bomber

I used to have a Bobblehead Mohammad Bomber. For the life of me, I cannot remember what I did with it or what happened to it. I doubt I gave it away or lost it and while it is possible that the wife threw it out when I was away on a work assignment, I get the 
extremely vague feeling, if not exactly a recollection, that it was stolen lifted from my desk when I worked for the G. Of course, I may have lost it on 9/11 in the Custom House at 6WTC. I really don't remember one way or the other with any certainty.

Now, I don't know exactly why it has come to mind, again and again, but it sure has been coming to mind quite a bit over the past several days. So much so that I sure wish I could find that one or at least a source for another one. I checked on Amazon, at Ebay and by doing a general search of the web but found nothing available. In fact, I could only find a single photograph of one online but it is exactly as I remeber the one I had so long ago.

Anyone know of a source?

All the best,
Glenn B