Guns and Ammo Thread

[almostgone]

The "belt fed" part is a bit of a misleading because it's also chute-fed, but there's a belt (non-disintegrating, I think) that runs inside the chute. The chute is made so that it won't bend in any configuration that might prevent the belt inside from feeding properly.

And in an infantry squad, everybody carries somebody else's extra ammo, whether it's the machine gunner's ammo cans or the mortar section's mortar rounds and base plates. The grunts long ago stopped carrying sleeping bags or shelter halves (pup tents) because the weight of the killing hardware took precedence over the weight of comfort items.


Which is one reason why:

LOL, yes I've lugged more than my fair share of cans and comms.

I knew the belt ran in a tracked chute, but as soon as I saw it, I was just trying to figure out if those beauties ever got tested for running away and what in the f*ck would be the immediate action.

Setting the headspace and timing on a .50 was one of my first tasks I learned when I hit the PLDC/ noncom course on the back of Ft. Jackson...long ago...in July....and I'm fairly decent with most firearm internals, but I had to ask the "runaway" question.

[The road]

The "belt fed" part is a bit of a misleading because it's also chute-fed, but there's a belt (non-disintegrating, I think) that runs inside the chute. The chute is made so that it won't bend in any configuration that might prevent the belt inside from feeding properly.

And in an infantry squad, everybody carries somebody else's extra ammo, whether it's the machine gunner's ammo cans or the mortar section's mortar rounds and base plates. The grunts long ago stopped carrying sleeping bags or shelter halves (pup tents) because the weight of the killing hardware took precedence over the weight of comfort items.


Which is one reason why:

In regards to the cartoon... Rangers are special forces.

[Beetlegeuse]

In regards to the cartoon... Rangers are special forces.

No, they aren't.

Special Forces QC is a separate qualification from Ranger school. Some Rangers (primarily the 75th Ranger Rgmt) work for JSOC as Special Operations Forces but SF is separate and distinct from SOF. Even the Ranger school grads acknowledge there is a wide gulf between being "Ranger-qualified" versus serving in a Ranger unit.

The vast majority of soldiers who attend Ranger school do it just for the career-enhancement or bragging rights. They'll never serve in even an Infantry unit, much less a Ranger unit. Most just go back to the whatever job they had before; aviator, JAG lawyer, tracked vehicle mechanics, clerk-typist, ... whatever. But simply the fact that you were selected to attend SFQC means there's an SF job waiting for you if you manage to graduate.

The 75th only got absorbed by JSOC because Sheikh Obama (piss be upon him) was so afraid of the fallout if the demoncrat peace-niks discovered how many people he was ordering killed that he used clandestine means for doing his dirty work. But he was very ambitious in his killing and set the operational tempo of the SpecWar community so high that they were wearing out snake-eaters faster than they could be replaced. It takes 4-5 years from enlistment to grow even a minimally-qualified "operator," and two or three years more if you want one with some experience under his belt, so you need close to a decade to prepare for the accelerated attrition that Obama (PBUH) precipitated. But if the length of the supply chain posed a problem, the 75th Rangers offered a solution. They had a similar discipline, work ethic and physical hardness as SF, many of the same skill sets, and many of them already were battle-hardened.

So JSOC 'requisitioned' them from the Army. Which is how the 75th comes to work for DoD's (interservice) JSOC rather than the Army's SOCOM.


EDIT:
And I forgot, Special Forces now is its own branch within the Army. That's actually probably the single biggest difference between SF and the Rangers. SF is its own branch (with Infantry, Armor, Artillery, Engineering, Aviation, etc.) so it has its own independent command structure headed by a (2-star) Major General. Rangers are part of the Infantry branch so they wear the Infantry branch insignia (crossed rifles) and baby blue color on the dress uniform epaulets and piping. The SF branch insignia is crossed arrows and its color is jungle green.

[The road]

No, they aren't.

Special Forces QC is a separate qualification from Ranger school. Some Rangers (primarily the 75th Ranger Rgmt) work for JSOC as Special Operations Forces but SF is separate and distinct from SOF. Even the Ranger school grads acknowledge there is a wide gulf between being "Ranger-qualified" versus serving in a Ranger unit.

The vast majority of soldiers who attend Ranger school do it just for the career-enhancement or bragging rights. They'll never serve in even an Infantry unit, much less a Ranger unit. Most just go back to the whatever job they had before; aviator, JAG lawyer, tracked vehicle mechanics, clerk-typist, ... whatever. But simply the fact that you were selected to attend SFQC means there's an SF job waiting for you if you manage to graduate.

The 75th only got absorbed by JSOC because Sheikh Obama (piss be upon him) was so afraid of the fallout if the demoncrat peace-niks discovered how many people he was ordering killed that he used clandestine means for doing his dirty work. But he was very ambitious in his killing and set the operational tempo of the SpecWar community so high that they were wearing out snake-eaters faster than they could be replaced. It takes 4-5 years from enlistment to grow even a minimally-qualified "operator," and two or three years more if you want one with some experience under his belt, so you need close to a decade to prepare for the accelerated attrition that Obama (PBUH) pulled. But if the length of the supply chain posed a problem, the 75th Rangers offered a solution. They had a similar discipline, work ethic and physical hardness as SF, many of the same skill sets, and many of them already were battle-hardened.

So JSOC 'requisitioned' them from the Army. Which is how the 75th comes to work for DoD's (interservice) JSOC rather than the Army's SOCOM.

I recanted i cant edit lol

[The road]

Nvm... I just learned something.
Didnt figure beetle would be wrong.

Please dont throw a novel at me!

[almostgone]

Nvm... I just learned something.
Didnt figure beetle would be wrong.

Please dont throw a novel at me!

Blame it on the hear, buddy. That's my excuse these days.

[jstone]

Nvm... I just learned something.
Didnt figure beetle would be wrong.

Please dont throw a novel at me!

Isnt it wierd that only one ranger betallion is considered special forces.

[Beetlegeuse]

You just gotta love this shit. A pump-action not-quite-an-AR, the Hera Arms VRB in .223.

Franklin Armory makes the Provenance, which they call "a non-semi-auto" AR, intended for markets that restrict or forbid semi-autos. The Provenance has a (sort of) DAO trigger and (sort of) fires from an open bolt, but ignition and extraction both are powered entirely by the shooter cycling the trigger. They only thing that happens automatically is the bolt locking in the breech. Unlocking and extraction only happen when the trigger is pulled, which also produces the firing later in the same stroke of the trigger.

But IMHO this one-ups the Provenance because it can run a far lighter, crisper trigger pull. Better still, the VRB lacks any semblance of a pistol grip or bayonet lug. So except for the plastic furniture, the Picatinney rail and KeyMod handguard, there's nothing to distinguish it from any other sporting rifle. And it's a big EFF YOU writ large to the anti-gunners. It's not an AR but is compatible with some AR parts, most notably the trigger group, so you could run your Guyzlee in this.

And frankly I'm shocked Franklin Armory didn't think of this first.




Apologies in advance who anyone die kein sprechen but I doubt they're completely ignoring the 'Murricun market so expect the English version shortly.

[Beetlegeuse]

Colion Noir as the guest on Joe Rogan's podcast.



Joe says he chose to bring Colion on at this time because he does a credible job of explaining the Pew-Pew crowd's side of the RKBA question. Interesting discussion ... if long.


EDIT:
37 minutes in, Colion mentions he's being "shadow-banned" on Instagram.

[Beetlegeuse]

Bizzy news week.

Studies are mixed as to whether universal background checks have any impact on gun crime. The fact that there is no clear evidence that they are of any benefit makes them a needless burden on the firearms ecosystem and they should be discontinued.

Which is still further proof that you can have crime without guns but you can't have gun crime without criminals. Efforts to control gun crime but that fail to address the criminal element are hopelessly stupid and have little to no impact apart from further burdfening the law abiding.



The Roberts Court Will Not Defend the Second Amendment, Ever!

...The Roberts’ Court will not take up another Second Amendment case unless the Court is able to sidestep the core 2A issue as in the Voisine case, or in the recent NYC gun transport case, or when or if the liberal wing knows it has a decisive majority. That would be calamitous. It would sound the death knell for Heller and McDonald. Once our right to keep and bear arms will be lost, our Nation will be undone.

Thus, the conservative wing won’t wish to hear a Second Amendment case unless it knows that Roberts is on board, and Roberts will never be on board.

Understand, each Justice knows how each of the others would resolve a case before any vote is cast to grant cert or to deny cert on a case.

Justice Thomas’s scathing dissents reflect his knowledge—which obviously, he cannot express openly—that Roberts will not support the Second Amendment. It is as simple as that.

So, forget further support from the High Court apropos of the preservation of and strengthening of our Bill of Rights, given the Court’s current composition with five Justices clearly antithetical to preservation and strengthening of our fundamental, unalienable, immutable, illimitable rights and liberties.

Those five Justices antithetical to the preservation and strengthening of our sacred rights and liberties include: Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Chief Justice John Roberts, whom the seditious, tabloid, New York Times continually, invariably, and deceptively includes in the roster of the conservative-wing of the High Court.

Of the conservative-wing, only Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito adhere, most consistently, to the import of the text of the Constitution as originally ratified and to the import of Statutes as written.

The current majority on the Roberts Court may neuter the Bill of Rights, but they cannot so easily neutralize an armed citizenry that refuses to give up its natural rights.



MSM Outlets Are “Angry” The Lost Control Of The Gun Control Narrative

Mac Slavo
June 24th, 2020
SHTFplan.com

At least one major mainstream media outlet, the LA Times, has been reportedly “angry” that gun sales have shot up because of the tyrannical takeover of government in response to the COVID-19 panic they induced. Apparently, fear can have effects on the public that the MSM and government do no want – more self-reliance.

According to a report by Big League Politics, the LA Times is “throwing a fit” that other humans are buying weapons to defend themselves against the obvious tyranny. Remember, this follows their theme. The more dependent you are on them and the system they set up against you, the easier you will be to control. Taking your self-defense into your own hands was never a part of their plans. In fact, the LA Times editorial board described the increase in gun sales as follows:

Since the start of the pandemic, Americans are buying more guns. The FBI says it conducted a record 3.7 million background checks for would-be gun buyers, a loose proxy for firearm sales, in March as lockdown orders spread across the nation. In April the checks dropped to 2.9 million but rebounded to 3.1 million in May. The monthly average for 2019 — itself a record year for background checks — was 2.4 million. So even as we get fresh studies connecting possession of firearms with increased risk of gun violence, accidental shootings (usually by children) and suicides, we are adding more firearms to the nation’s already numbingly large privately owned arsenal of some 300 million guns (no reliable count is available) owned by about a third of the population. -LA Times

The board goes on to say that this amount of gun sales can be considered “madness.”

Breitbart News reported Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting’s chief economist Jurgen Brauer noted “the ratio of handguns to long-gun sold…[set] a new record of 1.94” in April. That ratio “[broke] the previous high of 1.84 set just one month ago.” The uptick in handgun purchases are indicative of a populace feeling like an extra layer of self-defense in warranted.

I’ve often suggested stocking up on three metals: gold, silver, and lead.

[Beetlegeuse]

An interesting read for all the EBR guys:

Damn kids today have it good when it comes to the AR-15

looserounds.com/2020/06/25/damn-kids-today-have-it-good-when-it-comes-to-the-ar-15/



How about a gun that shoots ... arrows? The XBR Crackshot uses the .27-cal nail gun cartridge as a "blank" behind an arrow. I think it's the same cartridge that the Winchester .17 WSM is based on but it might be modified.



Shoots a 16-inch arrow at 385 fps. They don't speak specifically to accuracy except to sat that groups at 50 yards were "impressive."

[Beetlegeuse]

Remington is flirting with bankruptcy. Again. For the second time in three years. Last time they came out of restructuring they turned down an offer of somewhere near $500 million from the Navajo Nation and the Navajos reportedly are interested again.

As part of the sovereignty accorded it by the United States, the Navajo Nation is largely immune to personal injury law suits from the US legal system. Which makes the deal sound ideal, right? Because they would be insulated from the "death from a thousand cuts" nuisance lawsuits that have brought down so many legitimate gun makers in the past. So all we've to to do to shore up the RKBA ecosystem is move all the gun factories onto the Navajo reservation. Done and dusted, right?

Except that the Navajos have their own ideas for a new business model. What they were talking in the 2018 negotiations was discontinuing manufacture of sporting arms, focusing on the military and LEO community, and investing in smart gun technology.

So if they can strike a deal, and if they intend following through with the 2018 plan, then they'll be insolvent, too, quickern' you can say "Kimosabe." Unless they can get "minority status priority" in sales to government agencies. Which could happen. One of the two richest men in the town where I live used the fact that he's 1/64th Indian to get "minority preference" jobs from the state for his construction company. I don't know what the company is worth but they've got their own hangar at the local municipal airport with three business jets and five turboprops in it. And the company is still private, still owned entirely by the one guy. So there's money in being an Indian. BIG money, if you know where to fish for it.

Regardless, Remington is a historic company and once was a proud marque; I hate to see it rotting away as it has for the last decade+ under incompetent management. It would be nice to see someone at the helm who could restore it to its former greatness.

[Capebuffalo]

Glock mag fed. $5000

[Beetlegeuse]

Glock mag fed. $5000

A hand-cranked Gatling gun, you might know, is not an NFA device. But it is if you add an electric motor.


Gun Broker-dot-com is hawking what they claim is Indiana Jones' revolver. Opening bid is $5 million USD. No, I'm not kidding.

[i_SLAM_cougars]

Glock mag fed. $5000

love the trailer hitch setup

[Beetlegeuse]

Antifa has eclipsed Sheik Obama (piss be upon him) and Slick Willie Klinton for inspiring the greatest gun-buying binge in history.

"You're seeing a reaction to people's concerns about being able to provide safety for themselves and the ones that they love," Oliva told CNN Business.

More than 6.5 million gun-sale background checks were conducted from January 1 through April 30, according to the latest NSSF research, which showed a 48% year-over-year rise from the same period in 2019. Firearms retailers surveyed by NSSF in May estimated that 40% of their sales came from first-time gun buyers.

Oliva said 40% of those first-time gun buyers were women, a relatively high rate for that demographic group. Although gun sales have been up across the country, a rise in first-time gun buyers in left-leaning states like have helped fuel the national uptick in firearms and ammunition purchases, he noted.

"People are coming off the fences and the sidelines and they're making decisions with their wallets about where they are in this debate about firearms ownership."

(emphasis added)

In 1970, the USA manufactured a total of 3 million firearms for civilian, LEA and military use (and imported but only very few). At this rate, by the end of 2020 year American civilians will have bought 12 million firearms just this year.

[The Deadlifting Dog]

Antifa has eclipsed Sheik Obama (piss be upon him) and Slick Willie Klinton for inspiring the greatest gun-buying binge in history.

FYI: President Obama wasn't a Muslim.
Perhaps you are trying to claim he is?

Also, I find it very telling about your character that you blame two former presidents for the rise in gun sales but you refuse to credit President trump for any of this increase during his presidency.

IMO: President Trump is very responsible for the affairs in this nation. To deny it is laughable. Just my opinion.

[Capebuffalo]

FYI: President Obama wasn't a Muslim.
Perhaps you are trying to claim he is?

Also, I find it very telling about your character that you blame two former presidents for the rise in gun sales but you refuse to credit President trump for any of this increase during his presidency.

IMO: President Trump is very responsible for the affairs in this nation. To deny it is laughable. Just my opinion.

You need to relax buddy. Take a breath.

[The Deadlifting Dog]

You need to relax buddy. Take a breath.

Point noted.
Will do.

[The Deadlifting Dog]

You need to relax buddy. Take a breath.

Beetleqeuse, my apologies.

I should have worded my post.

President Obama is not a Muslim.
President Clinton did not have sexual relations with that woman.
And President Trump is more responsible than Antifa for the chaos in our country at this moment IMO.

I should've made my points without being a confrontational ass.

Capebuffalo, thanks again. I should breathe before I type. Lesson learned.

[Beetlegeuse]

... إذا كان يبدو بطة

[Beetlegeuse]

...ويمشي مثل البطة ...

[The Deadlifting Dog]

I've dressed up as a woman.
It doesn't mean I have tits. (Wish I did.)

https://www.politifact.com/article/2...-obama-muslim/

The funny thing about the whole Obama being Muslim thing is that it was started by Hillary Clinton. (Not sure she has tits either.)

[BG]

I've dressed up as a woman.
It doesn't mean I have tits. (Wish I did.)

https://www.politifact.com/article/2...-obama-muslim/

The funny thing about the whole Obama being Muslim thing is that it was started by Hillary Clinton. (Not sure she has tits either.)

Funny

[Honkey_Kong]

I've dressed up as a woman.
It doesn't mean I have tits. (Wish I did.)

https://www.politifact.com/article/2...-obama-muslim/

The funny thing about the whole Obama being Muslim thing is that it was started by Hillary Clinton. (Not sure she has tits either.)

She wasn't that bad when she was young.

[Beetlegeuse]

FBI: June 2020 Shattered Firearm Background Check Record

June 2020 witnessed nearly 4,000,000 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks, shattering not only the record for any previous June but also the record for any single month, period.

FBI numbers showed 3,931,607 NICS checks conducted in June, besting the previous single-month record of 3,740,688 in March 2020.

This means June 2020 witnessed more background checks than any single month has witnessed in the 20 years background checks for retail sales have been required. This also means that June 2020 continues the trend of each month from March forward witnessing more checks in 2020 than it ever has.

In other words, January 2020 set the record for NICS checks for the month of January, February 2020 for the month of February, March 2020 for the month of March, and on and on through June 2020.

Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting examined the background check numbers and estimated 2,387,524 guns were sold in June 2020. That represents an increase of 145.3 percent over June 2019.

[Beetlegeuse]

I censored this headline (and the article) because I do not approve of the use of the pejorative. The magazine that comes in the box with the gun from the factory is by definition is of the standard capacity, regardless of how many rounds it holds. To call it anything else is disingenuous or mendacious or both but in any case deliberately prejudicial. Even magazines of greater capacity than the standard mags -- like a 100-round drum magazine -- should not be referred to with said pejorative because to do so is effectively ceding control of the language to the hoplophobes. And in an ideological debate, the party that controls the language is the guaranteed winner.

At least the author gets it right in the article's final paragraph.

Why You Have a Constitutional Right to a **** Capacity Magazine

Even as the very scenario that demonstrates the need for ****-capacity magazines unfolded in St. Louis, the Colorado Supreme Court endorsed the view that you don’t need one.

With no police or security within sight, Mark and Patricia McCloskey stood with their backs to their house wielding a small pistol and an AR-15. The “peaceful protest” featured a screaming scrum of hundreds smashing down the gate to a privately-owned neighborhood as they poured onto the privately-owned street just a few feet from the McCloskey residence. Considering the many buildings the mobs in recent weeks have burned, the victims they have assaulted, and the neighborhoods they have destroyed, the McCloskeys determined to remain physically safe, if terrorized. The mob screamed at and taunted the McCloskeys. But it dared not assault the armed homeowners.

Less than 1,000 miles to the west, at almost the precise moment, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld a Colorado law banning the very magazine Mr. McCloskey used to load the weapon with which he defended his home from the mob. Seldom has history presented such a dramatic split screen.

Even as the very scenario that demonstrates the need for ****-capacity magazines unfolded in St. Louis, the Colorado Supreme Court endorsed the view that, “the fifteen-round limit was not only based on a valid, reasonable, safety concern, but is reasonable and does not impose on the constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms for self-defense or defense of home or property.”

Earlier that month, only a few short miles from the Colorado Supreme Court, shopkeepers watched helplessly as vandals and looters rampaged through their downtown area. How do mobs honor the memory of George Floyd by looting $25,000 in merchandise from a small business? George who? No such high-minded principle guides these mobs.

We’ve been told we don’t need “weapons of war,” to protect ourselves because the police will do that job. Let’s be honest: against such forces the police can’t even protect themselves. Not since the post-Civil War reconstruction era have mobs conquered not one, but two police installations in major metropolitan areas. We don’t have to hypothesize about a potential breakdown in civil order. We have one. When the mobs have the political winds at their backs, the police are easily overwhelmed.

What might the mob have done to the McCloskeys had they not produced a credible firearm deterrent? The McCloskeys reported seeing at least one handgun in the mob. They recounted how the mob threatened to burn down their house and harm them. This wasn’t an NRA fantasy invented to justify opposition to gun control laws. It happened. From June 29, 2020 onward, all bans on private ownership ****-capacity magazines should be deemed unconstitutional...

... It’s easy to see from a distance whether an AR-15 has a magazine loaded. Without a magazine, the AR-15 is just an expensive and ineffective club. It’s the very presence of that **** capacity magazine in the McCloskey AR-15 that made firing it unnecessary... (emphasis added)

... Too many times in the last month, police have abandoned their citizens to the ruthless mob. Like a tool, every gun has a specific purpose. An AR-15, credibly loaded with a standard-capacity magazine, is exactly the right tool to hold off a violent mob threatening a home, a business, or bodily harm.

[spywizard]

yep, this year "the police will protect you" has gone out the window, with 4 million new guns in July alone being sold in the USA... the police will even tell you directly in writing "We are not here to protect the citizen public" cali, colorado, florida (these are the ones i know 1st hand), Minnesota

[Beetlegeuse]

Hot off the presses, there were 314,319 NICS checks run in the most recently concluded calendar quarter vice 217,444 in the same (second) quarter of 2019. Which means America bought 30% more guns that quarter in than at the frenetic pace already set in 2019. Huzzah for the Anti-Fascist Fascists and Black Lies Matter for being history's greatest gun salesmen!

In addition, there were 5,801 NICS denials in Q2 2020 vice 3,085 in Q2 2019. So in 2020 denials occurred at almost twice the rate of 2019. Of the 5801 2020 denials, only 1,238 (vs. 1197 in 2019) were forwarded to law enforcement channels for enforcement and 83 people (vs. 42 in 2019) actually arrested.

Which means an undisclosed number of citizens paid $3,143,190 for NICS checks and all the Feds had to show for it was 83 arrests. Comes to about $38,000 per arrest, some pretty expensive investigating. Also robbed the Pew-Pew ecosystem the ownership of near as makes no difference 7000 Glocks or similarly-priced firearms.

That also means that the FBI didn't care about 5718 of the 5801 citizens whose attempted gun purchase was flagged, which means 98.5% of all the NICS positives were false. You can be flagged by NICS for having a bench warrant issued for your arrest for failing to appear in court to answer for a parking ticket but I hardly think that rises to the threshold that should be required for denying a citizen their right to own a firearm.



And to make matters worse, you can't appeal a false positive. Although there is an appeals process, Sheikh Obama (piss be upon him) ordered the FBI to stop processing them in November of 2015 and they have not yet resumed. Which means the FBI was (and is) disobeying existing federal law in order to comply with the dictates of Sheikh Obama (PBUH). So not only is the Brady Bill an infringement on 2A, the lack of an appeals process violates two of the bedrock tenets of American jurisprudence, the presumption of innocence (a power generally confined to the IRS) and the right to confront your accuser.

But even before the complete cessation was ordered in November of 2015, apparently the FBI had been dragging its feet on the appeals process for the entire Obama (PBUH) administration. The law firm I linked to above, Stamboulieh Law of Madison Mississippi, has featured prominently in several pro-gun cases. In this instance they sued the government on behalf of a client who had filed for appeal of NICS denial in 2010!!! Remarkably, they filed the suit on June 6 and announced on June 15 that the appeal had been granted.

So the FBI failed to act for six years and only got off their asses and did their phony-baloney jobs under direct threat of legal action.

So since there effectively is no appeal process, that makes for 5718 (Q2 2020) citizens who were unjustly denied the right to a firearm by the fecklessness of the Brady Bill (and in defiance of 2A). And that was just in one quarter of one year.

Speaking to the false positives, an accounting audit conducted by the Inspector General of the United States concluded that from 2008 through 2015, the Feds prosecuted "less than (sic) 32 subjects per year." (bad syntax, should have been "fewer than 32" subjects/year)

Over that same eight year period there were 142,399,507 NICS checks conducted at the cost to the citizenry of $1,423,995,070, (=~3.2 million Glocks or similar) resulting in fewer than 256 prosecutions. Comes to >$5,562,480 per prosecution. I'd call that money well spent.



Not.

[Beetlegeuse]

Belt-Fed Bullpup Lever-Action Rifle Chambered in .44 Magnum


click to embiggen

A dude in formerly great Britain took a Ruger 96-44 lever gun and converted it to a lever-action, belt-fed bullpup that feeds from a drum magazine. And it's UK-legal.

Utterly coolio.

[SampsonandDelilah]

Where do I get one? ^^^^

[Beetlegeuse]

More proof that artificial limits on magazine capacity are stupid and only put gun owners at greater risk. This incident occurred two days ago.

A woman Michigan Sheriff's deputy (of 22-1/2 years experience) pulled over a man who reportedly just had stabbed an elderly man in the face in an argument over not wearing a coronapanic mask. The suspect emerged from his vehicle carrying what appears to be two knives in his right hand and a large flathead screwdriver in his left. He ignored the deputy's repeated commands to drop his weapons and she fired -- by my count -- 12 or 13 rounds at powder burn distance.

Four of her first five shots were COM hits but the suspect continued to pursue her and he managed to strike her gunhand with what appears to me to be the screwdriver after her fifth shot. She evidently was uninjured but the blow might have been what caused her gun to jam, which she quickly cleared and continued to fire. The mook was still moving after he fell to the ground but later died in hospital.

This might be disturbing to watch. It's police video of footage from a nearby doorbell cam showing the stop followed by video from the deputy's body cam. It's pretty evident from his movement after he exited his car that he was up to no good.



And imagine the deputy's dilemma if there had been a second assailant. She wouldn't have had enough bullets to go around without a reload, even if she were carrying a Glock 17.

I wouldn't expect autopsy results for another few days but I'll be interested to hear the toxicology results, as well as how well the deputy shot. To press the issue with a police officer who already has the drop on you and all you have are edged weapons reeks of "suicide by cop" but the extreme violence of the earlier attack on an old man makes me wonder if he was on drugs, particularly PCP. How else do you explain two knives in one hand and a screwdriver in the other? That's just plain weird.

This attack put me in mind of the July 2017 incident when Atlantic City police shot a suspect 45 times.

It started when police received a call that the subject appeared drunk and was brandishing a firearm at patrons in a restaurant. He fled in his SUV when police arrived and at one point fired at them from his moving vehicle. Police pursued for about 10 miles and the SUV ultimately was spun out when the subject ran a red light and a motorist in crossing traffic at the intersection accidentally administered a textbook PIT maneuver to the subject's vehicle.

So when the pursuit ended and police had him cornered, you know nothing short of thoroughly convincing display of contrition was going to save his life. But no, this idiot stepped out of the car with his gun raised.

A dashcam video of the incident, which is potentially more disturbing than the previous video, is here.

The police had to shoot him 45 times (that's not 45 shots fired, that's 45 GSWs by the coroner's count) because:

1. Official Atlantic City police policy dictated that firing should continue so long as the suspect retains his weapon (which is the prevalent policy in American LEAs). This mook continued to grip his weapon and demonstrate voluntary motion until he'd been shot 45 times.

2. From the outset the subject was surrounded so police knew this fight would be over in a hurry. Although civilians were around, the tactical situation escalated too rapidly to do anything apart from engage with all possible violence and get the fight over with as quickly as possible. There were six or seven police involved, so the subject was too outgunned for police to take unnecessary risks by exposing themselves to return fire. So they mostly stood behind whatever "hard cover" was available and fired primarily with their service weapons (although there were at least two long guns in use, one a rifle and the other a shotgun). Because of the distance from the nearest hard cover to the subject, most of the hits from handguns were peripheral and caused too little damage to end the fight.

3. The tox screen done during the autopsy showed he was on PCP, AKA angel dust or Vitamin K. Ketamine is a tranquilizer used primarily on farm animals (horses, for the most part) and has the unique ability to suppress the sensation of pain without depressing cardiovascular function. It also causes some people to become wildly maniacal. Good shit to be on if you're hoping to walk through a hail of bullets and keep fighting back so long as there's a spark of life left in you.

I count ~17 shots fired before the subject fell. No idea how many of those were fired by whom.

At about 22 seconds you can see two small flashes at the subject's right hip, occurring a fraction of a second apart and each visible for only one frame. I suspect that a police rifleman switched to targeting his pelvis hoping to cause a mechanical structure failure that would deprive the subject of the ability to stand or walk. The flashes probably were sparking from bullets hitting something metallic in the subject's pants pocket, house keys or crack pipe, and might even have come from near-simultaneous shots from different riflemen. Or the first flash might have been the bullet striking a butane lighter, and she second flash was the escaping gas igniting. In any case, the shot (or shots) was perfectly placed and in less than a full stride after the flashes, the subject slumps to the ground.

Once he was on the ground, all the fire was incoming. At 26 seconds the subject flashes gang sign with his left hand, a feat that probably elevated him to sainthood among his gang of peeps.

The proximal cause of death, according to the coroner, was a single shot to the top of the head. AC IA and a grand jury cleared all LEOs involved of any impropriety.

As a side note, right after this incident and before all the pertinent facts were released, the owner of Alien Gear Holsters felt the need to publicly take a big shit on the Atlantic City police department for the obvious excessive use of force. Which is why I won't buy anything from him and hope his business fails. I don't just support the cops so long as I'm sure they're right, I support them until the fullness of time proves them wrong. Besides, CrossBreed and Comp-Tac and about a dozen other companies sell an almost identical product at a comparable price, and AFAIK none of them has ever publicly disrespected or disparaged that thin blue line. YMMV.


Back on topic, it's not always the drugs that makes people hard to kill. The tox screen of both subjects came back clean from the FBI's infamous 1986 Miami shoot-out. But both mooks were career criminals spoiling for a fight. And they knew that if they couldn't escape capture, it was incumbent upon them to go down guns a-blazing. So by the time the FBI had rammed their car and disabled it, they were amped on adrenaline and piss & vinegar, ready and willing to fight to the death and looking for as much company as they could recruit for the ride to hell.

Six of the seven men present fired at least one weapon and between them discharged more than 125 rounds. The two mooks absorbed 14 hits from 9mm and .38+P between them, yet both remained ambulatory and were attempting to steal an FBI sedan when their careers finally were brought to an end by the 15th & 16th hits, both administered to the back of their heads from coup de grâce range.


The moral of this story is, it's not even remotely possible to ever have too much ammunition ... unless you're drowning or on fire.

[Beetlegeuse]

I find this interesting. India is switching from the home-built hybrid-sorta-AK-203 in 5.56 NATO to the Sig 716, which is an OpRod AR-10 pattern rifle, in 7.62 NATO.

They abandoned an 'updated' Kalashnikov design in favor of a 65-year-old Stoner design.

[almostgone]

The 716 in 7.62 NATO ought to be a sweet ride. SIG is really carving a name for themselves on government contracts. LOL, I wonder if that is why SIG has dropped their recommendation of TW25B grease and oils and seem to be calling for CLP usage even in civilian firearms. E

That new MG338 is supposed to be a whole new ballgame in terms of weight (21 pounds), heat dissipation, superior ballistics of the 338 Norma Mag round over the the 7.62 x 51, and to top it off several components are ambidextrous. The suppressor offering kind of threw me unless they are managing the rate of fire when it is in use.

Thought the barrel shifting to reduce recoil was pretty nifty as well, although I believe it has been done before.

[Beetlegeuse]

A St Louis circuit court prosecutor (who bears all the hallmarks of a Marxist activist) has filed charges against the couple in the gated high-rent community who warned off the Black Lies Matter protestors with an AR-15 and a Taurus pop-gun (the McCloskeys) for "unlawful use of weapon" (a felony) and fourth-degree assault.



This despite the facts that:

1) Missouri has a castle doctrine law that specifically indemnifies the use of a firearm in protecting “personal safety and property.”

2) State AG Eric Schmitt already has filed to have the charges dismissed.

... and ...

3) Governor Mike Parson already has stated he will pardon the McCloskeys.

So how could this be anything more than virtue signaling by the prosecuting attorney?

Comrade Prosecutor is claiming that this was necessary to protect the First Amendment rights of the protestors. However, as you clearly can see in all the videos of the incident, all the protestors still were merrily protesting and seemed not one whit deterred, tra-la. In fact the only impact of the Rambo couple brandishing their firearms was it kept the protestors off their land and prevented damage or theft of their property. And being as both are members of the Bar, I suspect that was all they intended from the start.

And before anybody goes there, these were not "peaceful protestors," these were criminal intruders. This was a clearly marked private gated community (photo below) and the -- call them what they are -- TERRORISTS broke through the gate (breaking and entering, destruction of private property) to commit a disturbance of the peace, which adds up to criminal trespass.



Yet not one of the TERRORISTS was arrested. Police gave the McCloskeys no protection or assistance whatsoever, so they were forced to take matters into their own hands.

[Beetlegeuse]

Dick Heller, who filed the suit that gave us the DC-v-Heller court case (which DC lost) is mulling another fight against DC over gun rights. Apparently he bought a .32 in Pennsylvania in mid-April and DC is dragging its feet about the transfer to him in DC.

Considering who Dick Heller is, it only reinforces the stereotype of DC civil servants as lazy and underqualified that they would pick this bear to poke.

[Test Monsterone]

I think cops are too quick to pull the trigger. The guy could have had a plastic spoon and he would still have been shot. How about get in your police car and call for backup. The guy may have been under psychological distress, gone schizo, whatever. That can be treated with medicine. You can't treat a dead man. The answer for any aggression in the US seems to be to shoot. That's bullshit.

[Beetlegeuse]

The blogger at Books, Bikes, Boomsticks is opining that coronapanic-induced gun buying spree is producing a different class of gun owner from the panics of '13 and '08. In those previous periods, gun shops were cleaned out of even stripped AR lowers and lower parts kits, which he reasons shows it was the doing of experienced gun ownersr. But now everybody is out of built-up ARs but there's still stripped lowers and parts a-plenty. Plus there's been a run on pump shotguns, long a staple of home defense. So this is for home and hearth, not for CCW.

EDIT:
The blogger at Irons in the Fire has a similar take on it. The gun store where he works is being flooded with first-time buyers. Their CCW and beginner gun safety courses are booked solid, as are all the private instructors he knows.
[/edit]


On a related note, the jeanyuses at Phys.org are calling the coronapanic buyers "gun culture 3," and claim that it is a movement created from whole cloth by the NRA. And all this anti-government and pro-gun public discord is the result of NRA indoctrination. But they've obviously started with a conclusion that suits their political bent and are scrambling to find (or fabricate) what they call 'facts' to support it.

[Beetlegeuse]

Remington has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They did the same in 2018 and in the doing shed $775 million in debt but they claim lawsuits from Sandyhook still have them mired down.

The argument being used in the Sandyhook nuisance lawsuit is that they let Bushmaster (which Remington owned until they shut it down) marketed to minors and mass-murderers. But that dog won't hunt because 1) I've been looking at Bushy adverts for decades and have never seen so much as that first ad that had anything that might be construed as targeting appealing to youngsters. IOW, there was no Joe Camel. 2) It's not Bushmaster/Remington who's constantly telling us that the AR-15 is the best possible weapon for the would-be mass-murderer, there's nobody but the propaganda wing of the demoncrat party (i.e., the mainstream media) that's beating that drum. AND MOST RELEVANT TO THIS CASE, 3) The Bushmaster AR-15 that the Sandyhook murderers used was stolen from the mother of one of the murderers after her son had murdered her.

So they're suing Remingotn because Bushy's advertising was so powerful that it provoked a teenaged boy into murdering his mother so he could get her AR-15.


That's some damn good advertising. Whoever wrote those ads has misplaced their skills, they should be selling real estate or at least used cars.

[Beetlegeuse]

Joe Bite-Me (AKA Sleepy Uncle Joe) is prone to claiming that he doesn't want you to own an AR-15 because neither can you own a bazooka. Here's a guy who is Form-1-ing (BATFE Form 1 is the application to build a home-made NFA device) a Panzerfaust.



The Panzerfaust isn't a bazooka (which was the US-made man-portable anti-armor weapon of WWII) but it pretty much unarguably is a better weapon. So good that it was the inspiration for the Russian-made RPG 7, which went on to become the most widely-distributed anti-armor weapon in history and still is in use three quarters of a century later.

But you could just as easily do the same with a bazooka.

Not only that but there any number of privately-owned (army) tanks in America. In fact the tanks themselves are completely unregulated by the Feds. You can buy them as easily as a pack of chewing gun. It's the armament (main gun, which is tube artillery, and machine guns) that gets tricky but you can buy with all armament "demilitarized" with the same (federal) paperwork and registration as a pack of bubblegum.


BTW, if anybody cares, RPG does NOT stand for "rocket propelled grenade.' At least not to the Rooskies. Their term for it is "Ручной противотанковый гранатомёт," which means "hand-held antitank grenade launcher." The reason it usually gets called a "rocket propelled grenade" is that when the godless Reds shipped RPGs to their puppet states where they didn't speak Rooskie, what they printed on the boxes they shipped them in was "Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot," which is the phonetic spelling of Ручной противотанковый гранатомёт using the Roman alphabet instead of Cyrillic. And some English-only monoglot idiot who had no friggin' idea what "Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot" meant made up "rocket-propelled grenade" from the obvious Roman acronym.