Author: Kim du Toit

French Friday III: Random Objects Of Interest

Friday Feature, The Gun Thing

(go here for Part I and Part II)

…in which I look at some things that the Frogs have done well.

One would think that French gun manufacturing would be as quirky and silly as the Frogs are themselves, but that is not the case.  Othias and Mae have expounded on early French guns at length, and while the French have had their missteps, they’re no worse and often better than the Brits, Germans and Americans, to name but some.

The question, as is so often the case, is “But what have they done for us recently?”

Let’s look at longtime gun manufacturer Chapuis Armes as an example.  I won’t go into much historical detail about them (see here instead), but let me draw your attention to this little thing:

It’s the Chapuis Chasseur Classique side-by-side shotgun, in either 12-, 20- or 28 gauge.  (They also make O/U shotguns, if you’re that way inclined.)

“But Kim,” you wail, “such beautiful guns cost way too much and anyway, we can’t get them Over Here.”

Au contraire, mes petis choux, you can find them at Bass Pro and Cabelas.  And yes, they cost over six grand apiece, but then again, these are fine sporting guns (not your Mossberg/Winchester pump guns), and I think they compare very favorably to others of their ilk, such as the Beretta Iubileo.

But it doesn’t stop with shotguns.  Chapuis also makes rifles, especially of the “dangerous game” type.  Here’s the Elan double rifle:

…and the Rols straight-pull bolt-action:

Both rifle types come in extremely manly and commonsense chamberings:  none of that “8mm Lebel” or “7.5x54mm” nonsense.

Feel free to visit their USA website (which is in English, even) to get the details.  Warning:  there may be extreme drooling.

Dept. Of Righteous Shootings

Righteous Shootings

Chalk this little episode up to a “nick of time” coincidence:

According to authorities, the woman in question had just picked up her pistol the day before, after waiting the 10 days required under California law between the time of purchase and when gun owners can actually take possession of their newly-bought firearm. Little did she realize that she would soon end up using the gun to fend off an attack on her husband in their own home.

And here’s the good part (with my emphasis):

In a 911 call at 10:20 p.m., a resident of the Wilding Ranch subdivision on the city’s east edge reported that a neighbor had called and said she had just shot an intruder at her house.

When deputies arrived, they found a dead man near the home’s front entry. The residents — a 50-year-old woman and her 45-year-old husband — said that the apparently intoxicated stranger had tried to force his way into their home.

According to the sheriff’s report, as the husband fought with the intruder near the front door, his wife ran to the bedroom to get a revolver, which she said she had brought home on Friday. Returning to the entry, she fired all its rounds into the intruder.

None of this one-shot or double-tap stuff for Our Heroine:  ALL SIX bullets pumped into the choirboy’s worthless ass.

Sing it from the rooftops, brothers and sisters.

Storm Front: Ian, You Bastard

Disaster

Amidst all the tales of woe emanating from storm-battered Florida at the moment, few can be more tragic than this one:

Brand new McLaren hypercar worth over $1 MILLION is washed from Florida garage by floodwater from Hurricane Ian

Before:

After:

I mean, the poor guy’s going to be left with only his Rolls to fetch groceries… talk about suffering.

(Afterthought:  his insurance agent is probably going to commit suicide — I bet that when he included a “we’ll pay if your McLaren is washed away in a storm” rider in the coverage, he thought he was onto a sure thing.)

Reading Recommendation

Literature

Out of pure curiosity, I recently picked up a second-hand copy of J.K.Rowling’s (non-fantasy) novel, The Casual Vacancy.

What a delight.

The story involves an enormous cast of characters getting involved in a fairly mundane matter — the filling of a vacant town council seat — and its profound and often tragic consequences for the people of the town.  It’s not an easy read — Rowling writes in the Russian style, where characters are introduced and never again explained — but it is very well written.

This is also a novel for grownups and not a Harry Potter book.  It’s a searing and bleak sketch of modern British small-town life, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly to any of my Readers (especially of the Brit genus ) who want a decent few hours’ entertainment.

I’m definitely going to read it again, in the not-so distant future.  Thanks, J.K.

Giving It Away

Bad News, Marxists

I think this malfeasance started in earnest back in the Clinton administration:

The rare earths dependency on China stems in part from the fact that extracting rare earth minerals is an extremely polluting process that China has been willing to undertake, while most other countries have not, including the US, which ironically prides itself on having extremely strict environmental regulations in place.

The US, according to Reuters, has only one rare earths mine and no capability to process rare earth minerals. If China were to stop exporting them to the US, the country would fast run out of the basic building blocks required to produce the military hardware that the US needs, not to mention all the other items where rare earth minerals are needed.

And the article supplies a little extra perspective on China’s Belt And Road initiative.

Read it and weep.  (Or go to the range.)