Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

Ammo Musings

The Gun Thing

Got this little flyer [sic]  in the mail from AmmoMan over the past weekend, and it gave impetus to all sorts of random musings about The Gun Thing and the feeding thereof:

Well, no prizes for guessing what calibers are America’s current favorites, huh?  Too bad that I’m not in the market for any of them.  Next line:

Okay, that’s a little better, in that I need me some .38 Spec practice ammo (at 30c/pull), and CCI is one of my favorite ammo manufacturers.  I still have a couple hundred rounds of .308 Win — too bad I don’t own a rifle thus chambered, though — and I only shoot 185gr .45 ACP nowadays, and not the heavier 230gr.  The Remington El Cheapo Plinkers are fine, at about 6c per pull, but I have enough .22 ammo on hand not to be tempted into buying it.  (Their quality control may have improved since, but I used to get a ton of dead strikes with the Thunderbolts, so I’ve switched pretty much exclusively to Federal Target and CCI Mini-Mags, because life is too short to hear “click” instead of “BANG”.)  Next up:

Hmmm I see that like .38 Spec, .22 Mag is running at 30c/pull (!) which makes it five times more expensive than its smaller .22 LR cousin.  But that Hornady stuff is mustard… I’m tempted.  Not by the Blackout, though, which I know is the favorite of all the short-range sniper cognoscenti  at the moment.  But whoa:  $1.40/round for .30-30?  Even for the good Hornady stuff, it’s still sheesh.  (I’d rather go with the lighter 150gr Federal Power-Shok — by no means a slouch of a cartridge — at 90c/round.)  And if we’re talking like-for-like bullet weight, Fiocchi can be had for about the same.  Finally, I’m not in the market for 12ga ammo, although if I ever get the funds to contemplate that CZ Coach gun…  I also note that there is much cheaper 12ga 00 buck available at 45c/round (compared to the Super-X above at 70c), but I have no idea what the quality thereof is like, not being as familiar with shotgun brands as I should.

I know that you could probably do better, on an individual basis, for any or all of the above at SOTI (Somewhere On Teh Intarwebz), but my experience with AmmoMan has always been good — ordering, delivery cost/time etc. — so give them a try if you haven’t already.

And as always, the reminder:  I get no kickbacks or discounts from ANY company I mention on this website.  (more’s the pity)

Finally, seen on some ammo/gun website:

Wait:  an ersatz mil-spec AR/XM7 SIG-scoped clone (yeah, I know SIG Swiss magic yadda yadda) in 7.62mm NATO… worth $5,700?  Did I step into some kind of Twilight Zone time capsule which propelled me into 2100 AD (where $6 grand might be acceptable for such a rifle)?

And as for the Suburban Warrior holding the 24k gold-plated weapon in the approved limp-wristed SWAT “ready” stance, complete with $300 wraparound Oakley sunglasses and backwards-facing 5.11 cap over a suitably-grim “operator” expression…

I see these wannabes at the TDSA range all the time, and most of them are just average shots.  When their guns are running properly.

Which reminds me… it’s almost time to make the trek to TDSA again:  that is, when the Texas summer weather goes from BROIL to SIMMER.

Shotguns, Dead Bodies And Such

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Gun/Ammo Tests

This is going to be a long, rambling post (unlike my usually concise, single-topic pieces) but hey, it’s the weekend:  why not ramble all over the place, even if it does take you well over an hour to get through, if you follow all the links?  So mote it be.

Several Readers have sent me links to all sorts of fascinating stuff recently, and most especially on the topic of shotguns — all of which have been most gratefully accepted.

We already looked at the most-recent entry (re-entry?) of Weatherby into the side-by-side shotgun market in a Gratuitous Gun Pic post.  A comment by Reader Ray is quite appropriate:

“Now they just need to eradicate the ‘Weatherby’ billboard and the exposed colored chokes.”

Colored chokes (which I also abhor because fugly) are nevertheless useful to those who are constantly changing their chokes according to the conditions in which they are shooting (high birds, skeet or whatever).  I understand this, but frankly I am not one of those shooters, in that I prefer a consistent choke type so I can make adjustments on the fly, so to speak.  Your mileage may vary, and that’s fine because when I do any shotgunning at all, it’s sporting clays and I make no claims of expertise in the other types.

As for the Weatherby “billboard”, that’s another point I agree with.  Compare and contrast the following:

…with:

…or:

…where one can almost hear the murmurs of Messrs. Purdey and Holland:  “There’s no need to SHOUT, dear boy, if you’re making a quality gun.”  Point made.

Still on the topic of “Turkish” shotguns, Longtime Friend and Reader John C. sends me this article, talking about CZ’s Hammer Coach shotgun:

Okay, I am seriously considering this little 20″-barreled beauty as a future home defense option.

“But Kim,” I hear you say, “I thought you said that your AK suits all your home defense needs?”

And indeed I have said that before.  However, I am starting to revise my opinion on the matter (“and not a moment too soon, ya old fart”) because in the very same email, John C. added a link to this wonderfully-funny but yet very informative medical take on the effects of a shotgun blast to the human anatomy.  (It also features those raucous Zoomer kids at Garand Thumb, for double the hilarity.)

As to why a double-barreled hammer shotgun (two rounds) over a pump action (five rounds), I have two reasons for my choice.

The first is that one of the benefits of exposed hammers in a shotgun is that you know immediately whether the gun is ready to fire — no safety catch necessary — and while the cocking action is slow, it’s as quick as a well-practiced pump-action throw, especially if you cock both hammers simultaneously.  That second shot happens as quickly as you can move your finger from one trigger to the other, which is not only quicker, but less disruptive to your aiming hold than shoveling the pump back and forth.

The second reason is that after watching the effect of buckshot on the human torso and Doctor Raynor’s excellent analysis thereof, I fail to see why I would need more than two shots to solve the problem (assuming that there aren’t more than two targets, so to speak — but if so, I’d be reaching for the AK anyway because then there’s a crowd dynamic to the whole situation).

Of course, I’d like to have a Purdey hammer gun, just for aesthetic reasons:

…but the barrels are too long and the old gun too expensive.  And for a more modern take, let’s not even talk about the exquisite Famars Abbiatico offering, for the same two reasons:

I seem to have wandered way off the original topic of this post — if there ever was one to begin with — but I did warn you earlier.

All similarly-meandering comments are welcome, of course, because it’s the weekend.

His And Mine

The Gun Thing

Sent on to me by Reader John C.:

Top 5 “Favorite” Guns of Clint Smith:

  • Sharps Trapdoor (.50-70 Govt) — a lovely gun, and I would never argue with his choice of this one, for any reason.
  • M14/M1A (7.62x51mm NATO/.308 Win) — no argument from me on this one either.  Fantastic guns, should never have been replaced by the M16.
  • Colt 1911 (.45 ACP) — well, duh.
  • S&W Mod 28-2 (.45 ACP) — shows you what I know;  I wasn’t aware that the old Highway Patrolman was ever chambered in .45 ACP.  (Why not the Model 25, I wonder?)
  • Colt Single Action Army (.45 Colt) — see the 1911, above.

Clint takes pains to say that these may not be the “best” guns (for whatever reason), but they’re the ones he’s most fond of.  (I should point out, by the way, that I respect Clint Smith more than any other gunman on the planet now that Jeff Cooper is no longer with us.)

John C. said in his email that Smith thinks like me in terms of the guns he loves, and this would be mostly correct.  If I were to list my favorite guns — according to his criterion of the guns one loves to shoot — they would be (not in order):

  1. Browning 1885 High Wall (.45-70 Govt) — not only do I revere this gun, but everyone who has ever shot mine has given it back to me (reluctantly) with a huge smile on their face.  Using hotter modern loads (e.g. Buffalo Bore), I would be comfortable taking this gun on any hunt short of African dangerous game (because I may be romantic, but I’m not an idiot).
  2. Mauser K98k (8mm Mauser or .308 Win) — because it’s the gun I grew up shooting (albeit that one rebarreled in .308 Win), and of every gun I’ve ever owned, this is the one I’m most comfortable with.  If I won the lottery, one of the first guns I’d buy would be a new-manufacture M98 in 7x57mm ($$$$$!!!!) and it would be worth every penny.  (I already have an old K98k in 8x57mm — see below — so a gentler cartridge would be better for my old shoulder-bones.)  Like Clint, I don’t really want to hunt anymore, but I would have another one of these just because, like with the 1885 High Wall, I so love working the action and shooting the Mauser 98.  Pure self-indulgence.
  3. Springfield 1911(.45 ACP) — anyone who’s ever read these pages knows all about my love for this gun, so ’nuff said.
  4. Colt Python (.357 Magnum) — it may not be as robust as its S&W competitors like the 686, but nothing compares to the Python’s silky double action.  And like Clint, I’m a blued-steel man, so I’d have to get an older one to replace the one I destroyed, back in the day. 
  5. M1 Carbine (.30 Carbine) — I love everything about this old warhorse:  its light weight, handy length and gentle recoil.  I can put up with its often-unreliable magazines because it’s unlikely ever to be used (by me) in any kind of combat (although I’d have no problem using one as such if push came to shove).

And there you have it:  two Old Phartte Gun Guys and their favorite guns.

An anecdote:  last Monday I went to the range with the Son&Heir to shoot some .22 guns.  We own identical bull-barrel Ruger Mk II pistols, and I brought along my Ruger Single Six just for some variation.

The S&H popped off a single mag through the Mk II, and then glommed onto the old-fashioned Single Six and didn’t touch his Mk II again.  (I never bothered with the pistol because I prefer shooting .22 through the single-action Six.)

We both agreed that 1) despite the Mk II’s designation as a “target” pistol, the Single Six has better sights, and 2) shooting slowly — i.e. a six-shot single-action gun — is far more enjoyable than just spraying bullets out of an automatic.

Your opinions may vary, but there ya go.

Sporting Chance

Crime

Looks like the scumbags are upping their game:

The world’s deadliest drug cartels have taken the concept of monster trucks to a terrifying level by retrofitting popular pickups with armour, battering rams, and machine gun turrets.

These heavily armed vehicles are used in pitched gun battles between cartels and the police or rival groups. They are known as “monstruos,” “rinocerontes,” or “narcotanques.” The cartels aim to demonstrate their dominance and intimidate their adversaries.

 And a pic:

Now we all know that is precisely the kind of diet that the venerable .50 BMG cartridge is designed for (seen here next to a .30-06 Springfield, for comparison):

And of course, one wonders if the federales  have a few of these things lying around:

(I know that the Barrett rifles are undoubtedly effective, but man, they look like nothing other than industrial machinery.)

I don’t know how thick that armor plating is;  but I have some of that steel-core Austrian mil-surp Hirtenberg 6.5x55mm lying around, have seen its bullet go clear through both sides of a car — don’t ask — and I’m awfully curious to see how well it would work against one of these narcotanques.

Purely out of intellectual curiosity, of course.

Gratuitous Gun Pic: Weatherby Orion Side-By-Side (20ga)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Sent to me by the eagle-eyed Gun Professor is this welcome news:

Of course, they’re not just offered in 20ga.:

Weatherby has had a sort-of on-again-off-again history with their side-by-sides, having had them made variously in Spain, then in Italy, and now, according to the Professor (who contacted them) they’ll be made by Tiblis in Turkey.

Street price for these guns is likely to be slightly under a grand, which will make them competitive with CZ’s offerings — which are also made in Turkey.

As one who has seen the ancient and venerable side-by-side shotguns fall from favor over the past couple decades, all this is good news.  To quote some non-professorial gun guy:

“Shotgun barrels need to be side by side like a man and his dog, and not over and under like a man and his mistress.”

Simplicity

Bureaucracy, Government Thugs, Lifestyle

This is not one of those rants that “the world’s getting too damn complicated” (although it is, in my opinion).  However, allow me to draw your attention to a couple of videos that illustrate my point, which is that simplicity does not mean “shoddy” or “primitive”, or anything like that.

Here’s the first video, about the wonderful Vespa scooter/moped and the men who created it.

Towards the end of the video, the narrator draws the very apt comparison between the Vespa and the Mini, which Jay Leno lovingly describes, in his inimitable manner.

And is there place in the modern world for simplicity, as Richard Hammond describes by the experience of driving the Mazda MX-5 Miata*?  Of course there is.

*Why, I wonder parenthetically, did Mazda go with such a long mouthful of a name for so simple a car?  “Miata” would have been fine;  “MX-5” likewise, even if less evocative, so why concatenate all those descriptive terms into a string that only boring motoring journos will use anyway?

Note too that I’m talking of simplicity of use, i.e. as experienced by the end user.  A bolt-action rifle is far simpler a piece of engineering than its semi- or full-auto counterpart, but even I — a die-hard boltie fan — will admit that an M1 Carbine is far easier to use than a Mauser K98k:  load it up, pull back the bolt, and it’s trigger time, compared to load, work bolt, pull trigger, work bolt, pull trigger etc.

Or, to wrench this thesis back on topic, it is undeniably simpler to drive a car with an automatic transmission than one which requires rowing through a manual gearbox, as long as one prefers steering over actual driving.  And if one is doing the daily morning commute to the office in stop-start traffic then yes, it’s a lot easier with an automatic.

Inside each of us, though, is a fundamental need not to have to tax our intellect or bodies to perform mundane tasks, although I think that choosing complexity over simplicity is a fundamental and personal matter of wanting to be in control of mechanical devices.  Nobody would be buying bolt-action rifles or cars with stick shifts otherwise, given the facility of the alternative.

Paradoxically too, as the world becomes more complicated and more complex, there is a persistent urge amongst people to “simplify” their lives, to cut back on both material possession and activities.  I think that’s a good thing, especially as one gets older.  When parents become empty-nesters, the hassle of maintaining a large house often turns into a desire to move to something more fitting [sic]  to the altered circumstances — not just for cost reasons, but once again, for a life of fewer complications.

Nothing wrong with that.  I’d never contemplate buying a Vespa, of course, because I don’t live in a built-up urban area and I don’t have a death wish.  And I already possess a little Fiat 500 with a stick shift, so if push came to shove I’d be perfectly happy to use that as my only means of transport (I “borrow” it from New Wife every chance I get).

But I’d still rather shoot a bolt-action rifle than a semi-auto (other than in times of errr urban unrest, when the old AK or SKS would obviously be preferable), and I’ve already expressed my preference for revolvers over pistols, recreationally speaking.

Just a simple soul, that’s me — but it’s a simplicity by choice rather than by governmental edict.

I told you all that so I could tell you this.

Allow me to introduce yet another rancid bitch (in the Hillary Clinton mold) who wants to tell us how to live our lives.

President Joe Biden’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday unveiled new fuel efficiency standards, which acting administrator Ann Carlson said will “reduce harmful emissions.” Carlson has long stressed the need to force Americans to live climate-friendly lives. As an environmental academic at UCLA, for example, Carlson published a 2007 piece titled, “Only by Requiring Lifestyle Changes,” which argued that people would not reduce their energy consumption “voluntarily.” As a result, Carlson wrote, the U.S. government must “induce behavioral change” by implementing policies that “make the bad behavior more expensive.”

In a similar 2009 blog post titled, “Save Us From Ourselves,” Carlson called on Americans to “use less electricity, take more public transportation, consume less, live more simply and so on” to fight climate change. Carlson argued that most people “could benefit from a simpler life” but will not “engage in dramatic behavioral change unless forced,” highlighting the need for government intervention. “Governments and markets need to take steps to make us pay for the full costs of the behaviors in which we engage … they need to limit our infrastructure choices to energy efficient ones,” the Biden administration official wrote. “In other words, we need to be saved from ourselves.”

My immediate thought is to have this foul watermelon bitch dragged from her “temporary” office and hanged from the nearest lamp post, but of course that’s never going to happen.

Alternatively, Congress could reduce the NHTSA’s budget by fining the agency per day the equivalent of her annual salary as long as she remains as the “caretaker” administrator — although that’s about as likely to happen as my first suggestion.

What, I ask, is the point of not confirming someone for a position when they can simply act as a “temporary” head of an agency and de facto determine policy and regulation in the absence of de jure?  Or did I miss something here?

Anyway, I’m so sick of all this “coercion” talk emanating from the mouthpieces of our beloved government.  Forced to wear masks, forced to stop using gasoline-powered engines, forced to quit using incandescent light bulbs, and forced to submit to any number of horrible and senseless rules and regulations that would make Gulliver in Lilliput look like a free man by comparison.

Most of all, I’m really fucking sick of being forced to pay taxes which fund the salaries of all these petty gauleiters.

All appearances to the contrary, I’m actually a very patient and tolerant man, but I have to tell you that my patience and tolerance are wearing very, very thin.

And I bet I’m not the only one.