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News Roundup

Crime

News snippets, snippy comments.

1) Aggrieved former employee shoots people in brewery — see, that’s your “cultural appropriation” right there:  the brother used a (White man’s) gun and not a culturally-appropriate machete.  Couple of ancillary notes:  he didn’t use a black rifle, or else that would be all over the news, you betcha;  and he wasn’t allowed to own a gun because of a previous felony — not that this stopped him, of course, nor will you hear about this little factoid in the news.

2) China blames racism for corona virus fears — anything to deflect attention from the fact that these evil fucks were playing with this shit in a government laboratory as part of bio-warfare weapons development, and it got out by accident.  Just for that, I hope that millions of Chinese die from it, and maybe they’ll be dissuaded from these reindeer games in future.

3) China sends ducks to Muslim Pakistan to fight locust swarms — I suppose it would be churlish to suggest that the Pakis test the ducks for the corona virus.

4) Chinese city caught lying about corona virus stats — wait… Commies lie?  Does Bernie know about this?

5) Huge menu changes — probably a little late for that, but whatever.  San Francisco’s and New York’s Chinatown hardest hit.

That’s enough virus nonsense.  In other news:

6) Most women only tolerate sex — as any man over the age of 30 knows well.

7) Democrat candidates say all sorts of things [no links, why bother] — don’t care.  It’s either a pack of lies or else Communist policy [some overlap].

Finally, Headline Of The Week:

Nicolas Cage arrives in NYC carrying stuffed beluga and holding hands with mystery ‘girlfriend’… after taking her to visit his OWN TOMB in New Orleans

…because that’s how Nick Cage rolls, man.

Monday Funnies

Funny Stuff

It’s Monday, and the 25,000 shirts you ordered for your company have finally arrived from China:

But never mind all that;  let’s have a chuckle.

And to make you feel a whole lot better, here’s Brooke Lyons:

Now go fix that order.

Handgun Feedback

Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

I love emails like this one.  As Longtime Readers know well, I’m always on the side of people with lengthy experience with specific guns, and Reader Mike L’s opinions fall well into this category.  Enjoy.

I saw your posting today (2/22/20) regarding revolvers for everyday carry. I used to work for a major firearm manufacturer (though I do NOT speak for them, this is strictly MY opinion). When I worked there, firearms were 50% off MSRP.

627 – S&W makes 3 models of the 627. A 2.6 inch Performance Center, a 4 inch Pro series and a 5 inch Performance Center. ALL of these are built on the N frame, the same frame that the .44 Magnum revolvers are generally built on (there are a few .44 Magnums built on the K/L frames like the model 69 – those have the new fangled 2 piece sleeved barrels).

I have shot all of these model 627s. The 2.6 inch has slightly more recoil than the 4 and 5 inch, but not as much as you would think. That large frame soaks up recoil well. I personally like the 4 and 5 inch models. My father has a 4 inch 627. Great firearm. His is a Pro Series. Performance Center is built with decent care by a specialty department, the “Performance Center”. The Pro Series is Performance Center parts put together on the standard assembly line.

The 4 inch has a great balance overall, however this is a HEAVY firearm. Feels bulky. However even with full power .357 loads and HOT .38 +P loads this gun is a BEAST and handles them very well. Your hand won’t hurt after. There are a MULTITUDE of grips available (N frame) aftermarket so you can change them to your hearts content.

However, it might be worth you checking out the 686 PLUS models… There are 2.5 inch, 3 inch, and 4, 5 and 6 inch models as well. Standard barrels and heavy-weighted barrels, standard, Pro series and Performance Center. The one I might suggest to you is the 3 inch 686 PLUS model

The 3 or 4 inch 686 PLUS model will give you a smaller frame than the 627, but offer 7 rounds of .357 / .38. In addition, the 3 and 4 inch barrels are long enough for accuracy and great for carry and with 3 and 4 inch you get a great velocity even out of MOST 357 loads. The recoil is not awful even with hot loads, and there are a multitude of aftermarket grips for this gun available.

I myself prefer Ruger revolvers. I have a stainless GP100 4 inch. I put a fiber front sight on it and it wears hogue tamer rubber grips. But the 627 and 686 are great guns!

RELIABILITY – So let me tell you from my experience working at one of the ranges and doing a lot of shooting when I worked for this major manufacturer which models were the most reliable:

M&P – VERY RELIABLE. YES I KNOW, PLASTIC “FANTASTIC” – These RARELY broke. If they did it was a MIM part like the slide stop or the recoil spring. And let me clarify, the recoil springs were captured, so when I say the spring “broke”, at around 15,000 to 20,000 rounds I would see the spring tip pop out and the rod and spring became 2 piece. GUN STILL FIRED! And you could use it like that until you obtained a replacement spring. Slide stop breaking would just mean the slide didn’t lock back on these. They still worked. I personally saw a Shield 9 with over 50,000 rounds through it, an M&P 45 full size with over 100,000 rounds through it and I saw an M&P 40 with 50,000-plus rounds through it. You will spend more money in ammo many times over than this gun is worth.

K/L and N frame Revolvers – AWESOME! The VERY BEST! One gun was a stainless 686 built in the early 90’s. Burn rings that were baked on (front of cylinder was black). Grips that were worn smooth. It turned out this gun was from a rental counter. Smith gives a lifetime warranty to individuals, but 1 year to rental guns. Management decided to honor the warranty on this one if it was told how many rounds were through it. The owner said “at least 500,000”. Thing was worn, that was for sure! But it finally had the firing pin break and the leaf spring style mainspring was loose. All Mechanical things wear.

I also had a fleet of these at the range I was in charge of. These rarely broke. If they did it was the screw for the cylinder release or a sight coming loose (roll pin working loose). They had thousands and thousands of rounds through them. I have heard 3rd hand of the internal lock sticking when firing and had seen some examples of customer guns coming back, but I didn’t ever witness a lock up in person. Usually when that lock locked up, it was something else wrong, like someone doing home gun smithing, or a defect from the get go. If you shoot very hot loads, the forcing cones on the 686 wear a little faster than the Ruger’s, but not at some insane rate either though. I myself prefer the Ruger GP100, but it’s FORD VS CHEVY debate here… Both the 686 and the GP100 are solid guns, and they last a LONG TIME! If you like the 686 but want blue, check out the 586, which is a pretty sweet piece. If you do go with the 627, that holds up without issue. That frame can handle .44 Magnum. You are NOT going to wear that thing out with .357 rounds. Might put some wear on the forcing cone with hot loads, but any revolver, even Ruger can have that happen.

J frames – Mixed results. Majority of these were VERY reliable. The .357 models HURT LIKE HELL to shoot [yup — K.]  and the forcing cones would wear out. The 360 PD seemed like a good idea, but not the best to use. It is beefed up from the .38 J frames, but that thing doesn’t hold up with .357 loads non stop.

The .38 J frames are generally bullet proof. Of course, .38 +P loads hurt a little to shoot, but hey, it’s a backup gun. What do you want? You can even get a 442 (Black) or 642 (silver) without that damned internal lock if you like.

For the recoil shy or if your hands aren’t up to the .38, check out the 351 PD, which is a .22 Win Mag model, 7 rounds. Very light recoil. External hammer. GREAT backup piece. FUN to shoot.

.45 ACP revolvers – These held up well. Barely any wear on these. I saw one with over 10,000 rounds. Grips were a little smooth on it from handling but other than that functioned well. The .45 ACP doesn’t wear a revolver all that much. Recoil is not that bad. JUST MAKE SURE YOU ARE OK WITH MOON CLIPS. I do not mind moon clips, but some people hate them. Moon clips are generally much cheaper than magazines for semi-autos.

1911’s – Generally reliable. But as you saw, I saw the same thing. 3 pieces usually broke on 1911’s:
1 – the safety plunger and safety catch
2 – the magazine catch –
3 the slide stop catch and pin that held the slide on.
Usually when one of these parts broke, the gun went down hard. They shoot great, but they were the least reliable of all of the models. Not that they sucked, they just didn’t have the reliability of the revolvers or the plastic stuff is all. Overall revolvers held up better than 1911 models. Plastic stuff held up surprisingly well too.

Oh, and the 4 inch S&W model 19 is a VERY sweet piece. If you want a little lighter frame than the 686, but still something substantial. I saw recently there is a 3 inch ported version available too. I like the SP101, but the SP101 holds 5 rounds, Model 19 is 6 rounds and is blued, which is damn nice!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
If you go with a 627, 686 or 586 (cuz blue is just so classic and awesome!), you could use .38 +P in both your main and your backup 637. This way, you carry one type of ammo for both. So no matter what piece you are using to fend off the goblins, you don’t need to think about which ammo goes with which boomstick.

New Colt Python? Um, yeah, right lol! Read the many issues with these… Lemons. They are too new and too expensive.

Hope this long long long rant helped…

Anytime, Mike… and that goes for the rest of you too.

Friday Night Movie

Good Stuff, Weapons

You all have one, right?  Right?

Here’s a decent video of the history thereof.

Admission:  I don’t have a full-sized Ka-Bar, just the shorter “USAF Survival” version.

But I think I’ll be looking at one of the full-sized ones, maybe as a “suggested” birthday present from the kids.  Here’s the USMC model:

 

Anyway, enjoy the movie.

Hunkering Down

Health, SHTF

Here’s a SHTF scenario I hadn’t thought of before:  in-home quarantine because of the corona virus thing.  And not being prepared means this, and this nonsense:

Britons strip shop shelves of canned food and even bottled WATER amid growing fears people will be forced to spend weeks in isolation if coronavirus epidemic hits.

I’m pretty sure that New Wife and I could do three weeks’ isolation in a pinch, although Week 3 would be mighty boring fare (oatmeal, canned foods etc.).  But I think I’ll haul out Ye Olde Grabbe-And-Goe Bagge tomorrow, just to check on emergency supplies like face masks and hand wipes.

Do ye the same, O My Readers.

Afterthought:  while I have quite a lot of bottled water on hand, I also have a swimming pool not ten steps from the apartment.  The problem with pool water, of course, is the chlorine and such.  Does anyone have any ideas on filtering the taste out of it?

Comparing Old Warhorses

Gun/Ammo Tests, The Gun Thing

I am often mocked because of my fondness (if not favoritism) of things of yore over their modern counterparts.  This is especially true of gun stuff, and cartridges especially.  (Executive summary:  not many cartridges developed since 1955 are that much better than their predecessors.)

One of my all-time favorites is the venerable .300 Holland & Holland Magnum, which was essentially put out of business by the .300 Winchester Magnum.  Why am I so enamored of this old warhorse (launched 1925)?

I once hunted with a borrowed rifle thus chambered many, many years ago in South Africa (I think it was either a Sako or a Sauer, can’t remember which) and in a single day’s shooting accounted for two or three impala, all of which were absolutely flattened by the heavy 180gr solid bullet.  I found the recoil far less punishing than other magnums (both the .300 WinMag and the monster .458 WinMag), and the effect on small- to medium-sized game was little different from either of the two others.

It’s not as hard-hitting as the other two, of course, when one looks at the raw numbers;  rather, the .300 H&H should be compared to the .30-06 Springfield.  Here’s a side-by-side of the Nosler offerings for each cartridge with the same bullet weight:

The Holland’s longer case holds more powder, I think, hence the slight velocity/energy difference.  Likewise, the rifle’s action needs to be a little longer than that of the .30-06 (which is already longer than, say the short-action .308 Win).

Of course, because so few rifles are made in the .300 H&H chambering nowadays, the ammo is filthy-expensive — usually over $50 / box for the cheap stuff, and it climbs into the stratosphere faster than the bullet it shoots.  By way of comparison, a box of the .300 H&H Noslers in the pic above costs just over $83/box, while the .300 Win Mag tops out at ~$70 (and the .30-06 pictured is $50).  Granted, these are all premium offerings from Nosler — but while one can find “cheap” .300 Win Mag and even cheaper .30-06, there is no cheap .300 H&H ammo.

And finally, here’s the .300 Win Mag which replaced the .300 H&H (sigh):

It’s not quite a like-for-like comparison because of the greater bullet weight, but where the difference becomes apparent is at ranges long than 200 yards (.300 H&H 2,490 vs the .300 Win Mag 2,520, and the differential widens at longer distances).

That said:  if I had to shoot twenty rounds rapid of each, I’d be okay after the .300 H&H, but would require some kind of medical attention with the .300 Win Mag.

And I’d sell a non-essential body part to be able to shoot them through one of these.  (“P.O.A.” stands for “piss off, arsehole” i.e. “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it, peasant”.)