Wait A Minute

Okay, okay… this is seriously good news:

Renowned firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson ditched deep blue Massachusetts and moved its headquarters to friendlier pastures in Tennessee.  Although the move was announced in 2021, it was on Saturday that the company officially opened its new 650,000-square feet building in Maryville as part of a $125 million relocation effort.

The company has been in New England since its founding in 1852, but Massachusetts’ strict gun laws are at least partly to blame for their exodus.

Not to mention the Massholes’ steep taxes, which the article notes.

And there was shooty fun and joyousness all round, you betcha:

Yesterday at Smith & Wesson’s new headquarters in Tennessee, Jerry Miculek set the #NRA World Record for hitting six steel plates with a 9 mm revolver at seven yards after a 1.88-second run.

So:  apart from not wanting to stay in the People’s Soviet of Massachusetts, why the move?

S&W CEO Mark Smith cited a welcoming regulatory environment and close collaboration with the Tennessee state government as a crucial piece of the plan to relocate. The company has said the new facility would create hundreds of jobs.

Tennessee has moved to loosen gun restrictions in recent years under Republican leadership. In 2021, the state passed a law to allow most adults 21 and older to carry handguns without a permit that requires first clearing a state-level background check and training.

Yeah, okay fine, but what are we Texans?  Chopped liver?  We have all the good stuff that Tennessee has, also better BBQ.

But let me not quibble.  Anytime a company — any company — comes to its senses and gets out of Communist America, it’s a good thing.

These are just a few of the S&W guns I used to own (before that tragic day crossing the Brazos by canoe), and under the right circumstances, I’d own quite a few more again.

Dot-Mil Idiocy

I know, the title is somewhat redundant, but this beats them all (sent by Reader Tony M., thankee — I think):

After 123 years, the immortal Colt-Browning 1911 pistol has finally left U.S. military service.

The immortal 1911 really has no historical equal. It has been the longest-serving sidearm in U.S. military history. Almost every company in the business of manufacturing handguns today makes some variation of the 1911.

And yet, it’s no longer good enough for our troops?  To continue:

While nothing lasts forever, and while it’s easy to see the logistical advantage in a sidearm that uses the NATO-standard 9x19mm cartridge, it’s a sad day for gun aficionados, especially those of us with a fondness for John Browning’s 1911.

For those of little historical learning, I should point out that the reason that the U.S. Army adopted the Colt 1911 .45 ACP in the first place was that their .38 cartridges (similar to the 9x19mm) just weren’t killing savages efficiently.  But of course, people who make “logistical” choices are seldom the same ones who actually have to shoot people dead.

Never mind:  let our troops use three rounds of 9mm Europellet fired from their German-designed peashooters to do the same job as the .45 Automatic Colt Pistol bullet can do with one.

I’ll just continue to carry my 1911 and be glad of it.

Bah.

Track Away, Fibbies

Here’s something I knew was coming:

The federal government believes that the threat of violence and major civil disturbances around the 2024 U.S. presidential election is so great that it has quietly created a new category of extremists that it seeks to track and counter: Donald Trump’s army of MAGA followers.

The challenge for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the primary federal agency charged with law enforcement, is to pursue and prevent what it calls domestic terrorism without direct reference to political parties or affiliations—even though the vast majority of its current “anti-government” investigations are of Trump supporters, according to classified data obtained by Newsweek.

“The FBI is in an almost impossible position,” says a current FBI official, who requested anonymity to discuss highly sensitive internal matters. The official said that the FBI is intent on stopping domestic terrorism and any repeat of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. But the Bureau must also preserve the Constitutional right of all Americans to campaign, speak freely and protest the government. By focusing on former president Trump and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters, the official said, the Bureau runs the risk of provoking the very anti-government activists that the terrorism agencies hope to counter.

I’m 100% sure that my fevered rants and fervent support for the Second Amendment have put me on several “lists” among the various federal alphabet agencies.  But at the same time, I also know that they’re fucking incompetent — I mean, they missed the 9/11 hijackers, FFS — so I thought I’d just help them out.


(by your definition, anyway)

Let me count the ways:

  1. I believe that the United States of America is the greatest nation the world has ever seen, and I want to restore its power, prestige and majesty to its post-WWII heights.
  2. I support Donald Trump, even though I’d rather not — but he’s the best option for people like me.
  3. I believe in the Second Amendment.  Actually, I believe in all the Amendments, without reservation.  And I want all those who, like me, swore allegiance to the Constitution and its principles to abide by them.
  4. I support homeschooling.
  5. I believe in smaller government.
  6. I know that our taxes are too high and our tax laws too complicated.
  7. I believe in the Four Boxes of civic participation (letter box, soap box, ballot box and when the first three have failed or been made illegal, the cartridge box).
  8. I think that our borders need to be closed to foreign incursions, and the current illegal border-crossers in custody should be repatriated en masse, with no exceptions.

There are a few more, but I think that list should suffice.

Go ahead, assholes:  track me all you want.  I’m only one man, and I publish under my own name — no pseudonyms, no aliases, no pen names — so it should be easy, even for the likes of you.  But this is where I stand.

Multiple Goblins

Here’s a little something that can absolutely be laid at the door of the “let ’em all in” (a.k.a. the Biden border policy) phenomenon:

A sheriff in Michigan is sounding the alarm over a rise in gangs of illegal aliens getting into the United States for the sole purpose of burglarizing Americans.

Oakland County, Michigan Sheriff Michael Bouchard, as well as other law enforcement agencies across the U.S., is warning that illegal aliens from the southern border are burglarizing members of their communities at an increasing rate.

“These are transnational gangs that are involved in this that come from South America, looking to do burglaries and violate our communities, not just in Oakland County but across America,” Bouchard said.

The Brits have been experiencing this for well over a decade, as well-organized criminal gangs (especially from Eastern Europe) have not only been expanding drug- and prostitute-related activities, but creating gangs of smash-and-grab thieves and burglary rings.  Of course, this was facilitated by the EU policy of open borders and the reluctance of Brit politicians to do anything meaningful about it — which has been mirrored most recently in the U.S.A. by feckless politicians like Biden and his lickspittle accomplices in Homeland Security, INS and even our alleged “law enforcement” officials like prosecutors and the Fibbies.

Of course, the thieving activities of organized gangs has also been facilitated by crime groups such as Black Lives Matter — a local criminal organization given free rein by both state- and local governments — so it’s not just furriners.

This has been especially true in urban areas where a gang of say twenty thugs can crash a retail establishment and loot the place utterly without too much fear of arrest, let alone incarceration.  So far, the response has just been that the affected retailer groups have shut their inner-city stores, which is fine for chains like Target or Wal-Mart, but not so fine for single-store owners who have three options:  change the format from self-service to counter-service operation;  close the store and lose their livelihood, or (in some memorable cases) employ armed guards to ensure that such raids will be met with force.

Of course, where the last of those three courses has been adopted, theft has dropped precipitously or disappeared altogether.  Which brings me back to burglary.

Most lower-middle or working-class houses offer poor pickings to any organized crime gangs simply because there’s not much to steal and the game isn’t worth the candle.  Likewise, ultra-wealthy households are often protected by good alarm systems or even armed guards because those homeowners can afford such measures.

What’s left is the vulnerable middle- and upper-middle classes who may have some stuff that justifies an armed invasion, and not the means to protect it adequately.

Expect therefore that this kind of larcenous activity is going to grow in more affluent suburbs (like, maybe, Plano TX).

And you all know what I’m going to say about that:

…and:

…etc.

If enough of these assholes are killed trying to break into suburban homes, it may make them a little less keen to try it.

Just a thought.

However, if you live in an area where wasting a couple choirboys is going to get you arrested rather than congratulated by the local cops, you may need to reconsider your living arrangements.

Caliber Comparison

Longtime Friend & Reader John C. sent me this email over the past weekend:

Kim,
I found this article (“6.5 Creedmoor vs. .308 Winchester”) and thought you might find it interesting. I have .308 dies, a .308 Savage bolt gun, and if I get the urge to build another AR I’d do it in .308 because I have the dies. Not enough difference for me to collect another caliber, I’m slowing down.
A buddy was asking about it, though, and I said if he has no .308 and is getting a new gun he should consider the 6.5 Creedmoor (CM). If he has a .308 I said stick with it. He’ll likely not ever shoot beyond 500 yards. Your thoughts?
I thought it was a pretty good article, but unless I think I’ll take up F-Class (unlikely), like the author I’m not gonna think about it for me any more.
Cheers,
John

This was my response:

John,
I enjoyed the article.  My additional thoughts are as follows.

For 95% of all shooting, anything more than 400 yards is unlikely. (Targets and long-distance disciplines excepted, and the other 5% if you’re hunting antelope in eastern Montana, for example.)

In my opinion, therefore, the only difference between the .30x and the .25x (6.5mm, .270 Win etc) is that the latter doesn’t recoil as hard. As someone once said, they’re all good enough that the deer won’t know the difference. It’s the reason I prefer the 6.5x55mm Swede over just about any other: plenty of range (further than I can confidently shoot at), lots of penetration (high sectional density/SD), flat trajectory and so on.

If you’re a devotee of the .308, it’s fine. It may be the best all-purpose medium cartridge ever made, taken across every kind of use (military, hunting or target). I just prefer not to beat my shoulder up if I can avoid it. It’s the same reason I prefer 7x57mm over the 8mm: more or less the same effectiveness, smaller bruise.

Now that said, I love shooting. I love shooting, a lot. Which means that I pull the trigger more, in a single range session, than 75% of other shooters, and under those circumstances, recoil is a big thing.

Postscript:

It’s one of those things where you really don’t have to get all worked up over finding the “perfect” cartridge — trying all sorts of different calibers, loads etc. — and letting the perfect be the enemy of the good (or in this case, good enough).

Frankly, I think that riflemen need to find the cartridge/chambering which suits their personal criteria (mine, as above: maximum effectiveness with the lowest possible recoil), then find the cartridge (bullet weight, manufacturer, muzzle velocity whatever) which works the best in your rifle, and lay in a boatload of ammo of those specs (or reload accordingly, if you’re that way inclined).

Then shoot it lots, and become a master rifleman.

…or, as the above linked article puts it: