Tag: Guns and such

My favorite toy

See You In November, Asshole

Crime, Elections, Politics, The Gun Thing

I did not need to read this.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) told Fox News on Monday that the ability for strangers to sell guns to strangers without a background check is a “loophole” that needs to be addressed.
“I think one of the things, Jon, we have to do in this country is, take a strong look at this ability for people to buy a weapon when they’ve been turned down by a background check. … I believe, as a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, we should protect that family transfer or family sale. But any stranger-to-stranger, however — we don’t know how this person got their gun, but we do know that that’s a real loophole in the law. Because I’m a gun owner, I’m never going to sell my gun to someone I don’t know that — do they have a criminal record, are they a danger to other people, are they ready to commit evil? There’s no need for that.”

Fuck you, Patrick.  If I want to sell a gun, I’ll fucking well sell it.  If a guy has been turned down for a prior gun purchase and he then tries to get a gun anyway, then he’s at fault, not I.

And what if he was turned down because a vengeful ex slapped a restraining order on him, just for spite?  Am I supposed to know that, too?

What you and your fuckbuddies in the gun confiscation business call a “loophole”, I call a personal freedom — the freedom to sell my personal property whenever I choose to do so.  If the buyer turns around and commits a crime afterwards, that’s not my fault  — just as it’s not the (FFL) gun dealer’s fault when a “legal” gun buyer turns round and murders someone.  In both cases, the actual perpetrator caused the problem, not the seller.  

As someone who wants to sell a gun, I have a right to ask the prospective buyer if he has a carry permit, and the right to refuse to sell him my gun if he doesn’t have one.  That’s the right you want to turn into an obligation?  Bite me.  If you want me to perform a “background check” on someone, go ahead and deputize me.  Otherwise, stay the hell out of my business.

Wait, here’s a thought:  why don’t you and your politician buddies pass legislation that automatically grants every concealed-carry permit-holder a FFL?  Then we’d have  to perform background checks each time we sold a gun (except to other CHL holders, of course).  Go on, I dare you.

And stop listening to the screams and wails to “do something”.  That “something” that they want you to do is going to piss off a lot of people who might otherwise have voted for you.  Like me.

Amen

The Gun Thing

From C.W.’s place:

I have to say that for me, the pleasure I get from shooting the .45-70 Govt depends very much on what rifle I’m using.  In my Browning High Wall, it’s fantastic fun.  With a lever rifle — any lever rifle — I have to have some serious padding at the shoulder to be able to shoot more than a few rounds.

I haven’t yet tried that custom ammo in the picture, but I must say I’m intrigued.

I still have a sneaky Bucket List item, which is to hunt Cape buffalo or grizzly bear with my single-shot High Wall, using the heavy Buffalo Bore loads.

       

HSM makes a 430-gr +P cartridge that breaks the 3,000 ft/lbs at the muzzle, but I don’t know how much that drops off by 50 yards — not much, I would guess.

Compare that with the .375 H&H (300-gr) load Doc Russia ad Mr. Free Market used to nail their respective buffaloes:

Whatever.  All the Africa hands and serious hunters of my acquaintance think I’m insane, because to hunt buff or grizzlies you need a minimum muzzle energy of 3,000 ft/lbs at 50 yards, and the 45-70 doesn’t get there.  Apparently I wouldn’t be able to get a PH / outfitter to accompany me.

It’s still on the list, however.  (Just don’t tell New Wife.)

Gratuitous Gun Pic — James Purdey And David McKay Brown (12ga)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Before we get started, let me say at the outset that I don’t care if you can find a decent second-hand pump-action shotgun for $450 at Bubba’s Bait-‘N-Guns.  This isn’t that kind of post, as you will soon see.

Some people might say that spending this much money on a pair of shotguns is ludicrous or even foolhardy.  My opinion is that these guns exist right at the very end of the quality curve — I cannot think how they could possibly be improved — and therefore the cost is irrelevant.

Granted, to buy these guns you probably have to have so much money that cost becomes irrelevant (i.e. “if you have to ask…”), but like buying (say) a Ferrari Enzo, it isn’t the money that’s important.  (I, by the way, am not one who actually subscribes to this philosophy — had the lottery been in my favor last night, I still  wouldn’t have called Collectors Firearms to put a hold on them — but I do understand why this can be important to some people, and I pass no judgment on their preference whatsoever.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting the absolute best of anything, as long as you can afford it.)

Now all that said:  there are a couple of things about these Purdeys that I don’t like.

1) I prefer my shotgun stock not  to have a pistol grip — left is the Purdey, right is my preference:

2) I prefer double triggers to single triggers:

With all that in mind:  had the lottery been in my favor last night, I might  have called Collectors to put a hold on these two David McKay Brown shotguns (#1 and #2) because they are completely in my wheelhouse, so to speak, even though they’re not a matched pair.

(And I care not that this gun bears the initials of its previous owner — I put no stock in virginity.)

These two guns are, in a word, exquisite — and for those to whom this kind of thing matters, David McKay Brown is pretty much on a par with Purdey as a gunmaker.  (Purdey has the better P.R., but McKay Brown is extremely well-respected among the shotgun cognoscenti.)  And too, they’re not as finely engraved as the Purdey guns, but frankly, I’m not in thrall to fancy scrollwork (although I do appreciate it.)

And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the McKay Brown guns are half the price of the Purdeys… still nosebleed, but from only one  nostril, so to speak.

Want.

I Wish

Politics, The Gun Thing

Whenever politicians (especially presidents) suggest that citizens should just “turn in” their guns to the authorities, my response is always, “You first”.

 

In other words, you  forego your own guns, and disarm your  security details first.  (And for the police chiefs who buy into this bullshit:  first disarm all your police officers, especially your SWAT teams with those evil military-style weapons;  let’s see how that works out.)

Fortunately, thanks to some excellent reporting, I can now say that at least one group of brave politicians is following my suggestion.

Democratic National Committee spokesperson Michael Tyler announced Thursday that all candidates who run in the 2020 presidential election as Democrats will completely forego armed security for the entirety of their campaigns, in a clear and bold stance against gun violence in America.

As the title of this post suggests…

Not For Sale

Gummint, The Gun Thing

Several years ago, one of our county sheriffs was running for reelection, and was asked his opinion about federal attempts at gun confiscation.  His reply was simple:

“They’ll have to get past my deputies first.”

He won by a landslide.

Here’s a little something for the Socialists to chew on while they make their little totalitarian schemes:

“Mandatory gun buybacks” is an imported idea that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke supported after the mass shooting in El Paso. The idea comes from Australia where the government instituted a mandatory buyback program following a mass shooting in 1996.
Liberals swoon at the results: suicides and homicides plummeted. But in addition to the mandatory buyback program, there was radical gun control legislation, making it much more difficult to own any kind of firearm.
Nevertheless, gun confiscation is no longer a scare tactic used by Republicans to get elected. It’s here. And it’s real.

Not gonna happen.  You can call it whatever you want, but we know what it is:  confiscation.

Good luck with that.  Bring body bags.  Oh, and send that little fucker “Beta” O’Rourke in first.

Gratuitous Gun Pic – Mauser Sporter (8x57mm)

Gratuitous Gun Pics

Here’s the last in our series of “droolworthy Mauser Sporters” (see here for the 7×57 and here for the 8×60):  a “standard” Mauser Sporter rifle from Collectors Firearms, this one chambered for the common 8x57mm cartridge:

Like the first two, this beauty has a full stock and double set trigger;  but unlike the others, it doesn’t have a scope, nor is it even drilled and tapped for scope mounts:

But it has attractions all of its own, with a double-leaf rear sight, case-hardening finish on the action, and a half-octagon barrel;  and those features alone would put this on a list of “guns I’d snap up in  a heartbeat after winning the lottery”.

Longtime Readers will be familiar with my love of Mauser rifles, but should someone have stumbled on this website from another planet, allow me to explain myself.

Mauser bolt-action rifles are almost without exception the best large-scale production guns ever made, whether during the late 19th century (the Swedish M96), in the early 20th century (the WWI G98). the mid-20th century (K98) or since then (M03 and M12).  They are strong, beautifully machined, accurate and reliable, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is the one rifle that no gun owner should be without — because long after all the modern rifles have expired from heavy usage, parts breaking and/or abuse, the Mauser will still work pretty much as well as the day it left the factory.  And  quite frankly, its chambering is irrelevant, whether a military one (6.5x55mm, 7x57mm, 7.65x53mm, 8x57mm), a “hunting” one (6.5x57mm, .270 Win, 8x60mm, 9.3x62mm, .375H&H, .416 Rigby) or in more “modern” ones such as .308 Win, 7mm Rem Mag or .300 Win Mag:  whichever cartridge you choose, the Mauser will never let you down.

Over the years, I’ve owned well over a dozen Mausers at one time or another, whether military, customized, re-chambered and sporters, and I regret getting rid of each and every one.  The very first rifle I ever bought was an Israeli mil-surp Mauser rechambered for 7.62 NATO, and the first gun I bought when I emigrated to America was a full-stocked Mauser sporter similar to the one pictured above, only with a single trigger.  Other than during the bleak years of 2015-17, I have owned at least one Mauser rifle every day of my life, and a multitude of Mauser-style bolt actions (e.g. CZ 550) as well.  Of all the millions of choices one can ever make during one’s lifetime, choosing a Mauser rifle will always be one of the best.

Here endeth the lesson.