Remington Won't Sell Guns to ... who? Anyone with money? Get Outta Here!

Bank of America's loan to Remington tests its firearms pledge | Reuters:

“It’s perfectly reasonable for them (BOA) to say to any borrower, ‘We’re happy to lend to you if you don’t make military-style assault weapons,’” said Ted Gavin of the Gavin/Solmonese LLC restructuring advisory firm. “The lender has all the power.”

But if the lender is too picky about their customers .. they don't have any customers.
And there are plenty of other customers who really really want to upgrade their  product line with another Major Customer!!!!

(Watch for the "Cave-in" on this perfectly reasonable statement.)

Remington Firearms are perfectly legal.   When the "lender" has sufficiently milked the political  issue, the corporate position will shift just enough to accept perfectly legal firearms as a perfectly legal manufacturer's product.

And Remington Firearms can't stay in business if they don't sell guns.  

What other product do they have?  Popcorn?

Because   $$$,$$$,$$$

And banks don't loan money to companies which don't sell product.

Read this. Bookmark this. Then read it again.

The truth is in the details, and BOY HOWDY does this guy get into the guts of the details of firearms and homocides!

Essentially, more guns do NOT cause more crime; even (especially?) Murders.

Suicides? ... well, guns are as effective as the Japanese method of putting your skull between a pile-driver and the pile it's driving, but much more convenient.

Everybody’s Lying About the Link Between Gun Ownership and Homicide:

Everybody’s Lying About the Link Between Gun Ownership and Homicide There is no clear correlation whatsoever between gun ownership rate and gun homicide rate. Not within the USA. Not regionally. Not internationally. Not among peaceful societies. Not among violent ones. Gun ownership doesn’t make us safer. It doesn’t make us less safe. The correlation simply isn’t there. It is blatantly not-there. It is so tremendously not-there that the “not-there-ness” of it alone should be a huge news story.

(And yes, I have talked about this before. I'll talk about it again, next year.)

Sixty rounds in your Glock?

9mm Extreme Extension Glock – Taccom3g:

(a) TACCOM 9mm Extension for the 33 round 9mm Glock magazine.

The manufacturer claims:

We’ve come up with an extension and spring that will feed your PCC efficiently. Made from 6061 aluminum, it will take the abuse of competition and keep on running. The internals of the extension are smooth to allow for both the follower and the rounds to flow effortlessly thru for thousands of cycles. Easy to assemble too!! 

Manufacturer also offers some supplementary advice:

Note: Keep in mind that the end user must chamfer the inside of their magazine as well as their follower so that you get a smooth transition when the follower re-enters the magazine.

An idea whose time has not come?

The curmudgeon in me refers back to Viet Nam where we couldn't get the 30-round "banana" magazines for M16's (apparently those of us 'in the field' had second or third call on equipment, including magazines, boots and replacement arms ... right after the Officers and the REMFs stole the good stuff) and in fact we used the straight 20-round magazines but downloaded them to 18 rounds, because the springs lost their resiliency when kept fully loaded for days at a time.

So I'm historically dubious about claims exceeding my experiences. These magazines are obviously not intended for the kind of abuse and poor maintenance suffered during a combat tour.

My experience competing in IPSC matches / "Open Division" was that the 25-round magazines had to be treated with kid gloves.  We removed the springs (or at least the end caps) from the magazines so the springs were not under any tension between usages ... which is to say, right up to Match Day.    That kept their 'strength' up so there were more or less reliable, but we still tended to down-load the magazines by a round or two.

But that was way-back-then, and the manufacturers claim here that:

We’ve come up with an extension and spring that will feed your PCC efficiently. 

By that I presume that advances in metallurgy have resulted in springs which WILL perform reliably under the most grueling of conditions.

Actually, I doubt that.

On the other hand, I recall a couple of very smart fellows who once said: "640 kilobytes of memory should be enough for anyone", so I suppose it's possible that I've misjudged modern technology.

Blackhawk's "SERPA" holster found to be unsafe

The SERPA Sucks, And That's Just All There Is To Say About It:

  ,,, the BlackHawk! SERPA holster is one of the worst holster designs currently manufactured.
 The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) Field Training Directorate (FTD) launched an investigation of the design after “four incidents.” The resulting research discovered that the user’s trigger finger ended up proximal to the trigger on 25-percent of the draw strokes, and that 13-percent of attempted draw strokes began out of sequence. They concluded (PDF) that the basic design of the holster was likely to greatly increase the likelihood of an “inadvertent discharge,” and concluded that it should not be used in any of their training. Here’s Guns & Ammo TV trying to argue that Serpa’s are “perfectly safe.” Watch what happens with the expert’s finger.

(Click link at top of the post to see videos in the original Bearing Arms article)

MALF

Hand-gun malfunctions; they happen.  Sometimes you can just call it a day and go home ... if you're at a pistol match.  Other times there are immediate remedial actions which you can perform to quickly resolve the problem.

(I'm not even going to try to address rifle malfunctions: too many types of actions, and generally the resolution is "go home, you're screwed", such as when you can't extract a fired cartridge.)

Here are the five most common types of firearm malfunctions, and the things you can do with them.  The first three are typical of semi-automatic pisols, and the fourth is typical of revolvers: but SQUIBS can happen to everyone!

1: Failure to Feed
2: Stovepipe
3. Uncategorized
4. locked cylinder (Revolver Only)
5: Squib

E-O-E-O-AY-AY AY! (Hey, Bro, did you see where that shot hit?)

U.S. Special Operations units are using faulty rifle sights - The Washington Post:

U.S. Special Operations forces are using rifle sights that are supposed to help shooters accurately hit their targets but instead have a defect, acknowledged by the manufacturer, that potentially endangers the lives of service members in combat, according to court records and military officials.

If the glove sight don't fit ....

... I'm sure I glad I was using Iron Sights when I was last in a War Zone!

Flying With Guns

Transporting Firearms and Ammunition | Transportation Security Administration:

You may transport unloaded firearms in a locked hard-sided container as checked baggage only. Declare the firearm and/or ammunition to the airline when checking your bag at the ticket counter

I've written about this before, but it has been a long time.  Rules may have changed by now, so the above link is effective as of this date.

If you are travelling by air, there are some strict regulations which you must follow considering how your firearms and ammunition must be stowed.

Firearms must be in locked, hard-side cases.  The plastic case your gun came in does not meet standards.

Ammunition must be also in a locked, hardside case.   Only shotgun ammunition may be stored in the same case as the gun.  (As if that's going to be big enough!)

Ammunition must be in a solid container, not cardboard.

Note: if you're going to a match or on a hunt, it might be easier to ship the ammunition ahead to your destination as a separate effort.  It's probably a lot cheaper, too, considering the cost of shipping it as 'luggage' considering the weight allowances.

MISTAKES:
I once flew to New York from Oregon to attend a match.  When I checked the baggage, I discovered that the nice lady at the check-in counter was not aware of the regulations.  I tried to demonstrate that my pistols (in checked baggage) were unloaded, and it freaked her out.   She had no idea how to determine that the guns were unloaded, and when I took the locked hard-case out of the luggage and opened it up, she was frightened.  She had never actually touched a gun before, so I racked the slide on each pistol to show that the gun was unloaded.

"Major Nine"

Recent Comment:

"BTW, I need to discuss technical aspects of Major Power 9mm, can you email me @ ............@........."

It's interesting that I've received a couple of questions about "Major Nine" recently.

This is probably in reference to a dialogue I had with someone who wanted to discuss the question of 9mm Parabellum being legally definable as a "Major Power" cartridge in USPSA competition.

(Note: 9mm is usually classified as 'minor power', based on the velocity-to-bullet weight ration) by IPSC.    USPSA has allowed 9mm Parabellum to be classified is a "Major Power" cartridge, when it meets certain velocity/bullet-weight criteria as determined by a chronograph.   It's a little bit complicated, but there have been 'convincing' arguments presented that the 9mm can be loaded to much 'heavier' parameters SAFELY when fired in a modern pistol with a fully-supported chamber.)

The difference between "MAJOR" and "MINOR" power in USPSA/IPSC competition is that there are five scoring zones on the standard targets (both the "metric" and the "Classic" target, and they are:
A-zone .... always worth 5 points
B-zone and C-zone ... worth 4 points in major power and 3 points in minor power.
D-zone ... worth 2 points in major power and 1 point in minor power.

The question of MAJOR NINE is a little confusing, but it does allow people to shoot for higher hit-points with a 9mm pistol (if it has a fully supported barrel).

Personally, I'm not happy with the light-weight engineering of the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, but I can understand why some people would wish to work for higher hit-points by using this technical variation on the rules.

I do, however, think it's prone to abuse, and that developing a load which meets velocity standards for Major Power is an exercise which only very experienced reloaders should attempt.  Having said that, the corallary is that people with less experience, who are not as likely to develop a load for 9mm Major by baby-steps while testing each increment against a chronograph ... is a recipe for misadventure, at best.

Le Morte de le Beloved Kimber: A Toy Story

I broke my Kimber Custom 1911 in .45acp pistol at the match today.

After 17 years (I bought it for under $300 in 1998) and untold thousands of rounds punched through the gun ... I broke it.

I was at an IPSC [USPSA] match at the Albany gun club, and not doing all that well because I haven't been attending many matches lately I'm out of practice. when I found myself on the Third Stage with a gun that wouldn't allow me to reload a new magazine.

Let me be a bit clearer:

I tried to do a reload, but the magazine would only go halfway in.  I tried everything; I even leaned over and whispered softly:  "I promise I'll still respect you in the morning" but that didn't work.

So I quit the stage with one magazine fired in what I had expected to be a three-magazine problem (8-round magazines), and took a zero on the stage.

[NOTE:  I had a GREAT time:  about 11 seconds on a 30-second stage, but I got a zero score of course because I ONLY SHOT EIGHT ROUNDS.]

After I signed the score sheet, I took my broke-dick gun to the safety table to get a good look at it.  After I field-stripped it and found some strong sunlight, I could look down at the magazine well through the top of the frame, and the right-hand side of the trigger yoke was protruding into the magazine well a good eighth of an inch.  It didn't look as if it had broken (at least in that part I could see), but it was at least bent.  Into the magazine well.  

And here I always thought I had a delicate finger on the trigger!

Which explained why I couldn't even drop the hammer to clear the stage: by IPSC rules, the gun didn't leave the stage "loaded" but I wasn't "clear" in the strictest sense.

I gave The Beloved Kimber to my friend, The Hobo Brasser (THB), to do the mechanical stuff involved in removing the old trigger.  I'll be ordering a replacement trigger from Brownell's (I guess), and have it delivered to THB.

 I have as much mechanical ingenuity as a hog in a sty, except perhaps not as much manual dexterity.

(I once tried to replace the floater bulb in an old-style toilet:  I broke the porcelain tank in the process.  I ended up having to buy a new toilet and hiring a plumber to install it.  THAT is how much of a mechanic I am!)

TO CONTINUE:
My friend THB said "I've got a back-up 1911 in the car, you can finish the match with that", which generous offer I gratefully accepted.  I finished the match with a gun that felt a LOT different (it was a Taurus, and the grip safety ... unlike The Beloved Kimber ... had not been pinned).

But wait: there's more!

I don't THINK so!

Magnetospeed: Obsoleting Convenional Chronographs - The Firearm Blog: Magnetospeed: Obsoleting Convenional Chronographs

Oh, that's so ... new!

So we now have a magneto-powered chronograph.  I'm so pleased.
 (What does 'magneto' mean?  sensors are rekatubg the framamjig instead of dependent on impinging light sources.  Now you know as much about it as I do.)

I do love high tech, but I gotta couple of  (okay, 3) questions:

(1)   What are the most common usages of chronographs?  I mean, in terms of number of guns/rounds per time?  Answer:  at major shooting matches where "power factor" is part of the equation, it's used to determine whether the gun is "Major Power" or "Minor Power".
(2)  How long does it take to install the thingamajig on each gun, and just how MUCH difference does it make how much difference the "... sensitivity to placement... " makes in determining the accuracy of readings ... especially when comparing one firearm to the next.
(3)  What happens when you're using the magnetospeed thingie to chronograph a compensated race pistol?

I've used 'conventional" (dependent on light source) chronographs a bit.  I even helped run the Chrono stage at the Area 1 USPSA match a few years ago at ARPC in Oregon.

The thing is, I think the greatest VOLUME of Chrongraph readings occur at competition matches, where "power factor" must be determined for each individual firearm.

Using the light-sensor style of Chronograph is problematical because (as the article states):

Conventional chronographs work by measuring the time it takes for a bullet to pass over two optical sensors. The problem with the conventional approach is that ambient sunlight affects the velocity reading. Other problems with conventional chronos is that they are big and bulky, require a tripod, need long cables and risk being destroyed by your bullets or shotgun wads.

I think that the implications inherent in that statement are perhaps applicable for the individual, but at a Major Match?  It's all bullshit.   I don't THINK so!

Journalist's Guide to Firearms Identification

77d3d70b.jpg Photo by theweaselking | Photobucket

(More seriously: see this:)

The Journalist's Guide to Gun Policy Scholars and Second Amendment Scholars

Surviving the CHRONOGRAPH Stage At A Major Match

Traditional Ammo Is Fundamentally Flawed

USPSA match scoring is based on three factors: Speed, Power and Accuracy.

The ACCURACY is based on the points you score on each target .. less penalties.
The SPEED is based on the time you take to complete the stage. ("Timed Fire" is judged a little differently, but still ....)
The POWER factor is based on your declared power factor, except at a Major Match when they actually determine the power factor of the ammunition you are using, on that day, at that place.

And if your ammunition doesn't actually perform to the level that you have expected, it can ruin your whole day.

What I want to talk about is one of the points that I include in my "Introduction to USPSA" Safety Class, when we start to talk about "POWER FACTOR" in the segment about Scoring Your Target.

This is A True Story, and I tell it once every month when I give a class

M&P Shield Pistol Safety Alert

Shooting Wire:

Smith  Wesson Issues Safety Alert and Inspection Procedure for M&P Shield Pistols 
SPRINGFIELD, MA --- Smith & Wesson Corp. announced today that the Company has identified a condition where the trigger bar pin could damage the lower trigger in certain M&P Shields in a way that may affect the functionality of the drop safety feature of the firearm, potentially allowing the pistol to discharge if it is dropped. 
This Safety Alert applies to all M&P Shield pistols manufactured before August 19, 2013. We believe this condition is largely limited to recently manufactured M&P Shield pistols. However, out of an abundance of caution, we are asking all consumers of all M&P Shields manufactured before August 19, 2013 to immediately inspect their pistols for this condition. 
Any unintended discharge of a firearm has the potential to cause injury, and we ask that you STOP USING YOUR PISTOL IMMEDIATELY UNTIL IT HAS BEEN INSPECTED AND, IF THE CONDITION IS FOUND, REPAIRED

 See the SHOOTING WIRE link at the top of the page for the complete safety warning text.

(... and a supplemental note from Shooting Wire:)

To make it simpler for those of us who find gunsmithing not in our skill-set, there's a video online at MPShieldSafetyAlert.com to give video instructions for inspecting your Shield. 

It's April Again, and the "Dialogue" has not changed

Cogito Ergo Geek: April Massacre: Virginia Tech:

The Lars Larson featured an interview with Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. While careful not to suggest that any restrictions should be applied to "lawful citizens", he carefully made the point that "... maybe we should make it harder for individuals to get some of these guns in the first place. Not you, but people like the shooter today". He was unable to present a cogent argument differentiating between the radio talk-show host, and "the shooter today" except "We don't have any information on exactly where he got the gun or how he got the gun, but I think, you know, part of the solution is not just shooting the bad guy when he started but trying to keep it ... make it harder for the bad guy to get these guns in the first place."

This is a link to my April 16, 2007 article based on the Virginia Tech shootings.

Go ahead and read the original article, if you wish.  According to my stats counter log, this was one of my most 'popular' articles in the past week.  I can only assume that Virginia Tech (and other mass shootings) are of great interest to readers today.

Looking at the very short quote above, it's clear that the issues haven't changed.  At least, from the point of view of the Gun Control Lobby.  They want to impose MORE draconian laws against purchase of firearms by .. everyone.  It's a "shotgun" approach (if you will excuse the expression);  a wide-ranging legal attempt to keep guns out of the hands of EVERYONE, not just those who are most likely to misuse firearms.

This is so typical.

I understand that 'these people' cannot imagine why anyone who is a "law abiding citizen" would want to own a firearm.  Their mantra is that guns are for killing people.  Period.  And there is no justifiable reason why a civilized person would want to kill people.  Certainly THEY would not want to shoot someone, and so they judge the rest of the world based on their on (highly protected) lifestyle.

The term "Law Abiding" is just noise to them;  if you have a gun, you should go to jail.

Or to be more succinct, in the words of Rosie O'Donnell:  “you are not allowed to own a gun, and if you do own a gun I think you should go to prison.” 

(Please, do NOT ask me to show you the youtube of that quote; I just spent two hours watching the woman's youtube videos, and that quote does no appear anywhere.  Have they all been deleted at the request of "The Queen Of Nice"?    I don't know and at this point I don't care.  The quote has been documented elsewhere, and it has never been denied by O'Donnell or her associates.  Just .. please, don't ask me to EVER view another Rosie O'Donnell show.  Okay?  Enough that she ambushed Tom Selleck in 1999 on gun control issues, and years later the reprehensible Lawrence O'Donnell .. any relation? .. spent ten minutes lambasting Selleck for his perceived pro-gun representation.)

(All links open in a new window)

Okay, I admit it; I digress.   And I'm going to digress from the initial topic even more, now.  In fact, I'm not going to talk about "gun control" at all.   Instead, I intend to talk about "Mass Murders", in the past 300 years.  Not ALL of them .. there have been so many, it goes beyond the scope of what you are willing to read!

Let's just talk about the mass murders which have occurred in the month of April .. which is apparently fertile ground (speaking in terms of the calendar) for the madmen among us.

April has historically been the month when the "worst of the worst" massacres have occurred in our great country.  I've suggested that this was because Adolf Hitler's birthday was in April (April 20, l889) and crazy people seem to gravitate to this date as their choice for "the best month to kill a lot of people".  There is no evidence to support this assumption, except that .. well, you do the math;  here is a google search of "massacres in April"., presented in no particular order:

• (01) Waco (Tx)  (ended April 19, 1993)  American "religious community", in a "compound" are besieged by American local law enforcement, Federal agencies (including ATF), and American Army units after a contretemps involving purportedly illegal firearms transfers.  The siege lasted from 2/28 thri 5/19, 1993.The group was suspected of weapons violations and a search and arrest warrant was obtained. The incident began when the (ATF) attempted to raid the ranch. An intense gun battle erupted, resulting in the deaths of four agents and six Branch Davidians. Upon the ATF's failure to raid the compound, a siege was initiated by the (FBI), the standoff lasting 51 days. Eventually, the FBI launched an assault and initiated a tear gas attack in an attempt to force the Branch Davidians out. During the attack, a fire engulfed Mount Carmel Center and 76 men, women, and children,including David Koresh, died.   Controversy ensued over the origin of the fire; a government investigation concluded in 2000 that sect members themselves had started the fire at the time of the attack.   Timothy McVeigh cited the Waco incident as a primary motivation for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
• (02) Columbine (Co) (Littleton, Colorado: April 20, 1999 ) In what now is known as the Columbine Massacre, 13 are killed and 22 wounded by two gunmen.
• (03) Virginia Tech (Va) (April 16, 2007) A student gunman killed 33 in dorms and a nearby classroom building. He then killed himself.)
• (04) San Diego, Ca (April 15, 1995) A 36-year-old graduate engineering student kills three professors while defending his thesis before a faculty committee 
• (05) Keyesville, Ca (April 19, 1863) The Keyesville Massacre occurred... in Tulare County (now Kern County, California) during the Owens Valley Indian War. White settlers ... killed 35 .. (indians) men, "about ten miles from Keysville [sic], upon the right bank of Kern River".
• (06) Ludlow (Colorado) (April 20, 1914) Colorado coal mine strike results in an attack on workers by company guards; "several men", two women and children were killed.  Total dead estimated at between 19 and 25 people 2 women and 11 children were reportedly "... asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent." The deaths occurred after a daylong fight between militia and camp guards against striking workers. Ludlow was the deadliest single incident in the southern Colorado Coal Strike, lasting from September 1913 through December 1914
• (07) Erfurt, Germany (April 26, 2002) A former student kills 18, including himself at a school in eastern Germany.
• (08) Kibeho (Rwanda)  (April 17 - 22, 1995)  "About 4200" ethnic Hutus were killed in refugee camps by soldiers of the ethnic "Tutsi" tribes.  (Body count unreliable; generally assumed undercounted)
• (09) Jeju (Korea)  (April 8, 1948) "... against a background of an ongoing ideological struggle for control of Korea and a variety of grievances held by (a disparate group) against the local authorities, the many communist sympathizers on the island attacked police stations and government offices. The brutal and often indiscriminate suppression of the leftist rebellion resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of both villagers and communist radicals and the imprisonment of thousands more in internment camps."
• (10) Deir Yassin (Palestine) (April 9, 1948) "Around 107 villagers were killed during and after the battle for the village, including women and children—some were shot, while others died when hand grenades were thrown into their homes" 
• (11) Shanghai, China (April 12-13, 1927) During the Chinese revolution, Chiang (Kai-shek) ordered the Communist party members and "union members"to be disarmed: more than 300 people (were) killed and wounded. At a later protest,soldiers opened fire, killing 100 and wounding many more. Over 1000 Communists were arrested, some 300 were officially executed and more than 5,000 "went missing".
• (12) Thalit (Algeria) (April 3-4, 1997) "The Thalit massacre took place in Thalit village some 70 km from Algiers.. 52 out of the 53 inhabitants were killed by slitting their throats. The homes of the villagers were burned down after. The attack was blamed on Islamist guerrillas. (Note extensive list of "Algerian Massacres here.)
• (13) Rwanda (April 5, 1994 thru mid July, 1994 ) "The Rwandan Genocide was a genocidal mass slaughter of the Tutsis by the Hutus that took place in 1994. Over the course of approximately 100 days (from April 6 through mid-July) over 500,000 people were killed...  Estimates...have ranged from 500,000–1,000,000^, or as much as 20% of the country's total population. 
• (14) Jallianwalla (India) (April 13, 1919) British Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ... hearing that a meeting of 15,000 to 20,000 people including women, children and the elderly had assembled at Jallianwala Bagh, ... went with fifty Gurkha riflemen to a raised bank and ordered them to shoot at the crowd. Dyer continued the firing for about ten minutes, until the ammunition supply was almost exhausted; Dyer stated that 1,650 rounds had been fired... Official ... sources gave a figure of 379 identified dead, with approximately 1,100 wounded. The casualty number estimated by the Indian National Congress was more than 1,500, with approximately 1,000 dead.
• (15) Syria (April 12, 2013) Some 19 people (were) killed in fighting across Syria ... according to the opposition group  (....  a political committee.) Twelve of those were in Aleppo, in the north-west, and six in Damascus and its suburbs, according to the group. The LCCs said that 149 people were killed in the civil war yesterday, 41 of them in Homs (a town), 36 in Aleppo, and 33 in the capital. Another activist group ...  said 125 had been killed, 40 of them in Homs, 33 in Aleppo, and 19 in Damascus and its suburbs. These groups’ reports cannot be verified because media access to Syria is limited.
• (16) Armenia (April, 1915) "In April, the Ottoman government embarked upon the systematic decimation of its Armenian population. The persecutions continued with varying intensity until the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist... The Armenian population was estimated at about two million in 1915.  An estimated one million had perished by 1918....   By 1923 virtually the entire Armenian population of Anatolian Turkey had disappeared."
• (17) Haiti (18 April 1804) a (black) Haitian General, Jean Jacques Dessalines, after the fall of the French Empire, decreed that all white people should be killed.  He traveled through Haiti ensuring the slaughter.  In April, in the town of Port Au Prince, he directed that all white people be killed. Over 1700 were subsequently slaughtered, often under the most brutal of applications.  The total number of people killed in Haiti under his direction is estimated to be between 3000 to 5000 by the end of April,1804.
• (18) Guatemala (April 3, 1982) Guatemalan soldiers shot, and hacked to death with machetes, entire villages.

Remember .. these were ONLY massacres which occurred in April.


Of those 18 April Massacres, six occurred in America ....

(1) Waco ( Government attack on  'religious stronghold' by American police, Federal agents, Army); 
(2) Columbine (Student assault on a high-school by disenfranchised students);
(3) Virginia Tech (Student assault on a college by a single disenfranchised student);
(4) San Diego (College Graduate Student kills thesis testers);
(5) Keysville (white settlers attempt to wipe out native americans)
(6) Ludlow (Coal miners strike: strike-breakers attempt to wipe out strikers)


The six American 'incidents'  were .. varied.  It's tempting to say that they were the product of disgruntled citizens (often students) striking out at their "Masters" .. if in inappropriate manners. 

As for the 12 'non-national' (Non-American) incidents ... did you notice a pattern?  They all fell into one of three different categories:

1. Governments attacking their citizens to prevent the overthrow of the national leadership;
2. Non-governmental groups within a nation attacking their rivals, in a bid for ascendancy;
3. Non-governmental groups within a nation attacking people for no discernible motive other than sheer detestation of their respective tenet, race, creed or religion.

And often, these differential boundaries overlap until you can't tell who is killing whom for what reason!  Almost universally, the target groups were identified by political, racial, religious, or tribal affiliations.

SUMMARY:

We have heard so much of late, about how Americans are killing each other en mass.  It seems that this is a new phenomena, something which is unheard of in America or in the world.

In truth, though, it's just the same old "man's inhumanity toward man" which we have seen so frequently over the years.  We're accustomed to hearing how the white settlers massacred the 'indians' in the drive toward the white "manifest destiny", and we have become inured to the tragedies imposed for the sake of "Lebensraum". 

Except that now it's not governments or organizations massacring people; it's individuals doing the same thing, and on a smaller scale.  Isn't it odd that when Groups (including Governments) massacre tens or thousands of people, it's just "History"; but when individuals transcend the barrier between Government and Individual, we are outraged that one lone madman would shoot up a dozen people?  Where was the outrage when, for example, Dyer  directed the slaughter of a thousand Indians?

Stalin said:

"One Death is a tragedy; a Million Deaths is a statistic."

When I first read that, I was appalled.  Now, it seems that we are so focused on the 'tragedy' that we forget the 'statistics'.

Have we become so inured by the governmental murder of their people that we have lost our perspective?

Here is some perspective for you:

Oh, and lest we forget:
Bath, Michigan: (May 18, 1927)

By far the worst school massacre in US history took place in the tiny town of Bath, Michigan in 1927. There, an angry school board member named Andrew Kehoe blew up the town’s school, killing 45 and wounding 58. Most of the victims were kindergarten through sixth grade students. A secondary explosion killed Kehoe and the school Superintendent. 

No "Assault Weapons" were used in the commission of this crime.
It was sort of like the Boston Massacre .. but then, we tended to overlook this kind of thing, until just recently.  Didn't we?

Oh.  I meant the 2013 version, not the 1770 version of the Boston Massacre.  In 1770, the Brits shot our citizens for civil disobedience; in 2013, religious fanatics blew up our citizens because they were .. well .. "our citizens".

The more things change, the more they stay the same.   Only, 'different'.

Clean your gun regularly!

Or, if you don't like cleaning your gun .. buy an STI.

I've been running a little experiment for the past year.  I shoot my 10mm STI Edge twice a month .. once when I 'demonstrate' each training stage in the "Introduction to USPSA" class, and again the next weekend when I compete at my local match.

Then I take it home and don't take it out of the gun bag until next month.

Every now and then I look at the barrel ... from the outside ... by racking the slide.  I see a lot of dirty oil on the outside.  God only knows what it looks like on the inside.

Why do I look at the barrel?  I want to see if there's plenty of oil on it.  If it looks thin, I pour some more oil on it.  Usually 30 weight motor oil .. it works just fine as a lubricant.

Oh, sometimes I use a paper towel to wipe the old oil off the part of the barrel that I can see when I rack the slide, and then I pour more motor oil on it.  There's a technical name for this process.  It's called "Cleaning My Gun".

Sure, that's  not what most people would call it.  "Abuse" would be an alternative term, but I decided not to call it that, so it's not abuse.

I use to clean The Beloved Kimber by putting it in the dishwasher.  That worked fine for me, too ... although I occasionally actually ran a brass brush through the barrel.  See, I was using hard-cast lead bullets through it, and I do know the effects of leading on a barrel; reduced accuracy.  That's not generally considered to be A Good Thing.  Especially not good when you use the gun for competition (as I do).

But even when I 'cleaned' The Beloved Kimber, I always DRENCHED the wretch in oil.  Yup, motor oil.  Five bucks buys a pint of oil, and it lasts for years!

By now, you're either thinking that this is satire, or that I'm a complete idiot.  If so ... you're right.  I am an idiot, because I do know how people tell me to take care of a gun.   I just don't listen to them.  I take my own advice.

Oil it.  If a little oil is good, more oil is gooder.

I got that piece of advice from Dave Skinner, past owner and CEO of STI Guns, Inc.  He should know, since he built and sold STI pistols for years and years, all around the world.

The people who caution you not to 'over-oil' your pistol?  I think they need to define the term.  So far, I have determined that the problem with "over-oiling" your pistol is that it leaks out and makes the grip slippery.  My solution to "over oiling" is to wipe off the slippery stuff on the grip.

This isn't Rocket Science.  How much oil is in the crankcase of your car?  More than you need?  Well, it helps to have enough oil on machinery, but my EDGE doesn't have a crankcase.

My Edge works reliably, all day, every day.  The only time I have problems with it is when the ammunition I reload is "off spec".  That happened last month, when my seating die got loose and I cranked out a hundred rounds which were over-all length 1.275" instead of 1.250".  I didn't notice it until I got to the match and discovered that I could only put 15 rounds in the magazine instead of the usual 17 rounds.  I had a couple of feeding problems during the match, which was maddening.  When I got home, I reset my seating die to the correct specs, re-seated the remaining over-long rounds and cranked out a couple hundred more.  They worked just fine in the October match ... and no, I didn't clean my gun before that match, either.

I suppose I will actually clean the Edge sometime this winter, when the competition season slows down.  The days are short, the nights are long, and a Geek has to find ways to fill those idle hours.

So yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll clean it.

Not that it needs it. 

My readers are smarter than I am ... and isn't that a good thing?

A few days ago, I talked about the 'angst' of being a range officer.  (see ARGHHHH!)

The crux of the exposition was that when an RO disqualifies a shooter because of a safety-rule violation, it's often as disappointing to the RO as it is to the shooter.  (The shooter never notices or acknowledges this, because being booted out of a match is an intensely personal event, and the shooter rarely notes the responses of 'other people'.)

The thing is ... being DQ'd is like farting on the subway, only worse.  You (the person being penalized) are aware of having performed an action which is socially forbidden.  You know it, you regret it, and you wish you could just go sit in a corner and everyone would ignore your indiscretion.  But there's this Transit Cop  (called a "Range Officer") who is watching your every move, and the Dude is both remorseless and unrelenting in his drive to show you to your friends and companions in the most unflattering light.  It's as if he doesn't like you, and is gleeful about exposing your digestive indiscretions to your fellow travelers.

If you have ever competed in an IPSC match, you're aware of the Evil Range Officer.  If you have ever been DisQualified from an IPSC match, you are aware of the shame and self-loathing which accompanies being ceremoniously BOOTED from what had previously been "A Fun Day At The Range".

And if you are a Range Officer ... you don't need to read this stuff, because you already know how hateful it is to be a Transit Cop on the IPSC Subway.  The ONLY person on the range who hated a DQ more than the shooter, is the RO.  And that's the honest truth.

Okay, so much for the shared angst.

THE INTERESTING PART of blogging isn't what the writer writes.  It's what the readers contribute in their comments!   And this article is an excellent example of that premise. (Don't feel you need to click on the link .. it's the same thing you saw linked earlier here.)

I had some things to say, and most readers either got it, or didn't get it,  or kind-of got it but somehow missed the point.

The three people who commented on the article were perfect illustrations of those three variations.

He Gets It
The Hobo Brasser (Mark) is an experienced IPSC competitor and Range Officer.  We have both been 'officiating' at IPSC matches for years .. okay, Decades if you insist on details ... and have worked every level of competition from club matches to USPSA National Matches.    I don't know how many people I've DQ'd, and I doubt that he does, either.  At one time I could tell you, but I've lost count.  It's not a statistic which brings pride to a man from the doing of it.  But Mark wrote to acknowledge that kicking a fellow competitor out of a match is something done reluctantly, and I'm pretty sure that he has often given shooters the 'benefit of the doubt' even though we're not suppose to do that.

This is a man who 'gets it'.


He Sort-of Gets It, but Misses The Point
An "Anonymous" commenter (Blogger commenting isn't very insistent about requiring commenters to identify themselves) kind-of got it.  A couple of salient phrases include that I am "...too critical of newbies..:", a note that "... some stages are inherently unsafe ...",  most interestingly the following:

"... some IPSC safety violations are much worse than others.  Rather an occasional finger in the trigger guard than breaking the 180."

Yes, some stages are inherently unsafe.  Actually, ALL stages are inherently unsafe, depending upon your point of view.  For the Range Officer, that IS the point of view.  Some stage designs are more challenging than others, and  one might say that they "require a closer adherence to the safety rules".    But that would be wrong.  ALL stages require a close adherence to the safety rules.  Safety isn't a judgmental thing which can be loosened or tightened according to circumstances.  Safety is an absolute, and the most important thing.  We do NOT slack off because a stage design is simple and the Shooting Problem is easy to resolve.  Or, as Anonymous has inferred, because the stage design is complicated.  There's a basic principle of competition here, which is stated in the rule book as "no competitor may protest that a stage is too difficult".

Having your finger in the trigger guard during movement, loading or unloading, or clearing a malfunction ... is that a lesser safety issue than "breaking the 180"?  (Note: "breaking the 180" means pointing your gun at another person, either actually or potentially.)  If you accept the premise that there is a sliding scale which penalizes one violation of the safety rules more severely than the other, then you must also decide whether the person who "broke the 180" pointed his gun in a direction where another person was standing, or not.  Is that pertinent?

No, it doesn't matter.  The shooter has lost control of himself and lost focus on the safety requirements if he breaks the 180, or if he has his finger on the trigger when he is not actively engaging a target.  BOTH actions are absolutely forbidden.  BOTH have the same penalty ... we see that he is not performing safely in respect to one safety rule, so we don't let him shoot any more.

As Steve McQueen's character in "The Magnificent Seven" observed:  "We deal in lead, friend."

As for the suggestion that we are "..too critical of newbies..."?  No, we are not.  We evaluate new shooters under the exact same rules and requirements as we apply to people who have been competing in this sport for decades.  I have Disqualified Master and Grand-Master shooters for violating the safety rules, and I've witnessed (while not functioning as the RO myself) other Range Officers DQ highly experienced and exceedingly well qualified shooters for doing the EXACT same thing as "newbies" do.  Finger on the trigger.  Breaking the 180.


Good heavens, I've mentioned more than once in these chronicles that I have DQ'd my Significant Other for having her finger on the trigger during reloading.  It made for an awkward ride home after the match, but mostly it was because she knew she did wrong, and she deserved it, and she was embarassed.  It took a few days for her to admit it was the right call, but she was also a Certified Range Officer and she knew the rules as well as I did ... and she applied them with equal severity to new shooters and experienced shooters alike.

And yes, I have been DQ'd myself, a fact which I tell ALL of the people who go through my "Introduction to USPSA" seminar.

So ... no, I don't think I'm "too critical of newbies".  I think I'm helping to insure that it's safe to be on the range when people are running around with loaded guns.  I think that families can come play this sport because mean people like me watch everyone with a gun to make SURE that both rules apply:

Rule 1: don't point your gun at other people
Rule 2: even if you do, don't have your finger on the trigger

See?  Belt AND Suspenders ... you have to break at least two rules before you can begin to endanger another person, and I'm standing between you and the peanut gallery so you KNOW that I'm very aware of what you are doing with your gun and I WILL stop you.

Has anyone reading this article, and the preceding one, happened to notice that the Range Officer is the one most likely to be injured if an unsafe (proscribed violation of the Safety Rules) act went UN-punished?

He doesn't get it at all
"Rivrdog" (a retired Sheriff Deputy who is very keen on defensive pistol usage) is  a dear friend whom I haven't seen as often as I would like, and he does NOT compete in this kind of shooting sport.  As a consequence, he tends to be quite critical about all things "IPSC", and I don't really blame him at all.

I'm not quoting him completely, and I may not be quoting him entirely accurately (you can go read his comment), but essentially this is his point:

"Complex stages are a figment of a stage designers mind, and in no way resemble ... shoot/don't shoot defensive shooting....."
"Defensive shooting is simple"
"The action competition could be great training for the Defensive pistol shooter, but not because of 'The Rules' which prohibit defensive movement necessary to ... tactics and which develop deadly habits, such as waiting for a command before engaging a threat".

These comments mirror closely articles which appeared in shooting-sport magazines a decade ago, usually under the heading "IPSC Competition Can Kill You" or something similar.

Yes, forty years ago IPSC WAS "combat pistol" and the emphasis was on BOTH Defensive and Aggressive shooting against an armed aggressor.  Read the rules in Rule Book #1 ... it has you climbing walls with the use of a rope because scaling an obstacle was a useful 'combat' drill.


We don't DO that shit anymore!



Here is today's mantra:

"It's A GAME, folks!"

We're not training people to defend themselves.  If you want that stuff, go do IDPA or take a "Home Defense" class (I did the latter, don't do the IDPA thingie 'cause I'm not interested).

Yes, it is irrational to have people stand fully erect in a shooting box and, upon the signal, engage all targets as they become available.  Standing reloads.  No hiding behind barriers except as a complication at the whim of the stage designer.  Thirty-round stages.  A dozen targets which stand in one place without moving.

We are NOT training people to shoot people.  We shoot cardboard, and knock down steel targets.  We have participants in all walks of life, including psychologists, computer programmers, nurserymen, mothers, fathers, and children.

What we DO do, is we teach everyone who packs a gun to practice basic rules of safety:

• keep your finger off the trigger until your gun is pointed at something you want to shoot
• keep your gun pointed in a safe direction .. ALWAYS!
• always assume your gun is loaded, but never load it except under the direct supervision of a safety officer

Gee, that's pretty much the basic rules of gun safety, isn't it?

Here's another thing to consider:  We don't teach you to defend yourself against an aggressor, but we do teach you to handle a gun safely.

You would be amazed, perhaps, to hear that the  "Introduction to USPSA" class is more focused on breaking people of bad gun-handling habits than teaching them how to compete.  That's not the original intent of the class .. .that's just the way it happens.  We start out telling them about the "Seven Deadly Sins of IPSC" (finger on the trigger, breaking the 180, sweeping,  negligent discharge, etc.) and then we talk about 'how to compete'. 

So, yes, Rivrdog is absolutely correct in his evaluation of the sport of Practical Pistol Shooting; it is anything but "practical".   It DOES teach you bad habits, if you rely on a gun to defend yourself.

But it also teaches you how to rely on yourself to handle a gun safely in a competitive environment.

Yes, it's an artificial environment.  We're lucky; our targets are not assumed to be 'shooting back at us'.  So we have all these nurserymen and computer programmers and housewives and children as young as ten years of age ... as well as sworn police officers, ex-military, and even the home-commando wanna-be's ... competing against each other in a totally benign, totally safe environment.  We may not practice defensive shooting, but we do practice and REQUIRE safe shooting.

That makes it fun for the whole freakin' family.  We want everyone who is capable of good judgement to enjoy the sport.

Let me say this once again, just to ensure that nobody misses the point.

It's a GAME, Folks!

If you want more, you can find the training in other venues.  But when you go there, you will know how to defend yourself without shooting yourself in the foot because you learned the basic rules by competing at IPSC/USPSA matches.

Unconventional Uses for your Dishwasher

Okay, I admit it; maybe I'm going a little crazy here doing all this unlikely blogging with no warning.

. 6 Unconventional Uses for your Dishwasher - DishwasherInfo.com: It takes the right mix of ingenuity and desperation to discover new uses for old tools, but whoever first tried steaming a salmon fillet in their dishwasher must’ve been drunk. For folks who are curious about what else their kitchen contraptions can do, here’s a rundown of the most unconventional uses for your home dishwasher.

Go to the link (see above) to list all of THEIR 'unconventional uses for your dishwasher. And maybe they're going a little crazy here, too!

The thing is ... I HAVE cooked Fish Filets in a dishwasher.  The first time was for a girlfriend in the 80's, and maybe it was a desperation thingie; she already had convinced herself that I was a kook (EDITOR'S NOTE:  that's a very Politically Correct expression meaning "Asshole", in the Real World).  But when I slathered a Salmon Fillet in mayonnaise, wrapped it tightly in three layers of tinfoil, put it in her own otherwise-empty dishwasher (without  detergent) and ran it through the whole cycle ...She decided that ... oh.  Okay, Full Disclosure: she still thought I was an asshole, but maybe I was not COMPLETELY full of bovine effluvia

I don't have SIX Unconventional Things, but I have also blogged here on my use of the dishwasher to clean firearms ... this time, both with and without the CASCADE soap.  (As I have just today made my custom, I'm not gong to search for the original article; if you're that interested, you can search for it as well as I can.)

Rules of Thumb for cleaning guns in your Dishwasher:

1. Rifles are not a good candidate, especially if they're (a) long, or (b) stocked with a wooden stock.  If you don't understand why, maybe you should consider just laying all of your rifles under the rear tandem-wheels of your F350 and running over them two or three times.  Same effect, but it's faster and easier.
2. If you're just putting your barrel in, go ahead and use the Cascade if it makes you feel good.  Include the slide?  Still okay, as long as you detail-strip it.  It's optional, but it WILL remove most of the grease and oil; not so good for lead or copper-jacket deposits in the barrel, of course.
3. Want to put the frame of your pistol in the dishwasher?  hmmm probably a good idea not to add the Cascade; regardless of the television adds; you may discover that some unfortunate deposits (lime,  soap-scum, etc.) may be building on the small parts and the channels through which they operate.  And always, ALWAYS TAKE THE STOCKS OFF THE FRAME!  They won't get clean, but they may be damaged by heat & humidity.  Also, they will interfere with the flow of the hot water through the frame interior.
4. Want to detail strip the frame, and then put it through your dishwasher WITH the detergent?  Hell, I don't care.  It's probably not the best idea, but you might get just as good a clean doing it by hand using the regular methods, and you'll probably be a lot more sure.
5. Stainless Steel .. isn't.  but I've run my S&W 659 through the dishwasher lots of times, and if I miss a target on a stage, I've always got a ready alibi.
6. Small parts; yes, you CAN springs, pins, safeties, extractors, etc. through your washer, and even include the CASCADE ... but make sure that your small parts are (a) enclosed in some kind of container, like a cloth bag, and (b) large enough that they're not going to squeeze out of the bag and wash down the drain.
7. Always, ALWAYS run the parts through the dry cycle as well as the Wash and Rinse cycle.  That little bit of moisture left in the extractor channel in the slide, for example?  It needs to be dry.  (Running a Q-tip through the extractor channel is never a total waste of time.)

Okay ... other things that I've cleaned in the dishwasher include motorcycle parts, car parts .. well, you get the idea.  If it's greasy and it fits, throw it in.

And washing caps in the dishwasher? Absolutely!  In fact, it may still be possible to purchase 'cap forms' online, which can be inserted in your cap to insure that it keeps its proper form through both the wash and the dryer cycles.  I've washed a lot of caps this way.  Especially after the end of the Summer Competition Season, when half of my caps are showing significant rings of salt due to perspiration.   Really, it WILL make them look a lot better; you cannot DO this in a Laundry Washer and Dryer with the same positive results.

FINAL CAUTIONARY WARNING:  .... and this is serious, Folks, so disregard this at your own peril:

Do all of this when your wife is NOT at home.  Well, except maybe for the Salmon Filet .. hey, no dishes; what's not to like?

But greasy guns, car/motorcycle/boat parts?  Funky caps?  You can't put that stuff in the laundry washer, and she'll agree with you there ... but  she doesn't want the dishes to taste and smell like your Hoppes #7; you know, that stuff that you not only use to clean firearms 'by hand', and even as a cologne by some misguided competitors.

FINAL FINAL!

• It never hurts to run an extra rinse cycle at the  end
• It may HELP if you run the last cycle without soap;  or even run a cycle before you start.   It might keep keep the machinery clean, but it's also a way to prevent irritation of the member of your household who cooks.  Nobody likes it when dishes come out of the washer dirtier than they went in.
• When you're done with the 'laundry list of suggestions for unconventional dishwasher tasks,maybe you can think of a couple which are unique and original within your own mind.  There's room for imaginative thinking here, and your creativity might earn you a little free time, while you relax and let the Dishwasher do all the "heavy lifting"

Kahr Notes

I submit this in the most exposed candid mode possible; it is an email which I received recently, and I offer it here with NO expectation about its veracity. I have neither requested, nor received, permission to quote it directly. My expectation is that it has become 'generally available' across the internet by the time it reached me. And you.

I've included as much of the source data as has been made available to me. If you have information which conflicts wit that which is here presented, I hope you will do me the courtesy of providing the information in the COMMENTS section and reserving any condemnation for the original source.

I don't know if this is true; You'll have to work that out for yourself. (Imagine, a blog which asks you to think for yourself!)

Subject: [Dtiquips] Watch These Experts!

12 Dec 11

Impossible Demand?

NYPD, after requesting of Kahr Arms that they dramatically increase the trigger pull-weight of their Kahr-9 Pistol (a nominal seven pounds to thirteen pounds!), is now ordering its officers not to carry Kahr Pistols.

This all came about as a result of a number of recent NDs (no fatalities, but some resulting in personal injury, mostly self-inflicted) on the part of NYPD officers with Kahr pistols.

The Kahr-9 is an extremely popular concealed-carry/backup pistol, because of its high quality, reliability, and compactness. For regular concealed carry, it is hard to beat. I own and habitually carry several. Like most modern pistols, Kahrs are drop-safe.

But, as with all guns, you have to keep fingers off the trigger during those times when you don't want it to discharge!

A thirteen-pound trigger on a pistol that small would make it virtually impossible to use for any serious purpose by many officers, particularly those with small hands and limited hand-strength.

In general gun-commerce, Kahr could not give away such a pistol!

Once again, personal carelessness and poor training are being excused/covered-up by shifting blame to gun manufacturers.

Once again, truth is the first casualty when embarrassing events take place within police departments!

Once again, the Second Amendment is blamed by politicians and the media for all the ills to which flesh is heir!

"Same routine- same results! Loosely translated: 'When you keep doing the same old thing, you'll keep getting the same old results!'"

Dave O'Young

/John
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Copyright 2011 by DTI, Inc. All rights reserved.

With respect and appreciation to the G-Man!

Olofson's Out!

Olofson Out - Gun Owners Of America

You remember David Olofson, don't you?

Short version: He's the U.S. Army Vet who loaned his AR15 to a friend, who took it to a shooting range where it malfunctioned by firing several rounds 'very quickly'. Someone heard this, thought it sounded like a "machine gun", and since full-automatic weapons were not permitted at this range they called the police. Police went to the "friend's" home and confiscated the weapon. Six days later they arrested Olofson at his home and he was eventually convicted in Federal Court of "... knowingly transferring an unregistered machine gun".

BACKGROUND IN DEPTH: Gunowers.com has a decent summary, and links to MANY supporting documents to the Olofson Case.

Olofson has completed his 30 month sentence in prison and has been released. Now he's trying to make some money to pay his expenses and get back to his life. GOA's press release asks for people to check an online website to see if they want to buy anything that Olofson is trying to sell.

There has been a lot of commentary on the Olofson case over the past 3+ years, much of it generated by Snowflakes In Hell blog.

Four points:

(1) At first blush, this is seems to be a situation where bad judgment and bad mechanics combined to put a man in prison and ruin his life; a man who has honorably served his country and not only has NOT committed a violent crime (such as robbery with assault, which would probably get him about the same sentence) but arguably has done NOTHING wrong, or even illegal. It's just a Bad Thing all around, and the least we can do is shake our heads sadly and say "There but for the grace of God ....". Because, conceivably, any of us could be ensnared in the Nest of Vipers that is our legal system today.

(2) One of the most egregious enforcers of that legal system is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ["ATF"]. This agency is part of the Treasury Department, and was essentially established to enforce laws which were created to regulate "noxious substances" by forbidding their use without paying applicable taxes .... and then refusing to accept the taxes (if payment had been offered) because they just didn't want you to HAVE the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms or Explosives. Yes, this is a gross oversimplification.

The point, though, may be that the Federal government has chosen taxation as a means of justifying regulation. The agency committed some very strong offensive moves against people who tried to sell alcohol during Prohibition, and now they are committing some very strong offensive moves against people who try to sell (or in the Olofson case, merely "lend") firearms. Is ATF a governmental over-reaction? Is it an "Out Of Control" governmental agency? Is it really necessary that the Federal government should be empowered to define what inanimate objects we may possess, and is this constitutional? Or, in this more "civilized" era, do we need the federal government to protect us from our own excesses?

(As a side note, GOA just documented disturbing news about ATF efforts to ban the importation of several brands, makes and/or models of SHOTGUNS because they include features which make them look 'military'; and “military shotguns, or shotguns with common military features ... are unsuitable for traditional shotgun sports.” Who defined "traditional shotgun sports", and what does that have to do with the Second Amendment?

(3) Was this a simple case of "Presecutorial Zeal"? The Supreme Court definition of a machine gun includes the phrase " ... a firearm that shoots automatically more than one shot by a single function of the trigger until the trigger is released, or the ammunition in the magazine is exhausted". The judge's instructions to the jury had been to accept the Persecutor's Prosecutor's definition: " ....shoots more than one shot with one pull of the trigger". Those of us who fire semi-automatic weapons extensively have usually witnessed one or more incidents where a semi-automatic firearm "doubles" or even "triples". This is universally (except for the AFT, the Prosecutor and the Judge) acknowledged to be a malfunction. In a 1911 model pistol, that can be caused to occur by improper installation of the "3-finger" spring, or "sear spring". Correcting that mechanical error will stop the malfunction. Conversely, if the weapon had been modified to shoot in full-automatic mode, the AR15 would have continued to fire. However, in this case it was clear ... both from the testimony of the ''friend" and that of the ATF technical witness that the AR15 would jam (stop firing) after only a few rounds had been fired. There was NO evidence that the ATF laboratory was able to cause the AR15 to fire an entire magazine of ammunition without jamming.

S0 ... was it a 'full-automatic" weapon, or was it a malfunction?

And WHY was the prosecutor so determined to get a conviction that he deliberately changed the definition of a full-automatic weapon to suit the facts of the case?


(4) As for poor Mr. Olofson, it may very well be that his life purpose has been only to serve as a Bad Example to the rest of us, "pour encourager des autres".

Here's a Lou Dobbs TV commentary on the Olofson case, after Olofson had been imprisoned. The video is dated January 22, 2009. I think that the commentary does a very good job of making point (3):



The Bottom Line:

I'm glad he's out of prison --- finally. It probably comes as no surprise to the reader that I think Olofson should never have been put through this ordeal in the first place.

In the spirit of "Full Disclosure", I've had a firearm malfunction and fire multiple shots with one pull of the trigger, also.

It was at the 2001 Area 1 USPSA match in Washington. I had given my STI Edge 2011 pistol to a gunsmith-wise friend a week before the match, asking him to do a thorough cleaning and function-check of the pistol, in preparation to this Major Match.

Unfortunately, I neglected to provide him with magazines and ammunition so he could function-test the pistol. And when I received it back, 10 minutes before the beginning of the first day of the match, there was insufficient time for me to check the pistol.

When I started the first stage, I engaged the first target and the gun Doubled. The Range Officer stopped me, because I obviously had an "Unsafe Gun" (according to the USPSA Rules of Competition.)

I looked up my friend, who was also competing at the match. We retired to a Safety Area where he disassembled the gun and discovered that the Three-Finger (Sear) spring had been incorrectly installed. The Sear 'finger' had been installed over, rather than under, the sear. (Or the reverse, I can't recall just now.)

Having no tools with us other than a small screwdriver, he used a rock as a hammer and the screwdriver as a punch to drive out the mainspring retaining pin, and when the grip assembly was removed he could tell that he had installed the spring incorrectly. He re-installed it, checked it, and re-assembled the pistol. I paid a dollar to test-fire the gun at the Function Test stage (monitored by a Range Officer), and it functioned correctly.

Cost to me? One dollar. Penalties? None ... I actually was allowed to reshoot the stage, due to a technical glitch in the Stage Range Officer handling the problem.

However, if the ATF had been present, chances are that I too would have been accused, charged and convicted (under the rules of the Olofson case) with having "...an unregistered machine gun".

1911 Assembly and Re-assembly

YouTube - brentnowell's Channel

While surfing YouTube, I happened upon a series of videos by an Ontario resident named, apparently, Brent Nowell.

I was impressed by his casual approach to firearms assembly and disassembly. If one goes by the author's on-camera demeanor, this is nothing more than a trip to the neighborhood bodega for a quart of milk.

He doesn't seem to mind if he refers to the Slide Assembly as the "upper", and other apparent 'errors' of firearms nomenclature don't mean that he doesn't know what the parts are called ... it's just that he recognizes that "the map is not the terrain".

He's not a pedagogue. He's just someone who has a useful skill, and sees no reason why anybody can't learn it in one easy lesson.

And he's right.

When I decided that this would make a convenient all-in-one-place online technical reference, I was disappointed that the embedding option had been disabled by request. Fair enough; if the only way you can view the extremely helpful videos is to go directly to youtube and search for them, use the links (see below), or go directly to this youtube album then that's the way I recommend to you.

But to stick closely to ONLY his assembly and re-assembly of the 1911, here's the links to those three specific videos:

Disassembly of the 1911

Re-assembly of the 1911 (part 1 of 2)

Re-assembly of the 1911 (part 2 of 2)

I am not a gunsmith, nor do I play one on Television. I'm not sure about the technical background of the author, but I suspect that he fits more into the category of "skilled amateur". His youtube channel profile states that he is a computer geek; well, of course, Geeks often have a surprising variety of interests.

If you want a complete video representation of 1911 re-assembly, this video animates the whole process in a 'theoretical' mode. It demonstrates some of the details not present in brentnowell's videos (for example, mainspring assembly in the mainspring housing) but nothing there contradicts what you can learn from this author. And brentnowell is very good about warning the would-be 'gunsmith' about the little things which can cause you grief ... such as retaining the plunger tube components which are under spring compression.

If you think you have the guts to take apart and re-assemble your 1911, and just want someone to show you how, then I highly recommend this series of videos to you.

However, I even more strongly advise you to view the video(s) several times to make sure you have it down pat, and to test-fire your re-assembled 1911 on the range before you are confident of the results. It's easy when you know what you are doing, but it's as easy to do it 'wrong' as to do it 'right'.

Anecdotal aside:

In 2001 I asked a friend who was familiar with the process to detail-clean my 2011 EDGE from STI. I neglected to provide him with ammunition or a magazine to test-fire the pistol, so when he delivered it to me at the 2001 Area 1 USPSA Match in Washington, he warned me that it had not been test fired.

Sure enough, he had inadvertently installed the 3-finger spring (sear spring) incorrectly, and on the first stage the pistol went full-auto for a coupe of rounds. My score for that stage was Zero, and I was not allowed to continue the match until the problem was corrected.

My friend was embarrassed, and so was I. Using nothing more than a rock as a hammer, and a small screwdriver, my friend dis-assembled and then re-assembled the pistol. After testing it at the "Function Firing Bay", I was able to to re-enter the match and ending up winning the match.

Okay, that last part is a lie. The pistol functioned flawlessly, but I did not. I was somewhere in the mediocre middle in order of finish within my class, which is where I belong because you know what? I'm just not that good.

By the way, in 2008 I wrote an article about "1911 maintenance without tools". The linked videos mention that the 1911 can be completely disassembled using only "a small screwdriver, and a large screwdriver".

The large screwdriver is used to remove the grip retention screws.

The small screwdriver is helpful in removing the firing pin block, the extractor, a few retaining pins (if they are obstinate). Oh, and in re-installing the firing pin block because the firing pin must be depressed. I don't mean 'depressed' in the sense of having a bad attitude; I mean in pressing it into the firing pin channel of the slide so that the firing pin block can be installed.

It's also handy in aligning the extractor pin so that the firing pin block can be installed, depressing the Plunger Pin so the safety can be installed, etc.

Still, it's interesting to note that the removed parts can be used as tools. For example, the slide lock can be used to depress the firing pin. And the slide can be used as a hammer to install retaining pins.

The 1911 was designed to be a military sidearm, and as such John Browning made a conscious effort to make it possible -- if awkward -- to completely disassemble and reassemble the pistol without any tools at all, let alone special tools.

That being said, I have always found it much easier to include a 1/8" punch in my field kit. And of course, my range bag includes some small parts for those which may be damaged or, more likely, lost during field expedient repairs.