Articles by Herschel Smith

Grim’s Hall (via a reader).

Here in North Carolina, though up in Ashe County, deputies accidentally killed a motorcycle rider by triggering his airbag safety vest. They were unreasonably aggressive, pulling a gun on him and physically dragging him off the bike without bothering to disconnect the safety vest. If you don’t know how these work, they are connected to the bike so that if you come off of it the ripcord causes the airbags to expand. These things exert pretty serious force (as you can see from that link), which can cause problems for breathing — especially if you are also being choked out by a deputy sheriff. An autopsy ruled Mast’s death a homicide and found the cause of death was “compression asphyxia of the torso and neck.”

First of all let’s get past the issue that most cops are overly aggressive and paranoid idiots and probably started the whole downward spiral of this terrible event.

This is also why I don’t like cops touching another man’s gun. The gun might be striker fired. It might be hammer fired. It might have a safety. It might not. It might be in half-cocked position. It might not be. It might have a round in the chamber. It might not. It might have a modified (light) trigger. It might not. It might have other modifications of which the cop is unaware.

Only a stupid department run by imbeciles would have a procedure where a cop touches and pulls another man’s gun off of him for reasons of “officer safety.” I cannot imagine something more unsafe.

David Kustoff is a gun controller and statist. He wants to throw some crumbs your way and hope you’re satisfied.

Suppressors are hearing protection. They're as important as safety glasses or hard hats. But you want us to tell the FedGov about our firearms by registering suppressors. I cannot find words to express how repulsed I am at you.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) May 13, 2025

The comments are interesting.

This is my neighbor. No one is mentioning the bear went into his camper and pulled him out!

FYI, the Florida state record bear is 760 lbs, shot in 2015.

That’s my backyard. Shout out from Collier county Naples Florida. Living off Everglades boulevard touching on alligator Alley. The bears are everywhere and they have always been a big problem really tough to keep farm animals and chickens out in the glades.

When you don’t have enough declared enemies, your “allies” suddenly find it convenient to oppose you.  Any time liberty is about to be affirmed and expanded, you can count on the republicans to panic.

Outdoor Life.

The sky-high cost of ammunition during the Covid pandemic shortages have mercifully declined. While ammunition probably feels a lot more expensive than it used to, many prices really have dropped from the all-time, eye-popping peak during the ammo shortage in 2021 and 2022.

That’s the good news. The bad news, as most hunters and shooters have already noticed, is that ammo remains pricier than we’re used to paying. That’s for a few reasons. First, the price of raw materials to make ammunition have generally increased. We’re also several years into a global propellant shortage. While tariffs haven’t yet contributed to high prices for most American-made ammo, they’ve caused price spikes in some segments of the market.

The war in Ukraine has had an awful effect on powder availability and pricing. I don’t expect this to go away. Plan accordingly. Actually, I planned a long time ago.

David Codrea.

“Trump administration says machine guns aren’t protected by Second Amendment,” The Washington Times reports. “The Trump administration is taking heat from gun rights advocates after the Justice Department argued in court that machine guns fall outside the scope of firearms guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”

The story quotes Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Case, who, in arguing a brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court ruling, asserted “Machine guns are not the kind of arms protected by the Second Amendment.”

District Judge Carlton Wayne Reeves of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi had properly ruled that the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, codifying that text, history and tradition at the time the Constitution was ratified, defined the standards to be used in determining Founding Era intent.

Besides, the Second Amendment says “arms.” It doesn’t say “kinds of arms.” Continental Congress Delegate Tench Coxe’s views were reflective of what the understanding was at the time, when he wrote, “Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American…. [T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”

Yes, and a thousand times yes.

Theoretically David is of course right. But here’s the issue.

The SCOTUS will not move on this – they won’t even move on Snope, at least not quickly.

The SCOTUS is very, very dependent on what Congress says about things like this. They don’t like to lead the way. They have their finger in the wind on just about every issue before them.

There is zero interest in Congress in this issue. Even if the FedGov loses in court, the SCOTUS will turn it around.

If it never gets to the SCOTUS it will stop at the fifth circuit and the ATF will ignore the ruling and no other circuit will honor it.

The second amendment has been made palatable for the beltway types who want the peasants happy enough, suppressed and taxed to death. So that’s what they have with all of the congressional laws and SCOTUS decisions.

Until of course they get scared of semiautomatic weapons, and then the states pile of those giving us things like the Snope case that the supreme court refuses to deal with.

Source.

“We keep creating and purchasing these exquisite machines that very cheap drones can take out,” Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said during an episode of the “War on the Rocks” podcast that aired Tuesday.

“If the number is even remotely right, that Russia has manufactured 1 million drones in the last 12 months, that just makes us have to rethink the cost of what we’re buying,” he continued.

“We are the wealthiest nation, perhaps in the history of the world, but even we can’t sustain a couple-million-dollar piece of equipment that can be taken out with an $800 drone and munition,” he said.

Driscoll was responding to a question about whether the US military was walking away from the Robotic Combat Vehicle. He said that while the concept was valuable, the cost ratio didn’t work.

They may be slow but at least they’re learning.

You might find this video informative and entertaining.

Video.

Task & Purpose.

An Army infantry officer has made a series of criticisms of the Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon rifle, which is meant to replace the M4A1 carbine.

The Army introduced the XM7 rifle and XM250 light machine gun — both of which chamber a 6.8mm round — partly due to concerns that modern body armor could stop the 5.56mm rounds fired by the M4A1 and M249. The bigger round is also meant to give the XM7 an increased range based on lessons from Afghanistan.

But Army Capt. Braden Trent presented his research into the XM7 at the Modern Day Marine exhibition in Washington, D.C. — research he claims shows that the rifle is inferior to the M4A1.

As part of his research, Trent said he visited the 1st Brigade Combat Team “Bastogne,” 101st Airborne Division, which was the first active-duty Army unit to receive the XM7. Trent said he interviewed more than 150 soldiers and disassembled 23 XM7 rifles.

His 52-page report on the subject, which included testing with experts, ballistic research, and input from soldiers, concluded that the XM7 is “unfit for use as a modern service rifle,” Trent said on April 29 during his presentation at Modern Day Marine.

Trent said his research has shown that soldiers equipped with the XM7 in a live-fire exercise quickly run out of ammunition because its magazine only holds 20 rounds. He also said that gouges and scratches can form in the barrel after firing more than 2,000 rounds, the rifle’s weight makes it hard for soldiers to maneuver.

[ … ]

“The XM7 is a tactically outdated service rifle that would be better classified as a designated marksman rifle, if that,” Trent said during his presentation. “This rifle is a mechanically unsound design that will not hold up to sustained combat on a peer-on-peer conflict.”

Designated marksman rifles come in all sizes and calibers, including 5.56mm, .308, etc. The round isn’t relevant for consideration of a DM rifle (although barrel length is).

We discussed the solution to this problem many times: the 6mm ARC, which would involve a change of barrels, a change of BCGs, and a change of magazines.

The 6mm ARC would easily let shooters reach out and touch targets 600 meters away or further, while letting the DMs use other rifles.

But some general or group of generals got wealthy “consulting” to Sig on this boondoggle, not to mention the cash flowing into Sig.

I always carry (when in the bush): water, means of filtration, knife, cordage, parka, rubberized poncho, fire starter, light, and firearm(s). With those essentials, you can get cover (poncho and cordage), defend yourself, see in the dark, keep from freezing to death, have a cutting tool, and start a fire for warmth and food preparation.