Archive for the 'Firearms' Category

With a stabilizing brace.  I confess I had no idea.

Josh Wayner writing for Ammoland has the scoop.  A couple of comments.

First, I notice that the Buffalo Bore does the best concerning muzzle velocity.  Second, if you shoot the Sig Sauer 240 grain at 1213 FPS, that doesn’t give you much advantage over the 450 SMC (Short Magnum Cartridge) which I carried to Colorado in a 1911 with backup magazines, and which I’ve discussed before (230 grains at around 1120 FPS published muzzle velocity).

Second, what I’d really like to see is Josh cover the Performance Center Model 629 V-Comp with the compensator (or muzzle brake).  I find that to be a very appealing and aesthetically pleasing gun with a nice finish and very smooth edges.

News from Oklahoma:

A Tulsa man shot and killed a man breaking into his house near 51st and South Lewis Tuesday morning. The same homeowner shot another burglar five years ago.

Police said the intruder’s name is Donald Stovall. The homeowner is Charles Sweeney and he said he did what he felt he had to do to protect himself.

Charles Sweeney said noises coming from his bathroom woke him up. The first thought that ran through his head was someone was breaking into his house.

I just have two quick observations.  First, home invaders are always armed.  They may have a firearm, or they may have a cutting tool of some sort, or they may have only their fists.  Fists can kill.  All home invaders are always armed.  It’s true, so assume it is so in every instance and for every circumstance.

Second, this guy shouldn’t have been yammering and yakking to the police.  He should have let his lawyer do the talking for him, and that should have been an immediate phone call.  No exceptions.  You have a right to representation and defense, and that’s what your attorney is for.

Just as he shouldn’t have been yammering and yakking to the police, he sure shouldn’t have been doing it to the television cameras.

Just stupid.  Shut up and let your attorney defend you from the outset of the event, not after stupid, exaggerated, incorrect and nonfactual things have been said in the heat of the moment.

Via WRSA, this article is a nice summary of what I take to be the delivered wisdom on the subject.  I’ll let the readers peruse the subject material and make comments, but this one graph is worth the work to develop it.

While Pete focuses on the fact that peaks out at about 20″ (and properly so), I’ve usually taken the popularity of 18″ barrels as evidence that there are tradeoffs, and those additional 2″ means added weight to the cantilever for very little increase in meaningful muzzle velocity.

At any rate, take note that your 16″ barrels (or shorter, 14.5″ with a pinned flash hider) are near a flatline in performance, and that the very short barrels on pistol ARs are meant only for CQB.

Each tool in its own shop.  They all have a purpose.

News from Oklahoma:

Hunter Scales was sitting in a deer stand in Southern Oklahoma last weekend when his semi automatic rifle went off twice, hitting him in the stomach and thigh.

He’d forgotten to make sure the gun was on safety.

Hunter’s family says he fell nearly 25 feet from the stand. Thankfully, his brother was nearby and called 911.

He’s still recovering tonight in a Tulsa hospital.

Captain Wade Farrar with the Oklahoma Department Of Wildlife says many people use these types of firearms to hunt animals like hogs or deer.

“It is becoming more common. We’ve taken the magazine restriction off of the 22 caliber versions of the assault rifles and that’s making it a lot more common for kids and things like that to hunt with,” Capt. Farrar said.

He says although the AR- Rifles are lightweight, they have a lot more parts than other rifles.

“Hunting with an AR-Rifle is more complicated. There’s a lot more moving parts. It does have a safety that is very easy to use. You have to flip a lever. It points towards fire when it’s off of safety and safe when its on safety.”

Farrar doesn’t think semi-automatic rifles are any more dangerous than other weapons, but he admits this type of rifle is still pretty powerful.

“The only way a semi-automatic rifle would be any more dangerous to hunt with than a bolt action rifle or a more conventional type of hunting rifle, it`s that every time you pull the trigger, if there`s ammunition in it, the gun is going to fire.”

Congratulations to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife for the stupidest article of the month.  This is an ignominious and shameful award.

Other rifles have safeties.  My daughter, who is a nurse practitioner, sees hunting accidents on a regular basis, from folks getting shot to guys going to sleep in deer stands and falling out.  Every accident is potentially life threatening, and more so if, say, you’re shooting a .270 Win than if you’re shooting a 5.56mm / .223.

This advice above is bordering on completely irresponsible, with the hint that you’re safe if you use a bolt action rifle rather than an AR.  Message to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife: all rifles can be mishandled, all rifles have safeties, all rifles require proper training, and it only takes one shot to make a kill, whether a deer or yourself.  You don’t need followup shots on your own torso to kill yourself.

Morons.

Dean Weingarten:

With no round in the chamber and no magazine in the pistol, the Glock was rendered useless, if Mark Uptain ever got to it.

Uptain had bear spray holstered on his hip. Chubon did not recall Uptain using the bear spray to the point where Chubon fled to get help. Uptain emptied the bear spray at some point during the fight. The 250-pound grizzly sow had evidence of bear spray on her. Mark Uptain was killed in spite of the bear spray.

Carrying a semi-automatic pistol with an empty chamber is known as carrying in condition three, terminology used by the renowned gun writer, instructor, and competitor Col. Jeff Cooper.   It is also known as “Israeli Carry”, because it is how Israeli soldiers are trained to carry semi-automatic pistols.

It can work well if the user trains to always load a round from the magazine when the pistol is drawn from the holster.  As a safety feature, if an untrained person accesses the pistol and tries to fire it, they may not know how to load a round into the chamber and can be stymied in their effort to fire the pistol.

First, use guns, don’t rely on bear spray.  Second, a gun is of no use to you if it isn’t on your person and ready to use.  Finally, whatever you may think about having a round chambered, this is one reason I carry 1911s and use the safety.  In one motion I can sweep the safety down as I’m gaining purchase on the gun.

WTSP.com:

Authorities say Long used a .45-caliber Glock 21 handgun during the attack. The weapon was purchased legally. Investigators say it had an extended chamber to hold more rounds.

Something tells me that an extended chamber would be dangerous.

Prior:

• High Magazine Clips And The Shoulder Thing That Goes Up
• The Captain’s Journal » High Ammo Clips
• The Captain’s Journal » Automatic Bullets In Rapid-Fire Magazine Clips
• The Captain’s Journal » Duck Hunting With Bullets
• The Captain’s Journal » Guns, Accoutrements And Idiots
• The Captain’s Journal » The Fully Loaded Ammunition Cartridge
• The Captain’s Journal » The High Magazine Round
• The Captain’s Journal » Mother Jones On “High-Caliber Rifles”
• The Captain’s Journal » The 40-Clip Magazine

We discussed this earlier, and a reader sends this my way.

I have been involved in shooting probably 100 bear or more in my life so I have seen what works well and what does not. You would expect that bigger is better, but I would argue against that logic. Many magnums (IE: 7mm Rem. Mag, 300 WSM, 28 Nosler, etc.) are what people show up with because of this thought. These rounds tend to penetrate through and through and then dump the rest of their remaining energy (typically a lot) into the tree or hill behind the bear. There’s a good time and place for them, but it is not hound hunting. On the other side of the coin, I have seen a bear shot with 44 Mag, 45-70 Gov. and 32 Special, to name a few. All of these do a much better job at killing these predators. Why? Because the round is so much bigger in diameter, the shock of the bullet going into the animal is much more traumatic. Also, because they are going slower, they will actually be caught within the animal, capturing 100% of the energy that the bullet left the barrel with, transferring into killing power. With this logic, I knew that the 5 rounds of Hornady 450 Bushmaster with a 250 gr bullet from the Ruger would be devastating on a black bear. If you disagree, that is okay, but personal experience has really proven this to me.

I have absolutely no doubt this round will kill any game in North America within 100-200 yards.  Beyond that I would want something with a higher BC to prevent the loss in velocity and to ensure an ethical kill.  Then again, my eyes can’t see 400 yards anyway.

But this hunter clearly likes the heavy bullet with the high exit muzzle velocity.  He also seems to like the Ruger AR 556.