Army Times:

As Army leaders look to the service’s next standard issue rifle or carbine, a lot of options are on the table.

One such option has been around awhile but still strikes many U.S. troops as a futuristic form of the rifle they think they know.

This past fall, officials with the Army Maneuver Center of Excellence’s lethality branch laid out several concepts being considered for the Army’s Next Generation Squad weapon and likely new designs for the ultimate replacement for the M4.

Some of those include major advancements to the fire controls and a likely change in caliber. But one was a possible bullpup design.

Hey, that’s a swell idea.  Take the location where the explosion occurs, and the place where the initial sound wave goes greater than Mach 1 (not inside the barrel), and put it closer to the shooter’s ears.

Or otherwise, make wearing hearing protection with electronic communication with all of your teammates mandatory for all engagements, even unplanned ones.  Don’t patrol listening to the people or the crunch of the sticks in the bush, or even enemy fighters.

I read some forums today on noise from shooting, and the term “perceived noise” came up by some contributors.  There is no such thing as “perceived noise.”  That’s a myth.  Noise functions as dictated by Gauss’s law, where it increases or decreases as a function of the square of the distance.

I predict that use of the bullpup design will also make the shooters less accurate at distance than with any other design.

ABC News:

A wild mustang charging across an open plain is a symbol of the untamed majesty of nature. But the predators chasing these horses are anything but natural.

Controversy has broken out over the U.S. Bureau of Land Management‘s (BLM) practice of using helicopters to herd horses off public lands and sometimes permanently put them into holding facilities in an effort to control their population.

“Sometimes these horses get stampeded for miles and miles,” said Simone Netherlands, an animal rights activist and a spokesperson for the American Wild Horse Campaign.

Now the government is considering culling these animals for the first time in nearly 50 years, putting the lives of thousands of wild horses at stake.

Most of the U.S.’s estimated 75,000 wild horses live on public lands, usually vast expanses that the government controls in the American West.

Jim Schnepel, who knows Utah’s Onaqui Range and its horses well, works with a non-profit desperately trying to find a humane and effective way to control the wild horse population.

“Anybody who loves horses can tell you there’s this natural connection you can develop with them,” Schnepel said. “Certainly with specific members, you know, there’s no doubt that a few of them recognize me and I reckon I definitely recognize them.”

Although the land seems limitless, the BLM says the resources here only allow for the survival of a certain number.

“They’ve set what they call ‘appropriate management level,’ AML,” Schnepel said. “It would be about 75 percent reduction for what we have right now.”

Yea, that’s how I want my paycheck spent.  I want idiot lawyers inside the beltway writing regulations for the management of herd size.  In fact, that’s far better than, say, natural selection, or even capture and retraining the horses to work or pleasure ride by ranchers and others.

In fact, I want to buy a BLM sniper a brand new .300 Win Mag boltie and some high powered glass, maybe a Night Force scope.  Maybe they can practice their sniping skills for future use on Americans.  Maybe that will get their rocks off.

Where do I send my money.  Oh, wait.  They already take it.

Via TFB, FN has come out with a new pistol chambered in 5.56mm (or 300 BO).

Hey, great idea.  That’s really innovative.  No one else has thought of an AR pistol in 5.56mm before.

Now.  Go back, re-engineer it for the 5.7X28, knock $400 off the price, and you may have something there.

So says John Farnam:

The 5.56×45 cartridge (“militarized” version of the 223 Rem) lacks adequate range and penetration for military applications. This range/penetration problem is not soluble within that caliber, and never will be!

For domestic law enforcement and personal defense, the 5.56×45 is acceptable.

But, in a battle rifle, the 5.56 comes up short. I’ve lived through a least half-dozen attempts to “improve” the cartridge, and provide it with satisfactory range and penetration. Each succeeding “wonder bullet,” despite all the promotion, has failed to live up to the hype!

The Pentagon needs to worry less about a new rifle, and more about a new caliber!

We need, once more, a 500m rifle that shoots bullets that actually go THROUGH things! We don’t have anything close to that now!

This is ridiculous.  The Army doesn’t even teach their soldiers to shoot 500 yards, much less can they afford the weight of carrying around heavier ammunition.

The Marine Corps doesn’t need it because they teach their Marines to shoot 500 yards and the 5.56m does fine.  Furthermore, they rely on designated marksmen for longer range shooting anyway, and some of the time they use .308 but some of the time they use 5.56mm.  For the really long range applications, they shoot a .50 Sasser.

This is a tired argument.  Before anyone makes this claim again, they need to teach soldiers to shoot and see how it goes.  If you want something heavier, switch to the 77 gr. Sierra Match King.  Much of the enemy shoots 7.62X39, and Russia shoots 5.45mm.  You don’t hear them complaining.

Via reddit/r/firearms:

I’m a female in my early 30’s in a european country where guns are absolutely forbidden.

Whenever I talk to my friends and express my opinion about firearms they get ballistic and enraged about my views, calling me all sorts and seeing me as a paranoid monster who contributes with my views to gun related deaths and crimes. I think it makes them feel more sophisticated to hate arms.

The general ideology here is that guns are bad and it’s good they are forbidden for own sake.

But I don’t understand why I don’t have the right to protect myself should anything happen. Forks can also be used as a deadly weapon, and you don’t see them banned or made illegal. It’s about common sense. But why can a burglar get in my house to rob me and I can’t have the right to a gun for basic protection? How many women, and men, could have saved themselves had they had a gun? How many people raped could have shot their attacker had they had the right to own a gun?

Having a gun doesn’t mean I’m gonna use it lightly or gonna shoot someone in an argument or in the heat of the moment.

I just want a weapon to protect myself and my loved ones.

About 2 years back, while working in a bar, someone came in to rob us, yielding a knife, it was a very scary experience but luckily a couple of boys from the local rugby team were there for drinks and could manage to stop him, we called the police but the guy got away.During the chaos he repeatedly threatened to rape and kill my coworker and I and said he’d come back to get us.

The police didn’t do much since the guy got away, they just drove around in their car to see if they could find someone matching the description we gave.

And he indeed came back another day after closing the bar at night when we were alone, but my coworker saw him before he could get in and closed the bar doors, then called the police.

Until the police arrived he stayed outside throwing tables and chairs on the terrace against the bar window, banging on the door, screaming he was gonna rape and kill us and detailing how, calling us names, saying he had followed us home and knew where we live.

Again the police came with the sirens on, so the guy run away again. We told the police we feared he’d do something to us and they saw we had a few huge kitchen knives placed all over the bar counter for protection, they advised against it and said we could get in big trouble if we actually used the knives, so we asked if we could buy a couple of pepper sprays for protection, but the police informed us they were illegal to use and could again get us in trouble. Same with teasers or any other weapon for protection.

We went and bought a couple of pepper sprays anyway, we had to give our ID in the shop where they registered we had bought them, because they are legal to buy but illegal to use.

During the next weeks we were lucky to have friends who would stay in the bar with us at closing time and would walk us home. Both my coworker and I quit a couple of months later for unrelated reasons, but I’ll never forget what is like having to go to work fearing some crazy weirdo would attack or rape us. I didn’t mention he was identified by the rugby guys as one of the members of a local gang, which made it scarier. We felt real fear for our lives.

That’s when I started feeling more passionate about guns and the right to protect myself. How come some weirdo can come to rob us, threaten to kill and rape us, and our only protection measure is calling the police and hoping they catch him?

We couldn’t even protect ourselves with a pepper spray, how outrageous it is that someone could hurt me and I have to let him because I have no other means to protect myself? So, I very much envy other countries where people can feel safe should anything bad happen, they have the means to protect themselves and their families.

Now I carry a 5 inches pocket knife and a pepper spray in my purse at all times, even knowing if I got attacked and used it to defend myself, I could potentially end up in legal trouble. I’d also get in trouble if I’m randomly searched by the police, since it’s illegal to carry a knife. But I rather pay a fine than being raped and not having a weapon to defend myself. Again my friends think I’m dramatic and should I get raped or attacked that’s why we have a judicial system, to put them people in jail. And then they say you can’t live like a paranoid, living in fear. But don’t see it that way, I acknowledge crimes happen and to me, the logical measure is to have protection, I don’t think I’m a ‘paranoid’ I think I’m aware of the world I live in and my right to have protection should be respected and encouraged.

As as side note, someone in my town who also had a bar and lived above it, got robbed one night, when he heard noise downstairs and realized he was being robbed, he got a crowbar, went downstairs and beat the shit out of the thief, seriously damaging him, I don’t remember the details but the guy got sent to the hospital badly injured. Now guess who ended up in jail for a long time? The bar owner, for using excessive force and bludgeoning him. Nothing happened to the thief, nothing, no time, nothing!

The system is f***** up in my country and I am being denied the right to protect myself. The system is in favor of all the wrong people, giving them advantage by depriving us the right to own firearms.

Now, I’m not a gun fanatic, when I speak about this people compare me to gun fanatics and stereotype me. Now, I lean towards the left (if any), I respect everyone, I pay my taxes and do everything by the book, I work, pay my bills, you have your opinions, I have mine, mine are not better than yours, just mine. You have the right to believe what you want, so do I, but we both have the right to protect our family and loved ones.

Being pro-gun doesn’t make me a kkk hillbilly with no teeth.

The entire continent has lost its soul.  They cannot even construct an argument for defense of their lives as being made in God’s image.

Via WRSA.

KUTV.com:

Sarah Gray had a rude awakening. It was the middle of the night when the Ogden Metro Swat Unit blew out her back window and began yelling.

“I was just dead asleep and hear a big crash,” she said. “All I hear is them yelling, ‘Search warrant! Identify yourself!”

Turns out, oops, SWAT was at the wrong house.

Sarah says the officers apologized and promised the window would be fixed. But three weeks went by and Sarah’s window is still broken.

“I can’t keep paying a high heat bill,” she said. “I might as well just light money on fire.”

Sarah says she called the city for answers, but can’t seem to get any.

“I want a window. I just want them to correct the mistake, that’s it. I’m not out for vengeance or anything like that.”

Upon investigation, Get Gephardt learned that the mistake is the financial responsibility of the Weber County attorney’s office.

In a statement, Weber County Attorney Christopher Allred wrote that there was a “miscommunication” between Sarah and his office. He claims it took “a couple of weeks” for the window to be made, and when it was ready to install, they attempted to call Sarah, but allege that they were calling the “wrong number.”

But just like that, they found the right number, and just one day later, Sarah had a new window installed.

Wrong home, then wrong phone number.  So what if the home owner had deployed a weapon in self defense?  They would surely be charged with a crime.  But “warrant, identify yourself” isn’t something to hang your hat on.  Criminals do this all the time.  In fact, the police do it all the time, so I’m being redundant.

Why do I say that the Ogden, Utah, police department conducts yet another wrong-home raid?  Because they have a rich history of getting things wrong.  They’ve done it before.

But it’s okay, because they are heroes of the community, there to “protect and serve” its citizens.

This will be the first of several reviews of the CMMG PSB .45 ACP.  My intention for this first one wasn’t to test accuracy at distance, as I will get to that later.

My intention was (1) to put a lot of rounds through the gun with different manufacturers, (2) to test it in rapid fire, and (3) to sight in my EOTech with the gun.

I headed out to the range with the Glock .45 ACP magazine that came with the gun, plus another (26 round mag) from the Gun Mag Warehouse (this one was SGM Tactical).  Both magazines worked fine, but the Glock magazine loaded easier and the spring on the SGM Tactical was very stiff.  I spent most of my time with the Glock magazine.

It took a long time and a lot of rounds to get the EOTech centered, more turns of the screws than I had anticipated.  I finally got it shooting at about one inch low at 7 yards, or a little higher than height-over-bore.

I put close to 300 rounds through the gun.  I was also shooting a Dan Wesson 1911, but only two magazines worth of rounds.  The CMMG performed flawlessly.  It ate everything I put in it.

Remington, Federal, Magtech, American Eagle and Winchester.  The Remington was hollow point.  The Winchester seemed dirtier than the others, and the Magtech and Federal seemed to perform the best.

But every round hit where I aimed when I finally got the red dot centered where I wanted it (I had to move it to the right and up).  It works very nicely in rapid fire, and it’s easy to recover sight picture.

The things I like about this gun are as follows.

(1) It worked flawlessly over nearly 300 rounds, many of which were discharged virtually as soon as I could grab a sight picture (less than a second).

(2) It has AR style operation, with which I’m intimately familiar.

(3) I find that I really like the thumb-over-bore (or C-clamp) grip.  It helps to stabilize any AR style weapon.  I had worried that this barrel was so short that the muzzle brake would cause concussive stress to my left hand upon discharge.  No worries after the first shot.  The barrel was cool, the hand guard was cool, and I didn’t feel a thing even without gloves.  My left hand was near the end of the hand guard.

(4) This gun and its caliber were very controllable.  I’ve shot AR pistols before in 5.56mm that I considered to be out of control (or better said, very difficult to control).  This one is not.

(5) It has a flared mag-well where the magazine is easy to insert, but not the AR-15 size magwell.  It is one suited for the Glock magazine for which it is designed.

The things I don’t like about this gun are as follows.

(1) Nothing …

I consider this gun to be a very good weapon to fill the gap between pistols and rifles, as I don’t really relish the idea of shooting a rifle inside the home for self defense.  I really, really like this gun.

Now, if I could just remember to put my tools in the range bag before I go so I don’t have to borrow tools from other guys.  It’s embarrassing.  Or I could just get some tools and leave them in the range bag.

I’ll do other reviews on this gun as time permits.

David Codrea links this Ammoland piece by Jeff Knox.  Boy is this some disturbing reading.  I cannot possibly rehearse all of the dirty laundry there, but there is this titillating little fact that may catch your interest.

Heston won that election by four votes, and immediately left the meeting to jet back to LA and appear on a radio talk show, during which he repeatedly stated that it was inappropriate or civilians to own AK47 type rifles. He eventually learned his script better, and the following year stepped up to become President of the NRA.

Embarrassingly, I didn’t know that.  Well then, Charlton Heston was a traitor, clear and simple.  I need no other evidence.  Jeff also discusses Adam Kraut, whom he supports for the board, and after reading his response to Marrion Hammer, I do too.

As for me, you could easily guess my own position.  Marrion Hammer can go traffic in her lies and misdirection somewhere else.  I’m not impressed in the least.

There is a deep, dark problem within the NRA.  Their history is a divided one, and their traitorous actions (e.g., the Hughes amendment) have harmed the firearms community, and I might also point out something I have before.  By outlawing the manufacture of machineguns after 1968, which the NRA didn’t fight, and also by the existence of the National Firearms Act, the engineering and design of open bolt firearms essentially ceased within the United States.  This has weakened the U.S. military and possibly lead to deaths of service members on the field of battle.

I cannot cipher the NRA willingness to hop in bed with traitors unless they are in fact traitorous themselves.  Let’s assume for a moment that the NRA actually chose to wield their power on Capital Hill.  Let’s assume for a moment that the this forthcoming bump stock ban wasn’t the NRA’s idea.  Let’s assume for a moment that they informed every Congressman and Senator that they expected a vote on this, and that the vote would be tallied and scored, with NRA money behind their efforts to primary enemies of the second amendment.

In other words, let’s assume that the NRA was doing its job.  Wayne Lapierre could be literally one of the most powerful men in Washington.  The red carpet would be rolled out for him everywhere he goes.  Who wouldn’t want that?  But instead of this, we see that the board is so discombobulated that it cannot accomplish anything of value or worth, and Wayne and Chris continue their deconstruction of the second amendment unabated.  Note this comment on Adam’s piece by Rob Pincus.

The Board of Directors is far too large and almost completely powerless, but voting out the Status Quo Old and voting in the new is what it needs.

Creating a large board and hamstringing their efforts with rules is the surest way to render them powerless.  What happens if the NRA sells us out over bump stock bans and other future gun control laws (I also suspect Marrion Hammer is the reason we don’t have open carry in Florida)?  Well, the gist of various comments from TTAG sums it up nicely for me.  If the NRA doesn’t do an about-face, and that, very soon and very quickly, and without any more of our money, they need to be destroyed.

They need to be finished as an organization.  They can turn their board over to the Fudds for gun control, or some other such nonsense group, and go broke for all I care.  But if they don’t do a U-turn, they will have no more of my money or attention.  This war needs to get ugly, and fast.  I realize that many of my readers have already come to the same conclusion long ago.

This is the wisest 17 minutes you’ll spend today.