Milepost 27 on the W&OD Trail

Riding home about 10 PM, just me and the critters (deer, rabbits, fox and the occasional skunk.) And about as dark as dark can get.

Doing My Patriotic Duty

Just received ten 20-round magazines from Brownells.

Centered

Finally got this scope centered properly. I had to bring the torque wrench to the range and make several adjustments, but finally it's centered properly at 100 yds. without touching the scope adjustment knobs. At 100 yds., the reticle posts appear to be nearly an inch wide, so even aiming from a bench, like I did here, is a bit of a challenge.

On a slightly sadder note, this sign was on the door Saturday afternoon.

A Brit Joins The NRA

No clue. No clue at all.

They have a cursory look at my driving licence, then ask me to select my weapon. I've no idea. "A small one. For an idiot," I offer.

What I get is a 45 that shoots nine-millimetre bullets (mostly in the wrong direction, it turns out, but that's me not the gun). It's alarmingly heavy and complicated. Even loading the weapon requires thumb strength and dexterity I seem to lack. After the fourth time of showing me how it is done, my guide loses patience. "You left-handed?" he asks. "Or just retarded?"

The NRA Wins Again

That's the title of this screed in the New Yorker.

Ha!

But they say it like it's a BAD thing...

First Rabbi Into Buchenwald

That's Rabbi Schacter on the left.

He died last week at the age of 95. Obit in the NYT:

The smoke was still rising as Rabbi Herschel Schacter rode through the gates of Buchenwald. 

It was April 11, 1945, and Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army had liberated the concentration camp scarcely an hour before. Rabbi Schacter, who was attached to the Third Army’s VIII Corps, was the first Jewish chaplain to enter in its wake. 

Easy Listening

Second Amendment scholar Joyce Lee Malcolm appears on PBS:

I've read her books but never seen her on TV. It's great that she was on PBS, too, instead of preaching to the choir. She very calmly and very effectively makes the points that need to be made about the AWB and magazine limits and the Heller case.

Pork Dillingers, Anyone?

Liartown.

h/t boing-boing.

French Maid With A .50 BMG

Don't mess with her.

h/t The Gun Wire.

Semiautomatics For The People

This graphic is sheer genius.

Support The Boulder Airlift! Keep 'em flyin'!

h/t No Lawyers - Only Guns And Money

Where Form 4473s Go To Die

Caption: "Cindy VanDyne scanning records from a gun retailer in 2010 at the A.T.F.’s National Tracing Center in Martinsburg, W.Va"

NYT.

Today's Tie...

...Comes to us from Cox's of Waco.

Busy Morning

Trying to burn up the Capitol Hill phone lines. Called Sen. Kaine, Sen. Warner, Rep. Wolf and Rep. Cantor (Majority Leader) and spoke with their people. Told 'em I'm opposed to:

• New gun control laws
• An assault weapons ban
• Limits on magazine capacity
• Universal background checks
• Gun registration

Had only the option of leaving a voicemail on Speaker Boehner's line.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's line was busy; tried it twice and couldn't get through.

Mete The Press

Wayne LaPierre to David Gregory:

“We're in the District of Columbia right now, and possession of that magazine is illegal, even if it's not loaded. Even if it's not connected to a gun. It's still illegal. But you won't be charged, and do you know why? It's because you're white. If Ice-T was holding that magazine, he would be in jail before this program was off the air.”

           - I made that up, but wouldn't it be great if life were really like that?

ETA: I just realized that Matt G had a similar thought before I did. Hell, I'm gettin' old.

Capitalism's Ultimate Triumph

Universal Background Checks

According to some news reports, "universal" background checks are the "low-hanging fruit" in Congress right now. There is unlikely to be a new Assault Weapons Ban; magazine limits are also unlikely to pass. But there is a chance, they say, that a law may be passed to require federal background checks on private sales, except between family members.

But what is the point in requiring universal background checks against a database that is missing millions of names, as the Wall Street Journal points out:

Contributions to the database have since been sparse, because of privacy laws, technological hurdles and the costs of reporting, according to a July report by the Government Accountability Office. 

Just 12 states account for the vast majority of the mental-health records in the national database, the GAO found, "and most states have made little or no progress in providing these records."

Marylanders Support Second Amendment

There was a huge turnout to protest Gov. O'Malley's gun control bill yesterday. Maryland already has some of the toughest gun control laws in the country.

Even the WaPo said it was a big demonstration:

Gun rights advocates marshaled one of the biggest crowds to descend on Annapolis for a bill hearing in years Wednesday, packing the halls of the Maryland State House complex to oppose Gov. Martin O’Malley’s plan to institute some of the nation’s strictest gun-control laws.

Women were prominent:

Outside the State House, opponents of O’Malley’s plan made it clear that he would be in for a battle. Many adorned their clothing with “Guns Save Lives” stickers and lined up to sign petitions against the bill. Placards bounced to the rhythm of speeches. One woman held up a cardboard sign that said, “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny.”

Kelly Cook, 23, a college student from Arnold, held up a sign that said: “Why do you want to fingerprint me? I am not a criminal.”

“That’s what I want to ask Governor O’Malley,” she said.

And:

More than four hours into the hearing, a Connecticut-based lobbyist for the gun industry drew the most heated reaction from the Democratic-controlled panel.

“The restrictions in this bill are arbitrary. Nothing in it will prevent another Newtown or Columbine,” said Jake McGuigan of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, based in Newtown.

“You’re coming from Newtown, Connecticut, to tell us an assault-weapons ban would not save lives?” asked Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery).

Like others from the gun industry, McGuigan did not back down. He stressed that Connecticut has an assault-weapons ban and that the guns used in the shooting that killed 20 students there were legally owned by the killer’s mother.

With regard to Maryland, McGuigan cited homicide statistics from 2011 that showed just two of nearly 400 killings statewide were committed with rifles that could be banned under O’Malley’s legislation. Outside the hearing, the crowd in an overflow room applauded at the response.

Jeffrey Reh, general counsel for firearm manufacturer Beretta, which has a plant in Accokeek, warned lawmakers that O’Malley’s bill, which outlaws 45 types of weapons and their knockoffs, could have a severe impact on the company’s business. He also said that because gun manufacturers in Maryland are required to register as firearm dealers, it’s unclear whether the company would still be allowed to export guns for sale in other states.

“We’re confronted with a state government that wants to ban the products we make,” Reh said. “Not surprisingly, we are concerned.”

And more women (and girls, too):

Hope Ingraham of Gaithersburg said she doesn’t own a gun but brought her 9-year-old daughter, Zahira, to the spectacle because she thinks that constitutional rights should not be infringed upon.

“I used to be really anti-gun until [Hurricane] Katrina and I watched all of that Superdome stuff,” she said, “and that’s when I realized — the government lacks the ability to protect us when we need it most.”

After six hours waiting to testify, Athena Andrzejewski of Ellicott City was told that she would not be called before the hearing would be adjourned at 9 p.m.

“I expected a big crowd but not this big,” Andrzejewski said. “I’m glad it’s this big. It means we’re not just going to take whatever comes. It means we are going to fight.”

I Felt A Great Disturbance In The Force...

...as if a million gun-control advocates suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

The Washington Post published this opinion piece Tuesday night:

On Gun Control, Banning Semi-automatics Isn't The Answer

I don’t particularly like the AR-15, although it is one of the most popular rifles in the country. Three million have been sold, according to an NRA researcher. But to define it as an assault rifle because of how it looks — with a pistol grip, adjustable stock, flash suppressor and “high capacity” magazine — is silly.

You want to see a dangerous-looking gun, look at the one President Obama was photographed skeet shooting with at Camp David last summer. That shotgun of his was big enough to take down a woolly mammoth. When I pulled the trigger on the AR-15, one high-powered round came out. Maybe I hit something; maybe I didn’t. Obama can’t miss. He could clear a room with one double-barreled blast.

Why ban one and not the other? And once you start banning semiautomatics, where do you stop?

If gun control advocates were truly serious and not just well meaning, they’d be focusing a lot more on education and mental health. For instance, everybody knows that our children are being adversely affected by violent video games. So why aren’t schools deconstructing video games as part of the curriculum, explaining to students how the military uses these same war games to condition troops to kill without remorse? 

It just goes on and on like that. This piece is by one of WaPo's local opinion writers, Courtland Milloy.

Absolutely shocking that WaPo would publish something like this.

That Map of Handgun-Permit Holders

Even the techie online mag cnet.com is debunking the map of pistol-permit holders published by the Journal News:

The Journal News, a local New York paper, decides to post a map of all those who own handguns in the area. Like so much that's online, it contains errors -- massive errors.

...and:

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that some of these permits dated from the 1930s.  

Link.

Gun Laws and the Fools of Chelm

Great essay in Newsweek/Beast by David Mamet:

The Left loves a phantom statistic that a firearm in the hands of a citizen is X times more likely to cause accidental damage than to be used in the prevention of crime, but what is there about criminals that ensures that their gun use is accident-free? If, indeed, a firearm were more dangerous to its possessors than to potential aggressors, would it not make sense for the government to arm all criminals, and let them accidentally shoot themselves?

The "New" South

From the Washington Post "Fact Checker" blog:

Last week we looked at a National Rifle Association ad that made misleading claims about security at Sidwell Friends School, which President Obama’s children attend. Now let’s look at a tough anti-NRA ad sponsored by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, an umbrella organization of 48 religious and other organizations.

The target of this ad is Rep. John Barrow of Georgia — the last white Democratic member of Congress from the Deep South. The CSGV video intercuts scenes from a campaign ad that Barrow ran in 2012 with television footage of the massacre of school children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. It certainly packs an emotional punch — but is it fair and accurate?

"...the last white Democratic member of Congress from the Deep South."?

Is that really true?

WOW!

And they accuse the Republicans of being polarized!

"I know you are but what am I? I know you are but..."

The hell with it. A pox on both their houses.

Via Shall Not Be Questioned.

"Gun Show Loophole" Bill Dies In Virginia Senate

This is great news, because the only way to enforce background checks on private sales is to require universal gun registration, and we ain't goin' there!

Via VCDL bulletin.

Prepping

Getting ready for The Big Day.

Blocking off the sidewalks to pedestrian traffic.

Streets, too.

All the metal trashcans on Pennsylvania Avenue were picked up last night and replaced with these clear plastic bags.

The National Archives building gleamed in the morning sun.

A lovely old building, the Fireman's Insurance Building. Nowadays, of course, it is a Starbucks.

Huge loudspeaker arrays have been hoisted onto poles along the route. These are in front of the Newseum.

On my walk home I passed a very cool bicycle shop and saw this authentic pennyfarthing in the window. I was informed that they go for $4000 - $6000 depending on condition. (Bomb not included.)

WaPo: The NRA Is Awesome!

Boy Scout camp

Yesterday's Washington Post: 

 “What they do well is they really get people out,” said Illinois state Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D), who heads the House committee that was to consider the assault-weapons ban until gun owners, spurred by the local NRA affiliate, overwhelmed legislators with calls and e-mails. “That’s democracy. I can’t fault them for it. I have to applaud them for it.”

and:

“They can produce a small army for Election Day, and every elected official knows it,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, a newly elected Democratic congressman, who was a state legislator when the tide turned in Wisconsin.

Police seizing guns in California

Rehearsal

Air Force cadets lining Pennsylvania Avenue in the fog. From Sixth Street facing west.

That's Gonna Leave A Mark

This kid totally demolishes Piers Morgan.

So good you'll want to watch it twice.

via Sebastian.

Captured Taliban Firearms

This is a Martini-Metford cavalry carbine, with a bicycle chain as a sling.

Interesting article from the NYT.

Mayor Mike Makes A Mis-step

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has likened a teachers' union to the NRA:

Of all the polarizing things Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has said and done over the years, from banning large sugary drinks to supporting congestion pricing, few have generated the sort of viral backlash that has unexpectedly mounted after his weekly radio show on Friday.

The mayor had embarked on a lengthy stream of consciousness on the need to negotiate a new teacher evaluation plan with the United Federation of Teachers. Toward the end, Mr. Bloomberg, almost as an aside, likened the teachers’ union to groups like the National Rifle Association and others in which he said a few leaders were out of sync with large numbers of rank-and-file members. 

NYT.

This is the same union that was once headed by Albert Shanker. He attained immortality when he was the butt of a famous joke in Woody Allen's movie Sleeper. The hero is transported into a dystopian future. When he asks what happened to the world as he knew it, he is told, "Our history books tell us that the old world was destroyed when a man named Albert Shanker got hold of a nuclear warhead."

For his part, Shanker is said to have loved the joke.

Publish Or Perish

The New York Times has covered the controversy regarding the publication of the names and addresses of pistol-permit holders in Westchester and Putnam counties by the Journal News. The item in the Times generated a huge number of comments, evenly split between pro- and anti-publication.

Two of my favorites:

What has happened to the left that I used to be a proud member? This has nothing to do with protecting your children or helping public safety. This is pure revenge on a group the left despises … the NRA. The comments are beyond the pale in their stereotyping and demonizing these people. Just because someone might have a permit, doesn’t mean they have a gun or even belong to or support the NRA. Maybe the person is in law enforcement, maybe the person is an abused wife, wanting protection.

And:

We, on the left, objected loudly when the names and addresses of doctors who perform abortions were made public. Are our ethics so situational that we now embrace the tactics of our opponents? How sad for us.

New Year's Resolution

My New Year's Resolution: each time I read in the mainstream media a direct quote from a Democratic congresscritter/Senator suggesting tougher federal gun control laws, I'm going to mail a modest financial donation to the RCCC or RSCC, as appropriate. And I will include a letter explaining why I sent the donation. And I will send a letter to either the DCCC or DSCC, as appropriate, explaining that my donation to their opponents is on behalf of the Second Amendment, due to the statements of their party's officeholders.

Sen. Charles Schumer is one of the foremost proponents of tougher federal gun control, but he used to be an absolute maniac on the subject. He never missed an opportunity to step in front of the TV cameras and expound at length on the subject: "NRA, blah, blah, gun lobby, blah, blah, evil-evil-evil."

But after his stint as chair of the DSCC (2005-2009), he has calmed down quite a bit. He found out how sensitive the rest of the country (in that wild and desolate wasteland west of the Hudson) was to the subject of gun control. He found out how difficult it was to raise money for red state Democrats who were perceived as favoring new federal gun control laws. And he found out how effectively the other side could raise money on the issue. It may be a winner in MA, NY, NJ, MD, DC, CA and Chicago, but it's a loser just about everywhere else. And public opinion is moving strongly away from gun control and continues to do so in spite of the horrific murders two weeks ago.

Rahm Emmanuel is said to have experienced a similar revelation when he was head of the DCCC (2005-2007). Later, as mayor, it didn't stop him from defending Chicago's indefensible gun laws, but his stubborness cost Chicago's taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees - and that's just for the other side (our side) - who knows how many millions Chicago paid to its own legal team? Not much, I hope...it was a pretty pathetic effort.

A couple of red (or, maybe, purple) state Democratic Senators recently expressed a newfound willingness to consider renewing the failed AWB. They aren't facing re-election for another four to six years, and they think we won't remember. But a third of the Senate faces re-election every two years. So a financial contribution to the opposition's fund-raising arm sends a strong message. I can imagine the head of the DSCC phoning Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and saying, "Mark, do you know how hard you're making my job? Do you remember when you recruited me for this position? Do you remember promising me that you would do everything you could to help me? Do you remember that, Mark? Do you really? Then WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SANDBAGGING ME AT EVERY TURN YOU SONOFABITCH!? WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SHOOT YOUR MOUTH OFF ABOUT GUN CONTROL? WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

One can dream, can't one?

One pundit said, "If Congress doesn't pass tough new gun control laws after this, they never will."

Make it so.

Kokomo Gun Show

The line to get in to the Dulles Gun Show was so long that the gun show in Kokomo, Indiana is actually closer.

Heading to Kokomo with Roberta X, Tam and Shootin' Buddy.

Sent from my iPhone

Record Number Of Americans Oppose Handgun Ban

Even with the killings in Newtown as a backdrop, a new Gallup poll shows 74 percent of Americans now support the right to possess a handgun, while just 24 percent would support a ban.

WaPo.
Sent from my iPhone

WaPo: Guns Are A Part Of American Culture

Link.

Almost unbelievable that they would publish this, but I think the WaPo's editorial calculation is that they are finally going to get Congress to confiscate guns (in strict compliance with the Second Amendment, of course!) so they can afford the appearance of fairness, after mercilessly slandering American gun owners for nearly half a century.

It's Official: 8,000 New Members A Day

ABC News:

NRA News anchor Ginny Simone said Thursday that in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, membership surged "with an average of 8,000 new members a day."

40mm Ruger

In the Washington Post:

Sarah Pike came in as the men chatted and purchased a 40mm Ruger pistol. She asked McGrady about courses that would teach her how to use it. He wondered about her accent and asked where she was from. France, she said, and then she wondered out loud whether she could travel abroad with such a weapon.

“Not internationally, but you can travel anywhere in the continental United States,” he said, except Washington. “Just stay off the Beltway around D.C.”

The U.S. Already Had a Conversation About Guns—and the Pro Side Won

Interesting article in The Atlantic. Excerpt:

There isn't anything wrong with gun-control advocates lamenting what, by their lights, is a public that's reaching wrongheaded conclusions on the subject and is trending in the wrong direction.

But too many pieces I've read make a mockery of robust debate in a pluralistic society by ignoring the fact that current policy is largely (though not entirely) a reflection of the U.S. public disagreeing with gun reformers. The average American is far more likely than the average journalist or academic to identify with gun culture, to insist that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to bear arms, to exercise that right, and to support various state concealed-carry laws. Perhaps persuasion can move the citizenry to favor a different status quo. That's always a hurdle to clear in a democracy. Yet the ability to engage and persuade fellow citizens is undermined when public discourse obscures rather than confronts the relevant disagreements.

The problem goes beyond the absurd conceit that a conversation about guns had yet to begin prior to this week.

I'll give you an example.

In an Atlantic Wire post titled "It's Time We Talked About Gun Control," my sharp colleague Jen Doll writes, "We're going to have to talk about this; we're going to have to form coherent thoughts; and we're going to have to stop simply cleaving to our agendas and our selfish little opinions of what we want and what we think we should have -- and when 'the right time is' -- if this is ever going to get any better." But that isn't a call for a conversation! It's an assertion that opponents of gun control are selfish, and that they (not "we") are going to "have to" change their minds. It's fine to make that argument. The problem is couching it as a mere call for talking, when it is in fact an assertion that the only reasonable conclusion is that the other guys are wrong. 

Bingo!

The Call of Snoophulhu

From boing-boing.

Target Practice

I put the eccentric inserts into the Burris rings to walk the scope into the bullseye. I'm closing in on it. The OnTarget software says that this is a 1.005" group, centered 0.538" to the right and 2.220" low. That's a big improvement over 5.5" right and 2.9" low. Ammo as before was the same lot of Remington Premier Accutip 55-gr, MV=3240, BC=0.242.

"But you're wrong," I said. "Hello? Is This Thing On?"

At Boing-boing is a story in which the Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert describes an interview he gave to NBC News on the day after the Columbine slayings. The reporter was looking for sound bites to support the theory that violent movies cause violence in society.

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of "explaining" them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy. 

Link.

Fatal Vision

Probably the last appeal for former Green Beret doctor Jeffrey MacDonald, serving life for the 1970 slayings of his wife and two young daughters.

A terrific account in the WaPo:

Causation vs. Correlation

A New York Times columnist/blogger drones on with the usual nonsense about Bob Costas, the U.S. homicide rate, the Kellermann studies, etc., etc.

But hidden in the comments section was this nugget:

As a Canadian who's studied homicide stats pretty extensively, I have to tell you that I think you're barking up the wrong tree. My own home province of Newfoundland has a gun ownership rate of 45% of all households, almost exactly the same rate as the United States. Yet our homicide rate is a mere 1.4 per 100,000, compared to the US national rate of about 4.2 per 100,000.

However, looking back over the past decade, we cannot claim as low a homicide rate as North Dakota, which has been less violent than any Canadian province, and yet has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in North America, far higher than, say, Detroit (48.2 homicides per 100,000), or Washington DC (21.9 per 100,000).

The US homicide rate is about 2.5 x that of Canada. But 52% of US homicides are committed by African-Americans, who are only 12% of the US population. If you compare Canada with the other 88% of the US population, you will find that homicide rates are very close.

Likewise, comparing the 50 US states, 10 Canadian provinces, and 3 Canadian territories, the top three jurisdictions for homicide per capita are usually Louisiana, Nunavut (the Inuit territory), and the Northwest Territories, in that order.

Social problems and cultural attitudes drive homicide, and I say this not as an advocate for the gun lobby, nor as a believer in innate racial or cultural differences. I'm neither, just someone who respects what the numbers tell us.

Clark Brothers

This is a venerable Virginia gunshop in rural (although increasingly less so) Warrenton, Va.

Behind the store they operate a pistol-rifle-shotgun range, with rifle targets at 25, 50 and 100 yards.

This is the first five shots from the Kimber .22 at 25 yards. Ug-LEEE!

And after walking the shots in, here is the final group.

But to get that result, I had to dial the rear peep-sight all the way to the right, 54 clicks! And 42 clicks down. Something's wrong there. Obviously I need to learn how to use peep sights. I did have the foresight to keep track of how many clicks I turned, so that I could return the sight to center.

The AR-15 with the scope and the bull barrel came along, too. Here's a 100-yard group. The aiming point was the bullseye in the upper left! So the group center was 5.4" to the right and 2.9" low. My plan is to put 0.010" eccentric inserts into the front and rear scope rings, to shove the scope to the right. Just for curiosity’s sake. Before I touch the scope turrets.

Christmas Came Early This Year

Fedex just delivered, to my front door, this mysterious package from Anniston, Alabama.

Inside was this Kimber M82 rifle, caliber .22LR. 

 

That's Kimber of Clackamas, Oregon, y'all.

They said it was "rusty" but I can't find a spot of rust on it anywhere.

There was also this plastic bag...

...containing the bolt and these extraordinary target sights.

The barrel was sealed up with a full-length paper tube.

The stock appears to be in perfect shape. There are a couple of scratches on the other side. There is also an aluminum channel built into the lower surface of the fore-end, perhaps for a bipod? And an original manual.

To say I am pleased would be an understatement!

Thank you, CMP!

Range Report

After a 2-hour wait I was assigned to lane 9 and set my target out at 25 yards. I had a box of Federal XM193F, 5.56mm M193 Ball, 55-gr. boat-tail cartridges. I aimed at the target center and my first two shots landed 2 inches down and 2 inches to the right. That's disappointing, because it would be 8 inches at 100 yards, but at least I have some real-world results to ponder.

So rather than adjust the turrets I decided to "shoot a box": I turned the windage turret 64 clicks to the right and fired two more shots, then turned the elevation turret 64 clicks up and fired two more, then 64 clicks left windage and two more, then 64 clicks left and two more shots, then finally 64 clicks down and two more shots. I was shooting from a bag rest each time. The shots seemed to track the turrets pretty well. These turrets are 1/8" per click.

The second target was at 50 yards:

This seemed to be more like 3.5 inches to the right, or 7 inches at 100 yards.

I'm not really so concerned about the elevation because I'm so close to the target that the bullet is still rising to meet the line of sight; the scope is mounted about 2" above the bore.

The three shots above the bull were just to finish off the cartridge box.

The wind was really vicious today, so my plans to visit Clark Bros. in Warrenton had to be postponed. They have a rifle range with 25, 50 and 100-yard targets.

My goal is to use the adjustable rings to get the rifle on target at all ranges, for windage anyway, without adjusting the turrets.

I also fired eight magazines from the Ruger 22/45 with the red dot sight, and half a box from the Nagant "7-shooter". The Nagant has a formidable double-action trigger pull; I used single action. Nice shooter! Very quiet and very little recoil. Only 98-gr bullets.

The Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm compact sent some lead downrange, too, to test four new magazines (CTD has 'em in stock if you act fast).

Check out the unfired Nagant cartridge (far right) and the spent case next to it.

And I just noticed this: look at the unusual dimple in the primer. What do you make of that? 

And it wasn't just the Blaser, either. This one is Winchester White Box. It shows a dimple (at the 10 o'clock position) and a firing-pin "comma" (at 5 o'clock).

Texas Man Pulls Gun On Line-Cutter

Black Friday news:

A shopper who brandished a handgun during a Black Friday scuffle at South Park Mall was within his rights, according to San Antonio police.

Link

Sent from my iPhone

NYPD Siezes Billionaire's Guns

The police have confiscated two guns belonging to a New York billionaire and are weighing whether to revoke his handgun license after officers responded to an incident this month at Trump Tower, according to a police official and two people familiar with the matter.

Link

Sent from my iPhone

Bored

Reading a humor article in the New Yorker. A reminiscence (I'll spell-check that later) of a 17-year old boy who had a torrid affair with 77-year old Ayn Rand:

Anyone who knew Ayn knew that she was not big on sniveling. But I was devastated. We'd often talked about "stopping the engine of the world." Well, now she had stopped the engine of my heart. So, yes, I sniveled a bit. Although, in keeping with my Objectivist principles, when I sniveled, I did it in my room, while keeping my face as impassive and noble as I could. Or sometimes I'd call Alan Greenspan, and he'd go, "Oh, you too, eh?"

Yeah, I know. Reading the New Yorker at the NRA Range. I'll pay dearly for this.

Sent from my iPhone

At The NRA Range

And it is JAMMED!

At least a 2-hour wait.

I'm stayin'.

"Repo man's got all night!"


Sent from my iPhone

Red Dot Sight

The Ruger 22/45 came with a Picatinny scope base, so today I torqued it down to 10 in-lbs (aluminum receiver).

And installed this red dot scope. Burris Signature Zee rings (30mm/Medium) torqued down to 20 in-lbs (because they're steel).

I have no idea how to "level" a sight that has no crosshairs, so I just eye-balled it.

It should make for some fun plinking.