Straight Case

Try THIS Background Check, Obama

...and BTW, NRA, you should have no objection, either.

The Straight Spine people propose that NICS be replaced with a system that:

1. Works. For EVERYONE, not just gun dealers and cops. The present NICS totters along, breaking down frequently. It needs to be scrapped and replaced. BTW, Mister President, there are just a few states requiring NICS checks on all gun transfers now. If you DID get your way, and suddenly, ALL gun transfers in the whole Nation had to go through NICS, it would prevent gun transfers because NICS would fail at the start of every business day when it was turned on. You KNOW that, though, don't you?
2. Gets the minimal information. We are checking only PEOPLE here, so there is absolutely NO reason to have to enter any descriptors for the gun. I give you MY name and DOB, then the name and DOB of the transferee, and you check us out. You then issue a confirmation number for the transfer which we must keep for a time, or the dealer must enter on the 4473. The system keeps the record for the current 24 hours allowed by the NICS enabling law, then flushes it.
3.  Performs as close to "instantly" as possible. The system designers would be required to sample current NICS traffic to determine the period of highest traffic the system handles now, to set performance the new system would have to handle. The system would have to handle TWICE that traffic at acceptance, and be scalable to handle FIVE TIMES that traffic with minimum adjustment.
4.  Has no enforcement action attached. Two things: the current NICS, which HAS enforcement action avenues attached, results in VERY few enforcement actions, and also, few people who know that they must hide their gun possession from the authorities are going to involve themselves with the new system anyway. Criminals do not do regular gun transfers.
5. Has no cost to users, other than as a budget line item. The Feds can just eat the cost if they want the transfer checks made. The wet dream of gun-banners, of course, is to figure out some way of attaching crippling fees to all gun transfers, solely to discourage gun ownership. That is probably actionable as being a Civil Rights violation, BTW.

Some of my more die-hard 2A-defending buddies are going to scream at me for this, but I don't give a flying fig what they do, frankly. There is ONE very good reason to have this system. Can you guess what it is?

If you said, "keep crazies from getting guns", you get to wear the Dunce Cap.

If you said, "let the Government track guns", you are not only a Dunce, you didn't READ my proposal. No gun info in the system, remember, Sparky?

That reason is Civil Liability. I will predict right now that Obama could be successful in harassing gun owners if he wanted to be. He COULD impose (Congress would have to go along) Liability Insurance on us. I can predict that such a mandated insurance system would be as much of a clusterfuck as ObamaCare is now, maybe worse, BUT IT WOULD PASS. It would pass because the claim will be made (and sold) that it imposes NO undue hardship on gun-bearers to buy insurance. If my system is in place first, it will serve as a model to insure PEOPLE against civil liability arising out of their ownership/carriage of firearms. It will NOT involve registering the guns. It MIGHT involve so-called "safe storage", and insurers MIGHT be allowed to require certain other ameliorations of risk, perhaps even TRAINING in firearms use (horrors, say my buddies) or maybe even standardized QUALIFICATION (double horrors, isn't there an inalienable right to shoot things that you don't intend to?). I do NOT disagree with the idea of insurance. I would buy it myself now if the available policies were any good, but they suck, have too many "outs" for the insurers, too many limits on the insureds.

In summary: Our Courts have ruled that certain folks may not possess firearms. We are not likely to change that short of a total Re-Do of the Republic. Given that certain persons MUST be excluded from possession/commerce in firearms, some sort of background check is appropriate, so let's design a system we can live with. That system is NOT NICS.

 

Ammo Test - CCI .22 LR Ammo by LuckyGunner.com

Refer back to this post on my instructional set-up for a new shooter.

I took those two Hi-Standard handguns up to Rainier Rod and Gun Club, where I am a member, and with another of my students (now USPSA competitor) and her husband-coach, I did a side-by-side ammo comparison with the CCI ammo. You can get your .22 LR, all I've reviewed and more, here.

As it turned out, the comparison was all shot in the Hi-Standard R-103 revolver, since I had a breakdown with the Model 103 target semi-auto and couldn't use it. Hi-Standard invented the quick-change barrel set-up, but fitting of the barrel-lock components in the pistol is VERY sensitive, and that alignment has gotten out of spec in my pistol, with the result that the barrel does not properly align with the frame. Of course, that's a "no-go" condition. This is the second time this misalignment has happened. The first time was in a Bowling-pin match a few years ago, and Mr. Completely, a Hi-Standard shooter, was kind enough to fix the pistol for me then, but on this trip it went back into the range box. {Update note: It was easily repaired in the shop last night. Most issues like this are related to dirt or lubrication, so I simply flooded the locking mechanism with Stoddard's Solvent (aka "Paint Thinner"), then Ed's Red, then shot some White Lithium Grease in there, worked the mechanism a LOT, and the locking mechanism now actually locks the barrels down tight. I have both a 7.5" and a 4" barrel for this pistol}.

The revolver did the job as an evaluating tool, though.

In this photo, I show the two subsonic rounds tested:

Here are the two bulls I shot with that ammo. Both of these were shot with aimed fire, but using a firing rythym of about one shot every three seconds, for all nine shots.

 I shot the bottom one first with the Blazer ammo. Those are 2" target spots, and I was shooting at 7 yards, two hand hold, in sunlight. On the bottom one, I was pushing the gun some, but I concentrated on stroking the trigger double-action in rythym. Look at the top bull. Same conditions, same rythym, a much more consistent result with the CCI Sub Sonic.

Next, I compared some high-speed stuff. LuckyGunner.com had provided CCI Mini-Mag, and I provided some Aguila Interceptor, made with the uber-consistent Eley priming injection system:

My history with both of these selections: I shoot Mini Mags in all my .22 rifles for hunting, and have ever since it came out. My Charter Arms AR-7 survival rifle loves it, and it is the ONLY ammo that rifle will give 100% reliability with, dirty or clean, wet or dry. The AR-7 lives in a wet place, on my boat. The Aguila has been my "hot load" for the R-103 since I acquired that gun about 5 years ago. There's hotter .22 Long Rifle out there, some now approaches 1800 ft/sec muzzle velocity, but the Aguila is 1470, which is hotter than barely-supersonic Mini Mag at 1260. The Aguila carries a 40-grain solid-lead bullet while the Mini-Mag has a 36-grain HP.

So, here are the results on paper, head-to-head, out of the Hi-Standard revolver:

On the right is the Aguila, and on the left is the CCI Mini-Mag. Those results speak for themselves. By now, I had ironed out the pushing, so this is an accurate test. I guess the extra 210 fps of the Aguila doesn't match more squirrels or cottontails in the fry pan, does it?

There was one more evaluation. A while back, I bought some Aguila Super Colibri, the so-called "back-yard" ammo. It is one step up from the plain Colibri, which used to be known as a "CB-cap". They are about 500 fps M/V, with a 20-grain bullet. That equates to a whopping 11 #/ft of muzzle energy:

I shot these while wearing NO hearing protection, and I could hear the conversation of the other two people on the range behind me, and I'm half-deaf! Here's the target bull:

They are fun to shoot! No recoil at all that I noticed, about the same noise as a hand-clap, and at 7 yards, they are on the revolver's point of aim. If I had to clear small critters out of a barn, this would be my go-to round.

All in all, a fun day. I also shot some centerfire, putting about 50 rounds through a new Glock 19 (functioned perfectly, natch, loved the 115-gr UMC ball!), practiced some with my Ruger SP-101 (have to qual with it in a couple of weeks), and put about 15 demonstration rounds through my Bulldog 44.

Lessee, that makes 4 handguns to clean and 1 to repair. Guess I know where the rest of MY day is going...barring the "predicted" Apocalypse, of course.

Thanks again to LuckyGunner.com for the ammo and confidence in me to try me out as a tester/evaluator.

Smith & Wesson Bodyguard: how I will teach with one

That would be their Bodyguard Revolver .38 with the integrated Insight laser sight.

I handled one this weekend. We weren't at a range, so I couldn't shoot it,  but I found it different on two accounts.

First, the cylinder latch. It was NOT intuitive like every other D/A revolver I've ever handled, because it's in a different place I'm not used to. I found myself fumbling with the latch, positioned where the hammer would be if it had an exposed hammer (it doesn't, the hammer is internal). When you fumble there, you will likely light up the laser, since it's button is less than a half-inch from the latch and within one finger-span as you try to press the latch. That latch would be familiar to someone who's shot a lot of the old top-break revolvers, but I haven't handled many of those old, weak .38 S&W or Short Colt firearms. The one my dad willed me got sold before I shot it. It was a "lemon squeezer" type with a palm safety. The only time I'd ever fired it was to shoot blanks on New Year's Eve with it.

I had an uncle who died and willed me two more top-breaks, but they were some sort of lesser arm, H&R, I think, one was seriously out of time and the other was rusty, so they went for groceries at a turn-in. 

The gentleman who bought the Bodyguard got it for his wife, who has never fired a handgun. I'm to be her instructor soon, so I tried to get familiar with the manual of arms of the revolver.

I like the laser, but it's switch is NOT as intuitive as the grip-switch on the Crimson-Trace laser-grips. I may buy a C-T set for my Bulldog soon, because I'm convinced that the laser gives you a psychological edge that you don't get just by pulling the snubby and issuing voice commands. For example, that laser, targeting an onrushing, drugged-up malefactor, WILL get his attention, where you would probably not get his attention with a snubbie until it went bang. Anyone who is cold sober and in possession of their wits will not likely challenge an armed person, but police stats say that DOES NOT hold true for druggies, and there are more of them all the time.

The other curious thing may just be mis-information on the part of the gun-shop guy who sold the revolver to my friend. That guy told him NOT to shoot +P ammo in it. Curious, because Smith & Wesson lists the gun as a ".38 +P" caliber. Possibly, there is some back-channel experience that a steady diet of +P will cause the revolver to shoot loose in, say, under a thousand rounds. Too bad. If Smith guarantees it, it would go back for rebuild at their expense. If they say +P, they have to mean +P.

Training with the Bodyguard.

My training regimen for a new revolver shooter has been to have them start on my Hi-Standard .22 LR revolver to get the feel of double-action, and master the idea of pulling the trigger through it's double-action cycle WITHOUT altering the point of aim. I've had the new shooter fire individual rounds first, then timed fire of two-round strings, then timed-fire of three or four. When the shooter has mastered the trigger cycle vs. the steady grip and sight picture, we move to the center-fire. I will load some wadcutters for this exercise, and we will repeat everything we just did with the .22, only using the snubbie, with attention to grip and stance. After the new shooter has mastered grip, stance, trigger cycle and sight picture, we will light the laser and continue the drills, and at the end, introduce some +P, ending the lesson by drawing from the holster & presenting the revolver, lighting the laser, responding to shoot/don't shoot commands, and firing double-taps with +P ammo.

That makes for a full range session, but I've done it several times with different shooters in a three-hour aftrernoon, and it's FUN, too.

I'm looking forward to it again, and especially with a modern DAO revolver. I don't own any DAO revolvers, because I want to have the option of longer-distance aimed fire, aka "snubbie-sniper" work.

Fun, fun, fun!

Gun Grab dialog

...no, not Chuck the Schmuck Schumer, or McCarthy, either, I'm talking about a REAL gun grab attempt.

This post over at Joe's place set me to thinking about this subject.

It's a short train of thought.

If someone attempts to grab your carry piece, your response is simple: shoot the grabber.

Yep, you heard right, shoot!

In Oregon, anyway, you are permitted to assume that someone attempting to grab your gun is going to kill you with it if they succeed, and that justifies your use of deadly force in response, even if they are not armed at the start of this felony crime!

If you WEREN'T taught this when you took your concealed weapons class, you should look up your instructor and demand your money back.

Gun grab defensive tactics:

At first hint of grab attempt, put your hand on your gun butt and shove DOWNWARDS, with all available force (see why you need a good holster held on to you with a good belt?). You can put MUCH MORE force on that gun downwards than the grabber can put on pulling upwards. Spin away from the grabber, taking at least two steps separation, pull your gun and fire, center of mass, no less than three rounds.

Tell EVERYONE responding to the shooting which you just did that you were AFRAID for your life, as you've been taught that when YOU are unarmed, and the grabber has your gun, it is LIKELY that you will get shot with your own gun.

In THIS jurisdiction, it is likely that the District Attorney wouldn't even run that one by a Grand Jury, and if he did, he would recommend that the GJ find the homicide Justifiable.

Just remember, we SHOOT actual gun-grabbers. SHOOT to STOP their probable homicide of YOU.

What to do when the police stop you

...and you're carrying.

This is good, basic stuff. A little old, but good and basic. Stars Tom Gresham, FAMOUS gun writer, and Massad Ayoob, HUGELY Famous writer and tactician.

H/T to Gunbroker.com, and while you're at it, YOU can sign up for their email newsletter.

Straight Case - The Lesson Plan

The gunny stars are in perfect alignment. First in that firmament is the fact that LuckyGunner.com came through, and I am now a Tester for that fine company. They've sent me the first ammo to test and write up. It's two different offerings from CCI, (both Straight Case rounds, natch), both .22 LR. First is CCI's Sub-Sonic HP, which 40-gr lead bullet comes out of the muzzle at 1050 fps. I've used Eley's similar offering, Remington's, Winchester's, Aguila's, just to name a few. Matter of fact, by the time I fired my first Hi-Speed, as the supersonic offerings used to be called, I'd fired tens of thousands of rounds of the subsonic stuff over 6 years of competitive Indoor Smallbore Rifle, garnering my Junior Distinguished, and the occasional High Match award to boot. Not enough of those High Match awards to be able to skip team shoot-offs for the traveling squad at Mizzou, however, but I made my share of those trips around the Big 8 target ranges when I could put together a 288-290.

At the right of the Sub-Sonic is CCI's famous Mini-Mag, which is already my go-to ammo for all things rimfire gunny around here (except two tiny handguns which shoot .22 Shorts). It's supersonic, barely, with it's copper-plated 40-gr bullet making 80-100 fps past Mach at sea level.

The second star in alignment is a request from a neighbor to teach her to shoot, acquire a defensive handgun, and get her CHL. I'm delighted to perform that service, of course.

In the photo, you see the first shooting setup: At the top is the Hi-Standard R-103, 9-shot .22 revolver, the initial practice weapon after the obligatory introduction of safety rules and safe gun handling is learned. The R-103 has a realistic double-action trigger pull to get used to, so the transition to a centerfire revolver (most likely what the lady will wind up with) is much more natural. At the bottom of the picture is the Hi-Standard M-103 Sport King, a fine target pistol, and one which LOVES that subsonic CCI ammo. It has a target trigger, but it's a great confidence builder, and most of my new shooters can manage at least a 5" group at 30 feet with a 100-round familiarization routine. THEN they get to go back to the R-103 and do Single Action, and they usually LOVE that all over again.

That's maybe 2-3 range sessions to get to that point, and then we get to introduce RECOIL into the equation, and I bring in a .38  With the Ruger Service Six, I now have the PERFECT service-type revolver to teach centerfire with. We'll learn that gun, then go to snubbies, specifically the Ruger SP-101. By the time we master the SP-101, we will be ready to go to a public range with a wide selection of rentals, and rent a lightweight revolver or three to try out.

I'm thinking she will settle on the S&W Ladysmith with Crimson Trace LaserGrips, but we'll see what her budget is. That gun will now come in close to a thou kitted out like that. There are less-expensive options, the Charter Arms Undercover Crimson @ $636 MSRP comes to mind. She'll probably want to have an action job on whatever she gets, and that's a couple of Benjamins at least.

As for ammo for that final selection, I do know how to do that, after all, it's simply Straight Case.

This should be obvious - gun safety warning

Packing Safety.

When your leather belt-slide (inside the belt) holster gets so worn that it forms a molded area INSIDE the trigger guard, you need to do something besides put the gun in it and pack again. Story here.

This dude said he only had been using the holster for a little over a year. I have one I've been using for two years and it looks like new. This guy's holster has been abused, to the point it became dangerous. Essentially, he got it wet. Many times it got wet, then it dried, conforming to the void inside the trigger guard of the Glock. It conformed so closely that it became capable of pulling the trigger AND depressing the trigger safety, which discharged the gun.

Obviously, this guy sweats a lot, and an inside-the-belt rig is all wrong for a sweaty dude. He needs an outside-the-belt, belt-slide holster, OR, he needs to go to a Kydex ITB model.

I'm sure the Glock-haters will score this one as somehow being the fault of the gun, but no, it isn't. If this dude could SEE that his holster was taking the shape of the trigger group on his pistol, then put two and two together to get four, well, no one deserves an AD, but ALL ADs are explainable, and this one explains as TOTALLY PREVENTABLE.

Now YOU'VE been told. Go check out YOUR gun leather.