All info off guns

Looking for a way to improve your hit rate with your shotgun?  The Easy Hit Fiber Optic Shotgun Sight is the only fiber optic sight used by Mr. Tom Knapp to complete a new world record of shooting individually all 10 hand thrown clay targets in the air! The Easy Hit sight also is the only one that will correct eye dominance issues. What makes the Easy Hit different from other fiber optic sights is that it is a hollow tube design. With other fiber optic sights they are a solid tube. You can lift your head off the shotgun stock 2 or 3 inches and still see the sight. This does nothing to promote good shooting. The Easy Hit forces you to keep your head down and your dominant eye lined up with the barrel in order for the sight to “light up”. I have personal experience with the Hi Viz sand Tru-glow sights. When I put one of these on my gun I see 2 barrels about 4″ apart. With the Easy Hit sight I see one barrel. This is again due to the fact that the Easy Hit only lights up if your dominant eye is lined up with the shotgun rib. Some people try to compensate for eye dominance issues by closing one eye. The problem with this is that you lose depth perception. Another friend of mine recently joined our trap league. The first day out he shot 2 rounds and scored a 7 and a 8. He was tempted to not join the league, but I convinced him to come the next week and try again. I brought a Easy Hit along and installed it on his gun in about 1 minutes time without tools. He proceeded to shoot 2 17 rounds back to back simply by placing the Easy Hit on his gun. Put the Easy Hit on your gun, keep both eyes open, and start improving your shooting! The Easy Hit mounts to the shotgun with a pressure sensitive tape that is included. It also has a couple of cleaning prep pads. To mount it simply clean the rib thoroughly with the pads, peel off the tape backing and stick the sight to the rib. You can still reposition the sight at this point. Then once you have it where you want it, squeeze down with both hands on the sight and hold it for about 30 seconds. This activates the tape and you will not have to worry about it coming off after that. Just a note that you will want to keep gun cleaning solvents away from the Easy Hit if at all possible since most solvents will dissolve gummy substances and might attack the mounting tape.  The Easy Hit comes in 2 lengths - 5 1/4″ Sportshooting Bead and 2 3/4″ Hunting Bead. It also is available in 2 bead sizes -2.5mm and 3.0mm. And there are 2 color choices - fluorescent red/orange or fluorescent green. We recommend the Sportshooting bead for trap and skeet or wing shooting. This sight is a little brighter than the Hunting Bead. The Hunting Bead is a little shorter and ideal if there will be a lot of brush, etc. that may snag on the gun. The 3.0mm bead is brighter and more forgiving, but the 2.5mm bead will force more accurate shooting and correct more eye dominance issues. I personally prefer the 3.0mm Sportshooting Bead in Green as I feel it is brighter in low light situations like early/late waterfowl hunting.  The Easy Hit is available from Explore Products for around $24.99.

Two interesting comments from Obama and his people regarding the Second Amendment.

Responding to criticism that Obama has since changed his position on gun control, his campaign declares that “Obama has been consistent.”

In another article, it states,

“Obama also said he no longer supported broad licensing and registering of firearms, as he did when he was in the Illinois Senate.”

Obama says he supports the Second Amendment, but didn’t sign an amicus brief that opposed the D.C. gun ban. He never voted in favor of gun owners in the state legislature (NRA rating: F; Illinois Citizens for Handgun Control Rating: A), and since getting to the Senate, has voted in favor of gun owners exactly once (opposing confiscation of firearms after Katrina).

Ironically, those who support gun control are concluding that Obama is turning into a sellout on this issue.

The Airsoft Sniper Rifle has become a very popular weapon of choice for the veteran Airsoft warrior. Arguably one of the most powerful Airsoft guns in the industry, the sniper rifle is designed to propel the plastic bbs at a high velocity with stunning accuracy.

It is extremely important for the Airsoft sniper to choose the right rifle. There are several reputable manufacturers who produce different model lines of Airsoft Sniper Rifles. Some with such detail that they are very difficult to distinguish from their real “steel” counterparts. The Airsoft Sniper Rifle is available to the consumer at a broad price range. Some of the models with the more exquisite detail, and with metal and wood casings can cost well over a whopping 2,000 U.S. dollars! Made almost completely out of steel and wood, these super expensive models have high quality interior mechanisms that fire the gun. With their heavy feel, long barrel lengths, averaging around 42 inches (1070mm), and with their quality detail, these expensive models are well worth the price to the avid Airsoft player.

The above average cost of the sniper rifle has proven to be a barrier to some enthusiasts. Though the average Airsoft player cannot afford such a high price for a gun, there are some excellent, less expensive models. These rifles are not in the very expensive luxury category, but nonetheless are still a high quality gun. For a well built model, one can expect to pay around the same price that he would for an automatic electric Airsoft gun (AEG), between two or three hundred U.S. dollars.

The higher quality Airsoft Sniper Rifle is usually made from heavyweight ABS plastic. This heavyweight material is a blend of plastic and metal. The ABS plastic gives the gun a cost effective, realistic heavy feel without the expensive steel manufacturing. The Airsoft Sniper Rifle that is made of this material is generally marked ABS, which usually increases its overall value. The Japanese Airsoft Gun manufacturing companies Tanaka and Maruzen make the most popular of these models.

It is also important to note that even less expensive Sniper rifles are also available. These guns are made primarily out of plastic, and can usually be purchased for around 100 U.S. dollars. Unicorn Hobby Company (UHC) of Taiwan makes one of the most popular models. This low-end, cheap Airsoft Sniper Rifle model is called the UHC Super 9.

In purchasing a cheap Airsoft Sniper Rifle, one can easily exchange some of the parts for metal or wood at a later time. This not only makes the gun feel and look more realistic, it increases the its overall value. Most major manufacturers offer upgrades such as metal barrels, custom grips, red light scopes, wooden stocks, laser sights, bi-pods and other accessories. The added expenses of potential needed upgrades must be kept in mind. Although capable of a decent firing experience when initially purchased, in order to be effective in serious war game battles, some upgrades will be needed.

Tokyo Marui of Japan has developed a new Sniper Rifle called the VSR-10. At a manageable price, this rifle works quite well before any upgrades are made.

Choosing the Airsoft Sniper Rifle that accommodates the right budget is certainly very important. No matter the price, these exciting guns are sure to bring great enjoyment to gallant Airsoft warriors everywhere.

PJ Ace is a writer and administrator for http://www.flyntairsoftpaintball.com, a site that specializes in Airsoft and Paintball.

I’m sure we’re not going to change any minds on this topic here, until the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man comes to visit for a weekend and we spend a day at the range. And I don’t want to keep beating a dead horse who, had he been carrying, would have at least had a fighting chance against the thugs who cornered him in the parking lot where the tragic miscommunication ensued. “Hand over your wallet.” “Neigh! NEIIGGGHHHHH!” Blam blam blam blam blam!

But let me just pose this common sense question. Where would you feel safer walking at midnight: In an area where only criminals have guns, or one where law-abiding residents can carry firearms?

Across the river from Virginia - where citizens can carry firearms for self-protection - is Washington, DC, where they cannot. The DC gun ban has been a spectacular failure, and the DC firearms death rate is by far the highest in the nation.

As Jonathan Rauch argued with regard to ending “hate crimes” against gays,

If it became widely known that homosexuals carry guns and know how to use them, not many bullets would need to be fired. In fact, not all that many gay people would need to carry guns, as long as gay-bashers couldn’t tell which ones did.

Exactly.

John Stossel noted yesterday that

Criminals have the initiative. They choose the time, place and manner of their crimes, and they tend to make choices that maximize their own, not their victims’, success. So criminals don’t attack people they know are armed, and anyone thinking of committing mass murder is likely to be attracted to a gun-free zone, such as schools and malls…

How, then, does it make sense to create mandatory gun-free zones, which in reality are free-crime zones?

Another common sense question: If you were a criminal thinking about where to set up shop, would you choose the area where the citizens are empowered, or where they are sitting ducks?

SPRINGFIELD—Proposals that would ban semi-automatic assault weapons and outlaw the purchase of more than one handgun a month cleared an Illinois House committee on Wednesday.

But both measures have won committee approval in the past, only to stall later in the legislative process. It isn’t clear how the bills will fare in the current session of the General Assembly.

House Bill 4393, sponsored by Chicago Democratic Rep. Luis Arroyo, would limit handgun purchases to one every 30 days.

“Let’s get most of these handguns off the streets,” Arroyo said, citing Chicago’s gun violence.

National Rifle Association lobbyist Todd Vandermyde opposed the legislation, telling members of the House Executive Committee that it amounts to “the rationing of a (constitutionally protected) right.”

Also testifying against the idea was Joel Brunsvold, a lobbyist for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. He said a one-gun-a-month law would not have prevented shooting deaths such as those at Northern Illinois University this month and Virginia Tech University last year.

Instead, he said, Illinois should raise its $5 fee for a five-year Firearm Owners Identification card. Brunsvold, former director of the state Department of Natural Resources, said the extra money should go to Illinois State Police so the agency could conduct extensive background checks on people seeking to buy guns.

Rep. Edward Acevedo, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored the assault-weapon legislation, said he was “appalled” at Brunsvold’s suggestion that the committee was taking up the gun-control proposals because of the NIU shooting.

“For years, we’ve been trying to pass common-sense gun-law legislation,” Acevedo said.

His House Bill 4357 would ban the sale or purchase of semi-automatic assault weapons, assault weapon attachments, .50-caliber rifles or .50-caliber cartridges.

“These military-style weapons have no place on our streets,” a supporter of the bill, Nina Vinik, legal director for the Evanston-based Legal Community Against Violence, told the committee.

Vandermyde opposed the bill, saying that existing laws must be enforced better to prevent gun crimes from occurring.

The votes on both bills - 8-5 on the handgun proposal and 8-4 on the assault weapon ban - broke along partisan lines, with Democrats supporting the measures and Republicans opposing them.

I’ve always had an affinity for these things, which caught up with me today. They are not exactly ’svelte’ but they do a lot of things pretty darn well- and they suit my style of rifle work to a T. I love the fact that you squeeze near-06 ballistics into a package that carries about like a 94…speaking of which, I could never quite warm up to that 94AE so it got horse-traded into this one. Where I hunt these days 350 yards is a reality, and I caught myself wishing for something that shot flatter/hit harder than the Winchester, well beyond 200 paces. You can sling a 99 too, w/o worry that the lever will flop open. A fine bead, some swivels and a set of mounts will make this one field-ready in short order. I think in reality this is pretty close to what Cooper envisioned with his Scout concept.

I had a 99 in .308 about 23 years ago but the mount holes were drilled just enough out of line that it would kick the mount loose in about 10-12 rounds, no matter how you tightened them. I used it with irons anyway and clean-killed a chicken stealing fox with it at a shade over 350 yards- on the run. It kept making good shots for me so the 99 has held ‘magic rifle’ status with me for a long time. I have rambled enough, so suffice it to say that am glad to have a 99 Savage standing in the corner again.

As many of you might know, there are two efforts to close the Cow Palace Gun Show in Daly City, near San Francisco. The NRA is working closely with Crossroads of the West (gun show) promoter Bob Templeton by coordinating our efforts to oppose both of these unwise/misguided efforts. WE NEED YOUR HELP! I would like you to do the following:1) Send this entire message (unedited) to your alert and distribution lists.

2) Bob Templeton will be hosting a coordination meeting, at the Cow Palace, on Saturday March 1, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. We would like your attendance and ideas/suggestions regarding our opposition to the proposed closures. Constructive suggestions are welcome!

3) Be prepared, and prepare other NRA members/gun owners, for this upcoming important legislative battle. This is important and we will be involved in this fight.

Please note: Crossroads of the West (Bob and Lynn Templeton) have been STRONG NRA supporters for longer than I have known them. And I have known them for almost 20 years. Their efforts to support the NRA have resulted in the recruitment/retention of tens-of-thousands of NRA members throughout this time. And as we all know, this is in California — a battleground state for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Loyalty, and honor obligates us to do our best to defend the Cow Palace gun show, and our freedoms. We will not shirk from this obligation.

Paul

H. Paul Payne
NRA Liaison to the Executive Vice President
3565 La Ciotat Way
Riverside, CA 92501
(951) 683-4NRA Office

Join us for the TSRA Annual Meeting and 5th Annual Sportsman’s Spectacular!

Conveniently located near the intersection of IH-635 and Military Parkway in Mesquite, the Sportsman’s Spectacular gun show will be held in the Mesquite Rodeo Convention Center. Follow the signs to Resistol Arena, and the Convention Center is co-located in the same parking lot.

The Sportsman’s Spectacular is a full buy, sell and trade gun show. Over 300 tables and booths, and nearly 100% firearm and firearm-related vendors. Admission is only $7.00, or $4.00 for TSRA members with their membership card. Join the TSRA, or renew your membership, and get free admission.

We are once again doing a blood drive with Carter Blood Center, and those donating a pint of blood will also get free admission. Give Blood, Save a Life, Get in for free!

A good time will be had by one and all. The schedule is up here.

Power Tools, Rifle Cartridges Don’t Mix

Do you ever recall some of the dumb stunts you pulled when you were a youngster—and think about how you’re fortunate to be alive, despite yourself?

Chances are that a couple of Sheboygan County, Wisc. teenage boys will remember an incident occurring this week as one of those seminal moments in their lives—that is, if they make it to adulthood.

762×54mm_2

Benjamin Fisher, 18, and a 17-year-old friend were messing around in Fisher’s backyard shed Monday when they got the wild idea to remove the gunpowder from some surplus 7.62×54R cartridges they found.

The two Sheboygan Falls High School students first tried to pull the bullet from the live cartridge using pliers. It didn’t work.

That’s when they opted for power tools.

After cutting the tip of the bullet so it offered a flat surface, one of the teens held the cartridge with pliers, while the other used a drill to bore through the bullet.

Within seconds, the backyard shed became a classroom of sorts, as the teens were taught an important lesson about physics and compressed gunpowder.

The two were fortunate to receive only non-life threatening burns from the resulting explosion.

Those burns, in time, will disappear. But the marks left by youthful indiscretion will remain. And the boys already know it full well.

“It’s just, I guess, bad judgment on my behalf, just kids being kids,” Fisher told the Sheboygan Press Tuesday. “I’d kind of like to drop it right here, but I know that’s not going to happen.”

You’re right, kiddo, it’s not gonna happen.

Newshound

Gun that killed JFK assassin in pop culture auction - Yahoo! News

Quote:

I call the Superman costume…let me just scratch a check for it…maybe the Braveheart sword or the Holy Grail if I have any left

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/a1f7/

Plasma Pistol

• Features: Laser tag battle action; game accurate lights and sounds; overheat function with pop up panel; regular and super shot; LCD ammo counter; force feedback recoil with each shot fired; separate target/shield generator unit with belt clip
• Batteries Pistol: 4 AA (included); Target/Shield Generator: 3 AA (not included)
• Dimensions: approx. 11.5″ x 8.5″ x 3″

Plasma Rifle

• Features: Laser tag battle action; game accurate lights and sounds; overheat function with pop out panel; rapid fire shooting; LCD ammo counter; force feedback recoil with each shot fired; separate target/shield generator unit with belt clip
• Batteries Rifle: 4 C (included); Target/Shield Generator: 3 AA (not included)
• Dimensions: approx. 21″ x 12″ x 5″

$79.99 to $129.99

teh awesomeness here

MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Florida (CNN) — No piece of equipment is more crucial to a soldier in the field than his rifle. And America’s most elite troops are about to get a new series of rifles designed for their unique and dangerous missions.
CNN was given an exclusive look at two new rifles for an elite group of U.S. troops.

“The difference is, I’m gonna have a weapon that’s gonna fit the situation,” an Army Ranger staff sergeant said.
Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is about to start training its SEALs, Green Berets and other Special Operations troops in the use of Mark 16 and Mark 17 rifles.
Within a year, the new rifles should be in action against terrorists and insurgents in Iraq, Afghanistan and hot spots the public may never hear about.
The usually secretive SOCOM gave CNN an exclusive chance to see and even fire the new weapon recently at its headquarters near Tampa, Florida. Watch a preview of the new weapons »
The contractors working with SOCOM to develop the weapon say it is more versatile and more accurate, jams less and lasts longer than the current rifle used by many Special Operations troops, the M-4.

The Mark 16 (Mk16) fires a 5.56 mm round, the same size used for decades in M-16s and M-4s. The Mk17 fires a larger 7.62 mm round that is used in some U.S. military machine guns, but it’s not the same round as in the AK-47, the world’s most widely used assault rifle.
Both of the new rifles are designed to kill regardless of the situation.
“Whether that’s a soft target, a guy without body armor, or whether that’s an enemy force within a vehicle that you need to shoot through a window or the side of the vehicle and you want to ensure that round is not deflected,” said Tucker Campion, a retired Navy SEAL who now is a civilian contractor working on the new rifles. “We want a round that, when it hits the enemy soldier, provides the maximum amount of damage.”
Even though they fire different-size bullets, each rifle is largely interchangeable with the other. By changing only a few parts, including the bolt and the barrel, a soldier can switch from a gun that fires the lighter 5.56 mm round to one that shoots the heavier 7.62 mm round in a matter of minutes.
That’s just one example of the rifle’s versatility. Each gun comes with three interchangeable barrels, and each gives the troops a specific advantage.

“If you were going to clear an urban environment, buildings, rooms, you’d probably throw the short barrel on there,” the staff sergeant said.
CNN is honoring the Ranger’s request not to identify him, because in battle, anonymity is crucial for Special Operations troops.
“If you’re in Afghanistan and you’re walking in the mountains and the hills and all that, and your distance is going to be a lot greater to the enemy, and you’re probably going to want to throw the longer barrel on there so you get that extra reach,” the Ranger said.
Even though the rifles fire the same bullets as existing weapons, they are designed to be much more accurate.
“If you look at a current inventory assault rifle, you get 350 to 400 meters,” Campion said of their range of accuracy. “Put a long barrel in (the new rifle), and now you’re at 6 to 7 (hundred meters). So we’re extending the standoff between us and the enemy.” A longer standoff means an American can shoot an enemy soldier from farther away; thus, the American is safer.
One of the main goals was to design a gun that lasts longer. Campion says the M-4 is designed to fire 6,000 rounds over five years. But the Mk16 and Mk17 were designed for Special Operations, who are likely to fire 6,000 rounds in less than one year. The new rifles are designed to handle the greater rate of use and last twice as long.
The design changes that make the Mk16 and Mk17 last longer also make them more reliable. Nothing is worse for a GI in battle than for his rifle to jam at the wrong moment, but it happens with all kinds of guns. These new rifles are designed to reduce those jamming problems as much as possible.
The improvements come with a price tag. Each Mk16 or Mk17 costs about $2,200 for the rifle, the interchangeable barrels, 10 “high-reliability” magazines, a backup sight and a suppressor. A comparable M-4 equipped for Special Operations costs about half that.
But Campion points out that an Mk16 or 17 “will last four to five times as long.”

The new rifle also comes in a Mk13 model, which includes a grenade launcher mounted below the barrel.
To those who will use the rifles in the field, what they need first and foremost from the new weapons is success.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/28/assault.rifle/

When paintball enthusiast Mad Matt gets bored, he looks at his collection of replica guns. And when he looks at those? He figures out new ways to shoot people with them.

Mad Matt had a Stargate SG-1 version of a P90 submachine gun sitting around, and toyed around with the idea of making it a paintball gun. He first created a 3D model of it in 3ds Max and then planned out what the innards would look like to turn it into a working paintball gun. Once his plans were in place, he easily slapped together the real thing, taking the snaps you see above.

Living up to his apocalyptic pedigree, Mad Matt has proven to be quite crafty indeed.

Via Thoughs from the Sidelines

Dave Stokes has blogged about the gun buyback programs that St. Louis periodically tries. Now Cafe Hayek links to an op-ed by Alex Tabarrok (of Marginal Revolution fame) on the same topic. He explains why gun buybacks don’t deter crime or rid the streets of weapons:

Imagine that instead of guns, the Oakland police decided, for whatever strange reason, to buy back sneakers. The idea of a gun buyback is to reduce the supply of guns in Oakland. Do you think that a sneaker buyback program would reduce the number of people wearing sneakers in Oakland? Of course not.

All that would happen is that people would reach into the back of their closet and sell the police a bunch of old, tired, stinky sneakers.

Gun buybacks won’t reduce the number of guns in Oakland. In fact, buybacks may increase the number of guns in Oakland.

He goes on to explain that gun buyback program make buying new guns more attractive. Once people are done with the gun, they can get some of their money back. So they’ll be more eager to buy guns in the first place. It’s like college textbook buybacks. Students are more willing to buy textbooks if they can sell the books back to the bookstore at the end of the semester.

Just something to keep in mind the next time St. Louis tries it.

South by Southwest is about to take over my city and I called shotgun a long time ago so here-I-go. I’ll be involved in the following activities the week of the event.

Official SXSW Showcase Artist

The show is 8:00p Saturday March 15th at Ninety-Proof Lounge. The official listing is here.

Official Austin Ambassador of Nerdcore Rising

The documentary on Nerdcore Rap premieres during SXSW! All information is here.

Unofficial Sweetest Comedy Show

Not associated with SXSW is a comedy show I’ll be doing with the founders of the Upright Citizens Brigade at The United States Art Authority and the ColdTowne Theater. All information is here.

Other:
There are rumors of ColdTowne being involved with SXSW Interactive doing our video-improv show “3,2,1 Kill!” - more information on that soon!

Consider this an early BAG day gun.

I know, I know…I should have saved the money for my new computer.

Well, I thought about that, but I have a valid need for another pistol. For those of you who have generously donated to my computer fund, rest assured that your donation is still set aside for that need.

Here’s the story. I’m more of a rifle guy than a pistol guy. I do believe in self defense and in having adequate tools for that task…but my pistol is exactly that: a tool. My “enjoyment” shooting revolves around rifles. Probably because I started shooting rifles at such a young age…I’m more comfortable with a rifle, shoot better with one and just enjoy it more.

My chosen carry pistol is a full sized .45 acp Ruger KP-97. I am very comfortable with it, it is utterly reliable, more accurate than I can shoot, and well suited to the curse of left-handedness. The problem is that it’s not exactly easily concealable while wearing summer weight clothing. This is not normally a concern of mine because I’m very comfortable open carrying and do so on a regular basis.

There are times, however, when open carrying is not practical. There is one particular venue that I regularly patronize where that is the case. The proprietors of the establishment know that I carry and, in fact, encourage me to do so, but they fear that some of the patrons may not understand and may take umbrage over it. Therefore, they have asked me to be discreet when patronizing the establishment. Although I don’t necessarily agree with the policy, I respect their right to set it. They do respect my right to self-defense, they have only requested that I be discreet. I find it difficult to condemn them for that.

At any rate, because my current defensive arm is too large to conceal effectively under light clothing, I needed a more suitable tool for the job during the rapidly approaching summer.

Budget constraints are very important at this time so I needed something inexpensive…but I wanted something of proven dependability, something ergonomically suited for a southpaw, and something not too diminutive in caliber.

After some research and reasoning, I decided on the Ceska Zbrojovka vz. 82 (commonly called the CZ-82) . It was fairly recently added to the ATF Curio and Relic list so I could purchase one from an online retailer for a very reasonable price under my C&R FFL.

The vz. 82 replaced the Tokarev vz. 52 for the Czech military in 1982 and was standard issue for the Czech Police into the ’90s. It is chambered in 9mm Makarov (9×18mm) and has a respectable magazine capacity of 12 rounds. It features a fixed barrel, blowback action, DA/SA operation and (surprisingly for a military arm) ambidextrous controls.

Now that I knew what I wanted, I only had to figure out the “how”. In addition to my normal monthly savings and my computer fund, I cut back a little more on “frivolous” spending (I could stand to miss a few lunches anyway) and started putting $25 a payday in savings. That’s only $50 a month, but patience is a virtue, right?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I finally got all of the documentation I needed to finish our taxes and we got a little more back this year than I was anticipating. My wife and I split the “extra” so I had about $150 to play with from that. Added to the $150 I had already saved toward the pistol and I was in there.

I purchased it from AIM Surplus who had the best offer going: The pistol with two magazines and other accessories for $209.95. I added two boxes of Wolf ammo and with shipping, the total came to just under $250 (which even leaves me $100 to put in my computer fund…so there!)

I have to give Kudos to AIM for their service. I called and ordered it on Wednesday morning. I got the UPS shipping notification Wednesday afternoon and had it in my hot little hands by 7:00pm Thursday. Now THAT’S how it’s supposed to be done.

I did have to wait a couple of days for the ammo which had to be shipped separately via ground, but I didn’t get the chance to go to the range until yesterday anyway, so that worked out all right.

This post is already long enough so I’ll leave it at that for now; but don’t worry, there’s more about my new little Czechoslovakian friend to come.

Middlesbrough VS Reading

Plus, in 5 out of their last 6 games, results for both teams ended under 2.5. That\’s 83%, and by this criteria alone, the price should be 1.20, which makes the actual price of 1.77 very interesting.

Pick : under 2.5
Odds : 1.77
Stake : 8 / 10
Bookmaker : Centrebet
Date : 2008-03-01

Tipster Personal Link/Sponsor:

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The Rundown is a weekday synopsis of news involving politics and government from the pages of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, as well as headlines of note from elsewhere.

In Madison, state lawmakers are advancing a bill that would require the state to submit mental health information on residents who aren’t allowed to own guns to a federal database used for background checks on gun purchases.

The state is one of 18 that do not provide the information to the federal government, with privacy concerns being the main issue.

Meanwhile, the race for Milwaukee County executive has taken to the airwaves, with a TV ad from the incumbent Scott Walker. It warns of attacks from unspecified interest groups.

The No Quarter column looks at a piece of fallout from the travels of Milwaukee Ald. Joe Davis (and notes Ald. Mike D’Amato, not running for re-election, may seek office again. Someday. Office uncertain.)

And a state audit shows the state has made progress on keeping up with its bridges.

Fifty rounds a second.

Three thousand rounds a minute.

That’s how fast the Dillion M-134 minigun, mini-gatling gun, can spit out bullets.

Why is this relevant? Because when you start counting the seconds, you can count how many bullets cut down this tree, as the guys from Mythbusters have demonstrated.

I don’t know what’s more fun to watch. The tree tumbling and catching fire or watching a chick in a dress fire a high-powered weapon.

Source: Gizmodo via LiveLeak

Gatlin Gun, Mythbusters

Two bills passed out of committee in Illinois yesterday, one was an assault weapons ban, and the other was a proposal to limit people to one-handgun-a-month purchases (like Virginia).

The debate was pretty much the usual attempts to portray semi-automatic rifles as “military style assault weapons”, amongst the usual hand wringing and histrionics that you’ve come to expect from such appeals to emotion.

A lot of the time, I think that Illinois is a lost cause, that Chicago area politics will dominate the rest of the state, and people in IL should just move to Indiana. In fact, I’d even put together a little “Welcome to the Hoosier State” packet for people fleeing Illinois to breathe free air (well, more free I suppose).

Then I remember that giving up sucks, and people shouldn’t have to abandon their homes and their states because some legislator has decided that he knows better than you. So contact your local representatives, Illinois residents. I know that the Chicago area does dominate a lot of Illinois politics, but there have to be enough rural and suburban gun owners out there to make a difference. Start calling, emailing, faxing, and writing letters. If you don’t know who your elected State reps are, this list has their districts and contact info.

Gunowners Help Needed To Stop Harrisburg Gun Control Juggernaut

Throughout the Rendell administration gun owners have been the misdirected focus of efforts to control and stop crime. With the willing help of his accomplices in the Philadelphia legislative Caucus Ed Rendell has been able to block our legislation and introduce a myriad of bills (35 anti-gun bills in the House and 18 in the Senate) that represent the cream of the crop of gun control as advanced by Sarah Brady, Josh Sugarman and their teams. Up to this point we have been able to stop most of the gun control as represented in the committee of the whole in 2006 and the virtual daily attacks on us that occurred in the Judiciary Committee in 2007. This was achieved by the direct involvement of gun owners working together throughout the state.

Also visit the ACSL website and view the list of proposed firearm laws pending in Harrisburg.

http://acslpa.org/n-legislative/pa_p…egislation.htm

http://acslpa.org/

20 dead this month in Illinois spree killings, but the state’s gun-grabbers will never get it: “How long does this have to happen? How many of my home state brethren have to die? When will people like Chicago Mayor Daley and Governor Blagojevich realize they are leaving their citizens at the whim of thugs and the deranged? The sad truth is they will never get it - they will never learn that their draconian gun policies don’t work. Chicago leads the nation in murders nearly every year, yet Mayor Daley doesn’t get that criminals know Chicagoans are disarmed. The same is true for colleges where students are easy victims, left to die in masse without the ability to defend their life. The ivory tower is instead becoming akin to the Town of London, where people go to die in tragic and often gruesome ways. Ever wonder why mass shootings don’t take place at rallies in favor of the NRA? Ever wonder why people don’t go on spree killings with a gun in Israel? It’s because the common thugs and mentally deranged people know where to find defenseless victims. You would think the outcome of the recent church shootings in Colorado would make the point more clearly. But the anti-gunners don’t get it now and never will.”

Vulnerable schools need protection: “Thirty-nine students attend my American literature seminar this semester. Our classroom is the first one you see on the left, as you enter the unlocked humanities building. If a psychotic gunman were searching for a tight cluster of multiple bodies — an easy target for seeking revenge, casting out demons, achieving immortality or whatever else his perverse purpose happens to be — he would find my classroom door wide open. He could assume a position straddling the threshold and blocking the exit, so that he could fire at the trapped students at will, reload his weapon and fire once again. We would be sitting ducks in yet another American schoolhouse tragedy. But if I were packing a loaded automatic pistol in a shoulder holster beneath my jacket, we might have half a chance. I am no Rambo. I am a middle-age English professor with no military background. But as an outdoorsman, I have a passing acquaintance with the use of firearms, experience which could be refined to a skill of safety and competence, with adequate training.”

Open carry in Utah? “If a bill proposed by Utah lawmakers passes, U students with concealed weapons permits won’t have to cover up their guns when they go to class. Current U policy requires weapons carriers to keep their guns concealed, a position administrators argue is backed up by state law. House Bill 473 would amend the firearm code to ensure that permit holders are allowed to visibly carry firearms statewide, including the campuses of state universities and public schools. A committee of representatives in the Utah State Legislature unanimously passed the bill Monday. The measure will now move to the full House. U administrators are opposing the bill because they say allowing students and others to visibly display their firearms on campus would intimidate students, especially in light of recent “horrific shootings” on college campuses. “We’re concerned about the feeling that could create on campus,” said Kim Wirthlin, the U’s vice president for government relations. “We believe that having students…carry their weapons in the open is not good policy.” Wirthlin said allowing open carry on campus could cause the U to lose some of its faculty members. Gun-rights activists, including the Second Amendment Students of Utah, complain that the U’s policy prohibiting open carry violates state law.

Not satisfied with top grades from the Brady Bunch, Massachusetts law makers are greasing the slippery slope by introducing legislation that would further trample on the Bill of Rights. From the Daily Free Press:

Another bill, which would follow the mandates of the Massachusetts Gun Control Act of 1998, would move to ban carrying certain assault weapons, introduce harsher criminal penalties for illegal possession of firearms and redefine which guns qualify as assault weapons.

New Bedford resident Linda Marandos tearfully told legislators the story of her son Tory, who was shot and killed in 2006 in the Foxy Lady club where he worked.

“My son has become a number in the statistics,” she said. “People may say it is their right to own a gun, but I say, Do they have families? Do they realize that if these automatic rifles had been taken off of the shelves as quickly as toys from China are, my son would be alive?”

Well, I’m all for harsher penalties for committing crimes with guns but this looks like an attempt to expand the list of banned firearms which, regardless of the inaccuracy of Marandos, would target more semi-automatic guns (not fully automatic as she claims) based on cosmetic features.

On and on it goes in the socialist republic of Massachusetts.

By the way, now that NYC Mayor Michael Blowhard has announced that he won’t run for president — why should he when both Hillary and Barack will gladly enact his socialist, nanny-state agenda, — he’ll be able to spend more quality time with Boston Mayor Menino doing whatever it is they do behind closed doors. . . .

The day has come, again, for me to buy a new gun. A couple of years ago I swapped in my premium grade Beretta for a 100 year old English side-by-side. Although the old gun is beautiful for swinging through high pheasants ona driven day, I feel far to prescious about it to take it out on a rough shoot, or wildfoling in the mud, and it’s a bugger to poke those long barells around a pigeon hide.

Now that the descision has been made to buy a new gun, the next question was what should I buy? After quite alot of in depth delibertaion I came up with a 3 shot semi-auto; ideal for pigeon, hardy enough to survive the mud of the estuary, and with a synthetic stock, I won’t get too worried about knocking it in the back of the Landrover as we bounce across the fields at night in pursuit of rabbits!

I know the 3 shot is considered by many (including me at times!) to be “cowboy” guns, but I think of it as a tool; a time and a place for everything.

Anyway, I quite like the look of this Escort shotgun which I found reviewed in the Shooting Times. Take a look; this could be the next gun to grace my cabinet.

Lewis Potter writes for Shooting Times:

Thursday, 08 March 2007

At the risk of offending those with social sensibilities, we test a camouflaged semi-auto shotgun, the Hatsan Escort Magnum.

Semi-autos are either loved or loathed - there does not seem to be any middle ground. Appear with one on even a farmer’s knock-about vermin day and you are in danger of becoming the shoot pariah.

If you take it a step further and use a camouflaged gun, you will almost certainly be considered beyond the pale and, in some people’s eyes, it is about as socially desirable as introducing a well-known young lady of dubious repute to your ageing mother and then announcing you are engaged.

Yet enthusiasts of this type of gun will argue with considerable logic that the semi-automatic or self-loader is the ultimate development of the shotgun, and a side-by-side, no matter how it is dressed up, is just a basic form of repeater. Whatever the arguments, the semi-automatic has never made the same impression on the UK market that the over-and-under has achieved. There are signs, however, that though it is likely to remain a niche market, there is a gradual rise of interest in this controversial type of gun.

A good pigeon gun

The Escort Magnum 20-bore on test is made in Turkey by the Hatsan Arms Company and follows the latest trend in gun design. In place of the optional walnut stock and glossy black finish on receiver and barrel with chrome bolt, there is a camouflage with synthetic stock and fore-end, and matt-black for bolt, carrier and trigger-guard; nothing to catch even a glint of sun and advertise your hidden presence to a cautious flock of pigeon. Imported by Edgar Brothers, it is supplied with the company’s own three-year guarantee.

At just 6.1/4lb, the gun is none too light for a single-barrelled 20-bore, and the action and magazine contribute a shade under 2.3/4lb - more than 40% of the gun’s total weight. With the long action the point of balance is further forward than on a side-by-side, falling almost exactly in line with the front edge of the aluminum alloy receiver.

Latest design features

The stock and fore-end are described as an advanced polymer compound - in other words, synthetic - normally taken to mean strong, light, waterproof and oilproof. The moulded grip panels as a substitute for chequering are very effective and the fore-end is a good shape to hold and long enough to accommodate both short and long leading arm styles of shooting. At 14.1/4in length of pull, the stock would not want to be less for most users, but being able to use the old trick of holding a little further forward on the fore-end meant it did not feel short. The drop at the tip of the comb and heel of the right-handed stock measured respectively 1.1/2in and 2.1/2in, but can be altered by the addition of drop spacers used either singly or as a pair.

Perfect proportions

The 25.5/8in barrel actually translates to 650mm - a length that leaves the gun looking nicely proportioned. It is proofed for 76mm (3in Magnum) cartridges at 1200bar and the 15.8mm bore size is actually a 20-bore. Slim and gently tapered, with a 6mm wide ventilated top-rib, the one nod in the direction of tradition must be the brass foresight bead. The bore is clean and well finished - an essential requirement to passing British proof ? and the breech extension where it locks into the receiver sports a fine machine-ground appearance.

Five screw-in chokes came as part of the package, each marked on the side with the degree of choke. The terms used are not quite the same as the British system and, as choke is a measurement relative to bore size, it was decided to gauge them in comparison to barrel bore. With this set, cylinder was larger than the bore, improved cylinder came out the same as open improved cylinder in our system - ie 0.003in choke - modified as tight improved cylinder (0.007in), improved modified as quarter-choke and full was actually just over half.

How it works

The action of a semi-automatic shotgun is something strange to a lot of shooters used to a completely enclosed boxlock or sidelock. The fact that one can see into parts of it seems unusual, but it is no great mystery. On firing, the bolt opens, ejects the spent case and cocks the hammer. Almost at the same time a cartridge is released from the magazine and lifted up by the carrier for the bolt on its return stroke to chamber in the breech. What is amazing is that all this happens in the blink of an eye, while the gun is in a variety of positions and sometimes under quite adverse conditions. Looking at it like that, surely the semi-automatic shotgun is worthy of some respect?

Trigger lock safety

One thing that is a little awkward is the trigger lock safety button located in the rear of the trigger-guard and operated with the tip of the trigger finger. With practice it can be used quickly. However, the action is not as natural an action as pushing a tang safety forward with the thumb while the trigger finger reaches forward towards the trigger and, of course, it is not automatic. In many shooters’ eyes, a trigger lock safety such as this is only a halfway house and inferior to other types. No safety system should be relied on. It is a mistaken belief that they are foolproof, as most side-by-sides and over-and-unders with safetys of more complicated and sophisticated design only lock or disconnect the trigger, leaving the hammers at full cock.

A right-handed gun

With the safety button pushed left for off and the ejection port on the right, this is essentially a gun for the right-handed shooter. However, I do know of left-handed users who cope quite well with ejected cases flitting across their line of sight, so it is not necessarily a bar to ownership. You cannot bend a synthetic stock, as might be done with walnut, but it is quite a simple matter to make spacers to alter the cast.

Fast and reliable

On an outing at clays the gun proved handy, with enough forward bias to promote a smooth swing. It engendered sufficient confidence to shoot the driven bird stand with the tightest choke fitted. The trigger pull was a little longer than expected - not an unusual set-up with a semi-automatic - but if I wanted to shoot competitively, I think I would get a gunsmith to tune it for me. For general purpose it was acceptable and, more importantly, safe.

One of the bugbears of the older generation of semi-automatics was selecting cartridges to get reasonable reliability. When put to the test, this tidy little 20-bore performed exceptionally well. With three different loadings and five makes of cartridge, some of indeterminate age, including a few paper cased, feed was faultless and ejection impressive, throwing spent cases up to 20ft away from the user. Only on a couple of occasions did the bolt fail to lock after the last shot was fired.

This is the kind of gun that is likely to be preferred by pigeon or vermin shooters and a benefit would be to have the unrestricted magazine version giving four instead of two in the magazine, plus one in the chamber. For anyone wanting to take the capacity further, a magazine extension tube is available as an extra, increasing the capacity to seven plus one chambered. A firearms certificate would be required for both these versions.

It might be a different world, that of the semi-automatic shotgun and, compared to the double gun, new loading/unloading techniques and safety procedures have to be learned. However, that should not put one off - they are not dangerous, just different, and actually great fun.

PROS
- Reliable operation
- Exceptional ejection
- Camouflage finish

CONS
- Long trigger pull
- Two-shot magazine

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