Picked Up The Mosin Today

It's 91/30 low wall round receiver from Izhevsk. Made in 1939. Arsenal marks all over the stock and it looks like it might be counter bored, but it's hard to tell because of all the cosmoline down in the barrel. Didn't have time to start cleaning because of "homework" for the real job. The rifling from the breech end looks really bright. The bolt, buttplate and magazine have all been electropencil force matched to the receiver. I'm hoping it's a good shooter because now I know I won't feel bad about giving it the bubba treatment. So, at the first opportunity it's off to the range to see what it'll do.

This Could Get Interesting

I'll be off on a rifle purchase tomorrow. The exchange is supposed to take place outside a small gun store that has been around as far back as I can remember. At least, when I was essentially a kid new to the area in the mid-80s. It's near a restaurant and a bunch of other businesses. The seller said the transaction will take place outside the gun store. Paraphrasing, he said it was so neighboring businesses and people will get used to seeing guns in the parking lot. He finished with, "There is a story behind this. I will tell you later. :-)"

Sounds like a purchase opportunity with side benefits. I'm liking it already. 

More details tomorrow.

I Gave Up on Being Liked

A long time ago. Get 'em Mr. Colin

There's More to This Story

Gun Control advocate gets shot by random guys, who were fighting each other just moments before jumping into a Corvette and "driving right for him!" And then, " I got a call from the President." How could it be any better?
Hmmmm... Were it anyone else I might say it's just an example of not avoiding the four S's rule. But, considering his background, I'm not sure.
Go read it.

Well Doc, It's None of Your Business

To pediatricians, gun control is a public health issue, not a political one. But they're treading a fine line, and they know it.

If it's a public health issue, why is the American Academy of Pediatrics not pushing their members to educate and instead asking for: 

"an assault weapon ban, mandatory background checks and waiting periods before all firearm purchases, a ban on high-capacity magazines, handgun regulations and requirements for safe firearm storage under federal law."

A safe storage act I could understand them pushing to pass, but all the rest smacks of plain ol' garden variety politics.
Go read it.

Ummm, You Might Want to Compare Notes

before speaking with the press. That way, you know, your story is straight when you lay it out there.

When questioned about reports that the DHS had placed orders to buy more than a billion additional rounds of ammunition, Nayak replied that those reports were “simply not true,” adding that the agency needs reasonable quantities for training purposes and that it usually buys in bulk to save money.
This assertion contradicts a statement Alex Newman of The New American received from another DHS spokesman, Marsha Catron, who said that there were two separate contracts to purchase ammunition: one for up to 750 million rounds for FLETC, and another one for 450 million rounds...

How do the citizens of the U.S. get to the bottom of this? Someone had to make the decision to place these orders. We need to find out who that person is and what their intentions are for all those rounds of ammunition.

Go read it.

Meet The New Liberator

Same as the old Liberator. Only this time it may do more simply by being possible than by being in the hands of resistance. 
The folks at Forbes got a few nice photos of it in addition to their story.

(credit: Michael Thad Carter for Forbes)

It's impossible to take away ideas and Cody Wilson is doing his level best to get the idea of what is possible into the minds of the people. Let's hope this file gets circulated before it is already made illegal by power hungry tyrants who want everyone robbed of their natural-born rights.

Need 1903 Help

I'm looking for someone who can give me the ins and outs on a Springfield 1903 in the DFW area. I have one I want to bring back to shooting condition and it needs the rear irons. Shoot me info via the comments. No, I won't publish your contact info for the whole world to see.  :)

I Want to Hate Alan Gottlieb

but I'm having a hard time doing it.

First read this at Sipsey Street.

In one fell swoop Gottlieb has provided political cover for all those waffling senators and congressmen who were seeking it desperately.

Then read this at Daylight Disinfectant.

There’s a Million other things in there it’s a Christmas Tree. We just hung a Million Ornaments on it. We’re taking the Background Check and making it a pro-gun bill. 

I'm not sure what to think, but I want to take my own advice and reserve judgement. The mention of concealed carry language I couldn't find the other day was making me think that whole thing had come from someone who was attempting to write something gun control advocates couldn't or wouldn't support. 

The biggest hangup for me is the internet sales background check. That's definitely trouble. How else would one sell a gun today?I'm reserving judgement. For now.

It's No Paradox

It's just a lack of actual common sense, or maybe hardcore dedication to denial of reality.

And yet it is still nutty to insist that the answer is more restrictions on more types of weapons. Of course, gun- control advocates are calling for such bans in part to protect civilians from each other -- to stop the next Sandy Hook or Aurora, for instance. There is both nobility and reason in such a rationale. Yet when gun rights advocates point out that the Second Amendment was created to protect against tyranny, and that we should thus be cautious in banning the weapons it guarantees us, we are once again treated to a host of claims as to how the Second Amendment is now irrelevant because the government is inarguably more powerful than the citizenry could ever hope to be. So the argument becomes at once both rational and confusing: we cannot compete against the military, but we can and should strip the populace of many firearms in order to protect ourselves from ourselves. Say what?

Go read it.

Hmmmm... Republican Anarchists?

An interesting link at OpenDemocracy. To hear the guys over at Freedom Feens, Republicans are only a couple of steps away from being Anarchists, but most can't let go of their statism. Fortunately I think I managed to skip straight from Democrat over Republican to libertarian/minarchist.

Fun With Math

I struck pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard at least, and came up with the following figures for what a stack the Department of Homeland Security is layin' in. That recent Forbes article said 1.6 billion, but that figure has creeped up since then to more than 2 billion. So, living in a modest home built in the 1950s where storage space is at a premium, I wondered what the DHS is looking at for warehousing all that brass, copper and lead.
Here's my scratchpad with roughish numbers.

Working from this link at MidwayUSA a 50-round .40 S&W carton is 6.1875 inches X 3.25 inches X 1.5 inches.

A football field, between the goal lines, is 300 feet X 12 inches = 3,600 inches long

and 160 feet X 12 inches = 1,920 inches wide

one layer of cartons would be 3,600 inches divided by 6.1875 inches = 582 cartons long

and 1,920 inches divided by 3.25 inches = 591 cartons wide

582 X 591 = 343,962 50-round cartons per layer

2 billion total rounds divided by 50 rounds per carton= 40,000,000 cartons

40,000,000 / 343,962 = 116.3 layers

116 layers X 1.5 inches = 174 / 12 = 14.5 feet deep

So, the DHS will have a football field's worth of .40 S&W hollowpoints stacked 14 and a half feet deep. Think about it. 

We Cannot Allow This to be Ratified

“The Senate has already gone on record in stating that an Arms Trade Treaty has no hope, especially if it does not specifically protect the individual right to bear arms and American sovereignty,” Sen. Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican who backed Mr. Inhofe’s motion, said in a statement. “It would be pointless for the president to sign such a treaty and expect the Senate to go along. We won’t ratify it.”

Go read it.

Something's Missing

What a great bit of history. Too bad it all points to an incorrect conclusion. Mr. Parry dances all around the logical conclusion, but doles out some wrong-headed, hare-brained, ninny drivel instead.

Gumption

Sean Sorrentino over at NC Gun Blog has it. Lots of it. Go read it, then do a little victory dance like I did (don't be embarrassed, it's a good thing) . If Sean ever comes to Texas I want to buy him dinner. Many thanks to David Codrea for being so prolific and pointing this one out.

Well Said

Drop by over at Sipsey Street and Mike will send you to an excellent letter from a retired military officer to his Senator. Texas, my Texas.

ALL UR DRONEZ ARE BELONGZ 2 US

Here's an idea. Make it cool to have a small, covert surveillance device which can potentially be weaponized. Create an atmosphere where law enforcement agencies and civilian hobbyists beg to get one and then--wait for it--scoop them all up under your loving, tyrannical protective wing when crunchtime comes.

Worse yet, both Democrats and Republicans are now openly discussing a plan to put all the drones flown in America's skies, including those owned and operated by local police departments, under the ultimate supervision of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, consolidating the country's surveillance and law enforcement powers under one powerful federal police jurisdiction.

Or maybe just when the mood strikes.

The department also plans to use its drones, and their attached cameras to surveil and police sporting events, political events and large public gatherings.
The problem with DHS's plans is that many of the above functions used to be handled by local law enforcement without any help from the federal government.

This is really no surprise is it? Build up of the domestic police force and its associated surveillance capabilities marches on. Go read it.

Putting Them Together

Two and two, that is.

In the letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Huelskamp wrote that it had "become clear" that DHS was "purchasing vast quantities of ammunition" and that "estimates show that this ... would be enough for 24 Iraq wars." The Kansas congressman also said the timing of the purchase was "of great interest" because of gun control legislation currently being pushed by the Obama administration.

Follow it back to who signed the purchase requests. Paint by numbers. Go read it.

Why Not?

As we have noted, DHS has been buying lots of ammo, enough by one calculation to fight the equivalent of a 24-year Iraqi War.

1.6 billion rounds which is alleged to have now creeped up to 2 billion. Why won't DHS answer questions from congress? Go read it.

Encouraging

Thanks ISRA for making me feel a little better anyway. 

"We've been a bit skeptical of the reports in the media claiming that firearm owners support gun control," commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson .  "Although our poll was not strictly scientific, it tends to support what we know intuitively.  That being that firearm owners stand strongly by the 2nd Amendment while eschewing gun bans, licensing and registration."

This non-scientific survey also turned up something I've felt.

We did find it unsettling however that about 75% of respondents say they feel less welcome in the United States than they did 5 years ago.

I think I've learned that I can live with not everyone liking me. How about you? Go read it.