Tag: Miscellaneous Gun Stuff

Wasting Everybody’s Time

The Red Cross decided it would be a good idea to waste everybody’s time:

Earlier this year, game maker Activision counted up that 62 billion people had been ‘killed’ virtually in online games of Call of Duty: Black Ops – including 242 million stabbed to death at close range.

That’s just one title among hundreds of modern war games – most of which lack any kind of ‘surrender’ button bar switching the machine off.

Now, a committee of the Red Cross is debating if gamers might be violating the International Humanitarian Law as they slaughter each other online.

Way to put all that donated money to good use boys. Instead of using every available dime to help people in need the Red Cross decided it would be a great idea to create a committee to deterime if video game players, you know people partaking in an entirely fictional and therefore non-consequential universe, are violating the Geneva Convention.

I’ll save you guys a lot of debating, the answer is no. You can’t violate International Humanitarian Law if you’re not actually physically hurting people. That’s like claiming an author writing about the death of a main character is somehow equivalent to murder. Likewise what will be the ultimate extent of this debate? Will you idiots try to determine if firing a Clan extended range particle projector cannon from a 30 foot-tall BattleMech is a violation of the Geneva Convention? Let me save you some time on that future debate as well, the answer again is no because none of the Clans, nor the Inner Sphere, ever signed the Geneva Convention.

Herp Derp Kaboom

I’m sure we’ve all seen gun kabooms online before and usually the involve the shooter doing something, shall we say, less than intelligent. More times than not kabooms are directly related to improperly reloaded ammunition or bullet setback caused by chambering the same round too many times. This kaboom hs a result of doing something, getting a bad result, and doing it again:

When DoubleTap started offering ammo for it, I bought a bunch of their ammo loaded with 165 grain Gold Dot bullets. It was supposed to be the ultimate 10mm self defense round.

But I noticed some of the brass looked like this:

Below that is a picture of a 10mm brass casing with a huge fucking bulge in the back. From there the poster did a smart thing, followed by a not so smart thing:

I called Glock, and they asked that I send the gun in for inspection. I asked if I could just send in the barrel, and they said no. The whole gun. Screw that. I’ll just use the KKM barrel.

Noticing the failure and contacting the manufacturer was a very smart move. Not sending the gun in upon request wasn’t so smart. At least the poster replaced the barrel which appeared to be the source of the case bulges. It’s not like he would be stupid enough to use the old barrel anyways… fuck:

So I went to the range this morning.

With the original barrel in the pistol, I used calipers to measure the overall length of a round. I loaded it into the magazine and then put another round on top. I chambered the round that was on top and fired it into the berm. I then ejected the first round and remeasured the overall length. Identical to what it was.

And there was no bulge on the fired DoubleTap brass.

Thinking it might take a few rounds to cause bullet setback, I loaded the first round again, and then two others. Chambered the round, and fired into the berm. KaBoom.

Damnit.

That’s strange whenever I fire this firearm the ejected brass always have a huge bulge in the back of the case. What should I do? I know! I’ll keep firing this gun in this configuration with this ammunition!

Seriously people don’t be this guy. If your noticing potentially dangerous issues with your firearm do not continue to fire it. Diagnose the issue and correct it or have somebody qualified diagnose and correct the issue. Remember that firearms are basically devices that harness controlled explosions in metal tubes and thus a failure has the potentially to be incredibly dangerous.

The poster was lucky that he didn’t get seriously hurt and I really hope he learned a lesson from this.

Dayton Wants to Give Money to the Needy Millionaires

It’s a good thing Mark Dayton was voted in as the governor. If we would have had a Republican governor he would have ensures the rich would benefit from taxpayer money while the poor received nothing, but the Democrats always ensure that won’t happen… wait a minute, this doesn’t fit the narrative:

Convinced the Minnesota Vikings could leave the state if they don’t get a new stadium, Gov. Mark Dayton is determined to keep them here.

On Wednesday, he convened a series of rapid-fire, closed-door meetings with Ramsey County officials, team owners and even a group that wants to build a downtown Minneapolis casino that could help pay for the new stadium.

“The ball’s in our court,” Dayton said after the meetings, vowing to prepare his own stadium proposal by Nov. 7.

His recommendations will include such details as where the new stadium should be, who should run it and how the state should pay for its $300 million share. Dayton and his top staffers and commissioners have been racing to see what could work and what won’t in a final stadium deal.

Huh, it’s almost as if both parties act exactly the same and ensure their big millionaire buddies are treated right with taxpayer money. Perhaps there’s corruption afoot? Could it be?

Seriously why the fuck should taxpayers have to foot any part of the Viking stadium bill? They haven’t even done anything to warrant keeping them in the state. I don’t follow sports at all but even I know the Vikings suck ass. If they want to go I say let them go, hell let’s kick them out for being whiny bitches who are demanding the people of this state give them more than millions of dollars every year in merchandise and ticket sales. When we toss them out let’s send Mark Dayton with them, we don’t need a prick raising taxes during an economic recession to further enrich millionaires. This quote is also golden:

The Vikings owner emerged from the closed-door meeting with Dayton and briskly walked away from reporters. Wilf answered just one question: Are you happy with the progress?

So Dayton is having closed door meetings with the owner of the Vikings but won’t stand around and take a few questions from us mere peasants? At the very least you would think the people of Minnesota would get a chance to vote on the matter.

They’re Probably in Mexico

Snowflakes in Hell Shall Not Be Questioned reports that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) are missing 30 submachine guns:

Los Angeles police officials searched on Monday for a stolen cache of submachine guns and semi-automatic handguns that disappeared from a SWAT training facility, and said they were embarrassed by the loss.

More than 30 Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and M1911 pistols that had been stored at the training facility were stolen, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Karen Rayner said.

The weapons had been altered to fire blanks, and it would be “difficult” — although not impossible — to convert them back to full use, she said.

Have they searched in Mexico? Maybe the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) stole them to arm the Mexican drug cartels.

Police Officer Removed from Obama Visit Because Guns are Apparently Scary

Before I make any comment on this story let me first point out a big of fear mongering performed by the article’s author:

THE US Secret Service removed a woman with a gun from the audience minutes before President Barack Obama was due to speak to a crowd at Greensville County High School in Virginia yesterday.

Oh my god! A woman with a gun near the President? Obviously she must have been a crazy tea party participant! It’s a good thing the Secret Service moved in to stop this obviously violent individual… wait what:

The woman was not considered a personal threat to the US President – she was a uniformed African-American police officer from the local Greensville County Sheriff’s office.

False alarm everybody, the woman was a cop and they’re good enough to carry a gun and not be scary. The reason she was removed makes no sense whatsoever:

But her presence as an audience member standing with friends close to the stage where Mr Obama would soon speak about his jobs plan was a serious security lapse following supposedly thorough crowd screening.

The risk for the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the President, was that another person could have grabbed the pistol from her belt holster.

Right… because a person couldn’t grab a gun from one of the Secret Service members? What they really meant to say is that they removed the woman from the audience because the Secret Service like to feel big and tough by claiming they’re the only ones qualified to protect the President. A simpleton police officer is obviously only good enough to protect the peasantry.

It’s good to see actors of the state are completely assholes to one another and not just us.

Checking for Bullet Setback

Because defensive ammunition is expensive I find myself seldom shooting it at the range. Due to this I end up cycling my carry ammunition through my gun with notable frequency. When you cycle the same round through a gun with any frequency you can cause a problem called bullet setback; this is when the bullet gets pushed back into the casing by slamming against the feed ramp numerous times. After a while the bullet can get setback in the case enough to cause a dangerous buildup of pressure when you finally fire the cartridge.

Knowing this I periodically take a micrometer and compare the overall length of the cartridges in my carry gun with factory ammunition of the same time that hasn’t been chambered. If the cartridges in my carry gun start becoming shorter then it’s time to switch out ammunition. Since I did my ritual of ammunition check and cleaning last night I though I’d post a reminder that those of you carrying pistols should do the same once in a while.

I would also like to present a tip for alleviating bullet setback. Instead of chambering the same two rounds all the time (the top two in the magazine) place the previously chambered round at the bottom of the magazine. This takes a bit of time but it ensures all of your ammunition has been chambered roughly the same number of times and reduces the number of times each bullet has been chambered.

Perhaps It’s Time to Up My Capacity

It seems the media’s version of flash mobs are becoming more common. A Pedal Pub in Minneapolis was attacked by at least 25 people:

A flash mob of 25 to 30 youths on Saturday night attacked the Pedal Pub, a four-wheeled bicycle and bar powered by up to a dozen people, as it rolled down Nicollet Mall near S. 6th Street.

None of the 12 people riding the Pedal Pub was injured, but the passengers were shaken by the sudden attack, said Scott Ranney, who had rented it with friends.

The kids jumped on the Pub, shook it and grabbed at purses and belongings, Ranney said. A BlackBerry was the only thing stolen, and the attack ended just as suddenly as it began, with the kids running away.

“They could have done anything they wanted,” Ranney said.

In this case the victims were lucky, the attackers stopped without hurting anybody. The outcome could have been much different had the attackers decided they wanted to bring physical harm to those on the Pedal Pub. The last line in the quote is very accurate, the attacks could have done anything they wanted considering how outmatched the riders on the Pedal Pub were.

While I do not advocate combining alcohol and firearms in any form, the drivers of the Pedal Pub is required to remain sober so if I were in that position I would certainly be carrying. Hell with the increase in these so-called flash mobs I’m starting to think my subcompact .45’s 10+1 rounds may be a liability. Even though I always have a spare magazine on me, which gives me an additional 10 rounds, it requires time to grab the spare magazine from my pocket and reload the firearm. I’m starting to think it’s not unwise to have a gun in .40 or 9mm just for the additional capacity. After all good self-defense ammunition exists for all three calibers which makes them very effective relative to one another.

Snowflakes in Hell Becomes Shall Not Be Questioned

Longtime gun bloggers Sebastian and Bitter have completed the remodeling and rebranding of Snowflakes in Hell. Say hello to their new site, Shall Not Be Questioned.

While I’m not digging the name change (personally I liked the name Snowflakes in Hell) I can understand their reasoning for doing it. Still I would like to congratulate them on the successful move.

Truer Words Have Seldom Been Spoken

Whenever the subject of sport shooting comes up around the tacticool friends they inevitably start ranting about how United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) and/or International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) aren’t realistic. I think Miguel’s posts covering such criticisms expresses my feeling perfectly:

“But IDPA is not Real Life!”
But it is more useful than your whining.

While USPSA and IPSC are games they do offer useful practice for skills that are good to have in a self-defense situation. The biggest of which is operating your firearm under the influence of adrenaline. All the standing range practice in the world isn’t going to help you deal with elements involved in a self-defense situation such as a pounding heart, adrenaline, tunnel vision, selective hearing, or firing on the move. Both USPSA and IPSC allow you to understand the affects of these elements and practice under their influence.

Sure it’s unlikely that I’m going be sitting on the shitter when a cadre of thugs comes busting down my door requiring me to grab my conveniently place and loaded gun but the adrenaline rush is going to be similar regardless of the scenario’s likelihood. The first time I shot a USPSA match I was shocked how poor my shooting became when outside stresses such as a timer and audience were introduced. I’m not done with my second season of USPSA (along with several three-gun competitions) and my shooting under stress has greatly improved. I don’t even want to know how poorly my shooting in a self-defense situation may have been had I not fired under stressful conditions before.

Sure USPSA and IPSC may not be real but they’re far more useful than any number of statements regarding that fact.