Category: Self Defense

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Another Bang-up Job by the Investigative Press

Here are two paragraphs from our good friends in the press as they talk about Hunter Biden’s choice of weapons. Below that my comments on a brief read of those great journalists.

The gun Hunter Biden purchased and held onto for 11 days in 2018 is a .38 caliber Cold Cobra, known as a 38 special. The revolver is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson that can range in price from a couple hundred to a thousand dollars.

The handgun is known for its accuracy and is often used for small-game hunting, recreational target shooting, and personal defense. The president’s son told Delaware State Police he bought it for target practice in 2018.

  1. Not ‘Cold Cobra’
  2. Not know as a 38 special
  3. The revolver is not rimmed
  4. The revolver is not a cartridge
  5. The cartridge does not cost a couple of hundred bucks
  6. A 38 Special is not know for it’s accuracy
  7. A 38 Special is never used for small-game hunting
  8. Rarely does someone use an expensive round for recreational target shooting.

Can they really be that confused? Really? These folks don’t know the difference between a firearm and a round yet they pull up their big girl pants and take us to school.

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Cruelty for Some

For some the world is a cruel place. The streets are mean and danger plays the waiting game with those less capable of defending themselves, their family and their possessions. For many that danger required them to either cower or, if deciding to arm themselves, risk the ire of the boys in blue. It looks like a decision in the 9th Circuit Court may change that for some.

The case, USA v. Duarte was heard in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

While not a ruling of the full court, a three judge panel has revealed that some small threads of freedom are still a part of the nations fabric.  Equally fascinating is the logic was based on the Constitution as written rather than ‘as interpreted’.  Surely this is new territory for this group.

In part the decision reads:  Duarte is an American citizen, and thus one of “the people” whom the Second Amendment protects. The Second Amendment’s plain text and historically understood meaning therefore presumptively guarantee his individual right to possess a firearm for self-defense. The Government failed to rebut that presumption by demonstrating that permanently depriving Duarte of this fundamental right is otherwise consistent with our Nation’s history. We therefore hold that [the prohibition] violates Duarte’s Second Amendment rights and is unconstitutional as applied to him.

And

We do not base our decision on the notion that felons should not be prohibited from possessing firearms. As a matter of policy, [the prohibition] may make a great deal of sense. But “[t]he very enumeration of the [Second Amendment] right” in our Constitution “takes out of [our] hands . . . the power to decide” for which Americans “th[at] right is really worth insisting upon.” (Heller).

Let’s face it, not everyone needs a weapon in order to protect themselves. We could take a few lessons from the folk below and beat back any barbarian that comes after us.

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Conditioning

The news release by Iran (via tweet) (far below) is designed to stop whatever response the west was going to exhibit. A rational person would give a sigh of relief and say ‘thank God that this did not escalate’.

And then it will happen again, a few more missiles than last time, and then stop. . . no big deal. Then again. And then soon Israel being directly attacked by Iran will become the new normal.

We are being ‘conditioned’ to accept Iran’s direct action against our allies.

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Cameltoe Mushmouth

Yesterday the bottom half of the dynamic duo appeared at the site of a previous school shooting and announced they are spending 3/4ths of a billion dollars on something our betters are calling the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center. While they title it a ‘Center’, my money is on a new nefarious database used to track veteran’s who dare to exercise their second amendment rights.

Here’s how brainiac explained the initiative.

“Red flag laws are simply designed to allow communities a vehicle through which they can share, and have somewhere to share it, information about the concern about the potential danger or the crying out for help of an individual and then let’s give it to them before tragedy occurs. Part of why I am here today is to challenge every state to pass a red flag law.”

That sure cleared things up.

Not to be argumentative, but I’m going to challenge the last sentence in her statement. I think most folk understand the reason she is where she is is because she she goes to her knees so easily..

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A Welcomed Re-Tooling

I’m a pretty good shooter.  Not SEAL Sniper good (not even close) but with iron sights I could reliably (10 for 10) reach out and touch stuff to 400 meters or so.  Age has brought that down to roughly 300 and then maybe at 8 out of 10.  I just can’t see well enough to shoot much further than that.  In a year or two I guess it’ll be down to 200 with iron sights.  Now with a scope attached I can extend that to 600.  The scope doesn’t improve my shooting ability so much as it compensates for aging eyes.

A man aught to be able to defend himself out to 600 meters, don’t you think?

I am (or recently was) a 1 Minute Of Angle (MOA) shooter when supported in the prone position.  My National Match M1A is a 1 MOA weapon.  My Czech made ammo is probably 2 MOA (vertical mostly).  [1 MOA is equal to 1 inch at 100 meters, 2 at 200, and on and on]. 

I got good at shooting over a long, long period of training and firing.  My father first taught me at age 7 and we would go target practicing at the KD (Known Distance) range on Ft. Ord; when Ft Ord existed (and for that matter when my father existed).  I owned my own single shot 22 at age 11 and shot a lot at my uncle’s farm in Missouri when dad was in Korea or Nam.  At 15 I was on the rifle team in Junior ROTC at Christobal High School in Coco Solo, Canal Zone.  I was in the Army at 17 and by the time I was 18 I was on the Battalion rifle team at Ft. Kobbe in the Canal Zone.  Every day we’d load up weapons and quality ammo and drive out to Empire Range.  All I did was shoot!  Short notes are:  I’ve been shooting for 63 years and have been shooting an M14 or M1A (same/same) for 50 plus years.  Additional short note: you can get pretty hammered on Panama Red during the half hour drive from Ft. Kobbe to Empire Range of a morning.

I need a scope to shoot well. Now getting a good cheek weld with optics attached was something I had been battling to achieve, without success,  for a couple of years.  I’ve used a folded towel, aftermarket cheek pads, and even tried to place the thumb on my firing hand vertically and rest my cheek it to gain some semblance of a cheek weld.   I tried placing a folding towels under the forward portion of the stock assembly (under the barrel) and then placing my non-firing hand over the top of the rear portion of the stock to rest my face against. 

No matter what I did the entire shooting experience was ridiculously complex, uncomfortable, and unrewarding.  Being able to reliably regain the same sight picture from round to round (on my kick like a mule 7.62)  was beyond the capability of my equipment.  Something had to change. One thing that wasn’t going to change was the hobby I’d been working on for the last 60 plus years.

Here’s the problem space:  below is a picture of an M1A (not mine) with optics added.  Note how far vertically the eyepiece of the scope is above the shoulder stock of the weapon.  It’s at least 2 inches above where the rear sight sits.

Now, here is a picture of an M1A (SOCOM edition I’m guessing by the length of the barrel) with an after market cheek rest added.  Three things of note:  1) that cheek piece is not going to stay where you place it. A couple of rounds down range and you’re into a 5 minute drill trying to getting it set again. 2) The ‘eye relief’ (distance from your eyeball and the scope) is well away from where most scopes are made to function.  3)  When you place the butt of the weapon in the hollow of your shoulder and then attempt to grasp the narrow portion of the stock you’ll find that the cheek pad gets in the way of both your shoulder and your forearm on your firing hand.

Enter the Archangel stock.  Not only were the thumb wheel adjustable cheek riser and length of pull assemblies perfect for obtaining and keeping both a repeatable sight picture and a solid cheek weld; the hand-grip on the stock mimics to a great degree the pistol grip type assemblies found on the AR varietals.  With a shoulder pad that absorbs a good amount of recoil and a forward stock assembly outfitted with a Picatinny rail, I can see why folk in the M1A community were scrambling to get one.  They are so popular that Springfield Armory now outfits one of it’s models with this stock.  Here’s a model with the model:

So I took the plunge and retooled my M1A with the Archangel stock

A couple pleasant accessories:  M1907 two piece sling assembly, fold away bipod with extendable legs and 1.25 inch wide sling rings.

Here is how the beast turned out:

It’s nice to know that if there is a threat in my environment it can be removed from a safe distance.

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Fierce Quads

There was a time many years back, in the mid-70’s, when, as a soldier, I was stationed in Seoul Korea. I was young, bold, and (until I began studying Kung Fu) thought I was pretty hot stuff.

Three nights each week I’d wander off the base an climb the rickety step to where this old Chinese Kung Fu Master had set up shop. I kept up the courses for a couple of months. It took that long for me to figure out that there was no way that I was ever going to understand what the old man was trying to say (he spoke no English) and there was no way I was ever going to get my ass low enough to the ground to effectively perform the moves the art/exercise required.

I can still feel the pain in my quads from having the old man manipulate me into a stance and have me hold it for what seemed like an eternity. My but never got closer to the ground than 2 feet, while the other students (12-15 year old boys) were scraping their balls across floor while doing sweeps and moving from stance to stance.

All of this was brought to mind not because I was reliving my glory (or in this instance not so glory) days but because I stumbled across this video and noted how effortlessly the lady appears to posture and hold a stance. While she must have quads of steel, that position she takes at the 3:28 mark is not of this earth.

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Another Memory Flushed

Breitbart has an article titled Blue State Blues: Joe Biden and the Democrats Want Retribution, not Reconciliation. While the guys over at that rag normally have a pretty good take on whats what with the vermin that inhabit the hall of power, in this case I think they misread exactly what is going on. Those entrenched in that Gomorrah want both their pound of flesh from the man that dared challenge them and they want to set an example so sever that no one will ever dare challenge them again. On anything. On taxes, on statehood for DC, on reparations, on anything. Raise your voice and you will be steamrolled.

They, with the settling of the Georgia question, have felt the extreme rush that only overwhelming power can bring to the psyche and no power on hell or earth will keep them from their next hit of that toxin.

As for the sins of the MAGA, those who are salivating at the crushing of Trump are quick to forget (or more probably ignore) the lefts rampage in Wisconsin’s capital (and other sundry locales) in the not to distant past.

It seems that what was not only perfectly acceptable conduct (and perhaps even laudable patriotic conduct) is now not only unacceptable but rises to the level of tyranny. Amazingly those on the left, including many who banged the drum and lifted their voice in Wisconsin, have fallen for the false outrage spewing forth from those drunk on the influence of power.

Note to self: This is going to end well. After a long and costly spicy time it will end well.

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First Thought For The New Year

Be prepared!

Man is born gentle and weak | At death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender | At death they are withered and dry.

Stiff and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.

A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
An army without flexibility never wins.

Bastardized from the Art of War

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Rosie

I don’t have a Rosie, but I do have two Border Collies that will wear your ass out. Not the blood and guts of a Rosie mind you, but a unrelenting and constant attack. The best security they bring however has nothing to do with their viciousness, it has to do with their ears. There is a road half a mile from my cabin, if a car moves down that road both dogs will immediately come to alert. If there is anything in my environment that moves, farts or quacks these guys will let me know. I don’t need a dog to fight my fights I need them to tell me when and where I need to bring fire to bear.

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Trouble in LaLa Land

According to the LA Times, the line of customers at the Martin B. Retting Gun Shop in Culver City stretched out the front door and around the block on Saturday. Many of those in line waited five hours for their opportunity to buy a gun.

A doctor who wanted to buy a gun at the store said, “I want to buy a handgun, I think they call it a Glock, but I’m not sure. I have a house and a family, and they’ll need protection if things get worse. The fear is that civil services will break down.”

California has universal background checks, gun registration requirements, and a 10-day waiting period for completion of all gun purchases. So those who were successful in their search for a self-defense handgun Saturday will have to wait over a week to take possession of the firearm.

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Another Simple Truth

Remember, always remember: The second amendment does not grant us the right to bear arms. This right is a natural right…. a right gifted us by God.

The second amendment denies the government the authority to infringe on our right to bear arms.

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Sweet Little Looker

Breitbart is showing off the new offering from Springfield Arms; a sweet looking pocket 1911 chambered in .380. The thing that caught my eye was the ambidextrous safety. It’s loads better than my Ruger LCP safety (Which doesn’t exist. At all. Period)

No safety means (for me) no round in the chamber, which in turn means that to engage a threat moving rapidly in my directions would be a challenge. I love a good challenge, just wish it would be more of the air conditioning variety (see below) and less the “you can really get your ass in a crack” variety.

Oh well. Read more at Breitbart (here).

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Agility

A small business is nothing if it’s not agile. I’ll bet that Impact Guns has nowhere near the buying power that Walmart has, but they (and those similarly situated) will be digging into the big box’s bottom line in more product lines than Walmart abandoned.

As for me, I’m not a fan of open carry at all. I’m a little alarmed every time I’m in Walmart or anywhere else and see someone strapped. With that said, that person has the absolute right to carry his weapon anyway he chooses. My discomfort is something I have to wrestle with, not him. Freedom is like that!

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Rules to Live (or die) By

  1.  Guns have only two enemies:  rust and politicians.
  2. It’s always better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
  3. Cops carry guns to protect themselves, not you.
  4. Never let someone or something that threatens you to get inside an arm’s length.
  5. Never say “I’ve got a gun.” If you need to use deadly force the first sound they hear should be the safety clicking off.
  6. The average response time of a 911 call is 23 minutes; the response time of a .357 is 1400 feet per second.
  7. The most important rule in a gunfight is always win.  Cheat if necessary.
  8. Make sure your attacker advances through a wall of bullets. You may be killed with your own gun, but he will have to beat you with it because it’ll be empty.
  9. If you’re in a gunfight:
    • If you’re not shooting you should be loading
    • If you’re not loading you should be moving
    • If you’re not shooting, loading, or moving you are probably dead
  10. In a life and death situation do something;  it may be wrong, but do something.
  11. If you carry a gun people will call you paranoid.  Nonsense.  If you have a gun what do you have to be paranoid about?
  12. You can say ‘stop’ or any other word, but a large bore muzzle pointed at someone’s head is pretty much a universal language
  13. You cannot save the planet but you may be able to save yourself and family

“Peace is that glorious moment in time when everyone stands around reloading”

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Disabled?

I encourage all parents to familiarize their children with both the constitution and with the tools necessary for them to defend themselves. Teach them to secure the blessings of liberty.