Cowboy Action Shooting at GBR-VII

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WOW, big news! It wasn't until the very last minute that this all came together, but some good old fashioned initiative brought it all home! Several years ago i got to visiting with Russ T. Chambers (say his name fast a couple of times!) out at the Pyramid range, and we got to talking about Cowboy Action Shooting. We both agreed it would be neat if there was some way we could get the Cowboy Action Shooting somehow into the Gun Blogger Rendezvous. Unfortunately, there just wasn't any time in the GBR schedule to squeeze it in. We had target range on Friday, pistol bays and steel shooting on Saturday, and Cowboy Fast Draw with Quick Cal on Sunday.

Jasper Agate - The "Sheriff" of the Roop County Cowboy Shooters.

It was looking that we were going the get together with the Sage Hills Cowboy Fast Draw club this year in Virginia city in conjunction with the Virginia city Camel Races Festival. Plans were for the Sage Hills gang to have Cowboy Fast Draw set up at Virginia City to help show off the sport, and attract some new folks to Cowboy Fast Draw Competition. At the very last minute the Camel Races Festival changed management, and the Cowboy Fast Draw participation was denied. This happened only a few weeks ago, and I've been trying to get something as good, or even better, in its place.

Russ T. Chambers

It now looks like Sunday morning may well become one of the highlights of the entire Rendezvous! I tracked down "Jasper Agate" the PREZ of the Roop County Cowboy Shooters, and it turns out that on the same days as the GBR, their club is putting on a three day "Rendezvous" of their own, Western style! When I contacted them  they didn't yet have an activity scheduled for Sunday morning! WOW, what a stroke of luck!

We are going to get a demonstration of Cowboy Action Shooting, and then we'll get a chance to do some shooting and shoot a stage ourselves. There will also be a team competition underway on Sunday morning, so that should be fun to watch too!

This is gonna be fun!!

Rendezvous - Schedule of Events

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Wednesday, September 5th.

6:15 Pm. For those arriving on Wednesday, KeeWee and I and some of the other early arrivers are planning on having dinner at the El Dorado Buffet Restaurant. The El Dorado is part of the same giant casino complex as the Silver Legacy and the Circus Circus. The El Dorado Buffet is at one end of the complex. The Silver Legacy is in the middle, and the Circus Circus is on the opposite end.

Thursday, September 6th

8:30 am. Leave the Silver Legacy  Hospitality Room for one of the restaurants for breakfast.
1:15 pm. Leave the Hospitality Room to car pool to Cabela’s.
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Guided tour Cabela’s and browsing/shopping. Buy ammo? Pick up munchies and soft drinks on way back to hotel.
6:00pm. Leave the Hospitality Room to go to dinner. Location to be determined later.
Thursday Evening until midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies.

Friday, September 7th.

8:00am. NRA Sponsored breakfast in our Hospitality room. NRA representative will be speaking to us over breakfast.9:00am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to car pool up and head out to the Washoe County Shooting Facility, the Pyramid range for rifle and pistol target shooting out to 900 yards.
10:00 am – 2:00pm. At the range.
4:00pm. – 5:45pm. Show-N-Tell at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Manufacturers and show new stuff, and attendees show neat things too!
6:00pm. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to go to  Dos Gecko’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner. (Currently un-sponsored)7:30pm. (Approx) Ray Carter from the Second Amendment Foundation will talk to us, and other industry, shooting sports, and legal aspect folks will follow.Friday Evening until midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies.

Saturday, September 8th.

8:00am. Gunbroker.com sponsored Breakfast in the Silver Legacy Hospitality room.
9:00am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room to car pool up and head out to the Washoe County Shooting Facility, the Pyramid range for an introduction to Steel Challenge Action Pistol shooting and more.9:45am – 2:00pm. At the range.
5:00pm – 6pm. Short presentation by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (maybe)
6:00 pm. NSSF all you can eat pizza feed at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. After dinner will be the fund raiser raffle for Project Valour-IT and the drawings for the door prizes.
Saturday Evening until Midnight: Refreshments and conversation at the Silver Legacy Hospitality room. Bring your own refreshments and munchies.
Sunday, September 12th.
8:00am. Leave the Silver Legacy Hospitality room for one of the restaurants for breakfast. (Eat fast – It’s nearly an hour to the Fernley range.)
8:45am. Leave for Fernley and Cowboy Action Shoot.
9:45a m – 1pm  Cowboy Action Shooting.
Please note that times and events may change at the last minute, so be sure to check the schedule posted in the Hospitality room regularly.

Holmes Harbor Steel Shooting Poster

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As I've mentioned, one of the reasons for light blogging recently has been that I've been really busy with other projects. One of those projects is to get a number of new pistol bays created at my local gun club, Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun. My first presentation to the board of directors was about three years ago. Finally, things are starting to happen, as there were other big projects ahead of the Action Pistol Ranges. We now have two pistol bays finished, and a third should be ready in another week or ten days. A fourth bay, sort of a temporary bay for now, should also be ready in a week or so.  We have now put on three demonstration matches to introduce steel shooting competition to the club. Last Saturday we had eighteen entries, which is pretty good considering we didn't do much to announce it.

Here's the announcement poster for the matches coming up in a couple of weeks, and then two matches a month through the Winter:

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Rain or Shine - Steel Fun Match 
Saturday, October 27^th& Sunday October 28^{th  (and every 4th Saturday & Sunday Through the Winter)We will shoot a full match each day!}
“Just for the fun of it” Steel Challenge style steel shooting Saturday, October 27th., and Sunday October 28th.  at the new Action Pistol Bays behind the rifle range at Holmes harbor Rod & Gun Club.
Setup at 8:00, Sign up at 9:00, Shooter’s Meeting at 9:45, shooting starts right after the shooter’s meeting. $5.00 entry fee per gun, three gun limit per shooter.

Actually, this is a picture from a Steel challenge match in Ephrata. We don't have any pictures from a Holmes Harbor Steel match yet!

Have you wanted to give Steel Challenge style steel shooting a try? Are you an experienced steel shooter already, but would like to get in a bit of fun steel shooting on a regular basis without having to travel to do it? Come on out and join us for the fun!
Most all handguns, including rimfire and revolvers, are suitable for steel shooting. .22LR Rifles are also welcome. We will be including a ”Low Ready” centerfire pistol class for those shooters without holsters. No .17 caliber or ultra-high velocity .22 is permitted but CCI Mini-Mags are OK.
If you have never shot a steel match before, there will be people there to give you a hand, so come on out for a lot of fun!
We will have as many stages set up as we can with our limited but growing facilities. When the full action pistol ranges are all in place, we will be able to handle lots of shooters with plenty of stages being shot all at the same time by multiple squads. A full set of action pistol bays would be a total of eight bays, although many of them would be smaller than the first two already installed. Before the additional bays are put in, though, we have to demonstrate that the new action pistol bays will get regularly used, and not sit empty all year.
If you have a shot timer, please bring it along. If we have several squads we will not have enough timers.
We need more of the blue or white plastic 50 gallon drums for use as shooter’s box tables, and outdoor tables like picnic tables. If you have any of these that you would be willing to donate to the club then either give Mike a call at 321-6258, or bring them out to the action pistol bays. 
See you at the match!

South Whidbey Action Pistol Website is Up!

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As I've mentioned before, I've been pretty busy lately, and blogging has definitely suffered. In addition to all of the other stuff, I've also started a new blog/website dedicated to news, announcements, reports, and other info related to action pistol shooting.

Although the focus is action pistol shooting in Western Washington and local clubs, there will also be information on state, National, and International matches too. We will be providing (at no charge) full authoring privileges to key folks in a number of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho clubs, and they can post info about their own club's action pistol activities.

Here's the description in the header:

South Whidbey Action Pistol 
Welcome to the South Whidbey Action Pistol website. Your place for news, dates, reports, and results on all types of action pistol competition, including Steel Challenge, Club Level Steel, IDPA, USPSA, Falling Plates, Hanging Plates, Cowboy Action Shooting, 3 Gun, and more. We will be primarily focused on shooting sports and activities in the Western part of Washington State, but we will also be covering major matches across the continent, and around the world.
Go check it out!

Budgeting ammo purchases: the lowest price doesn't always mean the best deal

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I don't consume a particularly immense amount of factory ammunition (at least in centerfire), as most of the shooting I do is with reloads. However, I still occasionally have to order / buy ammo for one reason or another. Balancing a reasonable hobby budget is a crucial part of any person's life- and here is how I make some of the expenses manageable.

 The easiest way I have found to budget these expenses is with gift cards earned from my credit card company. Sure SGammo, centerfiresystems or Aimsurplus have better prices- but it only takes me a couple billing cycles to earn a $100 dollar gift card to cabelas or dicks sporting goods. As this is all found money, the cost of buying ammo at a much higher per box price, actually works out to be much lower in actual financial impact on me.

 Here is what I do (many of you may already do this).

1. - make sure you have a credit card that has rewards and also has no annual fees. Many offer 1-5% back on purchases with no fees, though annual cards can earn you more. 
2. - I use my CC for every purchase I make. I pay my card off in full every month, so the interest rate is inconsequential as I never actually have to pay it. My is a variable 10.5%- not the greatest, but again, it totally doesn't matter. 
3. - I try to use vendors that earn extra points. As I accrue those points, I always take a gift card. I found that if I get a check or credit card paydown, I often use the money in other ways. Taking out gift cards forces me to apply the money in accordance with my predetermined budget. 

 This month, I ordered 400 rounds of 9mm - 350 were brass cased, and 1 box was WWB 115gr JHP (the 45acp JHP from WWB actually is a great performer for the money). Normally I would have ordered some steel cased ammo, but the sale that was going on this month had brass cased ammo at less than 10 per box. after I applied my gift card that I had earned over the last few months, total cost out of my pocket was an additional 5 bucks. Not too shabby, especially considering that overage also went to earn me points for my next ammo purchase. The other nice thing about the big box vendors is often you can get reduced price shipping at orders of 99 or more, so most of the 5 bucks I spent actually covered all of the reduced rate shipping that was being offered this month.

 This process has painlessly allowed me to build up a very respectable stash of 5.56 / 223, 7.62x39, 40sw, 45acp, and 9mm. By having a few calibers that I like to stock up on factory ammo, I just surf the sales when I have a gift card handy and buy whatever is cheapest. Like I said, it isn't the fastest way to build up a small stockpile, but it certainly is an efficient one.

The new shootin' range...

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When we moved to our current country home about fifteen years ago, we had just a handful of neighbors, a state nature preserve adjacent to our property on two sides, plenty of wildlife, and agricultural zoning so shooting and hunting out back whenever we wanted wasn't a concern.


We had built our first shooting permanent shooting range about ten years back on our property when we had a concrete, covered "shootin' porch" put on the back of our new barn.  My good friend Matt over at Jerking the Trigger helped me put a bit of sweat equity into that barn back then and he has joined me on occasion back then and over the years to shoot on our range.


Over the years, the one thing that has changed is we did have quite a few new neighbors build houses in the area during the first decade of the new millennium. So along with that... and the very wet, clay ground here at our property... and to add the ability to shoot multiple targets at various angles for practice, 4H Shooting Sports, NRA/CCW courses, and other shooting activities... we decided to re-design our fifty-yard range in addition to putting in a lot of tile for drainage on the property.


Since the gals and I shoot regularly, often multiple times each week, we wanted to be able to shoot year 'round without having to slog through water and mud to set targets so we decided to put drainage in the base of our range and cover it with compacted, number-eight washed-gravel that is ten to twelve-inches deep.  This small gravel will not cause ricochets, with .22s or .308s - it's been personally tested by the gals and I, although the gravel will scatter.  We put a commercial-grade plastic cloth under-layment down after the excavation of four to six inches of sod and top soil to keep the mud and weeds out while preventing the gravel from endlessly sinking in.


The earthen berm is thirteen to fourteen-foot high and configured in a "horse-shoe" shape so that shooters can safely address targets at various angles.  We've planted it with a mix of grass seed and Crown Vetch with a straw-mat covering so hopefully what has started growing so far this fall will fill in nicely during the spring.  We may need to over-seed in the spring, but it's a good start.


Since some folks may ask, the finished range is sixty-five feet long and thirty-five feet wide.  We put in commercial-grade white-vinyl, privacy fence down each side that is seven feet tall with six-foot high privacy panels.  The gals wanted it to look nice and while it may not offer ballistic protection, it does provide privacy, safety, a minimal amount of sound abatement, and a "what stray bullet, show me the hole" liability mitigation factor.  Fortunately, our neighbors are to the left or right or east... the range is almost four-hundred feet off the road, points west to the state nature preserve and the closest structures due west of us and the range are almost five and a half miles away... did I say we live in the country?

I know you can never be safe enough with firearms and shooting, but I think we've taken more than adequate precautions in the re-configuration and construction of this range.  We'll also be able to use the range for parties and entertaining too since we have a spare refrigerator and freezer in the barn and my Dad's fairly new gas grill to put out there on the shootin' porch when it's needed... ... for bacon, steaks, and bangs... I think Dad would approve!


We'll be relocating our archery range to take advantage of the side of the new earth berm outside of the new shootin' range and we still have the two-hundred yard range on the far side of the property for tweaking our rifles.  If our home facilities don't always fit the need, we're fortunate to have the local gun club just ten minutes or a few country miles away with archery, shotgun, pistol, rifle, and cowboy action ranges.

There's still some landscaping, roto-tillin', and grass seedin'' to do around the outside of the range and for all the drainage trenches throughout the property... but we still have a few good weekends left to work on that this fall... when we're not shooting on the range, of course.  

So now you folks know why lately I've been down to one post each week.  What can I say... it's been busy 'round here... and the gals and I are blessed with more than we deserve... including... The new shootin' range...

I'll have a number four shotgun combo...

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There was a comment on the last post about using a shotgun for deer hunting here in Ohio as opposed to some folks out west who need a center-fire rifle to cover long distances or up-state in the east where a thirty-thirty, lever-action rifle does the trick.

There are so many hunting situations, laws, and variations around that what some folks think is the best solution might just depend upon where you're from or maybe where you're at.  A good ol' pump action shotgun offers the shooter and hunter a lot of versatility and reliability... plus here in Ohio, a shotgun is a necessity during gun season for deer hunting.


As a long-time shooter and hunter, plus as an NRA, CCW, and 4H Shooting Sports instructor, I am often asked about my opinion regarding what kind or type or brand or model of firearm someone should get.  My first two questions usually are "What do you want to do with it?" and "How much do you want to spend?".  When it comes to shotguns and limited budgets, it's hard to beat a pump-action shotgun from companies like Mossberg and Remington with the all the variations and accessories that are available from the factory and third-party vendors.

Now I'm not about to argue brands here as everyone has an opinion, but due to our prepping nature, the gals and I have standardized on the Mossberg 500 series here and if you're selecting a brand... it's very hard to beat the "big two" for variations, parts, barrels, and accessory availability.


Slap on a longer barrel with interchangeable chokes like this twenty-eight-inch vent-rib barrel from Mossberg and you're all set for just about any kind of winged-critter hunting including ducks, turkey, quail, pheasant, and crows depending on your screw-in choke selection.  You can also head out for some trap, skeet, five-stand, sporting clays and bust some clays too.


For big critter hunting like white-tail deer, shotgun slugs are required here in Ohio.  While there are several rifled and smooth-bore/cylinder-bore options available for the Mossy, I like the twenty-four-inch rifled barrel with cantilever scope mount.  The 3x-9x Bushnell scope came with the barrel right from Mossberg and since the scope mount is directly attached to the barrel, you can switch out barrels and keep your zero dead-on.


If huntin' two-legged varmints who have kicked down the door of your house is a concern, you might just want to mount up a short, cylinder-bore barrel like this eighteen-inch barrel from Mossberg.  Now you've turned your pump-action shotgun into a short, maneuverable home and self-defense firearm that can blast out one-once slugs, double-aught or number four buckshot... and even less-than-lethal options are available.

So if you're looking for a versatile firearm with many uses and your budget is a bit short of what the political candidates are spending these days...  consider your options, but as for me... I'll have a number four shotgun combo...

summer carry- lightening the load

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Summer carrying for many of us, means a drastic change in attire from our winter garb and a different collection of gear better suited to that change. For me, summer carry means cargo shorts and t-shirts, which makes concealing a firearm difficult. I was never a fan of pocket carry, and certainly do not like cargo pocket carry- so a solution means maintaining my appendix concealment, but hiding a firearm with much less material over the top of it.

All of this is second nature to the EDC'er in warmer locals, but for an Upstate New Yorker, annual temperature swings cover over 100 degrees F and necessitate vastly different daily routines and clothing options. Being a gainfully employed graduate student at a large Northeastern University affords me a particularly lax set of wardrobe requirements, so keep that in mind throughout my recommendations in this post.

First, a list of the gear that I just can't seem to get along without. My campus EDC differs from my regular EDC only in gun and spare ammunition, so I will simply create one list for my readers.

In the summer, I sadly must put away my full-sized 1911s, security sixes, K-frames, and the like for smaller options. After parting out my G23, Kel-Tec P11, and assorted other small guns- I realized that the only gun I shot enough to be comfortable with for compact summer carry was my Smith and Wesson J-Frame M 36. However, the rest of my gear is constant all year round, with the occasional exception of the flashlight. So without further ado, my current pocket dump:

Smith and Wesson M36 w/ tyler T-grip loaded with 5 rounds of 158gr LSWCHP (federal)
1 Tuff Strip loaded with 6 rounds of 158gr LSWCHP (federal, standard pressure)
1 dump pouch with 6 additional rounds of 158gr LSWCHP (federal, standard pressure)
1Spyderco Tenacious knife
1 streamlight stylus pro
Wallet, w/ small first aid kit and card tool
6 ft of 100mph tape and 10ft of 550 cord (all wrapped around a subway card)
1 butane torch lighter
cell phone
money clip (sometimes even with money)
small pad and pen

It sounds like a lot, but really, it is a manageable collection of stuff that fits well into my cargo shorts (9 pocket variety).  Starting from the navel and moving right, we first have my J-frame over my appendix, and spare dump pouch on the belt. Then in my front right pocket is my streamlight and knife, with a phone pocket below and an empty large cargo pocket below that. Back right is wallet, back left is pad & pen plus cordage / tape. front left is the money pocket, with speed strip and lighter in two small pockets below, with another large empty cargo beneath it.

I don't often use the large cargo pockets on my shorts because I don't like how the shorts swing with weight in them at that point. Also, I really don't like leaving the house with all of my pockets packed with stuff. My keys are on a carabiner and I simply clip it to a belt loop or throw them into an empty cargo pocket. If I am going to the University, remove the gun and ammo, and keep everything else the same. If I am at the beach or working outdoors in mesh shorts, I switch to a neck knife to save weight and leave the dump pouch at home. Otherwise, the rest of the stuff stays (comfortably).

As I am an occasional cigar smoker, a cutter also sometimes goes into the lighter pocket, and a cigar into the right cargo pocket (to keep it from getting squished).

Deciding what is and isn't necessary for your everyday tasks is the single most crucial step to creating a reasonable EDC. My list has a lot of redundancy, and gives me room to pair it down if the need arises. For me, a flashlight is probably one of the single most useful things a person can carry- so I tend not to travel without one. This is closely followed by a knife, and the list goes down from there. Choose your gear with ease of use and ease of carry in mind, and with very little effort you will be able to craft a reasonably competent load-out that makes life safer and easier, without making it bulkier and cumbersome.

Budgeting ammo purchases: the lowest price doesn't always mean the best deal

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I don't consume a particularly immense amount of factory ammunition (at least in centerfire), as most of the shooting I do is with reloads. However, I still occasionally have to order / buy ammo for one reason or another. Balancing a reasonable hobby budget is a crucial part of any person's life- and here is how I make some of the expenses manageable.

 The easiest way I have found to budget these expenses is with gift cards earned from my credit card company. Sure SGammo, centerfiresystems or Aimsurplus have better prices- but it only takes me a couple billing cycles to earn a $100 dollar gift card to cabelas or dicks sporting goods. As this is all found money, the cost of buying ammo at a much higher per box price, actually works out to be much lower in actual financial impact on me.

 Here is what I do (many of you may already do this).

1. - make sure you have a credit card that has rewards and also has no annual fees. Many offer 1-5% back on purchases with no fees, though annual cards can earn you more. 
2. - I use my CC for every purchase I make. I pay my card off in full every month, so the interest rate is inconsequential as I never actually have to pay it. My is a variable 10.5%- not the greatest, but again, it totally doesn't matter. 
3. - I try to use vendors that earn extra points. As I accrue those points, I always take a gift card. I found that if I get a check or credit card paydown, I often use the money in other ways. Taking out gift cards forces me to apply the money in accordance with my predetermined budget. 

 This month, I ordered 400 rounds of 9mm - 350 were brass cased, and 1 box was WWB 115gr JHP (the 45acp JHP from WWB actually is a great performer for the money). Normally I would have ordered some steel cased ammo, but the sale that was going on this month had brass cased ammo at less than 10 per box. after I applied my gift card that I had earned over the last few months, total cost out of my pocket was an additional 5 bucks. Not too shabby, especially considering that overage also went to earn me points for my next ammo purchase. The other nice thing about the big box vendors is often you can get reduced price shipping at orders of 99 or more, so most of the 5 bucks I spent actually covered all of the reduced rate shipping that was being offered this month.

 This process has painlessly allowed me to build up a very respectable stash of 5.56 / 223, 7.62x39, 40sw, 45acp, and 9mm. By having a few calibers that I like to stock up on factory ammo, I just surf the sales when I have a gift card handy and buy whatever is cheapest. Like I said, it isn't the fastest way to build up a small stockpile, but it certainly is an efficient one.

CMMG troubles, and AR15 fun

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Well today I went to the range to do a bit of long over due rifle shooting. I took my lightweight carbine with a Del-ton 16in upper on my Cav Arms receiver. Both the upper and lower have been well proven at this point, but this combination has some new tweaks in setup that had me wanting to play around a bit to see how much I like this configuration.

First, I have been a big fan of the magpul single point attachment and sling combo. I mounted it just in front of my rear sight and the carbine is fast to bring into action, and fast to get out of the way for transitions to a pistol. It is a bit 'tacti-cool' compared to my normal shooting regime, but it is decidedly very fun. When I run a transition, I just drop the rifle and let the sling and attachment point take all of the force. Even after playing with this particular setup for a couple months now, it has held up fantastically and I must say I'm a very pleased.

I've been running this carbine with irons only for a while now, and have not missed the old co-witnessed reddot / iron sight setup one bit. I didn't get to do transitions from one target to the next while shooting 223, but I did get to do quite a few target transitions while I had the 22lr CMMG kit installed, and it worked very well (the sight system, not the kit- but more on that later).

The Magpul AFG is also surprisingly comfy, even though I do wish I could move it further forward on my carbine length handguards. Really, I see these AFGs shining most with either short-limbed shooters, or people running them on mid or full length gas setups. For a tall person, the carbine length set up + the AFG just feels tight.
Some people might like that feeling though, and it did make swinging from target-to-target quick and easy. It also puts my thumb in a good position to reach over the top and activate a weapon light (which pride prevented me from leaving on for these photos. I refuse to shoot a weapon during daylight that has a flashlight on it).

The best part is, the sling, AFG, and single point attachment are all 'knock-off' magpul parts that I've been playing with since august. All said and done, the three only cost me 20 bucks total. The magpul furniture though is the real deal. I was a bit hesitant to buy the knockoffs, but for the savings and the durability they have displayed, I'm glad I went for it. They have been great investments.

Unfortunately, the whole trip was not quite so positive. My CMMG conversion kit acted up quite a bit today, and I finally had to break down and order some replacement recoil springs. The spring in it currently is the original, and it has lasted me 22 months of use.  I had a feeling it was going a bit soft on my last range trip, but unfortunately I mistakenly hoped a deep cleaning would extend the life a while longer. After a metric-buttload of failure to fires related to the bolt not fully closing, I got so annoyed I just ordered a replacement spring back from midwayusa.

I can't really complain, the kit has been good to me, despite me generally feeding it ammo CMMG doesn't recommend (cough* remington golden bullet bulk pack * cough) as I cycle through old stores of 22lr. I've also been stretching out the length of time I go between shooting 223 and 22lr, and have no issues going a couple bricks now before firing any 223 ammo to 'clear out' the gas system, and I'm really starting to wonder if it ever actually gets necessary.

Today was the first time I fired 223 ammo through the gun in over 800 rounds of 22lr, and I DO NOT clean the gas system. Ever. I shot 20 rounds by way of 4 strings of 5 shots each and every round fed, fired, and ejected perfectly, with 4 solid bolt lockbacks on the empty mag.

In other news, I went out bow hunting and didn't get a shot, but saw two nice does. There have also been some bear sightings fairly close to my locale, which is actually kind of welcome. People don't feed them down here, and frankly I would love to have the opportunity to see a wild bear. In less exciting news, we have started finding wallows on our hunting grounds, which means that the dreaded wild pig has finally found its way onto my home range.

Pigs worry me. Bears- not so much. This winter, I suspect myself, the old man, and maybe our dear friend (affectionately referred to as the farmer) may have to go out and try to put a stop to the pig population before it gets a firm foothold. If that comes into being, expect some AR updates- depending on how / when we go, it will probably involve both 9mm and 223 AR15s and a generous helping of ammo.

TSA screener accused of intentionally slapping flier's testicles

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Via Don


 A frequent flier is speaking out about an incident in which a TSA agent allegedly slapped his testicles as punishment for opting out of the naked body scanner at a Nevada airport.  Steven deForest was flying out of Las Vegas when the incident occurred."A bulky young TSA agent came over to pat me down," he told the Huffington Post. "He told me to turn around. He was using his command voice, barking orders. I told him that I wasn't comfortable turning away from my luggage, which had already been screened, and wanted to keep it in my sight."According to deForest, the screener knelt down to begin the pat-down procedure before making a shocking move."As he raised his hands he was looking at me. Then he gave a quick flick and smacked me in one of my testicles," deForest said.  More @ Digital Journal

Hellstorm • chapter 5

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Via An Irish Tory

 

The Devil’s Laughter 
Among the great majority of those [civilians] who scrambled onto ships, boats, tugs, barges, and naval craft sailing west, their flight was safe and successful. Not only was the warmth and food aboard ship a God-send, but the realization that they were at last escaping the dreaded Bolsheviks proved the first peace of mind many had known in weeks. As the wretched survivors of the [ship] could aver, however, there often was no escaping the nightmare… even at sea.
Just before one A.M., two torpedoes slammed into the Stuben’s side. Somewhere the ship was burning and people everywhere jumping into the water. As the Stuben’s stern rose high out the water, hundreds leaped overboard, including some who were torn to pieces by the still-turning propellers. Within seven minutes, the ship plunged beneath the waves, swiftly silencing a final mass scream that seemed to arise from a single voice. Of the 3,500 passengers aboard, only Franz Huber and a few hundred more survived. Tragically, for thousands who successfully traversed the treacherous Baltic, American and British bombers were often the first to greet them when their ships docked.
While the slow, dangerous evacuation of women, children and wounded comrades continued [on the still departing docks at the other side], a German Landser remained in the ever-shrinking pockets, ferociously fighting on so that others might live. That most in the enclaves were already doomed, all fighting men understood. “For every thousand persons embarked, some three thousand more arrived from the east.”
Frantic to escape such carnage, desperate civilians fled across the ice of the Frisches Haff, a bay several miles wide separating the mainland from a barrier island, or Nehrung. Along the slender strip of sand that led west towards Danzing, all were hoping to reach safety. Unfortunately, the bitter cold changed to rain just when many treks set out. Recounted one survivor of the perilous journey: “The ice was breaking and at some places we had to drag ourselves with pains through water nearly a foot deep.” Juergen Thorwald describes the long, nightmarish experience of another refugee:

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Real Ambush Video & Comments

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Via WRSA

I am posting this video because it illustrates a lot of points. I remember this happening back when I was working in Baghdad, and I saw the after action review at the time. My intent is not to criticize the actions of the team, but to make constructive comments.



Now, I will state here that 'it is not the critic that counts, but the man in the arena with blood on his face'. It is not my intent to criticise the actions of this team, but to use the video to make some constructive training points. It is also my understanding the one of the team members, James Yeager, has his own Internet presence and has been criticized for his actions by moving off the 'X' to the median. However, as I state below, it appears that team cohesive drills were lacking so individuals would have reacted both as that, individuals, and also as per their training and experience. It is hard to criticise: 
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OCTOBER 8 1862: Invasion of Kentucky

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Via Calvin Johnson


Brigadier General Sterling Alexander Martin Wood, in dark uniform and staff . Just before the Battle of Shiloh, Wood's brigade (which consisted of the 16th Alabama, 8th and 9th Arkansas, 27th, 47th, and 55th Tennessee, and the 3rd Mississippi Battalion, all infantry regiments, including an artillery battery) was placed into Hindman's Division, William Hardee's Corps.

At the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky October 8th 1862, Wood  was wounded by  artillery shrapnel while his brigade helped  capture an artillery battery.
================================
 OCTOBER 8 1862, Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg launched an invasion of the key border state of Kentucky hoping to divert Union attention from the Southern strongholds at Vicksburg and Chattanooga, as well as to encourage Bluegrass State volunteers to join the Rebel army.

Though unsuccessful in the last regard, the Kentucky Campaign did draw Federal forces out of northern Alabama and Middle Tennessee, ground it would take the Union almost a year to regain.

The largest engagement fought in Kentucky, the Battle of Perryville was a Confederate tactical victory, though the heavy fighting and bloodshed forced Bragg to retreat into Tennessee.

Propagandist for State-Run Media Wants Even More of Your Money

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Via SHNV

 
LCR
VERBATIM
 by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

I speak of course of Ken Burns, the $50,000/speech (according to Forbes) PBS civil servant/documentary film maker. In response to Mitt Romney’s critique of PBS during the first presidential debate, Burns authored a long defense of PBS in the October 10 edition of USA Today. The first thing Burns does in his article is to inadvertently admit that the main purpose of his work for PBS is to serve as a propagandist for state power over the citizens. His boasts of the popularity of his documentaries also prove that taxpayer subsidies to PBS are a waste of money.

In his first paragraph Burns recalls how he assisted the military/industrial complex in its propaganda efforts by producing a documentary called "The War" (about World War II) and making a special trip to West Point to "motivate" the cadets with film clips. He then boasts that many of the West Point cadets admitted that they decided to apply to West Point because of an earlier Ken Burns state-subsidized propaganda film, The Civil War. Good job, Ken! Keep those taxpayer subsidies rolling!

 Burns really lets the cat out of the bag in the next paragraph where he quotes a U.S. Army Major named Sullivan Ballou, who wrote his wife during the "Civil War" about why he thought the war was being fought. It was not to free the slaves but to defend the Lincoln regime in Washington, D.C. "American civilization now leans on the triumph of the government," he wrote, and "I am willing . .. to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this government . . ." What a job the military propagandists of his day must have done on the hapless Major Ballou (assuming that the letter is authentic).

How odd that anyone would equate the killing of some 850,000 Americans (the latest estimate of "Civil War" deaths), the bombing, burning, and destruction of entire cities, the mass killing of tens of thousands of civilians, the rape, pillage and plunder of thousands more, the suspension of Habeas Corpus and imprisonment of tens of thousands of Northern civilians, the shutting down of hundreds of opposition newspapers in the North, military conscription, the daily execution of deserters (by the Lincoln regime), and the rigging of Northern elections as "civilization." And how odd that anyone would think that the secession of a state (or states), under the correct belief that the union of the founding fathers was a voluntary union, would somehow "destroy" the government in Washington. In fact, the government in Washington grew exponentially after the Southern states seceded, fielding the largest and best-equipped army in world history up to that point. 

The obvious purpose of Burns’s The Civil War, as with Lincoln mythology in general, is to spread propaganda that props up state power. Moreover, Burns is apparently unaware that his argument actually makes the case against taxpayer funding of PBS. Specifically, his boast that nearly 40 million people viewed The Civil War proves beyond all doubt that there was no need at all for taxpayer subsidies. What corporate advertisers would not want to place their products before 40 million potential customers? 

Burns also perverts the English language when he calls taxpayer subsidies to PBS "a good investment." There is no such thing as "government investment." All government spending is consumption spending, not investment. An investor is someone who puts up his own money, takes a risk, and reaps the profits or suffers the losses from his decisions. No politician or bureaucrat ever puts up his own money, takes on any personal risk whatsoever, or is punished with financial losses for his bad decisions. In fact, his bad decisions are routinely subsidized by taxpayers for decades on end with no negative personal consequences to him.
PBS and National Public Radio (NPR) are state-subsidized government propaganda megaphones. Americans used to criticize totalitarian communists for such practices. Perhaps the mistake the communists made was to not disguise their propaganda with cute little Big Birds and Big Red Dogs.

Rock Island Armory Tactical 9mm 1911 Review

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 Finally, an opportunity presented itself where I could take my 1911 9mm RIA Tactical to the range! The weather was favorable, with only a light breeze and temperatures in the mid 70s, so I took about a couple hours out of the day and went shooting.

With me, I brought my targetsfromus.com space invader target, and an assortment of 9mm ammunition. I wanted to see how reliable the RIA would be, and my testing proved fruitful. The ammunition fired today was:

10 rounds - El Dorado 124gr JHP
50 rounds - Tula Ammo 115gr FMJ
50 rounds - Winchester 124gr FMJ reloads
25 rounds - Lead Round Nose 120gr reloads
10 rounds - Winchester 147gr Silvertip JHP
10 rounds - Winchester 115gr Whitebox JHP
25 rounds - Frangible 90 gr FMJ reloads

 One failure-to-feed was noted, and it was the second round of the first magazine which contained the El Dorado 124 gr JHP. As I only had 10 rounds of it with me, and it was the second round ever fired through the gun.  I cannot say one way or the other whether it was an ammunition or firearm related balk.  More testing will be necessary to confirm, but all other JHP and defensive ammunition fed, fired, and ejected cleanly throughout the testing.

As a matter of fact, all other ammunition in general fed, fired, and ejected cleanly. The only issue throughout the entire 180 round course of fire was in that first magazine. To say I was pleased would be a bit of an understatement. Often when testing a new firearm, I like to bring with me a bit of factory ammo to ensure reliable cycling. My own reloads are significantly more mild than a comparable factory loaded equivalent, so a firearm that may struggle with my ammunition can often plug along more easily with factory fodder. To see a brand new gun function very well with both my mild reloads and standard pressure factory ammo is a good sign that reliable functioning will follow for a long time to come.

Before I go any further with this review and get into more detail allow me to say this- My biggest regret with this purchase is that I didn't make it sooner. This gun is not without a few issues (which I will discuss in this write-up), but the enjoyment and operation of this gun is exceptional. If you are debating a 1911 in 9mm for range use, carry, or even the occasional woods trip, I support your decision to buy one. The RIA might not always be the best example for you as an individual to purchase- but the platform is sound. There are several reasons for this, first and foremost of which is the 'shootability' of the gun. The RIA felt great in the hand, had no obvious sharp places to rub you raw, and functioned exactly as a 1911 should.

When people describe a gun as soft shooting, I often wonder why we assign such a subjective expression to describe recoil. Without a comparison to another firearm, the expression is useless. Well compared to a 1911 in 45acp, this gun is extremely soft shooting. Going further, I would actually say this is the softest
 shooting centerfire handgun I have ever fired. Softer than heavy 38 special revolvers shooting mild target loads, softer than the lightest 45 acp ammo that will cycle my 16 lb recoil springs, and softer than any all steel or polymer gun I have ever actually fired. This ease of control, coupled with what I consider to be the very comfortable ergonomic design of the 1911, combine to make a very enjoyable shooting experience.

To test the performance of the gun, I set up my space invader target at 25 yards for all shooting today. No warm-ups, no other handguns, all free hand, firing this gun quickly and at a moderate distance at a target that is about 5x5 inches. My gun, shooting the 115 gr and lighter ammo shot about 1.5-2 inches low. the 124 gr stuff seemed to be right on at 25 yards, and I regrettably did not bring enough 147 gr stuff to get a feel for how much higher it impacted than the 124 gr ammo.
I was able to pull one 9 out of 9 magazine on the steel at 25 yards, but most of the mags had between 6 and 7 hits on target, with the rest dancing around it (generally a touch low). For me, this is better than average shooting- especially for a new gun I have never fired. At 25 yards, I'll often start out with a great group that looks like I might finally break into the 3 or 4 inch group territory, but I generally then have at least one mulligan that opens me up to 5 or 6 inches overall.
 With a rimfire handgun I can generally do a touch better- but realistically I'm a pretty average shooter. What I really enjoyed about the RIA was that I could shoot at least as well as I could with my other 1911s (if not a little better) and I could do so quickly. I was having so much fun I am sure I firing at a noticeably quicker cadence than the 1 round per second rule that most clubs by me have in place.

The gun is not perfect though- and it had several issues that an interested buyer should know about before committing to a purchase. First- the oft complained about grips. I like the smooth medium thick walnut (at least they look walnut) grips- but many people abhor this design. Know that many shooters will want to replace these right away.

Secondly, the extractor is not properly tensioned. I noticed what I call predictably erratic ejection.  the last round of the magazine almost always ejected forward, with the rest of the rounds ejecting between 3 and 5 o'clock with the muzzle of the firearm representing 12 o'clock. Honestly, I probably won't even bother to mess with the extractor, but it is definitely a bit south of normal and it is worthy of mention. As long as the rounds are not ejection at 6 o'clock right back at the shooter, I generally don't give a darn.


Finally, the MSH is plastic. A lot of big manufacturers are switching to plastic MSHs (cough* Colt cough), but many people are not fans of this trend. I will say I do prefer this plastic MSH though to my springfield armory MSH which came with an ILS (integrated locking system). As for the good of this firearm- well the grip safety was easy to engage, the sights are usable, the thumb safety was positive in its engagement but managable in the force required to manipulate it, I noticed no irregularities in the spent casings of any kind, and despite firing 180 rounds (at least 100 of which being dirty tula and my reloads, which are also dirty as all heck) the gun never slowed up a bit cycling smoothly and without hesitation.
Overall, I'm more than pleased with this gun. For $450 OTD it is an absolute bargain, and I would say it is a buy without hesitation all the way to 500 bucks. Much beyond that and you might want to consider buying the GI model and cutting it for new sights- but the tactical really is awesome. I am going to hold off on cleaning this gun and am going to try to run another few hundred rounds through it (and more JHP if I can afford it) to see how it holds up to shooting once it really starts getting dirty. I'd like to get up to 500 rounds without cleaning, but realistically it will probably go 350 or so before I break down and give it a scrub.

Reloading Frangible 9mm ammo

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Recently, Midwayusa had a special on 90 gr frangible 9mm components. For the paltry sum of  54 bucks delivered, I ordered a thousand Remington CTF frangible bullets to try my hand at reloading some light weight 9mm ammo.

Reloading data is sparse on frangible ammunition, and the reloader must take caution when playing in such spartan territory. Alliant doesn't list any data for them, and none of my reloading manuals specifically mention frangible rounds, so I was at a bit of a loss on a starting load.

However, a quick trip the Interwebs found some data that seemed no more or less reputable than anything else on the net that suggested using loads for bullets that weigh 30% more than the frangible component- Thus a starting point was reached- I'll try data for 9mm loads between 115-120 grains.   I first started with
5.1 grains of unique, as per my reloading manuals. The load was super light- and would not reliably function in my RIA tactical 9mm 1911- but it did reliably cycle my 9mm AR (50 rounds fired).

The Alliant website lists a max charge of unique for the 115gr projectile (GDHP) at 6.3 grains. That is a pretty stout load- and one I frankly would not want to put behind these little frangibles. 5.3 grains however, did barely cycle the slide on the 9mm 1911- and I am going to settle on 5.5 grains for an all around plinking load. Approach with caution, as some manuals will list 5.5 gr of unique as above max for a 115gr projectile (even though these are 90 grainers).

As far as performance goes, I actually really like these bullets. They vaporize nicely on my steel targets, and shoot well in both guns I have shot them in. Feeding on them is very good- and I haven't experienced any issues. for less than 5.50 per 100, these are a great way to reload some load free ammo for under 10 bucks per 100 rounds.

Thompson Center- The breaking point

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The TC Encore. Never before have I owned something so long with such middling performance. I've chronicled many stories with the TC, all of which have left me fairly ambivalent to the platform. I had an encore muzzle loader barrel which was a total failure, a 7mm-08 barrel that was too short to get rounds to expand effectively to put deer down, and now a 28 inch rifled 20 gauge barrel that despite shooting every manner of slug I could find from Hornady SSTs to Lightfields to bulk packs, I can't get it to shoot better than a 5 inch group at 50 YARDS. I've dealt with TC customer service in the past with my muzzle loader barrel, which resulted in me being out shipping, waiting 3 months, and receiving a barrel back that I would bet had not actually been looked at by TC with a note that said it shot 1 inch groups with the load I told them wouldn't even pattern when I sent it in.

I will be selling all of my TC gear over the next few months- and I will NOT be looking back. The only thing that may survive is 1 frame and the 44 mag barrel. That hasn't been a total disappointment. Sometimes, you just have to know when to pull the plug on a platform and move on to something else. I have reached that point.

I can't help but notice the relationship between the one 1911 I will refuse to own (remington R1) for spotty quality- is the parent company of TC which now also seems to suffer immensely from crap products. The 44 mag barrel that I own was produced before the Remington acquisition- which may partially explain why it isn't craptastic. Such is life.

Budgeting ammo purchases: the lowest price doesn't always mean the best deal

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I don't consume a particularly immense amount of factory ammunition (at least in centerfire), as most of the shooting I do is with reloads. However, I still occasionally have to order / buy ammo for one reason or another. Balancing a reasonable hobby budget is a crucial part of any person's life- and here is how I make some of the expenses manageable.

 The easiest way I have found to budget these expenses is with gift cards earned from my credit card company. Sure SGammo, centerfiresystems or Aimsurplus have better prices- but it only takes me a couple billing cycles to earn a $100 dollar gift card to cabelas or dicks sporting goods. As this is all found money, the cost of buying ammo at a much higher per box price, actually works out to be much lower in actual financial impact on me.

 Here is what I do (many of you may already do this).

1. - make sure you have a credit card that has rewards and also has no annual fees. Many offer 1-5% back on purchases with no fees, though annual cards can earn you more. 
2. - I use my CC for every purchase I make. I pay my card off in full every month, so the interest rate is inconsequential as I never actually have to pay it. My is a variable 10.5%- not the greatest, but again, it totally doesn't matter. 
3. - I try to use vendors that earn extra points. As I accrue those points, I always take a gift card. I found that if I get a check or credit card paydown, I often use the money in other ways. Taking out gift cards forces me to apply the money in accordance with my predetermined budget. 

 This month, I ordered 400 rounds of 9mm - 350 were brass cased, and 1 box was WWB 115gr JHP (the 45acp JHP from WWB actually is a great performer for the money). Normally I would have ordered some steel cased ammo, but the sale that was going on this month had brass cased ammo at less than 10 per box. after I applied my gift card that I had earned over the last few months, total cost out of my pocket was an additional 5 bucks. Not too shabby, especially considering that overage also went to earn me points for my next ammo purchase. The other nice thing about the big box vendors is often you can get reduced price shipping at orders of 99 or more, so most of the 5 bucks I spent actually covered all of the reduced rate shipping that was being offered this month.

 This process has painlessly allowed me to build up a very respectable stash of 5.56 / 223, 7.62x39, 40sw, 45acp, and 9mm. By having a few calibers that I like to stock up on factory ammo, I just surf the sales when I have a gift card handy and buy whatever is cheapest. Like I said, it isn't the fastest way to build up a small stockpile, but it certainly is an efficient one.

Give us this day, our daily pocket dump

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Not pictured are wallet and keys, because frankly no one cares about them. Also not pictured is my lighter (zippo blue) because I forgot to take it out of my pocket.

MetroArms American Classic II 1911 in 45 acp loaded with fiocchi 230gr JHP in an ACT Mag
1- spare mag carrying same ammo loaded into a Joe's Magazine Mania 8 round mag in an old knife sheeth
1- solarforce x2 running a rechargable 1.2v cell
1- spyderco tenacious
1- Durbin holster

The Real Unemployment Situation

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Sweeping Economic Failure under the CarpetMike Scruggs
Was the drop in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U-3 unemployment rate for September from 8.1 percent to 7.8 percent real or something else? The mainstream (liberal Democrat) media and their candidate, President Barack Obama, rejoiced to see the astonishing numbers. A key component to these incredible figures was that the BLS Household Survey, one of two major BLS surveys on the employment situation, showed employment had increased by a whopping 873,000 in September. Yet the largest BLS survey, the Payroll Survey, sometimes called the Institutional Survey, indicated a net increase of only 114,000 jobs. Normally the two surveys result in similar jobs data. But could the Household Survey, with no other sign of sudden roaring prosperity, really be more than seven times what employers indicated in the Payroll Survey? 
Former General Electric boss Jack Welch tweeted his suspicions:
“Unbelievable jobs numbers…these Chicago guys will do anything…Can’t debate, so change the numbers.”
Welch is obviously with those who have no confidence in the Obama Administration’s integrity or competence. I would generally place myself in Welch’s camp. Barack Obama and his appointees have a great lust for bigger and more powerful government but little regard for truth. Like most totalitarians, they will, say, promise, or do almost anything to get votes and gain and maintain power, including fraud and statistical slight of hand.
As Welch suspects, there was no real increase in jobs in September, and a monthly net job increase of 114,000 does not even keep up with population growth. Considering that the U.S. government is issuing approximately 100,000 work visas per month to foreign applicants, the net September Payroll increase is negligible. How could the two surveys have such different results unless something is badly amiss?
The Payroll Survey, the larger and generally more accurate of the two surveys, is based on surveying approximately 141,000 private and government institutions. The smaller Household Survey uses a sample of approximately 60,000 households completing questionnaires. As in political polling, these surveys must be adjusted by various assumptions to project the data for the entire United States. One difference in the surveys ought to frighten anyone who likes the monthly reconciliation of their personal checking account to balance exactly. The September Household Survey estimates total U.S. employment at 142.9 million, while the Payroll Survey finds only 133.5 million. Some economists believe that adjustments to the Payroll Survey are not adequate to account for self-employed and part-time workers. However, the difference of 9.4 million just happens to be a bit over the Pew Research Center estimate of 8.1 million illegal immigrants holding U.S. jobs in 2010.   
Labor Economics Consultant Edwin S. Rubenstein, in an October 5 article for Vdare.com, has pointed to an obvious explanation for a large portion of the Household Survey’s surge of 873,000 people who have suddenly reported having jobs. On June 15 of this year, President Obama implemented the “Dream Act,” thrice defeated in Congress, by executive order. This unlawful and unconstitutional order was estimated by the Obama Administration to give amnesty to about one million illegal immigrants under the age of 36, who are now working in the United States. Some have estimated that as many as two to three million amnesties could occur under this executive order. As with past amnesties, application criteria generally dissolve and document fraud becomes common and unchallenged.  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department (USCIS) has been processing at least 3,000 amnesty applications per day, and an Inspector General report indicated that many USCIS employees were being pushed to speed up the process and ignore fraud and eligibility criteria. In addition, the Obama administration continues a steady stream of smaller stealth amnesties. Changing the electorate by immigration is a major Obama strategy that could lock up Democrat Party dominance before the 2016 election. 
From the beginning of Obama’s presidency in January 2009 through September 2012, foreign-born employment rose by 1,496,000 or 6.9 percent. Native-born employment fell 0.6 percent or 743,000.
Rubenstein explains the sudden impact of the recent Obama amnesties on the Household Survey. Prior to their recent amnesty, illegal immigrant workers would never have filled out a Household Survey for fear of legal troubles or deportation. This fear among illegal immigrants is real, although exaggerated.  Internal enforcement of U.S. immigration laws is at an all-time low and practically non-existent. With amnesty granted or soon anticipated, the newly legalized immigrants are free to report their jobs on the Household Survey. Illegal immigrants do not show up on the Payroll Survey because employers admitting hiring illegal immigrants would risk stiff penalties. This may also become an exaggerated fear, since the Obama Administration seems to be abandoning any immigration enforcement at the workplace.
Another curious statistic in September’s Household Surveyed showed those forced to part-time work for economic reasons jumping from 8.0 to 8.6 million—an opposite economic indicator from the supposed 873,000 new people claiming to hold jobs. The broader U-6 unemployment rate including these part-time and workers discouraged from continuing their job search remained 14.7 percent in September, impacting nearly 23 million Americans.  Remarkably, the more commonly used U-3 unemployment rate does not include more than 2.1 million workers out of job for 12 months but too discouraged to look for one in the last four weeks. Millions more have simply dropped out of the workforce. 
The bottom line is that there has been no improvement in the U.S. employment situation, and the unreal statistical improvement in the U-3 unemployment rate may be Obama’s ironic reward for an unlawful amnesty. We could see more phony improvement just before the November 6 election, inviting U.S. voters to continue on Obama’s course to economic and socia

Gun makers, sellers: Sales booming

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Stricter gun laws, a collapsed economy ... a zombie apocalypse?

No matter what people’s reasons are for buying firearms lately, those who make and sell guns in the Monadnock Region can barely keep up with demand.


Several sellers described dramatic increases in business, especially in the past year.

Connecticut-based Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc., the fourth-largest firearms manufacturer in the country, which runs a casting plant in Newport, is a barometer for the industry. The company reported $40 million more in sales in its second quarter this year than in the same quarter last year.

The stock of Smith & Wesson, another popular gun maker, is up more than 140 percent this year. The manufacturer reported its largest first-quarter sales and earnings ever this month.

Many dealers and manufacturers agree recent mass shootings featured in the news have helped to drive the spike in sales. During the four-day period after the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting this summer, N.H. State Police received about 450 handgun background check requests, which are required for purchasing a handgun.

Robert Hodgkins, co-owner of Highlander Arms with his brother James, remembers that time. One day he had a dozen customers waiting in his Spofford shop to purchase handguns. They waited four hours while the state police conducted checks, so Hodgkins threw a pizza party for them.

More @ Sentinel Source

Bombshell: Obama.com Owned by Bundler in Shanghai with Business Ties to Chinese Government

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In an explosive report set to send shockwaves through official Washington, the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) released a 108-page GAI investigation into the threat of foreign and fraudulent Internet campaign donations in U.S. federal elections (visit campaignfundingrisks.com to download the full report).


Breitbart News obtained an advance copy of the bombshell report which reveals that the Obama.com website is not owned by the president’s campaign but rather by Obama bundler Robert Roche, a U.S. citizen living in Shanghai, China. Roche is the chairman of a Chinese infomercial company, Acorn International, with ties to state-controlled banks that allow it to “gain revenue through credit card transactions with Chinese banks.”

There’s more.

The unusual Obama.com website redirects traffic directly to a donation page on the Obama campaign’s official website, my.barackobama.com, which does not require donors to enter their credit card security code (known as the CVV code), thereby increasing the likelihood of foreign or fraudulent donations. The website is managed by a small web development firm, Wicked Global, in Maine. One of Wicked Global’s employees, Greg Dorr, lists on his LinkedIn page his additional employment with Peace Action Maine and Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights. According to the GAI report, 68 percent of all Internet traffic to Obama.com comes from foreign visitors.

And still more.

@ Breitbart

Historian Jeffry Wert Addresses R.E. Lee Remembrance

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Via Calvin Johnson



Addressing Washington and Lee University’s annual “Remembering Robert E. Lee” talk on Monday, Oct. 8, historian Jeffry D. Wert told the Lee Chapel audience that Lee had no choice but to make bold moves in the early days of his command of the Army of Northern Virginia.

The title of Wert’s speech was “Lee and the Rebirth of an Army: From Seven Days to Gettysburg." A former high-school history teacher who is a renowned scholar of the Civil War and author of nine books, Wert focused on two years of Lee’s Civil War career, from June 1862 to July 1863. His most recent book is “A Glorious Army: Robert E. Lee’s Triumph, 1862-1863.”

Wert told the audience of about 100 people how Lee’s public reputation in June 1862, when he took over the Army of Northern Virginia, suffered from a public perception that he was timid and afraid to fight. He had a talented group of officers waiting for him, however, as well as determined soldiers. “There was something about the men in the ranks,” said Wert. “They were just waiting for somebody.”
Lee immediately took the offensive against the Union troops, driving them away from Richmond during the Seven Days’ Battles. “Boldness was the only course,” said Wert.

That audacity continued to spur Lee and his forces as they pushed northward into Maryland and fought the Battle of Antietam. There, Lee’s lost orders tipped the North to his plans, and he faced an opponent twice his size. The Confederates fought hard and well against the able Army of the Potomac. Despite their loss and retreat, “Lee was right,” said Wert. “It was the greatest day in the history of his army.”

Wert then took the audience to Chancellorsville, which he called “arguably Lee’s greatest battle,” and on to Gettysburg. Wrapping up the talk, he pointed out that when Lee surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, what mattered to the South was that it was Lee’s army that had laid down its arms. Other commanders trying to continue the fight in other parts of the country were of no consequence.
 
The annual “Remembering Robert E. Lee” lecture commemorates the death on Oct. 12, 1870, of Lee, who served as the president of Washington College, as it was then called, from 1865 to 1870. The event was held in Lee Chapel, which houses a museum, Lee’s presidential office and the Lee family mausoleum.

Watch Wert's lecture:

@ W&L

Crowds to stay away from: Gangs

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Ol' RemusVERBATIM
Gangs are as easy to understand, they're neolithic tribalism, as are baseball leagues and high school cliques, except gangs take reputation, respect, revenge, power, protection and money to criminal extremes. Add violence without limit, recruitment among the young, and you have today's street gangs. And eighty percent of all crime. In the '60s and '70s drug money brought a new ferocity to turf battles and sharpened the ethnic war between the black Bloods, Crips, Black Disciples and Gangster Disciples &c., and the Hispanic Latin Kings, 18th Street Gang, MS13 Mara Salvatrucha, Mexican Mafia, Norteños, Sureños, and Vice Lords. 
Urban gangs are very large. Los Angeles's 18th Street Gang and its cliques are said to be 20,000 strong, sixty percent of which are illegal aliens. About a third of all violent gangs are black, about half Hispanic, the rest are white and Asian. Only in small city gangs will the membership be anything like diverse. The best known white gang is the Aryan Brotherhood, a comparatively small, prison-based, white supremacist outfit that dates back to San Quentin in the mid-1960s. The Brotherhood is so insanely murderous it's said the Italian Mafia sometimes turns to them for protection. They use Nazi symbols and regalia although of late they've been less about demographics than ordinary crime. 
Gangs have historically been tolerated because they were territorial and thus avoidable, but the twentieth century added a new feature to gang life: mobility. If we're honest, nobody much cares about body counts in gang battles, only when they intrude into the larger society does the alarm go out. Gang mobility is an unstated reason mass transit extensions are contested. The densely reasoned, and often valid, official arguments are proxies in large part. America has been self-segregating on all sides for several decades now but in the end avoiding gangs will be impossible. In populated areas they'll come to you one way or another.
It's with the Hispanic gangs we find real mobility and staying power. In addition to being a parallel government in large parts of Mexico, or even the actual government, they're said to be the real authority in some US border state counties. The upper reaches of Hispanic gangs exhibit ambition, purpose and effective long range planning. For instance, they identify and support young prospects for education in business administration and law, and send others for officer training and combat experience in the US armed forces. When we hear from the Pentagon about their "gang member" problem, this is what it's really about . 
Black gangs will exhibit audacity, unpredictability and recklessness. The survivalist can expect swarm attacks rather than studied tactics, and more exhibitionism than method all around, but beware their adaptability long term. Expect scorched earth exploitation, pointless destruction of assets not immediately or obviously valuable and personalized violence. As it is with black gangs today, the younger members will be the most sadistically homicidal, to gain credibility, or at the behest of the leadership, or just because they can. Take black female gangs as seriously as black male gangs do, they're no mere curiosity. 
Hispanic gangs will be no less brutal but more results oriented. Unlike black gangs, terror will be used as a tactic, they'll intend to hold and control territory they take. When Hispanic and black gangs meet, Kosovo-style ethnic cleansing is likely. The outcome seems predetermined but, as in all things, we have to be willing to be surprised. What matters is which one dominates in your area at any given time. 
At the outset white and Asian gangs will be a factor in scattered pockets but expect their numbers to grow as the emergency deepens. Some sort of cooperation is likely with these two, there's an underlying affinity that appears genuine. How effective they'll be is an imponderable, the data base is small. At the skinny ends of the present "white neolithic tribalism" bell curve we have civic-minded outfits like Neighborhood Watches to modern day berserkers like the Aryan Brotherhood without much in between beyond some biker outfits.
Over time a somewhat stable territorial arrangement will shake itself out. There will be skirmishes where fiefdoms overlap, predictably enough, but as the necessities of survival assert themselves ever more insistently, conflict would gradually center on controlling intrinsically valuable resources such as water, food producing land and basic manufacturing. 
What's given here is a straight line extrapolation of present gangs. In an extended catastrophe it's best to assume a learning curve. The surviving gangs of the first ninety days, say, would be a different threat from those at the outset. Yes, the survivalist in a remote location is more likely to be beset by refugees and raiders than a gang, but gangs have their splinter groups and outcasts and freelancers too. It would be foolish to dismiss the possibility.