Picture changes every five minutes while camera is operating. Refresh to update.Is Barack Hussein Obama your president?
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Rule One - All guns are always loaded.
Rule Two - Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
Rule Three - Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target.
Rule Four - Be sure of your target. Know what it is, what is in line with it, and what is behind it. Never shoot anything you have not positively identified.
Come chat with me (xilch) every Sunday from 11AM to 2PM PST.
Listen to Gun Talk at the same time, while you chat.
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This Day in History NRA-ILA
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1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on a train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a Marathon.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David.
41. Sung karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted / drawn.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.
I found this link the other day, and I appologize to the person I found it through, but I’ve forgotten where I found it.
It’s a excerpt from the book From Freedom to Slavery, The Rebirth of Tyranny in America by famed defense attorney Gerry Spence and it relays his understanding of what happened at Ruby Ridge. An excerpt talking about the case is available here as well. If anyone should know what happened there it would be him.
With all the uproar about H-S Precision’s use of Lon Horiuchi to hock their products, I thought this would be of interest to my readers.
It reads in part:
Randy Weaver’s principal crime against the government had been his failure to appear in court on a charge of possessing illegal firearms. The first crime was not his. He had been entrapped–intentionally, systematically, patiently, purposefully entrapped–by a federal agent who solicited him to cut off, contrary to Federal law, the barrels of a couple of shotguns. Randy Weaver never owned an illegal weapon in his life. He was not engaged in the manufacture of illegal weapons. The idea of selling an illegal firearm had never entered his mind until the government agent suggested it and encouraged him to act illegally. The government knew he needed the money. He is as poor as an empty cupboard. He had three daughters, a son and a wife to support. He lived in a small house in the woods without electricity or running water. Although he is a small, frail man, with tiny, delicate hands who probably weighs no more than a hundred and twenty pounds, he made an honest living by chopping firewood and by seasonal work as a logger.
…
Let me tell you the facts: a crack team of trained government marksmen sneaked on to Randy Weaver’s small isolated acreage on a reconnaissance mission preparatory to a contemplated arrest. They wore camouflage suits and were heavily armed. They gave Randy no warning of their coming. They came without a warrant. They never identified themselves. The Weavers owned 3 dogs, 2 small crossbred collie mutts and a yellow lab, a big pup a little over a year old whose most potent weapon was his tail with which he could beat a full grown man to death. The dog, Striker, was a close member of the Weaver family. Not only was he the companion of the children, but in winter he pulled the family sled to haul their water supply from the spring below. When the dogs discovered the intruders they raised a ruckus, and Randy his friend Kevin, and Randy’s 14 year old son Sam, grabbed their guns and followed the dogs to investigate.
When the government agents were confronted with the barking dog, they did what men who have been taught to kill do. They shot Striker. The boy, barely larger than a 10 year old child, heard the dog’s yelp, saw the dog fall dead. and as a 14 year old might, he returned the fire. Then the government agents shot the child in the arm. He turned and ran. the arm flopping, and when he did, the officers, still unidentified as such, shot the child in the back and killed him.
Kevin Harris witnessed the shooting of the dog. Then he saw Sam being shot as the boy turned and ran. To Kevin there was no alternative. He knew if he ran these intruders, whoever they were, would kill him as well. In defense of himself he raised his rifle and shot in the direction of the officer who had shot and killed the boy. Then while the agents were in disarray, Kevin retreated to the Weaver cabin.
In the meantime Randy Weaver had been off in another direction and had only heard the shooting, the dog’s yelp and the gunfire that followed. Randy hollered for his son and shot his shotgun into the air to attract the boy. “Come on home Sam, Come home.” Over and over he called. Finally he heard the boy call back “I’m comin’ Dad”. Those were the last words he ever heard from his son.
Later that same day, Randy, Kevin, and Vicki Weaver, Randy’s wife went down to where the boy lay and carried his body back to an outbuilding near the cabin. There they removed the child’s clothing and bathed his wounds and prepared the body. The next evening Weaver’s oldest daughter, Sarah, sixteen, Kevin, and Randy went back to the shed to have a last look at Sam. When they did, government snipers opened fire. Randy was hit in the shoulder. The three turned and ran for the house where Vicki, with her 10 month old baby in her arms stood holding the door open. As the 3 entered the house Vicki was shot and slowly fell to her knees, her head resting on the floor like one kneeling in prayer. Randy ran up and took the baby that she clutched, and then he lifted his wife’s head. Half her face was blown away.
Kevin was also hit. Huge areas of muscle in his arm were blown out, and his lung was punctured in several places. Randy and his 16 year old daughter stretched the dead mother on the floor of the cabin and covered he with a blanket where she remained for over 8 days as the siege progressed. By this time there were officers by the score, troops, armored personnel carriers, helicopters, radios, televisions, robots, and untold armaments surrounding the little house. I will not burden you with the misery and horror the family suffered in this stand-off. I will tell you that finally Bo Gritz, Randy’s former commander in the special forces, came to help in the negotiations. Gritz told Randy that if he would surrender, Gritz would guarantee him a fair trial, and before the negotiations were ended, Randy came to the belief that I would represent him. Although Gritz had contacted me before I had spoke to Randy, I had only agreed to talk to Randy. But the accuracy of what was said between Gritz and me and what was heard by Randy somehow got lost in the horror, and Randy’s belief that I would represent him if he surrendered was in part, his motivation for finally submitting to arrest.
Found here.
UPDATE: More information here.
Don’t be food!
An excerpt…
…One sheep spoke up, saying “It is his teeth and claws that make the wolf so terrible to us. It is his nature to prey, and he would find any way to do it, but it is the tools he wields that make it possible. If we had such teeth, we could fight back, and stop this savagery.” The other sheep clamored in agreement, and they went together to the old bones of the dead wolves heaped in the corner of the pasture, and gathered fang and claw and made them into weapons.
That night, when the wolves came, the newly armed sheep sprang up with their weapons and struck at them and cried “Begone! We are not food!” and drove off the wolves, who were astonished. When did sheep become so bold and so dangerous to wolves? When did sheep grow teeth? It was unthinkable!
The next day, flush with victory and waving their weapons, they approached the flock to pronounce their discovery. But as they drew nigh, the flock huddled together and cried out “Baaaaaaaadddd! Baaaaaddd things! You have bad things! We are afraid! You are not sheep!”
The brave sheep stopped, amazed. “But we are your brethren!” they cried, “We are still sheep, but we do not wish to be food. See, our new teeth and claws protect us and have saved us from slaughter. They do not make us into wolves, they make us equal to the wolves, and safe from their viciousness!”
“Baaaaaaaddd!”, cried the flock,”the things are bad and will pervert you, and we fear them. You cannot bring them into the flock. They scare us!”. So the armed sheep resolved to conceal their weapons, for although they had no desire to panic the flock, they wished to remain in the fold. But they would not return to those nights of terror, waiting for the wolves to come.
Go read it here.
Jeffersonian came over the other day to help me load some .45 ACP. I had misplaced the shell plate required for my press, so he brought his press over and set it up. All told, we got 315 rounds loaded in the time he was here, some of which was used up mounting and bracing the press so it would operate correctly. Additional time was spent in sorting through my brass when it was discovered that the tumbler media I’d used (walnut with red polishing compound in it) had clogged many of the flash holes. Once we got the clear brass sorted out we primed it and ran it through the press. The load we ended up using was a 230gn LRN bullet over 5.6gn W231 with a CCI #300 Large Pistol Primer. The loaded cartridges ended up with an average COAL of 1.266″. This is slightly shorter than the 1.27″ the book lists, but my Witness magazines are slightly shorter than the average .45 ACP magazine so these should work fine in it.
In order, the operations performed were: Powder and expansion, bullet seating and then a taper crimp was applied with a Lee FCD.
Here’s Jeffersonian manning the press while I was busy priming:
Here’s the end result. Shiny!
Some observations I’ve come to since then are:
In addition to the above reloaded ammo, I’ve got at least that many empty, sized cases waiting to be loaded now, and around 300 or so cases that need to be deprimed and sized. With a progressive press and everything running right, it doesn’t take long at all to churn out a large amount of finished ammunition.
I haven’t had a chance to shoot this load at the range yet, but when I’ll do I’ll try and update this post with some perfomance info. According to the book, MV should be around 843 fps, but the real world often times varies from what the book says. I’ll also update this post with other things as I think about it.
Many thanks go to Jeffersonian for taking the time and furnishing equipment so I could get some .45 ACP loaded in time for the Turkey Shoot this Saturday.
Via Jeffersonian. Click here to go to the BBTI website. This sounds like fun to me! 
Why “ballistics by the inch”? Well, just about forever people have wondered what kind of trade-off one made in choosing a gun with a short barrel - how much power were you giving up for convenience/concealability? There has been a lot of anecdotal information available - comparing this 2″ .38 to that 6″ .38, or a longslide .45 to an officer’s pistol with a shorter barrel - but there hasn’t been much in the way of consistent research made available to the average gun owner. In the 1980s American Rifleman did some tests using a .44 mag revolver, cutting the barrel down from 18″ to 1″, and back in the 1930s someone did something similar with a 30-30. But just try and find that data quickly. And further, how does that data compare to your 9mm or .32? Do they all lose power at the same rate? Are some ammos better for your purpose than others?
We were curious just exactly what the drop-off in velocity was for a given caliber over a range of barrel lengths, and using a variety of available ammunition. So, we decided to do some actual testing. And, we wanted to make this information freely available as a service to gun owners everywhere. This website is the result.
Found this Photoshop of the H-S Precision trophy room page here. Still no official word from them or an explanation as to why they used a letter from Lon “I kill Women & Children” Horiuchi to endorse their products.
Click to see bigger. Look at the top left…
From CVS’s website:
Guns are completely safe — as long as they’re unloaded, locked away, and never touched. But as soon as a bullet enters the chamber and a hand nears the trigger, guns become a serious hazard to children. In the United States 2,852 children and teenagers died of gunshot wounds in 2004, and more than four times that many suffered acute injuries — many of them in the home.
Of course, the surest way to protect your child from guns is to keep them out of his life.…
…
When is a child old enough to use a gun responsibly?
Never, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. This is what the distinguished organization has to say about children and guns: Never allow your child access to your gun(s). No matter how much instruction you may give him or her, a youngster in the middle years is not mature and responsible enough to handle a potentially lethal weapon. Certainly the recent wave of school massacres give ample evidence of that.
I don’t know about you, but I will never shop at CVS until they take this down and repudiate this BS.
From the “The Police will protect me!” file.
“Towards the station entrance, there are a number of bookshops and one of the bookstore owners was trying to close his shop,” he recalled. “The gunmen opened fire and the shopkeeper fell down.”
But what angered Mr D’Souza almost as much were the masses of armed police hiding in the area who simply refused to shoot back. “There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything,” he said. “At one point, I ran up to them and told them to use their weapons. I said, ‘Shoot them, they’re sitting ducks!’ but they just didn’t shoot back.”
As the gunmen fired at policemen taking cover across the street, Mr D’Souza realised a train was pulling into the station unaware of the horror within. “I couldn’t believe it. We rushed to the platform and told everyone to head towards the back of the station. Those who were older and couldn’t run, we told them to stay put.”
The militants returned inside the station and headed towards a rear exit towards Chowpatty Beach. Mr D’Souza added: “I told some policemen the gunmen had moved towards the rear of the station but they refused to follow them. What is the point if having policemen with guns if they refuse to use them? I only wish I had a gun rather than a camera.”
Read the whole thing here.
When I got up this morning I discovered a couple visitors in my back yard. I managed to grab my camera and capture a photo of each of them without scaring them off.
