The Real Gun Guys

Today’s Funny

…a day late. Sorry about that, but it’s a goody…

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Police Ammo Tests

Worried about picking the right load for your carry gun? Worry no more, the tests have been done for you. This article in the Shooting Times discusses how using laboratory tests and real world data, police at the Dallas Crime Lab were able to accurately predict a cartridges stopping power. It’s long, but a very interesting read.

Here’s an excerpt:

Two patrolmen asked a man for identification. Instead, the suspect produced a .25 ACP pistol and dropped one officer with a bullet to the kneecap. The second officer quickly emptied his .357 Mag. revolver at close range, only to watch the suspect stroll away as if nothing had happened, still holding the little pistol at his side.

The uninjured officer managed to fumble three or four fresh cartridges into his revolver and ran after the suspect. He yelled to turn the man and was taking up the trigger slack when the suspect’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fell. He had been hit hard in the first volley, but the effects were delayed. The injured officer recovered uneventfully, but the shooter remained comatose and died about a week later.

The medical findings were eye-poppers. In the initial flurry of .357 Mag. bullets, one fired parallel to the plane of the shoulders struck the suspect in the left armpit and traveled across the left lung and lodged lightly in the heart muscle. The officer had purchased a 110-grain JHP load with very fragile bullet construction; the jacket appeared to have been designed for .38 Spl. velocities. The wound-cavity volume the load produced in gelatin was about 51?2 times that of the baseline .38 Spl. and very high among wound volume producers, yet it failed to stop a dangerous man.

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CCW Saves Lives, Again!

It’s happened again, this time in Winnemucca, NV. A murderer walked into a local bar there and opened fire, killing two and injuring two more, before he was shot and killed by a private citizen carrying a concealed handgun. The hero who took the killer out has a valid concealed carry permit from the state of Nevada, which doesn’t disallow carrying concealed weapons in bars, lucky for them.

“I was there. I saw everything,” said Hayes, who lay stomach down on the floor just six feet away from shooter Ernesto Fuentes Villagomez, 30, of Winnemucca. “(Villagomez) looked very determined. You could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t just shooting random people. He was focused on those two.”

The two were Winnemucca residents and brothers Jose Torres, 20, and Margarito Torres, 19, who Villagomez shot with a high-capacity handgun about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, police said. Residents of Winnemucca, a town of 8,000 people about 160 miles northeast of Reno, still were reacting Monday to the shooting, saying they couldn’t believe this could happen in their town.

“I’m just sad that something like this could happen in a little town like Winnemucca,” said resident Heather Huerta, 22. “I probably would feel different if someone from out of town did it. But having local residents involved makes it scary.”

At first, Hayes thought someone set off a firecracker in the bar; no warning or fight preceded the shooting. But once it became clear what was going on, everyone hit the floor, Hayes said. Including employees, about 40 people were in the bar, Hayes said, disputing police reports that about 300 patrons were in and around the bar.

“I saw (Villagomez) shoot one guy, come back around and shoot the other guy,” Hayes said.

Villagomez then started walking toward the middle of the bar before suddenly collapsing to the floor. Hayes later found out that Villagomez was shot by a 48-year-old customer from Reno who was carrying a concealed handgun. Authorities declined to release the Reno man’s name, only saying that the man had a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon. The man was released after authorities ruled the death a justifiable homicide.

“He was just some random guy in jeans and a shirt who happened to be there,” Hayes said. “I was just glad that there was somebody there who was able to help us out.”

(h/t) Say Uncle and Dustin’s Gun Blog.

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Terminal Ballistics as Viewed in a Morgue

I just read a very interesting piece on the subject from the point of view of a Coroner. It’s taken from a message board where he was answering questions posed by the members. It’s very interesting, but if you don’t want to read it all, here’s the summary:

“Bigger is better than small with an exception made for the 125 gn .357 Magnum. Shotgun, Rifle and then Pistol. Speer Gold Dot Hollow Points.”

One of the benefits of working in a morgue is that I get to see what works and what doesn’t. Ballistic gelatin is good as far as it goes, but there’s nothing like seeing what a bullet actually does once it strikes bone, flesh, and organs. Suffice it to say, it doesn’t always mimic ballistic gelatin.

The other is that I get to hear some great CCW stories. Here’s one of them…

Click here to read it all.

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Governor Gregoire Signs Griego Act

The Griego Act is named after the University of Washington employee who was shot to death by an ex-boyfriend, who then shot and killed himself. If you are unfamiliar with The Griego Act, this is from the sponsors website:

OLYMPIA – On a unanimous vote today, the House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 6357, now known as the Rebecca Jane Griego Act, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle. The bill was written following the tragic murder of Rebecca Griego, a University of Washington employee that was killed by an ex-boyfriend whom she had previously attempted to serve with a protection order.

Before today’s vote, Rebecca Griego’s mother and sister, Diane Perry and Rachel Griego, testified in the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 20, and spoke of the difficulties Rebecca had in serving the protection order that could have helped save her life. Currently, protection orders must be served on the abuser in person, and there are no clearly defined limits to how many times a victim must return to court if the authorities are not able to locate and serve the abuser. Under Kohl-Welles’ bill, courts may not require a domestic violence victim to make more than two attempts at serving a protection order in person.

“With this unanimous vote in the House, the Rebecca Griego act is one step closer to becoming law,” said Kohl-Welles. “This legislation will provide uniformity across the state in making it easier for victims to serve process by mail or by publication when an abuser has successfully avoided being served in person.”

This act makes it easier to serve restraining orders in domestic abuse cases. What good it would have done for Rebecca Griego I haven’t a clue. She got a restraining order against this creep, which he ignored and killed her.

Unless a restraining order is printed on Kevlar it’s worthless.

If I had my choice between a piece of paper and a good 1911 shooting 230 gn hollow points over 1,000 FPS, I’m going to take the pistol. Of course the state has decided, in their infinite wisdom to ban the possession of the very thing which could have saved her life. Several students testified at the hearing in favor of allowing permit holders to CCW on campus, but they were ignored. I’m not surprised.

I predict more of the same in the future unless the government comes to it’s senses and eliminates the victim rich shooting zones otherwise known as “Gun Free Zones.”

I’m not holding my breath.

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