February 26, 2019 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"7.62x39 Herters 154gr soft point test and teardown"--The Ammo Channel (5 min.)

Absolutely no expansion in ballistic gel, and it did not yaw until so far it would have exited most animals. The reason is, like other Herters ammunition, it uses a thick steel jacket on the bullet that is simply too strong to allow fragmentation and expansion.

• This week's Woodpile Report. Ol' Remus spends some time in this post discussing the lack of basic, ground breaking scientific theories or new technologies. And it is true that we have a lot of mature or nearly mature technologies, and that physicists have been slow on giving us any new theories on which to base future technologies. As to the former, we've reached a stage where much of our technological development is refining what came before. But such refinement! You can't compare the electronic computers of the 1950s to the computers of today. As for the lack of physicists to come up with ground breaking new theories, the major problem is that jobs and tenure come from toeing the line, not striking off in new directions.
• "Precision AR-15 CAD Files for 3D Printing Released Via Twitter In Defiance Of New Jersey Threats"--The Truth About Guns.  (See also this post at Loose Rounds). IvanTheTroll12 worked with Defense Distributed to improve the original defense distributed plans for the AR, and put together CAD plans for every piece on the AR rifle. And, in a big middle finger to New Jersey authorities, the CAD plans were uploaded to the Internet. You can download them from this link. Just a warning: the zipped file is over 200 megabytes.
• "Small arms influx into Nigeria… Y-man’s perspective…"--The Firearm Blog. Since private firearms ownership is all but banned in Nigeria, there is a robust black market in smuggling in and selling weapons. While weapons such as the AK remain popular, recent seizures of smuggled arms indicate an increased preference for shotguns. The author suggests that this reflects a growing demand for self-defense weapons.
• U.S. imports in the future? "Saudi Arabia to Receive First AK-103s Soon"--The Firearm Blog. The interesting part of this article is not that the Saudis will begin receiving shipments of AK-103s, but that they will be manufacturing them under license in Saudi Arabia, including manufacturing for export to other countries.
• "Ballot measures: the new battle for gun rights"--Gun Nuts Media. Caleb explains:

        Ballot measures are a form of direct democracy, while they come in several flavors, what they allow is for the citizens to create a new law (or repeal an existing law) by voting directly for or against. All 50 states allow some type of ballot measure, and almost half allow ballot initiatives, which are placed on the ballot by citizens or groups that get enough signatures to put a matter to a popular vote. Ballot measures are also incredibly dangerous for gun rights. The danger in a ballot measure is that since it is voted up or down directly, they’re incredibly susceptible to message manipulation.

       Look no further than the “success” of three anti-gun ballot initiatives in my home state of Washington to understand the blueprint. Take an extremely complicated issue, distill it down to a 30-second soundbite, and get it on the ballot. Make sure your messaging is such that any dissent would involve a nuanced understanding of current gun laws or something technical, and boom you’ve got a ballot measure that stands a good chance of passing. Washington was a test run for ballot measures in other states.

• "HOUSE DEMS FILE ‘ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN OF 2019’ AND THAT’S JUST FOR STARTERS"--Guns.com. A quick overview of the various anti-gun bills before Congress, including one that would make AR pistols, AK pistols, and the like, NFA items.
• "Black Powder -- Part I of III- Invention to Explosion"--American Shooting Journal. The article includes a nice summary of the difference grades of powder (referring to how fine it is):

• FG A course powder suited for small cannons and large-caliber rifles from about .58 caliber on up.

• 1½ FG A high-grade Swiss powder used for match shooting.

• FFG Used for muzzle-loading rifles from .45 to .58 especially with mini or maxi balls. This powder can also be used for patched round balls.

• FFFG Used for cap-and-ball revolvers, cartridge handguns and small-caliber rifles. This powder can also be used for blanks and shotgun loads.

• FFFFG This is a very fine powder whose primary use is priming a flintlock. It can also be used for blanks and in small derringers.

• I wish I had known about this product when doing my AK and CETME builds: "Gunsmithing Your AR? ShapeLock is here to help!"--The New Rifleman. The author relates:

       It comes in a bag of round, white beads. The beads are placed in hot water for a short amount of time until they become translucent. Once translucent, the Shape Lock becomes similar to a clear putty. I find it incredibly easy to make jigs for various firearm components out of this material.

       One example I can think of that I have used over and over again is a front sight base jig. Brownells sells a FSB jig, but if you read the reviews many people comment how it doesn’t work when they have free float rail X, Y, or Z installed. Solution? Shape Lock.

       If you are unhappy with the outcome of the mold, the shape can be recycled into a new shape simply by placing it in hot water again. This lets you recycle the shape lock for years.

      The completed jig will be a perfect fit for your project and if you are wrenching on your AR at home, this product will help tremendously. I have used it for a jig to hold the rear sight assembly while I install the windage roll pin as well as well as numerous other small projects.

I have a wooden block with a shallow groove and in which I drilled some holes to act as something similar to a Wheeler Bench Block, but I cannot tell you how many times I have resorted to using a roll of masking tap to prop up a barrel or receiver while I tap a pin into place because the block was not quite the right thickness or shape. But these are poor substitutes because they don't necessarily match the shape you need to fully support the firearm--something especially critical if you are trying to use a hydraulic press to seat a pin that is off center or otherwise will tend to twist the firearm or part.

• For the firearms history buff: "The Gatling Gun" at Historical Firearms. A detailed look at how the Gatling gun works as well its history.
• Last week I noted an article from Civilian Gunfighter discussing the new FBI qualification. Greg Ellifritz has an article up also discussing the new qualification and discussing how to effectively use it as part of your training regimen. 
• "Watching the Skies"--Sparks31. A look at some open sources that allow you to monitor air traffic. 
• A couple reviews of the Bioscarf from Survival Common Sense and Surviving Prepper. It is a scarf that is designed to also provide air filtration--supposedly equivalent to the 3M N95 air filter. Unfortunately, neither review really addresses the air filtering abilities. Nevertheless, the N95 filter is only rated to filter out particulates (e.g., smoke) or biological aerosols including viruses and bacteria, but they are not rated to protect against gases, such as ozone, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, which is common in smog. Thus, according to the foregoing article, the N95 probably would not provide much protection against tear gas. (See also this article from the Washington Post discussing the use of masks and filters for protection during a terrorist attack). Prices appear to be about $45 for the scarf, which comes in different colors. The company also makes a product called BioGaiter which is available for $30 from Amazon.
• A thoughtful article from Preparing for SHTF on how you might react (or need to react) if SHTF and your friends or neighbors come knocking at your door. The author is cynical about survival groups:

        There would be too many variables and too many people with opinions. There would not be any way to enforce the rules that were established before the crisis, so this means at the first sign of trouble, the group would likely dissolve. The point is you will be once again alone with your family when the SHTF and you may be surrounded by unprepared friends and neighbors, so now what.

       Now you have to deal with neighbors, others in the neighborhood, and possibly even friends that did not see the need to prepare and some may have even scoffed at the idea of becoming a Prepper, but now things have changed. They will need help, and some of your so-called friends may not bother asking, they may just try to take what they need by any means possible.

• Last week I discussed the post from the blog, Design Mom, entitled, "It’s Too Late. You’ve Lost Your Guns." Some of the statements sounded familiar, and digging around, I came across an Esquire article from May 2018 entitled, "Okay, Now I Actually Do Want To Take Your Guns." The author of the Esquire article wrote:

So now I’m angry. Now I’m finished trying to reason with you. So now I, a guy who was ambivalent about guns just a few years ago, want to take your guns away. All of them. I want to take them all and melt them down and shape them into a giant sphere and then push it at you so you have to run away from it like Indiana Jones for the rest of your lives. I want Ted Nugent to roam the halls of his gunless house, sighing wearily until he dies. I want to end this thing once and for all, so that all of you who have prioritized the sale of guns over the lives of children have to sit quietly and think about what you’ve done. God help me, I want to take all of your guns out of your hands, by myself, right now.

"[Y]ou who have prioritized the sale of guns over the lives of children"? Really? Coming from those that prioritize a woman's convenience over the life of a baby? Who have destroyed the nuclear family? Those who believe "[w]hat’s a few school shootings compared to pumping your child full of SSRI’s to make him a manageable zombie instead of a kid?" 

       The author of the Esquire article ended his article with what he probably believed was an olive branch, pleading "let’s meet in the middle."  David Codrea responded to the Esquire article, stating, in no uncertain terms, that "[w]e have no interest in meeting you or any other useful idiot apparatchik so that you can incrementally infringe rights you have no claim to. We know the end game and we’re ceding no ground from which to launch the next  incursion. That would make as much sense as throwing a scrap of flesh to a circling pack of hyenas and expecting it to sate them and persuade them to be on their way." Here, here.

"Clipper Lighers: Very Cool Refillable Lighters!"--FerFal (5 min.)

• "Indian air strikes target militants in Pakistan"--BBC. From the article:

       India says it launched air strikes against militants in Pakistani territory, in a major escalation of tensions between the two countries.

       The government said strikes targeted a training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group in Balakot.

      Pakistan said its jets had forced back the Indian planes and denied there were any casualties.

      Relations between the two countries have been strained since an attack on Indian troops earlier this month.

• Guess the party! "White Maryland legislator 'referred to a majority-black county as a "n***** district" during after-hours meeting with colleagues at a cigar bar'"--Daily Mail. The article mentions the party affiliation of all of the other politicians mentioned in the article, but not that of Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti who made the comment. Fortunately we have Wikipedia, which tells us that Lisanti is a Democrat. 
• Senate Democrats vote against saving baby's lives. Per the article, "[t]he Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, which would have ensured that babies who survive abortions are given medical attention." Remember this the next time that Democrats begin to pontificate about how gun control is necessary to protect children. More from The Last Refuge. In 2015 (apparently the last year statistics are available), the CDC reported that there were 638,169 abortions performed in the United States, but since not all states report this information to the CDC, the actual number would be higher. Compare this to around 1,300 children dying per year from gunshot wounds. Basically, the number that die from abortions is at least 491 times higher than deaths from gunshots. 
• Hating on Whitey: "The Best Joke at This Year’s Oscars Was a Hidden One"--MSN.com. Trevor Noah was one of the presenters at this year's Oscars. He finished his presentation with a phrase in Xhosa (a South African language) that he told the audience meant: “In times like this we are stronger when we fight together than when we try to fight apart.” He lied. What the phrase in Xhosa actually meant was: “White people don’t know I’m lying.” Yeah, white people are stupid because they don't understand an obscure African dialect. Well, I think Noah is a 馬鹿野郎 and an あほ.
• As a follow up to yesterday's post that mentioned that African Methodists were rejecting the entreaties of SJW's even if it meant the loss of monies from the United Methodists: "Conservative Christians Just Retook the United Methodist Church"--The Atlantic. From the article:

At a special conference in St. Louis this week, convened specifically to address divisions over LGBT issues, members voted to toughen prohibitions on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy. This was a surprise: The denomination’s bishops, its top clergy, pushed hard for a resolution that would have allowed local congregations, conferences, and clergy to make their own choices about conducting same-sex marriages and ordaining LGBT pastors. This proposal, called the One Church Plan, was designed to keep the denomination together. Methodist delegates rejected their recommendations, instead choosing the so-called Traditional Plan that affirmed the denomination’s teachings against homosexuality.

The article notes that progressive congregations may seek to leave the United Methodist Church over this matter, but risk losing property or money. 

• Thought crime: "Scientists: CO2 the ‘miracle molecule’ key to feeding, saving the world"--Washington Examiner. These scientists see increased CO2 as a boon rather than a bane. History supports them, as high CO2 levels are, in the geological record, associated with more abundant plant growth; and this is the reason that CO2 is pumped into greenhouses. 

“A continuation of the current upward trend in the atmosphere’s CO2 concentration is essential for securing future food security. Any efforts to slow it because of the risks of predicted climate changes must also consider the risks of limiting its benefits to agricultural, nature and humanity,” said the report.

• "You've Come a Long Way, Baby — or Have You?"--Michael Walsh at PJ Media discusses the court decision that opens the way to women being drafted. Of course, the attempts to integrate women and promote women within the military has been a disaster, Walsh writes, with particular emphasis on the 2017 collision between the USS Fitzgerald and a Japanese cargo vessel. Walsh observes:

        What started the push for women in the military and then later (something they assured us would never happen) in combat was the profoundly anti-female "feminist" notion that the Platonic Form of a woman is a man: a gorgeous 120-pound kick-ass lethal weapon that can take out a score of hombres with practically her bare hands, and then look great that evening in a cocktail dress, high heels, and a diamond choker. Nobody really believes in such a creature, of course, but such is the power of the Narrative (what ought to be) over human nature (what really is) that Hollywood has swallowed the fantasy whole; then again, fantasy is Hollywood's stock-in-trade.

        The "feminist" war is not with men, but with God. And yet we will go on indulging this fantasy until it becomes impossible to maintain, in which case it will quickly become a luxury we can no longer afford. As long as we have women playing at being soldiers while the U.S. plays at being at war in such places as Afghanistan (17 years and counting), not wishing to lose but not wishing to win, either. Grant, Sherman, or Patton would have disposed of our famously cowardly foes in the Middle East in a few horrifically punitive yet dispositive months with nary a woman at arms among them. This is not to denigrate the fighting abilities of our troops, nor their courage, commitment, or patriotism. No doubt some women have fought valiantly, and yes, the Israeli girls do their part; still, war is not a woman's game, and never has been.

• As if to underscore the ridiculousness of the Amazon myth: "Transgender sprinters finish 1st, 2nd at Connecticut girls indoor track championships"--Washington Times.