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Tuesday, July 3, 2018

July 3, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Is .380 acp Enough For Self Defense? Federal HST vs. Ribs"--GY6vids (7 min.)
Another video review of the Federal HST in .380, this time against both bare gel and 4 layers of t-shirt material over pork ribs in front of the gel. It did very well overall. The only issues with expansion was a couple shots that went high and penetrated just t-shirt (8 layers where the shirt had been folded in half) and the plastic used to wrap the ribs--the material apparently clogged the hollow point and prevented expansion. 

  • "Review: Thompson Center’s T/CR22 (10/22 Clone)"--The Firearm Blog. TC has released a semi-auto .22 that is basically a copy of the Ruger 10/22, but comes standard with some features which would normally need to be upgraded with the Ruger: a threaded muzzle, a Picatinny optic rail already attached, and a round, knurled bolt handle. TC also has a couple of improvements: for instance, although the rifle will use standard Ruger 10/22 magazines, TC's rotary magazines allow you to use a bolt hold open device on the TC rifle. It also comes with iron sights, including a peep rear sight behind the Picatinny rail.
  • "8 Need-to-Know Essentials of Shotgun Shells"--Shooting Illustrated. A how-to on deciphering the numbers on the sides of a box of shot shells.
  • For all the bird-hunters that thought that the government would never come after their shotguns: "Maryland Governor Candidate Ben Jealous Suggests Ban on Shotguns"--The Truth About Guns.
  • "HK P30 SK LEM Tabletop Video Review"--The Loadout Room. A review of HK's subcompact 9 mm. I'm beginning to see a common theme here: 
Hammer-fired is smartly making a comeback.  With the current trend of appendix carry folks are starting to appreciate the additional safety a hammer can provide.  Pistols like the HK P30 offer a hammer to rest your thumb on while holstering.  No amount of snagging or obstruction can pull the trigger without a clear tactile warning transferring into your thumb. 
  • A couple on the Mini-14:
  • "How to Accurize the Mini 14 Rifle"--The Survivalist Blog. The author discusses some basic improvements, such as getting the trigger worked on, mounting optics and/or getting better iron sights (such as the Tech Sights). But one point is figuring out which rounds best work in your particular rifle. The author writes:
Know the rifling twist of your barrel! Modern production Mini-14’s have 1:9 twist barrels, and will shoot most bullets well enough, but will do best with a 62-66gr. bullet. Older rifles had everything from 1:7, 1:9 or 1:10 twist rates. If you are unsure, Ruger can tell you if you provide them your rifle’s serial number.
When eliminating a sentry in a war-time scenario, the soldier stalks toward his target from behind while keeping a low profile in order not to cast large shadows.  On final approach, the soldier places his weak side hand behind the target’s head.  Finally, using the hand hold, the soldier flips the garrote wire over the sentry’s head, hooking it under his chin before wrenching back on the hand hold.  According to what I’ve read, this produces a nearly instantaneous and silent kill.  
  • This is from last week, but still worth looking at the surveillance video: "Shocking moment gunman steps out of a car on Philadelphia street and fatally shoots a motorist"--Daily Mail. This would be hard to guard against. The hitman (because that is what this was--a hit), is the passenger in a car that pulls up next to the victim's car. The hitman opens his door, steps out, and shoots through the victim through the open door of the victim's car at very short range. Interestingly, the victim was in the rear seat of the vehicle, and it doesn't look like the car even came to a full stop during the shooting.
  • "Videos show gunfire amid Iran protests over water scarcity"--CNBC. These videos were apparently recorded on Sunday. The protests seem to be perpetuating and getting more violent, but the media is barely paying attention. According to the article:
The protests around Khorramshahr, some 400 miles southwest of Tehran, come as residents of the predominantly Arab city near the border with Iraq complain of salty, muddy water coming out of their taps amid a years-long drought.
Local residents in Venezuela staged further protests on Monday as the failed socialist country now appears to be running out of clean water. Multiple groups of demonstrators blocked highways around the capital of Caracas to protest the lack of clean water supplies.
       [The memo] details how the caucus server, run by then-caucus Chairman Rep. Xavier Becerra, was secretly copied by authorities after the House Inspector General (IG) identified suspicious activity on it, but the Awans’ physical access was not blocked. 
       But after, the report reads, the server appears to have been secretly replaced with one that looked similar.
  • Related: "The Coming Civil War"--Patheos. According to the author, if civil war comes, it will be the fault of white evangelicals. He writes:
       On the far right of the field stand the conservative Christians who felt their very way of life was coming under attack. They turned inward and became defensive, steeling their resolve, absolutely blind to their own bigotry. They saw a man claiming he’d make America great again. When they heard that, they thought of themselves as benevolent Christians who would save the nation from fire and brimstone. In doing so, they ignored the dark history hearkened by the MAGA dog whistle. Their wagons firmly hitched to a charlatan, these far-right Christians are now continually forced to defend a tyrant.
           Millions of others stand on the left side of the battlefield. There is much diversity on this side of the field. There are people of many different cultural backgrounds, faiths, and orientations. Some of us believe in many of the same tenets as those on the other side and some of us see things very differently. That frightens many who stand on the right, but it shouldn’t because, despite how some conservatives try to paint it, that is exactly why our country was founded–that diversity is stitched into our DNA just a surely as it was scribed onto our Constitution. We don’t want this war to come, we just want our nation to live up to its creed. We just want equality, fairness, human dignity and decency to be our hallmark. We just want to be who we’ve said we are from the beginning, but history has shown that we have far too seldom lived up to it.
            In the last year and a half our nation has begun to circle back to a dark path we’ve repeated over and over in a vicious circle. It’s time we change course and finally become what we’ve said we are from the beginning.
              We stand on a battlefield. Civil war is coming if we don’t act to stop it. We have a chance to change course and write our own history or to stumble ahead and repeat it.
        This, even though Democrats are more likely to believe that a Civil War is coming.
        • Related: "Avoiding A New Civil War"--Huffington Post. Another article blaming white people for social turmoil. But the author reassures his readers that "America has never been a white nation and it never will be." But he warns his white readers: "We whites had better get used to it. We will be a minority a few decades from now. It would be a good idea for us to treat minorities today like we will want our children to be treated in the future."
                  We should think about what kind of civil war to expect, if one is coming. The Civil War as it was actually fought was not as tidy as the Civil War of national memory. But it was fought — the part we memorialize, anyway — between armies which marched into battle in straight lines, led by officers trained in the traditions of the Napoleonic Wars.
                     A second civil war would be nothing like that. It wouldn’t be a war between the states — formal secession seems unlikely — but a war within the states, waged over a vast battlefield of target-rich public spaces. It might begin as some crazed approximation of red versus blue, but it would quickly fragment into all manner of score settling. People would end up killing each other over issues and for causes that we haven’t even thought of yet. The various branches of the military and law enforcement would be less likely to wage war on each other than to face a deadly mission, not unlike what they contended with in Iraq after the fall of Saddam.
            Iraq will have been a cake walk compared to a U.S. civil war.
                     Police said the woman got out to close her garage door when the teenagers approached her, grabbed her and violently took her keys. Shannon reportedly held down Barna while Jones backed out of the driveway, running over Barna and Shannon in the process.
                      Barna suffered major injuries including a fractured skull and broken back. Shannon suffered injuries to his legs, however, was able to help pull Barna back into the garage before the teenagers fled in her car.
                         On June 20 – two days before police found Barna’s body – surveillance video showed two males entering a Denny’s restaurant near the woman’s home after parking a similar Buick at the eatery.
                           Employees told ABC 13 that the teens order about $50 worth of food and then tried to “dine and dash.” 
                         While it remains economically dependent on the existing government, Cherán has achieved something unthinkable in Michoacán: a dramatic drop in murder rates, with rates for other serious crimes hovering at nearly zero.
                             For many in Mexico, especially in an election year marred by wanton political murders, Cherán stands as proof that, in the country’s entrenched cycle of violence, the key ingredient is the state. Remove that ingredient, and it’s possible to start from scratch.
                      Perhaps the problem in other countries is also the government? Maybe?
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