VOTD: "Section Fire and Manoeuvre"

      This training film appears to be from the 1970's or, perhaps early 1980's. The film is split into three parts on YouTube:

"Section Fire and Manoeuvre part 1"--smp220700 (15 min.)

"Section Fire and Manoeuvre part 2."--smp220700 (15 min.)

"Section Fire and Manoeuvre part 3"--smp220700 (4 min.)

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. 

February 25, 2019 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"UFC Fighter w/ Knife vs Gun Fighter"--Warrior Poet Society (15 min.)

This video starts with the combatants in a position faced by George Zimmerman: good guy on the ground and the bad guy on top. The bad guy in the video has access to a knife; the good guy has a gun in an AIWB carry. As you would expect, the fight is over control of the weapons, especially the gun. The scenario was run three times: the bad guy won the first, the second was draw (both would have mortally wounded the other) and the third was a win for good guy (who got hold of the bad guy's knife). In the first iteration, the good guy could not draw his pistol because it got tangled up in his clothing--although this obviously could happen with any weapon, a weapon using a hammer (especially a spur hammer) would be especially problematic. Because of the possibility of a gun fight becoming a fight for the gun, Greg Ellifritz has recommended against certain holsters and certain types of safeties. While I wasn't so sure about Ellifritz's advise against weapons with grip safeties because of possible fatigue issues, I was wrong. You can see in this video how a fight could drag on leaving you very fatigued, and possibly having to shoot from some odd angles. If this subject interests you, you might want to check out the book Gunfight! by Richard Nance (I have a review here).

• "To Permit Murder When One Could Have Prevented It Is Morally Wrong"--The Captain's Journal. Quote: "Any man who refuses to protect his wife and children against a violent intruder fails them morally."
• The other day, I linked to an article talking about Evil (versus the more pedestrian evil that most of us will ever experience). Marcus Wynne has written about this in his response to a review of his novel, Warrior in the Shadows (btw, I've read this novel and would recommend it):

       The struggle between the dark and the light in people is a theme that occurs repeatedly in my work (as you'll see when you read the other books). I'm obsessed by human duality, especially in those who must deal with the dark and the light in their professional lives: soldiers, special operators, police, criminals, terrorists, murderers, assassins; The roots of that obsession go back to my teens in the late sixties and early seventies in the California Bay Area. 

        During those years, a serial killer murdered my priest in the church confessional; my friends found a murder victim beside a mountain trail; my girlfriend found the dismembered body parts of a woman strewn through her yard. I saw brutal drug rip offs as the outlaw biker gangs asserted their control over the gentle hippy dope growers and designer drug manufacturers. I met a man who raped women and tape recorded the rapes and played them for his amusement at parties. I stood in the dark woods one night, under a full moon, and watched a witch coven comprised of wealthy professionals conduct their dark Sabbath. Having witnessed those things at an early age, I knew evil as a tangible, dark presence in the world. What I discovered that was so fascinating about truly evil people was that they weren't, at least at first glance, overtly evil. They were interesting, funny, charming, intelligent, until their malevolence shone through. I wanted to protect people from what I had seen. 

He also noted that "[v]illains don't think of themselves as villains, and even the most reprehensible has, to someone, somewhere, some redeeming quality." Read the whole thing.

• "Dangerous Inanimate Objects?"--Active Response Training. An excerpt:

      It is those with a very strong anti-gun bias that would assert leaps of logic to support their accusations that a gun is at fault for an incident, joining forces that have long worked to disarm the populace. Throughout world history, wherever genocide has occurred, the populace had first been disarmed. Those that might imagine that it could not happen today, have a problem believing that evil exists. Down through world history, governments have disarmed their citizens only to tyrannize those citizens once they were disarmed.

       Take a look at the Gun Control & Genocide page by Fr. John Peck. See the chart (copied below) documenting just a few examples from recent history where “gun control” laws were immediately followed by tyrannical government abuses. “Gun control” laws and government genocide campaigns have helped slaughter over 56 million people worldwide.

• God--He's a really smart guy: "Post-Grid Hygiene Considerations"--Mountain Guerrilla. A discussion of using the hygiene principles outlined in the Mosaic Law to prevent the spread of disease in an extended grid-down situation.
• "How to use a Rifle Sling"--Lucky Gunner Lounge. A short primer on why slings are useful to carry a rifle, or added stability when shooting, as well as discussing using single-point, two-point and three-point slings.
• "The Temple Index – Real World vs the Range"--Monderno. Sometimes called the "high vertical ready," "high ready" or (with a rifle) "high port". It isn't the optimal way of holding a firearm since a bullet that goes up must also come down. The author notes, however, that this technique is useful for specific situations. For instance:

... it was for use maneuvering inside a vehicle for Personal Security Detail purposes.  It was used to safely pivot in a seat without muzzling other passengers to engage a threat inside or outside of the cabin.  ...  Being able to maneuver in a seat with weapon drawn, be it with your family, fellow officers, soldiers, detail members or general passengers is tricky business with few physical techniques.

It can also be used "as a safe method to avoid muzzling unknowns as you exit a vehicle, especially in crowded areas," or, if you are maneuvering with a rifle, it can used when moving "through deep snow/brush and to navigate tight spaces or move quickly when running with a barrel-down would lead to a lot of barrel/leg contact."

• Mass shooters may be crazy, but they're not stupid: "97.8% of Mass Shootings Happen in So-Called ‘Gun-Free’ Zones"--The Truth About Guns. 
• The Pax Americana: "The world HAS become more peaceful"--Apollon. According to researches at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), "The wars before the Korean War killed four times as many people as the wars that followed." 
• "The Era of Urban Warfare is Already Here"--Foreign Policy Research Institute. While I commend the attention being given to urban conflict, the truth is that urban warfare has been a major issue for the United States since at least World War II. Reading about The Battle of Monte Cassino, one of the major battles of the Italian campaign, saw significant fighting within towns and villages, with extensive use of grenades for taking and clearing structures.
• "6.8 SPC vs. 300 BLK – Which Way to Go in an AR Platform Rifle?"--The Truth About Guns. One of the allures of the AR platform is (in theory) the ability to switch between uppers offering different calibers and/or capabilities. This is often easier said than done. For instance, as the author notes in this case, the .300 Blackout uses common magazines and a common bolt and bolt-carrier group, whereas the 6.8 SPC requires a different bolt and magazines. 

• Related: "Why Subsonic .300 BLK has Better ‘Trajectory’ than 6.8 SPC"--Ammo Land. The "trajectory" in the title refers to the greater popularity of the .300 BLK.

• "Weaponlights: Do They Belong on a CCW Gun?"--Shooting Illustrated.  Tamara Keel explains why she thinks weapons lights are great for a home defense pistol, or a police officer's duty pistol, but not on a CCL pistol. However, if you have only pistol, and it mounts a light, she believes that it is better to simply have the light on it all of the time. The remainder of the article discusses some concealed holsters that accommodate weapon lights.
• "TAFFIN: WHAT I CARRY AND HOW AND WHY"--Guns Magazine. John Taffin explains why his concealed carry choices are a S&W Model 340 J-Frame .357 Magnum (using .38 Special +P) and a NAA mini-revolver as backup.
• "Why You Should Choose a .380 ACP Semiauto for Self-Defense"--Shooting Times. There is still a size and weight advantage to .380 ACP over 9 mm, although that gap has closed significantly over the last several years. The author also discusses some of the carry ammo options that are available. 
• "Shocking moment a crazed man plunges a knife into the back of a 63-year-old THREE times during random attack at a LA donut store leaving the victim in critical condition"--The Daily Mail. The video shows how fast a knife attack can occur. Fortunately, the victim was only stabbed in the upper back, and survived the attack.
• Another reason to always carry a weapon, even if its a knife: "Owner of dog who attacked Detroit mail carrier ticketed, animal taken"--Fox2 Detroit. People tried hitting the dog with a broomstick, a trash container (the big ones that you leave on the curb), then a spatula and even a club steering wheel lock, all to no avail.

• Related: "Dealing With Attack Dogs: Techniques and Options"--Loadout Room. This is a lengthy article providing tips for avoiding a dog attack, and what to do (or not do) if you are attacked. It also includes a training drill that you can use to practice shooting at an attacking dog using a 2-liter soda bottle being pulled by a cord to represent the dog. And to sum up:

When stopping an Attacking Dog:

• Lower your center of gravity by bending your knees.

• Yell at the dog.

• Spray it with OC.

• If you can do it safely, shoot the dog before it bites you.

• When you can’t shoot the dog before it bites, control the attack by making the dog bite your weak arm.

• Do everything you can to stay on your feet.

• Shoot the dog in the chest or shoulder until it releases you.

• "Are We On The Road To Civilisation Collapse?"--BBC Future. 

      Great civilisations are not murdered. Instead, they take their own lives.

       So concluded the historian Arnold Toynbee in his 12-volume magnum opus A Study of History. It was an exploration of the rise and fall of 28 different civilisations.

        He was right in some respects: civilisations are often responsible for their own decline. However, their self-destruction is usually assisted.  

       The Roman Empire, for example, was the victim of many ills including overexpansion, climatic change, environmental degradation and poor leadership. But it was also brought to its knees when Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410 and the Vandals in 455.

Yet not a single word in the article about the migrant crises facing both Europe (from the Middle-East and Africa) or the United States (from Latin America).

• Germany demonstrates civilizational exhaustion: "Germany’s soldiers of misfortune"--Politico.  German's military suffers shortages of everything from underwear to flight capable jet fighters. And Germans are increasingly hostile to its primary protector, the United States. As the author of this piece notes, "Once one of the fiercest (and most brutal) fighting forces on earth, today’s German army increasingly looks more like a volunteer fire department[.]"

• Related: "Anti-Americanism: As German as Apple Strudel"--PJ Media. The author discusses both personal experiences and statistics showing that Germans don't particularly like Americans. He puts this down to cultural differences, and this:

Of course, Germans also hate America because it’s a superpower -- a superpower, moreover, just to rub it in, that, being isolationist at heart, never really set out to be a superpower, and that has accepted that role only out of concern for the preservation of international order and freedom. Germany, on the contrary, has been aching to be a superpower from the git-go. It has longed to rule. Back in the middle of the last century it went all in on the effort to control the world and failed disastrously -- and America alone, through the Marshall Plan, helped it to get back on its feet, repaying genocidal megalomania with magnanimous generosity. Who could ever forgive that?

• Related: "Germany's German Problem -- and Ours"--Michael Walsh at PJ Media. Another article discussing the disastrous problem facing German's military, and Germany's lackadaisical attitude toward it combined with their moral preening. The author notes, for instance:

        After the war, tamed and domesticated, and despite (or perhaps because of?) being bisected into capitalist and communist states, the Germans developed a cohesive civil society that abjured aggressive warfare and, shielded by the American nuclear umbrella and some 50,000 U.S. troops, turned into a pacifist state, especially after the fall of the Wall in 1989 and reunification. So... yay, right?

       Not so fast. Today, under the worst German chancellor since you-know-who, the Germans are once again part of the problem instead of the solution. Having had the starch beaten out of them by the Russians, the British, and the Americans during the war, and still bearing the enormous burden of their war crimes during the National Socialist period, the Germans have turned passive-aggressive, bullying the European Union while at the same time destabilizing the Continent with Angela Merkel's disastrous and inexplicable decision to throw open her country's -- and thus Europe's -- borders to more than a million mostly Muslim "refugees" and "asylum seekers," a move that will have deadly consequences in the future as a childless Europe moves toward senescence.

• "CEO Of U.S. Gun-Maker Faces Jail In Germany"--NPR. The company is Sig-Sauer and the CEO is Ron Cohen. The sale that has caused the problem was the sale of handguns to the Columbian National Police. Apparently, Columbia is on a list of "countries in conflict" to which Germany prohibits exports (and I thought they sold to anyone, but maybe its only to enemies of the US). Unfortunately, the end-user certificates for the pistols, manufactured in Germany, indicated that the pistols would be sold in the United States. However, after the pistols arrived in the United States, Sig USA then transferred them to Columbia. Interestingly, the article indicates that Sig only employees 73 people in Germany, while its New Hampshire facility has about 1,400 employees. 

"How Is 'Reasonableness' Defined?"--Active Self Protection (13 min.)

If you have to defend yourself, the standard against you will be measured is whether you acted "reasonably," used "reasonable" force, or "reasonably" were in fear of your life. This video discusses what is meant by "reasonable."

• This is a very big deal: "Navy files for patent on room-temperature superconductor"--Phys.org. Per the article:

"This concept enables the transmission of electrical power without any losses and exhibits optimal thermal management (no heat dissipation)," according to the patent document, "which leads to the design and development of novel energy generation and harvesting devices with enormous benefits to civilization."

Here is an article discussing just a few benefits to room-temperature superconductors.

• A flashback to 1989. At that time, the AP reported: "A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000." (H/t Instapundit).

• Related: "The growing season has not ended, and 2019 Arctic sea-ice extent is already higher than the previous four years and six out of the last 14 years."

• Related: "First measurable snow in Las Vegas since 1937." My father-in-law remembers the 1937 storm from when he was very young; he didn't even know what was snow, and asked his mother why someone had poured sugar all over the ground.

• Related: "Ice Tsunami Forces Residents To Evacuate Along Lake Erie"--CBS Pittsburgh.

• "Weak Solar Cycle: Cosmic rays increase 4th year in a row"--Watts Up With That. FYI: cosmic rays are linked to cloud formation, so in increase in cosmic rays should see more clouds.
• "The Obama FBI-DOJ Covered Up Clinton Foundation – AGT Crimes — KILLED INVESTIGATION BEFORE 2016 ELECTION"--Gateway Pundit. From the article:

       A 2016 DOJ criminal investigation was suppressed and buried by the DOJ/FBI that involved a major NY Democratic power broker and the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation.

      The investigation revolved around the illegal sale of controlled US homeland security technology to Russia and China in the years before the 2016 election.

      The DOJ terminated its internal investigation in 2016 despite clear and irrefutable evidence of criminal activity and hid it from the public!

• "No church can serve two masters"--Vox Popoli. The African Methodists reject same-sex marriage, ordination of homosexual ministers, at the risk of losing funding from the United Methodists. 
• But do they all have the same first name? "DETROIT WOMAN GIVES BIRTH TO HER 14TH CHILD FROM 14 DIFFERENT FATHERS"--World News Daily Report. And for added laughs: "Anita Sullivan says she’s been unlucky with relationships in the past, but she believes that this time she may have found the man of her life."

• Related: "Why Accepting The West’s Deluge Of Unmarried Child-Bearing Entrenches Injustice"--The Federalist. The article notes, for instance: "Specifically Child Trends reports that 42 percent of children living in single-mother families are impoverished, compared with 8 percent of children living in married-couple families. The same pattern holds for white, black, Hispanic, and Asian children. Forty-six percent of black and 48 percent of Hispanic children with an unmarried mother are living below the federal poverty line. Only 11 and 17 percent respectively are doing so that live with married parents."

• What's good for the goose is good for the gander (or vice versa in this case): "Women may have to register for the draft as federal judge in Texas declares the all-male military draft to be unconstitutional"--Daily Mail. 

        A federal judge in Texas has declared the all-male military draft to be unconstitutional ruling that 'the time has passed' for a debate on whether women belong in the military.


        U.S. District Judge Gray Miller ruled late on Friday that although historical restrictions on women serving in combat 'may have justified past discrimination,' men and women are now equally able to fight. 


      Restrictions for women in military service were lifted by the Pentagon in 2015. 


       The ruling could see and end to the Selective Service System which was upheld in the Supreme Court in 1981

• An interesting tale: "‘OUR BOSS WILL CALL YOUR BOSS:' FIVE AMERICANS ON 'GOVERNMENT MISSION' ARRESTED IN HAITI"--Newsweek. From the article:

       Five American men are among a group of heavily-armed foreign nationals arrested in Haiti amid ongoing anti-government protests in the poor Caribbean country.

       A group of eight people traveling in two cars were detained in the capital city of Port-au-Prince on Sunday, according to the BBC. The U.S. State Department has confirmed that American citizens are among those detained, while local media reports indicate there is also a Serbian, a Russian and a Haitian, Reuters reported.

      Haiti Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond confirmed to CNN that five of the eight prisoners are American citizens, though their identities have not yet been confirmed.

       Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste explained that police discovered automatic rifles, pistols, drones and satellite phones in two vehicles, which were reportedly traveling without number plates.

       The men were arrested at a police checkpoint close to the central bank, Joel Casseus, the head of the Port-au-Prince police station, told The Miami Herald. He said the men refused to show identification or explain why they were so heavily armed, claiming they were on a government mission.

      A search of the vehicles also uncovered a telescope, backpacks, gun vests and documents, including a list of names, a police source told the Herald. When police asked the men what their intentions were, they replied that “they were on a mission, and they didn’t have to speak to us,” Casseus said. “They said they were on a government mission.”

        The men refused to specify what mission they were on, but one of the men told officers “their boss would would call our boss.” At one point, another vehicle arrived carrying a man speaking French, who was also arrested.

• The Yellow Vest protesters are still at it, but may have made a tactical mistake by punching right: "Thousands of yellow vest protesters take to the streets across France for a 15th weekend running as they try to re-invigorate supporters while trying to stamp out violence and anti-Semitism in the movement's ranks"--Daily Mail. 
• Build the wall: "Fentanyl deaths from 'Mexican oxy' pills hit Arizona hard"--ABC15.
• Big Brother is everywhere: "Cops caught making ‘racist’ and ‘homophobic’ comments on secret cameras at police HQ"--The Sun.
• The more I've studied World War II, the more unbelievable become the alternate history stories where Germany wins the war: "The Axis Was Outmatched from the Start" by Victor Davis Hanson at The National Review. 
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "The REAL-LIFE BIONIC girl: Once, prosthetic limbs tried to look human... now that's all changing thanks to pioneers like Tilly Lockey, whose state-of-the-art robot arms look exactly those seen in fantasy movies"--Daily Mail. From the story:

       The schoolgirl, who lost her hands and forearms to meningitis as a baby, is one of a small but growing group to sport HeroArms – technically advanced prosthetics with hands and wrists that move and grip like the real thing.

     Astonishingly, the user simply has to think about a desired movement and the HeroArm’s fingers spring into life.

      Highly specialised sensors in the device pick up subtle muscular contractions in the upper arm, which get translated into electrical messages that power the robotic limb.

And they don't cost $6 million either, but run a very reasonable £5,000.

A Sunday Video Medley

I've been busy this weekend hand loading ammunition (.223 and .38 Special) and cleaning cases, so rather than my general "run around the web," I've several videos on widely different topics that I've watched over the last couple weeks that are interesting in one way or another.

(1) First up, and interesting story from the war in Iraq:

"Visible Lasers: Tip for Non-Lethal Force | True Story"--Tactical Rifleman (7 min.)

(2) A common refrain you might hear in Eastern Idaho is that if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes. However, I've never heard of anything as drastic as this event from the Black Hills in South Dakota:

"Black Hills, Chinook Winds, and 'Remarkable Temperature Fluctuations.'"--The History Guy (5 min.)

(3)  A video on the staff as a survival tool and weapon:

"The STAFF. Multipurpose, Self-defence, Survival Tool (Scottish History and Myth)"--Fandabi Dozi (14 min.)

(4) This may not be totally safe for work, but it is a sure bet to elicit a belly laugh. Warning: don't watch while drinking anything:

"True Facts: The Lemur"--Zefrank1 (6 min.)

(5) Finally, some lovely harp music:

"LIGHT ELVES (Ljósálfar) - Original Song" - Harp Twins, Camille and Kennerly (6 min.)

February 22, 2019 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Why the Best Snub Nose Caliber is .32"--Lucky Gunner (13 min.)

The author notes that the .32 family of cartridges (.32 Short, .32 Long, .32 H&R Magnum, .327 Federal Magnum) offer a lot of versatility, and the two magnum rounds offer good results from a short barrel. The .327 Magnum, in fact, has performance almost as good as .357 Magnum from a snub-nose, but with a lot less recoil. Unfortunately, Ruger is the only company manufacturing .327 Federal Magnum in a pocket sized revolver, and ammunition can be hard to track down.

• TGIF: This week's Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. Links and comments to articles on safe dry fire practice, TSA security theater, how pocket .380s are coming to dominate the small pistol market, shooting from the ground/on your back, surviving nuclear fallout, and more.

• Related: Given the popularity of .380 pistols: "What's The Best .380 Ammo?"--Alien Gear Holsters Blog. Although it doesn't necessarily do as well as other defensive rounds in ballistic gel tests, I was very impressed with the Federal HST's performance on Paul Harrell's "meat target," and decided to use it for my .380.

• "The 21-Foot Principle (Not Rule!)"--The Truth About Guns. Key point:

       What was Dennis Tueller trying to teach us with this 21-Foot Principle? By reading the original article and watching subsequent interviews with him, one can easily glean what Mr. Tueller had in mind.

      His first point was “tactical alertness,” or what we might call situational awareness today.  The quicker the defender recognizes the threat, the sooner he can take some soft of defensive action. Next, the ability and awareness to be able to move yourself to cover. That might mean an obstacle or anything between you and an advancing threat. Next, draw the firearm as soon as possible. Don’t wait any longer than necessary to get your sidearm in play. Issue verbal challenges immediately. Powerfully delivered commands may be enough to deter an assailant and will certainly aid in the officer’s justification to use deadly force if it comes to that.  Finally, Mr. Tueller recommended, “consistent, repetitive practice,” in one’s draw stroke.  The more skilled an officer is with his or her equipment, the greater their reactionary gap.

• "Skills Check: Lever-Action Demi-Presidente Drill"--Shooting Illustrated. A practice drill for those of you that are intending on using a lever-action carbine or rifle for home defense. The author writes:

Start by loading the carbine with four rounds in the magazine tube, chamber empty and hammer down. You’ll need two additional rounds in a pocket or in cartridge loops on your belt. Starting from a muzzle- depressed position, run the lever as you point in and fire two shots on the first target and two on the second. Now here’s the interesting part: You have to load two more rounds and fire them on the third target. Do you want to load them in the magazine or drop them in the open action and load and fire them one at a time? Which way is quicker? Which way is easier? Try both ways and find out what works best for you.

The author suggests a par time of 10 seconds with targets at 15 yards. 

• Related: "Cowboy 101: How To Run A Lever-Action Rifle"--Gun Digest. The basics of using the lever action for defense or hunting, including the topics: Condition; Loading and unloading; How to mount; Firing; Preventative maintenance; and Clearing a stoppage.

• "'CASTLE' DEFENSE REVISITED"--Modern Service Weapons. The author is revisiting the topic because he had come across suggestions or guidelines advancing "the view that deadly force is usually to be rejected as the instinctual, pre-planned reply to the discovered presence of one or more home invaders in the 'castle.'" The author rejects this position for several reasons, not the least of which is that most homeowners will have little or no experience for dealing with violent criminals up close, and, besides the fact that they will generally have no legal duty to retreat, may not be able to do so. Anyway, read the whole thing.
• Castle doctrine in action: "Idaho officer killed in Utah in fight over ex-girlfriend"--KTVB. The Idaho Falls police officer was upset when a man began a relationship with the officer's ex-girlfriend. The officer decided to confront the man and was shot after entering the man's home uninvited. Police in Layton, Utah, are treating it as a justified homicide.
• "From the Library"--Mountain Guerrilla.  Five book recommendations from Mosby.
•  While you are at Mosby's website, check out his article on "Combatives Concepts." One of his insights:

       Contrary to the ads in the back of 1980s adventure magazines like Gung-Ho, New Breed, and Soldier of Fortune, there really isn’t any martial art—outside of combat shooting—that will allow the 90lb woman to wreck her 225lb, ex-convict, powerlifting, Golden Gloves boxing rapist. It’s not gonna happen. It never has happened. It’s bullshit.

      On the other hand, there are a whole lot of examples, including verified citation accounts, of 165-185lb cornfed Marines, beating 110# Japanese Imperial Army soldiers to death with rocks, steel pot helmets, entrenching tools, and Kabar knives. This, despite the fact that the IJA soldiers presumably had considerably more judo training (since it was part of primary school curricula) than the Marines had. Size and strength really do matter.

      The same thing of course, can be said to apply to examples of big, athletic American soldiers in the GWOT, when they beat the shit out of an Iraqi insurgent and kill or capture him in unarmed combat. The current Modern Army Combatives Program’s emphasis on jujutsu sure doesn’t hurt, but it’s hard to specifically quantify how critical the MACP training was, when the GI outweighs his opponent by 40-50 pounds—before you add the weight of body armor and LBE.

Notwithstanding, Mosby recommends that a person have some combatives training. A lot of stuff in his article. Read the whole thing. 

• "Practically Tactical: Maximizing the Common Shotgun for Defense"--The Survivalist Blog. The author discusses using the shotgun for home defense, and offers suggestions as to barrel length, some other modifications you might want to make, and choice of ammunition. If you have a bird hunting gun with a long barrel, I agree that you need to get a shorter barrel (18 or 20 inches). As far as ammunition, based on my research, I would avoid bird-shot or lighter buck-shot rounds; because of its availability (including lighter recoiling rounds), #00 is the overall best choice.
• "The Shotgun Slug"--Priority Performance. The author explains that because of the softness of the projectile, he doesn't look at slugs for increasing penetration, but wants increased range. In that regard, he writes:

My primary purpose for a shotgun slug is extending range. After that, I want the slug to be “shootable’, and allow for quick follow up shots if necessary. The slug that I have found to meet the criteria the best is the Fiocchi 7/8th ounce low recoil Aero slug. Now, another cool thing about the Brenneke slug is that they do not have a traditional wad design that detaches from the slug. The payload stays together as it travels downrange. Fiocchi uses a similar wad design. It is attached to the slug and does not separate after leaving the muzzle. The Fiocchi slug being light for caliber (most 12ga slugs are 1oz) and low recoil, means it shoots really soft, but still really flat. There is not any significant difference in my POA/POI from 25yd to 50yd. So while perhaps not the most mainstream choice, I have found the Fiocchi slugs to shoot really well out of my shotgun and it seems to check all the boxes I look for in a slug.

• "More Second Amendment Tea Leaves From the Supreme Court"--The Truth About Guns. Hints that SCOTUS may be preparing to slap down lower courts that treat the Second Amendment as a third-rate civil right. I'm not holding my breath, though.

"Earth Catastrophe Cycle | Observing the Frontier"--Suspicious Observers (41 min.)

Discusses some of the plasma discharge events we should see with a super flare or micro-nova, and discusses micro-nova and recurrent novas in greater detail. I believe these are excerpts from presentations at this year's "Observing the Frontier" symposium.

• "India to cut water to Pakistan as Kashmir conflict escalates"--DW. Given the flooding in Pakistan, it may have plenty of water ... for this year. But if congenial farmers and ranchers can turn into murderous fiends over water disputes, how are two nuclear armed countries that hate each other going to act? 
• The wages of sin socialism: "One dead and 12 injured as Venezuelan troops open fire on civilians as they step in front of Maduro's army convoy to try and keep the Brazilian border open for aid"--Daily Mail. 
• "The Constitution, Star Trek, and Threats to Freedom . . ."--Wilder, Wealthy and Wise. A discussion on the First Amendment and a question: "Are there ideas that are so insidious that they are dangerous to the liberty that the Constitution is supposed to protect?"
• In partial answer to the preceding question: "What's Wrong With Britain?"--PJ Media. From the article, lots of questions:

Have they really -- 1984 style -- developed a blindness to the evils of Islam and a perverse conviction that it's their own native culture that's the menace? Are they so devoted to multiculturalism that they're willing to be complicit in the destruction of any number of girls' lives -- and willing, too, to sell out centuries of British freedom, fairness, and justice -- in order to see it flourish? Are they so imbued with that famous British politeness that they dare not speak up against even the most blatant of evils? Are they just plain cowards? Or is the difference between the Brits and their burka-forbidding neighbors rooted in British imperial history? In other words, is it post-imperial guilt, fed by anti-Western schooling and the poisonous BBC, that is leading the British, in remarkable numbers, to grovel to Islam even more shamefully than their counterparts in most of the rest of Europe?

• "Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance"--Chicago Magazine. This is a 2011 article, but still worth the read. An excerpt:

        At some of the meetings, the politicians arrived with campaign materials and occasionally with aides. The sessions were organized much like corporate-style job fairs. The gang representatives conducted hourlong interviews, one after the other, talking to as many as five candidates in a single evening. Like supplicants, the politicians came into the room alone and sat before the gang representatives, who sat behind a long table. “One candidate said, ‘I feel like I’m in the hot seat,’” recalls Baskin. “And they were.”

       The former chieftains, several of them ex-convicts, represented some of the most notorious gangs on the South and West Sides, including the Vice Lords, Gangster Disciples, Black Disciples, Cobras, Black P Stones, and Black Gangsters. Before the election, the gangs agreed to set aside decades-old rivalries and bloody vendettas to operate as a unified political force, which they called Black United Voters of Chicago. “They realized that if they came together, they could get the politicians to come to them,” explains Baskin.

      The gang representatives were interested in electing aldermen sympathetic to their interests and those of their impoverished wards. As for the politicians, says Baskin, their interests essentially boiled down to getting elected or reelected. “All of [the political hopefuls] were aware of who they were meeting with,” he says. “They didn’t care. All they wanted to do was get the support.”

• The continuing chronicles of the decline of civilization: "Who Needs Gender? Why Men and Women Are Dressing Identically"--Wall Street Journal. From the article:

... a survey by Fusion Media Group found that half of millennials viewed gender as a spectrum. “These scripted ideas of what a man and woman should do are breaking down, and therefore what they’re wearing no longer has to follow those rigid lines either,” said Justin Berkowitz, men’s fashion director of Bloomingdale’s.

Translation: we hope to get men to buy large quantities of clothes like women do. But what happens if the opposite happens, and women decide that they can get by with just a couple pairs of jeans and few T-shirts?

• Instapundit linked to a couple of articles that seem an appropriate follow on to the foregoing:

• "Study: Physically Weak Men More Likely To Be Socialists"--Daily Wire. It's an r/K thing.

• "Tip: Low-T Men Are Angry and Moody"--T Nation. Sorta like women?

• "American Democracy in Crisis: The Fate of Pluralism in a Divided Nation"--Pew. Notwithstanding the title, the survey shows that Americans are pretty tolerant of diversity in most of its flavors. One big change, though, was increased intolerance for people of different political beliefs:

When faced with the prospect of their child marrying someone who identifies with the opposite political party, Democrats are likelier than Republicans to say they would be unhappy. A plurality (45%) of Democrats say they would be unhappy if their child married a Republican, while 35% of Republicans say they would be unhappy if their child married a Democrat. This is a stark difference from 1960 when fewer than one in ten Republicans (4%) or Democrats (4%) said they would be displeased if their son or daughter married someone of the opposite party.

• "China’s illegal ‘white monkey’ foreign models paid to bare skin and be gawked at as marketing prop"--South China Morning Post. From the lede:

       Professional foreign models and performers can make a good living working in China.

      Securely employed, with contracts and work visas organised for them, they are eagerly sought out by big brands and other businesses, and enjoy all the benefits of expatriate life in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou.

      In the wilderness of smaller provincial cities, however, the picture is different. There, another breed of foreigners, working illegally, appear at bizarre promotional events mockingly called “monkey shows”. The foreigner is essentially a marketing prop – exhibited to be gawked at and photographed, like a monkey in a cage.

• Not monkeying around: "US Air Force F-35s wrecked their enemies in mock air combat — even the new pilots were racking up kills against simulated near-peer threats"--Business Insider. Apparently the F-35A can do all that its proponents claimed.
• "Be Careful When You’re Writing about Evil"--MFA in a Box. The author writes:

        People of the Lie is a good book until about halfway through, when Peck starts ranting about some of his evil patients.  They would never do what he told them to do.  They were pathologically lazy.  They lied when it would have been easier to tell the truth.  Everything that they said or did was in essence perverse and grotesque and malignant.

       I didn’t doubt Peck’s sincerity when he diagnosed these patients as evil, but to my reading, when he had stopped seeing evil as a condition that could be cured, he lost the ability to deal with it.  Instead he saw it as a poisonous substance, and once it lodged in a human heart there was no getting rid of it. When Peck saw it, he didn’t want to cure it. He wanted to destroy it and the people who had been tainted with it.

      That thought frightened me.  I had liked to consider evil as a reflex, a striking back at a world that had wounded. Children aren’t born evil, was the way I looked at it.  They had to be taught to be evil by being damaged by people who had been damaged in their turn.  Somewhere back there was original sin, and original sin simply began a long line of people who hurt other people after people had hurt them.

      But after People of the Lie, I began to think that M. Scott Peck had seen something in his consulting room that he couldn’t explain away with rational psychoanalytic theory or even cause-and-effect, and it had shaken him to his core, and that his book was his way of throwing words at something unnameable. He had stared at it for as long as he could, notebook in hand, but then he had lost control and started screaming.

• His future is so bright, he needs to wear shades: "'Youngest person' to ever build a nuclear reactor: Boy wonder, 12, made a working atomic fusion experiment in his parent's spare room using $10,000 worth of parts from eBay"--Daily Mail.
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "China’s CRISPR twins might have had their brains inadvertently enhanced"--MIT Technology Review.  From the article:

       The twins, called Lulu and Nana, reportedly had their genes modified before birth by a Chinese scientific team using the new editing tool CRISPR. The goal was to make the girls immune to infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

      Now, new research shows that the same alteration introduced into the girls’ DNA, deletion of a gene called CCR5, not only makes mice smarter but also improves human brain recovery after stroke, and could be linked to greater success in school.

      “The answer is likely yes, it did affect their brains,” says Alcino J. Silva, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, whose lab uncovered a major new role for the CCR5 gene in memory and the brain’s ability to form new connections. 

      “The simplest interpretation is that those mutations will probably have an impact on cognitive function in the twins,” says Silva. He says the exact effect on the girls’ cognition is impossible to predict, and “that is why it should not be done.” 

POTD: The Ghost-Town of Frisco, Utah

Source: "Frisco: A Utah Ghost Town"--Urban Ghosts.
Go to the link for more photographs of the town, as well as collections of photographs of other modern ruins.

A Quick Run Around the Web--February 21, 2019

"Uniting the Gun Community (Angry Rant)"--The Yankee Marshal (11-1/2 min.)

A case for punching left.

• Be sure to check out this month's roundup of articles and commentary at Defensive Pistolcraft. Lots of good stuff, as always.
• "COMPREHENSIVE CORROSION TEST: 46 PRODUCTS COMPARED"--Day At The Range. If you have thought about using it to lube or protect your gun from corrosion, it is probably included here. He evaluates everything from lubricity and water displacement, to whether it tends to dissolve things or has an overpowering odor. And some good points including this:

Excess lubricant acted like a glue that slowed or resisted parts from movement because of the surface tension and viscosity of the excess lube. As I removed more and more of the excess, I observed that less force was required to overcome static friction. In almost every case I found that removing all visible lubricant resulted in the lowest levels of friction between the two polished steel plates. What we have been told is correct, apply liberally to coat and then remove all excess to the point where you think you have removed too much and you will enjoy the least amount of friction. The side benefit to that dry level of lubrication is that it will not attract foreign contaminants that could get trapped in excess/wet lubricant.

As far as lubrication goes, the top product he found was Frog Lube (which is insanely expensive in my opinion, but it is what I use) and a very close second is One Shot (which I also have). One Shot has a fairly strong odor, however, but it does come in a spray can which can help when trying to get to hard to reach places.

• "SHOOTING THE “NEW” (2019 VERSION) FBI PISTOL QUALIFICATION"--Civilian Gunfighter. The author has found the FBI pistol qualification to be a good way to measure your basic pistol shooting abilities. The author appreciates the new qualification because it uses only 50 rounds, meaning that you only have to use one box of ammunition. Anyway, the basic round of shooting:

FBI PISTOL QUALIFICATION COURSE, revised Jan 2019

• 3 yards Draw and fire 3 rds strong hand only, switch hands and fire 3 rds support hand only, all in 6 seconds

• 5 yards Draw and fire 3 rds in 3 seconds

• From the Ready, fire 3 rds in 2 seconds

• From the Ready, fire 6 rds in 4 seconds

• 7 yards Draw and fire 5 rds in 5 seconds

• From the Ready, fire 4 rounds, conduct an empty gun reload, and fire 4 more rds, all in 8 seconds

• From the Ready, fire 5 rounds in 4 seconds

• 15 yards Draw and fire 3 rds in 6 seconds

• From the Ready, fire 3 rds in 5 seconds

• 25 yards Draw and fire 4 rds from Standing, drop to a Kneeling Position and fire 4 more rds from Kneeling, all in 20 seconds.

• Benchmade has stepped in it now: "Benchmade Helps PD Destroy Guns – Official Statement"--The Firearm Blog. The story is that the Oregon City Police Department asked Benchmade to help destroy guns that had been seized by the Department and, which by law, could not be sold to the public but had to be destroyed. The Department posted about it on social media, specifically pointing out that it was Benchmade helping them cut up the weapons. The back story is that Benchmade makes campaign contributions to Democrats but not Republican candidates. As many comments point out, it's not like it takes special tools to cut up a firearm, and Benchmade could have always said "no" to the local PD. Herschel also weighs in.
• "Houston Police to End No-Knock Warrant Raids After Four Officers Shot"--The Truth About Guns. The police have decided to largely abandon no-knock raids except for special circumstances. This is in response to the recent raid on a couple that allegedly was selling heroin, in which both the husband and wife were killed, 4 officers were shot, and a fifth officer was injured ... and no heroin was found. But as the article notes, part of the impetus to stop the raids is that "the officer who applied for the no-knock warrant that resulted in the January shootout allegedly lied in order to get a judge to sign off on it." Typically, applications for warrants will be supported by affidavits, which suggests that the officer that lied would have committed perjury. What are the odds that officer will be charged with perjury?
• "Korwin: The Great Secret Anti-Gunners Don’t See, Can’t See or Won’t see"--Guns America Digest. Korwin explains:

        So, the question must be asked: With all these people so heavily armed, ready and trained to shoot other people, why don’t they?

      Why aren’t there wars between them? Why doesn’t one clan or faction rise to the top and outshoot the others for control, as is routine in some African or South American countries?

      The hoplophobes — people with a medical condition that gives them a morbid fear of weapons — and power mongers, politicians and foreign entities can’t manage that here, because everyone is armed. It’s a balance of power, so no one shoots. This is one of the great secrets anti-gun-rights advocates don’t see, can’t see or won’t see.

      By arming the public and the authorities instead of just the authorities (as it had been the world over before America sprang up), a balance of power keeps the peace and provides an unparalleled (if not perfect) level of freedom.

Read the whole thing.

• "Meet the AR-15 Pistol (Yes, This Is Real)"--The National Interest. Just a brief history of the AR pistol and some commentary on its growing popularity. 
• On the other hand: "The Case for the 20"-Barreled AR-15 Rifle"--American Rifleman (h/t Captain's Journal). An excerpt:

      First, let’s look at the ballistics. The M16’s 20" barrel has a 200-f.p.s. advantage over the 14.5"-barreled M4 when shooting M855 ammunition. In my testing, using Federal’s XM855 ammunition, a 20" barrel recorded about a 150-f.p.s. advantage compared with a 16" barrel, the common length for civilian carbines. For the carbine, that means about a 5 percent loss in velocity. The muzzle energy difference is about 125 ft.-lbs. or 10 percent.

       For reliability and durability data we can look to tests conducted by the U.S. military, which give an edge to the M16 over the M4. The main reason lies in the gas system. The “rifle-length” gas system of a 20" barrel is 5" longer than the “carbine-length” gas system used on all 14.5" and many 16" M4-style carbines. Due to the drop in pressure over this longer distance, the gas port on a rifle can be larger, which results in a larger volume of lower-pressure gas heading back to the action. The extra length of the gas tube also means the velocity of the gas is slower when it reaches the bolt carrier. This means less force and heat on the working components of a rifle’s action. In contrast, the shorter length of a carbine gas system means the bolt is unlocking sooner, while chamber pressure is higher, which results in more stress on bolt lugs and extractors.

       

"BUSTING the top TEN MYTHS many Preppers Believe PART 2"--Penny University (9 min.)

• Thou shalt not kill: "Infant Who Survived Abortion Screamed For An Hour While Left Alone To Die"--Captain's Journal.
• Its because of the children illegal aliens: "Democrats Reject Amendment that Would Have Required ICE Notification for Failed Background Check"--Guns America Digest.
• Women are not morally superior to men: "‘I was abused by my girlfriend’"--New York Post. From the article:

        Twenty-two-year-old Alex Skeel weighed just 98 pounds when he was discovered in a pool of his own blood by police.

       He has been hacked at with a bread knife and battered with a hammer by his girlfriend Jordan Worth — but this was just the final sickening attack he endured during their three-year relationship.

• The Jussie Smollett story is the gift that keeps on giving. Police believe that the bruises and scratches on his face were probably self-inflicted. He had sent himself the hate letter that said "you will die, black f*g" in an effort to boost his career, and resorted to this attack when that letter failed to garner much attention. As you know, an arrest warrant was issued for Smollett, and he has turned himself in to police. Like many others, I wonder why Smollett wasn't given the 5 a.m. no-knock SWAT raid treatment, but deep down I know that it's all about optics and who authorities want to intimidate. And the cynical side of me is convinced that if Smollett had been a conservative white male, it would have been different.
• Ugly to the bone: "Lesbian and bisexual women more likely to be overweight than straight women, study finds"--The Independent. 
• Trying to eliminate the competition: "Swedish Feminists Demand State Ban on 'Dangerous' Sex Robots"--Sputnik News. The feminists' reasoning is that sex robots would objectify women. If that's true, what about women's sex toys? And what does it say that women's sex toys only mimic a particular male organ while sex robots are the whole woman? 
• "Cost of Washington’s measles outbreak tops $1 million; expected to climb higher"--Seattle Times. From the article:

In hopes of reducing the possibility of future outbreaks, lawmakers in Olympia have proposed two measures to tighten the personal or philosophical exemption used to excuse children from vaccines necessary for school entry. Legislation moving through the House would eliminate the objection for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, while a Senate bill, subject of a committee hearing Wednesday in Olympia, aims to get rid of the personal exemption for all vaccines needed to attend school or a licensed day-care center.

•  "FDA chief says feds might intervene if states continue allowing vaccine exemptions"--The Hill. The article reports:

        FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNN on Tuesday that the federal government might intervene if “certain states continue down the path that they're on.”

       "Some states are engaging in such wide exemptions that they're creating the opportunity for outbreaks on a scale that is going to have national implications," Gottlieb warned.