April 9, 2019 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Height Over Bore: Why You Miss"--The VSO Gun Channel (6 min.)

The impact of an optic's height over bore for close range shooting.

• Reminder: Have you read this week's Woodpile Report? 
• Some firearm and product reviews:

• The Revolver Guy reviews Colt's new King Cobra .357 revolver. He writes: "I’m not one to engage in hyperbole (I generally consider it to be the last resort of the poorly-lettered), so take my word at face value when I say, the fit of this revolver is absolutely superb." Also:

        The Colt King Cobra’s trigger was incredibly smooth. It’s difficult to quantify that but it was on par with the smoothest revolvers I’ve ever shot, and is  the first time the word “buttery” has made any sense to me in regards to a trigger. The Colt’s trigger famously exhibits “stacking” and becomes gradually heavier as it moves through it’s rearward cycle, but I didn’t find this to be detrimental in any way.

       The double action pull weight as measured on my Timney Trigger gauge averages a very reasonable 9 1/4 pounds. This relatively light and incredibly smooth trigger no doubt contributed to the accuracy I was able to squeeze out of the Colt King Cobra. The single action trigger consistently and cleanly broke at an even 5 pounds.

But probably most significantly about the weapon:

The Colt King Cobra fills a notable niche in the defensive revolver market: the medium-sized revolver. Regular readers here may remember back to only a couple of years ago when I lamented the absence of a meaningful, mid-sized, current production, carry revolver. For years individuals wishing to carry a revolver for defense have had to make the same miserable choice. They could accept the discomfort of carrying serious iron and opt for a large-framed revolver like S&W’s L-Frame line or the Ruger GP100. The alternative was to content oneself with carrying a J-Frame/SP101-class revolver with a reduced round count.

• "Best Ruger Mini-14 & Mini-30 Models [2019]"--Pew Pew Tactical. In discussing features, the author notes that all of the newer versions of the Mini-14 feature cold-hammered forged barrels.

• "What’s Your Favorite Gun Belt for Concealed Carry?"--The Truth About Guns. The author briefly discusses Propper Carbon Carry belt which is made of conveyor belt material. According to the manufacturer, this is to provide the right combination of stiffness and flexibility. 

• "Henry Repeating Arms Lever Action .22 Mag Rifle"--Ammo Land. According to the author, it comes with the Skinner peep sight rather than the buckhorn sights commonly found on lever actions.

• "Opinion: The .30-06 is Dead"--Richard Mann at American Hunter. The article wasn't published on April Fool's Day so I assume that the author was serious. I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt, and that he was engaging in hyperbole just to get clicks, but the only evidence that the author has is that some rifles have been introduced in calibers not including .30-06. I would agree with the author that the popularity of .30-06 is probably declining in the face of the increased popularity of the .308 and, recently, 6.5 Creedmore. There are probably a lot of factors for this, but the author identifies one factor which is probably valid: most hunters can afford more than one hunting rifle, so they no longer need the versatility offered by the .30-06. But that is also why the .30-06 will remain popular: it can be loaded to nearly the power of the .300 Win Mag for large game, or downloaded to shoot light weight varmint rounds. 
• I would take the advice in this article with a grain of salt: "Make Ready: You can 'make ready' as a threat begins to unfold"--Shooting Range Blog. The author relates an incident where a couple guys approached a man fueling his car at a gas station. 

The permit holder had stopped at a gas station near his home late at night to fill up. He was 63, (an age which makes you an enticing target for violent and cowardly predators) and was approached by two males, one very large (over 350 lbs.) and one much smaller who approached him and asked him bizarre questions while filming him on his cell phone. The permit holder was unaware he was being set up for "the Knockout Game", which is played in urban areas by youth who try and knock an unsuspecting person into unconsciousness with one punch. It can be fatal to the victim and is not a game. As the two began to close in as the permit holder pumped gas, the larger of the two noticed the Springfield XD .45 printing under his t-shirt and told his partner "hey, he's packing". At this point they beat a hasty retreat, and the permit holder left-very shaken up. 

The author then goes on to discuss the concept of "make ready":

You can make ready as a threat begins to unfold. There is nothing wrong with drawing your handgun, and positioning it visibly along your leg with the muzzle pointed at the ground. No rule or law that I know of-certainly none in Ohio- says you must wait with your gun in the holster until the deadly force threat to you becomes imminent. This was the idea behind enhancing the "Stand your Ground" law. Making Ready is not "brandishing a firearm", which is defined as waving it around as a threat in anger or excitement. Making ready lets any aggressor know that you have a handgun and are prepared to bring that handgun to bear if required. If things begin to escalate, you can easily bring that handgun directly at the threat. Making ready cuts WAY down on your reaction time since you don't need to complete a draw from a holster before engaging a threat. If you carry your handgun deeply concealed, making ready may be crucial to your survival.

While I'm not saying that the author is wrong, from a tactical perspective, what he recommends could still get you unwanted attention from police, which is amply illustrated in this article from Law Enforcement Today:

       The story goes like this.  Aaron, a Marine and his family were on their way to Lowes in Wichita, Kansas when they were cut off in traffic.  Aaron honked his horn at the other motorist who in turn pulled into a driveway and allowed Aaron to pass. 

       The man then pulled in behind Aaron’s vehicle and followed them to the Lowes parking lot. Once Aaron and his family exited their vehicle the man confronted them, and Aaron began telling the man to leave. 

       Instead, the man continued to approach with his hands hidden from sight. 

       Fearing for the safety of his family, Aaron held a pistol at his side. It wasn’t until the man came around Aaron’s vehicle and saw the pistol that he backed away, threatening to call the police. 

       Keep in mind, the weapon was never pointed at anything other than the ground.  As the man retreated, Aaron called the police and began gathering nearby witnesses to give statements to the officers who arrived on scene. 

       A reasonable person would think this story ends with both parties going their separate ways thankful it didn’t end differently, but that’s just not the case. 

       The police ended up confiscating Aaron’s legally owned firearm and stated he may be charged with aggravated assault. 

The author notes that the man that had threatened Aaron and his family had admitted that he also had a firearm. After Aaron was allowed to leave, the man again followed Aaron and his family and again threatened them, but police did nothing. Unfortunately, Aaron butted heads with an experienced bully--someone good at both physically intimidating others and, if things go south, then using the system to further punish and bully his victim. The bully likely did this by painting "Aaron" as "the bad guy", starting with his "road rage" by honking at the guy, and how the guy was just trying to be reasonable and talk to "Aaron" about his driving.  

• "How To Build Your Pocket Survival Kit – part 1"--Survivalpedia. The author explains that "[a] pocket survival kit should pack a minimum of survival gear into a package small enough to carry comfortably on your person, ensuring that you have it on hand when you need it most. Upon being ejected from a vehicle or forced to take an unplanned swim, you may find yourself separated from survival gear kept in packs or bags, but chances are much better that you’ll retain the clothes you’re wearing and the contents of your pockets."
• "How to Sharpen a Knife [The Secrets to Sharpening Knives]"--The Modern Survival Blog. What is nice about this article is that it includes a list of the grind angles recommended by many manufacturers, as well as the generic grind angles recommended for certain types of knives. Something you might want to print up.

"SHTF in America right now."--Set Apart Homestead (12 min.)

A discussion of the ongoing invasion of the United States. This is a follow up to an earlier video asking if we are being invaded.

• Since we are on the topic of uncontrolled immigration, you might want to look at Tucker Carlson's monologue from this evening on "What D.C. Cares About More Than Our Borders."
• The wages of sin socialism: "Socialist Venezuela now an exploding supernova of spreading infectious disease"--American Thinker. The author writes:

        Socialist Venezuela is an exploding supernova of spreading disease vectors, with its three million fleeing refugees bringing measles, malaria, diptheria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, AIDS, Zika, leprosy, dengue, chikungunya virus, and other diseases long thought to have been eradicated in the early 20th century, with them.

      What an advertisement for socialism that is.

      It's the effect of the collapse of the country's medical system, brought on by socialism's unsustainable economics and Venezuela's Maduro dictatorship (unlike a lot of starving African countries) refusing to permit any aid to enter.

• Immigrants benefit the economy: "The Sinoloa Cartel Declares War On Water In California"--Captain's Journal.  Herschel links to an article describing how illegal marijuana growers (the cartels) illegally divert water to irrigate their crops, and are poisoning the soil and the wildlife with animal poisons and pesticides. 
• We are a nation of immigrants: "Report: Nearly 20 Percent of Inmates in Federal Prisons Are Criminal Aliens"--PJ Media. Most are from Mexico. As the article notes, the figures do not represent inmates being held at local or state facilities.
• Diversity is strength: "The Never-Ending Threat of Civil War"--American Thinker. An excerpt:

         The people who are eager for a civil war are fools.  They don't understand the catastrophe they're begging for.  But the people who believe that a civil war is now a real possibility are neither fools nor wild-eyed alarmists.  Moreover, the people who believe that, grim though the prospect may be, war might be the lesser of two evils have a daily strengthening case.  The Left has shown itself to be dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization itself.  We have not been faced with such an existential threat since European armies threw the Turks back from Vienna in 1529.  The fascists of the mid–2oth century, for all their loathsome policies, were not the kind of threat to the fabric of our society that we face now.  Bad as they were, they did not seek the destruction of Europeans as a people, or of European culture as a living, breathing thing.  Progressivism does.  What could be more worthy of, if you will forgive the word, "resistance"?

       We conservatives have let this ideological cancer metastasize for far too long for its excision to be simple or painless.  For too long, we have been patient with outrages we should have fought to reverse.  We have let our opponents secede incrementally from us for decades.  We have been tolerant and patient.  In our tolerance and patience, we have given up our civil society, our political representation, and our freedoms one by one.  Our maladies won't be fixed by delicate adjustments now — half-heartedly performed by yet another generation of narcissistic government planners and invisible elitist bureaucrats.  Intellectuals like George Will and think-tanks like the Heritage Foundation have done us little good.  Our condition demands a radical, unflinching surgery if we, as a nation, are to survive.  Either the cancer wins, and kills us all, or we defeat it — and we accept the scars.  Let us not pretend they would not be hideous scars.  And let us not pretend it would not be a deeply barbarous and bitter surgery.

• Islam is a religion of peace: "ISIS-Inspired Terrorist Plotted to Run Over National Harbor Pedestrians with a U-Haul"--PJ Media. "The Justice Department said Henry harbored 'hatred' for non-Muslims." Ya think?
• "All the Progressive Plotters"--Victor Davis Hanson. Hanson summarizes the various attempts to take down President Trump and concludes:

       America over the last half century had been nursed on the dogma that the Left was the guarantor of civil liberties. That was the old message of the battles supposedly waged on our behalf by the ACLU, the free-speech areas on campuses, and the Earl Warren Court.

      Not now. The left believes that almost any means necessary, extra-legal and anti-constitutional or not, are justified to achieve their noble ends. Progressive luminaries at CNN and the New York Times have lectured us that reporters need not be disinterested any more in the age of Trump—or that it might be a crime to shout “lock her up” at a Trump rally. Will those standards apply to coverage of future Democratic presidents?

      No reporter seems to care that Hillary Clinton hired a foreign national to work with other foreign nationals to sabotage, first, her opponent’s campaign, then his transition and his presidency, along with the wink and nod help from key Obama officials at the Department of Justice, State Department, National Security Council, FBI and CIA.

      The final irony? If the CIA, FBI, and DOJ have gone the banana republic way of Lois Lerner’s IRS and shredded the Constitution, they still failed to remove Donald Trump.

• "How Trump’s border policies are boosting wage growth"--New York Post. Notwithstanding all of the ivory tower reports that immigration does not adversely impact employment and wages, the truth is that employment is also subject to the laws of supply and demand. Even the very little that has been accomplished to check illegal immigration is already reducing unemployment and increasing wages.
• "Lazy & Malicious: Journalists on Christchurch Massacre"--The DiploMad. He writes:

        Unlike the false prog media nonsense re Muslim radicalization on the internet, in this case radicalization did take place on the internet. Throughout his manifesto, we see Martel-boy citing Wikipedia and other stuff he picked up online. He obviously spent a lot of time playing video games, and cruising the political and social commentary on the net. I have run into a fair number of young men similar to this fellow. In their mid-to-late twenties or even thirties, frustrated and despairing of ever achieving much, they see no future other than living with their parents or room mates, and, at best, working dead-end jobs. As white males, they feel alienated, insulted, and basically spat upon by the bien pensants. Academia, the media, politics, much of the modern work force, even popular entertainment is increasingly anti-white male--the malignant "toxic white male." 

      Don't believe me?

      Read the stuff on diversity and inclusiveness put out by major corporations. Read the stuff by the Democrat party or any other leftist party in the Western world. Watch just about any TV show or movie and see the depiction of the white male. The good jobs, these white guys feel, are lost to women and favored ethnic groups, to the politically and socially well-connected, and to the unceasing waves of immigrants who get preferences and public support unlike what they get, to wit, lectures on white male privilege. They retreat to a delusional overwhelmingly male world of video games--and even there the feminazis make inroads and give them no respite--and to secretive and conspiratorial chat rooms where all sorts of fact and fiction get blended into a dangerous mix.

      We will see more of these drifting manifesto-boys if the relentless war on men and on traditional Western culture and values does not cease.

• "Attenborough’s tragedy porn of walruses plunging to their deaths because of climate change is contrived nonsense"--Watts Up With That. We were recently regaled with video of walruses falling to their death supposedly because melting ice was forcing them onto land, where they became confused and tried to return to the sea by jumping off cliffs. Except that the reality was that the walruses were actually being herded by polar bears over the edge of the cliffs.
• He was the wrong type of migrant: "Swedish Family Flees to Poland after State Hands His Daughters Over to Muslim Family"--Gateway Pundit. Denis Lisov moved to Sweden seven years ago. However, after his wife fell ill, the government took his children away from him because he didn't have a job and they were concerned about his ability to take care of them. (I guess this is an example of the awesome social safety net of which Sweden brags). They placed his children with a Muslim family, and limited his ability to see the children. So he fled to Poland and is seeking asylum. 
• "The Permian Basin Is Now The World's Top Oil Producer"--Forbes. Key part:

      We don't know for certain the reasons, but we now have this report from Saudi Aramco that Ghawar produced 3.8 million BPD in 2018. The Energy Information Administration reports that the Permian Basin is now producing 4.2 million BPD. For all of 2018 the Permian Basin averaged 3.4 million BPD, but production during the year increased by 1.1 million BPD. Production hit the 3.8 million BPD mark in October and has risen in every month since then.

      So, we can reasonably conclude that right now -- regardless of the reason -- the Permian Basin has overtaken Ghawar as the world's top oil-producer. That may not last if Saudi is constraining production in Ghawar, or if Permian production slows down anytime soon. But it marks the first time in decades that Ghawar wasn't the top-producing oil field in the world.

And Obama claimed we couldn't drill our way to energy independence. 

• Nobody cares if Christians are offended: "Yes, Conservative Christians Are 'Triggered' By LGBT Pride Flags. Here's Why"--PJ Media. The author explains:

The problem is, LGBT pride flags represent the antithesis of many things conservative Christians believe, and every so often this symbol is thrust in their faces. Some schools, cities, and governments have flown these flags in order to show support and compassion for LGBT people, but in doing so they also proclaim a message that Christian beliefs are stigmatized and will not be tolerated.

With the newest Alt-Right meme being Pepe sporting a clown wig in the rainbow colors, maybe the left will abandon the rainbow. 

• "At Our Wits’ End Review Part The First:  Increasing Intelligence and Civilization"--Wilder, Wealthy & Wise.  A review of  Dr. Edward Duttonnew's book At Our Wits’ End, discussing the role of intelligence and civilization. Wilder notes:

 Intelligence has a most interesting property:  it’s inheritable – with a correlation of about 0.8, which is pretty high.  1.0 is perfect correlation, -1.0 is perfect negative correlation.  Educational attainment and economic status correlate with intelligence, as does salary – at about 0.3.  Other things that are correlated with intelligence include impulse control.  People with higher IQ are also more trusting.  On an individual level to predict a person’s performance you also have to have information about their personality, but on a group level I.Q. has significant predictive power.

Read the whole thing.

• "Forgive us our debts"--Vox Day. The scriptures warn about becoming debt slaves. Also a discussion of how the financial industry, which as replaced the manufacturing industry, does not create wealth but is merely a rent seeking industry.