Gun & Prepping News #8

 Just some articles that caught my attention for one reason or another:

• "Defensive Shotgun: Myth vs Reality"--Tactical Anatomy. The gist of this is that at short distances such as you will find inside a normal home or apartment, birdshot will be just as deadly as buckshot. The author is not making this point to encourage people to use birdshot, but to discourage people from thinking that birdshot will somehow be safer for other occupants of a residence should they miss the criminal. For instance, reporting on some testing he did of birdshot through an interior partition wall:

... I learned that not only would birdshot loads blow through my walls like tissue paper, but they would do the same amount of damage to the tissue simulant on the other side as if there was no partition at all. As I recall, the craters left in the wetpack either way were about 8 inches deep. Hell, even the plastic wads penetrated 4 inches into the wetpack next to the pellets! There was no difference in penetration between birdshot and buckshot at that distance. I had to move back to 10 yards (30 feet) from the partition mockup before I got a measurable difference between birdshot and buckshot.

• "Affordable Versatility: Exploring the .300 Blackout’s Potential with a Budget Bolt Gun and LPVO"--The Truth About Guns. I wasn't so much impressed by the rifle/caliber combination but that the author had found a budget first-focal plain LPVO scope: the new Monstrum Panzer 1-10×24 which the author indicated sold for about $200. The rifle used was the Savage Axis II in .300 Blackout with a 16.125-inch threaded barrel, which was around $400. Finally, the sound suppressor was the Banish Backcountry suppressor from Silencer Central. The article didn't have a price for the suppressor, though.
  
• "Scope Leveling On A Budget"--American Rifleman. The author explains:

    Several products on the market today can help you level a scope body to the base, but what if you don’t have them around? ... But there’s an even easier and cheaper way to do it that you might have tucked away in a drawer: a deck of cards.

    ... Mount your rings to the base and place the optic in the desired spot. Tighten down the rings enough so that you can still slightly rotate the scope in place. Then take a small stack of playing cards (or business cards) and insert them into the open space between the flat bottom of the scope and a flat surface below like the bottom of a one-piece mount or the top of a scope rail. Add one card at a time, gently rotating the scope side to side as needed until you can’t wedge one under any further. Now carefully remove the stack and tighten down the optic. All done.

    Of course, this assumes you have a flat surface below and the mount itself is square to the bore, which isn’t always true. ...

• "4 Reasons Big-Bore Revolvers are Still Ideal Trail Guns"--American Hunter. The author begins by noting that "[t]he conditions in which handguns play a defensive role in urban settings are rarely the same as those encountered on mountain trails or in the deep woods," and that the power level of the firearm must also match the threat. "If the largest potential threats are coyote, wild dog or feral hog sized, then a pistol chambered in 10mm, .45 ACP or even properly loaded 9 mm could do the trick," he writes, "[b]ut when we get into bear country, handgun performance needs change significantly." And while the 10mm can compete with the .357 Magnum in performance, both are outclassed by the .44 Magnum, which in turn is outclassed by even more powerful revolver rounds. He also notes the revolver's insensitivity to changes in ammo or being shot "limp wristed". 
• "The Rimfire Report: Why Aren't .17HMR & .22WMR More Popular?"--The Firearm Blog. Probably the main reason is that for what most people will use a small rimfire, the .22 LR is all they need. From the article:
  

 Let us first address the simple fact that .22LR, and all of its variants including .22 Short, .22 Long, etc are all ancient loads. .22LR is one of the first-ever metallic cartridges and was released during a time when at-home pest control and the hunting of small game like squirrel, rabbit, and coyote was much more common for the average American. It stands to reason that a large reason why the 22LR became and still is popular is because it is one of the most widely produced, widely accessible, and affordable rounds within the firearm market. While pest control and hunting don’t make up nearly as much of the user market as they used to, you could probably say that most of that market is now largely made up of recreational shooters and chronic backyard plinkers.

• Some firearm history: "'First ever gun' used 500 years ago by explorers searching for the 'Seven Cities of Gold' is discovered in Arizona"--Daily Mail. Apparently the first firearm manufactured in the Americas, dating to between 1500 and 1520.

    The bronze cannon, or wall gun, was part of the Coronado expedition led by Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, who traveled to the New World searching for a fabled city filled with treasures.

    The 40-pound weapon was designed to fire round projectiles, or buckshot, which would attacked enemies like 'a swarm of hornets.'

• "Assessing The M1 Carbine In Combat"--American Rifleman. An excerpt:

     In a U.S. Army publication from the summer of 1944 titled "Combat Lessons," I found this interesting and entirely accurate assessment. It makes perfect sense, but I wonder how many commanders thought of this before they issued the special rifle.

    Great stress was laid on the proper use of the carbine by Lt. Col. F. O. Hortell of the 45th Infantry Division because of operations at Anzio in March.

"When the carbine is used properly in lieu of the pistol it becomes a dangerous and accurate weapon, but when it is used in place of the M1 rifle, a grave mistake has been made. Always remember that any target that can be hit by a carbine can also be hit by an M1 rifle, but the reverse is not true."

The colonel's point of using the right tool for the job, and for what purpose that tool was designed, is an important distinction. It appears that this is the root of the "problem(s)", and certainly the center of the carbine debate.

• "The Basic Foundations of a Good Reloading Setup"--Handguns Magazine. For someone wanting to start into reloading, this article goes over the basic equipment needed for a modest reloading set-up, although it does briefly discuss progressive presses. But as the author notes, unless you are wanting or needing to reload high volumes, the standard single-stage press will work. However, if you want to go even more basic (or more compact), Lee still offers its classic Lee Loader kits that contain all the equipment you need and are designed to allow you to reload on a table. This is best for someone that may only be reloading a small number (e.g., 1 - 20) rounds at a time. They run about $50 each. 
• "How to Process Your Own Deer Meat"--NRA Family. What to do after you have cleaned and skinned the animal.
  
• "First Impressions: Go Med Kits' First Aid & Care Essentials for Hunters"--NRA Family. The kit is $190, but appears to be fairly complete for a basic backcountry first aid kit, containing items for dealing with gun shot wounds as well as more mundane first aid items, and some other items especially useful in the backcountry such as an aluminum splint.
  
• "YouTube adventurer, 22, freezes to death in a freak snowstorm while filming himself in Swedish wilderness - after sending tragic final message to his grandmother"--Daily Mail.  

    It is unclear why he abandoned his shelter, his mother Elisabeth Rademaker said, but the conditions may have left him with no option. 'Trees were uprooted that night,' she said. 'Maybe his tent also blew away and he had no choice but to start walking.

    'But it was -6C, and because of the storm it even felt like -18C. His feet and lower legs were frozen,' she said. 'His hands weren't, he might still have had his hand warmers with him.'

    Ms Rademaker said her son had also broken his nose when he was found, suggesting he had fallen. 'He must have suffered for a long time and died alone,' the mother said. 'I keep imagining his last moments. It devastates me.' 

• "The great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear?"--The Guardian. Between the continued movement of populations to cities and declining births, a lot of rural areas are facing depopulation. This article looks at the ecological impact (and its not all necessarily good) when the human population disappears, with a particular emphasis on a region in Bulgaria. 
• "How to Keep Your Bones Strong—and Even Make Them Stronger"--Pocket (originally published by Popular Science). Tips on supplements, diet, and exercise to keep bones strong.
• "Food Storage & Shelf Life Charts From Months To 25+ Years"--Deep Roots At Home. Self explanatory, I think.
  
• "Where to Place Fire Extinguishers at Home"--Fire Armour. "The short response to this question is the kitchen, bedroom, and main entrance," and in that order of importance, according to the article. If you want more information, the author gives his reasoning for each point. The article further lists the three criteria for placing a fire extinguisher:
  
  
  1.     It should be easy to reach. There’s no point in buying a fire extinguisher if it is placed under a heap of trash. During an emergency, it would be impossible to find or reach.
  2.     It should be easy to check. Checking the pressure gauge once a month ensures the fire extinguisher works as intended when it is needed. Placing it at an area where everyone can see it makes it easy to check the pressure gauge.
  3.     It should be safe to reach. A fire extinguisher should always be placed in a path of escape not in the line of fire. If a fire blocks your path to a fire extinguisher, consider repositioning it to another spot.

• More: "5 Key Places to Keep Fire Extinguishers in Your Home"--Impact Fire.
• More: "Fire Extinguisher Placement Guide"--NFPA.