Gun & Prepping News #61

Just some gun and prepping related links that I thought interesting or useful:  

• "WHERE WE LIVE, WE CAN’T HAVE A GUN OR A KNIFE, SO WHY SHOULD I?"--Survival Centric. The question in the title should have actually ended with "... so why should I learn how to use them?" The answer being that even if citizens aren't permitted guns or knives, the criminals will have them; and if you successfully disarm an attacker, you might wind up with a firearm or knife in your hand and it probably would benefit you to know what to do with it. 
• Speaking of countries that don't allow their citizens to own firearms for self-defense: "The Slow-Building Panic as Global Authorities Realize Gun Control is Increasingly Futile is Real and It’s Spectacular"--Shooting News. More and better 3-D printed firearms designs are spreading.
• "Alternative Ammo: 6x45 vs. .223 Remington"--American Hunter.  6x45mm is a wildcat cartridge that takes a standard .223 case necked up to accept a .243/6mm bullet. The advantages are faster velocities for the same bullet weight, better BC, and a greater variety of bullets--and it all still fits in the same magazine as .223. 
• "Handguns: Bullet Design 101"--Shooting Illustrated. The author notes that in the 1990s there was still debate over whether handgun bullets merely wounded by poking holes in things, and others that argued that an expanding bullet would "dump" energy into the target and incapacitate it. We know now that the "energy dump" was a myth, but the author goes onto to explain why we still use expanding ammunition like hollow points: 

    The simplest reason usually given is that, all things being equal, a bigger hole is better than a smaller one. While this is technically true, it’s a drastic oversimplification of things. Most experts today concede that where the hole is on the target matters way more than a couple hundredths of an inch in diameter.

    Most vital structures in the human body don’t work any better with a .355-inch hole through them than they do with a .451-inch hole. Conversely, a 10 mm hole through a “love handle” of flab really isn’t any more disabling than a 6.35 mm one.

    One thing that expanding bullets do, however, is change the nature of the hole. Hunters had long preferred flat meplats (that’s the nose of the bullet) due to the way they tended to cut a hole with their sharper shoulders as opposed to round-nose bullets that just kind of politely elbowed their way past vital structures with their rounded ogives. Think of using a hole punch and the little discs of paper it cuts out. When a hollow-point bullet expands, it now has a very large, flat frontal area with jagged edges that greatly increase its effectiveness.

• "Optimal Alignment"--Shooting Illustrated. From the lede: "Shooters who want to hit a point-of-impact (POI) based on point-of-aim (POA) align the muzzle with the target—that is getting the barrel’s axis, sights/optic, and trajectory to the same place at the same time—can apply eight pro tips geared to optimize their alignment." The author goes on to cover the eight tips. 
• "Preventing Unintentional Discharges with a Revolver"--Tactical Professor. 

 When you decide to dry practice or do maintenance on your revolver, get them before doing anything.

1.  Take the live cartridges out.
2.  Count and secure them in the twist knob Speedloader. If there are any empty holes left in the speedloader, the FBI calls that ‘a clue.’
3.  Put the SafeSnap™ Training Disc in the revolver.
4.  Do your dry practice or maintenance.
5.  When finished, don’t reload the gun.
6.  Do something else to occupy your mind and remove dry practice from your thoughts.
7.  When you do reload, say “This gun is loaded” out loud three times.

• "Fudd Friday: Does Fitz Equal Fudd?"--The Firearm Blog.  Back in the 1920s before major manufacturers started offering snub-nosed versions of their duty pistols (there were plenty of pocket sized revolvers around in smaller calibers) John Henry Fitzgerald would modify revolvers into what were called "Fitz Specials" which included shortening the barrel (and attaching a new front sight), bobbing the hammer, and removing the front half of the trigger guard. His reasoning for the latter modification: "men with large hands (like himself) wearing gloves in winter needed unobstructed trigger reach." Also:

 This wasn't just some guy with a Dremel and opinions. Fitzgerald wrote a book on defensive shooting in 1930, advocated for two-handed pistol technique before it was standard practice, and taught law enforcement agencies across the country. His influence on defensive handgunning is legit. Guys like Rex Applegate and Charles Askins - actual gunfighters, not Instagram operators - carried his modified revolvers and praised them publicly.

• Anyone heard of TacHelmet?  They are advertising Level IV helmets for inexpensive prices, including several for under $200. 
• "Cyelee WOLF0 Review: Is a $106 Pistol Red Dot Worth It?"--The Truth About Guns.  Based on the review, it sounds like a bargain: a metal body, glass (not polymer) lens, and shake awake feature. It is IPX7 rated, and the author left if submerged in water for 1/2 hour and it still worked. 
• "Back to the days of the Remington Nylon 66"--Range Hot. "The Nylon 66 was produced from 1959 to 1987 and became Remington’s most popular selling .22 rifle ever," the author relates. It goes into the history and development of this rifle. 
• "Rifleman Review: Walther Arms PD380"--American Rifleman. Walther's polymer .380, DA/SA pistol. 
• "Surefire Warden Blast Can: Great for the Range"--The Mag Life.  This is what is commonly termed a linear compensator. The idea is to direct the gases and muzzle blast forward of the weapon while still giving you the benefits of a muzzle break. This particular one is stainless steel with a non-reflective black Cerakote finish and seems longer than most. The author relates, however:

 The first thing you’ll notice when running the Warden is a significant reduction in the blast and flash from the muzzle. The traditional fireball you get with standard muzzle brakes is no more, which was a pleasant surprise. I haven’t tried using the Warden for low-light training yet, but I’d be willing to bet it’s a game-changer for home defense scenarios, as you wouldn’t be temporarily blinded by the flash. That’s the major complaint I have about traditional muzzle brakes. While they can certainly improve your accuracy potential and lighten the load on your shoulder a bit, they’re really more of a liability in home defense applications.

• "No One Is Talking About The Direct Pipeline From Divorced Parents To School Shooters"--The Federalist. Given the well documented association between homes presided over by a single mother and negative outcomes for children, including increased propensity to be involved in violent crimes, the author argues that "the prevalence of divorce ensures we’ll have higher levels of violence than if we made obtaining divorces more difficult." 
• "Grand jury declines to indict man in shooting that killed teen at Kentucky State University"--New York Post. 

    Bard’s attorneys say the family was moving their younger son out, with two armed campus police officers present, after withdrawing both sons from school because of “multiple armed, violent” incidents against them and other students in the days leading up to Dec. 9, some captured on security cameras.

    When the family and an officer reached the dormitory entrance on the move-out day, the group of people in masks and hoods rushed out and began violently assaulting the family and others, including beating the son’s head against the pavement, the attorneys said. 

According to the article there were between 20 and 30 attackers. Bard wound up having to shoot two of them, killing one and critically wounding another. It's a sad state of affairs that the prosecutor even bothered with taking this to a grand jury instead of ruling it justified in the first place. 

• "Review: My Favorite Headlamp | The SureFire Minimus"--The Truth About Guns. The author states: "Starting with probably the most important feature, the SureFire Minimus offers a sensible output range from 5 to 300 lumens, adjustable across 13 preset levels via a knurled control knob that can be turned and felt even with thick gloves on." It also employs a metal body, but it doesn't have a true red-light diode, but uses a red filter over the white light, which either must be snapped on to use, or carried in a pocket or something when not in use. For $269, it does seem underwhelming.  The only real advantage I see to it is the ability to adjust it with a knob while using gloves. 
• "Bear & Son 112A Framelock Assisted Opener Knife," by Thomas Christianson at Survival Blog. The author writes:

The knife is 4 inches long closed and 6.75 inches opened. It has a flipper lever and dual thumb studs to enable ambidextrous, one-handed opening. The assisted-opening blade snaps decisively into place when deployed. The flipper works so effectively that the thumb studs are largely redundant, and could probably be eliminated. The rugged frame-lock holds the blade securely open when deployed. 

And:

 The 112A features what is called “assisted blade deployment”. (Some other knifemakers use the synonymous term “assisted opening”.) The user begins to open the blade using the flipper or thumb studs. At that point, a spring engages to rotate the blade into the fully opened and locked position. Assisted blade deployment is rapidly gaining popularity, here in the United States.

MSRP is about $60. 

• "How to Clean Hiking Boots: A Step-by-Step Guide"--SHTF Preparedness. As the author observes, "[k]eeping your hiking boots clean is essential for keeping them comfortable, supportive and long lasting." The article actually starts with some recommendations for selecting a pair of hiking boots before moving on to how to clean them and offering advice on storage, conditioning leather uppers, making minor repairs to the uppers, and other maintenance and cleaning tips. 
• "Basic Long-Term Food Storage"--Self-Reliance.com. As the author points out, "Long-term food storage plays a pivotal role in emergency preparedness. A homestead pantry is not for hoarders, it is for smart, organized people who want to keep their well-being intact in times of crisis." The article goes different categories of items to keep in long-term storage with comments on each. As an example, addressing eggs and milk, the author writes:

Dry milk is the most essential because milk provides many vitamins and nutrients which would be helpful to stay healthy during hard times. Not to mention, without a reliable source of dairy products many meals wouldn’t be possible. I’ve seen numerous survival sites list outrageous amounts of dry milk to keep on hand, and nothing is wrong with large quantity. We go through about a gallon each week with my family cooking heavily from scratch. It takes around four cups of dry milk to make a gallon of milk. This means that for a year’s supply we should have around 55 pounds of dry milk in storage. One of the cheapest ways to acquire dry milk is to get it in large boxes from stores like Walmart and then repackage it for long-term storage in glass jars. It should keep for several years this way, especially if you use an oxygen absorber. You can also buy it in #10 cans from emergency preparedness retailers. I like to keep several cans of canned milk on our pantry shelves for when I put together a quick casserole. They are usually found on sale during the holidays. 

• "What To Do If You’re Trapped In Your Car"--Urban Survival Guide.  Some advice if you find yourself stuck in your car for a long period of time, such as getting stuck in a major traffic jam or caught in a blizzard that strands you on the road. 
• "21 Famous Survival Experts You Should Know"--Modern Survival Online. Some on the list are of historical interest because of their incredible survival stories, but most are (or should be familiar) because of their television series, YouTube channels, and/or books. 
• "NASA Thinks They Can Give us 30 Minutes of Warning Before a Killer Solar Storm Hits Earth"--Universe Today.  This 2023 article described how recently developed AI algorithms made it possible to more quickly predict what solar storms could knock out power or cause other disruptions.