Gun & Prepping News #93

Some links that may be of interest: 

• "Fudd Friday: The Brush-Busting Question"--The Firearm Blog. Some information on firearms that do a bit better on penetrating brush based on testing by Francis E. Sell decades ago:

    Sell hunted deer on foot for many years, very successfully, and attacked the brush-busting question as scientifically as possible. He set up tests where he fired at targets behind bushes and measured bullet deflection afterwards.

[snip]

     Sell blasted away with a very wide range of cartridges, trying to determine the optimum bullet weight and shape, as well as velocity. His findings: A velocity between 2,200 and 2,500 fps deflected the least, and was also less likely to have the bullet blow up when hitting a branch or twig. He found that a bullet weight of 150 grains or heavier also made a big difference. He did not note any significant difference between different bullet shapes, and also did not note any difference resulting from bullet diameter—6.5x55 and .270 performed well, along with cartridges using .30-caliber and even .35-caliber bullets. He did, however, note a test where 500-grain .45-70 bullets performed inconsistently in his test, with two bullets “screaming off into the forest” when fired at a target through brush, and then the next two bullets showing no deflection at all.

    Funnily enough, Sell noted that high-velocity, high-performance cartridges fared poorly in his brush-busting experiments. Conversely, the .30-30 performed very well in his test, particularly when loaded with a 170-grain bullet. ... 

• "The .44 Best?"--Guns Magazine. An in depth look at the .44 Special and a good caste bullet and load:

    I cast the bullets for my handloads, usually from an MP-Molds 6-cavity aluminum mold. I started with a brass 2- cavity hollow point (HP) mold, soon progressing to a 4-banger after being so impressed by the quality. When Mihac Previc, owner of MP Molds, offered an aluminum 6-cavity mold, I quickly jumped on board. The molds are a direct copy of Elmer Keith’s Hensley & Gibbs 503. Bullets cast from it usually run 15 grains heavier than Elmer’s other design, the Lyman 429421.

    I’d venture to say my 6-banger has birthed a thousand-plus pounds of lead over the years. My slugs are then powder coated with a polymer coating and baked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. These PC coated projectiles are then seated over a charge of Alliant Unique powder in a Starline Brass cartridge case.

    Since this isn’t YouTube, I will divulge the powder charge of 7.5 grains of Unique, but most diehards know this. The load is nostalgically referred to as the “Skeeter Load” from the millions of Skeeter fans who know a good thing when they see it. Loved for its balance of power, bullet diameter and acceptable recoiling characteristics, Skeeter Skelton’s popularity and warm writing style did more to promote this load and cartridge than anything. This charge weight provides a fuel-efficient 933 loads per pound of precious Unique powder.

• "Jeff Cooper’s Color Code: You’re Doing it Wrong"--Breach Bang Clear.  The author notes:

    At some point in the 1970s, Jeff Cooper created what is often called the Color Code.

    When he originally thought it up, and as he taught it, his purpose was to describe a shooter’s “…capacity…to cross the psychological barrier that inhibits [the] ability to take deadly action,” i.e., his or her mental preparation to press the trigger on a live target.

However, the Color Code was subsequently reinterpreted (misinterpreted) from describing a psychological commitment to using force to describing a level of situational awareness.

• "How to Read a Room Before You Sit Down"--Option Gray.  An excerpt:

    When you walk into any space, you’re building a quick picture of the environment before you commit to a position in it. This doesn’t require a full tactical assessment. It requires about ten seconds of actual attention before you sit down.

    Exits first. Where are the ways out? The front door is obvious. What’s less obvious is the kitchen exit, the emergency door at the back, the hallway that connects to a side entrance. You don’t need to memorize all of them. You need to know that they exist and roughly where they are.

    Sight lines next. Where can you sit and see the entrance? Seeing who comes through the door before they see you, or before they can close the distance on you, is a meaningful advantage in almost any situation. It costs you nothing to position for it.

    Then the room itself. Who is in it? How many people, where are they seated, is anyone paying unusual attention to entrances or exits? This doesn’t mean treating every stranger as a threat. It means taking a picture of the baseline so that anything that changes later registers as a change. 

There is a lot more, including where to sit.  

• "Magazine Spring Myths"--Guns Magazine.  An excerpt:

Firearm springs wear out because they are repeatedly cycled. Recoil springs, which travel through nearly their full range of motion with every shot, have one of the highest duty cycles in a firearm and are rightly considered routine maintenance items. Magazine springs, by comparison, typically see far fewer complete compression cycles over their lifetime. That’s why a well-made magazine spring can remain fully loaded for decades with little effect, while a recoil spring in a heavily used pistol may legitimately need replacement after several thousand rounds. 

• "Threadlocker How-To // The Glue That Binds Us"--Recoil Magazine.  It goes over how to read thread pitch, why you want to use a torque wrench and not over tighten screws, before getting to the subject of the title and discussing what is Loctite and how it works before getting to application:

    While some of the newer offerings of Loctite offer some oil and solvent resistance, I find that thoroughly degreasing all the threads to be bonded using a strong solvent is an absolute must. My favored method is removing all the screws I needed to coat at once and dipping them in my small steel bench ramekin full of MEK. I let them sit for a few minutes, then remove and blow dry with compressed air. I strongly advise the use of rubber gloves and that this be done in a well-ventilated area. This stuff is super gnarly and will for sure give you face cancer.

    For the most effective bond, the adhesive must coat the complete length of the thread engagement area. Loctite is a thixotropic formula, which means it is thick and viscous under static conditions, and as it spreads along a surface under capillary action, it becomes thinner and will seem almost self-guiding. You’ll find a modest drop on a section of threads will find its way around the circumference and “creep” up and down the helix. When threaded in, this action compounds and the adhesive will work its way up and down the length of the threads quite easily. 

    For large parts, applying to both faces provides the most adequate adhesive application as well as for blind-hole assemblies such as cap screws — threadlocker should be applied to both the bolt and the mating threads. If applied only to the screw going into a blind hole, air pressure tends to force the liquid threadlocker out of the hole as the bolt is torqued down. The anaerobic process hardens in minutes at room temperature and fully cures within 24 hours. 

    When determining the amount to use, it’s important to remember that less is more, and dipping the screw to the head will not make it “more better.” The space between threads allowed by tolerances is actually quite a bit smaller than you think, and the location that the adhesive is applied is much more important than the amount. If you’re trying to determine which level of adhesion fits your specific needs, start on the low end and work your way up gradually and try experimenting a bit if you have the time and resources.

The article also discusses tips on removing screws or bolts secured with Loctite, so read the whole thing.

• "Springfield Armory SA-35 4″ Compact"--The Truth About Guns.  A shorter barrel, no magazine safety, better sights, larger safety levers, improved feed ramp to better feed hollow points, etc.
• "KelTec PR57 Review: How Accurate Is This Top-Loading 5.7 Pistol?"--Ammo Land. This is the 5.7 pistol that was designed for concealed carry. 

    With factory sights and a rest, five five-shot groups at 25 yards averaged 2.65 inches. The groups were plagued with flyers. One four-shot group was 7/8 of an inch. The pistol could shoot better than the aging eyes of the shooter.  The pistol shot about 3 1/2 inches high at 25 yards.

    The Viridian optic was mounted. Five five-shot groups were fired from a rest while sighting in the PR57. At 25 yards, the average group, center to center, was 2.01 inches. Five five-shot groups, fired at 100 yards, averaged 7.6 inches from a rest. There was considerable vertical stringing, which was attributed to an unsatisfactory rest. 23 of the 25 shots fit into a 5 x 8-inch box at 100 yards. The shots were fired deliberately, about a minute per shot.

• "NITECORE NPL25 GL Weapon Light and Green Laser"--The Shooting Wire.  The two main points about this is that (i) it is fairly compact, and (ii) it has a mounting system that allows it to easily adapt to different accessory rails:

    The NPL25 has a sliding plate that can adapt to the rail slot on a wide range of guns. There’s a sprung button on the left side of the light that moves that toothed bar up, releasing the plate. You then slide it to the position you need and release the button to lock it in place. Easy peasy with no plates to hold onto and (inevitably) lose in about 36 hours.

    On a pistol like the FN (above) that has a standard Pic rail, you can a few options as to placement of the sliding plate. On a gun like the G19 (below) with just one slot, it’s easy to adjust and mount it right where you need it. NITECORE ships the NPL25 with a small “Picatinny rail adapter” piece that screws into the two holes you see above, but I mounted the light without a problem without the adapter.

• "10 Essential Skills Every Prepper Needs to Thrive"--prepHERedness. The ten skills (or groupings of skills) discussed in this article are: 

1. Water storage and purification;
2. Food storage and preservation;
3. Cooking from scratch;
4. Medical skills;
5. Making cleaning and sanitation supplies;
6. Basic home repairs;
7. Basic sewing and clothing repair; 
8. Home gardening;
9. Self defense; and,
10.  Using a HAM radio.

And some other articles discussing important skills for prepping:

• "Skills and Knowledge That Make Preppers Resilient and Self-Reliant"--The Provident Prepper.
• "Homesteading Skills Every ‘Prepper’ Must Learn"--Rural Living Today. 
• "Ultimate List of Prepper Skills"--Rogue Preparedness. 
• "Prepper Survival Skills List"--Happy Preppers. 

• "Water Preparedness Starts at Home: Why I Replaced My Berkey with Phoenix Filter Elements"--Apartment Prepper.  The author explains:

I’ve owned a Berkey system for years, and recently I replaced my aging filter elements with the new Phoenix Gravity New Millennium Edition™ filter elements. If you’re a Berkey owner wondering what your replacement options are, here’s why I made the switch and why I think every household should have a plan for safe drinking water.

• "There's One Predator That Terrifies Bears And Mountain Lions Alike"--Science Alert. They are generally much more afraid of you than you are of them. There was recent research out of Africa that similarly showed that the large animals there were more likely to avoid the sound of human voices than even the sound of a lion. 
• "Why UK crime victims’ families always sound so similar talking to the media"--Quotulatiousness. 

    This is incredible. I always wondered how family liaison officers from RICU or the CRS reliably got the families of victims murdered by political or racial terrorists to provide such anodyne, don't look back in anger public statements. I figured in most cases it would be concern trolling, with legal threats held in reserve.

    This lays the technique bare, using interviews conducted both with victim's families and former police officers. Liaison officers serve as anesthetic patches that get slapped on the open wounds of the migration war. They apply therapeutic techniques to calm and reassure the families, establishing dependent relationships and using the trust they build to guide them away from saying anything inflammatory when the time comes to speak to the public. If families become noncompliant in this respect, they're threatened with causing a mistrial should they speak too openly about their feelings.

    That isn't all RICU does, of course. ‘Communications’ includes a huge propaganda arm, which uses every tool at its disposal, including battalions of fake social media profiles. You have to wonder how much of the culture war of the last decade or more was pure hallucination.