Caleb talks about the various guns that James Bond has used in both film and fiction.
Category: Guns
Change.back
It would appear that the anti-gun crap on Obama’s transition website has returned.
Fall Fun
In the middle of shooting an air pistol match. 45 degrees out with high winds. Can’t even get the animals to stay on the rails. On top of that, I’m way under-dressed for cold. But, hey, you can’t learn to be a good shooter if you only shoot in good weather.
UPDATE: Well, that’s over with. Had to take a few alibi shots with the wind. Shot a 20/40, which is a AA score. Second match I shot 24/40, which is a AAA. That’s my third AAA score this year, so it puts me in that classification. I hope I can keep shooting AAA scores, or it’s going to be a while before I ever win a trophy or plaque.
UPDATE: Tam also opines on the virtues of shooting in poor conditions.
The Evil Marshmallow Guns
Scott Bach opines on New Jersey’s A2116, .50 caliber firearms ban:
Many hunting and historical firearms fall into this category, so A2116 would ironically ban Revolutionary and Civil War flintlocks and muskets that won the very freedom that the legislation seeks to take away, not to mention popular hunting rifles. It could also ban a truly evil scourge of society that shoots 100+ caliber projectiles: marshmallow guns.
Read the whole thing.
Personal Record at Indoor Pistol Silhouette
Somehow I managed to shoot 33/40 tonight on indoor pistol silhouette. Basically the only thing I changed was to swap out the Millet red dot scope on my Mk.III with a BSA red dot scope that I bought from SayUncle. I don’t know if it’s because it’s heavier, or just better quality optics, or I was just lucky tonight. We’ll see after next week.
I continue to struggle with my Kimber Govt. Model 82. I can shoot into the mid 30s with Bitter’s CZ 452 on a good night, but I have a hard time breaking the 30 point mark with the Kimber. It’s an 11lb rifle, and while it does tend to mute minor muscle movements, when I try to hold steady with it I’m swaying like a skyscraper in a hurricane. I think part of it is that the shooting position that’s comfortable with the CZ has an entirely different natural point of aim with a heavier rifle. It’s probably boils down to needing to practice with the Kimber more, and the CZ less. But I have to admit I love Bitter’s CZ 452. I think by this point I’ve probably shot 100x more rounds through it than she has.
Are You Reigstered?
Want to work for the Obama Administration? Here’s one of a long list of personal things they want to know about each of their employees:
Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.
I guess they don’t know that in 99% of the country there is no registration of firearms. Unless, of course, they only intend to hire people from Chicago. Either way, if I had an employer put this before me as a condition of employment, I’d be out the door so fast I’d leave a vapor trail behind me. The New York Times has more.
UPDATE: You know, it says a lot about people who would subject themselves to this kind of rubber glove treatment. How are we expected to build a competent government when this is what it takes to vet someone? Who would do this except to wield power? Who does not have some skeletons in their closets, or family secrets they don’t wish revealed. Who has not said too much? Either we’re going to have to develop a sense of perspective as a society, or we’re doomed only to have Barack Obamas, Hillary Clintons and Rahm Emanuels in the cooridors of power.
We’ll Remember
Add John Patrick Williams, former Congressman from Montana, to the list of Democrats who are pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes:
The bad news? Groups such as the NRA have been hoodwinking you about that very issue — wastefully spending your hard-earned dues money on politics, and useless protesting by having people like Charlton Heston give that phony “pry it from my cold dead fingers” speech. A case in point is the recently publicized rush by some gun owners to “stock up” on assault weapons before they are banned by the NRA’s latest boogey man, Barack Obama.
The urge to blame President-elect Obama is a transparent example of how utterly partisan the gun groups and far too many of their adherents have become.
Pat, you might want to ask Barack Obama why renewing the assault weapons ban is still part of his platform before you start accusing NRA members of being paranoid of the boogey man. We’re going to remember all these Democrats who falsely assured us that Obama is a man of the Second Amendment when 2010 rolls around.
Lead Free
Two stories today which affect the continuing narrative of lead in bullets being a real problem. Lake City brags of producting 600,000 rounds of green ammunition for the military. 600,000 is a fraction of their daily production. It’s made from a bismuth alloy. The only problem with bismuth is that it’s only about twice as abundant as gold, and is only mined as an ancillary to other ores. In other words, you can’t scale bismuth production to the levels needed to replace lead at any reasonable cost. With its scarcity, prices would quickly go through the roof. The devil is in the details, and if we’re attacked along this route, it’ll be tough to speak to the public about the problems of using other metals. You can bet our opponents will be saying there are substitutes for lead — much like a helicopter can be a substitute for an automobile.
The other is a new study out of Jackson that suggest grizzly bears are being posioned by lead.
JACKSON – Preliminary results of a study by a University of Montana graduate student suggest that lead bullets may be poisoning grizzly bears in the Yellowstone ecosystem.
Tom Rogers sampled blood from 13 grizzlies during hunting season and found nearly half had elevated levels of lead, possibly because the bears had eaten lead bullet fragments in big-game carcasses left behind by hunters.
Here’s a question. How is the Yellowstone Ecosystem being poisoned by hunters when hunting isn’t allowed within the Yellowstone Ecosystem, and guns aren’t allowed either?
UPDATE: Some folks have corrected that the Ecosystem is a vast area that ecompasses more than just the National Park. Either way, here’s an idea — aren’t bears busy gaining a lot of fat for hibernation during hunting season?  Wouldn’t that tend to drive the levels of a lot of ecological contaminants higher, including lead?
Lawsuits Going Forward
Apparently City Council is once again headed to court to try to prove the Pennsylvania Constitutional actually says:
The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall be questioned by Philadelphia City Council.
Rather than what it actually says. One thing from the article:
The NRA is challenging all five ordinances, although attorneys focused on the proposed assault-weapons ban in court Tuesday.
“Most of my clients have machine guns,” Shields said. “They are absolutely lawful.”
Police already have the authority to seize weapons if they are being used unlawfully, he said.
Way to go doing Josh Sugarmann’s legwork in helping confuse the public that the assault weapons issue has anything to do with machine guns. Your clients may have them, and they may be legal, but that’s not what’s at issue here.
New Jersey Gun Ban Up For Vote
From ANJRPC:
On Monday, November 17, the New Jersey Assembly is scheduled to vote on A2116 — legislation banning most firearms over .50 caliber. Though previously amended in an attempt to address gun owner concerns, the legislation still bans many popular hunting guns, historical firearms, and large bore target firearms, based on alleged public safety concerns. Ironically, the legislation bans many of the guns that won the very freedoms the bill seeks to destroy, including some Revolutionary War and Civil War guns and their replicas.
A2116 makes the fundamental mistake of banning guns based on the size of the hole in the barrel rather than punishing criminal behavior. It treats law abiding citizens who choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights like potential criminals.
Please immediately email, call, and/or fax your Assembly Members and urge them to oppose A2116! Their contact information is available here.
While the rest of us are worried that gun control is back, it never really left in New Jersey. The relentless hammer pounds on in The Garden State.