Guns

.300 BLK

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

I just read about the .300 AAC Blackout on The Firearm Blog. He wrote about barrels and reloading dies, but I’ve never heard of this round before. So I went looking.

Here’s a writeup.

Here’s the official website.

Now, I’m all into 6.8 SPC because of the purpose-built nature of the round. Looking at .300 BLK? It too is being purpose built along the same philosophy as 6.8 SPC but attempting to address some issues with it. For instance, to use 6.8 in your existing AR you need to change the barrel, bolt, and magazines. With .300 BLK? only the barrel. That’s huge, especially if you’re aiming for adopting by the military.

Here’s a brief synopsis from the .300 AAC Blackout website:

 

Full power 123 grain ammunition matches the ballistics of the 7.62x39mm AK, has 37% more energy than 5.56mm M855, and 9% more than 6.8 SPC TAP 110. In fact, from a 9 inch barrel, the 300BLK has more muzzle energy than 5.56mm M855 from a 16 inch barrel. When 300 BLK is used in a 16 inch barrel, it has 23% more energy than 5.56mm M855 from a 16 inch barrel – with much higher-mass projectiles for a more dramatic effect on the target. Or choose subsonic cartridges for optimal use with a sound suppressor – 220 grain Sierra OTM (open-tip match) bullets vastly outperforms a 9mm MP5-SD in penetration and long range accuracy.

 

 

Look at that performance from a short barrel. Now stick a suppressor on the end of that, and you’ve got suppressed fire with adequate ballistics out of a rather compact package. Wow!

Of course, there are the obvious social implications. But I also think about hunting. For instance, using the same platform in the morning for deer hunting, then just attaching the suppressor and switching to a subsonic load for hunting hogs at night.

Go check out the official website. Lots of information, data, spec sheets, and even handloading information.

This is something I’m going to keep my eye on.

 

Perhaps cliché, but so true

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Talk about an interesting start to the morning.

I just woke up about 10 minutes ago. For whatever reason as I stumbled all bleary-eyed into the bathroom a phrase went through my head:

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

and I thought to myself how cliché that may be and some people groan at the phrase because of that reason, but the phrase has much truth to it. Why it popped in my head? I don’t know. Maybe all the dry fire I did just before bedtime and how I kept telling myself to not rush the draw just for the sake of getting it out there fast, because I know the more relaxed and smooth I am, the better quality the draw becomes (including acquisition of the front sight and thus getting off a good first shot, thus overall time from draw to first hit is going to be faster).

Then I read Jay’s latest posting about his recent police academy sim. What does he say? Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

And it’s not even a full moon. 🙂

While that’s a good thing to keep in mind, I thought a few other things from Jay’s posting were worth pointing out:

  • Always keep fighting. When you’re dead you’ll be dead and then you can stop fighting. Until that time, keep fighting. And frankly, that applies to anything in life, not just self-defense.
  • Practicing basics like trigger control, sight alignment, draw, etc. are all important, but there are lots of other skills we need to practice too, like reloads, one-handed shooting, one-handed reloads (esp. with your weak hand).
  • No such thing as too much ammo. Some people say they’ll only need X amount of ammo. I wonder, how can you know that? One reason I carry a double-stack 9mm is because I can have more rounds. One reason I thought about switching from my XD to an XD(m) is because there’s more rounds. You just don’t know what you’ll be up against, so why not do all you can to be prepared and stack the odds in your favor? All pistol calibers suck about the same, and 9 lets me carry more.
  • And the best thing from Jay’s post:

 

Shitty situations are shitty, but there is always a way out.

 

 

Just remember that. 🙂

 

New .38 ammo?

/ hsoi

Looks like Winchester is now making their Ranger Bonded ammo in .38 Special +P, and it seems to be geared specifically towards snub revolvers.

This is akin to Speer’s Gold Dot (GDHP) 135 grain .38 Special +P, which is geared specifically towards snubs.

I wonder how the two compare out.

Meantime, I’m still going to load my snub with either the Remington 158 grain .38 Special +P LSWCHP (R38S12) or Buffalo Bore’s 20/20C. Old school, but well-proven.

The debate returns

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

I knew it would happen.

That guy goes shooting a rifle on the University of Texas campus, and it revives the whole “concealed carry on college campus” debate.

Dallas Morning News has an article.

John Woods, a UT graduate student who organized an anti-gun rally last year, disagreed. He said that having more guns on campus wouldn’t improve security.

“If there were multiple students running around with guns, it would’ve made the police’s job a lot harder this morning,” Woods said Tuesday. He was a student at Virginia Tech University in 2007 when a gunman killed 32 people, including Woods’ girlfriend.

And your proof for this is where? Yes, you’ve got a lot of emotional investment in the matter, but when we’re making policy we cannot make it based upon emotion, it must be made on fact and reason.

He said gun backers don’t understand that training to get a concealed carry license is “just eight hours in a classroom and a couple of shots at a target that’s not moving in a range – a very, very controlled situation.”

Actually, it sounds more like you don’t understand what is involved in getting a concealed carry license. I’m licensed by the State of Texas to teach CHL courses, so I know exactly what it takes to get a CHL. But I know what you’re doing — you’re minimizing, you’re trying to paint a particular picture that skews favor towards your stance. What would work better? Presenting facts and irrefutable proof.

Nevertheless, you are correct that the CHL testing doesn’t involve a moving target. But have you seen the testing and qualification courses that go on in some police departments? I think you’d be surprised to find out how many police officers aren’t that great a shot, and how many civilians are.

Katy Bacon, a [Bill] White spokeswoman, said “[Gov. Rick] Perry wants to mandate allowing guns on campus” but White believes “students, parents, administrators, and security personnel should decide.”

We mandate allowing guns everywhere else? What makes a college campus different? As evidenced by this past incident, college campus’ are not surrounded by an impenetrable force-field that keeps evil out and away. Evil can and does happen anywhere. Why should people be denied the ability to defend their lives? These cowards choose “soft targets” because they know they will not meet with (equal or greater, or just any form of) resistance. Why do people want to legislated being at the mercy of these evil cowards? What sense is there in that?

From the AP:

“I can’t think of any way that the situation yesterday would have been improved by additional guns,” said John Woods, a graduate student at UT-Austin who attended Virginia Tech in 2007, when a student gunman killed 32 people, including some of Woods’ friends.

Woods urged state lawmakers in 2009 to block a bill that would have allowed guns on campuses. It failed.

If a gunman is on the loose, and people try to shoot back, missed shots can pose their own danger to bystanders. And the number of guns can make it difficult for police to determine “who are the good guys and who are the bad guys,” Woods said.

He advocates preventive measures, like making mental health services available and putting locks on the insides of classroom doors.

There are mental health services available, and already laws on the books regarding mental health status and gun ownership. They help, but they can only do so much. I mean, this Tooley guy… no records of that. There’s always a first time, and no paper-trail is going to help that sort of crazy.

Locks inside classroom doors? To what end? Rifle rounds aren’t stopped by locks nor flimsy classroom doors. Besides, that implies a strategy of sitting still and becoming a victim. Why are you engaging in that mentality? If someone suggested putting locks on doors as a rape-prevention strategy, they’d be laughed out of the room.

Well… elections are in a month, and the 2011 Texas legislative session is coming. It’s going to be interesting.

and why aren’t you carrying?

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

This past weekend I assisted with a Beyond the Basics: Handgun class. This is an intermediate class, and while you didn’t NEED to have a concealed handgun license (CHL) as a prerequisite, certainly some students come that way. Before class begins, we need to ensure everyone is properly outfitted, so if you have gun on you, unload it (so we can do dry-fire drills); if you don’t have a gun on you, get a holster on and put your unloaded gun in it. So to make this happen, we intercept people at the parking lot, take them to the range and get them prepped.

Decided this time to approach things differently, opening with the question: “Do you have a CHL?”

Certainly, some people said no and we went about things as normal.

For those that did have a CHL? the follow-up question was, “so you have your gun on you, right?”

We were met with more than a few “no”, which I followed-up with a disapproving look and “Why not?”

Reasons were numerous. Some people misunderstood policy, so here’s an excerpt of KR Training policy:

In the Parking Lot Before Class

You should arrive with your guns unloaded, stored in a case or a bag.
“Unloaded” means no ammunition anywhere in the gun. Magazine out, chamber empty, hammer down.
Do NOT carry a gun uncased from the parking lot to the classroom or range.
If you have a CHL and you arrive wearing a loaded handgun, leave the gun holstered until directed to unholster by an instructor.
If you were not wearing your carry gun when you drove through our front gate, do NOT put it on and load it in the parking area.
Put it in a case or bag or in your holster and bring it to the classroom unloaded.

So, if you have a CHL and are wearing your gun, that’s not a problem. Just leave it in the holster until we tell you otherwise.

One person arrived carrying, but because he knew he was going to a class, he had loaded up at home with practice ammo. That’s not good. You should continue to carry your “social ammo” at all times. You will be given an opportunity to switch from social to practice ammo before things begin (and if you’re in doubt or we forget, you’re always welcome to ask or speak up).

But the bottom line is this: if you have a CHL, why aren’t you carrying?

The implication there is ALWAYS carrying.

You cannot know when the flag is going to fly. If you are so fortunate as to be able to know or predict that, then you should take the preferred course of action and avoid the situation entirely. But since I’m unable to predict when evil people will do bad things against me, I just have to be prepared — always. YMMV.

To paraphrase Tom Givens, carry your damn gun, people!

More classes

/ hsoi

Yesterday I was out at KR Training helping with the Basic Pistol 1 and Beyond The Basics: Handgun classes.

A few observations from the classes:

  • BP1 was probably the most female-heavy class I’ve participated in. 75% of the class was women, and I think that’s fantastic.
  • Most of the BP1 students had never fired a gun in their life, or at most perhaps shot a shotgun or rifle once as a child.
  • It’s great to see so many people so willing and so interested in personal protection. It also shows there are still people out in this world that care to take responsibility for themselves.
  • But yet while I see an increase in women in beginning classes, I don’t see so many in more advanced classes. For instance, in BtB:H there was only 1 female shooter. Not sure why that is. Intimidation factor? that is, feeling those classes are more “gung ho” and “testosterone oriented” in nature? I mean, you just don’t see a lot of women getting involved in Force-on-Force training, likely because perception is it’ll be some sort of UFC-like beatdown. Sure, sometimes it could be that, but typically it’s not… it’s just a lot of role-playing and isn’t all that physical — more mental than anything. Still, here we are. It’s a curious thing to think about and see how we can get more women involved at higher-levels of training.
  • Shooting is always more enjoyable when the weather is awesome. 🙂
  • I’m seeing a lot of XD(m)’s now. One guy had one of the new .45 ACP models. M&P’s are popular too, Glock’s are present. Other things are just waning. One guy shot BtB:H with a Kahr, which I thought was pretty cool. If it’s going to be your go-to gun, you should train with it.
  • Lots of guys were shooting with the XD gear that comes free with the guns. Admittedly, that gear is better than nothing, and fine for such a class. But yes, you have to move beyond that gear, especially if you’re going to carry. Yes, we have a Comp-Tac bias.
  • While BtB:H wasn’t about performing reloads, learning how to reload is an important skill. We teach reloading in other classes, so come on back for that instruction. 🙂
  • A few repeat students were back for BtB:H and they shot well. Testimony to Karl’s instruction, and the student’s hard work.

Really, a good day. Good classes. Good students. Good weather. Can’t get much better.

Back to .38

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Now that I’m done (for now) loading 9mm, I’m switching to reload .38 Special.

The caliber conversion on the Lock N Load press went pretty smoothly, thanx to the bushing system. I had loaded .38 previously on the press, so all of the dies were already sized and set in their bushings, so just remove the 9 dies, insert the .38 dies. Done!

Well, not quite.

That did take care of the resize/decapping die, bullet seater, and then crimping die. The powder cop die? I don’t have a second one so I had to readjust that, but that’s trivial to do once you have your powder set up. And that’s where things took a bit of work. While resetting the powder drop itself wasn’t too hard, it’s just all the tedium of getting it to drop just the right amount (3.5 grains of Titegroup). And it’s not even the adjusting of the drop, it’s using the beam scale.

Yes, for Christmas I’d like a digital scale, please. One that plugs into the wall, no batteries.

Apart from that, the caliber conversion went smoothly, and I started loading .38. Gosh, it feels so different under my fingers. Going from those short stubby 9mm cases to long .38 cases. From the small 115 grain bullets to larger 158 grain bullets (and these Berry’s 158 grain DS RN are seating and working just fine). The feel is so different, the rhythm is different. Even the sound the rounds make when dumping out of the press into the bucket is different.

But it also feels neat to be done with 9 and onto something else. 🙂

I’ll keep loading .38 until the Titegroup is gone. Then, rifle. I’m really looking forward to that endeavor.

Anywhere is possible

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

“I saw him, and I heard the gun shots. My first thought was, ‘God, this is not real, not on our campus, not here,’” sophomore Tanisha Bush said.

Source

Yes. It can happen there, on your campus. It can happen anywhere. Evil knows no bounds.

Dave Mustaine on life and politics

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Dave Mustaine, the man behind Megadeth, summarizes his politics, religion, and general outlook on life:

It’s pretty simple for me, really. I want to be able to carry a gun; listen to whatever music I like; eat, drink, and be merry; and not hurt anyone else (the exception, obviously, being self-defense). It’s an abbreviated Sermon on the Mouth: treat other people the way you want to be treated.