shooting

Heel type magazine releases

Posted on by Caleb

I like heel-type magazine releases. I can’t help it, maybe I’m sick but I just like them. For my readers from clanBOB, there are two major kinds of magazine releases for semi-automatic pistols. The most common is the button type (or American), which you’ll find on 99.9% of American made pistols. It’s a button located on the grip of the pistol, which can be pressed with the thumb to release the empty magazine.

A “heel-type” or European magazine release is located on the bottom (or heel) of the grip, and physically retains the magazine by overlapping it at the base of the pistol. To release a Euro mag release you have to push the switch back with the hand not holding pistol, then the empty magazine drops free.

The heel-type release was extremely popular on European made pistols through WWII and the late ’50s. Because the American style was much faster and easier to operate, it eventually replaced the heel type release except on a very, very small number of pistols.

You’re probably thinking right now “If it’s slower, and takes two hands, why in heaven’s name would he like it?” Well, I’d say the first reason is that I kind of like old things, but there are legitimate tactical reasons for having a heel type release. One of the best explanations that I’ve found for them was at Gunblast in their article on the CZ27. Their reasoning (which I agree with) was that for a soldier in the field, a heel-type release drops the empty magazine into his hand where it can be retained for later use. A pistol without any magazines is pretty useless, especially in a fight. While the primary reason to have a pistol (especially for a WWII infantryman) was to fight his way to a rifle; he’d have much better luck if he keeps his magazines.

For modern pistol competition, a heel type release is pretty useless, because it’s not as fast. However, if you’re doing Gunsite style reloads with retention, it’s a pretty good idea; as again the empty mag drops into your waiting paw so can you pocket it an keep the rounds. I’m not saying that everyone should stop making pistols with button type releases, because that would be insane. However, I could see heel type releases being used on small pocket pistols quite successfully, with the thought in mind that if you have to reload you .32 ACP in a hurry, you’re probably screwed anyway.

Actually, to reveal my true motivations, I’m just defending another anachronistic firearms design component. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something satisfying about dumping the magazine out of my M1935 Beretta into my hand. YMMV.

blogs

The power of war

Posted on by Caleb

Sebastion has an excellent post up on the actual motivation behind war, i.e. “politics by other means”. I’ve encountered that argument many times as well from the anti-gun types. The “well if the government wanted to kill you, they would and your rifle wouldn’t help”; which as Sebastion says is technically true.

But that’s not what war is really about.

But war isn’t really about killing. The mistake the left is making is failing to understand what power is. What gives another man power over you? Did you ever stop to think about that? I’m not talking here about the kind of power your wife has over you, when she makes you take out the trash. Or the kind of power your boss has over you, when he demands you get a report in on time. We all accept some modicum of social controls as part of enjoying the benefits of living as part of a society with other human beings.

Go read the whole thing.

Uncategorized

Wisdome of the Duke – March 2nd

Posted on by Caleb

“Sorry don’t get it done, Dude.” – John Wayne, in Rio Bravo.

This quote applies to the recent controversy surrounding Jim Zumbo, as well as to general life. When he first realized his gaffe, he very quickly issued an apology, which heartfelt or not, was an apology. Almost immediately, people began to say to those that were castigating Zumbo “But he apologized, you should stop”.

Unfortunately, those people failed to realize that “Sorry don’t get it done”. Often, it’s not enough to just say “I’m sorry” and expect things to go back to the way they were before. I’ve experienced that in my personal life, as I’m sure any other married man has.

Actions will always speak louder than words; when you say that you’re sorry for something it must be backed up with actual action. Reference again Jim Zumbo, who is doing a damn fine job of demonstrating his contrition and sorry, as you can see from yesterday’s post regarding him. The actions that you choose must bring credit to your words if you want people to consider you a man of character.

shooting

Jim Zumbu Update – he gets it

Posted on by Caleb

JZ is officially “with the program”. This is personally great for me to see, as it shows the sort of contrition and eloquence that “we the gunnies” had been hoping for all along.

As a journalist, I intend to educate myself as to the entire question of these firearms. In addition I will continue to support and protect the Second Amendment. I’m now involved in an educational process to gather the facts and see for myself.

I for one am extremely glad to see this sort of writing coming from him. While I was impressed with the speed and alacrity with which the Evil Black Rifle people voiced their opinions and banded together to protect our sport, I am even happier to see that Zumbo bears no ill will and that he seems to be taking an active interesting in educating himself.

H/T to Uncle

humor

At the movies with Ahab

Posted on by Caleb

I have taken it upon myself to rewrite a few of the more popular horror movies, had they been starring myself or any of my fellow gunnies out there. (We’ll have an update on the Mousegun Shooting League up tomorrow)

Scream
Act 1: Frightening phone call from inside the house, fellow with scary mask comes down the hall with a knife at our apparently defenseless heroine.

Heroine: “Whatever will I do?” Produces .357 Magnum from the couch, empties contents of cylinder into mask-wearer’s chest.

Fade lights…

The Birds
Act 2: An army of birds is amassing, threatening the house in which our young lady and her male friend are trapped.

Male friend: “Miss, would be a dear and grab my Benelli 12 gauge from the closet? I also have about 500 rounds of birdshot in there, just haul those on up. It seems we’ll be eating well tonight.”

Fade lights…

Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Act Whatever: Two young adults run from a maniac with a chainsaw.

Young lady: “He’s got a chainsaw! What are we gonna do?”
Young man: “I don’t know, all we’ve got is this AK47….waitaminnit”

BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM

Fade lights…

Night of the Living Dead
Act 3: The zombies approach a small farmhouse, seemingly defenseless. A small family is inside.

Husband: “Dear, it seems that an army of the living dead is rapidly approaching our house. I say, could you gather up the rifles and the children? Assign Timmy and Susy to reloading detail, we’ll be in a world of hurt if we run out of magazines.”

Wife: “Why of course dear, aren’t you glad we’ve stockpiling ammo for all those years?”

Husband: “I certainly am.”

Rifle fire pierces the night.

Fade lights…

Clearly, I should be working for Hollywood. Not only would movies be shorter, but they’d be a lot more bloody! They might be a bit repetitious, but at least we wouldn’t have to put up will all that Hollywood silliness when it comes to guns.

shooting/sports

Mousegun Shooting League

Posted on by Caleb

If anyone missed the previous post I made on mouseguns, I have been inspired to create a competitive body for mousegun shooting. An official mission statement or statement of purpose is coming later, but the gist of it would be that I want to create a place where the loads of people that carry and love these little guns can shoot, train, and compete safely. Obviously, I’m hoping this idea takes off.

Although MSL sounds like a contagious disease, it’s simply a working title for now. What I am working on (and going to share with you) are the equipment rules that we’ve come up with so far. Since this is a work in progress, any feedback is appreciated.

Remember, the stated goal is to create a shooting league or society in which people can shoot their mouseguns competitively. The idea is that competition on the goal produces a valuable training environment for people that carry mouseguns (which is a lot); additionally it’s fun as well.

Competitive Classes
Right now, we’re looking at two major classes, Revolver and Pistol (Semi-auto); with each class being further subdividing into Sub-minor caliber (.22 LR, .25 ACP, possibly .22 Magnum) and Minor Caliber (.32 ACP, .32 S&W, .32 Magnum, .38 S&W, .380 ACP, and possibly .38 Special – more on that later).

To keep the competition limited to strictly “mouseguns”, each competitive class will have weight restrictions on the pistols used, i.e. no hauling out your Ruger 22/45 to compete in the rimfire category. I’d like to limit the weight of autos and revolvers to 20-25ozs (this would allow Walther PPks and Bersa .380s). There are going to be some restrictions specific to class of weapon as well. I’m honestly not sure where the limit should be set in the Sub-Minor category, but right now we’re looking at 15 ounces. That would exclude such guns as the Walther P22 and Sig Mosquito, which is too bad; but again the goal is to limit ourselves to true mouseguns. The final weight related issue that’s been brought up is a possible bonus for people that choose to use superlight weapons, such as the NAA mini-revolvers, some of which weigh less than 10oz. Quite frankly, we have no idea how this would be implemented, but I’m open to suggestions.

Minor Revolver class
To compete in this class, the revolver must be chambered for one of the following cartridges: .32 ACP, .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, .38 S&W, .32 Magnum, and .32-20 WCF. This isn’t intended to be an all inclusive list, because we’re sure that there are plenty more “mousey” cartridges out there that can be fired through a wheelgun. A brief side note, at this time the .38 Special is on the bubble, because it’s allowed for use in IDPA and ICORE shooting, we’re leaning towards not including it.
Barrel length on the revolver class is likely going to be 3 inches or less, again provided the revolver makes the weight limit mentioned above.

Sub-minor Revolver
To shoot in this class, a revolver must be chambered for either .22LR, .22 Magnum, or .25 ACP. The weight limit on the sub-minor wheelguns is going to be locked at 18.5oz. The revolver can be single or double action, but must have a barrel length of 2.5 inches or less. This is the first category where handicapping comes to mind, as an shooting that uses a 9.5 ounce NAA Black Widow is going not going to be able to compete with someone that uses an 18 ounce Taurus. Right now, we’re not limiting cylinder capacity on revolvers with 5+ rounds – but we don’t have a good solution in place for reloads on the clock.

Minor Pistol
For a pistol to shoot in this category, it has be chambered for .32 ACP, .380 ACP, .32 NAA, and maybe, just maybe 9mm Makarov (9×18). Again, not an all inclusive list, but it’ll do for now. The 9mm Mak is right on the bubble along with .38 Special in the wheelgun world. Barrel length is limited to 3.5 inches or less; this category will also make use of the handicapping system for extremely light guns such as the Kel-Tec .32. The handicapping system will be worked out in detail once we’ve come up with the scoring system. Magazine capacity is capped at 8 rounds for this category.

Sub-minor Pistol
Pistols here must be chambered for .22LR, .22 WMR, or .25 ACP. Barrel length is going to be 2.5 inches or less, and the weight has to be under 15oz (that could be lowered). Magazine capacity is limited to 8 rounds here as well. We don’t envision handicapping to be an issue in this category.

So that’s the breakdown of the competitive classes. Again, all this is in the creative stages, and any and all feedback is welcome. We’re going to be working through the scoring system today; which will include how the handicapping system will work. After that, we’ll work on course design, which will include average round count, reloads, etc.

Questions, comments, etc can be left in the comments section or directed to my email at admiralahab at gmail.com.

Uncategorized

Real Time with Bill Maher

Posted on by Caleb

Normally, I don’t watch Real Time. My wife and I will occasionally play a game where we see how many minutes of the show it takes until I’m ready to put a fireaxe through the TV.

Well, I caught the replay of the latest episode on Monday night, and it was great. It was great because they had this woman as one of their commentators.

She essentially spent the entire episode owning everyone else on the show all over the board. Very calmly and reasonably she made points about the radical nature of Islam that no one could refute, and even had Bill Maher (who is a notable critic of all religion) agreeing with her.

It was fantastic. Now I’m going to have to buy her book.

humor

Stupid people tricks

Posted on by Caleb

From Smallest Minority (one of my favorite sites), I’ve found this gem on “Why you shouldn’t try to rope deer”.

I’m not responsible for any coffee/beverages that you expectorate on your monitor/keyboard.

“I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that since they congregated at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away) that it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.

I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.
The cattle, who had seen the roping thing before, stayed well back.
They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes my deer showed up. 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it. It took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and received an education.

The first thing that I learned is that while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. That deer EXPLODED.

The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope with some dignity. A deer, no chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I originally imagined. The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many animals. A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head.

At that point I had lost my taste for corn fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope. I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual. Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer’s momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn’t want the deer to have to suffer a slow death. I managed to get it lined up to back in between my truck and the feeder, a little trap I had set beforehand. Kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and started moving up so I could get my rope back.

Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head.almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts. The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now) tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the bejesus out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.

That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that when an animal like a horse strikes at you with their hooves and you can’t get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape. This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond I devised a different strategy. I screamed like woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and three times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.

Now when a deer paws at you and knocks you down it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head. I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.

Now for the local legend. I was pretty beat up. My scalp was split open, I had several large goose eggs, my wrist was bleeding pretty good and felt broken (it turned out to be just badly bruised) and my back was bleeding in a few places, though my insulated canvas jacket had protected me from most of the worst of it. I drove to the nearest place, which was the co-op. I got out of the truck, covered in blood and dust and looking likeheaven. The guy who ran the place saw me through the window and came running out yelling “what happened”

I have never seen any law in the state of Kansas that would prohibit an individual from roping a deer. I suspect that this is an area that they have overlooked entirely. Knowing, as I do, the lengths to which law enforcement personnel will go to exercise their power, I was concerned that they may find a way to twist the existing laws to paint my actions as criminal. I swear. Not wanting to admit that I had done something monumentally stupid played no part in my response. I told him “I was attacked by a deer.” I did not mention that at the time I had a rope on it. The evidence was all over my body. Deer prints on the back of my jacket where it had stomped all over me and a large deer print on my face where it had struck me there.

I asked him to call somebody to come get me. I didn’t think I could make it home on my own. He did.

Later that afternoon, a game warden showed up at my house and wanted to know about the deer attack. Surprisingly, deer attacks are a rare thing and wildlife and parks was interested in the event. I tried to describe the attack as completely and accurately as I could. I was filling the grain hopper and this deer came out of nowhere and just started kicking theheaven out of me and BIT me. It was obviously rabid or insane or something. EVERYBODY f
or
miles around knows about the deer attack (the guy at the co-op has a big mouth). For several weeks people dragged their kids in the house when they saw deer around and the local ranchers carried rifles when they filled their feeders. I have told several people the story, but NEVER anybody around here. I have to see these people every day and as an outsider, a “city folk”, I have enough trouble fitting in without them snickering behind my back and whispering “there is the ding-butt that tried to rope the deer.”

shooting

More mouseguns

Posted on by Caleb

I get a lot of links here from Mouseguns which is great, because it’s an awesome website; it’s an awesome website because it focuses on my personal favorite niche of the gun world. That of course is mouseguns (I bet you figured out where I was going with that). Wikipedia actually has a pretty decent entry on mouseguns, and of course you can always visit the website linked in the first sentence for more information.

What is a mousegun?
Well, that’s sort of a funky question; because it really depends on to whom the question is being asked. The general consensus is that it’s gun chambered for a light caliber (usually .380 or lower) that can be readily concealed and carried. Mouseguns.com moves superlight 9mm and larger caliber handguns into a category of their own, that of the “ratgun”; which I think is a great name.

Operating off the definition of a mousegun as .380 or smaller in caliber, the next defining criteria would be the weight. The Wikipedia article mentions less that 16 oz, I’ve personally heard less than 20oz, less than 18oz, and from a 1911 fan “anything not a full size 1911a1” which did make me chuckle a bit.

What I can do with a mousegun?
Well, carry it for starters. A lot of mousegun fans (myself included) are fond of saying that “a .25 that you carry is better than a .45 you leave at home”, or “the first rule of gunfighting is have a gun”. While these are true, I would say that if you can carry a big gun, you probably should. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, back to mouseguns.

The purpose behind a mousegun is generally considered to be for last ditch defense at extremely close ranges (<7 yards). I’m generally opposed to people who drop a .32 Kel-Tec in their pocket and don’t practice with it; in my opinion a mousegun requires as much (if not more) practice than a full sized or medium sized defensive pistol. The light caliber calls for well placed shots which is not facilitated by the teeny sights or the generally small grips on your average mouser. If you’ve got one and you carry it, you should practice with the thing.

Can I compete with my mousegun?
Yes and no. While Mouseguns.com has had some postal matches in the past, it’s not a regular occurrence. Additionally, at the club level at lot of IDPA matches have a “Back-up Gun” division, into which most mouseguns would fall. If you’re looking for a sanctioning body that has rules and regulations for competition specific to mouseguns, there isn’t one that I know of.

However, I’m currently working with a few friends to rectify that situation. I was griping to said friend that I couldn’t shoot my mousers in any sort of sanctioned competition, his response was “well, form a sanctioning body, you’ve been shooting for years – and the internet is a great tool.”

With that in mind, if you’re a person that would be interesting in shooting a mousegun in competition, drop me a line in the comments section or to admiralahab at gmail dot com.

Are mouseguns fun to shoot?
Damn skippy they are. The biggest downside is that you can’t buy .32 ACP ammo in the sort of bulk that you can buy 9mm ammo; but it’s not that much more expensive.

If you’re looking for more info on little guns, head over to www.mouseguns.com and start clicking around. There’s a lot of great information on them.