I know it’s old, but this is the sort of thing that makes me proud to live in Indiana.
Brady Campaign gives Indiana a D rating for their gun laws.
I envy those of you that live in “F” states.
Ode to a steak
Welcome to Ahab’s poetry hour! I will occasionally subject you poor bastards to the horrifying vivisections I perform on the English language that I try to pass off as poetry.
Relax, would you? I’m writing it for humor’s sake.
Dear Sweet Jesus, my thanks are great
For this dead cow that is on my plate.
This noble steer did once roam
The plains of Texas far from my home.
Then did the fateful day arrive:
The steer was killed, no longer alive.
Butchered and packaged, to a rail car he goes,
To butchers and grocers and homes, who knows?
One day in the store, where shopping was I
A fine Angus steak caught my eye.
So glorious it was, so thick and so meaty
This steak was perfect, a thing of real beauty.
Quick into my cart the prime cut was placed
And off to the check-out my little feet raced.
I soon arrived home and declared to my wife,
“This is the finest steak I’ve seen in my life!”
Seasoned and primed, now off to the grill
The cooking of meat gives my soul such a thrill.
And now Dear lord Jesus, this steer sits on my plate
Seasoned and tender, it looks fucking great
And one last thought, before I dig in,
Screw PETA to hell, eating meat is the WIN!
Real quick
Seems the AWB has been re-introduced in the House. It’s in committee right now. I hate talking about politics on this blog, but this is of note.
I doubt it will make it to the floor of the house, but if it does all your AR15-philes had better stock up before they take your plastic guns away.
I’m going to go buy as many hi-caps as I can get my grubby little paws on.
Survival Rimfires
Sorry for the delay in updating, we had a wee bit of snow in Central Hoosierland.
In the past, I’ve visited the topic of pistol caliber carbines for survival, as well as certain center-fire rifles for homeland defense. Today, I’m going to be talking about the one rifle that should be in every gunsafe in the country, if not the world. The lowest of the low, the .22 caliber rimfire. Yesterday I talked about my deep, personal affection for the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire; that love is almost as deeply held for the .22 Long Rifle as well. If I could make sure that every law-abiding gun owner had at least one rimfire rifle and pistol in their gun collection, I would.
Today, just like in the previous entries, I’m going to break down the various rifles by action type, in the order that I would take them into the field. I’ll also look at the various advantages and disadvantages of a .22LR “in the field”. The purpose of the .22LR for survival differs greatly from the center-fire rifle and the pistol caliber carbine, in as much as for obvious reasons the .22LR is less than ideal for punching into “two-legged” predators. If you’re going to go it alone and choose a .22LR for your primary long arm; take a major caliber pistol for backup. Of course, if you’re fortunate to have friends invited to your survival shindig, they can round out your armaments with rifles of their own. If you’re packing a .22LR, you have to bear in mind the limitations of the round. It’s primary purpose is going to be for collecting food and dealing with the dangers posed by smaller, four-legged predators such as coyotes (which we have all over the place out here). If your bug out area is in bear country…take a bigger gun with you.
Advantages
The .22LR does actually carry some inherent advantages if it’s going to be used as your primary weapon in the field.
- Ammo weight – You can get two or three hundred rounds of .22LR for what a single box of fifty 9mm would cost you in weight. While on the surface that doesn’t seem like much of an advantage, if you’re going to be walking any kind of significant distance, you’ll be glad for the reduction in weight that the lighter ammo brings. This also applies (to a lesser extent) to .22 Magnum ammo.
- Noise signature – .22LR isn’t very loud. If your weapon has been so modified, it can be quite easy to suppress even further, which again is an advantage if you’re concerned about giving your position away while foraging for food.
- Familiarity – If you’re like me, you shoot more .22 than anything else. Sure, I have my “serious practice time” with my centerfire pistols and rifles, but one or two rimfires usually sneaks its way into my range bag, and I’ll usually end up putting 100 or 200 rounds down with just the rimfire. Not only is it fun, but it’s relaxing; it’s also led me to associate rimfire shooting with just having fun.
- Shootability – “Shootability” is my favorite made-up word of all time. It refers to the ease with which one can produce accurate fire from any given weapon. With the majority of rimfire rifles, shootability is pretty high, as even bone-stock 10/22s come with a decent enough trigger and fair sights. The low recoil of the cartridge does nothing but help the “shootability” factor. I’ve said this a lot of times, but a small caliber weapon that you can place accurate hits on target is much better than a big gun that you can’t hit squat with.
Disadvantages
Unfortunately, my pet cartridge does carry some disadvantages onto the field with it.
- Stopping Power – Or lack thereof. Ambulance Driver provides an excellent example of both the .22LRs killing power and lack of stopping power, all in one post. For a .22 to do the job of stopping a rabid coyote, angry hog, or bipedal varmint, shot placement is going to have to be pretty much perfect. If you can achieve that kind of accuracy under stress, good for you. There is also the option of putting a 30 round magazine into your 10/22 and letting the predator in question have all of it; the bottom line is that a .22LR will not do the job of stopping a thread as quickly or efficiently as a larger, more powerful round.
- Stupid little magazines – Sorry, this is just a personal gripe. Why the hell do the magazines for almost every rimfire rifle or pistol in the galaxy have to be such a pain in the ass to load?
- Reliability – While some rifle rifles are notorious for their ability to feed every type of ammo under the sun (10/22); if your weapon of choice is a semi-auto rifle, make sure you select your round carefully so that it will feed all the time, every time. The rim on the .22LR has been known to complicate feeding in a few different types of weapons.
With that out of the way, let’s get on to the different models of rifles that I would take. Again, your mileage may vary.
Semi-automatic
- Ruger 10/22 – This pick is pretty much a no-brainer. Reliable, accurate, built like a rimfire tank; this is the first .22LR I would grab if I had to leave the house in a hurry. Actually, if I could only take one gun with me, this is what I’d take. I’d make two modifications, first I’d switch out the factory iron sights for nice set of ghost ring sights, and I’d replace the factory wood stock with a Butler Creek folding stock. The folder makes it even handier to carry around.
- Marlin Model 60 – Marlin makes about 30,000,000 different variants of the Model 60, including the Model 70 which is the same rifle with a detachable magazine instead of the tubular magazine. Both are reliable, accurate, and can be fitted with different stocks. There’s one variant that even has a take-down barrel, which would be very handy for a survival situation.
- Henry Survival Rifle – This is a modern run of the much maligned AR-7, however it seems that Henry has fixed any reliability issues the original may have had. Plus, it floats. You can put everything in the stock, and the whole kit-and-kaboodle will float. As far as actual work goes, it’s accurate, reliable (with good ammo), it’s super-light, and IT FLOATS. The reason it wasn’t rated higher is that the shootability factor is much lower for this than it is for the 10/22 or Marlin 60.
Other action types
Once you get out of the semi-automatic action types, the field sort of blows wide open. Fixed magazine, detachable ma
ga
zine, Ruger, Marlin, Savage, and Remington all make excellent bolt-action and lever-action rifles. My first choice would be one of the rifles listed above, but if you’re got a Marlin lever rifle that you can shoot well, than you’re better armed than the guy with the Rambo knife.
Conclusion
My first choice into the woods would be a Ruger 10/22. I feel like for survival purposes when it comes to rimfires; you’re much better off with a semi-automatic than you are with a bolt or lever gun. I wouldn’t feel under-equipped with either a bolt or a lever gun, but it just wouldn’t be my first choice out of the gate.
A good rimfire has a lot going for it for survival. I’ll say here what I’ve said in my other posts about weapon selection. Pick one, and practice. If your “Oh Shit” rifle is a .22LR, shoot it a lot. Shoot it to the point where it honestly feels like an extension of your body. With a little bullet, shot placement is the most important factor in producing reliable stops on “meat” targets. Practice practice practice.
CSI: Miami
I have a dark and evil secret. I like CSI: Miami. After much reasoning, I’ve come to the conclusion that I enjoy overly hammy acting, junk science, and watching lab techs interrogate murder suspects. My wife called CSI: Miami “The show about forensic Magic”, because that’s what it really boils down to.
Unfortunately, last night’s episode really, really baked my crust – as most shows do when the have “ballistic weirdness” involved. The gist of it was that one of the their CSIs was shot, in the head, with what they repeatedly referred to as a .223 caliber bullet. Now, of course my first thought was “wow, he survived a .223 rifle round to the head”; but then they said that they were looking for a handgun, so I got confused. But wait, there’s more. When they showed a picture of the bullet on their super-magik ballistics computer, it looked like a “heel-based” .22 LR. Now I was really confused, because a .22LR is .224 inches in diameter, not .223. CSI wasn’t done yet. They then determined that the round had come from a rifle they called a Ruger 10/22, and I was thinking “Okay, the 10/22 is a .22, that’s cool, I guess I can forgive 1/1000ths of an inch”. Until they showed the rifle. It was a bolt action.
Right about then, I felt something inside me die. I mean, sure, they constantly called a .22 LR a “.223 caliber”; sure, their EVIL SNIPER WEAPON turned out to be a 10/22; but having it be a bolt action? I mean come ON. Do a little research. Seriously, just like 10 seconds of research would have prevented having your writers look like a bunch of idiots.
Although rather masochistic, for some reason I thought it was funny that the Hoplophobe crowd decided to make a .22 LR into their EVIL SNIPER WEAPON of choice. I’m still unsure exactly how Pelosi and the Brady bunch will turn my .22s into something for Suzy Soccermom to be afraid of, but I’m sure they’ll figure something out.
Gun movies
Ahab Goes to the Movies! Well, not really. I actually loathe the bloody theaters, filled as they are with surly, rude teenagers; however I do love movies. You might have guessed that I like westerns (I wonder what gave it away); but I’m an avid fan of all genres of film. What I’m going to do here is periodically talk about my favorite “gun movies” which I define as a movie that prominently features firearms that I find interesting, or uses in firearms in a manner that I deem to be “Pro-2nd Amendment”. Of course, this is all my subjective opinion, so feel free to disagree with me.
Today, I’m going to talk about one of my all time favorite movies; and what I consider to be one of the finest examples of the Western Genre. The movie in question is Lawrence Kasdan’s film Silverado. Starring Scott Glenn, a very young Kevin Costner, Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, and Brian f*cking Denehy, this movie literally has it all. Horse chases, gunfights, humor, a little romance (but not too much), some more gunfights, some dry British humor (“Today, my jurisdiction ends here), some more gunfights…I just can’t get enough.
The story? Absolutely classic. Wrongly convicted man returns to his home town, which is under the thumb of a corrupt cattle baron and sheriff; corrupt sheriff used to ride with secondary good guy character, our four heroes ride into town and eventually put things right, which of course ends in the classic western moment, with Kevin Kline’s character facing Brian Denehy’s character on a dusty street. “Goodbye, Cobb.” “Goodbye, Paden.”
As far as “Pro-2A”, while the movie doesn’t out and say “Guns are good”, the general theme is that armed and determined men cannot be oppressed. The Evil Cattle Baron and his thugs try some junk, as is their wont; of course they’re ultimately thwarted by The Guys in White Hats.
There are some interesting themes in Silverado in addition to the standard western plot. I’m not going to go into detail (because I don’t want to ruin the movie); but you should probably just go out and rent it right now if you haven’t seen it. Seriously. Go rent it. Or better yet, just buy it on DVD. If you like westerns, you won’t regret it.
It takes all sorts
I’ve added “Pissed off Housewife” to my blog links. I’d say she’s a bit out of my usual demographic, except that I’m just happy to have people reading my blog.
Besides, her readers (probably also outside my usual demographic) might bring some interesting comments and opinions over here; and if I’m really lucky, I might just make a few new shooters.
.22 Magnum
I don’t have a whole lot to write about today, since I don’t particularly enjoy political blogging, and my weekend trip to the range was canceled (range was down for repairs). So instead, I’m going to write about what is most likely my all time favorite cartridge – from any format. The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire by far and away eclipses any round in my book.
It started with my very first rifle, a Marlin 25M that my father gave me. Being a young fellow, I was less than pleased at the concept of a bolt action rifle with a wood stock; I wanted a cool semi-auto. That faded the very first time I went and shot the Marlin, however. My best friend and I were shooting steel plates, he with a .54 muzzleloader shooting a patched round ball, and me with the Marlin in .22 Magnum. His all lead rounds would gong the targets nicely, and just sort of leave a splash of lead residue. The FMJ rounds from the .22 Magnum would blow quarter sized divots out of the steel plate; to a 16 year old that was all sorts of impressive.
From there, I discovered the accuracy factor as well. Again, from the Marlin I could and still can put five shots into a group that you could cover with a quarter at 50 yards. That rifle’s worn a few different scopes over the years, and is currently plenty accurate with the stock iron sights. Of course, not even the impressive accuracy prepared me for what would happen when I introduced the .22 Magnum to various coyotes, jackrabbits, ravens, and other sundry animals. Over the years that I’ve had the rifle, I’ve had the opportunity to bang just about every .22 Magnum load in existence into certain critters, especially coyotes and crows.
My favorite pistol also happens to be chambered in .22 Magnum, and interestingly enough was also a gift from my father. It’s an EAA Bounty Hunter single action and it is “my very favorite gun”. From the 4 5/8ths inch barrel, I’ve put almost as many rounds of .22 Magnum downrange with it as I have with the Marlin. The revolver hasn’t taken nearly as much game as the rifle, but it’s wreaked havoc on dirt clods, tin cans, and whatever else wanders through the sights while I’m out on the farm.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the concept of the .22 Magnum as a defensive round. Since I carry a .22LR a lot of the time, it would definitely be an upgrade in the relative stopping power of my Every Day Carry. North American Arms has their wonderful collection of tiny revolvers chambered in .22 Magnum, if I was picking one of those, it would have to be the Black Widow; I’d choose that one solely for the slightly larger handgrip. The 30 grain CCI load produces tremendous speeds, even from a 2 inch barrel. From a rifle, that round practically explodes in small game, however from a small pistol the bullet mushrooms much like a premium handgun bullet. Of course, that’s based on the one round I recovered from dead coyote that was hit with 30 grain TNT load from the pistol.
I have only two laments about the .22 Magnum, the first of which is relative dearth of semi-automatic pistols chambered for it, and the 2nd of which is the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire (I’ll explain that in a minute). For whatever reason, not a lot of people make a .22 Magnum autopistol, the only two I can think of being the recently revived AutoMag II, and the Grendel P-30. I’d like to get my hands on a specimen of both of those eventually. My gripe about the .17 HMR is based more on the fact that I go to Gander Mtn and look in the “rimfire” section. I see a rifle with a long magazine and get all excited, than I turn the tag over and see .17 HMR. Disappointment at every turn.
All in all, I’ve fired more .22 Magnum than any other round (although .22LR is a close second), and through the years it’s really grown into my favorite round. If you want a little bit more “bang” for your rimfire, try a .22 Magnum. Oh yeah, my favorite load? Winchester’s 40 grain semi-jacketed hollow point. Devastating performance from a rifle on game up to coyote sized.
Someone actually gets it
It is rare that you find someone involved in academia to actually have a semi cogent grasp on the way things work.
Since I lifted this from “The Smallest Minority”, I’ll let him do the talking. However, you really ought to read the editorial in the Havard student paper. It’s a quite rare bit of fresh air from a college campus.
Wisdom of the Duke
Friday! Today’s Wisdom of the Duke should probably be re-titled “Western Wisdom”, because the quote isn’t from John Wayne, instead it’s from what is in my opinion the greatest Western of all time: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
If you’re gonna shoot, shoot. Don’t talk. – Tuco
Uttered by the film’s sort of villain immediately after he plugs someone who spent too much time talking about how he was going to kill Tuco, and not enough time actually shooting at him.
I like this quote from a tactical standpoint, it’s good advice. When it’s time to shoot, shoot. The difficulty is knowing when that time has come.