Nix NICS

Liberty Doll (over on the youtubes) sums up some of the objections to the "Fix NICS" act which has been added to the national reciprocity bill in the house. For myself it's simple; if any changes to the prohibited persons list do not involve eradicating the prohibited persons list then it's not cool enough. Background checks exist for one purpose only - to deny the wrong people their Rights. And lest we forget, upwards of 94% of the time that denial is a false positive. Then there's that pesky little thing about putting government in God's place (the theory being, since God granted Natural Rights then only God may legitimately interfere with them, so since government is deciding who may or may not engage in a natural Right - owning or carrying weapons in this case - then we've put government in the place of God) which, at least for folks of a religious inclination, should give folks pause about such a system no matter its (allegedly) benign intentions.

But listen to the Doll le Liberty as she makes the case concisely for not supporting the "Fix Nics" amendment.

Lotophagi

Just the yearly post (albeit a bit later than I was planning) full of well wishes & music of questionable utility. Now let me see if I remember how to embed stuff...

And Another Things

I thought I'd covered everything in this post about using bump fire stocks for appeasement purposes. I was wrong.

Fudd Me? No; Fudd You!

I can't leave y'all alone for a minute...

Appeasement is for chumps.

I see I'm gonna have to break that phrase down for some folk.

If you're being chased by a bear and you think "Gee, that bear looks hungry. Perhaps if I let him eat my pinky toe I can keep him from devouring the rest of me. It's not like I use my pinky toe that often anyway. Yeah, I'll just do that." then you're gonna die. The bear won't be satisfied with just dining upon your pinky toe, and you'll have put yourself in a position where it's much, much easier for the bear to eat the rest of you.

You'd think after all this time the concept would be taken to heart, but nope. In the calls to do "something" after the Las Vegas shooting it seems some gunowners and even the NRA are wanting to throw bump fire stocks under the bus.

 I've seen comments here and there claiming that this ban on bumpfire stocks is inevitable. That's a self fulfilling prediction. Keep telling yourself you're defeated and you will be. Others have argued that this isn't a hill they'd die on. I don't see why not though; are there better hills anyplace at the moment? Or do they merely look at the grass and scree and not think it aesthetically pleasant enough for risk, yet not see that this hill is an encumbrance to the anti gunowners? That the loss of this hill gives the enemy a firing position on our very homes? Think it's just bump stocks the enemy wants? Hell, that's not even all they're going after now.

Yoda Was Mistaken

The Army is looking at cartridges with larger bullets and contemplating a new rifle.

I have a theory on this; my people were big Braves fans (so don't you try to tell me what optimism is!) all through the 1970's and 1980's and even to this day. My maternal grandfather was chiefest amongst them. He passed away in the middle of one of the worst seasons ever for the Braves (which for the Braves is saying something). The next year they went to the World Series (lost, but went), battling their way to the pennant from a 39-40 record . They also played in the 1992 World Series. When folks we knew would express wonder at the turn around in fortune the Braves seemed to be experiencing, my relatives would say it wasn't unexpected - my grandfather was now able to directly intercede with the Good Lord on their behalf.

With that in mind, perhaps the late Col. Cooper has been making the case to the Good Lord that the poodle shooter's time has come and a more manly weapon is needed to smite the enemy (or at least let ol Chesty take a fiver cause you know he's been making the same appeal since he got there).

As for considering a bigger cartridge, I'm not surprised by this one whit. Once the Army went co-ed I knew eventually they'd realize that bigger is better. After all, you try to tell any woman that "size matters not". Go ahead. I dare ya. (Even a green Jedi master wasn't about to try to tell that BS to anyone but a guy. Luke mighta bought it, but Leia? puh-leaze!)

In the 1920's there was an argument for a 7mm-ish round, but this was downsizing from the mighty .30 that our doughboys took over there. It took final form in the .276 Pederson. That cartridge lobbed a 140 grain pill at 2400 fps from a case that was a tapered 2 inches (51mm) long and all together the cartridge was 2.8 inches tall. (The .280 British was similar, but still-born due to the u.S. shoving the 7.62x51mm down NATO's throat.)

Contrast that with the .260 Remington - 140 grain bullet launched at 2750 fps from a case that's 2 inches (51mm) long and all together the cartridge is 2.8 inches tall.

I've said for years that the best* general issue long gun** for the military would be a BM-59 chambered in a hot little 6mm or 7mm cartridge. The .260 Remington would fit the bill nicely (with a 1:8 twist).

A BM59E is roughly an inch longer than a standard Garand, while the other BM59 variants are slightly shorter than a standard Garand. Loaded weight is similar to a Garand (albeit with 20 rounds vs. 8) so about 1 and 1/2 pounds more than an M16. (that's with 7.62x51NATO ammo though - a .260 may trim some weight off of that.)

Replace the rear handguard with a rail mount, add an electronic sight or LER scope, add a tritium front sight and start passing them out. Oh, use an elevation knob calibrated in yards (cause Murica) and add about 3 and 1/3 inches to the bayonet - cause size matters.

And great Bastet bouncing on a beach ball -  the first person that "suggests" "upgrading" to a plastic stock should be [censored due to punishment being too graphically described and possibly causing a PETA civil suit] until they repent of their sinful ways. If for some reason walnut ain't good enough there's always a nice laminate. (You don't want the third option. You just don't.)

(Want to get all slick? Add a variable gas system, with a dial from say 1 to 6. Then issue a guard round for close in work - say a 140 grainer pushing 2400 fps.  Adjust the gas system for reliability and you've got a very controllable automatic carbine** for going into a city. Though this wouldn't be essential it's a nice thought.)

Price would be a problem; BM59 receivers are Garand receivers with some additional cuts on them. But if a company such as Ruger cast the receivers instead of having some middle aged fellow wearing a brim with a cigar hanging out of his mouth machine-whittle them out of raw organic free range steel then they might be cost competitive-ish. I'm sure MagPul could make polymer mags, possibly even adding 5 or 10 rounds to what the steel mags currently carry.

Speaking of mags, Fulton Armory has a page up contrasting M14 feeding devices with those of the BM59. I do not think a BM59 mag would survive a direct hit from a nuclear missile, but I'm confident the pieces would be identifiable.

A BM59 in .260 Remington (6.5 .26 NATO anyone?) would be about perfect for any branch of our military. It'd be a good general purpose carbine for us civilians as well (especially if the fun switch was intact). Aside from social purposes, it'd make a decent little target rifle (tell me one of these at a 3 gun match wouldn't just be fun) and could handle almost all game duties in the continental u.S. (.260 Remington may be a bit light for the bigger bears and moose and maybe a bit heavy for prairie dogs, though I'm sure handloaders could argue otherwise.)

Shame the military brass that handles procurement hasn't been hitting on all eight since about 1957-ish or I'd get my hopes up. Ah well, it was a nice thought while it lasted.


* I could still make an argument for a Garand, but in a concession to all the damned whippersnappers who think not having a box magazine is just too damn much hard work, or they might chip a fingernail, I'll posit Beretta's variant on Mr. Garand's rifle as the best design to date. Now don't say I never compromised (and don't ever expect me to do it again, ya heathens.)

** I consider 20 inches the dividing line between rifles and carbines. The BM59 models (except the BM59E and BM59SL) have 19 and 5/8" barrels or less, so to my mind they're still carbines, as are most all AR's and AK's and anything else with a pipe shorter than a cubit. Great carbines but carbines none the less.

My Bullets. Mine. My Mags Too

Living in a ban state is damned aggravating. A few observations though:

I've become even more aware of vendors listing restrictions on their sites. For example Centerfire Systems has a page devoted to restrictions among the various states. I'm not just picking on them; many other sites have something similar (Luckygunner for example), and usually a statement that they follow all federal, state, and local gunowner control laws.

Contrast that with Buffalo Bore:

Pressure

In a comment to this post, (in relation to a manufacturer not advising loads "hotter" than 10mm +p in their firearm) Billll (of Idle Mind fame) asks;

"Why would you want to go over +P anyway? especially in an already hot load?"

A fair query.

The short answer: 'Cause.

The long answer:

March Sixth Two Thousand Seventeen

Presented without comment (well except for the comment stating that there would be no accompanying comment, which I'm sure is some sort of paradox...)

These Go To Ten

Some interesting (to me at least) options for 10mm firing platforms have appeared on my radar as it were, so I'm going to share them with y'all.