Guns

Chipping Away

Granted, this ruling has no real precedential value, but a Federal judge has said that marijuana users cannot have their 2A rights taken away. Essentially ruling that marijuana is commonly used, and using it isn’t an indicator of a propensity for violence, therefore making a user of the drug into a prohibited person is a step too far, in light of Bruen. That’s the second significant case this week.

That case is the gift that keeps on giving. The best part of this ruling is that the left will be torn: Support marijuana use, or oppose guns. What to do? LOL

By Divemedic, ago

Thousands of Rounds?

ATF should be called Agents That Fib. They are on the record as claiming someone with a Glock switch is capable of firing ‘thousands of rounds per minute’ from a Glock handgun. Anyone with gun knowledge knows that they are talking about cyclic rate when they say that a gun is firing 1,200 rounds per minute. That would require a weapon to have an unlimited supply of ammunition. It’s an attempt at dishonest manipulation of soccer moms.

“It turns a semi-automatic firearm into, essentially, a machine gun,” explained [ATF Agent] Estevan. “So, instead of one round being discharged from a firearm with the single pull of the trigger, when the switch is installed onto a firearm, you’re looking at 1,200 rounds with the single pull of the trigger within a minute.”

If you have to lie in order to make your point, perhaps your point isn’t worth making.

By Divemedic, ago

More on ATF rule

Reading the text of the rule, it appears like this rule declares that all AR pistols are now considered to be SBRs and must be registered. If a firearm has the surface area to be fired from the shoulder, such as a firearm equipped with a nonadjustable buffer tube, then that will be considered an SBR, basically making every AR-15 pistol and SBR. Read the text for yourself: (pdf alert)

Whether the surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder is created by a buffer tube, receiver extension, or any other accessory, component, or other rearward attachment that is necessary for the cycle of operations

By Divemedic, ago

SB Tactical Gets Pwned

A company that makes pistol braces gets its customer database breached. There are four possibilities here:

  1. ATF was doing a little illegal sneak and peek so they know whose dogs to shoot
  2. ATF had one of their partner informants do it for them
  3. A freelance SJW is planning on outing everyone
  4. Criminals are just doing what they do

I am betting that the incident is either 2, above. Some lefty is going to anonymously notify the ATF that they have a list of lawbreaking owners of SBRs. Since the new rule outlawing unregistered pistol braces was published today, you have 120 days to register your (now) SBR or become a felon. Isn’t that a sweet little coincidence?

The miscreants got away with each user’s credit card number, expiration date, CCV code, cardholder name, address, phone number, and email address. If you have ever done business with SB tactical, you should consider all of that information as being compromised and in the possession of people who mean to steal your money, your life, or your freedom.

We know that the feds are now enlisting people in the private sector to do their unconstitutional dirty work. It can’t be too much longer before the informers are everywhere and people become vzyali.

On a side note, as of today I will no longer be in possession of a pistol brace equipped firearm. I am not registering shit.

By Divemedic, ago

Illinois Makes All Semiauto Rifles Illegal

How did they do that? Because of the overly broad wording of their new assault weapons ban (edited to clean up the text to make it more readable, but not change the wording):

(3) "Assault weapon" means:

(snip of irrelevant sections A and B)

(C) A semiautomatic rifle that can accept or can be modified to accept a detachable magazine and has at least one of the following:
(i) A folding, telescoping, or collapsible stock.
(ii) Any grip of the weapon, including a pistol grip, a thumbhole stock, or any other stock, the use of
which would allow an individual to grip the weapon, resulting in any finger on the trigger hand in
addition to the trigger finger being directly below any portion of the action of the weapon when firing.

emphasis added

Now picture any semiauto rifle you can think of. Now tell me which one, if any, sees the pinkie finger of the trigger hand not being below the action of the rifle.

Thus, all semiauto rifles in Illinois are now legally defined as assault weapons and are thus illegal to possess, transfer, or own.

By Divemedic, ago

Disappointing Range Day

So I decided to take the new 1911 with me to range morning. I arrived at the range with my EDC pistol, the new 1911, 100 rounds of 9mm, and some CCI Blazer in .45ACP. I setup my lane, loaded a magazine with 5 rounds of .45, and squeezed off the first mag full of ammo when I felt a tap on the shoulder. It was the range officer telling me that only brass cased ammo is permitted at the range. But if I wanted to buy some .45 ammo, they had some for sale at $40 a box.

American Eagle at 80 cents per round? I can buy that elsewhere for 54 cents per round, and can buy PMC brass cased at 46 cents per round. No thanks. I don’t want to sound like an old man, but I remember when .45ACP was $8 a box, and that wasn’t all that long ago.

I had to switch to the 9mm and finish my shooting for the morning. After I was done, I asked the RSO why the ammo restriction. It’s because the range sells the used brass to a recycler, and they can’t sell steel or aluminum cases. So not only do they sell the ammo at nearly double the going rate, but they are selling the brass and making more money there.

I would love to find another gun range, but this one is only 20 minutes from my house, and there is only one other range within a half an hour’s drive. That second range is owned by a dishonest meatsack that I wouldn’t trust to sell me a stick of gum. So I can either suck it up and get fleeced by the brass recycling buttheads at the range 20 minutes away, or I can make the 40 minute drive to the third closest range and see if they are any better.

At any rate, I am going to have to order me some brass cased .45 and try to shoot the new 1911 some other time.

By Divemedic, ago

Ask and Ye Shall Receive.

So I wanted a 1911 to play with before committing to buying an Ed Brown, and a Para USA Black Ops just happened to fall into my hands. For a pistol that is just a plaything, the price was right, at only $400.

It looks like it was hardly ever fired. Wear is consistent with a pistol that had maybe a box of ammo put through it, then was put in a nightstand drawer and never fired again.

  • The match barrel has no wear on the bluing.
  • There is a 2mm scuff on the bluing near the top of the slide.
  • The bluing is warn around the top of the only factory magazine I have for it. The other magazine that shipped with the handgun is apparently missing.
  • The bluing is a bit warn on the outsides of both safety levers, and on the points at the front on both sides of the slide, as if the pistol spend a lot of time sitting in a drawer.
  • On the contact points of both sides of the grip safety, the bluing has rubbed off.
  • There is gunpowder residue on the feed ramp and the breech face. The bluing on the locking lugs is quite worn, but the lugs are in good shape.
  • Most of the bluing is still present on the face of the hammer.

The only thing that I can find wrong with it, is the tritium sights no longer glow, but that isn’t surprising since Para USA was absorbed by Remington in 2012, and the Para pistols were discontinued in 2015.

This thing is a boat anchor, I mean it is heavy, weighing in at 42.2 ounces with an empty magazine inserted. That makes it 10 percent heavier than a GI model. The guy wanted a good price, so I took it. I will get some new sights for it and then take it for a spin.

By Divemedic, ago

On 1911’s

The reason why I am considering a high end 1911 is my previous experience with them. I once owned four different 1911s.

  • Colt Combat Commander
  • Kimber Pro Carry II
  • Kimber Ultra Carry
  • Kimber Eclipse Custom

Two of them, the Ultra Carry and the Eclipse were decent for being range guns. They fed and shot FMJ reasonably well, but could be picky when it came to feeding HP ammo. I consulted people that I respect on the subject, and was given a lot of conflicting advice. They told me to break the pistol in for 500 rounds and that would fix it. It didn’t. I was accused of “limp wristing” by people who hadn’t even watched me shoot. I was told to change ammo, because some 1911s are finicky. I was told to lube them more, and was also told to lube them less. Other advice was change the springs, get more gunsmithing done, and tons of other things. At the time, I just couldn’t find a place for a handgun that cost a kilobuck but wouldn’t give me 100% reliability out of the box that is required for a carry piece and saw no point in pouring money into a gun in order to make it shoot reliably when there were so many guns that cost a fraction of a 1911 that worked fine right out of the box.

That was a decade ago. Now I have several dozen handguns and have sold several dozen more because they didn’t suit my needs. I am set for the handguns I need now I am buying handguns that I want. What I want is a handgun that looks sexy, and the 1911 does. Not in a tactical or badass way, but in a way that offers clean lines. I just like the way that they look. I also want it to be reasonably reliable, and I constantly hear from 1911 fanbois about how accurate and reliable their 1911 is, if you get the right gunsmith to work it over. So now I am assuming that the custom made 1911s from a top quality gunsmith with a reputation for making the best is gong to fit that bill.

So I want to try the Ed Brown. Still, spending 4 grand on a pistol only to have it not be what you want is a bit painful, so I am looking at trying out a cheaper version for now. I misspoke before, I am not looking at an Ultra Carry, I am looking at an Ultra CDP or a Pro CDP. I don’t like the Rapide. It looks like Kimber’s attempt to make the 1911 look like a Glock. All of the unreliability of a 1911, with the looks of a Glock. The worst of both worlds. To compound the problem, they even make them in 9mm.

Sure, the Ed Brown is expensive, but that is the benefit of having a job that pays well and a wife who is understanding of your odd, expensive hobbies. At least she knows my money is going to guns and geeky stuff and not to a mistress. Not only that, but I need to have a Bar B Que gun for the unlikely event that open carry is ever legalized in Florida.

By Divemedic, ago

On the ATF 80% handgun ban

The ATF recently released a statement that polymer 80% frames for handguns are all “readily convertible” into functional firearms, and thus have to be treated like firearms.

That isn’t exactly true. 80 percent arms is reporting that their 80% handgun frames are unaffected by the letter because a Texas judge has placed an injunction on the ATF enforcing any bans on their products. If you want an 80% handgun frame, you can still get them here.

By Divemedic, ago

Why are guns getting so hard to find?

In reference so my 2023 wish list:

  1. Smith and Wesson Revolver in .44 caliber
  2. Kimber Ultra Carry
  3. Dead Air Sandman Suppressor
  4. Ed Brown Kobra Carry

I called the authorized Kimber dealers within 50 miles of my house (all four of them) and not one of them has Ultra Carry handguns in stock. I actually visited the one closest to my house, and the only 1911s they have are SDS Imports, Rock Island Armory, etc. They said that they can’t order any, they get what they get when they get them. The only two options they offered were buying something on Gunbroker, and having them do the transfer, or they would put my name on a waiting list. That option would be approximately a 14 month list.

The Kimber dealer about 25 miles away said the only Kimbers they had in stock were .380 ACP and 9mm.

It was a similar story with the .44 Revolver. The Smith and Wesson dealer said that the only thing they are reliably getting are M&P tactical Tupperware in 9mm. It seems that dealers are having trouble with parts supply keep up with demand, so they are concentrating on the most popular models.

Who knew that the most realistic and fastest items on the wish list would be the Ed Brown or the NFA weapons? That brings to mind a question: Is everyone or anyone else seeing the same sort of thing where you are? If so, is it a demand thing, a supply problem, or something else?

By Divemedic, ago