“Legitimate” guns…what a crock!

[Yeah...big time gap between posts...we'll get into that later....]

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Ya know, it just drives me nuts whenever I hear some gun-control Nazi say they are not going after guns with "legitimate hunting and sporting purposes." WHO ARE THEY TO TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T HUNT OR PLAY WITH!?!?!?!

AR-15s and semi-auto AKs are used all the time for hunting and target shooting and busting milk jugs full of water and disposing of watermelons and cantaloupes too nasty to eat...and they make some of the BEST self-defense weapons on the market. [Never forget: a handgun is there to buy you time until you can get to your long-gun!]

It's all smokescreen, people! They want to numb you to the fact they are trying to take away legitimate guns used for legitimate purposes so that they can say they "did something" and feel better about themselves...and severely restrict our ability to defend ourselves against out-right tyranny. [Don't fool yourselves...another argument for another time.]

Where do they think "legitimate" hunting rifles and their AMMUNITION came from? They are based on military weapon designs!!!! Most bolt-action hunting rifles used in the first half of the 20th century were rifles the hunters had brought home after using them in World War I! Why should they be surprised when military veterans today feel more comfortable with the style of weapon they used while serving?

The whole "hunting and sporting" nonsense is meant to appease hunters and target shooters into not speaking up..."Hey, they’re not after MY guns...what do I care?" But if they succeed with "ugly" guns, YOURS ARE NEXT; you and I both know that hunting rifles are just as deadly and (usually) MORE ACCURATE than the "assault weapons" being targeted.

It's just a matter of time before they come for your "sniper rifle."

Take care and thanks for your time.

That "Pitiful .22 Short Revolver" -- A Video Entry

At Long Last...

 In my time on Planet Earth, I have had many experiences – failures, successes, surprises, “here it comes” moments, “Why did I think THAT was a good idea?” moments. I’ve learned much, forgotten more, and done things I would never have believed possible when I was growing up. But in all my 53 years, I’ve never really known “what I want to be when I grow up.” I think I may have the answer to that question at long last – I want to be a gunsmith.
 !?!?!?! Yeah, I know, I never really owned any guns worth mentioning until 2008 and I never went hunting more than a dozen times in my entire life. But I think that had more to do with opportunity than desire.
 For the first 20 years of my adult life, I was a member of the U.S. Air Force. For 17 of those years, my wife and I thought it best that we live in military housing. There are so many restrictions on when and where you are allowed to possess firearms on a military installation, it just didn’t seem to be worth the hassle. For example, all guns have to remain unloaded at all times, even in your house. And God help you if you get caught with one in your car if you aren’t headed directly to or from the gate, the range or the armory. Combine that with the chronic shortage of money during those years; I did not see the point in owning guns. [SIDE NOTE: These restrictions and the mindset that created them explain why a lone jihadist in an auditorium full of skilled soldiers was able to kill 13 and wound 29 at Ft. Hood. The military doesn’t trust the adults they have spent years training to be disciplined to actually discipline themselves when it comes to private gun ownership. All that the Ft. Hood victims had available to try and defend themselves with when Hasan opened fire were chairs and tables. Outrageous.]
 Upon retirement in 1997, I spent $125 and bought a 12-gauge pump shotgun for home defense/varmint control and a pitiful .22 Short revolver (which has been retired indefinitely until I can figure out how to get more flame out of the muzzle than at the cylinder gap…quite the light show with dusk coming on). It was another 11 years before I bought any more guns and became comfortable calling myself a gun owner. Thank you, President Obama.
 Over the last few years of owning and using both rifles and handguns, I’ve revived the fascination I felt for them as I was growing up. One of the most vivid memories I have of my childhood was Christmas 1963. I was five-years-old and my parents gave me the most awesome toy any boy growing up in pre-politically correct America could want: a Mattel Shootin’ Shell Winchester lever-action cap gun – a cap gun that actually shot bullets! When you pulled the trigger, the cap popped and shook the spring-loaded “case” it was attached to, which launched a plastic bullet out of the barrel and across the room! SWEET!!! All you had to do was find the bullet (not always easy), mash it back into the case, stick on another cap and it was ready to go again! I’ll never forget that gun. (Want to see it in action? Check out this TV ad from 1962!)
 Anyway, now that I have guns readily available, I’ve realized I want to be able to work on them when the need arises. It was a short step from there to realizing I would enjoy working on other people’s guns as well. My first four years in the Air Force were spent maintaining the intercept radar and missile launch circuitry of the F-4E Phantom II (still my favorite aircraft), so I know I have the aptitude and skills for intricate work and troubleshooting malfunctions. The next step is to learn how different guns are designed and how they function. That means getting training. And while I have decided which training I want to take, getting the funds to do so is going to take a little time – it’s not cheap and I wouldn’t trust it if it were.
 In the meantime, I intend to go on leaning about my own guns. I may even go so far as to video my efforts and post them here…at least the successes. Wish me luck. This doesn't feel like a passing fad.

Is This Obama’s “Watergate?”

 Most who weren’t alive during the early 1970s (and many who were) could not tell you what Watergate was all about, just that it had something to do with the President of the United States of America resigning his office, something that had never happened (before or since).
 Without going into great detail (Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s All The President’s Men is the gold-standard), “Watergate” refers to the Watergate Hotel and Office Building in Washington D.C., which among other things, housed the offices of the Democratic National Committee. One night in 1972, a hotel security guard caught a group of burglars inside those offices. As the story unfolded, it was learned that the burglars were there at the behest of President Richard M. Nixon’s reelection committee — in fact, one of the burglars worked directly for the committee. In this case, ca-ca flowed uphill and President Nixon sealed his own fate by getting directly involved in trying to cover up the connection after he learned of it (Catch-phrase of the day: “What did the President know and when did he know it?”).
 Two years after the burglary and facing certain impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate, Nixon resigned. What is unfolding now has many wondering if history is repeating itself.

 The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE, or more commonly, ATF) has more or less been caught red-handed intentionally sending weapons across the border into Mexico, weapons that they were supposed to be stopping. Known variously as “Gunwalker” or “Gunrunner,” the official ATF name for the project appears to be “Fast and Furious”…having never seen the movie(s) of the same name, the connection is lost on me.
 Without getting into the details, insiders are blowing whistles and a Congressional investigation has ATF and other Justice Department honchos stonewalling and circling the wagons. It now appears that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder may have at least known about the project and did nothing to stop it. The only step up the ladder from there goes directly to the Oval Office.
 There is more to discuss on this subject (including the possibility of a much more sinister motive for the project than catching druggies), but for now I just wonder how long it will be before we hear people in positions of power channeling Senator Sam Ervin — “What did the President know and when did he know it?”

New Rifle!

 Well, I guess I’ve ignored this site long enough — so much for “keeping it current.” Sorry, guys, but I’ve been a little distracted lately...by my new AK-47!!! [OK, you’re right, it’s actually a semi-auto clone of an AKML, but let’s not get picky.]
 Yes, I have officially entered the world of the “evil bad-guy gun.” Even went so far as to [shudder!!] sell my Bushmaster AR-15 to get it.
 WHAT!?! You sold the most popular rifle in America today to buy a...a...a GOON GUN!?!?!?! I thought you were an AMERICAN, dude!!!! What in the world would you want with a Commie rifle?!?!?
 OK, do we have that out of our systems now? Good.
 I could go into a long, drawn-out discussion about the pros and cons of AK vs. AR (and I probably will when I’m done with this paragraph), but the deciding factor for me was this: my personal defense carry gun is a Springfield Armory XD pistol (XD stands for “eXtreme Duty”). This pistol can take whatever you can throw at it — mud, sand, water, ICE, trucks running over it — and when you pick it up and squeeze the trigger, it goes “BANG!” I finally figured out I need a rifle that can do the same thing.
 Loaded AKs have been found buried in the Iraqi desert (in the SAND mind you, not a box) and, after a few shakes to clear the barrel and receiver, have fired full-auto without a problem. I double-dog dare you to try that with any AR-style weapon.



 Please don’t get me wrong, I do not HATE the AR…after all it was the first rifle I purchased and it's full-auto big brothers, the M-16 and M-4, have served our country for almost 50 years. As long as you treat it well, keep it clean, and feed it its favorite ammo, it will serve YOU well…just don’t drop it in the mud or neglect it’s upkeep or try running cheap ammo through it. (That “nasty” lacquer-coated steel-cased Russian ammo that makes ARs choke and puke? AKs eat it like CANDY and ask, “Please, sir, may we have MORE?”)
 And, yes, the change in ammunition WAS a major selling point. The AK-47’s 7.62x39mm round is the rough equivalent of the .30-30, most often seen in lever-action rifles. The AR-15 are traditionally chambered for the military 5.56x45mm cartridge [the civilian .223 caliber round works, but don’t try using a 5.56 in a gun designed for .223…bad idea.] Now I might be wrong, but it seems to me that a 126-grain, .30 cal. bullet at 2,450 feet per second has a little more stopping power than a 55-grain, .22 caliber bullet at 3,250 fps. It is said that the .223 is a more lethal cartridge, but quite frankly we’re not looking to kill anybody — we're just trying to stop them from continuing their attack on us. That takes PUNCH. And from what I’ve read so far, the AK does that better than the AR.
 I am not “done” with ARs. I imagine I will someday buy another one to stand beside my AK. But right now, I can’t afford both. And with what I got for my old rifle, I will be able to trick out my new rifle and buy LOTS of ammo and magazines...got to feed the baby.

P.S.: "Thanks!" to my nephew, Jerry, for leaving his AK with me while he was busy at Basic Training in San Antonio...shooting it kind of “iced the cake,” as it were.