Saturday night data is in,

which- considering the crappy weather 'round here- is a good thing.

Something had a chance to try out

A .22TCM*

It's basically a 1911 firing the cartridge on the left

My understanding is they started with a .223 case, shortened it and necked it down to take a jacketed 40-grain .22 hollowpoint, which it pushes out of the pistol at around 2000fps.

First acquaintance with this was a guy shooting one on the range, a combination of a roar like a .44 Mag but the pistol barely moved in recoil.  I watched a few shots and said "I don't know what he's shooting, but I want one."  Few days ago had the chance to fire a magazine through one.

It uses a double-stack mag full of these, so that's 17 rounds of roar.  HUGE muzzle flash, loud as a .44, and very little recoil.  Very vigorous ejection, but we did find all his empties.  Couldn't save the target, but at about ten yards it grouped nicely. 

Bit of searching turned up some gel tests, which looks like this would definitely do some damage.

And yeah, I want one.  Especially since it comes with a 9mm barrel and recoil spring and you can use the same magazines with both cartridges.


*Picture from the Armscor site

It being April, the weather's turned back toward late winter

and it's downright icky out there.  You know what that means.

So, does this qualify as piracy, or a straight-up act of war?

BERLIN – A Venezuelan navy ship fired shots at a German-owned cruise ship on March 30 and rammed into the passenger vessel, leading to the sinking of the warship in the Caribbean.

The Iranian regime-allied Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused the captain of the RCGS RESOLUTE cruise ship of “terrorism and piracy" and sought to force the ship into a new direction on the high seas. The cruise ship, which had no passengers on board and was sailing under a Portuguese flag, has a reinforced hull that enables it to sail through ice water.
I really doubt the captain of the VZ ship did this without orders; if he did he's probably shark food by now.  Which means Maduro & Co. are getting really desperate, and stupid.

Oh yeah, this is going to engender lots of good feelings from the public

From the D&FSofNJ,
Gov. Phil Murphy has given New Jersey State Police orders to take N95 masks, ventilators and other personal protective equipment that health care facilities need in their race to slow the spread of coronavirus.
"I don't care if you're an essential occupation or otherwise need these, the Governor says hand them over or else."

And from Californicated,
At least 32 Los Angeles police officers broke up a gathering of more than 30 people celebrating a girl's first birthday.
...
Video of the incident Saturday evening in Hyde Park shows a line of officers breaking up the party. Police had to call for back-up as angry party-goers hurled insults.

Speaking of politicians who should be hanging from lampposts,

When the updated list of essential businesses was published Tuesday, it included firearm and ammunition retailers, as well as manufacturers, retailers, importers and shooting ranges. 

By Wednesday morning, that language no longer appeared on the state website. Under the latest list, manufacturers, importers and distributors can continue to operate, but shooting ranges and retailers must remain closed to the public until May 4, under the Gov. Charlie Baker’s latest executive order.
Lamppost, rope, politicians: some assembly required.

A range day was had

got windy as the dickens, so longer-distance load testing was out, but it was damned nice anyway.

Now brass and firearms to clean.  And stuff to write down.

H.R. 6126: this needs to go through

Finally, some good news – a light on the horizon in what seems to be an endless sea of anti-gun bills! Earlier this month, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL-17) introduced H.R. 6126, a bill that would cap ATF transfer times on suppressors at 90 days. If not approved within the 90-day time frame, any application that has not been denied would, by default, be deemed approved.
It's a start.

Kroil is a penetrating oil

that works very well for some things.  If you'd like to try it out, or you need some, they've got a very good deal going.

Toon clearing