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

I was just reminded of an old gunstock stain I've used on knife hilts and stocks,

and thought I'd pass it along.

Note: it uses acid, so you have to be careful making and using it. 

Here goes:
1 part acid(nitric or muriatic work, the original formula specified nitric)
5 parts water(can use more, but the acid has to be strong enough still to dissolve the steel wool)
Steel wool(back then it was iron filings)
Mix the liquids in a glass jar by slowly adding the acid to the water, make sure it's thoroughly mixed.  Then add a little steel wool. It'll react, you'll get some foaming, let that die down, then add a bit more. Keep going until the solution is saturated and won't dissolve any more, then loosely cap and set somewhere cool for a couple of days.

To use it, you make sure all previous finish is removed from the wood, then you'll need a heat source, a heat gun will work or a gas burner, and linseed oil. And use gloves.

Use a swab of some kind to wipe the finish evenly over the wood, keep doing it for a minute or two as you need it to soak into the wood. When you're sure it's soaked into the wood evenly, wipe off the excess.

And now you work it over the heat, or the heat gun over it. What happens is the solution carries the dissolved iron into the wood, and the heat makes it rust and darken the wood.  It has to get hot enough to do this, so leather or some other type of heat-resistant glove is needed.  Keep working the heat evenly over the surface until it's a bit lighter than you want, and then stop the heat and hit the wood with linseed. Not just a little, wipe or brush it on HEAVY; it kills the traces of acid left and stops the process, but it will darken a bit more before the action stops completely. Keep it wet with linseed for at least 15 minutes, then let the excess drip off for a while, then wipe it off and give it- depending on weather conditions- at least two days and probably a week to dry completely. If in doubt, give it more time to make sure it's dry.  After that you can use whatever surface finish you want on it.

This works very well to darken wood and bring out the grain.  You can darken it just a little, or make it just about black.  But if it gets darker than you wanted, the only way to change that is to sand it down and do it all over again, so I'd suggest experimenting on some scrap pieces before you put it on that stock or grips you want to use it on.

Without further comment

"What is best in life?"

"To hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the gun bigots."

Trump's not magnificent, but he's definitely better than the alternative would've been.

Considering what I've seen people asking on M1 Carbines,

their prices aren't terrible.

Which reminds me of this on Forgotten Weapons on the Carbine.