No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.12.4/449 - Release Date: 9/15/2006 Fifteenth Anniversary Approaches For Pivotal Texas Shooting: The massacre at a Luby's cafeteria in Killeen eventually led to the creation of CHL's for Texas residents. Article reviews the requirements to obtain one. http://www.kdhnews.com/docs/stories/story.aspx?sid=11857&cid=4 --- The Plot Thickens: Portland police now believe that the intruder who was manually strangled to death the the 51-year-old nurse he attacked in her home was not a simple burglar but a hit man hired by the woman's estranged husband. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C214120%2C00.html --- Head Shot, With A Knife: Article describes how close to blindness or death a man came when a thrown knife went through his eye socket and into his brain. http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C20422829-2%2C00.html --- Pistol Purchase, Inside Look: A while back a link was shared to a a news report that S&W had landed a contract to replace the aging 4006 pistol of the California Highway Patrol with the 4006 TSW. Here is the CHP's rationalization and explanation of that contract. http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/pistols.html --- From John Farnam: 12 Sept 06 Beretta CX4 After surgery to remove superfluous material, my copy of the Beretta CX4 is in service. We used it in OH last week, during a battery of courses. Ran just fine! It is designed to be rapidly convertible from right-side ejection, to left side. The bolt handle can also be moved from side to side. Nice feature for use within a department. We found it to be amazingly accurate, effortlessly delivering consistent brain-stem shots at twenty meters. Of course, it shoots 40S&W pistol ammunition, but it is light, smooth, short, handy, easy to maneuver, and easy to use. Excellent car gun! /John (Brainstem shots are much easier on stationary paper targets than on moving people. Granted that, at closer ranges, a carbine is a better choice for this challenging role than a pistol, we should not not delude ourselves that we really have a high likelihood of reaching the brainstem with a pistol-caliber bullet. A higher velocity rifle bullet at least has the potential to sever the brainstem from the upper brain as it liquefies the latter in its passage through the brain cavity.) 12 Sept 06 On magazine safeties, from a friend and student: "I remember you once said that you removed the magazine safety from all your S&W pistols as soon as you got them. Did you accomplish this by completely removing the appropriate plunger and spring from the slide? I've had a gunsmith do this on my S&W CS45. However, I am now wondering if having an open hole on the bottom of the slide (that communicates with the firing-pin channel) is a problem. My gun runs fine, but I'm wondering if this modification will increase fouling in the firing pin channel and create problems when the gun gets dirty." My reply: Removing the magazine safety on any S&W pistol will not create problems. S&W deliberately makes the process easy, knowing that serious gunmen will want nothing to do with magazine safeties. All who use these guns for any kind of serious purpose remove them. Little fouling ever makes its way into the firing pin channel. Get rid of it! Your pistol will continue to run just fine. /John (I'm not sure what a "serious gunman" is but there are many people out there who have been involved in shootings and their aftermaths who feel that it is not worth the potential liability in an ensuing civil action to risk removal of a factory installed "safety" device. If a magazine-disconnect safety is that much of a problem to you, it may be worth selecting a pistol that does not come with one from the manufacturer. As my former teaching partner was fond of saying, "It's your gunfight.") 13 Sept 06 On Kalashnikovs, from a friend in SA: "We ran an Urban Rifle Course here last weekend. A student (complete amateur) arrived with a dirty, rusty, beat-up, bone-dry, Chinese AKM and nine-hundred rounds of steel-case, Russian ammunition, dated 1963. It was all badly corroded, and I was skeptical, but, in the end, allowed him to use it anyway. Out of nine-hundred rounds, not one failure to fire! He had three failures of feed, as the cases involved were rusted to the point where they no longer fit in the chamber." Comment: Even under the worst conditions, Kalashnikovs, no matter where they were manufactured, usually come through. Rude and crude, by American standards, the Kalashnikov still proudly claims the title of a significant milestone in firearm history! /John (David Hackworth, like John Farnam, was not happy with the M16. In his book About Face he told of discovering an enemy body that had been buried in mud for about a year, along with an AK-47. Hackworth jumped into the pit, grabbed the rifle, and fired off the full magazine, full-auto. This is a good example of the difference between building a firearm for target accuracy versus building one for maximum reliability.) 13 Sept 06 Many have asked about my recommended modifications to the Beretta CX4. Here is a summary from my riflesmith, Colby Adler: "The pistol grip should be cut flush with the actual magazine well to allow normal seating of a magazine. The back of the pistol grip can then be radiused for appearance and comfort. Cut the stock loop off with a hacksaw. You can then profile the stock with a wood rasp or coarse file. Don't worry about making the stock perfectly smooth, as you will have to fill in voids with epoxy or fiberglass anyway, and then file off the excess. I also trimmed one-third of the bolt-lock/release lever. As it comes from the factory, the lever is too long. When you trim some of it off, there will be less likelihood of the bolt locking to the rear prematurely when the shooter uses a thumbs-up grip. John's copy of the CX4 also had a spacer in front of the recoil pad. Unless you have unusually long arms, get rid of it! The recoil pad just snaps on, and the spacer can be removed with one screw." Comment: These relatively simple modifications make this handy carbine even handier and easier to use. Recommended! /John (I have to wonder why Beretta could not have thought of these things.) 15 Sept 06 Spot-on comments on rifle selection, from a friend in the Phillippines. Some truths resurface continually! "In the early 90s, a Russian delegation came over here to demonstrate various Kalashnikov platforms to Philippine Military and LE agencies. By this time, reserve stocks of serviceable M16 rifles were running low, and the US State Department was dragging its heels over export permits. The Russians saw an opportunity for a big sale! The weapons, as you noted, functioned well. Yes, sights are crude, and the selector is anything but handy. Still, they offered to sell our government AK rifles at an extremely attractive price. Equally attractive, the Russians would also ship manufacturing equipment so that the rifles could be made in-country. This would allow us to use mass production to remedy issues with sights and selectors. The offer to bring in equipment and components to locally manufacture ammunition was also made. Apparently, after the Cold War, 75% of these machines were idle and so giving them away was an easy way to sweeten the offer. But, the deal didn't go through. In the end, the Philippine military wanted to look like their US counterparts, even if that meant having to make do with weapons that were worn out. Today, military and LE units are equipped with a mixture of rifles. Many are Frankenguns, cobbled together from an assortment of spare parts. In retrospect, we should have taken the Russians up on their offer! The lesson here is this: WE CANNOT FALL IN LOVE WITH OUR GUNS. Something that works now is far better than what we want, but cannot have. Musashi learned to fight with any sword, even wooden ones, and still won! "Battlefield ppickup" drills are incorporated into DTI classes precisely to stress this point. I see why! We need to be taught to rise to the situation, not wait for perfect solutions to magically appear!" Comment: Put another way, WE NEED TO SPEND OUR TIME FINDING A WAY TO WIN, NOT LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO LOSE. We see examples of this truth everywhere! /John (How many people, including John, retain a sentimental attachment to the obsolescent 1911 platform? Personally, I see no reason to use that 95-year-old technology when the 107-year-old technology of my revolvers works just fine. While the earlier remarks about the Kalashnikov seem spot-on for the Philippines, perhaps some of us develop a love for those guns that we feel best fill a role for us.) -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .