Bloomberg Fiddles With Lawsuits While Ignoring NYC Criminals: Gun-phobic New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is like Emperor Nero of Rome; he is "fiddling with lawsuits" and blaming everyone else for New York crime problems while he hasn't stopped murders from increasing, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. http://www.ccrkba.org/pub/rkba/press-releases/bloomberg_fiddles.htm --- Nebraskans Train For CCW: A reporter describes the course he took to qualify for a Nebraksa concealed-weapon permit and provides some background on the new law that created it. http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/12/31/news/local/doc4596f07829bfe501388951.txt --- Reporter Learns About Mental Preparedness: A couple of Houston-area reporters got a mini-course in shooting and making deadly-force decisions at the local sheriff's academy. One tells her version. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4434082.html --- "This Never Happens In This Neighborhood": Two men in Maryland try to rob a pair of men in a home. One, a retired DC Metro PD officer, gives chase, firing shots into the air. (What else do you see wrong in this video? [Hint: a holster with an FBI cant is designed to be worn _____________ the hip.]) http://dynamic.allbrittontv.com/watchvideo.hrb?s=wjla&id=647 --- GI M1 Carbines To Become Available: I have been asked several times for advice on the purchase of M1 Carbines, which have soared in price due to collector interest. It appears that the Army has released several to the Civilian Marksmanship Program and that they will become available in March. http://www.odcmp.com/rifles/carbine.htm CMP FAQ's: http://www.odcmp.com/faqs.htm --- From John Farnam: 27 Dec 06 Interesting comments on the new S&W M&P, from a friend in the Philippines: "A friend owns a local gunshop and is currently advertising S&W's new M&P pistol in 9mm. Having read your glowing review of this platform, I decided to take a look. Imagine my surprise when I was told the first shipment sold out before it even arrived! My friend kept a single copy, just so customers could see one in person. No word on when more will arrive. The M&P is getting great reviews locally. Nearly everyone comments positively on the adjustable ergonomics, accuracy, and the low recoil. The only downside is one your don't even have to worry about in the States. It is the issue of detail disassembly. One has to remove the M&P's rear sight in order to clean the firing-pin safety plunger, something about which you in the States seldom need worry. Conversely, over here we are all compelled to shoot ammunition that is "dirty," at least by your standards. It's a choice between that and no practice at all. FMJ ammunition is so expensive, 'practicing' with it is out of the question, except for the wealthy. We 'peons,' as you would say, are confined to lead reloads. As you are well aware, shooting lubricated, lead reloads makes detailed cleaning a necessity rather than an option. Paraffin lube will inexorably blast its way into extractors, plungers, and eventually every nook and corner of the pistol. Lube builds up, hardens, and eventually something seizes, and the pistol is out of action. Thus, most new M&P owners have not been able to shoot much, as re-zeroing the pistol after removing and reinstalling the rear sight is tedious and requires a trip to the range. Glocks, of course, become gummed-up too, but, as you know, the real genius of the Glock is its simplicity. Detail disassembly and cleaning is a simple task by comparison." Comment: Once again, we here in the USA often don't fully appreciate how good we have it! I tell students not to shoot what we call "lead/garbage" through their pistols, and all manufacturers warn against the practice too. Occasionally, we need to think about what we're going to do when its "lead/garbage" or nothing. I wonder how many of us can even detail-dissemble our pistols! /John 27 Dec 06 Good advice from my Riflesmith, Colby Adler, with regard to frequent student complaints about gritty triggers on stock AR-15s: "I highly recommend against the installation of any adjustable, 'target' trigger on your AR, particularly two-stage systems. Too many tiny pins. Too many small, weak IC/MIM (investment cast/metal-injection-molding) parts. In addition, all adjustable triggers employ several set screws that will invariably work loose and move while firing. No target trigger I know of will hold up under heavy use. Indeed, none are designed for heavy use. For serious ARs, the only trigger system I recommend is Eugene Stoner's original design. Stock AR-15 hammers and triggers are robust forgings, and the disconnects are laser cut from tool steel. They rarely break." Comment: Your fighting rifle needs to be set up for legitimate, military use. Meaningless, anal accuracy will be small comfort when your prissy trigger disintegrates in the middle of a fight! Triggers on serious rifles must break at no less than five pounds and they will always have some creep, even (Heaven forbid!) a little grit. Who are too pure to hear this need to go reevaluate the worthiness of their ambitions! /John 28 Dec 06 On the subject of "Fingers-on-triggers-at-inappropriate-times," from a friend in the Federal System: At FLETC, at long last (Dec 2006) we've finally dropped the stage of fire in the requiem PPC Course that requires shooters to have fingers in contact with triggers while they wait for targets to face. Fingers-on-triggers-at-inappropriate-times is the leading cause of NDs in the field. Imagine that! Especially since we've actually been encouraging the mistaken practice for years! I've personally seen and investigated many cases where agents and officers claim to have had no idea where their finger was when the ND occurred. Conversely, I've never heard of anyone in the field who said they couldn't find the trigger fast enough when they had to." Comment: Careless, unsophisticated trigger fingers are the direct cause of no end of grief! One would think this would be the very first issue we would address during training! /John 28 Dec 06 More on serious rifle triggers: >From my friend in the Philippines: "I've personally witnessed our Marines do good work at 300m, even 400m, with well-worn, 1960s-vintage AR-15s. These are men who are called out when trouble boils over in our southern territories. Many have progressively taken out entire machine-gun nests using only their rifles, all of which are equipped with the same plane-vanilla triggers and plane-vanilla sights with which they came from the factory- so many years ago. They have simple gear, good ammo, lots of skill, personal determination, and experience. They don't spend their time bemoaning the conspicuous absence of the latest wonder-gear. Instead, they find a way to win. They are simple soldiers, unapologetically going about their deadly work." >From an instructor in OK: "My prairie-dog-shooting friend does yeoman work on the little varmints with a long, heavy barreled, tricked-out, scoped AR-15. Earlier this year, he and I were working over a dog town, when suddenly his AR began to double. Every press of the trigger rewarded him with a fast brace of shots. Bruce was startled, embarrassed, and genuinely irritated. I ran a quick, armorers' check on his rifle. Nothing seemed bent, broken, missing, or out of place. I folded it back together. Suddenly, his two-stage, "national-match" trigger system returned to it's proper function. The rifle ran normally through the rest of the afternoon. That day, I, for one, was forever cured of the want of such a trigger! Anytime something malfunctions, looks fine, and returns to service suddenly, without any repairs, I simply have no faith in the system from that point forward. I would have been far more comfortable if I'd found broken parts." Comment: Replacement AR-15 triggers that claim the title "match" or "target" all have too-light pull weights and dangerously precarious sear engagement. This generates grave issues when they are placed into serious rifles: (1) Light trigger springs make for light pull weights, but they also generate a slow, mushy reset, occasional double taps, and NDs. (2) Light hammer springs generate light primer hits, unreliable ignition, hang fires, and damage to the gun when the hammer retards the bolt carrier during cycling. (3) Light hammers are also famous for unreliable ignition, and they tend to break in half! (4) Precarious, delicate sear engagements will generate occasional, unscheduled episodes of full-auto fire and a rifle that may fire when the manual safety is "on." The problem with heavy/creepy/gritty, military-service triggers is that naive shooters have been persuaded that they are just unthinkable, and they would rather spend money on a gunsmith and gadgets instead of going to the range with a case of ammo, leaving egos at the gate! /John 28 Dec 06 Gun cleaning advice from my pistolsmith, Jim Garthwaite: "Fill a basin with hot water and dish-washing detergent. Immerse your gun parts and then use a toothbrush to scrub them. You'll find this process removes even the most stubborn, hardened, caked-on bullet lube. Finish by running hot water over the cleaned parts and lay them on clean towels. The parts will dry themselves. If you have access to compressed air you can blow off remaining water. Finish by doing the 'pencil check' to assure your pistol is assembled correctly and functions as designed. Our ancestors used hot water and soap to clean muzzle-loading weapons in their generation. The method works just fine, even today." Comment: Hot, soapy water is still the greatest cleaning solution there is, and, like diesel fuel, you'll find it in great abundance most places you need guns! /John (And for those who shoot black powder or Pyrodex, Windex works great too.) 28 Dec 06 More good advice from the Philippines: "Here, we make it a habit to keep at least two copies of every gun we have on hand for serious purposes. When something breaks, we're not left unarmed, and then there is time to get parts necessary to repair the affected gun(s). Given the unpredictability of supply, some of us have as many three or even four identical copies of handguns, just to make sure we have plenty of spare parts and that we will thus never be victims of import flukes and sudden embargos." Comment: With the political scene in Washington DC taking a recent turn to the left, "import flukes" and "sudden embargos" are likely to rear their ugly heads! /John -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .