Happy New Year
PYTHON!
This can’t wait until you get to Products at the bottom. Colt has reintroduced its famous Python revolver. Only $1500.
Note that this revolver has the cosmetics of the original Python with the less costly next-generation trigger system and internals of the New Cobra series. Since it’s a “new” gun, there may be bugs in early production examples. We also wonder if Colt might also bring back the Anaconda, and is it too much to hope for a .41 Magnum Python?
Gunsite’s Ed Head fired the new Python back in November and said, “The action has the smoothest DA trigger I have experienced in a factory revolver. They accomplished this by eliminating 12 parts from the old action and re-designing the internals. Dimensionally these revolvers are the same size as the previous models so grips, speed loaders and holsters are interchangeable,” and “as of mid-November they [Colt] had a Python on a fixture running it double action and it was somewhere past 50,000 cycles without failing.
Jacktown
There were 80-something homicides in Jackson, MS in 2019. Unfortunately, one of the murder victims last month was a member of my extended family, and another one was a close relative of my former coworker. Both were killed by apparently unknown assailants at their own homes. Y’all be safe, be smart, and be careful.
Texas DGU
You’ve heard about Sunday’s Texas church attack in which a volunteer church security team member fatally shot a man who opened fire with a shotgun inside a packed Texas church, killing two during a livestreamed communion. Authorities have praised two congregants who opened fire as part of a volunteer security team at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement (Ft. Worth area), calling them “heroes.” Authorities said there were more than 240 parishioners in the church at the time of the shooting.
- Lessons
- Interview with the defender
- GOOD analysis:
My takeaways:
- SIX seconds. The whole thing (from the time you first see the attacker’s gun, until he was shot, including his shots and the defender’s shot) was over in SIX seconds. 3.1 seconds from the bad guy’s draw to his first shot. Think about that.
- When you get to this point, VIOLENCE IS THE ONLY ANSWER.
- This guy could have had an accomplice(s). Was anyone watching their six?
- The attacker had apparently entered peacefully, in disguise and hiding his weapon, sat in a pew, and then popped up and started shooting. So in this case perimeter security, if any, was of little value or simply failed. Churches intentionally invite troubled (but hopefully not violent) people in, not keep them out. However, see the above interview with the defender.
- Did the church have a medical emergency plan and team in place?
Church security resources:
We don’t know why the FBI thinks it has any jurisdiction in this case.
Meanwhile, US House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) says the feds are going to fix the church attack issue “over time.” Right.
And Bloomberg, USA Today, and the other usual leftists say that armed church congregants are “terrifying” or whatever. Well, how terrifying is it if none of those 240+ victims had been armed? Head mommy Shannon Watts, Giffords bunch director Laura Cutilletta, and Francis O’Rourke all said that legal CCW in churches CAUSES such attacks. I suggest that the leftists themselves are terrifying.
Maybe they should instead just put up a sign? If that bad guy came into your church, would you prefer a gun law and a sign, or a good guy with a gun? What do you do if the guy breaks the law and ignores the sign? You have 3.1 seconds to deci…oops, too late.
In response to the Texas church attack, Butler County, Ohio, Sheriff Richard K. Jones announced his office is offering free CCW classes to churches “that have or are implementing security teams.”
After action: ACLDN Attorney Question of the Month
Iraq: not-a-DGU
John Farnam says it well.
Military “Intelligence”
Lt. Gen. (3-star) George Smith Jr., head of Marine Corps Plans, Policies and Operations, has announced that Marine Corps law enforcement personnel (both military and civilian) who possess valid Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act (LEOSA) 18 U.S.C. §926B credentials are now authorized to carry their own concealed firearms on base, even when off duty, with limitations, “for personal protection not in the performance of official duties.” Gen. Smith also indicated that additional concealed carry policies could be in the works.
Meanwhile at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, the tarnished brass has announced a new policy that the transportation of privately owned firearms on the base, with few exceptions, will be prohibited.
Living with Guns
“It was not enough, I contended, to merely train people how to operate small arms, then hysterically snatch the guns away and lock them up in a vault the other ninety-nine percent of the time.”
Empty chamber carry. Don’t. Just don’t.
Interesting death statistics
A Discussion with an Anti-Gunner
Best Practices for Gun Guys to Successfully Navigate Social Media Sites
Federal “Intelligence”
The BATFE has proposed changes to Form 4473 (the retail firearm purchase form) which include a “Non-Binary” option under the transferee’s Sex question. It seems to me that a transfer should be denied to anyone checking such a box, pending a mental evaluation. But I suspect it’s just PC silliness and they don’t really care how warped the transferee might be.
The Only Ones
Fidel Alejandro Villegas, aka El Chiquilín (The Kid), the police chief of Janos, Chihuahua, Mexico, has been arrested for an alleged role in the deaths of three women and six children — all dual U.S.-Mexican citizens — who were killed in the so-called Mormon massacre on an eastern Sonoran highway on November 4.
A grand jury has indicted Blackwell, Oklahoma Police Lieutenant John Mitchell for murder in the May 2019 homicide of a 34-year-old woman who drove away from a traffic stop. Seems to be a pretty ugly case.
Foreign Enemies
The Global Times, which is Communist Chinese state-run media, published an op-ed this week saying that the Second Amendment in the US is a “serious problem” and that there needs to be “change” in how the American public views “private ownership of guns.” As an American public member, I challenge the commies to come and take them. I’m surprised the ChiComs stopped executing their own people long enough to notice ours.
An Italian man who fatally shot two robbers and wounded a third after they broke into his jewelry shop threatening to murder his wife has been sentenced to 13 years in prison and ordered to compensate the families of the two criminals he killed.
The United Nations is working on disarming folks in New York. Just remember, they wear blue hats.
Game of Snipers book review
I have recently finished reading Stephen Hunter’s latest novel, “Game of Snipers,” featuring our favorite character Bob Lee Swagger. While this is a very good read, it is not Hunter’s best work. There were several errors relating to the technical minutiae of shooting and reloading, none of which corrupted the logic or story line. To be fair, some of these could have been typographical errors. But the most glaring one was a common but completely erroneous explanation of uphill/downhill shooting trajectory, which clearly indicated a basic failure to understand the relatively simple physics and geometry of external ballistics. But, nearly all shooters, including very accomplished long range shooters, get that one wrong. I was still somewhat disappointed because Hunter’s claim to fame in our world is that he always gets gun stuff right. Not this time.
Wish List
If anyone has a February/March, 2020 issue (Vol. 55, No. 1) of HANDLOADER magazine, I would like to take it off your hands when you’re done with it. Email me here. Thanks, Jeff.
Products
Ruger’s new Lite Rack™ LCP II is an easy-to-manipulate LCP chambered in .22 LR. 11 oz. $350.
Ruger also has the new Ruger-57 Pistol chambered in 5.7x28mm. $800. $650 at grabagun.com.
Speer’s all-new 40 grain Gold Dot® 5.7x28mm load is the first in that caliber specifically designed for self-defense. $52 per 50 rounds.
Federal Premium’s new Force X2™ 12 gauge buckshot loads have nine copper-plated 00 FX2 buckshot pellets which are “belted” and slotted and specially engineered to split into two equal-size pieces on impact. $23 per 10 rounds.
Federal Premium’s new Solid Core™ line of hunting handgun loads use a Syntech polymer jacketed, tough, flat-nose lead bullet for high weight retention and deep penetration. Mainly for hunting or large animal defense — may allow unacceptable overpenetration for social defensive use. Around $30-40 per 20 rounds.
Federal Premium’s new Punch™ defensive handgun ammo has bullets with skived jackets and soft lead cores to produce the best expansion and penetration for the price, and has nickel-plated brass cases and sealed primers. $16-21 per 20 rounds.
Kriss USA is releasing its Vector rifle chambered in .22LR.
Thompson/Center Arms has introduced an extensive centerfire rifle lineup for 2020 to include its new T/C Compass Utility, T/C Compass II, and T/C Venture II bolt-action rifles.
Savage Arms’ new Renegauge line of American-made semiautomatic 12 gauge shotguns are built for field use, and include several new patented parts and designs. 12 ga. only, $1450-$1550.
Zulu Bravo G10 knives (no metal)
A little late for Christmas, but here’s the Armourer’s Bench ACR Colouring Book. $6.00 + P&P.
