Now, I haven’t had an opportunity to take this out to the range, so all my observations don’t take into account the actual operation while shooting. So there’s that.
More pictures and observations below the fold… (more…)
I think what they have done is a perfectly reasonable reaction.
I say that as an open carry advocate and 3-venti-per-week customer.
My recollection of how this has gone is something like this:
A couple of years ago, CSGV decided to make a stink about Starbucks not banning guns. We responded with the first “Starbucks Appreciation Day.” Starbucks came out with a statement that basically said, “We follow state law. That’s it. We’re not changing our position on that.”
Then a year later, it happened again. Might have even been an anniversary of the first Starbucks Appreciation Day. Starbucks response was a little more firm. “We follow state law and are not changing our position on that. However, please leave us out of this fight. We want no part of it.”
Then, for the third year in a row, it happened again. CSGV plans a boycott, grassroots activists arrange a buycott. This time, knowing that the two prior years’ attempts at boycotts were soundly defeated, there was some jackassery. A couple of dudes brought in ARs. Some were planning on going to one in Newtown. That store shut down to prevent the meeting from happening, because they KEPT SAYING “KEEP US OUT OF IT.”
So Howard Schultz responded in a reasonable manner. He has more firmly asked to be left out of this political fight. That’s all. There’s no way that a barista can tell an anti-gun activist from a soccer mom, but they sure as hell can tell an open carry troll from a police officer. It takes at least two parties to fight. If you remove one party, then there is no fight.
Look at what they’re actually doing. They’re not banning firearms. This is not policy, it’s a request. He specifically says that no one is going to call the police if you open carry, and they’re not going to ask you to leave or put up legally binding signage.
Yet.
They’ve respectfully asked to be left out of it. Repeatedly. Nicely. They are becoming more firm in their requests. If this is ignored, expect a new policy banning firearms and a big ole “WIN!” sign for CSGV, who will take that to MacDonald’s and Wal-Mart and Home-Depot and…well you get the point.
It’s topped with a Weaver Target T-36X40 1/8 Riflescope sitting on a DNZ Game Reaper mount. The actual box mag conversion and stock are from a company that is no longer in operation, according to the gentleman who owns this rifle.
I have a coworker who recently asked me to give her some range instruction. She’d shot before, but she wasn’t familiar enough with how her new Ruger LCP operates to be comfortable. Naturally, I obliged.
This was our second session, so it was still pretty much the basic. Grip. Trigger control. Understanding the Four Rules. Sight picture.
She was loading four rounds per relay, and in one of them she got a nice “CLICK!” on the third round. She was shooting Blazer aluminium cased ammunition, so I figured it was primer-related. I talked her through clearing the malfunction and she fired the last round in the magazine with no problem.
I wanted to use this as a teachable moment about cheap practice ammo. “It’s not bad, but things like this are going to happen so just keep that in mind. Malfunctions like this happen all the time, and it’s not your gun.”
The primer is clearly dimpled.
We loaded the same round in the top of the next magazine (Tam, I can hear you screaming from here) because I wanted to show her that bad primers will often fire on the second strike.
But I got a failure to feed. It seemed strange to me, too, the way it was hanging up on the feed ramp. I had to drop the magazine to clear it.
Now, I don’t have a .380 anymore, but that looked like the bullet was set back a bit. I pulled out another round from the box and sure enough it was a couple thousandths difference. I’m pretty sure that setback happened as a result of the failure to feed, but it’s possible it was preexisting and caused the FTF.
But then….something else didn’t look right, either: What’s wrong with this picture?
Now, if you’re slow like me, you probably don’t see it. Here’s a 9mm round for reference: One of these things is not like the other.
Yeah. The rim is missing!
So this round had probably two, and possibly three, factory defects. We’re actually pretty lucky the primer was bad (although it could be that the case is slightly shorter than the chamber, so the firing pin didn’t hit deep enough) because extractors don’t work so well without something to grab on to.
At least that’s the story according to my local rag… and they might be moving into my area!
I’m kind of surprised to see one of the older companies decide to pull up stakes and move. It’s one thing when you’re a relatively young company like Magpul or Khar, but when you’ve got multiple generations working in your plants, it’s a rough choice.
That said, I’m happy to see that my town is apparently on the short list of destinations. I know folks won’t argue about the extra jobs, and I’ve always wanted a gun made down the street from me (unfortunately, Barrett’s stuff is a bit out of my price range).
THE Greens want to spend more than $350 million to ban semi-automatic handguns and buy them back from their owners.
But the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) said that would not affect the guns used by drug gangs for drive-by shootings in western Sydney.
Greens leader Christine Milne said gun violence could not be tackled without taking guns off the streets.
“We need strong action to reduce the number of handguns falling into the wrong hands. They have become the firearm of choice for criminals in Australia, especially in the drug trade and in gangs,” she said in a statement.
Under the Greens plan, costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office at $351.5 million, semi-automatic handguns would be banned, with a 12-month amnesty and buyback.
So less than two decades after requiring registration to reduce gun violence (WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?), and that not working to reduce drug-related violence, the answer is to…
Confiscate guns from folks who aren’t violent drug criminals.
And this makes sense.
They can call it a buyback all they want, but unless it’s voluntary (hint: It’s not) it’s confiscation.
And go read this presser from the Greens if you’re having problems with low blood pressure today. That’ll cure it.
sitting on a 
. The actual box mag conversion and stock are from a company that is no longer in operation, according to the gentleman who owns this rifle.
on his M&P15-22, but his barrel wasn’t threaded so we couldn’t put a suppressor on it.
