Why it's so dumb: Crappy, dangerous, rust-prone, slower than pulled pork.
It was quickly apparent that you might forget how to unload the tube-fed guns, or that you might forget to rack the pump after each shot - but there was no messing about with the HS12. Load, mount as the safety slides forward, and PRESS. No problems.I bring this up because Marshal Halloway and I have been mulling over created a 1/2-day class on self-defense with a double barrel shotgun, then film that class for DRTV. We had such great response with the "tactical" lever action rifle and the single-action revolver self-defense class as SHOOTING GALLERY episodes, and I get a surprising number of queries about using the double for self-defense.
There's always that one person who gets a toter's permit and seems a little, well, Barney Fife about it. Now they're a sheepdog! They run scenarios past you:
"What if you're in a convenience store, and you see a guy in a hoodie with his hands in his pockets, looking around at the security cameras?"
"I leave."Definitely read the whole thing! Reminds me of my later years in a dojo when newbies would start with the "what if you're sitting in a bar?" meme, and they were always so disappointed when I said I'd get up and leave. Then I'd patiently (or sometimes not so patiently) explain that it was not a question of who could kick who's ass, but rather the indisputable fact that any violent encounter was a pure chaos event...once it starts, none of the participants have any idea where it's going. There are simply too many factors acting on the system for us to predict its direction with any success, and the whole process if full of anomalies, black swans and just plain weird s&^t.
Why Gun Control advocates will end up with egg on their face once again...Gun control is not coming back as any kind of national movement, as if it was ever a national movement.
...all the gun control advocates are giddy, and think this is a turning point in their movement, LOL. Time for a reality check. I took this photo a while back at a grocery store's magazine rack... This photo shows the entire rack.. If you look closely their is about 17 different publications dedicated to firearms...And not a single "gun control monthly" in sight. They would not be for sale, if their was not a demand.
When Jigoro Kana, the founder of judo, was quite old and close to death, the story goes, he called his students around him and told them we wanted to be buried in his white belt. What a touching story; how humble of the world's highest-ranking judoist in his last days to ask for the emblem of a beginner! But Kano's request, I eventually realized, was less humility than realism. At the moment of death, the ultimate transformation, we are all white belts. And if death makes beginners of us, so does life — again and again. In the master's secret mirror, even at the moment of highest renown and accomplishment, there is an image of the newest student in the class, eager for knowledge, willing to play the fool.There are many things going on in my life right now...many of them very good; some of them profoundly bad. A day on the range helps me remember the path I have chosen to walk, and remembering the path brings me closer to the Way...maybe that's B-S, but then again, maybe it's not.
Rifles are, without a doubt, the worst idea. They’re cumbersome to maneuver, you need to put them down to do anything productive, and they don’t give you any additional benefits. The shotgun got you a little wiggle room in terms of accuracy, but the rifle is just as unforgiving – shooting wise – with the added benefit of having to worry about where the rounds eventually end up. Like the neighbor’s bedroom.TTAG does agree that the darn things are loud, however...and anybody who saw this week's SHOOTING GALLERY on terminal ballistics now believes, absolutely believes, that you never, ever want to stand in front of anything that says "12 Gauge" on the barrel! BTW, am I the only one who thought that the ballistic gel hit by the 12 gauge slug looked like a giant alien caterpillar in its death throes??? I got to cut back on my caffeine...I did suggest at least one block of gel with a couple of cans of mixed fruit and a luscious whipped topping, but somehow that one never got made...
In my opinion, not having a number of .22s in your survival arsenal would be a mistake, but I think it would be a bigger mistake to rely on the .22 exclusively. It is underpowered for a number of important uses, it puts one at a tremendous disadvantage at distance, and it’s not a sudden killer of large game. Although people and large animals have been killed by the .22, it’s just not consistent enough to be a compromise.Pretty well-done article...worth your time. And from an occasionally controversial direction, Suarez instructor Chris Flaherty has an excellent article on the Suarez Blog titled "Bullets Don't Work" (scroll down the page):
Quite simply put. Bullets don’t work, but we are lucky. Ammunition manufactures do a great service. They include a couple “magic” bullets in every box. We as end users just have to find them.I said this a lot while putting together the Panteao Productions CCW video last weekend, though not quite so eloquently.
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Bullets don’t work and keep shooting good accurate shots until that magic bullet does its damage.
Gee, Obama-Bloomberg...could it just get any better than that? Hope...Change...Snowplow...pass me the Koolaide!The report that Mayor Bloomberg recently had “a long private lunch at the White House” with President Obama has some speculating about Obama turning to Bloomberg as Treasury secretary or as president of the World Bank.
But if the President really wants to get the mayor involved, the way to do it would be to go all the way and put Bloomberg on the 2012 ticket as his running mate.
Senate Bill 2188, an important self-defense bill that would enable millions of Right-to-Carry permit holders across the country to carry concealed firearms while traveling outside their home states, was introduced in the U.S. Senate today. S. 2188 is the companion legislation to H.R. 822, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on November 16, 2011 by a majority bipartisan vote of 272 to 154.
Back in the 1960s and '70s, a formidable gun control movement formed out of concern about urban crime. Widespread riots and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy and, later, the wounding of President Reagan added to concerns about the prevalence of guns. Other high-profile shootings, including the killing of five children in Stockton, Calif., in 1989 and the slaying of four federal agents during a siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993, focused attention on assault weapons in particular.
A bevy of national laws followed – restrictions on mail-order rifle sales in 1968, the outlawing of "cop killer" bullets in 1984, the establishment of "drug-free school zones" in 1990 that included stiff penalties for anyone carrying guns in those areas, an assault weapons ban in 1994. By most accounts, the assault weapons ban, which tellingly expired in 2004, marked the end of the gun control arc.
Read the whole thing...Gun Culture Ver. 2.0 becomes increasingly more visible and influential...
In recent remarks to the Latin American Herald Tribune, Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami announced that the government will begin suspending firearm importation, effective this month. Furthermore, local gunsmiths will no longer be able to market or sell firearms and ammunition.According to El Aissami, “As of March, every last gun shop remaining in Venezuela – and there are less than 80 – should be closed. That is to say, in Venezuela, the perverse chapter of the commercialization of firearms and munitions is over.”
That should work well! After all, it's worked so well in other places...Uganda, Nazi Germany...you know the drill. I hope the peasants have lots and lots of machetes...
The “Motor City Madman” threw his considerable weight behind Romney’s campaign Friday, hours after this column was tipped that the endorsement was imminent, during Thursday evening’s Romney fund raiser at Bellevue’s Meydenbauer Center.I've told you I will support the nominee. Lemme think about this over the weekend.
...Paul Quander, the District’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice, responded that crime victims should give the criminals what they want. Mr. Portman protested, saying, “But how do you know you’re going live and survive? You’re completely at their mercy.”
Mr. Quander thinks victimhood is preferable to self-defense. “The problem is, if you are armed, it escalates the situation,” Mr. Quander told residents. “It is much better, in my opinion, to be scared, to be frightened, and even if you have to be, to be injured, but to walk away and survive. You’ll heal, and you can replace whatever was taken away.”That is so true! You can always have another child, or find a new spouse! And if you have to spend what is left of your life in a wheelchair, as a friend of mine did after a brutal D.C. mugging, hey, take those lemons and make lemonade! At least he got to park in the Handicapped Zones!
I sometimes ruminate while standing in line waiting to take off my shoes, remove my belt, laptop, iPad, etc., etc., about the improvised weapons I saw in prisons and how hard they were to find. It’s fascinating what weapons prisoners can make out of plastic forks, newspapers and toothbrushes. Ask any prison guard if an inmate can make a weapon out of an everyday item, and how long it would take them. Approximately 99% of what the average traveler carries on a plane would be considered contraband in a maximum security prison, due to the fact that it can easily be converted into a weapon. Toothbrushes, Popsicle sticks, pens, pencils, anything with wire (iPod headset), any metal object which can be sharpened, etc., etc. is a potential weapon. Carried to its logical end, TSA policy would have to require passengers to travel naked or handcuffed. (Handcuffing is the required procedure for U.S. Marshalls transporting prisoners in government aircraft.)Read the whole thing!
More likely, Chivers says, the redesign is motivated by a desire to help save "the Detroit of the modern rifle world."
"The main Kalashnikov plant for the Russian Federation is the same as the main Kalashnikov plant during the Soviet Union's time," Chivers says, "and that's located out in the Ural Mountains in a city called Izhevsk."
The fortunes of Izhevsk have risen and fallen with the popularity of the Kalashnikov. Today, it can be characterized as a struggling factory town, but orders for new Kalashnikovs could help change that.That should get you started! BTW, I bought a gun I didn't intend to buy because it was so damned impressive on the range! I was out shooting one of the Remington Versa Max 12-gauge semi auto shotguns because I'd really been taken to task on the blog and on a couple of the forums for always recommending pump shotguns for self-defense, especially for preppers. My rationale was that a pump would pretty much run with whatever you crammed into it, whereas semi auto shotguns were either finicky or required to to carry extra do-dads to change the gas ports or bleed springs.
The new standard for reliability in autoloading shotguns. VERSA MAX® shatters convention and all previous benchmarks for reliability with an action unlike any that have come before it. Proven in the field and in extreme tests of endurance with thousands of test rounds, it cycles 12-gauge loads with ultimate consistency, softer recoil and less maintenance than you've ever experienced.I thought about getting the Versa Max Tactical,but I decided I'd rather add whatever accessories I needed down the line, and I wanted the longer barrel for clays. My friends at Nordic Components already have a magazine extension tube for the Versa Max if I want to go that direction, and Briley has a larger bolt handle and bolt release button — I consider these necessary purchases. You'll be seeing lots more on the Versa Max as I work with it...
Any load. Anywhere. Every time - the new pinnacle of autoloader technology.
KEY FEATURES:
• Most versatile, reliable shotgun on the market.
• Reliably cycles 12-gauge rounds from 2 3/4" to 3 1/2" magnum.
• Versaport™ gas system regulates cycling pressure based on shell length.
• Reduces recoil to that of a 20-gauge.
• Self-cleaning - Continuously cycled thousands of rounds in torture test.
• Synthetic stock and fore-end with grey overmolded grips.
• Drilled and tapped receiver.
• Enlarged trigger guard opening and larger safety for easier use with gloves.
• TriNyte® Barrel and Nickel Teflon plated internal components offer extreme corrosion resistance.
• Includes 5 Flush Mount Pro Bore™ Chokes (Full, Mod, Imp Mod Light Mod, IC