An Interesting Latin American Mauser

From the late 1800s until well into the 20th century, the bolt action Mauser was the rifle of choice of many of Latin America's armies. Countries like Columbia, Brazil, Peru, and Mexico among others went with the 7x57 Mauser while the Argentines adopted the Mauser in their own distinctive 7.65x53 caliber. Indeed, my own collection includes a Columbian Mauser made by Steyr and a Brazilian Mauser made by DWM Berlin. Both of these are in 7x57. I just need to add an 1891 Argentine Engineer Mauser and I'll have covered the Southern Cone.

In the video below Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons talks about a single shot Mauser that was adopted by Uruguay. It is referred to as the Doviitis and is a conversion of the blackpower 1871 Mauser to a smokeless 6.5 caliber.

I Think Tom Might Be Correct - We Need An Asst AG For The Second Amendment

Tom Gresham made the suggestion on his show Sunday that the Trump Department of Justice should have a special Assistant Attorney General for the protection of the Second Amendment. He referenced how DOJ sent armies of lawyers to the South after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Heller and McDonald decisions confirmed that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms and that right applies in the states. However, the current DOJ is doing nothing to protect that individual civil right.

I think Tom is on to something.

Having just read of the latest attack on the Second Amendment and the gun culture coming out of New Jersey, I think this is doubly true. An ostensibly anti-suicide bill would create onerous requirements on gun ranges that would force them to close. As the 7th Circuit decided in the Ezell v. Chicago, gun ranges are an essential part of the Second Amendment.

From the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs:

The bills as presently written would require the owner or operator of every range and gun club to verify that every range user has an FID card, NJ carry permit, or pistol purchase permit, along with government-issued photo ID, every time that person uses the range. That is an impossible burden for most ranges to meet - most ranges are unstaffed or staffed sporadically by volunteers. Few ranges have staff during all operating hours. NO SHOOTING ACTIVITY COULD OCCUR ON ANY RANGE THAT IS NOT STAFFED TO VERIFY CREDENTIALS.

The bills as presently written would also prevent you from using your own firearms on a range unless the range first verifies your credentials, every time you use the range, and bans all temporary transfer on a range unless the range verifies the credentials of both the transferor and transferee. THIS IMPACTS A HUGE SWATH OF SECOND AMENDMENT ACTIVITY, INCLUDING TRAINING, COMPETITION, TARGET PRACTICE, OPEN HOUSES, RANGE GUESTS, HUNTER EDUCATION, WOMEN'S EVENTS, ETC. (see below for detailed examples).

I think of the ranges that I have open to me in western North Carolina. The indoor ranges are staffed and could meet the requirements of such a bill. However, the NC Wildlife Resources Range at Cold Mountain (yes, that Cold Mountain) and the ranges in the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are neither staffed nor have Range Safety Officers. These free and/or inexpensive places to shoot would have to be shut down.

Sebastian is correct when he concluded:

This would essentially close every club in New Jersey. It would make it impossible to bring new shooters into the sports, since they would essentially need to apply for and receive an FID card before they could even try it out. This would destroy the shooting culture in New Jersey, and that’s exactly what it’s intended to do. Suicide prevention is a ruse. Christie has shown a willingness to veto legislation like this, and will probably continue to do so as long as he’s in office, but it’s going to be hell to pay if Christie is replaced with an anti-gun Democrat.

 If you live in New Jersey, I suggest that you do as the ANJRPC says and contact your legislators. As to the idea of a special Assistant Attorney General for the Second Amendment, I'm not sure how to contact the incoming Trump Administration directly. However, you could send the suggestion to Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) at his Senate offices.

Reminds Me Of Plinking In My Youth

I saw this YouTube video by Ron Spomer that he released just yesterday. He compares shooting water filled milk jugs with a .375 H&H and a .22-250 Ackley Improved. You have to watch the video to see which cartridge wins.

Shooting water filled milk jugs reminds me of my late teens when my friend Robert and I would go to the range and shoot them with everything from a .22 to a .30-06. The overfilled ones were the best as they reacted more violently when hit by the .30-06 bullet. Call it plinking or call it a penetration test, it just fun.

Just Like Clockwork

The saying that the only two sure things in this world are death and taxes needs a revision. The revision would be to add that in a (purported) campus active shooter situation where little or nothing is known, Shannon Watts of Mommies Demanding Illegal Mayors will be tweeting about it and asking for more gun control.

For school shooting victims it's not too soon to discuss our nation's lax gun laws - it's too late

Ohio State University pic.twitter.com/oWzYmf4wbf

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 28, 2016

The first report of an active shooter at Ohio State came in just before 10am EST. The above tweet was made at just a bit after 11am EST. I'd like to be able to say it was her first tweet but it wasn't. Shannon was tweeting within minutes of the first report.

Reports in the Columbus Dispatch about the incident are relatively sketchy. Some people are in the hospital reportedly with non-life threatening injuries. One of the attackers is reported dead. There is not identification of the attacker. There is no word on whether police killed the attacker or whether it was self-inflicted. There is no word on motive. There is no word on what type of weapon. The list goes on.

The bottom line is that Shannon Watts will use any attack or incident as a reason to push gun control regardless of the circumstances. Her blood dancing is really getting rather old.

UPDATE: More details of this "mass shooting" are coming out. The "shooter" actually hit a number of pedestrians with his car and then started stabbing them with a butcher knife. There were no firearms involved other than that of the OSU police officer who shot and killed the attacker approximately a minute after the attack began. The unnamed attacker is reported in another story to be a Somali refugee with permanent legal residence who was a student. Unlike earlier reports, there appears to have only been this one attacker. The motive for the attack is unknown at this time.

Cyber Monday Triggering Events

Triggering events are all the rage among the special snowflakes on college campuses. However, I don't think they mean these kind of triggers.

ALG Defense is selling their Advanced Combat Trigger (ACT) for 35% off. Normally these triggers sell for $69 but they are $44.85 today with free shipping. This sale is for today only and lasts until midnight or until they are sold out whichever comes first.

The other "triggering event" for Cyber Monday is from Geissele which is selling their G2S two-stage trigger for $115. This OEM trigger normally sells for $165. It also comes with free shipping.

I can highly recommend either of these triggers. I have the ACT trigger in at least one or two of my AR15s, and I have the G2S in what I call my Charlie Foxtrot Memorial DMR Special. If I hadn't inventoried and consolidated all my boxes of AR parts this weekend, I'd otherwise be participating in this sale.

To be clear, I'm just a very satisfied customer of ALG and Geissele. I have no vested or monetary interest in this sale other than wanting my readers to be able to get good triggers at good prices. A trigger upgrade is, in my opinion, one of the best upgrades you can make to a stock AR.

For something I do have a vested interest in, Amazon is having their Cyber Monday sale. The 8 GB Kindle Fire remains on sale for $33.33 until the end of the day. I use mine all the time as the Complementary Spouse has all but taken over use of my iPad. As a reminder, I donate 100% of all commissions earned to gun rights organizations.

Doing My Part To Stimulate The (Gun) Economy - 2016 Edition

This is my annual listing of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in guns, ammo, parts, knives, and other outdoor or 2A related items. Looking at the recent stock prices of Ruger and Smith & Wesson, it looks like the stock market is assuming the win by Donald Trump is negative for gun sales. That said, the stocks prices of Vista Outdoors and Olin have soared. We shall see.

Unlike in past years where I had tons and tons of links, this year I am sending readers to some excellent compilations. I really see no need to reinvent the wheel especially when they are doing such a fine job of it.

The first place I'd suggest going is to the Black Friday page of Slickguns.com. They have links to all the major outdoor and firearm retailers along with other gun deals. If you don't have an AR-15, this is the year to buy one. I saw a number of them in the $500 range. Brownells has the Aero Precision (not a low end brand!) OEM model for $524.99. All you need to is add a stock, handguards, and whatever kind of optics or iron sights that you want.

The second place I'd suggest going to Reddit for their /gundeal subreddit page. I was turned on to this (fortunately or unfortunately) by PDB. They do have a Black Friday thread. One deal I found that I couldn't pass up was for a CZ P-09 for under $400. The CZ P-07 was the same price.

Arfcom has multiple threads going on Black Friday deals. The official one is here. A secondary one dealing with reloading tools and components can be found here. If you are a member of Arfcom, then here is the official thread dedicated to team members.

If you are just looking for regular Black Friday circulars of all the major retailers, then I'd suggest this website.

Soldiersystems.net has a Black Friday page of more tactical items. The page was down right now but I'll post a link as soon as they are back up.   Here is the link to their Black Friday page.

Finally, I'd like to remind everyone that No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money is an Amazon affiliate. All commissions that I earn from your purchases go to non-profit gun rights organizations like the Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund.

One think you might want to look at is the Fire Tablet. I bought one last year and it functions as my alternative iPad. While it isn't as powerful as an iPad, it works for email, web browsing, Facebook, Reddit, and Kindle reading. For $33.33, you can't beat it. See the link below.

Shop Amazon Devices - Fire tablet only $33.33

Gun Control Never Sleeps

While President Obama is taking a valedictory tour of Europe, his minions in the Justice Department are still hard at work trying to establish his gun control legacy. The National Institute of Justice released their final baseline specifications that outline the minimums required for a "smart gun" (sic) if it is to be used by law enforcement. Their efforts on this were in response to a Presidential Memorandum that President Obama issued to the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Justice in January 2016 ordering them to promote "smart gun" technology.

The new release from DOJ is below:

November 16, 2016

For more than two decades, the federal government and the private sector have grappled with a basic question of firearm engineering:  Can modern technology make guns safer—or “smarter”—without sacrificing the reliability, durability and accuracy that owners expect from their firearms?

In January 2016, as part of the administration’s ongoing efforts to combat gun violence, President Obama directed the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Homeland Security (DHS) and Defense (DOD) to answer that question.  Three months later, in April 2016, the three agencies submitted a report to the president outlining a multi-pronged strategy to expand and encourage the development of advanced gun safety technology.  Today, the Administration is taking a significant step forward to implement that strategy: by releasing a final version of “baseline specifications” that outlines, for the first time, a detailed description of the minimum technical requirements that law enforcement agencies expect from smart gun technology.  

The baseline specifications were drafted by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) – DOJ’s research, development and evaluation agency – in partnership with a team of firearms experts at DOJ and DHS.  Throughout the development process, NIJ sought input from a wide range of stakeholders, including federal, state and local law enforcement, firearms manufacturers and technology experts.  Among other steps, in July 2016, NIJ published a draft version of the specifications in the Federal Register and invited feedback during a 60-day public comment period.  In addition, in August 2016, NIJ hosted a two-day conference in Washington, D.C., with representatives from law enforcement agencies to discuss smart gun technology and review the draft document.

As the April 2016 report to the president made clear, this project was designed to spur the growth of enhanced gun safety technology—and not to mandate that any particular individual or law enforcement agency adopt the technology once developed.  These voluntary specifications serve several purposes:  they provide clear guidance to potential manufacturers about what government purchasers require in their firearms; they serve as a standard against which existing technology can be measured, making it possible to identify what research and development gaps remains; and they allow federal, state and local governments to demonstrate that demand for smart guns may exist—if certain operational requirements are met.  By engaging law enforcement experts in this process, NIJ has produced a final document that both reflects the exacting demands of law enforcement officers and advances the goal of expediting the real-world deployment of smart gun technology.

The final 25 page report can be found here.

Take this as a reminder that we need to remain hypervigilant in the waning days of the Obama Administration. The only reason that this popped up on my radar is that I got an email from the Brady Campaign applauding this move (and asking for money).

Come the afternoon of January 20, 2017, this is one of the many Executive Orders and Memorandum that needs to be discarded. Let the market forces decide whether or not to proceed with so-called smart gun technology and get government out of it. Moreover, we need to work in the states to repeal those laws that mandate the sale of such firearms.

The Fine Print: A History of Camouflage, Episode 1

I have been a fan of Professor Roy Behrens and his blog Camoupedia since I first stumbled across it. He has been researching the links between camouflage and art for the last 45 years. Some of that work is highlighted in this recently released video which features interviews with him and with LTC Tim O'Neill who is considered the father of digital camo.





His studies on the dazzle camo first found on ships during World War One can be found in his book Ship Shape, a Dazzle Camouflage Sourcebook: An Anthology of Writings About Ship Camouflage During World War I.