Andrew on the Vuurwapen Blog has done a familiarization video on the FN Mk 16 SCAR-L for AR-15 owners. He goes over the details of the Mk 16. He points out where the two are alike and where they are different. If the SCAR rifle intrigues, it is well worth watching. If you think the SCAR is just some fancy expensive toy, watch it anyway and you might change your mind.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Hardly Seems Fair
George Grier faced a gang of men outside his Uniondale, Long Island (New York) home on Sunday night. He thought they were members of the MS-13 gang and that they were about to invade his home. He ran inside his home and returned with his legally owned AK-47.
The men started shouting at him and another 20 more thugs arrived. Mr. Grier then fired 4 shots into the grass in front of his house to disperse the crowd. He felt that doing so would bring the police as his town has the "ShotSpotter" technology. After the police arrived and the crowd dispersed, Mr. Grier was arrested and charged with felony reckless endangerment by the Nassau County Police.
From WCBS New York:
Given the violent and vindictive nature of Latin gangs such as MS-13, it is probably just as well that Mr. Grier didn't shoot any of them.
Despite it being in New York, the comments on this story are running heavily in his favor.
The men started shouting at him and another 20 more thugs arrived. Mr. Grier then fired 4 shots into the grass in front of his house to disperse the crowd. He felt that doing so would bring the police as his town has the "ShotSpotter" technology. After the police arrived and the crowd dispersed, Mr. Grier was arrested and charged with felony reckless endangerment by the Nassau County Police.
From WCBS New York:
You may think a person has the right to defend their home. But the law says you can only use physical force to deter physical force. Grier said he never saw anyone pull out a gun, so a court would have to decide on firing the gun.In looking at what he did, I think his first mistake was being outside in the driveway. He was without cover. If he had been inside of his house, he would have had more protection and been able to call the police without being assaulted. If the gang had forcibly entered his home, then it would have been a home invasion and he would have been legally justified in using force. Not that I don't think he was justified in what he did but legal justification is different that just being "justified."
Police determined Grier had the gun legally. He has no criminal record. And so he was not charged for the weapon.
Given the violent and vindictive nature of Latin gangs such as MS-13, it is probably just as well that Mr. Grier didn't shoot any of them.
Despite it being in New York, the comments on this story are running heavily in his favor.
Flamethrower versus Fire Extinguisher
The video is for the French band Dancing Pigeons. The song is called Ritalin. I always did think the French were a little different.
H/T GearScout Blog
Monday, September 6, 2010
San Francisco MTA Punked (bumped)
The San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority has rather rigid guidelines for the ads they will accept. For example, they won't take any advertising that “appears to promote the use of firearms.” They even forced the new Will Farrell/Mark Wahlberg movie "The Other Guys" to change their ads so that it featured a can of Mace instead of a pistol.
However, the MTA was no match for the fearless duo of the CalGuns Foundation and the Second Amendment Foundation. According to Alan Gottlieb, he believes that MTA violated its own ad guidelines because "they believed we were prepared to file a lawsuit on First and Second Amendment grounds if, for any reason, the city didn’t take them."
Gene Hoffman posted a crytic note on the CalGuns.net forum last night that said:
Way to go CGF and SAF! There is nothing like taking a guerrilla war to the heart of the enemies's territory.
UPDATE: If you go to the link above to Calguns.net, you can see more of the GRPC posters around San Francisco.
UPDATE II: According to a report from CBS News, the San Francisco MTA is investigating whether the GRPC posters violate their policy on ads promoting the use of firearms. It looks like they are getting pressure from the SF Board of Supervisors to take them down. All of this publicity is making Alan Gottlieb happy. If they take down the ads, he'd be even more happy saying " "All I can do is pray that all the publicity will make them want to decide to take down the ads -- so we can sue!"
UPDATE III: Thanks to a reader of Snowflakesinhell.com, I see that the New York Times is now covering the story.
 |
| Poster for GRPC on MTA bus stop (Calguns.net/forums) |
Gene Hoffman posted a crytic note on the CalGuns.net forum last night that said:
If anyone lives or works in the City, please stop by the following locations and report back (photos would be awesome) on what, if anything, you see thereSpeculation ran rampant that this was going to be another LCAV non-event or other guerrilla action against the anti-gunners. The result is what you see above - an in-your-face poster (with a shotgun) that promotes the Gun Rights Policy Conference in San Francisco. These posters appear on 15 bus stops scattered around San Francisco.
Townsend St SS 86ft E/O 4th St F/E - 2
Masonic Ave WS 44ft N/O Hayes St F/N - 1
Geary Blvd NS 61ft E/O Divisadero St F/W - 2
Fulton St NS 94ft W/O 8th Ave F/W - 2
Mission St NS 86ft W/O 8th St F/W - 2
Polk St WS 23ft N/O Sutter St F/N - 1
North Point St NS 44ft W/O Polk St F/E - 1
Jackson St NS 38ft E/O Van Ness Ave F/W - 2
Columbus Ave WS 61ft S/O North Point St F/S - 2
Van Ness Ave WS 34ft S/O Greenwich St F/N - 1
McAllister St NS 28ft W/O Webster St F/E - 1
Lincoln Way SS 30ft W/O 21st Ave F/W - 1
Stockton St WS 181ft S/O Clay St F/N - 1
Haight St SS 39ft W/O Pierce St F/W - 1
Geary Blvd NS 24ft E/O 3rd Ave F/E - 1
Main St ES 269ft S/O Howard St F/N - 2
-Gene
Way to go CGF and SAF! There is nothing like taking a guerrilla war to the heart of the enemies's territory.
UPDATE: If you go to the link above to Calguns.net, you can see more of the GRPC posters around San Francisco.
UPDATE II: According to a report from CBS News, the San Francisco MTA is investigating whether the GRPC posters violate their policy on ads promoting the use of firearms. It looks like they are getting pressure from the SF Board of Supervisors to take them down. All of this publicity is making Alan Gottlieb happy. If they take down the ads, he'd be even more happy saying " "All I can do is pray that all the publicity will make them want to decide to take down the ads -- so we can sue!"
UPDATE III: Thanks to a reader of Snowflakesinhell.com, I see that the New York Times is now covering the story.
On Friday, riders waiting at a bus stop displaying the pro-gun poster seemed unaware that they had previously been shielded from such images. “I don’t want to see guns,” said Zsuzsanna Legradi, a 42-year-old gardener. “No one should have guns. It is bad enough that people have knives.”Imagine her horror at seeing the Toyota Prius in this post.
I Take Back Everything I've Ever Said About Prius Owners
Living just outside of Asheville, a city which is giving Austin, TX a run for its money as the Alternative Culture Capitol of the South, you see a lot of Toyota Priuses. Or is that Pria? Anyway, if they have bumper stickers it is usually along the line of "Coexist", "Stop the Endless War", "Bush Lied, People Died", and, of course, a whole variety of Obama stickers. Anyway, I have never seen one like pictured below.
This Prius was seen at the Grand Canyon by a reader of the Legal Insurrection blog. If I saw one like that in Asheville, I'd stop and shake the owner's hand!
H/T Instapundit
This Prius was seen at the Grand Canyon by a reader of the Legal Insurrection blog. If I saw one like that in Asheville, I'd stop and shake the owner's hand!
H/T Instapundit
Sunday, September 5, 2010
"I know you're mad at Congress, and so am I."
Congressman Heath Shuler is running the ad above. He is the "Blue Dog" Democrat who represents much of western North Carolina including me. He isn't a bad sort but he has never impressed me as the sharpest knife in the drawer either. While he did vote against ObamaCare and is pro-gun, he has voted for cap-and-trade and the union-backed card-check. He rationalized the latter by saying he had been a union member. The union in question was the NFL Player's Association.
In the beginning of the ad, Heath seriously intones, "I know you're mad at Congress, and so am I." However, when you begin to think about it you say to yourself, "Hey, wait a minute, you ARE a Congressman. You're mad at yourself?"
I call this the Heath Shuler self-loathing campaign ad.
What Dae Woo? (bumped)
Before there was the FN SCAR-L, the Bushmaster ACR, the Ruger SR556, or any of the other piston-driver AR-15 variants, there was the South Korean-made Daewoo K1 and K2 assault rifles and their semi-auto brethren, the AR-100/Max II/DR-100 and DR-200.
Adopted as the primary service rifle (K2) and carbine (K1) by the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army in 1987 to replace their American M-16A1's, they were originally made by the South Korean chaebol Daewoo Industries's subsidiary Daewoo Precision Industries, Ltd. After the Daewoo chaebol was broken up because of political scandal and financial difficulties, parts of it were bought by S&T Holdings. The new company S&T Daewoo took over production of small arms for the ROK Army.
The various Daewoo models are a unique combination of aspects of both the AR and the AK rifles. It uses the NATO standard 5.56x45 cartridge and will accept most AR-15 magazines. Like the AR-15, the Daewoo uses an aluminum upper and lower receiver that hinges with a front pivot-pin. The fire control group is interchangeable with the AR-15 though there are some variances in the full auto version. It uses a charging handle similar to that of the FN-FAL except that it is on the right side of the receiver. The mag release and safety are similar to and in the same relative positions as the AR-15.
Where it starts to be more like the AK-47 is that it trades the direct gas impingement system of the AR for a long-stroke piston system that sits atop the barrel. A 4-position gas regulating plug is at the end of the piston assembly. As a result, the Daewoo runs much cleaner.
The selective-fire military versions used by the ROK Army and some other militaries, Peru for example, can be fired in semi-auto, 3-shot burst, and full auto. It uses a rotating bolt that is similar in appearance that of the AR-15. Unlike the AK-47, the bolt of the Daewoo attaches directly to the piston. The K2, AR-100, DR-100, and Max II all have a 1 in 7 twist barrel. The DR-200 and K1 use a 1 in 12 twist barrel.
The video below illustrates the Daewoo Max II and its inner workings. The Max II was also named the AR-100 and DR-100.
Civilian versions of the Daewoo were imported into the United States up until 1997. The AR-100 and Max II were imported up until 1989 when their import was banned by an Executive Order by President George H. W. Bush. Any Daewoo of the K1, K2, or AR-100 type were effected by the ban. The Clinton assault weapon ban listed both the AR-100 and AR-100c. Among the importers of the Daewoo were B-West of Tucson, AZ and Kimber of America of Clackamas, OR (predecessor to today's Kimber). The last models imported were the DR-200 in 5.56 and the DR-300 in 7.62x39.
While there is speculation that importation of the Daewoo's stopped because of Bill Clinton's 1997 Executive Memorandum 7 - Importation of Certain Semiautomatic Assault Rifles, I think that is probably convenient but incorrect. Daewoo Industries ran into tremendous financial difficulties in 1998 and was actually dismantled by the Korean Government in 1999. At the same time, Kimber had reorganized from its Kimber of Oregon days and was moving towards production of 1911's and away from being an importer.
The post-AWB Daewoo DR-200 came with an ugly thumbhole stock, a 10-round magazine, and a silver soldered can in place of a flash hider. I ended up buying one in 1996 or so. I think I paid $550 for it. It has a 1 in 12 inch twist barrel which more or less limits me to 55-grain 5.56 ammo. Here is a link to its manual.
So you would think that a firearm without an importer, without ready access to spare parts, part of a class targeted by the gun controllers, and with an ugly stock would just fade away into oblivion, wouldn't you? If so, you'd be wrong. The unique features and reliability of the DR-200 combined with active Internet forums, gunsmiths, and specialty parts manufacturers have kept it alive. Moreover, with the sunset of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, owners can now modify their Daewoo's with American-made parts and keep it Sec. 922r compliant. Prices for the Daewoo DR-200 in mint condition average in the $750 to $1000 range. They do show up on the auctions sites like GunBroker.com with regularity.
Two of the best forums to learn more about and to discuss the Daewoo rifles are the Woo-Files forum on FalFiles.com and the Yahoo DR200 Group. The leading experts and gunsmiths for the Daewoo are regular visitors to these forums. Many pictures and files have been posted over the years that give the Daewoo owner ideas on how to modify his or her DR-200.
Suppliers of spare parts and items with which to modify the DR-200 include Ace Ltd. for stocks, CNC Warrior for replacement firing pins and gas plugs, Daewoorifleparts.com for all sorts of replacement parts, and StormWerkz for scope mounts, stock adaptors, and handguard rails. I have dealt with Ace Ltd for a pistol grip and stock and with StorkWerkz for a stock adaptors. I can recommend both of them without reserve.
If you are handy with tools, you can make most of the upgrades yourself. Replacing the thumbhole stock with either a folding stock like the Max II or an AR-type stock is relatively easy. Removing the existing can to put on a muzzle break or flash hider can be more involved. Because the barrel is already threaded, you have to be careful to remove the can without damaging the threads. Methods include heating it with a MAPP torch to break the solder joint or using a Dremel tool and cold chisel. If you don't want to do it yourself, most gunsmiths should be able to do the work. Moses with CMP Armory specializes in shortening the barrel, recrowning it, and then installing a flash hider.
So if you want a piston-driven rifle in 5.56 should you take a change on the Daewoo DR-200? Maybe. If you want something new or something with a large community of users, then the answer is no. If you are willing to be a bit off-beat and can obtain a DR-200 at a reasonable price, I'd say go for it.
H/T Personal Armament Podcast for the Max II video.
Adopted as the primary service rifle (K2) and carbine (K1) by the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army in 1987 to replace their American M-16A1's, they were originally made by the South Korean chaebol Daewoo Industries's subsidiary Daewoo Precision Industries, Ltd. After the Daewoo chaebol was broken up because of political scandal and financial difficulties, parts of it were bought by S&T Holdings. The new company S&T Daewoo took over production of small arms for the ROK Army.
 |
| K2 Rifle with Brass Catcher |
 | |||
| K1A Carbine |
Where it starts to be more like the AK-47 is that it trades the direct gas impingement system of the AR for a long-stroke piston system that sits atop the barrel. A 4-position gas regulating plug is at the end of the piston assembly. As a result, the Daewoo runs much cleaner.
The selective-fire military versions used by the ROK Army and some other militaries, Peru for example, can be fired in semi-auto, 3-shot burst, and full auto. It uses a rotating bolt that is similar in appearance that of the AR-15. Unlike the AK-47, the bolt of the Daewoo attaches directly to the piston. The K2, AR-100, DR-100, and Max II all have a 1 in 7 twist barrel. The DR-200 and K1 use a 1 in 12 twist barrel.
 |
| Used with permission of PeruDefensa.com |
The video below illustrates the Daewoo Max II and its inner workings. The Max II was also named the AR-100 and DR-100.
Civilian versions of the Daewoo were imported into the United States up until 1997. The AR-100 and Max II were imported up until 1989 when their import was banned by an Executive Order by President George H. W. Bush. Any Daewoo of the K1, K2, or AR-100 type were effected by the ban. The Clinton assault weapon ban listed both the AR-100 and AR-100c. Among the importers of the Daewoo were B-West of Tucson, AZ and Kimber of America of Clackamas, OR (predecessor to today's Kimber). The last models imported were the DR-200 in 5.56 and the DR-300 in 7.62x39.
While there is speculation that importation of the Daewoo's stopped because of Bill Clinton's 1997 Executive Memorandum 7 - Importation of Certain Semiautomatic Assault Rifles, I think that is probably convenient but incorrect. Daewoo Industries ran into tremendous financial difficulties in 1998 and was actually dismantled by the Korean Government in 1999. At the same time, Kimber had reorganized from its Kimber of Oregon days and was moving towards production of 1911's and away from being an importer.
The post-AWB Daewoo DR-200 came with an ugly thumbhole stock, a 10-round magazine, and a silver soldered can in place of a flash hider. I ended up buying one in 1996 or so. I think I paid $550 for it. It has a 1 in 12 inch twist barrel which more or less limits me to 55-grain 5.56 ammo. Here is a link to its manual.
 | ||
| DR-200 - left side |
 |
| DR-200 - right side |
So you would think that a firearm without an importer, without ready access to spare parts, part of a class targeted by the gun controllers, and with an ugly stock would just fade away into oblivion, wouldn't you? If so, you'd be wrong. The unique features and reliability of the DR-200 combined with active Internet forums, gunsmiths, and specialty parts manufacturers have kept it alive. Moreover, with the sunset of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, owners can now modify their Daewoo's with American-made parts and keep it Sec. 922r compliant. Prices for the Daewoo DR-200 in mint condition average in the $750 to $1000 range. They do show up on the auctions sites like GunBroker.com with regularity.
Two of the best forums to learn more about and to discuss the Daewoo rifles are the Woo-Files forum on FalFiles.com and the Yahoo DR200 Group. The leading experts and gunsmiths for the Daewoo are regular visitors to these forums. Many pictures and files have been posted over the years that give the Daewoo owner ideas on how to modify his or her DR-200.
Suppliers of spare parts and items with which to modify the DR-200 include Ace Ltd. for stocks, CNC Warrior for replacement firing pins and gas plugs, Daewoorifleparts.com for all sorts of replacement parts, and StormWerkz for scope mounts, stock adaptors, and handguard rails. I have dealt with Ace Ltd for a pistol grip and stock and with StorkWerkz for a stock adaptors. I can recommend both of them without reserve.
If you are handy with tools, you can make most of the upgrades yourself. Replacing the thumbhole stock with either a folding stock like the Max II or an AR-type stock is relatively easy. Removing the existing can to put on a muzzle break or flash hider can be more involved. Because the barrel is already threaded, you have to be careful to remove the can without damaging the threads. Methods include heating it with a MAPP torch to break the solder joint or using a Dremel tool and cold chisel. If you don't want to do it yourself, most gunsmiths should be able to do the work. Moses with CMP Armory specializes in shortening the barrel, recrowning it, and then installing a flash hider.
So if you want a piston-driven rifle in 5.56 should you take a change on the Daewoo DR-200? Maybe. If you want something new or something with a large community of users, then the answer is no. If you are willing to be a bit off-beat and can obtain a DR-200 at a reasonable price, I'd say go for it.
H/T Personal Armament Podcast for the Max II video.
Righthaven: Equal Opportunity Copyright Troll
Steve Gibson's Righthaven LLC is proving itself to be an equal opportunity copyright troll. Earlier it had sued the Democratic Pary of Nevada and progressive website Democratic Underground. On Friday, it filed suit against Sharron Angle, Harry Reid's Republican opponent in Nevada.
According to the complaint filed Friday, Angle is being sued for reprinting two Las Vegas Review-Journal articles on her campaign website. The first was a July 21st article entitled "Its the Jobs, Stupid" and the second was a August 3rd article entitled "Angle: Reid's Clout Misguided. Challenger Describes What Junior Senators Can Do." As of this morning, abridged versions both articles are still up on Angle's website with a link to the LVRJ for the rest of the article. They can be seen here and here.
The delicious irony in this lawsuit is that Sherman Frederick, publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is known to be a big backer of Sharron Angle. Though denied by Steve Gibson, it has been speculated that Righthaven LLC was goaded into filing this lawsuit by liberal blogger Steve Friess. In his blog, VegasHappensHere.com, he published a post on August 23rd asking "Will the R-J Sue Sharron Angle". The post detailed instances including those cited above where the Angle campaign website had copied full articles from the Review-Journal. Friess gives his reaction to the lawsuits in posts here and here. It remains to be seen how quickly this case will either come to court or be settled. One commenter on Friess' blog speculated that it would be quickly settled for a nominal sum at "undisclosed terms."
In other Righthaven news, Adam Hochberg, longtime NPR contributor, had an excellent article in The Poynter Institute's PoynterOnline journal. He makes note of the claims of Stephens Media and Righthaven that they are only trying to stop copyright infringement as well as the overwhelming negative response it has gotten from many in the legal community and in the blogosphere. He posits that Stephens and Righthaven may get legal victories but lose the PR war. Other newspaper executives note:
According to the complaint filed Friday, Angle is being sued for reprinting two Las Vegas Review-Journal articles on her campaign website. The first was a July 21st article entitled "Its the Jobs, Stupid" and the second was a August 3rd article entitled "Angle: Reid's Clout Misguided. Challenger Describes What Junior Senators Can Do." As of this morning, abridged versions both articles are still up on Angle's website with a link to the LVRJ for the rest of the article. They can be seen here and here.
The delicious irony in this lawsuit is that Sherman Frederick, publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is known to be a big backer of Sharron Angle. Though denied by Steve Gibson, it has been speculated that Righthaven LLC was goaded into filing this lawsuit by liberal blogger Steve Friess. In his blog, VegasHappensHere.com, he published a post on August 23rd asking "Will the R-J Sue Sharron Angle". The post detailed instances including those cited above where the Angle campaign website had copied full articles from the Review-Journal. Friess gives his reaction to the lawsuits in posts here and here. It remains to be seen how quickly this case will either come to court or be settled. One commenter on Friess' blog speculated that it would be quickly settled for a nominal sum at "undisclosed terms."
In other Righthaven news, Adam Hochberg, longtime NPR contributor, had an excellent article in The Poynter Institute's PoynterOnline journal. He makes note of the claims of Stephens Media and Righthaven that they are only trying to stop copyright infringement as well as the overwhelming negative response it has gotten from many in the legal community and in the blogosphere. He posits that Stephens and Righthaven may get legal victories but lose the PR war. Other newspaper executives note:
take-down notices can easily resolve most copyright conflicts without litigation. "Generally we don't even do it through lawyers," said Seattle Times Executive Editor David Boardman, who is an officer of the American Society of News Editors. "Normally all it takes is a call or note or e-mail or letter to somebody just saying, 'Hey, you're in violation of our copyright. Please take it down.' More often than not, they do."However, as Steve Gibson has made clear, enforcing copyrights by surprise lawsuits is the vehicle he plans to ride to untold riches.
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