.30" Caliber: Size (& Fact) Isn't Everything - Military Calibers & Federal CDC Surveys:

It would be fair to say that the most popular or widely used bullet caliber used to be the 'THIRTY CALIBER' also known as 7.62mm.

Among the more than twenty plus different popular rifles in this class are the (AK47) 7.62x39mm Russian, 7.62mm Nato (.308"), the .303 British (SMLE), the ancient 'tried & trusted' .30-30 - and more recently the .30 BLK (Blackout).

7.62x39mm Used To Be Called ".30 Russian Short".

- It's well worth remembering that the Brits and Russians mostly used 'Thirty Caliber' bullets measuring .311" - while USA and others used pills measuring .308".

- Looking at the handgun cartridges in this same caliber .. these are generally referred to as "Thirty-Twos" while their metric naming/size can wander around 7.62mm 7.63mm, and 7.65mm - but in 'Old- English' their projectiles tend to be .311/.312" in diameter.

However it needs to be said that the most widely accepted Handgun caliber is within the slightly bigger "THIRTY-FIVE CALIBER" range. This includes the 9x19mm Parabellum, Luger or NATO, the .38"Special, the .357"Magnum, .380"ACP, and many other older rounds .. BUT this .35" diameter caliber never proved to be much loved in rifle metallic cartridges - perhaps due to it's heavier recoil.

9x19mm Parabellum or Luger.
A "Thirty-Five" Caliber.

The "Military" have changed over to  "lesser" sized standard rifle cartridges .. Western defense forces adopting the 5.56x45mm NATO round (Bullet dia .224 inch) for general use .. while

5.56x45mm NATO. .224 inch Bullet Dia.

Russian / Soviet forces changed to the similar 5.45x39mm (Bullet dia. .220 inch) ammunition in 1974.

Russian 5.45x39 mm. .220 inch Bullet Dia.

The Peoples Liberation Army of CHINA has adopted a 5.8x42mm Cartridge (Bullet dia. .236 inch) which they claim is superior to both the NATO and Russian rounds:

Chinese 5.84x42mm Cartridge: .236 inch Bullet Dia.

This changeover to smaller lighter fighting calibers is calculated on the weight saving logistics - plus the Generals noticed eventually that the full power .30" Caliber 'Battle Rifles' were something of an overkill at the closer average engagement distances.

I try to remember that these debates about "Stopping Power" are mostly focused on small perceived benefits of one (or more) favored performance factor .. such as penetration or expansion, or high velocity 'shocking-power, or terminal energy or bullet diameter or projectile heavy mass etc.. Yes, they all count to a degree - and together add-up to an effective total, - BUT bullet's size/performance is of itself secondary to PLACEMENT - because if you miss - even with a three inch plus high-explosive shell - it's still a miss.

____________________________

It does seem to be normal and usual for "Authorities' to accept and act upon the facts LATE. - They tend to be waiting for the Thunder while the rest of us are watching the Lightening 😊.

US Federal Agency The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has lately released survey results indicating that DGU, Defensive Gun Use by victims of crime, is at a rate that is 3.6 times that of criminal firearms use. These CDC 'Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System' surveys were held twenty years ago - in 1996, 1997, & 1998 - polling around 5,000 people on each instance.

But a Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck reports that: “CDC never reported the results of those surveys, does not report on their website any estimates of DGU frequency, and does not even acknowledge that they ever asked about the topic in any of their surveys.”

When considered in light of the current anti-gun campaigns - this late release or "non-reporting" by a US Federal Agency of justifiable defensive firearms use surely must be viewed as concerning.

- If the facts don't support your argument .. just ignore them eh.

Capital punishment is the only rehabilitation process that so far has a 100% success rate.

Marty K.

TEXAS Crime Stories & 'Polished Turds':

I like 'to read myself to sleep' .. hop into bed and read until the brain closes down and the eyelids won't stay-up anymore 😊 - this last couple of weeks I've been using four books by Sgt. Brian Foster of the Houston Texas Police to hum my 'lullabies':

  Homicidal Humor, More Homicidal Humor, The Clot Thickens ('H.H.3') & 'Blood Trails Across Texas': True Crime Stories ..

Gritty stories of Sheriffs, Texas Rangers, Detectives, and Police action both in the city and "under the pines". This writer has served his peers well for years and has put-down on paper the "whimsical" side of life while dealing with it's darkest events .. one phrase used by his workmates describing some of the locals is .. "You can't polish a turd".

Along with the sorry tales and black humor of low-life events - there is plenty of sage advise and gun lore. - I particularly enjoyed and agreed with Brian's thoughts on the excellent .30-30 ** lever-actions from Marlin & Winchester when used for social work. 

.. talking about "Polished Turds" - there is of course a well organised financial sector of polished predators lurking in The City of London ..

It isn't just 'coincidental' that these English folk with lots of numbers in their investment portfolios speak as if they've got somebody's plums in their mouth.

It just so happens that they HAVE to speak that way because they did in fact spend a considerable part of their formative years being conditioned at schools near Repton, Winchester or Eton etc - warming the toilet seat for their Fag-master with his plums in their mouth.

"You're next Winnie - when Horace has finished."  .. Of course any boy who spoke like their chauffeur or the local green-grocer when accepted into those Establishment Boarding schools would be rapidly re-programmed .. because the way we speak .. "accent" - is used to discriminate between "them" and "us". (Sometimes New Zealanders can move in higher levels of English society - because their accent is not classed.).
Note** 
There is a photo of me somewhere with a huge ginger feral cat that I shot outback South-Western Queensland, Cunnamulla region, - using an open sighted single shot Thompson Contender carbine .30-30 (- after several mates failed to nail it with their high velocity scoped hunting rifles .. maybe the feral was too close for them). Sure this antique cartridge dates back to 1895 .. but it's "inadequate performance" is way above my competence level in the field and it can do everything that I ask of it.

- Predators are of many forms ... and the scum rises to the top along with the cream.

Link to Los Lobos singing "Carabina Treinta-Treinta  .30-30":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI4v_8gjW04

Marty K.

UK Gunfire Supports Financial Corruption:

The Queen of New Zealand celebrated her 92nd Birthday on 21 April 2018  with military parades and gunfire in various public places .. a 41 gun "salute" in London's Hyde Park, - 21 guns in Windsor Great Park, - and 62 guns at the Tower of London in 'THE CITY' fired by The Honourable Artillery Company.

The Honourable Artillery Company
is a Registered CHARITY (for Tax Purposes) that is affiliated to six public schools  - Eton, Harrow, Marlborough, Radley, Rugby and Wellington - to facilitate communication with the schools and to inform students of the opportunities available to them in The City .

The 'HAC' runs a Cadet Battalion staffed by "young City workers" that fires these salutes and provide 'guards of honour' for the likes of The Lord Mayor of The City' - who is the leader of the Corporation of London and represents & promotes London's "financial sector".

The "Lord Mayor" of Tax Avoidance With "The Birthday Girl Queen"

(This is not the Mayor of London who is something else again.)

 - Some joker called Roberto Saviano (a Mafia / Corruption journalist-expert) reckons that London's 'City' off-shore based tax avoidance and money laundering activities make the UK the most corrupt Nation in the World. He says that 90% of London's financial capital owners are based off-shore.
".. this is about your life - this is about your government".

Marty K.

Ah - The Queen has TWO Birthdays every year - as befits her position of privilege over & above her subjects - who only have one birthday.

Browning's FN Model 1910 - Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand - June 28 1914 - THE GUN:

It looks to be in poor condition with extensive surface pitting but this gun and others are said to have been new when provided by the Serbian plotters.

The heir to the Austro-Hungerian throne and his wife - leaders of the occupying force in Sarajevo - were shot in their car by student Gavrilo Princip .. starting World War I.

Big wars can be started both by unexpected consequences or by deliberate aggression.

 This FN pistol No. 19074 was souvenired by a Jesuit priest living in Austria - after he tried to help the wounded couple - and years later (after he died) it was loaned to the Vienna museum.

FN M1910 After 100 years with One Careful Jesuit Custodian.

(They Look After 'Souls' Too)

- But this is the gun that fired the shot that started World War I.

Three assassins from Belgrade testified that SERBIAN Major Tankosić, directly and through Milan Ciganović (a Bosnian-Serb) .. not only provided six hand grenades and four new Browning FN Model 1910 automatic pistols together with .380 ACP ammunition, but also money, suicide pills, training, and a special map with the location of gendarmes marked.

FN Browning M1910 Pistols serial numbers 19074, 19075, 19120 and 19126 were supplied to the assassins.

Wikipedia says this about this historically important weapon:
Weapon

Princip's FN Model 1910 pistol, Museum of Military History, Vienna, 2009

Princip's pistol was confiscated by the authorities and eventually given, along with the Archduke's bloody undershirt, to Anton Puntigam, a Jesuit priest who was a close friend of the Archduke and had given the Archduke and his wife the last rites. The pistol and shirt remained in the possession of the Austrian Jesuits until they were offered on long-term loan to the Museum of Military History in Vienna in 2004. It is now part of the permanent exhibition there.^[29] The weapon is a "9-mm short", .380 ACP pistol FN Browning Model 1910 made in Belgium by Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal with the serial number 19074.

NOTE:  The .380" ACP round (9x17mm) IS NOT the same as the .38" ACP (9x23mm) - a more ;powerful cartridge designed in 1900(ish) by John M Browning. This 38ACP has been widely superceded by the more efficient, higher pressure 9x19mm '9mm Luger Cartridge'.. (but the 38ACP's "38 Super" form is used by some IPSC competitive race gun users.)

- Just to add further confusion - there are several wrong reports that assassin Princip's gun was a FN Model 1900 in .32" ACP . .. Close but no cigar eh.😃

Here's a great & intelligent article about John Browning's .32ACP cartridge and his early pistols:Link:

https://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/1900FNB/1900fnb.html

Marty K.

SCCY & Ruger's LCR. - COMPACT But Hard Hitting:

I got a recent G&A Magazine yesterday in a book shop. The magazine was a thin shadow of earlier issues and there were several letters printed complaining about stories from previous efforts. Just about the most interesting thing in it's flimsy pages was a full-page advert for SCCY's American made compact semi-auto - d/a in 9x19 MM.

I was less than impressed by two very big Ads for 'chewing tobacco', - surely no-one still inserts that poisonous crap into any bodily orifice? - If you've got enough brain to read gun magazines & research firearms use .. surely by now everyone'd be aware of mouth cancers.

SCCY CPX-2 Ten Shot 9 MM

3.1 Inch Barrel:

SCCY are making a range of compact pistols in .380 ACP and 9mm that are 'budget priced' but seem to work dependably. - Of course they will kick a bit in full power 9x19mm ammunition - maybe even sting soft skinned hands slightly .. but you can buy these guns new for less than US$300 and reviews that I've read say they'll do the job.

It's unlikely I'll ever get to try one here in New Zealand as our oh-so-wise licensing authority considers any handgun endowed with less than four inches must be evil 😈- and may "lead us into temptation" .

 - It beats me that they have rigorously checked that I am (& many others) "Fit & Proper" to own and use "military styled semi-auto rifles" - revolvers and pistols - and to collect as many fully auto machine guns etc as I fancy - but I may not legally shoot a compact handgun (in case I loose control of myself ?).

SCCY's d/a only trigger pull & re-set is remarkably l o n g but very safe.

Anyway, SCCY make their gun's frames (and magazines) in Florida in a range of colors from Zytel nylon to suite most anyone (Other than NZ Police) - and every gun comes with a perpetual Lifetime Guarantee.

While checking all the online reviews I was again reminded of another interesting compact handgun - Rugers LCR - in my ideal chambering of 327 Fed. Magnum .. another excellent and versatile arm that is also a banned import here due to it's short inside leg measurement.

Ruger LCR in 327 Federal Magnum.

1.87 Inch Barrel:

I'd love to check-out this revolver's double-action trigger pull - that is reputed to be very smooth due to it's patent camming action .. perhaps not loaded in 327 F.M. at first - but initially loaded with .32"S&W or 32"H&R Magnum.

Both of these shorties would best be approached cautiously with moderately gentle loads at first until practiced - but I'd reckon they be great as EDC (Every Day Carry) guns in 'hoods where crime is an issue ... such as Auckland and Christchurch 'dairies' that stock cigarettes and alcohol.

However - Just because something is logical, sensible, and necessary - it doesn't mean that it will happen eh.

Marty K.

Unprotected Victims - Short Term Thinking - Immediate Gratification:

Been reading a lot of 'cop stories' lately about "Stoopid" & his underclass criminal nutter mates.

Here in New Zealand - there lately is a big increase in "corner shop" robberies by mostly young morons - because new gov. taxes have raised the cost of cigarettes so far as to make them a high demand item with anyone stupid enough to continue puffing & pill-popping.

What Americans know as 7/11 stores .. Brits call 'Corner Shops' .. & we call "Dairies" (because they sell milk etc). - these family enterprises often rely on their cigarette and booze sales to boost income. - The big single difference between here and US is that the scumbags here get away with it.

The story about these punks revolves around their urge to gratify-a-need .. They want .. they take.

.. Learning-impaired, tattooed, incoherent, psychotic 'ferals' don't think ahead - and don't care.

- These dangerous freaks are classic examples of behavior dictated by a low intellect and SHORT TERM THINKING.

.. Hmm .. now who else do we have in our lives that act like that ?? - I know, - it's politicians.

- Well they do share many anti-social behaviors. Lying and cheating to mislead their victims - and once in a position of power they eagerly grab at the short term riches that satisfy their selfish needs - while ignoring long term consequences. - And both groups seem to be protected from punishment by laws that ignore victims rights.

 Youth Courts, & Parliamentary Privilege, my ass.

Both of these "social groups" ignore the possibility of working now for bigger benefit later - much like pre-school kids told that if they don't eat the few sweeties in front of them for five minutes - they'll be rewarded with a whole packet when the adult returns.

Solutions? - How about MORE POLICE & PRISONS, - Better Education and Healthcare Funding, and a CITIZENS ASSEMBLY  as a 'Second House' instead of an 'Upper House'. And  forget the anti-gun nonsense and allow decent citizens to arm and defend themselves against armed crooks.

..  800 "Lords" in the British 'House of Lords' ... What a sick joke.

Marty K.

Texas Homicidal Humor & US Air-force General Curtis E LeMay:

Two 'Shocking' books: 😱

I'm reading currently 'MORE HOMICIDAL HUMOR' ($3.40 Kindle version) written (or collected?) by Sgt.Brian Foster - a Houston, Texas Cop .. cop-tales mostly about "Stupid" and his often fatal demise.

.. Just to give you the flavor of this fun, "educational" book - one tale describes the victim's wife-with-a-knife as "a double-wide wart-hog wearing shorts and a boob-tube."

 But the first story's main character that he tells us all about is/was all male, tough and fairly sympathetic - and kinda reminded me of General Curtis E LeMay - who was a 'hard-assed' military mover-and-shaker .. he's the guy responsible for fire bombing Tokyo with napalm & magnesium incendiaries, and also credited with running "the Berlin airlift".. He later stood as a vice-presidential candidate with segregationist Governor George Wallace.

 He was one hell of a Hawk and is on record as saying that he knew that if USA had lost that war .. He'd have been tried for war crimes.  - I "met" LeMay in another book I'm currently reading - 'THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE' by Daniel Ellsberg - whistle blower -  he of the 'Pentagon Papers'.

I know, I know .. I'm "name dropping" all over the place while showing that all I do is lay about and read all the time - This is in fact true .. but why wouldn't someone midway in their seventh decade behave like a house-cat stretched out purring 90% of the day?

 (.. in between running marathons? - traversing the Southern Alps dressed in shorts with an apple in the pocket? - and long-distance ocean swimming while greased-up like a nuns dildo?? .. not 😁).

Ellsberg's book is shocking and very revealing of the incredibly STUPID nutters that are running this planet .. but I'm only into the first chapters so won't say more .. but General LeMay is an historic player.
He was a shooter ..

 Bench-Rest.

Sports Car owner - Racing enthusiast

LeMay's 1950s Allard J2 

Politician

- And Fire Bomber:

- When the USA nuked Hiroshima & Nagasaki killing some further 130,000 civilians - they were really only continuing the incinerations that LeMay had instigated.

Firebombed Tokyo

Atom Bombed Hiroshima

Remember - This is done to people by our Governments. - We vote for them.
 - What can we, the people do with guns that's any worse?

Marty K.

Putin Of The KGB:

“There is no such thing as a former intelligence agent” 
says a Russian proverb.

Vladimir Putin was only 33 when posted by the KGB to Dresden (in 1985 East Germany) where he worked closely with the East German STASI for five years to 1989. When the dividing wall was pulled down - he and his wife left Germany for Leningrad in their car - with a secondhand 20 year old washing machine in the back.
"Whoever saw him on the shooting range, would think that he was excessively cautious, since he very distinctly followed the rules of behavior on the firing line. He also watched his neighbors and got nervous when someone began to non-arbitrarily gesticulate with a loaded pistol in their hand." 

What The F*** is that?

The Man Seems To LIKE Guns

(A Stechkin APS - Blow-back 9x18 mm Select Fire)

750 rpm, 20 round Magazine.

“50 years ago, the streets of Leningrad taught me one thing: If a fight’s inevitable, you must strike first,” Putin said.

14 y.o.
We all need to remember that Russia is no longer communist - but might more likely be held to be a federal, semi-presidential, Republic.

And Putin is no longer a communist .. So who's running the place? According to the BBC while there are strong criminal 'mafiosa' like figures throughout this huge nation - the top handful in power in The Kremlin are a steady group of Putin's old friends from St. Petersburg and the old KGB. - & they seem to be a loyal hard working team.

Top British politicians are accusing ex KGB Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Putin of personally ordering the execution in UK of Russian spy Sergai Skripal by poisoning with the organo-phosphorous nerve agent VX ... which was developed in UK by ICI in 1952 and at Porton Down during the cold war era - only six miles away from where this attack occurred.

British scientists (from Porton Down) are reportedly working furiously to determine where the nerve agent used originates from.

VX is short for "venomous agent X"

Wikipedia says:

The U.S. started production of large amounts of VX in 1961 at Newport Chemical Depot. - Some countries known to possess VX are the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, North Korea, Israel, and Syria.

Marty K.

GLOCK Copies From All Round The Planet:

I was drawn to this story about a Peshawar (Pakistan) maker producing G17 and G19 'copies' that are available in select fire versions - LINK:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/04/05/the-glock-revolution-comes-to-peshawar-in-select-fire/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=2018-04-07&utm_ca

- But while it's an eye opener regarding how widely these high-tech pistols are able to be copied & found - it surely isn't surprising - as the plastics factories where I worked as a 'young-yob' in UK were staffed 90% by bright, hard working guys from that part of the world.

The molds to inject nylon pistol frames are complex and need great skill to make - plus the hi-tech injection molding machines - necessary to squirt the molten polymers under high pressure - take experience to set-up and operate.. all adding-up to a big investment.

Here's some images of "Glock Look-a-likes" from outside of Austria,

Pakistan Model Made By 'Khan Afzal Manufacture Arms' Peshawar.

(Is This aka "Royal Arms"?)

An Iranian Copy.

Glock Copy From South Korea.

A Chinese 'Norinco' "Glock".

Russian GM-100 Sport Model from SKAT.

Turkey Makes The Girsan MC28-SA (Yavus-16).

It has to be acknowledged that all these "Copies" are the strongest possible confirmation that Gaston Glock's brainchild was inspired and superbly engineered. You can't blame any manufacturer - including some US outfits - for trying to cash-in on the hottest trend in 20th & 21st century hand-gunning.

Some try to make their version appear distinct - while others just make "honest copies".

The S&W 'Glock' or SIGMA .. now called 'S.D'.

Surprisingly - none of these "clones" are made from ceramics (sick joke) to beat the X-Ray security machines !! 😈

Nylon type polymers combine with strong steels, CNC machining and excellent Quality Control to make tough high capacity pistols that work.

 - I used to love offering my club-hammer to Colt and S&W owners to slam their guns into the concrete like I'd just demonstrated with my G17.

My guess is that almost every commercial manufacturer has by now built their own version of a Glock.

Must give Gaston a bit of a headache when counting his millions eh,

From another view point - the Glocks actually used working ideas and techniques from various other earlier designed handguns - their team cleverly put them together into one tidy package that works superbly - all at the right time to be a big hit. 

Marty K.

“there is nothing new under the sun”), - from ancient writings.

The MORKO 'Handgonne':

This early cast bronze "hand cannon" was dredged-up in a fishing net in 1828 near the island of Morko off the coast of Sweden.

Bore is around 21.5 mm ( .846 inches)

I'm showing it here because it is very nicely preserved in great condition - while being dated from around 1380 to 1400 C.E. (Bronze is good stuff eh).

 If you like this early black-powder weapon I guess you can follow-up and do research on line .. but the piece is said to be kept in The National Historical Museum, Stockholm.

I read that there are some odd attempts to interpret the writings on it's surface as below ..

A fascinating and well made gun - likely that the hook underneath was used to 'steady' the gun and ease it's recoil - and the good looking head may have served as something like a foresight.. maybe.

If you'd like to learn something about the 'RUNES' on this antique and some interpretations go to "Cold Case". Link:

http://gunneyg.info/Morko/html/MorkoWideBand.htm

Marty K.

Battle-Field Slaughter:1917 Chemin Des Dames - France:

In my earlier post about French knuckle guns:
https://flicense.blogspot.co.nz/2018/04/these-22-knuckle-guns-are-french.html

 .. I mentioned how "les Poilu" - the brave French front-line soldiers - had registered their protests at yet another futile attack into the mouth of enemy machine-guns - by bleating Baaah, Baaah, as they ran forward to indicate that they "were going - as lambs to the slaughter".

German WWI MG08/15 Machine Gun. (Known As The Light Maxim?)

French losses in WWI totaled some 1.4 Million at the rate of 900 men killed each day. I looked-up this battle in Wikipedia and it's an entry well worth reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemin_des_Dames

- Desperate slaughter of working people to gain control of territory for their masters ..

It clearly illustrates (again) how the "Ruling Classes" claim their natural superiority gives them a God Given Right to drive their inferiors to die violently in their tens of millions.

In European countries they repeatedly drove their 'subjects' to the slaughter while disputing ownership of land / wealth with their 'royal' cousin neighbors - and their priests blessed both sides.

 -  Today most countries have kicked-out these anachronisms from any positions of rule .. but the buggers keep trying to creep back and to re-establish privileged regimes again (tyranny = the opposite of democracy).

 Look at Putin in Russia .. It's only 100 years since the Russian vassals terminated their then owners - the Romanov Tzars, on July 16/17 1918 .. and they've just allowed another leader up onto the palace thrones.

 Pete Seeger wrote & sung ..

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?

Marty K.