Todays Joke:
Te Tari Pureke - Firearms Safety Authority ..
“Te Tari Pūreke is about keeping people safe while enabling the legitimate and safe use of firearms,” says Authority Executive Director Angela Brazier.
Yeah .. "Keeping people safe." - That's part of what we pay our Governments to do eh.
The U S military has maybe some 88 Tons of Plutonium stored .. it takes plus or minus around 4 kilos to make a nuclear warhead. - That's some 250 nukes to every ton.
Keeping people safe ..
The Poms have got much more stored at Sellafield (aka Seascale, Calder Hall, Windscale ..) they change the name every time there's a nuclear accident - in coastal Cumbria, around 140 tonnes of the horrid stuff. - enough for 35,000 nuclear warheads.
Consider .. If they were to nuke Sellafield .. wouldn't it get messy for those of us not breathing filtered air in a miles deep shelter?
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Any individual small pistol is a bit difficult to shoot effectively - as some guns, like the old compact break-barrel revolvers - are nearly impossible to hold securely and to get the trigger finger in proper place with normal hands. - I worked-out that one way might be to wrap the weak hand around the tiny stock first .. then fold the 'shooting' hand over the top so that it can align with the trigger guard and get a grip.
UTILITY means something that is useful. - as in Nuclear weapons are so useful.
If I was to design a hand-saw for general DIY cutting jobs .. I would make the medium toothed cutting blade of a length suited to an average arm stroke, the handle-grip sized to accept the normal range of user hands and the steel cutting blade would be reasonably flexible but strongly tempered to hold it's edge under light use.
Apply a similar functional logic to carry handgun design and I'd go for a mid-sized caliber not needing superior ability to control - low to medium cartridge capacity - barrel length about 3.5 inches in old money for ballistic efficiency and directional stability, with simple clear open sights - and the handle stocks adjustable for size - having the grips angle suited to the "natural finger pointing" average angle to give the largest hand a secure controlling grasp. - BUT naturally the 'average' cannot suite everyone.
- Nothing ground breaking there then as it's all been done before .. but handgun sights need to be more visible, barrel axis need to be lowered to reduce felt recoil, & controls generally need to be simplified - and both NOISE & BLAST should (& could ) be reduced to non injurious levels for the user, to permit easier SAFE accurate control.
It is all about control.
- What is so hard about designing revolvers to discharge from the bottom chamber, and using a silent captive piston cartridge?
There are different requirements for MILITARY arms to civilian and police needs. - Offensive versus defensive. A HIGH capacity magazine is required for military duty .. perhaps also for law enforcement - Until they improve police training in weapons handling anyway, - as it is widely accepted that approximately 85% of shots fired by police persons MISS the intended target.
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People are variable in their size - strength - and abilities .. while expecting to match the fictional abilities of electronically enhanced screen heroes firing blanks.
I have found that I can't reliably use any 1911 type semi-auto pistol that has a "Grip Safety" at the back .. as aligning my trigger finger onto the trigger with a proper firm holding grasp produces a gap with the web of my strong hand at the rear preventing the squeeze needed to de-activate that switch ..
A handgun's STOCK or Grips needs to fit the shooter's hands. - While I have large(ish) hands - the biggest choice backstrap & beavertail option that Glock supplies works well for me with their G17 sized guns - while I replace the standard grip slabs on my revolvers with larger aftermarket grips from Hogue or Pachmayr etc. - as sometimes available in our dealers.
Buying alternative grips for my fully registered, legally held target pistols here in New Zealand has become a real faff lately with Permits to Procure, Import Permits, and Mail Order Permits being required by our controlling authorities - to enhance safety - by just changing & improving the grips.
It might seem that some gun owners in U S buy a small light weight "Gat" to fit their covert carry pocket while hardly ever shooting in training and becoming at one with their purchase.
It's a funny old world eh - and there's nought so queer as folk ..
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In January 2009 17 year old Halatau Kianamanu Naitoko was accidently shot dead by a police officer in Auckland. - Can anyone explain why that shooter was not charged with manslaughter for this deadly shooting?
Marty K.
Your notional revolver design is not notional... Chiappa Rhino is the one... Looks weird.... apparently works.... but Eeeek!
ReplyDeleteI have little hands, which is why I like the 1911's slim grip frame..... but the Glock 19 has nice ergos for a tupperware gun, except for those rather awful Glock triggers, although admittedly they have got better over time, and are now more like a good DA revolver.... I don't expect single action crispness and weight.
One needs a cartridge for a carry gun that is effective against angry humans, which means at bare minimum probably a .380 because a .22 will disable your adversary.....eventually.... unless you get a nice brain shot..but that won't help if you are killed before it takes effect. So where does that leave us?
On the hip perhaps a Glock 19, or for me a commander size 1911....
For the handbag perhaps the little 26...very compact but a 9mm which works with good ammo.
That's all theory though (and must remain so in NZ so far).....
I have a full sized 1911 in .45 that I can run in my sleep, having put hundreds of thousands of rounds through one over the years. I KNOW I can hit with it out beyond 50 yards and I can do it fast, so why change what you know? It's heavy, yes, but slim and conceals well, even without an IWB holster.
Carried in condition 1 (the only way to carry one) I have 9 shots avilable without a mag change.... more than enough for any situation outside of police and military. The Grip safety? Never had an issue with one, although my current cannon has an extension that makes it impossible not to disengage it.
But there it is... if attacked in a public place by some meth-fueled maniac in NZ the government expects me to die in an orderly manner and not make a fuss (after all, I am 80 now, so have had a good innings!). Hopefully the police will find enough evidence on my body to apprehend the offender.
Heaven forbid that I have the means to defend myself.... I have the ability OK, but I am forbidden to carry the means. I live in a quite safe place fortunately, but like an insurance policy, it's wise to have it and never use it than to need it and not have it. The latter is the law, so I am defenceless, which is how my government wants it.
There you go again Kathryn - talking sense. - You'll never get a job in Parliament here that way.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment .. have you seen this shooting video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O029cOO7_dc