MY COMPUTER FAILURE & ink projectiles

At the end of March my computer waved goodbye - well, actually it just pi**ed-off without so much as an "it's been nice working with you". - Just sat there looking blank-screened - reflecting my dismayed image!

Hmmm, - well my mate "Little John" helped me select a new one that cost twice what I had hoped to pay and then extracted the 'hard-drive' from my departed ex long-term companion (of seven years, so I suppose that I mustn't grumble !).

 By some very technical process that only occurs in darkened rooms behind locked doors - he seems to have sucked-out most of what I had been working on - and has loaded it onto the new 12 gigabyte RAM 'acer' -  and I'm now getting to grips with its Windows 8 operating system.

 - It's all a bit too stressful for an 'old fart' who can remember dipping a nibbed pen into an inkwell mounted in the front of the desk at Linacre Road School, Willesden (London)  - Actually I also remember dipping the 'pigtail' of the fair-haired wee girl in front, into that inkwell too - and it becoming an interesting 'blue/black' shade at the end. - I don't think that she complained or told on me.

                                                           DESK INKWELL

- Can any of you remember the ballistic thrill of firing a folded paper pellet from a rubber-band tensioned between thumb & finger ? - made extra effective when freshly dipped into that same blue/black inkwell - splat - yeah! - That's where it all started!

 - I was actually a nice little boy. My teacher used to send me out of class, with the money once a week - to get his freshly laundered white shirt collars (celluloid) from the laundry shop, in a paper bag. - Remember separate shirt collars - I guess that was about 1953?

Next computer task is to try reload all the stuff that I've lost - such as the program that I used to adjust my photos - the one I can't remember what it was or where it came from - but it worked for me!

Hmmm, So far in three months and eighty plus posts on this 'blog' I've earned $4.83 from the adverts - (thank you whoever clicked on them) - and have spent NZ$1,400 odd and some hours researching and writing !! - But I am enjoying it all so that's what counts eh. - I'll keep on keeping-on as long as I can find anything worth writing.

 HooRoo (that's a 'West Coast' kiwi salute)

Marty K

Why is XXX an accurate Cartridge?

When writing about the "new" 300 AAC Blackout cartridge (which is said to be plenty accurate) - I began to wonder about accuracy and just what factors (if any ) - can be inbuilt into a design to make it more accurate.

And I was thinking - what, if any, - useful stuff might appear - if I compared the 300BLK directly with the 'Russian' 7.62X39mm - and the round that was specifically used in centre-fire 'Bench-Rest' competition 6MM PPC (or/and the .30" BR)

- Well you could have "knocked-me-down-with-a-feather" when I read on Wikipedia the following:

" .. around 1975, when the wildcat 6MM PPC, based on a modified .220 Russian case (which is itself  based on a boxer primed derivative of the military 7.62x39mm), took over as the most accurate cartridge."

So, maybe there is some link out-there other than the one in my meandering thought! - or perhaps way-back I might have read something about this and it's quietly stored in some part of the mushy old brain.

 

And then we have:

3x 300 Blackouts(7.62x35mm), - a .223"(5.56x45mm), and a "Russian" 7.62x39mm.

And just for comparison - a .30 Carbine round (that is 7.62x33MM):

Or - just maybe - there's NO linkage at all really other than the reputed 'ballistic sweet spot' that is supposed to hover around 7MM plus or minus half a mm or so.?? - Is it that these are all just medium (intermediate) sized cases stuffed with a medium sized projectile ?

 - Maybe accuracy all comes down to precision in the production of the cartridge components, the metering of the powder charges, and the tight, optimum sizing of chambers, bores, and rifling - regardless of case and bullet size. Of course I do know about the "boat-tail spritzer" design factors as used in very long range shooting - so why don't we strive to introduce such characteristics into every projectile as far as practicable ? - Because OTHER factors take precedence - such as having a large meplat, or an expanding/soft nose..

- Has anyone ever recently done a properly scientific analysis of this issue?

Anyone got a useful comment to add?
Marty K

300 AAC BLACKOUT, 7.62x35mm for AR15 Platform..

The 300 Blackout seems to have the potential to change an M4/M16  AR15 " mouse-gun" into a .30" Cal hard hitting and versatile rifle - but with a 'silenced' sub-sonic loading readily available. - There is a strong lobby-group that maintains that a .30" calibre round is the basic minimum size bullet to fully perform as a military infantry round.

All that an AR needs is a change of barrel to accept the Blackout rounds. Yes, that's right - the 300 BLK feeds and works from the .223" magazines - And the rounds can be produced by cutting-down .223" brass. The 300 AAC Blackout was SAAMI approved on January 17th  2011. The round has better ballistics than the "Russian" AK round (7.62x39mm) but loads and feeds reliably through the AR15 platform  - which the "Russian" doesn't.

                              .300" AAC BLACKOUT CARTRIDGE DIMENSIONS.

I hadn't ever heard of this new cartridge until a mate "Cutless" told me that he'd invested in a bolt-action rifle in 300 Blackout and I responded "Hwwwww-whaat?" - So "Cutters" then told me about this new versatile cartridge that had military user potential for the AR15 type guns - and he explained that it was the sub-sonic silenced use that was interesting him for use on our regular pistol club range.

              Hickok45  shows what the 300 Blackout is all about when 'hushed':

- There's been no problem making AKs in the NATO calibre .223" - indeed the AK102s seem to prefer that loading for accuracy to their own 5.54x39mm round - but the American "Black Rifle" has not been able to digest the 'iron curtain' AK 7.62x39mm feedstock anything like as well because of the greater taper of the cases (I nearly said "brass" but they are mostly steel cases that I've seen!).

 300AAC BLACKOUT plastic tip, 125gn Match, 220gn Sub-Sonic, - 5.56x54mmNATO, and the 7.62x39mmRussian.

The next 'big deal'  is the subsonic capability of the 300 BLK whereby it can perform as a sub-machine gun calibre something like the 9MM Luger but more powerfully, and with a 220grain projectile that retains  498 ft lbs of energy.- Heavier hitting than 9mm but still light recoiling. - And the sub-sonic works fully in the rifle action too.

 The 'mouse-gun' argument has always been that the AR15/M4 .223 NATO round is too small and too light to be effective and that the .30" calibre is a "proven" minimum calibre. - Now it may be that the new .30 AAC Blackout (7.62x35mm) is the answer to the problem of just what .30"Cal. might work in the All American Black Rifle. By the stories that I've found on-line the accuracy potential is very good.

 - This is kind-of to ignore the possibility that the US of A might swallow its pride and adopt the AK platform like its troops at the front did at every opportunity in Vietnam. - That's not going to happen.

Advanced Armament Corporation of Atlanta Georgia, (AAC) kept in mind the need to be able to simply adapt the M4/M16 AR15 platform throughout its development work on the 7.62x35MM  300BLK. And I'm beginning to think that they may have made a giant step forward here.

- Down here in New Zealand despite the tight regulation on gun licencing and the registration of handguns and some 'restricted'  types, - 'Silencers'  or sound moderators are not controlled and may be built, fitted, and used at the shooters discretion. - I've been known to jokingly suggest that moderators might even be made compulsory in an effort to both reduce 'noise pollution' and as an effort to stop hearing damage that is all to common among the old-time shooters ( - "what's that?).

When "Cutless" first held-out a 300 Blackout round (7.62x35mm) to me I thought it looked somewhat like a .30"  M1 Carbine round (7.62x33mm) - they are of a similar appearance.

- Now call me 'fickle' but when I first researched this new 300 AAC Blackout round I was being somewhat cynical and maybe had a bit of a sneer on my face (Ooh I hope I didn't - but "deep down, I'm pretty superficial"(Ava Gardner))

 - But now I've watched a few video clips and had a chance to appraise its versatility - Hmm, well I could be tempted away from my AK admiration to consider this novel concept for the AR15 platform. - I mean, like black IS the new gold, and I really do like shooting a quiet gun that can hit hard. Let me think about this!
Marty K

After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

BSA Model No.1 Single Shot .22" Rifle.

The Birmingham Small Arms Company was founded in 1861 but was not an instant success commercially - orders for firearms being much delayed by the then British Government.

After struggling and later shutting down for a full year - they started manufacture of bicycles in 1880 and in 1905 built their first BSA motorcycles.

 - Who can ever forget the sheer brute power of the post-war BSA Bantam 125cc two stroke - "prrPrrprrPpp" (4.5 bhp!) - and that romantic and aromatic haze of blue oil smoke?

Note: This superbly British motorbike was actually 'mirror-image' copied from the German DKW RT125, - the rights for which were handed-over (taken) as wartime reparations (plunder) in 1948. And believe it or not - this same basic model was also built in USA by .. Harley Davidson !

. - Demand for firearms picked-up greatly with the advent of The First World War and kept them going until after the Second World War ended.

       From the wording of this early ad, Britain had not yet 'sold-out' entirely.

The BSA Model No.1 was introduced in 1908 as a 'Training & Target' Rifle costing One Pound and Fifteen Shillings (that's something like 1.75 pounds) when a contemporary Vickers-Armstrong Martini MkII cost Five Pounds - so the BSA was a bargain of the day.

In 1947 the 'Sportsman' model was introduced and continued in production well into the 1950s.

These single-shots have a sturdy and long lived action that makes them very useful for introducing new shooters to the disciplines needed for safe gun handling. - Start with a single-shot rimfire long-arm and progress to five shot magazine fed bolt-action - to semi-auto - to centre-fire - to shot-gun, - only then should the closely watched and controlled tyro be permitted to handle the exciting revolvers and semi-autos, - once again working-up from rimfire to centre-fire.

           1.5 inch group at 25yards from my Model No.1. (Using 1977 vintage IMI ammo!)
                  (using a V notch rear and bead fore-sight - and scratched old glasses)

In 1973 BSA was "rescued" from collapse and sold to Manganese Bronze Holdings that is now Chinese owned by Geely Automobile - who still operate 'Carbodies' makers of London Taxi Cabs by 'The London Taxicab Company'.

 -  'Carbodies' were to blame for developing and making the first tricky and expensive long bonnets for the 'E-Type Jaguar' ! 

BSA Guns (UK) continues to this day - to make air rifles and some shotguns - under ownership of Gamo. - That's all that remains of the once proud outfit that made those Lee-Metford .303 Rifles for the British Empire and Commonwealth and the BSA No.1 Training & Target models!

                                               THE 'PILED ARMS' Motif of BSA.
Marty K
After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

APRIL Ist - Gun Laws Extended to Motorists. - APRIL 1st.

 

Breaking news – firearms laws to form basis of improved driver licensing regime

By Gary Elmes

Confident that the new laws regarding airguns and military style firearms will lead to a significant reduction in crime, the police have announced that the lessons learned from our updated firearms laws are to be applied to driver licensing.

“People need to accept that driving a motor vehicle is a privilege, not a right,” explained Inspector John Red, manager of the newly formed Office of Driver and Vehicle Control, when announcing the new initiative.

The most fundamental change is the introduction of a “fit and proper person” test for driver licences. All applicants for a driver licence will need to satisfy a police officer that they are fit and proper before being issued a licence. Police will also have the ability to revoke a driver’s licence at any time if, in their opinion, he or she ceases to be a fit and proper person to drive a vehicle. Applicants will not be considered fit and proper if, for example, they are believed to abuse drugs, have gang affiliations, be involved in matrimonial discord, or show signs of mental ill health. To prevent such people from gaining illicit access to motor vehicles, those who cohabit with them will also not be eligible for driver licences.

“This is fundamental to the new strategy for reducing vehicle-related fatalities,” Explained Inspector Red. “The existing approach, of police having to go to court to prove that someone should lose their licence, is too cumbersome and error-prone. Giving police the discretion to take someone off the road when we believe that they present a danger to others is key to us bringing the road tool down.”

Categorisation of motor vehicles will also be tightened. A new class of vehicle will be introduced – the Motor-Sport Style Automobile. Drivers will require an additional endorsement on their licence before being allowed to possess and drive such vehicles. The police will have considerable discretion as to when to issue such an endorsement, and will have the power to impose special conditions on the use of such vehicles. Inspector Red indicated that they will only be issued to people who have demonstrated a clear need to drive sporting vehicles.

“Each case will be individually assessed on its merits, of course,” said Red. “But endorsements will only be granted to genuine racing drivers, and we will be imposing conditions that these especially dangerous cars are only used on properly managed racing tracks.”

A car will be classed as a Motor-Sport Style Automobile if it has an automatic gearbox and one or more of the following features:

• A carburettor air-scoop,
• An adjustable aerofoil,
• A painted speed-stripe,
• A fuel tank capable of, or which appears capable of, holding more than seven litres of fuel.

The fuel tank limitation is considered particularly important by police. “We are involved in many car chases that carry on for far longer than they should because of the excessive amounts of fuel that can be stored in modern sports cars,” explains Inspector Red. “Seven litres is more than enough for a car to travel from one petrol station to the next, so legitimate car users have no real need for larger tanks.”

Responding to concerns of ambiguity as to what paint patterns would be regarded as speed stripes, Inspector Red explained that the term would be carefully defined in separate regulations. “We fully expect car manufacturers to push the boundaries in terms of what is and what isn’t a speed stripe. Defining the term in regulations will allow the police to respond quickly, with updated regulations, to new developments in car exterior decoration. We do recognise the importance of having clear and simple rules about what kind of exterior embellishments are regarded as speed stripes,” he continued, “and we’re confident that the regulation defining this will not extend beyond seven pages.“

                                         SPEED STRIPES ON VEHICLES

 

Asked about how the public was likely to respond to these changes, Inspector Red responded: “I’m sure that many petrol-head speed freaks will oppose the new laws, selfishly putting their perceived right to drive whatever cars they want ahead of public safety. But we’re confident that responsible drivers will support the initiative.”

A final comment from Inspector Red: “Most people will accept that the police can be trusted to use these new powers responsibly. We will be targeting the irresponsible hoons and taking them off the road. Ordinary, law abiding drivers have nothing to fear.”

The new laws are scheduled to come into effect on 1^st April next year.

 

This story first appeared in 'Bullshooter' - the magazine of Pistol New Zealand.

SQUIRES BINGHAM - STIRLING - ARMSCOR:

The very first ever rifle that I bought in New Zealand was a STIRLING M20 s/a .22" rimfire Serial Number A2737**.

                                           Stirling M20 / M22 s/a 22" rimfire rifles.

With my very new shiny "Lifetime" Firearms Licence in my wallet and forty dollars cash to pay for my winning bid - I'd had a successful outing to the Christchurch 'Police and Customs Auction' . I was a happy chappy on the drive home and couldn't wait to buy some ammo and take the wee rifle out to the local Waimakariri river bed and sight it in. ( Apparantly the NZ Police have decreed that one is no longer allowed to shoot in river-beds "for safety reasons".)

                                           WAIMAKARIRI RIVER BED

That original Lifetime Licence is dated 28 May 1986 and notes that a licence fee of NZ$27.00 was paid.

Times have Surely Changed! - The Police no longer feel able to auction legal firearms to legally licenced "fit and proper" persons - and my shiny red passport-book styled Lifetime Firearms Licence was cancelled (at a stroke of a Parliamentary Pen) and replaced with a plastic credit card styled Photo ID card that needs to be renewed (currently) every ten years. Hmmm.

The earlier Stirlings were marketed in New Zealand as 'Squires Binghams'  and currently they are sold as 'ARMSCOR' products. - I understand that the name 'Squibman' was used at one time.

Historically the first Squires Bingham was a retail Gun Shop in Manila, Philippines started in 1911.- They went on to greater things and the business owned by Squires Bingham & Co was changed to The Arms Corporation Of The Philippines - "ARMSCOR" in 1952.

Currently, ARMSCOR makes a range of small bore rifles including "look alike" models for the AR and the AK, - shotguns,  and several good looking low cost semi-auto Pistols. - Here in New Zealand 'Cameron Sports Imports'  is the wholesaler - importer.

Armscor  have a manufacturing agreement with Fratelli TANGFOLIO Snc of Italy. - This may come as suprising news to some who rate Tangfolio highly for their quality target pistol "race-guns" - while classing the Stirling / Armscor  product as cheap'n'nasty.

Well - personally I wasn't all that impressed by "race guns" that seem to need much modification and "tuning" ( like 1911 models) before they can race - but I've had a soft-spot for the 'cheap'n'cheerful' Stirlings ever since that first used auction purchase !! - Just goes to confirm that I am a bloody minded "pom" eh.

The M20 range is in my experience accurate and trouble free - and cheap. The action is not fussy about brand of ammunition and all the working bits readily come to hand and operate fine. - I put 10 shots of Winchester sub-sonic into a 1.25 inch group at 25 yards rapid fire no worries (-sighted through a cheap 'scope).

The bolt can be locked open simply by pushing-in the handle sleeve, - and the magazine release is also easy to use (unlike my otherwise excellent Ruger 10/22 !).

-As a rough-use knock-about gun that may be rattled around in the back of a farm truck  and generally neglected, they are fine. - Indeed the only problems that I have had with a Stirling was after  I decided that it was time to clean and oil it - probably because it needed a pack of .22"s put through it to clear out all the gun-oil that was drowning the action.

The shorter model above is a very useful size and would suite a younger and smaller new shooter - but I prefer it to the longer version anyway as it's "handier" and there's no need for a full-length barrel in .22" Rimfire - anything much over 16" doesn't count for much (ballistics!).

Mind you, the internal components of the action seem to be die-cast alloy which is likely not as strong as steel forgings or stampings, - still "mustn't grumble eh".

Marty K
After researching & writing 1,036 blogs I've got something NEW to try .. I've signed-up to Patreon. - In over five years I've not made one cent from this .. NOW you can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1. to get all this stuff from New Zealand - over a year that's nearly the price of one Shooting magazine. - Am I worth it?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

OK - THE KALASHNIKOV - AK47

In 1938 Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov was only nineteen when drafted into a tank company where he worked using his technical ability to improve the function of  engine recording gauges - but before he could fully test and develop this work - Germany attacked and he was sent to the front.

 - Within weeks he was wounded, hospitalised, and seriously frightened of what the German Maschinenpistole  MP40 could do. - By 1945 the Germans would have made over a million MP40s - so effective that even the Allied soldiers preferred the German SMG (often wrongly known as a "Schmeisser") to their own STENs and 'Tommy-Guns' .

Kalashnikov dedicated himself to making a gun that would enable his much loved Soviet Homeland to throw-off any attack - and when, his left arm still stiff, he was discharged from hospital he returned to the railroad workshops where he'd worked before combat with the army - and there focused on the Russian sub-machine-gun to improve it. His efforts were rejected as too complex but the authorities sent him to a technical school to refine his skills - where he worked on a carbine design.

In 1943 the Soviets selected the new short cartridge 7.62x39mm and Kalashnikov joined other top designers, including Sudayev & Simonov in designing rifles to use it. Sudayevs design won, the war ended and Kalashnikov was put into a "collective" to try refine his design ideas into something better.

                                              Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov

Listening to soldiers stories about jammed guns he made no attempt to achieve tighter tolerances but went the other way - using "sloppy" loose fitting parts that seemed to just chew-up the dirt and sand before spitting it out. - It works.

That widely rotating Bolt -  pushes carbon gums aside by twisting or screwing itself into battery. It works.

That distinctive "banana " magazine is that shape because that's the shape taken by 30 rounds of  tapered 7.62x39mm lined up touching in a row.

That safety that serves as an ejection port cover wasn't new - the 1906 Remington Model 8 s/a Rifle used it. - No need here for a separate flappy trap-door, - just use the idea that works.

                              AK IN 'FIRE' MODE - EJECTION PORT UNCOVERED

Between 1947 and 1949, the AK47 was changed, modified and refined more than 100 times as Kalashnikov listened to what soldiers and others said to him. Kalashnikove rightly designed his 'assault rifle' to be made using welded stampings - but the early production models were re-drawn to use forged components - as the Soviet factories at that time were unable to stamp parts of the needed quality fast enough.

                                                   Video of AK Firing Cycle.

And the beauty of that piston design is that as it nears the end of its stroke - the soot and hot gases are safely exhausted forward into the air - making the AK a self-cleaning device. It works.

 

Kalashnikov did it all for his country, not for profit or status. - Indeed you might conclude that he was very poorly treated throughout, - until his end-stage life when the Soviet Government noticed  western shooters admiration and respect for him.

The AK47 Series might not be pretty, but ...

The AK family of weapons has been produced in more than five times (maybe closer to ten times) the quantity that the AR15/M16 has - making it the most successful design - but it's interesting ballisticly (a little sad?) that the AK102 in the "Western" calibre .223" (5.56x54mm) is found to be 22% more accurate than the AKs in the Russian 5.54x39mm calibre.
 Note: The "straight banana" magazine in .223" (5.56x54mm). (Not as required by EU rules!)

                                                                     AK102

References: 'AK47  The Weapon That Changed The Face Of War' by Larry Kahaner
                  : Wikipedia.

Marty K