Today 31 July 2015 police Commissioner Mike Bush made the historic announcement that all frontline NZ Police will be required to be armed on duty with Tasers.
This forward step is stated to cost NZ$600,000 and will entail procurement of a further 600 Tasers.
Police X2 Taser.
Police Association President Greg O'Conner said "this is a courageous, sensible, and timely decision" and that the eventual routine arming of police with guns was inevitable.
Defense Products101 quotes on their US website "Law enforcement officers say that Taser(r) Guns have the equivalent stopping power of a .357" Magnum pistol.".
The Taser(r) Gun is not classified as a firearm in America by the FTA and is legal to carry in 45 states - either concealed or openly.
The X2 version can display 'warning arcs' and can fire twice - but the later X3 Taser can be fired three times.
New Zealand Antique
Arms Association Canterbury Incorporated
The New Zealand Antique
Arms Association Canterbury Incorporated is holding an
Auction/Display Day on
Saturday 12th
September 2015.
The event is being held
in the Parade Ring at Riccarton Park, Racecourse Rd Christchurch
opening for viewing at 10am with the auction staring at 12pm.
Displays and sales tables will also be there for viewing and perusal.
Displays are free with
prizes awarded to best in category.
Sales tables are
available for $10 each.
9.00am open for setup of
sales tables and displays. 10.00am doors open for members and auction
items accepted.
If you wish to put
suitable items for sale in the auction please contact the convenor
below.
The Branch is charging a
commission of 10% of final sales value on each item sold at the
auction on the vendor. Hammer price is the sale price. 300 lot
maximum on a first come first served basis, so get in early to
prevent missing out. This is a Mickey Mouse style auction with no
catalogue and therefore no postal bidding.
Any endorsed items sold
will require Police permits to procure to be organised between the
vendor and buyer.
Entrance fee is $10
including financial members.
The bar will be open from
11.00am with food and refreshments available.
Please note that all
persons will be required to present their firearms licence if they
have successfully won an item/s that requires a firearms licence to
possess.
Currently the 'Standard' for assessing penetration and comparing the effectiveness of projectiles is ballistic gelatine - but it wasn't always the way.
My penetrating gaze (!) spotted that the 1883 Springfield Minie rifle was rated as able to penetrate four inches of soft pine with its heavy bullet at 1,000 yards - while expected to hit a target the size of a mounted man at 600 yards.
I've also read discussion about how far a WW2 Lee-Enfield .303" penetrated into (or through) piled dirt or sand - such as the ramparts in front of trenches. - It seems that the bullet will penetrate further at long range than it will closer .. as it tends to break-up on impact with a hard substance at the close higher velocity.
Trying to ignore just what type of bullet we are using - the question immediately arises as to how soft is the soft pine used and how rock-filled or granular is the earth or sand.
The guys on the range nowadays sometimes pile-up wet newspapers or soaked telephone books to get some measure of what is happening, and a row of water filled plastic jugs or bottles gives a spectacle to watch - you can have fun counting the blown containers and looking for the slug.
- Hickok45 enjoys shooting bottles of coloured fizzy drink for effect - and that's got to be the best use for dyed liquid sugar you could think-of.
Fun eh.
I've seen tests in gun magazines where straw-board or cardboard is stacked in racks as below:
- and one of the fifty year-old books I just bought was using plastic bags stuffed with cotton waste then filled with water .. all the air was carefully squeezed-out before use.
In the 'OLDEN DAYS' when I first started reading anything that I could find on shooting - 'Duct Seal' or damp potters clay - even blocks of soap were popular for measuring the depth and then recovering projectiles - and to date it is sometimes used by air gun shooters as a bullet trap.
All those old ideas were useful - but they all were only good for comparisons made on the day rather than a measurement. The 10% Ballistic Gel used currently does provide a 'standard' and has the great advantage of being clear so that the "wound path" can be viewed and measured - and the projectiles are more readily traced and extracted if wanted.
Ordnance Ballistic Gel is a tissue simulant only .. anyone looking for an exact replica of an animal torso is really wasting their time as there are as usual - too many variables.
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- Way back (in the "Olden Days") I was aghast when I had the 'MKR' for cluster-bombs explained (Maximum Kill Rate). - I was told the then standard method - of tieing various livestock to a grid pattern of stakes - on a bombing range and then "counting heads" after the test drop to assess the percentage kill .. which is somewhat less outrageous than loading them onto a plane with Red Cross markings and flying them to Viet Nam for trials.
Sorry but it's another "Slow News Week" down here.
So - I've always had bad taste in firearms .. I actually like the way Glocks look! - and I like the look of the Ruger LCR Revolvers .. but this is ridiculous eh.
'Champagne' From Firegild.
Is that REAL gold, not just paint?
A small amount of tasteful engraving is one thing - but gold and jewels ?
Firegild quote their flash LCR at $2,600 ish. The way our NZ$ is relative to U.S. I'll pass.
Marty K. P.S. 180 Police were busy yesterday on methamphetamine drug raids on 30 Headhunters gang properties. They have seized some 30 valuable vintage/classic vehicles and some firearms. Among ten persons held by police is an ex-prison guard and three prison inmates.
Mention of the 'Minie' Ball in the previous cartridge story reminded me of the part that it had in the gradual improvements that moved firearms forward - from the early magical noise makers - meant to "frighten the horses" (and the enemy troops) - then becoming a true (smooth-bore) weapon used in volley fire against massed fighters - then through the use of aimed patched ball in guns with a rifled barrel that could be accurate.
Minie Balls make a .45acp look Small.
The French developed the Minie Ball which became a giant step forward in the sniping ability of rifled arms - truly extending the useable range of these black-powder muzzle-loaders - out to as much as 300 yards and even as far as 500 yards.
The hollow base design of the Minie caused the projectile to expand and seal in the rifles bore giving greater power (from less gas loss) and greater accurate range from the imparted spin.
This also permitted a big reduction in bore size and bullet weight without loss of "knock-down effect" - while also increasing the rate of fire as they slid down the bore much easier when loading because they did not need to be a tight fit before firing..
The expanding Minie bullet had a self cleaning effect as it pushed residue from previous shots ahead of itself - reducing fouling by scraping the bore clean.
The higher velocity of the heavy spin stabilised conical bullets also proved to cause greater damage than had earlier round balls.
French Army Captain Minie transformed the way 1850s warfare was conducted, adding 200 yards extra effective range to the infantry-mans ability to defend himself from artillery cannon fire.
Video About The Minie Ball.
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/posts/24075745
Andrew Hore, 36 year old All Black Rugby Football 'Hooker' is due to appear at Alexandra District Court next week on charges that he supplied a firearm to a non-licenced person.
Hore played for the All Blacks in 83 tests including one as Captain.
Here's something for the cartridge collectors. - I don't pretend to know anything about it but I'm showing it out of interest.
We are assured that this is the rare American .58 Schubarth internal pin-fire round, patented in 1861
- and it should not be confused with an even rarer, slightly earlier cartridge 'Gallager & Gladding Inside Primed Pin-Fire' Patent # 24,730 of 12 July 1859.
Gallager & Gadding.58"
Size Comparison with a .223"
- I read that the projectile used is actually a 'Minie Ball' - All I can add is that you can, literally - "learn something new every day" .. 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/posts/24075745
