Best Choice - Your Hand Is Steadier With A Colt:

When you settle on a choice of caliber or any particular 'Brand' or make of product - try to keep an open mind - and consider that new developments and factual scientific research may alter the basis that your original decision was founded on.

Maybe that 'expert' advise was from someone with something to sell.

I'm not running a dictionary here - but the fact that there is a new word that describes the way that our opinions are corruptly being manipulated is striking.

We all know that TV advertising is a clamorous technique blatantly and openly persuading you to spend your money & to believe that product A is better for you. - This is why many of us are giving-up watching television.

- But what about if we are being persuaded to believe other stuff that is even more damaging to our lives?

Hidden inside the phrase Post-Truth Politics is an unfamiliar but very meaningful word - so here goes:

" Agnotology is the study of culturally induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data. 

There are many causes of culturally induced ignorance. These include the influence of the media, either through neglect or as a result of deliberate misrepresentation and manipulation.
 - Corporations and governmental agencies can contribute to agnotology through secrecy and suppression of information ..." 

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

Well - you might not care about this at all - in which case - Good Luck & have a nice life .. See Ya.

Marty K.

1911 v Glock - Calibers, Politics & Religion Get Personal:

Thanks go to 'Cutters' for pointing out this research to me:

People can be funny at times. Our brains can work in unexpected ways. - e.g. -  There seems to be a human failing called "Denial" that allows some folk to ignore that - say - they are ugly, unfit, or just plain stubborn.

But it may not be their fault - a new scientific study is suggesting that "Beliefs" get embedded into that part of our heads where we treasure and defend our personal "being".

"Partisan identities get tied up in our personal identities. Which would mean that an attack on our strongly held beliefs is an attack on the self. And the brain is built to protect the self.

The brain processes politically charged information (or information about strongly held beliefs) differently (and perhaps with more emotion) than it processes more mundane facts. This can help explain why attempts to correct misinformation can backfire completely, leaving people more convinced of their convictions.

 “When we compared evaluating religious statements to nonreligious statements, we [found] some of the same brain regions that are active in the current study,” Kaplan said. Which makes sense, because religious beliefs also factor into our identities."

Link to Study:

http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/12/28/14088992/brain-study-change-minds

- This may go some way towards explaining why prejudice persists against reasoned argument.

JOKE:

Glock Owner (Top) versus 1911 (lower)

Have Fun,

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

Trump .45 Pistol:

I don't have much to say about this new offering from Cabot Guns in USA - but thought that you might like the opportunity to drool a little eh: - in excellent good taste like the man himself.

- sample comments:

The pistol has integrated electronics that generates a twitter post after each shot 

Lets make 1911s great again.

Marty K.

OWL Tracers & 2017:

I celebrated the New Year (2017 Yeahhh!) by cutting my hair with a 'buzzer' straight over the lot - followed by a hot shower - two cups of coffee and by dribbling egg yoke & bacon fat down the front of a new clean shirt - then by burning a pot full of new potatoes.

- Well they only burned on the bottom eh - and I reckon that the blackened saucepan will likely clean-up like new .. one day.

Those of you who have really lived will have fond childhood memories of baking potatoes in the embers of an open air fire - and of that culinary delight while burning your fingers eating the charred remains of the outside and mouthing your way into the still raw interior.

- Hey, Mum must have been so patient keeping an eye on us.

________________

No doubt there will be new stuff to think about in 2017 - How about OWL Tracers (I have this image of an owl with a torch held between its feet).

 OWL Bullet Bases.

OWL tracers use an inert glowing substance applied to the base of a standard ball projectile. The luminescence of this substance is activated during firing, either by the heat, flash / pressure and has no fire risk, and can only be seen from the rear in a 30 degree arc.

This technology may become the military’s non-incendiary limited angle visibility tracer round, called the “One-Way Luminescence” (OWL) tracer. 

Conventional tracers use pyrotechnic compounds burning inside the base of the bullet to produce a bright flash that marks the trajectory of the projectile in flight, allowing for aiming corrections but also tending to set dry bush on fire and great for attacking Zeppelins - so are not generally a good idea in Summer.

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- Or maybe the Saiga Mk-107  "low-recoil" .223" will be released onto the market.

The new Russian Saiga MK-107 is a semi-automatic gas operated rifle with recoil-mitigating balanced action. This means that it features two gas pistons in a single gas block above the barrel working from opposite directions.

Life is extra good eh,

Marty K.

Colts Plow Handle Revolver Grips:

Those famous plow-handle grips are nearly always acclaimed as being the perfect shape for handling recoil.

Colt Model 1873 Plow-Handle Grips.

(Too Short For Most Hands)

I accept that this original stock pattern is interesting and many old timers who cut their teeth on a 1873 'Peacemaker' type single action revolver have learned to love that iconic shape. (..You always remember Your First) - Even I love it - especially on my Ruger Old Army charcoal burners - but I don't think that the shape is scientifically designed for recoil control.**

Shooting one of these things clarifies the situation - as every full-power shot causes that stock to break free from your fingers as the gun 'pops-up' and the barrel rotates upwards and over towards your forehead by converting the recoil kick into flip-up that is hopefully restrained by the shooters middle two fingers.

The sticky-out 'heel' of that plow-handle must help direct the piece into 'lift-off' rotation. If using a powerful round you'll need to re-grip before each subsequent aimed shot.

It would take a mechanical engineer to calculate how much of that rotation comes from the high barrel line above your wrist - and what percentage is caused by the plow-handle shape.

Bisley Model Pattern Grips.

After 21 years - in 1894 the "Plow Handle" was improved for target shooters - into the longer and more vertical 'Bisley Model' grip.

I reckon that when you squeeze a lump of clay in your hand you must get a clue as to what shape best fits a hand - It will be smaller or tapering towards the bottom for your little finger or 'pinkie' to get a grip - the opposite shape to the "Plow-Handle":

Squeezed Clay?

Chiappa Rhino.

- Something like the Chiappa Rhino grips - yes I know that they are ugly - an affront to eyes that are expecting to see "normal" guns.. but the combination of the low (bottom chamber) barrel line and the ergonomic shaped grips work to greatly reduce muzzle flip and increase gun control.

Grip angle is an issue surely best determined by measuring the average grip - as Glock says they did.

Grip size is an individual matter further dictated by if you are shoving-up a magazine.

M&P Grip Looks About Right?

I DO like the looks of birds head grips - when I get rich I'll buy a pair of Ruger Vaqueros;

Can't Recoil Any Worse Than "Plow Handles".

Old Flintlocks Stock Shapes Seem Logical

Historical Note **
The first handguns that I ever shot were a Glock 17 and a Glock 18 full auto in the gun range under the Canberra Police Headquarters.  - An interesting demonstration session made remarkable for an Aussie Army Major locking-on to the G18 trigger as it climbed past the vertical in his hand - while he discharged the whole magazine into the concrete roof and brought down a shower of cement and splatter (inc. 'spall') onto our heads .. You can actually fire controlled three or four round bursts on the trigger.

Regarding the full-auto G18 - Austrian Airport anti-terror cops used to carry theirs with a standard magazine in place - If / When terrorist action starts they were trained to draw and fire that whole magazine into the air .. reload with a thirty round mag. - and then anyone left standing (not having dived for the ground) was to be regarded as a possible target.

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

Best Sixteen Handguns (Not):

- Can I have a moan?? -or a "whinge"? (Put it down to eating too much).

I've just NOT READ a piece called '16 of the Best Full-Size Pistols From 'Combat Handguns' 2016'.

- Here's a link if you can be bothered ..

http://www.tactical-life.com/firearms/handguns/full-size-pistols-combat-handguns-2016/#ch-full-size16-cs

I didn't read it because I 'smelled a rat' as soon as I saw that title and I scanned down the page and counted more than 10 (14?) of the touted "best 16" are in fact from a list of trade offerings on the 1911 theme from different US marketing businesses. Well they've got different names stamped on the slides eh.

There is a word that exactly describes this 'covert advert' writing : 'PUERILE'.

The "by-line" says 'BY TACTICAL LIFE' - as the anonymous writer is obviously not convinced by his own story that ten out of sixteen of the best pistols are really & truly an antique single-stack design from over a hundred years ago.

Fancy this ... one of these ten 1911s features a "Bullet Proof mag well and a solid trigger". - Well I never did !!! - what's wrong with a bendy rubber trigger then?

If the writer had listed the 1911 as the Number One full sized semi-auto and then graded the next 15 different designs in descending order with his explanations as to why they are an inferior option - I might have enjoyed the exercise.

- If I could be bothered to 'log-in' and leave a comment - it would be 'Bollocks'.

Marty K.

Gun Bans & Laws:

In the year 1997 following the imposition in UK of their Gun Bans - their violent crime rose by 69% and their gun crime almost doubled.

Last year - 2015 the UK Police admit to recovering more than 714 illegal firearms - Banned Weapons - that they say are readily obtainable and frequently smuggled in from Europe.

Previous years have averaged 600 plus. - All a BAN achieves is to disarm all law abiding inmates.

__________________

In 2009 the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) published their study on stolen firearms and that was around 1,700 guns — "we're now looking at around over 3,000 guns being stolen in 2015." - The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) estimated that there were more than 260,000 firearms in the illicit firearms market.

_____________________

Gang Problem or Gun Problem?

The head of the USA Chicago Police Department is now admitting that more gun laws don’t necessarily result in less gun violence because criminals 'don’t play by society’s rules'.

 Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said during a news conference on Monday that most of the Christmas shootings between Friday and Sunday evening were “targeted attacks by gang members going after rival gang members who were gathered for Christmas and holiday parties." 

Chicago - USAs 3rd Largest City.

These deaths bring to more than 750 the number of gun-related deaths in Chicago just this year.

- Chicago has among the nation’s most restrictive gun laws. But as Johnson acknowledged at his Monday press conference, repeat gun violence offenders don’t obey those laws.

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I was very interested to find that in USA, the State of INDIANA currently requires a license or permit to carry a concealed handgun.

LaPorte County Sheriff John Boyd said a valid handgun license also shows a police officer that a person does not have a felony conviction, history of violence, or certain mental illnesses or other factors that could signal danger.

- Their website says that 27 other states recognize & honor the Indiana License.

Indiana State Police statistics record that police denied licenses to 2,044 people who were deemed unfit to carry handguns through the first three quarters of 2016. The state has more than 750,000 active gun licenses.

- Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

If you really can't trust your elected representatives & Congressmen to do what they should - why do you vote for them? - select somebody that you do trust from your community.

Marty K.