UK Target Pistol Shooting Today?:

Since 1986/87 (Dunblane School Massacre) British engineer Alan Westlake has been working with MUZZLE-LOADING handgun conversions to keep UK target shooters in the game on range. !987 firearms legislation basically BANNED the civilian ownership of CARTRIDGE FIRING short HANDGUNS.

Their legislation calls handguns "short weapons" - so one consequence seems to be that a cartridge-firing semi-auto or revolver may be legal when it's length is increased both forward and to the rear to achieve the required minimum overall length of 24.1 inches:

An LBP .. Long Barrel Pistol:

I really don't see the logic of these long pistols .. as surely any murderous nutter is going to consider using a metal saw? - But that's the "experts" solution.

Looks Like A Glock .. But It's a .22" Rimfire - A SRC17 LBP from Suffolk Rifle Co.

This is a link to a review of this model 'LBP pistol':

 https://www.gunmart.net/gun-reviews/firearms/pistols/src17-long-barrelled-pistol

The other UK way to shoot target pistols is with muzzle-loaders. - And one type of "modern" muzzle loading peculiarity is the 'Nitro Muzzle Loader'.

Link to Westlake Eng's site that explains what they are producing for UK pistol shooting:
http://www.westlakeengineering.com/products/

Muzzle Loading .38" Revolver With Wad-cutters & Primers.

These "Conversions" have to be based on a frame supplied without a cartridge cylinder otherwise it would be an unlawful weapon .. so they start as a non workable frame that is then mated to a specially made muzzle loading cylinder that's proofed to nitro .38" Special standards. Cylinders are removed from the frame for loading in a custom press.

McAvoy Guns joins Westlake Engineering as a maker of these muzzle-loaders.

These two links are for video showing how the NITRO MUZZLE-LOADERS can keep UK shooters on range and legal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0nLUWimnRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AjzhlYc7RA

I am not into the UK's current scene - having been here in NZ since 1976 - so I can't judge if the club scene is active and ongoing. However ..

To shoot a permitted firearm the shooter must first obtain a UK 'FIRE ARMS CERTIFICATE' - FAC:

For the purposes of legal possession of a firearm, effectively this includes Blackpowder weapons (both rifles and pistols), manually loaded centre-fire cartridge rifles (and all types of .22 rimfire rifles), and manually loaded cartridge pistols with dimensions larger than the minimum permitted length. All these weapons are what are termed "Section 1" firearms and are held on a Section 1 Firearms Certificate (there are other Sections for different categories of firearms, for example machine guns are in Section 5 and historic breech-loading firearms are in Section 7). It is difficult for private citizens to obtain an FAC for other than one covering Section 1 firearms.

- More detail from this helpful club site:

  http://www.marplerifleandpistolclub.org.uk/general/gunlaw.htm

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

Twist And Shout "The Glock FortySix": G46:

As I've said before .. I don't ever claim to have had an original thought or 'brainwave' - as I know that there is little new in the world - most new things are likely re-hashed iterations of some nearly forgotten earlier idea.

GLOCK 46:
 It's Barrel Breech Block is Cylindrical!
(and there is no 'take-down' latch)

The Glock 46 IS a "revolutionary"  'twist-lock' or 'turn-lock' development for them 😏 .. and TFB earn my respect yet again for breaking news - photo images anyway .. Only one German Police Dept. has so far adopted the G46  .. SAXONY-AHALT (formerly - since the end of WWII - part of East Germany)

.. some 8,600 replacements for their old SIG-Sauer P6s.

- Just go to the linked TFB site and drool all over their GLOCK 46 imagery (I did).

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/02/22/glock-g46-glamour-shots/

.. Here also is a link to a short video explanation of this departure from the Browning pattern tilting breech lock-up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRrUf8NJKZY

I guess it is fair for anti-glockers to point-out that Beretta are already using a rotating lock-up on some of their pistols .. However it will be fascinating to see if the G46 proves to be as reliable or maybe even better than conventional Glocking. This rotating lock-up design is reputed to reduce felt recoil while enhancing accuracy. - but likely needing adequate lubrication.

I'd like to note for the techie-types that this is NOT Glock's first ever slip away from the Browning style tilting breech lock-up - as the G 25 and the G 28 models in .380" ACP are both 'Blow-Back' in their function .. not locked breech, although their barrels do still tilt and look very much like standard.

There not yet being any on range firing review of this novel & rare Glock .. you may wish to read this 2013 article about Beretta's rotating barrel models .. Link:

http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1908

- you'd HAVE to buy one if they are ever marketed - just out of curiosity eh .. but right now the G46 is “nicht fur zivilmarkt,”

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

Marty K.

Being President Is Good For Business:

I would guess that when most of us consider how many leaders of third world nations have been exposed for stealing government funds and are found to have millions secreted into overseas accounts
.. we shake our heads in wonder at HOW do those poor backward folk allow themselves to be so badly conned ...

His Excellency Jacob Zuma MSHOLOZI 4th President of South Africa.

Charged variously with rape & corruption

 - he is understood to have cost S.A. 83 BILLION DOLLARS.

Link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Zuma

Serving the Nation while being US President is also good for business . According to AMERICAN UNIVERSITY Washington .. all recent US Presidents vastly increased their personal wealth while holding that office:

- President Nixon increased his wealth while in office by 650%,

- President Ford by 400%,

-  President Carter by 204%,

- President Reagan by 45%, (President 1981-89, exhibited signs of Altzheimers from 1982-84 ..)

- President GHW Bush by 475%,

- President Bill Clinton by 6,150%,

- President GW Bush by 75%,

- and President Obama - not yet finally calculated but thought to be around 200%.

Link to this University publication:  https://onlinebusiness.american.edu/blog/presidents-net-worth/

"I love the poorly educated"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpdt7omPoa0

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

Marty K.

Survival .. Of The Richest?

When the Titanic sunk in the frigid North Atlantic, April 1912 - fully 60% of it's First Class passengers were saved against only 25% of the third-class human resources. This example is only 'indicative' .. it certainly is not conclusive proof that the upper income levels can include longevity with their many other privileges. - That proof is self evident to anyone looking around everyday life.

The Titanic like many other vessels was an auxiliary ship of the 'Royal' Navy and it's issue equipment would likely have included Webley .455" Revolvers for use by Officers trusted to the control of men.

Inherited wealth needs to be protected in a sustainable and organized way .. it would be disastrous if the establishment's aggressive take-over expeditions ever bounced back as a destructive 'own goal'. Preparations must be made.

The top 1% worldwide will have protected facilities in remote locations accessible by private jet & helicopters - with plenty of camp followers eager to serve and share .. their survival depends on their success.

De-classified Kelvedon Hatch hardened R4 bunker lies 125 foot beneath it's UK Essex bungalow entrance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelvedon_Hatch_Secret_Nuclear_Bunker

The most publicly known formal privilege system is the multi-layered monarchy / nobility of the United Kingdom that is fully financed by public taxation.

Here is one example of a current millionaire facility: LINK:
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/inside-secret-doomsday-bunker-millionaires-9736769

The point is that even the thickest billionaire will value both privacy & security when money-resources are not a problem. .. so you will need to search out the real high level stuff. - Those of us with much less means will need to think and work harder at protecting our families from disasters.

How is your future looking? .. as I write we have two nuclear powers currently shooting down each others warplanes. - India & Pakistan are at the early stage of open warfare again.

- You can now send me a wee support $ - starting from $1 to get all this stuff from New Zealand:        https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

Marty K.

Discrimination Not Prejudice:

I enjoyed a Radio NZ interview last Monday with Sean Wallace, "The Chaser" known as 'The Dark Destroyer':

Bradley & Sean

Mr Wallace is a Londoner, a barrister and a classy, learned guy - and while talking about his life he mentioned how it once was normal to see London's rental housing advertised as
'NO BLACKS, IRISH OR PETS'.

I remember that too - my Irish father served in the British Army in Europe and North Africa through WWII .. 7 years from 1938 to 1945 with the Irish Guards Regiment & Nos. 1 & 2 Commandos - but after the war he was looked down-on by some Brits.

- I also remember two lovely old ladies with tattooed numbers on the insides of their wrists.

My favorite cousin Pam married Archie - a Jamaican guy who was ex RAF - and my drinking buddy at family celebrations - and believe me they and their children knew all about racial prejudice.

- When we arrived in New Zealand mid 1970s - popular radio host Tim Bickerstaff  had just ended his (rugby related) PUNCH a POM a DAY campaign .. Some tried.

Racism and prejudice are mostly about fear, ignorance & power.

We humans seem to need to feel superior to others by pushing them down .. indeed there is a theory that one reason why we rose-up on our back legs - was so that we could willy-wave and challenge strangers with the monkey dance.

There are in our small blue world some who need to assert their superiority by taking wealth from their "inferiors'. - THAT is what it's all about. Their pile of cash is scraped together so that they can raise their mentally unbalanced heads above ordinary top-of-the-food chain animals .. so that they can look-down and survey the ants from a penthouse window with a drink in their hand. Full Stop.

Sadly these owners of For Profit Enterprise are the cause of much suffering and hardship below their feet. When there is  revolutionary war in some poor 'third world' state .. it is a dime to a dollar that the base reason is for control of mineral wealth and resources. Full Stop. - Ever heard of a "banana republic"?

I discriminate regularly when choosing the best tool or the superior reasoning in a discussion. - Discrimination is using facts as the basis of judgement.

Small Business should be supported .. I am totally in favor of private enterprise - the builder who builds, the carpenter who works wood, the farmer who farms, the miner who mines. But there needs to be legal limits.
 - National laws are futile against international operators. - We need worldwide policies to deal with worldwide problems and resources.

Corporate oligarchs seek "FREEDOM"  from government regulation to operate without constraints.

- We need to carefully discriminate between the policies of political parties ..
Any government that reduces corporate taxes is reducing the funding available for democratic control .. for Health, Police, Education, and for peacekeeping.  - and further are increasing corporate influence over our lives.

Full Stop.

Marty K.

Black & Tan Holsters:

My new Glock 19X fits fine into my old black G17 belt-slide thumb-break Magnum Leather holster .. but jokers on the club range reckon I need to get with a color-matched high tech Kydex  thermoplastic acrylic-polyvinyl chloride holster and matching belt. - I'm not excited about that thought as I actually prefer the feel & function of old fashioned cow leather.

.. worrying about this suggestion I have dressed the Coyote Tan polymer pistol in my tan shoulder rig

.. And I suspect that it might well be a better color match as Wearable Art . - Yeah it is.

The G19X is a finely made working tool - the quality of the polymer moldings is faultless & the metal should last lifetimes of heavy use.

- The stainless steel guns seem to suite either black or tan rigs .. I do need to say that while the Ruger Mk.IV Hunter model looks good in the photo images - in reality it is a jewel .. truly beautifully built and finished .. a credit to their workers.

It would be reasonably simple to blacken a tan leather holster - but there's no way to change my black dead cow skin into a natural sun-tanned one eh.

______________

I worked with plastics for a dozen years and don't love them (they being mostly smelly, unhealthy, nasty oil-derived crap). Anyone doubting this should take a good sniff of some overheated Delrin acetal resin co-polymer .. this would be a memorable and highly toxic tear-gas experience of the fumigating effects of FORMALDEHYDE gas.

You can achieve similar damaging toxicity by overcooking PVC raw materials .. when setting-up injection molding plant - the evil 😅American habit of stating processing temperatures in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius can lead to an interesting emergency ventilation of corrosive gas ..  One kilogram of PVC heated to 300 degrees C releases an estimated 12.9 g of hydrochloric acid (HCl) fumes and 4.9 g of carbon monoxide (CO). 

It can also seriously get exciting & nasty very quickly if the nozzle blocks or the nozzle heater band fails and freezes the pressure outlet on a cylinder loaded with heating & gassing-spitting-splattering molten polymers (the nylons are hygroscopic).

Naah, I definitely don't love plastics .. but you gotta love Glocks for sure.(- luckily they are made of ? eh 😁)

Marty K.
- You can now send me a wee support $ - starting from $1 to get all this stuff from New Zealand:        https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870

New Semi-Autos On Range

I took both my Precious's .. My Birthday Presents, up the range today .. in the rain too. - It was such a crappy day that somebody lit the pot-belly wood heater at the firing line.

We are being forecast nasty cold Southerly weather up from the Antarctic ice - despite this still being late summer.

Both semi-autos functioned 100% *despite being spotted with the rain .. as was I. - I used two different lots of 'two-two' ammo .. Winchester 555 bulk 36 grain and CCI Mini-Mags .. all up I think I put 90 rounds through the Ruger Mk IV  - it's muzzle is now lightly smoked.

*I cannot tell a lie - one of the Winchester bulk rounds in the Ruger .22" (the 8th round from the 8th magazine) misfed and bent but I straightened it and reloaded & fired it .. not bad for a semi-auto two-two maybe getting grubby?
- I then fed my new Glock 19X on both Blazer 115gn ball ammo and Federal Hollow-points, followed by a magazine load of locally made hard cast rounds. They all ran like clockwork mice which is pleasing straight out of the box.

Shooting rapid fire at around 7 or 8 meters the holes consistently grouped inside the '8' ring with both calibers on all three paper targets scoring one dropped or pulled shot into the '7' ring - fairly typical for me.

I stripped the Mk.IV to clean, dry & lube it .. and it was a little sooty at the breech face area .. but I did have to find my 5/64" hex.key to pinch-up the front sight that was moving a touch.

I owe Ruger an apology for my earlier irritable whinge about their magazine disconnect on the Mk. IV. - It did not in any way interfere with the loaded pistols function. I still don't think it serves any useful function but there you go .. there will no doubt be some who'd say that about me too 😊.

I'm impressed and pleased with both firearms.

Marty K.

Could Be..

You can send me a wee support $ - starting from $1 to get all this stuff from New Zealand:        https://www.patreon.com/user?u=16618870