Quality control

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For USPSA matches I’ve been using 40 caliber 180 grain, polymer coated, Truncated Cone, bullets from Black Bullets International. They are very accurate, clean to reload, clean to shoot, and don’t have a jacket that comes back at you when you shoot at steel. I have reloaded almost 11,000 rounds using these bullets.

My only complaint about them is the quality control appears to be a bit marginal. One time I found a 125 grain 9mm bullet in with the 180 grain 40 caliber bullets and a few bullets which weighed as little as 177.5 grains.

The most concerning to me, which isn’t that big of a deal if you take it into account in your reloading, is the weight variation. They are advertised as 180 grain bullets. I have had batches that averaged 181.26 grains. And, most recently 179.2 grains.

Looking a bit closer at the data (a sample of 20 bullets) I found:

Mean Standard Deviation Min Max ES
179.2 0.574 178.3 180.7 2.4

If I had assumed the bullet weight was the advertised 180 grains, adjusted my load for 925 fps to get a 166.5 Power Factor and expected to meet the 165 minimum PF required to “make Major” at a USPSA match I would have ended up shooting Minor with a PF of 164.9 if chrono man had pulled a 178.3 grain (or less) bullet. This would have made me rather annoyed. One has to take into account the variation in bullet weights too, not just the average or the minimum from a sample. The statistics are a bit complicated and beyond the scope of this blog post but after taking into account the weight variation, velocity variation, and temperature sensitivity of the powder I had to load for a PF of about 175 at 70F to have less than a 10% chance of shooting Minor at a match where the chrono tested was done when the temperature was near freezing.

Okay, fine, that’s not really a big deal. I can tell the difference between a 175 PF load and a 165 PF load but it doesn’t make that much of a difference in performance.

Today I found another thing to annoy me about their quality control:

20190526_123011Cropped

20190526_124605Cropped

It looks as if the bullet mold was not completely closed when the lead was poured. Why wasn’t that caught by some quality control process? When Barb and I toured the Montana Gold Bullet manufacturing facility QC was clearly a big deal. The bullet above clearly would have been rejected. But I have other indicators that Montana Gold may be an exception in the QC department.

 

Quote of the day—Eric Raymond

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If your candidate fascist is ideologically pro-free-market, false match. Even if he merely displays an affection for large scale corporate capitalism, that ain’t fascist. For the very direct reason that big corporations are a power center, or collection of power centers, competing with the unitary state. Fascists never tolerate that well.

Something else fascists never tolerate well is unregistered civilian firearms, or registered ones in the hands of anyone not signed up in one of the leader’s thug militias. A fascist looks at these and sees a civilian insurrection waiting to happen, and generally has a pretty keen sense of how quickly said civilian insurrection can end up with him hung up dead in the town square someplace like Giulino di Mezzegra.

Eric Raymond
Spotting the wild Fascist
April 30, 2019
[Via email from Chris M.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Andrew Chesney

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…it should be concerning to ALL Illinoisans that proponents of these laws are after the shield (constitutional rights) and the spear (guns) against tyranny. We must not give up the legislative fight and must resort to the third co-equal branch when two branches have failed in their constitutional duties. Expect this all to end up in the courts if ever enacted into law in Illinois.

Andrew Chesney
Illinois State Representative
May 21, 2019
It’s not about your guns; it’s about your rights
[Sometimes it’s easy to get discouraged by the number of politicians who demand we give up our rights. It’s sometimes easy to believe we have few, if any, political allies in government.

It’s a relief to find that even in a repressive state like Illinois there are politicians who are fighting for our rights.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jay Stooksberry

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… the underlying argument that Colorado sheriffs are making against the red flag law: They have professional discretion when it comes to the enforcement of their state’s laws. Furthermore, if this precedent was applied to a future legal challenge, noncompliant law enforcement would not be held legally liable if they refused to serve a court order even if the targeted person subsequently committed a heinous crime. If death and taxes are two guarantees in life, police immunity is a safe bet for the bronze medal.

Jay Stooksberry
May 23, 2019
Colorado’s Growing Second Amendment Sanctuary Movement
[The Second Amendment sanctuary movement has to be causing the anti-gun people great pause. If law enforcement won’t enforce their new laws and both the intending victims of these laws and law enforcement get away with ignoring them, might they then become inclined to ignore older gun laws as well?

Also,SCOTUS doesn’t operate in a public opinion vacuum. That there is this much pushback on these stupid laws is going to be taken into account. This will make rulings lean toward a broader application of the protections guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment.—Joe]

Quote of the day—John G. Malcolm and Amy Swearer

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1. Violent crime is down and has been on the decline for decades.

2. The principal public safety concerns with respect to guns are suicides and illegally owned handguns, not mass shootings.

3. A small number of factors significantly increase the likelihood that a person will be a victim of a gun-related homicide.

4. Gun-related murders are carried out by a predictable pool of people.

5. Higher rates of gun ownership are not associated with higher rates of violent crime.

6. There is no clear relationship between strict gun control legislation and homicide or violent crime rates.

7. Legally owned firearms are used for lawful purposes much more often than they are used to commit crimes or suicide.

8. Concealed carry permit holders are not the problem, but they may be part of the solution.

John G. Malcolm and Amy Swearer
March 14, 2018
Here Are 8 Stubborn Facts on Gun Violence in America
[Follow the link for a deep dive into the points above.

While Constitutionally protected rights do not depend upon empirical data to be retained the above points can be used to demonstrate anti-gun people have intentions other than reducing violent crime. Demand they tell you their real intentions for desiring a disarmed public.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Alan M. Gottlieb

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The long delay is over. The important aspects of the motion to dismiss have been denied. Just as important, the judge’s ruling treats the Second Amendment as any other fundamental individual right that is constitutionally protected.

…

Our supporters have been asking for months about the lawsuit’s progress. Now we can report that the long wait for a ruling on the motion to dismiss is over, and we won the first round. And now the state, and the initiative proponents, are on the defensive.

Alan M. Gottlieb
May 21, 2019
FEDERAL JUDGE DENIES MOTION TO DISMISS SAF/NRA I-1639 COURT CHALLENGE
[Here is the decision.

These things take so long that I get annoyed. It would seem to me we should get a summary judgement in our favor within a month or so, begin prosecution of the villains, and be done with it. But I recognize I have a bias. It does, however, appear we are making progress so I can’t complain all that much.—Joe]

Trump Derangement Syndrome

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I’ve seen a lot of TDS over the last couple of years but mostly it was confined to individuals who I figured were already a few Coco Puffs short of a full bowl.

My general rule regarding groups of people is that they are almost always incapable of brilliance, but also less likely to do something extremely foolish or crazy, compared to individuals. So imagine my surprise that over 60% of a state assembly agreed with this:

New York is one signature away from allowing prosecutors to pursue state charges against presidential associates who have received federal pardons.

The Democratic-controlled state assembly on Tuesday passed a bill 90-52 allowing the state-level prosecution of people pardoned of federal crimes, provided that they worked for or were related to the president at the time of the pardon.

Sanity has its limits. Insanity has no bounds.

Quote of the day—Kshama Sawant

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We need commonsense gun control measures, like banning semi-automatic weapons, to prevent gun violence incidents like the one that happened at 28th and Jackson in the Central District on Friday night.

…

For example, community members are advocating for traffic-countering measures like raised flower beds or speed bumps on 21st avenue.

Kshama Sawant
Seattle City Council Member
May 20, 2019
Socialist councilwoman says speed bumps and flower beds will stop drive-by shootings
[When will the majority of people realize, and act on, the fact these people are nuts?

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence

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…hopes that Glocester will oppose this measure if it comes up again in June. Although the resolution is symbolic, it is undoubtedly harmful because it advances the false narrative that the very rights and livelihoods of Second Amendment supporters are at risk. Law-abiding gun owners though should have no reason to feel threatened by the gun safety measures that community organizers advocate for, and in fact, all regulations–from banning guns in schools to banning military style assault weapons are constitutional.

Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence
May 18, 2019
Political Divide Splitting Communities Across RI — Is It a Trump Factor?
[You should not feel threatened because “all regulations … are constitutional.”

Wow! That’s so reassuring.

They must be attempting to exercise the The Big Lie propaganda technique. What will they tell us next, “work sets you free”?

I hope they enjoy their trial.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Josh Horwitz

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Today, we are standing up to our leaders to let them know that it is time to drain the swamp. It is time to dissolve the National Rifle Association.

Josh Horwitz
Executive Director of Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
May 17, 2019
Email with the subject “The NRA has got to go”.
[I find it very telling that Horwitz is eager to destroy the nations oldest civil rights organization.

It tells people everything they need to know about him and his organization. He is opposed to civil rights and should he succeed in this endeavor it will make it that much easier to attack and destroy other civil rights organizations and the rights they are attempting to protect.

It is his organization that “has got to go”. They are in violation of 18 USC 241 and should be prosecuted. I look forward to his trial and hope Horwitz enjoys his trial as much as I will.—Joe]

Halle Berry training for John Wick 3

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This afternoon daughter Jaime, her fiancé, and I went to see John Wick 3 – Parabellum. It’s a good action movie. There is some humor too. As Jaime pointed out the humor is “interesting”. It’s delivered completely straight and frequently without even any words. I recommend it for more than the entertainment value. It shows very skilled gun handling and shooting by both Keanu Reeves and Halle Barry. I’m inclined to believe, as is stated in the second video below, we see actors shooting guns at skill level never before seen in a movie.

Below is Barry doing, essentially, USPSA stages. I expect she is performing at about a low class B for a USPSA shooter.

There is some controversy in the gun community over this. I’m inclined to side with Uncle on it.

I expect the anti-gun people universally hate the movie and the training videos. It shows what can be done with guns and make it look fun. And it is fun. I’m going to a USPSA match tomorrow, and do most of what Reeves and Barry did in the videos above and I’m going to have fun doing it.

Quote of the day—Damon Root

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So what happens next with the Alabama abortion ban? Planned Parenthood and other groups have already vowed to fight the law in court. Assuming such cases come before a federal district court judge who follows Supreme Court precedent (which those judges are supposed to do), the law will be ruled unconstitutional under the Roe/Casey precedents (which it is). The state, assuming it still wants to press the fight, would then appeal to the federal appellate court, which may not even take the case. But let’s say it does take it, and that those judges also follow precedent and strike down the law. At that point, having lost in the lower federal courts, and assuming the state is still under the same conservative leadership, Alabama would appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

But there’s no guarantee that SCOTUS will take the case either. Indeed, it is even possible that the Court might prefer to sit this one out. Why? Because even those conservative justices who might want to see Roe/Casey overturned might still prefer to see the precedents gradually weakened and narrowed over time, via a series of cases, rather than simply obliterated in one fell swoop.

Damon Root
May 17, 2019
The Supreme Court Probably Won’t Kill Roe Yet
[What I wonder about is the response of the political left to the new restrictions to abortion. Will this energize them and result in them taking control of the U.S. House, Senate, and White House in 2020? Or will early and decisive court defeats of the abortion restrictions result in them becoming complacent for the election next year?—Joe]

Quote of the day—Los Angles Times Editorial Board

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Of course, enforcement is an issue, and often law enforcement won’t know that a storage law has been violated until someone dies. But in adopting such laws society sends a message about what behavior we expect.

Los Angles Times Editorial Board
May 16, 2019
Gun storage laws save lives, so why don’t we have more of them?
[They openly admit it is about sending “a message” rather than actually accomplishing their stated goal. AKA “virtue signaling”.

Suppose we ignore the constitutional issues of requiring guns to be locked up at all times, why is it so difficult for people to understand that having unenforceable laws is a bad thing? It leads to contempt for the law in general. I suppose they write it off as a reasonable price to pay for their real goal.

I strongly suspect that in this case they are more interested in poking gun owners in the eye than they are in saving lives. Using “pointy sticks” against people you dislike “sends a message” too.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Dstroyr (@Dstroyr_U2b)

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Unconstitutional to require training and tests for a right > Oregon v Mitchell
Unconstitutional to license a right > Murdock v Pennsylvania
Unconstitutional to ban #guns > DC v Heller
#gunsense is stupidity
#guncontrol is statist trash
#2a trumps your feelz

Dstroyr (@Dstroyr_U2b)
Tweeted on May 11, 2019
[Just because something is illegal or even unconstitutional doesn’t mean the politicians won’t do it anyway. Remember what Henry Kissinger said:

The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a bit longer.

This is why we have the 2nd Amendment. It is to slow them down, stop them, and reverse directions when they will not abide by the restrictions placed upon them.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ed Goeas

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More than half the likely electorate thinks we are more than 70% of the way to being at the edge of civil war.

Ed Goeas
April 29, 2019
Georgetown University poll: Nation at edge ‘of civil war,’ but voters reject compromise
[Some things must not be compromised. Some people must not negotiated with. Some things are worth fighting for. Some things are worth fighting against.

Evil must not be tolerated.—Joe]

Quote of the day—FreeEnt1 (@CrimsonRace)

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I’ve always looked at the NRA as a buffer between politicians and gun owners. For the politicians protection.

FreeEnt1 (@CrimsonRace)
Tweeted on May 11, 2019
[Interesting point of view. There is almost for certain more truth in this than what most politicians realize.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Dawn S.‏ @coscow17

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Your gun doesn’t make your dick look any bigger. It just makes you look like a bigger dick.

BiggerDick

Dawn S.‏ @coscow17
Tweeted on May 16, 2019
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

H/T to Ben Rondeau‏ @bhrondeau.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Daniel Williams (@sheriff_shively)

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Ban the manufacturers from producing them to begin with you ignorant bitch.

Daniel Williams @sheriff_shively
Tweeted on May 8, 2019
[This was in response to:

Ahh… the sweet voice of tolerance and reasoned discourse. Well, I suppose they have to make do with what they have–hate and violence. It’s comforting to know we can defend ourselves against people like this.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Donald A. Fox

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I’m taking the sanctuary city status that’s been used by progressives and liberals around this country and turning it on its head. We’re thumbing our nose at the federal government. We’re no longer going to be used as a punching bag for the left, for the anti-gun movement.

Every spring, I have to put on my yellow vest and defend the rights that are afforded to me under the Constitution. I finally got tired of it. Maybe it’s time for the town to take a stand.

Donald A. Fox
City Councilman of Burrillville, Rhode Island
Burrillville declares itself ‘sanctuary town’ for gun owners
[See also Hopkinton joins Burrillville as a sanctuary for gun rights which is also in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island! Wow!

I remember when Rhode Island required you to take a state run class to get a concealed carry permit. It was only put on once a year with a limited number of students. It could take years to get your permit. You also had to get a passing score in the shooting part of the class using the supplied gun—which had a bent barrel.

Times are changing.—Joe]

Quote of the day—EmZed

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All I want is to be out there at 3000 feet getting sunburned, pulling the trigger, and blowing stuff up.

EmZed
May 9, 2019
[EmZed is a coworker. Last weekend he attended his first Boomershoot. He tells me it is now extremely difficult to think of anything other than Boomershoot.—Joe]