I thought I had posted about this first video before but I can’t find it so I’m going to do it now as a prerequisite for the second video.
Now, see what happens when you shoot the head of a Prince Rupert’s Drop with a .22:
Here is a frame grab:
Now, the awesome video of a bullet shattering against a small piece of very special glass:
Jeff K. told me about the video at the match last Saturday. Then this morning gonxau (@gonxau) sent me a tweet about it. Thanks guys.
They are like 2nd graders on the playground. “You cannot play with my ball. You can’t have it.” I hope the secret service does take their guns. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Big guns, oh my! They must be overcompensating for a lack somewhere else, like bravery, self esteem or some part of their anatomy.
Alison Wimmer
March 10, 2016
Facebook comment on Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America page.
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!
And don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.
Woo hooo! We start the new year with a double cliché score!—Joe]
I enhanced my program which parses my reloading log files. It now reports on a month by month and yearly basis instead of just by caliber.
Here is the result:
| 223 | Rounds | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 1998: | 160 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1999: | 1777 | 0 | 0 | 181 | 578 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140 | 653 | 200 |
| 2000: | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001: | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016: | 397 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140 | 257 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 2424 | ||||||||||||
| 30.06 | Rounds | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 1997: | 180 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 20 | 79 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998: | 150 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 30 |
| 1999: | 90 | 20 | 70 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003: | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 0 |
| 2016: | 76 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 76 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 543 | ||||||||||||
| 300WIN | Rounds | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 1999: | 250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 151 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000: | 460 | 50 | 120 | 142 | 0 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 60 | 11 |
| 2001: | 382 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 185 | 15 | 20 | 0 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 |
| 2013: | 600 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 500 |
| Total: | 1692 | ||||||||||||
| 40S&W | Rounds | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 1997: | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| 1998: | 11264 | 570 | 258 | 718 | 1577 | 1812 | 1710 | 402 | 0 | 0 | 1200 | 900 | 2117 |
| 1999: | 2795 | 0 | 894 | 0 | 299 | 693 | 506 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 403 |
| 2000: | 3187 | 795 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1095 | 400 | 396 | 0 | 501 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001: | 2295 | 0 | 300 | 497 | 300 | 0 | 0 | 1198 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002: | 898 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 198 | 0 | 200 | 300 | 0 | 200 |
| 2003: | 602 | 0 | 300 | 302 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2004: | 1345 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 600 | 445 | 0 |
| 2005: | 1059 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 659 | 400 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006: | 1000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 400 | 0 |
| 2007: | 1136 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 118 | 518 | 300 | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008: | 2398 | 0 | 300 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 900 | 399 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 599 |
| 2009: | 1702 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 102 | 300 | 900 | 400 |
| 2010: | 1400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 200 | 700 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 200 | 0 |
| 2011: | 2300 | 300 | 0 | 400 | 100 | 0 | 500 | 500 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 300 |
| 2012: | 399 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 199 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014: | 530 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 530 |
| 2015: | 7012 | 1699 | 1630 | 1137 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 547 | 200 | 400 | 100 | 200 | 1099 |
| 2016: | 17792 | 2197 | 700 | 1462 | 837 | 1899 | 1999 | 1000 | 1500 | 1000 | 1700 | 1500 | 1998 |
| Total: | 59145 | ||||||||||||
| 9MM | Rounds | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 1996: | 11274 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10944 | 141 | 189 |
| 1997: | 7374 | 300 | 0 | 0 | 1190 | 640 | 65 | 0 | 100 | 1088 | 804 | 1060 | 2127 |
| 2015: | 2993 | 0 | 1066 | 1927 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 21641 | ||||||||||||
| Grand Total: | 85445 |
I was surprised how many rounds I reloaded in the first month of reloading (9mm, October 1996). That was the most in any single month. I remembered I reloaded quite a few, but I thought it was just enough for the class I was taking. My memory was wrong. I got my STI Eagle, chambered in 40 S&W, in December of 1997. My 9mm reloading stopped until 2015 when I finally got around to using up the bullets I had left.
This year was the most I reloaded in any single year with 397 of .223, 76 of 30.06, and 17,792 of 40 S&W for a total of 18,265 rounds.
This last month I only reloaded 40 S&W. They were mostly 180 grain Montana Gold JHPs for practice at indoor ranges. 200 of the 1998 total were 180 grain Blue Bullets.
The 200 rounds with Blue Bullets were actually 100 bullets I reloaded, and pulled, twice. The first time I misremembered the powder charge and had a third more powder than I planned (4.0 versus 3.0 grains). I pulled the bullets, set the powder charge to the proper amount and reloaded them again. When I weighed the powder charge of the last round I discovered it was only about a third less than what it should be (1.9 versus 3.0 grains). I pulled them again and spent probably 30 minute trying to find out why the powder measure would sometimes put out the proper charge and the the very next charge would be way low. It turns out there was a bullet in the powder measure. Apparently when I pulled the bullets from the first set I accidently dumped a bullet into the powder measure along with the powder. I believe it was blocking the powder dispenser some of the time and giving me erratic charges.
I reloaded those twice pulled bullets this afternoon and everything checked out. I’ve got a good start on the new year.
You’re wondering how I can know that other people are hallucinating and not me. That’s where it comes in handy to study persuasion and hypnosis. Delusional people leave tells.
One of the tells in this case is an ad hominem attack on whoever disagrees with you on climate science. You can see that happening on my Twitter feed today as the pro-climate-science types are coming after me in numbers. When you see an oversized reaction to what should be nothing but competing scientific claims, that’s usually a tell that someone slipped into cognitive dissonance.
Scott Adams
December 29, 2016
The Illusion of Knowledge
[And in the gun rights domain we have Markley’s Law demonstrating anti-gun people are delusional in regards to their beliefs.—Joe]
Well, in spite of the election, everyone reading this made it to 2017. Let’s hope it keeps getting better, and the only melt-downs are leftie brains exploding as The Donald’s supporters can’t help but get tired from all the winning. Clean the guns, keep the powder dry, get some sleep, hug the kids, eat right, read a good book, walk the dog, plant a seed, support your friends, say something nice to the spouse/SO, and don’t take any BS.
Happy New YEAR!
It’s been said that when blacks riot, cities burn. When whites riot, continents burn.
warddorrity
December 29, 2016
Comment to From A Reader
[I used to know a Ward Dorrity. That was nearly 20 years ago when the Microsoft Gun Club email list was quite active. Here are some quotes by him I saved from that time:
I wonder if it is the same guy.—Joe]
I was at the range today. I was practicing for the falling plate match at Holmes Harbor Rod & Gun Club tomorrow. I was about 50 rounds in when I couldn’t acquire the front sight in the usual amount of time. After a second or two of confusion I looked closer:
Bummer. It broke off. And I just replaced the fiber optic on it night before last. I looked around but couldn’t find the missing piece.
A replacement is $39.00 from Dawson Precision but I need to know the dimensions of the factory sight before I order a new one. I have a call into Dawson and I sent an email to STI so I’ll find out soon from someone. Until the new sight comes in I’ll be using a back up gun.
A classic. Marty Robbins had a lot of gun-related songs, some of them were even hits in their own times. Some are simple, others are somewhat more complex, nearly all are good. Happy Friday.
Isn’t it great to be a gun owner? Without your weapons, you’d probably have to face up to being an ignorant redneck loser, but with guns you’re the man!
g_k
4:39 PM PST, December 28, 2016
Comment to Why punishing Democrats for their gun-control sit-in is dicey territory for Paul Ryan
[This is what they think of you.
In regards to “ignorant loser” we would probably find that rule number three of SJWs Always Lie is applicable here.—Joe]
I generally avoid crowds simply because I am an introvert and find contact with a lot of people to be draining. I do it sometimes when the rewards are worth the effort (Boomershoot, NRA Conventions, family gatherings, etc.).
Things have been changing and the downside of being in large groups of people is increasing. DHS and the FBI warned us (from December 24th):
Federal authorities warned Friday that ISIS sympathizers “continue aspirational calls for attacks on holiday gatherings, including targeting churches.”
The bulletin was issued by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security and issued to law enforcement agencies and private security companies around the US.
There are no known specific, credible threats, US law enforcement officials say. The bulletin was issued out of an abundance of caution given the public nature of the posted threats and the holiday season.
The bulletin was sent Friday to law enforcement after pro-ISIS websites had published a publicly-available list of churches in the United States.
There are also more explicit threats, ‘We will make New Year mayhem’ which include the following pictures (click to see higher resolution pictures):
Stay alert, stay calm, and carry if you can.
This should put to rest, once and for all, the notion that support of Israel is a bipartisan issue. This talking point is fiction. The Democrats are the party of nuclear Iran, the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the enemies of of Israel. The Republicans are the party that supports Israel in spite of the shameful fact that 80% of American Jews reliably vote for the Democrats.
Robert J. Avrech
December 28, 2016
Israel Responds to Antiochus Obama and the UN
[Obama and his colleagues are continuing their destruction of the Democrat party.—Joe]
Sebastian tells us Nevada Background Check Initiative Can’t Be Implemented:
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Years all rolled into one: Bloomberg spend 20 million dollars in Nevada to secure a razor thin win, and he still gets nothing. The Attorney General in Nevada checked with the FBI and the law as it was written is simply not implementable. The FBI stated that states can’t commander federal policy on the matter, and that they refuse to conduct the checks in accordance with the way Bloomberg’s new law requires.
The New York Times Editorial Board claims Europe Takes a Braver Stance on Gun Control. They tell us:
The proposals, which are headed toward a final vote by members next year, would extend bans on semiautomatic assault weapons to more models, institute medical checks for gun buyers, tighten sales on the internet and track the resale of guns to foil black-market dealers.
…
The final compromise did not ban all of the most dangerous semiautomatic weapons, like the AK-47, as some nations wanted, nor limit ammunition magazines to 10 cartridges for all of them.
Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.
As well as other errors such as saying there were 300K homicides (most were suicides and many were justifiable homicides) committed with guns in the last ten years in this country they are wrong about Europe being “brave”. They further claim that in the United States, “Congressional leaders, unfortunately, show no sign of mustering the courage of the Europeans.”
This is clearly in error. Courage would be the NYT Editorial Board taking point on the door to door enforcements of the bans they advocate for.
I’d even give them partial credit for being “brave” and “courageous” if they were to tell the truth when they write about guns. But since I haven’t seen anything approaching that from them in the last 20 years it is unlikely they will develop the integrity or courage anytime soon.
FBI background check registrations are insufficient to these people. They begged and pleaded and campaigned for background checks, and now want more, but they’re obviously not enough. The smelter is the real issue.
This is the topic Tucson raises — violation of law by elected officials in pursuit of the same irrational perverse goal their fellow leftists pursue at everyone’s dangerous expense. It is an impossible attempt to quench their paranoid fears by suppressing the rights of innocent people everywhere. The notion of guns in the public’s hands is simply unacceptable to them. It’s not political, it’s medical, they’re hoplophobic, and a dire threat to freedom. Their unbalanced actions qualify them for removal from setting public policy and destroying valuable public property in the process, in violation of law.
Alan Korwin
December 18, 2016
Tucson Melting Guns. Again
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
This bears watching:
In what may be a first, police in Arkansas asked Amazon for recordings potentially made by an Echo device in connection with a murder investigation. Amazon declined to provide the data.
As Echo currently works it keeps less than 60 seconds of sound internally and only sends recordings to the cloud (Amazons servers do the voice recognition) after you get it’s attention with the word “Alexa”. This is probably an acceptable tradeoff for most people.
Still, it is easy to imagine government mandates for “updates” to selected users which enable the devices to send continuous sound to law enforcement. And of course the same could be said of any other sound or video recognition devices in your home such as Xbox.
On the face of it, the AHSA was an answer to the NRA—a grassroots group for gun owners who want more gun restrictions. In reality, it was a front group masterminded by a contractor for the Brady Center, a donor to Handgun Control Inc., and a founder of Stop Handgun Violence. When, in 2010, AHSA announced that it was shutting its doors for lack of members, nobody was especially surprised: That’s what happens when you build a political outfit to accommodate a political bloc that doesn’t actually exist.
Charles C.W. Cooke
December 26, 2016
Phantoms Of Gun Control
[It’s all Potemkin Villages.—Joe]
Wayne LaPierce has a small penis.
JulieAzel626
March 9, 2016
Comment in a discussion on Fark.com about gun ownership.
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!
As is usual those who invoke Markley’s Law are incredibly ignorant. In this case she doesn’t even know it’s Wayne LaPierre instead of Wayne LaPierce who she is trying to insult.—Joe]
Undaunted by history, the same kind of thinking that had cheered international disarmament treaties in the 1920s and 1930s once again cheered Soviet-American disarmament agreements during the Cold War.
Conversely, there was hysteria when President Ronald Reagan began building up American military forces in the 1980s. Cries were heard that he was leading us toward nuclear war. In reality, he led us toward an end of the Cold War, without a shot being fired at the Soviet Union.
But who reads history these days, or checks facts before leading the charge to keep law-abiding people disarmed?
Thomas Sowell
Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University
December 23, 2016
Sowell: Gun-control laws do not make us safer
[To answer the question about facts, there is a good chance that it is like the one admitted Marxist I was having a discussion with about gun control in Chicago (where he lives).
This Marxist told me there were some very dangerous places in Chicago and “you just don’t go there because you will get shot”. I told him that it that couldn’t be possible because guns were banned there (this was before the Heller and McDonald rulings). He told me they got their guns from the surrounding areas where guns were not banned. “Oh! You must be really at high risk of getting shot in those areas then.”, I told him. “No, actually, those areas are pretty safe.”, he replied. I then told him, “Gun control doesn’t make people safer.” He told me, and I’m not making this up, “I disagree with your facts.”
It’s called reality. These people should check it out sometime.—Joe]
Twitter was fun in its freewheeling early days, a sort-of 24/7 cocktail party you could visit when it suited you. But it never was useful at driving web traffic, and its signal-to-noise ratio got way out of whack, just as the company was making ham-fisted efforts at monetizing a platform where there wasn’t much money to be made.
The social justice warrior stuff of the last couple of years was really just the stale icing on a badly made cake.
Stephen Green
December 21, 2016
ANALYST: Twitter is ‘toast’ and the stock is not even worth $10.
[Three top executives in the company have left in the last month or so. It will be interesting to watch Twitter over the next few months as the rubber hits the road of economic reality. —Joe]