Second Amendment March 2010 Washington D.C.

I went to the March. Will update this post later.

-John

Pro-Gun / Anti-Gun: We are all on the same side!

I recently participated in a public hearing at the Massachusetts State House in regards to some proposed new gun laws. There were pro-gun people and anti-gun people there to testify before the Joint Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety. The anti-gun protesters that came were mostly people who lost family to gun violence. They want to basically ban guns. They believe that if guns were banned before the time their family member was murdered, that the incident would not have happened. So they are trying to prevent the same thing from happening to other families. Those same anti-gun people look at us pro-gun people as if we are the very evil that provided the means for their loved one(s) to be taken from them. But we pro-gun citizens HATE the same MURDERERS that the anti-gun citizens HATE; and in that way we are ALL on the same side. We ALL want to take the advantage AWAY from the MURDERERS. But pro-gun people see the means to that end on a different path than the anti-gun people do.

We pro-gunners believe that carrying a firearm may help us prevent becoming a murdered family member ourselves. We believe that carrying a firearm may help prevent one of OUR loved ones from being taken away from us. We don't want to have to cower under a table when a murderer starts shooting, we want to fight back! We don’t want to be victims like those anti-gun folks that came to the Massachusetts State House that day to tell their tragic stories. We believe that if we were there when the POS murderer started shooting, we might have been able to prevent the lost family member of these same anti-gun mourners from being taken from them in the first place.

Banning and restricting certain firearms will be just as ineffective as our laws that ban or restrict certain drugs in this county. The murderers can always get their guns from the same illegal means that druggies get their drugs....from illegal unlicensed dealers. We pro-gun citizens believe that gun bans and restrictions only disarm the lawful citizen willing to counter the EVIL gun toting murderers roaming the streets because these murderers obtain their guns through illegal means where bans and restrictions do not apply. Pro-gun people DO NOT want guns in the hands of thugs and murderers, but restrictions on what firearms can be bought legally by law abiding permit holders prevent us from out-gunning the murderers we want to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our fellow citizens from. We pro-gun citizens believe that bans and restrictions only make it harder for law abiding citizen to be equipped well enough to counter an evil shooter.

Legal gun owners in our populous make it more likely there will be someone to STOP a murderer BEFORE he kills. Trustworthy, lawful people who legally obtain a firearm can STOP a murderer in his tracks to protect themselves and others around them as soon as the murderer shows his gun. Conversely, police respond to a shooting AFTER it happens and arrest the evil doer only AFTER he has killed everyone he set out to kill.

So I say to all the mourning anti-gun citizens out there: We are on the same side! We are not your enemy. We are willing to carry a gun to protect us ALL even if you do not want to carry a gun yourself. Do not fight us, help us be better equipped so we can fight the murderers.

Northeastshooters.com

There are a huge number of firearms forums out there. My favorite is northeastshooters.com. Whether you live in the North East USA or not, you should visit and register a screen name. There is no fee to become a registered (non-paying) user and participate in the forum threads. There is a wealth of information and the membership participation is great. If you decide to become a PAID member like me ($20 per year) you are concidered a "Green" member and get access to the paid members area where you can participate in group buys (to get gear at pretty decent discounts) and official NES (northeastshooters) shoots. I have benefited from a few group buys where I saved well over the $20 membership fee, so membership can MORE THAN pay for itself! I have also been to several NES shoots including some pumkin shoots where you bring as many pumpkins to the range as you want to shoot. There has also been a few car shoots where someone donates a vehilce for sacrafice at the range. Pretty neat stuff, these shoots are great social events. The best part about NES are the friends that I have made. There are alot of really great people that I have met through the forum and at member events that have become great shooting friends. So check out northeastshooters.com today.

If you do sign up to register, put me down as a referrer (I DO NOT get any special benefit from it), my screen name there is SQUELCH.

/John

Get the most from iron sights on an AR15 M4gery style carbine.

I like the look of the M4 with the short hand-guard/quad-rail and the traditional A-style front sight. However, I opted to build my M4gery with a full length hand guard and eliminated the traditional A-style front sight.



Why would you want to put a full length quad rail on a carbine length AR rifle? Two words: Sight Radius. Sight radius is the distance between the front and rear sights. A longer sight radius aids accuracy because it magnifies (at your eye) error in your sight picture allowing for better error correction. A significant portion in accuracy loss of a carbine vs. a full length rifle is due to a loss of sight radius, not just the length of the barrel alone.

I decided to build my AR M4gery with a longer sight picture than a traditional M4. Since the traditional A-style front sight is part of the gas block assembly, the sight cannot be moved. So the traditional front sight had to be eliminated by installing a low profile gas block that does not have in integrated front sight. For an already built rifle, you could replace this assembly or cut the sight off of the gas block with a Dremel. Either way, this allows you to install a long quad rail that extends past the gas block. You can then mount a front sight at the end of the quad rail beyond the gas block. The sight radius of a traditional M4 is about 15 inches. Because of the long quad rail on my AR15M4, my rail mounted front sight is a full 19 inches from the rear sight. This means that I have achieved a 4in longer sight radius over a M4 with the traditional A-style front sight that would have been just forward of the gas block.




While I like the side profile look of the old A-style AR front sight, I really don’t like it when using it to actually aim the rifle. The open front sight does not really compliment the rear peep sight. What I mean is that the “dog ears” on either side of the front sight post open away from the post and do nothing to aid in sight alignment. However, the “ears” on the HK style front sight close around the front post forming a front aperture which can be aligned with the rear aperture (at the rear sight) which amounts to basically aligning circles. And the human brain is real good at aligning circles. So a HK style front sight compliments a rear peep sight very well and aids in fast sight alignment. I use an HK style front sight on my AR15M4 and I love it. I opted for folding BUIS (Back Up Iron Sights) in case I decide to add optics to my rifle. The BUIS (Front and rear) on my AR15M4 are made by Troy Industries as is the full length quad rail.

IN SUMMERY:

PROS:
1. Longer site radius means better aiming with iron sites = better accuracy.
2. Can choose a front site (like an HK style) that works better with the rear peep site than the standard AR front site.
3. Can choose to co-witness the front site with an optic or fold-down the front site when using an optic.

CONS:
So, what are the tradeoffs?
1. Even though the full length quad rail does not add allot of weight; what weight is added is on the far end of the rifle and when aimed the weight is effectively at the far end of a lever making the weapon feel front heavy. This is made even more apparent if you take advantage of the quad rail by adding accessories like lights and lasers.
2. If your primary means of aiming the weapon is going to be a optic of some kind, the benefit of a longer site radius is not so important because the iron sites will be seldom used.

What will happen on 21 DEC 2012?

There is so much miss-information and half-truths out there that more and more people are thinking the end of the wold is coming sometime in the year 2012 and some even claim the actual day to be Dec 21st! Why do people think this is true? Well, mostly because there seems to be evidence that some ancient civilizations, who had NO contact with each other, end their calenders around the same point of time in the future. Wow, that seems spooky doesn't it? How could this have happened? These ancients must have know something!....No, they were just very good at astronomical observation:

Most people who believe the end of the world is coming in 2012 think the actual day will be December 21st because the ancient Mayan's of South America picked that specific day to end their own calender cycle. The year 2012 is significant because a RARE event WILL happen, but it wont be the end of the world. Its the year that the sun appears to to be at the center of the galaxy. The sun does not pass through the center, we are actually at the outer edge of the galaxy. But from our vantage point on earth, the sun will appear to pass in front of the galactic center in 2012. Dec 21st is the winter solstice. So, it only makes sense that a people who are great astronomers and who base their calender from astronomical events, should pick one of the most astronomically significant days of the year (the winter solstice) of one of the most significant astronomical years (a rare year when the sun "appears" to be at the center of the galaxy) to be the beginning/end of any "long count" calender cycle. The Mayans did not believe that the world would end, they simply figured that the time of such a rare astronomical event (once every 26,000 years) would be a good time to start/stop their long count calendar cycle.

Any other civilizations that may have come up with a 2012 year would have picked it for the same reason, but they may have picked a different day on that year to end on because it was a day of more significance to their own culture.

But when you DONT look at it from an astronomical view, people say "holy cow!, there is evidence that two (or more) civilizations who could not have contact with each other (due to distance or existing at different times) almost picked the same time for when time stops....! And then the human mind will fill in all the superstitious "explanations" for this phenomenon.

Here is some interesting reading:

http://www.planetpapp.com/br21december2012/

/John

Ammo shortage.....a small price to pay?

As the gun community grumbles over the ammo shortage (myself included) I have to wonder if this is the sign of something good for all of us; a silver lining if you will. I have read many news articles and seen plenty of media clips on youtube for months that talk about the "run on guns" that has been taking place since the presidential race. The theme is always the same; people are buying up guns because they are afraid that Obama is going to take them away. But the very interesting part of all this is that there is supposedly a jump in first time applications for firearms permits across the country. This seems to indicate that a large number of the people that are running to buy guns are buying their first gun! This is GREAT if its true. This would mean that there is a GROWING number of gun owners. I will gladly weather a ammo shortage if that's the price of a surge in membership of our gun community. Even if a large number of the new gun owners are Fudds, the overall count in the number of actual gun owners makes our community stronger and less of a minority group. So sit tight people, the shortage will subside and in the end we will be a stronger community. As for Obama taking our guns, I dont think he will...... Not until his next term anyway.

Changing A Carry Weapon

So, due to the warmer weather (which takes longer to arrive here in New England) I have been forced to stop carrying my preferred self defense handgun. My trusty Sig Sauer P229 is my most reliable semi-auto handgun and the first gun I ever bought (back in 2000). I can’t remember this thing ever having a failure to fire, failure to feed, failure to eject or failure to do anything. My P229 is chambered in .40 S&W which I believe is a good compromise between the stopping power of a .45 and the capacity of a 9mm.



However, with warmer weather I only wear T-shirt and jeans (no need for a coat anymore) leaving me with no way to sufficiently hide the midsized frame of the P229. Sure, the un-tucked T-shirt can cover the pistol, but it would "print" too obviously. When I carry, I conceal. Concealed means not just covered from view. A person looking at me should not be able to "tell" or "figure out" that I am carrying a weapon. So, from the late spring to early Autumn, I switch to a small deep concealment handgun.

Enter the Smith & Wesson SW99 COMPACT. This gun is much lighter thanks to its plastic frame (made by Walther) and is much more narrow due to its being chambered in 9mm. If this gun was any smaller it would be in the sub-compact category. The magazine has a pinky finger "grip extension" built into the floor plate, so I can still get a full grip on this little shooter.




I was not sure about carrying the SW99 after I brought it to the range for the first time (back in 2002). I realized that I was not as accurate with it as I was with the P229. At that point I was still a new shooter anyway, having only a couple years under my belt. But after sufficient practice (over a few range sessions) I became better and was confident enough to carry it as a defensive weapon and did so for the remainder of the warm season that year. I kept up my skill with the little plastic wonder with frequent visits to the range. Anyone who carries a gun should go to the range and specifically shoot their carry gun on a regular basis.

Of course, when the chill returned to New England that year, a warm coat covered my back and my preferred carry piece, the Sig P229. I was in for a surprize: the first time I went to the range to practice I realized I was better with the SW99 than I was with the P229. The only gun I had been shooting all summer was the SW99. I should have known! Well, still fairly new to shooting, I realized that sometimes that which should be obvious can be so easily overlooked. I was able to correct my fire in that same range session, but I left the range a wiser shooter too.

Since then I still change my carry guns seasonally. But when the seasonal changes come, I practice with the gun I will be changing to at least once BEFORE committing to carrying it for the new season. And if I ever decide to change my carry gun for any reason, I will fire it at the range FIRST.

Traffic Stop while carrying a firearm.

I get questions about this allot from newbies who just got their LTC or from curious friends/family who don't carry but know I do:

If I am carrying and I get pulled over, am I obligated to tell the cop that I am carrying a gun?

Not in my state (MA). Being pulled over for a traffic violation has nothing to do with carrying and there is no law requiring me to tell the officer that I have a weapon.

Some states may require you to tell the officer. Check your state laws if you live outside of MA.

What about as a courtesy to the officer?

I have been carrying for over 10 years. In that time I have been pulled over a few times. I have never told the officer that I was carrying and he never asked or "found out". Its not that I want to hide anything from the officer, I just feel that telling the cop that I have a gun could unnecessarily escalate the situation. My own personal policy is that I will not tell the officer I have a gun unless I am asked to exit my vehicle or if the officer decides that he has some probable cause to search my vehicle. Neither situation has ever happened to me while I was carrying a weapon. As for courtesy to the officer, I turn on my interior lights if its night and I don't reach for my registration or license until the officer asks for it so that he can watch me (and can see that I am not reaching for a weapon). I also speak to the officer in a respectful tone (as I would anyone). Thats it.

In Massachusetts I am REQUIRED to carry concealed (ie, no "open" carry) in my vehicle. Concealed means that no one should be able to see your weapon or be able to figure out that you have one in any way. This also means that I should not have a firearm "in plain sight" anywhere in my vehicle. Since the cop can't see that I have a gun, I don't tell him.

I should mention that I have recently read about this topic on the masscops forum. There were cops there that stated that they appreciate it when the person they pull over tells them if they are carrying. They say that they see it as a good jesture. But, some of those same cops mentioned that if you do disclose that you are carrying, that you should be prepared for the possibility that some officers may be more stern or even take your firearm for the duration of the stop. It was also mentioned that the firearm may be unloaded by the officer and put in your trunk! This is exactly the "escalation" that I want to avoid.

A sticky Rear Takedown Pin

I have found the Rear Takedown Pin (RTP) on my new AR15 lower receiver to be a bit hard to engage and disengage. It seemed to “stick” at either the fully engaged or fully disengaged positions. One day recently, I disengaged the RTP and removed the upper receiver. When I tried to push the RTP back into the detached lower receiver, it would not budge. Hmmmm.

The RTP has a slot along its shaft. A small spring loaded retainer pin that keeps the RTP from coming completely out of the lower receiver rides in the slot. At either end of the slot there is a small shallow hole with a smaller diameter than the retainer pin. The slightly rounded end of the retainer pin conveniently helps hold the Takedown Pin in position when in contact with the holes.



I removed the stock to retrieve the retainer pin spring and the retainer pin itself. I found that the retainer pin had a stub at the end instead of a smooth rounded surface (see photo). It was almost like the pin came on a “tree” (think how plastic model parts come) and each one is snapped off the tree before its installed. This may not be the case; it just describes what the abnormality looked like.



I used my Dremel tool to grind off the “tree stub”. Then I put the pin in the Dremel to spin it against a fine polishing stone to smooth a slightly rounded end on the pin. Once satisfied, I reinstalled the Retaining Pin and found that the takedown pin no longer stuck at the ends of its travel. Whalla!

What IS Ham Radio?

Ham Radio is the slang term for the Amateur Radio Service. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says "The amateur [radio] services are for qualified persons of any age who are interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest."

Here is my own brief explanation:

Ham radio operators are known for helping in emergencies. They bridge the communication gaps when catastrophe strikes. When a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, terrorist attack or whatever disrupts the communications of the authorities, ham radio operators step-up to keep the lifesaving communications going in times of disaster. When hams are not helping with emergencies, they communicate with each other just for the fun of it!

Many people that I have met on the air (radio) have become life-long friends. I can talk to ham radio operators in my own town or all around the world. One of the coolest things that I have ever done on the radio is talk to Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the International Space Station (ISS). Hams are the only people authorized to make contact with the space station besides NASA!

HOW TO BE A HAM:
To be a Amateur "Ham" Radio Operator, you have to obtain a license from the FCC. The license will give you a unique letter/number sequence called a "call sign" to use to identify your radio station. My call sign is NX1Z. To get the license, you have to take a test. There are 3 license levels and each one has a progressively harder test. The entry level license is the "Technician Class" license. The intermediate license is called "general Class" and the highest license in the Amateur Radio Service is the "Extra Class". Each test consists of questions about the rules of operating radio , some basic electronics theory and some radio theory. You should know that there are elementary school students that have passed all of these tests.

I may edit this post in the future to be a bit more informative.
For now, if you are interested go to the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) website at www.arrl.org

The ARRL is like the NRA of Ham Radio.