Carnival of Cordite #21

Hello readers.  Before we begin this week's Carnival of Cordite, I ask that we bow our heads in a moment of silence for the innocent victims of the cowardly attacks on London, attacks by barbaric terrorists.

Let us never forget 7/7. 

And let us never forget that the terrorists choose to fight us because we are FREE, and FREEDOM is the enemy of tyranny and despotism.

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And now, on with the Carnival of Cordite!

First things first: gun basics and safety concerns!  Boxing Alcibiades has a simple question, for which I have no answer: how hot can ammunition get before it goes off accidentally?

I'll leave it to the pros to answer; if law school taught me anything, it taught me not to give advice on potentially dangerous things when I don't really know!

One person who might know (we'll let him decide) is Shakey Pete, who also expands our knowledge of the basics with the highly informative post, Cartridge Case.

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Next, we look at some hardware...

Les Jones has a nice post about a pair of take-down .22 rifles:

Speaking of the AR-7, Hell in a Handbasket reminds us that the AR-7 was featured as one of James Bond's weapons:

Going from .22 rifles to .22 pistols, Mr. Completely shares with us his thoughts about the Ruger series of .22 auto-pistols.  Here is a gratuitous photo of Ruger's newest, the 22/45 Mk. III:

That one is extremely high on my list of "what will Gullyborg buy after he pays off his law school loans."  In fact, it will probably be the very next gun I buy once I am flush with cash: .22 ammo is cheap; shooting the .22 is fun; and this model is made to approximate a model 1911 .45 in terms of fit, which means it will serve as an excellent practice tool when I don't want to shoot those expensive (and punishing, at least when shooting a few hundred) .45 ACP rounds.  I would consider this pistol a MUST HAVE for EVERY shooter.

Going from the .22 to bigger toys, Uncle is working on an AK kit:

Speaking of kits and .22's, here's Kit with her .22!

OK, back to hardware...

Uncle also has some AR lowers to work on:

And in the last of our hardware posts, Kim du Toit waxes rhapsodic about the virtues of The Last Elegant Old World Military Rifle:

That's the FN-SAFN, available in both 8mm Mauser and, as Kim prefers, 7mm Mauser (pictured).  Ah, Kim, you always show us things of beauty!

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New contributor Sleepless in Midland brings us some hardware of a quite different sort, the tools of the Bomb Disposal Squad!

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We had a quite a few entries this week about range reports and matches:

More from Mr. Completely, who reports on postal matches and dingin' the dishes:

More on those same postal matches from Random Nuclear Strikes.  Be sure to write to him and help cheer his mood!  And still more from Mr. Completely, who brings us Pin Shooting:

Jerry the Geek is gearing up for the 9th Annual Single Stack Championship.  His firearm of choice?  Kimber:

Take a minute to appreciate the singularity of the original Kimber pistol design.

And take a minute to read Jerry's ups and downs of match preparation!  By the time you read this, Jerry may have already finished the competition.  But wish him the best of luck nonetheless.

Blogonomicon has a range report of his own.

And on a sad note from the range, Kevin the Techno Gypsy informs us that Skip Talbot, the man most responsible for making extreme distance shooting a sport, has died:

Skip founded the FCSA and may have been the driving force in making shooting big 50s at long range a sport in the US. I never met him but his writings and the FCSA's magazine lead me to buy my own 50. Skip collapsed on the firing line at a .50 caliber meet in Raton New Mexico with a ruptured spleen last week. He died Friday from complications. May Christ God have mercy on him.

Amen.

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David Hardy from Of Arms and the Law helps us segue from ranges to the legal front, by answering the question, Are All Federal Shooting Ranges Open to the Public By Law?  As the name of David's blog suggests, it is dedicated to legal issues regarding arms.  Be sure to read his many other recent posts!

In response to two tragedies on the 4th of July, mASS BACKWARDS (slogan: live free, or here) brings us another Massachusetts gun law "success" story.  Money quote:

Welcome to Massachusetts - where a law-abiding citizen shooting a brand new AR-15 at a paper target in a controlled environment is considered a bigger threat to society than some crackhead firing a handgun indiscriminately into a large crowd of men, women, and children.

Sad but true.

More from Mr. Completely, who reports the latest news on Brazil's gun ban.

In case you are living in a cave, we have had one Supreme Court retirement (Sandra Day O'Connor) and another (William Rehnquist) looms in the immediate future.  There is much speculation going on, and while there have been no new nominations yet, the conservative blogosphere is already abuzz with one name Bush should NOT nominate: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Trigger Finger writes:

This would be a disaster for conservatives in general, because they have long been salivating at the chance to overturn Roe v Wade, which Gonzales supports on a stare decisis basis.  But it would also be a disaster for firearms rights, and it is on that basis that I oppose the nomination of Gonzales.

I, for one, will refrain from making my own comment until an actual nominee is chosen.  While I appreciate the concerns of my fellow bloggers (and as you can see, I'm happy to share them with you), I want to hold off on the "slam Gonzales" bandwagon.  He isn't yet a nominee, and has in fact stated more than once he is not interested in serving on the Supreme Court.  I'm going to follow the advice of Ronald Reagan, whose 11th Commandment was "Thou Shall Not Speak Ill of a Fellow Republican."

At this time, Gonzales is doing a good job as Attorney General.  The attacks against him, while well meaning, are only going to give ammunition to the Left in the never-ending war on President Bush and conservatives of all stripes.  If Bush does indeed nominate Gonzales, then go ahead and dissect his qualifications for the Supreme Court.  But until then, I ask you: let's maintain a united front against the Left.

Of course, it's all moot if Bush follows my advice and nominates Ann Coulter...

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From legal and political matters to self defense:

Sulfuric Attitude writes in this week about how to protect yourself and your loved ones from pedophiles, including a 50-state list of sexual predator databases.  Thank you for doing the work to put that together for us!

There's plenty of news stories of firearms used for self defense at the Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog.

Here's a blog dedicated to general preparedness and self-defense: Paratus.

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Firehand of Irons in the Fire brings us two post on the Old West, here and here.

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Finally, Life with Al brings us a different sort of bang:

Thank you for sharing these WONDERFUL 4th of July fireworks photos!  They serve as a reminder that we are FREE, and FREEDOM is the main purpose of the Carnival of Cordite.  I do this to help support the rights of gun owners here and abroad, because the most fundamental of all rights, the right to be free, depends on the right to defend one's self from tyranny.  That's what the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is all about.

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That wraps up our posts this week!

Blog of the week award, for sheer volume of contributions, along with nice photos, goes to Mr. Completely!  Thanks for doing a BANG up job!  And next week, we hand the reigns over to El Capitan of Baboon Pirates, your next Carnival of Cordite host.

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In lieu of our regular discussion question, I leave you with a parting thought:

In less than one week we have gone from a Celebration of Freedom with our American 4th of July Holiday to an assault on Freedom with the barbaric 7/7 attacks in London.  But we in America stand by our Friends in London.  You terrorist bastards think you are breaking our morale, but you couldn't be more wrong.  While the British have been a stalwart ally in our war against you, they have until now not suffered at your hands.  But now you have awakened a sleeping giant.  Just as the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II, so too will your attack on London result in a turn of the tide among the leaders of Europe.  You thought the Brits were fighting you hard alongside us before?  You just wait and see what you have unleashed.

Comments

[publicola]

Gullyborg,
Gonzales isn't doing a good job as an AG. but that's a trick statement since he is enforcing unconstitional laws as every Ag since 1934 has done. His views on gun control...well you know.

But not speaking ill of fellow republicans is more akin to a curse than good advice. Sure, an R beside the name is better to ya'll than a D, but criticism within the party is a much neglected neccesity if you want to keep the party somewhat unified. I understand wanting to present a united front against the left, but what good does that do when a good chunk of your own party pushes their goals?

Anyway, thanks for hosting this thing. We all appreciate all the work you & the other hosts have put into it.

[Gullyborg]

Publicola,

Like I said, if Gonzales is nominated, feel free to bring up concerns about his credentials. Until then, however, I think it is best to tell Bush what qualities we are looking for, rather than what people we are not.

[Ken Summers]

Another excellent Carnival, buddy.

BTW, be sure to pop over to Springfield and say Hi to my grandpa, k? Next time I get up that way to see him, I'll buy you a beer.

[Alan]

The thing that makes me quite uneasy about Gonzales is that he has been endorsed by LULAC. That immediately throws up warning flags, for me.

[Jerry the Geek]

Two comments:
(1)
"Skip collapsed on the firing line at a .50 caliber meet in Raton New Mexico with a ruptured spleen last week. He died Friday from complications."
When I go, I want to "collapse on the firing line". I can do without the complications.

(2)
The Single Stack Championship match in Albany starts tomorrow (Saturday, July 9) at 9am. I remain phlegmatic about my expectations. SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) is bouyant with encouragement which sounds to me much like wishful thinking. I don't know. I just spent six hours helping set up the stages, and it is a gruelling (very challenging) set of courses of fire. I would love to shoot it with my Open gun. Trying to hit the targets while using a gun I can't see the sights of, however, is discouraging.

SWMBO has promised to take a lot of pictures at the match. I'll post the best of them Saturday Night on the Cogito Ergo Geek blog.

http://jerrythegeek.blogspot.com/

The weatherman predicts nice weather.

We'll see.

[David]

You must see the picture to believe it. Its true and funny.

Guitar-Machine-Gun

(July 8, 2005) The peace-loving, aging, guitarist rock stars at Live 8 concert forgot to send the most importan gift - the Guitar-Machine Gun - along with the copy of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to Zimbabwe's benevolent socialist thugocrat and the left's favorite dictator Robert Mugabe's starving slaves.

http://satire.myblogsite.com/blog
July 6, 2005 post

[Sleepless in Midland]

I've only gotten about half way down the list so far, and I have to say that there is some fascinating stuff linked here!

And thanks for linking me, too.

[Kit]

Hah! Good pun!

I am a BIG fan of Arms & the Law. Paratus is new to me though - The Carnival is such a great way to find new links!

[Daniel]

I enjoy the carival Gully and I second the motion for an Ann Coulter nomination.

[Daniel]

BTW, I clicked a few of your ads (the left wing ones, he he) to contribute towards the purchase of that Ruger.

[Gullyborg]

Yes, always click every left-wing ad you ever see on any right-wing blog!