Well, it is now January, 2005. I’ve been sitting here feeling as old as tree bark and thinking what direction to head off in this year; home and firearm interest. Gun control advocates are as alive and well as ever, moving from arguing tortured logic to blatantly baseless court clogging frivolous litigation.
San Francisco, with a history of having attempted gun bans thrown out by even the liberal California Supreme Court, is now in the process of passing a city handgun ban. The rationale is that this will somehow curtail the record homicide rate this mismanaged city is experiencing. Couldn’t be the gutted police department which is the focus of more investigations than its crime control effort, or a police chief who literally weeps in public over the loss of a fellow police officer but doesn’t believe off duty police should carry guns? The current district attorney campaigned, and won an election, based upon on a platform of ending capital punishment prosecution. She would not pursue such punishment even when a police officer had been murdered. The prior district attorney was overly tolerant of illicit drugs and would block arrest and prosecution of people who trafficked in drugs. The city spent millions of taxpayer’s dollars on a predictably failed attempt at issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, in repayment of the new mayor’s election support debt – the new deal, finance the legal support of the unpopular by getting into office and using public funds to overcome the will of tax payers.
I’m not even sure who lives in San Francisco anymore. Their New Year’s Eve celebration couldn’t raise a crowd this year, and it is a big city. The streets were empty with the exception of one very small concentrated area, a few drunk stragglers and more police on foot than civilian pedestrians. The local news attributed the lack of participation to “a diversity of city residents mourning the victims of the Tsunami. Hmmm… I thought it might be related to the city’s public execution of Christmas and every traditional American holiday or institution, a disgusting environment that panders only to low life malcontents and corrupt politicians, and the absence of a police force that can do more than protect protestors from angry public reaction.
The gun control game seems to have changed from privately funded protest, to unlimited publicly funded litigation. Even small town council members who wants to appear “progressive” find some reason to use their behind the scenes political power to interfere with the way local residents live and how they conduct their personal lives. I spend most of my shooting time at a range, indoor or outdoor. I couldn’t tell you where there is a local piece of public land that permits unsupervised and non-structured use of a firearm. The problem, I believe, is the great resettlement of this country. Inner cities are the bastions of the liberal; that special blend of lemming living, anonymity and access to the opera. These wonderful cosmopolitan people extended a broad welcome to anyone who dislikes America, and the welcome was enthusiastically accepted. Unfortunately, the newly arriving needed the space, culture and building, couldn’t see any remaining value in their hosts, and pushed these original liberals out of these cities in droves. Left without city or human bonding opportunities, these folks fled to the country where they got busy robbing indigenous citizens of homes, job, traditions and pastimes. In areas of small population, whole state and local governments are now representative of the same influences that turned our nations cities into the garbage dump they have become.
Gun control looms large on the check list of things to do for these liberal politicians, fortunately, this past year was so bad and the problems of constitutional encroachment so visible, we began to see some court challenges and favorable rulings that benefited the more traditional and overwhelmingly majority citizens of this country. Hopefully this direction will gain momentum and we will at least have leaders to line up behind to support things of consequence.
The Firearms Industry
The firearms industry corporate reshuffle is beginning to feel like the conversion of the country western music industry to the professional wrestling like entity it has become today; Shania Twain does for country music, what Ashley Simpson does for rock and roll and what large consolidating companies do for firearms. On one hand, it is nice to see new product introduction, the cost of innovation can be staggering, but the 325 WSM and 204 Ruger? Newly introduced materials and mechanical design technology doesn’t seem to be received well by retail customers, outside of paramilitary handgun development where anything is perceived to be a breakthrough; see the 45 GAP. I can’t tell if this is market resistance to change, premium prices, or lack of persistent marketing. 5 years ago, or so, I thought for sure we would have a lot of very light composite barrels on long guns and electronically fired cartridges drawn from ancient military applications. I imagined very light handguns or long guns with no resistance cocking and infinitely adjustable trigger pull. I guess they are there, to some degree, but at incredibly high prices and in limited supply.
I thought for sure some handloading equipment manufacturer would have motorized and computerized a decent press that would auto index from station to station under its own power, quickly and accurately meter charges, properly and consistently seat primers, feed and seat bullets from a hopper, etc. Inexpensive sensors long in existence in other industries could control critical travel and positioning, weigh and verify components, check assembled height and weight. Then the system could collect all of the data in a PC based program for future reference and load development. Gees, I don’t think so. I just wrote an article about the Rock Chucker and the state of less than exciting manually operated progressive presses.
A real double switch has been the “technological development” of modern muzzle loading firearms. We began with the traditional mechanics and those problem sets, then refined until the shooter had basically a centerfire rifle without the case; get rid of those pesky percussion caps and use shotgun primers, make it inline, get rid of that corrosive powder, now hang a bolt on it for cocking. Manufacturers were able to take a traditional piece, upgrade it with 100 year old bolt gun engineering and package as “modern muzzle loading”. I have to admit they are fun to shoot, smoky and noisy with lots of flash and bang, but not my first choice if I actually intend to hit something.
Some optics are ridiculous in price and growing worse with each new introduction. When I can buy a 10″, high quality reflector telescope with computer and GPS controlled star finder equatorial mount, and see distant galaxies for less than the price of a lousy variable power pedestrian rifle scope, someone is getting hosed, and I don’t think it is the manufacturer. Side adjust, top adjust, glow in the dark reticles for those of us who can’t wait for daybreak, 30mm tubes, shock resistance, more shock resistance – how much more waterproof than waterproof can a scope be? Exactly how far from beneath the surface of bodies of water do we have to shoot? And it isn’t just the crazy Austrians charging exorbitant prices, even the cheapie Chinese manufactured brands with misspelled instruction sheets have “premium” models that eclipse the $500 mark. I get the feeling these products are all meant emulate military and law enforcement products, but marketed to the rest of us as a volume opportunity as the industry perceives our names to be Curly, Larry and Moe – the Three Stooges..or is that the Pep Boys?
The Upside
Is there something good in all of this? Well, the most recent firearms I’ve purchased have been consistently accurate, most nicely finished and the most durable regarding weather and functioning in less than ideal environments. The positively ugly Winchester Super Shadow , and the more attractive Weatherby Vanguard, are exceptional performance and price values. I don’t like the Remington Model 710. I don’t like throw away firearms and Remington has too many other great rifles to choose from. I still can’t bring myself to buy a modern Savage rifle. They can’t seem to put a decent stock on anything and they are no longer that much less expensive than other brands. They have become the Chrysler corporation of firearms industry; lots of neat ideas, but the doors keep falling off in traffic.
There seem to be more under the radar good custom shops and talented gunsmiths. No, not the ones with their faces plastered on the pages of gun magazines, but people who work day in and day out and do excellent work for a fair price. Unfortunately, there are also a lot more hammer and tong blacksmiths trying to be gunsmiths, but a little care in selection can eliminate most of this problem. I find if I can be just a little less ill tempered then the guy I am working with I can get some very good results. If I keep my big mouth shut, I can even get a decent price on services.
While come scopes have escalated in cost, the cheapies have become very durable and able to withstand recoil quite nicely. If you don’t mind having people laugh at you at the range and talk behind your back, a $100 scope can do an admirable job on almost anything. I may go into the business of making replacement adjustment caps and tape over logos with almost brand names “Loupold”, “Barris”, “Nicon” for those who like the performance, but are ashamed to admit they use cheap scopes.
There are more choices in solutions to the same problems; slings, mounts, stocks, cases, equipment, etc. Online operations have stemmed the tide of overpriced local supply and competitive shopping has become easier for the customer as well as for the retailer. I can compare brands without making some poor guy at the gun store spend hours trying to make me an educated consumer.
While perhaps not exciting in innovative introductions; yes I do know that Barnes put driving bands on some of their bullets, handloading components, tools and equipment and information are better now and more plentiful then they have been in a decade. I hope this progress holds up as it feeds support of firearms and shifts the focus to the sport aspect of firearms ownership.
Gun ownership is still fun. A day at the range is relaxing and satisfying. Shooting sports can be as challenging as a person would like. Cost effective hunting may be expanding more beyond our borders for more seasons and more game selection.
The Internet, good, bad or indifferent, has provided a great forum for enthusiasts that did not exist before and an easy way for people who generally don’t have access to learn and get involved in the absence of a friendly neighborhood gun store, even in a community of anti gun activists.
I suspect there will be lots to write about in this new year.
Thanks,
Joe
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