Gun Thread (1-26-2014)

Fundamentals

Reader 'cowboyup' sent in the following photo and commentary:

I recently bought a Savage Mark II .22 on a hunting trip for various reasons (hunting, plinking, etc.). After getting back to camp and setting up the gun, I sighted in at 25 yards. I was really impressed with the shot group that a .22 straight out of the box had. In no time I had a group of 5-6 shots inside of a dime. Mind you, i did have to dial the scope in, it was only bore sighted from the factory. I am not bragging over 25 yards by no means, if I can't hold a good group at that range, I have serious shooting issues. The purpose of this e-mail is to see what others have experienced with their rifles and how good of a group they hold and what other types to look at. One thing I do like is a good shooting gun, whether it be low range to high range on the price scale. (emphasis added)

We talk a lot in these posts about various makes and models of firearms, and the big manufacturers .. Ruger, S&W, Remington, etc. ... always get a lot of attention. But there are many, many manufacturers out there like Savage that don't get the headlines but continue to churn out quality firearms year after year.

The best shooting gun I have, bar none, is a little Savage M72 falling block single shot .22. If I had to pick "just one gun" out of the safe, it'd probably be that one, as it's deadly accurate and its simple mechanism will last forever with little to no maintenance required.

And it's probably also the cheapest gun in that safe. At the end of the day, quality isn't judged by what you paid ... it's judged by targets like the one above.

As Goes California ...

A new gun law proponents say helps law enforcement has driven Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger out of California, and affirmed the suspicions of firearms rights advocates that the measure is really about making handguns obsolete.

You mean requiring manufacturers to do something patently ridiculous causes them to choose to abandon a market? Shocking.

Also, c'mon Fox News ...

... a law that requires some handguns to have technology that imprints a tiny stamp on the bullet so it can be traced back to the gun ...

The microstamp doesn't go on the bullet, it goes on the primer and/or cartridge case.

In related news, sales of brass catchers are soaring (not to mention revolvers, which are exempt from this idiocy).

Gun Of The Week

(answer below)

Marksmanship Award

Gun Of The Week - Answer

Via 'Taro Tsujimoto', that's the Beretta Model 38 (or "Modello" 38 in the Italian lingo). Taro says:

The Italian forces and weapons of World War II come in for some mockery, but this certainly doesn't. As beautifully made a weapon as you would expect from Beretta. Reliable, effective, accurate (especially with hot-loaded Italian 9mm) and favored not only by Italian elite forces (stop chuckling) but by the Germans and the Allies as well, who prized captured examples. I'd rank it about even with the Thompson, slightly ahead of the PPSh-41 and MP38/MP40, and far ahead of the Sten.

A Supreme Court Case To Watch

Should the "straw purchaser" doctrine apply if an initial purchaser of a firearm and an immediate transferee are both legally eligible to own firearms?

I say no. The government's argument that the initial buyer's name is critically important falls apart when you consider that there are absolutely no documentation requirements for resale. Back to the safe ... I'm probably named on the 4473 for about half my guns. Most of the others were bought by my dad before I was age-eligible and there are a few that were just bought used from individuals.

The "straw purchaser" law should be used to charge someone who had intent to commit a crime. Using the government's logic, this kid's dad is bound for a cell:

The case is Abramski v. US

California State Senator Knows a Gun Does 30 Somethings

These are your betters, people ...

Still Laughing About This

Well done, Jeff Bezos. Well done.

Tips

If there are topics you're interested in seeing in the gun thread, please send them to AoSHQGunThread at gmail. You can also send them to me on Twitter at @AndyM1911.

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posted by Andy at 01:55 PM

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