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GEnie Outdoors RT Newsletter 1995 April
GEnie Outdoors RT Newsletter
April, 1995
edited by John Marshall (Paladin)
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9504A CAST BULLETS: WHY AND HOW Ken Mollohan
9504B REVOLVERS VS. SEMIAUTOS John Marshall
9504C BIOGRAPH Stephen Mandell
9504D BIOGRAPH Don Alexander
9504E NATIONAL SAFE BOATING AWARENESS WEEK Kevin Shaw
9504F NOAA HYDROGRPHIC SURVEY SHIP SCHEDULE, 1995 Kevin Shaw
9504G CARRYING CONCEALED: A GROWING TREND John Marshall
9504H RV ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS: A BOOK REVIEW ANNE B. WATSON
9504I RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS: NRA NEWS NRA Staff
9504J EDITORIAL John Marshall
And, by the way, congratulations to Stu Wayne, who correctly identified
the March issue's "mystery contraption" as a WW I device for allowing a
soldier to fire a rifle without exposing himself to the enemy! Stu had
this one on the same day the last issue was put on the wire!
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9504A CAST BULLETS: WHY AND HOW by Kenneth Mollohan
*BULLETS *CASTING *LEAD
Permission is hereby granted to Genie (General Electric
Information Services) for a one-time usage of this copyright protected
document in their outdoors newsletter. All other rights reserved.
This document, or any portion of it, may not be otherwise reproduced
by any means without the written consent of the author, who may be
contacted at (412) 573-1183.
This is NOT a public domain document.
Cast Bullets
Chapter One: Why & How
Kenneth Mollohan
Copyright March 1995
The casting of lead projectiles long predates the development of
firearms. It was an archaic art when David-and-Goliath slings were
still standard military technology, because archaeologists have found
ancient battlefields littered with cast lead balls for slings, many
marked with the equivalent of "Take this!". So when firearms were
developed, it was an obvious step to use them to launch such lead
balls instead of a sling. The spherical lead ball was preeminent for
firearms until the elongated lead projectile was developed. Even
then, most firearms projectiles were still cast from lead until modern
smokeless gunpowder came along. Then it was found necessary to cover
the soft lead bullet with a harder metal jacket to protect it from the
much fiercer action of smokeless powder. The day of the cast bullet
came to an end with smokeless powders. Or so it was generally
believed.
And it was very nearly true. Cast bullets endured mostly because
they could still be used for low power handguns, where they still
worked well. The few companies that catered to this industry, (like
Modern Bond and Ideal) also offered rifle molds to augment their
sales. Why not? They were already set up to make pistol molds, and
there was a small but steady customer base of those who liked them
well enough in handguns to want to try them in rifles too. But in the
tiny bores of smokeless rifle rounds, and at their higher velocity,
the old cast bullets simply could not perform: At velocities over
about 1200 or 1400 fps, they leaded the bore and were wildly
inaccurate.
But shooters and especially reloaders are an inquisitive bunch.
They continued to tinker and modify their loads and molds until
fillers and gas checks had been developed. Velocities of 1600 fps
were then possible, and occasional hints that the limit had not been
reached would be published from time to time. But duplication of
unusually good results was rare. That was where cast bullets
languished until Col. Harrison of the NRA staff undertook a scientific
investigation to determine exactly what was necessary for good cast
rifle loads. He published his definitive work in "The American
Rifleman", and told how to obtain good accuracy at 2200 fps and more.
Later developments like paper patching have pushed the limits of cast
bullet technology well over 3000 fps. The resulting upswing in
interest has made cast bullets the latest "in" technology, and the
list of suppliers grows by leaps and bounds. Why? What has caused
such an interest in a technology that our grandfathers abandoned as
uselessly obsolete, especially when it is so unnecessary? We don't
need cast bullets. Jacketed bullets from the factory are superb in
quality, and unexcelled in performance. In fact, the crowning claim
of cast bullets is that now they can be "just as good" as jacketed
bullets. Not even their most ardent advocates claim they will perform
BETTER than cast bullets. And they can be an awful lot of trouble to
prepare and use if you want to duplicate jacketed bullet performance,
especially in high power rifles. So what is their appeal?
The first attraction of cast bullets for most of us is economic.
The cast bullet will not cost more than about 20% of it's jacketed
counterpart at most, and frequently costs nothing but the labor. In
those situations where they are adequate, they will permit much less
expensive shooting. And there are very few situations where a person
who understands them cannot get a cast bullet to work very well
indeed.
In practice, the economics usually mean more shooting for the
same money. Wheelweights or similar salvaged metals currently cost
about twenty five cents a pound, and are often free. This translates
to a cost for the metal of a 150g bullet from nothing to a trifle over
half a penny. Of course, adding the cost of lubrication and gas
checks (if needed) will raise that very slightly, as will a really
complete accounting that considers the cost of melting the lead and
how many bullets it takes to wear out a mold. But if you care for
your equipment, your grandchildren could still be using your molds,
with just as good a result as you will get. Heating is not expensive,
and equipment cost is negligible. After the air you breathe, cast
bullets are the biggest bargain you can find!
The second reason is curiosity. Many a reloader has become
captivated by the challenge of seeing how well they can make cast
bullets shoot. Cast bullets offer ever expanding avenues for
exploration by the curious. While the basic principles are easily
grasped by a ten year old youngster, the underlying complexities can
exceed the capacities of a college professor. Casting can be a
complex interweaving of thermodynamics, chemistry and metallurgy or a
simple money saving process. It can be whatever your own inclinations
make of it.
A third reason is versatility. The same need for extra labor to
prepare cast bullets also enables you to customize them to fit special
needs. Cast bullets can fitted exactly to your gun, making it easier
to get accuracy. They can be loaded to lower velocities than jacketed
bullets, for inconspicuous pest control, and teaching youngsters, all
at much lower cost. And few uses for firearms mandate the full power
maximum pressure magnum loads that are still the special province of
jacketed rifle bullets. While cast bullets can indeed perform well at
the highest levels, it takes a great deal of expertise and experience
to get such results from them, while jacketed bullets work well even
for novices.
Yet another reason to justify cast bullets is personal challenge.
Some want to see how they measure up against the records set by past
generations of marksmen. Some just want to try something new, because
they've become bored with jacketed bullets. And some just want the
satisfaction of saying "Look what I can do with bullets I made
myself!". But whether your primary interest is economic, curiosity,
personal challenge, or simple boredom, cast bullets offer a vast and
rewarding outlet.
I recommend that anyone who has no previous experience with cast
bullets buy his first mold for a handgun bullet design and try light
target loads for his first efforts. The reason is that the more
powerful rifle loads, while quite feasible, tend to require a much
higher level of skill for best results. Handguns and lighter loads
are easier to get good results with, and success is all-important in
building confidence and interest in the capabilities of cast bullets.
The list of the basic equipment you will need is short. Oh, you
can spend small fortunes on more refined gear, but basically you are
going to be doing something within the capabilities of an uneducated
frontiersman huddled over a campfire of buffalo chips. In its simpler
form, it will not take a wagon load of equipment. The idea here will
be to let you try out the waters at a minimum of cost, to see if you
enjoy it or not. If you do, you can purchase better equipment as the
occasion merits.
Select a mold recommended for your caliber handgun by the
manufacturer, and procure a supply of lead alloy. Which alloy? Well,
alloy selection and treatment will be another story. For now,
ordinary wheel weights from the local tire shop will do, since you are
only going to be making some bullets for target loads, and special
alloys will not be necessary. You will need a pot to melt the lead
in. Anything of iron or steel will do. Do not use aluminum, and do
not use food vessels. Lead will weaken the aluminum, and someday it
could break apart while full of molten lead. You will find this
educational, but not entertaining. And the food pan could kill
someone by lead poisoning as long as it exists. You may not be here
in a hundred years to warn your grandchildren that the antique iron
skillet is not safe to use. You can use an old hubcap, a pipe cap, or
even spend a few bucks for a small iron pot sold for the purpose by
several suppliers and a lot of hardware stores. Buy a bottom pour
dipper like Lyman's too: Nothing else works quite so well, and the
cost is negligible. Heat can be supplied by anything from an electric
hotplate, a propane torch or a camping stove, or even a campfire. I
suggest you don't use the kitchen stove. Heat generated by the spouse
when you fill the house with fluxing smoke is too intense. You will
also need a small, long-handled spoon that has had a number of 1/16"
holes drilled in the bowl. These holes will keep the spoon from ever
being used for food, and will allow lead to drain when you use it to
skim debris from the surface of the melt.
Your mold should always be stored with a protective coating of
oil or grease. The same products that protect your guns will also
keep your molds rust-free in storage. The old advice to just leave a
bullet cast in the cavity simply will not protect your mold for very
long under many conditions. But it must be completely free of oil
before it can be used. The usual approach of trying to clean it with
gasoline just leaves the mold contaminated with one petroleum product
in place of another. The best way to degrease them is to just immerse
the opened mold blocks in a pan with about an inch and a half of
boiling water, to which about a quarter teaspoon of dish detergent has
been added. I put my mold on the handles first, and use them to stand
it in the pan on end. The handles serve as a convenient way to remove
the mold blocks when they are clean. Leave the mold in the water
until it returns to a rolling boil. Then rinse them very briefly
under a stream of hot water, and shake them dry. This is a bit beyond
the frontiersman's technique, but not too hard to master. And it will
leave your mold so free of oils that it can rust in a few minutes if
you don't shake them dry like I told you. A clean mold will cast good
bullets from almost the very start, and you will not have to go
through the frontiersman's traditional "break-in" period, which mostly
consisted of keeping the mold hot long enough to evaporate the
residual oils off, or to at least cook them down until no volatiles
were left in the traces that were left on the mold.
You should wear proper clothing. You are about to handle molten
lead, and unless you are inhumanly perfect in everything you do, you
will sooner or later brush against a hot surface, or get a lead
spatter on your clothes. Your clothing should be natural fibers.
Synthetic cloth like polyesters can melt and glue hot metal to your
skin, vastly increasing the effect and damage of burns. Do not wear
synthetics, but loose cotton "blue jeans" type clothing is fine. For
maximum protection, you should also be wearing leather or cotton
gloves and have a face shield to protect your good looks. At the very
least, wear safety goggles to protect your good sight. You will also
need a proper working area. You must find a spot secure from
children, pets and other distractions. Young children may find the
shiny surface of molten lead very pretty and try to pick it up. Don't
give them the chance to make that mistake. You will also need good
ventilation. No, not because of lead fumes. There aren't any to
speak of in ordinary casting. But some virtually invisible lead dusts
are generated by casting and fluxing, which amount to almost the same
thing: They can be inhaled and can lead to serious poisoning. This
is a major concern of many beginners, and not without some
justification. It has happened, but it is exceedingly rare. The most
common source of lead poisoning comes not from inhalation, but from
ingestion! It is eaten! Lead will transfer from the surface of the
ingots to your hands, and then into your mouth with a quick
sandwich, or along with a cool drink, or perhaps with a cigarette.
NOTHING should go in your mouth while you are casting. And when you
are done, your should wash your hands, arms and face well.
Generations of shooters have shown that working with lead is not
particularly dangerous if you use a little common sense. These
simple steps will dramatically improve the safety of working with lead
alloys.
Now inspect your wheelweights. Sort out and discard any that do
not have a small steel clip in the middle. Those without the clip are
often flat strips of pure lead, and are too soft for most purposes.
Fill the pot with the remaining wheelweights, and put it on the fire
to melt. Once it melts, use the spoon to skim off the steel clips,
and discard them safely in a tin can for proper disposal when they
have cooled. DO NOT ADD UNMELTED WHEELWEIGHTS TO THE MOLTEN LEAD!!
The dirt and grease may contain trapped volatiles ranging from water
to light oils that can boil off and cause serious spattering of the
molten lead. And volatiles can come from the most unexpected sources.
Only lead that you have melted and cast into ingots can be safe to add
to a melt, and not always then. In warm climates, perspiration on
your hands can get on the lead ingots, and cause spattering. I was
badly burnt this way once. In cold climates, moisture from your fire
[if you are using one] (or even your breath) can condense on the cold
ingots and cause spattering. If in doubt, just lay the ingot near
your heat until it's warm to the touch, and moisture condensation will
evaporate. Then it can be safely added to the pot with gloves or
tongs.
While your lead is melting, set the mold blocks beside the pot to
pre-heat. Be careful not to let the handles get burnt. While the
mold is warming up, check the temperature of your pot. The best way
is with a thermometer, and for most alloys you should start with the
lead at about 750 to 800 degrees. But our frontiersman had no
thermometers. He judged the temperature by tossing in a bit of paper
or dry grass. If the paper didn't brown, or browned slowly, the metal
was still too cool to cast well. If the paper browned quickly, the
lead was hot enough to cast with. If it burst into flame, the lead
was too hot, and the casting would be slow because of the time for the
lead to cool and harden, though no other harm was done. Not too
exacting a technique, but practical and serviceable. You can use it
too. Too high a heat will also cause bullets to get a frosty
appearance, but that will do no harm: Just go ahead and use them, but
save energy by dropping the temperature of your pot when you see
frosting.
Now skim the surface of the melt with your spoon. This should
remove almost all of the dirt (called "dross"), leaving you with a
smooth shiny mirror-like surface. Most authorities recommend fluxing
before you skim. Unless your metal is quite dirty, I strongly suggest
you do not flux at all while casting. The purpose of fluxing is to
separate entrained alloy from the skin of metallic oxides that form
naturally on the surface of the melt, and float dirt to the top for
easy removal. The usual procedure is to drop a thimble sized ball of
wax or grease on top of the molten metal, and stir with your skimming
spoon. The wax melts and wets out the oxides (black stuff), and
causes the flakes of oxide to stop adhering to one another, so the
tiny metal droplets that were stuck in the oxide piles can drop free
back into the melt. The mixture of oxides and molten wax is also much
lighter than the alloy, so it stays on top of the melt so you can skim
it off easily. The process works, but you pay a heavy price for a few
drops of alloy recovered and the marginally cleaner alloy. Your work
environment is enveloped in an impressive cloud of smoke from the
burning wax until (and unless) you set fire to it (or it bursts into
flame from the heat), and that too is an impressive sight: Six to
twelve inches of leaping flame that you are trying to get a spoon in
to stir with. The smoke and lead oxides are also the source of
microscopic airborne particles that are responsible for most of the
"lead vapors" hazard of casting. And the smoke, odor and flame is NOT
calculated to win smiling toleration of your hobby from your wife! It
is far better to simply skim the surface with your spoon, and deposit
the scrapings in an old soup can for later salvage. The next time you
go outdoors to melt down a batch of wheelweights into ingots on a
camping stove, the scrapings can be added to the melt, and any
necessary fluxing can be done then. Actually, for all the metal you
will salvage from it, it could be safely disposed of without
significant loss.
Put your dipper in the melt, and stir it to get the dipper hot.
A cold dipper means a cold alloy which means poorly cast bullets.
Pick up the hot mold and pour the melted lead quickly into the hole in
the top. Do not pour slowly and timidly, but as quickly as you can
without splashing or spilling it. And keep pouring, even after the
mold cavity is full. Leave a large puddle (called the "sprue") on the
top of the mold. Many oldtimers continued to pour until the dipper
was empty, letting the overflow run off the mold and back into the
pot. They got good results, but I think that was going a bit too far.
Once the lead has been poured, do not set the dipper down, but return
it to the pot so it will stay hot. These things are important.
Pouring slowly allows the lead to cool off too much, and can cause
wrinkled or poorly filled out bullets. The large sprue is to keep the
base of the bullet hotter than the nose, so it will be the last part
of the bullet to cool and harden. This is important to getting good
quality bullets because the lead shrinks measurably as it cools. If
it cools from the nose while the base is still molten, more lead can
be sucked into the cavity to make up for the shrinkage. But if there
is not a big sprue to keep the base hot, the bullet will cool from
both ends. Once both ends are hard, and unable to adjust for
shrinkage, cavities will form randomly inside the bullet as the alloy
shrinks. This will cause the bullet to be unbalanced, and it will not
shoot well. As the lead cools, the mirror bright surface of molten
metal will abruptly turn dark, or stop being shiny. This is normal.
It only means that the alloy has cooled enough to crystallize and
harden. When it happens, count off about three seconds before you try
to cut the sprue and open the mold. It looks like it all hardens at
once, but it doesn't really. There will briefly be some tiny droplets
that are still liquid, and if you drag it across the mold, some will
be rubbed off. Just wait a little to give all the lead time to
harden, so none will stick to your mold and cause problems. If that
should happen, and you see a build-up of lead between the sprue cutter
and the top of the mold blocks, DON'T scrape it off. You can easily
ruin the blocks with a knife or file that way. The right way to get
it off is to just heat the blocks up a bit more with a propane torch,
and melt the deposit. Then it can easily be wiped away with a dry rag,
and you'll be ready to resume casting almost immediately.
Once your mold is good and hot, the bullets should come from the
mold as exact duplicates of the cavity. They should not be wrinkled
or have rounded edges. If they do, your alloy or your mold is not hot
enough. An old way to improve the casting of your alloy at lower
temperatures was to add some tin, but it is not a good idea. Not only
is tin very expensive, but it contributes somewhat to leading and
causes bullets to soften with age. Increasing the heat instead is
cheaper and gives more consistent results. Another trick that can
work wonders is to use a bit of soot to coat the cavity. Something
like an old fashioned miners lamp is the best, but they are rare
today. Candle soot may be slightly greasy and may cause more problems
than it cures until the wax is evaporated off. You can also use
commercial sprays described below.
Cast bullets are often difficult to remove from the mold. There
are a lot of reasons for this, ranging from cavities cut slightly off
center to machining burrs on the edges of the cavity. There are a
number of ways to deal with the problem. You could simply whale the
dickens out of the mold to jar the bullet loose. But while some
jarring will usually be necessary, it should not be more than a tap or
two. If you have to pound, stop and examine your mold. Let it cool,
and go over it with a magnifying glass to look for burrs along the
edge of the cavity, and especially where vent channels enter the
cavity. Look on the cast bullet to see where the burr or obstruction
is: Anything that keeps the bullet from falling freely from the mold
will usually leave small marks on the bullet as it is pounded out, and
these marks will show you just where to concentrate your attention.
DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE ANY BURRS WITH FILES OR STONES! Any burrs that
big are grounds for returning the mold as defective. But it doesn't
take a big burr to cause big trouble. Burrs can be so small they
can't be seen (by older eyes anyhow) and still cause trouble. But
they can be removed without damaging the mold by scrubbing the cavity
edges with the eraser end of a pencil. If this doesn't do it, scrape
the edge of the mold cavity with a bit of brass. Brazing rod, or even
a cartridge case will do nicely, and a graphite pencil lead will also
work. The pencil lead will also leave a lubricating coating that will
help release the bullet too. There are also a number of commercial
mold release aerosols sold for this purpose, and they can work very
well. But it's best to deburr the mold so that they aren't
necessary, and the bullets will drop easily from the mold with only a
tap or two. Incidentally, many authorities recommend anything from a
stick to a leather mallet for tapping the mold. Never use steel, as
you can quickly pound your mold into useless junk with the hard steel.
Personally, I find sticks scatter splinters and make a mess, and the
leather mallets are always getting misplaced. I use a lead ingot to
tap the mold with. Yes, it gets dinged up, but that hurts nothing
when I drop it into the melt and pick up a fresh ingot. Lead ingots
have the weight to work well to cut the sprue and jar the mold, and
yet are far too soft to dent the mold blocks.
When your bullets drop from the mold, they are still very hot and
soft. They are easily damaged, and damaged bullets are inaccurate.
You must prevent any damage by catching them softly. It used to be
recommended that you drop them onto an old wool blanket or something
similarly soft, and let them cool there. Nowadays, the trend is to
drop them from the mold into a bucket of water. The water cools and
hardens them rapidly, and they are resistant to damage by the time
they fall to the bottom of the bucket. This sudden cooling also makes
them harder, but that too is another story. Both techniques work
well, and you can take your choice. The water does require special
care to prevent it from getting into the melt though, which could be
disastrous. The bucket must be located away from the lead pot, so
that it can't splash. Or rather, so that splashes can't reach the
pot. The best way is to have the bucket UNDER the desk or table you
are casting from. The splash cannot come up through the table top to
reach the lead pot, and this lets you work without having to turn to
the side every time you cast, which can quickly become tiring. Be
careful that the splashes do not leave any water in the mold when you
pour lead again. However, the mold should be hot enough that any
specks of water will sizzle away in a few seconds, so that with a
little care, this should not be a problem. The wet bullets can be
dried by simply spreading them out for the water to evaporate. But
drying can be speeded up a great deal if you place several handfuls of
the wet bullets on a bath towel, and hold it by both ends to tumble
them back and forth a few times. This will remove almost all the
water, and you can get on to the next step quickly.
Once the bullets have been cast (and dried, if needed), you must
prepare them for loading. For most purposes, this means they must be
sized and lubricated. A micrometer will show that your bullets are
too big for your gun! They must be sized, which means that the
diameter must be swaged down a bit. You might wonder why they don't
make molds that cast the right diameter to begin with. There are lots
of reasons, and all good ones. First of all, the cost of the molds
would be much higher, because the manufacturer would only be able to
cut a few mold cavities before his expensive cutter wore a bit, and he
would have to throw it away and use another one. A slightly oversized
cutter can be used, sharpened, and used again several times before it
has to be discarded. So one reason is manufacturing economics. But
another reason is consumer economics. Modern guns are marvels of
precision, but each will have minor variations in bore dimensions. Do
you want to buy a new mold for each 30 caliber gun you have? If you
had molds that cast only one specific diameter, you'd have to do just
that unless you had two with exactly the same bore diameter. Wouldn't
it be nicer to use the same mold for all of them? And the final
reason is that even if you were willing to go to all that trouble and
expense, you'd have to buy another new mold every time you changed
alloys. If your gun did not shoot well, and you wanted to try a
harder lead, it would NOT cast at the same diameter. The changes
would be small, but very real. You can change the diameter of bullets
from a mold by a thousandth of an inch or more, just by changing
alloys. But all this aggravation is avoided by just making the mold a
tiny bit oversized, and then sizing it to fit whatever you want.
Several manufacturers offer a simple inexpensive sizer of the "push
them through" variety, that only size the bullet, but will not
lubricate them, and this is a practical minimum. Our frontiersman
used very soft lead that would expand to fit his bore, and could use
undersized bullets with his black powder loads, and still get pretty
good results. This is not practical with modern smokeless powders,
and bullets must be the right size for best results.
What diameter do you size to? Many people make the mistake of
getting a sizer for the nominal bore diameter for his gun. The old
advice to measure your actual bore diameter was an improvement, but
the best way is to size the bullet near the diameter of the chamber
throat in your gun. For revolvers, start with a sizer that is throat
diameter or 0.001" more. For auto pistols and rifles, get a sizer
that is throat diameter or 0.001" less. You may improve your results
later by changing the diameter slightly, but these will be very good
starting points. And sizing dies are available in sufficient
diversity that you should be able to find a sizer within 0.001" of
your throat diameter with little trouble.
Lubrication is necessary to prevent lead from sticking to the
bore of your gun, and ruining the accuracy. As a practical minimum,
bullets can be lubricated by picking them up by the nose and dipping
them briefly in some wax lubricant that (for safety's sake) you have
melted in a double boiler. The wax will harden around the bullet and
fill in the grooves. It will also harden around the bands, and this
has to be removed before the bullet is loaded. An easy way is to do
that is to just cut the bottom off of a fired shell, and push the
greased bullet through it. Lyman used to sell a similar device called
a "Kake Kutter", which was used to cut grease away from the bands of
lubricated bullets.
Now you're ready to load the cast bullet. The relative softness
of the cast bullet means that some special treatment is necessary, and
your old loading techniques will have to be changed very slightly.
Instead of just running a case through the sizer die, you will also
need to "bell" the mouth of the case slightly. This is a small flare
that you put in the neck to let the cast bullet start down the neck
without being scrapped. Jacketed bullets are hard enough to just
force the brass neck to expand to fit them. Cast bullets aren't that
hard, and the brass can gouge them badly, damaging the accuracy badly.
The flare is an easy thing to do, and it will prevent the problem
entirely. At a minimum, you can do the job with a tapered punch that
you can tap to cause the mouth of the case to flare out very slightly.
The right amount is usually almost invisible: Just enough that the
bottom of the bullet will start in. When you seat the cast bullet, it
should just touch or almost touch the rifling. And the base should
not go below the neck in bottlenecked cases, if your gun will let you
seat it far enough forward to avoid that. If the base is seated too
low, you will not be able to use as powerful a load as you might
otherwise. Otherwise, load cast bullets just like you would jacketed
bullets. Pick a safe load recommended for cast bullets from any good
manual, and follow the loading instructions in the manual. In
handguns, almost any load is usually suitable for cast bullets, and
will usually give about the same pressure and velocity as a jacketed
one of the same weight.
If you want the very best accuracy from your loads, give your gun
a good cleaning with a bore solvent that will remove the copper
fouling from jacketed bullets. And when you have a clean gun, remove
the cleaner with a little paint thinner on a patch before you shoot.
Cleaning is not as important with pistols as it is with rifles, but
clean bores shoot best with any ammunition, and especially so with
cast bullets.
It must be noted that while very good ammunition can be made with
the sizing and lubricating techniques described above --- and I have
used them to load more ammunition than I like to think about --- the
job is made infinitely easier and more convenient by some more
advanced equipment and techniques.
Sizing and lubrication are best handled by a special machine
called (oddly enough) a sizerlubricator. Simply insert a sizer die
for the desired diameter, and a quick pull on a handle will both size
and lubricate the bullet in less time than it takes to tell it, and it
will seat and crimp gas checks too, if your bullet uses them. It will
eliminate all the fuss and bother of melting lubricant, dipping
bullets, using the Kake Kutter, and then sizing the bullets. They are
fairly expensive, but if you enjoy cast bullets, they would be the
very next purchase I would recommend.
A close second on the list of suggested improvements would be a
bottom pour electrically heated melting pot. They can be had in a
range of capacities and prices, and will eliminate the need of dipping
and pouring the lead by hand. The convenience will well repay their
purchase price. Other useful accessories are an ingot mold and a
thermometer to make sure your pot is up to casting temperature, and to
let you return to the temperature that works best with your alloy.
Beyond these, your wallet is the only limit on the gadgetry that can
be purchased for cast bullets. Hardness testers. Mold sprays.
Fluxing agents. Dozens of different lubes to try. Lube heaters. An
infinity of alloys and tempering variations. Paper patching. Foil
patching. Painted bullets instead of jacketed ones. Sabots.
Hollowpointing. Split slugs. Multi-ball loads. Copper bearing
bands. Gas Checks. Sizing dies. Bumping dies. Fillers. Top
Punches. And Molds, Molds, Molds. Molds for every caliber, and molds
of every possible shape and form, and ...
No, no, no, that way lies madness ... and bankruptcy! I must go
lie down for a while. But I'll be back! My next installment will be
a discussion of all those possible shapes and forms that can be used
for bullets. Which ones are best in which application, and why they
work ... or don't work. See you then. Molly
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
9504B REVOLVERS VS. AUTOLOADERS by John Marshall
*REVOLVERS *SEMIAUTOMATICS *ACTIONS *HANDGUNS *PISTOLS
About the only controversy bigger than 9mm vs. .45 in the shooting
world is the one about which is better - the revolver or the autoload-
ing pistol. In this article, I'll hope to make you aware of some of
the advantages and disadvantages of both types of handgun, and then
venture my opinion.
First, some protocols. I'll refer to "revolver" and "auto." Please
don't take the latter term to mean "full auto" as in machine gun. I'm
referring to autoLOADING, not automatic fire. Also, in the context
of this article, I'm going to be talking about advantages and disad-
vantages as they relate to the prime purpose of a handgun - defense
and combat. If you want to switch the discussion to target work,
we'd have to tackle another article which would be beyond the scope of
this one.
THE REVOLVER
Those who know me sometimes figure that I'm anti-revolver because it's
well known that I'm a leading fan of the 1911 auto. Nothing can be
farther from the truth. The revolver, as a genre, has some very
attractive features, and I use these firearms myself in certain situa-
tions. I'm not going to be discussing single action revolvers here,
although they have great romance and some very commendable features
also, but only the typical double-action, single-action capable re-
volver which has become ubiquitous on these shores since about the
turn of the century. The design really hasn't changed much because
it hasn't needed to; sure, there have been improvements such as coil
springs replacing leaf springs, safety transfer bars and so forth.
Still, the typical revolver still has a cylinder containing five to
nine rounds, and that cylinder can be swung out to the left where a
central ejection rod is pressed to disgorge the empties in one motion.
The revolver described above has some real advantages. In fact,
because of these advantages, I often recommend one for newcomers to
the shooting game. The DA revolver is as operator-foolproof as
practically any mechanism to be. To fire it, one need only pick it
up and pull the trigger. There is nothing to remember about safe-
ties, condition of readiness, etc. Just do what comes naturally.
The revolver can be left loaded indefinitely with no deterioration in
expected reliability. All springs are at rest either loaded or
unloaded.
The revolver can be fired with a long pull on the trigger for instant
action at short to medium distances, or for more precise work at
longer range, it can be cocked and the shot squeezed off with a sin-
gle-action pull which is generally unmatched on the auto side except
by target pistols.
You can use practically any type of ammunition in a revolver and it
will still fire. You can shoot very light loads, very stout loads,
and use any style of bullet, from round-nosed to wadcutter. As long
as the cartridge is complete and sound, it will fire satisfactorily,
regardless of its configuration or power.
In a revolver, the rounds are visible - you know instantly if it's
loaded. If you so unfortunate as to have one pointed at you, you can
see the bullet noses. If you are on the dishing-out end, you can see
the cartridge rims. Just a glance is all that's necessary to affirm
the loaded condition.
If a round fails to fire in a revolver, another pull of the trigger is
all that's necessary to bring another cartridge into line behind the
barrel and fire it. The firing of the next round is not dependent
upon the firing of the previous one.
Your choice of grip (stocks) is almost infinite with a revolver.
Whole industries have sprung up providing custom grips for revolvers,
in virtually any style, type of wood, with or sans checkering, etc.
If you can't get a revolver to fit your hand, you just haven't discov-
ered the right set of grips or the frame is too large or too small.
Frames come in just about any size you could want.
The revolver can be made to take extremely powerful loads, and given
the right frame size and metallurgy, the sky is just about the limit.
That's why "magnum" typically also means "revolver," with a few excep-
tions.
The revolver is fairly simple to maintain - open the cylinder, scrub
the chambers and the barrel, clean in the nooks and crannies, lube
sparingly, and that's it.
Well, those are the advantages for the revolver. Are there any disad-
vantages? You betcha. Here are some, including some you may not
have thought of before. oX3
The revolver is admittedly slow to reload. Sure, there are speedload-
ers or clips which hold the required number of rounds in a gang for
reloading, but they are cumbersome, unreliable and bulky for the most
part. Speedloaders have been known to dump their rounds through
careless mishandling, and clips can get bent easily. At best these
devices usually hold a maximum of six rounds. If you're using a
revolver against multiple assailants, you are at a disadvantage
against an autoloader.
It's commonly thought that the revolver is jamproof. Uh-uh. And when
the jams happen, they can be real doozies.
First, there's the "high primer" problem. If you look at a revolver
where the base of the cartridge rests against the recoil shield and
frame, you're going to see tool marks, crevices, and other irregulari-
ties. They're unavoidable in a production gun. If for any reason
the primer in a cartridge is high, that is to say projecting beyond
the face of the base of the cartridge, you're gonna have problems.
This most often happens with reloads, but factory rounds can occasion-
ally show this defect also. That high primer against those irregular
surfaces causes extreme friction. In the best possible case, it may
make trigger action difficult. In the worst possible case, it may
bind the cylinder to the point where it will not turn. Remedial
action is severe - the cylinder release must be actuated and the right
side of the cylinder smacked with a karate chop to loosen it. If this
doesn't work, it must be struck with an object with more momentum,
such as a block of wood, or in an emergency, it can even be slammed
against a car door, etc. Police can tell you this happens, and Murphy
being alive and well, at the worst possible moment.
The .357 magnum cartridge is notorious for tieing up revolvers simi-
larly to the above scenario. The high pressure of this cartridge
tends to back out the primer, or to "weld" the primer against the
recoil shield of the revolver, and it's mighty darn difficult to move
the cylinder once this happens. In fact, many police departments
have forbidden use of full-power .357 loads and have prescribed the
use of +P .38 specials only in duty guns.
The revolver, by its very nature, is a close-tolerance design. This
means that mud, dirt, clothing fiber and other assorted crud has no
place in or near a revolver. It must be kept scrupulously clean to
function well, and a mudbath will be cause for a major disassembly and
cleaning job that's beyond the scope of most amateur gunsmiths.
Heaven forbid that you get a "squib" load in a revolver. This is a
cartridge loaded with only a small amount of powder, or no powder at
all. This is most common with handloads, but sometimes it happens
with factory loads, as well. Two things can happen here; one is a
severe annoyance, and the other can be very dangerous. In the first
case, the power of the primer or small amount of powder is enough to
move the bullet, but only into the forcing cone of the barrel, leaving
the bullet half in and half out of the cylinder. The half that's out
is in the barrel, locking the cylinder up tight. No more shots can
be fired until some instrument is poked down the barrel and the of-
fending bullet pounded back inside the cylinder. Then the cylinder
can be opened and the round removed. The second happening is where
the bullet moves all the way into the barrel, still allowing the
cylinder to rotate and another round to be fired right behind it. The
resulting pressure of a double bullet load in the barrel can literally
explode the handgun. That's why if you hear an other-than-normal
discharge with a revolver, you should STOP and check the situation out
before attempting to fire another round. It's vital to your health
to do so.
Another problem can happen, particularly with magnum loads. Newton's
laws of motion are inviolable, and they apply to revolvers as well as
to any object in motion. Let's look at what happens when a round is
fired in a revolver. As the gun is fired, the bullet comes out of
the barrel. The equal and opposite action described by Newton is
called recoil; the gun sets back, often violently, in the hand. The
lead bullets in the unfired cartridges have what is called "inertia of
rest." In other words, they tend to stay in place. As the gun re-
coils, the effect is that the case tends to be pulled back off the
bullet; the gun itself acts like an inertia bullet puller in reverse.
That is why magnum loads should be heavily crimped; the crimp and the
tension of the case against the bullet are usually all that prevent
this inertial setback from happening. When it does happen, the bullet
nose projects beyond the cylinder, and you can guess what happens
next; the gun is tied up and won't function.
Now if the offending round is on the LEFT side of the revolver's
cylinder, your immediate action is simple. Open the cylinder and
pluck out the long round, or dump the entire contents of the cylinder
to save time and then reload quickly.
If the bad round is on the RIGHT side of the cylinder, you are in deep
excrement. Not only will the cylinder not turn, but you can't open
the cylinder to get rid of the bad round or rounds. This is a major
malfunction, and the only way to get the cylinder open is to pound the
offending bullet back in so it's flush or below the level of the front
face of the cylinder. This is not an easy thing to do in a pucker
situation. Cops are trained to slam the cylinder with its projecting
bullet forward against a flat sharp surface such as a car door if they
can, or preferably go to their backup piece, or run like hell. It's
not a pretty situation.
Now let's take another happening which is fairly common. Let's say
you're banging away (hopefully at targets), and you find the trigger
pull getting increasingly stiffer. Maybe you can't even pull the
trigger, and so you try to open up the cylinder to see what's happen-
ing and find it's darn near impossible to do. Chances are you have a
Smith and Wesson or Taurus revolver; the Colts with unshrouded ejector
rods are not subject to this particular malfunction. What has hap-
pened is simple enough. Recoil and vibration have loosened your
ejector rod, and it's now projecting forward too far. Far enough
forward, and the rod will not allow you to open the cylinder. If you
have an unshrouded ejector rod on a Smith or Taurus, you can use your
fingers to screw in the rod so that it's the right length, while the
cylinder is closed. If you have a shrouded ejector rod (most magnums
are built this way), a special tool is required, and YOU probably
don't have one. You're out of action, pilgrim. Oh - another thing.
Ejector rods come in two flavors; clockwise threads and counter-
clockwise threads. You'll have to know which yours is before you
attempt to screw it in. Early Smiths have a clockwise thread (to
screw inward), and later ones have a counterclockwise thread. The
latter ones are identified by a groove in the ejector rod just behind
the knurling. And one MORE thing before I leave this subject. NEVER
attempt to use a pair of pliers to screw in that ejector rod. You
will almost certainly screw it up, and you will have a major gunsmith-
ing repair job on your hands. Use your fingers only. If you're not
comfortable doing this, take the revolver to a gunsmith after your
remedial action, and get him to apply a LITTLE Lok-Tite to the threads
on the ejector rod. Too much, and you're in trouble again. The stuff
tends to migrate and can muck things up inside your cylinder very
badly.
Take any revolver and open the cylinder. Now depress the ejector rod
and look underneath the ejector star. Do you see those two little
pins that project up and mate into the ejector star? They're tiny,
but they are important. They are put there to align the ejector
star, and with it, the ratchet against which the "hand" in the frame
of the revolver presses to rotate the cylinder. If one or both of
these little pins is missing, STOP, do not pass go, and do not collect
$200. You have a dangerous situation in which your revolver will go
out of time, start spitting lead, or worse, not allow the bullet to
exit from the misaligned cylinder. Those little pins are just three-
cent parts, but they are a press fit in the cylinder and can sometimes
work loose and fall out. When they do, you're in trouble, so take the
time to look at them, note them, and check them from time to time to
be sure they are still there.
There's more while you're looking underneath the ejector star. This
is one of the most important areas to clean on a revolver. Crud,
grease, congealed oil and unburned powder granules tend to collect in
there. When it gets bad enough, the ejector star cannot go all the
way down into its seat in the cylinder, and the result is a cylinder
which will either bind or will not close properly. Cleaning this
area is important, and is not one of those things you can do readily
in combat or another pucker scenario. When you clean your revolver,
pay particular attention to this area.
The reason many revolvers have an ejector shroud (the ejector rod is
enclosed on three sides) is not for looks or to add extra weight for
control purposes, although these are pleasant side effects. The
shroud is there to protect the ejector rod against blows which may
bend it. Once that rod is bent, there is no way to eject the empties
short of poking them out with a stick and in Smiths and Taurus revolv-
ers, you cannot lock up the cylinder properly (the front of the ejec-
tor rod is a locking point). If you have an unshrouded rod, take
extreme care to protect the rod by not banging it against anything;
the result of doing so will not be pleasant and you'll be making a
trip to your friendly neighborhood gunsmith once again. He'll appre-
ciate your business, I'm sure.
Take your unloaded revolver, close the cylinder, and without pointing
the gun at your head, look at the front of the frame where the crane
(the support for the cylinder when it's opened) mates against the
frame. In a properly-set-up revolver, you should see only a hairline
where the two parts mate. If there is a gap, you've got trouble,
because the gun will almost certainly be out of time, perhaps danger-
ously so. "Out of time" refers to the cylinder not locking up proper-
ly so that a chamber is directly in line with the barrel. The cause
for this problem is that someone, hopefully not you, has been playing
Humphrey Bogart and flipping the cylinder open and closed with a flick
of the wrist. This is a bad practice and can spring the crane;
cylinders should always be closed carefully by hand and slightly
rotated until a click is heard, indicating proper indexing of the
cylinder. The sprung-crane condition is dangerous and can only be
corrected by a good gunsmith or the factory.
Revolvers are complex mechanisms, and disassembly of the innards is
best handled by someone who really knows what he or she is doing.
Removal of the sideplate alone can be a problem for the uninitiated.
To do it properly, it should never be pried off after the retaining
screws are removed. The best method is to tap the frame in the
trigger guard area with a plastic hammer or wood stick until the
sideplate bounces up through inertia. This is as far as I would
recommend most folks disassemble their revolvers, and only for the
purpose of applying lube judiciously to the contact friction points
within once in a while. Look out - small parts can pop loose and get
lost or bent, screws can be stripped, springs can get bent; the list
of problems is endless. If you are in any way unsure of what you're
doing, DON'T take your revolver apart. Lube it by dropping a very
small amount of oil down through the opening created by the cocked
hammer, and never over-lube. Any lube in areas that contact the
primers of the cartridges can migrate into the primers and kill them
surer than heck. Remember, WD-40 is a better solvent than a lube,
and it WILL work into primers very easily. Police have been known to
clean their duty revolvers, load them, and then spray the handgun with
WD-40 and wipe it down. These same officers are then amazed when
their "reliable" revolvers go click instead of bang. Learn and live
or find out too late and die; those are the options sometimes.
THE AUTOLOADING PISTOL
The autoloading pistol has also been around since about the turn of
the century, and the design was arguably nearly perfect when John
Browning designed the immortal 1911 pistol for the U.S. armed forces.
There have been a profusion of "refinements" and "improvements" since
this event, but the basic design features of that pistol are still
with us and have not been materially improved upon.
Let's look at some of the auto's advantages first.
The main advantage, and the reason why the military has universally
adopted the autoloader, is firepower. The typical revolver holds six
rounds and is slow to reload. The autoloader typically holds seven
to 16 rounds in its magazine, and a magazine change can be done in a
couple of seconds with the right handgun.
The autoloader, because of its action, tends to soak up recoil better
than a revolver. With a heavy load like the .45 ACP, or a high-
intensity round like the 9mm Parabellum, the comfort factor cannot be
ignored. Recovery time is faster with an auto because of this.
Repeat shots can be placed faster and more accurately with an auto.
There is no need to pull through a long double-action pull, nor to
cock a hammer. The loading and cocking functions are performed by
the pistol itself. You can concentrate on that front sight and
squeezing the trigger properly, and you can do this in rapid succes-
sion.
The autoloader's barrel is not far over your hand, providing for
recoil which is closer to the axis of your arm. This means that there
is less muzzle flip than with a comparable-power revolver. This gets
you back on target quicker.
The autoloader is typically flatter than a revolver (there are some
exceptions). This allows for less bulge in concealed carry, and more
compactness when stowing the gun (for example, under the seat of a car
in those regions where this is legal).
Clearing a jam is more straightforward than with a revolver, and
depending on the jam, is usually quicker to accomplish. We've already
discussed some of the things that can go wrong with a revolver, and
most of them take time and trouble to clear. The most common jams in
an auto require only that you tap the base of the magazine to insure
proper seating, rack the slide, and continue shooting. In more
complex jams, the drill is to strip the magazine, rack the slide
twice, re-insert the mag (or a new one), rack the slide, and continue
shooting. With practice, these drills become automatic reflexes and
take but a few seconds to get back in action.
The mechanism of an autoloader is such that it may have several condi-
tions of readiness. This can be a safety factor which may hinder or
preclude your own gun being used against you. A DA revolver can be
picked up by anyone and fired. An auto may have the safety on, the
magazine removed, and/or an empty chamber. An untrained person may
have some difficulty getting it into firing mode, giving you precious
seconds or preventing a tragedy. This is particularly true if the
pistol has a magazine safety which precludes firing if the magazine is
removed or even dropped down a little.
Field stripping the typical autoloader is usually a snap. Ever since
the Model 1911 was designed, most autos have been designed for easy
disassembly to the point where routine cleaning can be accomplished
easily. The Model 1911 itself can be detail stripped to the last part
with only a little training. If your handgun has been subjected to a
mud bath or salt water immersion, this is a necessity, even if it's
made of stainless steel.
The tolerances on the typical auto are not as close as with a revolv-
er. This means that dirt and other assorted crud can be chewed up and
the pistol will still function. The 1911 design is famous for its
ability to digest crud and still work. That's why it was THE combat
pistol of our armed forces for over 70 years. The design of the auto
keeps crud out of the works when the action is closed; the revolver is
more open due to its design, and it's hard to keep dirt out of it in
combat situations.
While parts breakage in an auto does happen occasionally, most ama-
teurs can replace the parts themselves with no hand-fitting being
required. When a revolver part becomes worn, breaks or is misaligned,
the services of a trained gunsmith are almost always required.
Does the autoloader have some disadvantages? Sure. Here are some,
and they are not all-inclusive.
First, the autoloader requires that its user be trained adequately to
insure safety and proper employment. It is not readily apparent in
most autoloaders whether the gun is loaded or not. There may be a
round in the chamber, or the magazine may be full, partially empty, or
empty. Careful inspection is necessary to determine its state. It
must be remembered if the action is cocked and locked over a live
round, if there is an empty chamber, etc., etc.; if you don't use a
uniform "condition of readiness" the ensuing fumbling could get you
killed while you figure it out.
The autoloader is more ammunition-sensitive than the revolver. The
ammo must be of the proper bullet configuration and power level to
reliably function the mechanism. A bad round must be manually eject-
ed before continuing.
As in the case of the revolver, a squib load can lodge a bullet in the
barrel, but usually the action will not function to load another round
behind the lodged bullet. An unusual sound will be heard, and as in
the case of the revolver, things must be brought to a halt, the action
cleared, and the barrel inspected to be sure there is no bullet stuck
in the barrel. Loading another round into the chamber and firing it
behind a stuck bullet will most likely be injurious to your health,
big-time.
The autoloader is NOT a handgun for the novice. Most seasoned shoot-
ers can remember instances of a newbie using an auto, firing the first
shot, and then turning around, gun in hand, to ask for the approval or
comment of the coach on that first shot, unaware that the pistol has
loaded itself and only a light touch on the trigger being necessary to
fire it again. Tuck and duck time. Coaches, be SURE you tell your
students to keep that muzzle downrange, and that the gun is hot after
every shot but the last one.
The auto demands proper training to clear a jam and in recognizing a
malfunction. The proper drills have been mentioned already for about
90% of the possibilities, but other situations can and do happen.
It's wise to remember that MOST autoloader malfunctions are as a
direct result of a bad magazine, and that replacement of the mag will
most often cure the problem. One should NEVER venture into a
life-or-death situation with a magazine untested with the load in the
pistol. You want that baby to go BANG instead of click every time in
a pistol your life depends on.
OK, it's conclusion time. In essence I feel very strongly both ways
about revolvers and autos. That's not a cop-out, I can assure you.
For the occasional or novice shooter, it's the revolver every time.
It's about as user-foolproof as a device can be. Pick it up and
shoot it. 999 times out of a thousand, it will go bang if the gun is
in satisfactory condition and has not been abused. It's the handgun
of choice for maximum-power loads.
For the more seasoned and trained shooter, it's the autoloader, hands
down. It's fast to get into action, it's got a lot of firepower, it's
fast to reload, it's more comfortable to shoot, it keeps on target
easier, and it's easily taken down to maintain. Add to that the fact
that most of the jams possible with the autoloader can be cleared
quickly. A properly-maintained auto with the right ammo will be
extremely reliable, and you can bet your life on it.
I use 'em both, but if you were to lay a primo revolver in a major
caliber on the table next to a primo 1911 in .45 ACP and say to me,
"John, you can only have ONE" - well, you know how I feel. <G>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
9504C BIOGRAPH by Stephen Mandell
*BIOGRAPH *MANDELL
My bio?..Steve [Vinman] Mandell, GEnie Outdoors-RT Librarian.
How could I top that? Anything more would be anticlimactic, eh? <G>
..Upon graduation, I spent almost ten years in the great gray
corporate world shuffling papers while semi-permanently attached to a
phone. When it finally occurred to me that I wasn't going to make
board chairman by age 35, I left the major computer mainframe manufacturer
that employed me to go to work in a budding vineyard/winery operation my
father had started.
The move to the family biz could not have been a more
fortuitous one. One of the benefits of working for the family business is
that my schedule is virtually my own. This delightful perk affords me the
opportunity to be fully involved in the shooting sports. I belong to
two very active, NRA affiliated clubs, on the board of which I sit at
one. I belong to and shoot in two state level action-pistol competition
leagues: PA League Pin Shooting & PA League Steel Challenge.
..And then, there's my crowning achievement: the elevation to
RT volunteer. <VBG>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
9504D BIOGRAPH by Don Alexander
*BIOGRAPH *ALEXANDER
(Don Alexander - "Deadeye")
I've got to admit to some mixed feelings about writing about
myself for the newsletter. Laura's idea to put a bio in about
each of us who "work" in the RT was a really great idea. Well,
it was a great idea until I found out I was second in line. <g>
I'm not entirely sure what you all might be interested in reading
so I thought it might be fun to take a quick look at my life
outside of GEnie and the Outdoors RT and then cover some of my
shooting related interests and then wrap it up with what I get
out of GEnie and why I'm here.
When I'm not on GEnie or shooting you'll likely find me
working in the shop, cooking, fishing, reading, surfing the
Internet or playing with my four daughters (ages 9-16). It has
always seemed like there is never enough time to do all the
things I enjoy so I often find myself burning the candle at both
ends trying to do as much as I can.
Before moving back to Virginia in the mid 70s I spent 6
years in Pennsylvania working on an undergraduate degree in
biology and later a masters in environmental biology. It was
there I learned to fly fish for trout. About the only bad thing
I can
say about the South is, we don't have a lot of really good
trout fishing...conversely, the best thing I can say about the
North is, they do.<bg> I learned to tie flies and cast to wary
trout while in Pennsylvania and those skills travelled well. I
now live on a 22 acre lake with bass, bluegill, pickerel, crappie
and catfish. Spring time is a wonderful time to take sassy brim
over a half pound on a fly rod and most every evening after work
I will be out fishing, weather permitting.
When it comes to firearms, my interests began as a child.
My dad taught my brother and I to shoot when we were very young.
As I recall, when I was 7 or 8, dad had me shooting an old
Stevens .22 that belonged to my grandfather. I may have been
even younger. When I was about 10 or 11, dad gave me a youth
size single shot 20 gauge shotgun and after learning to safely
shoot clay pigeons, I was invited to hunt small game with "the
men." That shotgun stayed with me until I got a thumb in the eye
one day while shooting it. Dad decided I'd outgrown that shotgun
at which point I informed him I really wanted a 20 gauge O/U
Beretta with modified and full chokes and a single selective
trigger. I guess that was asking for a lot <vbg> but he found a
like new used Beretta that nearly fit the bill and I still hunt
with that gun today. From then until I left for college I shot
regularly, hunted every fall and even joined the high school
rifle team.
In college I did a bit of hunting but guns were not
encouraged on campus (to say the least) and there wasn't a lot of
time to devote to them. After college I moved back to Virginia
and started raising a family. Practicality and a wife that
didn't care for firearms put a stop to new gun purchases for a
while. One year, as hunting season rolled around, a local
retailer put a Remington M700 ADL on sale for 159.00 (am I dating
myself?) and that was all it took to get me back into shooting
and hunting again. A few weeks later while hunting on the Blue
Ridge mountains I dropped my first buck, a four pointer, with
that rifle.
The next year my wife got me a sweet little bolt action .22.
It was a Squire Bingham, made in the Philippines and it shot
pretty well. Considering myself handy, I decided to glass bed
the rifle and make this $70 jewel a match rifle. It was a
wonderful learning experience. I learned how important getting
release agent _everywhere_ is. I learned what a pot metal
trigger guard looked like...in pieces. I learned how replace an
action under the watchful eye of a real gunsmith. Eventually, I
learned that I really did have a guardian angel watching over me
(and the gun) as that gun survived my first gunsmithing attempts
and is an exceptionally accurate squirrel gun to this day.
Reloading was, or so I thought at the time, a great way to
save a few bucks. I had watched my dad reload for his rifles,
pistols and shotguns since I was in the later part of grade
school. So in the late 70's I bought a Lee target model
loading kit for my 30-06 and set about to find a load that would
shoot well. Equipped with a can of IMR 4895, 100 primers, some
military brass, a Lyman book, a box of 100 Hornaday boattail
bullets and an RCBS scale I began loading my hunting ammo.
Eventually, I added a Rockchucker press, a powder measure...and
well, the rest is history. As I noted on the RT a short while
ago, it now takes a whole room to hold the reloading equipment
I've accumulated.
Of late my shop has been occupying a lot of my time.
Originally, my interests and inclinations were oriented toward
woodworking but lately I've added metalworking to my list of
avocations. I began collecting woodworking tools about 25 years
ago and have been learning general carpentry skills and fine
woodworking ever since. The highlight of my carpentry efforts
was building my own house back in the early 80's. Actually, I
started in 1982 and finished in 1986 - it was a killer project
and when I was done I'd built a two story, 3,000 sq. ft., brick
Cape Cod style house. Of course as soon as I realized the dream,
a new job came along and I choose to sell the place move south.
Fortunately, the skills moved real well as did the many tools I
could "justify" for that project!
Working in the shop isn't everything and once in a while,
everyone has to stop and eat. When time permits, I love gourmet
cooking. Mexican and Greek cuisine are my two favorites but
there's darn little I won't eat and enjoy. My kids never know
what to expect when dad gets to cooking and sometimes I don't
either. I can successfully follow a recipe or adlib with the
food stuffs on hand. Grilling is a special favorite and if you
were to stop by around dinner time, any time of the year, there's
an excellent chance you'd find me sitting in the backyard with a
beer in one hand, a spatula in the other and a keen eye on the
grill.
I am also an avid reader and my avocation is learning how to
do things. I've heard a lot of people say they can't learn how
from a book but rather they learn from seeing. I seem to be
blessed with a gift for being able to learn to how to do things
from books as well as from watching others. For ten years I read
how to build a house before tackling that job. Likewise I've
learned car care and repair, firearms maintenance, gardening,
cooking, woodworking and umpteen other skills. Religion and
philosophy also interest me and you'd find a few shelves
dedicated to those topics. Currently I'm educating myself on
metal working and gunsmithing. Novels are not of particular
interest but authors like Robertson Davies who can wrap humor,
human insight and religion into tales of love, war and intrigue
do capture my attention occasionally.
So that brings me up to the present time. Before joining
GEnie and getting the "Deadeye" moniker (thank you Mark <g>) some
of you knew me on Prodigy as "Don in VA." That was my first
foray into a major bulletin board system. I left Prodigy and
made the jump to GEnie along with quite a few others during the
1993 exodus. Certainly the price here was attractive but two
other things were even more appealing to me; the depth of
knowledge of the participants and the freedom from censorship
that we enjoy (and now I can help assure continues).
Since coming here I've learned to cast bullets from Molly,
shoot pins from Vinman and I've added immeasurably to my
knowledge about many aspects of firearms and reloading from many
of you. It seems like there is hardly a topic that someone
doesn't have experience in that I can learn more about. It's
been personal, it's been interesting and most of all it's been
great fun.
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9504E NATIONAL SAFE BOATING AWARENESS WEEK by Kevin Shaw
*BOATING *SAFETY
Safe boating is not accomplished by accident. Across the
country, boating safety professionals work hard to make our
waterways safe to accommodate a wide range of recreation.
The job requires increasing public awareness, education, and
frequent reminders about safety and individual
responsibility.
A major part of this continuing effort is National Safe
Boating Week, sponsored by the National Safe Boating Council
in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard.
The National Safe Boating Council has announced that the 1995
National Safe Boating Awareness Week (NSBW) will be from May
20-26, 1995. This is earlier than prior years. The Council
wants to get the year's campaign message, "It Won't Work If
You Don't Wear It! Life Jackets Save Lives", out into the
boating public before the first busy outdoor recreational
boating weekend of the season (Memorial Day). This theme is
aimed at the importance of wearing personal flotation devices
(PFDs).
Another departure from tradition this year will occur with
this year's NSBW's activities. There will be three campaigns
conducted, instead of the usual one.
The first campaign will emphasize the new PFD law which
requires a wearable life jacket for all persons on boats of
all sizes. This new federal regulation will go into effect on
May 1, 1995.
The second campaign is designed as a "summer reminder" with
special emphasis on the Fourth of July. This campaign will
have as its message, PFDs and Kids. Many state laws require
youngsters to wear a life jacket when a boat is underway. The
age limit varies from about 6 to 12 years, depending upon
state law. The National Transportation Safety Board and many
national organizations recommend that youths age 12 and under
wear a life jacket even in states without a law.
The third campaign will be designed for Labor Day and autumn
on-the-water activities which many people overlook. The
emphasis will be life jacket use for hunters and fall
anglers.
Each of these three campaigns will include television and
radio public service announcements, printed news releases,
and a video news release.
In the Boating CATegory here in GEnie's Outdoors RT, please
be looking for further information and updates on National
Safe Boating Week. I will be posting regularly in the safety
topic articles on how you can make your boating experiences
out on the water a safe adventure. Please check in regularly,
and give us your own feedback, your own experiences, and your
own feelings on what should be a very important topic for all
boaters. Thank you!
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9504F NOAA HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY SHIP SCHEDULE FOR 1995 by Kevin Shaw
*BOATING *NOAA *HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEY
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is
tasked with many varied missions as one of the premier
scientific and technical agencies in the Federal Government.
One such mission is the surveying of the coast, going back to
the beginning years of our country. The "Coast Survey" was
founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1807 to find out more about
our coastline, and to survey its broad expanses to make it a
safe coast for maritime navigation and waterborne commerce.
Nowadays, NOAA, like most all of the factions of the U.S.
Government, is being subjected to downsizing and getting the
most bang for a decreasing amount of buck. During the past
several years, NOAA survey ships have been taking a pretty
big hit, with many of them being forever laid up, and taken
out of operation forever. At the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 95,
yet two more survey ships will be placed in mothballs.
With these tremendous limitations on resources, we have to
make sure we are conducting the surveys we can run in really
critical to navigation areas, where a grounding or a nonsafe
passage can seriously affect the safe delivery of important
commodities to our major ports of call throughout the U.S.
The active ships in the NOAA hydrographic survey fleet are
the NOAA SHIP RAINIER up in Alaska, the NOAA SHIP WHITING in
the southeast Atlantic, the NOAA SHIP MOUNT MITCHELL in the
Gulf of Mexico, the NOAA SHIP RUDE in the Chesapeake Bay,
the NOAA SHIP HECK in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic
and Pacific Hydrographic Parties (AHP and PHP). The RAINIER and
MOUNT MITCHELL are 200+ foot long survey vessels, the WHITING
about 175 foot, and the RUDE and HECK a bit smaller than that. The
hydrographic parties conduct surveys in shallow draft areas, using
smaller launches that can be towed to site, making them more mobile
and able to get into spots that our bigger ships would have a hard,
if not impossible time to get into.
For the upcoming 1995 season, the RAINIER will be going to
finish up some old 1994 survey work in the southern Stephens
Passage area in Southeast Alaska, then into the well known
heavily glaciated northwestern Prince William Sound area (not
too far from the spot where the infamous Exxon Valdez Oil
Spill of 1989 occurred), then winding up the season with
the approaches to Nikiski, a deep water Cook Inlet AK port,
where hazardous Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) tankers come to load
up. Numerous large boulder fields in the approaches to
Nikiski have been recently discovered, and detailed surveys
of the bottom to identify the locations of these boulder
fields in order to ensure safe navigation around them, is
critical. The ultimate goal will be for the RAINIER to
utilize side-scan sonar technology to create a safe corridor
around these boulder fields out into the deep water of the
Gulf of Alaska.
The WHITING has already been, and will continue to survey the
approaches to Savannah and Wassaw Sound, to support the safe
running of the 1996 Olympic Sailing events to be held in this
area. Some hydrographic surveys have already arrived at our
Atlantic Marine Survey Processing Center in Norfolk VA, and
will be soon headed for our Mapping and Charting Branch
headquarters in Silver Spring Maryland, where these surveys
will be used to help produce new editions of the nautical
charts of the area, which will show the newly surveyed depths
of the area, to help those Olympic sailors and all the
support personnel navigate safely and efficiently.
The MOUNT MITCHELL will finish up their ongoing project to
survey the approaches to Tampa Bay, Florida, and then
unfortunately be laid up at the end of FY 95 forever.
The HECK and the RUDE, formerly a team of two ships that had
a wire connected to both of them, hence the name "wire-drag"
vessels, are now separated as side-scan sonar has replaced
the "wire-drag" as an effective means for determining the
least depth over wrecks and obstructions. These two ships can
also do more conventional hydrographic surveying, and
determine depths of areas. They will be headed for the
Southern Chesapeake Bay to check out some bothersome wrecks
and obstructions and the safety fairway and approaches to
Galveston TX. At the conclusion of FY '95, the RUDE will be
also placed in a perpetual mothball state.
The Atlantic Hydrographic Party will be surveying the inshore
areas of Galveston Bay, Texas. The Pacific Hydrographic Party
will be surveying pretty close to our Pacific Marine Center
in Seattle WA, in selected areas of Puget Sound, WA. Areas
they will be particularly interested in include Eagle Harbor,
Cherry Point, South Puget Sound, and Shilshole Bay.
Don't forget that the ultimate product that these surveys
support is the Nautical Chart. New editions of the charts in
these areas being surveyed this coming year will be coming
out within a few years times with all these new depths added.
In the interim, if critical to safe navigation depths,
wrecks, rocks, obstructions, etc. are found, notices to
mariners will be issued to inform the boating public
immediately. For more information on notice to mariners,
chart schedules, new editions, etc., please check out the
chart topic in the Boating CAT of the Outdoors RT. Thanks!
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9504G CARRYING CONCEALED: A GROWING TREND by John Marshall
*SELF-DEFENSE *RTKBA *CONCEALED CARRY *FIREARMS LAWS
It seems that nearly everywhere you look, states are passing laws that
enable honest citizens to carry concealed weapons legally. I have
just come from a state (Texas) which booted out a governor in large
part because she went against the will of the people and the legisla-
ture to veto any notion of a concealed carry law. In her words, she
didn't want "more guns on the streets."
I guess former governor Ann Richards didn't ask Dr. Suzanna Gratia her
opinion. Suzanna (a lady I have met and talked with personally) was
in Luby's cafeteria that fateful day in Killeen when a crazed man
drove his truck through the plate glass window there and started
shooting up the place. Suzanna was there with her parents; her aged
father made a move on the killer and was shot and killed for his
efforts. Her mother rushed to his aid and was herself shot and
killed. Suzanna had reached for her purse, where she usually carried
a concealed .38 in direct defiance of the Texas law against concealed
carry. She knew that in that purse, she had the capability to put a
stop to this senseless killing. To her chagrin, she realized that she
had left her gun in the car, thinking she would not need it in a
peaceful restaurant. The crazed man went on to kill more people
before the police finally got there; he finally put a bullet through
his own head. In the aftermath of this debacle, Suzanna got fighting
mad over the state of Texas frowning on good citizens carrying fire-
arms concealed, because she knew she probably could have prevented her
parents and others from being killed that day if she had only had her
firearm. Today, in Texas, only two kinds of people carry concealed:
criminals intent on doing harm to others, and peaceable citizens
seeking to prevent this from happening. These citizens are forced to
break the law to be able to protect themselves and others from harm.
In the last state election, Anne Richards spoke against honest citi-
zens having the right to protect themselves with the best means avail-
able. George Bush, Jr. spoke out for citizens having that right, and
told everyone that if the legislature would pass a concealed carry
law, he would sign it. He won. That law is even now working its
way through the legislature for his signature.
Dr. Gary Kleck, noted criminologist in Florida, has done studies which
show that the lowest incidence of harm to a victim comes when that
intended victim has and utilizes a firearm. It beats calling 911; it
beats screaming; it beats running, it beats succumbing, it beats
fighting back with fists; and it beats fighting back with a knife. In
short, it beats any other means of thwarting a personal crime. Most
often the mere presence of the firearm defeats the criminal act with-
out a shot being fired.
In Florida, which passed a concealed carry law several years ago, the
statistics tell us that the violent crime rate went DOWN after its
passage, giving lie to the old saw that main street would turn into a
virtual OK Corral. It just didn't happen that way. Crooks now don't
have any idea whether their intended victim might indeed be fully
capable of killing THEM - a most sobering thought for them. The
scumbags of society have been put on notice that the citizenry can and
will fight back; that little old lady that might have been a mugging
victim now has the capability to put a complete and permanent stop to
any such attempt. If I were goblin, I think I would take up another
line of "work," because it's getting way too dangerous out there!
In Anniston, Alabama not long ago, a man was eating in a restaurant
when a gang of thugs came in armed and started herding employees and
patrons into the walk-in freezer; whether their intent was to kill
them in a St. Valentine's day-style massacre or simply to hold them
hostage, we don't know. You see, in Alabama, citizens may carry
concealed in accordance with the law. One of the intended victims
WAS armed with a .45, and when the smoke cleared, the score was the
good guy 3 and the bad guys zero. No innocents were killed, kid-
napped, or subjected to being held hostage. This event received
little notice in the press, as the media is evidently more intent on
ballyhooing criminal tragedies with guns rather than taking any notice
of citizens fighting back effectively with firearms.
My home state of Arizona passed a concealed carry law last year. It's
always been legal to carry openly in Arizona (unlike Texas, where even
that is prohibited except at a shooting range on within the confines
of your own property or business). I'd like to talk about the Arizo-
na law, because now I've had direct experience with it and I'd like to
share my thoughts.
First off, let's talk a bit about the "right to keep and bear arms" as
it relates to this law and others like it. Some might resent saying
"mother may I" to the state in order to do what the Constitution says
is the natural right of a free citizenry. But let's back up a
minute. The Constitution has been held to basically be a restraint on
our national government; some of the amendments in the Bill of Rights
have been "incorporated" through judicial action under the 14th amend-
ment so as to also impose restrictions on the individual states and
other political entities, and some haven't. Unfortunately, the
Second Amendment has not yet been subjected to judicial interpretation
to the point where it's considered binding on states, counties and
municipalities. That is why states, counties and cities often have
laws which fly in the face of the Second, and why they have gotten
away with it - so far. We don't have to like that, we just have to
understand it, and work towards the day when the Second will have the
same universal binding power as the First with respect to freedom of
speech.
But back to Arizona and its newly-passed law. The law was debated far
in wide in this state before it was adopted, and not everyone agrees
that it's the BEST law possible. It is, however a "will issue" law
in the sense that the Department of Public Safety MUST issue a con-
cealed carry license to any citizen of good repute who has successful-
ly proven that he or she is not a criminal, is knowledgeable of the
laws governing the use of deadly force, and is capable of handling,
firing and maintaining a firearm effectively. Of course there is a
fee for the license to cover administrative expense - whether that fee
and the charges imposed by private concerns for the course required by
law are fair and reasonable is another issue which can be debated pro
and con. But I digress. Let's look at this law.
In Arizona, it was already legal to carry concealed under certain
circumstances without a permit. You can do so in your own home, on
your business premises, and on real estate owned or leased by you.
Also, local, state and federal authorities have been and are permitted
to carry concealed in the course of their specific duties.
You could also carry partially concealed - so long as any part of the
gun or holster (and recognizable as such) was showing. For example,
the tip of a holster showing beneath a sweater would qualify, but a
fanny pack would not - the fanny pack not being recognizable univer-
sally as a holster. Citizens in Arizona may carry firearms anywhere
in a vehicle - out of sight so long as in a holster or case, or openly
on a seat with no holster or case. You can also carry a firearm in
the glove compartment or console of a car. I have had personal
experience with the benefits of this allowance; once in a lovers' lane
while in college, the fact that I had a Ruger Mark 1 .22 pistol loaded
and in my glove compartment was the saving grace that avoided my
girlfriend and I from being raked over by a truckload of drunken
wahoos. I've always loved my native state of Arizona, and this is
one of the reasons why: citizens with firearms are trusted.
As of July 17, 1994, Arizona residents can also apply for a concealed
carry permit. That permit, when obtained, must be carried whenever
you have a concealed weapon of any sort on your person, and you MUST
show it to any law enforcement officer who asks. If you don't, it's
a class 2 misdemeanor. If you have a permit but don't have it on you
and you are discovered carrying concealed, the Department of Public
Safety (DPS) is notified, and the permit is suspended. If it's sus-
pended, you must then show it to the law enforcement agency that found
you without it, or to a court. As soon as DPS has been notified that
you've presented the permit accordingly, they will restore the permit.
If you are arrested or indicted for an offense that would bar you from
a permit in the first place, after you've obtained one, the permit is
suspended and seized. If you're convicted, it will be revoked. If
found not guilty or the charges are dropped or dismissed, you can get
it back after presenting proper documentation to that effect.
One benefit of having a concealed carry permit in Arizona is that you
can bypass the Brady nonsense when you go to buy a handgun from a
dealer. No wait, no check; just cash and carry. You're blessed by
the state as being fully qualified not only to carry, but to buy
without hassle. Filling out that yellow form is all that's required.
As I mentioned, the DPS in Arizona MUST issue your CCW permit if you
meet the requirements, which are:
1. You are an Arizona resident (having a full-time job in AZ
qualifies you).
2. You are at least 21 years of age.
3. You are not under indictment for and have not been convicted of
a felony in any jurisdiction.
4. You are not mentally ill, mentally incompetent or committed.
5. You are not an illegal alien.
6. You pass a DPS-approved course. Honorably retired federal,
state or local peace officers with at least 10 years of service
do not have to take this course.
Here's the process by which you get your permit in Arizona:
First, you must register for and take the DPS-approved training pro-
gram. It is not offered by the DPS, but by private individuals or
companies (and they may - read do - charge you for it). Charges are
up to the training entity, but currently run between $50 and $150 for
the complete 16-hour course. It's possible to complete the course in
a weekend, or to spread the segments out over more time. It varies,
and lots of latitude is allowed.
The course is conducted on a pass or fail basis, and covers the fol-
lowing subjects in a manner approved by the DPS:
1. Safe handling and storage of weapons
2. Weapon care and maintenance
3. Legal issues about the use of deadly force
4. Mental conditioning for the use of deadly force
5. Marksmanship
6. Judgmental shooting
In greater detail, here's what's covered in a typical course:
Familiarization instruction on loading, unloading and handling single
action revolvers, double action revolvers, and single, double and
selective action semiauto pistols.
Choices available for handling comfort, ease of carry, stopping power,
controllability and holstering options.
Safety rules, locking devices, gun safes, storing ammo, and training
household members to be safe around firearms.
Extensive coverage of liquor laws, criminal law, justification, re-
sponsibility, assault, kidnapping, trespass and burglar, public order,
weapons and explosives, etc.
Shooting techniques - including the isosceles stance, Weaver stance,
modified Weaver stance, one and two-handed grip options, sight align-
ment, sight picture, target identification, trigger control, etc.
Shoot/don't shoot situations. Avoiding conflict and control of the
muzzle and trigger of the weapon.
Behavior when encountering a law enforcement officer, declaring the
CCW, approaching law officers during pucker situations, and responsi-
bilities for reporting shooting incidents whether anyone was shot or
not.
Mental conditioning for use of deadly force, including conditions,
white, yellow, orange, and red modes of awareness, stress and post-
shooting trauma.
Gun cleaning and maintenance, unloading, field stripping, lubrication
and safety checks.
A written 10-question test, passed or failed based on a 70% "right"
rate.
A ten-round marksmanship qualification, fired on an NRA TQ15 (silhou-
ette), where the secondary scoring ring is not greater than 14" by
16". There is no time limit. 5 shots are fired at 10 yards, and 5
shots are fired at 5 yards. Any handgun may be used, and any standing
unsupported position may be used. Shots outside the outer ring are
not counted as hits; you must have 7 of the 10 rounds inside the outer
ring. There's no particular challenge in this if you have fired a
handgun much; I personally recommend trying it with a double-action
center-fire snubby with full-house ammo in rapid-fire mode for more of
a test of your ability. Otherwise, it's a snap. Few fail.
Once your course and qualification shooting have been completed and
certified, you must submit the following to DPS by mail with a certi-
fied check or money order for $50:
1. The CCW application form. The form requires your name, address,
social security number, driver's license number and state, home and
business telephone numbers, race/origin, sex, height, weight, eye and
hair color, and date and place of birth. There are boxes to check
indicating type of permit (new, renewal or trainer), and to confirm
that you are an eligible applicant with no prior felonies, and a place
for your signature and the date. You don't have to identify the
firearm or firearms you will carry; the permit will be good for any-
thing and any number you wish to carry. If you lie on the form, it's
a class 4 felony.
2. A certificate of course completion completed by the trainer; this
is on the back of the application.
3. Although the law requires two sets of fingerprints on cards, the
DPS is asking for only one, and this is the current mode - the finger-
print cards can be done by law enforcement agencies or other entities
equipped to do it properly.
Once these items are sent in to the DPS, you wait. Some have re-
ceived their permit cards in about a week; the law requires that it be
done in under 75 days. The DPS has a policy of processing the appli-
cations as soon as possible, and I think they do that fairly well.
When received, your permit is good for 4 years; it must then be re-
newed in a procedure that requires a refresher course and another fee.
Neither the content of the refresher course or the fee have yet been
determined because the first ones won't be due until the year 1998.
There are places you can't carry concealed even though you have a
permit, including places where liquor is served, schools, polling
places, airport passenger loading areas, federal facilities, and
posted premises. These are not all-inclusive or definitive places,
but it gives you an idea that you still do not have carte blanche to
carry concealed under any and all circumstances.
All in all, I think Arizona has done a fairly good job of crafting a
law which will permit citizens with clean records, good training and
some ability to defend themselves, if necessary, with a concealed
weapon. I think the training is a good idea; somewhat laborious if
you already know how to handle firearms safely and effectively, but
very worthwhile from the legal knowledge standpoint. At least there
is some assurance that those who go legally armed in a concealed mode
have a uniform minimum level of training. I can't knock that. The
attitude of the DPS and law enforcement officers I've talked to in
Arizona is one of acceptance and/or encouragement. They know that an
armed citizen can be their best friend, and they don't worry about us
much; they'd rather concentrate on the crooks. That's enlightened,
and I'm delighted to be back home in a state which looks with great
favor on the armed citizen as an essential element in deterring crime.
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9504H RV ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS: BOOK REVIEW by Anne B. Watson
*RV *ELECTRICAL *BOOK REVIEW
A motorhome or trailer may meet the qualification of a second home
according to the IRS but its electrical suppy is much more complicated.
So, when I saw "RV Electrical Systems" by Bill and Jan Moeller at the
library I figured this is a book I definitely want to read.
The subtitle, "A basic guide to Troubleshooting, Repair and
Improvement" is a definite understatement of all the information that
Bill and Jan have researched, tried out and included in this 265 page
softback book.
They have included charts, recommended suppliers, wiring diagrams and
tips for updating the different parts that make up an RV or trailer
electrical supply.
The book is divided into 2 basic sections: 12 volt and 110. These
two sections must interact and compliment each other, so that one
night the electrical componets will work while hooked up in a RV park
and then the next night one can use these same components while
spending the night in the middle of nowhere.
They explain solor systems, which eliminate the need for a noisy
generator and how to determine just how much solar power is needed.
Since they are full time RVers, the concepts that they detail have the
ring of truth. The ideas have been tried out.
There is a short section in the back that goes into the details of
trailer brakes.
Overall this is an excellent book with more detail than most RVers
will ever use, but with enough detail that any every RVer needs to
know if he is going to keep all those little electrical gadgets
working.
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9504I RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS: NRA NEWS by the NRA staff
*RKBA *SECOND AMENDMENT *LEGISLATION *NRA
Initial Evaluation of University of Maryland/CDC
Study of State Right to Carry Laws(1)
by Paul H. Blackman, Ph.D.
(March 17, 1995)
This study is being rushed into the public debate before
publication in a "peer reviewed" journal(2) in an effort to
influence decision making. The title is misleading: Since
Florida's homicide rate has been falling dramatically since
adopting right-to-carry legislation, the study looks only at three
counties within the state, at one county in Mississippi, and at
three counties in Oregon.(3)
The study is by the same research group which studied a
handgun ban in Washington,(4) D.C., and pretended they had shown a
dramatic decrease in homicide, even as Washington's homicide rate
first inched upward, declined slightly in response to a mandatory-
penalty provision, and finally skyrocketed to set national records
for big-city homicide rates. That study established the
researchers' anti-gun bona fides for the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), which is thus funding this study. It
uses the same discredited(5) methodology employed in their earlier
study, one which is unable to isolate or test various other factors
which might lead to changes in homicide trends (demographic
changes, sentencing and other legislative changes, trends in drug
trafficking, etc.). Having proven to their own and the CDC's
satisfaction that D.C.'s handgun ban reduced homicide even as the
homicide rate tripled, the same authors now assert that right-to-
carry legislation increases homicide even though the states
adopting it have homicide rates which are defying the dramatic
national murder-rate increase.
The only thing that the methodology used in this research can
show is whether there was a temporary or permanent, sharp or
gradual, change in a measured item -- in this case, homicide, as
all other violent crime is ignored -- at a given point in time;
testing different points of time will often lead to various other
time frames similarly indicating changes, whether there was any
explanation for the change or not. The methodology cannot,
however, explain why a change occurred, or which of a variety of
factors explained it; it is pure post hoc ergo propter hoc even
though there may have been nothing happening to prompt the change.
By averaging homicides or homicide rates for a long period of
time -- nearly 15 years for two Florida counties and over that for
the Mississippi and Oregon counties -- prior to adoption of the
law, impacts of the carry reform are disguised by relatively low
homicide rates in the early '70s and the early '80s; worse, the
authors changed the time frame used for Miami -- adopting a 1983
rather than an 1973 starting point. If they used the same time
frame, it would have appeared that Miami's homicide rate had
declined sharply,(6) using the pre-law averaging method they like
to report. They thus excluded some high homicide rate years which
would make the post-law period seem a decline. The use of long
pre-law time periods can obscure high homicide rates in years
immediately before right-to-carry reform. The study used only
three Florida counties, representing one-fourth of the state's
population, one Mississippi county, representing one-tenth of the
population, and three Oregon counties, representing over 40% of the
state's population and where even their study showed a decline in
homicide. The authors noted a 21% homicide rate decline in Florida
by 1992, the end-point for their research.(7)
The research uses National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)
data on "homicide" instead of FBI data on "murder and nonnegligent
manslaughter." The major difference is that some civilian
justifiable/self-defense homicides are excluded from FBI data but
self-defense and justifiable homicides by civilians are normally
included in NCHS data. In D.C., the difference was enough so that
applying their methodology to FBI data failed to show the pretended
decline the NCHS data showed, hinting that only non-criminal
homicides were prevented by the handgun ban. Similar use of the
wrong data here could disguise more defensive gun homicides.
More importantly, the study utterly ignores the fact that the
law affects only carrying of handguns in public, not possession.
There were no data reported on homicides involving persons with
carry permits -- presumably because there were no such criminal
homicides. The authors hypothesized that criminals might increase
unlawful carrying where law-abiding people are allowed to carry,
but presented no data or citation to any other study to support the
hypothesis. The study also ignored the location of homicides. In
a previous study of Detroit in which the same authors were
involved,(8) the authors at least acknowledged that one would have
to look at circumstances where carrying was involved in order to
evaluate the change -- and in that study nearly half of the
homicides were indoors, where carrying either with or without a
permit was largely irrelevant.
The authors separated gun-related from non-gun-related
homicides, ignoring the distinction between handguns, subject to
liberalized carry laws, and other firearms, and found greater
increase in gun than non-gun homicide, just as their D.C. study
found a greater decrease in gun than non-gun homicides.
Criminologically, firearms crime leads homicide trends, either
upward or downward, since such fluctuations are normally
indications of crime trends among active criminals, who are more
apt to use firearms. Thus, unsurprisingly, the sharp drop in
Florida's homicide rate since adopting its right-to-carry law was
faster for gun- than for non-gun-related homicides.
Disingenuously, the lead author has asserted that a possible
reason for Portland's decline in homicide is that, while adopting
right-to-carry, it also toughened its waiting period provision.
But Prof. McDowall has, using the same methodology, concluded that
"waiting periods have no influence on either gun homicides or gun
suicides."(9)
Incredibly, the authors suggest that laws against carrying in
public are "easy to enforce and they do not inconvenience most gun
owners." Easy enforcement may be relatively true of laws
regulating licensed firearms manufacturers, importers, dealers, and
distributors, and enforcement of carrying in public may be easier
than enforcement of possession bans in the home. But concealed
carry laws are very difficult to enforce without violating Fourth
Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.(10)
In short, the study ignores that lawful carrying is apparently
involved in none of the criminal homicides reported, it uses
unrepresentative and small segments of three states' populations,
it uses carefully selected time frames, it uses a discredited
methodology which makes it impossible to isolate possible causal
factors for trends, it uses data which counts criminal and self-
defense homicides as equally bad, and it sloughs over the fact that
the homicide trend nationally was increasing while dropping in two
of the three states allegedly studied, and rising minimally in
Mississippi.(11)
----------------------------
(1) David McDowall, Colin Loftin, and Brian Wiersema. Easing
Conceal Firearm Laws: Effects on Homicide in Three States.
Violence Research Group Discussion Paper 15. College Park, Md.:
University of Maryland, January 1995.
(2) The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology is to publish the
study this summer, in a symposium of "gun control" papers edited by
David McDowall, lead author of the paper.
(3) Indeed, they only wanted to look at one county, Multnomah,
containing Portland, but found too few homicides and so expanded to
three counties, all described to the news media as "Portland."
(4) Colin Loftin, et al. Effects of Restrictive Licensing of
Handguns on Homicide and Suicide in the District of Columbia. New
England Journal of Medicine 325:1615-1620 (1991).
(5) Gary Kleck, Chester L. Britt, and David J. Bordua. The Emperor
Has No Clothes: Using Interrupted Time Series Design to Evaluate
Social Policy Impact. Paper delivered at the annual meeting of the
American Society of Criminology, Phoenix, 1993.
(6) "Except in Miami, we studied the period between January 1973
and December 1992 (240 months). Miami homicides increased sharply
in May 1980, following an influx of refugees from Cuba. Miami's
monthly homicide totals appeared to stabilize by late 1982, and we
thus analyzed the period from January 1983 through December 1992
(120 months)."
(7) Through 1993, the handgun-related homicide rate in Florida had
fallen some 29% in Florida while rising 50% nationally.
(8) Patrick O'Carroll, et al. Preventing Homicide: An Evaluation
of the Efficacy of a Detroit Gun Ordinance. American Journal of
Public Health 81:576-581 (1991).
(9) David McDowall. Preventive Effects of Firearm Regulations on
Injury Mortality. Paper delivered at the annual meeting of the
American Society of Criminology, Phoenix, Arizona, 1993.
(10) Paul Bendis and Steven Balkin. A Look at Gun Control
Enforcement. Journal of Police Science and Administration 7:439-
448 (1979); and J. Star. Why the gun law doesn't work. Chicago
27:128-131+ (February 1978).
(11) FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Crime in the United States, 1987,
1989, 1990, and 1993. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing
Office, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994.
*****
MARCH 17, 1995
THE FOLLOWING LETTER WAS DELIVERED TO THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION
THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1995 IN RESPONSE TO ONE OF SEVERAL RECENT
EDITORIALS ATTACKING THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS AND THE
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA.
NRA MEMBERS ARE URGED TO CONTACT THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION'S
EDITORIAL BOARD AND COURTEOUSLY INQUIRE AS TO WHY THEY SEEM
UNWILLING TO PRINT MRS. METAKA'S LETTER. PLEASE ASK THEM TO
PRINT THIS LETTER IN ITS ENTIRETY.
----------------------------------------------------------------
March 8, 1995
Cynthia Tucker
Editorial Page Editor
Atlanta Constitution
72 Marietta St., N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-2804
(404-526-5084)
Dear Ms. Tucker:
The foundation of American democracy really is the Constitution,
so perhaps you'd set aside your utter hatred of the law-abiding
American gun owner long enough to reconsider that document
("NRA's Tenuous Grip on Reality" March 5) and what it
guarantees -- even to peaceable Americans who choose to keep and
bear arms.
Take the right to be secure in our homes. This past summer,
fifteen to twenty armed men (IRS and BATF agents) burst into the
rural Pennsylvania home of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lamplugh. The
family cooperated -- opening safes, handing over papers -- but
cooperation did not cool the intruders' wrath. One held a
machine gun in their faces. Another uttered a racial slur. One
emptied vial after vial of cancer medicine, crushed it on the
bathroom floor and confiscated cancer treatment records.
Another stomped a pet cat to death. The Lamplughs are gun show
promoters. BATF's purpose here seems clear: reduce or eliminate
lawful commerce in a lawful product through intimidation, if not
blatant terrorism. Your basic editorial equation is fewer guns
and gun owners equal less crime, a theory struck down by decades
of research. Yet, it must be gratifying to learn that, when your
theory is translated into action, federal agents rough-up cancer
patients.
Remember the Fourth Amendment? Monique Montgomery doesn't. All
the St. Louis woman remembers is four masked men breaking into
her bedroom at four in the morning. The glaring lights and the
timing of the hit were meant to maximize Monique's disorientation
as she woke from a deep sleep. She accessed a gun for self-
defense, but the intruders -- BATF agents -- already had their
guns drawn and shot her four times. In covering this government
assault on an innocent woman, the St. Louis Dispatch wondered
editorially whether BATF learned any lessons in patience from the
debacle In Waco. The Atlanta Constitution wonders whether NRA
leadership, aghast at such outrages, has "lost touch with
reality."
Finally, consider effective crime control. You state, "The Brady
Law" (you should refer to it as the Brady Act, by the way) is
"cracking down on bad guys." Since when does one crack down on
criminals by telling them "no?" And that's what Brady does. It
says no, usually to the good guys. That's why the NRA-backed
Instant-Check is better. With it, authorities can effect an
arrest. Denial means nothing. Arrest means no.
In the ad you criticize, the National Rifle Association called
upon the Clinton Administration to (1) regain control of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; (2) expose and prosecute
those guilty of civil rights abuses and (3) institute strict
policies that honor the Bill of Rights. That prescription is
indicated by the facts. It's that prescription you oppose. Who
has really lost touch with reality?
With nearly an editorial a day on Second Amendment issues, odds
are you'd get it right at least once. But you've defied the
odds.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Tanya K. Metaksa
Executive Director
*****
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information,
March 17, 1995 call: NRA Public Affairs
703-267-3820
Freedom :1, Feinstein: 0
NRA Reponds to Senator Diane Feinstein
Washington, D.C. -- "It's the pursuit of freedom and the process
of democracy that troubles Diane Feinstein." That's the reaction
of the National Rifle Association of America to comments today by
Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.).
"Law-abiding American gun owners made it clear in Election '94 that
the Clinton Gun Ban is bad public policy, a constitutional outrage
and a wrong-headed answer to the problem of crime," said Mrs. Tanya
K. Metaksa, Executive Director, NRA Institute for Legislative
Action.
"We have a voice, and the Congress is listening. If Diane
Feinstein has a problem with that, she has a problem with
democracy."
Mrs. Metaksa noted that NRA has long been public about opposing gun
prohibition, especially the Clinton gun ban, and equally vocal
about working for repeal. "What has changed is not the NRA. What
has changed is the craftiness of politicians bent on wholesale gun
confiscation."
Mrs. Metaksa was referring to comments made by Senator Feinstein on
CBS "60 Minutes" (February 5, 1995):
"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United
States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, Mr.
And Mrs. America turn them all in, I would have done it. I
could not do that. The votes werenþt there."
"And the votes weren't there either on November 8, as gun ban
zealots lost reelection bid after reelection bid. But the votes
were there -- and will continue to be there -- for the agenda of
freedom."
Mrs. Metaksa applauded a recent letter by Senator Bob Dole in which
he pledged his continuing support for the Second Amendment rights
of law-abiding citizens and his support for a repeal of the Clinton
Gun Ban.
*****
March 17, 1995
NRA Range Department Sponsors "Get Ahead on Lead" Conferences
The NRA Range Department, will be presenting a conference and
workshop called "Get Ahead on Lead". The conference will be related
to metallic bullet lead and lead shot common to indoor and/or outdoor
firearm facilities.
The Environmental Lead Issue is confusing to say the least. This
conference will address questions and concerns regarding lead on your
range. The proper procedure for cleaning your range, transporting
lead from your range, responsibility for educating the users and
workers of your facility, and possible lead ingestion are just a few
of the areas of concerns to be addressed.
The conference will be presented by NRA Technical Specialist, Robert
N. Pemberton, Sr., AAS, BS, MA, MS. The training outline covers
topics such as OSHA's Lead Standard for General Industry,
Definitions, Health Effects of Lead and Methods of Compliance , Time
Weighted Average and Exposure Monitoring, Requirements when Action
Level is met or exceeded, Blood Lead Levels, Respiratory Protection
and Protective Clothing and Equipment, Medical Surveillance and
Medical Removal, and a great deal more.
The cost for the conference is $145.00 per participant and includes a
presentation workbook, a Lead Compliance Program (where you can
simply fill in the name of your facility and put it to use), and a
Certificate of Achievement.
Dates & Locations:
April 29, 1995 - Rangemaster Firearm Training Center
Houston, Texas
May 13, 1995 - Cincinnati Revolver Club
Cincinnati, Ohio
July 15, 1995 - Memphis Sport Shooting Association, Inc.
Memphis, Tennessee
To register, please contact Chris Kettelle at (703) 267-1417.
*****
185 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 212 696 1342
Telefax 212-545-0446
March 15, 1995
Robert L. Bartley, Editor
Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
Re: Associated Press story, about
Maryland University report,
relaxed guns laws increase homicides
Dear Mr. Bartley:
An Associated Press story, distributed today or
yesterday, and which appears to be receiving much interest,
says that a report from a Maryland University Violence
Research Group shows that since concealed carry gun laws
were relaxed, gun homicides have gone up in Florida, in
Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa, and in Jackson, Mississippi.
They declined in Portland, Oregon.
The Maryland folk are in effect saying _post hoc ergo
prompter hoc_--what comes after is caused by what came
before. But that's a fallacy. _Unless_ the shooters were
persons who _received carry licenses under the liberalized
controls_, there can be no causal nexus between the loosened
gun laws and increased homicide and the report is
meaningless. But there were no data on homicides by
licensees--perhaps because there were none.
Second, unacceptable selectivity was exercised in
picking the before-and-after periods that were compared.
This skewed the result. For instance, the researchers went
back to 1973 for the "before" in all the cities except
Miami, where they only went back to 1983. Had they gone
back to 1973 for Miami too, they would have found a
decrease, not an increase, in homicides after the Florida
gun law changed. Of course, this would have ruined their
conclusions.
Finally, since the Florida gun law was liberalized in
1987 over 260,000 concealed carry licenses have been issued.
Since then through the end of 1993 (I don't think the 1994
FBI figures are out yet) the overall state homicide rate
dropped 22% while it went up 15% nationally. The firearms
homicide rate for the whole state went down 29%. This
suggests that specific conditions in Jacksonville and Tampa
account for those increases, not gun law changes.
In short, the Maryland study is a doubtful proposition.
I am reminded of the Seattle/Vancouver report of a few years
ago, noting that Vancouver's homicide rate was much lower
than Seattle's and assigning the cause as Canada's tighter
gun laws. That study failed to say that the homicide rate
for whites in Seattle was a little lower than in Vancouver--
it was the minority populations in Seattle that pushed up
the average. But if strict handgun laws kept down homicide
rates then the Vancouver white rate should have been lower
than the Seattle white rate. It wasn't.
Even the people too many journalists think of as the
good guys on this issue like to play games with statistics.
In this case, however, the game amounts to one of
intellectual dishonesty.
Very truly yours,
(signed)
Mark K. Benenson
President
NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR FIREARMS EDUCATION
185 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 212 696 1342
Telefax 212-545-0446
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chairman
R.L. Wilson has written over 25 books on collectors'
firearms and their users, including most recently _Theodore
Roosevelt-Outdoorsman_ (Trophy Room Books, 1994) and _The
Peacemakers: Arms and Adventure in the American West_
(Random House, 1992).
President
Mark K. Benenson was successively general secretary,
chairman, vice-chairman of, and counsel to, the United
States brance of Amnesty International, 1966-1980. The
organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.
Secretary and Treasurer
Leslie D. Line was editor of _Audubon Magazine_ 1965-1991.
Directors-at-Large
Roy Innis is chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality.
Michael V. Korda is a novelist and editor.
*****
March 15, 1995
Dear National Rifle Association Member,
You have spent uncountable hours writing letters, making
telephone calls, sending faxes, and your efforts have made a
difference. The tide which was sweeping away our freedoms is
turning, because of you.
Now, NRA presents a unique opportunity to take your activism
to a higher plane. On April 2-4, NRA will co-sponsor the Second
Amendment: Right Under Fire? Conference, and I am encouraging
every NRA Member to attend this important national forum on
freedom and the Second Amendment. You should consider this
conference to be your graduate school for Second Amendment
advocacy.
This is your opportunity to learn from Second Amendment
scholars, medical experts, prominent journalists and contenders
for the U.S. Presidency. You will witness top-flight discussions
on topics ranging from the history of the Second Amendment to gun
ownership and public health. You will hone your understanding of
all aspects of the right to keep and bear arms and develop your
skills in defending this right.
This conference is being held for every American dedicated
to the preservation of liberty, so that you can continue into
1995 and 1996 the work you began in 1994. I hope you will be
able to attend.
Sincerely,
Tanya K. Metaksa
----------------------------------------------------------------
Second Amendment: Right Under Fire? Conference
Ramada Renaissance Techworld
999 9th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001
April 2-4, 1995
Registration Fees:
Single Attendee: $ 395.00
Spouse accompanying attendee: $ 195.00
Student: $ 40.00
Groups of 10 or more: $ 40.00 each
Simply complete the attached registration form and return it
no later than March 22, 1995 via FAX to (703) 267-3980.
Please refer all inquiries to Rich Cooper at (703) 750-3934.
Your fee includes Sunday night's reception, continental
breakfasts and lunches Monday and Tuesday, Monday dinner and all
associated conference materials. Rooms have been reserved at the
Ramada Renaissance at special rates. For reservations call the
hotel at (800) 228-9898.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Second Amendment: Right Under Fire? Conference
REGISTRATION FORM
(Please type or print)
NAME ____________________________________________________________
SPOUSE (if attending)____________________________________________
ORGANIZATION ____________________________________________________
ADDRESS _________________________________________________________
CITY ___________________________ STATE _______ ZIP ____________
PHONE __________________________ FAX ___________________________
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEE (Please check one)
_____ $395.00 Single Attendee
_____ $590.00 Single Attendee with Spouse
_____ $40.00 Student Rate (Please provide photocopy of
current student ID)
_____ Group Rate (Please attach list with names of members of
group and their telephone numbers):
$40.00 x ______ # in group (minimum 10)
Total $ ______ (minimum $400.00)
METHOD OF PAYMENT (Please check one)
_____ Discover _____ VISA/M.Card _____ American Express
Card# _____________________________________
Expiration Date ___/___
Signature_______________________________________________________
Please call Rich Cooper at (703) 750-3934 with questions.
*****
The following letter concerning Florida's "Right to Carry Law" from
Florida's Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
(FDLE) was distributed on official Department letterhead to Florida
officials.
March 15, 1995
MEMORANDUM
TO: Office of the Governor
Office of the Attorney General
Office of the Secretary of State
FROM: Commissioner James T. Moore
SUBJECT: Florida's Concealed Weapons Program
Over the past several months this department has received numerous
inquiries from media in several states regarding Florida's
Concealed Weapons Program. Recently, the frequency of the calls
has increased as bills are introduced in the various legislative
assemblies which are considering concealed firearms laws. The vast
majority of the media questions deal with the impact of Florida's
Concealed Weapons program on crime in the state. It appears that
sponsors and/or proponents of the proposed bills are representing
that Florida's program is responsible for the recent downturn in
Florida's overall crime rate.
Given the continuing interest in this issue, it is likely many of
us will continue to receive calls from the media. Accordingly,
following is a brief summary, in general terms, of this
department's responses to questions regarding Florida's experience
with concealed weapons permitting and its impact on crime. These
responses were coordinated with the Office of the Secretary of
State.
1. From a law enforcement perspective, the licensing process
has not resulted in problems in the community from people arming
themselves with concealed weapons. The strict provisions of
790.06, Florida Statutes, preclude the licensing of convicted
felons, etc., thus allowing the permitting of law abiding citizens
who do not routinely commit crimes or otherwise violate the law.
2. Since the program's inception October 1, 1987, through
January 31, 1995, a total of 266,710 permits have been issued.
During that same time period, 470 permits have been revoked. Of
that number, 242 revocations were for crimes committed by the
licensee after issuance, 19 of which involved the use of a firearm.
3. No formula exists which is capable of establishing a link
between the existence of Florida's Concealed Weapons Program to any
increases or decreases in crime in the state. We will not
speculate regarding various perceptions which suggest the law is
directly tied to any upturn or downturn in crime.
NRA-ILA FAX NETWORK
11250 Waples Mill Road * Fairfax, VA 22030
Vol. 2, No. 12Phone: 1-800-392-8683 * Fax: 703-267-3918 3/17/95
SECOND AMENDMENT HEARINGS SCHEDULED IN U.S. HOUSE
To punctuate (with an exclamation point) the end of Rep.
Charles Schumer's (D-NY) "reign of terror" in the U.S. House
Subcommittee on Crime, sub-committee Chairman Rep. Bill McCollum
(R-FL), in support of the Firearms Legislation Task Force chaired
by Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), has announced three hearings on gun laws
designed to pave the way for repeal of President Clinton's gun
ban. The first hearing, scheduled for March 31, will discuss the
inalienable right to self-defense. On April 5, the Committee
will explore and reaffirm the true meaning of the Second
Amendment. And finally, in the first week in May, Committee
members will hear testimony on the need to enforce existing gun
laws. Members should contact their U.S. Representatives and
encourage them to testify before the subcommittee in support of
Rep. McCollum's and the Firearms Legislation Task Force's
recommendations. Urge your lawmakers to stress the importance of
protecting the civil liberties of law-abiding gun owners!
U.S. CONSTITUTION -- LEAVE IT ALONE! For many years, a
number of governors and state legislators have been calling for a
Conference of the States to, among other things, host a
convention to re-examine the U.S. Constitution. Currently, there
isn't sufficient support for this constitutional convention to
take place. NRA is and has been opposed to the Conference of the
States and its call for a constitutional convention for some
time, and believes that the law of our land does not need
rewriting. Stay tuned!
A LOOK AT THE STATES:
Georgia: Huge victory for gun owners!
The State Senate passed SB 58, a bill containing NRA-supported
state firearms preemption and instant check language. Passage of
SB 58 repeals 10 local waiting periods and ends the Brady Act
waiting period in Georgia. Despite a daily barrage of anti-gun
editorials by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, SB 58 is now on
its way to Gov. Miller for his promised signature!
Illinois: HB 568, NRA-supported firearms preemption, passed out
of the House Agriculture & Conservation Committee and will soon
be voted on by the full House. Members should contact their
State Representatives and urge them to support HB 568.
Kansas: The House Federal & State Affairs Committee passed HB
2541, NRA-backed state firearms preemption legislation, and it
now joins HB 2420, NRA-supported right to carry legislation, on
the House floor. HB 2420 will be voted by the House on Monday.
Members should contact their State Representatives at (913) 296-
0111 and urge them to support HB 2420 & HB 2541.
Minnesota: On Thursday, March 23, the House Local Government &
Metropolitan Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on House File
1227, NRA-backed shooting range protection legislation. Members
are encouraged to attend Tuesday's hearing at 12:30 p.m. in Room
200 of the State Office Building in St. Paul and to contact their
State Representatives in support of House File 1227.
Nevada: A resolution encouraging schools to adopt the Eddie Eagle
Elementary Gun Safety Education Program is scheduled to be signed
by legislative leadership next week.
Ohio: On Wednesday, March 22, the Senate Judiciary Committee will
hold hearings on SB 68, right to carry legislation. NRA is
working with the bill's sponsor to amend it so that it best
protects your fundamental right to self-defense. Members are
encouraged to attend Wednesday's hearing at 10:00 a.m. in the
North Hearing Room of the Senate Building in Columbus and to
contact their State Senators in support of SB 68.
Oklahoma: HB 1374, right to carry legislation, passed the House
and now moves to the Senate for consideration. Another NRA-
backed right to carry bill, SB 3, has passed the Senate and is
pending in the House Rules Committee. Members should contact
their State Representatives and urge them to support SB 3.
Texas: The Senate has passed SB 60, right to carry legislation,
and the bill now moves to the House for consideration.
Meanwhile, the House Public Safety Committee will hold a hearing
on the House version of a right to carry bill on Tuesday, March
21. Members are encouraged to attend Tuesday's hearing at 4:00
p.m. in Room 030 on Level 2 of the Capitol Extension. NRA
supports both bills with modifications to best protect the rights
of all law-abiding Texans.
Washington: Bills calling for a rollback of restrictions on FFLs,
reducing fees for carry licenses and repealing the ban on open
carry, passed the House and were referred to the Senate Law &
Justice Committee. Members should contact their State Senators
and urge them to support these critical reforms.
Special Federal Alert for West Virginia: Pro-gun U.S.
Representative Bob Wise is taking quite a beating from the
Charleston Gazette for his public support for repealing President
Clinton's gun ban. WV members should write the Gazette and voice
support for Rep. Wise's commitment to our freedoms! For helpful
tips on crafting these letters, please call 1-800-392-8683.
Wisconsin: The Assembly's Criminal Justice & Corrections
Committee will vote on AB 69, the NRA-backed state firearms
preemption bill, next week. Meanwhile, the Senate's State
Government Operations & Corrections Committee will hold a hearing
on SB 85, the Senate version of NRA-supported preemption, on
Wednesday, March 22. Members are encouraged to attend
Wednesday's hearing at 1:30 p.m. in Room 421 South at the State
Capitol and to call their legislators and urge them to support AB
69 and SB 85!
*****
(Editor's note:) In New Mexico, Senate Bill 222, NRA-supported,
passed out of the NM Senate Friday March 11, and was to be voted
on by the House Judiciary Committee March 13. If passed, it was to
be sent to the House Finance Committee. New Mexico Residents may
call their state representatives at (505) 986-4300 to support this
right-to-carry-concealed bill.
*****
RESERVE YOUR SEAT AT THE 1995 SECOND AMENDMENT CONFERENCE:
We're three weeks away from the history-making "Second Amendment:
Right Under Fire?" conference -- and we want you to be a part of
it! Scheduled for April 2-4 in Washington, D.C., this conference
will cover all aspects of the Second Amendment, and will feature
prominent speakers including Presidential candidates Senators
Phil Gramm and Bob Dole. The $395.00 registration fee covers
receptions, meals, and meeting materials. We have several
discounted packages as well: spouses may attend for $195.00,
students and groups of 10 or more for $40.00 per person. To
reserve your spot at this unprecedented event, please call Tom
Hodgkins at 1-800-392-8683.
*****
UNITED STATES SENATE
OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY LEADER
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20510
March 10, 1995
Mrs. Tanya Metaksa
Executive Director
National Rifle Association
Institute for Legislative Action
11250 Waples Mill Road
Fairfax, Va 22030
Dear Tanya:
I appreciate you stopping by last week for a discussion of firearms
issues in the 104th Congress. The long-standing trust and support of
those who value their right to keep and bear arms has been one of my
strongest assets throughout my public service. I appreciate your
advice and counsel on issues of mutual concern.
In my view, vigorous protection of the individual freedoms secured by
the Bill of Rights -- including the Second Amendment -- is crucial to
our nation's future. It should go without saying that as long as I
am Senate Majority Leader, I will continue to do everything within my
power to prevent passage of anti-Second Amendment legislation in the
Senate.
Repealing the ill-conceived gun ban passed as part of President
Clinton's crime bill last year is one of my legislative priorities.
The Senate will debate this issue in the near future, and I hope to
have a bill on the President's desk by this summer. President
Clinton has said he will oppose repealing this measure, an indication
of one of our many differences. I voted against the gun ban in 1994,
and I will vote to repeal it in 1995.
Experience, and I might add common sense, has taught me that because
criminals don't obey the law, gun control will only limit those who
do. It may be old fashioned, but keeping criminals behind bars still
seems the most effective approach in fighting crime. Gun control is
a completely ineffective approach to the lack of safety and security
in our communities. Disarming law- abiding citizens only places them
at the mercy of those who break the law.
Again, I enjoyed our visit and look forward to continuing to work
with you and the membership of the National Rifle Association on the
concerns we share.
Sincerely,
BOB DOLE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
9504J EDITORIAL by John Marshall
*EDITORIAL *RKBA *LEGISLATION
My message to you all this month is "Keep up the pressure." There are
a few politicians who still did not get the message that an aroused
electorate sent to them last November - we want the government to back
off from restricting honest citizens in their right to keep and bear arms,
and we want our country back. We want it back NOW.
As this is written, both the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority
Leader have written for all to see that they support the right to keep and
bear arms, and will work to repeal the unwarranted and unconstitutional
ban on so-called semiautomatic assault weapons. The ban in the bill which
became a crime was enacted under specious circumstances by the narrowest
of margins in the last liberal-controlled Congress. In their pro-gun
stance, the new leaders undoubtedly have the support of the new majorities
in Congress.
We must NOT back off, thinking a repeal is made in the shade. It's not.
We must increase the drumbeat until it will be politically INcorrect not
to support the repeal. Our outcry must be heard. It must be heard in the
halls of Congress, on the streets of America, in the newspapers, on
radio, on TV, and over the computer networks. It must be heard so loudly
and so clearly that the one man who has the power to say "yea" or "nay"
changes his mind (as he so often does) in the face of overwhelming public
opinion against his present anti-gun stance. The armed citizen is NOT
the problem. There must be more of us, not less. We will be heard, and
if we are not heeded, the political consequences must be shown to be
enormously bad for those who are deaf to our words. Freedom. Its price
is constant vigilance. Let's hold the politicians' feet to the fire, and
never let up. Not for an instant.
John Marshall
(The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author, who is
solely responsible for its content)
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