When I saw her, I thought “oh look – something shiny!” I took this photo of my Para Warthog .45ACP pistol right after cleaning her up. I put something like 50 rounds through her and she was pretty dirty.
Click on the image for a bigger view.
Firearms
Magnum of Champagne
Could be a really big bottle of sparkling wine – or, it could be a champagne-colored round of .357 magnum ammo in the cylinder of a S&W 686 revolver – your choice.
We watched some of the proceedings at the NRA Convention in Louisville last night and today and really look forward to next year when the convention goes west – we plan to attend that one.
The Greening of the Polar Bear
This week, the Department of the Interior caved in to the Greenbats by declaring a thriving species “endangered.”
From Planet Gore:
Polar Bears: More Journalistic Malpractice [Henry Payne]
How do you declare a species endangered when its numbers are increasing?
Once again, my profession — journalism — failed its fundamental duty to report the facts Wednesday as the Interior Department bowed to political pressure from green groups to declare polar bears an threatened species due to global warming. This, despite the fact that bear populations have increased from 5,000–10,000 in the early 1970s to between 20,000 and 25,000 today (during the very period their habitat was allegedly shrinking). This is in part due to concentrated efforts to impose harvesting controls that have allowed this once-overhunted species to recover.
Indeed, Dr. Mitchell Taylor, a bear biologist with the Canadian government, wrote in 2006: “There is no need to panic. Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada, 11 are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even appear to be affected at present.”
GLOBALONEY wrote an excellent article on thriving polar bears in January. Included here is a very entertaining animation of thriving bears I found on Globaloney. Click for full size.
According to new research, the numbers of the giant predator have grown by between 15 and 25 per cent over the last decade.
Some authorities on Arctic wildlife even claim that hunting, and not global arming, has been the real cause of the decrease in polar bear numbers in areas where the species is in decline.
A leading Canadian authority on polar bears, Mitch Taylor, said: “We’re seeing an increase in bears that’s really unprecedented, and in places where we’re seeing a decrease in the population it’s from hunting, not from climate change.”
Mr Taylor estimates that during the past decade, the Canadian polar bear population has increased by 25 per cent – from 12,000 to 15,000 bears.
UPDATE: Iain Murray offers that this is NOT about polar bears.
Quite right. This was nothing to do with the polar bear and everything to do with advancing a ludicrous “alternative energy now” agenda.
It appears that Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne is listening to whoever beats the drum louder. In the case of the polar bears, science disagrees with the listing, but Kempthorne is concerned about a ‘legacy.’ In an unrelated issue, that of carrying firearms in National Parks, Kempthorne listened to 51 U.S. Senators who recommended a rules change to allow the NPS to comply with local state law on carrying.
This puts Kempthorne in a position to be embraced by greens and gunners alike.
Don’t you just love politicians?
Personal Protection Rounds
A couple of weeks ago, I read an article written by a former policeman who is now a medical examiner doing autopsies in Atlanta. The article, Terminal Ballistics as Viewed in a Morgue, discussed the stopping power of various types of ammunition. Bottom line: the bigger, the better and hollow points do a serious number on the body.
We each now keep a magazine filled with these bigger and better Hornady .45ACP +P 230 grain hollow-points near the Glock 30 and the Para Warthog.
Photo credit: Damsel.
Saturday in the Back Yard
Today was shopping in the morning and barbecue in the afternoon. While in the back yard during some idle moments between tending to the grill, I took a picture of the little .38 special +P. When I reviewed the picture, I found that i could see the hollow-point in the cylinder down the short barrel. That makes for an interesting picture.
Getting Your Money’s Worth
Actually, we’re not cheap and can afford to put up a new target for each shooter when we go to the range. But sometimes we put up a target and see how long it will last.
Initially, we put up a small pistol target and took turns shooting the hand guns at it at it until it got pretty beat up. Then, I put a stick-on target on the beat up one and went at it again. In short order, however, the stick on was all shot up.
At this point, since we still had ammo for the hand guns, I put up a silhouette target and we took turns shooting at it until we were out of ammo.
Now, enter the shotguns. I brought my Remington 870 12 gauge and took five shots at it. The target was battered, but still hanging. At this point, Damsel took her 20 gauge Remington 870 and gave it the coup de grace as you can see when you play the video. We both got a laugh out of it.
Today was a lot of fun at the range. You should go shooting.
Gold Dot Hollow Point .357 Magnum
These Speer Gold Dot Hollow Point rounds sure make a purdy wheel gun even purdier.
I posted this just in case you think I only think flowers are purdy. Click for bigger.