HAS YOUR HANDGUN TRAINING SET YOU UP TO BE KILLED?       
 
Hello,
 
Here is a link to an article that you may wish to add to your blog/e-newsletter/site-articles, or even publish in paper form.

I am the author. Feel free to edit it as you wish.

Best Regards,
 
John Veit
 
MILL CREEK, WA 98012 USA

UNSAFE AT ANY DISTANCE – THE FAILURE OF POLICE HANDGUN TRAINING.

INTRODUCTION:

Hopefully, you will find this article of interest.

Here are some reasons why you should read/share it.

1. It may lead to a reduction in Police casualties, and in a reduction of dollars now spent for naught on learning shooting methods that are neither practical nor effective for self defense use. It also poses the conundrum: whether or not all “non street” Police need to carry a firearm.

2. The same benefits that can accrue to cities/police/agencies, also can accrue to members of the public.

3. The info also may encourage responsible gun ownership by those who think that a gun is some sort of a magic wand that will keep them safe and ward off evil, by letting them know that guns are seldom used, and that without effective training, they will not be practical for use in their self defense or for the defense of loved ones. What one sees happen in the movies or on TV, or reads about in fictional literature, is really not reality.

Be advised that this article will be met with indignation by some. And that circulating it will be sort of like throwing rocks at a hornets nest and hitting it.

But the facts are what they are, and getting upset over them, won’t change them. However, with knowlege, discussion and action, things can change for the better.

I write about and post info written by gun EXPERTS AND PROFESSIONALS, plus info developed by me and based on my experience and testing.

Please keep in mind that I am just a messenger, and that you don’t have to like what the facts are or what the experts say, but what is, is what is.

SO DON’T SHOOT me. OK?

Click here to read the companion article: Has Your Handgun Training Set You Up To Be Killed?

BACKGROUND

The The New York Police Department (NYPD), and other Police Agencies large and small, issue handguns to Officers for use in protecting the Officers and the public. And each year millions of tax dollars are spent on Agency firearm facilities, firearms, and firearms training.

The Officers are trained to shoot, but not how to shoot effectively in life threat situations, which is closely akin to sending soldiers into battle with guns but no bullets. And beyond the cost in dollars spent, is the greater cost of Officers injured or killed and the damage done to their families, plus the added costs of: collateral damages, disability pensions, replacements, legal actions, and etc. that flow from this state of affairs.

In January 2007, the NYPD paid the RAND Corporation to examine the firearm-training program of its force of about 37,000 Officers. The examination resulted in a 2008 report which details a variety of training issues, and gives recommendations for improvement.

One issue identified, is the clear disconnect between shooting effectiveness when in training and when on the job. And that issue, which can have life or death consequences, is not addressed specifically with a recommendation.

The following focuses on the disconnect as detailed in the report. Also included is information on practical shooting methods, which are said to be equally effective both on the range and on the street. And they can be taught within the time and range constraints placed on students and instructors,

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

Firearm incidents get major play in the press. However, what does not get publicity, is that those incidents are relatively rare. Per the RAND report, it is statistically unlikely that an Officer will discharge his or her weapon during his or her entire career on the police force.

For example: during 2006, only 156 Officers out of the force of some 37,000, were involved in a firearm-discharge incident. And fewer than half of those incidents involved an Officer shooting at a human being. Most involved Officers shooting at dogs.

Also, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ): “of the 43.5 million persons who had contact with police in 2005, an estimated 1.6% had force used or threatened against them, a rate that was nearly the same as in 2002 (1.5%).”

The rarity of incidents might be a reason for not doing much if anything about them administratively. However, for the participants, they are deadly serious and personal. And if one goes badly, it can become a public relations nightmare for an Agency.

Per the report, firearms training has increased dramatically over the past 100 tears, as has the quality of weapons carried. But on average, there appears to have been very little improvement in the ability of Officers to hit their targets during the rare firearms incident.

The average hit rate for NYPD Officers involved in a gunfight between 1998 and 2006 was 18 percent. For every five shots, four bullets missed the intended target and went somewhere else. And that hit rate is consistent with the “normal” hit rate in armed encounters which hasn’t changed much for years and years.

The average hit rate for Officers who shot at subjects who did not return fire, was 30 percent. Officers hit their targets 37 percent of the time at distances of seven yards or less. And hit rates fell off sharply to 23 percent at longer ranges.

Also, Officers in gunfights fired 7.6 rounds on average, compared with an average of 3.5 rounds for Officers who fired against subjects who did not return fire. And most Officers have firearms with a capacity of well over 7 rounds, plus extra magazines.

FBI statistics show that life threat incidents happen at very close ranges. Between 1989 and 1998, of the 682 local, state, and federal law-enforcement Officers in the United States who died because of criminal action, nearly 75 percent (509) received fatal wounds while within 10 feet of their assailants.

Now, if you are wondering about the hit rates, and why they are so low, you need to understand that there is a “twilight zone” of sorts in the world of the gun, where reality can get intertwined with tales like The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Where else would you find job performance scores of 18, 23, 30, and 37 percent in life or death matters, to not result in a 911 call for all the King’s horses and all the King’s men.

The disconnect between on the range performance and on the street performance, is the long standing elephant in the room, and about which nothing much has been done other than recognize its existence. For years, the very low hit rate was attributed to error on the part of Officers.

During the 1970′s a long term and in-depth study of NYPD Police combat cases, produced findings in line with those of the RAND study. It is known as the NYPD SOP 9.

THE TRAINING LOAD

The NYPD Police Academy trains, approximately 4,000 recruits each year in two classes of about 2,000 recruits each. Included are two weeks of firearm and tactical training that includes handgun qualification. A minimum of 78 percent hits on a number of stationary targets from fixed firing positions is required to qualify.

There also are semiannual firearm qualifications which include a two-part lecture, practice fire of 45 rounds of ammunition at stationary targets at 7-, 15-, and 25-yard distances, un-scored practice on a tactical pistol course, and qualification firing of 50 rounds at stationary targets at 7-, 15-, and 25-yard distances. A minimum of 39 hits is required to qualify (78 percent).

A comparison of the qualification requirement with on the street hit rates, clearly shows a disconnect between them.

Per the report, the firearm-qualification program is less about making sure Officers can effectively use their pistols in real-life situations, than it is about meeting legal requirements and professional standards.

And while the qualification course meets the standards required by the state of New York, and it is consistent with national norms, shooting at paper targets on a known-distance range is basically just target practice.

Also, the handgun qualification process implies that qualifying Officers are proficient, but a consensus among police firearms trainers, is that the training does not substantially enhance officer or community safety.

Steps have been taken to make shooting training more realistic, including firing at moving targets, firing from cover and crouched positions, moving to different firing positions and distances plus firing from each, firing in pairs, and firing after exertion. However, it is impractical time and resource wise, to provide that training to all Officers. And those exercises are not scored.

A SOLUTION

Hopefully, the time is near when tax dollars and employee time will no longer be frittered away on training and qualifying that has little relationship to on the on the job incidents.

Bill Burroughs, in his paper of several years ago: Components and Considerations for Combat Shooting, said that “Shooters miss at close ranges because of faulty, incomplete and, yes, negligent training.”

He also said that combat shooting is actually quite simple and anyone can learn it.

In a span of less than two hours and with shooting fewer than 100 rounds of ammunition, an Officer can be taught The Applegate System method and reproduce it during periods of stress. And marksmanship levels are high inside the distances where the method was designed to be used – close quarters.

Bruce K. Siddle, in his 2000 paper: The Science of Combat Point Shooting, said that Barron and Beasley had trained more than 500 students in the Applegate System of Point Shooting. And that scores increased to 95% and higher, from 90-95% on the static firing line.

More importantly, students maintained the simple Point Shooting system when they participated in stress induced dynamic training exercises. Barron attributed the improvement to the simplicity of the Applegate System.

Now, just because something appears to be very simple, practical, and doable, and just because it holds the promise of improving the safety of Officers and the public, and providing tangible returns for millions of tax dollars now being spent for naught, does not mean it will happen.

In the topsy-turvy world of the gun, such things are easily trumped by professional standards, legal requirements, and tradition.

The powers that be do things in traditional ways. And they defend them with the zeal of the true believer or religous zealot.

The issue of traditional Sight Shooting Vs other shooting methods, has been cussed and discussed as far back as the early 1800′s.

Then, pistols were used for self defense against highway robbers and housebreakers, and for dueling. They were closed at the back, and some had sights on them.

And in a highway robbery or housebreakin: 1. there usually would be no time to use the sights, or 2. bad light would prevent them from being seen and properly aligned, or 3. one’s focus could/would be transfixed on the threat.

So to aim and shoot fast, the index finger was placed along the side of the pistol and pointed at a target. That automatically and accurately aimed the pistol. And the middle finger was used to shoot. (See Lt. Col. Baron De Berenger’s 1835 book: Helps And Hints – How To – Protect Life And Property, With Instructions In Rifle And Pistol Shooting.)

Also, Sight Shooting still could be employed if there was time, good lighting, and one had the presence of mind to use the sights.

With the adoption of the 1911, the optional use of the index finger method was squelched.

Due to a minor design fault in the slide stop of the 1911, if the slide stop pin is depressed when the gun is fired, the gun can jam. As such, the US Military publication – Description Of The Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, Model Of 1911, specifically cautioned against using it.

More than likely, the result was the instinctive-but-un-aimed fire that is known today as spray and pray.

Another matter that affects shooting accuracy negatively, is the slow but relentless lock-step march towards larger caliber and higher capacity firearms. The march continues, even though there is no widely known and accepted scientific data supporting the use of larger caliber or increased capacity handguns.

A high caliber gun with its bigger kick, and in particular, one with a large and bulky grip to accommodate more bullets, is difficult to hold and shoot accurately by those with small to average size hands.

Bigger guns are also heavier to carry, and their ammunition is more expensive to buy and shoot than the common 9 mm.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The RAND report recommended a number changes and actions to improve training, including the trial use of Tasers, lasers and gun mounted lights.

There are minuses which come tied to the use of lasers and lights. Both require user training, batteries, and continued maintenance to insure that they will be in operable condition for their “rare” use. So, a good return on the costs of purchase, user training, and maintenance, is dubious.

Finally, if the safety and protection of Officers and members of the public is of prime importance, then Officers should be trained in simple and practical COMBAT shooting:

1. which can be learned in less than two hours, and with shooting fewer than 100 rounds of ammunition, and

2. which can be reproduced in periods of stress and with high marksmanship levels at close quarters distances.

The same is true for members of the public who care about responsible gun ownership.

Thanks John,

You bring very relevant points forward which have been ignored for years and cost many lives. the address for further infomation is www.pointshooting.com 

Over the last thirty years I have been more than likely, just as guilty or probably more so than most. preoccupied with coaching shooters to hit targets, even under extreame time pressures for competition. The empahsis has been on the target and sights. 

Ignoring the training I received in staying alive from the very well written training manuals of some ten years previos, produced by the British Army. Our instructors were not up to much, they were too engrossed with bayonet practice, maybe as they did not want to use the ammunition or maybe it hurt their ears. (no one ever used ear protection in those days)
 I can remember an instructor picking up a .38 Webley or Enfield and stating to the section, This is a revolver, its a heap of junk, its got sharp corners so that after your six shots, you can throw it at the enemy and as its hard and got sharp corners you have got more chance to hurt someone that way. He could not demonstrate how to shoot it, he closed his eyes as he squeezed the plus thirty pound trigger and as he had no idea of controlling the handgun whilst this tugging went on, the target was very safe. That was a very sad beginining but after some time they introduced the Browning High Power in 9 mm, and manuals written by Sykes and Appelgate, learning and information that had been found out the hardway at great cost of human life. This was soaked up like blotting paper by a young soldier intent on a career of active service. In actual fact most use was made of that training in a later career as a Prison officer as face to face aggression was a daily event and that earlier training had been the best preperation for close quaters confrontation. I still have some of my notes and will put them together in a document as soon as I have a few hours space. Ron Owen 

Welcome to the Twelfth Edition of the Owen Guns Bulletin.

STOP PRESS

We are currently publishing our new website at www.owenguns.com
Where we are in the process of listing 1000s of rifles,shotguns, handguns, accessories, and gun parts that we have for sale. Visit the website now. We also have shooting articles and important firearm information for the gun enthusiast. Take away free gun photos and free firearm images for your gun gallery collection. New firearm related material being added every day.

Human Retention verses Computer Search.

Score- Humans Zero- Computers One

Welcome to the Tenth Edition of the Owen Guns Bulletin.

STOP PRESS

Scroll down for another Free Firearm Manual

We are currently publishing our new website at www.owenguns.com

Where we are in the process of listing 1000s of rifles,shotguns, handguns, accessories, and gun parts that we have for sale. Visit the website now. We also have shooting articles and important firearm information for the gun enthusiast.

Take away free gun photos and free firearm images for your gun gallery collection. New firearm related material being added every day.

I do not like being the prophet of Doom but historically when the America economy sneezes and the rest of the world has a heart attack and gets into the grave and shuts the lid on itself, shooting gear gets hard to get and expensive.That’s my thoughts on their offered solutions, they never learn that creating more debt, by allowing the Banks to create more money never works, they are really only robbing the public by devaluing the peoples money and resources. History tells us that thousands of small factories will go broke and close, as our Firearm industry is only a specialised industry, its priority for government bail outs, is minus a thousand. We are not as worthy as the motor car industry, until there is a war. Sadly, that same Crystal Ball tells us that when ever the world get into on of these economic graves those forces that rule the world see filling graves with people, as the only way to return it to prosperity. For example during World War Two civilians could not buy .22 Ammunition or reloading components as the government had commandeered the factories. I am not trying to panic anyone, but I just wanted to inform people who have been customers of this business since when it started 35 years ago of what I think ??? is in the future. Meanwhile all of the team at Owen Guns hopes everyone going Shooting for the weekend has a great time. Ron Owen

Any Inquiries on any products phone 07 54824099 or 07 54825070

Monthly Specials

Leupold 3-9×40 Variable Riflescopes

$349.

Savage /Stevens Model 200 synthetic Stock Bl

BRAND NEW IN THE BOX

7 mm Remington Magnum

$550Plus Freight

Stevens® Centrefire
Stevens Model 200 – Long Action
Caliber	22″ (25-06 REM, 270 WIN, 30-06 SPFLD)24″ (7MM REM MAG, 300 WIN MAG)
Overall Length	42.75″ (25-06 REM, 270 WIN, 30-06 SPFLD)44.75″ (7MM REM MAG, 300 WIN MAG)
Barrel Length	22″ (25-06 REM, 270 WIN, 30-06 SPFLD)24″ (7MM REM MAG, 300 WIN MAG)
Weight	6.5 lbs
Magazine Capacity	4 rounds (25-06 REM, 270 WIN, 30-06 SPFLD)3 rounds for (7MM REM MAG, 300 WIN MAG)
Stock	Gray synthetic with positive checkering, dual pillar bedding
Sights	No sights. Drilled and tapped for scope mounts
Rifling Rate of Twist	1 in 9.5″ (7MM REM MAG)1 in 10″ (25-06 REM, 270 WIN, 30-06 SPFLD, 300 WIN MAG)
Features	Standard trigger, blued barreled action, free-floating and button-rifled barrel, top loading internal box magazine, and swivel studs.
Special Price	$550.00

Email owenguns@spiderweb.com.au for more & bigger photos, its worth it.

Remington Genesis 1000 fps.

Idea for Dad and Son, An Adult Air Rifle. Practice Target Shooting in the Garage.

Includes a 3-9×40 Variable Air Rifle Scope and Air Rifle Mounts. $398.00

(Air Rifle Scopes have to be EXTRA shock resistant for High powered Air Rifles) . These single shot spring air Genesis pellet rifle feature ultra Hi ergonomics in its soft, synthetic pistol style grip and sculptured cheek piece, 28 pounds of cocking force gets up to 1000 fps. Other features included

Two stage Adjustable trigger, Ventilated rubber recoil pad, Precision rifled steel barrel, Crossblock trigger blocking mechanism, Ambidextrous safety, made in the USA.

TT. OLYMPIA .22LR Pistols NORINCO

As used to win all the GOLD in 1936 Olympic Games, originally made by Walther in Germany and subsquently copied by Russia and China. These are the Chinese version, used in Pistol Clubs the world over.

The Norinco pistols are all high quality steel, there is no alloys or plastics they are all carbon steel, except for the wooden hand grips which have been checkered like the original to give the best possible grip, not looks.

This batch of hand guns are Brand New never been fired, however they have slight imperfections in the bluing mainly near the corners as shown on the photographs above.

They are excellent value at

$150.Plus Postage

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Bushnell Sportsman 3-9×40 Variable Riflescope at the once only price of

$90.00

Plus Postage

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RCBS Great Prices, Get the Best Reloading Tools for the Lowest Price.

RCBS Great Prices, Get the Best Reloading Tools for the Lowest Price.

This Top of the Range Press for

$220

plus postage

EMAIL Or PHONE 0754824099

For More RED HOT PRICES

EMAIL Or PHONE 075482409

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The Weight of BARRELS

Rifles.

The weight, of a barrel which in the same material is relative to the length and outside diameters, of the barrel, of a fire arm depends on a number of things. Most testing on this subject has been done by the worlds military forces as they have the most to win or lose we can make use of their findings. Experience has proved that a military rifle should not weigh over 9 and half pounds. Most sportsmen prefer that their rifles should not weigh over 8 pounds, although there is a class of hunter-riflemen (Varmint) who take pride in sure hits and clean kills at long distances, and who are willing to carry rifles weighing up to 11 pounds to obtain the better accuracy. Target shooters, also, have found that a rifle of about 11 to 12 pounds holds steadier than a lighter weapon, and of course they do not have to carry their rifles long distances over rough country. It should be understood that the heavier the barrel of a rifle, other things being equal, the more accurate it will be, because it jumps less and is more uniform on discharge, and it heats up at a slower rate and retains a more even temperature. Some hunters prefer lightweight of medium barrels and 6 and half pound rifle is possible but when mounts, scope, sling, sling swivels, ammunition in the magazine the quoted figures in the magazine quickly add up.

Savage M12VFPL in .243 win Great long range rifle if you can carry it there.

 

The barrel of a rifle or shotgun usually comprises approximately one-third of the weight of the entire arm, and in any given model of firearm is about the only part that can be varied materially in weight, hence the importance of the weight of the barrel in determining the weight of the entire firearm. Even changing a wood to synthetic stock will only change it a few ounces. Sometimes the synthetic is heavier.

Hand Guns

Most people buying a handgun will never look or consider the weight of a pistol in numerical figures but select by how it feels and points for which purpose they intend to use it. Generally as a large rule of thumb the average weights for shooting, target or military. slow, timed, and rapid fire; a hand gun should weigh about 36 ounces. Some great revolvers are made to weigh as much as 44 ounces, but they have not proved popular among the best pistol shooters because they are not “lively” enough when you want to point them quickly at different targets.

This Smith & Wesson .44 mag is something Dirty Harry would be proud of, but not a quick pointer.

A revolver for low powered cartridges may weigh as little as 26 ounces, and pocket weapons for self defence at very short distances may also be light, but a target pistol shooter using a light weapon finds that accuracy and timing has been sacrificed. With a hand gun the receiver or frame is the heaviest portion, and the weight of the short barrel does not figure so prominently in the complete weight.

Shotguns

Shot gunners who do a lot of walking prefer guns weighing 6 to 7 pounds, as they tend to carry heavy ammunition, and more of it than a rifle hunter, while duck shooters prefer about 7 1/4 to 8 pounds for flying targets when staking out their favorite swamp. Shotguns that use 3 inch magnum shells usually weigh slightly over 8 pounds.

Krieghoff one of three in the world made in 1926 Lightweight U/O for hunting the highlands.

It should be said that these weights are the results of design by manufacturers with years of experience where not only personal preference, but also ballistic performance is considered. All firearm design is a choice of compromises, because a man who has to carry his weapon all day naturally prefers the lightest weight possible, while maximum ballistic performance demands all the weight permissible. It would therefore be a mistake to design a small-arm differing materially from the above weights, except for some very special purpose.

Next edition Barrel Steel

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Understanding Reloading Ammunition.

Due to the changes in our economic system, already prices of shooting equipment, have risen 30 to 40 % in the last three months and as in the 1930 s, many manufactures may close ,so it makes good sense to begin reloading ammunition.

Reloading does not just mean cheaper ammunition prices, it means a continuity of supply and customized ammunition to suit and extend your requirements from the firearm. So the cheaper ammunition is just the icing on the cake.

The requirements of equipment to successfully reload ammunition are quite small, it only get expensive when a person wishes to speed up the process and still keep a degree of accuracy. The basic setup consists of a loading press or tool; dies to suit the calibre concerned; a shell holder; and a means of weighing or measuring powder charge. Normally the press will contain provisions for seating the new primer, but, if not, a separate priming tool is required.

While designs of the various makes and models of all those items differ a good deal, most function in essentially the same manner and perform the same operations. Here we will describe the basic and variant designs of the essential tools and equipment. The many other items will be covered a little later in this tome.

Loading Presses for Rifles and Hanguns.

The most common form is the “C-type” sold by several makers but originally introduced over eighty years ago by Pacific. At the top of the “C” frame we have a hole threaded 7/8 x 14 TPI (threads per inch) into which loading dies and accessories are screwed. At the base of the “C” is a horizontal or slightly angled flange, drilled for bolts or screws to attach the press to a bench or work stand. A massive tubular housing extends downward from the “C” roughly aligned with the die hole at the top. This extension is a carefully drilled and reamed full length, the hole being accurately aligned with the die hole. The frame is generally cast of iron or steel, sometimes an aluminum alloy.

The Lee "C" Press is economical and will always work.

A ram fits closely in the hole and is free to move vertically. Its upper end is machined to accept a shell holder head to grip the cartridge case. Some older presses had the shell holding surfaces machined directly into the upper end of the ram, but this expensive practice has ceased. An egress hole for fired primers is drilled in the ram, some directing primers out to the front, others to the rear.

The lower end of the ram is slotted and drilled to receive a toggle arm, usually of flat steel stock. This arm is pinned to a heavy toggle which is in turn pinned to the frame inside appropriate recesses. The toggle is further drilled to accept an operating handle. The toggle and arm form a “toggle-joint” or “knee joint” which functions exactly as the human knee. It is actuated by the handle to raise and lower the ram with considerable force.

When the toggle and arm are in line (all three pivot points falling in the same line) they support the ram at the upper limit of its travel. As the toggle joint is “broken” by handle movement, the ram is drawn downward. Reversing toggle movement, straightening the joint, moves the ram back upward with great force. The toggle joint exerts progressively greater force as it approaches the closed (straight) position, making it ideal for forcing oversize cartridge cases into resizing dies.

RCBS Die Sets, will last for lifetimes.

 

Features and Function of Reloading Tools

Removable shell holder heads such as those made by RCBS, Lee or Lyman slip into a T-slots in the ram. They interchange quickly to allow speedy calibre changes.

Most modern presses “break” the toggle away from the operator on the handle upstroke and use the more powerful downstroke for closing the joint and forcing cases into dies. Some presses are designed so that the toggle may be assembled to close on either the up or down stroke to suit the operator. Early models closed on the upstroke which resulted in many an exasperated handloader lifting tool and bench off the floor on a heavy resizing job.

My mother really was upset when I broke the kitchen table after I was just testing a new press and had attached it to the table with some large G clamps, (she would do anything for me but not let me get away with drilling the bolt holes through her table.) She was very forgiving though.

A detachable shell holder head fits into grooves in the head of the ram. It is machined so that it encloses both front and rear of the case rim in such a manner it can both press the case into a die and draw it out with great force without deforming the extraction rim. The holder is drilled at the centre for passage of fired primers and a primer seating punch. Holders may be held in the ram by setscrews or spring clips, and there have also been screw-in and lock-nut variations.

Lee Shell Holder

At the lower end of the “C” the press is fitted with a swinging arm carrying in its upper end a primer seating punch. The punch is usually adjustable in height, and several interchangeable diameters and shapes are available to fit different primers. The top of the punch is surrounded by a spring-loaded sleeve to align and keep the primer in place.

A slot to accept the arm is machined in the ram. When the ram is at or near the top of its stroke the arm is manually pressed forward against its supporting spring into the slot. Dimensions and placement of slot, arm, and punch combine to align a primer in the sleeve with the primer pocket of a case held properly in the shell holder. Then, with the arm held forward, the ram is moved downward, pressing the case over the primer to seat the latter. Some designs provide a mechanical stop to control depth of primer entry into case; others depend on individual operator “feel.”

Lee Auto Prime, seperate from the press but a quicker way to re prime the cases.

Raising the ram slightly then allows the priming arm to be snapped clear of the ram by its spring, freeing the ram for further movement.The length of the ram stroke must be as great as the longest cartridge to be loaded; this requires the opening in the “C” to be about 1/2″ greater than the longest loaded cartridge. Nearly all ” C” modern designs are made sufficiently large to accept the long H & H Magnum cartridges. Even though they are one of the cheapest options in the reloading market, I have never seen a factory manufactured one that is not capable of reloading millions if not an infinite number of rounds of ammunition. I have also been very impressed with home manufactured presses as they are not a high tech item and quite easily home manufactured by machining the ram and operating handle on a lathe and a little creativity with a welder and drill press.

Next Edition the O frame press.

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FREE FOR ELECTRONIC DOWNLOAD

Manual for Tokarov M1938 Assault Rifle

Operators Manual, photographs, specifications and details of all types and different Models and Ammunition.

Email : OwenGuns@spiderweb.com.au and it will be sent to you in .pdf format free of charge.

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Welcome to the Fourth Edition of the Owen Guns Bulletin.

STOP PRESS

Scroll down for another Free Firearm Manual

We are currently publishing our new website at www.owenguns.com

Where we are in the process of listing 1000s of rifles,shotguns, handguns, accessories, and gun parts that we have for sale. Visit the website now. We also have shooting articles and important firearm information for the gun enthusiast.

Take away free gun photos and free firearm images for your gun gallery collection. New firearm related material being added every day.

Monthly Specials

JUST ARRIVED BOUGHT AT THE OLD PRICE 3-9×32 Variable Riflescopes

Riflescopes Silver or Matte Black $99.00

4 x 32 Silver Antler Rifle Scope $40.

plus Postage

Only until stocks last, the Aussie dollar was down to .63 even during yesterdays US. melt down, these came in when it was .97. So order now for the best scope for the least money as we won’t see them at this price again. Only 19 left.

RCBS Great Prices, Get the Best Reloading Tools for the Lowest Price.

RCBS DIE Sets Reloader Special.

$220.

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EMAIL Or PHONE 0754824099

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GUN BAGGIES

MORE PAD IN THE BAG

Tough material, more padding for your dollar, 48 inch, full length zip. carry handles

$15.00

plus postage.

$250.

American Made .22 LR Rimfire Rifle.

GUN Law FACTS

What Gun Controllers Don’t Want You to Know

Written by Howard Nemerov

I used to support gun control, meaning civilian disarmament. There was no reason, the rationale went, for a private citizen to own a gun. The only ones who wanted guns had small genitalia, were paranoid crazies, and criminals.

All this was assumed, without any empirical or statistical research to base it upon. Due to the influence of one of my clients who is a person of great honor, I began to research the issue of gun control on my own. Having been a college boy who loved library research, I knew how to ferret out fact from fiction. It was interesting to find that the claims of the NRA, John Lott, et al., were easy to verify from neutral or even slightly pro-gun control sources. More ominously, I found that the gun control groups consistently lied or twisted minor factoids taken out of context in their articles. This begged the question: if they are lying to advance their agenda, can we really trust the utopian outcome they promote as true? The Utopian Thesis of Gun Control The philosophy behind gun control is that by limiting access to guns, the public is made a safer place. This is a noble undertaking, and all persons of conscience should support this.

Must be in the US. British citizens have to just grin and use the stiff upper lip.

If it were proven beyond a reasonable doubt that disarming the law-abiding public would enhance public safety, save children’s lives, and enhance or preserve our civil rights, I would be in favor of gun control. Of course, there is a ”competing” hypothesis: placing firearms into the hands of law-abiding citizens accomplishes the same goals with fewer unpleasant side-effects. These hypotheses were being tested during my research. A simple litmus test could be set up; one can examine actual crime rates and trends in countries similar to our culture that have recently disarmed the public, and see what resulted. The United Kingdom is an English speaking democracy with a bicameral legislature, similar enough for our litmus test. The UK instituted a massive gun ban in 1997, finally banning all handguns. While a tool of choice for criminals, because of its ease of concealment, this attribute also makes it a valuable personal protection tool for a law-abiding citizen. If the gun control thesis is the correct one, then it should follow that by taking out an element that allegedly incites criminal behavior, in this case guns, crime rates should drop. So let’s take a look at the statistical record to find out.

Facts, Not Rhetoric

What always made me reluctant to address the issue of gun control was all the hyperbole surrounding it from both sides of the issue. Therefore, it was imperative to be able to locate similar statistics from multiple sources, to insure factual validity. First, it is important to establish a pre-ban baseline and then compare it to similar research after the ban to determine crime trends. For that, we will reference the International Crime Victimization Surveys of 1992 and 2000. In general, the research shows that violent crime rates were lower in the UK than the United States in 1992.

(Rated in percent of those interviewed responding ”yes” to being victimized.)

Burglary with entry: UK – 2.5% U.S. – 3.5%
Robbery: UK – .9% U.S. – 1.7%
Sexual assault of women: UK – .3% U.S. – 1.5%
Assault with force: UK – 1.1% U.S. – 2.2%
In the 2000 survey the researchers combined the three violent crimes of robbery, rape, and assault into one category entitled ”Selected Contact Crime.”
Here is what they report (post-ban for UK.)
Burglary with entry: UK – 2.8% U.S. – 1.8%
Selected contact crime: UK – 3.6% U.S. – 1.9%
These two reports were done with essentially the same criteria and methods, and they clearly show that while selected violent crime rates rose 100% in the UK, they fell 65 % in the U.S. During this time, Britain outlawed private ownership of firearms, while over 70 million additional civilian firearms were sold in the U.S. At the very least, a reasonable person is forced to conclude that availability of firearms to the general public is not a contributing factor to any increase in crime. These trends are confirmed by Britain’s own Home Office.

In the period of 1997 through 2001, homicide rose 19 % in the UK while it fell 12 % in the USA.

Violent crime incidents rose 26% in the UK while falling 12% in the USA.
Robbery rates rose 92% in the UK and fell 15% in the USA.

My, what big teeth you politicians have.

“Trust Us, We’re Your Government ”

“What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?” – Thomas Jefferson
”Congress by the power of taxation, by that of raising an army, and by their control over the militia, have the sword in one hand and the purse in the other. Shall we be safe without either? Let him candidly tell me, where and when did freedom exist, when the sword and purse were given up from the people?” – Patrick Henry .
This same British Home Office report attempts to put a happy face on the UK crime trend by proclaiming on page one that during the period of 2002-2003 crime has dropped, attempting to devalue the entire body of the report to the reader. Such hyperbole is also expressed in another British Home Office report entitled ”Crime in England and Wales 2002/2003,” which consists of two parts. The first section relies on Britain’s new Crime Survey, a governmental attempt to show crime reduction by selecting a small group of subjects to question. The Crime Survey findings contrast sharply with the second section of actual compiled police statistics that show sharp rises in nearly all crime categories. Here are some crime trends collected from UK police crime data for the period of 1995 to 2003.
Homicide rose 41%.
Attempted murder rose 29%.
Total Violent Crime rose 219%.
For those who believe that gun control benefits women and children, who are generally smaller and less physically capable of protecting themselves, it is interesting to note that during this time period female rape increased 129%, child abduction rose 143%, and cruelty to or neglect of children increased 79%. In his book ”More Guns, Less Crime,” John Lott discusses how when criminals know more citizens are armed they switch from crimes where they come into direct contact with their victims to crimes where there is no contact. So instead of robbery, where they confront the intended victim, they wait until people leave home and commit burglary. In an email interview, Professor Lott said: ”They do this in order to avoid victims who are now better able to defend themselves.” ”More Guns, Less Crime” showed how such a crime trend is indeed in effect in Right-to-Carry states, where violent (confrontational) crime is dropping faster than property (non-confrontational) crime. The reason I bring this up now is because this substitution effect is borne out in the UK, where total property crime dropped 1% from 1995 to 2003. As victims are more available due to the loss of self-defense capabilities, criminals see no need to spend the extra effort to plan burglary in order to avoid their victims; it is far easier to confront them and wave a gun in their face, demanding loot and sex.

In Manchester UK, the Milkman is beaten half to death for the milk money. Out numbered and the wrong colour. That's the milk of course.

Some may still want to deny the truth, saying ”but the population has increased, so even if crime increases, there still is no increase in crime rates.” On the surface, this is a valid argument, but the same report shows that violent crime rates (per 100,000 population) increased 216% from 1995 to 2003, while property offenses dropped 2%.

In her book ”Guns and Violence,” Joyce Lee Malcolm discusses the same substitution effect was active historically as well. In the first part of the book, she does an overview of the earlier eras in Britain and concludes: ”…this era in which firearms first came into common use in everyday life as well as for the citizen militia, the century in which an Englishman’s right to have ‘arms for his defence’ was proclaimed, also witnessed a sharp decline in violent homicide.” In an e-mail interview, I asked Professor Malcolm about the discrepancy between the British Home Office Crime Survey results and the police statistics included in the same report from 2003.

Question: In your book you mention in the introduction that there are some irregularities in how the police report crime. Does this in fact make the Crime Survey a more accurate indicator of crime trends in the UK? Professor Malcolm: ”The differences between the UK crime victimization studies and police statistics are indeed confusing and almost always at odds. Both come from government and are official. For many years the English police seemed to record only about 1/3 of the crimes reported to them, making the victimization studies more accurate. They also purposely underestimated a crime like burglary, for example, by counting several offences by the same individual as one burglary. The police reporting was so unabashedly political that the victimization studies were undertaken.”
Question: This brings up two concerns: first, it seems that one of the governmental branches, either the Home Office or the police, is in effect lying. Second, how can people trust the government when they can’t even come out with a consistent answer on crime rates or even what constitutes a crime?
Professor Malcolm: ”The government now seems to be insisting that the police actually record a higher level of the crimes reported to them, but don’t seem willing to explain what proportion or how it is being done. As a result, as crime rates go up dramatically in police statistics, especially for violent crime, the government keeps saying they are not really going up, it is just that the police are using a different method of recording crime. But for some crime, such as murder, the police could not easily have been under-reporting in the past, although they do track murders to pull them from the totals if the final judgement is anything less than a court finding of murder. At this point the government has used the ”new method of calculating crime” excuse so repeatedly and without explanation that I am inclined not to trust their assurances that crime is going down or remaining steady. Murder, for instance, is at the highest level since statistics were kept.”
Question: Why is the British Crime Survey is at odds with the International Crime Victimization Survey of 2002 and your own article at Reason.com , which indicate that the UK is indeed increasingly more crime-ridden in many categories than the U.S.?
Professor Malcolm: ”I think the international crime victimization study released in 2002 is more reliable and offers a comparison of how England and Wales are doing compared to other industrial countries. Sadly, England has many times the violent crime of most European countries. But their methods of fighting crime by disarming and prosecuting victims is so counter-productive that the results do not surprise me. Unfortunately it is in the government’s interest to demonstrate that its crime-fighting initiative is successful, which makes its assertions doubtful.” The key point to remember is that murder is a statistic that is hard to fudge, and therefore a reliable indicator of crime trends. The police actually under-report murder rates, because if the court reduces the sentence, the police subtract that case from murder totals. Even so, murder has risen dramatically since the gun ban went into effect.

Only in the Movies does someone rebel against the Newspeak propaganda.

Referring back to the Founders’ quotes leading this section, pray tell me this: how are the people of the United Kingdom going to force a redressing of grievances upon their government? They have surrendered their arms and their purse, and therefore have no protection against a government acting without restraint, nor do they have the means to show their government any spirit of resistance to flawed and deadly policy. Once again, the age-old lessons are being taught on yet another stage: absolute power corrupts absolutely; and if you surrender your personal responsibility to a government which promises to take care of you, they will only take care of themselves.

Conclusion

The English experience proves that guns and violence have no corresponding relationship that justifies gun control. Do we want to go down the same road as the UK when the evidence is so alarming? When the consequences could be so deadly? How will we force our government to return power to the people once it has taken it? Perhaps gun control will go away when we have the ”Million Armed Mom March in Washington, D.C.” Women will drive this issue when they ask the politicians, ”Tell me exactly how you expect me to defend my children against violent predators? If gun control is so wonderful, how come more women are being raped and children being abused in England since guns were banned? Do you plan to sacrifice our lives to pander to your moneyed sponsor/constituents? Or do you just want power so much that you don’t care who suffers?”
George Santayana coined the phrase: ”Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” To which I humbly wish to add: Those who have tasted power and developed an addiction to it, studied of history, intend to repeat it.

Gun History

Guns and Steel Part One by Sir Joseph Whitworth, BART., C.E., F.R.S., LL.D., D.C.L.

Preface It is probable that few are aware of the manner in which I approached the subject of rifling guns, or know that the Whitworth rifle was produced as the result of many months of experimental research in the rifle gallery, five hundred yards long, erected in my grounds at Manchester. I cannot mention this fact without saying how much personal interest the then Commander-in-Chief, Lord Hardinge, took in the experiments, every stage of which he communicated to the Prince Consort. His 52 acre property, 'The Firs'. The Rifle Range was at the rear of the building, which is now part of the Manchester University. At that time I demonstrated every conclusion by the most carefully conducted trials, and I proved that the Enfield service rifle of that day was wrong in every particular. The diameter of the bullet was too large for the size of the gun, the bullet itself was too short, and the twist of rifling was not one-third of what it should have been. Accordingly, in the year 1857, the public trials of my rifle against the Enfield rifle, made by the direction of Lord Panmure, established the superiority of my weapon, as well as the soundness of the conclusions at which I had arrived. In 1859 a Committee of officers reported that the bore of my muzzle-loading rifle was too small for use as a military weapon. In 1869 another Committee recommended that the bore of the service breech-loading rifle should be exactly that rejected ten years previously. IN the year 1854, when Lord Hardinge was endeavouring to obtain the best possible rifle with which to arm the British troops, he requested me to aid him by investigating the mechanical principles applicable in the construction of an efficient weapon. I willingly agreed to do so, subject, however, to the condition that I should have a suitable gallery, protected from changes in the wind and from fluctuations in the atmosphere, wherein to carry on the experiments which were necessary for enabling me to arrive at any sound conclusion. It was absolutely essential to track the path of a rifle bullet throughout its entire course, to determine whether its point preserved a true forward direction, and to record its trajectory. This could be done most readily in a closed gallery provided with screens of very light tissue paper. Accordingly a gallery, 500 yards in length, was erected in my grounds at Rusholme, in the year 1855. Its height was 20 feet and width 16 feet; it was slated, and had openings on the south side only for the admission of light and for getting rid of the smoke. The first result of the work done in this gallery was the construction of my small-bore rifle. First Comparative Trials Of The Whitworth And Enfield Rifles In the year 1855 I commenced a series of experiments in the new rifle gallery, and was at that time requested to adhere to the service charge of powder, viz., 70 grains, as well as to the service weight of bullet, viz., 530 grains, but I was unrestricted in every other particular. The barrel of the Enfield rifle, as then used in the service, was 39 inches in length, its bore being .577 of an inch in diameter. The rifling was effected by three spiral grooves, making 1 turn in 78 inches, and the bullet rotated half a turn during its passage along the barrel. The length of the bullet was 1.81 diameters of the bore. The Enfield Rifle Model 1853, a agricultural tool that goes bang and holds the British Army’s favourite weapon the bayonet. The bullet was cylindro-conoidal; it was wrapped in paper, and was made of such a size as to pass easily down the barrel, and had a conical wood plug in its hollow base. At the instant of firing, the explosive force of the powder caused the bullet to become expanded or upset, and thus moulded it to fit the grooves in the bore. It was essential that the lead should be very pure and soft in order to allow of its being properly expanded into the grooves. The bullet is shown in the diagram. The cross section of the barrel is given at D, the circular portions, which do no work in rotating the bullet, are called land’s, and the grooves run in a screw thread of uniform pitch between the lands. The Whitworth Rifle a precision instrument made by the man who invented the micrometer The barrel of the Whitworth rifle is 39 inches in length, the interior is hexagonal in section, and, instead of consisting partly of non-effective lands and partly of grooves, has rifling surfaces which are wholly effective. The rifling turn is much quicker than that of the Enfield rifle, being l turn in 20 inches, and the angular corners of the hexagon are rounded in the manner shown. The maximum diameter of the bore is .490 of an inch, and the minimum diameter is .451 of an inch. The bullet may be either hexagonal or cylindrical; in the latter case, it will expand and be driven into the recesses of the hexagon, and will adapt itself to the curves of the spiral rifling; in the former case the inclined sides of the hexagon offer no direct resistance to this expansion, which is easily effected. The length of the bullet is 3 diameters of the bore. With all expanding bullets, a quick burning powder must be employed. The expansion depends on the sudden action of the powder upon a bullet possessing inertia, it therefore fails with a slow burning powder. If there be a mechanical fit between the bullet and the bore of a muzzle-loading rifle, this expansion is no longer necessary, and the bullet may then be made of alloys of tin and lead of any degree of hardness, or a hardened steel bullet may be used. It is perfectly easy to form a mechanically-fitting bullet adapted to the hexagonal rifling, on account of the simplicity of the form, but quite impracticable to obtain an accurate fit between the bullet and the bore of the rifle where any system of grooves is adopted. The expansion principle may be combined with an easy mechanical fit, so that a projectile made of metal harder than lead, such as an alloy of lead and tin, may be used, and the bullet will then expand sufficiently to fill the bore, giving a penetration more than double that of lead. In my earlier experiments I tried the effect of lengthening the bullet of the Enfield rifle, and I showed, by means of a piece of tissue paper placed three yards from the gun, that an increase of only a quarter of an inch in length caused the bullet to strike obliquely. This fact was clearly ascertained by the mark left upon the paper. I then made a barrel of the same bore with a twist of 1 turn in 30 inches, instead of 1 turn in 78 inches, and I kept the weight of the lengthened bullet at 530 grains by making a portion of the interior hollow. The result was that with the same charge the bullet hit the target at the same height. Having thus proved that there was no loss of range on account of the increased rotation of the bullet, and that the trajectory was as good as before, I made another barrel, reducing the minimum diameter to .5 inch, and lengthening the projectile, and finally I reduced the bore to .45 inch. In order to satisfy myself as to the effect of increased twist in the rifling I tried barrels with 1 turn in 20 inches, 1 turn in 10 inches, 1 turn in 5 inches and lastly with 1 turn in 1 inch. I fired from these barrels mechanically fitting bullets of lead and tin, and with the barrel rifled to 1 turn in 1 inch (using 35 grains of powder) I penetrated through 7 inches of elm-tree planks. Whitworth calls the Hexagonal .45 calibre ‘Smallbore’, for its time it was. In this way I exhausted the subject, and arrived at the result that the best twist for a rifled musket bullet would be 1 turn in 20 inches, the minimum diameter of the barrel being .45 inches. This construction gave the best shooting with the charge of powder and weight of bullet to which I was limited. If the ordinary strength of a man was greater than it is, the Enfield bore would be right but it would be necessary to increase the length of bullet and the twist of rifling, the rifle itself being also made heavier in proportion. I experienced great opposition to the change of rifle turn from 1 turn in 78 inches to 1 turn in 20 inches, or I should have made the twist somewhat more rapid in order to fire a steel bullet when necessary for penetration. It should be understood that the amount of rotation must be increased when the specific gravity of the bullet is made less, otherwise the projectile will fall over in its flight, – that is to say, an iron projectile requires more rotation than one made of lead. The same principles apply in determining the rotation for the heaviest guns. A long projectile turns over unless it has sufficient rotation, and the twist for field guns should not be less than 1 turn in 15 diameters. The gun will then fire projectiles 6 diameters in length. I have always contended that the primary element of success in long range shooting, is length of bullet, and generally that great range, with a low trajectory, accuracy and penetration are obtained by employing a long bullet, high rotation, and a large powder charge. Whitworth Rifle front sight, Whitworth was big into micrometer adjustments. The superiority of the Whitworth, as compared with the Enfield rifle, was first proved in a series of trials made at Hythe, in the year 1857, under the direction of Lord Panmure, then Minister of War. These trials led to no satisfactory conclusion, and after a lapse of eighteen months a Committee of Officers reported to the Government in 1859 that the bore of my rifle was to small for use as a military weapon. Compare with this the report of another Committee of Officers made in 1862, “that the makers of every small-bore rifle, having any pretensions to special accuracy, have copied to the letter the three main elements of success adopted by Mr. Whitworth, viz., diameter of bore, degree of spiral, and large proportion of rifling surface.” In 1869 a Special Committee reported to the War Office that the calibre of a breech-loading rifle, should be .45 inches, as appearing to be the most suitable for a military arm. This conclusion is directly contrary to that arrived at in 1859, but is the exact bore which I recommended in 1857. The mechanical question is the same whether we deal with a rifled musket or the heaviest gun. I have from the commencement advocated one uniform system, the value of which I have established by direct experiment. As regards heavy artillery, it will probably require some long interval before the professional advisers will be enabled to see that sound ductile steel is the best material for a gun, that the bore for a given weight of gun should be made smaller than that used in the service, that the projectile should be lengthened, that its rotation should be increased, and that the stud system should be abolished. In this direction they have made one step. They have taken the weight I proposed for a gun of 12 inches bore, and have increased the weight of the service 12 inch gun from 25 to 35 tons. In all other respects the Woolwich system is in direct opposition to my own. Following past precedent it must be expected that when the truths I have endeavoured to press upon official attention are fully understood, and action is taken upon them, my part in first developing them will probably be forgotten. Continued in next Bulletin

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Gun Law FACTS

EVALUATING BRITAIN’’S HANDGUN BAN
OUTLAW GUNS and only OUTLAWS will have GUNS!

Joyce Lee Malcolm, a professor of history at Bentley College and a senior adviser to the MIT Security Studies Program, has recently published an important new book, Guns and Violence: The English Experience. (The book received a very positive review from David Gordon in the Fall 2002 issue of The Mises Review.) For those who want to read a succinct summary of Malcolm’s work, Reason Magazine has done us the service of publishing her in article format.

Quotes from ‘Reason Magazine.’

In reality, the English approach has not reduced violent crime. Instead it has left law-abiding citizens at the mercy of criminals who are confident that their victims have neither the means nor the legal right to resist them. Imitating this model would be a public safety disaster for the United States.

The illusion that the English government had protected its citizens by disarming them seemed credible because few realized the country had an astonishingly low level of armed crime even before guns were restricted. A government study for the years 1890-92, for example, found only three handgun homicides, an average of one a year, in a population of 30 million. In 1904 there were only four armed robberies in London, then the largest city in the world. A hundred years and many gun laws later, the BBC reported that England’s firearms restrictions “seem to have had little impact in the criminal underworld.” Guns are virtually outlawed, and, as the old slogan predicted, only outlaws have guns. Worse, they are increasingly ready to use them.

Nearly five centuries of growing civility ended in 1954. Violent crime has been climbing ever since. Last December, London’s Evening Standard reported that armed crime, with banned handguns the weapon of choice, was “rocketing.” In the two years following the 1997 handgun ban, the use of handguns in crime rose by 40 percent, and the upward trend has continued. From April to November 2001, the number of people robbed at gunpoint in London rose 53 percent.

Gun crime is just part of an increasingly lawless environment. From 1991 to 1995, crimes against the person in England’s inner cities increased 91 percent. And in the four years from 1997 to 2001, the rate of violent crime more than doubled. Your chances of being mugged in London are now six times greater than in New York. England’s rates of assault, robbery, and burglary are far higher than America’s, and 53 percent of English burglaries occur while occupants are at home, compared with 13 percent in the U.S., where burglars admit to fearing armed homeowners more than the police.

What I wish to contemplate here is the rationale Malcolm ascribes to English gun control advocates: “People don’t need to protect themselves because society will protect them.” When someone forwards such a proposition, it is often useful to analyse his use of words. For instance, what, exactly, is meant by “society” in the above statement?

When people say that “society” should protect individuals, which specific individuals do they mean? Perhaps they mean that, while one shouldn’t protect oneself, one can expect protection from other members of society who happen to be on hand at your time of need? While you can’t pull out your own gun to fend off a mugger, it is fine for me to pull out my gun to fend off the fellow who is mugging you. I seriously doubt that scenario would please the advocates of “societal protection.” After all, if that were what they meant, they certainly wouldn’t have instituted a handgun ban in the UK. Instead, they might require that every person be packing heat at all times. While not permitted to protect himself with his rod, every citizen would be expected to help his fellows when they are in distress. But the law forbids that just as much as it does self-defence. Indeed, as Malcolm points out, “Police advise those who witness a crime to ‘walk on by’ and let the professionals handle it.”

Not in Britain Yet. Disarmed, Defenceless Waiting for Society to help, but its always to late.

Do the proponents of “societal protection” instead mean that individuals can’t protect themselves, but acting as members of a church group or corporation or social club they could act to protect each other? Again, the laws they recommend rule out this interpretation. There are no exceptions to the various laws forbidding self-defence and the carrying of “offensive” weapons for members of social groups. A minister is no more permitted to carry a weapon than is his flock, and one cannot obtain an exemption from the laws because one has an exceptional number of business associates.

It is clear that “society” is, at least in the case of British law, a euphemism, covering up the naked truth of what the doctrine of “societal protection” really means: All individuals must be completely reliant on the State for their safety. If you are attacked and the minions of the State are not on hand to protect, you must suffer whatever your attackers wish to do to you, or you will be punished.

Lest it be thought that I exaggerate, I will note a couple of examples from Malcolm:

In 1987 two men assaulted Eric Butler, a 56-year-old British Petroleum executive, in a London subway car, trying to strangle him and smashing his head against the door. No one came to his aid. He later testified, “My air supply was being cut off, my eyes became blurred, and I feared for my life.” In desperation he unsheathed an ornamental sword blade in his walking stick and slashed at one of his attackers, stabbing the man [sic] in the stomach. The assailants were charged with wounding. Butler was tried and convicted of carrying an offensive weapon.

In 1994 an English homeowner, armed with a toy gun, managed to detain two burglars who had broken into his house while he called the police. When the officers arrived, they arrested the homeowner for using an imitation gun to threaten or intimidate. In a similar incident the following year, when an elderly woman fired a toy cap pistol to drive off a group of youths who were threatening her, she was arrested for putting someone in fear. Now the police are pressing Parliament to make imitation guns illegal.

British & Australian Politician's say 'Gun Laws work' they would also believe that they could talk with one another through a deep hole in the ground.

I think the gun control issue brings us to a crucial aspect of social theory. Although rendering citizens helpless and reliant on the State might, in fact, be the intended result of the evolution of British law in the twentieth century, we need not regard it as such to acknowledge that it is the effective result. As Hayek famously put it, many social outcomes are “the result of human action but not of human design.

Gun History

Lewis Machine Gun.

Caliber .303 (7.7x57R), .30-06 (7.62×63) and many others including Japanese (Type 92) calibres.
Weight 11.8 kg
Length 1283 mm
Barrel length 666 mm
Feed pan magazine, 47 or 97-rounds
Rate of fire 550 rounds per minute

The Lewis light machine gun was designed in USA by Col. Isaac N. Lewis, based on earlier machine gun by Dr. Samuel McLean, but found no takers because of personal opposition from US Army’s Chief of ordnance. Trying to sell the gun overseas, US-based Automatic Arms Co, which held patents for Lewis guns, established a subsidiary company in Belgium, know as Armes Automatiques Lewis SA. However, it was a pure marketing agent, and production contracts for first “European” Lewis LMG were placed in 1913 with British Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) company. First batch of 50 BSA-made Lewis guns was completed by mid-1913, in as much as seven different calibre’s, with obvious goal of marketing these guns across Europe. When war broke, BSA received orders for Lewis guns, and by the end of the war delivered well over 15 thousands of Lewis guns. In USA, Lewis machine guns were built in .30-06 calibre, mostly for US Army Air Corps and for US Marine corps. The Lewis gun also saw extensive use as an aircraft machine gun during WW1 and in following decade.
Lewis light machine gun became most famous in British use and manufacture; it was widely used by British troops during WW1 and afterwards. During WW1 it was also supplied to Imperial Russia. During WW2, many infantry Lewis guns were recalled from reserve stores and issued to British Home Guard units. Furthermore, in the view of possible German invasion in 1940-41, many former aircraft Lewis guns, of both British and US origin, were converted for ground use and also issued to Home Guard. It must be noted that ex-aircraft Lewis guns, supplied from USA through Lend-lease program, were chambered for .30-06 US Service ammunition; when converted to ground use in UK, these guns retained its chambering and were marked with red stripes to distinguish its non-standard chambering.
Lewis machine guns were also manufactured under license in Japan (as Type 92, for Naval infantry and aerial use) and in the Netherlands.

Lewis light machine gun is a gas operated, air cooled, full automatic only weapon that fires from open bolt. It has a non-removable barrel with aluminum radiator, enclosed into tubular barrel jacket of relatively large diameter; jacket was opened from both front and rear. When gun was fired, the muzzle blast caused the air to flow inside the jacket from rear to front, providing forced air cooling for a relatively light barrel. In aircraft versions the jacket and radiator usually were discarded to save weight.
The basic action used a rotary bolt with four radial lugs, located at the rear of the bolt; lugs locked into the recesses in receiver walls. Bolt was operated by a vertical stud, which entered a helical cut made in the bolt body. This stud was installed on the gas piston rod, which runs below the barrel. Gas block was located near the muzzle, and was concealed within the barrel jacket. One unusual design feature of the Lewis gun was the return spring. It was a spiral, clock-type spring which operated a gear wheel, located in the semi-circular hump below the receiver. The gear wheel co-operated with a teethed rack, machined on the underside of the gas piston rod, so the return spring was wound upon recoil cycle (under the power of powder gases), and then unwound itself on closing movement of the bolt group. The firing pin was fixed to the vertical stud on the gas piston rod.
The feed system of the Lewis gun was also somewhat unusual, as its flat pan magazine, which held rounds in two layers, had no spring to feed cartridges into the gun. Instead, the magazine was powered by the gun itself, via special feed operating arm with two pawls, which engaged stamped ribs, made on the outside of the magazine cover. The feed arm oscillated in horizontal plane, being operated by the vertical stud located at the rear of the bolt. With each cycle of the bolt group, magazine was rotated by one step to feed next cartridge into the ready position. For aerial combat, four-layered magazines with bigger capacity were produced.
Standard furniture for Lewis light machine gun included a wooden pistol grip and a wooden buttstock, and a folding, detachable bipod. Optional carrying handle could be installed near the centre of gravity of the gun, that is, at the rear of the barrel jacket.
Guns, converted from aerial to ground use often lacked the barrel jacket and radiator; a light bipod was attached to the mounting, originally used to install the gun in aircraft turrets. Additionally, a skeleton buttstock was pinned to the rear spade grip and a simple rear sight set to 400 yards.

Free For Electronic Download Firearm Manual for Remington Models 700, Seven & 710 Bolt Action Centrefire Rifles

(includes exploded view and numbered parts diagram )

Email : OwenGuns@spiderweb.com.au and it will be sent to you in .pdf format free of charge.

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