Author Archive

Friday Range Smiles

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Feb 4th, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

I got out for lunch a little later than usual on Friday. As such, the indoor range was quite crowded by the time I arrived. The constant firing was somewhat distracting, especially when you added in the brass coming over the walls and hitting me. Thoug…


Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Feb 3rd, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

The leftists around the country are becoming increasingly violent. Recent events in Berkeley are typical of what passes for “tolerance” and “peace” among the liberals and democrats.I find it hardly coincidental that the de facto leader of the left…


Chronograph Troubles

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Feb 2nd, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

Several years ago I picked up Chrony Alpha Master chronograph. Even though I don’t reload my own ammo, I thought it would be good to get an idea of power factor of the commercial ammo I buy. (Like brewing my own beer, reloading ammo is something I consider another hobby, neither of which I have much interest doing at this time.) Good intentions aside, the chronograph sat in my garage, unused.

Last weekend I went online to find the user manual and took the chronograph to the range to try it out. I set up the unit in front of a target at the berm and sat myself in a chair at about the 10 foot recommended distance.

I tested with two different guns, the SIG P239 and P226. Two different commercial ammo brands were put fired through both guns, Federal American Eagle 9mm 124 grain and Freedom Munitions 9mm 135 grain. I have previously recorded data for the American Eagle ammo through the P226 from several USPSA matches to use for comparison.

Starting out with the compact gun I was somewhat shocked by the readings, which were lower than the manufacturers’ claims. The readings were also quite varied, by as much as 50 fps between the high and low readings. Then I switched to the P226. Again, the numbers were inconsistent. But the most surprising finding was that the Chrony was giving readings that were 50 – 80 fps lower for the American Eagle ammo than the previous results from the match chronographs.

It could be that I am not conducting the testing correctly, or perhaps the equipment is not working as expected. I do have another sanctioned match coming up where I can get some more comparison data. I’ll try again with the Chrony unit in the future as well.

Despite not getting what I can consider reliable data, the testing did give an opportunity to get out to the range, even if for a short while. And that’s always a good thing.

[ This content originated at Musings Over a Pint ]


St. Brigid of Ireland

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Feb 1st, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

Today is the Feast Day of St. Brigid of Ireland, one of our family’s favorite Saints. The quote below has long been attributed to St. Brigid.”I’d Like A Great Lake Of Beer For The King Of Kings. I Would Like To Be Watching Heaven’s Family Drinking…


Even In Church

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Jan 31st, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

The Most Reverend Manuel A. Cruz, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, was attacked during Mass last Saturday by a man who got up from his seat at the service. The Bishop needed 30 stitches in his mouth as result of the punch. The thug who assaulted the Bishop was arrested, though no motive has been released. I’m assuming that unless the goon turns out to be a Trump supporter, we probably won’t hear much more about a motive.

We now have video of the assault.

The recording leaves me wondering why the attacker was allowed to calmly walk up to the altar. During that part of the Mass people are standing, but there is no reason for anyone to be approaching the altar. An Essex County Sheriff’s Officer can be seen calmly following the guy, but makes no attempt to stop him until AFTER he sucker punches the Bishop. Inexcusable in my eyes.

Frankly, I am a little surprised the Bishop didn’t react sooner. It just goes to show that one can be blind to a threat when you have no reason to believe there is any danger.

Unfortunately this assault occurred in New Jersey, where good people are defenseless and told to rely on the police to keep them safe. How’d that work out for the Bishop? I am confident that someone approaching the altar in my church here in Virginia would be stopped before he hit the first step.

For my Virginia readers, I will remind you of the Virginia statute which vaguely states that carrying a weapon “without good and sufficient reason” in a church is not lawful. I will also remind you that former Virginia Attorney Cuccinelli offered an opinion that “carrying a weapon for personal protection constitutes a good and sufficient reason under the statute to carry a weapon into a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held there.”

[ This content originated at Musings Over a Pint ]


Red Dragon Brewery and Cask Ale

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Jan 30th, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

I was excited to read that Red Dragon Brewery in Fredericksburg has added cask ale to their lineup. They acquired a traditional hand-pumped beer engine from a closed pub in the U.K. and tapped the first beer this weekend. Colleen and I stopped by …


It’s Friday And There’s Range Time

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Jan 27th, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

For this week’s range trip I opted to shoot the compact SIG P239 since I’ll be shooting it in a match soon. It’s also the firearm that I carry most often, so I like to shoot it regularly.

I decided to run Julie Golob’s 50 round drill a couple of times, setting the target at 7 yards. The goal is to only score -0 hits, anything else is considered a miss. While there’s no time limit on the drill, I did try to shoot as fast as I could and still get the hits, though slowing down would have made for a more impressive accompanying photo.

Using the IDPA target outline for scoring, on the first I had seven misses out of 50, five of which were on head shot attempts. On the second run, I slowed a bit for the head shots and only missed two, but dropped five body shots.

After I expended the 100 rounds I had packed, I had the urge to shoot a bit more, so I purchased 50 more rounds from the range. This time I set out a B-34 target and worked on shooting out to 20 yards. I was mostly pleased with that round of shooting, but noticed a tendency to shoot slightly low.

Lessons learned today: I need to concentrate on grip pressure with the slimmer gun, and also watch the height of the front sight to keep from dropping low shots. And that gives me an excuse to go back next week. Even though the shooting wasn’t quite as accurate as I would have liked, the outing was a fun diversion. And now we know there are health benefits too.

[ This content originated at Musings Over a Pint ]


The Threat to VA CHP Holders in MD

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Jan 26th, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

As someone who sometimes travels in Maryland for shooting matches or to visit family, I find this of great concern. When traveling in the not so “Free State” I am aware of the threat of unreasonable searches of my person and vehicle by agents of a stat…


9 Things You Didn’t Know About the Second Amendment

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Jan 25th, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local
Interesting information to contradict the FUD of the anti-gun crowd.
Reprinted from Policy Mic.

1. The Second Amendment codifies a pre-existing right

The Constitution doesn’t grant or create rights; it recognizes and protects rights that inherently exist. This is why the Founders used the word “unalienable” previously in the Declaration of Independence; these rights cannot be created or taken away. In D.C. vs. Heller, the Supreme Court said the Second Amendment “codified a pre-existing right. The very text of the Second Amendment implicitly recognizes the pre-existence of the right and declares only that it “shall not be infringed … this is not a right granted by the Constitution” (p. 19).

2. The Second Amendment protects individual, not collective rights
The use of the word “militia” has created some confusion in modern times, because we don’t understand the language as it was used at the time the Constitution was written. However, the Supreme Court states in context, “it was clearly an individual right” (p. 20). The operative clause of the Second Amendment is “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” which is used three times in the Bill of Rights. The Court explains that “All three of these instances unambiguously refer to individual rights, not ‘collective’ rights, or rights that may be exercised only through participation in some corporate body” (p. 5), adding “nowhere else in the Constitution does a ‘right’ attributed to “the people” refer to anything other than an individual right” (p. 6).
3. Every citizen is the militia
To further clarify regarding the use of the word “militia,” the court states “the ordinary definition of the militia as all able-bodied men” (p. 23). Today we would say it is all citizens, not necessarily just men. The Court explains: “’Keep arms’ was simply a common way of referring to possessing arms, for militiamen and everyone else” (p. 9). Since the militia is all of us, it doesn’t mean “only carrying a weapon in an organized military unit” (p. 11-12). “It was clearly an individual right, having nothing whatever to do with service in a militia” (p. 20).

4. Personal self-defense is the primary purpose of the Second Amendment

We often hear politicians talk about their strong commitment to the Second Amendment while simultaneously mentioning hunting. Although hunting is a legitimate purpose for firearms, it isn’t the primary purpose for the Second Amendment. The Court states “the core lawful purpose [is] self-defense” (p. 58), explaining the Founders “understood the right to enable individuals to defend themselves … the ‘right of self-preservation’ as permitting a citizen to ‘repe[l] force by force’ when ‘the intervention of society in his behalf, may be too late to prevent an injury’ (p.21). They conclude “the inherent right of self-defense has been central to the Second Amendment right” (p.56).
5. There is no interest-balancing approach to the Second Amendment
Interest-balancing means we balance a right with other interests. The court notes that we don’t interpret rights this way stating “we know of no other enumerated constitutional right whose core protection has been subjected to a freestanding “interest-balancing” approach. The very enumeration of the right takes out of the hands of government the power to decide on a case-by-case basis whether the right is really worth insisting upon. A constitutional guarantee subject to future judges’ assessments of its usefulness is no constitutional guarantee at all” (p.62-63). This doesn’t mean that it is unlimited, the same as all rights (more on that below). However, the court states that even though gun violence is a problem to be taken seriously, “the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table” (p.64).

6. The Second Amendment exists to prevent tyranny

You’ve probably heard this. It’s listed because this is one of those things about the Second Amendment that many people think is made up. In truth, this is not made up. The Court explains that in order to keep the nation free (“security of a free state”), then the people need arms: “When the able-bodied men of a nation are trained in arms and organized, they are better able to resist tyranny” (p.24-25). The Court states that the Founders noted “that history showed that the way tyrants had eliminated a militia consisting of all the able bodied men was not by banning the militia but simply by taking away the people’s arms, enabling a select militia or standing army to suppress political opponents” (p. 25). At the time of ratification, there was real fear that government could become oppressive: “during the 1788 ratification debates, the fear that the federal government would disarm the people in order to impose rule through a standing army or select militia was pervasive” (p.25). The response to that concern was to codify the citizens’ militia right to arms in the Constitution (p. 26).
7. The Second Amendment was also meant as a provision to repel a foreign army invasion

You may find this one comical, but it’s in there. The court notes one of many reasons for the militia to ensure a free state was “it is useful in repelling invasions” (p.24). This provision, like tyranny, isn’t an everyday occurring use of the right; more like a once-in-a-century (if that) kind of provision. A popular myth from World War II holds Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese navy allegedly said “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” Although there is no evidence of him saying this, there was concern that Japan might invade during WWII. Japan did invade Alaska, which was a U.S. territory at the time, and even today on the West Coast there are still gun embankments from the era (now mostly parks). The fact is that there are over 310 million firearms in the United States as of 2009, making a foreign invasion success less likely (that, and the U.S. military is arguably the strongest in the world).

8. The Second Amendment protects weapons “in common use at the time”
The right to keep and bear arms isn’t unlimited: “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited” (p. 54). The Court upheld restrictions like the prohibition of arms by felons and the mentally ill, and carrying in certain prohibited places like schools and courthouses. What is protected are weapons “in common use of the time” (p.55). This doesn’t mean weapons in common use “at that time,” meaning the 18th Century. The Court said the idea that it would is “frivolous” and that “the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding” (p.8). The Court’s criteria includes weapons in popular widespread use “that [are] overwhelmingly chosen by American society” (p. 56), and “the most popular weapon chosen by Americans” (p. 58).
9. The Second Amendment might require full-blown military arms to fulfill the original intent
The Court didn’t rule specifically on this in D.C. vs. Heller, but noting that weapon technology has drastically changed (mentioning modern day bombers and tanks), they stated “the conception of the militia at the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification was the body of all citizens capable of military service, who would bring the sorts of lawful weapons that they possessed at home to militia duty. It may well be true today that a militia, to be as effective as militias in the 18th century, would require sophisticated arms that are highly unusual in society at large” (p. 55).

They further added that “the fact that modern developments [in modern weaponry] have limited the degree of fit between the prefatory clause and the protected right cannot change our interpretation of the right” (p. 56). A full ruling has not been made, as this was not in the scope the court was asked to rule on in the D.C. vs. Heller case, but they left the door open for future ruling.


Tip of the hat to Give Me Liberty for the link.

[ This content originated at Musings Over a Pint ]


Cavalier IDPA Match

By From http://www.musingsoverapint.com/ • Jan 24th, 2017 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

I was fortunate to be able to shoot two IDPA matches last weekend. After the demoralizing BUG match, it was fun to shoot another match on Sunday at Cavalier. This time I shot a full size pistol, with much better results.The weather was “iffy” on the mo…


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