“They come together to shoot things,” abc2news.com‘s talking head teleprompts. “But now a pair of gun advocates are recovering from injuries after an accident . . .” Wait. “Gun advocates”? As in gun rights crusaders out to prove a point? Nope. A retired state police officer and his son firing a Japanese rifle on a grand day out. The report does the fair and balanced thing: pointing out the farm’s 30-year safety record, revealing the fact that both participants were wearing eyes and ears, incorporating the farmer’s assertion that shooting is safer than soccer, and revealing that neither “victim” was seriously hurt. Why they “didn’t even need stitches.” So . . . why is this news?
Because the whiney, self-indulgent liberal arts majors that make up the US media get a pantload every time they see a gun, hear the word “gun” or find out that (gasp!) people own guns.
Now, as to the failure: Folks should NB that among the Axis powers, quality shortcuts were taken, and some weapons even deliberately made defective, in the waning days of WWII. Not all Japanese/German/Italian weapons of that era are made to the same standards of quality, especially in the area of heat treatment of the steel.
I’m pretty sure that isnt limited to axis powers. Also the Axis powers used plenty of captured weapons, and reloaded foreign ammunition. I have a ashtray my grandpa brought back that is made from the case head of a 10cm shell and 3 French coins. The head stamp indicates it was made by Skoda Works of the Czech Republic, but the primer has Nazi markings.
Considering how old the gun is, and how many rounds have likely been thru it over the decades, it could be due to other issues.
It’s news…because it’s about guns, and like most media, not necessarily the truth about guns.
Another ABC reporter that knows absolutely nothing about firearms. As to the participants being “gun advocates”, of couse they were, any “normal” person would be outside protesting the inhumanity of people having fun with firearms, so the shooters have to be advocates.
Was the rifle an Arisaka? If so, I’m kind of skeptical of it blowing up. I’ve read lots of reports of the design being able to withstand pressures double the usual amount. Even read something about an Arisaka that shot 6 rounds loaded to 200,000 psi with no problems. I don’t have one but I’ve been lead to believe they are built like tanks.
Regular production Arisaka Type 99 rifles were very robust. However, “last ditch” or “substitute” rifles are considered unsafe to fire unless proven otherwise.
The Model 99 and Model 38 are indeed quite strong. The 99 is built like a proverbial brick outhouse.
PO Ackley tried to grenade the Arisaka at Trinidad after WWII. Couldn’t get the action to fail, but at high pressures (over 120K psi), the Arisaka’s barrel threads stripped and the barrel launched forward out of the receiver.
Hatcher notes that one young experimenter finally was able to grenade an Arisaka, but the exact test conditions are unclear.
The point being this: At the point when a properly heat treated Arisaka lets go (over 120K psi), a Mauser 98, ’03/’03A3/Enfield/etc rifle’s receiver has long since failed somewhere in the 70K+ psi range.
All true for “regular” production Arisakas. However, the later “substitute” models often do not meet these standards. Metallurgy, fit and safety weren’t even secondary requirements for late production guns.
By the War’s end, the Japanese military was sending out men, machines and arms that were ill-prepared for anything but being destroyed for the Emperor. All substitute Arisaka models should be checked thoroughly by a qualified smith before firing.
Exactly as first commenter noted-
every media outlet needs content- something to sell, and if it dont bleed, it dont lead as they say in the news business.
Being its a low profit business, they HAVE to rely on lowest cost reporters.
Thus, ignorant, immature, or worse, biased reportage.
Everyone wants to be the next Woodward-Bernstein, so you find people just making things up…(remember the reporters at NYT and WAPO)
and the meme: BAD BAD BAD GUNS = BAD BAD BAD PEOPLE
is well understood in the 95% liberal political demographic that makes up the MSM (Pew Foundation survey),
that is sourced and astroturfed (Soros funded Media Matters),
and rewarded “bitterly clinging to guns and religion” top-down.
Thats why this site is so invaluable, and why we need to keep spreading the word- keep up the good work Robert! I see links here from Instapundit, and other center- sensible linkers and thinkers- thats a sign that the content here is interesting and useful.
So, we readers need to help all 2A rights and our own communities by pointing toward TTAG, by sending emails with links and ideas to our own community papers, because guess what-
back to the beginning of the post- they need interesting content to sell papers….
and something that comes from a source that is more honest, more timely, and more interesting than the propaganda they know very well is force fed via the national wires dominated by NYT and AP.
“is well understood in the 95% liberal political demographic that makes up the MSM (Pew Foundation survey),”
Please provide a URL to backup your claim.
“They come together to shoot things,” abc2news.com‘s talking head teleprompts. “But now a pair of gun advocates are recovering from injuries after an accident . .
Sounds like leaders of the NRA!
What an idiot the news announcer is!
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