I just got off the phone with Colorado gunsmith Karl Lippard’s Number Two, Charles W. “Bill” Henderson. Bill cleared his anti-Carrube email for republication [below]. Even better, he’s granted us an audience with the A2 NCO. TTAG scribe and U.S. Army vet Martin Albright will head for Lippard’s place next weekend. I’ve also got a call into NCO skeptic and top shot Patrick Carrube. “They can bury the thing in mud take it out and shoot it,” Bill said. Hey, why not? Of course, we all know the money shot: hitting a target at 400 yards. Or a hundred, for that matter. It promises to be quite a show. Meanwhile, make the jump and read the riot act, you maggots, before Karl Lippard rips off your head and pukes down your neck . . .
As Lippard Arms and the Lippard A2 pistol become more widely known in public, prepare thyself for the blather of naysayers and skeptics, all of whom lack knowledge if marksmanship, firearms and ammunitions, as well as physics. So gird your loins for a large volume of commentary from people who know little and speak much. It will take a lot of patience and forgiveness of the stupidity. The last paragraph of [Patrick Carrube’s] commentary is an ideal example of the common denominator.
As more and more people retrofit their pistols with Lippard A2 technology, and as more and more people buy and shoot the Lippard A2 pistols, the uneducated will become educated, and will one day feel stupid with their comments. Others, such as the fellow in West Yellowstone, Montana who wears all the “I love myself” buttons and boasts his greatness with nothing to back it up, will always be stupid.
One thing we at Lippard, especially we Marines, must learn is to practice humility, and be more thoughtful with our words. We cannot reason with idiots, so we should not try. We should preach less and let facts, hard data, and the gun itself speak the words that even the harshest skeptic will have to accept. Over time, as the shooting world comes to realize that Lippard has established a new and much higher standard in firearms and ammunition, and that only comes with their actual use of the products and first witness of the performance, there comes acceptance of the truth of Lippard firearms and ammunition technology.
However, at that time, Lippard A3 and A4 technology will be the new stuff, and the skeptics will be spewing their flat-earth arguments on that technology. As Jesus told His disciples, “The poor will always be with you…” So will the stupid. And again, we Marines must learn humility, and exercise kindness to those who do not know any better.
The most important thing we can do for the common gun enthusiasts, whom we do dearly love and to whom we devote our energy, is provide them with unarguable, solid test data that anyone can repeat and prove for himself on a firing range or at his work bench. One cannot argue Full Interchangeability of the A2 when they any group of Lippard guns from any assortment, dismantle them and reassemble them at random, and the shoot them and witness the better-than-match performance of the gun.
As I said, the gun speaks for itself, so we should not have to say a word. Just put guns in people’s hands and let them have at it. Lippard’s challenge is open. Any gun, any make, custom fit match guns included. Any weather, any setting, any ammunition, buried in mud, it makes no difference. The Lippard A2 will speak for itself.
Meanwhile, we who have shot the gun and know the gun and know the truth it, the stronger we try to preach its greatness, the more and louder and more harsh the skeptics will argue and condemn us as fools. Look at Columbus or Galileo. The mass public absolutely knew the earth was flat. They scoffed at Columbus’s idea that the earth could be a globe. They imprisoned Galileo for suggesting that the earth was round and revolved around the sun. Even today, there are skeptics who believe that when Neal Armstrong stepped from the Eagle onto the surface of the moon, that he was really on a sound stage in Hollywood.
Most people accept truth when the presentation is obvious. When they shoot the A2 at a man silhouette at 400 yards, and are trained how to use the Lippard sights, and see that it does in fact shoot a group on the silhouette, then they believe. I also must factor in that most people shooting .30-caliber rifles at that same target at 400 yards will miss, due to their inability to factor windage and environmental factors that affect any shot. And we know that the slower the projectile moves, the greater the effect of wind.
As far as the fellow branding all Marines as non-shooters because he witnessed two Marines who could not hit paper, I say that they fall into that 10-percent of Marines who cannot qualify on the range. However, 90-percent of Marines do qualify with the rifle, and know how to calculate windage at 500 yards. As a Marine Corps marksmanship instructor (I held the MOS of 9925, the marksmanship officer), as well as marksmanship expert and competitor, I am quite confident that the vast majority of Marines today can take the Lippard A2 pistol, apply their knowledge of windage adjustment that they learned shooting the rifle at 500 yards, and do well with the Lippard pistol at 400 yards.
As for ballistic performance of the .45 caliber military ball, standard being 830 feet per second muzzle velocity, at 400 yards the 230 grain projectile still carries more than 600 feet per second velocity. That bullet moving that that speed has a stopping force that will lift a man off his feet and kill him dead as a mackerel. Even at 1000 yards, that 230 grain bullet retains killing force. Just calculate the simple physics of mass times velocity and you will find the energy of the .45 caliber 230 grain bullet holds much greater killing power than a 9 mm or even .357 magnum at close range.
Bear in mind that the creation of the .45 ACP was motivated by Marines in the Philippines facing the Moras, who were hyped on drugs and fanatics for their cause, needing an adequate handgun to kill these warriors. The Navy .36 caliber and .38 calibers, similar to the 9mm Lugar used today, failed miserably, just at the 9mm fails to kill. That is why those who try to kill the enemy with the M9 must empty the magazine in the foe to kill him. Thus, as history repeats itself 100 years later, the Marine Corps again needs the .45 caliber pistol. Except they want it battlefield adequate, and Lippard A2 not only fulfills that criteria, but far exceeds it.
The proof is in the shooting. And in time the skeptics will grow silent. Until then, we must choose our words carefully, respect the people because they simply do not know better, and do our best to provide them as much solid, well established, hard data that we can establish. Matters of fact are hard to argue, and the gun speaks in matters of fact.
Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinitas
Charles W. “Bill” Henderson