Yet another very old gun club in New England is being hassled by the folks who live around it, most of whom have moved there within the last decade and now complain about the noise and “safety concerns.” The Spurwink Rod & Gun Club has been in the same place on Sawyer Road for nearly 60 years, but is now having to deal with a new ordinance, passed unanimously by the city council, that will require shooting ranges (note the plural) to be licensed and develop safety procedures (with accompanying audits) and have a site plan in place that covers future expansion and mitigation to the surrounding community. There will also be noise standards and requirements that all shots be contained within in the range. The plural is noted because although ordinances cannot be targeted against specific businesses . . .
there is and always has been only one gun range in the tiny town of Cape Elizabeth, and no future ones are currently foreseen. The 57-year-old club is clearly on what used to be the outskirts of town, and while some of the houses around it date to the mid-80s, many if not most of the others have construction dates of 2005-2010. “Long-running noise and safety concerns” indeed. The gun club will now also be operated under the purview of a five-member committee, of which only one member will actually have to come from the gun club (though more can). This ordinance is the kind of NIMBY nonsense that can put a gun range out of business, due to the inability to meet the revenue threshold necessary to maintain compliance.
Your Lockdown of the Day™ isn’t actually a lockdown, but it’s close. A girl’s softball game double-header in Knoxville, Tennessee was cut short Friday night after “a gun was spotted near the game.” That’s all the detail we get, but when it happened the second game had just started, and the umpires ordered both teams into the dugouts. They explained the situation to both teams, and the girls left the field while the coaches packed up the equipment. Coach Jessica Henry said, “My first thought was to protect the girls. … The most important thing for me at the time was to get them safe.” I cannot find any more information about this story anywhere, and while absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence, I’d think that if there was a major issue with police response, I’d have found something. Meanwhile, Pigeon Forge Athletic Director Jim Lethco said, “It’s just bizarre. Luckily nobody got hurt. Luckily we had level-headed coaches to get everybody out safe.” Got them out safe? Out of what? It wasn’t a building collapse… He went on to say that while this was rare, “things like this could happen. You hope and pray that they don’t. There’s a possibility of this type of behavior happening anywhere.”
Richard Ryan asks, “Can beer stop a .50 cal bullet?” My answer is, “Who cares? Blow some stuff up!”
Happy St. Patrick’s Day (a little early).
A thief snatched a handful of gold bracelets from a jewelry counter in front of a customer a few days ago, not knowing that the woman he’d interrupted was Wellington, New Zealand’s top cop. Superintendent Sandra Manderson, who was off-duty and wearing a pencil skirt [I’m told those are hard to run in], promptly threw down her handbag and chased him into the street while screaming, “Stop that man, he’s a thief.” A crowd followed the man to his car, where Ms. Manderson and another man flung open the passenger door. Sadly, the story doesn’t end with the apprehension of the thief, because upon opening the door, Ms. Manderson said the thief put his hand on a gun on the passenger seat and then “wordlessly looked her in the eye.” Putting safety first, she retreated and let him go. “I would have liked to have dragged him out and made the arrest, but I wasn’t going to take the risk with a firearm. If only he didn’t have the firearm, I think I would have got him.” If only.
A few days ago, Demolition Ranch attempted to show what it would sound like to get hit by a .50 BMG, but it was a little anti-climactic because the sound of the bullet hitting the meatsack was a small explosion all by itself. This week, they attempt to show what a near miss sounds like, by shooting past a camera about 300 yards away, aiming for a target 100 yards beyond that. They start with a .308 out of an AR-10, and then bring out the big boy .50 BMG.
Still a little less awesome than I’d hoped. I was hoping for the “zip” sound you hear in the movies, but I guess this is just one more thing that isn’t like what you see on the screen. The last couple shots were pretty awesome though… sounded like thunder. Bonus for how the backblast from the .50 brake made the camera rotate a little more after each shot.
The Yankee Marshal on Proper Firearms Cleaning Schedule. Now that the caliber war is firmly decided in favor of .40 S&W, and the manufacturer skirmishes have ended with the Springfield Armory XDm the victor, I suppose how often you clean your guns is the only thing we have left to argue about. So?
He said “lube.” Giggity.
I purchase some 80 from them n ep,
I am on the list for sure, so tell what the difference is between the 80 lowers anywhere else
So now i wait for the govt to knock on my door
Bullshit
this country is has gone to the shitter
“I was hoping for the “zip” sound you hear in the movies, but I guess this is just one more thing that isn’t like what you see on the screen. ”
Use subsonic ammo. What we’re hearing here is the shock wave, sort of a tiny sonic boom. Of course, with subsonic ammo, the report of the rifle will beat the bullet to the mic, so you’d have to use a suppressed rifle.
so my buddy just went down to ares and found out that the atf got the restraining order overturned last night and that they took all their computers and some inventory. all i know. this is bull$#!t
Benny, one thing I might have missed in your story. Does your friend have secure storage for the pistol?
I was in the same boat as you. My friend was looking to get a pistol. We went to the range several times to try out the rentals. He had difficulty shooting most of the handguns I had recommended (standard Glocks, M&Ps, CZs, etc. in various calibers). The one he shot the best with was the Beretta PX4 in 9mm. That gun wasn’t even on my radar so it reinforces that you should try as many different types as you can. We went to the next gun show in the area and found a great deal on a new one. Now another buddy is looking. It’s really fun seeing new shooters getting interested.
A civil war is stretching things a bit.. So is any kind of organized resistance ..
Look there are a few things that have to be in place before any sort of resistance happened, and gun owners are hell and gone from most of them.. the main one is leadership, second is everybody has to be moving in the same direction… there isnt a single group out there putting a face on any of this.. Just everybody singing the same songs, only in 10 thousand different ways.. this is why the opposition isnt too worried about a bunch of frustrated middle aged fat/skinny guys wringing their hands and kicking up dust online..Gun grabbers know that fighting the battle by whittling away little by little is how we lost them in the first place
The only group who has the kind of clout and muscle it takes to get everyone moving in one direction is the NRA.. and I doubt some galvanizing press release, asking members to resist is in the works..
Anything less then 100k armed guys marching in the streets demanding the repeal of national Firearms act of 1934, backed by somebody as Big as the NRA.. is gonna get squashed by the Anti’s
Infringement works little by little. Reigning in our government won’t work that way. Why did the colonists fight against the Crown when they could have worked their way back, little by little, to some sense of Liberty? Past a tipping point, a tyrannical government cannot be stopped by incrementalism. We’ve lost so many young minds to the public school indoctrination. Our freedom is lost in the long run if definitive action isn’t taken relatively soon. Connecticut is as good of a place to start as any. Give ’em Hell, CT! Stand strong.
I fear he is right.. Unless leadership in resistance is established.
Lots of love for the PoPo on here I see..
Identifying your clothing description to Dispatch/911 vs. the Goblin is never a guarantee. The description could well be switched around and your description might be put out as the bad guy. We can see what will happen there…
(I never forgot what happened when a plain clothes transit policeman was holding a bad guy at gunpoint and was shot to pieces by responding officers looking for a “Black man with a gun”. The suspect and the officer were both Black)…
The Columbine cops were ripped on for NOT going in hot. Police are now being trained to armor up, form sticks, and get in there to take out the Goblin ASAP, no waiting for SWAT…
and I see them being criticized for doing THAT here on these comments…
This thread is the very definition of Police work being a “thankless job”…
It’s okay. ARs are for weenies. I’ve got a Winchester 100 loaded with something way more powerful than .223. And it isn’t on any registry. 😉
The FUD in the comments here is strong. ATF isn’t going after 80% lowers, they’re going after a specific lower that ATF believes is a firearm, and not a non-firearm. The way to make sure this doesn’t happen to new manufacturers is to submit a sample for a determination.
Saying this proves ATF is going after 80% lowers is ridiculous. TTAG isn’t helping dispel the FUD either. Maybe that’s intentional, I dunno. But there’s a story about a boy crying “wolf” that comes to mind. You might want to review that, Mr. Farago. You’re fanning the flames of ignorance, not getting gun owners up in arms for a common cause.
There is no reasoning with these clowns. It is never really about “safety” it is always about “control.”
I’m not holding out much hope for the survival of the 2nd Amendment in CT.
Caliber wars are akin to Redheads or Blondes???? As long as they serve as designed and meet the intended purpose while performing without fail, who cares?
Because the government giveth and the government taketh away.
If someone owns one of these lowers it is time to bury it somewhere until the crap passes. We need to fight back.
Don’t ever go full capacity retard
Nicely done review Sir. I am 100% in the FNH camp now as well. I cut teeth on revolvers and 1911s. I thought i would never consider a plastic or a striker fired pistol. skip about ten years and after toying with a couple DAO/SAO options I saw something in the FNS line that clicked and I bought the FNS-9 (no external safety). It is a brilliant EDC and service option and I dont even remember the last time I enjoyed shooting a new handgun so much. I do not however share your experience with sight picture/group placement. I have found that a center hold at 10 yrds is right on. I do, however, have the standard 3 dot sight not the glowbie. Keep up the great work.
ACD
most people seem to think that 1k rounds per caliber is acceptable
Given that I have guns chambered for .455 Webley, 11mm French, and 9mm Nambu (no, that’s not a typo), that would be…ambitious.
Yeah. I’ve only got a couple hundred rounds of .375 H&H. But I’m comfortable with that.
It depends on the caliber and use case. I have around 600 rounds of 762x54r. That’s going to last me a good long time. I have 2500 rounds of .22 LR and that’s only a 3-4 month supply with as often we go and take people to the range. We can easily go through a 300-500 if we go with 3-4 people. So I don’t think there is a magic number. If you hit the range every other week you are going to need a lot more than someone who goes every other month. You buy it when the price is right and I try to always maintain a several month buffer just in case something gets hard to find for a while.
Personally, 1000 rounds should be your minimum reserve for every gun. Anything less is foolish. And by the way, my guns are my guns: I will not be handing off anything to my neighbors.
great article Tom in Oregon. do i get to anticipate another article of your second dgu?
The shirt is in line with shirts that glorify drug use, drinking, reckless driving, irresponsible sex etc. is it stupid, sure, but it’s also free speech. Free expression comes with a caveat, and that is understanding a joke. The shirt is clearly for trolling and it does a great job at riling people on both sides of the gun debate up. Liberals might go ballistic over it but if someone wears a shirt about how a “hoe in every area code” liberals won’t say anything. Irresponsible breeding is way more damaging than irresponsible gun ownership.
Drinking can be bad for your health….not carrying your gun can be worse…
If your floor can support the weight of your ammo stockpile, you don’t have enough.
EP armory, who got raided without warning a few days ago, says their customer list is safe
A. Your situational awareness is lacking good judgement
B. buddy system.
C. Are you stupid walking alone at night in a city
D. You’re lucky regardless of if you can carry or not don’t make yourself a target…and you did
I am very upset about this raid. I’ll be purchasing at least one Ares T-shirt Monday. Last year I gave about $800 to pro-gun causes / politicians and about 10x that in guns, ammo purchases, and range fees. I will not do business with anti-gun companies (I’m looking at you HK) if possible.
Please support Ares, the NRA, Calguns, NSSF, FPC, and each and every gun company which does not willingly comply with ridiculous government statists. I pray that it goes no further than donations to pro-gun causes and court cases.
Robert Seddon, that’s a ton of .45, might be time to diversify eh?
Sounds more like an excuse to exercise some gun control by executive order than sanctions on Russia.
We have no military leverage against the Russian petrostate but what do have is lots of natural gas to export to Europe which will certainly put a crimp on Russian Oligarchs lifestyle.