Free Republic

It's for our own good And it will be an Orwellian Police State, too: Thoughtcrime is already subject to ostracism and vilification, and what with the UN ready to codify it, and Obama signaling that he wants to increase the importance and influence of the UN, how long will it stay out of the U.S.? And why is this necessary? Primarily "to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack." Of course, to call the Muslim community in America to account and compel it to stop teaching Sharia supremacism and hatred of Jews and Christians -- that...

I'm going to buy an assault semi-automatic rifle with considerable magazine capacity. Rather than ask which gun to buy (like many others have), I'd like to let the ammunition influence my gun purchase. Okay experts......these are the parameters I'd like you to discuss for ammo calibers ranging from .223 to 7.62x39 to larger. What is the best caliber ammo based on? 1) availability 2) cost 3) versatility (defense, hunting, etc.) 4) popular caliber with numerous gun brands 5) etc.

LANDER -- People in Wyoming and North Dakota received mixed messages this week about eating animals killed with lead bullets. North Dakota health officials recommended on Thursday that pregnant women and young children avoid eating meat from wild game that was shot with lead ammunition. But an official with the Wyoming Department of Health said the Cowboy State will not be issuing the same warning to its residents, because state epidemiologists believe the effects are "very unlikely to be clinically significant." The same afternoon, an advocacy group for the firearms industry called the North Dakota alert "scientifically unfounded rhetoric." The...

It's been 17 years since the federal government banned the use of lead shot in shells used to hunt waterfowl. Back in 1991 the number of ducks and geese turning up dead from lead poisoning was on the increase, not so much as a result of being hit by lead pellets but as a result of ingesting pellets as they bottom fed in ponds and marshes. Swans and other non-game bottom feeders were also impacted. Hunters initially complained about the poor performance of non-toxic steel shot compared to lead, but it wasn't long before a number of non-toxic alternatives to...

A 52-year-old man was being held without bail on suspicion of shooting at a traffic light in Westwood and having more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition in his van and a storage locker late last week, UCLA police said Monday. Gene Bush allegedly began firing at a traffic light at Broxton and Le Conte avenues shortly before midnight Thursday. Campus police responding to the shooting reported that they found Bush on the sidewalk, empty-handed but wearing a holster. They said that when they ordered him, at gunpoint, to get on the ground, he responded: "Not until everyone else gets here."...

All of the Wal-Marts across Alabama sold out of ammunition as of yesterday. A reliable source said that one of the purchasers commented that while Russia may have invaded Georgia, they sure as heck ain't takin' Alabama over so easily!

Attention Firearm and Ammunition Manufacturers and Exporters! The State Department has proposed raising the annual ITAR registration fee to $2,250. If you have *any* export activity, the minimum fee will increase to $2,750. If you apply to export items more than 10 times, the fee will be $2,750, plus $250 per export application over 10. In the final coup d' grace, State is proposing that the annual registration fee equal 3% of the total annual value of a company's export. If Dillon Aero exported 10 M134's and the export totalled $1.3M, the annual registration fee for the following year would...

For the second year in a row, a Los Angeles assemblyman is pushing a bill that would create a handgun-ammunition licensing system for firearms dealers statewide. The bill would require dealers to purchase an annual license from the Department of Justice to sell more than 50 total rounds of handgun ammunition each month. These licenses would cost an estimated $50, according to the department.

While Seattle worries about concealed weapons, a new fad in the West is to pack and carry you pistol for all to see...

MUMBAI, India (Reuters) - India's marksmen are threatening to boycott the Beijing Olympics unless the government steps in to help alleviate a shortage of ammunition for training.

ATK Ammunition & Related Products March 13, 2008 Dear ATK Ammunition Customer: Over the last two years and as we move into the second quarter of 2008 we continue to see unprecedented raw material cost escalation in our business.As a result we are forced to announce a price increase effective April 1, 2008. This will include a 9% increase in all promotional ammunition and a 5% increase in other standard catalog ammunition products. New pricing and programs will be communicated to you shortly. We appreciate your understanding.

OTTAWA — Canadian army gunners in Afghanistan are now cleared to fire GPS-guided artillery shells at Taliban militants - at the cost of $150,000 a round. The Excalibur shell could very well be the most expensive conventional ammunition ever fired by the military. Supporters argue that the weapon, which has the ability to correct itself in flight, has pinpoint accuracy. They predict that will cut down on the mounting civilian death toll from air strikes in a war-torn region, where insurgents often hide among the population. "It lands exactly where you want it to land," said Lt.-Col. Jim Willis, a...

Next Wednesday, March 25, the Assembly Public Safety Committee will consider legislation that would require gun owners to obtain a “permit-to-purchase” before buying handgun ammunition. Introduced by State Assembly Member Kevin De Leon (D-45), Assembly Bill 2062 puts ammunition sales in the crosshairs. AB2062 would require that law-abiding gun owners obtain a permit to buy handgun ammunition and would impose severe restrictions on the private transfers of handgun ammunition. Applicants for a “permit-to-purchase” would be required to submit to a background check, pay a $35 fee, and wait as long as 30 days to receive the permit.

NRA Members' Councils of California << Please cross-post & distribute this CAL-ERT >> << Please cross-post & distribute this CAL-ERT >> << Please cross-post & distribute this CAL-ERT >>  CAL-ERT  03/11/08 --- 3:00 PM  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ CALIFORNIA REGULATORY ALERTThis information is accurate at the time this CAL-ERT was written and originally distributed. The NRA Members' Councils of California will keep you informed as the situation changes in Sacramento.IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!!!CALIFORNIA FISH & GAME COMMISSION REGULATORY PROPOSALSWEEPING NEW REGULATIONS OVERSTEP EVEN THE EXTREME RESTRICTIONS OF AB821FISH & GAME COMMISSION NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!   NOW!!!  The California Fish and Game Commission...

Anti-Gun Politicians, Are You Listening? NAS Says Ballistic Imaging Database "Should Not Be Established" Friday, March 07, 2008 On March 5, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released Ballistic Imaging, the report of a committee it assigned to evaluate the feasibility, accuracy, and technical capability of a possible national database of so-called “ballistic” images from all new guns sold in the United States. The committee considered dozens of factors, including the uniqueness of images, the ability of imaging systems to capture images, the odds against images in a database being matched with cartridge cases and/or bullets found at crime scenes,...

I recently obtained a .357 and a .45 ACP and would like to go to the range and put some practice in. However, I've been away from pistol ammo prices for a while, and after I suffered from sticker shock, I'm now looking for a supplier of "range ammo" in .38 special and .45 ACP.

NEAR YUSAFIYAH ROAD, Iraq — A farmer’s spilled vegetables led to a lucky discovery — a cache of 58 shells off this rural road. The unidentified farmer will probably be presented an award of $100 for telling a local sheik about the discovery, Capt. Brandon Cave said. The sheik notified Cave’s unit, Bravo Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) of the find Thursday afternoon in Iraq. The Fort Campbell, Ky., troop is deployed at Patrol Base Corregidor in a rural agricultural area south of Baghdad. Noting it takes awhile to build trust with the local...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Nov. 27, 2007 – Afghan national security forces confiscated an ammunition cache in Khana village in the Sherzad district of Afghanistan's Nangahar province yesterday. The Afghan-led forces planned and executed the mission after receiving credible information of a possible ammunition cache in their area. The forces located and searched the suspected area where they found and recovered 70 rocket-propelled grenade boosters. Afghan citizens receive compensation for their efforts through the Small Rewards Program when they facilitate the recovery and turn-in of armament caches. The program is designed to encourage and compensate Afghan citizens for their efforts...

UPDATE - COMMENT PERIOD EXTENDED TO SEPT 10 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed new rules that would have a dramatic effect on the storage and transportation of ammunition and handloading components such as primers or black and smokeless powder. The proposed rule indiscriminately treats ammunition, powder and primers as “explosives.” Among many other provisions, the proposed rule would: • Prohibit possession of firearms in commercial “facilities containing explosives”—an obvious problem for your local gun store. • Require evacuation of all “facilities containing explosives”—even your local Wal-Mart—during any electrical storm. • Prohibit smoking within 50 feet of...

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - The United States sent more ammunition on Saturday to Lebanon, whose army is struggling to defeat a group of heavily armed Islamist militants holed up inside a Palestinian refugee camp. The militant Fatah al-Islam group, which has vowed to fight to the death, said in a statement the U.S. military supplies included nerve gas and cluster bombs. "If they use unconventional weapons against us, we will respond with unconventional attacks everywhere," said the statement, read by the group's spokesman Abu Salim Taha. A military spokesman said he had no reaction to "these false allegations which...

Ever since the ancient Romans realized their plumbing was giving them gout, lead has been bad news. The plentiful-but-toxic metal has been banned by the federal government in everything from paint and water pipes to food containers and gasoline. And now, one of the poisonous element's last footholds in American culture — the ammunition used by the 25 million people who hunt for sport and food — is being targeted, as states across the country consider enacting bans on the use of lead for hunting. The latest assault aims to protect the thousands of birds, wildlife and even some endangered...

Not sure if the link above will work or not. So here is another one. http://www.break.com/index/awesome_high_speed_compilation.html

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2006 – Bastogne soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, freed a kidnap victim and captured three of the terrorists who had taken him hostage just outside Kirkuk, Iraq, yesterday, military officials reported. An aerial reconnaissance team flying missions near Kirkuk spotted four men wearing black robes and wielding AK-47 rifles. The men stopped their sedan several times along one of the area’s main roads and set up illegal checkpoints at each stop. As coalition ground forces moved into the area, the group made their last stop, holding 10 passengers in a van at...

AL ASAD, Iraq (July 7, 2006) -- Marines at the Al Asad Ammunition Supply Point came together for a brief banquet laced with ceremony and laughs, staying in tune with Marine Corps tradition. The ASP Marines with Headquarters and Service Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 7, 1st Marine Logistics Group, conducted a field mess night at Al Asad July 1 to honor and recognize the Marines who came before them, as well as to build on to their own camaraderie. "We came over here 24 strong, and we do a lot of things together," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian G....

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Russia will help Venezuela build plants to make Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition after the United States restricted arms sales to the South American nation, President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday. Chavez also told a press conference in Quito, Ecuador, that a delivery of 30,000 Kalashnikov automatic rifles was due to arrive from Russia in early June. "The Russians are going to install a Kalashnikov rifle plant and a munitions factory. So we can defend every street, every hill, every corner," he said in remarks broadcast in Venezuela. Washington banned all weapons sales to Chavez's leftist government...

Knight Ridder Newspapers WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - California could become the first state in the nation to require semi-automatic handguns include microscopic equipment for pressing an identifying mark into every bullet fired. Through newly developed technology, the firing pin of a semi-automatic weapon can stamp the gun's make and model onto a bullet shell as it leaves the chamber. The technology could help police investigate homicides and trace gun trafficking. Thirty-three California police chiefs support a bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, a West Hollywood Democrat, that would require the markers. "It has the potential to solve some significant crimes...

JAG, we are told, mistakenly thought the open-tip round was the same as hollow-point ammunition, which is banned. The original open-tip was known as Sierra MatchKing and broke all records for accuracy in the past 30 years. The difference between the open-tip and the hollow point is that the open tip is a design feature that improves accuracy while the hollow point is designed for increasing damage when it hits a target. About 10 days ago, the Army JAG in Iraq ordered all snipers to stop using the open-tip 175-grain M118LR bullet, claiming, falsely, it was prohibited. Instead of the...

On the occasion of the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, New Jersey firearms opponents had planned to make a symbolic seven-mile march from an assembly point to a Dick's Sporting Goods store in West Windsor, New Jersey to protest that store's selling handgun ammunition. Instead, they found themselves explaining their absence to the local media. The reason given for canceling a peaceful protest designed to express the collective desires of the Mercer County Million Mom March Chapter, the NJ Million Mom March Chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the local chapters of the Southern Christian...

TO HIS family and friends, Mamdouh Habib was a devoted father and husband. But to others, the calm suburban veneer disguised an angry and often violent man whose actions were fuelled by his religious fanaticism. Seemingly a helpful supporter at his son's soccer matches, Habib also had a nasty streak which landed him with an AVO against former colleagues and a court order to destroy firearms and ammunition in his home. Nine days after the September 11 attack in New York, his home was raided by the nation's chief spy watchdog ASIO. Today, the fate of the man named as...

Pravda is reporting this blazing,exploding munitions dump as an accident. (?)

U.S. Army Small-Caliber Ammo Award Establishes General Dynamics As Second Source for Critical Small-Caliber Ammunition             ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The U.S. Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Illinois, has awarded General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), a five-year contract to supply small-caliber ammunition to the U.S. armed forces. The initial award under the contract is for $171 million for approximately 300 million rounds. The contract has a total potential value of approximately $1.2 billion if all options are exercised. This contract establishes General Dynamics as...

You may have heard a lot of praise for S. 397, which last week passed the U.S. Senate. This bill is supposedly intended to protect firearms manufacturers against nuisance lawsuits. There's been minor grumbling about the "safety lock" provisions in the proposed legislation, but otherwise S. 397 has had overwhelming support. Just about the time we were wondering why even some usually gun-unfriendly senators like Herb Kohl (D-WI) were in favor of this bill, an alert Congresswatcher contacted us with a warning. "The only thing I see that's good about the bill," this sharp-eyed observer wrote, "is that it hasn't...

WASHINGTON, July 29 - The Senate agreed to shield gun manufacturers and dealers from liability lawsuits on Friday, as Congress broke for a monthlong recess after sending President Bush energy and transportation bills that had been years in the making. Long sought by the gun lobby, the Senate measure - approved 65 to 31 - would prohibit lawsuits against gun makers and distributors for misuse of their products during the commission of a crime. Senate supporters said the plan was needed to protect the domestic firearms industry from a rash of lawsuits that threatened its economic future. "This bill is...

The anonymity of ammunition is being fought with the proposal of Assembly Bill 352, which, if passed, would require that every semiautomatic handgun sold after January 2009 be equipped with a new microstamping technology that would allow law enforcement officials to link the used bullet cases to the handguns from which they were fired. This new technology would stamp a serial number on to every bullet fired from a particular gun. That number would be linked to the owner of the gun in already existing database of gun owners. In a recent press release introducing the legislation, Assemblyman Paul Koretz...

Some Republicans don't think it's too early at all to start zeroing in on Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). He'll be running for re-election in 2008 but he made a mistake last month that could be fatal. By comparing U.S. servicemen who run Gitmo to those who guarded the prison camps in Nazi Germany, the gulags in the USSR and the extermination centers in Cambodia under Pol Pot, the East St. Louis-born liberal hustler handed his opponents a battery of weapons to use against him. At least five anti-Durbin TV commercials come to mind. First, the tape of Durbin's outlandish attack...

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2005 – Two American soldiers in Iraq were killed by improvised explosive devices July 16. Another two soldiers were wounded. In the first incident, a soldier assigned to the 155th Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), died July 16 of wounds received July 15 from a car-bomb attack. The incident reportedly occurred during combat operations near Iskandariyah. Also on July 16, at about 4:00 p.m. in the Kirkuk province, an IED killed one Task Force Liberty soldier and wounded two other soldiers. The two wounded soldiers were taken to a coalition forces medical treatment facility....

Baltimore police said yesterday they raided an East Baltimore clothing store allegedly used as a front for the illegal sale of high-powered weapons and accessories, including assault rifles, shotguns, handguns, ammunition and body armor. Organized-crime detectives raided the store, Moon Wear in the 2400 block of Greenmount Ave. on Thursday, about 15 hours after its owner, Andre Mills, 33, was pulled over on a traffic stop, police said. During the stop, officers said they discovered ammunition for high-powered rifles. Police obtained a warrant and searched the store, recovering one Bushmaster assault rifle, three handguns, a Mossberg shotgun equipped with a...

Senate Bill 357 Could Ban Handgun Ammunition in California Californians Take Action NowIndustry Members Take Action NowThe California legislature is considering a bill that would require serial numbers on all handgun ammunition, including rimfire ammunition, beginning in January of 2009. This bill, introduced by Senator Joseph Dunn and strongly supported by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, is strongly opposed by SAAMI. The bill, if enacted, amounts to a de facto ammunition ban in California. Serialized ammunition would affect what is now a sophisticated, highly efficient bullet-manufacturing process that could lead to the bankruptcy of the ammunition industry in America....

Before anyone jumps all over me, I DID do a search. Here is what answers.com says: A primer is a small, disposable copper or brass cup, 4 to 6mm in diameter (standard sizes are 0.175 inches and 0.210 inches for handgun and rifle cartrdiges). In the cup is a precise amount of stable, but shock-sensitive explosive mixture, with ingredients such as lead azide or potassium perchlorate. Here is my question: if we were to take apart an UNFIRED round, and look at the primer, what would we see? I get the idea that the primer is a ?sealed cylinder (like...

SACRAMENTO – A novel proposal to etch identifying serial numbers on handgun ammunition sold in California narrowly passed the Senate yesterday, although supporters conceded the legislation remains a work in progress. The measure, Senate Bill 357, passed on a bare-majority, 21-14 vote that split along party lines, with Democrats in support. The vote sent the bill to the Assembly, which has long been the decisive battleground for gun-control initiatives. A related measure, to require manufacturers to equip some semiautomatic handguns with components that would place an identifying code on spent cartridges, passed the Assembly 41-38 and was sent to the...

SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers Thursday voted to require weapons manufacturers to ensure that all bullets and cartridges are branded with distinctive serial numbers. Contained in two measures that are intended to help law enforcement solve cases, the proposal would be unique among states if approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The gun industry said the proposals were impractical and would force weapons makers to either write off the huge California market or adopt practices that would greatly increase the cost of their wares. (snip) On the weapons measures, though a number of law enforcement officials backed...

STOCKTON - Could a number help police solve crimes and deter criminals? Several weeks ago, Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Garden Grove, unveiled a bill proposing the serialization of all ammunition sold in California starting in July 2007. The legislation, supported by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, is being hailed by supporters as a cost-effective way to prevent crimes and help law enforcement do its job. Opponents say the bill is rife with problems and will only increase costs to consumers and ammunition manufacturers. The proposal would require vendors to sell ammunition with an identification number zapped...

PLEASE PASS THIS ONTO OTHER WEBSITES, YOUR FRIENDS, CLUB BULLETIN BOARDS, EMAIL, ETC. THIS WILL SPREAD IF IT IS NOT STOPPED NOW. IT'S A SURE BET IT WILL BE INTRODUCED INTO CONGRESS EVEN IF IT FAILS TO PASS IN CALIFORNIA. SAAMI - Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer's Institute, Inc. TO: ALL MEDIA April 26, 2005 FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Lawrence G. Keane, General Counsel (Cell: 203/526-6773) RESPONSE TO ATTORNEY GENERAL LOCKYER'S PRESS CONFERENCE AND TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF SB 357 (SEN. DUNN) BULLET SERIALIZATION Question: Was Attorney General Lockyer correct when he claimed today that it would only cost manufacturers...

Sorry for the shameless vanity, but...plastic rifle ammo? I just bought a few boxes of NATEC polymer-cased ammunition. I'm extremely impressed.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -- The United States has demanded that the IRA disband after the guerrilla group's astonishing offer to shoot the killers of a murdered Northern Ireland Catholic man. "It's time for the IRA to go out of business," U.S. special envoy Mitchell Reiss said Wednesday. For the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's biggest Irish nationalist party, the U.S. demand was yet another blow to its democratic credentials. Reiss told BBC radio: "It's time for Sinn Fein to be able to say explicitly, without ambiguity, without ambivalence, that criminality will not be tolerated. "You can't sign...

Check out the link for the funniest Ebay auction in recent memory. An Australian fellow posted 5 pieces of deprimed 303 brass with a stripper clip and obviously had a bit of trouble with Ebay He seems to have gone off the deep end in a very amusing way. Ebay's fear of all things to do with guns has brought us this great bit of comedy.

Triton has just changed owners and reportedly is still committed to the .450 SMC concept. It is an interesting variation on the .45 Super, and we will just have to wait and see if the cartridge makes it in the marketplace. .40 Super Factory Ballistics 135 grain at 1,800 fps 165 grain at 1,600 fps 200 grain at 1,300 fps The .40 Super This Triton cartridge did make it into production. STI produces complete handguns for the .40 Super, and aftermarket barrels are available from sources such as EMF Firedragon. I recently tested an EMF barrel in this caliber and...

The 6.8mm Remington SPC The long-rumored .270 military cartridge is fact. Here's how it performs in the field.

No part of the defense industrial base is more critical to the success of the U.S. military in conflict than that which produces munitions. At its most basic level, the function of the U.S. military in conflict is to place energy on targets. Everything else that the military does is to create the conditions that will allow sufficient energy to be deposited in a timely manner on such targets, the destruction of which will lead to the defeat of any enemy. It is ammunition that makes the military an instrument of war. As a result of Iraq and the Global...

I had an experience this afternoon with kids and ammunition. I had let the dogs out into the yard and saw some young boys playing in the creek that runs past our yard. Out of curiosity I headed out to see what they were up to. One of them goes to our church and so we started visiting about the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Box program we had today. As we were talking one of the other boys who had been holding something in his hand and hitting it on rocks walked up to me. I asked what was in his...