CNBC:

A group of nuns and other faith-based investors won a shareholder vote at Sturm Ruger & Co. requiring one of the nation’s largest gun-makers to prepare a report about the risks of its business.

Ruger’s CEO, Christopher Killoy, said at the company’s annual meeting on Wednesday that the company will comply and prepare the report. “Shareholders have spoken,” he said.

But, he added, the winning proposal “cannot force us to change our business,” and “cannot change what Ruger is about and what we stand for.”

Well, they apparently had enough shareholder power to force this action, which is not good.  I’ll tell you what.  Corporate Ruger had better evaluate massive share buys in the near future in order to prevent even worse things from happening.

Via WoG, this:

Santa Ynez business owner Gabriele Santi was left frustrated and bewildered when his local bank branch abruptly closed his accounts.

He said he walked into his local Rabobank branch recently and was handed a letter stating that the bank was terminating the accounts for his business, the Second Amendment Gun Shop in Santa Ynez.

I have never had an incident with Rabobank and this came as a shock, quite literally. I am usually a loud guy, but I was quiet, Santi said.

According to the bank’s letter, we are required by federal law to exercise due diligence and understand the financial transactions of our customers. When we are unable to meet the standards imposed by law, we have to take appropriate action to reduce risk to the bank.

I literally have no idea what that means. I haven’t broken any laws. In fact, I supply most of the local law enforcement with their guns and ammunition, and this decision is just political, Santi said.

Here is what it means sir.  Federal law doesn’t require them to close your account.  They voluntarily chose to do that because they don’t believe in your rights or liberties.

Gentlemen, cut your ties to corporate America.  It hates you.

Military.com:

The lead man tasked by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis with transforming everything infantry and close combat on Tuesday challenged industry and government leaders to put a leap-ahead rifle in his boss’ hands in less than two years — or else.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bob Scales was a keynote speaker at the annual National Defense Industry Association Armament Systems forum here, and he didn’t waste any time launching into a takedown of key components that equip the close combat infantryman.

I confess I didn’t know this.  Scales is an imbecile.  Mattis is an imbecile for putting Scales in charge of anything except taking out the trash.  Scales isn’t qualified as a gunsmith, engineer or mechanic to order decisions on cartridge size, type, caliber, or anything else, much less to order that it be a pistol gun rather than DI.

Good Lord.  What an idiot.

So, Scales, here are some questions for you to ponder as your play Napoleon with the would-be weapons makers.  Are you prepared to change not only weapons, but training and doctrine?  You see, the notion of a light, small caliber, automatic gun with high projectile velocity, line of recoil along the axis of the gun, and quick sight-picture recovery, is necessary for the doctrines on which the current militaries of the entire world are built.

They are aided by snipers and DMs carrying larger caliber guns.  So where is the money coming from to change everything?  Why do you want a piston system?  Who told you it is better?  Do you know more than my friend the training NCO in the Army, who told me this?

The Marines have established in their 24-72 hour protracted, static, fire fights in Southern Afghanistan, that three 30 round magazines will do the job, if you have NCO directed, well aimed and properly spotted fire. Shoot from cover, control your security and do not allow an element to maneuver unobserved on your position. Maintain indirect fire back-up for surprises and to exploit enemy error’s. It sounds basic but we (Army) do not routinely practice this doctrine. So we kill and maim our troops because of and regardless of, the grain count of our issue rounds. As you point out.

My friend goes on to explain that the gun isn’t the problem – it’s the shooter.  It’s almost always the shooter.  Hey Scales, do you know more than my buddy does about what’s happened in any theater of conflict in the past 40 years?

Hey Scales, tell me all about the caseless cartridge you want so badly?  I want to hear the engineering aspects of this thing.  I also want to know all about how easy you think it is to keep recoil down while giving the shooter better ballistic coefficient, less weight, more reliability, a cleaner weapon, and instant recovery of sight picture?

Where did you get your engineering degree to insult design engineers like that, you insufferable old fart?  If it’s so easy, why don’t you do it?

What do you know about the cost of a bolt on a B-1?  Why did you use that analogy?  As for this gun, it’s a nine pound piece of steel.  Steel?  Is that what it is, Scales?  Steel?  None of it is polymer or aluminum?  And it’s nine pounds?  Nine pounds?  I own a 6.09 pound AR, and you’re going to put a 9 pound gun in a woman’s hands to carry?

Hey, speaking of that, how much of this has to do with trying to reduce weight for women in combat?  Or are you trying to reduce weight?  Nine pounds isn’t a weight reduction.

How much has changed since you saw the gun in action in Vietnam, Scales?  Is it the same gun, or not?  Have you shot one lately?  Field stripped it and cleaned it?  Are BCGs even made of the same material these days, Scales?

You moron.  The fact that Mattis put you in charge of this effort makes me laugh and sad at the same time.  This is a living example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.   Without metacognition, low-ability people cannot objectively evaluate their actual competence or incompetence.

You’re an incompetent dumbass.

Prior:

USMC M38 DMR Not Ready For Battle

Scales Traffics In Half Century Old Rhetoric On Stoner Design

Problems And Solutions In Rifle Caliber And Training

Blaming The Gun For The Battle Losses

Surprising news:

In 1993, the San Francisco 49ers shocked the world when they traded future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana to the Kansas City Chiefs. Earlier this year, a similar situation occurred when Ruger announced that 18-time NRA Bianchi Cup National Action Pistol Champion Doug Koenig was joining them to become their new shooting team’s captain—it stunned the competitive shooting world.

So how did it happen? Earlier this year we talked to Koenig about his big move to Team Ruger, his passion for accuracy, and the future home of the Sportsman’s Team Challenge National Championship.

A pro shooter’s goals may change over the course of a career. Sometimes a change of scenery is necessary and proper. Occasionally, the stars align and opportunities arise.

“When Paul Pluff went to Ruger, we stayed in touch,” said Koenig (Pluff is Ruger’s public relations manager). “He shared his thoughts with me about getting a shooting team together, and I looked at the move as a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor with a great company.”

The combination of Koenig maturing as a professional shooter, whose still-fresh career has reached lofty heights, and Smith & Wesson’s evolving needs as a company, brought on the split. Additionally, the wide range of Ruger’s firearms lineup matches his desire to branch out into other disciplines.

“Ruger has some fantastic products I can compete with, but there are also opportunities to be involved with new products,” said Koenig. “When I started out with Smith & Wesson 14 years ago, I was heavily involved with product design, working with their engineers and product managers. They have their own thoughts and they do it a different way now, which is okay, but they haven’t utilized the team under those parameters in the last several years.”

Koenig goes on to explain that he intends to do some competitive precision rifle shooting too.  It will be rather odd to see Doug in rifle competitions.  He has been such a staple on the competitive pistol shooting circuit that it will be a huge change to see him with a rifle in his hands.

This would seem to be a huge loss for S&W.  Other than S&W not making him happy with product oversight anymore, or perhaps more money offered by Ruger, I wonder how this happened?

I also wonder what’s become of the other notable S&W shooter, Jerry Miculek?  I haven’t seen a video by him in more than a year.

It’s a video and I don’t want to embed it, so go watch.  It’s short.

He shot down the stairway of his home when he thought someone had broken in.  Someone did break in – a SWAT team.  The report doesn’t say why they were there.

He says he stopped shooting when he realized they were police officers.  The good news is that a jury can actually find that a man has a right to defend his home regardless of the identity of the invaders.

The bad news: they did find him guilty of aggravated assault on a police officer.  They can’t just let a man shoot a “hero of the community” and get away with it, can they?

And now for more bad news.  Prosecutors are out there everywhere who want you to lay down and let home invaders ransack your home, rape your women and kill you.  Just in case the home invaders happen to be cops, we need to consider their health and safety above yours.  So, capital murder.

Prosecutors.  I’m beginning to think that what @WRSA told me was true.  The evil starts and ends with prosecutors.

Reason:

Following the Waco stand-off of 1993, where 82 members of the Branch Davidian sect were killed following a failed attempt to serve a warrant on the group’s leader, David Koresh, on weapons charges, North offered a full-throated defense of the feds, criticizing “arm-chair critics…second-guessing law enforcement officers on the scene.”

Wayne and Chris run things.  Until they are out, it’s the same old compromising, statist NRA.  North will toe the line.

Via WRSA, Chateau Heartiste:

A few years ago, I struck up a conversation with a white guy from Zimbabwe — in the Wal Mart checkout line, of all places. Fair number of blacks around, but the guy was totally relaxed. It was a comparative matter, you see. Back home, he explained, there was just just no way his car would still be in the lot when he exited the store, since in the present case he had left no one armed to watch it. Just having that luxury — not leaving an armed person and believing his car would be present —   was like heaven.

And Americans may look back on years gone by as like heaven compared to what’s coming.  What’s coming won’t exempt military or LEOs because they carry guns or a badge.  Everyone will get swept up in it.

As for Christians in California, let’s take a look at where they are right now.

According to its website, Summit Ministries, an organization devoted to advising Christian youths on how to live out a Christian worldview, has canceled its scheduled appearances at Biola University in Los Angeles “due to concerns that California will forbid some of what it teaches.”

Summit’s concern is real.

The fact is that California is about to make into law A.B. 2943, a bill recently passed by the state Assembly and probably soon to be ratified by the state Senate.  The proposed law seeks to punish by fines and penalties any goods and services and services “offering to engage in or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual,” claiming that such efforts constitute deceptive business practices.

[ … ]

The reluctance to fight is in some ways understandable because of the high-profile examples of the Christians whose businesses and lives have been destroyed by radicals of the LGBT movement.  Even big fish like Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A have been threatened because their managers have dared to stand up for the Christian view of marriage.

Moreover, many times, fellow Christians do not come to the support of other Christians who are attacked.

Well, they’re too busy watching football and worrying over racial reparations while they’re at worship.  It only goes downhill from here.  Diversity means submission, Sharia law means for your women too, and MS-13 had better be appeased or they’ll hack you to pieces with machetes.  They clearly want to do something like that to Mr. Trump.

In the mean time, you’d better purchase some good firearms and ammunition and learn to fight if you haven’t already done that.  Make sure not to forget PT.  It means everything.  Without PT you will be too winded and weak to defend yourselves or your families.

David Corn writing at Mother Jones:

In late 2016, the US Army released a report noting that the Russian military, through experience gained during fighting in Ukraine, was undergoing a transformation and becoming a more potent battlefield threat to American forces. One troublesome development identified by the report’s authors was the increased proficiency of Russian snipers. “The capabilities of a sniper in a Russian contingent is far more advanced than the precision shooters U.S. formations have encountered over the last 15 years,” the study noted. One reason for this was the Russian military’s recent adoption of the ORSIS T-5000, a relatively new Russian-made firearm that the report called “one of the most capable bolt action sniper rifles in the world.” As one military technology expert noted, after reviewing this report, the US Army faced “being outgunned” by foes armed with the T-5000—which can be accurate at a distance of 2,000 yards—and these Russian rifles were showing up in Iraq and Ukraine. That is, this weapon posed a threat to US troops and those of its allies. Yet the National Rifle Association—which boasts it is identified with American patriotism—has helped promote Moscow-based ORSIS and its sniper rifle.

Corn goes on and on in breathtaking and dramatic fashion over this highly lethal rifle, which happens to be a .338 bolt action gun.

I guess the U.S. doesn’t have .338 bolt action guns.  Oops, never mind.  Guess we don’t have .50 BMG rifles.  Oops, never mind, the Marine Corps Scout Snipers use them all the time.  Guess the .338 is an innovative round never before seen on the battlefields of the world.  Oops, never mind.

Guess David Corn bought the Pentagon picture-book hook, line and sinker.  David, this report is a request for money.  Do you get that, son?

By the way, nice job, Army-folks.  Lots of nice, pretty, action-pictures to keep the brass and politicians interested as they turn the pages.

George Block at Observer-Reporter:

There is little doubt but that the name Winchester increases the value of any rifle. There are many lever action models that have jumped in value. An 1888 in good shape is worth quite a bit as is the ugly and awkward to carry 1895. Even the most popular Winchester of all the 1894 holds its value well. The 1894 later became the model 94 that most of us have shot at some time.

Earlier I misstated in a reply back to Georgiaboy that Winchester Rifles are now made in Portugal.  Actually, Winchester rifles were made in Japan for a number of years, and at that point the quality deteriorated to near nothing.

FN purchased the brand, and now the parts are made in Columbia, S.C., while being assembled in Portugal.  It’s still difficult to get a Winchester Model 70 because FN tools their line in Columbia to make a certain gun, retools for the next one, and so on and around it goes.  I question whether this is a good business model, but it’s what they do.

Few people outside FN know when a new release of gun models is going to become available.  I’ve sent FN customer service notes before on other subjects only to be ignored.  I also don’t know anything about the quality of the Model 70s being made today.

Tell me if you would your interest in these subjects.

I’ll give you equal time to explain why you’re interested in these subjects.  Is that a deal?