I’ve followed the infantry weapons in use, from the bullpup IPI Malyk to AR-15s and AKs.  Of course, some idiot always drops by to respond that it’s all propaganda rather than really add to the conversation about weaponry.

This article outlines some really nice rifles recently given to their fighters.

Ukrainian National Guard special forces have started to receive their first 5.56x45mm AR-15-patterned rifles. This comes as some Ukrainian National Guard units have begun to rearm in line with NATO standards as part of closer alignment with the western alliance.

The official press announcement of the Ukrainian National Guard does not name the unit, only saying that a separate special unit of the Eastern Territorial Administration has received new UAR-15 assault rifles. The Firearm Blog website mentions that in recent months Ukraine also received a shipment of US military aid worth $60 million. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Donbass and the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine has undergone a massive rearmament program and kick-started its defense industry with a number of attempts at developing a small arms manufacturing capability which has seen the development of the FORT-250 rifle and the M4-WAC-47.

The rifles in the photos released by the National Guard are clearly marked “UKROP”, a branch of Ukraine’s state-run “Ukroboronprom” concern. The UKROP UAR-15 has been exhibited at a number of defense trade shows since 2018, and it seems that production of the rifle is now underway. The rifle appears to be patterned after the AR-15/M4, with a KeyMod forend, an enlarged T-charging handle, an adjustable stock and a full-length top rail. The rifles also appear to be select fire. They are also shown with Lancer translucent polymer magazines and a suppressor with flash hider, which is reportedly rated for up to 10,000 rounds.

I see the flash hider, I don’t see the suppressor.  Maybe the author is wrong about that.  But they are using translucent mags, a light KeyMod forend, a nice charging handle, and MLOK attachment rails along with a full 1913 rail on top.  The rifles appear to be Cerakoted charcoal gray.

Note: Acknowledging that this thing has gotten away from us a little, it was not supposed to be this long; one more part after this. Maybe?

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five  Part Six

Read the parable in Matthew 21:33-46 to get the context.

Leading to verses 37 and 38, Jesus is talking about the prophets that were slain because the leadership didn’t want to hear the truth. (See also Matthew 23:35).

In verse 39, Jesus is telling of His soon coming crucifixion. According to the parable, the Son was killed so that the Sanhedrin could steal His inheritance, which is the “Kingdom of His dear Son.” (Colossians 1:13). We can relate this to Christ being the seed of the promise to Abram, Christ’s church, of which we are joint-heirs (Romans 8:16-17) and numbered as the stars (Genesis 22:17-18).

This is very important to understand and not taught in the American Churches. In Part One of this series, we pointed out that John the Baptist warned the Sanhedrin not to claim Abram as their father (Matthew 3:9). We further pointed out that the Sanhedrin did that very thing in John 8:38-39. The Sanhedrin was trying to steal the throne of Christ to become the heir by claiming Abraham as their father. Read Galatians 3:16-17. There was one part of the Abrahamic Promise that the Jews could not fulfill because it wasn’t about them; it was Christ, though He would be the Son of David, He is the only begotten Son of God. Read this passage in Matthew 22:

“41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? 46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.” – Matthew 22:41-46

Who is Heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2)? It’s Jesus Christ, it’s not the Jews, and it’s not a country (kingdom) in the Middle East; it’s Jesus, just and only Jesus the only begotten Son of God; He is the heir.

Back to our text in Chapter 21:

“40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.” – Matthew 21:40-41

In verse 41 above, the Sanhedrin testify against themselves, clearly stating what is about to befall them. They knew what was right, but still, they refused to submit to God and His authority. This should be instructive for us today.

In verse 45 of the parable, they got it; Jesus was speaking of them, but still, they refused to act and wouldn’t submit to God.

Christ’s kingdom is not of this world; it’s a people birthed not of the will of the flesh but of God (John 1:13). The Kingdom of God is not birthed by the natal (nation) womb of women but by the Spirit of God (John 3:4-7), making of all that come to Christ one people (Revelation 7:9-10). Jesus is the firstborn, by His resurrection (Colossians 1:18), that you too might be reborn by the Spirit of God (John 3:3). There is no Jew or Gentile (Galatians 3:28), and there is no temple but the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27, John 2:19, Ephesians 1:22-23). Each passage from which these verses are taken has specific contexts, but none are abused here.

Context matters; the broader context in which the entire New Testament is given is critical, as the American Churches turn the Holy Bible into an unknowably mystic manuscript for a mere buffet from which to pick your favorite lifestyle sayings and phrases. Not only is the Word of God abused by taking single verses out of context and making a religion from them, but in expository preaching from sections of Scripture for a personal application while ignoring the context of the entire New Testament that God gave us. The New Testament is also provided so that we can know the purposes for the wrath of His judgment, His merciful grace, and, yes, for instruction in righteousness.

The conditional covenant God gave to Moses had one thing left to be fulfilled, its final chapter in Christ Jesus making a New Covenant in Him when He fulfilled the Law and Prophets (Matthew 5:17, Luke 24:44). The covenant of the promise of a seed given to Abram could not be disannulled by the Law given to Moses (Galatians 3:16-17).

Moving now to Matthew 22:

“1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” – Matthew 22:1-7

If you’ve been following along in this series of posts leading up to Matthew 24, this parable should be the least cryptic thing you’ve ever read. In verse 2, Jesus is the Son of God. In verse 3, “This generation” were bidden to His wedding but refused (John 1:11). In verse 4, all was made ready. In verse 5, they made light of it and went back to earthly things (Luke 9:59-60, Mark 10:21-22). In verse 6, all of the Apostles, save John, were slain for His holy name (Matthew 24:9), and a great many first-century disciples were also killed. In verse 7, the King sent forth the Roman armies (Matthew 24:30), destroyed those murderers, and burned their city in 70AD.

When you understand the purposes for which Christ came in giving us a New Covenant, the prophetic language, even when used in the parabolic form (and hyperbolic in Matthew 24 and Revelation), is not a bunch of bizarrely mystical unknowns.

Having laid out His charges in plain language from John the Baptist onward, He tells them God’s plan for them and why God must do it. It seems harsh, but remember; God is not only love and mercy and therefore longsuffering, but also holy, perfect, and just. Justice must be done, or He reduces Himself to the status of a sinful man. Christ became flesh, yet without sin, He overcame being the perfect sacrifice for your sin. He was buried and rose from the grave again the third day. Amen. God will not be made to sin for any reason and certainly not to appease our feelings.

A Message in a bottle travels from Bahamas to England in 21 years.

The letter, dated June 21, 2001, was authored by a 6-year-old Canadian girl named Anna who was visiting the Bahamas.

“Please don’t pollute. Thank you,” Anna wrote.

Well, at least the left teaches its children not to pollute while they’re polluting. Ye shall know them by their fruits.

Part One  Part Two  Part Three  Part Four  Part Five

“A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.” – Matthew 16:4

Again, in Matthew 16, Jesus makes His charge against that generation. The Jews saw many signs and wonders, but we are saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation to all who would believe by faith. We are His church. We don’t need tongues and signs and miracles, and neither do the lost; they need to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel of salvation through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

That’s the sign, as was Jonah in the belly of the whale three days, so was Christ in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. This is the only sign we need today; Jesus died for your sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day to offer eternal life.

“Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” – Matthew 16:28

The prophetic futurists ignore this verse, but we don’t know how. Who is Jesus speaking of? The people that were standing there listening to Him or some distant generation? Some of them there with Christ must have still been in Jerusalem just before the siege. They were warned and told to prepare to leave Jerusalem (Matthew 24:16-18).

Christ was coming in great power and judgment in the first century against those that claimed to be God’s heir over Christ and were trying, knowingly or unknowingly, to stop the birth of His church. Jesus is the heir, and you too can be a joint heir with Him. Now is the kingdom in spirit and in truth!

The parables of the mustard seed and the leaven are instructive.

“31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” – Matthew 13:31-33

How can this be some time other than now? Even the dispensationalist says that at His return, it will be sudden. In the parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven, the body of Christ grows over time with care and tending. Don’t be slack, brothers; the commission is indeed great. Nor do we understand the Amillennialist position on this.

Yet, it’s not what it shall be, and neither are we, for we shall see Him as He is. Sure enough, He’s coming back again. This is a massive problem of interpretation today, rightly understanding the spiritual kingdom that He set up at His coming in judgment in the first century as the church was born and the final domain at the end upon His return. We confess to not being able to unravel it completely. Some aspects of the spiritual kingdom that now is are a type of the final glorious presence of Christ when God will be all in all. You have to be ready, in your heart. As much as His followers love the Scripture, and there’s no end to the knowledge of God found in them, it’s with the heart that men believe unto righteousness by faith.

“Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” – Jesus in Matthew 15:7-8

As our Lord relates how Isaiah spoke of that generation, let it not be said of us. Though the American Churches are apostate, some still hear the Masters’ voice.

Outdoor Life.

It’s a common sight to see someone pull the trigger on the rifle, shotgun, or pistol they just emptied, whether they are finishing up at the gun range or jumping in the truck after the evening deer hunt. The intent is to confirm that the gun is clear. But is that safe gun handling? Or is it a pointless risk?

I think the answer depends on what you’re doing. But I do know some hunters and shooters click their trigger every single time—and that’s not the right approach.

Before getting into those less-than-safe scenarios, let’s talk about when it makes sense. At every 3-gun, multi-gun, or handgun competition I’ve attended, the standard procedure after finishing a stage is to unload the pistol by pulling the magazine, racking the slide, and pointing downrange and dropping the hammer. The Range Officer managing the stage watches this process to verify that the blaster is clear to his or her satisfaction. The same procedure holds true for showing that a long gun is clear.

At a gun range, you can point the muzzle at a solid backstop. If you do produce a negligent discharge when attempting to show clear, it isn’t going to cause any problems other than a potential stage or match DQ. I’ve witnessed this myself and recently saw a video of shooter at a match crank off a round in front of the range officers after pulling the magazine and racking the slide repeatedly. Obviously, he had a round in the chamber that the extractor didn’t engage (perhaps the extractor had broken) and when he dropped the hammer the pistol went off. The fact that he had an utterly safe backstop to shoot into is what prevented it from being a dangerous situation.

Now out in the wild, the safety of the backstop becomes relative. When you’re exiting your deer stand or hopping into your truck, is it possible to have a backstop as certain as the berm at a rifle range? Sure, in theory. In practice, you won’t have that every single time.

With that in mind, dropping the hammer becomes a risk-reward scenario where it’s often better to not pull the trigger.

Years ago, I discussed this issue with Jim Carmichel, my predecessor as Outdoor Life’s shooting editor. He was firmly in the “don’t dry fire to show safe” camp. “What is it you’re trying to prove?” he said. Good point. You’re trying to demonstrate that the gun is empty—but if it isn’t you just opened a whole can of worms for you and everyone who might be around you.

Some shooters have argued with me that they’d rather have the negligent discharge happen then, rather than risk carrying or transporting a gun they thought had a clear chamber but didn’t.

My problem with this logic is that it ignores the first rule of gun safety: Every gun is always loaded. If someone hands me a firearm I don’t care if they just field stripped the thing and put it back together to show it is empty—I’m still going to check it myself. We shouldn’t consider any firearm, even the deer rifle that just went “click” in your buddy’s hands, any safer than one we just found on the side of the road. To ignore this is to become complacent, and when handling firearms, complacency kills. (It also ignores the second rule, which is to keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.)

The article goes on and you can read the rest at Outdoor Life.

Here’s what I do, and readers can weigh in as well.  This is an interesting subject and one that I’ve thought about before.

I’ll normally empty the chamber of any gun (rifle, pistol or shotgun) by removing the magazine and cycling the slide (or action) several times.  But here’s the next step.  I visually examine the chamber to ensure that it’s empty.  This is an absolutely essential step for me.  And then I do a self-check of my judgment.

I normally carry the firearm home with the action open and the spring tensioned.  I don’t see a problem with that.  It also lets me self-check my visual inspection as many times as I want.

But I don’t store the firearm with the action open and springs tensioned.  We’ve had this conversation before, but springs undergo creep.

Do not make the claim that stainless steel (like SS304) doesn’t suffer creep below the yield limit and at low temperatures.  Yes … it … does  (“In all tests at applied stress/yield strength ratios above 0.73 some plastic deformation was recorded”).

No offense, but don’t try to be an engineer if you’re not one. If you make the claim that SS304 (I presume the material of most magazine springs) doesn’t suffer from metal creep, you’d be wrong, and then you’d also be answering the question the wrong way.

The right way to look at the question is one of whether the creep is significant.  It usually isn’t, and it is less significant than for carbon steel.  It’s also not significant for applied stress/yield strength ratios lower than what the authors tested.  Where your specific magazine spring falls in this data set is best determined by the designer, not me (I don’t have drawings or any other design information).

Gun springs are an essential part of the gun, and the gun needs to function every time I pull the trigger.  On the other hand, magazines can be replaced.  I don’t leave gun springs tensioned.  I de-tension the spring before storing the weapon.  That requires that I pull the trigger while having the gun pointed in a safe direction and after visually verifying again that the chamber is empty (since I only shoot hammer fired pistols, that’s an easy fix – I let the hammer slide down smoothly, and this is also an easy fix with bolt actions).  I don’t care so much about magazine springs.  And I don’t shoot striker fired pistols.

I know that this is done different ways for different people and that multiple strategies are advocated by shooters everywhere.  If there was one answer, there wouldn’t have been an article to begin with and no conversation necessary.

By way of brief followup to my post entitled Things Learned About Modern Warfare From The Ukrainian War, I thought I would roll in the experience of my former Marine son.

It was long held that the USMC is special operations, so they don’t need one.  I have a whole host of thoughts on this claim that would take us very far afield and ruin the main point I want to make.  Besides, readers would get bored and skip out on it.

But sooner or later the MC would capitulate, and Marine Raiders were folded into SOCOM.  When that happened, money flooded in.  They had all sorts of perks that other Marines didn’t have, for example, when my son learned to perform CQB and room clearing, he went to hot shoot houses, all over the country, before his deployment to Iraq.

The SOCOM Marines do too, but before that, they have (onsite at Camp Lejeune) better-than-video-game quality simulations of shoot houses (with physical movement) that could be programmed for whatever situation they wanted to test, and it could be run at any time, night or day, but only for the SOCOM Marines.

Each SOCOM Marine, even when my son was in the Corps, which ended in 2008, had his own cage with equipment.  Literally anything he wanted was in this cage.

When my son visited these cages with a buddy on Camp Lejeune, you know what was found in many of the cages?  Drones, along with controls for them.  They could pick them up at will and carry them on whatever deployment was next.

Drones.  Modern warfare requires them for intel and surveillance.  The losers will not have drones.  The winners will.

Ammoland.

While the world’s attention is focused on the horrific events unfolding in Eastern Europe, the Biden-Harris administration quietly unleashed hell on American gun dealers.

As the NRA first noted, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has started revoking licenses of gun dealers for the most minor of paperwork errors – errors that never led to license revocations until Biden took office.

The move was intended to bolster Biden’s politically motivated strategem, which he first announced June 23, 2021, that “rogue” gun dealers are responsible for skyrocketing crime rates in large cities that historically have been controlled by Democrats. The “epidemic of gun violence” wasn’t caused by weak prosecutors who refuse to hold criminals accountable, or gangs or underfunded police departments or by any combination thereof, Biden claimed. It was all the fault of “rogue gun dealers.”

Inner city crime has nothing to do with so-called “rogue” gun dealers.  It has to do with the destruction of the nuclear family and rejection of God’s laws.  We all know that.  This is just another ploy to make it as difficult as they can on firearms manufacturers, dealers and owners.

Having said all of that, I observed some number of months ago that if FFLs want to stay in business in the future, they’re going to have to implement human performance and error reduction tools, to include: (1) routine training and retraining, (2) qualification measures, (3) self check and STAR (stop, think, act and review), (4) independent verification, and so on.

Staying in business will require error-free performance of employees.  In the future, I see no other way.

By the way, as best as I can cipher the statistics, the lowest error rates by industry in the country are nuclear (coming in at the lowest), airlines, and pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors.  The medical profession comes in at one of the highest human error prone professions.  I’m not criticizing – I’m just reporting.

I wouldn’t embed this video except that I have actually talked to people like this.  Yes, to someone who told me he was arming himself (and even minimizing ammunition purchases) but planned to take what ammunition he had and steal ammo and food from other people.

I’m not kidding.

I did this on Saturday.  I shot at clays with a Beretta 1301, Langdon Tactical.  And yes, I was able to connect, but it’s more challenging with a 18.5″ barrel.

Did you make it to the range over the weekend, and what did you shoot?

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” – Psalm 9:17

We can know a few things that are certain. God judges men and nations and He judges empires into the dustbin of history, especially those that forget Him. The problem with America is that she deserves everything that’s coming. There may be a long train of abuses against us, but God has His own list from which there is likely no escape anymore. We have no particular revelation of God but His revealed Law and Word, which are clear; all sin is ultimately against God. Though He is longsuffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish, His grace abounding unto forgiveness, He does not suffer us in silence forever. He will answer. There will be recompense, a judgment.

“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” 1 Corinthians 1:21-22

Things will get worse before they get better. Secure your eternal destination at the hand of Holy God, who by His wisdom knows your sin, and your need of salvation. The most important preparation of all is the heart of a man with God. You can be sealed unto the day redemption in Christ Jesus, who is not only the Son of God, but God the Son and gave Himself to die on the cross taking the full wrath that you deserve not only for your transgressions past but for those still to come. And He was buried, but death and hell could not hold Him; Jesus rose from the grave again the third day, in accordance with the prophecies of scripture, proving that in Him is the power of life and the power of life eternal. He alone has the keys of hell and of death.

“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14

You must be established in Christ Jesus. Few there be that find it! Get this settled today. You can receive the Spirit of God to literally and actually inhabit your heart being made a new creation in Christ, and securing the salvation of your soul being redeemed, by God, through the blood sacrifice of Jesus, having His mark, never fearing men or death again. Amen.

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” Matthew 7:13

The road to hell is wide, smooth, and easy. The road to the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord is a single-lane narrow path; only may a man enter in by Him.