When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

        

I like Mausers. I like Enfields. What's not to like about either? They're relatively inexpensive to buy and to feed, each one has a hell of an untold story and they go boom. They go boom nearly every time and they go boom nice and loud.  However, since they are usually 50-110 years old or older, occasionally, they need spare parts to help them go boom.

I have one Enfield in need of both a bolt and a magazine.  While searching online today, I ran across a website that I was unfamiliar with called HoosierGunWorks.  According to their homepage, they have been in business over 20 years and have been on the internet for 10. And they like Mausers and Enfields and seem to have a pretty good listing of parts.  I found both a bolt and a magazine for a rebuilt No. 4 Longbranch I have had laying around for a few years.

Has anyone had any experience with them?  I was thinking of placing an order later this month and will let you know how it turns out. In the meantime, if anyone has had any experience, pleasant or otherwise, please let me know.

        

        

I blatantly stole this post in its entirety from RideFast.  But, since he told us to steal it and post it I guess technically it isn't stealing.  But then, if you can't hijack a link, a subject or even a whole post including links from another gun blogger, then you really aren't a gun blogger yourself.
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Mr. Completely reminds the forth annual Gun Bloggers Rendezvous is just over two months away. If your going it's probably about time to register, make reservations and book your flights. If your not going you should change your mind and go. This will be the best one yet.

Here are some highlights (context liberated from Kevin Baker at The Smallest Minority):

Alan Gura, the lawyer who won D.C. v Heller will be attending. (BTW, the first anniversary of that victory was last FRIDAY. How time flies!) At the pizza dinner Saturday night, you can bid on an autographed Heller Kitty T-shirt donated by Anthroblogogy. Yeah, we're fanboyz of a lawyer. Get over it.

Firearms lawyer and blogger Mark Knapp will also be attending.

Along with Glock, Para USA, Brownell's, Dillon Precision, Crimson Trace and many others, the National Shooting Sports Federation is now a sponsor, and will be picking up the tab for the pizza dinner on Saturday, thus allowing the $30 registration fee to be donated to Project Valour-IT. (The adult beverage tab will, however, still be ours.)

In addition to the Para GI Expert that I personally am donating, Para USA is donating another as yet undisclosed pistol for the Saturday evening raffle. I'm not certain yet, but I believe for that one you must be present to win.

Hi Point firearms is donating one of their carbines this year, rather than a pistol, so you have a chance to win one of at least THREE (3) firearms, and your odds are pretty damned good. Not to mention the other great swag provided by the ever-increasing number of fine sponsors.

Instead of just ONE day of shooting at the fine Palomino Valley Gun Club range, there may be the opportunity to go shooting THREE times - General blastage on Friday, Steel Challenge and Action Pistol-type shooting on Saturday, and possibly Cowboy Quick-Draw for those who are able to attend on Sunday. That's still being worked out, but things are coming together.

And, as always, there will be plenty of sitting around shooting the breeze in the hospitality room, and I believe we will be visited by a representative of the NRA again this year. (I want to know where my wheelbarrows full of money are.)

So make your plans to attend! This promises to be the biggest gathering yet.

The gig is being held at the Silver Legacy this year. They have a whole page of "special offers". The Great Reno Balloon Race coincides with the Rondy weekend. Some of the amenities offered by the Silver Legacy are: health spa, pool, full service hair salon, shoe shine, Segway rentals, Adventure Desk (outdoor activities in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area), Concierge service and property wide wireless Internet access.

My darling bride, The Commandress is probably going to take advantage of the Harley Rental option. She's and some of the gals that aren't going shooting are going to rent Hogs and go tour the brothels outside of Virginia City. There is truly something for everyone.

Also, any bloggers reading this, steal all or part (including links) and lets get this plastered all over the blog-o-sphere.

        

My 6 year old decided she wanted to hang out with me on Sunday. One of the projects of the day was resizing/decapping some 45 Colt brass and she insisted on helping.  She worked hard on the cam over but she stuck with it and insisted she do them all in spite of the work.


She also insisted on arranging the brass in the tray afterwards into a nice pattern. All in all a good day.

        

The following was posted on the Ruger Forums.  It shows what happens if you do not clear the barrel following a squib load.



Notice the two haves of the barrel/chamber on the table.  The laser didn't fair too well either.

        

Here are some more pics of the recently restored gun room.


The metal finishing area. Blueing, degreasers, picks, punches, files, sight tools, etc.


Black powder, loaded ammo, ammo boxes, etc.


Rifle area.  Powders, bullets, rifle dies, calipers, powder dispenser and scale.  Just out of site to the right is the single stage press.

On the left is the pistol area with dies, powders, bullets and parts for the progressive press in the foreground on left.  On the right is the shotgun area with the progressive 12 gauge loader, hulls, wads, shot, etc.

Lastly is the woodworking and cleaning area. Stock oils, spare roll pins, gun screws, wood putties, cleaning jags, patches oils and solvents.

Well, that's the almost 360 view of the gun room. Not shown is the drill press that serves also for case prep and trimming. My nephew also maintains a taxidermy area not shown because it is messy and has dried animal parts laying around.

        

Like a good little Marxist, New York Congresswoman and Bolshevik bimbo Carolyn McCarthy doesn't even know what her gun ban would actually ban but she just knows she wants to ban something.

I realize this video has been around for a while but surprisingly there are still a handful of people that have not seen it.  DirtCrashr mentioned it on a comment on this post the other day and I couldn't help running it again.

McCarthy is such a tool.

        

I have been building my own house now for two years.  And when I say "I", I mean with the generous aid of my father and brother for skill and labor.  With mostly the three of us doing all the work for everything except laying the blocks, their houses and properties have suffered. One such victim has been the gun room we maintain at my brother's house.  For two years we have done no reloading or gunsmithing to speak of. The room has been piled with storage and utterly destroyed as a workshop for my nephew's various and sundry projects that involve grease, wood, metal shavings and a total lack of cleaning up after himself.  The result is this:



So, this week I devoted a few hours to cleaning up and readying the gun room for use.  Now it looks like this:



Now that's a room I can reload in. 

   I even managed a little start at it. After getting the counters cleaned and working on the floor, I got the tumbler out and ran some of Dad's.45 Long Colt brass through it. I think working up a new load for his Vaquero will be my first reloading project in the resurrected room.  More pics to come.

        

In these days of economic hardship, many police departments across the nation are in need of new equipment that they simply don't have the budget for.  A couple of departments in Ohio are no different but how they are handling their needs sure differ.

The Piqua Police Department has decided that they need a new sniper rifle. And since there is no money in the budget, how do they wish to pay for it?  By applying for Federal stimulus money, that's how.  I'm sure they will get it. I'm not quite sure I see how Piqua having a sniper rifle is going to stimulate the economy. It may stimulate one gun dealer but that's about it.  Of course at least buying a gun is better than wasting our tax dollars on Chinese hookers I suppose.

On the other side of the state, Guernsey County Sheriff Mike McCauley also is in need of equipment. All of his squad cars are high mileage and in need of replacement or repair. So how does Sheriff McCauley propose to solve his dilemma? By auctioning off department owned Tommy guns.  While most departments destroy their unwanted assets, this sheriff realizes that he has something of value that is no longer used and intends to use them to get the equipment he does need. Brilliant.

A politician with fiscal responsibility is about as rare as hen's teeth. We need him on the state level. Perhaps he could start by advising the Piqua Police Chief.

        

I received this email notification from the Buckeye Firearms Association pushing custom pistol work by David Bowie of Bowie Tactical Concepts.  I also noticed that he had a full color ad in Combat Handguns last month.

Mr. Bowie is also an instructor at Tactical Defense Institute of Ohio. He has been the instructor or an assistant at every class I have attended at TDI.  A couple years back, Mr. Bowie was assisting in a Advanced Concealed Carry class taught at the time by Dave Spaulding. I was privileged to be able to handle a Springfield XD that he had worked over. He had taken a lot of material out of the top of the grip, permitting a better finger purchase on the trigger. He had also stippled the grip, made a cutout in the mag well to permit a firm grasp of the magazine for removal, de-burred every sharp edge, added stippling where your thumb rests and finally, installed a 24/7 Big Dot sight which I really like.  It was a nice transformation of an already XD into a really good concealed carry gun.

At the time, I got on his website which was just getting started and priced the grip mod and installation of 24/7 Big Dot sights for my XD.  However, due to the birth of my daughter, who I should have named Sara Brady since she effectively squelched my gun buying for some time, I was not able to send my gun off.

Well, maybe next year. 

In addition to being a good smith, David Bowie is also a first rate instructor. Anyone would certainly benefit from attending his classes.  I first met him about 10-11 years ago where he and his cousin, both West Virginians with the accent to match, were assisting in a class led by John Benner.  David pointed out that I had a habit of "slapping the dog piss out of the trigger".  These years later, I still remember his assessment.  I still slap the dog piss out of the trigger too. I think I better go back to TDI.

        

At $37.79 per 50 of S&B.  I thought this place was called Cheaper Than Dirt. Doesn't sound very cheap to me. Two years ago you could buy the same thing for $9.99.

If I had anything in .380, I would have to start reloading it. Good grief.

        

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (Commie-NJ) has introduced legislation that will allow the Attorney General to deny anyone the purchase of a firearm that he so chooses. 

Direct from the Senator's announcement, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009, would:

• Provide the Attorney General with discretionary authority to deny the transfer or issuance of a firearm or firearm or explosives license or permit when a background check reveals that the purchaser is a known or suspected terrorist and the Attorney General reasonably believes that the person may use a firearm or explosives in connection with terrorism;

In other words, anyone that the Attorney General decides is a terrorist. Remember, that according to the Obama Administration terrorists are anyone that does not like paying taxes (unless of course you are a member of the President's Cabinet), anyone that goes to church, disagrees with gun control, owns a Revolutionary era flag, like the U.S. Constitution, etc. The military also lists as a "terrorists", anyone that engages in free speech in public.  Therefore almost everyone can be a "terrorists" at the discretion of the Attorney General.

• Requires the Attorney General to issue guidelines describing the circumstances under which such discretionary authority will be used;

Such as, anytime he so chooses.

• Include due process safeguards that afford an affected person an opportunity to challenge a denial by the Attorney General; and

How many years does an appeal take? who can you challenge it with? Someone the Attorney General appoints?

• Protect the sensitive information upon which terrorist watch lists are based.                
  

 This is the kicker now isn't it? Not only will they put you on the list for any unpublished reason, they will also not tell you why you are on the list, how you got on the list or when you got on the list. But that';s okay because you can challenge the fact you are on the list without knowing why you are on the list.  Sounds like due process to me.

If there are really that many terrorists out there buying guns, why are they running loose? If they are terrorists, why are they not in jail or dead? If the government knows who they are, why are they not arrested?

        

It's what's for dinner.

I wonder what whale bacon tastes like?

        

The NRA is reporting that the BATFE is harassing gun owners along the border.  Guess they want to stop all of those full-auto grenade launchers that you can buy at Wal-Mart from going to Mexico. Yeah </sarcasm>.

        

Life Lesson#3—don't use pistol powders in rifles.

I found this on the reloading forums of TheFiringLine.  The poster had mistakenly double-charged a load of Blue Dot in his .257 Wetherby.  I never understood the need to do this as there are so many fine rifle powders available.

Warning Label:

• Pistol and Shotgun powders in pistols and shotguns, shooty. 
• Pistol and shotgun powders in rifle: No shooty.

Savvy?

 

        

The U.S. Army ordered 38.4 million rounds of .300 Winchester Magnum for snipers in Afghanistan.

I always heard that our snipers practiced one shot, one kill. Now, since there are only 32 million people total Afghanis, and if we kill every single one of them, that means we should have 6.4 million rounds surplus.  Even if we account for population growth at 3.3% per year as well as sighting in and practice, we still should be able to scoot 5 million rounds to other theaters.  And who said our military was wasteful?

        

Yup. rather getting tear-gassed for tearing down a goal post or being smack dab in the middle of a revolution, you can always find a Buckeye fan.

Ohio State Fan Dots The "I" In Iranian Revolution

Go Bucks!

        

Well, after months of saying I am going to, I have fixed my blogroll linkages. I deleted a few in-actives. Corrected a few redirects and added some that have been neglected.

• JT likes to redesign, rename or move his blog every year and this year was no exception has he did all three.
• 45 Caliber Justice and Gunpowder Treason both picked up their own domains which required a bit of a redirect for each.
• I deleted a few blogs that had not posted since last year, deleted their content and blog, faded off the face of the Earth or some combination therein.
• I actually added an Anti-Gun Blog, mikeB.  Mike is an American that has been living in Italy long enough to let chianti and European socialism soak into his brain.  One thing that makes him different from the stateside antis like Helmke is that Mike not only welcomes but encourages comments. He is like having your own personal anti-gun troll to stir up the pot only you don't have to deal with the comments on your own blog. I enjoy visiting there each day that I can.
• Finally I added a superfecta of gunblogs that I have been just clicking through from ridefast for a few months. I added View From The Porch, Say Uncle, Breda and The Firearms Blog—all places I like to go to and blatantly steal material from.

There you go, clicky-clicky-joy-joy.

        

United Nation's affiliate Bitches Against Guns or BAG as I like to call the ugly skanks, is celebrating international disarmament.  I'd wish the commie bimbos luck with their endeavor but I would rather they would just shut the hell up.

via snowflakesinhell