As you're likely aware by now, I'm a "gun nut", and I've never been all that ashamed of it. Sadly, I can't say I was shocked by what was going on in Aurora the other night...other than, of course, the fact that this guy was able to get off enough rounds to kill twelve people and injure 50 more, before he stopped shooting.
The problem with this is not a lack of gun control, a lack of cops out on the beat, CIA brainwashing, or anything else of the sort. Innocent people have died, and my heart goes out to their families, but there's no need use conjecture about what the root cause was. He could have very easily perpetrated this crime (and potentially killed far more people) without the use of firearms. It is what it is, it happened, and today I'm just looking at the known facts...
1) The guy was wearing a gas mask, and deployed smoke bombs of some sort. The smoke, in and of itself, is enough to keep someone away. Even if they weren't actual military issue, paintballers have been able to purchase similar gear for "simulation games" for years. Prior to this, two bucks at the fireworks stand will get you enough smoke bombs to do the trick. In an enclosed space, you get as far away from the smoke as possible, because without that gas mask you won't be able to breathe.
A full-face gas mask, often used by automotive painters, will stop the inhalation of smoke and can be had for relatively small change. $20 can get you a decent military-surplus model with brand-new filters. You can purchase them online, or even down at your local Sherwin-Williams store.
2) Even if he was using "high-capacity magazines" in his rifle and handgun, he could have very easily have used only his shotgun and accomplished the same results. Every cinema-chain theater I've ever been to has had only two doors. One main door people use to enter and exit the theater to and from the lobby, and one emergency exit near the screen. If the shooter were to deploy smoke near the exit door and start shooting at the the main door, you've got a bottleneck of huge targets. As fast as people may be climbing over each other to get out, it's a crowded theater and there's only so many people who can fit through that door. "Fish in a barrel" comes to mind.
An experienced shooter with a tad bit of practice can swap a magazine in less time than it would take to get off ten rounds, especially if there is smoke keeping people away from him. Anyone who's watched footage from the "Bank of America" robbery in California knows how little time it takes to swap a mag, and it takes less time when you've got them in a ready state strapped to your chest. When there's no one shooting back at you, I'm assuming there'd be even less stress involved.
3) I've never been to a movie theater where there wasn't AT LEAST one cop on the premises, typically standing right past the ticket-taker who directs you to the particular theater your movie is playing in.
The state of Colorado, in general, loves its guns and provides "Shall Issue" concealed carry permits. Unfortunately, as a matter of city ordinance, private citizens are not allowed to carry any type of firearm (rifle, shotgun, or handgun) in public, regardless of whether the state has granted them a license. As a result of this, the only people with a firearm at the scene of the crime were the shooter and potentially one or two police officers providing crowd control at the theater.
I am hesitant to use the phrase "providing security" at the theater, as obviously there were about five dozen people wounded and/or killed there. This is not the fault of the officer, or the police department not hiring enough officers, or anything of the sort.
I am not familiar enough with the Aurora PD's internal policies dealing with "Active Shooter Scenarios", but it would make sense that one man not rush into an enclosed space while armed with nothing but a handgun after hearing a few dozen rounds being fired. Even if he wanted to, it's highly unlikely that he'd have even been able to, given the massive amount of people rushing out of the theater at the time.
Remember, there's only two doors. One leads outside the theater, the other leads to the lobby. The emergency exit door leads outside, meaning the officer would have to leave the theater and then hope the exit door hadn't been closed by the time he got there. The main door has a packed theater's worth of people trying to get out of it.
It would be more prudent to get backup and deal with the situation properly, than to interject yourself into a wall of bullets. The dead help no one. This statement isn't "pro-cop" or "anti-cop", this is common sense. It is not an act of cowardice, to not rush into the theater..."cowardice" would have been hauling ass out the front door with the rest of the movie theaters. If the officer runs in and gets shot, he can't say anything to dispatch.
The only anti-government statement I will make here is that the City of Aurora shares partial responsibility in this tragedy for refusing to allow its citizens the right of self-defense.
4) While the CIA has engaged in "mind control" experiments such as Operation MK ULTRA, I find it highly unlikely that this incident was the result of some sort of sinister government plot.
I will mention the fact that the shooter is known to have taken psychoactive prescription medications. Notably, so did the Giffords shooter, as well as the Columbine shooters. I'm not gonna come right out and say that prescription medications will turn you into a sociopathic murderer, or that they are even remotely the cause of the situation at hand.
I will, however, say that it's typically a bad idea to go messing around with the brain chemistry with chemicals specifically designed to alter the way we think or feel. It has long-since been known by our government, the pharmaceutical industry, and the medical establishment, that many antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs have very negative consequences and may increase ones' desire to commit suicide or commit other acts that would be looked upon as extremely "abnormal" for the rest of society. A person's brain chemistry is already screwed up when he gets on these type of drugs, and they seem to make matters worse.
Then again, there is always the chance that this guy was straight-up batshit crazy and just decided to kill a bunch of people because it sounded like a good idea at the time.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Lead for breakfast?
For the past two nights, I've covered how to zero your rifle, as well as proper shot placement. Tonight, I'll cover a subject that is every bit as important and often overlooked even by experienced hunters.
I'm talking, of course, about ammunition selection. Remember when we discussed ammo types during the lesson about ballistics tables and zeroing your rifle? Well, the type and weight of ammunition a person should select is dependent upon three things...and must, as we learned earlier, be determined prior to zeroing the rifle properly.
By this point, you likely know that the term "rifle" comes from the grooves cut into your barrel that cause the projectile to spin as it flies downrange. This spinning acts as sort of a "gyroscope" effect, stabilizing the bullet more than a smooth-bore musket would. This is one of the reasons why those who hunt with shotgun slugs will often swap out a smooth-bore barrel for a slug-specific rifled barrel.
The "twist rate" of a barrel refers to the length a spiralled rifling groove must travel down the barrel before it makes a 360 degree twist. A 1:10 twist rate will provide one revolution of twist in ten inches of barrel. A 1:7 twist rate is said to be "faster", as it provides one revolution in only seven inches, while a 1:12 twist is said to be "slower" for the same reason.
Certain twist rates are appropriate for specific bullet weights. For instance, take a .223 rifle. "Varmint" rounds, used for killing small game and nuisance animals such as gophers, are typically found in the 40-45gr range, and used with slower twist rates. The standard military-issue infantry round (albeit in a 5.56 chambering, it's essentially the same cartridge for purposes of this discussion) is a 62gr round and is used with a 1:7 twist barrel.
While the 40gr round can be used with a 1:7 barrel, and the 62gr round can be used with a 1:12 barrel, the faster twist of the 1:7 has actually been shown to cause some light-weight rounds to disintegrate mid-flight due to centrifugal force. On the other side of the equation, a slower twist rate such as 1:12 will cause the heavier round to destabilize in mid-flight, and will cause the round to actually tumble end over end resulting in what is known as a "keyhole" (impacting on its side, rather than tip, causing an elongated entry).
Even if your round does not fly apart or start tumbling, an improper twist rate for a given bullet weight will cause issues with accuracy.
For the purposes of this discussion, let's take my HK91 and compare it to my Springfield M1A Super Match. Both are civilian-legal semi-auto variants of their respective select-fire military counterparts, and both are chambered in .308 Winchester/7.62x51 NATO (there are slight differences in case wall, but largely irrelevant with either rifle, as both are civilian models).
The German has a 1:11 twist rate just like its' military brethren, intended for use with the standardized 7.62x51 NATO 147gr FMJ ammunition. The Springfield, on the other hand, has a "match" barrel with a 1:10 twist designed for 168gr rounds. Using either round in either rifle is acceptable from a safety standpoint, and both will provide decent accuracy.
With the proper ammo, however, shooting the HK off a bench will put three rounds into a quarter at 100yds. The Springfield will put them into the same hole. Needless to say, proper bullet weight is everything, and you need to know your twist rate before you can determine your proper bullet weight. After you determine your proper bullet weight, you can then move on to step 2.
*********************************
After determining proper bullet weight, you must next look at the actual design of the bullet. With the exception of an extremely small selection of purpose-built rounds for the military, bullet types are typically relegated to Full Metal Jacket ("FMJ"), Jacketed Hollowpoint ("JHP"), Pointed Soft Point ("PSP"), and Ballistic Tip ("BT").
FMJ rounds will provide the greatest degree of penetration, but the least degree of bullet expansion/deformation. JPH rounds provide less penetration than the FMJ round, but more expansion than FMJ and more accuracy than PSP. PSP rounds offer a greater degree of expansion, but sacrifice accuracy and velocity due to the oft-blunted soft tip that is typically deformed prior to even being taken out of the box.
Ballistic-tip rounds, such as the Hornady A-Max and Winchester Ballistic Silvertip, are boutique hunting rounds that use a hollowpoint bullet whose tip has been filled with a pointed section of ballistic nylon or other plastic. While the plastic tip does not necessarily aid in expansion of the bullet, it does aid in aerodynamics, which provides greater accuracy and velocity than a same-weight JHP. The biggest downside to the ballistic tip round, of course, is that it typically costs $30-50/box of 20 rounds.
*********************************
The biggest determining factor for you and your rifle is "how much is enough"?
Are you a hunter who feels most comfortable taking torso shots? Do you use a large-caliber rifle? Are you an experienced marksman and hunter that feels comfortable knowing that you can put a round up a flea's ass at 500yds?
John Taylor, experienced African safari hunter, developed what is known as the "Taylor KO" index. It calculates bullet weight, bullet diameter, and velocity to provide a "Knock Out Factor". A .454 Casull (for a long time, the largest standard-production handgun caliber available) gets a KO of 30, while a .22LR round gets a KO of 1. By comparison, the 5.56mm NATO 62gr round used by the M16/M4 rifles of our military get a KO of 5, while the 7.62mm NATO 147gr round gets a KO of 19.
The higher KO factor of your round, the less reliant you are upon expansion. Expansion, of course, is what creates a larger channel of wound or bodily destruction. The higher your KO factor, the more hydrostatic shock you will produce. Hydrostatic shock is caused by sudden blunt force trauma upon liquid-filled tissues found within a mammalian body. Essentially, it's the impact shoving your blood and other bodily fluids elsewhere at such a high rate of speed that the movement of fluid in and of itself causes damage. "The bigger the thump, the bigger the pump".
A light-weight .223 PSP round may expand to the same diameter as a .308 FMJ round, thus creating essentially the same wound channel. Now let's look at the difference. A baseball weighs about five ounces. Imagine Nolan Ryan just hit you in the chest with a 5oz lead fishing weight...weighs about the same as a baseball. Now imagine that you got hit in the chest with a 15oz steel hammer, roughly the same diameter, at the same speed. Harder material, and a lot heavier. The fishing weight is going to knock you down. The hammer is going to knock you out of your boots.
Is bigger better? Not necessarily. If the round is so big that it's overkill, there's no point in it...it's going to be big, expensive, and good for nothing more than showing everyone that you're compensating for your small penis. On the other end, the .223 round is so small and light that many states have outlawed its use, forgetting the fact that the same round used to hunt 170lb deer is also used all over the world to kill 170lb men.
My first deer kill was with a 55gr .223 Winchester Ballistic Silvertip, shot placement put the animal out of its misery before the muzzle blast faded. I had good shot placement, and all went well.
If you look closely, you can see the entry wound a few inches below the ear. The deer had its head down while feeding, and was shot from 80yds. While the round disintegrated upon impact, fragments did exit the top of the head, slightly visible in the photo. Good shot placement and a lot of luck killed that deer. I still prefer headshots on the grounds that they don't spoil meat, but my next kill will be with a heavier round. As my uncle says, "I've tried everything...but I just can't make those horns taste good!". A heavier round will do a better job of covering my ass in case the deer flinches, I jerk my shot, or anything else that puts me slightly off-target. If it happens to blow off one of its horns, I'm not that concerned! For the "trophy hunter", using a heavier round against the vital organs has its obvious benefits.
*************************************
What round is best for you? Well, that's something you're gonna have to figure out for yourself. Every rifle is different, even rifles that are made to the same exact specs. You'll have to experiment. That's why we do this in the off-season. We figure out what works best, and we use it.
A good start to this is to determine the twist rate on your rifle, and then make use of the interwebz to find professional recommendations as to what weights are best for it. Look for online reviews of your rifle by well-known gun magazines.
Once you've figured out what weight works best for your rifle, figure out what round works for you, through trial and error. In this day and age, modern manufacturing techniques should allow for 2moa accuracy using any off-the-rack rifle when used with appropriate ammo. That's 2" grouping at 100yds. When properly zeroed, that's within 1" of your target in any direction. Experiment with different types, different brands, etc.
One of my biggest recommendations is that you should not equate price with accuracy when it comes to ammo. Obviously, with a firearm, a $1,000 rifle is going to typically shoot better than a $200 rifle. The same cannot be said with ammo.
To give an idea of what's happening here, let's look at the target above. It was posted at a standard 100yd range. The green dots were fired at "center mass", using 55gr PSP. As you see, there's a pattern of several inches. Those are standard name-brand "hunting" rounds. The blue dots are USA-made Federal 55gr FMJ rounds, and they span a pattern of a little over one inch. The red dots are the cheapest brass-case Monarch-brand ammo my local Academy had to offer, manufactured in Serbia by the Prvi-Partisan.
As you can see, a particular brand of ammo plays as much of a part in your selection as the type.
Practice and experiment, and remember what your Little League coaches taught you. You're gonna play how you practice!
I'm talking, of course, about ammunition selection. Remember when we discussed ammo types during the lesson about ballistics tables and zeroing your rifle? Well, the type and weight of ammunition a person should select is dependent upon three things...and must, as we learned earlier, be determined prior to zeroing the rifle properly.
By this point, you likely know that the term "rifle" comes from the grooves cut into your barrel that cause the projectile to spin as it flies downrange. This spinning acts as sort of a "gyroscope" effect, stabilizing the bullet more than a smooth-bore musket would. This is one of the reasons why those who hunt with shotgun slugs will often swap out a smooth-bore barrel for a slug-specific rifled barrel.
The "twist rate" of a barrel refers to the length a spiralled rifling groove must travel down the barrel before it makes a 360 degree twist. A 1:10 twist rate will provide one revolution of twist in ten inches of barrel. A 1:7 twist rate is said to be "faster", as it provides one revolution in only seven inches, while a 1:12 twist is said to be "slower" for the same reason.
Certain twist rates are appropriate for specific bullet weights. For instance, take a .223 rifle. "Varmint" rounds, used for killing small game and nuisance animals such as gophers, are typically found in the 40-45gr range, and used with slower twist rates. The standard military-issue infantry round (albeit in a 5.56 chambering, it's essentially the same cartridge for purposes of this discussion) is a 62gr round and is used with a 1:7 twist barrel.
While the 40gr round can be used with a 1:7 barrel, and the 62gr round can be used with a 1:12 barrel, the faster twist of the 1:7 has actually been shown to cause some light-weight rounds to disintegrate mid-flight due to centrifugal force. On the other side of the equation, a slower twist rate such as 1:12 will cause the heavier round to destabilize in mid-flight, and will cause the round to actually tumble end over end resulting in what is known as a "keyhole" (impacting on its side, rather than tip, causing an elongated entry).
Even if your round does not fly apart or start tumbling, an improper twist rate for a given bullet weight will cause issues with accuracy.
For the purposes of this discussion, let's take my HK91 and compare it to my Springfield M1A Super Match. Both are civilian-legal semi-auto variants of their respective select-fire military counterparts, and both are chambered in .308 Winchester/7.62x51 NATO (there are slight differences in case wall, but largely irrelevant with either rifle, as both are civilian models).
The German has a 1:11 twist rate just like its' military brethren, intended for use with the standardized 7.62x51 NATO 147gr FMJ ammunition. The Springfield, on the other hand, has a "match" barrel with a 1:10 twist designed for 168gr rounds. Using either round in either rifle is acceptable from a safety standpoint, and both will provide decent accuracy.
With the proper ammo, however, shooting the HK off a bench will put three rounds into a quarter at 100yds. The Springfield will put them into the same hole. Needless to say, proper bullet weight is everything, and you need to know your twist rate before you can determine your proper bullet weight. After you determine your proper bullet weight, you can then move on to step 2.
*********************************
After determining proper bullet weight, you must next look at the actual design of the bullet. With the exception of an extremely small selection of purpose-built rounds for the military, bullet types are typically relegated to Full Metal Jacket ("FMJ"), Jacketed Hollowpoint ("JHP"), Pointed Soft Point ("PSP"), and Ballistic Tip ("BT").
FMJ rounds will provide the greatest degree of penetration, but the least degree of bullet expansion/deformation. JPH rounds provide less penetration than the FMJ round, but more expansion than FMJ and more accuracy than PSP. PSP rounds offer a greater degree of expansion, but sacrifice accuracy and velocity due to the oft-blunted soft tip that is typically deformed prior to even being taken out of the box.
Ballistic-tip rounds, such as the Hornady A-Max and Winchester Ballistic Silvertip, are boutique hunting rounds that use a hollowpoint bullet whose tip has been filled with a pointed section of ballistic nylon or other plastic. While the plastic tip does not necessarily aid in expansion of the bullet, it does aid in aerodynamics, which provides greater accuracy and velocity than a same-weight JHP. The biggest downside to the ballistic tip round, of course, is that it typically costs $30-50/box of 20 rounds.
*********************************
The biggest determining factor for you and your rifle is "how much is enough"?
Are you a hunter who feels most comfortable taking torso shots? Do you use a large-caliber rifle? Are you an experienced marksman and hunter that feels comfortable knowing that you can put a round up a flea's ass at 500yds?
John Taylor, experienced African safari hunter, developed what is known as the "Taylor KO" index. It calculates bullet weight, bullet diameter, and velocity to provide a "Knock Out Factor". A .454 Casull (for a long time, the largest standard-production handgun caliber available) gets a KO of 30, while a .22LR round gets a KO of 1. By comparison, the 5.56mm NATO 62gr round used by the M16/M4 rifles of our military get a KO of 5, while the 7.62mm NATO 147gr round gets a KO of 19.
The higher KO factor of your round, the less reliant you are upon expansion. Expansion, of course, is what creates a larger channel of wound or bodily destruction. The higher your KO factor, the more hydrostatic shock you will produce. Hydrostatic shock is caused by sudden blunt force trauma upon liquid-filled tissues found within a mammalian body. Essentially, it's the impact shoving your blood and other bodily fluids elsewhere at such a high rate of speed that the movement of fluid in and of itself causes damage. "The bigger the thump, the bigger the pump".
A light-weight .223 PSP round may expand to the same diameter as a .308 FMJ round, thus creating essentially the same wound channel. Now let's look at the difference. A baseball weighs about five ounces. Imagine Nolan Ryan just hit you in the chest with a 5oz lead fishing weight...weighs about the same as a baseball. Now imagine that you got hit in the chest with a 15oz steel hammer, roughly the same diameter, at the same speed. Harder material, and a lot heavier. The fishing weight is going to knock you down. The hammer is going to knock you out of your boots.
Is bigger better? Not necessarily. If the round is so big that it's overkill, there's no point in it...it's going to be big, expensive, and good for nothing more than showing everyone that you're compensating for your small penis. On the other end, the .223 round is so small and light that many states have outlawed its use, forgetting the fact that the same round used to hunt 170lb deer is also used all over the world to kill 170lb men.
My first deer kill was with a 55gr .223 Winchester Ballistic Silvertip, shot placement put the animal out of its misery before the muzzle blast faded. I had good shot placement, and all went well.
If you look closely, you can see the entry wound a few inches below the ear. The deer had its head down while feeding, and was shot from 80yds. While the round disintegrated upon impact, fragments did exit the top of the head, slightly visible in the photo. Good shot placement and a lot of luck killed that deer. I still prefer headshots on the grounds that they don't spoil meat, but my next kill will be with a heavier round. As my uncle says, "I've tried everything...but I just can't make those horns taste good!". A heavier round will do a better job of covering my ass in case the deer flinches, I jerk my shot, or anything else that puts me slightly off-target. If it happens to blow off one of its horns, I'm not that concerned! For the "trophy hunter", using a heavier round against the vital organs has its obvious benefits.
*************************************
What round is best for you? Well, that's something you're gonna have to figure out for yourself. Every rifle is different, even rifles that are made to the same exact specs. You'll have to experiment. That's why we do this in the off-season. We figure out what works best, and we use it.
A good start to this is to determine the twist rate on your rifle, and then make use of the interwebz to find professional recommendations as to what weights are best for it. Look for online reviews of your rifle by well-known gun magazines.
Once you've figured out what weight works best for your rifle, figure out what round works for you, through trial and error. In this day and age, modern manufacturing techniques should allow for 2moa accuracy using any off-the-rack rifle when used with appropriate ammo. That's 2" grouping at 100yds. When properly zeroed, that's within 1" of your target in any direction. Experiment with different types, different brands, etc.
One of my biggest recommendations is that you should not equate price with accuracy when it comes to ammo. Obviously, with a firearm, a $1,000 rifle is going to typically shoot better than a $200 rifle. The same cannot be said with ammo.
To give an idea of what's happening here, let's look at the target above. It was posted at a standard 100yd range. The green dots were fired at "center mass", using 55gr PSP. As you see, there's a pattern of several inches. Those are standard name-brand "hunting" rounds. The blue dots are USA-made Federal 55gr FMJ rounds, and they span a pattern of a little over one inch. The red dots are the cheapest brass-case Monarch-brand ammo my local Academy had to offer, manufactured in Serbia by the Prvi-Partisan.
As you can see, a particular brand of ammo plays as much of a part in your selection as the type.
Practice and experiment, and remember what your Little League coaches taught you. You're gonna play how you practice!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Learn anatomy, kill efficiently, hunt ethically.
In yesterday's post, we discussed how to properly sight in your rifle in preparation for deer season. Tonight, we learn how to put that round to work.
Shot placement is critical. Step into the WayBackWhen machine for a moment, and think back to the children of the Great Depression who lived "in the sticks". I am lucky enough to have many relatives who lived it, including an uncle who remembers being able to go into town and buy a single shotgun shell because most people were too poor to buy the whole box.
That was back in a time when every round fired potentially meant the difference between eating dinner, or hoping you got another shot at it tomorrow. Now that hunting has become more of a hobby than a necessity, the art of shot placement has been lost on folks who think a 7 Mag instantly turns a person into the Great White Hunter.
The amount of deer killed with a cleanly-fired .22LR is just about the same as deer who have been wounded and lost in the woods due to a poorly-placed shot from a .300WM in the hands of an overzealous dentist-turned-wanna-be-hunter.
On the interwebz you'll find all manner of armchair killers whose knowledge of hunting comes from a combination of Call of Duty and the sporting goods section of Walmart, and they all have their opinions about the "proper" rifle to use, the proper type of ammo, the proper place to aim, etc.
Of course, it's all bullshit. Within 300yds, there isn't a centerfire rifle on the market today that won't drop a deer dead in its tracks with proper shot placement.
There are three general "kill zones" on any animal...head, neck, and chest. They aren't supernatural, it's just basic mammalian anatomy. There is not a game mammal hunted in America today that does not have a brain, spinal column, heart, or lungs.
1) Head.
Don't get it twisted, you're not trying to take out the brain. Even if the brain is severely damaged, an animal still has the ability to not only live but also run like hell. Also, if you're aiming for the center of the head when facing an animal broadside as pictured in the diagram above, you're likely going to do nothing more than blow the deer's jaw off and watch it run back into the woods where it ends up bleeding to death two hours later in a spot you'll never find.
The headshot has the benefit of providing an instant kill when performed properly, but has the downside of being the smallest target area. The reason for this is the actual portion of the head you're shooting at. You're trying to destroy the base of the brain, where it meets the spinal column. If done properly, you will quite literally separate the mind from the body without spoiling any meat.
The brainstem is what connects the brain to the rest of the body, and tells the heart, lungs, muscles, etc what to do. Shutting down the heart instantly halts the flow of fresh oxygen to the brain, which kills the brain in a matter of seconds. In reality, it's no different than literally severing the head.
In the diagram, you'll see where the spine meets the skull. Just above that union is where the brainstem is located. No matter what direction the deer is facing, aim for the brainstem. Any centerfire round, within typical hunting distances, will slam into the head with enough force to drive the bullet into its target. If you are facing the deer head-on, as opposed to a broadside position shown, be conscious of where the neck meets the head. For instance, if shooting at this deer from a tree stand at a 45 degree angle while head-on, you would go in through the top of the head between the antlers. If facing the deer while on the ground, you would aim between the eyes. In a similar position, with the deer looking straight at you, you would aim directly for his nose.
2) The neck.
Much like the brain stem, the spinal cord housed inside the spinal column is an integral part of the nervous system that will shut down vital organs. Ever hear of someone being killed instantly because his neck was broken? This is why.
The two major benefits of the neck shot are being able to preserve the skull if one wants to mount the head & antlers, as well as preservation of meat. If you're able to get a broadside shot, find the center of the neck and put a round into it. Even if you don't actually impact the spinal cord with your round, you will more than likely destroy enough of the spinal column that the shattering of bone will sever enough of the cord for you.
3) The pump station.
Imagine that the deer is a car. The head is your ignition switch, the neck is the wiring, the lungs are your intake manifold, and your heart is the carb. If you turn the key off or sever the wiring, you're going to kill the engine. If you crack the manifold or smash the carb, the engine is still gonna die...it's just gonna take a bit longer, depending on how bad you smash it.
We all remember Arnold in Predator..."If it bleeds, we can kill it." An animal requires oxygen as its most basic need, cut off oxygen and it begins to die. Oxygen is, of course, carried in the blood. If you destroy the link between the brain and the heart, the heart stops being told to function and stops pumping blood. If you wound the heart, the heart's ability to pump blood to the brain is inversely proportional to the severity of the wound.
The downside of the heart shot from the broadside position is that you will likely screw up some meat on the shoulder. As shown in the diagram, the heart is located behind and below where the deer's front leg meets the spinal column. Aiming through the front leg will result in a more severe wound, with more severe meat spoilage. Aiming behind the leg will wound the lungs and save the meat, but will be a less severe wound. Either way, it's highly unlikely that the shot will result in an instant kill or completely immobilized deer, and you will likely be tracking the deer after the shot.
*************************************
One other thing I would like to add here is proper post-shot behavior.
Use the "cigarette rule". After the shot, don't immediately go after the deer. Wait a few minutes, about the time it takes to have a smoke. The purpose of this is to not spook the deer any more than necessary. Even though the deer may have dropped in its tracks, there exists a strong possibility that it is still very much alive. Waiting gives the deer a chance to die in peace, slowly bleeding out where or near where it was shot, while minimizing the distance you'll have to track it.
When you get to the deer, you'll likely notice that it's not quite completely dead. It is probably mortally wounded and will die on its own if allowed to, but it's just been shot and is suffering. This is where you slit its throat. Don't shoot it again. It's messy, and excessive shooting scares away animals that someone else may otherwise get a chance to shoot. There's no need to be cruel to the animal, you're just cutting off its' blood supply so it dies a bit quicker. Use a sharp knife, and do it quickly.
Shot placement is critical. Step into the WayBackWhen machine for a moment, and think back to the children of the Great Depression who lived "in the sticks". I am lucky enough to have many relatives who lived it, including an uncle who remembers being able to go into town and buy a single shotgun shell because most people were too poor to buy the whole box.
That was back in a time when every round fired potentially meant the difference between eating dinner, or hoping you got another shot at it tomorrow. Now that hunting has become more of a hobby than a necessity, the art of shot placement has been lost on folks who think a 7 Mag instantly turns a person into the Great White Hunter.
The amount of deer killed with a cleanly-fired .22LR is just about the same as deer who have been wounded and lost in the woods due to a poorly-placed shot from a .300WM in the hands of an overzealous dentist-turned-wanna-be-hunter.
On the interwebz you'll find all manner of armchair killers whose knowledge of hunting comes from a combination of Call of Duty and the sporting goods section of Walmart, and they all have their opinions about the "proper" rifle to use, the proper type of ammo, the proper place to aim, etc.
Of course, it's all bullshit. Within 300yds, there isn't a centerfire rifle on the market today that won't drop a deer dead in its tracks with proper shot placement.
There are three general "kill zones" on any animal...head, neck, and chest. They aren't supernatural, it's just basic mammalian anatomy. There is not a game mammal hunted in America today that does not have a brain, spinal column, heart, or lungs.
1) Head.
Don't get it twisted, you're not trying to take out the brain. Even if the brain is severely damaged, an animal still has the ability to not only live but also run like hell. Also, if you're aiming for the center of the head when facing an animal broadside as pictured in the diagram above, you're likely going to do nothing more than blow the deer's jaw off and watch it run back into the woods where it ends up bleeding to death two hours later in a spot you'll never find.
The headshot has the benefit of providing an instant kill when performed properly, but has the downside of being the smallest target area. The reason for this is the actual portion of the head you're shooting at. You're trying to destroy the base of the brain, where it meets the spinal column. If done properly, you will quite literally separate the mind from the body without spoiling any meat.
The brainstem is what connects the brain to the rest of the body, and tells the heart, lungs, muscles, etc what to do. Shutting down the heart instantly halts the flow of fresh oxygen to the brain, which kills the brain in a matter of seconds. In reality, it's no different than literally severing the head.
In the diagram, you'll see where the spine meets the skull. Just above that union is where the brainstem is located. No matter what direction the deer is facing, aim for the brainstem. Any centerfire round, within typical hunting distances, will slam into the head with enough force to drive the bullet into its target. If you are facing the deer head-on, as opposed to a broadside position shown, be conscious of where the neck meets the head. For instance, if shooting at this deer from a tree stand at a 45 degree angle while head-on, you would go in through the top of the head between the antlers. If facing the deer while on the ground, you would aim between the eyes. In a similar position, with the deer looking straight at you, you would aim directly for his nose.
2) The neck.
Much like the brain stem, the spinal cord housed inside the spinal column is an integral part of the nervous system that will shut down vital organs. Ever hear of someone being killed instantly because his neck was broken? This is why.
The two major benefits of the neck shot are being able to preserve the skull if one wants to mount the head & antlers, as well as preservation of meat. If you're able to get a broadside shot, find the center of the neck and put a round into it. Even if you don't actually impact the spinal cord with your round, you will more than likely destroy enough of the spinal column that the shattering of bone will sever enough of the cord for you.
3) The pump station.
Imagine that the deer is a car. The head is your ignition switch, the neck is the wiring, the lungs are your intake manifold, and your heart is the carb. If you turn the key off or sever the wiring, you're going to kill the engine. If you crack the manifold or smash the carb, the engine is still gonna die...it's just gonna take a bit longer, depending on how bad you smash it.
We all remember Arnold in Predator..."If it bleeds, we can kill it." An animal requires oxygen as its most basic need, cut off oxygen and it begins to die. Oxygen is, of course, carried in the blood. If you destroy the link between the brain and the heart, the heart stops being told to function and stops pumping blood. If you wound the heart, the heart's ability to pump blood to the brain is inversely proportional to the severity of the wound.
The downside of the heart shot from the broadside position is that you will likely screw up some meat on the shoulder. As shown in the diagram, the heart is located behind and below where the deer's front leg meets the spinal column. Aiming through the front leg will result in a more severe wound, with more severe meat spoilage. Aiming behind the leg will wound the lungs and save the meat, but will be a less severe wound. Either way, it's highly unlikely that the shot will result in an instant kill or completely immobilized deer, and you will likely be tracking the deer after the shot.
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One other thing I would like to add here is proper post-shot behavior.
Use the "cigarette rule". After the shot, don't immediately go after the deer. Wait a few minutes, about the time it takes to have a smoke. The purpose of this is to not spook the deer any more than necessary. Even though the deer may have dropped in its tracks, there exists a strong possibility that it is still very much alive. Waiting gives the deer a chance to die in peace, slowly bleeding out where or near where it was shot, while minimizing the distance you'll have to track it.
When you get to the deer, you'll likely notice that it's not quite completely dead. It is probably mortally wounded and will die on its own if allowed to, but it's just been shot and is suffering. This is where you slit its throat. Don't shoot it again. It's messy, and excessive shooting scares away animals that someone else may otherwise get a chance to shoot. There's no need to be cruel to the animal, you're just cutting off its' blood supply so it dies a bit quicker. Use a sharp knife, and do it quickly.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Getting prepared for hunting season...
If you're anything like me, you've learned the basics of firearm safety, maintenance, and proper shooting position. If you haven't learned these things, GO LEARN THEM before bothering to do anything else related to your hunting rifle. Deer season is months away, you have plenty of time to learn.
This posting is for the person who has experience shooting his rifle, but may not quite understand the science behind getting the rifle properly zeroed or "sighted in". While there are numerous variables behind it, the process is fairly simple once you understand the basic theory. Now that we have the interwebz at our fingers, it's even simpler than ever.
The use of a ballistic calculator is one of the greatest tools to use for the purposes of determining what range you should zero your rifle at. For demonstration purposes, I will use the HK91 as an example to show the variables you will need to plug in. I know most hunters are "traditionalists" and use bolt-action rifles with the standard-curve stock, but the fundamentals here are the same and I just like using my HK...so enough about that. Here's the picture.
Now for the variables...
1) First and foremost, you're going to need to know what kind of ammunition you are using. Ammunition will have a specific bullet weight and type, plus a specific nominal muzzle velocity. This is typically marked on the ammunition box, but can easily be found online when looking for different types of ammunition to compare.
2) Sight height is another necessary piece of information. See those two red lines in the picture? The top line represents the centerline of the scope, while the bottom line represents the centerline of the barrel's bore. Scope and bore, under 99.44% of circumstances, will be parallel to each other. The exception to this is when using a long-range setup with a very heavy projectile, such as a .50BMG...needless to say, you're not likely to encounter this when hunting white tail or elk.
3) Maximum range is also important. First, discover the maximum distance of any shot you are likely to take on your individual hunting grounds. For example, in the Piney Woods of East Texas, tree coverage makes it next to impossible for most people to take a shot farther than 80-90yds. In the deserts of West Texas, an open line of sight for up to a mile or more is not necessarily uncommon. You need to determine not only the maximum range allowable by your environment, but also the maximum range allowable by your equipment and individual marksmanship skills. Determine the maximum length of shot you're likely to take, and then add an extra hundred yards just to get an idea of what the bullet is going to do.
4) Other variables that will be plugged in are atmospheric conditions. Altitude, barometric pressure, temperature, etc. affect the path of the bullet. Thankfully, at the relatively short ranges most hunters are shooting, these variables aren't nearly as important as the others. Guestimations of what the weather will be like during hunting season should be good enough here.
**********************************************
Now comes the mathematical portion of the lesson. The rings and mount used to affix the scope to my HK rifle place the sight height at exactly 3" over the bore of my barrel. I use the standard 7.62x51 NATO 147gr FMJ ammunition the rifle was designed for (it's cheaper than boutique hunting rounds, and did I mention it's CHEAP!?). I plugged in my weather and altitude variables.
For a given ammunition type, rifle, and atmospheric condition, the trajectory arc of the bullet will remain constant. The goal is to determine A) what the trajectory arc is, and B) where your scope's line of sight will intersect with the trajectory. In the diagram above, the bullet's trajectory is the black arc, and the scope's line of sight is the green line.
Theoretically, it is possible to have the line of sight intersecting the trajectory arc at any distance between the muzzle and the maximum range of the ammunition. The tricky part is to determine where it is most usable. In the diagram above, notice how the line of sight intersects the trajectory arc twice...the bullet passes line of sight in one direction, arcs downward, and then passes line of sight in the opposite direction.
The goal is to determine the flattest arc possible within your maximum usable range, by zeroing your rifle at a distance that will provide the least variation in point-of-aim/point-of-impact. The reasoning behind this would be the ability to know that no matter what distance within your given hunting area the game may be, you can aim for the vitals and still hit your target within a few inches without having to do any type of guesstimated field corrections in your head. It's a lot easier to remember to breathe and shoot properly, when you're not having to simultaneously do math on the fly. Do your math in the off-season, and you don't have to do it in the deer stand!
Using the rifle and ammuntion I described above, I have determined that a 60yd zero will result in a bullet trajectory that is within 1.6" of my point of aim, from 45 to 250yds. In other words, so long as the wind doesn't get stupid and my aim is good, I can hit a baseball at that distance if I am for the center of it.
******************************************
Changing any of the three main variables I've listed will have dramatic consequences on point of impact (POI). For instance, changing the zero distance from 60 to 70 yards will drop the POI almost an inch at 250 yards. Using the same zero distance of 60yds, ammo, and a rifle such as a bolt-action (or semi-auto with the barrel over the gas tube and/or cocking tube, such as the Browning BAR, M1A, FN/FAL, etc) that drops the sight height to 2" will drop the POI down several more inches.
This is why it is absolutely important to know your rifle, your ammunition, and how far you anticipate being able to take a shot.
***************************************
After you've figured out the variables on your particular setup, and determined what your optimum zero range is, you need to field-test. Unless you happen to own (or know someone who does own) several acres of land outside of city limits where it's legal to shoot, you'll likely be going to an actual shooting range to shoot during the off-season. One of the easiest and least-expensive methods I've found is using a laser bore-sight prior to going to the range.
They are available in two different types, one mounts inside the muzzle and one mounts inside the chamber. While the chamber bore sight has the advantage of being more accurate, it is limited by the fact that it is only useful for the specific round and the child-rounds derived from it. For instance, a .308 chamber sight will work for .308/7.62 NATO, as well as the .270, .243, and all other "necked down" rounds using the .308 as its base. A muzzle-mount bore sight, on the other hand, is typically universal and comes with caliber-specific arbors to fit a variety of different calibers. Universal muzzle-mounts can be purchased at Walmart and other big-box retailers, while chamber-mounts can be purchased at gun stores, Academy, and other sporting-goods stores. I personally recommend the NC*Star brand, because they are inexpensive and they work. Here is an example of the .308 chamber sight.
Start by using a known range. For example, let's use a 20yd range set up in the back yard. Using your ballistics table for your particular rifle setup and zero distance, determine where your POI should be at 20yds. Using my HK91/Winchester White Box ammo/3" sight height/60yd zero, my POI will be at 1.8" over my point of aim.
After marking the bullseye of the target (I recommend using a standard paper plate and a Sharpie marker), I need to also measure a point 1.8" above the center of the bullseye. My laser dot should be dead center of the bullseye, while the crosshairs of my scope should be dead center in the dot I've made above the bullseye.
Now that you've adjusted your scope with the boresight, you need to do some *actual* field testing, just to ensure that you're where you need to be. The back-yard boresighting is just enough to get you "close enough". Going back to my ballistics table, I see that my POI at 100yds is 1.2" below my point of aim. To test your sights, you can either aim for bull and measure the distance of your impacts, or aim above bull and see if they hit bull.
**************************************
When accuracy testing on the range, I recommend repetition. People speak of firing 3-shot groups, but experience shows me that five-shot groups are where it's at. Shoot at 100yds, giving you the benefits of both extended-range over your backyard bore sighting and the ease of knowing that 100yds isn't an extremely long shot. Between shots, mark off two minutes, allowing for a small amount of "cooling off" for both you and your barrel. Make sure you use a bench rest, bipod, sandbags, or whatever else you feel comfortable with, to ensure that your shots are not influenced by anything other than the rifle and ammo.
After each five-round group, take the opportunity to see where your POI is. Look for the center of your group*. If your grouping isn't where your ballistic table says it should be, now would be the time to correct your scope and try again. It's generally good to wait 15-20min between strings, to allow proper cooling of your barrel.
Another thing to remember is that if you are going to be hunting during the winter and range-testing during the summer months, run two calculations...one for each temperature. Run your cold-weather table to determine where your zero point should be, and run your warm-weather table to give you proper POI measurements. Remember high-school math? For a given equation, the constants remain the same, the solution is determined by the variables.
***********************************************
Online ballistic calculators are available from a variety of sources. One of the best available is the Winchester Online Ballistic Calculator, as it provides a graphic output of the bullet's trajectory in addition to the ballistics tables. Unfortunately, it has two drawbacks. First, it will only calculate Winchester ammunition. Second, it runs on Microsoft Silverlight, and users of Ubuntu and other Linux-based operating systems are not supported.
For those of us who do not run a Windows machine, or who want the ability to plug more intricate variables into the calculator, there is the JBM Ballistics trajectory calculator.
**********************************************
Good luck, and good hunting.
*If your five-shot groups are patterning more than 2" at 100yds, there is a serious problem. Either you are using a defective rifle, you are using defective ammunition, or you are a defective shooter. If it ain't the ammo or the gun, disregard this and start putting in more range time...
This posting is for the person who has experience shooting his rifle, but may not quite understand the science behind getting the rifle properly zeroed or "sighted in". While there are numerous variables behind it, the process is fairly simple once you understand the basic theory. Now that we have the interwebz at our fingers, it's even simpler than ever.
The use of a ballistic calculator is one of the greatest tools to use for the purposes of determining what range you should zero your rifle at. For demonstration purposes, I will use the HK91 as an example to show the variables you will need to plug in. I know most hunters are "traditionalists" and use bolt-action rifles with the standard-curve stock, but the fundamentals here are the same and I just like using my HK...so enough about that. Here's the picture.
Now for the variables...1) First and foremost, you're going to need to know what kind of ammunition you are using. Ammunition will have a specific bullet weight and type, plus a specific nominal muzzle velocity. This is typically marked on the ammunition box, but can easily be found online when looking for different types of ammunition to compare.
2) Sight height is another necessary piece of information. See those two red lines in the picture? The top line represents the centerline of the scope, while the bottom line represents the centerline of the barrel's bore. Scope and bore, under 99.44% of circumstances, will be parallel to each other. The exception to this is when using a long-range setup with a very heavy projectile, such as a .50BMG...needless to say, you're not likely to encounter this when hunting white tail or elk.
3) Maximum range is also important. First, discover the maximum distance of any shot you are likely to take on your individual hunting grounds. For example, in the Piney Woods of East Texas, tree coverage makes it next to impossible for most people to take a shot farther than 80-90yds. In the deserts of West Texas, an open line of sight for up to a mile or more is not necessarily uncommon. You need to determine not only the maximum range allowable by your environment, but also the maximum range allowable by your equipment and individual marksmanship skills. Determine the maximum length of shot you're likely to take, and then add an extra hundred yards just to get an idea of what the bullet is going to do.
4) Other variables that will be plugged in are atmospheric conditions. Altitude, barometric pressure, temperature, etc. affect the path of the bullet. Thankfully, at the relatively short ranges most hunters are shooting, these variables aren't nearly as important as the others. Guestimations of what the weather will be like during hunting season should be good enough here.
**********************************************
Now comes the mathematical portion of the lesson. The rings and mount used to affix the scope to my HK rifle place the sight height at exactly 3" over the bore of my barrel. I use the standard 7.62x51 NATO 147gr FMJ ammunition the rifle was designed for (it's cheaper than boutique hunting rounds, and did I mention it's CHEAP!?). I plugged in my weather and altitude variables.
For a given ammunition type, rifle, and atmospheric condition, the trajectory arc of the bullet will remain constant. The goal is to determine A) what the trajectory arc is, and B) where your scope's line of sight will intersect with the trajectory. In the diagram above, the bullet's trajectory is the black arc, and the scope's line of sight is the green line.
Theoretically, it is possible to have the line of sight intersecting the trajectory arc at any distance between the muzzle and the maximum range of the ammunition. The tricky part is to determine where it is most usable. In the diagram above, notice how the line of sight intersects the trajectory arc twice...the bullet passes line of sight in one direction, arcs downward, and then passes line of sight in the opposite direction.
The goal is to determine the flattest arc possible within your maximum usable range, by zeroing your rifle at a distance that will provide the least variation in point-of-aim/point-of-impact. The reasoning behind this would be the ability to know that no matter what distance within your given hunting area the game may be, you can aim for the vitals and still hit your target within a few inches without having to do any type of guesstimated field corrections in your head. It's a lot easier to remember to breathe and shoot properly, when you're not having to simultaneously do math on the fly. Do your math in the off-season, and you don't have to do it in the deer stand!
Using the rifle and ammuntion I described above, I have determined that a 60yd zero will result in a bullet trajectory that is within 1.6" of my point of aim, from 45 to 250yds. In other words, so long as the wind doesn't get stupid and my aim is good, I can hit a baseball at that distance if I am for the center of it.
******************************************
Changing any of the three main variables I've listed will have dramatic consequences on point of impact (POI). For instance, changing the zero distance from 60 to 70 yards will drop the POI almost an inch at 250 yards. Using the same zero distance of 60yds, ammo, and a rifle such as a bolt-action (or semi-auto with the barrel over the gas tube and/or cocking tube, such as the Browning BAR, M1A, FN/FAL, etc) that drops the sight height to 2" will drop the POI down several more inches.
This is why it is absolutely important to know your rifle, your ammunition, and how far you anticipate being able to take a shot.
***************************************
After you've figured out the variables on your particular setup, and determined what your optimum zero range is, you need to field-test. Unless you happen to own (or know someone who does own) several acres of land outside of city limits where it's legal to shoot, you'll likely be going to an actual shooting range to shoot during the off-season. One of the easiest and least-expensive methods I've found is using a laser bore-sight prior to going to the range.
They are available in two different types, one mounts inside the muzzle and one mounts inside the chamber. While the chamber bore sight has the advantage of being more accurate, it is limited by the fact that it is only useful for the specific round and the child-rounds derived from it. For instance, a .308 chamber sight will work for .308/7.62 NATO, as well as the .270, .243, and all other "necked down" rounds using the .308 as its base. A muzzle-mount bore sight, on the other hand, is typically universal and comes with caliber-specific arbors to fit a variety of different calibers. Universal muzzle-mounts can be purchased at Walmart and other big-box retailers, while chamber-mounts can be purchased at gun stores, Academy, and other sporting-goods stores. I personally recommend the NC*Star brand, because they are inexpensive and they work. Here is an example of the .308 chamber sight.
Start by using a known range. For example, let's use a 20yd range set up in the back yard. Using your ballistics table for your particular rifle setup and zero distance, determine where your POI should be at 20yds. Using my HK91/Winchester White Box ammo/3" sight height/60yd zero, my POI will be at 1.8" over my point of aim.
After marking the bullseye of the target (I recommend using a standard paper plate and a Sharpie marker), I need to also measure a point 1.8" above the center of the bullseye. My laser dot should be dead center of the bullseye, while the crosshairs of my scope should be dead center in the dot I've made above the bullseye.
Now that you've adjusted your scope with the boresight, you need to do some *actual* field testing, just to ensure that you're where you need to be. The back-yard boresighting is just enough to get you "close enough". Going back to my ballistics table, I see that my POI at 100yds is 1.2" below my point of aim. To test your sights, you can either aim for bull and measure the distance of your impacts, or aim above bull and see if they hit bull.
**************************************
When accuracy testing on the range, I recommend repetition. People speak of firing 3-shot groups, but experience shows me that five-shot groups are where it's at. Shoot at 100yds, giving you the benefits of both extended-range over your backyard bore sighting and the ease of knowing that 100yds isn't an extremely long shot. Between shots, mark off two minutes, allowing for a small amount of "cooling off" for both you and your barrel. Make sure you use a bench rest, bipod, sandbags, or whatever else you feel comfortable with, to ensure that your shots are not influenced by anything other than the rifle and ammo.
After each five-round group, take the opportunity to see where your POI is. Look for the center of your group*. If your grouping isn't where your ballistic table says it should be, now would be the time to correct your scope and try again. It's generally good to wait 15-20min between strings, to allow proper cooling of your barrel.
Another thing to remember is that if you are going to be hunting during the winter and range-testing during the summer months, run two calculations...one for each temperature. Run your cold-weather table to determine where your zero point should be, and run your warm-weather table to give you proper POI measurements. Remember high-school math? For a given equation, the constants remain the same, the solution is determined by the variables.
***********************************************
Online ballistic calculators are available from a variety of sources. One of the best available is the Winchester Online Ballistic Calculator, as it provides a graphic output of the bullet's trajectory in addition to the ballistics tables. Unfortunately, it has two drawbacks. First, it will only calculate Winchester ammunition. Second, it runs on Microsoft Silverlight, and users of Ubuntu and other Linux-based operating systems are not supported.
For those of us who do not run a Windows machine, or who want the ability to plug more intricate variables into the calculator, there is the JBM Ballistics trajectory calculator.
**********************************************
Good luck, and good hunting.
*If your five-shot groups are patterning more than 2" at 100yds, there is a serious problem. Either you are using a defective rifle, you are using defective ammunition, or you are a defective shooter. If it ain't the ammo or the gun, disregard this and start putting in more range time...
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Thank God for Obamacare, in the most literal of tone.
“Solve et Coagula”, Latin, phrase meaning “tear down and come together again”.
That's where we are in this country, at this point in time. Our government, just like our society as a whole, is completely and truly FUBAR.
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States of America decided that a government-mandated tax penalty was “constitutional” if people did not did not purchase individual health insurance.
Justice Roberts, a so-called “conservative” appointed by Bush II, was the swing vote on this decision.
Justice Ginsberg bluntly stated that we had no “right” to abstain from something that takes the product of our labor without receiving (or, for that matter, even asking for) our permission.
There are some who think that voting in November will somehow solve this crisis, by electing a congress dedicated to overturning Obamacare.
You're a complete f***ing retard if you think this law had anything to do with our government trying to help people get “affordable health care”. This wasn't about general welfare of this nation, it was about setting legally-binding SCOTUS precedent for control.
SCOTUS ruled that, pursuant to a law prohibiting injunctions on taxation through the courts, that A) Obamacare is a “tax”, B) Congress has the authority to declare just about anything it desires as a “tax” for the purposes of promoting the “general welfare”, C) you must sue the government and maintain legal standing in order to get a refund on the taxation they have placed upon you, and D) congress has the authority to punish you with taxation if you disagree with their demands.
Let us remember certain facts about this case. It was ruled “constitutional”, because the tax penalty was not “excessive”...even though its punitive nature was not denied. Because it is a so-called “voluntary” tax, meaning you had the choice of paying for something you didn't want or choosing to pay the tax, it was found to not be prohibited by the COTUS prohibition on non-proportioned taxation.
Whether you believe this decision follows the constitution, or doesn't, is completely and totally irrelevant. The choice is not up to you. That same constitution has vested the power of such determination within these nine individuals, and has placed them in the sole position of God-like power of deciding what is and isn't allowed by said constitution.
In short, what you think may be right or wrong really just doesn't matter any more. This “constitution” that makes you American, grants America the right to tax you into oblivion, grants America the right to jail you for refusal to pay for taxes, and and the right to shoot you if you refuse jail.
In other words, do what they say or they will kill you. You are a slave. Are you realizing this yet? If you're just now waking up to this, I have to things to say to you.
1) Congratulations. You understand what's going on now. You're awake. Make use of it.
2) You're a complete idiot for not realizing this sooner. This ruling means absolutely nothing new, and the tyranny you've been living under is over 200 years old.
This nation is FUBAR, because even those who call themselves “conservatives” think it's okay to FORCE someone to do what they think is right...and use the full government-sponsored monopoly of force upon those who disagree. Those who call themselves “liberals” have been doing this all along.
This government, as I have often stated before, is much like an ingrown toenail. The toe will not heal until the nail is ripped out.
For that reason, I thank God for the ruling on “Obamacare”, as it brings “The Nation As We Know It” (aka “TNAWKI”) one very huge massive leap toward its eventual destruction. It was flawed from its inception, as it allowed a majority-rule tyranny to cast its power over the minority. Anything that speeds its destruction is welcomed in my personal view.
Much like you cannot build a home on the ruins of a dilapidated home without removing the remnants of the original structure, you cannot build a society upon a portion of something that is crumbling. We must start fresh, from nothing.
Solve et coagula, and God bless you all.
That's where we are in this country, at this point in time. Our government, just like our society as a whole, is completely and truly FUBAR.
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States of America decided that a government-mandated tax penalty was “constitutional” if people did not did not purchase individual health insurance.
Justice Roberts, a so-called “conservative” appointed by Bush II, was the swing vote on this decision.
Justice Ginsberg bluntly stated that we had no “right” to abstain from something that takes the product of our labor without receiving (or, for that matter, even asking for) our permission.
There are some who think that voting in November will somehow solve this crisis, by electing a congress dedicated to overturning Obamacare.
You're a complete f***ing retard if you think this law had anything to do with our government trying to help people get “affordable health care”. This wasn't about general welfare of this nation, it was about setting legally-binding SCOTUS precedent for control.
SCOTUS ruled that, pursuant to a law prohibiting injunctions on taxation through the courts, that A) Obamacare is a “tax”, B) Congress has the authority to declare just about anything it desires as a “tax” for the purposes of promoting the “general welfare”, C) you must sue the government and maintain legal standing in order to get a refund on the taxation they have placed upon you, and D) congress has the authority to punish you with taxation if you disagree with their demands.
Let us remember certain facts about this case. It was ruled “constitutional”, because the tax penalty was not “excessive”...even though its punitive nature was not denied. Because it is a so-called “voluntary” tax, meaning you had the choice of paying for something you didn't want or choosing to pay the tax, it was found to not be prohibited by the COTUS prohibition on non-proportioned taxation.
Whether you believe this decision follows the constitution, or doesn't, is completely and totally irrelevant. The choice is not up to you. That same constitution has vested the power of such determination within these nine individuals, and has placed them in the sole position of God-like power of deciding what is and isn't allowed by said constitution.
In short, what you think may be right or wrong really just doesn't matter any more. This “constitution” that makes you American, grants America the right to tax you into oblivion, grants America the right to jail you for refusal to pay for taxes, and and the right to shoot you if you refuse jail.
In other words, do what they say or they will kill you. You are a slave. Are you realizing this yet? If you're just now waking up to this, I have to things to say to you.
1) Congratulations. You understand what's going on now. You're awake. Make use of it.
2) You're a complete idiot for not realizing this sooner. This ruling means absolutely nothing new, and the tyranny you've been living under is over 200 years old.
This nation is FUBAR, because even those who call themselves “conservatives” think it's okay to FORCE someone to do what they think is right...and use the full government-sponsored monopoly of force upon those who disagree. Those who call themselves “liberals” have been doing this all along.
This government, as I have often stated before, is much like an ingrown toenail. The toe will not heal until the nail is ripped out.
For that reason, I thank God for the ruling on “Obamacare”, as it brings “The Nation As We Know It” (aka “TNAWKI”) one very huge massive leap toward its eventual destruction. It was flawed from its inception, as it allowed a majority-rule tyranny to cast its power over the minority. Anything that speeds its destruction is welcomed in my personal view.
Much like you cannot build a home on the ruins of a dilapidated home without removing the remnants of the original structure, you cannot build a society upon a portion of something that is crumbling. We must start fresh, from nothing.
Solve et coagula, and God bless you all.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Do I get your vote?
The political platform for the candidacy of Barry Hayes
1) The treatment of convicted felons:
In this society, everything from capital murder to the mere possession of a credit card number is now legally a “felony offense”. In a society so quick to felonize minor crimes, as well as actions which do not harm another non-consenting person, it is imperative that we remove the stigma of “convicted felon” until we are able to reverse the actions of our legislature that will criminalize such actions to the level of “felony”. In response to this, I pledge to author legislation that will revoke the authority of the state to stamp “Convicted Felon” on state-issued identification cards, reinstate voting privileges, and reinstate firearm ownership privileges to all convicted felons who have been released from state custody or supervision. Such legislation will require judges to remove rights of convicted felons based upon the nature and severity of the offense, at time of sentencing, while leaving open the option of the convicted to petition the court for reinstatement of rights at any time. The burden of showing why a convicted felon should have his rights removed shall be upon the state; both at the initial trial, and in any further petition by the convicted.
2) The legalization of personal choice:
The tendency of government to regulate everything short of flatulence and attitude has left our society with an ever-increasing list of things that are criminalized for the sheer fact that a small group of people decided to criminalize the actions of thousands, even though these actions harm no one. In response to this, I pledge to author legislation that requires a prosecuting attorney to produce a complaint by an actual nameable and living person, which states actual harm has been committed upon an actual non-consenting victim.
3) The accountability of taxpayer-funded officials:
For far too long, our government has operated above the law, being subjected typically to “administrative review panels” and the like, when they are caught committing offenses that the average person would be arrested and tried for. In response to this, I pledge to sponsor legislation which will outlaw the doctrine of “qualified immunity” for police officers and other public servants caught breaking laws, employing-agency written policies, or any other official guidelines governing their actions. I pledge to sponsor legislation which will remove the criminality of resisting an unlawful detention, arrest, or search from the state penal code. Such a removal will require the state to prove that, before convicting a person of resisting detention, arrest, or search, that such detention, arrest, or search was lawful. I also pledge to sponsor legislation that will remove special penalties for persons found to have committed a crime against persons of specific demographic groups, making equal justice for everyone a legal requirement.
1) The treatment of convicted felons:
In this society, everything from capital murder to the mere possession of a credit card number is now legally a “felony offense”. In a society so quick to felonize minor crimes, as well as actions which do not harm another non-consenting person, it is imperative that we remove the stigma of “convicted felon” until we are able to reverse the actions of our legislature that will criminalize such actions to the level of “felony”. In response to this, I pledge to author legislation that will revoke the authority of the state to stamp “Convicted Felon” on state-issued identification cards, reinstate voting privileges, and reinstate firearm ownership privileges to all convicted felons who have been released from state custody or supervision. Such legislation will require judges to remove rights of convicted felons based upon the nature and severity of the offense, at time of sentencing, while leaving open the option of the convicted to petition the court for reinstatement of rights at any time. The burden of showing why a convicted felon should have his rights removed shall be upon the state; both at the initial trial, and in any further petition by the convicted.
2) The legalization of personal choice:
The tendency of government to regulate everything short of flatulence and attitude has left our society with an ever-increasing list of things that are criminalized for the sheer fact that a small group of people decided to criminalize the actions of thousands, even though these actions harm no one. In response to this, I pledge to author legislation that requires a prosecuting attorney to produce a complaint by an actual nameable and living person, which states actual harm has been committed upon an actual non-consenting victim.
3) The accountability of taxpayer-funded officials:
For far too long, our government has operated above the law, being subjected typically to “administrative review panels” and the like, when they are caught committing offenses that the average person would be arrested and tried for. In response to this, I pledge to sponsor legislation which will outlaw the doctrine of “qualified immunity” for police officers and other public servants caught breaking laws, employing-agency written policies, or any other official guidelines governing their actions. I pledge to sponsor legislation which will remove the criminality of resisting an unlawful detention, arrest, or search from the state penal code. Such a removal will require the state to prove that, before convicting a person of resisting detention, arrest, or search, that such detention, arrest, or search was lawful. I also pledge to sponsor legislation that will remove special penalties for persons found to have committed a crime against persons of specific demographic groups, making equal justice for everyone a legal requirement.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Just for the record...
Looking back on it, last night's email could have been misconstrued as being the writings of a crazy man hellbent on some sort of Columbine-type shooting spree. Let me assure you that nothing could be farther from the truth. My headspace is squared away, more so than it has been in quite some time. I apologize if I alarmed you with what I had to say, that certainly wasn't my intention. I suppose I should have clarified. I am at peace with myself, and in general, am at peace with the rest of the world.
The point I was getting at there was, essentially, that I've “evolved”...at least, from a philosophical standpoint. There was once a time when I actually bought into all the “America! Fuck yeah!” bullshit, thinking that I actually had cause to celebrate the existence of this nation. I no longer feel this way.
There was once a time when I thought that the issues plaguing this nation were the result of some sort of problem or glitch within the system we were brought up to recognize as “the American Way”. The America you once knew as a child, “the way it used to be”, is no more. This is not because America's system of government has been subverted, it's because America's system of government has been utilized as intended.
I remember you once telling me about how my grandfather, your father, once said that we as “Southerners” were damned lucky to have lost the civil war...because every one of us “poor boys” would be slaves by now. Sadly, that's pretty much how it ended up anyway, even though no one has stood us up on an auction block and offered us up for public sale.
I once had a lot of hate in my heart. Hatred for the police, for the judges who gave them the “authority” to do the things they do, for the legislature who gives them their legal basis to fuck with you and I, etc.
I've moved past it. I'm doing my best to let go of the hate in my heart. I understand that there is no lever I can pull on election day, there is no sticker I can put on my car or sign I can put in my yard, and there is no membership card I can show to the next cop that will inevitably pull me over.
I likely won't change them, I won't stop them from doing what they do. I won't change their minds. The best I can do is keep living my life, and attempting to lead by example of doing what is right instead of raising hell about what other people are doing wrong.
It just feels a bit weird, knowing that I've once sworn my life to uphold and defend something...and then realize that the very thing you've sworn such an oath to is the very thing that has its' boot on your neck. At the end of the day, it matters not if it's a left boot or a right boot. What matters is being able to spot the fact that there's a boot on your neck.
That's where I'm at today. I am seeing “the system” for what it truly is. There is no savior, no matter who it may be, who is going to wave his Freedom Wand and remedy the situation. Our remedy for the situation is going to be to get to know our neighbors and take care of ourselves, like it was done back in the day.
I remember discussing this with a preacher a while back, after he gave a sermon about the things going on in this country. Abortion, pointless wars, a welfare state that breeds laziness, and a police state that breeds fear...all of which are paid for by the American taxpayer, who are forced to fork over thousands of dollars to this system every year.
I asked him, “At what point do we say 'enough is enough' and stand up against it?”. I was confused, because I was told that a lack of a government would lead to lawlessness and the destruction of some sort of “order required by God” or something. I was directed to the chapter of Romans 13, the first seven verses telling us to submit to slavery.
I found the strangest irony in the fact that most churches in this nation proudly display an American flag, often make it a point to “pray for the troops” (and in the case of Sam's church, even praying for the safety of the police), and continue to reinforce the notion of obedience to government. “God bless America” is a common theme, even though this nation was founded by a very small percentage of people who took up arms against government over what amounts to a slight fraction of the taxation we currently pay. If we are commanded by God to submit to those who rule over us, how can we truly ask God to bless a nation born of revolution against its masters?
Going even further, how can a nation born of revolution against taxation which in reality was a mere pittance of what we are shelling out today, sit and be proud of a nation that taxes every working man into the ground at every turn? The idea of “freedom” is a sad joke in this country, one that so many of our fellow countrymen don't even understand.
You can't drive a car, sell a house, buy a cheeseburger, or even get married in this country without having to get some form of government permission slip and/or pay a tax for the privilege of doing so. I think I've finally realized that there is no stopping Leviathan. Written into the United States Constitution is the authority of government to do this. Our constitution does not prevent government from taxing or regulating the ever-living shit out of everything we could ever think to do or own, it merely dictates whether it's the federal, state, or local government that gets to do it to you.
If you resist taxation or other government-sponsored impositions on your life, you are fined. If you resist fines, you are jailed. If you resist jail, you are shot. I suppose, in the case of America, what makes us such a “great nation” is the fact that we aren't just taken outside and shot for not giving up what we have to government goons, they have to give us “due process” before they shoot us!
It finally dawned on me that a man can understand and accept something as being the way it is, the way it was, and the way it's going to be...without accepting it as being morally righteous.
Looking back on it, last night's email could have been misconstrued as being the writings of a crazy man hellbent on some sort of Columbine-type shooting spree. Let me assure you that nothing could be farther from the truth. My headspace is squared away, more so than it has been in quite some time. I apologize if I alarmed you with what I had to say, that certainly wasn't my intention. I suppose I should have clarified. I am at peace with myself, and in general, am at peace with the rest of the world.
The point I was getting at there was, essentially, that I've “evolved”...at least, from a philosophical standpoint. There was once a time when I actually bought into all the “America! Fuck yeah!” bullshit, thinking that I actually had cause to celebrate the existence of this nation. I no longer feel this way.
There was once a time when I thought that the issues plaguing this nation were the result of some sort of problem or glitch within the system we were brought up to recognize as “the American Way”. The America you once knew as a child, “the way it used to be”, is no more. This is not because America's system of government has been subverted, it's because America's system of government has been utilized as intended.
I remember you once telling me about how my grandfather, your father, once said that we as “Southerners” were damned lucky to have lost the civil war...because every one of us “poor boys” would be slaves by now. Sadly, that's pretty much how it ended up anyway, even though no one has stood us up on an auction block and offered us up for public sale.
I once had a lot of hate in my heart. Hatred for the police, for the judges who gave them the “authority” to do the things they do, for the legislature who gives them their legal basis to fuck with you and I, etc.
I've moved past it. I'm doing my best to let go of the hate in my heart. I understand that there is no lever I can pull on election day, there is no sticker I can put on my car or sign I can put in my yard, and there is no membership card I can show to the next cop that will inevitably pull me over.
I likely won't change them, I won't stop them from doing what they do. I won't change their minds. The best I can do is keep living my life, and attempting to lead by example of doing what is right instead of raising hell about what other people are doing wrong.
It just feels a bit weird, knowing that I've once sworn my life to uphold and defend something...and then realize that the very thing you've sworn such an oath to is the very thing that has its' boot on your neck. At the end of the day, it matters not if it's a left boot or a right boot. What matters is being able to spot the fact that there's a boot on your neck.
That's where I'm at today. I am seeing “the system” for what it truly is. There is no savior, no matter who it may be, who is going to wave his Freedom Wand and remedy the situation. Our remedy for the situation is going to be to get to know our neighbors and take care of ourselves, like it was done back in the day.
I remember discussing this with a preacher a while back, after he gave a sermon about the things going on in this country. Abortion, pointless wars, a welfare state that breeds laziness, and a police state that breeds fear...all of which are paid for by the American taxpayer, who are forced to fork over thousands of dollars to this system every year.
I asked him, “At what point do we say 'enough is enough' and stand up against it?”. I was confused, because I was told that a lack of a government would lead to lawlessness and the destruction of some sort of “order required by God” or something. I was directed to the chapter of Romans 13, the first seven verses telling us to submit to slavery.
I found the strangest irony in the fact that most churches in this nation proudly display an American flag, often make it a point to “pray for the troops” (and in the case of Sam's church, even praying for the safety of the police), and continue to reinforce the notion of obedience to government. “God bless America” is a common theme, even though this nation was founded by a very small percentage of people who took up arms against government over what amounts to a slight fraction of the taxation we currently pay. If we are commanded by God to submit to those who rule over us, how can we truly ask God to bless a nation born of revolution against its masters?
Going even further, how can a nation born of revolution against taxation which in reality was a mere pittance of what we are shelling out today, sit and be proud of a nation that taxes every working man into the ground at every turn? The idea of “freedom” is a sad joke in this country, one that so many of our fellow countrymen don't even understand.
You can't drive a car, sell a house, buy a cheeseburger, or even get married in this country without having to get some form of government permission slip and/or pay a tax for the privilege of doing so. I think I've finally realized that there is no stopping Leviathan. Written into the United States Constitution is the authority of government to do this. Our constitution does not prevent government from taxing or regulating the ever-living shit out of everything we could ever think to do or own, it merely dictates whether it's the federal, state, or local government that gets to do it to you.
If you resist taxation or other government-sponsored impositions on your life, you are fined. If you resist fines, you are jailed. If you resist jail, you are shot. I suppose, in the case of America, what makes us such a “great nation” is the fact that we aren't just taken outside and shot for not giving up what we have to government goons, they have to give us “due process” before they shoot us!
It finally dawned on me that a man can understand and accept something as being the way it is, the way it was, and the way it's going to be...without accepting it as being morally righteous.
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