Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Make Mine 10?

Through all of this dickering with velocitized .40 caliber bullets I've always known that I was most likely delaying the inevitable. I do like the .40 S&W, and believe it to be the perfect cartridge for today's police agencies, military's, and those interested in self defense. Much more of a kick and the legions of affirmative action hires just wouldn't be capable of hitting anything save for the ground and the sky, and we go to war with the reality we have versus that which we'd like to have. The .40 is a compromise but so is pretty much everything these days, and the .40 on steroids...AKA the 10 mm...wasn't looking all that good when it first was introduced. Aside from the objectionable kick, it was not a round conducive to returning good results with the ammo of yesterday, but yesterday is so yesterday and there are plenty of modern bullets that would make this cartridge shine.

Not that the major ammunition manufacturers are tripping over one another in the race to create a deep penetrating, monstrously expanding bullet, and that's simply because they are consumate chicken versus the eggers who first wish to see the round take off in popularity before tweaking it to be more popular. But Police departments simply aren't going to be dusting off old Bren-10's because Double-Tap or Crazy Jay claim these platforms afford magnificent ballistic results because they HAD a weapon that was similar but dropped it like a hot potato once the Wondernines came along and allowed their limpwrists to spray & pray all the livelong day.

So why do I keep messing around with Glock 23's and 27's, when Glock 20's are available? For one, Federal doesn't make a 10 mm HST. For another, Winchester doesn't make a 10 mm Ranger T. So we jack around with the .40 trying to bring it into the bottom tier of 10 mm ballistics. This is a pain in the butt for so very many reasons, but FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY both Federal and Winchester bullets are doing swell all around the world, and would be doing sweller if they were tweaked a couple hundred feet per second or so. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY our servicemen are getting their hands on some of the thousands of Glocks that were given to various police and military personnel around the world, and cannot say enough good things about both of the bullets mentioned. A G-20 with 15 rounds in the bottom and one in the top weighs around 40 ounces. So does a Ruger GP-100 with 6 rounds of .357 magnum fodder. I'm not saying that the 10 can do all of the things a .357 can, but it's damned close, and we're back to square 1 because none of the newer bullets are available in THAT caliber, either. But the GP will see modern ammunition long before the G-20. The smaller shops will continue to crank out kickass bullets and sooner or later the big boys will step in to take the business away from them...in design, mind you, NOT velocity...but the availability of their HST's and Rangers will become more prevalent and we'll take any victory that leads to better munitions for everyone.

Cops have lots of other cops to call upon when the shit hits the fan. The Marines can summon something akin to the wrath of God from above if need be, but Joe Schmuck at home is all by his lonesome because even the highest courts in the land tell us that an individual is not guaranteed protection from the police OR the military.

It is now as it has forever been. You and me, kids. All by our lonesomes. The ones who NEED the type of weapons and munitions the police and military have, a heck of a lot MORE than the police and the military do because our neighborhood militias were disbanded a long time ago so there's no guarantee anyone's coming to help when the doorknob starts a'shakin' in the middle of the night. It's why I get so pissed when someone passes along bad scoop, why I want to throttle them.

Lead, follow, or get the fuck out of the way doesn't mean squat anymore. Not when there's money to be made by the likes of Blunder Ranch, or the Fat Old Retired Guy, or The American Handgunner. Now it's all about out of work used car salesmen learning a new trade. And all we ask, all we've ever asked is a fair shot, a leg-up to help even the score.

I'm still dickering with the .40 calibers, but close to switching to 10 mm. No one wants to help just yet because there isn't enough money to be made, but we'll keep bugging the shit out of the likes of Double Tap and Buffalo Bore, and offer visions of sugarplums to Federal and Winchester.

A grunt's gotta do what a grunt's gotta do.

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