.45 SAP
"The freedom to own and carry the weapon of your choice is a natural, fundamental, and inalienable human, individual, civil, and Constitutional right -- subject neither to the democratic process nor to arguments grounded in social utility." -- L. Neil Smith
# Real Guns - The .45 ACP, GAP, SAP - The May issue of Shooting Times compared the venerable .45 ACP to Glock's new .45 GAP cartridge and proclaimed the GAP the winner, hands down. Real Guns does them one better by shortening the case even more. Satire. Hehe.
One factor that quickly became apparent was the more we reduced case capacity, the less powder it took to achieve the same velocity, without increasing pressure. The powder charges pictured left, resulted in identical performance, in their respective and labeled cartridges. Hey, we were surprised too. We originally intended to cut a GAP case down from .775" to .675". Unfortunately, due to a small adjustment error on our powdered RCBS trimmer, we sailed right through the .675" length and set .500" as a maximum case length. As this pressure/volume cause and effect seemed to not fall in nicely with the laws of physics, or even Charles and/or Boyle, we decided to refer to the condition where a small case demonstrates well above 100% efficiency as "Burn Superiority". So for the time being, the term "BS" will be used until we can get a more defined scientific explanation. Optimized performance was attained with non-conventional propellant. In our case, the lab came up with equal measures of Blue Dot, saw dust and just a dash of oregano. Could have been cheddar, we sometimes eat lunch in the lab when we run short on time.
# Henry David Thoreau at LewRockwell.com - On the Duty of Civil Disobedience - an 1849 classic. [lew]
I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe -- "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.
# John deLaubenfels at Strike the Root - My Personal Declaration of Independence - a pledge to disrespect illegitimate laws. Bravo! [root]
Upon which this country was founded
Not one nation indivisible
But millions of sovereign individuals
Trading peacefully among themselves
With liberty and justice for all
...
When is a law illegitimate? Whenever it regulates or prohibits anything but actual aggression (force or fraud) upon others. The laws which enabled slavery were illegitimate, for example, and anyone who flaunted them acted morally, while anyone who supported them acted immorally. Laws which enforced segregation in the South were illegitimate, and the protesters who flaunted them were virtuous and courageous. Laws in Nazi Germany which prohibited harboring Jews were illegitimate, and thank God for those who had the cojones to flaunt them.
# Publicola - Chris Cox NRA Speech - commentary on a speech given by the head of NRA-ILA. Mr. Cox used nice-sounding language. Too bad his organization doesn't really defend our right to keep and bear arms. [publicola]
# Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey at Pravda.ru - An example of National Security, Bush style - on receiving an email claiming that Al Qaeda has seven nuclear devices in the U.S., Mr. Bancroft-Hinchey attempts to contact U.S. security and Al-Jazeera. No luck yet. [grabbe]