GKar

A local gun shop owner called me and told me he had something he thought I might be interested in (same guy I got a Johnson Model 1941 from last year).  He had taken it in on trade.  Serial number puts it late in the first batch of Ithaca's produced in 1943.  Its an Ithaca (not Colt) frame, all the requisite proof marks except for the ordnance mark on the RS, HS barrel, good bore.  Correct grips.  Magazine is not correct.  Someone ground off the lanyard loop - WTH were ythey thinking.  Cleaned up nice (just some internal dust and junk).  Hasn't seen the range yet.  Just has a feel to it...

Goins filed the House correlate today.  HB 0274.   We'll see how deep the Gov buries these if his pet projects get axed (Insure TN and the gas tax).

SENATE BILL 314 By Hensley   AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39 - 17 - 1311 , relative to the carrying of weapons.   WHEREAS, the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee has demonstrated its intent to control the entire field of the carrying of firearms with in the State of Tennessee; and WHEREAS, the Legislature shall have the power to regulate the carrying of firearms as delegated in Article I, Section 26, of the Constitution of Tennessee; and WHEREAS, the National Rifle Association has committed, during the period of April 8–14, 2015, to holding its 149th meeting of the membership of this organization in Nashville, the capital city of the State of Tennessee; and WHEREAS, these members attending will travel to Tennessee from parts of all fifty states of these United States; and WHEREAS, it is expected some ninety thousand members of this organization will attend and participate at this annual meeting, and these members will come from states that allow the carrying of firearms in some form or other; and WHEREAS, it is reasonable to expect that most of these members attending will be inclined to want to carry a firearm for their personal defense and protection; and WHEREAS, across the State of Tennessee there is a patchwork of local and State laws concerning the allowance or prohibition of the carrying of firearms within the areas of certain parks and other recreational areas; now, therefore, BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:   SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1311( B)(1)(H) , is amended by deleting the following language: -, while within or on a public park, natural area, historic park, nature trail, campground, forest, greenway, waterway or other similar public place that is owned or operated by the state, a county, a municipality or instrumentality thereof, except as otherwise provided in subsection (d)   SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1311(d), is amended by deleting the subsection in its entirety.   SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1311(e)(1), is amended by adding the language “remove,” immediately after the language “shall not”.   SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1311(e)(2), is amended by deleting the subdivision in its entirety.   SECTION 5. This act shall take effect April 1, 2015, the public welfare requiring it.

Made two sets from 2x4s in an "H" shape, with a small piece of PVC pipe cut and placed into each internal "corner" and held in place with a short piece of pipe strapping.  Pipe diameter will just accommodate a piece of 1x2.  Glued another piece of PVC inside the holders so that the 1x2 won't fall through if I pick it up to move it, but remains open so water/sand/dirt/small gravel can escape easily.  Easy to take down, transport and store - just leaves the 2x4 "H" and the separate uprights, which I buy in 6' bundles.   Very stable in wind or on uneven ground.  Wife loves them, as they are very easy for her to take and use when she goes target practice without me... :(

Squirrel!

  My concern exactly.  Is anyone aware of certain legal distinctions (or precedent) between "used" and "operated" that would support the adequacy of this change? 

Filed yesterday.  Entire contents below.  See it here: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/109/Bill/SB0149.pdf --------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1309, is amended by deleting from subdivision (b)(1) the following:                   or any other property owned, used or operated by any board of education, school, and substituting instead the following:                   or any other property owned or operated by any board of education, school,   SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1309, is amended by deleting from subdivision (c)(1)(A) the following:                    or any other property owned, used or operated by any board of education, school, and substituting instead the following:                   or any other property owned or operated by any board of education, school,   SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it. -----------------------------------------------------   By deletion of the single word "used", this appears to be an attempt address the potential "trap" currently found in the interaction between 1309 and the parks carry law, wherein a person lawfully possessing in a non-posted municipal park would find themselves suddenly in violation of 1309 (b)(1) if a school event began within the park (regardless of whether the person was aware of the event or not).  My major concern - does maintaining the word "operate" still leave that door open.  Thoughts?

Establishment Republicans...those of Alexandrian persuasion.

You can bet the folks at UT will not let this one go unscathed.  Watch for either an amendment to essentially render the bill toothless, or the ascension of a weaker bill that will garner enough support from the indebted Est Rs to bury this one.

IIRC, there was consideration in some quarters that the relationship between last year's change to 1313 and the existing language in 1309 might lead to ambiguity in some interpretations.  This is apparently a 'fix' to pre-empt any such ambiguity - if it ever indeed existed.  Like I said earlier, far more a red herring in my book than a really necessary substantive change...but why should we expect any different, considering the source? 

<<It already is legal to possess a firearm at a school under 39-17-1313 (safe commute law) if you have a handgun carry permit and the firearm is in your vehicle.  This bill doesn't do much but clarify that such activity is legal.>> <<What exactly is the point of this addition to -1309?>>   As the abstract to the bill states:  "As introduced, clarifies that it is not an offense for a person to transport and properly store a firearm in a motor vehicle parked on school property. - Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13 and Title 49."

So far, I'm actually finding this layout to be a bit more user-friendly than the old one.  We'll see if that continues to play out as the complexity grows during the session.   As far as SB 0070 - if all you desire is the ability to keep a firearm in the car while in a school parking lot, then it looks like this version might float your boat.  Seems a narrowly designed "fix"...a tactic that worked well for the Est (R)s last year for the parking lot bill: push through a very narrow fix early on so we can get 'em off our back by offering a pittance with regards to firearms legislation, then move on to "more important matters".  This time Kelsey gets to play Green's role from last year.   It does not address the fatal flaw in section b (1) - the flaw that converts an otherwise-legal firearms possession into a Class E felony when a high school cross-country team shows up on the other side of the park.  Instead, this new proposal re-enforces the language that creates the trap in section b (1):  "...property owned, used or operated by...". 

You can keep up with legislative attempts regarding firearms and ammunition here:  http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/subjectindex/BillsBySubject.aspx?Primarysubject=1785&GA=109   Happy browsing!

What I have copied above is the entire content of the bill.    I have no use for Kelsey after his first tenure on the Sen. Justice Cmte - thsu, my intro.  But the bill content speaks for itself - offered here for comment and analysis.

And so the new offerings begin:  first up, a little ditty by our good friend and Constitutional scholar Sen Kelsey.  As of Jan 19, it has no House sponsor.  Senate co-sponsor is Janice Bowling.   ----------------------------------------------------   SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1309(e),is amended by adding the following language as a new, appropriately designated subdivision: Any person who transports and stores a firearm or firearm ammunition in compliance with § 39-17-1313 while on or using a parking area located on property owned, used, or operated by a school;   SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.

He had an assortment, that's for sure.  The only manufacturer I didn't see was Winchester, but I might have just missed it.  Looked hard at the Webley's, though...my Mark IV needs a friend...

I picked up his other Type 14...June 1943.  Both are nice pieces. 

My Citori XT Trap really seems to like the Briley Invector Plus chokes better than the Browning Midas IP chokes.  I'm shooting LFull for singles and short yardage ( up to 21 yd line) caps, but IM for singles worked just as well.  Pattern board results at 30 yards still looked good.   That said, load may also play a role, including wad choice.  I'm loading 1 oz 7.5 over 18.3 grains Red Dot with a Downrange JXL-1 wad - which are rumored to result in a slightly more open pattern than their 4-petal wad counterparts.

Kettlefoot hosts a 300 bird ATA shoot every first and fourth Saturday in the spring, summer and fall, as well as a Big 50 shoot every Thursday afternoon.  During the winter, we're having a 300 bird shoot three Saturdays a month.  Club has led the state of Virginia for the last 3 years in the number of registered birds thrown.   As far as multi-day shoots: Hog Heaven (just off I-40E near Morristown) has three big shoots a year: April, September and October.  1300 - 1400 targets over about 5 days.  We also venture over to Bostic, NC a few times, as well as to Spartanburg SC for events - all within a three hours drive from the Tri-Cities.

I shoot at Kettlefoot, just outside of Bristol (its actually on the Virginia side of town).   Some folks don't like the Downrange JXL-1 wads in that they are an 8-petal design instead of the traditional 4-petal seen on most other wads, and they have a bot of trouble with petals getting jammed on the press.  I've used that same load data for other wads (Claybuster's WAA12SL clone - the CB1100-12 - and the Downrange XL-1) with good results, too.  While I've never had it on a chrono, 18.3 of Red Dot should push that load right around 1200 fps with a Win or NS primer...prolly looking in the neighborhood of 1150 or so with the 17.5 drop.  I've almost stopped fooling with the 17.5 drop - I cant tell any difference in recoil or results with it versus the standard 18.3, and I hate fooling with changing the bushings on my MEC 650.  (I get 18.3 from the #33 bushing, and 17.5 from my #32 - that's where the drop amounts come from).   If you need a source for once-fired hulls - take a look at papcharlieshulls on Google.  He usually has em for about .02 apiece, decent shipping.  You may have to blow a bit of grass off em first time thru, but they last a looong time.  I bought a bunch from him in 20011 and am still using just the first half of that batch.   One note: some folks have reported that after they use NS primers in a Rem or Win hull, a Win primer may not fit well again (too loose).  I can't refute or verify that - I've used NS primers exclusively, as I can't justify the extra dollars for Win primers when the NS primers function flawlessly for me (I've only had one dud in over 15K primers fired).  Sources at Alliant Powder have told me (and others) that the NS primers may be considered equivalent to the Win primers for load data purposes.

Our club gets supplies from Gamaliel's pretty routinely.  I've also ordered direct from them (all but powder) - no issues.  Powder is scarce as hen's teeth right now, but all other components seem to be readily available.   As far as loads: been using Gun Club hulls, Downrange JXL wads and Nobel Sport primers for a good while now with no issues.  GC hulls seem to last forever - I have at least 8 loads on most of mine, with many now on #10 or higher - no splits, etc.  Been dropping 1oz 7.5 into a JXL wad over 18.3 grains of Red Dot/Promo for singles/cap load (up to 21 yards), and backing up to about 17.5 powder and 1oz #8 for first shot doubles load, keeping all other components the same (just for simplicity sake).

Payment sent for 26 and 32, regular blades

Red Dot made a brief appearance at Wideners a week or so ago...manage to feed my trap habit with 2 kegs before it disappeared.  Gamaliel's still hasn't seen any, but says they are expecting it soon.  Been some lean times when you average putting 300 shotshells/week downrange.

Have run a lot of Ranger 147s thru a p938 without a hitch.  They have a thump, for sure...and that is a good thing.  I periodically a very good price for them over at sgammo.com - one of the better-priced PD rounds, actually.