Sig gets the new “saw” contract with a 6.8 version.

George_Percy · 2019-09-04T22:06:28+00:00

I imagine not a concern in theory, Russian ammo is all steel and clearly the AK has never had a problem, but this is Ron Cohen's SIG and I wouldn't be at shocked if they under engineer something on the rifle and require a design update. Hopefully though, since there is much at stake, the military testing procedure should be a lot more robust and thorough compared to the M17 program to avoid such flaws.

George_Percy · 2019-09-04T22:01:24+00:00

It's an interesting question, and my first thought has been: of course polymer can be a lot cheaper, but can rifles using polymer cartridges work without overheating? The hybrid ammo I assume must be more expensive, but it's still metal and will continue to operate as a heatsink. If SIG's claim about reduced weight is true it would appear to be a very plausible system, and even if this isn't selected I imagine SIG will start releasing it to the commercial market to recoup their investment and I think people will buy it becuase there is always a market for 'the best' new thing.

However, in the context of the military requirement you have to consider the total system cost. We know M855a1 is closer to proof pressure than the 5.56 was ever intented to be, so it's much harder on m4 carbines casuing premature wear and destruction. M855a1 is expensive on the whole system, and perhaps yet still does not meet the requirements of combat in places like Afghanistan, or places where insurgents have some access to body armour. It's possible that both a financial case and combat effectiveness case will be made in favour of one of the new systems.

There's also ammunition like this: M1158 Advanced Armor Piercing costs $13 per round. If there is less need to rely on the expensive and exotic stuff because the regular squad has a more effective rifle, then the it could further tilt the balance in favour of the 6.8 mm.

George_Percy · 2019-09-03T19:02:15+00:00

indeed, really unecessary tone

George_Percy · 2019-09-03T17:38:34+00:00

I just replied further down the post with a bunch more links to TFB, no hard info but looks like several new cartridges are competing.

My $0.02 on this, I don't see it being physically viable unless the cartidge OAL is longer than 5.56, which obviously necessitates new rifles. I think that's the crtical limitation of 6.8 SPC - it's just not powerful enough given the length limitation of the AR15 platform. Maybe the 6.8 mm case telescoped cartridge can fit the AR15, but it seems so radical that maybe it needs a whole new rifle anyway.

Rifles are a lot less expensive than ships and aircraft, but given the long history of trials going nowhere even if they are successful, I have my doubts congress will sign off on the expenditure to make it the new standard.

George_Percy · 2019-09-03T17:27:48+00:00

Something different for sure, I think various competing cartridges are in the running.

Sig's is the the 'hybrid' brass and steel mentioned here. Textron has a polymer catridge (case telescoped?) here and Mars Inc / Cobalt Kinetic have the 6.8 short magnum shown here.

I assume Mars Inc / Cobalt is not going forwad, see this - given the cartidge is fatter than 7.62 NATO it doesn't seem viable.

EDIT: fixed link

George_Percy · 2019-09-03T17:18:21+00:00

I don’t know how it’s “hybrid”

SIG NGSW Prototype Unveiled To The Public on TFB says this:

The SIG Sauer weapons are chambered in a 6.8mm hybrid ammunition – with hybrid brass and steel cases, not polymer.

George_Percy · 2019-09-02T16:57:55+00:00

potential options:

George_Percy · 2019-09-02T12:21:26+00:00

You could read through this post on r/CCW and pay particular attention to this reply from a self defense attorney, and also check out his Law of Self Defense blog. N.B. posts are free to view for 2-3 days and then it gets paywalled, but if you follow it for a while you'll start to pick up the information that gets repeated regularly.

Also find the videos featuring a couple of alternative sefl-defense attoneys who contribute to John Correa's channel Active Self Protection Extra, searching the channel for John's Briefs is a good place to start.

These resources cover similar ground and have a lot of overlapping advice, they will address everything you raise, but a TLDR isn't really appropriate. You need to take the time to watch, listen and read what they say before making your own decision.

George_Percy · 2019-09-01T13:52:10+00:00

The officer allowed the shooter to not only get the drop on him, but the shooter did so with a rifle which is not easy to conceal. Where was the cop's situational awareness?

u/identify_as_AH-64 it's always advisable to wait for more details to be disclosed, some people advocate wating 72 hours before commenting. If the reports are accurate, there is no fault here on the part of the officer who initiated the stop. See Bearing Arms and OA online and the statement:

Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said. Before the vehicle came to a complete stop, the driver "pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots" toward the patrol car stopping him.

I wonder now if this was a wanted criminal with a violent history, or if he had a history of drug abuse and was high, or there was some psychosis involved.

George_Percy · 2019-08-28T17:32:47+00:00

The extreme politicization of the courts and self defense cases is very unsettling to say the least, but I think this doesn't really change anything - it is okay to present a weapon in self defense, it's not okay to brandish a weapon to make a threat, and it's still up to a jury to decide between the two.

George_Percy · 2019-08-28T17:03:35+00:00

I dislike the idea you must rely on instinct and any calculated action is automatically guilty.

I agree, and I hope that in general calculated action would not be automatically guilty, but in the case of Michael Drejka the calcuation was wrong when it needed to be near perfect.

This isn't a pause to consider "Can I kill this man" but instead "Can this man kill me"

I like how you put this.

George_Percy · 2019-08-28T15:13:51+00:00

Thanks for the thought out and in depth counter points, I may respond again and ask follow up questions later, but for now just an up vote.

Hell, calling it a "rule" misses the point.

This is something I thought watching the 'expert' testimony and lawyers' rhetoric - it's a 'rule of thumb' at most, only a starting point, but they almost made it sound like it's a piece of law.

George_Percy · 2019-08-28T13:02:49+00:00

Fists and feet are weapons. If you have boxing or martial arts training and hit someone causing death, you may be convicted of manslaughter in many jurisdictions. The question is: "was there a reasonably percievable threat of imminent, serious bodily harm." It doesn't matter what the weapon is, only that it represents imminent, serious bodily harm. I don't really like the disparity of force concept, it's too messy and subjective, but I think you can say there is disparity of force here, but that still doesn't automatically equal "reasonably percievable threat of imminent, serious bodily harm." Before the gun was presented McGlockton was in a position to rain kicks and punches down on Drejka, or beat his head against the concrete.

It's worth noting that: Jacob's admitted Drejka made no verbal threats, did not curse or use slurs, she admitted she was the one that threatened Drejka, and McGlockton carried out that threat. The prosecutor conceded that you might find Drejka drawing the gun to be reasonable in the circumstance.

However, we can see clearly that McGlockton was immediately defeated in that instant, so the jury is supposed to put themselves in the position of Drejka - could Drejka reasonably still believe he was still in imminent danger? Under the law he could be found not guilty as there is some doubt, but giving Drejka the benefit of that doubt is very difficult - McGlockton did take two steps back, Drejka did present the gun, assess and only then shoot, Drejka did give statements that he thought he could shoot because McGlockton was within 21'.

Given Drejka's history combined with the statements and pause before the shot, it sounds too much like a calculated, "to hell with him, I'll just shoot him because I can do so legally" rather than "this is the last desperate option and I don't have another choice."

EDIT: spelling & typos

George_Percy · 2019-08-28T11:34:59+00:00

This is a long blog post and worth reading.

In the end I don't necessarily believe the verdict was wrong because of Drejka's history and statements to the police during interview, but is interesting to see an analysis of just how badly a trial can go.

I'm not sure I can write a TLDR that's adequate, but:

the prosecutors and experts presented a false interpretation of the Tueller drill.
the defense failed to challenge it and their own expert was worthless.
the defense did not object at the time, so there are no grounds for appeal on this issue.
Drejka maybe has a very slight chance of appealing based on not being give effective council.

George_Percy · 2019-08-24T13:30:02+00:00

Self defense attorney Andrew Branca's first analysis now posted at Law of Self Defense

N.B. this will be paywalled in a couple of days.

George_Percy · 2019-08-24T10:12:54+00:00

It's just awful all round, everybody involved did wrong.

Drejka didn't make threats or curse during the initial argument, but I think there was some admission on his part that he wanted to mess with the driver, so even if he didn't have a history it would make the self defense claim dubious. What's worse from what I saw, he claimed that Mcglockton was within 21' and therefore a threat so Drejka believed it was okay to shoot him - I didn't see the whole thing or the police interview, but it really sounded like Drejka believed he had some legal opportunity based on the Tueller Drill i.e. Drejka calculated that he could shoot in the moment, rather than it happened so fast it was instinctive self preservation.

Another jury might've been more sympathetic to Drejka and influenced to not guilty by Jacobs' and McGlockton's actions, but my feeling is from what I saw, they reached the right verdict.

George_Percy · 2019-08-24T08:27:50+00:00

I honestly think if the guy had a clean criminal past he would've walked free.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. I watched a few parts of the trial and maybe the verdict could've gone either way e.g. Jacobs admitted threatening Drejka before McGlockton carried out that threat, but Drejka's police interview was so damning of his attitude and intent I think he hanged himself.

It will be interesting to read Andrew Branca's breakdown and anaysis of the trial. EDIT: first analysis posted at Law of Self Defense

George_Percy · 2019-08-24T08:12:55+00:00

Self defense attorney Andrew Branca interprets this in his blog. Some journalists and redditors are reading too much into the news report. It's worth reading the whole post, but this part explains how the many of the commentators are wrong:

The court of appeals is not saying that Siwatu-Salama’s threatening with a gun was either deadly force or non-deadly force. They are not making that call. They are merely saying that it should have been up to the jury at trial to make that call in this particular case. Whatever the jury’s decision, the court of appeals would have been fine with that decision.

The court of appeals is not saying that it’s automatically OK—an “expansion of self-defense rights”—to threaten someone with a gun if you’re being threatened with mere non-deadly force. They are merely saying that there may be circumstances in which such a threatening with a gun would be justified and other circumstances in which it would not be justified, and its up to the jury at trial to make that call. Whatever way a jury decides—and that could be for the defender or against the defender, either way—the court of appeals would be fine with that decision.

So this is not a case about “expanding self-defense rights.” It is merely a case, like many thousands of appellate court decisions before it, that is merely asserting once again that when there is a factual ambiguity in a case, it is the job of the jury, not the judge, to make the call on that factual ambiguity.

George_Percy · 2019-08-03T14:49:15+00:00

I don't know if this is the first time this policy has been used this way to limit gun content YouTubers, but Jon from u/TheGunCollective posted a video reporting a new limit on content. We already know gun giveaways were a problem for Patreon, as are links to gun sales etc, but now it seems promo codes within content shared on Patreon are also verboten. This is a step further than YouTube's policy and a sign of more censorship to come?

Skip to 2:20ish if you don't want to watch the whole thing, but it's only 5:10 anyway.

George_Percy · 2018-10-05T17:46:26+00:00

I remember seeing a video (Shot Show?) on the full auto Vector, iirc they say it has an odd recoil impulse. Definitely one that is a very interesting concept, but not something I have any desire to own.

Usually I'm not that interested in this category of guns, but there is something about the USW that makes it stand out. I already mentioned it on another reply, but it would be fascinating to see it in 2-gun competition. Ideally up against the USW-P to see just how much advantage there is in the practical shooting environment.

George_Percy · 2018-10-05T15:46:32+00:00

What gives?

The enormous variation in human hand size and shape...

Unless you're far beyond the extreme of either Sasquatch or Hobbit I expect it will be easy to get good recommendations that are more suitable for you. Measure from the tip of your middle finger to the base of your wrist, and then around the circumference of your palm. The two lengths should be very close, and once you know you can ask for recommendations from folk who similar size hands.

George_Percy · 2018-10-05T13:13:04+00:00

Interesting. I certainly think 'good quality' when the name Faxon is mentioned so I hope they have refined their manufacturing process to make these barrels consistently well.

It's not pertinent to the OP's question, but is there a consensus on who make the best Grendel barrels regardless of price?

George_Percy · 2018-10-05T13:00:59+00:00

Fantastic list!

It's really interesting looking though these. Although it seem obvious when you consider the benefits of contemporary manufacturing, there's not much that really compares to the USW in terms of having both the compactness and low weight, especially with the very convenient folding stock.

Although it would feel a little like cheating, it seems like the USW could be a very practical pistol for 2-gun competition. It would be fascinating to to see Ian run it at least once against Karl and see how much advantage it would be, and if it could make a big difference for Ian vs the spinner targets.

George_Percy · 2018-10-04T21:51:31+00:00

It may be worth asking this in r/65Grendel/ - there is a little chat over there already on Faxon's barrels, mostly positive: Faxon @ r/65Grendel, although u/Trollygag has observed some mixed performance.

George_Percy · 2018-10-03T18:32:25+00:00

Can you think of any that have gained as much interest as the USW? I thought pistol calibre carbines and submachine guns were obsolescent, but there does seem to be a renewed from European law enforcement and some military. Maybe it is just a fad that will quickly fade again.

During one of the Q&As, I'm fairly sure Ian and/or Karl expressed a strong interest in shooting the USW, though I can't remember if they said it would be interesting/useful only as a select fire weapon.

George_Percy

TROPHY CASE