The US Army is planning on a new rifle cartridge. And new rifles to shoot the new cartridge.

 The modern rifle appeared after the US Civil War, say 1870 or so.  These were Winchester and Marlin lever actions, early bolt actions, and other competitors.  They were mostly chambered for a .30 caliber center fire cartridge with enough power to take American game, such as elk, deer, buffalo, bear, and wild hog.  This rifle cartridge served well from the Spanish American war up thru WWII. Korea and Viet Nam. 

   During WWII the troops fell in love with full automatic weapons, the Thompson submachine gun and the M3 “grease gun”.  From the soldier’s point of view, the ability to point the weapon and hose down an entire enemy unit with one quick “BRAP” could be life, should they encounter a strong enemy unit in combat.  The American WWII sub machine guns fired pistol ammunition, the .45 caliber round used in the Army .45 automatic pistol.  The pistol run lacked the power of rifle rounds, but the recoil was light enough to permit full automatic fire from a 7-9 pound shoulder weapon.  The regular rifle rounds kicked so hard that they just drove the rifle up until it pointed at the sky. 

   After WWII the Army adopted the full automatic M16 rifle.  To get the recoil down enough to make the gun usable in automatic fire, the power of the M16 round (5.56 mm) was reduced quite a bit.  The real riflemen in the army still liked the WWII 30 caliber round, it reached out further, it could penetrate more body armor and it made a sniper more effective than the 5.56mm round from the M16.

   So after decades of grousing about the lack of power in the standard 5.56 mm round, the Army has announced it wants a 6.8 mm round (.270 a civilian gun shop would call it) The army claims that the small increase in bullet diameter will give a round with ballistics nearly as good as the antique .30 caliber rounds and light enough recoil to allow fully automatic fire from a 7-9 pound rifle.  

   Needless to say, adoption of the new recoil will require the army to replace all the M16 rifles with whatever will fire the 6.8mm round. And all the machine guns too.  This could become very expensive.    

What parents need to do about fentanyl. Before it kills their children.

 Six out of ten sample pills bought from street drug dealers contain enough fentanyl to kill.  Your children need to know this.  The MSM doesn’t talk about it, so unless you, the parent, pass the word to your children, they won’t know. Taking just one pill bought from a street drug dealer has a 60% chance to killing the child, right then and there. 

   The few times the MSM mention this tragedy they call it “a drug overdose”, implying that the victim took too much of the drug.  Better is to call it deliberate poisoning, because the drug dealer sold the child a pill with a lethal dose of fentanyl in it and when the child swallowed that one pill, it killed him. 

    If the children just have to get high, they should stick to alcohol or weed.  Neither of them is good for the kids, but they won’t kill them as quickly as fentanyl laced pills from the street will.  And, if the children just have to get high, they ought to do it in their rooms (dorm rooms) and not be out driving.  Just one can of beer can discombobulate a beginning driver and cause a fatal car accident. 

Biden’s State of the Union fails to impress.

 I stayed up and watched it to the end.  Biden ran on for an hour and twenty.  Biden failed to explain what he would do in a second term to pull the country out of it’s tailspin into the ground.  Biden did make a lot of claims that sounded false to me.  And he complained about stuff well within his powers to fix, without saying he would bother to fix them.  He complained about corporations who make serious money but paid no federal income tax.  That’s caused by a tax code loaded with loopholes, and an IRS that doesn’t audit the big boy’s tax returns.  Biden could fix both of these problems with executive orders or acts of Congress.  Biden said nothing about keeping Chinese recon balloons out of US airspace, or having a US Navy strong enough to keep the Chinese communists out of Taiwan. Biden apparently plans to continue current lefty greenie policies that give us $5 a gallon gasoline, $10 a dozen eggs and $10 a pound bacon. 

Balloons.

The Chinese have flown a sizable balloon over the continental US.  The Chinese admit to ownership.  They launched it from Chinese territory and it crossed the Pacific, entered Canada, and last was heard from drifting across Montana.  The TV newsies have been going ape over it. 

 

The military has discouraged attempts to shoot it down, claiming that falling balloon pieces might hit innocent bystanders on the ground.  I have a little trouble believing that. Montana has a lot of prairie that doesn’t care what falls on it.  It isn’t the way things are in the middle of say New York City.

 

So far, the balloon looks like a civilian weather balloon.  Shooting it down, although attractive, is close to shooting down a civilian airliner that got lost and violated Soviet airspace, which happened maybe 10 years ago.  The Russians took a lot of flak over that.

 

Government briefers have implied that the balloon is maneuverable, implying it has an engine.  I don’t really believe that.  I suspect it is just a free balloon that goes where the winds blow it.  Prevailing winds over the US blow from West to East.  Give the balloon a few days and it will blow out into the Atlantic. 

 

If we really want to show the Chinese that we disapprove of balloons over the US, we can launch a few of our own balloons to drift over China. 

 

 

 

Global Warming

 It is 8 degrees this morning up in Franconia Notch.  I am listening to Biden saying that climate change is the most serious threat faced by mankind.  That sounds foolish to me on a morning this cold. 

How much does Patriot really cost???

Does the Patriot anti aircraft missile system really cost $1 billion per system?  A Patriot system consists of a tracked vehicle to carry the missiles and the radar, 6 or maybe 8 missiles and good radar.  They sell tanks for like $50 million and a tank carries an expensive high power gun that Patriot doesn’t need.  The missiles ought to go for $10 million or so.  The radar would be a phased array type, which is pricey, may $20 million. 

   Add it all up and we have a price tag of $150 million.   That’s not cheap, but is a whole bunch less than $1 billion which is the cost of a Patriot system according to the TV. 

   It would be nice if some newsies checked out the costs on Patriot.  If newsies can count that high. 

 

Baldwin either did not know or did not comply.

 When you pick up a gun, any gun, even your own gun, you check it for being loaded.  Pop out the magazine, swing out the cylinder, look in the chamber to be sure no live rounds are lurking therein.  Basic rule of gun safety.  I learned it at summer camp when I was twelve. 

   Looks like Alex Baldwin did not comply.  The TV doesn't talk about that much.