Musings, video's and ammo news.

I will be bouncing around like a frog on a hot rock..(Ain't southern-ism's great!)  Or a better explanation is this....

 

I will be bouncing on several topics today....the first one is the ammo one...Apparently the ATF backed off from the bidding of his master Barack Obama and decided not to pursue the ban on the popular green tip 62 grain 5.56 caliber ammo for the very popular AR-15 platform.

       I have been expecting the ATF to enforce the edict from the petulant boy king that wanted to stick it to the "bitter clingers who cling to their bibles and guns".   I always have ammo for the EBR plus some ammo for my other rifles and pistols.  Since Sandy hook I have been buying a box here and a box there.  My rifle will fire either .223 or 5.56.  I have been buying the cheap 55 grain 193 ball ammo.  I have also upgraded the rifle and bought some new magazines to move the old GI magazines to the reserve stack. 

    The 55 grain stuff has been killing people since 1965. I have been stocking up, when I go shooting, I use the .22 adapter for the AR-15.   

      The following info is compliments of "Wiki"

The .223 Remington is one of the most common rifle cartridges in use in the United States, being widely used in two types of rifles: (1) varmint rifles, most of which are bolt action and commonly have 1-in-12 rifling twist suitable for bullets between 38 to 55 grains (2.5 to 3.6 g), and (2) semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 and the Ruger Mini-14, which are commonly found to have twist rates of 1-in-7, 1-in-9, or 1-in-8. (Most modern AR-15s use 1-in-9 which is suitable for bullets up to 69 grains or 4.5 grams or 1-in-7 which is suitable for slightly heavier bullets, but older M16's used 1-in-12 twist rates, making them suitable for use with bullets of 55 grains or 3.6 grams.) The semi-automatic rifle category is often used by law enforcement, for home defense, and for varmint hunting. Among the many popular modern centerfire rifle cartridges, .223 Remington ammunition is among the least expensive and is often used by a wide range of target shooters, particularly in the "service rifle" category or 3 gun matches. The .223 is also used in survival rifles.

.223 Remington versus 5.56×45mm NATO

Size comparison between .222 (left) and .223 (right)

The .223 Remington and 5.56×45mm NATO cartridges and chamberings are similar but not identical. While the cartridges are identical other than powder load, the chamber leade, i.e. the area where the rifling begins, is cut to a sharper angle on some .223 Remington commercial chambers. Because of this, a cartridge loaded to generate 5.56×45mm NATO pressures in a 5.56×45mm NATO chamber may develop pressures that exceed SAAMI limits when fired from a short-leade .223 Remington chamber.

Brass Case

The dimensional specifications of 5.56 NATO and .223 Remington commercial brass cases are identical. The cases tend to have similar case capacity when measured, with variations chiefly due to brand, not 5.56 vs .223 designation. The result of this is that there is no such thing as "5.56 brass" or ".223 brass", the differences in the cartridges lie in pressure ratings and in chamber lead length, not in the shape or thickness of the brass.

Pressure

Size comparison between .222 Magnum (left) and .223 (right)

C.I.P. defines the maximum service and proof test pressures of the .223 Remington cartridge equal to the 5.56×45mm NATO, at 430 MPa (62,366 psi). This differs from the SAAMI maximum pressure specification for .223 Remington of 380 MPa (55,114 psi), due to CIP test protocols measuring pressure using a drilled case, rather than an intact case with a conformal piston, along with other differences. NATO uses NATO EPVAT pressure test protocols for their small arms ammunition specifications.
Because of these differences in methodology, the C.I.P. pressure of 430 MPa (62,366 psi) is the same as a SAAMI pressure of 380 MPa (55,114 psi), which is reflected in US Military specifications for 5.56×45mm NATO, which call for a mean maximum pressure of 55,000 PSI (when measured using a protocol similar to SAAMI).
These pressures are generated and measured using a chamber cut to 5.56×45mm NATO specifications, including the longer leade. Firing 5.56×45mm NATO from a chamber with a shorter .223 Remington leade can generate pressures in excess of SAAMI maximums.

Chamber

The 5.56×45mm NATO chambering, known as a NATO or mil-spec chamber, has a longer leade, which is the distance between the mouth of the cartridge and the point at which the rifling engages the bullet. The .223 Remington chambering, known as SAAMI chamber, is allowed to have a shorter leade, and is only required to be proof tested to the lower SAAMI chamber pressure. To address these issues, various proprietary chambers exist, such as the Wylde chamber (Rock River Arms) or the ArmaLite chamber, which are designed to handle both 5.56×45mm NATO and .223 Remington equally well. The dimensions and leade of the .223 Remington minimum C.I.P. chamber also differ from the 5.56×45mm NATO chamber specification.
Using commercial .223 Remington cartridges in a 5.56×45mm NATO chambered rifle should work reliably, but until recently, it was believed this was less accurate than when fired from a .223 Remington chambered gun due to the longer leade. Although that may have been true in the early 1960s when the two rounds were developed, recent testing has shown that with today's ammunition, rifles chambered in 5.56 can also fire .223 ammunition every bit as accurately as rifles chambered in .223 Remington, and the 5.56 chamber has the additional advantage of being able to safely fire both calibers. Using 5.56×45mm NATO mil-spec cartridges (such as the M855) in a .223 Remington chambered rifle can lead to excessive wear and stress on the rifle and even be unsafe, and SAAMI recommends against the practice. Some commercial rifles marked as ".223 Remington" are in fact suited for 5.56×45mm NATO, such as many commercial AR-15 variants and the Ruger Mini-14 (marked ".223 cal"), but the manufacturer should always be consulted to verify that this is acceptable before attempting it, and signs of excessive pressure (such as flattening or gas staining of the primers) should be looked for in the initial testing with 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition.
It should also be noted that the upper receiver (to which the barrel with its chamber are attached) and the lower receiver are entirely separate parts in AR-15 style rifles. If the lower receiver has either .223 or 5.56 stamped on it, it does not guarantee the upper assembly is rated for the same caliber, because the upper and the lower receiver in the same rifle can, and frequently do, come from different manufacturers – particularly with rifles sold to civilians or second-hand rifles.
In more practical terms, as of 2010 most AR-15 parts suppliers engineer their complete upper assemblies (not to be confused with stripped uppers where the barrel is not included) to support both chamberings in order to satisfy market demand and prevent any potential problems.

Effects of barrel length on velocity

Barrel length helps determine a specific cartridges muzzle velocity. A longer barrel will typically yield a greater muzzle velocity, while a short barrel will yield a lower one. In the case of the 5.56 NATO, M193 ammunition loses or gains approximately 25.7 feet-per-second for each inch of barrel length, while M855 loses or gains 30.3 feet-per-second per inch of barrel length.

     Now some humor for us AR and AK fans.

 

  Apparently on a different note, Hillary gave a press conference to defend her use of her private server instead of using the .gov server.  Man the rules are different for the ruling class than for us plebes.  If we did what she did, we would be serving time in a federal supermax.  But with her, the rules are different.  I guess it is good to be the queen...

 

 On a different note, one of the guys at work was playing this video on "youtube" and it is NSFW unless you have headphones...the language is crude but this is an awesome video for those people that fly all the time there is humor and people will recognize it.

 

   the video is 4 minutes and 20 seconds long.

    It is based on indian flights..but from what I have seen, this is pretty accurate on all flights.

   Finally for those people that have been living under a rock...it is Girl Scout cookie season.  I bought another box of "Thin Mints" to feed the addiction...and then I discovered this..

 

That does explain much.....

TSA......again...in the news....for misconduct.....again.....

I ripped this off from ABC news via Yahoo.  As an airline employee I get a benefit of "free flying"  provided that there are empty seats where you have to go.  if the plane is full....guess what...you wait for the next plane and hope you get lucky.  I have flown a lot with Delta Airlines and our "flying benefits" are very generous compared to most airlines.  My family flys free, my Mom and Dad and my stepparents also fly for free.  Like I said, very generous allowances.  And when I fly, the gate agents and the air crews have been very good.   We at Delta know what days NOT to fly....around holidays...Monday, Friday and Sunday are difficult to fly for us.  Paying passengers get on first, and they are usually flying to and fro on those days so catching a flight is difficult.  People have said that the sky's are not so friendly as they used to be.  And from what I have seen, I tend to agree.  I believe that TSA has a lot to do with that.  After getting manhandled by the TSA trying to board, peoples temper gets short.  I have meet some very friendly and professional TSA people, they are a credit to their organization and a pleasure to deal with .  That being said, I have met some real pricks, those that what I call      " Badge Heavy".  They view their job and what authority they have as an excuse to hassle people...just for sport.  And most people will not complain...if they do, they get singled out  " for additional screening" and they miss their flight and the airlines will not refund their tickets because they were held up at security.  It is a no win for them...so they bide their time and grit their teeth, then when they get on the airplane, they are already pissed and lash out at either another passenger or at the aircrew.   I have been hassled by TSA and I dare not make a scene, for all they have to do is notify my employer and I am gone, history, outta here.  So I grit my teeth and deal with it.  My son has flown with me many times on the day trips that I take him on and so far he hasn't been hassled, that would be my Rubicon.   But I am not surprised that TSA has been busted again for misconduct.  When you work for the Feds, you have job security and it is difficult to fire a dirt-bag.  The civil service procedures are lengthy for a reason, to prevent employees from being disciplined for whistle-blowing or for not assisting in political patronage of certain groups...The IRS seems to be exempt from this belief however.  For this reason it is difficult to get rid of the dirt-bags.  In the meantime, they abuse the flying public.

• Play Video
  TSA Workers Allegedly Stealing From Passengers and Sleeping on Duty2:34
• View PhotoMore outrage over the agency that …

Transportation Security Administration officers were cited for more than 9,600 cases of misconduct from 2010 to 2012, according to a new government report that shows agency employees often received light punishments for sneaking prohibited items past scanners or napping on the job.

The report, released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, found nearly 2,000 cases of screeners who were sleeping, not following procedures or allowing relatives to bypass security checkpoints. More than 3,000 screeners showed up late, not at all or left the job without permission, GAO reported.
In one instance of misconduct, a security officer left a checkpoint to help a relative check in and then came back with the family member's bag and allowed it to go around security. A TSA supervisor saw the misconduct and insisted the bag be screened, according to the report.
The bag contained "prohibited items" after it was finally screened. The report did not elaborate on the nature of the items in the bag. The screener was eventually suspended for seven days.
TSA Workers Allegedly Stealing From Passengers and Sleeping on Duty
The report also cited 56 cases of theft during the three-year span. In an undercover investigation by ABC News in 2012, 10 iPads were left at airport security checkpoints throughout the nation with a history of theft. Nine out of ten were returned, but one TSA officer, who was later fired, denied he stole an iPad when ABC News tracked the device to his home in Orlando.
But the report suggests the TSA is doing a poor job tracking the offenses and is not always handing out the punishment it should. The GAO's evaluation of TSA's 2012 data shows that 50 percent of the workers accused of sleeping on the job received less than the lowest penalty called for by TSA policies.
Forty-seven percent of the cases that GAO analyzed resulted in letters of reprimand, 31 percent resulted in suspensions of a definite duration and 17 percent resulted in the employee's removal from TSA.
"I get worried about this because in the history of air terrorism, employee security has been the one gap that has been the hardest gap to cover," aviation security expert Jeff Price.
The Top 20 Airports for TSA Theft
Following the report, the TSA released a statement saying, it holds their workers to "the highest ethical standards" and has "zero tolerance for misconduct."
"TSA concurs with GAO's four recommendations to ensure that the agency establishes a process to verify that TSA staff at airports are in compliance, and is already working to implement these recommendations," the agency added.
There are more than 56,000 screeners at the nation's airports, most doing their jobs, but the GAO's report points out the persistent and ongoing problem with those who are failing to comply with federal regulations.
Two subcommittees of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing later today to examine how the TSA responds to reports of misbehavior and unethical conduct by its employees.
TSA Deputy Administrator John W. Halinski will represent the agency on Capitol Hill.