Friday, April 25, 2014

The 2nd Amendment and the Efficiency of Militia Act of 1903


This blog is a bit of a look at facets of the gun law situation in the US, if you're an out of country viewer (I'm talking to you, guy/gal who is giving us views in Germany!), I hope you find it interesting anyhow.

The language of the Second Amendment of course states that (my paraphrase)...

Thursday, April 17, 2014

7.62x39 AK-47 FMJ Photos

Front to back look at each gel block laid out after the cut.





The front of the second block. Can really see the bullet...

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Steel Cased 7.62x39 FMJ Gel Test



As a bit of a followup to the PDX1 in 7.62x39 test, I decided to bring just the random, cheap, steel cased FMJ that's probably loaded into the vast majority of AK and SKS magazines out there...

Monday, April 14, 2014

.32 Winchester Special Remington Core-Lokt 170gr Photos

Picture taken for the Youtube thumbnail and as a personal picture for myself. Shows the the Winchester Model 1894, the Bowie knife from my grandfather, and left to right, an unfired .32, the casing, and the expanded bullet.


More photos after the jump...

Winchester Model 94 .32 Special Gel Test


The next video in our testing series is a bit of a throwback. We brought out a Winchester Model 94 that was made in the 1940s, according to my serial number research. This gun was given to my father by my grandfather about 15 years ago when I was a young teen, and he held it until he recently gave it to me. I may try my hand at deer hunting with this rifle in the near future, so between that and just the cool factor of firing a 103 year old cartridge out of a rifle designed 110 years ago...

Friday, April 11, 2014

When life gives you lemons...

The tracking info on most (already have 100gr Pow'R Ball & 147gr HSTs on hand) of the 9mm ammo that we intended to test this weekend, puts the estimate on its arrival 2 days after our available filming day. So the downside is that we won't be able to release the previously teased comparison of 9mm loads until the weekend after Easter most likely. On the bright side, it that does allow for 2 positives.

First, you'll get to see 2 separate tests in the place of the Nine roundup! We'll go ahead and launch a 123gr FMJ out of the SAM7SF into a block of gel, just to see how it compares to the PDX1. It seems that the 7.62x39 has a reputation as an excellence threat stopper regardless of the bullet being fired, so we'll put that to the test.

A real treat though, will be the revealing of the venerable Winchester 1894 lever gun in .32 Winchester Special from the depths of the EDG safe. A rare cartridge derived from the classic .30-30 Winchester, I'm very interested personally to see what a big slow Soft Point slug does in the gel. The gun itself, according to a serial number lookup, is from the '40s, and was passed to me through my father from my grandfather.



The second primary benefit, in my judgement, is that we will be getting a fresh batch of 10% gelatin mixed up for the 9mm test. While it is generally accepted that melting down the gel and re-molding is a fine practice, I can only see it as a negative, however so slight, over time through either water evaporation or contamination by bullet fragmenting and whatnot. While due to financial reasons, we likely won't be going to the Clear Ballistics gel quite yet, it will give us the chance to get a fresh mix and test the personal defense ammunition in as close to the "official" 10% gelatin as we can afford, can get our hands on, and have expertise for in the Everyday Gunner workshop.

So, stay tuned to The Channel for the videos we'll be working on this weekend and those a little farther down the road.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

The price of testing.

I'm pretty excited about our next test and wanted to give a sneak peak, while at the same time taking a chance to whine a bit. (An action for which my >2 year old son gets in trouble regularly.)



Well again, like the gel, I find myself spending a bit more than I expect on the EDG project. Our next test will show the Beretta 92FS come out of the Everyday Gunner safe to fire a battery of top end 9mm defensive loads. While I'm sure a guy like Hickok45 spends more than that in a single filming day just for plinking ammo (have you seen all the casings carpeting the ground in his videos?!), it still hurts the everyday guy who has a couple guns and a few terrible cameras to do some filming with. But what can I say, it's too much fun to NOT to keep on going!

So do me a favor, head over to Youtube.com/EverydayGunner, subscribe, and keep your eyes open for the 9x19 comparison and a couple other videos that will be coming out soon.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

.45 HST vs Critical Duty Photos

Just a neat picture I took for myself. Look how similar the expanded HST is to the picture on the box. Remarkably consistent.


More after the jump...

45 ACP Federal HST vs Hornady Critical Duty



Second in our testing series is a comparison between 2 of the top tier 45 AUTO defensive loads on the market. Most of the EDG contributor crew use .45 ACP pistols as their regular carry. So looking at the .45 was a logical step. My personal internet research on terminal ballistics had led me to choose the Federal HST 230gr...

Friday, April 4, 2014

PDX1 7.62x39 Gel Test Photos

Good picture of the damage on the back of the 1st cutaway block of gel.

More after the jump...

Winchester PDX1 7.62x39 Gel Test


Ladies and Gentlemen... I'd like to introduce you to the Everyday Gunner Youtube channel!

This test was the inspiration for the whole thing. The videos, the site, EDG in general. I was looking for a home defense 7.62x39, and since I personally can't bring myself to treat anything designed to "kill zombies" as a serious contender, I was left with (basically) the PDX1 for my Arsenal SAM7SF as an expanding load designed from the ground up to stop threats in the home...

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The long and winding road to 10% Ballistic Gelatin...

Making ballistic gel in your own home is... relatively easy. If you are super patient and don't set unrealistic expectations of either time or cost.

First of all, creating two 6x6x16ish blocks requires some 7 gallons of gelatin mix. That means you're looking at ~$130 in gelatin powder alone. 


Having made the gelatin mix once and melted it back down 2 times (now that we've finished filming our first 2 tests [videos coming by the end of the week!]), I would be fairly confident in my ability...