by Jack
In this day of the gun-grabbers in Washington and in our home state of California, I want to remind people that the gun not only won the West, but it was our American sharpshooters that often turned the tide of battle in war.
Back in WWI the great distances our soldiers were picking off the Germans made them think we must be able to sneak up on them with special camouflage or we had some break through technology with our weapons. We were using a 30.06 Springfield rifle in WWI and it was good, but it was more the man behind that rifle that made history. The Germans had never seen such accuracy and such long distances. But, that was nothing compared to what an American soldier named Alvin York did. He showed them exactly what an old country boy could do with a rifle.
On one side there was York and the other side, the German soldiers with 32 machine guns along with rifles and pistols.
When the Germans attacked they cut down almost all of York’s unit including the commanding officer, which put him in charge. The remaining soldiers were busy guarding the prisoners they had taken behind enemy lines. This left York to deal with the Germans. When the fight started York had no time to run for cover, so he just started picking off the German soldiers as they popped up to take a shot at him. Each time they showed themselves, York would take them out. One shot one kill.
Imagine there’s York and he’s running out of bullets. He’s exposed with about 100 German solders above him firing down at him and now a group of Germans breaks free and runs at him with their bayonets from a range of about 25 yards. So does he run for cover? Nope, instead he pulls out his pistol, calmly puts on his sunglasses and kills all of the German soldiers descending on him. Not only this, but he systematically picks off the Germans in the back first, so those in the front will keep running towards him thinking they have support.
I might add, while York is down there picking off Germans he’s repeatedly calling out to the Germans to surrender; he didn’t want to kill any more than he had to…and eventually the German Commander, sick of seeing his men killed, ordered them to surrender. York captured 132 Germans that day.
Now flash forward. If it was up to the liberal gun-grabbers there will be no more Sgt. York’s, but if a drug dealer, robber or a killer wants to buy a gun, there will always be a black market.
A ballistic comparison.
I will try to keep the numbers to a minimum. Obviously, YMMV for your own experience. For reference, a grain is a unit of weight measure. There are 7000 grains in one pound.
The garden variety standard velocity 22 rim fire that many of us grew up with fires a 40 grain (gr) bullet at 1200 feet per second (fps) and generates 110 foot-pounds (ft.lbs) of striking energy.
The 30-06 (U.S. cartridge, cal. 30, model 1906) fires a 150gr bullet at 2700 fps and generates 2800 ft.lbs of striking energy.
The 223/5.56 that our military has used since Vietnam fires a 55gr bullet at 3200 fps and generates 1280 ft.lbs of striking energy.
Let’s move out to 1000 yds.
The 30-06 arrives traveling 1200 fps and with 525 ft.lbs of energy. This is lethal.
The 223/5.56 arrives traveling 780 fps and with 75 ft.lbs of energy. This is the equivalent of a 22 rim fire CB round. A soldier with lightning reflexes and eagle eyes could remove his helmet, us it as a catch bucket for the incoming 55gr bullet, then walk 1000 yards back to the firing line and return it to the shooter.
RHT you put it in a very visual picture. Wish the gun-grabbers in Washington and Sacramento had the IQ to understand what you just said.
“Wish the gun-grabbers in Washington and Sacramento had the IQ to understand what you just said.”
That’s the thing. It makes no difference if they understand or not. They don’t care. I repeat, they don’t care. As I’ve said before, gun control is not about the guns. It’s about control.