Posted on 02/22/2009 12:43:22 AM PST by marktwain
I wrote recently about the forcible citizen disarmament lobby's desire to ban .50 caliber rifles. In that piece, I pointed out that if such a ban were ever implemented, the gun prohibitionists would soon discover that a sniper limited to a .499 caliber rifle would not be seriously hampered by the loss of 1/1000th of an inch of bullet diameter, leading, no doubt, to calls for the banning of that caliber as well. Of course, a .498 caliber rifle would not really be noticeably less capable . . . etc.
The disarmament lobby considers it bad form for gun rights advocates to bring up the "slippery slope," and decry the logic of that argument--just as they pour some more oil on the surface, and jack the incline up a few more degrees. In a comment responding to my piece on a potential .50 caliber rifle ban, I was reminded about one potential manifestation of said slippery slope:
Don't forget, the VPC (w/ Joyce Foundation funding provided in part by Pres. Obama) has also called for the banning of 'intermediate sniper rifles'.
daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com/2008/02/for-hunters-who-dont-believe-theyre-on.html
The "VPC" referred to above is the Violence Policy Center, and this is what they have to say about so-called "intermediate sniper rifles" (a term they seem to have invented):
Some manufacturers may choose to refine the .338 Lapua Magnum, an intermediate round falling in size and power somewhere between the traditional military 30 calibers and the .50 BMG. The .338 Lapua Magnum was designed in the late 1980s "as a long-range European military sniping round," according to sniping expert John Plaster. He advises that its "great speed and heavy weight makes for especially lethal long-range shooting and good penetration against vehicles and aircraft—typical counterterrorist targets—as well as building materials." Some manufacturers already offer .338 Lapua Magnum sniper rifles. The .338 Lapua Magnum is functionally little different from popular elk (and bear, and moose) hunting calibers like the .338 Winchester Magnum, .340 Weatherby Magnum, etc., so any regulatory mechanism that applied to one of those calibers without applying to all of them would leave a large "loophole" (the dreaded "elk rifle loophole").
The regulatory mechanism the VPC recommends is placing all these rifles under National Firearms Act restrictions--treating them, in other words, like machine guns. This, essentially, would spell the end of North American big game hunting. Hunters who have no interest in handguns or detachable magazine fed, semi-automatic rifles (so-called "assault weapons), and are therefore uninterested in fighting restrictions on such guns, should realize that their "intermediate sniper rifles" are next on the chopping block.
Only the open border gang bangers can have guns, or the Marxist goons...
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I didn’t know the Mods would allow posting pics of sex toys on here.
That looks like lipstick for a pitbull!
The Enfield P14 .303 is a fine sniper rifle. An oldie but a goodie!
I’ll stick with the good old Remington 700.
I also love the M1 Garand as well:
Uh I don’t think the 2nd Amendment exists to protect sportsmen. It’s to protect guns. To kill people with. In case it’s necessary. Not to kill deer.
> I’ll stick with the good old Remington 700.
A truly fine rifle, to be sure.
....and a Remington 870 with a slug barrel for the swamp.
What are those for? A personal howitzer?
Urban newspapers have, for the past 20 years, referred to multiple firearms found during a search as an “arsenal” and any rifle with a scope as a “sniper rifle”.
These papers weave the mental image of a high-rise dwelling used as a nest for terrorizing citizens. These journalists hope to sow the seeds for future firearm bans via their prose.
2 bore?
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nearly 2,000 yards, or almost 10 times a deer hunter's maximum effective range.
Watch for an emerging demand that "rifles with an effective range over 200 yards" be banned.
As we note, they're gonna have a tough time differentiating between a scoped hunting rifle and a real-world "sniper rifle". "Effective range" could be abused suitably, with the ignorant thinking they know what it means but haven't a clue.
Oh, BTW, real-world snipers rarely operate over 100 yards.
Why is such a little man, with tiny little hands, allowed to own a .22 rimfire firearm? :)
So should I worry if my little 10/22 Ruger can effectively hit the 12” steel plates at 200yds?
I guess the 50 cal Muzzleloader must be on their banned list too. You can drop a deer sized animal at 250 yds.
I say old chap, is that a 4-bore in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?
But for a target rifle?
Sako TRG-21...
Enemies ping.
The Obamacommies can ‘MAKE’ all the rules that they want to. They can ‘make’ all of us into criminals. But, one damn thing for sure, they cannot ‘make’ us obey any of their rules. Like the old saying, there comes a time to hoist the black flag, spit on your hands, and begin slitting throats.
“Oh, BTW, real-world snipers rarely operate over 100 yards.”
Man, You REALLY don’t have a clue, do you?
Only to civilians.
Barrett won’t sell to government agencies there, nor will they repair weapons for them.
I think it's a .416 - according to the reviews I've seen, it's actually more effective as an extreme-range sniper round than the .50BMG. The bullet remains supersonic longer and has a flatter trajectory.
If California hadn't passed that idiotic law, Barrett might never have tinkered with "wildcat" rounds based on the Browning cartridge. Unintended Consequences, once again.
Went longrange deer hunting with a cousin once. He was on the Navy Rifle Team. The kill zone that we were scoping was 600 yards away on another mountain slope. Only went the one time, but it was an experience.
ping
Do those need batteries?
Spot on. Well said.
But you're so much more dead, and your relatives are so much more upset when you're killed with one of these as opposed to a regular garden variety .243.
Looks like a 2 gauge rifle cartridge.
I can hear it now, "Man, I wanted to hold up a liquor store, but with the new laws I can't get a gun with a flash suppressor. Guess I'll have to take that scholarship to MIT and go legit."
So then .50 Beowulf should be fine. Only has an effective range of 200 yards. Maybe even a maximum of 200.
I think it’s 20mm.
While that's true for the average SWAT sniper associated with the local police or sheriffs dept, military snipers routinely shoot 400-800meters with .30cal (.308 Winchester) rifles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ged4lz_Fw2Y&feature=related
700 Nitro, proof many Arabs can’t handle the big guns and why they resort to rocks.
Hilarious.
Thanks for posting the article.
One question. How many people have been killed by ‘snipers’????
Seems to me, Kent College is the only one I remember.
Yet those same papers refuse to investigate the dozens of Muslim communities here in the US, which are protected by armed men, and seem to have caches of all types of weapons.
Gosh, they look like metal dildos. lol!
What was that saying again? Oh yeah...
“You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead, fingers.”
That one. ;-)
I’m a NRA Member, and everyone else reading this thread should be too. They’ll never get the guns if enough people stand up for their rights.
BTW, I’m not a big fan of the .338 magnums, but the .338-06 is a sweet cartridge. For hunting it’ll reliably kill moose and grizzly sized game further out than you should be shooting at it, without kicking you into the next county.
Not at all that surprising really. For years the MSM has included the term “sniper rifle” in their reporting of 2A issues or crime stories. While this was done to conjour up the image of a Dragunov or Barret light .50, most of the time the “sniper rifle” was nothing more than a standard bolt action with optics attached. This included calibers all the way down to .22 LR.
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