Welcome to Saturday shootaround, your source for all things 2A and guns. As usual, we start with some verse. This week’s selection is Shiloh: A Requiem by Herman Melville (1819-1891). While you may know Melville from Moby Dick or Bartleby the Scrivener, he was a prolific poet and wrote an entire volume of poetry about the Civil War. This is one of those poems.
Skimming lightly, wheeling still,
The swallows fly low
Over the field in clouded days,
The forest-field of Shiloh—
Over the field where April rain
Solaced the parched ones stretched in pain
Through the pause of night
That followed the Sunday fight
Around the church of Shiloh—
The church so lone, the log-built one,
That echoed to many a parting groan
And natural prayer
Of dying foemen mingled there—
Foemen at morn, but friends at eve—
Fame or country least their care:
(What like a bullet can undeceive!)
But now they lie low,
While over them the swallows skim,
And all is hushed at Shiloh.
New York attorney general Leticia James and the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia are joining forces to try to shut down civilian sales of Lake City surplus ammunition.
Lake City Army Ammunition plant is a government owned, civilian operated manufacturing facility that produces all the small arms (up to 20mm) ammo for the US military. The current operator of the plant is Olin, Winchester ammo’s parent company. The contract specifically allows sales of surplus-to-needs small arms ammo to the civilian market as a way to keep the plant running at its full capacity of 1.6 billion rounds a year. Restricting those sales would require a renegotiation of the current contract. I’d be willing to bet that any company with the experience to run such an enterprise would balk at not being able to sell the surplus ammo.
There’s a new gun company out there. Rost Martin is a Dallas, Texas based manufacturer and they’ve just released their first gun. The RM1C is a 9mm polymer framed, striker fired autoloader. Here’s what the company has to say about the new pistol:
DALLAS, Texas. – Introducing the RM1C from Rost Martin – the premier offering from the newest American-made firearms manufacturing company headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
The RM1C in 9mm challenges the standard for striker-fired compact pistols and offers an innovative approach in supplying the most desirable features for the most competitive price of $459 MSRP.
Sporting high-level details usually reserved for custom pistols, the RM1C features a 4” hammer-forged barrel, aggressive front and rear slide serrations, ambidextrous mag release, and a smooth, light five-pound trigger pull with a clean break and a short reset. Non-glare top slide serrations combat eye fatigue and allow for quicker sight picture clarity. The low bore axis paired with the hammer-forged barrel provides superior accuracy out-of-the-box and improves muzzle control. The tough Tenifer® treated slide provides anti-corrosion properties and is ultra-durable, fighting against wear and tear and varying weather conditions.
The pistol comes optic-ready with a metal RMR plate for enhanced ease of rounds on target. The RM1C accepts all other popular optic footprints, and the additional metal plates for the most popular red dot sights will be available on the Rost Martin website. The RM1C also accepts all popular pistol lights on the full three-slot Picatinny rail.
Ergonomically advanced, the RM1C features the signature Rost Martin Responsive Grip Texturing, or RGT. It’s a proprietary graduated laser stippling designed to respond, or “grip back,” to the amount of grip pressure exerted by the shooter for an incredibly secure yet comfortable fit.
The RM1C is engineered and built for longstanding durability and reliability you can trust, backed by the Rost Martin lifetime warranty. “Our preproduction stress test and validation included testing the limits of our pistol up to 50,000 rounds, submersion in sand, water, ice, mud, and extensive drop testing without failure,” explains Rost Martin CEO Chris Toomer. . .
Carrying 15+1 with a flush mag or 17+1 with the extended mag, the RM1C is the premier compact pistol in its class and represents a formidable product introduction from Rost Martin.
The Next Generation of Freedom has officially arrived.
For $460 I might give this one a try if they ship with NY compliant mags.
Senator Edward J. Markey (D[umbass]-MA.) and Congressman Jamie Raskin (Commie-MD) have introduced an anti-militia bill. The Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act is legislation that would create a federal prohibition on paramilitary groups through civil and criminal enforcement. This bill would ostensibly criminalize most firearms training due to the intentionally vague language used. I’m hoping this crapfest gets shunted to committee to die a slow death. If it doesn’t, I’ll let you know so you can call and email your Congress critters and let them know this is a bad idea.
It seems the HiPower is seeing a resurgence. A number of brands, including the original maker Fabrique Nationale, have introduced Hi Powers recently. The latest in that space is Military Armaments Company (MAC). They just announced the release of their Inglis branded Hi Powers.
Military Armament Corp (MAC) is pleased to announce the return of Inglis Hi Power to the US market. Through an exclusive partnership, MAC, and parent company SDS Imports will be bringing several models of the world-famous High Power to the United States, starting with the L9A1, A WWII firearm produced by Inglis.
The other three models will be commercial variants, black with walnut grips, satin nickel with black G-10 grips and the last will be a color case-hardened model named the GP-35.
The L9A1 has an incredible and rich heritage among firearms enthusiasts. It was used by British Commonwealth forces from 1962-2013.
With a starting MSRP of just $490, I’m curious to see what these pistols look like. As an aside, this editor owns an original Canadian made Inglis Pistol #2 MK 1*, the WWII version of the Hi Power.
This week’s gun porn takes us in a different direction than the porn from past editions. This week we feature an antique single shot rifle from Whitney. It’s a .32 rimfire rolling block. Here’s what the seller has to say:
Fair condition antique Whitney Rolling Block Style II, Model No. 2 Sporting Rifle in .32 rimfire caliber. Mechanically functions fine, but the hammer spur is broken off and missing. Metal has mostly brown and gray patina. 26” octagonal barrel has original sights. Bore is dark gray with average rifling and some pitting. Stock has original finish and shows some wear and handling marks. Both sides of forend have some chips. Left side of wrist has a couple of cracks. Right side of wrist has a small hairline. Left side buttstock has carved “WN”. A decent example of an uncommon Whitney Rolling Block rifle.
The current bid (as of Friday evening) is $215. This may be your chance to own a bit of history for not a lot of dough. Finding .32 rimfire to shoot might be another issue altogether though. . .