This is ‘Puter’s dog, Sadie. She has nothing to do with this post, but dang, what a fine looking dog.  Admit it.  Admit it!

Yesterday, ‘Puter pilloried the liberal media generally, and John Heilemann specifically, for their complete ignorance of guns, gun culture and gun laws.  Well, it appears that ‘Puter needed a little education on things bang-sticky as well.

As always, the Gormogons’ ever-helpful (and thoughtfully ever-ready to pile on) corps of minions jumped into action.  Operative D.M., chock full of rifle themed data, inscribed the following on a spent .50 Beowulf casing:

Hey ‘Puter, I liked your referenced post but…. A 22 LR (long rifle) and a 5.56 NATO cartridge may be approximately the same caliber for the bullet diameter, but they aren’t remotely the same in length or power. A 5.56 NATO is almost, but not quite, the same as a .223. See here.

Your link to the S&W page for its AR 15s shows models in 22 LR and in 5.56 NATO, but those models shown on the page are different models chambered for different cartridges.

The 22 LR is 5.6 x 15mm, or about 22/100s of an inch in diameter for the bullet and the same for the casing (which is unusual BTW) and about 3/5ths of an inch long. See here. OK, it’s Wikipedia, but it’s pretty accurate for all of that. The 22 LR is a plinking or target round – I used mine for squirrel hunting, albeit the Colt Woodsman in 22 LR is reputed to have been the favorite of hired killers at one time – a 22 automatic can be easily suppressed to make it quiet and it is very accurate.

The 5.56 NATO is 5.56 x 45mm, or about three times as long as the 22 LR and it’s a bottle necked cartridge, so it holds lots more smokeless power and so is a lot more powerful. See here. For bottle necked cartridges see here.

Also, the 5.56 NATO is a heavier bullet-about 63 grains, while the 22 LR weighs about 30 grains, give or take a bit depending on the specific bullet. Muzzle velocity for the 22 LR can approach 1800 fps for hyper or ultra velocity rounds and almost 280 joules in energy, but the 5.56 NATO is about 3000 fps and its energy is about 1700 to 1800 joules.

I don’t mean to sound pedantic, but the gun banners get stuff wrong all the time and when we criticize them we need to be accurate. I know lots of handgun and shotgun guys who are a bit vague about rifle cartridges. I prefer .303 Brit myself, but that’s another story.

Operative D.M. has it exactly right in his last paragraph.  When gun rights advocates get information wrong, we need to correct ourselves immediately.  We have the better of the argument, both logically and Constitutionally, so we have to ensure our statements are accurate and factual to the greatest extent possible.  There is absolutely no need to give the gun grabbers any opportunity whatsoever to change the subject.

Next, Operative S.O. writes in from his outpost in northwest Nevada, the Silver State, where he handles the Gormogons’ money laundering operation, running our stacks of doubloons, bearer bonds and Apple stock certificates through the industrial washers and dryers at Reno’s most popular laundromat, Soap-Suds-Strippers.  We chose this location for money laundering in a drunken spree, mostly because Czar liked the shiny lights, spinny dryers and sparkly ladies.  Also, Czar insists his money have that “mountain fresh” scent he loves so much, as it reminds him of his days spent slaughtering peasants in Ekatarinburg in the Urals.  And go light on the starch, Operative S.O.  Czar hates crunchy money. But ‘Puter digresses. 

Here’s Operative S.O.’s missive:

You mentioned in your “shut their holes” post that John Heilemann complained of “unfettered access to ‘.50 caliber’ ammunition”, and went on to point out that none of the weapons used in the attack were chambered for .50 caliber.

Taken literally, though, Heilemann was correct: the attacker did indeed have free access topurchase .50 cal. ammunition. The fact that he couldn’t use it in any of his firearms is immaterial. Oh, and SQUIRREL!

‘Puter’s totally-not-racist-at- all ammo for his Arisaka Model 99

And yes, the rounds are actually headstamped with “JAP,” so don’t bother writing in with comments on ‘Puter’s not-so-latent racism.  As a reminder, ‘Puter doesn’t hate people because of the color of their skin, he hates them because of the content of their character.

‘Puter thanks his minions for the serving of humble pie. In penance, ‘Puter will now release Sleestak from captivity, provided he walk two steps behind ‘Puter for one week, whispering into ‘Puter’s ear, “Remember, ‘Puter, that thou art mortal.” Of course, since it’s Sleestak, all ‘Puter’s going the hear is “HISSSS! HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! HISSSSSS!”  But ‘Puter will get the point.

'Puter

Always right, unless he isn’t, the infallible Ghettoputer F. X. Gormogons claims to be an in-law of the Volgi, although no one really believes this.

’Puter carefully follows economic and financial trends, legal affairs, and serves as the Gormogons’ financial and legal advisor. He successfully defended us against a lawsuit from a liquor distributor worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid deliveries of bootleg shandies.

The Geep has an IQ so high it is untestable and attempts to measure it have resulted in dangerously unstable results as well as injuries to researchers. Coincidentally, he publishes intelligence tests as a side gig.

His sarcasm is so highly developed it borders on the psychic, and he is often able to insult a person even before meeting them. ’Puter enjoys hunting small game with 000 slugs and punt guns, correcting homilies in real time at Mass, and undermining unions. ’Puter likes to wear a hockey mask and carry an axe into public campgrounds, where he bursts into people’s tents and screams. As you might expect, he has been shot several times but remains completely undeterred.

He assures us that his obsessive fawning over news stories involving women teachers sleeping with young students is not Freudian in any way, although he admits something similar once happened to him. Uniquely, ’Puter is unable to speak, read, or write Russian, but he is able to sing it fluently.

Geep joined the order in the mid-1980s. He arrived at the Castle door with dozens of steamer trunks and an inarticulate hissing creature of astonishingly low intelligence he calls “Sleestak.” Ghettoputer appears to make his wishes known to Sleestak, although no one is sure whether this is the result of complex sign language, expert body posture reading, or simply beating Sleestak with a rubber mallet.

‘Puter suggests the Czar suck it.