Author: Grumpy
Guns, helmets and body armor to be distributed to hundreds of residents of border regions, mixed Jewish-Arab cities, West Bank settlements
Members of the civilian security team of Kibbutz Malkia in northern Israel close to the Lebanese border are seen during a drill simulating the Infiltration of a terrorist into the kibbutz, July 19, 2023. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced on Tuesday that his ministry is purchasing 10,000 rifles to arm civilian security teams, specifically those in towns close to Israel’s borders around the country, as well as mixed Jewish-Arab cities and West Bank settlements.
The minister, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said 4,000 assault rifles had already been acquired from an Israeli manufacturer and will be distributed immediately.
Helmets and bulletproof vests have also been acquired and will be distributed along with the assault rifles.
The step comes after some civilian security teams reported they had no weapons to fight off Hamas terrorists during Saturday’s devastating assault on southern Israel.
In a statement to the press on Tuesday, Ben Gvir said the new weapons and equipment will be distributed to “hundreds of towns” that have civilian security teams, some of which are manned by civilians who also volunteer in the Border Police, the Israel Police’s gendarmerie unit.
In addition, new civilian security teams will be established in towns that currently lack them, the national security ministry said.
National Security Itamar Ben Gvir during a visit to southern Tel Aviv, September 3, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
“We will turn the world upside down so that towns are protected. I have given instructions for massively arming the civilian security teams to provide solutions for towns and cities, and so as not to leave towns unprotected, preparations will be made for a Guardian of the Walls 2,” said Ben Gvir, in reference to the May 2021 conflict with Hamas, which was accompanied by severe inter-communal violence in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab cities.
When Israel’s Jewish-Arab cities were the scene of intense riots during the May 2021 conflict with Hamas, Ben Gvir, at the time an MK but not a minister, urged armed Israeli civilians to go to such cities to combat Arab rioters.
during a drill simulating the Infiltration of a terrorist into the kibbutz, July 19, 2023. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announced on Tuesday that his ministry is purchasing 10,000 rifles to arm civilian security teams, specifically those in towns close to Israel’s borders around the country, as well as mixed Jewish-Arab cities and West Bank settlements.
The minister, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said 4,000 assault rifles had already been acquired from an Israeli manufacturer and will be distributed immediately.
Helmets and bulletproof vests have also been acquired and will be distributed along with the assault rifles.
The step comes after some civilian security teams reported they had no weapons to fight off Hamas terrorists during Saturday’s devastating assault on southern Israel.
In a statement to the press on Tuesday, Ben Gvir said the new weapons and equipment will be distributed to “hundreds of towns” that have civilian security teams, some of which are manned by civilians who also volunteer in the Border Police, the Israel Police’s gendarmerie unit.
In addition, new civilian security teams will be established in towns that currently lack them, the national security ministry said.
National Security Itamar Ben Gvir during a visit to southern Tel Aviv, September 3, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
“We will turn the world upside down so that towns are protected. I have given instructions for massively arming the civilian security teams to provide solutions for towns and cities, and so as not to leave towns unprotected, preparations will be made for a Guardian of the Walls 2,” said Ben Gvir, in reference to the May 2021 conflict with Hamas, which was accompanied by severe inter-communal violence in Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab cities.
When Israel’s Jewish-Arab cities were the scene of intense riots during the May 2021 conflict with Hamas, Ben Gvir, at the time an MK but not a minister, urged armed Israeli civilians to go to such cities to combat Arab rioters.
Three people were killed and hundreds more were hurt in days of violent unrest in mixed cities.
Civilian security teams provide security to small towns and communities in Israel’s periphery and in West Bank settlements, some of which helped defend residents from the Hamas invasion on Saturday before the IDF was able to arrive.
An IDF soldier prepares to remove the bodies of Israelis killed during an October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian terrorists, in Kibbutz Kfar Azza, in southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip, on October 10, 2023. (Jack Guez/AFP)
Approximately three years ago, the IDF began taking away firearms from some of these security teams due to the repeated theft of such weapons.
Hebrew news outlets reported on the problem back in 2021, and members of some of the teams have told the media in the last few days that they were essentially unarmed during Hamas’s invasion.
Members of such a team told the Calcalist newspaper on Sunday that they had engaged Hamas terrorists armed with just pistols, while the terrorists bore assault rifles, grenades and anti-tank missiles.
“The IDF took our rifles recently, they left us with just a few. We repelled a Hamas commando terror cell with just pistols,” one said.
Along with the announcement of the firearms acquisition, Ben Gvir said that he appointed retired deputy police commissioner Shimon Lavi as ministerial coordinator for distributing firearms to the civilian security teams.
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Some hopefully useful info
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A Beretta Model 76 Blue in .22 LR
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32 Remington Model 14
In 1899, a group of Moro tribesmen in the Philippines took umbrage toward a United States occupation force in the southern islands, thereby initiating what became known as the Moro Rebellion. The Moros were fierce fighters, with a reputation of resistance toward any outside rule. Officers in the U.S. force were armed with Colt Model 1892 revolvers chambered in .38 Long Colt, a cartridge that originated the blackpowder era. The load at the time featured a 150-grain lead round-nose bullet launched at 750 f.p.s. using smokeless powder. Muzzle energy was 201 ft.-lbs., about the same energy as a .380 ACP with a 90-grain bullet.
The Moros were reputed to tie themselves up with strips of vegetation from the jungles to prevent excessive bleeding and ingested locally made drugs to block the pain from wounds. Engagements involving the Colt double-action Model 1892 often resulted in the officer being killed or severely wounded by these motivated Moro juramentados. This prompted the War Department to launch the Thompson-LaGarde Tests of 1904. As expected, the rather grisly tests showed the .38 Long Colt significantly lacking in the power needed to stop a determined assailant. The tests determined that what was needed were the ballistics of the .45 Colt in a more compact round. Semi- and full-automatic arms were being developed, and the old .45 Colt would not function in the new pistols.
Colt and John Moses Browning were developing a .41-cal. cartridge in a semi-automatic pistol in 1904. As a result of the Thompson-LaGarde Tests, the Ordnance Department specified a .45-cal. cartridge, and Browning obliged the department with a .45-cal. Model 1905 pistol. Browning and Colt continued to refine the design, and on March 29, 1911, the Colt Model 1911 pistol and the “Cal. 45 Automatic Pistol Ball Cartridge, Model of 1911″—now known as the .45 ACP—were formally adopted by the Army.
Remington 230-grain JHP .45 ACP loads (left), compared with Winchester 230-grain ball loads.
Winchester, Frankford Arsenal and the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. had been working on the loads for the new pistol cartridge. At the time of the trials, these ammo companies were loading a 200-grain full metal jacket (FMJ) bullet with a velocity of 900 f.p.s. This load passed the tests, but later, it was modified to have a 230-grain FMJ round traveling at 850 f.p.s. The first cartridges sent into service came from the Frankford Arsenal and were headstamped “F A 8 11,” for the August 1911 date.
Both cartridge and pistol enjoyed immediate success—too much, in fact, because as World War I came along, demand far outstripped availability. Both Smith & Wesson and Colt were forced to ramp up their large-frame revolver production chambered for the .45 ACP during World War I. These revolvers relied on “half-moon clips” to provide for simultaneous extraction and ejection of the rimless cases from the cylinder. After the war, the Peters Cartridge Company added a thick rim to the .45 ACP, calling it the .45 Auto Rim. It is ballistically and dimensionally identical to the ACP cartridge, save for the rim. This development was the result of thousands of surplus Model 1917 Smith & Wesson and Colt revolvers being dumped onto the surplus market.
The reason for the success of the .45 ACP cartridge is simple. It works. People shot with it “stay shot,” as it is often said. A 230-grain, .45-cal. bullet with proper placement is capable of effectively putting an assailant down. The .45 ACP cartridge also has the very desirable characteristic of being inherently accurate. A properly tuned semi-automatic pistol or revolver can often put five shots into a ragged hole at 25 yards.
A Smith & Wesson Model of 1917 service revolver chambered for .45 ACP.
For several decades, the M1911 pistol and .45 ACP cartridge had an undeserved reputation for being difficult to shoot. Early pistols were loosely fitted in order to keep them running in wartime environments of mud, dust and sludge. Pistols with a lot of free tolerances do not group as well as those that have had those tolerances tightened up. Of course, fitted pistols need to be kept clean and lubricated to maintain their reliability.
Any U.S. military cartridge is going to have some built-in popularity due to the surplus market. Surplus guns and ammunition are often heavily discounted, and when that gun and cartridge were the staple of the U.S. military and many law-enforcement agencies for 71-plus years, the result is that the .45 ACP is almost universally available.
The popularity of the .45 ACP was not limited to the M1911 pistol. The cartridge has been chambered for semi-automatic pistols made by Browning, Colt, Heckler & Koch, Ruger, SIG Sauer, Smith & Wesson, Taurus, Walther and many more. Colt and Smith & Wesson have been joined by Ruger and Taurus, as well as many Italian replica manufacturers, in creating revolvers chambered for the .45 ACP, both single action as well as double action. Carbines and submachine guns emerging after the famous Thompson have been chambered in .45 ACP. Micro pistols like the Semmerling LM4 and the Liberator were also chambered for the cartridge. It is safe to state that the .45 ACP is ubiquitous.
Two .45 Auto Rim cartridges, designed to work in revolvers like the S&W Model 1917 without the need for moon clips.
Handloading the .45 ACP is pretty straightforward, provided you don’t try to turn it into a magnum. Bullets—both cast and jacketed—are available from 118 to 250 grains, and when shoved by a medium-fast powder like Alliant’s Unique, Winchester’s W231 or IMR’s SR 4756, they provide good results. One note of caution, however, is that some .45 ACP brass has been made with small primer pockets. If you want to avoid suddenly ceasing your loading operation to pick out components from your reloading tools and punctuating that chore with loud profanities, make sure you separate small primer pockets from large primer pockets beforehand.
Factory ammunition runs an equally diverse profile, with everything from lightweight hollow points to monolithic solids and even some snake-shot loads. The length and breadth of what the .45 ACP is capable of doing is impressive.
Yes, there are cartridges with higher velocities and flatter trajectories. Yes, there are cartridges and loads that are more powerful and hit harder. But it’s worth noting that, even though the cartridge and its original pistol are more than 110 years old and have been superseded by “wonder nines” and “shorty forties,” the .45 ACP and the M1911 pistol are often still the preferred choice of many, whether in commercial circles, law enforcement or the military.
The Winchester 1300 Defender has an old-world charm to it. It’s something we don’t see much these days, but it shouldn’t be a surprise coming from the Winchester Repeating Arms company. The classic American gun maker might still exist in name, but its glory days seem long gone. Winchester has two distinctive generations. We have its era as the lever gun company and its second era as the shotgun company.
Winchester produced the first successful pump action shotgun and continued to perfect the design along with the Model 12 and later the Model 1200, but finally concluding their reign with the Winchester Model 1300 shotgun. Although the 1300 is the accumulation of several small changes to the Winchester 1200 and not necessarily a distinctly different gun.
The 1200 and 1300 series were designed to compete with the Remington 870s and Model 500s of the world. They required less skilled labor and craftsmanship than the Model 12 and were easier to mass produce. At the same time, these guns are a step above the Remingtons and Mossbergs of the world. They were quite successful and came in a number of different configurations, including the aptly named model.
The Defender Difference
Winchester built the Model 1300 to be a general-purpose shotgun. They produced models focused on hunting deer and birds, turkey models, slug guns, and the Defender model we are discussing today. Winchester picked a great name for a defensive shotgun. The Defender was built for tactical use, mainly aimed at police, military, and home defense markets.
The Defender sports a standard 18.5-inch barrel and a magazine tube that extends the entire length of the barrel. This allows you to hold seven rounds in the magazine tube. For tactical use, shorter is better, and so is more ammunition. A simple bead sight tops the barrel, and we get the furniture you expect from a tactical shotgun developed in 1964. Meaning no black plastic. It’s pure wood and arguably looks fantastic.
Other than that, it’s not much different from other Winchester 1300s. It lacks the fancy texturing of the Deer Slug models and is not optics-ready. The gun is plain, but shotguns can be quite plain and remain effective. If you want to replace the stock and pump with polymer goodness, that’s possible, but the wood has too much charm to get rid of it.
Old School Ergonomics
Pump action shotguns haven’t changed much since the 1960s and 70s. That’s where the dominant designs still come from, and the Winchester 1300 still keeps up with guns like the Mossberg 500 and Remington 870 series. We get a simple cross-bolt safety that’s in front of the trigger and a rather small pump release behind the trigger.
The pump is a little dinky and surprisingly small for a tactical shotgun. It’s a corncob design that is quite small. It’s still easy to grab and use, but compared to most guns, it’s rather small. Heck, even compared to other models of the Winchester 1300. My Winchester Deer Slug gun’s pump is quite a bit larger than the Defender’s model.
The stock has that 14-inch length of pull that we are used to with these old guns. It’s fairly long for modern shooters. A big, thick recoil pad might help soften things. The Defender models lack any fancy checkering around the grips, and it’s just a straight wood stock.
You won’t be impressed by the gun’s ergonomics if you’ve ever handled nearly any other pump shotgun. The Winchester 1300 doesn’t stand out in any way. The ergonomics aren’t excellent, but they are functional and useable.
One stand out is how easily everything glides and pops into place. The action is slick and smooth. Thumbing rounds into the tubular magazine is very smooth, and the shell elevator moves out of the way with very little effort. Winchester certainly built these guns well and didn’t skimp on their quality control.
The Defender At the Range
The Defender seems pretty standard compared to most other pump-action shotguns. Where it does stand out is the use of a rotating bolt. Shotgunners will know that the Benelli SuperNova and Nova utilize a rotating bolt, but Winchester did it first. The rotating bolt does two things for us. First, it exerts rotation force on the shell along with rearward force, which could help with a hull that might otherwise get stuck.
The second benefit is the speed pump design. After you fire the gun, the pump wants to automatically unlock and even slightly pushes the pump and action rearward oh so slightly. This, combined with the slick pump action, makes this a blazingly fast pump action gun. You can rock and roll with this gun a good bit faster than others. Against the clock, it might only be fractions of the second, but those fractions can matter. It’s fun to see just how fast you can run the gun’s seven rounds.
The textured pump provides enough texture to run the pump quickly. It is small, but the texture allows you to grip it tightly and surely. You can run the action and control the gun. I would like a bigger pump with some more material on the rear to make it less of a reach, but it’s workable. The biggest challenge comes from the long length of pull, which makes it tough to square up behind the gun.
Riding the Recoil
Recoil from a 12 gauge pump gun doesn’t change much. You can get a hefty dose of it if you aren’t using the right recoil mitigation techniques. My chosen technique is to push the pump forward while pulling rearward with the stock. This creates tension, which stabilizes the gun and helps defeat recoil.
The Defender’s front grip provides enough texture for an easy push forward. The rear pistol grip has enough of a hook to pull it nicely into your shoulder. With these techniques in place, I kept the gun from getting too far ahead of me. I had enough control the recoil pad didn’t matter much.
The bead isn’t big, and it’s welded directly to the barrel. Even so, there isn’t a noticeable issue with the point of impact and the point of aim. It hits a little high with slugs, but this is a buckshot gun. With buckshot, it’s dead on and hits where you’re aiming. Heck, even the trigger is surprisingly nice.
As you’d expect, the Winchester 1300 is as reliable as it gets. A pump action shotgun design from a legendary American company better be functional and reliable. The 1300 eats up whatever you put through it. High brass, low brass, whatever, as long as it’s standard length.
On the Defense
The Winchester Defender series is long gone these days, but not forgotten. They are still common enough to pop up on the used market, and if you can get one for a good price, they are a worthwhile investment. I imagine in the next few years, they’ll start to climb in price, so if you want one, this might be the time to act. They are solid shotguns that still keep up with the current crop of modern pump shotguns.
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Uh sure thing!
