Cop Talk Colt
Colt 1877 DA was a favorite of Hardin’s by the time of his death. It ain’t about the guns, it’s about timeless human dynamics.
We can’t expect to defeat enemies we don’t understand. It’s why LAPD’s officer survival guru Rich Wemmer interviewed cop-killers in prison, and why Dennis Anderson and Charles Remberg did the same for their Calibre Press Street Survival book and seminars.
There’s little new in the concept, and an often ignored source of research are incidents from relatively long ago. In his letters and particularly his autobiography, John Wesley Hardin bragged about how he killed policemen in the third quarter of the 19th Century. The cunning ploys he used remain lethally dangerous to cops today.
In his own words, Hardin — a racist anti-authoritarian who hated African-Americans and lawmen with equal venom — detailed how he murdered black Texas State Police officer Green Perrymore in September, 1871. Hardin wrote the arresting officer had him at gunpoint when “He said, ‘Give me those pistols.’ I said ‘All right,’ and handed him the pistols, handle foremost. One of the pistols turned a somerset in my hand and went off … and (sent) him sprawling on the floor with a bullet through his head, quivering in blood.”
cop talk book
The Last Gunfighter is the most useful Hardin biography Mas has found.
Hidden Second Weapons
With 41 dead men attributed to his tally, the one murder for which Hardin was convicted and served hard time was the death of Deputy Charles Webb in 1874. Hardin wrote, “… I told him my pistol was behind the bar and threw open my coat to show him. But he did not know I had a good one under my vest.” That was the one he used very shortly thereafter to shoot the deputy in the brain. Hardin was arrested for it years later — leading to the following.
Hardin bragged he had killed multiple officers with their own guns he grabbed when he caught them off guard. But at least one lawman was savvy enough to see that coming and save his own life, and that of his brother officer.
It happened in 1877. Texas Rangers had arrested Hardin on a train in Pensacola, Florida for the murder of Deputy Webb. The lawmen had killed Hardin’s accomplice, Jim Mann, and pistol-whipped Hardin into submission in the course of that arrest.
Captain John Armstrong and Special Detective Jack Armstrong were transporting the handcuffed Hardin to jail and trial. Like so many psychopaths, Hardin used his charming personality to lull his intended victims off guard. Here, in a letter to his wife, Hardin explained how he planned to escape:
“Jack and Armstrong were now getting intimate with me, and when dinner came I suggested the necessity of removing my cuffs and they agreed to do so. Armstrong unlocked the jewelry and started to turn around, exposing his six-shooter to me, when Jack jerked him around and pulled his pistol at the same time. ‘Look out,’ he said, ‘John will kill us and escape.’ Of course, I laughed at him and ridiculed the idea.
It was really the very chance I was looking for, but Jack had taken the play away just before it got ripe. I intended to jerk Armstrong’s pistol, kill Jack Duncan or make him throw up his hands. I could have made him unlock my shackles, or get the key away from his dead body and do it myself. I could then have easily made my escape. That time never came again.”
cop hardin
Hardin: This cop-killer wrote an autobiography, The Life of John Wesley Hardin. It’s harder to defeat enemies you don’t understand.
Constant Vigilance
As we look sadly upon such recent events as the murder of Wyandotte County, Kansas Deputies Patrick Rohrer and Theresa King in June, 2018, slain when a suspect they were transporting gained control of a police weapon, we are reminded this sort of thing is a continuing concern. Security holsters and weapon retention training have improved the situation, but constant vigilance and keeping our guard up remain keys to survival.
The Letters of John Wesley Hardin by Roy and Jo Ann Stamps, The Last Gunfighter: John Wesley Hardin by Richard Marohn, and The Life of John Wesley Hardin Written By Himself are all compelling resources, available through Amazon or your local library. They remind us homicidal gunmen aren’t about AR15’s or modern trends. They’re about timeless human dynamics, and the more we know about how these events have happened in the past, the better we can prepare to keep them from recurring in the future.
|
||||||
(AP)—The U.S. military is cracking down on special operations troops who share knowledge of their secret missions for profit, punishing seven Navy SEALs, including one involved in the mission to get Osama bin Laden, who moonlighted as advisers on a combat video game.
Current and former SEALs, including the author of a tell-all book on the bin Laden raid, complain they’re getting mixed messages from the military, which likes to see itself on big and small screens on its own terms.
The seven SEALs are being reprimanded and having their pay docked for sharing information with the designers of “Medal of Honor: Warfighter,” by video game company EA, according to military officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigations publicly.
The men will remain in the SEAL teams, but were punished for working on the video without their command’s permission, revealing classified information by sharing the tactics they use and showing designers some of their specially designed combat equipment unique to their unit, the officials said.
Four more SEALs could face the similar punishment.
The deputy commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, Rear Adm. Garry Bonelli, issued a statement acknowledging that nonjudicial punishments had been handed out for misconduct, but he did not offer any details.
“We do not tolerate deviations from the policies that govern who we are and what we do as sailors in the United States Navy,” Bonelli said. He alluded to the importance of honoring nondisclosure agreements that SEALs sign.
He said the punishments this week “send a clear message throughout our force that we are and will be held to a high standard of accountability.”
The SEALs’ unauthorized work came to light as part of the investigation of the book “No Easy Day,” by former SEAL Matt Bissonnette, with his firsthand account of the raid that killed bin Laden in Pakistan last year. Publisher Penguin’s Dutton Imprint ignored the Pentagon’s warnings that the book contained classified information and published the book just ahead of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks.
The Pentagon would have a hard time proving the video game makers had disseminated classified information that threatened national security because the combat tactics shown in the game are common to games and action movies, said Mark Zaid, a Washington-based national security attorney who regularly handles cases involving secrecy agreements and classified information.
EA spokesman Peter Nguyen said the company has no plans to recall “Medal of Honor: Warfighter,” and there are “no plans to alter the content contributed by combat veterans in the game.” He would not elaborate.
“EA didn’t break any rules,” said Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities, an investment firm that follows video game companies. “It’s not against the law for them to ask questions.”
Video game companies often use military consultants for games in order to make them as realistic as possible.
The Xbox 360 version of the game scored poorly on with just 52 points out of 100 on Metacritic, a gaming website that aggregates reviews, Pachter said.
Pachter expects the latest “Medal of Honor,” which launched on Oct. 23, to sell 3 million copies. The “Call of Duty” games routinely sell more than that in their first day in stores.
The SEALs who were punished for helping with the game were all members of Bissonnette’s old unit, SEAL Team 6. Officials say Bissonnette drafted his friends from his old unit SEAL Team 6 to work on the video game—a common practice among the SEAL teams, where current and former members help trusted teammates to find work.
Current and former special operators troops complain there’s a double standard when it comes to publicizing details of their missions. This year’s movie “Act of Valor” was filmed with the Pentagon’s approval and featured active-duty Navy SEALs, showing off the methods they use on the battlefield. Navy officials say they worked with the filmmakers as a recruiting tool and that unlike the video game, or the Bissonnette raid book, the filmmakers gave them an opportunity to review the film for classified material. They also point out that the SEALs in that movie were unpaid.
“I don’t know if terrorists can just take from a video game tactics … but it does speak to a bigger issue that just, hey, if you’re not authorized to give out information or speak about information, then you have to be held accountable,” said former Navy SEAL Scott Taylor, now with Special Operations OPSEC, a political advocacy group that criticized the Obama administration during the presidential campaign for releasing details of the bin Laden raid.
The head of Naval Special Warfare Command, Rear Adm. Sean Pybus, responded to the Bissonnette book by telling his force that “hawking details about a mission” and selling other information about SEAL training and operations puts the force and their families at risk.
Members of the SEAL community have been embarrassed by the rash of books and films about the elite force, and some SEALs say they fear top secret missions will now be given instead to units whose members keep quiet.
After the Remington bankruptcy, Bushmaster Firearms was purchased by Franklin Armory (Crotalus Holdings LLC) and moved to Nevada. They are now located in Carson City.
Yesterday, I received an email from Lee Felch who is the Director of Marketing for Bushmaster. He said given the close history between Bushmaster and Windham Weaponry that the company was reaching out with condolences on the closure and possible job offers.
It is good to see other companies in the firearms industry reaching out to the Windham Weaponry employees. Furthermore, Bushmaster is not wasting any time in seeking those employees with critical skills to its own success. I’m not sure how many will trade the Sebago Lake region of Maine for the high desert of Carson City but a job is a job.
Now this is a movie that I would buy the DVD of! Grumpy
The Cooper rifle is outfitted with a 40x Leupold Competition scope
The safety lever is to the rear of the bolt handle, and the scope bases come with the rifle as part of the package.
With the rifle out of the stock, the bottom spring that is part of that special feed ramp can be seen.
In the quiet times, one often wonders just why a so-called “popular” cartridge doesn’t quite make it to commercial or even best-selling wildcat status.
Maybe it’s the lack of publicity or the fact many gunsmiths or even shooters don’t know of the round or, worse yet, even care to tinker with it. Back in the beginning of the last century, many cartridges were out there in force, and through the space of time, the best of the best simply rose to the top.
There were some good designs that now you only read about in faded, dog-eared tomes of the past – those like the 2R Lovell, .22 Niedner or even the line of .22 Miller magnums. They were good because their inventors said they were, but at that time gunsmiths were seemingly hidden away in back shops all around America, and since we didn’t have the media exposure we do today, and unless you could get a following, all was lost.
The adjustable trigger broke without any creep at a very crisp 21⁄2 pounds.
Still others were variants of commercial rounds and made life somewhat easier. Experimenters of the day loved small, compact cases like the .218 Bee or the Hornet to modify, improve or otherwise boast about. Harvey Donaldson, for instance, took his lead from the .25-35 or .30 WCF case and came up with the .219 Donaldson Wasp.
The .22 Hornet received its “improved” status as the .22 K-Hornet, which like many others involved nothing more than fireforming the factory round in a K chamber. The .218 Bee was still another one, and from it grew the likes of the Gipson Improved, the Ackley Improved and the Mashburn version.
workmanship is precise around the action.
Being a big fan of .22 centerfires, I’m always on the lookout for same from custom gunmakers or commercial outlets. Most rifles can be found in the trade papers that run hundreds of ads for used guns, new guns and specialized services.
This one, however, came from the folks who built a tack-driving .221 Fireball for me a few years back. Cooper Arms (3662 Hwy 93 North, Stevensville MT 59870) is becoming known for preserving wildcats from the .17 Squirrel to improved versions of the .257 Roberts. Dan Cooper sent a new catalog, something dyed-in-the-wool wildcatters should have, and once I saw the selection, I was hooked.
The company has several actions set up for different cartridges, lengths and rifles. My particular favorite is the Model 38, which can house all the really neat wildcats like the .17 Ackley Hornet, .17 He Be, .19 Calhoun and the .218 Mashburn Bee.
For the varmint folks, you have a choice of versions that include the varmint-type rifle complete with a heavier barrel and flat forend stock. Those who like the more classic type rifle can order theirs in the Classic, Classic Custom and Western Classic complete with a variety of options to include a skeleton grip cap, skeleton buttplate and checkered bolt knobs, among other things. Wood is anything from AAA select Claro walnut to AAA French walnut.
The locking lugs are fitted with the utmost care
I selected the Varminter, which is the basic custom type rifle but without any of the options. Prices for the Varminter, complete with the Model 38 action, depend upon options and wood. Workmanship is first-class, and all rifles shoot like a house a fire!
The first thing you’re going to notice about Cooper’s “varmint” series is that they don’t feel like those big, clunky varmint rigs you may have used in the past. Sure, there is a wide forearm, but it is designed to be a working part of the rifle and not a hindrance. Inside, you find the inletting of the rifle perfect; one thin sheet of paper will fit between the forend and the free-floating barrel.
From left to right, the parent .218 Bee case is shown with a loaded .218 Bee factory round, a fireformed .218 Mashburn Bee and a loaded version.
There is no Monte Carlo or cheekpiece on the stock, and the line of sight between shooter and scope is right on. The pistol grip has that just-right downward turn for prone shooting and is finished without a grip cap on this model. Point checkering is included, as is a rubber buttpad for non-slip performance in the field.
The action is the heart of any rifle, and Cooper’s version is glass bedded about the recoil lug. Barrels are air-gauge inspected and match-grade quality. The bolt has three lugs, and the trigger pull from the factory was set at 21⁄2 pounds without any hint of slack or creep.
The action is single shot and includes an innovative feed ramp. It is set up to move in a rocking fashion as the cartridge is fed into the breech. In this way it will move when the bullet, shoulder and cartridge move into the chamber, giving the action an uncanny smoothness.
In fact, this altered ramp will even feed empty cases into the breech to check for the final headspace and bolt resistance on a sized case before getting set up for loading. Finally, the safety is rearward of the bolt handle, and scope bases (included) accept all the commercial rings in Redfield-style bases.
For optics, Leupold had recently introduced its Competition Series in 35x, 40x and 45x, all with 45mm objective lenses that feature 1⁄8 minute-of-angle (MOA) click adjustments, side focus parallax adjustment and 30mm main tubes. Lenses are multicoated and available with either a crosshair or 1⁄8-MOA target dot.
Being high-powered glass, they do need attention when settling in, as the field of view is not as generous as those on lower-powered scopes. This is not to single out Leupold or its design; this is something that is common on all high-powered scopes and should be taken into consideration before a serious purchase is confirmed. One should be savvy to anything before laying down hard-earned cash. I opted for the 40x.
The .218 Mashburn Bee
The fireformed case is on the left, then a smoked and a neck sized only case, followed by a case with the shoulder pushed slightly back.
A close look reveals twin shoulder splits on this fireformed Winchester case.
A.E. Mashburn of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, designed the .218 Mashburn Bee. In all likelihood it is the most popular of the modified Bees, even though it has the most severe case modification. The Bee case, for all practical purposes, has a 17-grain capacity, and since it matched the 2R Lovell for the same ballistics, loads and performance, and with brass readily available, the 2R Lovell was placed on the back burner while the Mashburn version enjoyed an upward trek on the popularity scale in the 250-yard class of smallbore cartridges.
Like the .22 Hornet and .22 K-Hornet, the .218 Mashburn Bee is easy to form as long as you have a rifle to do it in. Just pop a .218 Bee into a .22 Mashburn Bee chamber, pull the trigger and, voilà, you have a new cartridge. Of all the so-called Bee versions of improved cartridges, the Mashburn moves the shoulder forward quite a bit, but while fireforming over 200 cases, I found that neck and mouth splitting were held to a minimum if the rifle has correct chamber dimensions. I had four that split at the shoulder and two of them had twin splits within close proximity of each other. Annealing in all probability could help, but for only four cases (around 2 percent), I didn’t think it was worth the effort.
Just 17.0 grains of H-4198 fills Winchester fireformed cases almost to the top of the mouth.
Don’t expect this cartridge to be a barnburner; a modest 10 to 15 percent gain is just about right for this version over its parent. But if you’re looking for a wildcat that is easy to form, easy on the shoulder and just plain fun to shoot, the .218 Mashburn may be for you. Then again, if for some reason you get tired of this variation or run out of handloads, a few boxes of .218 Bee ammunition will put you back in business. Besides, you can always use more fireformed brass.
For a shopping list, purchase at least four boxes (200 cases) of factory ammunition or .218 Bee brass. I prefer the factory ammunition as this makes fireforming much easier in the initial stages of load development. Winchester is the sole supplier of brass and the only firm that produces it on a semi-regular basis.
Next a full-length die set is in order simply because the rifle will be forming it for you. I had RCBS forward a set of its number 56030, which is in the G group. The shellholder is RCBS No. 1 and Small Rifle primers like the CCI 400, BR-4 or Remington 71⁄2 Benchrest will fill the bill. No magnum primers are needed here, even if the weather turns cold.
With an ample supply of fired cases, I smoke a couple of cases with a candle so I can monitor the progression of the die as it works its way down the case neck. Then the die is secured to size the whole batch of cases. One nice thing about the improved Mashburn is overall length without the bullet measures the same as the parent .218 Bee – 1.340 inches.
After fireforming for the Mashburn, don’t be surprised if the case turns out to be only 1.320 to 1.322 inches in length. This is not surprising, as most “improved” cartridges are a bit shorter than the parent case after fireforming.
Except for the special-order dies, all the components are off-the-shelf products.
When working with a small case like the Mashburn, it’s a good idea to use the case lube very sparingly. The right amount of lubrication on the case should feel slightly tacky; anything more will lead to shoulder dents and/or neck splits.
After running a bunch of cases over the pad, place a small amount of case lube between your forefinger and thumb and go around the neck, keeping the lube at a minimum. Using a Q-tip, place a small amount of lubrication on the inside of every fifth case to aid in the withdrawal of the expander plug as it exits the case. With this technique, you’ll wind up with no damaged cases or dents when sizing.
Finding loads for the .218 Mashburn Bee took some research. While it does match the 2R Lovell, I like to find actual data pertaining to the cartridge I’m working with even if one closely matches it. To do otherwise would be foolhardy, especially when reloading ammunition.
Vintage books from authors like F.C. Ness, C.S. Landis, Parker Ackley and briefs from our own Ken Waters helped to define the parameters of this Mashburn and set me on the right track. If you don’t have access to any of these, starting out with basic .218 Bee data will put you in fine shape with room to grow upward to around 10 percent for starters. The data listed is safe, accurate and gives velocities that go hand in hand with the volume and overall size of the .218 Mashburn Bee at responsible distances.
Powders in the fast to medium category suit the .218 Mashburn Bee.
Powders included Alliant 2400 (which is great Hornet, K-Hornet or .218 Bee fodder), H-4198 and IMR-4227. All seem to fit this cartridge perfectly. Keep in mind, the .218 Mashburn Bee is a no-nonsense, .22-caliber cartridge that is capable of velocities from around 2,600 to 3,300 fps with lighter bullets and a slight drop in overall velocity with heavier bullets in the 50- to 55-grain class.
When loading small capacity cases like the Bee, care should be taken to see to all the details. For instance, some of the powder funnels made today seem to be just a little large for .22-caliber case mouths and especially for those with short necks. When this happens, small amounts of powder will fall outside the case. This can easily be verified by checking the inside of the tray you are using. Sometimes it can be as much as a full grain. The remedy is to use a .17-caliber funnel to make sure all the powder winds up in the case.
This group with a Hornady V-MAX bullet and H-4198 measured .185 inch.
Volume with different powders showed that 2400 filled the case between the shoulder and neck with 14.0 grains. Using 17.0 grains of H-4198 placed the powder volume halfway up the neck. On the other hand, 16.5 grains of IMR-4227 was easier to use and because of its almost spherical qualities (as opposed to the stick type H-4198) filled the case to the neck/shoulder juncture of the case. Some of the loads that run upward of 17.5 grains of H-4198 filled the case to the brim and were compressed, but I had no problems seating any of the bullets from Hornady or Nosler.
Bullets ran from the almost petite Nosler 40-grain Ballistic Tip to the 46-grain “Bee” bullet from Winchester. This is the same bullet used in factory loads sans the cannelure. From here I filled out the list with Hornady’s 50-grain V-MAX, which is a favorite in just about all my .22-caliber firearms, and the ever popular Nosler 55-grain Ballistic Tip. I have also listed the overall loaded length, which is the length that is comfortable in the Cooper rifle and allows the full neck length to grip the bullet.
Second place went to the 55-grain Nosler with a scant .370-inch cluster.
Looking at the table, the cartridge and the Cooper rifle did more than their part in this marriage. Alliant 2400 pushed a Nosler 40-grain Ballistic Tip over 3,147 fps with groups under an inch. For smaller, much lighter weight game, this just could be one of the best around for closer-range shooting. I’ve used the .218 Bee with a 40-grain bullet previously and, depending upon the powder, got velocities around 2,900 fps. So the 2400 load is an improvement.
In the 46-grain offerings, I used the Winchester “Bee” hollowpoint. With IMR-4227 I varied the loadsby .5 grain, each starting at 15.5, 16.0 and 16.5 grains. With the first selection, groups ran .695 inch at 3,039 fps. (This compares favorably to a load in the 2R Lovell that was quoted at around 3,260 fps.) With 16.0 grains, groups shrank to .495 inch with a mean velocity of 3,144 fps. Ackley quotes 3,242 with this same load. Finally, with 16.5 grains of IMR-4227, velocity increased to 3,233, but accuracy did suffer at .750 inch.
Since I started to see the beginnings of an extractor burnishing on the case head, I backed off and was more than happy with 16.0 grains. It’s more accurate anyway. Ackley published this load at 3,319, so again we’re close.
The 50-grain Hornady V-MAX was teamed with H-4198. With a starting load of 16.5 grains, groups fell into a boring routine of less than .5 inch at 100 yards. Seventeen grains did the same (around .495 inch), but when I turned to 17.5 grains, things did an about-face. This is a slightly compressed charge, so don’t panic when you fill the case.
The bullet seats easily, meaning there is a lot of air in the case with this propellant. This load at 2,956 fps turned in groups that averaged .185 inch – very impressive for a cartridge everyone seems to have forgotten. For the record, Ackley in his tome relates this load produced just about 3,300 fps. In the more common .218 Bee, I’ve gotten velocities of around 2,500 fps with groups that went slightly over an inch in a Ruger Model 77 with a 26-inch barrel.
Turning to Nosler again, I used its 55-grain Ballistic Tips. With 17.0 grains of H-4198 groups measured .680 inch with velocities around 2,800 fps. The final load of 17.5 grains was slightly compressed, hitting 2,878 fps (Ackley publishes this at 3,316 fps) with accuracy at .370 inch. I’ll take that any day.
The Cooper rifle and the improved Mashburn performed well time after time. The rifle is a joy to carry around considering it is a “varminter,” and combined with the Leupold 40x scope and a pocketful of Mashburn cartridges, it would be a great way to spend many a day stalking varmints in any part of the country. The loads took some time to research as not to err on the wrong side and, considering the effort, expense and fun, were indeed worth every minute.
To me any wildcat is worth it simply because you’ve separated yourself from the rest of the pack and struck out on your own. The .218 Mashburn Bee is a great place to start.
