Gun Guys Yet Again

We have this fine report, thanks to the gun guys:

Some choice quotes from a South Carolina newspaper, “The Herald” about the availability of AK-47 assault rifles:

David’s Pawn Shop [advertises] the weapons on its marquee, “AK-47s Now In Stock.” Owner David Dresner said he started selling the Romanian-made weapon recently… “We’ve sold a bunch of them,” Dresner said, estimating he sells four or five AK-47s each week. “I’ve been surprised at how well they’ve sold.”

Dresner said the AK-47 he sells is a semi-automatic rifle just like the ones used by Iraqi police allied with U.S. troops in the Middle East. It looks similar to the famed Russian AK-47, a fully automatic machine gun made popular during the Cold War.

But for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction:

Locally, Lt. Les Herring of the Rock Hill Police Department said several shell casings from the high-powered rifles have turned up at crime scenes recently.

First, we'll ignore the fact that these are not assault rifles. An assault rifle is a select fire (meaning can shoot both semi-auto and full-auto) rifle that fires bullets from an intermediate powered cartridge.

Just so people reading here know what we're talking about, lets have a look at the "power" of various rifle cartridges (typical) starting small and working our way up (data from www.remington.com):

1. .223 Remington / 5.56 Nato - used in the M16 and AR-15 - an actual Assault Rifle round. Some typical values:
Bullet weight: 55 grs (grains)
Muzzle Velocity: 3240 ft/s
Muzzle Energy: 1282 ft-lbs

2. 7.62x39 - used in the AK-47 and SKS - an actual Assault Rifle round. Some typical values:
Bullet weight: 125 grs
Muzzle Velocity: 2365 ft/s
Muzzle Energy: 1552 ft-lbs

3. .30-30 Winchester - used in the Winchester model 1894 - arguably responsible for the most deer taken in the United States by hunters than any other cartridge. Fairly low-powered among modern hunting rifles. Considered by many to be underpowered for Elk hunting.
Bullet weight: 150 grs
Muzzle Velocity: 2390 ft/s
Muzzle Energy: 1902 ft-lbs

4. .308 Winchester - used in the M1A, the modern version of the M1 Garand, and in the M24, which is the standard sniper rifle used by the US Army. Also a very popular hunting and target shooting cartridge. Excellent cartridge for deer, elk, and black bear.
Bullet weight: 180 grs
Muzzle Velocity: 2620 ft/s
Muzzle Energy: 2743 ft-lbs

5. .30-06 Springfield - used in the M1 Garand in WWII, the US Army's standard infantry rifle of the era. One of the most popular hunting rifle cartridges of all time. Excellent cartridge for deer, elk, and black bear. This is what my Grandpa hunted with:
Bullet weight: 180 grs
Muzzle Velocity: 2700 ft/s
Muzzle Energy: 2913 ft-lbs

6. .300 Winchester Magnum - Very popular big game hunting cartridge. This is what your humble author hunts with. Excellent cartridge for deer, elk, black bear, moose, and adequate for grizzly bear:
Bullet weight: 180 grs
Muzzle Velocity: 2960 ft/s
Muzzle Energy: 3501 ft-lbs


The last three of the six cartridges listed can be considered "high powered." Let's have a rundown of the muzzle energy (how "power" of a cartridge is typically measured) of those cartridges:

1. .223/5.56: 1282 ft-lbs !! Assault Rifle Cartridge !!
2. 7.72x39: 1552 ft-lbs !! Assault Rifle Cartridge !!
3. .30-30: 1902 ft-lbs
4. .308: 2743 ft-lbs
5. .30-06: 2913 ft-lbs
6. .300wm: 3501 ft-lbs

Now remember that when a gun-grabbing idiot talks about "high powered" assault rifles. Especially when they talk about the DC-sniper shootings. The survivors of those shootings owe their lives to the fact that the snipers were NOT using high powered rifles in their attempted murders.