They tell you that registration doesn’t lead to confiscation, but again, it’s a lie. The California Armed Prohibited Person System (APPS) is again under fire for mistakes and incorrect data. The story that’s making the rounds now is that of Michael Merritt, of Bakersfield, who had 18 weapons seized on November 5th for a “felony” from 1970, when he’d plead out a pot possession charge. The officers came with a printout of the charge under code 11910, which is no longer even on the books. Merritt didn’t remember pleading guilty to any felony . . .

saying “The jail time was like five weekends.” His wife told agents to come back with a warrant, and officers told her that they could do that but when they came back, Merritt was going to jail. Merritt said he had to get to work, so he let the agents take the guns. A couple weeks later, on November 21st, an agent called to tell him they’d made a mistake, and they were bringing his guns back. A spokesman for the Bureau of Firearms said mistakes like this are “rare.” I feel better hearing that, don’t you?

An Ohio Court of Appeals panel held that the Second Amendment individual right applies to carrying guns in cars, extending the findings of Heller and McDonald that dealt specifically with handguns in the home. According to The Volokh Conspiracy, “the view that the Second Amendment protects some sort of right to carry guns outside the home remains the minority view among post-Heller appellate courts, but it’s a substantial minority, and this decision adds to that minority.” Another step in the right direction.

A few days back I mentioned that I’d need to find a new place to have my car repaired, due to the recently installed “no guns” sign on the front door of my local Goodyear here in Orlando. Coincidentally, a day or so later there was an item in the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s regular email alert, noting that multiple people in VA had seen the new signs and contacted the company. So I thought I’d try my hand…

I am writing to let you know that following my recent visit to your Goodyear store at 2575 West Colonial in Orlando, I will no longer be doing business with your company. The reason for this is the large “No weapons permitted” sign that has recently been affixed to the front door. I have done a moderate amount of business with Goodyear over the years, buying several sets of tires as well as having other suspension and brake maintenance and repair performed. However, as a licensed concealed carry permit holder in the state of Florida, I consider Goodyear’s policy an affront to my right to keep and bear arms, as well as to my desire to carry a firearm for the protection of me and mine. While I jealously guard my rights, gun and otherwise, I am equally mindful of Goodyear’s right to permit or deny admission to their property to anyone they see fit. As such, I acknowledge Goodyear’s desire that myself and others like me no longer patronize their establishment, and I will oblige them by acceding to their wishes. Should Goodyear’s policy on this matter change in the future, I will consider reestablishing our business relationship.

In response, I received the same form letter that VCDL reported everyone in VA was getting…

Thank you for contacting our web site and for voicing your concerns. In an effort to ensure the safety and security of our associates and customers, we have had a clear company policy regarding weapons in the workplace, since 2004. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. prohibits all persons who enter Company property from carrying a handgun, firearm, or prohibited weapon of any kind onto the property regardless of whether the person is licensed to carry the weapon or not. Exceptions apply to on-duty law enforcement personnel. This policy applies to all Company employees, visitors, customers, and contractors on Company property — including our Company owned stores. All Company properties have received a decal or sign referencing this policy, and have been instructed to post it.
Lindsay
Goodyear customer service

So there’s that. That particular Goodyear store is directly across the street from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office headquarters, and that store does maintenance on both OCSO and Florida Highway Patrol cars on a regular basis, so I’m not real interested in testing their policy. I still get free lifetime rotate and balance on my installed tires, but other than leeching that service from them, I will not again darken their door as long as this policy remains in place.

MattV2099 inflicts some carnage on a 600+ page medical textbook with shotgun wax slugs. They’d make pretty alright body armor, but only if you use Spongebob duct tape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdyI4QDWTpA
 
Six young adults between the ages of 17 and 20 were charged with violations of malum prohibitum laws in Worcester, Massachusetts on Saturday for something that’s legal in most other states in the union. The vehicle they were riding in was pulled over for unspecified “motor vehicle violations” early Saturday morning, and the driver was found to not have a valid license. However, police also found 82 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition in the van, and so all six occupants—one 17, three 18, and two 20 years old—were charged with possession of ammunition without an FID card. Nothing like starting off your adult life with a firearms violation, hm?
 

Mosin Nagant Family Tree

Since we’re going into the weekend, here’s a longer video from Iraqveteran8888 discussing the history of the Finnish M39 Service Rifle, derived from the Mosin Nagant 91. The photo above gets big. Clicky.

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RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

95 COMMENTS

  1. I really want to buy a mosin but have no idea where to start or what to get or how to tell quality from crap any suggestions

    • Enter the word “mosin” in the search bar to the right. Ralph did an excellent series on the gun.

    • Ralph, a regular character on this site has some very usefull articles about the mosins. go to the gun reviews page and look them up. Good place to start. I love the mosins myself.

      • Also, on a good note, I finally got around to putting crosslinks to the other two parts of the review at the bottom of each piece. It’s only been a little over two years since they were written, but better late than never, right?

      • I’m with this guy. Plenty of places have arsenal-refinished very good-to-excellent Mosins in the $100-$130 range. At that price, how far wrong can you go? Just buy one! The first one you get is a shooter. Then you can worry about finding “collectible” ones.

        Just be careful, because Mosin Fever strikes about one in three Mosin owners, and you end up with a dozen of the damn things… There is no cure, but repeated exposure to cosmoline can help with the worst of the symptoms.

      • Yeah, do it. Make sure the bore is clean and get it. Matching numbers are nice.

        I just got a 1931 Tula a few weeks ago that I can’t wait to find the time to clean up and shoot.

        I already had a 1943 Izhevsk that I welded a bent bolt on to and am going to sporterize (shut up. 1943), so I wanted another to keep in totally original condition.

        Next up: carbine length something.

        • Bwahahaha.

          I got to “am going to sporterize” and thought, “Aw, God no…” and then made it to “(shut up. 1943)” and thought, “Oh. Yeah. Right. Carry on.”

          Well done, sir.

      • I love all of mine. Just bought another today – found a matching Tula with a hex receiver at the gun show.

        Is gun of glorious Soviet Union!

    • I recently got another rifle safe just for Mosin rifles, because they refuse to play nicely with ARs and such. My fave — the M44. It’s rude, crude, raucous and shooting it is about the most fun a guy can have standing up. I even managed to infect Greg in Allston with Mosinitis, and I’m not apologizing for it!

      If you want to collect Mosins or any other WW2 firearms, consider getting a FFL03 (Curio & Relic) license. It’s cheap and easy, and you’ll be able to shop online and have your Mosins delivered right to your door.

      Nick published an easy guide to getting your own 03 license. Get yours and you’ll be happy you did.

      • My T53 is my favorite gun. Got it off gunbroker for $130 with a horrible scarred stock and a pristine bore. Duracoated it FDE and installed a free floated Boyd pepper stock so now it looks like a Ruger Guide Gun. The iron sights are dead on and I love the carbine length. It cycles even better than my 1923 hex 91/30, and the ammo is cheap as heck. Not mine but close:

        http://oi59.tinypic.com/280tc89.jpg

    • I think one of the best ways to start into the Mosin obsession is simply to jump in with both feet and go for it. When I bought mine several years ago they were still $99 with all the goodies. It was purely an impulse buy when I walked into a local gun store (aka LGS) and saw a big crate from mother Soviet-State-Something filled with them. I picked out a nice one and had it rung up.

      I mean, honestly, it is nearly unbelievable that you can still get a one of the main battle rifles of WWII, for such a low price, with ammo that is equally as inexpensive. You hold a real piece of WWII history in your hands for under $200. For inspiration, watch “Enemy at the Gates” which co-stars the Mosin, in its sniper rifle configuration, which amounted to Ivan simply picking out the best factory made Mosins he could find and slapping a scope on them.

      Once you go through the experience of coaxing all the many decades-old cosmoline out of it, which is a project in itself, and clean the bore out, then taker her out and shoot it a while.

      For me the most important part was really getting the bolt and chamber area clean via various methods, including putting a 12 guage brush on a drill chuck and really cleaning the bore well with a power drill on low setting.

      Then, I polished all the bolt areas that contact metal with a dremel and some metal polish.

      As a result, the bolt is smooth as silk and no bolt binding issues, as is common to many new Mosin owners who don’t take the time to really clean it up well.

      If after all that you are obsessed with Mosins and want to go nuts trying to buy every possible variant and model year, etc. there is a whole world of fun waiting for you.

      I cut myself off at a 91/30 and a M44, but then again, there was that Vietnam battlefield pick=up, the Chinese variant of the M44, and then that other 91/30, but honest, that was it.

    • There’s a facebook group called mosin nagant…they know all, basically stay away from wartime guns if you want “high quality” but they are all still very functional.

      Matching numbers guns tend to be the smoothest and most accurate, original matching, not “force matched” where they cross out or grind off an old serial

    • Agree, read through the TTAG series and go through the rack. Bring a light to shine down the barrel and a head space gauge to test the bolt. If both pass then you’re pretty much good. Have fun!

      • For what it’s worth, I paid the $50 for the 3-pack of headspace gauges from Okie, and while I’m not at all sorry that I did it, I also have yet to find a Mosin (that I was interested in buying) that didn’t pass, so I’m not sure it’s absolutely necessary. Maybe some of the rougher-looking Mosins that I’ve passed up might not have passed, but they all had other issues that kept me from wanting to buy them to begin with, so they never got checked.

        • The mosins were not just picked up off the battlefield and dumped in a warehouse. The Russians had painfull experience of invasion and the communist party had need of full employment. With the exception of war trophys brought back from Korea and Viet nam the Mosins we get packed in cosmo went thru a complete factory rebuild before being stored. They’re basically new rifles. Best bargain in town.

          My Russian SKS was the same. I researched the markings and found that my 1951 rifle had undergone a complete rebuild before being stored. I got it for 99 bucks.

    • I do love my Mosin. It was my first surplus rifle and, consequently, my “test bed” for my non-mechanical modifications.

  2. Is it wrong that I got an erection looking at that picture chart of Mosins? Never mind if it’s wrong. I don’t want to be right.

  3. That M38 Bulgarian marked was always a bit different than the other little guns, always marching to it’s own drummer.
    LOL

  4. “Exceptions apply to on-duty law enforcement personnel.”

    So people who you know you can trust to safely carry a firearm are prohibited, yet those who demonstrate time and time again that they have neither the training nor the judgement to safely carry a firearm are allowed. Typical.

    • It’s good business practice, I’m thinking.

      Cops are much more likely to leave their M&Ps and Glocks in the can than your average CC’er. That’s some fine outside revenue!

  5. So Goodyear does not welcome armed off-duty or retired officers? I too can take my business elsewhere. Besides, Goodyear has never been my first choice in rubber. Or service! The very worst service I’ve ever received was from a Goodyear store.

    • Q: How many Goodyear service techs does it take to change a bulb?

      A: Only one, but first they’ll replace the switch, battery and socket.

  6. Lindsay from Goodyear didn’t really address your concerns, but rather related what you already knew. Although I guess you weren’t seeking info from them, just expressing your view. I hope they get a lot of emails like that. I always wonder if these big companies realize how many people carry and how zealous they are about their right to do so.

      • Maybe if you write back, you can get together with Lindsay for some drinks and lay on the Floridian charm. The true story may be but a few mai-tais away.

  8. Like many other businesses, Goodyear is taking a “workplace violence policy” and mistakenly applying it to their customers also. No Goodyear, I don’t work for you, you are not my boss. If you fear me so much I will honor your wishes and stay out of your stores.

    I suppose if they hung a sign that says, “No coloreds allowed” then that would be OK too? Civil rights is civil rights.

    • If they’re stupid enough to think that sign will reduce workplace violence then I think the problem isn’t just that they’re applying it to customers.

  9. No guns allowed signs in places without metal detectors are really more like no guns suggestions.

        • Or having a company vehicle and living in a rural area… Goodyear is the only place I can take my vehicle for service, so really my company is financially supporting them.

        • Also, I live in Texas where only the proper signage holds the weight of law, and I know for a fact the Goodyear I take my company vehicle to doesn’t have the proper signage. So, like I said, it’s just a suggestion.

  10. In addition to the fact that Goodyear attempts to impose its own corporate policies upon its franchises, its owners and customers thereof, I would point out that you should NEVER, EVER, patronize any auto repair establishment that works on a commission system. Simply put, the more they ‘find’ wrong with a car, regardless of whether anything is actually wrong, the more money they make, should the customer unwittingly agree to pay. Don’t fall for it. Speaking from personal experience, same goes for Firestone.

    Their tires are for the most part just fine. It’s just that their corporate policies suck, and endanger the customer. Your money is best spent elsewhere, pure and simple.

    Tom

  11. Six young adults charged with firearms violation….without firearms.
    I……..But……..How………Why…….? 🙁

    • It’s MA. The police work sucks in that state for the most part. They charge everyone in a vehicle or in the area with whatever charge one person is going to receive. It really screws kids over for no reason. It also keeps the revenue flowing when the kids plea the charges down to fines. It is not just like that for guns, it is like that for everything. If your buddy has pot in the car and you don’t know it? Guess what? You get charged too. It’s lazy police work and they have the judges attempt to sort it out when they appear in court.

      Hey kid, want to join the Army? Oh ooops, you have a weapons charge and we can’t waiver that!

    • I would like to ask the cop that charged these guys if he feels like he “did something” to prevent crime or was he just hoping for future job security if these guy have to steal shit because they can’t find a job?

    • Here’s hoping a smart lawyer up there takes this bullcrap all the way to the Supreme court, and they finally rule that having to get special government permission to exercise a right is, in fact, infringement.

  12. keep all your stray ammo in a locked container to prevent such casual problems. Including casings and components

      • If it were in a locked container the police would not have had any legal authority to open the container and find the ammo.

        • You act as if the law will protect you from overzealous police officers. But I do agree with you. MOST cops won’t check a locked container because it isn’t worth the hassle.

  13. Let’s look on the bright side of the Merritt case. They gave his guns back. They could have said you are clear to buy new ones but as for these you are SOL.

    On Goodyear, why would you go there? I get my tires from Tire Rack and have a trusted garage mount them for me. For all you Northern Virginians that would Eurowerks for VW-Audi or the Japan Auto Repair on Lee Highway.

    • My last two sets of tires (prior to current ones) came from Tire Rack. One set I mounted and balanced myself (I worked in a shop) and one set I paid someone. When I went to get my current set (same model/size as the previous ones) Goodyear stomped all over Tire Rack’s price. It wasn’t even in the same ballpark. That’s the only reason I got them there.

    • You must live out by me TDI, I’ve been taking my BMW to Bill’s shop off of 29 for years. Absolutely the most honest and trusted shop owner I’ve ever met.

  14. “2575 West Colonial in Orlando”

    aehmm….that is way too close to (Crime)Pine Hills not to be carrying.

    Matt,

    Good to see that we are almost neighbors….I will have to hit you up for some local info in the future. Are you a member on FSN?

    Having just recently moved to this portion of the state, I have spent far more time at with my nailguns and bradnailers, remodeling the house, than any of my other guns. I could use some pointers to your favorite ranges, LGS, etc.

    To my surprise, I am really liking the Mills50/LittleVietnam/IvanhoeVillage area…add to that, at the first neighborhood meeting I attended, obvious pro-gun folks, while not in an obvious majority, didn’t hold back stating their opinions. Nor did anyone go all MIAG/MDA in response either. In what could easily (albeit incorrectly i guess) stereotyped as a left/liberal crowd that lives in the area, it (pleasantly) surprised me a bit.

    The shit storm that was unleashed when someone posted to the neighborhood socialmedia site, that one should not be posting the race of a suspicious person(s) or alleged criminal, was rather epic when considering that the usual topics hardly stray from garage sales and lost pets. LOL

  15. Be a shame if a few loose rounds hopped into unoccupied MA yuppy European luxury sedans -preferably ones with donkey stickers on the back. Let them pay for the trip to the big DC courthouse to get the conviction thrown out and the law overturned.

  16. Sorry I’ve never been able to warm up to any Mosin ,they are crudely put together and a crappy trigger. If I want crude in a rimmed cartridge, I’ll go for an Enfield ,better accuracy and much better finish. Also a faster action and a 10rd magazine.

    • Not true.

      Granted, during the war years finish was not a priority but they still worked well enough to kill a whole lotta Germans, Austrians and other baddies.

      The older ones are works of art, and one and all – old or “new” – have stories to tell.

    • And the Finn captured and reworked ones are a serious collectible from a nation of riflemen that put a serious hurt on the Russians. Sako and Tikka barrels, as well as Belgian and SIG. I have an M39 and while the sights can’t touch an M1/M14, a guy on one if the milsurp fora makes a taller narrower front post and a peep blade which improves sight picture dramatically. Will be fun to load cast for it!! I’m tempted to try black powder too…

    • Oswald, you’re comparing apples to baseballs here. An Enfield is now around $400 with a decent hand selected Mosin running you about $130. Enfield surplus ammo is gone. Mosin ammo, even factory new stuff is all over. Surplus 54r is all over the internet and at any gun show near you. Enfield ammo costs 30x as much. The last box of. 303 I found was for $30, for 20. Spam can (440 rounds) of surplus 54r is still around $90. That’s just under 5 cents as compared to $1.50 dollar a round. Unless you get an Enfield in .308 somewhere (Ishapore), the point of a Mosin is cheap ammo, fun to fire. Not a safe queen.

      Yes it’s crude, but that’s it’s beauty. It’s crude and tough, but also fairly accurate. It takes a lot to blow up a Mosin or get one to fail.

      • I’ve had 2 of the .308 Ishapore enfields. They both patterned like a shotgun. The .303 models usually shoot better, imho. Ammo costs are truly amazing for 54r. It’s easier and cheaper than .22 now.

  17. Meanwhile criminals everywhere are now beginning to plan on robbing Goodyear stores across the nation.

    • Criminals, like most people, project their own paradigm of seeing the world unto others. Your average criminal pays no attention to those signs, so they don’t register for him. Spree killers and the like are a different animal, but most common criminals are not going to think far enough ahead to decide to rob a goodyear store instead of the place next door because of that sign.

      If they could think that hard they’d probably be somewhere else in life.

  18. I have had that Mosin family tree blown up to poster size on the wall on my office for two years.

    It gets some odd looks…

  19. You migt want to clarify the Goodyear notice posting. The paragraphs make it sound like a Goodyear located next to the Orange County Virginia Sheriff’s office which was announced in a VCDL alert. Living in Orange County, the only things near the Sheriff’s office is a water tower, the animal shelter, and the dump. Only at the end did it mention Florida. Source: I live in that Virginia county.

    • Well, I did mention Orlando in the very first sentence of my letter to Goodyear, and I am Matt in FL, but I added a couple words anyway. Never let it be said I’m not a people-pleaser.

  20. Speaking of mosins how in the heck do people clean these rifles? That cleaning rod is useless. I use a bore snake pour windex down the barell and pull the snake through like 40 times and it just doesn’t get clean. It doesn’t seem to care how much gun cleaner I use it stays dirty. I’m really worried my barrel will rust.

    • I bought two gun cleaning kits to make the rods long enough to go all the way thru. then I broke the gun down…Then I cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned some more until I got all the cosmoline out of the barrel using hoppes solvent and brass barrel brushes and a truckload of patches.. I even had to replace the brass barrel brushes a couple of times.. My mosin barrel is mirror finish clean. then started on the bolt, trigger, and mag Next I sweated the stock with a heat gun until all the cosmoline was out of the wood then stained and tru-oiled it….. It’s a bitch for sure. The trick is to NOT shoot it until you clean the shit out of it.. clean it like its radio active…and after you shoot it, clean it the same day..

  21. On the Goodyear issue: Speaking as a Florida lawyer, if Goodyear materially changed its terms after you bought your tires — and now disarms you on their premises, (or did not adequately give you notice of those terms in the contract of sale) then you may have a right to sue for “fundamental breach” or the refund of your purchase price since they are denying you the ability to receive the contracted service except upon a post-contractual or non-contract condition that you surrender your right to effective self-defense.

    A more effective response would be for all gun owners so affected by Goodyear who have the lifetime rotation guarantee to each sue Goodyear in small claims court for refund of the purchase price of the tires. Filing fees here are in the neighborhood of $100 or so for those amounts of claim and recoverable if you win. That will make a more effective statement and a more serious inducement for them to reconsider the policy — because it will be costing them something more than mere PR baggage. At the very least they will spend far more just sending a lawyer to contest it than the original price of the set of tires. Big margin hit.

    Just a few thoughts from the Cracker backwoods of Old North Florida…

    • Well, according to their letter, this has been their policy for almost a decade, so I don’t think there’s a breach of contract issue to be had. Just the sticker on the door is new to me (and apparently to people in Virginia, since this has cropped up there recently). As I noted when I originally mentioned this, there has always been a “no guns” sign at that store. It was just an old white plastic sign, yellowed with age, sitting on the back counter against the wall, half-hidden behind the laser printer. As such, it was easy to ignore. Its placement almost made it seem like it was a half-hearted effort, mandated by the insurance company or whatever, but that they really didn’t much care. The new stickers/signs being sent to all the stores indicates they take it seriously, and therefore so will I, by declining to do business with them.

  23. Merritt should have forced them to get a warrant, and then called a lawyer on his way to work.

    I believe in law and order, but law and order MUST APPLY TO COPS just like everyone else.

    Most cops are great guys. A few are jerks with a gun and authority. Sometimes cops attempt to intimidate people into complying with bullshit.

    I had a cop try to charge me with reckless driving just because he felt that I cut him off in traffic. IMO, he was using his badge to get back at a perceived insult. A lawyer fixed that problem.

    • I agree about the warrant, but people who have no experience with the legal system are deathly afraid of it, and cops take advantage of that ignorance. That threat that “he’s going to jail if we have to come back” was pure intimidation. Could they have taken him to jail? Probably; they can always find a reason, even if it’s unsupported. Would they? We’ll never know.

      • I feel like a cop saying “if we have to get a warrant, we’re going to arrest you” is threatening, and should be illegal. Isn’t there some sort of provision against unnecessary threats of force against individuals? “Put down the knife or I’ll shoot you” seems like a reasonable threat; “answer my question or I’ll beat you up” does not, along with the warrant = arrest threat.

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