Some years back, when I decided I wanted a semi-auto rifle to play around with and I didn’t have a lot of money, I went forth and bought a Chinese-made SKS rifle, one that was modified to take AK-pattern magazines and which had a black plastic folding stock. I thought it would be fun to play around with, and it was; I burned up a lot of cheap Russian 7.62x39mm ammo in it, a round which I remind the reader is not a mythical powerhouse but which has about the power level of a .30-30. As fun as it was, it would have had one serious shortcoming: It was a piece of crap. It wouldn’t group inside of a paper plate at 50 yards, and if one wanted to do an opponent an injury with that rifle, the preferred technique would be to grasp the weapon by the barrel and beat them over the head with it.
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Now, I told you that so I could tell you this: We now have details of the rifle Ryan Wesley Routh used in his attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump, and as usual, the media gets most of the details wrong.
The alleged gunman accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course had 11 rounds loaded in his assault rifle, federal prosecutors said Monday — as they revealed the first close-up photo of the weapon.
The image of the Soviet-designed SKS rifle that was found stashed in Ryan Wesley Routh’s alleged sniper’s nest at the West Palm Beach golf course on Sept. 15 was included in a detention memo filed Monday.
Hint: It’s not an “assault rifle.” This piece, if fitted with the original 10-round magazine, would have been perfectly legal under the ill-fated and idiotic 1994 “assault weapon” ban, and many SKS rifles with that original magazine were sold while that law was in effect.
But wait! There’s more!
The rifle has been modified with a detachable magazine, a modern stock and a scope to make it more accurate to shoot at long range.
The detachable magazine appears to be one made to replace the SKS’s fixed 10-round magazine. Unlike the copy I had, this doesn’t require a modification to the rifle itself. The magazine pictured appears to be a 30-rounder, which makes it a trifle puzzling as to why Routh only had 11 rounds loaded; perhaps that is all he had, but given that the only advantage the SKS offers is the rate of fire, one would think he would have loaded it all the way. Accuracy by volume is the only accuracy one can expect from this piece.
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The modern stock – again, a standard sporter stock, not one claimed as an “assault weapon” feature in any proposed or real legislation I’m aware of – does nothing to improve the accuracy of the piece. Of course, it is black and scary, unlike the cheap hardwood used as a standard issue for the SKS. And the scope – applying a scope on SKS does nothing to make the rifle inherently more accurate, although some shooters do better with optics than with iron sights, and the SKS’s issue sights are not terribly useful.
In summary, it appears Routh knows little or nothing about firearms. The sad thing is that much of the media seems to share that lack of knowledge.
Previously on RedState: NEW: Shocking Poll Finds 28 Percent of Democrats Wish Trump Had Been Assassinated
Donald Trump Concerned After Assassination Attempts: ‘I Have to Worry About Family’
Disturbing Details Revealed in New DOJ Filing on Ryan Routh Including Letter Written Months Prior
If Routh had been given the chance to fire on former President Trump, barring extreme luck, his only chance of a hit would have been to dump a lot of rounds in a hurry – which, fortunately, he didn’t seem prepared to do. And, again, kudos to the sharp-eyed agents who spotted his rifle barrel and engaged before he got a shot off.
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