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Stovepiping

Posted by ESC on September 12, 2004

STOVEPIPING - This term was used on "Sunday Morning," a TV news magazine on CBS, September 12, 2004. U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, used the term "stovepiping" in relation to the CIA/intelligence community.

Here's the term used in The New Yorker:

".A retired C.I.A. officer described for me some of the questions that would normally arise in vetting: 'Does dramatic information turned up by an overseas spy square with his access, or does it exceed his plausible reach? How does the agent behave? Is he on time for meetings?' The vetting process is especially important when one is dealing with foreign-agent reports-sensitive intelligence that can trigger profound policy decisions. In theory, no request for action should be taken directly to higher authorities-a process known as 'stovepiping'-without the information on which it is based having been subjected to rigorous scrutiny."

From "The Stovepipe: How conflicts between the Bush Administration and the intelligence community marred the reporting on Iraq's weapons. Issue of 2003-10-27. Posted 2003-10-20. Accessed September 12, 2004.

"Vetting" is "to subject to expert appraisal or correction." (Merriam-Webster.)

While I was googling, I found another meaning of "stovepiping" on a discussion page at Packing.org This use had to do with guns and bullets.

Response: (Stove piping) Is when the empty case is not totally ejected and the base (rim) gets caught by the slide slamming home. Looks like you are looking down a "stovepipe".

Response 2: A stovepipe is when the ejected shell doesn't get out of the way of the closing slide in time. This can be a dangerous situation. The shell hasn't ejected, the next round hasn't been chambered but it has frequently been scooped out of the mag. Keep the weapon pointed downrange and horizontal, keep your finger out of the trigger guard, drop and catch the magazine, retract the slide and catch the loose round if there is one. The spent shell may follow the loose round down the magazine tunnel or not. Carefully examine the loose round in case it got squashed. Don't use the spent shell for reloading. Stovepiping should occur almost never with factory bullets in a decent and clean/lubed gun that hasn't been toyed with. If it happens to you more than almost never then you have an actual problem you need to identify and correct.

Response 3: Stovepipes are often caused by "limp wristing" a firearm--failing to effectively control recoil, so that the gun is moving in the same direction as the ejecting case. If you experience stovepipes when firing one-handed, but not otherwise, be sure to take a crushing grip on your pistol, not a markman's hold.

There are also directions on the page about what to do if you're in a fire fight and your weapon "stovepipes." I thought you'd want to know.

www.packing.org/ news/article.jsp/6769 Accessed September 12, 2004.

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