RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - NOVEMBER 2002

Co-worker is ex-Marine and gives further tips. Starting with Ishapore at 25 yards, with three 1"-center targets as usual. First string pretty wild, but second nice except for one flyer. Third, disappointing. Fresh targets.

Fourth, still no good. Restroom break. Uh! Forgot fluids! Also, recurring sore throat. Brought cough drops, at least, and some candy bars and crackers still in range bag from previous trips.

String five, some hits. Much harder to achieve NPOA from bench, with more muscles in play, than in prone, with more muscles out of use on the ground - but I've moaned about the unsuitability of English Pit before.

Recoil tolerance holding. Extraction with Hirtenberger not as sticky as last time.

Three chargers of Hirtenberger remaining; replaced fourth and fifth targets. String six, pretty bad. Seven, better but low, where I was aiming, instead of where they've been going, about 8MOA above point of aim. Eight, still disappointing. Last of the Hirtenberger I brought, 100 rounds on chargers in bandolier at home.

Co-worker currently has no firearms, has not fired a rifle in many years, and is only watching for this trip. Tired from work; cold in Oregon in November; less prepared than some other trips. Only 40 rounds fired, confirming that I need a proper rear sight on the Ishapore, and lots more practice, and new glasses and a haircut. Packed it in about 3pm. Rather a disappointing session but it was only $4, and I kept my recoil tolerance up. Any practice is better than none.

I had some feeding problems with the Ishapore this time. I have an aftermarket magazine, I'll try that instead of the 36-year-old original.

(Sigh) It would take me forever to save up for an M1A. And, of course, I would want mine Pre-Ban, with a bayonet lug and flash hider, so that's a couple hundred more.

69 - Sunday, 3 November 2002: Paranoid about the monthly-payment thing, I squeezed out another $15 payment for the second VZ, should be able to pick it up this Friday.

Apparently the health insurance is $39 per pay period, not per month. Phooey. Also, it seems I would have to pay for the first $5,000 worth of anything that happened to me, which would pretty much wreck me financially anyway. Why bother with health insurance at all? The rich don't need it and for the poor, it's usually pointless, since it won't cover enough to make a difference. Probably government's fault, like most economic troubles. Regulations, restrictions, etc. raising the insurance companies' costs, which they pass on to their policy holders as increased rates and reduced benefits. I may opt out.

Forgot to bring along my ballot to drop off when I visited the Library. Will stop there Monday. The Library itself is closed Mondays but they open the lobby for a drop-box.

Forecast now stormy for Saturday, may miss both Barberton and 33rd Armory shows. :(

70 - Monday, 4 November 2002: Dropped off my ballot as planned. No telling if it will be counted. I remember a couple years back when I stopped at the county election office to change my registration from independent to Republican, I got this weird look from the election official I handed the form to. People do not automatically become professional and unbiased if you give them a government paycheck. Good thing I wasn't wearing an activism t-shirt, or camouflage; the official at the Library today might have surreptitiously removed and discarded my implicitly-other-than- Democrat ballot.

Yes, that's a baseless allegation - but unfortunately not completely baseless. Dig this recent story about Janet Reno, chief chef at the Waco bar-b-q and CEO of Commie Day-Care Intl., blocking an effort to deploy observers at polling places to help prevent vote fraud. And, just a few weeks ago, the self-same Jackboot Janet was complaining about... vote fraud, when she lost the primary election for Governor of Florida to... another Democrat.

She must be at or near the top of fifty thousand target lists. When the next civil war starts, she's a %$#!ing grease spot - and a very good riddance it will be.

(I don't have a list. I figure plenty of targets will be coming to me, and will keep me too busy to fantasize about "aesthetically deleting" (Heinlein, To Sail Beyond the Sunset) their bosses.)

Except for the second VZ, now only $18.99 remaining counting gun-tax, I must not buy any more weapons until I have a motor vehicle. I repeat this for my own benefit. (Okay, I can think of two exceptions: a Romanian .22 trainer in Big 5's expected-soon year-end surplus-rifle clearance, or a third VZ with its desirable Czech-built large-ring ‘98 Mauser action for $59.99 or less. I can't think of any other realistic opportunity that I couldn't live without.)

Rent should be really-and-for-true caught up by this Friday; should be able to apply significant portion of next paycheck, 22nd, to truck fund. When it hits $500 I'll talk to my engineer friends and start looking, as I keep adding to it. There's a beater pickup - a ‘79 Datsun - parked just a couple blocks up the street from me, marked for sale at $375 but described as needing work - but, I probably don't want to buy a large, stealable item from an apartment-complex denizen in this, same, neighborhood, and with expert assistance I can probably find a better deal anyway.

Let me get this straight - you can't buy a car without insurance, and you can't buy insurance unless they know what car it's for? That must be for collision insurance. Basic liability, required by Oregon law, must apply to the driver regardless of what vehicle is being driven - and that's all I'm going to get, because I can only afford a beater, and the cost to repair any damage to the vehicle after an accident would likely exceed the amount I paid, thus "totaling" the beater. Too, I'm not planning on causing any accidents, so theoretically someone else's insurance would be paying for hypothetical repairs to or replacement of my hypothetical beater.

Hm- there are also political considerations when buying insurance. Some insurance companies have demonstrated anti-gun and anti-gunowner habits. Some have even arbitrarily ended existing coverage for gun owners, because they were gun owners. Will have to review old usenet posts from rec.guns on this subject, when I reach that financial bridge. I do recall that a local Farmer's Insurance agency had a table at a big Expo gun show a year or so ago, about the time some of those stories were being pumped through the gunfolk grapevine.

Weather forecast lousy.

71 - Tuesday, 5 November 2002: No stomach for election coverage.

Hours for work this weekend being revised, looks like late night on Saturday and Sunday, no early-morning stuff. Could make both gun shows if not for weather.

Making the rounds of the gunfolk mailing lists, a detailed account of blacksuits harassing innocent gunfolk in relation to the defense-free crime zone our government has created in the D.C. metro area. Cameras are to fascists as sunlight is to vampires.

Found article on installing Mojo's Phase III dual-aperture sights on a Mosin M44, including very good photo of sight picture. If they made it for the SMLE I'd order one Friday evening - so why don't they?

Tuned in for weather, got non-stop election coverage. RINO Mannix barely leading for Governor; Commie Bradbury conceded to RINO Smith for Senate. Could be worse I guess. Libertarian Cox with 5% of vote for Governor. Sigh. NewsBarbie on-the-scene at Mannix headquarters, surrounded by restrained, well-dressed, quiet Republicans, describes crowd as "rowdy." A couple minutes of that is enough.

72 - Friday, 8 November 2002: Rent caught up! Got the second VZ before the rain set in. Initial inspection shows it in similar condition to the first; will clean and more thoroughly inspect it over the weekend, it's waited this long, it can wait a couple more days. No Mauser bayonets at Big 5, where they probably would have been overpriced anyway. Several grungy M4s for the M1 Carbine, of which they sell a new-made Israeli copy; also, what looked like brand new Garand bayonets (Big 5 used to carry the infamous Century Arms rebuilt Garands), the kind with a pin for the front of the gas cylinder instead of a muzzle ring, in German-made M8A1 scabbards, $29.99 as I recall.

(No. No, no, no! Bad hoploholic! You don't have a Garand and it will likely be at least half a year before you do, if ever! Besides, you'll probably get a better deal at a gun show....)

So we have another commie governor, not that there would have been much difference if anti-gun, pro-tax RINO Mannix had won. I'm considering writing an open letter to Mannix, CC'd to the Oregonian's op-ed page and the Oregon GOP headquarters, explaining why this registered Republican voted for Cox. If I do I'll certainly share it here.

Commie or RINO incumbents in Federal Congress and state legislature. Sigh.

So, do I want to get up early enough to make the Barberton show at a decent time if it's not raining, or should I figure it's going to rain anyway, and I'll be up late working, so I should just sleep in? ...The latter, I think; Barberton's quite the trek in good weather. If the weather is adequate I still hope to make the 33rd Armory show on Sunday, though I could/might go Saturday too - admission good both days.

73 - Saturday, 9 November 2002: Yup - raining.

Okay - time to start cleaning and evaluating the second VZ. Reblued where the receiver crest was ground off, of course, but not as deeply as the first (see September section, entry #38); must have had more use before being sold to Century. No serial number on bolt; partial number under bolt handle does not match receiver, which is numbered 2xxx followed by "T₄". Above that is "E3 (lion) 38".

This one is more dinged than the other, but not too much. Rust under barrel bands again; locknut on rear band lower screw again. Magazine floorplate unmarked, again. Action screws not replaced with new. Locking screws present but loose. Not as much cosmoline in/on this one.

Bore rusty! Many strokes with .38 pistol brush, since I don't have an 8mm rifle brush and the .30 brushes I have don't feel tight enough. A couple dozen gunk-saturated patches later it's starting to look like a rifle bore, with rifling even, but I'll keep working on it before firing. Just barely closes on a Forster 1.8803" No-Go gauge - well, now that I have two I might rebarrel one anyway, maybe build up a NATO-caliber Mauser like I mused about back in August (entry #4). MidwayUSA now offers an "Affordable Gunsmithing" catalog, with tools and such for just that sort of project. Still, I think I'll fire this one at least a few times - it should be safe - before starting to change things.

Got back from work around 11:30pm. Hope to get up early enough to get to an ATM, then still make transfers to reach 33rd Armory show just after opening.

74 - Sunday, 10 November 2002: Crap! Big 5 has VZ24s for $59.99 again! Only $15 to put one on 90-day layaway. Crap! The counter guy said they had four in stock. Crapcrapcrap!

I'll take a close look Tuesday. If they're not sold out by then I'll... put down money for a third.

Made it to the Armory show without difficulty. Found Cruffler, traded him five Garand clips I picked up at the OAC show for ten Mosin chargers out of a pile he got as part of some deal. Bought: activism t-shirt, $6, image of Bill of Rights overstamped in government red, "VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW"; 20 rounds Wolf brand 9-pellet 00 buckshot, 12 gauge of course (really must dust off 590 and practice with it, now that I've got some recoil tolerance), $2.95/10; and one box of the Winchester white-box .357/110, $11.95, about a buck less than even Bi-Mart's coupon book. No Mosin ammo in evidence, or at least not the kind I wanted - no problem, huge Expo show next weekend. One vendor had a table full of bayonets but most were authenticated for collection purposes, and accordingly more expensive; I just want some generic ‘98 Mauser blade. Can likewise wait until big Expo show.

Oh I can't believe I just did that! Looking ahead to Christmas shopping, I went to Dixie Gun Works' site to see if certain items I remembered being on sale still were. (The one in particular is and I hope to have it ordered in time for Christmas delivery; probably next paycheck.) While browsing I also ordered the latest catalog, only $5 and worth four times as much as a reference book even if you never order a single thing from it - buuuut, DGW's been expanding their online catalog, putting more stuff on the website for online ordering, and I stumbled across another sale item, a reproduction Model 1840 officer's sword, commonly used by both sides in the War Between the States, for $29.99.

And I ordered it! For myself! What was I thinking?

Ah, well - if you don't spend money on yourself once in a while, you go nuts. And, the truck fund grew significantly with the surplus from the cash I withdrew for the Armory show, so I don't feel too guilty.

Got back from work about 8:45pm. Hiked all over convention center pushing a pallet jack, shoes falling apart; fortunately Big 5 has some for $12 with a coupon, will likely get some after work tomorrow - hm, may take cleaning rod, headspace gauge, etc. tomorrow if I'm stopping there anyway. Meanwhile I've got a regular, and probably longer than regular, Monday to get through with sore feet.

Oh, I still can't believe I ordered that sword. That was irresponsible. The truck fund may suffer a reversal, but should still keep a net gain. Won't be getting much at the big Expo show next weekend, probably just Mosin ammo, maybe a battlepack of NATO if it's cheap enough, and 1¼" slings if I can find them. Probably shouldn't go at all but I like to at least look. Also, the Cruffler says there's a guy at the big show who sells VZ bayonets for about $10. At least my next check should be respectable, with this weekend overtime pay, but that's the week after the Expo show. If the weather's lousy I may not go after all; since it's hard to get there on a weekend on Tri-Met until the new light-rail line is complete, I would want to bike there (and it's easier to haul the loot back on a bike with a luggage rack and panniers, than trying to cram it all into one daypack and carrying it on a bus).

Oh yeah - at the little Armory show I saw an FEG GP35. Looked Excellent if not NIB (there was a box), marked $215 with two "15-round" magazines (originals are 13-14 rounds). Staked front sight, and I understand there's not a lot of room to cut a dovetail in that design. Also these sights were lower-profile than I remember the others being, much like a USGI M1911A1; maybe different vintage from the others I saw. I think the restyled Arcus has fully-dovetailed sights.

75 - Monday, 11 November 2002: Veterans' Day! Formerly Armistice Day. I have sometimes regretted not having served my country, but... I'm not sure this is my country anymore. If I survive the next civil war I'll consider matters more thoroughly.

Hoploholic indeed. Picked out the best VZ - they had five, and were closing a sale on a sixth as I reached the store - and put it on layaway. $59.00, not $59.99. Just too good a deal to pass up, for a standard-dimension, Czech-quality, large-ring ‘98 Mauser.

Of more use, got the $12 Chinese-made shoes. Enough time left on bus transfer to go to laundromat and back so 1) I don't have to hike or bike in the rain and 2) I won't exacerbate my recurring back pain by hoisting the bike out of the apartment.

And, yes, OW. Must have hiked at least five miles, maybe ten, back-and-forth through the mostly-cement-floored bowels of the Oregon Convention Center, towing loaded pallet jacks. No wonder my shoes are falling apart. The resulting pain in my size-11s makes me walk funny, and that makes my back act up (not that hauling a pallet jack a couple hundred meters at a time is a healthy activity for the spine, anyway). Exceeded recommended dosage of ibuprofen during regular work shift today. They wanted me to go back for more overtime tonight, and I would have, if 1) I had enough clean clothes for the following day and 2) I wasn't in genuine pain.

76 - Thursday, 14 November 2002: Paid phone bill with automated system, called from work. Bank account real low, would have to hit truck fund to go to Expo show.

Forecast now clear for early Saturday, rain later and Sunday. May go Saturday morning, with bike, otherwise not at all. Would probably only get 100-200 rounds Mosin ammo, maybe two 1¼" slings, and if I can find it, a barrel band clip for the spare VZ stock so it would be complete.

Back slowly recovering, wrist coming and going.

Oh, to be self-employed, doing something I like! It would be so much easier to get out of bed in the morning to manufacture wheellocks and flintlocks, than it is to shove shampoo back and forth. 10½ hours worked on the weekend, figuring short days for less than 40 hours in the regular week so it's not all time-and-a-half, then allowing for taxes, is less than $100 above my regular paycheck. Not much compensation for the literal, physical pain.

Downloaded large .PDF catalogs from Midway the other day, haven't looked through them yet, but doing the vaporware thing for my 2½ VZs (the other half is on layaway). Counting the 590, that will make six bayonet-capable long guns. A few more and I could outfit a whole squad. For some time I've been thinking of keeping at least one VZ in fighting configuration but maybe rebarreling to 7.62 NATO (.308 Winchester). Cruffler points out that I could use a .30-06 barrel and a chamber insert, which was developed to convert the M1 Garand autoloader to NATO caliber as an interim measure. The insert uses "permanent" Loctite and can be removed with a broken-case extractor. Reportedly after about 100 rounds the Garands spat out the insert but Cruffler thinks it would stay put in a less-violently-operating bolt-action. I'm concerned about headspace issues, not so much for safety as for accuracy. I might try it on one of them (many moons from now, if/when I can afford to do more than daydream about building my own custom rifles); if it doesn't work well enough, I'd still have a .30-06 Mauser.

Frankly I'd like to stockpile these inexpensive rifles and convert a pile of them to 7.62 NATO, as I described in August, making few other changes except better sights and such to make them even more fightworthy. Military-contour barrels in both .30-06 and ".308", to fit the original military stock with bayonet lug, are advertised for $100 or so, which is more than I paid for the rifles but still much less than I'd pay for most actual, made-that-way .30-06s or .308s. A pile of NATO- caliber rifles on a common and proven design might be quite the asset in the coming times. And, with decent sights, make an adjustment for the different ammunition and you could use the same rifle for both Constitutional Defense and putting venison on the table (scopes? We don' need no steenkeeng scopes!).

77 - Friday, 15 November 2002: Raided truck fund for cash in anticipation of Expo show. If it's raining in the morning I'll skip the show and put the money back in the coffee mug and veg out.

78 - Saturday, 16 November 2002: Raining. Again. Windy too. I'm not riding in that. Might try tomorrow if it clears, which it probably won't. Probably ju$t as well.

Yipe! Actual blue sky at 2pm! Off I go, before it changes again. Biking along Marine Drive, nothing to $pare for bus fare. If it rains after I get there I can wimp out and take the bus back with change from the show.

Arrived about 3pm. Crosswind from south, sometimes tailwind, sometimes headwind. Gaggle of tourists standing in the bike lane watching the planes take off. Morons. Rent-a-fascists not quite so fascist this time, perhaps complaints were made.

$7 admission! Ugh. And $6 parking if I'd brought a motor. Only brought $80.

First aisle, a Romanian .22 bolt-action training rifle, with "4 mags" (they're about $12 separately), $65. Argh. Later, VZ24 bayonets with steel scabbards, $12; these have the cutting edge on the upper surface when mounted, for an upward slash after the thrust - thoughtful folks, those Czechs. Got two, after determining I couldn't beat that price. Would have got a third, damaged, without scabbard, for the M590 bayonet project, but by the time I got back the vendor said a knifemaker bought the two that would have qualified - well, there will be other shows. .32/8mm rifle bore brush, $1.

One Pre-Ban Polytech (commie Chinese) M14S, $750. Reportedly these are often unsafe to fire as-is but have good receivers on which to rebuild. A couple FEG GP35s, one with two magazines (10 and 13 rounds), "$225 OBO". Argh again. Federal Tactical "reduced recoil" buckshot, 9-pellet OO 12 gauge, $2.65/5 - Sellier & Bellot beats that with a 12-pellet load, $4/10 or better; I have some S&B but haven't tried it yet. Turk 7.92mm, 70-round bandoliers, $7 a couple places, $5.95 at one table - passed for now. Some Portuguese 7.62 NATO, $4.50/20 - couldn't squeeze it in, and I've still got a couple hundred rounds combined.

Cooool - Taylor & Co. reproduction Spencer repeater, .44 Russian (can be made from cut- down .44 Special or .44 Magnum cases), $1050. Tanfoglio/EAA Witness, CZ75 derivative, 9x19mm, $335, .45 ACP, $345. 9mm fit hand very nicely. That's important.

Hah! 1¼" nylon slings, USGI for the M16, much the same design as the Uncle Mike's, $4. Got three. Later I found that another table had them for $3; c'est le gun show. Mosin ammo, brass- case FMJ in the paper bundle, $3.50/20. Previous shows had it for $3, so only got 40 rounds, but that's twice as much again as what I had, and it's the stuff I know my M44 is sighted-in for. Got a full 50-round bandolier for the Mosin now, and ten rounds on chargers in the carrier on the butt. Since I know I can actually hit stuff with the Mosin, I'm a little more comfortable now.

Not a bad use of time. Poverty, however, still sucks.

Left about 5:30pm and weather had improved; no rain, little wind, even a hint of Luna beyond the overcast. Rode back. Nobody on the riverside bike lane. Rather cool riding along in the dark.

Oh yeah - I guess I haven't described the M590 bayonet project. See, I have this Mossberg M590, a 12-gauge slide-action repeating shotgun, only cosmetically different from current U.S. military issue - functionally identical, even to the bayonet lug. It takes most of the same bayonets as the M16 rifle, though I have a German wire-cutter model whose grip is too big to clear the magazine tube, and since I paid $60 for it, and I've seen them as high as $100, I won't alter it. I have the M7, the old standard bayonet, which fits perfectly, and I imagine the new M9 bayonet/survival knife would fit a 590 too, but the real problem is that except for a few Eickhorn variants, which I've only seen pictures of, all the bayonets for the M16 or M590 have stubby little blades, only 6½ inches for the M7.

Now, I also have a demilled (de-Militarized) M7, with the blade cut off and the muzzle ring cut through but with the hilt and latches intact. My plan is to get some beat-up old Mauser or other bayonet with a useful blade, get some tools, and put the two together to get a long bayonet that will fit my 590 and, by extension, the M16/AR15 series (and pre-Ban models of the Daewoo rifles, the AR180, and the Ruger Mini-14GB or a Mini-14 fitted with an aftermarket flash-hider/bayonet lug device). Hey, there might even be a market for them....

The black nylon GI M16 slings work fine, by the way; they're even easier to install than the Uncle Mike's, and only slightly harder to adjust; but once they're adjusted for a proper Hasty Sling why change? Both the VZs have them now and the third will go on the third VZ when it comes through layaway. I'll likely get at least two more, for the M590 for which I have 1¼" quick-release swivels, and for the Mosin.

Gawd - if these cheap Mausers stay this cheap I just might stockpile them, if only for custom projects. Not long from now someone, likely me, will be lamenting all those cheap large-ring Mauser actions that got away, and wishing for the usual time-machine-and-a-pile-of-money, like for when SKSs were under $100 and private sales could still be made at gun shows in Oregon.

79 - Sunday, 17 November 2002: Huh - no parts geezers at this show. Next big show December 14-15. OAC show on 24 November, will probably go since it's so close and only $3. Little show in Hillsboro on 30th/1st, I could make that but the last time I went it didn't "vibe" right. Barberton show on 14th, almost certainly unreachable due to weather, and the Expo show will draw away a lot of customers and probably vendors.

Nothing super at Big 5, though I carefully didn't look at the flyer I picked up until I got home, at the bottom of a gravity well that I don't like biking out of more often than necessary. Czech 98/22 Mauser long rifle, simply a longer, earlier version of the VZ24; Schmidt-Rubin straight-pulls. 7.5x55mm Swiss ammo is hard to find, and I like the shorter, handier VZ24 carbines better.

Activism! Yes, I still do some. But, rather than e-mail, I'm getting in the habit of writing, or at least printing, actual paper letters and mailing them with actual paper envelopes and stamps. It's commonly known that politicians consider every letter actually written to represent the opinion of a thousand people who were too lazy to write.

E-mail still works for letters-to-the-editors, but most politicians have deliberately made it difficult for their constituents to e-mail them, hiding behind website forms and changing addresses, or just ignoring e-mail altogether. So, I took some pre-composed form letters issued in e-mail alerts from Gun Owners of America and Oregon Firearms Federation, cut-n-pasted them into WordPerfect, adjusted them to my taste, and now all I need is stamps, which I should pick up after work tomorrow.

The letters are: to both Oregon Senators, Democrat Ron Wyden and RINO Gordon Smith, opposing S.2826, the so-called "Our Lady of Peace Act" which would add millions of innocent Americans to a list of those prohibited from purchasing firearms; again to both Senators, urging them to vote against the Bill-of-Rights-wrecking Homeland Security Act, which recently passed the House of Representatives (I don't even bother with my congresscreature, Earl Blumenauer, Communist-Portland, anymore); and one to Ginnie Cooper, Director of Multnomah County Libraries, asking her to remove or reclassify Arming America, the infamous academic fraud by Michael Bellesiles, in which he fabricated evidence that the "gun culture" did not exist in America until after the War Between the States. (The original form letter in e-mail, on the gunfolk grapevine, only called for removal; I softened it by allowing for reclassification as fiction or political commentary instead of historical research. I like the First Amendment, too, ya know.) Clayton Cramer was the driving force in revealing the fraud, his series of articles debunking Bellesiles can be found on his site.

Hmm... forecast for clear weather next weekend. English Pit? I really don't like it there but I need all the practice I can get....

Hmp. Helmet laws for snow sports, now. Sorry, folks, but government does not know best. I wear a helmet every time I bike - in fact I should get a new one, and have it professionally adjusted - but laws requiring them are, at best, insulting.

80 - Monday, 18 November 2002: Stopped at post office, maybe ten seconds after they closed the counter. Used machine in lobby, stamped and mailed the four letters to Senators. The one to the Library system can wait; I may e-mail it after all, or even not; it does whiff of censorship, but it's still a protest against the stink of bias and fabrication.

It's here! That long, narrow box leaning against my door can only be my sword! (Yes, it's bad to leave long, narrow boxes leaning on folks' doorsteps in a big city, but my apartment cannot be seen from the street and I've no reason to distrust the neighbors that can see it.) Very thoroughly packaged, I'm sure DGW has lots of experience.

Saaay... that's not too by-gods shabby for $30! Rather higher quality than I was expecting! Only eight days to deliver, too. Satisfied customer, I am. Wish I could afford more stuff, they have so much....

Wrist seems to have settled down, though still weaker than I like - I'll manage. I imagine I should get a book or something on sabers, so I can at least look like I know what I'm doing with it. Next I'll need a proper belt and hanger for it. Already have a butt-forward flap holster for period percussion revolvers, though it's sized for .44s and my slim, elegant little 1861 .36 gets kinda swallowed up in it - correctly-sized models are available.

See, you wear the sword on the left side, to draw with the right, and that newfangled repeating pistol on the right side, to cross-draw with your weak hand. It takes tactically forever to reload a percussion revolver, unless you've a spare cylinder and not all models lend themselves to that technique, so you would only get five or six shots as the enemy closed with you, then deal with the rest the old-fashioned way.

Unless you're a more practical sort. Note that by the end of the film, Josie Wales was carrying four revolvers. Look at his fellow Confederate guerillas, too, at one point Fletcher was carrying at least three.

Anyway, a description: all-steel scabbard in the white, with steel throat, drag, and rings - no frog stud. Satin-finish blade, not mirror polish, slight fuller, a few inches of false edge on the back of the point. Wire-wrapped black leather hilt, brass pommel and guard, simple D shape with belt- hanger knob - stores flat, unlike fancier models with swept hilts. Unsharpened edge - liability, no doubt - but it could be sharpened, I'm sure, and quite possibly will be. No engraving, and completely unmarked as far as I can tell - could easily fit Union or Confederate personas, or even earlier, perhaps even back to the Napoleonic period. A plain, functional, yet still attractive 19th Century sidearm, just the kind of thing my putative persona would use, none of that fancy stuff.

Happy! Happy happy! My collection has grown! :) :) :)

Um. Must construct new weapon rack! Something that would easily hold long guns and swords. Two strips of 3/4" plywood, a chopped-up wooden dowel, a little time on the one friend's drill press - make the holes at a certain angle and I won't even need glue, and the whole thing could break down for compact storage or moving. Maybe this weekend, he's long since extended me the use of his shop if I ever had a project, and this would only take a few minutes, and could likely be made from the scrap he would normally cut up to fit his woodstove anyway.

New DGW catalog, Thanksgiving Sale flyer, etc. in box too. Cool. I've already got one gift picked out for one of my engineer friends, now I need to get something comparable for the other. Maybe some blacksmithing stuff, that should go over well... oh, heck, a DGW gift certificate would be fine, I know he gets their catalogs too. There! Christmas shopping largely done, I just have to buy the stuff!

Um. Wow. My medieval broadsword, Intrepid, suddenly feels much lighter and better- balanced. Hmm. Oh well, they're both beautiful, and if I have to actually fight with either of them I'm probably screwed anyway. The M1840 is probably too modern to name, but you never can tell - some weapons, especially blades, make names for themselves.

Um! Have to make a page for it in my site's collection!

81 - Wednesday, 20 November 2002: Weekend weather forecast looks good but will probably be too cold for productive rifle practice. May hit area libraries instead, looking for WBtS reference books; thinking of building my own sword belt, which would probably be a lot cheaper than ordering one from DGW. Also want to get a couple bookstore gift certificates, the perfect gift for anyone I would care to buy a gift for - though I have something more specific in mind for a couple people.

And anyway, DGW carries lots of books and piles of other neat stuff - a gift certificate from them would be plenty versatile, yeah.

82 - Saturday, 23 November 2002: Paid yesterday. As expected, not as much overtime pay as otherwise expected, but still enough to do some Christmas shopping.

But first! Nearly half next month's rent set aside in cash - check. Rebuilding truck fund from irresponsible visit to Expo gun show - check, a little, more later. Electric bill - paid in full online, Pacific Power's website actually works, unlike Qwest's.

Now I can buy some gifts! The one thing is on the way. Would have ordered more stuff for myself but resisted temptation. I'll have to call DGW's toll-free number from work later to order the other, after getting some other information. Will have to make my way downtown for traditional bookstore gift certificates that I used to give out the last time I could afford gifts - or, I might use another bookstore instead, the traditional one is kinda lefty, after all, and it's difficult to park down there.

No English Pit - cold, tired, and I don't like it there. Should probably hop on the bike and do some grocery shopping, though, stock up ‘til next payday.

Crap! Rear tire blew out on the way back. At least I was on the way back, and within reasonable walking distance of my apartment. Put $15 more on the third VZ at Big 5.

Hm - can't go to the OAC show, tomorrow, with a bum rear tire, but it would probably be irresponsible to go anyway.

Crap! Mail from employer - medical insurance going up $10 per pay period. Not that it would have covered enough to keep me from bankruptcy and homelessness in the first place. Seriously considering opting out.

Fixed the $4 tube easy enough, but the $20 tire has a genuinely weak spot - if I ride it again it'll just blow out again. Phooey. Guess I'll go to the bike shop tomorrow instead of the OAC show. At least I have a handle on other expenses already.

83 - Sunday, 24 November 2002: Okay - got bus tickets, and most of the food I should need, for the rest of the pay period. It may sound trivial to some readers, but out in the real world, most of us don't make $30k a year (last year I made less than $10k), we don't live in gated communities, we don't drive late-model BMWs and Lexuses, we don't have fake tans and $100 shoes, and the police take a lot longer to show up when we call, if they even bother.

In the real world, real people have to take care of themselves. Having enough money for food and bus fare is a real problem.

Another real problem is the rich elitist SOBs living behind their 24-hour armed security, voting to raise other people's taxes and take away other people's right to self-defense. Here's a news flash, you snobby scum: most people do not live like you. Most people are not like you.

Most people don't like you.

Not getting through, am I? Can't wrap your elitist minds around the concept that your kind is not the divine beneficiary of all human endeavor. You associate only with your own kind, never daring to consider a conflicting point of view - never for a moment seeing anyone who actually works for a living as anything but inferior.

There is coming a time when that will cost you.

Got to the bike shop - they had a suitable tire on sale for $9.99, brand-new tube (the tire was a little narrower than the old one, and the old tube was likewise a little too big), $5. That could have been wor$e. Enough time left on the bus transfer to take Tri-Met out of the gravity well, ran various errands.

The most-conveniently-located branch library doesn't have exactly what I'm looking for in the way of WBtS reference books, but I've learned that I can have them transferred at no cost from anywhere else in the system and pick them up at my branch. Multnomah County has their library catalog online, either on the web or by direct dial with a terminal program.

84 - Tuesday, 26 November 2002: Stopped at the cheap copy place, made 200 copies of the Bill of Rights, for now-traditional random (and non-random) dispersal.

85 - Thursday, 28 November 2002: Very pleasant dinner with one of the engineer friends. Fine food and comparable conversation.

Crap! CrapcrapCRAPCRAP! Cruffler informs me via e-mail that Big 5 is having an early- bird special tomorrow, including VZ24s for $59.

CRAP!!!

If they have any I may put two on layaway, that's only $30. At least I very wisely paid the electric bill, bought bus tickets, set aside some rent money in cash, and stocked some groceries, earlier.

86 - Friday, 29 November 2002: Hah! Got up early enough, arrived at Big 5 about 9am. Clear weather but cold and windy - eh. I can use the exercise after last night's Thanksgiving dinner. Also the library's only a few blocks from Big 5, I can do some business there too.

Last night, determined which gift to get for the second engineer friend, the one I dined with; since it's a local place I can get the gift certificate from there later, with the next paycheck, instead of squeezing it into this one to make sure it arrives in time for Christmas. Likewise bookstore certificates for others. Thus, I can afford to order a couple things for myself from Dixie Gun Works! The problem being which things....

Phooey - "How many VZs do you have?" "One for display, none for sale." They were making a list, I put myself down for two. Another guy did the same - two - while I was there. They'll call me. (From previous experience, they really will.) At least the truck fund grew a little instead. I'm number 4 on the list at the nearest store.

87 - Saturday, 30 November 2002: Cruffler reports a similar experience at the Big 5 on his side of the river.

New cartoon!

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