RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - AUGUST 2003

Several hours spent poking and prodding and attempting to decipher the Haynes manual, until we called in the heavy artillery: the blacksmith/engineer friend from the other end of the metro sprawl, who quickly diagnosed the problem and determined the solution (and also the source of the hot-plastic smell I've intermittently experienced): a fried multpurpose turn signal/hazard/headlight switch, which required another trip to U-Pull-It where I was charged $5.50 (plus $1 admission) for a part the blacksmith friend says would be about $70 otherwise if it could even be found for a car this old. Found only one serviceable one in the lot - looked for another, the only other I found was fried in the exact same way as mine. Design flaw, will seek spare, possibly-but-I-doubt-it refurbish the old one. Anyway the one I did find was good and the lights are fixed - until it fries.

Took both friends, and the woodworker's former-mechanic lady who was also on the team, out to dinner, after stopping at my place to (finally!) unload the car and change clothes. -And the medal, from the rifle match, for winning the Military Bolt-Action category, was in the mail waiting for me! Now that cheered me up. Showed it off to the friends, wore it to the restaurant. :) Now hanging from the bottom of the match results printout pinned to the wall next to the rifle rack.

And my large neurotic cat survived without me, and quickly forgave my absence with the strategic application of a few crabcake cat treats.

Recounting the match to the friends, blacksmith, a former gunperson, points out that wind could be responsible for the weird difference in windage noted between the three distances. D'oh! Learning experience. Could have scored much higher, will remember that! No previous experience past 100 yards, you see.

During the poking-prodding of the car, went to bank to see if direct-deposit had been activated yet - it hadn't. Went back to workplace before closing, secured paycheck (after Democrat officeperson said she already mailed it, hmm). So the rent's covered at least, and the tank and the can are both full again. Now a "regular" weekend before going back to the horrid warehouse. I was going to look for another job during this vacation. There is the internet of course, and I still have something more than one week vacation time still available, which I may take soon. It seems I get burned out on just about any job after about one year.

255 - Saturday, 2 August 2003: So except for the electrical system I have a pretty good car. Cottage Grove to Portland on half a tank of gas, good handling, steering, braking; better than most folks would expect for $400. So I'll go to the little gun show in Salem today.

Mostly the same vendors, and same stuff, as the Seaside show (including that $1,900 Express Mauser .375). Saw a Winchester 1894, serial number 3.17 million, pre-lawyer-safety, .30-30, Very Good metal and a pretty light-blond stock, and- I didn't write down the price. Well under $300, I'm pretty sure, like about $250.

The Romanian 7.92x57mm ammunition is lacquered like the Mosin stuff that glues itself into the chamber upon firing, so I won't be getting any. Did get 100 rounds of remanufactured .38 Special, 158gr LSWC, $5/50, I think it's +P but the GP100 will eat nearly anything that will chamber. Ten steel Mauser chargers, $0.50 each; and the two scores of the day, I think: 320 rounds of Greek 7.92mm at 6.5 cents, marked $1.50/20, in a .30-caliber can for $3.50 extra; and a 340-round tin of Albanian 7.62x54R for $41, marked $46. That oughta last a couple minutes... and now I can get real practice with the MojoMauser! As soon as I fix the comb. And then I can shoot on both sides in the Allies vs. Axis match!

Stopped at huge electronics store on the way back, browsed for probably more than an hour. They have Pelican tactical flashlights! Bought a driver-bit assortment since I discovered I may need some Torx bits for working on this car, and some of those are security screws with the pin in the middle and these bits do that too. Resisted temptation to buy digital camera or DVD player. Disappointed to see that most of the best deals on both those items are repacks, refurbished. My previous computer printer was one of those and didn't stay refurbished. I'll want something in a factory-fresh box, I think.

And my ISP is down. Someone attacked either the whole system or my account specifically. I went to the library and used mail2web.com to check my mail, but without my regular reader and its settings and filters I wouldn't want to slog through the whole inbox. Nearly eight hundred when I checked, considering I was gone all Thursday and most of Friday, and whatever happened seems to have been on Friday. Deleted dozens of obvious spam pieces at least. Anyway there are several messages claiming to be from the administrator's e-dress, but with the random characters indicative of spambots, "alerting" me that my e-dress is about to "expire" and instructing me to read a ZIPped attachment whose size varies with each such message. My password worked at mail2web, and my site is still up (though I can't do updates without logging on from my apartment), so I suspect it was a full-system attack and not directed at me personally - though I wouldn't care to say how low the leftists wouldn't go. ShootersInet's main site is also up and I sent a webform email for tech support. There's also a toll-free number, but it's too late to call today, I think.

Well. At least I got some ammunition! Next show Central Point, 16-17 August (right after payday), then Hillsboro the following weekend but I didn't like that one the last time I was there (too many, to be blunt, non-Amuricans), then the Expo Center, 5-7 September. Don't know about the Central Point show, maybe it's just an excuse to go for a long drive. Anyway if I see the same vendor again I might try for more Greek 7.92mm at that blowout price. I haven't used much of it yet but it's obviously better than the Turk, and almost as cheap.

The .38 ammo is from an outfit in Scappoose. The brass is marked +P but I don't know if that's what it's loaded to (the box doesn't say). Anyway it's all the same brass, nickel-plated Remington (many reloader/resellers use mixed brass, which freaks me out a little), and ten cents a round is pretty good for centerfire, reloadable, non-corrosive handgun ammunition.

256 - Sunday, 3 August 2003: Delivered, to the woodworker friend whose birthday party I missed because he didn't have one, some ship's equipment for the sternwheeler he's building: five regulation personal flotation devices, and something I didn't mention earlier because I wanted it to be a surprise in case he was reading this ‘blog, a surplus 26.5mm flare pistol, still in the plastic wrap, with a holster/case including cleaning rod and pockets for eight flare cartridges (not included but available from at least one place on the net, and possibly from some boating-supply stores). The first one, purchased at the Seaside show, was so cool I decided to keep it for myself, so I had to get another at the Salem show. $20 each! That's half what anyone else wants for an equivalent item, and they're essentially brand-new, with just a touch of mildew on some of the holster/cases.

Driving around for the sake of driving around, on the way back, encountered a fellow libertarian in a Fred Meyer parking lot - he saw my Ron Paul sign, I saw his "Don't Blame Me, I Voted Libertarian" bumper sticker and his "Bill of Rights - Void Where Prohibited by Law" t-shirt (which I also have, from a gun show). Chatted a while. Didn't catch his name but gave him my website card. Encouraged me to join the party ($25/year), beyond just being registered with it as I already am. Possibly.

Forgot to stop at Big 5 for the latest sales flyer, but my ISP is down and it wouldn't get posted on time anyway. Called and left voice mail today. My site is unaffected (but frozen without my FTP software and files here, and of course the library terminals are castrated so you can't do anything constructive with them), and the e-mail (and spam) is still rolling in, I just can't connect from here.

The electric bill is late ‘cause I prefer paying online, and I can't do that right now. I could pay by phone but Pacific Power uses a third party for that and there's a service fee. Anyway since the baseboard heater died, and since it's summer and I don't have air conditioning, it should be well under $40.

Opened the 340-round tin of Albanian 7.62x54R and it is the exact same stuff as in the 440-round, even with the same kind of inspector's note in the bottom, just about five years older than the last batch.

Boy is it gonna suck to go back to work tomorrow. Will probably request second week's vacation soonest (and a day off on the 18th for the state extortion in Clatsop County).

Since it works now, listening to AM talk radio while driving. Rush Limbaugh is celebrating his 15th anniversary, endlessly. Now, Rush says a lot of things I agree with, since I hate Democrats' living guts, but he also says some things I disagree with because I probably wouldn't throw a rope to a drowning Republican. And what bothers me most about Rush is, he's more full of himself than William-by-Gods-Shatner, and that's an accomplishment. Michael Savage is a little less of the same, and apparently so is our local equivalent, Lars Larson, who I haven't had much of yet. Sean Hannity is easier to take. Still miss Fox News Channel.

That shooting medal is my happy place, and it's working (I have depression, and it ain't no chemical imbalance, apparently I pay entirely too much attention to events in the real world; John Ashcroft, for example: the one thing I agreed with him about, the Second Amendment, he's long since wimped out on, and he's busily destroying the other nine in the Bill of Rights, all of which I'm also quite fond of). I will get more of those medals. Considering getting the blank spots engraved with details of the event. Will probably reopen savings account sometime this year, to begin saving for a CMP M1. If I can do that well, my first time, with a Mosin-Nagant carbine, imagine what I could do with a Garand, with real sights! Maybe I should get some of that cheap Danish and/or Korean .30-06, on M1 clips, while it's available, there was some at the Salem show. If I miss out on the Garand I could trade the ammo and/or clips for something. Maybe Cruffler's got some good Mauser chargers....

257 - Monday, 4 August 2003: Yup, work sucks.

Put in for the other week's vacation, last full week of September, again not right after a payday. Might road-trip, Idaho, Nevada, I dunno. Some resistance to getting the 18th off but I didn't mention it was a court date, just said it was a personal matter.

Still suffering depression of course - but frankly I always have. Work sucks, life sucks, the world sucks. The medal is surprisingly therapeutic. It may be the one thing in my life that is completely and unquestionably mine.

No word from the ISP yet.

Reading Conan of Venarium by Turtledove. Harry tells good stories (at library today, also got the latest Confederate installment, The Victorious Opposition), but his writing style leaves something to be desired - often simplistic, repetitive, wrapped up in detail, "process," which does add depth to the story but - not to be cruel to a writer whose work I do enjoy - Turtledove ain't Kipling. Or Poul Anderson, or L. Sprague de Camp, which latter two have written some truly kick-ass Conan books. About two-thirds through, maybe it'll have a big finish.

258 - Tuesday, 5 August 2003: Eh, it didn't suck. Went straight to the Confederate alternity. Also getting some videos from the library, now I've discovered how to more-thoroughly browse and search their selections.

$10 to SAF the other day. Even with all that, I'm still squeezing out something for the Cause. Are you?

Called ISP from work, left voice mail, no change, no response. Cruffler, in e-mail accessed from library, suggests free ISP like Juno or NetZero. Still haven't done anything with the other, faster machine, should. Fiddled with settings on my end, no effect.

Abandoned the Witness pistol at the pawn shop, probably just as well considering I've still got the Mosin 91/30 on layaway and now I've got this state extortion to deal with. I could afford $109 but there's principles involved dammit! And is that or is it not an unusually high fine? Called the county court, no delay on the date, still resistance to getting that day off work.

Might have the shop - this one seems friendly enough (though they're not real gunfolk), and I've bought (and sold) there before - order something for me later, an Argentine 1927, a Charles Daly or Armscorp 1911 clone, an FEG GP35, even a CZ75, I dunno. And they might have something anyway the next time I stop by. Along with the Witness I saw an old Tanfoglio and probably older Excam, CZ derivatives, but as I recall both had slide-mounted (and probably hammer-drop) safeties. I don't do well with the transition from double to single action in a conventional-double-action semiautomatic pistol and would rather have it one way or the other full-time, like a DAO Kahr or a CZ/Witness carried cocked-and-locked.

Cruffler informs me there's another shop up in Washington that's getting a shipment of sheriff's trade-in Ruger P-series pistols for about $200 each (plus transfer to an Oregon FFL and so on), which would be a pretty good deal if the Ruger P-series fit my hand, which it doesn't; needs a relief cut at the back end of the trigger guard, and there's nothing there to take it out of, with the magazine catch.

259 - Wednesday, 6 August 2003: On this day in 1945, the first nuclear weapon ever used in war was dropped by the crew of the B29 Superfortress Enola Gay over the port city of Hiroshima in the Empire of Japan. This action, and the similar bombing of Nagasaki three days later by the crew of Bock's Car, brought a swifter and less bloody conclusion to the Second World War than would otherwise have been the case.

No authorized time off is available for my court date on Monday the 18th in Astoria, since others will be doing delivery work away from the warehouse that day. I'll just call in sick dammit.

And my right front tire has a slow leak. A coworker - one of the few decent ones, a Gulf War I navy veteran and private pilot working this lousy job while trying to earn a commercial pilot's license - loaned the use of a compressor he had in his truck, whose tires also leak. Stopped at library, picked up more videos (The Magnificent Seven; The Evil That Men Do with Charles Bronson, who is/was (has he passed on yet? The tabloids were giving that impression - nah, I'd've seen something on the gun lists, I reckon) not one of the current treasonous commie Hollywood horde and may actually be/have been One Of Us), internet terminals all in use, didn't want to stand around waiting anyway while I have tire trouble. Stopped at Bi-Mart, got lighter-socket-powered compressor, which I wanted as on-board equipment anyway, for $25. Did not find suitable can of leak-stopping-goop but can pick that up later. Stopped at apartment, decompressed and rehydrated a little (not as hot today but kinda humid), still no response from ISP. Then bit the financial bullet and drove over to Les Schwab.

Which gentlemen located and removed a foreign object from my tire, patched the leak and confirmed 35psi all around, for free. The guy asked me to remember that the next time I need to buy tires, and I will. Sometimes they have Free Beef promotions, where they give away actual herbivore's flesh with purchase.

Of all the videos I've got from the library, I don't think even one has been rewound when I got it. Gods, people are rude. And lazy and stupid and worthless and ignorant and....

261 - Thursday, 7 August 2003: So I got ready to go this morning and looked at the right front tire and it was completely flat. So I hauled out the lighter-socket-powered compressor I bought yesterday and it worked perfectly, if slowly, and I unhooked it from the tire and the valve hissed evilly and did not stop. Didn't want to drive all the way to work on the undersized emergency tire - blueshirts probably steal more money from people for that - so took the bus.

The bus sucks. I hate the bus. Icky bus people. And there's the whole socialist nobody-needs-private-transportation-because-the-State-Shall-Provide-Whether-You-Like-It-Or-Not thing.

After work, the same coworker dropped me at the library so I wouldn't have to take the bus that far at least - and again a mob scene at the computer terminals. Dropped off and picked up some videos and took bus back to apartment, where I discovered that there was some pressure left in the tire after all, apparently held by the valve cap even thought the valve itself was failing. Brought it back up to 35psi, replaced cap securely, and drove to Les Schwab, where it was fixed again, free again. Went back to library, still open.

The library's connection isn't much faster than mine, or perhaps mail2web.com is bandwidth-challenged. Deleted some emails, maybe take some pressure off the inbox, I dunno. Still receiving mail though I think my Yahoo account is bouncing, which such things often do because Yahoo sucks.

And still no response from the ISP.

And a bazillion undisciplined, unsupervised brats are running all over, shouting crying screaming, and some extremely rude parents park their infant, who is still learning how to make sounds, in a stroller at the internet terminal across from mine, and they play with it and cause it to make more sounds while everyone else is trying to read, and it's like the primate house at the zoo.

And I leave the library and somebody has parked some late-70s Grand Marquis land-yacht inches from my car. Had to reach in through the opening I could make, roll down the window and climb in through that, then inch out of the parking slot. Resisted mighty temptation to do grievous harm to the offender's property. Whoever it was left the passenger-side windows open....

I HATE CITIES!

262 - Friday, 8 August 2003: And still nothing from the ISP.

No internet, lots of spare time at home. Starting on the second flintlock pistol. Hand-sanding the stock, starting with 150-grit to take off the ugly cheesy red gunk, then will go over it with 220 (if necessary) to prepare it for refinishing.

Hmm, trying my patience. I have sanding-drum heads for the Dremel, but the drums I have are much coarser than I want for this. Eh, stick it out by hand. Maybe the Dremel , very carefully, for the tight spots.

Man, they really laid that red stuff on thick. Clogs up the paper, barely have enough of the 150. Guess #2 won't end up the same color as #1 after all, unless I refinish the first one too... which I have considered. Well, if it's de-uglified that'll do. Okay, I got the worst of it off, that's enough for now.

263 - Sunday, 10 August 2003: Completely zonked, missed Barberton show yesterday. Wouldn't have if my home internet access was working, I'd've seen the email Cruffler sent reminding me.

And still not a word from the ISP. Much more of this and I'll switch. Posted the Big 5 sale items from the library.

At local flea market, found taller front sight for the Stevens .22 single-shot, $3. Same vendor wanted $2 (!) each (!!) for a Simonov charger. Also had many collectible cartridges, like a .56 (?) Spencer rimfire and some all-brass shotgun rounds, both live and spent.

Drove around, visited a couple other flea markets, one with attached antique mall, with original 1851 Colt revolver under glass. Seemed all intact and original, but Fair by the modern scale, I'm not too familiar with the antique scale. No price. Rather have a reproduction I can take out and play with anyway. Bought a couple more tools - socket holder sticks, $3/set, electrical crimping tool, $2 - then decided to go to U-Pull-It again. Found spare multipurpose light switch, spare relays for the fuse panel, replacement headlight lens - one only, none for the other side that were any better than what I already have (cloudy/milky). Still other locations I haven't been to.

Smelled hot plastic again on the way back. Ominous. Headlights still okay and now I've got a replacement.

Installation of Stevens' replacement sight straightforward, though the replacement is much softer metal than the original. Same style, though, brass bead. Not an ideal sight picture to begin with but hopefully I can get point-of-aim and point-of-impact to coincide now. Still not a good trigger.

Couple hours daylight left, charged off to the Mt. Hood National Forest to test it. Yup, it doesn't shoot high anymore - it shoots way low. But with the rear sight's elevation slider on the highest step, it's pretty close to point of aim. I'll do more with it next time I go to Clark Rifles. Cool drive up and back on Highway 224. Headlights work, probably need alignment. Haynes manual offers quick-n-dirty method, may try it.

So on the way up I'm fortunate enough to catch the Neal Boortz show on one of the AM talk stations (Portland has at least three), and he's commenting that he visited the website of the Libertarian Party of California to see what they had to say about the recall of California governor Gray Davis, whose socialist policies and outright incompetence have run that state into the ground. And Boortz says the CA LP has a little thing on their site about how they were among the first to call for the recall, and here's a couple people who "might be interested" in running for governor as Libertarians and here's their e-mail addresses... and that's it. And that information was found, I believe he said yesterday, 9 August, and hadn't been updated for weeks besides, and the deadline for filing for the governor's race has by now passed. (193 contenders at last count.)

And he's lamenting that the Libertarian Party, the party that California of all states really needs, has essentially nothing in the race for governor.

...Yeah.

Now lemme say something about my political history. For most of my voting life I've been registered as an independent, not trusting either Socialist Party A or B, but in the spring of 2000 I registered for the first time with the Republicans, so I could vote for Dubya in the primary, so I could vote against Al Gore in the general election. Remember, this was before 11 September, when I still had some hope of getting a republican administration instead of a national socialist one.

And then Dubya, Ashcroft, et. al. sold me out variously, methodically scrapping the Bill of Rights, betraying the gunfolk who elected Dubya, etc. So some months ago I re-registered, as Libertarian. I voted for the Libertarian candidate, Cox, in Oregon's last governor's race (the GOP entry, Mannix, is no more republican than the commie Kulongoski we got from the jackass herd).

So... what's the point? I mean, I vote- I have to vote, I'm a patriot and a gunowner and it's my duty to vote in every election, but for crying out loud! Sure, there's always something or someone to vote against, but how do I vote against the whole stinking ballot? Where are the Libertarians? Can't get elected dog-catcher! Where are the real republicans? Extinct! (Except for a few like Ron Paul, who is far too intelligent to run for President like so many of us want him to, which shows that he may be the only man qualified for the job.) There's nothing on the ballots anymore but treason, communism, gross overtaxation, and totalitarianism.

And Arnold Schwarzenegger is running as a "Republican," which he ain't either - for gods' sake, he married a Kennedy. Not even pretending to be for limited government, going on about how to increase revenues and pay for Services and get government-approved books to alle das kleine kinderen. Some talk about that on the Drudge show on the way back from the hills.

Very depressing. The Republic is screwed and Bad Things are going to happen before we get a Constitutional government again, and we might not anyway.

SIGH....

Well. At least I got some live-fire practice this weekend. And I have a car. Handled pretty good on that twisty country highway.

Earlier, sought another library branch with fewer shrieking running shouting brats. Picked up copy of Computer Bits, local techie newsmagazine. Many ads of course, many featuring complete (refurbished) systems, slugs by today's standards but still hotter than mine, at prices I could afford. Even some laptops (barely) within my means. Will remember that. Also several alternative ISPs advertised.

264 - Wednesday, 13 August 2003: Still nothing. Will try Juno for now, then once I have web access from home again will investigate local ISPs as advertised in Computer Bits. May have to contact Better Business Bureau, or change my bank account to stop automatic billing, or something. Very disappointed in what is supposed to be a pro-gun ISP.

Borrowed from library, watching Bruce Lee's last film, Return of the Dragon. Actually, as a film, it's pretty poorly made - cinematography, script, dialogue, plot, phooey. And the English dubbing, ick! I'd rather hear Bruce Lee's voice complete with thick accent, or even just read subtitles! But the fight scenes are worth sitting through the rest, he really was phenomenal. Like he was a native of a high-gravity world. Abilities beyond that of normal humans.

New Shotgun News, and Reid Coffield's article this issue is on sporterizing a large-ring Mauser, specifically a VZ24!

I am actually accessing email from the library but that is an unpleasant experience, and saving posts for later use, forwarding, etc., is much less convenient. Anyway there's a discussion of the Kuglin case, in Tennessee as I recall, where the state court failed to prove that the defendant, charged with tax evasion, was required to pay the taxes in question. Will post a link when I get my own access again. Reportedly a bazillion emails were sent to Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, begging him to cover the story in his "No-Spin Zone", with about as much response as I'm getting from my ISP. FNC did do segments for a couple of their programs, but one never aired and on Hannity & Colmes, the conservative, small-government personality, Sean Hannity, reportedly attacked the defendant for not paying a fair share. The conclusion reached by the author of the article forwarded to more than one of the lists I subscribe to is that FNC is as much a big-government lapdog as any of the old- media networks.

I remember they had Ron Paul on a couple times in the past, I wonder if they've had him recently? And I wonder what Representative Paul has to say about the Kuglin case? He has introduced legislation to abolish the income tax....

With the state extortion on Monday it would be pointless to go to the Central Point gun show this weekend. Also some hours were lost this pay period, to going home early on slow days. I wonder when direct-deposit will be activated? And why does that take so long? Isn't that what computers are for? Shouldn't it take about two minutes, really?

And I still haven't done anything with the new(er), fast(er) machine. Maybe that's what I'll do this weekend instead of the show.

265 - Thursday, 14 August 2003: International Military Antiques, in the latest Shotgun News, now advertises genuine British Martini-Henry breechloading rifles, and others, finally liberated from the Royal Nepalese Army. Starting at $600. This is that single-shot falling-block as used in the film Zulu with Michael Caine, depicting the siege of Rorke's Drift.

I haven't particularly wanted one, but the woodworker's lady once mentioned she'd like to have one for its historical significance (she's an SCA person, and of Scottish descent, and history-minded), so I swung by after work to show her the ad - she was less excited than I might have expected, but she's not gunfolk anyway. (And the price probably had something to do with it too.) But now I am considering getting one, because it is historically significant and an opportunity like this is unlikely to come again. Can I save $600 (plus shipping, etc.) before they're all gone? Eh, if I can't get one in time, I can spend it on a fighting pistol or an FAL.

Fred's column printing letters from readers, one of whom says he sold all his other rifles to get an M14/M1A. If I sold my entire collections I still wouldn't have that much, but might manage an FAL. Then of course I'd have to spend more on it, for the Israeli-style charging handle and bolt carrier for positive chambering, a better rear sight (before I lost access there was discussion on the lists about a Garand rear sight adapted to the Remington 700 and to a Weaver/Picatinny rail, and the question was raised whether it could be made for a Mauser), etc.

Anyway, chatted with her and woodworker, not least about the sternwheeler project. Flipped through SGN, found ad for Wild Imports, distributors of muzzleloading cannon. Ad shows picture of a small ship's gun, with a human alongside for scale, a pair (or two) of which would be utterly cool for the ship and the whole Infamous Willamette Riverboat Pirates shtick.

Tried to access email via mail2web from there, and... mail2web is down, amid widespread reports of a major virus attack which may, as I first assumed, have knocked out ShootersInet, from whom I've still heard absolutely nothing for nearly two weeks. They could at least change the recording on their voice mail, something along the lines of "the worm hurt us real bad, please be patient while we fix it." Expecting Juno disk in snail mail presently.

266 - Friday, 15 August 2003: Apparently mail2web is working again, but very slowly, but that may have been the library's connection being overloaded.

Received Juno disk, now would be a good time to fire up the Compaq tower.

267 - Saturday, 16 August 2003: That'll take a while. For one thing, I need an IDE cable with more than one connector, and the only two I have are in the old machine, connecting three hard drives and the CDROM. The Compaq has that weird 120Mb/1.44Mb "floppy" drive, and now it seems I'll need to get that running to make a boot floppy to completely wipe the 8Gb drive it came with and then reinstall Win98.

Anyway, direct-deposit is working now. Went to bank, withdrew partial rent and cash for the state extortion on Monday and some more besides. Went to Big 5, and scored!

The 91/30 bundle I had on layaway for $99.99 is advertised in next week's flyer for $20 less, and they gave me the difference! So I paid it off altogether and here it is. I'll do a more detailed teardown and cleaning later, but to start: nicely refinished, though the stock is flaking in a couple places, mainly the handguard; chamber date 1939; serial number XY2xxx (the Y looks more like a numeral 4, but isn't); trigger not as good as the 1953 Hungarian M44 carbine, but still decent. Some very slight pitting, or maybe just gunk which needs scrubbing, in the grooves, but really a decent bore, almost as good as the Hungarian's. Matching number on bolt body, and the head looks like it could match but no way to tell, really. Still haven't headspaced it. Matching numbers on magazine floorplate and buttplate too. Rear sight marked to "20", sight picture essentially the same as the carbine's. No scabbard for the bayonet, they often weren't issued as they weren't meant to be removed, but reproduction scabbards are available. Slides right on and locks firmly in place, sweet.

Huh - the assembly seems lighter than the M44 carbine! Maybe it's just the extra length throwing me off. Came with accessories including rod, charger pouch, oiler (which smeared cosmoline on the pouch), dog-collar sling, bolt tool, rod-end pieces, bore guide, and of course a nice long socket bayonet, whose number doesn't match the rifle, and whose finish doesn't quite match, but is close enough. Together, rifle and bayonet comprise the second-longest piece in my collection, before the Ishapore with its P.1907 bayonet and after the spear on its six-foot shaft. Gonna take it to the next PIG Match! (If I'm not at war with the oppressive regime, or if they haven't simply murdered me, by then....) It's so long I had to juggle things on the wall rack to keep the bayonet from whacking the blackpowder handguns hanging from screw-hooks off to the side. (I like displaying them with bayonets fixed, so there.) Really need a safe, or more reali$tically a cabinet like those ~$80 Homak things Bi-Mart often carries. Need to unload some compujunk on Free Geek first, and ruthlessly dumpsterize a bunch of other stuff, to make room for it.

So, two carbines and a long rifle, that's enough Mosins. I mean it. Really. Mausers are different, they're more upgradeable and just a better design overall.

Speaking of which, on further examination the Coffield article in Shotgun News is the first of about a dozen-part series which will take about a year, wherein retired professional gunsmith Coffield will finally make a spiffy custom rifle for himself instead of a customer - and it will be based on a VZ24, of which I have five. I eagerly await the next installment.

Interesting, the 91/30's rear sight appears to be calibrated in 50-meter increments. Some very light pitting evident under the refinishing. Sling is wider than the one I found for the M44, nearly an inch and a half. Some wood replaced at the toe of the butt. Thick lacquer on the stock, might refinish that someday, Cruffler has sent tips in the past and there's the earlier Coffield articles too.

268 - Sunday, 17 August 2003: Drove all over looking for fuel under $1.70. Finally found a place at $1.69⁹, in Vancouver, completely mobbed too, but managed a fill. Somebody wants a testbed for a hydrogen engine, sign me up....

Drove around for the heck of it, visited some of those freight-damaged/liquidation/commie-slave-labor-produce places. Found those little rubber wedges for holding doors open, attacked one with an X-Acto knife, made adjustment to MojoMauser's comb, may test it tomorrow after the state extortion.

Viewed The Fountainhead, 1949, with Gary Cooper. Haven't read the book but will be looking up other of Rand's works later. Will have to read that one too, eventually, but not so soon after seeing the film.

Gave up and installed Juno on the old machine - and it refuses to work with Opera's web browser, or vice-versa. So, gave up and installed MSIE 5 from the Juno CD, and that's not working right yet either, and I've got to go to Astoria tomorrow so I'm going to bed.

With these summer daylight hours, I may go up in the hills during the week after work, when most other folks won't be there. Shooting seems to be the only part of my life that doesn't regularly go sour.

269 - Monday, 18 August 2003: And the car insurance payment is due today too, I'll do that over the phone when I get back. Also their left hand doesn't know what the right is doing and they've sent me a notice raising my rates because I haven't been previously insured, despite my sending them the required form regarding that three or four times now, so I'll be taking that up with them too.

Juno is working for email - with a Juno account, which nothing else is set up for. I can access my ShootersInet account from the web, but MicroSoft Internet Explorer 5.5 crashes every time Juno tries to launch it and Juno refuses to recognize Opera. With MSIE doesn't crash, Juno does instead - after disconnecting, of course.

Court time 1:30pm in Astoria, address printed on the ticket. Ironically I stopped in that parking lot on my first coast trip to check my maps. Departing about 11:15, taking Highway 30 along the Columbia River. Won't be particularly enjoying the scenery this time.

And with road construction and traffic, I had to stop in Rainier about 1:15pm and call the court and tell them I would be delayed. Finally reached the court about 2:15. "NO FIREARMS ALLOWED ON THIS PROPERTY." Except the government's, of course.... Only a few minutes' wait while they sorted out the paperwork, I spieled something to the judge and managed not to choke on the words and the fine was reduced to $60, paid in cash. Straight back to Portland on Highway 30.

Just in time for rush-hour traffic. Jumped off freeway and took surface streets back. Through downtown even, ick. Stopped at the pawn shop with the Witness pistol, it's still there, and the Excam too with its unappealing slide-mounted safety. Emailed Cruffler about some old revolvers I spotted, some antique Colt full-size .32, a couple N-Frame S&W .357s.

Then to the library because I still can't logon from home. Why, why do people think it is appropriate to bring their running shouting screaming crying children to a library? WHY? Still absolutely nothing from ShootersInet, except the automated receipt of my support request. Considering writing a paper letter to their snail-dress. Changing ISPs is such a hassle.... Fortunately I have my entire website duplicated here for design and testing, so all I'd have to do is upload it again. Changing all the Yahoo mailing lists is fairly straightforward with the Yahoo profile, but there are other lists too. Maybe not so much a hassle after all.

Then some grocery shopping and it's too late and I'm too tired and disgusted with the universe to charge off to the hills for shooting and I haven't done a full teardown and degoop on the 91/30 yet anyway.

Survivalist tip: WinCo Foods currently has Langer's apple juice or cider on sale for $1.98/gallon, which works out to about the same as the cans of frozen concentrate and you get a reusable plastic jug besides, much sturdier than milk jugs which can't be properly cleaned and deteriorate anyway. I've got near thirty gallons of tap water stored for emergencies now, including a couple in the car. And I'm drinking apple cider instead of phosphoric acid and caffeine. The sale may expire before I get this uploaded, but keep an eye out for that sort of thing in your area.

Argh! Mail from the Liberty Committee, begging for money to help stop my Social Security money, which I've paid into the (corrupt, doomed) system for my (unlikely) retirement, from being spent on illegal aliens. And they sent a 37-cent stamp paper-clipped to the letter again. Sigh. Another $10 check. Ron Paul is the founder and honorary chairman, and there are (other) genuine friends of the 2nd Amendment on the list, the names I recognize being Indiana's Hostettler and Virginia's Virgil Goode, Jr.; Colorado's Tancredo, taking a public stand against the immivasion; and these days nearly any name appearing next to Ron Paul's can be generally assumed worthy of support, 'cause there aren't many who have the guts to stand with him on any issue.

Argh! And an alert from GOA, also with Ron Paul's name on it, contesting the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection and Network Television Subsidy Act. $10 to them too. ARGH!

Degooping the 91/30, and it's mostly degooped already. Proof and other cryptic marks all the heck over. Gently with a wire brush on the thickest lacquer on the stock. Yeah, that gunky Russian lacquer is almost as bad as my second flintlock, will refinish it someday. More attention to the bore, looks pretty good. Swapped cocking piece with the second M44 carbine, and... it was better with the one it came with, at least a little, so swapped it back. Should be ready to go, perhaps tomorrow. No recoil pad but I handled recoil pretty good at the match, and the long rifle should have less recoil than the carbine so I should be able to do without and I've wanted to wean myself off those anyway (suppose things get hand-to-hand? Obviously at that point, as a rifleman, I'll have done something wrong, but Murphy was a grunt, as they say, and if I'm going to be bashing a jackboot's face in I'd rather do it with a nice steel buttplate than a squishy rubber pad). No cartridge carrier but will pick one, or a few, up at the next Expo show, 5-7 September. (I could get an Uncle Mike's 9-place item at Bi-Mart or G.I. Joe's anytime but I prefer the ten-shot Ace Case found at the shows (for about half the price...).)

Definitely not as nice a trigger on the 91/30 as on the '53 Hungarian, but not near as bad as the '45 Russian. And a longer sight radius and presumably better ballistics with less powder being wasted outside the barrel. Also it shouldn't be so disruptive to others on the firing line (sorry Bill!).

In The Art of the Rifle Cooper writes of the sensual pleasure a rifleman feels when he holds his rifle, the need to respect and cherish the instrument, to appreciate it for the incarnation of individual power that it is, in order to be effective with it on any field of competition or battle. I get that. Often I will take a rifle, or another piece from the collection, and just hold it, set it in my lap while I'm at the computer, dry-fire a while, and so on. That's important. The rifle, or any weapon, should be an extension of one's body and one's will. It should leap to hand and shoulder naturally, with instinctive movements. The sights should align almost of themselves on the chosen target. One must join with one's weapon to be effective.

I'm not there yet, but I can see it from here. Constant practice and handling, intimacy, is the key. Observe craftsmen, artists, surgeons, musicians, who cherish and take the utmost care of their chosen tools or instruments. Like that. Elsewhere the Colonel says, "Owning a gun does not mean you are armed any more than owning a guitar means that you are a musician." I may not be a Rifleman yet but at least I'm by-gods armed.

Really looking forward to a Garand, though it appears I will have to be a member of a certified club (and, by implication, NRA) to qualify for the program. But I was figuring on that anyway....

Yeah, the 91/30 looks pretty good on the rack, with the bayonet fixed, with the Ishapore and its 17" P.1907 blade, and the MojoMauser and its Great War item, and the '53 Hungarian with its spike extended. The stubby little M7 on the M590 kinda ruins the effect though, really must do something about that someday.

And boy is it gonna suck, again, to go back to work tomorrow.

270 - Wednesday, 20 August 2003: Finally got the Compaq wiped and Win98 running, but the modem it came with is not responding. I could rip the one out of the old Packard Bell if necessary but not tonight. Got most of my personal files transferred but I'm sure there's a few stragglers. Don't have a decent word processor on the new machine, I didn't transfer any program files except for one game.

Finished the latest installment in Turtledove's Confederate alternity, better than his other stuff, his writing style (or his editor) is improving, and he always has told a good story even when he wasn't telling it very well. Now reading The War With Earth, sequel to A Boy and His Tank, by Leo Frankowski, who I suspect may be at least partly libertarian, coauthored by Dave Grossman, author of On Killing, which I now have on hold.

Also got the latest Clancy, The Teeth of the Tiger. Looking at the jacket blurb I fear he has, as I postulated earlier, run out of asses for Jack Ryan to kick and has been reduced to juggling and mixing components of previous adventures and opponents, but we'll see. Also the tenth installment of the Man-Kzin Wars franchise universe is out.

Sat through The Birth of a Nation and anyone who tried to remake that film today would be burned at the stake. And that doesn't mean it was a bad film, or that it shouldn't be remade.... Then sat through El Cid, 1961, Charlton Heston & Sophia Loren. They don't make 'em like that anymore- or do they? I found a VHS copy of Braveheart for $3 at a flea market and that could qualify (in fact there are similarities in plot, if you look close enough...).

271 - Thursday, 21 August 2003: Dubya visiting Portland today, big whoop. Reportedly 2,000 commie protesters and an unnamed number of national-socialist supporters. Socialist parties A and B.

Finally headspaced the 91/30, I'll call it good. Looks gorgeous with that long, politically-incorrect bayonet. Really must get digital camera soon, now I have a machine that should be able to run it.

Still nothing from Inet of course, I think they can be presumed dead, will shop for new ISP presently. Modem that came with Compaq not responding at all, next project - after getting some dreadfully overpriced fuel and going back to the library where the brats will hopefully have thinned out - swapping the modem from the Packard Bell, which I know works. Will probably have to set up the Packard Bell somewhere I can run it, to salvage more files from it.

So I tear out the Compaq's modem and install the Packard Bell's and... the Compaq won't boot. Huh!? So I rip out the Packard Bell's modem and don't put anything in its place and it boots right up. That modem was working just a couple days ago, I was accessing the library catalog with it through their dialup system. The Compaq says there's a COM1 but no other serial ports, with the modem out, but it also said that with the modem in. No jumpers on either modem to select address. So, I stick the Compaq modem back in and... it still doesn't see it at all. So now I need a new modem?

The slots on this thing are all on a big removable card mounted perpendicular to the mainboard. Try a different slot, and... no progress. Well, I did only pay $25 for this machine, "some assembly required," and modems are dirt-cheap these days. Got something over half a tank of gas and tomorrow's Friday, maybe I'll go to the big electronics store tomorrow evening. Maybe I'll get an external modem so I can plug it into the COM port the machine already thinks it has, and so I can actually look at the thing to see if it's doing anything. Ripped out the modem, closed the empty slots, at least I have a machine.

Meanwhile, let's see if Aces of the Deep will run on this machine....

272 - Friday, 22 August 2003: No, it won't. I'll have to redo a machine in DOS. Didn't get out to the electronics store before closing, will try tomorrow. Ad says $15 and a $10 rebate for a PCI internal. Fred Meyer was still open but they want $30.

Looks like I can't afford range fees this pay period, but I can afford to drive up to the hills for less-formal practice, except that a bunch of other people are likely to be there unless I leave before dawn, which I'm not going to do. Well, at least I can do a function test and get a rough idea of where the 91/30's sights are, but without a known distance (I have no functioning rangefinders) and the various other comforts of an established range, it may be pointless, and I'm still trying to get online dammit!

Now collecting opinions on ISPs from various friends and acquaintences. Politics matter, which is why I went with ShootersInet in the first place. In my experience "unlimited access" often means access to a limited Internet.

Some good news in the paper recently though: apparently AOL has lost about 0.85 million users in the last quarter....

273 - Saturday, 23 August 2003: Library, then Fry's. In email, Cruffler alerts me to the existence of Sportsman's Warehouse in SE Portland, I'll take a look on the way back. Got the modem. Timing could be tight on the $10 rebate but even so the modem was half what other places want.

Whoa! Where did this place come from? About 1/4 of the (ample!) floor space dedicated to firearms and shooting-related items. They carry 12-gauge and .38 Special blank ammunition! Just the thing for New Year's (and I can take one apart and see how it's made, so I can properly make my own). Was going to buy the one and only box of 12-gauge blanks I found but then found what I was really looking for, buckshot! Bought a 5-lb box of OO for $11.50, which competes nicely with Cabela's (#4 and OOO were also available, same unit price). Saw Pyrodex for about the same as Bi-Mart. Other prices were not as competitive but I will be shopping there again. Respectable selection of blackpowder stuff, .375" round ball for the .36 percussion revolver, cappers, tools, shotgun wads and cards (same Blue and Gray brand I got at the show, but priced lower - passed this time), etc.

Also they carry Accurate brand powder, but not Solo 1000 - but they do carry Nitro 100, and the 2002 Accurate manual included with the Load-All lists Cowboy loads for that powder. Looks like the mildest load I can get with the components I have on-hand is one ounce shot at 5,400 psi, but there's a 3/4-ounce 4,000 psi load listed with Federal 12S0 wads if I can find those. Eh, the Pyrodex loads are more authentic for Cowboy stuff anyway, though I still want smokeless loads for the Mossberg for modern competition like 3-Gun. Also other smokeless powders available, Vithavouri, Ramshot, Alliant/Hercules, Hodgdon. Cruffler warned me to go to Fry's for the modem before going to Sportsman's Warehouse, and he was right.

At library, received Coulter's Treason. Will probably have to read it soon, last I checked the holding queue was over 100 and I don't think they'll let me renew it. Eh, it'll be cool leaving it on the break-room table for the Democommies at work to be offended by. (As far as Democrats are concerned, the First Amendment only applies to them.) Finished The War With Earth, good but kinda a downer. It does look like there will be more in the series.

Looks like the modem works, but the cheesy terminal program it came with won't connect to the county library's system, I'll have to set up the Packard Bell and suck HyperTerminal off it. Juno is still not cooperating, except for long enough to get five pieces of spam to an email account I opened just a couple days ago and have never used.

Ah, got it working! Had to go through My Computer, Dial-Up Networking, and launch the Juno connection separately, then launch MSIE 5, but now I'm online, sorta kinda, and I can take my time at mail2web instead of rushing with the one hour the library allocates to my computerized library card.

Reading Treason while the machine is tied up downloading things like Opera v7, iEradicator, CuteHTML, and WsFTP. Makes me wanna go right out and lynch some jackasses. I've been calling Democrats commies and traitors for a long time, but here's documentary evidence that they really are. I mean really! Aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States! These people should hang!

274 - Sunday, 24 August 2003: About 3:45pm, charged off to the hills for function testing of the 91/30 and the MojoMauser, and some .357 practice. Nothing fancy, about eighty rounds Greek 7.92, 50 Albanian 7.62x54, half the .38 reloads I found at the show. Hopefully by this time most other folks will be gone from the shooting areas.

...Ah, nope. Haven't been up there for a couple years at least, except for the short, shorter trip a couple weeks ago. Landmarks have changed and I don't remember which turnoff goes where, exactly. Eh, I've wanted a GPS receiver for a while anyway. Anyhow, drove around, abused my poor little green hatchback on very rough logging roads. Low on gas, getting hungry, finally gave up and chose a hillside with about 20 meters shooting distance and plenty of leftover targets.

Ten rounds from the Mosin, no surprises. Might want recoil pad after all, will try to tough it out without in my next real practice session. Ten rounds from the MojoMauser, seems to kick harder with a recoil pad than the 91/30 does without, but that's probably my lousy cross-legged sitting position on the uneven ground. Fixed the cheek-smacking anyway. No (other) surprises there. Now the GP100, about 80 rounds, very informal, a little speedloader drill, made some reassuring hits. One bad reloaded cartridge, bulged at the case mouth, probably from excessive bullet lube, resisted chambering, tossed it. About 6pm, went home and had me a frozen pizza. Got everything cleaned. $5 fuel at $1.79⁹ on the way back, nearly half a tank now.

Fiddling with the buckshot. Too late tonight for a loading session, what with slogging through my backed-up email through mail2web, but I can take some measurements and 'blog them for my own future reference. Three OO buckshot projectiles fit nicely in triangular formation in a 12-gauge hull, with subsequent layers nicely alternately stacked. Typical load is nine pellets in three layers for factory OO loads. One Hornady red-box ball averages 54.4 grains (54.3666..., average of nine), times nine equals 489.3, or only three grains short of 1-1/8 ounces, so there's my shot weight for load data. (The same nine balls together actually weigh in at 489.8, close enough. Half a grain doesn't matter near as much in projectile weight as it does in powder weight.) Two layers, six balls, would be 326.2 grains, only two short of 3/4 ounce, which is also a standard loading-manual shot weight if I want a really mild load. Some manuals have actual buckshot loads of course. Hope to make up a few and, fuel permitting, run up to the hills for informal testing. More likely I'll conserve and test them in a full practice session at Clark Rifles on the 30th or 31st, after I'm paid and can afford a full tank. Already used the 5-liter reserve can. I'll probably be too wasted from work, and tied up trying to reestablish full net access, during the week anyway. Should probably invest in a larger reserve can, will look at surplus stores.

I've put more than 3,000 miles on the little green car since I got her and still haven't done an oil change. Probably just go to Jiffy Lube on Friday.

Coulter goes on and on and on and on about Joe McCarthy, pretty much the whole first third of the book. But she makes her case. Bunch of stuff I'd never known, with sources and everything. Changed my (leftist-controlled-media-induced) view of the Senator. The invective, sarcasm, and so on does get quite thick, however, and sometimes even repetitive. I like my reading more... efficient, and I try to write that way too. But, if I were campaigning for office against a Democrat, I'd make Coulter's Treason required reading for my entire staff, and keep a couple copies around the headquarters for reference.

Anyway, sickened by Democrats' documented, proven treachery. I begin to wonder how we won World War Two. ...Oh yeah, Stalin was on our side in that one, and his agents and spies in our government got us to give up half of Europe to his kangaroo courts and gulags and official-government-policy famines. Stalin killed more Russians and Europeans than Hitler, and Democrats call him "Uncle Joe."

Of course Democrats are intellectually incapable of reading this book. Their narrow little minds just won't stretch around it. They're hopelessly prejudiced.

Discovered that if you install Juno with MicroSoft Internet Explorer, then run iEradicator, Juno crashes and takes its ad banner and MSIE popups with it - but stays connected and lets you run Opera! :)

During the hills trip, strapped on the GP100 in a concealment holster, Uncle Mike's universal belt-slide thumb-break, "fits most guns". Mounted behind the right hip, butt tilted forward, muzzle actually in my jeans hip pocket for extra concealment (wore another shirt over it but the muzzle tends to peek out from under). Not suitable for driving, will need a crossdraw if I'm going to make a habit of it, I'll see what I can find at holster tables at the shows. Then there will be the proper pistol to accommodate, someday.

275 - Monday, 25 August 2003: At work today, we turned in our box knives - the flat, aluminum-sleeve kind - for some wimpified over-plasticized safety thing, which we have to sign out for every Monday and which can't leave the warehouse. Reportedly the policy is a result of someone in California (where else?) cutting himself.

Never mind the ~2,000-pound motor vehicles most of us drive to work in (which are involved in more deaths in a month than firearms are in a year). Never mind the forklift and its long, pointy forks which can do unspeakable things to the human body. Never mind the aerosol cans of flammable, even explosive, hairspray all over the warehouse. A little box knife with about half an inch of cutting edge is dangerous. Can't have 'em floating around causing mischief. And the emasculation of America marches on.

From more than one source, I've heard or read of some schools in Australia banning Hallowe'en costumes that depict superheroes, like Superman, because it "makes children aggressive." Neal Boortz appears to be the libertarian of the talk-radio spectrum and put into words what I was thinking: Government doesn't want its subjects to be aggressive because it makes them more difficult to rule, and tax, and oppress, and enslave, and murder. And no box knives either!

Yup, gonna get me some larger gas cans, maybe even stockpile a little fuel, and more ammunition of course. Gonna need it.

Starting with the buckshot loads. Picked out fifteen Federal high-brass hulls, from their Tactical "reduced recoil" OO factory load. They chamber smoothly in the double, no resizing necessary. Deprimed and reprimed with CCI209. Twenty-five .125" overpowder cards left, allocating twenty-four for column height, making twelve rounds. Three dips with the .30 Carbine dipper, 60 grains by volume Pyrodex RS, .125" overpowder, 1/2" lubed cushion wad and one thin overshot card to contain the lube. Did all twelve that far. Now the column height, nine 0.33" pellets dropped in by hand, they align themselves in three layers of three.

Way low of course. Add the second overpowder card to each, still low. Enough overshot cards to put four in each of the twelve cartridges... and that seems to be just enough! Cool. Twelve rounds complete, two of them on-duty in the double. So, a Federal high-brass plastic hull from their Tactical OO load, CCI209 primer, 60 grains by volume Pyrodex RS, overpowder card, cushion wad, overshot card, another overpowder and four overshot cards, then nine OO pellets. Or if I had them, two overpowder cards between the shot and the cushion wad.

Oh yeah - I disclaim all responsibility for anyone else using this load. Use at your own risk. And the other loads too. And wash thoroughly after handling lead.

In snail-mail today, OFF wants me to join - I thought I had, but I never got a membership card or the like, but maybe they have a looser system. Anyway, for $32.50 I get a shoulder patch. OFF is one of the outfits joining the nationwide effort to kill the "assault weapons" ban. In the same envelope, a brief letter from Larry Pratt of GOA, of whom OFF is an affiliate. The check is written and the envelope stamped, it'll go out Friday when the money is in the account.

276 - Tuesday, 26 August 2003: Ahh, coupon in snail-spam for Jiffy Lube, $20.99! "Prices may vary depending on vehicle." Called them, regular price $28.99, my car is not one that varies. No appointment necessary, one located sixteen blocks away, closes 7pm weekdays, 6pm Saturdays. So I'll do that on Friday when I can afford it. Actually I might be able to right now, since ShootersInet does appear to have not billed me for August, but I'll be conservative.

But not neoconservative. Also in mail, a bundle from Citizens United for the Bush Agenda. Glossy photo of Dubya on the flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln. (And boy do I have mixed feelings about that - a great big ass-kicking warship in My Country's Navy, named for a man who did so much damage to the Constitution and American liberty in general he makes Clinton look like an amateur.) Begging for money of course. For $43 I get a CVN-72 hat. I don't think so. Not one word about the 2nd Amendment, and not many about what the Bush Agenda really is, except that liberals don't like it and that should be enough reason to send in my money. In fact they spend more space quoting the mean things the commies are saying about Dubya, than about Dubya. Sorry folks, I'm one of those informed voters that neither branch of the American Socialist Party wants.

The 233MHz Compaq is noticeably faster than the 133MHz Packard Bell, but not much more than that. Will need another power strip to get the PB running again for more file salvage and even that will have to wait 'til payday. The checking account is presumed to be in single digits in case of ShootersInet's unlikely ressurrection, and I've got two dollars in my wallet, one of which came in an envelope from one of the internet survey outfits I'm signed up with. Still slogging through the email backlog at mail2web, went from over 1,300 to under 900 today. Most are simply deleted of course.

277 - Wednesday, 27 August 2003: The only snail-mail today is from Judicial Watch, begging for money to bring the Clintons to justice:

"For eight long years, they disgraced The White House.
"They defamed and threatened innocent women, compromised national security for campaign money, refused to report illegally raised funds and criminally used the IRS as a tool to harass political opponents. He abused the presidential pardon power, and she comandeered confidential FBI files for political purposes and took campaign contributions from terrorist groups. Finally, literally on their way out the door, they stole property from The White House!
"Time and time again, they broke the law, committed crimes and lied under oath about it.
"Today, he is directing the Democratic Party and she is preparing to run for President.
"The Justice Department won't prosecute them for their crimes.
"But we are! Will you help us finally bring them to justice?"

$35 minimum, and I get a monthly newsletter. Tempting....

278 - Thursday, 28 August 2003: Finished Coulter's Treason. She does go off the right end at the end, on such topics as abortion and religion and other-than-heterosexuality, but the rest of the book almost makes me want to register as a Republican again, on the enemy-of-my-enemy principle.

I can think of a few Democrats I'd like to duct-tape to a chair with their eyes taped open while the pages are projected before them. Or just get it on tape and superglue headphones to their ears. Some Democrats claim to be supporters of the Second Amendment and generally in favor of the survival of the United States of America as a free and sovereign nation. Some of them might even believe themselves. I dare them to read this book. If they're still Democrats when they're done, they'll be no friends of mine.

Now starting Clancy's The Teeth of the Tiger, with some apprehension as described above, but... it's still Clancy. Already sucked me right in. I seem to recall reading somewhere that Clancy, in a moment of financial weakness long before he had any idea his books would be so successful, signed some dreadful film-deal contract with Paramount, and has lived to vehemently regret it. I've only seen a couple-few of the films based on his books and boy did they suck. I haven't seen The Sum of All Fears and have no desire to. The trailers alone were so sickeningly twisted from what Clancy wrote that I could tell it was a complete hack job. I've since read confirmation from reviews on the net. Gunfolk dig Clancy. He may not be entirely one of us but he damn sure ain't one of them.

279 - Friday, 29 August 2003: So I go to Jiffy Lube pretty much straight from work and one of the guys comes out and says they're all out of oil filters for my car. (Now that's some professionalism, seeing me coming and checking his inventory before I could even make the turn off Sandy Blvd., then meeting me on my way in with the news.) So I tell him I've got a couple filters in the back and he guides me over the pit and I take a seat in the lobby with the Clancy novel and (moments) later a guy comes in and tells me they can't change my oil because the drain plug is stripped. Can't grab it with a wrench or even vise-grips. Crap. Will contact the woodworker/mechanic friends shortly and see what they can do. Anyway the Jiffy Lube crew did seem quite professional and hop-to-it-esque, a refreshing change from the Future Welfare Recipients I work with at the shampoo warehouse.

And I get back to my apartment and my neighbor tells me how he drove up and parked and went inside to use his restroom and when he came out some Latino individual was inside his car and, when challenged, claimed he was repossessing it. My neighbor's car is fully owned by my neighbor, as mine is by me.

And last night the latest crop of vagrants living out of a van on this street had a fistfight and were apparently hauled away, van and all, by blueshirts called by another neighbor (who wanted to come stand by my door until the blueshirts arrived because that person is socially nekkid, which is gunfolkspeak for "unarmed-victim-in-waiting").

Now, I have long since made a habit of not even opening the door to check my mailbox without a handgun slipped in the back pocket of my jeans, but for crying out loud! Now it's necessary! The neighbor whose car was violated (right next to where I park) is a decent guy, Vietnam veteran, a bit too right-wing and/or neoconservative in some ways but comfortable enough to have as a neighbor (most graphically especially compared to some I've had). He doesn't have net access, so won't be reading this 'blog. Maybe I'll surprise him with one of those cheap ($80 this week! And layawayable too!) Brazilian single-shot shotguns for Christmas. He's not completely socially nekkid but if this is where the neighborhood is going I'd rather he were better dressed.

20 gauge, I think, recoil is an issue with those lightweight single-shots and he ain't been practicing. A while back there was a thread on Yahoo's scatterguns list about "20 gauge dalliances," prompted largely by recoil issues as I recall. When I had my NEF 20 gauge I recall it kicked about as much as the Mosin carbine. A 12 gauge on that design would be a real bruiser, and a .410 might not have enough authority. I may get a 20 for my own collection again, and if I do I'd probably blow another $40 on a Load-All for it so I could tone even that down some. Meanwhile I've got two fully-functional 12 gauges, neither of which I'm inclined to part with and both of which I now have under control. And Sportsman's Warehouse seems to have everything I need for loading home-defense shotshells, including a respectable selection of smokeless powders, wads, and bulk buckshot. Also regular shot in the common sizes and in others, not carried by Bi-Mart, like #4, which ought to be a good trade-off between striking power and reduced risk of overpenetration in this urban setting.

Gods, I hate cities.

Snail-mail today, another from Judicial Watch, this time calling Daschle "the most corrupt politician in America." I'm mildly curious how I got on their mailing list... but only mildly. More to the point I just can't spare anything for them, I've got enough trouble with rent and utilities and fuel and food and contributing something, anything, to the gunfolk cause.

Also one from the Freedom Alliance, Oliver North, Founder and Honorary Chairman, "Dear Fellow Conservative".... Please sign the enclosed petition (and send money) to tell Dubya to oppose the creation of a United Nations Army. Um, Ollie, Dubya's no conservative. He ain't even a republican. And if you think he is, then maybe you ain't, either. The petition won't do any good and I'm sorry I voted for him. (...But, okay, I wouldn't rather have Comrade Gore.)

Also, newsletter from Second Amendment Foundation, including an article coauthored by Dave Workman, a regular on a few of the Yahoo lists I subscribe to. They also beg for money of course, but direct-deposit is working as advertised so I may send them $15.

And, a vote-by-mail ballot, state measure 29, state Constitutional amendment (Oregon's Constitution is a Frankenstein's monster, 'cause so much stuff that should be statutory has gone the amendment route) to "incur general obligation debt for savings on pension liabilities." Got the voter's guide earlier, will have to look through it again. I recall the Libertarian Party was against it and that's probably good enough for me, but I'll do some reading before I vote anyway.

Um. I really need to get off my butt and get a new ISP, now that I have some money in my account.... Bookmarked a couple, will take a closer look and see how they stack up with "unlimited" access, personal web space, etc.

280 - Saturday, 30 August 2003: Spent some money today! Withdrew cash yesterday for rent, got that covered. $5 gas at 1.87⁹, waiting to find a better price before I top off and refill the reserve can. About $42 at Bi-Mart for a case of oil, catch-pan, funnel, filter wrench, pound of Pyrodex RS, two trays of CCI209 primers, about half of which was on sale. About $23 at Schuck's, for car-service ramps on sale, and a replacement drain plug. (Schuck's wanted about three times Bi-Mart's price for the exact same filter wrench, but I think the ramps were a good deal.) Going to try an oil change presently, maybe today. And $25.72 for the electric bill (no air conditioning).

Before I left, finally caught up with email, mostly. Also, stopped at flea market where I saw a used t-shirt heat press last weekend, but it's gone. Last night, thumbed through Computer Bits, visiting and bookmarking ISP sites, should finish that today and have a dozen or so to choose from. Some offer 30Mb personal website space, ShootersInet only gave ten.

Starting the oil change, following instructions in Haynes manual, including running the motor for a couple minutes to make everything warm and slippery. The JL guys were right about the drain plug but by being really insistent with my vise-grips I got it out, and I have a brand-new one to replace it with. Splort. Missed the pan, a little. Dribbledribbledribble. That takes a while. Eventually, wiped the area and installed new plug. Old plug discarded.

Now the filter. Some toasty bits on the way to it, but managed. Splurt. Of course there is oil in the filter as well but the manual warns of such and I was prepared. Wipe, new filter, hand-tighten according to instructions. "Lower vehicle."

Don't want to run the engine without oil, even for less than a minute. Put in neutral, release parking brake, try rocking it off the ramps. Would probably have worked if I'd remembered to remove the rocks I placed under the rear wheels for chocks. Eh, what can a few seconds running without oil hurt? Start it up, put it in reverse, easy with the clutch and gas... and the ramps are spat out from under the vehicle by the front wheel drive, because I still haven't remembered the chocks. I remember them now. Oh well, at least the car is down and nothing broke.

Three and a half quarts, let settle, check level, in the "safe" range. Run for a minute to slosh it all around, add the other half quart, stated capacity four. Cool, my oil is changed, and I know when. Little reminder sticker on every fourth bottle in the Pennzoil case, stuck in corner of windshield. Next project, coolant flush, though that's probably not as urgent. Checked coolant level, did seem a bit low, bought some coolant at Bi-Mart too, mixed up about a quart with half water and dumped it in. Might be too much now but there's an overflow thingie, right? She'll probably relieve herself in a parking lot somewhere. Drained used oil into scoopable-kitty-litter jug, sloppily.

Cleaned up, charged off to Fry's, because I can. Stopped by Sportsman's Warehouse on the way, got sack of Federal 12S0 plastic wads and two bags of overpowder & overshot cards, but still no smokeless powder, still must study loading manuals. Probably Accurate Nitro 100, about $12/pound. More 12-gauge blanks in stock, $10.50/25; .38 Special blanks, $18.something/50. More buckshot in stock too, last time they only had a couple boxes in each size. Still only #4, OO and OOO. Saw someone fondling an Garand, I believe it was marked Springfield Armory Inc., about $750 as I recall. Only bayonet lug in the store. Kel-Tec Sub 2000 (?) folding carbine on rack, couldn't see price. Post-Ban M1A sighted, and the civilian version of the Benelli military shotgun with the telescoping stock which doesn't for us lowly peasants. Impressive selection of handguns, until you realize every one of them fell off the front cover of a slick gun magazine, no Czech CZ75s, no EAA Witnesses, and damn sure no Argentine-surplus 1911 clones or FEG P35s. Percussion revolvers on display, not too much over Cabela's prices when you count shipping, but they seemed to be out of '58 Remingtons and the only 1851 Colts I saw were inauthentic .44s. No idea if they do layaway. Found a Bianchi (#18806) adjustable holster for typical 4" .357s like my GP100, crossdraw-capable, with thumb-break as I prefer, $40, passed for now but it seems to be what I want if I'm going to carry while driving, only I would have to wear something over it. Will still look at holster tables at the Expo Show next weekend. Is there such a thing as a crossdraw IWB? Is that even anatomically possible?

While shopping, set cardboard under engine in parking lot, no discernable leaks. At Fry's, got 25-pin extension cable to rearrange my desktop with the Compaq tower on one side and the flatbed scanner on the other; cheap power strip for the old Packard Bell; and a $15 low-end webcam allegedly capable of snapshots.

And it works! Maximum resolution 320x240 and it's a disk hog for video, but it does perform approximately as advertised. Also apparently sound-capable for video, with a separate microphone plugged into the computer's sound jack, will have to get one. Microsoft Netmeeting included on installation CD, will try it later maybe.

Um, was still planning on shooting tomorrow. Supposed to be hot, and haven't packed range bag yet. Well, got some extra sleep this morning, and I have Monday off, and there's always the hills.

Ooo, looky there! Looks like I can mount this webcam to an industry-standard photo tripod, much more stable than trying to balance it on top of the monitor, since the cable weighs more than the camera. Also there's a delay-snapshot feature so I can take nice stable pictures of, for example, myself. USB extension cables are available too (it came with six feet), so I can take a picture of my collection on a table, etc. Not bad for $15, and there's a $5 mail-in rebate. I will still get a higher-quality camera in future but this will do for now.

Looked at Mars with my 45x Tasco spotting scope, saw a bright pink dot. It did give the impression of being an actual disk, though. Reset car-radio clock by disconnecting battery terminal and reconnecting at midnight. So there.

281 - Sunday, 31 August 2003: Sigh. Slept in again, late start. Is Clark Rifles open on Labor Day? Again, there's still the hills.

Cruffler returns in email that Clark Rifles is not open tomorrow. Going to the hills then, wonder how many yahoos will be out there first. Maybe I should go ahead and splurge on that Bianchi holster...?

No regular firearm sale at Big 5 this week, a big Labor Day coupon event instead. Wanted to look at the Brazilian 20-gauge single-shot, still $80 through Monday, but between the crowd and the trigger lock also locking the operating lever I didn't bother asking for it. Might sniff over pawn shops. Drove around looking for some in fact, but the only one I conveniently found that wasn't already closed did not carry firearms. Eh, probably go back to Silver Lining anyway.

Went to hardware store, bought ten feet of one-inch internal-diameter light-gray plastic pipe for $3.19. If it works out I should get four or five shotgun speedloaders out of it, and if it doesn't it's no tremendous waste of money. Will start experimenting soon.

The Clancy novel rolling right along. About halfway through. Not disappointed. Kind of a new direction he's taking, interesting, I wonder how far he'll go with it? Yes, very interesting, he's even making a few quiet libertarian noises now....

The little webcam is not of sufficient quality for decent pictures of my collection, or maybe the lighting in my hovel just sucks.

Got the Packard Bell running again, and it won't fully boot by itself anymore. Using a Win98 boot floppy, sufficient to access C: for file salvage. Got some, but there are a whole bunch of saved emails trapped in the congolomerated Outlook Express files than I may not be able to recover. I'll set that hard drive aside and use another one to convert it to a DOS machine so I can play some relatively obsolete games I haven't been able to run for years.

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