RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - MAY 2004

No word from Structural Engineer. Departing 10:30am for Vancouver show with $200. (D'oh! Forgot Washington lottery tickets!) No case tumblers! Weird, where do they all go? Lots of tumbling media, and other reloading stuff. Suppose I need .308 dies, but definitely want carbide sizer if available.

Bought: 160 rounds Australian 7.62x51mm NATO, $29.95; 200 rounds Portuguese, $35; 160 rounds Albanian brass-case 7.62x54mmR, $2.50/20. (Might take a Mosin to the PIG or the Allies vs. Axis match.) Donated $5 to a hunter-education thing.

Saw: Remington-Rand M1911A1, VG+, $600; Yugo SKS, $210, Russian $299; CZ452 .22LR bolt-action, very nicely made - hooded front post, military-style sliding rear sight marked up to 200 in 25s, and adjustable for windage - sling swivels have stops to prevent them marring the stock - fit & finish superb - $300. I begin to suspect the Brno plant isn't paying its people enough - how do they keep quality that high and prices that low?

Probably-used CZ75B 9mm, plastic thumbrest grips, overpriced (!) at $399. Third Reich K43 semiautomatic carbine, $1,000, among a pile of Arisakas, Mausers, etc. for rather less. ‘03 Springfields, some A3, some earlier, $400+ depending; Garands, $600 and up. Arcus Bulgarian Hi-Power derivative, fat rubber grips, $350 (later, gunfolk list discussion sez the Arcus is picky about magazines and ammunition, while FEG is "very accurate and reliable"). Kahr K9 in case, only one magazine evident, $375. New-ish Mossberg M500 20ga, ~20" bead, possibly Bantam youth/women's (wood) stock, $189. Century (Chinese) Ithaca 37 clone, 12ga/20", $140. Ishapore 7.62mm SMLE, $200. CETME/FR-8 bayonet, $45, vendor says he'd go $40 - I think I can beat that at TAPCO. Same vendor, Timney triggers, $50+, I know I can beat that. Ithaca M49 single-shot .22, Winchester ‘92/'94 outside, Martini-Henry inside, $95 (VG!). VG+ Remington 870 20ga, $239.

Saw the hobbyist who shortened my double's barrels, says $15-$20 to shorten a stock - I've a 20-gauge project in mind. Says engraving isn't his bag, but I happen to know Blacksmith used to be a jeweler (among other things...).

Brochure for C&C Gun Sales - "New, Used & Consignments. Oregon Transfers: $25. Special Order service is available. Gunsmithing services available." Flyer for Cowboy match at Clark Rifles next Saturday - still don't have lever-action (or other period repeater - Colt Lightning reproductions are now available), or garb.

Topped off on Regular at $1.95 (exceeding $2.10 down here), returned about 1pm. Barberton next Saturday, Canby the following weekend.

Phone bill, paid. GOA mailing with newsletter - New Hampshire Senate passes "Vermont Carry" bill!

Ahem - new truck fund rebuilt from previous shows, $80. -And promptly dropped down to $60 for range fees tomorrow.

A while ago I splurged on an automatic floodlight switch, light-sensitive - installed, works. New anti-furl flagpoles, now I just need a half-dozen of those plastic cable-ties to hold everything in place.

TAPCO wants $15 for a CETME bayonet, and $12 for a sight tool which should fit in the cleaning-kit tube behind the bayonet lug. I do believe the transitional, meant-for-training-conscripts-to-use-the-CETME FR-8 has the same front sight, and therefore uses the same front sight tool, as the CETME. Plus shipping those two items would be $36 minus change, less than the show vendor wanted for the bayonet alone. Next week-ish. -Sight tool has folding handle which also forms small screwdriver for aforementioned lock screw. Hmm, what else can I fit in there...?

Brownell's appears to be out of the same model of Timney (it was a closeout) I ordered for the MojoMauser, will check Midway again later. That $50 might turn out to be fair after all; this vendor is a regular, specializing in collectible bayonets (with production codes and correct scabbards and such, as opposed to the kind that just fit the rifle). -OTOH, last time I was at Brightwater Ventures I think I saw one hanging from his wall for less than $40. Probably closed Sunday (and I'm out of money now anyway), I'll take another look next Saturday.

Well crud! The magazine follower I swapped from a VZ won't allow five rounds to be loaded in the FR, and is kinda funny about the fourth besides. So back in goes the original with the bolt-stop feature that inhibits dry-firing and practice boltwork. Don't want to Dremel an original part, and I've complained before about the Kalashnikov's lack of a bolt stop.... Have five orange plastic .308 dummy rounds, like Dillon sells, but with headspace issues they don't work well as snap-caps - they break at the extractor groove as the force of the firing pin slams them right past the extractor. Hmm.

To library, started The Confusion at laundromat. Hurray, Half-Cocked Jack Shaftoe returns! Previously, read American Rifleman magazine in the periodical section, kinda surprised they haven't censored it right off the shelves - article about WWI Trench Guns, obtained patent numbers for bayonet adapter for 12-gauge barrels! I should be able to look them up and get drawings! I'm sure the patents have expired by now - I believe Thomas Jefferson said that a patent should only last a single "generation", which he somehow calculated to be 17 years. Also picked up Savage Nation, and a couple history books from the New shelves, Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer and Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World by Jack Kelly. An excerpt from the latter, recounting the Siege of Petersburg during the War Between the States: During Federal artillery bombardment of the Confederate city, "As the shells flew, a Mississippi soldier reported, ‘the little boys watch for them to fall & if they don't explode they take out the powder & sell it.'" Now that's the spirit of resistance!

476 - Sunday, 2 May 2004: Departing for Clark Rifles about 10am, with:

MojoMauser, 20 rounds factory, 20 rounds Hornady 150/46.0 IMR4064
FR-8, 40 rounds each Portuguese, Australian & Hirtenberger, 35 rounds South African, old tweezers for sight tool (actually I forgot the tweezers and fumbled with the small flat screwdriver of my Leatherman)
GP100, 26 rounds Hornady 125/8.6 Unique, 50 rounds Winchester 110 factory

Arrived ~10.45, less crowded than last time. Upper range, lane 4, .22s and bolt-actions to my left, no brass issues. Two Palma targets at 25 yards. Starting with FR & South African (Berdan), 100-meter notch, center hold. No sandbags this time, just hasty sling with my elbows on the bench.

Sticky extraction. Not using any more South African in the FR.

Need a haircut. Adjust front sight - previous guess is an improvement.

Now the Australian (Berdan). Bubble pack! Hm, getting closer. Smoother extraction. The high flyer was a flinch, when some belted magnum went off a couple lanes over just as my sear was breaking. Let's try that again - not bad! Definitely get a Timney here. Again - the front sight is set, the rest is up to me.

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Let's not beat me up with a lot of recoil at this point - need better trigger, like the MojoMauser which I also want to work with today. Try some Portuguese. Ooo... that's interesting. Again - not as interesting but still not bad. Again - one round, about 11:30am - and the Range Officer calls a general cease-fire as a local resident (who started building a house behind the 300-yard line a couple-three years ago, after signing waivers releasing the range from damages) calls the county sheriff with a claim that bullets are exiting the range (which was established 1960). I have heard stories of this woman before - one was that the last time she called in she showed the sheriff "bullet holes" in her house, with the sawdust from the power drill still fresh on the ground below them. Another time "bullets" were found in the roof and gutters of the house - at least one of which was unfired.... And anti-gun people call us liars.

Sheriff's deputy & R/O examine range and backstops while apparently another deputy examines the bigot's property, finding no evidence. Firing resumes about 12:10 and I finally complete that third string of Portuguese - hmm, that looks a lot better than it felt! Not sorry I bought the FR. Slap a Timney in there and it may replace the MojoMauser as my primary rifle! Another string of Portuguese - that's still pretty good for a military trigger and inappropriate notch rear sight. (Another full turn up on the front post, windage looks good.)

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Now Hirtenberger (Boxer! But crimped primers, will be harder to reload). Hmm, not as good as I'd hoped. Again - hm. Again - hm. And again - getting tired & sloppy, or maybe the FR just prefers Portuguese. Enough with the FR, switch to MojoTimneyMauser while I still have some recoil tolerance left.

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Last box of Federal factory 170gr. Hmm, sights a little off somehow from last time? Again - hm. Again - hmm. Last of the factory - hmph.

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Now the IMR handloads. Shrug. Again - I dunno. Two more strings, last of the 7.92mm today - hmm.

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~1:45pm, handgun range. Ten yards, bench, sandbags, single-action, 1" square rifle-practice targets, Winchester factory 110JHP. -At least the windage is good. Half turn, 8 clicks, down. Hmm. Three clicks back up. Agh! Out of targets! Must stop at cheap photocopy place after work tomorrow (time for another stack of the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence at the library, too). Clubhouse, NRA B-16 25-yard slow-fire pistol targets (with orange 10-ring), 25¢ each.

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Aw come on! What the heck was that? Up two clicks. Hmm, better....

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One 1" target left. Not bad! Again - hmm, down one click.

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Hmm. Focus on the front sight. Last eight rounds factory - better.

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Now the Unique handloads. Hmm. And again - hmm, one click left.

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Fourteen rounds and one fresh target left - instead of a target break, aim at the scoring numeral "6" on the left side of the targets. Can't really see that aiming point, getting tired & sloppy again. Last eight rounds Unique - not bad for handgun, really, especially with so little practice. Next time, fine-tune sights, and get proper double-action offhand practice instead of this artificial administrative stuff.

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Packed up ~3pm. Still some FR ammo left but don't want to force myself, get a sore shoulder and develop a case of flinches. Swung by Brightwater Ventures, so long as I was on that side of the river - closed Sundays, now I know, and besides I can't afford the Timney I saw there until next payday.

R/O, and some other shooters growing to recognize me, pestering me to get membership - well, yes. Coupons in Brownell's catalog for $25 NRA membership (required for club membership) as opposed to usual $35, will do that first. Picked up current newsletter (with calendar of events) and revised membership form on way out.

Returned about 4pm. Remembered Washington lottery tickets this time! Again nothing splendid at Big 5 - frankly I was afraid they'd have the Marlin lever-actions on sale; after losing the M39 .22 at the pawn shop (still bummed!) I'm quite vulnerable to the M1894 .357.

Neighbor reports prospective property buyers willing to leave current tenants as-is, pending new rental agreements. Meeting tomorrow evening.

Michigan reader gives reloading tips, points out differences in FR models, opines that FR-8, on genuine large-ring ‘98 action originally in 7.92mm, should be fine with American commercial loads - fine, I've four boxes, half Federal and Remington, from way back when I got my first Ishapore, will probably take them along next session, will seek dies at Barberton.

477 - Monday, 3 May 2004: Sigh - some people (at work) just don't get it. Are demonstrably incapable of getting it. Have probably never got it in their entire lives.

Cruffler informs me that carbide or comparable sizing dies are not available and/or practical for bottleneck cases. Phooey! Well, at least a .308 Winchester should be a little easier to resize than a 7.92x57mm. Definitely need case tumbler now. Cruffler also suggests Bold trigger by Boyd's Gunstocks, $30.

478 - Tuesday, 4 May 2004: Meetings at work. What's that line from Henry V - "We talk and talk, and by Christ do nothing!"

479 - Thursday, 6 May 2004: Stephenson's characters in The Confusion have some fascinating things to say about money, currency, standards like gold, etc. See also the book to which this is prequel, Cryptonomicon. Stephenson for SecTreas!

A reader relates that Dillon sells carbide dies for .308 (and .223), but the cases still have to be lubed so what's the point? Oh - carbide neck-expander ball, so maybe I wouldn't have to lube the inside of the neck, which can interfere with the powder; and increased die longevity. But come on! ~$100 for the sizer die alone? Only $20-$30 more for the complete three-die (seater, crimper) set?

Random thought: There is a difference between elite and elitist. Some people really are better than others - while some want others to believe, and to treat them, as though they are, when in fact they are not. Example: Pat Tillman, US Army Ranger killed in action while going back into a firefight to rescue his comrades in Afghanistan after walking away from a multimillion dollar NFL contract to serve his country for less than even I made last year, was elite. Maria Kennedy-Shriver-Schwarzenegger, campaigning at a memorial service for Tillman for a Constitutional Amendment to make foreign-born citizens (like her RINO husband) eligible for the Presidency (see Article II, Section 1), is elitist.

(Um, eek? Suppose a foreign-born citizen, like Governor SchwarzenRINO, were Speaker of the House of Representatives (see Amendment XXV - I think? In the back of my Pocket Constitution from the Rutherford Institute is says the Speaker of the House is next in succession, but I can't find it spelled out anywhere, just stuff about Congress appointing someone) when al Qaeda dropped another jetliner on both Pres and Veep? Hmmm. Something to look out for! Along with this "Continuity of Government" business. Remember Madrid! Don't let this happen to you!)

I'm on lots of mailing lists, both e- and snail-, most of them "conservative" (that is, not blatantly treasonous-socialist). Rep. Bob Barr, R(one of the few who can make that claim with any credibility)-GA, sends that Hillary may be angling for the VP spot this cycle. Now imagine - if she gets it, and if the commies win this November, how long will it be before Kerry is "brutally gunned down by right-wing militia extremists with illegal assault weapons" (i.e. a bought-and-paid-for BATF/FBI thug - maybe Horiuchi, the mommy-killer himself out of retirement! - with a government-issue Remchester)? Can you say "Reichstag Fire"? I knew you could....

Dammit - I may actually send Barr money over that one.

I may go and buy a copy of State of Disobedience. Judging by the reviews from netgunfolk, Kratman's family will need the proceeds when the government frames him for something, or murders him outright.

New rental agreements signed - my rent is not going up, at least not for the moment.

I used to like Jackie Chan films - he is pretty good in the action sequences - but now I can't stand them, working as I do surrounded by people who cannot speak American, or do so with an even worse accent than Jackie's. Looking through job listings on the temp service's website (shared a couple with a neighbor, a couple more with Blacksmith), I see several that specify the ability to communicate clearly in English as a requirement. Somehow I think that sentence was missing from the description of this job.

So the NATO-caliber FR-8 may, with some adjustment, become my Constitution Rifle, which means I'll finally have one after twenty-two months of ‘blogging. (The Ishapore just won't hold still, and while its twelve-round magazine and slick-quick action would be advantages, the SMLE loses to the Mauser in user-confidence - and the FR-8 is lighter and handier than the 2A1. Though it doesn't have near as much reach with a bayonet....) Hmm, $20 to The Liberty Committee yesterday for another anti-UN (specifically anti-UNESCO) thing. Car insurance payment due, Barberton show this weekend (where I will not buy a 20-gauge because), something also needs to be set aside for rent - I hope to squeeze the Bold trigger in somewhere. Then I'll have to Dremel the stock of course, and the carbine's bolt still bugs me - may swap parts, but the MojoMauser's bolt is blued, more-or-less matching the FR-8, and the other four VZs' bolts are in the white, and I don't want to cannibalize the MojoMauser that's won me two awards in three matches, hmm. Will look for parts geezers (who attended Vancouver show last weekend) for bolt shrouds, safety levers, etc. A spare firing pin probably wouldn't hurt. When experimentally swapping bolts with the MojoMauser or another VZ, the safety won't engage as the cocking piece isn't held back far enough in the FR, hmm. The Bold trigger may change this.

BTW, reports from the net indicate that ordering direct from Timney can be frustrating. OTOH, the couple-three times I've ordered stuff from Brownell's it arrived in good order and timely fashion.

480 - Friday, 7 May 2004: VE Day, actual. We won World War Two! The other day I saw a bumper sticker: "You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."

Pacifists are too stupid to live. Unfortunately they are still allowed to breed. Go to Fallujah and preach your peace and love. See how long it takes to get your throats slit for no other reason than not being of the Faith. Islam teaches its followers to beat and rape their wives - yet leftist feminist imbeciles prate about tolerance and inclusiveness, the National Education Association directs its teachers to bash Christianity and promote Islam in public schools, the Commander-in-Chief of a nation at war with Islam offers a televised apology to Islam for photos - which may be fake - of mass-murdering Islamic terrorist prisoners being a little humiliated. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?!

Direct-deposit today - stopped at cheap copy place, refilled on targets. Also made big stacks of the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, then delivered same to local library. While frantically searching hovel for original target printouts so I wouldn't have to frantically search my hard drive for the files and print new ones on my balky Lexmark, found copies of other targets from Fred's Guide to Becoming a Rifleman, will pack those.

Structural Engineer emails, begs off again due to health, may reschedule again.

Tom Kratman, author of A State of Disobedience (his first book), has a website. WARNING: Clicking on this link may cause severe feelings of inferiority. Even if you don't click for the photo of his wife. (Goodgodsa'mighty....)

481 - Saturday, 8 May 2004: Zzzz....

VE Day, observed - why did Eisenhower, et.al., delay the announcement? I don't get it.

This anniversary does not appear on many mass-produced calendars, like the promotional ones you get at work from customers and suppliers - yet those same calendars show things like Kwanzaa and al-Whatsis-ibn-Whosis and National Administrative Assistant Day fer cryin' out loud. What's wrong with that picture?

Ah, springtime in the Pacific Northwest - showers, downpours, sunbreaks, not necessarily in that order.

Departing for Barberton ~9:30am with a measly $121 - minus two for admission & ten for Clark Rifles. FR-8 on board with some Portuguese, Australian, and Hirtenberger; GP-100 with a couple boxes each Winchester 110JHP .357 and Miwall remanufactured .38 158RNL - and all four speedloaders. On the right end of CR's handgun line is a home-made swinging-steel-plate target that someone donated, but since one of the three swingers broke there's a new sign up specifying unjacketed rounds only. Anyway there's something I want to try, involving the two remaining targets and thirty rounds and four speedloaders, and if I can do it I'll get warm fuzzies (and probably scorched fingers).

And, on second thought, Romanian .22 with some CCI Mini-Mag, hammer & punches to drift rear sight. Also examined Stevens single-shot before leaving - 5/16" rear sight dovetail, 3/8" front, still want improvements there.

With the guerilla-caliber FR-8 in-hand, potentially-harder-hitting MojoMauser now becomes more a sporting rifle, should I ever find opportunity to hunt. Matches may be shot with either for now but probably the FR will be the leading rifle after a target trigger is installed.

Ugh - if I do a lot of plate shooting, or even plate practice, I'll have to get unjacketed rounds for whatever pistol I end up with, and suffer attendant lead buildup. Well, one can easily get at the whole barrel with Browning-pattern pistols (which the CZ is too, inside).

At Barberton, Cruffler, out front as always with the hot dog stand, directed me to the rear of the hall, where I found a table full of reloading stuff and books, "DIES $5" or "Two for eight bucks." Bought Herters dies in .308 and 9x19mm - and a 12 gauge Lee Loader, the one requiring a mallet, thrown in! Then examined the show. Saw:

Ruger Old Army percussion revolver, blue w/adjustable sights, VG, $325
J.C. Higgins 20-gauge slide-action, Good condition, $100 - too rough and uncommon (parts, etc.) for what I have in mind
Western Field (Marlin M336/Glenfield M30) .30-30 lever-action, $165
S&W M13, blue .357 K-frame 4" heavy barrel, fixed sights, $250 - sold as I was looking at it (not that I was interested in buying, as I already have the wholly-adequate GP100, but the M13, or its stainless counterpart the M65, would make a good, simple, utility and defensive piece for those less experienced with firearms, and many of this kind are in circulation these days as police trade-ins, and I like to keep an eye on such things, as I am occasionally asked for advice on such matters)
S&W M29-2 .44 Magnum, 4" blue, VG+, $565
Mossberg M500 .410, VG+, $225 - 12 gauge is too powerful, .410 not powerful enough; my mind is set on a 20
Ishapore 7.62mm SMLE, $200 - oh, the same one at the OAC show
GP100, blue 4", Good-VG, $250 - that would be a good buy; I think it's still stainless underneath actually
Charter Arms Bulldog 5-shot .44 Special compact revolver, Make a Bigger Hole, $225

Returned to that table and for additional $20 bought:

Commie Chinese bench vise, 75mm wide jaws, about 4¼" opening - prize o' the day! The hardware store down the street wants, what, $40-$50 for much the same thing?
Bench-mount-thingie with standard 7/8" threaded hole for dies and powder measures - I can foresee having two or more powder measures set up all the time, each for a different type and amount of powder for favorite loads
Standard quick-release sling swivels (no studs, just swivels) for 1¼" slings as I prefer
Booklet: 7-Lesson Rifle Shooting Course by Jack O'Connor, one of the thinly-disguised gunfolk deities in Stephen Hunter's Pale Horse Coming - illustrations of sight pictures, shooting positions, use of military loop sling - I'll return the USMC manual to the library now
Home Gunsmithing Digest by Tommy Bish, 1970
Hobby Gunsmithing by Ralph Walker, 1972
The ABCs of Reloading, 5th Edition by Dean Grenell, 1993 - containing rather more stuff than I remember from the one I checked out from the library, including not a few gunsmithing tips

Escaped with $87, arrived Clark Rifles about 11:30. Cowboy Match underway on both upper and handgun ranges - no 25-yard practice with rifles - spectated.

About half the lever-action rifles I saw were Marlins, possibly all of them modern - I saw the lawyer-safety on at least one. The rest were original or reproduction Winchesters of various vintages. Most were adorned in some way, totems or fetishes dangling from magazine tubes, canvas boots on buttstocks displaying Injun-style beadwork, rawhide strips wrapped around lever to cushion fingers, etc. Colt and clone SAAs, Ruger Vaqueros, no other handgun types spotted. Several ‘97 Winchester slide-action shotguns, old and new doubles, most of those hammerless (internal hammers cocked when opening or closing).

Variable courses of fire - reactive steel-plate targets of various shapes, sizes and arrangements. Lots of Shooting, at least 100 rounds per competitor, maybe twice that. Big wooden L-shaped gun carts, long guns standing in the upright, munitions and fixin's in the horizontal. Some carts open in design, others can be fully closed and locked including the long guns. Garb can be very Involved - I think I'll take a minimalist approach if I do this (not least as I can't afford more).

Things I Noticed:

Smokeless loads give a tactical advantage over blackpowder, as you can still see the target after the first shot.

In some stages, SAAs must be reloaded, at least one round, on the clock - practice with loading gate and cylinder indexing, or get a top-break S&W reproduction. Rules say only five rounds in a six-shooter, hammer down on the empty chamber to start, but apparently you can then use that empty chamber and don't have to punch out a spent case for that sixth round on the clock.

Hammerless self-cocking double shotguns have an advantage over those with exposed hammers that must be cocked separately - by a full second or so.

Can't really tell if single-loading the ‘97 through the ejection port is faster or slower than using a double if you can get your fingers to load both rounds at the same time. Ejectors on doubles not allowed, if your chambers are not slick enough to use gravity you must pluck out your empties first. One guy with a ‘97 was pulling two rounds at a time from the pouch, dropping one through the port, closing the action and firing with the second still in his shooting hand. More-positive ejection with the ‘97 may be an advantage over the non-ejecting doubles, even when single-loaded.

Rapid-, high-volume fire with lever-actions - gloves might be a good idea to avoid burns.

Match Director "Poke Along" - belt buckle, "WINNER - END OF TRAIL - 2003 - 22nd ANNUAL" (that's like Pennsic War in the SCA).

Denim is in-period - shotgun ammo pouches, slung ‘round necks and over shoulders, made from old jeans.

Rifles start with magazine loaded and chamber empty, shotguns start empty, handguns start loaded and holstered. Typical stage is shotgun, rifle, handguns (2), all on the same clock. Spotters count misses for time penalties. Did not see rifles reloaded on the clock, but loading technique for shotguns matters regardless of type. Typically ten rounds fired with rifles but at least one Marlin, just like the one I'm thinking of getting, only held nine - how did they figure that?

"You can't miss fast enough to win."

About twenty competitors, three women, one or two of which looked like they were just starting and one of which didn't.

Side-ejecting, solid-top Marlins rule. Top-ejecting Winchesters necessitate a wide-brimmed cowboy hat to keep brass out of your face - one guy had near half a dozen empties rolling around on his hat until he charged off to the next firing position and they fell off.

Movement is also required - shotgun and rifle fired from one "batter's box", then placed on rack there, then Move to the next box for handgun shooting at shorter range.

About noon, to lower range. Alco five-place target at 100 yards, not-quite-four-inch black, good, that's my 4MOA goal. Spotted a rarity, an HK630 sporting semiautomatic in .223!

Well. I had a disappointing session, in which I confirmed that the V-notch some ignorant Spaniard designed for the 100-meter sight doesn't work in the real world, and that the front post will not go up high enough to make the 200-meter aperture work at 100. Fired ten rounds Hirtenberger and twenty-five Portuguese and somehow got three hits in one string of five with the latter. Between the weather and the lack of a decent 100-yard/meter sight on the FR-8 I got frustrated and packed up around 2pm.

Not a good day at the range, though I did enjoy watching the Cowboy match, thinking "I wouldn't have missed that shot" or "I wouldn't have fumbled that reload" or "I can work a lever-action faster than that and I haven't even fired one before except for two rounds last autumn." Crap, another expensive and time-consuming hobby looms.... Definitely need cartridge revolvers to be competitive, though I understand there are percussion-revolver rules. Will keep an eye out for .357 (or other) SAA clones, starting after I acquire a lever rifle. Ideally, after winning lottery, I'd get a brace of top-break Schofields.... Well, at least I don't have to clean the revolver, and only one rifle.

Lessee here. Lee Loader needs star-crimp starter unless using roll crimp with overshot wad, hm, suppose if I ever need to use it I could cut the plastic hulls down for that. Three-piece 9mm die set, seater, decapper/expander and sizer - so I can't decap and resize at the same time like the .38/.357 dies I already have, hmm. Well, for $4 I'm not complaining, and I'm sure I can find even more dies at another show. Sonofagun! The .308 sizing die's decapper ram is bent - severely - and therefore useless, including the neck expander. The seater should still work - I suppose I could piece together a die set, a sizer here, a seater there, etc. Often I see stray dies at shows. Anyway these are among the most popular calibers, both being international standards, and dies, new and used, are widely available, and I still consider the vise and books a good deal.

Truck fund $70.

Former Portland DEMOCRAT Mayor and Oregon DEMOCRAT Governor Neil DEMOCRAT Goldschmidt in sex scandal, STATUTORY RAPE of a 14-year-old girl nearly thirty years ago. Not one mention of his DEMOCRAT party affiliation in mainstream news stories. If he'd been REPUBLICAN the Associated Press would have found a way to mention it seventeen times in a 30-second radio spot and the Oregonian would have printed "REPUBLICAN RAPE SCANDAL" in red ink three inches tall, instead of a great big picture of the DEMOCRAT RAPIST looking all put-upon and victimized.

DEMOCRATS and mainstream DEMOCRAT-dominated media calling it an "affair" - she was 14, he was in his mid-thirties. DEMOCRATS rallying to SUPPORT CHILD-RAPIST DEMOCRAT Goldschmidt, touting his "accomplishments" like parks and public-transit and a bunch of tax-wasting socialist garbage. Caller to KPAM's Victoria Taft talk show points out how the DEMOCRAT left "defends their monsters" like DEMOCRAT CHILD-RAPIST Neil DEMOCRAT Goldschmidt, copkiller Mumia whatshisname (yeah, blueshirts, but I don't go out looking to murder them - they're safe from me until they shoot first, or the next revolution begins and they become legitimate (para)military targets), CHILD-RAPIST filmmaker Roman Polanski, ALCOHOLIC MURDERER DEMOCRAT Ted Kennedy, SERIAL RAPIST DEMOCRAT Bill Clinton, RACIST KKK MEMBER DEMOCRAT Senator Byrd, etc. A long, long list could be made of DEMOCRATS who have COMMITTED CRIMES that, if they were not DEMOCRATS, would have them on DEATH ROW WHERE THEY BELONG.

The Republican Right, meanwhile, throws it's monsters to the wolves - when they have any, which compared to the PERVERTED MURDEROUS RAPIST DEMOCRAT LEFT is about never.

482 - Monday, 10 May 2004: Democrats are, generally and demonstrably, thieves, murderers, rapists, and traitors.

And Structural Engineer says she's going to vote for one. Get this - she says she'll vote for Kerry because she doesn't want her taxes to go up to pay for the War on Terror.

That's... bizarre. I wonder if she's got her candidates confused? Refresher course: Bush cut taxes, and Kerry, in what may be the only issue he hasn't flipped on, has pledged to reverse those cuts.

Oh don't worry, your taxes won't pay for the war if Kerry is elected - they'll pay for Danegeld to Osama, and Hussein's Legal Defense Fund, and the Roman Polanski Child-Molestation Wing of the New York Museum of Modern Art. And, given a few more years, your taxes, which you didn't want to pay for the war, will instead be spent building mosques and enforcing the new burkha laws....

So it would appear this is the end of another friendship. Well, clear out the ideological deadwood. I can't be friends with people who vote for my enemies.

I am kinda bummed though.

More stupidity and incompetence at work is not helping matters any.

New property owners wanted more documents signed, current owner dropping off new "10-year" smoke alarm tomorrow.

$15 to Second Amendment Foundation.

Mental Anguish Department: gunfolk list discussion, wherein many of my kind don't want to vote for Bush any more than I do - and the specter of the Electoral College raises its ghastly head, meaning that strategically, it really is a matter of voting against the greater evil. Furthermore the Libertarian party is in fact rather too pacifist for their own good. Every few hundred years Islam boils over and gobbles up a few more times zones and latitudes, and this may be the next wave - this is a war for national and cultural survival and the war must be fought.

483 - Tuesday, 11 May 2004: Slightly less bummed after learning of a potential job opportunity, doing much what I am now, some of the same machines even, in what is reportedly a more intelligent environment. Furthermore it's a shorter commute, or at least a less lethal one, as it's on the same end of town as the hovel and I can get there on surface streets. Now the question, should I risk the job I have looking for something better? Hmm.

Nobody ever showed up with that smoke alarm. Oh well, the old one still works.

Later, he calls pleading car trouble, finally shows around 8:30.

Stephenson writes tasty. The Confusion, pg. 475:

484 - Wednesday, 12 May 2004: Browsing the temp service's website, I see that warehouse people, order pullers, assembly people, are being offered up to $10/hour - as much as I'm making doing all this technical stuff.

It begins to wear. Much more frustration and I will actively investigate that other offer - and if they don't provide someone trainable as a backup or replacement, well they'll just be screwed.

David Weber has in fact done a third book in the War Gods series, Wind Rider's Oath! On order, on hold.

I thought the Democrats were all I was going to have to worry about in the next civil war. Savage paints a picture of the future - just thinking out loud, he is - wherein Islam gobbles up Europe, as they've tried (and partially succeeded!) many times before, then uses the military and industrial strength of the Continent to really attack us - and our only hope for survival would be to ally militarily with... Communist China, as historically the Chinese are among the few peoples who stood up to the last wave of Islamic imperialism.

And I still don't have a rifle I can really count on. So now I'm bummed again.

485 - Thursday, 13 May 2004: I want to leave Oregon.

Radio news stories - not merely talk-show fodder - about DEMOCRAT Governor Kulongoski pulling strings to get DEMOCRAT CHILD-RAPIST former DEMOCRAT Governor Goldschmidt's relative Nancy in charge of Oregon Health Sciences University, which for those of you not from here is also a functioning hospital - if I had kids I wouldn't be taking them there for a checkup. Returning to hovel from fueling ($2.15 in Vancouver! Approaching $2.30 in Portland!) and groceries, seeing leftists' campaign signs, anti-American bumperstickers, a big plywood sign in someone's yard: "END THE WAR NOW".

You don't just end wars. They have to be finished. If we left Iraq and Afghanistan now, the terrorist murderers of Islam would gobble up that whole hemisphere including our dear friends in Germany, Russia and France. Israel would cease to exist (but only after, I sincerely hope for Israel's sake, nuking many tens of thousands of Islamic savages) (but hey, they're only Jews, right? It's not like they're politically-correct practitioners of the "Religion of Peace", right? How dare they try to have a country of their own after being hunted down and murdered wholesale for millennia? And besides, Bush supports them so they all must be killed, RIGHT, YOU FILTHY BIGOTED DEMOCRAT SCUM?). Encouraged by the display of weakness our withdrawal would signify, a new wave of terror attacks would strike the United States, making 9/11 look like a Spring Break fender-bender. Does the name Neville Chamberlain ring any bells?

Look! The Flag of the Sovereign Nation of Israel! It appears here for the sole purpose of offending treasonous communist murderous perverted racist anti-Semitic DEMOCRATS. You lefties love Islam so much, move to Teheran and put on a burkha. Get the hell out of my country.

Anyway, can't relocate to an American state without money. Think I'll email a certain individual about that other job Monday-ish. Meanwhile, still buying lottery tickets. :( Actually won three dollars on each side of the river this weekend. :-|

486 - Friday, 14 May 2004: Actually I'll email about that other job tonight. Some people shouldn't be allowed out in public, much less in the workforce. I weary of such creatures.

Time to fill out the ballot for the primary election. OFF endorsements and candidate questionnaires contributing to my choices. Some candidates eliminated based solely on the amount of expensive, glossy, full-color mailings I receive asking me to vote for them. Sometimes, vote against incumbents by default. Others, examine their endorsements - someone endorsed by TAX-RAISING DEMOCRAT Governors present and past, Kulongoski and Kitzhaber, is probably someone to vote against. Some candidates, as usual, appear on the ballot but not in the voters' pamphlet - when in doubt, write in "NONE."

487 - Saturday, 15 May 2004: Zzzz....

Armed Forces Day! There is one and only one demographic in this country which deserves other people's tax money, having actually done something to earn it. Not the welfare queens; not the professional victims; certainly not the people who sneak into this country illegally and can't or won't speak the language - the only group worthy of government handouts is OUR MILITARY VETERANS. Talk about a dirty job: go to foreign lands to get shot at on some bureaucrat's whim; perform acts - like disarming the populace - which fly in the face of the oath they swore to uphold and defend the Constitution; come home to packs of bigots who are in fact vastly worse than what they falsely accuse our servicepeople of being.

The Next Unpleasantness will be unpleasant indeed. Lots of grudges to go around.

Vegged ‘til near noon, departed for Canby gun show. Alerted by radio talk show, stopped to sign petitions to recall County Commissioners who violated the law by arbitrarily granting licenses for same-sex marriages (if they wouldn't call it marriage - a word with Deep Significance for millions of people over thousands of years - they'd hear a lot fewer objections; but noooo, no, they don't want equal rights, they want something more!), and to recall Multnomah County income tax.

Bought four boxes Miwall .38/158SWC (for plate practice), $4.95/50; and a standard 9mm shellholder, $4. Saw:

Charles Daly Hi-Power clone, still $400; same maker, basic Kimber-esque 1911, $420
Argentine M1927 (licensed M1911A1), $350
Rock Island 1911, $389
Hey Cruffler! Ruger Bearcats - Old Model, VG, $295; New Models, "ANIB" $275, "NIB" $300
CZ513 .22LR bolt-action, not as nice as my previous impression, cheesier sights, $219
Tula T03 .22LR "Match Rifle", "NIB", 4 magazines, $200 - rotating-leaf rear sight like a CETME
FALs, nothing below $600 - still don't like the sights
Norinco clone of Winchester ‘97 Trench Gun, w/handguard & lug, $419 - that's gone up since importation was banned (again)
"M67" gas mask, single or dual filter, $45-$50; "Acme" masks, retired from Oregon Department of Corrections, rather less, "Some NIB"
Marlin Model 9, $300
Stevens M311A hammerless side-by-side 12 gauge, $200, looked new
Uberti Cattleman SAA clone, .357, $379 - better fit & finish than my 3rd Dragoon
Heh - RG23 .22LR revolver, $75
Ruger Vaqueros, $400 and up

Returned by way of library. From New shelves, grabbed U.S. Armed Forces Arsenal: A Guide to Modern Combat Hardware by Samuel A. Southworth. Errors: M1918 BAR described as having quick-change barrels (?), LeMat combo described as being an 8-shot (9!) revolver wrapped around a 12-gauge (20!) shotgun. Photo of M240 (FN-MAG, heir-apparent to the MG42's title of World's Best) 7.62mm machinegun misidentified as M249 5.56mm squad-automatic. Spelling errors. Sigh.

One piece of mail - polispam from Oregon Republican Party, RINO Kevin Mannix, Chairman. Lessee here - Oregon "Republicans" have voted to renew the "assault weapons" ban, raise my taxes, waste those taxes on social programs for people too lazy and stupid to work for a living, etc., etc. Sure, I'll make a generous donation. >:-[

Crummy Pacific Northwest weather, don't know if I'll go shooting tomorrow. Laundry done today, car insurance paid last night. Cruffler, doing the hot dog thing at a rifle match at Clark Rifles this weekend, says he'll have his latest acquisition(s) along, I dunno. I once read in a bicycling magazine that the couch is as important as any other training tool....

488 - Sunday, 16 May 2004: Finished The Confusion last night, couldn't put the last hundred pages down. Not a happy ending, but the trilogy isn't done yet. The System of the World already on hold - Shaftoe vs. Newton! I wonder if Stephenson will be doing more with this, filling in the later 18th and 19th Centuries, the Wars of Independence and Between the States? (Cryptonomicon covered the 20th and 21st.)

Zzzz.... Better weather today, departed for Clark Rifles about 11:30am with GP100, a bunch of unjacketed rounds, four speedloaders; and, finally, the 3rd Dragoon (grips still not finished) & 1851 Colt reproductions, with .454 and .375 roundball respecitively, and Pyrodex P. Well sonuvagun! I thought I had .44 Wonder Wads but can only find .36, must remember to get more. Meanwhile I guess I'll use the Bore Butter from the reloading score to seal the Dragoon's chambers. Aw to heck with it, charging off to Sportsman's Warehouse first for a bag of .44 wads, then back up I-205.

Passed Cruffler on the road just leaving, reversed course and pursued. Backed and filled, dodging other traffic on narrow country roads, until we could pull over together in the same place. He gives favorable review of Kel-Tec SU16 folding mousegun (except the sights, though it does have a decent sight picture), displayed AB10 (post-Ban Tec-9)... uh... handgun I guess. Never been attracted to them myself, but I will say this in their favor: they're politically incorrect. That alone may justify their existence.

Arrived Clark Rifles about 1pm. Cast Bullet Association match still underway, a bazillion wind-indicator-flag-streamer-weathervane thingies all over the first 100 yards of the lower range. Old single-shot rifles, mainly.

But I have no rifles today. To handgun range - no paper targets used either, everything on the swinging steel plate, which is about 8" rounds at ten yards. Starting with GP100 with "RGR" remanufactured .38/158LSWC.

By the end of the box (not counting three defective rounds, bulged at the mouth, would not chamber; set aside for possible component salvage; haven't seen that vendor at shows lately, just as well), I was hitting about 5 out of 6 in slow-fire. Switched to Miwall .38/158LRN (no defectives...), started picking up speed. Two boxes of that, 147 rounds total through the GP, and I'm starting to recover my handgun skills - at one point I'm pretty sure I had six hits for six shots in the neighborhood of two seconds. Really want that CZ (or FEG or FM or something) now. Did not try speedloader or multiple-target tricks, may invest in personal steel target(s) (stocked by Sportsman's Warehouse) and return to hills. At five bucks a box, will likely get more Miwall .38 lead at future shows; will look for lead 9mm or .45 for when I get a pistol.

On to the percussion revolvers. Starting with 1851, Pyrodex P, "20" (~17) grain spout on Remington cylindrical brass dispenser flask. Powder, Wonder Wad as per instructions, .375" round ball.

Uh oh! Chambers bigger than ball diameter, no tight seal with the lead! Another Wonder Wad on top to keep them in place. -No misfires; seems to shoot way high, but by holding low the last two shots actually hit the swinger. Stopping with 1851 until I can investigate the sizes.

Now the Dragoon. Cavernous chambers! Tight fit, as it should be, with .454 ball. Starting with ~30 grain spout - full extension on the loading lever! More (3!) Wonder Wads on top to eliminate potentially disastrous air gap in chamber.

(Some) hits on swinger! Seems to shoot just a little high with ~30 grains, not the best trigger, but still some hits!

Now back to the "20" grain spout and double-charging - still not enough to fill the chamber and get good compression! Two more Wads on top.

Loading lever comes loose from latch every time with that much powder. Woops - misfire. Wait 60 seconds... second strike on cap okay. Again some hits on swinger.

Well. Not entirely satisfied with the Colt reproductions, but made real progress with my only modern handgun. Packed up about 2:30.

Delivered primary election ballot at library. Read current issue of Popular Mechanics - letter-from-the-editor circulating gunfolk lists, defending firearm-related articles and telling the loons, who write in calling PM a shill for the gun industry or a promoter of school shootings, just how loony they are. If I had more money and my hovel weren't overloaded with books and magazines already, I'd subscribe on principle.

Marlins on sale at Big 5 - for $300, which I can resist. But even that is a better price than I've seen, well, anywhere else. With Cowboy Action so popular (seeing SASS moniker/badge-number decals in car (mainly truck) windows!), there are no used handgun-caliber lever-actions in circulation, they're snapped up quick.

What to read next...? Skimmed over Zell Miller's A National Party No More - not impressed. Threadbare chapter on RKBA, more weasel-room than not; derision of commie-hunters (yes there were communists in the State Department - released KGB files prove it - and judging by recent events, they're still there); support of racist policies like Affirmative Action, which gives people jobs based not on their qualifications but on the color of their skin, though he tries to weasel about "income levels". "Conservative" he may claim to be, but he's foremost a Democrat, and conservative they ain't. Into the Return stack, starting The Savage Nation.

489 - Monday, 17 May 2004: Called about the job, got contact information, will call again tomorrow. Still need haircut.

Overtime expected all week.

Commies Kerry & Dean in Portland - snarled traffic, mobs. Commie Kucinich, or at least his minions, also doing something here. Ick.

Thunderstorms, lightning and downpours. ...Thinking it over, I don't think I want lightning to strike there. It might improve Hillary's chances. Things are bad enough already....

On New Book shelves, a book on Marx, something like Introduction to Marx - a book for introducing people to Marxism. Fume. Also on New Book shelf, Ann Coulter's Treason. Reached over, plopped Ann down in front of the other.

Diving into The Savage Nation. Not as scintillating as I might have hoped from a guy with a Ph.D. or two and a couple-few Masters; not as well footnoted and documented and "the-proof's-right-there"-verifiable as, say, Tammy Bruce's The Death of Right and Wrong. Savage descends far too far into name-calling, and rambles some. I'll fetch The Enemy Within later.

Frankowski & "perhaps assault weapons should be banned" Grossman's Kren of the Mitchegai still in the reading queue. Netgunfolk deriding Grossman's On Killing as wimpspeak; the tendency to shoot high, over the head of an enemy in battle - the tendency that most shots fired in battle are misses - Grossman attributes to a reluctance to kill, while gunfolk attribute it to improper cheek weld on the stock or failure to use the sling as a shooting aid. And more scholarly and detailed criticism from some who have Been and Done.

490 - Wednesday, 19 May 2004: So yesterday I called about the new job opportunity, and the person I was supposed to ask for was out. So today I called again and... "The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

Now that's damned disconcerting.

Overtime continues, working ‘til 5:30, taking the long way back to avoid tangled freeways. Swung by the new-job-in-question, it's there, but of course no one was there at about 7pm. Will keep phoning.

Skimmed over The Savage Nation. Agreed with much of it of course, but quite disappointed in the delivery - way too much name-calling, no footnotes or references or documentation at all, not a useful tool in the Cause. The Enemy Within on hold - library computer says all copies out, might be a while.

Starting Robert Conroy's 1901, alternate history where Kaiser Wilhelm, jealous of our overseas possessions after the Spanish-American War, and miffed over the (actual, in this timeline) rejection of his offer to purchase some of them, chooses to invade Long Island and seize New York City. Interesting premise, certainly, but not encouraged by the writing style of the first two chapters - clunky dialogue, no zing. Well, Theodore the Great (Roosevelt) is veep (sure, he was imperialist, but he was our imperialist), and the jacket says Confederate general Longstreet will appear, I'll stick it out. Hmm, no Springfield bolt-actions yet, Mausers vs. Krags again - and considering our self-destructive habit of gutting our military immediately after every war, probably most of our uniformed troops would be armed with Trapdoors. (At least they should have drawn-brass cartridges by that time....) I wonder how Conroy will handle the 2nd Amendment angle? I mean, foreign troops invading American soil, how could he not?

About TR's imperialism - I recall the Mark Twain line about leaving the poor creatures in peace, but any objective evaluation must conclude that, for a while at least, until imperialist Japan and commies like Castro and Kruschev screwed it all up, the American takeover of places like Cuba and the Philippines could only have been an improvement in the lives of the people who lived there, compared to the essentially medieval conditions they had at the time.

And that brings me to war with Iraq. The United States' military is, objectively - siddown for this - the gentlest and most humane in the history of warfare. Click here for a visual aid. Anyone who thinks a little rough-housing at Abu Ghraib is on the same level with Hussein murdering about a third of a million of his own people, belongs in Abu Ghraib.

America ain't perfect, but we're still the best there is, or ever was. -If America is such a horrible place, why do gobs of immigrants, legal and illegal, risk their very lives to come here every day? Because the whole world SUCKS, EXCEPT FOR US! THAT'S WHY!!

I'm not religious, but I do occasionally cock an eye heavenward and think, "Gee I'm glad I was born an American." There is nothing better, in this world, to be.

And anyone who's offended by that can drop dead.

491 - Thursday, 20 May 2004: Did a web search - the place has it's own website, duh, and a valid phone number. Called from work, got through, talked to the general manager; they're in the middle of some ISO thing and he says he'll call me in about a week when he knows where they stand. Good, that gives me time to dig out a resumé and get a haircut.

The GM did say I was spoken highly of by the person who told me of the opportunity. Blush. Anyway, some progress.

While checking links from this, my site, discovered High Standard has a page for "AMT - Auto Mag". "Under Construction." Hmm. Which AutoMag, the II/III/IV in .22 and .30 Carbine, or the real one I've wanted since I started reading books on purpose and Don Pendleton's Mack Bolan series was among the first? Of course Harry Sanford's 1969 brainchild, brilliant though it was, was limited by the technology of the time and is in fact rather delicate, prone to breakage (particulary extractors, and the heli-coils that connect the dual recoil springs to the cocking piece), and actually not strong enough to handle anything hotter than old-fashioned .44 Magnum factory-equivalent loads without the bolt's locking lugs setting back.

492 - Friday, 21 May 2004: More overtime expected next week. Ambivalent - money vs. time.

Examining the job opportunity's website, another electronic-cable-manufacturing outfit. They list some of the tools and machines they use, and I have daily, hands-on, grease-to-the-elbows experience with half of them, and I know what the rest are.

Oblivious office people. Incompetent assemblers. Yes I want out of this job. At least someplace new, there'd be some novelty for a while.

1901 chugging along - not awful, but not very inspired I'm afraid. I mean, it's readable and all, but the likes of Weber, Ringo, Flint, Stephenson, Poul Anderson, Heinlein of course, etc., have raised my standards. Now, Harry Harrison, with his alternate Civil War trilogy, where a British blunder reunites north and south against a common redcoated enemy, or Harry Turtledove, where the south wins and the whole world changes and keeps on changing, that's the kind of thing I expect from alternate history. But I shouldn't be too harsh on Conroy, the jacket says this is his first novel.

493 - Saturday, 22 May 2004: ZZZZ.... Overtime, and a long early commute, taking a toll. No shooting today, nor much else.

Actually Conroy's 1901 is no worse than I've noticed Turtledove to be, and it is his first novel. Printed 1995, no sign of a sequel. And no sequel to Gingrich & Forstchen's 1945 either, phooey.

494 - Sunday, 23 May 2004: ZZZZ.... Got haircut, visited library - and on a whim, charged off eastward in what turned out to be a rounding of Mt. Hood, starting on surface streets until they turned to back-country roads until they spilled onto Hwy 26 until it met Hwy 35 until that spat me out on I-84 for the return. Gas only (!) $2.15⁹ at (mobbed, of course) Troutdale ARCO! Which was good, as I used the reserve can somewhere east of the mountain. Even Vancouver stations are around $2.20 now, Portland nearing $2.40. Will get another can for a larger reserve.

Boy it's good to have a car. Even at these gas prices.

Conroy's 1901 not bad, really. Actually he gives a better sense of the needs of war, logistics, maneuver vs. terrain, the support or opposition of the populace, irregular and guerilla operations - his writing style does leave something to be desired, but this book gets me thinking in ways different from the more entertaining works from other authors. Hmm. -As for the 2nd Amendment, he's made no mention of it as such, but he does have some civilian protagonists taking pains to be personally well-armed - neutral on the issue I guess. Of course back in 1901 most of the few victim-disarmament laws on the books only applied to blacks anyway - there's some high court decision, I forget whether state or federal, where the judge comes out and says that such-and-such gun-control law was never intended to apply to whites.

495 - Monday, 24 May 2004: Ugh, Monday. More stupidity, from the moment the commute starts in the morning to the moment I return to the hovel at the end of the day. Humanity itself begins to disgust me.

Possibly the high concentration of incompetence and ignorance in this area coincides with the high incidence of "liberalism" and Democratic voting. These stupid worthless people blunder through life expecting others to clean up all their messes for them, others to pay for their mistakes, others to provide for their needs, others to step aside for them. Possibly with relocation I would discover higher life forms.

And Kipling said:

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Smart guy that Kipling.

Truck fund $100. Get a good truck, reliable, then start saving for a possible move. Idaho? Too close maybe, some spillover - Wyoming, hmm. See also this.

In the short term, must dig out resumé and get out of this stupid job. The arrogance of these people! It's like they revel in their ignorance, like anyone who knows anything is somehow beneath them! The lunatics are running the asylum!

496 - Wednesday, 26 May 2004: Why do some companies fail? Because, on the rare (considering the observed quality of today's workforce) occasions they obtain the services of a good employee, that employee is usually not given the compensation and respect he deserves; is forced to work with lesser beings; is constantly cleaning up other people's messes; is looked down upon by his intellectual inferiors; is given menial tasks because no one else is capable of getting them done. And then, after months or even years of hard work, after fixing numerous problems, streamlining procedures, developing efficient systems, this good employee has had enough and leaves that company in search of greener pastures - leaving utter incompetents (who never leave) to muddle along in his place - and the company, well, spirals into the sea.

I can only imagine what a mess the shampoo warehouse's shipping department has become since I'm not there running their computer. And this place... is running out of time. I am not the only one here to have made an observation similar to the above - one of the warehouse people, the good one, is approaching a similar point, as is one of the technical people who is being considered as an in-house backup for me.

497 - Thursday, 27 May 2004: Politics matter too, that is, the political environment at work. America is suffering a cultural divide between two primary philosophies. Never before in American history has this divide been so deep and so acrimonious - well, maybe once before, circa 1861-65. In any case the nation has now reached a point of brother against brother, padre vs. fili, and in my own experience, friend against former friend.

This stuff matters. This is war.

On one side are those who want to do whatever they like without facing risk, loss, or consequence, having big government clean up all their messes and take care of all their problems - these are usually called "liberals" and usually vote Democrat. This group is also extremely intolerant, often to the point of violence, toward anyone who disagrees with their views - which of course means they are also extremely hypocritical, as they claim to support tolerance and inclusiveness. They have no moral or ethical compunction against robbing Peter to pay Paul - or against much else - and blatantly consider themselves to be Paul.

On the other side are those who want to be left alone to live their own lives in their own ways without government telling them how, without so-called "liberals" dictating politically-correct terms and techniques to them, without massive social programs propping them up if they can't make it in life on their own. These are usually called "conservatives" and usually vote Republican, though an increasing number are dissatisfied with that Party's performance. This group is painted, by the other, as bigoted and intolerant, but in fact are vastly more inclusive and welcoming than "liberals" - as only one of many examples, members of the Pink Pistols, a gay gun-rights group, report receiving uniformly warmer receptions from "conservative" gun people who learn that they are gay, than from "liberal" gay-rights activists who learn that they are gun owners.

I am of course in the latter, "conservative," group, and this matters when choosing jobs. If the majority of the people at a new job are in the former group of bigoted, intolerant "liberals," well, that would by definition be a hostile work environment. If the management of the place is in that same category... actually that's not likely as "liberals" are so accustomed to having big government bail them out they rarely develop any real-world business sense, and people who manage to stay in business are usually "conservatives." Anyway these things must be considered when changing jobs, among many other life experiences.

For some reason I'm zipping through Kren of the Mitchegai despite my misgivings as to one of the authors' politics (though Frankowski, in previous works, smells somewhat Libertarian), and despite the often tedious writing style as some thousands of years of alien history are recounted. Anyway there will be more in this series and I suppose I'll have to read them.

Hmm, with the new owners taking over the hovel complex, I now write a check for the rent - and with the big fat overtime paycheck from last week, I still have all the cash I set aside for the rent now available for something else. Which means, truck fund $220, and I think I'll open another savings account tomorrow besides. Actually I might dump the truck fund into savings as well, which at this point would give me $370, hmm. Lessee here, what I want is a truck fund and a CZ fund and some good-old-fashioned savings besides, hmm.

No word from the possible new place, I'll call them Tuesday after the holiday. No idea what they'd pay. No hint of a qualified backup or replacement for me either.

Aw to heck with it! Four hundred by-gods dollars into savings tomorrow! (Which leaves $7 in my wallet and under $180 in checking....) When savings hits a grand I'll buy myself something, either a $500 truck or a $400 CZ75. Or maybe a $300 GP35.

Meanwhile, neighbor reports witnessing one of the current batch of squatters in the cul-de-sac using hypodermics, probably not for insulin. I'd say "there goes the neighborhood" but it already went.

498 - Friday, 28 May 2004: And now come rumors that another employee, one of the production leads, is also seeking greener pastures. This person also is one of the few displaying competence and a sense of responsibility and professionalism and the ability to Get Things Done. Abandon Job! Abandon Job! All hands, update your resumés!

No word from the other place.

Opened the savings account, same as last time, $25 automatic monthly transfer from checking, no minimum, no service fees. Washington Mutual's "AutoSave" account, by the way. Balance $400!

499 - Saturday, 29 May 2004: Zzzz.... Vegging after two weeks of overtime! No shooting today, not least due to typical Pacific Northwest spring weather. Also exercising willpower, not going shopping for DVD player or new TV to hook it up to, not stopping at new Vancouver gun shop despite being just down the street from it filling up fuel (still $2.19 across the river). Got another reserve can yesterday, filled that too, comforting.

Updated resumé. So there.

Starting Dean Ing's Loose Cannon, a standalone. Tasty from the start.

500 - Sunday, 30 May 2004: Tried to get up ungodsly early to catch both the OAC show (open 7am) and the start of the plate match at Clark Rifles (shooting starts 9am), but rolled over and went back to sleep. Maybe the new job will have better hours and I'll have more energy on the weekends - this early-morning umpty-mile commute thing is too much. Anyway, finally charged off to the OAC show around 9am.

Bought nothing. Monthly theme, 20th Century military. Notable sightings: Liberator pistol; several very fine Lugers, "NOT FOR SALE"; complete M1928A1 Thompson set, no price (this show is as much show as sale); Winchester 1873 military musket with bayonet, $4,750.

Charged down to Sportsman's Warehouse, examined steel reactive targets - "MADE IN CHINA", phooey, might have to go to another Expo show to find a palatable product. Alternatively there's the big WAC show ‘way up in Puyallup that Cruffler's always going on about, next one 25-26 June. Frankford Arsenal case tumbler, $40 NIB, could not find "MADE IN CHINA", hmm. RCBS full-length .308 Winchester dies, $25, hmm. Cruffler says I can clamp the bent sizer die I got at Barberton into the vise I got at Barberton and bend the decapper/neck-sizer thing back, maybe. Actually I want another Hornady New Dimension set, like the 7.92mm Mauser dies I won in the Foul Weather Match, but SW doesn't carry those. Still no CZ or EAA pistols.

501 - Monday, Memorial Day, 31 May 2004: On this day I offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has served in the United States military, risking their very lives to defend the freedoms I enjoy today.

Zzzz.... Doing a little more reloading. Twenty pieces left of once-fired 7.92x57mm, doing the accuracy load, 46.0gr IMR4064 under a Hornady 150gr Spitzer. Maybe some more .357 loads later, especially if I can finally recover that one JHP from the test crimp.

Zipping through Ing's Loose Cannon. Again the theme of independence, improvisation, thinking on one's feet. Also of interest, the "TLAR" effect - "That Looks About Right" - a special kind of Genius for designing Things That Work out of one's head without CAD software or engineering studies or huge staffs of assistants. The protagonist has this gift, which is compared in the story to Burt Rutan's version (apparently Voyager, the experimental aircraft that flew around the world nonstop without refueling, was designed largely out of Rutan's head, with great whopping chunks of it never being drawn up or written down - and the wingtips were torn off by sagging on the runway during takeoff and it still made the trip as intended).

Obviously, John Browning had this gift too - some of his stuff is still in use, and even in full production, a century or more after he designed it, because no one's come up with anything better - except a few FN pieces which are direct descendants of Saint John's groundbreaking work from eighty or more years ago. Probably more than half the semiautomatic pistol designs in the world today use the same gross mechanical principles Browning came up with as early as 1900.

Of course, as Browning did until his dying day, Rutan keeps coming up with all kinds of fascinating new stuff, sometimes apparently just because he can. (Look up the, uh, what was it? Winchester Thumb Trigger rifle, I think - an experiment in simplicity, something like two moving parts.) Rutan's also going after the X Prize, which may be the best thing to happen to Exploration since... maybe ever. We must get off this planet!

Couldn't put Loose Cannon down, up late finishing. Good thing I slept in this morning with work tomorrow, better thing it's now a short week. Jack Kelly's Gunpowder next.

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