RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - JUNE 2004

Called the new place, got through, still having some bureaucratic thing, they want me to call back tomorrow morning.

Continuing Kelly's Gunpowder. Nothing earthshattering, but decent reading. Kelly says da Vinci invented the wheel-lock - magazine article, in Scientific American as I recall, a few years before the publication of this book (2004), says nobody knows but it was probably not Leonardo. Kelly says earliest known personal firearm dates to ~twelve hundred something - I recall word of another article, about a handgonne, or what might be called one, discovered in China a couple-few years ago and dated to 900AD. But no whopping errors yet. He does give methods for making, including the harvesting of saltpeter (ick - I'll buy mine at the corner drugstore, thanks). Not obviously hostile to the Culture - pg. 77:

I mean, I've got systems, right? And I wrote them down, right? And I discussed them with the production leads and issued copies with management approval and even posted them conspicuously, right? And nobody gets it! IT'S NOT THAT &%#@ HARD!! JUST READ THE @#$%!& INSTRUCTIONS FOR GODS' SAKES!!!

Called the other job opportunity on schedule - person is in a meeting. Called back an hour later - got through, they said about another week waiting for more work. Discussed what-all they do there - the stuff I've been doing, plus machines I haven't handled before, and "molding," hmm. Could be interesting; and having done everything here I have increased confidence in my abilities. Faxed resumé.

Last night, called Artist's parents, got their input on a graduation gift. Mental Anguish: Artist, being a young college student and, well, an artist, is likely more leftist than I, considering my friendship with and debt to her (politically independent/libertarianish) blacksmith father, want to admit. Not doing something, either attendance or gift, to acknowledge her graduation would upset and/or insult one or both of them - yet I'm really uncomfortable with the thought of attending a party populated by the likes of Kerry-voting Mechanic and Woodworker, and Artist's similarly-minded college friends. Some of those people are even Naderites. Last time Nader ran with an actual genuine by-Marx-and-Lenin communist!

Mental Anguish: For president, my only realistic choice is between a communist and a national socialist. There is no Good Guy! What is this, the Spanish Civil War? (But let's not talk about illegal immigration just now....)

Faintest Glimmer of Hope: Newly-chosen Libertarian candidate, Badnarik, slightly less pacifist than the other candidate I'd heard of, according to his website - wants out of Iraq as soon as "safely" possible, "more concerned" about North Korea. Palatable enough on the surface, but what about radical murderous Islam? What about immigration? What about "Borders, Language, Culture?"

Mental Anguish: Badnarik's not going to win.

Kelly's Gunpowder meshes with Stephenson's Baroque Cycle! Some of the Natural Philosophers in Stephenson's story had, in real life, critical roles in the development of the Scientific Method, which was significantly driven by the development and study of gunpowder. Kelly and Stephenson even recount some of the same experiments.

Books good. Illiteracy bad.

504 - Thursday, 3 June 2004: So I'm plummeting down the Sunset Highway (US26, a Major Arterial in the Portland urban sprawl) and a little voice tells me to take the center lane for city center, thereby ending up on Sandy Blvd instead if I-84 eastbound to the hovel, thereby going right past the pawn shop where I got my double a few years ago and where I narrowly missed that Marlin M39.

And I get there and of course the Marlin has not magically reappeared on the long-gun rack - but in the handgun case, besides the usual array of revolvers and the odd Ruger P-series pistol (which don't fit my hand, and Bill Sr. was still a traitor and current management reportedly indicates they'll be carrying on his agenda, though I must admit Rugers are very strong and reliable and I'm keeping my GP100) I spy an Argentine FM pistol, their copy of the Browning/Saive/FN GP35, the Hi-Power. Marked $399.

Counter-dude comes up and hauls it out for me and almost before it's in my hands he says "We can do better on the price." (Some of the pieces there have been there for a long time....) So I fondle it, and stare at it, and field-strip it (of course I know how to field-strip a GP35, it's a Browning pattern isn't it? You pull the slide back so far, push out the slide stop lever, and it all comes apart, duh, same with the CZs and EAA Witnesses and many others). Some surface rust on the outside of the barrel, but strong rifling which looks to clean up all right. Big fat Pachmayr wraparound grips which I would quickly ditch for something as slim as possible - the GP35 fits nicely for a double-column, but still isn't a CZ75 (how do those Czechs do it?). No evidence of peening or cracking or other excessive wear inside, i.e. barrel-and-slide locking lugs. Dark spots on the feed ramp but I can Dremel that if necessary. Squinty little military sights, dovetail rear with white paint slathered all over the back, apparently staked front, maybe not enough meat to have a dovetail cut, hmm. Well, once I have a frame I might conceivably shop for a replacement slide. Trigger could use some work. "How much better?" I ask. The answer: $349, including (3) 13-round magazines and the $9 Oregon "background check processing fee." Hmm. Layaway OK, but direct deposit doesn't count ‘til midnight - but they'll hold it for me ‘til Monday though I have no money on it yet. (Wish I'd'a thought of that when I saw the Marlin....) 1/3 down required, $116.34 - I'll make it $120 from another big fat overtime paycheck, without touching savings, if I decide to take it. Emailed Cruffler for advice, he's an Active Buyer - says he stopped counting at 400, some years ago, I reckon that gives him some credibility in the consumer-advice department.

In Gunpowder, Kelly recounts as fact the tale of Sam Colt whittling a prototype revolver from wood while a cabin boy on a sailing ship - eh. Hmm, blasting cap patented 1864, stick dynamite 1867, both by Alfred Nobel - remember that next time you watch The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Finished up, not a bad read. What next...? Something lighter maybe, Jules Verne, The Green Ray and the Blockade Runners.

Cruffler responds, "Gopherit." Okey-doke.... I've wanted a pistol of this design for over twenty years. See August 2002 section, entry #5.

505 - Friday, 4 June 2004: Why do I bother? What's the point? I clean things up, I fix machines, I write things down, and no one cares. No one cares if they waste expensive laser-printer product labels by doodling on them or slicing them up so I can't run the blank ones through the printer again to reduce waste. (Purchasing guy comes over - he cares - wondering why he hasn't seen any ExtraSuperUrgent requests for labels that they've suddenly run out of, lately. It's because I fixed the whole labeling system, that's why!) No one cares if they twiddle the machinery just to see what happens, thereby screwing up the whole system of settings I've laboriously logged. No one cares if they leave a soldering iron on overnight or over the weekend and the whole place burns to the ground (like it damn well deserves to with some of these people locked inside!). No one cares if they turn out such crappy product that US Navy equipment fails when our sailors are being shot at, no one cares if airliners fall from the sky when their avionics go down. No one else seems to give a damn about this or any other job, SO WHY THE HELL SHOULD I?

Okay, okay, I know why - Henry V, act IV, scene I, Fluellen: "If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, look you, be an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb? In your own conscience, now?"

Conscience is a curse, in today's degenerate world.

Stopped at Silver Lining, sniffed over the FM again, field-stripped again, examined again, put it on layaway. Counter guy, while processing transaction, knocked another $4 off without being asked. Okey-doke.... $120 down, $225 remaining, figure $40/week, that should get it in my hands on July 9th or 16th depending how impatient I get and what other expenses I have.

Today I was earwitness to the demise of a Hollywood career. On the Larry Elder show, now live on Portland's KPAM (and what happened to Victor Bock...?), actor Gary Sinise, fronting for Operation Iraqi Children, declares that media coverage of war in Iraq - he's, like, there - focuses on the negative like burning Humvees and maimed GIs, ignoring the positive like Iraqi kids celebrating the opening of their new school. Elder couldn't get him to say it was because of leftist communist anti-Bush anti-Capitalist anti-American media bias, but even so, see how many parts Sinise gets from now on.... And speaking of the media, dig this.

506 - Saturday, 5 June 2004: Zzzz.... Early-morning cross-sprawl commute on deadly freeways continues to take a toll, but must get more rifle practice, not least as there are supposed to be some matches coming up this summer. Laundry today, Clark Rifles tomorrow; MojoMauser with last twenty once-fired rounds, and the FR with something. Maybe the GP100 too.

Discussing ballistics (and other things) with the ‘blog reader trapped in the Michigan Collective (road atlas makes it look like a Borg colony, unlike Oregon, where one can drive in a reasonable amount of time to a vacant hillside to blast something). Also considering Fred's Guide and recommended battlesight settings. With the FR, will try the "2" aperture, and holding low for elevation at 100 yards; may also try actual 200-yard shooting.

Filled out coupon from Brownell's catalog for discounted $25 NRA membership, wrote check, on the way. Once that comes through I'll move toward a membership at Clark Rifles.

Ordered FR/CETME bayonet and sight tool, and a couple other things, from TAPCO. On second thought will leave somewhat frustrating FR behind until sight tool arrives. May also order Bold trigger for FR. May take Romanian .22 instead, got some Interesting results with CCI Mini-Mag.

If the FM works out I may delay the CZ, meaning a Real Rifle, like maybe an FAL if I can find one with, or alter one to have, decent sights, would be right behind the truck on the wish list. Cruffler spotted a $300 truck on his side of the river but it was like a 1969 something; I don't want the modern black-box junk, but I'm not sure I want one that old. Anyway I really want a thousand in savings before I make another major lump-sum purchase - on layaway, the FM doesn't count.

Gas prices actually dipping a little! West-side ARCO station $2.19 yesterday, $2.23 the day before, hmm. East-side still $2.23. And in Vancouver... still $2.19. Eh.

While across the river, charged off to a shop up there - not the new one near the freeway, which Cruffler describes as constantly having a squalling brat in the back room (I get enough of that at the library), but L-L Guns ‘way up in Battle Ground, which Cruffler says often gets big shipments of police turn-ins and estate-liquidations. Just browsing....

Oh! Oh! I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST DID THAT! Okay, yes, I believe it, I've done it before. L-L Guns has good-old-fashioned racks of long guns that customers can just pick up and look at - these are the old used cheap pieces that are already beat up, while the expensive new stuff is behind the counter where they can be fondled only on request. This is something I like in a gun shop, not least as I can rarely afford a new firearm, but also for the laizze-faire angle, where I can just mosey up and browse at my own pace. Anyway I'm working my way through the rack - Glenfield 30A (economy Marlin 336), $125; Ruger 10/22 standard, $125 (not much depreciation in that design, the big chain stores ‘round here put them on sale for $140 every few weeks); Winchester ‘94s of course, them and the Marlins all .30-30; and naturally, a plethora of Mossberg 500s from $120-$250 depending.

Now, I'm still looking for a 20-gauge repeater, though the particular person I had the project in mind for is getting something else instead (because I've run out of time to do the whole thing right, but I still consider it a cool gift idea for someone in the future, if I can find the right piece to do it on), so naturally I look at the Mossbergs - and of course they're all 12s. But one of them is marked $59.00.

And this piece is beat up. I mean scruffy. The barrel is chopped to about 19¼", and I know it's been chopped because a) there's no front sight of any kind, or evidence of one having been there; b) the wall thickness is about twice that of my military M590; and c), looking closely, it's stamped "3" MAGNUM CHAMBER 12GA 30" FULL CHOKE". Lots of pitting on the barrel, looks like someone's taken sandpaper, and not a particularly fine grade, to it; little finish left there - but I can get M500 barrels anywhere. Many dings in the aluminum receiver, like it's been dropped a lot, and some evidence of sanding there too. Oddly, the wood is in pretty good shape.

So I look at it. And I look at it. Guts seem sound - older model, only one action bar, but still dual extractors. No firing-pin-return spring like my 590, might maybe possibly fire if dropped really really hard on the muzzle. Huh - no serial number, must have been made before 1968 - later, checking books, yup, introduced 1961. Another piece that's older than I am!

Fifty-nine dollars! What the heck, out comes the driver's license and the debit card. No Washington sales tax with Oregon ID. Shouldn't'a, really shouldn't'a, but for such a proven design that price was hard to resist. This is a knock-around piece, something I don't have to worry about getting dinged and dented and scratched because it already is. I have been kinda wanting something Substantial to haul around in the back seat, and here it is. I have a folding stock for the series, which I sometimes put on the M590, and the synthetic fore-end the 590 came with, I may put those on for further compactness and ruggedness. Might get a handguard too, and maybe a SideSaddle. May have the Hobbyist, who chopped my double, put a bead sight on it - or not. Wow - bore cleans up nice! Heh - faaancy stamped "engraving" on bolt and lifter. Hmm, no provision for sling swivels - I can Dremel the wood butt, the folder comes with two options, and there's probably something aftermarket for the front, maybe a replacement barrel bolt. Magazine tube not frozen/welded/epoxied/whatever into the receiver like the M590, can take this one down that much further for compact transport if necessary. Well phooey - can't find the folder. But I did find the SpeedFeed the 590 came with, I'll put that on and use it as intended. May take it along for testing tomorrow.

Collection page pending film development from cheap plastic Vivitar - still no proper digital camera, the cheesy little webcam I took the close-up with- oh! There's just enough cable to set the tripod on the porch. Good! Better pictures to follow.

While at L-L, picked up June newsletter from Clark Rifles - yes! PIG Match is scheduled, for 24 July. I'll be there! The only question is with what.... Hmm, definitely get some MojoMauser practice tomorrow, try to use those twenty rounds to sight-in (currently sighted for Federal factory loads at 100 yards), then probably get that Frankford Arsenal case tumbler and do a big batch so I can sight-in, and practice, with the bayonet; also so I can figure sight settings for 200 and 300 yards, as the PIG uses all three distances. Then, do I want a second rifle for another relay? Maybe the Mosin 91/30, that one's adequate when I do my part, possibly the FR if I can get it in shape in time. Anyway I've a lot of rifle practice in my immediate future.

Garand match 26 June, wish I had one. "Cowboy Practice" 5pm-7pm on 1st & 3rd Thursdays, may have to remember that. Cast Bullet Association matches 19 June and 17 July, Cruffler will likely be there with his hot dog stand.

Well phooey, TAPCO's site is buggy and won't let me order the FR bayonet. Ordered the Bold trigger from Midway instead, a couple bucks cheaper than Brownell's.

Actually just now getting around to loading those last twenty once-fired rounds for the Mauser, 46.0gr IMR4064, WLR primer, Federal case, Hornady 150gr Spitzer, COL 3.00". Boy it's tedious measuring out that IMR stick powder, must seek another load with ball powder. Will try the Accurate 2230 again later.

And today I learned that President Ronald Reagan passed away. This is the man who signed the "Firearm Owner's Protection Act" into law - including the ban on making new machineguns for civilians, so we peasants are left with the same old stuff that's already in the registry being shuffled back and forth; this is the man whose name appears, along with his wife's, on the Board of Directors of what used to be Handgun Control Inc.; this is the man who presided over the Iran-Contra scandal.

This is also the man who ended the Cold War and caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. The man who caused the release of American hostages in the Iranian embassy just by getting elected. The man who rebuilt our military from its demoralized, malaise-ridden state of the Carter years.

And then look what we have now, and what's running against it.

Liberals all but lighting bonfires to celebrate his death, driving home the fact that they have no honor, no dignity, no decency. Anybody they hate so much almost has to be someone I should like. Here on this website, I celebrate the anniversary of "Uncle Joe" Stalin's death.

So, the net result - with reservations - is:

Ronald Wilson Reagan
1911-2004
40th President of the United States of America
IN MEMORIAM

507 - Sunday, 6 June 2004: On this day sixty years ago, Allied forces - with Americans facing the stiffest resistance, taking the heaviest casualties, and supplying weapons and equipment to the rest - landed on the Normandy coast of Nazi-occupied France in the largest amphibious and airborne assault in history, beginning the end of the Third Reich. The men who took part in this attack, and that entire war, were, simply, superior to the current generation, and I fear their like will not soon be seen again.

We're gonna need ‘em.

World War Two Memorial

Zzzz.... Crappy Pacific Northwest weather, and really tired. Only twenty rounds ready to shoot in the MojoMauser, want my twice-fired brass cleaned and if necessary trimmed before reloading, want to wait for the Bold trigger for the FR, spent too much money lately, wimping out on range trip. Expo show next weekend, dunno. Artist's graduation party that Sunday, dunno. Guilt: Dammit, on this of all days I should be out on the range with a Garand. Of course I don't have a Garand.... Well, planning on every weekend from the 19th to the PIG Match, just you see. Hm, Clark Rifles closed 20 June, Father's Day, and of course 4 July, Independence Day.

So I go down to Sportsman's Warehouse and spend even more money on the FA case tumbler and a jug of media, Lyman Corncob Green, apparently pre-treated. I understand some brands of vastly-cheaper cat litter can be used, I'll investigate later. -Now where am I going to put this thing? -On the kitchen floor for operation, on top of something for storage.

Instructions: Fill bowl about 2/3 full of media, add brass, observe tumbling action and add or remove brass as appropriate, 30 minutes to an hour for simple cleaning, longer for high polish. "Resize and de-prime your brass before polishing." Okey-doke, big resizing session, let's say 100 pieces. Box says "Holds up to 600 9mm cases or up to 350 .223 cases." So a hundred pieces of battle-rifle brass should be fine.

Working my way through them, taking a break every twenty or so - some elbow grease involved resizing full-length rifle cases, and tedious lubing inside the necks, though I can be sloppier with the lube as it will be washed off during tumbling and I won't have to worry about powder sticking to it. Uh-oh, need more projectiles - only 20 of the Hornady 150gr left! Still have the box of 50 Nosler 180gr Ballistic Tip, but still no load data for 180gr in the 7.92x57mm, hmm. Finally recovered that .358/125JHP from the test crimp, will make another box of .357 later, with the W231 I got in the English Pit score - and I can use the time-saving powder measure for that. -Probably will want another measure next time I see one cheap at a show, maybe Barberton this weekend - will skip this Expo show after all. Then, I can set each for a different load, instead of adjusting the one back and forth.

At Sportsman's Warehouse today, chatted with a guy about reloading, observed prices on stuff - pointed out that the same powder measure SW wants ~$60 for brand new can be had used at a show for much less (paid $25 for mine, with two inserts), $60-$100 single-stage presses can be found used for twenty or thirty bucks (Cruffler got the one I'm using so cheap, and had so many others, he just gave it to me). Gave him a website card. But I still think a brand-new case tumbler for $40 was a fair deal, especially as I haven't been seeing any used ones at shows lately. And I still can't find "MADE IN CHINA" on it, good.

No, I don't have a fancy $20-$30 media separator, but I do have an old plastic spaghetti strainer that should work, and if it doesn't I can go to the second-hand store three blocks away and look for one that will, for like $1.99 or so.

Tumbler not as loud as I'd feared. Yeah, half an hour seems sufficient, though the primer pockets still have some residue, but less than the once-fired (which I didn't actually clean out then). While tumbler was running, resized and primed once-fired .357 brass, now 250 pieces Winchester with Federal primers. Huge stockpile of Winchester primers from the English Pit score. Tedious, picking out the single granules of media from the flash hole with a toothpick. I can see if I'm going to do volume reloading, I will want a fancy media separator and all sorts of other labor-saving stuff.

So what shall I put in all those .357 cases? The Lyman manual Cruffler gave me predates Winchester powders - Winchester's .PDF suggests 8.1gr W231 as maximum under a 125gr JHP, no starting charge listed - minus ten percent, ~7.3.

Case trimmer, hmm. Lyman says maximum 1.29" (Cartridges of the World agrees), trim to 1.285. The once-fired is all below maximum - some of it shorter than the trim-to length! But I can see how tedious it's going to be trimming cases with that old Forster, might want another trimmer too so I leave them set for specific cartridges like the powder measures. Well, on to the powder. Setting measure for 7.3 grains W231 - what the heck? This is flake powder! But the jug was factory sealed, I was dealt straight with - maybe Winchester has a different definition of "ball." Smaller flakes than Unique.... How's it meter? Smooth enough, almost no shearing; accurate enough, ten charges between 7.3 and 7.4 grains, so be it. Getting late, back in the jug, I'll load up the last of the 125 XTPs later, and when that's done I'll examine the twice-fired Mauser cases for length. Will need more .358 projectiles too....

508 - Monday, 7 June 2004: Now comes word that another batch of temps is getting hired permanently - I've received no official notice, which suggests I am, again, not one of them. If I am, there'd better be a big fat raise. Plan to call the other place again Wednesday. -Investigating, asking the preferred supervisor: no one told her. She asked the facility manager - he didn't even know the HR person was going to be here with the orientation packages and company handbooks and so forth.

And the people getting hired are all new people, 90-day wonders from the temp service! I've been here eight #%@$& months! The QC lead has been here even longer and he's still a temp. This is just wrong. No feelings of loyalty toward this company, though I will give the traditional two weeks' notice and do what I can to train a replacement.

Examining my awards page. NRA Sporting Rifle rules, using SR-series targets, recalculate a shooter's classification over the last three matches fired; I've fired two under these rules to get my first official classification, in the lowest, Marksman, category. I'll need a score of 290 out of 320 in my next match to move up to Sharpshooter under these rules.

Following this example, I'll be re-figuring my Army-equivalent standing for the last three matches fired on the MR-series targets. The matches fired at Clark Rifles are less formal, with different numbers of shots fired and not always at the same ranges; the PIG is 400 points at 300 yards, the Allies vs. Axis 300 at 200; but I can still figure percentages, meaning... I can't move up to Expert in only one more match, I'd need 106%. But, last time there were two relays for the PIG and I only had enough ammunition for one - don't have that problem anymore. With enough demand there might even be three relays but that didn't happen at last year's Allies vs. Axis and probably won't at this year's PIG. But anyway, firing both relays in the PIG would wipe out last year's dismal performance with the Mosin, where I blew my prone-rapid stage in the first relay of the A/A; meaning if I can average 82% in the PIG's two relays I'll make unofficial Expert!

No word about more Sporting Rifle matches this summer, but it isn't summer yet. I'll keep an eye on the newsletter calendar. Further, if I do find greener pastures, I may start competing at other ranges too, like Tri-County or Douglas Ridge.

Gas prices, phooey. I'd pay three dollars a gallon for the freedom of having my own car, and not having to endure Icky Bus People. I wouldn't like it, but I'd pay. All you socialists in state and city government, take your unofficial-policy congestion and pork-barrel mass-transit scheme and shove it!

509 - Tuesday, 8 June 2004: And late yesterday someone decided to rearrange the entire production floor. They had a meeting about it.

I was not invited to this meeting. I'm just expected to do everything, immediately of course, all at the same time of course, without anything to do it with of course. And I don't dare let anyone else do it or the few things that aren't broken yet, will be. So there I am moving tables and clamping things to them and rerouting power and air lines for some of the equipment, teetering on a stepladder because they're hung from the ceiling. I'll even have to change some of the instruction documents I've been working on to reflect the new locations of things.

All in addition to my regular duties of setting up and maintaining the machines, clearing jams, issuing tools, printing labels, for ten lousy bucks an hour, with no vacation, no sick time, no benefits, no assistant, and no respect.

This is not how employees should be treated. Especially skilled ones on whom (some) supervisors admit so much depends. I'll do my job, I'll train a replacement and leave written instructions behind, but I won't shed a tear if this place is run right into the ground when I leave.

Three days after, half the tools and equipment in this place will be broken, and the other half will be on fire. Probably sooner.

Of course I was not hired permanently and Human Resources apparently does not even acknowledge my existence.

Loaded the last .358 projectiles over what turned out to be a fairly consistent dispensation of 7.4gr W231. Need expander die for future handgun loading, especially with unjacketed projectiles; I can foresee a 124gr LRN load in 9x19mm for plate matches with the FM.

Examining 20 of the 100 tumbled 7.92x57mm cases for length - listed maximum 2.24", trim-to 2.235". Lessee here - 2.234, 2.236, 2.235, 2.234, 2.234... not bad for twice-fired I reckon. Whoa - 2.229, 2.241; set those aside, trim later as needed, just grab different ones, I only have twenty projectiles left that I have load data for. Primed with WLR - now, powder. Not more IMR, so tedious without the use of the measure - still some A2230 left, last time 45.5gr at 2.95" and 3.0" COL - the MojoMauser seems to like 3.0 with the IMR and the same projectiles, I'll stay there. This time I'll try 45.0gr of Accurate powder, shrug. There, now I've got 40 rounds for the MojoMauser.

Discussion on Yahoo's Battle Rifle list, the consensus is my 1956 La Coruña FR-8 is not safe with commercial .308 Winchester, or NATO-spec 7.62x51mm for that matter - I think they're confusing the ‘98-large-ring FR-8 with the earlier FR-7. I dunno. No danger signs from the surplus I've fired in it already, except for the South African which extracted sticky in both the FR and the Ishapore. Still disappointed with the sights, I dunno. So, of my only two NATO-caliber rifles, both are white elephants, one with a lightweight barrel that won't stay accurate when hot and the other not safe with full-power ammunition? Grumble. Well, for the PIG I can still rely, somewhat, on the MojoMauser and two of my three Mosins: The Hungarian M44 won me my first medal in my first match, while the 91/30 has a longer sight radius, longer barrel of course for higher velocity and flatter trajectory, and currently carries the combination of trigger and sear parts from the three Mosins that give a good trigger pull. -That's enough work for tonight; counting my actual job (GRUMBLE) I'm wasted. I'll examine the damaged Herter's .308 dies tomorrow, and see what brass I have.

Finished the Verne. The Green Ray was entertaining I guess but not at all scientifictiony; The Blockade Runners was, as the editor noted, rather amateurish, being among his earliest work. (Furthermore Verne sided with the Federals, buying into the "War to End Slavery" angle, not realizing one form of slavery was being exchanged for another....) Starting Weber's Wind Rider's Oath. Baen CD in back, leeching.

Need to make a finger-adjustable elevation screw for the Mojo rear sight, for upcoming multi-distance matches. Have a blueprint in my head, if JB Weld is up to it.

Experienced Buyer Cruffler says I "done good" on both the $59 Mossberg and the $345 FM with three magazines, warmfuzzy. Starting to web-shop for holsters, grips, etc. CDNN lists 30-round magazines for ten bucks.... The Uncle Mike's universal belt-slide I have should be makeable-to-work with the FM (the straps are currently adjusted for the GP), hopefully including cocked-and-locked carry with the strap between the hammer and slide, but it needs something worn over it for concealability; and it only does forward-rake, while I still think I want crossdraw for driving. There's always fanny packs I guess. Um, magazine pouch(es) - might have one somewhere in the hovel; I won't carry even a 13-shooter without a reload. At worst I might make one with nylon strap and a snap-button left over from the sheath I made for the Ishapore's bayonet. Think I'll want a MkIII-style safety lever for the FM, as opposed to the military original or the gas-pedal that might get nudged off when carrying cocked-and-locked. Now I'm kinda wanting to go to the Expo show after all, where all of the above can usually be found, but I might not be able to afford it - $15 just to get in, if I park there, as opposed to $2 and smaller crowds at Barberton. I dunno.

Will practice lots, possibly including the hills where I can do things R/Os frown on, before carrying the FM - but will carry every effing day thereafter.

510 - Wednesday, 9 June 2004: Called the new place - "Call back around 3pm." This begins to disconcert. Called back around 3pm - "Something came up and he had to leave." Okay, I'm officially disconcerted. Possibly, however, this is an indication of a dedicated professional rushing around as I do to put out myriad fires, figurative and literal.

People - including some leads - leaving things - like soldering irons - switched on when they leave for lunch or break. With things - like plastic bags and wadded-up paper towels - right up against them, just begging to combust. Emailed facility manager, I'm on record as saying the place will burn down if this goes on. This place is too stupid to survive, it deserves to burn down.

On library's New shelves, Light and Liberty: Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness, by Thomas Jefferson, edited by Eric S. Petersen. It's a collection of quotes, what would be soundbites today. Thumbing through... no indication of his stance on RKBA. Sins of omission....

Also on New shelves: Gingrich & Forstchen! Grant Comes East, sequel to Gettysburg, an alternity where Lee wins there - check computerized catalog terminal; yes, the first one's on the shelf at this branch, got both of them. But where's the sequel to 1945? Baen doesn't have it - these two are from St. Martin's Press... they don't have it either. C'mon, I wanna read about Bearcats and P80s tangling with Me363s or 464s!

511 - Thursday, 10 June 2004: Called the putative new place again - "He's gone on a trip."

:-/

512 - Friday, 11 June 2004: Ray Charles passed on shortly after Reagan. On the drive in, morning radio show played a tribute to both: Charles' America the Beautiful interspersed with Reagan soundbites. ...Effective.

Aw shucks, even with my serious misgivings about his "support" of the 2nd Amendment and, really, his various violations of the Constitution, I'd rather have Reagan back. He's the closest thing we've had to a real leader since Teddy Roosevelt. President Ronald Reagan made America, and the world, a safer and better place. Not perfect... but better than it was, and better than it is now. And besides, the "liberals" hate him. -Morning radio news also says a 21-gun salute to Reagan will be fired from one of the USN ships here for Rose festival - from an "M14 military rifle, which sounds about as loud as a car backfiring." Oh fer gods' sake, light up the five-inchers, there's at least one cruiser here. If yer gonna do it at all, do it right!

Arrive at work - get in early as usual to turn certain things on, like the air compressor. There's a certain supervisor - real Ivory Tower material. Sits in the corner office - with a nameplate out front of course - gazing through the window at all the little people doing things with their hands. Obviously uncomfortable whenever forced to venture out onto the production floor with the peasants. This is supposed to be the production supervisor. Says maybe a dozen words to me, the person who keeps production running, in an entire week, less if it can be avoided. Not at all like the previous person in that position. This place is screwed....

Called the new place again, got through. "What a day, what a week!" Okay, quite possibly; I can certainly relate. Call back 2pm- interview Monday 4:30pm. All righty then.

$185 remaining on the FM.

Reagan. At least he had balls. If those terrorists had hung the mutilated corpses of American citizens from that bridge in Fallujah during the Reagan administration, the B52s would have been in the air an hour later. You don't mess with Americans! Peace and love and "tolerance" and "understanding" are all well and good, but sometimes the only right answer is to bomb the bastards into fiery oblivion!

RSVPing to Artist's parents - I'll meet them before they depart for her place and the party Sunday, and pass on my gift, but I cannot bring myself to peacefully coexist with Democrats Mechanic and Woodworker, and Artist's Naderite college friends. I am steering myself out of that circle. So much for the traditional Independence Day blast, too, where for the past few years I have been the Designated Pyrotechnician. Maybe Cruffler knows someone/where they like blowing stuff up. I need to hang out with more gun people and fewer commies.

513 - Saturday, 12 June 2004: Departing ~9:15am for Barberton. The usual sightings. Bought slightly-used, undamaged RCBS 2-piece .308 Winchester die set, $15. Yakked with Cruffler, he went back for that Glenfield 30A I saw at L-L Guns and was sniffing over a P.17 Enfield as I left. (See, with the hot-dog stand right out front, he gets first look at most of the stuff going into the grange hall.)

Arrived Clark Rifles about noon. Still just shooting for groups, not sighting-in until I've settled on a load. Four 4MOA practice targets @ 25 yards, four strings of five from the MojoMauser, with the IMR load:

1 2 3 4

Fourth string from sandbags, first three with hasty sling, & elbows on the bench. Last round somehow high and right, but the rest not awful. Well, I already know that 46.0gr IMR4064 under the Hornady 150gr Spitzer at 3.0" COL gives better results if I can settle down.

Now the A2230 load, all from sandbags. Second string better, the rest disappointing. Shrug. The search for an accurate load, that I can use a powder measure with, continues.

1 2 3 4

~1pm, handgun range. After some deliberations with the R/O, permission to function-test the scruffy old M500 against the berm. Winchester "Light Target" loads - oof. Full-power battle-rifle loads start feeling comfy. Hmm, maybe make a twelve-pellet #1 buckshot load, three layers of four, hmm. That would still give me a dozen .30ish transsonic projectiles, but with the factory loads' fourth layer of pellets omitted I should be able to get decent velocity without excessive recoil. Unfortunately Sportsman's Warehouse does not seem to carry #1, only #4 (too small for my taste, though I might try some anyway), OO, and as I recall OOO. Mail-order projectiles can get expensive, with shipping by weight. -Some ejection problems with the M500, will investigate. Extraction and all other functions okay, the hull's just not getting kicked out like it should be, even with Brisk operation of the slide.

Now the GP100, with the W231 load. A couple cylinders to warm up - hmm, pressure signs! Flattening and some flowing of primers. But I'm only a tenth of a grain - 7.4 - over the traditional starting load, which is the listed amount (8.1) minus 10%! Well, the Ruger can take it - Bill Sr.'s politics aside, the company builds tough stuff. Anyway, the last 32 rounds, at 10 yards from sandbags in single-action, looked like this:

Now some plate practice, with a box of Miwall 158LSWC. Eh, some progress maybe. Can see buying 9x19mm in bulk once I get the FM. Finally I'll have a Real Pistol!

Packed up around 2pm, back to the hovel. Snailspam from Republican National Committee Victory 2004 Campaign. Voter survey: "Do you support", "Do you oppose", etc. Not one word about the 2nd Amendment or the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Phooey! Who do they think got Bush elected? The same people who will let him get unelected, just like his "assault weapon"-banning father, that's who!

514 - Sunday, 13 June 2004: Delivered SCAdian neighbor to Blacksmith's place for further conveyance to Artist's graduation party. Made my position clear that I could not peacefully coexist with opposing politics; that Independence Day was also out. Will deliver remaining fireworks, and subsidy funds, there Wednesday. I repeat, I cannot be friends with people who vote for my enemies.

Naderites for crying out loud. They think they're so "liberal" and "tolerant" and "inclusive" - Ralphie would send my kind to a concentration camp and they'd cheer. They'd help load me onto the rail car. With little peace symbols and rainbow decals on their truncheons.

515 - Monday, Flag Day, 14 June 2004: What did I do at work today...? Repaired a heat-gun by cannibalizing the motor brushes from another; did ten autocrimer machine setups, and a couple-few autostrippers too; teetered on an ancient wooden extension ladder waaaay up along the warehouse ceiling, rerouting a power line; assisted with developing work instructions, by figuring out and demonstrating to the engineers how certain tools are to be used, and on what - then pointed out that if that product left the higher-skilled new-product group and went to regular production, the tools would be broken and several fingers would need reconstructive surgery by the end of the first day; helped with installation of a new piece of wire-processing equipment; tracked down more technical information on the web; and that was all before my first ten-minute break, which wasn't until about 10:30 (I start at 7). Then I built a harness board, with little pins sticking out of it to route wires around; then I would have built another just like it, but I ran out of pins, which are of course "on order" or "in transit"; then there's more machine setup, more technical sleuthing, pull tests, printing labels, fix this, move that, rearrange the other....

Trimmed my beard last night and picked out a nicer shirt this morning for the interview this afternoon - of course I got carbon fouling on it first thing, from the motor brushes. Sigh. Leaving Beaverton at 3:30pm, it'll take me ‘til 4:30, the time of the interview in Gresham, to get there even on freeways. Shrug. It'll just prove I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty - and they do know I'm currently employed.

Charged back to the east side - just enough time to swing by the hovel and change shirts. Departed for the new place - surface traffic somewhat heavier than I'd hoped, arrived ten minutes late - eh, I told them I was coming from Beaverton.

Toured the facility. Yup, I know that machine, I know this other machine, I don't know that machine but it looks really interesting, I know of a machine that would do that-there job lots better; looking for someone to "step up" and take over tooling, are you? That would be me, as it's what I've been doing the past eight months. Interview seemed to go well, took application to fill out, will return Thursday to deliver. Informed them I promised two weeks' notice.

Saw one pierced nostril, somewhat concerned about the political implications. Hmm.

516 - Tuesday, 15 June 2004: The new place is both more and less a mess than the current. Machine setup appears to be the worst, as there is no designated person or people doing it - apparently operators can just grab the tooling and stick it in the machine, with predictable results. Well, that's the sort of thing I can change. Vastly less personal fire-hazard clutter at the soldering workstations, that's good. The interview was after-hours so I could not get a good idea of the work environment and the quality of operators, but hey, at least it'll be novel for a while. And there'll be less risk of severe bodily harm on the commute. Same hours though, 7am-3:30pm, but as it's closer I should be able to leave later.

Considering another 7.92x57mm load - I think I'll try Hodgdon's BL-C(2), a spherical powder for good metering, 46.0gr under a 150gr projectile at a recommended 3.05" COL for a velocity of 2,553fps. "NEVER exceed the loads listed here." Hmm, minus 10% is 41.4gr, hmm. Under .308 Winchester, 48.0 grains of the same powder under the same projectile, for 2,839fps, yipe - I think their lawyers wrote the load data for the "8mm Mauser." No starting loads listed as such, but, "The loads shown in this section should be followed just as they are. These loads are like recipes. The closer they are followed, the better the resultant load." Hmm. Large-ring ‘98 Mauser action long recognized as among the strongest ever; VZ24 actions widely recognized as among the strongest of that kind. Hmm.

Package from MidwayUSA! Bold trigger, big fat catalog.

I dunno, all lethargic lately. I can still throw the switch for work, but when I get back to the hovel I'm all wasted and procrastinatory. Depressed about the world. Reading latest American Rifleman at library (be getting my own copies soon I reckon) - sigh. NRA is little more than the Gun Owners' Auxiliary of Socialist Party B - some big award to TaurusUSA's CEO for "defending the Second Amendment" or suchlike. Taurus was working on "smart guns," which can only be operated by an authorized - and eventually government-authorized - user....

Slacking on ‘blog. Depressed about losing friends in the Culture War. Depressed that I can only choose a side to not be on in that war, instead of one to fight for that has any chance of success. Depressed about not being able to stomach doing the Independence Day fireworks show in the company of what I now realize are statist-collectivist Enemies of Liberty. (Aw hell, that stuff's all made in Communist China anyway, the more I buy the more I finance the next attack on American sovereignty. Depressed about that too.) Stressed at prospect of changing jobs, starting all over cleaning up yet more of other people's messes. (What am I, an intellectual janitor? My broom is a computer keyboard? I weary of this!)

Orange-vanilla ice cream sprinkled with chocolate Ovaltine not helping. Will need to start doing sit-ups, or excavate the mountain bike, or something. Yet more depression from the mirror.

Midway catalog. Ah, Cylinder & Slide Browning Hi-Power grips - "This grip is thinner than the factory grip and allows the smallest grip size possible on the Browning Hi-Power." Yes, that's what I want, and they're pretty too - seventy-two dollars!? For a couple pieces of wood?! Well, it's going to be my pistol, I'll put whatever I want on it. -Which eventually will likely include a .22 conversion kit. -Will shop around, maybe someone can beat Midway's price on the grips. -Probably not eBay; other parts sure, but not used pistol grips. That's, like, unsanitary or something. No I don't feel the same about long-gun stocks, dunno why.

Pecking away at job application. Asking $15/hour dammit. Well, at least I have a job in the meantime, and some people sure don't want me to leave.

Need fuel sooner than usual, after the range trip Saturday and the trip to Wilsonville Sunday. $2.15 at eastside ARCO, $2.06 (!) seen in Vancouver on Saturday. Two full reserve cans still, that was smart. Short on funds after all that reloading stuff and such (I find I spend too much when depressed, on things like gun parts and shrimp platters - at least I've kicked the comic book habit, and never started drinking); separating out last year's fireworks subsidies from my own set-asides, I've got enough cash ‘til the next direct-deposit. Not touching savings, have a Bad Feeling I might need it, I dunno.

517 - Wednesday, 16 June 2004: Again, what's the point? I created simple instructions for operating a wire-stripping machine and distributed that document widely. I was told, by a supervisor, that all operators were made to read the document and sign a form indicating that they had. This was a month or two ago. A copy of the document rests right next to the machine in question, clearly stating that scrap wire, for setting up the machine, must be the same as production wire, for making the product. They can't even bring me the right size, never mind the number of strands or the type of insulation. Sigh.

Misgivings about what I'm getting myself into with the new place. I don't like cleaning up other people's messes, though I keep getting told how good I am at it. Sigh. You know what it is - it's not that I'm so good, it's that everyone else is so bad. SIGH. Having to add non-fire-hazard equipment, like the battery-powered multimeter, to the make-sure-it's-off-every-night-or-it-won't-be-usable-in-the-morning list. SIGH.

Well crap. Coupon event in newspaper from Big 5 Sporting Goods - Marlin lever-actions, $299, I can resist that, but a night-vision monocular for $99, with squeeze-lever power (battery required only for IR illuminator), I want one of those in my glove compartment for... contingencies. (A similar device figured in Ing's Loose Cannon - what Ing considers fiction, most people can confidently treat as a textbook, i.e. Pulling Through.) Will put one on layaway Friday. Meanwhile, want my pistol real bad, it may cheer me. Must examine budget, make sure rent is covered.

Loaded rather a lot of leftover fireworks into the car this morning, charging (or creeping) down various freeways from Beaverton to Wilsonville to drop them off at Blacksmith's place this afternoon. Along with the reimbursed subsidies, for Blacksmith's experimental purposes included most of a pound can of Goex FFFg, suitable for pistols, smaller-bore rifles, and flintlock priming under most conditions. But I can't be with that group of people anymore, their beliefs, or sometimes lack of same, just disturb me too much. Sigh. Remembering the good times we had together before my political awakening. Will just have to find a new group is all.

Vile traffic on I-5 & I-205 on the way back from Wilsonville during genuine "rush" hour, had to use one reserve can. Later, twelve bucks Regular at Vancouver ARCO, $2.09, still beats Portland's $2.15, that'll get me through the week.

Job application mostly completed.

518 - Thursday, 17 June 2004: Had to stop at hardware store last night to buy heavy-duty extension cord for a heat-gun at work that chronically tripped power-strip breakers - the same heater I cannibalized back into usefulness the other day. At least I got reimbursed with the receipt.

Job application completely filled out, using Blacksmith and preferred supervisor as references, delivered. Also including downloaded brochures for certain machines I think they might find useful; and samples of my technical writing, i.e. work instructions, operating rules (sanitized to remove customer names), etc. And a cover letter, and another copy of the resumé. Sell, sell, sell!

Finally updating ‘blog, scanning targets from Saturday. Trying to shake off lethargy. Heat wave not helping, but maybe I'm sweating off some ballast.

519 - Friday, 18 June 2004: So another American citizen has been brutally murdered by the "Religion of Peace." They say they want all foreigners, and especially Americans, out of Saudi Arabia. A caller to the Larry Elder show points out, from the experience of living and working in Saudi Arabia, that the natives don't want to do all the things all those foreign contractors are doing for them every day, and probably couldn't handle it if they did. Fine, you murdering Muslim monsters, we'll leave - and your lights will go out. Your water will stop flowing. Your streets will turn to mud, your buildings and bridges will collapse, your entire infrastructure will disintegrate because YOU AS A PEOPLE HAVE NEITHER THE WILL NOR THE SKILL TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES. Let the savages rot. Sez me. -In Israel, reportedly, they've built a wall, and reportedly, the Palestinians, now frustrated at being unable to murder innocent Jewish children, are turning on each other.

Okey-doke....

$145 left on the FM. A different Marlin M39 on the rack, the M39A with the longer barrel and the pistol-grip stock, marked $319, which means I could probably get it for $280 or even less - but I wanted the shorter-barrel, straight-stock version and this is not as good a deal as that was and I already have a spendy item on layaway there, so this one doesn't bug me as much. Also saw an older ‘03 Springfield, with the big fancy rear sight forward of the receiver and a sorta semi-pistol-grip stock, appeared all original or at least all correct, serial # 3.2x million, couldn't see the maker, didn't ask to handle it - marked $729, eek. Seemed to approach Very Good though. Nothing else particularly eye-catching. With a GP35 on the way, I can literally turn my nose up at the Ruger P series.

On answering machine, automessage from GOA's Larry Craig (?) hawking a long-distance service that gives a percentage to GOA. I don't use long-distance enough to need a service, I just use prepaid cards.

In mail, beg-for-money from U.S. English Inc., working to make English the official language of the United States. Um. 1) It's not English, it's American. Says so right there on the front of Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, Warner Books 1984, ISBN 0-446-31299-1. And 2), if I don't stop giving money to anti-commie causes I won't have any left for the ammunition I'll need to kill those same commies who are too thoroughly entrenched to be dislodged with anything less than violence. Anyway there's the link, look ‘em over yourself.

Off to Sportsman's Warehouse, bought pound of BL-C(2), $15.99; box of 100 Sierra Pro-Hunter (green box) 150gr .323 Spitzers, $16.99. Off to Big 5 - NVD in question has detachable(!) IR illuminator, but they're out, only the demo left - don't want the one people have been pawing, rain check not allowed as long as the demo's still there - eh, they'll have the same thing at the same price, give or take 99¢, in a week or three. -At SW, yet another free copy of Safari Club Intl.'s Hunt Forever magazine. Article on Brownell's Teflon/Moly oven-cure gun finish - showing, and describing the use of, a ~$30 toaster-oven like I already have. Hmm.

Thundershowers, brief relief from heat wave. Previously, got box fan from one of those discount places where most of the merchandise came direct from the People's Liberation Army's sweatshops. :-/

Near 11pm by the time I typed all this up and finished with email - too tired to responsibly handload. Skipping this weekend's range session after all (closed for Father's Day Sunday), went last weekend, will load tomorrow: 20 rounds each 45.0gr A2230 at 3.0" and 3.05" COL, same with, eh, 45.0gr BL. Sierra Pro-Hunter projectiles have no cannelure; more rounded base than the XTPs, should seat easier.

The Herter's 9mm dies I got a couple Barbertons ago include a "30-38-401" expander, fiddling with it while studying accumulated reloading books. Scavenging from the damaged Herter's .308 dies, I believe I've got the expander working, depending on adjustments and the depth it's seated in the press; and with a different combination of parts I think I have a one-step resizing/decapping die for the 9mm.

The other day, watched Capra's Meet John Doe, 1941, Gary Cooper. Thinking it over - yes, it's libertarian, not socialist: they want people off government assistance, off government dependence; people should take care of themselves, and of each other by choice, rather than loafing around collecting welfare checks, or working twice as hard to finance corrupt, wasteful government social programs propping up hordes of leeches and losers. What's that bumper sticker? "WORK HARDER/Millions on Welfare Depend on You!"

Finishing Wind Rider's Oath. Not as... efficient a writing style as I would like, and Weber's dialogue is sometimes, I dunno, forced, cluttered, something, but if you can slog through the padding he tells Good Stories. Respectable action sequences.

520 - Saturday, 19 June 2004: Zzzz....

Eighty pieces twice-fired tumbled resized Mauser brass - about a half-dozen over 2.24", trimmed to 2.235. Deburred those, chamfered all. Old RCBS powder measure working fine with both A2230 and BL-C(2); and though those two powders look identical, there's a difference - the latter is slightly denser, requiring a smaller volume on the measure to get the same 45.0gr by weight. Anyway, eighty rounds 7.92mm loaded as described above. Huh - MTM 50-place cartridge box won't close on 3.05"! Reused factory boxes.

Vancouver gas $2.03! Portland still $2.15. Topped off, refilled second reserve can.

So I have this snailspam coupon for the local Really Good Hardware Store - 5-quart plastic buckets, $1 each, limit four; handy for reloading, sorting tumbling media, cases, etc. So I get those and I'm driving along and there's these signs along the street - "HUGE CLEARANCE SALE" at the local K-Mart.

Now, even before the Rosie affair I'd given up on K-Mart, as I did not enjoy waiting in line ten minutes to buy a bag of chips because, generally, both clerks and customers in such places are government-educated - but a little voice, apparently the same one that made me stop at the pawn shop to find the FM, told me to take a look. K-Mart was a de-facto leading retailer of firearms and related items at one time - "Maybe," says the voice, "there's something useful at a low low price that would make it worth encountering Icky K-Mart People."

And there was! A Homak #3607RTA 7-place steel gun cabinet, assembly required, for $35! No room in the hovel - bought it anyway, crammed it into the car, assembled it, it's all there and it works, made room, filled it with stuff I'm not currently using. At that price I'm tempted to get another - except for being bolted together, it's about the same as the ones Bi-Mart has for ~$80 every few weeks, which I was going to get - but now I'm really out of room, and $hort again.

I repeat, Boy it's Good to Have a Car. Never woulda got that back on the bike, and not sure I coulda made it up the steps with it on the bus.

Of course this Homak is by no means a gun safe - frankly the metal's barely thick enough to stop a high-end pellet rifle, a .22LR would go right through it - but it still beats things laying around in piles. Furthermore I got about two more square feet of flat surface to pile things on top of!

521 - Sunday, 20 June 2004: Not going back for another Homak, there's just no room for it, financially or spatially.

Anyway, for the past couple weeks, the whole hovel complex - four units, one empty - is being torn up by the new owners. The other building has been jacked up and had foundation blocks shoved under it, and the one with me and the Vietnam vet is next, if there's enough solid wood left to jack it up with - it's a mess, truly. Hope they don't need to come inside. Hmm, maybe I should get another Homak, or all of them, out of savings if necessary... well, if someone beats me to them, I did at least get one.

Skimming through Savage's The Enemy Within. Again with the name-calling - but this time he's got notes and sources, and I see I have to rewrite parts of my story to eliminate socialism in all its forms.

522 - Monday, 21 June 2004: So there's this little air-powered crimping machine that broke, and got sent to the maker for repair, and came back. And I explain, to the lead for that production cell, that I must check the machine's calibration and adjust it for the proper wire size before it can be used again, and to let me know before they start the next batch of that part. (I didn't do it right away because a) they didn't need it right away and b) I've got, as usual, bunches of other things to do - i.e. teetering on a stepladder to adjust an air-conditioning vent; printing out a technical drawing for a part so the engineers can see that, yes, that's the same part as this other part, really; rearranging furniture, power strips & soldering irons for a soldering training session; and so forth.)

That aforementioned production lead then has a doctor's appointment, leaving two people in the cell - one Asian, one Latino, neither of which could be called fluent in American. And the Latino, despite being told when the machine came back, to his face, in my presence, by the production lead, to not use that machine until I'd checked it, went ahead and used it anyway - and of course it was not set correctly and the result was defective (and risked breaking the machine again).

Fortunately I've developed a habit of listening for the distinctive sounds of various machines, and I heard the hiss-clunk of this one and hurried over and had him stop. Then I spent a good five minutes dashing myself against the language barrier trying to find out how many he'd done and where they were - "How many have you done? "Too hunred fify." "How many have you done?" "Too hunred." "How- many- have- you- done- today?" "Fife hunred." Eventually I determined that I stopped him after just a couple, and adjusted the machine and let him go, but really! I mean he's a nice guy and all, he's not arrogant about it, he's trying, but this is a technical job for gods' sake! And I have been told by a supervisor that yes, the temp service's description for this job does require the "ability to communicate clearly in English"! Borders! Language! Culture! Dammit!

Finished The Enemy Within, didn't actually read every word - like The Death of Right and Wrong, some of it is too honest, and explict, to read on a full stomach, and one has only to skim over it to get the gist. Anyway, with the notes and sources this is a more useful tool in the Cause than The Savage Nation.

Starting The First Heroes, a fantasy/SF anthology, edited by Turtledove, about the Bronze Age. Statist amoral gay-rights extremist (that's how he writes, right?) S.M. Stirling has an entry... but so does late libertarian minarchist Poul Anderson, to whom the book is dedicated.

Nothing from the new place yet of course - will call them again Wednesday or Thursday if I haven't heard from them. Meanwhile, facility manager here is attempting to address my frustration - "possibility" of "wage adjustment". Eww, managementspeak. Sigh. Blacksmith condemns MBAs and the business-school mentality. Well, yeah. Anyway the guy here is a titular engineer... and has displayed indications of frustration himself. Sigh.

The ‘blog reader trapped in the Michigan Collective (henceforth referred to for convenience as Michigan) informs me that Uncle Mike's carries synthetic GP35 grips patterned after Craig Spegel's handmade items, which are apparently what Midway lists in their catalog via Cylinder & Slide. The synthetics are $21, which is good, but I'm not entirely sure, from reading Uncle Mike's site, whether they are in fact the same extra-thin type Midway wants $72 for in wood. Ah: "The grip panels for pistols are specifically designed for concealed carry situations. They are slimmed down to minimize bulk and to maximize a comfortable fit in your hand. Our grips provide excellent hand-to-gun contact to ensure a secure and consistent hold." All righty then. And hey, for twenty-one bucks they can't be worse than the fat Pachmayr wraparounds. Probably order next payday.

533 - Tuesday, 22 June 2004:

Take up the White Man's burden-
The savage wars of peace-
Fill full the mouth of famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest,
The end for others sought,
Watch Sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Sometimes Kipling is just spooky. He saw things, ya know? Here's a good link, and here's another (at the former you can download a whopping big .PDF, but there are typos and other errors in it; for example, some poems are duplicated, and in The Gods of the Copybook Headings they've got "protestations" instead of "prostrations" - I guess the compilers' vocabularies were overtaxed).

Sigh - overtime Saturday, 7am-noon, need the money. (Hmph - I have to work overtime to get what I should be paid regularly.) Suppose I could go straight to the range from work.... And a couple hours tonight too, that's another $30 - or about $18.73 after taxes. SIGH.

Stopped at a westside pawnshop, saw... a GP35. Genuine Browning production, "MADE IN BELGIUM", too-tall adjustable sights, spur hammer (as opposed to loop), big fat "B"-logo wood grips, apparently nothing with it, VG, $400. Probably fair for a Belgian, but I reckon I did all right on that-there FM with three pre-Ban magazines.

534 - Wednesday, 23 June 2004: First thing this morning, one of the operators can't get her worklight turned on. Cannot make the simple deductive leap of tracking the power cord to its power strip and switching the power strip on - or does, and without result, figures she must turn the switch the other way despite its clear "ON/OFF" markings and red-lit switch. Then, fails in turn to make the simple deductive leap of tracking that power cord to the next power strip, with it's red-lit switch, and turning it on.

[face in hands, sobbing]

Called the other place - GM is just then going to talk with CFO, call back 2pm - "Could not get an answer," I suggested they call or email me, will follow up again next Wednesday or Tuesday if not. GM said they're "Very interested." Well that's a good sign at least.

Gawd - there's little that Kipling wrote that doesn't give chills at one point or another. Try The Ballad of the Clampherdown. You can just see Weber's Honor Harrington on one of her Death Rides - or for that matter, John Paul Jones staring at Richard Pearson's Serapis across the burning deck of Bonhomme Richard.

Two more hours overtime.

Stupid vendors. We get stuff, parts and subassemblies and such, and they're not right. Some are small kits, i.e. an umpty-place D connector and the terminals to populate it, which in turn get crimped onto wires with some tool from a third party - and sometimes not all the terminals are there. And sometimes not all the terminals are the same and some therefore won't fit the tool, or even the connector, or the wire for that matter. So it's not just this place and it's not just me - the whole world is stupid.

So I'm driving back to the hovel and I'm seeing brand-new cars, Lexuses and Land Rovers and Mercedeses and so on - still got the dealer stickers on ‘em, sometimes - and they're not all there. They've got taillights out! Brand-new cars and you can't tell when the more-money-than-brains drivers have slammed on the brakes! So it's not just the electronics industry, either.

And then there's the drivers. Changing lanes without signaling (of course the turn signals might be out too); inexplicably swinging to one side or the other of a one-lane on-ramp; utterly oblivious to the "RIGHT LANE ENDS" signs - aw hell, you drive, right? You know what I mean. Anyway I'm seeing a high coincidence of John Kerry stickers on the cars of the worst offenders.

Heh - other day, guy with a pickup, not one of the offenders, couple signs in the back window; one branding the local Air America communist radio station as Hate Radio; the other said "I voted FOR John Kerry before I voted AGAINST him!"

But back to the stupid people. Some Latino guy & a little girl, a toddler, like two maybe, standing, just standing right in the middle of the road where I turn off a major thoroughfare for the final stretch to the hovel. Just standing there. In the road. NOT MOVING. WITH TRAFFIC BACKING UP BEHIND ME WAITING FOR THEM TO GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY BECAUSE IT'S A ROAD AND PEOPLE DRIVE ON IT. So finally I squeeze by and I glance in the mirror and they're narrowly missed by a taxicab - and they still don't move. Talk about evolution in action! "Sloth and heathen Folly"! That's not prejudice, it's observation!

So the other day a thing from the water bureau comes, to my address. I don't pay the water bill here, the property owner does, it's included y'see. (Reportedly back in pre-hovel times my particular address number, now among four in the hovelplex, was the number under which everything was written down.) Anyway I take it to the de-facto on-site manager, who reports that's not her job anymore but provides a forwarding address and, with everything torn up by the reconstruction she doesn't have a mailbox so could I hang it off mine for pickup, yeah sure. And of course our illustrious tax-paid Federal employees in the United States Postal Service... ignore it completely, because there was apparently no mail addressed to me today, while my neighbor, whose box is maybe five meters away from mine in a direct line of sight, got his.

Gunfolk list discussion: the Supreme Court has ruled that "Papers, please" is not unConstitutional; blueshirts can arrest people simply for refusing to provide identification. Although a more thorough reading of the case and the ruling doesn't make it quite that bad, it still ain't good. I imagine JPFO or their sister org CCOPS will have something on it presently.

Bush caves to the UN, so that American soldiers can be tried for "war crimes" in international "courts." I expect the Liberty Committee or the Libertarian Party will have something on that soon.

Savage reports the Food Stamp program is now offering debit cards to reduce the "stigma" associated with stealing the fruits of other folks' labors - describes the welfare queens, in the stores buying gourmet items, while the fella-du-jour waits outside in a Cadillac, exactly as I've seen them with my own eyes at WinCo.

This entire planet disgusts me. Well I imagine Wyoming is nice, and maybe some parts of Texas. Montana, some of Idaho maybe; Arizona, away from the border; Utah - at least Mormons have morals. But Oregon really wears, and the Federal Government is really ticking me off, and I still never got the republican I voted for!

535 - Thursday, 24 June 2004:

Covenant - by Rudyard Kipling, 1914

We thought we ranked above the chance of ill.
Others might fall, not we, for we were wise-
Merchants in freedom. So, of our free-will
We let our servants drug our strength with lies.
The pleasure and the poison had its way
On us as on the meanest, till we learned
That he who lies will steal, who steals will slay.
Neither God's judgment nor man's heart was turned.

Yet there remains His Mercy - to be sought
Through wrath and peril till we cleanse the wrong
By that last right which our forefathers claimed
When their Law failed them and its stewards were bought.
This is our cause. God help us, and make strong
Our will to meet Him later, unashamed!

Spooky. I may email this one to Michael Savage. Oh, he's on vacation. Eh, I bet he knows Kipling.

NRA membership stuff in mail, applied window decal. Where the heck did my GOA decal go? I used to have one, but was so long without something to put it on it's been misplaced. OFF offers free ones but I have a fresh one in place already. JPFO? SAF? Hmm, inkjet window-clings seen among office supplies at stores, might make one.

So the reconstructors have started jacking up my part of the hovelplex - and the deadbolt in my "door" (I use the term loosely) is now a half-inch below the hole for it in the "doorjamb" - which measurement is taken only after struggling for a good two minutes with the key in the lock, ‘cause, well, the deadbolt was in its hole when they started jacking, and it still is, but now wants to be somewhere else. Carefully applied Leatherman to key for leverage, got the door unlocked without breaking the key, Dremeled an enlargement to the hole. Yeek!

536 - Friday, 25 June 2004: Sigh. Having to touch savings for rent. Hope to put it back with overtime pay next week.

$105 left on the FM, might get impatient and squeeze it in for Independence Day.

Mailing rent check - discovered how to do envelopes on the word processor and inkjet, useful activism tool there too, more professional-looking. I love technology.

537 - Saturday, 26 June 2004: Ugh - up ungodsly early to squeeze in another half-hour of overtime, starting 6:30am. At least there's less traffic on the freeways that early on a Saturday morning.

Work ‘til noon - limited crew, leaning toward the more intelligent types as someone is getting it through their head that this rush project has to be done right, in something of a hurry, and only certain people can be trusted to accomplish that.

Back to the hovel first after all, to decompress. Oh, I dunno, vegging after all, after 10+ hours overtime this week, I'll shoot tomorrow. Probably look into membership at Clark Rifles next weekend.

538 - Sunday, 27 June 2004: ZZZZ!!!! No Plate Match, no OAC show today. I repeat, zzzz.

Arrive Clark Rifles ~2pm, later heard that the Plate Match went on ‘til 1. Most people done shooting by this time, eventually had the upper range to myself.

25 yards, four 4MOA practice targets - a departing shooter gave me his unused targets, also on a one-inch grid, with four 2-inch diamonds and a 4" center diamond, not completely unlike the Palma targets I often use. So, once the holders are arranged, I've got enough aiming points to fire all eighty rounds in five-round strings without changing targets!

Starting with A2230 @ 3.0". Single loading, using sandbags. First string - no different from Hornady XTP or Sierra yellow-box Spitzers. Second string - interesting. Third - not as good. Fourth - interesting again.

1 2 3 4

Now the Accurate powder again, at 3.05" COL. Some concern about the top of the backstop because of the angle of the bench to the target holder, skipping one aiming point. First string, the usual 6 or so MOA. Second, on the center 4" diamond, again interesting. Third - very sloppy, my fault. Fourth - hmm.

5 6 7 8

Now BL-C(2) powder, 3.0". First - I've seen worse... today.... Second - hmm again. Third... I think I'll stick with the Sierra Pro Hunter bullets. Fourth - yeah, that's about 4MOA.

9 10 11 12

The first string, I fired with only a t-shirt, but the firing line is covered and shaded so a flannel was not uncomfortable - and it's amazing how much recoil a single layer of fabric can soak up! That plus the tolerance I've already developed no doubt contributed to today's encouraging results.

Take a moment - munch some jerky, sip some juice, let barrel cool. Uh-oh - gunk all over the cases from the BL powder, all the way back to the boltface! The Accurate loads show none such, hmm. The BL smells dirtier too, though there's not that much more visible residue in the barrel - the A2230 burns quite clean. -Odd; if anything, less pressure signs with the leaky BL than the clean Accurate. So where's all this gunk coming from and how does it get between the case and the chamber?

Well - twenty rounds left, BL powder, 3.05". First - rushed some. Second - getting tired. Third - hm. Fourth - um.

13 14 15 16

Departed ~4pm in somewhat better spirits. Productive session!

So which of these four promising loads, two powders at two overall lengths, do I pick? The Accurate 2230, ‘cause it doesn't do that weird gas leak thing, and the 3.0", ‘cause that'll fit in the MTM carriers. So I have a load! Next Friday I go to Sportsman's Warehouse for another box of Sierra Pro Hunter 150gr .323" soft-point Spitzers, and another jug of Accurate 2230 powder - brass and primers I have for the moment. With the leftovers from the last box of bullets that'll be 120 rounds, I'll be resizing and tumbling and priming during the week.

Back at the hovel, cleaning. Ick - lots of gunk from that BL-C(2)! Disturbing, maybe a loose chamber or something - no obvious damage to the cases, no similar effects from the Accurate powder. Well, maybe the BL powder will still be useful in .308 loads for the FR, or some other caliber in some future rifle.

Adjusted Timney trigger, reducing pull weight - yipe! Not that much! Back the other way - work bolt briskly, thump butt forcefully on floor, repeat repeatedly - sear remains engaged, good enough. Will prep all remaining (160 pcs) twice-fired brass this week; have twenty Pro Hunter 150s on hand, and I think just enough A2230 for them.

At CR, picked up event copy for PIG. Changes from last year! Apparently bonus bayonet points for the sitting and standing stages only. SR-1 targets for the 100-yard stages, MR-63 for 300 and "SR-42" for 200. Huh? Hmm, how am I going to figure this for my standings? Huh - rimfire category uses MR31 targets at 100 yards, so it's not like they're out of them. Will email match director. Want to order some targets next payday too, to simulate the match once I'm sighted-in. Have to figure out which targets, this doesn't look right.

539 - Monday, 28 June 2004: So they're taking on more temps - and they stick ‘em on the autocrimpers the first day. No training. No orientation other than "This is a crimping machine, you stick the wire in there and hit the foot pedal." I must take the initiative and hand-deliver - again - copies of the operation documents I've made, detailing the tips & techniques I've developed or discovered to keep the machine from jamming or the product from being rejected, to the new workers and production leads.

SIGH.

Overtime tonight - one person is stripping wires. Taking 20-30 seconds for each. Individual. Wire. (Even with that troublesome cable it should take no more than five.) On a hot project for overtime pay. Snarl! And the new place will have it's own frustrations, if they ever get their act sufficiently together to hire me. Sigh. I'm tired of working dammit. I never get anywhere! Nothing stays fixed! More money would at least reduce my depression....

At least I'm finally cutting some 25-yard cloverleafs with a high-power rifle. Now, if I'm going to use the 91/30 in the PIG I'll need to dust it off and practice with it, too; how much ammunition do I have left for it? 40 rounds plus sighters required for the match, hmm. I also recall the Mosin shoots a bit off to one side - so I need some rounds to learn that again, and possibly drift the front sight in its dovetail, then more rounds to confirm that the military sliding rear sight still matches up at all three distances. Uh-oh - no shows ‘tween now and the match! Maybe I'll just mail-order a tin of the Albanian. Maybe I'll barter something to Cruffler, I think he's still got some. Maybe I'll go in on an order with him like before. Ideally would want to simulate the entire match with each rifle. -Previously swapped parts with other Mosins, got surprisingly good trigger in the 91/30. Previously determined it shoots better with the bayonet than without.

Ah, Keisler's has the Albanian, forty bucks for 440 rounds, plus apparently only $7 shipping, that's not awful. Sigh - I'm trying to keep something in savings... this will have to wait ‘til payday. At least I've got the rent and utilities covered, I should be able to order a tin of x54R and pick up the FM this Friday. Though rebuilding savings from the rent check might take longer. Can't get ahead! :(

540 - Tuesday, 29 June 2004: Meeting today - I'm in the technical support group. Not least a gripe session, some refreshingly straight talk was heard but probably nothing will come of it. Disturbing picture painted of the higher corporate structure - making this division look good. Later discussion with preferred supervisor - facility manager has good intentions but no corporate power.

Half-hour overtime this morning - that's what, $3.28 net? And word from on high that no more overtime is authorized - then it is, then it isn't again. So I'm back to an insulting wage. Also, a young lady in the new-product group, with which I work closely determining correct tools and how they're used, was reduced to tears over some other facet of corporate's attitude toward employees.

Will call new place late tomorrow morning, that'll be a week since I last communicated with them. Tomorrow afternoon, a customer visiting to tour this facility, if it hasn't burned down from someone leaving a soldering iron on.

CDNN still lists 17-round Argentine magazines for the GP35 at $19.99, and 30-round for $9.99, and still a flat $9.99 shipping on all accessory orders. And, according to their downloadable .PDF catalog, they've acquired a small quantity of the FN 5.7x27mm pistol, and ammunition! Some penetration that thing must have... but if I want a pistol that stands a chance of defeating thug-armor, for the price of the FN I could get three or four CZ52s and a crate of commie-surplus 7.62x25mm. Anyway my FM GP35 does come with three 13-round units, more can wait, I'll have enough trouble just squeezing the last $105 out of the budget to pick it up in time for the holiday weekend. Heh - maybe a .30 Luger barrel for the FM, there are a few.

541 - Wednesday, 30 June 2004: Called the new place- no progress. That place is starting to sound as bad as this one. Will call tomorrow.

Overtime back on again, taking what I can get.

Meanwhile:

Boh Da Thone was a warrior bold:
His sword and his Snider were bossed with gold,

And the Peacock Banner his henchmen bore
Was stiff with bullion, but stiffer with gore.

He shot at the strong and he slashed at the weak
From the Salween scrub to the Chindwin teak:

He crucified noble, he sacrificed mean,
He filled old ladies with kerosene:

While over the water the papers cried:
"The patriot fights for his countryside!"

Sound like anyone we know?

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