RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - SEPTEMBER 2004

Still slacking on email....

Watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon again. Very high quality film and story, really excellent fights, but a double-downer ending.

"A sword by itself rules nothing. It comes alive only through skillful manipulation." -Sir Te

605 - Thursday, 2 September 2004:

And don't you forget it!

$10 to OFF, to fight the Ban.

Now I've got income again I may order a MicroClick Mojo for the Mosin 91/30, and a replacement set for the VZ. Ammunition will be a problem for the Mosin, but I should be able to find some Albanian at the Expo show next weekend. And hopefully the parts geezers will be there - staring at the FM some more, I want a sear and a sear lever, and then if necessary I'll Dremel the contact points between them so the latter slides up and over the former like it's supposed to when the slide returns to battery. But I definitely want spares before I start removing metal.

Reconstructors redoing external electricals - with heavy traffic and a stop at the library I got back around 4:30 this afternoon, and my power wasn't back on ‘til nearly three hours later. Yes, there was slacking. So I'm still slacking on email. Three-day weekend coming up, that should do it. Meanwhile chewing through Gettysburg, pretty good.

Listening, gods help me, to Bush's convention speech on radio. A turn of phrase, a change in tempo, some delivery dammit - next to Bush I'm a motivational speaker! -Socialism, he's offering, disguised as "compassionate conservatism." But I do find myself agreeing with some things - national defense for example, and any tax cut at all. Education, he denounces the "soft bigotry of low expectations," which is a damn good soundbite (which will probably never be mentioned by mainstream media again, and they'd cut it from their live coverage if they could), but the solution he proposes, is, well, any regular reader of this weblog should be able to figure out where I stand on education.

606 - Friday, 3 September 2004: Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge was more successful this time.... This book is either quite well written or simply an accurate representation of the time, the people, and their values. Sometimes the gallantry, the sacrifice, the horror and the glory, makes one reach for a tissue.

Must add a biography of Lee to my reading list.

607 - Saturday, 4 September 2004: Zzzz....

Finished Gettysburg, tasty, starting the sequel Grant Comes East.

So I'm driving to the laundromat and I see these signs for yet another sale at the local K-Mart - and I blow another $35 on another Homak cabinet, apparently from the same batch as the last one judging by the condition of the box it came in. Eh, at least it's all there. With some junk removed for the reconstruction I almost have room for it, and with the second one I should be able to (barely) get the entire collection under lock and key for when more workers come. There was one more cabinet there at that price but it's sheetmetal was actually bent from weeks of shuffling around the sporting goods department.

Shooting tomorrow, maybe.

608 - Sunday, 5 September 2004: Or not. Zzzz.... After two unpaid weeks off, then starting a new job with earlier hours, my physical and financial reserves are gone. (I have my membership card now so I no longer pay range fees, but I burn fuel getting up there, and then there's ammunition.) Clark Rifles not open Mondays and probably wouldn't be open Labor Day (Observed) anyway; hills will be tainted by the handful of drunken yahoos who give millions of gunfolk a bad image. Hope to finally actually really catch up on email tomorrow, and maybe start a new batch of .308 (CAVIM brass I think) for the FR. Sight-in days coming to Clark Rifles, crowds, limited usage, hmm.

Grant Comes East - political discussion. Authors painting Lee as morally superior to, well, everyone - but I already got that impression from the History Channel. (Huh - add Rommel bio to reading list....) Examination of causes and effects, issues and consequences. "Words are weapons in war, just as the bayonet and the gun." (Meanwhile, having been bloodily repulsed from the massive fortifications of Washington City, Lee, not unlike his stepgrandfather (? What is the exact relation?) George Washington at Trenton and Princeton, has turned in this other direction and taken Baltimore....) Authors laying out how Lee could have won, even by the time of Gettysburg (by not charging into the Union fieldworks), but as he was in this timeline Jeff Davis is, ah, colorblinded, and denies Lee the resource of throngs of patriotic Southern men.... Turtledove uses an earlier departure point (Antietam, McClellan, Special Order 191, which I still think was the South's last real chance to win, as the sleeping giant of northern industry fully awakened shortly thereafter) but has obviously examined the same issues (in Turtledove's version there were black Confederate troops in what we would call World War One; there was a general manumission about the Second Mexican War in 1880something (How Few Remain, first of Turtledove's series); but, just as Jews fought for the Kaiser in our world, things change...). Very interesting read. Glancing at last page - there will be more.

609 - Monday, Labor Day, 6 September 2004: Zzzz.... Caught up with email and this 'blog!

Cruffler sends (days ago):

610 - Tuesday, 7 September 2004: Mailed this actual paper letter to President Bush, also emailed and will call at 202-456-1111 during the week:

Tuesday, 7 September 2004

Dear President Bush,

I strongly OPPOSE the "assault weapons" ban and any other infringement on my Constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and as a gun owner who voted for you in 2000, I expect you to do the same.

Gun owners elected you. If you disappoint us, the same thing that happened to your father in 1992 will happen to you in 2004.

Sincerely,
[etc.]

Money still tight and fuel consumption really is up - the new commute is less crowded, especially in the morning, but longer. Rent & utilities paid, some food on hand. Eh, I'll squeeze through, and hit both Barberton and Expo this weekend, particularly for P35 parts. I want that pistol running.

Grant Comes East leaves the whole war still up in the air, with Lee's Army of Northern Virginia still in the field as a viable fighting force as of August ‘63, and significant gains for the Confederacy - but now Grant is moving. Starting Clancy & Zinni's Battle Ready - gripping, not least for Zinni's narrative of his Vietnam experiences; also the larger view of that war, which as an adviser-at-large he saw just about every facet of. We could have won....

611 - Thursday, 9 September 2004: Trouble getting through at the White House comments line - used their webform instead, may also fax (202-456-2461) them tomorrow from Fred Meyer (a supermarket/department store chain in the Pacific Northwest, like 99 cents/page; I never could get the fax part of my fax/modem running right, and then there's the problem of having the computer dial the long-distance card's 800 number, then the menu options, then put in a 10-digit PIN, then the fax number).

Well crap. Mojo's introductory sale on the MicroClick sight ends on the 15th. It turns out I can order just the rear sight for the VZ24, and for the Mosin, at $60 each - but, free shipping for orders over $75. I feel I must do this.... Also different aperture sizes are becoming available.

Weekly net pay about $300 for normal hours - no overtime soon due to lack of parts. (I've been muddling through with prep work, troubleshooting, and rework - and they've got me doing a First Article for something they used to buy but are now thinking of making in-house. Geez, the new guy displays a little competence and literacy and gets projects dumped on him.... As might be expected, there are many Dilbert Moments.) So there's $120 gone. Car insurance due the 18th, I'll stretch that ‘til next paycheck.... Want to take at least a hundred to the shows this weekend.... Savings still needs to be rebuilt.... Storage rent due the 13th.... Sigh.

Meanwhile, OFF reports that Ginny "Ban-‘Em-All" Burdick, leading anti-self-defense extremist in the Oregon state senate (her district is SW Portland, or in other words California), is introducing a state "assault weapons" ban - so I'll be sending money there to fight that, and to support her opponent's campaign.

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." *
* Processing fees may apply.

Battle Ready slowing some, but still gives valuable insight to various operations - humanitarian relief for Kurdish refugees after Gulf War I, missed opportunities to prevent or reduce the current messes in the Balkans and various African cesspits, how the former Soviet Union's transition from communist dictatorship to the "boisterous sea of liberty" could have been smoothed but wasn't. Interesting descriptions of How Things Work in the military. Somalia is next.

612 - Saturday, 11 September 2004: I was wondering what to do, in this weblog, without repeating myself, for this year's anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Fortunately some handy things came along in email and on the web. First, here are some links - and an image - I found at Cox and Forkum:

The Black Day
Remembering September 11, 2001
CNN: Remembering September 11, 2001 (2004 article)

World Trade Center
The World Trade Center Victims
The Flight 11 Victims
The Flight 175 Victims
The Falling Man by Tom Junod
"Heart Attack" cartoon

The Pentagon
The Pentagon Victims
The Flight 77 Victims
The Pentagon Memorial
"The 184" cartoon

Flight 93
The Flight 93 Victims
The Story
The Official Memorial Site
"Confronting Terrorism III" cartoon

Personal Stories
ASV: Voices
LGF: 9/11 Stories

UPDATE I: From Mark Helprin via The Wall Street Journal: Three Years On: We still haven't learned the lessons of 9/11.

UPDATE II -- September 11: Joe Katzman has compiled 9/11-related links from the last three years: Risin' Up From The Ashes.... And Charles Johnson reminds us of why we are fighting: Three Years On.

Then, here's a couple things I received from someone who has me in their address book:

GOOD ONE!
I HOPE I DO NOT HEAR OF ANYONE BREAKING THIS ONE OR SEE DELETED
This is a ribbon for soldiers fighting in Iraq. Pass it on to everyone and pray.

Something good will happen to you tonight at 11:11 PM. This is not a joke. Someone will either call you or will talk to you online and say that they love you. Do not break this chain.
Send this to 13 people in the next 15 minutes. Go.

SLEEP LAST NIGHT?

Bed a little lumpy...

Toss and turn any...

Wish the heat was higher...

Maybe the a/c wasn't on...

Had to go to the john...

Need a drink of water...

?

?

?

Scroll down

Yes... It is like that!

Count your blessings, pray for them,

Talk to your Creator and the next time when...

the other car cuts you off and you must hit the brakes,
or you have to park a little further from Walmart than you want to be,
or you're served slightly warm food at the restaurant,
or you're sitting and cursing the traffic in front of you,
or the shower runs out of hot water,

Think of them...

Protecting your freedom!

DO NOT DELETE-PLS PASS ON-Message from Iraq

The proud warriors of Baker Company wanted to do something to pay tribute To our fallen comrades. So since we are part of the only Marine Infantry Battalion left in Iraq the one way that we could think of doing that is By taking a picture of Baker Company saying the way we feel. It would be awesome if you could find a way to share this with our fellow countrymen. I was wondering if there was any way to get this into your papers to let the world know that "WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN" and are proud to serve our country." Semper Fi
1stSgt Dave Jobe

The attached photo was forwarded from one of the last U.S. Marine companies in Iraq. They would like to have it passed to as many people as possible, to let the folks back home know that they remember why they're there and that they remember those who've been lost.

THIS IS GREAT! and something every American should see. What is it? See below the photo........... Have a great day.

This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace, now home to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped home and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.

The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.

Kalat was so grateful for the Americans liberation of his country; he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam and made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiers and their fallen warriors. Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.

To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.

Do you know why we don't hear about this in the news? Because it is heart warming and praise worthy. The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effect that a flashed breast or controversy of politics does. But we can do something about it. We can pass this along to as many people as we can in honor of all our brave military who is making a difference.

Of course I didn't type this up ‘til, like, Thursday the 16th, but here it is. This time next year, I'd really like to post a photo of Osama's corpse....

Went to Barberton, yakked with Cruffler, saw the usual, bought... it's Thursday now, did I buy anything? No, I didn't buy anything there. Went to Expo. Saw (I took notes, and typed some of this on Saturday):

CETME/FR bayonets, $20 (why didn't I get one? I dunno, spaced I guess. The throngs are so distracting at Expo, by the time you fight your way back across the exhibit hall to find what you took notes on you've either forgotten what it was or you're too frustrated to bother.... And I really wanted that Mosin ammo for the match in November.)
CETMEs, $400-$500+
Yugo SKS, $150-$200 depending on condition and muzzle configuration
SAM (Philippine, probably the same factory as Charles Daly) 1911s, "Commodore" M1911A1 clone $355
MREs, $3 each, $33/case
Norinco Winchester ‘97, ~$400
FALs, $600 and up
Nagant target revolver, $249; regular, $159 with extras
AutoMag sighting! Probably the same one as the last time I was at Expo, $2,100
Ruger .44 Deerslayer carbine, the old model, $300 - I bet someone snapped that up
Hornady New Dimension dies, 7.62x54R NIB, $52.75 (eek! And then where do I find brass? The stuff's a quarter a piece or more everywhere that even has any! I'm only paying ~11¢/round for live Albanian! And then what about .311" projectiles?)
Big Miwall display: 7.62x51mm NATO: Portuguese, $30/200; Australian, $125/800; Spanish, $160/1,000 - WLR primers, $13.50/1,000, Sportsman's Warehouse isn't too much worse than that
CZ75B, $400 - but I have a Browning now
Used repro Starr DA percussion revolver, $450 (eek! I think DGW wants less than that for a new one!)
Parts geezers! One, count it (1) box of "BHP" parts - lots of hammers, one, count it (1) sear, and it had been broken and brazed upon - I didn't ask for a price. No sear levers or much else useful
Hi-Point carbines like Cruffler's so happy with (see Yahoo's Practical Carbine list), under $200
Charles Daly Hi-Power, $449; current-production FM, $369; another CZ75B, $319
ROBARM M96 mousegun, $1,350 - decent sight picture but little or no battlefield elevation adjustment; safety lever not as easy to reach as an AR
Chinese SKS, $239

Bought two 13-round P35 magazines, $9.95 each, and a 440-round tin of Albanian 7.62x54R, $49. Ugh, cityfolk - overzealous underliterate "security" on the way out of the exhibit hall - vagrants on the hike back to where I parked. This may be the last time I go to the Expo show, reallyImeanitthistime. Nicer Vancouver show, 2-3 October.

Back at the hovel, try the magazines - uh oh! These magazines cause the sear to trip on insertion! How? The only way would be through the magazine disconnect. Okay, take it out again - wait a minute - rear of magazine hitting front of L-shaped sear, where it hangs down to engage the sear spring! Also these magazines don't fit quite perfectly - one doesn't engage the catch easily. Hmm. Okay, maybe the disconnect is pushing the magazine rearward against the sear - take out the disconnect anyway. -No, same problem - these two magazines suck. It's a major vendor and I kept the receipt, hmm.... But! With the disconnect out again, I put the pistol back together and do my hammer test, cycling the slide with the hammer held back, with the KRD magazine or with no magazine - and the sear's not slipping! Hmm. Maybe a live test tomorrow.

And maybe these two magazines can be filed and smoothed and adjusted to work. Going back for a refund is almost counterproductive, with traffic and admission and crowds and all. Hmm, seems to pass the hammer test with the new magazines too, mostly. I'll take them along too. -And they do hold 13 rounds each. These are probably the much-maligned USA brand (completely unmarked). Anyway I kinda figured on stockpiling magazines and I expected that not all of them would be good - magazines are like that, that's why one can never have too many.

So! Maybe the sear and hammer and sear lever had nothing to do with it, maybe it was the disconnect shoving the magazines back into the sear all along! But that doesn't explain why I observed the pistol to work perfectly (for a while) with the disconnect in and not with the disconnect out. SHRUG. See what happens in live testing. Maybe all the fiddling with it has broken something in. Looking ahead, I foresee a 500-round reliability and safety test before I start carrying it - $60 of UMC MegaPacks at Bi-Mart. Hmm, might as well use that to develop skill too - want reactive targets for that, and probably go up in the hills. But that's after next session.

Still want an extended safety. Never heard back from Charles Daly - maybe I'll phone ‘em.

Meanwhile, the latest Dillon Blue Press advertises the Gunfighters Ltd. Maverick holster, four sizes including "Lg. Auto", and a tuckable version for $13.95.

Battle Ready - Zinni is a globalist! Lots of UN stuff, says the Clinton administration's globalist strategy of "engagement" as opposed to "isolationism" was a good idea - excuse me? Whatever happened to "avoid foreign entanglements"? How about "commerce with all nations, alliance with none"? Military and political isolationism are among the founding principles of this nation! Pg. 294-95: "On the ninth of February [1995] [during operations in Somalia], Kofi Annan, then the head of the UN peacekeeping organization, arrived to review the plans for the withdrawal [of coalition forces], and also to visit our forces and ships. It was clear that Annan understood the complexity of the operation and appreciated what we were doing. To symbolically mark the entrusting of UNOSOM [United Nations Operations in Somalia] forces to our protection, he presented me with a UN beret." Footnote: "Annan is a tremendously impressive human being, with a rare intellect and the common sense to handle the most complex situations. His selection as UN Secretary-General was a splendid choice - and a much-needed change." Hello? How many ongoing UN scandals are there right now under Annan's leadership? Yeek. Skimmed through the rest - Indonesia - the Philippines - Israel - hmph. The world needs more black-and-white and less gray. Surprised Clancy did such a book, judging by his Jack Ryan universe - but much of this book was in Zinni's own words.

Starting Eternal Frontier, another retro anthology edited by Eric Flint, this from the work of James H. Schmitz.

Ordering the Mojos. Won't do anything more with the VZ or the Mosin (91/30) ‘til they arrive, but might take the FR out again after loading more for it. Tomorrow I'll concentrate on the FM though.

613 - Sunday, 12 September 2004: Zzzz.... Departing for Clark Rifles about 10:30am, after taking added precaution of lubricating FM's slide rails, and the underside of the slide where it rides over the hammer face, and the outside of the barrel where it goes through the integral bushing, lightly with silicone grease from the car's toolkit. Panef Corp., Milwaukee, WI, "White Stick Lubricant."

It seems to work, or at least it did no harm. I think I fixed my pistol! The two 13-round magazines suck, but may be repairable - a bit of Dremel here and there; also they both give premature slide-lock with one round left, but that's a simple matter of removing some material from the (molded plastic) followers - but having tweaked the feed lips of the 15-round KRD units right there at the range with my Leatherman tool, I think those are ready for duty! About 120 rounds FMJ - early in the session the hammer slipped to half-cock after releasing the slide on a full KRD magazine, but didn't do it again. Also the sear peeked up above the hammer notch a couple times early on, but didn't later. I don't know what I did to fix it but I think it's fixed! Next will be a 500-round test as I said, possibly next weekend, possibly in the hills. After the UMC FMJ was gone I used up my last box of Win/USA JHP, and that all worked perfectly in the KRD magazines (the USA magazines having been set aside by this point). Except for that one instance of slipping to half-cock, there were no malfunctions that were not caused by magazines, and I'm confident I've fixed the three it came with.

Happy! Happyhappy!

Swung by Cruffler's place after - he got some astonishing deal on a bunch of parts that GunPartsGuy didn't want to pack up after the Barberton show, and he shared some with me! I got three canvas buttpack-like-things, two really nice black leather (four-place, probably AK, but would probably work with 20-round FAL or 30-round AR) magazine pouches (these things are nice enough to be used as fashion accessories!), two SMLE handguards (way back when, I was thinking of ventilating one to alleviate the Ishapore's overheating problem), a half-dozen front-sight bases (Mauserish, with a ring that goes around the barrel - these would be for my someday Mauser projects), and a half-dozen FAL (probably L1A1, inch) flash-hiders with bayonet lugs (for the same projects)! (Will have to hunt down bayonets to match....) (Must get lathe and/or mill/drill and learn proper use....)

Later: one of the 13s shows more promise than the other, may just have to relieve the follower to correct the slide lock. The other will probably need some metal removed, possibly from the magazine catch slot - it doesn't drop free and doesn't seat easily.

I've got most of four pounds of W231 powder from the English Pit deal, some Unique and Universal Clays besides, not quite four thousand WSP primers, lots of brass, and at least a hundred, maybe two hundred FMJ projectiles. Especially with the carbide die, 9x19mm is a lot easier to resize than 7.62x51 or 7.92x57. I think I'll load some up.... Also 140 rounds in the Marlin Camp Carbine's magazines, mostly UMC FMJ. Part of a reliability test should be using different loads....

Naturally I removed too much material from the magazine follower. Fortunately I have the other, even worse USA magazine to cannibalize from.... Some binary epoxy from the hardware store should fix that, once I can afford some.

614 - Monday, 13 September 2004: It's over! The illegal, immoral, unConstitutional infringement upon my right to keep and bear arms, known as the "assault weapons" ban, has expired! This includes magazines with capacities of over ten rounds. Import restrictions remain in place (thanks largely to GHWB) but this is still a victory over the forces of oppression and tyranny.

Naturally I removed too much material from the other 13-round magazine's follower too. Eh, only ten bucks each for two full-capacity magazines, even if they are USA brand, not tragic, and I still think I can build them back up again with epoxy.

615 - Thursday, 16 September 2004: Gunfolk celebrating the demise of the homeland-defense weapon ban all over the net. It's like the end of Return of the Jedi, except in text. :)

Eternal Frontier, from "The Ties of Earth", 1955: "Commager thought wistfully of his own gun, stacked uselessly away in his car. This was what came of starting to think in terms of modern witchcraft! One overlooked the simple solutions." :)

Caught up (again) on email (mostly) last night, updating ‘blog today. Michigan sending reloading tips for .308, passing on a recipe to duplicate US/NATO 7.62x51mm, will seek recommended components.

Season starting to turn and no word about fixing the gaping uninsulated hole in my ceiling, or the smaller one in my neighbor's. :-/ Little $15-$20 heater-fans still get the job done though, and I know they cut my electric bill compared to the half-dead baseboard.

Info package from Front Sight, including a DVD! Ah - it's a JPFO membership tie-in. Well, that's cool. Oh! It's a demo, they want a critique, this may launch something bigger. Hmm.

So I'm doing a repetitive task and the rest of my brain is wandering, and I'm thinking of those reactive targets I saw at the Expo show. And in the break room at work there's this ping-pong set that actually gets used, and sometimes they play doubles. And I get this idea for a pistol match. Two dueling trees, wired for light and sound, or mechanically altered to lock, when all targets are flipped to one side or the other - and a team match, four shooters, one from each team on each tree. Hmm. For some time I've also had an idea for a rifle match - like the Allies vs. Axis, a GI vs. VC match, with ARs and M14s and Carbines and such on one side, and AKs and SKSs and Mosins and the like on the other - but with the inherent accuracy advantages in the American weapons it probably wouldn't be all that competitive....

616 - Friday, 17 September 2004: On this day in 1787, the Constitution of the United States of America was signed by the members of the Constitutional Convention, ushering in a new age of liberty.

Piles of data-entry at work, redoing the Kanban (Japanese inventory-control system) for a whole production group - the job defaulted to myself and one other due to literacy and computer skills. Waiting for weeks for parts to build the valves for the spectrochromatowhatsits that's supposed to be my real job. Establishing cynical, Dilbert-esque rapport with immediate supervisor. Some coworkers expressing respect for the signs in my car windows:

-and discussing republitarian issues. :) Others just woefully uninformed, but they're gonna vote anyway, youbetcha! Some call these people Kool-Aid Drinkers, after the Jones/Guyana mass suicide. I might say they've taken the blue pill, and have no interest in being awakened.... :(

Lousy Oregon autumn weather, downpours, wind, lightning. Some funnel clouds reported - I've seen one myself in a previous year, right over the city - a waterspout reported off the coast. Forecast even worse, probably not shooting this weekend. Therefore, I should have time to sit around the hovel loading ammunition.

Payday - stopped at Sportsman's Warehouse, located most of the components Michigan suggests for the NATO-duplication load: Winchester 748 powder (as a substitute for W826; $18.50/pound, $125.50/8lbs, will compare with Bi-Mart), CCI #34 large rifle primers ($1.99/100, not too bad, but out of stock). Located RCBS full-length dies for 7.62x54R, $26; another reader with greater reloading experience suggests effort-saving neck sizers, I may give that a try for 7.92x57 or .308, reader says he can't find an appropriate one for the Mosin because of case thickness. Shopped for pistol stuff: replacement fanny pack of a size to hold a Hi-Power, ~$35, but it's the same general design I've already worn out two of, with plastic coil zippers. Uncle Mike's lightweight IWB holster, with velcro (but thumb-"break" - I could go to the fabric store and get a proper snap, to install myself) retention strap and plastic belt clip, $14 - passed for now, may get that Dillon offering, I dunno. Winchester Silvertip 9x19mm, 115 or 147gr, $21.50/50 - Bi-Mart often beat$ everybody on factory ammunition, in fact some that I want (Win/USA 9x19mm 115JHP) is on sale now ($8.99/50; SW wants $11 for the same, and similarly more for UMC MegaPacks), but other places have better selections. Bought box of 500 .356" 115gr LRN projectiles, $17.99, Meister Bullets Inc. - other offerings more expensive. They are lubed and apparently ready for immediate loading - I hope to make at least a hundred this weekend, not sure exactly how much 9mm brass I have; later I'll use these on the (restricted, lead-only) steel plates at Clark Rifles' handgun range, with an eye toward competing in their monthly plate matches. 100 pieces CAVIM 7.62x51mm picked out for the FR - hmm, let's try 25 each, Interlock & Pro Hunter & H380 & H4895.

Viewing the Front Sight DVD - not bad. Could use a little polish perhaps; Dr. Piazza could speak more naturally and make better use of his hands on camera, he comes off as a little too scripted, but not really bad, and I'm kinda picky, with all my reading and my aspirations to writing - I know how I want things and people to look and act and sound, even if I can't always express it (and then there's Bush...). Other personalities, such as the founder of a certain gun manufacturing company early in the show, very impressive. Escapees from Australia, UK, Canada. At least one eastern European survivor of communism - preach it, brother. The thing's two hours! I'll watch the whole thing and email a critique as they request in the accompanying letter. They apparently hope this will be the start of a counteroffensive in the Culture War - I hope so too.

...Holy smoke. Piazza might be onto something, and I might be getting hooked myself. I strongly recommend visiting FrontSight.com and learning more about the organization and the facilities - this outfit is much bigger than I had thought. Apparently the DVD is being distributed to JPFO members first and from the letter, it seems they don't want it released more widely until they're ready.... It took a full hour, near half the show, before Piazza even mentioned the price of a single course, and now he's detailing new membership deals, but constantly steering back to the idea of not defending but restoring the Second Amendment, using imagery to make very clear that this is a counterattack with the goal of taking back our rights. Zelman and Pratt and Metaksa endorsing. Some actual Hollywood actors, some I've even heard of (though I bet no one's been sending them scripts lately - they've taken the red pill...).

617 - Saturday, 18 September 2004: I am thirty-seven years old.

I still have a car (boy it's good to have a car!); I'm making slightly more money than I was a year ago; I finally got that Browning P35 I've wanted since I was thirteen; I'm rebuilding my savings account with an eye toward a better vehicle, and then a proper, modern fighting rifle; I still have much of my health. In the past year I've greatly increased my involvement in shooting activities and at least slightly improved my skill at arms, with tangible proof thereof. I can now reload for four widely popular calibers (12 gauge, .308/NATO, 9x19mm, .38/.357) and a good hunting round (7.92x57mm). I've contributed, what, a couple hundred bucks to various organizations in the cause of Liberty; I've mailed and emailed and faxed and phoned people in that cause. The expiration of the Ban makes a decent birthday present I guess.

Life could be worse.

Bi-Mart sale - bought two boxes Win/USA 9mm JHP (@ $8.99), a pound of W748 rifle powder ($17.59), and 100 Hornady XTP 9mm 115gr JHP projectiles ($7.89). In email, Cruffler points out what I already knew, that in the current market it's not really cost-effective to reload handgun ammunition unless one does a very high volume, but I want to make sure I know how - and also to test different loads in the FM for reliability. Also bought one UMC 9mm MegaPack at regular price of $29.88.

Okay, 120 pieces CAVIM 7.62mm NATO brass; I'll do six batches of 20, combining Sierra & Hornady projectiles with published starting loads of H380, H4895 and W748 powders over WLR primers, all at a COL of 2.75", as listed in Ian Hogg's Military Small Arms of the 20th Century, 6th ed., and in both military (NATO) and sporting (.308) chapters of Frank Barnes' Cartridges of the World, 7th ed. Resizing is the most disagreeable part, but trimming and chamfering (including crimped military primer pockets) on this batch will be bad too. May invest in power trimmer - or, I have some skills, I might conceivably build my own motor adapter for the old Forster I already have, examining offerings at Sportsman's Warehouse for clues. Previously, took a Dremel, with conical felt bob and buffing compound, to the inside of the bullet seater in the RCBS .308 die, hopefully that will eliminate the burr that left deformities on the jacket. -Whew! Hard work, resizing rifle cases! It would be easier with a table that didn't flex a couple inches on every stroke of the press.... Working on 9mm brass - at least three hundred, probably more - while the CAVIM is tumbling.

Sigh - cruel marketing ploy from Midway, birthday pricing - barely got in by the deadline, 11:59pm CT. Ordered Sierra 5th edition reloading manual and, to get above the minimum-order fee, Frankford tumbling media separator (the old plastic colander has too-small holes, and is cracked and falling apart). Total with shipping $38.85, but I believe I've said before: sometimes you just have to spend money on yourself, or you go nuts. And I'm still netting almost $300 a week, and my ability to read and count and handle tools is apparently winning me some allies, or at least dependents, at the new job already.

Looking through big fat Midway print catalog received with last order - instead of building or buying a power adapter for the case trimmer, I could just order one, for the Forster even, for ten bucks, and then apply an ordinary power drill or power driver like I was going to get for various reasons anyway.

Several makers offering dies in 7.62x54R; the RCBS set at SW is competitive there. As for brass, I might go the same route as with my current stockpile of Mauser - buy factory rounds, specifically Winchester/USA 180gr FMJ, which Midway lists at $11.29/20 (plus shipping), and which I saw at the Miwall display at the Expo show - and Miwall should be at the Vancouver show weekend after next. This would be good, new, Boxer-primed brass, just like the Federal stuff for the VZ; counting shipping I bet Miwall will be competitive. Besides I already paid 75¢/round for the original Mauser loads. Several times. -Elsewhere they suggest .308" bullets to load 7.62x54R - why does that not sound right? I suppose a barrel slugging kit wouldn't be a bad idea if I'm really serious about all this.... Cruffler says reloading some of these calibers, specifically 7.62 Mosin, is pointless from a cost viewpoint, but I'm thinking of competition and, as he does mention, hunting, for neither of which military surplus ammunition, nor Wolf nor Barnaul neither, is ideal.

618 - Sunday, 19 September 2004: Zzzz....

With the vise I got a couple Barbertons ago, and a couple more C-clamps from the hardware store, and the little wood block the Forster case trimmer was originally attached to, I have a better case-trimming station than I did before. This CAVIM brass is mostly through my Ishapore SMLE. A few, with the exact same headstamp, were range pickups and probably went through a semiauto, judging by the slight dents; that semiauto also had a tighter chamber - less effort to resize. (I know this is all once-fired because of the identical green Venezuelan primer sealant.) Anyway all of them are way over length now, by as much as .03" (maximum 2.015"); the empties won't even chamber in the FR. Trimming to 2.005" as specified in the old Lyman manual Cruffler gave me. This will take a while. The table I'm using wobbles a lot, and plying the chamfer/deburr tool gets old fast. A drop of oil on the trimmer shaft helps....

In between, still working on the heap of 9mm. Old Lyman manual is instructive, step-by-illustrated-step. "Do not crimp on rimless autoloading cartridges that headspace on the case mouth." I was wondering about that.... Good, probably no trimming required, I'd go nuts - a dozen-odd pieces pulled from the bucket, equally Remington and Winchester headstamps, are all below the maximum length (.754"); some, particularly Winchester, are below the trim-to length (.751"). This batch - maybe 500 pieces - is mostly R-P and WIN, and a few stray FC and WCC. I'll sort them after tumbling, and use the oddballs for setup and adjustment.

They've all been resized and deprimed - picking out a few of those oddballs now, I carefully adjust the expander die (to open the case mouth so the new bullet will seat easily without being shaved or otherwise deformed) and run them all through that, dropping them into the tumbler next (the box says it will take up to 600 9mm cases). That's not nearly as hard as other steps but the sheer quantity will take a while.

This reloading stuff isn't hard, just tedious. Of course elbow grease is required for rifle cases - a stable table would help.

Still watching the Front Sight DVD - dire disclaimer about not using this as a training video, but I've already learned a couple things.... $4,800 for the cheapest membership paid all at once, or up to $6,000 with payment plans. Sigh.... But that's a lifetime membership with some really impressive benefits, and looking at it, it looks like it really does pay for itself in time - and besides that, Piazza has a plan, this really does appear to be a deliberate and orchestrated counteroffensive in the Culture War. Sigh. I'm not getting in on the phone-now deals unless I win the lottery in the next couple days....

Still fiddling with the FM - dropping the slide without a magazine will, about one time in three, cause the hammer to slip to half-cock. About half of that time the safety engages. :( But, with a magazine in place it seems all right - with or without dummy cartridges. Maybe something to do with the previously-theorized interaction between magazine and sear, hmm. Will proceed with extensive live-fire test as planned, when the ammunition is ready.

Got one of the 13-round magazines working great, dropping free too, except for slide lock, because I removed too much material from the follower - but it does in fact lock the slide when it's supposed to, just the slide-lock lever doesn't fully engage the notch and I'm afraid extensive use might deform the notch in the slide or damage the lever. Got epoxy at the hardware store, will build it up and Dremel it again. -I note the KRD magazines are easier to insert at speed than the USA units, because of the shape of the sheetmetal at the top front of the magazine body. A touch of Dremel might help there too.

XTP JHP projectiles rather pointy, should help with feeding - but I already know the FM feeds the less-pointy Winchester stuff. Hmm, maybe too pointy - how's the expansion with these things? I might conceivably make my own ballistic gelatin, there are recipes on the web and, as I recall, in a recent Shotgun News article.

619 - Monday, 20 September 2004: In the news: S. S. Dan Rather going down by the bow! Governor SchwarzenRINO bans .50 rifles. Another American hostage brutally beheaded by the diseased animals of Islam. Bush edging ahead in polls - or, looking at it in a more pragmatic light, Kerry falling behind. :-|

New Mojo sights arrived! Decent, will install presently. May take both VZ and Mosin 91/30 out this weekend, though Clark Rifles will be mobbed for sight-in days. 28 clicks of adjustment, advertised as .7-.8 MOA, 20-odd MOA total adjustment should be enough; also a fine-adjustment screw for zeroing at shortest desired distance. It's all within 7/8 of a full turn, with clear visual cues; this will eliminate confusion as to how many times it's gone around, as it can't go more than that; big empty spaces on the adjustment disk for marking ranges if desired. I wouldn't call the construction "rugged," but neither would I call it delicate; it should be wholly adequate for field use. Low-enough profile so it shouldn't snag, unlike my kludged adjustment screw on the old model. Parts drawing available on Mojo's site. Windage still adjusted with (included) hex wrench, but once it's set you leave it, right? And you click elevation for different distances, determining the adjustments beforehand on the range as a responsible rifleman. Removable bushing as thread protector inside the aperture; Mojo offers smaller apertures; original model not threaded there. A smaller front aperture might be nice.... May order aperture set for the Mosin, where I'm keeping the original front post.

Still working on the CAVIM & 9mm brass - may do some Hirtenberger as well, as long as I'm at it and the trimmer is set. It begins to appear that I have over 600 pieces of 9mm; the tumbler is getting full. Well, with the English Pit component haul, and the RNL and XTP, I should be able to load it all. Those .355" 95gr FMJ projectiles from English Pit, presumably for .380ACP, might also be useful, there's load data for that weight in 9x19mm.

Emailed Front Sight about their DVD. Damn, I wish I could join - the lowest payment option for the lowest level of membership is $250 for 24 months, and that's almost as much as I'm carefully squeezing out for rent now. I hope Dr. Piazza's movement to restore the Second Amendment works, and I hope I can join it in the future.

Whew, finished with the brass! 9mm all expanded, tumbled all right, sorting; some Remington pieces with off-center flash holes, discarding. Will load boxes of 50, break up the pile into manageable bites. 120 pieces CAVIM 7.62mm NATO trimmed, deburred & chamfered including primer crimp, WLR primers installed. 100 pieces Hirtenberger 7.62, twice-fired, will do those too; that's almost as much brass for ".308" as I have for the 7.92mm, and I still have some live Hirtenberger left to generate more. Furthermore at least two stores, Bi-Mart & Sportsman's Warehouse, carry virgin .308 brass (Winchester brand I think). It's good to finally have a rifle in a really popular caliber.

One of the 13-round USA magazines for the FM apparently fixed; the epoxy works, but it may not hold up in live-fire; maybe a different brand of epoxy, maybe just a replacement follower from the parts tables at a show. -Fondling the FM... it's a good looking pistol, ya know? Even Parkerized and Argentine-surplus-scruffy. Better sights wouldn't hurt....

620 - Tuesday, 21 September 2004: And the count is: 321 pieces Winchester, 241 Remington (after several discarded for off-center flash holes), 16 Federal and three WCC99 (military). The last two will be used for die adjustment and dummy cartridges. Now working them through the Auto-Prime, WSP primers from the English Pit deal - 300 Winchester and 200 Remington, leftovers set aside; still don't know exactly how many of those FMJs I have.

Previously (#534) I had heard that Bush had caved to the UN, allowing American soldiers to be tried by the International Criminal Court. Today on the Savage show Pat Buchanan reports he did just the opposite. Huh? Did I not hear it right the first time?

Portland mayoral race between two antis, city commissioner Jim Francesconi and former police chief Tom Potter. The former now calling for legislation to ban "assault weapons" in the state, or failing that, a preemption law allowing localities to ban them. Wyoming is looking better all the time....

More beheadings in Iraq, Savage calling for strategic bombers, even neutron bombs. Um.... Have our military, under some kick-ass politically-incorrect VMI graduate (are there any left after the Clinton purges?), create a cordon around Najaf so no one gets out without our permission and positive identification. Give the same 72 hours Savage offered Fallujah for the wimmin & chilluns to get the hell out. Then, yeah, level the place. These half- and quarter- and .003-measures just aren't cutting it. The murderous savages of Islam need to be killed. If a dog has rabies you don't negotiate, you don't try to understand his position, you don't build consensus - you shoot the thing before it spreads the disease. I've said before that I judge people by what they do, and I say now that Islam is a rabid dog.

Two-liner response, apparently from Dr. Piazza himself, thanking me for a detailed critique of the DVD and hoping to see me someday at Front Sight. Nevada might not be bad either, though apparently the federal government owns most of the land there....

Working on the new Mojos, starting with the Mauser. Remove action from stock. Grunting and cussing against the ~70-year-old Czech spring... old one out... more grunting... more cussing... more cussing... keep trying tomorrow, need to get more sleep. I can visualize exactly the tool I need to make this a 30-second cuss-free job. Maybe I could make one from a C-clamp, but I doubt I'll be doing this often enough to make it worthwhile. The Mosin should be easier.

Finished Eternal Frontier - tasty vintage SF, and rather more than ray-guns and bug-eyed monsters. Starting James L. Nelson's Reign of Iron, history, USS Monitor vs. CSS Virginia and the before and the after. Nelson is mainly a novelist: "Forty hours before CSS Virginia began her rampage through the Union fleet, the only ship in the Western Hemisphere that might have stopped her was on the verge of sinking in the North Atlantic."

My Midway order - the Sierra manual and the tumbling-media separator - has shipped, according to email. The Sierra manual is the one they leave unsealed on the shelf at Bi-Mart so people can look up loads and then buy components in the next aisle; it seems to have lots and lots of up-to-date data with powders and bullet weights not necessarily found in the old Lyman, or in the free or downloadable powder makers' manuals.

621 - Wednesday, 22 September 2004: Mojos installed! Both functional. Yanking the pivoting pad thing from the end of a C-clamp shaft produced an adequate sight-spring-compression tool. The Mosin would have been slick, with that tool, but that would have required removing the action from the stock, which is not as easy with a Mosin as with a Mauser. Anyway they're both done and they both work, though there's not much finger clearance for the adjustment disk due to the shape of the Mosin's sight base.

Reassembling VZ24, tried something different; omitted retaining screws, tightened action screws to their natural limit instead of backing off 1/8 or so turn to engage the retaining screws in the notches in the action screw heads. Also made sure barrel band (split-ring type on VZ24) was tighter than in the past. This may affect accuracy - I'll try it since I have to sight-in all over again anyway.

Looking at them, the Mauser should start out shooting low until I zero it with the fine-adjust screw, which is just what I want; start with the very bottom click setting so I have lots of elevation adjustment. I'll probably zero this one for 100 yards, then record the click settings for 200 and 300 with my preferred load, which at least through the Allies vs. Axis match this Veteran's Day weekend will be the same 150gr Sierra Pro Hunter Spitzer over 45.0gr Accurate 2230 at 3.0" COL. (After the match I may start fiddling with 170 and 200gr loads; and then there's the Foul Weather matches presumably coming this winter/spring.) OTOH, the Mosin may start out high, and the zeroing screw is already all the way up, hmm. I'll find out. Counting the tin and leftover bandoliers, I should have at least 500 rounds brass-case Albanian 7.62x54R on hand, also 120 rounds copper/steel-case yellow-tip FMJ from... somewhere. That should be plenty to both sight-in with and use in the match.

In Shotgun News, Neal Knox reports that Bill Timmins, President of the Aladdin Casino & Hotel, the man who chucked Linda Ronstadt after she dedicated a song to Michael Moore and half his paying customers walked out in disgust, has gone very explicitly on record as being on our side in the Culture War. Knox states his intention to patronize the Aladdin during the SHOT Show.

CDNN (I guess I missed that magazine sale, being unemployed and all) now advertises a Leupold grip-panel scope mount for the Browning Hi-Power, $40; leather CCW fanny pack, may not be big enough for a P35, but only $17. Ammo vendors having a hard time beating the UMC MegaPack at Bi-Mart before shipping, hopeless after.

Now what's this - a few months ago stories of ammunition shortages in the US military are all over the net, and now I see Lake City 7.62 and 5.56mm, "recent production," in SGN? What's up with that?

Fred's column: "...[rapid fire] zeroes are extremely difficult to determine, because a very slight alteration of position or change of cadence will cause a considerable displacement of the group." -US Army Marksmanship Training Unit, Rifle Instructors Guide, 1962. No kidding! I noticed that very thing in last year's Allies vs. Axis match. Corrective measures offered in the column; position, mainly, something I know I need to work on.

Numrich/GPC advertising ("accepting orders for") full-capacity magazines, one of the first SGN advertisers to offer supply for the post-post-Ban demand. Ah- yes- more! Folding stocks... the return of the Mitchell 50-round teardrop for the Ruger 10/22... flash hiders, bayonet lugs... ahhhhh. Now if we can just do something about the import restrictions. And the ‘86 NFA registry closure. And the NFA for that matter. And....

Finished priming 500 pieces 9mm, 300 WIN and 200 R-P. Rounded up 120 pieces Hirtenberger 7.62 NATO, will resize and trim and all soon; that's 240 pieces ".308" total, and I think I have a full twenty Federal .308 pieces picked up at Clark Rifles besides. That's more than I have .308 projectiles at present! A fair selection of powder on hand for both rifle and handgun.

Being my typical procrastinatory self I doubt I'll be testing the FM this weekend, loading stuff up instead. Likewise further work with the FR will wait ‘til the disagreeable chore of processing the Hirtenberger is over, though I could go ahead with the previous plan to load six batches of 20 on the CAVIM, which is sized and trimmed and primed and everything; but now I have five powders (W748, H4895, H380, BL-C(2), and still some IMR4064; not enough A2230 left for a proper batch, want another pound for the VZ later anyway) to combine with the two projectiles (Sierra Pro Hunter and Hornady Interlock, 150gr Spitzers), and enough brass for ten batches of twenty. (Might get that pound of A2230 this payday and make it a dozen batches.) Anyway, last year during sight-in days, Clark Rifles was mobbed with "sportsmen" (who probably take their rifles out twice a year, to sight in and to collect one (1) deer, and then go home and vote the straight Democrat ticket...) and the R/Os were hopping, limiting people to two rifles each and enforcing target breaks every 15 minutes. My two rifles will be the VZ and the 91/30 with their new click-adjustable sights. ...Will try to get three boxes of 9mm loaded; oh, let's say FMJ/Universal, XTP/Unique, and RNL/W231.

Or not - I've got load data for 125FMJ/Unique (124 should be close enough) and 115FMJ, but not 115JHP, hmm. So Unique for the FMJ. Alliant's .PDF says "charge recommendations in this booklet must never be exceeded", so I'll reduce the published load by 10%, giving me 4.4gr Unique under that 124gr FMJ over the (recommended) WSP primer. Data shows the published load to be just barely subsonic (Mach = 1,116fps at sea level/temperature/pressure/humidity/whatnot), so my reduced charge should be moreso.

Now Universal/Clays: the Hodgdon booklet that came with the Lee Load-All II says "NEVER exceed the loads listed in this publication", so minus 10% I get 4.5gr Universal under the Hornady XTP - though they list the Speer Gold Dot, and CCI 500 primers. The published load is just barely supersonic, so my load should again be subsonic.

Is there so much difference between an FMJ and a JHP that I can't use the same data for the same weight? Eh, stick to the books as much as possible to start. And of course plain lead is a whole other thing; as I understand it that's how several Glocks have blown, by using unjacketed projectiles in polygonal-bore barrels.

Now let's see some data for the Winchester powder - their .PDF gives a starting load of 3.8gr W231 for a 114gr lead "CCN", whatever that is - no glossary or note. Eh, it's a maker-recommended starting load and my RNLs are 115gr, it should be all right. Listed as even more subsonic than the jacketed loads.

Any handgun shooting that may occur this weekend will be mainly for function, and to see if I can in fact successfully load 9x19mm. Big fat Sierra manual ETA 27th.

Great, now I've been up late looking all that stuff up and I'll be short on sleep again....

622 - Thursday, 23 September 2004: Still waiting for parts at work, desperately searching for Things to Do other than menial repetitive rework or (shudder) stockroom.

Redeeming points from an online survey outfit, ordered Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West on DVD. Man, that was a good director. He could make watching people wait for a train interesting.

The hovel now has a porch light - which doesn't work with known-good bulbs. Doofuses. I'll probably have to rewire the thing myself. Still waiting on blinds for the new windows, a new door, and ceiling repairs. Roof appears done though. At this rate I'll need to get my own insulation, some ¼- or ½-inch plywood, the electric drill/driver I wanted anyway, and some drywall screws, and patch it myself. No trouble finding the rafters to secure the plywood to, this place's ribs show through like the hull braces of a weatherbeaten ship.

Okay, now what? Slather on the elbow grease and work on the Hirtenberger brass for the FR8 that I'm not planning on taking to the range this weekend, or start loading some 9mm for the FM that I do want to test? Duh....

Repeat: All liability is disclaimed for anything anyone sees here.

Disassemble 9mm seating die, clean and examine - don't want deformities in my projectiles! Okay, now look up COL - maximum 1.169". Hodgdon says 1.125 for Speer Gold Dot, 1.09 for 124 FMJ, 1.1 for 147 XTP; Accurate says 1.11 for 115 LSWC (they make semiwadcutters in 9mm?), 1.14 for 145 RNL, 1.095 for 115 FMJ, 124 RN and 147 TMJ; Ian Hogg says 1.15 for military/NATO standard. Next, measure actual factory cartridges: Winchester/USA 115 JHP is 1.086; Remington/UMC 115 FMJ is 1.165; Win/USA/Walmart 115 FMJ 1.160. Hmm. I could just make everything at 1.10, but different ogives and angles on different projectiles will probably require different settings on the seater regardless. Will make my XTPs at 1.10 and the FMJs and RNLs at 1.15.

Starting with the 124gr FMJs from English Pit, setting up with oddball Federal & WCC cases with neither primers nor powder, will use results as dummy cartridges. Made three, cycled them through (getting closer to fixing the other 13-round magazine, hopefully I just have to Dremel a burr where the body was sloppily welded up - yes! Fixed that too! Drop-free and slide-lock and everything, that's five functioning full-capacity magazines!), they feed and chamber properly. Run them through again, and one more time, then measure length again - good enough! Off we go. Using Winchester brass. Set powder measure - this is a flake powder, some shearing but not bad. Somewhat alarmed by how much of the case is filled by 4.4gr Unique, but examining the seating depth, the bare projectile, and the dummy round, I'm confident it will not be a compressed load. Chug chug, 50 rounds done! (Want some nice plastic handgun cartridge boxes, like the MTM and FA items I have for rifles... reusing factory boxes.) Expanded case mouth adequate, no shaving of bullet material, straight and even seating. Hmm, some marking on the bullet nose, may Dremel the seating plunger thing - but not now, this is FMJ blasting ammo and I've got the depth set where I want it. Unlike my .308 set, these RCBS handgun dies are easily-enough adjustable by hand, and have split locking rings not unlike Hornady's, much better than older set-screw types.

Marking bases of completed reloads with felt pen.

Next, 4.5gr Hodgdon Universal Clays under the 115 XTP JHP at 1.10", again in Winchester cases. Now Dremel the seater, with conical felt bob and buffing compound. Hmm, need a pointier felt thing to get into the very tip of the concavity. Hope I improved it some. -Universal is another flake powder but smaller than Unique, should meter better - about the same. 4.5gr Universal using slightly less case capacity than 4.4gr Unique. COL 1.0985", close enough, and it looks okay; could maybe go a little deeper. No dummy cartridges with the hollowpoints, I want every one; seat, measure, adjust, seat, measure... and make sure the locking nut's tight. There, 50 of those. No significant marks on these bullets, but the deformities seem to come at the very tip; the hollowpoint has less bearing surface in the seating cup and doesn't reach the deepest part of the cup at all.

Finally, 3.8gr W231 under the 115 RNL at 1.15", in Remington brass. Also a flake powder but called "ball", and I know from my .357 loads that it meters well. Boy, that old RCBS powder measure was $20-odd well spent, I'd be the rest of the week weighing each charge. (A pound of powder lasts a long time in handgun loads....) On further review (of the position of the lube groove), 1.12" for the RNL. Might go deeper next time. Little or no deformation of the bullets, I guess I did something with the Dremel; they'll get chewed up more in the magazine and feed ramp. Little or no lead shaving during seating, too. A little lube creep, but it doesn't look like a problem.

There, 150 rounds 9x19mm loaded, now I'll answer my email and update this ‘blog from, like, the 16th... yawn! Tomorrow.

Indian Summer forecast for the weekend.

623 - Friday, 24 September 2004: Still no parts... given heads-up for overtime if-and-when.

Payday - stopped at SW for another pound of Accurate 2230, might make it a dozen 20-round batches of .308 - no, I only have 200 projectiles, I already have some observations from using A2230 in .308, and I want to save this pound for the 7.92mm for the upcoming match(es), since I know the VZ will shoot 75%, which has so far been enough for three prizes in four attempts.

Looked for CCI #34 mil-spec-ish primers - still out of stock. Some suggest that there is a shortage due to current military operations, but right next to the empty space on the shelf were about 10,000 #41 primers "FOR 5.56MM AMMUNITION".

Michigan suggests several projectiles for the NATO-duplication load, specifically IMI 150gr FMJBT - not carried, but I can mail-order bullets easy enough. Nosler Ballistic Tip also on that list, but spendy. Okay, now I have 300 projectiles - bought a box of Speer #2018 150gr .308" FMJBT, $15.99. These have a cannelure and an exposed base.

So I will be making a dozen batches of 20 rounds: three projectiles times four powders, H4895, H380, W748, and, um, IMR4064, an extruded powder which will be a pain to measure since it won't go through the old RCBS dispenser without excessive shearing. Electronic powder measures, take all kinds, ~$200, not bloody likely.

Thinking of loading 7.62 Mosin; no factory loads to generate brass with at SW except Norma, at nearly $2/round; will look for Win/USA via Miwall at the Vancouver show. Did see .310-.312 projectiles, putatively for .303 British; also 123gr offerings for 7.62 Soviet, lighter than I want in a Mosin. Did not see bore-slugging kit - I reckon Midway and Brownell's both offer them.

Hmm, must restrain spending - rent on the 1st, gun show on the 2nd, electric bill about now, fuel constantly. :( Also bought two 100-place MTM 9x19mm/.380 ammo boxes, $2.50 each. That place is hazardous to my financial well-being. At least I get more use out of this stuff than I did from comic books.

Midway shipment on doorstep, now I need a bucket for the media separator; as expected, it's bigger than the 1.5gal hardware-store buckets I have. Big fat Sierra manual - sending registration page to sign up for stuff "of interest for every discipline of shooter."

Still slacking on email and ‘blog....

624 - Saturday, 25 September 2004: Zzzz....

Answering email and updating blog! ...And that took so long I'll go shooting tomorrow. Needed to round up and organize ammunition and such anyway.

Awright, gathering up load data for .308. On pg. 106 of Sierra V, powders with the same numbers from different makers are discussed, particularly some Hodgdon and IMR offerings: "Most of these are interchangeable with the similarly designated powder, i.e. H4895 with IMR 4895, but this is not always the case. The two 4831s, for example, are quite different and cannot be safely interchanged. For this reason, we recommend that loads be used exactly as they are shown in the manuals with no substitutions."

Hodgdon's 2002 booklet says 45.5gr H4895 for a 150gr jacketed, "NEVER exceed"; make it 41.0. (Well crap, I just realized H4895 is a stick powder - I'll be doing that and the IMR4064 first, to get them out of the way so I can set up the measure for the others.) Sierra says minimum 42.8 of W748, for 2,600fps. Hodgdon not listing H380 for .308 - Sierra starts at 43.4 for 2,500fps. IMR's downloaded data shows 45.5 of 4064 as maximum; 41.0 again; Sierra starts at 39.1 for 2,500fps. So, it looks like my four powder charges will be:

41.0 H4895
42.8 W748
43.4 H380
39.1 IMR4064

On further examination, I don't think I have enough IMR4064 for 60 rounds (20 of each projectile). Same with BL-C(2). Hmm, Bi-Mart carries some IMR, does that include 4064? Out for groceries near there anyway- they're closed by the time I get there. Eh, I'm going out again tomorrow.

Might as well start loading the H4895 though, in the CAVIM brass that's ready. Hmm, are those extruded granules smaller than the IMR? Will they meter? Somewhat, better than I recall the 4064 anyway. Starting with Pro Hunters - damn! Still leaving that mark on the jacket, though less than before. COL is still long, stop now and attack the seating cup again - conical grinding bit, then conical polishing thing. Reassemble seating die - that seems to have done it - COL 2.75", twenty rounds.

Now the Hornady Interlocks - different ogive, back off seater, bring it back down to 2.75", which happens to be right at the cannelure - twenty rounds. Finally the Speer FMJ - boat-tails seat easy. Hmm, seating to the cannelure gives 2.78" - listed maximum is 2.80, and the FR appears to still have a full-length large-ring ‘98 magazine, so be it. There's a quarter of the .308 I've planned on, done.

Downloaded latest CDNN catalog - 17 (or 15)rd Argentine (they seem to be working now) magazines $14.99, USA brand (I did fix them, maybe) 13rd $9.99, USA 30rd $6.99! Well crap! Maybe October 8th ($). Lessee, five 17s (four in pouches, one in the pistol, ya see) and two 30s (just to have, especially at that price - and maybe MechTech will get around to making a CCU for the Browning someday) and flat accessory shipping of $9.99, that would be a whopping $98.92, eek. (I've decided I don't need a scope mount for a fighting pistol....) Michigan recommends MecGars - not listed for Browning in this catalog. Hoploholic....

Cruffler suggests Lee dies for the Mosin as anything else would be a "waste of money". Midway carries the Pacesetter 3-die set, sizer/decapper, seater/roll crimp, and factory crimp, "shellholder included"! Only twenty bucks! ...That is in fact Lee's only die offering in that caliber. Auto-Prime shellholder also listed, $2.69. Onto the li$t.

Packing up for range trip tomorrow: VZ, 88 rounds 150gr SPH over 45.0 A2230; Mosin, 100 rounds Albanian; FM, five magazines, 100 rounds UMC 115FMJ, 50 each 124FMJ/4.4 Unique, 115XTP/4.5 Universal, 115RNL/3.8 W231.

Cruffler $uggests fishing sinker from Bi-Mart, grease, and wooden dowel from hardware store for a slugging kit.

625 - Sunday, 26 September 2004: Reached OAC show ~9am. Bought nothing, but saw Marlin .45 Camp Carbine, "with ammo", $265 (!). Belgian Browning Hi-Power, Excellent, two magazines & box, .30 Luger, $875. :( No luck finding a .30 barrel for my FM of course. No load data either! A few ancient loads in the old Lyman manual, but nothing in Sierra V or many of the powder maker's publications. One load, for 93gr FMJ, in Winchester .PDF.

Arrived Clark Rifles about 10am, mobbed. ...Saw Kerry-Edwards sticker on a PT Cruiser in the parking lot. Some folks just don't get it.

Observed plate match, just getting started - solo qualifying rounds apparently, some shooters (and pistols) better than others. Ruger Security Six (the only woman shooter, who gave a respectable performance, and whose speed increased as I watched) worked perfectly of course; S&W 686 6" also ran smoothly; but a Kimber-esque 1911, and a SIG single-column (probably P220 .45), had some misfeeds. S&W 59xx seemed all right. A couple .22 pistols, a Browning BuckMark series with red-dot scope (match winner) and a discontinued S&W... 622? The funny-looking humpback kinda thing with the underslung barrel. Those also seemed to work well.

Targets: falling steel, nicely made racks with pull-ropes for resetting from the firing line. Distance about 10 yards. Centerfires shot at a rack with, on one end, a bowling pin-shaped plate, on the other end a ~½-size Popper, and in between, four ~8-10 inch circular plates; in the center of the whole target area were two Poppers angled to fall one over the other, indicating which was hit first and therefore showing the winner. .22s fired on a separate rack with smaller, lighter plates, eight ~6-inch circles with a little ducky shape on each end. Revolvers required to hit four plates and a stop plate (i.e. the angled Popper), autos six plus the stop. .22s and centerfires went against each other, as did revolvers and autos; two .22s competing would split the .22 rack evenly, four circles and a ducky for the stop plate each, with match director making the call. With a .22 against a centerfire, the .22 would fire on six (or presumably four, but the .22s today were both autos) circles and a ducky, again the winner determined by watching. FMJ approved on centerfire targets, good, I can use the cheap UMC stuff - in fact some shooters did. Eight shooters total today, fairly typical tournament ladder I guess. Lower rounds best 2 of 3 head-to-head runs, later rounds single-elimination. Again, "You can't miss fast enough to win." :) This looks like fun, and like something I could do with either of my modern handguns. With practice of course. No holsters; shooters start with weapon hot, muzzle-down on a bench, and wait for the timer's beep or the director's call. I intend to try this in October.

Match over ~11:30, rifle lines still mobbed, handgun range available, haul out the FM. First, two rounds UMC/FMJ in each of five magazines, checking for doubling, slipping, and slide lock; okay so far. Now five full magazines, still UMC. KRD magazine #3 fails to slide-lock; load two more, locks that time. KRD #2 okay. KRD #1 - slipped to half-cock on the twelfth shot! Remaining three okay.... Filled again, slow-fire, look at rear of slide - sear peeks above hammer after eleventh shot, slips to half cock on twelfth! Interesting. Two more rounds - slips again on first, locks okay on second. Hmm.

Now USA magazines - #1 okay, #2 a bit hesitant locking the slide - the slide let go after removing the empty magazine, yet reinserting that magazine and retracting the slide, it locks fine, with full engagement in the notch. Hmm.

Now my 124FMJ handload, 4.4gr Unique, 10 each in five magazines. One stovepipe, a couple-three misfeeds; apparently not powerful enough to fully cycle the Hi-Power, this is a minimum load, 10% below a published "never-exceed" figure. No pressure signs of course, but weak ejection throughout. More powder next time! At least the brass is easy to recover, it didn't go anywhere....

Next, 115XTP, 4.5gr Universal Clays, 10 rounds each in five magazines. Also trying for accuracy, a little - or not, still concerned with function first at this point. One misfeed, again indications of low power, increase that charge too.

Finally, 115RNL, 3.8gr W231 - on the plates! These are smaller than the ones used in the match (though larger than the .22 plates), apparently donated by a member of the club, and are restricted to unjacketed rounds only. -I did make a few hits but definitely need practice before competing. But the biggest problem here was that my handloads sucked! This load is not powerful enough to cycle a Hi-Power! Out of 50 rounds, maybe two or three fully cycled the action - all other rounds stovepiped or misfed, reducing my FM to a rather awkward single-shot. More Powder! Will load two more boxes of 50 with 115RNL - Winchester .PDF says 4.2gr W231 maximum, will make one at 3.9 and one at 4.0. And another box XTP at 4.6gr Universal (5.0 maximum per Hodgdon booklet), and a box of 124FMJ at 4.5gr Unique (4.9 maximum per Alliant .PDF).

Did scrounge some more (presumably-)once-fired WIN and R-P brass.

Chatted with people - nothing spectacular expected at the meeting tonight, will pass; one agenda item is incentives, like waiving initiation fees, to active-duty military and police. While accepting the PR value and not objecting to the practice, I mentioned my prejudice against blueshirts; clarified that this was in Portland; learned that Portland police had been banned from this range for breaking rules. So there. Apparently a more cordial relationship with Vancouver PD.

In clubhouse, event copy for the Allies vs. Axis match! WHAT?! The course of fire has been gutted! 100 yards only, and only three 10-shot stages: slow prone, 12 in 15 minutes (best ten for score); slow standing, 10 in 10 minutes; rapid prone, 5 in 30 seconds twice. And SR1 targets! How the heck am I supposed to improve my (arbitrary) Army-equivalent standing without the MR targets (I've arbitrarily decided) it should be fired on? Last year it was MR targets at 100 and 200 yards, and four stages. -OTOH, bayonet points (10) will be added to the standing and rapid-prone stages; and a 5-point bonus for the longest, and the shortest, rifle/bayonet combination. I think my Mosin will take that one....

Well! If the match I'm sighting-in for is only going to 100 yards, I only need to get a 100-yard zero! [Tedious zeroing process omitted] Alarmed at first by scattered shots - well, I haven't fired a rifle since the PIG match in July, now have I? Except for the FR I guess, and not much of that. But, after 58 of the 88 rounds I brought I seemed to settle down.

With 30 rounds left, I put up six SR-1C targets, the center portion of the ones to be used in the match. For scale, the black 9 ring is 6-3/8 inches in diameter, the 10 ring 3-3/8, the X 1-3/8. Slight windage adjustment after the first one, that leaves five strings of five, a possible 250 points - I got 237/3X, 94.8%, NRA Expert - no, Master! Woo hoo!

1 2 3

4 5

The third of those five strings was 3MOA, the best I've ever done on purpose! Of course that's from sandbags and I can't expect to do that well from standing or rapid-prone, or even slow-prone, but it does show what this rifle is capable of with that very same ammunition on that very same target at that very same distance. I have 100 of that same load left, and enough to make at least 100 more - I'll probably be out again next Sunday (Vancouver show Saturday).

Out of Mauser rounds, too sore to haul out the Mosin, and I have other errands today, packed up about 3:30. One rifle sighted-in at 100 yards, handloads for that proven, more valuable data gained with pistol. Good session! Next Sunday, the 3rd, I'll test the FM more of course, and get a 100-yard zero for the Mosin with the Albanian FMJ. The following weekend I expect even more pistol practice and, just in case someone changes the course of fire, 200- and 300-yard settings for both VZ and Mosin.

Out to the library - Master and Commander on DVD, Commiewood does not get my royalty money. Bi-Mart - pound IMR4064, $17.49, and score! HKS #586-A speedloader, for S&W L frame and Ruger GP100, $8.99 and 75% off! That makes five for the GP.

Looking through the Sierra V manual at Bi-Mart, I note that Alliant's Reloader 7 appears to be quite economical on a grains-per-cartridge basis in .308 Winchester, starting at 34.4 for 2,500fps, 37.1 for 2,700 (NATO territory), and maxing at 38.4 for 2,800. Of course Bi-Mart does not carry RE-7 but I'm sure SW does. Alliant's .PDF says 37.0 maximum for 2,750fps with "Sierra 150 Spitz". Hmm, thinking of NATO-duplication load - if the same bullet comes out of the same barrel at the same velocity, does it care which brand of powder pushed it? Again, I find myself wanting a chronograph. Of course velocities will be lower with the stubby FR barrel....

Ow - Mauseritis. I also recall SW carries a Pachmayr slip-on recoil pad for $9.99, as opposed to the Butler Creek at Bi-Mart for $13.97.

626 - Monday, 27 September 2004: Well crap! Occasionally a newspaper is left in the break room, and this one included advertisements, including one for a certain liquidation/freight-damage place, which through the 18th is offering a bench style drill press, commie Chinese undoubtedly but $34.99 fer cryin' out loud. Probably not much worse than the one I use at work. And the rent's due Friday and the gun show is Saturday and I'll need fuel for the range trip Sunday and I want to order pistol magazines from CDNN the following payday and I've a coupon from a local place for a coolant flush & inspection for $35 that expires around the 15th and....

627 - Wednesday, 29 September 2004: Got parts, actually building stuff at work.

Lethargy.... I work, okay, I get up before 5am and drive half an hour on I-205 and a twisty semi-rural state highway in the dark (at least it's less crowded than the last job's commute, but it's a different kind of deadly) and I get there and I work, and then I return to the hovel, braving freeway traffic and supermarket crowds on the way, I see books by Franken and Jayson Blair and Hans fergodssakes Blix on the New Books shelves at the library, and I fight my way through the thronging cityfolk with Kerry stickers on their cars to get back here and I've got nothing left, all right? I'm going to sit down and eat a Tombstone pizza (barbecue chicken, when I can find it) and polish off Reign of Iron and watch a video maybe. So there!

Okay, fine, a grilled chicken caesar salad (with meat) from the deli counter, the pizza is starting to weigh.

Surprisingly, the Multnomah County Library actually has several copies of Unfit for Command. Into the hold queue.

DVD Once Upon a Time in the West arrived - widescreen special edition, two disks, three documentaries, featurettes, "Sergio Leone's original uncut masterpiece". Right on.

Finishing Reign of Iron, good read. I knew the basics of the story, that Virginia rammed and sank Cumberland (almost going down with her), then chewed up USS Congress, then the next day she and Monitor fought to a draw that each side thought was a victory; then Virginia was scuttled (burned) due to strategic reversals and Monitor was lost at sea in foul weather. Nelson fills in the blanks - lots of them. The personalities, the geniuses, the imbeciles, the egos, the South's chronic lack of resources, the North's chronic surplus of bureaucrats. There are dozens of points where Harry Turtledove could have picked up the tale and run with it - but he already has Antietam and the courier's pouch. Here's a piece, not meant to imply an alternate history, I just thought it was a good story:

"To carry [a sensitive dispatch concerning the U.S./C.S. standoff at Fort Pickens, Pensacola, Florida] to [Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon] Welles, [Captain Henry] Adams [commanding Union naval forces at Pensacola] chose one of [USS] Sabine's lieutenants, Washington Gwathmey. Adams had used Gwathmey as a courier before, but he was apparently unaware that the lieutenant was a Richmond native, and a secessionist at heart. Gwathmey headed for Washington [D.C.] with the secret communications hidden in a belt he had fastened on under his shirt.

"Gwathmey's behavior was an extraordinary example of fidelity to duty, a fidelity that was displayed by many Southern naval officers prior to resigning. He traveled night and day, passing through his native Richmond without stopping, until he reached Washington on April 6. He went directly to Gideon Welles's office and delivered the sensitive letter.

"With that duty fulfilled, Gwathmey resigned his commission and accepted dismissal from the U.S. navy. He went on to have an active career as an officer in the Confederate navy. But as long as he was still an officer of the United States, he faithfully executed his orders and did not betray his trust, not even to the enemy he would soon join."

LT W. Gwathmey, USN, was a Southron. LT J. Kerry, USN, is a damnyankee.

628 - Thursday, 30 September 2004: With parts comes overtime. One hour today, maybe more tomorrow, possibly six hours Saturday, meaning I'll meet Cruffler at the Fairgrounds show later, or Sunday, or not at all. This also means my return commute will suck, as traffic on I-205 gets thicker by the minute between about 3 and 6pm. Previously, regular quitting time is 2:30 and on a good day I can get from Canby to the hovel in just a few minutes longer than the reverse in the morning.

Listened to the beginning of the Presidential debates - the commie was spewing and the RINO was stammering and we all know whose side the "moderator" is on and I just couldn't stand it. Besides, I already know who I'm voting against. Savage was all excited about his very own live coverage and running commentary, which of course was bypassed by my local station (750KXL) with a Fox Radio News feed. I'll tune in to the Nation tomorrow of course.

Laboriously measured out sixty 39.1gr charges of IMR4064 (just barely had enough left in the old can), loaded twenty each .308 Winchester/7.62NATO with Speer FMJBT, Hornady Interlock and Sierra Pro Hunter, all 150gr. I begin to think there's something funny about the Speer - wandering COL, which the others don't display in the same seating die. Noticed it last time too. This suggests an inconsistent ogive, which I can only imagine will be detrimental to accuracy. Eh, no failed experiments, etc. So that's 120 rounds loaded for the FR Spanish Mauser, half what I have planned, and all the Venezuelan-surplus CAVIM brass; now I have to process the Austrian Hirtenberger cases for the other half and my gumption tank is on E. At least the other two powders I intend to use (Hodgdon 380 and Winchester 748) really are spherical so I can use the old RCBS powder measure instead of tap-tap-tapping the Lee powder dipper over the little pan hanging from the scale.

Warnings about reduced case capacity with military brass, vs. commercial, appear to be valid. I'm using starting loads, published 2,500fps minimums from a respected source, and I'm already near capacity with the IMR and the H4895. Not likely I could get a 2,700fps NATO-equivalent load with that brass without compressing the powder, something I don't want to do generally and especially don't want in the still-questionable 1956 La Coruña receiver.

Next, hopefully tomorrow, loading that upgraded 9x19mm - 200 rounds if I have the energy, fifty 124FMJ with 4.5gr Unique, fifty 115XTP with 4.6gr Universal Clays, and a hundred 115RNL, half each at 3.9 and 4.0gr W231. At least I have that much brass still fully processed and all three powders can be metered.

Starting The Creatures of Man, yet another Baen/Eric Flint retro anthology, of Howard L. Myers. Master and Commander had its moments but was rather less than I expected from all the hype at the time of its theatrical release. However, it kinda sorta tasted a little like a pilot episode for a series. OTOH Crowe is probably just another Commiewood lefty. Before I lost cable TV I quite enjoyed the made-for-cable Horatio Hornblower movies on A&E; I think the library has some of those too. They're missing a couple of the Sharpe's Rifles video series, which I'm otherwise almost done with; I haven't read the books and doubt I will soon, having seen the videos so recently.

Once Upon a Time in the West: ahhh, Bronson. "You know, I'm kinda mad at you...."

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