RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - OCTOBER 2004

Neither Savage nor Elder impressed with Bush's debating skills. Snow and Hannity suffering partisanitis.

Studying Sierra V manual, looking for economical (grains per round, therefore rounds per pound, therefore rounds per $) loads - only loads for Sierra, and therefore only jacketed, projectiles are listed. Loads arranged by velocity for comparisons that make sense. In 9x19mm, Hodgdon's Titegroup has the lowest charge per velocity, starting at 3.7gr for 1,000fps, maxing at 4.5 for 1,150, for 115gr jacketed, either FMJ or JHP (hmm, Sierra's data does not differentiate - and has a much higher maximum for W231). Hottest load listed for that weight, 6.6gr Unique at 1,250fps - 399 ft/lbs energy, that's comparable to .357 Magnum factory loads like the Win/USA 110JHP I've stockpiled for my GP100. But, from several sources I've read that the P35 should not be used with hot or "+P" loads. Hmm. Besides I doubt I could cram 6.6gr Unique into a 9x19mm case without compressing it. Drop tubes are supposed to help with that, settling the powder to take up less space. Saaaay, I bet I could build one, with brass tubing I already have from some other projects and scrap lumber laying around from the reconstruction! Hmm.

Reloader 7 not listed by Sierra for 7.92x57mm; nor by Alliant in their .PDF, but RE-15 listed for 175, 200 and 220gr by Sierra and 125(!), 150 and 170 by Alliant. Will continue collecting load data, might even get another brand of recent reloading manual, maybe a used one at the show - the old Lyman Cruffler gave me is instructive and I use it frequently to figure out how to do stuff, but the data is almost as old as I am and lots of new powders (and projectiles, and cartridges for that matter) have come out since then.

Just the other day al-Zarkawi blew up 35 children - children - in Baghdad. Savage accuses Associated Press of softening the news. Go do a web search for [kipling "boh da thone"] - or just see #541 for the relevant bits. I need a clipart of Dan Rather....

Mt. St. Helens, which I could probably see from atop the hovel, acting up for the last several days; steam venting today, little more expected. City services indulging in marathon hand-wringing, teeth-gnashing, and any minute now I'm sure, tax-hiking. How much am I already paying for Vera Katz' limo service? Etc.?

And of course, SpaceShipOne makes another giant leap. Coooool.

630 - Saturday, 2 October 2004: Bleah - up way too early on a weekend for four hours overtime pay. And I'll likely be out of parts again on Monday.

Straight from work to the show. Eventually met Cruffler, yakked some; also the hobbyist who shortened my double's barrels. No heartbreaking deals seen, but several vendors who do not appear at Oregon shows. One post-Ban, pre-Sunset FAL for $500 - Cruffler reported he was in the process of buying it. Butler Creek Hot Lips 25rd magazines for the Ruger 10/22, $18.95 or thereabouts; folding stocks for several types, ~$80. Bought 50-place plastic rifle cartridge box, $2, and two 50-place 9x19mm boxes, $1 each. Did not see Mosin dies but as I mentioned I can tack them onto my next Midway order for twenty bucks. Miwall stall did not have Win/USA 7.62x54R, but might at the Canby show next weekend, dunno if I'll go. Barberton next Saturday anyway. Went back and finally bought CETME/FR bayonet, $19.50, fits. :) That's for next year's PIG, unless I get something better by then. Too bad the sights aren't more finely adjustable. What could I do about that...?

Savings badly depleted during the unpaid vacation in August, slowly rebuilding. Want to jump on the Greek CMP Garands while supplies last, then look for a truck - something small, economical, and that passes DEQ.

Shooting tomorrow I hope, must load 200 rounds 9x19mm tonight. Still lots of time ‘til the AvA match, only taking the Mosin to dial-in the new Mojo sight, but less time ‘til the Plate match, definitely taking FM, 200 rounds handloads, and another hundred UMC FMJ. Lessee, 250 rounds a couple weekends ago, 300 tomorrow - no, I still want a 500-round non-stop reliability test, once I've accumulated that much known-good ammunition in three or more different loads. Wolff springs still a possibility.

Fuel prices up - dunno what they are in Vancouver, some kind of traffic thing dissuaded me from stopping at my usual ARCO there, but down here it's $1.93. Should have just enough left to cross the river and refuel on the way to the range tomorrow.

631 - Sunday, 3 October 2004: Zzzz....

Energy tables say I can expect about 260ft/lbs from the minimum W231/115RNL load, about 280 from 4.0gr, and predictably, about 300 from the maximum 4.2. Whether the allegedly-less-than-strong P35 can handle the maximum will of course be a separate question. Hmm, not finding pressure figures in Sierra... Winchester says the minimum charge gives 26,900psi, the maximum 32,000. Anyway I obviously need a certain amount of kinetic energy to knock over the steel plate. At least one shooter at the last Plate Match was using the same UMC 115 FMJ I have and that seemed to work; Remington's data for that factory load shows 1,135fps and 329ft/lbs at the muzzle (no pressure data given).

Fuel $1.89 in Vancouver, for the moment.

Arrived Clark Rifles about 11:30am, still mobbed with sight-in days. This is supposed to be a Rifleman's Journal - straight to the 300-yard line with the Mosin.

Upper 100-yard line less crowded. Mosin, Albanian, 100 yards, starting with that Crosman flourescent white/orange styrofoam target where the hits are so easy to see. That was quick - only 8 rounds to start hitting the ~6-inch center! Now a pair of SR1C - encouraging. Recoil pad, Mojo sight and juggled trigger parts have combined to improve accuracy. Must do actual prone practice, simulate the match. Sight-in days end... early November?! Well, hopefully it'll thin out by then.

Light conditions - difficulty seeing holes, but that suggests they're all in the black, which would give me a 90% score, which is nothing to sneeze at considering my typical 75%. But that's from the bench, without time constraints.... Two five-round strings on the second SR1C target, the center portion of the one to be used in the match; of a possible 100 points, 93/1X! Slight adjustment to sight - four more SR1C, 200 possible, 187/2X, 93.5%! Some fine-tuning required, but I should place better than second-from-last in the Allied category this year! Only 50 rounds used, at least 500 left altogether - will come out again, want to play with my pistol now.

~1:30pm, to handgun range. First, UMC factory FMJ in five full magazines, I know the load is good, still testing function. KRD 15-round magazine #3 - perfect. KRD #2 - odd, one failure to extract. The rest okay. KRD #1 - last time, with this magazine, the pistol slipped to half-cock on the 12th round, after showing incomplete sear engagement on the 11th, twice in a row. Perfect today with factory FMJ.... USA 13-round magazine #1, perfect, #2 functioned good but not quite dropping free. 29 rounds UMC left, loading ten, ten and nine in KRD #s 1 & 2 & the second USA unit - K1, I could see the sear peeking up in front of the hammer notch on the 9th round, the 10th locked the slide normally. K2 - damn! Sear seen on the fourth round, slipped to half-cock on the 7th! Hmm. USA magazine okay, but still not dropping. Still need to sort out these magazines, splurge on another UMC MegaPack, or maybe two with the overtime pay coming. KRD #3 and USA #1 magazines have a good record so far. I suspect the sear thing with KRD #1 has something to do with the stamped follower hitting the sear extension as it rises as rounds are spent - comparing to #3, that follower is at a different angle, will tweak some more.

Now FMJ reloads, ten each in five magazines. K1, slipped to half-cock twice! And still weak ejection, and failure to slide-lock - the 2nd slip happened there instead. K2, still weak, no slips, one misfeed, no lock. K3, only a stovepipe on the last round. U1, one misfeed, slide lock okay. U2, no lock, still no drop-free. Hmm. Obviously need hotter loads, or a reduced recoil spring. This FMJ load is only .1gr of Unique above minimum.

Now XTP, again ten in five. Similar results but somewhat better ejection, will probably go up another .1gr next time. Another couple failures to extract, hmm. Now round-nose lead at 3.9gr W231 - better but still weak. And at 4.0gr - still weak. Next batch, 50 at 4.1gr, and 50 at listed maximum of 4.2. Still no pressure signs in any of these loads. Scrounged a little more assorted once-fired 9x19mm, packed up ~3pm.

632 - Monday, 4 October 2004: Bleah, work. At least I have a fairly autonomous position.

Catching up on email.... Holy crap! Gunfolk lists report that Tim Leatherman of Leatherman Tools, among others, has declared for Kerry! DamndamnDAMN! I've been carrying the SideClip model for years and was fixing to swing by the factory, conveniently near the hovel, for a guaranteed replacement of my worn old specimen, as I've done once before. Hmm. Doing so would in fact cost that company money which would therefore not go to Kerry, hmm.... This is almost as much a betrayal as Ruger's! It's a really excellent product that I use almost every day and have grown to feel nekkid without, but now I don't want to be seen with one! DAMN!

In other news, SpaceShipOne has succeeded! On the 47th anniversary of the Sputnik launch, by the way. The X Prize has been won! When can I buy a ticket? When do we finally start colonizing Luna? Eh? Speak up there!

You know, just the trailer for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is better than some whole films. Next to that, the trailer for Once Upon a Time in the West... kinda sucks. But the film... that's damn tasty.

633 - Tuesday, 5 October 2004: I've been laid off.

The company has chronic parts issues and there is nothing to work on. I was one of a half-dozen let go today, and more layoffs are expected. Possible return on or about the 25th. Called temp service, reactivated account the moment I got back to the hovel. At least I had enough willpower for that. Finances in rough shape, never had time to rebuild. No pistol magazines from CDNN, no commie Chinese drill press from the liquidation place, no reloadable 7.62x54R from the Canby show, no activism contributions, no CMP Garand. :( No UMC MegaPacks, maybe no Plate Match. :( :( With the tin of Albanian and the components on hand for 7.92mm, I should have enough for the AvA though, including practice if I can afford the fuel to drive up there.

Ah, blissful sleep.... Larry Elder's TV show airs on the local CBS affiliate at 9am, I'll try to catch it. Lousy reception hereabouts. Haven't watched broadcast TV in more than a year and a half, don't know if my stomach can take it.

634 - Wednesday, 6 October 2004: As might be expected of a CBS show, Larry Elder's has very little to do with conservatism and is instead a daytime family/human-interest thing. There's only so much one can get away with on Dan Rather's network I guess. And the commercials, ugh! And the political ads, ugh! Elsewhere I read that MoveOn.org really is blaming the recent hurricanes in Florida on George W. Bush, something about industry and global warming and HaliburtonHaliburtonHaliburton!!! Those eco-freaks won't be happy ‘til we're all wearing loincloths, living in caves, and dying of the common cold at age 40.

Cruffler suggests Bullseye powder for economical handgun loads; data agrees, though Red Dot may be slightly better for rounds-per-pound.

Responding to a Liberty Committee alert, phoned House Majority Leader DeLay, supporting the Wilson-Goode-Paul amendment to HR10, to arm commercial pilots. Receptionist says they're getting Lots Of Calls on that issue, good. Only a government would think it is better to shoot down an entire airliner with hundreds of innocent passengers, than to let the pilot carry a haaaandguuuun to kill a couple terrorists.

Nothing from the temp service.

Stephenson's The System of the World, last of the Baroque trilogy, on hold - have to wrap up The Creatures of Man and dive right into it as the waiting list for Stephenson is in the hundreds. Also getting Elder's The Ten Things You Can't Say in America. -Got those; Larry's final chapter is on RKBA - referencing Lott, U.S. vs. Haynes (390 US 85, 1968), Media Research Center studies, charts & graphs in the appendix... and touts NRA's Project Exile, which has unintended consequences. But he's certainly on the side of gunfolk, even if he hasn't gone as deep into the issue as we full members of the Culture are required to for our survival. Reportedly his new film, Michael and Me, one of several conservative responses to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, is largely pro-RKBA. Diving into the Stephenson.

-Later, temp service: warehouse job. Two weeks, starting Monday, which would be just right if the other place takes me back on the 25th; $10.22/hour, not bad considering the other place paid $11; strict facial hair policy as it's working with food products. I've grown attached to my beard and I'm really tired of warehouse work - this was described as taking boxes off a conveyor and palletizing them, real drudgery, and I do have a minor back problem. Told them "I dunno", will call tomorrow, see if anything else comes up. I could $tick it out if I really have to. I think.

A certain "troublemaker" whom I generally got along with at the previous job emails, now performing many of my duties there. I suspect the evil IT person blocked my email address before he was canned, so I can't respond. Eh.

635 - Thursday, 7 October 2004: Zzzz....

Called back and turned down the warehouse job. That may have been stupid, but I have my principles. Nothing else yet.

Shooting tomorrow? I dunno, gas money. Barberton Saturday, Cruffler offers leftover hot dogs from his cart, free calories. Sigh - storage rent, car insurance; phone bill can slide this month I think. About another $400 income in the pipeline, that should just barely cover that and the hovel rent. A little over half a tank of gas left, and two 5-liter reserve cans.

Processing Hirtenberger 7.62x51mm brass for the FR.

636 - Friday, 8 October 2004: Payday - direct deposit, statement in mail, about what I figured. Nothing more from the temp service. Exercising $elf re$traint. Examining ATM balance I note that my ISP, IguanaSoft, has not processed my $14.95 check from 28 August. (Cue ominous music, flashback to ShootersInet (#255 and later).)

All Hirtenberger brass resized and deprimed, in tumbler... trimmed & chamfered... primed. Now, a few Barberton shows ago I got these crummy, used, bent Herter's dies, but they were really cheap. One of the dies is a "30-38-401" expander and it seems undamaged. I've been using no crimp at all on my rifle loads; but neither have I been expanding the case mouths, so there has been some jacket shaving during seating. I'll try this expander, the seating die should be adjustable to apply a slight taper crimp just to take the belling out. I thought the expander ball in the full-length rifle resizing die was supposed to take care of that but apparently it doesn't. Will examine manuals and books again.

Voter's pamphlet part one, state ballot measures, in mail - studying.

Old Lyman manual - yes, the expander thingie in a full-length rifle resizing die is supposed to open the case neck to bullet diameter as the case is withdrawn from the die. Hmm.

Examining budget - rent plus storage rent plus car insurance minus skipped phone bill, subtracted from current combined checking and savings balances, leaves $25 to spend until a presumed resumption of income from the Japanese outfit on 5 November (counting payroll lag). Oh! I forgot the two days' pay for this week, which I will receive on the 15th - that should be another hundred-odd. If the Japanese place takes me back and/or if something else tolerable comes up, I should be all right after all.

Except for not getting a CMP Garand anytime soon. :( Cruffler keeps forwarding favorable reviews of the Greek-return rifles, which are apparently greatly underrated by other sources.

Bachelor tip: ten-pound sack of spuds, 99¢; baggie of preferred flavor soup base, from the bulk bins; tub of house-brand margarine, 78¢. The microwave oven is the single greatest invention in the history of bachelorhood. Slice the spuds open for better heating. Apply margarine and flavor-powder to suit. Personally, I become nauseous at the very sight of an unopened box of macaroni and cheese. I do however have some ramen stockpiled.

637 - Saturday, 9 October 2004: Zzzz....

Arrived Barberton ~11:15, yakked with Cruffler. Weak show, lots of people out hunting. Got surplus dogs & buns.

Shooting tomorrow? I dunno. With hunting season starting the crowds should be thinning. Maybe Wednesday, when most folks have regular jobs, if the temp service hasn't anything by then. Will fine-tune 100-yard zeroes for VZ and Mosin, and attempt to get elevation settings for 200 and 300, and see what the bayonets do to the point of impact at 100 at least. Will load up more 9x19mm lead, at 4.1 and 4.2gr W231 as aforementioned.

Working on 7.62x51mm - disassembling old Herters expander die, the expander section, with three steps, measures .335", .355", and .437" - so much for that idea. Oh, I get it - they use the same die body for different calibers, and this one was included in a "9mm Luger" set. Well, between chamfering the case mouth and the rounded bottoms of the Sierra and Hornady Spitzers, and the boat-tail of the Speer FMJs, I'll get by. Besides I would've had to lube the necks again, phooey. Before the layoff I was eyeing a Lyman low-drag chamfering tool at Sportsman's Warehouse - 22 degrees instead of the usual 45, to ease seating. Midway lists it for $8.49. Loading - much faster with spherical powder; now the other six batches of twenty, two powders times three projectiles, 42.8gr W748 and 43.4gr H380 under 150gr Hornady Interlock, Sierra Pro Hunter and Speer FMJBT; the latter at 2.78" (more or less; still wandering on that ogive) at the cannelure, the others at 2.75". Wow - H380 is really spherical, meters great, flows almost like liquid. Comfortable case capacity with both, at starting loads. Seating okay for all. 240 rounds done for the FR, for accuracy testing, will probably make three 80-round trips - later.

Michigan sends 9x19mm recipes gathered from the net, suggests Winchester's lawyers have been at Winchester's load data, which would explain why my 115RNL loads are not cycling my Argentine Browning Hi-Power at halfway between the listed starting and maximum loads. (Specifically the theory is to avoid excessive leading of the barrel at higher velocities.) Wanting a chronograph more every day. Next time I buy a box of lead I'll get 124gr. Some of the recipes he sends are for 147s, which I did not notice at Sportsman's Warehouse. Will load 150 rounds tomorrow (all the prepped brass I have left) instead of burning gas to the range: 100 RNL as above, and 50 124FMJ over... hm, Alliant lists 4.9gr Unique maximum, I started at 4.4 (-10%) and that sucked, 4.5 sucked slightly less - I think I'll go to 4.7gr. Sierra's data starts at 4.1 and goes to 5.6, says 4.7 gives 1,000fps.

Sure would like to try the plate match, but can't presently justify thirty bucks for another UMC MegaPack and by the time I work up a reliable load with the 115RNL I'll be out of RNL. Also there's the match fee and gas money. (Hmm, could try with the GP100 and my five speedloaders - no, dammit, I want to use the pistol I've waited over twenty years for!) Guess I'll see what comes up jobwise.

Having blasted some hundreds of rounds now with the FM, I note a general leftward tendency in the point of impact. Close examination of the rear sight, in its dovetail, reveals the obvious. Something else to fix.

Shotgun News includes, among the classified ads, little RKBA tidbits. Here's one that caught my eye:

"A statute which, under the pretence of regulating, amounts to a destruction of the right, or which requires arms to be so borne as to render them wholly useless for the purpose of defence, would be clearly unconstitutional." -Alabama Supreme Court, 1840

638 - Sunday, 10 October 2004: Loading the 9x19mm as described. 150 rounds handloads into range bag, plus the last fifty UMC FMJ. Still lots of case capacity with 4.2gr W231, but 4.7gr Unique is crowding - but gently agitating the loading block settles the charges. Not a lot of difference between 4.1 and 4.2gr; the powder measure may not even be that accurate. I've got at least 6,000 rounds' worth of W231 left, probably more, even if I increase the charge well past listed maximum - I want a reliable load using this powder! If I switch to 124gr lead the charges go down, too, stretching that powder further. Hmm. Will study the data Michigan sent, and scour the web for more.

Thorough cleaning and lubing of the FM. Drifted rear sight, appears centered; will take hammer, steel punch, and spent .22LR "bootie" to prevent marring, on next range trip. Tweaking magazines, adjusting followers hoping to eliminate interference with sear, filing USA-brand #2 for drop-free. Testing with dummy cartridges.

Sorting accumulated 9mm brass. Considering processing 7.92mm - 100 live rounds still left, I'd like to do it all at once so they all have the same number of trips through the sizer. (I fudged a little on the Hirtenberger 7.62mm - 20 pieces are once-fired, the rest twice.)

639 - Monday, 11 October 2004: Another offer from the temp service - a bindery, binding books I guess and packaging, but swing shift, 4pm-3am through this week, $8/hour. ...Declined. However, temp rep conveys the impression that the Japanese place really actually will pick up again, and that I'm one of the people they want back. At the time I was told the interview there went "very well", and my supervisor appeared entirely satisfied with my work (while there was something to work on).

Bored... but don't dare go anywhere or do anything that costs money. Reading Stephenson, tasty. Processing once-fired 9mm brass, may try other powders under that 115RNL. I've got the W231 of course, and Unique, and Universal Clays - can Accurate Nitro 100 (which I got for 12 gauge; several handgun powders can also be used in shotgun loads, and vice-versa) be used in handgun loads? Accurate's booklet says... not for 9x19mm, but on the next page it's listed for .38 Special, hmm. Sierra doesn't list it for either caliber. Studying what's available and cross-referencing, a starting load might be in the neighborhood of 4.0gr, but without published data I won't try it. Old Lyman lists only Bullseye, Red Dot and Unique, and "Herco", which I think no longer exists - no 115gr data for Unique, 121gr cast starts at 4.4gr for 999fps, goes up to 6.0 for a toasty 1,243fps, hm.

640 - Tuesday, 12 October 2004: Another box-o'-junk to storage, paid rent there, bought four (4) quarts motor oil on sale for scheduled change (got to keep the car running - got a couple filters on sale earlier), and minimal groceries. Another warehouse offer from the temp service, declined again; impression reinforced that the Japanese place really will start up again. Paid car in$urance. IguanaSoft check still hasn't cleared.

American Rifleman magazine, special election issue - apparently NRA has officially endorsed Bush, I guess they were waiting for the AW ban to sunset. (If it hadn't, I'd've voted for Badnarik - and hey, there's still time for Bush to do something else unRepublican and lose my vote. Remember, I'm not voting for the RINO, I'm voting against the communist!) No endorsements for my state and federal districts - commies and RINOs all. No glaring errors in the endorsements for other districts - a primary reason so many gunfolk are upset with NRA is their chronic endorsement of antis, leading some to wonder why they should continue to support an organization that displays such poor judgement, and leading others to wonder whose side LaPierre & company are really on. Commentary, editorials - less pro-Bush than anti-Kerry, that much is all right I suppose. Interview with Bush - fluff, not one word about the ban, which White House staff said Bush supported. Article on CMP.

Marlin ad - they're offering a .41 Magnum lever-action (1894FG) this year! That'll make some folks happy, but it's a niche market. Kel-Tec ad - SU-16B folding mousegun, slightly improved sights, still a nekkid barrel under the folding fore-end/bipod. "Shorter and lighter barrel than our original SU-16." So it gets even hotter even quicker. Weeeell, I guess this is more an emergency rifle than a proper fighting tool. Anyway Cruffler seems happy with his. Ad for Outdoors Unlimited, "Official ISP of the NRA", $19.95/month - if IguanaSoft is going claws-up... no mention of web hosting. Visited site - 5Mb! That's half what I had with ShootersInet, IguanaSoft gives me 30 (and I'm using it)!

300 pieces once-fired 9x19mm processed, 50 Winchester, 250 Remington. Should be 250 115RNL left, maybe 200 124FMJ, a hundred-odd 95FMJ - I'll burn all that up, then concentrate on loading lead for plates. Now, powders - no data from Alliant (Unique) or Hodgdon (Universal Clays) for 115gr lead. Hmm.

Cruffler sends:

Shooting tomorrow I hope. Still studying loading manuals - old Lyman gives a starting load of 4.3gr Unique for a 124FMJ, I started at 4.4 per Alliant -10%, and am now at 4.7. Lyman maxes at 5.8, Sierra at 5.6.

641 - Wednesday, 13 October 2004: Departing ~9:30am for Clark Rifles with MojoMauser, bayonet, last 100 rounds 150gr handloads, FM, 50 rounds UMC factory FMJ, 50 rounds 124FMJ over 4.7gr Unique, and 50 each 115RNL over 4.1 and 4.2gr W231. Taking prone pad and accumulated targets; after fine-tuning 100-yard zero, will attempt to simulate match, and then search for 200- and 300-yard elevation settings. Hopefully I can get out again to repeat that process with the Mosin - don't want to beat myself up with a lot of recoil in one session.

Actually started out about 10am. Stuck behind big ol' truck climbing the hill, arrived about 10:40. Less crowded on a work day during hunting season. 300-yard line, six SR1C at 100, two Crosman flourescent targets each at 200 and 300.

[Much shooting omitted] Still high at 100 yards - sight must go lower. Will Dremel sight at the point where it contacts the sight base. Got preliminary guesses for 200- and 300-yard elevation settings, but these will change after the Dremel as they are based on clicks up from the 100-yard zero. Simulated match - still having trouble in standing, and did poorer than I expected in slow-prone. Discovered that bayonet lowers point of impact a couple-few MOA, and opens up my groups. Recollection of Garand shooters talking about "going up a couple clicks" for rapid-prone; now I can do that, but I still need to get zeroed.

To handgun range. [Much shooting omitted] 124gr FMJ over 4.7gr Unique seems to work, though I've got lots of room in the published data to go up further (and a little more room in the case); both 4.1 and 4.2gr W231 under the 115gr RNL cycle better than before, but still weak ejection. Smoky! Fellow shooter suggests the lube is burning off at the higher velocity. Again with the chronograph-wanting. (Ah - that's what I can spend that Cabela's certificate on, once I have income again to make up the difference.) Definitely heavier bullets next time. Slipping to half-cock with one magazine in particular; once or twice with another; not at all with a third. Will examine and perhaps apply a file. UMC factory loads noticeably hotter, i.e. recoil and ejection, than any of my handloads thus far. Windage improved, but now it may be shooting low - or I am. Considering exceeding maximum for W231 under 115RNL, but that would probably make it even smokier; another option would be a reduced recoil spring, which of course I can't presently afford.

Packed up ~2:30. Regular gas $1.91 at Vancouver ARCO ($1.97 in Portland), filled up on the way back.

No messages, i.e. from temp service.

160 .323" 150gr Pro Hunters left - forty for the match leaves three more full rehearsals and 30 rounds to sight with. Should be 240 pieces brass - will process presently. Hm, still have 50 Nosler 180gr boat-tails, and now some load data for 175gr, with three of the five rifle powders I have on-hand - four, if 4895 really is interchangeable between Hodgdon and IMR. Pro Hunter available in 175gr; Sierra also offers a 200gr MatchKing hollowpoint ("Sierra does not recommend MatchKing bullets for hunting applications") and 220gr GameKing softpoint, both boat-tails. Wouldn't mind laying hands on a copy of the Hornady manual, or even the Speer....

Stealing recoil pad from the FR to return to the VZ. Unfortunately this may cause a resurgence of cheek-smacking. Maybe that $10 Pachmayr at Sportsman's Warehouse has different geometry from the $14 Butler Creek - I won't find out this month. Can't afford smaller Mojo apertures, but I'll order them when I can.

642 - Friday, 15 October 2004: Nothing from temp service. Last paycheck, just about what I figured, leaving $27.55 after next month's rent if nothing else comes along. Oh! But that doesn't count the pitiful $80.17 in savings, I'm okay.

I might make the plate match after all, with a MegaPack. Hmm, maybe load all the rest of the 124FMJ, however many that is, with 4.8gr Unique, and practice with that. Still worried about reliability, though I think filing down the magazines at a certain point will help.

Half the Mauser brass processed.

The System of the World engrossing. In online library catalog, I note Weber has a new installment in the Honor Harrington universe, The Shadow of Saganami. Also one simply titled Bolo!.

643 - Saturday, 16 October 2004: Zzzz....

Succumbing to temptation, stopped at Sportsman's Warehouse for more projectiles, figuring 500 pieces of 124RNL is cheaper than 250 pieces UMC FMJ. Laser-Cast, $22.99 - Meister not carried in that size/weight. I have enough powder, primers, brass, and hopefully enough time to work up a load, and to have enough lead left over for the match. Winchester says 3.3gr W231 to start, for 910fps at 23,800psi; 4.0 maximum for 1,035 at 32,900. So, their maximum for the 124gr has just a touch more velocity than the starting load for 115gr - there shouldn't be an issue with burning lube or vaporizing lead (Michigan says the smoke from last time may have been lead steam). Guided by past experience with Winchester data, will start with 50 each at 3.7 and 3.8gr. Laser-Cast bullets show evidence of having Gone Through a Sizer, Meister bullets less so though a sample measured consistent. Laser-Cast sloppier with the lube; also, a sample measures .357", though the box says .356. Also loading 181 124FMJ, all of them, over 4.8gr Unique.

644 - Sunday, 17 October 2004: Zzzz....

Bleah - Oregon autumn weather, lethargic, some nasal congestion. Skipping the range today. Should have at least three more practice days before the plate match, four if the temp service has nothing Wednesday, five Friday. Three more weekends before the AvA match. Hope to get the rest of the Mauser stuff processed soon, though my next rifle practice will be with the Mosin.

Hm, may work up some of that 95gr FMJ in 9mm, just so I can use it up.

645 - Monday, 18 October 2004: Finished The System of the World.

Wow.

And hey! Happy ending(s) (mostly)! No suggestion, in the afterwords and acknowledgments, that there will be more, though the story leaves all the room in the world to fill in the 18th and 19th Centuries with successive Big Fat Trilogies with the descendants of these people going to Interesting Places and doing Interesting Things. Probably Stephenson is exhausted, having actually completed a ~3,000-page prequel to a... how many was Cryptonomicon? 800? More? Anyway I'd be fascinated to see how he would handle the War of Independence and the War Between the States, etc.

Starting Weber & White's The Stars at War, omnibus prequel to The Shiva Option. Elder's The Ten Things You Can't Say in America looks like one of those books I'll skim through, already agreeing with much it will say and not expecting to be converted to the bits I disagree with, like Savage's Nation and The Enemy Within, or Coulter's works.

646 - Tuesday, 19 October 2004: Temp service - packaging and assembly position. At Kerry-endorsing Leatherman. Even earlier hours, less pay, and political considerations. Argh. Furthermore the temp rep says the Japanese place says they're not sure when they'll start again. Argh.

647 - Wednesday, 20 October 2004: Zzzz....

To Clark Rifles, with FM, 281 rounds handloads, Mosin 91/30, and 100 rounds Albanian, half old leftovers and half from the new tin.

Arrived ~Noon. ...Did rather poorly with the Mosin from match positions, though I was starting to do rather well from sandbags. But I know I need position work. The VZ's Timney is a real advantage. ...No noticeable difference between the batches of Albanian. Simulated 30-round match, 10 each slow prone, slow standing, and rapid prone... I don't wanna talk about it. (194/0X of 300, 64.67% - lousy in all three stages.) Also one of the other shooters had his own M91/30 with bayonet, sighting-in for the same match - that'll make a tie for the bonus points for longest bayonet/rifle combination. (Ah, but mine has an extra inch with the slip-on recoil pad! ...Unless he gets one too, as was raised when we chatted....) At least I got mostly zeroed at 100 yards with the bayonet. Next trip, if there is a next one before the match ($), with the VZ again.

~2pm, to handgun line. Got a little more bonus brass. 4.8gr Unique under 124gr FMJ appears to be an adequate load, functions well, good ejection. Two magazines causing FM to slip to half cock, three others (one of the KRD 15s, both the USA 13s) working perfectly if the ammunition does. Windage mostly fixed, might want to go back the other way just a touch. Still a little low. 3.7gr W231 under 124gr RNL... still weak, and smokier than I expected. 3.8gr better, a little more smoke, still a couple stovepipes and failures to slide-lock - and about halfway through the last batch of 50 the front sight comes off. Phooey! Packed up about 3pm.

So I'm probably skipping the plate match on the 31st. I could use the GP100 I suppose - have lots of .357/110JHP on hand - but the disappointment of losing the use of the FM, combined with financial straits affecting the match fee and gas money, dissuades me. Now - handloads. 124s are better than 115s, but still smoky, suggesting... what? Excessive velocity? These loads are probably still below 1,000fps! Well, there are 147s - I seem to recall SW carrying some but I didn't get a price (it was higher). Some of the data Michigan sent is a recipe for 147gr lead. Winchester says 3.3-3.5gr W231, for 865-905fps at 29k-32.1kpsi. But it's kinda pointless to load any more if I don't have something to run it through. Damn! Just when I was getting close to having a Proper Pistol!

Once I have income again I'll look into having the FM's slide dovetailed front and rear and having proper sights installed. There's the 3-dot and the bar-dot and the Big Dot and the ghost-ring and whatnot, but I've grown attached to the red ramp front and white outline rear as on my GP100. Adjustable rear I think.

Well, maybe a ghost-ring and a dot, hmm....

And still nothing from the temp service. Sigh. Word that the new hovel owners will at least look at the meter-square hole in my ceiling Saturday morning, gotta make room.

648 - Thursday, 21 October 2004: Broke down and took a temp assignment at a bindery, probably the same place offered earlier but day shift. Call came at 8:30am, for work today. NW industrial district, charged over there - stuffing books into boxes, stuffing boxes through a tape machine disturbingly similar to the one at the shampoo warehouse, putting the taped boxes on a pallet. Five and three-quarter hours at eight bucks. Going back tomorrow at 7am. No news about the Japanese place.

Anyway it gets me out of the hovel and puts a little slack in my finances. Celebrated (?) with frozen pizza and, on sale at Fred Meyer, The Outlaw Josie Wales on DVD for $7.99!

649 - Friday, 22 October 2004: Only five more hours at the bindery. Temp service says the Japanese place won't restart until "into November." Phooey. After taxes, that's about fifty bucks (and I don't get that money ‘til the 29th). At least I still have the rent covered, and the car insurance is paid.

650 - Saturday, 23 October 2004: So yesterday I haul even more junk to storage and today I get up at 8 expecting a work crew to be here at 9 to fix the gaping hole in my ceiling (and another in my neighbor's). And I take the computer offline and shove the whole computer-desk-junk accretion into the "living room" of the studio hovel so they have room to work.

And 9am comes and they're not here.

And 10am comes and they're not here.

And 10:30am comes and I check with the neighbor and they're not here. And I call the new hovel owner and he says, "Oh, they're not there?"

And 11am comes and one kinda creepy guy shows up. And 11:30 comes and a few more people show up and eventually work is started.

It turns out my neighbor gets his whole ceiling replaced, while my gaping hole only requires about three hours' actual work - which could have been done in two, by responsible professional sentient individuals - and which didn't get done ‘til about 7:30pm. And they're coming back Monday anyway.

>:-[

At least I got the rest of the Mauser brass done, and I'm almost finished with The Stars at War. I can see components of the Harrington universe in it of course, and also the roots of Ringo's Posleen.

651 - Sunday, 24 October 2004: Celebrate United Nations Day!

Zzzz....

Filling out Oregon mail-in ballot. Libertarian where possible, Republican where necessary - for state senate I've a choice between an incumbent Democrat and a Constitution Party candidate. (Guess which one doesn't appear in the voter's pamphlet, issued by Democrat Secretary of State Bill Bradbury?) Normally the Constitution Party is way too far right for my libertarian tastes, and too Churchy for my agnosticism, but Democrats make ‘em look good. For state house, a Democrat incumbent and a challenger from the Freedom Socialist Party.

I'm not making this up, folks.

There's a difference? Wrote in "None." Gods, I'm beginning to hate Oregon....

Starting Jayna Davis' The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing.

652 - Monday, 25 October 2004: And they're still not done. Got up at 7 to clear everything out of the way again - 10am, no one here. Call hovel owner, leave message. 10:15, call cell number, leave message. 10:30, finally someone shows up. Sheetrock & insulation & the white goop in place Saturday, more white goop and "texture" today, paint and window trim and blinds tomorrow and that's supposed to be all. Once I get the blinds up, so I don't need the ratty old curtain-rags thumbtacked to the wall anymore, I will resist any further work on the interior of this my hovel until Spring when it will matter less to have the door standing open while people troop in and out - and when I might possibly have more junk disposed of.

Jeez. I remind myself I'm only paying $275 a month.

And nothing from the temp service either.

Skimmed through The Third Terrorist - didn't read the whole thing really, but it's disturbing. As a gunowning libertarian constitutionalist patriot I was already predisposed against the federal government and it's Bureau of Incin- er, Investigation, but for gods' sakes! Deliberately refusing to accept, and then misplacing or destroying, evidence that proved an Iraqi connection to the bombing of the Murrah federal building and that connected that terrorist act with 11 September 2001? In both the Clinton and Bush administrations? I'll never trust any Feeb further than I can throw him! Anyone concerned with unanswered questions regarding the Oklahoma City attack, or Muslim terrorism in the United States more generally, should read this book more thoroughly than I have. There is innocent blood on Federal hands! (Well of course there is. I mean more.)

Starting Berserker Man, an omnibus of four Saberhagen Berserker books. Next, Elder's Ten Things, then Richard M. Ketchum's Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the Revolution. Weber & White's The Shiva Option in the queue.

653 - Tuesday, 26 October 2004: AND THEY'RE STILL NOT DONE. The windows - one guy measured one about five times, wrote it down at least twice, and the other guy still shows up with a blind that is too big. Spends a good ten minutes cutting it down with tin snips and it's still too big. I got up nice and early again, shoved all my constant-use stuff out of the way again, and sat reading a book for hours before they finally got around to installing window trim and painting the repaired ceiling and then I waited another few hours until the other window trim arrived. I finally evicted the doofus-in-chief about 7:35pm when he was about to spend another quarter-hour trying to trim the blind again.

And tomorrow they're supposed to do the new door I've been waiting for since August.

And they're still working on my neighbor's end of the hovel as I type.

#@!%&*!!!

654 - Wednesday, 27 October 2004: More fumbling with the doors. Doesn't anybody do anything right anymore? AND THEY'RE STILL NOT DONE! Coming back tomorrow for a new deadbolt and doorknob. At least the old deadbolt is functioning for the moment.

Actually finally really added a new excerpt to my Jeffersonian Republic story. The forced inactivity of unemployment (still nothing from the temp service...) made me bored enough to dig out the file.

655 - Thursday, 28 October 2004: Still. Not. Done. Doorknob installed, supposed to come back tomorrow with a new deadbolt.

Still haven't got the other window blind.

656 - Friday, 29 October 2004: Called temp service - Japanese place has "ground to a halt." Nothing else happening. :(

Direct-deposit statement in mail - $63.31 for the bindery work last week.

Meanwhile, Badnarik's campaign seeks to ride the coattails of Kerry's to prevent Bush from taking Wisconsin. And that really ticks me off. Bush is bad, yes; immigration, gun rights, government spending, PATRIOT Act, Homeland Security, the politically-correct War on Terror (as opposed to the kind of war it should be), yes, Bush is bad. Kerry is worse. I think, after the election, I might even go back to the GOP. Cheney (‘08!) seems more supportive of the 2nd Amendment than Bush, actually. (Elsewhere, articles and essays on and from what can be grouped as "Libertarians for Bush." Perhaps a more appropriate description might be "Sentient Beings Against Kerry.") Besides, Badnarik hobnobbed with Cobb, the Pacific Green candidate, to "raise awareness of third parties" or some such. The LP just lost a lot of points with me....

Hm - it seems I'm becoming part of that far-right backlash Savage predicted against the left. But at least I'm aware of it. And in the worst case I still have rifles.

"The rifle is a weapon. Let there be no mistake about that. It is a tool of power, and thus dependent completely upon the moral stature of its user. It is equally useful in securing meat for the table, destroying group enemies on the battlefield, and resisting tyranny. In fact, it is the only means of resisting tyranny, because a citizenry armed with rifles simply cannot be tyrannized."
-Jeff Cooper, The Art of the Rifle, Paladin Press 1997

Probably skipping the Allies vs. Axis match too. I have the rifles and ammunition but can't spare the gas money or match fee. :( Besides I need more practice, and maybe a heavier projectile in the VZ.

Wrapping up Berserker Man. The last story, The Berserker Throne, contained some timeless political commentary. Starting Elder's The Ten Things You Can't Say in America. First chapter: "Blacks Are More Racist than Whites." I've seen that.... "Uncle Tom" is the least Larry's been called. Some of the things those schwarzführeren have been saying sound like they came right out of a Nuremburg rally.

Ooo... I can see a campaign ad, like for a black conservative candidate. The "black leaders" get up on stage at a big gathering and a black liberal candidate spouts her anti-white, anti-Latino, anti-Asian, anti-capitalist, anti-personal-responsibility garbage, and big banners and flags frame the stage and flutter in the background - the clenched fist of Black Power, in a white circle on a red background. And the crowd chants, "Black Power! Black Power!" And the scene morphs. Slowly, subtly. Just a little. And instead of Chicago 2004 it's Berlin 1934, and the flags are just a little different, and they're chanting something else... and as the images and the chant fade away, the candidate's voice says: "Who's racist... really?"

Of course even a black candidate who ran such an ad would be, perhaps quite literally, burned at the stake. My hovel may be torched just for putting it here on my website. (Wasn't it Sharpton who incited a riot in New York or somewhere, where a black mob was chanting "Burn the Jews Out!"? Web search - here's something.) But don't take my word for it, read Larry's book.

Ah, I coulda been a screenwriter. Maybe I'll get some books on that from the library.

Just barely enough Accurate 2230 powder for the remaining 160 .323" 150gr Sierra Pro Hunters. Weighed the last ten charges from the powder measure to be sure. That would be plenty for another practice session or two and the match....

Temp service - machine-operator job, good pay - in Hillsboro, at the far west end of the urban sprawl (I'm most of the way to the east), and swing shift again. Two strikes and it's out. If it were day shift I'd'a took it, even with what would be a hellish commute.

Other mail - beg-for-money here, beg-for-money there - NRA renewal. Yes, I've made up my mind to stay in long enough (five years) to get a vote this time. No, I don't have $35 to spare right now. Besides I'm actually good ‘til June. And if I did renew right now LaPierre's gang would probably send another renewal notice in December.

657 - Saturday, 30 October 2004: Zzzz....

No practice today, for the plate match I can't afford to attend or the rifle match I probably can't afford either. Sigh. Even with the godsawful early hours, I was kinda comfortable with the actual work I was doing at that Japanese place, cultural considerations aside... and it was the best-paying job I'd had in some time. Sigh.

Oh yeah - and I wired the porch light the other day. Not re-wired - the electrical doofus never hooked it up, he just nailed the fixture to the wall over the unconnected wires. Obviously I won't be looking for a job in construction or remodeling, I'd strangle most of my coworkers the first day.

658 - Sunday, 31 October 2004: Zzzz.... The plate match is going on without me. Sigh. Well, there's always next month. Of course by then it will be Winter In Oregon and almost no one will show up. Sigh. Cruffler suggests that the same hobbyist who shortened my side-by-side's barrels can do something with the pistol, at least to replace the military-style front sight - not that I can afford even his services at the moment. Sigh.

Meanwhile, those "tolerant, inclusive, compassionate" liberals are demonstrating their loving and caring nature in Durango, Colorado. Here's a local story, and one from Yahoo News. Since the leftist lapdog liars of mainstream media are probably even now vigorously sweeping this under the rug, I saved the .HTML for both on my machine. Just in case.

Skimmed through most of Ten Things. Well-researched, sourced, noted, would be a useful tool if I still had the stomach for direct activism. The Shiva Option waiting at library, will start that while The Stars at War is still fresh.

Never did get the second window blind, or a new deadbolt. And I don't care! I don't want those ignorant illiterate incompetent creatures in my apartment again!

More junk to storage.

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