RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - OCTOBER 2005

Clark Rifles renewal in mail, $80, photocopy of NRA card required, so there's another $35 - and still no income. Option of two $40 payments for the club at least. All that will have to wait; next paycheck is for car insurance. At least the rent is covered.

WARNING! AUTHOR REJECTS ALL LIABILITY FOR THE USE OF THIS LOAD DATA OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION FOUND ON THIS SITE! ALWAYS RELOAD USING ONLY PUBLISHED LOAD DATA AND PROCEDURES FROM RELIABLE INDUSTRY SOURCES! EMULATE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Only enough IMR4064 left for 61 rounds of my Mosin load (46.1gr under Sierra 125gr .311", 2,500fps), done. 33 cases left, will make a couple test batches with spherical powders, the big stick powders are such a pain to work with. Ah, 48.6gr W748 (2,500fps) and 50.5gr H380 (2,600), 17 and 16 rounds respectively for accuracy testing. Of course all this data uses Sierra's .308" bullets, and the info blurb for the 7.62x54R section in Sierra's 2003 manual makes no mention whatever of the Mosin's typical .311-ish bore size. Case capacity for both these spherical-powder loads is somewhere in the shoulder, so I'm neither compressed nor under-filled.

Reader sends:

Now considering Mauser loads, with the AvA coming up. Out of IMR4064, low on W748 and H380, not pleased with BL-C(2), hm. Well, still enough of the last three for test batches. Looking back, squibs or failure to gas-seal with BL, poor accuracy with starting load of H380, and somehow I've never tried W748 in the Mauser - and, Sierra does not list that powder for 7.92x57mm, Winchester .PDF lists only 170gr, and that's why I haven't tried it. Hm, 46.0gr under 170gr; heavier bullet, less powder, lighter bullet, more powder, hm. I haven't strayed (much) from published data yet.... Must ponder. And search web. Again I think maybe I should just go back to the A2230 load I started with, since I'll have to buy powder anyway.

959 - Sunday, 2 October 2005: A little zzz today.

A reader sends this quote:

Making a big pile of my low-pressure, low-recoil 6-pellet OO 12 gauge load (previously bought once-fired Winchester AA hulls at Sportsman's Warehouse, still can't find big box o' hulls) - ran out of Federal 12S0 wads, and SW is sold out. Have some other wads on hand (mainly Winchester), will examine load data. -2002 Accurate booklet, Cowboy section, WAA12SL wads may substitute adequately but are not listed for Nitro 100 powder, hm. Well, the data lists 4,000psi with my current load of 15.0gr N100 with the Federal 12S0 and approximately ľoz. shot (6/OOB), and 3,400psi with 17.0gr Solo 1000 with the WAA12SL and the same shot weight, at about the same velocity. Will make ten rounds and test them in the Mossberg. -Observation: Federal 12S0 fits tightly in the hull, WAA12SL less so; when inserting wad I don't run it all the way down in the Load-All II but stop at a certain point determined by trial and error, so the shot isn't rattling around loose. Less resistance with the Winchester wad makes for poorer crimps with AA plastic hulls, as the wad and shot column are pushed down further in the act of crimping. Good enough for buckshot though, not like it's #6 that will dribble out of an imperfect crimp.

960 - Monday, 3 October 2005: Ugh, Monday. Previously looked into courier-driver job - no, I don't think I'd be comfortable there after all. (Probably have to join the Teamsters or some other damn commie union.) Call temp services - most recent may have something in Gresham, the opposite direction from my last several jobs and a quick drive on the relatively uncrowded part of I-84, say they'll call back today. C'mon, I need employment so I can update this 'blog without dying of embarrassment.

Sunbreak, installing new spark plugs and otherwise fiddling with car. Taking in the porch flag for the season. -No noticeable improvement in car with new plugs, hm. Just another sick old car I guess.

Check email - now a local reader offers a brand-new winter coat that doesn't fit him! Incredible, the generosity of gunfolk!

The county library, a couple weeks ago, switched to a new web-based online catalog, dispensing with the old direct-dialup system. I liked the old system, it was faster and I could do certain search-tricks with it. Grump.

Cruffler reports that at least one reader expresses concern over the lack of updates. Cruffler knows what's up but is "honor-bound not to divulge." He's a swell guy.

Now would be a good time to go to the laundromat I guess. Okay, the car does run better with new plugs. I think. Still smoking.

Thunderstorm, downpour. Hail yesterday.

Looks like the PayPal donation is in my account, so there's some breathing space.

Hm, it might be more fair to sis to let her use the 91/30, with Mojo sight and better trigger, in her first match next summer, while I go back to the Hungarian carbine with military sights in the '06 PIG. Yeah, that's how I'll do it. And I will be giving her one of the Mosins; she can choose between the carbine and long rifle. Heh, if she takes the 91/30 I'll have a psychological advantage on the firing line, with the enormous ball of fire erupting from the M44's muzzle - in my first match, the '03 PIG, I must have cost the guy next to me ten or fifteen points.

Continuing Browning & Gentry's John M. Browning, fascinating. Complete reproduction of US patent #220,271, granted 7 October 1879, for what we today know as the Winchester Model 1885. Brilliant in its simplicity - maybe thirty parts counting pins and screws.

Hannity show, partisanitis - one caller goes on a rant about how Christians keep voting for Republicans and the GOP's promises to create a less degenerate society, only to get massive government spending on social programs and Supreme Court nominees that creatures like Schumer and Feinstein like. "Republicans don't care about Christians, they only care about our votes" - and the caller is cut off. And you know, gunfolk could go on the exact same rant, changing only a word or three - and probably get the same treatment. Grump.

Okay, possible assignment - 12hr shifts, 6am-6pm, printed circuit boards, alternating 3 days one week and 4 days the next - including one weekend day, grump, there go half my matches. Also, starting at only $8.75/hr. I don't think I'll like this but I have to get something. OTOH, Sunday-Tuesday and Sunday-Wednesday leave a couple otherwise-underpopulated range days open, Wednesdays and Fridays - OTOOH, club will be going to winter hours presently, weekends only. Anyway no online update of this journal yet.

Browning's genius extended past the mechanical; Sam Colt was a marketing genius but his rough ideas were brought to life by others, i.e. John Pearson - Browning's first corporate customer, Oliver Winchester, was a shirtmaker - father Jonathan... would have died wealthy, and Saint John would have lived a life of leisure and never invented a single firearm, if he'd had more business sense (and less Mormon asceticism). John Moses had business sense, and coupled with luck (like experienced English factory worker Frank Rushton, who simply walked into the new Ogden shop at the exact moment when someone with his experience was needed to set up said recently-built shop) and the plain superiority of his designs, he was off and running and, if not raking it in, at least far from going hungry by the early 1880s. Saint John is also described as an admirable man in his personal habits and philosophies. Heh, page 104, "...a creative rampage unmatched in the history of firearms development." Cool notes too, including the tale of the use of M1897 shotguns in the trenches of the Great War, and the diplomatic hackles raised over their effectiveness.

I mean, look at these things! The Auto-5 and Remington M11, the first - not the first successful, not the first American, the first autoloading shotgun, patents back to 1900, in production for what, 80-odd years until economics, not superiority of design, killed it; and great-grandchildren will still be bringing down ducks with them another half-century from now. The 1894 Winchester rifle, never out of production for 111 years, even through World Wars and the Great Depression - even at the disappointing Vancouver show last weekend there may have been a hundred. The 1911 pistol, more popular now than ever and approaching its own 100th birthday, and being clamored for by our troops in the field. And the one that started the legend, the 1885 single-shot, back in production from several makers. The M1918 BAR, front-line American use in three wars and ancestor of a continuing line, most recently the M249 SAW. The .50 heavy machinegun, recently declared "best weapon in the Army", and the cartridge finding new applications. Many other designs, like the slim little .22 semiautomatic rifle and the 1897 slide-action shotgun, copied and reintroduced by outfits like Norinco. One might debate whether Maxim had recoil operation first, but Browning invented gas operation as we still know it a hundred years later. Every design he ever submitted for US government trials, from the .45 pistol to the 37mm aircraft-mounted cannon (firing through the hub of the Bell P39 Airacobra, Chuck Yeager's first official ride - Yeager's biography is also recommended), was accepted and produced. I cannot think of any other inventor in any field who could claim even a tenth such success and longevity. Cool book, much enjoyed, thanks sis!

What happened to the Larry Elder show? They have some local guy in what used to be his slot - huh, they've bumped him six hours and he's no longer live on this station. Meanwhile, Savage & Pat Robertson blasting RINO Bush and his not-conservative Supreme Court choice(s).

Making test batch of .357 plate loads, 4.5gr Bullseye, maximum per 1970 Lyman data, to better knock over the plates and to address suspected lingering ignition issues. Not very worried about pressure in a 9-year-old Ruger. FWIW, Alliant's recent .PDF says 4.8gr maximum in the smaller .38 Special case in the Cowboy section, so I probably have some room left - data for regular jacketed loads goes up to 9.0gr for a 110gr bullet, yipe. And 5.4gr for 200gr lead.

John M. Browning, page 170: Even before John was called in [to supervise Great War production of his M1917 machinegun, M1918 automatic rifle, and M1911 pistol at various factories], many were crying, "Where are the machine guns?" John probably observed that among them were congressmen who had voted against every arms appropriation in the past. The more things change, etc. "I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it...." Caesar probably had occasion to gripe about shortages of pilum and gladius and scutum. Page 179, after Rommel captured Tobruk and with it a fresh shipment of .50 Browning machineguns, Goering wrote to him, "If the German Air Force had had the Browning .50 Caliber, the Battle of Britain would have turned out differently." Could be.

960 - Tuesday, 4 October 2005: Fiddling with Win98, finally got Windows Paint running again, whacked out a few new bumper stickers:

Starting Leo Frankowski's Conrad Stargard, omnibus of the saga started in 1986 - 20th Century dude zapped back to medieval Poland just in time for the Mongol invasion - obviously the precursor to things like Flint, et.al.'s yummy 1632 and S.M. Stirling's commie amoral Island in the Sea of Time. I have previously read Conrad's Time Machine, wherein terms like "sequel" and "prequel" tend to break down.

961 - Wednesday, 5 October 2005: Still no job. Still don't want to update this journal until I have one - very slacker of me to have quit my job only a day or two after receiving charitable donations, don't want to sound like I'm whining for even more, I'll get my own income again before I update.

Attacking dangerously-disorganized reloading table, some progress there at least.

New Shotgun News, RKBA tidbit as a filler in the back of the classifieds:

You know, there's a whiff of amorality in Frankowski's work too, but he does write well and isn't as preachy as Stirling. Anyway it's not like I paid money for the book. -And, upon further reflection, this isn't the first story of it's kind - H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen beat it by a couple decades at least (err, sort of - sideways, but a similar situation) (still looking for the sequel to that, Great King's War), and I suppose a case could be made for Clemens' Connecticut Yankee (which I haven't read, actually - I'm not much for comedies).

962 - Thursday, 6 October 2005: Cruffler sends info on Vancouver-area temp services, and his impressions of a labor shortage on his side of the river.

Sis emails, expresses intent to attend October plate match, good - I haven't told her I'm unemployed. Sorry sis, but I'm going to get another job before you find out that I quit my last one and you are not going to throw more money at me. Pride. Grump. I'm somewhat tempted to yank the PayPal buttons too.

Sis also says the conservative friend up there is donating some Mosin brass, excellent! It shall be used; on her next visit sis will go back with one of my Mosins, to start practicing for her first highpower match next summer. Hmm, is one of those subcaliber inserts available in 7.62x54R/.32ACP? That would be a nice way to ease someone into highpower, and in this case I think the bullet diameters (.311-ish) would match too. Eh, can't afford it now if there is such a thing. -Hm, .32 H&R Magnum also, examining Sierra's bullet chart and load manual. -And that leads to another random thought, I think Ruger and/or S&W are offering a 6-shot .32H&RM revolver on a small (i.e. J-)frame (SP101 in Ruger's case), which might be a good carry or utility piece for, as an example, inexperienced people new to the Culture but who nonetheless desire a defensive tool - still less than a .38 Special but much more than a .22LR. Also the J-frame/SP101 would better accomodate small hands. No less than a 3" barrel (3.5"? Four might be just a bit too much), perhaps windage-only adjustable rear sight as I've seen on some versions of SP101.

When he's inside, Fuji tends to perch on the rim of the bathroom sink, then fall asleep, then fall out of bed with a scrapescrabbleTHUMP. Several times daily and nightly. Doesn't seem to hurt him though, and he always climbs up to the same spot again.

Sis left a fresh Browning catalog on her last visit and I see that much of Saint John's work is no longer made under his name. The BPS shotgun may be a descendant of the Remington 17/Ithaca 37 but I'd have to root up diagrams to find out; the A-Bolt is, like nearly every other bolt-action that's even remotely successful in the market, yet another stepchild of the '98 Mauser; the BLR's rack-and-pinion lever system and rotating bolt head appear to owe nothing to the Master's work; the P35 was finished by Saive, Browning's star pupil at FN, with several changes from Browning's original design; the Buck Mark... is nice, but not very exciting mechanically (though I really should take a moment and stare at a parts diagram of a Colt Woodsman for comparison). But even in the 21st Century market at least two of the Master's (that's what they called him in Belgium, l'Maitre) designs survive essentially unchanged under his own name: the Superposed shotgun, his final work (though the catalog credits Himself with the single selective trigger, which the biography credits to his son Val); and that slim little .22 autoloading rifle, dig the parts diagram for that and then compare it to a Marlin 60 or even a Ruger 10/22. Now that is genius of design. Like, "What's all that junk doing in the Marlin?" and "Where's the rest of the Browning?" Okay, the 10/22 compares more favorably, most of it's "junk" is in the trigger group - but that Browning, wow. Elegant. Pure.

Of course they want ~$500 for the lowest grade; you could go to Wal-Mart and buy three 10/22s or four Marlin 60s for that much. But that's not my point.

963 - Friday, 7 October 2005: Still unemployed. Last paycheck, paying car insurance, enough left to eat & drive for a week or two. Might try selling the Marlin Camp 9 again, sigh. Maybe I should just drive to Arizona or something, I dunno. Cruffler says there's some kind of Arizona ad campaign on the TV I don't watch, and shortly after being rediscovered my brother down there suggested a visit and possibly a better work environment. OTOH it's a battleground, undergoing constant Immivasion, hm.

Packing range bag and weapons - MojoMosin and MojoMauser for match practice, Hungarian M44 for quality testing, Mossberg for load testing with component changes to my reduced OO load. P35 for function testing, GP100 for testing increased plate loads.

Mosin handloads, 125gr Sierra: 61 rounds 46.1gr IMR4064; 17 rounds 48.6gr W748; 16 rounds 50.5gr H380.

Mauser handloads: 43 rounds 150gr Sierra, 49.0gr W748.

12 gauge, 10 rounds 6/OOB, 15.0gr N100, WAA12SL wad with shot cup cut away; 15 rounds of the same load with the Federal 12S0 wad per the book, but with sloppy crimps, for disposal.

9x19mm: another box UMC 115gr FMJ; one box Win/USA 115gr JHP; 50 rounds 147gr plated RNL over 3.7gr W231.

.357 Magnum: 94 rounds 125gr Meister unplated RNL, 4.2gr Bullseye; 50 rounds 4.5gr; 14 rounds 125gr plated West Coast RNL left over from the last plate match.

Previously, the Cast Bullet Association guy at the club offered the donation of surplus (corrosive, but can't beat the price!) Garand ammo! Phoned him, arranged to meet at the club. Also an R/O, he warns that it will be packed tomorrow with sight-in days, grump. I'll be lucky to test a quarter of the stuff I want to. And then I have to cut the range trip short anyway to pick up that winter coat donation. And I have to get up early besides to hit Barberton and yak with Cruffler before going to the range. At least I've had a little extra sleep with the unemployment.

Finished Frankowski's Conrad Stargard, interesting, many plot similarities to the continuing 1632 saga, but very much unfinished. Is the publication of this omnibus of the trilogy a prelude to his taking up the tale again? Starting Allen Steele's Coyote, which appears to bear certain parallels in plot to my own story (which I'm sure Steele has never heard of). Well, I think it was Straczynski, the guy who did Babylon 5, who said something about our myths and legends casting off one mask and taking up another - there are only so many basic plots to go around. Also have the second volume, Coyote Rising. Some years ago I read some of Steele's early books but nothing else by him 'til now.

964 - Saturday, 8 October 2005: Snrk, hitting the road about 9:15. Barberton, bought nothing of course, yakked with Cruffler. Sightings: Marlin M39M straight-stock lever-action .22 with Williams aperture sight, $350, sigh; Ithaca M48 single-shot falling-block, the one that looks like a '94 Winchester and acts like a Martini-Henry, $115; a not-bad .45 percussion long rifle below it on the rack, same price; Ruger SP101 .38 only, ~2" barrel, $340; Chinese SKS, unaltered with spike bayonet, didn't notice if it was pinned or threaded or milled or stamped, $170.

Off to the range and good gods was it packed! Maybe forty cars & trucks there, all lines full! Apparently hunting season opens next weekend and these are the procrastinators (many of which would probably be at English Pit instead if it were still open). Didn't even sign the logbook. But, met the Cast Bullet guy and scored, not only a couple hundred rounds of (mostly) DEN 42 (a couple stray WCC 41) and almost as much of "T W 5" .30-06, but 19 more Garand clips (some marked SA) (for a total of 26)! Okay, some of the ammo's grungy but most of it isn't, and there's nothing wrong with the clips that a little elbow grease won't fix, and it was all free. So it's corrosive, big deal, so was the stuff I shot matches with in the Mosin for two years.

Now if I only had a Garand.

Did not forget Washington state lottery tickets.

Anyway, not one round fired by me. R/O says next weekend shouldn't be as bad. Back to Barberton, yak some more - meeting coat donor at 3pm, time to kill. On impulse, wasted fuel on a drive up the Columbia Gorge on the Washington side, pulled over at an appropriate spot, read Steele's Coyote - and it starts off as a diatribe against "right-wing idealogues" with things like the Patrick Buchanan Correctional Camp and Gingrich Space Center and the starship's two shuttles named Jesse Helms and George Wallace. So it's looking like Steele will be off my reading list - I'll see what kind of society the dissidents think is ideal.

Back to civilization and wow, that's some coat! Stormtech brand, black (which suits me), removable liner, Extra Features, and it fits me. More pockets than the GI trenchcoat too. That was extremely generous! And this guy doesn't even know I'm unemployed (still hiding that as much as possible).

Back to hovel. Cable-company neighbor is packing to move, wants to borrow back the back-of-car bike rack she gave me, it's in storage - library first and today's brownshirt is a brownshirtette, with SWAT pants to carry the extra stun grenades and throwaway .25s and such I guess. Grump. Then, third score o' the day, in the bushes behind the library I notice one of those compact emergency spare wheels, whip out the Leatherman tool with the ruler on the outside and measure the holes and it looks like it'll fit the Corolla! And it seems to still hold air. So now I have a spare wheel and tire.

To storage, and the bike rack is buried pretty deep, but in the course of digging it out I disposed of some ancient computer junk (which aforesaid neighbor will include in her own dump run later), and found the big box o' 12 gauge hulls finally. The little butane emergency stove still eludes me.

Email, Hal Colebatch notifies me that Man-Kzin Wars XI is out with three stories by him, good! Colebatch also is on Our Side in the Culture War, check out his other work, including his book on his knighted father.

Hm, examining P35 after unpacking range bag, I wonder if it's the frame I should squish in the vise, specifically the very front, where the dust cover engages the slide - but no, I think it's barrel-to-slide, and not frame-to-slide fit that is causing my accuracy problems.

A disadvantage of not updating this 'blog until I have a job and can do so without embarrassment is, I can't muse out loud about gunsmithing problems and get free comments and tips from my readers.

965 - Sunday, 9 October 2005: Radio news, earthquake in Pakistan, 20,000 dead - what the heck? It seems that most of the death toll estimates for Hurricane Katrina were grossly excessive; the huge Northridge quake back in the '90s killed, what, a hundred-odd? Here is another graphic, if macabre, example of the superiority of Western Culture. Disasters here kill only the people stupid enough to not evacuate with plenty of warning, or those abandoned by their so-called leaders like Nagin, and even the majority of people trapped in the aftermath survive. Disasters of the same magnitude there wipe out whole populations. Prime Directive my ass, our way is better!

Taking rag, wire brush, and elbow grease to the old Garand ammo and clips. Some cartridges discarded for corrosion, big deal, it's all still free.

Gun Talk, SAF's Gottlieb updating on the New Orleans confiscations. Also further discussion of the Blueshirt Problem, and of possible statist responses to other disasters like avian flu.

Now it looks like the Corolla may have a coolant leak. Sigh.

966 - Monday, 10 October 2005: Another incident of "I Am da Law" ("No, I Am da Law"), a convoy of New Jersey blueshirts pulled over by Virginia blueshirts - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 stories. Some of the comments from blueshirt brass are... alarming. And illuminating. Any LEO readers, care to comment on this runaway King's Man syndrome being demonstrated by your "Brothers in Blue"? Or do you also believe that you are entitled to greater rights and powers than me?

Pakistan death toll now 30,000. No thanks, I'd rather put up with a little smog to have high technology and heavy industry and survivable infrastructure. Take your Kyoto Protocol and shove it.

Still incomeless.

RKBA tidbit from The Federalist Patriot:

Continuing Steele's Coyote - before the departure of the starship (on it's 230-year sublight voyage) circa 2070AD, the "United Republic of America" (after the Second Revolution and Third Constitutional Convention) is described as a place where abortion was outlawed with severe penalties for doctors and patients, where poor, innocent "left-wing intellectuals" were rounded up and sent to reeducational camps, Americans are involved in various foreign military misadventures, and the secessionist states comprising New England and Cascadia are places to escape to - in short, the whole Michael Moore spiel. As if Hillary wouldn't have our kind "shot while trying to escape". However, looking ahead to the end of the first volume, a follow-on starship brings the alleged virtues of "social collectivism", from which the original colonists pack up and flee, hm. Wrapped up, starting sequel - social collectivism has promoted the advance of technology, global warming has wrecked whole countries, Earth's natural resources are depleted, more Moore garbage. Tempted to just chuck it in the return bin. Note this is not published by Baen.

967 - Tuesday, 11 October 2005: Still unemployed.

Paid storage rent.

968 - Wednesday, 12 October 2005: Helping cable-company neighbor move.

Wrassling lethargy and depression, psyching myself up to sign up with another temp service. See, the problem is, I'm utterly disgusted with the current labor force and all work environments in my experience. I don't want to go back there, the stupidity rubs off!

Finally a job interview, the 12hr place, sigh. Tomorrow afternoon. Trim beard, hit laundromat, consider getting haircut with few remaining bucks.

With the Multnomah County thievery expiring finally, the government schools in the tri-county metropolitan area are whining for a regional tax. They think that with one tax ending voters will be more receptive to another one beginning.

Insert disgusted glare. How about they stop wasting what they already get - which is near the highest per-student rate in the nation - on six-figure salaries and brand-new SUVs and other perks for career bureaucrats before asking me for more? Tax-fighters already lining up to crush it, links to follow.

969 - Thursday, 13 October 2005: Argh, barely dragged myself out of bed. Don't want to reenter the workforce. But must.

Off for haircut, done. Gas prices really and truly falling, local ARCO now $2.55! $2.69 only a week ago.

Killing time before interview, searching online library catalog - yes! Ringo's Ghost and Ringo & Kratman's Watch on the Rhine are in! Or at least on order. Also Man-Kzin Wars XI featuring stories by Aussie conservative Hal Colebatch.

15-minute commute, good, can also get there easily on surface streets. Tour printed-circuit-board plant - very interesting technology, but I can see how it would get boring: load the machine, watch the machine, unload the machine, twelve hours a day. Due to the compressed shift, three or four 12hr days a week, even day shift gets a pay differential of +5% for $9.19; also it works out to 84 hours every two weeks instead of the usual 80. If accepted, a 3-day orientation - at their Forest Grove plant which is way the heck on the other end of town, but in addition to the base $8.75/hour this would pay another $30/day to compensate for fuel costs, nice.

Finally the interview with the manager - but, of the two positions open, both are now night shift - during the tour I and the other candidate were told one each, day and night, and she would take the night shift. And... I turned it down; it's bad enough having to go back to work, I don't want my clock all screwed up besides. However it was suggested that I go through the interview anyway and hope that another day shift position opens.

Sigh. Pending developments, will sign up with yet another temp service, which also has a Vancouver office, on Monday.

Mail, beg-for-money from English First and Judicial Watch.

Radio news, a car thief in Portland - police have a physical description of the suspect and one more key piece of evidence: the suspect purchased something with an Oregon Trail card. Now, this is the state dole card, the welfare debit card that all stores are required by law to accept; this system was developed to "remove the stigma" from worthless losers living off productive people's tax money. (I don't have one.) Okay, the state knows who has which card, so it's a simple matter of shoving some electrons around and there's the crook, right? Wrong. The state will not release this information to Portland blueshirts (wow, imagine that, police actually trying to do something about crime, for a change...). Apparently the self-esteem and privacy of these welfare parasites are more important than the property rights of the people whose hard work feeds and clothes said parasites. Gods I hate this place.

Maybe tomorrow would be a good day to go to the range - a weekday shouldn't be so crowded. Have some serious testing to do. I'll see if I can get myself out of bed at all.

970 - Friday, 14 October 2005: Lethargy. No range today.

Radio news: in the last election, Measure 37 restored some measure of property rights to private citizens. This measure was ramrodded by Dorothy English, a 90-something little old lady with more fight in her than any three men of my generation. Multnomah County wanted to sieze her property and add it to Forest Park, a big chunk o' trees on the west bank of the Willamette River where various vagrants and serial rapists set up camp. She accused the county of stalling and stonewalling her at every possible turn, hoping she'd up and die before the matter was settled so they could take her land. Today, a judge overturned the will of Oregon's voters by throwing out Measure 37 as "unConstitutional." Ms. English said, "I wonder if this is still America." So do I, ma'am. Anyway now she, and everyone else who tried to exercise their property rights over the last eleven months, has now lost great steaming heaps of money and land.

Meanwhile, Kelly Worth, a Corvallis (as in Oregon State U) Democrat state legislator, was found in possession of methamphetamines and is resigning. I'm somewhat surprised the party is not rallying around her and claiming it's all a Republican conspiracy.

No wonder I can't drag myself out of bed in the morning, who wants to have to put up with this stuff every day? Very depressed. Being unemployed and approximately broke isn't helping of course.

Trying to finish Steele's Coyote Rising, kinda lame, politics aside. He ain't no David Drake, nor David Weber neither. And now I'm out of book.

Added a new picture of Fuji.

Found another webcomic which has republitarian moments. See links page for some others.

971 - Saturday, 15 October 2005: Zzz. No range today either, should conserve fuel anyway. Maybe next Wednesday or Friday.

Catching up on email - one reader tells of buying a two-bedroom house in Nebraska for $7,500. (Nebraska is one of the three pure-Red states, according to the maps of the last election.) (Sigh.) (But they don't have concealed carry.) (Yet.) Another sends more gunsmithing tips, and recommends Blue Dot for better load density than Bullseye. And, a followup from a previous message from a New Orleans reader:

972 - Sunday, 16 October 2005: Zzz.

Cat lovers will get a kick out of this. The archive is worth the bandwidth, but should carry a severe snork warning.

973 - Monday, 17 October 2005: Argh, still barely dragging self out of bed. Depression and lethargy. Phone two current temp services - nothing of course.

Range trip Wednesday maybe, have to make at least one trip before sis gets here to test things.

Phone new temp service - appointment at 2pm today, "you'll be leaving here with a job." Hm.

Starting John Ringo's There Will Be Dragons, a pre-release copy given to me by cable-company neighbor after an SF convention. More of the indistinguishable-from-magic technology that turned me off in Anvil's Interstellar Patrol II, hm. Also, Ringo has Been In The SCA.

To the new temp service. The Horror! Skills test, add feet & inches, minutes & seconds - the guy next to me was, "Got a calculator?" Good gods! Is it that bad? People can't do old-fashioned long division or the simplest unit conversion or even basic multiplication with pen and paper anymore! I didn't even need the calculator on my wristwatch. I still remember multiplication tables. For example, one problem was: You're buying a 3lb steak at $3.85/lb and paying with a $20 bill. How much change will you get? This guy was doing:

	3.85
	3.85
+	3.85

And he was getting 9 something for that total. And this was a white, American-speaking, 20-something guy! The Republic is Doomed! You see? This is why I don't want to reenter the workforce, it's just too disgusting.

Anyway I may have a job now, pending background check and all. Should know tomorrow. Making components for freight trucks, $9/hr, $9.50 after 30 days, in Clackamas, on the south end of my side of town.

Local ARCO now $2.53.

974 - Tuesday, 18 October 2005: Zzz, may be my last chance for a while.

Ringo's There Will Be Dragons is... more interesting than I thought it would be. It points out the perils of dependence on technology and infrastructure, goes into more than a little detail on how to get by without - and, like much of Ringo's other work, is also explicitly pro-RKBA:

Ringo's TWBD is interesting indeed, and also Culture War fodder - I think the author would agree that Pacifists Taste Like Chicken. The library appears to have the later books in the series and I'll have to read them.

975 - Wednesday, 19 October 2005: Light rain today.

To the range. MojoMosin, Mosin carbine, MojoMauser, handloads; Mossberg, handloads; GP100, increased plate loads; P35, factory FMJ, factory JHP, and handloads.

Arrive ~10:45. Fog, but I'd already decided to do my rifle practice at 25 yards. Not exactly crowded, but more than I would expect on a weekday, about as much as a "normal" weekend.

Starting at handgun line, P35, bench, ~15yds, factory 115JHP 'cause that's what's in the magazines. -One failure to extract, with one of the newer magazines if that means anything, no other failures. Lousy accuracy, high and right.

Now factory 115FMJ, perfect function, same accuracy. Hand tremors, I don't trust this piece.

Now 147gr RNL over 3.7gr W231. Weak ejection but only one failure, to feed, and that may be my battered used cases. So it's reliable enough, I guess, but not accurate enough for plates. Sigh.

Now trusted revolver - tremors not going away, grump. Disposing of old bedside-duty cartridges (Winchester 110JHP) on principle. Even with tremors and full factory magnum loads, much more accurate than the P35. 4.5gr Bullseye under 125gr lead recoils a little more but still rather mild, I'll go with that load (and I'll have to start making some presently, blowing out all available brass and projectiles for both sis (who emails she's coming down Friday) and myself in Sunday's plate match - since the Pro 1000 can't do it yet I still have to do it on the single-stage, in batches of 50 with a loading block).

Handgun line too crowded at the moment to test shotgun loads, to upper rifle line, nearly full itself. Four Palma five-place targets at 25yds, sandbags. Mosin 91/30 - I know the IMR load works well in this rifle so I won't try any. W748 - lots of soot down the sides of the case, suggesting too-low pressure and an inadequate gas seal. Not as accurate either. H380 - cleaner and more accurate. Recoil with both is mild - I'll go with the H380, duh.

Only a couple strings of each test load, 17 rounds of W748 and 16 of H380, splitting them between the 91/30 and the M44. Carbine now - W748 way high, and a bit left, and not grouping. H380, not great but much better. No significant difference in POI with bayonet folded or extended. (I always use the 91/30 with the socket bayonet fixed.) Some IMR in the carbine, about the same as the H380. Wish I could afford a Mojo for the M44. Carbine's trigger isn't perfect but it works. Might take a stone to the cocking piece - actually I have a spare cocking piece (a whole spare bolt really), even better, and a whole other M44 for parts besides. Carbine recoil about the same as the long rifle (both have slip-on pads). Muzzle blast not significant with these starting loads.

Sightings: Yugo SKS, w/muzzle brake, probably from Big 5; and a Marlin Model 9N nickle-plated 9mm Camp Carbine! With fiberoptic front sight and no other obvious changes.

Now VZ with W748 test loads - not as sooty as the Mosin, except at the neck and that's probably the WWII-veteran chamber. Not spectacular accuracy, but looking back I never had such from the VZ's WWII-veteran barrel, really, dual Mojos and Timney trigger notwithstanding. (Someday, when I start building custom rifles on the VZ actions I still haven't bought back from Cruffler, I can yank the Timney and recycle it.) VZ recoil is still heavier than any combination of Mosin and load, may try Hornady 125gr projectiles someday. The 91/30 is my most accurate highpower rifle at present. With a Mojo and a bit of trigger work the M44 should be almost as good.

Back to handgun line to test shotgun loads - no danger signs, changing from Federal 12S0 wad to WAA12SL, so I can still produce some of my reduced loads if I can't find (or afford) the Federal wads. Back to hovel about 2pm. 57 rounds proven IMR Mosin load left, enough for the match or for sis to take back with her but not both. She's bringing brass, but I'm low on powder and .311" projectiles. 23 rounds W748 Mauser left, a serviceable load I suppose considering the VZ has never been all that accurate - out of .323" projectiles but over 200 pieces Mauser brass fully processed. Reprocessing Mosin and .357 brass immediately.

No messages. Phone new temp service - they're waiting for the job to call them back, news expected tomorrow-ish. Did not forget Washington lottery tickets, sigh.

At this rate I may not be able to make the AvA match, just 'cause I can't afford to make ammunition for it, never mind match fee and fuel. Speaking of, Vancouver ARCO, or at least the one I usually stop at up there, also now $2.53.

Examining donated jacket, very high-end, liner is a jacket unto itself and also has detachable sleeves for use as a vest. Still had the factory tags on it, including a little bag of replacement snaps. Very nice. And, it fits a wardrobe niche - I wanted something very much like this, something like an M65 field jacket in something other than cityfolk-panicking camouflage.

"Maow?" No, you cannot have the lap right after using the litter box. "Meeer...."

In the news, Saddam Hussein's trial hijinks, phooey. Shoulda rolled a grenade into his rathole and saved a dozen countries' taxpayers billions. That poor G.I. who found him, jeez, what a thing to live down.

In somewhat brighter news, the Corolla doesn't smoke much lately, but that may simply be the cooler weather.

Another bumper sticker:

976 - Thursday, 20 October 2005: Phone temp service - freight truck part job has fallen through. Of course. But, another position, electro/mechanical assembly, clean room environment, $10/hour, early (6am) but still day shift and a rather short commute - interview 2pm. Charge off to ATM for money for quarters for laundromat - juggle pitiful savings and checking balances to chisel the last $20 bill from the machine (great, now I'm really out of money, except possibly for the extra $32.00 the bank seems to think I have, contrary to my checkbook's record). Charge off to laundromat. Charge back to hovel to change. Realize I still have over an hour to make a 20-minute drive, take a moment and eat something.

Gaaah, job interview. I dunno. Anyway, building machines to handle semiconductor wafers, rather like the Japanese medical-widget place but larger scale. "Clean" room protocols not particularly challenging. And more like a 10-minute drive.

Local ARCO now $2.49. On the way to the interview, saw a 76 at $2.47 (cash).

200 rounds increased .357 plate loads done, more tomorrow.

Up late finishing TWBD, loaded with semi-obscure historical and military-historical references, many of which I get 'cause I read a lot and watched the History Channel bunches before I gave up on television altogether, and one notable webcomic cameo. Next book, Emerald Sea, already on hold; third, Against the Tide, also in library.

977 - Friday, 21 October 2005: Up, start cleaning hovel for sis' visit.

Phone temp service - no news. Of course.

Sis arrives! 29 more pieces Mosin brass (28 Winchester, 1 Norma), and some more .357 to work with.

While making .357 plate loads, temp service calls! And the job I interviewed for "doesn't have any openings at present." (So why did I go there...?) But, another job - making big doors, like for industrial meat lockers and such, or rather the crates the doors go into for shipping, $8.50hr starting Monday at five o' clock in the unholy A.M. And I have to provide my own tool$, specifically a hammer, tape measure and "flat screwdriver." Grump. But I have to take it at this point. I can already tell I'm not going to like it but I need income.

Later, sis spends money on me, well, us, at Sportsman's Warehouse, buying .311 and .323 Sierras for the AvA match and for Mosin loads for her own upcoming use, and another box of Meister 125gr .358 RN/FP, and a jug of H380 for the Mosin. While there also sighted, and fondled, CZ75B 9x19mm, all black w/hard rubber grips, ~$420 - took them some time to begin stocking that design, have been keeping an eye out for it or an EAA Witness (not sighted) there on principle. Eh, $igh. But at least they have one now.

Nearly 500 rounds plate loads now, counting leftover 4.2gr loads from last month.

[Warning, crowded screen ahead - best viewed at screen size 1024x768 or better (I use 1280x1024), check your computer's settings.]

978 - Saturday, 22 October 2005: Meet sis midmorning, load up some stuff, teach her something of reloading. Out to lunch - Arby's, and some cityfolk slob parks next to her Cadillac, bangs his door into her car, then after eating belches loudly and repeatedly, deliberately disturbing the entire restaurant - with his (presumed) wife (as fat as he is) and small child (no doubt picking up his future habits) present. Hate cities. HATE CITYFOLK.

Eventually to Clark Rifles, ~2pm. Crowded but not too bad. Nice day, Indian Summer I guess. A little plate practice for me, and somehow the GP's sights were off - readjusted. Sis getting .357 practice as well for the match tomorrow, showing continuing improvement including his on the small practice plates. Then, to the upper rifle line, settling in with the 91/30 MojoMosin, using up the IMR loads, for which it's already sighted in - first shot by me is close enough, then it's all sis. She did one string as good as I usually do, breaking Fred's favored 4MOA. I've won shiny things to hang on my wall with worse shooting than that. Sis is on her way.

While this is going on, there's a kid to our left with a single-shot .22. And it turns out that, while we were concentrating on one of the four Palma five-place targets we had on our target holder, this kid, two lanes over, was shooting at another of our targets. Now first, you don't cross lanes with your fire; that's against the rules. Second, his shots were hitting the side berm; that's a safety violation. Third, he was shooting someone else's target, which is just damned rude. And the kid's supposed mother is there and I challenge them both, with far more restraint and decorum than was my wont. It seems this was their first trip to any shooting range and they had no clue, despite having read and signed, at the clubhouse R/O's direction, the safety and range rules thing, that they had to use their own targets and couldn't just open up on someone else's. "Well nobody told us," mother snapped, as though it were my fault her darling boy was violating half the rules of range safety and of gunfolk etiquette simultaneously. I fetched an R/O (the nice older guys were on duty today, no SWATBoy) and let him handle it. But fer cryin' out loud! Is this what society has come to now? No wonder I can barely drag myself out of bed to look for a job.

Anyway. Grump.

Sightings: Colt New Service .45, VG condition; 1916 Luger, 9mm, about as good.

So sis now has a highpower rifle and is already displaying skill with it despite the significant step up in power over the .22 rifles she's used to. Back to the hovel, sis buys tools for me (at one of those tools/liquidation/junk places, and I got the cheapest they had 'cause sis has spent enough on me already but at least this is a job-related expense which doesn't chafe my pride as much 'cause now I have a job), then take-n-bake pizza (Hawaiian, my fave) and we have a cleaning party and yak much. Found cheesy Century Arms Mosin manual, and less-cheesy Mojo manual, for her, will email her URLs and perhaps .PDFs later. Hex wrench for Mojo in the recoil pad boot as mentioned previously.

[ramble="on"] Sis goes back to hotel room and I sort through Enormous Pile of Bonus Brass. Hit the jackpot today (the brighter side of Sight-In Days crowds - some of these people only wipe the cobwebs off their Remchesters this once a year and reloading is mysteeerrrious to them, thus they leave quite a haul for the knowledgeable true-gunfolk scavenger), including .308 (for the FR8 and it's close enough to NATO anyway, like for a Blue Helmet's FAL or G3), .30-06 (for the CMP Garand I'm a step closer to, and how many .30-06 deer rifles are there on this continent?), nearly two full boxes' worth (including boxes!) of .30-30 (described as "iconic" for deer hunting in some recent magazine article) (R/O says people don't generally reload this, as lever actions are stretchy and the cases fatigue and are only good for a couple-few sizings before failing - news to me, and there's all that load data, and Sierra alone offers three flat-point .308 bullets for the tube magazines usually encountered in .30-30 lever actions) (also have more .30-30, same (R-P) headstamp even, going all the way back to the English Pit days, so I have a fair-sized batch now, at least 50 pieces), some .38 Special (big bucket of that accumulating and how many .38/.357 revolvers are there on this continent?), .223 (even more likely to be used against Blue Helmets, with their G36s or FNCs or even L85s) (hunnerds 'n' hunnerds of 'em - what, nobody reloads this stuff? I've got some impressive headstamps too, some FC, even some Hornady), .45 ACP (on principle, not least as a Holy Relic of Saint John), and I reprocess the Mosin brass before bed as I want to send sis back up to Everett tomorrow with as much and as mild non-corrosive Mosin fodder as I can manage.

Among the bonus brass, including from previous trips, is a bit of 7.62x39mm, grabbed on principle (like the .223 and .45). Federal and Winchester have large primers; Remington has small. Huh?

So I'm all magpie with the bonus brass, so I don't even have dies, much less weapons, for many of these cartridges, what are you going to barter with when the infrastructure collapses and your debit card isn't even good for picking your teeth? And folks just leave this stuff laying on the ground. It has value, people!

Once-fired Winchester Mosin brass is way over length, must be trimmed; the one Norma Mosin case in my experience is somewhat under the load manuals' trim-to length but not disastrously so. Oddly clean primer pockets on the once-fired Winchester.

Oh yeah - no hand tremors in today's revolver practice, even though I started out missing 'cause of the sights. I trust my GP100. All right then.

Still not updating 'til I learn if I can stomach the new job or if I've become unemployable with my severe allergic reaction to the public-educated. (Hey, I wonder if I could get Disability...? Get one of those ACLU lawyers - nah, I'm too white, too male, too heterosexual, and way too American, they'd never take my case. As I've said before, if I were Christian they'd'a torched my hovel by now.) [/ramble]

979 - Sunday, 23 October 2005: Snrk. Run tumbler with Mosin brass while in the shower, separate media and prime Mosin cases while waiting for sis to come over at 8:30.

To the range. No guarantee there will be a plate match today (no one else may show up for it, always a concern with this small local match) but if not we can do some other shooting; also taking the Mosin again, and some H380 loads made previously, may take opportunity to dial in the Mojo for the new load. Skipping OAC show today (theme Shotguns).

Arrive 9am, start dragging targets out - more care taken in setup this month, no problems with stubborn plates today. Counting last-minute entries during qualification runs, a field of ten: four revolvers, S&W 686 sans last month's malfunctioning scope; Ruger Security Six, .38-only; older Taurus M66, that's my sister; my GP100. Five centerfire autos, three 1911s (all .45), a .45 Glock, and a 9mm Glock (phooey); and the 9mm Glock shooter is double-entered with a Ruger MkII Government Target model.

Let's review the course, now that I have this extra-super-cool digital camera.

In the news, and websurfing: here is why the UN is the Great Satan of my story; here is another reason my lottery fantasies tend to center on Wyoming; here is a response to people who think "only the police and military should have guns" (and today at the plate match I commented on the used targets and spent shotgun wads in the match area, from a local corrections department's practice on Tuesday, and it was agreed that blueshirts "aren't very good" with weapons); here is some of the most blatant racism I've yet seen; and Gods Bless America (if you look close, and are experienced netgunfolk, you can figure out what's printed around the symbol - it's been around awhile now).

980 - Monday, 24 October 2005: And I'm back. (Where did I go? See #956.) And I'm exhausted. The job is about as bad as I expected, heaving stuff, tripping over a very cluttered work area, noise, The Publicly-Educated, etc. Today I made pallets and wrassled big foam-filled panels for walk-in freezers and such. Turns out their standard schedule is five 10-hour days, starting at 5am for gods' sakes, and an 8-hour Saturday. I'm 38 years old dammit! I'm getting too old for this kind of work! If, if I can last the week I'll have enough for rent (I should, with 18 hours overtime) but I feel this assignment was misrepresented to me. And there's no break room and the refrigerator smells like an exhumed casket. Phone temp service, and of course they can't offer me another assignment while I'm still on this one. Also the cool high-tech place I interviewed at on Thursday "won't have another position for some time."

But I did get out of bed and go to work. So now I'm updating. But I don't have to like it.

Scheduled oil change in car (while Indian Summer lasts) (fortunately I was wise enough to grab a case of oil and a new filter last time I had money), then back out for dollar-store snacks to keep myself fueled at work tomorrow. And wash out the second juice bottle 'cause I'll need 'em both.

Reloading tip, found on the lists: set your .38/.357 dies for .38 Special, then make spacers to go between press (or turret) and locking ring to raise them up for .357. But used dies are so cheap I'll probably buy a .38 set anyway. Eventually. (Of course a .38/.357 sizing/decapping die needs no adjustment from one to the other.)

A Vancouver-area reader says that English Pit may not be quite dead yet:

But there's a situation. One (unholy...) 58-hour week of this (if I live) will pay the rent and buy at least one frozen pizza, but I don't get paid until the 4th (though that should still be in the grace period.) The shorter commute has reduced fuel consumption but the car's still low (I split the money sis gave me between gas and food) - but I still have my 5-liter reserve can, and prices are dropping (local ARCO $2.45, one near work $2.43, a 76 near work $2.41). The bank seems to think I have an extra $32, but there's an automatic $25 transfer from checking to savings on the 1st, and the money has to stay in the account that long at least (and what if those particular electrons vanish whence they came?). Enough food to last 'til payday I reckon (still have a stack of ramen, and I can blow a buck on a sack of spuds if I have to). Maybe I'll make it. I dunno. I can use the U-Scan line at Fred Meyer to buy, like, a pack of gum and squeeze out another five or six bucks as cash-back (the ATMs only dispense in $20s of course and I don't have twenty unallocated dollars until the savings transfer is complete).

Another week of this might pay the following month's rent but might also kill me. This is harder work, and more of it, than I've done in many moons. And there are the ubiquitous uncivilized workforce wretches, and anecdotes of paycheck hijinks, and I triple-hate working weekends, and I still need to practice for the AvA, particularly with the M44 and Albanian (of which I still have plenty), figuring out the Kentucky windage all over again (at least I know the course of fire).

Argh.

Ow.

982 - Wednesday, 26 October 2005: And today I did something to my left wrist, while heaving great hulking walk-in-freezer panels. Then later I was teetering on a Certifiably Unsafe stepladder to hoist those panels into position for test-fitting. This job may cripple or kill me, if only by giving me a coronary. I've given notice, there and at the temp service, that Saturday (or Friday depending on whether they're working) will be my last day. Temp service says to check in Friday.

Only 8 hours today. Ambivalent - I can get back to the hovel and the cat and the dollar-store beef stew (and the ibuprofen), but the overtime pay would be very useful.

Squeezed a few bucks out as described above, for fuel after work tomorrow. A Chevron near work also $2.41.

Yow! Another PayPal donation, from a reader in Arizona! Now I should make rent even if there is no pure-overtime pay on Saturday. And if the new temp service has another assignment soon I'll be fine. Without more charity from sis.

Speaking of sis, earlier I pretty much said I was just going to give her a Mosin, probably the Hungarian M44 carbine, but I sent her back with the proven 91/30 and Mojo sight instead. Now, thinking it through, I think I'll give her the 91/30/Mojo (she's already demonstrated she's capable of about the same accuracy with it as I am) and I'll devote some time and energy (if I ever get any again, ow) to tuning the M44 up to the same level as the 91/30. Which means I'll be ordering yet another Mojo, probably early next year depending on employment. And I'll probably have at the cocking piece, and maybe the weird trigger/sear thing (using the scruffy Russian M44 and the extra bolt in my desk drawer as spares) - the 91/30 got a good trigger the last time I juggled Mosin parts. There! Sis' collection has grown and I feel less ashamed of all the charity she's heaped on me (which has repeatedly saved my butt). Hm, better email her with the news.

983 - Thursday, 27 October 2005: Ow. Numerous scrapes, bruises, and some actual cuts from slinging sheetmetal-sheathed freezer panels. Back, and knees (which I'm on a lot, reaching stuff), protesting. Wrist improving but still weak.

Another 8-hour day, hm, only two hours overtime so far.

76 station near work $2.39 as I passed this morning, $2.37 as I stopped this afternoon. Shell near library $2.35. A little groceries, mainly frozen juice concentrate. Raided deli counter's sample tray, mmm, sushi rolls!

Getting cold, about time to duct-tape the bathroom window for the season. And I should get some of that expanding foam (similar to what goes into the panels I sling, except at work they mix it a hundred-odd gallons at a time) for various mouse- and raccoon-holes throughout the hovel.

Messages waiting from two temp services, including the current one - older one first, no details except they wanted to check if I would work 12hr shifts; "call back Monday" when my current job is over. New service, the rep "just stepped out," phone tag. Anyway, encouraging. -And, swing shift, no thank you. But this is another rep (in another office even), the one for the current job told me to call tomorrow anyway.

Something more than halfway through Ringo's Emerald Sea, tasty.

Reader sends this WND article on mainstream media bigotry (and links to related stories). A couple months ago I think I saw something similar with Laura Bush's photo on the cover of Reader's Digest. And they call us bigots. Never mind the politics, it's the hypocrisy that ticks me off. The MSM hacks are lucky dueling was outlawed. Some days I just get a hankering for blood on my sword.

984 - Friday, 28 October 2005: Ow. Ten hours today, and tomorrow is on for eight more. If I'm physically capable of getting out of bed. So tired my driving may be impaired. Fortunately I don't take the freeway for this job, and I'm not running any extra errands like library or groceries today. 12 hours of overtime pay would be a Good Thing right now.

A couple people there complimenting my work and trying to get me to stay. Not on my life. But flattering.

Message from temp service - and I have another job starting Monday, a more-rational 8-hour shift starting at 7am, in Clackamas, slinging truck accessories. But still only $8.50 an hour. But I am working. And hey, no discontinuity of income this time!

Wrapping up Ringo's Emerald Sea, Against the Tide on the way.

985 - Saturday, 29 October 2005: Ow. And only 6 hours today. But, it was pure overtime, which makes 50 hours in the pipeline, which should be plenty for rent. And, I have another job already. And, the latest PayPal donation has come through and that is plenty to last 'til payday. So I'm okay. Whew.

Ow. And tomorrow, zzz. No shooting this weekend. Which is just as well as I have to make up some loads. Wrist nearly healed though. Knees, on the other hand....

Cable-company neighbor departing hovel, salvaging old firearm periodicals (Shooting Times, etc.), will give them to sis on her next visit (after mining them for load data). (Of course it's really my turn to go up there, but I've been having difficulties. And it seems the ranges up there aren't very good, compared to Clark Rifles. The Kenmore club apparently has lawyeritis in the range rules, at least where non-members are concerned - all rifles single-loaded, no rapid fire on the handgun lines, etc.)

[rant="on"] In the stack is also the May '98 issue of the now-defunct GunGames, with our enemy Steven Spielberg on the cover - the folks who put out that magazine weren't quite "right... in the head." Rather like the shotgunners: "Go ahead, Mr. Jack-Booted Government Thug, take away the peasants' eee-vil 'assault weapons' and 'Saturday Night Specials', just leave us our umpty-thousand-dollar Perazzis and race-guns" - and I can never remember, was it Churchill or Kipling who first made that observation about feeding the crocodile (or tiger)? [/rant]

986 - Sunday, 30 October 2005:

And the savings time thing, an extra hour besides.

(Ow.)

In the news, Florida tourism industry supports self-defense - or at least opposes the Brady Campaign. Looks like we've found another enemy of our enemy.

Gun Talk, interview with Paxton Quigley (new book), discussion of S.397 (which has been dissected on the email lists for some time now).

Host Tom Gresham, as I do, dislikes the transition from double-action to single-action in the Walther/Beretta-style semiautomatic pistols and, as I do, prefers either one or the other all the time. Neither he nor I have anything much against DAO pistols - some years ago I had an opportunity to fire a Kahr K9 and was pleased with it. CZ75 (or CZ97, or Witness) is still high on the wish-list though; it has a double-action trigger but you don't have to use it, it can be carried cocked-and-locked. Also both CZ and EAA offer single-action-only kits. One point raised in defense of the DA/SA system is a second-strike capability in the case of a failed round; one can hit the primer again. But with modern ammunition that's very rarely a problem; I would practice clearing drills instead.

Exhausted W748 powder, 56 rounds 7.92mm ready for practice, should be 67 Sierra 150gr left, and still near 200 cases ready to load. Reprocessing .357 from the match last weekend.

Fuel (Shell, $2.34 (cash) near library - way higher at the one a stone's throw from the hovel). Reserve fuel still on board. Groceries, food by gods.

Remember the SPAS12 shotgun, which could be switched between slide-action and semiautomatic? (It was used in the first Terminator film.) Some years after the SPAS, Benelli had the M3 if I recall correctly. Well, looking through the old magazines, I learn from the July ‘98 issue of Shooting Times that it wasn't such a new idea after all - the Standard Arms Model G rifle (the specimen in the article was .35 Remington) did the same thing, circa 1912. How ‘bout that?

987 - Monday, 31 October 2005: Halloween. In the news, political correctness running variously amok, phooey. Still have my heart set on a Confederate uniform some year, just to tick off the moonbats.

First day on the new job. You know when you get some mechanical thing, and it has a bag full of nuts and bolts and washers and such? That's my job so far, making up those bags. It's not at all challenging. OTOH it's not likely to cripple or kill me (forklift traffic aside). Also the temp service appears to have an on-site rep and I can collect my paychecks there instead of charging across town in Friday traffic, nice.

Saw a Plaid Pantry near work selling Regular for $2.29.

Starting America's Forgotten Army: The Story of the U.S. Seventh by Charles Whiting. I think my brother (the one in Arizona) spent his service there (in Germany, from which the 7th hasn't moved (much) for sixty-odd years) during the Vietnam era. Anyway just something to add to my post-government-school education. For example: this is the army that Patton commanded in Sicily, and Audie Murphy was in it.

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