RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - JANUARY 2007
But it got too cold and wet and icky for the SMLE. I did get a little Garand bench practice, including a full clip of handloads in the black on an SR42C at 200 yards. Tested new 2- and 5-round clips, they seem to work, and I'm developing a technique for loading them - the biggest problem is getting them to latch. Now I have two of each special clip, nobody will be waiting for me to get my stuff together at the next match. And I can loan them to shooters who don't have them. (Now I have to make a second SLED.)
I also disposed of another box of the Federal American Eagle factory load, which I suspect of doubling. This time I was concentrating on my trigger technique, following through and holding the trigger to the rear for each shot. (No doubling with my handloads with CCI #200 primers.) I fired a full box of 20, in 2- and 8-shot clips - and the last two rounds from the last 8-shot doubled. Hmm. Well, now I have 20 more pieces of Federal brass. I also scored a couple pieces HXP, the Greek GI stuff that CMP sells. It is Boxer primed and I expect no difficulty reloading it. And yet another heap of .223 (I'll look for dies at Barberton now that I have the Hornady spray lube - need a different shellplate for the Pro1000 though), as well as some .45ACP and .38 Special.
Then some handgun practice (didn't get 'round to the P35 either, but then I don't have to clean it) and Yuri turned in a very respectable performance with my GP100, which I had moments before dialed in satisfactorily. He wants one. Unfortunately they're near $500 NIB, and this one was $400 used, and he has kids to feed. Still, lots of old S&W M19s and M66s about, plenty of Taurus models too, even the occasional Rossi (now owned by Taurus). Once in a while I see an old Ruger Sx Six, the three models replaced by the GP100. I still think revolvers are more accurate than autoloaders.
He gave me a couple new bumper stickers, which I'll tape into the Corolla's back window when things dry out some: "SAVE DARFUR - SEND RIFLES" and "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE - KILL TERRORISTS". He got them here. (Coincidentally, the creator's 'blog features more anti-gun cops.)
Still some lingering email backed up (and David W., writing about Linux, your iinet address still bounces...). Reader sends this essay, titled "What Good Can A Handgun Do Against An Army?" (obviously the person who asked the question never saw Back to Bataan ("Kill more Japs")); from lists, Can't Get Good Cops These Days ("A lot of applicants in general don't pass the reading test or they can't pass the background test...").
Okay, it's a new year and I've promised myself a 1911 by my 40th (ohmygodsI'mgettingold) birthday (on 18 September). Thus begins tracking of the 1911 Fund: $55!
.45ACP. Of course. (Been scrounging brass for months, already have dies and a Pro1000 shellplate, been processing it too.)
So far I'm still thinking of the ~$300 Rock Island, mainly 'cause I'm always broke, but with nine months to raise the Fund and a job that sucks less, who knows? Full (Government Model) size (though a replacment Commander-length upper might be added later, as may a .22 conversion, and I think SARCO or The Dealer Warehouse offers a .38 Super upper, which might also be fun just 'cause it's different). Steel frame of course (to include stainless), no fancy alloys, no lightweight models. Naturally there will be changes to the weapon once acquired. Sights for one, I'm very particular about the sights on all my firearms: for rifles, as close to a Garand as possible (picture and adjustment - and now I have a Garand of course); for handguns, a red ramp front and square white outline rear as on my GP100 and many Taurus and S&W models. Therefore dovetailed front & rear sights on my 1911 are desired, in case I have to change what it came with. I'd also like an adjustable (yet low-profile) rear, which some will protest as against the Gospel of Saint John - but hey, no full-length guide rods, JMB meant it to be field-stripped without tools. Beavertail grip safety, sure, but I think there's at least one drop-in that doesn't require adjustment to the frame. I can do without forward cocking serrations or compensators or many other whistles & bells. Grips, there are some extra-slim available, but maybe some fancy Hogue wood - but I can add that later (I've always found the rubber or synthetic wraparounds too fat; my P35 came with Pachmayrs and I gave them to Cruffler when the Uncle Mike's Spegel-style arrived). Flat mainspring housing I think (must fondle more), maybe a lanyard ring (reportedly that last feature is proving its worth in the sandbox). (And can anyone tell me, positively, that the Springfield ILS can truly be disabled by replacing the mainspring housing? 'Cause I want no such thing on any of my weapons.) Checkered frontstrap? Maybe - doesn't someone offer an add-on shell, anchored under the grip panels? Beveled magazine well would be nice, but a funnel extension would add bulk. (Maybe some work for a local 'smith there.) Trigger (i.e. long/short/grooved), other controls, and much else I can no doubt add myself after acquisition. Pre-fit drop-in hammer-sear sets are also available - I've had my P35 all the way apart, a 1911 shouldn't be much more difficult (and I already have that volume of the Gun Digest Book of Firearms Assembly/Disassembly, and there are dozens of other 1911 references available). Okay folks, you have nine months to tell me which 1911 to get!
1361 - Tuesday, 2 January 2007: Work. :(
Up late last night with software problems, but the old Compaq is still clanking along under Win98. Most important, still online.
I'm pretty sure Barrett Tillman is One Of Us. From Heroes, pg88:
I don't suppose there are any republitarian Constitutionalist curmudgeonly lawyers looking for pro bono (I surely can't afford one) work around Portland? -Probably there will be little to this court date beyond the otherwise-duel-worthy indignation, but in the current social climate Our Kind may be excused for counting paranoia as a survival trait. My supposed Sioux and Cherokee blood seems to whisper, "Don't trust government!"
News: UN Sucks and Mercenaries Have a Place. Let's not forget the American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers. They were mercenaries, and they were indisputably the Good Guys. Elsewhere, Brady Campaign Going Down by the Numbers; straight talk on black culture. (Still lurking here, you narrow-minded hatemongering race-bating bigot defense attorney (or the slacker boy staffer who knows how to use "that internet thingy")? I dare you to read that. Might make your pointy wittle head explode.)
Responses starting to come in on the 1911 - I regret missing out on the Argentine M1927s. One reader says his GI-style RIA has a slight bevel on the magazine well from the factory. Researching on my own too, and according to this review the RIA does not have the oft-execrated Series 80 firing pin safety, which by my reckoning is another point in the RIA's favor. In forums, reading many favorable reviews of and experiences with the RIA. I'm sure I can find a 'smith to put new sights on, they've been doing that for decades (the M1911A1 GI-style sights it will come with will Not Be Adequate). And here's a heap o' 1911 technical stuff.
1362 - Wednesday, 3 January 2007: Whoa.
Author Michael Z. Williamson sends "Kudos on your site." And you gotta see his. He also sends a link to Sharp Pointy Things, and who doesn't like that? And he has contributed to KABA. -I reckon I'll have to net-order a copy of Freehold now (to which The Weapon is a sequel) ('cause the library doesn't have it).
That's the third Baen author that's emailed me (after Hal Colebatch and Paul Chafe). That's... really nifty.
The 2007 Standard Catalog of Firearms has arrived! That was quite prompt, I'll remember Walmart.com next time I net-order something. (Besides, the moonbats hate Wal-Mart.) I'm sure I'll spend hours just leafing through it.
Speaking of Colebatch, I just found this essay of his regarding cats.
Speaking of animals in science fiction, I think at least one of the authors of Hell's Gate has read this essay.
1363 - Thursday, 4 January 2007: One of my regular readers sends:
Robert Viale (148th/37th) 1,000 yd. Range.
Rodger Young (of Heinlein fame, dropship in Starship Troopers) (148th/37th) 900 yd. range
Cleto Rodriguez (148th/37th) 600 yd. range.
Frank J. Petrarca (145th/37th) 400 yd. range.
The numbers are the Infantry regiment and division. The 148th is our home NW Ohio regiment and the 37th is the older of the two Ohio National Guard divisions, the one with a white O with the inside filled in in blood red. The other, and late one being the 83rd Division.
Meanwhile here's a little glimpse at what Yuri (aka Xilch) does with his spare time. He also sends this story on an old psych/soc experiment (which I'd seen a documentary of long ago). On his own 'blog he expresses discouraging implications for the future of American liberty.
Cruffler sends this .PDF of the center of the SR1 target! So you can print (and therefore photocopy) your own. He got it from someone else, who said:
That decision was made before there were comments on the story. Before the story hit the website or the paper. And they call us bigots.
I need a chronograph. (Yeah, you've read that before.) I need to know more about my handloads, especially for the Queen, and also to compare them to factory loads, especially M2 Ball (40 rounds LC72 on hand, plus heaps of corrosive DEN42 and KA73). Sportsman's Warehouse still has the basic Chrony model for about $70. If I stay employed (and un-arrested for the crime of being a white male heterosexual gunowning patriot), I'll probably buy myself one around spring. One tip I've already read about: replace the factory metal rods, which hold up the sun shields or reflectors or whatever they're called, with wooden dowels from the hardware store, 'cause you will hit the rods eventually.
1364 - Friday, 5 January 2007: Trial delayed to 19 March. So now the DDA has another two months to get the simple, routine plea-bargain she couldn't manage in the last six and more. Not that she'll condescend to tell me about it of course.
She could have asked for my testimony. If she did it right I might even have agreed. But that kind doesn't think that way. Send a subpoena, and if that doesn't work, send thugs. Force is the one and only tool used by that perverted cult of Authority.
Still going shooting tomorrow.
After sleeping in.
Both of which I expect to be therapeutic.
So now I only get one short paycheck instead of two in a row. No overtime in the foreseeable future, but OTOH, no overtime in the foreseeable future. Anyway I'm not in a financial crisis for a change.
(I probably shouldn't have typed that out loud....)
Hm, the Hornady One-Shot spray case lube would make reloading bottleneck pistol rounds, like .357 SIG, 7.62x25 Soviet, or 5.7x28mm FN, much easier. Good stuff, that.
Books arrive! There's a sixth volume of Assembly/Disassembly, "law enforcement weapons" (submachineguns and the like - enforcement, yeah), and I should probably have that too. Later. (I'm confident I already know my way around an AR, I field-stripped one once, and I can at least operate an MP5.) But for now I have the full "civilian" set of five (though some volumes are older than others). And the latest Cartridges of the World.
Am I still boycotting Ruger? I dunno. (Used Rugers don't count I figure. A 5.5" .45 Redhawk is on the wish list, not far below the 1911 at this point.) But one thing I really like about the GP100 (and, looking at the Revolver volume of Assembly/Disassembly, both original and Super Redhawk) is the modular construction. You can field-strip the weapon, removing the cylinder & crane from the frame, with nothing more than a cartridge rim to remove the grip screw to access the mainspring-capture pin included from the factory; the end of the mainspring guide can be used to pop the trigger group out. With a small, narrow tool, like a common jeweler's screwdriver or a 1/16" punch, you can remove the cylinder from the crane, and though small parts start popping out at that point, it's then much easier to clean than most other swing-out revolvers, and you don't risk marring any screws to get the cylinder off like you do with a Taurus or S&W. No finely-fitted sideplate to get chewed up either, just a slab o' frame and most of the guts pop right out. The Redhawk has a different grip design (which also precludes the use of speedloaders with the factory grips), but the guts are largely similar to the GP100, including the cylinder & crane arrangement (and the forward cylinder latch). The Super Redhawk appears mechanically identical to the GP.
So why don't I see more GP100s around? Okay, chronic platenmeister Jim Breen has one (blue, 6" standard contour vs. my 4" stainless full-lug), he's brought it to the plate match a couple times (though I think I'm better with mine than he is with his, heh); and Sportsman's Warehouse stocks them, and I see them at the big dealers' tables at the big shows, but not many. Everyone buys the Taurus and S&W instead, methinks. -There certainly aren't many used GP100s around in my experience, I was lucky to find this one (and luckier that it was the exact variant I wanted).
1365 - Saturday, 6 January 2007: Zz.
Taking it easy today. First, making test batches of .357 plate loads - under the 125gr plated lead, 4.6gr W231 (Winchester .HTML) and 4.8gr Universal Clays (Hodgdon Cowboy .PDF), since I have that too. Books say these are ~1,000fps, equivalent of my current 4.5gr Bullseye load. As for Unique, the 37-year-old Lyman #45 says, for 121gr lead, 4.0gr for 715fps to 8.5gr for 1,387fps - so, about 6.0gr? I'll try some, it's a Ruger, it'll take it. One reloader somewhere in my web searches commented that he uses W231 for all his handgun loads; I still have two pounds, and I think I saw a 4lb jug at Brightwater Ventures for a... fair... price. (Anything over $50 is a Major Purchase for me....) (The time to get the larger containers of powder has been coming for a while. Now if I can find a reliable and affordable source for jugs or kegs of IMR4895... but Hornady #3037 projectiles are ~$18/100 and that will add up quick....) I'd rather buy retail so I have the stuff, and don't have to wait for shipping or pay haz-mat. Also Brightwater regularly donates prize stuff for my club's matches - I got a can of Kleen-Bore Gunk-Out at the Turkey Shoot drawing - and they're right there between my usual Vancouver fuel stop and the freeway, so I spend money there when I have any. (Brick of WSP primers a couple weekends ago.)
Meanwhile, there's a bowling pin shoot on the 20th and I'm gonna try it. This will be at the Wolverton Mountain Gun Club, to which I've never been - way up in the sticks apparently (but I have maps). Pins and plates are different. My understanding is that pins must be knocked completely off the table, not just knocked over; hotter loads, and even specialty projectiles, are recommended for this. Hm, I could load some hot .357 rounds, but it might be simpler to just buy more Winchester Q4204. I'll have to do a cost analysis (and make test batches of course).
Email pin match director, get event copy - drawing from holsters! Which I have for both GP100 and P35. This, I think, will be fun. And useful training. Adjusting the Bianchi paddle from crossdraw to regular strong-side.
Do they make a Kydex holster for a 6-shot medium-frame .357? Dispensing with the retention strap appeals to me. Really looking forward to having a 1911. Plenty of holster choices.
Okay, off to the range about 11:00. I thought about taking the Queen again, and maybe even the Ishapore, but it's still cold and wet outside, daylight is still limited, and with two handgun matches this month I'll focus on those instead.
Stopped at Brightwater on the way up, priced bulk powder - not W231, but 4lb Unique, $63.99; 4lb Solo 1000, $55, but no manufacturer's load data for .357 (some .38 loads); 8lb Clays, $125.99, Cowboy Action load data from Hodgdon including my bullet. It'll be a long time between shrimp rings if I get that. Also I have no experience with Clays (as opposed to Universal Clays, which is not the same powder). I'll get one pound somewhere for testing.
To the range to test loads. Another couple clicks of windage on the GP100's sight, now it's more accurate than I am - you know that mental snapshot you take of your front sight at the instant of firing? The shots are going where the front sight is. Which is exactly what's supposed to happen. The problem is the front sight isn't always where I want it. But I expect it'll be close enough to whup folks on plates.
First, what's left of the Bullseye loads, to confirm that nothing weird has happened since, uh, Monday; and it hasn't. Then the Unique. About the same as the Bullseye, but possibly the old first round ignition effect - powder shifted away from the primer in storage and transport causes weak ignition of the first round, while recoil sets back the powder in the rest of the cylinder and those rounds fire normally. Will try another batch at, let's say, 6.5gr.
W231 - slightly milder? Same possible first round effect. Next batch will increase to 5.1gr.
Universal Clays - possibly even more accurate than the other loads. First-round problem once, but only once. Next batch, 5.3gr.
Winchester white-box Q4204 110gr JHP is hotter than any of this, but still very controllable. But, pins need more horsepower than plates. I happen to have a box of UMC L357M12, 125gr JSP... ow! Heavy recoil! Accurate enough I suppose, but one can only take so much! In plates I'll fire at least a hundred rounds with the revolver, and I expect no less on pins - with this load I'd be flinching after my first qualifying run.
Now contemplating a pin load. The little 125gr is great for plates, plinking, and subversion, but for whacking big chunks of wood off a table more horsepower is needed. I'm sure Sportsman's Warehouse stocks a 158gr plated bullet in the same 500-piece box. Semi-wadcutter I think, maybe the shoulder will "grab" the wood better. Yet I also need more 125gr plate rounds with the usual FP/RN, and I used them all up this morning. So there's ~$70 in projectiles alone. Only one more weekend to develop a pin load, and then I'll run out of powder before either match if I use anything but W231. Hmm. Well, I get paid on the 11th, and can brave the Wal-Mart throngs for some Q4204 for pins.
Got some P35 practice too. The 20rnd magazine, designed for a S&W M59xx and acquired with a Marlin Camp Carbine, mostly works - or maybe I need to clean the extractor, hm. More accurate with the P35 today than in previous sessions, but still not as good as the GP.
Packed up about 12:45. And then, I went for a country drive. 'Cause I can. With GPS and gazetteer to hand, I set out to locate the Wolverton Mountain Gun Club. And I did, right there on Hwy 503 where it turns south near Yale Lake. Didn't go in, gate locked and no doubt only members have keys, but I know where it is now. Quite a drive though.
Ooo, this is a Good Rant. Also I learn there is already a fifth volume in the Mike Harmon series (in electronic advanced release).
1366 - Sunday, 7 January 2007: Zz.
Developing a trigger-finger callus. For the heavy double-action pull, I grip the weapon very high and use the second joint of the finger. The high grip moves the finger further forward, giving more reach; it also reduces muzzle flip by placing the barrel closer in line with the hand and arm:
It works, eh? Also, wearing the holstered GP around the hovel, practicing draw, dry-firing. [L]earn how your weapon operate[s] and... practice that operation until it [becomes] second nature.... I also use the trigger-cocking technique, which I discovered before I read about it in John Ross' Unintended Consequences. I practice indexing the cylinder, without dropping the hammer, using only the double-action trigger; this builds up the necessary muscles, and also creates a muscle memory. (I teach trigger-cocking to others as well.)
I lament that too many of us don't make such simple and even entertaining efforts to be truly proficient with our weapons. I'm no world-class, corporate-sponsored shooter with my photo on the cover of the reloading manuals, but hey, I don't suck.
I think pins will be better training than plates. Not least for the holster work, but also because the pins will dance around on the table instead of holding still and falling cleanly over like plates. The pins must be knocked off the table, requiring non-rote sight and trigger work.
Also practicing speedloader technique. I use the Miculek style, holding the weapon in the left hand (in a way that prevents the cylinder from turning) and operating the speedloader with the right, but of course I'm not as fast as Jerry. The thing that slows me down most is lining the cartridges up with the chambers for insertion. I'd like to see some high-speed video or frame-by-frame analysis of Miculek's method - I suspect he's doing something else with his fingers to orient rounds with chambers.
Um. I have five speedloaders, which is good, but only one two-place carrier (which I wear on the right). I suspect I'll want more speedloaders on my belt when I start shooting pins. Still don't have proper magazine pouches for the P35 either - I'll take the latter to the pin match but probably not use it. (The pin match flyer describes a course of fire that levels the field between revolvers and autoloaders, even specifying how many rounds to load regardless of weapon type.)
Eww, all the $tuff I'm going to buy for the 1911.... Speaking of, more tips from readers:
I do not like the RIA/Charles Daly Phillipino 1911's. I had a CD and the frame holes were completely out of spec. The thumb-safety would creep out with use, not just when firing, but when simply putting it on and off in dry-fire practice! I've heard that improvements have been made, but they won't get any more of my money!
I bought a Kimber myself (and replaced the guide rod) but it cost me almost $600 used (Custom Royal). I also bought a bunch of the SARCO "GI" surplus .45 mags, DON'T! These were the worst mags I've ever owned, not one worked right. I now have nothing but Chip McCormick magazines (15 so far, but I'm working on getting more) with the 7rd followers and the steel floorplates. Sure they cost more, but a semi-auto without working mags is a single-shot, or a really crappy hammer! I pass on anything with a removable floorplate too, it's just another point-failure source.
Revolver cleaning tip: on models like the GP, where the extractor star cannot easily be removed from the cylinder, a spent case, i.e. 9x19mm, can be lodged under the raised star, so you don't need three hands to clean under it. And I've probably mentioned before, a .40 bore brush to clean .38/.357 chambers. For problem gunk, the Lewis Lead Remover from Brownell's is swell. Comes with an attachment for the forcing cone too. (But order extra mesh disks, they'll get used up.)
Yuri sends this emergency-preparedness rant from the inimitable Kim du Toit.
1367 - Tuesday, 9 January 2007: Bleah work.
Cruffler sends, Trial will debate 2nd Amendment rights. This is the Fincher/Arkansas Militia case.
From the lists, Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in their Homes.
So I went to Sportsman's Warehouse and blew $32 on a box of 500 158gr .358" plated RNL. I wanted semiwadcutters but either they don't stock them (not bloody likely, a 158gr SWC is the .357 Magnum projectile) or they were sold out. I'll check the Vancouver store this weekend after practice and maybe blow another $32. Maybe I'll end up with one load for both pins and plates. They did have unplated 158gr SWC but I'm spoiled by plated now - less smoke (from the lube), less scrubbing (of lead deposits) after.
Reader warns of bounce-back from bowling pins; I hate safety glasses but I'll get 'em. Recommends SWC to grab the pins better - all right already, I get paid Thursday! Also gives some speedloading tips I'm trying with dummy rounds. (At the plate match, others were commenting on how fast I was reloading the GP100. Dudes, I'm not that fast, you never practice your reloads.)
Dissatisfied with the old Herters seat-and-crimp die for .357, will wrastle Yuri at Barberton this Saturday for another .357 die set.
Still trying to track down the lighter-socket power cable for my Lowrance iFinder GO2 GPS receiver. I think I've found it, #CA-5, and a relatively-local (take the other freeway back from work - which coincidentally also leads to Sportsman's Warehouse) store that stocks it, but I'm still not sure it's the right cable. I'll check again Thur$day, there's supposed to be a GPS Expert there then.
On the Tactical Rifle email list, the thread titled "Accuracy" is now discussing the appalling lack of same from LEO "snipers." We already know that the rank-and-file cops fire a laughably-small number of live rounds for qualification, under laughable conditions, in the course of a year (at the August plate match I went through a whole 250rnd MegaPack before lunch - to win); how many live rounds do the "snipers" fire in what time period? I'll fire 40 or 50 or more just for practice, and a similar number in each rifle match. I load batches of 50 or 100 because I can't afford to load bigger batches. Geez.
Finished Tillman's Heroes, good read, will also get the aviation volume when I can spare a slot in the hold queue. Now on David McCullough's John Adams. The history books inflicted on me before I dropped out of school sure didn't read like that. In fact, here's a tidbit, pp74-75:
25 rounds each I think, 225 rounds total. Ugh, and I have to do laundry tomorrow....
1368 - Wednesday, 10 January 2007: Primed small bucket of .357 cases while sitting in car at laundromat.
Made W231 test batches as described above.
Going to bed.
1369 - Thursday, 11 January 2007: Light snow last night, stupid cityfolk panicking, completely uneventful drive this morning. %$#@ incompetents.
Paid, and narrowly avoided blowing $28 on unplated 158gr .358" SWC at Sportsman's Warehouse (instead, got another double speedloader carrier and an Uncle Mike's Kydex double magazine carrier for the P35 - not bad, adjustable tension, no retaining strap, low maintenance, rugged, ~$15 - I expect to get at least two more for the 1911). Inquired at counter as to Xtreme Bullets' products, and SW "can't get" the SWC. They have much else of the same product line.... I've really come to like plated lead bullets over unplated and don't want to go back to the smoky stuff. I could net-order a box, but I imagine the shipping would nearly double the cost over what I would pay off SW's shelf.
Got the GPS lighter-socket power cable, works. I could hunt down or net-order the dashboard mount, but I think I'll just hang the thing from its wrist strap from a hook I'll screw into the dashboard.
Very cold forecast tonight.
1370 - Friday, 12 January 2007: Finishing the 158gr .357 test batches finally.
This is supposed to be a Rifleman's Journal and here I am talking about handgunning. Well, I think it was Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch who said something like, "A pistol is for fighting your way to a rifle." And I'm still getting way more practice, with both handgun and rifle, than most gun owners.
1371 - Saturday, 13 January 2007: Znrk! Up before 7.
Had something resembling breakfast! Loaded car for Barberton and range.
Bought nothing - I was looking for .38/.357 dies, but there wasn't much reloading equipment at all this month. Recovered one VZ24 from Cruffler's garage, three left. Someday I'll make something spiffy on the large-ring '98 actions.
At the range, all nine test batches of 158gr .357 performed adequately, all were controllable. Probably go with 5.5gr W231. Interestingly, point of impact was consistently higher than with my 125gr plate load (4.5gr Bullseye). But that may have been me. Also tested 8.0gr W231 under Speer 110gr JHP, seemed very similar to Winchester's Q4204 factory load.
After, met Yuri, traded some rifle brass (7.62x39 for .30-06 - folks, it's getting bad; scrounge all reloadable brass, you can swap or barter the stuff you don't use yourself). Then, since I was out that way, trekked out to Washougal River Mercantile for the second time ever. For $7.98, an old non-carbide RCBS .38 Special die set, of which I'll probably use just the seater/crimper (though the expander may be useful eventually too); for $29.98, which is way too much but this place is very RKBA-conscious (they had a DVD of JPFO's Innocents Betrayed, "RENT THIS FILM FREE FOR THREE DAYS" - last time I was there, a year or two ago, they had Clayton Cramer's Original Intent pamphlets), RCBS .223 Remington dies; $2.98, the appropriate shellholder for single-stage (though I'll be ordering a Lee Pro 1000 shellplate for .223 later, now I've been converted to Hornady spray lube); and for $5.98, shooting glasses for the pin match next weekend.
Pretty drive through the country. How's this for a back yard, on Washougal River Road?
Or this, returning by State Route 14 along the Columbia?
Cities suck.
And, as Democrats start flexing their majority muscles, I'm seeing more references to Wyoming on the gunfolk/libertarian/objectivist/patriot/curmudgeon lists. Sigh.
New Shotgun News and on the back cover, Para Ordnance is displaying corporate situational awareness, offering two 1911s, one of them a single-column single-action, from the sales of which will be donated $25 to NRA-ILA. ...Which may not be the best place to put the money, arguably. But at least the company is thinking. -Has ParaOrd fixed the reliability problems I've heard of? Should I consider one? I've been thinking of a standard single-column, parts & stuff everywhere, and I'm pleased Para finally offers one without some weird double action trigger, but a 14-shot .45 wouldn't break my heart either....
Word gets around that I know firearms, and people come to me with questions of identification, value, laws, techniques, or gunsmithing. And some of those questions, like the old Hand Ejector last month, I pass on to my faithful readers! Here is the slide stop from an EAA Witness .45 (drool). The pistol feeds and functions fine, but it won't lock the slide back with either of two magazines when empty. Nothing is obviously wrong with the magazines.
Now, here is a clip from a photo of a parts set for a 9x19mm Witness from an auction site, showing the slide stop:
It looks to me like, for some inexplicable reason, the slide stop on the .45 has been ground down so the magazine followers don't properly engage the inner part to lock the slide! So the questions are:
Thanks bunches in advance!
Meanwhile, from an OFF alert received today:
If your home is burglarized and the thief is under 16, and he steals a gun that belongs to you, you will likely face greater penalties than the thief....
Interestingly, it provides an exemption for police officers.
[emphasis added]1372 - Sunday, 14 January 2007: Seen on a list: In my case every time I have been at our local range when LE is training I see the instructor sweeping the entire firing line with whatever firearm is in his hands. I now leave when LE are on the range.
BTW, I think the blueshirts were on the upper line at my club a few days ago - the brass buckets there were full of .223 and .40. I'd've grabbed it if a) I didn't already have over two gallons of .223, b) I cared more about .40, and c) it weren't so #$%^& cold out. You try picking through hundreds of little metal cylinders in sub-freezing conditions.
Sis joins Gun Talk chat for a while. Show is live at SHOT, many good interviews. Y'all should be listening. One organization mentioned was American Snipers, getting individual snipers the gear they need that bureaucracy can't provide.
Okay, I'll be needing a lot of .357 Magnum rounds, and later, a comparably-large quantity of .45ACP. Fiddling with both Pro 1000 presses, and the Auto-Disk powder measure, and the powder-through-expander die. The PTE dies I have (two of them) are 9x19mm, but I see no reason these can't be made to work with .357 brass, especially since I expand the .357 brass while sizing, and before tumbling and priming - it's just a matter of adjusting the locking ring for the proper height. If I can make room (I should dispose of some derelict computers, or at least cram them into off-site storage with all the other hovel junk) I'll get both Pro 1000s set up, one for .357 and the other for .45. -Will need another set of .45 dies, Lee brand, just for the PTE, for an Auto-Disk. I also have two Auto Disks, one which came with the original reader donation and a different one which came with the one I found in a Bothell pawn shop at Thanksgiving. And they're different, though they fit the same dies and use the same disks. The first uses a ball chain linked to the shell carrier; the other is spring-loaded and would work with nearly any press, with the appropriate Lee die installed. Thoroughly cleaning both, and one of the 9mm PTE dies. The last time I tried this, with 9x19mm, with the first measure, I wasn't impressed with the results, but I have to increase my volume and rate of production, so now I'll try the second - which is also the one that appears in the current .PDF instructions. Browsing Lee's site, I also see add-ons for progressive processing of .223 rifle brass.
Some Kroil, the bench vise, and the big teeth on my Leatherman opened up the .38 seating die I got yesterday, for the removal of much gunk and examination of the crimping shoulder, which should do what I want, making a gentler angle on the crimp than the Herters die I've been using for .357 loads, which seemed to be making inadequate crimps if it didn't buckle the case. The ram is for SWC, which would be fine if I had some, which I'll have to spend money on (and soon!). Oh! I can take the RN ram from one of my RCBS 9x19mm seating dies - yes, that works. (I guess the big box of 158gr RN will get used up in the plate season, and then I'll switch to SWC altogether for plates and pins both - but I want plated lead.)
1373 - Monday, 15 January 2007: Blame Whitey Day, aka Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. (Michael Savage had a big rant against the "black separatist" holiday.) Now the NAACP is protesting Robert E. Lee's birthday, on the 19th. And they call us racists. -In this blatantly discriminatory social climate I should make a bigger issue of my supposed Injun blood. I demand reparations! Or at least tax exemption. Or casino stock, I dunno. The fashion these days is to get everything for nothing, right? Someone else is always at fault, someone else always pays, parasites like Willie Johnson wear gold jewelry and watch big-screen TVs while I have trouble making rent. George Bush caused hurricane Katrina and I must have forced Willie to break into my apartment at bayonet point. (Next I expect the defense to cough up some substance-dependant vagrant eyewitness to the bayoneting.)
(That reminds me, I think I can squeeze out another $20 for OFF next payday (as I recall they have a convenient online donation feature)....)
Speaking of which, bleah work, but I do work instead of leeching from the productive class like Willie and his defense attorney. I am the productive class. I am a producer of tax dollars, not a consumer of them. I don't even take unemployment anymore (and it's too much bureaucratic trouble anyway). I've sold blood plasma, and other things. Before it was stolen (and before I really started using it), I came perilously close to selling the original GP100.
(Boy am I glad I have that replaced. Remember the opening scenes in Milius' Conan the Barbarian, when young Conan's father showed him the sword he'd made and said, "This, you can trust"?)
Eh, the hardest thing about work is getting up in the morning and going there. Especially in winter. Once I am working I go all day. (Leaving many a bewildered new temp behind, heh.)
1374 - Tuesday, 16 January 2007:
I was going to Sportsman's Warehouse for (unplated) semiwadcutters, and to Bi-Mart to check my membership number against their fabulous prizes, but there are too many incompetent people clogging the roads (and polluting the gene pool), so straight back to the hovel. A considerable chance of no work tomorrow.
Later, chained up and went to Bi-Mart anyway. (Didn't win anything.) But, got new tire chains (the leftovers from the Escort are a little too big), and a more convenient jack, and, on sale, a box of Speer .358" 158gr LSWC.
Not that I really expect to make the pin match this Saturday, under these conditions. There may be work Saturday to catch up for missed work tomorrow or later this week. Hm.
Aaand the new chains are too small 'cause I read the size chart too quickly. Well, I haven't driven on them and I have the receipt and the old chains work, with a little extra wire to hold down the slack end.
Later still, got the Lee Auto-Disk powder measure to dispense a seemingly-consistent 5.6gr W231, made approximately 300 rounds 158gr pin/plate loads, mostly the (last of the) Xtreme plated RN/FP, and 50 of the (soft!) Speer LSWC. I begin to like the Auto-Disk - I hardly wanted to stop! The older Auto-Disk came with the swivel attachment, making it easy to mount on a Lee powder-through-expander die; this was easily transferred to the newer Auto-Disk which I'm using. This also makes it easy to empty the measure at the end of the reloading session, just unscrewing the swivel instead of spinning the measure, or the die, around and around. (The swivel is available separately from Lee, is easily installed, and fits either model of Auto-Disk.) No adjustment to the measure is required except to install the appropriate disk in the appropriate position, which takes only seconds; the aperture chart is downloadable from Lee. The PTE dies can be pre-set and left in, or swapped to, the turret or even a single-stage press. Now all I need is a set of Lee .45ACP dies, or just the .45 PTE die (already have a Lyman 3-die .45ACP set), and I'll have absolutely everything I need to (relatively) mass-produce .45ACP. -Many will put down Lee products. Some of them, like the Perfect plastic powder measure, are indeed disappointing in my experience. But most Lee stuff works, and all of it is affordable. The Pro 1000, of which I now have two, is about $120 new with one die set and the Auto-Disk measure. Many will say, "Dillon, Dillon, Dillon!" But for the cost of a Dillon you can get a complete NIB Pro 1000, a 500-piece box of projectiles, a brick of primers, a 4lb jug of powder, and still have money left.
Another reason I'm stuck on copper-plated lead bullets: they don't leave lead all over your hands! Yech!
1375 - Wednesday, 17 January 2007: Some people are too stupid to be allowed out in public. But instead, they have driver's licenses. Not that I'm in favor of licensing, I'm at least part libertarian after all, but I'm not at all in favor of stupid people.
Made it to work only 5 minutes late, mainly 'cause I started with chains on and stopped to take them off before reaching the freeway. Many other employees chickened out. What's wrong with people that they can't drive in a little slush? It's even easier with a manual transmission. -Oh, I forgot, stick-shifts are beyond the capacity of the publicly-educated.
Grump.
-Lemme tell ya, I don't like bullpups (AUG, FAMAS, L85, etc). Awkward, tail-heavy, ergonomically-incorrect. But... uh-oh (.PDF). And dirt-cheap FAL magazines. Daa-yum. It's all black and eee-vil-looking! No bayonet lug but there's at least one clamp-on M16-type available (one of the AR makers, DPMS or Olympic or such). Threaded muzzle for a flash-hider, also eee-vil. My budget is in sooo much trouble.
Email a little backed up again. I've a busy couple of weeks ahead, with work, two handgun matches, all the ammunition I have to make for the second one (I think I have enough for the pin shoot, if the RNs don't skid off the pins), sis visiting, at least one and possibly two shows, and the annual club meeting.
Meanwhile, reader donates three Garand trigger/sear assemblies! Sa-weet!
1376 - Thursday, 18 January 2007: Gaaah work. And new temps. Shudder. Ever since government took over the schools. Maybe one in five even knows what a computer is, and a like proportion comes anywhere near my speed with parts & tools.
Discussion on a couple lists of the Kel-Tec RFB .308 bullpup. MSRP estimates from $800-$3,000! Holy Crap! I'll wait in line for a DSA FAL lower with M16A2 sight. (And that's another thing, no backup sights on the RFB, just a Picatinny rail and not a long one - there are add-on sights, but proper sights need a long radius.) One reader emails me that it's just a warmed-over FAL inside - and looking at the cutaway drawing in the .PDF, mebbe so. Reader exhorts me to wait until more reports come in, like I wa$ planning any different. :)
1377 - Saturday, 20 January 2007: Bed way early last night. Up around 6 to get ready - long drive to the pin shoot. A while ago sis gave me some Energizer NiMH AA batteries and charger, to feed the digital camera, and they work well. Charged them up last night, hope to take plenty of photos at the shoot.
On the road at 7:45, up I-5, east on Hwy 503, right turn at the restaurant and there the place is. (Those who want more details can email reueljoe [at] yahoo.com, and/or keep an eye on the SW-WA-GUNS email list from Yahoo.) Lovely country up there. Hate cities.
HOO-AAH! 1st Place Revolver! Something like 3rd or 4th overall in a field of maybe a dozen - details to follow I hope. There will be a printed certificate similar to the ones I make, and I'll go back next month to claim it. Furthermore, I learned that there is a monthly pin match, similar to this one, at the Lone Oak club every month. So: 2nd Saturday, pins at Lone Oak, 3rd, pins at Wolverton, and 4th, plates at Clark Rifles. Lots o' mileage on the Corolla! (But gas prices are coming back under $2.50 again.) Took some photos, will put some up later.
The course of fire was as follows (copied from the event flyer received in email):
Standard Procedure:
On buzzer start, engage and reload as necessary until all pins are off of the table.
Max time limit is 60 seconds. Score is sum of time for the 5 courses of fire.
3 second penalty per course for experienced shooter using low gun start, i.e. no holster.
Hm, I only fired 56 rounds. Which I consider a drawback of pins vs. plates-as-I-do-them (remember I approach competition as a tool to increase and maintain my skill, therefore more shooting is better). With increased skill - I had a few perfect runs on plates last month, and one or two today - I would need only 27 on this course of fire! Well, always bring at least twice as much ammunition as you think you'll need. I learned that my 158gr RN loads work fine on pins with 5.6gr W231, so I'll stick with that; stopped at Vancouver Sportsman's Warehouse (sales tax exemption with Oregon ID) for a box of 158gr FP, almost the same contour as the 125gr I've been using, and on closer examination they fit the SWC ram in the RCBS seat/crimp die without deformation (unlike the RN, which are at least uniformly deformed by the 9mm RN ram). So my .357 load is finalized: 158gr copper-plated FPL, 5.6gr W231 by Auto-Disk, WSP primer. (Oh, and SW, at least their Vancouver store, stocks 4- and 8lb powder, including W231, at prices that will be in my budget as long as the current job-suckiness does not increase.)
(Didn't forget lottery tickets in both states, ahem.)
Ah, examining Lee's catalog, I see the Auto-Disk powder measure I'm using now is the standard model, while the other is the Pro Auto-Disk. The latter appears to be included with current-production Pro 1000 and Loadmaster progressive presses. I haven't tried the latter since cleaning it - later, when I have a 1911, I'll try it when I set up the other Pro 1000 for .45.
More 1911 tips from readers:
On closer examination of the photo ad, Armalite's new AR24 pistol is more a copy of the EAA Witness than of the original CZ75. The slide contours are different, but the controls, frame contours, distinctive oversized trigger guard, and several other details appear identical. MSRP $550 - and the Witness, or the CZ, can beat that.
1378 - Sunday, 21 January 2007: Yuri sends article on pin shooting. From readers & lists: We Have Lost Our Stinking Badges; doing some emergency preparedness? don't talk about it; Weapons Stolen from FBI Vehicles (what, again? Didn't they lose a couple fully-loaded Suburbans a few years ago?); Law Would Make Minutemen Guilty of 'Domestic Terrorism'; Fallout Over Atlanta Police Killing of 92YO Woman; 1911 Reliability Secrets; attempt to kill grassroots activism (like, 'blogs) fails... this time; list of anti-gun mayors.
In email, it turns out I was 2nd in the Revolver division in the pin shoot, 4th of 12 overall. Eh, still not bad for my first such, and they invited me back.
1379 - Monday, 22 January 2007: Work blah. Employee review at the temp-service-traditional 90-day mark - pleased with my work, sympathetic to my concerns with the products of public education, but not hiring me on yet 'cause someone higher up wants someone who will work Saturdays. -This is not Japan, nor 19th Century London. This is America in the 21st, and we get weekends off. (Furthermore I now have a possible 'in' to IPSC, at the same club at which I just started pin shooting. Moving and firing, now that sounds like useful training. USPSA (the American chapter of IPSC) certification available.) So my temp period is being extended. Also I hear that raises aren't very uplifting at this place.
Sigh. Work sucks, ya know? You get out of a warm soft bed on a cold hard morning, risk limb and sanity on the freeway, turn out a heap of quality product while others mosey on by (stopping only to make much smaller piles of rejects), go back on the freeway again, then the government gets way too much of your paycheck before you even see it - and now they want me to give up my Saturdays, on which are the only activities that give me real pleasure? There's a point to this, some goal in sight at the end of this perverted game? As I believe I said earlier, I will give up a job before I give up shooting. I can get another job. -Which would be a disappointment to my immediate supervisor, who's an all-right guy (when he's not singing...). But I gotta be me. I'll see what happens in another 30, 60, or 90 days.
Well. At least I'm not crawling under houses with a drunken Polish plumber.
Okay, remember that EAA Witness that was brought to me a few days ago? A replacement slide stop was ordered and here's what it looks like - Bubba'd on the left, factory-fresh replacement on the right:
And with A-Zoom snap-caps/dummy-cartridges all seems well. So hey! Correct diagnosis! I get amateur-gunsmith fuzzies. But why was the original ground down? I speculate a feeding problem, where the inner surface of the slide stop was striking cartridges as they came up through the magazine; part of my research to solve this problem included an entry in L. Neil Smith's 'blog (he's fond of the Witness) implying just that.
-Now there's a pistol I wouldn't mind having. DA/SA trigger, CZ style with Browning-style safety for Condition One carry; this one has what looks like a Bo-Mar-type adjustable rear sight and dovetailed front, though they're all black (even 3-dot is better than that, unless you shoot bullseye); .45ACP with a 10-round not-really-double-column magazine: it's slim, so it doesn't use full geometric space, so it's limited to 10 rounds of .45, though the 9x19mm or .38 Super models on the same frame carry 18, according to the catalog. The Witness .45 magazines even fit the same Kydex carrier for my P35, with a slight adjustment of the tension screw (or even not). The grip feels about as slim as my P35 with aftermarket Spegel-style grips, though longer front-to-back to accomodate the .45ACP, 10x25mm, and .38 Super cartridges. Used as a single-action, trigger reach is not a problem (for me at least). And, EAA sells lots of parts and accessories right through their site, including complete barrel/slide kits to convert any full-size frame (post-1993) to .22LR, 9x19mm, .38 Super, .40S&W, 10x25mm, or .45ACP. Extended, ported, and threaded barrels are also available, as are ambidextrous safeties (extended or not), and other bits. I am jealous of this pistol. This one appears to have the Wonder finish, and it's also the "long slide" model (4.75" compared to the 4.5" standard barrel), with an extended, ported barrel besides (which has polygonal rifling, BTW). Here, dig it:
Drool-worthy, ja? You may notice that the Witness' rear sight is considerably taller than the front. You may also notice that the ported barrel extension appears to "droop" some relative to the line of the slide. And it does! The barrel is actually at a slight downward angle, breech-to-muzzle, relative to the slide. I'm curious why Tanfoglio (the actual Italian makers) did that; I can't recall at the moment whether the CZ75 does the same.
1380 - Tuesday, St. John the Gunsmith's Day, 23 January 2007: On this day in 1855 John Moses Browning was born in Ogden, Utah!
In Gun Talk's no-longer-official chat room on Sunday, a motion was introduced to make JMB's birthday a national holiday. Which will never happen. But we can celebrate it. -I wonder how many gunfolk make a pilgrimage to the JMB museum on this date...? I would, finances permitting.
A while ago I emailed Fobus, asking if they offered a Kydex holster for the GP100. Today they answered that model RUGP will be released in about three months! I am so buying one. Especially if I'll be doing more pin shoots, and more especially if I'll be entering IPSC/USPSA.
Yuri has launched a petition to recognize Saint John's birthday!
1381 - Wednesday, 24 January 2007: If you can look up the Dilbert comic strip for 15 August 2006, that sums up my feelings regarding employment. Printed a copy and gave it to supervisor. Still buying lottery tickets.
Per reader request, some comparison photos of the EAA Witness .45 and my Commander-sized FM P35. First, a group photo including my GP100, which you'll note is very nearly the same size as the Witness:
It's easy to see the Browning/Saive influence on the CZ75, from which what would evolve into the Witness was copied.
Now a comparison of the grip widths. If anything the Witness is slightly slimmer, with the pistols' respective grips at present:
Otherwise grip size is very similar. The Witness feels a bit longer front-to-back, but the length of pull, trigger-finger-to-web-of-hand, seems identical:
The pronounced scallop in the Witness' backstrap helps locate the weapon repeatably in the hand. The P35's frame is similarly shaped, but not as much. The Witness' controls are very nicely placed, and the safety is crisp and easy to operate, unlike the P35's infamous mush (since the P35's safety lever also serves as the hammer pin, and is therefore under load from the mainspring). (New-production FM Argentine P35s, like the one seen at Mary's Pistols in Tacoma for $300 NIB, have an extended safety lever which does much to mitigate this.)
Sigh. It wouldn't break my heart to land a Witness instead of a 1911. But I want a 1911 on principle. Hmm.
Oh, and from photos it looks like the original CZ75 has the same downward angle of the barrel relative to the slide.
Now, some pin photos. Here's the 4th stage of the shoot, 6 pins in a bowling-alley setup. Each shooter only shoots each stage once, for time. This doesn't allow you to "get better at it" like the five qualifying runs in my club's plate match or the best-2-of-3 head-to-head runs in the regular bracket, but it's better training in one way because "business" targets won't reset or stand still while you try again - sink or swim, hit or lose! Anyway there were different tactics for attacking this setup; I started from one side and worked my way over, while the match director (who took 1st Revolver, BTW, about one second out of 70-odd ahead of me) started in the middle and had the pins work on each other. The pins have to leave the table; they don't necessarily all have to be shot for that to happen.
Those are regulation plastic-covered wooden pins, salvaged free or nearly so from bowling alleys which discard them for excessive wear. Note that the table in the foreground has its pins placed further toward the rear than the table further away in the photo; the nearer table is set up for minor calibers like 9x19mm or .38 Special, the further for major, i.e. .45ACP, .40S&W, .357 Magnum. Note the painted guide dots on the table.
But here's the normal setup, at least for this club's pin shoots: five pins, on the front edge of a table made from a standard 4x8' sheet of plywood, at about 7 yards. (For "highpower", i.e. .357 Magnum, .40S&W, .45ACP, pins are placed closer to the shooter, further from the back of the table; in the foreground of the photo above is the non-highpower table, where the same pins are placed closer to the back, for .38 Special and 9x19mm - note the paint dots.) Attacking these starts out very much like plates, but instead of holding still and falling over cleanly on a hinge, the pins twist and roll and spin and stubbornly refuse to depart the surface of the table:
Oh, you do want safety glasses for pin shooting. One pin spat out a chunk of it's plastic coating, a good 15 yards or so, right back toward the audience. Eh, all part of the training.
Now, with a heavy enough projectile at a high enough speed, and close enough to center in the fat part of the pin, one gets a very satisfying result as the bullet's energy is fully transferred and the pin is firmly whacked right into the backstop. But it rarely happens that way. So accuracy is rewarded as well as speed! (As Wyatt Earp reportedly said, "Speed is fine, accuracy is final.")
(Or as Robert Culp said to Racquel Welch, "First comes good, then comes fast. Again, Hannie, again!")
Coincidentally, I've been trying almost since I got this camera to get an action shot and now I discover one by accident:
That was in another firing bay, on practice pins before shooting for recorded time. Springfield, I think, you can make out something which should be the logo just aft of the forward cocking serrations. Full-length guide rod obviously.
Drawing from the holster was fun, but I was using a Bianchi Accumold paddle with thumb-break strap. The strap was allowed to be left open, but it got in the way of reholstering. Looking forward to the Fobus.
From The Shooting Wire, an article on the GP100 being voted "Best in Class, 2006." ...Yeah, I'll go along with that. It's strong, rugged, reliable, accurate, and one of the few revolvers (since the Colt SAA's later generation with spring-loaded cylinder pin catch) that can be usefully field-stripped with no tools to speak of (only a coin or cartridge rim to remove the grip screw, revealing the takedown pin to restrain the mainspring). If only Bill Sr. hadn't been a traitor.
1382 - Thursday, 25 January 2007: ARGH! Some people can't handle a cotton swab without making a bigger mess than the one they're theoretically trying to clean up! And I have to work with them!
And they don't want me to have Saturdays off. Beginning to think, again, of jumping.
I've been working through McCullough's John Adams, very well written and educational, but thick. I'm about halfway through, Adams was just elected our first Vice President, and his Hamiltonian/Federalist bits begin to show, offending my libertarianism. But he was certainly a man who had Been and Done, even bearing arms (briefly) for the Cause on his first trip across the Atlantic when the American ship carrying him to France took a British merchantman as a prize. His son John Quincy Adams was along for that ride and others, and had an education the slacker brats of today literally could not imagine. But now Ringo's latest, Unto the Breach, has come through and I must set McCullough aside 'cause people are stacked up in the library computer waiting for me to finish the Ringo.
Reader points out that the Ruger Security/Speed/Service Six revolver can also be field-stripped with minimal tools, though I can't tell from the Gun Digest Book of Firearms Assembly whether the trigger group can be released with the end of the captured mainspring guide, as I do with the GP100. I also notice the original (not Super) Redhawk, with a different trigger group catch, has a slot in the mainspring lever to operate said catch. But, they're all the same family, technologically, and the GP100 is of the latest generation of that family (which, mechanically, includes even the Super Redhawk Alaskan), so I think my previous statement largely stands.
Hoo-aah, Ringo. It just goes and goes. I don't dare read it in bed with work in the morning, I'm always short enough on sleep. His stuff came up in conversation at the pin shoot too - some weren't satisfied. Eh, I know what I like. (Well, I skip over the kinky bits, honestly. I'm in it for the action, the bad guys getting whupped, and the occasional social commentary.)
Oh yeah, conversation at the pin shoot. Shakespeare, and comparisons of the various film adaptations. I have the Branagh version of Henry V (and I think he did a fine job of streamlining it, from the original, for modern audiences, and I also think the whole cast gave excellent performances), but I'll have to see if the library has the Olivier version, not sure I've ever seen it.
And one of the competitors was an actual WWII combat veteran who landed at Normandy on D+1.
1383 - Friday, 26 January 2007: So here are my options: give up many of my Saturdays (my supervisors, Very Pleased with my job performance, negotiated for the 4th of each month, for the plate match) and get hired on permanent, with benefits and all that, though I'm given to believe raises are scarce and small. Or, keep my Saturdays and stay on as a temp, until that position goes away (several moons from now, at this rate) in favor of someone who will commit to be available Saturdays. Leaning heavily toward the second option. Promised higher management an answer Monday.
Phoned temp rep to touch base, explained the situation - and he's a shooter too! Emailing links. We are everywhere.
1384 - Saturday, 27 January 2007: Whupped agin', Josey. But Jim Breen earned his umpteenth victory and I think I didn't completely screw up running the plate match. I'll keep trying with the GP100 until I win again, then I'll switch back to the P35. David Gix whupped me in the Loser's Bracket (with another red-dot .22), going on to take 2nd, and Yuri managed third with a non-red-dot .22. The tournament system needs some adjustment, particularly where numbers of competitors other than 16 or 32 are concerned. Big turnout initially - 27 entries at one point - but several dropouts due to time constraints and technical problems.
And another thing: LEARN HOW YOUR WEAPON OPERATES AND PRACTICE THAT OPERATION UNTIL IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE. Several of the newer entries were Not Sufficiently Familiar with their firearms. Adding a caution regarding that to my plate match writeup and advertising, inspired by similar warnings in the flyers for the rifle matches I attend at Clark Rifles.
After, to Expo, where parking and admission were both expensive but I scored some little things I wanted: Mantis magazine loading tools! Four of them. Gave one to sis, jealously hoarding the other three. Also a new Mec-Gar 15rnd P35 magazine. And, got to see lots of interesting stuff, continuing sis' subversion education. Also fondled the new Armalite AR24 pistol. Definitely more a copy of the Witness than of the original CZ, but without calipers I couldn't say whether it was of the pre-1993 "small" 9mm/.40 frame or the post-'93 "large" all-caliber frame. In either case I suspect some interchangeability with the EAA. Oh yeah, upwards of $500 - either the Witness or the original Czech can beat that on base models, and the Witness particularly has bunches of options. No, a .45 Witness such as the one I diagnosed wouldn't disappoint a'tall, even in lieu of a 1911.
Charles Daly's P35 ~$350, BTW, with XS Big Dot sights, extended safety, and the same Spegel-pattern grips mine has. Dunno about the Big Dot - haven't tried it in live-fire.
Busy day tomorrow too: OAC show in the morning, Gun Talk and chat for a bit, then the club's annual meeting in Vancouver at 2pm, and I kinda hafta be there as the new plate match director.
And then I go back to work. Sigh.
1385 - Wednesday, 31 January 2007: Working. Tired. And cynical, depressed, & apathetic. Captain Fluellen can only take one so far. Email backed up.
Including one from Wyoming which is making my head hurt. And my feet itch.
Finished Ringo's Unto the Breach, pretty damn good. Now on We the Underpeople, old Cordwainer Smith reissued by Baen via Hank Davis - not as zippy. Some vague parallels to Ringo's Council Wars, not to say that isn't zippy. And now, a stack of holds coming through all at once, including more of Flint's Grantville, another volume of White & Weber's Stars at War saga (Exodus by White & Meier), and a history of Britain documentary on video.
Bed early.
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