"-" indicates obviously-inaccurate or no reading by chronograph.

Rounds 1, 7, and 13 in each load were the first fired in a cylinder; the theory is that recoil shifts the powder in the cartridge case, leading to different ignition properties in subsequent rounds.

After round #12 of load #2, the chronograph was repositioned further from the firearm, and a fresh battery was installed.

\/ Round# Load ->	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	-	-	943.1	1178	1189	1208	-	789.5	786.7
2	-	1078	993.8	1212	1217	-	812.5	807.8	815.1
3	1023	-	-	1221	1019	1208	821.3	805.8	815.2
4	1041	-	1037	1241	1198	1244	809.8	784.0	870.6
5	1101	-	972.8	1204	-	-	772.4	-	826.4
6	1154	-	-	1238	1208	-	804.5	820.1	840.9
7	-	-	894.2	1148	1178	1208	-	759.8	819.5
8	-	-	945.0	-	1234	1240	807.1	-	801.4
9	-	-	-	1253	1202	1236	845.3	837.1	842.0
10	-	-	964.4	1220	-	-	789.6	793.8	818.2
11	-	-	966.4	1221	1228	1245	-	781.0	788.5
12	-	-	1059	1226	1246	1224	-	764.6	803.2
13	-	852.0	906.4	1184	1192	1177	-	783.3	827.1
14	-	898.1	921.3	1238	1208	-	784.1	779.0	-
15	-	958.1	919.2	1224	1208	1214	791.0	815.2	784.8
16	1040	968.5	-	1235	1211	1211	870.3	803.4	783.6
17	-	-	918.2	1214	1216	1223	832.9	789.3	864.0
18	1163	945.7	933.3	1196	1232	-	802.2	828.2	798.9
Averages:	1087	950.1	955.3	1215	1199	1220	811.0	796.4	816.8

Before I left the hovel I chopped up and whittled down some 3/16" dowels to use in place of the metal rods supplied with the chronograph, and it's a good thing I did, 'cause a couple 23¢ sticks saved a $70 electronic device when, inevitably, I hit the rods. Twice in the course of the session. Striking a metal rod while inserted into the sensor housing would probably have been a very depressing experience. More dowels ahead, to have many rods prepared in advance.

Also in attendance was Yuri, wrasslin' a .357 snub and a .44 (Magnum, not -40) Vaquero. Before I started 'blogging I used to have a .44 Vaquero but had to liquidate it during a bout of insolvency. Were I to get into Cowboy Action now, I think I'd go .45 Colt all the way, probably a Marlin rifle (I suspect a lever action gives better shot-to-shot recovery than a slide, like the variously reintroduced Colt Lightning), S&W-type (probably Schofield but there are some other interesting variants) top-break revolvers for faster reloads, and a hammerless side-by-side for speed - I've watched a couple CAS events and the hammerless models had an advantage. Everything loaded down mild of course; the 12 gauge loads I already have developed, and if you fire more than two boxes a year I expect you can only save money by reloading .45 Colt. -Does CAS allow copper-plated bullets? I really like plated, so clean.

Speaking of clean, W231 is in my experience a very clean powder, especially compared to Unique. I tried some of Yuri's Unique loads in my GP100 and got more fouling in a dozen rounds than was apparent from 70+ of my W231 loads.

Reader offers donation of a Really Hot Computer because, as it's more than a week old, it's obsolete.

Visual aid.

Email badly backed up but now I'm unemployed again so I should have time to work on it.

This and subsequent journal pages will be on the more spacious .NAME server. Banner ads beyond my control may appear at the top.

1412 - Sunday, 4 March 2007: Zzzz.

Chatting with, coincidentally, another club member in the Vancouver Sportsman's Warehouse when Yuri & I went shopping after yesterday's range session, it was suggested that the $15 Lee case trimmer, with ~$5 cartridge-specific attachment, all of which goes into an ordinary hand drill, is the .223 processing solution I seek. Looks like SW stocks it too - researching before purchase. -Yeesss, I think that's what I want. Hey wait a minute, that box o' stuff I got with the donated Pro 1000… oh yes! The big box o' stuff came with everything needed to power-trim .223 brass! Grab cordless drill - niiiiffftyyy. I'll have to add that to the rifle page. Might have to get another Lee trimmer shellholder/length gauge for .30-06 too. Leaving the case in the shellholder while attached to the drill also speeds chamfer/deburring, though much care must be taken to avoid removing too much material. The Lee case-length gauge is a tight fit (threaded) in its holder; the donation included the wooden ball type for easy gripping. The gauge pin can be adjusted (with the help of pliers to grip for turning) for the exact length you want, and as far I can tell it stays put. Photos to come.

1413 - Wednesday, 7 March 2007: Zzz.

Not employed, not caring much, though I'll have to eventually. Processing brass, fiddling with computer, vegging generally.

Updated rifle reloading page with photos of Lee power trim process.

As plate match director, I'll be entering with either revolver or autoloader to make the tournament trees work out more evenly. I suppose I'll have to get a rimfire pistol now…. I used to have a S&W M22A, their (relatively) economy model with a Weaver rail atop the full length and the magazine catch in the front strap. I've seen a couple M22s in the match too. Not awful; and as I recall the magazines dropped free. I suppose I'd have to get a cheap red-dot sight for it too then. If I won the lottery (which I haven't yet), maybe a Ruger 22/45 MkIII Hunter; Browning-style controls, drop-free magazines, Weaver base. (I don't know if the regular MkIII has drop-free magazines, though it does have a Browning catch now. I've seen Yuri's magazines dropping free from his 22/45.)

And doing email. Readers telling me all kinds of interesting things. Apparently there is a known loss of velocity with M2 Ball in storage over time, so the 2700-2750fps spec I've always had in mind should be correct, and the LC72 rounds, ~100fps less than that, may have simply deteriorated. Obviously I'll need to make incremental test batches and run them through the chronograph. Another factor may be bullet type; M2 Ball may actually use a flat base instead of a boattail. And, the Nosler's lower velocity may be because of their greater bearing surface, compared to the Hornady FMJBT I've been using.

On the cell phone, reader sends Customer Service Nightmare^TM regarding Tracfone, but that was some time ago and when I added the prepaid card all went well. He recommends:

I've been a customer for 3+ years. I registered anonymously as well - they don't require anything more than an email address. [In my experience, Tracfone doesn't even need that much.] Tracfone needs $20 every 60 days. Virgin Mobile has always been $20 every 90 days. Tracfone is 33 cents per min - vmobile is a 18 cents per min.

Every few months they have an offer at Target and a $20 vmobile card is $15. Also on vmobile phones you can send/rx email (5cents per msg) or browse the web (costs $1.50 for 512kbytes or 24 hours) - I've read my yahoo mail on it.

If you go to http://www.virginmobileusa.com , you can get some phones for free for new customers (once in a while Best Buy has the same offer).

More 1911 comments:

1414 - Thursday, 8 March 2007: Zzzz.

From the lists:

"We have allowed our constitutional republic to deteriorate into a virtually unchecked direct democracy. Today's political process is nothing more than a street fight between various groups seeking to vote themselves other people's money. Individual voters tend to support the candidate that promises them the most federal loot in whatever form, rather than the candidate who will uphold the rule of law." - Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

Ron Paul is reportedly considering running for President again. He has the most consistent Constitutionalist voting record since the Founders themselves and is a 2nd Amendment absolutist. However, as a libertarian in republican clothes, I am concerned about where exactly he stands on illegal immigration and the war against radical Islam. He voted against the invasion of Iraq and evidently supports withdrawal. That war needs to be fought and won, for the survival of civilization itself. He seems to have lent his name to anti-illegal-immigration efforts, i.e. with Tancredo, but a lot of libertarians are for open borders and free-market labor, not addressing the myriad cultural problems attending unchecked immigration. Tancredo is also examining a run and in the reality of our corrupted system as it now stands, I think he'd be a more viable candidate. His name is coming up more often on the lists.

Gods help us, there's even less to choose from this time. We might find ourselves in the position of voting for a RINO like Giuliani or McCain or Romney, in order to vote against outright traitors and would-be dictators like Clinton or Obama. Voting Libertarian or Constitution Party, or writing in Tancredo (after the rest of the GOP sinks him as Hillary is even now trying to sink Obama), would just be a spoiler, costing the GOP the election and resulting in an enemy victory, as happened in 1992 when Perot took votes that probably would have gone to RINO GHWB, and as happened here in Oregon a couple cycles ago when Libertarian (now Republican) Tom Cox spoiled the governor's race for RINO Mannix. And I admit, I was part of that in both cases. Hindsight, etc.

Oh yeah, a .22 conversion kit for the P35, slightly cheaper than buying a whole other pistol for the rimfire division of the plate match.

Got the Lee case length gauge for .30-06, and I think it would speed up trimming, chamfering, and deburring, if there were a faster and easier way to install and remove each case. Looked for the universal shellholder I saw in Lee's catalog, but Sportsman's Warehouse doesn't stock it. The old Forster, once set up, is actually faster, hm.

1415 - Friday, 8 March 2007: Zzz.

Last income received, paying bills. Qwest's site still sucks.

Hm. Don't want to go back to the disgusting degenerate workforce, but don't want to blow my meager resources by being incomeless. Hmm. -Readers commiserating on the workforce and the universe in general. Atlas Shrugged. I wish he would.

Big news from DC affirming the 2nd Amendment as an individual right. In .PDF, from official government source and from SAF. Cynicism on the lists, "watch the Supreme Court sidestep the issue by declining to review it." -Actually wouldn't that be good for us, SCOTUS letting the lower court decision stand? Now, we know that for the last several decades, SCOTUS has been afraid of ruling on RKBA one way or the other - if they affirm an individual RKBA then 20,000+ laws become unconstitutional (and who knows how many thousands of convictions must be overturned, with reparations), and if they deny an individual right the backlash may go all the way to civil war. Might this case force their hand? More likely they'll find some lawyerspeak weaselly exit.

Probably no FAL match this year.

Case trimming - still using the Forster for .30-06, but thinking about the .223. The donation included two Lee cutters, one plain and one with the wooden ball. If I install (and adjust) the .223 gauge in the plain one, then clamp that in the bench vise... yes, an improvement. Actually the vise-mounted Forster is still faster, but it's expensive compared to the Lee. I got my Forster used for $25, a fraction of the retail price. The Lee is pocket change by comparison.

Dr. Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic, on Savage, denouncing communism and planned societies & economies, under which he lived for half a century; also bashing the cult of global warming and plugging his book on that topic, comparing environmental disasters under the Soviet Union to, relatively, trivial environmental annoyances under capitalist nations in the same era. I've been hearing good things about the Czech Republic generally, and how energetically they are emerging from under the Soviet boot. Our government could probably take some pointers from theirs.

Reader sends interesting link for handloading components.

1416 - Saturday, 10 March 2007: Barberton! …Was kinda lame this month but I spent some time yakking with Cruffler. Bought nothing.

Range! Met Yuri, got handgun practice, took photos of Hunter Education for newsletter. After, shopped some. Bought brick of WSPM primers at Brightwater Ventures, saved a few bucks over Sportsman's Warehouse just down the street. (Now what will I do with all these WSPs and CCI #500s? Well, I have a lot of .38 brass, I might load 9x19mm again someday, and there's .40 too.) Sighted Bushmaster AR15A3, or so I call it, A2 everything with removable carry handle, very close to what I want (not sure about the removable handle), $899. Also stopped at C&C Gun Sales, where they have some funky old handguns in the case - fondled a .38(-200 British Service) Webley top-break ($200! AFAIK rounds can be made from cut-down .38 Special brass), someday I might have to get an original .455. Also fondled an Eagle shorty AR ($650 with A2 sights, lug, and huge XM117-style flash-hider), but too short for my tastes. Chatted with counter-dude, who said that non-flattop AR uppers have no resale value. Which means I should be able to get one cheap? -If I do get an AR I think I'll have to get one of those clip-on brass catchers.

While at the range I made a shocking discovery: rust! In the cylinder-stop notches of my GP100! Very faint and came right out with CLP on a cotton swab. Doubtless caused by the thorough soaking at the last plate match, despite normal cleaning after. Not a speck anywhere else.

Stirring commentary from a ticked-off Aussie.

Pleasing news item from Tennessee.

From Yuri's new 'blog I see Zumbo's latest - and the way I read it, he's still going on about sporting purposes and hunting and competing, not addressing the real reason for the right to keep and bear arms and still not explicitly retracting his statement that rifles like the Queen are only for terrorists. He's still not getting it. No, I don't think even the Nuge can fix this. I suspect Zumbo would be more comfortable breaking clays with Kerry at a country club than with Ted Nugent emptying magazines on a Three-Gun course.

1417 - Sunday, 11 March 2007: Zzz.

Daylight Savings Time by special act of Congress.

Gun Talk Chat! On the DC ban being overturned and the legislative and constitutional implications; and still some Zumbo fallout.

One of the chatters links this swell essay on why our chosen implements mean so much to us.

I make business cards with this site's address and fling them about. Yuri just had a really good idea: "Entitles Bearer to One Free Trip to a Shooting Range"! I use Avery business card paper; you can download a template file from Avery and plug it right into MSWord. -I think I'll have to make some for sis too, she's doing more to spread the Gunfolk Gospel than I am….

Over burgers yesterday Yuri and I got to discussing the antis and one subset thereof came up: pacifist Christians. To illustrate, from a (long) essay by Daniel Polsby & Don Kates (note #14 within):

From JPFO, a chilling report on the JBTs of the UN and NYPD.

Speaking of police, I recently came into possession of a discarded copy of the rifle section of the course of fire for an area police department. What do you think?

Targets will be the BLEA silhouette. [My educated guess as to the target in question]

If a bullet hole should touch a line, it gets counted as the higher of the two possible scores.

Let's recount the offenses of the DDA:

I'll be taking some precautions, in case I don't get out of the courthouse still allegedly-free. That place makes my skin crawl and my belly churn. Advice and suggestions are welcome.

Processing more brass, preparing to make magnum-primed .357 pin/plate rounds, and incremental test batches of .30-06 for chronograph.

Contemplating mountain-state road trip as a precursor to possible relocation. First I thought, after the RWVA Appleseed on 21-22 April in Yakima, but then I remembered that I'm the plate match director and the match is on 28 April, and then there's a Garand match on 5 May, so now I'm thinking to depart on that date after the match. -Hm, might relocate my arms collection and computer to an undisclosed third party for storage before departure, so neither burglars nor badges (there's a difference, anymore...?) can easily lay hands on them.

Something I've noticed - the 5.56mm brass I'm picking up at my club, after law enforcement has used the range, is LC 06 with the NATO circle-cross - that's current US government production and AFAIK not available to us peasants, especially after assorted Clinton decrees regarding surplus. Are police getting tax-paid military ammunition to go with their ARs? Not reloads either, the factory primer sealant and pocket crimp are still intact:

As though the widespread militarization of police weren't bad enough by itself, we're paying for it, even to the at-least-theoretical detriment of our troops who need that ammunition to kill terrorists before the terrorists kill us? Somewhere I read that some departments are even getting US military surplus full-auto M16s.

1419 - Tuesday, 13 March 2007: Reader sends:

They have been passing out OBSOLETE M16A1s to police departments for at least 10 years. Almost every Podunk PD in the US that has someone intelligent enough to fill out the request forms has a few in the arms lockers or one in the trunk of each cruiser!

Finally nearing the end of McCullough's John Adams, a sometimes thick but wholly enlightening read recommended to any with an interest in the formation of the United States. -One cannot discuss John Adams without speaking, and in no small detail, of Thomas Jefferson, and I am discomfited by the author's portrayal of Jefferson as an intriguer, partisan, and aristocrat. Yet I keep my screen name and strive to adhere to what Jefferson said, though it be at odds with what he did. As for Adams… he too had his imperfections, but it was he that was largely and personally responsible for the military and financial alliances with European powers which facilitated our independence from Britain; it was Adams who was directly responsible for the first true development of the United States Navy which his successor, political opponent, and at the last, again close friend, Jefferson, used to defeat the Barbary pirates in the first round of the very long war in which we are now engaged, and the same navy (indeed the very same ships) which thrashed the British a decade later; it was Adams, whose careful navigation through the storm of French revolution, avoided a war with France and not-very-indirectly led to the Louisiana Purchase and the immense geographic strength and wealth we enjoy today. This was an educational and thought-provoking book which I am glad to have read. Next is Tillman's Above and Beyond: The Aviation Medals of Honor.

Now I receive a call from a Portland detective wanting me to view some pictures of a weapon used in a robbery, and saying the magazines for the Simonov may have been recovered. That's… near fifteen months now.

Public-Service Message Inspired by Bitter Experience: Get a Safe. Even a sheetmetal cabinet is better than nothing, my pair of sub-$100 Homaks held (barely), but the Sentry or Stack-On brands of actual safes are in the neighborhood of $300 and can be bolted to floors or walls. (I did finally get one in fact, with some overtime pay. Personally I recommend a purely mechanical model, none of that battery-dependant stuff.) For a dehumidifier I'm presently using the Remington absorbent model stocked by Sportsman's Warehouse, which can be plugged into a wall socket overnight to be recharged, about $23. The Goldenrod is active, plugged in all the time, might order one later.

Return call - meet at East Precinct this afternoon. -My Injun blood cocks an eyebrow. Paranoia is a survival trait.

Speaking of Tillman and my earlier hypothesis that he is at least partly gunfolk, in the current Midway print catalog I find The Complete Guide to AR-15 Accuracy by Derrick Martin and Barrett Tillman, published 2000.

-And then on the next page I see Ed McGivern's Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting reissued for $17.99! I've had the library's copy and it was fascinating, but originals are near $100 if you can even find one. I think I have to get that.

Done. (Property remaining in evidence.) The detective was courteous, professional, and respectful, and I endeavored to keep my fangs in accordingly. She also told me that the trial has been set back again, this time to 21 May, suggested I call the courthouse tomorrow to confirm after it percolates through their system.

1420 - Wednesday, 14 March 2007: Let's see a couple Post-Ited quotes from John Adams:

And here's a little bit from Joe Foss' foreword to Tillman's Above and Beyond: "I learned pretty quick that combat is a dangerous occupation. There's no way to make war safe so the thing to do is make it dangerous for the other side." Every American or allied life lost in the current war against terrorism is a tragedy, but look at the damn numbers! The bombmakers and beheaders are being scythed down compared to our casualties, the scarcity of which would cause any WWII commander's jaw to drop.

Call courthouse - trial date setback confirmed, 21 May.

Hm, Expo show this weekend. Maybe Saturday after pins. OTOH, I've never been to an Expo show on a Friday….

Okay, everyone knows that Robert Fulton invented the steamboat, right? In 18-oh-something? Nuh-uh.

Don't forget those vintage issues of Guns magazine. Here's the link to download February and March 1957. I nearly missed January - here's the direct link to the .PDF, but no telling how long it will stay up. Here's the last two of 1956 as well. In January 1957, an article by Ed McGivern, the fastest revolver shooter ever (Miculek, as I think he himself would say, is only the fastest one living), challenging Hollywood fast-talkers; also article on the Browning Hi-Power. In February, an article tackling NFA'34 and how restrictions on private automatic weapon ownership have damaged national security, including some very direct comments from a US Marine of the era. Haven't downloaded March yet but the cover shows the AR-10.

1421 - Thursday, 15 March 2007: Zz. I reckon I'll call the temp service Monday.

Anarchist-socialist-vandal rally downtown Sunday. It would be poetic if Al Qaeda were to nuke Portland right then… but no, Mayor Potter has made the place beheader-friendly and even the jihadists know better than to crap where they eat.

Pumping out .357 rounds for pins this Saturday and plates next. -I need more brass. That's a reason to go to the Expo show, maybe I'll find a sack of used as I did a couple OAC shows ago. Need projectiles too.

From Guns magazine, March 1957, "Guns in the News" column, pg10:

Yuri tells me, and the web confirms, that the 21 March episode of MythBusters will feature the burst rifle barrel fired with a laser boresighter in place. I don't have cable, they told me they'd send me a copy….

1422 - Friday, 16 March 2007: Went to the show. Lovely day, and I could use the exercise - avoided parking charge, hiked from offsite. $2 off $8 admission with Bi-Mart membership card.

Didn't get much. A clean .50 can for a bigger bugout kit for the car; one vendor's last five MREs, for $8 (two of which go right into the can - it is edible and has a terrific shelf-, or can-, life); about half a jug of W231, $4; another Mantis magazine tool, $10; and TM 9-1005-222-12, the GI armorer's manual for the Garand, $5. Not much else leaping out at me, no exciting sightings. The ArmaLite AR24 pistol is still at or a little over $500, while the genuine Czech CZ75, half a meter away on the same table, is closer to $400, both NIB. ArmaLite's going to have trouble selling those. I also saw a Witness, in .45 with .22LR conversion bundled, for well under $500. There's supposed to be a .45 version of the AR24 as well (AR26?), but ditto on sales. And I saw a CZ97, marked down to $499. Saw a couple bags of .357 brass but they were too small - I want another of those 500/$20 scores; I have my own to feed, and a sister or two, and maybe for the next plate match I should bring my Lewis Lead Remover (saw an ad for those in one of the 50+ year-old Guns magazine .PDFs!), scrub Margo's Security Six' chambers real good, give her a couple hundred of my rounds, and see what happens.

And then I get a jury summons in the mail (for 10 April). -Well, at least there's no detectable malice behind that one and it is part of the social contract with voting and all. But I must again refer to David Codrea's relevant rant. (And while I was searching for that link I found yet another sticky-fingered blueshirt, who furthermore shot himself with the weapon he stole. And he tried to blame one of us for it. AND, naturally, he's now on paid leave.)

1423 - Saturday, 17 March 2007: Boy did that suck. Being St. Patrick's day, in the first three stages of the pin shoot, the center pin was painted green and had to be knocked off the table… last, or there was a 6-second penalty. I sucked bad today but expect to do better on plates next weekend. I might also need a hotter load, but OTOH I was using up some old WSP rounds instead of the new WSPM. I was getting some good hits, but the pins were staying on the table! Plates are far easier. Well, that's why I go to these matches, to learn and improve.

1424 - Sunday, 18 March 2007: Zz.

Gun Talk and chat every Sunday!

Vegging today, laundry and phoning temp service tomorrow.

From the net, favorable review of the Rock Island 1911.

1425 - Monday, 19 March 2007: Zz.

Unpermitted vandalfest expected downtown on the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. -Time to put up a flag again. -Might have to get a new one. Furthermore it triggers the motion-activated porch light, annoying.

Kevin Starrett on Lars, Standing Up for individual RKBA and denouncing blueshirt exemptions to laws which prohibit our basic human right to self-defense. Also raising 4th Amendment issues regarding "security" in government buildings. I have got to relocate. Local and state government are blatantly, provably, and knowingly in violation of state and federal Constitutions. Somewhere like Wyoming or Montana, where there are more firearms per household than people, and the private citizens take pride in marksmanship that most badges would consider impossible, the Cult of Authority has more difficulty rising.

Which was the whole point of the 2nd Amendment, back in 1791.

Sportsman's Warehouse is out of Xtreme copper-plated .358" bullets! (How many thousands of those have I gone through now…?) I'll have to check the Vancouver store after the plate match, fortunately I had enough left (and the pin shoot doesn't use as much) for a decent amount for this weekend. Got a box of Hornady #35700 110gr XTP JHP (a little cheaper than Speer #4007, more cheaper than Sierra #8300, and unlike either, jacketed all the way up to prevent lead deformation), and a jug of Trail Boss finally for experimentation, once I get more plated blasting bullets (the JHP will go over 8.something gr of W231 to duplicate the Winchester white-box load). Whole section in current IMR booklet (red-and-gray cover, can't find a date) on Trail Boss for Cowboy Action loads, including 125 and 158gr lead loads for .357 (though unplated).

There's been some hype about Trail Boss. First, you only get 9 ounces in a jug that holds a pound of most other powders; high volume, low weight. The flakes are little rings, and rather larger than Unique or Bullseye - the booklet says they'll go through a measure. Some folks say it smells terrible when fired, but burning a pinch doesn't support that. Can't tell yet about fouling. The Auto-Disk chart I have doesn't list it, but I got a .PDF from Lee for Volume Measuring Density and it's there, so I can calculate charges against the CC of the disk apertures. Details when I get projectiles.

Phone temp service, sigh - leave message.

1426 - Tuesday, Spring Equinox, 20 March 2007: Still not caring much that the temp service hasn't returned my call. I'll call again tomorrow maybe. I will need income sometime.

Drove to the Vancouver Sportsman's Warehouse for .358" projectiles, got 158gr, they also were out of 125gr. Making test batches with Trail Boss, weighing results from the Auto-Disk apertures, 12 rounds each at 3.2, 3.4, 3.6, 3.8 and 4.2gr, which includes the starting and maximum charges published in the IMR booklet, which says 754-865fps. (Pressure, shrug, it's a Ruger and it's published data and I'm using plated bullets, which should generate less pressure than the unplated this data is for.) Will chronograph, probably on the 31st. The maximum fills the case nicely, but I can still hear the powder shifting inside, so it's not compressed. -Not the easiest powder to process. The flakes are so light that the least static charge on the plastic Auto-Disk will fling flakes everywhere or at least cause some to stick inside the aperture; a thump with a finger usually shakes them down the spout. Some slight leakage evident too. W231 seems to meter more cleanly, even though the flattened balls are smaller. Trail Boss is Really Light and must be handled gently or you'll have it all over your reloading bench. Maximum charges may be spun out of the case if you turn the shellplate on your progressive press too fast.

David Codrea 'blogs my discovery of historical evidence of the Barney Fife Syndrome in the March 1957 Guns magazine - and while I was there I see that the blueshirts admit to being the Only Ones. -Let's see now, I've had some kind of live-fire activity for the past 15 consecutive weekends, including one rifle and seven action-handgun competitions (counting both sides of the Turkey Shoot), three of which I directed, one of which I co-directed, and four of which I won something in. And two rifle matches in November in which I also claimed awards. This weekend I'm running plates again and expect to shoot both pins and plates every month all year. Next weekend I'm planning a "me" day at the range, developing loads for the Queen and the GP100 and maybe the Mosin. I'm expecting no less than eight highpower rifle matches this year, all with at least one stage at 200 yards and six of which have me diving into position and reloading on the clock during rapid fire. I load my own ammunition, buying projectiles in cases of 500 and primers in bricks of 1,000 (though I $till haven't taken the plunge on more than one pound of powder at a time). I even do a little amateur gunsmithing on occasion. And how often do police qualify? How often, and with how many rounds, do they just practice...? (In the above article 16% say they don't shoot recreationally at all.) Yet they dare say that only they are sufficiently skilled to be armed and OVER A THIRD OF THEM say they would obey an order to confiscate firearms from peaceable citizens.

Meanwhile, some resistance is beginning to form. But you watch, that judge will be unelected by a stuffed ballot box, or indicted on planted evidence. Increasingly, that's how the badges operate. Dig also the comments. People are getting mad. (Though it's disturbing how many sheeple will evidently let themselves be herded into the cattle cars….)

Tomorrow I'm making more rifle rounds and next weekend I'm running them through the chrono. I will develop a service load for the Queen and make heaps of it. I should dust off my last Mosin and whip up some loads for that too, maybe for the PIG - it's the same carbine, though no longer with all the same guts, with which I won my first medal in my first match, the 2003 PIG.

Finally ordered DVDs of Uncommon Valor and Back to Bataan, ten bucks each from SunCoast. I guess I'll have to see 300 eventually but theaters disgust me now. Also I wasn't pleased with Miller's graphic novel. I liked the 1962 film.

1427 - Wednesday, 21 March 2007: Zz.

Some weak-minded cityfolk freaks lurking here may wet themselves at the thought of more than two rounds of ammunition in private hands (reference any news story about an "arsenal" being seized - outside the cities real citizens laugh at such meager collections). Such pathetic creatures have never visited the left-rear corner of Sportsman's Warehouse. Live factory rounds, and components for handloading, fly off their shelves by the thousands every day. Back in August I used an entire 250-round MegaPack of 9x19mm to (somehow!) win the plate match with my P35... before lunch.

One thing about handling Trail Boss, the apertures or cavities to dispense it must be so large to get a useful weight, that a few flakes escaping from the measure are less likely to cause a significant weight variation - unlike, in my experience, IMR4064 for example, where I've sometimes had to trickle the powder into the scale pan one stick at a time.

Ordered .38/.357 die spacers from Midway. The seat-crimp die I got a while ago still isn't giving the results I want, sometimes giving a beautiful roll crimp, other times buckling the case as the die tries to push the bullet down while the mouth is crimping. I get buckled cases with both JHP (Hornady & Speer), with distinct cannelures, or with the Xtreme plated bullets with only a suggestion rolled onto the bullet. (They all still chamber though and with cannelures there are fewer buckled.) With the spacers I can use the .38 turret, with separate seating and crimping dies. (I have two 9mm PTE dies for the Auto-Disk, one each set for .38 and .357, and I can just swap those into the turret as needed.) Yuri reports that the new gray-box RCBS carbide dies (for .44/.44 at least) come with such spacers.

Rifle rounds:

.30-06, Hornady #3037, CCI #200, LC6x military case (first time I've tried military brass), IMR4895 - ten rounds each at the 46.3gr I started with, 46.6, 46.9, 47.2, and 47.5, every charge weighed. These charges are still below maximum when compensating for the lesser volume of military cases as directed in the Sierra manual. No crimp on the seating die; separate Lee crimp die.

7.62x54R, Sierra #2305, WLR, Winchester case. First, my old load, 46.1gr IMR4064 which is a hassle to dispense; then from Sierra data, starting charges of 48.6gr W748 and 44.7gr IMR4895; my only other rifle powder on hand, BL-C(2), not listed in Sierra for that cartridge, and that cartridge not listed at all in the Hodgdon booklet. Lee crimp die, included in set, haven't used it on previous Mosin loads. (Hm, I don't have any live non-corrosive Mosin rounds on hand, a little Hungarian and/or Albanian lurking in one of the cabinets. Well, the Queen distracts me from other rifles.) -Also, another ten 4064 with CCI200 primers. -Oh, I have H380 and that's in the Sierra book, 50.5gr. Sierra says that's 2600fps and the rest are 2500.

-That's not a lot of rounds for a match or practice, hardly any at all to have on hand, but it is a lot for a careful scientific evaluation. Maybe I should go on a Wednesday (starting at my club 4 April), when regular folks have jobs and I can have the line mostly to myself.

Hmm. Sierra's .30-06 introduction page notes that "Powders in the medium-burning range must be used when loading for a Garand. Due to its system of operation, the Garand can be damaged by improper powder selection, even if the loads themselves are perfectly safe. We have had our best results in Garands when using IMR-4895, IMR-4064, XMR-2495 and [Accurate] 2520." Now 4064 is a pain to put through a measure and 4895 isn't very much better; the others I don't have experience with. So I'm looking at a powder burn rate chart and I see that BL-C(2) and W748, both easy-metering ball powders, are within the burn-rate range covered by Sierra's recommendations. Any comments before I make some? (Much more of this experimentation and chronograph work and I'm going to need an electronic powder dispenser, weighing all these charges is taking forever. Listening to Savage's 13th Anniversary show while I'm doing it.)

In the news, the protestors here burned a US soldier in effigy. And that's the kind of behavior that has previously inspired me to call for the entire ZIP code to be napalmed. In similar news a Republican representative's office was broken into and vandalized. The open violence between Left and Right which I predicted years ago has arrived, and as I also predicted when I started this journal, my side didn't start it. -Don't dial 911, the badges have stated and demonstrated that they'll simply obey the orders of whoever's in power. You'll have to defend yourselves. Likely from the badges, too.

1428 - Thursday, 22 March 2007: Zz.

Sis emails she can't make it for plates! :(

Midway order arrives, including McGivern's Fast and Fancy! Speedy. Which is good 'cause I'm almost done with Tillman's Above & Beyond.

At the show I finally acquired my own copy of Unintended Consequences. I've read it before - astonishingly the county library has a couple copies in their system. Next time I'm compelled to enter the unarmed-victim zone of the Temple of Authority, I might take it along. Just to be obnoxious, or to see if the oblivious followers of the Authority Cult even know what it is.

Good news! Alerted by a reader I have looked and learned that SurplusRifle.com is staying up! They were scheduled to shut down on 30 March but events have changed that - details there.

1429 - Friday, 23 March 2007: Zzz.

Reader sends:

FYI, both movies (1962 and 2007) have their points, but aren't terribly great…. The 1962 movie had the Greeks walking around with 1st Cent. BC Roman breastplates, 1st C AD helmets, a gladius hispanensis for a main arm, some short thrusting spear that they got from who knows where [a Zulu assegai maybe?], and the Persians were rolling around in Egyptian Middle/New Kingdom chariots. [At least the 1962 version included "Molon Labe".]

The 2007 film has scantily clad Greeks, Xerxes parading around like some sort of Gay Pride Day parade float, and the Immortals are sporting kabuki masks and crossed katanas across their backs. And then there's the annoying-homage-to-Pekinpah-slow-motion stuff. The most ridiculous thing was the black powder grenades that the Persians came up with, only 8-900 years before there's any documentary evidence for such things, and the consequent Greek non-reaction to their deployment. There hasn't been, ever, an indigenous pre-firearm culture that didn't run for the hills the first time they came up against gunpowder weapons. Pah! [Geez, sounds like they butchered the story even worse than Paramount with a Clancy novel….]

I'm cranky about this because Thermopylae Is Important. This is one of the foundations of Western Culture, a story that never quite died even though knowledge of Herodotus faded during the darker part of the Dark Ages. The requirement that one might have to go and fight, certain in the knowledge that it's going to be a one-way trip, because it's the Right Thing To Do, is something that is deeply ingrained in our culture. [See also.] Something that is reinforced through both the Celtic (my ancestors) and Germanic [mine] 'barbarian' traditions. I would submit to you that our shared belief about an eventual confrontation with the Only Ones is squarely within that ethos. [And there we are at Asatru again….]

That having been said, anything that pisses off the Eye-Ranians is OK with me. Enjoy!

I have the coolest readers…. -Now, a couple years ago, a reader from England (IIRC) was pointing out that the Spartans themselves were Not Nice People and that using Molon Labe might be considered ideologically impure. A valid point… for a detached philosophical debate perhaps. Washington and Jefferson owned slaves but I'm in no mood to give Yorktown back to the British or burn down the Library of Congress. Theodore Roosevelt was an imperialist, but he was our imperialist - the Panama Canal, which was a major factor in our WWII victory, would not have been built without him (and I'm really Quite Ticked that Jimmy "I Arafat" Carter gave the thing away). Western civilization generally (as descended from Greece, not least Sparta), and the United States of America particularly, is the best system anyone's come up with, ever, despite imperfections which become trivial when compared with anyone else's methods. I'm sticking with it.

Another sends:

Highest pressure is the jacketed bullets. The jacket is harder to engrave than the thin plated layer is.

I did get some .357 brass at the show and have now pumped out more .357 rounds, with the new setup using the spacers:

Still processing the brass and priming separately, so the case feeder on the right of the photo contains sized, tumbled, primed, and coincidentally, expanded cases. I may eliminate the expander from the earlier step. With some projectiles left, remove spacers, replace PTE die with another already set for .38, add .38 brass, adjust Auto-Disk, insert same projectile... yup, works.

1430 - Saturday, 24 March 2007: Match day! This month ran more smoothly than usual I think. I took both GP100 and P35, then chose the revolver to even out the divisions. And I won 2nd Revolver! The tournament tree and awards structure continue to be adjusted. Now I'm putting the lowest qualifiers at the top of the tree, so the top qualifiers become the odd numbers if any and get the Byes; this has the slower qualifiers shooting more and getting further along, for real, while gaining experience, before being whupped by the usual winners. Furthermore a vote was taken and shooters can now win more than one award, but I think I'll limit that to one per division, i.e. the overall winner will not also get the 1st Place award for the same weapon he won with. This month the overall winner gave back his 1st Autoloader award, very sporting.

L-R: Me, 2nd Revolver, GP100; Jim Breen, 1st Revolver (GP100 w/red dot) & 1st Rimfire (Colt M22, red dot); Nathan Jaques, 2nd Autoloader, SIG 9mm; Kevin Collins, 2nd Rimfire, S&W M622; Jim Mercer, 1st Autoloader, Kimber 1911; Aaron Gibson, 1st Overall, Les Baer 1911.

Now I have to send the writeup and pictures. Tomorrow's busy, OAC show in the morning, Gun Talk and chat later, then the club meeting that evening to discuss the match and propose buying a couple things for it.

I had a couple perfect five-shot, five-hit runs with my GP100 today; Margo, who almost had me last month and who continues to improve, had one too, with her Security Six. (Of six revolvers in today's match (total field of 25), all were .357, five were Rugers, three were GP100s, and of those three, two won awards. The S&W 8-shot broke.) I managed a perfect run once with the P35 (6/6 in qualifying) some months ago. But I can't recall ever seeing a perfect no-miss run on the Rimfire targets, even from Jim Breen. Anyway, there's lots of shooting in my match.

1431 - Sunday, 25 March 2007:

Mediocre show with the Edged Weapons theme. Not that I've anything against that, I rarely leave the hovel without at least two blades of some kind, but it's not my bag for a show.

The photo above was inspired by a new visitor to the chat room, BTW.

Zumbo continues to damage the Cause.

Yuri has a new and more convenient URL, for his work for the Cause.

Some email backed up.

1432 - Monday, 26 March 2007: Zz. I should cut back on that…. I'm reminded of a line from Heinlein's Starship Troopers, something like "caught up on sack time all the way back to Operation Bughouse."

Went to the club meeting last night and got funds to buy a couple collapsible sun/rain shelters, on sale at Bi-Mart for $70 each. My regular store was, naturally, sold out, so I drove way out to Gresham to find them. Then I had an interesting time stuffing them into the Corolla, then I had a more interesting time driving around trying to look through the windows with them in the way. Then, on my way back to the hovel I saw an ARCO station with Regular at $2.71, as opposed to the $2.77 at my usual station, so I stop… and some ignorant oblivious cityfolk moron pulls in ahead of me and stops at the first pump, with two empty slots ahead of him, and sits there talking on his cell phone with the attendant waving in front of him and me honking behind him. I just bet he was a proud graduate of public education. HATE CITIES.

Mail from and $25 check to OFF. I no longer have the patience or the stomach for direct activism (unlike Yuri, who's doing more than I ever did), but I at least try to put some money where my mouth is.

Going through the email. From The Patriot Post:

From the lists:

Speaking of which, seen on rec.guns:

Reader sends more from New Orleans, and pro-RKBA court decision in New Jersey (!) (!!); and a Democrat staffer is busted for CCW, more on this later no doubt.

Less firearm-specific, in the Culture Wars: alerted by Cruffler, G.I. Joe's stores to change name; all this concern for self-esteem is ruining future generations; Democrats Against Democracy; speaking of the degenerate workforce, a reader sends this.

There's been a flap recently in Virginia, about a newspaper releasing a database of CHL holders (it came up in the meeting last night in fact). Here is the original snotty elitist article, with a link within to the 400+ comments. (My personal take is that the author should be jailed for criminal negligence and reckless endangerment, along with his superiors at the newspaper, which in turn should be sued into insolvency.) And more commentary, linked within to more yet, and still more and more. But this sort of potentially-deadly grandstanding is, unfortunately, not isolated. Ohio has done the same thing, and here's an item from Canada (should I start spelling that with a K?) on their whole registry being opened. There are other examples of such elitist ignorance and recklessness. Again I say, dueling should never have been outlawed. Some of these "journalists" deserve to end up with their blood on someone else's sword.

Meanwhile, in the war against radical Islam, a study of Sudden Jihad Syndrome and its relevance to RKBA; Muslims Accused of Blackmail to Make Student Girls Convert - but the Left insists my second sister (the Christian one) is a greater threat to their safety; also heard on radio, 'Children Used' in Iraq Bombing.

Yuri just sent me a good tip on high-volume reloading; if you use a primer-pocket brush (as I do for rifle cases, but not handguns), chuck it in a variable-speed drill at low speed. And that is how the Lee trimmer might actually be faster than the Forster, hm. Getting cases in and out of the holder would still be the bottleneck.

On the topic of emergency preparedness, from the Backwoodsman email list, a treasure trove of such, this fascinating incident report which makes me feel even more contempt for ignorant complacent cityfolk. I already had a gallon jug of dollar-store water, and three GI canteens on surplus web gear, in the car; I've since added a dollar-store six-pack of liters, a couple bottles of peach Snapple behind the front seats where they can be reached, and later I'll be adding a couple bottles of Gatorade (and remember, those bottles can be reused as canteens - Eric Flint's 1632 saga, with many EP/low-tech/off-the-grid tidbits, mentions that a few times). There's a bag of jerky in the ammo-can kit in the trunk (I'll be adding more, if I can resist eating it first), but that still needs repacking in the .50 can, to which I'll be adding at least one MRE and maybe a can or two of supermarket soup with pull-tab tops (though I always (except when my rights and dignity are being trampled at the courthouse) wear my Leatherman SideClip, which has a can opener which I have actually used). I should probably put one of those butane dorm-room-type stoves in there too (and a spare fuel can of course), and I have some GI heater-fuel tablets scattered around, and a bundle of water-activated MRE heaters too. There's a 4D Maglite between the front seats, a 2AAA Mini in my jeans pocket next to the Leatherman, a 2AA Mini in my fanny pack (and a disposable lighter and a matchbook or two), and spare batteries in the glovebox and in another ammo can in the trunk, with one of the handheld CBs and one of the FRS radios (and road flares and firestarters and space blankets, and one of those catalytic propane heater kits with extra fuel). And I have little compasses on the bands of both (databank, with phone numbers of people who might actually come help) wristwatches, the nice one first sis gave me and the scruffy one I wear to work (when I'm working), and mapping GPS with lighter-socket power in the glovebox, and city maps in the driver's door pocket, and DeLorme gazetteers for five states, and a national road atlas, in the back seat. -The big Expo Center gun show does allow "flea-market" items and some of these have EP applications (some vendors are wholly EP-specific), like cell phone chargers that run off a car lighter socket. They didn't have one to fit my Motorola C139, I checked. Maybe next time. (But I've also seen car-socket adapters with 120VAC output, for laptops, conventional cell-phone chargers, etc.) -What's in your trunk? Or your fanny pack or your pants pockets? [Shaking head, muttering] …people blundering through life three-quarters blind…. Well, not my readers (except the various enemies of freedom no doubt lurking here of course).

1433 - Tuesday, 27 March 2007: Z.

A caller to Rush reports that a university professor says he would kill President Bush. So much for being tolerant and inclusive.

Fred Thompson, Not Running for President (yet), filling in for Paul Harvey - I stopped listening to Harvey when I perceived an anti-war vibe from him but I was starting some bacon sandwiches and hadn't changed the station yet so I listened to Thompson - bland mainstream stuff, shrug, until the end of the show when he fired a few rounds at the tinfoil/moonbat crowd. Hmm. Supposed to be on again tomorrow.

Human-interest local news story - schoolkids on spring break meeting with NASA astronauts and asking questions like, "Have you ever been to the moon?" and "Have you ever seen an alien?" -The kids don't know that the last men to walk on Luna were Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt from Apollo 17 in 1972? They don't know that? Well, public schools, what can one expect? History has far less weight in the curriculum than homosexual indoctrination.

"Diplomatic efforts" being made to recover 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran. How about a 14" shell from a naval rifle up the jihadists' unwashed backsides? (Of course there's nothing commissioned afloat in the world that still carries such a thing, which is a separate lament....) These are our allies? (Note I didn't capitalize "marines" in this case - a Marine would've at least taken some of the bastards with him, ROE be damned.)

Now Senator Webb (D) says the weapon his staffer had did not belong to the Senator and he's never carried in the capitol building. Hmm. How long before the staffer is accused of being part of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy^TM?

Ammunition prices - this is why I reload! In Bi-Mart today I priced some. A 250rnd UMC MegaPack of .45ACP is now $73.89. Good thing I already have everything I need to load that cartridge, including components. But what really struck me was the prices for 50rnd boxes of large-bore revolver cartridges. .44 Magnum, Winchester white-box 240gr JSP, $26.97; Remington green & yellow box 180gr JSP, $27.97. Now that's not unreasonable for factory, I think, for that cartridge, but one still sees why Yuri loads for his Vaquero. Then, Remington g&y .45 Colt, 250gr LRN, $31.97 - that's starting to hurt. And the shocker: Remington g&y .41 Magnum, 210gr "SP", $42.97! For 50 rounds! Ack! At that level it really is cheaper to buy virgin brass and all.

1434 - Wednesday, 28 March 2007: Zumbo.... Many have called for the antis in government to be Zumboed. And that would be lovely. The thing is - the things are, it doesn't work that way. First, we expect the antis to act like antis and Zumbo was perceived as One Of Us who betrayed us and that is what we got so ticked about. Second, the Schumers and Feinsteins and Lautenbergs and the like don't care what we think or say or do! (Visual aid.) The boycott tactics that destroyed Zumbo's career are useless against arrogant, elitist, paid-with-our-tax-dollars representatives and senators. Third, the Zumbo affair was internal to our Culture - the antis have an actual constituency who believe as they do (or as they say they do) backing them up with votes and campaign contributions and Letters to the Editor, constituing an external enemy, a different kind of fight. -Recently I saw a video of Susanna Hupp testifying in Congress with Schumer behind the desk. There was one of our champions (and a true one she is, through tragic experience), delivering an impassioned essay for our Cause, and there was Schumer, tuning her out and waiting for her time to expire, all but checking his watch and yawning, until he could go back to schmoozing with his Beltway buddies and Doing What He Knows Is Right. I had to stop the video before I did violence to the screen. Our enemies cannot be reasoned with or persuaded to our side. Their minds don't work that way. We cannot compromise with them, we cannot pressure then into recanting their positions as we did with Zumbo. Many of them believe in what they're doing; the rest care nothing for ideology and seek only power (and folks like us, who refuse to be ruled and retain the tools to resist, are a clear and immediate threat to that quest).

One of our sayings is that freedom comes in four boxes: this-here soap box (increasingly censored, though I can't claim such in my case yet), the ballot box (increasingly useless), the jury box (increasingly pointless) and the cartridge box (increasingly restricted). ...Sigh. I'd better get more chrono data this weekend so I can start stockpiling battle-rifle fodder. I'll need more IMR4895....

...Move to Wyoming... join a militia... secede from the Union, plebiscites by county, Montana, some of Idaho and Utah, much of Nevada... southern Oregon & northern California giving us a corridor to the sea and airspace to international waters....

But first we have to destroy the jihadists, damn it! Thompson on Harvey Even More Opinionated, bashing British (and other allies') military cuts and lack of resolve. He begins to gain points with me.

Repacking the car kit! The new can is a "fat .50", marked for 800rnds of 5.56mm, and into it I crammed:

On the right, everything that came with the .30 can for which I paid $22 at an Everett-area surplus store:

On the left, all the stuff I added in the larger can, not all of which is visible:

Aside from the CB ($30-$40 IIRC, on sale at Bi-Mart), nothing in there is particularly expensive. The can was $10 at a show, in quite good condition; such cans are rugged, air- and water-tight, and usually have two handles for easy carrying and handling in differently-confined spaces, the usual on top and a smaller one on the end. A couple trips to a dollar store and the sporting-goods department of Wal-Mart (there are plastic sport boxes comparable to ammo cans, but easier to find) and you can have a really good kit for probably under $50, spread out over several purchases.

That can is Really Full. And it's not in the trunk anymore, it's in the passenger compartment where I might actually be able to grab it if I have to quickly abandon the car. Next to the gallon jug of bottled water. I need to add some extra AA batteries for the CB too but now there might not be room. I earlier acquired a couple bottles of hydrogen peroxide, inspired by posts on the Backwoodsman list as a general first-aid product, but that definitely won't fit.

If you have any medications, even over-the-counter stuff, that you use every day - allergy tablets, skin ointment, etc. - make sure that's in your kit too, or, I imagine, you'll be right miserable right quick. Another thing I've heard of: amoxicillin fish antibiotic, for aquariums, available at ~$20 for a bottle of 100 capsules at feed stores, can be used as an emergency human antibiotic, and it takes up no more space than a comparable bottle of aspirin or vitamins. You might even cram a prepaid cell phone in there - Bi-Mart has them on sale for $20 again, and I believe every new cell phone in the country is required by law to be able to call 911 free even if the airtime has expired. Many of you have cells already just because. Here, from the manual for my Motorola C139:

Hm, better get a bigger reserve fuel can, preferrably military steel instead of civilian plastic, before the road trip (which I'm still plotting out). Or two - looks like we'll be taking just sis' spacious Cadillac and not also my tiny Toyota, and the former is thirstier.

Ah, the Uncommon Valor DVD from SunCoast finally arrives! (Much slower than Midway, Brownells, Numrich, CDNN, WalMart.com, or most other places I've net-ordered from, grump. And apparently Back to Bataan has shipped separately though I put them in the same online shopping cart, double grump. Well, at least I'll have one good film I haven't watched in a while, to watch tonight when I can't get to sleep. -Last night I watched Monte Walsh, which is a bit of a downer story-wise but is a High-Quality Film.)

1435 - Thursday, 29 March 2007: Zzz. Shrug. Finances still not critical. So burned out on the workforce and city life….

A little behind on email again.

Received large quantity of Lake City Match .30-06 brass! It'll take some time to process.

Ah - one more thing I want for the Queen, a broken shell extractor. Saw a bunch at the last Expo show, didn't think to get one. They're on the net too - in fact it might be wise to get them for 5.56x45, 7.62x39, and 7.62x51 as well, on principle. Some net vendors even have them for obsolete rounds like 6.5 Japanese. -Say, can anyone point me to an illustration of how exactly to load the Garand's butt trap with the accessories? It's not in the armorer's TM I have (though it has a picture of the stuff laid out loose), or the CMP manual the Queen came with, and I can't find it in a web search either. I have the short M10 combo tool and the long two-compartment plastic oiler - I can probably get the short oiler (pictured in TM) from a particular always-there vendor at the next OAC show. Presently I have the four-piece rod and the patch loop in the finger pouch in one compartment of the butt, and in the other, the chamber brush (still in the cardboard sleeve it came in, for protection), a couple grease pots, and a few patches. I'm guessing not everything is supposed to fit in the butt and some items are supposed to be carried on the soldier's person - no room in the current arrangement for a bore brush without smashing it. Comforting to have that much along though; gasoline might be used for solvent as a field expedient, if one were out in the sticks dodging Queen Hillary's gunships.

And another thing! Is there a preferred way to load the Garand clip, with the top cartridge on the left or the right? I've been loading all mine on the right, which makes it easier to insert them with my right thumb and do the flip thing to avoid M1 Thumb. (I note the SLED works on the right as well, but that may be required due to the location of the clip latch.) Obviously it doesn't matter mechanically because John C. was smart, but I'm curious if there's a "proper" way and if there's anything behind it.

I seem to be very much stuck in 2nd-3rd place on plates. I managed, roughly, 4th in my first pin shoot but have sucked the following two months. I'm starting to read McGivern, though I'll have to set it aside to finish Weber's Off Armageddon Reef, which I just got back from the library - but now I own a copy of McGivern and can go back to it whenever I like.

I was So! Close! to beating Breen (for at least one run) last time! The angled Poppers just about scraped each other on the way down, the whole gallery exclaimed aloud. Obviously I need Lots More Practice of course - I do take comfort in the knowledge that I can whup nearly anybody else at my club with a revolver on plates - but I think I've pinpointed one area that needs particular attention: my first shot. Bringing the weapon up, getting my sight picture, and putting that picture on the target, is taking me longer than it takes Breen (even before he put a red dot on his GP100). That much, at least, I can live-practice at my normal club without breaking any range rules.

As for pins - I think I'll push my 158gr load up to 6.0gr W231. I don't think special "grabber" bullets will help, examination of pins that I hit indicates that the plated FP is penetrating adequately and apparently staying in the pin (when I do my part and get a good hit). Lots more practice. McGivern says, essentially, what Robert Culp said to Racquel Welch - "First comes good, then comes fast. Again, Hannie, again!" And for holster work I might have to go up in the hills, though dry practice in the hovel will no doubt help (dry-firing is largely responsible for getting me as far as I am now - take it out and play with it!). -Last I checked the Fobus Kydex for the GP100 isn't out yet (Midway's site said "coming soon"), and furthermore may only be for the 3" model, and further-further seems only available in a non-adjustable muzzle-rear cant, which may be disallowed under various competition rules. I want roto.

Still not finalized but I still hope to be in Yakima with RWVA instead of pins at Wolverton in April.

Taxes… not done yet but it's all in the same pile, near the top of other piles.

Speaking of clips and magazines….

1436 - Friday, 30 March 2007: Range day! The Queen and the chronograph. Also meeting with the club president to discuss the plate match - I do have to become a Range Safety Officer, not least for liability, but running the match counts as my days of service. (Also an RSO keycard gets me into the range any day of the week for private practice.) Later, stopped at LL Guns in Battleground and Brightwater Ventures in Orchards to drop off a couple copies of a brochure I whipped up in MSWord for the plate match (Friday metro traffic yech) - later a mass printing will be arranged from club funds. Also, I'll be recruiting and training deputy match director(s), much as I was half-conscripted by the previous director, so there will still be a match if I can't make it.

Now some test data. Nothing wrong with the chronograph - it worked perfectly for the entire 50-round rifle test:

.30-06 test loads
IMR4895
150gr Hornady FMJBT #3037
CCI200 primer
M1 Garand
Published Sierra data
Every charge weighed

Round#	46.3gr	46.6gr	46.9gr	47.3gr	47.5gr
1	2554	2626	2620	2649	2691
2	2567	2599	2603	2629	2678
3	2641	2610	2616	2640	2668
4	2603	2602	2599	2625	2670
5	2584	2620	2621	2628	2647
6	2588	2621	2636	2637	2697
7	2588	2582	2654	2627	2717
8	2564	2611	2644	2647	2605
9	2596	2577	2633	2665	2656
10	2589	2613	2642	2654	2669
Averages:	2587	2606	2627	2640	2667

And some groups, sandbags, 100yds, SLED:

I also ran the Trail Boss test batches through the chronograph. Here I didn't get complete data, likely due to light conditions, but still a useful sampling:

.357 Magnum test loads
IMR Trail Boss
158gr plated lead
WSPM primer
Ruger GP100 4"
Published IMR data for unplated lead
Starting to Maximum charges
Lee Auto-Disk, samples verified by weight

Round#	3.2gr	3.4gr	3.6gr	3.8gr	4.2gr
1	330.8	393.1	496.2	613.3	606.5
2	468.7	511.2	399.2*	619.7	680.6
3	468.1	-	565.5	-	650.0
4	532.3	526.1	580.4	628.9	675.5
5	525.8	-	552.3	617.8	649.8
6	-	542.3	565.6	621.3	657.1
7	451.9	519.5	490.5	621.1	615.3
8	523.3	-	582.7	643.0	671.7
9	-	535.2	577.4	625.6	617.5
10	490.2	491.8	584.8	622.4	705.7
11	-	538.3	508.1	-	705.5
12	500.5	509.0	528.3	621.4	644.9
Averages 1:	476.8	507.4	535.9	623.5	656.7
Averages 2:	501.3	522.0	560.6	625.0	665.8

Note the two lines of averages. The first is with all data collected; the second is with the first rounds thrown out, because there is, obviously, a definite first-round effect even with the published maximum load. Also note that round #2 of the 3.6gr load was fired after a stop to change targets, and should also count as a "first round".

Trail Boss does stink after firing, a harsher chemical smell than I've found with most smokeless powders. Fouling, more than W231, less than Unique, not so bad. More to the point, Trail Boss is expensive, per round - ~$15 for a 9oz jug vs. ~$18 for a full pound of W231. Note also the significant variations in velocity even for rounds that were not the first fired in a cylinder. Compare this data to that collected with W231 powder on the 3rd. My summary: Trail Boss isn't worth it unless you have a very specific application which needs its particular properties. Anyway Yuri was along today too, practicing with his own GP100, and I gave him a few ounces in a separate (and clearly marked) jug to experiment with.

Back to Bataan DVD arrives.

Email still behind.

Might go to the range again tomorrow.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, famous for not coddling convicts, often gets play on conservative 'blogs and forums. Somewhere I'd heard or read a rumor that he wasn't pro-RKBA. Recently my brother-in-law sent around the old email about Arpaio's tent city, baloney sandwiches, etc. for convicts and it gumptioned me to make another web search. The results are not conclusive but are encouraging. The following was found here, apparently as a book endorsement:

This made me laugh.

1437 - Saturday, 31 March 2007: Nah, I've had my live-fire activity for the 17th consecutive week. Besides there'll be more people there today and I Don't Like People. Zzz.

Picking at email again.

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