RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - OCTOBER 2007
And the phone system goes down.
And the phone system comes up and the software tool goes down.
And the software comes up and the phone system goes down repeatedly.
And at the very end of my shift I get the irate caller who's been dropped by said phone system repeatedly aside from the product, and the replacement product, and the replacement replacement giving said customer unending heck. Half an hour late leaving.
Traffic was almost weirdly un-heavy on the way back though.
Deposited paycheck, slightly more than expected; rent check away; groceries, etc.
Blah.
Ringo & Taylor's Vorpal Blade is damn good. Trekker homage too. Must... resist... reading in bed....
Even more on the Syrian incident.
1619 - Tuesday, 2 October 2007: And the software tool goes down again.
Then I spend the latter half of the day in product-specific training, which was double good 'cause 1) I wasn't taking calls and 2) I was learning actual specific stuff to do during calls.
Still no word from the DDA on my property and too pooped to call again now. Probably thinks it's just fine to ignore the peasant - "anti-citizen insulation" as the VCDL member said. Calling tomorrow.
Quote o' the Day: "No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." - Samuel Adams (letter to James Warren, 4 November 1775) - Reference: Our Sacred Honor, Bennett (261) Now look at teacher's unions and modern teen clothing styles and despair for the Republic. :(
1620 - Wednesday, 3 October 2007: Survived another full shift. One call was as easy as having the customer trace a cable and plug it in. Most of the software is behaving.
Phone DDA - and hey! Guess! Out of the office until the 10th! Who'd'a thunk it! What a coincidence! >:-[
Finishing Vorpal Blade. Okay, the Creatures getting Competent Things done to them were not in fact inherently Evil, but there was a very great deal of Competence. ("On the Bounce!" And if you don't get that reference, um... wow. I begin to feel old.) Looking forward to the next installment. Nifty essays by both authors at the end too. Taylor's is educational, while Ringo's is motivational, like Delanty's speech near the end of Lucifer's Hammer, or I daresay this little bit of my own. Science Fiction matters. Just look at ST:TOS. Remember those 3.5"-floppy-looking-things that Kirk stuck in the arm of his chair? My laptop bag has, in a pocket, a 2Gb USB drive rather smaller than my thumb. I remember when a 100Mb hard drive, the size of a WWII GI mess kit and way heavier, was impressive. SF is the only even remotely useful way to pretend to plot a course through whatever's coming next. Most folks don't read enough of it.
Now beginning, in ebook, Drake's With the Lightnings, first in the RCN series (with a sixth due early next year). Reader sends this handy link for online viewing or easy downloading.
At work I have ¼ of a cubicle, but I do have that ¼ to myself (or as much so as can be expected in today's PC, snivelling-cowardly corporate 'verse). One of the three initial cubemates has relocated already due to a sick computer and the other two are usually too busy, or at least occupied, to be a problem. Furthermore the ones I drew were not of the multiple-facial-piercing variety (though such can be seen in the halls). More to the point, this is a computer technical support job and everyone at least knows what a computer is and the basics of how to use it. No proximal ablation of IQ points from that direction. (Customers, OTOH... well, you can guess.) Actually I haven't had many calls at all, for some weird chaos-theory reason I guess; also another call center, in Canada, is carrying much of the load while this new department in this established center gets up to speed.
Commute sucks, fuel prices suck, hope the Corolla holds together long enough to build an emergency-replacement fund. It's still running, and starting, but I don't have the new brake pads yet and I worry about the clutch.
VCDL continues to rock, pointing me to this THR discussion of the "don't-you-dare-defend-yourself" 911 dispatcher I mentioned last month. Actually I don't have the stomach to download the MP3 but from what I heard on Gun Talk on Sunday, the dispatcher should be tarred and feathered. The old fashioned way, as some of the monarchists were during our War of Independence, look it up.
Sis sends article on secessionists making unlikely bedfellows, hmm.
Reader sends 'blog on using the Lee Hand Press - which I wouldn't mind having one of in the bugout kit actually.
Reader sends this (< 300kb) .PDF by Kopel, et.al., on the importance of RKBA in the defense of human rights.
If you're following Day by Day, I knew weeks ago that Muir would do something like that. Weeks. 'Cause it's what I, as a wannabe writer, would have done. And if you're not following DbD get your mousebutt over there now.
Yuri 'blogs the latest on the Medford teacher.
1621 - Thursday, 4 October 2007: Only about a quarter hour late after the last call today. I get frustrated when I can't provide an instant solution when my tools fail, or when I haven't yet learned the weird undocumented stuff about them. I don't like people, but I like fixing things. Having a sense of accomplishment compensates for a lot. Or so I hypothesize.
Hey, a coworker with kids may be interested in curing personal social nekkidness. What are your suggestions for toddler-proof storage that won't aid and abet a home invasion? Specific products or methods?
Got new brake pads (and fuel & air filters), awaiting gumption (and reduced precipitation).
Yuri sends video of an American veteran cutting down a Mexican flag being flown over Old Glory. Being bandwidth-challenged I haven't actually watched this video, but Cruffler sends this WND article on same.
Reader sends more data on GWoT.
FOR THE RECORD: I have received an email from a "jackbooted blueshirt", self-called, informing me that the reason the ADA is not taking calls until the tenth is due to involvement with the current trial for which my property is being used as evidence - though there seems to be some confusion about which ADA is which. I am also advised that my property may remain in evidence until the defendants have exhausted their appeals. -It would have been courteous, though, to have someone respond to the message I left on the 27th, the day I was last told to call. My taxes pay their salaries, the least they could do is return their employer's calls.
I have got to get to Wyoming. Can't. Get. Ahead. One expense or disaster after another, and just when one gains a little ground there's always someone, somewhere in government stealing it from you - required-by-law car insurance, taxes on everything that moves (in Oregon there's a ballot measure to make a constitutional amendment to tax tobacco - I don't even use the stuff and I can tell that's an unspeakably bad idea), usage fees, licensing of what used to be unalienable human rights, what-have-you. What ever happened to leaving people the hell alone? Whence comes this all-permeating culture of Control, in what used to be a free country? And the people who write the tickets and collect the fees - when's the last time any of them looked in a mirror? Do they just not think about it, or do they actually believe in their coercive totalitarian system? Do they really believe that people must be controlled and taxed and regulated and fined and Kept In Their Place, cradle-to-grave? What kind of person do you have to be to have a job like that? At least Javert figured out what to do with himself, at the end. Would that his non-fictional counterparts would achieve similar enlightenment.
From rec.guns, MSM columnist is off the reservation.
From WoG, Black Man with a Gun. No, not this one, though I have heard of the latter and they are linked. In any case welcome to the Culture, Mr. Reynolds. Adding links to both ("Culture Warriors" section).
1622 - Friday, 5 October 2007: A full week of real live calls done, and another full paycheck in the pipe for the 15th. I'm starting to get up to speed, but the call volume has been much lower than I expected so it's a little hard to tell. The place hires knowledge, not just warm bodies; much of the troubleshooting I'm doing has less to do with the product-specific training I've received than with more general hardware & software skills I've accumulated over the years. Very often I'm walking a customer through Windows.
I am a recovering comicoholic. A lot of money went where, in hindsight, it really shouldn't have; and unlike my hoplophilia there's a lot less resale value. But Wowio offers free downloads of some good stuff - several webcomics are offering their print editions in Wowio .PDF now, and recently I started archiving one comic book I really enjoyed back when, Alien Legion. I'm not paying for it (except in bandwidth), and I can burn it to CD for vastly easier storage and vastly less worry about degradation. Yay internet!
New club newsletter & event calendar, rifle match tomorrow. The CoF is reversed from nearly every other match I've been in, starting with the standing stage and doing slow-prone last, which is rather annoying. I have just enough rounds left for the Queen from the last batch I made (with which I medalled in May and would've done fine in the PIG if the firing pin hadn't broken (but that's fixed thanks to Yuri and there's a spare pin aboard now)).
Work schedule: this place does not work Sundays, fine, but I've raised my concerns on Saturdays to the floor boss. Fortunately there's some like-mindedness there where my specific Saturday activities are concerned and some practicable compromises should be reachable. Tomorrow and the 13th I have free anyway.
Continuing Drake's With the Lightnings, plenty tasty. However, while searching for some kind of calculator (I can look up the acceleration formulae, I used to have them memorized, I'm just lazy and I expect some geek somewhere has made a spreadsheet or something) to plot, for my own story, spaceship accelleration, turnover, transit time, etc., as in Weber's Honorverse, I found this site which (at the bottom of the page) points out really whopping technical errors in Drake's science for this series. OTOH let's not forget Weber's own Great Resizing. In either case they write good stories with interesting stuff happening to interesting people and I can mentally adjust away a great deal of technical errors in exchange for that.
Kinda pooped and up early tomorrow, email backing up.
1623 - Saturday, 6 October 2007: Match day! Almost wimped out from poopedness.
79.25%. But a couple mitigating factors: the slow-prone stage was on MR targets with tighter scoring rings, and cold likely affected the performance of the ammunition, changing the POI. Beyond this, a group of Sea Cadets was present and I was conscripted into coaching a couple of the kids. That was a somewhat frustrating experience, as some had never handled firearms before at all and here they were using club ARs in competition with field positions and time constraints, not even knowing how to use aperture sights - not fair to the kids. (There's one girl who scored higher in rapid prone than I did, and I had a pretty good rapid prone, but she'd done another match here earlier in the year.) By fortuitous coincidence the club activities director was present and I bent his ear about maybe getting some actual introductory training going, real entry-level stuff. Aaannyway I think I'll... not go to matches with this particular match director for a while; I went there expecting to compete, not coach. In the match director's defense he did reverse the published CoF so slow-prone was first, as it should be, for proper sighting shots. My usual matches at this club, the PIG, AvA, and CMP, are under different directors. -Hey, any suggestions or materials for such introductory training would be welcome.
At one point the Queen's op rod jumped its track but I got it jiggled back on and completed my rapid prone stage - or was that rapid sitting? - on time, and didn't do too awful. Not counting the maybe-52-year-old firing pin breaking that's the first mechanical "failure" the Queen has had since I got her.
1624 - Sunday, 7 October 2007: z.
Gun Talk and chat every Sunday.
Radio news, Columbus Day protestors arrested; Berkely renames it "Indiginous Peoples Day", not surprising. Nuke the San Andreas and start over.
In the "Only cops should have guns" department, Yuri sends news item on a deputy sheriff being sought for the killing of six youths. Note that instead of "good" cops speaking out in outrage against their (allegedly...) mass-murdering colleague, we have the mayor locking down the whole town and placing everyone under a "gag order". Stalinesque. If this goes on there will come a time when it will be the public duty of a patriotic American to kill, on sight, in righteous self-defense, anything wearing a badge. No one complains when a rabid animal is disposed of and at the moment I'm not seeing much difference.
Quote o' the Day: "A gun will not crawl out of a drawer to attack you; it will not change you into a hero or a villain; it will not drive you mad with power; and it will not make you capable of anything except expelling a lead projectile by means of expanding gases. Therefore, do not fear the handgun, and do not expect it to save you from your own weaknesses. It is only a tool." - Fred Rexer, Jr. There are creatures who look like human beings, whose minds will simply not process this concept.
BATFE vs. Wyoming, hmm.
In backed-up email: reader suggests moly coating for Miniés; Candidate Hunter's position on RKBA; more data (200kb .PDF) on the Heller (D.C. handgun ban) case; Cruffler sends un-PC Halloween stuff; reader alerts that English Pit has reopened; JPFO has Goody Guns.
1625 - Monday, 8 October 2007: Bleh work.
Yuri sends an unexpected ally.
In MSM I see the spin already painting the mass-murdering law enforcement officer as "sad", "tragic", etc. And if one of us had killed one of them? Let alone six? Or if one of this one's victims had defended him or herself? Meanwhile, displaying a similar "I Am da Law" mindset, I see this from WoG. And you blueshirts lurking here think I'm full of venom. There's oceans of it for you, in which I am a mere drop.
Reader sends more data on the UK's contribution to GWoT. The Gurkhas still see action. As the reader says, the Taliban is in deep. If the Labour government lets the Tommies do their jobs.
Aw crap! This was my lottery fantasy! Someone beat me to it! Now I'll just have to buy the thing instead of (re)producing it. -Unless I can undercut the competition of course, in fine American free-market tradition.... And hey, there are still lots of other nifty old things people would buy, if they could do so without committing an act of historical sacrilege. I have a list....
1626 - Tuesday, 9 October 2007: Encore l'bleh. I don't know what's worse: the people who don't know what they're doing, or the people who think they do.
Wisely, before running out of gumption after work, I stopped in the parking lot of an abandoned supermarket (room, and pavement instead of gravel in the hovel driveway) to work on the car. Remove front wheels... brake pads are still over half, just dust I guess. (Also examined driveaxle bolts, all seems well there.) Anyway replacements now on board so I won't have to $crape for them when they are needed. Air filter... looks all right, rotated and reinstalled, but a spare for that too. Fuel filter, ditto, but replaced anyway; no noticeable change in performance. Worried about clutch but little I can do, and little worth doing for a $500 car.
Today I received my shift bid, choosing in order of preference from ten or more shift schedules. The ten I chose all had Saturdays off, and this department doesn't work Sundays.
Continuing Lt. Leary, Commanding; pleasingly Harrington/Hornblower-esque (science aside), now I'll have to read the whole series and lurk on the library site for the forthcoming sixth volume.
News, Hillary is actually stupid, or arrogant, enough to hire Sandy Berger.
From the lists, re: Wisconsin, "Don't ever trust a cop of any kind. You are actually better off not associating with them at all. In these times I'd not even ask a cop for directions."
1627 - Wednesday, 10 October 2007: Somewhat easier day today, simpler calls, though more of them - five or six IIRC, as opposed to the 2-3 I've been getting since I reached the floor.
Inferior parking, lousy traffic. Corolla running and that's all that can be said for it.
Phone ADA again, left message again. Do they even check those things? -Evidently at least this one does because he called back moments later. The trial has now been reset to 29 October and I'm now advised to call again on 2 November. And, in fairness and for the record, my line was likely tied up with my dialup net connection when this ADA attempted to call back earlier - after I left a message thinking he'd gone home for the day.
Nearly done with LL,C and: the next volume, The Far Side of the Stars, is not in my .RTF collection; and I have no slots open in my library hold queue. Ah! But! TFSotS is here! So I'll just grab it, email it to myself at work, and add it to my CD/W while I'm about it.
1628 - Thursday, 11 October 2007: More calls today - the other call center is, perhaps belatedly, releasing the calls that are supposed to come to this one. The calls largely boil down to handholding during driver installation. The worst calls are when a network is involved, and worse still are wireless. More overtime today due to the last call, thoroughly crappy return commute therefore. But I finally got the thingie working!
In the news, Multnomah County Sheriff Bernie Giusto is under pressure to give up his law enforcement certification or defend himself against charges of cronyism (granting a CHL for an ex-con alcoholic acquaintance (while being historically obstructionist while issuing us peasants government permission to defend ourselves, and revoking same on any fabricated excuse)), complicity in former governor Goldschmidt's statutory rape scandal, and at least one alleged extramarital affair (with some sources reporting another with Goldschmidt's wife). "Don't ever trust a cop of any kind...." It's not Hah-hah anymore. These organized-criminals-with-badges are fortunate that duelling has been outlawed. Meanwhile we're stuck asking the ancient question, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" To which the answer appears to be "Nobody a'tall."
There is a backlash rising, and spreading. If this goes on a tipping point will be reached and cops will be righteously disposed of all across the continent. Are they unaware? Are they so arrogant? Are they so ignorant?
Meanwhile Yuri sends this story of a... what, sociopath with a badge? Callous disregard for human life? Also seen on WoG (to whom I've already fired off the Giusto thing of course). And a follow-up. "City Manager Barbara Lipscomb, in a prepared statement, said she wanted to encourage Casselberry residents to continue to call 911 when there is an emergency." ...Uh, why? You married to a trial lawyer, Babs? Looking for a piece of the action?
Even more censorship in academia.
Holy grapping maulk. '03A3s and M1s now available. Prices to FFLs only but list chatter says about $700 for an M1.
Hey, my public service thingie got 'blogged! Cool! And another one too!
Yuri 'blogs his last range session.
Diving into TFSotS. The whole RCN series has been described as being based on the Aubrey/Maturin (?) series on which was based the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Yeah? So? Go 'way, I'm reading.
1629 - Friday, 12 October 2007: Oh yeah, yesterday I learned my regular hours. Up earlier, bleh, but better traffic both ways, and more important, Saturdays off. (Barberton show tomorrow.)
Giusto gets WoGged. I do what I can to shine some light where needed. If they don't like the attention they're in the wrong line of work. (Perhaps Cuba or North Korea are hiring...?) Welcome to the Information Age, Bernie! Please speak clearly into the 'blogophone!
Email's a little backed up from the gumption drain, I'll catch up over the weekend.
Reader reports that the '03A3s mentioned yesterday are in fact deactivated drill rifles, with dealer pricing in the neighborhood of $250-$300, but substantiates that the M1s are around $700, "...rumored to be in rough shape with possibly better ones coming soon." CMP remains the best bargain in battle rifles, not counting the time factor - CMP's rifles have been carefully looked at and I'm certainly pleased with mine.
(Praise and Blessings upon Tucson Tom the Benevolent.)
From the lists, Quote o' the Day:
Meanwhile, here is an account of a school-shooting-that-wasn't illustrating the bone-deep need for the badgeboys to punish somebody for something even if there was not, in fact, any "crime" committed.
Medford Armed Teacher Update. I sincerely intend to send money the very next time I have some. Which should be Monday.
Unless I'm robbed at badgepoint in the interim - seen on rec.guns: Today's local cops are great - at risk-free duty, like seatbelt checkpoints in areas where everyone stopped is likely to be middle-class or rich, 40 or older, and European-American. What they aren't even willing to do is spend much time in the dangerous neighborhoods where serious crime is a norm - and they are so unwilling to do so that the word "de-policing" has become their own word for describing it. I'm not making this up, folks. Things like this are all over the 'net.
1630 - Saturday, 13 October 2007: Znrk, off to the Barberton show. Thin turnout with hunting season and a couple other area shows. Still no WiFi signal there but both of my wireless cards see one, at the other end of the building - I should get around to building a better antenna as readers have sent instructions for.
Sold a couple things, then turned around and bought a Lee double-cavity mold, 456-220-1R, probably intended for ".44" percussion revolvers but it'd do (with another sizing kit) for .45ACP or .45 Colt. I won't be using the product of this mold in the Witness as that has polygonal rifling, but if I do get replacement upper parts the new barrel might have conventional rifling; and I'm still thinking of a cartridge conversion for the Dragoon. (And a 1911 $omeday.) The mold, for $10 (marked $12.50), also came with a couple dozen projectiles, which are poorly cast (bad technique) and which I will melt down when I can determine which flavor of ingots I should add them to (supposedly-plain lead, wheelweights only, supposedly Lyman #2 equivalent, or "X"). The mold itself appears near new. This is also an income possibility, as now I can cast bullets of a popular size and weight, at a faster production rate, for resale or at least barter, something already suggested to me by Cruffler and at least one reader. I'll have to order another Lee sizer kit I guess. -The projectiles included with the mold do in fact measure .456"; Cartridges of the World says .452 for ACP and .454 for Colt; Sierra V says .4515 for both, and the jacketed bullets they sell are marked as that size; the Nosler bullet poster's single offering in that neighborhood is .451 and marked for .45 Colt (250gr JHP). Calipers tell me the deepest part of the Dragoon's bore is... impossible to measure accurately with my equipment as it has an odd number of grooves (7) but I think it's about .451; and just for further data, the Witness is also .451. Lee's catalog says this mold, #90384, is for the Ruger Old Army percussion revolver, known to have a larger bore than most, i.e. Italian, reproductions, okay. Lee sizing kits are available in .451, .452, .454, and .457; based on experience with the .358 sizer giving .359 results, and considering the abovementioned data, I'll add a .451 sizer to my next Midway or Natchez order. Right on! My capacity to reload stuff has increased yet again! And maybe a little gainfulness on the side!
Fire it up - hm, wrinkly results. There seem to be temperature gradients that come into effect with a multiple-cavity mold as opposed to a single cavity. Furthermore it's awkward to position the melting pot's pouring points over each cavity's opening to get a swift, consistent pour so the metal solidifies consistently. A bottom-pour pot with a proper valved spout should help here; that's on the li$t already.
Meanwhile, in snailmail, results from last weekend's somewhat frustrating rifle match: 6th overall of 23, counting the kids. Not my best performance, certainly, but those poor kids could barely hit the paper with such a cold start and sudden immersion - not fair to them at all. -Except the one girl who's done this at least once before; she placed 3rd overall, besting me by 29 points. Kid's got bragging rights.
From rec.guns, a follow-up on yesterday's cop-bashing: Well, this is happening in areas where the tax base is shrinking due to socialism, and they use the cops as revenue generators. This is prevalent in Ohio, PA, and New York. They cannot afford to pay the cops, so they use to cops to pay their own salaries. You want to see a police state? Go to Western New York, every little podunk town has a police department and a speed trap. So, the cops exist to generate revenue steal money from citizens by force to pay those same cops. As I said, organized criminals with badges.
1631 - Sunday, 14 October 2007: Zz.
From the Patriot Post, Quote o' the Day: "I'll come right out and admit that I understand Islamic terrorists far better than I do American liberals." - Burt Prelutsky
Inspired by email exchange:
From VCDL, more jackbooted thuggery. Gotta maintain that monopoly of force, can't have the peasants getting uppity....
Yuri reports that SchwarzenRINO has, again, betrayed the voters who thought he'd respect the Constitution. He calls for a Barrett-esque boycott of CA by the entire arms & ammunition industry.
Via WoG, a shockingly non-hysterical MSM article on the Enormous Tulsa Gun Show.
Firing up the new mold again, getting better results - using "Lyman #2" alloy bought at the Washougal show. Okay.
1632 - Monday, 15 October 2007: Money! In my account! Groceries! And bills and fuel. And a little something extra.
Tucson Tom sends news item. Has it begun? These days, anyone with the badges after him can figure he doesn't have much to lose - if they don't end his life they'll destroy it.
I note that on page 34 of the November 2007 American Rifleman can be seen a photo of a student practicing a revolver reload very much like I do it.
1633 - Tuesday, 16 October 2007: Gaaah. Call From Hell. In fact I didn't have a single "normal" call all day. Furthermore, the company's entire network, all the way up to the other call center in Canada, was running extremely slowly if it ran at all. Phooey.
New $hoes, months overdue. Correctly-sized tire chains for the Corolla, ahead this year.
It's a good thing I never acquired a taste for alcohol.
Finished TFSotS, tasty, starting Drake's Killer in .RTF., also tasty. Appropriate Halloween fare.
Hmm, snailspam, Qwest broadband $26.99/month, hmm.
1634 - Wednesday, 17 October 2007: More weird calls, and still some slugginshness in the network. Some of the other tools, like warranty verification, still not working.
First serious rain of the season, and I appear to be the only one who has a clue how to drive in it. :-/
And cops wonder why we hate them. Note links within, like this. "...when agents of the state can confiscate evidence of their own wrongdoing, you're treading on seriously perilous ground...." That one qualifies for the Understatment Olympics. Received from a reader, I fired it off to WoG only to find later that someone had beaten me to it. -I have got to get me a camcorder. And when I do I think I'll have to make a page for it. The thugs weren't entirely wrong: it can be used as a weapon.
Finished Killer, good spooky story. Now starting H. Beam Piper's Lone Star Planet, which I haven't read for years, released this year in .TXT by Project Gutenberg.
Times have changed. For the worse.
1635 - Thursday, 18 October 2007: Call. From. Hell. Over three hours butting my head against a wireless configuration and I'm calling the customer back tomorrow to continue. Bleh. Why am I getting all the weird ones? Whatever happened to those nice simple handholding-while-installing-drivers calls?
Previously I applied Lee Liquid Alox to five Miniés; that's dried to an only-slightly-tacky finish (though it's kinda thin and I may apply more). Now I've done another five with T/C Bore Butter, and another five with T/C Maxi Lube, just to see what happens - set out to dry, if they will.
This Saturday I intend to do some FFL transfers - the FR8, already sold and paid for, and the Ishapore, which I'm donating to the reader who donated the Vaio and heaps of other loot. On the way back I might stop at the range and try the Hawken again. I might even fire up the Witness. Yuri may accompany. -Or I might be completely out of time and gumption after the FFL business. And the weather may suck and the Corolla may spit out another part and who knows what.
Heh. I'm (re)reading Lone Star Planet on my cubicle screen between calls (Alt-Tab, baby - or more often Alt-Space, N, and there's my work software already configured for a new call) (and reading an ebook, or even websurfing, is allowed, as long as I'm instantly ready to take the next call) (yes, I've had worse jobs) (no, I shouldn't have typed that out loud 'cause the place will burn down overnight now, or the Corolla will explode in the driveway like an Me163 on the tarmac on a sunny day, just you watch) and the protagonist is describing the secret spring-loaded quick-draw holsters for his brace of 7mm Krupp-Tatta superspeeds; and while I'm in the lunchroom shoveling down my microwaved calories I'm inching through McGivern's Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting, and just hit the part where he says that there is no special equipment that will instantly transform a mere mortal into a Quick-Draw Artiste.
New Shotgun News, article on MagPul's prototype Masada rifle. I hestitate to say that it displays Actual Original Thought - no one feature is really New - but I think I must admit that I haven't seen all those features at the same time. It's very much like what I had in mind (except it's a mousegun of course - but the modular construction is already rigged for 7.62x39). Even the modular-ness isn't new, going back to the Stoner M63, but bringing everything together is... perhaps "mature design" is the best way to describe it. -Plastic though, hmph.
Also, Vin rants on Romney - Mitt's no more a conservative constitutionalist than W. Many gunfolk had as much figured out already, but Vin adds details and touches on other illustrative issues.
Lone Star Planet is a short book and I'm going through it quickly. I'd forgotten the courtroom-drama stuff, which in light of my recent experiences with the "justice" "system" is off-putting, but Piper's portrayal of the New Texas government is otherwise quite pleasing, as I remembered.
1635 - Friday, 19 October 2007: Yesterday's Call From Hell turned out to be at least partly the fault of a third party who sold the customer a device that Wasn't Quite What Was Needed. So I feel a little better about my own blundering attempts to fix the thing. Of course if I were ever to chance to learn the identity of the person responsible, well.... So ends a mentally-exhausting week, and it ends on a slightly higher note than expected, with, finally, a nice simple handholding-while-installing call.
Trying to read a slew of webcomics in the laundromat parking lot, it looks like both the NEC laptop's batteries are in a bad way, though one is even worse. If I can figure how to get the thing open without destroying it I'll attempt the refurb I linked from a reader alert a couple months ago. And as soon as my gumption level recovers from plunging back into the workforce I'll seek repairs to the Vaio.
Finished Lone Star Planet last night, now on Four Day Planet. (When I had hardcopy, the two were together in a flip paperback.) Yay Gutenberg.
1637 - Saturday, 20 October 2007: FR8 and Ishapore on the way. While at FFL, bought nylon ramrod for Hawken, .50/.54 ends, one with 8-32 threads, the other 10-32; rather snug in the Hawken's existing ferrules but a great cleaning and range rod at least.
Range day with Yuri! He was testing a new .357 load (158gr LRN, 9.0gr Blue Dot, magnum primer), which grouped well but kicked hard, and was rather dirtier than my 7.3gr W231 load (158gr copper plated); and I actually did fire up the Hawken again. Cold and wet all day, but when we arrived at about 1100 there were few people there; we had the upper firing line to ourselves about 1130 when Yuri had used up his test batch and I began gathering more data with the Hawken. Fired, I dunno, maybe twenty rounds, not more than that, all at 25yds; and it boils down to this: the Hawken really likes patched round ball:
(Center group, 60gr Swiss FFg, me; lower left group, Yuri, same load - the buckhorn rear sight was new to him)
(Me, Pyrodex RS, two shots at 60gr, two at 70)
But it doesn't like the Miniés at all (60gr Pyrodex RS):
Note the one clipping the edge of the paper at top right. I can see there's nothing wrong with the rifle, and even at only 25 yards a cloverleaf is a cloverleaf so it's likely not anything I'm doing. Four theories:
Well, there are no failed experiments, there is only new data. Certainly the rifle is all right and I'm keeping it, and at .530", even round ball is a not-insignificant chunk of lead; some year, really, I will go kill a fuzzy woodland creature just to tick off the PeTA psychotics and this, with more practice on my part, should be entirely adequate for that task. On the plus side: pre-lubed patches (i.e. Ox-Yoke or T/C) are swell and many rounds can be fired without cleaning the weapon; the Miniés are of an appropriate size to load and seat easily (in this rifle) (I was worried about them being too big out of the mold); Lee Liquid Alox seems to be an adequate solution for lubing a Minié (accuracy aside; of five Alox Miniés fired, only a couple hit a 14"-square paper at 25yds); pretty good trigger. In the More Data department: exposed ignition sprays stuff all over (which is obviously why most of the color case hardening is gone from the lockplate) - after cleaning & reassembly, trying the flash cup again; some hangfires, very brief, no slower than a flintlock, probably due to weather conditions and using powder that had been in flasks, not original containers, for months - but every shot fired; T/C Bore Butter does not dry like Lee Liquid Alox does, but the two Miniés I fired with that lube (the two in the third photo above, IIRC) gave no indications of trouble. T/C Maxi Lube doesn't dry either, at least not in 40-odd hours; I didn't get a chance to try a Minié with that lube as a horde of Remchester-bearing Sportsmen arrived (public sight-in days are not quite over; one shmuck had an AR pistol and was not aware it had a bolt lock, much less how to use it), prompting Yuri and I to make our escape.
Proposed experiment: deliberately fire a Minié into something from which it can be easily recovered and examine it for skirt expansion and rifling engagement. Input, load suggestions, etc., welcome.
After, we went to $port$man'$ Warehou$e, where, for being gainfully employed, I rewarded myself with two boxes of Hornady #3037 for the Queen - and I'll need to whip out some M2-equivalent soon, with the AvA and a JCG match coming up next month. #3037 was gratifyingly in stock for a change and I'd've cleaned them out if the last bout of incomelessness weren't still $marting; also seen were a useful quantity of Hornady #2267 (.224" 55gr FMJBT). However, they were completely out of Xtreme copper-plated LFP 158gr .358 or I'd've blown another $30-odd on a box of 500. They had some of the Cowboy line from the same maker, unplated, but I'm really pleased with the plated and am disinclined to switch. Maybe later if that's all that's available; I'm not quite out of plated yet. They seemed to have plenty of primers too, FWIW. And while there I found, indicating that Political Correctness has not completed its conquest and destruction of American history and culture, this:
Trying something different here in the Journal: .PNG pics instead of the usual .JPG. The latter are said to be vulnerable to virii, and the former appear to not lose resolution when compressed as the latter do. [Update 25 November: nah, those are too big, a dialup reader complains. Switching back to .JPG with some compression.]
1638 - Sunday, 21 October 2007: Zz!
Ballot measures: restricting property rights. Voting against. "When in doubt, vote against." - Lazarus Long
Cruffler sends Fleabitten Cops.
Surfed onto yet another pedophile cop. You can hardly go five clicks without finding something like this. Not even looking for it. And of course the rapist-with-a-badge is out on bail and it wouldn't surprise me if he were also on paid "administrative leave".
Yuri sends pants-soiling hysterics from NY about the "muzzleloader loophole". Yeeaaahhh, the Crips are using these in their drive-bys, suuurre. If, if a gangster were to buy one of these, and if, if they could figure out how to load and fire it even once without severely injuring themselves, it would likely rust into a useless lump by the next day because such subliterate creatures have no clue how to maintain tools.
Reader rants:
The egregious actions taken by the previous generation (THAT MEANS BABYBOOMERS), have led to an entire class of rifle that, while accurate, are worthless and without historical value. In the last 2 years I've either handled or been in possession of 5 sporterized Mausers. One actually had 5 eagle stamps, signifying that a German plant had retooled the rifle.
In the same time frame, I have not seen an authentic Mauser.
This is indicative of a general trend towards spending a lot of money on gunsmiths to modernize rifles that had a specific purpose the populace wants to modify.
If you want a varmint rifle, buy one. If you want a CQB, buy one. If you want to hunt, buy an appropriate hunting rifle. Don't f*** with history.
From a while back, reader points out, Oregon Public Schools Using Mexican Government Lessons. For the umpteenth time I say, if you can possibly get your children out of government school, even partly (as Cruffler has done), do it now while there's still a chance to rescue their sentience.
Reader informs me that 1:48" is a compromise twist which should work with Miniés, and sends:
Reader also suggests that I'm just not using enough powder (Yuri also suggested that yesterday, IIRC, with the obligatory Home Improvement reference), suggesting 80-120gr (ouch), and echoes that pre-lubed patches are swell. On that last topic, it should be noted that I was using .530 ball with .010 or even .005 (I'm not quite sure, the packaging is gone) lubed patches; I could start the ball easily with finger pressure. Obviously a tighter fit would give greater accuracy, and I have thicker patches, which I will be experimenting with in a future session. Now that I've proven the rifle will group, I'm more interested in it and will be more inclined to take it out and play with it.
PRB @ 60 or even 70gr is plenty mild, BTW, but I wonder if a thicker patch for a tighter fit would increase recoil; I wonder if I'm getting blow-by with these thin patches (none were recovered from this cold and soggy session) and I increasingly suspect I am with the Miniés. At the same powder charges recoil was noticeably stiffer with the Miniés, as expected with a much heavier projectile (420gr vs. 224). An insufficiently soft alloy is still a viable theory at this point - I might have some .433 ball I used to use for my flintlock pistol (since replaced with .440 and a proper patch), I might just melt those down, after carefully cleaning the pot and heating element, and try making some Miniés from that.
Finally a book on hold at the library! Travis Taylor's One Day on Mars. No clue what it's about but it's from a) Baen and b) a repeat Ringo collaborator so it kinda has to be good. (Later - ah, it might-could be titled Mars is a Harsh Mistress! Allrightythen.)
Ah, this journal is useful to my own self - looking back I see this was the third live-fire session with the Hawken, and on the second I got some chrono data for PRB with 777: a bit over 1,400fps with 60gr, right at 1,700 for 90gr. That's .44 Magnum or .30-30 territory, certainly enough for deer, and I intend, as Cooper commands, to Get Closer.
A couple days ago I emailed Tom Gresham, host of Gun Talk, the following:
A couple weeks ago, you interviewed Kevin Starrett of the Oregon Firearms Federation, who is supporting Medford, OR, schoolteacher Shirley Katz' effort to exercise her right to self-defense.
Considering that interview, and the ongoing national coverage of this case, during this week's radio program, I would like to hear you address the NRA's official position in support of gun-free zones, as defined by EVP Wayne LaPierre, in the 8th and subsequent paragraphs of his speech at the 1999 NRA Convention, as transcribed here:
http://www.nrahq.org/transcripts/denver_wlp.asp
I look forward to hearing your views on this issue.
At the NRA convention in Denver in 1999, executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre said, "First, we believe in absolutely gun-free, zero-tolerance, totally safe schools. That means no guns in America's schools, period ... with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel." ( http://www.nrahq.org/transcripts/denver_wlp.asp )
Has NRA changed from this official position of denying ordinary citizens the right to defend themselves in places known to be suceptible to deadly attacks? Will you be supporting Shirley Katz in her effort to exercise her right to keep and bear arms?
After the show, out for fuel and groceries, and the library to grab the book and drop off the ballot - and in the supermarket the 2008 Guns & Ammo Annual, with the Masada rifle on the cover, leaps right off the shelf at me. "The dislike of the Stoner direct-gas-inpingement system rises to vitriol in some quarters, where it is blamed for everything but sunspots, balding and ED." The Masada has a piston of course. According to the article, the designer chucked everything but the barrel and (for the standard version in 5.56x45mm) magazine (and Magpul is now making Better MagazinesTM for the AR) and "started over". MSRP $1,400, available this spring. No bayonet lug....
1639 - Monday, 22 October 2007: Almost a "normal" day in the cube farm - no Calls From Hell today and I actually got off work at my regularly-scheduled time.
Picked up a nose-&-throat bug during the soggy shooting session, bleh. I'll live.
About done with Four Day Planet, still tasty after all these years (despite the law enforcement content - written in 1961, a time when citizens were still respected, or at least properly feared, by government). I emailed myself a reminder from work for this excerpt:
Dad saw me buckling it on, and seemed rather distressed.
"Better leave that, Walt," he said. "You don't want to get into any shooting."
Logical, I thought. If you aren't prepared for something, it just won't happen. There's an awful lot of that sort of thinking going on. As I remember my Old Terran history, it was even indulged in by governments, at one time. None of them exists now.
Already starting Taylor's One Day on Mars, promises to be interesting, showing both sides of a War of Independence.
I have found more than half a box of Speer .433" round ball, which kinda has to be the right alloy. Unfortunately, cleaning the pot, the old and already-worn heating element finally breaks. Fortunately I have previously found the correct replacement (peering at the photo, it's a design flaw; the breaking point is at the stamped lettering, which has corroded away - but hey, for a donated pot I got plenty of use from it and it's worth fixing) and, since I have income again, I might just buy a Lee Production Pot IV at Sportsman's Warehouse next payday (and then I'd have two pots and could use one for known-pure lead only). I might even go $o far as to order some correct metal.
Reader sends article on cops buying full-automatic weapons illegally through their department and the cops' union shielding them from prosecution. And if we tax-paying peaceable citizens did such a thing those same cops would be sent to murder our families and burn us out. -Listen, you hypocritical fascist bastards, we didn't start this "us and them" business. Look in a damn mirror once in a while, while open warfare still hasn't been declared. I know, you're used to enforcing laws without having to obey them. That, I assure you, is increasingly self-destructive behavior.
Reader-who-wishes-to-remain-anonymous sends: ...rumor.... NRA is getting rather vindictive and has stripped, or is in the process of stripping all Instructor ratings from the guy who started the Joaquin Jackson recall thing. This went around the instructor community informally, not from the NRA, warning us NOT to sign one if you are an instructor, or you won't be very long. >:-[
From Patriot Post, Quote o' the Day: "In a society founded on political and economic liberty, government schools should have no place... Education is too important to be left to the government." - Jeff Jacoby
1640 - Tuesday, 23 October 2007: Mental exhaustion.
Bug receding.
Bleh.
Searching for Hawken load data I found a Lyman manual for similar rifles, and it shows maximums of 120gr 2F and 100gr 3F for PRB, and 110gr 2F and 90gr 3F for a 450gr Maxi (the Miniés as I presently make them are just under 420gr).
Cabela's actually had the replacement heating element on backorder, so I found another supplier - fishing supply, for casting sinkers - that carries it and I've been emailed that it's shipped. And, perhaps irre$ponsibly, I went ahead and ordered the Lee Production Pot IV from Cabela's - it was on sale there, and even with shipping it's a bit less than SW wants on the shelf. -Hm, if I can find a good source for significant volumes of appropriate metal, I might indeed make surplus for barter, and invest in multi-cavity molds for that purpose.
As for finances, this isn't really the worst commute I've had and the Corolla can get through a whole week on one tank. (The new fuel filter may actually have helped.) So money is relatively under control for a while.
Printing awards and brochures for pin & plate matches, and running out of ink. Cheaper to buy a whole new printer (and the refilled black cartridge clogs more, and is slightly past the printer's ability to align) - netshopping, with an eye toward cartridge costs.
1641 - Wednesday, 24 October 2007: Today I had maybe eight calls, and half of them were for the "problem child" model in the product line my department covers. It's like every one ever made is self-destructing across the continent at the same time.
Bug about done.
Sending a (small) check to GOA dammit, in response to their latest mailing, which at least mentions Red's Trading Post. Not wasting postage for the postcard to Representative Blumenauer however.
Dig the comments from my most recent WoGging. Folks is lining up to bash cops. -You badgeboys, does it ever cross your mind that "Hey, maybe I really am a totalitarian fascist power-tripping thug?" Eh? Can ya wrap yer minds around it?
Or perhaps you already have.
Reader sends inspiring tale of ingenuity. Of course if that were tried here the FAA's SWAT team would shoot him down. :-\
Quote o' the Day: "The right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of free communication among the people thereon . . . has ever been justly deemed the only effectual guardian of every other right."
-James Madison (Virginia Resolutions, 24 December 1798)
-Reference: Documents of American History, Commager, vol. 1 (182)
Now compare that to that WoG item where the very identities of the criminals-with-badges are being concealed.
Reader sends:
Conservatives (or at least "conservatives") are fond of AZ Sheriff Arpaio for standing up against illegal immigration and not coddling convicts. But it looks like he, or the subordinates he's responsible for, are just another pack of irresponsible sociopathic jackboots. Tucson Tom, who's, like, there, points out that the source has an anti-Arpaio reputation; but adds, "Regardless of who is in charge the ninja suit macho crap is eventually going to get a lot of these amateur law enforcers killed."
Yuri sends outright demagoguery from MSM. What can a fella do except cast more Miniés and load up some M2 Ball? That Tree of Liberty, she's getting thirsty. :(
1642 - Thursday, 25 October 2007: More mental exhaustion. *&^%$ wireless. Double #$%^& Bluetooth. Triple #*%^& Vista!
Quote o' the Day: "It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue." - John Adams And what do we have instead, in the government schools these days? "Shut up and take your Ritalin or we'll have you arrested, and if someone comes here to kill you we'll lock you up like a criminal so you can't get away."
Replacement heating element for the melting pot arrives! Quick service from Jann's Netcraft, who I'll probably never do business with again because I'm Gun Culture, not Fish Culture, but there's a link FWIW. Melting .433 Speer roundball, casting more Miniés of reasonably-expected-to-be-pure lead. Aaand throwning in the donated Hornady .451 as well 'cause there wasn't enough for a good batch.
Uh huh. The metal looks, behaves, even smells different, and it's way softer. So likely the stuff I thought was straight lead was another alloy. Well, when the Lee arrives I can reclaim all those other Miniés. -I have errands to run after the plate match this weekend so another session at that time is out, but I'll have to take the Hawken out again soon, since this revelation.
Aaand the Lee pot from Cabela's has shipped.
Now reports of arson in the southern California wildfires. I can think of three suspect categories: Islamic terrorists; Aztlan/reconquista terrorists; environmental domestic terrorists. Less likely, a fourth: lefty moonbats giving Pelosi & co. an excuse to whine about National Guard equipment being in Iraq instead of fighting fires here. Nuts you say? I've responses to that accusation: historical precedent; historical precedent; and observed counter-nuttiness.
1643 - Friday, 26 October 2007: More frustrations. *&^%$ network calls. But I've had worse jobs.
Yuri sends it: Didn't I Tell Ya!
D'oh! The Allies vs. Axis match on the 10th - and it's been maybe a year, or more, since I've fired the MojoVZ. I have the fixin's for some rounds - looks like a big range day for me next weekend (when, fortuitously, public sight-in days should be over). But I have to make those rounds soon, and for the Queen too. Double d'oh! Reviewing the CoF in the newsletter shows 55 rounds per relay. I have plenty of .308 but only 60 .323, not enough to spare for a decent sighting-in session; and only 30 .311. Looks like another stop at $W is in order after I get paid.
Hm, that bug still isn't done.
Taylor's One Day on Mars is... not as good as expected. Again I don't want to be mean but the writing is rather... amateurish and the plot kinda Saturday-morning-animated superficial. Rather like it was written for a tabletop-gaming scenario. It doesn't suck, just not what I was expecting.
In fairness, Ringo's last in the Paladin of Shadows series, A Deeper Blue, wasn't as deep as expected either, with, as some others have criticized, the protagonist going everywhere and doing everything all by his protagonistic self.
1644 - Saturday, 27 October 2007: 1st Revolver again! That's almost getting ho-hum, though it sure didn't feel that way when Chris Hall finally whupped me with his Mateba to go on to the match final round (and the overall win). Gyaah! Competition! OMG I won! Ohcrap I lost! Yeehah!
Small turnout this month, dangit (part of the problem may have been that the match was erroneously listed for last weekend in one of the event calendars which went out), but they were well entertained by some very close runs. I qualified 2nd overall in a field of 20 entries, though there were only about eight actual shooters (entered in multiple divisions). Yuri is onto something with his 22/45; he qualified 5th overall and not by much, and his first head-to-head run in Rimfires with chronic overall winner Jim Breen was too close to call (the stop plates are duckie shapes on opposite ends of the rack, and don't overlap when they fall like the centerfire Poppers do). A malfunction or two cost him this month though. I sent him some photos, see his 'blog for them. But here's an exploding pumpkin:
Now I see there's a rifle match (with that same director I don't think I'll be having matches with for a while) on the 3rd, when I'm planning a Serious Range Day with four rifles - the Queen, the MojoVZ, and the MojoMosin, all using established loads; and the Hawken again, using pure-lead Miniés and more experimentation with PRB, different powders, and different charges. I'll sleep in and go later that day.
Hmm, .PNG doesn't compress as well as .JPG. So back to the latter - it's not drive or server space so much as bandwidth and transfer time.
Speaking of the Hawken, some of the web research I've done suggests that the ~4MOA performance it gave last weekend is Pretty Darn Good for PRB. Hmm.
Email a little backed up again.
1645 - Sunday, 28 October 2007: Zz....
OAC show, tortured self - no bargain reproduction percussion revolvers (Yuri expresses an interest, and I still seek to rebuild my collection) but some small things I'd've bought if I had more than $2 in my wallet and I wasn't concerned about the vagaries of direct deposit: another Lee bullet mold, .358-150-SWC; $15 gas masks, on principle; a Lewis Lead Remover for .44 (.429), in Hoppe's packaging (Brownell's is now the exclusive supplier) (I'd've driven to an ATM anyway if I'd seen one in .45, for the Witness). Also saw and fondled a Benelli B-76 pistol, $400-ish, Different. That Red 9 C96 Mauser is still there as are many other fine old and not-old arms I'd've snapped up if I could just manage to win that pesky lottery.
Back to hovel, start oil change (and a tuna casserole) while waiting for the show and chat.
Woo! Via VCDL, Peace Officer Rips LEOs! "If you are a uniformed Police Officer of any rank and do not fully, and honorably support the pre-existing God given rights enumerated in the 2nd Amendment, you are a disgrace to your Badge and your oath of office to protect and serve. The citizens of the United States of America deserve better than you. You should not be allowed the honor of public service as a sworn peace officer of the law...." "If this description fits you, know that I consider you to have no honor and should rightly be held beneath contempt for your nauseous subservience to an unconstitutional doctrine, plus unheroic behavior in the face of danger to your fellow officers and the public." Awesome! Of course his career is no doubt gravely wounded at this point - he's Off the Reservation (or, since he happens to be black, Off the Plantation). Oh wait - "Henry Bowman", right. It's a shame that a Peace Officer can't even sign his own name to his own 1st Amendment-protected words without fearing for his career. And that's another crime for which LEOs are guilty - let's see, we already know the LEO community disrespects the 2nd Amendment, and the 4th, and the 5th (siezure of property, coerced confessions, etc.), now we see they're not too fond of the 1st either (but we knew that). And then there was a local story a couple months ago about cops occupying a house and evacuating a neighborhood for over 24 hours, so there goes the 3rd Amendment too. -Let's see, the 6th - "speedy and public trial" - there are many examples of LEOs concealing, destroying, or fabricating evidence, obstructing or intimidating defense efforts, concealing the identities of crooked cops, etc. The 8th? "Cruel and unusual punishments"? How about burning down a house with the family dog inside and laughing about it? But killing a trained-to-be-vicious police dog is a felony 'cause the dog has the Magic Badge. You hypocritical bastards. -Let's see, that leaves the 7th (right to trial by jury - closed-door proceedings and Good-Ole-Boy cop/judge collusion, there goes that one), the 9th (rights not enumerated reserved by the people - like one in any dozen (or hundred) cops these days cares about any peasant's rights), and the 10th (federal vs. state vs. people - pshyeah right, how often does a county sheriff stand up to the feds? It has happened, I know, but rarely enough to make MSM). Yup, the Bill of Rights is pretty much done. As the Peace Officer says, the LEOs are pushing the rest of us to move from "the ballot box to the cartridge box."
And we're better shots.
Cruffler sends, A String is No Longer a Machine Gun - but it could be again next week 'cause the murderous psychopaths of BATFE make it all up as they go along. Henry Bowman indeed. Cruffler also sends:
Reader sends DC/SCOTUS update.
Reader sends revolver 'smithing.
Crap. H.R. 1955. There really is going to be another civil war.
Tucson Tom sends more data on illegal immigrants and the SoCA fires. Two men, one in San Diego County and the other in Los Angeles, who were arrested on arson charges, accused of setting small fires this week, are believed to be deportable, a federal immigration official said. "Believed to be"? So why haven't they been? Bleah.
Reader points out that the MECHA/fire story appears to be fake. OTOH there's this.
Last night I watched Casino Royale on library DVD ('cause I don't want even a rental fee royalty going to the anti-self-defense loon who stars in it), and it was trés lame. It was Not a Bond Flick - a bunch of whiny agony-of-existence crap stumbling along without flow, without even as much action as expected to carry it. Phooey!
Oooo. Want and double want.
Processing brass, trimming more-than-once-fired military .30-06 - I'll just make a batch of 80 at this point (using up the partial box of projectiles), 55 for the match and 25 to sight in with (plus six from the last batch months ago to warm up with, since it will likely have a different POI). The Mauser brass is ready except for primers and the same RCBS handheld tool I splurged on a while back will do both without changing shellholders. Mosin brass... is completely ready so I don't even have to change the tool.
Um, darn, on second thought the Garand match is the very day after the AvA and that will require... probably only 35 rounds for the short course but I'd better make more. The match fee is supposed to include CMP rounds but a) that club might be out (CMP is) and b) I'll want to use my own if possible and c) always bring more ammunition than you think you'll need. What the heck then, another hundred. Not messing with success, using the established near-M2-equivalent load of 49.0gr BL-C(2) with WLR primer, experimenting with different primers some other time (though my plan at this point is to make ten each with WLR, WLRM, C200, C250, and C34, and send them all over a chronograph while carefully observing for hangfires and the like).
Want power trimmer.
1646 - Monday, 29 October 2007: Bleh work, shrug.
UPS sticker on hovel door, missed delivery, signature required.
Loading up on grocerie$. It's nice, once in a while, to just shovel appealing stuff into the cart without keeping a running total in my head. It's also nice to actually fill the fuel tank to capacity. Having one's very own income is... nice. Soon I may even start $aving.
Finished Taylor's One Day on Mars, lacks polish, hm. Starting ebook, Dalmas' Soldiers, Posleen-like but not, hmm.
Yuri sends rant on Heckler und Koch. And he & I were fondling some USPs at SW just last week. I never did like the controls on the HK longarms....
1647 - Tuesday, 30 October 2007: Today I actually had a network call that didn't completely suck.
The network I'm using at work, however, sucks mightily, all the way up to the other call center in Canada. Nothing! Bloody! Works! Well, in fairness, the box the network is connected to is actually pretty hot (compared to my trailing-edge, fourth-or-more-hand-me-down experience).
Inspired by a sighting in the supermarket parking lot, new bumper sticker:
This time UPS just drops the Lee pot off and leaves. I was half-hoping they'd do just that so I wouldn't have to race back to the hovel to catch it, or worse, go to their distribution center at Swan Island with totally sucky traffic; I'm half-disgruntled they dropped off something that was supposed to be "signature required". Shrug. -Sweeeet, I have two melting pots and one's bigger. Setup is almost nonexistant - screw on the knob/counterweight for the valve lever, plug it in, adjust the control knob, add metal. Firing it up to reclaim the too-hard Miniés and homogenize various scrap or unknown batches - making a few more .45s while I'm at it. -More metal, longer to get to operating temperature, duh, and it holds ten pounds, about three times as much as the other (which is now Designated Pure Lead Only). Biscuit trays for ingot molds, as a reader suggested. Bottom pour spout is also sweeeet.
Quote o' the Day, from John Dalmas' Soldiers: Chang grunted; his own distress threshold was higher than the prime minister's. To him there were reasonable people, and there were problem people, the latter including the chronically indignant. "We do what we must," he said, "and when we've won the war, or lost it, any demonstrations will be forgotten." Which goes with the bumper sticker, natch. The moonbats just will not grok what is at stake. Alas our leadership is notably lacking in vertebral integrity.
From RHJunior's 'blog, Quote o' the Day redux: Albert Einstein, who homeschooled for a time and was known to have had his difficulties in school, is often quoted: "It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry ...which stands mainly in need of freedom... It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty." Of course the government schools don't want curious students. They want obedient tax-paying peasants who can't even think of taking up arms against an oppressive government. -And there we are at HR1955 again. Uh huh.
1648 - Wednesday, Hallowe'en, 31 October 2007: Some emotionally unstable callers out there.
Poodoo! One of the things I liquidated while incomeless was my IMR4064 powder, which I use for the only Mosin load I have recorded that I trust. So I had to get a pound. And I was low on WLR primers (except for the brick my sister won in the prize drawing after the Turkey Shoot last year, which I'm saving for the next time she needs Mosin rounds) so I got three trays (rather than a full bri¢k - I'm trying to control spending). I got the Sierra #2305 .311 but they were out of #2400 .323 so I got Hornady #3232 instead, 150gr, same as the Sierra. (Hornady evidently makes a 125gr in this size but SW doesn't stock it; I might throw in a box next time I order from Midway or Natchez, in an attempt to reduce recoil; the MojoVZ is at this time my hardest-kicking rifle with the 150gr.) And then I was too pooped to go to the laundromat and I need to start loading this stuff now.
So! Making exactly 100 Mauser rounds, using only the Hornadys - and that's probably all the W748 powder (49.0gr) I have anyway. -Yup, about a dozen rounds' powder left. Sense o' Accomplishment!
.30-06, 150gr Hornady FMJBT, military brass, WLR primer, 49.0gr BL-C(2) - 180. -Tomorrow. Priming still.
Mosin, 125gr Sierra, Winchester brass (which I have read is made by S&B), WLR primer, 46.1gr IMR4064 tediously weighed - as many as I have components for - Friday probably.
The RCBS priming tool (the older model, #90200, using standard shellholders) works well and is easier on the hand than the Lee - but the Lee is a lot easier and faster to switch.
Reader sends:
Reader sends: University to students: 'All whites are racist'. I'm not really surprised, I've been hearing of this sort of thing for years through the blogosphere - even linked some of it before I realized I could spend every waking moment at the keyboard doing so without running out of material, and quit.
Quote o' the Day: "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire
Eloquence on the philosophy of self-defense.
Snork warning (2nd paragraph).
From the lists, Holy Grapping Maulk: Soldier Survives Knife in Skull. One, Two, Army Effing Strong!
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