1711 - Tuesday, 8 January 2008:

Ths customer.
Had his USB cable.
Plugged in.
To his network router.
For an hour and a quarter.
[whimper]

Savage also comments on the jack-booted-thuggery from the other day, with the ninjaboys dragging an 11-year-old out of his home at gunpoint.

Holster drill with the GP100 in Kydex. Buy this product. Okay, nitpick: when grasping the weapon the thumb strikes the upper inboard edge of the holster shell. Practice may address this.

Email, grunt. Working hard and decompressing. Errands to run around town too.

1712 - Wednesday, 9 January 2008: Shrug work.

In the news, Pennsylvania Dems seek to register arms, ban private sales.

CNN actually publishes RKBA poll results. :-O

"Gun Show Loophole" My Ass.

1713 - Thursday, 10 January 2008: Znrk work.

Commentary: They Really Believe This Crap.

Not everyone is following the example of Barrett and STI. Doesn't anyone do, like, research anymore?

Reader sends cop-kills-citizen article, with a bit of institutional insight perhaps. Reader advises to check the Related Stories links.

1714 - Saturday, 12 January 2008: Zzz....

Late to Barberton. C'mon, I've been getting up before 5 here! Bought, for $10, a pair of Safariland plunger-type speedloaders with two-place pouch, I think I know how those work but much dry-practice is in order; for another $10, a can and a half of old W231 powder, with which I'll be performing Scientific Experiments once I get a chronograph again (comparing old powder to new); and from Yuri, for $20, RCBS carbide .44 Magnum/Special dies. You know you're a hoplophile when you have dies for a caliber you don't own. (Yuri tells me he recently bought .223 dies. And I have my own set too, as well as .30-30 and .40/10mm.) :) One more die set and I can do two to four more cartridges, the .45 Schofield/Colt/.454 Casull/.460S&W family, depending which brand I get for length and adjustment.

Then there was an election for board positions for the show's club... and I was elected (conscripted?) to one of the three vacant BoD positions. Oookay.

Quote o' the Day: A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both. - Milton Friedman

Cruffler alerts me to Open Office. D'oh! Over 100Mb though. Either I'll have to wardrive with the NEC and hope it completes before the battery fails, or I'll try on dialup before I go to bed.

Political discussion at the club; Fred Thompson may be our least-bad choice. He did support McCain-Feingold, which if fully implemented would shut down 'blogs like this and Yuri's, and his record is far from perfect, but he seems to be the only electable candidate near our position(s). There's very little to choose from this time. I'll tell you who I won't vote for, even against Hillary: McCain (who campaigned on local TV to "close the gun show loophole" in Oregon, besides joining Feingold to attack the First Amendment), Romney (who signed a state ban on "assault weapons"), or Giuliani (who has a long history of supporting JBTs and opposing RKBA).

And email is backed up. Regarding the cop-kills-citizen article posted Thursday, reader updates & clarifies:

They also released the name of the shooter today, the Sgt. and former SWAT team leader, now outranked by another person on the team who was promoted to LT. BTW the same SGT gave the command for the sniper to fire the only shot for the only other kill the LPD SWAT team has.

Starting humongous Open Office download, don't expect any email responses until Sunday morning or maybe afternoon. At least the HP box lets me watch DVDs at the same time. "KHAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!" :)

1715 - Sunday, 13 January 2008: Zzz....

Drat, that 14-hour Open Office dialup download didn't work. I'll wardrive later.

At the show, a couple sightings: S&W M57, pre-sellout, 6(.5?)", Excellent, $485 IIRC; and at the other side of the hall a rare piece, the M58 with fixed sights, $600 with holster wear.

One of my readers was inquiring about a GP100, but I've forgotten which one. Please email me again!

1716 - Monday, 14 January 2008: Starting Carpenter's A Well Regulated Militia. ...Eh, rather preachy-to-the-choir-y, and a bit heavy on jargon. The premise would be laughable - to anyone who hasn't been following the news. The sheeple would turn their noses up at it; our kind can accept the premise easily and focus on things like writing style and sloppy punctuation.

Oh, and the protagonist is one of those "corrupt Glock-loving dogs". :)

Reader sends, New York sucks.

1717 - Tuesday, 15 January 2008: Burn in Hell, Bill Gates! BUUUUURRRRNNNN!!!

Did I mention that Vista still sux?

Seen in SGN, want. 'Cause I fear we might soon need.

1718 - Wednesday, 16 January 2008: Continuing AWRM. The characters are somewhat shallow, the dialogue likewise, but this appears to be a first novel and some allowances should be made. As for the content and plot... the author is pointing out real security threats that actually exist in the real world, brewing a mix of Islamic terrorism, Latino racism, ecological terrorism, and political greed, corruption, and/or spinelessness. It could happen. -The book also contains what could be used as training or equipment tips, though there's a strenuous disclaimer against using it as such.

It is insane, that people - like us - who want to defend our sovereignty and way of life, are deemed threats to the same, while people - like brown-supremacist illegal immigrants, Islamic terrorists, eco-terrorists, and socialist/communist politicians - who actually are demonstrable threats to America, are given special treatment and privileges paid for with our taxes. Insane. I really don't want to get killed in the next American Civil War. I want to ride a starship to another world and do that Pioneer thing with lots of elbow room. At this rate I'm not going to have the choice. :( Better get more rifle practice.

PeTA and the like have a role in the novel; and the other day in chat there was a new visitor who may have been a lurker or agent provocateur from the same, possibly feeling out the opposition. When prompted by this person's seemingly-neutral inquiries the regular Elves, not least myself, opined explicitly on PeTA, ALF, ELF, etc., and "Doey24" soon disappeared. In the novel the author is steering toward the bunny-kissers engaging in biological warfare, releasing something like hoof-and-mouth disease in livestock populations - as I think some of the PeTA freaks have suggested already. I guess the logic would be to put McDonalds out of business and force their irrational Vegan agenda down all our throats.

Which, as came up in chat, isn't far removed from the Islamists cutting our throats for not converting to their religion. And then you have global-warming cultists like Gore condemning people for not converting to their delusions in turn. And the sexual-deviance activists too - why don't they tolerate and respect my lifestyle instead of demanding special treatment for theirs while waggling their whatsises in my face? Fer cryin' out loud, all I want is to be left alone! The First Amendment does not give you the right to be listened to, nor the duty to be deliberately disgusting. Shut up and go away!

Back to PeTA specifically, I really must go hunting some year... the Queen will certainly serve and I expect the Hawken would do nicely as well. I need to make another .30-06 test batch with the Nosler Ballistic Tips, and try those pure-lead Miniés and get more experience with PRB and various powders. I'm avoiding doing any handloading or muzzleloading until the seasons turn and temperature & humidity improve; the hovel isn't exactly climate-controlled and last time I had the Hawken out I think I was seeing the powder and caps being affected by winter conditions.

Hm, speaking of climate, the Sportsman's Warehouse gift card from the club picnic should just cover a Browning Everdry, which for all practical purposes seems to be an off-brand Goldenrod. The other SW gift certificate is $10 off a $50+ purchase. I've been avoiding $W until my finances stablized, but that point is approaching.

Aaand the VOIP phone at work goes down in the middle of a call. Sounds like a bandwidth issue, call-center-wide. Fixed later... and down again later. Just another of the myriad frustrations of existence. Except here I can surf the web or read a book. I've had worse jobs. -Except I just noticed that while NRA.org is blocked, the Brady Campaign is not. Inquiring about that.

I can read WoG and this raised my blood pressure: "A reasonable man, observing the outcome of Olofson's case might conclude that there is no point in an honest fellow playing the game of an abusive regime that flaunts the law and manipulates the courts. A reasonable man might conclude that, if he is approached by ATF agents, he should probably consider them as little better than unconstitutional gangsters operating under the fiction of legal pretense. A reasonable man, realizing the system is rigged against him, that the rule of law has broken down and not wishing to go to federal prison for a crime he did not commit, might decide that the best thing to do is refuse to be the victim, right there and then. And you may infer from that whatever you wish."

½ drat. Wardriving with the 802.11b NEC at the laundromat ('cause my 802.11g/n card doesn't have an auxiliary antenna port and causes some conflicts with the NEC's sound), I got most of Open Office downloaded before the battery failed. Back at the hovel I plugged in AC, restarted, relaunched Opera, connected by dialup, and the download actually did resume where it left off - a couple more hours and it should be done, then I can see if it works. If OO does indeed handle all MS files I may finally wipe and redo the NEC's drive, which came with MS Office which I didn't want to lose. With a fresh OS the NEC might run faster.

Meanwhile, halfway through AWRM Carpenter paints a catastrophe similar to that in Ringo & Evans' The Road to Damascus. Some of the dialogue is downright stilted and preachy - Weber, Ringo, Drake, et.al. have spoiled me - but I do happen to be in that particular choir. So far, recommended, in the interest of scaring the snot out of patriots and getting them off the couch and out to a rifle range. I wish the militia movement were as organized and widespread as Carpenter paints it.

Tucson Tom sends a border news item you won't see on MSM.

Yesss, Open Office download finally complete. Transferring to the HP box, which continues to run rather nicely since the last wipe.

1719 - Thursday, 17 January 2008: *&$% Bluetooth.

On the (belated) drive back to the hovel, Savage interviews Stallone re: Rambo 4. Stallone has shown evidence of being on the Other Side, hm. I'll get it from the library eventually. Then I hear that Stallone plans to remake Bronson's Death Wish. Bronson, IIRC, gave some indications that he was on our side. The original film is iconic for our people.... A 21st century Hollywood remake could Suck Real Bad.

1720 - Saturday, 19 January 2008: Pin shoot! 2nd Revolver (of three), 12th of 18 overall. Cold, wet, intermittent snow & rain, and other excuses - here's one of the plates regulars with a Kimber:

Keeping the Fobus holster, though I may have to back off the tension a bit for racing; likewise keeping the Safariland speedloaders (two) which are noticeably faster than the HKS (five), though I need to look into a better way to carry them than the traditional snap or velcro pouches. In both cases I should've had more dry practice.

And next weekend at plates I'm wearing two pair of socks.

Scored a little bonus brass, some .30-06 including 8 pieces of once-fired LC69.

Fiddling with Pro 1000 #2 (#1, the donated one, has the .38/.357 shellplate all the time). Got the #11 shellplate installed and the .44/.44 sizer & expander dies adjusted (I have a small quantity of .44 Special, and the dies came with one spacer ring for Special/Magnum), now experimenting with .30-30 and One Shot lube - yeesss, the Pro 1000 will do .30-30 with the casefeeder even, if everything is tweaked just right. (I've accumulated over 100 pieces from the clubs; three more at Wolverton today.) Seating/crimping, as with previous .308 experiments, are a separate problem (case length is essentially identical), but just being able to size progressively is a big slice of time saved. And now you know.

Also fiddling with Open Office, specifically Calc, the Excel equivalent; and the spreadsheet file I used to record and total the pin shoot times, in Excel 2003 on the NEC laptop, is readable and editable in Open Office 2.3, and vice-versa. And that's damn useful.

Many of you will have seen, on the lists, that The New York Times has printed an article suggesting that servicemen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are prone to violence and homicide here at home, implying that this is a result of the eee-vill war against poor misunderstood practitioners of the religion of peace. A very little digging, which you may have also seen on the lists, reveals that the truth is quite the opposite; demographically veterans are vastly less prone to violence and homicide than the general population. Anyhow, a reader sends this spoof on NYT's clumsily obvious obfuscation.

The Constitution Society needs money.

Finished AWRM the other day. Not a bad read, but going a bit utopian at the end. The author, IMO, fails to take into account the significant segment of the US population who actually believe in all that pacifist/socialist/globalist claptrap. Furthermore it's been a very long time since we had a President with detectable vertebrae. (Okay, Reagan had some, but that was twenty years ago.) Went back to Dalmas' Soldiers in free Baen ebook, should finish that in another day or three; nothing else in hardcopy ready from the library yet so I'll probably start Williamson's Freehold next.

1721 - Sunday, 20 January 2008: Zzz....

Had a fit of case sizing last night, tumbling. Most of it is stuff I don't have weapons for, but at least I know the setup works. -I suspect that using the sliding spout thingie from the 9mm PTE die I'm using for .38/.357, in the .45 PTE die, will work for charging .44 cases with the Auto Disk measure, without further altering the case mouth (previously expanded with the conventional RCSB expander) and without having to buy a .44 PTE.

Huh, Armscorp makes a CZ/Witness clone too. I'm guessing theirs is the small-frame only, not convertible to the larger rounds like my Witness.

Okay, see, I have income now. And, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I learned of a remarkable opportunity. And siezed it.

WOO HOOOOO!!!

Those of you who generously donated to my 1911 fund may be pleased to know that I have in fact finally acquired a 1911! It's marked CAI and "MADE IN THE PHILIPPINES". Both front and rear sights are dovetailed; the rear is marked "LPA" and is a (relatively) low-profile adjustable type with my preferred square white outline. The front is a white dot which I've painted over entirely orange; this is my preferred handgun sight picture, a red or orange front ramp or blade with a square white outline rear. The slide has a low solid rib and is marked "ELITE - .45 ACP MANUFACTURED BY S.A.M." on the left and "Imported by: CAI Georgia, VT" on the right. It appears to be pre-Series 80 and has no firing pin safety. The mainspring housing is flat and grooved, but those are easy enough to change; I may go with checkered and a lanyard ring, though I may never use the latter (reportedly they've proven useful in the sandbox). The frontstrap is smooth and the magazine well is not beveled (yet - I might get a bolt-on well funnel, there are some different sizes to choose from). The grip safety is beavertail with a bit of speed bump, no change needed there. Grips when acquired were smooth wood and have been replaced with Uncle Mike's checkered synthetic, the same brand and composition as on my P35. The guide rod it came with was one-piece full-length and a bushing wrench was necessary to get the weapon apart; that was easily fixed with a pre-emptive show purchase of a conventional plug and guide, which dropped right in. One shortcoming so far: the thumb safety won't positively engage. Both that and the slide stop are extended "gas pedal" types but those also should be easy to change or replace; 1911 parts are everywhere. (I've read that extended slide stops may sometimes engage prematurely in recoil.) Overall the weapon is near Excellent condition and appears to have been fired little if at all; there's still plenty of blueing on the locking lugs inside the slide (which are nice and sharp as are those on the barrel), and in the bore. This barrel has conventional (if shallow) rifling, so I can use my cast bullets in it without risking catastrophic failure which some on the net have blamed on polygonal rifling, which my Witness has. The trigger is the long type, skeletonized, and smooth; I may replace that with grooved later; the pull is crisp, and light enough. Grip screws happen to be hex-key and appear to be stainless; those may be changed to blued for looks. Or not - if I start swapping controls I might get stainless parts for a bit of highlighting. (An extended magazine catch is also a possibility.) Overall, as can be seen, the weapon is a 5" full-size model, just what I was after. The frame is steel, matte-finished; the slide is blued and polished on the flats while matte elsewhere. The pistol overall may still need some breaking-in; not ready to race yet. Function seems fine with A-Zoom dummy rounds so far, but I'm worried about the slide lock engaging in recoil, or the thumb safety disengaging while holstered.

The purchase price? Grab yer hats: for the pistol, two magazines (one with a Mec-Gar body, the other a Shooting Star follower and Lone Star Ordnance bumper but an unmarked body, both 8-round, both drop-free), and a generic Doskosport case... $320.

God Bless America. Even Cruffler was impressed.

Next for purchase will be a Kydex holster, probably a Fobus roto-paddle but I'll see what Uncle Mike's has at Sportman's Warehouse, and matching magazine holders (really liking the zero-maintenance Kydex); and of course more magazines. Stay tuned for range reports; depending on weather and gumption I'll be testing it after plates this Saturday. (Loaded up some rounds for it already.)

Something I'm noticing in dry practice already: the 1911 and Witness are about the same grip size, but a noticeably different feel. The 1911's safety is more naturally placed than the Witness, I'll admit that much. And now I have to wonder what I'll be doing with the Witness. Maybe a 10mm conversion, that's 15+1 with some nifty ballistics.

...Meeeeanwhile, I am actually saving some money - $400 in savings in fact. Financial plan: 1) Get three months' rent in savings and keep it there; 2) Start saving more money, perhaps in a separate account; 3) Escape to Montana or Wyoming.

Tucson Tom, kind and benevolent donor of the Queen, sends more from the border.

Just blew $75-odd (free shipping at that amount) on magazines and a couple 1911 parts from CDNN. Then in the latest Shotgun News I see a full-page ad for Chip McCormick 1911 magazines with a 3-year no-failure guarantee - and by coincidence two of the 8-round ($9.99 each) and the one 10-round ($18.99) I ordered are that brand, though lesser models.

I also see that Iver Johnson has not only returned, but joined the 1911 game, including yet another source for .22LR conversions - this one with 15-round magazines!

Fondling and dry-firing the 1911 (with A-Zoom snap/dummies I already had for the Witness)... there's something truly different about a 1911. It feels... solid in the hand, real. Like it belongs there. Hmm.

FWIW, a shooter at yesterday's pin shoot was using the Armalite AR24 CZ clone in 9x19mm. I can't say about accuracy, kinda hard to judge under those conditions and I don't know the shooter well enough to judge his skill otherwise, but the pistol was functioning well.

For possible 1911 (and Witness) testing next Saturday I have some factory FMJ, a little Winchester white-box JHP, some Remington JHP, 230gr plated LRN handloads, 200gr plated LSWCs that the Witness strongly dislikes, some Hornady XTP and ancient Speer JHPs in handloads, and what will be the first cartridges I've ever made with bullets I've cast myself, 226gr LRN from a Lee mold meant for percussion revolvers I think. Alas I have no chronograph and, considering what happened to my last one, I don't want to use one of the club's under these conditions....

1722 - Monday, 21 January 2008: Eff Effing Vista!

What's that you say? "That's what all you nerds said about XP when it came out." Yeah, that's what we said - SIX YEARS, TWO SERVICE PACKS AND HUNDREDS OF PATCHES AGO. Effing Gates....

Finished Soldiers. Good, but not the fangs-out nuke-the-bastards-into-fiery-oblivion fare I've acquired a taste for, from Ringo, Kratman, Weber (& White), etc. Starting Freehold at work tomorrow I guess.

My CDNN order - three 8-round & one 10-round magazines, a replacement trigger, a steel GI-type guide rod (the one it has now happens to be polymer), and an extended magazine catch - might arrive on the 25th, just in time for post-match practice on the 26th. (I have a 1911! Glee!)

1723 - Tuesday, 22 January 2008: Eff Effing Bluetooth!

Drat, Fred Thompson, the Least-Bad Choice, has dropped out. We're screwed. I need more rifle practice.

Williamson's Freehold of Grainne is an interesting world - bearing in mind, as with L Neil Smith's Pallas, that freedom includes the freedom to starve.

1724 - Wednesday, John Moses Browning Day, 23 January 2008: Eff Effing public education!

-Yes, a lot of people celebrated JMB Day on the 21st, but my understanding is that his tombstone says he was born on the 23rd.

Sooo I got four hours' training for a new product, which is just a variant of a previous product (which means I'll be sending out a lot of a particular replacement part). Then I go back to my cube to take more calls.

And the network goes down. Totally. No software tools, no internet access, I can't even read my ebook because it's saved on my personal network drive rather than the local drive, because that other tool has never worked and I was backing up in case IT had to wipe my work machine and reinstall everything.

Then, while that's going on and half the cubefarm is self-depilating, some jerk blunders past and spills ranch dip on the carpet right next to where I sit. And it smells. Even after being wiped up. Cubefarm and building-maintenance bureaucracy will likely prevent anything timely being done about that - I'll get some Febreeze my own self.

And then there's another jerk throwing himself into his chair just the other side of the cubewall from me, shaking the whole cube. It's... a... call... center. People are talking on the phone! How can they not get that?

And the Corolla has been losing clutch fluid and the power steering has been a little hesitant when starting in the morning or at end-of-work - hopefully that's just the cold, and it has been quite cold, though dry. Just a little precipitation and the city will shut down in another icemare.

Freehold is gripping. Probably finish tomorrow or early Friday.

Email a little behind as usual.

Busy weekend ahead: plate match, possible 1911 initiation after, annual club meeting & BoD election Sunday, and the big Expo show both days where I might hafta finally actually look at the 1911 parts tables despite the crowds, admission, and prowling blueshirts. And somewhere in there I'm planning a visit to $W.

1725 - Thursday, 24 January 2008: Eff Effing India! Type American Dammit!

I may start a betting pool on which software tool fails next.

The Uncle Mike's grips now on my 1911 are molded for an ambidextrous safety, but there's a thin strip of material covering the cutout, for appearance if you aren't using ambi, which will be easily removed with a hobby knife. (Alas it seems UM doesn't sell grips anymore - I'm quite pleased with the construction and feel of those I have on my 1911 and P35.) I'm planning on a non-extended ambi safety, stainless for contrast; stainless extended magazine catch should arrive tomorrow; thinking of a stainless non-extended slide stop too, for a bit of contrast and highlighting.

Ugh, this weekend will be packed. I might have a very brief 1911 session, or even none at all, after plates, then tear off to the Expo show on Saturday - the club meeting will conflict with a Sunday visit. Likewise the chat session will have to be cut short so I can reach the meeting - as a monthly match director and newsletter contributor I kinda have to be there.

1726 - Friday, 25 January 2008: Dooooon't geeet Viiisstaaaa! BeWAAAARRRRRE!!!!

Nearing the end of Freehold. Williamson handles the rape issue in a rather more thoughtful manner than L. Neil Smith does in my opinion.

UPS online tracking shows my package delivered! Racing back to the hovel after my shift- ahhhh, more magaziiiinessss. Too many don't happen. -Alas I may not do any post-match testing at all; Expo is a big show and where I usually park is a long walk and there just may not be time. Besides the 1911's awakening (and my .45ACP handloads) needs a careful scientific treatment. Need new chronograph. Deliberate range day on the 2nd perhaps - might just buy another low-end Chrony at $W.

Loot. Two McCormick Shooting Star 8-round, one McCormick Power 10, and one CDNN house-brand 8-round; replacement (adjustable!) trigger with grooved surface; extended magazine release, stainless; and a proper steel guide rod to replace polymer. Yay A-Zoom for dry testing.

"Some fitting required." The magazine catch seems all right but the trigger (the chunk of aluminum, not the stirrup) needs some thinning. I see that the stop screw will bear against the catch when everything's back together, so now I understand that part. ("You have to understand why things work on a starship....") As for the surface, I want smooth on a double-action or DAO trigger like my GP100, and a bit of texture on a single-action like my (my, MY!) 1911. Getting out the files....

Further examination of the Uncle Mike's grips suggests that they would be relatively simple to alter for attachable magazine well funnels or frontstrap shells - the funnel is one thing I'll be sniffing over at Expo, to see if I can find one that's not overdone.

Finished Freehold, good book, happy ending, wish I'd wrote it. Not sure what's next, nothing in hardcopy but plenty of ebooks, and readers sending links to more.

Trigger and magazine catch installed and functioning. Better feel on the trigger, traction; pull seems unaffected or even perceived to be improved because my finger isn't slipping on the smooth original. Dry practice with and examination of the new magazines; the CDNN is not dropping free (yet), though the Mec-Gar does with the new trigger (& stirrup) (as does the unmarked body with the Shooting Star follower); feeds dummies fine. On closer examination the magazine with the Shooting Star follower, which came with the pistol, may in fact be an actual McCormick magazine 'cause it looks exactly like the ones I just bought except for the logo molded into the plastic bumper. Neither of the new McCormick 8-round drop free (yet), but the Power 10 does. All feed dummies and lock the slide perfectly, but right there in the package it says "LIVE FIRE TO ENSURE PROPER FUNCTION." And I will. But probably not tomorrow. -Besides I'm low on factory rounds for a control group. I might not even take the 1911 along tomorrow; that would save valuable show-shopping and parking-hiking time by removing the temptation.

1727 - Saturday, 26 January 2008: Match day! 30 entries.

2nd revolver (of five), 14th of 30 in qualifying. Not my best performance. Okay, it was cold and wet and that guy with the Mateba showed up, though I whupped him, but chronic whupper Jim Breen had his own GP100 with a red-dot scope. Breen, as you can read in the club's public newsletter soon, ended up with four of the nine little dollar-store-framed awards: 2nd Intramural with the pin shoot, 1st Revolver, 1st Rimfire, and through the latter by coin toss, 1st Overall.

Then I filled out the paperwork and went to an ATM, then a gas station, then the Expo show, where I actually paid $7 to park in addition to the $8 admission because I just wasn't going to hike my usual kilometer or so in that weather. (At least it's not freezing, but that may change overnight.) (Did not bring 1911 or Witness for testing today. Science required.) I was disappointed to find very few 1911 parts I either didn't already have or couldn't live without - I walked the whole hall twice. The kind of vendor I was looking for, with various custom parts, holsters, accessories, etc., was present in a couple locations... for Glocks. :-6 So instead I bought a new Dixie Gun Works catalog, been a while since I've had one of those handy; for $10, at least 200 .452 213-ish-gr LSWC of unknown origin; for $6, 6lb of fine walnut tumbling media, since the Lyman green corncob stuff is about done (and this finer stuff shouldn't stick in the flash holes, which should save me much work); extra 2- and 5rnd Garand clips, since my previous extras were inadvertently but advantageously traded for a heap of Greek brass at Appleseed; a pair of Surefire brand CR123 batteries for my G2 light, 'cause I like having spares; and for $25, marked $30, not exactly what I was after, an extended ambidextrous stainless 1911 thumb safety, supposedly by Ed Brown of Bobtail fame - just looking at it I'm pretty sure it will solve the original's engagement problem. Eh, I can buy more 1911 parts later if I change my mind about either shape or color.

(Uh-oh: just discovered that since putting in the new trigger, the grip safety has no effect. Will investigate later, when I'm not exhausted.)

Then I went back across the river to an American Legion post for the club's RSO recertification - my running the plate match counts as three times the required yearly service, so I don't have to pull regular range duty, and with RSO status I can go to the range on off days, not that I have any free now. (And there was pizza, and a cool little LED flex-light/laser pointer handout. Good club.)

And tomorrow I'm going out again for the annual club meeting and election. So tonight I'm reading my webcomics and going to bed and email is backed up.

1728 - Sunday, 27 January 2008: Zzzz....

On the show, discussion of pending (additional) infringements in Illinois, particularly Kook County. In chat, discussion of anti-gun bigotry.

Reader donates 1911 magazine well! Other readers giving all kinds of 1911 tips. Gunfolk are the greatest!

Off to the annual meeting - gab-gabbity. Plans to expand the handgun line, which will eliminate the structure where the plate match targets are currently stored, but it will be some time before anything is actually changed and I'll have plenty of time to voice my concerns.

Lone Oak Garand matches 17 May, 10 August, and 15 November. May and November conflict with the Wolverton pin shoot, and therefore the intramural. Must ponder.

And laundromat tomorrow. Email still behind.

...Examining the 1911. Reader points out the leg on the grip safety that engages the trigger stirrup - the back end of the stirrup is too narrow, top-to-bottom weapon-wise, to engage the grip safety. Replacement is indicated there, possibly of the grip safety rather than the trigger since the original also is only slightly engaged. As for the magazines, reader suggests it's the grip screws binding against the magazine body, but that's not it; might be the bushings. Of the six magazines I now have, the two it came with and the McCormick 10-round I ordered all drop free, while the two new McCormick 8-round and the CDNN/Target Sports 8-round stick. Ah! Stripping the frame and removing the suspect grip bushing, now one of the new McCormicks also drops free - a little file work on the bushing then - done. The second McCormick and the CDNN still stick; that may be irregularities in the magazine bodies causing them to bind against the frame. Well, one expects to end up with a heap of magazines for any autoloader, some of which will be trusted more than others. Sanding may fix these (though that will wreck the finish on the magazines, but that won't show under circumstances I care about). The replacement thumb safety will fix the engagement problem; the original was incorrectly shaped to engage the plunger, the new one is as crisp and positive as could be asked for. -Some fitting required on the new thumb safety too, the internal projection that does the work is shaped differently from the original and does not engage the sear; first testing was done on a stripped frame and slide, but the new safety won't install with the rest of the internals. That's careful Dremel work, later.

So now I know more about 1911s. But I must go to bed!

1729 - Monday, 28 January 2008: Grunt. Especially the get-out-of-bed part.

Effing cityfolk. A little ice on the road and they want the National Guard to carry them to work in helicopters.

Found another comprehensive reloading tutorial, will link from mine.

No hardcopy to read - leafing through DGW catalog, considering starting Andre Norton's Star Soldiers ebook - I may have read it before.

I was so focused on 1911 parts at the Expo show Saturday, and also operating under time constraints, I didn't really notice much else. I did see that the Charles Daly P35 is still at or under $400 NIB-ish.

While laundry runs, charge off to library and grab Poul Anderson's To Outlive Eternity and Other Stories.

Effing neighbor. Parking conflict.

After much careful filing-and-trying (dissuaded from Dremel by reader tip), ambidextrous safety installed and functioning, starboard grip panel altered appropriately. Original trigger reinstalled, grip safety marginal. Replacing that might be more difficult; I understand the radius where the beavertail meets the frame isn't entirely standardized.

Email tomorrow-ish maybe.

Grunt.

1730 - Tuesday, 29 January 2008: Grunt.

Neighbor's humongous truck not in tiny hovel driveway... for now. Grump.

Email! Really!

Reader recommends book on anti-white racism as illustrated by the Duke lacrosse case.

Reader comments: "Have you considered how calling Bill Gates evil and that he sucks merely demeans real demons and advocates of oral sex? "

As predicted by Tucson Tom, myself, and others, JBT door-kicker gets offed.

Itty-Bitty Arms! (And regular-sized ones too.) Reader particularly directs my attention to this one.

Remember when my sister gave me the Commander-sized upper for my P35, and I was worried about replacement recoil springs for the non-standard setup? Reader sends solution!

Even more ebooks.

From the lists, a little Iraq story you won't be seeing on MSM.

Brownell's low-cost 1911 build. Fascinating. -Not mucking with mine's sear and hammer, seems pretty darn good to me - perhaps it's already been worked on. (Note the semantic difference between "mucked with" and "worked on". This just might be the best firearm steal-deal since the Queen....) The article looks Very Useful to my current needs; I'm signed up for Brownell's emails and look forward to the next installment.

Reader sends 1911 links.

Reader sends source for bulk CR123 tactical light batteries.

Tucson Tom sends:

New bumper sticker:

Funny.

1731 - Wednesday, 30 January 2008: Kids these days (first section). That first flush of franchise, they think they can change the world; they spend a few minutes watching MSNBC and think that they have all the answers (spoon-fed to them by the pols promising them handouts from our hard work), and that anyone who disagrees is some kind of monster.

Feelin' old.

Okay, see, some of my customers are like this. While on the other hand some are like this. -Haven't had any of these yet though.

Rudi, the JBT's Friend, is out! Trial-lawyer-zillionaire-Breck-girl Edwards is out! Still don't know who I'll vote against though.

Tucson Tom sends:

The other day, I needed to go to the emergency room.
Not wanting to sit there for 7-10 hours, I put on my old Air Force fatigues and stuck a patch that I had downloaded off the Internet onto the front of my shirt.
When I went into the E.R., I noticed that 3/4 of the people got up and left. I guess they decided that they weren't that sick after all.
Here's the patch. Feel free to use it the next time you're in need of quicker emergency service.

It also works well if you ever have to use a Laundromat.

1732 - Thursday, 31 January 2008: Skimming much of Anderson's To Outlive Eternity. "Un-Man", about a UN anti-nationalist secret agent, is a load of globalist collectivist claptrap - but it was written in 1953 when that particular shade of blue hadn't yet been recognized as it's own symbol of corruption, theft, rape, and despotism. -Also I've never liked his Island Federation stories, similar reasons. OTOH "No Truce With Kings", 1963, seems to rebut his own earlier work.

Grunt. I think I'll just sleep in this weekend. Might try the 1911 later Saturday (not Sunday, when the club is open to the public...), or not - I want another chronograph first on principle. And the weather forecast is icky anyway. -Hm, Barberton next weekend, and some kind of rifle match that same day but I think it's that one match director I'll not be shooting under for a while - maybe the afternoon of the 9th to break in the 1911, I might have a new chronograph by then. Yes, I think that's it; direct deposit Saturday and maybe order a particular repairable model from Midway.

Hey, should I get the Kuhnhausen books? Something else? Something and?

Loot! Donated 1911 magazine well arrives, along with stag grips already altered for it (it's the type that fits over the bushings). I probably won't use the stag grips, the Uncle Mike's I have now are very much what I'm looking for... but I'll probably slap them on for a photo anyway. :)

The portside anyway, as the starboard is not altered for the safety and I'll not do that now, rather attacking the Uncle Mike's for the well. That well is just right, not humongous, instant improvement in my dry practice. Installation was a simple matter of removing and replacing the lower grip screw bushings.

New Mossberg catalog. Their 464 centerfire sure looks like an 1894 Winchester, hm. And they have two centerfire bolt-actions with actual metallic sights. Furthermore they now offer an autoloading 12 gauge in fighting clothes, including a 7+1 model.

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