RIFLEMAN'S JOURNAL - MAY 2009
Perspective on Columbine.
Tired.... Rain forecast for the weekend, and club email says two of the three firing lines will be having work done - vegging. Maybe a range day next weekend though - and after that is pins, and after that is plates again (with the JCG cancelled, alas).
Reader sends essential tools.
2180 - Saturday, 2 May 2009: Zzz!
Seattle GRE warns about SCOTUS.
"Tolerant, inclusive, open-minded" my ass.
Perspective on the Mexican arms supply. -C'mon, folks, the place has been a basket case for the last 99 years and isn't likely to straighten out any decade soon. Mexican drug gangs are not getting RPGs and the like at American gun shows.
Among the latest reader loot was Jeremiah, the post-apocalyptic series by J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5. It certainly had its moments, although there were two or three blatantly anti-RKBA injections - which may not have been JMS' doing, based on something I read from a Wiki footnote about JMS really not liking MGM, calling them "intrusive". The ending was kinda a cop-out, but that might be related.
Meanwhile, starting Storm from the Shadows, an Honorverse novel in which Harrington herself is little more than a string of cameos. Weber remains Really Wordy and some of the dialogue is really quite overdone, but this saga is not a habit one can break. (I have finally quit reading Cussler/Pitt....) Trying to get through it as fast as I can, knowing I won't be able to renew. Next is the new Williamson/Grainne, Contact with Chaos.
2181 - Sunday, 3 May 2009: Zz.
Chat & show every Sunday 1100PT.
Fighting back in Wisconsin.
2182 - Monday, 4 May 2009: Bleah.
Yeah, that's all I've got today.
2183 - Tuesday, 5 May 2009: No justice. System is past merely "broke", now actively malicious.
Your Tax Dollars at Work. So, the government refuses to protect us, and denies us the right to protect ourselves (with few exceptions). And I quote:
On the lists, ongoing reports of nationwide shortages. Folks, I’ve been saying this for well over a year now - stockpile everything you can. Even if you don’t use it your own self you can barter it. If, if supplies do return to the shelves as some have predicted for autumn, continue to stockpile, on principle. A box of rounds, a brick of primers, or a pound of powder every paycheck, or every other, that’s not too big an expense. You can always sell or trade it later - unless that’s been outlawed in which case you’ll damn well have another use for it, yah? Get yourself set up for bullet casting too, at least for your favorite sidearm - remember the Liberator pistol: Use the weapon you have to get the weapon you need. (Get the used stuff at the shows, save bunche$. Some equipment for casting fishing sinkers is identical, and sometimes lower-priced - for the small donated pot, which I reserve for pure lead, I found the replacement heating element on a fishing-supply site.)
It's getting so I dread going to the supermarket, having to weave my way through the unwashed third-worlders and their snot-wiping, open-mouth-coughing, endlessly-screeching brats - and the domestic parasites likewise loading up on the high-end stuff with my tax money. >:-[
2184 - Wednesday, 6 May 2009: Vanderboegh warns. But is anyone but us listening? 1861 all over again, folks.
More fighting in Wisconsin.
Weber is reeeeally wordy.
Cruffler sends:
2185 - Thursday, 7 May 2009: Arm the crews. Completely ignored by MSM natürlich.
Yuri motivates.
LOL.
Bi-Mart has these itty-bitty digicorders for $70. Found skimpy user guide .PDF, intriguing. Uses the same AA batteries I’ve already invested in NiMHs for (the first being a birthday gift from sis with my first digicam, which got used up), has tripod mount, comes with editing software, quarter-Gb internal memory, takes decent-res stills too - and once it’s stored on the memory card it's all just files, baby. (MiniSD, and SD carrier, will be right down the aisle, if it doesn’t come with one, which is not clear from the different descriptions.) Pay tomorrow and I’m caught up on the bills for a change, I think I’ll get it. And start carrying it around. (Already fondled one in-store, it’s not much larger than most cellphones.) These days, one can’t be too prepared to record what could be life-and-liberty-saving evidence.
Weekends, hm. Poopedness, but I need to whip up a bunch of rounds. I have a proven Garand load (thanks again for the Load-Master, sis!), 200 bartered M2 Ball projectiles and somewhat less Hornady #3037, plenty of brass, enough primers, maybe enough powder, and what else would I do with them? -I should load them all. I also have some 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tips, and a bunch of brass primed with CCI200 which won’t reliably ignite BL-C(2) but I have a little IMR4895 which will ignite - there’s more loading. More urgent, with the rifle matches cancelled while the 300yd range is renovated but pins and plates still going, I need another big batch of .357 - and I also need to ramp up the casting and get the 1911 attended to. But time! Show Saturday morning - I think I’ll not have a range day this weekend after all, and have at the Dangerously Disorganized Reloading Table of Doooooommm instead. -Yay, off work early!
My case tumbler has quit! Frankford Arsenal cheap model, label says built five years ago. Ah, one of the wire terminals has let go. That'll need to be re-crimped, I'll need a new terminal - tomorrow, Bi-Mart has some of that stuff and if they don't the hardware store should.
2186 - Friday, 8 May 2009: Parenting advice.
Is it time to shoot the bigoted thieving fascist bastards yet? (Note this is an unconfirmed report at this time - but not a surprising one.)
Grrr....
Oh yeah, 250 M2 bullets, forgot the previous barter.
Yay, off work early again! I kid you not, the Big Electronics Company I’m currently building widgets for makes a mass exodus to the theater for new Trek or Star Wars films, my department is shutting down two hours early. Me, I’ll wait for the library to get the discs, I got brass to process! (This will of course put a dent in my next paycheck, but I can live with that. Friday traffic sucks.)
Hundreds of .357 primed last night, a couple hundred more waiting for me to fix the tumbler. Sorting ’06 by trim-length and headstamp and I have a lot of ’06. (No you can’t have any! Mineminemine!)
Government only knows how to steal. And what if the landowners don't want to give up their property? I think we've long since learned the answer to that question.
Cruffler sends:
Oopsie, spent more than intended at Bi-Mart, 'cause they had two count 'em two pounds of BL-C(2)! I did restrain myself enough to get only one but since I haven't seen any for months I had little choice but to pounce on it. Also saw several trays each of CCI250 and 350 primers, $3.49 each, passed, got enough Winchester for the moment and no recipes using either of those. (If they'd had a brick of WSPM I'd've been Even More Fiscally Irresponsible.)
And the eee-vill terrorist enemy-of-the-state digicorder! Not spectacular but functional and, perhaps tactically significant, compact and simple. Does come with 2Gb MiniSD - I'll need a carrier later and might as well get the 8Gb; the store only had 4. Plugging in the included USB cable auto-launches (after auto-installing on the first connection) the RCA Memory Manager software, which I'll be exploring later. Two drives appear in the system, the ¼Gb internal and the card - looks like either will function, in Windows XP, as Just Another Drive. Saves as .AVI. Two resolutions, 640x480 and 448x336; 1 & 2 hours respectively on 2Gb. Digital zoom only and not much of it. Not very good as a still camera but I have a very good still camera. Also came with RCA-jack TV cable (mono of course), and a very simple pouch which may serve as a liner for something more rugged I may construct. More fiddling later.
Attempting tumbler repair - intermittent operation, the motor might be going after all. Maybe a break in the winding - if I press on the winding cover at a certain point, it runs. Trying to rig something to keep pressure there (cable ties and a piece of wood from the hovelplex' runaway plants)... win!
2187 - Saturday, 9 May 2009: Zz.
Aaand fail, tumbler dies again. Maybe there'll be one at the show. ...Nope, but for one count it one dollar I got a USGI plastic canteen in new-ish nylon Alice cover, and for $15 I jumped on a Lee #90388 mould, 2-cav 158/.358 tumble-lube round-nose. I'd rather have a 6-cav but they a) are expensive and b) don't come with handles. This one is designed for the Lee Liquid Alox I'm using.
The gunsmith was not there! Maybe he gave up on this show.
Saw two (separate tables) Makarovs, both 9x17mm, both $300. Assorted powder, $25/lb; really astonishingly grossly inflated primers, as high as $12/tray!
Met Yuri and another longtime reader (who should come to some matches, and bring the wife too), much yakking. Sportsman's Warehouse after, Even Less Stuff on the shelves:
That's the Hornady projectiles section. Elsewhere Yuri pointed out several boxes of Wolf Gold 7.62x54R, 150 and 180gr, $19/20.
The RCA Small Wonder really kinda sucks as a still camera. (The photo above has been reduced in size by 50% and compressed besides, but it was quite fuzzy originally.) Especially compared to my Canon A580, or even the worn-out FinePix A345.
Local fuel prices have spiked over the last few days, from $2.09 to $2.21 near the hovel, higher in Vancouver.
2188 - Sunday, 10 May 2009: Zz.
Tumbler working intermittently, prolly needs replacement.
Priming '06 in laundromat parking lot.
Priming more brass while virus scans run. Must develop habit of always priming brass as soon as it's processed, then I won't have to scramble for it the night before a match. Already have this habit for .45ACP.
Chat & show every Sunday 1100PT.
Just discovered that the Cricket cellmodem (when powered on, and with Cricket software running whether connected to the 'net or not) will send and receive text ("SMS") messages just like any other cellphone - tested with my TracFone.
Another conservative webcomicblogthingie.
2189 - Monday, 11 May 2009: Bleah!
Thought: Hussein is like Dee-Dee in Dexter’s Laboratory: ”What Does This But-Ton Dooo?”
BATFU sucks. But we’ve known that for a long time.
Quote o’ the Day: "Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the spot of every wind. With such persons, gullability, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Smith, December 8, 1822
Or in other words:
Reader sends pr0n.
Trimming brass.... My trim station, using Lee tools, was a Good Idea. Make yer own.
2190 - Tuesday, 12 May 2009: Grump.
Deprogramming from the Cult of Defenselessness.
TSA are still thugs. Like we expected different?
Cruffler sends Garand animations. ”You have to understand why things work on a starship.”
Done trimming ’06. Time to make the Big Batch of .357, 158gr plated over 7.0gr W231. ...Tomorrow.
2191 - Wednesday, 13 May 2009: Or Thursday. Really Bad Commute. Pooped.
Via Cruffler & the lists, more data on the ammunition and component shortage. It ain’t the factories’ fault.
And Republicans wonder why they’re losing. A lot of us are “staying home to clean our rifles” on election day, ‘cause it’s looking like the cartridge box will be counting for a lot more than the ballot box.
Ye gods Weber is wordy. Dude, it’s hurting readability.
Between one work order and the next I have free time, which I may, within reason, use on the web. Considering it slightly rude to read an actual dead-tree book during such periods I have, as you might surmise from the tone of this paragraph, obtained Gutenberg copies of the entire Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Who is not wordy like Weber. Stuff happens.
GODS DAMMIT HOW DO I KILL THOSE THRICE-CURSED "SNAP" LINK-HOVER POPUPS?!
2192 - Thursday, 14 May 2009: Reader recommends Firefox to kill SnapShots but I have found this article which describes how to kill it in Opera! And it works! Yay Int4rw3bz! Lemme spell it out, as the article isn’t entirely to my production-work-veteran tech-writing standards:
Codrea interviews ex-badgethug.
Many of you will have heard, and many will have spoken, this old workplace joke. When faced with some utterly illogical, redundant, wasteful, and/or outright obstructionist bureaucratic policy, one grumps, "I didn't know this was a government job." Well, at this rate, they all will be.
You can't make this stuff up.
"Where's your warrant, flatfoot?" And, what have you got to hide, you camera-shy fascist filth?
Unexpectedly off early today (which will really start affecting my income), did the Big Batch, 602 rounds (two of the speedloaders are filled with an older batch of the same load):
Muu-wa-ha-haaa. And boogedy-boogedy too. Also still have a hundred-odd of older batches and 125gr for plates.
Next spare-gumption projects, replacing Corolla's water with real coolant, a Big Batch of '06, and bullet casting 'cause I am out of .358-ish projectiles except a couple boxes of hollowpoints (and the wadcutters I cast earlier) somewhere on the DDRToD.
Hmm, I think I'll get another actual purpose-built camera case for the eee-vill anti-government extremist RCA Small Wonder. Or possibly a cellphone holster, I might want need it following me around, ya know? Must shop thoroughly. Something with a pocket for spare batteries and SD.
Aaand Tucson Tom sends:
2193 - Friday, 15 May 2009: In the news, Federal introduces loads specifically for the Garand and M1A. But, dude, the last time I ran Federal factory in the Queen she doubled - and she never has with hunnerds ‘n’ hunnerds of rounds of anything else including the Primer Experiments. Federal primers are known to be more sensitive! (IIRC that’s one of the tricks BATFU used to witch-hunt Olofson.) (A friend's custom GP100, with a reduced mainspring, will only get reliable ignition from Federal primers.) I’d be leery of putting such stuff in my autoloader.
Quote o’ the Day: "It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a misfortune. This necessity however exists; and the problem to be solved is, not what form of Government is perfect, but which of the forms is least imperfect." - James Madison, to an unidentified correspondent, 1833
Laser sights have never excited me - I see them as crutches for people who don’t know how to aim. (The few I’ve seen in matches, i.e. plates or pins, actually made the shooter slower as he searched for the dot.) (And dude, they point both ways.) (And dude, whaddaya do when the battery goes dead, throw rocks? ”Use harsh language?”) I’m still not excited, though one must acknowledge the technical competence in the design.
Hm, looking back through previous experiments, some more development of the wadcutter/W231 .357 load may be in order. A little more powder maybe, like 4.0gr perhaps, just to be absolutely sure there are no ignition problems.
I’ve been invited, yet again, to a 75-round IPSC event at Wolverton, on the 31st. Contemplating. Reuel, the pins director who also runs IPSC there, has offered some of his .45 reloads, but they’re plain lead and I will not put those in my polygonal-bore Witness and the 1911 is still not ready, hm. Maybe I should whip up some .45 lead and practice with the 1911 this weekend or next, just to see what happens. Honestly I’d much rather take the Witness with my usual 200gr plated LRN load, which works Really Well, but there just ain’t any. -Nice weather starting now-ish, might do both the Corolla coolant and some casting this evening.
Ooorrr I could dust off the P35 I haven’t fired in well over a year and have two (three?) factory MegaPacks for.... My Uncle Mike’s kydex magazine carriers for the Witness are actually intended for a double-column 9mm, but the Tanfoglio design uses a 10-round .45 magazine only a few hundredths wider - simply adjust the carrier’s tension screw. The UM kydex holster for the 1911 is not perfect for the P35 but will serve. Hmm.
The System is so very broke. (Yuri, there’s more grist for your creative mill.) (Note comments.) Never trust a cop of ANY kind, from the contract clerks all the way up to the unstable freaks in black robes.
Nah, no gumption, and extremely rude neighbors playing loud music for hours. Maybe tomorrow after pins I'll do some casting.
2194 - Saturday, 16 May 2009: Pretty good pin shoot (for me), but a small turnout. I placed 4th of 11 overall with the GP100 with the 158gr load made Thursday evening. Had a couple perfect no-miss runs too, don't often have those on pins.
Experimented with the RCA, got some self-vid. In this stage, there are five pins on the table at 7 yards, but you're restricted to four rounds in your weapon to start, with unlimited reloads. This video (4.7Mb .MP4, 43s, converted & compressed from 27Mb .AVI with ABCC free converter, should play in most browsers) only shows myself; I set the RCA on the table in front of me.
My Canon A580 takes better quality. By quite a margin, really. But, now I have two totally-digital video cameras, one of which is less obvious than the other. Now I need better editing software, and I might have some already, need to look at it....
So Ruger has introduced an AR. For two thousand dollars. And the rear sight isn't even click-adjustable for elevation. And there's no bayonet lug! And it's a carbine! Fer!Cryin!Out!Loud! I've said before, the only thing that tiny little bullet has going for it is it goes Mach 3. Chop 20% off the barrel and you're just poking Holes of Insufficient Size! Careful shopping could yield enough parts to build three ARs, with full-length barrels and A2 sights yet, for that price! So it has a piston, great galloping whoopee, we may grump about direct impingement but it does in fact work and there's a bajillion surplus parts for it. -Comes with three 30-round MagPuls (where the Bill of Rights hasn't yet been repealed), I'll give credit for that.
Nice weather indeed, moving stuff around to get some casting going. Two of the biggest problems with casting are heat and ventilation, but in good weather these can be mostly eliminated:
Starting with .45, hoping to get the 1911 functional for IPSC on the 31st (and to be able to re-enter the Autoloader division in my own plate match). The other mould is the double .38 I got at the show last weekend... which also works. Yay Lee. Aluminum moulds really are far less fatiguing than steel, and they get to operating temperature sooner. The affordable Lee Production Pot IV is bottom-pour, which is very nice indeed.
Whoa. Getting particularly good results with the #90388 - no rejects, and they come out .358, meaning no tedious sizing and double-lubing. Teh awsumm. #90384, intended to be conicals for the Ruger Old Army, come out .458+. Well, it's not meant for .45ACP but can be made to work.
Oookay, not bad for a few hours' work:
Reader sends 10 Greatest Libertarian SF Stories.
When I was checking out The Dark Crystal on DVD this afternoon after returning from pins, the librarian said somebody named Henson (isn't the original dead?) was making a sequel.
Reader sends critique of Turtledove's TL191, which I gave up on... two years ago? Three? And ranted on myself more recently.
And what (exactly) is this, found crawling across my ceiling? Maybe ¾" across at most.
Heh.
More thuggery. There's a'gonna be Phil Gordons popping up all over.
2195 - Sunday, 17 May 2009: O precious zzz.
Chat & show every Sunday 1100PT, recorded Saturday at the NRA Convention in Phoenix.
Couple hundred .45 LRN lubed last night, sized this morning, re-lubed and laid out to dry again. Will make test batches; testing after plates. Need more metal! And this (requiring this).
Regi$tered for the Castle Rock Appleseed, 13-14 June. -Which means I won't be at the next ACSWW show.
Still broke, relatively speaking, i.e. I'm not going to blow $675 on that ivory-paneled Navy Luger anytime soon. But, like a song stuck in one's head, I have this desire for a 6" .30 Luger. Lee makes a 6-cav mould that would serve, and sizers in .308, .309, .311 and .314; the net will provide brass and dies and I already have everything else I need to load it.
Three .45 test batches done, ten each at 5.3, 5.6 and 6.0, give or take .1. The third charge is beyond what I can find published as maximum; Speer #10 shows 5.6 as max at 831fps for 230gr. Yesterday's batch of castings weighs 219gr. One thing I've done different is to tediously wipe the lube off the exposed part of the bullets after seating. Here is a video on the use of LLA where the reloader tumbled the finished rounds to accomplish this. -Speaking of which, my tumbler isn't completely dead yet.
Watching Heston in Khartoum. Islam has been spreading misery and destruction since its creation, but where are this generation's Men With Spines to stop them? (Alas the library does not have El Cid on disc....)
2196 - Monday, 18 May 2009: Reowr! First I almost get sideswiped by a big shiny Jeep Cherokee with state government plates and no turn signal, then there’s a radio news story about revenuer$ $tepping up $eatbelt enforcement and oh by the way “finding” all $ort$ of “contraband” in the peasants’ vehicles. Get a warrant or get out of my sight, you thieving fascist scum!
And purely by coincidence, Quote o’ the Day: "The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse." - James Madison, speech in the Virginia constitutional convention, December 2, 1829
And then, What? The? Hell? I’mna get busted for Saturday’s casting pics now? Thieves in uniform, fabricating any excuse to intimidate, assault, and rob.
St. Louis GRE has more on Montana.
Aaand Mexico is still a basket case.
Intro to Ownership, redux.
Nuge.
Effing RINOs.
Reader sends:
2197 - Tuesday, 19 May 2009: Got the .38s lubed too, will make test batches. Not fiddling with other powders this time, sticking with W231. (At pins Saturday I saw Smoky Loads, leading to jokes about blackpowder, but W231 doesn’t smoke much - in this photo you can see me rapidly firing the Witness with 200gr plated over 5.5gr W231, so any smoke I get from these new loads, both .45 and .357, will be from the LLA. I’ll self-vid.) -The .38s are not as perfect as I first thought; somewhat out-of-round, though mostly .357-.358-ish, some are .356 here and .360 there. I’ll test for accuracy as well of course; they should deform enough on firing to get a good rifling grip, and the Lee Tumble Lube ribs should also help by increasing the bearing surface. (It’s not like I’m shooting 2MOA at 300 meters with these, ya know? It’s an 8” plate at 12 yards, or a bowling pin at seven.) -This might not be the mould’s fault; I’ve been reading up on casting and I’m pretty sure I had it too hot at several times.
Process improvement idea: Collander fitted into a slightly-larger container for the drop-water. Lift them out by the hundred. Second-hand stores....
Denver GRE warns against prohibition.
DC GRE sez arm the crews, duh.
CCE illuminates vote fraud, and other kinds.
Cleveland GRE has FOPA retrospective.
What is with this ever-increasing trend in badgethuggery? Do the badgethugs read about their comrades’ exploits and wonder how cool it would be to rough up a peasant of their very own? I mean they can’t not be aware. Perhaps there’s some secret contest, like the Interdepartmental Thugalympics? The National Police Brutality League pennant race? It’s getting so reports of cops not roughing people up are newsworthy. And why, if I see blue lights in the mirror, should I meekly pull over, if there is a reasonable expectation I’m going to be brutally assaulted no matter what I do? If any contact with law enforcement is likely to result in crippling injuries and/or fabricated charges guaranteed to destroy my life, what have I got to lose?
Via Tucson Tom, RWE.
.357 test batches made: Ten each 156gr Lee #90388 RN at 4.9, 5.3, 5.5 and 6.1gr W231 (Speer #10 shows 5.4 max for 989fps), and ten Lyman Ideal #358495 149gr wadcutter at 3.8gr, all with WSPM primers (Speer #10 shows 3.8 max for 811fps, but it also shows a starting load of 3.4 for 747, and I was getting barely over 600; the book says they were using a 6" Security Six, would there be so dramatic a difference with barrel length?). The wadcutter uses slightly more internal case volume than the RN, and as you can see I used a very thin coat of LLA on the RN, compared to the lube-size-relube treatment on the WC:
2198 - Wednesday, 20 May 2009: Product Review: Liquid Plumber Foaming Pipe Snake, the binary fluid in the copper-colored bottle, Works Quite Well Actually.
Thugs! With! Badges! And widespread, enduring, institutional acceptance thereof! What is wrong with you people?
Not unrelated, the Horiuchi thing ain’t going away.
War reports from the Wisconsin front.
Advice on dealing with badgethugs.
Quote o’ the Day: "If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you are going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat ... A good man will kill you with hardly a word." - Terry Pratchett
Huh. Kinda lika a belt-feed without the belt. (Scroll down to the Background section for the Animation.)
Reader sends another conservative webcomic.
Kinda want. (Needs bayonet lug.)
DownRangeTV is giving away one of these. Now, on the product's site, note how it's being marketed to cops. And right up there a few paragraphs ago we had that same market switching off the dashboard camera. (Fox Radio News sez the thugs in question have been canned.) (Perhaps H-S Precision can start manufacturing nightsticks...?) And how many reports have there been in just the last month of badgethugs falsely arresting (and assaulting, and robbing, and...) citizens for taking pictures of them? Someone's not connecting some dots - cops fear cameras like vampires fear sunlight. -Which is why I bought another one. -All that being grumped, could be a cool toy....
Speaking of cool toys, elsewhere, for those of you with Way More Money, there is now a progressive press for .50BMG, hoo-aah.
2199 - Thursday, 21 May 2009: Finished Storm from the Shadows last night, so wordy I was skipping whole paragraphs. Cliffhanger ending, next volume already in the library queue. Starting Williamson’s Contact with Chaos.
Codrea also covers that latest thugalympic event.
Another report from Wisconsin.
”Only Ones” my ass.
Luger obsession not going away. Could I build one like an AR? I’m not after collector value, linen-glove inert-atmosphere vault investment, I want one I can play with. Frame here, upper there, other bits from around - two uppers, the traditional 4” 9mm for economy and the 6” .30 to be Different. (Would that require changing mainsprings?) Hm?
Oh hell no. -Hm, 1934 again, eh? All sorts of totalitarianism were spawning that year.
Fiddling with the cast .357 test loads - the RN don't chamber as easily as the WC. The latter have been sized before seating, the former not, and remember that out-of-round issue. I might end up having to size these after all, and/or get a Lee FCD for .357.
Quote o' the Day: "There is no maxim in my opinion which is more liable to be misapplied, and which therefore needs elucidation than the current one that the interest of the majority is the political standard of right and wrong.... In fact it is only reestablishing under another name and a more specious form, force as the measure of right...." - James Madison, letter to James Monroe, October 5, 1786
Which is why the Founders gave us a republic, with the rule of law, instead of a democracy, with rule by mob. They knew what they were doing!
2200 - Friday, 22 May 2009: That gray stripey stopped by for more softwhitecuddlytummyrubs last night. :) And windshield pawprints this morning. (Well, him or one or two Bengals I've sighted or maybe some other kitteh, there are several in the neighborhood.) Must get fresh noms....
Revenuers will be all over the roads this weekend of course. For “your” “safety”. If you’re travelling, don’t forget the lockboxes and recorders, ‘cause judging by the ever-growing list of abuses, most o’ them badgeboys ain’t never heard o’ that Fourth Amendment Thingy.
Airport “cops” are also useless.
Wisconsin rights on the march.
Codrea has more on Mexico.
DC GRE has parks carry analysis.
Cleveland GRE illuminates media bias.
Dick Heller interview.
The excellent JPFO article, “Raging Against Self-Defense”, is available in .PDF here. (The current JPFO URL is here.)
Atlanta GRE has more bigot cops. They just have to arrest somebody for something. What, they have to go to bed without their doughnuts if they don’t assault and rob a citizen each day?
Whoa. Poor-man’s FAE? Could be... useful.
Williamson’s latest is more readable than Weber’s. He’s also being far more thorough than I’ve been with the Eyani, covering loads of stuff I hadn’t thought of, but I’m just fiddling. (Heh, that bit in Galaxy Quest when the redshirt asks, “Is there air!?”) Shaping up to be an Interesting First Contact Story.
A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1917, Chapter IX: In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have no lawyers.
Subversive Information o' the Day: Escape from plastic riot cuffs.
2201 - Saturday, 23 May 2009: No victory today! I was using up odd lots of .357, so my POI was off, yeah, that's it. But srsly, some real competition (especially since Breen started bringing his own GP100 - and I was actually knocked out by another guy with his GP).
After, there was Science, and it was Good.
Teh Awsumm, OpenOffice allows one to clipboard a table from a browser and paste it directly to spreadsheet cells so I can calculate averages without having to enter every single piece of data twice!
| Round# | A | B | C | D | E | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 985.0 | 813.1 | 858.2 | 893.6 | 965.1 | 1020 |
| 2 | 1014 | 808.2 | 937.1 | 923.7 | 967.6 | 1050 |
| 3 | 1005 | 831.4 | 900.6 | 908.7 | 938.1 | 1045 |
| 4 | 1001 | 852.2 | 871.4 | 917.8 | 983.1 | 1003 |
| 5 | 1061 | 832.4 | 874.9 | 907.7 | 963.7 | 1023 |
| 6 | 991.5 | 826.7 | 955.5 | 928.4 | 951.4 | 1061 |
| 7 | 936.9 | 810.6 | 866.9 | 893.4 | 943.1 | 1031 |
| 8 | 1075 | 818.4 | 874.4 | 810.0 | 982.1 | 1049 |
| 9 | 1007 | 823.3 | 848.0 | 832.2 | 973.8 | 1052 |
| 10 | 1017 | 812.3 | 839.3 | 910.2 | 966.3 | 1043 |
| Averages: | 1009.3 | 822.9 | 882.6 | 892.6 | 963.4 | 1038 |
Load A was a control, the plates load I made last month. (I also note it's a bit faster than the last batch I chrono'd of the same load - but that was tested in October, when temperature would have been a factor, and today was summery.) B is the wadcutter with increased powder - functional and mild, first-round effect insignificant if present at all; I'll make another batch at the previous, lesser, powder charge and test again. C-F are the cast RN - I'll size and re-lube the remainder and test again, had some real chambering trouble. Can't really tell if there is a first-round effect with C or D, certainly not with E & F. Accuracy of all was acceptable (no target photos). Some smoke, but less than I've seen in other folks' loads, should be manageable (the problem with smoke is you can't see the bloody target in an action run after your first or second shot). E & F are too much; next test batches will be repeats of C & D with sized, double-lubed bullets. There are no failed experiments. There is only new data. -Aaand yeah, Lead Buildup, probably from D-F and the thin coat of LLA, another reason to size and double-lube. Yay (oof) Lewis (grunt) Lead Remover, buy one for every bore size you shoot lead in.
On to the 1911 then:
| Round# | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | - | - | 828.3 | 868.3 |
| 2 | 786.4 | 860.5 | 771.3 | - | 877.4 |
| 3 | - | 867.3 | 799.1 | 809.0 | 883.3 |
| 4 | 753.2 | - | - | 828.4 | 881.9 |
| 5 | 755.6 | 863.5 | 785.0 | 836.7 | 875.4 |
| 6 | 746.2 | 856.6 | - | 811.5 | 866.6 |
| 7 | 737.7 | 872.3 | 803.5 | 815.5 | 918.5 |
| 8 | 761.2 | 858.0 | 780.4 | 795.2 | 885.7 |
| 9 | 735.8 | 877.8 | 767.9 | - | 898.7 |
| 10 | 723.8 | 859.1 | 810.9 | - | 870.2 |
| Averages | 750.0 | 864.4 | 788.3 | 817.8 | 882.6 |
Loads A & B were controls, the last of the Witness fodder and the SWC, made many moons ago, which the Witness won't feed. The 1911 did, after choking a bit on chambering the first. All of these rounds were fired with the McCormick Power 10 magazine, which, as I only have the one (and a few 8s), will be my leading magazine for any racing I do with this pistol. Load A was very inaccurate, while the exact same batch wins stuff in the Witness - it's widely known that different weapons will print differently with the same load. Note the much higher velocity in B for near-enough the same weight of bullet and powder; bearing surface methinks, like the slower velocities I noted last time I fired Nosler Ballistic Tips from the Queen, vs. Hornady FMJBT with all other components equal. All rounds cycled perfectly. Load A did not lock the slide back empty but all others did. Load B showed better accuracy than A, but both were shooting high; as repeatedly stated, I want a taller front sight for this pistol to match the not-LP-enough LPA rear some previous owner hammered into the dovetail... except load C seemed to shoot to POA, which is quite the head-scratcher. (Since I'm not Bonded with the 1911 yet, as I am with the Witness and GP100, I developed a tremor during testing, and this will call any accuracy results into question. Also the trigger pull in live fire is heavier than in dry-fire, probably something to do with parts shifting around in recoil and settling differently from dry practice.) If I do go into production for one of these loads it will likely be C, or possibly D for pin-smacking; E is beyond published maximum. Recoil and muzzle flip are more pronounced here than with the Witness' longer barrel & slide and factory porting, which probably contributed to the tremor - the cure for that is of course More Shooting. And the news I've been waiting for: very little evidence of leading, hoo-aah. Yay LLA.
So: The next test batches will be... twenty each of .357 loads C and D with sized and double-lubed bullets, and... fifty .45 load C (bullets already thus treated), and I'll attempt to tumble off the exposed lube like that guy in that video. -Um, better tumble the .357 batches separately or any marking I apply to the headstamp will likely come off too.
Starting to fiddle with the RCA Memory Manager software. From two .AVIs totaling over 77Mb I got this 8.5Mb, 2m7s .WMV, which I recorded solely to illustrate the relative amounts of smoke generated with my preferred Xtreme plated bullets vs. the cast stuff with LLA. Interesting. Later I'll see if the software can handle the different .AVIs generated by my Canon A580, which takes better video, that could be useful.
Thus endeth the Science. And now the daily trip 'round the 'blogosphere:
Worth a thousand words. Ya know, if you weren't thugs, we wouldn't hate you....
Related, more analysis on the most-publicized recent badgethuggery.
Aaand, highway robbers in uniform. Didn't I tell ya?
Prohibition Fail. Well duh, read a history book sometime.
That new credit card legislation, explained.
Yuri posts Chapter Two. (Chapter One.)
2202 - Sunday, 24 May 2009: Zzzz.
And I'm sunburned, heh.
OAC show, theme Single Actions & Single Shots - the usual $elf-torture (Garand$, Luger$, Marlin M39, and on-theme, repro percussion and conversion revolvers), insultingly-inflated primers & factory rounds, some black tip '06 I shoulda got for the Queen on principle but instead I SCOOOOORED four hundred Xtreme 185gr plated .45 for $50 (marked $15/100)! These will be too light for pins but I should be good for at least four more plate matches with the Witness! Love that pistol.
Err, on closer examination one of the bags of 100 turns out to be .358/158 (scooped up from the table ya know). But hey, I can use that too. So like three more plate matches.
Chat & show every Sunday 1100PT.
Contemplating equipment, not least for pistol games but one never knows when one might have an oportunity to join an open carry march. I like Kydex paddles; low zero maintenance, easy on/off. I have them for all three of my primary handguns: Fobus for the GP100 and Witness, and Uncle Mike's for the 1911, which also mostly works for the P35. Speedloader carriers are typical belt-loop nylon, velcro or snap closure. Magazine carriers are Uncle Mike's Kydex, but belt-loop style - but they do offer paddle. Must get.
The station that carries Gun Talk also advertises Sci Fi Overdrive, which unfortunately is on in the small hours of Monday morning. But there's MP3s on their site....
Sizing the .38 RN - very little resistance in the sizer, very little evidence of shape change. Relubing on principle.
Codrea rants on Mexico & media.
Quotes o' the Day, particularly this from RAH: "Anyone who clings to the historically untrue--and thoroughly immoral--doctrine that 'violence never solves anything' I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The Ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more disputes in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms." I will not disarm.
Hey, Hussein sez "We're out of money"! Might that be 'cause you spent more in your first hundred days than BUSH SPENT IN HIS FIRST TERM you THIEVING INCOMPETENT STALINIST USURPER!? Then Israel's Netanyahu tells said Usurper to stick it. Like that line in Office Space, through the thin walls, "Hell no, you ain't f***in' up my life!"
2203 - Monday, Memorial Day Observed, 25 May 2009:
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."
- George Orwell -
(Thankzzz....) We've become an entitlement culture, under one of the proverbs which define socialism, that "The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else." Our military, however, veteran and active, are IMO the only demographic which deserves my tax money, having truly earned it. And they're not getting paid enough for sleeping in mud and getting shot at so the rest of us don't have to.
Bigotry. And more bigotry, on-theme for the day.
The Usurper couldn't be doing a more thorough job of wrecking the country if he was trying. (i.e.) And that's why we're buying arms. If this goes on we'll be skirmishing over squirrel stew, 'cause that's all we'll have left.
Yuri calls for unity.
Vanderboegh warns "Waco Rules" work both ways.
Examining .45 load data - Sierra V shows 5.1 to 6.3gr W231 for 185gr jacketed, and I use jacketed data for loading plated, especially if these really are (not sure; ziploc & felt pen) Xtreme brand, which are very thickly plated. Science again Saturday I think, and I still haven't made up my mind about Wolverton IPSC Sunday. I'll whip up a test batch at 6.0gr.
Errands today, met Blacksmith (who could also vie for the title of Alpha Geek), showed him the RCA digicorder, and he pointed out that a spare MicroSD card could be stored under the front cover (with foam or such to keep it from rattling). Then I wandered into one of those big liquidation chain stores and found 2Gb MicroSD cards, with carrier, at $8 each or 2/$12 so I got a pair. Same place also had a $5 camera case similar to the one I already have for the A580, with a snap-close belt loop, next thing to a paddle holster kinda. (I'm also seeing new USB card readers with slots for the MicroSD, and some other micro format, so you don't need the regular-size adapter these new cards came with.) -Actually I could get two Micros into that space. If I spent more money on 8Gb cards I could get 24Gb in there, for up to as many hours of recording. (No AC port on the RCA....) Pocket for spare batteries & cards, check, and I can even get the regular-to-mini USB adapter in the main pocket with the camera itself. Furthermore the RCA software (including a direct-to-YouTube function) remains on the internal ¼Gb drive and auto-installs on Windows PCs when connected directly, so in one little pouch I have a complete, if minimalist, portable video production rig which follows me around. SubVERRRsive. -Oh, and the RCA software, though nothing to get excited about, does process the Canon's .AVIs too (and the old ones from the A345). And .WMVs, though of course not .FLV/.VLC or .MP4, or .MOV from Yuri's Nikon. Well, I have some work-surplus DVDROMs I haven't tried yet, and some share/freeware converters.... Yeah, looks like I have a good editing suite if I can figure out how it works. Now if I can just figure a way to hang the dollar-store tripod off the pouch, as I have with the Canon....
Sigh. Do want. But there's still bits falling off the Corolla....
And it looks like my tumbler has finally died.
Yay Int4rw3bz, according to this VideoLAN can be used to convert .FLV (i.e. saved from YouTube) to .WMV! A bit laborious but I've just seen it work and I already have it and don't have to pay for anything. -The latest version doesn't match up with this but older versions can be found, eventually, on the official site.
2204 - Tuesday, 26 May 2009: Bleah, back to work.
The Usurper nominates a blatant racist for SCOTUS. Was anyone expecting different? Analysis from Seattle GRE, CCE, GR4U, SAF, and more every minute I’m sure.
This WWII story of honor in battle has popped up on the lists. (See also.)
For the less-geeky among my readers, yesterday’s geekspeak about converting from .FLV means I can save a video from the web, then convert it to a format my video-editing and DVD-burning software can handle for further molestation. Blank DVDs are as low as 20¢ each and can be handed out for activism. Or advertising or what-have-you. So few people really use their computers....
And that $5 pouch ain’t perfect either, the snap doesn’t hold the belt loop tightly enough (ditto the one sis gave me for the A345, which I still use for the A580, with a shoulder strap, which this new one is not made for), but the loop is also looped so right now it’s dangling and swinging from my belt. -Hey, gear matters. You think it’s trivial until you Need That Piece of Equipment. Nor do you want a $70 camera, or a $700 pistol, falling off you in the mud or shattering on concrete (which is just what happened to the A345 after years of extensive use). Hm, what’s needed is something like fastex instead of an old-fashioned ring-snap, something that locks positively and not just with spring pressure.
St. Louis GRE rants on BATFU.
Austin GRE analyzes GOP. As does CCE.
Codrea illuminates totalitarianism.
LA GRE has yet another bigot cop (this one’s been covered by Codrea’s WoG for some time).
Way back in last year’s Turkey Shoot I won a smoked turkey! And the gift certificate expires on June 6th, oops. Grabbing it this weekend, another reason to get out of the hovel and cross the river.
Gah, schedule - work all week, I still haven’t changed fluids in the Corolla (which probably also needs a new distributor cap & rotor), this weekend is Science Saturday with an eye toward IPSC Sunday, next weekend is... U-Pull-It probably (was supposed to be the PIG match but with the range issues it’s cancelled), after that is Appleseed. I need that winning lottery ticket dangit! This soul was meant for a life of Leisure and Occasional Adventure!
Quote o' the Day: "Can our form of government, our system of justice, survive if one can be denied a freedom because he might abuse it?" - Past NRA president Harlon Carter
Hitting some old email:
Reader sends (.PDF) comicbook adaptation of Kipling.
Reader sends, from Tom Kratman at Baen's Bar: I'd say it a bit differently: The pacifist helps give war its point, to make the exercise worthwhile, by allowing you to enslave him, to take his wife to serve yours, his daughters to warm your bed, and his sons as machine gun fodder, safe in the knowledge that he will not lift a hand to stop you, lest he risk compromising his "principles."
2205 - Wednesday, 27 May 2009: St. Louis GRE smacks NFA.
More on Sotomayor from Codrea, Seattle GRE, & CLE.
Meanwhile, North Korea rattles more sabers.
Cleveland GRE illuminates the antis’ psychosis.
2206 - Thursday, 28 May 2009: Quote o’ the Day: "It has long, however, been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression ... that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal Judiciary; ... working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Hammond, August 18, 1821 -TJ didn’t trust the unstable freaks in black robes either. No wonder they view Constitutionalists as threats - they don’t want to be held to any standard or bound by any law.
”Smart Guns” My Ass. (Tam also rants.) And do note that the forces of government are always exempt from having these disasters-waiting-to-happen on their weapons.
Bigotry in academia. (A Louisiana lady in a similar situation was on Gun Talk Sunday.)
Even more badgethugs. More, and more blatant, every day. Can you say “backlash”? I am OTOH pleased to see an increasing trend of video watchdogging. Qui custodiet, et cetera.
Lunatics run asylum. For generations we’ve known what they want, but now they’re actually saying it out loud.
Prohibition Fail, chapter eleventy-nine.
Ongoing series of training.
Even more on the SCOTUS racist.
A reader sends this story (which I forwarded to Codrea of course) of yet another in an interminable swarm of thugs with badges. Note: His guilty plea means he can’t be certified as a law-enforcement officer in Colorado. [emphasis added] Can you say “double standard”? Remember the Lautenberg Amendment, destroying RKBA for “domestic violence” misdemeanors? They wanted an exemption for law enforcement. So a WWII veteran who got in one bar fight half a century ago can’t go squirrel-hunting with his grandkids, but cops who beat their wives could carry submachineguns on the job. Now all this thug has to do is cross a state line and he can be making-it-up-as-he-goes-along all over again with a shiny new license-to-rob. Where are the “good” cops turning in the bad ones? There ain’t none! Blue Wall of Silence! “FEW BAD APPLES” MY ASS!
Schedule, grunt. Appleseed in two weeks, IPSC this Sunday. Gonna gamble on loads and make big batches of .45 (I’m out of .357 brass except for what’s in the dead tumbler, so skipping the next .357 science for now), 185gr plated over 6.0 W231, and 219gr lead over 5.3gr. If I have any gumption left after the commute....
Removing lube from cast bullets after seating... when I replace my tumbler I’ll get the same model, so I’ll have two bowls, one of which can be dedicated to some kind of solvent. Another method I’ve read is to wipe it off with a rag & bore cleaner (and I’ve long since started buying Hoppe’s by the pint (”It comes in pints?!”) (Whoa, it comes in gallons!)), but that sounds really tedious for when I make two or three or six hundred rounds at a time.
2207 - Friday, 29 May 2009: No gumption last night, yecchy commute.
Camera cases are like handgun holsters, you end up with a heap of them after looking for the Right One.
Ya know... one could cram some small arms in these, like an NAA Guardian (and the mini revolvers of course), Beretta Bobcat or Jetfire, Colt(Browning) M1908 (Model N), some Kel-Tec models, perhaps the Ruger LCP... and it would still look like a camera case. -I probably shouldn’t have ‘blogged that, now the thugs will start roughing up random photographers. -Oh wait, they already are!
Another Appleseed on Independence Day... probably not, energy and expense. And supplies - I have about 400 FMJ .30 projectiles, of two types (which would likely affect POI) (yes, I need to do that science), and only two bricks of presumably-quality .22LR, and the shelves are still empty, though there are scattered reports that supply is starting to catch up in some places.
More on HomeSec viewing us as terrorists. Darn that pesky First Amendment thingie! How dare we lowly peasants presume to criticize our masters!
Codrea illuminates racism, as does Wisconsin GRE.
Tam reviews books. I’ve read a little of the Heris Serrano series, years ago, didn’t suck; and I was very pleased indeed with Flynn’s Firestar saga, which is five books now counting The Wreck of the River of Stars.
Georgia doesn’t suck. But Seattle does.
Backlash. Then a coworker points out this infuriating wrong-address story. Even in the supposed privacy of our own homes, we and our families are no longer safe from random badgethuggery. I repeat the line from Back to Bataan: "There is no advantage in cooperating with the Japanese. A man obeys all the Japanese laws. When he's taken at random and shot, his next-door neighbor will think, 'It does a man no good to obey.' He might as well die fighting."
Segue: Close the Border, yah, but at what cost? Sometimes there is no good answer. :(
Seattle GRE rants.
Sotomayor visual aid.
Not just a pistol, an eee-vill RWE pistol! -I may have to get me some Gadsden grips for the 1911....
Reader sends:
Recently Michelle Obama went to serve food to the homeless at a government funded soup kitchen.
Cost of a bowl of soup at homeless shelter: $0.00
Having Michelle Obama Serve you your soup: $0.00
Snapping a picture of a homeless person who is receiving a government-funded meal while taking a picture of the first lady using his $500 BlackBerry cell phone:
$$$$ Priceless
Tired... but I have to whip up some rounds. .45ACP 185gr plated - Sierra makes an FMJ that weight that looks just like it, their book sez 6.0gr W231 for 900fps, 6.3 maximum for 950, recommended COAL 1.155". I'm using 6.1, that being what the Auto-Disc is throwing for that aperture at 85°F in the hovel and kinda humid, and about 1.18. Gambling on the Big Batch... 301 rounds done. Now it's near 10pm and I'm eyeing the cast bullets, of which I should have at least 200... nah. Since I'm in no tearing hurry to make a match Saturday I can do those morning-ish and hit the range in the afternoon.
IPSC power factor... is calculated by multiplying the bullet weight by the muzzle velocity and dividing by 1,000. 165 is considered Major, less is Minor. Shooting a Major load scores higher as the rules figure a handicap for a harsher-recoilling load. The mildest of the three cast .45 loads I tested last weekend - the one I intend to make a Big Batch of Saturday morning - scores 172, yays. The 185gr bullet will have to go 892fps to make major, and since I was getting 882 from the 219gr cast with the same powder charge, I think it will.
[thought=random] Look at that photo up there. What kind of person do you have to be, to work on the Secret Service's Presidential detail? For this one?
2208 - Saturday, 30 May 2009: Zzz.
Wrong-address story gets WoGged. I was not aware the Third and Fourth Amendments have been repealed, while it seems the badgethugs are unaware they haven't been. -Hey, lurking blueshirts! What oath do you swear when you're issued your thugbadge? Do you view it as "just a guideline, really"?
Taste like chicken uh, pork?
CCE smacks DC.
Maybe Georgia does suck some.
More yet on the SCOTUS racist.
Via Tam, Michael Flynn 'blogs.
Double Standard! Can ya say it!
Late start on the loading but I'm in no great hurry today. UMC factory 230gr FMJ measures 1.26" COAL; my cast 219gr are about 1.24 this time. Auto-Disk throwing about 5.25gr today. Turning the Powder-Through-Expander die down a bit for more flare for easier seating - Xtreme plated bullets are so easy to handle they've spoiled me. ...262 rounds, yay. As far as function is concerned I think the 1911 is running well now (I think I want a little more Dremel on the thumb safety for more positive engagement); four of my five magazines-which-fit-the-well-funnel are McCormicks and the fifth looks like a ripoff of the same design. The 10 and two 8s are drop-free. ...So now I suppose I should go shooting. Off to the range about noon-thirty.
Success. In part. The 185gr/6.1gr load does not make Major in the Witness, though it shoots to POA and functions perfectly. (I shoulda tried some in the 1911....) The cast load functions perfectly in the 1911 - 34 rounds and locking back on four different magazines, and it shoots near enough to POA. The 1911's trigger was not as bad as I somehow got the impression of last time. I also fired six rounds of 158/7.0 from the GP100 to check the sights, and that's still to POA as well. I'm going to Wolverton IPSC tomorrow, with the 1911. Science, such as there was:
.357 Magnum and .45ACP test loads
A: Ruger GP100 4" - 158gr plated, 7.0gr W231, WSPM
B: Tanfoglio Witness 5¾" ported - 185gr plated, 6.1gr W231, WLP
C: Philippine clone M1911 5" - 219gr cast, 5.3gr W231, WLP
| Round# | A | B | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 991.9 | 809.0 | 779.6 |
| 2 | 1035 | 848.2 | 794.0 |
| 3 | 1032 | 890.4 | 769.5 |
| 4 | 1023 | 821.0 | 776.8 |
| 5 | 1035 | 830.1 | 779.3 |
| 6 | 1033 | 889.0 | 792.3 |
| 7 | 856.9 | 785.8 | |
| 8 | 849.4 | 790.4 | |
| 9 | 870.6 | 774.7 | |
| 0 | 833.7 | 783.7 | |
| Averages | 1025 | 849.8 | 782.6 |
| IPSC PF | 161.95 | 157.22 | 171.39 |
All shooting was from 14 yards. The first three photos were from the bench with the MTM pistol rest, over the chronograph; the last was rapid fire unsupported, with my sloppy Weavosceles stance.
GP100:
Nuthin' wrong with the revolver.
Witness:
Very Fond Of This Pistol.
1911, bench:
Better than expected.
1911, offhand rapid:
Sloppy, but in the generally-desired direction.
Still some Bonding to be done with the 1911, but at least I know it runs. Accuracy may very well be the bullets' fault, I haven't used the pistol enough to tell. Really shoulda put some of that 185gr plated through it, d'oh.
Have I mentioned that OpenOffice is Very Useful? You can whip up a spreadsheet and save it as HTML, though that's not what I've done here, I have the HTML code for tables in a "scratch-paper" file, but with the data cells in place you can view the result in a browser, highlight & copy to clipboard, paste into OO Calc and it formats it into cells for you, then you can perform ordinary spreadsheet operations from there.
Interesting that the .357 load doesn't quite make Major either. Anyhow take this as an object lesson: The numbers in the reloading manuals are usually optimistic, and if you don't have a chronograph you might never find out.
Now, the lube. For the 34 test rounds - one 10 and three 8-round magazines - I wiped the LLA on my jeans, at the range, as I loaded the magazines. For the remaining 228 rounds I might try the solvent-and-old-sock routine, I can't yet afford to replace the tumbler and I need to do laundry soon anyway and sitting in the laundromat parking lot is often a good time for such work....
More old email, reader sends .PDF - from the 1632 list at Baen's Bar - on building your own multiuse milling machine. Not practical here, but I certainly saved the file for future reference.
Gaahh, I still need LTR practice and to visit U-Pull-It. I think I can squeeze all that in next weekend.
Oh look, outright anti-american bigotry instigated by some conceited third-worlder no doubt living off my tax money.
Cleaning the 1911... fuzzy bits in the bore indicative of leading but it came out with a regular bore brush. Did I mention the polished feed ramp on this pistol? And there probably has been trigger work, I'm just not used to a 1911's feel yet. I think I scored on it. Not as big as my sister did but this is not the pistol that left the factory in the Philippines, even before I started hanging extras off it.
I don't have a handgun competition shirt! A Lucky Shirt! Need one. Got two from Appleseed but that's for rifles. And one can't just go out and buy one, it doesn't work that way, it has to be received in the course of an event.
2209 - Sunday, 31 May 2009: Znrk.
IPSC.
Well.
Crap.
There goes the rest of my ammunition budget.
I took both cameras but didn't use the RCA. Fortunately I had the MicroSD adapter so when I filled the Canon's 2Gb card I could reload. Between the two I have four 2Gb cards, which is about 100 minutes of 640p, 20f/s video in the Canon at best quality. And/or lots of stills of course. Bunches of good video including some of me, which might take some time to edit.
Didn't win, duh, but didn't DQ or make any other errors. Hit one white no-shoot target, during the long-range prone stage; had a couple-few misses, mostly there as well. 1911 worked perfectly. Cast load worked perfectly, though with some smoke - I did not get around to de-Aloxing the remainder and I think doing so will reduce smoke - more Science there, I'll leave some with the lube intact for comparison.
It seems, as I go to more handgun events, mine are the only pistols that don't malfunction in some way. Hmm....
It was hot and clear. I brought Gatorade and plenty of water.
There were four stages, though they weren't shot in that order depending which group one was split into. Pretty good turnout, maybe twenty, maybe more - official results should be along. Stage One, which I shot third:
The symbology takes some getting used to, for those who haven't done this before. "A" is the box you must stay in, which for this stage was actually a considerably larger triangle toward the bottom of the page. The orange bars are screens, typically of the orange plastic construction mesh but other materials are also used - no shooting through the screen. For this stage the improvised screens were presumed to extend to the ground and up infinitely, so no shooting over or under the screens either even if it were physically possible. The silhouettes are the standard IPSC cardboard targets, the "X"s are the same reversed to show white instead of brown for no-shoot targets - for this event, any "B" hit would have been counted as "C":
The red circles are steel plates, which might also be squares or whatever the club has handy. This was the third stage I shot. Starting at the lower-left end of box "A" I engaged the three upper-right targets, two rounds each, then began moving forward-right, engaging the two steels in the center, reloading as necessary (shot to slidelock mostly), engaging the next three targets at top left as I got the angle on them, continued moving, and finally engaged the four remaining steels from the forward-right end of the box. Yes there are good side berms, they've been at this a while. 18 rounds minimum - there was some confusion about "Comstock" vs. "Virginia" rules, i.e. taking extra shots to get the best hits. I fired only the required number at the cardboard, and whatever I needed at the steel until they fell down. "Miss" in this context means a required number of holes in the cardboard, for scoring purposes, regardless of how many rounds one fires or whether all of them actually hit. Here are some VLC snapshots from the video I took - different targets appeared or were concealed as you moved through the shooter's box:
When you move, use a sort of duck-walk to keep your firing platform more stable. Stomping around will bounce your sight picture all the heck over. Practice builds speed natürlich. My time in this stage, 27.61 seconds, no misses.
Stage Two, which I shot last:
The blue box represents blue plastic pickle barrels, or again whatever the club has to build a barricade. They were placed in three stacks of two, with enough space between each stack to shoot through. The shooter can start anywhere in the "A" box. I started at the far left, leaning over to clear the barricade to engage the first four targets left to right, two rounds each; this emptied an 8-round magazine, as I'd planned - when I made ready I topped off so at this point I had a round in the chamber. Reloading I moved to the right end of box A and engaged the two right targets, then moved around the barricade into box B, then fired one round at each target, strong hand only, moving as necessary to get the angle.
One begins to see the Gamester Problem and a lack of RealWorldness, which probably makes the Guru who created it revolve a bit, but there remain several Good Training bits, foremost the concept of shooting and moving. My time 26.00, one miss. Snapshot, from around the right side of the barricade:
And the barricade itself:
Stage Four, which I shot first:
Six rounds required on each target. Draw first so you don't break the 180° rule, get prone, shoot through the port. One target freestyle, one strong hand only, one weak hand only. Fortunately I dry-practice weak-hand shooting, and after Saturday's range trip I had a lot more confidence in the pistol, therefore no tremors - a couple guys were really wiggling one-handed, especially weak-hand. I engaged the center (~40yd) target first, two-handed; seven rounds, one extra for luck. Reload, engage left target with strong hand, also seven rounds. Reload, engage right target with weak hand, seven rounds again. Somewhere in this stage is where I got my only no-shoot (white target) hit. Here we see a shooter with a real racegun, double-column, electronic sight, big compensator (note smoke above pistol), in the position engaging the center target through the port:
Note the two no-shoots flanking the center target. The left-side target was set up like the right, and is out-of-frame. My time on this stage was 43.38 seconds, only three of six required hits on the center target, all scoring on the others (considering the extra round fired at each). Again, awaiting official results - one of the shooters brought a laptop with the Official USPSA IPSC Scoring Program installed.
Stage Three, which I shot second:
The documentation was... improvisational. On the left and right, three cardboard and one no-shoot, with additional no-shoots fixed to the forward ends of the screens, which are the three bold lines in the center. The thin lines at bottom are the bottom edge of the shooting box. The large circles at top are falling steel, the small circles are clay pigeons on sticks. Here are a couple VLC snapshots. In the first you can see the pentagonal nature of the box, and the right-side targets. You actually start in a small rectangular box further uprange, then move into the pentagon before engaging:
Here you can see the holder for the clays, and at the right edge of the photo, one of the steels:
My strategy was to engage the left cardboard and the left steel, reloading as necessary, moving to the right to engage the right cardboard & steel, then saving the clays, the most challenging targets, for last. My time, 43.79, no misses.
So. Didn't suck. Here's one video, 1m2s, 6.6Mb .MP4, of Stage One, which I shot third so I was kinda warmed up by then. Not bad. Pretty good reloads I think - the four magazines I brought were the ones I knew would drop free. That last reload was particularly good, yes?
Gah, no gumption remaining, it takes time and energy to 'blog all this.
So let's see what else is happening:
Codrea has even more on Only Ones, "Smart" Guns, and the SCOTUS racist. More on the last here too.
Comes now much-belated word of a Garand match at Lone Oak, Sunday 7 June. At least they have a site now. Looks like more on 16 August and 8 November.
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