One of the reasons I really didn't want to buy a new computer right now...

Aside from the Christmas season, and having given to some charitable stuff, and so forth.

Most of you are probably familiar with the Civilian Marksmanship Program, CMP for short. Qualified buyers can buy rifles, ammo and other shooting supplies from them, and they run a lot of competitions around the country. One of the rifles you can get from them is the 1903 and 1903A3 Springfield rifles, the last bolt-action battle rifles issued by the U.S. military. What I really wanted was the -A3 version, so I figured in a few months I could probably swing it. Then came September.

Then came a notice that CMP was down to the last 1000 of the Remington-made A3 rifles, which they expected to last about 6 months. I held off for about a month, dutifully considering bills, etc. Then I thought about what usually happens; there's something I really want, but I hold off until things look a bit better, and when I go back it's gone. The other way this works is you find something at a gun show, decide to look around a while first, and when you do go back, somebody else bought it. In this case, I thought that with word if these being the last 1000 got around, they weren't going to last as long as they thought. So I did it; I placed my order.

Not quite two weeks ago, FedEx delivered this to my door:
















Alright, technically they didn't deliver it to my door. Remember some posts a while back about FedEx and timing? Yeah, they cleverly managed to come by 10-15 minutes after I left the house. Every damn time. So actually had to haul my fat ass at least four miles away to pick it up at their office(thenerve of those people!). However, when I opened the box, it were worth it, bubba. There, wrapped in a green bag and layers of cosmoline was this example of the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, 1903A3.

And when I say 'layers of cosmoline' I ain't woofin'; when the thing was last worked over at the arsenal they'd heavily greased the bore, then the inside and outside of the action and barrel and the trigger and magazine, then reassembled it. Yes, I used rubber gloves to get it out of the bag.
(Side note: years ago the first milsurp rifle I ever bought was a #4 Mk1 Enfield; the bore was full of grease, so was the entire action-including the inside of the bolt- and they'd greased the outside before putting it back in the wood, and then greased the outside of the whole thing! God, it was a mess to clean up, and I didn't know then the things I know now to make it easier.)
I've got some pictures that show just how greased this one was, but it was a bleepin' fight to get this one shot posted, so if I can I'll add the other pics in later.

It took about two days to get the metal and wood cleaned, and I found, among other things:
The bore is spotless, shiny with sharp rifling.
The muzzle appears to show very little wear, especially for a rifle made in 1943.
The trigger is a two-stage military, the second stage light with just a hint of creep, which about ten minutes with a stone took care of. I've handled modern rifles, new ones, with worse triggers.
And this is one of the smoothest bolt actions I've ever handled, with no sign of slop or great wear.

I've only been able to shoot it at a local indoor range so far, and it did not disappoint. I'm really looking forward to weather nice enough to hit the outdoor range so I can try it at 100 yards. And I really wish I had access to a longer distance.

Final note for now: two days after I got it, I was looking at The High Road and in Rifle Country was a post: CMP 1903A3's all gone. My first thought was "Damn, they went fast!" and my second was "Lord, I'm glad I ordered it when I did!".

And I'm still damn glad. Even though it's caused me to say "Budget? WHAT budget?". And then the computer crapped out, and oh crap...

Note: CMP still has the earlier 1903 Springfield-made rifles, at least for now. If I had the money(how many damn times do we say that?) I'd order one of them; a friend got one a while back, and it looks to be in as fine mechanical shape as mine.

We're all going to die! Again!!

Video at 10!

Yesterday every weather weenie in the region was telling us to expect anywhere from 1-3 to 4-6 inches of snow starting early this morning(freezing rain likely further south), high winds and nasty cold.

Well, it's cold; 13 this morning, about 20 now. Windy, but nothing striking. And not one damn flake of snow yet. It was sunny and clear when I got up, and they were -then- saying "It's coming later today!" It's cloudy now, but still not a flake to be seen. Now they're saying that it's 'still coming' but maybe an inch.

Dammit, my folks were going to come up this morning to meet some people for lunch, and cancelled because of the forecast. And they could have made the trip and been back home without seeing any snow or a drop of rain.

And every time the idiots came on the news it was 'Dangerous situation! Snow and strong winds! Get ready!' with the weather weenies alternating between 'some of you are going to die' and that idiot smiley-chuckling patter.

I meet one of these clowns, I'm going to kick them in the ass.

And right now I've got two different posts I want to do, both of which require pictures, and neither Hello or the Blogger picture-posting will work. Crap.

Anyone else having problems with Hello?

Had some pictures to post, and the damn thing won't do it. No error message, just says 'this may take a few seconds' and sits there. For freakin' ever.

IF I can get this figured out, I've got some stuff to post. In the meantime, was listening to the Tony Snow show last night and they had two people on; Michael Reagan who'd said some nasty things about Howard Dean due to his latest public vomiting, and I can't remember who who was defending Dean. Defense basically boiled down to "I wish he hadn't said that, but you nasty conservative types are really causing the problem because you keep yelling about it". Idiot. Oh, and he kept bringing up anything he could think of wherein any 'conservative'(by his label) said something mean, bad, etc., and therefore that excused Dean. I repeat, idiot.

Leiberman speaks in support of the troops and the war effort, and the Democrat party basically disowns him; Dean and Kerry crap on the troops and the effort and these bastards ignore or excuse it.

It's enough to ruin your good mood

Well, I WAS going to post on a particular thing,

but the picture posting system I've been using seems to have had a stroke. So I'll do it later.

I've been using the keyboard that came with the new pc, and it sucks. Soon as the old one is well cleaned out, it goes back on.

John Kerry is a suckass fool. Not on the subject, just wanted to note it.

It's turning damn cold outside, and the wind has picked up. Were supposed to get about 4 inches of snow tomorrow, but they've now dropped it to 1-3 inches. Too bad, really; we could use the moisture, it's been dry as hell the last month.

Oh, and Dean is, if not actually there, damn close to treasonous conduct.

That's it for now

One just can't help himself, and the other is an idiot

Although there's a certain amount of uncertainty as to which is which, or if they kind of crossover.

John Kerry just can't help himself. He can't get through this without insulting our troops just like he did before. Key quote: "And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women,..."

He wanted more troops in, he wants all the troops out, they're a bunch of terrorists, he voted for it before etc., etc., etc. And this idiot is a U.S Senator, and could have been president... the mind boggles.

And then we have the words of the wondrous Howard Dean, head of the Democrat Party:"idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong," and that the dems will 'come together' on a plan to yank all Guard and Reserve troops immediately, all regulars within two years. Ah, this must be the 'get out now!' plan that Kerry and Feinstein and Co. have said they've never heard of.

I was trying to come up with some ways to make fun of these people, but there's nothing funny about the damage they do. Speaking of which, Michelle Malkin has this on the 'Christmas card' sent to a troop at Walter Reed. Oh yeah, they 'support the troops' a whole lot, don't they? If this was a kid who actually wrote this, what worthless idiot helped them do it? And mailed it? 'Support the troops but not the war' my ass.

Update 12/7 2050 hrs: Earlier today was listening to Rush and he had some interesting audio from one of Sen. Kerry's spokesmen, who was having a freaken holstein over the things Rush said yesterday about Kerry's statement. He was 'misquoted' and 'slandered' and 'misunderstood' and, as near as I recall, 'insulted by that draft-dodging donut-eating Limbaugh'. Oh, and they made due notice that J. Effin' Kerry is a 'war hero', too; can't leave that out, now can they? Considering what Rush said was somewhat mild compared to what a lot of others said, it was interesting how freaked out they were; it also tells you how committed they are to kissing up to the nutcase left in that they defended the statement so strongly. Maybe we need to mail the Senator a picture of a guillotine? Or would that be too 'French' a reference?

New computer!

I now have my new pc. I've got the anti-virus updated and Firefox downloaded; now I get to rebuild my bookmarks, etc. Yuck.

More blogging to be done later. After I get some more of this done.

Alas! No joy tonight

The pc won't be ready 'till tomorrow, so one last night on the laptop. One of the problems with which is, it being borrowed, I can't look at some of the sites I usually do. No, not those, dammit. There are a lot of news sites that have various popups and crap that the stuff I had on my old pc blocked. Well, the owner of this laptop doesn't have that stuff, so I've been restricting my viewing to keep from getting bugs on it.

Quick wrapup:
Steve has been hitting the range, and has laid down money for a new, EEEEVVVILLLLLE nasty-looking sniper rifle. And has been asking for advise. Just start at the top and scroll down to see all the glory of questions such as "How the hell do I aim this thing? Or clean it? Or sight it in?". Jeez, you'd think a physicist and lawyer could figure this crap out.

And Right Wing News has an interview with Tammy Bruce that you really should read. I've read her two previous books, now I need to get at this one.

Now, I have focaccia to take out of the oven. Later, folks.

Relief is on the way!

For me, at least. Found a system at a local shop that should take care of my needs nicely. Computer needs, that is. With any luck I should be able to pick it up tomorrow. I added on a cd burner/backups and music/ and had to add a modem; everything's set up for high-speed connections only. Apparently, I'm behind the times.

Carnival of Cordite #40

up at Gullyborg.

Tell me again, we're supposed to trust the Major Media why?

Read this over at Say Uncle, and remind me about the 'superior fact-checking and ethical standards' of the Major Media.

Between crap like this, and the hugely slanted BS they run about the war, I can't think of a reason not to start simply referring to the MM et al as Rathers.