Friday, November 02, 2007

Yes, I AM aware that I have a problem,

thank you very much(It's a sickness, I can't help myself!). Just ignore that part.

The week before the big gun show in Tulsa I posted this on AIM and their constant efforts to ruin my financial standing. Biggest gun show in the world a few days away, all kinds of stuff to look for... yes, dammit, I ordered one. Set aside some of the show funds and made a call. And a couple of days later the Brown Truck of Happiness people delivered it










I've read a couple of model designations, I'll just us 2A1 here: it's the #1 MkIII Lee Enfield, reengineered to fire the 7.62x51mm Nato cartridge(.308 for short). 12-round magazine, otherwise externally it's pretty much identical to the original. Different steel in the bolt, receiver & barrel, different bolt head for the rimless cartridge.

I just clicked on the link in my previous post, and it's no good anymore, looks like they sold out of these fast. They'd advertised these as 'shooter specials', the wood being more beat-up and/or more repairs than the stuff they'd previously had but the metal being in the same condition. For a hundred bucks, I figured worth a try: I've dealt with AIM before.

The 'more beat-up' consisted of lots of little dings- hardly unusual in a milsurp rifle- and two repairs. See the two lighter-colored vertical pieces on the left?















A very well-done repair. There's one more like this on the right, done with darker wood; you have to look for it to find it. And that's it. The metal has that painted finish the Indians kept from the Brits, only this looks like something done with a spray can by a kid in a hurry to finish a model airplane. But the action is tight- I don't think it was fired much- and the bore is spotless. It came with what I call a 'halfway' grease job: it was greased for storage but not the 'block of grease with a gun inside' you see from a lot of Brit firearms, so not a big problem cleaning it up enough to try out.

I mentioned the action was tight, the trigger was also a touch, not 'rough' but not polished either. Again, I think it was carried a lot and shot very little. And the sights were WAY off to the right. I discovered and corrected that at the indoor range, and when went to the outdoor range the other day tweaked the sights to dead-on and tried it at 100 yards with some South African ball I had. I forgot my rests(always something, dammit) and this thing didn't do its best off one of the sandbags I borrowed. All shots in the black, but not good grouping. So I looped-up using the sling I'd stuck on(a 1907 model) and fired with it, elbows on the bench and left forearm against the bag and got this for five rounds:






















The one centered in the bull was a called flyer(ignore the .22 holes), the other four went into less than 2". It did about as well on another before I gave up on shooting for best groups, the wind was gusting and those little sights were starting to give my eyes problems.

That's better accuracy than I was hoping for out of this. I think a little polishing to smooth the trigger(it broke cleanly if a touch heavy) would help a bit, but hardly necessary for a shooter(no, I won't leave it alone). Got to say, a good deal for the price.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Ammo Day is a'comin'!

as Kim reminds us. And it has its own site, too.

Stock up. You'll use it eventually, and I doubt prices will go down on the stuff.

The poor whiny illegals and supporters lose another round

They'd filed to try to prevent HB 1804 from taking effect today, and that was thrown out by the judge. The rest of the lawsuit still hangs around, but the law is in effect. To the accompaniment of the usual whining and howling and "How can you people be so unfeeling and cruel?" bullshit.
"We are people from all faith traditions, denominations," Sanchez said. "Our faith will bring light to this moment of social darkness."
And- of course- you've just GOT to link the war to this:
Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa said a prayer in Spanish for the crowd.

"I was asking that God forgive our sins from all over the world, especially with wars," Slattery said afterward. "I asked that we resort to charity and love."


And further statements of moral superiority:
The Quran teaches that people should give food and greetings to both people you know and those you don't know, said Priscilla Reem Khader, who is Muslim.

"As Americans, we have a moral duty to care for all mankind," she said. "Everything we have, including this land, is from God and ultimately, everything belongs to him."
Unspoken was the apparent belief that 'caring for mankind' means 'trash your culture for the sake of being nice to lawbreakers'.

Then we have general fearmongering:
He's unsure how HB 1804 will affect him and is concerned.

"I do worry about the how the bill will affect me because I'm Hispanic. The bill is going to affect every Hispanic person,” Montoya said.

Ah, here's a clue Mr. Montoya: it won't affect you unless you're here illegally. So either calm down or get the hell out, whichever is applicable.

And, of course, you also have to have the nazi references and "We're a'skeered!" notes:
On the other side of the argument, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Religious Leaders accused the Tulsa mayor, police chief and Tulsa County Sheriff’ Department, as well as state Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, of “ethnic cleansing.”

“We are afraid of your words. We are afraid of your actions,” said Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. “If this bill goes into effect midnight tonight, it will be open season on Latinos.”
Again, dumbass, only if you are here illegally, or helping illegals break more laws. Which, considering your actions and words, the latter is almost certainly the case.

There's lots of "The children don't know why their parents are scared" and so forth("It's for the CHILDREENNN!"), and some "We will show our political power!" threats. About what you'd expect from the illegal enablers, including the obligatory "We will serve the Lord by helping people break this law!" crap from the usual suspects. Base is, this law is in effect, and from reports it caused a lot of illegals to move out of the state even before today. Which I consider a good thing. So we'll see what happens next.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Glenn Beck has been pointing out what a bunch of

clowns are running Hasbro toys, along with the (now standard) 'America must not be celebrated' Hollywood weenies, on the subject of GI Joe. What the Hollyweenies & Co. are doing to him, that is. Instead of an American troop, it stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, taking orders from bloody damned Brussels. Ace had a post on this, which linked to a full explanation of the man whose face adorns that figure. I'm going to post a part of the article:

As Platoon Sgt. Mitchell Paige and his 33 riflemen set about carefully emplacing their four water-cooled .30-caliber Brownings on that hillside, 65 years ago this week -- manning their section of the thin khaki line that was expected to defend Henderson Field against the assault of the night of Oct. 25, 1942 -- it's unlikely anyone thought they were about to provide the definitive answer to that most desperate of questions: How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it take to hold a hill against 2,000 armed and motivated attackers?

But by the time the night was over, "The 29th (Japanese) Infantry Regiment has lost 553 killed or missing and 479 wounded among its 2,554 men," historian Lippman reports. "The 16th (Japanese) Regiment's losses are uncounted, but the 164th's burial parties handled 975 Japanese bodies. ... The American estimate of 2,200 Japanese dead is probably too low."

You've already figured out where the Japanese focused their attack, haven't you? Among the 90 American dead and seriously wounded that night were all the men in Mitchell Paige's platoon. Every one. As the night of endless attacks wore on, Paige moved up and down his line, pulling his dead and wounded comrades back into their foxholes and firing a few bursts from each of the four Brownings in turn, convincing the Japanese forces down the hill that the positions were still manned.

The citation for Paige's Medal of Honor picks up the tale: "When the enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, P/Sgt. Paige, commanding a machine gun section with fearless determination, continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire."

In the end, Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed Brownings and did something for which the weapon was never designed. Sgt. Paige walked down the hill toward the place where he could hear the last Japanese survivors rallying to move around his flank, the belt-fed gun cradled under his arm, firing as he went.

Coming up at dawn, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley was the first to discover how many able-bodied United States Marines it takes to hold a hill against two regiments of motivated, combat-hardened infantrymen who have never known defeat.

On a hill where the bodies were piled like cordwood, Mitchell Paige alone sat upright behind his 30-caliber Browning, waiting to see what the dawn would bring.

The hill had held, because on the hill remained the minimum number of able-bodied United States Marines necessary to hold the position.

But God forbid we actually expect a movie to show the U.S. Military in a good light, even in a kids movie, oh no. Let alone have the troops fighting terrorists or dictators, never!
According to reports in Variety and the aforementioned IGN, the producers explain international marketing would simply prove too difficult for a summer, 2009 film about a heroic U.S. soldier. Thus the need to "eliminate Joe's connection to the U.S. military."

Excuse me for a moment, I've been trying to clean up my language but this calls for something other than polite words:
God DAMN these people. They will spend millions making piece of shit movies designed to make the U.S. look as bad as possible- movies they know will not make money here, which means they're intended to make most of their money in other countries, and consider the implications of that. They march around screaming about how horrible and fascist this country is and what morons and bloody-handed tools the troops are, AND claim to 'support the troops' while they do these things. And they have to go after the toys, too. Can't have the kids playing with 'a real American hero', it might make them think the troops aren't a bunch of baby-killing rapists.

Right now I'm ready for that 9.0 earthquake to take a large part of California, I'm so sick of this shit. Barring an earthquake or something else more suitable(too much collateral damage), I'll end with this from Ace's piece:

"When the Hasbro Toy Co. called some years back, asking permission to put the retired colonel's face on some kid's doll, Mitchell Paige thought they must be joking.

But they weren't. That's his mug, on the little Marine they call "G.I. Joe." At least, it has been up till now.

Mitchell Paige's only condition? That G.I. Joe must always remain a United States Marine.

I hope his estate is litigious. Maybe they can appoint Fred Goldman as their family advisor"

You need to get toys for Christmas? Make sure they don't come from Hasbro.


In other events happening about the time P/Sgt. Paige was making his mark, Trainer has a piece that notes a naval battle of huge significance as well:
"Hunter had to do something. The course he took now could decide the war. 'Come left,' he said, and Washington straightened out on a course parallel to the one on which she (had been) steaming. Washington's rudder change put the burning destroyers between her and the enemy, preventing her from being silhouetted by their fires.

"The move made the Japanese momentarily cease fire. Lacking radar, they could not spot Washington behind the fires. ...

"Meanwhile, Washington raced through burning seas. Everyone could see dozens of men in the water clinging to floating wreckage. Flag Lieutenant Raymond Thompson said, "Seeing that burning, sinking ship as it passed so close aboard, and realizing that there was nothing I, or anyone, could do about it, was a devastating experience.'

"Commander Ayrault, Washington's executive officer, clambered down ladders, ran to Bart Stoodley's damage-control post, and ordered Stoodley to cut loose life rafts. That saved a lot of lives. But the men in the water had some fight left in them. One was heard to scream, 'Get after them, Washington!' "

Sacrificing their ships by maneuvering into the path of torpedoes intended for the Washington, the captains of the American destroyers had given China Lee one final chance. The Washington was fast, undamaged, and bristling with 16-inch guns. And, thanks to Lt. Hunter's course change, she was also now invisible to the enemy.

Blinded by the smoke and flames, the Japanese battleship Kirishima turned on her searchlights, illuminating the helpless South Dakota, and opened fire. Finally, standing out in the darkness, Lee and Davis could positively identify an enemy target.

The Washington's main batteries opened fire at 12 midnight precisely. Her new SG radar fire control system worked perfectly. Between midnight and 12:07 a.m., Nov. 14, the "last ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet" stunned the battleship Kirishima with 75, 16-inch shells. For those aboard the Kirishima, it rained steel.

In seven minutes, the Japanese battleship was reduced to a funeral pyre. She went down at 3:25 a.m., the first enemy sunk by an American battleship since the Spanish-American War. Stunned, the remaining Japanese ships withdrew. Within days, Yamamoto and his staff reviewed their mounting losses and recommended the unthinkable to the emperor - withdrawal from Guadalcanal.

Isn't it amazing

what make-up can do?


























Thanks, Theo

And the 'activists' continue

to work at helping illegal aliens violate the law. Specifically, in trying to keep House Bill 1804 from going into effect. From The McCarville Report:
The law, which takes effect Thursday, has sparked intense fear in the Hispanic community that families will be separated, several speakers said."We're asking for a moratorium on all raids, arrests and deportations until such a time as our Congress assumes the responsibility of an immigration law that is just and comprehensive," said the Rev. Victor Orta, president of the American Dream Coalition. (emphasis mine)
Got that? Not just a hold on this particular law, but ALL 'raids, arrests and deportations'. Until- they hope- the clowns in Congress can sneak an amnesty bill through.

Then, as of Monday the 29th:
A federal lawsuit challenging the law, which goes into effect Thursday, was refiled last week. It added eight illegal alien lawbreakersundocumented residents who plan to testify that they will face eviction from their landlords unless they provide legal identification, such as a social security card, as required by the new law. The other plaintiffs include the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and two churches.

Just gotta love it. "Your Honor, if this law goes into effect, these people who are here illegally will be evicted from their dwelling, just because they're illegal. And that's not right! It's not fair!"

And, of course, the author of the bill, along with anyone who supports it, is an evil racist. Doesn't matter that it says 'illegal aliens', they know who you mean...

I can't find the article right now, but the Attorney General has asked the challenge currently filed to be tossed because 'nobody in the suit can show they've been harmed'. Personally, I'd think a better statement would be: "Your Honor, these people are here to claim that enforcing our laws is 'bad', and that criminals- people who snuck into this country illegally- should be able to sue to prevent the law from being enforced. We ask you to throw this suit out on the basis of idiocy and that criminals shouldn't be allowed to come into our courts and say "We don't like your laws, and we don't want to obey them, so leave us alone!"

We're hearing lots of things about how 'people are worried, there are concerns about families being torn apart, illegalsundocumented workers are leaving for fear of being deported' and on and on. Know what? I Don't Care. I'm sick to death of being told I'm a racist for wanting the damn law enforced. I'm sick of being told that people here illegally deserve special considerations when they commit more crimes. I'm sick of crap like this:
Advocates for immigrants say the vast majority of the undocumented people in the U.S. are hard workers who are just trying to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

They also say that many of the people pushing the hardest for immigration reform describe themselves as Christians yet seem to be lacking the compassion for which Jesus is known.

They wonder whether the real motive behind measures such as HB 1804 is racism.

I'm sick of a bunch of clowns claiming "We are true Christians" saying they'll help these illegals break the law and daring the cops to do anything about it. Yeah, Christ said a lot about "Thou must aid politically correct criminals in their transgressions", didn't he?

Add to it that all too many of these clowns who think multiple-murderers who happen to be illegals deserve special considerations also tend to be people who think our troops are somewhat subhuman, and
a serious amount of disgust has entered my life.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

.22's are weird

in their choices of ammo. I think a lot of them are far more picky than centerfires. Not only whether the round will cycle a semi-auto properly, but in accuracy: I've mentioned before shooting rifles that got better groups with inexpensive ammo than high-dollar target or match ammo.

What brought this up(again) is a trip to the range today. Just for the hell of it I stuck a box of the Aguila SSS in to try on a couple of rifles. This stuff is loaded subsonic and has a long, 60 grain bullet instead of the standard 40 grain. To keep the length correct they make the case short; weird looking round. And whether a rifle or pistol shoots it worth a damn depends on the whim of the gun. Some shoot it quite well, and others will keyhole the bullet at 25 yards: the rifling on many does not spin the bullet fast enough to stabilize.

I've now found two of mine that shoot it well: the Martini Model 12, which will put the things into 2.5-3.5" groups at 100 yards, and my Remington 512. At 50 yards this rifle hits dead-on with Federal Champion and gives about 1" groups or a touch better. It put five rounds of the Aguila 3.5" low and 2" right at that range, but the group- including a flyer I have to call my own- was 1.3". Take out the flyer, .7". Not bad at all.

For pests and small game this round, assuming your gun will shoot it well, ought to be a killer: with the weight and shape it should penetrate very well on larger critters. But you'd probably have to zero specifically for it, as that weight and velocity means it'll have a different point of impact than pretty much everything else.

Project Valor-IT is on

Just found the information at Kevin's.

Check it out. Spread it around. Spend some money.

Monday, October 29, 2007

And from Our Lady of the Thong:

Islamist child-abuserearing

















Thank you, oh Lady

Looking for a bullet mold

I've been told that Lyman used to make a mold for a .45-caliber hollow-base wadcutter, about 250 grains. I can't find a number on the bullet mold charts I can find, anyone have any idea? This sounds like it would almost duplicate the Webley Man-Stopper bullet for the .455 Webley.

On books, you'll be happy to know

you can fit 18 paperbacks into one of the large flat-rate boxes without it bulging too much. Got those sent off last week, mix of Drake, Ringo, a Heinlein(my copy of Starship Troopers) and some others. They should be arriving sometime this week.

Got a call from him Sunday: amazingly enough, this time I wasn't on the phone at work or away from the phone at the house. Highs are down to the low 100's but the humidity is up(yuck), their area is still pretty quiet. I get the feeling between their patrols and the Iraqi National Police and Army, the bad guys have had the living crap kicked out of them, which is all to the good.