Saturday, July 23, 2005

A way to try out new stuff, and one new rifle in particular

H&H range in Oklahoma City is having Dealer Days(or whatever they call it); lots of dealers displaying their wares. This setup has a nice addition; buy a ticket for $3- money going to the state shooting team- and if you find something you'd like to try out, give the dealer rep the ticket and you get the firearm and one load of ammo and a target. See the new Springfield or Taurus or whatever you'd like to try? Three bucks and you can!

They've done this before, this year there were enough vendors wanting in they're doing some this week and some next. What I specifically wanted to mention was something at the Kahr table; the M1 Carbine. Apparently they've got the rights to the design now, and are building it. First glance it looks like a standard M1 with a nicer stock and bluing, bayonet lug and all. Looked it over, very nice piece of wood, good fitting, nice balance, and in the original .30 carbine cartridge. And, instead of the turn-lever safety of the original, this one had a cross-bolt safety.

So I handed over my ticket and got the rifle and a magazine with ten rounds. I started at about 20 yards to check sighting, and it was dead on. I also found the other big difference from the original; instead of a two-stage trigger, it's got a single-stage that broke cleanly at about (I'm guessing) 3.5 pounds. After a couple of shots I ran the target out to 30 and finished the mag. Ten rounds with a rifle I'd never fired before all in a 2.5" bull, all offhand.

No, I didn't buy it. But dammit, I was tempted! I'm going to have to check around on this later when(hopefully) I've got some cash.

The Brits are giving me hope

First there's this, money quote being:
"Under secret guidelines codenamed Operation Kratos, armed officers were instructed that they should shoot to kill suspected suicide bombers. “The most effective way of dealing with someone with explosives is to shoot them in the head,” said the officer.

S019 commanders also sent armed teams onto the streets of London in four Jankel armoured vehicles, bought by Scotland Yard last year for this eventuality. The vehicles are designed to protect their passengers from the impact of a suicide bomb blast.

Inside each vehicle were marksmen and women from the elite 72-man cadre of Specialist Firearms Officers (SFOs). The SFOs are divided into six teams of 12 which have been given different colour-coded names.
They are armed with Glock pistols, Heckler & Koch MP5 semi-automatic machineguns and G3 short-barreled rifles, which are small enough to be carried discreetly in a shoulder holsters. The rifles, equipped with “red dot” sights, use “frangible” ammunition that releases all its energy in the target’s body, instead of passing through it and endangering nearby civilians. "

Interesting that a government that will throw you in jail if you hurt someone who attacks you in your home will have plans waiting for 'you think he's a bomber, kill him'. Hypocritical as hell, but at least they did have a plan for it.

Second thing is this:
"Upstairs in the station, a passenger, Paul Martin, saw "a guy being chased. It was completely crazy. People were trying to drop him, to rugby tackle him," he told The Guardian."

So they're actually acting, this is good. Now if they'll start deporting the jihadis("I don't care what they'll do to him in Jordan, ship him out!"), and stop harassing people for acting in self-defense, they'll be well on their way.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Carnival of Cordite #23 up!

At a place called But That's Just My Opinion. Ammo, explosives and idiot ideas about, range tests and other good stuff.

Ever notice how many places you wind up seeing because of this?

"If we don't bother them, they won't bother us..."

unless...

Thursday, July 21, 2005

The 'Root Problems'

Was over at Wizbang reading this post on P.J. O'Rourke and one of his books. In the comments someone hit the usual 'we need to address the root causes of terrorism' idea, following with 'we need to stop treating the people of the region as the provider for our oil addiction. Which made some things come to mind.

The only reason most of the countries over there have the money and influence they do is oil. It's of very little intrisic value; what value it has comes because it's needed for particular uses. Motor fuels, lubricants, fertilizers, etc. So because there is a use for this stuff, the various countries in the mideast that have large deposits of it have lots of money. Which is one of the reasons I have little patience with the 'poverty' section of the root causes argument; if the upper social levels of those countries weren't looting it, there'd be lots of cash to go around there. But here's where the other thought comes in.

We have lots of people working on alternate energy sources. Some have great hope, some very little, and somebody might well fall over something that can take the place of oil and/or coal as an energy source. Sounds good, right? So what happens when the discovery is made? Whether it's super-efficient solar cells or a way to make oil for $25/barrel from trash or something someone falls over, it means the price of oil drops. A lot. Which is a good thing; less-expensive motor fuels & lubes, and so forth. A good thing. For us.

But if you truly believe that poverty causes terrorism, wait to see what happens to the countries that have lots of money and influence because they have oil. When the demand drops, and the price drops, their economies will go down the toilet. The ONLY reason they became what they are is the need for oil; without that, they go back to being(in some cases) the world's biggest litterbox. And all the people and causes that have been supported by the governments and royal families are going on a diet, and they won't like it. Can you say 'revolutions'? Lots of them? When those governments can no longer buy off their attackers and populations, it will get very ugly over there.

I'm going to have to think some more about this. For the moment, I have to get ready to take my daughter to dinner.

The bastards have done it again

" July 21, 2005, 8:45 AM EDT

LONDON -- Three London Underground stations were evacuated at midday Thursday following reports of incidents, British Transport Police said. The Fire Brigade was investigating a report of smoke at one station."

Link to news release here, the post at Wizbang where I read it here.

Now, will someone over there tell Red Kenny to shut the hell up and stop encouraging these dirtbags? And will someone finally kick the multi-culti nuts and tell them to shut up, and start catching and jailing or deporting the jihadist jackasses they've been paying living expenses to for the past few years?

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Damn, I like this camera!

I finally remembered to take this thing outside at night & try it out:

Nice & sharp. One of the things this unit does- the camera, not the dog- is if you have the flash activated, when the shutter button is halfway down, it fires a green laser that shows you exactly where the center of field of view is, so even if you can't see through the viewfinder, you can accurately aim. Very nice feature.

And now I'm tired and sweaty and heading for the shower.

Later, folks

Trees

One reason I liked this house is the trees. There are trees, elms and maple and something I need to get around to id'ing all around, giving shade much of the year and places for the squirrels and birds. And some big bushes I keep forgetting to find out what are, but the blossoms are pretty, and the birds love them. There is one thing, though, about trees and the bushes; from early spring to late fall they grow.

And grow.

And grow.

Over the last two days I did a buttload of pruning, which is bad enough when it isn't 90+ degrees and 60-something humidity. Pole saw and pruning saw and ax, cut down the limbs, section and stack them. Thank God for power polesaws, without this one my arms would be falling off. There were some too close to the power lines, the one to my place and to the house next door, and some were hanging too far out. There's more to do, but it'll have to wait until I get rid of these. One nice thing about this area is every month the city has a big trash pickup day, so I'll be able to drag this all out front and they'll take it away.

The pup likes it, because she can steal a small branch and carry it off to chew on. Happily, she takes direction from the older dog and stays out of the way.

One of these days I'm going to rent a chipper. Most of this stuff is small enough to go in, and I can either use it for mulch or put it in the trash.

I like the trees, but pruning is a pain.

Microlon followup 3

Tanked up, 123 miles & 2.6 gallons, 47mpg. This includes the first 40 miles or so on the highway at 75 in yesterday's winds.

I've never tracked mileage precisely, just knew it ran around 45 most of the time. That being the average before, it's still showing a gain in mpg.

Red Ken returns to normal operating mode

'Red Ken' being the commie mayor of London. And no, I do not use 'commie' lightly, he really IS. And, after his bombing-day demonstration of telling the fascists that they'll be hunted down, he had this to say:
"Ken Livingstone yesterday blamed western policies for contributing to the spread of the extremist beliefs that inspired the London bombers. The mayor of London highlighted the West’s role in the creation of al-Qa’eda by saying: “We created these people. We built them up. We funded them.”

His comments coincided with remarks from Muslim extremists that went much further, claiming that ministers were “the real terrorists” and that voters were to blame for the attacks because they returned Tony Blair to power."

Remember what I asked about could and would Britain stand up? Here's part of the problem; the people in power blaming their own people for all problems, and the idiots keep voting them back into office. Here it is about two weeks after this mass murder, and Kenny is back to blaming his own people- or maybe I should say 'his subjects'- for what happened, just happening to sound like an echo chamber for the fascists.

Well, he is a commie, so it shouldn't be surprising. Full post here at Little Green Footballs.

Oh, he says it's the fault of the Joooooos, too.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Microlon followup 2

111 miles, 2.5 gallons = not quite 45 mpg. Not nearly as good as before. Most of this tank was out on I-40 between 65-75mph with strong, gusting winds from the front and side(depending on direction travelling). If you've never been on a bike, strong headwinds really drag on you, so I'm not unhappy with this. As I recall, last time I took a trip to Fort Worth I had winds like this all the way down, and I think I got about 40(wasn't tracking it closely; just "I'm on reserve, and YES! there's a gas station!)

Ref that shooting in Los Angeles a few days ago

where the bad guy and his baby daughter were killed? I was looking at Michelle Malkin and found this link with a lot more information about what happened, and what's happened since.

It seems that the dirtbag was not only an illegal alien, he had been previously deported, for cocaine possession. So he snuck back into this country, and on went things from there.

And of course the family of the deceased is putting out the usual: “The police killed my daughter. I want justice,” said Lorena Lopez, the unmarried mother of Pena’s 18-month-old daughter, Susie Lopez. “It’s cruel what happened to my brother,” said German Pena. “He was a good person.” Let's see, illegal alien, drug possession(at the least), using his own DAUGHTER as a shield... doesn't sound so damn good to me. Which makes me wonder, how many of the family, and how many of the idiots rioting are illegals themselves?

Investigate police actions, fine. If someone messed up, take care of it. They should also be grabbing every illegal at these riots and in the family and deporting them. They (the legal immigrants and citazens) want to protest, no problem; for rioting they should be in jail.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Comments policy

Was over at GOC and Hog On Ice earlier, and decided to follow their example and state my policy. It's pretty much based on theirs:
Comments on a post are generally welcome. That includes those that disagree with something I say or an idea I put forward or the content of something I link to. However, if your intention is to be an annoyance, with no redeeming value to your comments(as determined by me) I may delete your comments, or I may edit them to say something I consider more appropriate. I started the blog just for the fun of it, and overall it's been worth it; I did not start it to give a sounding board for those who like to leave trash everywhere they go.

There, that was easy.

Think about the attitude behind this

Was checking out the Weekly Bias at Alphecca and read this:
"We at Amnesty International are not going to condone the escalation of the flow of arms to the region," said Trish Katyoka, director of Africa Advocacy. "You are empowering (the victims) to create an element of retaliation.
"Whenever you create a sword-fight by letting the poor people fight back and give them the arms, it creates an added element of complexity. You do not know what the results could be."

Think about that. You can't 'condone' giving people being tortured and raped and murdered a way to fight back because it 'creates and added element of complexity'. You don't 'know what the results could be'. God, we can't have that! MUCH better to have the victims keep suffering rather than give them a way to protect themselves and not know what the results might be! I mean, really, they might decide they don't have to wait for the U.N. and such to get around to giving enough of a rat's ass to do something, and THEN where would we be?!?

This is a wonderful example of the mindset of the left wing nowadays: better people die than people give them the tools to do something themselves. Action can only be properly taken by some international agency(U.N.), after proper review and after they decide what they might need to do when all the proper factors have been considered... and so on until they're all dead or enslaved and there's no more problem to actually make a decision about. Just absolutely wonderful.

Remember Rwanda? Remember the U.N.(Kofi,anyone?) ordering out almost all the troops and forbidding the commander on the scene to do anything? Remember all the other places and all the other damn near countless dead? All because you can only have legitimate action when the U.N. approves it and controls it. And the U.N. absolutely HATES the idea of peasants with arms able to act for themselves. Or do anything else without U.N. approval, which won't come unless it somehow increases U.N. control over the lives of those involved. Hell, look at malaria; the politically correct won't allow even the idea of DDT even though it is harmless to people and wildlife as properly used and cheap and effective. Instead, you've got to have bed nets that don't do anything when you're not in bed and expensive programs and guess who has control of them?

What goes on in the minds of people who'd rather see mass murder and slavery go on rather than see people able to fight back because fighting back would increase 'complexity'?

It seems Anarchangel done ticked somebody off

He's been contacted by the FBI about a fatwa issued against him. Please note: "There is concern that staff at my former employers has fed them my personal and private information as well."; a previous post about his firing will tell you why.

It seems this all started with 'Team Infidel', his response to the whining and moaning about the alleged abuse of the Koran. And now? Think about this: a bunch of true believers have shown they are willing to/will kill people for ALLEGED disrespect of their holy book. Yeah, some Christians would threaten you over abusing a Bible; big deal, they'd be told to shut up and behave themselves by everyone else. And has anyone every heard of a Jew threatening to kill someone over damaging a Torah? Again, if someone did the rest of their community would tell them to behave themselves and stop acting like an uncivilized jerk. But we're supposed to be agonized that we might somehow offend someone who kills girls for going to school? Who wants our entire civilization destroyed and us all either converted, dhimmi or slaves? Oh, please.

It boils down to a bunch of people who are so enraged that they don't rule the world, that everyone doesn't bow down to their beliefs, that they want to kill every one else. And for that matter any of their own they don't believe sufficiently 'devout'. Now they're threatening bloggers, basically because "You don't respect us!" Gullyborg has this to say:
"I'm a little worried for Chris, but not overly so. Chris is a veteran and a security specialist. He knows his stuff. He can, and will, take care of himself. I'm more worried about his friends and family. He may be a 300 pound gorilla martial-arts expert with a huge personal arsenal -- but he can't be around everyone he knows all the time to protect them. The cravenly coward terrorists who issued this fatwah have no qualms about killing the innocent."
Full post here.

Well, this is the kind of thinking we're up against. It has been for a bunch of years, it's just more out in the open now. Or maybe more 'in your face'. Either way, it points out that ANYONE who has EVER said something that MIGHT offend one of the Islamist fascists could be threatened.

But then, we're all already all under threat from them. This would just make it a more specific threat.