Millett red dot update

Took my daughter to the range the other evening, first time we've been able to go in a while. Fun was had and our carbon footprints suitably enlarged. I took the Carbine along just to check zero.

And why is that, you ask, since I'd only zeroed it about a week ago? Because I had it leaned in what I THOUGHT was a secure position a couple of days ago(always had been before, dammit) and it slid off and fell. Right on the Millett. Which I think caused some of the paint to blister a touch from my language.

If the thing shifted at all, I couldn't tell. It put the rounds right where I was aiming. I'm liking this sight more and more.

More Carbine stuff
The CMP M1 Carbine page has links to two good articles, one on Carbine shooting with accuracy (covers fitting barrel/receiver to stock & barrel band, ammo and such) and- if you're looking for some- THE article on the Carbine 30-round magazine.

The ammo pouches for the older 20-round M16 magazines will very nicely hold four of the 30-round Carbine magazines.

And now, I'm to bed. Night, all.

'Osama's' newest press release

Translated.

Farouk, Cave Affairs correspondent, CBC (Cave Broadcasting Service):

Thank you, Your Eminence. Mr. Sheikh, you have praised Allah and his “law of retaliation … eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, the killer is killed … ” And yet the resilient infidels have been martyring our righteous militants at a rate of better than 5 to 1, conservatively. How do you explain the tooth deficit of your current strategy?

"I said no, no, no!"

Go. Watch.

Thanks, Theo

Maneaters

Saw a show on the subject of 'maneaters', specifically about lions. The first segment was about a lion in the Rufiji River area in Tanzania the locals named Osama. Killed and ate 50 people in the area before a game ranger was able to put him down. This was in 2002, in an area alive with game of all kinds; it's just that, as one researcher put it, "We're so much easier to kill than buffalo and zebra."

Two things about this: one is that, when they put those numbers down, I always wonder how many might not be known of. Jim Corbett, who hunted a bunch of man-eating tigers and leopards in India, knew of many kills by some of them than were not on the 'official' list for various reasons. Last I heard the average daily kills of people by crocodiles in Africa, Asia and Australia runs about ten. Again, that we know of. There's an official number of people killed by sharks each year, but if some swimmer or fisherman just disappears...

Second, they interviewed the ranger who put paid to Osama, by setting up in the high grass around the last two victims- both killed in the same night- to catch him when he came back to feed on what was left. Pictures of Osama showed two holes in his forehead: one to put him down, and one to make sure. The rifle the ranger uses?

#4 Mk1 Enfield, with the forend cut back. Good things still work.

Chicks with guns!

Thanks to Theo

remember the 'useful items' son said added to the weight?

Asked him about them, and got the following:

Camelback attached to the back, starts out the day with 6lbs of ice and 2 liters of water; lasts about four hours, then back to the water bottles.
Gerber multi-tool
550 cord
camera
candy for the local kids
carabiner
lighter
spare lenses for the goggles
a cloth
gaiter to pull up and filter out some of the dust.
Plus:
Add about 3lbs for the helmet and 8 for the m4, plus whatever else you carry like a flashlight, machine gun ammo, etc. and the weight jumps up there quick.

And it's been averaging 120-125F for the days high temp.

The Sci-Fi Channel needs to go back to class

At least on a few things. Particularly, they need two classes:
Firearms, General Characteristics and Operation
Firearms And Their Effects On Animals, Large And Small

Over time I've seen a few of their 'made for Sci-Fi' movies, and they tend to display absolutely incredible ignorance on the above. For instance, today saw parts of Curse of the Komodo and Attack of the Sabretooth, and in the past various 'giant Komodo dragon' or 'attacking dinosaur' movies. Various things apply to these:
A 1911 only holds seven rounds in a standard magazine, eight in a higher capacity that doesn't stick out the bottom of the grip: that does NOT translate to '35 rounds without reloading!'

EVERY gun runs out of ammo, even if it's belt-fed. Which means you do have to reload, like it or not.

You cannot get semi-auto fire out of a bolt-action rifle.

I don't care if it's a giant mutated Komodo dragon or a velociraptor, if you shoot it? IT WILL NOTICE. If you miss it completely, it'll notice the noise; if you hit it, it'll notice because high-velocity projectiles impacting will cause pain, which all animals seem to notice for some reason. Stop having four to six people shooting off their never-ending ammo supply(quantum pockets in the mag well, perhaps?) at said giant lizard and it not even looking around. Or ever bleeding.

And connected with the above: I don't care how big the damn thing is, you put thirty or so rifle bullets and fifty or more handgun bullets in it, two mysterious things will happen: it will bleed, and- sooner or later- IT'S GONNA DIE.

Maybe I should write them?

Two nice things to check out

I've read some bits about Robyn Ringler at Smallest Minority and Say Uncle, never went to her site. If you've heard the name and wondered what it's all about, The Armed Scholar will explain it. Very well:
But she soon hit a few bumps in the road. For one thing, American gun owners seemed to be strangely resistant to "compromise." It was almost as if they wanted to get something in return for giving something up, but any good gun control activist knows that just isn't the way compromise works.

And if you haven't been there before, take a look at the Pro-Gun Progressive. Found the above through him.

Just an interesting column:

The Year the Global Warming Hoax Died, found through Freedom Sight.

Speaking of which, I'm just wondering- just a little bit, mind you- how the people who claim they can forecast the whole bloody climate in 50 to 100 years can blow 24-hour forecasts so bad. Day before yesterday and yesterday we were informed that OK was to expect heavy rains, many areas getting 4-5 inches, from Friday evening through Saturday. We in OKC are right in the middle of the "You Will Receive Heavy Rain" area. Little bit overnight, just enough to wet the plants, and the '100% probability of rain Saturday' has become 50% tonight. We'll see.

Goreacle, you've failed your believers! We're all NOT gonna die!

Have 20/20 on,

and John Stossel just ripped Mikey Moore's ass off on the 'wonderful' health care in Cuba. Wonderful to behold.

And he promises more next week.

Remember the two dumbass cops who shot at the snake

and killed the kid? Word from the D.A.'s office today:
Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn announced Friday afternoon that the officers who accidentally shot and killed a 5-year-old Noble boy will face charges of 2nd degree manslaughter.
Mashburn says Brad Rogers and Shawn Richardson acted negligently when they fired at a non-poisonous snake last month.

It's still kind of hard to believe they were dumb enough to do that.

I was checking comments on the 'let the peasants take care of it'

post, and found this by Dirtcrashr:
I grew up watching men use these - it's like they were tethered to the device - water your crop or die, but while watering you cannot tend the crops...

When I did the post, I just excerpted a couple of bits and let it go. Something didn't feel right, but had other things to do. Then I read that comment, and thought about it, and got pissed. Not mad, not upset, PISSED.

While back read about a dam project in Africa(can't remember the book, or where the project was) that was scuttled because of pressure from enviroweenies on the government. Some of it was the standard 'keep Gaia's river in its Natural State', etc. But the part that really set me off was the comments. One was, as I recall, that jackass Ed Begley Jr., who basically said 'they can put solar cells on the roof of the hut to run a laptop or radio, and that's renewable energy(one of the sacraments), it won't change the environment. The other was some Friends of the Earth or whatever clown who said that the villages were still in their more pristine state, which would be ruined if they got electricity: 'they're happy in their village life, and radios and tv and computers would ruin that social existence'. Change a few words and you've got a slave owner saying "Them darkies is happy in their houses I give them, why you want to mess with their life?"

I didn't write much about that the other day because the more I think about it, the more pissed I get. These clowns who fly around the world, Begley with his electric cars and 'earth-friendly' house, the computers and clean water and all the other modern conveniences, but the wogsnative peoples shouldn't have those things. Oh, give them some solar panels, and treadle pumps for water(but no way to treat it), but no more: you'll mess up the primitive ambiance they find so attractive. Screw the natives who want electricity and clean water and power tools, if they get those they'll advance, into modern life! Which is not to be tolerated, it offends me!(listen closely, you can hear Ted Kennedy saying "But that's where I sail!") Besides everything else, if you can't buy 'credits' that force them to do without, how will you hold your head up before all the other Gaia-worshipping assholes?

Damn, I need to rinse the bad taste out of my mouth.

Kid's camping books

Instapundit links to this one, but I've got another suggestion. It's not in print, unfortunately, but if you can find a copy, Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip, by Patrick McManus. Funny, and a lot of good stuff in it.

Yes, Mr. Beck, I AM going to mention this part

first. Beck had Rudy Giuliani on his show right after it opened, and the big thing(to me at least, and probably a lot of others) was what Giuliani said about illegal immigrants.

He interrupted something Beck was saying on the subject to inform him that illegal immigrants are 'not criminals', that illegal immigration is 'not a crime'. And when specifically asked if it SHOULD be a crime, he said no.

Even if I weren't already against voting for him because of his work trashing the 2nd Amendment, this would be a big strike against him.

Speaking of his anti-gun ownership activities, a few months ago, not long after he announced he was running for President, he was interviewed by Beck, and on that day Beck really hit him on this matter. He finally flatly asked "Should people be able to carry a gun for self-defense?" It was both painful and disgusting to listen to the answer: he brought out a 'depending on local laws, blah-blah-blah' line, and you could hear it in his voice that he didn't want to say it.

But now he wants votes and he 'supports' the 2nd. Oh, sure, and I can carry my son's field load on a 20-mile run and not break a sweat.

Warning: Serious Thoughts included

Accuracy/insight not guaranteed

I've been thinking about what I wrote the other day on the tar & feathers incident in Belfast, about it being a warning not only to the crooks but to the government as well.

One of the basics of a free people is that if the government does not, or will not, take care of its job, then the people have not only the right, they have the obligation to take care of it. Not something generally thought about, but it's there.*

Now, this obligation brings in one of the frustrations and dangers for a society: when the authorities(police, judge, jury, prosecutor) don't do their job for whatever reason. When some rapist or robber or burglar isn't prosecuted, or is but plea-bargains to something minor and walks out or whatever. At the least it erodes confidence in the system: at the most it can lead to people deciding "Ok, if the damned police and judges won't protect us from those bastards, we'll do it ourselves". If frustrations and fears and anger become great enough that they start acting on it, things have a real potential to go to hell in a major way.

There you wind up with the authorities("You cannot take the law into your own hands!") facing the people("If you won't enforce the law, we've got not choice but to do it ourselves!"), with- most of the time- little good that can come out of it. There are real problems with both sides here: people in authority positions don't take kindly to someone else taking over what they tend to see as their prerogative to act, even- sometimes especially- when they're not using it. And it really is not a good thing for people to have to enforce the law, call it 'informally'. If it's hit that point, and the police come down hard on the people doing it, they've now gone from being the 'useless bastards who won't put the crooks away' to 'the enemy'. At best they might be 'the worthless shits screwing over the people doing the job the cops wouldn't do', but that's not much better. Just a bit. Same thing happens when the law enforcement authorities come to be seen not as peace officers, not as the people Sir Robert Peel** wrote rules for, but as agents of the politicians, who don't care about the law and right or wrong.***

At best, at that point, The Authorities get the idea that if they don't straighten up and accomplish some of the things they're supposed to do, all hell will break loose. The people decide to give the Authorities the chance to do their jobs, and things settle down.

At worst... That line about 'hell breaking loose' isn't hyperbole, it's a description. That can get to the point of, at worst, open war. At which point it's much, much more difficult to get things back on track. And even if you do get back on track, the emotions and attitudes set up by the Troubles(to borrow a phrase) will last for years, with real distrust/dislike/hatred on both sides. Politicians and cops who've had their Authority and Dignity kicked in the ass by something like this have a bad tendency to decide that The PeasantsPeople need to have a lot of their ability to annoy their masterspublic servants taken away, or at least greatly restricted; people who already don't trust the aforementioned politicians and cops take any steps toward such restrictions as evidence of the need to do something drastic to the Authorities. Possibilities from there, good or bad, you can figure.

Which is why I very much hope the Brits either elect some people who understand the problems they've got and actually work to improve things(not a lot of hope of that), or the Stout Bulldogs manage to bite the collective ass of the government bad enough to shock them into straightening up(not much hope of that, either, at this point). Otherwise- ESPECIALLY if there's another big, bloody terrorist action, but also if people just get fed up and say to hell with it- it's going to degenerate very badly, which will probably get very damn bloody


*Side note: A lot of people- most, in most places- understand the right of self-defense, but not as many think of the obligation. I've read that in the Torah there is specific note that if you are attacked, you have the obligation to protect yourself, your family, your people; that to fail to do so not only leaves you a victim but means you have failed in your duty to God.

Ok, take deity out of it: that still leaves you a victim if you do not act in self-defense, and, in the long run, everyone around you is at more risk. Because if the bad guys get away with robbing/raping/killing you and yours, they're out there waiting for a chance to do it again.

I think a lot of us know this without having actively thought of it this way. "If someone robs/cripples/kills me and just walks away, they're free to do it to someone else." Which adds a certain amount of pressure to things. Not at the time of the act, I wouldn't think; you're kind of busy at that point with the more immediate problem. But thinking about it before, and dealing with it after... It's become kind of a cliche', "If you hadn't stopped him, he'd be killing/raping/robbing/torturing someone else soon, so stop blaming yourself for killing him." But it's a real fact to deal with: you stop an attacker, whether by shooting, whacking them with something heavy or holding them for the police, you're both protecting yourself and the other people that crook would have victimized after you.


** These deserve posting:

SIR ROBERT PEEL'S NINE PRINCIPLES

The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder. The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions. Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public. The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force. Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law. Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient. Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence. Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary. The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.

***Remember the piece about 'Romanian rules'? The latter has become a real attitude problem among a LOT of people. They don't trust the FBI or ATF or US Marshalls much to start with after the crap that's been happening the last couple of decades: add in some big, messy incidents and it goes from 'don't trust' to 'they're the enemy, period'. In the aftermath of Ruby Ridge and Waco, as the piece points out, a lot of feds got the idea real quick as to what would happen if there were any more of those incidents, which is probably why they didn't. But that's been a bunch of years ago, and there are a lot of agents in various agencies who've forgotten that, or they weren't there at the time and haven't really learned it/figured it out. Which means a real possibility for disaster in the future.

Carbon offsets:

Let the peasants deal with your jet emissions!

What an idea!
Somewhere in the Indian countryside, a farmer is about to repay Mr Cameron’s debt to the planet. Climate Care’s latest enterprise is to provide “treadle pumps” to poor rural families so they can get water on to their land without using diesel power. The pumps are worked by stepping on pedals. If a peasant treads for two hours a day, it will take at least three years to offset the CO2 from Mr Cameron’s return flight to India.

What was that line, "It's good to be the King!"?

Check this out in the 'salve your conscience by paying a peasant to do without' category:

Treadle pumps A century after treadmills were abolished in British prisons, peasant farmers are being encouraged to irrigate land using “human power” rather than diesel pumps. Supporters say that the project alleviates poverty, improves agriculture and enables men to stay with families instead of going to cities for work. It is being introduced in the Indian regions of Chhattisgarh and West Bengal

Burning dung Instead of using firewood for stoves, villagers are encouraged to collect cowpats and water and put them into “biogas digesters”, which create renewable fuel. The project is close to an tiger reserve at Ranthambhore National Park in Rajasthan. Supporters say that it spares the trees, which are the tigers’ habitat

Hey, I've got an idea: instead of collecting cow crap, how about electric or gas stoves? Of course that means the dirty peasants have to have electricity or gas, and one cannot offset one's lifestyle if they move into current times, now can one? And if spending hours a day manually pumping water wears you out and restricts the land you can work, well, that is The Price We Pay to offset our mansion(s) and our jets, private and otherwise, and our other modern conveniences.

Read the whole damn thing. Be prepared to wonder where Grandpa's whip is, and can you put up a post in the town square?

Ok, funny as hell, and from the sound of it he deserved it,

but it's a warning, too. Not just to the druggies, to their government.

Tied to a lamppost, he stands with his head and upper body covered in tar and feathers. A makeshift placard hung around his neck with a piece of string announces the reason for his treatment.

And why did they do this?

Frankie Gallagher, of the Ulster Political Research Group, said: "The UDA told the local community to go to the police about this. The community responded in the way it did because it had no confidence in the police."

People tend to forget where the word 'vigilante' came from: from 'Committee of Vigilence', which was formed when local law enforcement(what passed for it, anyway) was either too corrupt or too uncaring to do their job.

If "this remains the crude face of justice on the streets of south Belfast." is indeed the case, the Brit government is farther down the drain than I'd thought. Which takes some doing.
Margaret Ritchie, Northern Ireland's social development minister, said: "This kind of behaviour has no place in a civilised society."
Got news for you, madam: if this is going on at all, let alone on a regular basis, these people are not living in a 'civilised society'; in such a society the cops take care of such matters and people don't feel the need to literally tar and feather someone.

Just a reminder of what people in DC have had to deal with

over the years:

"The Fenty and Singer piece contains this howler:

The handgun ban has saved countless lives, but this fundamental part of the District's public safety laws will be no more if the Supreme Court does not review and overturn this year's decision by the D.C. Circuit.

Countless lives? D.C. is consistently at the top of the U.S. murder rate rankings. Was the gun ban saving "countless lives" in 1991, when the rate peaked at 80 murders per 100,000 people? Would the number have otherwise been even higher? Is it still saving "countless lives" when our murder rate for 2005, at its 20-year low, was still five times that of New York City?

If I'm not mistaken, Fenty and Singer appear to be suggesting that their city is so totally lawless that only a total deprivation of Constitutional rights can make it moderately liveable. I wonder how they feel about wiretapping?"

As long as it's wiretapping the 'right' people, I'd imagine they're all for it.

Wankers.

Dammit, Rodger has

pulled the plug!

Crap, unless his new stuff works out, he'll NEVER get the B-52 loaded and fueled for that mission...

Mr. Completely's Gunblogger Rendezvous is coming up

Information on it here, go check it out. No way I can make it. My daughter made a trip to Vegas last year and loved it, add to everything else the list of people you'd get to meet...

Oh, the other day, I did indeed make it to the range. Guess which targets I forgot? So no entry in the postal match for me(I did NOT claim to be organized: see past history). I did remember the Carbine and put about fifty rounds through; the Millet red dot was still dead on. Looking better and better.

Tar and feathers my ass, Mr. Reynolds,

this crap calls out for a post and a whip. Or maybe a gallows.
A pregnant woman has been told that her baby will be taken from her at birth because she is deemed capable of "emotional abuse", even though psychiatrists treating her say there is no evidence to suggest that she will harm her child in any way.

As Kim puts it, you should make sure breakables are out of reach before reading this.

And as JT notes, here's further reason that disgusting, slimy lawyer John Edwards should never be allowed near the reins of power. Period. Ever.
TIPTON, Iowa - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.

Got that? You have no choice, and I'll be you'd have no choice about your doctor either. You will go to the doctor they choose, when they choose, or else.

I repeat from the past: anyone who tells you we should have socialized medicine should be immediately kicked somewhere sensitive. Treatment to be repeated as needed.

Found through Instapundit. Who I should demand relief from for probably ruining my blood pressure. What was that line of Quint's in Jaws? "It's enough to piss of the Good Humor man."

Ah, a nice, comfortable walk

with all your gear

Got a message from my son, currently in a hot & sandy place. Among other bits:
We weighed my body armor today, 90lbs, thats with full battle load of ammo, shoulder guards, side plates, and other useful items.

What was that the other day about 'infantry is a young man's work'?

*No, I don't know what the 'other useful items' are, but I'm going to ask.

Ok, I have to tell you about this

Went back to the gun show today to take another look around, and at one table found a bandolier of .30 Carbine ammo. Cloth stamped as Carbine ammo and all, so I asked what he wanted for it.
"I don't know, I'm just getting rid of it for a friend. Got another partial over here," and from the other aisle table brought over another. This one wasn't in as good a shape, but was about 3/4 full. We pulled a stripper out and the ammo was dated 1952. He laid this bando on the other and said "How about $40 for both?"

I figured one full, 120 rounds, one partial- about 90 rounds-, plus the strippers and bandoliers, hmmm... "Done." So I gave him money and put them in my bag. Which got heavy real fast as I finished walking around.

I just finished going through them. The one did indeed have 90 rounds, some fairly tarnished but nothing too nasty, and one stripper with the mag guide somewhat mashed. The other... reason it was heavy was there were three strippers in each pocket instead of two. AND it still had the big safety pin on the strap.

So, considering what brass-case .30 Carbine is going for now, plus the strippers(everybody today was asking $2 each, the few who had any), plus two bandoliers, I think I'm happy with this deal. Damn glad I went back today.

Ammo prices: Yuck!@!

At the show yesterday my favorite ammo guy was indeed there, and I picked up some stuff. There were two other major ammo sellers there, too('major seller' defined as multiple tables of nothing but), more than I've seen there before. And as we've all noticed, prices are up. Again.

The Czech 7.62x54r light ball is not to be found the last while, dammit, it's good ammo. The Hungarian and Russian light ball is running about $80 for a 440-round can; it used to be $35-40. 9x18 Makarov ammo has doubled(although one deal had the tripled the price for Wolf). The Federal Champion .22lr I buy at Academy has gone from $.79/box to $1.18, and so on. The only stuff I found that hasn't is favorite ammo guy has 6.5x55 Swede Mauser surplus for $9/box in the battle pack(apparently the Swedes turned a bunch of it loose*), and he still had Winchester Ranger 12-guage buckshot for $3/box, but EVERYTHING else is up.

One nice thing he had, Brit-produced .303 ball, in chargers in bandoliers, $19. All dated 1944.

Kim had this a few days ago on the general "It's going up", and a year ago Kevin posted this interesting chart. Energy prices, metals prices, transport and demand all working together. Damn.

Also, if you like M1 Carbine stuff you've noticed the prices for some things: a parts dealer had some new barrels, and while you expect the WWII barrels to be high, he had a couple of Vietnam-era barrels, new, with sights and band: $250.