Current postal matches

Being about as organized as the security trainee(aka younger dog, aka "You little !!*&#"), I did not think to post these until now. So here they are:

At Mr. Completely, it's currently killiards for handguns & airguns.

At MY1911.com, it's 'Head-shot', simulation for one of the nightmare home-defense situations.

Check 'em both out. I shot last night, will try to post on it tonight.

Blogroll addition

Found his place after he commented on a post. Some interesting stuff from a (re)new shooter who's only been popping targets for about a year. Check out The Pistolero and see what you think.

Why Kim is right about the Stupid Party(R)

and the Evil Party(D).

The Stupid Party is working hard in too many cases to piss off voters; the Evil Party is doing crap like this to try to gain votes:
























Look at their map and tell me, please, why some of these people shouldn't be jailed for working against this country?

And why anybody who cares about the sovereignty of this country would vote for any 'D' candidate who has anything to do with this crap?

Range night

Spent the evening at the range with a friend- her second time- getting her used to her sidearm. Again.

'Again' because had originally taken her almost a year ago, and just now got a chance for a second visit. And since she'd not done any practice on her own- not even dry-firing as it turned out...

Have you ever noticed that how someone acts, even if it's not their real self, influences or even becomes their self? That was the case here. She's a teacher of small kids, and has a tendency to act around other people the same way she does around the kids. And in doing so, works herself around in ways that may not be good. In this case, nervousness about guns.

We'd pretty much gotten through that in the past, but it was long enough ago that had to work her through it again. At least it did work; by halfway through had gotten her to actually take notice of what she was doing, and she started to settle down a lot. And consequently, started shooting pretty well. All at home-defense ranges with her S&W model 13.

This was a case of her hearing various crap about firearms, and basically talking herself into being jumpy and nervous(mind you, she used a .22 rifle many times as a kid). I mean literally talking herself into it; she'd start talking about the noise and flash and recoil and you could see her tightening up. However, progress was made, and I think it'll hold better this time. Especially if I can get her back to the range before too long.

For further on the continuing idiocy in Britain,

to to Kevin's place and look here(note: link corrected)

Ref the mess on how to treat various crimes in Britain(my piece here, links to the Kim and the original story there), some of the reaction from the public:
"Are the government losing their minds? My friends frail parents aged 80 and 82 were robbed in their home while they watched TV in the lounge. Their bedroom was a total mess and several items were taken including a watch that had belonged to their son who was killed in an accident.

Not content with the pain and suffering they had caused, the burglars phoned them the next day and verbally threatened them.

Give burglars a caution - they should bring back birching!

- Sally, Manchester, UK

--

Having been burgled recently I now come to work in dread of what I may find when I get home. If they do not want to send these scum to jail then they should be taken to the market square and flogged.

- Phil Beardsley, Nottingham, England

--

Typical of this government. Talk about honour among thieves. It won't be long before it will be the victim who gets locked up for putting temptation in front of weak individuals. It is time they went before we have a revolution in the streets, Paris ain't that far away!

- Nigel, Somerset"

When the actual working people of Britain are this pissed, there may be some hope. Though I'm doubtful; the government seems willing to put a lot of energy/power into protecting criminals and people threating to burn the country down while stomping hard on anyone who dares to demonstrate about it. And with so much of the British power structure tied in to protecting the bad guys...

Thoughts on self-defense practice

After looking over some things at the last Carnival, and remembering some others I'd read, had some thoughts to put down.

You're at a restaurant. Sitting at table, having a good dinner, and the "Oh shit!" situation happens. Every tried drawing from an eating position? Try it. Make sure your piece is unloaded, holster it(or pocket or purse it or whatever), and sit down at the table. Make sure you're sitting as you normally would, then pick a spot as armed robber/kidnapper/terrorist/whatever that just came out with a sub-gun or something from under a coat and draw. I mean actuallydraw, like you would for real, fast and trying to get lined up on the bad guy fast. It ain't that easy. If you don't watch it you may bang the barrel on the table as you try to raise it, or bang your elbow on the back of the chair(I did that once in practice and nearly dropped the gun; I doubt I could have shot accurately with a half-numb arm). And depending on angles, you may find yourself having to fire one-handed at an odd direction; you can't always kick the chair back out of the way, or might be in a booth. So try it.

Someone(may have been the Geek) mentioned reading of some ladies taking a chair to the range and setting up to practice as if sitting in a car when a situation you can't drive away from happens. Think about drawing, getting it past/over/under the steering wheel and pointed out the window, then firing. Again, quite possibly one-handed.
UPDATE: this was at Hell in a Handbasket, here at 'Avoid the Bucket', taking notice of this post at The Cathouse.

As various people have pointed out at different times, you need to get out of the habit of standing in a solid position and firing. If a bad guy is shooting/cutting at you, you need to be moving; away to the side, or maybe- in some circumstances- towards him.

Have you ever tried to shoot accurately at a silhouette while actually jumping around? Or running?

If you've got a place where you can safely try it then do. Next time you shoot. In any case, take your unloaded piece and try it on some target at home; it's liable to surprise you. (Note: soft-air guns are great for this. I used to have a 'snarling robber' silhouette on the wall with the sticky target hung COM) If you can't actually run around(please don't scare the range officers and/or other shooters), try just shifting left-right and back, or a step back and forward while shooting.

And, again as has been pointed out by others, start looking for/thinking of cover(remember: concealment hides you from sight; cover actually protects you). Most bad guys can't seem to shoot worth crap, so if you can shoot from behind something that'll actually protect you from any accurate shots, you go home and the bad guy goes to jail or morgue. Which is the proper outcome, after all.

I've come to think that doing almost anything different from standard practice is helpful, if only because it breaks you out of the standard line of thinking about shooting and better prepares you. Remember the 'practice as you plan to fight' idea. Because, as Bill Jordan said, there's no second-place winner in a gunfight.

Carnival of Cordite #54

Up at Gullyborg. Including, this time, relation of some truly, stupendously, incredibly idiotic statements from some of the 'peace at any price' people.

It's been bouncing around the last couple of days,

but if you've missed reference to it before, go read The Time Traveler. Now.

Lots of people, me included, have dreaded that the islamists will do something that will cause us to act at WWII level; that these idiots either have no real idea what we're capable of, or don't care. The other side of that is, our restraint in dealing with these idiots may actually encourage them; they see our working to prevent innocent deaths to the greatest extent possible to be weakness to use against us. When you're dealing with someone who only recognizes power and submission, trying to be nice is a mistake.

I just hope we haven't gone past that line already.

Further thoughts on buckshot

Something made me remember a story I thought I'd add to my previous post of buckshot tests.

This is from my Dad. One day he and the county sheriff were working a roadblock looking for a bank robber. Who chose to head in their direction. He spotted the roadblock and cut off the highway onto a farm road, and the chase was on. A couple of miles along he either blew a tire or blew the engine(I can't remember which) and got out of the car as Dad and the sheriff slid to a stop about fifty yards away.

The bad guy jumped out and popped a couple of rounds at them with a .38 snubbie as the sheriff laid the shotgun(Remington 870 with 18" barrel) over the roof of his car and Dad took a rest with his .357 on his. The sheriff fired one round of 12-pellet 00 buck and the guy threw down his gun and surrendered. Which probably saved his life, as from a rest at that range Dad would have put a 180-grain soft-point through his brisket.

Turned out he the guy was untouched. As Dad recounted, he saw a puff of dust between the guy's feet, there was one dent in the car body to left and one to right of him, and robber swore he heard one pass by his head; between those and realizing he was about to get perforated by one or the other of them he decided to give up. That's four out of 12 pellets passing within 12-18" of the guy, all the others going off somewhere. That's pretty bad, especially considering each of those round pellets, at that range, had also lost a lot of velocity.

None of the buckshot available at the time would have grouped any better. There are a LOT of different brands/loads available now, and if one won't group well out of your scattergun, chances are another will. Which means, get a box each of several brands/types and try them out on paper where you can actually see and measure the results. I found that in mine the Hornady TAP grouped a lot tighter at home-defense ranges than the other brands I tried, which means that it would have a lot longer effective range for me than the others. Depending on your circumstances/preference, you might prefer having one that spreads out a lot faster for a better chance of getting a piece of a moving bad guy at close ranges.

One thing I would not keep loaded for home defense, as a general rule, would be slugs. Just too much penetration in an urban neighborhood. I read a few months ago where some city SWAT team decided to check that out and fired several slug loads from the street into an abandoned house; they found that every round, unless it hit something like the hot water tank, completely penetrated the house and exited the back wall with enough velocity to be lethal. I tried out some of the Aguila mini-shell slugs in my Benelli right after I got it, and they had noticeably lower velocity; for some circumstances they might be a good choice for a shotgun where you want more precision without the overpenetration hazard. But that's just a guess, and there's the fact that some pumps will not reliably feed them without modification(they will not cycle autoloaders).

From the Box o' Truth and my tests, it looks like- generally speaking- the low-recoil buckshot loads may well group tighter out of most guns than standard or magnum loads. Personally, I'd rather have the lesser recoil and tighter groups than the little more power, but that's my choice. You'll have to decide what would be best for your circumstances and choose accordingly.

Among others, John McCain is an idiot

And corrupt. And a vile opportunist.

I don't mean 'corrupt' as in 'money under the table'; I've never heard of that. I mean as in "I'll do anything that will get me good press and maybe votes so I can run for President. Or at least stay in power over people" corrupt. He's shown himself willing to trash the 1st Amendment, and the 2nd, and I've lost track of some of the other crap he's pulled or tried to.

And this 'Amnesty By Any Other Name' bill on illegal aliens he's been trying to bull through. He's one of the big clowns saying "They do jobs Americans won't". Get this piece I found at Tammy Bruce's place:
"But he took more questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan.

McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.

Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain’s job offer.

“I’ll take it!” one man shouted.

McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. “You can’t do it, my friends.”

Some in the crowd said they didn’t appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic." Gee, you think maybe?

I think it boils down to a combination of arrogance and having been in D.C. far too long. You may remember that AZ had a recall petition going on him, and it looked like it would pass with a fair margin. Then came 9/11, and the state decided to drop it under the circumstances. Right now, I wish they'd have either kept it going, or better yet, restarted it a year or two ago.

I repeat what I said before: for his service as a Marine, I give him the respect he earned; for his actions as a politician, he too often has earned by anger and contempt.

More sharp shiny things

Three more shots tonight. First is a more modern-style dirk:














Same steel as the other(5160) and nickel-silver fittings, this one has a walnut grip. Blade's about an inch shorter and a little less wide. This is the one my daughter keeps eyeing covetously.

I love making damascus- more properly 'pattern welded'- blades, but I generally can't make big billets of it. So I make up for size with steel mixes to give bolder patterns. This is another sgian dhu, this blade is a mix of O1, 10-20 mild steel and W2, total of about 100 layers:














Here's a little closer look at the blade














Getting that filework done along the back can be a real pain.

And(again), since Og asked, a razor














A few years ago at my favorite salvage yard(before it closed) I picked up a bunch of what appears to be W2 stock, this is forged from a piece of it. Flat-ground like the early razors.

Thus concludes our show for tonight.

Saved!

Biscuits rescued from fate worse than baking!

Wanted to use Steve's recipe to make biscuits to go with some leftover roast and gravy for dinner. So measured the flour, measured out the bacon grease and cut it in, started to add the milk and- CRAP! I used regular flour, not the self-rising!

Ok, this is bad, this will produce hockey pucks instead of delicious biscuits. So in the spirit of "It Can't Hurt", I added two tablespoons of baking powder and a little baking soda and mixed them in. Then added enough milk to make the dough stickier than usual so I could knead it a few times to make sure the stuff was mixed in, kneaded it, then rolled it out and cut & baked as usual.

And shazam!














These are what's left. Came out great.

I shall now buy myself a chef's hat.

Stick that fork in Britain a little deeper,

'cause they're about done.

Kim had this post the other day on the new 'sentancing guidelines', with lots of violent offenders being let out of prison after very little time, and new guidelines to basically give tickets to offenders. You know, those not-too-bad types like burglars, and people who commit assaut?

Well, today I was over at Samizdata and found this:

"This morning sees the opening for business of the new Serious Organised Crime Agency - though it officially began existence on April 1st, it is no joke - whose spokesman was interviewed on the Today programme this morning.

He proudly stated that because its personnel will not take the Police Oath they would therefore be able to adopt 'new and exciting' methods. So what is to be sacrificed?

The same interview made clear that 'once you are on their books you will be watched for life'.

Agents of SOCA will be empowered to operate without marking or uniform anywhere in the world. They are to be regarded as an intelligence service, permitted and encouraged to do anything within the law to (in the Home Office's favourite phrase) 'bear down on' their targets. But the intelligence services don't have powers of arrest or to compel cooperation. They cannot direct other law enforcement agencies or commandeer their facilities. The SOCA-man can.

Agents may operate in secret. And they may exercise any of the the powers of police, customs officers, revenue inspectors (though not bound by their rigorous code of impartiality and confidentiality either), or immigration officials. SOCA officials have the capacity to demand information from a vast variety of sources without judicial warrant, under statutes ranging from the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to the Identity Cards Act 2006, and pass it on to whomsoever it chooses. It is a crime to fail to report to it a transaction you ought to have known was suspicious, even if you are a lawyer and asked to advise a client on a transaction. It can deputise - 'designate' - people freely to exercise its powers, and form ad hoc investigation teams it is an offence to obstruct. 'Anything within the law' is getting to be a very broad category indeed."

This is bloody awful. This is a 'law enforcement agency' with what amounts to carte blanche to do any damn thing they want, however they decide they need/want to do it. Including "...without marking or uniform anywhere in the world".

I have many times wished to visit Britain, in particular Ireland and Scotland. At this point I doubt I will. There's too many ways to get into trouble for owning/carrying/thinking/saying 'wrong' things, and this just reinforces that. Not to mention the sorrow of watching a land we owe a big chunk of our own past to go down the toilet.

Damn, look at this!

I just checked Site Meter and :

	Total	40,913
	Average Per Day	147
	Average Visit Length	1:43
	Last Hour	8
	Today	120
	This Week	1,028

Personally, I think this is amazing. I started this as a: a soapbox and b: a way to talk about blacksmithing, and now there's been more than 40k hits!

I thank you all, whether you liked what you read or not. If you liked it, look forward to more. If you think I suck, tough; more's coming anyway.

To the demented loons loyal readers out there, I have to ask, is this all you have to do?

Og asked,

so here's a few of the knives I've made. Not the best of pictures, I'm afraid

A while back I posted a shot of a new dirk in progress, here it is with my sgian dhu:














The dirk is 13" in the blade, 18" overall length. Blade is 5160 spring steel, curly maple grip, nickle silver fittings. The sgian dhu is 3.75" in the blade, about 8.5" overall; blade began life as a ball bearing, walnut grip and nickle silver fittings.

I mentioned before, for big cutting/chopping blades I like 5160 better than others. For the smaller ones, bearings- generally 52100 steel- is excellent, though heat-treating is a bit odd. I did once make a dirk for a friend out of a 2.5" bearing; forging it out was one of the hardest jobs I've ever done, but oh, how it holds an edge. If I had a power hammer to forge out the big ones, I'd use more of them.

This one began life as an old Nicholson file:














2.75" blade, just shy of 6" OAL, horn scales and brass pins. A good file can make wonderful cutting tools, but you can't use all of them. Some files were made with a relatively high-sulphur steel; it makes it easier to machine, but if you try to forge one, it tends to crumble under the hammer(another effect of the sulphur).

Just a general belt knife:














6" blade, 10.5" OAL, 5160 steel, antler grip & brass fittings.

And last, something that usually draws attention:














Railroad spike, God knows what alloy, with the shank twisted for the grip. These have surprised me; find the right ones and they're a lot better steel than I'd expected. Holds an edge at least as well as most good stainless steels(not as well as 5160 or a tool steel like 01 or 52100) and incredibly tough. If you had enough of it, it'd make a hell of a sword blade.

I've got some other stuff I'll post shots of later, knives and other ironwork. For now, it's late and Blogger is posting pics too slow to mess with.

Well, the Fair is over,

and I'm worn out. But it was a good one, the 30th anniversary, fine weather(not always available) and good crowds except for Friday. They added Friday a few years ago as a 'school day', which usually means piles of kids, most with minimal supervision, minimal sales for the merchants and shoplifting problems. Oddly, Friday had a bunch of kids early and then they disappeared.

I mentioned weather; I've seen everything from 80's and blowing tents down from the south, to 30's and tents blowing down from the north. The latter accompanied by sleet. We had a storm line blow through Saturday night, but Sunday dawned partly cloudy and warm and was a fine day.

Now to business. I posted a shot of the setup last year, and here it is again:















Part of the joy of this is hauling some of this stuff around. Anvil, 110; stump about 85, stuffed toolbox about 40; various steel bars and coal and buckets and ice chest and etc., damn heavy all together. Couple of years ago I bought a dolly, and it's payed for itself several times over.

What I primarily do is demonstrate. And talk(a lot). So I try to pick small stuff that I can complete while a group is standing there, and I do take requests. And merchants come by with "Can you make me (fill in)?" Couple of times I've spent most of the first morning making tent stakes out of the heaviest stock I had.

You can find damn near anything even vaguely related to the concept of 'medieval' or 'renaissance' here; jewelry and weapons and armor and clothing and food and toys and soaps and scents and so on. I like it.

Bad things about the(and other) fairs

Weather can be a bloody pain for either hot or cold or rainy. I was at a fair down in Texas a few years ago helping a friend out, and ran out of shirts. As in, three day weekend, two shirts, washed them and hung them to dry Sunday night and it was so bloody humid they were still almost dripping Monday, so I spent the day in a kilt and no shirt. Which did have its good points. A lady from the Scottish court walked up, snapped her fan and said "You look half-naked, and barbaric, and undressed... and I wish I could get away with that!" As she was wearing a boned corset, and layers, and petticoats, etc., I have no idea how she and the other ladies made it through the day. As it was I got shanghaied into the parade later that day, and somewhere there are pictures of the Scottish court, in all its finery, with the queen being followed by a shirtless, hairy-chested guy holding her tiny little parasol for her. And I wish I could find one of them.

Really, the only other thing that really bothers me is some people. People who are stupid. Not ignorant, stupid. People who don't even deserve a sign they're so far gone. I have actually had people look into the forge and ask "Is that real fire?". And point at the ironwork and ask "Is that real metal?" And so on. Usually they're far between, but Saturday morning they came in clumps; I think that sometimes the idiot cooties in their blood call out for companionship and they unknowingly come together in front of someone to torment. Which is why I have this sign:














"You bleed on it, you bought it". Friend made it up for me several years ago after we found blood on a blade. That's happened several times since, but every idiot has stuck their hand in their pocket and left. Quickly.















"Yes, it's real fire. Come closer and I'll show you"

Good things about the fair

Old friends drop by for a drink














This is Fenris; 90% timberwolf, 10% malemute.














And one of the worst beggers you'll ever see. His humans are friends, and bring him out every year, where he is worshipped by many- 'worshipped' meaning 'petted and stroked and told how pretty he is'.

And there are interesting sights














Wait a minute, I meant this one














Where else do you find Ents walking around? Female ones? Pretty female ones?
I'm not big on Tolkein, but look at her!















And friends of my kids drop by, like Heather














No, those are not her real ears. What do you mean, what ears?

What I like most about this is the demonstrating. I really like making things, and showing people how this works. Especially when the grandparents tell the grandkids "We used to do this on the farm/ranch when I was growing up", or "I used to do this", or the parents tell the kids "Grandpa used to do this, we even still have his tools in the barn". That tends to make the kids really light up(and kids get a lot more tolerance for questions; they're ignorant, not stupid). I like it when a merchant comes over and says "I need such & such, can you make me one?" and I pick out the stock and start hammering/chiseling/bending and send them away a few minutes later with the bracket or stake or tool or whatever they needed. I've been to some other fairs since I've been doing this, and when I'm not working, they don't mean as much to me; it's like I'm just a tourist(or traveller, or patron, players at different fairs use different names).

I like when someone starts asking about how to do this, and I can point them to sources for information and equipment. I like it when someone watching turns out to be a very fine smith himself and tells me about a way of doing something I'd not heard before.

Showing kids how a flint & steel works, or how you can take a piece of steel bar and make a dragons head on the end. I really enjoy these things, enough to make up for the blisters and aching muscles at the end.

I would be remiss if I did not point out a couple of the other things to like. Meet Natalie



















and Christi















I've got some other pictures I'll try to post later.

And for your information, the next fair in Oklahoma is at the Castle at Muskogee in May.

I forgot ALL about this Sluggy strip from 2004

Two things from Britain

before I shut down & finish my mess for tomorrow. First, over at Smallest Minority(if you haven't read it already, why not?), he notes that in Wales the gun crime rate is almost six times higher in 2004-2005 than the previous year! But how could that be, with handguns banned, etc.? And what's their answer? What do you think? More of the same BS.

And second, from Mr. Free Market, "On Tuesday we say goodbye to 281 years of history, as the Black Watch is subsumed with the other Highland and Lowland regiments into the new Royal Regiment of Scotland, which will comprise just five Scottish infantry battalions."
And isn't that just bloody lovely?

It is now official:

Getting old sucks

I'm not even that old, but combine time with old injuries and general wear...

What brought this up is getting ready for O.U. Medieval Fair this weekend. Yesterday evening loaded forge, anvil & stump, coal & water buckets(coal bucket full), one !!*#)*& heavy toolbox and a bunch of steel in the truck. This morning took it to the site and unloaded, then helped several people get their tents up.

By the by, if you're not familiar with this area this time of year, setting up a tent is often known as 'impromptu hang-gliding', the 'hang' coming from you trying to hold onto the damn thing when the gust hits. My daughter has fond memories from her early years of being able, on some days, to spread her cloak while jumping up and travel backward a couple of feet. Due to this, there have been days when various vendors came running up with the same question: "Can you make some tent stakes? Fast?" Rebar being very popular for this item.

In any case, I'm tired, but the big stuff is done. I need to make some food items to take and get my attire ready. In the morning I'll just have to make tea, put on the kilt, load the ice chest and go. With a likely stop at Sonic for breakfast.

Hopefully I'll have pics later on. I fully intend to take it easier this year(like I have a real choice), and look around a bit more. Problem is I like demonstrating, and get caught up in it and tend to overdo.

Aye, well, I need to sharpen my dirk.

Ok, the next ruling in the Trentadue case

and the Oklahoma City Bombing is out.

KTOK radio has the story on their website here. Two big things here and one possibly big thing. First, the judge ruled the FBI can keep the names of some informants secret:
""The court is satisfied that either express or imlied promises of confidentiality were made and that the information must therefore remain protected," he declared in the ruling. "

Second, the judge stated the FBI did have an informant with McVeigh:
"For the first time in the various legal actions in state and federal courts since 1995, a judge has ruled a government informant or operative was with McVeigh before the bombing. It is something the government has steadfastly denied since the bombing.

The judge also wondered, in his ruling why there are no earlier records which have been produced by the FBI about the operation, an operation many have called a 'sting which went bad'."

The possibly big thing:
"However Jesse Trentadue, speaking from his Salt Lake City law offices also feels he has scored another victory because the judge ordered the FBI to do a search of its records for information concerning efforts of the Southern Poverty Law Center to also maintain undercover operators at Elohim City.

Trentadue asked the government to do a search for SPLC executive Morris Dees and it refused."

So Trentadue didn't get the names of the informants. However, the judge basically said the FBI and government attorneys lied about not having someone in with/around McVeigh, which is a huge thing. And the judge told the FBI "The FBI has not satisfied its burden in convincing the court that the FBI need not even search for documents containing Dees' name," wrote the judge. "While the FBI is entitled to redact any information it claims is exempt, subject to review by the court, the FBI shall conduct a search for such documents, similar to the search it has previously conducted regarding the OKBOMB file." So the feds have been ordered to make the search, and after all the crap that's come out I imagine the judge will be looking at the report from them with a very sharp eye.

And I'm hoping that there will be some action taken against the FBI and other federal people who lied in court and in sworn documents about their knowledge of McVeigh.

Look at this crap from California!

Went by Michelle Malkin's site this morning and found this shit. From a 'student protest'.

Can we now give up the BS that these clowns 'just want fairness'? And can we FINALLY start kicking those idiots in Congress hard enough to get them to understand we won't stand for this?

About the 7.62x39mm shortage

At the gun show today talked to an ammo dealer I've done business with before. He said that right now Wolf is only selling him two cases a month! Which, of course, disappear as soon as he sets it out. He can get no 9x18mm from either Wolf or Brown Bear.

According to him: Syria ordered a billion rounds from Russia, and Venezuela ordered the same number. So that doesn't leave much to be sold to us lousy capitalists in the U.S.

Gee, I wonder if Putin got cash in hand for these massive sales to an old socialist ally and a new commie ally? Or is he taking partial payment and promises?

And I wonder how much of Venezuela's economy got promised to Russia for the ammo & arms?

By the way,

National Buy A Gun Day is coming.

What to do, what to do...

Maybe a Kel-Tec P32? Or a Mech Tech conversion? Or just a buttload of ammo?

This will require thought. And having some money free come the day.

I hate it when that happens

I've heard a lot of people refer to it as the '(fill in your name) Syndrome': you see something interesting at the show, think "I need to get that/some of those later" or "That's really tempting, I'm gonna think about it", and when you come back it's gone. Or somebody bought ALL of them.

I did that today. Twice. Dammit, I may just start buying it when it looks interesting.

Yeah, I wish.

Range report

Shotgun and handloads

After spending time with some family at the gun show earlier today, I decided to hit the range and try some things out. The shotgun to see if I wanted to go back tomorrow and get some more of a particular ammo; the handloads just to see how they worked.

On shotgun, I had three buckshot loads to test:


















Sellier & Bellot 00 buck, 12 pellets, Hornady TAP FPD(For Personal Defense), 9 pellets(I think; the box doesn't say and I didn't think to count holes) and Remington Express #4, 27 pellets.

What made me decide this particular test was a post over at the Box '0 Truth on the comparative spread of different loads from the same gun. I'd been keeping the Benelli stuffed with the Remington #4, but had not actually compared it to others. Sighted in, yes; made sure it fed through properly, yes; tested against others, no. So, to the noisemaking.

The range required ten yards minimum range on the shotgun, and their standard rule is 2 seconds between shots. They'll usually not be worried by controlled pairs, but I kept it at 2 when I did my repeat-shots test. So a silhouette was run out to ten- which is about the longest range you can have in my house, front to back- and I fired the TAP first, S&B second, Rem. third. And yeah, real difference. The Hornady loads consistenly put all pellets into a group about 3-4" across, with the wad hitting a few inches away and low. The S&B spread its 12 pellets across an area about 12-14" across. The Remington groups were a little tighter than the S&B but not much.

I like the idea of the #4 load throwing all those pellets, but until I find a load that'll group like the Hornady 00, I'll use the Hornady from now on. The box doesn't say 'reduced recoil', but it felt a bit lighter to me than the others, it shot to point of aim and grouped tighter. And it came back to aim quickly when I fired the last three rapid. Lesson learned? BIG difference in how different brands/types perform out of a given shotgun; actually try different loads in yours to see which would serve you best.

As to the handloads; usually I use a 230-grain cast bullet, but I'd wanted to try a lighter, and finally, after seeing a couple of posts on The High Road, got a Lee mold throwing a 200-grain round-nose flat-point bullet. It's listed for both .45acp and .45 Colt, and has a single lube groove and a crimp groove for .45 Colt use. I cast a bunch, and prepared them the same way I did the 230-grain; sized .450 and lubed with Rooster Red. Rooster because it's a hard, high-temp lube(you have to have a heated size/lube press; I got a heater for Dad's and use it); the bullets are not sticky, and I get less leading than with any of the soft lubes I've tried. I used the crimp groove as another lube groove, and seated the bullets so the case mouth just covered that groove. I started off with the same powder & charge(DISCLAIMER! This load works well in my guns; it may not in yours) of 3.9 grains of Hodgeden Clays.

Results? Good: noticeably lighter recoil, accurate, no feeding problems. Bad: a few stovepipe jams. I'm going to have to up the powder charge a bit.

I think the new bullet will work out quite nicely. And I will try to get by the show tomorrow and get some more of the Hornady buckshot.

Additional:
Thinking about it, depending on your needs/desires, you could find two 'best' rounds for your scattergun: the one with the tightest pattern, and the one with the loosest. Sometimes having a load that spreads fast could be a good thing, though it would cut your effective range considerably.

The 52nd Carnival is UP!

In two parts. Part one is a retrospective of the first year here.

Part two is the last two weeks worth of stuff, here.

And it's just waiting for you, you lucky people.

The sharp knife

Og's post on the subject reminded me of this.

A few years back a friend lived not far away, and he loved to cook. But he only had some cheap-ass stainless kitchen knives.

So for his birthday, took a piece of coil spring, straightened it out, and forged it into a chef's knife with a 9" blade. Used epoxy and pins to put some walnut scales on for the grip, and gave it to him.

Man, he loved it! About a month later went over to visit and he said "Look at this!" and held out his left hand. No obvious scars, cuts, etc. He saw I didn't see it and said "Look at the fingernails". Sure enough, the nails on his first three fingers were cut back to the quick. Seems he'd had a party a few nights before and decided to make a big pot of jambalaya. When chopping veggies he'd always used the nails of his left hand to control the spacing as he sliced. He'd just dumped the stuff into the pot when he noticed his nails were gone.

No, nobody commented on crunchy bits in the dinner.

Now he's down in Texas married to a very nice lady. Who informed me that if there's ever a divorce, she gets the knife.

Texas hospitality

Dallas Air Traffic Control: "Tower to Saudi Air 911--You are cleared to land eastbound on runway 9R."

Saudi Air: "Thank you Dallas ATC. Acknowledge cleared to land on runway 9R. Allah be Praised!"

Dallas ATC: "Tower to Egypt Air 711--You are cleared to land westbound on runway 9R."

Egypt Air: "Thank you Dallas ATC. We are cleared to land on runway 9R. Allah is Great."

Pause: Static..............

Saudi Air: "DALLAS ATC! DALLAS ATC!!!"

Dallas ATC: "Go ahead Saudi Air 911?"

Saudi Air: "YOU HAVE CLEARED BOTH OUR AIRCRAFT FOR THE SAME RUNWAY!!! WE
ARE ON A COLLISION COURSE!!! INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE!!!

Dallas ATC: Well, praise be to God!. Y'all be careful now --- ya hear?"

Things about my home state

Things I Have Learned About Oklahoma!

Armadillos sleep in the middle of the road with
their feet in the air.

There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in Oklahoma.

There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in
Oklahoma, plus a couple no one's seen before.

Possums will eat anything.

Armadillos love to dig holes under tomato plants.

Raccoons will test your crop of melons and let you know
when they are ripe.

If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.

A tractor is NOT an all-terrain vehicle. They do get stuck.

Onced and Twiced are words.

It is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy.

Fire ants consider your flesh as a picnic.

Coldbeer is one word.

People actually grow and eat okra.

Fixinto is one word.

A tank is a dirt hole in the ground that holds water for
irrigation, watterin' the cows, swimming.

There ain't no such thing as "lunch". There's only dinner
and then there's supper.

Tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it
when you're 2.

Backards and forwards means I know everything about you.

Jeet? is actually a phrase meaning "Did you eat?"

You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter
what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

Darn near everyone knows 5 or more cloud types (guess
they got to be look'n out for them there ternayders-
translation: tornados)

More Oklahomanisms:
You know you're from Oklahoma if:
1. You measure distance in minutes.

2. You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C"
in the same day.

3. Stores don't have bags; they have sacks.

4. You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with
no one in it, no matter what time of the year.

5. You use "fix" as a verb. Example: I am fixing to go
to the store.

6. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit,
vegetable, grain, insect or animal.

7. You install security lights on your house and garage an leave both unlocked.

8. You carry jumper cables in your car ... for your OWN car.

9. You know what "cow tipping" is.

10. You only own six spices: salt, pepper, ketchup,
Tabasco and jalapeno.

11. The local papers covers national and international news on
one page but requires 6 pages for local gossip and sports.

12. You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.

13. You find 100 degrees F "a little warm."

14. You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer,
still summer, and Christmas.

15. You know whether another Oklahoman is from east, west,
north or south Oklahoma as soon as they open their mouth.

16. There is a Braums in every town with a population of
1,000 or more.

17. Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite past-time known as
"off to "Wally World."

18. You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as
good chili weather.

19. A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola, or pop ... it's
a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example "What kinna
coke you want?"

20. You understand these jokes

WASR-10 question

Friend wants to remove the slant muzzle brake, he's been told it's a left-hand thread. True or false?

Ever feel like this?

Did you ever,

in a hurry, put something in a safe place?

And now you have no bloody idea where that was?

I hate this crap.

I knew CNN was bad, but DAMN!

It's enough to mess up your digestion

I mentioned Asshat Jr. Sheen the other day. Well, I had dinner out tonight(needed a BBQ fix), and they had CNN on. And they interviewed the radio host that Sheen said this crap to.

Language alert

Shit, it was enough to ruin dinner. This asshole was speaking of the 'courage' it took for Sheen to say this, and how there was 'never a REAL investigation' into the 9/11 attacks, and so on. And the talking CNN head was talking about how wonderful it was that someone brought this up so it could be debated...

Someone please tell me just how it demonstrates courage for an actor to say crap like this in Hollywood? And just how does this need to be 'brought up and debated' when shitheads like these and Mikey Moore and co. have been saying it since the damn attacks happened? And, to top it off, this jackass radio host spoke of how people tell him how wonderful it is that he's brave enough to talk about this...

And, just to top it off, of the e-mails CNN idiot goes over, about 69% agreed that there was a 'conspiracy' that involved the U.S. Government to knock the towers down, etc.

It has GOT to be something in the air and/or water out there, I swear.

Ok, I knew Charlie Sheen was an idiot,

and now this?!?

Let's see, successful actor who could get laid pretty much anytime he wanted, but was always paying hookers. Who screwed himself up on drugs. More than once. Married, and his pregnant wife comes home to find him in bed with another hooker. And he also turns out to be- or turns into- a 9/11 conspiracy nut.

I do just love this line from the article: "Actor Charlie Sheen has joined a growing army of other highly credible public figures in questioning the official story of 9/11 and calling for a new independent investigation of the attack and the circumstances surrounding it." Don't you just LOVE that? What in the hell makes this clown a 'highly credible' figure, public or otherwise?

Or maybe the journalists were using some of Charlie's stuff before they wrote this.

And also at the Big Mouth

The Ode to Rachel Corrie. Go. Enjoy.

Yeah, I could have appended this to the K9 story, but I thought it deserved a post of its own.

The dog's part of the team, Sergeant!

Over at Big Mouth, found this on a canine team over in the sandbox.
"I tried to run into the building, but another sergeant grabbed me and said ‘no’. I told him my dog was inside, and I had to go,” McCleskey said. The building, about 55 yards away, was a converted warehouse.

McCleskey’s first sergeant, U. S. Army 1st Sgt. Sean Bailey, stepped in, saying “You have to let him try.” The first sergeant grabbed a fire extinguisher, McCleskey handed his M-4 rifle to another military member and a life-saving mission began."

The U.S. military has a long history with dogs, for everything from guard duty to search to couriers.
"He reported the injury to the 101st Provost Marshall’s Office, and within an hour, Katja’s veterinarian was on the phone telling him to be ready to leave in 30 minutes. McCleskey said he was not injured.

“He (the vet) told me he was nine-lining us out of the area. Nine- lining means that a soldier is hurt, and we become the priority for the air. Military working dogs are viewed as soldiers, so if they get hurt, then we do everything in our power to get them out of action and to medical assistance fast.”

Critter earned it. And is still doing the job. Definately worth reading. As a side issue, from what I've read Mohammed hated dogs.

Which is one more reason to say he sucked rocks.

Rimfire Roundup #7

is up at Mr. Completely.

Oh yeah!

I'm back

As if you missed me

Went down to visit my parents this weekend. They just celebrated their 50th anniversary. A wonderful thing to note, although it makes me feel like a piker for not succeeding in marriage.

In any case, used Dad's sizer/luber to get 300 .45 bullets ready for loading. Good weather for it; chilly outside, warmer in the barn, and a nice rain falling. Very nice rain, I should say. Their area got 1.75" as of the time I left yesterday, and my guage said about the same in OKC. That's the most rain the area has had since September or October, I forget which. Now, to crown things off, it'll hit 28 or 30 for the low tonight with a chance of snow. Only thing I planted last week(while it was warm) was a rose bush, and I can just put a bucket over it tonight.

One reason I hadn't lit the forge in a long time was that the entire state was under an outdoor burn ban; wildfires everywhere, lots of property damage and some injuries. Even if there hadn't been a ban, it was so dry I don't think I'd have risked it; a coal forge doesn't throw a lot of embers or sparks, but I wouldn't have wanted to take the chance.

Last week had a chance to meet a friend at the range for the first time in months. Didn't accomplish a lot, but did try out some handloads in .30-30. I'd never used IMR4064 powder for this cartridge before, and it seems to work pretty well. I'm going to load some more tonight for more thorough testing next time.

One reason for getting friend out to the range was for stress relief. His wife had a baby about a month ago, all that went just fine as I mentioned before, healthy 8lb. girl. Then wife developed an infection in the incision(caesarean section). Antibiotics didn't do the job, and she wound up back in the hospital for surgery to clean it out and major-level antibiotics. It came out during this that the culture showed five different bacteria in the infection, and- according to the doctor- only way it could have happened was in the OR, which means the room and/or some of the equipment wasn't properly cleaned and prepped, which really went over well as you can imagine.

So infection under control, but she can't nurse the baby because of the medications. And then, a few days after went home, had a reaction to one of/the combination of meds, and got hives and swelled up and wound up in the emergency room for a day.

So by the time all this was settled a bit and things on a more even keel, getting hubby out to the range for a while seemed like a good thing to do.

Well, I've got powder to measure and bullets to seat.

Sorry 'bout the doubles

Blogger is bloggered, and I don't have time to work through it to clean it up right now

A wonderful story from the Geek

Says it was music to his ears...

My friend tells me that the hall grew quiet, as people listened. In that silence, just about everyone in the show simultaneously arrived at the same decision, and for the next 30 seconds, all you heard was the kerplopple of steel on kydex and leather, the snips of zipties coming off, and the glorious ka shink! of a thousand people simultaneously racking rounds into chambers.

Also ref the idiots in NO and their accomplices

And also found at The High Road(scroll down for the full article):
"NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A New Orleans woman is recovering from surgery this week from injuries resulting from when she was roughed-up by authorities who forced her to leave her home a week after Hurricane Katrina. Patricia Konie, 58, has filed a Federal lawsuit over the injuries and other violations of civil rights.
"My client was severely injured in a needless removal from her home," stated attorney Ashton O'Dwyer. "Patricia Konie had food, plenty of water, and a roof over her head. The police who illegally entered her home and imposed their will on a frail, middle-aged female should have been out apprehending armed, male looters instead."
Konie was greeting a reporter and photographer from a San Francisco TV station and a journalist from the London Times when police unexpectedly entered her home. When she refused to leave as ordered, they confiscated a firearm used for defense and according to Konie, "slammed" her to the ground, both displacing and fracturing her left shoulder."

One thing I wrote before and still hold to: I'm ashamed that OK National Guardsmen helped carry out this crap. And I hope those responsible- which would include the officers who told them to carry out these orders- get their ass handed to them.

Can you say 'perjury'?

I knew you could

Found a link to this at The High Road:
"BELLEVUE, Wash., March 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a stunning reversal, the City of New Orleans revealed today to attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association that they do have a stockpile of firearms seized from private citizens in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."

You know, those guns that didn't exist? Those guns Mayor Dipstick and Police Chief Jackass said weren't seized? From those seizures they claimed never happened?("Never mind the video and the testimony! Ignore the man behind the curtain and listen to me!!"). I admit to not following all the details as they came along, but didn't city officials and the lawyers say- in sworn documents- that the seizures a: were not ordered and b: did not happen and c: they did NOT have any seized firearms?

I'm not a lawyer(nor do I play one on blog or tv), but I thought lying in court, and lying on sworn documents, was a big no-no. ESPECIALLY for an officer of the court like a lawyer.

What's that? It IS a big deal, you say? Well, then let's see about criminal charges as well as the civil charges already filed, why don't we?

Apparently the NO officials have been taking lessons from some of the BATF and other feds caught in the act. Lie, deny, etc., until you have no other choice than to admit the truth. Unfortunately, too many times congresscritters who secretly or blatantly want the agencies to get away with crap have set a precedent of ignoring or excusing this crap; let's hope this court doesn't put up with it.

Rimfire Roundup #6

Up for your viewing pleasure, thanks to Mr. Completely. While you're there, be sure to check out the postal matches; links at the top.

Ok, here's something scary

from Britain:
ENGLAND: The day is coming when British Muslims form a state within a state

Very interesting article(found here) on what's happening there, summed up by this quote: "They believe that the British Government has capitulated to them, because it feared the consequences if it did not.

"The cartoons, you see, have not been published in this country, and the Government has been very critical of those countries in which they were published. To many of the Islamic clerics, that's a clear victory.

"It's confirmation of what they believe to be a familiar pattern: if spokesmen for British Muslims threaten what they call 'adverse consequences' – violence to the rest of us – then the British Government will cave in. I think it is a very dangerous precedent."

Very damn dangerous. A lot of people have pointed this out before; there are people and groups who see tolerance of them and their actions as weakness, and they see weakness as something to exploit. For instance, a couple of weeks ago a big march by BPMs calling for death to anybody who annoys them, and a few cops around watching; about a week later a march by people calling for defense of free speech and etc., and the cops were everywhere and a bunch of people were arrested as I recall. The Brit government has demonstrated that they're either too politically correct, too stupid or too scared(or all the above) to stand up for their own history, and the BPMs are using it against them. I've kept hoping that the British people would finally say 'enough' and stand up, but it just hasn't happened.

And at this point I doubt it will.

Linky goodness

The first isn't really 'good', it simply notes one of the side issues of the 'all faiths are equally good' crap: women who are not of the Moslem faith are seen as fair game for rape by some of the BPMs out there. As the comedian pointed out, "Some people would just look better dead".

And second, a fairly new place called The Lawdog Files from that part of the country known as Texas(and sometimes Baha, Oklahoma). Anyplace that starts a post with this has to be read:
"Today I would like to rant about a particularly irritating habit I've noticed developing amongst the horde of carpet-bagging, mouth-breathing, bunny-hugging, veggie-gnawing, mono-synaptic, close-minded dacoits who are tip-toeing through my fair State like a horde of lobotomized, politically-correct, apron-hanging rhinocerii."

The problems of hunting during a famine...

Well, well, lookie here...

Went by the Geek's place and found this, with a link to the original at The High Road. Basically, a very nice, detail-filled whacking of some foul-mouthed 'pacifists' who've been e-mailing their droppings to people. Really good info, including notes of just how useful non-violence is when you're dealing with actual bad guys.

Side note: years ago I read an interview someone did with Ghandi, and he noted that his methods succeeded because he was dealing with a people as basically civilized as the British; people in India and back in Britain saw film and read the details of what was happening and had fits, and things changed. He specifically said that if he'd been dealing with the Soviets, not only would it not have worked, he and many of his followers would have disappeared into camps from which they would never have returned.

Like the poster says:

And we now know MA wants to be "Just like (formerly)Great Britain

How do we know this? Read and see. And be nauseated.

What's that? Why not stick the crooks in prison and keep them there for robbing and raping and murdering? What kind of barbarian ARE you, anyway?

Ref the 1903 Springfield sights,

Take a look at this:


















This is the rear in the laid-down position. At the right bottom, that large knob? Windage adjustment; it turns a pinion gear which meshes with teeth in the front of the sight and rotates it right or left; at the far left end you can see adjustment marks. Just right of the marks, see that hole? For 100 yards up to a couple of hundred, you were supposed to flip the ladder up and use the aperture for aiming. From that range(and there was an exact distance for these, but I'll look that up later, if I can find it again) on for a ways you used the notch in the base of the triangle above the aperture. For serious long range, that smaller knob is for elevation, loosen it and the whole notch/aperture setup slides up & down; please note that the elevation marks run all the way up to 2700 yards.

Now, if you look at the top of the aforementioned triangle, on the slider, you'll see a notch that's on top when the ladder is down, that's your battlesight. Remember I mentioned that most military rifles were set so that, with the sight in its' lowest position, it was actuall sighted for 300 yards/meters? Well, when this sight was designed for the original 1903 cartridge, it was. That one used a 220 grain roundnose bullet at about 2200 feet per second. Then the word came that the Germans had gone from a heavy roundnose bullet to a sharply-pointed bullet(spitzer) of much less weight, dropping from 220 to 150 grains. That allowed much higher velocity out of the Mauser, which meant a much flatter trajectory over distance, and- this bullet being more aerodynamic- longer effective range. So we did the same. The experiments led to the case being shortened .10", a 150 grain bullet was adopted at a velocity of about 2800 fps, giving us the ever-popular .30 Government 1906, later renamed the .30-06. However...

I can't remember the details(I do know where I can get a book that covers it, though) but the ballistics data for the new cartridge wasn't available in time for the sights to be made, so they were- mostly, at least- made with the markings from the 1903 cartridge. Which, with the higher velocity, more efficient projectile, meant that a battlesight originally designed for 300 yards actually was on at 500-something. Which means that at 100 yards, it's WAY high; where most are 3-6" high at 100, this hits about 8-10" high(rough numbers). And I have to point out that while that aperture for 'short' ranges works, that dinky little hole ain't worth crap in low light or bad weather(at least for me). Combine that with a thin front blade...

Gerry in comments brought up an old saying from WWI that the Americans had the best target rifle, the Germans had the best hunting rifle, and the Brits had the best battle rifle. Largely seems to cover it.

By the way, I've wondered for years, why did the Germans keep using that inverted 'V' front sight with the sharp point? THAT is also a bitch to use at times. The Swede Mausers use a similar, but it's got a flat top that's wide enough to use in low-light conditions, so why didn't the Germans use it?

For that matter, when the British were looking at a new rifle and designed the 1915(?) Enfield, I understand the different sights, but why did they go to a 5-shot magazine with it? The 10-shot of the #1 Mk3 worked so nicely, why change that?

Note: nice picture of 1903 sight found here, along with lots of other good pics of the rifle and parts.

The new Rimfire Roundup

Up at Mr. Completely. Go see.

Not having enough problems,

I shot a round in the current rifle postal match Mr. Completely & Friends has up. Not knowing when/if I'd have another chance on this one, I took the Martini 12 along the other day and shot this at 50 yards















First, let me say (whine)the wind was blowing strong, and it was gusting, and I didn't get much sleep the night before, dammit!(/whine). That being said, biggest problem was the size of the targets and my vision. At 50 yards, these suckers are little blurs, and I'm frankly amazed I did as well as I did. Usually, for an iron sight target at that range I use a black bullseye about 2.5" across; lots better contrast than this multi-colored !!&*%!.

In any case, there's mine. Where's yours?

Range day

Having once again decided to hell with various things I probably should have done, I went shooting today. Nice day for this time of year, though a bit windy and gusty. No serious testing or whatever, though I did get to try out a Finnish M39


















Short version, this is the rifle the Finns made using Mosin-Nagant receivers. I've heard that they're the best version made of this rifle type, and having shot this one I believe it. For the full rundown on these go over to Head's Bunker and look down the sidebar; he's got a lot on them. Short version:
heavier stock, particularly in the forend. Instead of a long, skinny one it's a heavier piece dovetailed into the buttstock.
Better sights. Instead of a shallow notch in the rear and a post up front, it's a wing-protected front blade and a very clean rear notch. And where every other rifle of the type, although the low setting says '100' is actually set for 300 meters? This Finn rifle has a low setting marked '150', and it means it; with the ammo I used(Czech and Polish light ball) it hit just about dead-on at 100, I'd guess would be on at 150.
Windage adjustment on other Mosins means drifting the front sight in the dovetail, and if you've ever done that you know it's a bit touchy at times to get it just right. With this? There's a screw on each side of the sight base; to move the sight left, you'd back the left screw off a bit, then tighten the right screw. Presto, very controlled, positive adjustment. I like it.
And it's got the best trigger I've personally seen on a Mosin, long first stage, positive stop, then a light, clean second stage. Very nice. I've fired much newer sporting rifles with worse.

First five shots were done at 50 yards














Which impressed me. Then moved back to 100















The flier I blame on myself, which gives a 1" group. Which was not a fluke, I got several more this tight with it, though the rifle showed a bit of a preference for the Polish ammo.

If I were going to set one of these up for target shooting, I think the main thing I'd do is get another front blade and mill it a bit thinner. These are battle-rifle sights, not match sights, and for the purpose I imagine they served- would serve- very well.

As an aside, I read that when the M1 Garand was first officially introduced to the public at the Wimbledon matches, the two big gripes were the coarse sights and 'too heavy' trigger. The Springfield people kept telling them "It's not a match rifle, it's a battlefield rifle, too fine a sight and too light a trigger can be a problem". This is my big gripe with the 1903 and 1903-A3 Springfields; fine rifles with lousy sights for woods or battlefield use. With the -A3, a fine rear aperture sight combined with that damn thin front blade; with the '03, skinny front blade and a too-complicated rear. Excellent on a target range, a pain anywhere else. In my humble opinion, anyway.

In any case, back to the M39, this is a fine rifle, and happily there are a bunch of them out there. I get my finances back on track, I may have to search around for one.

Refugee asked, so

Here's a closer shot of the blooms


















And I must correct myself; the blooms open from the bottom up

Ever seen an aloe vera bloom?

I hadn't, until my parents gave me this one. About nine years ago, I believe; as much hot metal as I handled at the time, it came in very handy for burns. I moved it indoors when winter came, and sometime in February I noticed a stalk rising from the center. It grew to about a foot or so higher than the rest of the plant, the head opened up into lots of little buds, and they finally started opening from top to bottom, each a small bloom.

















No scent that I could catch. After opening, they withered and fell off, again from top to botttom. First time that I'd ever seen it.

And so far, the first time of anyone I've told about it. Every year, about the same time, it sends up a stalk. The first couple of years just a single head, since then it's branched off and produced two.

Just think it's interesting.

A good place to check out

is Samizdata. I hadn't been over there in quite a while, then today remembered to go by. You should check it out, if for no other reason than that it'll scare hell out of you by noting things happening in once-Great Britain. If you've ever though we should copy where they're going, this should cure you of it.

Carnival of Cordite #50!

The fiftieth one of these things, up at guest host AnarchAngel. Including a really good video for those who've thought "I could end that movie right now!"

Hello? Illinois, Chicago? You paying attention?

Probably not; one of these items the clowns will probably see as a bonus, and the other they'll ignore.

'These items' being the following: while over at the High Road I found a thread "More job losses for Illinois, YYYEEEAAAHHH!!" It seems that a number of gunmakers have said flatly that if Illinois passes the current 'Ban the Eeeville Guns' law, they'll leave the state. Taking their jobs and revenue with them. Guys, may I suggest Oklahoma? I think I'd like to work for Springfield Armory or ArmaLite. Full story here.

Second item was an article also on the Illinois State Rifle Assn. site, "Brady Gun Control Campaign All Wet Say Nation's Top Cops". Good reading in general.

So the National Association of Chiefs of Police says the Bradys and their buttmonkeys are full of crap, and if the IL legislature doesn't have a moment of intelligence(in Daley-Land, how likely is that?) I might have a place moving here that I'd take early retirement to get a job at.

Speaking of liberal asshats('redundancy alert' as Kim says), mAss Backwards notes this: "Security Grates Cause Crime". I have to ask, how does that idiot Mumbles get into and stay in office? Jeez.

And if you're as sick of the UN as I am,

Mark Steyn lays out everything you need to tell people who still trust it here.

Remember the kid who blew up in Norman?

Outside the packed stadium? Who the university and various people assured us was 'just a troubled kid who killed himself'?
"A Norman police bomb expert said Tuesday he does not believe University of Oklahoma student Joel Henry Hinrichs III committed suicide by blowing himself up outside a packed football stadium. "I believe he accidentally blew himself up," Sgt. George Mauldin said."

Link to the article here at Powerline, Michelle Malkin's post here. Among other things found at his apartment "A pint-size Tupperware container on a counter was filled with TATP Hinrichs had manufactured, Mauldin said." That's on top of what blew him up. Which was "Mauldin said Hinrichs, 21, an engineering student, had two to three pounds of triacetone triperoxide, commonly known as TATP, in a backpack in his lap when it exploded Oct. 1." Two to three pounds?!?

'Troubled youth suicide' my ass.

Once again, I shall preach

on tolerance. And the lack thereof on some subjects. In this case, smoking.

As of today, all restaurants in this state have to either have a separate smoking area, with separate air-handling, or be smoke-free. And it's being pushed to, within a few years, make all smoking in public places illegal. All day the news has had interviews with the Cancer Society rep and various Health Department personnel and politicians speaking of the evils of smoking and secondhand smoke and so on.

I can only say to these people, WILL YOU FUCK OFF?!?

Once again, the nanny-state politicians and busybodies have managed to further criminalize something mostly on the basis of "We disapprove, and it's for your own good, you know!". I repeat, FUCK OFF! If I go into a restaurant or club and it's smoky and I don't like it, I leave and go somewhere else. I don't go whining to some politician to pass a law, and don't scream about violations of my 'rights', I just spend my money elsewhere.

One of the commercials these assholes had running over the past few months spoke of the 'hundreds' of people killed in this state every year by secondhand smoke. BULLSHIT. Unless some actual honest study has been pulled out of the hat lately, there's still no actual proof that ANYONE has been killed by it. Yeah, it's annoying. So what? So are busybody idiots and vote-hungry suckup politicians. That doesn't make it lethal, and lying about it doesn't make it so. The clowns who want to ban anything they disapprove of and claim is 'unhealthy' are a bigger threat to me; they're actually punishing people and attacking personal freedoms and actions, which DOES threaten me where secondhand smoke doesn't.

Makes me want to get a pipe and light up where the clowns can see me, just to annoy them. Maybe I'd be lucky and their indignation would rise so high it'd choke them.

I'm too pissed by all this to continue. Amen, and follow me to the bar.

Cigars, pipes and all.

Further thoughts from range evening

Two things I've picked up from reading over the last year or so are a: to change my primary aiming point and b: get more practice both close & fast and moving. Instead of center of mass, upper center of mass; last night that meant moving the smurf from about 5 yards back up to 3, about half the shots at each. 'Moving' in this case meant shifting side-to-side and back-&-forth within about a 3x5' space. Indoor range, other folks around, so keeping the jumping and etc. for later. Results:


















Fifty rounds, including mag changes. It's not the best way, but somewhat careful mag changes; I didn't want to drop the damn things on the concrete floor, so they were a bit slow. All in all, not too bad. Aiming and firing while shifting around, even over a small space, really makes a difference from a steady, fixed firing position.

This kind of thing is where having a .22 conversion for a pistol is nice, you can go through a lot of ammo getting the hang of it without going broke or spending a lot of time at the loading bench. If you're at a range where they're understanding about such things, or- as I prefer- the outdoor one I usually go to for rifle practice(often nobody else at the handgun section), you can really move; jumping or stepping quickly back a ways, moving a few steps side-to-side, and moving at a quick pace along the line and engaging two targets as you pass along. It pumps your heart up a bit, it prevents you from standing still, and it gives some feel for shooting on the move. I can't remember if it was Kevin or the Geek who originally pointed out that you need to move; it was that very nice post of the Geek's on aiming point that started me aiming a bit higher. One thing that brought out is how strong habit is; even after working on this over time, I still sometimes will catch myself firing my first shot or two COM. They hit where I'm aiming, but it's not the aiming point I'm training myself to.

Oh, the head shots? Last few rounds. Well, hell, I had to try it, didn't I?

Something else I wanted to write about, which will undoubtedly annoy some people. Currently 'Keep your finger off the trigger 'till your sights are on the target' has come to mean 'keep your finger straight along the frame'. While it does indeed keep your finger away from the trigger, I have to point out that it's not required to keep it straight. I was taught handgun by my father, and he was taught combat shooting by the LE agency he worked for. You could have your finger inside the trigger guard, as long as it did not touch the trigger. This was in the days of almost everybody carrying a revolver, and if your finger did brush the trigger, it wasn't a big deal; it still took an actual pull to cycle the action and fire. I read somewhere that having the finger straight came from the fact that a rangemaster could see that and know you weren't on the trigger without having to look closely; makes sense. I've noticed that when I'm using a revolver I still do it that way; finger inside the guard, but at the front so I'm not touching the trigger. With a semi-auto, I keep it outside the guard. With a single-action auto pistol, my though when I started handling them was that, if the safety was off it wouldn't take much to fire a shot accidentally if you had that finger inside, so keep it out. Yeah, you shouldn't take the safety off until lining up to fire, and I don't; it's the principle of the thing. So, without thinking about it, I use the two positions depending on which type of pistol I'm firing. Works quite well so far.

Anyway, there's my two cents worth about it.

This ain't no Polish joke

In it's way, this is Poland declaring war. Or at least what side they're on.

Poland fought the German National Socialists long and hard. Then they fought, in a much more low-key way, against the Soviet tyranny. Now they're looking the Islamic fascists in the eye and spitting.

I can only say, Well Done!

Range night

Went to the range last night, having a desire to blow off some steam and make loud noises. Mostly stuff I've shot before(with one exception I'll write of later), and general practice.

Shot the Enfield .380/200 revolver I wrote of before, using that handload put together for it. Every time I've fired one of these before it's been with the Remington loads(which are fairly light) or handloads meant to duplicate it. And it's not an impressive load. This uses a 190-grain bullet loaded to duplicate the original British military load for it, and it's a different matter. For one thing it actually shoots to point of aim, where the light stuff hits way low; for another it's much more authoritative. It's not a .38 Special Hydra-Shok, but I don't think it's that far behind. 190 grains of somewhat soft bullet at 650-700 fps is NOT something a bad guy would shrug off. I understand why the commercial loads are so light; there are a lot of old revolvers out there not in very good condition, and they don't want to overstress them. Thing is, there are also a lot out there that are in fine condition and have no problem with their original load, and it's too bad you have to handload to get what they were designed to put out.

It's also a lot more accurate than people tend to think. That double-action(when clean and lubed; a lot of them you might get hold of are bone-dry inside) is very smooth, and that helps to put the shots where the you want. With these loads, this would make a good home-defense gun. Solid, accurate and dependable; what more could you want?

Followup on cleaning: sanding

Whether you're just touching up an old stock or completely refinishing, you'll find that, even after a good degreasing, the sandpaper will clog up fast. For just touching up, no big deal, you're not doing that much. For complete refinishing, it is a big deal, you'll go through a lot of it. So if you're taking all the old finish and surface off, I will suggest using a scraper.

A scraper will cut fast and clean, and won't clog; at most you'll just have to wipe off the edge every so often. You can buy commercially-made scrapers at woodworking shops and suppliers, or you can make your own. Two ways to make them.

DISCLAIMER: the first method yields a good scraper that will, if you're not careful, slice you worse than what you're working on. Use gloves and be damn careful, and if you start hemmoraging don't blame me.

The simplest, cheapest way is to use glass. Get something like a mayonnaise jar, wrap it in something and break it, or break a piece of almost any piece of glass. The edges will be VERY sharp, and if you're not careful will slice you as you work, so use gloves and BE CAREFUL.

The other way is to make it of metal. What was recommended to me some years ago was an old hand-saw blade. Use a Dremel and cutoff wheel, or a grinder with said wheel, or just use the corner of a grinding wheel to cut a groove along which you can break a piece off. Then grind the edges you cut square, and as smooth as possible. Here a sanding drum or belt sander works very well. You also want to touch up wth sides, to the edge is square a smooth. Now comes the tricky part. For a very fine cut you can use it as is, but to take off material fairly quickly you need to forma 'hook' along the edge. The way I was shown was to clamp the piece in a vise, take a screwdriver with a round shank- the smooth part of a round file, basically anything rounded, smooth and hard enough will work- and push and pull it along the edge, tilted toward the edge you're forming the hook on. It forces the corner to curl over a bit, giving you a very aggressive cutting edge. You can do all sides if you wish, I'd suggest only hooking the edge or edges you plan on using, so you don't have to worry about cutting yourself on a fresh edge.

Generally, with glass or steel, you want a piece with a curve to the edge, which will let you work around the curves in the stock better. Hold the scraper(Carefully, I said!) with the working edge trailing your hand; you're not pushing it into the wood, you're dragging it across the surface. A little trial and error will show you the best angle, that varies according to the wood and the tool. Drag it a ways, see how deep and wide it cut, make the next pass and observe; you'll find the best angle to work the piece at. You'll also produce lots of fine shavings, and in the case of an old gunstock you'll be removing the crud at the surface along with the wood. You can work the entire piece, or just in an area that needs serious cutdown.

When you're done, you'll have a stock with a much cleaner, smoother surface, ready for sanding. And you'll have much less trouble with the sandpaper clogging.

Note: I'm going to splice this into the 'Cleaning' post, so as to keep it all together.