As further proof that Oklahoma has its' share of idiot politicians,

I give you the statement of State Rep. Mike Shelton:
"During states of emergency, I think police need total control. They don’t need to worry who has guns and who doesn’t. If the governor calls for Oklahomans to relinquish their guns, the public needs to do so,”.

This was his comment on a bill that would prohibit the kind of confiscation order that happened in New Orleans. "Shelton said his battle is not over, and he intends not only to ask the governor to veto HB2696 but also to overturn the stand-your-ground bill."

Ok, it's sad to know that an elected rep of this state is such a statist asshat. Apparently he thinks that if someone threatens your life outside your home you should have to run for your life no matter what, only being legally able to use lethal force if you can't run any further. And from this we know that he thinks your 2nd Amendment rights should be cancellable by a stroke of the governors' pen. I may have to dig into it and see how this clown voted on the SDA and the Make My Day laws; if these are any indication, he was probably against those, too. Can't have the peasants thinking too much of themselves, now can we?

"That was the idea in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, when police confiscated guns from residents even if they were legal. This new Oklahoma law removes that power." Let's see, a bunch of citazens held at gunpoint and their property and means of defense stolen- property which the city of NO is STILL trying to avoid giving back- while security guards hired by the wealthy are walking around unmolested even though they've got AR or M16 rifles and sidearms... Awfully selective 'total control', wasn't it, Rep.?

As I say further proof that no state is without idiot politicians who worship at the altar of Power.

Originally found at Alphecca, further at Cam Edwards place.

Remember what I said about John McCain?

Well, it gets worse. Or just more blatant. Saw this this morning and couldn't write 'till now, and the Geek beat me to it, but I need to say my piece anyway:

John McCain is a corrupt statist politician with no concern for anything but his personal advancement. This little jerk wants into the White House as occupant so bad he will sell out anything and everything, including the oath he's taken more than once. You know, the one about PROTECTING the Constitution as opposed to TRASHING IT?

""He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform....I know that money corrupts....I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government."

That, of course, is 'clean government' by his corrupt standards.

Arizona, you need to start that recall petition back up. Now.

Some serious rain at last!

It's been dry for months here. Not just dry, damn dry, way below normal average. The state has had some relief over the last month or so, but mostly in the southeast and east; here in the central area rain would build to the west & southwest, as normal, then wind up splitting and moving around us. Frustrating as hell.

But today it all came together and some actual, good rain came in. And better yet, it's been what I think the Navajo call a female rain- no thunder & lightning except some rumbles in the distance, light to moderate rain with some breaks, the kind that has time to soak in and prepare the soil for what follows with less runoff than you'd expect for as dry as it's been. Absolutely wonderful.

The last round just moved through, some nice moderate fall. My rain guage showed about 1/4 inch when I got home from work, but the pecan has grown & leafed out enough it may have shaded it somewhat from the fall, so I moved it out into the yard; come morning we'll see what the total is. And it's supposed to give us some more overnight. Everything should green up wonderfully, and the threat of wildfires should be pretty much knocked on its ass for a while at least.

Speaking of my pecan tree, it's now about 7' tall, pretty green leaves all over. I mentioned a long time ago that I'd planted this the summer after I moved in, and sweated through that first winter wondering if it'd survive. It did in fine shape. And the blackberry I planted last spring is leafed out and has some blossoms; I may get some berries off it, if I can keep the birds and squirrels off long enough.

I think I'll sleep well tonight.

I'm officially sick of these 'immigrant rights' clowns

Huge problems with health care and law enforcement being run into the ground by illegal aliens, illegals who demand that driving tests and VOTING BALLOTS for Gods' sake be written in Spanish so they don't have to bother learning English(and the bastards shouldn't be voting in any case).

Now a bunch of sympathizers have rewritten our National Anthem- in Spanish, of course- to show support to the illegals(but that makes me a hatemonger, according to them; they're 'undocumented immigrants'). And various idiots in government, particularly in California(no surprise), are doing crap like this to help the clowns.

Got news for you people. Screwing with our Anthem does NOT give us sympathy for you. Telling us we're invaders and this is YOUR land just pisses us off. And waving Mexican flags while claiming you're loyal Americans just pisses us off more. And having a bunch of racist clowns like La Voz de Aztlan threatening a 'reconquest' and spreading shit like that in the 'press release' makes us want to add a strip of mines to the fence.

To borrow what someone else said, come here legally; learn English; and come to be an American and you're welcome. Come here illegally, demand we change to make you happy and threaten us, and you're cordially invited to get the fuck out of this country.

That was unusual...

Couple of days ago a tornado hit El Reno, a few miles west of Oklahoma City. During all this, one of the chasers for KTOK radio said "I've seen kidney-stone size hail in this storm".

???

KIDNEY STONE SIZE? I dearly wished I had his phone number: "Hey, is that 'discomfort-size' or 'Oh Lord take me now and end it!' size?"

Well, that's done

The smiling FedEx man delivered the new rotors for the Vulcan this morning. Now have new rotors and pads in front, and new shoes in the rear. Let's just say there's a noticeable difference in slowing down and stopping. MUCH better.

Fired the forge for the first time in a while today, and got a bit done. Now I need to make a last pass through the yard and make sure I put everything up, as they're expecting some rain to move in late tonight. We're hoping. Hell, if I thought it would help pull it in I'd go out in the dark and wash the truck and the bike. And leave the truck sitting out in the open.

Meant to mention this the other day. There are two big holly trees- they're too tall to call 'bushes'- in the front, one on each side of the door. Went out the other day and heard buzzing. Looked closer, and both bushes were swarming with honeybees














Ever tried to take pictures of busy bees? Little bastards won't hold still. I've always liked these critters; my dads' father used to keep several hives, and when we visited I'd watch them going in & out and feeding on the clover in the field. Helped rob the hives once. Honey fresh off the comb, God that was good!

Speaking of forgework and metal, anybody starts talking about going all the way back to the 'good old days', kick them in the ass. I had to drill two holes through 3/4" hex stock, which with a drill press and a titanium nitride bit(with cutting oil, of course) took a couple of minutes per hole taking it easy. Doing that by hand? Not if I can help it.

Ok, it's a late BAG day buy; K31

I'd looked these things over a number of times, but always held off on buying one. Heard lots of good things about them: accurate, well-made. But kept putting it off, even though prices were good.

Well, when I was in Texas a couple of weeks ago I went by Military Gun Supply in Fort Worth to look around, and noticed a BIG area of one wall empty. That had been full of K31 rifles last time I was down. I asked about it, and the guy said a lot of people had decided to buy them all of a sudden. After I got home I checked around on some of the gunboards and read several references that the supply of them was running out.

So I checked a few places, and found that AIM Surplus had some for a hundred dollars listed as "Excellent bores, expect stock and finish wear". So I ordered one, and it came in today:














Swiss K31 in the(as Kim puts it) manly 7.5mm Swiss cartridge. Square-profile blade front sight, notch rear marked from 100 meters to 1500. That ring in the back of the bolt is the cocking piece and safety(such as it is); when cocked, pull it back and turn clockwise about 1/8 turn. And it's a straight-pull bolt, grab the handle and pull straight back; it unlocks, the body rotates to disengage the lugs and it slides back. Push forward to close.

Looked it over real good. First thing, not much grease on it. Second, there are a bunch of little dents and a few dings in the wood, but not bad at all. Third, crown is shiny; wings of the front sight worn shiny at the top; barrel just behind the sight has a slightly shiny patch; blueing on the receiver is quite nice; the usual worn edges on the trigger guard and barrel bands; overall quite nice condition. Now, even though AIM has done well for me in the past, comes the part that really makes me nervous: is the bore as promised? Open the bolt and look down, and yuck, it's icky in there. But it looks like mostly grease, so to the table.

Dry patch through, which came out nasty. Oily patch, then a dry patch and look again and shazam! Beautiful! Mirror bright, sharp rifling, you could use a picture of this to illustrate 'excellent bore'! Much relieved, I took the thing apart(surplusrifle.com has a section on the rifle in general and the bolt) and found the condition to be very good. Tight, fast working action. And on the barrel & receiver covered by the stock, the only worn area of the bluing is on the barrel where the front edge of the stock & handguard bear on it; a band a little over an inch wide. Otherwise, looks damn near new.

I mentioned the straight-pull bolt, three other different things about it. One, to adjust windage you move the front sight, but not side-to-side; it's in a diagonal track in the sight base. so you drift it back and it moves to the left, forward and moves to the right. Second, the magazine holds six rounds instead of five or ten. Stripper clips are available, made of metal and paper(I'll have to get a few). And the trigger mechanism is unique: trigger, sear and a link are fitted together as a unit with a coil spring with long arms providing tension. The link fits over a pin at the rear and the sear slides vertically. I'll try to take a picture of it later, it's a very nice design.

One last thing: I dry-fired it a few times, and wow! Long first-stage takeup, solid stop, then a clean break at- I'd guess- about 3.5 pounds or so. No drag, no creep. It's like the M39 I wrote about a while back, I've handled expensive new rifles with inferior triggers to this.

So now I need time to hit the range. I've got some ammo and it's cleaned, oiled and ready. After sighting in and testing, I'll kitty-litter the stock- it's got not enough grease soaked in to be a real problem, enough that it has that smell and feel to it- and do a little refinishing to it, but the metal I'll leave alone, it's quite nice as is. Range report will follow when circumstances allow.

Ref gas prices and that idiot Arlen Specter

Apparently he's been sucking up to various Democrats and news weenies so long his brain has suffered from oxygen deprivation, so I've got two questions for him:
1. Do you remember a period in history we generally call "the Seventies"?
2. Do you remember Jimmy Carter and his 'Windfall Profits Tax'?

Yeah, that was just such a wonderful success, wasn't it? Did so much good, didn't it, you friggin' idiot?

Among the other 'wonderful' effects of this mess: there's a thing called a stripper well. It's a well that produces enough to make it worth keeping in operation(at the current prices; if prices go up enough, it's worth further development), just. Lots of people with some land in some states have a stripper well on it belonging to some oil company, who pays them a percentage every month for the oil that's pumped out. There was a lady at my employer who had one on her land, and every month it gave her & her husband about(as I recall) $70. Then the full effect of Carter's "punish the theiving oil companies" tax kicked in, and that month she displayed the check they'd received: fifty some-odd cents. All the rest taken in "Windfall Profits Tax". I kid you not.

So now, having either forgotten or not caring about the history of this kind of crap, this jackass, in company of the rest of the herd he's sucking up to, wants to do it again. So I wonder why a: Specter doesn't just change the 'R' after his name to 'D' and be honest and b: why the President and co. don't kick him in the ass for being the treacherous, untrustworthy little shit he is.

By the way, for some further background on the cost of gas, check out this at Wizbang, on how Specter and his greedy little friends have their prints all over the high price.

Stand Your Ground law in OK

House Bill 2615 passed in the House a few days ago. According to the article in the Sunday Oklahoman(not available online unless you buy an account, which I'm not doing) it's patterned after the law passed in Florida last year. In the article it says it expands the Make My Day law-which allows use of deadly force "to protect themselves from someone who breaks into their home, whether the intruder was using deadly force".

It also allows:
Drivers or passengers to use deadly force if someone is trying to car jack their vehicle.
Guests in a home to use deadly force to defend themselves and their acquaintances.
Ny understanding is that if attacked by someone using deadly force, you can use the same to protect yourself, "But the bill establishes situations where people can use deadly force to defend themselves even if the perpetrator isn't using deadly force."

No, haven't read the whole thing. Didn't even know it this bill was around 'till I saw this in the Sunday paper. It says the OK Association of Chiefs of Police have some concerns but don't object to the idea itself. From what I'm reading, I don't really understand their concerns, that a: "the legislation doesn't jeopardize the lives of plainclothes officers or officers trying to execute search warrants" and b: "wants to make sure officers can detain people after a shooting to determine whether a shooting was legal". ??? If an officer identifies himself to serve a warrant, the bill would not affect that that I can see. And they already have the power to detain people after a shooting; unless there's some wierd wording in here somewhere, that would not be affected.

There are the usual suspects unhappy about it, of course. The were only two House members who voted against it, Opio Toure(D) and Darrel Gilbert(D). I think Gilbert was, and I know Toure was one of the big opponents of the OK Self-Defense Act, the 'shall-issue' concealed-carry law that passed a few years back. And for the same reasons: "There will be bodies in the streets, blood running in the gutters, it will be like the Wild West all over again!!!" and so forth. No, that's not a direct quote, it does seem to sum their thoughts up. "Toure also is concerned the bill would give young people the idea using guns is the way to resolve conflicts", which I think was one of his objections to the SDA. And from Gilbert, "Gilbert said his objection is that anybody could use the law as an excuse to kill.

It's back to the good ol' West having shootouts in the street", Gilbert said".

Same objections, same fear-mongering. Same crap that hasn't happened anywhere such laws have passed.

So now to the Senate, and we'll see what happens.

Additional: unless I'm mistaken, Toure was the guy who, during debate on the SDA, said that if it passed 'more blacks will get shot' or 'be killed'. Been a while, so I don't remember exactly. It does give an interesting window into his thought processes, doesn't it?

The Lawdog speaks on the thieving bastards in NO

Specifically, the sorry excuses for law officers committing the thefts:After a lawsuit by the NRA and the SAF, plus contempt of court citations, NOLA jackasses reluctantly admitted that they were in possession of a thousand-plus confiscated firearms.

Thousand. Not 'tens', not 'hundreds'. Thousand.

ARE YOU BLOODY WELL ****ING ME?!

Those knuckle-dragging, nit-witted, mouse-dicked, pea-brained, lard-arsed, desk-driving, cork-screwed little dacoits with delusions of adequacy must have been running around stealing guns at warp speed!

Did they bloody well organize shifts for this? "You , you and you: loot Wal-Mart. You, you , and you: steal guns from any citizen who'll let you get by with it."

That's ... that's ... I really don't have words to express how I feel towards public servants (who are sworn to protect the citizens) stealing from those citizens their only means of protection. WHILE, I might add, LOOTING EVERY FECKING WAL-MART IN SIGHT. ON CAMERA.

Sweet evil Loki, y'all blotted your Eternal Copybook something fierce, I'm here to tell you.

You really need to read the whole thing here for the full flavor. It's noted in the comments that it wasn't just the LE clowns, but a bunch of National Guard also, including this:
"A close friend, "G" is an Army Guard officer who was on the ground in N.O. 4 days after Katrina. I spoke with him every other day or so for several weeks, and listened to him agonize about taking guns away. He's very pro-2nd. He was given lists compiled by the rescue and city people as to the address location of firearms, and detailed to go and get them. He was also ordered to confiscate ANY firearms he saw, anywhere. A week later, he was given part of one of the worst wards to control. He was relieved because he saw only criminals from then on, and had NO problem taking such down. The NRA contacted me around Katrina+25 to learn who "G" was, and would he be willing to talk to the NRA lawyers. Serving officer? No way!"

Two things in this. First, the 'rescue and city people' had lists of who owned what firearms and sent people to get them("No, the registration is not for confiscation, oh no! It's for public safety!"); I have to wonder if this was all city/state records, or did some dickhead call someone at BATFE and ask for records?
Second, at the time I read several comments at different places from military/former military stating that if a superior had ordered them to do this, their first response would have been to say, in proper language, "Sir, are you out of your mind?". Maybe some did and it kept the level of theft down, but it seems many, maybe most, did not; and they carried out their orders to steal the only protection people had.

I'm still so damn pissed about this it's terrible. I keep remembering that OKNG troop basically saying "it's terrible, but I've got my orders" while holding some homeowners at gunpoint so their home could be officially looted.

One other thing about Med-Fair,

is the people you meet and see year after year. Speaking of such, I mentioned the folks who have Fenris, the wolf who likes to drink from my forge bucket. Meet Shelley



















I have to tell you, this picture does not do her justice. Woof, in other words.

Yes, she's married. Large, formidable guy. Nice guy, too(see, Darren, I'm being nice!). Matter of fact, he sent me the shot. "Shelley, I need a picture of you in your fair outfit, I'll make you famous!"

Next time, she'll believe me.

I WAS going to go out tonight,

to a bookstore or maybe to a bar for a drink, but after hearing
a: the 3-car crash(from the sounds) about two blocks away,
b: the near-crash right out front,
c: the two fire trucks, one ambulance and a PD unit going to a:,
I'm staying home.

And now, for your daily dose of idiocy,

if you really, really need it, go here. Then read as many of the comments as you can stomach.

Ah, us corrupt, evil, baby-killing conservative types and the bloodthirsty, Armageddon-seeking President, how do we do it?

NOT how a criminal justice system is supposed to work

Looking around Stephen Pollard's place I found his post on and link to this :
"A WIDOW who was repeatedly raped and beaten during a “pitiless” attack by two teenage burglars spoke yesterday of her determination to rebuild her life.

The woman, aged 65, was alone at home when the 19-year-old men — high on alcohol and drugs — forced a window and embarked on a frenzied attack. Armed with a knife and screwdriver, they bound and gagged their victim, forced her on to a bed and raped her several times."

Ok, two scumbags who deserve to be tied up to a whipping post- for a start, anyway- commit a horrible crime. How bad?
"She was “crippled with terror” and suffered “horrendous” blows to the face before her young attackers fled with jewellery, cash and a mobile phone.

The woman had passed out from the pain and regained consciousness to find that she was alone. She dragged herself to a telephone, called the police and was taken to hospital for trauma and severe facial injuries."

In this case, the two wastes of oxygen were caught:
"Seven months later the grandmother was at Teesside Crown Court to see David Humphrey and Lee Beazley jailed for life yesterday." Hurray, the bastards are going to prison! For life(it ain't the noose they deserve, but...)! But hold on, don't cheer yet, for it turns out:
"They were told that they would serve a minimum of six years in prison before becoming eligible for parole. They were placed on the sex offenders register for life."

Six years. SIX STINKING YEARS of their 'LIFE SENTANCE' and they're elegible for parole. Oh, but we shouldn't be too hard on them, for they DO repent of their sins:
"Humphrey told police that he was sickened by his actions. Beazley, the court was told, regretted his “despicable and inexcusable” behaviour." AND they'll be on the sex offender registry, I'm sure THAT'LL be a problem for the little bastards, won't it?

Anybody else have this problem with Remington?

For the second time, I've bought Remington 12 guage #4 buck and found the crimp open just enough to leak the buffering material out. Which caused me to have to a: clean out the shotgun action and b: dump the buffer out of the other box and use some superglue to seal the shells.

Hey, Remington: not good, guys.

Suicide

I mentioned in the '6 things about me' post I once tried to talk someone out of suicide. This was a nurse who'd had a marriage end in divorce. She started calling me at times, always late night, to ask how I'd do it. I always tried to move it to "I've had bad and good, but it hasn't been worth that", which irritated her. She'd never speak of why she asked, she'd just call up and ask.

One night it got more specific: "If you were going to kill yourself with a .32 pistol, how would you do it?" followed by "in the mouth, in the temple, where?" Scared hell out of me. I'd known she was thinking about it, this time the questions and voice said she was near to it. Spent a while trying to talk around it/out of it, starting with "I wouldn't", until she got pissed and hung up. Tried to call her back, no answer. Tried to call some people. No good. Finally called the police and described the conversation and they said they'd check(yes, strictly speaking it's anyones' right to check out; I was so rattled I wanted to do something to prevent it). PD called back a while later- it's now about 0230- to say she'd answered the door, said she was with a friend, and had no idea what the officer was talking about. I figured at this point if there was someone else there she was less likely to do it, so I went to bed.

Next night, got home to find a message: "I'll make a deal with you. I won't bother you with my problems again and you won't send the police after me. OK?" And no further calls.

About three weeks later I found out she'd done it. She had a good job, lots of friends, but had decided that if she reached this birthday without being a: married and b: pregnant, it wasn't worth going on(found out all this after the fact). Day before the birthday she'd borrowed a gun from a friend "to go target shooting". He wasn't suspicious because she'd done so before. On her birthday she put on a nightgown, sat down on her bed and blew her brains out.

I mentioned she was a nurse; that's important- to me at least- because of the method. She had access to drugs of all kinds, and could have ended her life with any of them. One of her closer friends(one of those who'd said "as long as she's talking about it, she's not going to do it") related that she'd mentioned that if she did it, she'd use a gun 'to make sure she couldn't be saved'. I call bullshit. I think she decided that if she did it, as many people as possible were going to be affected as much as possible("I'm not happy so why should anyone else be?"), so she borrowed a gun so the friend would have to live with it for the rest of his life. Which pissed me off enormously.

Still does.

And yet more insanity in Britain

Was at Hell in a Hanbasket and found a link to this article simply titled "It's This Bad". It details several 'third time 'round the toilet' situations. In two, lives were destroyed and the punishment for those responsible? A few months in jail. In another, some delinquents are setting a fire in a dumpster and when a lady calls to report it a: the police don't want to take a report, b: finally take a report, c: "This was not the end of the matter. About 15 minutes later, a more senior policeman telephoned to upbraid her and tell her she had been wasting police time with her insistence on satisfaction in so trivial a matter. The police, apparently, had more important things to do than suppress arson. Goodness knows what homophobic remarks were being made while the youths were merely setting a fire that could have spread, and in the process learning that they could do so with impunity."

Oh, the 'homophobic remarks' were made about a horse; yes, he covers that, too.

His summation:
"The newspapers confirmed what I had long perceived before I left Britain: that the zeitgeist of the country is now one of sentimental moralizing combined with the utmost cynicism, where the government’s pretended concern for the public welfare coexists with the most elementary dereliction of duty. There is an absence of any kind of idealism that is a necessary precondition of probity, so that bad faith prevails almost everywhere. The government sees itself as an engineer of souls (to use the phrase so eloquently coined by Stalin with regard to writers who, of course, were expected to mold Homo Sovieticus by the power of their words). Government thus concerns itself with what people think, feel, and say—as well as with trying to change their freely chosen habits—rather than with performing its one inescapable duty: that of preserving the peace and ensuring that citizens may go about their lawful business in confidence and safety. It is more concerned that young men should not smoke cigarettes in prison or make silly jokes to policemen than that they should not attack and permanently maim their elders and betters.

One definition of decadence is the concentration on the gratifyingly imaginary to the disregard of the disconcertingly real. No one who knows Britain could doubt that it has very serious problems—economic, social, and cultural. Its public services—which already consume a vast proportion of the national wealth—are not only inefficient but completely beyond amelioration by the expenditure of yet more money. Its population is abysmally educated, to the extent that in a few more years Britain will not even have a well-educated elite. An often cynical and criminally minded population has been indoctrinated with shallow and gimcrack notions—for example, about social justice—that render it singularly unfit to compete in an increasingly competitive world. Not coincidentally, Britain has serious economic problems, even if the government has managed so far—in the eyes of the world, at least—to paper over the cracks. Unpleasant realities cannot be indefinitely disguised or conjured away, however.

Therefore I have removed myself: not that I imagine things are much better, only slightly different, in France. But one does not feel the defects of a foreign country in quite the same lacerating way as the defects of one’s native land; they are more an object of amused, detached interest than of personal despair."

It's really sad to read. And a real big flashing, horn-honking warning to us.

"We should be more like England"

say the people like Kennedy and Pelosi and Schumer. Well, Brit mentioned this in the comments to 'Show your carry gun' and I found it:
"Knife scanners to be used UK-wide

The use of metal detectors to catch people carrying knives is to be extended by British Transport Police across the UK, the BBC has learned.
Operation Shield was launched in London two months ago to target those carrying knives on the Tube network and trains."


This really shouldn't be a surprise. Many crimes you don't even get a jury trial anymore, the police can search you just about any time they please and you have no real right of privacy or self-defense. So of course the cops are going to set up scanners to hassle anyone carrying enough metal to set them off. And do you really think they care whether it's a Swiss Army knife that you carry to open boxes with?

"It will be across the country," he said. "It won't be there all the time. Obviously local police have to use their judgment as to when they deploy officers on the scanning equipment." If you've followed some of the history that Kevin tracks over at Smallest Minority, you've read of long waits for police response to reports of crime; but I doubt they'll let little things like that keep them from spending manpower and money to run their 'knife scanners'. After all, nobody has any legitimate reason to carry a knife, now do they? Oh, there's cutting string and rope and opening boxes and cutting paper and lunch and... but those don't matter! You could wait until you have some scissors or something! So say your betters!

Now look at this:
"But London community worker Shaun Bailey said that many young people carried knives because they felt uneasy."

"Where the real problems start, with the young people in particular, is when they carry a knife for use of defence," he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"They're called offensive weapons for a reason - you cannot defend yourself with a knife, you can only ever attack someone - but lots of young people carry them for a fashion statement because they feel uneasy.

"What needs to be looked at is why so many people feel uneasy, and then carry a knife."

"Home Office figures released in January showed violent crime in England and Wales rose 4% between July and September last year."

For the moment let's pass over the idiocy of "you cannot defend yourself with a knife, you can only ever attack someone", and get to the heart of this: "...why so many people feel uneasy, and then carry a knife." How about because they're scared? How about because crime rates over there are bloody awful? How about because it's the only kind of weapon an honest citazen- excuse me, 'subject of the Crown' can obtain? But instead of busting criminals and putting them in jail and keeping them there, by God they're going to war on the "knife-carrying culture".

Kevin's put it well in the past; it ain't the tool, it's who's using it and why. A sub-machine gun in the hands of an honest citazen is a threat only to those who would attack others; a bottle in the hand of a criminal is a threat. But they just don't seem to give a damn about this, or maybe it's just so much easier to target objects than to actually, I don't know, do something about the criminals?

And just to touch on it, there is no such thing as an inherently offensive or defensive weapon; it can be used for either. To go back in history a bit, a sword could be used to defend yourself; and you could kill someone with a shield just as effectively as with a sword. It's not the weapon; it is how it is used. We've got our idiot politicians too, with their 'only good for killing' rhetoric about firearms. Never mind that killing someone who attacks you in your home is a legitimate use of force; to them all weapons are bad. Unless it's a government minion carrying it, of course.

Brit, you're right. Our Constitutionally-noted right to arms is a precious thing. And we need to defend it from the idiots who would take it away.

"Show your carry gun", says Xavier

Here's his, and here's mine. Kimber Compact .45















Worn spots on the frame, worn areas on the slide. Holster and shooting wear. I bought this pistol when I decided to get my carry permit(still pisses me off that honest people have to get a 'permit' to carry for self-defense), and it's been all over with me. Around town, on the highway, range, woods. Not as shiny and clean as it used to be, but hell, neither am I.

After having tried several different types/brands, I settled on Speer Gold Dot 185-grain hollow points for my ammo. Barring special circumstances, I shouldn't need to shoot through car doors and such, the lighter bullet gives me a bit less recoil for faster recovery and less penetration; in an urban area, generally a good thing.

I've carried others at times, but this is the one that usually goes on my hip or under my arm.

Ok, Head

Having been tagged with this, ok, let's see...

1. Every so often I get an incredible craving for fries. Fresh, hot, crisp ones. Like the ones at Outback in the cheese fries.
Dammit, that made me hungry.

2. In junior high, I decided to fill in a biology exam 'appropriately'. According to my sense of things. Unfortunately the teacher did not enjoy embellishments like spelling 'jellyfish' with shaky letters.

3. Attempting to teach myself something of oriental martial arts- with no books or lessons(except for Kung Fu) I once, on a high kick, hooked my heel over the clothesline. It stayed up there. Until the wire bobbed back up and that leg levered the other off the ground. You know that sound effect of someone hitting the ground flat on their back? It really does sound like that.

4. I once tried to talk someone out of suicide. It didn't work.

5. Did you know that if you pick up a piece of steel that's hot enough, you really do hear a sizzle?
I learned that. Once.

6. My daughter once noted that if I were missing, she'd have a real easy time listing identifying scars and marks. No tattoos, though.

But I'm not passing it on, I have quite enough people who don't like me already.

Easter trip: also a supply run

'Supply' in this case meaning steel. One type in particular. I use 3/16" square stock to make the roasting forks I did the post on the making of, and it's hard to find. Oh, it can be ordered from a couple of places as key stock; but only in 12" lengths. And since it takes 30" to make one of the long ones, that doesn't work too well. And gets expensive.

I used to get it from a salvage yard here in town in 12' lengths. That's enough to make four long ones and one shorter from the 24" piece left. Then that place closed. I finally found another place that sometimes carried it, and for the same price. Until now. Just before Medieval Fair I needed some and found out that a: the stuff they now had was 10' sticks, b: the price had gone up and c: they were, after my buy, out of it. And may or may not get more.

So I had asked one of the folks I'd be staying with to, if he had time, call some steel suppliers in his area and see if it was available. Lo and behold, he found one. So while down there went by and bought 20 sticks for the price I used to get up here. And then...

I asked the guy if they could cut it, he said sure and went out to see "If I have that many in stock". I figured cut them at the 60" mark, that'd give me 20 5' pieces and 20 7' pieces, much easier to put in the truck(no, I did not like the idea of driving down the highway with seven feet of steel bar bobbing up and down behind me). Then he came back in & said "It's ready". "You already cut it?" "Yeah". He had cut it all in half instead of asking me how long I wanted it cut. It was still a better price, but dammit! Each of the pieces would give me two 30" pieces with 12" left over, not long enough to use for much.

I mentioned to the guy carrying it out that I wished the guy had asked for size before cutting, and he stopped and asked if it was a problem. I said yes, and explained why. He (who turned out to be the owner) said to wait a minute and went back in. Came out a couple of minutes later with a question, and I clarified what I used the stuff for. He said to wait while he did some more figuring and went back in. Friend and I discussed this, and decided maybe he was going to give me a discount on the stuff. After about five minutes he came out with a short bundle and said "Twenty two-foot pieces, will that take care of it?" He'd cut up a little over three sticks to make up for the error. I stammered something along the lines of "Very well! Thank you!" and we loaded up and left.

So at this point I can recommend Metal Supermarkets in Fort Worth. Any business can make a mistake; it's how they handle it that counts. And they handled it well.

More followup on the New Orleans firearms thefts

And I deliberately use the word 'thefts'. A thief takes something that doesn't belong to him. Not only did various 'law enforcement officers' take people's firearms, those people are now not being allowed to have them back, or being told to jump through hoops. Or the agents are not answering their phones. As the one victim says, "I won't ever see that gun again believe me," Taplet said. "It's gone like everything else in that storm."

Except this property was not destroyed by nature; it was stolen by the minions of the state. Who, it seems, have decided to keep it for themselves.

I've got a question. What happens if, as in the case of Mr. Taplet, he goes to his local agency and files a theft report on his missing shotgun? If the people who took it say they don't have it, then they either lost it or it was stolen. Will his local agency take a theft report?

The chief of police of NO is a damned disgrace to the very concept of law enforcement. He's lied, he's broken the law, he's tried to cover up his actions. The mayor who was involved in this is equally vile and criminal for this and other actions. And every 'law enforcement' officer involved in this should have the badge ripped off their chest. Just before they're thrown in jail. This, of course, after their victims sue them for everything they've got.

Speaking of overpriced OEM parts,

I give you Kawasaki brake rotors. With tax, right at $300. Each.

As opposed to, for instance, EBC rotors for about $135 each. And these are a forged aluminum center with steel friction rings.

I don't care how damn proud these companies are of their name, it doesn't make the parts worth that much more.

To properly salute someone

who's really pissing off the BPMs, you should go here and enjoy. A bunch of BPM hackers caused his site to go down twice, but he's back! He's Better! He's AARON!

By the way, Carnival of Cordite #55

is up at Gullyborg

The Sheepdog's War

Found a link to this post at Confederate Yankee which contains the text of an e-mail sent to him. Very much worth reading. Deals with sheep, wolves and sheepdogs, and the differences between.

I'll add in something about the sheepdogs; when possible, they try to give some of the sheep fangs and claws. They may not shift to sheepdogs, but they are much less likely to become a victim.

I've dealt with people who flatly choose to be sheep; and some who decide to become, if not sheepdogs, one of Churchill's 'well-armed sheep'. The former are just about hopeless; the latter decide that they'd rather be armed and a little spooked by it than be unarmed and scared. I mentioned a couple of posts back that I've been teaching a friend to shoot. She's not interested at this time in sport shooting; she's interested in protecting herself. One of the things I've worked on with her is pointing out that if it comes to worst case, she's got to be able to look down that gun barrel at another human and pull the trigger. As many times as it takes.

I guess that's one of the big dividing lines; the line between those who say they could never hurt another person, and those who face the possibility and say "If I have to, I can". For the first group there are no goblins or orcs or vile wastes of oxygen that need fighting(although they often seem to see the President as such) because 'violence is always bad' and so forth; the second group generally hates the idea of hurting others, but will do it if need be. It's not a pleasant thought, there's nothing 'adventurous' or noble about it, it's just what has to be done.

I've (happily) never been in the roothog-or-die situation, I don't know if I'd qualify as a low-level sheepdog or just a feral sheep who knows the wolves are there and grew horns. I do know that when a friend once expressed horror that I'd taught my daughter and son to shoot, and do anything else necessary to protect themselves, she was horrified. She's one of the peace-at-any-price people. I want my kids to be sheepdogs.

Tough ones. With big fangs.

Just to mention another reason why Cabela's is evil,

in the Gun Library, they had two things. One was like this:





a Krieghoff Classic Big Five in .470 Nitro Express. The other was a Pedersoli Sharps in .45-120. Both absolutely beautiful examples of the gunmakers art.

I hate that place.

Ever heard 'Year of the Cat'?

by Al Stewart? If not, why not? Kim had a post a few days back on the subject of music 'then and now', most specifically about Genesis. And I spent the weekend, while driving to, from and around TX listening to, among others, Stewart and the Alan Parsons Project. And it reminded my why I hate so much 'modern' music so bad.

On a morning from a Bogart movie
in a country where they turned back time,
You go strollin' through the crowd like Peter Lorre
contemplating a crime.
She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
like a watercolor in the rain.
Don't bother asking for explanations, she'll just tell you that she came
in the Year of the Cat

Current crap with lots of bass and distortion and screaming 'singers' you can't understand just don't measure up.

He brought out his first album in 1967, and he's still out there working. More albums than I'd realized before I looked at his site. How about a verse from 'Song on the Radio':

I remember the first time I saw you
Alone in the dark with a drink
With a candle flame burning before you
And your thoughts closed in
You were staring out into the distance
Not seeming to hear what I said
Why did you put up such resistance
Like all the lights are red

Cause you and me baby
I saw you there
Straight away I knew
There's really no hiding
I'll tell you right now
What we're gonna do
We'll go collecting the days
Putting the moments away
You're on my mind like a
Song on the Radio

I was in that fairly disgusting period known as being a teenager when I first heard his work, and I've liked it ever since

Back from Texas

Friends in good shape, nice trip. Amazingly, no really bad traffic either way except for a backup- about ten minutes worth- on 820 in Fort Worth, for a Friday hardly worth mentioning.

I have to give advice to those of you who may not be aware of this: Cabela's is evil. Probably not just the store north of Fort Worth, but all of them. EVIL, I tell you. You walk in there and almost wherever you look are things calling out to you, "Buy me! Take me home!" And there were SALES on, dammit, and clearance bins! I made it out with my hide intact, but just barely.

And just to give Kim some warm & fuzzy feelings, the folks I stayed with I helped get started back to shooting a while back, and helped pick out their sidearms. Which are still happy members of the family. Sniff. It's always emotional to know you helped someone attain the status of 'prepared goblin-whacker'.

So I'm home, and the sprinkler's on in the back yard, the dogs are fed and petted. I've got some reading to do.

You need to read this

over at Publicola, Culture. As soon as possible.

Head-shot, hey hey!

Killiards, yuck

Shot for the current postal matches yesterday. Head-shot came out pretty good:















Pulled a little low, but all in the good black. This is actually one of the nightmare scenarios I used to have. Loading, aiming and firing with that in mind, I'm surprised it came out this good. I did shoot two-handed, didn't think to take the flashlight with me to shoot that style.

Killiards, on the other hand...
Offhand:















and rested:














Shot with a Ruger 22/45 and iron sights. Note to self: do NOT shoot for score on targets like this:
a: after something like Head-shot
b: when tired
c: when hungry. I just couldn't seem to keep things steady offhand. Not making excuses, I know I can shoot better than this, just didn't manage it this night. These are so damn lousy I hate to enter them, but I will.

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.