Over at Kim's place there's this post on the 'noble savage' crap. I say 'crap' because that ideal is just that. Which reminded me of a similar situation someone once brought up.
At Medieval Fair, as I was hammering away on something, someone brought up the idea of being able to travel back to medieval or pre-medieval times to live, and wouldn't that be so wonderful for me? I didn't quite laugh at them, but it was close; I try to be polite to people. After regaining control I explained some of the reasons why it would NOT be all that wonderful, and thought I'd recap some of them here.
Steel, at that time, was usually damn hard to come by. So, for that matter, was wrought iron, which is why any blacksmith you'll find will still have a pile of bits & pieces left over from earlier pieces; recycling wasn't politically correct, it sometimes meant survival in your trade at minimum. Whereas nowadays I can go to a salvage yard and for $.20/pound buy scrap steel that is of better quality than most smiths through history ever saw. Want virgin metal for a special project? A little more expensive. I can pull up, for instance, the Enco catalog and order drill rod and other high-carbon stock in round or flat bar and have it delivered to the door.
I ain't no peasant, which with some exceptions all smiths were; and even the high-ranking artisans were generally still just a damn workman of no particular social standing or value. You depended on pleasing the lord of the area for both work and staying alive. And not pissing off some passing bandit who'd decide to rob and kill you.
Medical care at the time was, for the most part, nothing to look hopefully toward. I've been burned, cut and otherwise injured, and with the wonders of modern medicine had nothing more than stitches in the long term. I had a long term, which(especially in the case of appendicitis) would not have been the case in the past. Not to mention all the other stuff that's a nuisance nowadays; back then could be crippling and/or a death sentance.
Food is a lot more varied and cheap now. Bitch all you want about various aspects; fresh meat, fruits & veggies, cheese year 'round, bread you don't have to bake yourself, ways to keep it all fresh instead of going bad in a day or two. And, if you need a little something extra, supplements available cheap from vitamins to glucosimine.
Justice, despite the bullshit in our system is a LOT more available now than back then.
And, it being a fact that my shoulder is not up to a whole lot of swordwork now, having a firearm in case of self-defense need beats hell out of keeping an axe or sword and shield handy. You ever tried using a real shield? I'll keep my Benelli, thank you kindly.
Which all ties into something else; people who think that going back to, say, a 4- or 500 A.D. time would be better because things were so much cleaner without all the industrial crap in the air. Just to keep this to one field,
Do you plan to have metals? For farming and hunting tools(forget about fighting tools; in this view they usually think violence will be rare)? That means the following:
Mining to get the ores.
Fuel for the smelters and forges. With no gas or electricity, that means either coal or charcoal. Coal means more mining; charcoal means cutting down and burning trees. A LOT of trees, since charcoal has less energy per pound than you get from good coal. Say goodbye to lots of forest.
And so on, from there. No way to preserve meat except smoking and drying(unless you live near a place where you can get a lot of salt). Lots of diseases, including tetanus since there's no vaccine and you use lots of horses & oxen as draft animals. Like to sit in the evening and read? No books, or else so rare that you can't get one, and after sundown it's too damn dark to read. No music unless you make it yourself. And so on.
No question, there were good things about back then. But in the overall, if I could go back it'd be for visits; I like hot water out of a faucet and clean sheets on the bed and air conditioning. That's another point; a lot of the people talking about the 'wonderful old days' have never been without heating in the winter and cooling in the summer except when walking outside. I've been through Oklahoma summers without anything except a fan; like it is tonight, you lay with the fan on you and you still sweat and pray for fall to come soon. Screw that.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
In which the UN, for now, gives up
I know a lot of other people have noted this, but The Volokh Conspiracy has note of the end of the UN Gun-Grabber & Nanny-State Socialist(I repeat myself) Conference, which basically gave up, and I have to say something about it.
Gave up with no plans for future conferences because "...that draft document eliminated various provisions that the U.S. delegation had found objectionable, but also declared that there would be at least two more conferences. The U.S. delegation refused to assent, and so the conference ended with no consensus agreement, and no plans for future conferences.
So, because the inimitable John Bolton & Co. passed on the word that if the weenies did what they wanted the U.S. would say "Up yours" in polite terms, this waste of time, oxygen and money ended without success in their primary aim: a treaty that would trash our Constitution.
No, I'm not being alarmist. Just about every amendment in the Constitution pisses off various governments, dictators and bureaucrats around the world; and because we ARE the 800-pound gorilla in the room, they can't get around us. And as pissed as I am at Bush about various things, as Volokh puts it, If a few hundred votes had changed in Florida in 2000, or if 60,000 votes had changed in Ohio in 2004, the results of the 2001 and 2006 U.N. gun control conferences would have been entirely different. There would now be a legally binding international treaty creating an international legal norm against civilian gun ownership, a prohibition on the transfer of firearms to "non-state actors" (such as groups resisting tyrants), and a new newspeak international human rights standard requiring restrictive licensing of gun owners. With a Presidential signature on such a treaty (even if the treaty were never brought to the Senate floor for ratification), the principles of the anti-gun treaty would be eroding the Second Amendment, through Executive Orders, and through the inclination of some courts to use unratified treaties as guidance in interpretting the U.S. Constitution.
Which is one of the reasons the thought of President Kerry or Gore or Clinton gives me cold chills. And the urge to load a bandolier of ammo, just in case.
Additional: if you're stupid enough to think I'm threatening those people, you're probably too stupid to read this and understand it. "...just in case" refers to gun-grabbing minions showing up at your door demanding "Give up your guns or else!" To repeat the Geeks' words to Rebecca Peters, Molon Labe, bitches.
Or his followup, "And to our enemies, well,
Fuck y'all, ya hear?"
Gave up with no plans for future conferences because "...that draft document eliminated various provisions that the U.S. delegation had found objectionable, but also declared that there would be at least two more conferences. The U.S. delegation refused to assent, and so the conference ended with no consensus agreement, and no plans for future conferences.
So, because the inimitable John Bolton & Co. passed on the word that if the weenies did what they wanted the U.S. would say "Up yours" in polite terms, this waste of time, oxygen and money ended without success in their primary aim: a treaty that would trash our Constitution.
No, I'm not being alarmist. Just about every amendment in the Constitution pisses off various governments, dictators and bureaucrats around the world; and because we ARE the 800-pound gorilla in the room, they can't get around us. And as pissed as I am at Bush about various things, as Volokh puts it, If a few hundred votes had changed in Florida in 2000, or if 60,000 votes had changed in Ohio in 2004, the results of the 2001 and 2006 U.N. gun control conferences would have been entirely different. There would now be a legally binding international treaty creating an international legal norm against civilian gun ownership, a prohibition on the transfer of firearms to "non-state actors" (such as groups resisting tyrants), and a new newspeak international human rights standard requiring restrictive licensing of gun owners. With a Presidential signature on such a treaty (even if the treaty were never brought to the Senate floor for ratification), the principles of the anti-gun treaty would be eroding the Second Amendment, through Executive Orders, and through the inclination of some courts to use unratified treaties as guidance in interpretting the U.S. Constitution.
Which is one of the reasons the thought of President Kerry or Gore or Clinton gives me cold chills. And the urge to load a bandolier of ammo, just in case.
Additional: if you're stupid enough to think I'm threatening those people, you're probably too stupid to read this and understand it. "...just in case" refers to gun-grabbing minions showing up at your door demanding "Give up your guns or else!" To repeat the Geeks' words to Rebecca Peters, Molon Labe, bitches.
Or his followup, "And to our enemies, well,
Fuck y'all, ya hear?"
Friday, July 07, 2006
Forging a blade
Having finally had time to do this, I now present the forging of a small general-use knife
I'm starting off with some flat bar stock, from what I can tell W2, a water-hardening tool steel of fairly simple alloy. Don't let the 'water-hardening' fool you; in a piece like this, or any other thin section, use a light quenching oil, preferably heated to around 100 F. If you quench a thin section in water, it's quite likely to crack.
First, bring the few inches for the blade up to heat
Then hammer it into a point tapered toward one edge. Remember that when you hammer on the edge it not only tapers it, it spreads it wider, so you'll have to make a few strokes on the side to keep the thickness even.
Reason for 'toward one edge' is that when you hammer in the bevels from the back to the edge, the edge side will be stretching- a lot in many cases- so you both taper toward one edge, and then bend it toward the edge side
When you start hammering, you'll be placing the edge section along one edge of the anvil and striking with the hammer face at an angle, starting at the back end of the blade and working forward. You're spreading the steel so it'll be thinner at the edge, and if you don't have it at the edge of the face you'll be banging the hammer and anvil faces up.
Start at the rear, and it'll straighten as you work forward
This is after working one side. The blade is mostly straight and the bevel from back to edge is visible.
Next heat, it'll be worked on the opposite edge of the anvil to shape the other bevel
Here's the piece now. The bevels are formed, the blade is rough-shaped in profile and length. You can do some more hammer work to refine the shape a bit and- very important- make sure the edge is straight and centered; if it's crooked or off-center, NOW is the time to take care of that.
This piece is going to have a full tang, meaning the full length and width of the grip section; in this case it'll be drilled and the wood, stag or whatever will be pinned and glued in place. First I bring it up to heat, then, at the back of the blade, hammer it over the edge of the anvil to form the front of the tang
Then figure out how much stock you'll need to shape the tang and cut it off. If in doubt, cut it too long; you can always trim it. I usually bring it up to heat and cut it on the cutoff hardy, basically a chisel with a tang that fits into the square hardy hole; lay it on the edge and hit a couple of strokes, then use tongs to break it off at that point.
leaving this
Now, to lengthen the tang I heat it and use the peen side of a straight-peen hammer. By striking with this face, you stretch it lengthwise while getting minimal spread in width.
After working down one side, work down the other. You'll have to also work the edges a bit to keep them at the width you want. And watch how much you use the peen; it's possible to wind up with the tang thinner than you want. Plan on it being the fullest thickness where tang meets blade, tapering thinner from there.
At this point you'll need to watch the back to make sure it doesn't wind up with some odd curve or bulge you don't want; the overall straightness; make sure the edge is still centered. It's possible to do virtually all of the shaping on the anvil, leaving just a slight bit of grinding or filing to clean up the profile, then heat-treat it. If you want shiny sides and smooth lines, you'll want to plan on making the blade a little oversize. Then you can grind the profile clean, and it'll be thick enough that you can grind off the hammer/forge marks.
How much grinding to clean up the sides depends almost entirely on how carefully you work. One thing that makes a big difference is to hit the piece with a wire brush when you take it out of the fire, a few strokes on both sides to get rid of scale. You can put a little water on the anvil face and dip the hammer face, then take the piece straight from the fire to the anvil and hammer. It's messy, the first stroke or two can get very loud 'bangs' from trapped water flashing to steam when you strike, but it works very well. And remember, the more even your hammer strokes, the better the finish will be when the forging is done.
When doing the last work on it, keep the heat to a low red, and after the hammering is done and all is as you wish it, put it in the fire and bring it up to a low red heat, over as much of the length and as even as possible, then bring it out and let it cool. This is not annealing; that requires bringing it to heat and cooling it as slowly as possible to make it as soft as possible. This is normalizing, evening out the stresses in the piece. A lot of makers do anneal here, putting the hot blade into a can of pre-heated ash or something that will hold in heat. You make your choice of which to do.
Which leaves you with this:
Forged, normalized and ready to grind or file to profile, to clean up the edge bevels and flatten the tang. When I get a chance to do this I'll post pictures of that.
I'm starting off with some flat bar stock, from what I can tell W2, a water-hardening tool steel of fairly simple alloy. Don't let the 'water-hardening' fool you; in a piece like this, or any other thin section, use a light quenching oil, preferably heated to around 100 F. If you quench a thin section in water, it's quite likely to crack.
First, bring the few inches for the blade up to heat
Then hammer it into a point tapered toward one edge. Remember that when you hammer on the edge it not only tapers it, it spreads it wider, so you'll have to make a few strokes on the side to keep the thickness even.
Reason for 'toward one edge' is that when you hammer in the bevels from the back to the edge, the edge side will be stretching- a lot in many cases- so you both taper toward one edge, and then bend it toward the edge side
When you start hammering, you'll be placing the edge section along one edge of the anvil and striking with the hammer face at an angle, starting at the back end of the blade and working forward. You're spreading the steel so it'll be thinner at the edge, and if you don't have it at the edge of the face you'll be banging the hammer and anvil faces up.
Start at the rear, and it'll straighten as you work forward
This is after working one side. The blade is mostly straight and the bevel from back to edge is visible.
Next heat, it'll be worked on the opposite edge of the anvil to shape the other bevel
Here's the piece now. The bevels are formed, the blade is rough-shaped in profile and length. You can do some more hammer work to refine the shape a bit and- very important- make sure the edge is straight and centered; if it's crooked or off-center, NOW is the time to take care of that.
This piece is going to have a full tang, meaning the full length and width of the grip section; in this case it'll be drilled and the wood, stag or whatever will be pinned and glued in place. First I bring it up to heat, then, at the back of the blade, hammer it over the edge of the anvil to form the front of the tang
Then figure out how much stock you'll need to shape the tang and cut it off. If in doubt, cut it too long; you can always trim it. I usually bring it up to heat and cut it on the cutoff hardy, basically a chisel with a tang that fits into the square hardy hole; lay it on the edge and hit a couple of strokes, then use tongs to break it off at that point.
leaving this
Now, to lengthen the tang I heat it and use the peen side of a straight-peen hammer. By striking with this face, you stretch it lengthwise while getting minimal spread in width.
After working down one side, work down the other. You'll have to also work the edges a bit to keep them at the width you want. And watch how much you use the peen; it's possible to wind up with the tang thinner than you want. Plan on it being the fullest thickness where tang meets blade, tapering thinner from there.
At this point you'll need to watch the back to make sure it doesn't wind up with some odd curve or bulge you don't want; the overall straightness; make sure the edge is still centered. It's possible to do virtually all of the shaping on the anvil, leaving just a slight bit of grinding or filing to clean up the profile, then heat-treat it. If you want shiny sides and smooth lines, you'll want to plan on making the blade a little oversize. Then you can grind the profile clean, and it'll be thick enough that you can grind off the hammer/forge marks.
How much grinding to clean up the sides depends almost entirely on how carefully you work. One thing that makes a big difference is to hit the piece with a wire brush when you take it out of the fire, a few strokes on both sides to get rid of scale. You can put a little water on the anvil face and dip the hammer face, then take the piece straight from the fire to the anvil and hammer. It's messy, the first stroke or two can get very loud 'bangs' from trapped water flashing to steam when you strike, but it works very well. And remember, the more even your hammer strokes, the better the finish will be when the forging is done.
When doing the last work on it, keep the heat to a low red, and after the hammering is done and all is as you wish it, put it in the fire and bring it up to a low red heat, over as much of the length and as even as possible, then bring it out and let it cool. This is not annealing; that requires bringing it to heat and cooling it as slowly as possible to make it as soft as possible. This is normalizing, evening out the stresses in the piece. A lot of makers do anneal here, putting the hot blade into a can of pre-heated ash or something that will hold in heat. You make your choice of which to do.
Which leaves you with this:
Forged, normalized and ready to grind or file to profile, to clean up the edge bevels and flatten the tang. When I get a chance to do this I'll post pictures of that.
Flea market report
Delayed
This is actually from two weeks ago, but with one thing and another I flat forgot to post it.
Lots of stuff to look at, but what I came home with was this:
Old steel tool box with
3/8" Craftsman ratchet
1/2" Craftsman ratchet
bunch of sockets, standard and metric, about 1/3 Craftsman
short and long 3/8" extensions
bunch of combination wrenches, standard and metric
pliers, wire cutters, 2 oz hammer, screwdrivers, a tube of Permatex and a sharpening steel(!)
All for $20. I'd been thinking about getting acheap inexpensive socket set for around the house stuff, this'll take care of that and a box to keep it in, and the other stuff will always be handy.
Last weekend ran across a guy with several firearms on a table, including an absolutely lovely thing: a J.P. Sauer und Sohn(sp?) double, 16 guage shotgun on the left, 8.something rifle on the right. The shotgun barrel was the most beautiful damascus barrel I've ever seen, and the whole thing was spotless. Beautiful wood, engraved lock plates, marvelous balance, a very fine example of the gunmakers art. Why he brought it out there, I have no idea; the chance of someone having the money to buy it was about zero(he did indeed know what he had), but at least it gave me a chance to look at it.
This is actually from two weeks ago, but with one thing and another I flat forgot to post it.
Lots of stuff to look at, but what I came home with was this:
Old steel tool box with
3/8" Craftsman ratchet
1/2" Craftsman ratchet
bunch of sockets, standard and metric, about 1/3 Craftsman
short and long 3/8" extensions
bunch of combination wrenches, standard and metric
pliers, wire cutters, 2 oz hammer, screwdrivers, a tube of Permatex and a sharpening steel(!)
All for $20. I'd been thinking about getting a
Last weekend ran across a guy with several firearms on a table, including an absolutely lovely thing: a J.P. Sauer und Sohn(sp?) double, 16 guage shotgun on the left, 8.something rifle on the right. The shotgun barrel was the most beautiful damascus barrel I've ever seen, and the whole thing was spotless. Beautiful wood, engraved lock plates, marvelous balance, a very fine example of the gunmakers art. Why he brought it out there, I have no idea; the chance of someone having the money to buy it was about zero(he did indeed know what he had), but at least it gave me a chance to look at it.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Oh, and as to trusting to the International Criminal Court
at The Hague?
Sarajevo, 3 July (AKI) - Bosnian Muslim war-time military commander Naser Oric, convicted of crimes committed against Serb civilians during Bosnia's 1992-1995 civil war, returned home over the weekend to a hero’s welcome, while Serbs on Monday voiced outrage at the light sentence handed down to him on Friday by the United Nations' Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Andreja Mladenovic, a spokesman for Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia, said on Monday that the verdict was “a slap at justice,” and proof that the Hague Tribunal had double standards.
“We have documents showing that 3,260 people were found dead around Srebrenica from 1992-1995, and 50 are still listed as missing,” said Mladenovic. “All the evidence shows that these crimes were committed by the units under Oric’s command”, Mladenovic added.
Double-standard? Gee, you think maybe?
Sarajevo, 3 July (AKI) - Bosnian Muslim war-time military commander Naser Oric, convicted of crimes committed against Serb civilians during Bosnia's 1992-1995 civil war, returned home over the weekend to a hero’s welcome, while Serbs on Monday voiced outrage at the light sentence handed down to him on Friday by the United Nations' Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Andreja Mladenovic, a spokesman for Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia, said on Monday that the verdict was “a slap at justice,” and proof that the Hague Tribunal had double standards.
“We have documents showing that 3,260 people were found dead around Srebrenica from 1992-1995, and 50 are still listed as missing,” said Mladenovic. “All the evidence shows that these crimes were committed by the units under Oric’s command”, Mladenovic added.
Double-standard? Gee, you think maybe?
Is there NOTHING that won't be done in England
to 'appease' the enemy?
Found this at Dhimmi Watch:
His dragon-slaying heroics have kept his legend alive through the centuries.
But the Church of England is considering rejecting England's patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims.
Clergy have started a campaign to replace George with St Alban, a Christian martyr in Roman Britain.
This is just bloody pathetic.
Found this at Dhimmi Watch:
His dragon-slaying heroics have kept his legend alive through the centuries.
But the Church of England is considering rejecting England's patron saint St George on the grounds that his image is too warlike and may offend Muslims.
Clergy have started a campaign to replace George with St Alban, a Christian martyr in Roman Britain.
This is just bloody pathetic.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Happy Birthday, America
Lots of historical notes in lots of places; I'm not going to add to them. I hope to spend the evening after work with some friends, making noises and generally insulting the UN and every nanny-state socialist out there.
Enjoy the day.
Enjoy the day.
Monday, July 03, 2006
The wonders of gun confiscation
At The Volokh Conspiracy, this post links to an article by David Kopel, Paul Gallant and Joanne Eisen titled Human Rights Atrocities: The Consequences of United Nations Gun Confiscation in East Africa. They link to both PDF and HTML versions.
One of the good quotes: Stephen Ikua, a government representative, said that threats were necessary in order to get civilians to peacefully surrender their firearms. He said: "As a government, you should talk from a position of strength. You cannot come in saying you are going to respect human rights."
And be sure to check out the comments at Volokh.
One of the good quotes: Stephen Ikua, a government representative, said that threats were necessary in order to get civilians to peacefully surrender their firearms. He said: "As a government, you should talk from a position of strength. You cannot come in saying you are going to respect human rights."
And be sure to check out the comments at Volokh.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
In which the UN is told(politely) to go to hell
It's duly noted at the Geeks' place.
He also links to this at Alphecca in which the socialist and totalitarian gungrabbers reveal their true intention:
“We believe that no armed group outside of the State should be allowed to bear weapons. We also believe that regulating civilian possession of Small Arms/Light Weapons will enhance our efforts to prevent its misuse. In our view, the issue of ammunition should also be addressed in the context of the Program of Action because in the absence of ammunition, small arms and light weapons pose no danger.”
Hmmmm...... Remember this from the president-designate of the conference:"...the meeting is “not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws”? And I seem to remember Kofi Annan saying that they were not trying to ban or restrict firearms ownership in the U.S.?
If there was any question before, there isn't now: these people are damned liars and cannot be trusted in any way.
Oh, and let's not forget the complete quote from that bitch Rebecca Peters(found by Kim):
I think American citizens should not be exempt from the rules that apply to the rest of the world. At the moment there are no rules applying to the rest of the world. That’s what we’re working for. American citizens should have guns that are suitable for the legitimate purposes that they can prove. I think that eventually Americans will realize that their obsession with arming themselves in fear, in a paranoid belief that they’re going to be able to stave off the ills of the world through owning guns, through turning every house into an arsenal, eventually Americans will go away from that. I think Americans who hunt—and who prove that they can hunt—should have single-shot rifles suitable for hunting whatever they’re hunting. I mean American citizens should be like any other citizens of the world.
"...like any other citazens of the world", in case you haven't caught it, means 'unarmed, not allowed to resist, and totally dependant on the gummint for everything.
As the Geek says, Molon Labe, bitch.
He also links to this at Alphecca in which the socialist and totalitarian gungrabbers reveal their true intention:
“We believe that no armed group outside of the State should be allowed to bear weapons. We also believe that regulating civilian possession of Small Arms/Light Weapons will enhance our efforts to prevent its misuse. In our view, the issue of ammunition should also be addressed in the context of the Program of Action because in the absence of ammunition, small arms and light weapons pose no danger.”
Hmmmm...... Remember this from the president-designate of the conference:"...the meeting is “not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws”? And I seem to remember Kofi Annan saying that they were not trying to ban or restrict firearms ownership in the U.S.?
If there was any question before, there isn't now: these people are damned liars and cannot be trusted in any way.
Oh, and let's not forget the complete quote from that bitch Rebecca Peters(found by Kim):
I think American citizens should not be exempt from the rules that apply to the rest of the world. At the moment there are no rules applying to the rest of the world. That’s what we’re working for. American citizens should have guns that are suitable for the legitimate purposes that they can prove. I think that eventually Americans will realize that their obsession with arming themselves in fear, in a paranoid belief that they’re going to be able to stave off the ills of the world through owning guns, through turning every house into an arsenal, eventually Americans will go away from that. I think Americans who hunt—and who prove that they can hunt—should have single-shot rifles suitable for hunting whatever they’re hunting. I mean American citizens should be like any other citizens of the world.
"...like any other citazens of the world", in case you haven't caught it, means 'unarmed, not allowed to resist, and totally dependant on the gummint for everything.
As the Geek says, Molon Labe, bitch.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Cast bullets in rifles: why?
Og took me to task one day for shooting cast in my rifles. And the fact is, you can run into problems. So why do it?
Three reasons for me:
1. Cost
2. Tailoring loads
3. I enjoy rolling my own
Cost:
Admittedly, for some rifles not much difference. You can often buy FMJ bullets for very good prices, especially if you buy them in bulk. For others, for which pulled military ball is not available, there can be quite a difference. You do have to figure in the costs of a method of melting the lead, lube and(where appropriate) gas checks and, for many, a size/lube press. Happily, you can get some good stuff for not very much, and if take care of they'll last damn near forever.
Tailoring loads:
I started using these for my Model 94 back when my son weighed about 70 pounds and loved shooting it; my standard loads whacked him pretty hard, so I started making these so I could put together light loads for him. And the fact is, light loads that work in your rifle are good for practice. For some rifles can cut costs quite a bit(less powder for one) and give you a low-recoil, low-noise load that gives good accuracy. Which also makes them good for introducing someone to a centerfire rifle.
One more good point here: there are a lot of old rifles out there that in some cases should not be used with modern full-power ammo, or you just don't want to stress them that much even if in good condition. For these you can put together loads that won't stress things too much, and allow you to keep shooting them.
I just like it:
It's really neat to take old wheel weights and other scrap, melt & clean it, then turn it into shiny new bullets. In some cases you don't even need the size & lube press; if the as-cast diameter of the bullet matches the bore, you can lube it with something like Lee Liquid Alox and go from there.
There is another factor to consider, and it's the same as in handloading in general: is it worth your time? A lot of shooters(like Kim)don't handload because they consider any benefit in savings/tailoring loads not worth the time, and casting bullets does take some. For a lot of people, while handloading may be fine, the extra time and the expense of getting started just isn't worth it.
Quickie size/lube procedure
Take a cast bullet & gas check
Take the sizing die and top punch
The die is machined & polished perfectly round and the exact diameter you want the bullet to be, in this case .309". The nose punch fits the bullet nose so it isn't distorted in the process.
Put the die & punch into the sizing/lubing press.
The lock ring on the right holds the die in place. The press holds a stick of bullet lube and, since I use the hard, high-temp lube which has to be heated, it's bolted onto a heater. When the lube is up to temp, you place the gas check in the die, set the shank of the bullet into the check,
And press down on the lever. The bullet is forced into the die and formed to exact diameter and the gas check is crimped onto the bullet heel. You can't see it in this picture but there's a lever on top of the press that puts pressure on the lube, forcing it through the passages, into the die and then into the lube grooves. Then you raise the lever, which lifts the bullet out, and you have a ready-to-load bullet. The picture I took of the finished product didn't come out; when I get the chance I'll take another and add it in.
Update: here 'tis:
Notes:
A gas check is just a copper cup that fits on the base of a bullet designed for it; they will not fit on a plain-base bullet. A gas check bullet has a 'heel' on the base of smaller diameter where the check fits.
There are two kinds of gas checks. One is just a cup that slips on and the sizing process squishes it in a bit; the other has a thicker rim that's actually crimped onto the heel. I prefer the second type, as I've heard of cases of the other type coming off in the barrel. Which is bad.
The purpose of a gas check is to protect the base of the bullet from the hot propellant gas. Up to a point it's no problem; start loading the bullet up to higher velocities, and the gas winds up cutting into the base/corners and two things happen: accuracy can degrade, and the barrel WILL have a fouling problem.
Three reasons for me:
1. Cost
2. Tailoring loads
3. I enjoy rolling my own
Cost:
Admittedly, for some rifles not much difference. You can often buy FMJ bullets for very good prices, especially if you buy them in bulk. For others, for which pulled military ball is not available, there can be quite a difference. You do have to figure in the costs of a method of melting the lead, lube and(where appropriate) gas checks and, for many, a size/lube press. Happily, you can get some good stuff for not very much, and if take care of they'll last damn near forever.
Tailoring loads:
I started using these for my Model 94 back when my son weighed about 70 pounds and loved shooting it; my standard loads whacked him pretty hard, so I started making these so I could put together light loads for him. And the fact is, light loads that work in your rifle are good for practice. For some rifles can cut costs quite a bit(less powder for one) and give you a low-recoil, low-noise load that gives good accuracy. Which also makes them good for introducing someone to a centerfire rifle.
One more good point here: there are a lot of old rifles out there that in some cases should not be used with modern full-power ammo, or you just don't want to stress them that much even if in good condition. For these you can put together loads that won't stress things too much, and allow you to keep shooting them.
I just like it:
It's really neat to take old wheel weights and other scrap, melt & clean it, then turn it into shiny new bullets. In some cases you don't even need the size & lube press; if the as-cast diameter of the bullet matches the bore, you can lube it with something like Lee Liquid Alox and go from there.
There is another factor to consider, and it's the same as in handloading in general: is it worth your time? A lot of shooters(like Kim)don't handload because they consider any benefit in savings/tailoring loads not worth the time, and casting bullets does take some. For a lot of people, while handloading may be fine, the extra time and the expense of getting started just isn't worth it.
Quickie size/lube procedure
Take a cast bullet & gas check
Take the sizing die and top punch
The die is machined & polished perfectly round and the exact diameter you want the bullet to be, in this case .309". The nose punch fits the bullet nose so it isn't distorted in the process.
Put the die & punch into the sizing/lubing press.
The lock ring on the right holds the die in place. The press holds a stick of bullet lube and, since I use the hard, high-temp lube which has to be heated, it's bolted onto a heater. When the lube is up to temp, you place the gas check in the die, set the shank of the bullet into the check,
And press down on the lever. The bullet is forced into the die and formed to exact diameter and the gas check is crimped onto the bullet heel. You can't see it in this picture but there's a lever on top of the press that puts pressure on the lube, forcing it through the passages, into the die and then into the lube grooves. Then you raise the lever, which lifts the bullet out, and you have a ready-to-load bullet. The picture I took of the finished product didn't come out; when I get the chance I'll take another and add it in.
Update: here 'tis:
Notes:
A gas check is just a copper cup that fits on the base of a bullet designed for it; they will not fit on a plain-base bullet. A gas check bullet has a 'heel' on the base of smaller diameter where the check fits.
There are two kinds of gas checks. One is just a cup that slips on and the sizing process squishes it in a bit; the other has a thicker rim that's actually crimped onto the heel. I prefer the second type, as I've heard of cases of the other type coming off in the barrel. Which is bad.
The purpose of a gas check is to protect the base of the bullet from the hot propellant gas. Up to a point it's no problem; start loading the bullet up to higher velocities, and the gas winds up cutting into the base/corners and two things happen: accuracy can degrade, and the barrel WILL have a fouling problem.
Having spent the last couple of days in hard work
helping my parents out(hey, putting up the gazebo roof took damn near 15 minutes of hard work!), in exchange for which I only got fed, I'm now going to work on too little sleep.
Ok, so I got fed well(fresh squash out of the garden, etc.) And I got to use Dads' size lube press on a bunch of cast bullets. It was still hot outside.
Shut up. It was hot.
Oh well. More on the cast bullets later. Hopefully I'll be more coherent after some sleep.
Ok, so I got fed well(fresh squash out of the garden, etc.) And I got to use Dads' size lube press on a bunch of cast bullets. It was still hot outside.
Shut up. It was hot.
Oh well. More on the cast bullets later. Hopefully I'll be more coherent after some sleep.
Just saw the new(er) Shakira video,
Hips Don't Lie
I don't know if they lie, but hers damn sure carry on a conversation...
I don't know if they lie, but hers damn sure carry on a conversation...
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
A thought about the chemical warheads they found in Iraq
They were a mix of Sarin and mustard gas, as I recall. A bunch of people said that after this long they'd be useless, and with mustard I don't doubt it; I've read that stuff is corrosive and doesn't last too long.
However, the sarin could be a whole 'nother story. If mixed, it won't last long either from what I've read. But, remember the IED that was a sarin shell? It was a binary; the two chemicals are kept separate until the shell is fired, then the barrier is breached and they mix. If these were binary shells too, then the damn things might still be very dangerous.
And how many more are out there?
However, the sarin could be a whole 'nother story. If mixed, it won't last long either from what I've read. But, remember the IED that was a sarin shell? It was a binary; the two chemicals are kept separate until the shell is fired, then the barrier is breached and they mix. If these were binary shells too, then the damn things might still be very dangerous.
And how many more are out there?
Enfield Trainer
I mentioned shooting this the other day, and while I wrote about this rifle before(I think), I can't find the post, so here it is again.
Every army has had the problem of training new recruits. In many countries, many times they had never even held a firearm before, so starting them off with a .30-06 or 8x57mm or something was not the best of methods. Could be done, but add LOUD noise and substantial recoil in some rifles to new shooter and that's not a recipe for quick learning.
Some just picked a good bolt-action .22 and went with it, and some did this: take a standard infantry rifle, bore and chamber it for .22lr, modify the bolt- and sometimes the magazine- for the smaller cartridge, and you have a rifle slightly heavier than the standard(due to the smaller bore), but otherwise everything- trigger, sights, safety and all- was the same. So a new trainee could learn the fundamentals of shooting with the standard rifle, only with .22-level noise and no recoil to notice.
In the case of the British:
It's a #1 MkIII Enfield in all ways except cartridge and being single-shot. To simplify matters, and so as to not worry about a new troop accidentally chambering a round without realizing it, the magazine is the shell only, and there's no ejector; you place a round in the chamber, close the bolt, fire, and when you open the bolt the extractor pulls out the empty and it falls into the magazine body. Very simple and neat. And for a country worried about costs, makes collecting the brass easy.
This one has two differences from the couple I've seen before. You'll notice that it has the standard rear sight, but this one also has something interesting: a Ross rifle rear sight mounted on the receiver. In the down position it's a low, wide 'V':
and when flipped up
it's an aperture with a screw-adjustment for elevation. Which is what first caught my eye; I was at a show and, walking past a rack, saw what I thought was just another #1 until I saw that odd sight on the receiver. Which made me look more closely and when I saw it was a .22 I about freaked. I'd seen one once before; a friend had spent a couple of years looking for one before finding it, but that one did not have this sight. There's a bracket mounted to the left side of the receiver with a dovetail slot; the base for the sight fits into the slot, and a thumbscrew locks it in place:
And, right in front of the magazine is a third sling swivel. When I mentioned the rear sight and the swivel to Og, he had a fit; apparently it's not just a trainer, it's a match rifle.
All in all, it's a really neat piece of history that I get to care for for a while. The receiver is marked 1916; I don't know if it was purpose-built from the first, or if they picked a standard rifle and rebarreled/modified it for training. In either case it was very well cared for; the metal and wood are in beautiful shape, and the bore is pristine. With both Eley Sport and Federal Lightning it'll shoot very well; as the target I posted the other day shows, less than 3" at a hundred yards. I think with a solid rest(or a better shooter) it might group a bit better, but all things considered I ain't complaining.
Oh, and this is one of the reasons I take every good opportunity to tell the UN to piss off; "Prohibit civilian possession of military-style rifles", as the IANSA would force, would mean this beautiful piece of the past would wind up in a smelter.
Assuming some thieving bureaucrat didn't sneak it away for himself. The bastards.
Every army has had the problem of training new recruits. In many countries, many times they had never even held a firearm before, so starting them off with a .30-06 or 8x57mm or something was not the best of methods. Could be done, but add LOUD noise and substantial recoil in some rifles to new shooter and that's not a recipe for quick learning.
Some just picked a good bolt-action .22 and went with it, and some did this: take a standard infantry rifle, bore and chamber it for .22lr, modify the bolt- and sometimes the magazine- for the smaller cartridge, and you have a rifle slightly heavier than the standard(due to the smaller bore), but otherwise everything- trigger, sights, safety and all- was the same. So a new trainee could learn the fundamentals of shooting with the standard rifle, only with .22-level noise and no recoil to notice.
In the case of the British:
It's a #1 MkIII Enfield in all ways except cartridge and being single-shot. To simplify matters, and so as to not worry about a new troop accidentally chambering a round without realizing it, the magazine is the shell only, and there's no ejector; you place a round in the chamber, close the bolt, fire, and when you open the bolt the extractor pulls out the empty and it falls into the magazine body. Very simple and neat. And for a country worried about costs, makes collecting the brass easy.
This one has two differences from the couple I've seen before. You'll notice that it has the standard rear sight, but this one also has something interesting: a Ross rifle rear sight mounted on the receiver. In the down position it's a low, wide 'V':
and when flipped up
it's an aperture with a screw-adjustment for elevation. Which is what first caught my eye; I was at a show and, walking past a rack, saw what I thought was just another #1 until I saw that odd sight on the receiver. Which made me look more closely and when I saw it was a .22 I about freaked. I'd seen one once before; a friend had spent a couple of years looking for one before finding it, but that one did not have this sight. There's a bracket mounted to the left side of the receiver with a dovetail slot; the base for the sight fits into the slot, and a thumbscrew locks it in place:
And, right in front of the magazine is a third sling swivel. When I mentioned the rear sight and the swivel to Og, he had a fit; apparently it's not just a trainer, it's a match rifle.
All in all, it's a really neat piece of history that I get to care for for a while. The receiver is marked 1916; I don't know if it was purpose-built from the first, or if they picked a standard rifle and rebarreled/modified it for training. In either case it was very well cared for; the metal and wood are in beautiful shape, and the bore is pristine. With both Eley Sport and Federal Lightning it'll shoot very well; as the target I posted the other day shows, less than 3" at a hundred yards. I think with a solid rest(or a better shooter) it might group a bit better, but all things considered I ain't complaining.
Oh, and this is one of the reasons I take every good opportunity to tell the UN to piss off; "Prohibit civilian possession of military-style rifles", as the IANSA would force, would mean this beautiful piece of the past would wind up in a smelter.
Assuming some thieving bureaucrat didn't sneak it away for himself. The bastards.
My Acidman goodbye
It's possible you never saw his place; he called it Gut Rumbles, and he wrote about everything, including every damn thing in his life, good and bad, past, present and possible future. Once worked a lot with acids; thus he used Acidman as a moniker.
He died the other day; between health problems, despair and- in the current 'I feel like I'm gonna get stomped' situation- the IRS, I think his system just wore down.
I once wrote in a comment somewhere about him that it's amazing how someone you know solely from a blog, a few pictures and a few e-mails could come to touch you. He reminded me a bit of Jed Clampett(had Jed had a seedy youth playing in bars), had that same southern country gentleman attitude. Though a lot more rough-tongued about things, without question.
There's a bunch of people posting on what he meant to them, and how they'll miss him, like here, and here, and here. There's not much on that line to say that someone else probably hasn't said better.
Like Og said, athiest or not, he's in my prayers. 'Bye, Rob.
He died the other day; between health problems, despair and- in the current 'I feel like I'm gonna get stomped' situation- the IRS, I think his system just wore down.
I once wrote in a comment somewhere about him that it's amazing how someone you know solely from a blog, a few pictures and a few e-mails could come to touch you. He reminded me a bit of Jed Clampett(had Jed had a seedy youth playing in bars), had that same southern country gentleman attitude. Though a lot more rough-tongued about things, without question.
There's a bunch of people posting on what he meant to them, and how they'll miss him, like here, and here, and here. There's not much on that line to say that someone else probably hasn't said better.
Like Og said, athiest or not, he's in my prayers. 'Bye, Rob.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
The previous post brought to you- especially-
by a day at the range
With a friend and his son. Lots of ammo expended, lots of holes in targets, a hot and thirsty good time had by all.
In particular the kid. He'd been with us once before and couldn't hit the paper at 50 yards. At all. Moved up to 25, he could usually hit the paper but in patterns, not groups. BIG patterns. Today he started with his dads' Winchester 94/22(looks like a scaled-down model 94, but in .22lr with side-ejection) and did much better than before. And then he tried the Martini model 12(similar to the 12/15 here) and fell in love. And shot even better. Mind you, he had to use a rest, as it was too heavy for him to hold in any offhand position, but he liked it anyway. Can't blame him.
I fired a couple of things, but mostly enjoyed the #1 MkIII training rifle. I can't find the post I did on it a while back; if I can later I'll add a link. Think the #1 Enfield .303, but bored to shoot .22lr ammo. It's a marvelous thing, in this case with a Ross rear sight added on. The Ross has a wide, low notch, but when you flip the ladder up it's an aperture. Large aperture, but still works well. Enough to to allow me to do this at 100 yards with it:
A little over 2.5" spread, which I'm quite happy with. I just love shooting these old rifles.
And now, I need to put the trash out so it isn't missed(again).
With a friend and his son. Lots of ammo expended, lots of holes in targets, a hot and thirsty good time had by all.
In particular the kid. He'd been with us once before and couldn't hit the paper at 50 yards. At all. Moved up to 25, he could usually hit the paper but in patterns, not groups. BIG patterns. Today he started with his dads' Winchester 94/22(looks like a scaled-down model 94, but in .22lr with side-ejection) and did much better than before. And then he tried the Martini model 12(similar to the 12/15 here) and fell in love. And shot even better. Mind you, he had to use a rest, as it was too heavy for him to hold in any offhand position, but he liked it anyway. Can't blame him.
I fired a couple of things, but mostly enjoyed the #1 MkIII training rifle. I can't find the post I did on it a while back; if I can later I'll add a link. Think the #1 Enfield .303, but bored to shoot .22lr ammo. It's a marvelous thing, in this case with a Ross rear sight added on. The Ross has a wide, low notch, but when you flip the ladder up it's an aperture. Large aperture, but still works well. Enough to to allow me to do this at 100 yards with it:
A little over 2.5" spread, which I'm quite happy with. I just love shooting these old rifles.
And now, I need to put the trash out so it isn't missed(again).
More on the UN 'Ban Guns From Anybody Except Governments' conference
I wrote on it here and here; in the second Noddy very kindly posted addresses in the comments. I remembered seeing something(ok, a lot of somethings) at The High Road, and tracked down this thread on the matter. Which includes a very interesting excerpt from the IANSA report recently issued.
In this article, it quotes Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, who's president-designate of the conference as saying "...the NRA campaign is totally misguided because the meeting is "not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws". . Sounds good, right? Except that the excerpt has the following:
2. Regulation of civilian ownership of weapons
To maintain public safety, civilian gun possession must be
recognised as a privilege with associated responsibilities for
maintaining public safety. In most countries, in order to drive a car,
applicants must pass a test proving their fitness to drive before a
licence is issued. If a car crashes killing a pedestrian, the owner of
the car can be identified by checking the registration plate which
will be linked to the owner’s name. Guns are specifically designed
to kill. Yet the majority of countries do not have effective licensing or
registration systems for guns.
So it's a 'privilege', not a right. And 'privileges' can be taken away at any time, can't they?
Regulation of guns in civilian hands was omitted from the agreement in 2001 and thus did not form part of states’ obligations in the Programme of Action. Despite this, 70 per cent of governments have included information on controlling civilian possession in their reports to the UN since 2001. Governments clearly understand the importance of regulating civilian possession in order to prevent diversion; it is time for the UN small arms process to recognise it too.
"...the importance of regulating civilian possession in order to prevent diversion..." Because you can't have a bunch of uppity peasants able to defend themselves, now can you? And if the peasants have arms, there's not telling where they might get to.
Governments should agree to:
• Promote gun owner responsibility by requiring all firearms to be
registered. Individuals permitted to own guns and ammunition
must be held to account for their security, use and misuse.
Promote "...owner responsibility by requiring all firearms to be registered and Individuals permitted to own..." There's that 'permitted' thing again, and a UN-approved registration system of course; can you say 'nightmare'? I knew you could.
• Define minimum criteria for private ownership of guns with a national system of licensing. These should include proven capacity to handle a gun safely; knowledge of the relevant law; age limit; proof of valid reason; and a security screening based on criminal record or history of violence, including intimate partner violence. Licences should also be required for ammunition.
So you have to show 'proof of valid reason to have a firearm, and to buy ammo. And who decides what a 'valid reason' is, I wonder? Someone like Rebecca Peters, I'd guess. Who thinks there is no such thing as a 'valid reason' to own a gun.
• Prohibit civilian possession of military-style rifles, including semiautomatic rifles that can be converted to fully automatic fire and semi-automatic variants of military weapons.
So there goes your Garand, you M1 Carbine, your FAL, your AK, your anything. And, let's see, 'military-style rifles, including..." That means their list includes that 1903 Springfield, that 96 or 98 Mauser, that old S&W or Colt or Webley/Enfield or Nagant pistol or any other firearm they decide is 'military-style'. I wonder how many they'll decide don't fit the list?
• Block access to guns for people with a history of violence, particularly against intimate partners or family members.
Sounds not too bad, until you remember the crap the Lauterberg Amendment has caused. And you damn well know they'll count anything, including self-defense, as a 'history of violence'.
• Introduce safe storage requirements to prevent gun accidents, suicide, misuse and theft.
So you have to have a certified and approved safe(as expensive as possible) and let agents of the government into your home any hour of day or night to inspect. Uh-huh.
• Regulate manufacturers and dealers. A national register of all manufacturers and their distribution network, including firearm
dealers, would help prevent diversion to illicit use.
Now, we've already got all that. But just think of the layers of bureaucracy and cost these clowns could dream up to add to it.
And all this, according to the president-designate, is "not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws"
My aching redneck ass it's not. Can you say 'lying, two-faced nanny-state socialist politician who hates our freedoms and liberty'?
I knew you could
In this article, it quotes Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, who's president-designate of the conference as saying "...the NRA campaign is totally misguided because the meeting is "not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws". . Sounds good, right? Except that the excerpt has the following:
2. Regulation of civilian ownership of weapons
To maintain public safety, civilian gun possession must be
recognised as a privilege with associated responsibilities for
maintaining public safety. In most countries, in order to drive a car,
applicants must pass a test proving their fitness to drive before a
licence is issued. If a car crashes killing a pedestrian, the owner of
the car can be identified by checking the registration plate which
will be linked to the owner’s name. Guns are specifically designed
to kill. Yet the majority of countries do not have effective licensing or
registration systems for guns.
So it's a 'privilege', not a right. And 'privileges' can be taken away at any time, can't they?
Regulation of guns in civilian hands was omitted from the agreement in 2001 and thus did not form part of states’ obligations in the Programme of Action. Despite this, 70 per cent of governments have included information on controlling civilian possession in their reports to the UN since 2001. Governments clearly understand the importance of regulating civilian possession in order to prevent diversion; it is time for the UN small arms process to recognise it too.
"...the importance of regulating civilian possession in order to prevent diversion..." Because you can't have a bunch of uppity peasants able to defend themselves, now can you? And if the peasants have arms, there's not telling where they might get to.
Governments should agree to:
• Promote gun owner responsibility by requiring all firearms to be
registered. Individuals permitted to own guns and ammunition
must be held to account for their security, use and misuse.
Promote "...owner responsibility by requiring all firearms to be registered and Individuals permitted to own..." There's that 'permitted' thing again, and a UN-approved registration system of course; can you say 'nightmare'? I knew you could.
• Define minimum criteria for private ownership of guns with a national system of licensing. These should include proven capacity to handle a gun safely; knowledge of the relevant law; age limit; proof of valid reason; and a security screening based on criminal record or history of violence, including intimate partner violence. Licences should also be required for ammunition.
So you have to show 'proof of valid reason to have a firearm, and to buy ammo. And who decides what a 'valid reason' is, I wonder? Someone like Rebecca Peters, I'd guess. Who thinks there is no such thing as a 'valid reason' to own a gun.
• Prohibit civilian possession of military-style rifles, including semiautomatic rifles that can be converted to fully automatic fire and semi-automatic variants of military weapons.
So there goes your Garand, you M1 Carbine, your FAL, your AK, your anything. And, let's see, 'military-style rifles, including..." That means their list includes that 1903 Springfield, that 96 or 98 Mauser, that old S&W or Colt or Webley/Enfield or Nagant pistol or any other firearm they decide is 'military-style'. I wonder how many they'll decide don't fit the list?
• Block access to guns for people with a history of violence, particularly against intimate partners or family members.
Sounds not too bad, until you remember the crap the Lauterberg Amendment has caused. And you damn well know they'll count anything, including self-defense, as a 'history of violence'.
• Introduce safe storage requirements to prevent gun accidents, suicide, misuse and theft.
So you have to have a certified and approved safe(as expensive as possible) and let agents of the government into your home any hour of day or night to inspect. Uh-huh.
• Regulate manufacturers and dealers. A national register of all manufacturers and their distribution network, including firearm
dealers, would help prevent diversion to illicit use.
Now, we've already got all that. But just think of the layers of bureaucracy and cost these clowns could dream up to add to it.
And all this, according to the president-designate, is
My aching redneck ass it's not. Can you say 'lying, two-faced nanny-state socialist politician who hates our freedoms and liberty'?
I knew you could
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
A Bitch tells the UN to 'grow a pair',
But I doubt they will. Or can.
At the Bitch Girls found this, linking to this at Uncle. Two things strike me about this;
1. The letter writing campaign to the UN officials involved in this 'disarm the victims conference' is having an effect, and
2. An awful lot of people at the UN are a: very thin-skinned and b: really, really don't like free speech that doesn't kiss their ass or at least agree with them:At last count, his Mission had received over 100,000 letters, post cards and email messages — most of them arriving at the staggering rate of about 4,000 per day — all of them with an identical anti-U.N. message in what appears to be a rigidly coordinated letter-writing and hate-mail campaign for which the NRA is notorious in this country.
'Hate mail'? So telling UN officials that we don't like them having this conference on our soil on July 4, our Independance Day and telling them we will not trash our Constitution because it doesn't suit them is 'hate mail'? Excuse me.
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You KNOW when something sticks these nanny-state socialists, they squeal so loudly.
Oh, and from "Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, president-designate of the two-week long conference beginning Monday, we get this: "...the meeting is “not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws”. Oh, really? Remember the definition of 'small arms' from the UN website? Broadly speaking, the website says, "small arms" are weapons designed for individual use. They include revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns.
'Hate speech' my ass. They just don't like being told "We will not do what you say" so openly and loudly.
I posted earlier that I didn't think sending letters to the UN personnel would do any good. Looks like I was wrong; at the very least, it's upsetting them terribly and causing cases of the vapors. So I need to find those addresses and start writing.
At the Bitch Girls found this, linking to this at Uncle. Two things strike me about this;
1. The letter writing campaign to the UN officials involved in this 'disarm the victims conference' is having an effect, and
2. An awful lot of people at the UN are a: very thin-skinned and b: really, really don't like free speech that doesn't kiss their ass or at least agree with them:At last count, his Mission had received over 100,000 letters, post cards and email messages — most of them arriving at the staggering rate of about 4,000 per day — all of them with an identical anti-U.N. message in what appears to be a rigidly coordinated letter-writing and hate-mail campaign for which the NRA is notorious in this country.
'Hate mail'? So telling UN officials that we don't like them having this conference on our soil on July 4, our Independance Day and telling them we will not trash our Constitution because it doesn't suit them is 'hate mail'? Excuse me.
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You KNOW when something sticks these nanny-state socialists, they squeal so loudly.
Oh, and from "Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, president-designate of the two-week long conference beginning Monday, we get this: "...the meeting is “not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws”. Oh, really? Remember the definition of 'small arms' from the UN website? Broadly speaking, the website says, "small arms" are weapons designed for individual use. They include revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns.
'Hate speech' my ass. They just don't like being told "We will not do what you say" so openly and loudly.
I posted earlier that I didn't think sending letters to the UN personnel would do any good. Looks like I was wrong; at the very least, it's upsetting them terribly and causing cases of the vapors. So I need to find those addresses and start writing.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Well, lookee here, WMDs found in Iraq
Just up at Fox
Not surprising. I remember the news when the Polish troops managed to buy a bunch of chemical warheads from some people who'd sneaked them out of an ammo dump during the invasion. VERY QUICK blip on the news(gee, I wonder why?).
Now the question is, what'll the major media do with the story? And how'll a bunch of them try to spin it?
Not surprising. I remember the news when the Polish troops managed to buy a bunch of chemical warheads from some people who'd sneaked them out of an ammo dump during the invasion. VERY QUICK blip on the news(gee, I wonder why?).
Now the question is, what'll the major media do with the story? And how'll a bunch of them try to spin it?
Let us now pile up on Australia
Or at least some of the inhabitants
First time I saw Steve Irwin, aka 'The Crocodile Hunter', I was visiting my parents and they had the Discovery Channel on, and this Aussie-accented idiot was in Arizona pulling rattlesnakes out of their holes and yelling at them. Or the camera. Whichever. After a few minutes of this I looked at my folks and my son and asked "Am I the only one who want one of those snakes to bite him?" The answer was "No", everybody wanted a diamondback to chomp him; maybe that'd tone him down a bit.
Opinion hasn't changed in the time since. And then we had the idiocy of his feeding that croc with his baby in one arm. As my daughter put it, as if the basic idea wasn't bad enough, this idiot wasn't bothering to support the babys' head while dancing around the lizard. At that point she wanted to shoot him in the ass and tell him to knock it off, although I'd recommend aiming a bit higher so he couldn't reproduce again.
What brought this up is that Steve is on a tear, found here. As to little Stevie growing up:
LITTLE STEVE: Look, Mum! A snike!
MUM IRWIN: Don't touch the snike!
LITTLE STEVE: Oi touched the snike!
MUM IRWIN: Don't put the snike down ya pants.
LITTLE STEVE: Oi put the snike down me pants!
MUM IRWIN: Blimey!
LITTLE STEVE: Blimey! The snike bit me todger!
MUM IRWIN: Blimey! Whut'll we DO, Dad?
DAD IRWIN: Blimey! Let's 'ave a new biby. This one's no good. It's got no brines.
LITTLE STEVE: Oi!
MUM IRWIN: Whut'll oi do with it?
DAD IRWIN: Feed a crocodoile while 'oldin' the bleedin' thing under your ahm.
MUM IRWIN: Your 'ead smells like a bleedin' urinal.
DAD IRWIN: Lovely, innit?
To explain the urinal smell, read the whole thing.
And if an Aussie sports team is in Florida, we might chip in for some body armor for Steve after this. Although he could stuff Marv and Maynard in his shirt for padding.
What's the ballistic resistance of cockatoo?
First time I saw Steve Irwin, aka 'The Crocodile Hunter', I was visiting my parents and they had the Discovery Channel on, and this Aussie-accented idiot was in Arizona pulling rattlesnakes out of their holes and yelling at them. Or the camera. Whichever. After a few minutes of this I looked at my folks and my son and asked "Am I the only one who want one of those snakes to bite him?" The answer was "No", everybody wanted a diamondback to chomp him; maybe that'd tone him down a bit.
Opinion hasn't changed in the time since. And then we had the idiocy of his feeding that croc with his baby in one arm. As my daughter put it, as if the basic idea wasn't bad enough, this idiot wasn't bothering to support the babys' head while dancing around the lizard. At that point she wanted to shoot him in the ass and tell him to knock it off, although I'd recommend aiming a bit higher so he couldn't reproduce again.
What brought this up is that Steve is on a tear, found here. As to little Stevie growing up:
LITTLE STEVE: Look, Mum! A snike!
MUM IRWIN: Don't touch the snike!
LITTLE STEVE: Oi touched the snike!
MUM IRWIN: Don't put the snike down ya pants.
LITTLE STEVE: Oi put the snike down me pants!
MUM IRWIN: Blimey!
LITTLE STEVE: Blimey! The snike bit me todger!
MUM IRWIN: Blimey! Whut'll we DO, Dad?
DAD IRWIN: Blimey! Let's 'ave a new biby. This one's no good. It's got no brines.
LITTLE STEVE: Oi!
MUM IRWIN: Whut'll oi do with it?
DAD IRWIN: Feed a crocodoile while 'oldin' the bleedin' thing under your ahm.
MUM IRWIN: Your 'ead smells like a bleedin' urinal.
DAD IRWIN: Lovely, innit?
To explain the urinal smell, read the whole thing.
And if an Aussie sports team is in Florida, we might chip in for some body armor for Steve after this. Although he could stuff Marv and Maynard in his shirt for padding.
What's the ballistic resistance of cockatoo?
Ref the UN trying to take over(still/again)
At Michelle Malkins' I found a link to this article about the UN Gun-Grabbers International Conference the little bastards are holding on July 4.
Pretty much all you need to know about what they're after is here:According to the United Nations, the upcoming small arms conference is intended to assess progress made since 2001 and actions needed to further stem illegal small arms trade. "Crush the illicit trade in small arms," the U.N. website says.
In a "Frequently Asked Questions" section, the U.N. says although the 2001 small arms conference did not define "small arms," the United Nations General Assembly issued a document in 2005 defining "small arms and light weapons" as "any man-portable lethal weapon that expels or launches...a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of an explosive.
and
Broadly speaking, the website says, "small arms" are weapons designed for individual use. They include revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns.
And since the UN considers anyone except minions of the government having arms to be 'illicit', your 'small arms', including the shotgun or rifle Grandpa passed on to you, or the revolver you've owned for years, or the .22 rifle your father gave you when you were a kid, all these things will need to be surrendered to UN-approved forces for destruction. And remember, it's all in the names of Peace and The Children.
And (considering the way these slimy little bureaucrats operate) whoever they can sell them to under the table.
Pretty much all you need to know about what they're after is here:According to the United Nations, the upcoming small arms conference is intended to assess progress made since 2001 and actions needed to further stem illegal small arms trade. "Crush the illicit trade in small arms," the U.N. website says.
In a "Frequently Asked Questions" section, the U.N. says although the 2001 small arms conference did not define "small arms," the United Nations General Assembly issued a document in 2005 defining "small arms and light weapons" as "any man-portable lethal weapon that expels or launches...a shot, bullet or projectile by the action of an explosive.
and
Broadly speaking, the website says, "small arms" are weapons designed for individual use. They include revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles and carbines, sub-machine guns, assault rifles and light machine guns.
And since the UN considers anyone except minions of the government having arms to be 'illicit', your 'small arms', including the shotgun or rifle Grandpa passed on to you, or the revolver you've owned for years, or the .22 rifle your father gave you when you were a kid, all these things will need to be surrendered to UN-approved forces for destruction. And remember, it's all in the names of Peace and The Children.
And (considering the way these slimy little bureaucrats operate) whoever they can sell them to under the table.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Old firearm headaches
Not big ones, just little ones. Like screws that don't go where you find them, pins the wrong diameter, things like that.
That Indian Enfield I stripped/plated the screw for the other day was going back together when noticed that the forend would not mate up to the barrel as it should. Instead of snuggling up tight, the damn thing was a good 1/2" away at the muzzle end; that's a LOT of flexing to make it do. Which puts a lot of stress on things, including the barrel, which is really bad for accuracy. So took it off and looked it over.
The #1 designs all have protective ears for the rear sight. They're mounted to the stock with a screw/nut assembly made for the purpose. The nut was fine, but the screw, instead of the flathead that would nestle into the countersink in the ears(out of the way of the barrel), was a panhead that touched the barrel, causing the stand-off problem.
The fix was easy enough. Get a suitable flathead machine screw(10x32, 3/4" long), strip and blue, then install. But I've been trying to figure out where this panhead came from. It could almost be the right screw for the rear of the stock nose, but it's a touch too long. And there's nowhere else that a screw like this would fit. Maybe the first owner over here took it down completely, lost that screw and stuck this one in, not minding that it messed up the fit. Only the screw looks to be of an age with the rifle itself, the way it's made and the thread looks like a gun screw; which makes me wonder of some junior armorer-in-training in India either picked up the wrong screw or just used what was handy at some point, not caring that it didn't fit correctly?
Things to wonder about...
That Indian Enfield I stripped/plated the screw for the other day was going back together when noticed that the forend would not mate up to the barrel as it should. Instead of snuggling up tight, the damn thing was a good 1/2" away at the muzzle end; that's a LOT of flexing to make it do. Which puts a lot of stress on things, including the barrel, which is really bad for accuracy. So took it off and looked it over.
The #1 designs all have protective ears for the rear sight. They're mounted to the stock with a screw/nut assembly made for the purpose. The nut was fine, but the screw, instead of the flathead that would nestle into the countersink in the ears(out of the way of the barrel), was a panhead that touched the barrel, causing the stand-off problem.
The fix was easy enough. Get a suitable flathead machine screw(10x32, 3/4" long), strip and blue, then install. But I've been trying to figure out where this panhead came from. It could almost be the right screw for the rear of the stock nose, but it's a touch too long. And there's nowhere else that a screw like this would fit. Maybe the first owner over here took it down completely, lost that screw and stuck this one in, not minding that it messed up the fit. Only the screw looks to be of an age with the rifle itself, the way it's made and the thread looks like a gun screw; which makes me wonder of some junior armorer-in-training in India either picked up the wrong screw or just used what was handy at some point, not caring that it didn't fit correctly?
Things to wonder about...
Further proof that islamonazis are idiots
There are women like these around, and they want to either lock them indoors or keep them in a damn burkha:
Fools! FOOLS, I tell you!
Found thanks to the Sandmonkey, whose place I had never seen before.
Fools! FOOLS, I tell you!
Found thanks to the Sandmonkey, whose place I had never seen before.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Father's Day
Had been thinking about this, but one of the fatherly chores, talking to kid's who've lost a pet, kicked it to a back burner. As it was, by the time I could get there they'd already buried it.
First job I remember him having was at a bakery. Mainly remember that because of the smell; we got to visit him at work once and I still remember the aroma of fresh bread.
I mentioned a time or two that Dad was on the Highway Patrol. Joined when I was in the first grade. His first assignment got us transferred to another city, after a year there we were transferred to a small town. Stayed there for quite a while, then he applied for and got transfer from road work to doing safety education classes, where he stayed until he retired.
I remember lots of things. Including his spending very little time around for long stretches. When transferred to the small town he was the only trooper in the county, which meant he was always on call. Days off, vacation, just in from 18-20 hours on, the phone could ring and off he'd go. Time after time. I remember him coming in from bad storms and flooding, being home long enough to eat and dry off, then going back out. Getting to bed after a long day and getting up a couple of hours later when the phone rang, to go out and work another accident.
Most of that he never spoke of around me or my sister, I'd just hear bits & pieces when he spoke to Mom. I know at times he was ready to give up; between lousy pay and long hours and the stress, I really don't know why he didn't at times. Especially after some particularly bloody accident involving kids; they really messed with him.
I mentioned lousy pay. For a guy with a wife and two kids, very lousy pay. So on the days he didn't get called out, he often went to a part-time job, working at a salvage yard or for some farmer during harvest, something to bring in some more money. I can't call it 'extra' money, it was all needed. One time the car started leaking oil; blown head gasket. No way could we afford to pay someone to do it, so he borrowed a manual and a couple of tools from a mechanic and did it himself. I didn't understand for a long time how much he sweated over having the family car in his hands on a repair that could royally screw the engine if he did something wrong; but he did it right, and it never had another problem with it.
The state finally came up with the funds to hire enough troopers that there would now be at least two in each county, so Dad got some actual time off. But they didn't have enough funds to get a car for everyone, so when he was getting off Dad would go pick up the other guy who'd drive him home and take the car. Fun, fun, but at least it meant he actually had time when he didn't dread the phone ringing.
Somehow, through all this he managed to deal with two kids with their assorted demands/problems/hurts/questions and all the rest. He taught me to use tools, to fish, to shoot & hunt. And to paddle my butt when required(generally well called-for when it happened). I can't say we always got along(I try to keep lying to a minimum), but we did get by. When he started me shooting handguns he put me through some of the same training he'd had, under the idea that "If you ever really need one, you'll need to know how to use it right". This included draw & fire work and fast reloading(at my best I could start walking, at the signal draw & fire six, reload from belt loops and fire six more in a little under 11 seconds). And to check homework and all the other stuff.
This is running on far too long, and I'm just reciting facts. Big one is he was always around, times good and bad. Taught me a lot by both words and example. He & Mom have been married for more than 50 years now, and they still set a good example.
First job I remember him having was at a bakery. Mainly remember that because of the smell; we got to visit him at work once and I still remember the aroma of fresh bread.
I mentioned a time or two that Dad was on the Highway Patrol. Joined when I was in the first grade. His first assignment got us transferred to another city, after a year there we were transferred to a small town. Stayed there for quite a while, then he applied for and got transfer from road work to doing safety education classes, where he stayed until he retired.
I remember lots of things. Including his spending very little time around for long stretches. When transferred to the small town he was the only trooper in the county, which meant he was always on call. Days off, vacation, just in from 18-20 hours on, the phone could ring and off he'd go. Time after time. I remember him coming in from bad storms and flooding, being home long enough to eat and dry off, then going back out. Getting to bed after a long day and getting up a couple of hours later when the phone rang, to go out and work another accident.
Most of that he never spoke of around me or my sister, I'd just hear bits & pieces when he spoke to Mom. I know at times he was ready to give up; between lousy pay and long hours and the stress, I really don't know why he didn't at times. Especially after some particularly bloody accident involving kids; they really messed with him.
I mentioned lousy pay. For a guy with a wife and two kids, very lousy pay. So on the days he didn't get called out, he often went to a part-time job, working at a salvage yard or for some farmer during harvest, something to bring in some more money. I can't call it 'extra' money, it was all needed. One time the car started leaking oil; blown head gasket. No way could we afford to pay someone to do it, so he borrowed a manual and a couple of tools from a mechanic and did it himself. I didn't understand for a long time how much he sweated over having the family car in his hands on a repair that could royally screw the engine if he did something wrong; but he did it right, and it never had another problem with it.
The state finally came up with the funds to hire enough troopers that there would now be at least two in each county, so Dad got some actual time off. But they didn't have enough funds to get a car for everyone, so when he was getting off Dad would go pick up the other guy who'd drive him home and take the car. Fun, fun, but at least it meant he actually had time when he didn't dread the phone ringing.
Somehow, through all this he managed to deal with two kids with their assorted demands/problems/hurts/questions and all the rest. He taught me to use tools, to fish, to shoot & hunt. And to paddle my butt when required(generally well called-for when it happened). I can't say we always got along(I try to keep lying to a minimum), but we did get by. When he started me shooting handguns he put me through some of the same training he'd had, under the idea that "If you ever really need one, you'll need to know how to use it right". This included draw & fire work and fast reloading(at my best I could start walking, at the signal draw & fire six, reload from belt loops and fire six more in a little under 11 seconds). And to check homework and all the other stuff.
This is running on far too long, and I'm just reciting facts. Big one is he was always around, times good and bad. Taught me a lot by both words and example. He & Mom have been married for more than 50 years now, and they still set a good example.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Well, hell
Last night my daughter called to tell me one of the ferrets died. Belle had been losing weight and had little energy; no signs of any pain, just old. She passed on very quietly, in her sleep from what they can tell.
Kind of took my mind off Father's Day. Had something in mind to write, but it'll wait a day or two.
Kind of took my mind off Father's Day. Had something in mind to write, but it'll wait a day or two.
The Firehand Guide To Metal Stripping
And Possible Personal Injury
I'm going to have a warning in a little bit; pay attention to it!
One of the things you run into when repairing/restoring firearms, old ones in particular, is replacing screws, both wood and metal types. Sometimes a parts dealer will have them, sometimes not, or they may just cost more than you're willing to pay. You can buy new ones, but they are generally zinc plated to make them nice & shiny, and you can't blue them. What you can do is strip the zinc plating off, after which a steel screw can be blued or browned.
WARNING: this method involves the use of acid. If you get careless with this stuff, it WILL bite you. Depending on how careless/unlucky/stupid you are, the bite can range from a little redness on the skin to serious chemical burns to- if you get it in your eyes- eye damage or blindness; and if you inhale the fumes, it can damage your lungs. When you're handling the stuff wear safety glasses or goggles, wear gloves and- preferably- a long-sleeved shirt, and work either outside or in an area with good ventilation. And even outside, it might be a good idea to wear some type of breathing protection. I try to always have fresh water available in case I have to rinse myself off, and some baking soda to neutralize spills. In short: BE CAREFUL WITH THIS STUFF!
In this case, a guy needed the rear nose cap screw for a #1 MkIII Enfield rifle. It's a panhead screw with, thankfully, standard threads. We found a matching screw in my junk box, too long but that's fixable with a hacksaw and file. First we ran it into place and found out how much to cut off, trimmed it, then used a fine file to clean up the cut and give a slight taper to the end so it screwed in nice & easy. Now comes stripping. First, you need some way to hang it into the acid. I use a piece of stainless steel wire; stainless just because I have some handy in the right size, plain steel wire would be fine, but I don't think I'd use copper or aluminum. I don't know how aluminum would react with the acid, and copper would strip off into the acid and might wind up depositing on the metal.
If there's any oil or grease on the screw, clean it off thoroughly first. Then I wind the wire around the threads a few times to hold and then turn it so the head is either down or angled down:
Then into the acid. I use muriatic acid I get at a home repair place, you can also find it at pool supply stores. Swimming pool, dammit, not... never mind. Then I lower it into the acid:
Even on good-sized bolts, I've never seen it take more than about 15 seconds. It'll start bubbling as soon as it goes in, when the bubbling stops it's done. Lift it out, cap the acid, and rinse the screw & wire thoroughly. It should have a slightly 'frosted' appearance. Dry it off and dip it into(in this case) Perma Blue:
(please ignore the messy work area)
It's a good cold blue you can find all over, including Wally World.The directions say to dip or swab on, give it a minute, then rinse and if necessary polish with steel wool and repeat for a darker blue, then rinse, dry and oil. If you do repeat, after the steel wool I'd suggest washing with at least dish soap and water; steel wool has oil on it and it can interfere with the bluing process.
In this case, I left it with one treatment. Hard to tell from the picture, but it gave a nice, even color that matched nicely with the nose cap:
That's it. Fairly straightforward process, just be careful.
Notes:
Color will depend not only on the bluing chemicals, but on the steel in the screw/bolt/pin. Some alloys will color better than others, but most screws and bolts- and nails and music wire for pins- are a simple mild or high-carbon steel that colors well.
If you don't get any oil or grease off, even that from your fingers, it will affect the coloring, in some cases can prevent it from bluing at all where the traces are.
You can adjust the color somewhat by the time you leave the bluing solution on, by steel-wooling the piece after, things like that.
I'm going to have a warning in a little bit; pay attention to it!
One of the things you run into when repairing/restoring firearms, old ones in particular, is replacing screws, both wood and metal types. Sometimes a parts dealer will have them, sometimes not, or they may just cost more than you're willing to pay. You can buy new ones, but they are generally zinc plated to make them nice & shiny, and you can't blue them. What you can do is strip the zinc plating off, after which a steel screw can be blued or browned.
WARNING: this method involves the use of acid. If you get careless with this stuff, it WILL bite you. Depending on how careless/unlucky/stupid you are, the bite can range from a little redness on the skin to serious chemical burns to- if you get it in your eyes- eye damage or blindness; and if you inhale the fumes, it can damage your lungs. When you're handling the stuff wear safety glasses or goggles, wear gloves and- preferably- a long-sleeved shirt, and work either outside or in an area with good ventilation. And even outside, it might be a good idea to wear some type of breathing protection. I try to always have fresh water available in case I have to rinse myself off, and some baking soda to neutralize spills. In short: BE CAREFUL WITH THIS STUFF!
In this case, a guy needed the rear nose cap screw for a #1 MkIII Enfield rifle. It's a panhead screw with, thankfully, standard threads. We found a matching screw in my junk box, too long but that's fixable with a hacksaw and file. First we ran it into place and found out how much to cut off, trimmed it, then used a fine file to clean up the cut and give a slight taper to the end so it screwed in nice & easy. Now comes stripping. First, you need some way to hang it into the acid. I use a piece of stainless steel wire; stainless just because I have some handy in the right size, plain steel wire would be fine, but I don't think I'd use copper or aluminum. I don't know how aluminum would react with the acid, and copper would strip off into the acid and might wind up depositing on the metal.
If there's any oil or grease on the screw, clean it off thoroughly first. Then I wind the wire around the threads a few times to hold and then turn it so the head is either down or angled down:
Then into the acid. I use muriatic acid I get at a home repair place, you can also find it at pool supply stores. Swimming pool, dammit, not... never mind. Then I lower it into the acid:
Even on good-sized bolts, I've never seen it take more than about 15 seconds. It'll start bubbling as soon as it goes in, when the bubbling stops it's done. Lift it out, cap the acid, and rinse the screw & wire thoroughly. It should have a slightly 'frosted' appearance. Dry it off and dip it into(in this case) Perma Blue:
(please ignore the messy work area)
It's a good cold blue you can find all over, including Wally World.The directions say to dip or swab on, give it a minute, then rinse and if necessary polish with steel wool and repeat for a darker blue, then rinse, dry and oil. If you do repeat, after the steel wool I'd suggest washing with at least dish soap and water; steel wool has oil on it and it can interfere with the bluing process.
In this case, I left it with one treatment. Hard to tell from the picture, but it gave a nice, even color that matched nicely with the nose cap:
That's it. Fairly straightforward process, just be careful.
Notes:
Color will depend not only on the bluing chemicals, but on the steel in the screw/bolt/pin. Some alloys will color better than others, but most screws and bolts- and nails and music wire for pins- are a simple mild or high-carbon steel that colors well.
If you don't get any oil or grease off, even that from your fingers, it will affect the coloring, in some cases can prevent it from bluing at all where the traces are.
You can adjust the color somewhat by the time you leave the bluing solution on, by steel-wooling the piece after, things like that.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
There has been discussion of the state of things in Britain;
recently a gentleman there sent me some information, I'm just going to quote him:
Most of us have wondered if Govt employees are actually capable of organising a F**K up in a brothel. Looks like some British ones have been caught doing the next best thing...
A little background first.
Blair's hatred of all things rural is well known, his combined agriculture environment and whatever else department was set up during the foot & mouth outbreak in 2002. its acronym DEFRA is said to stand for Department For the Eradication of Rural Activity.
When Europe went from a system of production based agricultural support to one of area based payments for conservation, England set up a "Rural Payments Agency" within DEFRA. This was to have a fantastic computer system and was to calculate claims for the new, "much simpler" agricultural support.
Through most of the rest of Europe (probably all of Europe) claims had been submitted processed and payed by January or February. In England, many claims are still unpaid while banks, the tax man and all other creditors are still looking to have their bills paid on time.
You would think that there would be some sense of urgency?
Far from it:
There is a network of spotty faced young inspectors, making arbitary deductions from the payment(with no means of apeal or redress)for mud in field gateways and the like.
And in the Newcastle Upon Tyne office (A new office overlooking the river Tyne)in Northeast England, hidden cameras have caught the staff taking drugs, having sex accross the desks, jumping naked over filing cabinets, and the big pile of vomit in the corner of the office has never been cleaned up.
Meanwhile hidden microphones have recorded them passing derogetory remarks about the people whose payments they were supposed to be processing (echoes of Stalins comissioners who were charged with collectivising agriculture).
I think we all suspected this level of professionalism from our state employees, but it's nice to see them getting caught.
Like a lot of DMV offices on steroids, isn't it?
He also provided this link to a news story on the Newcastle Upon Tyne office.
Circling round the drain...
Most of us have wondered if Govt employees are actually capable of organising a F**K up in a brothel. Looks like some British ones have been caught doing the next best thing...
A little background first.
Blair's hatred of all things rural is well known, his combined agriculture environment and whatever else department was set up during the foot & mouth outbreak in 2002. its acronym DEFRA is said to stand for Department For the Eradication of Rural Activity.
When Europe went from a system of production based agricultural support to one of area based payments for conservation, England set up a "Rural Payments Agency" within DEFRA. This was to have a fantastic computer system and was to calculate claims for the new, "much simpler" agricultural support.
Through most of the rest of Europe (probably all of Europe) claims had been submitted processed and payed by January or February. In England, many claims are still unpaid while banks, the tax man and all other creditors are still looking to have their bills paid on time.
You would think that there would be some sense of urgency?
Far from it:
There is a network of spotty faced young inspectors, making arbitary deductions from the payment(with no means of apeal or redress)for mud in field gateways and the like.
And in the Newcastle Upon Tyne office (A new office overlooking the river Tyne)in Northeast England, hidden cameras have caught the staff taking drugs, having sex accross the desks, jumping naked over filing cabinets, and the big pile of vomit in the corner of the office has never been cleaned up.
Meanwhile hidden microphones have recorded them passing derogetory remarks about the people whose payments they were supposed to be processing (echoes of Stalins comissioners who were charged with collectivising agriculture).
I think we all suspected this level of professionalism from our state employees, but it's nice to see them getting caught.
Like a lot of DMV offices on steroids, isn't it?
He also provided this link to a news story on the Newcastle Upon Tyne office.
Circling round the drain...
Friday, June 16, 2006
Again, the wind is blowing like hell,
stronger than yesterday I think. Didn't feel too bad this morning, but after being out in it a while... The wind keeps it from feeling quite as hot at first, then it starts giving the effect of a blower pumping air through a furnace. And it's a south wind, so the humidity is up.
Right now there's a big line of storms moving out of the TX panhandle, they're currently thinking they'll move through this area after midnight. Having quieted down a bit, I hope. We need rain, but I'm not fond of the weather trying to outdo the song; 'sweeping down the plain' my ass, when it's like this and it rains it powerwashes the plain and any other thing out there.
One of the problems with the internet is precisely that there's so much good stuff out there. Mixed around with a lot of crap, but there. So there's never enough time to read through the base sites you read, and hit the links, and check out the new stuff that leads you to, etc. Hit Anthroblogogy for the first time in a while, and in this post he points out something others have also hit on the San Francisco gun ban:
The proof in the delusional pudding was that they actually thought the ordnance was "a reasonable, narrowly tailored restriction on handgun possession," In fact it illegally outlawed possession of handguns by all city residents except law enforcement officers and others who needed the guns for "professional purposes", (the Left always makes an exemption for their security apparatus) and forbidden the manufacture, sale and distribution of all guns and ammunition in San Francisco -- which lends a new definition to what narrow means, unless it's narrow-minded.
Which is why fighting these clowns is so hard. How do you reason with someone who thinks a total ban is 'a reasonable, narrowly tailored restriction'? Now, you do have to consider the possibility that they're lieing through their teeth; that they full-well know that it's a total ban and just lie about it to try and push it. But these clowns may well think that a total ban IS 'reasonable' and 'narrowly tailored'; after all it leaves the minions of government and the security people who protect the 'elites' armed, doesn't it?
Blah. Sorry leftist nanny-state fascists.
Right now there's a big line of storms moving out of the TX panhandle, they're currently thinking they'll move through this area after midnight. Having quieted down a bit, I hope. We need rain, but I'm not fond of the weather trying to outdo the song; 'sweeping down the plain' my ass, when it's like this and it rains it powerwashes the plain and any other thing out there.
One of the problems with the internet is precisely that there's so much good stuff out there. Mixed around with a lot of crap, but there. So there's never enough time to read through the base sites you read, and hit the links, and check out the new stuff that leads you to, etc. Hit Anthroblogogy for the first time in a while, and in this post he points out something others have also hit on the San Francisco gun ban:
The proof in the delusional pudding was that they actually thought the ordnance was "a reasonable, narrowly tailored restriction on handgun possession," In fact it illegally outlawed possession of handguns by all city residents except law enforcement officers and others who needed the guns for "professional purposes", (the Left always makes an exemption for their security apparatus) and forbidden the manufacture, sale and distribution of all guns and ammunition in San Francisco -- which lends a new definition to what narrow means, unless it's narrow-minded.
Which is why fighting these clowns is so hard. How do you reason with someone who thinks a total ban is 'a reasonable, narrowly tailored restriction'? Now, you do have to consider the possibility that they're lieing through their teeth; that they full-well know that it's a total ban and just lie about it to try and push it. But these clowns may well think that a total ban IS 'reasonable' and 'narrowly tailored'; after all it leaves the minions of government and the security people who protect the 'elites' armed, doesn't it?
Blah. Sorry leftist nanny-state fascists.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Ref the 'Hadji Girl' video
South Park Pundit has the lyrics posted here, and other posts about the matter. I shall now enlighten you:
CAIR(Council on Islamic-American Relations) is a bunch of jihadi sympathizers who want to take over the country. They have raised money for terrorist groups, they have given support to the murdering wastes of oxygen, and are generally whining, treacherous little shits who are using this video- misquoting, taking out of context, etc. all the way- to cause problems for the guy who performed it and to generally crap on this country. They can kiss my semi-redneck ass.
The Marine Corp has been treating the Marines and the Navy corpsman being held in the Haditha investigation like crap. Worse by far than the freakin' terrorists at Gitmo are treated. Either the Marine Corps pulls its collective head out of its ass and starts doing this right- which, by the way, includes NOT desperately trying to find something to charge the singing Marine with in order to appease the bacon-porkers at CAIR- or I'm going to wind up losing a lot of the respect I've had for that organization.
"Ooh, ooh, CAIR and the islamoweenies are mad! We've got to DO something!!!" Take a damn pill and get over it, guys. And tell CAIR to shut the hell up, the whining little shits.
CAIR(Council on Islamic-American Relations) is a bunch of jihadi sympathizers who want to take over the country. They have raised money for terrorist groups, they have given support to the murdering wastes of oxygen, and are generally whining, treacherous little shits who are using this video- misquoting, taking out of context, etc. all the way- to cause problems for the guy who performed it and to generally crap on this country. They can kiss my semi-redneck ass.
The Marine Corp has been treating the Marines and the Navy corpsman being held in the Haditha investigation like crap. Worse by far than the freakin' terrorists at Gitmo are treated. Either the Marine Corps pulls its collective head out of its ass and starts doing this right- which, by the way, includes NOT desperately trying to find something to charge the singing Marine with in order to appease the bacon-porkers at CAIR- or I'm going to wind up losing a lot of the respect I've had for that organization.
"Ooh, ooh, CAIR and the islamoweenies are mad! We've got to DO something!!!" Take a damn pill and get over it, guys. And tell CAIR to shut the hell up, the whining little shits.
Shootability
is what I call the feel you get from some weapons. Some guns you pick up and they just feel awkward or ungainly; even if they have great intrinsic accuracy, it's hard for you to hit with them.
Then come the others. You pick one up and it just feels right. You raise a pistol to a shooting stance, or a rifle to your shoulder, and it just points where you want it to go. And you just know that as long as you do your part, the shot will go where you want it.
Shooting the K31 and M39 reminded me of this quality. With both of them, it seems easier to hit accurately, time after time. That Martini 12/15 I've written about before has it. It makes shooting sub-2" groups at 100 yards easy. You just lay the sights where you want to hit, and squeeze the trigger, and another hole appears there. Or a clay pigeon breaks. Or whatever.
It's overall design. The K31 is an awkward looking thing in a picture; big bulgy triggerguard, thick stock wrist, etc., but when you line up on a target that doesn't matter. The solid feel, the sights lining up, that superb trigger breaking...
And the cost doesn't matter a crap to this. A fancy pistol costing $1000 or more may feel like crap in your hand, while an old something with worn finish just fits there like it was measured and made for you.
One of the mysteries of life.
Then come the others. You pick one up and it just feels right. You raise a pistol to a shooting stance, or a rifle to your shoulder, and it just points where you want it to go. And you just know that as long as you do your part, the shot will go where you want it.
Shooting the K31 and M39 reminded me of this quality. With both of them, it seems easier to hit accurately, time after time. That Martini 12/15 I've written about before has it. It makes shooting sub-2" groups at 100 yards easy. You just lay the sights where you want to hit, and squeeze the trigger, and another hole appears there. Or a clay pigeon breaks. Or whatever.
It's overall design. The K31 is an awkward looking thing in a picture; big bulgy triggerguard, thick stock wrist, etc., but when you line up on a target that doesn't matter. The solid feel, the sights lining up, that superb trigger breaking...
And the cost doesn't matter a crap to this. A fancy pistol costing $1000 or more may feel like crap in your hand, while an old something with worn finish just fits there like it was measured and made for you.
One of the mysteries of life.
Range test
Cast-bullet loads for K31, and a scope mount for the Savage
Having spent the other day being a good boy and taking care of a bunch of stuff in the house and yard, today I said hell with it("I'll finish this stuff after. REALLY I will") and went to the range. Was planning to go Sunday with a friend if he's able to break loose, but between time and weather don't know if he will. So I figured I'd do the load testing & such today, that way if the Sunday trip happens I can concentrate on just fun shooting. Windy as hell today and gusting, but I went anyway.
Ok, I had formed the .284 Winchester brass for the 7.5 Swiss. I figured I'd take care of two things at once by testing some light cast-bullet loads and using those to fire-form the brass to the cases.('fire-forming' being the use of a light load to use the pressure of the shot to form the cases to the rifle chamber). The cases chambered with no problem, but I still liked the idea of making sure of the fit before using them for full-power loads. Some searching came up with the information that the load I've been using for 8mm Mauser should work nicely with the K31 also.
DISCLAIMER: this is the information I found and worked with; doesn't guarantee it'll work with
your firearms, so if you use this info to work up loads start a bit light and work up.
The range I came up with for 2400 powder was 14-16 grains, so I loaded ten with 14, ten with 15 and ten with 16, figuring to try all at 50 yards with five, then the other five at 100 yards. All used the 150grain gas-checked cast bullet mentioned before.
Here's the first five, 14 grains at 50 yards:
15 grains:
and 16 grains:
all fired with the rear sight at the 100 meter setting.
On to 100 yards. I knew these would be low, so I raised the sight to 200 meters. The 14 and 15 grain loads were spread out a fair bit, and down at the bottom of the target, so they're not illustrated here. The 16 grain load, however,
That's right at 2". For a first trial with this bullet and load, not bad. With the sight at 200, POI is dead-on for elevation; the windage I've seen in other firearms with cast bullets: the point of impact is to the right, whereas the POI with full-power loads is dead center. Not all rifles do it, and I'm not sure why it happens. If I were going to use the cast for matches or hunting, I'd definately adjust the windage for them(be nice to find one of the tools the Swiss used for that),
but since this is a practice load I'm not going to move the sights off their current adjustment.
So I can use this same bullet and powder in .30-30, 7.5x55, 8x57 and .308 for practice loads. Excellent.
(correction: I can use the same powder in 8mm, but NOT the same bullet)
Scope Mount
A while back I wrote about a Savage Model 340, a bolt-action rifle chambered in .30-30, and mentioned I'd like to try it with a scope if I could find a good mount. A good receiver sight would be nice, but with the split bridge on this rifle hard to find one that'll work. Checking around I found several mounts. One mounts the scope offset to the left(don't like), one I've read reports doesn't line up with with the bore, and B-Square makes one I read good things about. On a rifle like this one with the four holes drilled & tapped on the left sidewall it just screws on, and it centers the scope over the bore. Midway had one, so I dug up some money and got it. It's aluminum, very light, and comes with rings, screws and a hex wrench. Installing the mount took just a few minutes, and I stuck a Tasco Pronghorn scope on it. It's a decent-quality 4x scope I had available. Here it is from the right side
and the left
With this scope it puts it a touch further forward than I like, and there's just enough room between the bolt knob and the scope bell for a skinny thumb; I had to slide my thumb back to clear. A compact scope, or red-dot sight, would probably clear very well and take care of the forward-position problem. That could just be me, might well make anyone else happy
as is. It's a very solid unit, well made.
Range testing went the way it should: it worked as designed, with no surprises or problems. Definately better than the factory sights to my eyes, and I would recommend it for this rifle.
Remember what I said about cast loads hitting to the right sometimes? I zeroed with the same load I use in my Model 94, set to hit about an inch above POI at 100. So I tried some of the cast loads I use in .30-30. On both these targets, the aiming point is the square, the circled three are the shots fired:
I like the fact that the practice loads are giving about 1.25-1.5" groups. And that's just a touch larger than what I got with the jacketed loads. Which is beside the point in a scope mount review, but I love it when a plan comes together.
Just for fun, I also took the Finn M39 and put some of the Czech silvertip ball through it. Just resting my hand on the bench for a rest It gave me this at 100:
With the way the wind was gusting, actually shifting me at times, this is a group I can live with.
Having spent the other day being a good boy and taking care of a bunch of stuff in the house and yard, today I said hell with it("I'll finish this stuff after. REALLY I will") and went to the range. Was planning to go Sunday with a friend if he's able to break loose, but between time and weather don't know if he will. So I figured I'd do the load testing & such today, that way if the Sunday trip happens I can concentrate on just fun shooting. Windy as hell today and gusting, but I went anyway.
Ok, I had formed the .284 Winchester brass for the 7.5 Swiss. I figured I'd take care of two things at once by testing some light cast-bullet loads and using those to fire-form the brass to the cases.('fire-forming' being the use of a light load to use the pressure of the shot to form the cases to the rifle chamber). The cases chambered with no problem, but I still liked the idea of making sure of the fit before using them for full-power loads. Some searching came up with the information that the load I've been using for 8mm Mauser should work nicely with the K31 also.
DISCLAIMER: this is the information I found and worked with; doesn't guarantee it'll work with
your firearms, so if you use this info to work up loads start a bit light and work up.
The range I came up with for 2400 powder was 14-16 grains, so I loaded ten with 14, ten with 15 and ten with 16, figuring to try all at 50 yards with five, then the other five at 100 yards. All used the 150grain gas-checked cast bullet mentioned before.
Here's the first five, 14 grains at 50 yards:
15 grains:
and 16 grains:
all fired with the rear sight at the 100 meter setting.
On to 100 yards. I knew these would be low, so I raised the sight to 200 meters. The 14 and 15 grain loads were spread out a fair bit, and down at the bottom of the target, so they're not illustrated here. The 16 grain load, however,
That's right at 2". For a first trial with this bullet and load, not bad. With the sight at 200, POI is dead-on for elevation; the windage I've seen in other firearms with cast bullets: the point of impact is to the right, whereas the POI with full-power loads is dead center. Not all rifles do it, and I'm not sure why it happens. If I were going to use the cast for matches or hunting, I'd definately adjust the windage for them(be nice to find one of the tools the Swiss used for that),
but since this is a practice load I'm not going to move the sights off their current adjustment.
So I can use this same bullet and powder in .30-30, 7.5x55, 8x57 and .308 for practice loads. Excellent.
(correction: I can use the same powder in 8mm, but NOT the same bullet)
Scope Mount
A while back I wrote about a Savage Model 340, a bolt-action rifle chambered in .30-30, and mentioned I'd like to try it with a scope if I could find a good mount. A good receiver sight would be nice, but with the split bridge on this rifle hard to find one that'll work. Checking around I found several mounts. One mounts the scope offset to the left(don't like), one I've read reports doesn't line up with with the bore, and B-Square makes one I read good things about. On a rifle like this one with the four holes drilled & tapped on the left sidewall it just screws on, and it centers the scope over the bore. Midway had one, so I dug up some money and got it. It's aluminum, very light, and comes with rings, screws and a hex wrench. Installing the mount took just a few minutes, and I stuck a Tasco Pronghorn scope on it. It's a decent-quality 4x scope I had available. Here it is from the right side
and the left
With this scope it puts it a touch further forward than I like, and there's just enough room between the bolt knob and the scope bell for a skinny thumb; I had to slide my thumb back to clear. A compact scope, or red-dot sight, would probably clear very well and take care of the forward-position problem. That could just be me, might well make anyone else happy
as is. It's a very solid unit, well made.
Range testing went the way it should: it worked as designed, with no surprises or problems. Definately better than the factory sights to my eyes, and I would recommend it for this rifle.
Remember what I said about cast loads hitting to the right sometimes? I zeroed with the same load I use in my Model 94, set to hit about an inch above POI at 100. So I tried some of the cast loads I use in .30-30. On both these targets, the aiming point is the square, the circled three are the shots fired:
I like the fact that the practice loads are giving about 1.25-1.5" groups. And that's just a touch larger than what I got with the jacketed loads. Which is beside the point in a scope mount review, but I love it when a plan comes together.
Just for fun, I also took the Finn M39 and put some of the Czech silvertip ball through it. Just resting my hand on the bench for a rest It gave me this at 100:
With the way the wind was gusting, actually shifting me at times, this is a group I can live with.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Wonder about a Marine opinion of Murtha?
Doc Russia wrote this.
You may notice some spelling errors, unusual for the Docs' writing. I put it down to rage(polite term) or a serious case of pissed off(impolite term) when he was writing it.
Not a Marine myself, so I can't add in. I CAN add that I personally think that Murtha is a sorry example of a man who'll do anything he thinks will gain him points with whoever he's sucking up to. Example: his appearance speaking about Haditha when he specifically said there was no IED, just Marines killing civilians. Oh, it was because they were 'overstressed' by 'the illegal Bush war', so it's not really their fault(except that it would be if they'd actually done that, but he doesn't care that he's sliming troops in combat). But what do we find out? Lo and behold! not only was there an IED but we have one Marine dead and several wounded, and- from what information is available now- gunfire on the troops from houses. Which means one of two things:
a: Murtha should simply have kept his damn mouth shut until the inquiry actually produced facts to work from instead of blowing smoke without knowing the facts, or
b: the sorry bastard knew better, and said this crap anyway because he knew it'd sell well with the major medial and anti-Americans and moonbats.
Either way, he's a sorry bastard who, if he had any integrity, would be ashamed of himself.
But he's pretty much proven that he doesn't have any left, hasn't he?
You may notice some spelling errors, unusual for the Docs' writing. I put it down to rage(polite term) or a serious case of pissed off(impolite term) when he was writing it.
Not a Marine myself, so I can't add in. I CAN add that I personally think that Murtha is a sorry example of a man who'll do anything he thinks will gain him points with whoever he's sucking up to. Example: his appearance speaking about Haditha when he specifically said there was no IED, just Marines killing civilians. Oh, it was because they were 'overstressed' by 'the illegal Bush war', so it's not really their fault(except that it would be if they'd actually done that, but he doesn't care that he's sliming troops in combat). But what do we find out? Lo and behold! not only was there an IED but we have one Marine dead and several wounded, and- from what information is available now- gunfire on the troops from houses. Which means one of two things:
a: Murtha should simply have kept his damn mouth shut until the inquiry actually produced facts to work from instead of blowing smoke without knowing the facts, or
b: the sorry bastard knew better, and said this crap anyway because he knew it'd sell well with the major medial and anti-Americans and moonbats.
Either way, he's a sorry bastard who, if he had any integrity, would be ashamed of himself.
But he's pretty much proven that he doesn't have any left, hasn't he?
Anyone know a good source for old Remington parts?
In specific, the Model 51 pistol in .380?
Friend of my father has one, and the extractor is broken. So far I've checked with Gun Parts, Popperts, and a couple of other places, no joy. Someone told me about Jack First, I'm checking with him tomorrow. With any luck he'll have that and the spring & carrier I need for the 34.
Friend of my father has one, and the extractor is broken. So far I've checked with Gun Parts, Popperts, and a couple of other places, no joy. Someone told me about Jack First, I'm checking with him tomorrow. With any luck he'll have that and the spring & carrier I need for the 34.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Ref the demise of fertilizer-and-pig-food Zarqawi
I thought it would have been really nice if they'd been able to get him on a phone and then, about three seconds before impact say "By the way; boom".
But the knowledge that he was alive at the end, long enough to look from the Iraqis holding the litter to the U.S. troops walking up, KNOWING that not only was he dead but that WE HAD HIM... absolutely priceless.
But the knowledge that he was alive at the end, long enough to look from the Iraqis holding the litter to the U.S. troops walking up, KNOWING that not only was he dead but that WE HAD HIM... absolutely priceless.
Troubleshooting, the Og way
is detailed here; it's a wonderful method.
And it reminds me of this story an old boss told me, repeated for Og and for Denny, who used to work for IBM:
One day three IBM people rented a car; a salesman, a hardware engineer and a software engineer. About forty miles out of town they had a flat.
The salesman stood looking at the car and said, "We need a new car".
The hardware engineer looked at it and said "Let's start swapping tires until we find which one's the problem".
The software engineer said "Well, let's watch it a while; maybe the problem will fix itself".
And they're still sitting there.
And it reminds me of this story an old boss told me, repeated for Og and for Denny, who used to work for IBM:
One day three IBM people rented a car; a salesman, a hardware engineer and a software engineer. About forty miles out of town they had a flat.
The salesman stood looking at the car and said, "We need a new car".
The hardware engineer looked at it and said "Let's start swapping tires until we find which one's the problem".
The software engineer said "Well, let's watch it a while; maybe the problem will fix itself".
And they're still sitting there.
Flea market report
Largely because by the time I got off work this morning I was too tired to do anything except walk around(sitting still I'd have fallen asleep) I went to the market today. And while stumbling around I found two things. First was a B-Square scope mount, one for (I believe) Mauser rifles. If you're not familiar with these, you drive out the pin the rear sight leaf pivots on, remove the sight from the base and put this mount in. Adjust two screws, fore & aft, to level & lock it in place and you can mount a long-eye-relief scope or red-dot sight without having to do any drilling or tapping. They run about $40 new last time I looked, got this one for $5.
Other thing I ran into was this: a Remington Model 34 .22 rifle
(yes, I know it's a lousy picture; live with it) This poor thing was missing the takedown screw which locks the barrel & receiver into the stock, and the bolt was stuck halfway and wouldn't budge, so you could say it had 'issues'(it does have the trigger guard, I'd just taken it off and done some cleaning before I thought to take a picture). For which reason I got it cheap. These rifles were made 1932-1936 according to the Remington site. The Model 33 was a single-shot, this one's a tube-magazine repeater. The stock was in good shape, dry but no big cracks or holes; the finish on the receiver and barrel was worn silvery and there was that stuck bolt thing. But... all the big parts were there, and I really like these old rifles and thought just maybe I could do something with it, and made a very low offer, figuring if he said no I'd tried. He said yes, and I took it home.
The bolt was seriously stuck, so I drifted out the two pins that the trigger, sear & carrier pivot on. The trigger & sear came out, the bolt freed up and came out, and the carrier came out. It was dry inside, no trace of oil or grease except the old black film inside the bolt when I took it down. The bore had a lot of old crud in it, but after a few patches soaked with solvent and some scrubbing it turned out to be nice and shiny, with sharp rifling(blessings on modern .22 ammo). The receiver is sound; there's a little pitting on it, and on the barrel under the edge of the forend. Magazine tube clean inside, inner tube that holds the spring & follower is good. The bolt is complete and, after cleaning, just fine. It looks like there are only four things not there: the trigger spring plunger, the extractor spring and the carrier friction spring & plunger(whatever they are; I'm going by the parts drawings in the Gun Parts catalog and it doesn't show the assembly-disassembly). Gun Parts has the trigger spring plunger and extractor spring; I'll dig around and find an illustration of the carrier details and if I can't find those two pieces I can probably make them.
After cleaning & oiling everything fairly heavily, I reassembled it and now I've got the bolt working smoothly. I fed some of my homemade .22 dummies through and it feeds with no problem, so I'm wondering exactly what the carrier spring does? Hopefully I'll find a good picture that shows how they fit in and go from there.
I cleaned the stock and except for some dings on the left side in front of the grip it's not bad a'tall. I've got a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits I use on some stocks(got that from Head), and I painted some of that on, let it soak in, then wiped off the excess to let it dry. It looks pretty good, a nice piece of walnut; it'll finish up nicely.
So, barring something wierd turning up, I've got an unusual old rifle that should fix up nicely and do just fine for punching holes in targets. Or maybe hunting squirrels or rabbits. And if I get some grandkids before I die, I can use it to help teach the little beasts to shoot. So I consider this a good deal all around.
Other thing I ran into was this: a Remington Model 34 .22 rifle
(yes, I know it's a lousy picture; live with it) This poor thing was missing the takedown screw which locks the barrel & receiver into the stock, and the bolt was stuck halfway and wouldn't budge, so you could say it had 'issues'(it does have the trigger guard, I'd just taken it off and done some cleaning before I thought to take a picture). For which reason I got it cheap. These rifles were made 1932-1936 according to the Remington site. The Model 33 was a single-shot, this one's a tube-magazine repeater. The stock was in good shape, dry but no big cracks or holes; the finish on the receiver and barrel was worn silvery and there was that stuck bolt thing. But... all the big parts were there, and I really like these old rifles and thought just maybe I could do something with it, and made a very low offer, figuring if he said no I'd tried. He said yes, and I took it home.
The bolt was seriously stuck, so I drifted out the two pins that the trigger, sear & carrier pivot on. The trigger & sear came out, the bolt freed up and came out, and the carrier came out. It was dry inside, no trace of oil or grease except the old black film inside the bolt when I took it down. The bore had a lot of old crud in it, but after a few patches soaked with solvent and some scrubbing it turned out to be nice and shiny, with sharp rifling(blessings on modern .22 ammo). The receiver is sound; there's a little pitting on it, and on the barrel under the edge of the forend. Magazine tube clean inside, inner tube that holds the spring & follower is good. The bolt is complete and, after cleaning, just fine. It looks like there are only four things not there: the trigger spring plunger, the extractor spring and the carrier friction spring & plunger(whatever they are; I'm going by the parts drawings in the Gun Parts catalog and it doesn't show the assembly-disassembly). Gun Parts has the trigger spring plunger and extractor spring; I'll dig around and find an illustration of the carrier details and if I can't find those two pieces I can probably make them.
After cleaning & oiling everything fairly heavily, I reassembled it and now I've got the bolt working smoothly. I fed some of my homemade .22 dummies through and it feeds with no problem, so I'm wondering exactly what the carrier spring does? Hopefully I'll find a good picture that shows how they fit in and go from there.
I cleaned the stock and except for some dings on the left side in front of the grip it's not bad a'tall. I've got a 50/50 mix of boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits I use on some stocks(got that from Head), and I painted some of that on, let it soak in, then wiped off the excess to let it dry. It looks pretty good, a nice piece of walnut; it'll finish up nicely.
So, barring something wierd turning up, I've got an unusual old rifle that should fix up nicely and do just fine for punching holes in targets. Or maybe hunting squirrels or rabbits. And if I get some grandkids before I die, I can use it to help teach the little beasts to shoot. So I consider this a good deal all around.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
FMJ and dum-dum and hollowpoints, oh my!
Ok, it's bad. But the stuff James put up on the subject is good. Very good. Know where the term 'dum-dum bullet' came from? Go check it out.
The newest fuss about the .223 M16
Few days ago Kim simply posted this article without comment.
On the M16 itself I'll stay out of the argument. People like Chris think it's a fine platform; people like Ogre think it sucks rocks. I put a total of about ten rounds through an AR15 one day, so I don't have a personal basis for comment. On the ammo, I'll argue based on what I've heard from people who've used it in combat and the great amount of written documentation on it.
Overall, I tend to think it sucks, and very few people seem to disagree. It's a cartridge designed for whacking varmints and putting very small holes in targets as the .223 Remington, and calling it the 5.56x45mm and fiddling with the bullet doesn't change that. You can increase penetration, but with anything short of a soft-point still leaves you with the same thing: a small-caliber bullet of light weight with serious drawbacks as a combat cartridge. Yeah, you can carry a lot of it for the same weight as a smaller amount of .308 or 6.8 or whatever, but if you are counting on spraying a lot of shots without really aiming you get this attitude:
“The brilliant thing about that bullet is that it allowed the infantrymen to easily carry 300 rounds,” Sprey says. “Whereas the old sharpshooter’s heavy, slow round — he could only carry 100.”
In the chaos of war, the more bullets the better, he says, because bursts of automatic fire beat one big bullet at a time.
“There is no such thing as a well-aimed shot in combat, because combat is fought by scared 18-year-olds who haven’t been trained enough and are in a place they’ve never seen before,” Sprey says.
'No such thing as a well-aimed shot'. I call bullshit on that. Among other things we have the evidence of action reports of bad guys taking numerous well-aimed shots and not going down until after they've wounded or killed someone. And what's this 'heavy, slow round' bullshit? The bullet is indeed heavier but the velocity difference isn't much.
And there are so many possibilities for better! There's the new 6.8 Grendal, there's the 6.5 Swede, there's the bloody 7mm Mauser for God's sake! Don't want an old cartridge or something called a 'Grendal'? Take the .308; shorten the case, go to a 120-grain bullet and call it the .30 Short or 7.62 Improved or something.
Just as a thought, I have to wonder if Sprey, quoted above, was one of the MacNamara 'whiz kids'? It would explain a lot.
On the M16 itself I'll stay out of the argument. People like Chris think it's a fine platform; people like Ogre think it sucks rocks. I put a total of about ten rounds through an AR15 one day, so I don't have a personal basis for comment. On the ammo, I'll argue based on what I've heard from people who've used it in combat and the great amount of written documentation on it.
Overall, I tend to think it sucks, and very few people seem to disagree. It's a cartridge designed for whacking varmints and putting very small holes in targets as the .223 Remington, and calling it the 5.56x45mm and fiddling with the bullet doesn't change that. You can increase penetration, but with anything short of a soft-point still leaves you with the same thing: a small-caliber bullet of light weight with serious drawbacks as a combat cartridge. Yeah, you can carry a lot of it for the same weight as a smaller amount of .308 or 6.8 or whatever, but if you are counting on spraying a lot of shots without really aiming you get this attitude:
“The brilliant thing about that bullet is that it allowed the infantrymen to easily carry 300 rounds,” Sprey says. “Whereas the old sharpshooter’s heavy, slow round — he could only carry 100.”
In the chaos of war, the more bullets the better, he says, because bursts of automatic fire beat one big bullet at a time.
“There is no such thing as a well-aimed shot in combat, because combat is fought by scared 18-year-olds who haven’t been trained enough and are in a place they’ve never seen before,” Sprey says.
'No such thing as a well-aimed shot'. I call bullshit on that. Among other things we have the evidence of action reports of bad guys taking numerous well-aimed shots and not going down until after they've wounded or killed someone. And what's this 'heavy, slow round' bullshit? The bullet is indeed heavier but the velocity difference isn't much.
And there are so many possibilities for better! There's the new 6.8 Grendal, there's the 6.5 Swede, there's the bloody 7mm Mauser for God's sake! Don't want an old cartridge or something called a 'Grendal'? Take the .308; shorten the case, go to a 120-grain bullet and call it the .30 Short or 7.62 Improved or something.
Just as a thought, I have to wonder if Sprey, quoted above, was one of the MacNamara 'whiz kids'? It would explain a lot.
Friday, June 09, 2006
7.5 Swiss progress
Got the full-length die set in(yay!) and, since this involves both expanding the neck of the cases from .284 to .308 and setting the shoulder back a touch, I decided to invest in a can of Imperial Sizing Die Wax, which Midway has on sale right now.
It's a small tin full of a medium-hard whitish wax. Rub your finger across it and it does come off on your skin. Gave it a try and this stuff is great! Slick as the proverbial greased owl snot. The label says 'Use Very Sparingly' and they're not kidding. I wiped a coat on the cases, and used a cotton swab to wipe some inside the case neck. All 50 cases went through very nicely, no splits or other problems, and all fit- the bolt closes and locks on them with no problem.
One reason I wanted to load is so I can work up some cast-bullet loads for practice, and I think I'll use these for the first firing of these cases, both to work up the load and to fire-form the cases to the chamber. Checking some of the gun boards I found a couple of load suggestions. I've got a RCBS mold that throws a 150-grain gas-check bullet that I use for .30-30; it also works nicely in a .308 I tried it in. I'm going to try it in the 1903A3 when I get a chance, and if it works well in the 7.5 I'll have a bullet I can get a LOT of use out of. And one of the powders suggested is 2400. This is one of my favorite powders for a number of things, partly because it meters so well; it flows through a powder measure like water, no binding or sticking. I use it in a cast-bullet load for 8mm and .30-30, so I'm hoping it works well here also. A lot of people say they get the best results with a heavier bullet; we'll see how this goes.
Not just for the 7.5: Midway also has factory seconds of the Caldwell 5.5" stick-on targets on sale, the kind that changes color around a bullet hole so it's easier to see at a distance: pack of 50 for $3.99. I ordered some same time as the sizing wax. I have no idea why they're seconds, I can't find a thing wrong with them. And since the usual price is about $15, if you use these I'd suggest ordering while they've still got them.
It's a small tin full of a medium-hard whitish wax. Rub your finger across it and it does come off on your skin. Gave it a try and this stuff is great! Slick as the proverbial greased owl snot. The label says 'Use Very Sparingly' and they're not kidding. I wiped a coat on the cases, and used a cotton swab to wipe some inside the case neck. All 50 cases went through very nicely, no splits or other problems, and all fit- the bolt closes and locks on them with no problem.
One reason I wanted to load is so I can work up some cast-bullet loads for practice, and I think I'll use these for the first firing of these cases, both to work up the load and to fire-form the cases to the chamber. Checking some of the gun boards I found a couple of load suggestions. I've got a RCBS mold that throws a 150-grain gas-check bullet that I use for .30-30; it also works nicely in a .308 I tried it in. I'm going to try it in the 1903A3 when I get a chance, and if it works well in the 7.5 I'll have a bullet I can get a LOT of use out of. And one of the powders suggested is 2400. This is one of my favorite powders for a number of things, partly because it meters so well; it flows through a powder measure like water, no binding or sticking. I use it in a cast-bullet load for 8mm and .30-30, so I'm hoping it works well here also. A lot of people say they get the best results with a heavier bullet; we'll see how this goes.
Not just for the 7.5: Midway also has factory seconds of the Caldwell 5.5" stick-on targets on sale, the kind that changes color around a bullet hole so it's easier to see at a distance: pack of 50 for $3.99. I ordered some same time as the sizing wax. I have no idea why they're seconds, I can't find a thing wrong with them. And since the usual price is about $15, if you use these I'd suggest ordering while they've still got them.
Congressional hearings coming in OKC Bombing
KTOK reported this yesterday, and links to the story at the McCurtain Daily Gazette:
In what some on Capitol Hill are calling a surprising decision, U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde has given the nod for hearings into the long-debated question of whether those responsible for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building had help from any foreign source.
Spurred to action by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., Hyde has given Rohrabacher’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee the wide-ranging authority to conduct interviews and subpoena documents related to the April 19, 1995, terrorist attack that left 168 dead, 19 of them children.
...
Forecasting the areas of particular interest the congressional investigation could take, Rohrabacher promised to look carefully for any evidence linking the cabal to Arab terrorists and or to a German national in this country illegally in 1995, Andreas Carl Strassmeir.
In his letter seeking authority for hearings, Rohrabacher wrote: “It is highly likely that the Arab connection and/or the Strassmeir connection played a significant role in the planning and execution of the murderous bombing of the OKC federal building. In both possible scenarios, the official investigation fell short and further investigation has been discouraged ever since.”
There's been a lot of controversy from the first about various connections to foreign nationals, and just maybe this'll finally get through some of the walls that had been thrown up.
Rohrabacher also noted that much of the investigation would focus on a spate of documents recently unearthed during a Freedom of Information lawsuit in Salt Lake City, Utah.
While attempting to piece together evidence in the mysterious death of his inmate-brother in August of 1995 at the Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, attorney Jesse Trentadue has sued the Oklahoma City FBI office for documents that might shed light on the inmate’s bizarre demise while locked up in a suicide-proof cell.
While the documents obtained in the suit have been heavily redacted, they do appear to link Strassmeir to a foiled “sting operation” involving the federal government, McVeigh, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy.
I've mentioned some parts of the Trentadue case before; the documents dragged out of the Justice Dept. and the FBI have plainly shown that various lawyers and federal agents flat lied in the investigation of this mess. Maybe, maybe, this'll finally drag more of this out in the open.
In what some on Capitol Hill are calling a surprising decision, U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde has given the nod for hearings into the long-debated question of whether those responsible for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building had help from any foreign source.
Spurred to action by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., Hyde has given Rohrabacher’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee the wide-ranging authority to conduct interviews and subpoena documents related to the April 19, 1995, terrorist attack that left 168 dead, 19 of them children.
...
Forecasting the areas of particular interest the congressional investigation could take, Rohrabacher promised to look carefully for any evidence linking the cabal to Arab terrorists and or to a German national in this country illegally in 1995, Andreas Carl Strassmeir.
In his letter seeking authority for hearings, Rohrabacher wrote: “It is highly likely that the Arab connection and/or the Strassmeir connection played a significant role in the planning and execution of the murderous bombing of the OKC federal building. In both possible scenarios, the official investigation fell short and further investigation has been discouraged ever since.”
There's been a lot of controversy from the first about various connections to foreign nationals, and just maybe this'll finally get through some of the walls that had been thrown up.
Rohrabacher also noted that much of the investigation would focus on a spate of documents recently unearthed during a Freedom of Information lawsuit in Salt Lake City, Utah.
While attempting to piece together evidence in the mysterious death of his inmate-brother in August of 1995 at the Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, attorney Jesse Trentadue has sued the Oklahoma City FBI office for documents that might shed light on the inmate’s bizarre demise while locked up in a suicide-proof cell.
While the documents obtained in the suit have been heavily redacted, they do appear to link Strassmeir to a foiled “sting operation” involving the federal government, McVeigh, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy.
I've mentioned some parts of the Trentadue case before; the documents dragged out of the Justice Dept. and the FBI have plainly shown that various lawyers and federal agents flat lied in the investigation of this mess. Maybe, maybe, this'll finally drag more of this out in the open.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Have I mentioned that the U.N. can kiss our ass?
Especially after this?
Let's see, they stand around while mass murder happens, take about two weeks to show up at a disaster site where we and the Aussies and Japan have had people doing relief work for the said two weeks, their blue hats run child rape and prostitution rings- with UN protection for the blue hats, of course, officials take bribes from Saddam, but it's OUR FAULT the UN is being seen in a bad light.
Let's not forget the attempts to trash our Bill of Rights, because of COURSE us PEASANTS can't be trusted to own arms.
Oh no, Kofi, it's not Rushs' fault; it's yours. Yours and every other corrupt, nanny-state bureaucrat and politician trying to take over our lives and pissing on us while they do it.
Let's see, they stand around while mass murder happens, take about two weeks to show up at a disaster site where we and the Aussies and Japan have had people doing relief work for the said two weeks, their blue hats run child rape and prostitution rings- with UN protection for the blue hats, of course, officials take bribes from Saddam, but it's OUR FAULT the UN is being seen in a bad light.
Let's not forget the attempts to trash our Bill of Rights, because of COURSE us PEASANTS can't be trusted to own arms.
Oh no, Kofi, it's not Rushs' fault; it's yours. Yours and every other corrupt, nanny-state bureaucrat and politician trying to take over our lives and pissing on us while they do it.
YES! Zarqawi has assumed ambient temperature!
(The pieces of him, anyway)
Murdering terrorist waste of oxygen confirmed dead. The al-Quaida pig fornicators are of course speaking of the 'martyrdom' of this shameful example of humanity, but what would you expect from a bunch of sterling examples of retarded development such as them?
Now to bury the remains with a few nice strips of bacon.
Additional: check out Lileks' column on those who refuse to see or admit the 'common thread' in the terrorist arrests in Canada.
Murdering terrorist waste of oxygen confirmed dead. The al-Quaida pig fornicators are of course speaking of the 'martyrdom' of this shameful example of humanity, but what would you expect from a bunch of sterling examples of retarded development such as them?
Now to bury the remains with a few nice strips of bacon.
Additional: check out Lileks' column on those who refuse to see or admit the 'common thread' in the terrorist arrests in Canada.
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