The bluing tryout

A while back Og pointed me to this site with a home bluing formula/setup. At the bottom is a link to another, which has the formula I used. Having found the last ingredient needed, and having all the equipment, I gave it a try today. Here's the setup:


















The burner is from Harbor Freight, cast-iron with two burner heads. The enamelware pot I picked up at a flea market, and the stainless pot(for the rinse) from a local store who has them cheap. They're both 16-quart. Not visible is the bottle of vinegar(in case of spill or splash), the heavy rubber gloves and the respirator(just in case). I set this up outside with a breeze blowing, no damned way I'd do it indoors unless I had some kind of fan or ventilation setup; might not be necessary, but I'd feel better.

I went with the second site's ingredients for two reasons. First, I couldn't find ammonium nitrate fertilizer that did not have sulphur added(Fed requirement, aftereffect of the OKC Bombing) and I didn't know how that might affect it. Second, the original site notes that his mix outgasses ammonia badly when you're mixing it, and the second avoids that.

I did have to order the nitrate of soda, as nobody around here carries it(hell, they'd never heard of it) and I thought I'd have to order the lye until I found it yesterday.

I got the two-burner rig so I could heat the rinse water along with the bath, so I lit the burner under the rinse pot while I mixed the ingredients in the other. I'd been afraid the stuff would have trouble dissolving in only a gallon of water, but no, the lye and then the nitrate went right into solution, just add no more than a cup at a time and keep stirring. I shut off the burner on the rinse water about the time the bath came up to heat. According to my thermometer(Wally World, bbq section, $5) by the time I had the nitrate dissolved the mess was already up to almost 200F, and it only took a few minutes to get it up to a rolling boil. It didn't start to actually boil until right at 250F, and with the slide, frame and some other parts in the burner on full kept it at a touch over 275.

I left the parts in for about 25 minutes, stuck them in the rinse and put the rest of the parts in(all hung on iron wire from a rod across the top of the pot). Everything came out a nice black except for the slide, which had an odd-colored section on the left front. It I scrubbed with a steel wool soap pad and washed off, then put back in for another 20 and it came out nicely. I've got everything coated in oil, and I'm going to let them sit until tomorrow before I reassemble. However...

I wanted to try this on a knife, so I took a dagger blade and treated it while giving the slide the second bath. The blade had a 400-grit finish, not mirror but very smooth and shiny























Please note that the tang was left with forge marks on the sides(the better for the epoxy to grab), and the tang is annealed to be easy to drill. I wrapped a wire around the tang so it held the blade horizontal; the solution was getting a bit low and it would not submerge completely if vertical. It got 20 minutes, then a good rinse, then oil. Now, these are not the best pictures, but they do give the idea:























The above was shot in the house. This one was shot outside so I could get the sun glinting on it:























I need to get a better shot, these just do not do the finish justice; it's not just dark, it's gleaming BLACK. The only contrast on it is that there's a bit of difference in the color between the hardened blade and annealed tang for some reason.

The pistol doesn't look like it'll be quite this marvelous, simply because it wasn't polished. I went over it and smoothed everything very nicely, but did no actual polishing. If this blade is any indication, if you do take the finish to (I'm guessing) a 240-grit or above, the result should be just as pretty as this blade.

Overall, this seems to work very well. It's supposed to be good for another 5 guns minimum, which makes it pretty cost-effective. I was going to use the knife to test out how well this finish wears, but it came out so damn pretty I hate to mess with it.


Notes:
I had to use the wire it was hung on to hold the frame on its side; one gallon of solution in this size pot wouldn't let it submerge completely if you had it vertical.

Before putting the slide in for the second time I thought I'd add some water to bring the level back up from what had boiled off: Don't Do That, it is a Bad Thing. If I hadn't been standing well aside I WOULD have been spattered when the stuff spit. Wait until it's cooled off to add water.

It take the bath several hours to cool down, mine had sat for about two and it was still very warm when I put it in a plastic container for storage.

Do remember, lye will mess you up if you get careless with it.

Ok, Timmeeee, here 'tis

Lye has been found

at a local store. Ace Hardware, to be specific.

Understand, I'm glad to have found it. I just wish I'd found it a week ago. When I was in this store and asked, and they said "We don't carry that".

Just happened to be passing by on my way home from work and decided to check the plumbing supplies(just in case) and there, among the other drain openers/cleaners are 16oz. bottles of 100% Lye.

Moral: unless you KNOW the guy, and are certain he KNOWS the stock, go look.

Stock finish/refinishing Link added

There's lots of ways and lots of stuff to use, right now I'm going to hit one. I got the original information on this from a string at The High Road, but they've been unavailable for the last week or so and I can't find the thread to link to.
(update: this is the link)

The stuff I used here is Minwax Antique Oil Finish. Really nice finish, and there's no stain involved so it won't change the color of the wood. And being an actual oil finish, it soaks into the surface of the wood, fills pores and/or grain and once it cures it's a very hard, protective finish. Easy to repair if damaged, too.

Start with a stock that's been sanded, grain raised, etc. Use a soft cloth and put a generous coat on the wood. 'Generous' does not mean 'dripping off', just covering the wood nicely. Put it aside for a day to dry.

After dry, get the steel wool out: the first few coats are to seal the wood and fill in the grain, so you want to clean the surface off for the next coat. So use the wool to cut the finish off, down to the wood. That'll leave what's in the grain. Then put on another coat, set aside for a day, repeat as necessary. Depending on the wood, it can take anywhere from 2-5 coats to fill the grain most/all the way.

Now you're at the point the grain is completely or almost completely filled, so for the next stage you put on a light coat, let it sit a few minutes until it gets sticky and then buff it with a soft cloth, then set aside a day, then steel wool it off. This stage is to finish filling the grain and level the finish, so repeat as needed.

At this point you've got two options: you can go for a matte finish or the full-out gloss. If the matte, two ways to do it. One is to put on the final light coat, let it dry, and then wool it down to the wood; the stuff is soaked into the surface and will give good protection, and this gives a dull finish. The other is to put on a final very light coat, and buff it all off, as much as possible: this gives a bit more shine than the first, but not as much as the gloss finish. In either of these cases, after putting the final coat on let it sit for at least two days so it can cure hard.

For gloss, wool it down to the wood and then put on a very light coat and, after it gets sticky, buff lightly with a soft cloth. You don't want to remove much, just leave the last coat very thin and smooth. Again, let it cure for at least two days, and then buff it with a pad made of burlap.

Done right, this stuff makes a beautiful finish, very hard and protective. And if it gets scratched or otherwise damaged, you can sand or wool it clean(whichever is needed) and repair it by putting on a couple of coats.

The M1 Carbine I built turned out very nice, and the stock Og found is a very nice piece of walnut which I decided needed a proper finish. So I smoothed it a bit, then treated it with this finish. Here's the result













This is the semi-gloss finish. Took about two weeks with the drying periods, and came out flat beautiful.

It wasn't the NOR shoot, but

since I had some time yesterday afternoon the lawn went unmowed and I went to the range. No loads to test, just took a couple of rifles and pistols to shoot. Which was nice.

Rifles, took the M39 Finn and the M1 Garand, pistols a Ruger Single-Six .22 and a S&W .357. And except for a sight check/adjustment I didn't use a bench, shot the rifles sitting and prone(note to self: elbow pads are nice, but I do need a mat of some kind for the prone stuff).

It was fun. I really do need more practice in general, and in the different positions as well. This is about my average for prone at 100 yards with the M39:























And yes, it will do better than this. I couldn't decide if I kept pulling a bit to the right or if the adjustment was off, so I took a rest and fired two:




















Adjusted the front sight a touch, and it was dead center in windage, with the next two equally tight. This is one of my favorite rifles: good sights, excellent trigger, smooth action. The Finns did a wonderful job on these.

On to the M1. Again, I need more practice, this was about as good as I got:




















The one way off to the left was a called flyer, I knew it was off as the trigger broke. I was using Greek HXP ammo, which(from a rest to cut down on my error) will usually give about 2.5" groups in this rifle.

I need to make more time go to out for stuff like this, I really enjoyed the hours.

Course, I really need to make sure I get to the next NOR shoot, too.

And of course there's nothing more important

for the Ministry of Defence to worry about than somebody, somewhere, possibly being offended by the nose art on a Harrier:

The Ministry of Defence has decreed they could offend the RAF's female personnel.

Officials admitted they had no record of any complaints from the 5,400 women in the RAF.

But commanders are erring firmly on the side of caution and "nose art", as it is known, has been consigned to the history books.

Because this is obviously more important than the British Navy being turned into a coastal defense force, and the infantry and air force units being cut down- again- and so forth. Somebody might be offended, and that's all that counts.

I've mentioned differential hardening of blades,

and here's a picture that shows it.

For this process you can do one of two things: one is to bring the whole blade up to heat and quench it to harden, then use a torch or other heat source to heat it from the back so that when the edge section is at the desired hardness the back will be a bit softer; or heat the blade so that only the section you wish to harden is at full heat and then quench it, like this:















The effect is very visible here, with a fairly sharp demarcation between the fully hardened edge section and the softer back. I do one other thing to add to the effect, which is to hold the blade into the quenching oil almost horizontally so only the lower half is in the oil. You do move it up and down just a touch until it's lost most heat, then go ahead and lower it all the way down*.

After tempering this gives an edge that's hard enough to hold an edge well, with a back that's more of a soft/springy hardness; makes a blade that's very tough and flexible.

The GFW reading of the 2nd Amendment,

found here:
The Population of the nanny State, being composed of irresponsible rednecks, rejects, and retards, must not be allowed to have Arms.

Found through The War On Guns

Have I mentioned the Brits

are screwed?

Middle-class wine drinkers will be the focus of government plans to make drunkenness as socially unacceptable as smoking, The Times has learnt.

How truly joyous.

Please note the following:
But the British Medical Association said yesterday that such measures did not go far enough, adding that customers in licensed premises needed better information to raise awareness of the dangers of excessive drinking and drink-driving.

Anytime some nanny-state socialist uses the term 'raise awareness', you know they're measuring you for a shock collar.

If there's anybody in the damn world who lives in a place where cars are affordable who DOESN'T know about the 'dangers of excessive drinking and drink-driving, they're too stupid to be allowed out without a keeper. Of course, this crap gives the nanny-staters one more excuse for assigning a keeper to every damn one of us.

And this from the President of the Royal College of Physicians: “We really need the spotlight more on health. While crime and antisocial behaviour is important it’s too easy to concentrate on that because it’s somebody else causing the trouble."

God, yes. Just stop worrying about the assaults and murders and rapes and terrorists, you bloody peasants, and worry about a real problem.

On the subject of changing tires,

ever had the desire to find the idiot with the impact wrench at the tire store and use the wrench on him?

While back came across someone with a flat. This was on an old Oldsmobile full-size car with the old-style jack & lug wrench that doubled as a jack handle, which gives you a lever damn near three feet long to remove the lug nuts. I weighed about 175 at the time, and I actually had to bounce on the end of the wrench to break three of the nuts loose; this was an old couple and there's no damn way they'd have been able to change that tire.

New tires, mind you(sidewall blew out on the flat), put on two weeks before. I told them to go back to that store and get the tire replaced, and tell the service manager to make sure an average human could get the damn nuts off without having to play acrobat.

A question for the chemically knowledgeable out there

I'm putting together the stuff to blue by the same method Og used here. You'll notice one of the ingredients is lye, which is proving a bitch to locate around here.

Here's the question: the formula notes 'sodium hydroxide' as the lye. I found a place nearby that has potassium hydroxide, which(from what I read) is also considered lye. Anyone know if they're basically the same, or if they're different enough that I should not try this stuff?

A bit more on do-it-yourself

This reminded me of something. Couple of years back, one of the open-mike nights I used to hit was usually run by a guy who was a speech teacher during the day. One night he was griping about the trip to a contest last weekend. Two cars, he drove one and one of the students drove the other.

The second car got separated- due to traffic, he thought- so a ways down the road he pulled in to a station, parked where the car could be seen from the highway, and they sat down to get a coke and wait. About an hour later the other car showed up and parked. First question, as you'd expect, "What happened to you?"

"We had a flat."

"It took you an hour to change a flat?"

"No, it took a while before someone stopped to change it for us."

He was dumbfounded, along with most everyone else listening. Five in the car, three boys, and none of them knew how to change a tire or were willing to try. Most had the same background: if you, a guy from twelve or thirteen on, had confessed to having to wait by the road until someone could change a flat for you you'd have been laughed out of the room. Only an injury or medical condition would have exempted you from that. Where/when I learned to drive, most of the girls that age could change a tire if they had to(rural area, might be a while before someone comes by), they just didn't like to.

This is one of those things that's also a safety matter. Weather might make it a bad idea to just sit a while hoping for assistance, and some people who stop might not have 'offering assistance' in mind, especially if the one broken down is a woman(This used to drive me nuts with my first wife. She'd never let me show her how to change one: "Someone always stops to help me with a flat.").
Again, you might not enjoy something like changing a tire, but you should damn well know how.

New postal match up

at Sailor Curt's place.

The previous post got me thinking about writing,

and authors, which made me think about the first time I met some authors. And about how someone's work gets fiddled with over time.

That time was the Fourth World Fantasy Convention in Fort Worth, 1978. First Con I'd ever been to, and my first real trip without parents involved. The big thing that caused a friend and I to buy tickets and save up for the trip was that the Guest of Honor was a gentleman named Fritz Leiber, who wrote(among other things) the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, just about my favorite sword & sorcery fiction pieces then and now. So the chance to meet him, and maybe chase girls(shut up) sent us south.

Very nice weekend in a number of ways, though finding the hotel was not one of them(note: do NOT trust directions the con staff send you) Met Leiber(not for long, he was rather in demand as you can imagine), met Andrew Offutt and a few other writers. In the dealers room found all the Fafhrd and Mouser books(all but one collections of short stories) I didn't have and got them all, and the drawing of them in the schedule, signed by Leiber. Met the wife-to-be. And was introduced to the works of Robert E. Howard.

Yes, the creator of Conan, and Bran Mak Morn, and Kull the Conqueror and Solomon Kane and others. My previous acquaintance with his work had been glancing through those godawful comic books: no matter the weather, enemy or place Conan was always in a breechclout and boots, etc. The Con was actually dedicated to Howard and his writing, and I'd wondered why. No, I didn't take the time to dig up one of his books and read it before the Con. The introduction to the actual Howard stories came through hearing them.

Saturday night the main event was a couple of readings. Harlan Ellison read two of his shorts, one funny as hell and the other equally creepy, and then Leiber walked to the podium. Leiber was about 6'4" or so, slim, with a mane of white hair and a deep, resonant voice. He'd been an actor at one time and it showed, with the hall quiet he could be heard fairly well even without the amp. Then all the lights in the hall went down except for the candelabra on the wall behind him and the small reading lamp, and he began to read.

The story was The Phoenix on the Sword, the first of the Conan stories and one Howard said he wrote 'as if Conan were standing behind me telling the story'. And Leiber had the gift of reading so that you felt you were in the story, watching and hearing instead of just sitting and listening. It was bloody awesome. And it started me reading Howard.

His Conan was very much a wandering barbarian mercenary, pirate, thief, whatever filled his purse. When it was cold he wore furs, when it was hot and sunny he wore pants and a shirt, or a robe, whatever was found where he was. And he wore armor. Not the character I'd expected from those comics. I've still got the books I picked up after that.

That was some weekend. Meet authors, buy books and get them- and that drawing- signed by Leiber, meet wife. Definitely interesting, and with long-term consequences in a variety of ways.

(I'll throw in something about the books: Karl Edward Wagner edited some of them, and did it the right way: corrected obvious spelling errors, set it up properly for paperback format as opposed to the original pulp magazine columns, and otherwise left the stories the hell alone. Read one as originally written, and compare it to the same after it had been 'edited to make it better'; you can really tell the difference. Which is why I'm still ticked at L. Sprague de Camp)

I think I could call this a 'spike in traffic'

I looked at Sitemeter for the numbers for the last seven days. Here's visits:























And here's visits and page views:
























Guess which day Insty linked to my post?

Of course, the day after it's a big drop downward(ah, fickle fame...) so I'm back from a tall soapbox to a standard size with a saggy lid.

Wow, Instalanche!

over the post on using your hands.

To address something Bruce said in comments:
No, if you're a lawyer/doctor/software engineer working on a $200/hour job, I don't think it's generally a good idea to drop everything to fix the furniture yourself. And not everyone enjoys working on the car, or fixing the lawnmower or whatever.

I do think it's a Good Thing to be able to do some of that, for a variety of reasons. It makes you less dependant on someone else for some work(I'm not fond of crawling under a house working on something, but knowing how to fix the problem in question saved money I couldn't afford to spend), it can save time, and, what may be the big one, people I know who can fix some things on their own are generally proud of it. May just be small things, but they like being able to take care of it. And knowing they can fix that makes them more likely to fiddle with something new and either fix it or figure out exactly what's wrong(which can save time and money when you take it to a pro).

I would flat hate taking the top off the truck engine in the driveway, especially some times of year, but it's comforting to know that I could find a manual and do it if I had to. And I'll admit that if I had to call someone to change a tire because I couldn't figure out how I'd be embarrassed as hell(which happens often enough, I don't need it over something like that). I'd much rather read, or screw around on the computer, or go to the range than fix the mower; but fixing it has saved money and time over taking it to someone else. And the kids knowing how to do some things on their own has helped them out.

Side effect for the kids? Cuts or scrapes or small injuries were generally seen as something to gripe about a bit and get over, because they were in the way of what you were doing, not obsess over. Which, in the long run, is a very Good Thing.

What Congress does with your money,

which they say they don't have enough of to do things like this:
Tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars soon could be flowing into the National Council of La Raza, an organization that advocates for civil rights for Hispanics and has connections to groups that advocate the separation of several southwestern states from the rest of the nation.

If you haven't read anything about La Raza, I'd suggest you do. And especially check out MEChA, a group just as warm and cuddly as the Nation of Islam. And just as racist. Then start yelling at your Congresscritter about this.

What goes around,

do indeed come around. Current/former hippies dealing with drugged-out people acting- oh, like they used to.

"I used to be a hippie. I wore beads and grew my hair long," he said. "But my generation had something these kids do not: a standard of civilized behavior." Well, just maybe. Here's the bit that sums up the whole attitude:
Panhandler Jonah Lawrence, 25, insists it is residents who need civilizing. "They say, 'Get a job!' " he said. "And I say, 'You got clothes for me? Or a place I can take a shower so I can look for work?' It's so bogus to tell me to get a job if I have nothing."

Well, try this you little bastard: stop spending what you have on drugs and booze and you'll have something to use to clean up and find a job. Assuming you actually want to try.

Found through Michelle Malkin

Things

gotten intotaken care of while not at the NOR shoot.

Ex-wife had a plumbing problem, loaned her some money for a plumber to root out the line. She e-mailed that the problem in the sewer line was a 'humongous' hair clog(she & the daughter both have long hair).

I sent back 'Stop shedding so much'.

I don't think it went over all that well.

The NOR shoot begins tomorrow,

and here I sit. Dammit.

I half thought about retiring when it turned out I couldn't get the leave time for this.

Have fun, you bastards.

Yes, the lack of 'use your hands' knowledge is bad (link corrected)

Really bad.

My daughter's first year in college she got a job at the museum in Norman, and one of her big selling points was when the asked if she could use 'basic hand tools': they meant like a screwdriver and hammer, and when she said "Yes" they were delighted. They were tired of hiring people who had to call building maintenance when they found a loose drawer pull.

Couple of years before that, some people I knew were building a three-level stage at a Ren-fair somewhere back east. Lots of local volunteers, almost none of whom could do anything with tools, including measure: they told one guy they needed a piece of plywood 48x60", and he(and those around him) couldn't figure out how to get that out of a 4x8' sheet. They had to give a short class on measuring, hammering and cutting to get the damn stage done.

God, I am so glad for the times I made the kids help do things around the house. And yard. And car, and forge...


As to the screwed-up link, I guess 'general idiocy' is more than just a post label...

Damn, I'm glad I bought a case when I did!

7.5 Swiss, that is. Late last year my favorite ammo dealer had two cases and I bought one, figuring A: it'll keep and
B: won't get any cheaper.

I was right on both counts. The stuff has been hard to find, and I just looked around and found the price per case to be $240, a lot more than I paid just a few months ago.

And the Socialist Senator from NY speaks again

and on this speech the major media doesn't think it's worth reporting. Or just doesn't want to spread around what she said.

Buying a gun vs. illegal alien applying for Z visa

Have you noticed that if the NICS check is having problems they have three days to decide if you'll be allowed to buy a gun, but the IIABAN* bill gives 24 hours to decide if someone gets the visa? And if the check can't be completed by that time, they get it automatically?

Back when I was a dispatcher, one of the things you had to deal with was that there was no online way to check if someone with a Mexican drivers license had a valid license, or find out if they were a wanted criminal in Mexico. The way an official put it one day was that 'there's no way we're going to interface our NCIC system or NLETS directly to Mexico'. You see, among the requirements of people using these systems is requirements for security of access to the data and respect for privacy law in the use of it(consider the corruption in Mexico and think of them having access to those systems).

Now consider that this bill would give one whole day to find out if someone has a criminal or other record that would disqualify them, when there's no fast way to check on this stuff into Mexico, and no way to know if the information from there is accurate and true.

But Chucky Schumer & Kennedy & Co. think the government needs three days to decide if you'll be allowed to buy a gun.

Just friggin' wonderful.


*Illegal Immigrant Amnesty By Another Name

MOLLE light

Saw a review of these in Shotgun News last month, and thought it looked pretty neat. So I checked it out, and ordered one









I'll state right off that I'm still a bit ticked off at PentagonLight who make it. Ordering it involved a delay("I didn't get a confirmation for shipping like the site says to expect." "We're backordered, it'll be a week or so."), then more delay, then a couple of unanswered e-mails, then a "Tell me where it is or cancel the order" from me followed by "We're sorry about that, yours should ship Monday at the latest".

It shipped Tuesday. Yeah, it's just one day, but it was damn near a month after I ordered it. So while I'm hoping that this was an exception for their service, I'm still ticked.

MOLLE is short for Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment, the system that replaced the old ALICE gear(no, I don't remember what it's short for). This light looks kind of like the old military right-angle flashlight. This one is small(3.5" tall) and light(1.5 oz) and uses a single AA battery. Instead of a bulb, it uses a .5 watt LED with about 40 lumens output, and can be had with blue or red filters that screw onto the base for storage and over the lamp for use. It's supposed to fit inside one of the loops on the MOLLE gear(don't have any to check that) and has a spring clip that allows it to be hooked on a belt, pocket or whatever.

A bit unhappy with the company or not, so far I have to say this is a very good light. Not as bright as my Surefire G2, it's a very similar white light with no shadows or holes in it. The switch is on top: press down a little for momentary, down all the way for constant on. It's supposed to run about three hours constant with a fresh battery, soon as I get a chance I'll stick a brand new Duracell in and try it. It'll sit upright on the base, and I've hooked it on pockets and belt; the hook does swivel so you can aim it.

Overall I rate it as a good piece to have.

Further on the Christian/Newsom murders

here and here. The reports of mutilations are now reported by the authorities as false, which- assuming they're not downplaying things- leaves a bloody, horrible case of kidnapping, rape and murder.

It's being(unfortunately) used by apologists for the dirtbags and some white supremacists and some general 'these rumors are just because the suspects are black' weenies to push their viewpoints. And we're still stuck with the simple fact that if a gang of whites had done this to a black man and woman, the major media would've been screaming about it from the start.

Lots of thoughts on this mess, but I'm going to have to work on them a bit.

Memorial Day Updated

Over the years, I've known a bunch of people who were currently in uniform, or had been in the past. Family, friends, people who(in CAP) taught/trained my son.

This is the first Memorial Day since son joined up. He's currently in a quite nice place; in a few months he'll be in a somewhat less nice place. He's had good training, in Basic from people freshly back from the immediate war zone* and since with people who've been there; a bunch of people in his unit have been there before. They're prepping hard for it. There's a certain amount of concern, of course, but knowing that does make this a bit less difficult to deal with.

What'll I do today? The flag is up out front, at least unless('until' by the look of the clouds) it starts raining again. I'm not going shopping. There's things I'll take care of in/around the house, and when I take a break I'll check around on the web on the State Of Things, and I'll be thinking about people I know and don't know who're out on the sharp end. I'm uncertain about God, in that while I think He's out there, sometimes I'm not too fond of Him, but I'll probably do a bit of praying(can't hurt).

This is a marvelous country we live in. Because a bunch of people of all social classes were willing to put their lives and families on the line to create it; because a lot of people have fought for it in many ways since, many losing everything. Someone once asked how, if I liked this country so much, I could be so distrustful of the government and I said it's because I love this country and I don't want the muck-sucking politicians and their buttmonkeys to screw it up because I wasn't watching. There are a bunch of people in ACUs all over the world as well as here, some actively fighting the bad guys and the others training for the time, and it's to keep this country going without the bad guys killing and torturing in the streets here.

From those in graves in many places to those old ones who fought in the past to those currently out there, we owe them. A lot.


Update: Kevin has a list of places where you can donate to help the troops and the families of the fallen.


* I call Iraq and Afghanistan the 'immediate' zone; I think we're in the 'warm to cool' zone, depending on what part of the country(as in "What's nearby they'd like to hit?") you're in. As to training, in Basic every member of the training cadre had been in one or the other immediate zone within the past six months; the Army has been taking the top few percent of noncoms coming back and rotating them to training duty.

With one thing and another, haven't had much to write lately

Work with strange shifts, trying to get enough sleep, not much time to do anything and then Security Staff(Senior) passing on... it all kind of drains the enthusiasm out of you.

So I thought I'd just post some links, in case you haven't run across these things yet.

From Kim, his opinion on the 'Illegal Immigrant Amnesty By Another Name' bill. I'll second him on the pissed off, though I have the slight mitigating factor that both OK Senators voted against this mess and have made their opinion of it very plain. I'll add to it that the only reasons for them to be surprised by the anger on this is
A. Abject stupidity(quite possible)
B. Acting(also possible)
C. Actually believing they could say a few words and have everybody go along. Though I think this one would be a side-link to 'Abject Stupidity'.

Take a look at these grips Xavier tested. I don't know about the bone, but I like the buffalo horn on the maker's site.

Remember I mentioned a while back word that the Yugo government, in keeping with a treaty they'd signed with the God-cursed UN, would stop exporting arms and ammo? Got this today in an e-mail from Century:ITS DEFINITE NO MORE YUGO SKS’S AND YUGO UNDERFOLDERS GET THEM NOW WHILE YOU CAN
The price on them has been going up(along with everything else), and this'll only make things worse.

One of the things about the current IIABAN bill is the emotion being used by some of these clowns to try to sell it. Both the 'teary-eyed children' crap, and- the one that REALLY pisses me off- is the comments(especially by people who damn well know better) that "Anyone who's against this bill is a racist". Let me state that if either my Senator or Rep. had said such a thing, not only would I have told them exactly what I think of them, I'd do everything I could to see them out of that office.

Also note, from His Majesty and Michelle Malkin, phone numbers to the House and Senate that bypass some of the usual crap needed to get to them. Where'd the numbers come from?
The hotline is paid for by something called the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and it’s being blasted to pro-open borders groups all over the country. The hotline gives its callers access to their senators that average Joes don’t have.
The numbers are;
1-800-882-2005. (Spanish number)
1-800-417-7666. (English number)

Don't you just love it? A Spanish number for people who apparently can't or won't speak English to yell at the Senate and House?

And last, from Michelle, a bit about the way the murdering fornicators-of-swine we're fighting treat people. And the absolute friggin' silence from the usual suspects who whine about us even daring to fight them.

I'm going to try to enjoy this weekend. Catch you later.

CZ-82

This is one of the firearms from former com-bloc countries that have become available. It was the Czech replacement for the CZ-52 pistol as a military sidearm















The -52 was a single-action semi-auto chambered for the 7.62x25mm cartridge, which propelled a 90-grain bullet to about 1400fps. SERIOUS penetration, and a fireball at the muzzle that does indeed get attention at the range. The -82 is smaller(6.77" long, 4.99 high, 1.42 wide), double-action, weighs a shade over 28 oz and is chambered for the 9x18mm cartridge. Where the -82 used a single-stack magazine that holds eight rounds, the -82 uses a double-stack that holds 12.

The -82 has an ambidextrous thumb safety, can be carried cocked & locked, and has white-dot sights. And one interesting characteristic: polygonal rifling. Which at first glance causes it to look like a smoothbore.

Takedown is much like the Makarov and the Walther pistols: drop the magazine, pull down the trigger guard at the front, pull the slide all the way back, lift the back up a bit and ease it forward off the barrel and that's it to field-strip. It feels a lot like those pistols, too. The workmanship seemed quite nice, everything well fitted and smooth working.

About that double-action. Firing the first shot, just pull the trigger or you can cock the hammer first. And, as mentioned, you can carry it condition one(no idea how secure the safety is on this point so cannot say if a good idea or not). Since there's no decocker, to lower the hammer on a live round means holding the hammer spur with one thumb, pulling the trigger and easing the hammer down. Could be just a bit touchy at times.

How'd it work? Quite well. Fired it with some Wolf ball and Silver Bear hollowpoints. Recoil is just like the Makarov, which means- for me- a touch uncomfortable after half a box or so; very snappy. I don't know if something like the Pearce grip that helps on the Mak is available, if it is and I planned on shooting one of these much, I'd get it. Accuracy was much like the Maks I've fired, quite good, especially since this has much better sights than the Mak. At ten yards it printed all shots about two inches below point of aim.

They generally come with a holster designed to allow for either left- or right-hand carry that also holds the extra mag and cleaning rod, I'll try to get a picture of that and add it on later.

Overall, an interesting piece.


Had a chance to try one of these out a couple of weeks ago and with one thing and another finally got around to writing about it.

Some days just suck

Security Staff(Senior) died this morning.

Gun Show

this weekend. One of the better ones. Looked around and found some bits & pieces, and some ammo. Found out that:
Ammo prices have gone up on a lot of stuff. Again.
M1 Carbine parts from some vendors are priced at ridiculous levels.
M1 Carbines themselves, bloody amazing. Fairly standard mixmaster carbines people are asking $800 and $1k for.

My favorite ammo dealer had, among other good stuff, .303 British ball. Both some Pakistani stuff(32-round boxes), and Brit-manufactured ball, on clips in bandoliers, $16 per bando.

The Paki stuff is uncertain. When I first got an Enfield I bought a bunch of it, and it was great: sure-fire and accurate and cheaper than anything else. Last batch I saw, lots of reports of click-bangs and some flat duds. This recent import stuff is supposed to be pretty good, if I go back to the show Sunday I may pick up a box or two.

Between at work late last night, woke up early and been busy all day, I've had it. See you later.

Essay you really need to read

Was over at the Geek's place and found a link to this: Waco Rules vs. Romanian Rules.

Go read it.

Range day

Having survived(and remained conscious throughout) another shift at work, and it being a very nice day outside, I loaded up some stuff and hit the range. Nothing serious, mainly just to get out and shoot and enjoy it.*

Real hit for that was the Martini Model 12(written up here) and a box of Eley Sport. I have lots of favorites, but for fun .22 slowfire, this is it. Between the sights, trigger and balance, it just makes hitting the target seem easy. Working the lever, loading another round, lining up and squeezing off just kind of go in a rhythm that keeps putting holes right where you want them(within reason). And occasionally you have the joy of some guy with a fine bolt rifle and BIG scope wondering why he can't group as well as that damned old thing?

Putting a box of .22s downrange with a tool as nice as this makes for a fine part of a day.

*Side note, the last couple of nights as I left for work at oh-dark-thirty, there was some bird singing. I think a mockingbird; sounded just as happy as if the sun were shining. I didn't know they sang after dark.

Be it stated(again) that John Edwards(Dipshit)

and Harry Reid(Enemy buttmonkey) are a couple of sorry excuses for human beings.

First, to the "I need my $400 haircuts) Silky Pony Edwards, and his little example of 'supporting the troops'. This little scumsucker has, barring the rest of the field all being struck by lightning or a meteorite, zero chance at the Oval Office, once again demonstrates just what he is.

And Reid, in a measure that will undoubtedly be trumpeted as a 'great act of courage' by surrender monkeys and socialists in general, made it known that "he'll allow a vote this week on the Feingold-Reid amendment, which would cut off funding for the war by March 31, 2008."

Slight problem: he still doesn't have the balls or integrity to just put the measure up for a vote, so he's "he's attaching it to the Water Resources Development Act Reauthorization."

Chickenshit little bozos are STILL playing games with funding for the troops, and doing this crap too. Once again: "Lamppost, rope, politician: some assembly required"


Added: more on Edwards here; key line :
What kind of cynical political beast would profess to all that—noting a direct threat, recognizing a Security Council that was acting out of its own financial interests, claiming that his own reading of the intelligence led him to believe Iraq that was attempting to acquire nuclear weapons, and saying categorically that no, he wasn’t misled in his vote to go to war—and then call for us to pull out, leaving the Iraqi people hanging out to dry, and virtually insuring that the middle east becomes further destabilized?

One more treacherous politician to keep an eye on

Heard the other day that when the vote in the House came up, Rep. Dan Boren(D-2nd District) voted with Pelosi & Co. to fund the war for three months.

Rep. Boren, I doubt you'll see this, but just in case you do:
Whatever Pelosi & Co. offered you, I hope in the long run it's worth it to you. To sell the troops out like that for an attempt at political gain.

And you better believe this won't be forgotten. I don't live in your district, so I don't have any blame for you sitting in that office; that also means I can't vote against you got get you out of it. But I can make damn sure to bring this up every time you open your mouth about the subject of the war, and do my part to see you can't dodge having done this.

These bastards really don't care about the Constitution at all, do they?

I speak of the assclowns like LA State Rep. Cedric Richmond(Dumbass-New Orleans*). Aside from the usual 'restrict-license-ban' crap, it includes "and allow the State Police to inspect private homes for compliance".

There's another bill somewhere(I want to say VA, but don't have time to look it up right now) plus some federal crap that's been proposed over time that includes the same: basically, "If we allow you to own these evil objects, our minions can search your home/car/business at any time, and we don't have to worry about a warrant". Fancy way of saying "Screw the Fourth and Fifty; we don't care".

It's pretty consistent, they just don't care about the Constitution if it gets in the way of their desires. Screw 'em.


*as if you couldn't figure both parts out

And once again, a 30% chance turns into

thunder and lightning and rain. Dammit. It had dried out just enough I was able to get the front yard mowed, finishing just as it started.

They're now saying a 'slight chance of scattered showers' tonight, which means taking the truck to work(too many times has 'slight chance' become 'drowning trip home on motorcycle').

Gerry, the climate(other than waiting for various volcanoes to blow) may suit you just fine, but places from which people say "my layer of protective mildew is in excellent condition, thankyew" do not really tempt me for some reason.

Back in the Dark Days of Clinton,

when the 'Assault Weapons Ban' was passed, I didn't have much free cash(hell, NO free cash) to do so, or I'd have done what a lot of people did: buy an EEEEEVille Assault Weapon. In the days that mess was being debated every shop in town that carried them, and ammo and magazines, was selling more than before. In the thirty-day period between Clinton signing it and it going into effect, more yet. One local shop said(in a newspaper article about a week before it took effect) they sold more in that period than ever before, and if there'd been a supply they could've sold at least that many more. And one telling note was a comment from one man: "I never wanted one of these, but if the government is going to tell me I can't be trusted with one, then I'll buy one". Lot of other people said the same thing(but in more profane terms) and bought.

At the time I primarily thought of it as a way of saying "Fuck you" to the politicians; over time I started thinking of it as 'putting together stores'. And I started considering a lot of things I'd never really given serious thought to before. I had kids, and the idea of not being able to take them shooting and hunting like my father & grandfather had... it really, really pissed me off.

All of which leads to this piece at RNS leading to this at The War on Guns. Referring to the first paragraph above:
The Law of Unintended Consequences decreed that there would be two unexpected results of this Clintonista constitutional misbehavior. The first was the importation and sale within a few months of several millions of semi-auto rifles (principally SKS and AK-variants) into the U.S. This was in anticipation of, and defiance of, the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban." Indeed, this was more rifles of these types than had been sold in the previous TWENTY YEARS. And it was in a political climate where it was fully expected that the next law would call for the confiscation of such weapons. Why, then, did this massive arming take place? Were we buying these rifles merely to turn them over later? When the Clintonistas realized that we were not buying these rifles to turn them in, but to turn ON THEM if they became even more threatening to our liberties, it gave them considerable pause. I am told the analysts in the bowels of the J. Edgar Hoover building were particularly impressed.

Well, they should have been.

You see, what impressed us gunnies the most was the fact that under what we came to know as "Waco Rules", Catch 22 was in full swing. It was as if the Clintonistas were shouting, "We can do anything you can't stop us from doing." The constitutional militia movement, despised by the administration, caricatured by the media (and professional liars for money like Morris Dees of the Southern "Poverty" Law Center), and unjustly vilified after the Oklahoma City bombing, began to explore the question of just what could be done to stop such unconstitutional conduct on the part of the government. We realized that another way to express Catch 22 is to say, "You can do only what we let you get away with."

I'd been around law enforcement most of my life, and I'd grown up thinking of the men with badges as Good Guys. Time went by, and I discovered that there were some Jerks mixed in, and(this was the real shock to me) some first-class Bad Guys. And that, due to the conditions/pressures of the job, the Good Guys tended to protect the Jerks and Bad Guys from being thrown out/prosecuted. And if you couldn't trust the Good Guys to stand against the Bad Guys, then what the hell DO you do?

I flat detest the idea of civil war with the cops- Good Guys and Bad- on the other side. No, let me rephrase that: I HATE it. You know what makes it less of a detestable idea? Kathryn Johnston. All the victims of SWAT (or Tactical Teams or Special Operations teams or whatever the hell they're called locally) teams being misused and getting away with it, over and over. And all that video from New Orleans of cops and National Guard troops holding people at gunpoint- sometimes after beating hell out of them- so they could steal their firearms.
(side note: the fact that most of the major media flat ignored this garbage didn't help matters, either)
Note to law enforcement types who haven't figured this out: if you do crap like the above, people do not look on you as Officer Friendly anymore; they look on you as Jackass in a Ninja Outfit Who Abuses People. And you're seen- rightly- as thinking yourself above the law and not to be trusted.

Hell, I've said this before in one form or another. Go read at TWOG, it's much worth it.

Tony Blair

announced he's leaving office in June.

I've done some thinking about him the past while, with it being a given he'd be out of office soon. My original opinion was that I gave him full credit for seeing that the islamists are the enemy, and for getting it through Parliament to get troops into action in Afghanistan and Iraq; but that in every other way, he was the kind of nanny-state politician I despised.

I do still give him credit for the first, but my respect for him on the matter has dwindled. When you have troops being sent into combat who have to borrow ammo from allies because they were sent to the front areas without a basic load; when, in the middle of a war for survival, you cut the number of ships in your navy and cut the number of troops in your military forces; when you can't even provide wards for the treatment of wounded where they don't have to worry about being abused by relatives/friends of the enemy, you have failed to honor the threat that you stood up to speak of. And you've failed the people you sent to do the fighting.

It's been kind of amazing to watch this man both insist that the war was absolutely necessary at the same time he and his party was trashing the British military. 'Mind-boggling' as Peter Plunkett would say. And his "abolition of Britain’s liberty" at the same time he was working to trash the idea of being British while simultaneously giving special consideration to people who, bluntly, were the enemy of Britain(while bloody LIVING THERE, yet)...

Remember the Brit cop who was murdered in a raid on a house of suspected terrorists? Sent in with no arms, no armor and apparently orders not to be too mean and nasty, he was stabbed to death. Officers ordered not to launch raids during prayer times or to search where the people being raided objected to so as to not be seen as 'racist' and/or 'insensitive'. Absolute idiocy that cost lives and has allowed the enemy to make serious inroads into Britain, cheered along every step of the way by the upper levels of Blair's government.

But if you're a Subject of the Crown who uses too much force in protecting yourself from an attacker; if you own a firearm that's disapproved of, or more ammo than is approved of; if you say something 'upsetting' to people carrying signs calling for your death, you WILL by God go to jail.

And I cannot agree with Cella that "he disarmed Socialism in Great Britain"; indeed, he worked hard to advance it, a nanny state with cameras everywhere and personal freedom trashed.

Yeah, he did stand with us, and I do appreciate it. I wonder how it would have worked if he'd been more worried about defeating the enemy he recognized than in being friendly with the enemy inside his own house, though.

Sondra, if you sent this down this way,

first, some rain is indeed appreciated. But ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, dammit! Swing some of it into California before that spreads and runs the weenies to surrounding states to mess things up. Send some of it to Florida to knock down the fires there. But stop sending it here!

Yesterday, before I crawled into bed(at four friggin' pm, did I mention my schedule was FUBAR?) I checked the rain gauge: an even five inches in the previous 48 hours. That's not counting the few inches in the few days before that. And now it's bloody raining again. Not just a little sprinkle, oh no, it's raining. Again.

If you didn't send your lousy Oregon/Washington weather down here, then I apologize. But if you did...

One other thing about the Taurus titanium revolvers

Can't speak for the snubnoses, but on the 4" I've fired, that ribbed rubber grip does a very nice job of soaking up recoil. Within reason.

'Within reason' depending on the cartridge. .45acp, no problem, but...

First time I fired one was basically the same pistol in .41 Magnum. Now, I flat love that cartridge, and as previously mentioned I'm on the lookout for a Model 57 I can afford. And I'm not particularly recoil sensitive. But when I touched off a .41 Mag round in that thing, it kicked the crap out of me. I finished the cylinder, and have no desire to repeat the experience. As something with serious power that you'd carry a lot and shoot little, ok, but when something's that painful to practice with, I don't like. A very well-made gun, but way too light for that cartridge.

"It's globalur worner- Climate Change, that's what it is!"

Last year was dry, drought conditions over this state and parts of surrounding states, and we heard lots of "Is global warming causing the drought, and what comes next?" crap from some sources(big surprise, right?).

Well, from dry last year to damn wet this one. Along with the rain and storms of the previous few months, and the snow and sleet and freezing rain in winter, it's not only raining now(well over 2.6 inches in the last six hours) but something like 50% probability over the next few days.

I haven't heard it yet- probably becuase I don't go looking for this crap- but I have no doubt that someone already is talking about 'changing weather patterns due to globalar warmening'. Which is flat amazing, because they apparently cannot be bothered to remember their own life or look at the records. Cycles like this have always happened, long before any human activity could have affected it, and always will. Dry years, wet years, average years, all working their way through with no concern for our notice of them. For us at all.

Oh well, it'll make them so happy to point at it and squeal.

More on the death of Kathryn Johnston

Demonstrating that the 'say anything to get a warrant, etc.' mess was indeed an ongoing problem, Balko has this:
The 80-year-old Thompson was in her bedroom the afternoon of Sept. 20, when she heard a terrible crash and shouting. Startled and confused, she grabbed a pistol and was immediately confronted by three Atlanta narcotics officers.

"They had masks covering their face. I thought I was being robbed," she recalled. "They pointed those big guns at me."
...
The two incidents share striking similarities: Two elderly women living alone with guns; police battering in a door; faulty reports from street-level dealers helping narcotics officers; and police parsing the truth, if not outright lying.

And take note of this:
The team did not have a no-knock warrant as they did in the Johnston case. But narcotics agents are allowed to quickly batter in a door if they hear the residents scurrying around, presumably hiding drugs, or if they hear nothing. The team that day heard nothing, the police report said.
Got that? If they hear you 'scurrying around', they can kick in the door; and if they DON'T hear anything, they can kick in the door. Just freakin' unbelievable.

He notes that the judges who've been in the habit of signing these warrants, often under conditions that should have told anyone with three working brain cells that something was wrong, need to be dealt with also. However,
Fulton magistrates don't plan on making any policy changes, said Stefani Searcy, court administrator for Fulton County State and Magistrate courts.

"I'm sure the judges, not just here but across the state, are concerned about whether officers are telling the truth," Searcy said. "It's a problem that has to be handled internally by the police department."
"Because we clowns in black robes have NO responsibility in this, no sir, none at all!"

Of course the Empire In Decline is the U.S.

in this article. I admit that I'm seriously suspicious of anything coming from someone who writes things like "An imperium in its death throes can be a nasty beast; I am by the same token nervous that the American empire may lurch dangerously around for decades to come.", but I will say his idea is interesting. I don't think it'll work, for the simple reason that 'containing' radical islam is just a touch different than the Soviet Union.

Pretty good article on th 2nd Additional

in, of all places, the New York Times.
There used to be an almost complete scholarly and judicial consensus that the Second Amendment protects only a collective right of the states to maintain militias. That consensus no longer exists — thanks largely to the work over the last 20 years of several leading liberal law professors, who have come to embrace the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own guns.

Considering it was 'liberal' politicians and law professors who gave us the 'collective right' crap, it only seems fair that some of them realize the truth and speak about it.

I've always been amazed at how, in a document specifically noting individual rights, the rights of free people, that these people could argue with a straight face that the 2nd was only a 'collective' right.

The earlier consensus, the law professors said in interviews, reflected received wisdom and political preferences rather than a serious consideration of the amendment’s text, history and place in the structure of the Constitution. “The standard liberal position,” Professor Levinson said, “is that the Second Amendment is basically just read out of the Constitution.”

No kidding?

But(of course), those 'individual' rights people don't really believe it:Scholars who agree with gun opponents and support the collective rights view say the professors on the other side may have been motivated more by a desire to be provocative than by simple intellectual honesty.
Just like if you don't agree with the 'concensus truth' on globular wormering you're either a Gaia-hating troglodyte or just trying to cause problems. 'Course, though, this is coming from people who on one hand say a criminal caught in the act has more legal protections than you do, but on the 2nd say things like this:
“The Second Amendment doesn’t guarantee the right to have firearms at all,” Mr. Burger said in a speech. In a 1991 interview, Mr. Burger called the individual rights view “one of the greatest pieces of fraud — I repeat the word ‘fraud’ — on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

Take careful note of that last; it came from a former Chief Justice of SCOTUS. Considering we've had idiots like this on that Court, it's amazine there's anything left of the Constitution at all other than their approved form of the 'living document'.

And I just love this:
“It’s truly a life-or-death question for us,” she said. “It’s not theoretical. We all remember very well when D.C. had the highest murder rate in the country, and we won’t go back there.” Uh, you might take a moment to consider that one factor in that still horrible crime rate is that idiots like you disarmed honest people.

Found over at Instapundit.

Additional:
Two pieces noting that it wasn't 'liberal professors' who did all the work on this subject. Not even close. At Volokh and Balkin.

Almost always happens somewhere this time of year

Anniversaries of disasters always bring bad stuff back to mind. The edge dulls over time, and the stresses of the mix of fear/anger/fight-or-flight/amazement/wonder don't strike as hard as before.

May 3rd was the eighth anniversary of the 1999 F5 tornado that travelled through, smashing everything in its path and killing anyone who couldn't get out of the way and wasn't under enough shelter. Wrote about it a couple of years ago, with some of the specifics. A mile wide on the ground at its greatest strength, one of those natural forces that demonstrates every so often just how small our efforts generally are in comparison.

What a lot of people don't realize is what an outbreak happened that day. Something like seventy tornados were noted by either radar indications or ground reports. As I recall, there was one they think was another F5, but that one had a much shorter path and was out in the boonies, doing very little damage.

Thanks to lots of warning(the weather weenies here are pretty good at tornados and severe thunderstorms) from radar, stormchasers and- soon as they could get into the air- choppers tailing it, the death count was far smaller than it could have been. A similar strength storm
hit the town of Woodward(and other places) on April 9, 1947. From the NWS records:
The tornado that would strike Woodward began near Canadian, TX. Moving northeast, it continued on the ground continuously for about 100 miles, ending in Woods County, Oklahoma, west of Alva. The tornado was massive, up to 1.8 miles wide, and traveled at forward speeds of about 50 miles per hour. It first struck Glazier and Higgins in the Texas Panhandle, devastating both towns and producing at least 69 fatalities in Texas before crossing into Oklahoma. In Ellis County, Oklahoma, the tornado did not strike any towns, passing to the southeast of Shattuck, Gage, and Fargo. Even though no towns were struck, nearly 60 farms and ranches were destroyed and 8 people were killed with 42 more injured. Moving into Woodward County, one death was reported near Tangier.

The violent tornado (F5 on the Fujita Scale) unleashed its worst destruction on Woodward, striking the city without warning at 8:42 pm. Over 100 city blocks on the west and north sides of the city were destroyed with lesser damage in the southeast portion of the town. Confusion and fires reigned in the aftermath with over 1000 homes and businesses destroyed, at least 107 people killed in and around Woodward, and nearly 1000 additional injuries.

No radar to warn, no local meteorologists familiar with the history and terrain of the area. Something like that hitting the same path as the May 3rd storm would have killed hundreds. As it is, the damn things can form and drop so fast that even with Doppler radar and all the other fancies, they can surprise everyone.

Greensburg, KS took the hit this time. Some dead, a lot more injured, and much of the town destroyed. I say 'some dead' because they won't have a final count for days, most likely; takes time to search through a mess like that. And, just to add to the joy, NWS says:

A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK...INCLUDING THE POSSIBILITY
 OF LONG-TRACK AND VIOLENT TORNADOES...ARE EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF THE
 CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE
 DEVELOPMENT OF A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK OVER PARTS OF
 THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

 THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE

        CENTRAL KANSAS
        CENTRAL NEBRASKA

 SURROUNDING THE HIGH RISK AREA...THERE IS ALSO A POTENTIAL FOR VERY
 LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND STRONG TORNADOES FROM SOUTHERN SOUTH
 DAKOTA SOUTHWARD INTO WESTERN OKLAHOMA AND THE EXTREME EASTERN TEXAS
 PANHANDLE.

Not going to be a good night for a whole lot of people.

Taurus Total Titanium Tracker

in .45acp













I posted on this revolver once before, but since I had a chance to shoot one of these the other day, and I think it's a fine piece, decided to show it again.

It's about identical in outside dimensions to a K-frame S&W revolver, with the frame, barrel and cylinder being forged of titanium. The barrel and each chamber has a stainless steel liner(to take the pressure and hold rifling), and the lockwork is steel. The combination gives a revolver holding five rounds of .45acp that weighs the grand total of about 1.5 pounds. The steel versions have a vented barrel, and I believe some of the titanium models in other cartridges are vented also.

Since it fires a rimless cartridge it uses a steel moon clip to hold five rounds. Five instead of six means the cylinder can be that much smaller in diameter, which means a smaller frame, so smaller AND lighter for easy carry. These clips are not as heavy and stiff as those used in some other revolvers, so for fast reloads I'd think something like a speedloader carrier to set them into.

The grip is a ribbed, soft rubber that both fits to your hand very well and does a good job of soaking up recoil, the latter being a Good Thing in a pistol this light. Sights are fixed.

The action on those I've fired have all been very smooth with a light, clean single-action pull. Double was a bit heavy; I'd imagine it would lighten up much like a S&W revolver, though you'd have to make damn sure you didn't scratch the titanium surfaces inside.

I'm told they don't make this model any longer, which is a pity. It's light, well made, of a size that will fit a lot of hands, in a serious cartridge, and quite accurate. For something to carry on hikes, or as a concealed-carry piece it would work nicely.

I think it started when 'Band of Brothers' came out,

it got worse when CMP announced they had Carbines, and now that they're taking orders it's worse.

In this case, I'm speaking of the prices for Carbine parts. Just for the hell of it I went over to Evilbay and searched 'M1 Carbine', and while some things are reasonable, DAMN!, some things are flat amazing.

The clowns in Congress aren't helping, either, since every time someone like Schumer opens his mouth and starts talking, people decide to get spares or stock up. Which isn't helping the ammo situation, either.

By the way, something I found that may be handy for others with those short little rifles:
The chargers for Carbine magazines come in two forms, the early with the magazine adapter attached and the later with a separate adapter. If you've got some, you know that after a few uses the little brass tab on the end- that keeps the cartridges from getting out until you push- breaks off. I found that the brass insert from AR15/M16 chargers is a little longer, and just a touch wider. You can trim just a tiny strip off the sides with scissors, shape a new tab(I use my dremel) on one end, and it'll replace the brass insert in the Carbine charger.

Dammit, I can't make the Shoot

Been looking forward to the Nation of Riflemen Shoot down in Dallas since Kim announced it. But it's official, I ain't gonna be there. Things at work are FUBAR, and- barring a miracle- I can't get the days for it.

I wish I believed in lotteries, I'd walk to the store and buy tickets.

Oh yeah, the Left just loves free speech

as long as nothing is said they don't like. Such as information about the Goreacle that upsets them.
Shortly after the story made headlines, popular liberal blogs Daily Kos and Huffington Post, laid out their plan of attack. A blogger called NeuvoLiberal wrote on Daily Kos, "please post any specific (action oriented) ideas you have for fighting back…. We'd like to target every person out there that is spinning in various rightwing and other outlet for this kind of smear job (the damage is done before you wake and smell the coffee)."

Over at Huffington Post, bloggers Dave Johnson and James Boyce issued another call to action: "Al Gore is a hero. Even heroes need help - join us, add to the comments, let's find out everything we can about these guys and stop them in their tracks. Now."

Got that? Say something that makes their 'hero' look bad, and they want you shut up. 'Course, if you've followed damn near any story that touched on their prickly little sense of "You fascists don't get to criticize us without being destroyed", you already knew that. This is just another example if it.

Vegans are freakin' insane

That's a blanket statement, based on the few I've met. Known some vegetarians, some of them are nuts, but just about everyone I've ever met who was vegan was also a socialist(or socialist-leaning at the least) nanny-state type. Through Sondra, found this piece of idiocy:
Jade Sanders, 27, and Lamont Thomas, 31, will get an automatic life sentence for the death of their 6-week-old infant, Crown. After being fed a diet largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice, he weighed only 3 1/2 pounds when he died.

Nothing but soy milk and apple juice. For a newborn.

Attorneys representing Sanders and Thomas told jurors the first-time parents did the best they could while adhering to their vegan lifestyle.
...
The couple's attorneys said they didn't realize their baby, born at home, was in danger until minutes before he died.

Bull-SHIT they 'didn't realize the baby was in danger'. When you feed a baby only that, and it KEEPS LOSING WEIGHT, the baby is STARVING TO DEATH. And when there are soy-based formulas available, there is no excuse- period- for this garbage.

And I'll tell you something else: if the baby needs formula(and unless there was a medical reason not to, why weren't they breast-feeding?) and the only formula that worked had some banned-by-vegans ingredient, you give it to the baby anyway. Because that baby's life if MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR GOD-CURSED DIETARY PURITY.

If it weren't so early, I'd need a drink.

Rosie O'Donnell has been called an idiot,

but I don't think that quite fits. I think she's a malicious, vile, disgusting example of a human being who may actually be too stupid to understand the implications of what she says.

Or maybe Raging Dave is more accurate in his description.

On top of that we have that sorry, worthless excuse for a man Senator Reid(Traitor-NV) and his buttmonkey Pelosi(Tyrant's asskisser-CA) who are quite willing to betray their country for political advantage. Which, from some stuff Michelle Malkin dug up, is almost certainly connected to this crap. As one guy says here,
Saw your article on the crackdown. Although it's speculation on my part, I think my own vet background provides me enough experience to make the determination that the reasons for this are the armed forces member responses to Harry Reid's comments and anything said or done by other elected Dems. I'm sure after receiving a slew of criticism that was identified as originating from any service man or woman, they contacted DoD and angrily issued complaints.

Undoubtedly true. These are some of the pimples on the ass of humanity who did everything they could in the 2000 election to have troops' absentee ballots thrown out; would it surprise anyone to find they went bitching to the politicians and lawyers in uniform because some of those peasants in the military service dared to criticize the Holy Democrats?

I didn't think so.

Like the Emperor says, "Lamppost, rope politician: some assembly required".

It shouldn't be considered the 'new, aggressive' approach:

it should be considered the old-fashioned, effective approach.
"Some of them were trying to get the heavy machine-gun up a small hill to engage us," Lt Denton said. "Capt Staley used the 30mm gun to take out the two guys who had taken off, and then we fixed on the ones with the heavy machine-gun. They were huddled around a large boulder and we shot them. We put as many rounds around it as we could, because if they got to it they could cause us trouble. But they never had a chance to set it up."

Seriously, why and when did 'hunt the bastards down and kill them' become a 'new, aggressive' approach? It's what should have been happening all along.


Found through Our Lady of the Thong

And further on official thugs

A police officer and a former officer pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter in the shooting death of a 92-year-old woman during a botched drug raid last fall. Another officer still faces charges in the woman’s death.
...
Former Officer Gregg Junnier, 40, who retired from the Atlanta police force in January, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, violation of oath, criminal solicitation and making false statements. Both men are expected to face more than 10 years in prison.

This is in the Kathryn Johnston mess in Atlanta. And from Balko:
We now know that Kathryn Johnston fired only a single bullet, through the door as police were trying to break in. They responded with a storm of bullets, which apparently both wounded Johnston and the officers themselves. When they realized their fatal error, they planted cocaine and marijuana in the woman's home. They then pressured an uninvolved informant to testify to having made controlled buys at Johnston's home to cover their tracks.

The New York Times is now reporting that the officers have told federal investigators that their behavior was not out of the ordinary. That corruption, planting evidence, and giving false testimony are routine at APD. That's not surprising. The only way these officers could think they'd get away with all of this is if they were operating within a system that routinely allows for—or even encourages—such behavior. APD's focus on arrest numbers and professional rewards for the big bust apparently incentivized such short cuts.

Now, substitute 'guns' for 'drugs', and this is the kind of thing the former 'diplomat' in the previous post thinks should be done. Gah, I need a drink.

Speaking of jack-booted thugs and statist swine,

The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of suburban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every business, dwelling, and empty building. All firearms would be seized. The owners of weapons found in the searches would be prosecuted: $1,000 and one year in prison for each firearm.

Clearly, since such sweeps could not take place all across the country at the same time. But fairly quickly there would begin to be gun-swept, gun-free areas where there should be no firearms. If there were, those carrying them would be subject to quick confiscation and prosecution. On the streets it would be a question of stop-and-search of anyone, even grandma with her walker, with the same penalties for "carrying."

And where does this wondrous piece of shit come from? Why, from a liberal(in the modern sense) jackass who seems to think a police state is a wonderful idea. Since we'd all be 'safe', you see. Let's see, at the bottom of the piece it says "Dan Simpson, a retired diplomat, is a member of the editorial boards of The Blade and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Oh, joy, he is/was a diplomat. You know, one of those types who seem to think the UN should control all. Who says "And before anyone starts to hyperventilate and think I'm a crazed liberal zealot wanting to take his gun from his cold, dead hands, let me share my experience of guns."

Mr. Simpson, got news for you: you ARE a 'crazed liberal zealot'. You prove it by your own words. Your willingness to trash various parts of the Constitution(which, as a diplomat, I would've thought you'd have sworn to protect it. Or is that only something the lower orders in the military and such do?), your contempt for those who don't agree with you show it.

And take note of this:
The "gun lobby" would no doubt try to head off in the courts the new laws and the actions to implement them. They might succeed in doing so, although the new approach would undoubtedly prompt new, vigorous debate on the subject. In any case, some jurisdictions would undoubtedly take the opportunity of the chronic slowness of the courts to begin implementing the new approach.

Got that? Only the 'gun lobby' would have a problem with warrantless searches, with all the other crap he proposes. And if this were proposed, and 'some jurisdictions'(Chicago, you think?) sort of jump the gun and start doing it, this jackass seems to think it's just fine for state/local governments to ignore the Constitution and the law in hopes that the law will change and take them off the hook for violating it.

I know people who dislike guns who would be flat horrified by this. And everyone should be, because a police state like that described will ALWAYS find something else that their widened powers should be used on. Think of the crap Bloomberg and Daley & Co. would like to make us do, and then imagine them with this kind of power to force you to do it.

Dammit, this kind of crap makes me want to put some more ammo aside. Just in case.

Kim & Family may like the weather there,

but it's a damn good thing they got out.
In the last edition of The Illinois Shooter, we reported on the activities of a shady taskforce known as the Chicago Anti Gun Enforcement (CAGE) unit. This elite squad, operated jointly by the Illinois State Police, the Chicago Police Department, and the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, supposedly exists to identify illegal gunrunners. However, information gained by the ISRA makes it clear that the CAGE unit is targeting law-abiding citizens, not criminal gunrunners.

Thanks to a ruling by a liberal federal judge, the CAGE unit now has the name of every single person in the United States who, since 1992, lawfully purchased more than one handgun in the period of a week. The CAGE unit also has all the makes, models and serial numbers of those guns. In essence, the Chicago Police Department is now registering guns and gun owners nationwide.

The terms 'jack-booted thugs' and 'statist swine' come to mind.

All right, NRA, this is the kind of thing those millions of members pony up for; are you going to go after their ass or not?

I tend to think this IS what some people in the White House think

"I'd just like to reiterate the White House's absolute contempt for you barely literate morons who ask me questions," Dana Perino told the reporters. "On a personal note, I'm starting to believe that Tony Snow's illness was simply his body protesting be subjected to such idiocy. Now, what are your questions?"

and

"Representative Dennis Kucinich recently issued articles for impeachment of Cheney. He seemed to dissappear right after, but later he was found standing on Cheney's lawn in a blue coat and wearing a red pointy hat and he would not answer our questions. Do you know why?"

"Because lawn gnomes don't talk. Any other questions?"

"With visionaries like Sheryl Crow concerned about global warming, shouldn't the White House take a tougher stance?"

"Once again, I want to remind you that celebrities are exceptionally stupid people," Dana said. "I know you reporters think they're smart, but that's because you are very dumb yourselves. This is an issue of science, and thus you should all stay away from it because there is no chance of you even understanding the slightest thing about it. Remember when I tried to explain a chart about greenhouse gases to you? Many of you started crying."

Better go read it all. Before the monkeys get him.

Haditha update

My work schedule has, let's say 'gone to hell' so I haven't had much time for anything. But I did get a chance to check the Emperor's thoughts on things, and found this post, leading to this article about the case.
Although the prosecutors said they needed more time to prepare their cases, there is much more to the story than that NewsMax.com has learned, and it paints a shocking picture of a prosecution that should never have been pursued.

In a nutshell, the case exploded when an intelligence officer dropped a bombshell on prosecutors during a pre-hearing interview when he revealed the existence of exculpatory evidence that appears to have been obtained by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and withheld from the prosecutors.

Think about that: not withheld from the defense, which is bad enough, but withheld from the prosecution. 'Interesting' isn't quite the word.

Check it out, and pass it around.

The American Hunters and Shooters Association

is 'The Brady Ban-Guns Group' by another name

And has former BATFE agents in house. Who tell bullshit stories to the media about- among other things- ammunition. And MSNBC quotes him without bothering to mention he's part of an gun-ban group.

Which makes
MSNBC dishonest( I say 'dishonest' because I don't think there's a chance they didn't know);
This former agent either an idiot or a liar, and considering the group he's a part of I'd bet on the latter;
and Oliver Willis a wanker(but you knew that already).

There are some people who need- BADLY to be reminded

of two things. First, that the 1st Amendment applies to ALL, even when they say something bad about Islam and second, This crap ain't gonna be tolerated:
Imam Fouad ElBayly, president of the Johnstown Islamic Center, was among those who objected to Hirsi Ali's appearance.

"She has been identified as one who has defamed the faith. If you come into the faith, you must abide by the laws, and when you decide to defame it deliberately, the sentence is death," said ElBayly, who came to the U.S. from Egypt in 1976.
...
Although ElBayly believes a death sentence is warranted for Hirsi Ali, he stressed that America is not the jurisdiction where such a crime should be punished. Instead, Hirsi Ali should be judged in a Muslim country after being given a trial, he added.

"If it is found that a person is mentally unstable, or a child or disabled, there should be no punishment," he said. "It's a very merciful religion if you try to understand it."

At least, it won't be tolerated by the non-pc people who think your belief system is a plague upon the earth. Which it is. And if you and your buttmonkeys think she'd be somehow abducted and taken to some place where you have power, have five words for you: Ain't No Way In Hell.


Found thanks to His Majesty

Oh, damn!

Look at this! And this! And most of all, this!

Dammit, I need two things: first to know I'll win, then to buy a lottery ticket.

It's that time of year,

when God's vacuum cleaner starts dropping the nozzle about the place, and storms with a generally bad attitude start dropping chunks of ice on us. Some storms yesterday evening/last night out west, with some damage from tornados. Tomorrow afternoon/evening there's a fair chance of severe stuff in southwest OK, lesser chance here(about 30%); tomorrow night into Tuesday evening it goes up to 60% here. At least as far as the current forecast goes.

Ever had to wear a helmet to go outside to check for damage? It's an interesting sound, hailstones bouncing off it.

Next time someone starts the 'We should license guns

just like we license cars' crap, borrow the words of Lawdog. I've used some of these points in arguments before, but Dog covers just about all of it. Very well.