Warning: Serious Thoughts included

Accuracy/insight not guaranteed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


** These deserve posting:

SIR ROBERT PEEL'S NINE PRINCIPLES

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

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

Carbon offsets:

Let the peasants deal with your jet emissions!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And why did they do this?

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

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

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

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

over the years:

"The Fenty and Singer piece contains this howler:

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

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

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

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

Wankers.

Dammit, Rodger has

pulled the plug!

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

Mr. Completely's Gunblogger Rendezvous is coming up

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

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

Tar and feathers my ass, Mr. Reynolds,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ah, a nice, comfortable walk

with all your gear

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

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

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

Ok, I have to tell you about this

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

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

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

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

Ammo prices: Yuck!@!

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

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

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

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

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

On the subject of weather forecasting,

I have to note that Hogboy had a piece on the horrible, we're all gonna DIE! very quiet hurricane season so far, and in the comments you'll find this:
I work for a company that produces Long Range (i.e. 12+ months forecasts) based on Solar cycles and past weather along with some proprietary software. We've done well on some things, not so good on others. All you need to know about my faith in the process is that I haven't used it to plan my vacations.

That about says it.

.30 Carbine loads Pictures added

One of the things that gets said a lot about the ammo for the Carbine is that it's weak. And in comparison to the M2 Ball for .30-06 or 8mm Mauser, it certainly is: a 110-grain bullet at 1900fps compared to a 150-grain at about 2900 comes off as Niles Crane standing next to Clint Eastwood.

However, the big thing in the .30 Carbine's favor is short, light & handy. Try putting something like a .30-06 in something that light and you'll fire it once. Twice if you're a masochist. Three times if you're a sado-masochist: you get to hurt yourself and make the people around you cringe at the look on your face. So the usual thought is to buy some softpoint ammo.

I dug around and found softpoints by Winchester, Remington and Federal. All of them run about $35/box of 50(Federal comes in boxes of 20, works out about the same), which is just a bit pricey. So I decided to find some suitable bullets to try. The standard bullet is a 110-grain FMJ. Remington sells their 110-grain softpoint, and Speer sells a 110-grain flat-nose hollowpoint, so I gave those a try.
















From the left: GI ball, Reminton SP, Speer**, Sierra.

The Remington, with the same powder charge/type as ball gives about equivalent accuracy, but hits a bit to the left. The Speer bullet was very tight at 50 yards, but opened up a bit at 100.* Realistically, either should work quite well in a emergency situation, as repelling boarders at the house or protecting yourself/your group as you get out of Dodge isn't generally done at very long distances. However, on general principles I like to have the best accuracy I can get. So a while back while I was digging through the Midway site I checked for .30-caliber bullets of 110 grains and ran across these: Sierra Varminter, a 110-grain hollowpoint spitzer. A nice, efficient shape with a design that ought to leave a serious mark if you had to use it in a social situation. AND they were on sale, so I got a box.

The one problem with a nice, pointed bullet like this is that in the same weight it's longer than a round-nose. So I took the load I use with ball and the Remington bullets and dropped one full grain, then seated the bullet just a fraction(0.001 by my caliper) below the maximum length the manual shows for the cartridge. The lighter charge because you always work up with a new bullet, and also because it looked like the base of this bullet would sit a bit further into the case. As it works out the base, with the bullet seated at max length, is pretty damn close to the depth of the ball, but I'd rather work up anyway.



















From the left, standard ball, Sierra Varminter, and one of the cast-bullet practice loads I make.

I've put 20 rounds of this load through so far. The first ten were at the indoor range, mostly to see if they'd function properly, to check brass for any signs of excess pressure and to see where it went on paper. They fed flawlessly, no signs of high pressure that I could tell and they hit about the same point of impact as ball. The second ten I was going to shoot over the chronograph the other day(you know, the day I found the dead battery and my spare gone?); if the velocity was over 1900 I figured I'd need to back off on powder just a touch. So I went ahead and shot them for accuracy at 100 yards: identical point of impact as ball and nice grouping. As in a touch under 2" with two five-shot groups. Which is damn good for this little beast, and I'm very happy about it. But I still need to check velocity, so I just loaded ten more for the next trip. I just wish I could set the chrono up at the indoor range I use, it's a lot closer and easier to get to, since if I'm going to the outdoor I plan on spending at least a couple of hours making noise and enlarging my carbon footprint.

Right now I'm about to crash, so tomorrow I'll try to get some pictures of the different bullets posted with this.

*By 'opened up a bit' I mean about 4" groups or a touch over, which is well within minute of goblin.
** That's actually a .32 caliber 100 grain Speer: I remembered I'd used all the 110-grain .30 caliber. The 110-grain is a bit longer, bullet shape is identical, though.

And from the ADS* people of France,

we get this:
Though, one woman adds sternly, it won't last forever: ''We threw out the Germans, we'll throw out the Americans, too.'' Asks the interviewer in astonishment: ''The French threw out the Germans?'' Well, the Frenchwoman replies airily, ''you Americans helped a little.''

Among other things, they should never have talked Churchill out of whacking De Gaulle back then.

And be sure to check out the peace racket, too.


*America Derangement Syndrome

And I hope it does

cost them dearly

Found thanks to the Geek.

Ah, the tolerance and caring of the left

Gay Democrat Leader Laments Inhofe Near-Miss

A homosexual leader of the Oklahoma Democratic Party makes it plain in an Internet blog posting that he wishes the military airplane carrying Senator Jim Inhofe, three other members of Congress and a full crew had been shot down over Iraq.

James Nimmo, treasurer of Central Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats and a representative to the Oklahoma Democratic Party's Central Committee, posted a wire service story about the C-130 being attacked as it left Baghdad with the headline, "So close yet so far...Inhofe plane fired on in Iraq."

Full post here

Infantry combat is "young man's work"

That's the damn truth. Found a link to this at Q and O, and it reminded me of something. In the article Mr. Smith notes:
So, a 5’11’’ Marine weighing 175-180 lbs., weighs about 250-280 lbs. in full battle kit. Yet with this added weight, he must remain strong, fast, agile, able to withstand long road marches in extreme temperatures and capable of fighting another man of equal size and weight in the often-close quarters of an urban environment.

That brought to mind a passage I posted once before, taken from David Drake's book Fortress:

The thing that nobody who directed war movies understood- and why should they? It would come as news to rear echelons in all the various armies as well- was that the guys at the sharp end carried it all on their backs.

The irreducible minimum for life in a combat zone was water, arms and munitions, and food. In most environments, heavy clothing or shelter had to be factored in as well; exposure in a hilltop trench would kill you just as dead as a bullet.

Helicopters were fine, but they weren't going to land while you lay baking on a bare hillside traversed by enemy guns; so you carried water in gallons, not quarts, and it was life itself. If you ran out of ammo, they'd cut you apart with split bamboo if that was what they had... so you carried extra bandoliers and extra grenades, and a pistol of your own because the rifle you were issued was going to jam at the worst possible time, no matter who designed it or how hard you tried to keep it clean.

Besides that, you carried a belt of ammo for one o f the overburdened machinegunners or a trio of shells for the poor bastard with the mortar tube on his back. You were all in it together; and besides, when the shit hit the fan you were going to need heavy-weapons support.

And the chances were that, if you were really trying to get the jump on the elusive other side, you had a case of rations to hump with you as well. Ever time a resupply bird whop-whopped to you across hostile terrain, it fingered you for the enemy and guaranteed that engagement would be on the enemy's terms.

So you didn't move very fast, but you moved, and you did your job of kicking butt while folks in strack uniforms crayoned little boxes and arrows on acetate-covered maps, learnedly discussing your location. That was the way the world worked; and that was why Tom Kelly felt subconsciously better for the equipment slung on his body as he shuffled into combat."

Gee, another couple of sorry, two-faced hypocrite actors

Who'da thunk it?

A study that will give GFW's the vapors,

and delight the rest of us.

Now, THIS is more like it!

Last week I was going through the Midway site for a couple of things, and looked at the red dot sights they stock(there's a LOT of them). Midway for three reasons: lots to browse through, customer ratings, and if there's a problem they're real good about taking care of it.

I decided to look at
Below $100,
Only those with four stars or above.
The latter really cut down the list. Several with four or four-and-a-fraction, then I hit this one. I'd heard about Millet before, generally good things, and there were no bad points in any of the reviews. So I added that to the order. And, Midway shipping being what it is, I had it four days later.

Nice, solid unit, came with rings and mounted easily. Good things:
Windage and elevation are solid click adjustments.
Brightness settings are solid clicks.
Nice, sharp dot(3moa instead of the usual 5).

Bad things:
Nothing so far. This is a 1" tube instead of a 30mm like a lot of others, but the diameter doesn't bother me in aiming, and the smaller tube puts the dot a bit lower than the 30mm I once tried, and I like that.

Yesterday I took time from stuff I was supposed to do to hit the range; after the Pentax crap I wanted to find out quickly if this thing worked. It does. Once adjusted(very easy with proper adjustments), it held zero with no shifting around. I put about 100 rounds of various ammo through the Carbine, and this thing just sat there doing the job. And I like the 3moa dot better than the 5 for a rifle.

100 rounds isn't a real trial, it's just a start, but already it's lasted longer than the Pentax, and the adjustments are a huge improvement. I'll be shooting it when possible the next while and watching the thing for any problems, so far it looks promising.

I was going to shoot the current postal match while I was out there, but by the time I finished up with the rifles the pistol range was pretty full. There's a gun show this weekend, I'm hoping after it on either Saturday or Sunday I can hit H&H and shoot it. If I do, I'll take the Carbine and run a few more rounds through. Oh, and just to cover it:
Pentax red-dots suck!
Pentax customer service sucks!

Pentax red-dots suck!
Pentax customer service sucks!

Pentax red-dots suck!
Pentax customer service sucks!


*Added: this was not one of my better days. I forgot the spotting scope, and when I set up the chronograph to check some .30 Carbine loads I'm testing, the battery was dead. And the spare I thought was in the truck, wasn't. The loads are shooting very well, but I'd really like to check velocity for an indication of pressure.

More on Haditha

Blackfive has another post on this, which includes links to previous important posts. I'd suggest you go through the comments; there's a guy throwing in every "The Marines messed up, the Marines lied, the Marines should be in jail!" line that's been come up with, and Grimmy takes them apart.

And we're still waiting for that sorry bastard Murtha to say something about the people he wronged.

I just had to note this before I go to bed

Go here, and read. Take note of this in the update:
Obviously Joe Huffman has never lived off the grid without A/C,
refrigeration or phone service. I have, and must confess I prefer life
without all the amenities.

Well, I'll tell you what, dumbass: I have lived for years without A/C, and in Oklahoma summers it flat sucks. When it's 80F at 1am, and the humidity is 60%, you can't lay down without breaking a sweat and a fan barely helps. Oops, I forgot, you said 'off the grid' so there's no fan either.

I have no idea where you live, and I don't care, you're just one more smug BS artist telling other people how they should live. You go ahead and do without power, without refrigeration to keep food and without telecomm to talk to people(including calling for aid in an emergency); I'll keep on using power to stay cool when it's hot and keep food fresh and stay in touch with people.

I note that you say 'I have', not 'I am', AND you're posting using a computer which causes me to conclude you're a true, first-class jackass of the 'do as I say' type.

These people SHOULD voluntarily become extinct.

Something that John Effin' Kerry never wanted to hit a courtroom

isn't a threat anymore. Because you know there's no way in hell he'll give people a chance to drag his whole record, ALL the documents, etc., out into the light.

Range report (Star BM) and cleaning notes Picture added

I'd written about the Star BM 9mm pistol before(here and here); well, a guy picked one up a couple of weeks ago and wanted to try it out, so to the range we went("You want me to help you test it out? However will I screw the yard, let's go!find the time?")

The cleaning note is this: I don't care if it's new in the box from the factory or an old, used whatever, take it apart and clean & lube it before you shoot it. If you don't know how to break it down or there's no manual, buy or borrow one of the Assembly/Disassembly books or find someone who can help. Not only do you need to make sure the bore is clear, etc., but it will almost certainly need lube. I have no idea how many new firearms I've seen that, when opened up, were dry, no sign of oil or grease anywhere. Which is not good. Manufacturer doesn't seem to matter, though it seems to be worse on revolvers; most semi-autos seem to at least have some oil on the rails.

Back to the range. Since the guy wanted to know both would it shoot well and would it make a good carry piece, we tested it with a variety of ammo. James wrote a while back on a Star Super B he owns that will NOT reliably feed anything but ball ammo, and wanted to make sure that was not the case on this BM.

The group below(in the X & 9 ring) is a total of 50 or 60 rounds, all shot offhand at about twenty feet
















That is with a mix of handloads(124-grain cast ball), CCI Blazer ball and Gold Dot 124-grain hollowpoints. Two of the magazines were random mixes of all three, and no failures of any kind. It went through it all without a hitch.

At the end I loaded one mag with the handloads and fired it one-handed at about fifteen feet:





















I'm a fairly lousy one-handed target shooter, and I wasn't taking any particular pains on breath control or timing, just 'line up the sights and squeeze', and got this.

This is the third one of these I've had the chance to shoot, and I really like them; I wish they were still being manufactured, they're a damn good pistol, well-made of good materials. This one had a trigger a target pistol would be proud of, was totally reliable with all ammo tried and is more accurate than I am. All three have eaten everything fed to them without a bobble, handloads and different brands of ball and hollowpoints.

I have to wonder if, since the Star BM's imported were originally issued to the Spanish Civil Guard, they may have been throated to handle hollowpoints? Or maybe it's just a bit different design than the Super B. In any case, it works.

The other thing I shot was that Sistema 1927 I reblued. I went through the 'Poor man's trigger job' instructions posted at the M1911.org forums in the tech section and wanted to try it out. Also, after bluing it, I've been carrying it some and shooting it to see how the finish holds up. The finish is doing well. And the trigger was much better; the original was clean but fairly heavy, now it's clean and lighter(I need to rig up or buy a trigger scale).

Clayton Cramer brings up something interesting

in the mess with ATF and Red's Trading Post:
As I have stated before ATF DIO Richard Van Loan has stated that he would have never revoked our license if we had purchased a computerized system.

Read the rest, it goes downhill rapidly from there. Unless there's some specific thing in law about it, ATF has no privilege or power to demand someone pay for a computerized system. And the BS- Yet the ATF has now deemed this system before our judge, that is so widely used and touted...inadequate.- does make you wonder what they're up to. In the case of Red's, they're probably willing to drag out any dancing pig they can find to get around what they tried to do and got caught at, so the question becomes are they trying to do this to others? And is there something to Cramer's theory:is it possible that some sort of corrupt deal has been made by some ATF bureaucrat to require a particular software vendor's system? If you don't buy a system from a particular vendor, you get extra special scrutiny, and then get closed down for trivial errors on paper forms?

Medical kits come in handy

Remember I mentioned nearly falling out of a tree? Scraping up my leg? Turned out I had no gauze pads or anything else in the house. However, a few months ago I'd turned to Doc Russia for advice on a first-aid kit; he had links to suggestions for basic, intermediate and full-blown emergency kits. I used a cheap buttpack somebody gave me to put together a basic, which was in the truck, which had gauze and wrap and so forth.

Which I now need to replace. Over the last few days used most of the gauze pads and wrap on the two bad areas of the scrape, which is sore but doing much better. Looks like hell but no signs of infection.

A: Get at least one kit put together, preferably two(vehicle and home).
B: Get extras of everything.

Now I need to find someplace with better prices than Wally World or the drug stores for the elastic wrap and such.

That fish

with the big teeth? Tigerfish, from Africa. Rob C says:
"Found in the Okavango, Zambezi... can somtimes be persuaded to jump into your lap by using a dollop of C4 in a coke can. These blighters can usually only be caught by using a stainless steel lead on the hook, normal line is no match."

Jeez, with those teeth I don't doubt it. I'll have to take his word on it for the C4 method, having no familiarity with it.

Heard about the ol' boy caught using dynamite to fish? Game warden heard what sounded like a blast and went up the river a bit, found this guy anchored and scooping fish off the surface with a net. Looked into the boat and saw two capped & fused sticks and said "Jason, you damn well know you can't do that. I'm gonna have to write you a ticket and arrest you on top of that!"

Jason picked up a stick, lit the fuse and tossed it to the warden. Warden caught it and was standing there in shock when Jason said "You gonna talk or you gonna fish?"

Australia and Britain:

Screw the facts, we'll wet our pants if we see those nasty guns!"

Instapundit linked to the first, Tim Blair to the second.

"We teach children about how bad guns are and yet we are being put into a position where we have to explain why there is a man in the car park carrying a gun bought across the road."
How about "Because, dear, not everyone is such a wussy as your father and I."?

Chris reminds us of murder and other disgusting crimes

committed fifteen years ago by US Marshalls, ATF and FBI.

At the time I thought that, second to the deaths caused by these jerks, the real damage would be to law enforcement, particularly federal; after witnessing this crap and the coverups and lies after, how the hell were people supposed to trust them on anything?

Add in some years, and the PC attitudes- or fear thereof- that kept FBI brass from even requesting a warrant to search the laptop of a terrorist, and caused them to- instead of demoting or firing his sorry ass- transfer and promote a Special Agent(very special, yes indeed) who refused to do his job because "A muslim does not tape another muslim". And the continuing lies and BS and crimes committed by ATF. Then add in the FBI lying in court and withholding evidence, sending innocent people to prison to cover for informants, and as I asked before, we're supposed to trust these people why?

When a friend sends you something like this

and your firstone of your first thoughts is























"Good trigger discipline", you need help.

Or a date.

Heard from the son this morning

As I mentioned before, I'm not sure about security/risk aspects of the information so for now I'm going to be vague: he's still in one hot & sandy place, about to travel to the other hot & sandy place to the FOB where he'll be stationed.

Comments so far boil down to: It's hot(120F) and it's flat. As to the latter, "Looking out in the desert there's some bumps on the sand. Then you zoom in, and it's a bunch of camels. It's FLAT out here."

And so things continue.

Does anyone know what the hell

this is?


















I don't have any 'fish of the world' books, and every time I try to find something like this online I get sidetracked. Any guesses?

Guy sent it to me with the caption 'world's biggest piranha', but I don't think so; the body shape seems wrong, and the teeth are different. But it's an interesting thing in any case.

Why I have a label of "Liberal 'thought' "

Couple of days ago Kim had this post, which led to the article. I just read it, and out of all the "Oh, God..." things in it, this one really seems to sum up what's wrong not just in Britain, but with a bunch of the nanny-state weenies we have to deal with here:
There's at least a vague agreement among progressive people that if you live in reasonable accommodation you are asking for trouble. To occupy a decent house, after all, is to provoke the less fortunate.

Think about that. If you work hard and save up and have a nice house, you're 'asking for trouble'. Not 'you worked hard and succeeded', not 'if he can make it, others can'. Oh, no, working and succeeding is 'asking for trouble'.

I need to practice tying a noose.

"So there ah wuz..."

I ache. All over, but especially my right shin. It's been a long day.

Yesterday I noticed some limbs on a couple of trees that had grown far too close for comfort to the power line to the house, and a big limb on one elm that was dead. I figured I'd get them tomorrow before it gets hot. So this morning after I regained consciousness woke up I headed out, got out the ladder and polesaw and got to it. The elm took less than an hour, cutting the thing up to get rid of took longer. Then to the other side of the yard to clear the power line.

Let me preface this with "I do not like working around power lines". Period. But I could get this done without getting too close to it, so to work. However, after the first bit I found that the limbs I really needed to prune could not be reached from the ground or the ladder; I had to get them from the trees themselves.

I don't know what kind they are. They're only about 15-feet high at most, but they'll forever after be known as 'those damn tangled trees'. Lots of little twigs and branches going every which way, so to get to the main problems I had to get up in each with a pruning saw and loppers and
first, cut the stuff I could reach that needed pruning, and
second, cut enough small stuff out of the way so I could get the polesaw to the stuff I had to cut.

First tree, no real problems. Second tree... more tangled than the first, by this time it was afternoon and getting hot(combined with high humidity, oh joy), and a lot harder to get in a secure position to cut. But had things going along fairly well, when the polesaw overbalanced, and I overbalanced and all went forward. No, I didn't quite go to the ground; I did find myself facing back up into the tree with a branch in each hand and one foot on a limb and some definite pains. I hauled my fat ass back into the tree, wilted some leaves with language expressing my feelings of upset, and managed to drag the saw back up and get it done.

By the time I got down I now had a big damn pile of limbs to cut up-some to be fed through the chipper and the rest cut to proper length so I can put them out for big trash pickup in a couple of weeks- and a scrape on one shin that goes from a little below the knee damn near to my instep. Which of course bled and hurt like a sonofabitch when I took a shower. So I was very careful when I dressed to go out and take care of some things to make sure my sock was rolled as low as possible.

So the evening consisted of every bang and strain I hadn't felt earlier presenting themselves for inspection and drinking a lot because I damn near overheated while doing all this. And when I took the socks off I discovered(of course!) that the sock on that leg had worked its way up a bit, so pulling it off took some scab with it. To the accompaniment of more language practice.

I so much do NOT want to repeat all this. The pruning not for a while, the gymnastics practice ever.

More general

Support MYOB in comments on the mining deal Rosia Montana referred to this, a blog by a local. Check it out.

How Societies Commit Suicide.

Science is supposed to be about asking questions of everything, whether anyone likes it or not. But the nanny-state "You hurt my feelings!" people will try to ruin you if your question upsets them.

And a bunch of people have made note of this study, this post from Anthroblogogy:
For example, handguns are outlawed in Luxembourg, and gun ownership extremely rare, yet its murder rate is nine times greater than in Germany, which has one of the highest gun ownership rates in Europe. As another example, Hungary's murder rate is nearly three times higher than nearby Austria's, but Austria's gun ownership rate is over eight times higher than Hungary's. "Norway," they note, "has far and away Western Europe's highest household gun ownership rate (32%), but also its lowest murder rate. The Netherlands," in contrast, "has the lowest gun ownership rate in Western Europe (1.9%) ... yet the Dutch gun murder rate is higher than the Norwegian."
Yes, definitely an interesting piece to bring up to GFW's who blame guns for everything.

Oh, and just to cover it again:

Pentax red-dots suck!
Pentax customer service sucks!

Pentax red-dots suck!
Pentax customer service sucks!

Pentax red-dots suck!
Pentax customer service sucks!

On disaster preparation

There are things I hate to shop for or buy.

Not because there's something inherently bad or unpleasant about the thing in question, but because of what it stands for. Medications or vitamins mean accepting that there's a health problem or the possibility of, crap like that. Some things, sometimes, it means you've looked at a very unpleasant possibility, decided it could happen and then decided to get ready. Just in case.

One thing a lot of people have a real problem with, in this line of thought, is buying a gun for self-defense. Or just deciding to use one they own for the purpose. Many of us have known someone who liked to hunt or target shoot or collect, but would not have a loaded gun in the house; the idea of looking down the barrel at another human being, even in the gravest circumstances, they can't handle. Especially if you've been around people who've prepared for that(law enforcement, military, just people who've decided their life and their families lives are worth defending), it's usually not as big a problem. With the exception of a few people who have a screw so loose it's about to fall out, nobody likes the idea, but the idea of being unarmed and helpless in the face of an attack, especially if someone you care about is at risk, is far worse than the thought of firing a shot into another person.

The step that started me thinking about this was buying a holster. Someone, can't remember who, a while back wrote that part of his get-home or bugout bag was a thigh holster, because his standard belt holster didn't fit well with a backpack.

Simple thing, right? Which I'd never thought of. I've got a get-home and a bugout pack(which I tend to keep fooling with what's inside, but that's another matter) and I'd adjusted the straps and so forth, but I'd never actually worn the damn things with a pistol on. So I tried it, and yeah, a low-ride holster would be a very good idea.

I'd looked online and found a couple, but wanted to actually see the thing before buying. Other day I finally took time to hit a local shop(nobody else locally had one I could find) and found a couple. And then spent a while comparing, and trying to decide between(one more expensive but more solid, the other less expensive and lighter) and it finally hit me why I was dithering: for some reason, this step- even more than putting the packs together- was admitting that certain things could happen to make the world go to hell and I'd better be ready, just in case.

I spent the drive home thinking about this, and wondering why this step hit that point so hard. I couldn't figure it out, still can't(just amazing how the mind works at times). It did remind me of something, which I finally found. Ever heard of Harry Flashman? A gentleman named George MacDonald Fraser wrote a series of books about him, all well-worth reading. Harry is a no-crap coward who wound up in the British army and was involved in some very important events for the British Empire, and some other nations as well. In Royal Flash he's been enticed into a trip and he's packing, when he runs into a quandary over a pair of pistols:
But I pondered about taking them. The truth was, I didn't want to believe that I might need them.
...
I knew, as I hesitated with those pistols in my hands, that if I took them I should be admitting the possibility of my own sudden death or maiming in whatever lay ahead.
...
And experience has taught me that, as with all weapons, while you may not often need it, when you do you need it badly.

A few months back Kim had a letter from a guy who'd basically been disowned by 'polite society' for doing a horrible thing: during a discussion about disaster preparations, when some of the neighbors/friends said if things blew up they'd come stay with him- since he was prepared- he basically said "The hell you will!" This struck them as being absolutely horrible of him, proving that he was uncaring and uncivilized and hateful and probably ate kittens and puppies for breakfast. I commented at the time that at least some of that nonsense was probably because he faced them with a terrible thought: that if things did go to hell they'd have to take care of themselves. Even if only for a little while. And that just flat terrified them. Especially since, as for Harry, they were faced with the thought of their death. And maybe the deaths of their family.

One of the mantras of self-defense is "mental preparation and attitude is vital, even more so than physical preparations". Really, it goes for pretty much any emergency. And, as per Harry's words, one of the possibilities you have to face is "I could get hurt. I could get killed, even in winning." Because, especially if you're protecting wife/husband/kids/etc. from attackers, the very unpleasant fact is that 'winning' can mean you stop the attackers, but you're crippled. Or dead. Not a nice thing to contemplate, but it has to be faced. So part of preparation is working scenarios in your head, and including in them you getting hurt but not stopping until the fight is done.

I think I've gone a bit overlong in this. It just struck me that this kind of reluctance to do/buy something has to hit a lot of people, and getting over it is part of developing the mental state of I will survive. And getting to that proper mental attitude can be a lot harder than buying the tools.

Remember the AP story about LE ammo shortages?

Caused by the nasty war?

BS.

And in other news:
Enviroweenies and rich socialists don't care about people who's lives are at stake:
And in late 2004, the Council of Europe sent Eddie O'Hara, a British Labour Party member of the European Parliament, to Rosia Montana to file an official report. Opposition to the mine, he said, was "substantial," but it was "very much fueled by outside bodies, presumably well-meaning but possibly counterproductively. It seems in part at least exaggerated." Mr. O'Hara concluded the opposition "do not take account of modern mining techniques and in fact the Rosia Montana project will help to clear up existing pollution." He also warned that not allowing the mine "would remove any chance of local development for some time."

Gee, outside agitators telling the locals what's good for them. Who'da thunk it?

Quote of the day:
It’s easy to see why he’s so anti-gun. He thinks we all have as little self-control as he does.

And last, more on the New Republic/Bullshit Beauchamp situation, here and here.
More later. Once I can find the book I'm looking for.

What is it about spiders

that brings some of these people out? Remember the guy whose pet black widow killed him? At least this guy got rid of the beast before something really bad happened, but still...

Not one of the rescuers dared to open the container, lest the orange arachnid get loose or bite them with its half-inch fangs.

Half-inch fangs? On a freakin' spider?? No, I do NOT want one around. Strange I may be, but not that strange.

More point-shooting pics

Also from Jordan's book, his sequence on draw & fire from concealed carry at close range.

Starting, his gun hand sweeps in & back to start carrying the jacket out of the way, and he does something you can't really see in these: he sways his hips to the left a bit















The motion continues, the jacket out of the way as he grasps the pistol,















draws a sweeps it forward and level to fire

On the 'hallowed halls of journalism' and other bullcrap

Insty linked to this which led to the article. I'm not going to go through it, you should just read it and marvel at the attitude.

'Sacred and magical place' my ass.

Erin is a bitch

even this far from water.

My rain gauge shows about 5" since yesterday afternoon, and we got off light compared to some areas west & southwest of here. They had heavier rains, strong winds and some tornados yesterday evening through last night. The storm came through Texas, into southwest OK and then looped north & east, wetting all over the place as it went.

There's a system called Mesonet in the state, observation stations for the National Weather Service*. A little earlier I heard one of the weather weenies saying that it sends in wind readings every five minutes, and for a couple of hours in some areas it kept reporting wind speeds in the 60's. We get lots of storms and such with gusts in the 60's, but continuous winds of that speed aren't real common around here. Lots of damage, lots of power & phone lines down.

And lots of flooding, to the degree of closing down I-40 out west for hours due to water flowing across the highway. Hard enough and deep enough to wash a semi into the median.

Now it's moving further off to the east and we should have just some sprinkles or light stuff before it clears out completely. A little rain to water the landscape would have been nice, but this was not needed; most ponds and lakes and reservoirs are still as full as they've ever been from the rains May-July. Downright messy out there.

*Interesting system. They wanted to expand it years ago and wound up making a deal with the state law enforcement network. They set up stations(usually at/near a police or sheriff's dept) and hook up to the LE network; that way they could set up a lot more stations, with people nearby who can check the equipment if it drops off, and they didn't have to pay for independant circuits to move the data.

"Gangs, alas, are offering what boys need"

is the title of this article Insty linked to, in which a lady reports on a year spent digging into why the gang problem in Britain has become so bad. Her two main points are:
Young boys join gangs, they told me, because they are afraid. There is nobody else to protect them, certainly no responsible adult.
The second:
Teenage boys need different treatment to girls to become responsible members of society. They need a role model.

Now, I know a lot of you are rolling your eyes over the latter and thinking things along the lines of "Well, no shit!" And a lot of people have said this over time and been ignored(I think she's probably catching a lot of crap for daring to state that 'boys need different treatment', thus violating the pc demands that there's no difference between boys and girls other than genitals). I have no hope for the upper reaches of the Brit government, it overall having shown itself to be so dedicated to nanny-state BS that no pointing out of facts will sway them. And the way their government is set up(as I understand it) the people in general have real problems trying to change things. At least until, as Kim puts it, the Glorious Day arrives.

A big part of her fix is both more male teachers, and more sports. As to the male teachers, that can have some really good benefits, but only if the teachers are more worried about teaching than about being pc:
One young man teaching in a school in a deprived area in the northeast said his “main focus” was not to offend his pupils. “I don’t want to push my middle-class values on them,” he explained earnestly.
Never mind that they NEED someone to tell them to work hard, to study, to try to become better, to shut up and behave: far more important to too many(and we've got the bastards here, too) is being 'sensitive and caring and non-judgemental'. No matter the cost.

And sports, be it said, can be a real lifeline to some kids, but in so many cases it's substituting for having a family that gives a damn and demands the kid actually perform.

Going back to her first point, there's a bit that I had to read twice:
The police and the Home Office have not taken crimes against young people seriously because they do not know they are happening. The British Crime Survey, described by the Home Office on its website as “the most reliable measure of crime” does not include crimes against anyone under 16.

Well, hell, no wonder nobody believes their idiot Crime Survey when it says things are better! How the HELL can you leave that group out? Sheer idiocy. Or completely deliberate: I very much doubt the 'they do not know they are happening' is true. Considering some of the crap that's come out in the past, I think they may deliberately have left them out so as to make the 'official figures' look better. No, as a matter of fact, I don't trust them; God knows why anyone would.

Personally, I'd say a hell of a lot of this boils down to the fallout of the multi-culti PC crap. If you don't judge people behaving badly, if you don't demand discipline and learning in school, if you have no problem with women(to use the term loosely) pumping out bastards from different fathers- none of whom bother to stay around- and think society has some obligation to provide a check and a place to live to people who don't want to take care of themselves... You get gangs, you get crime, you get social standards disappearing.

Oh, as a finish, I can't pass up this line about teenage boys: In times of war we value their aggression, their sense of immortality, their loyalty to one another. But in peacetime they are at best a nuisance, at worst a threat.
Not exactly encouraging, is she?

More on the jackass reporter in Boston

whining that the nasty 2nd Amendment types are out to get him. The Real Gun Guys have a nice roundup of the situation.

Oh, and they were the guys with the smoke bomb recipe. I need to go shopping...

As my experience now says, Don't Buy Pentax

They may make good cameras, but their red-dots suck. And so does their 'customer support'.

About a month ago at Dealer Days at H&H Range, there was a Pentax dealer. One of the things shown was their HS10 red-dot sight. Not bad, I thought, small & light, would fit nicely on the M1 Carbine, and the man said they'd been tested clear up to .454 Casull revolvers for recoil tolerance. So I laid down my money and took it home.

Fast-forward to range day, where I discover this is a piece of crap. The adjustments are uneven(sometimes a slight turn makes a BIG move, sometimes a BIG turn doesn't move at all), so it took a bit to get it zeroed at 50 yards. And then it lost zero. Reseat the battery(I know, but just in case), no difference. Damn thing now wandered all over the place.

I checked the Pentax site and it has their 'customer service' link to contact them. They say someone will get back to you within three business days. Bullshit. I sent and waiting a week, no response. So, just to see, I sent again, being sure to mention the first no-response.

It's been just over a week. And sure enough, no response. Pentax either doesn't read their web contact forms, or don't give a crap about their customers. So I look up their 800 number and decide to have everything handy before I call.

Yeah, you know what's coming.

I can't find the damn receipt, despite having set it with some others. Which means even if Pentax came through I couldn't return it.

Losing the receipt was my bad. Selling a defective product and then not responding to multiple requests for assistance, their bad.

PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!

PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!

PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!

PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!

PENTAX RED-DOT SIGHTS SUCK!

Dammit!

Couple of days ago I ran across a blog which had-among other things- a very good recipe for making smoke bombs.

Anyone know who it might have been?

And we're supposed to trust Federal authorities

why?
In one eye-popping exchange, two congressmen—one Democrat and one Republican—confronted Wayne Murphy, the assistant director of the FBI Directorate of Intelligence about the way the FBI uses drug informants. Rep. Dan Lundgren, R-Calif., and Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., told Murphy they were troubled by reports that the FBI had looked the other way while some of its drug informants participated in violent crimes, and that the agency then failed to notify local authorities, leaving many of those crimes unsolved.

Lundgren and Delahunt said they were also troubled by reports that in order to protect the identity of its informants, the FBI had withheld exculpatory evidence from criminal trials, resulting in innocent people going to prison.

Now, just by itself this is reason for tar, feathers and a rail; but it gets worse:
Could Murphy assure the U.S. Congress, Delahunt and Lundgren asked, that the FBI has since instituted policies to ensure that kind of thing never happens again?

Murphy hemmed and hawed, but ultimately said that he could not make any such assurance.

So the damned FBI has knowingly and repeatedly sent innocent people to prison. But when they show up to ask questions, you're supposed to TRUST these people?!?

Another reason not to vote for Giuliani

I've mentioned before that I could not vote for him, if for no other reason than his hostility to the 2nd Amendment. Well, I was over at Confederate Yankee and found a link to The Shield of Achilles who has this on Giuliani and illegal immigration:
At a town hall-style meeting with about 100 voters at a technical college in Concord on Tuesday, Giuliani encountered a voter who asked why the former mayor made "New York City a sanctuary for illegal aliens."

"You must be talking about another candidate," said Giuliani, who went on to argue that his administration urged the federal government to deport as many illegal immigrants as possible.

However,
“Some of the hardest-working and most productive people in this city are undocumented aliens,” Giuliani said at the time. “If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city. You’re somebody that we want to protect, and we want you to get out from under what is often a life of being like a fugitive, which is really unfair.”

As much as the encouraging of illegals, what pisses me off here is that he flat lied about his previous words and actions.

So here's two reasons I could not vote for this man.

Old movies

Some are bad, some are good. And some are very damn good. Not necessarily 'won an Oscar' good, but very good movies.
Over at Seraphic Secret they made mention first of Myrna Loy and a number of her movies, and just before that a bit about screenwriting. Which reminded me of Casablanca.

A few years back my daughter was over for the weekend and I finally got her to sit down to watch it. She was writing(constantly, still does) and not paying much attention for about ten minutes, then something caught her attention and she looked up and asked "What did he say?" Aha, I thought, got her now, so I gave her a ticked-off look, rewound the tape and started it over. And this time she put the notebook and pen down and watched, and listened. Clear through to the end.

When it finished I asked "What do you think?" She sat a moment, then said "You know, everything in that movie is a cliche, but when they made it, they werent."

She liked it. Got her own copy later, too.

I started agreeing with Charles and calling them Palisimians

when I saw things like this:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.

Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can’t, the young star of Hamas television’s best-known children’s show said, she’d be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land.

Eleven freakin' years old.

Saraa is the sweet face of “Tomorrow’s Pioneers,” a weekly, hour-long Hamas television children’s show best known for bringing the world a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike and then having him killed off by an Israeli interrogator.
...
Saraa helps deliver similar messages to Palestinian children from a Hamas TV set filled with colorful numbers and pictures of kittens. During the show, Saraa fields calls from Palestinian children who warble songs about Islam, liberating Jerusalem and finding answers in the barrel of a machine gun.

And one of the things that really pisses me off, as a side issue, is that an awful lot of the people who'll make excuses for this crap will have hissy fits at the very idea of a parent here in the US taking their kids to the range. THAT'S disgusting, but these kids praising death and murder? Why, that's just fine!

Oh, for... If you actually needed further proof that Once Great Britain

is in the toilet, here it is:
DOCTORS and health workers have been banned from eating lunch at their desks - in case it offends their Muslim colleagues.

Health chiefs believe the sight of food will upset Muslim workers when they are celebrating the religious festival Ramadan.

Now, this would be bad enough if it were standard multi-culti bullshit. But:
The new guidance comes in the wake of the failed terror attacks on Glasgow and the death of suspect Kafeel Ahmed, 27.

So if there was any doubt, this is because a bunch of chickenshits are terrified of muslims and don't want to do anything that might upset them. Even to the point of telling non-muslims not to eat.

What? You say it only says not eating at their desk? Read on:
But Greater Glasgow and Clyde as well as Lothian NHS boards also issued the advice, warning workers not to take working lunches, and said all vending machines should be removed from areas where Muslims work.

Got that? Vending machines removed, and don't even TAKE your own lunch.

The Englishman and Mr. Free Market & Co., if they haven't already, should consider stocking up on, say, anti-personnel type ammo. They may need to to repel attackers and then to fight their way out of what used to be a great country.

A bit more on point-shooting

I've heard it referred to as 'shooting without aiming', but that's not the case. It's flat wrong, in fact.

No, you don't use the sights. At least not in the standard fashion, which I'll get to later. But you aim. Go back and look at the pictures of Jordan, and you'll notice that the pistol is far enough forward that he can see it while focusing on the target. So by feel and vision you know where it's pointing. As the distance increases, you move the pistol further forward in your field of view. Please note, you're not just pointing in a direction and pressing trigger, you are aiming, using your view of the target and pistol as your reference points. And with practice, muscle memory helps out.

As the range increases and you raise your hands higher, you do see the sights- primarily the front- and that gives a more precise aim*, until- the range being great enough and/or time being available you use the sights in standard fashion.

Few people are good at this right from the start, but with a bit of practice you might be surprised how accurate you can become with this. And it has another advantage for many: if your vision isn't that good(especially dim conditions), or you wear glasses which could be wet or dirty or knocked off/lost, it saves you the time of picking out the sights and aligning them. I have the standard middle-age problem that changing from far to near vision isn't nearly as fast as it once was, which can make switching from target to sights and back a problem if speed is needed. Again, especially in bad light. Since there's not an optical/red-dot available that's small enough to fit on a holstered pistol for standard carry and affordable/reliable enough(been a while since I looked, there may be something now), that means that being able to point-shoot at closer ranges could be a very handy thing.

Generally, it's always a Good Thing to bring it all the way up and use the sights. Developing some point-shooting skill doesn't take the place of using sights, it adds a skill to your arsenal. If nothing else, get hold of a soft-air gun and try it. Which is a good practice tool anyway.


*I was once on a firing line where point-shooting was being practiced and the range master came over and told me to stop using the sights. I wasn't, I was just moving my pistol further up & forward than the others. I don't remember if I was actively noticing the front sight, but that extra bit of reach was making a real difference in accuracy.

The son is now off to a hot and sandy place

I'm not sure what might or might not be a problem so far as information goes, so for the time being all I'll say is left Germany(in the 50's at night when he called) and deplaned into 100's. Be a bit of a shock, that.

Now it'll be a while before I have a mailing address, hopefully most things he'll need will be available there. If not, well, I've got some boxes and padding saved up.

Shameless pimping of a relative's blog

My daughter has decided to start a new one, on the subject of putting together a Writer's Guide to Weapons. It's just started, The Pen is Deadlier can be found here.

Just a handy little knife

With a bit of fancy























Blade's O1 and about 4", grip is antler, fittings are brass with a bit of filework on the edges.

Just what IS going to happen to Russia?

The Geek had this up a few days back, and there've been other discussions about this for some time. Barring a miracle, I think Russia is pretty much screwed, and I think the big culprit is communism.

That faith dominated the Soviet Union for decades, and they're going to be dealing with the effects of it for decades longer(assuming Russia doesn't break up completely or get taken over). Lots of countries broke from being run by royal families and did well; Russia made a start and then the commies took over, cementing their control by any means available. Face it, at best a country run for so long by people like Stalin & Co. and their followers would take a long damn time to get over it. With the multiple shocks starting when the Wall came down, it was iffy but they had a real chance. But with so many- mostly older, true, but still...- actually wishing Stalin would come back...

I hate to see it happen.

Well, Murtha? We're waiting

And waiting. For you to actually show some integrity, considering what a jerk you've been proven to be:
In his recommendation, Lt. Col. Paul Ware said murder charges brought against Sharratt were based on unreliable witness accounts, poor forensic evidence and questionable legal theories.

"The government version is unsupported by independent evidence," Ware wrote in an 18-page report. "To believe the government version of facts is to disregard clear and convincing evidence to the contrary."

Which is a fancy way of saying 'innocent of the charges made against him'.

Mr. Murtha, those Marines and their families are waiting for your apology. Just in case you have the guts and integrity to make it.

Which I will not hold my breath waiting for.

Human-caused Globular Warmering Updated

my ass:
These graphs were created by NASA's Reto Ruedy and James Hansen (who shot to fame when he accused the administration of trying to censor his views on climate change). Hansen refused to provide McKintyre with the algorithm used to generate graph data, so McKintyre reverse-engineered it. The result appeared to be a Y2K bug in the handling of the raw data.

McKintyre notified the pair of the bug; Ruedy replied and acknowledged the problem as an "oversight" that would be fixed in the next data refresh.

NASA has now silently released corrected figures, and the changes are truly astounding. The warmest year on record is now 1934. 1998 (long trumpeted by the media as record-breaking) moves to second place. 1921 takes third. In fact, 5 of the 10 warmest years on record now all occur before World War II. Anthony Watts has put the new data in chart form, along with a more detailed summary of the events.

Which article led to this:
Two months ago, I reported on an effort to validate this network. A volunteer group headed by meteorologist Anthony Watts had found serious problems. Not only did sites fail to meet the NCDC's requirements, but encroaching development had put many in ridiculously unsuitable locations -- on hot black asphalt, next to trash burn barrels, beside heat exhaust vents, even attached to hot chimneys and above outdoor grills.

Got that? Sites recording weather data, including the temp readings used to say "We're going to burn up!"[/algore] were in not very suitable locations that would give higher readings.

Doesn't matter to the True Believers, as they have The Goreacle to lead them to his Revealed Truth, but for us infidels some very interesting information.

Update: here's more

Point shooting, and the current e-Postal Match Updated with Bill Jordan pictures

The current match is at Carnaby Fudge, and the first stage is 'no sights, point and shoot'. Which I rather like.

Current handgun training tends to be 'always use the sights unless you're at contact range', and without question it's generally easier to hit accurately, even at close range, with sights. But point-shooting can be very fast and- with practice- very accurate. And considering the number of reports I've read where someone said they never really used the sights(in normal manner), I think skipping it is a bad idea. At least some familiarizing would be a good idea.*

James at Hell in a Handbasket has a good piece on it here, and if you look around the gunboards you can find more. If you have time, one book I'd strongly recommend is No Second Place Winner, by Bill Jordan. If you've been around the shooting world a few years, you've probably heard of him; he was a Big Name for a long time, with a lot of years on the Border Patrol and having(as one guy put it) ended more gunfights than most would-be tough guys ever thought about starting. The book's good for the stories if nothing else, but his chapter on 'Combat Style Shooting' is what we're after here. To shorten it quite a bit, the closer the bad guy, the closer you have the pistol to you when you fire. To illustrate his method, I scanned these two pages from the book:















If you've never tried it, or never seen someone who's in practice shooting this way, the accuracy you can get is amazing. Jordan would, for demos, stand aspirin tablets on edge on a table about ten or fifteen feet away, draw and fire(S&W Model 19) and shoot the tablets off without touching the table. The man who handled firearms training for OK Highway Patrol for years, a gentleman named Dan Combs, was about that good, and I got to watch him a couple of times. Flat damned amazing, both accuracy and speed.

I'll throw in, the way dad was taught(and he taught me) was to get both hands on the piece as soon as possible: so for anything beyond contact range to, say, five or six feet, use both hands as the additional control and accuracy is worth it. Jordan was a big, strong man(look at the hand holding that Model 19) and shot with one hand a lot, and could handle .357 Mag loads one-handed with no problem even in rapid fire; most of us ain't quite to that point.

That kind of speed and accuracy takes a LOT of practice for all but a few gifted people, but for the practical need of placing shots in an attacker's vitals at close range, just about anybody can pick it up with a bit of practice. It's a skill well worth working on. Let me close with a couple of paragraphs from the end of the chapter:

"One last suggestion: For 90% of your practice, draw from the holster and fire one shot. It's that first shot that is important and it is the one most difficult to place accurately. Don't practice "hosing" your shots, depending on seeing hits to get you on target. You learn nothing from this and you are lost if you can't see the strike of your bullets. Your crutch won't work at night or with no background to mark your shots, and then you will be in bad trouble. The first shot is all important, and if it is in, the others will follow.

For the other 10%, if you are concentrating on that first shot and it goes in you will have no difficulty with the rest of the burst. your wrist and forearm will stiffen automatically for recoil control. And above all, take al the time necessary but don't dawdle. Remember, "speed's fine, but accuracy's final"- if you are given time to display it!"


*A while back I read a piece by a police officer whose department had gone back to training on point-shooting after numerous reports of close range and/or low-light fights found that officers either didn't use the sights(seldom) or kept moving their eyes from sights to target(very often); if I remember right, the training improved their record quite a bit.

UPDATED It's been two years since I wrote this, and I've got a new post up here that touches on the subject. I'll also add that I think you should practice firing quick pairs in point-shooting, same as sighted fire; What I should have written here originally was 'fire single shots to learn point-shooting, and when you have the idea start firing pairs'.

And please remember: I'm not an Expert, I'm a guy stating opinions and thoughts. Don't think I'm the last word on a subject(I may luck out at some point says ego, but ignore that); if you want to try something I've mentioned, check out everything you can on the subject. There are very good books, like Massad Ayoob's and Jordan's, and nowadays lots of stuff on blogs(remember, some of those folks are just like me, while some of them really are experts), so there's lots out there to read on just about any subject or method you can think of. Do your research.

Yeah, just a nice little multi-culti school

As long as it's the RIGHT multi-culti:

The first New York Charter School for Arab girls is selling T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Intifada - New York."

The principle of the school, Dhabah Almontaser, said "I think it's pretty much an opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society ... and shaking off oppression."

Just absolutely freakin' wonderful, isn't it?

Only thing I'll post on this piece of idiocy

is the same thing Uncle, Xavier and Kevin said:
"Rule 4, Goddammit!"

Here's another one to hold you over

Spent a couple of days visiting my parents(not long enough, but what time I had) and I need some sleep before work. So here's another past product of the forge:














Blade is 5160 spring steel, about 11" from the guard to the point and about 16" overall. Fittings are copper, and the grip is a piece of leg bone from a whitetail. Yeah, the forge marks on the blade were left there deliberately; I like the way it looks.

Cutting tests

One thing I've always done, with every blade I've made, is test it. Both for cutting ability, edge-holding and toughness. Reason is, most of the blades I make have been tools, not wallhangers. Something like the dagger, I know, isn't likely to be actually used much, but it might. And it might be at a critical time. The other stuff, even the somewhat fancy, I expect will be used, sometimes a lot. And one thing that could keep me up at night would be the thought of someone really needing a knife I made to work and hold up to stress, and failing. It's not bridge engineering, but it's still not to be tolerated.

So I worked up a routine, varying a bit for different blade types. First step is to look the blade over very closely after heat-treating. Then sharpen it*. The most basic test is toughness, for which I take the blade, clamp the tip in a vise(how much in the vise depends on length/thickness) and flex it back & forth. It should flex and return to straight, repeatedly(amount of flex depending on the blade).

Second is the edge hardness with the brass rod, posted before.

Third is cutting. For edge-holding, I use 1/4" sisal or manilla rope, depending on which I've got or can find. I clamp a piece of 1x3 or 2x4 lumber in the vise. Then I use a marker to mark an area about an inch long. Then lay the rope on the wood, set the blade on it a little back from the end and push it down to cut through, then move the blade back a touch and repeat, over and over. A blade made of O1 or 5160 or harrow tooth, any good high-carbon steel, should make at least fifty cuts, and that area still be sharp enough to shave hair off your arm, and at seventy-five cleanly slice a piece of typing paper**.

That's for all knives. For a big one that might well be used for heavy cutting(firewood, etc.), I save branches pruned from the trees to test with, limb thickness depending on blade size, I usually use 2-3" for this(a lot of makers use 2x4). Set the branch on a solid surface(bigger branch) and chop it in two, then repeat. It's got to do this at least twice with no damage to the edge or bending of the blade, and still be at least usably sharp. The typing paper is good for this; you hold it by a corner, start near your grip and slice. If it won't cut it, or snags the paper where the blade's been cutting, problem: if it just won't cut it dulled too much, if it snags the edge roughened or nicked. If the latter, check the wood. I've seen a knot in some types of wood hard enough to mess with a knife edge, and if it's an old limb or used 2x4 there might have been a nail or staple in it.

That's the general process I use. It is subject to adjustment depending on the individual knife(I wouldn't expect one forged from a railroad spike to hold an edge like harrow tooth, for instance, but it'll be hell for tough).


*Remember, if the final grinding and polishing did not move the edge back any, you may well have an edge with a little bit of carbon loss from the heat-treating. I've read a couple of makers who say they don't expect a knife to show it's best edge-holding until it's been sharpened at least twice to make sure that decarburized layer is removed. And most bladesmiths leave the final-forged blade just a bit oversize, so the final grinding removes that layer.

**This is subject to the type of steel AND the use expected. Make a blade a little too hard and, while it may well pass the tests just fine it'll be a bitch to sharpen when it dulls; pain for the owner. Something of a lower carbon content- generally speaking- won't hold an edge as well, but can be made incredibly tough and will be easier to sharpen. Everything is a balance.

And the survey says:

Beauchamp is a damn liar.

In other news, people who keep some kinds of pets may pay for it.

A pair from a few years back

The dirk, as I recall was 13" in the blade, about 18.5" overall and about 1.5" wide at the widest, 1/4" thick at the spine near the back, tapering a bit along the length. 5160 spring steel, copper fittings and twisted copper wire inlaid in the grip.

The sgian dhu is about 3.5-4" in the blade, nickel-silver fittings, walnut grip.

In both of these, there's not a guard; that's a collar. It's sized so the mouth of the sheath actually slides inside.