When the title of the sympathetic reporter's story is "We're ****ed",

I think the weenies have a problem.
An hour into the event, a woman passed me with a disappointed look on her face and said, “This is pitiful.”

And it was. “We are not insignificant,” a speaker read from his prepared speech, but the numbers assembled before him gave lie to his words. And the repeated references to the will of the people seemed pointedly indifferent to the fact of the rather listless group that milled around, carrying the same sorts of banners and placards that might have been seen a couple of generations ago in much larger and much younger gatherings.

A very sympathetic journalist, who gives the expected "the war has become deeply unpopular, and the disgust with Bush policies in Iraq is high.", and the 'nasty Texas president, etc. Who is honest enough to point out what a sorry mess this protest was.

MOAB is good, but

the daughter is right: the Chinese had some good names for ordnance.

Something to check on old .22 rifles

I mentioned in this post that the rifle appeared to be entirely a stranger to lubrication. Rifles like this are often like that, people bought them and used them and never did anything except load and fire them.

Which eventually led to function problems, which leads to them being sold. Sometimes downright cheap, as in this case. The previous owner looked amazed when the current owner performed the amazing feat of pulling the bolt to look down the bore; he not only had never done it, he didn't know how.

So if you find an interesting old .22 but things don't seem to work right, check it out as carefully as you can. It may be perfectly sound mechanically but needs lube desperately. Or- especially in repeaters- just has fouling and dust built up to the point it won't work right.

On the subject of Mo cartoons,

this guy in Sweden has balls. Amnesty(for thugs) International and the ACLU & Co. do not.

Also, ref the post on the Day by Day cartoon, Chris Muir said There are none. Zero. Nada. Zip.

The impression out there is it's dangerous, and it's not. There are more of us than them.

I admit to being surprised. Seems like there's an awful lot of islamists and their PC buttmonkeys always ready to have screaming fits, it's amazing they haven't been calling for death and destruction on this. Hell, I don't think I've heard anything from Islamic Rage Boy having a cow, even.

And Chris Muir started getting threats

in how many seconds?

'Fat children seized by government'

Make more bureaucrats, and they'll find something to do. All for the public good, of course.
According to a BBC investigation, at least 20 child protection cases this past year have involved a child’s weight. Details on most of these children’s situations and their fates are unavailable.

"Oh, it's because we CARE, you see!"

Dr. Capehorn appears to be on a tireless mission to lock up fat children, but there’s more behind his interests in promoting fears of fat and threatening such dire consequences for those failing to be slim. The Independent made a brief mention that he “runs an obesity clinic in Rotherham, South Yorkshire” in a story last summer. But he isn’t your ordinary weight loss doctor.

But there is some hope:
Growing numbers of parents aren't buying it, as they see their naturally fat children eating and active and just as healthy as other kids. Hysterical headlines driven by vested interests cannot change reality, create a nonexistent crisis, or make sound healthcare policies.

How much good it'll do depends, of course, on if they can get their nanny-state government to listen to them.

Sometimes I'm especially glad some of my ancestors

left Britain.
SIR Menzies Campbell yesterday pledged to "hammer" households earning more than £70,000 with higher taxes.
The Liberal Democrat leader said the rich have done "too well" under Labour and agreed the wealthiest 10 per cent should pay more taxes.
...
The Lib Dems want to reduce the basic rate of income tax by 4p in the pound by environmental taxes and changes to capital gains tax relief on investments and pensions, which are currently skewed in favour of those in the higher tax bracket.
In calling for higher taxes on the wealthy, the Lib Dems are following growing concern about income inequality. There was public uproar when a private equity boss recently boasted in front of MPs that he paid less tax than his cleaner.

Idiots make the tax system rediculous, and then get mad when people find the ways to avoid taxes which are only there because the idiots made the mess. And then they want to rip pockets open because "I don't like what you did!" Listen, dumbass, they could only do it because of you.

Oh, and why 70k pounds as 'anyone above that I'll hammer'?
The Lib Dem leader's salary - the £60,227 paid to any backbench MP - would not make him liable for greater tax.
Oh, of COURSE not.

"There is genuine disgust at some of the tax dodging ... and a large majority share our wish to see a crackdown," he said.

'Tax dodging', just like John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry, who pay a lower percentage of income in taxes than I do because of the bullshit, complicated tax code. Simplify the mess, and knock off this 'the rich should pay a higher percentage' crap.

Scotland, now Socialist Paradise. Crap.

Found through The Englishman. Which somehow seems appropriate.

More on the threat to our kids

Few days ago I posted on possible 'what then?' actions if the terrorists do manage an attack on our kids in school. JR has a post I just found(got to get by there more often) on the same subject, with a bunch of links.

Beware Og:

Him bad for mental health

Note to self: next time Og says "Make it", do two things:
1. Ignore him.
2. Drive up to wherever the hell it is he lives and shoot him.

This being brought on by a project. I wrote a while back of having picked up a Sistema, the Argentine 1911A1. This one has a mismatched slide & frame numbers, so I decided to do some work on it. New sights, trigger job, flare the mouth of the mag well a bit, refinish with either bluing or something like Duracoat. And a new barrel. This one has some pitting in the grooves, shoots quite well with jacketed bullets but fouls fast and bad with cast.

I mentioned this to Og. I've lightened the trigger a bit(needs more work) and used wet/dry 220grit paper to clean up the finish, such as it was.


















The first thing it needs is better sights. Better for me, at least, that thin, rounded front blade is a pain to see in all but bright light. I asked Og for opinions on a set, and he suggested making a wider front blade and keeping the original rear. Which sounded like a fine idea, me being one of those idiotshandy people who likes to do things himself. Which is what led to my considering violence.

The original design of the 1911, in the slide is a slot with a hole in the bottom. The sight thins where it meets the barrel so the base fits in the slot and a tenon on the bottom goes through the hole. You set things in place, then set the slide upside down on something solid and use a special chisel to upset the tenon to fill the hole, locking the sight in place. Taking it out means cutting some of the tenon out(I used a dremel with a small ball-end diamond bit) and then grabbing the blade and pulling it out. So far, so good.

Making the new blade... This was one time I really wished I had access to a milling machine. Let's just say that with a hacksaw and files, it took two tries, then had to make a tool to set the tenon. By the time this was done, I was saying unkind things about Og and wondering about having a machinist cut a dovetail in the slide. But it got done, and I fired it today. 50 rounds through, and it's still there, no sign of loosening.
















It actually looks better than this, I'd just filed it down a bit and hadn't wiped the filings off.

I widened the notch in the rear sight to match up with the wider blade, and it works pretty well. Down the road I might get a set of white-dot sights, though if I do that I will have a dovetail cut so I have a wider selection available.

A while back Xavier pointed me to a site with some 'how to fit a barrel' information, so when that time comes I've got a good idea of how. The mag well I know how to do, and I can either blue it or Duracoat it with no problem. I'll dig out the trigger job instructions I found at M1911.org and go the whole route next, the trigger breaks clean but is heavier than I want.

One of these days I'll finish this thing. I think it'll work out pretty well.

Store brands

One thing you run into when you start looking at older firearms, rifles and shotguns in particular, is the 'store brand'. Some company wanted to carry a firearm with their name or their brand on it but didn't want to build it themselves. So they'd contract with some gunmaker to produce one or more of their firearms- sometimes with small differences, sometimes pretty much identical- with the store's name on it.

Montgomery Ward was one. My dad has a shotgun marked with their name, that was actually made by Winchester. Sears & Roebuck did this a lot. I remember going to the bigger Sears stores and roaming the sporting goods while my parents looked at whatever. Rifles and shotguns, many with the 'Ted Williams' brand marked on them, others simply marked 'Sears'.

Here's one:












This is a Sears single-shot .22 rifle. This one was actually made by Marlin, with the Sears name and model number on the barrel. Lots and lots of people bought these both as a kid's first rifle and as a 'get the varmints out of the garden and squirrels out of the pecan tree' rifle. About as simple as you can get: open the bolt, drop in a cartridge, close, pull the cocking piece back, fire.

A guy found this one a while back, with electrical tape wrapped around the wrist(no idea why, no cracks or breaks) and the buttplate broken. You had to brace the butt on your hip and pull to get the bolt open, and he got it cheap. It gave the impression of never having been oiled in its life, lots of light rust on the barrel & receiver. But the bore, thanks to the wonders of .22 ammo, was spotless. At least after a oiled patch had been pushed through. Stripping and oiling took care of the stiff bolt and cleaned the rust off, and it had a trip to the range today. It's actually got a damn good trigger, breaking at about three pounds with no creep or drag. With better sights or a scope(the receiver is grooved) I think it might do really well; with the front bead and rear notch on a somewhat dim range at 30 yards it gave about 1" groups. He's going to refinish the stock and hit the metal with cold blue to improve the finish. What there is of it.

Next time you see an old .22 with a store name on it, going cheap, give it a close look; it might be worth a lot more as a shooter than they're asking.

Bad cops

The one getting the most attention right now is this clown, St. George Missouri Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein. And he deserves every damn bit of it. Xavier later links to The Northern Muckraker who has some things to say in response to a post at Officer.com(scroll around at Muckraker, he's got a lot of interesting stuff on this).

I hate this crap. I hate that a law enforcement agency not only keeps a jerk like this on the force, he makes Sergeant. Which means God knows how long he's been doing crap like this to people.

I hate it when someone has been messed over by an agency so badly that they feel the need to put cameras in their own car. And in this case, glad he did. As has been pointed out, does anyone think this would have ended any way other than the guy going to jail- probably after having the crap beat out of him- if Kuehnlein hadn't realized he was being recorded? And in a way he couldn't destroy?

I hate it when brass, instead of saying "Wrong was done and we're gonna take care of it", tries to excuse and cover up. This crap from the chief:
Chief Uhrig states that Sgt. Kuehnlein told him that the recorder had a "glitch" on the night in question, but the chief told KMOX radio in an interview:
"During the meeting Darrow asked to see the videotape from Kuehnlein's police car. But according to Uhrig, that footage, inexplicably, is nowhere to be found."
...
"Apparently the recording device was not working properly. Well, I in turn have checked the recording device, the in-car camera system, and it is functioning properly."
First, there is NO excuse for supervisors hiding or destroying a recording like this. Second, there is NO excuse for a Chief of Police having anything to do with such. If the Chief did indeed have anything to do with it, he should be fired. That includes not doing anything about a tape 'going missing' or 'becoming unusable' in an investigation. I'm sick to death of excuses.

There is a comment on the Officer.com post that sums up a real problem. After ranting about the usual stuff("We're not treated right, we're not respected, " and so on, we get this:
Most departments are desparate to hire officers that little consideration is given to these peoples ability to defend themselves much less the public at large. Now we have to deal with idiots setting us up when they have nothing better to do?? I hope all of you Douglas Hesters and Joel Rosenbergs out there are the ones that reap what you sow. I hope it’s the most vulnerable members of family tjhat are violated by the little punks that the police are to scared to stomp a 6 foot mud hole in their heads when they obviously desrve it. I hope the next time you call for help the police don’t show… maybe some little hethern with a video camera will come plug the holes some gang bangers shot in your torso…but I hope not.

That apparently comes from a police officer. Got a question: you want to work with this guy? Maybe he's mostly blowing off steam here, but still... It's like nothing this officer did counts, "He was set up", and so on. Which is exactly how departments get this bad. The people abusing authority, abusing the public, in many cases flatly committing crimes, are protected by other officers because "He's one of US." So other officers who come on the force do the same crap. If this guy wants to know a big reason so many do not respect the police anymore, it's because of bad cops doing crap like this, and other cops protecting them.

Dammit, this leaves a real bad taste in my mouth.

Well, Rodger just couldn't stay away

so he's still there.

A combination of things

that other people have noted, but I just can't pass up.

This kind of crap is why people don't trust the schools and teachers:
"The lesson being taught in class was that the U.S. kidnaps innocent people and takes them to Cuba, where they are kept indefinitely and tortured," Hill said he learned through his daughter.

When Hill asked her if Brooks mentioned Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. imprisons terrorist suspects, he said his daughter replied "yes."

He said his daughter broke into tears when she talked about Brooks mentioning illegal wiretaps and other surveillance directed against innocent people.

"I think I was more irritated by the classroom discussion than the letter," he said.

I would think 'Seriously pissed off' more than 'irritated'. But the principal says ...she doesn't believe Brooks has any political agenda to advance. Oh, no, of course not.

Syria has been naughty, and the Israeli Air Force administered a serious kick in the ass.
At a rendezvous point on the ground, a Shaldag air force commando team was waiting to direct their laser beams at the target for the approaching jets. The team had arrived a day earlier, taking up position near a large underground depot. Soon the bunkers were in flames.
I wonder if that miserably little bugger in Damascus may have gotten the idea that people are tired of playing games with him? Also, ought to check out Tigerhawk's thoughts on this.

Rush Limbaugh said the other day that we may have to win the war without Democrats. Sounds a bit strong, but after the absolute marfi thrown at Gen. Petraeus, before, during and after his report, I tend to agree. Especially with crap like this:
“No one wants to call [Gen. David Petraeus] a liar on national TV,” noted one Democratic senator, who spoke on the condition on anonymity. “The expectation is that the outside groups will do this for us.”
Chickenshit little bastards.

Directly connected to the above, read this: Defeat at Any Price.

He warned you: put your

bullshit filter on 11:
MIAMI (AP) - The spray of bullets that killed a police officer and hurt three others this week came from something increasingly common on this city's streets: a high-powered assault weapon, fast becoming the gun of choice for gang members and violent criminals.

Read it.

Some thoughts on Glenn Beck's 'Perfect Day'

If you haven't heard about this, he's been covering two points. First, that various terrorist groups are planning on making a series of big attacks in the U.S., with schools being preferred targets, and urging lots of muslims to, when the attacks happen, make their own attacks: cab drivers running over infidels, and so on. Second, he figures they hope for people here to react by burning mosques, attacking muslims, calls for internment, etc., so they can use that as propaganda to say "See! It's a war on Islam by the unbelievers!".

I don't doubt the first. On the second, I see two problems with how 'we must act with great restraint to avoid giving them a propaganda victory'. First, it really doesn't matter what we do, it'll be painted by the things as 'war on Islam'. If a bunch of terrorists attacked a school and fled into a mosque, and burned it down while fighting the police, it'd be painted as "See! The crusaders burn our holy places!" If the police caught them, they got a fair trial and received a proper islamic punishment(say, beheading the public square*), they'd still scream that our killing the terrorists means "We are victims of the war on Islam! Death to the infidels!"

Second is the mindset of the things and the muslims around the world who support them, and there's a lot of them. Let's say the things attack our schools, and we act with great restraint. They'll paint it as a demonstration of weakness on our part, and lots of muslims will believe it. "See, we rape and kill their children and the crusaders still do not have th courage to deal with us!"

So this may well be a 'lose-lose' scenario so far as many of the muslims around the world. Doesn't matter what we do or how we act, they'll still claim victimhood and justification for horrible acts.

And by the way: there are a lot of mosques in this country that are actively working with and for the terrorists. They gather money for them, preach in support of them, actively aid them: that makes the people in those mosques the enemy. That's putting it bluntly, and will undoubtedly cause various amounts of pants-wetting and hysteria, but there it is. If you actively work to assist the enemy, you ARE the enemy. And the fact that we don't act decisively against those doing this, is seen as another sign of weakness on our part. And they're right.


*I would add 'and buried in pig crap' to the sentance.

Here's a response for the truthers:

When I hear conspiracists talk about 4,000 Jews staying home from work on 9/11, I like to tell them "And they know where you live."

And some other good thoughts.

Damn, if my budget wasn't blown

I'd buy one!

I know I tend to head articles in Britain with 'swirling down the toilet'

a lot, but when you read things like this, it's hard not to.
So, I became exasperated and said ‘Is there no-one working here who speaks English? This is Paddington - this is still a London neighbourhood.’

A well-dressed man came over and said ‘I speak English.’ I thought he was going to intervene on my behalf but instead came out with this astonishing observation:

‘You are a racist! You are a racist ape! Look at you-- you are an ape!’

I was dumbfounded. I came to London thirty-two years ago to soak up the culture of Dr Johnson and Chaucer and Milton, and in the autumn of my life am called an ape by a man from, well, perhaps Egypt, perhaps Palestine, perhaps Saudi Arabia..

Shocked, I glared at him, but he had to finish things off : ‘You want them to speak Hebrew, don’t you?’

And at the end:
I wandered over to the flower shop and found myself commiserating with what seemed to be two Englishwomen who lived in a permanent state of fear in a neighbourhood they had called their own for generations. They told me I must have been mad going into that shop, as ‘all the establishments in Edgware Road are off-limits to us now.’ They told me there was one small café that was safe for a western woman.

"...safe for a western woman." In London.

In light of the crap thrown at Gen. Petraeus the last couple of days,

If you're in the market for an M39,

check these out.

As I recall, it's pretty much the same here today

as six years ago, fair skies and cool. Maybe I'll write something else on that day later. Not now.

At least in some cases, the UN is being told to take their blue hats

and shove them where the sun don't shine.

With the United Nations continuing its efforts to enact draconian, transnational gun control laws in countries around the world, yesterday the U.S. Senate passed the Foreign Operations appropriations bill, which included an amendment by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) that seeks to address the U.N.’s ongoing international gun ban efforts.

By an overwhelming 81-10 vote, the Senate passed Sen. Vitter’s amendment to prevent any funding to foreign organizations that infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of lawful American citizens. Any organization that adopts a policy anathema to the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment would no longer be eligible for U.S. financial assistance—including the U.N.

Found thanks to Sebastian

What happens if the terrorists do attack our schools?

Was listening to Glenn Beck earlier today, hearing things I didn't like and reflecting- again- on the long-term consequences if it does indeed happen.

Specifically, he was talking about the plans of some of the nutcase islamic groups- plans hell, the burning desire- to pull a Beslan-style attack in the U.S. Preferably in multiple schools on the same day. Had information I'd not heard before. That there were training tapes found in Afghanistan on making attacks on businesses or offices or schools I knew: that they found, in Iraq, building plans for a half-dozen American elementary schools I did not. Elementary because they want to hit a place where the boys(girls don't count, of course) aren't old enough/big enough to be a threat. He's going to do a show, several episodes during the week, on CNN talking about this, including naming the schools the plans were for.

I have no doubt of this. I'm certain there are a bunch of nutcase islamists out there- who'd get lots of support from millions of 'moderate' muslims- who desperately want, and plan, to do this. They want to get into one of our schools and torture and rape, and in the end kill, every child they can. These- I'll use 'things', as my command of language isn't quite good enough to truly demonstrate what I think of these beings- things would happily die doing this, seeing it as a wonderful demonstration of devotion to their god. As to what will follow if they make such an attack-a serious attempt, let alone a successful attack, they either don't believe what we will do, or they don't care.

A lot of people have written about this before, that these things just don't understand what this country is capable of if pushed to it. Fact is, if the God-cursed lawyers and politicians weren't in the way so much, the situation in Iraq would have been a lot more settled two years ago; among other things, there would have been patrols, ground and air, killing every Iranian who came across the border, followed by press conferences showing the stuff they were smuggling in. I think it was Armed Liberal at Winds of Change who wrote that 'he feared what we would do if struck by such an act'. You know something? I don't fear it. It'll be messy and nasty as hell, but I don't fear it. What I fear is that the likelihood of this happening has been greatly increased by the 'fight when/how will make the critics happy' bullshit. Every time the enemy found they could hide in a mosque and shoot at our troops and get away with it, every time the news announced a lawyer wouldn't let an air strike take out a bunch of the enemy because they were at a friggin' funeral... every time something like this happens, the enemy takes it as proof that we will give up. That we don't have the balls to do what's needed. It encourages them, it makes them believe that they can beat us.

In this country, several things will happen. One- regrettably- is that every mosque that has put out "Yes, terrorism is terrible, but-" statements is liable to go up in flames. In a way I have to admit that wouldn't bother me too much, but other mosques will be attacked, also. Accompanied by other attacks on moslems. Probably not a lot, but in the rage following such an attack, all bets are off. Another is that almost any politician, except those in the most moonbat-infested districts, who says "We must show restraint", or in public says "We're gonna get 'em!" but in private acts to prevent it, is going to pay the price. Preferably only in recalls/losing elections/etc., but I seriously fear some of them might be killed. I think some of these people truly do not understand the level of rage that will come in after such an attack, or else think 'the masses can be controlled'. These 'things' attack a school and kill a bunch of kids, even without the flourishes, and there will be demands for blood. For telling the troops "The gloves are off: find the bastards and kill them, wherever they are." 'Demands' as in "You do this, or we'll drag your ass out of that chair and put somebody in it who will."

As to specifics to various moslem nations, I don't know. That's going to vary. I can see Iran, if their prints are found on it, being- if not having their nuclear program smashed- being cut off: no refined oil products, no anything that can be turned back. Pakistan, Musharraf being told, whether in public or not, "You take out a lot of these people in the tribal areas, or we will. You'll like it better if you do it." Syria, Hamas, Hizballah: can you say 'stomped on'?

I think there are those among the things who don't want this attack to happen: not because of any unwillingness to kill our children, but because they do know what will happen after. And they don't like the idea of being converted to mulch. But they've got an uphill fight against the things who want to spill blood. Preferably on camera to demonstrate their faith.

Somthing else I think will happen in the aftermath of such an attack, is some European countries will cut loose. We'll hear the usual socialists and communists and America-haters basically saying we 'deserved it', but I think it would be the last straw for a lot of people, and it would give some governments the opening they need to stomp on their problems. Of course, it's possible the things would try to include some European schools in the day of terror, in which case... let's just say that a lot of moslems will find out how a lot of these people's ancestors got the reputations they did.


As a side note, I remember when he was putting together a 'man-caused global warming is bs' show, he talked about the huge amount of crap, the lies and roadblocks thrown up by CNN officials and employees to try and prevent it. If not for the crap we've seen out of the major media over the last couple of decades in particular, I wouldn't have believed such a mess would be done. As he put it today, 'if the facts weren't there, if the sources weren't there, if EVERYTHING weren't there, there's not a chance you could get this show through the PC attitudes at CNN'. Need to see if a friend can tape it for me.

I forgot to mention Charles Schumer

in my earlier post. Which actually works out ok because that little turd- to borrow Kim's spot-on description- deserves his own mention. Especially after this:
Newsbusters noticed that the speech posted on his website is not the same disgusting speech that Schumer gave to the US Senate. It has been changed.

Which is about par for the course for that vile, lying, cowardly, disgusting little camera-chasing excuse for a man.

Let's not forget hypocrite, too; after all, this little GFW has never seen a firearms ban, tax, licensing scheme, taxing scheme or other restriction that he didn't latch onto while we found out a while back that the chickenshit has a gun license there in NYFC. The kind of license that actually allows him to carry concealed. You know, the kind of thing he says should be banned? Except for him and his little friends, of course.

A nice article in the Times of London:

Wouldn't you feel safer with a gun?
...
The short answer is that “gun controls” do not work: they are indeed generally perverse in their effects. Virginia Tech, where 32 students were shot in April, had a strict gun ban policy and only last year successfully resisted a legal challenge that would have allowed the carrying of licensed defensive weapons on campus. It is with a measure of bitter irony that we recall Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia, recording the words of Cesare Beccaria: “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

Article well worth reading. And, of course, you have one of the standard replies, included in the first comment:
If the present restrictions prevent another such tragedy then they are worthwhile.
Let's say you grant that: that somehow the 'ban almost everything and license & restrict everything else' laws prevent another such horrible crime. The followup question is, How many people have been robbed/raped/tortured/crippled/murdered because they had no means of self-defense that the bad guys are afraid of?

Because every time someone pops out with that "If it saves only one life, it's worth it" line, they're in essence saying "I do not care how many people get hurt because they don't have a gun; that does not concern me." And it's too bad it doesn't bother them, because the list of victims is long and growing longer by the day.

Just to cover matters: Harry Reid, Dick(Turban) Durbin

Rahm Emanuel and Dennis Kucinich are vile, slandering, disgusting pieces of work.

That is all.

For now.

Millett red dot update

Took my daughter to the range the other evening, first time we've been able to go in a while. Fun was had and our carbon footprints suitably enlarged. I took the Carbine along just to check zero.

And why is that, you ask, since I'd only zeroed it about a week ago? Because I had it leaned in what I THOUGHT was a secure position a couple of days ago(always had been before, dammit) and it slid off and fell. Right on the Millett. Which I think caused some of the paint to blister a touch from my language.

If the thing shifted at all, I couldn't tell. It put the rounds right where I was aiming. I'm liking this sight more and more.

More Carbine stuff
The CMP M1 Carbine page has links to two good articles, one on Carbine shooting with accuracy (covers fitting barrel/receiver to stock & barrel band, ammo and such) and- if you're looking for some- THE article on the Carbine 30-round magazine.

The ammo pouches for the older 20-round M16 magazines will very nicely hold four of the 30-round Carbine magazines.

And now, I'm to bed. Night, all.

'Osama's' newest press release

Translated.

Farouk, Cave Affairs correspondent, CBC (Cave Broadcasting Service):

Thank you, Your Eminence. Mr. Sheikh, you have praised Allah and his “law of retaliation … eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, the killer is killed … ” And yet the resilient infidels have been martyring our righteous militants at a rate of better than 5 to 1, conservatively. How do you explain the tooth deficit of your current strategy?

"I said no, no, no!"

Go. Watch.

Thanks, Theo

Maneaters

Saw a show on the subject of 'maneaters', specifically about lions. The first segment was about a lion in the Rufiji River area in Tanzania the locals named Osama. Killed and ate 50 people in the area before a game ranger was able to put him down. This was in 2002, in an area alive with game of all kinds; it's just that, as one researcher put it, "We're so much easier to kill than buffalo and zebra."

Two things about this: one is that, when they put those numbers down, I always wonder how many might not be known of. Jim Corbett, who hunted a bunch of man-eating tigers and leopards in India, knew of many kills by some of them than were not on the 'official' list for various reasons. Last I heard the average daily kills of people by crocodiles in Africa, Asia and Australia runs about ten. Again, that we know of. There's an official number of people killed by sharks each year, but if some swimmer or fisherman just disappears...

Second, they interviewed the ranger who put paid to Osama, by setting up in the high grass around the last two victims- both killed in the same night- to catch him when he came back to feed on what was left. Pictures of Osama showed two holes in his forehead: one to put him down, and one to make sure. The rifle the ranger uses?

#4 Mk1 Enfield, with the forend cut back. Good things still work.

Chicks with guns!

Thanks to Theo

remember the 'useful items' son said added to the weight?

Asked him about them, and got the following:

Camelback attached to the back, starts out the day with 6lbs of ice and 2 liters of water; lasts about four hours, then back to the water bottles.
Gerber multi-tool
550 cord
camera
candy for the local kids
carabiner
lighter
spare lenses for the goggles
a cloth
gaiter to pull up and filter out some of the dust.
Plus:
Add about 3lbs for the helmet and 8 for the m4, plus whatever else you carry like a flashlight, machine gun ammo, etc. and the weight jumps up there quick.

And it's been averaging 120-125F for the days high temp.

The Sci-Fi Channel needs to go back to class

At least on a few things. Particularly, they need two classes:
Firearms, General Characteristics and Operation
Firearms And Their Effects On Animals, Large And Small

Over time I've seen a few of their 'made for Sci-Fi' movies, and they tend to display absolutely incredible ignorance on the above. For instance, today saw parts of Curse of the Komodo and Attack of the Sabretooth, and in the past various 'giant Komodo dragon' or 'attacking dinosaur' movies. Various things apply to these:
A 1911 only holds seven rounds in a standard magazine, eight in a higher capacity that doesn't stick out the bottom of the grip: that does NOT translate to '35 rounds without reloading!'

EVERY gun runs out of ammo, even if it's belt-fed. Which means you do have to reload, like it or not.

You cannot get semi-auto fire out of a bolt-action rifle.

I don't care if it's a giant mutated Komodo dragon or a velociraptor, if you shoot it? IT WILL NOTICE. If you miss it completely, it'll notice the noise; if you hit it, it'll notice because high-velocity projectiles impacting will cause pain, which all animals seem to notice for some reason. Stop having four to six people shooting off their never-ending ammo supply(quantum pockets in the mag well, perhaps?) at said giant lizard and it not even looking around. Or ever bleeding.

And connected with the above: I don't care how big the damn thing is, you put thirty or so rifle bullets and fifty or more handgun bullets in it, two mysterious things will happen: it will bleed, and- sooner or later- IT'S GONNA DIE.

Maybe I should write them?

Two nice things to check out

I've read some bits about Robyn Ringler at Smallest Minority and Say Uncle, never went to her site. If you've heard the name and wondered what it's all about, The Armed Scholar will explain it. Very well:
But she soon hit a few bumps in the road. For one thing, American gun owners seemed to be strangely resistant to "compromise." It was almost as if they wanted to get something in return for giving something up, but any good gun control activist knows that just isn't the way compromise works.

And if you haven't been there before, take a look at the Pro-Gun Progressive. Found the above through him.

Just an interesting column:

The Year the Global Warming Hoax Died, found through Freedom Sight.

Speaking of which, I'm just wondering- just a little bit, mind you- how the people who claim they can forecast the whole bloody climate in 50 to 100 years can blow 24-hour forecasts so bad. Day before yesterday and yesterday we were informed that OK was to expect heavy rains, many areas getting 4-5 inches, from Friday evening through Saturday. We in OKC are right in the middle of the "You Will Receive Heavy Rain" area. Little bit overnight, just enough to wet the plants, and the '100% probability of rain Saturday' has become 50% tonight. We'll see.

Goreacle, you've failed your believers! We're all NOT gonna die!

Have 20/20 on,

and John Stossel just ripped Mikey Moore's ass off on the 'wonderful' health care in Cuba. Wonderful to behold.

And he promises more next week.

Remember the two dumbass cops who shot at the snake

and killed the kid? Word from the D.A.'s office today:
Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn announced Friday afternoon that the officers who accidentally shot and killed a 5-year-old Noble boy will face charges of 2nd degree manslaughter.
Mashburn says Brad Rogers and Shawn Richardson acted negligently when they fired at a non-poisonous snake last month.

It's still kind of hard to believe they were dumb enough to do that.

I was checking comments on the 'let the peasants take care of it'

post, and found this by Dirtcrashr:
I grew up watching men use these - it's like they were tethered to the device - water your crop or die, but while watering you cannot tend the crops...

When I did the post, I just excerpted a couple of bits and let it go. Something didn't feel right, but had other things to do. Then I read that comment, and thought about it, and got pissed. Not mad, not upset, PISSED.

While back read about a dam project in Africa(can't remember the book, or where the project was) that was scuttled because of pressure from enviroweenies on the government. Some of it was the standard 'keep Gaia's river in its Natural State', etc. But the part that really set me off was the comments. One was, as I recall, that jackass Ed Begley Jr., who basically said 'they can put solar cells on the roof of the hut to run a laptop or radio, and that's renewable energy(one of the sacraments), it won't change the environment. The other was some Friends of the Earth or whatever clown who said that the villages were still in their more pristine state, which would be ruined if they got electricity: 'they're happy in their village life, and radios and tv and computers would ruin that social existence'. Change a few words and you've got a slave owner saying "Them darkies is happy in their houses I give them, why you want to mess with their life?"

I didn't write much about that the other day because the more I think about it, the more pissed I get. These clowns who fly around the world, Begley with his electric cars and 'earth-friendly' house, the computers and clean water and all the other modern conveniences, but the wogsnative peoples shouldn't have those things. Oh, give them some solar panels, and treadle pumps for water(but no way to treat it), but no more: you'll mess up the primitive ambiance they find so attractive. Screw the natives who want electricity and clean water and power tools, if they get those they'll advance, into modern life! Which is not to be tolerated, it offends me!(listen closely, you can hear Ted Kennedy saying "But that's where I sail!") Besides everything else, if you can't buy 'credits' that force them to do without, how will you hold your head up before all the other Gaia-worshipping assholes?

Damn, I need to rinse the bad taste out of my mouth.

Kid's camping books

Instapundit links to this one, but I've got another suggestion. It's not in print, unfortunately, but if you can find a copy, Kid Camping from Aaaaiii! to Zip, by Patrick McManus. Funny, and a lot of good stuff in it.

Yes, Mr. Beck, I AM going to mention this part

first. Beck had Rudy Giuliani on his show right after it opened, and the big thing(to me at least, and probably a lot of others) was what Giuliani said about illegal immigrants.

He interrupted something Beck was saying on the subject to inform him that illegal immigrants are 'not criminals', that illegal immigration is 'not a crime'. And when specifically asked if it SHOULD be a crime, he said no.

Even if I weren't already against voting for him because of his work trashing the 2nd Amendment, this would be a big strike against him.

Speaking of his anti-gun ownership activities, a few months ago, not long after he announced he was running for President, he was interviewed by Beck, and on that day Beck really hit him on this matter. He finally flatly asked "Should people be able to carry a gun for self-defense?" It was both painful and disgusting to listen to the answer: he brought out a 'depending on local laws, blah-blah-blah' line, and you could hear it in his voice that he didn't want to say it.

But now he wants votes and he 'supports' the 2nd. Oh, sure, and I can carry my son's field load on a 20-mile run and not break a sweat.

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?"