Dead goblins and whining RWPP* clowns

This kind of crap, and these idiots, are why we have the racial problems we do.

Short version: three goblins break into a home at 4a.m. and attack the people there, beating one so badly he'll be in a rehab center for the rest of his life. Homeowner opens fire and kills two, the third got away(dammit).

Third is caught and charged, and since he's black and the people the goblins attacked are white, why, it's "Racism!" behind his being charged.

This from the surviving goblins female parent sums up the bullshit:
Hughes' mother, San Francisco schoolteacher Judy Hughes, said she believes the group didn't intend to rob the family, just buy marijuana. She called the case against her son a "legal lynching."

"Only God knows what happened in that house," she said. "But this I know: My son did not murder his childhood friends."

This is why the public education system is so far in the toilet: idiot teachers like this one. Oh no, they just wanted to buy some grass. So they broke in and attacked people and damn near beat one to death. Yeah, sounds like customers looking for service, all right. Effing idiot.

Mrs. Hughes, your son and his 'childhood friends' decided that what someone else owned was worth more than those peoples' lives: when they acted on that, they opened themselves up to whatever was necessary to stop them. And they- and damn sure not you and your whining associates- have no right whatever to bitch because they were hit with more resistance than they expected. Your son and his friends are('were' in the case of the friends) vile, disgusting predators, and the sheepdog nailed them. You need to deal with the facts of what your son is, and what he's been doing, and stop blaming other people.

Ever consider that always blaming someone else may have something to do with what happened, by the way?


*Race Warlord Poverty Pimp. Borrowed that from Denny.

1911 Project Gun

Some months ago I picked up a Sistema Model 1927, one of the Argentine 1911A1 pistols. This one had the usual badly worn bore and finish, and had one other 'feature': the numbers on the frame and slide did not match. The shop where I bought it had received a bunch(probably one of the last lots we'll ever see) and, of course, there were some with problems. So he'd taken the good slides and frames and put them together. They were checked thoroughly- I trust the people on this- for fit and operation. And, since it's mismatched, which kind of ruins any collector value, I'm using it for a project gun.

First thing was to detail-strip it and check everything. I will be replacing all the springs, for now just the sear/safety spring as I had one available. Next, strip off the old finish. Such as it was. That was done with 220-grit wet/dry paper, used wet with a backing piece. Cleaned and smoothed things out considerably. I'm going to leave it at this until everything is done, then I'll either blue it or parkerize it. Although, as it seems to be holding up quite well on my Kimber, I could use the moly-resin.

Down the road I'll probably have a dovetail cut in the slide for a new front sight, for now I decided to try making a new front using the original hole(gee, thanks for that idea, Og). If you're not familiar with this, in the original 1911 design there's a slot cut lengthwise in the top of the slide, deep enough for the base of the sight to sit in. Then there's a hole cut through the bottom of the slide. The sight fits into this and the tenon on the bottom sticks through the hole into the inside of the slide. The sight is braced, and a special chisel is used to spread out the tenon, riveting the sight into place. I needed a thicker front sight(getting old sucks), so, after taking off the original front and the annoyance and frustration ofmaking of a new one that fit(someday, I really want a small mill) and making a chisel to rivet it, I got it fitted. A little too tall, which is no problem, as I'd rather file it down a touch to adjust the point of impact than have it too short.

The rear sight was easy: widen the slot a touch with a file to match the wider front, and- since the corners were pretty beat up(what the hell did the Argentines do with these?!?) they were rounded. Again, later on I'll get a front & rear set and mount them.

Speaking of things in the slide, I'll be getting one of the EGW oversize firing pin stops and fitting it. I was holding off an order to Midway for some things hoping to get it from them, but they're ALWAYS out of stock on the damn things, so I'll probably go ahead and get it from Brownell's.

While back a friend had picked up a GI-spec barrel for me, and it dropped in. Seems to fit and function properly, though it won’t give the same accuracy as one fitted to the frame & slide. Down the road, I'll pick up a suitable replacement. Probably one that comes with a bushing.

Last weekend there was a small gun show in town and one of the dealers had 1911 parts. I picked up an STI extended thumb safety, a grip safety and a long trigger(with the overtravel adjustment screw). First time I’ve ever tried fitting any of these pieces.

The trigger was no problem; tweak the bow just a touch and it slid right in. I may need to do a touch of polishing on the outsides, but that's it. The grip safety seems to need no work. The thumb safety, on the other hand...

As I say, I've never fitted one of these before, and it did need fitting. So I pulled up some 'how-to's from M1911.org, studied things, and began, very carefully, to work. Took a while, but finally had it fitting nicely and working as it should. With me sweating over every stroke of file or stone.

Then I fitted everything together and shazam! It works! Except for one thing... cock the hammer and pull the trigger and ease the hammer down, and it caught at the half-cock position. Disassemble, examine, try, no change. Finally, after a while of trying, and some language practice, I had a thought. When I'd put the screw into the trigger so I wouldn't lose it I'd run it quite a ways in. Did you know if you have the thing too far in it messes with things? If it's WAY too far in you can't pull the trigger back enough to trip the sear. If it's not quite that far in, it can cause this problem, not letting the trigger move the sear all the way out of the way of the hammer notches. Backed it out a bit extra and no more problem. I'm going to loctite the damn thing in place.

Got everything cleaned and assembled and tested multiple times, and all's well. I'd fired this pistol with ball and it worked well. So, just to check, I stuck a Gold Dot hollowpoint in the magazine and cycled the slide, and it jammed solid.

Not in the barrel throat*, the edge of the hollow was hanging on the feed ramp. Tried again, then tried with two other magazines with the same result. A close look with a good light and magnifier showed why: machine marks left in the ramp. Not horrible deep ones, but just deep enough.

So, I needed to polish the ramp. VERY carefully. Take a look here and here at High Road and Tuner will demonstrate why he tends to cringe when he reads "Get your dremel". I'd read that before, so I knew the risks of getting careless or a bit too enthusiastic; you can screw up the feed ramp to the point that the only fix is to have a ramped barrel fitted. Or the frame machined to accept a new ramp. So I started off with a suitable dowel wrapped with 1000-grit wet/dry paper**. Colored the ramp with marker, then started with light strokes. As the marker rubs off it shows exactly where you're cutting so you can keep the angle correct: you don't want to change the angle or cut too deep. So I took that only far enough to remove the lighter marks completely. Once that was done, I took a dremel with a felt polishing bob loaded with fine polishing compound and polished the surface smooth. With steel it's hard to cut too much unless you're using a coarser cutting compound, BUT it can be done. Especially if enthusiasm gets the best of you and you use high speed and a lot of pressure. Polishing is actually cutting away some of the surface, same as a grinding compound but on a much finer level, so I used the marker again, recoloring the ramp several times. I stopped when the ramp was nice and shiny and slick; the deepest marks were still there but were now smaller and had smoothed edges. Cleaned off all the abrasive and polish traces, reassembled and tried it, and now the bullet slides perfectly up the ramp. Final proof will be shooting it next time I can get to the range.

So far, so good. The slide/frame fit is a little loose, down the road may try my hand at tightening it up. Definitely to come is a better barrel fitted to the slide and frame. And new sights, maybe something with a fiber-optic front. I think I'll wind up with a very good shooter,and a lot more understanding of how this thing works.

I just realized I have no pictures of this, I'll take a couple and add them in soon as I can.


*A lot of standard barrels will not feed hollowpoints reliably, some not at all. The barrel can be often be ‘throated’ to take care of that, or the original can be replaced with a suitable one. My Kimber has happily eaten everything I’ve fed it with one exception: semi-wadcutters. Almost all 1911’s have to be throated for them, or have a target barrel installed, to feed them reliably.

**1000-grit was the finest I had, the next coarser was 220. I decided I'd rather use the very fine stuff and cut very slowly. I will say that with that fine a paper, 'very slowly' is the only way you can cut by hand. Which was just fine with me.

On the original barrel, I did find that, even with the worn bore, it shot very well with jacketed bullets, though lead bullets fouled the bore badly.

"Don't actually describe the criminal!

That's racist!"
If a person of Hispanic origin rapes a woman and, in an attempt to catch this violent criminal, police publish a description identifying the suspect's general racial makeup, is that a "racist" thing to do? Apparently the folks at KMYL (1190 AM) in the metro Phoenix, Arizona area think it is. It appears that we cannot even discuss the basic appearance of a wanted criminal now without being "racist" about it all.

Tim Blair has had a bunch of posts noting cases in which police put out descriptions of robbers, rapists, etc. that included descriptions but made no mention of the race. Specifically, when suspects were of, say, 'south Asian' appearance(or whatever the current PC term is for people from Pakistan or wherever) not one word about their physical appearance. Clothing, yes: people, no.

I'm not surprised some idiots here would do the same thing, I'm just amazed it took this long for it to happen and get publicity.

I think France 2 TV

is in a bit of trouble.
Charles Enderlin came to court personally today to defend the images shot by his trusted cameraman Talal Abu Rahma at Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip on September 30, 2000. The cameraman had declared under oath that he filmed 27 minutes of the ordeal of Mohamed al Dura and his father Jamal, pinned down by Israeli gunfire. France 2 turned over to the court a CDRom certified as an authentic copy of the raw footage, of a total duration of 18 minutes. Despite those statements the pertinent al Dura scenes contained in the rushes lasted one short minute. Nothing more.(bold mine)
and
The remaining footage, 17 minutes, was consistent with what was already known about that day at the Junction: staged battle scenes—out of range of the Israeli position—with instant ambulance evacuations, alternating with images of men and boys attacking the Israeli position with stones, firebombs, and burning tires.

If you take out the flowery words and BS denials, this translates to "We not only used staged images to put out a fake story, and swore it was true, we're not going to give you all the actual footage you ordered."

I've got a pretty good idea what would happen to an executive who did that in most U.S. courts, we'll see what happens in this French court. I tend to think most judges most places don't like being gamed this way.

I'd forgotten this picture 'till Theo reminded me

"Furball's about to squat, boss, easy shot."

"Working this bolt with paws

flat sucks."

This is just downright cool!

A laser IED and dud ordnance killer:
Late last month, Boeing conducted a series of tests at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama with a 1-kw laser mounted on the back of a converted anti-aircraft Humvee. Shooting an invisible beam just a few centimeters in diameter and 20 times hotter than an electric stovetop, the laser burned a hole through the casing of artillery and mortar rounds, detonating them more or less instantly. (As for bystanders, all bets are off.)

Damn, I hope this pans out as working equipment.

This is starting to look more like equipment from David Drake's Hammer's Slammers stories. Powerguns, anyone?

Do not forget

to pick some up. Remember, when you buy ammo Dianne Feinstein chokes up.

And when you buy eeeevillle hollowpoints or anything 'armor piercing', Chucky Schumer and Ted Kennedy get a hemorrhoid.

"Operation Holiday Homecoming"

It's a good cause, check it out here and send a few dollars if you can.

Joined by state military and veterans affairs leaders at a Capitol news conference, Henry urged Oklahomans to donate to an American Legion of Oklahoma fund that will enable members of the 45th Infantry Brigade to be home from Dec. 23 to Jan 2.
.....
To ensure transportation for the estimated 2,600 troops, "Operation Holiday Homecoming" needs to raise approximately $600,000 to cover the use of 60 buses. Already, three Oklahoma-based Native American tribes and several corporations have come forward with major contributions. The Choctaw Nation is supplying 14 buses and the Chickasaws are supplying two buses. The Cherokee Nation has donated $35,000.
...
Members of the Oklahoma National Guard's 45th Infantry Brigade are currently training at Fort Bliss, Texas, and will have 10 days of leave before deploying to Iraq in January, 2008. Nevertheless, U.S. Department of Defense regulations preclude the Army from paying for the soldiers' trip home while on leave. The expense of getting home therefore falls on the responsibility of each individual soldier, many of whom might not have funds to pay for the trip to Oklahoma.
...
Donations to bring the members of the Oklahoma National Guard home for Christmas can be made at any BancFirst Branch to the Operation Holiday Homecoming account or, to The American Legion of Oklahoma, Operation Holiday Homecoming, P.O. Box 53037, Oklahoma City OK, 73152.

Unfortunately, some of the people in the military are

lawyers and politicians(and assholes, but I repeat myself) in uniform:
For three months after the non-incident, none of his superiors in his chain of command suspected a law of war violation, and it seems from his fitness report that his command style and his ability was something the Marine Corps could use more of.

Then, out of nowhere, some gutless punk up the chain of command panicked when the Time article came out and decided that this guy needed to take the fall for this "incident" so that their backside could be protected and their career could be guaranteed at the expense of this man because prior to this, Lt Col. Chessani was, according to his superiors, "a superb leader, who knows his men, knows the enemy, knows his business."

Proof that, despite the efforts of the good people in the forces, slime does manage to sneak in.

Veteran's Day

QandO has a very good piece on who all it covers: ALL the people who get the job done so those at the point of the spear can defeat the enemy.

And, I realize I'm a day late, but Happy Birthday, Marine Corps.

This Vet's Day is a bit unusual for me. Last year at this time son was in AIT; today he's at a camp in Iraq getting the job done, alongside a whole lot of other sons and daughters. Hot, dusty, carrying a huge weight of armor and weapons and responsibility, and getting the job done.

Every once in a while I catch myself in that parent thing, the image of him with a lapful of kitten almost as big as he is or dog bigger than he is, or receiving a kick in the butt when caught at something gets overlaid with the image of him now. Time do go on.

Added: I occurs to me there's a lot on the line in the families: son's wife is at a base stateside, and her brother is Airborne, over in Iraq for, I believe, the third time.

It's November, we've had a few days of really nice weather,

the birds are singing outside, and Iraqis are whacking tangos with great glee:

BAGHDAD: Former Sunni insurgents asked the U.S. to stay away, then ambushed members of al-Qaida in Iraq, killing 18 in a battle that raged for hours north of Baghdad, an ex-insurgent leader and Iraqi police said Saturday.

Fighters of the Islamic Army in Iraq staged the surprise attack Friday afternoon near Samarra — sending advance word to Iraqi police and requesting that U.S. helicopters stay away, since the fighters had no uniforms and were indistinguishable from al-Qaida.

A top Islamic Army leader known as Abu Ibrahim told The Associated Press that his fighters attacked al-Qaida southeast of Samarra, a mostly Sunni city about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

"We found out that al-Qaida intended to attack us, so we ambushed them at 3 p.m. on Friday," Abu Ibrahim said.

And America-hating 'anti-war' movies are tanking at the box office. And please take note of this observation of Hollywood:
UPDATE #5, 11/11/07 -- Some commenters say that these anti-American films may be produced for foreign rather than domestic U.S. consumption. First, I don't buy it, since such a huge chunk of the money each movie makes comes from American box office and U.S. DVD sales and rentals. Even if that were so, however, and money were the primary motive behind these "blame America first" films, what would that tell you about the moral character of the Hollywood whores who are producing this crap?

It tells us a lot, it do. And an additional take on the matter:
They will flop because the human psyche, especially the American variety, prefers real heroes--like the original hero of the Valley of Elah, a young shepherd named David who killed Goliath then cut off the giant's head.

In the latest round of war movies the heroes are not the Soldiers and Marines who every day fight and defeat a vicious and barbaric enemy--the heroes are reporters, lawyers and activists.

And since every story requires a villain, the real enemy--Mohammedan Jihadists--are replaced by neo-cons, politicians, Soldiers and Marines.

This substitution of the traditional mono-myth away from a hero who faces physical danger and conquers an enemy is a result of cowardice of the modern story tellers.

And, to add to the general happiness, the Clinton's are getting caught in the act:
For the second time in as many days, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has had to deal with accusations of planting questions during public appearances.

In a telephone interview Saturday with Fox News, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, said he was approached by Clinton campaign worker Chris Hayler to ask a question about how she was standing up to President Bush on the question on funding the Iraq war and a troop withdrawal timeline.

Why the major media is not to be trusted

Reason #568: we now return to our previous griping

Go here and read. This is specifically on the Al Dura case, but has big ramifications to all reporting, in this case specifically in the mid-east and on stuff touching on Islam.

And yet, one of the major differences between Western journalism and self-styled “Islamic media men” emerges on just this issue of the permissibility of staging the news and attitudes towards what constitutes honest information. According to the Islamic Mass Media Charter (Jakarta, 1980), the sacred task of Muslim media men [sic], is on the one hand to protect the Umma from “imminent dangers,” indeed to “censor all materials,” towards that end, and on the other, “To combat Zionism and its colonialist policy of creating settlements as well as its ruthless suppression of the Palestinian people.”

So when asked why he had inserted unconnected footage of an Israeli soldier firing a rifle into the Al Dura sequence in order to make it look like the Israelis had killed the boy in cold blood, an official of PA TV responded:

These are forms of artistic expression, but all of this serves to convey the truth… We never forget our higher journalistic principles to which we are committed of relating the truth and nothing but the truth.

This is from a Palestinian media weenie, so not unexpected: to these people 'the Truth' is what puts out the message they like, not what actually happened. But crap like this is not supposed to come from western journalists:
Here the evidence provided by the Al Dura affair suggests that, in some sense, journalists are “in” on the public secret. When representatives of France2 were confronted with the pervasive evidence of staging in Talal’s footage, they both responded the same way. “Oh, they always do that, it’s a cultural thing,” said Enderlin to me in Jerusalem. “Yes Monsieur, but, you know, it’s always like that,” said Didier Eppelbaum to Denis Jeambar, Daniel Leconte, and Luc Rosenzweig in Paris.

As an echo of this astonishing private complacency, Clément Weill-Raynal of France3 made a comment to a journalist that he meant as a criticism of Karsenty: “Karsenty is so shocked that fake images were used and edited in Gaza, but this happens all the time everywhere on television and no TV journalist in the field or a film editor would be shocked.”

That last is supposed to be a cricism of Karsenty. It's a criticism to say "It's dumb for him to be shocked that we slant and fake the news!"

"An incident at Ramallah, however, suggests that Western journalists have systematically submitted to Palestinian demands that they practice Palestinian journalism. On October 12, 2000, to cries of “Revenge for the blood of Muhammad al Dura,” Palestinian men tore to pieces the bodies of two Israeli reservists. Aware of the potential damage, Palestinians attacked any journalist taking pictures. And yet, one Italian crew working for a private news station, at great risk to their lives, smuggled out the footage. Eager to avoid being blamed, the representative of Italy’s “official television station RAI” wrote to the PA that his station would never do such a thing,

…because we always respect (will continue to respect) the journalistic procedures with the Palestinian Authority for (journalistic) work in Palestine…

Translation: "We will show the news the way you want us to; who cares if it's factual or true?"

And we're supposed to trust these people to tell us what's going on?

And it can actually get worse. There's this near the end:
More ominously, just as Al Dura represents a “higher truth” for Muslims — a justification for hatred, a call to revenge — so does it carry symbolic freight with Europeans. Catherine Nay, a respected news anchor for Europe1, welcomed the image:

The Death of Muhammad cancels out, erases that of the Jewish child, his hands in the air from the SS in the Warsaw Ghetto.

This is from a 'respected news anchor' in Europe. Saying that. I do not have the words to express the contempt I feel for this uselessful idiot.

Rope, lamppost, journalist...

In which I return to the fray,

having been otherwise busy the last couple of days. Got several things to scream about, but currently I'll mention my range trip Friday. Had a couple of loads to test, and wanted to do some 'just because' shooting.

The testing was a load for .30-06, tried out in the M1 Garand. I'd wanted a good soft-point load that could be used for hunting and, er, 'social purposes' if needed, and decided to try the 150-grain Seirra Game King bullet over a load of IMR4895. This is about typical of the groups it gave:























I tend to think the horizontal spread was due to me. For a semi-auto not set up for targets, not bad groups at all. Next time I'll take the 1903 to try it in. So the testing part of the day was successful.

The 'just because' part was trying out some M1 Carbine magazines I'd worked on, and- mostly- hauling the Martini 12/15 out to shoot. Been a while since it'd had an outing, and I'd wanted to try some new ammo in it. But mostly, just wanted to shoot the thing. It's one of those rifles that makes it easy to shoot well.

I'd picked up a box of Eley Practice ammo the week before. It's a mid-grade practice ammo, between the rabbit & squirrel thumpers on the low end and the Tenex match grade at the top. I started out with stuff I knew the performance of, the Eley Sport(ten-shot groups with all):






















This stuff is about $1.50/box last time I bought, probably closer to $2/box now. I'd class it as practice & critter-thumper ammo, quite consistent.

Then I tried the Eley Practice(please ignore the larger caliber holes):




















Very close to the Sport in performance, maybe a touch more consistent. It runs $3/box where I got it.

Then, since I had plenty with me, the Federal Champion, now $1.20/box since prices have gone up:






















Well, hell, if I want to try for something really better I'm going to have to pony up for some of the actual match grade. Which I've held off on, being cheapfiscally conservative: that stuff runs $12-14/box now. Still, I'll probably pick up a box of Tenex or Lapua Midas one of these days, just to see how much of a difference I can get with it. Of course, if you're shooting matches you get what shoots the very best in your firearm, with as little concern for cost as possible. But for fun shooting, I've been fairly amazed at how consistent and accurate this Federal is in a variety of firearms.

Oh, to add to why I like shooting the Martini so much: all groups were shot at 100 yards from a rest with iron sights. Did I mention I love shooting that rifle?

Had the chance to see Glenn Beck's show last night,

which was entirely about conditions on the border with Mexico. Bloody disgusting, including the fact that a lot of this crap the major medial flat will not cover.

One of the worst was a U.S. Representative from Texas who was talking about how we can trust the president of Mexico and we NEED to give them more than a billion dollars in money and equipment- including surveillance equipment- so they can deal with things on the border, because- among other things- 'there will never be troops sent to the border'. I just found this on the transcript at Beck's site:
SHERIFF: I want to ask the congressman who is he representing, President Calderon or his district here in Laredo, Texas where we haven't received any resources at the local level to be able to combat the problems on the border.

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: Well, first of all, let me say this, Mr. Sheriff. What we're looking at is you have got more money than you've ever gotten in the past and we've got to keep in mind that the border will be patrolled by the border patrol and by the federal agencies. We will work with the local law enforcement and we represent, but your job is to be a county sheriff, not a U.S. congressman, which is a big difference. My job is to look at the big picture. Your job is to look at the smaller picture, and I will do my job as long as you do your job.

You'd have to have heard the tone of voice and attitude of the Congressman to understand just how bad this was. I listened to it, and I was so pissed I couldn't even remember the bastards name. Absolutely infuriating. And, it seems, typical of far too many of those clowns in DC.

Either the Emperor's "Lamppost, rope, politician: some assembly required" or my gift box idea. We've got to get the attention of these idiots somehow

Maybe someplace like San Francisco

these clowns would get something like the French response, but most other cities? I don't think so.
If we are not careful, we may see something similar coming from the estimated 13 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, most of them Hispanic, who are increasingly vilified in the media, forced further into the underground by spineless politicians and not given any chance to legalize their status by a pusillanimous U.S. Congress.

A couple of things here. In a few places, like OK, the politicians are doing something; just not what you want. And an awful lot of that 'pusillanimous' Congress tried to kiss up to the illegals; that didn't work because the people back home basically said "You pass this and your ass is on the street." I repeat, in some places that play the 'sanctuary city' game you might get away with the 'intifada' bullshit, but most other places your rock-throwers and arsonists will be in jail. Assuming the people whose cars are being burned don't shoot them.

And if you think people are being nasty and unkind and vilify the illegals now, what the hell do you think will happen if the illegals start rioting and throwing rocks and burning?

Friggin' idiot.

Jimmy Carter:

The gift that keeps on giving

Lamentably, I killed your cat while trying just to sting it. It was crouched, as usual, under one of our bird feeders & I fired from some distance with bird shot.

There're just too many possibilities, the mind boggles...

No, no progress at all

"Quagmire, quicksand, bogged down ad bullshit"

I don't think so.

So now, not only is the developed west eeevillle,

our enviroweenie screaming for biofuels is starving the pore & hongry around the world. It says so in the Guardian, so it must be true!

To borrow from somebody, "I love the screaming of hippy enviroweenies in the morning. Or any other time."

Get the last paragraph:
If the governments promoting biofuels do not reverse their policies, the humanitarian impact will be greater than that of the Iraq war. Millions will be displaced, hundreds of millions more could go hungry. This crime against humanity is a complex one, but that neither lessens nor excuses it. If people starve because of biofuels, Ruth Kelly and her peers will have killed them. Like all such crimes, it is perpetrated by cowards, attacking the weak to avoid confronting the strong.

Hehehehehe. And even better, it's that arch-idiot Monbiot doing the screaming and blaming. "It'll be worse than Iraq!" I'd say 'idiot', but that understates things by a considerable margin.

There's supposed to be a hard freeze tonight

so I just picked some stuff and spread a couple of tarps over part of the garden. Predicted low is 30, with it warming up fairly rapidly after sunrise and then no freezing temps for a few days. So, hopefully, the tarps will protect what's covered and keep those plants going. It's worked before.

To give you an idea of how things have been producing, these are the habaneros I picked today and yesterday, with a few jalapenos thrown in



















I'm told the best way to keep them long-term is to seed, slice them up and freeze them, so in the next couple of days I'll do that to most of these. Using the vacuum-sealer should help.

The tomatoes, I'm told, if placed in a paper bag and kept in a cool place will slowly ripen, so I'll give it a try.

"...convicted the Met of breaching health and safety laws..."

for killing an innocent man.

Want your blood pressure spiking? Or depression moving in? Maybe both? Check that article out.
A jury at the Old Bailey convicted the Met of breaching health and safety laws by putting the public at risk on the day Mr de Menezes, an innocent electrician, was mistaken for a suicide bomber.
...
The trial judge, Mr Justice Henriques, said a "corporate failing" was to blame for the tragedy - leading senior MPs to say that as head of the Met Sir Ian should take overall responsibility and step down.

It was Sir Ian's personal decision to contest the case, which has cost the taxpayer £3.5 million, despite "overwhelming" evidence of a series of blunders by his force.
...
Think about that a minute. Not "You effed up and killed an innocent man, and must be held responsible", or "Improper use of deadly force", but "breaching health and safety laws". Damn.

And in a way this sums up some of the socialist garbage we're dealing with, too:
Mr Justice Henriques, who fined the Met £175,000 and ordered it to pay £385,000 costs, said: "There was a serious failure of accurate communication which has not been explained."

He said a heavy fine would have resulted in a loss to the public purse and reduction in essential policing.

Because God forbid the agency actually get some kind of spanking it might pay attention to: it would cost the government money! Sounds a little like the crap we hear after a botched SWAT raid on the wrong home or on a bad tip gets someone injured or killed: "The officers followed department policy in their conduct, so there will be no action taken against them." Because God forbid we actually hold them accountable for screwing up in one or more ways and injuring/killing/destroying the home and life of someone.

I know I'm jumping around a bit here; I'm just so damn sick of crap like this.

More on the canaries in the mine

Found a link to this at Insty this morning, I'd suggest anyone who reads this go and read the entire article(and read Kim's take on it, too). It's about the resurgence of Jew hatred in Britain. Which is a flat amazing thing: aside from the usual groups of idiots, it's something I'd never have thought would flourish so over there.

Two places I'd like to quote here. The first:
But a subtler reason exists for Britain’s embrace of the new anti-Semitism. After the Second World War, the radical Left set out to destroy the fundamentals of Western morality, but its campaign played out very differently in America and Britain. In America, it resulted in the culture wars, with conservatives, many churches, and sensible liberals launching a vigorous counterattack in defense of Western moral values—and, as it happened, Israel.

Exhausted by two world wars, shattered by the loss of empire, and hollowed out by the failure of the Church of England or a substantial body of intellectuals and elites to hold the line, Britain was uniquely vulnerable to the predations of the Left. The institutions that underpinned truth and morality—the traditional family and an education system that transmitted the national culture—collapsed. Britain’s monolithic intelligentsia soon embraced postmodernism, multiculturalism, victim culture, and a morally inverted hegemony of ideas in which the values of marginalized or transgressive groups replaced the values of the purportedly racist, oppressive West.

That pretty much covers what a lot of the 'progressive'(i.e., commies without the integrity to say it) types wanted- and want- to do here. Makes me wonder, where would the world be if they'd succeeded?

The second:
Further, people across the political spectrum became increasingly unable to make moral distinctions based on behavior. This erasing of the line between right and wrong produced a tendency to equate, and then invert, the roles of terrorists and of their victims, and to regard self-defense as aggression and the original violence as understandable and even justified. That attitude is, of course, inherently antagonistic to Israel, which was founded on the determination never to allow another genocide of Jews, to defend itself when attacked, and to destroy those who would destroy it. But for the Left, powerlessness is virtue; better for Jews to die than to kill, because only as dead victims can they be moral.

This is EXACTLY what we're facing with the "Don't be judgemental" crap the 'progressives' are constantly trying to shove down our throats(unless you're judging someone/something non-pc, that is). And it covers very well the attitude of so many of the GFW clowns and 'peace at any cost' fools trying to destroy the 2nd Amendment. Long time ago I wrote about people I knew who truly believed that to resist an attack with violence made you morally as wrong as the attacker; as Kevin puts it, they see no difference between 'violent and predatory' and 'violent and protective'. Which, in this case, extends to 'if Israel didn't use violence, Peace would come'. Which is amazingly idiotic. If Israel didn't use violence to protect itself, it would cease to exist in a bloodbath that might make the ghost of Ghengis Khan shake his head in wonder. But that doesn't matter to the PAAC* weenies: what does is that Israel is bad for using violence in self-defense, and that- and the very existence of Israel- justifies terrorism and hatred of Jews in general. It's not moral equivalence: it's giving moral priority to murderers and rapists who destroy lives and attempt to destroy history as well.

To quote Quint, "It's enough to piss of the Good Humor man."


*Peace At Any Cost

Also from Huffman, the 'one question'

you can ask the GFW's who want to argue with you:

My "one question" is this:

Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?

There are three possible answers to this question.

1. "I don't know." In which case my response is, "Come back to the debate when you can answer 'Yes' or 'No'."
2. "No." In which case my response is, "Then you should be advocating the repeal of ALL gun control laws and I don't want to hear a single anti-freedom word from you on this topic again."
3. "Yes and here is my demonstration."

I have researched this fairly extensively and I can't find the data to support a “Yes“ answer. I have asked a lot of people this question and I haven't yet heard a "Yes" answer demonstrated. In October of 2003 the CDC released a study on this topic and couldn't come up with a "Yes" answer either. I'm not the slightest bit worried someone will be able to come up with a defensible "Yes".

I've been thinking about the Jew-hating peace activists

and I flat do not understand this*. White-supremacists masquerading as something else I would understand, they'll try most anything to get their crap out. But people who are members of longtime 'peace' groups going along with them? Or actually helping them out?

What makes this even more idiotic to me is that lots of people of jewish descent belong to these groups, some of them actively practicing their faith; that they would have one damn thing to do with this garbage is enough to make your brain uncurl.

There's a reason Joe Huffman made it his 'Jews in the attic' test: the saying that Jews are the canaries in the coal mine goes back a ways. So how the hell can supposedly intelligent, tolerant people have a hand in this crap?


*Couple of years ago I read a piece by someone, a rabbi I think, who said he was going to stop using 'anti-semite' or 'anti-semitism' in referring to some groups, they hate Jews and he was going to say it flat out from now on. I think I'll follow his lead.

'Peace Activists' my ass,

they're on the other side.
In this case, a University of Oregon peace organization called Pacifica Forum, which was founded and is led by a retired professor and a retired administrator from that university, is marking Kristallnacht with two days of speeches and conferences this weekend conducted by Mark Weber director of the Holocaust denial group Institute for Historical Review. Weber, the former editor of the National Vanguard, the main publication of the neo-Nazi National Alliance Party, has spent the past 30 years as a professional advocate of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism. His opening lecture on Friday is entitled: "Free Speech vs. Zionist Power". Advertisements for the event feature the image of a snake in the shape of a Star of David with the legend "The Israel Lobby: How Powerful Is It?" November 9 marks the 69th anniversary of Kristallnacht, which is considered by many historians to be the beginning of the Holocaust.

Really shouldn't be surprised by this crap. After all, clowns like 'Queers for Palestine' run around screaming and yelling for the death of everyone in Israel, never mind that the Palestinian Authority is rather, ah, 'harsh' with homosexuals. And they tend to flee to Israel where, while they might be frowned on, nobody has a government plan to kill them. But that doesn't count, the evil Joooos are the cause of it! They're certain!

Other links of interest on this subject here, , here, here. Oh, and Zionists are responsible for Darfur, too!

Found through the Random Nukes man.

Reason #379 why the UN should be considered

the enemy:
“20. Self-defence is a widely recognized, yet legally proscribed, exception to the universal duty to respect the right to life of others. Self-defence is a basis for exemption from criminal responsibility that can be raised by any State agent or non-State actor. Self-defence is sometimes designated as a “right”. There is inadequate legal support for such an interpretation. Self-defence is more properly characterized as a means of protecting the right to life and, as such, a basis for avoiding responsibility for violating the rights of another.“ Emphasis mine.

Found this through this post at Volokh Conspiracy, which concludes with this:
It's rather telling that the UN's American defenders fail to directly address an indisputable fact: U.N. Human Rights Council's subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has endorsed a report denying the existence of a human right of self-defense, and the subcommission, pursuant to the report, has declared that all national governments are required by international human rights law to implement various gun control provisions--provisions which, by the UN's standards, make even the gun control laws of New York City and Washington, DC, into violations of international law because they are insufficiently stringent.

Think of the fact that people are being literally enslaved in Darfur- assuming they survive the rapes and other attacks- and the UN sits around talking. Forever. And has screaming fits when someone suggests sending the people being attacked arms and trainers, because that 'would perpetuate the cycle of violence', as if people defending themselves is on the same level as the actions of the rapists and slavers and murderers.

But we should just hand our affairs over to these people and renounce our sovereignty; after all,(in chorus, now) "It's for the CHILDRENN!"

Yes, I AM aware that I have a problem,

thank you very much(It's a sickness, I can't help myself!). Just ignore that part.

The week before the big gun show in Tulsa I posted this on AIM and their constant efforts to ruin my financial standing. Biggest gun show in the world a few days away, all kinds of stuff to look for... yes, dammit, I ordered one. Set aside some of the show funds and made a call. And a couple of days later the Brown Truck of Happiness people delivered it










I've read a couple of model designations, I'll just us 2A1 here: it's the #1 MkIII Lee Enfield, reengineered to fire the 7.62x51mm Nato cartridge(.308 for short). 12-round magazine, otherwise externally it's pretty much identical to the original. Different steel in the bolt, receiver & barrel, different bolt head for the rimless cartridge.

I just clicked on the link in my previous post, and it's no good anymore, looks like they sold out of these fast. They'd advertised these as 'shooter specials', the wood being more beat-up and/or more repairs than the stuff they'd previously had but the metal being in the same condition. For a hundred bucks, I figured worth a try: I've dealt with AIM before.

The 'more beat-up' consisted of lots of little dings- hardly unusual in a milsurp rifle- and two repairs. See the two lighter-colored vertical pieces on the left?















A very well-done repair. There's one more like this on the right, done with darker wood; you have to look for it to find it. And that's it. The metal has that painted finish the Indians kept from the Brits, only this looks like something done with a spray can by a kid in a hurry to finish a model airplane. But the action is tight- I don't think it was fired much- and the bore is spotless. It came with what I call a 'halfway' grease job: it was greased for storage but not the 'block of grease with a gun inside' you see from a lot of Brit firearms, so not a big problem cleaning it up enough to try out.

I mentioned the action was tight, the trigger was also a touch, not 'rough' but not polished either. Again, I think it was carried a lot and shot very little. And the sights were WAY off to the right. I discovered and corrected that at the indoor range, and when went to the outdoor range the other day tweaked the sights to dead-on and tried it at 100 yards with some South African ball I had. I forgot my rests(always something, dammit) and this thing didn't do its best off one of the sandbags I borrowed. All shots in the black, but not good grouping. So I looped-up using the sling I'd stuck on(a 1907 model) and fired with it, elbows on the bench and left forearm against the bag and got this for five rounds:






















The one centered in the bull was a called flyer(ignore the .22 holes), the other four went into less than 2". It did about as well on another before I gave up on shooting for best groups, the wind was gusting and those little sights were starting to give my eyes problems.

That's better accuracy than I was hoping for out of this. I think a little polishing to smooth the trigger(it broke cleanly if a touch heavy) would help a bit, but hardly necessary for a shooter(no, I won't leave it alone). Got to say, a good deal for the price.

Ammo Day is a'comin'!

as Kim reminds us. And it has its own site, too.

Stock up. You'll use it eventually, and I doubt prices will go down on the stuff.

The poor whiny illegals and supporters lose another round

They'd filed to try to prevent HB 1804 from taking effect today, and that was thrown out by the judge. The rest of the lawsuit still hangs around, but the law is in effect. To the accompaniment of the usual whining and howling and "How can you people be so unfeeling and cruel?" bullshit.
"We are people from all faith traditions, denominations," Sanchez said. "Our faith will bring light to this moment of social darkness."
And- of course- you've just GOT to link the war to this:
Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa said a prayer in Spanish for the crowd.

"I was asking that God forgive our sins from all over the world, especially with wars," Slattery said afterward. "I asked that we resort to charity and love."

And further statements of moral superiority:
The Quran teaches that people should give food and greetings to both people you know and those you don't know, said Priscilla Reem Khader, who is Muslim.

"As Americans, we have a moral duty to care for all mankind," she said. "Everything we have, including this land, is from God and ultimately, everything belongs to him."
Unspoken was the apparent belief that 'caring for mankind' means 'trash your culture for the sake of being nice to lawbreakers'.

Then we have general fearmongering:
He's unsure how HB 1804 will affect him and is concerned.

"I do worry about the how the bill will affect me because I'm Hispanic. The bill is going to affect every Hispanic person,” Montoya said.
Ah, here's a clue Mr. Montoya: it won't affect you unless you're here illegally. So either calm down or get the hell out, whichever is applicable.

And, of course, you also have to have the nazi references and "We're a'skeered!" notes:
On the other side of the argument, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Religious Leaders accused the Tulsa mayor, police chief and Tulsa County Sheriff’ Department, as well as state Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, of “ethnic cleansing.”

“We are afraid of your words. We are afraid of your actions,” said Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. “If this bill goes into effect midnight tonight, it will be open season on Latinos.”
Again, dumbass, only if you are here illegally, or helping illegals break more laws. Which, considering your actions and words, the latter is almost certainly the case.

There's lots of "The children don't know why their parents are scared" and so forth("It's for the CHILDREENNN!"), and some "We will show our political power!" threats. About what you'd expect from the illegal enablers, including the obligatory "We will serve the Lord by helping people break this law!" crap from the usual suspects. Base is, this law is in effect, and from reports it caused a lot of illegals to move out of the state even before today. Which I consider a good thing. So we'll see what happens next.

Glenn Beck has been pointing out what a bunch of

clowns are running Hasbro toys, along with the (now standard) 'America must not be celebrated' Hollywood weenies, on the subject of GI Joe. What the Hollyweenies & Co. are doing to him, that is. Instead of an American troop, it stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, taking orders from bloody damned Brussels. Ace had a post on this, which linked to a full explanation of the man whose face adorns that figure. I'm going to post a part of the article:

As Platoon Sgt. Mitchell Paige and his 33 riflemen set about carefully emplacing their four water-cooled .30-caliber Brownings on that hillside, 65 years ago this week -- manning their section of the thin khaki line that was expected to defend Henderson Field against the assault of the night of Oct. 25, 1942 -- it's unlikely anyone thought they were about to provide the definitive answer to that most desperate of questions: How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it take to hold a hill against 2,000 armed and motivated attackers?

But by the time the night was over, "The 29th (Japanese) Infantry Regiment has lost 553 killed or missing and 479 wounded among its 2,554 men," historian Lippman reports. "The 16th (Japanese) Regiment's losses are uncounted, but the 164th's burial parties handled 975 Japanese bodies. ... The American estimate of 2,200 Japanese dead is probably too low."

You've already figured out where the Japanese focused their attack, haven't you? Among the 90 American dead and seriously wounded that night were all the men in Mitchell Paige's platoon. Every one. As the night of endless attacks wore on, Paige moved up and down his line, pulling his dead and wounded comrades back into their foxholes and firing a few bursts from each of the four Brownings in turn, convincing the Japanese forces down the hill that the positions were still manned.

The citation for Paige's Medal of Honor picks up the tale: "When the enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, P/Sgt. Paige, commanding a machine gun section with fearless determination, continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire."

In the end, Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed Brownings and did something for which the weapon was never designed. Sgt. Paige walked down the hill toward the place where he could hear the last Japanese survivors rallying to move around his flank, the belt-fed gun cradled under his arm, firing as he went.

Coming up at dawn, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley was the first to discover how many able-bodied United States Marines it takes to hold a hill against two regiments of motivated, combat-hardened infantrymen who have never known defeat.

On a hill where the bodies were piled like cordwood, Mitchell Paige alone sat upright behind his 30-caliber Browning, waiting to see what the dawn would bring.

The hill had held, because on the hill remained the minimum number of able-bodied United States Marines necessary to hold the position.

But God forbid we actually expect a movie to show the U.S. Military in a good light, even in a kids movie, oh no. Let alone have the troops fighting terrorists or dictators, never!
According to reports in Variety and the aforementioned IGN, the producers explain international marketing would simply prove too difficult for a summer, 2009 film about a heroic U.S. soldier. Thus the need to "eliminate Joe's connection to the U.S. military."

Excuse me for a moment, I've been trying to clean up my language but this calls for something other than polite words:
God DAMN these people. They will spend millions making piece of shit movies designed to make the U.S. look as bad as possible- movies they know will not make money here, which means they're intended to make most of their money in other countries, and consider the implications of that. They march around screaming about how horrible and fascist this country is and what morons and bloody-handed tools the troops are, AND claim to 'support the troops' while they do these things. And they have to go after the toys, too. Can't have the kids playing with 'a real American hero', it might make them think the troops aren't a bunch of baby-killing rapists.

Right now I'm ready for that 9.0 earthquake to take a large part of California, I'm so sick of this shit. Barring an earthquake or something else more suitable(too much collateral damage), I'll end with this from Ace's piece:

"When the Hasbro Toy Co. called some years back, asking permission to put the retired colonel's face on some kid's doll, Mitchell Paige thought they must be joking.

But they weren't. That's his mug, on the little Marine they call "G.I. Joe." At least, it has been up till now.

Mitchell Paige's only condition? That G.I. Joe must always remain a United States Marine.

I hope his estate is litigious. Maybe they can appoint Fred Goldman as their family advisor"

You need to get toys for Christmas? Make sure they don't come from Hasbro.


In other events happening about the time P/Sgt. Paige was making his mark, Trainer has a piece that notes a naval battle of huge significance as well:
"Hunter had to do something. The course he took now could decide the war. 'Come left,' he said, and Washington straightened out on a course parallel to the one on which she (had been) steaming. Washington's rudder change put the burning destroyers between her and the enemy, preventing her from being silhouetted by their fires.

"The move made the Japanese momentarily cease fire. Lacking radar, they could not spot Washington behind the fires. ...

"Meanwhile, Washington raced through burning seas. Everyone could see dozens of men in the water clinging to floating wreckage. Flag Lieutenant Raymond Thompson said, "Seeing that burning, sinking ship as it passed so close aboard, and realizing that there was nothing I, or anyone, could do about it, was a devastating experience.'

"Commander Ayrault, Washington's executive officer, clambered down ladders, ran to Bart Stoodley's damage-control post, and ordered Stoodley to cut loose life rafts. That saved a lot of lives. But the men in the water had some fight left in them. One was heard to scream, 'Get after them, Washington!' "

Sacrificing their ships by maneuvering into the path of torpedoes intended for the Washington, the captains of the American destroyers had given China Lee one final chance. The Washington was fast, undamaged, and bristling with 16-inch guns. And, thanks to Lt. Hunter's course change, she was also now invisible to the enemy.

Blinded by the smoke and flames, the Japanese battleship Kirishima turned on her searchlights, illuminating the helpless South Dakota, and opened fire. Finally, standing out in the darkness, Lee and Davis could positively identify an enemy target.

The Washington's main batteries opened fire at 12 midnight precisely. Her new SG radar fire control system worked perfectly. Between midnight and 12:07 a.m., Nov. 14, the "last ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet" stunned the battleship Kirishima with 75, 16-inch shells. For those aboard the Kirishima, it rained steel.

In seven minutes, the Japanese battleship was reduced to a funeral pyre. She went down at 3:25 a.m., the first enemy sunk by an American battleship since the Spanish-American War. Stunned, the remaining Japanese ships withdrew. Within days, Yamamoto and his staff reviewed their mounting losses and recommended the unthinkable to the emperor - withdrawal from Guadalcanal.

Isn't it amazing

what make-up can do?


























Thanks, Theo

And the 'activists' continue

to work at helping illegal aliens violate the law. Specifically, in trying to keep House Bill 1804 from going into effect. From The McCarville Report:
The law, which takes effect Thursday, has sparked intense fear in the Hispanic community that families will be separated, several speakers said."We're asking for a moratorium on all raids, arrests and deportations until such a time as our Congress assumes the responsibility of an immigration law that is just and comprehensive," said the Rev. Victor Orta, president of the American Dream Coalition. (emphasis mine)
Got that? Not just a hold on this particular law, but ALL 'raids, arrests and deportations'. Until- they hope- the clowns in Congress can sneak an amnesty bill through.

Then, as of Monday the 29th:
A federal lawsuit challenging the law, which goes into effect Thursday, was refiled last week. It added eight illegal alien lawbreakersundocumented residents who plan to testify that they will face eviction from their landlords unless they provide legal identification, such as a social security card, as required by the new law. The other plaintiffs include the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and two churches.

Just gotta love it. "Your Honor, if this law goes into effect, these people who are here illegally will be evicted from their dwelling, just because they're illegal. And that's not right! It's not fair!"

And, of course, the author of the bill, along with anyone who supports it, is an evil racist. Doesn't matter that it says 'illegal aliens', they know who you mean...

I can't find the article right now, but the Attorney General has asked the challenge currently filed to be tossed because 'nobody in the suit can show they've been harmed'. Personally, I'd think a better statement would be: "Your Honor, these people are here to claim that enforcing our laws is 'bad', and that criminals- people who snuck into this country illegally- should be able to sue to prevent the law from being enforced. We ask you to throw this suit out on the basis of idiocy and that criminals shouldn't be allowed to come into our courts and say "We don't like your laws, and we don't want to obey them, so leave us alone!"

We're hearing lots of things about how 'people are worried, there are concerns about families being torn apart, illegalsundocumented workers are leaving for fear of being deported' and on and on. Know what? I Don't Care. I'm sick to death of being told I'm a racist for wanting the damn law enforced. I'm sick of being told that people here illegally deserve special considerations when they commit more crimes. I'm sick of crap like this:
Advocates for immigrants say the vast majority of the undocumented people in the U.S. are hard workers who are just trying to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

They also say that many of the people pushing the hardest for immigration reform describe themselves as Christians yet seem to be lacking the compassion for which Jesus is known.

They wonder whether the real motive behind measures such as HB 1804 is racism.

I'm sick of a bunch of clowns claiming "We are true Christians" saying they'll help these illegals break the law and daring the cops to do anything about it. Yeah, Christ said a lot about "Thou must aid politically correct criminals in their transgressions", didn't he?

Add to it that all too many of these clowns who think multiple-murderers who happen to be illegals deserve special considerations also tend to be people who think our troops are somewhat subhuman, and a serious amount of disgust has entered my life.

.22's are weird

in their choices of ammo. I think a lot of them are far more picky than centerfires. Not only whether the round will cycle a semi-auto properly, but in accuracy: I've mentioned before shooting rifles that got better groups with inexpensive ammo than high-dollar target or match ammo.

What brought this up(again) is a trip to the range today. Just for the hell of it I stuck a box of the Aguila SSS in to try on a couple of rifles. This stuff is loaded subsonic and has a long, 60 grain bullet instead of the standard 40 grain. To keep the length correct they make the case short; weird looking round. And whether a rifle or pistol shoots it worth a damn depends on the whim of the gun. Some shoot it quite well, and others will keyhole the bullet at 25 yards: the rifling on many does not spin the bullet fast enough to stabilize.

I've now found two of mine that shoot it well: the Martini Model 12, which will put the things into 2.5-3.5" groups at 100 yards, and my Remington 512. At 50 yards this rifle hits dead-on with Federal Champion and gives about 1" groups or a touch better. It put five rounds of the Aguila 3.5" low and 2" right at that range, but the group- including a flyer I have to call my own- was 1.3". Take out the flyer, .7". Not bad at all.

For pests and small game this round, assuming your gun will shoot it well, ought to be a killer: with the weight and shape it should penetrate very well on larger critters. But you'd probably have to zero specifically for it, as that weight and velocity means it'll have a different point of impact than pretty much everything else.

Project Valor-IT is on

Just found the information at Kevin's.

Check it out. Spread it around. Spend some money.

And from Our Lady of the Thong:

Islamist child-abuserearing

















Thank you, oh Lady

Looking for a bullet mold

I've been told that Lyman used to make a mold for a .45-caliber hollow-base wadcutter, about 250 grains. I can't find a number on the bullet mold charts I can find, anyone have any idea? This sounds like it would almost duplicate the Webley Man-Stopper bullet for the .455 Webley.

On books, you'll be happy to know

you can fit 18 paperbacks into one of the large flat-rate boxes without it bulging too much. Got those sent off last week, mix of Drake, Ringo, a Heinlein(my copy of Starship Troopers) and some others. They should be arriving sometime this week.

Got a call from him Sunday: amazingly enough, this time I wasn't on the phone at work or away from the phone at the house. Highs are down to the low 100's but the humidity is up(yuck), their area is still pretty quiet. I get the feeling between their patrols and the Iraqi National Police and Army, the bad guys have had the living crap kicked out of them, which is all to the good.

This has to be noted as the "You can't have it both ways"

reminder:
So, if I understand this correctly, here’s the reasoning: Police want to raid alleged drug dealer. Police get no knock warrant. Police conduct raid late at night so that they can catch them off guard. The plan worked and they were off guard. So, being off guard, person at the house opens fire. Now, the police say that she should have known they were police.

It makes no sense to me.

Me neither, Unc.

Followup to the 'poor babies' post

here. Article is here,

The first group of criminal enablersconcerned people had their suit thrown out of court because, basically, 'you are legal citizens and this doesn't affect you, so you have no standing to sue'. As I understand it, anyway. So they "refiled Thursday in federal court with additional plaintiffs who say they are facing eviction because of the measure. The plaintiffs are the National Coalition of Latino Clergy, two churches, a restaurant group and several anonymous individuals." Which is a fancy way of saying "We found some dirtbag illegals who snuck into the country undocumented workers who will be evicted if this law takes effect, and we are with them!"

I'm not going to say much, as I don't need to clean up the mess afterward. I'll just repeat: Screw you. You want to help people break our laws and act like you're entitled to make your own laws. Fuck you and get the hell out. You like these illegals so much? Go back to wherever with them. And we need to find the name of the 'restaurant group' and send them letters saying "We ain't eating at your places no more. No more money for you!"

I'm not sure whether to call this 'The Idiot Reporter Saga'

or 'Dumbass Journalist Blows It'. It seems a jerk reporter showed up at a checkpoint in Iraq without his proper id, acted like a jackass to the troop dealing with him, and posted about it. Then, when comments seemed to run to the, ah, 'negative' side, the whole blog disappeared. Except for a blogger who thought, considering past history, decided to preserve the whole post. Definitely worth reading, and do NOT forget the comments. They'll make you smile.

Then Doc Weasel got a e-mail from a coworker of the jerk saying basically "He's not so bad". He also adds at the end that the original site by the jerk is back. I tried, but couldn't get it to show up; maybe busy.

Well, now Little Green Footballs has found out some information on another piece the jerk did, and it does not make him look good. And Reihl has some background on the jerk.

You know, some of these people seem to be living in that "I think this, therefore it is the truth!" world. And now, thanks to this here innernet, it does tend to come back and bite them. Thankfully.

BSA Sportsman-Five

Here's the rifle I picked up in Tulsa









They made these in a single-shot(Sportsman, I'm guessing), this five-shot that feeds from a box magazine, and the Sportsman-15 that uses a tube mag under the barrel. Fairly basic .22 rifle, 'basic' including no butt pad, just grooves across the butt, with a couple of nice touches.

To start with, take a look at the trigger:

















It's a double-lever trigger. That is, the sear and trigger act as two levers: the sear catches the cocking piece and holds it, and the trigger levers the sear down to release. This setup gives a very nice two-stage trigger*. AND it's adjustable. See that spring and nut in front of the trigger? The threaded rod is screwed into the bottom of the receiver and fits through the sear; adjusting the nut up or down increases or decreases the weight needed to release the sear. A very nice design. As a side note, the action is a 'cock on closing' design: instead of the mainspring being compressed when you open the bolt, the sear catches the cocking piece and the spring is compressed when you push the bolt forward to close it, just like the Enfield rifles.

The other thing I really like is the front sight. Instead of the bead most U.S.-made rifles use, this used a blade that give a flat-top post to sight with, which I prefer to a bead. And from the side you can see that the section just below the top is slightly undercut


















so as to prevent any reflection back toward you when the light is behind or to the side. The rear is a blade with a not-very-deep flat-bottom notch. The receiver- also those of the other two the guy had- is drilled and tapped for a receiver sight, and I suspect most of these wound up with one at some point. Being British, probably a Parker Hale. And yes, I'd like to find one for it.

I mentioned that some troglodyte stole the magazines the guy had for them, so for the time being it's a single shot. I had the chance to hit the range today and try this little beast out, and I like it. Very nice trigger, no misfires or other problems. I think that part of the ejection design on these includes the next round in the magazine- or the follower- pushing the empty up, as all the fired cases pulled out of the chamber and fell down through the mag well before they could hit the ejector.

Since this was an indoor range without a solid bench to rest on and lighting was a touch low, I didn't shoot for groups. I just wanted to make sure everything worked as it should, check sights and try some different ammo. It showed a bit of a preference for Eley Sport, which seems appropriate. When I can get to the outdoor range with a solid bench I'll try different ammo for accuracy and post on it.

Overall, if you run across one of these I'd suggest you grab it if you can. Damn good rifle. Now I just need to find a magazine for mine.


*If you're not familiar with the term, a two-stage trigger is the kind almost always found on older military rifles. You pull the trigger, and it comes to a point and stops: that's the first stage, which- in a good one- takes up much of the pressure needed to fire. The stop is the second stage, the point at which you press a little harder and the gun fires. Since most military arms have somewhat heavy pulls, the first stage could be said to 'partly' pull the trigger, reducing the amount of pressure needed for the second stage to release and fire. For people with wet or cold or muddy hands, not a bad thing. And it was used, may still be, on a lot of target rifles.

Aww, poor babies!

A while back a law was passed in OK that "will make it a felony to transport, conceal or shelter an undocumented immigrant from detection and also prevents illegal immigrants from getting jobs and public assistance." So of course the 'protect the illegals' groups are filing lawsuits. Apparently they think there's something unconstitutional about trying to catch illegal aliens and send them back to wherever. Or preventing them from looting the public purse for their health care and for welfare benefits.

KTOK just had a blurb on their news about having interviewed the head clown in charge of a local hispanic group who whined about how many illegals have left this state before the law goes into effect, and how many others are 'hiding out' and wanting to leave. He thinks this is a bad, nasty, unfeeling thing for us to cause. I think you can probably guess my thoughts on this, but just in case:
Attention, sir:
Despite your not seeming to care about this, I will say it plainly: they are NOT 'undocumented workers', they are illegal aliens. That means they came here illegally. That means they broke the law to get here, they broke the law staying here, and they should leave. While you're whining about how horrible it is for people to want to do something about the illegals causing all kinds of problems, it's just amazing that you seem to have no words for the countries- Mexico being a big offender here- that are so screwed up that their governments would rather see their people coming here illegally so they can send U.S. money back home, than try to fix their own damn country. So screw you.

That is all.

I'd forgotten how hard it is to find some books at the used store

Son wants some sci-fi, so I figured get paperbacks(more will fit in the box) and hit the used stores(more books for the money). Fat chance. A few Drake, no Eric Flint, no David Weber, no Lois McMaster Bujold, a couple of Heinlein. And that was it.

So, raiding the shelves for mine to send. Hopefully he'll be able to send them back later, but if they get passed around and worn out I'm not going to gripe; they are for reading, after all.

If you'll excuse me, I've got shelves to go through and a box to pack.

Gun show report

I'm home, it's over- until April, at least- and I'm glad. I'm beat. That show covers 14 acres, and I have no idea how far I walked over the last two days(many sections twice). And all on concrete floors, just to make things fluffy-bunny-level happy.

Don't mistake me, it's a good show. Lots and LOTS of stuff, guns and parts and ammo and accessories and tools and materials and knives and... you get the idea. From cheap to "There are how many zeros after that number?!?" Like the Holland & Holland double rifle in .470 Nitro Express, for only $28k. Or the J.P. Sauer & Son drillings(double-barrel side-by-side shotgun with a rifle barrel below the shotgun), the really pretty one, 16 gauge and 9.3x74mm, was, as I recall, $32k. And so on.

I found a bunch of stuff, replacement screwdriver bits, cannon fuse(for smoke bombs; no cannon as yet), etc. And some somewhat beat-up Carbine magazines. Northridge had a box of them 2 for $5, all had some kind of damage and they decided they didn't want to mess with them. I found a few I think are repairable, and if they're not I've got spare springs & followers. The main thing I picked up was a lovely little BSA bolt-action .22 rifle, a "Sportsman Five", so named for the five-round box magazine. Which wasn't there, of course: some subhuman piece of crap had stolen the mags for both of these the guy had, so the rifles went at a discount. Perfect bores, tight actions, good sights, slightly beat-up stocks. I picked out one. I'd have been tempted even without some information from two people, a gunsmith and a friend. The smith has done a lot of business with companies in Britain and says the magazines are not hard to find, but businesses- due to the idiot laws stomping on them- don't want to export them. Friend knows some people over there, and thinks they may be able to find a magazine if I can't locate one here. I'll post a picture of the rifle later.

I almost bought an Iver Johnson top-break revolver in .32S&W. Lovely little thing, very good bore and chambers, tight barrel/frame fit. The owner named a very good price and while I was thinking "I need to work the action and check it" the guy next to me laid down money(Gee, thanks, Dad).

I have to observe, in case you haven't noticed, people have gone insane on prices on firearms of many kinds. I looked a a nice Webley Mark II, in what we call .38S&W and the Brits called .380/200, and was very interested until the guy said $695. Eeep. Try a Mark VI Webley, .455, with a cut cylinder, asking price- depending on which one you saw- $795-995. Except for a couple in quite good shape with uncut cylinders, $1700 to 1900. I repeat, eeep. Same for a lot of rifles, too. Just about anything connected with M1 Carbines and Garands has gone through the roof. Some parts aren't too bad, but some... barrels starting at $200, and the least expensive Carbine I saw was $700; every other one ran about $800 and up. We're not talking all-original and correct here, we're talking standard GI rifles. Least expensive Garand was $900 as I recall. A lot of people were asking "You've got to be kidding" prices for Mosin Nagant rifles and other milsurp stuff, too.

And ammo, let's not forget ammo. A can of 7.62x54r Hungarian light ball, 440 rounds, that I bought late last year for $38 is now going for $72. If you shoot you're aware of this stuff. A bag of 140 rounds of South African .308 that used to go for $26 is not selling for anywhere from $62 to $75. And Lithuanian .308, 200-round battle pack, anywhere from $115 to 140. Makes me very damn glad I already handload. Components have gone up, but it still beats paying the going prices for a lot of stuff.

Prices and all, this is still a damn good show. Lots to see, lots of people to meet(next time some idiots starts talking about guns and 'white suburban males', they need to be dragged to a good-size show), and at this one good food at the snack bars. Well worth attending if you can, they run one show in April(which I can't make) and one in October.

I'm for a shower, a drink and bed.