Friday evening has arrived;

you know what that means

People who should be remembered include Dr. John Plunkett,

who made a real difference in a lot of lives by testifying. 

Also to be remembered are the prosecutors who went after him for doing so; them so their disgusting acts will not be forgotten.

About that Cadet,

here's what it looks like

42" long, weighs about 6.25 pounds, very light, and well-balanced.  If there were any question about what country it came from,

that should take care of it.  Also this stamp on the stock

It's a lovely thing, and I want one.  Especially since I now know how to put the ammo together.

About that ammunition... a lot of these, after import to the US, were rechambered to .32-20 so you could use an easily(or more-easily) available ammo.  Problem is, .32-20 bullets are about ten-thousandths too small in diameter, which means lousy accuracy.  Since suitable bullets were almost impossible to find for quite a while, a lot of them were bored out and either rebarreled or rechambered/rifled to a larger cartridge, or a liner put in to change them to something else.  .22LR was very popular.  They've been changed to cartridges from .22lr to .22 Hornet to .357 Mag and such.  Nowadays, if I found one that'd been rechambered, I'd see about using the RCBS heeled bullet in the .32-20 cases; ought to work nicely.

Added: a lot of those that reached the US(Britain, for that matter) were dismantled and the receivers used to make target and hunting rifles.  Many of which are still happily being used to put holes in targets.

About that bullet: it being larger than the case, it means crimping is, ah, difficult; a modern seating/crimping die won't do it(at least the one the owner has).  The first loads we put together, the heel was a tight-enough fit into the case that we used the seating die to push them into place; after that, you could seat the bullet with finger pressure.  Which is exactly what a lot of people do; not something you'd want to carry in a pocket, but fine for the range.  I've read of modifying a Lee Factory Crimp die in .32-20 to crimp the case mouth around the heel.

The original Kynoch rounds have a 'stab' crimp; three places around the case, some type of punch die was used, each as if you took a center punch and upset the case metal into the heel.

Lubing: I used LLA.  Some people use a .323" sizing die to size and lube(I've read that getting it adjusted correctly is a pain, some have had to plug the lower lube holes to keep the mess down), others seat the bullet in the case, then dip the bullet into melted lube just deep enough to get some into the lube groove.  The LLA seems to work quite well, and is simple to do.

That about covers my knowledge on this, and thanks to the folks who commented on the 'obsolete ammo' post.

ConCarolinas is a science-fiction convention

that has knuckled under to a bunch of leftists threatening violence.  And doesn't have the balls to publicly say so.
Published April 16, 2018 | By Jada

ConCarolinas and John Ringo have mutually agreed he will not attend the 2018 event. ConCarolinas wants to provide a positive environment for everyone who attends our events from our guests, attendees, vendors, and staff.

We represent a diverse range of opinions and support that.

We will not tolerate harassment or bullying as stated in our policy.

Any comments regarding this may be sent to concarolinas@concarolinas.org

ConCarolinas ConCom
Jada Diaz, ConChair
Dawson Kriska, Vice Chair
Sue Lambert, Secretary and Treasurer
Luis Diaz, Director of Security

Slight problem with 'mutually':
This was John’s response on Facebook: 
And again with the 'we do not tolerate harassment or bullying' without pointing out who that is pointed at.

From my last email with the conchair:
"as ConChair I know this will be an extremely hostile environment and I am concerned for your personal safety. "

It was mutual, more on that in a moment. But they very much rescinded because they were concerned for my safety.

That was how bad it was getting.
Etc.  If they'd said "He won't be here because other people were threatening violence" they'd have been  honest, but it would've pissed-off the leftists, so they didn't even do that.

Never been there, have heard from others that it's been a nice con.  'Been' being the important word.

And while the media is screaming "Trump! Hannity! Same lawyer!!",

one of the things they're not reporting on:
The House Office of Inspector General charged in Sept. 30, 2016 that data was being funneled off the House network by the Awans as recently as September 2016 — shortly before the presidential election. 

Nearly Imran’s entire immediate family was on the House payroll working as IT aides to one-fifth of House Democrats, and he began working for the House in 2004. The inspector general, Michael Ptasienski, testified this month that “system administrators hold the ‘keys to the kingdom’ meaning they can create accounts, grant access, view, download, update, or delete almost any electronic information within an office. Because of this high-level access, a rogue system administrator could inflict considerable damage.”
For some reason this isn't 'newsworthy'; gee, I wonder why...

Oh, and about that marvelous NHS in Canada,

First, some context: “Queen’s Park stopped talking with Ontario’s doctors back in January and is cutting services to save money… In early February, the provincial government decreed that medical services be cut by an average of 5 per cent. This includes a cut to all doctors’ fees by 3 per cent as well as cuts to primary care and specialist services originally designed to assist complex patients. ”

Now the most important quote in the article: “If doctors see more patients than the arbitrary limit the government has set — government will force physicians to pay back any amount over their imposed limit.”
My, doesn't that sound wonderful?  And this is the crap the left wants controlling our lives here.

"They don't have these problems in other countries!

We should be more like Sweden!"
A: The hell they don't.
B: Oh HELL no.
Gang-related gun murders, now mainly a phenomenon among men with immigrant backgrounds in the country’s parallel societies, increased from 4 per year in the early 1990s to around 40 last year. Because of this, Sweden has gone from being a low-crime country to having homicide rates significantly above the Western European average. Social unrest, with car torchings, attacks on first responders and even riots, is a recurring phenomenon. 

Shootings in the country have become so common that they don’t make top headlines anymore, unless they are spectacular or lead to fatalities. News of attacks are quickly replaced with headlines about sports events and celebrities, as readers have become desensitized to the violence. A generation ago, bombings against the police and riots were extremely rare events. Today, reading about such incidents is considered part of daily life.
And their politicians are still lying about it:
...During a visit to the White House in March, Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven admitted that his country has problems with crime and specifically shootings, but denied the existence of no-go zones. Sweden’s education minister, Gustav Fridolin, traveled to Hungary last week with the same message.

But the reality is different for those on the ground: The head of the paramedics’ union Ambulansförbundet, Gordon Grattidge, and his predecessor Henrik Johansson recently told me in an interview that some neighborhoods are definitely no-go for ambulance drivers — at least without police protection.
...
In March, Labor Market Minister Ylva Johansson appeared on the BBC, where she claimed that the number of reported rapes and sexual harassment cases “is going down and going down and going down.” In fact, the opposite is true, which Johansson later admitted in an apology. 

Similarly, in an op-ed for the Washington Post, former Prime Minister Carl Bildt described the country’s immigration policy as a success story. He did not elaborate on violent crime. After repeated attacks against Jewish institutions in December — including the firebombing of a synagogue in Gothenburg — Bildt took to the same paper to claim that anti-Semitism is not a major problem in Sweden.
"Screw the facts, this is the image we want people to believe!"  And a lot of their media is complicit in this.  Including people being trashed for speaking uncomfortable facts.

No, thank you, we have too many lying bastard politicians and journalists of our own already.

A dive into the insanity of obsolete cartridge loading

I wrote once before about forming brass from one cartridge to make brass for another, but this one gets a bit more involved than most.

Meet the .310 Cadet

It's a rimmed case used in the Australian Cadet, a small-frame Martini used as a training rifle.  There are lots of these around, and a friend has a very pretty one, but you cannot buy loaded ammo for it.  A search indicates that you can form brass for it from .32-20, but there are a couple of caveats:
You will probably have to thin the case rim.
You will have to full-length size the brass in a suitable die.
You will have to trim it to length.
It uses an odd bullet.

So, where to start... my process was to
Resize the cases,
Thin the rims,
Cut to just above finished length,
final trim and deburr.
Friend had a set of .310 dies, so lubed the cases, pulled the deprime/neck expander assembly and resized the brass.  I've read it can be done in a .30 Carbine sizing die, will have to try that sometime.  Reason for resizing first is .32-20 is a necked case, and I wanted the straight body to fit into the lathe chuck.

I've read of people clamping the case in a drill press and using a file to cut the rim down.  It should work, but that'd be a long way to do it.  If you have access to a lathe, I'd suggest that.*

This being a somewhat worn little lathe, it took some fiddling to get the procedure right.  That was stick the case into the chuck; use a caliper to set each case with the same amount sticking out;

use a facing bit to cut away at the front of the rim

until had a thickness of .046-.050", which proved to work nicely with the rifle in question.

To trim, I used a small Harbor Freight cutoff saw(originally bought to make .300 Blackout cases from .223).  Took a piece of hardwood dowel, sanded it to a slip-fit in the case, adjusted it in the vise so it would cut at the right length

and went to it.  Two things:
First, it took two cuts: the first to get rid of about half the length, the second to make the finished length.

Second, you have to hold the saw in position with one hand and rotate the case with the other, and you will make a cut into the dowel.  But it gives you a pretty consistent length with minimal deburring needed.  Which is good, because the walls of these cases are thin.
Note: if I were going to make a lot of these cases, I'd get a piece of aluminum rod, turn it to fit, and use that for the mandrel.

Trimming to exact length is tricky primarily because there are different lengths listed.  I found this on one loading site

and that Kynoch cartridge up at the top measures 1.120", so I went with that. 

.32-20 case sized, rim thinned, cut to length

Yes, the mouth on the last needs deburring.  And be careful doing it; the walls of these cases are thin, and it's easy to damage the mouth.

For the bullet, RCBS makes a mold to cast the proper heeled bullet at a nominal 120 grains, and friend has one.  These were used as-cast(15-1 as that's what was in the melter), and tumble-lubed with this modified Lee Liquid Alox.**  Some searching around found a variety of loads, the primary for starting off seems to be 4.0 to 4.5 of Unique; this being a new one to me, I started with 4.0.

Original and new cartridge

They were tried out over the weekend; all went bang, accuracy seemed quite good

Top group was five rounds, holding on the bottom of the white bullseye; lower group is ten rounds, holding on the 5.  Range was 30 yards, with forearm resting on the bench top.  I'll add that this little rifle had quite good sights, the rear adjustable for both windage and elevation.

The case mouth was not crimped onto the heel; the die won't do that, so these were a tight press-fit into the neck.  After having been fired the cases were formed to the chamber, and the bullet can be seated by thumb pressure.  I'd hate to carry them out hunting that way unless in some suitable case, but it seems to work well for general target shooting.  

There was no sign of leading or other nastiness in the bore, so the lube did its job.  And I think this counts as success.

I'll have some more on the rifle and cartridge later.


*The other method I've read of is swaging: take a piece of flat steel plate and drill two holes: one for the case body to fit through, the other, slightly larger, for the rim.  That one has to be shallow enough that you can put a flat punch on top, whack it, and swage the rim down.

**I've used this lube on many different bullets for rifle and pistol, and it works quite well.  

Yeah, and there's nothing political about the Children's March, either.

The man leading an Arizona teacher protest that labels itself as "bipartisan" has in the past year worked with partisan election groups launched by Democratic operatives after the 2016 election and was hired last year to manage a Democrat's campaign.
...
Karvelis, however, has allied himself with Ducey's political opponents. He has openly admitted that the idea of the #RedforEd protest—for all teachers to wear red on Wednesdays to show solidarity—was Arizona union boss Joe Thomas's idea. He said in a recent interview that his group has a "powerful relationship" with Thomas's Arizona Education Association and that he has worked with them to "discuss further steps" and a possible strike.

And not a single screeching student activist, Democrat politician, or

"We must act, for the CHILDREN!" screamer is trying to get the sheriff fired, or clean out the school officials responsible for this idiocy.

Why, it's like they don't care unless they can blame the NRA, or something.

Of course he won't be prosecuted;

at this point I tend to think the deceased could be a double-amputee  with no hands and 'I thought he was reaching for a weapon!' would get a cop off.

No, I don't hate all cops; I'm simply sick of a lot of people winding up dead, beaten, or cavity-searched on bullshit excuses and the people behind it getting away with it.

And in NYeffingCity,

It did turn cold, which makes

the new data that much more welcome

Recall on some Ruger Mark IV pistols

Here's how to find if yours is covered

'lacked candor' is bureaucrat-speak for

'lied his ass off'.


Leftists really are crapstains on the underwear of life.

So the Brit cops took a break from jailing people for mean social media comments

and raided someone's fix-it drawer in the name of 'Making London Safe' or something.

Pussies.  If they saw my Assault Toolbox, they'd crap their pants.

Ah, that time of week arrives,

and with it, tonight, the next cold front.  Nice conditions for going over new data.

If they don't let this case proceed,

it'll be one more evidence of 'The system is fixed against us.' And I really don't think the cops and the city will like the result.


'Progressives'.  At a law school.
A member of the Chapter reminded the protestors that they were not allowed to interrupt me once I started. At that point, a member of the CUNY administration entered the room and walked right up to the protestors:
    All right, listen. Everybody stop. Let me tell you something. The university rules are people get to speak. You may protest. You may protest. But you may not keep anyone from speaking. If you do, I have other things to do, I will be back. Or you can resolve this yourselves. Or you can have me resolve it.

As she began to walk away, a student asked, “Why are you bringing racists into your school. Can you answer that?” “Why are you not providing support for students affected by this hate speech.”

The administrator repeated, “Did you hear me?” A student replied, “We are not children. You can’t talk to us like that.” 
 Yes you are: bad-mannered spoiled brats. And that's how an adult speaks to such.

Go read the rest; it's really not good when a law student says "Fuck the law!" and other such signs of deep thought.


The Government is Your Mother, and Mother Knows Best
The fascinating thing about this video is just how childish and patronizing it truly is. Note the bright colors, the cartoon figures, the sing-a-long verses and Mr. Rogers vibe of the host. This whole thing looks like it was designed for six year olds. This is what the Left thinks of people.

Ana Gasteyer’s argument is, essentially, that if one person does something stupid with a gun, that person has effectively ruined it for the rest of us, and all the guns must be rounded up and taken away, because clearly Americans are unable to handle them. She appoints herself Mom-in-Chief, under which the rest of us are supposed to obey like good little six year olds.

And when this doesn't work, they'll ban ALL knives in public.

or something equally stupid.  Because blaming objects for what people do just doesn't work.
So now the city intends to crack down on knives. Khan also has announced that "patrols have been stepped up with extra stop-and-search powers in place in the worst-affected areas." If London is anything like New York, those stop-and-frisk policies will target minorities and the poor at highly disproportionate rates, without achieving much of anything: In New York, stop-and-frisk searches found weapons a mere 1.2 percent of the time.
Note that Khan used to say this stop & frisk stuff was racist and probably islamophobic.  But now...

And the winner in this stupidity competition:
But that is still not enough for some. John Crichton, chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, wants the country to ban pointed kitchen knives as well. "He first suggested the move three years ago," reported the Express last year, "but his proposal did not win enough support from policy-makers. Since then dozens of people, including schoolchildren, have lost their lives as a result of attacks involving bladed instruments."
Because dying of a stab is much worse than death by cuts.  And- assuming you could actually ban pointed knives- no one would ever think of using a grinder(or file, or piece of sidewalk) to put a point on one.

(formerly Great)Britain.  Going down the drain.

I've got two gunny-type things to write about,

instead of the mostly yelling about political crap lately.  I've just got to make time to sit down and write them.  Also, one's a bit delayed until I've finished the first cycle of it to see how(or if) it works.

Until then,
Yes, it does matter where the price tag is placed.

Say you know someone of the anti-2nd Amendment persuasion, and they don't understand

why you think people want to take your guns.  Usually this involves that line "Nobody wants to take your guns!  Obama never even tried!"*

They don't like it when you show them evidence like this:
“People who own guns are essentially a sickness in our souls who must be cleansed.” Colorado Senator (Majority Leader) John Morse. 2013 (Cleansed?  “Final Solution” anyone?)
Tell you what: someone not only doesn't want me to own guns but states that I 'need to be cleansed', not only tells me they damn well DO want to take our guns, but he considers me a non-human to be dealt with.  Which makes me decide to get some more ammo, because these shitstains are serious.




Yes, I know, they're effing ignorant or lying; deal with that part later.

"Ban guns and the violence will stop!"

Right.

Couple of days ago got to handle a piece of history:

Springfield Trapdoor rifle, dated 1869, in .50-70.  Looked to be in quite shootable condition.

I really need to win a lottery

If I needed a new bank, I'd consider Wells Fargo,

their CEO seems to have the right idea.


In the Dark & Fascist State of New Jersey: "We'll refuse to give you the evidence you need to file until the deadline is past, so you can't sue us for our molester-with-a-badge behavior."


This could wind up with us needing those fences & walls with minefields people have joked about.

From the same people who'll try to yank someone's license because

a customer abbreviated a city name on a form:
A government watchdog said Monday the Department of Justice should do a better job keeping track of ammunition after a routine audit uncovered “significant deficiencies” in the current system.

Michael Horowitz, inspector general for the DOJ, said an audit of 13 sites operated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives between 2014 and 2017 “understated” its ammo inventory by a minimum of 31,000 rounds.

“Given that the ATF has over 275 offices, the number of unaccounted ammunition rounds is likely much higher,” he said. “When inventories are inaccurate, there is increased risk that ammunition may be lost, stolen, or misplaced without detection.”
Wonderful, isn't it?

“In summary, we found that ATF did not maintain a current balance of all rounds of ammunition on hand,” the report said. “This issue was further impacted by the fact that several sites were comingling (sic) loose rounds of different types of the same caliber of ammunition and none of the sites tracked inventories of ammunition used for test-fire and demonstration purposes.”
I repeat: same people who'll take any error on a form, no matter how small, and use it as a hammer on people.

But hey, there are improvements:
Horowitz didn’t deliver all bad news to the agency, however. In the three years studied during the audit process, the ATF reported 26 instances of special agents losing or stealing firearms — a “substantial improvement” Horowitz said over the last review conducted a decade ago.
...
“We determined that the monthly rate of loss decreased by over 55 percent since a prior 2008 OIG audit, but was still higher than the rate in a 2002 Treasury OIG audit,” the report concludes.
Think anyone will face punishment for an- stop laughing dammit, at least let me finish first.

Meanwhile, where Great Britain used to be,

Yeah.  Never a reason to carry the most basic and personal of tools.  Because this crapstain says so.

But wait!  There's MORE!
The "tough, immediate" measures involve an incredible police crackdown, a ban on home deliveries of knives and acid, and expanding law enforcement stop-and-search powers so that police may stop anyone they believe to be a threat, or planning a knife or acid attack.
...
Parliament is also set to take up heavy "knife control" legislation when it resumes this week. The U.K. government is expected to introduce a ban on online knife sales and home knife deliveries, declare it "illegal to possess zombie knives and knuckledusters in private" — "zombie knives" are those defined as being manufactured for the purpose of being used as a person-to-person weapon — and ban sales of caustic materials to anyone under the age of 18, the Independent reports.
So if you've got your para grandfather's knife from WWII, it'll be illegal for you to keep it.  Or much of anything else.  Because 'dangerous object'.

At this point, I don't know if Britain CAN be saved.