Range day,

and a new toy tool

No, not a boomstick, a chronograph. I'd been thinking about one for a long time, and finally broke down and bought the basic Chrony model. It doesn't crunch the numbers for you, it just gives you the velocity of whatever flies over it. When I first got it I could only think of one way to test it, so I set it up in the back yard and fired an airsoft pistol over it. I now know the pellets range around 275-290fps six feet from the muzzle.

I wanted to make sure the 8mm I fixed up years ago was sighted in so if I get to go bambi-whacking deer hunting it'll be on, and I don't want to try to fit in with all the people who'll wait to the last minute. On that part, if I miss I can't blame the rifle, it was putting everything right where it was supposed to. Load I worked up was 49 grains of IMR4064 pushing a 150grain Hornady soft-point. I only ran four rounds of it over the Chrony and got 2558, 2576, 2648 and 2582fps. I haven't studied this enough to make any judgements; according to the Lyman loading manual that's indicating well under "STOP!" pressure levels, and that's 2 grains below the listed max. At this point I won't jack with the load, it gives 1" or better groups at 100 yards and if current velocity won't take a deer they've migrated from Krypton.

Took the K31 along, and this is why I think everyone should have one. I loaded six rounds, sat down at the bench and fired them- no special care, just line up and squeeze- and got this














Military surplus ammo and a standard issue rifle. Don't you love it?

I'm not used to using the Chrony so instead of getting a string of ten I only recorded eight. Low of 2502, high of 2585 for a spread of 83fps and average of 2553.

With the M1, I had some of the Korean 1970's ball. It's always shot well, so I wondered how consistent it was. Out of eight rounds, low of 2545, high of 2762 for a spread of 217fps, average of 2674. Much less consistent than the Swiss 7.5x55 ammo, which might explain why I'd sometimes get a really good group, then so-so to terrible compared to the good one. It's great practice ammo, and without question it'd take care of business in a fight, but it ain't near match quality. I need to get some suitable bullets and do some handloading for the M1 and see what I get. I thought I'd thrown in a bandolier of the Greek HXP I got from CMP, but I didn't so that'll have to be tested later. I've consistently had good results from it, so it'll be interesting to see how consistent it is.

I tried it with some .22 ammo, Federal Champion and Eley Sport from the Martini model 12.
The Federal gave a low 1173, high 1236; next lowest was 1203. Eley lowest 1062 to 1124- you noticed the difference in that one, sharper crack- with the next highest being 1096. Comparing them:

Federal Eley

1236 1096
1173 1092
1203 1068
1225 1098
1203 1124
1220 1095
1203 1062
1207 1075
1206 1075
1222 1089

I'll have to learn more about breaking these numbers down to mean something. And I promise not to do a lot of number-listing in the future, but it's my toy tool and I'm enjoying playing with learning to use it.

Last thing was a surprise. Aguila makes some .22s they call 'Sniper Subsonic'. It's a long 60grain bullet with a short case to make it fit standard chambers.





Here is a live round and fired case compared to a standard .22LR.







How useful it is is very dependant on your rifle; that long, heavy bullet is not stabilized by many barrels. I've got one rifle that shoots it fairly well, another from which every second or third round keyholes at 25 yards. I'd never tried them in the Martini, so tried one shot at 50 yards. Nice neat hole around three inches lower than the Eley. Tried a second and it almost went through the same hole. Ok, that's interesting thinks I. So I dug out the Chrony I'd just put away(this was the last shooting for the day) and set it up, and fired ten rounds for velocity, then a few more for fun, getting this:














I hadn't even set up a target for this, just spotted an unused corner of an old one. Not counting the low-left(called flyer) that's 1.25" on a target I can't center with iron sights as well as a black bull. Velocity ran
880
862
884
855
894
889
887
869
891
889
for a spread of only 39fps. It ran around 200fps slower than the Eley, around 300 slower than the Federal. Just out of curiosity I moved back to a 100-yard bench, raised the sights same as I would for the Eley and fired two. Two because I thought I'd had the partial box and another full one with me. Oh no, just the one, so only two shots at 100. Not enough for a real test, but they did stike cleanly, no keyholing, and just under 2" apart. I need to take this stuff back out and try it again in this rifle.

Since Nagin has opened his fat mouth again,

I've just got to take note of this. Florida Cracker has a piece on Max Mayfield, retiring director of the National Hurricane Center. Well worth reading. I'll give two excerpts:

The city's readiness plan called for a mandatory evacuation at least 48 hours before landfall, but by 8 p.m. Saturday, with Katrina's center only 36 hours away, Nagin had not issued that order. Three hours earlier, he had said his lawyers were still researching the city's liability for lost business revenue if he took such action.

I flat cannot believe that, as many evacuations as have been done over the decades, that this kind of crap wasn't worked out a long damn time ago. So either Nagin- and staff- are even more stupid than we know, or something else was going on.

and then, after Mayfield had specifically TOLD Nagin how bad this storm was probably going to be,
Later, Nagin said that Mayfield's message 'scared the crap out of me. I immediately said, `My God, I have to call a mandatory evacuation.' ''
....
Still, Nagin waited for 15 hours, finally ordering the evacuation at 11 a.m. Sunday, just five hours before the storm's outer wind and rain began arriving. Katrina's core made landfall only 19 hours after the evacuation order, but many people did heed the order and escaped in time.

This is not to let the idiot governor off the hook(there's someone else who needs an appointment with tar and a bag of feathers), this simply points out beyond any doubts, if you had any, what a jerk Nagin was and is.

For that matter, it's not to let New York off the hook on the Trade Center, these people are so tied up in PC feelings nonsense not a brick has been laid to rebuild the place; better monument there could not be.

I ask my many readers

a question. Got this in an e-mail on a part, a replacement for the standard 1903A3 front blade: Saw a guy with one at Camp Perry. Front sight was a thicker flat-topped front sight blade. He said it was a legal USMC variant. , and he wonders if I'd know where to get one.

I have no idea, and a quick check of the places I'd normally look finds no mention of them. It's a damn good idea; the original blade is too damn narrow. I can think of a couple of ways to make one, or add material to the sides of a standard to widen it, but I ask you all, anybody know where these blades can be bought?

Experts

No, I'm not an expert, but I'm gonna yap about this anyway. Cause it's MY blog and I can bitch and moan and...
er, where was I? Oh yeah, experts.

Specifically, self-defense experts, some of whom get a lot of money for training and are completely full to the gills with what comes out of the south end of a northbound cow. Make no mistake, training from someone who truly knows what they're doing could be priceless if you ever get into a win-or-die situation; hell, if it helps you stay OUT of that, it's paid back ten times the price easily.

I'm talking about the clowns to whom 'tactical' is about every fifth word out of their mouths, who have 'tactical' from their combat-special kneepads to their 'tactical' grips to their 'tactical' light and on and on(by the way, have you noticed that 'tactical' in the name bumps the price considerably?). They're the ones who take people who're worried about being attacked in a parking lot or at the ATM or hearing a breaking window in the night and start shoving what's supposed to be special ops or SWAT equipment and training at them.

A while back Dad gave me the April '06 issue of Guns magazine. There's a guy named John Connor who does a column called Odd Angry Shot, this one was titled 'Carts & Horses'. He was an observer at a "world-renowned tactical training center" to report to the investors what he thought. He didn't think much.

The "Professional Operator" set up a scenario in a two-story 'Kill House' where there were three- maybe more- heavily-armed terrorists in the house with unknown armaments and you, all by your lonesome, had to take them out so how will you do it? Connor's description of the guys' methods sounds like something from a Jackie Chan movie. Then he chased them all through it one at a time, killing them all of course. The finished "sweat-soaked, financially fleeced, demoralized, and had learned exactly squat" as Connor put it. Then the Professional Operator turned to him and asked "How would YOU go in?" Answer was "Uh, that would be, umm... stupid" followed by he'd be about two klicks that way calling in an air strike or artillery.
"You can't do that!" was answered with since there are porta-cans outside, I'll wait till one or more come out and whack them. "You HAVE to go in!" and "there's no armed backup available" was answered by "I'd dial up the Suicide Prevention HotLine and tell 'em Help! I've gone terminally stupid! Stop me, please!" And it went really downhill from there.

His point was this clown was trying to teach what he considered advanced steps (dumb ones at that)to people who didn't know the basics yet. The basics ALWAYS come first. How to shoot properly before fancy moves. How to assess your threats and options. Taking a guy who's worried about being robbed and putting him into a commando armor suit to run a 'kill house' is idiotic: he's not ready for OR needing that.

If you have a firearm for home and/or carry, you learn to shoot it well. You don't have to make offhand 3" groups at 25 yards, far more important to quickly and reliably get decent groups on a silhouette at your defense ranges, which are generally from contact range to ten yards max. And practice doing it one-handed and with your off hand, too; what if your strong side is tangled
up or injured? Look at what would make you less attractive to a bad guy looking for a victim, where you might need to be more alert for what. Simple things that will make the big difference.

Remember, you practicing how you'd check your house at night if you had to IS training. So is looking around the store or the ATM area or parking lot and thinking "what would I do if...?" If you keep it realistic, it counts. I've seen people set up a chair and table as if in a restaurant to practice draw & fire & move; somebody else used two chairs- one to sit in and one to simulate the door- to practice shooting from a car. Good training from someone who knows their backside from a hole in the ground is invaluable; if for some reason you can't take classes like that, work out scenarios in your mind and practice them. If you can't do the stuff at the range you go to, do it at home with an unloaded gun(MAKE SURE, DAMMIT!). Getting it in your mind and reactions how to react to something and what to do is the big thing.

A reader sent me this: a message to muslims

(A Letter From An American Airlines Pilot)

This is the same question that many of us have been asking for the
past several years....this well spoken man, who is a pilot with American
Airlines, says what is in his heart
beautifully....read, absorb and pass on....it's time to get answers
from those who claim their terrorist members do not represent
them..why are their leaders not LOUDLY AND FIERCELY AND CONTINUOUSLY
condemning their visible murderous brethren.

YOU WORRY ME!
By American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco

"I've been trying to say this since 9-11 - but you worry me. I wish you
didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I
love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful
human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in
anymore. I notice you, and it worries me. I notice you because I
can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be
Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our
friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their
grievances and hate but I know that nothing can justify the
inhumanity of their attacks.

On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my
country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and
brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes
and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers,
loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends,
favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers.
The Palestinians Celebrated, The Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of
the Arab world.

So I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be
consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed
the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational
American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational
and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you,
and the Arab/Muslim terrorist.

How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim-Americans and the
Arab/Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools,
enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the
protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that
will slaughter these same good neighbors and children? The events of
September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to
determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its
religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its
faults. It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine
it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know whether
or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you
proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car?
Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this
nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Or do you pray that
Allah with destroy it in one of your "Jihads"? Are you thankful for
the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid
for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their
lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by
paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America? If this is your
commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at
this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you
are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United
States of America Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the
death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as
innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked
attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not
interested in any more sympathy...I am only interested in action.
What will you do for America - our great country -- at this time of
crisis, at this time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I
want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America ." I want to see young
Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment
of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to
this nation as a whole. The FBI has a list of over 400 people they
want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live
and socialize in Muslim communities. You know them You know where
they are.

Hand them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching
this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and
secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the
streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities.
You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from
reprisals.

The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the
media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned
with making sure that the United States proves who was responsible
before taking action. They seemed more concerned with protecting
their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the
United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country
and denouncing "leaders" like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and
Arafat. If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace
and love for all people then I want chapter and verse from the Koran
and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good
is it if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true when
your "leaders" are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and
intolerance?

It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if large numbers of the
world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and
adhere to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been
demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is
built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose
members are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose
members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day,
week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around
the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American
flag, shooting weapons into the air. A form whose members convert
from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great
United States of America, the country of their birth. A form whose
rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show
their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.

Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because our women proudly show
their faces in public rather than cover up like a shameful whore? Do
you and your fellow Muslims hate us because we drink wine with
dinner, or celebrate Christmas? Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us
because we have befriended Israel, the ONLY civilized democratic
nation in the entire Middle East?

And if you and your fellow Muslims hate us, then why in the world are
you even here? Are you here to take our money? Are you here to
undermine our peace and stability? Are you here to destroy us? If so,
I want you to leave I want you to go back to your desert sandpit
where women are treated like rats and dogs. I want you to take your
religion, your friends, and your family back to your Islamic
extremists, and STAY THERE! We will NEVER give in to your influence,
your retarded mentality, your twisted, violent, intolerant religion.
We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for
that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us: Our rights
under the greatest constitution in the world. I want to know where
every Arab/ Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right
and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A
right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters
who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and
your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here
as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But
there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance
and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand." "Until then .. you
worry me" ""

While at the Emperors' place,

I followed a link to Sharp Knife. Hadn't been there before.

I will be back.

Once again, the "It will save us all!" act

turns out to have a, ah, slight problem

I heard a bit of this on Glenn Beck's show a couple of days ago, then ran across this post by the Emperor today. It leads us to the article Fixing the ozone hole slows efforts on global warming.

The Emperor excerpted the article and chewed on it, so I'll skip that. Now, it's been a while since I read up on this, but there are some problems with the article:
It treats it as proven fact that CFCs damage the ozone layer; as I recall that's the theory, but it was unproven. And still is.

If I remember right, there were scientists back when the Montreal Treaty was signed who said there were big problems with the approach being taken; and they were ignored by the "We have to act NOW!!!" people.

There was a bunch of 'this will be better' junk being pushed back then, and the weenies are still pushing them. Like using propane or butane as a refrigerant. Never mind that they're less efficient; never mind you couldn't/can't make a freezer worth a damn with them; never mind that if they leak your house could blow up; they're more ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY so we HAVE to use them. And so forth.

For that matter, given a chance the enviroweenies would have us using tiny little refrigerators like so much of Europe; after all, we don't need a big fridge; the nannies say so. Friend of mine was in Wales for a month a couple of years ago and the folks he was staying with- lady with two teens- had a refrigerator for their house that was the size of the unit my kids used in their dorm room in college; they were amazed that he had a fridge/freezer 'so big!'. It was a standard size here, but considered 'industrial' or 'light industrial' over there. When he told them I had a unit the same size AND a deep-freeze, they were shocked. Among other things, they're taxed over there according to size from what he was told(can't have the peasants just buying appliances because they want them, now can we?)

Remember Captain Planet? Cartoon started back in the 80's if I remember right: bunch of kids working with Captain Planet to Save The Environment from the Evil Businessmen(always men and always evil) and Uncaring Governments, etc. Piece of absolute crap, pure environweenie propaganda to catch kids. End of one episode(happened to see it by chance, NO I didn't normally watch it) in the 'save the world' bit at the end, one of the kids is having the air conditioners taken out of the cabins they lived in; not 'serviced', not 'replaced with more efficient units', getting rid of them because 'air conditioners destroy the ozone layer'. I doubt the little bastards who wrote this ever spent a summer without a/c, but that doesn't matter of course, SOMETHING will appear by magic to keep their environmentally-conscious butts from broiling in July.

Ok, I lied. I am going to take three excerpts:

Manufacturers also say they could not meet U.S. energy efficiency requirements that took effect this year if they used those chemicals. "The technology just isn't there," Yurek said.,
and
"It is true that there will be a significant growth over the next 10 years of HCFC production and consumption in the developing countries," said Lambert Kuijpers, a Dutch nuclear physicist and a lead author of the U.N. report. "This will also contribute to global warming in a so far unprecedented way, if it will occur as anticipated."
and
"You have to put it into historical perspective. Hydrocarbon technology wasn't ready. ... It was still being tested in the early 1990s. And only gradually that technology became mature and became accepted," said Sheng Hsuo Lang, the fund's deputy chief officer. "In hindsight, you can say, 'Why didn't you wait?' Or you can take action right away."

Ok, so the tech isn't available to make the damn things work with the stuff the enviroweenies want to force us to use. They're spooked because all those peasants in developing countries actually WANT ways to stay cool when it's hot and keep food fresh(not to mention electric lights, but that's a different- but connected- matter). And last, the tech wasn't there when they signed the damn treaty, and it STILL isn't, but one of the bigshots who is upset because "That is a touchy subject for supporters of the Montreal agreement. Few want to acknowledge anything could be wrong with a treaty that is on track to fix at least one major environmental problem is calling it mature and accepted technology.

Makes me wonder if these are the clowns who wrote for Captain Planet.

Campaigning vs. Voting

While walking down the street one day aUS senator is tragically hit by a truck and dies.
His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I've made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the senator.

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules."

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and in evening dress. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people.

They play a friendly game of golf and then dine on lobster, caviar and champagne.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.

Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him. "Now it's time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the senator joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The senator reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I would be better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell.

Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder. "I don't understand," stammers the senator. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning...... Today you voted."

Oh, the wonders of victim disarmament and police bureacrats

The wonder is how many more will be dead and how many more lives destroyed before/if Britain ever wakes up?

Was over at TFS Magnum and hit a link to this article in the Telegraph(I'm not linking to the post at Magnum because there's several touching on this).

The family of a young father shot dead by a teenage gang have released pictures showing the effects of a knife attack on him by the same gang seven months ago.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission yesterday launched an inquiry into the way the first investigation was handled as members of the Metropolitan Police Authority also demanded answers.

Answers? You already know the damn answers, you just don't like them.

Mr Woodhams's father, Peter, said the family had kept a plastic bag of bloodstained clothes from the first attack which had never been examined by police.

"These clothes are covered in his blood and their DNA," Mr Woodhams said. "But they have been sitting in a plastic bag in a cupboard at his house for months. They could have held the key to putting these people away and saving Peter's life."

You think maybe? But that presupposes the authorities actually WOULD put them away.

The killing came days after the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, said crime had dropped sufficiently in an area of inner-city London for people to leave heir doors unlocked.

"I say it is safe, so it is safe! Do not trouble me with facts!"

Canning Town has such a crime rate that the couriers DHL have refused to deliver in the area. Two weeks ago a man was stabbed to death streets away from where Mr Woodhams died.

The Newham borough commander, Chief Supt Michael Johnson, said six anti-social behaviour orders had been handed out in the street where the confrontation took place along with dispersal notices to stop youths congregating.

Well, by God that'll take care of it! Just hand out some more Behaviour Orders!

Police believe that in the attack on Monday, the gang set out to kill Mr Woodhams as he tried to fend them off.

No!

And from an earlier report:


The spokeswoman said: “Following the tragic murder of Peter Woodhams, officers from the Specialist Crime Directorate were made aware of a serious stabbing incident involving the victim in January 2006. Officers from the SCD have been liaising with the senior officers from Newham borough to establish the outcome of this incident; as a result a full review is currently being conducted to ensure correct standards of police procedure were initially taken.”

I realize this is not a nuanced approach to the matter, and not very good at feeling the pain of the disadvantaged types who committed the crimes, but, just maybe, if you worthless uniform-wearing clowns had taken the trouble to INVESTIGATE the stabbing and CATCH the bastards and PUT THEM IN JAIL, then just maybe they wouldn't have been walking the streets to commit MORE CRIMES.

I realize this isn't the only factor, the Brits are also dealing with judges and various political bigshots who'd rather turn a rapist and murderer loose than a: have the prison crowded or b: have to acknowledge that their touchy-feely approach hasn't worked. So what was the Emperor saying about rope, lampposts and politicians?

Few years back I listened to a guy speechifying about how our big problem was our form of government, and if we had a system more like Britain and the various European governments things would be all better. I didn't like the idea then, and having seen what comes out of Parliament and the PMs' office over there, if anyone tried to change our system to be like that it'd be time for pitchforks and torches.

Which is what the Brits have needed for some time now, only at this point I don't know if it's too late or not.

Shotgun-mounted light test

Was able to hit the range this morning before it started heating up(hot again the next couple of days, then another front and chance of rain). On the most basic factor, the light did not fail: it didn't break, burn out or otherwise fail to operate. The cord didn't come unplugged and the switch operated as designed with no problems.

Had one problem; the bracket will indeed fit it to most any barrel or round magazine tube, but the inside is smooth, and after about ten rounds of assorted buckshot I noticed the light had slipped forward under recoil, and another two or three rounds would probably have slid it out of the bracket














You'll notice that only the tailcap is now the only part in the mount, not a good thing. If you planned on sticking the thing on and not taking it off unless work were needed, you could dose it with threadlocker. I think I'll get the dremel out and a cutoff wheel and cut some grooves into the sides of the mount where they contact the light; they'll catch with the knurling on the barrel and should hold it in place. Yeah, something with a Picatinny rail on the barrel or forend would be best; it would also be considerably more expensive. If you need/are willing to pay for that, you'll get no argument from me, quality always costs. For general home/homestead defense where you don't need or want a full LE/military-grade tactical light setup, this isn't bad at all.

Back at the last gun show I'd picked up some shotgun ammo I wanted to try, so did that today too. These were fired offhand at 25-30 feet. First up was some Winchester Ranger low-recoil 00 buck:














This load has a full nine pellets, and when they say low-recoil they're not kidding, noticeably lighter recoil than standard loads. That's two rounds, the big holes in center left and left arm are from the wad. Group about 3.5x4", not bad at all.

Next up was some Federal Tactical #4 buck, 27 pellets per shell














Again, two shots. Group about 6x6", recoil like any other standard buckshot load.

Last, some plain old Winchester Super-X 00 buck, 9 pellets per shell














This time I fired five rounds. This was roughly 5x5" for the groups tighter than any other standard buckshot load I've tried and MUCH tighter than the S&B 00 buck. Note that the wads moved a lot further from the shot than the other ammo.

So the light is a good deal, and the slipping in the bracket can be fixed. For home defense, from what I've tried now personally I'll go with either the Hornady TAP I tested before or the Ranger 00: less power than standard loads and with the Hornady one less pellet, but faster recovery and, face it, if a solid hit or two from these at home/yard ranges won't stop somebody, you've got BIG problems.

This is pretty cool

As Tim Blair puts it, "A whole world of trouble"

It's been out there before, but it's worth repeating

A fleeing al Qaeda guerrilla, desperate for water, was plodding through the Iraqi desert when he saw something far off in the distance. Hoping to find water, he walked toward the object, only to find a little old Jewish man at a small stand selling neckties.

The terrorist asked, "Do you have water?"

The Jewish man replied, "I have no water. Would you like to buy a tie? They are only 5 American dollars."

The terrorist shouted, "Idiot Jew! Israel should not exist! I do not need an overpriced tie. I need water! I will kill you, but I must find water first."

"OK," said the old Jew, "it does not matter that you do not want to buy a tie and that you hate me. I will show you that I am bigger than that. If you continue over that hill to the east for about two miles, you will find a lovely restaurant. It has all the water you need. Shalom."

Muttering, the terrorist staggered away over the hill.

Several hours later he crawled back, near collapse. "Your brother won't let me in without a tie."

Further word from Basic

Got a letter from my son today, catching me up on things at boot camp. Lots of stuff, but two things in particular I thought I'd mention.

First: "Ok, so I only wish something like the gas chamber on my worst enemies" followed by a graphic description. As far as experiences to go through, I think I'll skip this one. Yuck.

Second: "The M-16s issued out are the A2 version and it looks like they haven't been oiled in a long time", and later "Cleaned the M-16 today. That sucker was dirty as hell. Dry patches came out black. I had to run a brush down it and then about 10 patches before it actually started to come clean.
"It was bad, and the cleaning stuff they gave us had no solvent. So all there was was oil, patches and brushes. So I made that sucker shine on the inside by the time I got all the fouling out."

Sniff. My boy did pay attention at times, and to important stuff at that! Now if a truck runs over me tomorrow, I'll know I passed something on other than "Just because the vehicle is capable of doing something, doesn't mean YOU are". Which I think he listened to. I hope.

More updates as they come in. I've got a letter to write.

this is a test

Flea market report

Both a good thing and a bad. Last Saturday went out and (good thing) found a copy of The Black Book of Communism and one of Carnage and Culture, and got both for $2.

Bad thing: was walking down an aisle and ran across a #4 Mk1 Enfield that had been 'sporterized'. At first look, not bad; handguard gone, forend cut back to sporter length and not badly finished. Then noticed four things:
There was a new rear sight mounted on the barrel. Not badly done, but still...
The charger bridge had been cut off, not that great a job.
The original rear sight was completely gone, base and all.
And for some idiot reason, whoever had done all this had added some metal into the slot that
allows you to tip the bolt head up so you can pull the bolt out; which narrowed the slot so that you couldn't take the bolt out.
And the guy wanted $130 for it.
Enough to make you cry.

Ref the situation in Britain; you REALLY should read this

no matter how disgusting it is: Real Crime, Fake Justice by Theodore Dalrymple.

Britain and the U.S. were on the same track in the 70's on this, but we jumped the track; Britain stayed on it and is now bogged to the chassis and sinking.

Remember Bill Clinton thought gun control

cost the Democrats Congress in '96? And cost Gore the 2000 election?

Judicial Watch has been digging up information on Clinton's 'behind the scenes' pushing of various schemes during his presidency. If you had any doubts as to Clinton's victim-disarmament desires, check it out. Pushing various lawsuits, bullying the firearms industry, etc.

And Hillary would be the same, only more open about it.

And just because I like it

Borrowed from Bruce

Speaking of global warming

which, at this point, seems to be an overreaction to the gas coming out of Ray Nagin's butt(that where his head is, after all), Steve had a link in a comment to 'Professor Bongwater's Guide to Global Warming'(I don't know how to put in the little trademark dealy). Which has a nice little sign for the times:









Catchy, wouldn't you say?

As a side issue, partly because it's always good to take note of the perfidy of the French, the Coalition takes due note of the French A: demanding a cease-fire, B. promising a couple of thousand troops, C. actually now offering a couple of hundred engineers and then only if there's no chance of anybody shooting at them AND they "objected to troops coming under U.N. control -- another provision Paris had insisted on to meet Lebanese demands, BUT they still want to be in charge. Past experience being a guide, probably so they can cut deals with the hezzies and Syrians and Iranians under the table. The French ambassador
















is said to be greatly upset at the insinuations, and at UN bigshot Molloch Brown saying"We had hoped -- we make no secret of it -- that there would be a stronger French contribution," .

(ambassadorial portrait swiped fromborrowed from the Coalition)

Further proof that Ray Nagin is an incompetent hustler

As if any more was needed

It seems that the good mayor has taken it upon himself to blame
racism and government bureaucracy for hamstringing his city's ability to weather Hurricane Katrina and recovery. Which was followed by :
"And I, to this day, believe that if that would have happened in Orange County, California, if that would have happened in South Beach, Miami, it would have been a different response,".

When I first heard this, I thought that even for someone as demonstratedly capable of sticking a big foot in his oversize mouth as Nagin, this was amazing. Everything from people opening their doors to refugees to opening their pockets to give money and materials, to going to bloody NO to work on the recovery, and this asshole- who has NEVER YET admitted to any shortfall or wrongdoing on his own part in this- not only blames the feds for not saving him and everyone else from himself and the end product of decades of corruption, he flatly says that if the country wasn't so damn racist, ALL WOULD BE WELL!

I've been thinking about the proper response to this crap. Other than tar, feathers and a ride on a rail. I will, however, leave it to the folks at Coalition of the Swilling, who begin with a great big "Fuck you", proceeds to "You're a miserable excuse of a elected "leader" and gets better from there.

I guess this officially moves Nagin into Denny's category of Race Warlord Poverty Pimp, RWPP for short.