Don't know much about the Franco-Prussian War and have too many books to read already. Are there no movies or DVD documentaries about it?
Neither Mr. R., who probably would have won, nor Mr. E. who might have but is still recovering from illness, were present, but Mr. D., another nationally-ranked shooter and pretty much in their league, was there and he took first place. After the rules and safety briefing there was a vote, whether to use convertible or real sighting shots. Real won. I started with the same load (the last of the batch) and the same sight setting as the Plotner match a few weeks earlier and was Pleasantly Surprised:
Two clicks left. Then Slow Prone, 20 rounds for score in 20 minutes. The mitt donated by Mr. R. helped, and I've stopped fussing with the sling adjustment - also, the way the sling is now, the first keeper goes just past the- where the- screw it here's a picture:
So it tends to stay there and not slip open like it used to, therefore it stays put on the arm. Your physiography will vary. Getting closer to Natural Point of Aim, remembering to use as few muscles as possible and let the sling and the planet hold up the rifle, and squeeze.
One hundred and effing ninety points of a possible two hundred. And two X. Ninety-five-freaking-percent with a real battle rifle in a real position at a real distance. (Mr. D. got 193/something.) Twenty-five consecutive full-power rounds in an area significantly smaller than a human torso at nearly an eighth of a mile. For scale:
But then I blew my Rapid Prone stage, as I usually do, going too fast and losing position. Need another Appleseed. 10 rounds in 70 seconds, or 80 seconds if a bolt-action is present (which there was). Start from standing, 2 or 5 rounds loaded, chamber empty.
76/0X. It sure ain't the rifle's fault. Next, Rapid Sitting, 10 rounds in 60/70 seconds, again starting from standing with empty chamber. Having just seen the results of the previous stage I restrained myself and Went Slower Dammit.
85/0X. That sucked much less. And, the last time I used the Sitting position was the last time I shot this course, a month and a half ago. The gut is still in the way. I'm going to have to do something about that.... -Furthermore this stage throws doubt on my theory that the different clips are causing a change in the point of impact.
Speaking of our conserrrvative saaaviors, Vanderboegh has “Deadly assault weapons … are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.” - Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
You know what I did today? After cashing my paycheck? I went spendthrift, that's what I did. Used black backpack at the second-hand store, new one in something resembling woodland camouflage from the back-to-school sale bin at the variety store, another three boxes of AE223J, and a PMAG30 for the AR I still haven't even started collecting parts for. Some people eat when they're depressed....
In Lighter News
3369 Wednesday, 5 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Ugh, rough day. First the projection for the number of packages/stops was way low and everyone was overloaded (though I still made deadline - fortunately they were all in my regular areas), then two town-crossing on-demands. And it's hot outside again. 117 miles, not counting the 20-odd morning commute to the hub. But moar money....
Project Gunwalker... with visual aid. And GOP talk remains cheap.
Predators, not protectors.
Parasites. Other people's money is going to run out.
Not funny. I told you, I escaped government school.
Saw an Obama ('08) bumper sticker today... in Hebrew. Talk about self-destructive Jews. Because Obama is such a friend to Israel and the Jewish people? Is that why you voted for him?
Remember this next time some hippie chick agitates to "Free Palestine".
Some people are just sick in the head.
Mosby responds to Bracken.
Prepare. And Fight Light. -I have been getting some exercise; I hike a couple-few miles just about every day, with at least a light pack. That's gotta count for something. Contemplating my own nonexistent rig, I do have some old ALICE bits, at least two GI 1qt canteens and one of those collapsible 2qt, the 2L civilian thing I found at the second-hand store, and there's one actual surplus store left in town where I can get more such, not to mention the shows.
Need some proper boot$....
In Lighter News
I've read a few of the Stephen Hunter novels. But I have so many books to read....
I guess this is Lighter: First an Appleseed AAR and then a report from the front lines of the Culture War.
TacticaLuger!
Man-portable railguns? Working on it. Not there yet, performance-wise.
3370 Thursday, 6 September 2012:
The World Sucks
UGH. Downtown-ick yet again. At one point, since I hate paying for parking and loathe and detest the parking enforcers who are all liars and thieves and that's why they got the job, I parked outside the metered area and walked fifteen blocks, carrying a box (about 12x12x24") and a pack full of more packages to deliver on the way back to the car. I'm not likely to pass any military fitness test but I'm getting some actual PT.
Codrea has more on Marine/police training. It's not paranoia if they really are "preparing civilian police for domestic war-making". -I'm sure some PowerPoint-clicking bureaucrat is using blogs like Codrea's and Vanderboegh's (and this one) as justification - "See! See! The peasants are revolting!" Listen you filthy tax-eating fascist, we didn't start it. All we want is to be left alone. YOU DECLARED WAR ON US. Don't act indignant when we defend ourselves.
If you're not depressed....
In Lighter News
3371 Friday, 7 September 2012:
The World Sucks
I'm seeing more revenuers on the roads, not even at the end of the month when their quotas are due. They are institutionally scrambling to collect as much loot as possible before the system collapses and decent people start putting down the badged vermin on sight. Note comments - more people are recognizing the real threats to public safety. Alas few if any of them have the intellectual fortitude to admit that POLICE SHOULD NOT EXIST.
Gunwalker....
Speaking of looting, “...[F]ines will range between 75 and 250 euros for using offensive language or sexually harassing someone in public....” A spokesman for Freddy Thielemans, the mayor of Brussels, quotes his boss as saying, ”Any form of insult is from now on punishable, whether it be racist, homophobic or otherwise.” Hey there Freddy, F*** YOU ALL TO PIECES.
Meanwhile in the Ministry of Truth, "President Barack Obama’s strong support for Israel has been recognized by Israeli leaders...." It's not paranoia if they really are putting words in people's mouths and sending anything to the contrary down the memory hole.
Government health care is about neither health nor care.
It's gone far beyond "Their minds don't work right". All we want is to be left alone but the other side is violently, murderously insane.
No, not Lighter - the whole FFL system is an infringement too, and systems to defend FFLs against BATFU's arbitrary destroying of lives should not be necessary.
In Lighter News
3372 Saturday, 8 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Gunwalker....
New bumper sticker:
Depressing Thought o' the Day: On the way back from the show this morning I crossed the I-205 bridge, which gives a view of, and depending on wind is directly under the approach to, Portland International Airport. Remember when flying was fun? When you wanted to go fly somewhere, when the airport was an interesting place? We now face an entire generation growing up expecting to be violated, molested, and robbed and never knowing it was ever different.
To which EuroReader M. adds the death of that Fourth Amendment thingy. There are no more rights and this is no longer a free country. There is only power.
And the tax-paid perverts and badged murderers and self-righteous ivory-tower bureaucrats still think they're the good guys.
In Lighter News
WANT
Stage Three of the IPSC(-style) shoot from the 26th is online. Stage Four and the results will be uploaded when I have bandwidth again. Also some high-speed video of the Model 11's groovy long-recoil action during function testing.
Speaking of competitive shooting, a while back Joe Huffman announced a little project. Now, the results are in - and are as expected.
$IGH. Spent way too much money. Brick of Remington #97 (209) primers, $20, that's half retail and now I won't need any more for a while; for future Science, 300 .22/.30 plastic sabots (for la Infanta) for $18 (one wonders what might happen with the new, overlength, heavy target bullets now available in .224" - my old Sierra poster lists MatchKings in 77, 80 and 90gr, while Nosler lists Custom Competition in 69, 77 and 80); a 1" M1907-style sling, with standard QD swivels, $5, a spare for LTRs for Appleseeds; a Triple-K Cowboy Action leather 6-place shotshell carrier, holding rounds in pairs, for $5 - as opposed to a bunch of these for as much or more each; and one vendor gave me a pair of GI M16 magazine pouches, ALICE, scruffy but intact (internal separators cut away) and free. PMAG30s do fit, with their caps on - well two of them anyway, I'll probably splurge on a third next payday.
$igh, my Dream AR is like Chuck's Corsair. :( The full kit may be vaporware indefinitely, though backorders are allowed on the upper only, and one vendor at the show had the lower guts and buttstocks. Still trying to $ave up, and still searching for a stripped lower. For future reference, NSSF posted a half-hour video on AR maintenance, by a Gunsite instructor - Firefox's DownloadHelper works on Petze the Linux laptop and I captured the .FLV. Likewise build videos are all over the Almighty Internets, and I actually have built from a stripped lower once before, later having to liquidate for rent money. :(
3373 Sunday, 9 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Project Gunwalker....
Radio news, 12-year-old boy steers car to safety when his father suffers a seizure... and I can't help adding, and then the police gave him a ticket for driving without a license. Every time there's an accident, cops show up to rob the victims at gunpoint. And the money goes where? Society is better off without their "protection".
And the money goes WHERE? Thieves should be KILLED, no matter whose gang colors they're wearing.
This Just In: Prohibition Still FAILs. For its STATED goal.
It's not paranoia if Big Brother really is watching.
Encore l'Zumbo. -Remember what the liberated Europeans did to collaborators in '45? ...Yeah neither do they.
In Lighter News
Show & chat every Sunday 1100PT.
Stage Four is online.
More than half through Black Site, not sucking.
My archive has been updated with the September 1962 and November 2012 issues of Guns, and the November/December 2012 American Handgunner. -I'm increasingly uncomfortable reading the latter, for all its jackbootlicking articles and advertisements. >:-[ But at least I'm not paying for it.
Still contemplating a magazine extension for the Model 11. Last week I stopped at an arms shop and in their clearance bin I found, for a mere $10, a Choate +3 extension for the Browning A5. Unfortunately it's also marked "Belgian model" and the threads are not the same as the American Remington. (Eh, ten bucks.) For months I've had the Nordic Components +4 extension for the Auto-5 in my Midway Wish List, but after this I dropped it and did more research. The forums - which I only ever visit in search results for technical specifics - say that the 870/1100 extensions usually have the correct thread but might need spacers, or the original tube trimmed, to fit correctly. Does anyone know, for real, which brand has the right thread for the American Remington Model 11 manufactured in 1910?
Hm - I mentioned before I have a bunch of stray rounds for the Queen, tail-ends of past batches so their POIs can be expected to differ - but at 3-Gun distances that might matter less, and a few rounds from the last, known, batch, should suffice for long-range targets. Do I want to try 3-Gun on 21 October? I've established that the Queen is accurate enough, and she's always been reliable enough, and I've been thinking of using up those stray rounds if only to reclaim the brass.
That got me looking at those stray rounds, including the overlength rounds I had trouble with. And it turns out you can just run them through the seater and Lee FCD again, at least in this instance, without making a brass accordian or some other disaster. Your results may vary. I was worried that the crimp I applied when first making the rounds would prevent deeper seating. So now I have some blaster rounds (worked out to 11 full clips, about half-again what the match flyer says will be needed) for close-range, rapid-fire work - and will need to buy more Hornady #3037 to make another Proper Batch for more precise use.
...Reviewing that match video I'm reminded that I have trouble getting into the rapid-sitting position without sprawling everywhere and risking breaking Rule Two. Which is another reason to attend another Appleseed.
Speaking of skills, Cruffler recently suggested I try the clay-disc stuff, since the M11 still has the original 30" barrel in addition to the 18½" I stumbled upon later. Hmm.
3374 Monday, 10 September 2012: Another Monday off.
The World Sucks
Project Gunwalker....
Even MSM can't ignore the Epic FAIL of Government Motors. And the same people want to run our health care.
Even the people on Our Side are a bit shortsighted - the question is not how to pay for Medicare, the question is why we started down the proverbially-paved road to this disaster in the first place? SHOULD. NOT. EXIST.
And this is what it leads to. That is why we own guns.
Snake-Rattle o' the Day: "The MP71A has a clear Second Amendment purpose. Very clear. In fact, unmistakeably clear. And if the Only Ones don't like that then they should move to an actual Police State." And, "...[T]he moment we turn our backs on them, they'll strike again." Over and over I tell you, all we want is to be left alone.
But they won't leave us alone: What kind of people support "gun control"? Yeah we know what kind.
Police are a cure worse than the disease. Hell, the cure is the disease.
Seriously, cops, your pension is not worth your life. -You don't know how to use all that tax/theft-funded hardware anyway. We'll give it a much better home. After all, we paid for it.
In Lighter News
Perhaps not Lighter, but I thought something was wrong with the intertubes today. Knocked out three of the webcomics I read, my outgoing email (my domain name is hosted with GoDaddy), and the Appleseed sites. Seems fixed now.
I see 128Gb SD cards are now available WOO. Hunnerd bucks or more, but there they are, and you know the price will fall.
Well it's about time we started using the enemy's weapons against them. -I do fear it will end up as high-production-value choir-preaching though - the people who need to see it would rather ban it as "hate speech" or "terrorism instruction".
Speaking of MSM, MidwestReader sends PSH over 3D printers. -Which I still mu$t get me one of, sure, but srsly I've known about the Pashtuns for years, Pournelle put them in his WarWorld spinoff of his CoDominium series, Dalton Fury has them in Black Site, and they're on YouTube too. Another take.
Finally hitting the backed-up email! Reader sends range reports:
Tried a rental Walther PPS 9mm. 7+1. Very very thin. Not easy to shoot well. Trigger is fair but there's just not much to hold onto. Mag release (a pivoting lever at the bottom of the trigger guard) is awkward. Had a failure-to-extract stoppage, possibly because gun was really filthy, or maybe due to the cheap reloads they sold me to shoot through it. Would like to see a sort-of full-size version of the design, still thin, but with a full-length grip, maybe 8+1 or 9+1, and a 4" barrel instead of the 3.5".
I'm reminded of the Kahr T9. A T45 might be a very nice thing indeed, but of course they made it plastic. :-6 And speaking of plastic:
Tried a rental Gen 4 Glock 19. Better trigger than the Walther, and much more to hold onto. Much easier to shoot well, though I did get hit in the face with a couple of ejected cases. Apparently Gen 4 Glocks generally are known for this, and other extraction/ejection problems, and Gen 4 G19s are especially known for hitting the shooter square in the forehead with hot brass.
Noted. Although, if you look at some of my HatCam!!! byteage, my Philippine 1911 sometimes does almost the same - a couple times you can hear the empties striking the hardhat. Also:
I've finally sourced something of which to make proper bolt buffers for the 10/22. A local Ace Hardware store had white nylon bolts in the "fasteners" aisle that had a central shaft the requisite diameter, with an unthreaded portion sufficiently long that cutting off the bolt head and the threaded portion and trimming just a bit will make a usable buffer from each 55 cent plastic bolt. Possibly plain white nylon is not tough enough for extended service, then again I have seen commercial buffers made of some very soft materials (I think there's one made from a teflon mix; teflon is a good dry film lubricant but as structural plastics go it's awfully soft, just a half step above hardened chewing gum) and I did buy several of them just in case.
Speaking of moar shooting, Mr. E. suggests another nearby trap club. Whose site links to a resource. Hmm.
Doing a bit of dry-practice with the Queen, with a thought toward 3-Gun. (Smart of me to get a full clip of A-Zoom$ years ago; intended to help with orientation for n00bs at CMP matches, I now have a use for them myself.) I'll want to remove the sling for racing; if it's adjusted out, i.e. for carry or Hasty use, it pendulums and throws off POA; if it's tight for storage it's in the way of the strong hand reacquiring the firing grip after reload. Naturally I've marked it with the correct adjustment point when it's time to put it back on for a match and use as a proper Loop. You know those vertical or angled foregrips for ARs? When dry-practicing with the Queen, aiming at cabinet door knobs and such while pretending to move through a course at speed, I find my support hand instinctively moving forward for more leverage, which I interpret as Good and Correct, but which contrasts with slow-fire standing in a CMP match, where the support hand usually rests under the magazine for balance. Interesting.
And pics, u can haz pics:
The gunbelt project is now just a belt, since it (or a velcro underbelt) must go through at least three belt loops according to USPSA rules. Left rear pocket contains two MagPuls for the AR I don't have, staggered for correct withdrawal without spilling the other on the ground. (Note slight differences in floorplates; the one I've had for years is an older version, won as a door prize, while the other is the new model stocked at Bi-Mart, allowing the cap to store on the base.) Note relative directions - pistol magazines bullets forward, rifle bullets rear; this is what dry practice is for, determining which should swing which way, and even if I don't own an AR yet I know which thingy goes where on one and can mime a reload. Right rear, clips for the Queen, friction-fit so they shouldn't fall off when charging to the next firing position - yes the pistol butt is somewhat in the way. They might go the same way in the front pocket, also-or-instead, or even on the belt itself - Too Much Ammo Does Not Happen. (Yes the top cartridge in an M1 clip goes on the right, for a right-handed shooter and strong-hand reload.) Pistol and magazine carriers as they have been for the last several IPSC(-style) shoots, except two instead of all three, leaving a little more room in front. Cowboy Action shotshell carrier right front (I only made five dummy rounds), since I have to switch the M11 to the left hand to hold the carrier latch button for speedloading. I'm thinking of using Midway's birthday pricing to get one or two proper shell caddies (and perhaps a fourth McCormick 10 for the 1911 - Too Many Magazines Does Not Happen Either (the Tripp Research 10 has not malfunctioned yet but I've only used it a couple-few times)), since I have two more paychecks before then; they'll go in front, beside or instead of the leather thing, though I might want to keep that too for singles and pairs as tactically appropriate. Yes there are racing carriers for AR magazines and they're already in my Wish List but I don't bloody have an AR, these photos are for demonstration and experimentation purposes. 1911 and AR reloads are performed with the support hand with the weapon in the strong hand; M11 and Garand, the opposite. A modern shotgun with unlocked carrier/lifter would be reloaded with the support hand but I don't have one of tho$e either.
Bear in mind also, this setup is for racing, not fighting, nor slogging through the sticks dodging His Supreme Executiveness' Blue-Helmet "Peacekeepers". I'm also reexamining my surplus ALICE bits in anticipation of building an AR, figuring on getting another $19 PMAG30 each payday for a while. I've already mentioned my thought that an AR makes far more logistic sense, come WROL, than the otherwise-variously-superior M1.
3375 Tuesday, 11 September 2012:
BreachBangClear
GunFreeZone
Sarah Hoyt
Weerd
Claire via TUAK
The World Sucks
Gunwalker....
Yet another sadistic, bloodthirsty sociopath with a badge. They like to cause pain. That's why they become cops.
Mr. E. sends more on the people who Always Think Forfeiture. Thieves should be KILLED.
Speaking of thieves, F*** THE SCHOOLS.
GET OUT OF THE CITIES
In Lighter News
RELEASE THE GURAKEN
Zumbo Zumbo ZUMBOOOOOO
Another range report:
The CZ75 runs 100% with Winchester white-box 147gr JHP, but it ejects the empties straight back into my face. I have checked some CZ forums online, and there appear to be two schools of thought on this:
1) the CZ75 was designed for hot European 9mm ammo and will sometimes do this with low-velocity, low-pressure loads like 147gr subsonics (I also noted that every ejected case had a ring of carbon around the exterior, an indication that the pressure isn't quite high enough to seal the breech and some fouling is being pushed back into the chamber by gas pressure, then being wiped away by the partially-expanded brass as it extracts) and one avoids this problem by running it with SMG ammo or equivalently hot +P/+P+ ammo, which kick the slide back hard enough to eject to the right instead of to the rear. Though it didn't do this with PMC 115gr or WWB 115gr FMJ, neither of which is a very hot load.
2) corollary to the above, those who prefer lighter loads in the CZ, or the subsonics (and some of the subsonic stuff comes very highly recommended as defensive ammo--147gr Gold Dots, for example) may wish to have a competent gunsmith who is very familiar with the design adjust the ejector, extractor, and extractor spring to change the ejection pattern with the light loads. Exactly what those adjustments might consist of is left as an exercise for the alert reader, by which I mean, it didn't say.
My Argentine P35 was stolen (thieves should be GIBBETED ALIVE IN PUBLIC UNTIL THEY STARVE AND THEIR CORPSES ROT), but if I ever buy another 9x19mm it will very probably be a CZ75 or 85, "the only pistol Jeff Cooper would allow in the same room with a 1911."
I also have a craving for a 22/45, but that's necessarily much further down the Wi$h List. Reader sends:
The front sight is held on with a single small screw. I shot it enough that within a few weeks I melted the small trace of red Loctite Ruger used in assembly and the screw came out (and it's a bit hard to watch your front sight if it's flying through the air). I washed the screw, sight, and screw hole with alcohol then acetone and applied a large dose of Permatex Green permanent thread-locker and cranked the screw down as hard as I dared. Eight months later it's still holding, despite my 500+ round weekend practice sessions. Also, zeroing it, compared to how it came out of the box, required moving the rear sight to the right just about to the limit of its travel. I never have that kind of problem with fixed sights.
I had a .44 Magnum Vaquero - the original beefy one, not the skinny New Model - many years ago, and the front sight was way far to the right from the factory. Essentially the barrel hadn't been threaded quite all the way. These things happen.
Dudes. Second-hand stores. Three Woodland BDU shirts, of an appropriate size, for $3 each, two of them near-new. (Next week: Pants.) Then at the other second-hand store across the street, for $7, a collapsible hand truck which was exactly what I was looking for to ease my courier work when those big boxes come through. $CORE
Fight Light Dammit. This needs some serious thought and testing from Our Kind.
ARGH Bi-Mart is listing a 60x Simmons spotting scope for $60, before $12 mail-in rebate. And I have been fighting my spotting scopes for years.
For the record, three PMAG30s will fit in the old GI ALICE M16 magazine pouch. I expect they'd fit a little better with the caps off, but then, you know, the caps are off. OTOH those caps aren't likely to stick around after the first engagement and they might get an unprepared fellow killed....
Found enough matching hulls, whipped out another five 12 gauge dummy rounds, now ten total. That will be enough for real practice, with caddies and so on. I might try an 870 extension if I can find one cheap at a show.
3376 Wednesday, 12 September 2012:
The World Sucks
BAH. First the night-sort person called in sick so we all had to spend another half-hour doing that before even checking our individual loads. Then it was a big load including more icky downtown. Then a long-distance on-demand. But it should be a fatter paycheck in a week and a half....
But now, it's Bacon Time.
Warning o' the Day: "Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them." --Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833
What are you doing to prepare? I know, practically none of us can afford an isolated compound in Wyoming or a squad's worth of ARs with chrome-lined bores and NATO chambers and a few hundred thousand rounds of M855. But there's something you can do. Get some range time, some target practice, even with a .22. Download some .PDF manuals and actually read them. Look at maps and plot an escape route away from the cities, make some kind of bugout bag. Get some exercise and get into some kind of shape - get up outta that chair and go walk around the block right now. (Me, I'm still hiking a couple miles or more every day, usually with a pack. And stairs.)
When we say WROL, Without Rule of Law, this is what we mean. I've said before, the soap box is censored, the ballot box is stuffed, the jury box is stacked and that's why they don't want us to have that last box either.
There's a quote, sometimes attributed to one of the Founders: "In a democracy, 51% can vote to eat the other 49%." Just about there.
Today on the freeway I passed an SUV marked "LAW ENFORCEMENT - K9 UNIT". I couldn't tell what jurisdiction it was from until I got alongside. It was from the United States Forest Service. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Every would-be Barney Fife gets six-figure fascistmobiles, M4 carbines and Barretts and grenades and infrared and all, paid for with my taxes, but I have to scrimp and save for a neutered AR which will probably be outlawed by the time I can afford it?
Stop trying to polish the turd and flush it. TSA SHOULD NOT EXIST. POLICE SHOULD NOT EXIST. DHS SHOULD NOT EXIST. (There's a lot else which should not exist either.) I would rather live with the threat of terrorism, would rather have to defend myself against criminals, than live in a world where tax-paid perverts, uniformed sadists, and unionized thieves are allowed to continue drawing breath.
Is this why we bombed Libya? At the cost of how many millions of taxpayer dollars?
Well I should be glad to see someone else addressing the self-destructive Jews....
In Lighter News
UPPITY IN CALIFORNIA. Help them fight back by supporting the Kickstarter for Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire. I HAVE DONE $O.
Zumboooooo....
That DoS attack on GoDaddy continues to reverberate. I often use mail2web in the field, especially at the library when I'm done and am typing my report to webmail, but since the attack it says "BadMailboxName" or somesuch. Hopefully it'll reset eventually. Meanwhile I have alternate webmail with Yahoo so I can at least send stuff when I need to. MSOE was choking during the attack but has returned to normal now.
The range video of function-testing the M11, with slow-motion of JMB's genius, is online.
That Simmons spotting scope is on WalMart's website for under $60, free shipping, pictured with a better tripod. Later.
3377 Thursday, 13 September 2012:
The World Sucks
'...[A] vote can only be "wasted" if it had value to begin with....'
The job doesn't make them monsters, the monsters apply for the job.
It's not paranoia if....
Much content on the gunblogosphere about the attacks on US embassies in Libya and now Yemen. Which Emperor Nero might use an excuse to send more OathKeepers off to get slaughtered for no American national gain. I've said before, carpet-nuke everything between Israel and India and be done. Except we can extend the carpet south to the water - might as well do the Horn too - and west at least as far as, what, Algieria? Or all the way to Gibraltar on principle. You've got to stop thinking of them as human beings. There can be no peaceful coexistence. Either the whole world falls to their darkness, or they drastically reform, or....
F*** THE SCHOOLS
F*** THE THEATERS
In Lighter News
A little progress in Virginia. It's a human right and any infringement upon it is inhuman.
Zumboooooo....
I've only ever opened one spam can, of 7.62x54R, but I agree completely with this post.
3378 Friday, 14 September 2012:
The World Sucks
The Constitutional definition of treason is very specific....
On the other hand, DEAR AL QAEDA PLEASE NUKE NEW YORK.
Police are too dangerous to exist, Chapter MMMCCCLXXVIII.
Their Minds Don't Work Right: "...[E]xplain to me how self defense is an inalienable right...." Just... back away from the crazy person suicidal moron....
“Are we really ready to throw out the First Amendment to appease lynch mobs?” We aren't....
(Related, it looks like there are a few moderate Muslims. But that's not the way to bet and they'll all probably be murdered in the next few days.)
Meanwhile in government school....
In Lighter News
Zumboooooo....
3379 Saturday, 15 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Codrea sees this as a hopeful sign, but I say never trust the thugs to follow their own rules. And if they don't, why should we?
Visual aid. Pournelle said, in reference to SF conventions, "Never let anyone who volunteers to 'work security' have anything to do with security." It's not a question of reform or training or finding the right people for the job. THE JOB SHOULD NOT EXIST.
Speaking of the thugs, they hate women and want them defenseless. Why is that? What are they planning to do that an armed woman would make difficult?
"They don't want you to know you're being spied on."
Hofmann flames on. Not that I disagree - these are the same people presently willing to throw the First Amendment under a turban. We've known for decades they have no moral reservations about sending Our Kind for "relocation in the east" or whatever euphemism they think the masses will buy. Self-defense is the most fundamental and unalienable human right, and the time to exercise it is rapidly approaching.
Canned food and ammunition....
In Lighter News
Speaking of canned food, scribbled a note to myself about those survival buckets at the supermarket - these. Specifically this one, maybe not exactly the same, for $57.98 in-store.
Finished Dalton Fury's Black Site. Not bad for a first novel and I'll be looking for the sequels (the library already has Tier One Wild on order) - we've seen Tom Kratman mature rapidly as an author and I expect the same here. Beginning Ringo's Queen of Wands, sequel to Princess of Wands and second in his Special Circumstances series. I'm probably going to have to buy the paperbacks of Kratman's Countdown series.
And while shopping therefor, I see Sarah Hoyt has a sequel to Darkship Thieves, which won the Prometheus Award for libertarian fiction: Darkship Renegades. I'm disappointed to not see more in Kratman's Carrera saga.
3380 Sunday, 16 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Gunwalker....
In Afghanistan, Taliban/al Qaeda/Islamic terrorists, wearing American uniforms, attacked the US/British base where Britain's Prince Harry is serving as a helicopter pilot. That's... not far removed from the plot of Black Site. Which was written by a guy who had Been There and Done That.
We've been fighting this enemy for a long time. The war is, what, 1,400 years old now? We've been in it for over 200. Where is the plan for victory?
Meanwhile with Enemies Domestic, look past the specifics of the case or the unsympathetic victim, look at the precedents being set and the mechanisms being constructed. Cops, what oath did you swear? What "law" would you not enforce? What order would you not obey?
And what are you planning to do?
In Lighter News
Show & chat every Sunday 1100PT.
This guy's mind does work right.
Okay, so Ringo is writing a hard-ish fantasy monster-slaying series, and Correia is doing the same, and Correia said he was going to be working on something with Ringo. I smell crossover!
Scripting a video on the RCBS Uniflow powder measure. Contemplating a brief video describing HatCam!!!.
3381 Monday, Constitution Day, 17 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Hofmann observes "buy-back" bigotry.
I hold self-defense to be the most fundamental, most unalienable, most indispensable human right. But free speech is pretty high on my list.
Speaking of an indispensible human right, what kind of people support victim disarmament? Yeah we know what kind.
Meanwhile in government "health" "care".... This can only end in fire and in blood.
Fire and blood....
In Lighter News
Michael G. sends a Williamson rant on media portrayal of firearms and gunfolk. (When Diplomacy Fails is next in my stack after Queen of Wands.) The penultimate paragraph seems a swipe against Tsai and the Zumbo mentality, and appropriately so.
Gun culture webcomic? Language warning, I would prefer a cleaner presentation... I've had an idea for a gunfolk webcomic for some time, even scripted a few strips, but I'm no illustrator.
ForgottenWeapons is selling stuff, including a two 7.62x51mm Ishapore Lee-Enfields and several Mausers. Better jump on 'em.
Prepare. This is topical because I've been hiking those aforementioned couple-few miles every single workday, on unforgiving pavement and with stairs and with a pack. I am not going to post photos of my heel calluses.... Your bugout bag should contain Many Pair of Socks, like a couple whole unopened packages of brand-new factory-fresh socks, which you then overseal with one of those foodsaver things for example to make them waterproof.
3382 Tuesday, 18 September 2012:
The World Sucks
More Project Gunwalker. Ably handled by the Ministry of Truth.
Visual Aid o' the Day.
Aaaand this one too.
Police are too dangerous to exist, Chapter MMMCCCLXXXII. A cure worse than any disease.
No such thing as a good cop....
Speaking of disease, Britain's case is terminal.
Vanderboegh reviews that new NBC post-EMP show. Thanks Mike, saved me some bandwidth.
Study....
Plan....
Prepare. There's a bunch of suckage too depressing to post, you know where to find it. The dots are connecting and the picture is ugly. We. Are. Screwed.
In Lighter News
Reminder: Support the Kickstarter for Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire. Their email alert says they're at 25% of goal but already halfway through the timespan.
Some of this might be adapted to bugout bags.
I really must go hunting some year....
I splurged and bought .RTFs of Kratman's latest. Copied to Petze for when I run out of dead-tree but it might be some moons before I actually read them. Nearing the end of Queen of Wands which is... well, not High Literature, surely. Fan service, there is. But no one's going to nominate Ringo for a Pulitzer (or a Hugo) anyway. That's not why we read him.
3383 Wednesday, 19 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Ugh. 141 miles, 37 locations all over the sprawl. Good thing Shambling Wrecktm gets good mileage. The last stop placed, between there and the hovel: 1) The Last Surplus Store In Town; 2) The Used Computer-Parts Store; and 3) The Pawn Shop Which Carries Firearms. WILLPOWER. Must... save... for eee-vill AR....
Still Project Gunwalker. "...[F]ailed to provide meaningful oversight...."? That presumes the intent of the whole program was other than evil.
The Epic Splattering Conclusion of Queen of Wands deals with... well, spoilers, but the gaming reference is "sanity check".
Speaking of, rolled a two.
I continue to be disappointed in the lack of TSA-agents'-heads-on-spikes. And F*** THE AIRLINES.
And remember, TSA is just one pustule of the infection.
Speaking of Enemies Domestic, Fudds belong in that category. And I could name a couple at the club....
Astute Observation o' the Day: "Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist." Of course I knew that....
Please, please burn down all government schools. For the children.
Because government poisons everything it touches.
As Ronnie Barrett well knows. (-Another reason I want to get an AR built as soon as practicable is, it's theoretically possible I could get a .50BMG upper for it $omeday - I doubt Ferret is the only offering now. Because F*** THE ANTIS that's why.)
In Lighter News
Michael G. sent this the other day but didn't want to link NYT. But now Dr. Pournelle observes, tissue regeneration? Working on it.
FTL? Working on that too.
Now this is the kind of useful information the internet is for. I've been thinking of getting some real boot$....
3384 Thursday, 20 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Ended today's route right across the street from an arms shop. WILLPOWER STOP SPENDING
Ever more Gunwalker....
Running out of other people's money. This can't go on. ...Butbutbut compassion! HelpingThoseLessFortunate! EVILGREEDYMEANIE!!!11!!!! No. Their idea of "compassion" is to make sure everyone starves. Except their own Inner Circle, naturally.
"...[A] convenient and largely deliberate ignorance." I know people like that....
I am at a loss for words. Except buy more ammo. And burn up a bunch of it in practice and training.
Gods dammit is there no company on Earth making products I want to buy which does not in some way pander to jackbooted thugs? Midland Radios, the cheap little handhelds, right on their site's front page is a uniformed thief. Del-Ton, the AR kit I'm saving up for, them too, door-kicking puppy-shooters in their banner animation. The racing gear I'm trying to gather for 3-Gun, all of the makers.
In Lighter News
Another reminder: Assaulted: Civil Rights Under Fire still needs your help. SAF and CalGuns Foundation have pledged $5k each. I, even I, constantly broke and/or spendthrift, pledged $25.
If you don't know how Kickstarter works, it appears to be like this: Amazon handles the transaction. You pledge a certain amount with the card you have on file with Amazon, which is not withdrawn until the goal of the Kickstarter is met. If the deadline comes without the goal being met, no money is withdrawn and the whole thing goes away.
Prepare: Seen on the lists, cheap water filter for bugout bag.
Hickok45 posted a video on the Kel-Tec Sub-2000. Ought to make one in .45ACP for 1911 magazines. It would sell. Desperately needs better sights though. But I'm a sights snob since I got the Queen.
3385 Friday, 21 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Like a switch being thrown, summer is over. Last week, sunny and hot. This week, chilly and wet. $igh, electric bill... the last one was under $30 but this afternoon I turned on the hovel's little heater-fan for the first time since April. I guess I'll stick with the dead-end courier job this winter, it usually doesn't make my skin crawl....
Shambling Wrecktm's wiper blade continues to squeak and streak, and it's not the refill, though I'll likely be getting those on princple next time I'm at Bi-Mart (compulsively buying another PMAG30 because it's right there on the rack). I think I need to hit the junkyard and replace the whole arm, I don't think it's applying the pressure right.
More Project Gunwalker.... Even the people on Our Side, except the real investigative reporters like Codrea and Vanderboegh, they still can't wrap their minds around it. This is not a "botched" or "mishandled" operation, there was not "insufficient oversight" - they never intended to catch criminals or have any meaningful effect on the Mexican drug cartels. That's not what the operation was for.
(...At the Hope&Change comic link, look at the bonus 'toon. I AM THE PROPHET)
"What does it take to kill a worthless, dangerous federal agency? A brutal, corrupt bunch of thugs that sees the America[n] people themselves as its legitimate prey?"
Speaking of minds not stretching far enough, this meshes with my previous rant on Medicare - government schools SHOULD NOT EXIST. The era de Tocqueville praised was decades before government took over the schools. Whittle has a clue but didn't pursue it - "...Department of Education funding increasing and test scores decreasing...." Ott also caught a glimpse but likewise seemed to shy away: "...government-run schools can never be nimble enough to respond to the switchback turns in the new economy...." America has been doing it wrong for a hundred years and more and horribly few people can imagine a different way.
Hofmann, and by extension Our Kind, are making the right kind of enemies. "Evil exists because good men don't kill the gov. officials committing it." That's... pretty much the founding principle of this nation. It's going to have to be again.
In Lighter News
ALL HAIL SAINT JOHN. Okay, it's no longer pure, but it's still his. That's two front-line, major-power, original-customer military weapons nearing or already past their century marks, and a fistful of sporting models well past, one of which is in my cabinet as I type.
Via Tam, the 3D-printed pistol is underway. FABBERS can CHANGE the WORLD and we are seeing it begin.
There was a recent news item about the possibility of warp drive, or at least some kind of FTL. Dr. Pournelle is waiting for more data.
Craaaap, finished Queen of Wands, which will inevitably be condemned by people who haven't read it as PreachyBigotedRightWingChristoFascism, starting When Diplomacy Fails..., and now Monster Hunter: Legion has come through on hold. I shouldn't have trouble finishing them by due date but I can't renew because others have them on hold.
I've posted a brief video on the construction of HatCam!!!. Make yer own.
Not wholly Lighter: Permits are infringement. And anyone who's ever required them deserves the gallows, for crimes against humanity.
Dump your fiat currency. Invest in canned food, ammunition, and ZOMG BACON
"Only Ones" MY ASS. Our Kind fires more rounds in a weekend, for fun, than the Professional Sadists do for qualification in a year.
3386 Saturday, 22 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Gunwalker....
No such thing as a good cop. Never trust a cop of any kind, anywhere, any time, under any circumstances.
In Lighter News
$igh. Northwest Historical Military Collectors Association show - how can they not have a website? - at the same location as Oregon Arms Collectors, which is tomorrow. $IGH -ARGH. Spendthrift - $6 admission, lots of old BDUs, vintage uniforms, unit patches, insignia pins, much of it collector-grade and far too expensive to use as designed - I think I saw a WW1 stahlhelm, with the studs on the sides for attaching the supplemental armor. But what I did buy was a GI 2qt canteen, in ALICE case, with older canvas shoulder strap, four dollars when most places that have them at all want twelve or fifteen; for $2, an Expert Rifleman medal which I won't put on my hat until I break 210 at Appleseed again; and for five bucks, this thing:
I don't think it's a GI item, but it sure is interesting. MOLLE - it'll fit my 1¾" belt or a 2¼" GI - open top, no retention, I wonder if someone made it, or cut it down from something? The rest of it looks factory. Anyhow seems it might be quite useful for 3-Gun racing:
And then, ARGH, I decided to hop across the river for a little wardriving with Petze (fail), but then as long as I was over there I stopped at Wholesale $ports, formerly $portsman's Warehouse, and bought their very la$t box of Hornady #3037, 'cause I'll be needing to make more rounds for the Queen in a couple moons. Even worse, while there I discovered they stock, right in the open on racks, much of the MagPul product line. They want a dollar more for the black, windowed PMAG30 than Bi-Mart does, but they have the unwindowed for $3 less (out of stock), and many other accessories, buttstocks and handguards and pistol grips, rails to fit them, sling attachments, backup iron sights (though my AR will have a full A2-style rear sight for proper elevation adjustments 'cause I'm a sights snob 'cause I own an M1), the rubber booties to pull magazines out whence MagPul derives their name. I don't even have an AR yet and at thi$ rate it will be longer before I do.
And there's another gun $how tomorrow....
A reader reported finding nylon bolts at a hardware store which could be cut down to work as bolt stops/recoil buffers for the 10/22. He now reports the first one is holding up well after 200 rounds.
3387 Sunday, 23 September 2012:
The World Sucks
Shipley.... I remain convinced there is no such thing as a good cop, very much including agents of the Federal Bureau of Incineration, but look at the precedents. The government is telling you that private citizens cannot buy and sell private property without their permission. That will never be other than EVIL and WRONG.