31 August 2017

Where Have All The Tools Gone

So I go to start pricing tools to begin my checkering adventure...

And nobody has them in stock.

Does anyone out there in blogland know if they're seasonally made things?

Or know of where to get a complete starting kit?

Chequered Future

Gods save me, I've become interested in trying to do gun-stock checkering.

I think we can blame Larry Potterfield.

Really what it's coming down to is my interest in Winchester Model 54's.

There's no original stocks out there and the few places that will make you something only offer stocks that are unfinished and 96% inletted.

Something that looks this simple has to be fiendishly difficult.

It could be one of those things where my mind sees it as simple as it will be for me, even though it's not for others.

So far all of the explanations make sense to me.

The most daunting thing about this idea is the cost of the tools.

On the plus side, it's definitely a marketable skill.  Even more so since the people I see doing this for a living are all 20-30 years older than I am.  How much longer will they be around to cut diamonds?

Ashamed To Be An American

To each and every celebrity or politician (and their relatives) who're ashamed of being Americans:

Go to the nation of your choice (may I suggest anywhere in Africa).

Once there, go to the nearest American consulate or embassy.

Once there, ask the nice State Department people for the forms to renounce your citizenship.

Fill those forms out and surrender your American passport.

Now!  You can start becoming a citizen of whatever place you've fled to, and you're going to be astonished at how brusquely you're treated if you try to reenter the USA.

The short version of this suggestion is, "Go away and never come back."

If you're a celebrity who's not an American citizen, just go away and if you hate us so much, stop selling your performances here.  That would show us!  We'd feel that burn for sure.

30 August 2017

I AM Moriarity Mr Holmes


Wondrous

Something I've noted, more than once, is when the press screeches that a new weapon is a failure...

The first time it's used for realsies it's a spectacular success.

My mom used to watch 60-Minutes, and back in the days of 4 channels and one-TV-per-household, that meant I watched 60-minutes too.

I lost count of the number of breathless reports about how doomed we were against the Soviet menace because our weapons were utter garbage.

I lost my ability to be astonished at how ill informed their defense reporters were.  Remember the Falklands?  They were actually demanding that the US buy Exocet missiles because we didn't have any in our inventory...  They were right!  Our equivalent missile was the Harpoon, with longer range, larger warhead and thanks to Operation Preying Mantis, combat proven.

I remember the AGM-88 HARM and their scandal about its altimeter sensors being poorly made and nothing being done to fix the issue, thus the missile was useless.  Yet the AGM-88 caused the Soviets to completely change their philosophy about how to deploy and employ SAM's and AAA and their associated radars.

Remember when the M1 Abrams would be useless in deserts?

So I expect that F-35 and THAAD to be miraculously effective when finally deployed for real.

You can't go too far wrong betting against the press on defense.

How Do You Tell Your Government Has Grown Too Large

When your legislature threatens to "shut down the government" by not funding "non-essential" services; but still paying the Army...

And that shut down actually affects normal people's lives.

Ideally, we shouldn't notice if they went away as long as the "essential" services are running.

29 August 2017

Speaking Of Greener

W.W. Greener is still in business!

Something tells me that prices begin at appalling and go up from there.

Big Jake Drinking Game

Every time they mention a Greener shotgun, one drink.

Add your own!

Disaster Averted

20 years ago Skynet became self-aware.

The panicked attempt to unplug it triggers a nuclear war.

28 August 2017

Rimshot


.22 is like artillery for Lego.

Short, Long, Long-Rifle and Winchester Magnum

On Berkeley

I just realized that President Trump could call on the military to level the place during a riot and it wouldn't change anyone's opinion of him or the military even one iota.

He's nothing to lose and everything to gain, it seems.

Ten Years Ago I Even Mentioned It

Corvette Things That Mess With Me

The striker is on the door.

The door latch is in the body of the car.

You press a button on the door and it sends a request to the body control module to spin a motor which unlatches the door.

If that motor dies, you've got to go in through the hatch and pull a cable to open the door.

As is normal for General Motors, if it's a Corvette part, it's expensive; if it's a Cadillac part, it's expensive; if electricity runs through it, it's expensive.

GM p/n 88956758 is all three of those things with an MSRP of $270!

I have connections, I paid less.  Much less.

I found two videos on how-to.





Neither really explains the whole thing.  Neither mentions that to get the interior trim piece out to access it, you need to also remove the piece above it and the piece that runs from above that one all the way to the other side of the car.

This will kill five of the GM p/n 15762170 push pins that keep those parts from rattling.  GM thinks those are worth $5.50 each.  Lowe's carries Hillman p/n 881201 which are two for 80¢ and it's the same part.

27 August 2017

Yes It Matters

USS John S McCain (DDG-56) is not named after Senator John McCain.

Senator McCain is properly John Sidney McCain III (Capt. USN(R)).

DDG-56 is named after Admirals John S. McCain Sr and John S. McCain Jr; the senator's grandfather and father, respectively.

Allusions to the accident relating to the senator are inappropriate and dishonor men who don't deserve the scorn.  Scorn their descendant has earned in bucket, but not they.

Shit on JSM3 all you want.  He's squandered any good-will he might have earned over the years with this political career.

Is Three Months Enough Notice

I've decided to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Twilight: 2000 nuclear exchange with a get-together at Caledonia Brewing in Dunedin, FL at 7pm EST, November 27, 2017.

Bonus points if you know why celebrating in Dunedin is appropriate.

Checks And Balances

Dear Towhomitmayconcern,

Each of the three branches is given a mechanism to check and override the other two.

It's a circle, not a line.

It's not well, we failed to get Congress to stop it, then failed to get a veto then failed to get a judge to say no... Welp all done forever.

To focus on the executive branch...

The veto is to thwart the legislative.  The pardon is to thwart the judicial; that's why it's plenary.

The judicial is a bit odd in it's power involves the people directly.

The jury thwarts the executive.  Declaring law unconstitutional thwarts to legislative.

Of course, if you look at it hard, you'll see that the ultimate power was supposed to be with The People and the voting booth.  We were supposed to pay attention, stay informed and elect people who would wield their powers wisely and for the greatest good; liberty.

Alas.

The eclipse as a satellite saw it

26 August 2017

It's All Relative

You know...

To the Imperial Japanese Army, an M4 Sherman prolly seemed like a fucking Tiger.

Color Of Fat

I did not remember that it was yellow.

Got reminded.

Now I remember that there weren't much fat where I was.

Odd how long dim memories bubble up from odd places.

M1917 As A Melee Weapon

Finally getting around to watching "The Pacific" on Amazon Prime Vid.

You ain't been buttstroked until you've been buttstroked by a hot Browning watercooled gun.

Angle Of The Dangle




I'm not sure I'm taking the pics right, but I'm getting closer to knowing what I want.

Confused Again

Joe Arpaio was convicted for profiling Latinos to see if they're illegals.

OK.  In Arizona, are you going to be finding many illegal aliens who aren't Latino?

Bet they don't get many German illegals there.

One gets the sneaking suspicion that the case was easily proven because of an unbalanced outcome.  See, he's discriminating because all of the illegals he's catching are Latino!  Never mind that there probably aren't all that many non-Latino illegal aliens in Arizona.

But that's just a shallow, knee-jerk assessment of the news I skimmed about it; not a detailed analysis.

But I tend to stand by my rule of thumb that if the New York Times don't like someone, they can't be all bad.

In reference to the pardon, worse people have been given pardons by better presidents.

Speaking Of Holsters

For the eclipse I got to carry my M&P 9 IWB because I was a passenger in JT's car rather than driving my own.

I'd forgotten how comfortable the Galco Summer Comfort holster was when it wasn't competing with the seatbelt latch for space between me and the center console.

I'm in contact with... uh...  um...  The Displaced Louisiana Guy!  Forgot whom I was talking to without the sidebar to remind me while I was writing the post.

Now that I'm thinking more clearly about it, what I want is exactly the construction of the Summer Comfort, but set up for cross-draw.  Which, design wise, looks like you "just" need to re-angle the belt loops to cant the butt forward instead of back when worn on the "wrong" side.

This Is Us Not Taking A Class

Marv and I were going to attend FFA-NPR's holster drawing class today.

One of the prerequisites is "outside the waist band holster with retention".

Marv doesn't collect holsters like I do, so he didn't have one for his M&P 9.

This is where it all goes wrong.

He attempted to order a Kydex holster from DSG.  Their website can create results which makes you think you've narrowed your choices, but have actually broadened them.

He ended up getting a holster for a Bodyguard instead of an M&P 9.

He'll try to exchange it, but... no holster, no class.

As for me, every holster I'd ever bought for my Glock 21 seems to fit an M&P 9 perfectly.  Go figure.

I'm so very tempted to show up to the class with an UM-84 flap holster.  You can't say a flap holster that fully encapsulates the gun doesn't have retention.

25 August 2017

Asking For It


To change the transmission fluid on a C6 Corvette with a TR-6060 6-speed manual, the car must be level.

Got the front on ramps and the rear on jack-stands with the jack still holding some weight too.

There's some who say that wood cannot support the weight of a car.  The design of my ramps comes from a 1950's Popular Mechanics article...  Notice that the inclined part can be moved out of the way?

Royal Purple Synchromax, for the record.

Reality Check

I like to double check the published GURPS numbers with real world measurements when I can.

My Remington 341's magazine capacity has been confirmed with .22 Short, .22 Long and .22 Long Rifle.

22, 17, and 15 respectively.

Damage slung...

22x 1d pi- gives a total damage on something unarmored of 22-66 points (38.5 avg).
17x 1d+1 pi- gives 17-51 points (38.25 avg).
15x 1d+2 pi- gives 15-60 points (41.25 avg).

The rounding and minimums make it non-linear.

24 August 2017

Did You Take Any English Classes Getting Your Degree Neil?

Check it out.

Dark can also mean "unseen" or "unobserved".  Google even lists "hidden from knowledge; mysterious." under definition #1!

I first became aware of this use of the word from the phrase, "deepest darkest Africa."  Being a naive little waif, I thought that meant that was where the most black people lived.  It just meant unexplored by Europeans.

Yes, it's an archaic form of the word, but it has NEVER meant that the far side of the moon never got any sunlight.

Subversive

I've a friend whose living situation precludes having a firearm where he lives.

It's not a legal problem, but a social one.

He'd be asked (ordered really) to find other accommodations should he keep a gun at his home.

But we formulated a sinister plan...

What if the landlord did not know it was a gun?

Legally, the part of a gun that's a firearm is the serialized part.  For an AR, that's the lower receiver.

So he made himself a Freedom 15 lower!

Not only does he now have a "firearm" right under the nose of the oppressive family member renting him a room, but it's a dread assault weapon and a ghost gun.

The candy colors assist in it remaining undetected.

Me, I'd have gotten myself kicked out with what I would have done.  I'd have bought an 80% lower and assembled an entire gun on it, without finishing the lower.  A complete AR, less fire control group.  Despite appearance, that is NOT a firearm.  But it would attract instant notice and would trigger as strong a response as a real, complete, gun.

By the way, names are not being named for a reason.  If you can figure out whom I am talking about here, don't comment on it.  That's also the reason there's no pics.

Eclipse After Action


Here's where we watched the event.  A defunct truck stop at exit 117 in Tennessee on I65 just south of the Kentucky border.

As the light faded I had a moment of vertigo because part of my brain was saying, "twilight" and another part was trying to reconcile the angle of the shadows with a sun that wasn't low in the sky.

My pictures of totality came out good, and it was an accident.  All I did was remove the solar filter from my camera which was set to take a pic of the tiny crescent right before totality.

I only took two of the corona because I was following the "take it in, don't glue your eye to a camera" advice.

The huge thing I saw that I'd never even read about was at the end, when the sun was just peeking around the moon again was the deep indigo oval in the sky where the shadow of the moon was.  It kept moving away from us as the light got brighter.

I've been reading that there's six minutes of totality over Tampa in 2045.  All I have to do is LIVE to see that one.  I'll be 76, if I live that long.  The men on both sides of my family routinely make that!  Most just barely...

23 August 2017

If I Were President

And the congressional majority from my own party was stalling my agenda...

Have the cops lock the doors during the State of the Union address and announce, "OK, assholes, we're here until we get it decided one way or another."

Got the supreme court right there to ask questions.

Shut off the damn AC too.  Potty breaks are for closers!

Food?  You wanna eat, get to votin'!

McThag's Legal Drama Day 175

Today is the 175th calendar day since my arrest.

Today is the last day they could have filed charges without filing an extension pending a fruitful investigation.

Since there hasn't been a visit from a deputy or a call from my lawyer, I am officially in the clear.

Would that it had never occurred.

Everyone Should Have One

My Corvette racked up 1,700.9 miles on the trip to destroy the sun.

Including several stop and go, in-town sections I averaged 28.4 miles per gallon for the whole trip.

Technology is cool when it's working.

Sadly, the motorized door latch on the drivers side decided it could up and fail intermittently.  $267.95 part list.  A buddy can get it for $185.

Time to shake out the couch cushions because I spent all I'd saved for the past 6 months on the eclipse trip.  The timing is poor is all.

Value Added

One of the local shops really likes Willard and I.

We troubleshoot and repair guns on the spot for them.

SIGH.

If we'd leave them busted, they'd be cheaper.

21 August 2017

I Wore An Apricot Shirt

I gavotted.


Saw the total eclipse of the sun.

19 August 2017

Eclipse Trip Day Two

Heading to Bowling Green via Huntsville, Alabama.

Campus 805 and Rocket Republic Brewing are on the itinerary.

Should be in Bowling Green later this evening.

This is a courtesy post for my stalker, who might not have been informed before I left.

17 August 2017

Fascinating Sword Lecture

I Can Save You

Mothers; The Gods, being sexist, demand a female virgin sacrifice to allow the sun to return from being eaten by the moon.

If you act now, I can prevent them from being wasted being sacrificed to uncaring and unhearing deities.

If your daughter is not a virgin... she's not a valid sacrifice.

All I need is a small fee, valid state issued photo ID for age verification and some vitamin E.

If you are uncertain of you or your daughter's virginal state, services can still be rendered.

Act now! Operators are standing by!

Renege On The Deal

It's my understanding that all these Confederate memorials are the result of a deal that was part of Reconstruction.

If the former CSA states were allowed to honor their heroes, the wounds sustained in losing the war would heal rather than fester.

We got to see that those wounds had healed barely a generation later when we invaded Cuba.

These memorials weren't paeans to slavery.  They weren't markers to rally an eventual second try.

They were admission they'd lost the trial by combat, though they'd fought well, and they'd been beaten fairly.

Elvis Is Dead

Been dead a long time too.

40 years dead.

Two years or so until he's been dead for as long as he was alive.

It had zero impact on my life at all when he died, except my mom insisting that we pay attention to the event so we could say, someday, "I was doing... when."

Yeah, I forgot...

She made us watch the Richard J Daley funeral and procession on TV too.

Elvis just never resonated with me.  Ever.

Given the Tarantino test of being either a Beatles man or Elvis man, I'll take Elvis; but under duress.

16 August 2017

If Trump Was Hitler

The concentration camps would already be built and running.

The Trump as Hitler just doesn't parallel.

The parallels that frighten are coming from, as with Hitler, the left.

Whom is being violent?  Whom is being increasingly violent?

It's not coming from the right.

Whose rights are being systematically reduced relative to whom?  This is the scary one.  This is why the shit the American New National Socialists sells is resonating.

Women have special rights.

Blacks have special rights.

Homosexuals have special rights.

I understand how they came by them and why it was necessary for these special rules to be made at the time they were enacted.  It was to correct an injustice.

The thing is, the injustice was corrected.  It is in the past now.  Perhaps not the distant past, but past.

We need to begin transitioning to a post-injustice society where everyone is equal.  The actual goal when these special rights were created was real equality after a jump start.

Someone forgot the goal and found they enjoyed being special.

The thing that's sticking in the craw and allowing the fucking nazis of all fucking scum into the thoughts of unprejudiced white people is being constantly berated for thoughts they are not thinking and deeds they are not doing.  Being made feel guilty for sharing genitalia, skin color and sexual attractions of people who no longer control society and did awful things when they did.

Contrast that with people like Antifa and Black Lives Matter; whom are doing awful things right now.  They're getting away with it too.  Another parallel with Fascists...

We've long watched how The Left has attempted to disarm us, literally just like the Nazis!

The more history I read and the more I compare it to what's happening around me, the less I fear The Right and the more I worry about The Left.

National Airborne Day

Today is the day to honor the people who jump out of airplanes to get shot at.

I was going to say "jump out of perfectly good airplanes" but realized they always jump out of Air Force planes, never from airliners.

You Can't Tell Them Apart Because At Their Core They're The Same

Stolen from Miguel.

Antifa has taken on the mantle of Communism.  Remember Communism?  The political system that looked at what Hitler did and said, "hold my vodka!"?  No, I don't think I trust what you're saying.

Because Fascism and Communism have a common root, it actually IS difficult to tell them apart.

OBLM?  Fuck you.  Stop assaulting officers and the cops stop shooting at you.

But all three groups are leftist socialist, and it's not that centrists cannot tell them apart, we simply don't care to distinguish between them.

15 August 2017

Didja Know

If you start off making a Braveheart with Johnny Walker Red Label, and then have two more Red Labels on the rocks.

You are just as buzzed as if you'd drank good scotch?

Good booze is for the beginning of a drunk, not the end.

And knowing is half the battle.

Repeat After Me

Carburetors suck.

Put down the torches and pitchforks, Luddite!

Electronic fuel injection means the oil is still brown at 10k miles instead of black at 3k.

Never mind tame manners and a completely streetable 400+ horses.

I remember all the compromises that had to be done for carbs.  You could choose one of part throttle performance, wide open performance or economy; and going for economy didn't really get you good mileage, just better than optimizing for wide open throttle.

Then there's the cylinder wash-down that made making it to 100k miles a real accomplishment.

Couple EFI with electronic engine management and suddenly you've got power, manners and economy.

I remember being thrilled that I got 259 horsepower and 18 miles per gallon (highway) on a small block 350 and a 650 Holly vacuum secondary 4-bbl.

I get 20 mpg in town with The Precious and it's got more than 450 horses!  It's a heavier car too.

Let Them Rant

Most of the time I find that the most effective means of defusing National Socialist [fill in the blank]ism is to just let them rant on.

The last Nazi whom was actually an effective orator was Hitler.  I think we're pretty safe from him at this point...  Some of his efficacy was due to his having a very receptive audience.

The receptive audience is far more worrisome than the oration or its content, to be honest.

There just doesn't seem to be a receptive audience for white racists... yet.

(Only)Black-Lives-Matter and Antifa are working really hard at convincing people who otherwise aren't racist that they might have to make common cause with the White Power! idiots just to survive!

Not many takers so far.

We're balanced on an edge right now.

There's a surge of black people buying guns, they're not OBLM type people.  Antifa doesn't want us conservative gun-owner types connecting with these folks.  They don't want them discovering that we've got more in common with them than any socialist group.

But Antifa just won't leave it alone.  But OBLM can't leave it alone.  The Democrats can't leave it alone.  Liberals can't leave it alone.

But everyone should look very hard at the definition of minority in their dictionaries.  The definition you want to absorb in its fullness is under Custer, George S.

I'm not the only one who's noticing this trend.

Lost It

I had what I wanted to say all ready to be typed.

Then it disappeared between my brain and my keyboard.

14 August 2017

I Seem To Have Missed The Press Conference

Now that Trump has condemned the racists from Charlotteville...

Do you think we can get any Democrat to condemn any of several prominent members of the KKK who were prominent and honored members of Congress from their party?

That's a low fucking bar to step over.

It's not like I'm asking them to address the racists of color they're succoring.

Ordered To Not Interviene

In case you were ever curious if Officer Friendly will happily obey orders to violate your Constitutionally guaranteed rights

Well, they sure won't protect you from someone attempting to keep you from exercising your rights with violence... will they?

I hate to break it to the cops, but your job is exactly to get between two opposing factions and stop them from fighting it out.  It's your job to protect the people who went to the effort of getting a permit to express their Constitutionally protected right to peacefully protest something the government is doing.

Until you failed, and let the Antifa counter-protest (by the way did they get a permit?) into striking distance of the racists legally expressing their opinion, it was peacefully done!

Even if you were ordered to not do your job you've failed.

That makes the biggest scumbags at an event noteworthy for being full of scumbags, the cops; if indeed they were obeying orders.

By the way, obeying orders is not a defense when human rights are in question.

I Feel All Accomplished

Got Jasmine cleaned from her NATO rate-o experience.  I again marvel at how much better commercial cleaning supplies are than what was issued to or scrounged by me in the .mil.

Crawled into my air-handler (in the 103˚F attic) and cleaned the evaporator coils again.  The house temperature had started losing ground again, and lo and behold the coils were clogged with dust again.  I think this will be a recurring thing for a while as the ducts get cleared out of accumulated dust from the giant rat-hole.

It had gone from 74˚ at 0900 to 79˚ at 1700 with 75˚ showing at the furthest vent.

After cleaning the house was a solid 80˚ and was back to 78˚ by the time I'd returned from taking The Boy to swim practice, with 60˚ showing at the vent.  Clearly the improved air flow allows cooler air in the duct work!

13 August 2017

And The Winner Is...

The five NATO battle rifles were fired by 18 test subjects who self selected to participate.

Shooting experience ranged from novice to extensive.

The rifles were graded on three categories with the participant assigning a number from 1 to 5 for each gun in each category, with their favorite getting a 1, the next best a 2 and so on.

Which rifle was easiest for you to use?
This rates operating the controls, inserting and removing the magazine and chambering a round.

FN-FAL = 2.44

M14 = 2

BM-59 = 3

G3A3 = 3.94

AR-10 = 3.61

Which rifle was easiest for you to shoot?
This rates how easy the sights were for you to see and align, how quickly you can realign the sights between shots and the feel of the trigger.

FN-FAL = 2.33

M14 = 2.06

BM-59 = 3.11

G3A3 = 3.72

AR-10 = 3.78

Which rifle was most pleasant for you to shoot?
This rates, primarily the weight and recoil. Was firing the rifle painful?

FN-FAL = 2.56

M14 = 1.94

BM-59 = 3.17

G3A3 = 3.72

AR-10 = 3.61

Averaging the three categories gives

FN-FAL = 2.44

M14 = 2

BM-59 = 3.09

G3A3 = 3.8

AR-10 = 3.67

In order, the winners are M14, FN-FAL, BM-59, AR-10 and G3A3.

The AR-10 proved very balky and might have a bad extractor spring.  I am sure this colored several shooter's experience.

The BM-59 stopped a couple times, but got better with some added lube.

Every rifle got at least one shooter to give it a 5 in every category.

Every rifle got at least one shooter to give it a 1 in every category.

Special thanks to Willard for providing 4 of the 5 guns and ALL the ammo!  And for being the guy who stood out on the hot range guiding our guinea pigs participants through.

Thanks to Florida Firearms Academy of New Port Richey for letting us occupy two of their lanes for pretty much the whole shooting day.

NATO Shoot

We're here at FFA NPR!

Come and give shooting a 308 battle rifle a shot!

Respect

I demand that Antifa stop using Communist symbology and rhetoric in anything they do.

To allow them to continue to do so is an insult to any and every person who was in the military during The Cold War. Those soldiers stood against Communism and were essential in defeating it.

Letting these "protesters" use Communist symbols is shitting on millions of American soldiers and sailors.

Far worse than any statue of Robert E Lee ever did.

To toot my own horn, we did something that The Greatest Generation didn't.  We didn't have a shooting war in Europe and because of that, there's still a world to live in.  The reason we didn't have that war was because we'd firmly rejected Communism, embraced capitalism and made ready to fight for real (and not just on paper like during Carter).

12 August 2017

Eclipse Photography Prep

Took some solar filter film, generously supplied by FuzzyGeff, and made my own 58mm filter for my Canon PowerShot S5IS.

Cut the film to fit inside a normal everyday 58mm UV filter, then screw two of them together.  Interestingly, this creates a solar filter that is tougher than the standard ones since there's a pane of glass on either side of the fragile film.

 
Halogen bulb without the filter.
Halogen bulb with the filter.
I've also made a bit of film for FuzzyGeff's larger lens.  Without his filters here, I can't really tell if it will fit, but I used the dimensions he supplied, so he can't complain too loud if it's wrong, can he?


Mathiness Is Racist And Sexist And Homophobic?

As near as I can tell, anything that proves anything about race, sex or LGBT that doesn't adhere to the SJW byline is racist, sexist and homophobic.

The numbers don't care about feels.

All you have to do is actually read "The Bell Curve" and compare it to the condemnations of it.

Suggest that the gender pay gap stems more from women being more apt to take time off for family reasons, or that they just aren't as obsessively dedicated to the work as men... off with your head!

I've watched several companies grapple with the issue where a minority employee essentially stops working once they're out of their probationary period and what to do about it.  When a white male does this, they can simply be fired.  A member of the specially protected classes can, and often will, claim racism, sexism or homophobia and then proceed to hiring lawyers.

Months and months are spent carefully documenting that the employee isn't actually doing their job.  Hours of productive time is lost.  If that were the end of it, perhaps it could be accounted for.  But everyone around the bad employee sees that they can collect a paycheck for months without actually working.

They learn to game the system to extend the time by straightening up and flying right while in punitive probation periods.

The numbers don't care, but they do accumulate.

It pisses me off because I'm an advocate of equality.  Equality, though, means that if I'd have to put in a consistent 75 hour work week and skip birthdays and school events; so does everyone else to get ahead.  I noticed quite early that it was expected of me, and not of my female co-workers.  I also noticed, also quite early, that I was being promoted faster than them as well.  Going along with this, though, was the men who noticed this and chose to emulate the women's time away.

They were fired.

But none dare call it sexism.

Newton Will Not Be Denied

The upcoming comparison between 7.62 NATO guns brings up something.

All of these guns are 10+ pounds in weight, pushing 11+ really.

People complain about the recoil from these guns.

Willard walked in yesterday with a Browning BLR in .308 Winchester.  It's a 1971 made in Belgium gun for those keeping score at home.

It tips the scales at 7 lb. 4.1 oz.  I don't expect we're going to put a lot of rounds through it before calling it good.

A Pity

Looking at who's involved in the riots presently happening in Charlottesville, Virginia.

'Tis a pity that both sides cannot lose this fight.

Or can they?

A disinterested third party could make them both lose.

The media wouldn't have it though.

11 August 2017

Disassembly

The owner's manual for the Browning BLR says, under disassembly, "DON'T!"

Dear Antivaxxers

I invite you to be injected with live polio virus.

If you don't catch it, you can thank vaccines.

If you do catch it from refusing to be immunized, then you have what's coming to you.

We Have A Time!

Marv and I, and maybe Willard, will be at Florida Firearms Academy, New Port Richey...

On or about 11:00am 13 August 2017 for the comparison study of five NATO battle rifles.

Did You Know

The Mini-14 is direct impingement?

It's got no piston.

The gas-block/pipe taps gas straight from the barrel and applies it directly to a recess in the front of the bolt carrier/op rod.  The gas pipe forms a spigot that rests inside the recess.

Sind deine Papiere alle in Ordnung, Genosse?

The Police Chief of Austin, TX thinks he's in East Germany.

He also wants to employ STASI tactics.

18 USC § 241 seems applicable, Mr Acevedo.

10 August 2017

A Valid Concern

I used scotch to check my cognitive privilege last night.

I worry, now, that I'd culturally misappropriated Liberal cognition by doing so.

Training

It came up more than once when I was a wee little wog.

When I was taking kenjitsu I was aware of kendo.

There's some overlap, but one is for fighting with a sword, the other is for fencing with a bamboo simulacrum of a sword.

Fencing is also not fighting with a sword.

IPSC is not fighting with a pistol.

Why?

Because Kendo, Fencing and IPSC have rules and scoring.

Are they useless for fighting?

No, there's stuff in them that you can use in a fight.  IPSC more than blades, to be sure.

If your bladed martial art doesn't have an answer to, "why don't I knee my opponent in the groin?" it's not about fighting.

What would your school do if you swung your sword BY THE BLADE to strike with the hilt?  Did you know that was a valid fighting technique?  Surprised me when I was learning it too.

Did you know that sword duels didn't resemble fencing matches at all?  Life was on the line and you did everything you could to live!  The Royal Armouries have a series on it, in fact.

Thinking About It

I am this -><- close to shutting down Facebook again.

It sucks because there's about ten people I never hear from any other way.

But I'm also starting to come around to the idea that if Facebook is the only way you're in contact with someone, you're not friends.

09 August 2017

Why A Sword?

I've been getting excited about the eminent release of GURPS: Dungeon Fantasy.

It's got me looking at my old characters and I've discovered that I should not have wasted my money on swords.

The basic broadsword is $500 and 3 lb., takes a ST 10 to use and has a Reach of 1 with a Parry penalty of 0.

It does sw+1 cut or thr+1 cr.  For a ST 10 wielder, those give 1d cut and 1d-1 cr.

1-6 (3 avg) cut becomes 1-9 (5 avg) in bare torso.  1-5 cr becomes 1-5 (2 avg).

A thrusting broadsword is $600 and 3 lb., takes a ST 10 to use and has a Reach of 1 with a Parry penalty of 0.

It does sw+1 cut or thr+2 imp.  For a ST 10 wielder, those give 1d cut and 1d imp.

1-6 (3 avg) cut becomes 1-9 (5 avg) in bare torso.  1-6 imp becomes 2-10 (7 avg).

The basic spear is $40 and 4 lb., takes a ST 10 to use and has a Reach of 1 with a Parry penalty of 0.

It does thr+2 imp.  For a ST 10 wielder, that gives 1d imp.

1-6 imp becomes 2-10 (7 avg).

Additionally, a spear can be wielded two-handed for an extra point of damage and Reach 1, 2.

2-7 imp becomes 4-14 (9 avg).

It appears that I've been saving a pound by spending a lot more money on a sword.

By taking a spear and shield it looks like I can save points that would have been going to wealth and put them someplace that actually improves combat ability.

Take Two

Talked to the nice folks at FFA NPR about our little 7.62 test.

It's on like Donkey Kong sunday (13AUG17)!

Exact time to be determined, but definitely Sunday.

They ask you sign a waiver absolving the range of responsibility for shooting our rifles.

But you'll get some shooting with all five of our NATO battle rifles and only have to answer some easy questions about your shooting impressions.

Prior experience with the guns not required, and is actually an asset.

A Strategic Thought

Film a B-2A Spirit taking off from it's base.  Make a big press release without any information in it with the video.

Many hours later, release film of the same plane returning to base.

This time with, "Stealth bomber returns from overflight of Pyongyang."

9x21mmSR Browning Long Restoration




I think it shoots better than the .380 ACP barrel by a wide margin.  It's hard to characterize it.  The recoil impulse is just... friendlier?  It's not really softer than .380 or stronger.  But it seems like it takes a lot longer for the impulse to hit and that makes it better to shoot.

M1956A2 Shoot



It shoots!

We only had one failure to fire.  It could be an ammo problem; could be a light strike.  We only fired 40 rounds.  20 19 of the Malaysian surplus shown below.  20 of Perfecta.


It's pretty much zeroed at mechanical zero.  That means that I put the front sight on correctly!


This target is a function check at 25 yards with the 0-2 big ghost ring.  What was left in two magazines as fast as I could shoot.  It's not near as fast as I can go with 5.56 or 6.8.

It Must Be Why I Blog

"Remember: the man who is a failure always manages to find disagreement with others."

Vox Day

I'm pretty much a walking confirmation of that sentence.

Bock's Car

It's been 72 years since an atomic weapon was used in anger.

I'm pleased with that continuing.

I played a minuscule part in adding years to that record.

I'm proud of that.

08 August 2017

Rebarrel

Willard's Husqvarna M/07 came rechambered for .380 ACP.

A sensible change for importation to the American market.

But it's just not right.


You can't tell from looking at it, but that's an original surplus 9x21mmSR barrel (aka 9mm Browning Long).

Now we can get the full, original as John Moses Browning (peace be upon him) intended!


L->R in GURPS order of puissance.

.380 ACP. (aka 9x17mm Kurz or Short)
9mm Browning Long.  (aka 9x21mmSR)
9mm Largo. (aka 9x23mm Bergmann-Bayard)
9mm Parabellum. (aka 9x19mm Luger)
.38 Super.

Safety

A lot of criticism was leveled on the procurement of the Beretta M9 and how many changes needed to be made going from Model 92F to becoming M9.

Changes that fell from an extended and ridiculously rigorous period of testing that subjected the guns to things that were, well, ridiculous.

Now we've got SIG P320's going off if you breathe lightly on the back of the slide?

While that's a gross exaggeration, this is the kind of flaw that gets noticed when you do the entire prescribed testing procedure for a pistol, including troop trials, and gets changes made before you order a few thousand of the damn things.

Since the P320 has been type classified with this flaw as the M17, it makes me wonder if we have to have the full procedure for going A1 on it.

It's not unheard of.

Or are we going to make a parts change silently and make no designation change?

It's not unheard of.

I get that the full testing methods are tedious and expensive.

But there's reasons for them that were written in blood.

The M16 has still to shake its reputation for bypassing those tests.  Yes, I know that the reason for the bypass was because the M14 had passed them and then all of the inherent corruption of the National Armory was laid bare when just one maker of the gun, who'd never made guns before, could make them to spec.

Embarrassments like that tend to make you doubt your methodology.

Red Label Day

The Lovely Harvey's boss gave her a bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label, because he doesn't drink hard stuff and was thus passing a gift on.

I cannot recall, for the life of me, if I've ever had Red Label before.

For free, it's EPIC good.

For the MSRP of $20, it's not bad at all.

Clearly there's better out there.  There is also much worse for far more money.

Have You Read Your Book?

"It costs $00.00 to thank God for the simple things like being alive."

Yeah, except for tithing.

Forgot about the tithing, didn't you?

Did you plunk down 10% to God?  That's more than $0.00.  Sometimes a lot more.

Even if God takes time, He wants 10% of it, also more than $0.00 unless your time is actually worthless.

Screaming at me for pointing out YOUR BIBLE and YOUR TRADITIONS both call for a 10% tithe doesn't mean they don't exist.

Again, why does the Paganesque Atheist (don't think too hard about that label) know more about your religion than you do?

The Culmination Of 433 Years Of Experience

It took the US National Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts from late 1944 to early 1959 to adopt a detachable box magazine fed Garand.

By 1961 the M14 had replaced the M1 in active Army service and by 1965 the Marines could say the same thing.

Italy, who'd adopted the M1 at the end of World War 2, and Beretta, who made them under license, agreed with the idea of a detachable box magazine for the Garand.

Like the US, they reasoned that they liked the Garand well enough, so why completely redesign the wheel?

Unlike the Americans, Beretta actually managed to keep using most of their tooling for the Garand.

Also unlike the Americans, they didn't linger over the decision and design.  By 1959 they'd equipped their Army with the new rifle.  Development and manufacturing had to have taken less than 5 years because it didn't begin until 7.62 NATO had been standardized.


Sure looks a lot like an M14, don't it?



Well, near as I've been able to find, there was no influence from Springfield on Beretta; this is just convergent evolution.

Beretta complied with the NATO standard for rifle grenades and included a grenade sight.



The ENERGA marked sight is stamped from sheet metal and can be removed from the sight arms.  This would allow a sight with calibration for a different rifle grenade to be used.


The bolt stop/release is a lot more Garand-like than the M14 and the magazine release a lot more prominent.  Missing from this semi-auto clone is the selector at the front of the receiver, it's also missing the clip guide.


The safety is in the normal Garand location.  Note the little notch under the bolt handle, that's where a portion of the full-auto guts used to protrude.  That's NOT where the selector used to reside!


The BM-59 is also equipped with a folding winter trigger.

There's storage in the butt:

The rear sling swivel can be rotated for both bottom and side sling use, the front swivel has to be moved from one position to the other with a screwdriver.  This gun is rigged for side slinging because it stays out of the bipod's way.


The bayonet looks hauntingly M7 except for the latch.  That's when it hits you, it's really coming from the same place as the M16's M7 bayonet; the M1 Carbine's M4 bayonet.  Nearly the same latch with a bigger ring to clear the NATO spec grenade muzzle.  Of course, the latch is much narrower than that on the M7.  I don't have an M4 bayonet handy to compare right now, but Willard does.


01001110 01101111 Means 01001110 01101111

Fucking a sexbot is now rape?

At this rate of change, the sliding scale of what constitutes rape will have me up on charges for what I did to my hand the other day.

Pendant Retort

Nope, Officer Knowshowtoclearit, doesn't need to know that it's a Highpoint or an HK.

But knowing that she doesn't know, she should stick to calling it "a gun" "a pistol" or even "a gat" or "heater".

Generic terms, not specific.

Being ignorant and being specific gets you laughed at around here.

I'd have the same reaction to her referring to her Dodge as a "Police Interceptor" (A Ford trademark).

It's not being pedantic, it's being petty and shallow!

Because I'm a callow, and mean person who's full of hate.

PBBBBBBT!

Homonym

If you stop to think that antefascist sounds the same as antifascist some of it starts making a lot more sense.

Every Time

No TRUE Scotsman deals in absolutes!

07 August 2017

Also Rans


What these two guns have in common is they're early '50's attempts to supplant the existing order.

The AR-10 was to replace the M1 Garand.  It lost to the T-44 which became the M14.

The S&W 39 falls out of an attempt to replace the M1911A1, which was showing its age even in 1950.  The 39 lost to the Army giving up on replacing their pistols due to budgetary concerns.  Sounds familiar doesn't it?

Present Arms



Recover.

You don't see a B-29A doing missing man every day.

Words Of Wisdom

"I'd much rather be happy than right, any day."
--S. Blartfast.


Why don't you go be happy instead of insisting you're right? It's affecting my ability to be happy, it really is!

Except They Was Closed

Our attempt to compare the battle rifles of NATO failed because the range shut down hours early.

Maybe next week.

Had That Talk

Actually mentioned in conversation, that if I were to suddenly drop dead...

To research what my books and guns are worth.

Lots of them are collector's items.

06 August 2017

Y+ 72

Everyone, most especially including North Korea, keeps forgetting that we're the first and only nation to actually use nukes in actual war.

Much is being said about how the Norks have nukes and a delivery system.

What's forgotten is how lopsided that exchange will be.

We will be hurt.  They will be gone.  Gone forever.

It's not like the mutually assured destruction stand off with the USSR.

Top Secret

How odd is it that I never converted Top Secret to GURPS.

That would have been easier than Twilight: 2000.

Perhaps that's the real reason.  You merely need to consult GURPS: Espionage and High Tech for character creation and use the TSR books for the scenarios.

The Expanse

I think my favorite part of The Expanse so far has been Bobbie Draper going to town on the plate of cucumber sandwiches.

It's such a subtle establishing moment about how things are in the universe, and it's done without beating us over the head about them.

Thank Your Fuzzy Lord

If you're my friend on Facebook, you're subjected to random song lyrics and linked Youtube videos.

Because I'm drinking.

It's a serious problem.

Interim Combat Service Rifle

Not wanting rifle makers to feel left out like pistol makers...

Oh wait, this is just like the M4 replacement/upgrade RFP...

What the ICSR must have:

1. Caliber - 7.62x51mm
2. Semi and Full automatic selectable
3. Suppressor capable
4. Safety - Contractor must provide a detailed System Safety Assessment Report in accordance with Data Item Description (DID) attached to this announcement (Attachment 0002) in order to confirm the weapon will pass safety testing.

If it has those four things it will be rated by:

1. Dispersion (300m - function, 600m - simulation)
2. Compatible w/ Future Weapon Sight-I and laser
3. Weapon length (folder or collapsed)/ Weight (empty/bare) / Velocity (300m and 600m calculated)
4. Semi-Automatic and Fully Automatic function testing (bursts and full auto)
5. Noise (at shooter's ear) / Flash suppression
6. Ambidextrous Controls (in darkness or adverse conditions) / Rail interface
7. 20-30 round magazine to support a 210 round combat load
8. Folding sights

For the record...

210 rounds of 7.62x51mm M80A1 is 11.76 lb.
210 rounds of 5.56x45mm M855A1 is 5.88 lb.

Assuming sense breaks out and they adopt the 0.29 lb. magazine Magpul makes...

210 rounds is really 220 and is 11 magazines; for 3.22 lb. of magazines.

15.51 lb. of ammo and magazines.

The FN SCAR-17 is pretty light for a 7.62 NATO rifle.  With it's heavier magazine (1.6 lb. each) it's 8.8 lb. plus 10 spare mages for 16 more pounds for almost 25 lb. for just the gun and its ammo.

Yeah, this is a FUCK YOU Mr Grunt proposal.

I'm willing to bet that they're going to want a clipped barrel version so the suppressor isn't so ungainly long, which will likely bring ballistic performance right back to where 5.56 is right now; gaining nothing at the cost of extra mass.

It's difficult to keep from being cynical about the acquisition process.

05 August 2017

Too Soon?

Maxine Waters phoned the President's office shortly after midnight last night. "I need to talk to President Trump, it's an emergency!", exclaimed Maxine.

After some cajoling, the President's personal assistant agreed to disturb his boss's tweet time. "So, what is it that's so important that it can't wait until morning?", grumbled Trump.

"Supreme Court Judge Ginsburg just died, and I would like to take her place.", she begged.


"Well, it's alright with me, if it's OK with the funeral home.", replied President Trump.

Tax Holiday

This weekend is Florida's annual sales tax holiday on school supplies.

Ammunition is still taxed.

That's unfair.

Same thing happens at the hurricane tax holiday too.

The Last Air Show

The Iowa Air National Guard once did an air show at Des Moines International Airport.

Highlights included the IANG's A-7D's doing the entire Thunderbirds display as an opener (with the Thunderbirds as closers) and a "fuck-it-I'm-retiring-what-are-they-going-to-do-to-me?" mach one pass by a B-1B.

There has not been an air show at this location since.

Congo



Africa is a neglected sphere of history.

Intransigent Glut

Willard got some decent deals on his 7.62 NATO acquisitions.

He got all but the BM-59 from GunBroker.

Looking at some of the local gun and pawn shops prices; I don't think they're aware of the glut.

Put another way, people on GunBroker are looking to sell guns.  The local shops appear to be looking to display their collections.

We're not in the first year of a Hillary Clinton presidency with Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer.

While R across the board doesn't necessarily mean gun stuff is going to get better, it's a near lock that it's not going to get worse.

If gun stuff is not poised to get worse, prices on lots of things deflate rather than inflate.

Things that were affected by the AWB are in the deflation category.

Lots of gun and pawn shops need to be introduced to the "sunk cost" fallacy.

It simply does not matter what you paid for something when selling it.

Read that again.

What you paid does not set the value of the item.  It establishes the price to determine if you're making a profit or taking a loss.

Example.  There's a local pawn shop with a Winchester Model 54 in .30-06.  They've had a $500 price tag on it for the past five years.  Inquiries to see if they can come down on that price are met with a blanket, "we can't change the price" with an implication that the person who can isn't there.

I hate to break it to them...  The only person asking after that rifle is me.  It's not a $500 gun to me.  If there was a $500 buyer in this market, they'd have wandered in and bought the thing by now.  I'd happily offer $300 for it, but can't get them to negotiate.

$300 is more than $0 and makes maintaining the thing someone else's responsibility.

If they paid $400 for it (which I doubt), then $300 is a $100 loss; but a no-sale at $500 is a $400 loss not a $100 gain.

Cue Sarah MacLaughlin

Marv is flat refusing to buy a CETME because "it's ugly".

I keep giving him a heads up on a decent deal for one and he's replied "it will be re-listed because nobody else wants it either."

That makes me think of those late-night SPCA ads with "Eyes of the Angel" running in the back ground with footage of cats and dogs looking all sad and lonely.

I have the lead in to tag line...

"Everyday, millions of firearms go unwanted and unloved..."

Adopt a gun today!

Support No-Bubba shelters.

Themed Two Gun

Italy:
Beretta M951 and Beretta BM-59.
So many places, but it starts in Belgium:
FN Hi-Power and FN FAL.
USA
Colt M1911A1 and Springfield M14.
Someplace in Africa.
S&W Model 39 and Armalite AR-10.
Somewhere nearby in Africa... with someone speaking Portuguese.
Walther P.1 and H&K G3A3.
Poland during Twilight: 2000:
Beretta M9 and Colt M16A2.
USA during the apocalypse:
S&W M&P 9 and Laconic Arms M4A1.
Vietnam, Mekong Delta:
Colt M1911A1 and Colt XM177E2.
Boring Reliability
Glock 17 Gen 2 and PSA PSAKMS.
Someplace that isn't Ames, Iowa:
S&W Sigma SW40F and Laconic Arms VKb.07.

04 August 2017

All NATO

 Top to bottom:

DSA SA-58 Standard standing in for an FN FAL 50.00.

Springfield Armory M1A standing in for a Springfield National Armory M14.

James River Armory BM-59 standing in for a Beretta BM-59.

PTR Model 91 GI standing in for an H&K G3A3.

DPMS LR308 modified with a Faxon barrel to M1956A2 standard standing in for an Artillerie Inrichtingen AR-10.

Some guns are representative of several types.  The FAL covers both inch and metric patterns.  The G3 also covers CETME.  The AR-10 is a poor representation, but this configuration is doable.

We're now soliciting virgin shoulders for firing impressions who can make Florida Firearms Academy, 4321 US Highway 19, New Port Richey, FL 34652 on Sunday 06Aug17 (Hiroshima Day) between 1400 and 1700.

What we're looking to test is how mass, configuration and weight affect perceived recoil.

Speaking of...

FAL, 21" barrel, short stroke gas piston, 10 lb. 13.9 oz.
M1A 22" barrel, White system long stroke gas piston, 11 lb. 6.4 oz.
BM-59, 19.3" barrel, Garand system long stroke gas piston, 11 lb. 15.4 oz.
G3A3, 17.7" barrel, roller-delayed blow-back, 11 lb. 4.4 oz.
M1956A2, 20" barrel, Stoner gas system, 10 lb. 14.9 oz.


Happy 20th Birthday Skynet!

Today, in 1997, Skynet went active.

03 August 2017

A2 vs A2

M16A2 vs M1956A2


Toothless

On the outside, there's a forward assist...


But inside, on the bolt carrier...


Nothing for it to engage on.

Thanks DPMS!

There I Was

There I Was
There I Was
There I Was

IN

THE

CONGO!



The M1956A2 in its native environment pretending it's Portuguese.