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There's a company, 2nd Amendment Bourbon, that packages their whisky in faux gun cases.
We succumbed to the marketing gimmick.
We've seen three different colored cases, hunter orange, OD green and S&W blue. We'd just come back from shooting our S&W's so...
The little metal shot glass is patterned like a revolver cylinder!
But, how is it?
Oh my! It's good! I think I have a new favorite bourbon.
Zev connector on top, standard Glock connector on the bottom.
The Zev has just a bit more angle to make the trigger bar drop more easily.
One of the constant concerns that our allies have had about the F-35 was the online maintenance portion of the plane.
They point out that it's a vulnerability should someone hack in and be malicious.
Lockmart doesn't even need to hack in to disable who knows how much on the thing should we decide that we're upset with them...
Europe, including many NATO nations, is denying use of their airspace and the bases we've been using in their territory.
While this is their right, I don't think they've thought this through.
I mentioned before that if no oil is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, we're not really affected if we decline to sell our petroleum on the world market.
We're even less affected if we pull our Navy back to our side of the pond and prevent oil from leaving the Americas for parts ungrateful.
Free copies of "The Little Red Hen" available to European leaders on request.
Something they really haven't considered is: "What if WE close the strait?"
What are they gonna do about that?
Send their navies? Send their air forces?
They sure aren't sending their armies, they need our airlift to do that.
While we feared the fuel pump or the fuel pressure control module, it looks like it might be chewed wiring from a rodent's nest and bad cam timing solenoids.
The mechanic is reasonably confident this will take care of it.
Eyes crossed.
The sad thing is I'd replaced the solenoids six years and 13k miles ago. Mutter mutter mutter.
At least this time we'll have a warranty!
Marv did much the same experiment with his Ex-LEO Glock 21 Gen 3 Slim-Frame.
Stock it ran 7 lb. 8 oz. dirty and gritty. 7 lb. 14 oz. all cleaned up and polished.
Since the safety trigger stands proud of the real trigger, he found it irksome at this weight.
So he ordered the Zev connector and NY1 trigger spring before I did. His talking about it is why I wanted to experiment here.
With the NY1 spring and Zev connector he gets a FIRM 8 lb. 2 oz. pull, exacerbating the trigger safety problem.
Going back to the stock spring drops the pull to 5 lb. 14 oz. This is where he's decided to land.
Like I mentioned before, the best trigger pull is personal and it's cool we can personalize our guns.
My Glock 21 Gen 2 is a crisp 5.5 lb. with the standard connector and standard spring.
Replacing the connector with the Zev using the standard spring gets a scary light 4.7 lb.
Using the standard connector with the NY1 spring gets a gritty 9.6 lb.
Replacing the connector with the Zev and using the NY1 spring gets a gritty 8.1 lb. pull.
I ordered an NY1 trigger spring and a Zev Technologies pro-connector.
My Glock 17 Gen 2 is a crisp 6.5 lb. with the standard connector and standard spring.
Replacing the connector with the Zev using the standard spring gets a crisp 5.5 lb.
Using the standard connector with the NY1 spring gets an erratic 8 to 11 lb. pull averaging at 9 lb.
Replacing the connector with the Zev and using the NY1 spring gets an interesting 8 lb. pull. It builds to that break and is very consistent.
What I don't care for with the NY1 trigger is it binding up on disassembly and needing the trigger pulled again to free it. It's like the worst of Glock and M&P on take-apart.
I also don't care for the little bit of trigger rebound after the sear breaks.
I was happy with the stock trigger, so I've reinstalled it and I'm marking this as an experiment.
I might see if I get completely different results from my Glock 21.
Or not...
Peddle, the national car buyer, gave me the number of the tow place.
The reason they didn't come last night was their driver quit on them.
That sucks.
They were, however, willing to let me drive Noxious to them. So I did.
They cut a check, I signed over the title, and we're done!
But there was a surprise in our visit...
The back office of the auto-shop is a gun shop!
I noticed by the Luger hanging on the back wall and the owner and I started talking about Lugers.
He's got a 1914 artillery model with all the magazines, holster and stock... Paging Mr Fleetwood on the "I can't fucking afford that discourtesy phone!"
Traveller is a gigantic universe using just the published materials, let alone the shared stuff that GM's did on their own.
Traveller also has more than one published timeline, depending on the publisher.
OG GDW goes into Megatraveller and a new long night.
GURPS: Traveller and Mongoose reject the event that leads to that dark night.
"Long night? NEW long night? What are you on about, Thag?"
If you know Traveller history then you know that The Long Night is the collapse of the 2nd Imperium before the rise of the 3rd Imperium. It's 1,500 years long.
In the generic Traveller campaign, it's 1,100 years ago.
I know all this because I've been playing since before this was established.
A problem for a new player is their character is FROM the Imperium. They grew up there, they took history classes in school, they were raised with the cultural norms of the Empire.
How do they learn this?
Well, technically, they can learn the same way I did. Open the books and read up on it!
Just the GURPS books are a stack more than a foot tall.
I read it in little bites from 1980 or so to present.
It's a big ask to expect the player to read all that.
So, how does one get a person from TL8 USA to make a character from TL11 3rd Imperium?
I figured out a cheat.
Have them make a character from a TL8 world that joined the Imperial military.
The Imperium pretty much HAS to have a training program to bootstrap people from low-tech backwaters to productive members of the military; otherwise only the high-population, industrial and technologically developed worlds will be carrying the entire load of defending the place.
The military isn't so much interested in their recruits learning Imperial culture, as they are to get them effective at their MOS.
So our prospective character has Cultural Familiarity in their home TL8 culture and their branch of service and they get to learn Imperial culture on the fly as the game proceeds!
An entire party of these waifs works because there are a lot of undeveloped worlds.
I suddenly see how the Traveller's Aid Society came into being!
Apparently, the national company that's buying Noxious hires a handy, local, towing company to come seal the deal.
Also, apparently, they don't bother to check to see if that local towing company will be open during the promised pickup time.
So I sat here waiting between 3 and 8 pm for them when they closed at 5.
I'm betting they didn't even know they were supposed to come get the car.
I guess we'll see tomorrow.
The reason we couldn't find the title for Noxious was we never had it.
We bought Noxious from a local car dealer and they filed the purchase as "release of lien" instead of "paid in full" and the system expects the lein holder to then request a title for the purchaser.
Because the car was paid for in full, the fine folks at the dealer didn't realize they'd checked the wrong box and our title has been electronically held for the past 8 years.
So, instead of $76 or so for a replacement title, I paid just under $13 for a first title. Plus I took it home the same day.
Even more fun!
If you use one of the third party title services you pay between $150 and $180 depending how you want it shipped and wait one to three weeks for it. Regardless of whether it's an initial title or a replacement.
Glad I spent the 45 minutes at the motor vehicle office today.
I forgot to mention that when comparing the definitions from a paper dictionary to an online dictionary on your blog:
You're going to be doing some typing because the copy paste function from paper to blog is so non-functional it is nigh nonexistent. Wait. It's ACTUALLY nonexistent.
No. Going back to nigh...
I used a high resolution optical scanner to transfer the words to an advance neural net processor to transcribe the words digitally.
In a sense, I used the oldest computer I own to copy paste.
When you sell a car, you tend to need a title.
We found the titles for Moxie, The Beast, and the bill of sale for Technomad's Bluesmobile II.
No title for Noxious.
Well, poop.
A fun filled time at the DMV tomorrow!
When the aftermarket starts making more parts for your car, it's a good sign.
Pedders has offered a coil-over conversion for the 2011-2013 Caprice PPV for a few years now. Years before 2011 because it's the same kit as the 2008-2009 Pontiac G8.
Recently they've begun selling MacPherson struts for use with the conventional springs.
They're a lot more expensive than the OEM Monroe's were, but they're making them at all.
The Monroe's are all bought up and out of production.
KYB still makes struts for the car, but only sells them in Australia. In fact, you have your choice of several brands in Oz... Almost as if the car was from Australia and there's a lot more of them on the road down-under.
Noxious had relatively new tires on her.
Moxie's were definitely in need of being replaced on the front, and all four TPMS sensors were dead.
So Marv and I swapped the wheels and tires from Moxie to Noxious and now Moxie has working TPMS again!
The battery for my sensor activator was mostly dead and the spare had the same expiration date, but I got lucky and got them programmed. Every car has a sweet spot for this tool and it's against the sidewall near the stem on these sensors.
We're going to swap anything that's better on Noxious to Moxie this weekend and the off to the "we buy any car!" place.
Tonight, from 8:30 to 9:30 PM local time you are supposed to shut off everything to show your support for...
Living like a rutting caveman or something.
Bollocks to that!
I'm putting a space heater to blow on my air conditioner's thermostat with all the lights on and all four cars idling in the driveway.
Duke Power sent me a thank-you card last year for my efforts!
Decided to try my luck at 10 yards instead of the customary 7.
With the S&W M&P 9 2.0 Compact, a double tap at each of the red circles, alternating as fast as I can. I'm better from the last time I tried this and didn't post the picture I took. Not a lot better, but most of the rounds are in the circles now.
With the Browning Hi-Power, mag dump at the throat circle. Even though it bites, I love my HP!
Harvey did recoil therapy and her groups are doing well.
Marv tested his new G21.3 and it's a shooter. He's gonna tinker with the trigger some. Almost 8 lb. is a bit too heavy even though it's crisp. I think I like the slim frame better than the chonky frame of my G21.2; not that I plan on replacing it.
The best trigger is the one you like and you shoot well.
That might not be the same trigger as the person standing next to you.
A light trigger will disturb your aim less. This is why some high-end rifles have set-triggers. This is why Savage made the Accutrigger® and just about everyone else followed suit.
The problem with a light trigger is it's easier to make the gun go off when you don't want it to.
This is why set triggers are usually very heavy until you pull the set (which is really just partially pulling the trigger to the very edge of the sear).
This is why the Accutrigger® has a Glock-like trigger block in the middle of the trigger.
This is why SIG did a, voluntary, recall and upgrade to the P320; because the trigger (not the trigger pull) was heavy enough to have enough inertia to set the gun off if it fell just right. A lighter trigger and improved firing pin block cured THAT source of unintended discharge.
So, go heavier?
Go too heavy and your disturbing your aim pulling against the sear. Accuracy suffers and you stop shooting the gun.
Most people have a sweet spot between too heavy and too light and it's a preference thing about how much.
The pistols I shoot best break in the mid 6-pound range, or less.
But the weight of the trigger pull isn't everything and when you've got your adrenaline going, you're not really going to notice. Do a 2-gun match and you'll see what I'm talking about. The people with the light target triggers often miss more because they're pulling way harder than they did on a square range. Until they get used to the experience, of course.
Other factors:
How long is the take-up? Does it even HAVE a take-up?
How gritty is the trigger?
Does it break at the same place every time?
Does it break at the same pull every time?
Is the break crisp or mushy?
I like a smooth take-up and a crisp break, though I don't think I know anyone who likes a mushy break.
With take-up, grit, creep, and mush... you can still have an atrocious, but light, trigger.
Without them, you can have an outstanding, but heavy, trigger.
The smooth, crisp, but heavy, trigger will tend to shoot better for most people.
Top to bottom: Glock 17 Gen 2, Glock 21 Gen 2, Glock P80 (Gen 3 guts).
All the unmarked "5.5 lb." connector.
The 17.2 has a 6 lb. 8 oz. pull, the 21.2 has a 3 lb. 12 oz. pull, the P80 has a 6 lb. 13 oz. pull.
Go figure.
Marv took to polishing the parts on his new Glock and got the trigger pull from 7.5 lb. to 8 lb.!
But it's BETTER.
No more creepy, gritty take up and the break is crisp and in the same place every time.
I think Tam wrote a whole thing about a heavier, but crisp trigger being preferable to a light one; but I can't find it. My search-foo is failed.
Several places describing protective masks are including the complete kit in the weight and not breaking it apart into component parts weight.
For example:
The M25 mask includes the mask, hood, carrier, decontamination kit and atropine set.
TM 3-4240-280-10 says 6.25 lb with carrier, but no mention of the decon or atropine. Since the filter is attached to the carrier in the M25 mask, it makes sense to have it be 6.25 lb.
I mean, that's what I was issued, but that's not my natural way of showing it on a character sheet.
Got some preliminary stats on the XM8 Carbine².
Shortening the barrel and making the stock non-folding saves a pound.
Shortening the suppressor saves 0.2 lb.
Increasing the magazine capacity from 20 to 25 rounds gains 0.1 lb. each.
So a loaded (20 rounds) M7 Carbine Rifle with M157 and suppressor is 16.2 lb. 24.6 lb. with a basic load of 6 spare mags.
A loaded (25 rounds) XM8 Carbine² with M157 and suppressor is 15.1 lb. 24.1 lb. with a basic load of 6 spare magazines.
A loaded (30 rounds) M4A1 Carbine with M68 is 8.4 lb. 14.4 lb. with a basic load of 6 spare magazines. Adding a KAC NT-4 QDSS suppressor adds 1.5 lb. to that (9.9 and 15.9 pounds total).
SIGH.
I "eagerly" await the reports of the smaller suppressor's longevity soaking up the muzzle blast from the shorter barrel.
I still wonder if the 4.9 lb. I have seen reported for the M157 is flat wrong or not. It's bulky enough to be that heavy. With no magazine or suppressor I've seen 8.36 lb for the M7 "rifle" and 1.46 for its suppressor and that adding up to "11-12" pounds with the optic.
That's just 1.16 to 2.26 pounds for the M157.
Don't forget to add the 1.4 lb. magazine!
Now we're at 12.4 to 13.4 pounds for the loaded gun with optics and suppressor and 21.8 lb. for a gun and basic load worst case.
This will drop the XM8 down to 11.3 to 12.3 lb. with optics and suppressor and 21.3 lb for a gun and basic load at worst.
That's a lot better, but I cannot find ANY source telling me which weight is correct for the M157.
I saw Venus and Luna in the evening sky last week and took a pic because it was pretty to me.
Steve Wozniak expounds on "you will own nothing and (dis)like it."
It's a growing problem and most people aren't any more aware of it than a fish is aware of water.
FuzzyGeff, first made me aware of the ancestor of this problem back when he asked me to look up Stalin in a paper dictionary.
"Does your dictionary say, "a Soviet politician," or, "a Soviet politician and dictator?"
Other things to check are the definitions of Nazi and Fascism.
I was shocked, all those years ago, that definitions had changed between editions.
Then I was angry, because words mean something.
For example: Vaccine and inoculate were changed while I watched during COVID.
Amusingly, my Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary from 1959 contains some archaic stuff.
Vaccine: adj 1. Of, pertaining to, or derived from cows, or, especially in technical use, cows afflicted with vaccinia or inoculated with its virus; as, vaccine lymph. 2. Of, or pertaining to vaccinia or vaccination. n 1. Matter or a preparation containing the virus of cowpox or vaccinia, in a form used for vaccination. 2. In general any substance for preventative inoculation, especially, a suspension of sensitized, attenuated, or killed, bacteria, called preferably bacterial vaccine, injected into the body to induce immunity to the same species of bacteria and their toxins.
Note that second noun definition and "induce immunity".
Here's the current definition from Merriam-Webster's website:
1: a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body's immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease: such as a: an antigenic preparation of a typically inactivated or attenuated (see attenuated sense 2) pathogenic agent (such as a bacterium or virus) or one of its components or products (such as a protein or toxin) b: a preparation of genetic material (such as a strand of synthesized messenger RNA) that is used by the cells of the body to produce an antigenic substance (such as a fragment of virus spike protein)2: a preparation or immunotherapy that is used to stimulate the body's immune response against noninfectious substances, agents, or diseases.
1: a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body's immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease: such as a: an antigenic preparation of a typically inactivated or attenuated (see attenuated sense 2) pathogenic agent (such as a bacterium or virus) or one of its components or products (such as a protein or toxin)
a trivalent influenza vaccineoral polio vaccineb: a preparation of genetic material (such as a strand of synthesized messenger RNA) that is used by the cells of the body to produce an antigenic substance (such as a fragment of virus spike protein)
Many vaccines are made from the virus itself, either weakened or killed, which will induce antibodies to bind and kill a live virus. Measles vaccines are just that, weakened (or attenuated) measles viruses.—Ann Finkbeiner et al.
… a tetanus toxoid-containing vaccine might be recommended for wound management in a pregnant woman if [greater than or equal to] 5 years have elapsed … .—
In addition the subunit used in a vaccine must be carefully chosen, because not all components of a pathogen represent beneficial immunological targets.—
The Pfizer [COVID-19] vaccine—unlike the seasonal flu shot—does not contain the virus or viral material. Rather, it is an mRNA or messenger RNA vaccine, which creates a piece of genetic code that instructs the cells to create proteins which trigger an immune response.—
Viral vector vaccines, another recent type of vaccine, are similar to DNA and RNA vaccines, but the virus's genetic information is housed in an attenuated virus (unrelated to the disease-causing virus) that helps to promote host cell fusion and entry.—
Note: Vaccines may contain adjuvants (such as aluminum hydroxide) designed to enhance the strength and duration of the body's immune response.
2: a preparation or immunotherapy that is used to stimulate the body's immune response against noninfectious substances, agents, or diseases
The U.S. Army is also testing a ricin vaccine and has reported success in mice.—
… many of the most promising new cancer vaccines use dendritic cells to train the immune system to recognize tumor cells.—
Those are not the same. Are they?
I also love how they include some extra stuff as examples that is really just justification for no longer using the word as it once was used. Definitions aside, people use vaccinated to mean immunity because vaccines for hundreds of deadly diseases means you don't catch them. It does not mean that you have an easier time dealing with your smallpox, it means that you don't break out in blisters at all!
How does this relate to Woz and not owning anything?
Because in 2018 the Merriam-Webster definition of vaccine was:
1: matter or a preparation containing the virus of cowpox used to vaccinate a person against smallpox
2: a preparation of killed microorganisms, living attenuated organisms, or living fully virulent organisms that is administered to produce or artificially increase immunity to a particular diseasechicken pox vaccine; also :a mixture of several such vaccines
measles-mumps-rubella vaccine
My paper dictionary didn't change when the CDC and WHO redefined vaccine to explain why you weren't getting any immunity to COVID despite being vaccinated against it.
The online dictionary changed and if you didn't have a paper version, or think to check the Wayback Engine, you would never know they changed it.
I tried to share a picture with Marv with regards to the guts of his new Glock purchase.
This information is scoured from the internet.
A word I'm entirely too familiar with is hypocrisy.
Have you noticed how many things are wrong conditionally and the condition is whom caused it?
Gas is over $4 when Biden or Obama is president: This is good. We're saving the planet, you should drive less!
Gas is over $4 when Trump is president: This is bad. There's no qualifier like there is for saving the planet.
Black people can be as racist as they want. Brown people can be as racist as they want.
Muslims can be as intolerant and homophobic as they want.
Indians can discriminate in hiring all they want.
If you're in a protected category, you can break the law for, literally, decades until you finally do something the press is concerned about. If you're not, you can catch a felony for behavior that didn't even seem like a crime when you did it (look up three felonies a day).
If you are in a protected category, any slight against you is a hate crime. If you are not, then even actual crime isn't treated as criminal in many cases; especially theft.
Speech and words are forbidden to you if you're white, straight and male. These same words may be freely used if you are not. There are no slurs about straight white men that are off limits to anyone.
Racism is racism regardless of whom does it.
Sexism is sexism regardless of whom does it.
Hate is hate.
Crime is criminal.
Discrimination is discrimination.
Now, to separate this rant from Storm Front...
I don't want it to be OK for white people to be racist. I want it to be wrong for ANYONE to be racist.
I don't want it to be OK for men to be sexist. I want it to be wrong for ANYONE to be sexist.
I don't want it to be OK for straight people to be intolerant. I want it to be wrong for ANYONE to be intolerant.
OR
I want it to be OK for EVERYONE to be racist, sexist or intolerant and let the games begin. Because nobody likes it, except straight white men, when that happens.
You want racism? We're good at it and only stopped because we were convinced that it was wrong.
What you're doing now is convincing us that, though racism was wrong, it was a mistake to stop being racist. Which isn't really related, but being punished for being racist without getting any credit for the work done to end racism by white people makes us feel a bit put upon.
The entire idea was that black people and white people were equal and could be the same.
That includes following the rules, obeying the law and observing the social norms. If we're equal, it's easy! If not, then you shouldn't be granted access to things you cannot handle. Like the children the Klan insists you are.
Why, in Gods sake, are you out there proving the inbred morons of the KKK right? Granted that it's just a stopped clock being right twice a day moment but it's getting uncanny how you announce the time twice a day.
In short, stop fucking around and actually join Western Civilization.
It's a great deal. Western Civ gave us the USA and "Liberty and Justice for all."
But that's not the only tool in the Western Civ toolbox. Fascism and Communism are from Western Civ too. You get to choose, but two of them you can vote your way into, not out of.
1 is 1.
Two things I know from doing a lot of research for GURPS: WW2 and doing some reinacting.
The K-ration was not intended to be eaten for very long.
Many troops got them exclusively for a very long time.
He should have gotten a few more C-rations.
I still find it telling that the Army and Vortex have not released a weight for the M157 optic.
You can infer its mass from other published numbers, but still.
Back in April 2022 I closed on talking about the, then, XM5 that SIG's plan might have been to get the MCX-Spear in the door and once the boondoggle nature of the 6.8x51mm's extreme chamber pressures and expensive case construction were impossible to deny...
"Hey, look we have almost the same gun in 5.56, the troops don't even have to learn new controls!" - SIG Marketing Dept.
Daosus in the comments wondered something similar when they mentioned that 6.8x51 is MUCH heavier than 5.56x45.
Something else the troops complained about was the small magazine size and SIG offered a 25 rounder. Using the SR-25 magwell means you can take advantage of a wider selection than proprietary magazines would.
But... Larger magazines don't cure the weight problem. 25% more of the same cartridge is 25% more mass.
A PMAG LR 25-rounder all loaded up is 1.5 lb. each, which isn't too much more than the 1.4 lb. 20-rounder, but still it's an additional 0.7 lb. to lug around to get an extra 35 rounds, or 175 total.
One gets the impression that the troops want their 210 round, 7 lb. ammo load back instead of a 140 round 9.8 lb. load or a 10.5 lb. 175 round load.
And even the lighter XM8 is still heavier than the M4...
Today we welcome Marv into the cult club of double-stack .45 ACP goodness. Also into the Cult of Gaston.
He's obtained an ex-cop Glock 21.3SF. (That's model 21, Gen 3, slim-frame).
Glock Talk's serial number project has not yet reached his prefix, so we're not sure exactly when it was made. Guessing 2011 from the number on the trigger bar.
The trigger breaks with a crisp 7.5 lb; but the take up is atrociously gritty.
The gritty could be from it having never been cleaned in the approximately 15 years it has been in service.
From the pattern of scratches and wear, it was worn by a right handed officer.
It's ever so much lighter than my Gen 2 and the "slim" part of the frame is in the palm. We didn't know that.
I expect we're going to be making a range report before too long.
First: The M7 is not a rifle, it's a carbine. It's in the same series as the M1 and M4 carbines.
I have long giggled about the M1 carbine not actually being a carbine because a carbine is traditionally a shorter version of a rifle.
The M1 Carbine isn't a shorter version of anything.
I noticed, and mentioned, that the M4 was a real carbine because it was a short M16.
The M7 isn't a shorter anything and I don't know where on the rifle list it should come out if you wanted to call a 13.5" barreled gun a rifle. M111 since there's a Knight's Armament M110? Higher? Dunno.
That makes this really funny is the M7 has finally had troop and field trials in the form of issuing them to the 101st Airborne.
They felt it was too heavy and too long.
So SIG is lopping 2" off the barrel and ditching the folding stock give us the XM8 Carbine (no relation).
A carbine version of a carbine.
For some reason the gnome on the left reminds us of Willard.
Maybe it's the cigar.
This is a capture of a warning from The Gasmask and Respirator Wiki article on the M25 mask.
I wore an M25 often and for hours at a time.
The filter in question is the M10A1. The, older, M10 filter sometimes contained asbestos.
Pick your brand of lung cancer!
I don't have any lung cancer at the moment, but the list of potential carcinogens (real ones not just shit that causes cancer in California) I was exposed to in tanks is getting longer and longer.
I'd been all worried about exposure to turbo-shaft oil and the gas mask was what I really should have been paying attention to!
I am thinking that being a corrective phrenologist (<--spell checker knew this word!) would suit me to the bone.
They say do something you love and you will never work a day in your life.
I don't see it listed in any college catalogs though.
h/t FuzzyGeff for the career name.
All Winchester Model 54 rifles are pre-64 because they stopped making them in 1936.
Dear sellers, you don't need to say that they're pre-64 guns.
Something I've found interesting in the pre-64 Winchester Model 70 market is how few 30-06 guns I've seen for sale.
Bunches and bunches of .270 Win guns though.
This is the inverse of the Model 54, where .30-06 guns are the majority.
I noticed because I have a .30-06 Model 54 and I window-shop for a .270 to go with it.
I keep a spreadsheet of all the maintenance and modifications I do to the cars.
That includes a date and mileage for when the maintenance is done.
This has helped with insurance twice now.
First was when they totaled The Precious and "calculated" a mileage value to devalue the car. I'd recently changed the oil, so I knew there were many fewer miles on her than what they quoted and it got me a bigger check.
The second time was today when I got Alice on the policy to replace Noxious. Despite both being 2013 Chevy Equinoxes, Alice was $71 a year more to insure. Dunno how they figure this shit out, but if they wanna play games, so can I.
To the spreadsheet!
Thanks to work from home and a general case of "don't go no where." we're far below the "average" person's 12,000 to 15,000 miles per year.
The Beast is actually being driven about 5,000 miles per year. Noxious was being driven about 4,000.
So I changed the values from 10,000 and 8,500, respectively, and dropped my insurance even lower than before we started.
If they complain about the miles, I can give them a spreadsheet showing my oil changes!
How long is this guy gonna last before something kills him?
Related: We decline your request to be fucking idiots about this little war.
There's a recurring theme about how the world should work in that the people living near where resources are extracted should benefit from said extraction.
That they should have wealth and comfort from it.
Here's one for y'all. It's not required.
If, say, France needs oil; then a French petroleum engineer can figure out where it is, bring a bunch of French roughnecks in to drill for it and then use a French team to set up pumps, pipelines and wharfs to get it on ships crewed by French sailors.
There's no need to pay a single, say, Iranian for any of this except out of common decency.
The world has seen what it gets for giving common decency to the regime of the past forty some years.
So, Mr Rezaee, you've been paid as much as you're going to get.
Perhaps some decent folks who will reciprocate with decency when they receive it will take your place. We might help THEM rebuild.
Noxious, a 2013 Equinox has been replaced with Alice the White Horse, a 2013 Equinox LT.
Harvey is extremely happy with spending $400 a month paying it off for the next year.
It's lower miles, in better condition and not falling apart.
Noxious has a myriad of issues.
Paint is coming off the top surfaces.
Hatch seal is chewed from constant ham-fisted Father-In-Law "assistance" with MIL's wheel chair.
AC clutch is dying on a good compressor.
The electronic brake control module has 90% failed.
But the real reason to bail is the excessive blow-by has blown the crank seal.
The LEA engine is known for this and you either have the bad rings, or you don't.
Moxie has the good rings. Noxious doesn't. Alice seems to have the good rings. The 2013 I looked at Saturday definitely had the bad ones, worse than Noxious, but it had not clogged the PCV and blown the crank seal... yet.
We're confident we got a car that someone loved and took care of.
