24 March 2008

Dottie Is Back From The Range

I just got back from the range and I am quite pleased with the results. 6.8 SPC is the future! Point of impact at 50 yards is just a bit low when zeroed for 100. The fact that I can zero it at 100 says a lot about the accuracy over the 16" 5.56 gun. Recoil is not an issue at all. The flash hider is very effective, just a bit of flash visible inside the slots.

Here she is, looking proud of herself.


Now for the targets.
25 yards. 115gr FMJ Remington Express Rifle just to get it zeroed.


Close up of the ten shot group with the Remington at 25 yards.


SSA 115gr Sierra Match King milspec load at 50 yards. Slow fire.


100 yards with the SSA, just banging away five rounds at a time. The five in the red are the group fired with the 2.5x LaRue Tactical Po-Boy magnifier behind the EOTech. The other five were fired with just the EOTech.

Back From Safari

I have returned to Firefox. Safari does a couple of irritating things. It supports tabbed browsing, but doesn't let me set the default state to open in new tab rather than in a new window. Opening in a new window by default and not being able to change it totally defeats the purpose of tabbed browsing.

Update 02Dec14:

I did eventually solve the tabs issue, but Apple decided that my version of the OS would not be supported by future releases of Safari, so features started dropping off and it's kind of useless for many things now.

Chrome and Firefox still work!

20 March 2008

State Of The Biscayne SS



Here she is at the body shop. Poor thing. Should be soon though.


Please Welcome Dottie And Kaylee




"You will give your rifle a girl's name..." GnySgt Hartman.

Kaylee, left, because she's the girl that you know has proven she can get the job done. Plain, but still sexy.
Dottie, right, because she's a vicious life-sucking bitch from which there is no escape.

One of the key benefits of indecisive friends who are into ARs is the slow accumulation of spare parts. Since the 20" A2 clone was an orphan here (I did manage to sell the upper) and parts were kinda stock piling, I got me a barrel in 6.8x43mm SPC and built Dottie. In the process, Kaylee was returned to KISS configuration.

When Brett finally gets his FFL these girls will be our showcase, presentation guns.

In answer to a comment; this was then:


This is now:


The Lovely Harvey's got a carbine stock. The XM177E1 has been changed back to an A1 upper. The VKb.07 is now a flatop, 16" 6.8x43mm with a carbine stock.

My Side's Specious Argument

This is a fact, it is not in dispute: Persons who obtain a concealed carry permit are the most law abiding members of the society they dwell in.

This is certainly true. It has been proven time and again. It means what I said, that the kind of person who bothers to get a carry permit is also the sort of person who obeys the law.

What that does not mean is if we expanded conceal carry to everyone, all the additional people would be just as law abiding. While they might be just as law abiding, the people who have permits now are not a viable predictor of the behavior of the larger group.

19 March 2008

I'm On Safari

The new version is not that bad. It's missing some things I like from Firefox. It's got some things I wish Firefox had.

All in all, I don't think I have a favorite.

15 March 2008

Happy Birthday

Eighteen years ago today, in Willow Run, Michigan, the Biscayne SS reached final assembly.

In 2003 it looked like this:


In 2005 it looked like this:


In 2006 it looked like this:


It doesn't look like this now. Hopefully we will have it back from the painter soon.

12 March 2008

Quote Of The Random Interval

About the three branches of the US government: "For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms." David Mamet.

10 March 2008

08 March 2008

Quote Of The Random Interval

Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium

I don't speak Latin, so the grammar could be all fucked up and I'd never know. Translation is up to the readers.

Snapshot

Only slowly did I realize that a battle had been raging for some time while I was passed out.

"Angels" were dead everywhere. Most showed signs of being ripped apart. "What the Hell could rip something that shrugs off anything lighter than fifty cal in half?" I thought worriedly.

With that thought hardly formed I caught a motion in the corner of my eye and saw an "angel's" head rolling past. Looking up along the path it had rolled I saw what had to have done the ripping. One of those bear-human things from one of the other worlds that had been sucked here, but this one was much stronger. Those are only as strong as a large man, this one was...

Then I saw him/her/it. It was raptureously beautiful. An "Arch-Angel". You need to be a special kind of dead inside to even think about harming, let alone actually pulling the trigger on one. And you'd better have brought an AT gun or you'd just be giving it a massage.

The Arch swung its flaming sword at the neck of the bear-man. "Damn, that's it for him," I thought. Wrong. The bear-man spun to face the Arch, and caught the sword in its clawed fist. Caught. The. Sword. The Arch struggled to free Its blade as the bear's other hand whipped out and grabbed the Arch's head. The muscles in its forearm convulsed and the Arch's head collapsed under the pressure. With a voice that sounded like Satan gargling gravel it growled, "She! Was! My! Life!"

Let Me Axe You Something

04 March 2008

Heller vs DC

I've been reading the gun grabbers crying about this case. I've been reading the gun-nuts crying about this case.

I have a prediction for the Supreme Court to consider. Quite a few gun owners are convinced that it's too late to vote and too soon to shoot. A decision against Heller would be the last straw. That would be the signal that it's over and it's time to start shooting because there is no other option to get our nation back to its constitutional limits.

The gun grabbers warn that the decision should go against Heller because crime will increase and there will be blood in the streets. Perhaps there will be blood in the streets this time, but bloody revolution not crime.

It should also be noted that the gun-grabber's dire consequences have never come to pass. Ever.

The nation is at a crossroads. Can you feel the tension? I imagine this is what it felt like when the states were squabbling over whether there were would be slavery. This time we are talking about guns. Come to think of it, the immoral side was wrong about blacks too.

Yes, I made a value judgment there.

My Father

I was reading Ravenclaw Eric's Journal about his friend whose father was disappointed in them. While this didn't lead me to associate my behavior with Draco Malfoy, reading it did remind me of something.

My step-mother's brother, Evert (pronounced EE vert), was an approval seeker to his father. Nothing he did was ever good enough. On one occasion, Evert purchased a Harley Davidson over a brand he preferred because his dad liked Harleys. My father explained to me what was going on and said something to the effect of, "Nothing is ever going to be enough, he should quit trying to please his dad and do what he likes."

I am absolutely certain my dad doesn't remember saying that.

I have not attempted to contact him since Father's day 2007 when it became apparent that he would never approve of my life or how I live it. He has not attempted to contact me either.

Yes, it has taken me this long to get over the hurt to mention this out loud. 2007 is the year I lost both parents.

03 March 2008

The Power To Give Anything Is The Power To Take Everything

"These aren't people who seek evil. They are people who seek Good, albeit through dubious means. They are people who blind themselves to the truth that the power for unlimited good is cannot be distinguished, even in principle, from the power for unlimited evil. As such, they do not understand that we oppose them for their means, not their ends, and many believe that we oppose the Good they seek to bring forth, and cannot understand why anyone (other than a reactionary degenerate seeking to preserve a position of oppression based privilege) would oppose such Goodness.

This premise, government as a source of unlimited Good, directly contravenes one of the few axioms upon which America is predicated: that since it is impossible to create a government capable of doing unlimited good without creating a government capable of doing unlimited evil, we shall not make a government so capable, because it will inevitably degenerate into the unlimited evil case."

02 March 2008

XYZZY

I did it!  Google is your friend for geekery...

1, down: Greedo
2, down: Higgs
3, down: Friday
3, across: Floyd
4, down: Star Destroyers
5, across: Tiberius
6, across: Top Secret
7, down: Archie
8, across: John Koenig
9, down: Myrmidon
10, across: Zathras
11, across: Bohr
12, across: Inconceivable
13, across: Tim The Enchanter
14, across: Zork
15, across: Space Taxi
16, down: Alan Cox
17, across: Newton
18, down: LOX
19, across: Vogons

Bold Underlined letters were a word scramble.  That translated to some game, XYZZY.  Who knew?