With A Sense Of Excitement And Dread

Alms?  Alms For the M1911A1?

CMP just emailed my lottery number.

2765.

Low enough that a demand for payment information will be coming soon.

How soon remains to be seen.

They've been averaging 100 emails per business day and 27 calls for payment.

Based on the numbers from a couple of forums, I have until mid-February to hork up the money.

Holy crap, I think this is going to happen.

Ideal For Conceal Carry

The shop had an unknown set of target stocks.  Willard happened to have a K-frame on his person to see if they fit.

They do, but it's ridiculous.

Many Small Installments It Is

Willard indicates that, as a Trained Survivor of Ranger School, he is immune to my primitive mind-wipe techniques.

He did not rule out my paying for the 15-3.

While much more expensive than the time-tested Ranger-Mind-Wipe method of bashing him in the head with a hammer...  giving him money is far more socially acceptable and legal than assault with a deadly weapon.

How many months of $10 a month until it's paid off?

Uh...

Shocking

Two things from this photo from this article.

First: They still make Hamm's?

Second: It's outselling Miller Lite, PBR, Coors and Miller High Life?

If You Name Your Child Abcde

Not only do you deserve to be mocked over picking such an idiotic name, you should be prosecuted for child abuse.

Obviously this "parent" is not competent to raise a child.

It's OK Anne, We Got Better

Anne Hathaway is concerned that her country is gassing children.

It's OK, Anne, we were men by the end of OSUT.

I guarantee you, Ms Hathaway, we got substantially heavier doses than can be delivered outdoors.

I got it twice because I foolishly dropped my helmet-liner when I unmasked.

What The Actual Fuck?

Snipes is going to get a $130,000 pension after all this shit?

Clearly this obeying the law and having integrity is never going to pay off.

First You Outlive Your Critics

It really changes the tone of Tombstone doesn't it?

Clearly I Will Deserve Substantial Financial Compensation

If the Democrats get their way and maternity leave is made mandatory I am suing.

It's discrimination against me on several counts but most notably:

The very word maternity evokes the feminine discriminating against me as a man.

It further underscores my inability to bear children due to Y chromosome sexual dimorphism.

It makes people without a recent childbirth second class citizens by denying them the right to take months off and have a job when they return.

Please stand with me against this bigotry.

Forty Four

That was the outside temperature I was confronted with this morning.

It will be warm again in a couple of days, then cold, then warm then...

Welcome to Suncoast Florida!

I am especially glad I went with all-season tires this time instead of the max-performance summer.

When it gets this chilly, those summer tires aren't sticky at all.

Gonna Have Forearms Like Popeye

Now that I've finally found the hold that lets me shoot the M&P without the annoying twitch as the sear breaks I've been dry firing a lot.

Holding it harder seems to help a lot.

I can sure feel it in my muscles down there.

Prolly going to get a blister on my thumb... (big hands you know you're the one).

Masterpiece For A Reason

The Model 15-3 is a shooter.

Not only that, the double action groups are nearly as small as the single action.

And this is with PMC's .38 Special range fodder.

I think I will either have to pay Willard for this gun or mind-wipe him into forgetting he left it here.

T-Shirt Idea

A tab with "SPECIAL FORCES" in it.

Underneath, "No, not like Green Beret; like Education."

Are The '80's Retro?

Brownell's is getting ready to release a 1980's throwback 1911.

They're calling it retro, but are the 80's retro?

I remember this debate from the retro section of Arfcom, arguably the people who coined the term in relation to guns.

They put a cut-off on retro to just past the end of Vietnam.

The M16A2 isn't retro.

The M16A2 is from the '80's...

See where this is leading?

How old does something have to be before it's retro?

The barometer in clothing and cars is when the vintage parts become valuable when there's a groundswell in interest and recreating the look of an era.

I don't see anyone besides CBS doing the '80's...

Are the fashions of Miami Vice coming back?

Are the guns of Miami Vice back in vogue?

The prices on S&W 645's don't seem much higher than a couple years ago.

I don't think the '80's are retro... yet.

Brownell's could be the pioneer that starts a trend though!

Bring on the Armani wrinkled suits and wearing penny-loafers without socks!

"NO EARTH TONES!" M. Mann.

Drill Frackin' Drill Baby

I cannot remember a Thanksgiving season, the biggest travel holiday in America, where the gas prices went down before.

When more demand chases a given supply, the price goes up.

Demand was higher this year than last year, and the prices went down.  Last year prices went up 30¢ a gallon from late October to November ($2.119 to $2.419).  This year prices went from $2.549 in late October to $2.179 today, a fall of 37¢.  Early October was $2.699...

That says that supply is outstripping demand, despite the increase.

More pipeline capacity is coming online, I expect to see prices drop even further and possibly stay down for a while.

I Had The Tools Out Anyway

Nudged the rear sight over the 0.0171" and noticed the old trigger sitting in the Apex Action Enhanced Trigger Kit and I remembered that I used the stock sear return spring.

"What the heck?" I asked myself and put in the heavier spring that came with the kit.

It's increased the trigger from 5 lb. 10 oz. to 6 lb. 1 oz., but it's much crisper feeling.

Got to take it to the range to see if it changes my shooting any.

I tend to fall on the side of a heavier, but sharper trigger than lighter and softer.

Adulting Sucks

All this being responsible and paying the bills sure cuts into the fun.

This time of year is especially difficult with all the sales going on.

I've got an AR project on hold that needs an upper and Palmetto sure has a deal on for a complete one.

Worse is when you thought you'd squirreled away some money for something and life intercedes and that money disappears for life's needs.  Having two of Harvey's relatives drop dead in the same year takes a toll on the finances.

I guess the good news about squirreling is there was money there for life to take.

I didn't want to grow up!  I wanted to remain a Toy-R-Us kid.

How Shiny Can I Get This Cannonball

My M&P shoots just a bit left.

23/32" left on average.

To move the rear sight to compensate means moving it 0.0171".

I have the tools, do I have the patience?

Brew Toofs

The Motoz3 does not have a headphone jack.

It only has a USB-C port.

Motorola thoughtfully included an adapter to let you use wired headphones, but when it's plugged in you can't charge your phone.

$3 (THREE BUCKS!) to China got a small tube which puts Bluetooth to a headphone jack.

In theory this will let me charge the phone while driving and listening to the music stored on the phone or making phone calls through the car's speakers.

It's inelegant.

Happily, it also works with the aux cable I already have for this purpose.

If this gets too tiresome, there are also Y style adapters for the USB C that have a tail for the headphone plug and a tail for the USB too.

Do You Know What This Is?

I was very tempted to open this envelope because I'd never seen one before.

It's a .45 ACP cleaning rod.

We didn't have them in my line unit.  We used M16 cleaning kits.

To find that there was a supply, still in the wrapper, is really disheartening.

Well, not really still in the wrapper.  This rod was encased in this wrapper in July 2004.  No idea if it was was turned in and wrapped or unwrapped from old stock, inspected and re-wrapped.

What I do know is we didn't have them.  In a line unit.  In Germany.  At the height of The Cold War.

Oddly I Am Relieved

The fact that Marv got a good Remington-Rand after I goaded him into it has made me feel much less anxious about my number not coming up.

I fully expect to never be contacted by the CMP at this time and I am oddly OK with it.

It's strange because I DO really want one.  I just don't NEED one anymore.

I live vicariously through Marv at times.

Two For Two

"I hope you stayed out of jail and off YouTube this Black-Friday weekend!"

SUCCESS!

Batch 15 Of 15

A relatively local distillery, Siesta Key, ages some runs of their rum in beer barrels.

It's quite good.  Unfortunately for you out of state people, you have to buy it from the distillery pretty much the same week it's released.

A Sad Collection Of Parts

Marv's Winchester '94 is dead.

Someone cracked the tang in the way back.

Took it to a gunsmith today to ask if it could be welded.

The receivers on the 1970's guns aren't suitable for such, he says.

So it's off to the graving yard and to be dismantled for parts.

Need anything from a 1971 Win 94 in .30-30?

Integrity And The Siren's Call

I once asked for, and received, a BelOMO PK-01VS red-dot for review.

I gave it my honest assessment and ran a long term battery test (you can see those at the posts in the link.)

In the back of my mind was the thought, "If this thing sucks balls and I say so, will they send me more stuff to review?"

It didn't suck balls, but I've never asked for anything else to review.

The engineer/designer half of me thinks that a review should always be honest and that the manufacturer should treat negative reviews as an opportunity to improve their product.

If your product doesn't suck balls, then you've no need to pressure writers for good reviews; they will happen on their own.

Even if your product doesn't suck balls, there's only so much that can be said about it.

The PK-01VS, for example, it's a red dot.  If the reader knows what a red dot is, then 2/3 of what you can say about it is already written in the reader's mind.  What's left is how it mounts, does it co-witness, what does it weigh, does it keep zero after remounting and what does it cost?

It's not new and innovative in a world where Aimpoint has been around for decades.

But what if it had sucked?

On the strength of my experience with the PK-01VS, Marv bought a BelOMO PO3.5x21P.

He wanted magnification where I didn't.

The PO3.5x21P is magnified and has decently clear glass.  It's also huge, clunky, heavy, mounts awkwardly high and has very weak illumination.

He paid for this scope.  But what if I'd gotten it for free for review?  Would I have said that I didn't like it?  Would I have told Marv it was exactly what he wanted?

The fact that I had this doubt is why I've never asked for something else to review.

When I buy something and put down my thoughts about it, I can be upset if it doesn't work and say so.  I can be thrilled it does work; and say so!

I've been at this blogging thing for a long time and the names in the sidebar keep changing.  A couple of the must-reads are gone because going big-time seems to mean you have to change completely to remain there.  The "I get PAID to explain this at WORK!"attitude seeps into interactions where an honest question once got a friendly, or even humorous answer.

The person on the other end of the aether is gone and has been replaced by a writer.

The first step in becoming a writer is to accept the free stuff the second is to write so that it keeps flowing.  Why?  Because it's not the subscribers that pay the bills, it's the advertisers.

It's tragically amusing.

Things I've Learned From Gun Writers

Over the years, gun-writers have said the following.

There is no possible way to shoot better without a shot timer.

There is no possible way to learn how to shoot without receiving training.

The Glock SIG Smith and Wesson FN Glock is the best handgun ever made.

Plastic Polymer framed guns are a passing fad here to stay.

9mm sucks and should not be relied on for serious self defense.

.40 S&W is the best possible cartridge for self defense and this will never change.

.45 ACP is what serious shooters use for self defense.

Never EVER Use appendix carry.

Semi-Automatic handguns are too complicated for novices, especially women, so your first gun should be a revolver.

Lasers are gimmicks and have no serious application.

Use lasers they're an excellent solution to the aiming problem.

Red-Dot sights mounted to the slide are too fragile and will never catch on.

Buy a red-dot for your handgun.

.NNN is the best hunting round ever created, don't bother looking at anything else.

.30-06 is the best hunting round ever created, don't bother looking at anything else.

.308 is the best hunting round ever created, don't bother looking at anything else.

This (cheaper version of the gun) is garbage, buy the normal model.

The (cheaper version of the gun) is actually a good shooter, use the money you saved on the gun to get good glass.

Glass that costs as much as your rifle is the bare minimum quality to hit anything.

There's lots of affordable glass that costs less than 1/4 what your gun costs that's actually quite good.

The Colt All American 2000 is an excellent design made to the highest standards.

The Colt All American 2000 is a piece of shit.

In case you gun writers ever wondered why we, the public, don't take you all that seriously any more...  You can't make up your minds about what's best.  The constant reversals are annoying, at best.

The fact that you can't anger the advertisers means you cannot give an honest review of any product.

The most honest you can be about products in general is too vague to actually aid a potential buyer of the items.  "There are these things called holsters, there are many different styles and materials, you should get one," doesn't actually help anyone to decide what kind of holster best suits their needs.  But there's lots and lots of articles that follow this pattern.

Datum Example

Most of us gunnie types have at least read about length of pull, drop at the heel and drop at the comb.

Many of us can even say what these measurements are and how they are taken.

But do we know what they mean?

They're the measurements that determine the "fit" of a gun to a given shooter.

They're both objective and subjective.

Objective in a given person of a given set of dimensions will need these dimensions to be within a range for their measurements.

Subjective in the shooter will like the way the gun feels best at a point within this range, which could differ from another shooter of the same measurements.

Fitting the gun to the shooter is taking these measurements and applying them to the gun.

If you've no idea what your measurements are and what your fit to a given set of lengths and drops, these dimensions are pretty meaningless.

But what they are for and how to use them is readily explained.  There's even web pages and videos explaining them and showing how they're applied.

Chock Full Of Shooty Goodness

FuzzyGeff finally got to put some rounds down the barrel of the AR that's been stored here for...

Uh...

A long damn time.

Popping the cherry below the fold.

Dimming The Sun Will Cool The Earth

"Scientists" say so!

The "good" news is the sun is doing it all on its own.

It's no surprise to people who pay attention to solar weather that the hottest weather we had last century coincided with more sunspots and the cold we're starting to see now (if we're honest with the measuring) coincides with a lack of sunspot activity.

If It DOES You've Been Doing It Wrong

Army says new war ready M17 pistol will change modern combat.

Handguns are as close to superfluous as any weapon still carried can get.

Yes, they have a role.

Before you latch onto that too hard remember, so does a bayonet.

A role isn't the same as having a large role.

The radio is still the number one most dangerous weapon on the battlefield.

I'm willing to bet we spent an order of magnitude more on getting the M17 than we did getting radios.

A new pistol just isn't a game changing weapon.

I cannot find the quote from a Marine general who was ruing over how much we'd wasted on all the previous handgun programs and that if they'd just cut him a check for not even half that he could equip every member of all the armed services with a new pistol from any of the major manufacturers.

He said something to the tune that as long as everyone can shoot issue 9mm NATO, they were golden.  If everyone was using the same magazine, they were platinum.

Broken Record

I admit, I am a broken record (ask your grandparents) about endurance abuse & neglect testing handguns.

The proponents of such "testing" consistently fail or refuse to explain what we're learning from the experiment.

They seem to be claiming that guns that don't make it to the end are somehow unsuitable for use as self defense tools, but is that really true?  Does the testing demonstrate this?

I posit that it is not true and the testing is irrelevant to practical concerns.

Remember 2,000 rounds of 9mm is 52 pounds of cartridges, 3-1/4 pounds of cardboard boxes and the weight of the container you're lugging it around in.

Are you carrying that much ammo on a daily basis?

Are you even carrying 100 rounds?  That's just two boxes.

Spraying the ammo as fast as you can work the trigger only dumps about six shots a second and that's gonna give NYPD accuracy.  Shooting that fast, for most everyone who's not Jerry Miculek, is called "criminally negligent".

Still, six shots a second takes a bit more than five and a half minutes to burn through if you didn't have to stop and reload every 17 shots or so.  If you are using magazines that hold 17 instead of 2,000 rounds you're looking at 117 reloads.  That's going to add at least two minutes to your time, probably more like four.

So, for your pistol to be acceptable it has to be capable of ten minutes of shooting as fast as you can go?

THAT would be a test of a gun.  Because that doesn't allow for cool-down and subjects the parts to some real heat and fatigue.

What we really get is 2,000 rounds stretched over weeks or months.

Pray tell; in the intervening time between strings why didn't you clean and lube the gun?  You had time.

Did You Notice?

No malfunctions, stoppages or jams in Marv's M1911A1.

On the whole, if the gun was as bad as the internet keeps saying it is, I'd have expected to see a lot more problems from the numerous examples at hand here.

I guess it's the mechanic in me that just doesn't abuse my machines.

A hard learned lesson from cars is preventative maintenance pays dividends down the road.

I sometimes think the endurance tests on pistols, if taken to the car world, would be, "We drove the Nissan Stanza for 100,000 miles without changing the oil or replacing the tires!"

"Are you fucking stupid?" is what car-people would say.

Yet with guns...

Where's The Rattle

There's something wrong with Marv's M1911A1...

It doesn't rattle.

I've never seen this in an issue M1911A1 before.

Related to this, I think, is you cannot get the slide to move off angle appreciably from the slide rails.

It's very strange.

I've seen this on brand new 1911 guns before, like my Springfield Armory or the Colt...

BOOM

A shot glass full of nitroglycerin does 4d+2 cr ex.

I know you were watching West World and wondering.

Merit Aperture

Found a Merit Aperture for my Lyman 66LA sight on the Marlin.  This one appears to be a #4SS

These things are just the neatest!

The seller warned that it didn't work in his Lyman sight because it wouldn't tighten down.  I suspect that he's got a Lyman 57 series sight that needs a longer shank of the #4LS.

My sight uses the shortest, and most common shank.

Local Space

JT and FuzzyGeff have been playing GURPS: Traveller: Interstellar Wars.

They've traveled from Nusku to Terra to Procyon and are preparing to embark to Sirius.

Procyon and Sirius are visible in this shot!

Procyon is the dimmer star just left of the center of the frame.  Sirius is the bright star down and right from it.

Two parsecs apart on the Traveller map.  Both are about 3 parsecs from here.

They Made A Car Wars Car!

Did you play Car Wars when you were younger?

The people at Black Rifle Coffee might have.

Electric cars armed with big guns.



Kinda skimpy in the armor department, but there's no arenas or leagues yet either.

Soon?

Tech's War On McThag Continues

My dear, beloved, Moto X 2 is terminal.  It keeps shutting off spontaneously at random.

Mostly while trying to take a picture, but now while using at as a phone while Harvey is trying to communicate something important from the road.

So, spending money I don't really have to spare, I've got a Moto Z3 now.  I already miss my football leather back and purple anodized accents...

The Motox2 has been giving warning signs for a while and I've been shopping, so I knew what I was going to get when I walked into the store.  The sales person was complete unprepared for such decisiveness.

It's huge, and heavy compared to the svelte Motox2, but MAN is that camera good.

Still getting it set up and disabling all the NEW IMPROVED features.

There's an astonishing number of "we can improve your experience if you just let us have access to..." messages.  You can't entice someone who's content with what they've got already so I've been denying them this access.

Two things I am avoiding setting up are the facial recognition and fingerprint unlocking features.

Something about the new phone I'm very happy with is the Skymap app once again points accurately.  The Motoz3 must have better compass and gyros than the Motox2.

The larger screen gives a better experience when using it for GPS navigation and having a new battery sure improves how long it can stay on.  Today is the battery life test.  I'm going to see how long I can go.  Yesterday 12 hours of playing around with it on the side while playing Traveller: Interstellar Wars only dropped the batt to 89%.

On an aside:  I noted while shopping for the phone that Verizon still has flip phones.  This is excellent news for the Bubbas and Willards out there who don't WANT a phone that's more than a phone.  Remember what I said about being content?

Verification Required

Some asshole in India ruined it for the rest of you.

27 spam comments for his SEO service.

Word verification is now active.

Sorry.

I'm Going To Invent Space Travel

Just so I can throw that BLEEPING computer out an air-lock!

This story starts a while ago.

Windows update locked up during the "do not shut down your computer" portion of the update and did a spontaneous restart which has caused that update and all subsequent ones to also fail.

Today the anti-virus wanted updated and when I did the restart, my login told me that my user profile was missing.

I tried several means of gaining access to the computer and somehow ended up in "Startup Repair" which included a restore to last known good config.  I got there by trying to remember which function key actually prompted Safe-Mode and in the several reboots the machine just went to the repair function.

MUTTER MUTTER MUTTER

The repair seems to have worked and an uninstall/reinstall of the anti-virus went without a hitch.

Inconceivable!

William Goldman has passed on.

I enjoyed the music he had the monkeys dance to.

Good!

No tax break for disabled first responders who did nothing for Florida but move here.

Their example just reinforces that this was a good tweak to the law.

An NYPD cop can't get the tax break for getting fucked up in New York.

Maybe this will encourage them to stay up north rather than move here and screw things up for people who want to be Floridians, because I've met damn few New Yorkers here who are anything but New Yorkers who happen to live in Florida.

Converting Money To Fun

The range rents machine guns!

We couldn't resist the M1928 sitting the case.

Marv's portion of the shooting.  He went first and got the 30-round mag to my 20...

CMP M1911A1

Marv's pistol arrived from Alabama today!

It's a 1944 production Remington-Rand!

I am happy that my Springfield Armory Model 1911-A1 USGI compares favorably with it!

The Remington Rand appears to be completely refurbished and even appears to have a brand new barrel!

It came with a 1975 Check-Mate contract magazine.

But does it shoot?



As a matter of fact, it does!  It shoots very well, Marv's first magazine was a 3" group at 7 yards.

History And Moral Philosophy

There's outcomes that I can affect.

There's outcomes that I cannot.

If I cannot affect the outcome, I cannot be held accountable for it.

There are situations where others try to hold me accountable for actions that others take.

I rankle a great deal at "the responsible gun owner always..." in the same way as I reject "no true Scotsman."

Your gun locked in its safe and in an empty house for 10 hours while you're at work?  Far less secure than hiding it under the seat of your car at a football game for 2 hours.

I know it doesn't seem like it, but it's true.

Access is measured in time.

Your house is just as easy to break into as your car and the thief has five times the time to do it.  There are also many fewer witnesses.  The house also provides concealment for nearly the entire event, the burglar only being exposed for the entry, exit and egress.

It's sobering.

The best we can do is make our cars and houses less attractive to the thieves than other houses and cars.

Something I've mentioned before is the victim is a participant in the victim selection process, but is not a participant in the crime.

It's true of muggings.  It's true of rape.  It's true of getting your car looted.  It's true of getting your house broken into.

Hiding your pistol out of sight in your locked car is actually doing something to prevent its selection over leaving the pistol in plain view.  The thief is looking for something valuable.  It is important to remember that the thief has already decided to commit a crime before they ever touch your car.

They've selection criteria.  They might limit themselves to just the cars that were left unlocked.  They might pick every car on a block, locked or not and break windows.  They might just do a quick rifling, in and out.  They might be very thorough.

You don't know which kind you get until you actually get something stolen from your car.

Did you do everything you could have done to prevent the theft?  No.  You cannot secure your car well enough to prevent all theft.  It's impossible.

The lock on the glovebox?  Useless.  Lockbox under the seat?  It slows the thief down, but screams "something valuable in here!"  Locked in the trunk?  Access to the passenger compartment is access to the trunk in most cars now.

All you're hoping for is to slow them down enough that they move on without taking anything.

And it is just hope.

Don't tell yourself that, "It will never happen to me because I always..." because it can so happen to you.  Especially don't get on a moral high horse about it, because your precautions are not as effective as you think they are, you're just filtering for a different breed of criminal.

Space Gaming vs Fantasy Gaming

Dungeons and Dragons is still the 900 pound gorilla of the table-top role playing world.

There's not so much science fiction gaming out there, or rather there's lots and lots of games that most people have never heard of.

Even Traveller is obscure outside the hobby where people who've never seen a polyhedron in their lives have heard of D&D.

I am wondering the why of things.

Something glaring presents itself when you look at this at all and you notice that not only has most everyone hear of D&D, they're already familiar with most of the tropes of the game.  I don't know why this is, but it's apparent.

Science fiction games lack this trope familiarity, even if the non-gamer is an avid science fiction fan.

Part of the problem is the most popular "science fiction" film series aren't actually science fiction.

Star Wars is a fantasy setting.

Star Trek is futurism, not science fiction.

To begin to grok why Star Trek isn't sci-fi you have to also grok something that Larry Niven noticed a long time ago, "Make changes and stick to them, no matter where the implications take you," is the core of the definition.

His adherence to this rule is why he stopped writing in his "Known Space" universe.  Dig out "Safe At Any Speed." for an example of this.

When you take all of the established, canon, technologies in Known Space, you end up with Safe at Any Speed.

It's "if the protagonist has a gun and a cell phone, will the horror movie be longer than the cartoon shown before the movie?" problem writ large.

Star Trek does not make changes and stick to them.  It's a roiling, hot ball of deus ex machina over and over again.  There's too many problems presented that are solved by something we've seen the transporters or replicators do.  Don't cop out and say, "but those were malfunctions!" because scientists and engineers will be all over those documented cases and looking to replicate the beneficial effects from these malfunctions.  The process of preventing the malfunction from reoccurring when not wanted often results in the understanding of how to make it happen at will.

When Star Wars and Star Trek are your cultural touchstones for the tropes...  It's hard to do science fiction gaming.

What you have to do is explain the entire underpinnings of the world as it is being created and presented to the players.  Your singular creation which will have gigantic holes in it because of your own biases and blindspots; holes which the players will sail entire planets through.

There's time where you didn't consider an implication and the players do... and find that another thing you've declared probably wouldn't be.  Now you have to make an explanation for that, which doesn't break two things you've declared.  It gets silly and complicated fast.  You totally understand why Mr Niven stopped writing in the world he'd created because the feed-back loop from players is much faster and personal than from readers.

This is because they're sitting right there and they're in control of some of the characters in the story.

I do keep trying, though.

Civiliansplainin'

Wanna know what I'm sick of?

People who've never served a day explaining to me why observing Veteran's day on the wrong day is correct.

It's not the 10th, it's not the 12th of November.

It is the 11th, and for a very important reason. World War One didn't end on the 10th or the 12th.

Here, just past the 100th anniversary of that end, people should be more aware of it.

Instead they whine that they didn't get a three day weekend out of it this year.

They explain that they couldn't take time out of their normal Sunday to observe this day.

These people can go fuck themselves. With something rusty. Sideways.

Come Memorial Day they're going to explain how it's about their dead, never served a day, relatives too.

They never even note Armed Forces Day. Why? Because they're too fucking selfish to observe a holiday that doesn't come with a day off.

Again, fuck these people. Sideways, with something rusty.

Dear Democrats

If you're serious about every vote being counted, you might want to consider starting by electing a commissioner who can do the job without the appearance of malfeasance or incompetence.

Done!

Fit and finish of the parts is atrocious!  I am reminded why I started buying the Japanese kits now.

But whom else but Monogram would put out a kit for a '78 Corvette?

My skills have diminished over the years too, there was once a time I could have done better.  Going blind isn't helping a bit.

Is Anyone Actually Surprised?

It would appear that DoJ is going to ban bumpstocks by decree via the regulation process.

It's not the first time, and doubtlessly not the last, where a regulatory agency has taken legislative power for itself and promulgated a regulation which is not supported by the law cited.

Until we get someone in the elected portion of our government to stand up and demand that the regulations serve the law and not be laws unto themselves this will never change.

By the way, if you've a pistol brace on any "pistol" that would otherwise be a short-barrel-rifle, I'd get my Form 1 and $200 check out to West Virginia most riki-tik.

Prolly going to come for the not-shotguns like the Shockwave after that.

Sadly, looking for loopholes is the mark of people desperate to do something that's otherwise illegal.

Can't own an MG?  Figure out how to make a semi-auto act like one.
Can't own an SBR?  Pistol brace.
Can't own an SBS?  Not-a-shotgun-but-a-firearm.

Finding the loopholes always brings a response from the entities who banned the things and left the loopholes.

It used to be they passed a new law... welcome the world where there's a Legiscutive Branch making all the laws.

I still feel that regulation should only go into effect once its gotten Congressional approval, especially since regs are treated as if they have the force of law.

But Congress has abdicated their power to unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch.

Matter Of Ounces

The detachable carry handle Willard put on his M1956A2 was primarily for looks.  He wanted it to look, as much as possible, like an AR-10.

With a loaded PMAG, it tips the scales at 10 lb. 12.7 oz.

With a fixed rear sight it drops to 10 lb. 7.1 oz.

With a Magpul BUIS it falls to 10 lb. 3.2 oz.

All three sights do the same job with regards to the shooting with iron sights.

One is for looks.

One, the lightest, allows easy attachment of an optic.

Tinkering

Willard's M1956A2 is here for comparison with his BRN-10B.

I've been coon-fingering it a lot.

I noticed that the safety/selector was very hard to operate.

Turns out it was the detent.

I had a spare laying around, so I swapped in a new detent, all is now better.

Everything Old Is New Again

Pinks and Greens are back, Baby!

I am wondering, though, where Ms SSG on the left got a Schützenschnur, and why is it white?

On a side note, we yearned to wear the black beret the Germans gave us for graduating their tank school.  We settled for the Schütz...  I got silver.

Seen At The Applebee's

On Veteran's Day...

While doing my annual mooch I saw a someone wearing their old class-A's.

Initially I thought it was corny to be wearing them to Applebee's, but we vets do get stupid about wearing stuff on Vet's Day.

Because he was seated in the booth in front of me I got to take a good long look at his ribbons.

Something stood out.

The Kuwaiti Liberation Ribbon top center above three rows of other awards.

That's a foreign award, they go last; not first.  Even the tutti-frutti goes before it on your panel.

I'm not far from saying this guy was never a veteran from getting something this basic wrong.

Needlessly wrong.

It's not like I've ever seen an Applebee's check for a DD214 or military ID lately.

FFS, the correct order is readily available on the internet.

Subtle But Real

If you're ever curious about the difference between Democrats and Republicans all you have to do is look at the lawsuits over the voting process in Broward County, FL.

The Republican suits all demand that the laws be obeyed.

The Democrat suits all demand that the laws be overturned, or an exception to the law be made just this one time.

 

This is the crux of the Democrat strategy.  Legislation is subject to the will of the voters, truly unpopular laws will be overturned when sympathetic legislators are elected.  Popular laws will be retained.

 

Why go to all the bother of electing a majority when you can just have a single judge eliminate a law you dislike?  Or create a law from thin air by twisting the wording of an existing law so far as to be creating a new sub-dialect of English.

 

The power to strike down unconstitutional laws is an important one, but the constitutionality is rarely cited.  It's about "fairness" and "justice".

 

Dearies, you're the ones (under the color of fairness and equality) who changed what was a functioning justice system to a legal system.  You were warned that it wouldn't do what you thought it would once it ran for a generation or two, but you did it anyway.  The same changes eliminated peace officers and made them law enforcement officers.  You're not happy about that either.

Can They Hear Themselves?

“There’s zero reason why this election and the recount and the certification of votes needs to occur on Nov. 20,” Nkwonta argued...

Except for, you know, THE LAW.

Not that I'd expect a lawyer to have even the briefest comprehension of what laws are and how they work; what with their lengthy and expensive education on the law...

Oh wait...

Simple Pleasures

A friend of mine used to own a '78 Corvette.

His wife bought him a 1/24 scale model that he's neglected to assemble for these past many years.

They asked if I would build it for them.

It was Corvette Red with an Oyster White interior.  Italian Red will have to do for the red since nobody stocks the proper, slightly darker, red in a model paint any more.

I don't think I've taken this much care on a car model, ever.

Political Problem

The hallmark of politics lately is the application of large negatives on my life and well being so that a small positive can be applied to someone else.

I would be much less frantic about politics and elections if there were positives coming that balanced the negatives for me.

I would be much less bitter about politics if the things gained by other groups weren't taken from me.

I would be much happier if the other side would listen to the reasons I am citing and noting that there are costs applied to me that aren't being applied to the beneficiaries of these policies.

I'd be nearly ecstatic if the other side wouldn't label me a bigot for daring to object to the changes they are making.  Especially since the other side is so clearly bigoted.

No More Cameos

Stan Lee has shuffled off this mortal coil.

Godpeed and Excelsior!

What Do We Do With Defective Equipment

There's no massaging this thing to functionality, so destruction is all that remains.

I even tested the follower in other magazines, it's too wide and binds horribly.

Austrian vs Korean

Left is Korean.  Right is Austrian StG.58.  Austrian mags are a very gray parkerization, Korean are black to charcoal.

Notice that the Korean latching lug is cut just a bit higher, it's exaggerated here by how they're sitting against each other.

The machining on the Austrian magazine to create the rear lug is also much smoother with much less material removed.

The scallop for the front locking lug is also too high on the Korean magazine.  Also of note: the Circle 5 marking just below the scallop!  This is probably the best visual indication you've got an Asian magazine, StG.58 magazines are unmarked.

November 12 Is Not Veteran's Day

It ticks me off that they're pulling the "observed" with Veteran's Day.

Moving the day of observation to Monday, or Friday, completely forgets WHY it's on the 11th of November.

"But we deserve a day off!" they might cry.

A day which celebrates veterans of the military, many of whom didn't get this day off because they were on duty, should be on whatever day it falls.

If that's a Saturday or Sunday, then that's the day you observe it.

Don't try to justify the slovenly curs who think every Federal Holiday comes with a three day weekend and can't remember the WHY of the days.

Declaring Victory

A while ago, almost two years in fact, I was ranting about how there were many companies making new AR charging handles to compensate for breakage from using the things in a manner other than designed and intended.

It was asserted that the TTP's (Tactics Techniques and Procedures) had changed since Stoner and Sullivan first sold the gun to Colt.

I requested documentation of that assertion.

The deafening silence caused me to look up said training standards.  In 2010 they were still "chicken-clawing" the charging handle, just like they trained me to do in 1987 and just like they taught my uncle in 1969.

I've gotten no refutation or proof, just an assertion then silence.

The really amusing part of the entire episode is the assertion that things had changed in the TTP's underscored my point that people were using the charging handle in a manner that was never intended, and in a manner which made it "handed".

Y+ 100

In the eleventh hour, in the eleventh month, on the eleventh day...

The guns went silent.

This very moment, 100 years ago, the War To End All Wars, The Great War, World War 1...

Ended.

Ended with the seeds for the Second World War sown.

An Odd Skill To Have

In several movies I've noticed they have a scene where a famous person from history signs their name on camera so you can see the signature.

It's usually a tight shot so you can't tell it's not the actor playing the person doing the signing or not.

The odd part is there's people who've studied these signatures enough to do them correctly for a camera.

Veteran's Day

Today, in the USA, it's Veteran's Day.

A day set aside for those who went in and came out.

It seems odd to have to say it, but today is not for the fallen in the USA; that's Memorial Day.

It isn't for those whom are still serving; that's Armed Forces Day.

If you know a vet, buy them a beer, take them out to dinner, get them laid.

Remind them of all the freebies available!

As a Cold War soldier, I can remember when all this wasn't happening.

Nobody said, "thank you for your service."

Very few places offered a free meal on Veteran's day.

Happy Birthday Jarheads!

The rest of the story.

We'll table the discussion about how the Army has actually done the amphibious landing thing more often than the Corps.

I'd Fail That Sober

I'm watching Live PD and watching a field sobriety test.

Because of my orthopedic issues I would have trouble with both the "walk the line" and "stand on one foot" tests.

Never mind the cops getting twitchy when I recovered my cane from the car while getting out.

Do You Play Traveller

Have you ever needed to generate a Zhodani word on the fly?

Try this.

Oblipl tlevrsiz iplizbrof!

It also works for several other canon languages, including Vilani.

Maxim? Never Heard Of Her

It's so like the Ma Deuce and so different too.

Hauntingly familiar.

THIS Is Something

Twitchy Link

Maybe Too Light

Willard's Savage 110E came to him somewhat broken.

Last year I did some fixing on it, just swapping broken and worn parts for new.

Today I put a trigger scale on it.

2 lb. 12 oz.

That's light.

Almost as light as my AccuTrigger 110XP and without the safety-trigger in the center of the trigger.

A Toast!

Jameson for courage!
Guinness for strength!

Are You Fucking Shitting Me?

While the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said there had been no allegations of fraud, Scott asked - but did not order - the agency to investigate the counties' elections departments. A spokeswoman for the agency said there were no credible allegations of fraud, therefore no active investigation.

I guess the ballot box is no longer an option.

That I'd never lived to see it.

A Good Break-Down

From here.  Quoted in its entirety

Plus related.

1/ Florida's voting laws are designed to assure maximum transparency throughout the process. Supervisors of Election and other election officials are required to provide accurate, timely information to both the public and candidates, and allow candidates to observe all key steps

2/ The lawsuits filed yesterday by @FLGovScott provide detailed allegations and evidence that the Supervisors of Elections for Broward and Palm Beach Counties are materially violating state law and/or the Florida Constitution by operating in secret rather than transparently

3/ The 1st case is against Broward Cnty Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes media.local10.com/document_dev/2…. A federal court already held Dr. Snipes illegally destroyed ballots from Rep. Wasserman-Schulz's 2016 primary in the midst of a case over access to them politico.com/states/florida…

4/ Just a few months ago, another court held Dr. Snipes processed mail-in ballots illegally, and apparently not in accord with state transparency requirements. politico.com/states/florida…

5/ @FLGovScott current lawsuit alleges that Dr. Snipes violate state public records laws by refusing to reveal the number of ballots cast, counted, and left to be counted in response to his specific, written request. media.local10.com/document_dev/2….

6/ In my experience, having done election day operations work in other jurisdictions, such a blanket, unexplained refusal is bizarre. At a minimum, one of the most important facts an election supervisor must keep track of, and knows, is the number of ballots her office has.

7/ The number may fluctuate, especially as military/overseas ballots arrive (the deadline for them hasn't passed), but such changes or fluctuations must be explained.Refusing to divulge the total number of ballots that have been cast creates unnecessary opportunities for problems

8/ What kinds of problems? Many progressive commentators oppose voter ID laws on the grounds that in-person voter impersonation at polling places is rare. When election fraud occurs, they contend, it is almost always through paper absentee ballots. blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2…

9/ Just a few days ago, a large locked box labeled "provisional ballots" was "found" in the cafeteria Sunshine Elementary School in Miramar, Broward County. sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/… Election officials deny it contained cast ballots. Either way, events like that are very troubling

10/ If certain Supervisors of Elections refuse to be transparent - as required by state law - about the most basic facts concerning the electoral process like the number of ballots cast and/or remaining to be counted, events like the Sunshine Ballot Box are exacerbated

11/ @FlGovScott attorney also alleges the Broward County Supervisor of Elections refused his public records request for copies of the supervisor's daily reports to the Secretary of State about the number of absentee and mail-in ballots counted each day.

12/ Needless secrecy & lack of transparency undermines public faith in the integrity of the process. Such secrecy might even violate the broad injunction a federal court entered against Dr. Snipes just a few months ago. politico.com/f/?id=00000165… (see p. 17)

13/ @FLGovScott lawsuit against Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher - supported by a verified complaint (i.e., sworn under penalty of perjury) - provides evidence of far more serious wrongdoing. media.local10.com/document_dev/2…

14/ State law provides that, if a paper ballot is physically damaged in a way that prevents it from being read by an automated tabulation machine, election officials may make a replacement ballot to be run through the machine instead.

15/ That is an *extremely serious power.* To prevent people from being disenfranchised (potentially due to ballot handling beyond their control), state law lets election officials create replacement ballots to be automatically tabulated instead of the original vote.

16/ In other words, election officials, quite literally, create new ballots to be counted. Obviously, the law requires them to fill out the replacement ballots the same way, for the same candidates, as the original damaged ballots they're replacing.

17/ The process creates a real, immediate opportunity for fraud that could change an election's results.If a damaged ballot were cast for @FLGovScott, for example, a hyper-partisan or corrupt official could be tempted to fill out a replacement ballot for Sen Nelson, or vice versa

18/ State law *recognizes* that the literal creation of new ballots to be counted is one of the most sensitive and vulnerable steps in the process. That's why it requires the creation of replacement ballots must occur "in the presence of witnesses." Fla. Stat. 101.5614(4)(a)

19/ @FlGovScott lawsuit provides sworn evidence that the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections prohibited his campaign's reps from monitoring the creation of replacement ballots. Election officials are filling out new ballots, but the candidate's reps apparently couldn't see

20/ Secrecy and apparent violations of state law are inexcusable when millions of people's fundamental right to vote at stake. The entire process must be completely transparent. /END

Is This Something?

It sure looks like it could be something.

Link to 90 Miles From Tyranny.

It Seems Simple To Me

But since when has anything simple been so when there's lawyers?

Florida law says that you have until 30 minutes after the polls close to state how many early and absentee ballots you've collected.

It seems perfectly clear to me that any early or absentee ballot which had not been accounted by that time is simply invalid.

Done.

"But my vote wasn't counted!" you will hear cried.

The supervisor of elections is an elected official.  If you don't like that your supervisor fucked you by losing (or hiding) your ballot, elect a new one.  Get on the phone and demand the cops get down there and arrest them for breaking the law.

It's very telling that only one party's supervisors have problems with counting and transparency.

Happy Birthday Lex

Jameson and Guinness will come later.

Logistics says I might have to do the toast from home this year.

Every year I take stock and wonder at how deeply Lex affected me.

On the surface we should never have had a correspondence.

He was a retired Navy Captain, I'm a medically separated Army NCO.

He was an aviator, I was a multi-purpose tanker.

But he answered my silly questions about flying when what I was flying was a very dumbed down simulator and gave them serious answers.

We Never Liked Him Anyway

Marv, who waited until the last possible moment to mail in his packet, not only received his random number for the CMP M1911A1 selection but has been notified to send in his payment information.

He's selected the $1,050 service grade, I forgot to ask if they offered lower grades yet.  Update: Service grade was all he was offered.

I still have not been informed of my place in line and if it will be sufficient to buy a gun.  I sent my packet in three days after the opening of the start window...  So much for being the early bird.

It Will Be All Very Dramatic

Too many of the shitbags who go on mass shootings are people who should have started and ended with themselves rather than killing anyone else.

To that end...

Should I decide to take my own life, mine will be the only life taken.

But...

With a flair for the dramatic, go someplace that's prime mass-shooting territory, yell "BANG" a lot; then shoot myself.

Leave a note to the effect of, "this is how a mass shooting leading to a suicide by the shooter should go."

Or I could skip all the yelling of "BANG" and just leave the note on my body.  That'd probably be a lot less traumatic for innocent bystanders than attracting attention to myself then making a spectacle of the shot.

Before you call the cops, worried about me, I'm years from being so decrepit that being dead is better than popping an advil or two.  That's more in line with the "I've taken so many pills I'm too full to eat breakfast" point in life.  I'm too much of a sissy to be that old.

Before We Panic

We expected Scott to lose, it was a surprise he beat Nelson in the initial count.

Gillum has a limited amount of damage he can do because his party isn't in charge of the legislature.

The Ag Commissioner is a bit more damaging, but again limited.  Yes, she can delay carry permit renewals to the full allowed time, but she will still have to issue them.

And in 2022 when we do this again, you think we're going to be all worked up about the damage and get to the fucking polls?

Play the long game.

Pack It In Ruth

She's falling asleep at every turn and now she's so frail that simple falls are breaking ribs.

Time to retire Ms Bader-Ginsberg.

Leave while you have some of your health and dignity left.

Plus.

After this contentious election and the expected Pelosi victory lap with the gavel, I look forward to discovering who the next candidate for the Supreme Court raped.

Still Not Me

11 people, 1 responding LEO and the shitbag who started it are dead.

12 too many.

Once again, it's in that perennial favorite of the gun-control crowd:  A gun free zone.

It's also in California.  It's hard to find a jurisdiction that has more of the gun-control wish-list on gun-ownership than California.

The shooter was probably committing multiple felonies before they fired the first shot.

How many people have to die before we admit that gun free zones are just killing floors?

Too Easy To Do

The Boy has somehow enabled the biometric login on his computer.

This is some excellent security, Lenovo.  Good job.

Except for the part where you have to take some deliberate actions and know what you're trying to accomplish before letting it turn on.

We're presently exploring ways to bypass this and get to the password screen.

Blessed Silence

The day after an election sure is nice.

The ads, they've stopped.

Senator Scott

Lurch is moving on up.

Gnashing Of Teeth And Rending Of Garments

Cries of, "Not MY governor!" in three... two... one...

Governor Ron DeSantis

Gillum has conceded.

I don't expect such a concession from Nelson.

A Little Tint Makes A World Of Difference

Dying the sand PMAG really improves the look of the M1956A2!

Results Are Starting To Come In

Normal election in Florida, really.

Medium Coyote Tan

Breadpan of boiling water.

1 Tablespoon Pearl Gray
1 teaspoon Camel
1/2 teaspoon Harvest
1/2 teaspoon Taupe

8 minute soak flipping every couple of minutes.

It's as near as no nevermind to medium coyote tan as to make no difference.  This will also blend well with the old flat dark earth too.

Plus, if you get the light just right, it blends with prototype brown too!

Korean Made FAL Magazines

Too tight in the magwell.

Follower tilts and jams with about five rounds remaining in the magazine.

I wouldn't buy another.

NotAR-10 Barrel Profiles

Both barrels are by Faxon.  The M1956A2 uses a "medium weight" barrel, the BRN-10B a pencil-thin lightweight.

This is where most of the pound of weight difference resides.  The rest is in the much chunkier upper receiver from DPMS.

I was surprised to discover that Brownell's had not just licensed NoDak's molds for the handguards.

Brownell's has six holes in all four locations.  NoDak has five holes at 3 and 9.  They're also different enough in shape that you can't mix them on the same gun.  I think I remember Harlan from NoDak saying that Brownell's is using a more expensive plastic too.

Yes It's An Invasion

With numbers of 10,000 to 18,000 Latin-American marchers heading here with the intent of entering the US illegally; I'd like to mention another grouping which is traditionally that size.

A division.

A division of people is approaching the border with the intent of breaching it.

I sometimes think it was a mistake eliminating all the water cooled guns from the inventory.

Battle Of The AR-10s

On the top:  Brownell's BRN-10B.
On the bottom: Homebrew M1956A2.

Both fire 7.62x51mm NATO.
Both have 20" 1:10 nitrided barrels.
Both accept the same family of magazines, except the BRN-10 can't take the Magpul.

The BRN-10B trips the scales at 9.2 lb. loaded with a Brownell's AR 308 magazine.
The M1956A2 is a muzzle heavy 10.7 lb. loaded with a Magpul PMAG LR/SR Gen M3.  Drop the weight to 10.6 lb. with a Brownell's magazine.

Because the M1956A2 is using an A2 stock, it's got 5/8" more pull than the BRN-10B, neither is uncomfortable.

Using the original DPMS LR 308 magazine makes the BRN-10B 9.5 lb. and the M1956A2 10.9 lb.

The trigger on the BRN-10B is a crisp 5 lb. even.  The M1956A2 is also crisp, but runs 6.0 lb.

The bolt and bolt carriers are interchangeable, by design in fact.

The M16A2 sights on the M1956A2 are slightly higher and more easily acquired.

The M1956A2 has a flat-top that can accept anything designed for a p-rail.  You even save a couple ounces by changing over to a Magpul BUIS, 10.1 lb with a loaded PMAG.

Putting a Primary Arms PAC5X ups the weight to 11.2 lb., barely more than an iron-sighted FAL!

Is it just me or is this starting to look like a C7A1 all grown up?

Got 'Er Done

I really think that Bob Dole and Pat Buchanan are going to take it this time!

Frivolity

Sometimes you just have to make a little Lego you.

Sometimes you have to update it.

Hatin' Them Jews Some More

I am increasingly baffled at the antisemitism accusations leveled at gun owners.

For decades now we're the ones who've been pointing out that our gun laws were carbon copies of the Nazi gun laws.

Perhaps even literally carbon copied by Senator Dodd.  A Democrat, by the way.

Gun owners have long been acutely aware of where gun laws prohibiting firearms ownership can lead.

It's lead to mass death at government hands too often.  Often enough to be concerned that this is always where it leads.

Because we've noticed the weapons prohibition = death we've also noticed who the star player on the killing grounds has been for National Socialist Germany and The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic:  Jews.

Yes, we know it's Jews and others, but still lots and lots of dead Jews nonetheless.

Guess what this means to gun owners?

We're worried about being the "and others" next pogram so we work to make such things impossible.

Not just for us, but impossible at all.

Because it's not always the Jews.

China and Cambodia are exceptional in that their killings didn't include large numbers of Jews, but death fell from gun control anyways.

It sometimes feels like it's the American gun owner who actually remembers and heeds the words, "never again."

Another commonality here is Gun Control + Socialism = Death.

A Billion Things

Having too much to write about is almost as bad as not having anything to write about.

Like eating an elephant, you do it one bite at a time.

But where to take the first bite?

My Account Is Hacked

I got a series of emails addressed to an account I have not actually logged into for over four years.

I used to have a SpamCop email address.  They stopped providing smtp and pop service when they got out of the email business in 2014.

Before the end they did allow you to set up mail forwarding to another email address of your choosing.  This doesn't require me to log in or anything.

Strangely, the fowarding is still active.

Which brings us to my account being hacked.

The message tells me that I can tell it's been hacked because the "from" address is the same as the "to" address.

Uh, actually that doesn't mean anything, Mr L33T Haxxor, there's a box on most of my email programs that lets me set the "from" address to anything I want.

It tells me that they installed a keylogger and know all of my passwords, so don't go trying to change them now.

Except there isn't a keylogger running.  Yes, Mr Hacker, I know how to check that.

It congratulates me on my imagination for the porn I like; then tells me about the picture they took with the webcam attached to my computer of me in an embarrassing position.

So, you've figured out how to see me rubbing one out through black electrical tape?  Never mind that my porn choices are very vanilla.

It then tells me that if I don't fire off $300 to $1,000 dollars in bitcoin to their account they're going to email those pics to everyone on my contact list.

I had 48 hours to do so.  It's been two weeks.

If they really had that pic I would have expected some sort of reply from someone by now.  Not a single, "why did you send me a dick pic?" or "Thanks, but we're just friends!" from anyone.

I guess it was just a phishing expedition.

Too Many Guns

There's a (pro-gun!) school of thought that says that you can have too many guns.

What constitutes too many appears to be rather subjective.

Most of the criteria have simple solutions.

"There's no room for me to sleep."  Buy a bigger house.

"I can't find a specific gun."  Organize your collection better.

See?  Simple!

None of us are helped by our acquisitive natures that borders on hoarding.  We've gotten a little traumatized by the gun grabbers and can talk ourselves into buying anything.

The bigger house doesn't lead to more sleeping area, it leads to "now I have space for more guns."

Organizing the collection better doesn't lead to easy access to the guns, it leads to, "I knew I was missing a Winchester 92 in .32 Short Colt made by an obscure Chicago gunsmith in the late 1930's," because you can now see the holes in the collection.

It never ends!

Hi!  My name is Angus.

It has been one month since I bought a gun.

See?  I can quit whenever I want!