Weak

You are already paying for student loan forgiveness and you don't even know it.

Did you know that if you make your payments for 10 years, regardless of the remaining principle, your loan gets discharged?

Forgiven, in other words.

Did you make ten years of payments?

Was the balance zero?

Did you even check?

Did you even notice that your mortgage sized student loan was getting paid back in 1/3 the time with 1/4 the payment?  That didn't seem odd to you?

But people who got fucked by the government are stealing from YOU and YOUR taxes?  YOU'RE paying for something you didn't receive?

You're ignorant of how things have been for a long time and lashing out at the wrong people.

But thanks for the anon comment that got deleted for being a dick about your reply anyways.

Baby Step

DeSantis promises constitutional carry before he leaves office.

That's encouraging.

Mei Mei Demoted

The licensed Disney character from Build-A-Bear has been demoted and replaced with a Tentacle Kitty.

 Appropriately beastly for a car nicknamed "The Beast"!

Some Call It Fraud

I am dead sick of the over generalization that anyone who has defaulted on their student loans is just refusing to pay for them or got a degree that would never lead to a job with an income sufficient to repay them.

Especially from people who borrowed before the massive increase in Federally guaranteed money that caused tuition prices to explode.

Case in point.  My dad got an engineering degree from Iowa State University without taking out loans and the equivalent to a minimum wage job doing dishes and odd jobs at a restaurant was enough for rent, food, entertainment, books and tuition.  In just four years.

Go on, try that today.

First thing you need to acknowledge is wages are stagnant and education is getting more expensive.  It literally costs more for everything that it did back when and by the time you've paid for a roof over your head and food in your belly... there might not be enough for the minimum loan payment with your entry level salary.

A salary that the self-righteous lecturers found sufficient 30 years ago to make loan payments, and live well.

20 years ago and live OK.

10 year ago and live at all.

And this assumes that your degree is worth something.

But what if your degree would be worth something if the people who owned the school had not been convicted of fraud and predatory lending practices?

People who didn't run the place or control daily operations, the school was literally the same as it was for decades when it built a strong reputation for graduating students who knew how to do what was expected right out of their gowns?

The fraudsters bought that good school with government approval, because you cannot make such a purchase without the Department of Education's sign-off.

DoE allowed the sale in spite of an ongoing investigation into their loan practices at other schools.

But it's the student's fault that nobody calls back with that school on their degree?

Never mind that there's no place that an employer can call to confirm they were ever a student let alone a graduate?

A degree that cannot be used to get into a different school to further their education and perhaps earn a way to service that loan.

And it's not underwater basket weaving.

Business Administration and Accounting degrees from this school going back decades became valueless overnight when the government concluded its case and closed the schools.

Leaving borrowers with a pile of debt and no realistic way of ever paying it back.

A lot of borrowers.

I hope that Brandon forgives the billions and billions of student loan debt.

The government has been handing out money to every worthless piece of shit in the world; why not people with college educations who could actually be worth something once freed of a problem that government caused in the first fucking place. 

By the way, oh high and mighty arbiters of whom is of value and whom is worthless, you'd better be able to show that you've been actually lobbying your congress creatures to eliminate DoE, Federal student loans and welfare recipients getting free college.  Because if not, you're part of the people what let this happen and are angry that you are now caught up in the avalanche now that the pebbles no longer get a vote?

How about you take a nice big sip of go fuck yourself.

Hello Old Friend

 While digging through my books looking for stuff to donate to Willard so he has something to read while he's rebuilding leg muscles...

I relocated this:

I've owned this book since 3rd grade.

I originally read it because it has a triceratops in it and I was all about dinosaurs at that age.  This might be the first science fiction book I ever owned.

Dad's Mom had me reading well above my age early, but those were "The Classics™" and I read them because I wanted her to be happy.  (It backfired because I assumed that she'd read them too and she was unprepared to discuss them.)

I think I will re-read it and bask in the nostalgia.  It's well below my reading level now, but...  Comfort book.

Well Poop

New Jovian Thunderbolt will not be updating his blog any more.

Cancer got between him and the keyboard.

Dammit!

Sure I Saved Money By Spending Time

Bill Brandt shares a tale of woe and German engineering.

I started out wrenching to save money.

That led to hot-rodding, which does not save money.

Something I am grateful for my dad teaching me wrenching is when I need something done that you cannot hire out for any amount.

It gets pretty common in hot-rodding and upgrading cars.

Shops refuse to touch things like bolting 6-piston Brembo calipers from a Camaro onto a Caprice.  Literally bolt-on.  Liability... blah blah blah.

Actually, that's not quite true.  There's two kinds of shops that will do it.

The kind where you know more than they do and they won't do a good job.

The kind that knows at least as much as you and specializes in upgrades and come with the commensurately large bills.

Which leaves me doing it myself because I want the job done correctly and I can't afford the pro.

Russia's Vietnam

I was reading that Russia has racked up 15,000 KIA so far.

Two months.

By comparison the US took ten years to get to about four times that in actual 'Nam.

Our worst year was '68 and that was almost 17k.  A year to lose almost as many troops as Russia has in two months.

Losing those near 60k troops upended American politics for decades.

Losing troops at six times the rate of our worst year can't have a positive effect on Russia.

OK I'm Calmer Now

Touched base with the Caprice PPV community on Facebook about getting access to the underside of the roof and...

The shark-fin XM antenna I've selected to plug one roof hole will likely not do anything when plugged into the radio because it's expecting something from a black-box that's supposed to reside between the antenna and the radio and connected to the car's CAN bus.

While it's possible that this box's functionality is built into the radio, it's improbable because the source of the radio is an Australian car.  They don't have XM.

If it works it's because the radio interprets the XM signal as a digital radio input.

As I say, unlikely without a converter box in between.

The GPS antenna, though, is more likely to work as advertised.  Even if it doesn't, the antenna they included with the radio will.

All of this angst got me wondering...

Do I need XM?

New radio gets the AM/FM that I've been listening to for a while.

The CD player will play a CD burned with hours of songs.

There is a hard drive in there that will store up to 15 CD-A formatted discs.

There is a USB port that I can plug a memory stick into and play mp3 and wma music from.

I can also use the USB port for an iPod.  I have a lot of music on my ancient 80gb iPod.

There is a 3.5mm auxiliary input port that lets me play music from anything with a headphone jack.  Including that iPod or my phone.

There's Bluetooth connectivity that lets me play music from my phone's internal storage or streamed from the internet... including XM if I upgrade my phone to one of the unlimited plans.

So... do I need Sirius/XM in The Beast?

Probably not worth the trouble.

Finished Before I Began

I haven't even turned one wrench and I am done with this shit.

To install the GPS and XM antennas I need to drop the headliner.

To do that I have to get the trim off the A, B and C pillars.

To get the C pillar trim off I need to take off the rear side moulding.

To get the rear side moulding off I need to remove the rear seat.

To get at the radio I need to remove ten things to expose it.

Essentially, it's remove the whole fucking interior of the car to get at the fucking radio and run the wires for the antennas.

So much for starting with a simple project.

Oh and since there's airbags everywhere in this fucking thing, disarm and disconnect at every turn.

Probed From Both Ends

The VA has a policy of making sure you don't have Wu Ping Cough three days before they do anything surgical.

So before they will shove a camera up my ass, they have to shove swabs up my nose.

Huzzah!

At least the cleansing process is fun!

PPV Too

 Found this vid:

I've got the engineering mode, but not the night mode.

Nice to be able to check the transmission temps.

Pfennig Check

In the First Infantry Division (Forward) we didn't have challenge coins.

I didn't even hear of challenge coins until years after leaving the service.

People keep telling me they're old as dirt, but you couldn't tell from late 1980's Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

What we had was the ein Pfennigstück.

You yelled, "Pfennig check!" and everyone produced their lowest denomination German coin.

If you had no change, you're buying!

One Pfennig pieces were rare on the ground in Stuttgart, so having an ein Pfennigstück meant you were immune to the Pfennig check.

Unless everyone had one.

Then it was the OLDEST coin that won.

I had a 1950 ein Pfennigstück, so I never had to buy.

I went looking for that coin the other day and it's long gone.

To ebay!

Where I discover that there were 1948 and 1949 Pfennig!

Of note, the earlier two coins don't say Bundesrepublik Deutschland.  I don't think the whole East/West Germany thing had solidified yet.

Functional M3 Carbine!

Very cool!

Going Zen

 

Stuff You Forget To Check

Having had XM in the car for so long, I'd forgotten about CD players...

The player in The Beast works with both conventional audio CDs and MP3 disks.

8-hour playlist burned and in the slot!

The new radio, which I hope to install on Tuesday, supposedly has on-board storage for CD's, but I have no idea if that's just CD-A format or if it allows MP3 files. 

New radio will also have USB, Bluetooth and 3.5mm aux. input, making the CD and onboard storage somewhat irrelevant.

Though I did frequently play the MP3 discs I'd loaded into the changer on The Precious...  And I used the 3.5mm input to use my phone and iPod too.

Not as often as I'd just used XM, but...

New Contender

Still trying to decide on rims.

These are considerably cheaper than the Enkei's we were looking at before.

29 lb. each, which is heavier than the Enkei, but still lighter than the steelies.

Too Computerized

Had a glitch with The Beast when I did a good deed and donated some old clothes to Goodwill.

Started the car and no radio.

Had the friendly Chevy logo start screen and the HVAC was working correctly, but no music.

Cycling the radio power got me to a blank screen for the radio with all other functions working correctly.

While at Wendy's with Marv I looked up what the problem might be.

Turns out that it's running a variation of Windows 98!

If the voltage is a little wonky it gets stuck in a loop and one or more radio/hvac functions will stop working.

Several people suggested checking the fuse and seeing how crusty it was.

Mine was very crusty.  Removing and reinserting it a few times cleaned up the blades and the radio came back to life.

Huzzah!

I hope that actually fixed the issue...

6.8x51mm GURPS

According to the Douglas Cole equations...

13" barrel XM5:

135gr 6.8 bullet at 2,850 does 7d pi.  Vehicles says that's 500/3,200 for range.

16" barrel XM250:

135gr 6.8 bullet at 3,000 does 7d+2 pi, same 500/3,200 for range.

3e Vehicles is known to have faulty range numbers...  Edit: Mr Cole himself says 700/5,000.

The M250 is the winning part of this tender.

12 lb. for the bare gun plus the optic and suppressor is 15.4 lb.  Add a 100 round belt for 5.3 lb. and you have a very manageable 20.7 lb. package.  26 lb. with 200 rounds.  This is an actual improvement for the grunt having to lug an M249 or M240B!

The M249 is 22.6 for the gun, no optics and 7 lb. for 200 rounds of linked ammo.  29.6 lb.  Add

The M240B is 34.2 lb. for the gun and 6.6 lb. for 100 rounds totalling 40.8 lb.!  Add 2.8 lb. for the Trijicon optic.

I am wondering if the real goal of SIG is to get the 6.8x51mm in the supply chain then offer their MCX in 5.56 that the XM5 is a very close relative of when the back breaking nature of the M5 becomes apparent.

Better XM5 Carbine Numbers

Though the overall impression isn't a lot better.

XM5 Carbine = 8.4 lb.
SIG Suppressor = 1.19 lb.
XM157 Optic ~ 2.2 lb.

Total = 11.79 lb.

Cartridge weight is estimated at 22g (0.049 lb.).
Lanncer 20rd mag = 6.4 oz.

Loaded 20rd mag = 1.37 lb.

Loaded NGSW= 13.16 lb.

It makes one wonder what the basic load will be.

When we were toting M14's the basic load was one in the gun and four in the pouches for 100 rounds.  10.9 lb. gun with 1.6 lb. magazines for 17.3 lb. of gun and ammo.

The M16/M4 loadout is of similar bulk with one in the gun and six in the pouches for 210 rounds (196 if you load 28 per mag like grampa did.).  M4A1 is 10.14 lb. gun with 1.1 lb. magazines for 16.74 lb. of gun, optic, laser and ammo.

I remember them saying the new gun would still be using 210 rounds for the basic load back when the NGSW was the ICSR.

That didn't come out even with 20 round magazines back in 2017 so we're going to say it's 1 in the gun and 9 spare mags for 200.  25.5 lb.!  This is also about twice as bulky as the current loadout.

I think the most we're going to see carried is 6 spare mags for 140 rounds and a "mere" 21.4 lb.

"Just 5.5 lb. more than the soldier carries now!" sounds like a victory, but it's an epic defeat.  The amount that a grunt can lug around without dramatically increasing their chance of injury just walking around is finite.  What 5.5 lb. of gear are we leaving in the rear to accommodate the new wundergewher?

 

Censorship

Just as the left cannot understand that free speech is literally letting anyone say anything they want...

They don't understand censorship.

Censorship is the government preventing an author from writing a book.

Censorship is the government forbidding the publishing of a book.

Censorship is the government banning the purchase of a book by anyone.

Censorship is the government ordering the destruction of all copies of a book everywhere.

Censorship is NOT the government refusing to purchase a book.

Censorship is NOT the government placing limits and restrictions on who may read a government owned copy of a book.

Censorship is NOT the government discarding the copies of a book they already own (even if they burn their copies). 

So, let's just check the math books in Florida for censorship.

The books have been written and published.  Florida is discarding the copies it presently owns and refusing to purchase more.  Florida is not even attempting to keep private citizens from buying their own copies to read.  Florida is not ordering private citizens to destroy their own copy.

Nope, not censorship.

This Is How Wars Start?

American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten, who claimed decisions like DeSantis' [signing the no grooming law] are "how wars start."

Ms Weingarten, how are you going to fight that war?

We have all the guns.

Y'all teachers might wanna consider shutting up and laying low for a few years because the voters started getting pissed at you over what they saw during the lockdowns and you've done nothing to mollify them since.  In fact you're fanning the flames here.

Lemme 'Splain

Perhaps just sum up.

The race related education bill that just got signed in Tallahassee does NOT forbid the teaching of the ugly, racist parts of American history.

There's a difference between teaching that there was a time when racism against blacks was far more common in America and that bigotry and discrimination was wrong...

...and teaching that because those bigots were white that YOU as a white person are responsible for the acts of those bigots.  Bigotry that occurred before you were born, let alone anything you did.

Teaching that someone is responsible for something because of their race is racist.

Even if that someone is white.

We need to return to the idea that racism is racism regardless of whom is regurgitating it.

Even if the racist is black!

I Have No Idea

Someone said in a podcast I'm only half listening to about Netflix collapsing.

"The problem with television is there's too much of it."

That made me realize that I have absolutely no idea what's on TV any more.

I don't even really remember when I stopped watching.

I get my video entertainment from downloads YouTube and Prime mostly and not anything that's regularly scheduled where I can't pause or rewind.

There could be lots of content that I'd enjoy, I just don't go any place where I'd hear about it any more.

I noticed the same personal trend with science fiction.

After a bad run of books I'd paid for, but didn't enjoy, I started waiting on friend's recommendations... which were few and far between already.

Pretty soon I wasn't reading much.  Especially when I got a couple of authors writing in worlds I enjoyed but stopped telling the story of the characters and started experimenting in new ways to tell the story...

Steven Brust, I am looking at you!

I've got a couple of books that are unread, but purchased because I'm going to finish the series... someday.

And Brust comes up again here.  The clock is ticking, Steve, you going to live long enough to finish the story?  Especially since you've wasted several books on asides that don't advance the plot or complete the narrative.

Brust is doing better than G.R.R Martin here (thankfully I never started reading Game of Thrones) in that he's healthier, younger and does appear to still be writing.

.270 Winchester Kurz +P+

More numbers are starting to appear.

6.8x51mm / .277 Fury gets about the same muzzle velocity from a 16" barrel as .270 Winchester does from a 24" barrel with similar weight bullets.

I don't think that anyone has ever accused .270 Win as being anything but a traditional full-power cartridge.

I think it has a bit less kick than .30-06, but Marv thinks it's about the same.

Let's consider something:

Getting the same weight bullet to the same speed in 2/3 the distance is accelerating the bullet faster.

This is reflected in the 80k psi chamber pressure vs 65k in .270 WCF.

Agnes is 8.4 lb loaded with her scope.  Similar to the XM5 without ammo or optic.

The XM157 optic weighs... nobody fucking says!  Like it's a state secret.

They keep saying it's less than four different discrete units combined, but never actually say how much it weighs.

Less than those four things combined could still be a fair amount.

Let's start adding it up.

A 1-10 power Razor HD Gen III LPVO scope is 21.5 oz.

30mm q/d mount is 8.9 oz.

AN/PEQ-15 is 7.5 oz.

AN/PSQ-23 is 22.4 oz.

The barometer/aneometer can be as low as 5 oz. with batteries.

We have to come in lighter than 65.3 oz.  4.1 lb.

All they are saying is the XM157 is less than 4.1 lb.

It's dissembling.

Aside: It could be "less than" 5 lb. because Vortexx always shows that AN/PSQ-23 mounted on a bracket that mounts it to and above the scope and never just mounting it straight to the RAS like the AN/PEQ-5.

Anyone wanna bet that it's real close to 4 lb. and that's why they aren't saying it directly?  I will concede that getting all four items in one package will be handier and more likely to be used by the soldier.  If we can afford to issue enough of them.

Contract price per optic is around $10,500 including all the sundry extras, spares and support.  The LPVO it appears to be based on is $3,500 retail...  Plus plus plus...

The ammo is 20% lighter than a round of comparable power...  Is that 20% lighter than .270 Winchester or .270 WSM?  I did find that the gravel-belly Army requirements for the round were 6.8mm caliber and lighter than 7.62x51mm.

20% lighter than .270 Win is 0.0432 lb. per shot.  That's definitely lighter than 7.62 NATO, but still heavier than 5.56 NATO's 0.027 lb.

20 shots comes to 1.1 lb. in that PMAG looking magazine.  The exact same weight as 30 rounds of M855A1 in a PMAG...

S.L.A. Marshall is weeping.

Again, the fact that they aren't outright giving the numbers when the requirement is simply "lighter than M80 ball" means it's probably 0.055 lb. per round to M80's 0.056 lb.

So, at the end of the day, we're looking at the XM5, with XM157, loaded, being about 13 lb.  That assumes the 8.2 lb. for the rifle includes the pound of suppressor that's in every photo.

Here's what it will replace:

M4A1 (loaded with RAS) is 8.87 lb.

M68 CCO is 0.8 lb.

AN/PEQ-15 is 0.47 lb.

10.14 lb. but no laser range finder, weather station or suppressor.

11.14 lb. with a suppressor.

Where it starts to hurt is when we start lugging around ammo.

3 magazines (90 rounds) of 5.56 is 3.3 lb.  This is about the same volume as two magazines (40 rounds) of something 6.8x51mm even though those two magazines will be lighter at 2.2 lb.  Less than half the ammo in the same space for just 2/3 the weight!

This shit matters!

What's really aggravating about this entire exercise is that it's not the troops who're asking for a longer ranged, harder hitting rifle.

This is a top-down exercise from a retiring general.  If he shows up as an employee of SIG-Sauer in a few months, I think we know what happened here.

I'm starting to think that more cocaine moves through Germany than Columbia and it's all landing on hooker's asses and going up Pentagon noses.

Someone Is Doing Maths

When you know how much the bullet weighs and how fast it's going, then learn how heavy the rifle is: you can calculate how much recoil is generated!

The new XM5 kicks like a fucking mule.

Over two pounds more recoil force than a Garand.

6.8x51mm is nearly the same dimensions as .276 Pederson.

This is not an intermediate round, it's a full-power (plus!) cartridge.

It's not an assault rifle or carbine; it's a full power battle rifle.

I'm not sure of the wisdom here.

There's reasons that intermediate rounds took the world by storm and battle rifles were largely relegated to the back burner.  Literal reams of studies have been published about the advantages of weapons using such ammo.

I know there's a contingent that doesn't like the conclusions from all those studies, but they've never managed to overcome the plain arguments.

It keeps boiling down to a few points that make intermediate rounds the winner.

More shots for the same weight is better than fewer.

Terminal performance isn't really all that different.

Lighter recoil makes it easier to train the troops. 

Less material is used to make the rounds, making them cheaper, making it more likely that you'll train the troops.

The extended range of the heavier round is largely theoretical.

Lighter ammunition is easier on the logistics train.

Sport Mode

Tomorrow is Earth Day.

I will celebrate in the traditional way of my people.

Turn on all the lights, crank the AC to full cold with the doors open.

Drive the large V8 in sport mode and low range changing it from a fuel sipping displacement on demand 6-speed to a all-eight-all-the-time 3-speed!

Have a nice big steak cooked on the grill.

Right In Der Fuhrer's Face

Yesterday I failed to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday.

I would apologize, but as long as the fucker ain't got no grave to violate; there can be no celebration.

I really had to piss too.

Reconsidering

If the government mandates you perform a reasonable and rational action in response to an event with the threat of criminal charges if you don't...

It makes me doubt that action is reasonable and rational.

The gun grabbers commonly add a requirement to report lost or stolen firearms to the the police to their anti-gun shit with criminal penalties ranging from fines to jail-time for failing to do so.

The one firearm we've had stolen got reported moments after we realized it was gone.  That seemed reasonable.  Rational.

What am I missing that they think that the government needs to threaten me with charges if I don't report I'd been robbed?

Wait.

I was trying to be reasonable and rational again.

I think the real motive is to try and catch gun owners lying about where their gun is when a trace finds they were the last name on the document chain.  Especially in places with registration.

The part that really bothers me is they often give a timeframe that's measured from the time of theft and ignores the possibility that the owner could be unaware it was missing.

Case in point is Willard's 625 that's been here for a long time with neither of us realizing it.  He became aware that it had not come home from our range trip when I discovered it in my garage.  It'd obviously gotten set down in a shuffle from the car to the house and I'd probably said I wanted to take a picture or something.  And we'd both forgotten it was there.

Does that make it lost, stolen or missing?

It can't be too lost or missing now.  We know where it is.

Stolen?  When I told him I'd found it, he said to add it to the got-to-get-to-the-damn-range-45-comparo-pile.  That sounds more like loaned.

Nobody here is a felon so, at worst, this is an accidental transfer.  Nothing illegal about that because we're all squeaky clean and law abiding.

But under these laws Willard would have been liable for that revolver ending up at a crime scene for failing to report it was missing, even though he was unaware it'd wandered off.

A Midwestern Thing

I ended up on YouTube clicking whatever seemed interesting and got to a series of words you're probably saying wrong in English.

Sherbet.

I admit I've been saying it wrong my entire life.

It's supposed to be pronounced just like it's spelled.

Sure Bet.

I'm part of a plurality that adds a second 'r' to get Sure Burt.

I think this is a midwestern dialect thing because we often add an 'r' to wash; making it "warsh" or "worsh".

Holster Pics

Here's the .44 model 1851 and the holster in question:

The flap has two holes in it because it was made for both the 7" barreled Colt model of 1873 and S&W Schofield model of 1875.

A model of 1851 and 1860 will both fit fine where the "cavalry" model P does.

This is the same model of holster I cut up here and made a new flap for here, and here.

6.8x51mm

SIG appears to have won the contract to replace the M4 carbine and M249 SAW.

The XM5 and XM250 are chambered in 6.8x51mm aka .277 Fury.

135gr at 3,000 fps means we've abandoned intermediate power cartridges and returned to full power rounds.

The 80k psi chamber pressure is like +P+ stuff!  To the point that it requires unconventional case construction.

It's going to have a lower muzzle velocity from the 13" M5's barrel.  Edit: 2,850 fps.

Without optics, with an empty 20-round mag... 8.4 lb.  That might be with the suppressor attached... details are scanty.

The XM250 is a lot lighter than the M249.

I expect 6.8x51mm is a lot heavier than 5.56x45mm NATO, but nobody seems to be publishing the exact weight per cartridge; they're just saying it's "20% lighter than a round of equivalent power."

I'm thinking that it's about the same weight as a 7.62x51mm NATO round when they toss in all the caveats they are about the mass.

Sounds Of Silence

This is a nice summation of how frequency deafness behaves.

I have other fun things going on with my hearing.  Tinnitus and misophonia make it extra fun.

"It's quiet.  Too quiet." is something that I encounter.

Often times the goal is to hit that "noise soup" point so the discrete sounds that are triggering the misophonia are lost in the cacophony.

It's why I can often handle eating in a restaurant with friends and being utterly unable to stand the experience of their mastication at home.  It's especially bad when I'm not eating at the same time.

I've tried to explain it, over and over, but nobody seems to listen.

That leads me to think that they're doing it on purpose, just to torment me.

Or they just don't care.

Even more fun is realizing that it can make me hard to be around because the people who are making an effort to not set off the problem have to MAKE that extra effort with me and nobody else they know.

I tend to withdraw.

Somewhere along the line, some connection in my little pea-brain got fried and I started getting anxiety attacks.  It took forever to identify them.

I already trended down the introvert spectrum before I caught aversion to settings where I would be subject to eating noises and now I also get anxiety when I anticipate facing those noises in settings where I know there will be no covering white or pink noise.

If you really want to see me freak out: Remove my ability to escape by controlling the transportation THEN ignore my desperate pleas to leave.  Triple word score if you order lunch and eat it in front of me while I'm in the "must remove myself" panic attack.

Oh Yeah

Why do I have a replica Colt 1851 in .44 here?

Because Willard wondered if the holster we'd originally ordered for the Colt New Service would work with it.

It did.

I'm still confused as to why the gun came here instead of the holster going there.

I appreciate the chance to play with it, though.

Marv disagrees, but I prefer the looks of the later 1860 and its blended barrel to the slab sided 1851.

And looking is pretty much all I'd ever do.  Black powder's popularity and accessibility appears to have waned dramatically compared to even just a few years ago.

Finished Refinish

The Lovely Harvey has completed her refinishing project of her dresser!  Her very first furniture refinishing project.  It was definitely a learn as you go kind of deal for her and she made mistakes that taught her what not to do next time.

How it started:

 After stripping:

After sanding:

The veneer is genuine wood veneer too.

All done!  Stained with "gunstock" by Winwax and given a good soak of linseed oil.

The dresser left Basset painted white as a "French Provincial" style.  We found several flaws in the wood that we think explain why it's got a wood veneer and was then painted.

Our theory goes that they made them to be stained or just oiled, but if the wood's appearance had flaws or if there was some sort of damage incurred during production, they filled and painted over the wood.

My dresser is likely the next victim for refinishing.

But Wait There's Less!

In the quest for better cup-holders I have discovered that if you're willing to brutally Dremel® it, the console from a 2015 Camaro fits OK.

You need to make a filler plate to cover where the Camaro's shifter though.

You can also use the Camaro's shifter!

The storage area has the aux-in and USB port I was planning on adding anyways with the benefit of being out of sight!

It doesn't hurt that Camaro parts are considerably cheaper than Pontiac by Holden parts.

Being Honest With Myself

With minimal modifications, the center console from a Pontiac G8 will bolt into The Beast.

If I run a couple of wires to the BCM I even get tap-up-tap-down shifting to replace the "sport" mode button.

It's not a cheap mod.  A used console and shifter on ebay is about $550, if you can find one.  (There's one for sale at the time of posting).

There's another $200-$300 in stuff to make it work.  More than one part in this pile has gone discontinued too.

Why would one do this?

To be honest, to get better cup-holders than the chintzy aftermarket console has.

Also, to be honest, posting about it helps in talking me out of it.

I Feel Like A Cad

Forwarded an article to someone about a new, experimental, treatment for the kind of cancer their mother has.

To be informed that their mother had already died from it more than a year ago.

In my defense, nobody told me, but I still feel bad about poking at that grief.

Hearing about a, possibly, effective treatment for the cancer that got MY mom after she died would not have consoled me in the slightest.

All The Tender Mercies

Got my appointment to get x-rayed for my accident three months ago.

This is something that should have happened two weeks after the accident, but it's Government™ Healthcare® and you get what you pay (out of pocket) for.

Sure am glad that some trespasser who gave nothing to this nation get priority over me for the doctors and resources of the VETERAN'S Administration...

There's tells when a Democrat is in office...

At any rate, I am hoping that the imaging says that I'm healing well and can start doing stuff I've been forbidden from.

I Think I Will Take Up Ship Modelling

 1/720 scale looks simple enough!

Maybe Not For YOUR Sins

I saw a headline that said, "The Easter Bunny didn't die for our sins nor did he rise from the dead."

Well, not with that attitude, He won't.

Let's be a bit historical here and admit that Easter is happening at the time of year it happens because Christianity was converting the heathens who had fertility celebrations in the spring.

Rabbits are symbols of fertility.

So, while The Easter Bunny did not die for our sins, He sure did pick when Jesus died and was reborn, literally centuries after his execution.

Or at least when the Church decided it would be celebrated.

There's a strong argument to be made that the scheduling of Passover influenced the timing of Easter as well.  Converting Jews was also something the Church wanted.

But it is true that The Easter Bunny did not die for our sins.  That's not His job.

His job is to make us fertile and bountiful.  By dying for the supper table.

Oil Soaked Rag Fire

 

The Lovely Harvey is refinishing a dresser.  She spilled the linseed oil and used this towel to clean up the spill.

A couple hours later we're going to the garage to see how the dresser is drying and we smell the smouldering.

The video is from that!

I've read about this phenomenon repeatedly, but had never actually seen it in person.

Going To Put Babylon Bee Out Of Business

Marv reports that a not insignificant portion of NASA's budget is going to woke shit.

$150M of NASAs budget goes to "targeting engagement of underserved populations".  the word "equity" appears more than 100 times in NASAs budget.

He also notes that the priorities of new moon missions are:

1- land the first woman and person of color on the moon.

2- deepen the Nation’s scientific understanding of the Moon, and test
technologies that would allow humans to safely and sustainably explore
Mars.

When your number one priority is a plot point from a b-movie about a Nazi moonbase, you're shit's out of whack.

It's A Remington-Keene

Suck it IMFDB!

We found the show and took screen shots!

Forgotten Weapons covered it.

You'd Think

If you're going to compare the old Hi Power to the new High Power, and you're getting paid to do so, you'd know that to line up the slide stop for reassembly on the old HP you just lock the slide to the rear with the safety rather than holding your tongue just right and hoping you get it lined up.

Shit like this is why so many people are cynical about gunwriters.

Indicators

Ukraine claims that an anti-ship missile is why Moskva caught fire, exploded and sank.

Russia is denying that.

I admit, a Russian ship catching fire and exploding without any assistance aside from its own crew is completely plausible.

What makes it implausible is moving other ships farther from the coast after losing Moskva...

This is what we call an indicator.

That's Telling 'Em

Watching a history of Ukraine...

 

The Cossack reply to the Turks demand to surrender:

Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan!

O sultan, Turkish devil and damned devil's kith and kin, secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight are thou, that canst not slay a hedgehog with your naked arse? The devil shits, and your army eats. Thou shalt not, thou son of a whore, make subjects of Christian sons. We have no fear of your army; by land and by sea we will battle with thee.  Fuck thy mother!

Thou Babylonian scullion, Macedoninan wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, pig of Armenia, Podilian thief, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, an idiot before God, grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig's snout, mare's arse, slaughterhouse cum, unchristianed brow. Screw thine own mother!

So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. You won't even be herding pigs for the Christians. Now we'll conclude, for we don't know the date and don't own a calendar; the moon's in the skiy, the year with the Lord. The day's the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our arse!

I think that checked all the boxes!

Things That Bubble Up

In the early eighties there was an attempt to revive the Bret Maverick character in a new show, "Bret Maverick."

I remember watching it.

All I really remember is one episode where one of the bad guys has this super powerful rifle...  Which I recall as being a Mauser something.

There are no entries for the show in IMFDB or screen shots of the gun in question.

Now that I have recalled the show, I want to see that rifle and determine what it was.

Grumble.

The internet has failed me!

Idiot Trap

Here's a stupid internet challenge...

Be provocateur enough to get the FBI to sent agents to "help" you...

BUT

Give up and disappear after they've explained how to make your idea work but before they have you actually making the idea work.

We might not get Darwin Awards, but it will get two groups occupied at each other deeply enough that they leave us normal folks alone.

Especially if the challenge winner actually disappears, the feebs will tear up the world looking for them; thus leaving us alone.

8-Tracks And .45's!

I'm old enough to have owned an 8-track player and been issued a 1911.

Technology just keeps marching on around us.

I'm also old enough that saying 8-tracks and forty-fives can mean something besides a tape and pistol as well.

Cutting The Irony With A Knife

Remember how they keep telling us that burning food putting ethanol in gas is good for the environment?

I love how people are just now learning what that little sticker that says, "up to 15% ethanol content" really means.

For years they've mandated lower ethanol content over the summer because of higher air pollution levels from the full 15% formulations.

What happened to it being better for the environment?

Well, in the Royal Navy we call that a lie.

It's never been about the environment.  Not even for a second.

Frustrating

Both Equinoxes and The Beast communicate via GM's GDS2.

JT came over and got me set up so my laptop and VXDIAG would talk to Moxie and he left with us thinking it was all good.

Today I tried to connect to The Beast and was informed that we'd done nothing.

UGH!

I am unhappy, frustrated and confused.

I have transmitted and transferred my confusion to JT.

We'll get it sorted, but...

The reason I was trying to connect was to see if I could access the SPS2 area and if so, I was going to purchase a day license and click some check boxes to enable some disabled features, like the dome light coming on when the door opens.

Decoding The Mods

The previous owner of The Beast put bigger brakes on it.

Well, bigger in the back.

Much bigger.

The front is Raybestos R-300 345mm rotors that are stock sized, but with 6-piston Brembo calipers from a '16+ Camaro SS.

The rear is a 360mm rear rotor from Powerstop for a Chevy SS Sedan with a 4-piston caliper sourced from a Caddy CTS-V.

I can attest, she stops.

Two Months Is A Reasonable Amount

I tried to order a handguard from LaRue Tactical back in February.

As has become increasingly regular with them, they don't have anything in stock despite allowing you to place orders.

You enter indefinite back-order with no prediction or communication of when you will come out.

They don't actually charge you for the purchase until it ships, but you've got that charge hanging in your ledger for... months?

Months, from the manufacturer.

I guess there's a solid reason that American Defense Ind. mounts under several of my scopes instead of the desired LaRue.  I guess LaRue isn't the preferred mount any more, huh?

But, let's address the gorilla in the room.

It's 2022.

The internet is no longer new and strange.

Making sales over the internet is no longer unusual.

Live inventory tracking systems which show if a part is actually in stock or not which interface with your sales webpage are no longer innovative and uncommon.

Such tracking systems are the norm.

It's inexcusable to be selling online without it because you can get an off-the-shelf solution.

Getting Dangerous Out There For Me

There's two "meal replacement" drink powders out there which are potentially deadly to me.

Ka'Chava and Mudwater both have significant edible mushroom content in them.

My food allergy is rare and obscure, and it doesn't come up very often.

I should say that it didn't come up very often.

Mushrooms used to be easy to avoid and were relatively easy to spot.

Now we have powdered drinks and umami enhancers using mushrooms.

That second one is what's going to get me killed because it can be listed as "natural flavoring" in the ingredients.

It's all on me to figure out where the risks occur and to avoid them, but it sometimes feels like someone out there is gunning for me.

I'd Rather Know Less Than So Much That Isn't So

My service manual for The Beast contains an entire section on figuring out vibrations.

Several people have mentioned having the same vibration at the steering wheel I'm experiencing.

I ran through the flow-chart and have narrowed down the choices to the strut mounts, tie-rods and/or out of round rims.

In my case the strut mounts are clearly collapsed.  The parts get here Wednesday and pending medical clearance from my radiology appointment Thursday, I should be able to eliminate that possibility.

Tie-Rods are simple.

Out of round rims plays into our desire to get new wheels anyway.

But so many people on the newcaprice forum just flat deny that it could be any of the above.

I don't know why they're so vested in not fixing the remaining choice when they've done the other two.

My current favorite is the person who said that it couldn't be the strut mounts because they've replaced them three times...

When they finally posted pics the had both the mounts AND the springs clocked incorrectly.  Found your problem there, Tex.  Oh and you ruined the new mounts driving around with the springs clocked wrong too.

Wrenching isn't hard, but you do need some smarts.

Moar Teefs

My teeth are now completely free of the accumulated calculus from decades of neglect.

It feels strange.

Considering how many health problems have been associated with bad teeth, I am going to keep them brushed from now on.

The improvement to taste and smell with regards to food alone has been worth the extra effort.

Which Is Best?

 

L->R: S&W M&P 45C, SIG-Sauer P220, Ithaca M1911A1.

The M1911A1 is obviously best because lanyard.

That's something that actually shows in the GURPS stats too!

The 1911 and P220 do the same 2d pi+ at 150/1,600 but the P220 gets 8+1 shots and is 2.2 lb. compared to 7+1 shots and 2.8 lb.

The 45C only does 2d-1 pi+ to the same ranges but it gets 10+1 shots for 2.2 lb.

Average damage, with hollow-points, for a full mag are very close.  84 for the M1911A1, 96 for the P220 and 100 for the M&P 45C.

Not much to distinguish them from each other, really.

If the campaign is set before the early-eighties then only the M1911A1 will be available.  If it's before 2012 then you're choosing between the Ithaca and SIG.

Consult with your GM before purchasing!

Old And New

When the switch on my MX991/U appeared to have failed, I ordered a new one from Amazon.

$20 gets you a made in the USA, Fulton.

What I wasn't expecting was to see how much the color had changed on my old one!

Now I have two functional and near bullet-proof flash-lights.  Even if they are short on lumens by modern standards, they are functional.

Lug Nuts

GM Parts Giant sells the following lug nut for $6.54 each.

That's GM p/n 09597846.  It's an M14x1.5 nut.  According to my VIN, this is the lug that came on the car along with the metal center caps.

If you want to use the larger diameter plastic wheel covers you need:

 

This is 09595175, it's also M14x1.5 but it has threads on the outside too so you can attach the plastic wheel covers to the rim.  They're $6.95 each.

Dorman makes a zinc plated version of the 09595175, Dorman 611-115, and that's what's on my car.

You can get 611-115 for $3.19 each or 20 for $35.49.

Also listed for my car is FABULOUS colored nut from Dorman:

This one comes in several colors, is open ended so there's a big hole in the center and you can get 20 for $34.99.

Nobody, but nobody, has a clone of the expensive GM closed end nut whom will admit fits my car!

Now, if you hit Amazon and search for M14-1.5 lug nut and filter for The Beast you will get a set of 20 lug nuts for $21.09 from a company called "Wheel Accessories Parts".

GM Is Fucking High

$7.56 per lug nut?

I can't even.

The VE And WM Are The Same From The B-Pillar Forward

Here's a vid of a couple of my Aussie brethren wrenching on their VE Commodore.

OK, this job isn't scary at all!  Corvettes have given me PTSD about wrenching.

Everything I've checked out mechanically is almost always more straight forward than the Vette.

The big exception is the rear wheel-bearings.  Those need multiple hydraulic press operations to get all the parts out and back in.  It's still fairly straight-forward though.

Shouldn't It Turn The Other Direction?

Watching Australians working on their VE Commodores and WM Caprices makes me joke that it must be mirrored because they are lefty-loosie...

Isn't that supposed to be the other way to match the swirl in the toilets?

Tire Update

Reader DWW made me a generous offer of a discount if I ordered from the company he works for.

An offer I was going to accept when...

Two of the tires which were on the car showed serious signs of fall-apart.

The previous owner, while a friend, is not known for his willingness to spend money fixing things.  I'm always suspicious of brands I've never seen before on a car.

The three year old Sentury UHP tires appeared to be ready to shed their tread when I took The Beast in for a precautionary balance to crutch me along until I could get past my natural procrastination and get with DWW for new tires.

Tire Kingdom was having a sale of Sumitomo HTR A/S P03, buy three get the fourth free!  I've had good luck with Sumitomo, so I went ahead and got tires without contacting DWW.

I hope I don't regret this!

Sadly, the reason I thought I needed to balance the tires did not go away with new tires on a fresh balance.

Looks like it's the strut mounts.  They're just $63 each from Rock Auto, but you need to compress the springs to replace them and that gives me the heebie jeebies.  I've heard too many stories of injuries.

Then, since the work to get the mounts off is almost the same as changing the struts...  I am thinking of getting the $100 each struts at the same time.

The big question is, "Should I buy the compressor tool and DIY, or let an expert do it?"

Dogfighting In A 747

An F-14 is a jet and a 747 is a jet, therefore a 747 is a fighter.  That's what many people are saying when they say that homosexual = pedophile.

I'm all for hatin' on pedos.

They cause harm which lasts a lifetime to their victims and I really think that it should be a capital crime.

But there's a lot of confusion about gay = pedo.

This gets complicated because it isn't simple and can't be reduced to a nice simple pithy phrase.

On the surface it appears that most pedos are gay because most of their victims are same sex.

Aside: If you're going to conflate that pedo = homo then you're also going to have to conflate male = pedo because most pedophiles are men.

Something important to remember here is when someone is prepubescent, they don't have any secondary sexual characteristics.  It's that lack that makes them attractive to someone who can only be fixed by a slow feed rate into a wood chipper.

The reason that most pedos are going for same sex victims is access.  Men have more access to boys than girls.

It doesn't make them gay per se, homosexuals are attracted to POST-pubescent members of the same sex.

Pedophilia really is different from homosexuality.  Harmful.

The best analogy I've come up with is that two gay guys willingly going at it doesn't create a victim.  No traumatic experience for either participant.

Another Aside: What the DisneyLGBTQ crowd is pissed about is losing the ability to train the victims into thinking that what just happened to them isn't wrong.  Even without the grooming it's hard enough for a victim of molestation to come forward; especially with all the implantation of false memories which were all the rage in '90's which devalues a child's accusation today.

At the end of the day the Western Civ answer is still the best one.

Children, as minors, cannot make decisions for themselves which are in any way binding.  What choices they do get to make should be tightly observed and restricted by the people raising them so that they learn to make good decisions and learn HOW to make good decisions.

By 'cannot' I mean it in both senses of the word.  They are both forbidden by law and tradition from making binding decisions AND they are unable to make such decisions because they simply do not have the proper experience to make an informed decision.

Children dive for instant gratification without fail.

PS: That "huge uptick" in children claiming to be some form of LGBTQ?  It's more likely that they are being cued by their teachers and being rewarded for making such claims rather than actually feeling that way.  Some people keep forgetting that prepubescence also severely limits the kind of thinking they're trying to say is coming from a child.

PPS: I am grabbing most of my position from my dusty old psych books where I spent three years learning that I was not cut out to be a psychologist.  At the time it was unremarkable that a pedophile was doing evil even if they could not help themselves from doing it and that the proper response to it was harsh.  Shit like chemical castration being the most compassionate level of harsh.

PPPS: There's a whole other debate to have about statutory rape = pederasty.  Pederasty is malum in se, statutory rape is malum prohibitum.  While there's a victim, there's rarely trauma.  Someone who's through puberty is ready and willing to have sex; but probably shouldn't because of a lack of social experience needed to pick a good mate.  Older people (especially people with power over the victim) shouldn't be taking advantage of that lack of experience; so it's illegal.

Clean Teefers

Since I'm added to The Lovely Harvey's insurance, I got my teeth cleaned today.

They had accumulated quite a bit of calculus in the years that I ignored taking care of them.

Of late I've been something of a born again brusher.

I've three examples of why you want to take care of your teeth in the form of the massive expenses associated with getting them replaced once you let them rot out of your skull.

Flashlight

There was a bit of a debate about flashlights on Facebook and I mentioned that I was still rocking an MX991/U.

Even more remarkable is that I've had this flashlight since I stole legitimately acquired it from the Army.  I cannot remember if this is one that I was issued or one I bought from Clothing Sales.

But it's been in my possession since 1988 at the latest.

How's your Wunderlicht doing on durability?  I'll bet you have about 33 years to wait before you can compare.  The only thing I've ever replaced is the bulb, and I've had an LED conversion in it for the past 15 years.

Like my Victorinox Swiss Champion, it's traveled the world and never failed.

Actually, it failed yesterday.

I don't keep batteries in it.  I keep batteries NEAR it.  That way when they leak, they don't take out the flashlight.

The years of being basically unused in the garage had allowed some corrosion to form in the switch and it took several minutes of obsessively working the slider to get it to work again.

But it DID start working again.

I cannot say that of the dead switches on a couple of Surefires.  Those had to go back to the company and be warrantied.

It's not the brightest light ever made, but I never had trouble seeing in the dark with it over the past 34 years.

There's an obsession with increasing the lumens that has led to lights that are unnecessarily bright.

This thing with a red lens, if your eyes are adjusted to the dark, is plenty bright enough to read by.  I've done it.

The dimmer light is also a boon if you need to get back into the dark quickly after using it.

It also doesn't broadcast were you are so much as a newer one.

Driving Me Nuts

The header image at Irish's is bugging the shit out of me.

So I fixed it.

I'd have said it was a Stag arms lefty model, except for the scope's turrets.

Edit:  Also the windage adjustment for the BUIS.

PS: Bitch! Use the fucking bipod you paid good money to have out there.

The Marine Corps Way

I've noticed, in several instances, that if the USMC is left alone they tend to diverge from how the US Army does things.

They choose different weapons, different doctrine, different...

Then, once there's a war on, they revert to how the Army does it.

Well...  The conform to the Army's way of doing things after Big Army gets blooded and discovers all those peacetime niceties hamper combat operations.

Really, both services diverge from what works, it's just the USMC goes farther out on the limb before coming back.

The above is just a surface assessment.  I've not done any real research.  It's just a "sure seems like" observation, which could be totally incorrect with more in depth research.

That Fits

I was comparing the stats between the old B-Body and The Beast and noticed that while the 2012 car is smaller in overall dimensions, it has more interior space, longer wheelbase and tighter turning circle.

I'd mentioned to Marv that it felt like driving a much smaller car than it is.

Tonight, talking with The Lovely Harvey, it hit me.

The Beast drives a lot like Flossie, the 2002 Civic my mom willed to me.

More power, of course, but the driving experience feels much the same.

The Biscayne always felt like the big car she is.  Remarkably poised for such a large thing, but still BIG.

If This Pans Out

If this pans out:  Fusion could be 10 years away instead of 20!

Fucking Chaos!

It's been non-stop around here.

Harvey has had at least three screaming break-downs in the past week or so.

She's fucking stressed by all the appointments, her mom having surgery on her eyes, the broken toe, a poor TV buying decision (since returned) and The Boy being a fucking prick about everything.

And she's worried about me and having no doctor's release for my ribs and treating me like glass; but needing me to resume my duties.  Especially with The Boy.

Then we have the way we want to be when we're hurting conflict.

I wanna curl up in a cave and be left alone.

She wants someone to actively check in and give some pampering.

My being all considerate and leaving her in her cave wasn't what she was wanting and it made her feel rather unloved.

I had to remind her that I am not very good at these social cues (I'm only good by comparison to most of my friends) and she need only say something.

I think we're on a more even keel today.

More Tired

The Beast needs new shoes.

Happily a local branch of a regional tire place is having a sale of buy three get four tires in my size from a brand I like.

Tires are certainly cheaper for The Beast than they were for The Precious!

It's been interesting reading reviews for the tire and getting people's opinion about how they perform in snow.

You don't get too many snow reviews for Corvette tires.

Still Nope

I am forcefully reminded that I do not have telepathy.

Again.

Screwed And Tired

The right rear on The Beast has been slow leaking.

Today I found the culprit!

A small wood screw.

Since I am not yet completely mended, getting a tire plug in there was a lot more difficult than I would have expected it to be.

Yet, I persevered!

I certainly hope this fixes the leak until it's time for new tires.

Hell, if the local tire places weren't useless, I would have tried to have it patched.

But no matter how minor the puncture, their party line is the belts have been damaged and you need to buy a new tire.

Alt History Givens

Way back in 1985 there was no doubt that The Soviet Union was going to make it to 1997 and that it could stand toe to toe with NATO in World War Three.

In fact, it was widely held that NATO would have great difficulty in slowing the Soviet advance long enough for reinforcements from the US to get into the fight.

This was the reality when GDW published Twilight: 2000.

Since then...

Well, to make it to 1995 and start a war with China that eventually goes nuclear in late 1997 we have to accept some givens about the Soviet economy that simply weren't true.

Now, thanks to the invasion of Ukraine, we have to accept some givens about the Russian way of war that simply aren't true.

We're seeing their doctrines put into action and they don't seem to work very well against even a non-peer foe.

No wonder T2K went nuclear, huh?

Man V Mouse

Something that I think Disney is underestimating in their little spat with Governor DeSantis is how sick a large portion of Florida's population is with how they've been deferred to politically for years, perhaps decades.

Disney's ownership of a large portion of the RINO contingent is a good part of that.

The Mouse and the Florida Sheriff's Association have been the two major roadblocks to advancing gun rights in Florida.

Without one or the other, I think that movement could be made.

One reason I think that DeSantis is willing to stand up to them is the realization that Florida's economy is a lot more diverse than it used to be and tourism to Disneyworld isn't the majority of tax receipts any longer.

We can actually thank the Wu Ping Cough for that.

Who Put The Ape In Appalling?

I recently found out that the SIG P220 was available in .38 Super.

The single example I found on Gunbroker is going went for $1,500 $1,675.  Magazines are over $150!

I don't think I will be getting an example, despite being vested in the caliber already.

It'd be cool though.

Definitely making a character with one in that caliber on the off chance that I ever get to play, rather than GM again.

PS: I think Glock is missing an untapped market of dozens of people not offering a .38 Super.  Just sayin'!  They could make tens of dollars!

Out Of Uniform Under Arms

It's long been an article of the laws of warfare that if you caught someone fighting who wasn't in uniform, they weren't entitled to the protection of Prisoner of War status and can be executed summarily when captured.

Ukraine handed out a lot of genuine assault rifles and it appears that those citizens are enthusiastically using them against the Russians.

I wonder if the stories about bound and executed civilians are people who took up arms against the invader and didn't have anything resembling a uniform.

That does make them partisans, and partisans can be shot out of hand if captured.

Makes them pretty damned brave too, if you ask me, if they knew that was what was likely to happen to them.

No Escape

I dunno why I'm surprised, Mas is getting old.

Just Noticed Something

How many shows or movies with a super-strong character bends a gun being held in the hands of a normal person?

For that to work, wouldn't the normal person have to have similar strength to hold the gun firmly enough for the super to apply enough force to bend the gun?

Or is it more believable for the gun to be ripped out of the normie's hands because the gun is far stronger than their grip?

Putting On The Ritz

Door handles from a 2008-2009 Pontiac G8 work in the 2011-2013 Caprice PPV.

Before:

After:

Pretty spiffy if you ask me.

They're aftermarket, and the chrome was a bit thick on the passenger side handles, so they stick a little.  Some silicone dry lube appears to be enough to get them working smoothly, I expect they'll wear in in no time because those doors see a lot of use.

Maybe She Felt Left Out?

The Lovely Harvey appears to have broken her right big toe.

OUCH!

Even worse, we're not entirely sure as to when it got broken.

It was swollen at around noon and was turning colors at about six.

She's at the ER now.

Eyes crossed.

Power's Out

Estimating 2015 for restoration.

I can't think of a better reason to strap on the P220 and open carry on my property.

Hammered

Reassembling a SIG P220 is Murphy's wet dream... wait he warned us about this kind of crap.  Not a wet dream, direst prediction.

There are simply too many parts that can go in backwards.

I started with this:

 Because I'm concerned that the, pretty, wood stocks are fragile having had to WECSOG glue them back together...  I'd resolved to get some plastic stocks.

Because SIG changed the mainspring twice since this gun was made, the plastic grips I can afford required changing the mainspring, strut and retainer.

The new strut required changing the hammer.

The new hammer required changing the hammer stop and adding a hammer rebound spring.

The parts came in today and I took it all apart!

Only one thing was even half hard to get out and that was the trigger bar.  Happily I'd watched a video and knew it came out in just one way so you fiddle around until it passes through that space and falls out.  A lot like a Garand bolt, come to think of it.

Reassembly went smooth until it was time to put the locking insert back in.

There are little notches in the trigger pin that accommodate the grooves in the locking insert and hold the trigger pin in place.  You have to have the trigger pin aligned just-so with the slide stop just-so with the trigger bar just-so and then insert the locking insert just-so while holding the slide-stop/take down retainer spring in place.

If everything is aligned perfectly, it falls right in.  If not...

Did I mention you cannot see the grooves as they hit the trigger pin?

I revisited the video and saw the trick and everything went click.  Thanks YouTube!

Once that was in, it was easy to finish.

This is also when Murphy strikes.

There's a long wire spring that curves from the frame to the trigger bar.  There's a hole drilled in the bar that sure looks like it's for the spring end.

It is not.

There's a little notch, lower and farther aft.

The spring works just fine in the hole until you put a magazine in the gun.  Then the tip of the spring drags on the magazine.

Easy fix, especially with Willard's P220R to compare with.

Another gotcha is on the frame end of that spring.  It sits in a groove inside the magazine well and is easy to get so it sits proud of he frame and drags on the mag.  Also easy to make sure it's down where it's supposed to be once you realize it needs to be.

I think it was worth it!

The complete Hammer, strut, Wolff spring and retainer bring the double action pull from 11 lb. even to 8-1/2 lb.  Single action is barely changed going from 4 lb. to 3-15/16 lb.

Just one, teeny, oddity.  The rebound spring doesn't quite pull the hammer to half-cock.  I don't think this will be a problem in practice because the only time it shows up is when I'm doing repeated dry-fire shots in double action.

The decocker drops it to half-cock and the slide puts it at full cock.

Probably Because I Am Deaf

I read on the forum that the rear speakers would often be inaudible even with the volume cranked and fade all the way to the rear; but that they WOULD make sound.

So I fiddled around with the fader control and the back speakers work just fine.

Not sure why JT and I couldn't hear them before, but they appear to be functional now.

Perhaps I have an intermittent open in the wires someplace.

More likely is that I am deaf.

First Repair

The trim along the side of The Beast's driver's seat was all broken.  Happily you can still get them from GM.

Sadly they are expensive and take two weeks to arrive.

Happily the R&R is simple and easy.

I wonder at the mass of the cop who used this car before me.

The steel bucket for the seat was deformed and needed to be hammered back into shape before I could put the trim back in its slots.  The plastic tabs are reinforced with aluminum and those were STILL broken off!

The thin blue line ain't so thin if you ask me.

Pre-Staged

 This is everything I have, so far, for the radio swap.

Holden box, aux/USB connection, GPS antenna, XM antenna and RCA inputs for a future back-up camera input.

I was going through my records and I am not even scratching what I spent on the Kenwood unit that I had in The Precious and abandoned for about 10% what I paid for it originally.

I'm chomping at the bit to get to work, but my ribs say to wait.

We're Contemplating Rims

As everyone knows, fancy rims are the heart of any hot rod, just before chrome stuff under the hood.

The Lovely Harvey and I agree on the following rims:

 

What say the hive?

Today Is MY Day

It is All Fool's Day!

A day for fools like me!

You may laugh, as long as you fear!