Ex X

The XM7 rifle, XM250 machine gun and XM157 optic are now M7 rifle, M250 machine gun and M157 optic.

The article doesn't mention if the X has been dropped from the 6.8x51mm cartridges:

• XM1168 GPR: Ball round with hardened steel core. Capable beating armor plates of NIJ IV classification.
• XM1169 AP Sniper: Steel-cored match round for marksmen.
• XM1170 AP: Tungsten-core AP round.
  • XM1184 AP: Improved "Special purpose" AP round.
• XM1184: AP round. Target penetration range of IV plate at 600m.
  • XM1185 AP-T: Tracer version of XM11184.
  • XM1184A1 APDU: Wartime version with depleted uranium penetrator.
    • XM1185A1 APDU-T: Wartime tracer variant.

• XM1186 GPR: Improved ball round. Capable beating armor plates of NIJ IV classification at approx 400m range.
  • XM1187 GPR-T: Second-gen ball round with tracer.
• XM1188 APFSDS: Tungsten flechette able to beat NIJ-IV armor from one klick away.
• Aeroshell SLAP: Full-bore AP round with thick polymer jacket offering SLAP-like qualities while being muzzle device-safe.
• Fury Match: Match-grade load developed by SIG for .277 Fury - civilian version of their entry.
• HAPI API: Ammo Inc. API load with large reactive incendiary charge.
• SIG WC UAP: Very potent SIG-designed AP round, supposedly able to defeat 25mm of RHA from one klick away.
• NM142 HEIAP: Downsized Raufoss-like multipurpose round.

 The things the Army is going to regret about this rifle are the outrageous mass, stupifying cost per round and the accelerated wear associated with the insane chamber pressures.

This IS America, dammit, but there's limits to how much we can spend on an infantry rifle.

We Have Glock 19 At Home

Why does everyone make a Glock 19 sized gun when there's already a Glock 19?

Because they want you to buy their gun instead of giving Glock the money, DUH!

And that's really the long and short of it.

It's always interesting watching the marketing people and the gun-writers (did I repeat myself?) jumping through hoops trying to differentiate between the choices and why they exist when it really boils down to the first guy nailing the market niche and everyone else trying to worm their way into it and get some market share.

Bot Reduction

All you have to do to reduce the number of bot hits from Singapore is to post a shrill diatribe and go silent for a couple of days.

Good to know!

Florida Registration

Florida, by law, has no gun registration.

But the media often refers to registered owners.

Occasionally, they mention the illegal possessor was a different person from the registered owner.

Often they mention the "registered owner" by name.

I've been mentioning this for a few years.

Kids, if they can tell whose gun it is in less than 24 hours and get that information to the press in that same time period:  You have defacto gun registration.

Fla. Stat. § 790.335(2) is meaningless. 

Time to have an unproductive conversation with my state legislators.

Gemini Cricket

Gemini really IS supposed to be pronounced Jimminy.

That's the proper Greek pronunciation.

It's not Jim-In-Eye.

I was twitching every time I heard Amy Shira Teitel saying it and thinking she got it wrong and it turns out that she had it right.  And she was just saying it the same way that NASA had been saying it since the beginning of the program.

Wait What?

"The registered owner of the weapon was unable to be contacted..."

What registered owner?

Florida doesn't have gun registration.

Or does it?

That's worrisome every time the press makes mention of it.

How Much Ammo?

There's a thread on Arfcom talking about how much ammo soldiers in Vietnam carried.

A lot is the answer.

"That can't be true, not for a normal infantryman!"

"I have a picture of me somewhere around here..."

Pic shows them carrying the near 500 rounds they claimed.

And here I am, remembering I chastised my players in Twilight: 2000  for carrying all the ammo the encumbrance system would let them as being unrealistic.

Who knew?  Not me!

Reading about the period more let me realize that the troops believed in two things.

1. MORE DAKKA!

and

2. There is no such thing as overkill.  Only 'open fire' and 'reload.'

I've become more concerned with how they carry all that than IF they carried all that.

Some methods take longer to access than others and that matters in GURPS.

There's The Door

There's a misapprehension on the part of some readers that I'm doing this for them.

That is incorrect.

My ramblings are for me.

That you might enjoy them is a coincidence and secondary to the purpose of this place.

With that in mind, you are not a critic or a reviewer of my babbling here.

You are free to start your own blog and critique me to your heart's content.

Don't expect me to show up and read it.

Your critiques are for YOU, not ME and I wouldn't dare to interrupt.

KTHANX

A ≠ R

First off...  It was hyperbole and a joke.

I keep forgetting how stupid some of my readers are.

The joke was to yank the chains of the bigots.

Apparently, the bigots are smarter than a fair number of you because they had the good sense to not open their pie-holes.

They, unlike you, did not remove all doubt.

What makes the snarky joke is that the Jews are not actually in charge of the place despite the constant screeching of the Antisemites.

But missing the joke and then inserting different group for "The Jews!" didn't make you look clever.  It made you look stupid.

I regret not publishing the comment now.  Though, so many of you missed the joke it's better if it's deleted.  Some of you did better than others, I will admit, but...

Y'all are some dumbasses.

Fucking stupid.

Without redeeming features.

Mouth breathing morons.

I look upon thee and despair!

I weep that you might have reproduced and passed this ailment down to your children.

But I do get some satisfaction from deleting the comments and reporting them as abuse to Blogger, you moral degenerates.

So, go away, don't come back and eat a bag of dicks while you do.

Recoil Therapy

Got Dissapator Dottie and Lavender Linda zeroed today.

 

12 round confirmation of the zero at a mere 25 yards.  I'm reasonably happy with it considering how bad my eyes are and Dottie only has irons.

 

Linda was a bit more aggravating.  Got the irons dialed in, then matched the red-dot with the irons and the red dot shot 2" left of the irons.  Must be a goofy affect of the carry handle mount impinging on the sight picture or using both eyes with the red dot or something.

Dialed the red dot so it hit then confirmed the irons still worked.

Odd.  Never had this happen before.

Linda is going to get zeroed again, because she's obviously got a canted front sight, and I remember having to take extra care mounting the barrel last time, that I didn't remember to do this time when I was playing musical barrel swaps for pictures of various dissipator combinations.

Marv went to the adjacent range and zeroed his Kel Tec .410.  It really hated one brand of ammo, Best Performance Shotshell.  You know it's good when they don't even have a web page!

Joke You All If You Can't Take A Fuck

Wow, there's some stupid motherfuckers in the comments.

How The H&K G11 Worked

This is required watching for OG Twilight: 2000 fans!

Well worth the more than an hour.

Good Morning Vietnam!

In addition to Singapore pouring on the hits, Vietnam has joined the ranks of readers.

I guess they don't know they play the bad-guys in two of my GURPS campaigns.

M1956 Universal Ammunition Small Arms Pouch

If you remember this post I wondered if the M1956 small arms, universal, pouch could carry 40mm grenades and, if so, how many.

I bought a book!  Vietnam War US and Allied Combat Equipment.

The “universal” in the designation indicated that it held 2x M14 rifle 20-rd magazines, 4x M16 rifle 20-rd magazines, 4x M2 carbine 30-rd magazines, a bandoleer of 6x 8-rd M1 rifle clips, 8x M1 clips without bandoleer, 2x BAR or Australian L1A1 rifle 20-rd magazines (tight fit), 24x 12-gauge shotgun shells, 3x 40mm grenades (two nose down, one horizontally on top), or 3x hand grenades internally. M16 magazines were too short to conveniently withdraw, so soldiers inserted a field dressing or folded sock underneath to raise them. Some pouches were too tight and held only three magazines.

That's interesting stuff.  Exactly the kind of trivia I love for gaming.

What U.S Troops ACTUALLY Think Of Their XM-7

Early Adopter

The XM157 is a 1-8x power TL8 Computer Sight (High Tech, p. 157) without the Night Vision or Infravision; but with both a visible and IR Integral Targeting Laser (Shoulder Arm) (High Tech, p.156-157). It has a Telescopic Sight (High Tech, p. 155) with an illuminated reticule (High Tech, p. 155) and an integral compass (High Tech, p. 52).

$10,800, 4.9 lb., 2xXS/350 hrs.

What that all means...

If you're not aiming (GURPS aim maneuver, not just looking down the sights) and can see the targeting laser dot, you get a +1 to your skill.

If you do aim, you get the Acc bonus of the weapon and up to +3 from the magnification (but you have to aim for a second per plus) and the computer will give you an additional +3 to hit.

Telescopic sights light gathering ability cancels -1 in darkness penalties and the illuminated reticle cancels an additional -2.

The compass tells you what direction you're pointing.

Documentation

This is a reminder to myself that I want to take a picture of each step in the process of taking the dash apart to replace the evaporator.

I think I will help people following in my footsteps.

Castles And Crusades

I just bumped into Castles and Crusades.

It was a AD&D 3e rule set adaptation of the OG AD&D.

It's an "Old School Revival" game that's trying to get the feel of the old game with the newer, better, rules.

The current edition is "reforged" to escape the Open Gaming License and Wizards of the Coast's idiocy.

I am curious.

White Courtesy Phone

Mr Willard to the white courtesy phone.

Mr Willard to the white courtesy phone.

Mr Willard to the white courtesy phone. 

I wanna talk to you about the XM7 Boondoggle, among other things.

Missed Two Steps

The speaker covers that don't cover speakers in the corners of the dash need to be removed.  Those covers are for a sound system that wasn't available in the USA and used components with the tweeter in the corner of the dash and a woofer in the door.

To get the driver's a-pillar cover off I need to remove my spotlight.

The Gravel Bellies Are Alive And Well

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-xm7-rifle-round-capacity/

The gravel bellies are still out there and still saying that having more capacity encourages troops to waste ammunition.

For fuck's sake they've been making this argument since the trapdoor was adopted and it's never actually borne out in combat.

More dakka has always been a good thing.

That's Odd

There's no message from Steve Jackson Games being happy that the tariffs have crumbled and a massive trade deal with West Taiwan has been forged.

They were sure unhappy back at the beginning of April.

Seems to me that everything they complained about has been solved in about a month.

I guess they can only blame Trump, not give him credit.

Power Investiture

Power Investiture is the religious equivalent to Magery in GURPS.

Sanctity is the religious equivalent to the mana level.

To make clerics all I need to do is make some tailored spell lists for the gods and define some of the self-imposed mental disadvantages required of the pact that's built into the power investiture.

Druids, being similar to clerics, make their pact with nature instead of a specific god and will have a different kind of sanctity.

Paladins and Rangers would have lower levels of power investiture and would follow much the same path.  It becomes a character design and flavor decision.

I just need to sit down and do it.

I'm getting there.

Generic D&D doesn't even bother to define the gods or how they differ from one another or if it's monotheism or polytheism.  OG AD&D seems like a monotheism; later settings have polytheistic pantheons.  YMMV.

All of this applies to Warhammer FRP too. 

Of note:  The warlock from later versions of D&D appears to use a similar structure as the clerics, but with non-divine entities.  Since it's access to arcane rather than divine power, they'd use Power Investiture and the mana level to do their thing.

One thing I've noticed is the spell lists have a lot of overlap in what they can do.

Until I Am Blue In The Face

GURPS is not better than a role playing game specifically tailored for the setting.

It shouldn't be, anyway.

It's the embodiment of the original phrase, "a jack of all trades is master of none, but often times better than a master of one."

GURPS turned out to be better at Twilight: 2000 than the 1st or 2nd editions of those rules.

GURPS and Traveller work great!  Enough that they even made two official versions of it.

GURPS is proving to be OK at fantasy settings, but it's not D&D.

I still want to do AD&D with GURPS just to prove it can be done, but it's significantly more effort than just playing the original game.  Magic gives you wizards, but doesn't really give clerics, druids or illusionists.  I'm on the path to making that work.

GURPS: Old West is vastly superior to TSR's old Boot Hill.

GURPS: Espionage works a lot better than TSR's Top Secret. 

GURPS works well to replace just about any genre specific set of rules where those rules are poorly designed, like a lot of the games from the early 1980's.

What GURPS sucks at is attracting new players thanks to people who are terrified of math and the complexity inherent in a system that's trying to account for everything.

And it's much simpler than Hero Games attempt at the same thing.  Or Chaosium. 

I keep trying, and failing, to convince people.

I've noticed that once they're playing, it's the GM and the world that make or break the game, not the rules.

Why I Keep Blogging

I posted that list of things I needed to do to get the evaporator out of The Beast to a Facebook group dedicated to the car, let me say that again A GROUP THAT'S SOLE PURPOSE IS TO TALK ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR MAKE AND MODEL CAR!

The only two comments were, "what was I talking about?" and after I explained that, "What book are you referring to?"

The comment here, "Why do you need to take off the windshield wipers?"

The comment on the blog, where nobody is expected to be a car person or know fuck all about the Holden WM Caprice is a more intelligent question than people on a dedicated car group!

For.  Fuck's. Sake.

I am really expecting someone to ask, "When I remove this nut, what direction do I turn it?"

The utility of the specialized groups is almost non-existent any more.

Primarily it's people selling stuff.  I'm about the only person trying to document what I'm doing with my car.

By The Numbers

I decided to put all the steps in order.  Most of them tell me to refer to another step first so I kept adding those to the list until I had them all.

Disconnect Aux Battery Negative Lead 2-9-703
Disconnect Primary Battery Negative Lead 2-9-702
Remove Windshield Wipers 1-4-269
Remove Lower Air Inlet Grill 1-4-268
Remove Upper Air Inlet Grill 1-4-267
Drain Cooling System 2-9-615
Remove A-Pillar Covers 1-2-76
Remove Center Vent 3-10-101
Remove Silver Spears 2-2-26
Remove Console Panel 2-2-57
Remove Shift Knob and Shifter Box
Remove I/P Center Trim 1-2-29
Remove I/P Upper Trim Panel 1-2-31
Remove I/P Center Air Outlet 3-10-100
Remove Radio/HVAC Controls 1-8-21
Remove R&L-Lower AirBag 3-12-97 and 3-12-96
Remove R-I/P Outer Trim Cover 1-2-32
Remove I/P Compartment 1-2-35
Remove I/P Lower Trim 1-2-25
Remove I/P Lower Extensions (L&R) 1-2-36 & 1-2-37
Remove Silver Box 1-8-19
Remove Console Side Covers 1-2-50 and 1-2-52
Remove I/P Lower Support 1-2-40
Remove I/P Center Support 1-2-39
Remove Air Bag 3-12-101
Remove Steering Wheel 3-14-51
Remove Steering Wheel Top & Bottom Cover 3-14-50
Remove Instrument Cluster Trim 1-2-33
Remove Instrument Cluster 1-8-43
Remove I/P Carrier 1-2-42
Remove I/P Pad 1-2-38
Ducts 3-10-102 and 3-10-104
Remove LH Floor Air Outlet 3-10-106
Remove Steering Column Assy 3-14-52
Remove Parking Brake Pedal 1-5-184
Remove Brake Pedal 1-5-141
Remove I/P Tie Bar (9C1) 1-2-43
Remove HVAC Module 3-10-74
Disassemble HVAC Module and Replace Evap & Heater Cores 3-10-84
Evaportator Core Replacement 3-10-84

I might be able to get away with leaving the steering wheel intact with air-bag and trim covers on and just lower the whole thing to the floor still attached to the knuckle.

Minutia

Champions/Hero and GURPS are both point based systems.

A significant difference between them is how the point totals are calculated.

GURPS subtracts the disadvantages from the total.  So if you spent 195 points on stats, advantages, perks and skills and -45 points in disadvantages and quirks, you would be a 150 point character.  This is the standard 150/40/5 format.

A Hero character with the same points spent would be a 195 point character.  The difference is disadvantages are added to the base point pool. 

It took a bit too long for me to internalize the difference.

What Wasn't VS What Was

Doing research for Twilight: 2000 often means ignoring things that happened in the real world because they wouldn't have happened in the Twilight setting.

But most of the materials have the answers to the real world when I actually look at them.

Three things caused the Army to divest of the M1128 Stryker MGS.

First was the autoloader was problematic.  With only 142 made, one could argue that it never really left the prototype stage.  One could also argue that with more than 20 years of development, Teledyne should have been able to get it to work.

Second, unlike the other Stryker variants, the M1128 couldn't have the hull adapted to an angled floor because of the turret taking up floor space.  This lack of protection against mines was considered a big deal.

Third, they expected the M10 Booker to be joining the light brigades and supplying the firepower the M1128 provided.  Never mind that the M10 was nearly double the weight and larger than the MGS version.  When the generals kept screaming it wasn't a light tank they were not lying.

Bonus!  Firepower upgrades to other Stryker versions were, in theory, making a 105mm armed vehicle in the formation unnecessary.  Time will tell.

No Better Feeling Than Small Accomplishments

I looked up at the vent in the ceiling and noticed how much dust had accumulated.

So I took it down and tried to brush off the dust.

No go.

Something waxy coated the whole thing.

Nicotine!

No shock, this house has had smokers in it since it was built in 1969.

Some Greased Lightning cleaner and a spritz from the hose and it's shockingly clean and silver now.

So I gave the other four vents the same treatment.

Dunno if that helped with the air flow, but they sure look better.

I am often astonished at how things can get dirty slowly enough to not be noticed as getting dirty until they're caked with crud.  The blades on the ceiling fans are another place this happens.

Didn't Think Too Hard About This Did You?

If you're talking about feeding a 30 year old into a wood chipper for wanting it to be legal to have sex with a 16 year old...

AND

You have no problem with two sixteen year olds having sex...

You have not thought about your argument and seen the contradiction contained therein.

This is what happens when you let other people tell you what your morals should be.

Nothing in the above should be taken as the author endorsing having sex with 16 year olds.  Though I bet you didn't get this far before you reacted...  It's OK.  Thinking about why you feel as you do is emotional.

Mother Of Invention

The Ultimag 10R Pentagon magazine coupler.

I had never even heard of this thing until I saw one in a "junk on the bunk" picture spread from a drug bust.

Apparently it's to get around magazine size restrictions.

Oddly, our criminals were in Sarasota, Florida.  Florida doesn't have magazine size restrictions.

VE Day +80 Years

80 years ago this very minute, the World War 2 ended in Europe.

Adolf, being dead more than a week before the war officially ended, could not be reached for comment about how his reich came a few years short of the thousand predicted.

None Of That Makes Sense

Love him or hate him (and we hate him) Robert MacNamara's reasoning for making a coherent designation system for our weaponry was sound.

And we're not using it for aircraft anymore.

F-35 should have been F-24.  With the F-35B becoming FV-24B.

B-21 should be B-3.

F-47 should be F-25.

Or the F-35 should be F-25 and F-47 should be F-26 because F/A-18E should have gotten a new number and be F-24A.  But Congress is stupid.

And now...

OA-1K Skyraider II

It's not the attack version of the O-1.  The O-1 was the Cessna Birddog.

It's not the observation version of the A-1 Skyraider.

But since the last version of the A-1 was the A-1J, if this WAS a version of the A-1 then K IS the next version designator. 

But the OA-1K isn't a development of the Douglas AD.  It's a development of the L3 Harris Air Tractor AT-802!  The AT-802 is a further development of the plane that Dusty Crophopper was based on.

Since it's a totally different plane, it should be A-14A or OA-14A.

Begat

The M8 Buford started out as the FMC CCVL (Close Combat Vehicle, Light).

It beat the Cadillac Gage Stingray and Teledyne AGS (Armored Gun System).

The M8 program came out of several attempts to replace the Sheridan.

The first one that showed promise was the AAI Light Tank, which has several versions and names.  HSTV-L (High Survivability Test Vehicle - Light) is the one most familiar to most people, but T2K players call it the LAV-75.

The XM4 program sought a 105mm armed light tank and that festered while Cadillac Gage, FMC and Teledyne figured out their proposals.

The Stingray made it to production, Thailand bought about 100.

Teledyne's AGS spawned the turret that ended up on the Stryker MGS.

I do wonder if the Teledyne turret on a Buford hull might not be the way to go.

But they never ask me.

But It Does Affect You

I'm not Catholic, so whether there's a Pope or not has little bearing on my life.

But you Catholics need to pay attention.

There was white smoke, that means there's a new Pope and your sins count again.

I hope you remembered to have fun during the interregnum.

Breech Or Muzzle Loaded

Getting a cat into a carrier boils down to one of two conditions.

Is your cat muzzle loading or breech loading?

Will they go in butt first or head first?

And do you have to elevate the "muzzle" of the carrier to facilitate the loading.

Bear, Beeper and Shadow are breech loaded and go in head first without much struggle.

Mist is muzzle loaded and has to be lowered into the upright cage and rammed home down inside.

Mist is the only one not resigned once she's in.

Bear kinda likes the carrier and will sleep in there if you leave it out.

Conical Kitty

 Mist is back from the vet!

She's pooped, eaten and drank.  She's trying to groom, but is being impeded by the cone.

She's not letting the cone get in her way, but...

She hates the cone.  HATES.  THE.  CONE.

Bear and Shadow are giving her room, though Shadow seems confused that she won't play.

At The Vet

Mist is at the vet to be spayed.

She was less than thrilled by being put in the carrier.

Sixteen Pounds All Up

An XM7, loaded with 20 rounds with suppressor and XM157 optic is 16.1 lb.

3.8 kg for the bare rifle.  8.38 lb.

0.64 kg for the loaded magazine.  1.41 lb.

0.66 kg for the suppressor.  1.46 lb.

2.2 kg for the optic.  4.85 lb.

Unglaublich!

Still lighter than a WW2 M1918A2 BAR!

Yaay?  I guess.

The aggravating thing, to me, is that the base rifle only has a 13" barrel but is somehow not any lighter than a Cold War ear "battle rifle™" with a full 21" tube.

Fifth Of May

It's tradition.

 

M60A5

I already made stats for the M48 getting its turret replaced with the Teledyne low profile turret for my GURPS: Twilight 2000 conversion.

There was a planned M60 version too!

 Shaves 8.1 tons off the baseline M60A3 TTS+

Teledyne's 1994 literature says that the turret was amenable to being upgraded to 120mm. 

Teledyne actually made a prototype based on a Centurion hull.  Overall it saved 5.5 tons and had several upgrades to the hull protection.  I'm about 1/3 done with the GURPS stats for the various versions of the Centurion, and this one will get added.

Because Teledyne was operating in a post-Cold War environment, they also developed kits to upgrade T-54/55 and T-62!

Even included the French and an AMX-30 upgrade.

The Soviet tanks aren't getting the upgrade in my T2K conversion.

Setting Yourself Up

If you mention some things without giving context, you open yourself up to obvious replies.

If you mention your dishwasher died, expect people to ask if you're going to remarry.

If you mention your lawnmower died, expect people to say that you can always have more kids.

If you didn't expect it, and got those replies, how did you miss you had that kind of friends?

Due Process

Isn't it amazing that the Dems care about due process for illegal aliens but don't care about due process when it comes to gun owners.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed how the language changed to create a thin veneer of "due process" for red-flag laws; but if we use the older terminology there's none.

Did I say Dems?  I'm sorry, I meant fucking politicritters in general, because the R side of the aisle passed themselves a lot of red-flag laws too.

At least the Dems are honest about it and call it gun control.

How Many Years Is It Now?

When did the 82nd turn in their last M551A1(TTS) Sheridan?

1997.

How many attempts have there been to replace it?

At least two versions of the LAV-25 with a 105mm gun.

The Ares light tank beloved by Twilight: 2000 players as the LAV-75.

The M8 Buford was type classified and accepted for procurement, but never produced.

The M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System was fielded, but not for airborne use.

And now the M10 Booker has been type classified and accepted for procurement... and won't be produced.

It doesn't change that there's a need for something like a Sheridan and has been for 27 years.

The funny thing about the M551 is all of the early newsreels of it don't tout it's ability to go toe to toe with main battle tanks.  They tout it's mobility and speed with oversized firepower for its weight.  They issued them to non-airborne units.

Then found that a light tank isn't a good substitute for a main battle tank when one is called for and nuked the entire idea for everyone BUT the airborne who could show they needed a light tank they could bring with and drop with.

Maybe if we had more than one airborne division we'd care more?

Drip Drip Drip

The drain valve on the water heater had a very slow drip.  Like a drop on top of the dryer every week kind of leak.

Like all leaks, they don't get better over time.

Like most people, I put off doing anything.

Harvey had noticed it too and today the top of the dryer had about a 1/8" deep puddle on top.

She made a note to herself to tell me and continued with her projects.

I came out and noticed the soaked towel and a drip every minute or so... 

Consulting the internet, I read that, occasionally, sometimes, opening and closing the drain can reseat the rubber washer that seals the valve.

Today was not occasional or sometimes.

Cycling the valve made it worse.

So I hit the internet again.  I had time to look because I'd hooked a hose to the drain running to the sink and the stream was going to the sink and not all over the top of the dryer. 

A couple videos mentioned replacing the washer, but nobody mentioned the size.

Neither Home Despot nor Louie's stock the replacement valve, but both are happy to get one to me in 2-5 days.

Home Despot had a bronze valve that would replace the entire drain assembly.

By this time I had Marv helping me with the draining process.  He was slipping in a fresh bucket while I took away the empty.

When the stream got slow enough to leave Harvey in charge of watching the bucket we hit Home Despot.

Marv suggested looking for rubber washers, so I got the $13 variety pack and I got the $11 bronze drain assembly.

And left the $11 bronze drain assembly sitting on the counter because I missed the bag at check out.  Marv ran back and got it from the counter employee who noticed my fumble.

While he was doing that, I found the correct washer to replace the, "washer not found error" one that came with the water heater.  Not sure if it fell apart and went down the sink drain or if it went into the yard when we emptied the first bucket.

The correct washer is 3/8L Flat Washer Stk# 88576 11/16" OD.  Just for the record.

That was three and a half hours ago and no sign of water in the drain valve!

WOOT! 

Marv earned his dinner at the local Mexican place!

Buckets of Modelo on sale for Cinco de Mayo weekend too!

I Thought The L Stood For Light

There's some rumors that the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) will be cancelled.

I had not been paying much attention, so I looked it up.

First there's the eye-watering price.  $370 to $399 thousand each.

Then there's the L part.

When your light vehicle is heavier than a fully laden CCKW (deuce and a half for you non geekers) you've lost your way.

The JLTV is 22,500 lb.  An empty CCKW is 8,800 lb. and fully loaded is 16,400 lb.

The M925 5-ton truck from when I was in the Army is 22,030 lb. empty.

When your HMMWV replacement is the same weight as a cargo truck, you done fucked up.

The Humvee is less than 6,000 lb. curb weight.  They were $30k in 1989 and that'd be $76k today for a basic cargo version.

I think we need to remember what the Humvee was for.  It replaced the Mutt, which replaced the Jeep.

They're not for combat at the front.  They're for running errands and light transportation.

That role still needs done.

What this program appears to be is a "we tried to use Humvees as combat vehicles and that didn't work out, so let's make a vehicle that can be used like we tried to use the Humvee for."

Which is fine as long as you don't go on to say, "Since this replaces the Humvee in that one, specialized, combat role, let's replace ALL Humvees with this!"

Which they didn't manage to do, but...

Speaking Of Weight

Changing from A2 handguards and an aluminum USGI magazine to the M5 RAS and a gen 3 PMAG adds 13.2 ounces to an M16A4.

That's a bit of an abbreviation.

That's an M5 RAS, 2x 5-rib panels, 1x 11-rib panel, some Magpul rail cover and a vertical grip.

The bare RAS should only add 7 oz.  But that'd leave your hands exposed to the cheese-grater effect of the p-rails.

Some Good News

One good piece of news from the docs.

I've lost 10 pounds since the last time they weighed me.

Not really sure how, but I will take it.

Breaking Willing Suspension Of Disbelief

When wondering if Knight's Armament Corporation had survived the 1997 nuclear war, I looked up where in Florida had taken hits.

MacDill AFB took a 1 megaton hit.

Crystal River took nothing.

That's important, because in 1997 Crystal River had an 860 MW nuclear power plant.

St Lucie has a similar generation capacity and is outside the radius of both Atlantic coast hits.

Even Turkey Point should be safe.

Why is Florida as bad as the rest of the nation, where nukes did take out things like power plants?

The near to the Tampa Bay area 1,112 MW Anclote River Power Plant is unscathed.  No supply of natural gas, but it's intact.

Florida didn't get hit as hard as the rest of the nation and I'm having a bit of trouble understanding why it's so bad off.

Or maybe it's just the Tampa area that's descended into savagery...

New America is insidious, and that, alone, could explain it.

A 13.3 Pound Gun That Offers No Advantage Over An 11 Pound FAL Is A Bad Plan?

Who knew?

The FAL isn't suppressed and doesn't have optics, but the XM157 has a failure rate high enough that you're using the irons as a matter of course anyway...

I, for one, am shocked, SHOCKED, to discover that getting .270 Winchester velocities out of a 13" barrel causes excessive barrel wear.

If only the entire reloading and wild-cat communities had not already figured that out.  If only they had not noticed that recently but decades ago.

Physics is an unforgiving bitch.

The ghost of SLA Marshal is saying, "I fucking told you so!"

It's The Sights

Dissy Dottie ends up 1.5 oz. heavier than Valentine with the same handguards

3.7 oz. are from Dissy Dottie having a big block of aluminum UTG fixed rear sight and Valentine has the much more svelte folding KAC 600m.

The M16A1 trapdoor stock is 1/2 oz. heavier than the A2.

The rest is from the barrel profile and extra gas-block conspiring to eliminate the weight savings from chopping 4" of barrel (which should be a weight savings of 7.3 oz.)!

Update: Looking at the profile, the 4" comes out of the pencil section and should only account for a weight savings of 4.9 ounces.

Explain It To Me

How is it that a district judge can make a national ruling, but a circuit decision is limited to the circuit?

I thought that any decision was supposed to be limited to the jurisdiction the judge was appointed to.

I guess not.

I Don't Believe That's What They Had In Mind

I am morbidly fascinated by watching both the hyper-liberals and the libertarians citing the Constitution in such a way as to make it a suicide pact.

I don't think the founders intended it to be a suicide pact.

I am pretty sure they intended to create a nation and government that would survive forever.

But, no, the people who want to have and keep political power are willing to kill it just to keep the other guy from winning.

Same Difference

In AD&D Devils and Demons are different.

Interestingly, demon is derived from daemon which is just Greek for devil.

You Might Be A Fighter Pilot...

But I'm a draftsman who converted LOTS of ordnance to GURPS for Twilight: 2000.

The controversy at hand is a claim that the PGU-28A/B 20mm SAPHEI (semi-armor piercing high-explosive incendiary) is as good as a hand grenade.

One poster commented that a grenade the size of their thumb wasn't very impressive.

Our pilot countered that an M67 fragmentation grenade had 6.7 oz of explosive and the PGU-28 has 4.5 oz.

I remembered how the 25mm round for the XM25 was often criticized for a lack of boom so I wondered if our pilot was correct.

So I looked up the PGU-28A/B.

The manufacturer says the total projectile weight is 3.5 oz.  That's the body, explosives, detonators, incendiaries, tracer, the whole shebang.

I also found a drawing of the round:

If you scale that you'll find the Comp A-4 filler is 11mm in diameter and 24mm long.  That gives us a mere 0.21 oz. of explosive.  Not a big boom.

Also any fragmentation is going to come from breaking the projectile body instead of using a pre-fragmented wire, like the M67.  That's uneven and erratic fragmentation, and there won't be much of it.

Can't Spell Barbie Without AR

I moved the M5 RAS over to Dottie because it looks cool and Valentine will be rocking the Brownell's A2 handguards that came with the barrel.

 

 If I need a War On Terror A4 clone, it only takes a couple minutes to switch back.

This puts Valentine more in the form of a Twilight: 2000 version since the RAS doesn't come out until after November 1997.  The NSN is issued in February 1998.  Technically, some might be around, but...

I almost said they were in the blast that takes out Kennedy Space Center, but I remembered they were in Vero Beach back then, not Titusville, like today.

Waste Of My Time

Drove the hour down to Bay Pines Hospital CW Bill Young Medical Center thinking I was going to be getting tested for my apparent nerve problem.

NOPE!

It was a consult with a neuro doctor to discuss getting the testing scheduled.

Nothing is actually scheduled, of course.

I'm getting sick of repeating my symptoms to these people.

I thought that was what the computer was for.

Mayday Mayday Mayday

It's May first, or May Day!

So in opposition to my socialist brothers and sisters, I'm being whimsical!

M16, XM16E1, M16A1, M16A2, M16A4.  Semi-auto clones, of course...

Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, Fluttershy, Pinky Pie, Rainbow Dash, DJ Pon-3, Rarity.

Pic Code

 The code that the "Insert Image by URL" button generates is:

Click to embiggen.

That gives this result:

If I just copy-paste the image I right clicked and "copy image" it gives this code:

And this result:

The images look the same, but the html is completely different.

Isn't that odd?

 

Photo Test

 

The work around works well!

Huzzah!

Dunno why the normal way of doing it broke, but the html for the work around, when you look at it, is MUCH simpler code.

Warhorses Are Single Use

Interesting vid:

Essentially all that training that makes a warhorse is undone by the first time it gets hurt during the battle.

If I use this, there's going to be some pissed players.

A saddle horse is G$1,200.  A warhorse is G$5,000.

Work Around

It would appear that when the photo insert button on Blogger isn't working, copy pasting the image right into the text does!

Good to know.

Slung

 

A rifle needs a sling like a pistol needs a holster.

I don't think most rifles need a fancy, expensive sling.  Just something to hang it from your shoulder is enough.

I have several sitting in my box that are nothing special.  Since Dottie doesn't adhere to any historical recreation, I can use anything I found in there.

Dress Up For Men

I decided to see how the M5 RAS would look on Dottie.

Pretty good!

If Valentine wasn't my M16A4 clone that required it, I might be tempted to leave it on despite this adding 1.3 lb. to the mass; for a total of 9.9 lb.

This "let's swap the handguards for a picture" turned into an adventure.

The allen screw that holds the handguard cap on blocks the nose of the top half of the RAS from seating.  Plus, it didn't want to unscrew. 

The front sight base is not threaded.  They gave it some epoxy and hammered it into the gas tube hole.

Lazy.

I pried it out and took my pics.

It's not needed to hold the handguards in place, it just makes getting them on easier.

WW2 Victory Parade

Putin has declared a 3-day ceasefire for WW2 Victory Day.

This is because he only has enough army left to do the parade OR keep up his invasion of Ukraine; not both.

I'm here all night, try the veal, tip your waitress! 

(Serious comments will be deleted)

Better But Not As Cool

A modern, electronically controlled, automatic transmission is objectively better than a manual.

Turbochargers, which use waste energy from the exhaust to work, are more efficient than a supercharger, which puts drag on the crankshaft to work.

But a stick is still cooler than a slushbox and a supercharger is cooler than a turbo (literally as well).

Hot rodding is chock-a-block full of impractical but neat things.

I Thought I'd Gotten Rid Of All Of It

It's been almost 10 years since I gave up on the shit.

Yet I had a small bottle in my range bag.

The mint scent is long gone and the "I'm vegetable oil!" scent is prominent.  Pretty rancid vegetable oil now.

Every place where air could get at it was brown and very sticky.

I dumped it out, cleaned the bottle and have Klenzoil in there now.

West Taiwan Filter

Would anyone be interested in a "will it GURPS" description of the Tienanmen Square Massacre?

Because I hear that people in China really love to read about it.

So much so that the traffic to your site from China drops to zero almost instantly from what can only be their servers locking up from all the traffic trying to reach the site.

Nothing censorious there at all.

More Popular Than Guns

My blog is, apparently, actually popular in Singapore.

That shocks me beyond belief.

The hits go up when I post GURPS content and down when I talk about cars.

This isn't like the Russian and West Tiawanese bot traffic that was steady until Google finally got sick of them.

OLD GURPS posts are getting traffic from Singapore too.

I'd read that GURPS was popular there relative to other games before, but this is interesting.

Welcome to my larger audience!

Deadwood

The plywood I use as a workbench and a photo back-drop on the back patio has succumbed to the ravages of Florida weather.

Let us welcome a newer piece of plywood!

It'll develop some character as time passes.

Is It Part Of The Pattern?

As I get balder, I notice that I am growing thick luxurious hair out of my ears.

It's really irritating.

Sickle Cycle

There's pronunciation of a couple words that drive me nuts.

But two rise to the top frequently.

Cache is pronounced the same as cash.  It is not said the same way as cachet.

Cyclic is pronounced sigh-click.  It is not pronounced sick-lick.

The mispronunciation comes from bicycle and the occasional motorcycle being bye-sickle and motor-sickle.

In the case of bikes, that's slang.

Even worse, the origin of saying cyclic wrong comes from a movie.

The Jackal with Bruce Willis.

Richard Gere's horrible fake Irish accent and improvising saying some words differently to underscore his Irishness is how we got here.

Do you want to emulate a dancing monkey?

NEAT!

 

I've Dealt With This Reporter

Civil War was not as bad as I'd seen it reported.  It's not great, but it's got its moments.

Gimme That Old Time Religion

FuzzyGeff and I have oft discussed how religion would be different in a fantasy setting as opposed to the real world.

When you can ask the Gods a question and they not only answer, but do so where others can hear it as well...

You don't need faith for that.

So we figured that since the Gods were undeniable, they wouldn't be denied.

I just realized something.

Denial is so totally human.

From flat-earther to "the Holocaust never happened"...

The cleric's spells won't work on them, but they will fervently believe that's because the Gods don't exist, not because the Gods are simply denying them for their lack of belief.

Cue the leaders of Hy-Brasil...

Working Solution

I've managed to make a workable set of stat conversions from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay to GURPS.

It utterly falls apart when going past the humanoid character level, but by that point I have other benchmarks to compare with.

It took too long.

The average Warhammer human fails stat checks at a different rate than the average GURPS human.

Once I scaled around that...

CLICK!

The work progresses.

I will at least get the humanoids converted.  Most of them, like elves, dwarves, and the lot, just get the default racial stats GURPS already provided.

Chaos Beastman

Chaos Beastman (WFRP 1e p.216)

33 Points + Mutation(s)

Attribute Modifiers: ST+1 [10]; DX-1 [-20]; HT+2 [20].

Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: HP+6 [12]; Will-1 [-5]; Basic Speed +0.75 [15]; SM 0.

Advantages: Sharp Teeth [1].

Disadvantages:

Features: Fur, Tail, Scales?  Any or all!

Talents:

Mutations: Chose up to six, but at least one of the following mutations:

1. Berserk (12) [-10]

2. 1 to 4 Extra Arms [5-20].

3. Extra Arm (Prehensile Tail, Extra Flexible +50%) [8].

4. Damage Resistance 9 (Tough Skin, -40%) [27].

5. Innate Attack 2d tox (Follow Up, Bite +0%; Cyclic 1 day, 4 cycles +30%; Resistable, HT-4, -10%) [10]

6. Beast Head; Appearance (Monstrous) [-20].

7. Beast Legs; Enhanced Move (Ground) +1/2 or +1 [10] or [20].

8. One Leg [-20].

9. Tentacle Arms; Extra Flexibility (Arms Only) [10].

10. Headless; Appearance (Monstrous) [-20].

See, Technomad?  I'm making progress!

If You Use Enough

440 Six-Pack:  Proof that 2-barrels can be cool if you use enough of them.

Sometimes A Cigar Is Just A Cigar

Reading about how Star Wars: Andor has an attempted rape in one of the episodes and watching lots of places trying to make it an allegory for... something.

Maybe they're just showing that the Empire is evil and employs evil people and there's no hidden meaning or equivalence to Donald Trump and illegal immigrants into the US.

Try to remember that this universe dates from when Jimmy Carter was president and if we're trying to make an allegory that the Empire is the USA then it's got to viewed from a 1977 lens as well.

New Books Old Rules

Watching a video of two guys talking about the changes made in the new edition of D&D.

Right at the beginning they mention that if you don't actually read the new book, you're not going to see those changes.

Dur!  I says, then...  Oh wait.

It's something I'm guilty of.

I have no idea if some of the characters I made for Champions were actually compliant between the boxed set (2nd edition) and the spiffy hard cover (4th edition); but they worked.

LBB Traveller and The Traveller Book are not, entirely, the same thing either.  Not sure if we even noticed at the time.

I've dealt with big changes in GURPS and trying to get the players to update their characters.  At least one player would use older characters as a template for newer ones and that included stuff that was different in the new edition.

I've also been the player trying to get my head around the new rule set when I joined an AD&D 2e game and just did not understand the explanation for THACO.  It's actually quite simple, but the GM did a bad job explaining and I was used to looking up that information on a table in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

At the time I didn't have the books, so I couldn't figure it out on my own.

A Slighter Easier Job

I think the YouTube algorithm is offering it's opinion about the difficulty level of my HVAC job by suggesting this one:

Actually it was Marv that sent it to me.

The algorithm would send the Panama Canal if my theory was valid.

Remove HVAC Module

Turn off the sound.  Trust me.

Part 1:

 Part 2:

He manages it without removing the windshield, which the service manual says to do.

To match his speed I'm going to need lots and lots of meth.

This is completely within my skill set, I just need patience.

Yeah yeah, patience, how long does that take?

Farming It Out

"There is no Cloud.  There is only someone else's computer."

The tariff thing is really revealing some things about some paradigms many businesses were working under.

They didn't actually make what they were selling.

They designed it, then farmed out the manufacturing to someone else because they have no in-house manufacturing at all.

The put all of their manufacturing in West Taiwan and are now freaking out because it sure looks like they cannot economically make their product elsewhere.

Even worse, they don't sell anything that people MUST have to live.

Entertainment products are high elasticity demand.

But something these game companies lost when the prices on custom dice and miniatures dropped through the floor from West Taiwanese manufacturing is we used to play these games without any 3D elements at all.

Little square counters punched out of cardboard were universal.  Those can still be printed in the good old USA economically.

They could go back to that.

We didn't use figures to play any of the roleplaying games I played for a really long time.  The only figures I had of characters were because it was fun to make and paint them, not to bring to the game and put on the map.

Even now, my figures are Lego Minifigs.

But it's rare that I unroll the hex-map and have people get out their little dudes.

I think that gaming companies could recapture a lot of market by just going back to imagination.

I say this and realize that I know several GM's who never did make a world of their own, they just ran the pre-made modules.

Maybe there's less imagination out there than I think... 

But, maybe, that's why I was always welcome as the GM.  They couldn't buy the adventure I was about to put them through and get some pre-knowledge.  I noticed that my players were doing that with T2K.  So I increasingly used those modules as world building rather than running the adventure.

Completely changing Operation Reset is a pretty decent example.  I should write that up sometime.

SCCY Dead?

Watching one of the podcasts I run on YouTube in the background and they talked about how SCCY owes Volusia County, FL about $250k and there's tax seizure notices on all the entrances to the building.

Now that I know to look, there's been a lot of forum traffic from people complaining they're not getting any response about getting their lifetime warranties honored.

Grenade Launchers

The misidentification of the M203 from Pew Pew Tactical, for some reason, has reminded me of something.

Somethings...

We had two experimental weapons changes to our M1A1(HA).

The first was a single tank in the company that General Dynamics Land Div. had changed the coaxial MG from an M240 to an M134 mini-gun.

We took turns with it at gunnery, giggled like little kids, got debriefed by the GDLD reps and they took it away and nothing appears to have come of it.

The second was to replace the Ma Deuce on the wing tanks with a Mk.19 automatic GL.

Again, we took them to Graf and did a couple of full CALFEX with them.  Finding room for the more bulky ammo was an issue and we weren't really certain when to use them.

The .50's were back on the tanks when I left the unit.

Funny story about our first range trip with them:

The guy training us didn't effectively communicate to us that the flight time of a 40mm grenade is a LOT longer than any other weapon we used.

It didn't really show up until we tried to fire at the hulk of an old APC at a decently long range though.

What happened was we lined up the sights, fired a round and, in our minds, nothing happened down range.  Figuring we missed, we carefully aligned the sight again and fired another round.  Nothing.  In frustration, we let loose with 10 rounds.

All of the above did not take very long at all, but it seemed like a long time subjectively.

About the same time as the last of the 10 rounds had left the barrel, the first round hit the M114 we were using as a target.

"COOOOOOOOOOL!" we says!

While we were admiring the explosion, the 10-round string started to arrive and range control starts screaming for us to stop shooting.

"We haven't been shooting for a while!" we protest.

I Should Get A Grant

As an almost psychology graduate, some aspects of research make me wonder if I could have gotten the grant and done the study.

I was reading this article when I wondered:  In the absence of racial differences, will groups create their own divisions to mistreat in the same manner as racism. 

What made me think of it was my experience in high school in Iowa.

Iowa, at the time, lacked minorities.

But we had many "out" groups in the school.

It'd be an interesting field of study.

That's A Bummer

My first AR was made from a kit I bought from Del-Ton.

Their web page now says:

Thank You For Your Support - Del-Ton is Closing.

As Del-Ton prepares to close its doors, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to the incredible people who have been part of our journey.

To our loyal customers: Your trust in our products and support of our mission has been the cornerstone of our success. Every purchase, every kind word, and every moment spent using our products has meant the world to us.

To our vendors and partners: Your collaboration, innovation, and shared commitment have been invaluable in helping us deliver quality and reliability to our customers.

To our dedicated employees: You are the heart and soul of Del-Ton. Your hard work, passion, and unwavering commitment have shaped our legacy and built a company we can all be proud of.

Together, we’ve achieved so much, and though this chapter is ending, the memories, partnerships, and friendships will remain. Thank you for being part of the Del-Ton story.

With heartfelt appreciation,

The Del-Ton Team .

I had not done business with them since, maybe, 2009.

They decided they were a rifle company and that meant they stopped selling parts and kits during all of the AR panic buys.

So I found other sellers for the parts I wanted.

Sad to see them go, though.

Got Parts

The parts to do the evaporator core arrived today from Rock Auto.

I need to read up on how much oil I need to put into this thing and I might end up doing what it says and removing the compressor and seeing how much oil is in it.

Yaaaaay!  More work!

Factual Error

When verifying that Bushmaster is who coined the term "dissipator" for a 16" barrel with a rifle length sight and handguard, I encountered this article from Pew Pew Tactical.

In this article is a photo:

Colt 605 with suppressor, Vietnam 1968

They identify that rifle as an R605.

It is not.

That's an M16A1 or an R603.

The HEL E4 suppressor overlaps the barrel, it doesn't attach right at the front sight base.

I know it's a little obscure, but...

Then there's this photo:

“New York” with Colt 605a and suppressor and “Jackie” with M-16/M79 grenade launcher

Again, not an R605.  That's an M16A1 with a HEL E4 again.  Notice the forward assist?  But the caption contains another glaring error, that I replicated above.  Did you spot it?

I think we can skip citing Pew Pew Tactical as an authoritative source...

6.8 Update

Every once and a while I do a "what's still out there" for the alternate calibers.

Widener's has posted about 6.8x43mm! 

It's a good summary of what's still being made and some honest consideration of the pros and cons of the round at this, rather late, point in the game.

I'm giddy that they have someone who appears to actually read the blog!

In turn, I'll give them a link.

They've given me a couple of free boxes of ammo here and there to review and Harvey has bought ammo from them.

Urf Day

It's a pity that I cannot crank the AC and Heat at the same time with my entirely too modern house thermostat.

But what I can do is leave Moxie idling all day while I drive around in my six-liter V-8 hot-rod!

The AC doesn't even work in it, but I can run the fans at full tilt just to waste some extra energy doing nothing.

All the lights will be on all day.

FTW!

I'm No Good At This

Often times among my friends I am just the MOST socialized.

That doesn't mean I'm well socialized.

I routinely get the signals wrong.

With depressing regularity, I will end up depressed about how someone said something and take days or weeks to come to grips that it was just an offhanded remark.

You'd think I would be better at this by now.

An Idea Whose Time Is Long Past Due

The U.S.S. Robert A. Heinlein Campaign!

We want the new Secretary of the Navy – John Phelan — to name a future DDG-51 Flight III
destroyer for Robert A. Heinlein.

************************
It is the prerogative of the Secretary of the Navy to name Navy vessels. Navy policy is to name destroyers for deceased members of the Navy.

We want the new Secretary of the Navy – John Phelan — to name a future DDG-51 Flight III destroyer for Robert A. Heinlein.

This would happen if lots of people write asking him to name a future Arleigh
Burke-class destroyer for Heinlein.

Phelan’s address is:
The Honorable John Phelan
Secretary of the Navy
Room 4E686
Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301

More information may be found at the Campaign website.

www.USSRobertAHeinlein.com.

I Too Own A Thesaurus

I'm a pretty firm supporter of adult LGBT stuff.

I've been confronted about it here too.

But something else from that Lazerpig diatribe stood out.

I will try to be gentle, but there's no real way to candy-coat it.

Trans folks, if you're looking in the mirror and the face you see doesn't match your self image you've got a wiring problem.

Where I differ from a lot of the conservative folks is what to do about it.  I prefer compassion, they prefer trauma.

But it's a mental illness.  A mental sickness.  A mental condition.

Those all mean the same thing.

Saying, "it's not a sickness, it's a condition!" as he does, is a non-sequitur.

You didn't redefine it.  You rephrased it.

"She's not pretty as Hell, she's hot as fuck!" is the same sort of thing.

"I'm not stupid, I'm dumb," is as well. 

Stating that there have been transgender people leading secret lives for centuries doesn't really bolster your argument.  Yes, and?

Weaseling around it doesn't do your side any good.

Especially since, most of the time, it makes no never mind.

But I can see the corrosive effect that the Lazerpigs are having on my position.  The loudest advocates are tending to be the craziest.  I want to be against the craziest and be supportive of the people trying to be normal as they can be.

It's getting more and more difficult and I don't like it.

I'm Not Even Christian

I don't care if the Pope died.

Unresponsive

I never posted a pic of Olive as a 6.8?

She's only been this way for a year and a half...

It's a very comfortable configuration.
 

Why Put Them Back?

The dissipator upper came with an 'F' marked front sight base.  Those are slightly taller than the normal front sight base and are tailored for flat-top uppers and the rear sights that clamp to them.

I deliberately didn't use an F-marked sight on Linda because I was using the A1 upper.  She zeroed no problem.

Most of the time a normal front sight base zeroes no problem on a flat-top.  Occasionally, you run out of elevation adjustment before you're on target.

Likewise, you can run out of adjustment in the other direction using an F front sight and a carry handle.

Because the non-F and a carry handle worked fine with Linda, putting her back that way meant returning to a known good condition.

Dottie will have a flat-top and the appropriate F-marked front sight base, which should work fine.

When I, finally, get a bolt carrier group I will zero Dottie and we'll find out.

Forgetting Something

That Lazerpig diatribe forgot something very important when he went down the list of bad things that President Trump was doing with regards to our military posture.

US interests.

Our withdrawal from several places which have European and United Kingdom interests and no US interest are mentioned at length.

Perhaps Europe and the UK should have done a better job of convincing us that we needed to remain?

Ukraine, it seems to me, is a prime example of a place that we don't really have an interest in whether it's run by a corrupt Ukrainian government or a corrupt Russian government or some hybrid of both.

Poland?  We have an interest there.  But notice the difference in spelling?

Not the same places.

Syria?

I think we've done all we could have been expected to do there.

Israel, with our support, seems more than able of handling that.

Europe is going to have to come to grips that Russia is THEIR problem and we're far more concerned with the Pacific region because it affects us directly instead of through third or fourth parties.

Pacific region, ie China.

I know he doesn't want us to look after ourselves at the expense of HIS interest, but here we are.

If you have two and a half hours to waste, you can watch his vid too!  If you find something besides TDS by the time you're done, let me know. 

PS: He's totally engaged in the methods he's accusing neo-nazis and the KKK of using.  see if you can spot it.

Nothing Makes Me Happier

Than foreigners explaining to me how I made my decision to vote.

Probably should have had the courtesy to ask me first.

Buh, bye Lazerpig.

That's two hours of my life I'm not getting back and I gutted it out to the end to see if you'd admit that the left does the exact same thing you accused the right of doing.

Nope.

Trump!  Ukraine!  Russian collusion!

PS: It's been us conservative gun owners blowing the whistle about anti-semitism here in the states, not the left.

The 'O' In NOS

I commented on a Facebook thread where someone was criticizing someone for using a universal style upper radiator hose and wondering what other shortcuts they'd taken.

I mentioned that the fitted hose is like no longer made for that odd year/engine combination.

They replied that I should look harder.

Well, I found the hose in question.  It's 20 years old.

I don't think I'd trust that on my car.

New Old Stock is a Godsend sometimes.

But other times the part is deteriorating while you watch.  Rubber parts are in this category.

History of Dottie

Dottie has seen almost as many changes as Kaylee.

 

Dottie's name derives from a line in the movie, "Armageddon". The amateur astronomer who discovers the planet killing asteroid wants to be able to name it after his wife, Dottie, because she's a life sucking bitch from which there is no escape.

Dottie is a "franken AR", her parts are from everywhere. The lower is Spike's Tactical, the lower parts kit is CMMG. The upper is a mid-length Dissipator upper from Palmetto State Armory.

Heil Dude?

4-20 is a traditional day to get stoned.

It's also Hitler's birthday.

It's also kills 79 and 80 (his last) for Hauptman Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen.

It's also when the second to the last manned mission to the moon (so far) landed.

It's the anniversary of Columbine.

It's a busy day.

I remember it being earth day, but that will wait until Monday.

Another Thing I Noticed

I don't favor collapsible stocks any more.

The parts bin gun and the SBRs are it.  And the SBR's are clones of historical guns.

Every other AR is a fixed stock.

I noticed the preference when we were making the KP-15 guns.

Even if it denies us a fully non-compliant AWB for Chuck and Babs.

April 19 Is A Busy Day

Battle of Lexington and Concord.

Branch Davidian... um... conflagration?  Massacre?  End of the Waco siege at any rate.

Oklahoma City bombing.  A direct result of the above.

Lots of stuff.

Time To Get Serious

I have, like, three role playing games that I want to read and understand.

Ironically, one of them is one that I played extensively.

Thirty-seven and some odd years ago...

Another is one I played a bit.

Forty-three odd years ago...

It'll be fun!

But I need to sit down and actually read and Grok the rules.

I remember them standing alone and being fun.

I stopped playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay because I had more players for GURPS T2K when I was in the Army.

I stopped playing The Fantasy Trip because it was just me and two other people playing.  And we mostly were trying to play AD&D modules...  It made more sense to just play AD&D.

I welcome our alien overlords and this opportunity to have some "fun" for a change.

Proper Tools

Remember this post?

With all this barrel swapping, I found something interesting.

Linda's barrel nut is really banged up.

That comes from being the parts bin gun.

The (literal) High Speed Low Drag tool does not fit Linda's barrel nut.

The DPMS one still does.

As Befits A Godless Heathen

No Easter dinner here tomorrow.

It's not something we did with any regularity and the in-laws appear to have forgotten it so we get to skate on making a big production about it.

That is not to say that we didn't make The Boy an Easter Basket...  He enjoys that.

We're not Christians here, so we also get to skip church.

I recall my far more religious friends complaining about how Easter brought out people who never attended otherwise.

Return To Starting Positions

 

Idle hands and all.

Looking at the pics I decided I liked the original configuration better so I put the A1 upper back on Linda.

It was the triangle handguard photo that did it.

I'd have spent more money on a set of triangle handguards if I'd left it alone.

Then I'd have been upset about the A2 flash-hider.

Then I'd have obsessed over the forward assist and needed to find an R605 upper.

Then I'd have noticed the trap-door stock.

It would never have ended.

But the original configuration looks cool and I can call it done today without changing anything!

Real ID

Florida was among the first states to go full on with the Real ID requirements.

I've had mine for a bit more than 14 years now.

So far it's been no different than the Fake ID it replaced.

Two Fiddy

Despite not making a declaration for more than a year, today, 250 years ago is when we actually started the long road to secede from the British Empire.

Lexington and Concord are the shot heard 'round the world.

Welcome To Florida Bitches

Fireworks are legal in Florida.

That means that it sounds like Beruit at New Years and Independence Day.

It also means we get the occasional BOOM here and there.

Screaming at your neighbor for launching a boomer and threatening to call the cops before the noise ordinance kicks in will accomplish little.

We get lots of new people from up North who don't realize that it's not New York / New Jersey / Pennsylvania 'round here.

People from Michigan, however, seem to be accustomed to loud explosions and they don't bat an eye.

For Photographic Purposes Only

This is as close as I am taking Dottie to being an R605 clone.

I borrowed the handguards from Bubba's AR and did some judicious relieving to get clearance around the allen head.

I gotta admit, it looks right.

Not going to leave it this way though. 

This is the normal mode:

 

Ask For It By Name!

In Twilight: 2000 the RDF Sourcebook setting proved very popular and ripe for roleplaying.

Somewhere, off post, was a tavern that was noteworthy in that it had good live music and booze.

All the other places nearby held to the Islamic prohibitions on booze, even to the point of not selling to infidels.

That especially extended to selling to the American's den of inequity.

A tavern must have food, so what did they have?

HOT BREADED RAT ON A STICK! (with cheese).

ASK FOR IT BY NAME!!!!

Cheese?

"Do you see any cows around here, detective?" L. Huxley

As it turns out, you CAN make cheese from rat milk.  People who say otherwise are impatient.

The players never asked where the cheese came from, so I never had to tell them.

But the line above in red was great fun.

Them, "What are we going to have for dinner?"

Me, "Hot breaded rat on a stick?"

Them, "Again?"

Me, enticingly, "With cheeeeeeeeese?"

Them, "ASK FOR IT BY NAME!"

Gassy

When I look in the cabinet...  In the rack...

To my surprise my favorite barrel length is 20" and the rifle gas system that comes with it.

Next is a 16" barrel with a mid-length gas system.

Finally are the SBR's and their 14.5" and 11.5" barrels respectively and they're rocking carbine gas.

Not Just The Jones Act

The Jones Act dates to 1920.

Between 1940 and 1945 the US was making cargo ships faster than Germany and Japan, combined, could make torpedoes.

Almost all of the ship building capacity is now gone, but if the Jones act was solely responsible, it would have been missing in 1940 when we started cranking out ships to supply England.

It wasn't just cargo ships.  We made a fuck ton of other ships as well, in particular destroyers.

Eliminating the Jones act isn't going to address some fundamental aspects of making things in the US and one must look squarely into the face of environmental regulation and labor unions.

Because killing the Jones act will create a situation like making cars.  Japan and Korea do a great job of keeping market share here, don't they?

Retroesque

Dissy Dottie is not an accurate clone of an R605.

Barrel is too long, handguards are wrong, A2 instead of 3-prong flash-hider, forward assist is intact.

Still pretty fetching.

Putting the A1 upper on her, I think, solidifies the idea that we're going for a longer sight radius by sticking to irons alone.

Lavender Linda got the "discarded" flat-top.

 

Ironically, she's rocking irons too because the red-dot I do have isn't tall enough to see past the front sight.  Fixing this is a low priority item.

I noticed something taking this pic.  If you have a windowed, or translucent, magazine, you need to have it loaded to show the bullets.

Another thing, they're sharing a bolt carrier group and charging handle.  While PSA had a scorching sale on the dissy upper that I couldn't pass by with the risk them discontinuing it, they didn't have such a deal on a BCG.

It's not like I desperately need to have them both up and running for a lack of AR's around here.

Totally Normal

Got the tacos tonight that I wanted to get a couple of weeks ago when my tooth broke.

The permanent crown is acting just like a normal tooth!

I was entirely too worried about that because the temp crown never did stop being tender.

I had a different scare right before I left to get Taco Bell.

One of the upper molars had that rough edge like the broken tooth had.

I grabbed my little mirror and shined some light on it and...

A tiny piece of a Frito was caught in there.

Makes sense, I'd just had Fritos with my lunch.

A couple seconds with a toothpick and all was, once again, well.

Scary though.

Crowns aren't cheap, even with insurance.

Too Dark For Pics Switching To Text

Swapped the A1 upper from Lavender Linda to Dissipator Dottie and vice versa.

Pics tomorrow afternoon when the light is right.

The entire point of a dissipator is to get the long sight radius of a rifle length front sight base.  It seems wrong to put a flat-top on such a gun.

Linda is kind of the parts bin gun.  She gets the hand-me-down stuff, and that includes the spare red-dot.  I just need to find the spacer to put it back at co-witness height.

Chonky VS USGI Profile

 PSA on LEFT, Brownell's on RIGHT.  <-- Lysdexics of the world UNTIE!

From the front:

From the back: 

Outsides:

Insides:

 The Brownell's ones are way closer to the USGI in form and heat shields.  They might even BE current spec USGI.  The ones I have on Andrea are early A2 handguards and are a different material and the heat shields are in the white.

I don't think there's anything wrong with either set now that I've trimmed some sprue tabs off the PSA version.

Because Knotheaded

Took the PSA supplied handguards out of the storage bin I tossed them in when I grumbled at the quality.

I just can't give up on some things.

The reason they didn't fit well is because whomever was supposed to clean them up coming out of the mold did a bad job at the breech end.

A couple minutes with a knife and the plastic parts fit together like they're supposed.

This is something I've been doing with plastic models forever, so it was a no brainer to check.  Odd that I didn't until now...

So the USGI A2 handguards are back in the bin and the slightly oval ones are back on the Dissy.  I kinda like the slightly chonkier look of them.

I've read that the more oval pattern of "A2" grips comes from Canada's later versions of the C7 rifle.  They did theirs in green.

But I Was Told

The alleged FSU shooter is 20.

I was told in the wake of the Parkland shooting that the law banning people younger than 21 from buying guns would keep this from happening.

Shall we run down the list of laws broken before the first shot was fired?

Shall we do it again?

Do we need to?

Especially since it appears that he stole the gun from his mother, a Leon county deputy.

She's gotta be in a great place mentally right now.

Stolen gun.

Under 21 carrying.

On campus carrying.

Shooting people.

Murdering people.

Yeah, I think we need to make it more illegal.  That always helps.

Or maybe, just maybe, the idiot politicians actually listen to us for a change and make things safer by acceding to what we've been saying for decades.

Gun free zones kill people.

Pulse Nightclub, Ft Lauderdale Airport, Parkland...  And those are just the disarmed by law places.  Several happened where it was legal to carry, but the policy of the owner/tenant of the place barred guns, like the GMAC shooting.

Ya Think?

 

Active Shooter At Florida State University

That's up in Tallahassee, so not local to me at all.

But just to get my version of blood dancing out there...

Guns are banned from any and every Florida school from kindergarten all the way to college and university campuses.

Gun free victim zone strikes again.  Update: Literally again!  This is the third or fourth active shooter at FSU since we started lobbying for campus carry!

For decades we've been demanding campus carry only to have the Florida Sheriff's Association order the Florida senate leadership to do nothing.  Stab the "marion" tag to see other times it's been killed.

But this time we have a study that found that us common citizens are far better than the cops at stopping this kind of shit...

And no common citizen is armed.  Because common citizens obey the law and don't carry into gun free victim zones. 

So, I says the blood is on the Florida Sheriff's Association and the Florida Republican party's position that the Florida Senate consider no bills allowing citizens to be armed on campus.