Unsupported

Intellectually, I know this isn't a problem.

Viscerally it freaks me out to see the rim outside the bolt head (red anodized snap cap shown) like this.

WHAT THE DUCK!

So, out of pure nostalgia I bough the complete DVD collection of Baa Baa Black Sheep.

One of the joys of the show is the parade of period aircraft.

In the second episode, Best Three out of Five they use a Grumman J2F Duck to mount a commando raid.

While they're getting ready to load up I can see what looks like an honest to God tail-hook on the Duck.

So, I looked it up.

The J2F is carrier capable.

Truly a plane that can land anywhere.

Wasn't I Just Talking About This

Poland welcomes the idea of moving US troops out of Germany to Poland.

It sucks to be pulling your weight and watching deadbeats mooch.

They should file paperwork to kick Germany out of NATO.

Prolly find a technicality that Germany was never a member and since West Germany no longer exists...

Fit

Comparing Harvey's .357 Mag EMF Hartford '92 clone with my .45 Colt Uberti '73 clone.

They both have 20" barrels.  The '73 has a bit more pull and lot more drop.  The '73 is a lot longer.

The '92 is so trim and svelte it just doesn't feel right to me.  It's possible that it's the extra mass from the hex-barrel that makes it feel good to me.

The action on the '73 is a lot longer, but the cartridge elevator working is pleasing to the ear.  That little snick-clink is so darn cool.

There's A Difference

There's a world of difference between something being legal and something being smart.

It's also possible to be entirely within your rights and obeying the law to the letter and still be doing something suspicious.

Showing up at a Wal Mart in a plate carrier carrying an AR slung to your chest is a prime example of doing something stupid and suspicious while also being within your rights and the law (at least in Missouri).

I say this as someone who fervently advocates for open carry here in Florida.

Lemme try another analogy.

Take a bottle of Coke and put it into one of those paper bags you get from the liquor store.

Go someplace where drinking in public is frowned on and drink your Coke.

You're going to get hassled even though there's nothing illegal about drinking a bottle of cola from a paper bag.

If someone has been throwing bottles of piss at passerby, and concealing the contents in paper bags, and you show up to make a point that drinking Coke isn't illegal...  You're going to get more than just hassled most likely.

Stressing, with every interaction, that our moron in Missouri had not broken any laws and had a right to be armed openly just ignores that right after two prominent mass shootings by people dressed just like him:  He looked just like someone getting ready to commit mass murder.

All we have at present is Moron's word he wasn't going to do more than carry there.

Mighty Fine Work

Epstein managed to hang himself while on suicide watch.

I am impressed by the vigilance of the staff at the jail.

I am suspicious that he could.

It's like one or more of the guards got a huge bribe to not watch for a few moments.

Chilling Effect

I think we're poised to explore new legal territory.

With doxxing being a thing and protesters showing a propensity towards violence we're seeing a chilling effect on making political contributions and speech.

Making contributions to a candidate is protected political speech.

Owning firearms is supposedly a protected right, but red-flag laws are serving as a damper on speech out of fear that the doxxers will report one to the cops with a made-up threat.

It will be interesting to see how the courts shake out and protect our rights, or not.

Extra Barrel

The 20" barrel on the Win '73 lets the round develop a bit more velocity than in a revolver.

The 4-3/4" barrel on the EMF New Dakota gets 2d+1 pi+, 120/1,300 range.

The 20" barrel on the Uberti Model 1873 gets 3d pi+, 320/,2500 range.

That's an average, raw, damage change from 8 to 10, which is 12 and 15 respectively in a torso hit.

The .44-40 versions of these guns get similar changes to damage and range; in GURPS terms, .44-40 and .45 Colt are identical.

Undervalued And I Am Weak

Uberti clone of a Win '73.  .45 Colt, 20" octagonal barrel.

1999 made from the date code.  It was on consignment and priced to sell.

Just need a holster for the revolver, horse and tack and I am off to the range!

.25 NAA

Remember this adorable little thing?

North American Arms finally convinced someone to load a batch!

A buck a round shipped.

Ugh.

At least I will have some!

I Have A Question

Only Guns and Money has been reinstated.

"Upon further review we have determined that your blog was mistakenly marked as a TOS violator by our automated system and, as such, we have reinstated your blog."

Why is the terms of service system automated?

I have a theory, but it kind of needs some tinfoil headgear to make complete sense.

Is The Fix In?

Cocaine Mitch is talking about everything being on the table, including an AWB.

Trump is promising that the NRA's position will be respected.

I've a bad feeling about this.

Tree Fiddy Seeben

The Lovely Harvey's .357 "cowboy" guns.  In quotes because she's of Blackfoot descent and she insists they are really "and Indian" guns.

The Native Americans got custody of the "and" in the settlement agreement.

Why Not An 1873?

I've long wanted a cowboy type lever gun.  In .45 Colt, which they were not chambered for back when.

I've gravitated to the odd and strange like Spencers and Colt-Burgess'.

What's common is repops of Winchester '92's.

Today I saw me an Uberti clone of a Winchester '73.  In .45 Colt.

Does it get more iconic Cowboy than that?

Well... except for the chambering.

KISS ME!

So...

I'm reading about and watching videos about pulling this gorram fuel tank.

Over and over they talk about how hard it is to get at things because the transmission and driveline are in the way.

It occurs to me:  What if the driveline was out of the way?

Turns out the gas tanks practically fall out once the rear cradle, trans and rear are dropped...

...like when you're doing the clutch.

Guess what this job just expanded into doing?

I can talk myself into anything if you give me enough time.

I Think I Am Done

Go to take The Boy to school this morning and The Precious smells strongly of gas.

This turns out to be a common problem with the C6.

To the point that if it was less than 10 years old or fewer than 120k miles there's a recall.

What happens is there's a 90˚ elbow on the top of the tank where the fuel line exits.  It develops a small crack and sprays 60 psi gas up there.  There's some suspicion that the problem is from ethanol because it really took off in 2008 when the ethanol mandate hit.  Have you punched a corn farmer today?

This elbow is actually part of the fuel-pump/level sender assembly.  So instead of a $3 pipe fitting, I need a $250 fuel pump.

Getting the tank dropped is nightmarish, because there's really two tanks and the crossover is difficult to access.

This is the last straw, I think.

I'm fed up with the car and the constant fights with poor design decisions.

Ready For Electronics

Darth The Lovely Harvey's saber now has its switch box.

We await Marv's electronics and blade design to get to playing around!

Google Is Deleting Gun Blogs

Back up your archives and prepare to relocate if you're on Blogger.

I have no idea what to do with the zip file I'm downloading, but I have it.

Modified Or Not

The Delta Elite I've been eyeing from the shop I used to haunt in Iowa...

Well:  I don't know much about the model.

I'm not sure about this combination of parts.

Who knows Colt's sufficiently to say?

Update:

 The combination of features makes me think that this gun came with a black trigger with three holes drilled into it.  That makes me think I will pass.  I don't want a near new priced pistol that someone's been tinkering on.  Who knows if they knew what they were doing or not?

What A Coincidence

Florida's Surgeon General Declares Public Health Emergency for Hepatitis A.

That red shaded county in their picture?

Yup, that is the wretched hive of scum and villainy known as Pasco County.

Meth labs and titty bars!

I made an appointment a week ago to get immunized for Hep today.

End Of A Good Run

For a while, everything I ordered online and shipped via The Post Office has been showing up a day earlier than predicted.

That run is through.

The parcel I was expecting today is shown as, "arriving late," when I was hoping for it yesterday.

C'est la vie.

Nukes?

Stolen shamelessly from HERE.

*Roosevelt has left the game.*
Hitler[AoE]: wtf?
Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
*tru_m4n has joined the game.*
tru_m4n: hi all
T0J0: hey
Stalin: sup
Churchill: hi
tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY shit I GOT NUKES
Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
T0J0: wtf is nukes?
T0J0: holy FUCK holy FUCK hoyl FCUK
*T0J0 has been eliminated.*

Not Out Of The Woods Yet

Trump did not call for more gun control.

That's good.

Cocaine Mitch is still stonewalling bills to expand gun control.

That's good.

It's definitely helping that the shooters were more liberal than not.

Anonymous Background Check

First off, for the existing supply of legal guns outside an FFL, any universal background check is going to be on the honor system.

The supply of illegal guns isn't, ever, going through any background check system regardless of how illegal you make it.

There are legitimate fears that universal background checks are de facto registration and will lead to confiscation down the road.

The fear is legitimate because confiscation has already happened in states with registration.

A 4473, which I am told isn't registration, will have an amazing ability to allow law enforcement to come to your door asking about a particular gun.

If they ban any particular model then they will "just" have to comb through an FFL's 4473's and then swing past the address listed.  Probably cross-reference it with change of address forms.

At present, you can have sold the gun and not record where it's gone.

With universal background, you will have to tell them where the check was done and that will lead to the next owner.

But once there's a ban, betcha money that a 4473 with your name on it and a banned model will become grounds for a warrant and all of your still legal guns are going to be recorded too.

Politicians are simplistic creatures.

But I have something of a solution, if we must have universal background checks.

"Anonymous" checks.  It's simple enough to create a database of the criminals.  You hit the web page, enter the buyer's information and get a go/no-go from the database and a confirmation number.

That number proves you did the check, should something trace back to you and you no longer have it, but doesn't record what was sold.

If both parties are legal to own it, there's no need to record it.

This is only if we must have universal background checks.

And it will still be on the honor system, like a de facto registration system is.

Still, any system is only as good as the data input into it.  I seem to recall a mass shooting where, although the shooter was a prohibited person, the Air Force had neglected to file the proper paperwork...

An Old Refrain

I don't know about y'all, but I'm a bit ticked off at politicians seeking to curb behavior that I'm not exhibiting by passing laws that force me to behave differently.

"Wasn't me, didn't do it," is no longer a positive defense.

"You share some tangential characteristics with a criminal," is now proof of malfeasance.

You'd think that someone saying that because I am white, male, and own guns I am guilty of mass murder because another white male murdered many people would be considered racist and sexist.

But it isn't any more.

All I know is I didn't shoot anyone.

All I know is I don't hate anyone for the color of their skin.  I will admit to hating a few people because of the content of their character, but I hate from afar.

I avoid people I dislike.

I'm way more the type that will be engaged in the most common form of gun violence (suicide) than the least common (any type of rifle).

This is not to say that I am suicidal.  Far from it.  I've got lots of things to hang around for and experience, so don't call the cops.

Wow

"In the past 48hrs, the USA horrifically lost 34 people to mass shootings. On average, across any 48hrs, we also lose… 500 to Medical errors 300 to the Flu 250 to Suicide 200 to Car Accidents 40 to Homicide via Handgun Often our emotions respond more to spectacle than to data."

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on Twitter.

I'd thought he was an irredeemable liberal.

Was It A Family Dispute?

Apparently, one of the victims in the Dayton Ohio shooting was the perpetrator's sister.

Could this be his motive?

Since they're both dead, we can't ask.

10mm Colt Delta Elite

Reading about the 10mm Luger reminded me of the Colt.

Talk about a starting point that makes the Colt seem downright reasonably priced.

A quick search of Gunbroker shows them running about a grand.

But the best part of the search was seeing the gun shop that I'd spent so much money in back when I lived in Ames, Iowa is selling one.

THAT really got the juices flowing.

I can see Paul now, "He moved 22 years ago, and he's still buying guns from me?"

There's a wistful pull to scour the couch cushions for the spare change to get it.

It'd also plug a hole in my 1911 array.

I've got an M1911A1 in .45 ACP and a Colt Government Model in .38 Super.

I kinda need a 10mm, don't I?

.45 Luger

They make them!

$8,000 seems a steal compared to what the originals (all two of them) have gone for.

They also make it in 10mm ACP.

Alt Miami Vice model?

The mind doth boggle.

$8,700 for the 10mm 1907 Classic.

How much to get Galco to make a Miami Classic for it?

A gun like this needs an appropriately retro Miami suit.  Ironically, it's called a Panama suit.

Actually It Will Be Your Court Date

The topic of dressing wrong and using the restroom came up in comments on gender dysphoria.

A long time ago in a city, far far away...

There lived a woman, a lesbian, who dressed much as a man would.  She cut her hair short, much as a man would.  She was stocky of build, a typical "bull-dyke".

She used the women's room one day, as she had her entire life.

She got the shit beat out of her by a couple of "men" who decided that no "fucking tranny" was going to use the same restroom as their precious "women folk".

They quickly discovered that, even in rural and often conservative Iowa, that assault is assault and it's a felony and felons go to prison.

This is why I despise the bathroom "police".

She was never the same after and I miss my friend.

Is It Posted

I am awaiting news to see if the El Paso Wal Mart was 30.06 marked.

If it wasn't, this will be the biggest shooting in a place where carry was allowed.

It also underscores that there really aren't that many carry permits and people carrying to count on them protecting you.

I hate the idea of being killed for a lack of shooting back.

I will prolly BE the person killed for a lack of shooting back, but I don't like the idea.

Missing The Mark

Divemedic posted this:

Let's say that I believe myself to be a gorilla. No matter how strongly I believe it, I am still not a gorilla.
Let's say that I take pills to make myself grow more hair to look more like a gorilla. I am still not a gorilla.
If I hire a surgeon to perform an operation to make myself look more like a gorilla, I am still not a gorilla.
If I get a million people to say that I can be whatever I identify myself as, and declare than I am a gorilla, I am still not a gorilla.

If I were to believe myself to be a gorilla and took the steps above, people would say I am crazy.

The button he pushed is only tangentially related to his point about the athletics problem.

Let's say that letting you pretend you're a gorilla alleviates nearly all of the internal symptoms of your species dysphoria and lets you function at a normal level.

There's a few things that I keep ramming into when seeing the trans issue coming up, but far and above is whether it's a mental illness or not.

The LGBT party line is that it is not a mental illness and it's completely normal.

I don't think that it is correct.  Seeing the wrong person in the mirror is not normal.  If it's not normal, then it's abnormal and likely a state of mental illness.  If you want to get technical, being left-handed is an abnormality too.

The problem of admitting it's a mental illness comes from the people who use this to attack and demean the persons with the problem.  You have a cure?  An effective cure that does less psychological damage than the affliction?

No.  No you do not.

When there's no cure for a disease, you're left with treating symptoms.

Letting the trans person dress like the person they think they are and using the pronouns of that person is treating the symptoms.  It doesn't turn a man into a woman, but it allows that person to feel human again.  That's something that people with gender dysphoria don't get dressing as the chromosomes dictate.

It's not near so extreme as human v gorilla.  Let's try another analogy:

 Let's say that I believe myself to have a full head of hair.

No matter how strongly I believe it, I am still bald.

Let's say that I take pills to make myself grow more hair.  I still have male pattern baldness.

If I hire a surgeon to perform an operation to implant hair from elsewhere to my head.  I still have male pattern baldness.

If I get a million people to say that I can be whatever I identify myself as, and declare I have hair, I still have male pattern baldness.

If I were to believe myself to have hair and took the steps above, would people would say I am crazy?

Genetics says I should be bald.  Yet we have how many technologies that allow the bald to pretend they have hair?

Something I learned about basic human kindness and politeness AS A CHILD was to not make fun of someone's toupee to their face.  That pretending that an obvious rug was hair was just something that we did because compassion for others is the right thing to do.

I can make the same analogy about hair color.  How many people dye away the gray?

Gender dysphoria is something without a cure.  While there are several treatments, none are 100% effective and none are universally applicable.  What worked in one case will fail spectacularly in another.

That's just how psychology works.

Opinions

Because the hilt parts are modular... It's like Lego.

I am torn between configurations

And

I'm leaning towards the second version because it feels better in the hand.

Disclaimer

Because we live in the times we do, I feel I need to clarify.

Wishing death upon the Kennedy Klan does not mean I am planning on killing any Kennedys.

I am not advocating that anyone else take it upon themselves to snuff a JFK relative.

I would even report to the police someone whom I thought was seriously planning to do so.

What I will not do is celebrate their lives or mourn their deaths.

Death To Them All

We lost another of "America's Royalty"...

Good!

The sooner that bloodline is scoured off the face of America the better.

One of the points of The American Experiment was to eliminate such dynasties.

The last Kennedy death that mattered to me was Ted, and that was just to make sure he was dead.

Damn Busybot

Getting pasted with the spam comments lately.

SIGH.

Not sure what setting you can change to stop it besides shutting off comments.

I also figure there's no way to report them.

No Sale

This is where being somewhat handy pays off.

SafetyNet, who makes The Boy's ankle tracker, wants $50 plus $30 shipping for a replacement leather band for it.

For $25, free shipping, I can get the same leather strapping and get 72" of it.

I'll need like 14" for the band and a leather punch.

Guess what we ordered.

Cold War Scumbags Eligible

On Tuesday, President Trump Signed S.504 and changed the eligibility dates to join The American Legion.

Link to Kyrsten Sinema's page on it.

If you served and have an honorable discharge from December 7, 1941 to a date yet to be determined...

You can join up!

I have fired off my electronic application to the national site.  I guess I then join a local post once that's been accepted.

I don't know how this is supposed to work.

Drillin' Tappin' Hoggin'

Got the switch plate mounted on my saber!

First I drilled and tapped for the 4-40 mounting screws.

Then I hogged out the space under the threaded in the switch plate.  It's ugly because Dremel® and it will be hidden under the plate and switches.  So I didn't take a picture!

Let's Misunderstand Capitalism

Miguel found this.

OK, gun banners, buy Wal Mart out of .223 Remington.

Do you know what you just did?

Sent a signal to Wal Mart Corporate that .223 Remington is in high demand and they should order more so as to not run out again.

Wal Mart's order for more ammo will cause the manufacturers to make more .223 Remington relative to other calibers; or expand production capacity.

Liberals don't understand capitalism.  This plan will lead to there being MORE .223 Remington for sale, not less.

Ironically, a refusal to buy this ammunition would have the effect they want... except we gun owners already buy enough for Wal Mart to keep stocking it regularly.

Liberal morons (redundancy alert) buying or not buying ammo will not eliminate it.

Just about the only effect this might have is some police department might get some more trigger time because they have some free ammo for training.

Hey... weren't the liberals all "fuck the police" not all that long ago about Bureau of Land Management Black Lives Matter?  These idiots need to make up their gorram minds about if we can trust the cops or not.