Banana Fufu

Entreprise Arms -- poor quality and even poorer customer service

2010-12-13T19:58:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1:

I recently purchased a Entreprise Standard Rifle from Atlantic Firearms. To my surprise, when I checked the headspace I found that a NOGO gauge would chamber in the rifle. To my non-precise estimation, there seemed to be an additional 0.02" of play with a NOGO gauge chambered. I contacted Matt at Entreprise and he suggested I return the rifle for evaluation and correct. I did that.

Chapter 2:

Rifle was returned. Entreprise changed NOTHING; not even a letter explaining their conclusions. Hmmm.

I had a 0.274" locking shoulder lying around, so I replaced the original with this one and off I went to the range to measure actual headspace by measuring fired cases in an RCBS 308 mic. Three cases measured at +0.011", +0.013" and +0.011" meaning the headspace with a 0.274" locking shoulder was 1.644" (a Forster GO gauge measures 1.630" and a NOGO measures 1.634"). The scary part is that with the original locking shoulder, the headspace was 1.662", a full 0.030" larger than nominal!!!!!

The second thing I noticed was that the rifle consistently shot 18" to the right at 100yds. Using similar triangles (18" is to 100yds what X is to 22") I calculated that the rear sight needed to be drifted 0.11" to the left. After I made the adjustment the group was on paper and not bad actually.

However, the amount of displacement I needed to apply to the rear sight bothered me so when I got home I pulled the hand guards and gas tube and examined the "verticleness" of the sight and gas block. It seemed a little off, as if the barrel had been over-tightened. I then took a look at the relative position of the timing cutout relative to the receiver and after a little arithmetic, made it out to be about 3.5 degrees past dead center, i.e. too tight. Since the top of the sight post is 1.93" above the center of the boreline, 3.5 degrees would put the top of the sightpost about 0.118" to the left ... hmmm imagine that .... exactly the amount we had to move the rear sight.

The third obvious problem was that on occasion the rifle would “double fire” – yes not good. Examination at home confirmed that the rear of the trigger was damaged/worn to the point where holding the trigger down (with the selector in the semi-auto position) while manually cycling the bolt resulted in the hammer to drop .... a situation which can result in uncontrolled fire.

At this point I can only assume that whoever assemble the rifle had no idea as to what they were doing and since I've already returned the rifle once, giving Entreprise a chance to correct the faults, I'm assuming that Entreprise has no interest in fixing it. Additionally, I've already corrected the three problems myself so the rifle is no longer in warranty. And yes, I attempted to contact Entreprise by email and have had no response.

Summary:

A supposed NEW rifle from Entreprise arrived with 0.030" excessive headspace, 3.5 degrees off optimal timing and a trigger so damaged that uncontrolled fire would result. No response from Entreprise so apparently no desire to stand behind their products despite claims of lifetime warranties.

Disappointed is an understatement. I had high hopes for Entreprise, being a CA company, but at this point I can’t recommend Entreprise to anyone looking for a FAL.

To add insult to injury, the rifle I received didn't have the required number of 922(r) compliance parts. Of the 20 parts on the ATF list, 17 are applicable to the FAL meaning that a FAL builder must replace 7 with US made parts. The rifle I received had the following US made parts: (1) receiver, (2) muzzle device, (3) buttstock, (4) pistol grip, (5) forearms, (6) magazine floor plate, i.e. one short of the required number of parts.

UPDATE:

I had acquired another IMBEL barrel for a build onto an IMBEL receiver. This barrel handtimed to the expected 10:30 o'clock position on the IMBEL receiver and some quicky estimation indicated a locking shoulder in the 0.256"-0.266" range.

I tried that barrel on this sad Entreprise receiver. It too (over) handtimed to the 2 o-clock position. After reintroducing the 0.010" shim, I torqued the new barrel into the Entreprise receiver and proceeded to measure headspace with pin gauges and a Forster NOGO gauge. The smallest pin required to provide any closing resistance to the NOGO gauge was 0.280"!!!!!!!!! A safe gun would require a 0.284" locking shoulder. That's HUGE!!!

My only conclusion at this point is that this Entreprise receiver is severely out of spec. Quite simply, the barrel threads are miss-cut/mis-located by 110-120 degrees, thus accounting for the excessive headspace.

Some supporting arithmetic:

barrel threading is 1-16"
A 120 degree mislocation would add 120/360 x 1/16" = 0.021" to the headspace

expected locking shoulder should be in the 0.256"-0.262" range
0.256/0.262 + 0.021" = 0.277"/0.283" ... mine is 0.284"

So, at this point this receiver is unusable. I can't in good conscience flip it on some unsuspecting sucker so I have a nice paper weight.

Anyone considering buying an Entreprise rifle or receiver ... DON'T!!!

CO gun sales does the right thing.

2010-12-13T17:37:00.000-08:00

12/27/10 Editing title to reflect proper customer action.

I recently won a auction on gunbroker.com for a New Metric FAL barrel from CO gun sales. (Colorado Gun Sales) aka M&M LLC.

When I received the barrel, I immediately tried hand-screwing it into an IMBEL receiver I had lying around and discovered that the barrel face bottomed out against the receiver, leaving a gap of approx. 30-50 thousands of an inch between the barrel shoulder and the face of the receiver. "Hmmmm. How odd!" I thought. L1A1 builds require a breaching washer so a gap between the shoulder and face would be expected for a L1A1 barrel. "I wonder if CO Gun Sales sent me an L1A1 barrel". Checking the packing slip I confirmed that they had in fact sent me an L1A1 barrel.

I contacted CO Gun Sales and explaining the situation and expressed my desire to return the barrel. The person responding to my email, a "Mike", was incredulous and stated that the barrels are metric cut and indexing correctly on IMBEL receivers. [Ed: Let me clue you into threading dimensions of Metric-pattern and INCH-pattern barrels .... they're the same, i.e. 1"x16 ... so simply stating that your barrel is metric cut doesn't mean it's a METRIC barrel]

Since then I have returned the barrel but CO Gun Sales is apparently refusing the package and presumably refusing to refund my purchase. They are also refusing to respond to email.

I'll post pictures when USPS returns the package to me.

Avoid CO Gun Sales, aka M&M LLC.

UPDATE: (12/17/2010)

CO Gun Sales accepted delivery of my package. No response to email or refund yet.

UPDATE: (12/27/10)

CO gun sales acknowledged manufacturer's error and sent me a refund.

Blackthorne Products suck and they lie.

2010-02-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

Do a Google search on Blackthorne Products (aka AR/AK parts kits), marketer of AR parts kits and complete AR uppers, and you'll find lots of negative feedback. Apparently quality control is not one of their strong points. However, recently I caught Blackthorne Products in an out and out lie.

On their website, you will find the following statement:

Blackthorne Products sells only the highest quality parts. We do NOT sell "seconds" of any type, Never have, never will.

That is a lie.

A buddy of mine recently purchased a Blackthorne flattop 20" upper. He wanted to mount a scope on it and asked me to replace the tall A2 sight tower with a low profile gas block.

After removing the sight tower, we made a sad discovery. The barrel on this upper was most definitely not a "first".

Exhibit A: Behold the "D" roll mark, indicating the manufacturer to be DPMS.

Exhibit B: Near the gas hole we find a sight tower taper pin cut, off-center. On the topside of a barrel? Also, ahead of the gas hole we see what appears to be the remnants of another welded over and ground down taper pin cut. How interesting? Wonder what we'll see on the underside of the barrel. A welded over gas hole perhaps?

Exhibit C: Indeed. A welded over gas hole. Off-center near the new taper pin cuts.

What is one to make of this? Clearly this is not a "first" barrel. I'm guessing this is a DPMS "second" that was accidentelly "long chambered". Blackthorne then took the barrel, turned it down, plugged up the old gas hole and taper pin cuts, drilled a new gas hole, cut new taper pin cuts and hid the surgery under a sight tower.

But let's not forget. They never sell seconds. Never have, never will. Um ... except for this one time.

BLACKTHORNE SUCKS!!!!

3" 629 range report

2009-09-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

While in the "dealer of death's" store recently, helping a coworker pick out a 1911, "the tempter" showed me a pre-MIM, pre-lock, 3" S&W 629. Naturally it followed me home. It has a rounded butt so I was a little concerned that the gun would turn in my ape hands under fire. But it has been Magna-ported. I'm not a big fan of Magna-porting as am not convinced that the muzzle flip reduction is worth the added muzzle blast and noise being directed at the shooter.

I was testing two loads:

(a) 240gr Ranier HP plated bullets over 21.0gr of 2400
(b) 240gr cast L-SWC bullets over 21.0gr of 2400

I must have not crimpled the Ranier loads properly, as early during the shooting session I had trouble rotating the cylinder. Close inspection showed that one of the bullets had pushed forward under recoil and was poking out past the front edge of the cylinder. Also, the accuracy of those loads was not great. I was shooting about 4” to the left.

The SWC loads were the cat’s pajamas. All holes were centered about POA with a group spread of about 3” at 15yds. [Several sub-groups were 1” in diameter ..... if I slowed down and concentrated]. I was shooting two handed, unsupported, standing up. I was VERY happy with this group, considering it’s coming out of a 3” barrel.

The gun is quite manageable, even though the recoil is stout, both in DA and SA modes, but the factory trigger is heavier than I like it. Will have to lighten the trigger return spring a tad.

Combined with shooting my Glock 21 with stiff loads, playing with an M1A and Chronying some loads outta my Puma 454, it was a great day.

I certainly had a better day than the guy a few tables down who “hot dogged” his S&W 500. His barrel split right down the vertical plane. He confirmed that he was shooting handloads so considering that his cylinder was intact, I’m guessing he had a squib, then an uncleared barrel obstruction, and he then touched off another round.

Be careful out there ......

Anger ... and Hope

2009-04-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

Spent the day walking around Berkeley (yes, CA) yesterday .... you know ..... for educational purposes. Yes, Darwin would have had, and should have, a field day.

As for anger ..... ugh ..... I switched off and observed .... and even then I had to suppress the urge to punch a bunch on a few occasions.

But the day was punctuated by polar differences. It was the day the Dalai Lama was to speak and inspire the crowds. I have no interest in what the Lama has to say [though I would pay money to hear him say "SEE! THIS is what unchecked PACIFISM leads to"], but I was more fascinated with the people coming to see him. The starry eyed, the sheep who need a leader in troubled times, the SUV driving drones who come to hear him speak of global healing.

My wife and I actually came to Berkeley to hike up to the Lawrence Hall of Science, where we stumbled across a High School Solar Powered Sprint Car Competition. The cars were nothing special, though it was obvious that some kids understood that mechanical design matters. What did stand out was that the Lama didn't matter, at that moment anyway, to these kids. For them science, competition and design mattered. Those who didn't win will be back next time with better designs. Learning, progress, perseverance.

So, yes, anger .... but hope too.

P.S. Turns out, the Lama spoke about terrorism and admitted he like George W. Bush. Well, knock me down and shit on my head. Maybe the Lama does have a clue.

P.P.S. Telegraph Ave. was once, oh ... say in the mid-1980s, interesting. Now it's gritty, dirty ... and irrelevant. Seeing the ~~summer-of-love rejects~~ aging hippies, with their skin wrinkled from years of drug abuse, flogging their wares and their old and tired political screeds, is sad.

Obama speaks

2009-03-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

After listening to "The One" talk before congress two weeks ago, where he promised to cure cancer, I couldn't help thinking that he has a lot in common with a certain character from the comic strip Luann.

Maybe I'm wrong. You be the judge.

Or maybe, if you've listened to him speak (sans preparation) for 3 minutes without saying anything, while attempting to answer a fairly simple question, you'd come to the conclusion that perhaps he has more in common with a certain Loony Tunes character.

Nation of cowards

2009-02-19T07:43:00.000-08:00

Apparently Mr. Holder, the new "Culture Czar" calls us all cowards for our unwillingness to talk frankly about race.

In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

and

He urged people of all races to use Black History Month as a chance for frank talk about racial matters.

Fine. I'll be frank about race.

Firstly, when are assholes like Holder going to realize ... it's not about race, it's about CULTURE. I hang out with people who have a similar outlook on life as me. So sue me.

Secondly, I love black people, but I hate niggers. A nigger isn't bounded by racial boundaries, but by culture. So, if your culture doesn't aspire to excellence, honesty, responsibility, self-reliance, self-restraint, constructive pursuits, and sacrifice at the expense of instant gratification, then I want nothing to do with you. So sue me.

GM seizes better business climate in Brazil ... on US taxpayers' dime

2009-02-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

GM invests $1M in Brazil.

Makes sense. GM can't budge against the labor unions so they build plants where the business climate is more conducive to ... well ... doing business. It's about time the UAW pulled their heads out of their collective asses.

And I hope this comes back to bite the sycophants in congress who passed the $700M *bailout* package, part of which was handed to automakers by "Bush the Lesser" to "save American jobs".

What a bunch of putzes we have running this country.

The environuts may just get what they wanted; fuel efficient cars made by a "US car maker", at the cost of US jobs. [Pulling up a chair to watch the upcoming cat-fight between "big labour" and environuts]

No, we are not all to blame

2009-02-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

In the Sunday (2/8/2009) issue of the San Jose Mercury News (interestingly, the paper headline read "Budget Mess: We're all to blame") columnists Rogers and Poitinger claim we're all to blame for the budget mess. Missing from their analysis is the many multi-billion dollar bonds, passed by proposition, floated by voters to fund many feel-good measures. Naturally, most of these bonds would be paid from the general fund or homeowner property assessments.

One glaring example that comes to mind (on the ballot 8 years ago) was a "Open Space preservation" measure what would be funded exclusively by private property assessments. It passed. The subsequent analysis was astounding. Of the "yes" voters, 75% owned no property. Yup, business as usual ... those who "can" pay for those who "need". (Where have I heard that before?)

And so it is typically for bond measures. Obligations are paid out of the general fund, the income from which comes, primarily, from income taxes; 80% of which are paid by 20% of tax payers.

So, no Misters Rogers and Poitinger, we are NOT ALL TO BLAME. Some of us didn't vote for this crap, and do understand economics. Stupid voters, who don't have a stake in the financial obligations for the measures they vote for and pass, are to blame.

As for how to fix the budget problem, since the state can't just erase the obligations with the stroke of a pen? I'm OK with a general tax increase, paid for by EVERYONE. A general consumption tax? Sure .... raise the sales tax to 15% and reduce income and property taxes, thus proportionately spreading the pain for economic stupidity. That I could get behind.

What you won't read about the "beatification" in the MSM

2009-01-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

Firstly: This is what the National Mall looked like after the inauguration.

This from supporters who claim to be "green" and wanting to "save the environment". Yup, someone else will clean it up, while we "save the environment".

Secondly: "The One, The Light" decided to skip the "Salute the Heroes Inaugural Ball". The argument that he was too busy because he had 10 other balls to attend sounds hollow. Clearly "The One, The Light" prioritized the"Neighborhood Ball", the "Youth Ball", the "BET Ball", "The Recording Industry Ball" over a ball honoring Medal of Honour recipients.

Well, I was hoping to see leadership from "The One". Nope, not this one. Perhaps if he'd attended, he would have met William Crawford and could have learned something about leadership from a janitor, who's also a Medal of Honor recipient.

Nah, nothing to see here ... Hope ... Change.

Gran Torino and sensitivity

2009-01-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Mr. Pitts nails is.

Indeed, Kowalski gets as good as he gives from his barber, an Italian, each slurring the other's ancestry with good-natured brio. Yet when Kowalski confronts a group of black street punks, the script has him calling them "spooks" — not the more obvious epithet that rhymes with "trigger." Eastwood doubtless knew using that word would have rendered the character irredeemable.

That the script allowed Eastwood to fire at will at his Italian friend but required him to pull up short in dealing with black thugs is telling. It speaks not simply to script dynamics, but to dynamics of American history and culture, to the question of who has assimilated enough that we deem them fair game and who has not.

[Emphasis mine!] Hear that Mr. Sharpton and Mr. Jackson? You fucking race-baiters.

[Not so funny] Comedian in the house

2009-01-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

How appropriate that a rather unfunny comedian will most likely take a seat in that, once, august body. It's not a laughing matter that congress has become somewhat of a laughing stock with the US public.

But then, He's Good Enough, He's Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Him!

New bumpersticker

2008-12-28T17:59:00.001-08:00

About Angels and Poems

2008-12-01T17:32:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Kathy and I attended a memorial service for the sister of a friend. I barely knew the sister, having met her only once and in passing. I'm puzzled as to why the service affected me as much as it did.

It would be presumptuous of me to write that I "know" her, because all that I know of her is what I learned during the service and from talking with her family and friends at the service.

This person selflessly gave herself and her time to her chosen close friends and to her family. She wasn't a mother, in the biological sense, but *was* a mother to her many nieces. But at the same time she clung to her identify and knew instinctively that to avoid sinking into the muck of darkness and ugliness that surrounds us in our daily lives when we venture out of the safety of our homes, she must gain sustenance from the shared love, laughs and silliness with her husband, her close chosen friends and her family.

As it often seems, a person "comes by" when you need them the most. This person "came by", however briefly and remotely, when I was searching for the answer to the question "what next". I think I already knew the answer, but the memorial service was like the little man tired of being pushed back in the line because he is small and rushes to the front of the line and yells: "Hey! I'm tired of being pushed back. I have something important to say!" And say it, he did.

Don't isolate yourself.

That's it!!! As geeks, we tend to isolate. Perhaps we are by nature solitary and asocial. Perhaps the nature of our work requires lots of alone time. Perhaps it is due to the competitive nature of our existence, the competition that leads us to finding little faults in people, competitively self-elevating ourselves above the "faulty" others, and thus pushing them away. But in isolation, we can succumb to the darkness and ugliness. And no good comes from walking down that road.

During the service, a poem, "Questions About Angels" by Billy Collins, was read. One passage in that poem still brings a tear to my eye every time I read it.

She sways like a branch in the wind, her beautiful
eyes closed, and the tall thin bassist leans over
to glance at his watch because she has been dancing
forever, and now it is very late, even for musicians.

I'm pretty sure the poet's intention was to illustrate the timelessness of angels. But mortals in angel form must rest.

I ended up buying one of Billy Collins' anthologies, "Sailing Around the Room". For someone who hated "literature" in high school in general, and poetry in particular, Billy Collins' prose is quite lucid and understandable.

Time to visit Utah

2008-11-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

Seems that Prop 8 opponents are calling for a boycott of the state of Utah as punishment for the Mormon church's support of Prop 8.

I have no dog in the race and groups (read Hollywood and yuppie Californian skiers) are certainly entitled to exercise their 1st amendment rights just as the members of the Mormon church exercised theirs during the elections. On the other hand, statements like the following are sure to endear gays to the general public and advance their cause to show people they are "nice normal people".

"The main focus is going to be going after the Utah brand," he said. "At this point, honestly, we're going to destroy the Utah brand. It is a hate state."

A "hate state"? Wow! Sounds a little harsh to me. I predict this will backfire at the "gay community".

I've never been to Utah and the thought of spending time on the slopes without hordes of "sensitive" Californians does have a certain appeal.

Let's see: spend money on crappy movies coming out of Hollywood or go to Utah and spend some money there. Hmmm.

Solution to the recession

2008-11-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

Seems the election of "The One" has spurned an economic recovery. All the gun shops in the area tell me that their distributors are backlogged, and several ammo dealers (AIM Surplus and J&G Sales) report shipping delays as the volume of orders spiked following the election.

This anecdotal evidence is confirmed by a report that gun and ammo sales have spiked nationwide.

Today, GM reported a 45% drop in sales as evidence of a recession.

Now I'm not the president elect but the juxtaposition of those two stories would tell me two things:

(a) consumers are shifting spending priorities from cars to guns and ammo.
(b) the recession could be eased by making policy changes to boost the production of guns.

Clearly, that's what consumers want. Imagine how much money they could inject into the economy and how many jobs could be created if there were more guns for them to buy.

Now THAT would be Change (tm) I could sink my teeth into. ;-)

Prominent Obama supporters are controlling assholes

2008-10-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

Or, "Socialists are sphincters".

Took my daughter to the beach today. It's a 23mi drive from my house to Santa Cruz on HWY 17. Normal driving protocol is slow cars move right for fast cars. Now, I don't drive that fast. THREE TIMES I come up on someone driving below the speed limit in the "fast lane". I politely flashed my high beams and politely waited for them to move over. EACH TIME they tap their brakes and SLOW DOWN so they're now pacing the car next to them in the slow lane, preventing anyone behind them from getting around them. EVERYONE of these road boulders was sporting an Obama sticker.

Coincidence?

They're not content to hog the fast lane, but they want to CONTROL EVERYONE AROUND THEM.

Now you know.

House to House

2008-10-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading House to House, by David Bellavia.

David was a sergeant in 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, part of the Army's Task Force 2/2 in November 2004, when the US army assaulted Fallujah to destroy the insurgents terrorizing the city. His was one of the first companies to penetrate the city and his book describes the harrowing events of the first three days inside Fallujah, clearing house by house while dealing with insurgents hopped up on atropine and epinephrine. He encounters houses wired to explode, filled with trip wires and booby traps. And he describes a story of personal heroism and courage.

He describes soldiers, like Corporal Piotr Sucholas who is a liberal, who cynically believes that the assault is a political ploy to get Bush reelected, but who in battle is unyielding, rock steady and dependable. He describes a military that is professionally committed to what they are doing, believing in the end goal. Each infantryman believes that America is a force for good in the world, and living free of tyranny and oppression is a basic human right.

At the same time, however, he understands that his fight isn't clear cut. In describing his enemy he says: "The young ones were more committed. They've been indoctrinated since childhood and are radicalized beyond reason. They will go willingly when their leaders stay back and order then to their deaths. I wonder if this place is beyond hope."

Unfortunately, the media portrays America's warrior class with two wide brushes: "that of the victim and that of the felon. They appreciate neither."

But the best is left for last. In my mind, the last chapter, the epilogue, is the best writing of the whole book. David describes leaving the army to commit himself to being a father and a husband, having neglected his wife and son. It is bitter sweet because he understands that the camaraderie of brothers in arms will be gone forever. He will probably never see his brothers again. He returns to Iraq in 2005 to gain closure, and to memorialize the sites, by placing a carnation at each site, where three of the most important people in his Army life gave up their lives in Fallujah; Command Sergeant Major Steven Faulkenberg (shot by a sniper during the early hours of the assaut), Lt. Edward Iwan (cut down by an RPG while standing in the turret of a Brad commanding his men), Cpt. Sean Sims (killed in an ambush while clearing a house). After placing the last carnation he describes feeling like he's being watched, a lone westerner without a weapon. In his rush to "get away" he crashes into a woman coming around a corner, and rushes on without apology. He then writes:

"Then I heard her footsteps stop. I turned, and saw her regarding my carnation. She stared at it for a long minute before looking back to study my face in the early morning light. My shoulders sagged. I could not even feign a smile for this woman. Instead, I turned up a street to leave her and this miserable city behind. I took a few steps. Behind me nothing broke the stillness of the morning. I expected to hear the swish-swish of her sandals again walking on the side of the road, but there was nothing. Curious I glanced over my shoulder again. She was kneeing in front of my flower. Tenderly, she placed her own weeds alongside my cheap carnation. She touched her heart then the ground and uttered a prayer. She kissed her hand and touched her heart again. My mouth fell open. She looked over at me and as our eyes met again my heart broke. All the emotions, all the bottled up angst and grief I pretended didn't exist suddenly broke free. Tears rushed down my cheeks and I began to sob uncontrollably. I covered my face in complete shame but I knew the woman still watched me. She regarded me sadly. For a moment I thought she would attempt to console me. Instead she nodded, turned and ambled away. An anonymous elderly woman, lost in a city, I unapologetically helped destroy. I slipped off into an abandonded home, a street away, embarrased and surprised by my own meltdown on that Fallujah street. I sat and stared at the front gate. I have no idea how long I sat there, wracked with guilt for surviving. I lost track of time, lost track of where I was. Finally I moved outside the gate in an attempt to find that woman again. I looked up to see an empty street. I was alone. She left without knowing the gift she'd given me. She wasn't the reason I came to fight in Iraq. But she reminded me of the importance why we fight. The soil in Fallujah and all of Iraq has been consecrated with the blood of our dead, and her reverence reminded me of that. Fallujah will never be just another battlefield. This old woman showed me that my time in Fallujah was a life-altering privilege. It was here that we fought for hope. It was here that we fought to end the reign of terror that had descended on the innocents of a city. Through it all I witnessed the best of human condition - the loyalty, the self-sacrifice, the love that the brotherhood of arms evokes. I realized that I am complete for having experienced that. Those who died gave their lives for their brothers. They gave their lives a noble ideal: that freedom from tyranny and oppression is a basic human right. We were the force to do that, and my brothers paid the price. I stood up and headed for the street again, tears gone now. I had work to do, a fight to continue but I knew this: as long as I honored these men each day, I would have a second chance at redemption. At last I understood."

Voting for B.O.

2008-10-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

Are folks voting for Obama as proof that they aren't bigoted? [Yeah, I could vote for a black man for president. Show me one who's conservative and I'll vote for him! Heck, show me one more conservative then me and I'll kiss the man's feet!] Is this a PC-vote for an empty man?

Sheesh!

Voting for Obama to prove you're not bigoted is like jumping out of an airplane to prove you're not afraid of heights. Either way, it's not the leap-of-faith that kills you; it's the rapid deceleration upon contact with hard reality.

UPDATE: Someone like this perhaps! HOT DAMN!!!!

It pains me to see y’all still on the plantation with chains on your brain. I escaped, y’all. And I’m trying to come back and pick the lock on them shackles that you still have on you. You know, when people put crabs in a bucket, they don’t have to put a lid on it. You know why? ‘Cause if a crab tries to crawl out, another crab’ll grab it and pull it back down there with it. And that’s what liberals are like. You got a brother that tries to climb out of the bucket and you got another hater that’ll pull him right back into that bucket. Back into that bucket of blame and victimhood.

The senate must think we're not that bright

2008-10-02T05:39:00.001-07:00

As you may have heard, the senate just passed the "bailout plan". It's on to the house and I hope reps. get their ears pasted back by their constituents prior to a vote, and toss this thing down the nearest sewer.

Like a parent trying to get a fearful child to take some bitter tasting medicine, the senate "sweetened" the deal:

An increase from $100k to $250k in the value of deposit accounts insured by the FDIC
Tax cuts

Does the senate really think "We the People" are that stupid? The net affect of the above two changes is to increase federal liabilities and reduce funding for these liabilities. Huh?

Mark my words: the bailout is BAD BAD BAD!!! Without a doubt, some banks will (and should fail) because of toxic investments in their portfolios. Bad choices will and must have consequences in a free market economy.

One problem with the bailout plan is that it essentially gives the Treasury Secretary the power to choose which banks get to fail and which get to live on. He gets to choose which of an array of toxic investments he buys on the taxpayers dime. Not all banks are in bad shape, and most will survive after this is all over, bailout or no bailout. But placing the power over "life and death" in the hands of one man who now gets to choose which banks die and which survive worries me immensely. As ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs, I'm sure Mr. Paulson has the unbiased experience and will do the right thing. Uh huh!

The other essential problem with the bailout plan is that it delays the inevitable and thus delays recovery. These toxic investments move from private hands (banks) into public hands (taxpayers ... er ... federal government). In private hands, these investments would be written down, mortgages would be foreclosed and remaining funds recovered. In public hands, (there's no incentive for the Treasury to even buy them at market value) these investments will not be flushed because which politician has the needed courage to start foreclosing on "over their heads" home owners (interesting perversion of the word, no, when these owners own zero equity in the homes they currently occupy?) and recover remaining funds. No, the investments will be kept in the hopes that their value will rise. Right! The housing bubble has burst, folks, and these toxic securities will never regain the value they had when the banks that securitized mortgages believed in infinite bubble expansion.

Some experts are chastising us lumpen proletariat as lacking in understanding of how the financial system works. They're saying we should stop calling this a bailout plan and call it a credit flow rescue plan. Excuse me, but a plan that bails out, er ... rescues, some banks at the expense of others, at the discretion of the Treasury Secretary can't be impartially called anything but a "buddy bailout" plan. A plan that bails out, er ... rescues, some banks while leaving the taxpayer holding a bunch of "underwater" investments that will never regain their value is a "buddy bailout" plan.

Let the recovery begin now! Vote this sucker down. The result will be the same, it will just take longer if this thing is allowed to pass.

No stinkin' BAILOUT!!!!

2008-09-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

As you've probably heard, congress rejected the projected $700B bailout. Mark my words: this is a GOOD thing!

McCain even stood up and said he was voting against it. Wonderful political move, I must say.

And the price of oil dropped to $96/barrel, on fear of a slowdown .... nice bonus there!

The media has been using scary words (Americans are apparently easily scared) saying that this bailout is needed to avoid a complete collapse of the financial system and to avoid another Depression. Bullshit, I say.

The chickens are coming home to roost, and the Democrats in congress (Barney Frank and the Black Congressional Causes, please call your office!), who brow-beat financial institutions into extending no-cost mortgages to people who had no business buying houses, are to blame.

If a 20% drop in the value of my 401K is the price I need to pay to clean HOUSE (yes, that house), then it's money well spent.

Hang on .....

SKS trigger job

2008-09-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

Bit the bullet. Took the trigger group of my Yugo SKS apart to

figure out how the thing works
reduce weight
eliminate crunchiness.

Yesterday, I was successful in all three endeavors. What a goofy design. The sear rides on a pair of rails and is pushed by a bar, horizontally, levering off the trigger. The disconnecter pushes this bar vertically, thus allowing/disallowing engagement of the trigger bar with the sear. This design almost cries out for crunchiness because there is so much contact surface between the sear rails and the sear that any particles or non-smoothness will be amplified by the full weight of the hammer spring bearing down on the sear pushing it into the rails.

Nevertheless, smoothing/stoning out the top surface of the rails and the sear/hammer engagement surfaces did wonders for the crunchiness and shortening the sear spring and the hammer spring by one loop reduced the weight of the trigger quite nicely. The pull is still long, but is now uniform and smooth. I can imagine that the length of pull could be reduced by taking some material off the hammer edge that engages with the sear -- another day perhaps.

I was *quite* surprised at the outcome. The before and after difference is noticeable.

Let's do a step-by-step tour.

After removing the trigger group from the rifle, locate the latch stop pin near the front of the trigger group. This pin also serves as a group retention pin, sliding into recesses in the receiver to hold the trigger group in place. This pin must be driven out. One can start it out with a few taps of a brass hammer and then complete the driving out with an appropriately sized punch.

Once the latch stop pin has been removed, the latch stop, the sear spring and the sear can be removed by sliding them out the front of the trigger group housing on the rails they ride on.

Next, we need to remove the hammer from the trigger housing. Fortunately, this can be done without disassembling the rest of the trigger group. Merely, hold the hammer in a vice so that you can push the trigger group down against the weight of the hammer spring. The hammer must be in the decocked position before an attempt is made to remove it. The hammer hinges in two recesses, one on either side of the housing.

Once the hammer is pushed past these recesses, it can be removed.

We can now see the rails on which the sear rides.

Since the sear is pushed down against the top portion of these two rails by the full weight of the hammer spring, the top portion of the rails must be polished to remove any burs and non-uniformities. We do this with a ceramic stone.

Next we polish (again with a ceramic stone) the two engagements surfaces between the sear and hammer. Here's a view of the engagement surface on the sear.

And here's a side view of the two engagement surfaces.

Like with the stoning of any sear engagement surface, care must be taken to not introduce high spots by stoning the left and right sides non-uniformly. Don't remove any more material than is necessary to achieve a mirror smooth surface. The leading edge of the hammer surface can be rounded a little to spread the weight of the hammer weight over a larger radius.

Finally, I cut one loop off both the hammer and sear springs with a pair of wire snips.

The edges should be ground flat against the coils of the springs.

Reassemble and give it a go. I will be taking this SKS to the range this weekend to test whether the smoother trigger affects accuracy.

Knife porn

2008-08-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

When I was in Texas in May, I visited “Burton’s Blades” in Rocksprings. He had on display a bunch of Anza Knives. These knives are built from “raw” carbon steel files, rough cut, ground, heat treated and honed. Elk horn or Maple grips are added. The effect is beautiful.

I bought two small knives from Burton’s Blades while in TX. Upon returning, I looked up Anza Knives and discovered that the builder is in my own home state. Naturally, I bought two more, bigger knives.

Here they all are for your viewing pleasure.

First the two small ones.

and the two larger ones.

And here's a picture of all of them together.

The hitchhiker's guide to Douglas Adams

2008-08-12T17:12:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading [the first three books of] Douglas Adams' "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". This is a compendium volume of five of his best known novels. I'd been immersed in the culture of Adams since college. "42", the ultimate answer, "Don't Panic" and "Mostly Harmless" were well known phrases in my lexicon, but I'd never read any of Adams' actual works.

Reading Adam's works is somewhat like reading the script to a Monty Python sketch. Characters may be brutal, but decorum must be maintained. Tea is a priority even if your ship is being destroyed. And like Monty Python sketches, not all story lines are necessarily tied together because that isn't necessarily the intention when the goal is highlighting the absurdness of certain human activities.

The five books should be read in sequence as they are sequels of each other and cannot be made sense of if one hasn't read the predecessors.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Many millions of years ago a race of hyperintelligent, pandimensional beings (whose physical manifestation our universe is that of white mice) got so fed up with the constant bickering about the meaning of life, that they built a huge, powerful computer, Deep Thought, to solve their problem once and for all. This gigantic computer was tasked with coming up with “The Answer”, the answer to “Life, the Universe, and Everything”. It would take Deep Thought seven and a half million years to come up with the answer. When it finally spoke, its answer was “42”. This, it claimed, was the answer to the “Ultimate Question” of “Life, the Universe, and Everything”. But when asked what the ultimate question was, Deep Thought said that it did not know, that it would fall upon the one that came after to calculate it.

So, this race of hyperintelligent, pandimensional beings contracted with some Magrathean engineers and scientists to build a more powerful computer, “Deep Thought II”, to calculate the “Ultimate question” to the “Ultimate Answer” to “Life, the Universe and Everything”. This computer was Earth. However, just before Deep Thought II was to speak the answer to the ultimate question, it was destroyed by a Vogon constructor fleet because it was in the way of a hyperspatial expressway.

The only survivors were:

Tricia McMillan (aka Trillian) – who was now a guest of ex-president of the universe Zaphod Beeblebrox aboard his ship the “Heart of Gold”, which was powered by the Infinite Improbability drive.
Ford Prefect – a denizen of a planet six hundred light-years away in the vicinity of Betelgeuse. He’d been stranded on earth for the past fifteen years while research entries for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Arthur Dent – a denizen of Earth who was befriended by Ford Prefect and thus whisked off the planet just before it was destroyed, ironically just after his own house was destroyed by a village bulldozer making way for a highway bypass.
Two white mice – these two were, nominally, Trillian’s pets but were in fact members of the race of hyperintelligent, pandimensional beings on Earth to observe the progress of Deep Thought II.

Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent ended up hitching a ride on a Vogon ship just before Earth was destroyed, but because the Vogons weren’t exactly a sociable race they were flung out of an airlock into space. Fortunately they were picked up, just in time, by Zaphod Beeblebrox.

The mice, seeing their investment destroyed figured that since Arthur Dent was a product of Deep Though II (aka Earth) his brain would contain hints to what the ultimate question was. Consequently, they wanted to remove and examine Arthur Dent’s brain. Naturally, Arthur was somewhat resistant to this. Escaping aboard Zaphod’s ship, the group went to seek a place to grab a bite, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe gets its name from being balanced in time just on the edge of the event when the universe comes to an end, drifting back and forth across this event horizon; quite a fireworks show, guaranteed to entertain diners.

In the meantime, the Vogons, not liking leaving a job unfinished, trying to finish off the destruction of earth and all its inhabitants, attacked The Heart of Gold. It appears, however, that the reason for the destruction of earth had more sinister roots. Gag Halfrunt, figuring that discovery of the question to the answer to the ultimate question would put his psychiatric business to an end, paid the Vogons to destroy earth and all its inhabitants.

After escaping the Vogon attack on his ship, Zaphod figured that consulting with the real ruler of the universe, Zarniwoop, would provide them with a hint as to the question to the ultimate answer. Marvin, the paranoid android claimed he could see the question in Arthur brainwaves but refused to say what it was. Zarniwoop turned out to be quite a disappointment. He didn’t believe in much, except his dog for example.

After escaping from Disaster Area’s (the loudest band in the universe) stunt ship, which was diving into the sun as part of Hotblack Desiato (Disaster Area’s front man) opening act, Arthur and Ford Prefect end up on earth of two million years before it was destroyed. They come into contact with two groups of people; the primitive ape men who Arthur had previous assumed (Dr. Darwin call your office) he was descended from and a group of Golgafrincham’s whose ship had crashed on earth. They were the vanguard of the evacuation of their planet which, at least as far as they were told, was doomed. In fact, they were the useless third (hairdressers, TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, public relations executives management consultants, lawyers and telephone sanitizers) rejected by the actual doers (the leaders and the makers) who stayed home and lived full, rich and happy lives until they were suddenly wiped out by a virulent disease contracted from a dirty telephone. When the “apemen” came into contact with the Golgafrinchams, and witnessed their “fire making committee” in action, became so depressed and desperate that they died out. Hence, Arthur realized, he and the rest of the erstwhile Earth's population was descended from the useless one third of the race of Golgafrincham.

Later, still in search of the question to the ultimate answer, Ford Prefect postulates that since Arthur is a product of Deep Thought II and “The Question” is imprinted in his brain patterns, that perhaps he can coax the answer out of Arthur (without removing his brain like the mice wanted to do) by having him draw Scrabble tiles out of a bag; the resulting sentence construct would be “The Question”. Arthur agrees and proceeds to draw tiles.

W-H-A-T-D-O-Y-O-U-G-E-T-I-F-Y-O-U-M-U-L-T-I-P-L-Y-S-I-X-B-Y-N-I-N-E

[Read that carefully and realize that the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything was 42.]

Ford Prefect's Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic hasn't picked up a signal for years, so he and Arthur are well and truly stuck on earth of two million years ago. But Arthur may be finally discovering the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything. While talking with Mella and Agda, two of the surviving Golgafrinchams, about what happened (or will happen in two million years) to Earth, and not making much sense, Arthur stops worrying and throws his copy of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" into the river.

Life, The Universe and Everything

On prehistoric Earth, one fine day, Arthur Dent is spectacularly insulted ("You're a jerk, a complete kneebiter") by Wowbagger. Wowbagger is immortal and doesn't instinctively know how to deal with his status, because he wasn't born with it but rather had is thrust upon him due to an unfortunate accident involving an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch and a pair of rubber bands. His purpose, he determined, would be to insult the Universe and he would do it in alphabetical order. His next stop would be Arthur Philip Deodat.

That same day, Arthur and Ford Prefect spot a red couch moving across the landscape. Ford understands its significance (it's a time portal) and they both chase it down and jump on it ... emerging in the middle of the pitch at Lord's Cricket Ground, St. John's Wood, London, toward the end of the last Test Match of the Australian series in the year 198-, with England only needing twenty-eight runs to win.

When they arrive, you meet up with Slartibartfast (remember him? He won an award for designing Earth's Fjords). His ship, disguised as an Italian bistro, was parked just behind the bleachers. Ford Prefect points out an S.E.P. (Someone Else's Problem) just as an alien ship lands disgorging white robots who proceed to kill everyone in sight and leave after taking the Cricket trophy.

Slartibartfast urgently ushers Ford and Arthur to his ship which is powered by a "Bistromathic Drive". Dissimilar to the "Infinite Improbability" drive that powers Zaphod's "Heart of Gold", Bistromathics is a revolutionary new way of understanding the behavior of numbers ... in a restaurant. It operates on three non-absolute numbers, the first of which is the number of people for whom a table is reserved. It varies during the course of the first three phone calls to the restaurant and will finally bear no resemblance to the number of people who actually show up.

Inside the ship, Slartibastfast explains to Ford and Arthur what just happened, and what they must do. The white robots were foot soldiers of the planet Krikkit, a small planet surrounded by a huge dust cloud. The people of Krikkit were peaceloving people who, because the dust cloud obscured their view of the sky, believed they were completely alone in the universe. When a derelict spaceliner, the starship "Titanic" built as one of the first experimental ships to be powered by a prototype of the Infinite Improbability drive , crashed onto Krikkit, the people of Krikkit realized that they were not alone. They built a ship which took them beyond the Dust Cloud, into the starry, inky blackness of the infinite universe beyond. Upon seeing this infinite universe, the people of Krikkit decided that "It will have to go!". Overnight the whole population of Krikkit was transformed from being charming, delightful, intelligent, whimsical ordinary people, into charming, delightful, intelligent, whimsical manic xenophobes. The succeeding destruction, Slartibartfast told Ford and Arthur, was long and violent and came to be known as the Krikkit Wars.

The wars were finally won, and the people of Krikkit contained, when His High Judgmental Supremacy, Judiciary Pag, L.I.V.R. (the Learned, Impartial and Very Relaxed), Chairman of the Board of Judges at the Krikkit War Crimes Trials sentences them to be encased for perpetuity in a "slo-time" envelope, shut and closed by a lock placed on an asteroid slowly orbiting the envelope. The key was the symbol of the peaceful Galaxy (peaceful after the Krikkit Wars), the Wikkit Gate. The "slo-time" envelope would deflect all light and escape from it was impossible. It was intended to slow down the progress of time on Krikkit, thus rendering the people of Krikkit harmless until the end of the universe, when they would reemerge and continue on, alone.

The key consists of three vertical pillars, connected at the top by two bails. The pieces were scattered.

When the envelope was put into place, a missing Krikkit warship, presumed destroyed but actually only missing, remained outside the envelope. The Krikkiters aboard this ship zoomed around the galaxy retrieving the five pieces of the key.

The Steel Pillar -- one of Marvin the paranoid Android's legs,
The Plastic Pillar -- the royal scepter of some or other (I forgot the name) minor deity,
The Wooden Pillar -- the reconstituted ashes of a cricket stump burnt in Melborne, Australia, in 1882, to signify the death of English Cricket,
The Silver Bail -- part of A Rory, a small silver thing set on a large black base, the award for The Most Gratuitous use of the word Belgium in a Serious Screenplay.
The Golden Bail -- the heart of The Infinite Improbability Drive aboard Zaphod's ship, The Heart of Gold.

Slartibartfast explained that they must proceed to Krikkit and prevent the opening of the lock and stop the Krikkiters from activating the ultimate weapon that would destroy the universe.

After reconstituting the key and unlocking the slo-time envelope, the Krikketer's proceeded with their plan to destroy the universe. They'd invented (or thought they had) a small bomb that was actually a junction box in hyperspace that when activated would connect the heart of every major sun, thus turning the entire universe into a hyperstatial supernova.

However, with Trillian's shoulder to cry on, they apparently had a change of faith with regards to the whole universe destruction thing.

Trillian told them a story. Hactar, a supercomputer, was contracted by the super violent race Silastic Armorfiends of Striterax to built the ultimate weapon: a junction box in hyperspace that when activated would connect the heart of every major sun, thus turning the entire universe into a hyperstatial supernova. Hactar designed in a flaw hoping that, upon sober reflection, no one would use the bomb. The Silastic Armorfiends disagreed and pulverized the computer. Hactar was build like a brain; each and every cellular particle carried the pattern of the whole. Hactar ended up as the impenetrable dust cloud around the planet Krikket. He felt bad about not fulfilling his function by introducing the flaw in the ultimate weapon he built for the Silastic Armorfiends and nurtured the Krikketers in their xenophobic binge of destruction, thus allowing Hactar to fulfill his function by proxy. And now his plans were foiled again.

Arthur returned to Earth, to bring back the ashes of the burned cricket stump. Standing on the pitch at Lord's Cricket Ground, he found a small red ball in his bag and had an urge to bowl it at a White Robot that miraculously appear in front of the wicket. [The little red ball was another bomb planted there by Hactar while he and Trillian were in the dust cloud over Krikkit] While bowling, he was distracted and discovered that he could fly if he forgot to hit the ground while falling. The bomb, which would have been activated had the White Krikkit Robot hit it with his club, sailed harmlessly off into space.

Arthur, having saved the universe twice in one day and seeking a quiet place was dropped off on Krikkit, which had by then returned to being an idyllic place, where he pursued his desire to learn how to fly more effectively and to talk with the birds. To his astonishment he realized that most of what birds talk about was exceedingly boring, having to do with wingspans, weight-to-power ratios, etc. He "settled" for living on the ground.

The game of Cricket, on Earth, is a echo of the memory of the Krikkit wars, a White Robot hitting a little red ball being one of the most heinous images to the rest of the galaxy. One has to wonder what Douglas Adams thought of the game of Cricket. :-)

Learned a new word today.

2008-08-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

The word is canardly. The word's normal usage can be explained by the following, hypothetical, exchange.

Person 1: "That your dog?"
Person 2: "Yeah, that's my canardly."
Person 1: "Canardly? What kind is it?"
Person 2: "I don't know. It's so mixed up, I can hardly tell."

Apparently, the wild canardly (cunardly) has discovered in Antarctica. :-)

Thanks to Mildred Armstrong Kalish for introducing me to the word.

Justifying violence

2008-08-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

Seems the chicken-shit, yellow-bellied, cowardly ALF members are at it again. Over the weekend, they firebombed a UCSC professor's house, while he and his children were inside, and another professor's car.

It's the same story. He's "cutting up animals" in his lab. Dipshits! He's doing primary research into cell growth and development. You know? Research that is directly applicable to cancer prevention?

And to make matters worse, their chicken-shit spokesman had this to say:

Spokesman Dr. Jerry Vlasak showed no remorse for the family or children whose home was targeted. [...] Vlasak said often the people responsible for these types of acts notify his group eventually. “We certainly understand where these people are coming from,” he said. ”We understand their frustration. We understand why they are doing that sort of thing.”

Really? So if I’m frustrated I’m justified to use violence? Let’s see, I’m frustrated at all the bums and pan-handlers on the mall in Santa Cruz, and wish the police would cart them off to San Francisco. Am I justified to firebomb them? I’m frustrated with the friggin’ tree huggers and bark munchers up in the trees near the science buildings at UCSC. Can I start shooting them down out of frustration?

And here he's quoted as saying:

Vlasak said the bombers likely were not trying to hurt Feldheim, but were instead "trying to send a message to this guy, who won't listen to reason, that if he doesn't stop hurting animals, more drastic measures will be taken ... it's certainly not an initial tactic, but a tactic of last resort."

Really? Good thing the Santa Cruz police aren't treating this as a "harmless message", but are treating this as attempted homicide. Sorry folks, someone attempts to throw a Molotov cocktail at my house and I shoot them dead, no jury would convict me.

Dr. Feldheim writes:

I would like to see the citizens of Santa Cruz and our elected officials (including the mayor) step up and condemn this kind of violence.

Dr. Feldheim. I am EXTREMELY, Red-Curtain-Of-Blood (tm), angry about what happened to you. If it was up to me, I’d be rounding up all ALF members and especially that Vlasak ass, but to expect the citizens of Santa Cruz, who by and large have their heads up their collective asses and have a deficit of logical thinking ability, to come to your defense .... well, don’t hold your breath.

But, on the bright side, the good doctor now has all the justification, even for Santa Cruz, to apply for a carry permit and to start carrying. But to be fair, I know a few Santa Cruz cops ... and they feel just as frustrated by being hamstrung by the socialist city council as I am. And not all Santa Cruz residents are left-leaning, pantywaists.

COME ON SANTA CRUZ. If you condone this behavior, you are no better than those who harbor, aid and abet homicidal criminals.

Don't use guns for self-defense .... you could get hurt.

2008-07-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Fred had me giggling, as usual. The money quote:

What is true of intruders is that they don’t want a firefight. When you rack a round into the chamber of a semi-auto, the sound is unmistakable and means only one thing: Someone is preparing to fire. You have to want a television very badly to go against someone who audibly is planning to kill you and audibly has the means.

Harbor Freight can be so sexy

2008-06-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

So there I was leafing through the recent Harbor Freight catalog. The page was turned to this item.

My wife leans over, looks at the page, and says: “I didn’t know they make those things out of concrete”.

You sexy thing you. ;-)

My senator speaks to me

2008-06-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Got this in my spam filter from the esteemed Senator Boxer:

Dear Friend:

As a result of the drought declaration by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, many Californians will soon likely face mandatory conservation orders. In fact, many water districts and cities have already asked for voluntary measures.

... blah blah blah ...

Because of global climate change, our weather is changing each year. While we can hope for wetter years in the future, it is important that we begin to plan for dryer years. I hope that you will start saving water today.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

Emphasis is mine own. I’m speechless.

By her brilliant logic, “climate changing” --> “weather changes”. Gee. Whodathunkit?

In her next epistle, she will surely impart the further wisdom that “sun setting” --> “cooler temperatures”

I can’t wait ......

As for those “mandatory conservation orders” ..... she can kiss my big hairy bean bag. Instead of socialistic threats, why not allow the free market to rule? Eh? You know, allow the unit price of water to rise, when demand exceeds supply? Free market choices? I guarantee you that individuals will make choices to balance the demand. But, I can hear it now: "The pore and stavin' blah blah blah ....".

Indeed, I should SAVE some water. [Pricing out a 40,000 gallon underground tank]

Cult of the Colt porn

2008-06-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

I recently bought an abused series 70 Colt. It was pitted along both sides of the frame and slide, the blueing was seriously compromised and the previous owner had welded in a garish front sight. Yuck.

I sent the gun to Hank Fleming in Austin TX asking him to remove the front sight, cut a dovetail, install “traditional” white-dot front and rear sights and re-blue the thing.

It came back on Tuesday. Wonderful work.

BEING someone or DOING something?

2008-05-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

"Do you want to BE someone or do you want to DO something?" he asked. I would want to know "What is the relative cost of each".

Just finished reading "Boyd: The fighter pilot who changed the art of War" by Robert Coram.

John Boyd was born in 1927 and lost his father early in life. His sister suffered from polio and his mother raised the family by herself. His mother instilled in him the lesson that one should never share private family matters with anyone outside of the family. Perhaps because of the combination of growing up without a father, an inward looking perspective on problems life throws at you, and a desire to prove himself to his home town, his life took a very determined and driven path.

Though he missed out on major combat, first WW-II and then later Korea, he became a superb fighter pilot. Known as "40 second Boyd" he had a standing offer to any pilot. Starting from an inferior, defensive position, he would turn the tables on his opponent, moving to a superior, offensive position, in 40 seconds or less or else he would pay his opponent some money. He never had to pay up. It was during this time, thinking about quantitative measures and comparisons of fighter maneuverability, that he started on his incredibly creative and valuable contribution to fighter aviation and combat in general.

He was undoubtedly a creative genius and determined to get his way, which was usually right. His contributions include

Development of the E-M (Energy-Maneuverability) theory, that allowed the quantification and comparison of fighter airplane maneuverability and dynamics.
Design of the F-15 (which he hated for being gold-plated) and later a lightweight fighter, that became the F-16.
Research into theories of creativity -- Destruction and creation.
Maneuver warfare -- Boyd developed his brief title "Patterns of Conflict" over time. Taking liberally from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and from various military engagements spanning Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great and the Wehrmacht's "Blitzkreig", Boyd realized that centralized warfare and decision making are inferior to distributed decision making. Commanders should lead from the front, disseminate the overarching schwerpunkt and command lightly by fingerspitzengefuhl but leave the tactical decision making to sub-commanders in the field.
The OODA loop -- get inside the decision making loop of your opponent, get inside his mind, and you get to control your opponent's thinking and behavior.
Weapons systems procurement reform and careerism.

He was also a gifted leader. During the Vietnam War he was commissioned to command a "spook base" in Thailand plagued by morale and racial problems. During his commission he completely turned it around, all the while maintaining good relations with the local Thais on whom the success of the base depended.

Though lacking in tact and with an abundance of arrogance, aggressiveness and drive, he progressed to full Colonel in the Air Force before he "retired". Ironically, his arguably most valuable contributions to aviation and warfare, were made, from an office in the Pentagon, after he retired from the Air Force. Even though his Air Force pension was minuscule ($1300/month) he refused to be a paid consultant at the Pentagon. Pentagon rules however required that he be paid no less than once during any two week period, so he relented to accepting a pittance of a salary.

During this time, he took on the establishment as, arguably, the ringleader of the "reform movement". His experience with the B-1 bomber convinced him that the weapons development and procurement process was seriously broken. Weapons systems often were not what was needed, and budgeting was inaccurate and wishful, thus leaving US armed forces in a position of unpreparedness. For example, when development started on the B-1, the projected costs were around $20M per copy. By the time Reagan approved the bomber and production started, the costs where $260M per copy.

Later, Boyd developed his brief on maneuver warfare and tried to get the Air Force to adopt some of the techniques but was blocked time and again by doctrinaire generals. Only the Marine Corp adopted some of his ideas to great success.

John Boyd had six close friends, his acolytes. They all suffered through "the pain", Boyd's daily phone calls, usually late at night or early morning, which lasted for hours at a time. Boyd would debate or discuss his latest breakthroughs or read whole passages from books he was reading on topics he was researching. All proteges were asked the "Do you want to BE someone or do you want to DO something" question. Boyd considered careerism to be anathema and was completely unconcerned about rank or title or compensation. He clearly wanted to contribute to his country, to make a difference; to DO something.

But a protege who was asked this question never responded with "At what cost?"

After reading this book, I'm left with a profound sadness concerning the life of the people AROUND John Boyd. He fathered five children, but neglected them profoundly. His first son suffered from polio and rather than move to Florida, as his wife had frequently requested so that Stephen could enjoy his one pleasure, the beach, Boyd insisted that his family live in a tiny basement apartment in a low-class neighborhood near the Pentagon. He didn't seem to spend a lot of time with his family, so absorbed was he in his work.

One could argue that Boyd didn't have the financial resources to take better care of his family. But, so determined was he to DO something that he never cared whether his work was attributed to him. He thus never really benefited from his work. Though he constantly railed against careerism at the Pentagon, one has to wonder whether the families of the so-called "perfumed princes" (as he referred to high ranking officers primarily interested in climbing the ladder) suffered as much as Boyd's family did as a result of their choices.

Having a family is a choice and once made assumes that one dedicates time and energy to the betterment of said family members. Neglecting ones duty of the betterment of ones family raises the question of the original choice. Observing how Boyd "hosed" his various opponents at the Pentagon leads one to the conclusion that he meticulously planned every move of his strategy, every choice. So one is left to conclude that Boyd chose to neglect his family.

I read a review of the above mentioned book on Amazon. The reviewer "publius_1788" wrote:

I'm not sure I would want to work for him or with him, and I certainly would not want to be one of his children, but America needs more like him.

Without a doubt, Boyd's contributions to reforming military decision making and war making are essential to America's strength. His personal sacrifice in these endeavors is honorable and beyond compare. Requiring the unchosen sacrifice of others is, however, contemptible.

Brotherly love in the new South Africa

2008-05-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

I guess it's not what the ANC promised. On the other hand, I bet if it happened here, illegal Mexicans would think twice about sneaking across the border.

West Texas pig hunting

2008-05-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Spent the week hunting feral hogs on a deer lease ranch in west Texas near the town of Rocksprings. I love west Texas, and west Texans.

The people in the small towns of west Texas, like Rocksprings and Junction, are genuine and sincere, and unfailingly friendly and courteous. I was raised, in South Africa, to be polite, to say “please” and “thank you”, to refer to adults and strangers as “sir” and “madam”. Living in the “modern world” (such as it is) such courtesy is not emphasized and it seems one who practices such courtesy is regarded as some kind of throwback. Interacting with folks in west Texas reminded me of my upbringing, and I was transferred back to the place of my upbringing. I almost didn’t want to come back home.

Being so far away from the centers of "civilizations" with no major airline flight paths over the region (I didn't hear a single commercial jet fly overhead for the three days I was there), and with nothing to listen to at night but the wind, the song of the Whippoorwills and one's heart beat, and with nothing to look at but the lightning bugs and the bright stars overhead, must addle peoples' minds. [Note: If it's not obvious, I'm being facetious here] At a hamburger restaurant in Rocksprings, a budding poet placed the following sign on the wall [or something to that effect; I'm going from memory]

This is not a fast food restaurant. We go to great lengths to serve you the best food. If it arrives quickly, that is a bonus but not a priority. You are now south of the tension line. So sit, relax, stay a while and allow us to prepare your meal in the best possible way we can.

Ah ... nothing to listen to at night but the wind, the song of the Whippoorwills and one's heart beat, and with nothing to look at but the lightning bugs and the bright stars overhead. Sitting in a deer blind at 5am, waiting for the sun to rise, the tensions of my rat-race existence seemed distant and unimportant; the priorities of the “modern world” dropped WAY DOWN the stack. I haven’t slept so well in a long time ..... yes, in the deer blinds even.

And then the sun comes up.

There are Whitetail deer, Axis deer, Aoudads, turkeys and of course lots of feral pigs. All these animals passed by the blinds I was sitting in, but I wasn't interesting in hunting them. I was intent on shooting pigs only.

A small herd of Axis deer: a large buck, a young buck, two does and two fawn.

A troika of Whitetail deer.

But, when you're not hunting deer, at least one can take pictures of them through one's gun sights.

125yds ... could place the shot pretty much anywhere I choose.

From inside the bunker, looking out over the DMZ.

But eventually, patience pays off and the "target" passes by in front of one's blind. In this case a a red pig, weighing about 120lbs, passed by the feeder about 225yds from the blind I was sitting in. A single shot right through the shoulders dropped him like a rock. Nice clean entry but a nasty looking exit wound. The 200gr Sierra HPBT bullet must have tumbled.

On one of the days I was there, another piggy, a 150 pounder, was trapped in the ranch's hog trap, a huge fenced area about 30’x100’. It was my “job” to finish him off, to climb into the pen and face him off manno-a-manno. Two go in, one comes out. One has to admire the “never give up” attitude of the feral hog. He charged me. He was gonna knock me on my ass and run back out through the gate. One 240gr Hornady XTP/HP bullet from a Freedom Arms mod. 83 right between the eyes dropped him right in front of me. The poor guy had a tick attached to his eyelid.

Though clearly dead, since the bullet passed through the pig's head, the pig continued to twitched and jerk. I shot it again to the side of head, taking most of its face off. One has to respect the power of a 240gr XTP/HP bullet travelling at close to 1900fps.

I saved the piggy's tusks, each about 4" long. Thinking about it later, things could have turned out quite badly had I missed the pig and he hit me. The tusks could have ripped into my leg, leading to obvious bacterial infection and god knows what kind of other piggy AIDS in the pig's blood. I guess I didn't think about the possible consequences of missing the pig, because I wasn't planning to miss.

Am I embarrassed to say I love hunting and killing pigs? Uhhh ..... nope. It's a thrill.

Return airplane ticket to Austin, TX: $235
Two meat BBQ plate at Buster's BBQ in Austin: $9.35
Watching one of your hunting buddies chasing after a racoon with a .45, emptying the magazine in the process: priceless.

And, no, I didn't bring any of the piggy meat back with me. However, west Texas buzzards are eating well this week.

400 Corbon vs. 10mm -- conclusions

2008-04-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

In this post, we discussed the 400 Corbon round. Since then I worked up [what I consider] maximum loads around 155gr and 180gr bullets and performed apples-to-apples comparisons of muzzle velocity. In both cases, the powder used was Alliant Power Pistol. Here's some powder weight vs. muzzle velocity graph.

First, a Hornady 155gr XTP/HP bullet and Speer 155gr JHP-GD bullet.

Second, a Winchester 180gr JHP bullet.

We can see that for all powder weights, a bullet launched out of a 400 Corbon will be about 100fps slower than when launched out of a 10mm cartridge. This is because the 400 Corbon has a larger effective volume than a 10mm cartridge and hence the chamber pressure is lower for any given powder weight.

However, one can achieve equivalent ballistics from the 400 Corbon as from the 10mm.

So, in conclusion, the 400 Corbon is at least as good a round as a 10mm with the addition of the following advantages:

An existing 45 ACP firearm can be readily converted to shoot 400 Corbon by the mere drop-in installation of a barrel. The same cannot be said for 10mm as the conversion to fire 10mm is more complex, requiring, at a minimum, a different breech face, magazines and barrel.
For the handloader, 400 Corbon brass is cheaper and more readily available than 10mm brass -- one merely necks down 45 ACP brass.
A bottle-necked cartridge (e.g. 400 Corbon) feeds more reliably than a straight-necked cartridge (e.g. 10mm).

Springtime in the CA outback

2008-04-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

Spring hiking is the way to go. Springtime really is a wonderful time in the CA outback. The azure blue skies, the green hillsides covered in purple, yellow and orange flowers, the critters out looking for "romance" ....... lovely.

On War: Strategy and Spirit

2008-02-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

Just started reading ”Thunder Below!” by Admiral Eugene Fluckey.

Captain Fluckey revolutionized submarine warfare during WW-II by employing a somewhat controversial strategy. At a time when submarines were supposed to stay submerged and wait for the enemy to come to them, he hunted on the surface, taking advantage of superior speed.

Luck is where you find it—but to find it you have to look for it. [...] There’s a big ocean out there. I search it on the surface with our high periscope up and a wide, sweeping zig plan, using as high a speed as our fuel supply will allow. Now, I realize that we may be sighted, depth charged and bombed more often, but we’ll find a helluva lot more targets.

Following the USS Barb’s 8th war patrol, with Fluckey in [his first] command, the crew spent two weeks in Pearl. At a party they overheard a woman’s voice.

From the adjacent group, I heard a strident female voice ring out. “Rig in your jib, before I deck you with a belaying pin!”
I had to meet this old salt. Tapping Chief Frank Starks on the shoulder, I asked, “Who is she?”
“Mother Reilly, captain. Would you like to be introduced?”
A few minutes later, I had taken her away from the boys. “Mother Reilly, I have to leave shortly, but I must know where you picked up such salty language.”
“Sure, skipper, but first I want to tell you what a wonderful crew you have—they think the world of you. [...] As for me, I am married to the sea. My husband was skipper of the Empress of Asia, lost when the Japanese sank her. I then shipped out as a stewardess on the Murmansk run. Caught German torpedoes and sank twice. The last time I was picked up by a tin-can—my leg and ankle were broken. I have to use a cane because my leg is not quite right.
“What are you doing now?”
“Sitting on my backside waiting for a berth. They stopped letting women serve aboard in the Atlantic, so I came out here. Some women are on runs to Australia. Cane and all, I’m ready. As long as there’s an American flag flying over the waves, you can bet your bloody seaboots Old Reilly will be in there pitching.”

Brought tears to me eyes.

The Truth about Muhammad

2008-01-26T20:38:00.000-08:00

Just finished reading The Truth about Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion by Robert Spencer.

The author spends the first nine chapters going over Muhammad's life and the development of Islam: the last chapter is dedicated to the legacy of Muhammad and what it means for the west.

I’d thought that the word prophet means someone who foretells the future, but as used in the context of Muhammad it means a spokesmen for God. The whole development of Islam consisted of Muhammad resolving issues, sometimes even compromising and then later reversing himself, by means of “revelations” from Allah. Now, for an atheist like me, a “revelation from Allah” is another way of saying “pulling shit out of your ass to justify your agenda”. And that seems to be how Islam developed.

Now that in and of itself wouldn’t be so bad, if Muhammad is to be viewed as an apostle who merely interpreted the word of God, and hence the Quran should be taken as a historical narrative. But unfortunately, adherents of Islam regard Muhammad as the perfect example of righteousness, to be emulated. And therein lies the problem for the west. I don’t really care how Muslims view themselves and their relationship to their God. However, it’s their relationship to the rest of the world that’s a concern. For example,

apostates should be put to death
“people of the scriptures” (i.e. Jews and Christians) should be allowed to convert to Islam, or be protected by “dhimmah”, i.e. second-class status and subjugation.
other non-believers must covert to Islam.

Now lots has been made of the true meaning of Islam and that the extremists are just that, on the fringes and extremes. But after reading this book, I can’t see how one can be an adherent of Islam and go contrary to the example set by its prophet. Chief among these is the fundamental and complete intolerance of other religions.

I highly recommend this book.

400 Corbon: A cheap man's 10mm

2008-01-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

While talking with a friend about the ballistics I was achieving with a super-charged 45ACP load he suggested I take a look at 10mm loads. Searching the literature for 10mm will tell you it's the parent of the 40S&W after being deemed "too powerful".

The 10mm round is interesting in that case capacity is similar to that of the 45ACP but the bullet diameter is smaller (0.400" vs. 0.452"). Consequently, one should be able to build loads with lighter bullets pushed to higher velocities than what one could normally do with 45ACP loads. For example, it would be difficult to build a 45ACP load around a bullet lighter than 185gr.

Now, the availability of new 10mm handguns here in CA is limited, due to the "approved handgun list"; essentially, one is limited to a Glock 20 or 29, and a Kimber Eclipse Custom II or Stainless Target II. But, assuming one already has a handgun chambered in 45ACP and one doesn't wish to invest in another handgun just to experiment with 40 calibre bullets, the 400 Corbon round comes to the rescue.

The 400 Corbon is a now defunct wildcard round. The round uses 0.400" diameter bullets in a necked down 45ACP case. The advantage of a 400 Corbon round over a 10mm round is that with only a barrel change, an existing handgun chambered for 45ACP can be used.

My first experiment with the 400 Corbon was with my existing Glock 21. I ordered a 400 Corbon barrel from EFK Firedragon.

The barrel dropped in with only one minor modification. The Firedragon barrel was a tad too thick in the barrel bushing area and hence the slide would not lock into battery completely.

However, about 10 minutes with 200 grit sandpaper to the first 1" of the barrel from the muzzle, fixed that problem right up.

400 Corbon brass can be made by running 45ACP cases through a 400 Corbon full-length resizing die (and trimming to the correct length, of course). Here, from left to right, is a 45ACP case, a 400 Corbon case and a 10mm case.

Now, for a performance comparison between 400 Corbon and 10mm, I used an additional Kimber Eclipse II chambered in 10mm. I worked up two progressive sequences:

10mm -- 0.400" Speer 155gr JHP GoldDot bullets atop Alliant Power Pistol powder; weight varied from 8.0gr to 10.1gr in 0.3gr increments.
400 Corbon -- 0.400" Hornady 155gr XTP/HP atop Alliant Power Pistol powder; weight varied from 8.0gr to 10.7gr in 0.3gr increments.

Load data for the 400 Corbon is not readily available, so I was being conservative on the upper powder limit. However, since the 400 Corbon case has a greater capacity than the 10mm case (25.0gr of water weight for the 400 Corbon as compared to 23.7gr of water weight for the 10mm) I felt safe to use a greater upper powder limit for the 400 Corbon than the 10mm. Both sets were built to the same OAL; 1.230".

The above two sequences where then shot through a Chrony and the velocities plotted.

As can the seen, the graph of velocity vs. powder weight of the 10mm is "higher" than that of the 400 Corbon. This implies that the 10mm chamber pressure is higher at any particular powder weight. The obvious reason for the difference in chamber pressures, is that the 400 Corbon case has a larger usable capacity than the 10mm case. The 400 Corbon case is shorter, but both cases have roughly the same capacity. This means that when one builds the two rounds to the same OAL, the bullet is seated further out in the case of the 400 Corbon round. Consequently, the usable capacity is larger.

There are two other potential reasons for the difference in chamber pressures.

I used two different bullet types; a Hornady XTP/HP in one case and a Speer GoldDot in the other. The two bullet types, though of the same weight, could result in slightly different chamber pressures.
The higher case capacity of the 400 Corbon case may be accounting for the lower chamber pressure. This also implies that the 400 Corbon load has more "head room".

The next experiment to try will be built the two progressive sequences using identical bullets. But the results are promising and point to the 400 Corbon being capable of higher safe velocities with the same bullet.

Funniest book I read all year

2008-01-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

Not saying much since I don't pound through the books like others, but the year is still young -- Spud, by John van de Ruit.

The jacket cover review states that

It’s 1990. Apartheid is crumbling. Nelson Mandela has just been released from prison. And Spud Milton—thirteen-year-old, prepubescent choirboy extraordinaire—is about to start his first year at an elite boys-only boarding school in South Africa. Cursed with embarrassingly dysfunctional parents, a senile granny named Wombat, and a wild obsession for Julia Roberts, Spud has his hands full trying to adapt to his new home.

Armed with only his wits and his diary, Spud takes readers of all ages on a rowdy boarding school romp full of illegal midnight swims, raging hormones, and catastrophic holidays that will leave the entire family in total hysterics and thirsty for more.

It’s written in diary format, taking Spud (I won’t give away why the protagonist is nicknamed Spud) from when he enters a private boarding school in the midlands of Natal thru his first year. I think anyone who was a 14 year of boy can relate to this book, even if they weren’t immersed in a boarding school.

It’s a very quick read (about 300 pages) but will have you roaring with laughter.

Handloading for the 9x18mm Makarov

2007-12-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hand loading for the 9x18mm Makarov is almost as easy as hand loading for the 9mm Luger. The 9mm Mak case is a little shorter than the 9mm Luger but the head dimensions are similar enough that one can use shortened 9mm cases for use with the 9mm Mak.

There are several manufacturers of 9mm Makarov ammunition, e.g. Sellier & Bellot and Silver Bear but most imports are Berdan primed and hence their cases are not suitable for reloading. Sellier & Bellot cases are Boxer primed, and those cases can be reused for handloading.

Though the Starline Brass makes 9mm Makarov cases suitable for the handloader they are more expensive than 9mm Luger brass. Hence, the thrifty handloader has two choices:

reuse Sellier & Bellot cases
trim and resize 9mm Luger cases

So, let's focus on the process needed to turn 9mm Luger cases into 9mm Makarov cases. We see that the head dimensions of both are similar.

A 9mm Luger case is approximately 19mm long, whereas a 9mm Makarov case is approximately 18mm long.

To trim the 9mm Luger case down to 18mm, we use a RCBS Trim Pro. The model used is the manually cranked one, though RCBS sells a motorized version too.

To hold a 9mm Luger case in place while trimming we use a RCBS #16 Trim Pro shell holder and a 35 calibre pilot.

Once trimmed to 18mm, the cases must be full-length resized using 9mm Makarov resizing dies. I chose a Lee 3-die set for my 9mm Makarov reloading needs, though other manufacturers make 9mm Makarov dies also. The same shell holder is used as for 9mm Luger. I use RCBS shell holders to fit my RCBS hand-priming tool, a #1 in this case.

From here on, the reloading process is the standard one for straight-walled cartridges.

Depriming and full-length resizing using the FL-resizing die.
Belling the case mouth using the expander die.
Priming the cases.
Charging the cases with powder.
Bullet seating, using the seating die.
Crimping of the case mouth using the seating die.

The advanced reloader can use a progressive press, but the novice or beginner should stick with a single stage press until he is familiar with each step of the reloading process, and the die adjustments needed at each step. I use a RCBS Rock Chucker single stage press.

After resizing and belling the cases, we prime the cases. The 9mm Makarov (like the 9mm Luger) uses a small-pistol primer. I use a RCBS hand-priming tool, and CCI 500 primers, though other manufacturers make equivalent products also.

After priming, we charge the cases. I used Alliant Bullseye powder. The recommended weight for 95gr bullets is in the range 3.5gr and 3.9gr. [Warning: when working up a load, always start with the smallest weight and work upwards, always watching for signs of overpressure]. Bullseye powder has a good volumetric consistency, so a RCBS Uniflow powder dispenser is used. The dispenser was calibrated using a RCBS electronic scale.

Bullet selection is quite good for the Makarov, though one should note that unlike 9mm Luger loads, where the bullet diameter is .355", the Makarov is not a true 9mm and the bullet diameter is .364". I use two bullets; a 93gr lead round-nosed bullet from Meister Cast for practice and target use, and a 95gr jacketed hollow-point bullet from Hornady (XTP/HP) for defense use.

I seated the round-nosed bullets to an over all length of 0.980" and the XTP/HP bullets to an over all length of 0.930". The bullets must be taper crimped. The crimping is necessary to remove the bell in the case and to hold the bullet in the case mouth so it doesn't move. Since the Makarov headspaces on the case mouth, care must be taken to not over crimp the mouth as this can lead to "short chambering" and inaccuracy. Essentially, crimp just enough to remove the bell and no more.

Testing the above loads in a Hungarian PA-63 resulted in remarkable accuracy. Both loads were built using only 3.5gr of Bullseye powder. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chronograph with me so could not measure the bullet speed.

Tests were fired, standing shooting unsupported and one handed, at a 8" circle target hung 15 yds from the muzzle. The lead bullets grouped to about 2", about 2" high off POA.

The hollow-point bullets didn't group as well, but well enough for defensive use. The general center of the group was about about 2" high off POA.

The next steps are to increase the powder weight and measure speed with a chronograph. The goal is to preserve accuracy while achieving/maintaining a speed of 1000ft/s.

Some nuts are more equal than others

2007-12-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, on the 5th of December, a deranged loser with a felony drug conviction and a stolen SKS murdered 8 people in a Nebraska shopping mall. Today, on the 6th of December, a deranged loser murdered her 5 children with some over-the-counter sedatives and plastic bags.

Now, all things being equal these two sad cases would get equal coverage. But apparently the murder of 5 children between the ages of 3 and 9 by their mother is not nearly sensational enough, nor does it serve political agendas, as the murder of 8 shoppers.

Care to bet whether in the coming days the chattering monkey class will be calling for:

psychiatric screenings of "at risk" mothers, and the ban of over-the-counter sedatives, or
psychiatric screenings of "at risk" teens, and "more gun laws" [never mind that a felony conviction is already sufficient to keep guns out of law-abiding hands]?

If you answered (2), then move to the head of the class.

Nah ... nothing to see here ... move along.

The prof has 'coffed

2007-11-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

I met Paul Downham in the summer of 1985. I was about to start my senior year in college and was searching for a room in a house to rent.

This was to be a serious year of study for me. I was doing a double major in Physics and Computer Science and an independent thesis was required for completion of the Physics major. That summer I had decided upon a thesis topic while traveling up to Vancouver and observing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the, still under construction, Fraser River Bridge. My topic would be on the analysis and simulation of the vibrational modes of suspension bridges.

I needed a quiet place to study. The house at 143 Carl Ave. in Santa Cruz seemed to fit the bill. It was 7 miles from campus, close enough that I could easily ride my bicycle. When I visited, Paul welcomed me into his house despite my being a Physics major. He told me that he liked to have regular meals with all house mates, meaning I should pencil in Sunday evenings. Seemed reasonable. His heavy English accent and rather eccentric demeanor were welcome changes.

After I moved in, I learned that Paul didn't really own the house, but was rather the primary tenant and was subletting to college students. The house had 3 bedrooms, a shed in the back and a drafty and cold garage converted (subverted) into a bedroom. There were five of us living in the house, with Paul in the garage and a German Rastafarian surfer, Robert, in the shed outside.

On Sundays Paul would cook up his trademark roast chicken with roast potatoes a la Paul and steamed vegetables and he insisted that we all join him. I grew to enjoy this togetherness and would bring my girlfriend along. The evenings were typically followed by wine drinking by all and brashy monologues by Paul who was convinced of the inherent fascism of the United States for which Santa Cruz style socialism was an appropriate palliative. I never held that against him. Naked ping-pong tournaments were often held in the living room. No one was excluded, regardless of aptitude or rectitude. The only requirement was that players and spectators rid themselves of clothing and play, or watch, as God created them.

Despite his faith in the convalescent qualities of socialist policies, Paul was remarkably shrewd with money. I discovered how much the landlord was charging him for to rent on the house and quickly realized that the four of us were subsidizing his accommodations. Again, I never held it against him because the arrangement was comfortable and I never felt like Paul was taking advantage of anyone. My father, however, thought Paul was evil and a bad influence. If only he knew to what extent Paul was a bad influence.

After I graduated I tried to visit often, but grad school and employment kept getting in the way. I didn't see Paul as much anymore, but his lawn and living room floor were always available for overnight bicycling trips a privilege I took advantage of often.

When he retired, in 1997, he moved back to England hoping to benefit from expansive British social programs. Much to his dismay, however, he wasn't eligible as, although he remained a British citizen, he was no longer considered a resident.

He returned to Santa Cruz but by then the owner of the house on Carl Ave. had sold the house and Paul was forced to find an "affordable" apartment. After several places, he ended up in a comfortable one-bedroom apartment in a "senior citizens" complex across the San Lorenzo River off Soquel Ave. At times he resented all the "old people" living there, with their fatalistic hopeless outlook, and longed for the times when he shared houses with energetic and dynamic college students.

I visited him in 2003, shortly after the birth of my daughter. While we watched my children play in the park near his apartment, Paul told me about the silly politics of living in a retirement community and the fatalistic attitude of its residents.

I learned of his cancer in November, 2006. He started chemo-therapy treatment. That same year he lost his twin brother, Peter.

His good friends Robert, Andreas, Jeff and Donna organized a 80th birthday party for him at his apartment complex. He looked tired and had lost most of his hair, but he strutted his stuff in front of the other foggies of the complex. The attention showered on him that one day added 8 months to his life.

Paul died in September of 2007, eight months after his 80th birthday. He suffered a heart attack in his apartment. The chemo had done him in. I don't know who found him, or how long he'd been dead. But I hope he died giving the editors of the The San Jose Mercury News and The Santa Cruz Sentinel the middle finger, as he often did with his "stern letters to the editor".

Unlike others, I never considered him a father figure, but he was more than a friend. I guess I came to think of him as an older brother. A fragile, vulnerable but savvy brother. At times eccentric, but always honest and dependable.

Some memorable Paul quotes:

Grades are a means of sorting vegetables.
Silence, when you speak to me.
No, not that bag! That's my wife.
You are pretty, kind and good. Pretty ugly, kind of stupid and good for nothing.
'cof you pigs.
Dear Sir or Madman.
Don't look at me in that tone of voice.
I am sitting in the smallest room of the house with your letter before me. Now it is behind me.
"No! Not the whip! Anything but the whip!" .... "Anything?" .... "The whip!"

Paul, or Prof. Downham as we used to call him. An accomplished pianist and organist, baritone vocalist and teacher. He had a degree from UCSC and the love and admiration of many friends.

Paul. I'm glad to have known you and I'll miss you.

R.I.P -- 23 Jan. 1927 to 13 Sept. 2007

Update: Donna informed me that Paul did not die alone and was able to summon help:

Just so you know, Paul did have a heart attack in his apartment, but managed to ring the emergency bell in his room for help, which arrived promptly in the form of an ambulance to transport him to the Dominican Hilton where he stayed for 2 or 3 days. Rasta Robert and I arrived to visit just a few minutes after they had transferred him to the Driftwood Nursing Facility so we went right over. He was unconscious when we got there and his breath was rattling. We stayed for a while talking to (at?) Paul and petting him but couldn't manage to wake him, so after a while we kissed his cheeks and said goodbye. Paul was dead within 2 hours after we left. It fell to Robert to dismantle his dear friend's life. What a sad and sorry job that was.

Melting polar ice caps will lead to rise in sea levels .... BULLSHIT!!!!

2007-10-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

A lot has been said and written by the global hand-wringers about the catastrophic rise in ocean levels should the polar icecaps melt. The ice caps consist mostly of floating ice, and the hand wringers would have us believe that should they melt, the result would be a rise in ocean levels. However, as it turns it (usually turns out, should I say) the hysteria generated is null because, as I will show in this report, the ocean levels will not rise one iota.

To prove the above, imagine a cube of material of density d_i floating in a body of water of density d_w. The cube has side length L and a portion of it, l₂, is floating above the surface of the water. We’d like to determine by how much the surface of the water will rise, r, assuming a rectangular body of water (e.g. in a tub) with surface area A.

Describing the two forces acting on the block, we have

where

F_d = downward force
F_u = upward force
L = length of the side of the floating cube
g = acceleration of gravity, aka 9.8 m/s²
d_w = density of water
d_i = density of floating cube

The object will float if there is no net force on it, i.e.

and if a portion of the object is above the water or right on the surface of the water, i.e.

Simplifying we get

and

This is a restatement of the Archimedes principle, which states that the force acting on a floating object is equal to the weight of the water displaced.

Now, for this problem we need to restate the amount of displaced water into a measure of the rise in water level. Assume the object is floating in a rectangular tub of water with surface area A. We represent the rise of level of the water in the tub by r.

Substituting for l₁ from the equation above and solving for r, we have

Now, we can further simply this equation by representing d_i in terms of L and the mass of the floating object. By definition, the density of a cube is its mass, m, divided by the cube of the length of a side, L.

Substituting into the equation for r, we get

This is an important result because it states that the rise in water level, r, is independent of the density, shape or size of the floating object; it is only dependent on the mass, m, of the object. Another way to state this is that if I place two different objects into the water, the rise in water level will be the same if the mass of the two objects is the same.

Now, how does this apply to floating ice which melts over time? The above results apply to a cube of ice floating in the ocean. Suppose now I melted that cube of ice and managed to enclose it in a cubic container of zero mass. Since the density of ice increases as it melts into water, the side of this “water-cube” would be less than L. But, the mass would not change. If I now “floated” this “water-cube” on the surface of the ocean, it would float right on the surface, i.e. l₂ = 0.

But, most importantly, because of the result above, the rise in ocean level due to the ice cube is IDENTICAL to the rise in ocean level due to the “water cube”.

So, if the floating ice caps melted, the rise in ocean levels would be .... ZERO.

QED.

Forgive and forget?

2007-09-11T11:37:00.001-07:00

I have a picture of my son, taken on the 11th of Sept. 2001, blissfully unaware of the two explosions that shook the world. He was almost one year old on that day. The picture is of him riding his tricycle, the soft warm sun on his smiling face.

Children are allowed to be unaware of the presence of evil. That's the foray of adults.

The evil that destroyed the twin towers on that day didn't care about the innocents. It's the same evil that sends suicide bombers into pizzerias and crowded markets. It's an evil that send suicide squads into schools full of children.

Children are allowed to forgive evil and even forget that it exists. Adults are not.

Adults have the world view and experience based on history to recognize evil and realize that they've seen it before, at another time at another place. Children do not.

Save the Polar Bears

2007-08-28T22:30:00.001-07:00

"Global warming is leading to death of Polar Bears!" sniffs the hand-wringing set. Poo! I'm just trying to figure out how to make money out of this whole global warming thing. Shoot, if the Great Goreacle can earn $50,000 for every speech he makes, surely I can make a few bucks. Maybe this bumper sticker is a start. For only $4.95, it can be yours too.

Plus, the delicious double-entendre is icing on the cake.

You'll look so dashing and sophisticated sporting it on your truck.

The observatory at the end of the universe

2007-08-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

If the world ended, and I was sitting on the edge of it, would I be howling at the moon? Apparently.

As is a tradition of mine going back several years, I do an annual moonlight/sunrise (bicycle) ride up Mnt. Hamilton, the goal being to be up there in time for sunrise. Mnt. Hamilton is the tallest peak in the Bay Area with the famous Lick Observatory at the top. The ride up isn't strenuous; about 4000' of climbing in about 20 miles. It's the getting up at 2am to be up there for sunrise that's getting harder to do as I age.

This year I did it with by good buddy D, and his two neighbours P and J. Though the 26th of August is close to a full moon, it wasn't perfect. Unfortunately, Sunday morning is the only day I can do it. The moon set at 4am rather than being overhead or mostly-overhead for most of the time, so bike lights were needed.

The valley was overcast when we left, but it was a low fog that hovered at around 1000'. Once we climbed through it, the air temperature rose to a very mild and pleasant 70F and stayed that way for most of the ride. I say "most" because if you're familiar with route (HWY 130) you'll know about the infamous dip around the CDF fire station, where the temperature drops a good 20F due to the relative location of the fire station. Brrrr .....

Despite the lack of an overhead moon, there was sufficient light to enable me to ride without lights, allowing my eyes to adjust to small changes in light intensity. I counted about a half-a-dozen shooting stars, which appeared to be moving really slowly and brightly, leaving long-lasting trails in their paths. And apparently human eye visual acuity is directly proportional to available oxygen. Stars appeared bright enough while riding in the dark, but when I stopped and stood still for a while, the "lights really came on", almost as if someone cranked up the stellar brightness knob.

There was a storm over the Central Valley, so the rising sun was obscured by clouds. The sun rose red and the cloud edges were burning golden.

We reached the top about 45 minutes before sunrise.

The valley was completely obscured, except for the peaks of well known landmarks. That's Loma Prieta just over my right shoulder.

And when the sun rose, Mnt. Hamilton cast a shadow over the valley below.

I blew a rear tire on the way down. According to J "It's because you were hotdogging, going too fast, jig-zagging between the Bot's Dots and leaning your bike over so much". :-) He lent me his CO2 inflater. Rather than spending 10 minutes fucking around with a manual pump, the whole operation took about 3 minutes. I'm a CO2 convert.

Attribution: All pictures courtesy of J and P. Thank you very much!

Global Warming heretic

2007-08-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm a global warming denier, and hence a heretic to the church of the Great Al Gore and the faith of the Cataclysmic Global Warming.

Ever found yourself talking with someone who claims that global warming is a scientific fact? If so, ask them the following list of questions and then sit back watching the fuses blow.

When you claim that there is consensus among scientists, can you please list me the names, affiliations and funding sources of said scientists? How about just the top 6? How about just ONE?
When you claim that average global temperatures are rising, can you list the sources of your claims, because I doubt you took measurements yourself? Can you list the locations of the temperature sensors? Do you realize that if these sensors are located in urban areas, that urbanization (and not "global warming") may be the cause of higher temperature readings?
When you claim that CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are the cause of global warming, please take a moment to clarify, at least in your own mind, the difference between CORRELATION and CAUSE AND EFFECT.
When you claim that polar bear deaths and glacier melting is proof positive of the dire consequences of global warming, please take a moment to ponder whether the plural of ANECDOTE is really DATA. [Hint: It isn't]
When you claim that climate models predict temperature increases in correlation with rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere, please tell me WHICH model(s) you are referring to and note that there is more than one, none of them agree, they vary wildly in temperature increase predictions (by orders of magnitude), and NOT ONE of them could predict the weather 7 days ago, if I fed it the weather data from the last year.
When you claim that observed weather extremes (e.g. hurricanes, snow storms, floods, etc) are proof positive of global warming, please explain to me the process(es) that causes a snow storm in Johannesburg South Africa (first in 21 years) when the global temperatures are INCREASING?

And since the "believers" and global hand-wringers are hellbent on destroying western civilization as we know if ("We consume 50% of world's resources", "We produce most of the worlds CO2 emissions") just so we can be just like the rest of the 3rd world, I think I have the right to demand actual linear (that whole cause and effect thing, again) proof before I'll even listen to their demands that we change our ways. So a few more questions to ponder, and demand answers to:

Is the average global temperature actually rising or falling? Proof please.
If yes, then is the rise directly caused by human activity or by some other processes we haven't even considered or don't completely understand? Which activity? Why?
If yes, then is it actually a bad thing? The last "heating" was correlated with the Renaissance in Europe which I can't say was such a bad thing. Proof please, and don't use anecdotes.
If yes, is there anything humans can do to reverse the effects of said process?

And since governments seem on the verge of declaring CO2 to be a "pollutant":

Please compare the specific heat (yes, the thermodynamics definition which means the capacity to absorb heat) of H2O with that of CO2. You'll find that the former's is 4 times the latter's.
Please compare the percentage constituents (say by volume) of various gasses making up the atmosphere, and then ponder why if H2O makes up far more of the atmosphere than CO2 that the effect of CO2 is so much greater than that of H2O?
And, finally, describe the process by which CO2 results in global warming, when H2O results in stabilization of temperatures -- it's that whole heating, rising into the upper atmosphere where it condenses and either reflects UV or precipitates into rain resulting in cooling, etc. thing.

And finally, the apparent coup-de-grace from the "believers" when they have exhausted all arguments, goes something like this:

"OK, I agree we don't have proof but let's assume that global temperatures are rising, the increase is caused by human activity, that we can reverse it, and that if we don't act now cataclysm will result with the end-of-mankind-as-we-know-it just around the corner. Don't you think it behooves us to do something now, just as an insurance policy, or a hedge?"

OK, I'll play that game. My answer would be the following:

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your personal saviour? No? Why not? I know we have no proof of the existence of God, but assuming He-who-goes-by-the-name-of-I exists and only believers will be saved, don't you think you should accept Christ as your personal saviour just as an insurance policy, or a hedge?"

"What?"

"No? Then why should I buy into your fucking faith?"

Dangers of squib loads, part 2

2007-07-29T19:08:00.000-07:00

In this post we examined 45ACP squibs. Here we examine powder-less squibs in 9mm Luger and 357 Magnum. The goal of the experiment is determine whether the squib is merely annoying or dangerous. By definition, if the squib allows unobstructed chambering of another round, in a semi-auto, or rotation of the cylinder, in a revolver, it's a dangerous squib; it allows the firing of another round right behind the squib if one is not paying attention.

For the 9mm, I constructed a powder-less round from a Winchester 124gr FMJ bullet and a CCI 500 (small pistol) primer. It was then fired in a CZ-75B.

The bullet lodged just inside the lands, so another round could not be chambered behind the squib.

For the 357 Magnum, I constructed a powder-less round from a Remington125gr JHP-GS bullet and a CCI 550 (small magnum pistol) primer. It was then fired in a S&W 686.

The bullet lodged well into the forcing cone, WAY past the cylinder gap, thus allowing rotation of of the cylinder. NOT GOOD!!!

The lusting is over and the deed is done—Glock 21 range report

2007-07-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

Took my Glock 21 to the range today. I’d installed a Wolff guide rod and 17lb Wolff spring.

Let’s just say it was anticlimactic. I was expecting fireworks and the earth to move, and instead all I got was 100% reliability and excellent accuracy. I was shooting standard 230gr RN jacketted loads (around 830fps), unsupported, one- and two-handed at a target 15yds away. This target was shot two-handed,

and this target was shot one-handed (strong hand).

What I LOVE about the pistol:

The weight is great
The balance is great, not muzzle heavy
It’s very pointable and the sights (white outlined rectangle for the rear, white dot for the front) are awesome for flash shooting- “FRONT SIGHT!!! FRONT SIGHT!”
The ergonomics of the grip are perfect for me, i.e. big, bear pawns for hands.

What I don't much care for:

The sharp edges of the mag. release cut into the meat of the thumb of my left (supporting) hand. It’s nice to have an extended mag. release, but does it have to be so friggen sharp?
Takedown is not great. Those little tiny serrated tabs on either side of the frame that have to be pushed down are difficult to activate. Not sure I could take down a Glock under pressure, if my fingers were covered in sweat or blood and my life depended on it.
Without a butt-plug, the hole in the butt makes the gun look .... unfinished. Get a butt-plug.

I fired about 60 rounds (yes, barely broke a sweat) and didn’t experience a single failure. Mind you, they were my handloads so I’d have been surprised if I had experienced a FTE or a FTF.

The heavy trigger took a little getting used to as all my 1911s have 2lb triggers, or lighter, but for a combat trigger it’s not bad. There’s a fair amount of take up, but the trigger is smooth and even.

Is it my favorite 45 pistol? Don’t know, but I don’t hate it.

Tagged?

2007-07-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

In the comments for this post, reader Kevin writes:

I found your blog by way of TSM, and I've seen you on the boards at the gunthing. Nice blog sir! BTW, I just tagged you...

I haven't responded to this prior because I didn't realize the full meaning of being tagged. I'm still not sure which of the following it means

starting a meme, or
posting 5 things about myself that most people don't know, or
posting 8 things about myself that most people don't know.

For now, I'll assume it means the last one, but like The Mrs. I refuse to forward the meme/tag to anyone else; I hate chain letters and I'm not much of a joiner.

I drafted up a list of "eight things few know about me" and then sat on it for about a week. I just didn't feel right about posting it. And then it struck me. This new "Intarnet" socialization phenomenon just doesn't sit right with me. I don't want people whom I've never met knowing more about me than casual work acquaintances.

So, I guess, indirectly I've revealed something about myself ... bummer. Here's the revised list, albeit a shorter one ....

I'm a quasi-misanthrope, in that I don't like most people and prefer to keep my own company than hang out with people I don't really like.
I don't own a cell phone, don't have cable service, and don't watch TV.

The dangers of squib loads

2007-07-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

What's a squib load you ask? It's when, instead of a bang following the squeezing of a trigger, one hears nothing or a pop. Typically, the situation is associated with a barrel obstruction in that the bullet of the round just "fired" hasn't cleared the barrel and is now obstructing it instead. The danger of the situation is that someone who isn't paying attention will simply eject the just "fired" case, chamber another round and squeeze the trigger again. Kaboom!

The most common manifestation of a squib is a round constructed without a powder charge; primed case, bullet, but no powder. Apparently, the pressure developed by a fired primer in the small space of a pistol calibre cartridge is sufficient to drive the bullet partway down the bore. The question I always had: will the bullet be driven far enough down the bore to allow the unobstructed chambering of another round in the chamber? Here we find out.

For this experiment, I built a powderless 45 ACP squib using a Remington 185gr JHP bullet and fired it in a model 21 Glock. Note, that this should not shed poor light on Glocks. This was an INTENTIONAL squib. After chambering and firing the squib, I disassembled the weapon and looked into the bore. Sure enough, the bullet was stuck slightly ahead of the chamber.

How far in is the bullet? To answer this question, we use some high tech measuring equipment; a chopstick, a black, felt-tipped marker and a measuring tape.

We first insert the fired case into the chamber, and ascertain where the base of the case sits with respect to the barrel.

We then remove the case, stick the chopstick into the breech-end of the barrel as far as it will go (until it touches the barrel obstruction) and mark the chopstick at the point where the base of the case would be.

Finally, we remove the chopstick and place it on a tabletop alongside the tape measure. We now remove the bullet obstructing the barrel by placing a wood dowel into the muzzle end of the barrel and then gently tap the dowel into the barrel until the obstructed bullet pops out the breech end of the barrel. We then line up the case alongside the chopstick so that the base of the case is flush with the black mark on the chopstick, and the end of the chopstick is flush with the base of the bullet. Tada! We have a measure of how far the bullet traveled down the bore before it stuck.

By my measure, the bullet was forced down the barrel a good half-an-inch past the case mouth ... JUST ON PRIMER PRESSURE ALONE. That's certainly enough to allow an unobstructed chambering of another round behind it, potentially leading to a dangerous kaboom for one who is not paying attention.

You have been educated ... and warned. Be safe and remember: the only safety you can rely one is the one between your ears.

Handloading for defensive loads for the 45 ACP

2007-07-20T14:25:00.001-07:00

In this post, I talked about handloading for 185gr +P 45 ACP loads. In this post, we talk about pushing the envelope a little. As a disclaimer, if you repeat the experiments performed here you will most certainly exceed SAAMI pressures, thus voiding manufacturers' warranties. You have been warned.

So, just how fast can one push a Remington 185gr Golden Sabre bullet out of a 1911, before overpressure signs show up? First, let me be clear about what I mean by "overpressure signs".

Signs of stretching near the base of the case, usually seen as shiny spots,
Bulges near the base of the case,
Flattened primers

The following picture clearly demonstrates an example of flattened primers. Note, in this case it's not the edges of the primer that are "flattened" into the primer pocket of the case (as is typically the case when talking about overpressure), but the firing-pin-strike dimple is flattened back out.

A little preparation is in order before one attempts to experiment with super-pressure handloads in a handgun not set up for shooting such loads. For this experiment I used a, already, customized Norinco 1911A1. I had previously fitted a match Les Baer barrel and King bushing, shaped the frame to accept a Ed Brown extended beavertail, and added a combat hammer, and lightweight trigger and sear combo. The gun is shown in the following picture.

Under no circumstances should the barrel and slide unlock/separate before the bullet has left the muzzle of the gun. If separation occurs prematurely, chamber pressures have not dropped to safe levels, resulting in a potentially dangerous situation for the shooter. By the law of conservation of momentum (MV of bullet = MV of slide/barrel combo) as soon as the bullet starts moving up the barrel, the barrel/slide combo starts to move backward. Factory recoil springs are chosen so that premature unlocking doesn't occur for FACTORY LOADS no stiffer than +P. Chosen weights are typically between 16 and 18 lbs assuming one shoots loads no stiffer than +P, meaning 230gr bullets traveling under 900fps or 185gr bullets traveling under 1050fps.

If one wants to shoot stiffer loads, a stiffer recoil spring is needed to retard the unlocking of the slide/barrel further. I chose a 26lb spring from Wolff. Another trick I employed to further retard unlocking is to replace the factory (rounded) firing pin stop with a squared off firing pin stop, like the one obtainable from EGW. Some fitting is required since the EGW part is build oversized. To understand why a squared off stop retards unlocking compared to a rounded one, one needs to visualize a rock-on-a-string being spun around. If the radius of the rock's flight path is large, less force is required to keep the rock spinning at a given speed. If the radius of the rock's flight path is small, more force is required to keep the rock spinning at a given speed; force is proportional to angular acceleration. A rounded stop (large radius) implies a smaller acceleration of the hammer and thus less forward force is exerted on the slide. A squared off stop (small radius) implies a greater acceleration of the hammer and thus more forward force is exerted on the slide. More forward force on the slide means less backward acceleration of the slide and more time spent in the locked state.

For the load workup, I used CCI 300 (Large Pistol) primers in Winchester 45 ACP cases, Power Pistol powder and Remington 185gr hollow-point Golden Sabre bullets seated to a depth of 1.230". I varied the powder weight from 8.2grs to 10.8grs. The following graph shows the powder weight vs. velocity curve.

At 10.8grs of Power Pistol, the velocity was 1279.4+-16.8fps. However, flattened primers were observed as showed in the picture at the top of this post. At 10.5grs of Power Pistol, the velocity was1248.4+-13.2fps and no overpressure signs were observed.

I think we have a winner. Roughly 1250fps on a 185gr HP bullet.

Forgive me father for I have sinned. I’m having lustful thoughts

2007-07-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

... about the new (used) mod. 21 Glock I brought home tonight. I’ve always been a disciple of St. Browning, but I now find myself looking lustfully at the ergonomics of the Glock, fondling the Glock, and lusting for a rangetrip with the Glock. Please father. What am I to do?

On my list of "nevers" had been the Glock. I once rented a Glock 19 (in 9mm) and hated it. But when I tried a model 21 (in 45 ACP) I changed my mind. Something about the ergonomics of the thing really clicked with me.

The local gun-pusher had a used model 21 on the shelf, so naturally I looked at it and it followed me home.

Some comparison pics. First, side-by-side with an XD-45 tactical,

and a side-by-side with a 1911A1.

Why the ergonomics of the model 21 work me, can be seen in the following picture. Though the stock thickness of the 1911, the XD-45 and the G-21 is about the same, the length of the G-21 is a bit longer than either the 1911 or the XD-45, and I have gorilla paws.

The front-strap finger grooves don't hurt either.

And a few more for the simple pleasure of viewing gun porn.

With a Scherer butt-plug already installed, and Wolff guide rod and beefier recoil springs on order, I'm off to burn offerings at the altar of St. Browning, and beg for forgiveness for my heresy.

It's not the rifle.

2007-06-22T05:52:00.001-07:00

Readers will recall that in this post I discussed what happens when one changes handloaded components. In that post I noticed that a 168gr Sierra HPBT bullet, atop 42.5 grs of 4064 powder, in a BHA case would group with deadly accurate consistencies, whereas an identical load but built with FC match cases wouldn't group at all. Since the latter produced velocities about 5% faster than the former, I was left to speculate whether the discrepancy was due to

the brass design of BHA brass (more consistent neck tension? more consistent bullet release?), or
the rifle had a sweet spot for 168gr HPBT bullets at around the 2550fps mark.

So, I worked up a set of loads using only FC match cases, while varying the powder weight from 39.6grs to 42.5grs with a 0.5gr delta. Here are the velocity curves, as compared to previous measurements with BHA brass.

As one will recall, the load built with BHA brass produced an accuracy (and velocity) sweet spot at around 42.5grs of 4064, which also corresponds to the inflection point on the powder weight vs. velocity curve -- YEEHAW, theory matches empirical measurements.

Sure enough, an inflection point was observed with FC brass also, at 41.0 grs and a velocity of 2529+-15.3fps. But the accuracy at this point wasn't stellar; sub-MOA, for sure, but not 0.3MOA as was observed with BHA brass.

Now, in the 2550fps region, there was a velocity consistency sweet spot at 41.5grs of 4064, for a velocity of 2575+-10.8fps, but accuracy here was even worse. Sure, there's 3 shots through the same hole, but two seriously bad fliers.

The best accuracy was achieved with 40.0grs of 4064 for a velocity of 2444+-21.5fps, but even here there's one bad flier.

Ironically, the best velocity consistency was achieved at 42.5grs of 4064 for a velocity of 2658+- 5.1, but accuracy here was very poor.

So what does this all mean? Theory still predicts practice, in that an inflection point in the powder vs. velocity curve does imply a sweet spot from a consistent accuracy standpoint. But, at least in this case, trying to achieve sub-0.5-MOA accuracy with FC match brass is an exercise in turd-polishing. It ain't gonna happen. Though my rifle does like 168gr bullets to be travelling in the 2550fps region, there's something about BHA brass that really works in my Remington 700PSS. Good thing I recently bought 200 more rounds of BHA brass.

UPDATE 1:
It just occurred to me that FC brass might have thicker necks than BHA brass, and since I'm using the same neck-only sizing dies, the resultant loads built with FC brass may have greater neck tension than the BHA brass. Hmmmm ..... perhaps there's hope yet for FC brass, if I spring for Redding competition dies with changeable neck inserts. More experimentation is required, perhaps with Winchester brass also.

UPDATE 2:
And the verdict is ....

Measured a couple of case necks, going around, 90degrees at a time, and measuring.

BHA -- 0.010"-0.011"
FC -- 0.012"-0.014"

BHA cases have thinner necks than FC match cases. Since I use the same neck-only sizing dies, this will result in greater neck tension in the case of FC and hence greater release inconsistency and potentially more damage to bullet jackets.
BHA cases have more consistent neck thickness, resulting in better bullet concentricity with the bore.

There ya have it .......

A great 9mm Luger defensive load, or “Remington Golden Sabre rules”

2007-06-17T21:47:00.001-07:00

I’ve been skeptical about 9mm Luger loads with 147gr bullets, because given the limited OAL as required by a typical 9mm magazine, one must seat the rather long 147gr bullet so deeply into the case, that the volume left for powder is limited. This skepticism however changed when I recently picked up a 9mm Luger barrel for my CZ 52.

As any ~~gunnut~~ astute reader will know, a CZ 52 pistol is traditionally chambered for the Russian 7.62x25 Tokarev round, which is typically 1.380” long. A typical magazine limited 9mm Luger round is only 1.150” long, so allowing 9mm Luger rounds into a CZ 52 magazine opens up vistas of interesting 9mm Luger loads with heavy bullets.

I tried two bullet types,

a Winchester 147gr JHP bullet and
a Remington 147gr JHP Golden Sabre bullet.

To my disappointment, I couldn’t seat the Winchester bullet out as far as I had hoped because, though the CZ 52 magazine can accomodate longer rounds, the barrel is cut for traditional 9mm Luger loads and hence the furthest I could seat the bullet before it contacted the lands of the barrel was for an OAL of 1.130”.

The Remington Golden Sabre bullet however is a horse of a different color. You’ll note that Golden Sabres don’t have a uniform diameter but instead have a 0.18” wide “drive band” near the base, which is 0.356” in diameter, and then the bullet diameter abruptly steps down to 0.348”. This allows the bullet to be longer than would be the case if the diameter was uniform. But more importantly, in my case, it allows one to seat the bullet further out of the case before it makes contact with the barrel lands. I could build a cartridge with a length of 1.190”, longer than what I could do with the Winchester bullets.

I wanted a load that would achieve at least 1050fps with a less than +-10fps velocity deviation. I chose Power Pistol (because that’s what I have) and varied the powder weight from 4.2grs to 5.3grs, with a 0.2gr delta. This was done with care, as my Speer manual recommends not going beyond 5.0 grs for this loading.

Fortunately, no signs of overpressure (flattened primers, shiny case bases) were observed. The following shows the curves of powder weight vs. velocity of the two loads with y-axis error bars showing SD in velocity.

As expected, the curve of the Winchester loading, with it’s smaller powder volume, starts to reach a plateau at around 5.0 grs of powder, whereas the curve of the Remington loading, with it’s larger powder volume, is still linear up to the limit of this experiment. 5.1grs of powder seems to be a sweet spot, from a velocity deviation standpoint, for both loadings, with a velocity of 1041+-7.8fps and 1004+-8.9fps respectively.

Accuracy-wise, all rounds landed in 2-3” circle, firing offhanded, unsupported, through a Chrony from 15yds.

Since the Remington loading is still linear at 5.2grs of Power Pistol, naturally we must find the point of inflection there too. Stay tuned next week ..... [Did I already say that I love Remington Golden Sabre bullets?]

A great 45 ACP defensive load, or “I finally figured out how to handload with Remington Golden Sabre bullets”

2007-06-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

I’ve wanted to see how fast I can push a 185gr JHP bullet out of a 1911. I’ve had tons of Remington 185gr Golden Sabre bullets lying around, but have had poor accuracy with them. Recently, I realized that my loading technique may be the problem. You’ll note that Golden Sabres don’t have a uniform diameter but instead have a 0.2” wide “drive band” near the base, which is 0.451” in diameter, and then the bullet diameter abruptly steps down to 0.441”. This allows the bullet to be longer than would be the case if the diameter was uniform.

I’d been loading to an OAL of 1.220” such that the case mouth ended up just past the end of the drive band and with a fairly tight crimp. Remembering that a 45ACP round headspaces on the case mouth, thinking about this more, I realized that with the case mouth crimped down past the end of the drive band, the diameter of the case mouth was now smaller than it should be for proper headspacing and thus accuracy/consistency would suffer.

I tried an experiment where I loaded to an OAL of 1.230” such that the case mouth ended up just before the end of the drive band, and applied a very light crimp so as not to push the case mouth into the drive band. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!! But more on accuracy later.

So, now that I could achieve good accuracy, I experimented with velocity. I wanted a load that would achieve at least 1100fps with a less than +-10fps velocity deviation. I chose Power Pistol (because that’s what I have) and varied the powder weight from 8.2grs to 9.9grs, with a 0.3gr delta. Two velocity sweet spots appear:

at 9.0gr, velocity was 1102.2+-6.6 fps
at 9.9gr, velocity was 1187.2+-9.2 fps

No signs of overpressure (flattened primers, shiny case bases) were observed but past 1150fps, cases were being flung a good 20 feet away, even though I had a 18.5lb recoil spring in my Rock Island Armory 1911.

So, 9.0grs it is. Winchester cases, CCI 300 primers, OAL=1.230”, or seated so that the case mouth is just shy of the end of the drive band, and a very light crimp.

The following is the powder weight vs. velocity curve, with y-axis error bars showing SD in velocity.

As for accuracy, all 40 rounds I fired during the measurements landed within a nice 3” circle. The target was 15 yds away and I was firing offhanded, unsupported, through a Chrony. Naturally, accuracy was not the primary concern here, but even so, a 3” circle is reasonable considering the Rock Island Armory is my “beater” 1911.

A pointless post, or Pictures of a beautiful shootin' iron

2007-06-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

There's no point to this post, other than that I had my camera and tripod out, and realized I'd never taken a picture of my "cowboy rig". So here you have it.

That's a hand-built US Firearms SAA (Single Action Army) done in their Dome-Blue finish, riding in a handtooled leather rig, finished in "ox-blood". The thing is so beautiful, it almost hurts to shoot it.

Yup. No need to thank me. The gun porn is on me.

Trigger job for your Mosin-Nagant 91/30

2007-06-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

I picked up a 1943 Soviet Mosin-Nagant 91/30 recently for $89 at Big 5. The 91/30 (if you don't recognize it) is the second from the right in the following picture.

Nothing spectacular. It's a fine shooter that can group to 4" at 100yds. But the trigger was heavy and chunky. Naturally, this had to be remedied.

There are lots of websites discussing disassembly of the 91/30, so I won't repeat the recipes here -- consider it an exercise for the student. Here, we'll discuss only

how to lighten the trigger, and
smooth out the trigger pull.

After disassembling the rifle, and placing the action upside down on a table, you'll see the trigger and a leaf spring, screwed to the action, holding the trigger in place. This leaf spring serves two purposes. It provides trigger tension and is also the sear, which engages the bolt striker.

Unscrewing the screw holding the leaf spring in to the action, and pushing the trigger pivot pin,

frees the trigger and leaf spring from the action.

The tension in the leaf spring is what gives the trigger its weight. One can reduce tension to reduce the weight of the trigger. Simply put it in a vice between two pieces of hardwood

and bend, in the direction you want, to increase or decrease weight. Note, the nub sticking out is the sear, so be very careful not to damage it. Using very light HAND PRESSURE ONLY, bend the leaf spring in small increments, testing repeatedly. My trigger was too heavy. I wrapped a towel around the sear and pulled on the towel away from the sear to reduce tension in the spring.

You know you've achieved the right amount of tension when the spring lies flat when placed in the action and doesn't acquire any more tension when the screw holding it to the action is screwed tight.

The crunchiness/chunkiness in the trigger can be eliminated by gently stoning the surface of the sear and removing any burrs from the edges.

If you're feeling adventurous, and wish to reduce the length of pull (distance trigger has to move before the gun fires) of your trigger you can remove some material off the top face of the sear. This can be done with a file or with bench grinder. Be sure to take off small amounts of material at a time and retest often. After grinding/filing, apply the stone to the face of the sear and edges to give a nice smooth finish.

The most powerful handgun in the world

2007-06-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Since seeing the movie Sudden Impact, where Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" character dispatches a bad guy with an Automag, I've wanted one. Recently all versions of the model 180 Automag were placed on the C&R (Curio and Relic) list by the ATF, so I could get one in CA. And get one I did -- I actually got two, but that's a story for another day.

I got a TDE branded Automag made in 1973 at the North Hollywood plant. When I bought it, it appear unfired, a condition I quickly remedied. There are many pages detailing the history of Harry Sanford and the Automag corporation, so I won't repeat it here.

Contrary to popular belief (if you take the Wikipedia site as the source of all truth -- UPDATE: The Wikipedia site has been fixed) the Automag action is not gas operated, but is a short recoil action. The breech is locked by a multi-lugged, rotating bolt much like what one finds on AR-type rifles, only bigger.

In recoil, the slide is decelerated by a pair of beefy springs on two steel rods on either side of the frame.

The slide can be pulled back by grasping the two serrated cocking pieces, one on either side of the rear of the slide, with the thumb and index finger of the non-shooting hand. Unfortunately, for those familiar with the "whole hand" cocking method deployed with 1911s (placing non-shooting hand on slide with web over rear sight) this will be the only disappointment with the Automag; cocking is a bitch.

The other peculiarity about the Automag is the thumb safety; it can only be activated with the hammer down. Now, the Automag is a single action pistol so it would make sense to carry it in condition 1 (one up the pipe, hammer cocked, safety on) but the safety cannot be activated with the hammer cocked back; what's the point of the safety exactly?

Yeah, yeah, but is it accurate? I worked up a load using Hornady 240gr XTP/HP bullets, seated to 1.600" in new Starline cases primed with CCI 350 (magnum) primers, over Alliant 2400 powder. I worked up the powder weight from 18.6gr to 21.6gr with a delta of 0.3gr. The sweet spot appeared at 20.7gr for a velocity of 1329+-10.4fps. This load grouped to under 1" from 15yds, shooting offhand while standing up. (The flier in the lower left of the group is a "pull")

And how's the recoil? Not as bad as full-house 44 magnum loads out of a 6" S&W 29, meaning I feel comfortable it shooting one-handed .... and the cases land neatly at my feet.

The most powerful handgun in the world? Nah .... been eclipsed by various revolver chamberings and the Desert Beagle in a 50AE chambering. But it's a finely crafted handgun. Now if only someone would build me a M1 carbine in 44 AMP ... I'll be happy.

The tale of two cases

2007-05-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

It was the best of brass. It was the worst of brass.

My Remington 700PSS in 308 will shoot scary-accurate groups when fed my personally developed handloads. These are 168gr Sierra BTHP bullets, seated to an OAL of exactly 2.815" over exactly 42.5gr of IMR 4064 powder in BHA match cases primed with CCI 200 primers.

However, when I build rounds using this same recipe but substituting the BHA cases for something else, the rifle will not group. I recently tried an experiment when I built up a batch using the recipe above, and another batch using the same recipe but substituting Federal Gold medal match brass instead of the BHA cases.

I then fired a five round group of each, from 100 yds thru a Chrony chronograph.

The target on the left is the FC load and the target on the right is the BHA load. I confirmed that the loads built with BHA brass are still deadly consistent (that's about 0.3" center-to-center), but those built with FC brass don't group all the well.

The chronograph tells the difference. The BHA loads clocked in at 2571.1+-21.4 fps, while the FC loads clocked in at 2643.3+-6.4 fps. So even though the velocity spread of the FC loads was smaller than the BHA spread, the BHA loads group much better. This says more about the rifle's barrel than the load; apparently the 700PSS really likes the 168gr Sierra bullets to be going at about 2550 fps.

So, what explains the almost 5% velocity difference between the BHA loads and the FC loads? Measuring the case volume (grains of water) showed that the BHA brass has a volume of 56.6 grs of water, while the FC brass has a, smaller, volume of 54.3 grs of water, a 4.2% difference.

So, there you have it: a 4.2% decrease in case volume results in enough increase in chamber pressure to cause a 5% difference in velocity, and a 5% change in bullet velocity can really throw off a finicky rifle.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't substitute components when handloading.
CORROLLARY: If you must substitute, start over with the workup.

Trigger job for your Ruger GP100

2007-05-19T20:14:00.001-07:00

Ruger GP100s are reliable revolvers that are a lot of fun to shoot. Unfortunately, out of the box, the trigger pull is heavy and the trigger can be "stagy" and rough.

However, with a little elbow grease, a set of miniature files ($26.45 from B rownells), a ceramic stone ($29.95 from Brownells) and a set of Wolff Gunsprings springs ($10.50 for a shooters pack) one can do-it-yourself, acquire some knowledge and tools for future trigger jobs.

After taking off the stock, the first step is to remove the hammer strut and hammer spring. There is a hole at the base of the hammer strut. Cock the hammer back and stick a toothpick into this hole, all the way through the hole.

Now, release the hammer by gently squeezing the trigger while holding the hammer, and letting it gently fall. The toothpick will hold back the hammer spring and the spring and hammer strut can now be removed as a module.

The hammer is free to move without spring pressure. Now, pull the hammer back and gently drive out the hammer pin using a chopstick or other non-marring rod of similar diameter. The hammer can be removed out the back of the revolver.

The next step is to remove the trigger group. Using a chopstick (or other non-marring rod of similar diameter) push on the detente pin on the inside of the revolver grip.

While pushing on this pin, with the other hand pull down on the trigger guard. Once the detente pin is free of the hole in the grip frame, you should be able to cantilever the whole trigger group down and forward.

At this point, the trigger sear and hammer engagement surfaces should be visible. The goal of polishing these surfaces with a stone is to ensure the removal of all manufacturing burrs and blemishes and thus guaranteeing smooth movement of metal surfaces over one another. When polishing with a stone, do so slowly taking off a little metal at a time until the desired surface is achieved. It's preferable to apply pressure on the stone only when moving in the direction towards that of an edge. Never stone an edge itself.

First, stone the trigger sear engagement surface.

Next, stone the hammer engagement surfaces.

At this point, you should check the hand slot and the cylinder lock slots, respectively, for manufacturing burrs. Burrs in either of these slots will result in drag and catching of the hand and/or cylinder lock respectively.

What's the hand slot you ask? The hand is the piece that rotates the cylinder of the revolver and it sticks through the hand slot in the back of the revolver.

Similarly, the cylinder lock is a piece that pokes up through the cylinder lock slot in the bottom of the revolver. It locks the cylinder it place so it doesn't move while firing.

With both slots, check that the hand and cylinder lock, respectively, move freely and easily. If not, very carefully file the inside of the slots with a miniature square file, removing any burrs or blemishes as necessary. Be very careful to remove only a small amount of material at a time, and only as much as is necessary to achieve free movement.

Two springs should be replaced to lighten the trigger pull; the trigger return spring and the hammer spring.

Remember the detente pin you pushed in to remove the separate the trigger group from the frame? The trigger return spring is right behind it. The weight of this spring, singularly, determines single-action pull weight.

The hammer spring is being held back by the toothpick on the hammer strut. Carefully separate the hammer strut and hammer spring by extracting the toothpick. Do this someplace without a lot of dark nooks and crannies, in case you have to chase the spring. :-) The weight of the hammer spring is the primary contributing factor to the double action pull weight, and secondarily to the single action pull weight.

For the trigger return spring and hammer spring, I recommend 10 lbs and 12 lbs, respectively, if you buy the shooter's pack mentioned above, you can experiment.

al Qaeda affiliated cell broken up in Saratoga CA

2007-05-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE

al Qaeda affiliated cell broken up in Saratoga CA

For immediate release (AP [Amateur Press] Saratoga, CA)

Saratoga, CA—April 17th, 2007

In the early hours of the morning of April 17th, 2007, agents from the Department of Homeowner Security confirmed that weeks of quiet counter-insurgency work had finally paid off with the death of two members of an al Qaeda affiliated cell working in Saratoga CA. The cell, a member of the little known group calling itself RAT (arabic for “Resistance Movement for Allah"), was loosely affiliation with al Qaeda, says agent Flix Estrada of DHS who was present on the scene.

Their capture and death is the culimnation of weeks of careful counter-insurgency operations. “We used what we learned from operations in Iraq and used it against the terrs!” says agent Flix Estrada. “We devised several SASDs [Self-Activating Snapping devices] charged with almond butter, since the terrs can’t resist almond butter. Once their little grabby paws touched the trigger mechanism, the trap would be sprung, crushing the prey. If they weren’t dead by the time we found them, a quick shot from a silenced .17 calibre pistol to the head would dispatch them to the land of 72 virgins!”

On their persons, agents found an assortment of WMDs. Says agent Estrada, “We found HE warheads, still in their blue shell, and what looked like a partially constructed nuclear device, similar in shape to a “Fat Boy” bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. These guys were well on their way to achieving their final goal!”

Operations are still ongoing, to clear out the remaining RAT cells, but agent Estrada is confident that the primary cell is disrupted and on the run. After weeks of nerve wracking attention, even Estrada’s dog is calming down.

Remington 700 Sendero workup, part 2

2007-05-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Following on the load workup around a 168gr HPBT, I was at the range yesterday working up a load around a 200gr Sierra HPBT bullet. Damn, this gun just goeeessss! The following pic is of a 100yd 4 shot group (OK, 5 shot group but I fumbled the first shot so badly I'm embarrased to admit it was part of the same group -- you can just see the edge of the hole at the 10 o'clock position on the black circle); 72.5gr of Re 22 for a speed of 2949+-14.1fps.

Ruger Security Six Range Report, part 2

2007-05-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

In part 1 I talked about first impressions of the Ruger Security Six with 2" barrel.

Replaced the tiny factory stocks with a Hogue rubber mono-pod. This allows a much tighter grip and hence the gun doesn't shift around in the hand between shots.

After adjusting the sights so that POI is now POA, I tried a load comprised of Alliant 2400 powder instead of Winchester 296. Here's a target shot at 15 yds, offhanded, with Remington 125gr JHP-GS over 17.2gr of Alliant 2400.

Quite a difference. I think this gun actually likes light bullets.

Reincarnation

2007-05-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

Do I believe in reincarnation? Yes, I do. I believe in the immortal soul. I believe in Karmic ranking. I have sinned in this life and hence, I believe that in my next life I will come back as a Push-Up bra.

When disk drives go bad, or Exorcising the spinning demon

2007-05-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

In my chosen profession, I come into contact with disk drives that go bad. They corrupt data, they spew forth foulness up their interfaces, they cause mayhem and downtime. With the aid of my assistant and several tools of exorcism, I attempted to remove the demon from the mortal souls of several individuals thus afflicted. The following pictures show the results.

First, the tools of the trade—the quarter and the round, and the probe.

And here is the first individual, from the front and from the back. That exorcism was messy and involved.

The second individual was more complacent and the evil was struck right thru the evil eye—from the front and from the back.

Ruger Security Six Range Report

2007-05-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

Picked up a blued Ruger Security Six (SS) with 2” barrel recently. Why? Because I like 357s and I like snubbies.

Ruger stopped production of the SS sometime in the 80’s and replaced it with the GP100 and SP101. Sizewise, it’s almost identical to the GP100. The front sight on the GP100 fits in a dovetail whereas on the SS the base of the front sight is part of the barrel but the blade is replaceable. Furthermore, the GP100 lug extends all the way to the end of the muzzle, whereas the lug on the SS ends just past the ejector rod. Here’s a picture of the SS alongside a GP100 and SP101, for size comparison.

And here’s a closeup.

Whenever I buy a revolver I wish to work it over to achieve a smooth and light trigger pull. The first part proved to be a bit of a challenge with the Security Six. Unlike on the GP100 and SP101 (where it’s part of the trigger group) the cylinder lock/latch on the SS is a seperate, cast piece fitting into the underside of the receiver, pivoting in a recess of the receiver and sprung by the cylinder crane pivot. See here.

The problem is that since it’s a cast piece, the bearing surfaces are not necessarily polished. The lock is moved down by downward pressure of a hook on the leading edge of the trigger assembly, and though the trigger hook can be polished fairly easily, the lock surface can’t be easily polished because of the angles involved. A 1/4” diameter felt pad and jeweler’s rouge finally did the trick. Here’s a pic of the bearing surfaces.

Finally, a snip of one loop off the hammer spring lightened the trigger pull to where I like it.

It followed me to the range on Saturday, along with the GP100 and SP101 for comparison, to try out some accuracy experiments using three loads. I’d forgotten to bring my tiny screwdrivers so the gun was shooting to the right and I couldn’t adjust the POI. No big deal.

I tried three loads, all fired from 15yds, offhanded, shooting one-handed.

(1) Ranier 158g RN over 15.2gr of Win 296

(2) Winchester 158g JHPP over 15.2gr of Win 296

(3) Remington 125gr JHP-GS over 17.4gr of Win 296

My overall impression is that the gun is pleasant to shoot, and reasonably accurate. Considering the short barrel, achieving headsized groups single handed is a snap, and as typical of shorties, heavier bullets group better than lighter bullets. The tiny stock combined with the weight of the gun, however, allows the gun the move quite a bit between shots when shooting one-handed, requiring frequent grip readjustment. A Hogue rubber finger-groove mono-grip would help here.

The speech I would like Bush to make

2007-05-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

A potential presidential speech writer writes the following speech for Bush. Too weak, I say. Here's the speech I would like to see Bush make.

“I’ve been accused of lying, but you morons don’t even know the half of it. All this talk about building bases in Iraq, and the war not being about bringing democracy to Iraq .... OK .... you’re right. The war wasn’t about bringing democracy to Iraq, because you can’t force democracy on a people who wouldn’t know it if it bit them on the ass. The goal of the war was two-fold:

remove a heinous dictator who threatened trade in the middle east, and
establish a permanent US military presence in the middle east.

The latter point needs clarification because you fucking morons don’t get it. The US didn’t achieve its prosperity and power by good deeds and wishful thinking. We established it by guaranteeing free trade, for ourselves and for our trading partners. The terrorists in the middle east cannot be allowed to succeed in what they want to achieve; a pan-Islamist state that is intolerant of western beliefs and trade. Only military might can counter this threat and a military presence in proximity of this threat is essential.

Clear enough?

No further questions. I will now give the orders for our military to do what they need to do to succeed in Iraq. No more “Mr. Nice Guy”, silly “rules of engagement”, and ham-stringing by politicians.

And all you twits who think I want to be remembered as a great “war president”, like Lincoln and FDR, can kiss my hairy beanbag. I want to achieve nothing more than what Jefferson achieved when he took on the Barbary states and their pirates: I’m calling their bluff and will destroy them ... to guarantee free trade and US prosperity. Good night!”

Here’s to all the Elvis fans

2007-05-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Enjoy ..... A Springfield Armory Loaded with custom carved scrimshaw grips by Sydney Ryan.

Remington 700 Sendero SF-II in 300 Win Mag

2007-05-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today, I took my Sendero up to the range for a load workup and accuracy exercise. Last week I broke in the barrel with 70 rounds.

The load I was working up was a Sierra 168gr HPBT bullet over Re 22 powder in FC match cases. First a couple of pics of the gun.

The glass is a Leupold VX-3 3.5x10x40mm, the base is a NightForce 1-piece 20MOA.

For the weight (about 7lbs) the gun is quite comfortable to shoot even with hot commercial loads. The factory trigger, though a little heavy (5 lbs) breaks crisply and cleanly.

Yeah, yeah ... but is it accurate? Is it ever. I worked up weights from 75.0gr to 79.0gr, with a 0.5gr delta. Surprisingly, the two extremes were the most consist velocity-wise and accuracy wise. Here’s some target pics, shot at 100yds.

75.0gr Re 22 (3028+-29.8fps)

79.0gr Re 22 (3274+-9.6fps)

I think we have a winner. The horizontal spread (in the latter) can be explained by wind (it was quite gusty today).