Uppers

So.  One day I want to build another AR.  I have an M4 sized one that is pretty much all magpul furniture.  Clam shell fore grip, with that srpingy GI thing holding it on.

I want the next AR to be different.  Maybe longer barrel?  Dunno.  But a free-floating barrel.  Foregrips brands I've heard peeps speak highly of are SLR and BCM.  Troy? 

Any other things I should look at?

I go back and forth on just getting an full upper for ease, or making it all myself.  I have the lower and after market trigger already.

New Death Wish

Saw it.  Decent for what it is.  A Death Wish movie.  Standard Vincent D'onofrio / Elizabeth Shue vehicle.  Sum other dude.

She was the Karate Kid's gal, dontcha know!  Ms. Shue.

Standard gunnie quibble.  Slide bite is never that bad, and harder to accomplish one handed with a Glock like Dr. Kersey managed.  It looked like it about amputate his thumb!  It's little details like that that take you out of the movie.  At least no one said clip when they shoulda said magazine.  That always ruins it.  The little things.

Well that and and how quick he was able to get a full auto sear for his pistol AR from the Jolly Roger gunstore.  And in Illinois, too.  I guess there are different rules for rich trauma surgeons.  Isn't that always the way, tho.

And if you are going the full auto route, might as well go SBR and put a stock on that, Doc.   You are already filling out the paperwork.  That doesn't really matter.  Cuz you live in Illinois.

Also, he went from hapless to REALLY good, tactically.  Again, I guess when you are smart enough to be a big time doctor you are smart enough to pick up such skills without a training montage.  Well, ANOTHER training montage.  One that shows the advanced skills rather than the beginner stuff the other training montages demonstrated. 

Kennedy Retires

Lots of people are excited.  REALLY excited.

Meh.

I'm less excited than most.  Now a Ginsberg retirement for whatever reason, this year, or next, that would get me interested.

I want one of the 4 that voted against Heller to go away and any of the 5 that voted with it to be replaced by like minded folks and have that 6-3 Second Amendment rulings got on for a decade and a half, at least.

Then I will start to feel a bit more secure that our civil rights will be preserved.

Kennedy replacement feels like half a loaf.  A want an unexpected whole loaf, in addition.  Breyer ice cream flavor, or Batter Ginseng flavor would be fine.  I know it is greedy, but we have been compromising our baked goods away since the 30s.

Picking up a new gun today

More later.

It's a Hudson.  Another 9mm.

I've noticed I tend to buy guns before elections without even thinking about it.  I bought an M1A before Obama's election, for example. 

Also, this is on the 10 year anniversary of the Heller Ruling.   So, bonus.  A very august date.

I voted yesterday, but bought the gun last week.  1 week waiting period and all that.

How did this happen?

How did I become the guy other people at the range look over at my target and go, "I wish I shot that good..."

No!  It's a journey.  And I am not that far ahead of you.  I am definitely not that good.  I have seen shooting demigods' targets and I am humbled by speed and accuracy. 

You, random at the range one or two lanes over, can shoot as well as that with a modicum of training and effort.  And probably do it in less time than it took me.  THEN you lap me and do much better, because I am such a slow learner.

There is plenty wrong with that target.  The only good thing is it was a whole magazine without an obvious flyer.  That's rare for me.  "Oh look, that is five touching I'm gonna... DAMMIT!" is the usual.

Range 20 June

.Ahh, good and relaxed that first target.

8 yards or 25 yards, depending.  Mostly Magtech.  Failure to lock back on one magazine at #35 of 49 today.  I am now putting that old mag on probation.  But I lubed up the gun this session, that might have been what caused it.

But it's about time.  I have used these mags forever.  Gonna wear out sometime.

Also, dirty gun with fresh lube means FILTHY splatter on my hands and face.

Back to the shooting.  I was relaxed to start then the flinches crept in so the rest of it was fixing the flinch.

I like the black target because I concentrate more on the front sight rather than the hole I just made and am about to make.

So I didn't know those holes in the head were high and right.  And at 25 yards in the chest area higher and righter.

Also

Twitter is a sewer.

I'm getting cranky in my dotage

Like it says on the tin

Another thing I have been on about

Why do we need more people.  Let's hold pat at 300,000,000 people.  Shoot 100,000,000 is a lot, but I'm not one to go around euthanizing 66% of the place.

A moratorium on immigration!  Just for a few decades.  We did it before, 100 years ago. 

Let's assimilate what we got.  Then, in 50 years, remember all this that we have now when future Senator Ted Kennedy tries to open the floodgates again in 2065.

In the 70s, in this county, everyone spoke English for the most part.  So HUGE English as a Second Language courses didn't burden the resources of area schools.  Think about how quality of education would increase here in 20 years when those ESOL funds could go to something else.  And non English speakers wouldn't have to catch up with other students.

"But, but, but, we are a nation of immigrants, T-Bolt!"  Yes, and we still will be.

"But, the Statue of Liberty!" Yes, the statue isn't law of foundation document of the country, and it will still be there in 50 years.

"But Social Security!"  You want to import low wage workers to shore up social security taxes?  So, slave wages paid to cheap labor with no other options AND you want to take from their future?  Let's find another way to fix Social Security.  One way is tight labor markets...

I rarely get offered free swag

And it has been a long while since I had a nibble.

I don't get the clicks so no one wastes their time trying to get me to help them promote their product.  Free gun related thing to product test and review.  

Not like the big fancy famous bloggers.

The times I did get interest I'd send the shipping info and never hear back.

So, this makes me a little sad.  Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, ya know?

But wait.  I haven't checked my email in a while.  Let's look in the inbox...

Oh, HOT DAMN!

Hi,

I was checking your website http://jovianthunderbolt.blogspot.com/ and I must say I’m impressed, good job.

I work in a company that makes custom holsters and I’m writing to you because I’d like to send you a leather holster for your gun for free. I’d like to know your opinion about it and if you like the holster of course you can make a review.

Please send me the following info and your holster will be on the way:

    Firearm (caliber + capacity)

    Right hand / Left hand

    Name + Address (please no PO Box)

    Phone (for delivery)


And that’s it.

Either way, keep up the good work.

Best regards,  Luke.

I'm in the big time now!

Note, he wants my phone number.  'For delivery'.  So he can stalk and harass me like he did Tam?

NOT TODAY, ISIS!  NOT TODAY!

For years I've been harping on this

I'm telling you, in our lifetimes, not only is pedophilia going to be acceptable, YOU are going to be a bigot for not endorsing it full throatedly.  Not selling some pervert a kiddie-diddler cake from your bakery will get you in legal hot water.

For the record, I'm agin it. 

Vet

Barack's Triumph

Could President Obama's biggest positive contribution to our Republic be that he defeated John McCain?

As bad as Obama's administration was, at least it wasn't a McCain debacle?  Barry saved us all?

Conversation, Overheard

At a Maryland gun store.

"So when you get guns with magazine bigger than 10, what do you do to gimp them to make them legal to transfer in this state."

"Easy.  We take a wooden dowel and hot glue inside the baseplate.  The dowel restricts just like shot guns that hold 5 and be restricted to 3 with a pencil in the tube."

I see.

Hmm.

Well that sounds permanent and irreversible. 

Unworkable Idiocy, in policy form

Another idiot gun control law designed to make it harder to be involved with firearms in any way in California.

Start regulating gun parts.

Obviously an attack on the gun culture to make it easier later to muster the support to ban guns because fewer people will thusly be around to defend firearm keeping and bearing.

How does this even work?

I guess like Magazine bans work now.  MidwayUSA won't ship me an 11 round magazine to my house in Maryland because the state says so and MidwayUSA doesn't want to get cross threaded with Maryland.  And I understand that position, and all other vendors.

I guess they won't be sending Timney Triggers to Sacramento or La Jolla is this new law passes over there.

And it's less simple to go to Nevada or Arizona to get a new 1911 sear than it is for me to head off to Pennsylvania or Virginia.

But the banners are playing the long game.  They hope to get to PA and VA, too.  Some day.

We gotta defeat these monsters.

Got nuffin

I need to hit the range.  Should schedule that for later today.  I feel kinda relaxed.

Also got a hankering to buy a gun.  It's been a while.  Let's see what's doable on the get-list:

1. Custom single stack Commander length 9mm 1911. 
2. DeLisle style new made bolt action rifle, left handed. .45
3. S&W M&P
4. .22TCM/9mm single stack Armscor 1911
5. CMP vintage Colt 1911. 
6. Hudson H9

Well the first two have a long long lead time.  And a CMP vintage gun...  Not feeling it right now.   Same with the Armscor .22TCM.

That leaves an M&P or H9.  I'll see where my mood lies when I get to the gon sto.  H9s should be gettable in Maryland by now.

It's been so long!

'The NRA is why I lost'

Yes, I told you that, here, Hillary, way back in November of '16.  It's still there on the sidebar:

If Ginsberg had let Scalia put the words "strict scrutiny" in Heller and Hillary said "Gun control is just not going to be a priority for my administration," Hillary would have been elected President. 

When are you gonna start listening to me?

Gut shot

This is the first target I type I ever shot at.

But many are in the same style.  We are trained by targets and whatnot to aim for center mass.  And good enough for what it is.  Hit a bad guy there, that's much better than missing him.

But this is the hit zone.

I figure Patton won't mind.  He was all blood and guts, enthusiastic about martial training, and he has been dead 75 years and he is a manequin here.

Now, you've ruined his day, but is that the best shot placement to end the fight, a hit to the liver like that?

Guess where I hit in the simulator with video of people moving, under stress, trying to get a shot off before the baddie in the video turns that pump shotgun toward ME after offing his hostages?  Yup, the belly.  Automatically.  Because I have been trained with those paper targets.

Ok, the first shot hits the video person in the belly, then the person drops so my next shot misses, over, and the next shot hits the pelvic girdle of the video person on the ground.

Though sometimes the first shot of mine hits the hand or wrist the weapon is held in.  You fixate on the weapon and that is where the first shot goes.  Also sub-optimal.  Or super optimal if you are really lucky, but I don't want to count on luck.

Ideally, and what I am working on, is to try to retrain myself to hit a little higher, up nearer the ribbons on the General.  And do that instinctively instead of belly holes.  To shift where I assume the bullseye is, mentally.  To get that marginally better stopping-shot up in the center of the chest area instead of the center of gravity.

"But a baddie can take one in the pump and still fight back, T-Bolt."

True.  But he is less likely to want or be able to continue a fight with a shot there.

"What about body armor?"

The sim throws in that, too.  Three good shots with no result and I pretty automatically switch to the face right now.   If I could always hit a target in the eye, quick and on the move and accurate, we wouldn't be discussing this now, tho, would we?   

How's THAT

For your latent International Commie Conspiracy sapping our precious bodily fluids?

Hostiles

Someone recommended this movie to me.  I don't remember who.

But I am unimpressed.

It stars Batman and Magua.  Oh and the lady from that Jack Reacher movie.  There is some emoting.  But it is mostly just death.  Death, from stem to stern.  Little to redeem it, for all that suffering.   

Some modern sensibilities are injected into it, but it's not THAT high handed, at least.   Doesn't take much of that to really take you out of a movie.  Frex:  That Winston Churchill movie last year, "How do we shoe horn a black person into this movie?  I know, have Winnie stumble onto the Tube and one of the more diverse passengers can quote Macaulay!"

But lots of single action revolvers work, plus a few lever action rifle bits.   So, gun content.  It's set in 1892, but the tech is no further than 1872.  But does it have to be, considering?

I'm glad I didn't spend money on it, but don't regret the lost time. 

Speaking of intimidating

You know what used to intimidate me?  Detail stripping a 1911. 

Oh I was confident I could get it mostly back together.  Except for the correct way to get the sear and disconnector installed.

You hold the disconnector on the right.

See that paddle on the left?  It looks like a pyramid pointing up from this angle.  Hold the bulbous tip (heh) with the pyramid up.

Sear on the left.

At this angle it looks like a teacup.  That little scoop is holding all our tea. 

So, teacup, pyramid up, then saddle up.  Put that sear on the disconnector, so the holes match. 

Now shove that bulbous tip (heh, again) into the disconnector hold in the frame and wiggle the pin and disconnector and sear until they all come together.  

With pin in place be sure the legs of the sear on on top of the paddle of the disconnector.  I also jam my right pinky in the magwell from the top of the frame because it can just tough these two tiny parts and help steady and manipulate them for putting the pin in.


Images harvested from my two goto gunsmith supply houses.  MidwayUSA and Brownells.  They pay me nothing, but I pay them lots.

Brownells is back

I might want to feature them more.

I remember being absolutely intimidated by the upper on an AR.  Must be some fancy precise fitment to get the barrel off.  Then I saw it done in front of me and... That's it?



That's so easy!

It's just a matter of seeing it once.

"Yeah, I did all that T-Bolt, changing our a 24 inch heavy barrel for something a bit shorter and now my gun won't cycle!  Not so easy."

You know, I haven't a lot of experience building lots of ARs, but I seem to remember there being a relation between barrel length and hence buffer tube length, buffer spring strength, and that little hole in the gasblock/barrel.  I'd do a lotta googling to find that out if I were in your shoes.

Oh, some solutions...  Save 'enlarging the hole' for last if something else is available first.  And those pigtail gas tubes that try to give you a longer tube for a short length...  the gunsmith reports less luck with those.  Springs an buffer tubes first.  Oh, and be sure the hole isn't blocked by a misaligned tube.  Super important.

Just stuff to think about. If I was a subject matter expert I'd tell you what fer. But I am not, and can tell you just some places to look. Maybe get you started.

I've maintained

I've maintained that I don't really understand that loudmouth from Queens.  How did he get there?  How has he not imploded?  What the heck are these positive developments? 

But now that I've seen clips from this documentary I am beginning to understand more.

Ha!

See?

When I qvetch, things happen.  I brought Bloke on the Range back by posting about him, now Brownells.

I promise to only use my powers for good. 

Lessee.  Ima qvetch about repealing the 17th and having inviolate nationwide Vermont Carry next.

Florida Gummint Failure

Oh noes!  They didn't do NICS checks on FLA CCW for a year

Manuel Manny Mitch Miguel still notes that without this plenty of CCW got rejected.  And it's a smaller subset than ALL the year's worth of applicants.  Just 365, total, of a quarter million plus applications, had an issue.

He also notes that NICS isn't the only background check when getting a CCW.  Also, there are other opportunities to get a NICS check at other times.  Like when you buy the pistol.

Whatcha bet they re-ran all the NICS checks that one fired clerk failed to do before the Tampa Bay Times even went to press with that story?  There is a high liklihood.  AND, the failed check would mean their permit was pulled.  (Wel, 74 of the 365 were cleared and okayed, so the number of pulled permits is 291)

So let's not panic just yet.  Not pretend the worrying number is a quarter million. 

Speaking of Brownells

YouTube banned them.

The last time I qvetched about a YuoTube ban it was Bloke on the Range, and he was restored right after.  Let's see if that magic works again.

Brownells' channel had the most decent a responsible gunsmith videos out there.  One of the least offensive gun vids extant.  If THEY are unacceptible to Google, than everything is.  Zero tolerance for the culture of millions of law abiding Americans.  Could/would Google do this to the LGBT community?  Yes, if they wanted.  But they wanted to come after us. 

And Google know who all of you are. 


------------

And an hour after I composed and scheduled this post, a full 18 hours before it went up, Tam tweeted this:

This YT channel isn't some goober with a fake accent blowing stuff up in his backyard with a bump-fired Saiga; this is the most mainstream, square firearms accessories company, complete with a CEO who's an NRA President Emeritus. https://t.co/bB2mPIa47X

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) June 10, 2018

I need to get out of the current-events commentary blog game.  Too slow.

I still can't beleive

Donald Trump is president.  And she isn't.

1911 Failure

Caption this!
📷 by @madduoco#brownells #guns #gun #1911 pic.twitter.com/gdwPqpizLL

— Brownells, Inc. (@BrownellsInc) June 7, 2018

So what caused this failure?

Goodness know, I am guessing.  I'd have better luck guessing if I had the actual gun in my hands.

One guess is that the bushing was tight and spring the barrel, causing stress to the slide that way, and it just gave way.   It seems to be breaking from the muzzle back, so that is why I think this.

But if there is one thing I have learned with 1911 gunsmithing, the problem is the opposite of what you are looking at.  Like:  "The round is stuck on the feedramp.  Must be the feed ramp."  Naw.  That's prolly the extractor, at 180 degrees of what you are looking at.

So if it ISN'T the bushing, then it is maybe something with barrel lockup.  The barrel didn't fit well, maybe, and peened the softer upper lugs and that caused problems leading to the slide splitting?  I like the bushing fault more.

What lube do you use?

Well isn't that a personal question?

Oh, you mean for firearms.

FP-10.

Why?

 My gunsmith told me to.

Why does he use it?

The AMU used it.

Why did they?

When it and the gun it was on got hot sitting in the sun during a shooting competition it didn't change its viscosity.  It didn't get MORE slick when hot.  Like Molybdenum grease does with a vengeance.

Didn't want a 3 pound trigger (legal) turning into a 2 pound trigger just because summer.  And because of this rules issue, FP10 was the only lube allowed on the trailer that went from competition to competition.

They didn't test its arctic performance.

Also, the oil says it prevents rust.  It's not the best at this.  I mean it is oil, yes, but there are better rust preventatives.  Use it as lube. Drop on each rail, and half a drop on the barrel hood, half a drop on the end muzzle circumference that touches the barrel bushing.

"But I use a revolver, T-Bolt."

Do I even KNOW you?

Finances 2

One of the things about work being hectic...

Yes, surviving a disruption is good.  Employment is better than unemployment.  Extra busy is better than lots of free time on my hands at home.  Long hours is better than no hours...  A bit of a pay raise is better than a big big pay cut.  And welcome considering I am doing the work of 2 people all of a sudden. 

But extra busy means I had to skip another range day this week.  Simulator tomorrow.  So there is that.  Thank goodness.  But that is now every other week while gunsmith classes are going on.

Getting antsy about the lack of practice.

All this churn should level out.  In a year or so. 

Finances

Well, I wasn't counting on Social Security anyway.  And when I just eligible it will have to cut benefits a fifth.  I figure a fifth if we are lucky.  The optimist in me figures half.  The pessimist in me is more worried about Medicare.

I am preparing for that.  I save money at an above-average rate compared to my peers.  I am at a level, pay-wise, where any increase get's dumped into savings.  I am not shopping for a machine gun or a cherry 1966 Bonneville.  I can afford ammo and wine and books a plenty right now, any extra money goes to being able to afford the same when I am 70 or 90.  I have no debt apart from a 100k on my mortgage.  And I talked to my financial advisor last night.  Trying to dial in my circumstances.

But I can afford $50,000 annual health insurance premiums.

That needs to be fixed.  And not "Medicare for all!"  That's not fixing.  That's breaking it permanent.  Just going back to what was there fifteen years ago would be a vast improvement.   Not like now.  "Are you working at a company with health insurance offered?  That'll be $100 a month.  Are you working where you don't have health insurance through your company?  That'll be $2500 a month, for the same thing, and that's a bargain."  It wasn't like that 15 years ago.  Not that bad.  I knew free lancers that paid more than me, but not 25 times.

Why is it so bad?  Well, the gov't getting involved had a lot to do with it, of course. 

Maximus Arms 1911

I am les familiar with the foundry work side of 1911 making, so the beginning of this video is a treat for me.

But the stuff I do know a little about starts about 22 minutes in.



That lapping the slide to frame fit is fine. Not very tight, doing it that way, but it is a perfectly adequate for a functioning gun. We did it a bit tighter.

Then Keegan assembled a gun in fast motion. Drop in parts. He didn't even need to file, oh, the thumb safety? To get it to fit and function. They must spec the parts really well.

Or... More likely... That gun was fitted up and smiffed in the other room the day before, then disassembled to show assembly for the cameras. Yeah. Gonna say that.

Oh, not cool.

We don't like it when they do it to us, we shouldn't be doing it to them.

Nobody should SWAT anybody. 

And, with lesser consequential severity than violent death, no one should dox anyone.  One is to the other like a burning a finger on the stove is to being trapped in a raging house fire, but both are suboptimal and you shouldn't wish it on your worst enemies.  Literally.

More?

More 1911 models?

I thought the 1911 market was pretty saturated back in 2009.  But only because that was when I started to pay attention to saturation levels.

Some spendy models there, too. I am constantly telling the gunsmith he could get more for his custome 1911s.  Add a thou to the price.  They sell almost immediately, as is, to repeat customers.  In fact, they are often spoken for before he is close to finish making one .

Also Ugh

Full plate of stuff lately, and less time for blogging.  I hope it calms down a bit round here soonest.

Ugh

No bueno on the barrel removal.  Did break a vise.  Ugh, again.  Gotta think on this one.

Working on a Savage 99

At the gunsmith shop.  Under supervision.  The goal is to get the barrel replaced.  And what I've done is remove everything from it that can be removed.

Last step, today, remove the receiver from the barrel. 

Oh golly, I will need more than just the assembly manual to get those parts back in place when done...

DGU, 2 degrees of separation

So, I finally 'know' someone that used a gun in a real live DGU. 

Well, I know someone that knows someone.

So only 2 degrees of separation.  The gun used in this case is his sister in law, married to his baby brother.  The dude I know is meatspace is known here as the Contrarian.  His brother is a bit of true gun nut.  Owns about a hundred?  Only shot himself once when he was a teenager.  Blown out .22 casing sent shrapnel into his hand.  But that's a different story.

Now, now brother's family lives in the country in the upper midwest,  Sister in law was home with the children, no other adults within shouting distance, when a persistent knock started at the front door.

Hmmm, appears to be a hobo.

Whadaya want hobo?

A drink of water?

Use the hose all you want, not letting you in.

So the knocking started up again.  Louder.

Sister in law doesn't share her husbands avid interest in firearms.  But still thought this would be a good time to perhaps arm up a bit.  She grabbed a snubbie revolver from the open safe, and put in her pocket. 

That was when the gun went off.  Sending a bullet into her leg.  911 was called.   The knocking did stop at this point. 

The loud bang scared the hobo off of the porch, but he was still milling about when emergency services arrived.  High.  The police determined he was pretty high. 

And sister-in-law was rushed to the hospital to get a screws in pins in some sort of leg bone.  I'll try to get more detail.  Though we can guess it was a finger on the trigger lead her to grief.

Moral of the story:  Convincing reluctant adults in your home to at least know how to handle a gun safely without hurting themselves or others should be a requirement we impose on ourselves voluntarily.  For just such a contingency.

Moral #2:  Sometime the noise of a shot is enough to dissuade a bad guy to back off.  Not necessarily recommended.  And definitely not recommended to do it like Sister In Law did.

Range 30 May

A little bit of Mojo back.

I numbered the mag order.  The top two were at 8 years* yards, the bottom two are at 25.  So, 42 rounds of American Eagle 45 ACP, no failures.

Stressed from work so I thought I wouldn't be relaxed, but recoil therapy did the trick it seems, relaxing me right down.  The first 3 mags are slightly better.  Then fatigue, and it drifts a bit to the right.  Do you see?

Not too bad tho, even when not perfect.  I'll take it.  Lots of wobble embracing and trigger finger concentrating.

*because why break the streak?