My new InstaPot

36 Boogies

Bookbinderying

Look at this

That is Pierre August Renoir.  The man himself.  He is 78 and near death.  Crippled with arthritis, his assistants have to stick the brushes in his curled, nigh useless, hands  Still, he paints.

Claude Monet, a contemporary Impression was depressed and nearly blind, and loathed his own work, thinking it useless.  He, too, continues to paint.

Then there is this deaf guy:



Where do such men of arts come from?

Lots of posts queued

Will be out of pocket.  No morse code this year.  Some gun content, more quirky stuff.  Snippets.  Until later, loyal readers.  All half dozen of you.

Reliving my youth

What a way to go...

Ouch

America Obsolete

Japan has overtaken us.

Osaka now has a vending machine that vends shotguns.

Last person to leave, please turn the light off. 

My new boss

He has very high standards.  And doesn't suffer fools.  I have to up my game.

I found out something about him.  He was at the Reagan Speech.


See that glass behind the President?  In case the East Germans took a pot shot.  And the folks in front of him for 100 yards are invitees.  Mostly service folk.  And you have to get there early to get through security so people milled about for 8 hours waiting for the speech.  But this is Germany and you can't have an event without a beer truck...  So... GIs.  8 hours.  Beer.  No wonder they seem happy.  

And he, my boss, was stationed in Berlin.  Was milling around Checkpoint Charlie when the East German threw up their hands and the wall came down.  November of '89.  So that is kinda cool.

Our Gov

Popular GOP Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is running for re-election in a very Democrat state.  He has a good chance of winning.  Something rare enough around these parts

 He is publicly eschewing NRA support.  Gun rights advocacy doesn't yield you a lotta votes around here.

I understand it, but I am still disappointed.

(Plus.  What if he is really and truly anti-gun?)

But I can't imagine he'd be worse than a Democrat in ushering gun control through the Statehouse then eagerly signing the bill.  There is a better chance Larry Hogan might veto some stuff after re-election.  Even if he is a lil bit gun banner. 

A decisive battle

In American, and WORLD history.

Only 500 casualties, total.

No Americans fought in it.

It won the whole damn war.

The world was forever altered after, because America.

It is my favorite estuary.

The Battle of the Chesapeake.



Degrasse would lose later, and be personally captured. But in this battle at the mouth of the Chesapeake, he'd succeed, victorious, and thus change the world.

Carry II

What is the appeals go up all the way to SCOTUS and says Maryland has to let me open carry and that is how it pans out.  OC in Maryland and no CCW.  Restrictive may-issue regime only for concealed.

Yuck.  Not my preference.

Right to CARRY

Outside the home.

Well, this is something.  Another baby step, with more steps ahead for this one case alone, in the right direction.

Mance V. Holder is also proceeding it's way. Which will help eliminate gun registration in unfriendly jurisdictions.

I've been doing it the HARD way

Do you know how often you have to take the sear and disconnector out of a 1911 when you are rebuilding one?  And then put it back in?  Multiply that by me helping 6 student.  It's a little tiny pin on your gun that has to go through a small hole on the sear, a big hole on the disconnetor, and maybe some Series 80 parts if that is what you brought, and they don't stay in one place.

Dozens of time.  DOZENS 

Then I saw Sam...  He just jammed an undersized pin punch into the other side, wiggled it around, everything lined up, and the pin pushed through easy peasy.

Wish I had learned that a couple years ago.

But you learn something new every day.

And it's the little things...  In this case little OBVIOUS things.

Here's a trick

You find yourself filing and stoning things when you make a 1911.

Some time you want to file more on the left side, something the right.  Assuming you are filing with your right hand and you want to angle more to the left, life your right elbow higher than the work in the vise of fixture.  Drop your elbow to favor more removal from the right side.

If you want straight on flat and you aren't quite getting it.  Say, when stoning the sear, raise your shoulder up.  It makes for a flatter straighter stone stroke.

I swear, if you want to do a 1911 right, and if the class existed, I would recommend a 3 month long course on the fine art of hand filing before touching gun parts. 

And a one month course on dremeling.

Range 19 July

Got a new front sight.  Got a new malf.  Stove pipe on #27 of the session.

Stovepipe:
Possible Cause-
Load too light for the recoil spring, recoil spring too heavy for load, extractor tension too light, worn extractor hook, loose or damaged ejector, loose grip when firing. 

Well it SURE isn't a light or worn extractor.  I did notice a wire edge on the extractor before this session and addressed that.  The wire 'fingernail' of the extractor claw was making all the contact with the inside diameter of the rim recess, while I want 'fingertip' to be grabbing under the lip of the rim.  That might fixed my FTF issue without dealing with the extractor spring.

I suspect my grip is the cause of the stovepipe.  My support hand thumb making contact with the slide, which is purposely low on this gun. 

I don't like my grip, otherwise.  It's different.  I need to adjust and NOT grip it the same as other pistols to get it in line with my elbow and arm bones.

My guess is my support hand thumb touched the slide.  The slide is low on these Hudson by design.

Also, I may have gotten a sight that is too tall.  .220.  As you can see, perhaps, by the movement of the groupingsm s'uthard.

That happens frequently enough.  The first shot of the session is PERFECT.  It can only go down from there.

I have no idea why that high one on target #3.  Was going fast for some reason on that one to see if I could.  I called some of the off target, low, stuff.  Flinch.  I am still getting used to making the trigger go good.

The Step

49 years and one minute ago.

If I was the cynical sort...

Ted Nugent bans carrying firearms at his concert in Roanoke.



Something tells me this is BS.  Ted's an ass, generally, but not this kind of ass.  He is a mixed bag as an ally to the generic 'Second Amendment Movement.'  Ardent supporter, kookoo bananas.  A bit embarrassing.  To me, he always seems to be on the cusp of uttering a racial slur.  Totally out of context to the subject at hand, I mean.  He could be talking about paper towel brands and boom!  Racial slur. 

But like I said, I don't think he himself was on board with this CCW ban, if reports are true.  Which I doubt.

Despite being a bit of an overall embarrassment to the NRA, there is no way he is getting ousted from the NRA board.   He is too famous and keeps getting voted on.  Unless.  Unless this story, true or not, has legs.

A cynical person or persons would insist the story is 'true' and ride it to defenestrate the Nuge.  And I have mixed feeling if this is indeed the future for him.

---

added later:
 
Ted calls em liars.  I figured he was being lied about, but it's an easy wager to bet that the truth is unfamliar to the media types.

Hogg Wild

Russia used the NRA to give Trump $30 million
Russia used the NRA to give Trump $30 million
Russia used the NRA to give Trump $30 million
Russia used the NRA to give Trump $30 million
Russia used the NRA to give Trump $30 million #NRAgate

RT this so everyone knows

— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) July 17, 2018

Yeah.  Let's say this is true.  Like Trump needed money to defeat Hillary.  She outspent him, Lil Shitler.

But funny how you pulled that figure, $30,000,000, out of you butt.  Because that is about how much money YOU have been responsible for adding to the NRA's coffers.  Thank you.

You see, because of you, 1 million more dues paying member came to the NRA.  Dues is about $25.  Plus, folks like me took time to donate a chunk a change to the nation';s oldest civil rights organization.  Figure that tips the scales at at least $30 million

Again, thanks.  Good job. 

Almost left my gun in the car

I was coming back from Virginia, where I can carry legally.

My car needed service so I took it to my Maryland garage.

I almost left without out retrieving it.  I had forgotten it was in there.  Well, not forgotten, per se.  Mis-remembered during car prep before taking the car there. 

Oh it was cased.

So walking home with a cased gun inside a plastic grocery bag in my state?  Well, if you can drive around with a cased gun, you can walk, I figure.

I saw no fewer than 5 police cars on my walk home.  I wasn't alarmed in the slightest.

What would have happened if I left the gun there for days?  Probably nothing.  My mechanic and shot is honest and doesn't root through the car to even steal change or whatnot.

I've been blogging

Eleven years...

Long years.

As a shooter I have progressed quite a bit.  What with all the practice and training.  If this were karate I'd be classified as a very advanced white-belt.

So, hooray for me.

If we were grading my gunsmithing...  Yellow belt?  Maybe Green on the strength of "I've touched a dremel carbide bit to critical gun parts, yet somehow didn't ruin anything... Huzzah!"

Over 6000 posts.  

Subtle

Lefty colleague thought this funny, because of recent events.  Putting this sticker on the Lada

I remember 1988

Happy 30th birthday to the movie that made so many people want to own a #Beretta 92
July 15 1988 was the official release date of the movie #DieHardhttps://t.co/NtS5AwQIqX pic.twitter.com/vW1BxJY50A

— BERETTA (@Beretta_USA) July 15, 2018

I wasn't so much into guns then.  And I wouldn't own a pistol for a dozen years.  Young skull-fulla-mush in college.

Despite all this youth and inexperience, and what I picked up in the Corps via osmosis, I had Distinct Opinions on what gun I wanted if I was to choose a pistol for my very own.

I'd like to think in my abject ignorance I was still semi-rational.  I'd have chosen a revolver.  Because: simple.  I knew I had zero training in automatics and there are just so many controls to keep track of in a high stress situation.  These were my thoughts.

So I did not want a Beretta back when Die Hard came out.  No offense, Beretta.  It's not you, it's me.

I applied for a job downtown

I live only a mile from a station.  I'd commute on the Metro!

This was over a dozen years ago.  Maybe 16?  The DC subway system was still acceptable back then.  Now it's a death trap, I wouldn't ride it on a bet.

So when the trains stop running during the coming illegal strike, well, at least no one will die on a train.  Fewer high speed accidents, too, because traffic will be 5 mph bumper to bumper.

What if I need a part for my Hudson

Well, right now Brownell's has pages and pages of replacement parts.

Well, no.

Just the two items.

But we know for a fact that they use parts with the same source as other guns.  The front sight is the S&W M&P style.

So, a replacement spring for, well, any of the springs... You just gotta know what to order from where for another gun.  Hopefully.  For most or all of the parts.  Finding that out is the trick.  It'll come eventually. 

OK

This list of pistol recommendation for your wife made me laugh.

Got any blog fodder?

No.

Nor for tomorrow.

Yesterday I put a new front sight on the H9 Hudson.  Fiber optic style.  Narrower.  I think I'll like this better.  The rear sight is great.  Plain, black, U-shaped.  Plenty wide enough to see light on both sides of the front sight. 

I looked at the slide again.  Thinking about the spring tension of the extractor.  I dunno.  Maybe.  Some other folks have put up YouTube videos, but I am always a little leery of YouTube instruction.  It can be useful, but be careful.

Oh Good

A crazy person.  Living in Southern Maryland.  Hinting at armed struggle. 

Ever get behind a car with a bajillion bumper stickers on it?  Either mulitple pithy or multiple political ones?  I read somewhere that that was a sign of schizophrenia.  And I believe it.  I prefer the pithy one.  Usually a less angry crazy person with those.

Giant provocative yard signs like that, that go the extra mile in their provocation, are the same way, I think.

Not helping to make the world a better place. 

Commentary

Commentary from the American Thinker about SCOTUS nom Brett Kavanaugh and the 2nd Amendment.  Read the whole thing, as they say.

I'm still not too excited about a Kennedy replacement.  It's not a trade up.  A GOP nominated right leaning justice is replace by same.  Not as great a difference than if Kavanaugh replaced Justice Breyer, say.

Still he seems good, and more principled that who he is replacing, ostensibly.  And he is probably a vote for cert and more reliable than Kennedy on 2A issues.  So, a plus, but not "6th Contextualist Justice on the bend for decades because Breyer took a powder."  And I pray that Kavanaugh isn't another Souter.

I didn't say we aren't gaining something.  But there are possible bigger future gains on the court.  

If the left is this up in arms now, imagine if it IS Breyer inside of a year....  Of course Thomas and Alito and the rest have to live many years more.


 

Black Panther

Finally saw the movie.  And I am running out of fodder. 

Liked it.  Even with the plot holes.  Worth seeing.

Very little gun content, but some. 

Lots of blood, for instance, but only in non-lethal brawling.  Lethal blows, when landed, bleed not at all.

LOTS of soldiers carry spears.  They hit people with the haft.  Rarely poke peeps with the pointy bits.  Made from vibranium alloy, and containing enough energy to 'stop a tank'...  few use it to their advantage.

The only white people with more screen time than the armored rhinocerous played Gollum and Bilbo in the Hobbit movies.  That was kinda cool.

Yes, armored rhino.  That was worth the price right there.

I had a dream

A gun dream.

I, and a buncha other folks, were having a gunfight with Ving Rhames and a buncha other folks.

It obviously couldn't have been real.  The production values were too high, and I wasn't frightened.  And no one was getting hit.

A cease fire was called.  So we could check out each other's guns.  Mr. Rhames was wearing a red turtleneck and a double shoulder holster.  Two double stack 1911s with really nice magazines.  I just had a Glock 17, but it had custom trigger work and grip stippling, so it wasn't completely pedestrian.

Everyone thought each other's guns were pretty cool, so we called off the gun fight and left to find a place to buy each other beers.  

Yuge

And lost in the SCOTUS appointment news brouhaha a lil bit.

DOJ, Second Amendment Foundation Reach Settlement In Defense Distributed Lawsuit

"the government expressly acknowledges that non-automatic firearms up to .50-caliber – including modern semi-auto sporting rifles such as the popular AR-15 and similar firearms – are not inherently military."

"the government has agreed to waive its prior [speech] restraint against the plaintiffs, allowing them to freely publish the 3-D files and other information at issue."

"government has also agreed to pay a significant portion of the plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees."

Excellent work, Second Amendment Foundation. 

Victory.

Thai Cave

All the kids and coach are out of that cave.  From two miles down...

They won't let the rescued kids touch their parents.  They are being kept in isolation. 

Maybe some eldritch horror has possessed them.  The people that came out of the cave aren't the same as the ones that went in.  Maybe that SEAL perished defending the children from unspeakable terror...  After having seen what cannot be unseen and remain sane...

If not, it is WONDERFUL they all got out.  A feat only marred by the fallen sailor.

The isolation is odd, but I am sure it is temporary.

Bravo Zulu.

Sicario

Day of the Soldado

This scene:


Now I know why they used that.  It looks cool and badass.  I get that.  Cinematic.

And I am sure the Del Toro character was a bit peeved at the man he was executing, if still outwardly calm.  That might be the definition for the fast mag dump that way.

And I am sure, in a similar sorta thing in real life, enough of those rounds would hit the victim and be enough to probably end his life, satisfying the requirement to assassinate the victim.

But what's your hurry?  Guy isn't going anywhere.  How many of those shots missed completely?  Even at that close range.  The guy is dead, he isn't going to bray about how terrifying it was to be shot with a Beretta in a way that made it seem like a machine gun.

A more carefully aimed 3 shots would be as effective achieving the murder-goal, and be just as fast for a professional, as this character undoubtedly is.  Ok, ok, I'll stop telling hit men and movie makers how to do their jobs.  They don't come to my place of bidness and knock the mop out of my hand.

well good

At least some of THESE 'ghosty gonnes' have selector/safety switches and magazine releases installed.  Some. 

LATimes, totally not fake

Saw this over at Tam's

"L.A. gangs stockpile untraceable 'ghost guns' that members make themselves"

I am SURE this L. A. Times article real and true and totally not fake or misleading or anything. 

 But, as we all know the presence of a valid serial number at the scene stops 8 out of 10 gun crimes.

Also, as we all well know, the biggest 'growth' industry in law enforcement if arresting burglary victims and gun store owners after tracing a crime gun back to them.  Must happen dozens of times a year.  Maybe scores of times.

More importantly, 'ghosts' are scary.  Youse peeps weren't as easily stampeded with the term 'assault weapon' these days, but you'll get good and panicky with ghosts.  After this... Demonically-Possessed Guns?

Tam notes that Home Depot has 80% receiver Sten Sub Machine Guns for sale right now, and no one says boo about it.

Added bonus:  Look REAL close at the lowers on that collection of AR's...  I guess you can save some money on parts that way.

  

  

A thing I have noticed

If you get 10 semi-knowledgeable gunnies in a room and ask them an esoteric question on guns and the justification for their answer...

"Like, what's the best all round front sight style on a pistol and why?"
or
"Arched or straight mainspring housing and what texture on that 'backstrap', why?" 
or
"Lollipop hold or aligned with the dot or top of sight splits the X and why?"

 ...you will get 12 different answers.  And 43 of those 12 answers will be WRONG.  Wrong wrong wrong!

Or it will seem that way.

And please don't ask the "1911 or Glock or SAA?" question.  Please.

Thing I learned

New thing I learned.  In gun skool.  That I didn't know before. 

If you have something stuck together with red loctite, how long do you have to torch it before the loctite will give way?

The smoke point of oil.

If residual oil is smoking on your glued together part, go ahead and try it with the screwdriver.  It should break free ok now.  Now I will be less likely to overheat and area on the rare times I need to unattach two things.  I was prone to overheat before. 

"What about if someone soldered the whole thing together, T-Bolt?"

Hooboy.  WHY would they DO that?  Sociopaths.  Glowing red hot? 

Prog Wisdom

Nazi hated Jews
MAGA hate Muslims

This is not an American political difference. This is not the American way. The American way makes us great.

Dec 7 2015

At a rally in Mount Pleasant, SC on Monday evening, Trump pointed to the statement he released earlier in the day.

— Scott Williams (@scottwill42) July 5, 2018

This guy ^ thinks it's ok to assault kids wearing MAGA hats and minding their own bidness.  But that's not what I am commenting

I read that and was struck.  You know what I just then realized...

Have you noticed that Islamic Terrorist activity, domestically and internationally...  Does it seem to have slackened off recently to you?  Like it is off the radar completely.  It's the dog that didn't bark in the nighttime.

If Trump is some sort of Hitler-simulacrum, but with Muslims, you'd think that like Hitler he'd be highlighting terrist attacks.  Railing against every outrage.  Even making up or manufacturing some to inflate the numbers.  You just gotta get the FBI to get some Muslim guy all exercised, then sell him fake C4, arrest him, and say "lookit the terror attack we thwarted."

(Oh wait.  The FBI doesn't seem to see eye to eye with the president lately.  He'd have to hunt up another vector for fake terrists.  It's doable.  Gin up some false positives.)

Still doesn't explain the near absense of attacks in the west.  Oh sure, there are some.  Just less. Quiet.

Or am I off base?  Does it feel this way to you?

If so, I'm not creditting Trump, mind you.  Or even Mattis.  But.  It sure queers the Nazi-agin-Muslim narrative of the violent Democrats beating on Trump supporters.

 

Well, this is nice

Women from every state of the Union descend on Washington.

Hadn't heard about this.  Well until now.  If David Hogg or Shannon Watts was doing this I think they'd get more amplification the week prior to this all happening thanks to a sympathetic mainstream press.  And I'd have heard about from them.

It is difficult to struggle against the advantages the other side has.  Our one big advantage is we are fighting to retain a civil right.  And the other side's reaction is going after other civil rights to get to this one.

Fortunately, also, this happened BEFORE this week. This week all the lawmakers are home for vacation. 

We in the gun community have a reputation of being old and white and male.  Somewhat deserved.  But we aren't ALL Old and White and Male.  Thank goodness.  And we become less so over time.  Which I like.  And is good for the movement. 

I'm not a bot

I am just unloved, and neglectful of Twitter.

I do try to delete the fake followers.  I'd have 20 total if I kept them.

H9, what I didn't like.

The front sight is HUGE.  I might swap that out. The gun is so new, what parts do I need.  Well, front sight is easy.  It's just an M&P style. Plenty of after market for that.

The FTFs were from a LOT of extractor tension.  Too much.  An easy fix, normally, but I don't know how to detail strip this bad boy, and there is little info out there about it.  The "How to Assemble/Disassemble" book hasn't written that chapter yet.   Once it does, taking off half a link of a spring is easy peasy. 

I'd also like that to maybe address the recoil spring.  It's captured, and you need to take it all the way down to get to it.  What's wrong with it?  It doesn't line up with the guide rod hole in the slide, so putting the slide on without a Popsicle stick to guide it is problematic.  I'd like to see if I can adjust that. 

Have I found any hints on how do you detail strip it?  Sure.  You have to take the take down lever all the way out, somehow and get the pin that is where their optional thumb safety goes all the way out.  Then the fire control group rotates out.  But I don't want to go tapping at these pins without knowing if there are any pitfalls. 

Also, if I happen to break a part in use or ruin/lose it gunsmithing, know what to use for replacement parts will be trouble without forthcoming information from Hudson.  Hay, maybe they can teach me a class and I will become an authorized Hudson armorer...

So my issues are minor, unless the FTFs are persistent.  

H9 Hudson, what I like and can live with

Took it shooting on 28 JUN 2018.

Failure to Feed on #8 and #19 of 70 total.  Round had that 'nose up' presentation.  Like the back end got hung up and didn't go under the extractor.

Those first two magazine were loaded with 15 rounds.  No failure when I only loaded 10.

"Wait T-Bolt, how did you fire 15 rounds in a Maryland magazine."

Beats me...

First 30 rounds were 124 grain American Eagle, next 40 were 115 grain AE.  The gun came cleanout of the box and lubed a little bit, but I put some more on the rails the night before.

It shoots pretty much the same as when I shoot the .45.  The trigger... well it's different, but I am not noticing that as much.  What I do notice, with my sensitive lady-like skin, is the sharper edges compared to a 1911 trigger, or a S&W revolver.

I am such a wimp when it comes to skin abrasion.  Oh, I still shoot, but I am particular and would rather have greatest comfort. A SIG DAK trigger would actually give me a trigger finger blister.  Ruger revolvers have a sharp arris.  Glocks have that little tigger safety that abrades me.  Mostly on recoil, all these.  I notice something with the H9, but not nearly as bad as the other example.

I notice that discomfort more than I notice the difference between a striker fired pull and a premium single action.  Either way, the bullets go the same place.  Slightly flawed, but not like 4 years ago flawed.  Same flawed.  Me.  Not it.

I do like it though.  The way it shoots.

The point of the H9 is they lowered the slide as much as they could.  New problem, figuring out where to put the second thumb in a thumbs forward grip.  Again, not that big a deal, but something I noticed.

What do I have today?

Probably nuthin.

I was on Squirrel Report this week.  And I am assisting at gun skool all weekend.  Maybe more later?


----


Ooo, a comment about the Annapolis shooter.  Folks ask, "how did he buy a gun last year, with all these run ins with the police?"  I, too, have heard rumor he had multiple restraining orders?  Haven't confirmed that.  But that's a no-no in my state.  You can't get a gun, or have one you had from before.  Sposedly.

Yeah, the thing about gun control in my state.  No one enforces any of it.  Well, except the gun shops.  You see they have paperwork and don't want to get cross threaded with the authorities, so they do their level best to adhere to the laws as much as they can.  Which aren't very well written, by the way.  Otherwise... the law doesn't really get paid attention to.  They aren't really fast to go to prohibited folks home and get their guns out of there.  They don't report people quickly at cop shops to MAKE them be on the list of prohibited people.  The only time you catch a gun charge is if they can't get the stolen car charge or possessing dope charge to stick.

Gun control here goes after making it a hassle to buy a gun.  The laws are passed to inconvenience the law abiding.  The crazy stalker with a beef with the newspaper, that's not who the laws go against so much