Earl

Like your Ferrari, a halfway decent 1911 needs oil.  Some of them fancy modern plastic jobs can and do run like a hippy from soap with nothing at all in the lube department.

But what say it's the Zombacalypse and you are fresh out of FP-10 Shooters Choice.  And you like to apply the usual 3 drops, every day, before turning in after a hot and dusty work filled day.

What can you use if you are out of branded gun-erl?

I wouldn't hesitate to use 3-in-1 oil.  Or Singer sewing machine oil.

Didn't a gun oil company get busted for re-labeling something like cooking oil?  Thing is, it worked.  A bit.  Certainly in a pinch.  So canola or peanut might be fine.  I'd love to entertain a contrary opinion if you have one.  On this or any oil suggestion in the post.

Non synthetic motor oil is a bit thick.  How to thin it without making it super flammable...  but in a pinch I'd use it.

I'd be a bit more hesitant with synthetics or WD40, because of the extra.... stuff.... in them. Though I can be convinced my worries are unfounded on synthethics.  I have seen what WD40 can do to a gun oiled with it and left in a safe.  Sorta turns into poly-urethane.  But if I am running the gun and re-oiling every day perhaps my worries about WD40 are too overblown.   Remember:  Zombacalypse.  Any port in a storm.

Hey, motor oil certainly can handle the temperatures, and even a quart of synthetic is a fraction of the price of FP-10

Used motor oil?  Now you are getting super desperate.  But it is widely available.  And dipsticks make good applicators.  Definitely more new 'additives' in it now.  Like burnt.  And metal bits.

Sex lube?  No.  Sodium hydroxide feels slippery when you rub it between your fingers.  Don't ever use that.  Not even in a Zombacalyspse.  That's not lube you are slipping on.  It's you.  Dissolving.  Bacon grease?  Better than the other two, but still not good.  Salt.

So, I am about, in order, cooking oil, then motor oil, then penetrating fluids like WD40, after the good stuff is out. 

Range 5 Nov

I shot each mag fast.  Maybe too fast.

7 rounds of Federa HST, 56 of American Eagle, total through gun 320.  No malfunctions.  Did clean it before this.

Again, the thing to work on is my 1911 trigger pull, both to not slap it or jerk it, AND to stop pushing stuff right.

First two magazines, head at 8 yards, body at 25 yards.

 Then the lightning rounds.  And if I waiting half a beat I bet they'd tighten into the paint.  Not a WHOLE beat.  Then I'd be over thinking the shot.  This shooting stuff can be complicated.

Success!

On this Veteran's Day, this veteran set himself a task.

Fix the washing machine.

It has been streaming water.  Oh dear.  Out the bottom.  I found it stopped when you used hot water or cold water, but not double-down warm water.  Two valves open apparently was too much. 

This washing machine came with the house when I got it, and, I suspect, was bought with the house.  So, circa 1953.  The dryer is a little newer, as I have seen ads for the model from magazines published in the early Nixon administration.  So both have served me well since 1999.  Very few repairs.  I worry when things DO go wrong I will have to buy a new one.  Which is a pain.  And new ones don't last 65 years

It's a Maytag A606.  The washing machine.

And it needed this:

A little valve that injects the water into the tub.  It keeps back pressure from sucking soapy and dirty water back into the machine, so it is semi open to the air in its cradle, to stop any siphon effect.  With a new one, there is no spurting of water at any speed of input.  The plastic thing goes in the black rubber thing and that goes inside a larger hose and Robert is you Mother's Brother.

Back in business.  You can't expect the rubber parts to last forever.

Yes, I bought a spare.  In case they stop making these. 

I worry the drive belt will go someday.  But my repair record has gone so well, I will try to fix that, too.

100 Years

The guns fell silent.

Chinese Neologism

Baizuo

It's the Chinese epithet for Libtard.

"It's a derogatory Chinese neologism used to refer to Western leftist liberal elites.  It refers to the left faction in the culture wars in Western politics, implying support of multiculturalism, political correctness and positive discrimination. "

Even the Chinese are laughing at you idiot Dems.

Idiot Dems, as opposed to the Dems that are embarrassed by those self same idiots

Master List 3

Getting simpler over time.  Had a half dozen of so on Master List #2.

1. Do something with the extra 1911 frame I have.
2. A .308 rifle good for hunting, with glass.
3. A .45ACP rifle with a big honking suppressor.
4. Maybe a plastic 9mm modern service pistol...?  S&W/Sig/Whatevs.

And none of those blows my skirt up with a case of the wants.  Clearly I am not a collector-collector.

Maybe I need a gun specifically for training.

Firing Pin Stop

The firing pin stop in the back of your 1911 holds the firing pin in.  Obviously.

It does other things, too tho.

When the slide cycles back, the lower edge of the firing pin stop comes in contact with the hammer.  It has to push the hammer back to continue this recoiling operation.  The hammer is held forward with the mainspring, so the recoiling slide has to overcome this spring tension.

The shape of the firing pin stop that contacts the hammer can determine how easy or hard it is for the slide to work.  The contact point from pin to hammer acts like a fulcrum.  A squared off firing pin stop lower the fulcrum making it harder to slide and come out of initial lockup, a rounded firing pin stop raises the initial fulcrum point making it relatively easier to push the hammer out of the way.  It's also more gradual. 

How hard or soft the recoiling slide has it impacts how much recoil is 'felt'.

The lower the fulcrum, the harder the initial big bump in recoil, and the more you 'feel' the recoil.  So why do people use a squared off firing pin stop?  There gun isn't tuned up and they are trying to achieve something else.  Something that might be solved with better fitment, or different spring weights, or a different balance with opposing springs.  I'd change the recoil spring and firing spring first before trying to resolve my problem with a firing pin stop.  In fact, the angle on my current firing pin stop isn't rounded enough,  I might mess with that some.  Make it more angled/rounded.

But man, folks have strongly held opinions about this little part.

It is a relatively easy part to fit and replace, so if it all goes to poop for me, I can try a bunch of different geometries.  The gunsmith says round that puppy for less felt recoil.

Even more important, being sure there is no slop in your firing pin stop, especially how it holds your extractor in place.  You want as little wiggle as possible there.  

I do it less, but

When under pressure I slap the crap out of the trigger.  Jerk City, USA, population:  Me.

And there is the rub, isn't it?  Slap less and less and make the trigger go good more and more under all circumstances, whether moving about or in great pain or wanting to just win, and you have snatched the pebble from the Kung Fu master's hand.  You can now leave the monastary.

Now, how to fix me?

Well, I am fixing me, it's just a slow plod.  Step forward, step back kind of progress.

Now flinching because I have, or am about to have, a tiny explosion go off in the pound of metal in my hand is one thing.  Jerking the trigger because I am trying to put my go-fast pants on and got both legs in the same hole is another.  You fix the first one by distracting yourself and getting out of your own way.  At least that is working for me right now.  You fix the second by trying to smooth yourself out.  Slow is smooth and smooth is fast and all that.

"Nuh uh!  Fast is fast!"

True.  But I think you gotta work out the smooth first before you can go faster.  And everyone seems to be in a hurry to go faster sooner.

Notorious Marylanders

Who is among the worst people that were from YOUR home state?  Oregon would say Hitler since he was born there before emigrating to Austria as an infant.  (a little known tidbit of history that few people know.)

As for Maryland we have:

SCOTUS Justice Roger Taney
John Wilkes Booth
Algier Hiss
If your are a chicken, Frank Purdue
If you are a human Rachel Carson
David Hasselhof

Scroo it

I ain't voting and you can't make me.

Ok, I may vote. 

I gotta vote against the questions.  Hell no, I don't want same day voter registration. 

Democrat Lessons Learned

I think the Democrats learned a lesson in 1994.  They lost a 50 year majority because of a gun control law.

With only a few exceptions, they avoided the issue after for 20 years or so.  When a candidate DID support gun control, that candidate failed.  See:  AlGore.  Oh sure, they were still FOR gun bans.  They just thought it would hurt them come election time. They still kinda avoid it.

Let's see, if they lose big tomorrow, what other lessons will they learn?  Don't be crazy?  Don't throw the rule of law overboard?  Don't wrestle Trump in a mud pit, as he likes it?

You know, if the Dems tweaked their platform and weren't hostile to gun rights...  Kept everything else.  Hillary would be president now.  Appointing pro gun and pro abortion judges.  If such a thing existed, and it would if the Dems weren't anti-gun and hadn't been for a while.  It'd be more like "pro gun and pro abortion judges".

If the Dems were like that, I wonder if the GOP would have gone anti-gun sometime in the past as well?

Whoa.  What does Spock look like in this universe?  Does he have a goatee?

Hard to kill

You feel bad about killing stuff.  Not talking people, yet, just things.

There was a dying rat in the neighbors yard a couple years back.  It's a RAT.  Yuck.  And it was dying.  Which is why it was in middle of the yard.  Prolly the endgame of the poison from the traps.  I dispatched it with a shovel, but I still felt a little pang for the thing.

A mad dog?  You shoot that.  But it is still a domestic dog and had the potential of being a loyal pet and companion before this.

Deer are cute and cuddly looking, but I have personally shot them.  Felt a tiny bit bad, but didn't hesitate much.  And it was delicious.

A tiger is big and majestic, and you hesitate to destroy that because it is so.  But you don't hesitate too much if it is coming for you and it is you or him.

There is a hesitation to shoot zombies, too.  Because they were people once.  Friends and family and neighbors.  Some mother's baby, once.  Fortunately zombies have few other redeeming factors apart from that.  They are deadly dangerous, they are revoltingly disgusting.  And that makes that hesitation, that pang of guilt, go down faster.
   

Dang Millennials

Have you noticed that the school shooter have all been Millennials?  And to define boundaries, and for it to be easily remembered I define the generations thusly:

Greatest:  The last of the Indian Pennies to Coolidge
Silent:  Hardinge to the end of WWII
Baby Boomers:  Hirohsima to JFK Dallas
Generation X:  Kennedy to Hinkley-Reagan
Millennials:  "I hope you are all Republicans" to the Twin Towers.
Gen Z, or whatever...  they will get some other name I am sure.


Should I really be putting this at the feet of a whole generation, like there is something inherently wrong with one birth cohort?  When it could just as easily be hard luck coming their way, and the trend just happened to appear when they stepped up to the plate.  Or policies from old generation put them in a position where the pressure just built and built?  Policies like how discipline works in schools now (a long downward trend that was in place before me), how parents hover over their children (not latch key kids, these), how safety is so obsessed over (bike helmets)...

But it just so happens that school massacres started with this generation.  Boomers had their own thing going on, but it rarely involved children killing children.  Gen X?  Lucky maybe.  The first massacre was Columbine, and the shooters were the first cohort of the Millennials.  The last shooter was born just before 9/11...  I guess this next generation, we will have to see.  But the youngest Millennial looks to graduate this year.

Holster work

I have a habit I need to break.

When drawing from the holster I meet the gun with the support hand way too early.  There is a risk the support hand could pass in front of the muzzle.  Also, it makes my presentation a bit jerky doing it the way I do. 

Plus, you know, slow.  When relaxed and smooth I can sit just under 2 seconds.  When jerky and flustered I am at 2.5. 

I am no J. B. Books.  I don't expect to get to half a second.  Ever.  My current goal is to get it under one and a half relatively consistently. 

How?  Initially, untimed 'dry fire'.  Just to smooth me out. 

Range 29 OCT

I got the disconnetor hole closed up.

A big too much, not it is a bit too tight.  Did you want perfect?  Did you want egg in your beer, too?

For that I took 800 grip sandpaper wrapped about the shaft of a small punch to ease the wire edge.  Much much improvement in the trigger pull. Plus I played with the leaf spring a bit. 

85 American Eagle
22 Magtech
No Malfs... 257 total, passed the testing phase

And this is what I get.

Three mags shot toward the 5 holey targets.  Plus one.  A little flinch on that first one.

And that's me that shoots 1911s a little toward the right.  Not the gun.  I am pretty sure. 

My gun.

I made this:

It does this:

With MY crappy shooting skills.

I am so happy.

The Koch Brothers

They used to espouse all sorts of pro freedom pro liberty convictions they fervently believed.  You never hear about those positions any more.  You just hear about one thing they back whole hog.  So I guess they are just an open borders unlimited immigration inflow sort of organization now.  Pity.

Autumn Leafs

Ok, I gotta get this down so I can remember.

Of course, trial and error can do the same thing, but I still want a record.

If you have REALLY good hammer sear engagement, you can try this.  If you do not, don't.  You spring may be fixing some other thing.  Fair warning. 

The 1911 Leaf Spring.

It has three fingers.  Top to bottom

1. Sear finger
2. Disconnector, trigger-bow finger
3. Grip safety finger

Ok, we aren't going to mess with #3.  It does its job with the grip safety, bent back like that, as it, from the factory, usually.

If you want more of a roll trigger, bend the Sear finger back toward you and the Disconnector finger toward the muzzle end.

For crisp trigger, reverse it.  Stengthen the Sear finger by bending it forward, and the Disconnector finger back a bit.

For a VERY crisp trigger.  Bend both forward.

Bend them both back if you want super light bordering on too light.  I do not recommend.

I like more of the roll trigger, lately, but your preferences are your preferences

Party Time

"People tend to tailor their economic theories to partisan preference, not vice versa. "


BS!

I am a republican because of economics.   And them GOP types tend to trend libertarian, and are more pro-gun.  I am not a Republican first, and that party membership makes me a supply-sider.

Are they a perfect match?  No.  Why not be a Libertarian?  Because I don't like weed, and want effective non-crazy policy makers.

What would I be if the GOP was supply-siders and the Dems were frothing at the mouth Pro-Second-Amendment?  Ooo, that's a hard one.

Where has Training Lead Me?

So, Training Progress.

Lots of people drank the Jeff Cooper Kool Aid and went 1911.  Plenty of people without red-stained sugar drank lips and tongue also were fans of working with a 1911 and didn't know who Cooper was. 

Over time many folks have flopped over to the Plastics.  The platform matured since 1980.  The modern pistols have lots of advantages over the older design.  The more training a body got, the more folks grokked the whole problem, the more a body started leaning to the Glock and clones.  Plenty of advantages to go this route.  I totally see that. 

So, when do I switch?

One set of advantages is the inexpensiveness of the Plastic guns.  Both to acquire and to support.  If I were a Police Department armorer that liked to go home at a decent hour I'd PRAY for a switch over from a 1911.  It takes time money and skill to get one right and keep it right.  But I have those skills now, and I have the pistols already.  The sunk costs and already sunken.  So that Glock advantage applies less to me.  Plastic guns nowadays are more reliable out the factory door than the 1911.  That also doesn't apply to me, as my 1911 isn't just a craptastic run of the mill/factory gun.

What advantages for Plastic are left?  Capacity.  That's a big one.  And a primary one for people to switch.  9mm today isn't perceived the same way as Jeff Cooper wanted people to perceive it.  And if the 9mm Europellet bothers you, there are Plastics in .45.  With greater capacity than 1911s.

That's the one side's advantage.  What's on the other side.  Great trigger, obviously.  That still applies to me even with my training as much with a Glock platform as I practice with a 1911.  The difference in triggers is less important as I get better, but it's still there.  The 1911 is slimmer.  You can get a slimmer Plastic, but then you often have the same capacity as a 1911 with a less-good trigger.  And why do that. 

But I like the slimmer.  You can have Slim, or Capacity.  Generally.  A double stack 1911 is right out though.  I have one, and the reliability is not there.  Need to test those $120 magazines, but JEEZ.  That price tag even makes ME balk a bit.

So my impetus to evolve from 1911 to Modern isn't there yet. 

But I am glad I got over my issues with Glocks that I had before training, so I could switch if I wanted to.  That's huge.

---

But there's the thing.  I expected that change preferences away from the 1911 by now.  I follow the parades.  I am easily lead and swayed.  That's the way the parade it going.  Cooper has been gone a dozen years.  But I guess maybe it will still be a while before I take to a new path.  In the meantime, ima relax and just go with it.  I am happy and satisfied with wear I am, but not above changing if the need calls for it. 

A little skill...

... I wish I had.

I wish I could crack an egg into a pan or a bowl and not break the yolk.

What?  You thought it would be gunsmithing related? Shooting?  Sure, there are plenty of big skills like that I wish could be magically bestowed on me.

But I'll take the egg one.

Recently I have switched from cracking on the edge of something to cracking on a flat surface.  I don't think it helps.

I have had a lot of luck with pealable hard-boiled eggs by putting the eggs, gently, with a ladle like doohicky, into already boiling water, then ice bath for cooling when done.  You lose an egg or two to the heat shock, but that's ok.

What little skill do you wish YOU had?