Now THIS is news I need to hear!

Bear downs 36 beers, passes out at campground.

Worth of Murrow and Cronkite.

And who knew that bears prefer Rainier?

Terrible Implement

"Their swords and every terrible implement of the soldier are the birthright of Americans"

Robb tipped me off to that Foundine-Era quote.  I put it here because I really like it. 

And what a great name.  Tench Coxe.

Another name from that ere is St. George Tucker.    Getting ready to read his book.  For fun.  Hey, if Lincoln could read it for fun, I can too.  View of the Constitution of the United States and Selected Writings,  1803.  Book hungry Abe would have coveted Shakespeare, the King James Bible, Blackstone, and this.

Shooting Illustrated

Got my first copy of the magazine from NRA.

It's weird seeing names of folks I have met and know in the masthead.  There is JayG.  And Tam.

That's it

Confirmed.  Hillary hates black people.  And doesn't understand, either ignorant or willfully so.

Letting people defend themselves is a civil rights issue.  Most gun control laws disproportionately target blacks and, in fact, have roots in Jim Crow.  What next, Hillary?  Separate water fountains?

No guns for the Gays

"If members of the Pink Pistols are really concerned about ending deadly violence in the LGBT community, they could start by cutting their ties with the gay bashers at the NRA."

Gay bashers?  News to me.  Especially considering all those gay people I've run into at range trips and blog events and whatnot.  I didn't see or hear about any bashing or anything approaching bashing at any of them.

Writers for the Advocate must go to different ranges than I do, I guess.   Bound to be a few firearms enthusiasts that are less enthused with the Gay community.  But bashers?

Who bashes folks that you KNOW has the same gun you do in their own holster?  Odd, that.

Somme 100

100 years ago, over the top, laddies.

And poof!  A professional army that took a century to develope and hordes of Pals that volunteered together to pitch in went up in greasy smoke and a pink mist, leaving a generational hole in Britain.  (Speaking of generational warfare.)

Even that has been old fuddy-duddy at the Metrocon Fortnightly noted the anniversary.

Thanks to Keegan's Faces of Battle, this event was a big deal in my college history days in the late 80s.  That was a textbook.  History of War.  They no longer offer it at my alma mater.  At the time I had a lot of trouble getting my head around the extent of the carnage.  57,000, with 19,000 KIA.  First day. Started a few days before our Independence Day.  It ended a few days before our Thanksgiving Day.  A half million dead, then.  For what we our about to receive, Lord, may we be truly thankful, amen.

Oh, but the great gains that were made!  Must have been ground gains the size of my back yard!

The French fought in the battle after bleeding for months in Verdun.  The Germans, too.  Obviously.  But we always talk about the Brits, here, for some reason.  I guess we could read their accounts better.  And, again, the other combatants were more concerned with their own big battles that the Brits were not a part of.  They were only halfway through that 10 month battle. 

The war had been going on for 2 years at this point.  Just a month shy, actually.  Call it 23 months.  Then this.

Did it make an impression on folks?  Well, I only saw some black and white pictures of the thing and it made an impression on me. 

You can CHOOSE

"The source of your home's electricity."

Liars.  They only offer the BS clean sources   I'd choose soft anthracite coal with high sulphur and mercury content if they let me, but no.  What a rip off.

I remember the 70s!  All coal all the time, to defeat the oil shocks.  We were the Saudi Arabia of coal.  We should be converting back to steam train locomotives, they said then.  It'd help us beat back the coming ice age if it weren't for haze reflecting sunlight.  But soot on glaciers was a good thing for melting them bastard.  By 2010 there'd be a glacier wall a half mile high south of Cleveland.

Intergenerational Warfare

"Brexit proves Baby Boomers should get less of a vote."

Too late now.  Shoulda brough up disenfranchising beatniks and hippies 50 years ago when it coulda done some good. 

Gen X tried to warn you Millennials, but you wouldn't listen.

At least when Boomers got political, it was out of fear of the Draft, and then they made halfway decent music for a time.  You youngster got political, I think, because you are a lazy and all your music is wretched.  

I told you 15 years ago.  But a house.  30 year fixed.  No refi to consolidate other loans but to lower   payments.  Buy used cars.  Don't carry a balance on the credit cars.  If you have access to a 401k but don't use it you are leaving YOUR money on the table.  But you shooed me away.  Now look at you?

And you don't fix Boomers by doubling down on the crap they got wrong.  Like socialism.  Jeez.

Stay off my lawn.

New Gun Owner

A co-worker is getting a gun!  Got the Maryland permission chit and everything and is now trying to decide.


He seems to have his heart set on an XD.  I told him the pluses and minuses of that design.  Repeatedly.  He still wants it.  I think he is trying to save $50?

He says to me "Maybe I can find a used HS2000!  Those, you see, are the same gun as the XD.  Did you know that?" "Yes." "Well maybe I can get one of them and save another $100" "...." 


"What else should I get at that price point, if not an XD?"  Well, I keep telling you M&P and Glock are still in that price point.  Below that price point is a Hi-Point pistol.  That stuff from Turkey. Above that is Sig and Smith Revolvers and H&K and 1911s


Heck, he REALLY liked the VP9 he borrowed and shot.  It's $700.  He's a technology professional and makes as much or more money than I do.  And balks at going from $450 to $700 on such a durable good.  It is what it is.

"It'll last for 150,000 rounds instead of 175,000 like a Glock, but I don't see myself exceeding 100,000."

"Yeah... let's say you shoot 50,000 [heh] at 50 rounds in a box, so that is 1000 boxes of ammo at $25 a pop.  $25,000 in ammo spent.  Go ahead and buy the $700 gun you think you'd love than the $450 compromise gun, maybe?"

Range work 3

Tuesday.

Look at #4.  Then it struck me...   I remembered Sam has noticed I wasn't using enough finger on the trigger.  My left index finger was just on the tip of it.  Aha!  Glad I remembered that.  And #5 is better.

Started strong with #1!






---


Thursday.

DAMMIT.  I needed to lube my pistol.  Did so at the range.  When I have oil in my hand my brain was thinking 'gunsmith' and I caught myself muzzling my own fingers.  GAH.  I need to do some serious attitude adjustment on this.  I have lost a step on safety training.

The range was crowded, which is good.  I wanted to do a session with more loud booms and flying brass all about.

My results were ok, but middling.  My head wasn't quite in it.  Right out of the gate on #1 was kinda nice.  That was a high point. 

#1 is strong again.  Getting tired by #6.  I'll get better at fatigue, but I am not there testing fatigue.  #4 isn't shabby at all.  Had a flyer on #3 I can't account for, tho.  I want 60 shot and they all look like #1 and #4.

25 feet, .22lr, Ciener conversion, in case you forgot.  CCI standard ammo.  I get a failure to extract once every other magazine.  I load to 10.

One more procedural detail.  I have 3 magazine.  So, sometimes, it's shoot all three and reload.  Sometimes it is shoot once, bring it back to look at it, put it back out, reload a magazine, and fire another string at the next target in line.  It varies.  But I am trying to take my time.

Maryland Gun Laws

Maryland new restrictive gun laws went into effect in late 2014.

2015, the first full year after they were in place, Baltimore had the highest increase in homicides in the nation.

127 extra killings since the gun restrictions.  In one year.  In one smallish city.

I'm not saying correlation implies causation, but CORRELATION IMPLIES CAUSATION!

1970s

Saw reference to this via other bloggers.

Look at the majestic cleft on that chin!

And they are using the card system with the dispatchers we see in Adam 12.  That was LA, this is Pasadena.  I am pretty sure LA lead the way on that system.  I wonder how far is spread.

And check out the teeth on that long-hair skateboarding mope. 



Oh, don't get too much of your training from 40 year old film strips.


Good job keeping your finger off the trigger in the 1970s, tho.

80% Lower Safety Tip

If you decide to make an 80% lower into a gun, then later decide the gun needs gunsmithing work, well...

It's gonna be hard convincing a gunsmith to work on it.

You see, no serial number. 

I've seen these lowers get kicked out of more than one gunstore that did smithing, with my very own eyes.

Jig

FANCY!  I like.  Look how precise and well built that jig is.  (A jig for hogging out the waste in a 80% AR lower and make it a bit more than 80%.)

Having trouble justifying it for myself.  I'd never make enough 80% lowers into guns to make the jig really cost effective.  I know no one I could sell it to, used, when I was done, either.  Hmmm.

But spending too much money on gunsmithy things is not something I've been hesitant about before.

Feeling prickly

About pushing government today, aren't I?

You aren't the boss of me

Local officials are getting pushy about smoke detectors lately.  One or two gentle reminders?  No problem.  But it's constant.  Now I am jaded. 

Once your alarms reach the ripe old age of 10, they should be sent to a "mandatory retirement" #mcfrsSOS pic.twitter.com/qsMVVDhGou

— MontgomeryCo(MD)Fire (@mcfrs) June 24, 2016

Oh, it's the LAW now?  Gotta change out the detector every ten years and put in a fresh battery every week?  YOU can't tell me what to do.  I through my smoke detector in the trash.  All it was good for was telling me I was making breakfast.  No, I don't care about any of the children in this house.  They can look out for their ownselves.

Your overbearing PSA campaign had the opposite effect of what you intended Montgomery county.  Since you started taxing plastic bags I've been dumping all mine in the creek, too. 

Roll Dirty?

Rolling Dirty?

In Maryland?

Jeez, I dunno if that is a good idea.

And even if I half considered taking that sort of risky action, how would I tell all you readers about it?

I do CCW where ever I legally can.  Unless I am wearing a Speedo swimsuit.  Mmmmm, nearly nekkid.

And I go to the range a lot these days.

But if you roll dirty, you gotta be chill.  Roll cool, man.

Anyone

Do any of you hear any grumblings by gun owners for any specific new restrictions, though?

90%.  Hmph.  90% of the people on the liberal's FB friends list doesn't support more restrictions

MOAR Restrictions

So, I hear from Democrats, Gun-Banners, Liberals, and the Media (ahem) that even a HUGE majority of gun owners favor more restrictions on guns.  They often cite a 90% number.

Then they change the subject.

I know a lotta gun owners.  I don't know any that favor restrictions.  So., extraordinary claims should elicit extraordinary supporting evidence, no?  WHAT restrictions are we for that will make Diane Feinstein so happy if the NRA would just let pass?  Crickets.  Usually.  Makes you think they are lying, no?

But listening to NPR and it sounded like they actually were exploring what type of new restrictions us gun owners might be cool with.  The reporter checked with 7 different gun stores before she found one that would talk to her.  That gun store owner was in favor of a restriction.  Ban on private sales.  Make it so folks have to go through an FFL.

Hmmm, even the NPR reporter noted that was a little self-serving.

Another firearm enthusiast and shooting competitor and instructor noted his state had relaxed gun crimes down to mere misdemeanors.  He was fine with making stuff like that a felony because he knew he was never going to commit crimes with his guns.  Lock up violators and throw away the key.  What point is there to not enforcing or weakly enforcing laws against firearm crimes?

Another thing?  Folks seem to be for things like being sure if a person is adjudicated mentally defective someplace that someone should actually tell the background check people that instead of hiding it under a bushel.

I don't think they extra gun 'restrictions' gunnies support is what the gun banners are trying to imply they support.  So, no, NPR's Aarti Shahani, it ain't the kind of pro reform you and your allies really want, now, is it?  But please, talk to the NRA.  Compromise.  That means YOU offer up something.  For once.

FARC

Looks like the Colombian government have signed a binding ceasefire with FARC after 50 some years.  Good for them.  Good all around. 

I guess the Rebels got tired of fighting all them Predators...