Hooray

Two of my guns sold.  Had them on consignment.  I put them up on Pearl Harbor Day.

So, THAT defrays some costs.  Like the costs of getting that custom 9mm.  I need to go get that back.

Feels funny.  My formative gun-enthusiast pupal stage drummed into me that with all the bans and whatnot, and on Jeff Cooper's say so, that you just don't sell a gun.  Well this is now, and that was 2006, and it's a different world, and I am a different person.  I can sell a gun without agonizing.  The 'Assault' weapon ban is long gone, and Hillary lost, and with a little luck there will be a decade of pro-gun SCOTUS ruling here in a bit. 

Plus, I have a few more guns that I did then, and the ones I sold are sorta superfluous and not what I want anymore.  Preferences change 

Immigration Kerfuffle

Ho, hum.  Lotsa argle bargle otherwise.   Trump drives conservatives a lil bit crazy.  But he drives the entire spectrum of the Left a LOTTA-bit crazy.  It's a redeeming feature of his.

I am told that Trump is Hitler.  Literally Hitler.

If Trump is literally Hitler, isn't literal Hitler putting the kibosh on refugees and imgrints from your out-group coming to the good ol' U, S, of A, actually good news for you?

If he is Hitler than you really dodged a bullet there, huh?  You'd be out of the frying pan and into the hate-filled xenophobic fire, better just stand pat.  Or, hey, try moving to more friendlier climes?  Saudi Arabia is wealthy and filled with co-religionsist, I bet they could take in your huddled mass?  Why not? 

Whatever.  I'm just waiting for the SCOTUS pick announcement, Mr. Loud-Progz protestor. 

Zombie show

People keep telling me the Zombacalypse is so 2010, yet they keep coming out with more zombie shows.

This one is California's version.  It has a Drew Barrymore and the Zombie/s worry about trans-fats, apparently.




Dunno why they give Drew the top billing. It has Oliphant in it. Isn't he 'bigger' now? Plus and appearance by Captain Reynolds.

Democrats

Stop hurting people

Zombie Petting a Cat

Like it says on the label

Cleaning with air

I am rethinking using compressed air to clean guns.

It's a boon.  Spray/wipe on your solvent, brush some.  Blow off the dirt and solvent, and it gets in the nooks and crannies.  I learned this from Eugene Stoner. (6:30)


But I also learned from Mr. Pete when he was refurbing and Atlas lathe.  The air blows bits of stuff into places you don't want it to be.  Use a brush.  In the machine shop


Now, shooting air at dirt is different from blowing metal shavings around.  Not nearly so damaging.  The worry-wart in me still worries about blowing debris deeper into the innards.  A tiny bit.  The firing-pin hole on a 1911.  The same and past the hand in a revolver and down into the lockwork.  Or past the hammer.  I'm a little less worried with 1911 lockwork because that area is a bit more open.

I should really just relax.  Especially after seeing Tam torture test her custom 1911 with her 2000 round without cleaning challenge.

"Why T-Bolt?  Tam was getting lots of jam-up failures near the end!"

True.  But her gun has tight tolerances (like mine) and she was mostly able to restore functionality by just a few drops of lubricant.  Even tight guns can be reliable with just a tiny bit of attention.  And I can give mine a tiny bit of attention.  Heck, how many people can detail strip their 1911?  Get the side plate safely on and off their revolver?  THAT was the primary purpose I went to beginner gunsmith classes.  I had no idea how to get a 1911 back together once the disconnector and sear fall out.  Nor how to get that sideplate off without munging it all up royal.  Well, it is super easy to get a good cleaning done if you do that.

But then that makes me want to get a parts washer or ultrasonic jewelry cleaner, again...  You know I say that, but I really don't know how well that'd clean a detail stripped gun.

Democrats

Stop hurting people.

"This is NPR, reporting for the resistance"

"The chair is against the wall.  The chair is against the wall.  John has a long mustache.  John has a long mustache,"


Listen to this story.  It's hilarious.

Oh noes!  Wealthy liberal tech types are becoming survivalists.  Because I have never heard about it this must be a new thing.

I personally know a techie near San Francisco with a nice little bunker and has been growing edible landscaping there since before Terry Gross started broadcasting.

Oh noes!  People don't trust the old institutions now, and really haven't since Hurrican Katrina.

Welcome to the party, pal.

Oh noes!  Trump invented Fake News

HA!  You are so funny.  I haven't laughed this hard since since Obama's scandal free presidency after the Russians hacked the electoral college and Trump threw the bust of MLK off the table in the oval office and kicked it down the Whitehouse basement stairs.

You've been using fake news to talk about fake news ever since you pretend to see a telegram that never existed from Hearts saying "You furnish the pictures and I will furnish the war."

You panicky Progs crack me up extra, lately.  Don't change

Democrats

Stop HURTING people!

Man, you Progs are super-violent.  Regular Americans can't turn their back on you.

Range 18 JAN 2017

Whelp.

Remember what I did last time?

Ditto.

About all you can say is the groups tightened some.  Still favoring the right. 

First round, top 6 score:  26 25 23 27 25 26 = 152

Second round:  27 21 27 28 28 26 = 157

I don't know what scoring is gaining me.  I get slightly better after a warmup, maybe?

Pretty Much This

So Maggies Farm is pretty much in line with my thinking.

I'm not super thrilled to have Trump up there.  But I am very slightly cautiously optimistic.  I am prepared to be pleasantly surprise with good news.

But the freight of expectations from his supporters and detractors is way too great a burden for anyone to lift.

"I think people are expecting too much from a new administration, too much good and/or too much bad. My hope is for a return to simple common sense. I am all nuanced-out."

And the histrionics worrying about it are over the top.  Most of the detractors you hear about have lost their damn minds. Let me make a promise to them.  There aren't going to be FDR style detainee concentration camps for a million registered Muslims.  The Klan won't run rampant as if Woodrow Wilson were back in charge. The Handmaid's Tale isn't going to happen.  Trump's Supreme Court won't overturn Roe-v-Wade or Griswold-v-Connecticut.  It is more likely that your birth control pills will be available over the counter for the same price as multivitamins than they are to even considered to be banned.  Relax.  You are gonna be ok. 

And for the supporters, don't expect $5 Blackjack tables and free Hookers.

Coupla quarters of +3% GDP growth, some decent SCOTUS picks, and pro-gun law are about all it would take to exceed my expectation.  Addressing immigration and Obamacare is gravy by my lights, but also possible.

Bonuses beyond my wildest dreams:

• shrunken gummint
• EPA scaled back
• DOE & DOE & DHS & TSA too, for that matter.
• Victory for our side in the Middle East
• 2.5% interest rate without strangling the recovery in the crib
• Congressional term limits
• De-policifying the Feds
• lower the drinking age to 18.  ALL adult things should be at one uniform age.  
• decriminalize pot, I am fine with that.  as long as Reefer Madness doesn't rear its head
• repeal NFA34, GCA68, Hughes
• 
  

Don't you bad mouth my XD!

Uncle, talking about the .mil selection of the Sig P320.  He's happy they picked a modern pistol.

"I also don’t disagree with picking the Sig. Or if they’d have picked the M&P. So long as they went with a striker-fired, polymer-framed gun that holds a lot of bullets. And isn’t an XD or Taurus."  

And that will get the XD peeps' dander up.  I like the XD.  It's good.  But, well.  It's like the Army asking to borrow an American made pick-up truck to move to a new apartment this afternoon.

Sig:  I got a Silverado
Glock: I got an F150
S&W: I got a Ram
XD: I got an El Camino!

That's... that'll work.  After a fashion.  XD.  Sure.  That's still pretty good.  Can you come by at noon, Sig?

But Taurus:  "I got a Chevette! Runs great!  Or it will, once I get that 4th wheel back and mounted..."

A working Chevette can help you move, too.  Better than a Huffy.  Knock yourself out. They have a great warranty.

I had a dream...

My gun was ready for pickup at the gunsmith.  I checked voicemail...

Nope.

Drat.

Gunsmith is at Shot Show.  So maybe it is ready now, but...


He gets lots of calls like that.  "Is my gun ready?"  Most gunsmiths do.  And the gunsmith I've heard about that are worth anything are also meticulous.

That's Latin for "slow".

And YOU... want your gun back.  You like that gun.

So the customer and gunsmith are at loggerheads.  You want him to do it right.

Then there is the customer that drops the gun off on Saturday morning and calls late Saturday afternoon to see if it is ready.  Then first thing on Tuesday the phone rings.  Same guy.  And the gunsmith is closed Sunday and Monday.

"You, sir, are why the work order ticket for your gun has a spot where you initialed 'I understand $5 will be added to the final bill for every time I call to check if the work is complete'."  

Holy Crap

It just hit me.

How did this guy get to be president?

Finally

What will us gunnies do without our best salesman?





I don't know about Trump, but I am glad the current gun banner, Stuttery McCartertwo, is gone now.

Shot Show

I have never been.  Might never go.  I have lived vicariously through other blogger that have gone and reported what they saw. 

Seems to be the world's greatest gun show.  But with range time for selected notables.  Of which I would have to struggle to appear as.  A teeny non-commercial blogger?  BACK OF THE LINE, Pal!

This year Tam is there.  It sound like it may be her first time.  I know, I am shocked she isn't a salty old SHOT veteran. 

So far, she has enjoyed the SIG P210 reboot.  Handsome pistol.  And she is practicing her tumbling skills, to less happy results.  Tuck and roll!  Always tuck and roll, when jumping from a speeding vehicle.  Learned that from Archer.  So she gets to do shot on wheels.  Poor thing.  Bad luck, that. 

I look forward to more reviews, tho, from her, and all over. 

Extinction

A zombie movie with the heady aroma of back-bacon.

Yes.  A Canadian Zombie Movie.

These are sprinter types.  With 3 survivors.  Two men and 9 year old girl that has only known a world of zombies.  And the men, former friends, are no longer on speaking terms.

Also:  Nuclear Winter.  It seems.  Or maybe it's just Canada and the winter seems to take forever.  You'd think deep cold would help keep the zeds at bay with very few victims to munch on for 9 years running.  You'd think that, but you'd be wrong. 

People got a little salty

Commenters.  On my legislative preferences.  Just a touch, no big deal, no bridges burned.

"Just throw away the 10th Amendment!"

Well, yes, federally imposed national CCW reciprocity does kinda sorta cross thread with the 10th amendment of the Constitution.  And I don't like the Feds throwing their weight around any more than you do. 

But you know what?  The 10th is already pining for the fjords.  It's gonna take a lotta of contrary case rulings to bring it back.  Not just a simple act of Congress signed by the President.  A sea change.  Sorta like we did with the Second, culminating in Heller and McDonald, so far.  That took a long time.  Proponents for the 10th will have to start working hard, and this is their 1977.  Might take 30 years in the wilderness before they see their version of Heller.

You know what would make it easier on them/us?  A restored and secure 2nd Amendment.  Which this 10th outraging law will help.  Rehabilitate one Amendment, rehbilitating the next is that much easier.  And the reciprocity law can be rescinded when the whole country is Vermont carry.  And Maryland's firearm registry is deleted.


---

But you know, we might get both.  NFA-less suppressors AND reciprocation.  I still don't know why a suppressor is much different than a muzzle breakbrake, and not just up for grabs at any Bass Pro on the end of the aisle...

Return of the Monday Blahs

Don't got much.  Been a good run since that last set of Monday blog-bupkis.

I forgot to hit the range last week.  First week skipped in a long time.  There is a reason for less bloggery.

Got an eye appointment today.  Maybe I will get glasses this time.  I got the LASIK 17 years ago and the eyes are starting to creep up to 20/30 or 20/40, nearsighted.  Not enough to NEED glasses but... I am delaying the inevitable.  Might help my shooting.  And make me look like Clark Kent.  I like the driver in the chase car's glasses.


I'd get safety lenses, of course.  On less thing to tote in the range bag.

Zombie vehicle

Now THIS would make a good anti-zombie vehicle.

Based on an Ford F350 parts would be easier to scrounge.  It was designed in mind for mines.  Which aren't a threat.  But also to resist 30 caliber fire, which can be on a RoMERO mission.  Folks get shooty-salty during a zombie outbreak, but they don't get are RPG-y.

Still, I prefer the Cadillag Gage M1117.  Fitted with less boomy weapons in the turret.  We're only shooting undead, and while the Ma Deuce works for that, it's a bit over kill.  It does weigh twice as much as the truck, above, so you can only fit two in a C130.