Time to Put Salt on the Leeches

What a weird time we live in. I went back to college as an adult; it wasn’t all that long ago. Nonetheless, at that time, you had to be a pretty weird character to own a laser, other than the tiny ones found in CD and laserdisc players. Now you can buy a wide variety of the crazy things, for cheap. And you’re not limited to red ruby lasers, either.

I just picked up a laser for the M1 carbine I am determined to buy. It’s green, and it’s powerful. I paid about $30. I could have gone with a fancy-shmancy $300 job from a big-name company, but I wanted to see what a $30 laser was like. It has windage and elevation adjustments, and the battery is rechargeable. It might be okay. If not, it’s a fun toy to have.

Naturally, it’s Chinese. It’s sort of odd; the Chinese are our enemies, yet they supply us with a lot of great gun-related hardware, which we will use to slaughter them if we are ever invaded. And of course, they send us all those tasty melamine snacks with lead icing.

Although I am not naive enough to think the Chinese are not dangerous, it’s wonderful to see them learning about capitalism. They have lived in squalor ever since China has existed; I am told that this is the reason they like communism. It stinks, but it’s better than anything they had under their emperors. They’re getting a taste of prosperity now, and where capitalism goes, freedom follows. You can’t have a free market in a stable totalitarian state. At least I don’t think you can. If the government runs everything, they stick their noses into every trade, and business goes to hell.

Maybe increased freedom will lead to a more powerful church. On the other hand, many people react to prosperity by saying, “Never mind, ‘God.’ I can handle my own problems just fine.”

Speaking of heavy-handed government, Kim du Toit and I are on the same page RE the Big Three bailout. Like he says, the dire forecasts are wrong. Probably. Spoiled execs and hack union bosses with no marketable skills tell us millions of jobs will be lost. No, they won’t. They’ll just be moved to companies that aren’t run by incompetents or bled dry by socialist unions. We will still need cars. Auto workers will still need jobs. Other people in the industry will still need jobs. They’ll get them. Those jobs will be provided by a big Three deloused and purged by bankruptcy proceedings, or they’ll be provided by whoever buys their assets.

Do we really think American car production will cease instantly? Do we seriously believe foreign companies will immediately take up the slack, in plants on their own soil? I find those notions hard to swallow. I find it hard to believe that foreign companies could ramp up production that quickly. I’m sure their factories already work 24-hour schedules. Isn’t it more likely that they (or American investors) will look to the idle workers, factories, and suppliers that are already here? If we’re going to shovel out $25 billion, or whatever the figure is, why not shovel it out to new companies that will do things right? Let’s give them loans and tax credits and give the UAW the big kiss-off. Unions were never supposed to guarantee professional wages for laborers. They were supposed to prevent true oppression. The UAW is like a tick swollen up to the size of your fist, and it needs to go. If the Big Three go bankrupt, the idiotic contracts they negotiated with the UAW will vanish instantly. Even Benny Hinn can’t manage a healing that dramatic.

It’s not just okay for the Big Three to be abandoned. It’s something we need to do for America. You can’t pay relatively unskilled laborers $140,000 a year to do their simple jobs badly. Not in a capitalist system. I can’t believe we’re even considering perpetuating it. A bailout will teach bad management and incredibly spoiled workers that their abominable practices are just fine, and that there is no need to change. We bailed out Chrysler, and look at the good it did. There was no reform. Here they are with their hands out again. Oh yeah, that worked.

You don’t give a dog biscuits for crapping in the house.

I thought the bailout was guaranteed, but apparently, Bush will be in office long enough to force these people into bankruptcy. Obama and his band of Bolsheviks won’t be running the country soon enough to force this garbage down our throats. That’s what I hear. I hope it’s true. It would be fantastic to see these companies dewormed, at last. Think how great it would be to see America make good cars again, profitably, using workers who actually have a future. As for union bosses and superfluous management people who will be trimmed out of the system, they can always get student loans and learn how to do something useful. You, too, can learn to drive the big rigs.

Either we’re capitalists, or we’re not. If we’re capitalists, then we do not use tax money to prop up utterly corrupt businesses. And the bigger a business is, the more harmful a bailout is.

People in the industry will suffer during the restructuring. That’s bad. But it’s exactly what is supposed to happen when people in a capitalist system insist on being irresponsible. If you’re getting $72 per hour, based on eight hours when you actually work four, doing minimally skilled labor, how can you expect it to last forever? How can you fail to set money aside for your future? You have only yourself to blame. You have to learn from this. You have to change.

The answer is to grit your teeth, tighten your belt, endure the lean times, and be part of the reform process. In the end, car people will have secure jobs with realistic wages and safe pensions.

Many law school graduates earn $20 per hour, even when times are good. These are generally people with big loans to pay, and they’ve spent seven years in college. How can anyone have the sand to claim a guy who turns the same bolt three hundred times a day is worth seven times as much?

I hate to see anyone lose a job, but you reap what you sow, and the unions and for decades, the union and the car execs have sown and fertilized the seeds of their own destruction. It’s wrong to help them, when we allow responsible, hard-working individuals to go bankrupt every day. It’s wrong, and it will only bring more misery the next time they want a bailout. The Chrysler mess led to this. What kind of financial holocaust will this much-bigger bailout lead to?

These loafers and parasites tell us the Big Three are too big to fail. They’re wrong. It’s America that’s too big to fail. And a Big Three bailout will help destroy her.

Soon We’ll be Lucky if We’re Allowed to Own Rape Whistles

I hit the gun range today and had a lot of fun. I’m pretty sure I spotted a Jewish person. That gave me hope for his race.

I shot the Romak III badly, although not as badly as I shot it before the trigger replacement. The new pull is very light, but it’s also extremely long, and I think that messes me up.

At least it cycled.

I tried the hint about focusing on the reticle markings instead of the target. It made no difference with the Romak, but it may have helped with the K31, which I shot well. Funny thing; focusing on the reticle somehow makes you feel like the rear part of the scope is about to poke you in the eye. It’s unnerving.

I went to two gun stores to ask about Auto-Ordnance M1 carbines, but they were no help. The guy at Bass Pro had no idea what an M1 carbine was. I think the Miami Bass Pro is kind of a farce. When I went in today, I noticed two things. No pistols, and no defensive long guns. I am not completely sure about the long guns, but I’m 95% sure. I think this is the biggest pansy Pro Bass store in the US. They need to shape up. At least they sell ammunition for pistols.

I found a high-powered green laser on Ebay, cheap. That will be a fun toy, IF I can find the gun.

No target photos to post. My phone came back to life after its visit to Maytag World, but it’s only firing on three cylinders, so I can’t take pictures.

Lots of people at the range. People know our socialist, anti-gun President-Elect and his goons are going to come for our guns if they can, so they’re going nuts on gun buys and range time. Very sad. Where was the fear back in October, when it could have saved America from this horrible mistake?

I’m thinking it might be fun to get a better stock for the K31. The one that came with it is crap; no two ways about it. The grip is too thick. It’s heavy. And the butt has points on it that turn my shoulder into hamburger.

I still haven’t gotten it to shoot to the POA.

Great day. Enjoy your guns while you can; I am extremely conscious of the fact that in five or ten years, I may have no guns and no place to shoot them. In anticipation of leftist fascism, I already treasure the memory of the America that was.

Help

I must visit the range, but before I go, I present a request from reader R:

My niece’s grandson was born 5 weeks prematurely with breathing difficulties he is overcoming, but also a worse diagnosis of polycystic kidney disease. Please pray they can help him and for comfort to his parents and grandparents.

Licensed to Cruffle

Here is horrible news. I am about to begin cruffling. The BATF pestered me to fix my application, so I sent a check, and the paper arrived today.

This is bad. There are so many things I want, which I didn’t get because of the hassle of picking them up from a dealer.

I can get an M1 carbine. I can get another K31. An M1 Garand. An M39. An M96. A Sherman tank. My own aircraft carrier.

I think that’s about it.

One thing is for sure. I won’t be ordering anything by cell phone. That is because I have the cleanest cell phone in Miami. This is because I just repeated my old trick: putting the cell phone through the washing machine.

Some people buy new cell phones when they get tired of their old ones. Some people wait until new features come out. For me, the trigger is soap suds coming out of the keypad.

I can’t believe I did this again. I do it every two years.

It’s not that big a deal. I recently realized I needed PDA capabilities. I can’t keep track of when I fertilized what. Or when I should clean the dust out of my room. I have lots of stuff like that, getting on my nerves. The more organized my life becomes, the less I know when I’m supposed to do things.

The old phone might work when it dries out.

I wish I had an interest in Eastern bloc pistols, because there are a whole bunch of them that are C&R eligible.

Hopefully you’ll see me soon on the news, posing with my kitchen table “home arsenal.”

M1 Carbine Question

Here’s a question. How well does an M1 carbine work when you shoot it with the stock folded?

I am considering getting one of these for home defense. It seems like a nice option. You fold it, put a big magazine full of carefully chosen rounds in it, attach a light, and keep it by the bed. You put electronic ear muffs next to it. When the bad person arrives, you put on the muffs, grab the gun, and get ready. If you end up in the same room with him, you turn on the light and shoot from the hip until he is no longer a threat. The compact size of the gun makes it easy to handle indoors. The flash and noise aren’t as bad as bigger guns, and you have your earmuffs. The added barrel length makes it easier to aim effectively than a pistol. The low recoil helps you stay on target. And you can have up to 30 rounds on tap without a magazine change.

But the scenario is less rosy if you can’t shoot with the stock folded. The gun becomes nearly as awkward as a full size rifle.

I have pistols for defense, but they’re inferior to long guns. They’re harder to aim, especially without the sights. It’s easier to shoot yourself accidentally. The capacity is limited. The stopping power is generally not as good as that of a long gun.

I am thinking the best configuration is a folding carbine with a light, laser, and red dot scope. There would be little practical use for the scope, but you might as well have it, just in case. The laser makes it easy to hit bad people in low light. The light illuminates the perp and, hopefully, makes it hard for him to see.

I’m not sure about that last part. It takes a really good light to blind someone in a dark room.

I was reading up on M1 carbines today, and I kept seeing an old bit of nonsense: “the sound of a pump shotgun racking will scare a burglar to death.” Why do people keep repeating this? It’s obviously a myth; common sense should tell you that. Every gun makes a sound when you rack or cock it. Why is a shotgun scarier than a 1911 or .357? Wouldn’t you be scared if you heard someone pull the bolt on a rifle? I sure would. I wouldn’t barge into the room armed with a potato peeler, relieved that the homeowner only had an AK-47. I’d run from a guy who just cocked a .25-caliber pistol. And if your gun is already cocked, you don’t need to work the mechanism to make a scary noise. You can just say, “Excuse me, but I have a big gun.” “Yo tengo Glock.” And you can add this: “I am also on PCP.”

Can we just stop talking about the magical noise a pump shotgun makes? It’s embarrassing to the gun-owning community.

You can buy vertical grips for the front of M1 carbines. It seems like a great idea, although they attach to the barrel. I hate anything that even MIGHT affect accuracy. Of course, I realize you don’t have to be a sniper when your assailant is inside your house. If you’re off by an inch, you will never know it. One company offers a combination light, laser, and grip for $75. The only thing that really scares me is the low price. I can just see myself, hiding in the living room from the Jamaican Mafia, flicking the switch on my laser and wishing I had bought a better one.

I assume you can shoot an M1 carbine with the stock folded, because Universal Arms used to make a version with no buttstock. But I thought I should check.

Pre-Obama Salad Days, Only Without Salad

This is what every man’s dining table should look like.

You’re looking at a ham hock, collard greens, Vidalia slices, a hothouse tomato, cornbread made with bacon grease, and fried apples.

I should lie and say that’s Red Rose tea, but it’s not. I ran out yesterday. It’s GATORADE.

Still.

Here’s how to enjoy a ham hock. Eat the meat parts as is; they taste fine without help, because they’re ham. Eat the fat with a little hot sauce on it. It’s good without sauce, too, but variety is nice.

It seems like the Roegelein’s bacon scraps have a somewhat more subtle flavor than the strips. The cornbread–made with grease from the scraps I bought–tasted almost refined. I kind of prefer the stronger taste of the strips.

That tomato was surprisingly good, for a store tomato.

If you’re not from the South, you may wonder why I have a disassembled rifle on the table, and why I would eat that odd-looking food.

More

Here’s a closeup of the greens and hock, so you can see the lovely, delicious pig grease.

Youtubes

I got a comment saying the results I’m getting with the PSL/Romak III are as good as they’re going to get, because the gun is intrinsically inaccurate. I find that hard to believe, not because I have faith in the gun, but because I have little faith in my own ability to shoot well enough to take the gun’s accuracy to its limit.

He said I was focusing on the target instead of the reticle, which is true.

I said I would post a video of a guy shooting the PSL and getting better groups than mine. The video guy uses some sort of Bulgarian crap ammunition; I use 7N1 Russian ammunition, which everyone raves about. Here is the video.

Needless to say, this guy only fired 5 shots after sighting the gun in. If I had stopped after 5 shots, my results would be better than his. I was popping a lot of rounds into a pretty small hole. What does this mean? I do not know.

Here is another video, where he shoots at 600 meters.

It occurred to me tonight that I had completely forgotten to think about where my finger was contacting the trigger, so I am sure I was all over it. I also had a problem with the scope fogging up from time to time, which ruined some shots.

They say these things open up when they get hot. Mine was certainly getting hot when I shot the last bunch of rounds.

Little Guns for Hard Times

We have a gun-grabber headed for the White House, and he is going to appoint gun-grabbing judges at every level, so people are going nuts, buying guns. That will work fine, as long as old guns are “grandfathered” past the fascist laws and executive orders and rulings that are likely to hit us in the near future. Of course, it won’t be as helpful if Obama manages to fix it so existing guns can be confiscated. And that’s a possibility. Gun-grabbers like to use grandfather clauses to reduce opposition from people who already own targeted weapons, but if they ever get powerful enough to come after the guns you already have, they’ll do it, and they’ll melt them down. Rosie O’Donnell is probably salivating.

We Second Amendment supporters like to bluster about “cold dead hands,” but the reality is, nearly all of us will obey the law and hand over our weapons. Would you commit a bunch of felonies, knowing there were people in your community who could inform the cops and the BATF that you own guns? Guess what. In prison, you won’t even be allowed to carry a sharpened toothbrush. On the whole, it’s better to avoid arrest and stay free. Or relatively so.

Have you ever had a couple of beers and told a liberal acquaintance you have guns, just to irritate him? Do you have liberal relatives? Someone outside of your household probably knows enough about you to get you put on a list. You may be on one already. The odds are good that someone out there will have the knowledge and the inclination to send the storm troopers to your door.

I guess it’s a good idea to stock up before Obama starts rewriting the Constitution, even if your purchases won’t guarantee anything. Still, it seems pointless to rush out and buy guns in November. You’re driving prices up, and you may end up settling for weapons you don’t want, because dealers’ shelves are bare. It will take a little time for the new regime to put new policies in place. You have a couple of months left for shopping.

I keep thinking it would be nice to have something handy for short-range encounters, beyond a pistol yet not as hard to use as a big rifle. If you have to defend yourself on your property, you won’t have much need for deer-rifle-size loads that can kill people at a thousand yards, and you won’t want a really long gun that gets caught on things when you try to move around indoors.

One of the guns that caught my eye a year or two ago was the Thompson .45-caliber rifle. You can buy these with removable buttstocks, and you can add hundred-round drums. That’s not bad. It’s a short weapon with no recoil to speak of, and it will shoot a hundred marvelous .45 ACP rounds as quick as you can pull the trigger. Aiming becomes nearly optional. It’s heavy, and I’m not sure how reliable the drums are, and it will cost over a grand, but it seems like a surprisingly nice defensive weapon.

Here’s something else that seems like a sleeper. The M1 carbine with a folding stock.

I know everyone makes fun of this round, but think it over. It’s faster than a .357 or .44 Magnum. The bullet weighs about as much as a 9mm round (let’s say “.357,” since it’s the exact same round but sounds better). The Box o’ Truth confirms that it penetrates nicely, regardless of the funny stories about Chicoms in fluffy jackets. And you can shoot it from a pleasant carbine that takes a 30-round magazine. And unlike the Thompson, it will reliably hit things at distances greater than a hundred feet. The sights on a Tommy gun are just plain weird; I shot one, and I had to guess what the POA was. The M1 comes with a nice peep sight.

I checked out Kim du Toit’s site yesterday, and he has a lot of SHTF stuff up. In case that acronym means nothing to you, “TF” stands for “The Fan.” He stores water and dry food, and he even found himself an entrenching tool, which people like me call “a soldier’s shovel.” As I understand it, the entrenching tool is the Holy Grail of survival supplies. It has magical powers non-veterans such as myself cannot comprehend. It’s even better than a towel; don’t listen to Ford Prefect. Guns play a big part in SHTF lore, and I’ve noticed that the M1 is mentioned at times. Maybe it would be a fine thing to have. It seems to combine the handiness of a .22 with the short-range deadliness of a centerfire. Rabbits, squirrels, your starving liberal neighbors who suddenly regret making fun of your SHTF plans…it will take down a wide variety of prey.

Auto-Ordnance makes a nice folding M1 carbine, and it costs less than a good 1911.

Maybe some day.

Oops…maybe some day before the inauguration.

Kim has a nice, brief Veteran’s Day post up. Take a look, and think about the men who bought the rights our President-Elect wants to take away.

No Wonder Gilligan was so Spry

I came across an interesting news item the other day. A physician who is married to an Alzheimer’s sufferer started adding coconut oil to his oatmeal, and he improved dramatically over a very short time. Here is a link to the article. This guy was a mess, and he sharpened up a great deal over the course of a month. Researchers think coconut oil might benefit people with other types of neurological problems, such as Parkinson’s.

My aunt has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s (prayers solicited), so I sent her a link to the story.

Coconut oil is a very weird substance. Unlike most plant fats, it’s solid at room temperature (below about 75 degrees). And it’s supposed to have a lot of beneficial effects. A reader suggested it to me a year or two back. I ended up using it to deep-fry doughnuts. If you don’t mind the taste of coconut, this is the ultimate fat for frying desserts.

The doctor who treated her husband with it says she mixed two tablespoons into his oatmeal every day. She eats it, too.

On a given day, I am lucky if I can remember my address, so I tried coconut oil in my oatmeal this morning. Mike brings dark maple syrup when he visits from New Hampshire, and I use it in my oatmeal. When you add coconut oil, it’s like eating a big, hot cookie dissolved in water.

I have been looking for a way to get more calories into my breakfast without adding carbs, and this may be a good way to do it.

In other news, I figured out what was wrong with the Red Star Arms fire control group I had in my PSL (Romak III, Dragunov, FPK). Thought I’d mention it in case other frustrated souls have the same problem later and try to solve it by Googling. If you don’t own guns, this will bore you to tears.

The trigger assembly has a couple of hooky-looking things that project upward in the receiver. One is the trigger sear. This is a hook-shaped thing that holds the hammer in the cocked position and releases it when you fire. The other is the disconnector. I am not totally sure what it does, but I believe it disengages the trigger after firing, so the sear, which drops to release the hammer, can rise again to be in a position to grab it and cock the weapon. I think it also holds the hammer while the sear pops back up. Then I think it releases the hammer so it can swing into the sear and catch. I read the PDF over at Red Star Arms, but it’s very badly written, and the drawings are bad.

Anyway, here is what kept my rifle from cocking itself. When the bolt comes back after a round is fired, it knocks the hammer into the disconnector. Then the hammer catches under the disconnector. It then pops out and catches under the sear. If the disconnector is too far back, the hammer will miss it, and it won’t catch under it. There is a set screw on the front of the disconnector, and it adjusts the disconnector’s position. If you turn the screw counter-clockwise (the “loosening” direction), it will pull back up into the disconnector, and the disconnector will rotate forward, toward the hammer. My screw was too far in, so the disconnector was too far back, so the hammer kept missing it.

You are supposed to adjust this thing until it works, and then you have to apply Loc-tite. The shock of shooting the gun will make the screw rotate unless you glue it in place. Red Star Arms says to use blue Loctite, but some guy on a forum claims there is a special Loctite for set screws, and it’s green.

If your gun works with the screw adjusted flush with the bottom of the disconnector, you can just remove the screw and put it where you won’t lose it.

You can test the disconnector by removing the receiver cover and the gas piston and working the action by hand.

The stock fire control group in this thing is a complete piece of crap. The trigger slap will make your finger numb, it will ruin your accuracy, and it will make it harder to shoot other guns well later in the day. So a new assembly is probably a good idea. The one I have is expensive and adjustable, but there are cheaper ones.

This is kind of a silly gun, but once the trigger starts working, it will seem less silly. The Russian sniper ammunition is supposed to be accurate and highly lethal, and the gun is AK-based, so it should be very tough and reliable. The gun costs a lot for what you get (about $750 with a used Russian 4x scope), but it’s a pretty accurate semi-auto that takes detachable 10-round magazines and kills people reliably at a hundred yards. With ballistics similar to a .30-06, it’s no poodle-shooter. If you get shot with this thing, you stay shot. I’m no gun guru, but it sounds like a good substitute for an M1 Garand.

Range Time

Here is my prescription for the Obama Blues. A trip to the gun range! I’ll go celebrate the second amendment, while it lasts. If Obama had appointed the last two Supreme Court justices, the Heller decision would have been much different, and we would have no federal protection against Nazi-style gun bans and confiscation. If he gets his way, that will be the situation when he leaves office.

I’m taking the K31, the SW1911, the .17 HMR, and the Kommunist Kannon with me. By “Kommunist Cannon,” am, of course, referring to my Romanian-made PSL, which is an Eastern-bloc rifle similar to the Dragunov. If Obama’s comrades had gotten their way a generation ago, we would have seen rifles like this in the hands of “liberating” Soviet forces. So I can’t think of a better weapon to take, in honor of the President-Elect.

I had problems with the PSL after I installed a new trigger group. Today I adjusted it using brute force. We will see if it works.

BATF Helpful?

I owe the BATF an apology. Everyone talks about how the feds hate guns and want to take them away from us. But when I applied for my C&R license, the BATF contacted me twice to make sure my application was processed.

I applied and gave them a credit card number. For some reason, they were not able to use it. They sent me a notice giving me 30 days to fix it, and I think they wanted a money order. I figured this was some sort of cheap ploy to get me to give up, because nobody wants to stand in line to get a money order. It’s ridiculous that any government agency would demand a money order in 2008; it’s idiotic.

Sure enough, I forgot about the application, and I figured it was dead. Then they called me and told me to get off my butt and pay the fee. They said they would take a check. And they called again, when I took my time to get it in the mail.

Some agencies, like the Patent and Trademark Office, really like to get fees. In fact, the PTO has a very damaging and stupid policy of dividing patents up into more patents, so you have to pay a fee for each one. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, until you think about the $450-per-hour lawyers who are paid to help applicants comply. It’s like the pinhead local sheriffs who set up speed traps; the town gets a hundred bucks from the ticket, and you end up paying a thousand dollars more per year in insurance in order to help them get that hundred bucks.

Maybe this is what the BATF is up to, but I have to say, they are not trying to discourage me from getting a license.

This will open the door to some fairly cool purchases, including an M1 carbine. Believe it or not, I am so trifling I put off buying guns because I don’t want to drive three miles to an FFL holder to pick them up.

More Stuff we All Need

You know what I really REALLY want? Other than a pickup?

1. A floor drill press.

2. A Saiga 12 shotgun.

I’m just about positive we are going to see the price of tools drop considerably, because commodities are getting cheap and the dollar is getting strong. So I am hoping I’ll be able to get a good deal on a drill press. And I am convinced that a Saiga 12 shotgun with a laser and extended magazines is just about the best security weapon you can get for under a thousand dollars.

What is a Saiga 12? It’s an AK-47 that shoots 12-gauge rounds. And you can get ten-round clips, which negates the big weakness of security shotguns, which is capacity. So hopefully, you get AK reliability, autoloader speed, 12-gauge stopping power, and rifle capacity.

These guns are supposed to be super-reliable, and they cycle fast, and you can have one for a little over five hundred bucks. And I’m pretty sure no rifle or pistol can compare, in terms of effectiveness. Being hit with one dose of buckshot is like being shot by several .30-caliber weapons at once.

I considered a Saiga .410. Supposedly, .410 loads are highly effective, and you get less recoil and muzzle rise and so on. But gun nuts seem convinced that 12 gauge is the way to go.

Right now, I depend on pistols to protect myself. And pistols are swell. They work great at household distances, and they’re easy to carry and maneuver. But it’s easy to miss with a pistol. If you’re within a hundred feet, I can pretty much count on hitting you at will with a long gun, even if you’re moving and I shoot from the hip. At least, I have found that to be true in the past. I guess you wouldn’t want to shoot from the hip if you could avoid it, because of recoil problems, but it illustrates the difference between pistols and long guns. It’s also harder to shoot yourself with a long gun.

Last time I went to the range, I looked at the nearly-new lumber they had put in the ground by the targets. It was the same stuff they use to make railroad ties. There were long pieces of it running across the range in front of the target bases. Mike and I were amazed to see that the wood already had bullet tracks in it. Seven yards from the firing line! There are people who go to the gun range and aim at the targets from seven yards and hit the ground! Bet that doesn’t happen much with long guns.

I think you can also put bayonets on these things. Not sure. Imagine explaining that to the cops, when they arrive to scoop up a criminal’s remains.

I saw a nice Delta bench drill press yesterday at Lowe’s. I felt like hugging it. I keep thinking of all the miserable jobs I’ve had to do, that would have been simple with a drill press. Maybe I’ll get my wish, and Steel City prices will slide back to ’07 levels.

Only in America

What a horrendous day it is turning out to be.

Mike and I went to El Exquisito and had fried pork lumps, moros, yuca, plantain, Cuban bread, and espresso. Then we went to Gordon Food Supply, purely for the fun. Mike thought he had died and gone to heaven.

We’ll be heading out to see An American Carol shortly.

Here’s a clue what the day has been like:

In addition to a gallon can of Hershey’s syrup, I’m holding two S.W. “Red” Smith products. Mike bought the Big John sausages, and I bought the pickled pig’s feet.

The syrup was just for show.

Now I have to go to a conservative movie, with a loaded pistol in my pocket.

I love this country.

By the way, Mr. Walken is annoyed. Guess we should have picked up a ham.

Food, Guns, Hippie Abuse

My buddy Mike is coming down this weekend, so I expect chaos and entropy until Monday. We’ll be hitting El Exquisito for Cuban food for lunch tomorrow. After that, I may force him to watch An American Carol.

We have to support this movie. I know, I didn’t support Fox’s “humor” show. This is different. That show was a disgrace and an abortion. This movie can’t possibly be as bad or as embarrassing. For one thing, the people involved are qualified to do comedy. That’s the main difference. David Zucker has a proven humor track record. Unlike Joel Surnow and his…associates. It’s worth supporting even if it stinks, because there is some possibility that Zucker will eventually hire the right people and make really funny conservative movies. Again, this distinguishes him from Joel Surnow.

It’s probably funny, though. The trailer is a riot.

We’ll be hitting the range on Sunday. Mike now lives near DC, so he is gun-starved. Very sad. I should make him go to Samco with me tomorrow and watch me buy another K31.

Life is great. Over and out.

Moore

Sure looks funny to me!

Brute Force is Always the Answer

With Chris Byrne’s help, I got the side plate off my revolver.

Everyone on the web says not to pry it, but he gave me the go-ahead, so I gave it a try. I stuck a flat screwdriver in the hammer slot and twisted very gently, and the plate slid off.

I put Wolff springs in the gun. The kit came with three trigger springs, ranging from 13 pounds to 15 pounds. That doesn’t mean the trigger pull will be that heavy. All of the springs were noticeably lighter than the original. I decided to try the 14-pound spring.

The trigger pull seems half as hard as it used to be. Much better. I exercise my hands every day so I’ll shoot well, but the original trigger on the 27-2 was way too stiff to shoot with any kind of confidence.

Let me horrify you by telling you how I got the gun back together. There’s a doodad in there that fits in a groove on the side plate. It seems like the best way to make it line up was to put it in the groove, hold the revolver with the plate side down, and raise the plate and the doodad into the gun.

The plate would not go on all the way. It turns out the Pachmayr grip I bought (on Jim’s advice) makes a very good rubber mallet, but it wasn’t enough to do the job. So I used…a VISE.

Yes, that’s right. I put my nice excellent-condition Smith & Wesson 27-2 revolver in a vise. With rubber jaws. And I put paper towels between the gun and the jaws, in case there was grit on the rubber. I mashed the gun twice, and then I tightened the screws one at a time–carefully–until the plate went on.

I can see how this would be a bad thing to do, if the parts inside didn’t line up. But the gun was functioning fine before I mashed it, and I was sure the parts were aligned. It’s amazing how tightly the side plate fits.

I just wish I hadn’t taken so many other parts of the gun off, trying to find the nonexistent fourth screw that held the plate on. But I learned a whole lot about how the gun is put together.