I Have my Priorities

I am a degenerate. Our financial institutions are hurtling down the toilet, we have a pivotal election in about seven weeks, and all I can think about is my next trip to the gun range. I missed several outings in a row. Then I showed up with my new .17 HMR rifle, and finally, rifle shooting was nearly everything it was supposed to be. How long have I been trying to learn to shoot rifles? Almost three years? Finally, I have my chance. I was so stupid, not taking this route in the first place. Learn from my mistake. If you want to learn how to use a rifle, buy a shiny new Savage in a tame caliber, put a scope on it, and head for the range. You can buy milsurps and black rifles later, when you know what you’re doing.

With the strap, scope, and rings, this thing cost about what a Glock costs. Maybe less. That’s a deal, no matter how you look at it.

The one thing that still bothers me is the height of the rest. It makes it impossible to hold the gun on target without straining. I have to spread my elbows way out, to get low enough. I have to bend my neck back. Difficult. Maybe I’ll try a bipod this week. I don’t understand how anyone can be comfortable with a rest that short, but they seem standard at the range. I feel like a clown at the circus, riding a bike with three-inch wheels. To shoot in comfort, I’ll need a bipod maybe a foot high. I think the local Bass has one.

I don’t know why I shot so badly with the 27-2 last week. I’m going to look into a weaker spring. I don’t know why the spring that came with the gun is so stiff. Must be a safety feature, to keep cops from shooting themselves in the leg. The extra-wide trigger is odd, too. I wonder if that throws things off.

Last night, I wrote about my cunning plan: I want to use a Sonicare toothbrush to clean guns. A reader outdid me, saying they should make barrel brushes to fit Sonicare handles. That’s genius. I doubt it would work for a rifle, but most pistols have barrels under five inches long. I think a Sonicare has the horsepower to handle that.

I checked the web to see if anyone had already tried it, but I couldn’t find anything.

I guess there is no reason why I couldn’t cut up a Sonicare head and mate it to the end of a cleaning rod, so brushes would fit it. It would probably only work with plastic bristles, since metal brushes are so hard to move inside a barrel.

For me, most of the real suffering comes when it’s time to clean around the chamber. I end up using Q-Tips, which don’t work all that well. A tiny toothbrush head would get in there real good.

I must be the only person on earth who would search Ebay for used electric toothbrushes. I suppose I could use my own toothbrush handle, replacing the head when I clean guns.

My father thinks that in the long view, the US is slowly headed for pure socialism. I hope that’s not true. Socialism inevitably brings about totalitarianism. When that happens, forget about all the little pleasures that make American life enjoyable. Forget fun vehicles. Forget second homes and boats. Forget private planes. And most of all, forget your guns. The Mommy Dearest state won’t want you to hurt yourself or anyone else with a mean old gun. She’ll take them away and melt them down and make something useful out of them. Like a statue of Bill Ayres.

I don’t want to be poor and live in a cramped, state-funded apartment and shop at a grocery store that never has what I want. I don’t want to wait in line for shoes and toilet paper. I don’t want to be told I can’t have medical procedures because they’re too expensive. And I don’t want to be threatened with jail when I complain about the government. Socialism? You can have it. If it’s really in our future, the lucky people are the ones who are already old. They got to enjoy fast cars, big houses, sane gun laws, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech for decades. Regardless of what happens now, there is a limit to the overall damage a socialist state can do to their lives.

Life in America is so beautiful. We are so blessed. The mere thought that true socialism could be on the way only makes me appreciate our way of life more. It makes me conscious that I have to savor every second. Some day the political descendants of Barack Obama and Al Franken may be putting us in camps or shooting us as we stand in ditches. If a time like that comes, I’ll want to know I enjoyed life when I could.

Thursday is Range Day, but I may lose control and go on Wednesday. Wonder if I can find a way to transport a rifle on a Harley.