A++++ GREAT ONLINE AUCTION SERVICE!!!!!!

I Ebayed myself a Hornady Reloading Manual, and when I went to leave feedback, I saw that Ebay had a new policy: no more negative or neutral feedback from sellers. Sounds unfair at first, but it’s probably a good thing. A lot of jerks were putting up notices threatening to leave negative feedback for trivial reasons. And buyers are much more likely to be cheated.

I’ll bet a lot of creeps are running for cover now. See ya. Straighten up your act or be gone.

I’ve accidentally bought things I couldn’t pay for with Paypal. I never do that intentionally. A demand for a money order is like a big disclaimer reading “I do not want to be accountable when I cheat you.”

Paypal is stupid, too. I had to get their credit card in order to avoid giving them my bank information, and they have their system rigged up so it defaults to their card. You have to go through several screens to put payment on your preferred card. I prefer to avoid using my Paypal card, ever. But I have screwed up twice.

Here is a question for reloaders. I will never have to pay for ammunition boxes, because the trash cans at the range contain a nice selection. But I can see how it would be nice to have something a little tougher and more elegant. What would you do? Looks like two bucks is a good price for hundred-round boxes, and I’ll need five in each caliber.

A commenter is poking me for owing a Smith & Wesson 1911. I should take macro photos of the obvious manufacturing defects on my Custom Shop Colt and post them. I have two Smith & Wesson guns, and I plan to buy more, because they’re magnificent. I wouldn’t buy a new Colt unless I got to look it over carefully first. My Colt is going back for repairs, and I have to pay for shipping, killing the good deal I shopped to get. The Smiths? They go to the range.

More

Forgot to mention this. Speaking of 1911s, Michael Bane has a dandy. He participated in something called a Wild Bunch shooting match. If it’s not obvious, the participants are limited to weapons consistent with those used in the 1969 movie, The Wild Bunch. That includes 1911 pistols. His gun is a 1911A1 made by Remington Rand, and his father carried it in World War Two! How would you like to have an heirloom like that?

I don’t know how a service gun ended up property of a civilian. I think I won’t ask.

Provincial city-born gun-phobics in the Northeast and on the West Coast do not understand that guns are like jewelry. Men pass them down the way women pass down wedding rings. When I was writing about gun safes, readers told me about their irreplaceable guns. Try and explain that to a narrow-minded denizen of Greenwich Village or Malibu.

If you have an heirloom gun, send a photo and I’ll post it. I have a few.

…Tred Barta

There are a lot of good reasons for having Mike as a friend. One is that every phone call brings a complete surprise.

Tonight Mike says he intends to go shoot mooses, and he wants me to help.

As I have noted before, Mike lives in New Hampshire, which is a couple of hundred miles north of Canada. I think. And they have mooses. So naturally, every man in his right mind wants to kill them. Mike is no exception. He said something about how it works. You buy a ticket or enter the Moose Murder Raffle or something, and then they clear you to whack the moose. Unless of course it’s a “made moose,” in which case, you have to go straight to the Don.

Here’s one possible obstacle to the plan. Mike doesn’t own a single firearm. He owns three Dan Wesson barrels, but some crackhead in Ocala Florida has the gun itself, which is now the ultimate snubnose. Every hunting expert except Tred Barta agrees: when hunting mooses, a firearm is a good thing to have. Barta falls on møøses from the branches of trees, naked except for a pair of pink bunny slippers and a coat of Kiwi shoe polish, and kills them by squeezing their carotid arteries with his thighs.

He wasn’t able to sell the video to the Versus Network, but a certain segment of the German population eats it up.

I was thinking it might be incredibly cool to waste mooses with the Desert Eagle. Finally, a legitimate use for it.

Mike’s theory was that I would let him use my K31, while I would rely on the highly questionable Romak III. I still don’t own a hunting rifle. I have a 16-gauge shotgun which accepts rifled slugs, but I have no idea whether I can hit anything with it or not.

Here’s another possible obstacle. Neither one of us knows a damn thing about hunting. The most rewarding type of hunting I’ve done involved sneaking up on rabbits and blowing their tiny brains out with a .22. Other than that, I have done things like 1. waiting unsuccessfully for foxes to walk by, 2. waiting unsuccessfully for groundhogs to go after my grandmother’s garden, and 3. waiting unsuccessfully for squirrels to come out where I could shoot them. I’ve also wiped out entire communities of blackbirds and killed an entire generation of lizards with a BB gun. I think Mike has shot some pigs and turkeys. Not sure. And I shot a fine bass with a deer rifle. But neither one of us is ready for the Outdoor Network.

Mike pointed out that a dead moose weighs about 3,000 pounds, give or take, which is considerably more than either of us can carry. So he’s wondering what we’re supposed to do when the moose kacks. Is that really our problem? Can’t we just leave it on the ground, to molder its way into the ecosystem and become a nourishing meal for Gaia? Isn’t slaughter the whole point? Do we really have to eat the moose?

I know what you’re thinking. This would make us wasteful and unethical hunters, and everyone would despise us. But you only think that because I haven’t mentioned the crucial part of the plan: we wouldn’t tell anyone we did it.

If we cut it up and keep it, where do we put it? Especially me. There is no way 1500 pounds of dead moose will fit in a carry-on. And if we put it on the hood of Mike’s Prius, the front tires will just pop. And if it does run, it will strain the car so much, we’ll have to stop every hundred feet to wind it back up.

Is it okay for a couple of guys who shoot well yet have no other qualifications to go out and play moose sniper, or is it a shameful, presumptuous, disgraceful so on and so forth?

Naturally, I agreed to do it. There was never any question. I just want to know if that was a stupid thing to do. Not that that would change anything.

Speaking of Tred Barta, I have become completely addicted to his show. Even though he picks up absolutely every piece of excrement he sees–even those left by his crew–and fondles it and pets it and holds it right up to his face, and then he eats sandwiches without washing his hands. And the other day he did a nude scene. You think I’m kidding. They had to censor it. Except in Germany. Where they saved it for sweeps week.

I honestly think I would rather hunt with this guy than anyone else in the universe. He is so far beyond insane there isn’t even a word for it. And he’s proud of it. And he hates hippies.

You can turn on any hunting show and watch people do things correctly. Only Barta will shoot a furious grizzly in the face with a bow, from like six feet away. Only Barta will butcher a moose with a chainsaw. Or, wait, maybe that’s the way everyone does it.

I would kill to be this guy’s idiot sidekick, just for the laughs. “Tred, when you were applying shoe polish to your buttocks, you missed a spot.” “Thanks, Steve. If the moose had seen that, our whole day would have been wasted.”

Maybe Mike and I could have a show. Steve and Mike Fail to Kill a Moose. Steve and Mike Fail to Kill a Bear. Steve and Mike Forget the Ammunition and Have Their Clothes Pecked Off by Angry Marsh Hens. Whatever those are. I’m just brainstorming here. Let’s not get hung up on specifics.

As always, I await and treasure your input.

Weird Gun of the Day

I went over to Michael Bane’s blog to see what was going on, and I ended up at Shootinggallery.tv…whoops, no, Downrange.tv, where he has videos posted. One featured a very interesting newish gun: the Taurus Judge. This thing is a 5-shot revolver that will chamber .45 LC and .410 shotgun ammunition. And you can get it with a 3″ barrel. Costs about $500.

People always overestimate how much a shotgun pattern will spread. They don’t fling shot in all directions. Mr. Bane shoots the Judge at what appears to be 7 yards [further reading suggests it may have been more like 7 feet], and it turns out the pattern is the size of a human face. Which is not a coincidence. As I understand it, the beauty of this gun is that it’s harder to miss your assailant. The bad part? It’s not great at long ranges unless you use pistol ammunition. But as the Taurus rep in the video points out, explaining a long-range “defensive” shot to a non-Taurus-made judge could be hard.

Another benefit: a low risk of overpenetration. So you are less likely to shoot your neighbors. Unless that’s what you’re trying to do.

It’s an interesting idea. I don’t know if I agree that there is a great need for a spray-and-pray gun for bedroom distances. If you shoot well, you’re not going to miss at that range, and if you shoot badly–I judge from watching people who can’t hit a damn thing–increasing the hit zone to a diameter of seven inches isn’t going to help too awful much. A bad shooter can miss the target entirely at 7 yards. Mike and I shot the other day, and he told me the guy next to him actually scared him. He was a Miami kid who seemed to have an attitude, which would explain why he figured he didn’t need to be taught how to shoot. He shot so close to the frame, Mike was afraid he was going to catch a rebound.

Look cool, act tough, shoot like a girl. That mystifies me. All the tattoos in the world won’t clean up a mangled target, which is the only thing the other folks at the range will notice.

To get back to the Judge, the positives seem undeniable. It’s a legal sawed-off shotgun, it does more damage than a .357 or .45 ACP, and supposedly, it’s not all that loud. That’s a big plus in a closed space like a car or house.

I’m not in love with the idea of five shots between me and death. I would not want to shoot five times, find that an attacker was still a threat, and then have to break open a revolver and reload. And I feel sure that even if I shot with one hand, no aiming, I could hit a person ten feet away over 90% of the time with my 11-shot Glock. Also, if half of your pellets are in the perp’s face, where do the other half go? Nowhere bad, you hope.

It’s tough to figure out how to defend your house. An automatic shotgun with a laser would be great, but to get any kind of magazine capacity, you have to buy something weird. And the noise and flash would be pretty awful, unless you had a .410. A pistol can put 15-17 consecutive shots at your disposal, but most people can’t shoot, so does that really help?

Saiga makes a 12-gauge shotgun based on the AK-47, and that would be great, if they scaled it down to .410 and kept the big magazine. I have read the magazines go as big as 11 rounds. Unfortunately, they scaled it down and cut the magazine to four rounds. I fail to see the appeal.

I shoot primarily because I like to shoot. Even if the hippies managed to fix it so we couldn’t have guns to protect ourselves, I would still want to shoot, even if I had to go to a ridiculous club and check guns out of a locker. But self-defense is the primary purpose of guns, and I think about it.

I just heard from Mike. It looks like he’s finally going to make a choice. I think he’s getting a Dan Wesson Pointman 7. I feel like I’ve been at the hospital for a month, waiting for a baby to be born. I don’t care if he buys a gun that came in a box of Cracker Jacks. I just want him to buy something so I can go on with my life. And so I can shoot it.

Just This Once

I go outside to transplant tomatoes, and while I’m gone, the world turns upside down. It looks like Hillary Clinton has unearthed (or conjured up, after creating a field of poppies in her crystal ball) a video of Michelle Obama kickin’ it with Louie Farrakhan and using the term “whitey.”

No one has actually seen this video, but I feel completely justified in commenting on it as though it had already been proven to exist and I knew what I was talking about.

People are mad at Michelle Obama. And I think this is reasonable, if only because she reminds me of “Webster.” But aren’t we forgetting the real mastermind? Behold the smoking gun:

Mother: And remember, the Lord loves a working man.

Navin: Lord loves a working man.

Father: And son, don’t never, ever trust whitey.

Navin: Don’t trust whitey. The Lord loves a working man, don’t
trust whitey. (he hugs his mom)

Mother: Ah baby!

Clearly, this scandal has its roots in the childhood home of ruined inventor Navin Johnson. This is where the poison first began to flow. By the way, not many people know this, but Dad Johnson’s first name was Jeremiah.

No, wait. That would make him Jeremiah Johnson.

I feel qualified in issuing an authoritative opinion about this scandal, because I AM, in fact, Whitey. I’m the guy. Other white people talk about how white I am. It amazes them. I have never had a tan. I get sunburned if I stand in front of the refrigerator with the door open for too long.

Here is my question: how come everyone is mad at the Republicans about this? What sane person thinks Republicans had anything to do with it? Sure, we’re dancing arrhythmically with joy. That’s just how we are. Evil. But if you think Hillary isn’t behind this, there is a box containing a thousand stolen FBI files which you need to look at.

You have to give Hillary credit. Ordinarily she’s as tone deaf as Bob Dylan, but this time she managed to stick it to Obama AND smear the blame all over the GOP. And why are the Obama people mad at the Republicans? This is their big chance to out Hillary as the Mud Queen. I realize they want to beat McCain, but Hillary is still blocking the basket.

Uh oh. Basketball metaphor. I apologize once again for my racist attacks on Barack H. Obama. From now on I’ll only refer to white-dominated sports. Like…

Let me get back to you on that.

I can’t wait to see this thing come out. Of course, if Hillary has this video, she also has video of McCain using kittens as potholders. She ought to team up with the CGI people who made Al Gore’s amazing fake video of polar bears–semiaquatic animals–DROWNING. I still can’t get over that. “QUICK, SOMEONE DRAG THOSE HIPPOS UP ON THE BEACH! SOMEONE THROW A LIFESAVER TO THAT CROCODILE!” Oh, yeah. Polar bears drown CONSTANTLY.

I’m still mad that no one laughed at my new name for Gore. This is your second chance: Pope Prius I.

Now we know what Hillary was talking about when she sort of expressed hope that Obama would be assassinated.

I think I’ve made a giant contribution to our understanding of this scandal. Now I have to get back to “hunkering down.” It’s DEADLY KILLER GLOBAL WARMING HURRICANE SEASON.

More

I finally got into the website where the existence of the whitey video is proclaimed, and wonder of wonders, the guy who broke the story says a Republican candidate dug it up! I can’t believe it. So maybe Hillary ISN’T to blame.

In which case, she is probably kicking herself today. How humiliating. Being outsmeared by a gun-clinging supply-sider.

New Bullets!

So far, Oregon Trail has really impressed me. I get great accuracy with their bullets, I have not had leading problems, the price is cheap, and they get stuff to you fast. I ordered some .357 bullets on Thursday, and they’re here. They were having a sale. I suppose some day I’ll go completely insane, as contrasted with my current state of partial sanity, and get into casting bullets. But for now, it’s hard to beat Oregon Trail.

If you know guns, you may be wondering why I’m buying “.357 bullets” when I already have .38 Super bullets, which are nearly the same thing. While I was researching, I got the impression–right or wrong–that bullets should fit a barrel fairly snugly. The .38 Super is supposed to be .356″ in practice. The .357/.38 Special bullet is supposed to be .358″. So I got the bigger bullets. Will it make a difference? Search me.

I chose 125-grain bullets, to mimic defensive loads.

I’m trying to decide what to do to keep the Hornady Lock-N-Load AP from rocking. Tightening the existing bolts won’t do it, and I am fairly sure the bench is not the problem. It may be that bigger-diameter bolts would help; perhaps the flexing is taking place in the bolts themselves.

There’s a place where I could put a plain old C-clamp, holding the front of the press down on the bench. This would almost surely work. But it’s kind of a Jethro Bodine solution. And it would mar up the press. Another answer is to drill a third bolt hole in the base of the press.

Chris Byrne says the Lock-N-Load rocks too much. A knowledgeable reader says the primer feed system on the Lock-N-Load is very vulnerable to spilled powder. That’s a bad combination. If the press rocks, some powder will be spilled from time to time, and guess where it will land? In a place where it will obstruct the doodad that loads the primer into the press. And if you spill enough powder from a cartridge, you could conceivably screw up a load.

Another problem with the rocking is that it will eventually ruin the existing 2-bolt mount. Sooner or later, the lag shields or the bolts or the wood will fatigue, and the press will pop out of the bench, and it will be time to find a new place to mount it.

I’m inclined to go ahead and drill that third hole, although I know I won’t do a pretty job, and I’ll have to take the press apart to do it. I suppose I should try bigger bolts first.

Someone suggested welding up some kind of metal base. But that won’t change anything unless the connection to that base is different from the existing connection to the bench. The press has no anchor at the front end, and a metal base wouldn’t change that.

Apart from the mounting problem, everything seems to work pretty much as advertised. The shell retainer springs fall apart in a hurry, so you need to buy extras, but that’s to be expected. And the decapping pin has a funny way of creeping downward in the sizing die. But the press works. It’s just slow, because of the problems I have to manage while I use it. I have to watch the primers carefully, and every so often, I have to take the press apart and get the excess powder out of it, and I often find myself taking apart rounds that have no primers. Also, I am fairly sure that it’s impossible to get the sizing die to index perfectly every time. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like the die sometimes hits a case incorrectly even when the shell plate is lined up. So I have to use the press very tentatively in order to catch it every time it does that. Otherwise, I would mash maybe ten percent of my brass.

I think Hornady may have erred by not putting a ring-shaped primer recess around the bottom of the press, at least as far as the sizing die. The way it is now, the shells sit on a flat surface. If a primer isn’t perfectly flush with a case, the shell leans over. This may be what causes the sizing die to hit the sides of some cases. Unless I am badly deceived, even once-fired factor brass sometimes has bulgy primers. I suppose that’s inevitable, since it’s all used. A Band-Aid solution would be to have separate dies for decapping and sizing, or to decap the shells by hand.

I look forward to reloading for the .357. I would guess that revolvers are less problematic, since they don’t have feeding problems and they can’t lock up. I continue to drool over the Smith & Wesson Model 627. I have a queasy suspicion that the free .357 brass I picked up a while back is actually .38 Special brass. Hope I’m wrong.

Suggestions welcomed.

Contagious!

I know this will upset people. I keep blogging about religion, and readers are getting annoyed.

Well now Maynard is doing it, too.

Be Gracious, if You Can

Hope everyone will take a minute to say a prayer for Ted Kennedy, who is under the knife right now having a brain tumor removed.

Taking a Break From Resting

I don’t know if anyone paid attention when I recommended The Complete Jewish Bible and its accompanying volume, The Jewish New Testament Commentary–wow, it just occurred to me that the name of that book is going to make a lot of people upset–but in case anyone did, I have great news. The commentary picks up speed once you get through Matthew. I thought I would take a month to get through the first New Testament book, but it didn’t take quite that long, and I finished the second book in an hour or two.

To my Jewish friends who hate my use of the term “Messianic Jew,” let me point out that you have an unexpected bedfellow. Sort of. Dr. David Stern, compiler of these volumes, has a real problem with terms that sound too Christian. So he has taken pains to cleanse the Bible of words that would irritate Jewish readers. For example, he refers to the cross as an “execution stake.” That will make the Mormons happy, I guess. It’s kind of annoying, seeing familiar passages disguised by this kind of editing. But I know his heart is in the right place.

I grew up surrounded by Jews, so I tend to forget that they are, as the Bible says, “separate.” Reading this book helps me understand how separate they really feel. I didn’t understand their horror of Christianity until recently. No wonder they vote for Christian-baiting Democrats. No wonder they supported godless Joe Stalin, back in the USSR. I suppose anyone who believes in Jesus seems like a threat.

It’s not a rational attitude, though. While there are plenty of Christian anti-Semites, I am fairly sure that the bulk of the last century’s anti-Semitic behavior was carried out by socialists, Nazis, and Muslims. Who also despise the Christian church. The Inquisition was quite some time ago. And leftism is becoming more anti-Semitic by the year. If you don’t trust all Christians, you’re smart. If you distrust every Christian, you’re not thinking.

I have had a pleasant day so far. I read sixty chapters of Enoch, in addition to working on the Gospels. The book of Enoch existed before Jesus lived, and to a Christian eye, it’s all about the Messiah. I hope one day it turns out to be legitimate.

It talks about the Medes and the Parthians attacking Israel and being wiped out near Jerusalem. “Medes and Parthians” means “Iranians.” I checked. Interesting. Also, disturbing. One would hope that the present Iran/Israel friction could be resolved. Assuming Enoch can be taken seriously, I hope it’s referring to some future conflict, and not something that is already upon us.

Today I thought about the second, and most powerful, purpose of the New Covenant. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the thing that poses the biggest threat to the god of this world, so naturally, it’s the thing that has been attacked and ridiculed and minimized the most. Salvation, salvation, salvation. That’s all we hear. But that’s only one piece of the gift, and in this lifetime, it is by far the smaller piece.

The Holy Spirit is what gives you power, and it’s what improves your character and enables you to conquer sin. And it doesn’t just happen automatically, regardless of what your church teaches; the baptism is an event separate from the event of receiving salvation. It’s available to anyone, and we’re supposed to have it, but not every believer gets it, and that’s the way the enemy wants it. You can be saved but weak and ineffectual in this life, and that’s how most Christians are. Jesus worked miracles and spoke prophetically and so on, and the Holy Spirit is what enabled Him to do it, and when He left, we were expected to receive it and continue His work.

I thought about it in connection with the improvements I’ve made in my own behavior and attitudes. I’m not dense; I have been aware that these things were caused by God. But today it really hit me, just how little credit I can take. I have been able to do some very good things lately, which were harder to do in the past. Or which I just chose not to do. And I know the change is not because I worked hard or read the Bible or got serious. It was the action of God inside me. Maybe I can take credit for a tiny little seed of desire, but that’s about it. Without God, I would have been happy to stay as I was (“happy” may be the wrong word), and I might well have given up and assimilated, taking on the entire moral view of godless people, instead of a limited version.

This is the wild thing about the Holy Spirit. It enables you conduct yourself better. And then God gives you credit, as if you did it on your own. So when people talk about the generosity of God, they don’t begin to do it justice.

That being said, it’s kind of a bummer, realizing how not-special you are.

Interesting thing to look for: in the Bible, the number seven often symbolizes the Holy Spirit. I think this is why the menorah in the holy of holies had seven lamps. I believe “menorah” is the wrong term for this particular lampstand, but I am too lazy to look up the proper term. Oil also symbolizes the Holy Spirit, and what do you burn in a menorah?

I better quit before I start sounding like a gematria nut.

Keep me Out of This Scrap

Jewish friends are unhappy because I keep using the term “Messianic Jew.” My response? It’s not appropriate for me to get involved in this battle. It’s among Jews. Or between Jews and…whatever you want to call the others. And on the Internet, it would be crazy to use an obscure PC term (“RC”? “Religiously Correct”?) that won’t get attention from Google users. I guess I could call them “Deluded Followers of Yeshu the False Messiah,” but no one using Google would ever know I was writing about them.

Yes, I know about “Yeshu” and what it means. It’s hard to keep a thing like that secret.

I call Jehovah’s Witnesses “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” even though I don’t think they’ve witnessed anything except a gigantic fraud. I don’t think this nomenclature thing is a major issue. I’m not using the term “Messianic Jew” because I want to suggest that these people are still Jews. I am pretty sure I haven’t gotten into that argument. I use the term because it’s efficient.

In response to a comment, I pointed out that Israel’s Law of Return rejects Messianic Jews. Atheists and agnostics? Fine. An Orthodox rabbi who keeps the law for 50 years, decides Jesus is the Messiah, and then continues observing? No sale.

As most people probably know, the Nazis exterminated Messianic Jews. They had a more liberal definition of “Jew” than Israel’s Ministry of the Interior. And when future persecution arises, you can bet the Nazi definition, or something similar, will be applied. Which means we could conceivably end up with an S.S. St. Louis situation, in which Israel turns away refugees persecuted for their perceived Jewishness. Weird.

I can see drawing a religious distinction, but the civil distinction seems likely to end in tragedy. I’m sure it has, already. Israel has probably rejected a few people who went on to suffer greatly because they couldn’t get in.

Anyway, it’s not up to me; it’s not my party. I wouldn’t try to tell the rabbis what to do, and I don’t have a voice in what happens in Israel, nor should I or any other Gentile. But you are going to have to put up with “Messianic Jews” on this blog. Out of respect, I gave way on “C.E.” and “B.C.E.”, but I am not going to type something odd like “Ex-Jews for Jesus” every time I refer to these people. That’s too much to ask.

Here’s a question that occurs to me. Will the Jews ever accept any Messiah, universally? The nature of faith is peculiar; you can believe–or refuse to believe–almost anything. People think faith is more closely tied to logic than it really is. The truth is, your beliefs are shaped by your desires. If the Messiah comes, and the thousand-year Messianic Age begins, will everyone believe, or will there be holdouts? My money is on the second option. I think that if the Messiah came tomorrow, a big percentage of Jews and Christians would refuse to believe it. That’s just how people are.

Right now, there is a big conflict between mainstream Orthodox Jews and a group of people who think the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Schneerson, is the Messiah. He’s dead, and there has been no resurrection. But they still hope. Their beliefs seem crazy to most Jews and nearly all Christians, but I can’t help feeling some sympathy. It can be very hard to figure out what’s true and what isn’t. I’m sure these folks are doing their best. Anyone can make a mistake. Even a mistake that seems incredible to others.

I believe the best proof that people believe what they want is that so many people have supernatural experiences and then ignore them. I can’t do that. If something happened, it happened. I can’t make it go away by pretending otherwise. But I believe most people can do that. I’ll bet there are people who will read this blog post, who have seen something miraculous and then gone on as if nothing had happened. And my opinion is consistent with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar.

This must be one reason we see so few miracles. If you won’t believe without a miracle, a miracle probably won’t help, because your problem is that you prefer not to believe. Isn’t that the big lesson of Exodus? Those people saw miracles every day, yet they still had problems with idolatry and lack of faith. You would think one month of manna would resolve a person’s doubts for life.

I read some interesting stuff the other day. I checked out Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s site. He’s a Messianic clergyman. I believe his mother was a Gentile, and he was raised Orthodox, and then he came to believe Jesus was the Messiah. He has a number of articles posted. Some discuss Satan and demons.

Unlike most Jews and Christians, he rejects the notion that angels are asexual. He believes they can reproduce with human women, and that this is what happened prior to the flood. The idea is this: these beings wanted to taint the bloodline of the Messiah, so they impregnated human women and gave rise to a crop of superhuman beings with unnatural abilities. And the behavior of these beings was disgusting, and they infected mankind with their pride and debauchery, and the flood was necessary to exterminate them.

He says the Jews who created the Septuagint used the Greek term for “Titans” to describe the offspring of the angels. This is translated “giants” in English. But the Titans were figures in Greek mythology. Fruchtenberg says the translators were trying to find a term to describe a race fathered by immortals. He says the Titans were regarded as half human and half god, and I can’t find anything to substantiate that. But the Greek gods did breed with humans.

I found this interesting, because it dovetails with the notion that the apocryphal book of Enoch is legitimate scripture. It appears that it was referred to approvingly in the book of Jude, so you can’t discount it out of hand.

Enoch lived before the flood. He was so righteous, he was assumed into heaven. According to Aaron, the Jews suspect that God assumed him because He feared Enoch was about to commit his first sin.

The book of Enoch is supposedly Enoch’s first-person narrative of his experiences in heaven. There are two parts to the book. One part, frankly, seems nutty. For example, it says lightning bolts are stored somewhere in heaven, which is not exactly credible. But the other part of the book makes a good deal of sense. My suspicion is that the bad part was grafted onto the good part and ought to be discarded.

Enoch says fallen angels came down on Mt. Hermon–the snow-capped mountain at Israel’s northern border–and proceeded to impregnate women and teach men things like metalworking, agriculture, and astrology. I can’t remember all of it. I may re-read it today. But it seems very consistent with Dr. Fruchtenberg’s notions. The book is also full of prophetic material concerning the end of the world. If the book is legitimate, that’s exciting, because prophecy is extremely confusing, and new input would certainly be helpful. Especially if it comports with what we already have before us.

For a long time, I have thought that Mt. Hermon had special significance. I wrote about this a while back. The Banias is at its base. This is an ancient center of pagan worship. The “Ban” comes from “Pan,” who is the physical model for our goat-like conception of Satan. Caesarea Philippi, which was associated with idolatry, was built near the Banias. And it’s where Jesus first claimed to be the Messiah. It’s where his ministry really got going. It’s the place where he told Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” I suspect that beginning his ministry there was a deliberate insult to the god of this world, just as the plagues of Egypt were intended to humiliate that nation’s “gods.”

The Jordan, which has so many symbolic meanings, starts on and around Hermon and runs the length of Israel. Pagans used to pollute it at one of its sources, throwing sacrifices into the water at the Banias. Is it just me, or are those acts sort of reminiscent of the attempt to pollute the human bloodline? Years ago, I came to believe that in the Bible, the water of the Jordan symbolizes humanity.

If you’re not religious, it sounds crazy. If you are, it’s better than Art Bell.

Dr. Fruchtenbaum believes all angels are male. I disagree. In chapter 5, Zechariah mentions female angels. I have another reason to disagree, but I won’t go into it.

Have a good Sunday.

Try as I May

Before I get started, I have something totally irrelevant to share with you. I think I have come up with the name by which Al Gore will be known throughout the centuries. “Pope Prius I.” Let’s get started on those mugs and T-shirts.

With that behind me, let me say that I was moved by the comments I got on last night’s post, in which I noted that my religious posts were being blamed for a fall in traffic. You can see what I wrote about it. I pointed out that there were other factors at work, and that I wasn’t planning to make any changes. I figured heathens would pop up and tell me what a repressive, backward creep I was. But readers, including non-Christians, were surprisingly supportive.

Reader Kim said: “I almost feel like you are minstering to me. And it gives me so much to think about. God is using your gift with words to spread His word.”

It feels great to think I might have done something positive here. I can assure everyone, I am not qualified to be a minister, but I know even ordinary Christians can be of use simply by relating their experiences. If you’re getting anything out of what I write, fantastic.

Km says: “I’m happy that you’re finding greater peace. And I enjoy watching the journey unfold.”

That’s an exemplary comment. I often get comments in which people complain that I don’t do what makes them happy; here is someone who put my welfare first. If you want to know how good your friends are, it’s pretty simple. The more they put your needs ahead of their own and encourage you to improve yourself, the truer they are. I’ve found that friends who consistently take from me and push me to regress eventually have to be set free.

Dan from Madison says: “I can’t speak much to you about your religion. What I can say is that you should tell everyone to pound sand if they don’t like your blog.”

Can’t argue with that. I have often wondered what “pound sand” really means, but I don’t want to explore the topic at the moment.

Aaron says: “Living with someone is a real test on whether you’re walking the walk in private. And it’s a constant opportunity to do kindness. Doing your own dishes can be fine, but relieving a spouse of a chore can be a beautiful act. Less opportunity for that kind of stuff when solo.”

Absolutely true. Religious Jews are collectors and disseminators of wisdom, and Aaron is no exception. About Aaron, Ed Bonderenka says: “What Aaron said: wow. How beautifully put. Your choice of friends (who will be friend to you) reflects on you. Aaron reflects well.”

I could not agree more.

Rightisright says: “I enjoy your gun and cooking posts. I mostly skip over the religious ones. I had the Bible shoved down my throat as a young’un and no longer have a taste for it. That said, I believe most people who identify themselves as Christian are decent, productive citizens.”

Tolerance for Christianity! Completely unfashionable! But I’ll take it.

Keith says: “I will never understand people who try to tell others what to write about.”

Yeah, imagine getting up in the morning and trying to figure out what to write, in order to make your readers happy. Where is the fun in that? It sounds horrible. Although now that I think about it, I know some bloggers who do that and nothing else.

Another Kim says: “I can identify with your reminiscences on past posts or blogs. I regret things I’ve said, emailed and posted. You, graciously, let some go.”

I can beat that. I’ve also forgotten them. Not because I’m gracious. Because I forget EVERYTHING.

Jim says:

“Onward Christian Soldier, Steve.

God, Guns and the Grill. (well, the whole kitchen n’ kaboodle, m’kay?)

I’m in for all of it, to be perfectly blunt. You just keep writing, and I’ll just keep reading.

And enjoying, more with each post.”

Wow, Jim, thanks. Jim is from Texas. Can you tell?

Groverat says: “I, for one, or FWIW, enjoy your blog. You have written some extremely insightful stuff lately. and your comment: “so I don’t worry about pleasing customers” —- just remember, in this life we should be playing to an audience of one, and that is God.”

Thank you for the encouragement.

Mike LaRoche says: “For what it’s worth, I enjoy reading your thoughts on religion. I’ve fallen away from my own faith (Catholic) over the past dozen years or so, but the points you bring up in your religion posts have made me think about what I may have been missing during that time.”

“For what it’s worth”? It’s worth a lot, from where I sit. Here’s my “for what it’s worth”: it seems to me that daily, consistent prayer drives the process and takes much of the difficulty out of it.

Anthony says: “Though I find some of the technical aspects about reloading a total bore, I enjoy your enthusiasm about God and firearms. Especially, since I’m a yank living in England – where firearms, and in some circles God, are in short supply.”

Oh, man. England. Are they as backslidden as the rest of Europe? The technical stuff about reloading is somewhat boring to me, too, and I’m the one writing it. But I get much-needed information that way.

Brian says: “Just some feedback: I visit your site every day because you’re a good writer! I skim the gun stuff. That’s not one of my interests now. I am not a Christian but I enjoy reading your thoughts on religion.”

If you hear about religion from the right person, in the right way, it shouldn’t be unpleasant. Many a non-believer has missed his chance because he got the message in the wrong way or from the wrong person. Such as a conquistador seated on his chest.

Josh R says: “I for one have always read your blog as a “guilty pleasure” I am glad you have turned the corner and tidied up a bit.”

Working on it.

Electro-Dude says: “what keeps me coming back is the hope that one day I’ll once more be able to read about stupid people being eaten by alligators. Those were the golden years my friend, and a category of writing that you made your own.”

Yes, I believe I invented the genre.

J. West says:

1. It’s your blog.
2. Been reading you for a long time.
3. You generally write well, which is interesting in itself.
4. Look forward to reading you one, two years from now.

Thanks. Hope I still have something to say.

Ryan says:

I have my shares of struggles attempting to learn from past mistakes and all but there is true blessing in reading about someone else’s journey. I appreciate that you will present some jewel that I’ve never considered. And I offer my sincere thanks for that.

I steadfast in my conviction that the Lord will always be there for me, and it continues that I am able to enjoy proper discernment. That said, I know that the reason I originally found your site so long ago was the twisted humor of Nigerian spammers and decadent recipes but the true blessing is finding that someone else struggles just as I do.

Lately I have found myself hoping that questionable stuff I wrote in the past would give me an audience before which to reform and write things that were more useful. Maybe it’s happening.

That’s about it.

I keep finding good stuff in The Complete Jewish Bible and The Complete Jewish New Testament Commentary. I can’t recommend this stuff highly enough. If you want something that will make Bible study new and interesting to you, this is it. In fact, even backslidden Christians might enjoy it, just for the history.

I wanted to write about something I saw in there the other day, but I can’t find it. It was about the end times, and how we would venerate youth and have no respect for the old. Has that come true, or what? First rock and roll drove a permanent wedge between the generations. And the misguided Sixties tainted two generations. Now technology is pushing older people out of the mainstream of society. The older you are, the less likely you are to understand technology, and the less competent you seem.

There are few things more perverse or damaging or sinful than disrespect for the old and disproportionate respect for the young. The young know almost nothing. They are full of ideas which seem brilliant to them, but which are actually dangerous, evil, and stupid. When the ideas of the young take precedence, you end up with scenarios like Cambodia under Pol Pot. Things like empathy and patience lose all their value. People are seen as objects. The old find themselves abandoning their hard-won maturity and emulating their ignorant, unseasoned juniors. Cruelty abounds. Maybe that’s why the Internet is so cruel. It’s slanted toward the young.

I wish I could find the reference I’m thinking of. It said something about people in that time having faces like dogs. I thought that was funny, because for the last ten years or so, we have been coping with an epidemic of creepy, convict-style chin beards. They really do make men look like dogs.

Why is it that I’m the only one who has written about our increasing willingness to take fashion cues from prison inmates? Doesn’t anyone else see it? The black tattoos, the chin beards, the shaved heads. Classic convict style. We are emulating the biggest losers in society. Seems like a mistake to me. People have a tendency to become what they imitate.

My impression is that our current youth-worship fad is unprecedented in western history. Am I wrong? I can’t think of a time when so much unwarranted deference was given to flaky, half-baked children.

Reader Susan H. sent a link a while back. I haven’t explored it very well, but it will be of interest to Christians who want to know more about their religion’s Jewish roots. It goes to a site operated by a rabbi named Fruchtenbaum.

Aaron doesn’t like this stuff too much. But it’s not like there are a lot of sources to choose from. If you’re Christian, and you want to learn about the Jewish nature of Christianity, you either go to Messianic Jews or you do without.

Hope some of this proves to be of use.

Blog Traffic is What Really Matters

Got a comment today implying my traffic is slumping solely because I write about religion. Not because I write about guns. That’s not true. People complain about the gun posts. Almost no one complains about the religious posts, but I guess that’s because it’s a touchy thing to criticize, and because most people don’t want to look like they have a problem with God.

Traffic is down for a number of other reasons, too. For one thing, I have cleaned up the blog to some extent. That’s not popular on the Internet. Let’s face it; the Internet is filthy and cruel, and that accounts for a big part of its popularity.

How many of us, twenty years ago, would have expected a day would come when words like “goatse” and “tubgirl” would instantly bring familiar images to mind? Nobody could have seen that coming. The Internet has provided a wealth of information, and it’s a boon to commerce, but it’s also our collective id. Thanks to the Internet, movies of women having sex with dogs and horses are only a credit-card transaction away. The same can be said of kiddie porn or whatever other disgusting entertainment turns you on. Ogrish. Liveleak videos of American GIs being blown apart by snipers. You name it; it’s out there.

We are getting very mean and gross in this country. And the Internet is one reason. Thanks to anonymity and distance, we can say things about people we would ordinarily never dream of saying. Traditional wisdom says that if you can vent your anger harmlessly, you’ll reduce the level of anger you carry during the day. I think that’s completely wrong. It gets you used to expressing anger, so you do it more often.

Back when I was running Huffington’s Toast, I was criticized by my guest writers because I tried to keep things relatively tame. Some of them wanted to pull out all the stops. I didn’t want to be responsible for a site like that. And I felt like I was showing restraint. But in retrospect, I see I wasn’t restrained enough. That applies to most of my history as a blogger, not just the Huffington’s Toast era. Even though I thought I was pulling punches, I published stuff that I now realize went too far. I didn’t do the world a favor by putting that material before the public.

I read something disturbing the other day. It’s funny, how you can think you’re a knowledgeable Christian and then read something in the Bible that takes you by surprise. Somewhere in Matthew, Jesus said people would pay for all their careless utterances. And elsewhere, Paul says not to indulge in filthy talk. I have a pretty serious track record to worry about. I don’t want to make it worse.

These days, many conservatives on the web work very hard to remind people that they’re hip. They use bad language to excess. They make it clear they don’t believe in God. They endorse modern morality, which is to say, the absence of morality. They hide behind cheap, convenient tolerance, trying to turn moral spinelessness into a virtue. I don’t want to get caught up in that, any more than I already have. I don’t smoke dope. I think sex outside of marriage is stupid. I would love to see pornography outlawed. I pray every day, and I don’t really care who knows it. I believe in Satan and demons, just like Jesus did. And I think the urge to be cool is a symptom of severe, crippling immaturity. In fact, I’m completely certain of it. I am trying to grow up a little. It would be nice to see the idea catch on. Maybe it is. I know a few people who seem to be way ahead of me.

I guess I put people off. A lot of people feel extremely uneasy when they hear someone talk about God. I don’t. I know I did in the past, but it was a long time ago, and my memory of the sensation is not good, and I don’t empathize very well with people who still have the feeling. It’s peculiar that it makes people uncomfortable. Why is that? If He created us and wants to make us part of a beautiful plan, shouldn’t the natural thing be to feel drawn to religion? I remember being uncomfortable around preachers and other religious people, but I can’t remember why I felt that way.

I’ve been moving in this direction for a year or two, and I feel better and better as I make progress. When God takes too small a role in my life, I tend to feel like a kid who ate an entire box of chocolates by himself. I do things that I hope will bring me peace and pleasure and so on, but they’re always a little off, somehow. And they usually have a price, the way liquor has a hangover. I tend to feel sated but somehow indebted. When you do the things a Christian does, it’s different. You get better satisfaction, with no aftertaste. The godless life leaves me feeling crusty and tired and grimy, like I need a shower and a clean bed. Living in a more spiritual way leaves me feeling clean and free and nourished. It’s impossible to explain to someone who hasn’t been there, but I suppose many other Christians will know instantly what I mean. It’s not really a sacrifice, and it doesn’t produce a dry, ascetic, puritanical existence. It’s very pleasant. Not something you should feel uncomfortable about.

I think typical Christians think of religion this way: they avoid facing it head-on, the way you would avoid making eye contact with a bum, because they’re terrified that if they get involved, they’ll have to give up all the fun in their lives. The casual sex. The drunkenness. The porn. The selfishness and materialism. They figure they’ll enjoy all this stuff and then count on forgiveness. I’ve felt that way. But it says a lot about your respect for God, doesn’t it? You think He’s smart enough to save you from hell, but not competent to guide your life. If you live like that, you end up leading a pretty meaningless life, and you also miss out on the best aspects of being a living Christian.

Maybe I’ll completely ruin my traffic. I don’t care. I make damn near nothing off of this site, and it’s not a business, so I don’t worry about pleasing customers. I think the most likely thing is that I’ll drive off people who were drawn to my worst traits, and I’ll attract people who are more positive. And like I’ve said before, we are all going to die, SOON, so why should I care about people think of me during my brief time on earth? I am more than halfway done with life, and the years pass faster and faster. Before I know it, it will be over, and what will it matter that people who didn’t know what I knew thought I wasn’t cool?

I haven’t told the whole story. My life has improved tremendously. I have more freedom, and I have power behind me. It’s not hard to live this way, and it’s completely worth it. I hope I don’t give up, the way I did sixteen or seventeen years ago. I’ve even become more open to the idea of marriage, largely because two people can help each other stay on the path.

Read this blog, or don’t. I feel like I’m on the right track.

Links for Bitter Gun-Clingers

Guns and religion are killing my traffic, but they’re what I feel like writing about.

As always, I’m getting useful comments. Some mentioned web destinations. I was thinking maybe I should put up links that have been useful to me. Here are a few, off the top of my head.

1. The Other Side of Kim (Du Toit). Grand Poobah of all web curmudgeons. Proprietor of:

2. The Gun Thing. A forum, which I am way too lazy to check out as often as I should.

3. Anarchangel. Chris Byrne knows his guns, and he is no slouch in the kitchen. Well, he may slouch. I certainly do. But he IS no slouch.

4. Michael Bane. Big-time gun writer who blogs. Blogrolled me; I guess he didn’t get the memo about real-media people having an obligation to ignore bloggers.

5. John R. Lott, one of the two patron saints of intelligent gun statistics.

6. Oregon Trails (Laser Cast) ammunition. Cheap and accurate, as far as I can tell. If you can’t find load data, call or email them and they’ll fax it. Or you can ask me, since I already did that.

7. 1911forum.com. I hate starting a sentence or line with a numeral, but there it is. Lots of good info from 1911 fanatics.

8. Dan’s Ammo. Cheap milsurp ammunition in big cans.

9. Bud’s Gun Shop. I have never bought anything from them, but it’s a great reference to find out if you’re getting a good price on a gun.

10. Midway USA. Lots of gun stuff.

I’m sure I forgot someone.

Sites mentioned to me today:

1. Cap’n Bob has some gun-cleaning info.

2. Culver’s Shooting Page. Haven’t tried it, but I am told it has a great forum.

Just got off the phone with Mike. If you think it’s fun having ADD, wait until you hear one person with ADD trying to help another person with ADD shop over the Internet. If Dante had known about ADD, The Inferno would have been a few pages longer.

Mike wanted advice on a new 1911. I am no expert, but I tried to find reviews and so on. I love the SW1911, and so does he, but he ended up with five choices. Springfield, Dan Wesson, Smith & Wesson, Colt, and Taurus. I hear great things about Taurus’s current production, but he wants his first 1911 to be a nice one, and I didn’t think he should take a chance. Other than that, I thought he had four choices that were hard to beat, at his price point. People say Colt has QC issues these days, however, and my only Colt bears the rumor out, so I mentioned that to him.

The Dan Wesson Pointman looks really nice. Great reviews. It has a number of good outsourced parts in it, plus a match barrel. And Mike used to have a Dan Wesson revolver he treasured. Some idiot stole the revolver and left the three interchangeable barrels that belonged to it. I told Mike I thought he should buy the Dan Wesson just so I could shoot it.

The other option was the Springfield Loaded. Most people seem to love this gun, but I have read some off-putting complaints, too.

I hope he manages to pick something. Mike without guns…it’s just wrong. If you knew Mike, you would understand.

I remember all the fun we had as kids, sitting on the floor at his house, surrounded by loaded guns. And the times he shot his deer rifle in his suburban backyard. How different life is these days. Our parents would be in jail, and we’d be receiving counseling by tabouli-smelling Wiccans working for the county.

Okay, yes, I suppose it’s a bad idea to ignore your kids while they play with your gun collection. But we survived. I shot a neighbor’s kid in the neck once. But that was only a BB gun, and I apologized sincerely. Mike’s brother used to shoot him with a BB gun just for the joy of it. Clearly I was not as bad as I could have been.

Can’t wait till he gets that gun down here. It’s okay, letting your friends use your guns. But it’s much more fun when everyone brings something to the party.

I have a Caldwell HAMMR machine rest on the way. It’s sort of like a Ransom rest, only cheaper. You clamp your gun in it, and it shoots it for you, and you find out whether your gun is any good. The idea is to avoid unnecessary upgrades to guns that already shoot well. Unfortunately, this may prevent me from buying cool new stuff.

Enjoy the links.

Clean Guns, Empty Pockets

Hornady One Shot cleaner and dry lube is one annoying product. On the one hand, it costs nine dollars for five and a half ounces. On the other, it blasts powder off of a gun like nobody’s business, and it leaves a nice dry lubricant behind.

Tonight I tried Bore Scrubber and One Shot, side by side, hoping the Bore Scrubber would compare. But it didn’t. In fact, I used One Shot to rinse off powder deposits the Bore Scrubber left behind.

Midway has Hoppe’s spray at a fairly good price, as well as Break-Free Powder Blast. They also have something called Sharp Shoot R Flush Out citrus degreaser. I may try that.

One thing I noticed: my .45 was pretty nasty when I broke it down, whereas my .38 was remarkably clean. The difference? The powder, I guess. I used No. 7 in the .38 and Unique in the .45.

With One Shot and a Boresnake, I can clean a gun pretty well in 5 minutes. Geez.

Damn that stuff.

This Will Learn me to Shoot

The shooting went well today. In fact, it went too well. With both guns, at 7 yards, I shot bullet after bullet through the same big holes. And I eventually realized I was getting no information at all. When you shoot, you need to know where the bullets are landing so you can tell how well you’re doing. So from now on I’ll be shooting at 50 feet.

Here are 50 rounds from the .45. Better than usual.

Here are 50 from the .38 Super, which felt great but were not quite as good as the .45s.

At 50 feet, things opened up. It seems like the core of the group is good, but there is something I do wrong to drive things off to the side. I only managed to get 48 rounds to work. Sizing issues, I think.

The .38 Super gave me real problems with cycling. The first 50 rounds were okay, and 49 of them were nickel cases. The second 50 were all brass, and I had maybe 10 that wouldn’t chamber. Maybe I’m not bringing the sizing die down far enough. I’ll have to check. But it shot okay. I fooled around with my grip, and while I think Massad Ayoob is right about a tight grip being a good thing, I dont think it has to be as murderously tight as he suggests. The thing that sent the most bullets through the center of the group was a careful trigger pull. That seems to be what I need to work on most.

Now that I can tell where I’m shooting, I hope to see some improvement. I thought I should keep shooting at 7 yards until I was doing considerably better than I am, but now I believe that the lack of feedback from 7-yard targets held me back.

In other news, I backed over my highly tactical shooting box. I was tired, and I put it in the driveway so I would have a shorter roll to the garage, and then I got in the car and backed into it, shoving it a foot or two. No real damage, although it looks meaner now.

Mike has a gun dealer telling him to buy a Springfield Loaded instead of an SW1911. I question that advice. The big selling point of the SW1911 is the large number of high-end parts you get for a mid-range price, plus some of the assembly is done by S&W Performance Shop people. This guy says the Loaded is a better gun for the money. I don’t see how both of those things can be true.

Chris Byrne contradicts my charitable assessment of the Hornady Lock-N-Load AP’s flimsy mounting system, saying it’s a design flaw. He knows more than I do. I better go out to the garage and think up a way to fix it.

Aced my dental checkup today, by the grace of God. I was afraid kosher-for-Passover Coke would do me in, but it looks like I am in the clear for another six months.

I am a Disappointment

I’m going to try to hit the range today, after a fun stop at the dentist’s office. I think I get on his nerves. I failed to go for several years, and he seemed disappointed when I had a perfect checkup. I have been trying to eat more caramel this year, to make it up to him. I blame prayer for my fine dental health. The possibility of a thousand-dollar dental bill is great incentive to pray before a checkup.

People are commenting on the mounting problems with my Hornady press. I don’t think it reflects all that badly on the product. Maybe I should have used thicker lag screws. Other people seem to get it working. A third eye for a bolt at the rear would be nice, but I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say leaving it out was a design flaw.

No time. Must fly.