Life’s Essential Components

Is this my lucky day or what? My weekly Winn-Dixie Internet ad arrived this afternoon.

Boston butt, $1.49! Not bad.

Ground chuck, my favorite type of burger, $1.48!

Hmm…that’s the only exciting stuff this week. Has the gravy train run off the track for good? I certainly hope not.

Reloading is as confusing as ever. First, I was told only to use “published loads.” Then I was referred to websites where any fool can post load data; even to me, that seemed crazy. After that, I found a published load in a reloading journal, and I figured it had to be okay, but a reader is now telling me it’s not good enough that it’s published.

I have been using 5.2 grains of Unique with 230-grain cast round nose bullets, and I said I might like to go up to 6.0. I was told that was a scary amount of powder to use in that load. Okay, no problem. Then I got the reloading magazine, and one of the loads they featured was exactly what I had considered doing. It was 6.0 grains of Unique and the bullet I’m using now. But I’m being warned that it’s not good enough that it was published, and that I should still work up to it. The magazine didn’t publish a minimum and maximum, so I figured 6.0 meant 6.0.

I will never get this stuff figured out.

The Unique thing doesn’t matter, now that I think about it. As things stand now, I think 5.2 is just swell, and I’m not really interested in changing, because it will mean spending more on powder. But I would like to know what I’m doing. In fact, the only change that interests me is trying a new load with HP-38 or Winchester 231, because the reloading magazine guy seemed to like it.

I am wondering if I should get a chronograph. They’re fairly cheap. As I understand it, “reading” cases for pressure signs is a discipline packed with mythology and BS, so I figure the smart thing is to go ahead and find out how fast the bullets go.

The press is giving me fits today. The primers for my .38 Super cartridges keep failing to seat or failing to feed, so powder pours out of the primer holes into the workings of the machine, and it’s just not good. I can’t figure it out. I’m wondering if these cases have smaller holes than the ones I reloaded earlier. I really have to whack the lever to make the primers go in fully, and that’s bad, because it can make a little powder fly out of cases that haven’t had bullets seated in them. Maybe the intelligent thing is to size and prime all of them and then run them through again to add powder and lead.

I am still not happy about the way the press mounts to the bench. It’s bolted down as firmly as possible, and the bench doesn’t flex noticeably, but the press still rises a little in front when I operate it. You would think Hornady would have stuck a third bolt hole on it for people with this problem. I guess I’ll have to come up with my own solution. I want it to be completely solid. Maybe case lube would help, by reducing the force I have to put on the handle.

I found a local range that will rent me a Performance Center 1911, so for twenty bucks, I can find out what all the fuss is about. I think I should do it. If it shoots just like my SW1911, there will be no point in moving to a more expensive gun.

Tomorrow is a range day. Too bad Mike won’t be there. But nobody put a gun to his head and forced him to live in New Hampshire. As far as I know.

In my case, that’s what it would take.

What? No BOWL?

I know everybody is feeling deprived because blogging has been slow. But fortunately, Marv is more industrious than I am.

You Only Need One Blog

My life is finally complete. I received the extra 1911 clips I ordered. Now I can keep the original clips loaded with Gucci ammunition and use the new ones at the range.

Words cannot describe my joy.

I had heard that the SW1911 came with Wilson Combat clips, but the clip I ordered for it is a Wilson, and it’s not like the originals.

I also received the Hodgdon reloading manual. It’s a MAGAZINE. Can someone explain? I guess it doesn’t matter, as long as it works.

Yesterday I was in a bookstore, and I saw a reloading magazine, and it had stuff about lead bullets, so I nabbed it. The dude who wrote the article claims he gets “reliable” loads with Winchester 231, as compared with Unique. I’m not sure what that means. Is it normal to have reliability issues with powder? That would explain why I keep having to pound slugs out of my barrel. Although I thought the main reason might be stupidity.

He published–they count if they’re published–loads including one for 6 grains of Unique and a 230-grain Laser-Cast bullet. I suppose that means I don’t have to be scared of my 5.2-grain loads. A while back, some readers were questioning my admittedly ignorant idea about going up to 6 grains. Looks like the question is answered.

Mike is on the way from Delray. If at all possible, we’ll shoot. Trail Glades is not open, but there’s an indoor place where I can rent a Performance Center Smith & Wesson 1911. You know I can’t pass that up. I have to see if superior iron makes a difference.

More excitement: I harvested two tomatoes. Brandywine and Dr. Wyche’s. I am really crazy about those Dr. Wyche’s. Hard to describe the flavor. Usually yellow tomatoes are a little bland, but these, which are a bit orange, have a lot of character. I hope I can get them to produce indoors.

I was busy with something tedious earlier today. I expect to be able to get back to writing tomorrow. In the meantime, watch this educational video provided by reader Steve B.

Obama Season!

When Mike is in town, discipline goes out the window. I eat too much. I forget to water my plants. And yesterday, I didn’t spend nearly enough time acknowledging God. On the plus side, Mike and I had a long and productive conversation about our beliefs. That was worth a lot.

I got behind on my blogging, too, which is sad, because Hillary Clinton apparently threatened to shoot Barack Obama. Do I have my facts wrong? Details have never been my thing.

I think now we know what she really wants to do to staffers who look her in the eye when she passes. On the up side, it looks like she is making a twisted sort of progress with regard to her views on gun control.

We can’t let this woman become President. Her staff hung condoms on the White House Christmas tree. Condoms! OUR tree! If we’re going to elect a person like that, why don’t we just paint big bullseyes on our roofs, along with the words “Plague and earthquake here, please”?

People tell me God doesn’t punish people like that any more. He doesn’t? Oooooookay. I guess the long list of hideous, incurable, behavior-related diseases is just an incredible set of coincidences. Cervical cancer, lung cancer, cirrhosis, morbid obesity, diabetes, hepatitis C, herpes…coincidence after coincidence.

I have been told AIDS isn’t a plague. If AIDS doesn’t qualify, someone tell me what does. If AIDS isn’t a plague, then the word “plague” should be removed from the dictionary, because it is impossible for any disease to make the cut.

Not only is AIDS a plague; it’s a laser-guided plague with very limited collateral damage. You have to be pretty unlucky to get it without doing something immoral. It’s not like smallpox or the bubonic plague, which don’t discriminate on the basis of morality.

Some people say the “fear” part of “God-fearing” actually refers to a warm, fuzzy feeling. Maybe so, but I am trying to cultivate a healthy fear of judgment. I think this is one of my big deficiencies. There was nothing warm or fuzzy about what happened to Jezebel or the prophets Elisha fried alive or the people of Sodom. I am not anxious to cause myself problems by thinking of God as a giant teddy bear.

I used to think the US was blessed because we helped deliver the Jews out of the hands of the Nazis. Lately, I’ve started to think we’ve actually been punished, for turning them away before the war. Not just the people on the St. Louis, whom we sent to die in the gas chambers. But Jews, generally. We kept them out. I believe that may be why we ended up losing so many men in bloody wars, and why the children of the GI generation turned out to be so immoral and so damaging to America. Why we suffered the cancer called the Sixties.

Did you know American universities used to have Jew quotas? Robert Oppenheimer, who was to other geniuses as Muhammad Ali was to Chuck Wepner, had to get by a quota to do undergrad work at Harvard. I wish I had all the facts in front of me, to help you understand how nutty that is. This is a person who graduated with a degree in chemistry (while auditing several courses in addition to his normal courseload) and then got a Ph.D. in physics in a single year. You just don’t do that. And Richard Feynman was kept out of Columbia by a quota.

It occurred to me the other day that no one ever mentions what should be the most obvious cost of keeping Jews out of the country. We could have taken in millions. Think what that would have meant. Think of what we lost. Scientific advances. Great music. Distinguished judges. Inventions. Jews get something like 20% of the Nobel prizes. Wouldn’t that figure be higher if Hitler hadn’t killed a third of them? And if they had had American money, backing their advances? And wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in the country where the additional discoveries were made?

God told Abraham the world would be blessed through his seed, and He wasn’t kidding, and He wasn’t just referring to the Messiah.

I wonder how different life would be, if not for the achievements we prevented by closing our doors. What diseases might be curable. What technology we might have. How many Oppenheimers and Einsteins and Bohrs and von Neumanns and Rubinsteins and Cardozos and Salks and Tellers did we send into the crematoria?

The US is the friend of the Jews. But it hasn’t been a very good friend. And we have paid a price.

Anyway, I’m very sorry to hear that Senator Clinton is now hoping her enemies get shot by white supremacist militia nuts. A critical person might say this reflects a certain degree of desperation and conceivably, a tiny deficit in the empathy department.

Or Were They Always Lame?

Arduous day today. Mike and I went to the range, and we had to sit through a safety class so he could get his range ID. Then we shot a whole bunch of .357 and .45 rounds.

I thought shot well under the circumstances. It was gusty all day, and then in the middle of the session, a steady wind kicked up, so strong it blew targets out of their frames. It was one of those winds that are so forceful that if you aren’t ready, you may have to take a step to keep your balance.

I’ve about had it with wind at the range. I don’t know what the explanation is; Miami isn’t naturally windy. Winter and spring are always worse than summer and fall, but I didn’t realize May could be this bad.

In years past, when I heard people talking about the effects of wind on ballistics, I thought they were only talking about the wind’s power to make bullets drift. But the wind also shakes you while you’re aiming, and if you’re shooting a pistol from an unsupported standing position, it’s exasperating.

I did okay anyway, but I am too lazy to post photos. Mike hasn’t shot in a long time, and he was frustrated, but I would say he was still the third-best shot on the pistol side. He had problems with flyers, but the central shot-out area on his targets was maybe the size of a fist. If he ever gets himself situated so he can shoot once in a while, he’ll be a great shooting partner.

Someone sent me info about the IDPA, which has competitive matches. I signed up. Why spend all my time slow-firing at motionless targets, if I can get an opportunity to do something with more variety?

I would love to get some work, writing for gun publications. I suppose the more experience I have, the more likely that is to happen.

I have read a little bit about IDPA competitions. They expect you to use real-world skills, drawing a gun you might carry on an ordinary day and shooting it at targets that pop up unexpectedly. They say a number of people have had bad surprises while doing this. Guns that they loved at the range turned out to be high-maintenance in competition, and that would have affected their use on the street.

Kind of makes me wonder if a semi-auto is the way to go for something like this. I have seen experts claim that semi-autos are so great these days, they’re just as reliable as revolvers. But I’ve never had a revolver refuse to fire, except when the ammunition failed. Never. I think every one of my automatics has failed. Not positive about the .38 Super and the Glock 26.

Wouldn’t you know it; this issue comes up just as I develop an interest in a large-frame .357 Magnum revolver. My .357 is 6″ long and holds 7 shots and has a medium frame. The Smith & Wesson Model 627 has a 5″ barrel, holds 8 shots, and has a large frame, which should last forever. This sounds wonderful to me. I think 4″ is a little short, and 6″ is a little long. And I have read that medium-frame .357 revolvers aren’t quite as sturdy as they should be for the .357 round. And 8 shots…sweet, if you’re using it in combat competion with 7+1 and 8+1 automatics.

Speaking of the .357, which is just about my favorite caliber, it’s really hard to find free brass. It turns out almost all of the people I see shooting beautiful .357 revolvers at the range are using puny .38 shells. I just don’t get it. Why spend the extra money on a heavy .357, if you’re going to shoot girly ammunition? The obvious answer: you want a gun that looks cool, but you aren’t willing to take the time to learn how to shoot the round it was designed for. Geez. Why not buy a .30-06 and rig it up to shoot BBs?

You can get a perfectly nice .38 from Smith & Wesson for over a hundred bucks less than a .357.

I know people say they like shooting .38 Special rounds because it’s easier on their hands. But that doesn’t explain why they buy the Magnum pistols in the first place. I’m sure the .38 pistols shoot just as well. Are they trying to hide the already-wimpy recoil of the .38 round in the mass of the bigger gun? I suppose that makes some sense, but you can buy a pretty big .38.

You can’t tell me people train with .38 and then load with .357 for defense. Well, maybe you can. But that would be a bad idea. The difference in recoil is tremendous. And the .357 is much louder. If you’re used to shooting weak ammunition, you’re going to have to learn to shoot all over again when the burglar breaks down your door. And you’ll have about two seconds to do it.

Speaking of burglars, I’m thinking I should get some electronic hearing protectors that only muffle very loud sounds. Why? Because if a burglar comes into your house, you’ll want to hear everything he does. But you won’t want to ruin your hearing when you shoot him.

I think most people I see shooting .38 rounds in .357 pistols are doing it for two reasons. First, it’s cheaper. Second, they don’t really know what they’re doing or care to learn. They’re casual shooters who have shown up just to have a good time.

I have guns that are hard to shoot (.50 AE, .357), and I have guns that are easy to shoot (9mm, .45, .38 Super), and my experience so far tells me you can shoot an easy gun well after training with a difficult gun, but the reverse is not true. For example, today I shot the .357 first, and it was challenging, because it’s heavy and the trigger is hard to pull. Then I shot the .45, and I felt like I was using a squirt gun. When I used to start out with the .50, the .357 felt like a squirt gun. Using the difficult guns made the easy ones less of a problem. I think if I had endless ammunition and range time, I’d start every session with a box of .50 AE and then go to .357 before shooting my more practical guns.

The other day my dad asked me about the recoil of the .45, and I didn’t know what to tell him. I don’t notice it any more. I couldn’t tell him whether the .45 or the .38 Super kicked harder. I had no idea. I still don’t. The .357 and the .50? Those, I notice. Especially when the huge cans they call .50 Action Express brass nail me in the forehead.

The gun show was fun, but ultimately disappointing. The 1911 selection was bad, and the prices weren’t good. It was like these guys had never heard of the Internet. Example: Colt Special Combat Government model: $1670. The first place I find in a Google search sells it for $1600. No tax. I just found another place: $1480. And I should spend $1670? Are you kidding me? The tag said $1690, and I asked the kid the real price, and he acted like he was thinking, and then he had the gall to say $1670. Bad price. Bad salesmanship. If you’re going to put a bogus price on something and then drop it to impress rubes, you don’t drop it by one percent.

I saw virtually no reloading stuff. That was a bummer.

Mike was considering buying at the show, but it just wasn’t worth it. I didn’t get the impression that the vendors were trying to move merchandise by offering special gun show prices. I got the impression that the vendors were trying to take advantage of impulse buyers, to sell things at their usual prices. Or worse.

I can’t say that about every vendor. Only a couple where I looked at pistols. I saw what looked like a very good deal on an aluminum-receiver Tommy gun. I asked the guy if it was aluminum. He said, “It’s alloy.” Clearly irritated. Hey, I apologize for knowing your gun isn’t steel. It’s not my fault I can read. And the Auto-Ordnance website says “aluminum.”

The show was small, too. Maybe that killed the competitive urge among the vendors.

Fair place to buy trinkets like Boresnakes. Guns? Not so much.

Great day anyway.

Saturday is Shaping Up

I believe I am headed for a pretty decent day.

Mike will be in town, and we plan to hit the gun show with George Moneo. With any luck, I’ll manage to assist Mike in choosing a pistol. I think his brain is fried from Google shopping. Last night he said he had settled on a Beretta 1911.

If the weather holds out, there will be range time. And regardless, there will be pizza.

I’m putting together a shopping list for the show. I hope they have reloading stuff, because it’s the one category of gun crap I can’t buy economically on the web. Jug of Unique, jug of No. 7, a few primers, and I’ll be all set.

I may look–LOOK–at Les Baers and PC1911s. But I won’t buy. Oh no. I won’t.

Shut up.

Hard to beat a pleasant Saturday with good friends. Hope your weekend is as enjoyable as mine.

Hey, check out the Military Channel, if you want to get in the Memorial Day frame of mind. Their documentaries will really help you appreciate the tremendous sacrifice our soldiers have made in order to buy us freedom and wealth.

Dang It

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein just put up some information explaining the Jewish calendar, and how it’s based on religion.

Here’s something of interest to Christians:

We are in the midst right now of one of those minor observances. The Counting of the Omer, based on a biblical mandate in Leviticus 23, is a seven-week period extending from the second night of Passover until the night before the holiday of Shavuot. (An omer was a unit of measure in biblical times – on the second night of Passover, an omer of barley was brought to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem). Jews count these days to remind themselves that the physical liberation remembered on Passover was not complete until we received spiritual liberation through the gift of God’s word, an event remembered on Shavuot.

To Spirit-filled Christians, this is a “forest for the trees” moment. Many events in the life of Christ were associated with existing Jewish holy days. Passover is associated with the Crucifixion. Shavuot is Pentecost. It’s the day when God changed the world forever, by making the power of the Holy Spirit available to every Christian. It’s easy for a Christian to see how the original Passover and the handing down of the Torah (Shavuot) presage Jesus making salvation available to all men and then providing for the gift of the Holy Spirit, which, Christians believe, is what the Hebrew Bible refers to when it says that one day God will write his law on men’s hearts.

Seems obvious to Christians. But if you’re Jewish, this all sounds silly or just blasphemous.

“The physical liberation remembered on Passover was not complete until we received spiritual liberation through the gift of God’s word, an event remembered on Shavuot.” I know Christians got a kick out of reading that. Because the salvation provided by the Crucifixion was only part of the story. The completion was our own spiritual liberation, which occurred on Pentecost. That’s the part of the Gospels the world hates the most and fights the hardest to hide and slander. I’ll bet the vast majority of Christians think salvation is what Christianity is all about. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the other half of the gift, and here on earth, it’s the part where all the power comes from. It’s what enables you to live a good and powerful Christian life. It beats things like addiction and habitual sin, it fixes families, it heals the sick, it teaches, it makes you kinder and more patient and more industrious…it’s the difference between a disciple and an apostle.

Rabbi Eckstein said something funny in a video. He talked about a Christian who informed him that to Christians, the near-sacrifice of Isaac–or maybe it was the Passover sacrifice–presages the sacrifice of Christ. He said it was a beautiful analogy, and he seemed very surprised to hear it. I, in turn, was surprised. Learning that a scholarly Jew who studied Christians and worked with them every day hadn’t heard about this giant landmark notion (whichever it was) in Christian theology. Through the work of people like Rabbi Eckstein, Christians are learning a lot about Jews and Judaism. But it looks like the knowledge isn’t flowing the other way with the same speed.

I guess that makes sense. Christians believe in the Hebrew Bible, and many understand that Jews can help them figure out what it means. Jews think the New Testament is a mistake and a source of persecution. I suppose they don’t have much motivation to learn about it. The Bible says that a day will come when ten Gentiles will grab the hem of a Jew’s garment and ask to be taught about the Torah. It probably doesn’t say anything about ten Jews asking a gentile about Jesus.

The problem of proselytizing is a big one, because it causes such friction between Jews and Christians. And Christians have done crazy, cruel, sick things in the belief that they were winning souls. I used to feel frustrated because I couldn’t persuade a single person. But I now think pressuring people is completely wrong. I can’t think of an example of anyone doing it in the New Testament, with the exception of Jesus and John the Baptist. They were highly critical of Jews who wouldn’t listen. But they had great authority, and they were speaking to people within their own religion. Are there other examples?

I believe it generally worked like this. People went to various cities, and they spoke publicly, and they tried to lead exemplary lives that would draw converts who envied them, and whoever believed, believed. And that was it. Nobody threatened to execute people who refused to convert. I don’t think there are any examples of harassing pedestrians and telling them they were going to hell.

People criticize Rabbi Eckstein because he’s hostile to proselytizing. However, if memory serves, he has said he has no problem with witnessing. Which is different, I believe. You just speak the truth about what you’ve seen, in the appropriate context. That’s about the best I can do, so his attitude is consistent with my efforts.

His attitude toward proselytizing becomes easier to understand when you realize it has its roots in things like the Inquisition.

To a Christian, Passover is all about Jesus. The lamb as Christ. Eating the entire lamb and breaking none of its bones, as reflections of the prophecies that the Messiah would not be permitted to rot and that none of his bones would be broken. The blood as Christ’s blood. The homes on which the blood was smeared as the bodies of believing Christians. The leaven as sin; especially pride. The unleavened bread as the body of the sinless Messiah. Pharaoh as Satan. Moses as Jesus. The exodus from Egypt as salvation. One obvious parallel after another. To a Jew, though, I guess all this sounds like the nutty stories Charles Manson used to tell his “family” about the end of the world.

In the end, you believe what you want to believe. Like Abraham said in the parable of Lazarus.

Memorial Weekend Mitzvah

Aaron’s boss, Howard W., is going in for surgery. He has had a lot of abdominal surgery already, and he has a new infection that has to be removed.

Please say a prayer for his uneventful recovery.

I am too Stupid to Keep Fish

I finally managed to make myself clean my aquarium. What a drag.

When I started keeping fish two years ago, it was a breeze. I could do no wrong. My plants grew. My fish were healthy. Everything was swell. Then tuberculosis hit the tank, and my fish started dropping dead. And I got weird staghorn algae and a plague of snails. And the loaches I bought to eat the snails turned out to be vegans.

I ended up with only maintenance fish. Otocincluses. A Chinese algae-eater. And three loaches. And the tank looked like an algae display at a horticultural park. So today I took everything out and bleached the tank. My remaining fish are in a glass vase with 2 gallons of water. I believe I threw out an elusive Otocinclus with the dirty gravel.

Fish are fun when they work, but mine have been hopeless for quite some time. I don’t know what all I did wrong. I think I started the ball rolling downhill by getting overconfident and going a long time between water changes. I feel like I gave it the old college try. And I would like to have my three square feet of wasted space back.

Problem: what to do with the remaining fish?

I have killed zillions of fish without a second’s thought. I have crushed their skulls with clubs. I have tossed them in fish boxes to suffocate. I have run hooks through them and used them for live bait until they died. Frankly, I think fish do not suffer. Many times, I’ve seen mortally wounded fish–even fish heads–continue to behave normally. On top of that, the disciples killed fish by the tens of thousands, and Jesus endorsed the use of hooks. I think I should toss a handful of ice cubes in with these fish and let them drift off to Slumberland. But it seems coldhearted. I know absolutely no one I could give them to. Maybe a pet shop would take them.

In other news, Mike has tentatively decided to look for an SW1911 at the gun show. I had a hell of a time getting him to narrow his choices. I’m attention-deficient, but Mike is so bad, he actually asked me for help making a decision. Hopefully we’ll get to put in some range time this weekend.

New Career Direction or Temporary Insanity?

Hold onto your chairs and plant both feet firmly on the floor. I have shocking news. I have an urge…to buy a gun.

No, I’m serious. I really do. I know it sounds crazy.

I feel like my shooting has improved to the point where a more accurate gun would make a noticeable difference. The holes I’m shooting in my targets haven’t gotten much smaller, but they’re a little smaller, and sometimes they reflect 50 shots instead of the 25 I used to shoot. When you shoot 50 rounds instead of 25, your groups should get bigger, not smaller.

It’s hard to know how accurate guns are from reading reviews. If I were to believe reviews, I would guess that my 1911s will shoot about a 3″ group at 75 feet. That’s more or less what the SW1911 does in reviews, and the Colt shoots as well as the SW1911. BUT…gun writers are not great with science. I believe they’re talking about “best groups” when they publish these figures, and they only include three shots. I have a feeling that 50 shots would paint a different and less flattering picture. I suspect that the real figure is something like twice 3″. Discounting bad groups is bad science.

With either 1911 and a full clip, I can probably wound you reliably at a hundred yards. If you’re pretty fat and you don’t move. I extrapolate from my short-range results. That’s really good effectiveness, for a pistol. At least in my opinion. But at any range above 25 yards, all I can count on is hitting a person somewhere on his upper body. A more accurate gun would presumably be more effective, at long range.

Let me stress that I have absolutely no interest in shooting people. But I have a lot of interest in being able to shoot people, so I have some say in whether I or another innocent crime victim gets to live or die. So it makes sense to use the human body as a model when I talk about accuracy.

You can get a Les Baer 1911 guaranteed to have 1 1/2″ accuracy at 50 yards, with certain ammunition. I suppose if the gun is inherently that accurate, there is no way I would ever get good enough to have the size of my groups significantly affected by the failings of the gun. It would not be cheap. But I should never need to buy another 1911 for target purposes. Barring weird race guns.

Smith and Wesson makes a couple of Performance Center guns that are very nice, and Colt makes Special Combat models and other highly accurate pistols. I don’t know if I’d trust Colt, but my SW1911 and my 686 are the loves of my life. Seems like these and the Baer guns are the best choices below a certain price. Although you have to pay Baer extra money to get the 1 1/2″ guarantee. I’m inclined to think the Smith is the best choice.

I have learned to read between the lines when I read gun articles, and I’ve also learned to pay no attention to accuracy claims made by people whose targets I haven’t seen. About 3% of shooters shoot well. The rest don’t actually know whether their guns are accurate. To a person who shoots pie-size groups at 7 yards, a change to softball-size groups may seem like great accuracy. But it doesn’t tell you anything about the gun. I think you have to put a gun in a clamp or turn it over to a very fine shooter in order to learn anything about its accuracy.

Whatever I get, I can tell you this. It probably won’t be a .38 Super. I love my Colt, but with a .45 you get free brass for life. And I can’t tell any difference in accuracy or ease of shooting.

I’ll see what they have at the show. Maybe I can get a deal. On the other hand, maybe I should buy a Ransom rest instead. Maybe my guns are already super-accurate, and I don’t know it.

Hmm…Caldwell makes a machine rest I can get for $125. That sounds smarter than blowing $1500+ on a gun, on the mere suspicion that it will help.

People are congratulating me on not maiming myself with the cheesy round that failed to exit the SW1911 yesterday. I still can’t explain it. I had great confidence in the charges. The Lock-N-Load AP is designed so the filled cartridge rotates into your line of vision before you seat the bullet, and you can look into each cartridge. I am sure I did that, but I was more worried about overcharges than undercharges, so maybe I passed a round or two that clearly weren’t overfilled, yet weren’t right.

Somebody in the comments expressed surprise that I wouldn’t notice the difference in the feel of the round going off. Hey, that’s ADD for you. It doesn’t mean you can’t concentrate. People with ADD often have super-fantastic concentration. The difficulty is in deciding what to concentrate ON. So it makes sense that I would forget the noise and recoil while thinking about grip, sight picture, stance, trigger pull, follow-through, and so on.

When I was a kid, I used to exasperate my mother because I could never hear her when I was reading.

Maybe a powder checker is a good idea after all. I’m pretty sure overcharges will never be a problem for me, but undercharges appear to be a threat.

I keep thinking I would like to get into gun writing. I am not the world’s greatest gun authority, but I have a few other assets. As a lawyer, I can write with some intelligence regarding second amendment issues. As a former scientist, I have some hope of understanding ballistics. And maybe I can sell myself as a humorist. If I could just figure out where to look for opportunities. I’ll be working on that.

Except When They Stay in the Barrel

The range was a great experience today. I shot my .38 Super and .45 ACP reloads. I already knew my .45s were wonderful, but it turned out the .38s shoot very well, too. I was pleased.

The only irritating thing is that it seems like I invariably open up my groups with the last 10 shots, spoiling some very pretty targets.

I am pretty sure this is 30 shots from the Colt .38 super, at 7 yards. It’s roughly 30, anyway. I noticed today that some flyers seem to appear no matter how well you do your job. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just me, but I had one shot that was way off, and I was extremely confident I was doing things right when I pulled the trigger. Someone who knows more about guns might be able to tell me. I always thought gun writers were making excuses when they said semiautomatics produce their own flyers occasionally. I know it’s possible I dinged a bullet during manufacture, or that I undercharged a round. I don’t think fouling was a problem. These babies should have been running close to 1200 fps, and I saw nothing of interest in the barrel when I cleaned the gun.

I got out the SW1911, and I thought it shot great. And of course, the group opened up at the end of the set. Fifty rounds:

Here are about 20 more rounds from the .38. I think I was concentrating badly here.

I started the last set with the .45, but a round stopped up the gun. I thought I had some casings that were too fat to chamber, but when I stripped the gun at the podium, I found that a slug was just past the chamber, and it was keeping the next round from chambering. Thank God. I don’t know how it happened. Undercharge, I guess? Anyway, there was no damage to the gun. No ringing. When I got home, I shoved the dowel from a mullet boner (look it up) into the gun and popped the round out, and after cleaning, everything was swell. Scared me, however.

I have to reiterate my concern about not knowing whether rounds have cleared the muzzle. As you can see, I was shooting through the same hole over and over, getting no feedback from the gun or target except for recoil and noise. I guess the undercharge fooled me when it went off. Maybe that’s because I concentrate too hard to really hear what the gun is doing. I wish I had a target that always told me where the bullets landed. Trail Glades won’t let you use multiple bullseyes any more. If they did, I could divide the rounds up among them, reducing the “same hole” problem.

Here are 50 more from the .38 Super, along with two or three .45s.

I shot next to a cop today. He was dressed in black (sunny and 90+ today), including SWAT boots, and he was wearing an H&K shirt. Had a badge on his belt, which seems like an odd thing to do at the range. Not a great shooter. I felt a little self-conscious, but after all, I went there to do my best. I think I could have helped him a lot. He leaned way forward. His gun must have been shaking all over the place. He looked cool, however.

I think people show up at the range, point the gun, and pull the trigger, without even thinking about studying or asking for tips. I used to do that. It’s a big waste of time and money. If you want to hit anything, you have to think about technique. I help anyone who asks me, although I am not qualified to teach. I tell them what works for me. I wish I knew how to not shoot to the left.

I really don’t understand cops who shoot badly. They get free ammunition and range time, and I’m sure they get training. And I know a lot of them like to shoot, because they show up at the public range with big boxes of ammunition and very pretty guns. It must be ego. They must be too proud to ask for help. Which doesn’t make much sense. You would think they would be too proud to let themselves shoot poorly. Their messed-up targets aren’t exactly invisible.

I ask for advice here, I read websites, I read books, and I pray for help. I may ignore your advice once I’ve heard it, but I do think about it.

I found out Miami is finally having a gun show. I never thought it would happen. I haven’t been to one in years. Hope it doesn’t stink.

I think I learned a few things today. For one thing, I tend to lean forward when I shoot, ruining my balance. So when I find myself doing that, I stop and fix my stance. My trigger pull is too slow; it takes so long, sometimes I start to shake, or I lose my sight picture, or my concentration fades. And I worked on keeping my weak fingers tight.

I don’t know if it’s possible for me to shoot much better than I am right now, with these sights and these targets. Once the center of the target is gone, I lose my point of aim. And the sights force you to guess where your POA is, within a circle, on the target, which is over an inch in diameter. And I don’t think I can reduce my natural shaking much more. If you’re alive, you’re going to shake a little. My guess is that if I keep working at it, I may be able to reduce the size of my groups by a third, but I don’t think I can get more accurate than that.

I don’t know why these Laser-Cast bullets are so accurate. I tried to choose the optimal diameters. Not much choice with the .45s, but I didn’t have to pick .356 for the .38.

Accurate No. 7 powder seems cleaner than Unique. It doesn’t matter. Unique isn’t filthy enough to be a problem. I’m shooting about 5.2 grains of Unique in the.45 rounds, and 8.2 grains of No. 7 in the .38 rounds.

Best achievement of the day: I killed two horseflies and smeared their guts on the pavement. MAN, I hate those things. I had to wear bug repellant, so I was afraid to drive my own car, which has leather seats. I had to borrow my father’s SUV.

I keep thinking about the new Colt Peacemaker clones they’re making these days, and how much fun it would be to have one. Then I ask myself: how do you hit anything with those crappy sights?

I also want a Colt Woodsman clone. But I don’t think they’re on the market yet. If I had any idea which grandchild ran off with the one my grandfather had, I’d make a cash offer.

I used Hornady One Shot to clean the 1911s. It hurts to say this about a product that costs so much, but that crap is incredible. It seems to dissolve powder much better than Gun Scrubber, although I haven’t tried them side-by-side. If I knew of a way to spray Hoppe’s with force and precision, I think I’d use that instead, but their aerosol is probably expensive, too. One Shot blows the crap out of your gun fast, and to get lubrication at the same time, you just wipe the residue off the parts where you DON’T want lubrication. The rest will have a nice silicone film on them. I left some of the film on the SW1911, which has a matte finish. But I used denatured alcohol to take it off the bright-finish Colt.

That’s the range report. God bless America.

Ask Pharaoh

I found an answer to my question regarding a way to store my spare magazines. If you enter “sunglasses pouch” in the Google Products form, you get microfiber drawstring pouches for 78 cents. That is pretty hard to beat. I would get them locally, but I have no idea who has them, and I would blow four dollars in gas just to find out. Then I’d have to pay tax.

I think the oil problem is going to crush bricks-and-mortar retailers. In the past, when you shopped online, you got better information, lower prices, and no tax. Now you get to save significant gas money. Tell me why I should ever leave the house again.

Very bad news, if you ask me. People will lose businesses and jobs. And what happens in the future when a hostile power effortlessly destroys our communications satellites and cables? Instant disruption of electronic shopping and transactions. Economic chaos.

In the meantime, good deals abound.

My great hope is that the oil mess is like the housing mess. Greatly inflamed by deranged speculators. Exacerbated deliberately by Muslims angry over our support of the only civilized nation in the Middle East. Temporary. People are saying it’s going to get worse, forever. I don’t see how that’s possible. It’s not like world demand for oil instantly increased to a degree that justifies current prices. Things are getting tighter, but we–the human race–could still pump and refine enough oil to meet demand, if we tried. And eventually, we will have to acknowledge that nuclear power is clean, safe, cheap, and abundant. A lie can’t persist for eternity. Some people say nukes are no good because it takes 20 years to build a plant. I say it takes that long because we’re not motivated. Kick the greenies out of the way, stop humoring the hysterical, and it probably takes more like three years. It didn’t take us 20 years to build the first plant at Hanford, when we were trying to create the first atom bomb. I very much doubt the construction of safe modern plants takes other countries 20 years.

I like to think our current hardships are a labor pain, to remind us of the horrors that lie ahead as the second coming approaches. Human beings increasingly accept the conceit that they run the world and that they can solve their own problems. In reality, God runs everything. If we have good harvests, if we have oil, if we have economic strength, it isn’t because Americans are superior. It’s because God chose to give these things to us. And He can take them away in a heartbeat. Maybe God is giving us a little prod to remind us that we can’t celebrate sexual perversion and let Israel down and indulge in idolatry and generally offend Him without losing our blessings. Lately we’ve been becoming more like Godless Europe. So it’s only natural that we should get a taste of their economic inferiority.

Could be worse. We could be on our way to slavery in Babylon, in chains. What has happened to us so far is pretty mild.

The global warming myth is probably the most ridiculous example of man’s belief that he is a god. Aside from the bad science, who could possibly believe in God and also think man could control the weather? Remember the book of Genesis. Who gave the Egyptians lean years and fat years? It wasn’t Halliburton.

I think our behavior has gotten so bad, we’re teetering on the line between “blessed” and “cursed.” The bad things that threaten to occur now are so ridiculous and avoidable, yet so possible, that they can’t be anything but the result of divine action. Who could be dumb enough to believe in ethanol, knowing it has to cause starvation and that it won’t help with our energy problems? Nobody with any common sense. Yet here we are, with food prices skyrocketing because we invested in this absurd, suicidal project. What nation could be dumb enough to refrain from using its own vast energy reserves, or from developing adequate refining capacity? Yet here we are, with gasoline threatening to hit twelve dollars per gallon and our own oil and uranium still in the ground.

Seems to me that one sign that a misfortune is due to a curse is that it happens even though it appears to be something that could be easily avoided. If man is so powerful and so smart, these things should not be happening. But they are.

In Exodus, God sent ten plagues to Egypt, and some scholars believe each one was intended to humiliate a particular Egyptian false deity, by destroying the particular blessings that false deity was believed to provide. Maybe what’s happening to us now is intended to humiliate the worst false deity of all. Man.

The other day I saw Dagen McDowell and Ben Stein on Fox, claiming we needed eleven-dollar gasoline. NEEDED. These are supposed to be experts. Imagine what life would be like if their prayers were answered. Bedroom communities all over America would be destroyed, because no one would be able to get to work. The wealth contained in the real estate in those communities would be annihilated; it would be as though it had never existed. Retail sales would shrivel. Food prices would climb out of sight, and production would plummet. Factories would close. Manufacturers would shut down. Goods would be unavailable. McDowell says mass transit is the answer. Tell that to people who live where mass transit does not exist, and where it’s not practical. And how do you build new mass transit with an economy destroyed by expensive energy? Where does the money to build it come from? Let me guess. Higher taxes. On people who no longer earn enough to contribute anything significant. You can’t starve the golden goose and then jack up the egg quota.

Economic prosperity comes from consumption. No sales? No prosperity. It’s that simple. And obvious. Yet intelligent people somehow believe the opposite. How can that happen, if something beyond the natural is not at work?

Some people say conservation is the answer. Some say increased production is the answer. Fundamentally, refraining from offending God is the answer. The world is too complicated for man to run. Without help from above, we can expect nothing but defeat. One of the big lessons I’ve learned over the last few years is that when things go badly for me, the way to start fixing them is to examine my own behavior and attitudes. Generally, that’s where the cause lies. And the same applies to Americans as a whole.

Trinidad Scorpion Pepper

I said I would try a Trinidad Scorpion pepper today, and I am true to my word. I just ate a slice the size of a Lifesaver. I only have two ripe pods, and they’re both small, so I cut through the middle of one and hoped for the best.

It doesn’t seem all that hot when you chew it, but once it gets going, it just won’t stop. It gets hotter and hotter and hotter for like five minutes. It has a nice, sweet, fruity taste, but after a while, you forget all about that and just want to die.

I can’t say it’s the hottest pepper I’ve ever had. I think my white habaneros and fataliis are worse. And for some reason, the fatalii heat jumps on you instantly; I’m not the only one who has noticed this.

I had an idea while I was eating it. Chili made with pork and apples. I don’t think beef would work with apples. I’m kind of stuck on the beans, though. I like beans in my chili; I’m not sure they’ll work with apples. Maybe white beans.

I feel better now, but I’m staying close to the bathroom. I’m not crazy.

I think this is a useless pepper, unless you have the tolerance of a cast iron bathtub. But it’s fun to have around, since it’s rare and legendary. Some believe it’s hotter than the bhut jolokia.

I have a number of huge pods about to get ripe. Seeds will be available.

Victory is Mine

I managed to generate 100 rounds of .38 Super ammunition. I hope it works.

Setting up the press was not too bad, although it seems like the decapping pin works best when it extends a lot farther than the manual says. The little 9mm bullets are harder to get a grip on than big ol’ .45 slugs. That was annoying. And the few times the primer feed didn’t work, the No. 7 powder whizzed right out through the primer holes. The huge flakes of Unique weren’t nearly as bad.

One nice thing about No. 7: if you double a charge, you can see it a mile away. It fills the case.

I can’t understand why a small, light round requires 1.6 times as much powder as a huge round. I suppose traveling 1.5 times as fast is part of it, and I assume the powders are inherently different.

Winchester primers are packaged much more intelligently than Federals. They’re upright in their trays, so you can plop them right out on your primer tray, close it, flip it, and start filling your primer tube.

I didn’t use case lube, but I put the cases in a bag, sprayed a quick shot of dry lube in there, and rolled them around. May have made life somewhat easier. Oddly, I had no trouble marking the cases later. I put Sharpie marks on the bottoms of the cases, to make them easier to spot at the range. I don’t care what happens to my other cases, because they’re free, but I am not losing a single .38 Super without a fight.

I’m up to 835 rounds of .45 ammunition! I now have no excuse for not shooting a minimum of 200 rounds a week. That should be good for my marksmanship. Instead of shooting 25 rounds per set, maybe I’ll go up to 50.

I don’t know if I want to screw with making up recipes. I think that if these loads work, I’ll just buy a big jug of Unique and a big jug of No. 7 and be satisfied.

Think

I”m surprised by some of the comments I’m getting about Ted Kennedy. It looks like some of us would be happy to see Senator Kennedy die from cancer.

I don’t know if they’re serious. I don’t know if they understand what they’re wishing on him.

I’ve only seen one brain tumor patient. He was a middle-aged man, sharing a hospital room with a person I went to visit. When I got there, he was smearing feces on his head. And he couldn’t talk. But he was aware of his surroundings and other people, and he looked healthy, physically. I don’t know much about brain tumors. I suppose sometimes they cause dementia. Who would enjoy seeing Ted Kennedy in that state? It wasn’t funny when it happened to President Reagan.

I’ve said similar things about Castro, and I suppose even that was wrong. But Castro murdered thousands of people. And he tortured and unfairly imprisoned thousands more, and he turned his nation into a penitentiary people were not allowed to leave. The main reason Castro never equaled the evil of Adolf Hitler wasn’t that he was morally superior; it was disparate opportunity.

Ted Kennedy is not in that class, even if he did take care of number one while Mary Jo Kopechne was suffocating in an air pocket in his car.

Sooner or later, we’re going to have to give up the fun of Internet rage and invective and start treating each other like human beings. I say that even though I’ve been as bad as almost anyone. We’re not helping our country by treating each other so harshly we make it impossible to cooperate. It’s actually unpatriotic. At some level, we’re supposed to be on the same side.