Voted Today

First day of early voting in my neck of the woods.  Got there about an hour after the doors opened and the line was in the parking lot not quite to the street.








The workers inside said that they got there 45 minutes before the polls opened and people were there waiting on them.  They said it had been that busy all day. 

I did not vote for the Barr / Sheean ticket.  Seriously, how can there be enough deranged people to put them on the ballot?  What we have now isn't corrupt enough or incompetent enough or communist enough and doesn't hate the Country enough?  Hard to imagine.

This was the only day that I have ever regretted not being in Alan Grayson's district.   They won't let me vote against him because of that tiny little technicality.






Friday, October 26, 2012

Actual Shooting Content

Business has been slow the past week so I decided to make a trip to the range.  That always makes business show up to keep me from going.

A few things needed to be checked to make sure they'd function so I put them in the trunk and left for the range after lunch.



The Hurricane is out in the Atlantic but we are still getting winds from the edges.   What?    Oh.  Right.




The Hurricane is out in the Atlantic but we are still getting winds from the edges.  A 20-25 mph crosswind with gusts that make you lean into them to stay standing up straight kept the Mosquitoes at bay but eliminated any thought of shooting for accuracy.






Ya.  I know.

Anyway, the wind kept the mosquitoes at bay so I wasn't constantly slapping democrats or any other blood sucking pestilence and I did leave the range with some good information.

First up was the new-to-me Savage 99 that I got a few months ago.  The load that I concocted for it almost shot to the sights as they were set when I got it.




The top shot was a fouling shot.  I didn't try to hold a decent sight picture so it doesn't really mean anything.  The other three were shot offhand at about 30 yards.  30 yards?   I know.  Not particularly good shooting but considering I was rocking side to side in winds like we had today it was good enough to tell me the rifle still has whatever it had when it left the factory seventy-two years ago.  I will have to return on a calmer day to see how well it really can shoot but I'd hunt in any swamp with it as is. 

Next was an M1 Carbine that I had never fired.  I wanted to make sure the rifle was reliable and I also wanted to find out if a load I put together for it was actually going to work.  Military ball from a box of cartuchos imported from somewhere worked great.  It did seem to want to throw the empties forward for some reason though.  Several of them bounced off the handguard.  Might have been the wind.  It threw some to the right like normal.  I wasn't really paying attention to whether there was a correlation to wind gusts and where the brass landed but my 45 did the same thing a little later.  Some to the right and some right in front.

Naturally, with the wind playing havoc with the sight picture,




there  was no point in trying to see how accurate the little beast is but I still had one more test for it.  I bought a box of eighty-something grain .308" Hornady bullets intended for the .30 Mauser and had loaded some of them in .30 Carbine brass to see if they'd make a "high velocity" load.  The  load was good.  It was impressive in a Ruger Blackhawk (no, no Helicopter picture)  and it seemed to be pretty good in the little rifle except that it wouldn't feed. 

Details.

The bullet profile has a fatter ogive than real .30 Carbine bullets and a lot more exposed lead.  The lead hit the breech and stopped the music on every other round.


This is what a typical stoppage looked like.


Below is the same round after clearing the jam.  You can see the spot where it  hung up and you can see how fat the exposed lead is.


So I learned that the bullets won't work in my rifle.  Its good to learn that now instead of when something goes bump in the night.

Besides, they are still great in the Blackhawk.

After that came a Garand.  I had installed an adjustable gas cylinder plug a while back and needed to calibrate it.  I ran into trouble because the little lock screw was tighter than the plug and I couldn't get it out of the plug so I could adjust the screw underneath.  The whole plug came out. I had no pliers or anything else to hold it while I loosened the lock screw so I never did get it calibrated.

Ugh.

Just for fun I did fire a few rounds of the ammo that I loaded for it a while back.  Again, not for a group.  Just to feel the rifle shoot again.  I'll have to loosen the lock nut, tighten the plug and go back to the range. 




A friend has an M1A and it gave me a case of flash hider envy so I also put one of these on the Garand when I did the adjustable plug.   I think mine's bigger.   Heh.

The final test was for the new magazines I got for an "Officer's sized" 1911.  I got them from a place called Joe's 1911 Mag Mania .  They were  $14 each in stainless and I wanted to make sure they worked before I started using them in my carry gun. 







The two on the left are the new ones.  On the right is either the one that came with the pistol or a Chip McCormick mag that I bought when I bought the gun.    The new ones were flawless.  I'm happy with them & that's one step closer to making the little 45 my carry gun.

I learned good and valuable things about every gun I took and the wind and the lock screw made it so I have to go back and do it all over again on a calmer day.  I say that's a pretty good afternoon at the range.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Hanoi Jane

 This came to me as an email. I am posting it as it came to me. I generally don't even forward emails much less post them but I know the sender and he's not a flake. I have no idea whether he got it directly from the author or whether it just filtered down to him.  I didn't know about the events at the Hanoi Hilton that are described here.  They are more despicable than anything than anything I have ever heard about her little junket over there to aid and comfort our enemies.  If any part of the story is Bull S**T, I will be glad to delete this entire post.




A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED.
KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA

This is for all the kids born in the 70's and after who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear.





Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the '100 Women of the Century.'

BARBARA WALTERS WRITES:
Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War.

The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry
Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the ' Hanoi Hilton.'

Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American 'Peace Activist' the 'lenient and humane treatment' he'd received.

He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp Commandant 's feet, which sent that officer berserk.

In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanentlyr ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.

From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the ' Hanoi Hilton'...the first three of which his family only knew he was 'missing in action'. His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a 'peace delegation' visit.

They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: 'Aren't you sorry you
bombed babies?' and 'Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?' Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.

She took them all without missing a beat.. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper...

Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.

I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam , and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.

I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia ; and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi . My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Banme Thuot , South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs)

We were Jane Fonda's 'war criminals....'

When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi , I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by
her as 'humane and lenient.'

Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weight placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.

I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.

These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of '100 Years of Great Women.' Lest we forget....' 100 Years of Great Women' should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.

There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can.. It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget.

RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt,
USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron,
Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343


Sunday, October 21, 2012

GTT

A couple of weeks ago, The Outlaw Josey Wales was on again.  I generally try to watch it because it seems like I always notice something new no matter how many times I've seen it before.   This time I had worn myself out the day before installing flooring, was too sore to sleep that night and just felt like crap.  I got about as far as the Indian girl hooking up with Josey and Lone Waitie and just called it quits.


For revenge, I decided to order the book Gone to Texas upon which the movie is based.  I got a softcover copy of Gone to Texas and The Vengance Trail of Josey Wales.  It arrived in yesterday's mail and I just about finished the whole thing in a day.


There are some significant differences between the book and the movie but neither seems to lose anything to the other.  Eastwood just reworked a few things to make the story work better as a film. I was pleased that the chat with Ten Bears is straight out of the book.


The book stuck with me and this morning I got to thinking about my carry gun and decided to modify a Thunderware holster to carry this:



The results were kind of mixed.  Not comfortable at all but dang did the waitresses ever flirt with me at breakfast!




Friday, October 19, 2012

Free North Carolina

Back in the early part of September, a blogger that I read fairly often posted about someone giving him a copy of Stonewall Jackson, The Black Man's Friend.

  It was a book that I had on my list to read for a while so I decided to go ahead and order a copy.  Since I don't like to order just one book at a time, I decided that I would find a book about a black preacher that I had read a little about not too long ago.  The preacher ministered to soldiers in a hospital in Richmond Va.  near the end of the War and went on to found a church in town.   His life story sounded pretty interesting but I couldn't remember the man's name.  Try Googling "Black preacher in the Civil War" and you'll get everything except information on John Jasper.  I eventually gave up and ordered the book on Stonewall Jackson.

When I started reading it, I found that John Jasper's story is part of the Stonewall Jackson book's opening. So now I have the name for the next time I order books.

In trying to remember which blog prompted me to go ahead and buy the Jackson book, I paged back through several weeks of posts on a couple of likely suspects and, in the process, ran across the post on "Silence Was a Weapon" that got me interested enough to buy that book. 

Eventually, I found the post on the Jackson book and it was at the same place as the one one on Silence Was a Weapon.


It seems that I must read Free North Carolina  more often than I realized.  It doesn't have the visual distractions of  Knuckledraggin  or the Feral Irishman ( I have watched this for 45 minutes and have yet to see any puck in this gif ), it has plenty of good info and good sense.  I should have added it to my official "Places I go Most Every Day" list some time ago.

Cycle of Life

Stolen from a post on the 24 Hour Campfire:

Vicious cycle

When I was 14, I hoped that one day I would have a girlfriend with big boobs.

When I was 16 I got a girlfriend with big boobs, but there was no passion, so I decided I needed a passionate girl with a zest for life.

At the University I dated a passionate girl, but she was too emotional. Everything was an emergency; she was a drama queen, cried all the time and threatened suicide. So I decided I needed a girl with stability.

When I was 25 I found a very stable girl but she was boring. She was totally predictable and never got excited about anything. Life became so dull that I decided that I needed a girl with some excitement.

When I was 28 I found an exciting girl, but I couldn't keep up with her. She rushed from one thing to another, never settling on anything. She did mad impetuous things and made me miserable as often as happy. She was great fun initially and very energetic, but directionless. So I decided to find a girl with some real ambition.

When I turned 31, I found a smart ambitious girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground and married her. She was so ambitious that she divorced me and took everything I owned.

I am now older and wiser, and am just looking for a girl with big boobs.

Just Vote "No"

In Florida, on most election days  we have a few questions on the ballot asking whether a given individual shall be retained in office.  Frequently, some of the State's Supreme Court Justices are the objects of some of those questions.   Most people don't care one way or another so they always get  retained.

Back in 2000, the Florida Supreme Court voted unanimously to ignore the State's election laws and give Gore more time to try to steal the election with one of the democrat's endless recounts.  The kind that go on and on until enough votes are "discovered" to give them the election.

The US Supreme Court stopped them in 2000.  That opinion was loudly decried by liberals as being "split along party lines," as if the nine democrats on the Florida Supreme Court somehow didn't vote along party lines.

Since that time, I have always voted "No" whenever I see one of them on the ballot.

I'm inviting the two or three people that occasionally stumble by here to join me in voting "No" and to tell all your readers why you are doing it.

I have no illusion that we can garner enough votes to remove one of the Justices but maybe we can let them know that people are paying attention and if they piss off enough people they might find themselves back in private practice.


Thursday, October 11, 2012

Friday, October 5, 2012

Random Thoughts

I keep wondering how so many guns from Fast & Furious "turned up" at crime scenes.  Univision came up with fifty-seven more guns from Fast & Furious that were left at crime scenes.  I understand that when the bad guy gets shot he will probably drop his gun.  I can see the bad guys dropping their guns while running from the Police.  What I don't get is why they'd leave behind guns after slaughtering a bunch of unarmed teenagers at a birthday party.  Its almost as if they were told to leave some guns behind.

Obama taking credit for Killing Bin Ladin would be a lot like President Nixon taking credit for the US landing on the moon.  I mean, except that Nixon had enough integrity to not try to take credit for the US landing on the moon.

Calling the decision to kill Bin Ladin a gutsy call would be a lot like Nixon telling Armstrong not to get out of the Lunar Lander until he called and personally gave the OK and then saying it took guts to make that call.  You know, except that Nixon had enough integrity to not try to claim credit for it.  We went to the moon to land on it.  We went to Afghanistan in the first place to find Bin Ladin and bring him to justice.  Besides not putting any such strings on our Astronauts, he sure as hell didn't have to ask permission from his political adviser four times before letting them do what we sent them there to do. 

Where is Sam Kinison when you need him?

Monday, October 1, 2012

Silence Was a Weapon




Been reading a book by that title written by Stuart A. Herrington.  The copyright date is 1982 so I guess that's about when it was written.  Some blogger that I read on a pretty regular basis mentioned reading it for the first time in several years and he said enough about it to get me to look for it at Amazon.  I've forgotten which blogger it was and I feel like crap right now so forgive me for not giving credit where credit is due.

Its written by a US Army Captain who was an intelligence adviser to the ARVN from not too long after the Tet Offensive until he became a member of the US Mission in Saigon right up until the evacuation in 1975.  

One of the small things that jumped out at me  was the answers he got when interviewing captured Vietcong soldiers.  More than one of them said that they were lured to fight for the communists by the promise of Social Justice.

The book is thirty years old.  What its written about is between thirty-five and forty years old.  The author isn't using modern terminology to describe what they told him.  He's telling us what they said.  They were fighting for Social Justice.  Where haven't I heard that term lately?

There's quite a bit more and the book is interesting but, as I said, I feel like crap so I'm not even going to try write any more today.

A Dog Has to Kick Back and Relax Once in a While Too

Funny.  I'd have thought a whiskey for bird dogs would be bacon flavored.