It is Mlle. Sklodovska's first night of the new junior smallbore season. As I was driving her to the range, she asked, "Who won the election?"
"Mr. Obama has been re-elected."
Hmmmm. "Is that a good thing?"
I thought for a second. "Not optimal."
20121107
20121105
Hunh
I might have failed to tell you that on neighboring Farflung Silos AFB, the base exchange has installed a firearms counter and does land-office business in blasters. Not just yer plain-jane duck-hunting NEF break-open shotguns and bolt .22's either. They seem to lean hard on pocket blasters and Black rifles. Quite good prices on everything Springer. And I never knew how pretty a Ruger 77/44 was until I saw one there.
I walked past that counter the other day with FrankenBoy in tow, and noticed a family crowded up to the counter. Dad talking to the dealer, one or two offspring units in a stroller, and Momma in faux-stretch-leather pants handling a S&W M&P.
Double-take: she was slowly, deliberately turning the pistol and looking straight down the barrel.
I walked past that counter the other day with FrankenBoy in tow, and noticed a family crowded up to the counter. Dad talking to the dealer, one or two offspring units in a stroller, and Momma in faux-stretch-leather pants handling a S&W M&P.
Double-take: she was slowly, deliberately turning the pistol and looking straight down the barrel.
words that I wish were more common
I heard a guest on a radio talk show last week use a word that I wish I heard more often: 'whence.'
Which is proper usage: "let it go back from whence it came" or "let it go back whence it came"?
Other words that should stage a comeback:
Which is proper usage: "let it go back from whence it came" or "let it go back whence it came"?
Other words that should stage a comeback:
- disabuse
20121022
Invisible War and PPACA
Today we watched the film Invisible War, which detailed the problem of sexual assault in Uncle Sugar's services, and how assaults persist in spite of the sexual assault prevention programs Uncle has launched against it. This film is not for weak stomachs.
My takeaways:
My takeaways:
- the typical sexual predator claims 300 victims in a career. I'm torn on the idea of trying to treat this as if it were a public health problem, using motivational posters and briefings. In fact, this film brutally rips the current SAPR/BIT/SHARP programs as ineffective at best, or PR distractions at worst.
- the film's showcase assault survivors bear the scars of the assault, but even worse scars from the coverups and declined or bungled investigations after the fact. It's worth asking whether these survivors would have recovered and continued purposeful lives and successful military careers if the commanders had investigated and prosecuted the assaults more vigorously. What do we know about survivors whose perpetrators have been prosecuted fully? The film shows that most perps get weak punishment, assuming that the perps were guilty. I will not support abandonment of presumed innocence.
- the survivors had peers, both male and female, who supported them and encouraged them to report the assaults and seek justice, as well as peers who tried to persuade them to stay silent. The latter will always bend in the direction of the wind. Commanders and enforcers make the coverup possible, thus making future assaults inevitable.
- something is genuinely dicked up with the Feres doctrine. There's a reason I'm not a lawyer and the preceding sentence shows it.
20121013
Why do feminists assert nonsense that intimacy is terrifying to men?
When all you have is a lack of options, the world looks like a mandate.Roissy
20120914
teledildonics
when I send a text to the wife telling her to check the batteries in the butterfly, I mean check the batteries in the remote, too.
Has anyone fielded a Bluetooth-enabled toy that can be controlled through a smartphone? I wonder.
Has anyone fielded a Bluetooth-enabled toy that can be controlled through a smartphone? I wonder.
20120825
Self-reassurance, or affirmation statement?
About a year ago, a new family moved in across the street. A divorced head of household, her son with a girlfriend, and a daughter with two sons of her own, the elder of whom is bright, energetic, and over here with our two sons every day. Others appear, or stop appearing, randomly.
The said head of household has been revamping the landscaping and cleaning up trees and so forth. She visited the other day, asking to borrow tools for the effort. Sainted wife offered our stepladder and a telescoping pruner.
At one point during a lull in the conversation, she said, "I don't need a man." That struck me as rather queer. Did she mean she didn't need a man to handle the landscaping that has utterly dominated her spare time for the entire summer? She said it at a moment that I thought my sainted wife might not have heard it, almost that it was calculated so. In retrospect, I found it somewhat offensive.
I said, "well, you don't need a man until you need a man," meaning that it's easy for a woman to say she doesn't need a man, when she can borrow the things that tend to be available through a man from someone else's man.
Since then I 've been thinking of about better comebacks I should have offered, so she didn't think I was trying to hit on her, for example. "None was offered," for example. Please suggest your own comebacks in the comments.
"Not until you need a ladder from one."
"Is that an affirmation statement, or a self-reassurance?"
"Is that why you don't keep one around?"
"'How's that working for you?"
"Of course not, the world's your oyster, Toots."
The said head of household has been revamping the landscaping and cleaning up trees and so forth. She visited the other day, asking to borrow tools for the effort. Sainted wife offered our stepladder and a telescoping pruner.
At one point during a lull in the conversation, she said, "I don't need a man." That struck me as rather queer. Did she mean she didn't need a man to handle the landscaping that has utterly dominated her spare time for the entire summer? She said it at a moment that I thought my sainted wife might not have heard it, almost that it was calculated so. In retrospect, I found it somewhat offensive.
I said, "well, you don't need a man until you need a man," meaning that it's easy for a woman to say she doesn't need a man, when she can borrow the things that tend to be available through a man from someone else's man.
Since then I 've been thinking of about better comebacks I should have offered, so she didn't think I was trying to hit on her, for example. "None was offered," for example. Please suggest your own comebacks in the comments.
"Not until you need a ladder from one."
"Is that an affirmation statement, or a self-reassurance?"
"Is that why you don't keep one around?"
"'How's that working for you?"
"Of course not, the world's your oyster, Toots."
Eric Hoffer: where to start?
Due to recent reviews of the Longshoreman Philosopher's biographies in American Spectator and Reason, I've now got a yearning to read him. Which would be best as a first read, one that has the most relevance for today's situation? I have to make a good first cut, considering other demands on my time.
Amazon reviews are positive for The True Believer.
Amazon reviews are positive for The True Believer.
20120729
another "I'll be damned" moment
It has been maybe two years since the last time I tried to teach Frankenboy how to ride a bicycle. That time ended, er, poorly, with him tumbling ass-over-tincups off the bike, rolling on his shoulder and scraping a patch of skin from his leg. A neighbor lady out in her lawn saw the whole thing, and the boy's uncontrolled crying and howling, and thought I was some horrible abuser.
Since then, a neighbor boy has moved in and spends almost every waking hour at our house, goofing off with our two boys. He rides a bicycle.
Frankenboy thinks he wants to build a gokart or soapbox racer or some such out of discarded bicycle parts. I tell him it's a lot less work to learn to ride a regular, ordinary bike. The fear from the memory of his last painful attempt wells up. "A cart won't fall over."
So I make him a deal. Learn to ride a plain-vanilla upright bicycle down to the community pool and back, and he can disassemble one of the older 12" bicycles for parts. A 20" has been sitting in the garage, with cardboard piling up over it. We get it out and air up the tires, figure out which gears the derailleurs will in fact shift to, and he straps on his safety equipment.
He and neighbor boy disappear. I go back to working on a stubborn Coleman stove that won't shut off.
A few minutes later, I notice that a few minutes have transpired, no sight of son or neighbor boy. The neighbors' cars are gone, a good sign the boy is too. So my son is alone, on a bicycle, or maybe under one, maybe with a severly angulated extremity. Dunno.
Hmmmmm. I start walking in the direction of the goal of his heart, his way to getting parts for a cart. The pool. I keep walking. Halfway there. Did a psycho grab him? Did some teen roll over him in a Crown Vic?
Then swinging around the distant corner, there is a figure clad in bicycle helmet and knee pads, and the old combat boots and kneehigh wool socks I had given him earlier this morning (he now wears my boot size, at age 12). Doggedly pedaling a 20" bike that is too small for him. Keeping it upright. Pedaling faster than he should because the derailleurs are stuck in 1st on the front and 3rd on the rear. A smile from ear to ear.
I guess then we go shopping tomorrow for a 24".
Since then, a neighbor boy has moved in and spends almost every waking hour at our house, goofing off with our two boys. He rides a bicycle.
Frankenboy thinks he wants to build a gokart or soapbox racer or some such out of discarded bicycle parts. I tell him it's a lot less work to learn to ride a regular, ordinary bike. The fear from the memory of his last painful attempt wells up. "A cart won't fall over."
So I make him a deal. Learn to ride a plain-vanilla upright bicycle down to the community pool and back, and he can disassemble one of the older 12" bicycles for parts. A 20" has been sitting in the garage, with cardboard piling up over it. We get it out and air up the tires, figure out which gears the derailleurs will in fact shift to, and he straps on his safety equipment.
He and neighbor boy disappear. I go back to working on a stubborn Coleman stove that won't shut off.
A few minutes later, I notice that a few minutes have transpired, no sight of son or neighbor boy. The neighbors' cars are gone, a good sign the boy is too. So my son is alone, on a bicycle, or maybe under one, maybe with a severly angulated extremity. Dunno.
Hmmmmm. I start walking in the direction of the goal of his heart, his way to getting parts for a cart. The pool. I keep walking. Halfway there. Did a psycho grab him? Did some teen roll over him in a Crown Vic?
Then swinging around the distant corner, there is a figure clad in bicycle helmet and knee pads, and the old combat boots and kneehigh wool socks I had given him earlier this morning (he now wears my boot size, at age 12). Doggedly pedaling a 20" bike that is too small for him. Keeping it upright. Pedaling faster than he should because the derailleurs are stuck in 1st on the front and 3rd on the rear. A smile from ear to ear.
I guess then we go shopping tomorrow for a 24".
20120724
They are average—that’s why they’re so deadly
Stock up on flashlight batteries and canned peaches, Citizens.
Roissy is a regular read. Time to start reading what Roissy reads.
Roissy is a regular read. Time to start reading what Roissy reads.
Quote from the recent past
The village may have replaced "the state," and it in turn may have replaced the fist with the hug, but an unwanted embrace from which you cannot escape is just a nicer form of tyranny.
Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism
20120723
20120715
little chores around the house
My favorite camp axe, an Estwing with a hammerhead, is going on 30 years old, and was beginning to show its age. The chrome finish is worn away, showing pitted steel.
As I was browsing an oldtimer's page about restoring old Coleman camping equipment, there appeared a technique to remove rust and prep the metal surface for a newer finish.
The oldtimer described how to immerse the metal part in a weak solution of trisodium phosphate, with a separate electrode of the same metal as that to be cleaned (discarded steel banding in this case). Put positive voltage on that sacrificial elecrode, and negative on the part to be cleaned. Flow direct current through it for a loooonnnnng time, and the rust will be pulled off the part. It worked nicely enough that some steel wool got the whole axe looking uniformly black and rust-free. Then an old slow-cooker heated up some Brownell's zinc parkerizing solution. After that, Johnson paste car wax rubbed deep into the pores; she looks beautiful.
The camp stove that prompted me to look up the Coleman restoration page got less elaborate treatment. The drip pan was pretty rough with some rust and food drippings, but they came off easily. Garage floor cleaner (probably phophate in there too) got most of the crap off, and I tried Rust-oleum's galvanizing spary paint. Gorgeous.
But the burner will not shut off. New generator is on there, but I need to replace the packing in the fuel stem assembly. Replacement packing parts are on the way.
The oldtimer described how to immerse the metal part in a weak solution of trisodium phosphate, with a separate electrode of the same metal as that to be cleaned (discarded steel banding in this case). Put positive voltage on that sacrificial elecrode, and negative on the part to be cleaned. Flow direct current through it for a loooonnnnng time, and the rust will be pulled off the part. It worked nicely enough that some steel wool got the whole axe looking uniformly black and rust-free. Then an old slow-cooker heated up some Brownell's zinc parkerizing solution. After that, Johnson paste car wax rubbed deep into the pores; she looks beautiful.
The camp stove that prompted me to look up the Coleman restoration page got less elaborate treatment. The drip pan was pretty rough with some rust and food drippings, but they came off easily. Garage floor cleaner (probably phophate in there too) got most of the crap off, and I tried Rust-oleum's galvanizing spary paint. Gorgeous.
But the burner will not shut off. New generator is on there, but I need to replace the packing in the fuel stem assembly. Replacement packing parts are on the way.
20120626
The Burden of Perishable Skills
One of the recurring topics of conversation between the Missus and me is, "Why do we never have enough time?" Granted, we're busy people, with a regular -- and sometimes overloaded -- work, exercise, and competition shooting schedule. We're both NRA Certified Firearms Instructors and Range Safety Officers. I "volunteer" as a Steel Challenge Match Director and we'll both soon be official USPSA ROs. I'm an ARRL-qualified "emergency communications responder", for the lack of a better term. (ARECC Level 1, for those that are curious.) We like being outdoors and we work to stay fit in order to hike to the Colorado back country and snag a 14'er or two each year.
Admittedly, when we're feeling overwhelmed, we can simply let one or two things go until we're back to treading water. No problem.
Except 'letting something go for a bit' doesn't solve the core issue: many of these activities involve perishable skills. It's not so much the activities themselves that consume a lot of time, but the maintanance of the skills required to perform the activities competently that requires serious time commitments. This is a very recent realization, discovered amidst some soul-searching I've been doing in an effort to combat/overcome some burn-out problems I've been having.
So let's do a brief run-down of these perishable skills that the Missus and I must maintain:
We started taking Krav Maga classes in the fall of 2011. We did this for several reasons, the explanations being beyond the scope of this post. Much like shooting, the skills acquired thru sweat and blood (literally) are hard-earned -- and easily lost. We took off some time from Krav during the month of April and our return in May was an eye-opener. Yeah, we remembered this technique and that set of moves, but we were rusty, slow, and weak. One run thru a very simple knife defense drill and it was clear that my counterstrike couldn't have knocked over a glass of milk. We're currently taking off the month of June in order to get past some conflicting scheduling and we know our return to class in July will be . . . . .humiliating humbling.
The Missus and I are also ham radio operators, licensed General Class and Extra Class, respectively. I got my license back when Morse code was still part of the General exam, so I was obligated to learn it. I taught myself and managed to ace the exam. Granted, 5 words per minute (WPM) wasn't a huge hurdle but it was a proud accomplishment, nonetheless. I've since worked my way up to 15 WPM and practice Morse code three or four times a week. If I skip practice for a couple of weeks, it shows -- and badly. Again, a perishable skill.
Motorcycling isn't like riding a bicycle; once you learn the basics, you're not necessarily good to go. There's as much -- if not more -- art and instinct to negotiating 75 MPH highway traffic as there is to the simple act of moving forward on two wheels. I've logged well over 100K miles on various motorcycles in the last 25 years and I can tell when I haven't ridden for a month or two. I'm not quite as 'in tune' to the ebb-and-flow of traffic. Not quite as smooth and confident. Not quite as alert and cautious. I'd like to see the numbers comparing motorcycle accidents to miles ridden. I'll bet it's heavily skewed towards the one-50-mile-ride-a-month crowd.
Physical fitness is not so much a 'skill' as it is a 'state of being'. But like any skill, it's just as perishable. When I was in my mid-30s, I was a CATx USCF (now USA Cycling) road racer with aspirations to tackle the RAAM. I trained like a fiend, grinding out 200 to 300 miles each week on my trusty Litespeed. Due to changing circumstances, I had to give up that kind of training schedule after a couple of years. Backing-down turned to backing-off turned to abandonment. Six months later, I could barely pedal 35 miles. Since then, I've never been able to maintain a focused workout regimen for more than 12 months. Something always comes up -- work, family, etc. -- and I have to drop the program. Getting back into the groove gets harder each time, doubly so as "50 Trips Around the Sun" looms near on the horizon.
Coupled with the fact that these skills need to be addressed on a regular basis, I have the problem of being a goal-oriented person. All of the things I mentioned above involve "journeys", not "destinations" -- and I find most journeys to be tedious and distracting. The goal, the end-game, the finish line is what I strive for. Check a box and move on to the next thing. But none of those things have that. Intermediate goals? Yes. Ultimate goals? No. So I get bored when there's little or no apparent progress toward a destination. I also find much to mock in the 'continual improvement' mindset that's so prevalent these days. I'm sorry, but everyone has a plateau -- and once you reach that, you bump into The Law of Diminishing Returns very quickly. Who has the bandwidth for that?
So I'm always gonna' be a mid-pack shooter, a 'P' level Krav student, a 15 WPM Morse operator, a 125-pound bench presser, a 25-mile-weekend bicyclist, and a 200-mile-a-month (if I'm lucky) motorcyclist. Yes, I find it frustrating to try to find a balance between these demanding activities. Yes, I find it frustrating to continually revisit weak spots that I have worked thru in the past. Yes, I wish I could find an end-game to all these things, wash my hands of them once-and-for-all, and enjoy the freed-up time and money to pursue other things. But, no, because they're perishable skills, I will not give them up. I've worked too hard to gain what little competence I have in them. And, paraphrasing Heinlein*, I'd rather be good at several things than great at one thing.
This is my burden, even if I don't always bear it well.
TCM
* "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Robert Heinlein
Admittedly, when we're feeling overwhelmed, we can simply let one or two things go until we're back to treading water. No problem.
Except 'letting something go for a bit' doesn't solve the core issue: many of these activities involve perishable skills. It's not so much the activities themselves that consume a lot of time, but the maintanance of the skills required to perform the activities competently that requires serious time commitments. This is a very recent realization, discovered amidst some soul-searching I've been doing in an effort to combat/overcome some burn-out problems I've been having.
So let's do a brief run-down of these perishable skills that the Missus and I must maintain:
- Shooting
- Krav Maga
- Morse Code
- Motorcycling
- Physical Fitness
We started taking Krav Maga classes in the fall of 2011. We did this for several reasons, the explanations being beyond the scope of this post. Much like shooting, the skills acquired thru sweat and blood (literally) are hard-earned -- and easily lost. We took off some time from Krav during the month of April and our return in May was an eye-opener. Yeah, we remembered this technique and that set of moves, but we were rusty, slow, and weak. One run thru a very simple knife defense drill and it was clear that my counterstrike couldn't have knocked over a glass of milk. We're currently taking off the month of June in order to get past some conflicting scheduling and we know our return to class in July will be . . . . .
The Missus and I are also ham radio operators, licensed General Class and Extra Class, respectively. I got my license back when Morse code was still part of the General exam, so I was obligated to learn it. I taught myself and managed to ace the exam. Granted, 5 words per minute (WPM) wasn't a huge hurdle but it was a proud accomplishment, nonetheless. I've since worked my way up to 15 WPM and practice Morse code three or four times a week. If I skip practice for a couple of weeks, it shows -- and badly. Again, a perishable skill.
Motorcycling isn't like riding a bicycle; once you learn the basics, you're not necessarily good to go. There's as much -- if not more -- art and instinct to negotiating 75 MPH highway traffic as there is to the simple act of moving forward on two wheels. I've logged well over 100K miles on various motorcycles in the last 25 years and I can tell when I haven't ridden for a month or two. I'm not quite as 'in tune' to the ebb-and-flow of traffic. Not quite as smooth and confident. Not quite as alert and cautious. I'd like to see the numbers comparing motorcycle accidents to miles ridden. I'll bet it's heavily skewed towards the one-50-mile-ride-a-month crowd.
Physical fitness is not so much a 'skill' as it is a 'state of being'. But like any skill, it's just as perishable. When I was in my mid-30s, I was a CATx USCF (now USA Cycling) road racer with aspirations to tackle the RAAM. I trained like a fiend, grinding out 200 to 300 miles each week on my trusty Litespeed. Due to changing circumstances, I had to give up that kind of training schedule after a couple of years. Backing-down turned to backing-off turned to abandonment. Six months later, I could barely pedal 35 miles. Since then, I've never been able to maintain a focused workout regimen for more than 12 months. Something always comes up -- work, family, etc. -- and I have to drop the program. Getting back into the groove gets harder each time, doubly so as "50 Trips Around the Sun" looms near on the horizon.
Coupled with the fact that these skills need to be addressed on a regular basis, I have the problem of being a goal-oriented person. All of the things I mentioned above involve "journeys", not "destinations" -- and I find most journeys to be tedious and distracting. The goal, the end-game, the finish line is what I strive for. Check a box and move on to the next thing. But none of those things have that. Intermediate goals? Yes. Ultimate goals? No. So I get bored when there's little or no apparent progress toward a destination. I also find much to mock in the 'continual improvement' mindset that's so prevalent these days. I'm sorry, but everyone has a plateau -- and once you reach that, you bump into The Law of Diminishing Returns very quickly. Who has the bandwidth for that?
So I'm always gonna' be a mid-pack shooter, a 'P' level Krav student, a 15 WPM Morse operator, a 125-pound bench presser, a 25-mile-weekend bicyclist, and a 200-mile-a-month (if I'm lucky) motorcyclist. Yes, I find it frustrating to try to find a balance between these demanding activities. Yes, I find it frustrating to continually revisit weak spots that I have worked thru in the past. Yes, I wish I could find an end-game to all these things, wash my hands of them once-and-for-all, and enjoy the freed-up time and money to pursue other things. But, no, because they're perishable skills, I will not give them up. I've worked too hard to gain what little competence I have in them. And, paraphrasing Heinlein*, I'd rather be good at several things than great at one thing.
This is my burden, even if I don't always bear it well.
TCM
* "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
Robert Heinlein
20120317
scary watershed
This week seems to have been a watershed moment, and not a good one. In 3 airports, two Wally Worlds, and many other public places, it sure as hell appears that female obesity has firmly established itself.
Non-scientific, subjective, but just so: I've seen scores of mother-teenage daughter pairs traveling this week, and in the majority of them, the mother is slimmer than the daughter. It crosses apparent boundaries of class and ethnicity.
this in spite of riding the same plane today as the Golden Girls.
Could it be that I'm on the backside of thirty? I don't think so.
Non-scientific, subjective, but just so: I've seen scores of mother-teenage daughter pairs traveling this week, and in the majority of them, the mother is slimmer than the daughter. It crosses apparent boundaries of class and ethnicity.
this in spite of riding the same plane today as the Golden Girls.
Could it be that I'm on the backside of thirty? I don't think so.
20120213
readings
Just finished: The American Revolution by Wood.
Now reading: Goldberg's Liberal Fascism.
Next up: either Strauss's Emergency, or Baze's The Road Home.
Now reading: Goldberg's Liberal Fascism.
Next up: either Strauss's Emergency, or Baze's The Road Home.
20120204
not bad
Ordinarily I don't watch any TV sports. However, there's a pretty good film on ESPN Classic about steroids, bodybuilding, and the Law.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster.
20120115
Buying American
Am recently on a jag to buy American more often. Seems to me that I'd rather spend $100 to hire an American to repair an older chainsaw, than $100 to buy a new chainsaw made elsewhere. The $100 spent in town on American labor to fix an older piece is likely to stay in town.
20111121
QFTD
The first generation of kids who grew up using hand sanitizer every 30 seconds and everyone gets a trophy is currently Occupying Whatever.
Says Uncle
If you can't protect it, don't collect it
Chez Fûz just received two identical letters from a company that does IT work for TriCare. One addressed to Her and one addressed to Him.
If I were the guy reading this letter, my first thought would be that this is a mother-schtupping phish. Sainted wife will call TriCare tomorrow to rule that out.
My next thought would be, DOD cannot transition from the SSN to a randomly-assigned service number fast enough. As the DOD's successes, failures, and lessons-learned accumulate, the rest of the Fed Gov should be compelled to follow suit.
The next thought after that would be, let's adjust all future contracts between DOD and TriCare to require them and their subcontractors to apply the same risk management practices over these records that GIs are required to use when they plan anything more dangerous than the company picnic. Make them liable for costs plus penalties for the abuse of the lost data. The dollar signs will probably tell them that they should catalog and encrypt every backup volume that ever leaves their data center, and use a courier service to transport those volumes.
Then let's require TriCare and their subcontractors to identify the clients whose records were on the lost volume, and notify only those clients. Within 48 hours of the loss.
And I was the guy reading that letter. How many thousands of other letters just like it have been read tonight?
We are sorry to inform you that a backup tape of many healthcare transactions, while being transported by one of our employees, was stolen from the employee's vehicle. This tape includes sosh-scurty numbers, addresses, names, and piles of other information prone to compromise. Your information may be among those records lost, we aren't sure. Because we feel so very very very very very sorry, we're telling you about it more than 2 months after our employee notified us of the theft, and encouraging you to monitor your credit reports very carefully for the foreseeable future, in case the guy who went to such extraordinary effort to steal this data tries to use it.
And by the way, we have arranged for a fourth party company to watch your credit reports for you, for free, for one year. All you have to do is send them your sosh-scurty number, name, address, and much of the other data that we already have, but have allowed to become stolen. Just fill out the attached form and put it in the postage-paid envelope.
If I were the guy reading this letter, my first thought would be that this is a mother-schtupping phish. Sainted wife will call TriCare tomorrow to rule that out.
My next thought would be, DOD cannot transition from the SSN to a randomly-assigned service number fast enough. As the DOD's successes, failures, and lessons-learned accumulate, the rest of the Fed Gov should be compelled to follow suit.
The next thought after that would be, let's adjust all future contracts between DOD and TriCare to require them and their subcontractors to apply the same risk management practices over these records that GIs are required to use when they plan anything more dangerous than the company picnic. Make them liable for costs plus penalties for the abuse of the lost data. The dollar signs will probably tell them that they should catalog and encrypt every backup volume that ever leaves their data center, and use a courier service to transport those volumes.
Then let's require TriCare and their subcontractors to identify the clients whose records were on the lost volume, and notify only those clients. Within 48 hours of the loss.
And I was the guy reading that letter. How many thousands of other letters just like it have been read tonight?
Nervous reflex
Congress punts the spending-reduction deal. All of Europe, not just the PIIGS, at risk of collapse. I missed National Ammo Day. Bennetton pulls its ad with the photo of the Pope and the imam swapping spit. My knee-jerk reaction?
I ordered more shelf-stable stuff from Honeyville Grain, and am adjusting the shopping list for Sam's Club. Buying in bulk.
I ordered more shelf-stable stuff from Honeyville Grain, and am adjusting the shopping list for Sam's Club. Buying in bulk.
20111115
third-world visual impression in DFW
Passing through a major airport this weekend, my eyes fell on a wall-sized ad for Christmas toys. Except for the name of the retailer, there were no other English characters, just pictures of the toys, each with its QR thingy beside it. It made me feel like I was back in Barrigada, or Bizerte. Don't people here read English, dammit? Well, uh, no they don't.
C33 at DFW, BTW.
C33 at DFW, BTW.
higher education bubble visible to the military
One of the biggest pushers of higher education is the United States military. They encourage it among their enlisted, they require it of their officers, and Congress lets them craft myriad ways to shower money on it. I myself am a shameless beneficiary in my own modest way.
This week, for the first time, I heard an education counselor for the military admit that there are perhaps too many Masters degrees in circulation. "How would your life be any different if there were fewer" higher-degree holders, he asked. It wouldn't, he answered for us. Then, "how would your life be different if there were fewer engine mechanics, chefs, or plumbers?" Insert vague reference to Occupy Wall Street encampments here.
He was hinting that fields needing advanced degrees are saturated with graduates, and reminding his audience that GI bill education benefits also are eligible for the trades. The benefits taper off quickly over time in such apprenticeships, because the GIs receiving them are drawing steadily increasing pay.
Makes me want to drop out, again, and go to gunsmithing school.
This week, for the first time, I heard an education counselor for the military admit that there are perhaps too many Masters degrees in circulation. "How would your life be any different if there were fewer" higher-degree holders, he asked. It wouldn't, he answered for us. Then, "how would your life be different if there were fewer engine mechanics, chefs, or plumbers?" Insert vague reference to Occupy Wall Street encampments here.
He was hinting that fields needing advanced degrees are saturated with graduates, and reminding his audience that GI bill education benefits also are eligible for the trades. The benefits taper off quickly over time in such apprenticeships, because the GIs receiving them are drawing steadily increasing pay.
Makes me want to drop out, again, and go to gunsmithing school.
20111107
It has arrived
Update: We didn't make it while it was playing in theaters. Sainted wife and I watched it, and I was delighted with how it was done. Wife at once dug out my 32-year-old paperback copy and started in on it.
20110916
an addition to the if-wishes-were-horses wish list
I'd like to see R. Lee Ermey do I Like to Move It as a jody call. Lyrics should be adjusted to suit the messenger.
Friedrich Hayek on the Military Decision Making Process
Compare this:
to this:
Such problems, consequences of how information is distributed among line units and staff agencies, appear even in very small organizations.
The peculiar character of the problem of a rational economic order is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make use never exists in concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge which all the separate individuals possess.
. . . in any society in which many people collaborate, this planning, whoever does it, will in some measure have to be based on knowledge which, in the first instance, is not given to the planner but to somebody else, which somehow will have to be conveyed to the planner. The various ways in which the knowledge on which people base their plans is communicated to them is the crucial problem for any theory explaining the economic process, and the problem of what is the best way of utilizing knowledge initially dispersed among all the people is at least one of the main problems of economic policy—or of designing an efficient economic system.
to this:
The peculiar character of the problem of battle command is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which that command operates does not spring into being in a concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge which all the various members of the command's staff possess, and must consciously concentrate and integrate under the command's leadership.
. . . in any military organization . . . planning . . . will in some measure have to be based on knowledge which, in the first instance, is not given to the planner but to somebody else, which somehow will have to be conveyed to the planner. The various ways in which the knowledge on which a battle staff bases its plans is gathered is the crucial problem for any theory explaining the staff process-—thus the main problem of designing a coherent operation.
Such problems, consequences of how information is distributed among line units and staff agencies, appear even in very small organizations.
20110903
20110823
for a friend and valued reader
Cancer strikes another person near me. Please visit TheFatGuy, find the tipjar, and donate.
how high definition television has made my life worse
Watching HD programming on a good HD set now enables me to see the blemishes that stage makeup erased before.
Today, a fairly attractive 30-something woman spoke about finance on a cable news network. Her blouse was sleeveless and exposed all of her neck and some of her chest. The makeup on her face, under her chin, and going halfway down her neck was flawless. The digital compression of HD video also tends to smoothe out made-up skin.
But right about where the first wrinkle on her neck would be, the makeup stopped. Abruptly. From there down, it almost looked like a rash. The same fine texture also appeared on her shoulders and upper arms. It moved consistently with the limb and the skin upon the limb.
So that's what real skin looks like in HDTV under studio lighting. Gals, HD television cameras add a lot more detail than earlier cameras did. Cover up with either clothing or foundation, not just halfway down the neck.
Today, a fairly attractive 30-something woman spoke about finance on a cable news network. Her blouse was sleeveless and exposed all of her neck and some of her chest. The makeup on her face, under her chin, and going halfway down her neck was flawless. The digital compression of HD video also tends to smoothe out made-up skin.
But right about where the first wrinkle on her neck would be, the makeup stopped. Abruptly. From there down, it almost looked like a rash. The same fine texture also appeared on her shoulders and upper arms. It moved consistently with the limb and the skin upon the limb.
So that's what real skin looks like in HDTV under studio lighting. Gals, HD television cameras add a lot more detail than earlier cameras did. Cover up with either clothing or foundation, not just halfway down the neck.
20110808
Notes found in the Comments window
of the Training Schedule for Period 47 in DTMS:
The Commander has an agenda. The Deputy Commander has an agenda. The Sergeant Major has an agenda. Hell, S6 has an agenda. They're schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I have no agenda. So when I say that the S4 not making captain's career course this FY was nothing personal, you'll know that I'm telling the truth.
It's the schemers that put you where you are. You were a schemer, you had an agenda. . . . and, well, look where that got you.
I just did what I do best. I took your little agenda and stood it on its head. Look at what I did to this unit with a couple of MFRs and FM 7-0! Hmmm?
You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to their agenda. Even if the agenda is horrifying. If tomorrow we're cancelling thirty days of leaves in the brigade to catch up on AWT, or we're changing lanes dates because of the availability of airlift, nobody panics, because that's all part of the plan. "Embrace the suck" or "everybody gets a bite of the shit sandwich" or "would you rather be in the Stans?" or some such, all just attempts to distract you from their failure to make good plans and adhere to them.
But when four of our Soldiers have overdue travel cards because they're waiting for airfare refunds, well then everyone loses their minds!
Introduce a little FM 7-0. Upset their agendas, set them against one another until they all collapse. Then the only agenda that can prevail is no agenda at all: doctrine.
I'm an agent of doctrine. Oh, and you know the one thing about doctrine?
It's fair.
20110718
Anime characters that really look Japanese
Aside from Mushi-shi, what other anime series draw their characters to really look Japanese?
I like the heck out of Mushi-shi. Damn near everything about it.
I like the heck out of Mushi-shi. Damn near everything about it.
20110615
why indeed?
The Wisconsin Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow concealed weapons in the state Capitol and other public places, but not in ... specifically exempted locations.
"If this bill helps make Wisconsin safer, then why are there any exceptions?" said Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville.
Because your party introduced the exceptions. You would have added more if you could have gotten away with it:
Before Tuesday's vote, Democrats introduced about 20 amendments that would have expanded the number of locations where concealed carry wouldn't be allowed. Those sites included the Capitol, polling places and places of worship. Those amendments were all voted down.
And this:
Sen. Spencer Coggs, a Democrat from Milwaukee, . . . said the way to deal with violence in cities wasn't to encourage people to carry hidden weapons.
"The solution is less guns, not more guns," he said.
Prove it, numbskull. Do you have one of those CoEx1St bumper stickers too?
20110605
Gary Johnson writing clearly
If you get the deadtree of American Spectator, the one that just hit your mailbox has a good Freedom Watch column by Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico and Ilya Somin's kinda-preferred libertarian candidate for GOP nomination for President of the US.
Not available today, but go buy the deadtree if you must not wait: Government Spends Too Much Because It Does Too Much.
Not available today, but go buy the deadtree if you must not wait: Government Spends Too Much Because It Does Too Much.
"you cannot limit government spending with an unlimited government."
"Truly controlling spending demands much more than juggling numbers on spreadsheets: it demands a long overdue return to the proper role of government."
20110504
20110424
GOP Presidential straw polls
I notice ads posted by Townhall.com, polling readers' opinions on GOP Presidential candidates. (Update: I navigated back to it, here).
I picked Herman Cain, just to back the dark horse as I usually do (no pun intended) (no, really, no pun intended) (honest).
What was missing, especially at this stage in the race---it's too early even to call it a race---is the option to pick which pre-candidates do not deserve further interest. Instead of picking "your favorite Republican candidate", Republicans (and I am not one) should be winnowing the field.
The usual suspects were all there, even Santorum. I don't recall whether Trump was there (going to Townhall.com's home page didn't even cough that ad up, either, so I still don't know whether Trump is there). Trump can stay, for right now, just to give the Donks something to throw tomatoes at. Update: No Trump. Maybe Townhall takes the Presidency seriously.
It was refreshing to see "Name YOUR Favorite for 2012" where the reader could supply another dark horse name if I could think of one. Well crap, I can think of five. Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Steve Forbes, Walter Williams, and Bob Barr. But that's not the problem. The ad/poll listed, well, there must have been at least 30 potential candidates (Update: 18 plus Fill in the Blank). This many candidates being proffered, or launching exploratory committees, is a sign of a vacuum, a dearth, a void.
The GOP needs to be told who they should keep on the back benches, who they need to bring in from outside, and who they need to bring forward from the shadows. Some folks who were listed on this poll need to stay where they are and actually achieve legislative goals there before being groomed for higher office: it's too soon for Ryan and Bachmann, for example. And, frankly, Governor Palin too. Too early for Christie, and I wouldn't vote for him anyway given his RKBA stance. We're all better off with him keeping New Jersey afloat.
Besides, the office of the President isn't where the problem or the solution lies. It's Congress---the Senate most urgently, the House only less so. They're hosed and they are where discipline will do the most good.
I picked Herman Cain, just to back the dark horse as I usually do (no pun intended) (no, really, no pun intended) (honest).
What was missing, especially at this stage in the race---it's too early even to call it a race---is the option to pick which pre-candidates do not deserve further interest. Instead of picking "your favorite Republican candidate", Republicans (and I am not one) should be winnowing the field.
The usual suspects were all there, even Santorum. I don't recall whether Trump was there (going to Townhall.com's home page didn't even cough that ad up, either, so I still don't know whether Trump is there). Trump can stay, for right now, just to give the Donks something to throw tomatoes at. Update: No Trump. Maybe Townhall takes the Presidency seriously.
It was refreshing to see "Name YOUR Favorite for 2012" where the reader could supply another dark horse name if I could think of one. Well crap, I can think of five. Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Steve Forbes, Walter Williams, and Bob Barr. But that's not the problem. The ad/poll listed, well, there must have been at least 30 potential candidates (Update: 18 plus Fill in the Blank). This many candidates being proffered, or launching exploratory committees, is a sign of a vacuum, a dearth, a void.
The GOP needs to be told who they should keep on the back benches, who they need to bring in from outside, and who they need to bring forward from the shadows. Some folks who were listed on this poll need to stay where they are and actually achieve legislative goals there before being groomed for higher office: it's too soon for Ryan and Bachmann, for example. And, frankly, Governor Palin too. Too early for Christie, and I wouldn't vote for him anyway given his RKBA stance. We're all better off with him keeping New Jersey afloat.
Besides, the office of the President isn't where the problem or the solution lies. It's Congress---the Senate most urgently, the House only less so. They're hosed and they are where discipline will do the most good.
20110411
After-Action Report: Gunsite's "Battle Rifle" Class
OK, folks, long post here. Thought I'd jot down a few (hundred?) thoughts about the Gunsite "Battle Rifle" class I attended last week.
Background
I've been slinging around these things called "battle rifles" for a decade or so now. I bounced around the spectrum of them -- FALs, HKs/PTRs, M1As, M1 Garands -- and finally settled on the M1As. (Don't worry, I kept the Garands...) I've been shooting the local CMP matches with the M1As for about five years and doing . . . . . OK. (High score so far: 465-10X) I also shoot 3-Gun matches with the M1As, running in the "Heavy Metal" -- aka, "He-Man Irons" -- division. Again, I do OK, albeit slowly. Last year I scored a Rifleman patch from the Appleseed folks using my iron-sighted LRB. So, needless to say, I can hit with an M1A.
But one thing I'm not with an M1A is fast -- and the thought of having to use iron sights in an "expedient fashion" always gave me the wiggins. So I decided to attend Gunsite's "Battle Rifle" course with an iron-sighted M1A with the hopes of remedying that.
This was to be my fourth trip to Gunsite, having taken Pistol 250, Arizona CCW, and Carbine 223 previously. I'd been warned by an attendee of the inaugural Battle Rifle class that it was heavily derived from Carbine 223 and that there'd be overlap. That didn't phase me. Carbine 223 helped me get a lot faster with that platform; I expected the same from Battle Rifle.
I was not to be disappointed.
The Curriculum
The class is one of Gunsite's 5-day "total immersion" affairs. The schedule was roughly (and with some probable ordering/sequence errors on my part):
Day 1:
Introduction, safety briefing, syllabus, and rifle fundamentals
Sight alignment and trigger control
Natural Point of Aim
Zeroing at 100 yards and 200 yards
Shooting positions
Day 2:
Introduction to the "school drills"
Ballistics
School drills
Tactical reloads and ammo management
Day 3:
School drills
Speed reloads
Movement and turns
Shooting from cover
Transitions to a sidearm
Non-standard response (moving beyond "two to the body, one to the head")
300-yard shooting
Day 4:
School drills, school drills, and more school drills, with time pressure
El Presidente
Moving targets
House clearing
Field courses: walking and running
Night shoot
Day 5:
400-yard shooting
School drills, school drills, and more school drills, with time pressure
El Presidente
School drill, El Prez "final exam"
Shoot-off
Graduation
Each day began with a quick confirmation of our 200-yard zeroes.
The school drills were:
One shot to the head @ 25 yards in 2 seconds, off-hand, starting from low-ready
Two shots to center-of-mass (COM) @ 50 yards in 4 seconds, off-hand, starting from low-ready
Two shots to COM @ 100 yards in 13 seconds, dropping to kneeling/squatting from low-ready
Two shots to COM @ 100 yards in 13 seconds, dropping to sitting from low-ready
Two shots to COM @ 200 yards in 15 seconds, dropping to prone from low-ready
Depending on your experience level, those times may seem too fast or too slow. For me, running irons, they were just barely long enough, with the targets typically turning away just as I was recovering my sight picture from the final shot.
The El Presidente was:
One shot to COM on each of three targets @ 25 yards, off-hand, starting from low ready, followed by
A speed reload, followed by
One shot to COM on each of three targets @ 25 yards
The goal was 10 seconds. My best time was 11 seconds.
Results
Well, I can say one thing for sure: I'm a lot faster now! Gunsite is all about repetition and establishing muscle memory. We performed the school drills until I couldn't stand it anymore. While it was difficult to do them quickly with iron sights, by the end of the week, I was doing them in half the time I was at the start of the week. We were taught a very clever trick to perform a speed reload on the M1As and the FALs. (Basically, lever-out the empty mag using the full mag that'll replace it...) On a full-sized Pepper Popper, I was able to make 90% of my hits at 300 yards and 2/3rds of them at 400 yards. And, yes, that little range knob on the left-hand side of the M1A's rear sight really does work! Me and my M1A -- dubbed "Mindy" (aka, "Hit Girl") -- gelled into quite a team.
On the final day, we did a "rotating" shoot-off with all of the students in the class, shooting from indoor ready against a 100-yard Popper (off-hand) and a 200-yard falling plate (prone), with a movement of firing positions in between. I was the only student in the class with iron sights and I had to haul-ass to keep up. I won 6 of the 8 initial pairings, putting me in a three-way tie for first place. Unfortunately, I was eliminated in the first round of the final shoot-off and had to be content with 3rd place, not that I was upset about that. I was congratulated by my fellow classmates, all of them impressed that I was keeping up with iron sights. Upon graduation, I received a grade of "Marksman I", the Gunsite the equivalent of a "B".
And, man, was I exhausted!
Equipment
Rifle: Springfield Armory M1A Standard, green composite stock, iron sights
Ammunition: German DAG mil-surp
Sidearm: Springfield Armory Mil-Spec 1911 (not the GI model)
Rifle Mags: CMI 20-rnd mags (I brought 35 of them)
Rifle Sling: Specter Gear "Two-Point Tactical" for the M1A
Tac Vest: an old Blackhawk MOLLE
Mag Pouches: three Tactical Tailor single-mag pouches, attached to the vest
Sidearm Holster: Blackhawk "generic" drop-leg
Hearing protection: ear plugs and Peltor electronic muffs (LOUD! I was double-protected all week...)
Problems and Equipment Failures
Ammunition: The M1A started giving me problems on the morning of the second day, not going completely into battery on random occasions. Typically, the bolt would "lock-in" when the hammer dropped but it wouldn't fire the round. (And that's a Good Thing...) This happened independent of the number of rounds in the magazine, so they weren't suspect. The first diagnosis was too much lube, but that wasn't it. I replaced the recoil spring. That wasn't it either. We had the opportunity to chronograph our ammunition and the DAG was clocking-in at measly 2650 fps. That didn't seem right and a quick call back home to the wife confirmed it. She scoured my range notes and found that my "normal" ammo -- Aussie mil-surp -- was pushing 2800 fps. I should have caught this anyway since the ejected DAG cases were barely landing forward of the muzzle when shot from prone. So, the DAG was underpowered and I knew what to do: cleanliness is next to godliness! I performed a full cleaning of the M1A every night and again during lunch, and used grease only in the op-rod's roller channel. Break Free went everywhere else. The failures-to-go-into-battery (FTBs?) all but disappeared after that. (I could usually tell when it was getting close to lunchtime or the end of the day simply by the one or two FTBs I'd start to get...) I'll be using my remaining DAG for matches and save my (more reliable) Aussie for the zombies!
That said, the DAG ammo is *very* accurate, more so than the Aussie. And there were no duds.
Rifle: None, not even after 1050 rounds in 5 days! (Total round count on this M1A is now very close to 2000...) The composite stock sure took a beating, though, and I'm glad I didn't put one of my nice wooden stocks thru this torture. I had to keep tabs on the screw holding the rear sight's elevation knob. It had a tendency to back out. Lok-Tite is the cure, I suspect.
Mags: Nada. Not a single malf could be traced to the CMIs. I had a handful of those Korean mags and they worked fine, too.
Notes and Misc
Number of students in the class: 7
Age range of students: mostly 40-somethings, with a 30- and a couple 50-somethings thrown into the mix.
Number of instructors: 3 the first two days, then 2 thereafter
Knowledge level of the instuctors: on a scale of 1 to 10, an 11.
Patience level of the instructors: (see 'Knowledge').
Rifles: 3 FALs, 3 M1As, 1 AR-10. One of the M1As was a back-up to an AR-10 that was back-up to an AR-10. (Follow that?) At one point or another, all three AR-10s went Tango-Uniform, two of them down for the full ten-count. Not cool. Everyone -- except Yours Truly -- ran an optic of one flavor or another. Aimpoints and ACOGs were the norm. Both of the other M1As were "Scout Squad" models.
Ammo consumption: 1050 rounds.
Fitness: This is not a course for someone that's out of shape. I've been lifting weights 1x or 2x per week for the last three years and I'd really wished I'd done more. Gunsite teaches reloading "up in your workspace" and holding the M1A in front of my face with only my stong-hand for countless tactical reloads had me plum tuckered out! Workouts should emphasize biceps, shoulders, and lower back. Do your stretches, too. It'll help a lot while getting back to your feet from position. In preparation for the class, I'd lost 25 pounds since October. I was grateful for my sub-200 lb weight, especially when dropping into prone!
Lights: The night shoot involves using hand-held and/or weapon-mounted lights. Not wanting to mount anything to the M1A, I'd brought a 205-lumen Fenix light (AA batteries) only to discover that, unlike Surefires, the switch doesn't activate the light until it's released. Grrrr... Nice light, but not "tactical". Lesson learned.
Transitions: Switching between my M1A (with its two-stage trigger) and my 1911 (with what is effectively a single-stage trigger) had me all over the target with the sidearm. It was rather embarrassing, actually. Perhaps my XDM is a better companion to my M1A than the 1911. (Yes, I know: heresy.)
The assistant instructor had one of the new "heavy" (7.62x51) SCARs. All I can say is, "Interesting...."
So, tha-tha-that's all folks -- thanx for hangin' in there through all that verbiage! I loved the class, even though it took a lot out of me. And I certainly don't fear the irons any more! Hope this helps anyone else considering the class.
Ciao!
TCM
(who earns a living from neither Gunsite nor Springfield Armory...)
Background
I've been slinging around these things called "battle rifles" for a decade or so now. I bounced around the spectrum of them -- FALs, HKs/PTRs, M1As, M1 Garands -- and finally settled on the M1As. (Don't worry, I kept the Garands...) I've been shooting the local CMP matches with the M1As for about five years and doing . . . . . OK. (High score so far: 465-10X) I also shoot 3-Gun matches with the M1As, running in the "Heavy Metal" -- aka, "He-Man Irons" -- division. Again, I do OK, albeit slowly. Last year I scored a Rifleman patch from the Appleseed folks using my iron-sighted LRB. So, needless to say, I can hit with an M1A.
But one thing I'm not with an M1A is fast -- and the thought of having to use iron sights in an "expedient fashion" always gave me the wiggins. So I decided to attend Gunsite's "Battle Rifle" course with an iron-sighted M1A with the hopes of remedying that.
This was to be my fourth trip to Gunsite, having taken Pistol 250, Arizona CCW, and Carbine 223 previously. I'd been warned by an attendee of the inaugural Battle Rifle class that it was heavily derived from Carbine 223 and that there'd be overlap. That didn't phase me. Carbine 223 helped me get a lot faster with that platform; I expected the same from Battle Rifle.
I was not to be disappointed.
The Curriculum
The class is one of Gunsite's 5-day "total immersion" affairs. The schedule was roughly (and with some probable ordering/sequence errors on my part):
Day 1:
Introduction, safety briefing, syllabus, and rifle fundamentals
Sight alignment and trigger control
Natural Point of Aim
Zeroing at 100 yards and 200 yards
Shooting positions
Day 2:
Introduction to the "school drills"
Ballistics
School drills
Tactical reloads and ammo management
Day 3:
School drills
Speed reloads
Movement and turns
Shooting from cover
Transitions to a sidearm
Non-standard response (moving beyond "two to the body, one to the head")
300-yard shooting
Day 4:
School drills, school drills, and more school drills, with time pressure
El Presidente
Moving targets
House clearing
Field courses: walking and running
Night shoot
Day 5:
400-yard shooting
School drills, school drills, and more school drills, with time pressure
El Presidente
School drill, El Prez "final exam"
Shoot-off
Graduation
Each day began with a quick confirmation of our 200-yard zeroes.
The school drills were:
One shot to the head @ 25 yards in 2 seconds, off-hand, starting from low-ready
Two shots to center-of-mass (COM) @ 50 yards in 4 seconds, off-hand, starting from low-ready
Two shots to COM @ 100 yards in 13 seconds, dropping to kneeling/squatting from low-ready
Two shots to COM @ 100 yards in 13 seconds, dropping to sitting from low-ready
Two shots to COM @ 200 yards in 15 seconds, dropping to prone from low-ready
Depending on your experience level, those times may seem too fast or too slow. For me, running irons, they were just barely long enough, with the targets typically turning away just as I was recovering my sight picture from the final shot.
The El Presidente was:
One shot to COM on each of three targets @ 25 yards, off-hand, starting from low ready, followed by
A speed reload, followed by
One shot to COM on each of three targets @ 25 yards
The goal was 10 seconds. My best time was 11 seconds.
Results
Well, I can say one thing for sure: I'm a lot faster now! Gunsite is all about repetition and establishing muscle memory. We performed the school drills until I couldn't stand it anymore. While it was difficult to do them quickly with iron sights, by the end of the week, I was doing them in half the time I was at the start of the week. We were taught a very clever trick to perform a speed reload on the M1As and the FALs. (Basically, lever-out the empty mag using the full mag that'll replace it...) On a full-sized Pepper Popper, I was able to make 90% of my hits at 300 yards and 2/3rds of them at 400 yards. And, yes, that little range knob on the left-hand side of the M1A's rear sight really does work! Me and my M1A -- dubbed "Mindy" (aka, "Hit Girl") -- gelled into quite a team.
On the final day, we did a "rotating" shoot-off with all of the students in the class, shooting from indoor ready against a 100-yard Popper (off-hand) and a 200-yard falling plate (prone), with a movement of firing positions in between. I was the only student in the class with iron sights and I had to haul-ass to keep up. I won 6 of the 8 initial pairings, putting me in a three-way tie for first place. Unfortunately, I was eliminated in the first round of the final shoot-off and had to be content with 3rd place, not that I was upset about that. I was congratulated by my fellow classmates, all of them impressed that I was keeping up with iron sights. Upon graduation, I received a grade of "Marksman I", the Gunsite the equivalent of a "B".
And, man, was I exhausted!
Equipment
Rifle: Springfield Armory M1A Standard, green composite stock, iron sights
Ammunition: German DAG mil-surp
Sidearm: Springfield Armory Mil-Spec 1911 (not the GI model)
Rifle Mags: CMI 20-rnd mags (I brought 35 of them)
Rifle Sling: Specter Gear "Two-Point Tactical" for the M1A
Tac Vest: an old Blackhawk MOLLE
Mag Pouches: three Tactical Tailor single-mag pouches, attached to the vest
Sidearm Holster: Blackhawk "generic" drop-leg
Hearing protection: ear plugs and Peltor electronic muffs (LOUD! I was double-protected all week...)
Problems and Equipment Failures
Ammunition: The M1A started giving me problems on the morning of the second day, not going completely into battery on random occasions. Typically, the bolt would "lock-in" when the hammer dropped but it wouldn't fire the round. (And that's a Good Thing...) This happened independent of the number of rounds in the magazine, so they weren't suspect. The first diagnosis was too much lube, but that wasn't it. I replaced the recoil spring. That wasn't it either. We had the opportunity to chronograph our ammunition and the DAG was clocking-in at measly 2650 fps. That didn't seem right and a quick call back home to the wife confirmed it. She scoured my range notes and found that my "normal" ammo -- Aussie mil-surp -- was pushing 2800 fps. I should have caught this anyway since the ejected DAG cases were barely landing forward of the muzzle when shot from prone. So, the DAG was underpowered and I knew what to do: cleanliness is next to godliness! I performed a full cleaning of the M1A every night and again during lunch, and used grease only in the op-rod's roller channel. Break Free went everywhere else. The failures-to-go-into-battery (FTBs?) all but disappeared after that. (I could usually tell when it was getting close to lunchtime or the end of the day simply by the one or two FTBs I'd start to get...) I'll be using my remaining DAG for matches and save my (more reliable) Aussie for the zombies!
That said, the DAG ammo is *very* accurate, more so than the Aussie. And there were no duds.
Rifle: None, not even after 1050 rounds in 5 days! (Total round count on this M1A is now very close to 2000...) The composite stock sure took a beating, though, and I'm glad I didn't put one of my nice wooden stocks thru this torture. I had to keep tabs on the screw holding the rear sight's elevation knob. It had a tendency to back out. Lok-Tite is the cure, I suspect.
Mags: Nada. Not a single malf could be traced to the CMIs. I had a handful of those Korean mags and they worked fine, too.
Notes and Misc
Number of students in the class: 7
Age range of students: mostly 40-somethings, with a 30- and a couple 50-somethings thrown into the mix.
Number of instructors: 3 the first two days, then 2 thereafter
Knowledge level of the instuctors: on a scale of 1 to 10, an 11.
Patience level of the instructors: (see 'Knowledge').
Rifles: 3 FALs, 3 M1As, 1 AR-10. One of the M1As was a back-up to an AR-10 that was back-up to an AR-10. (Follow that?) At one point or another, all three AR-10s went Tango-Uniform, two of them down for the full ten-count. Not cool. Everyone -- except Yours Truly -- ran an optic of one flavor or another. Aimpoints and ACOGs were the norm. Both of the other M1As were "Scout Squad" models.
Ammo consumption: 1050 rounds.
Fitness: This is not a course for someone that's out of shape. I've been lifting weights 1x or 2x per week for the last three years and I'd really wished I'd done more. Gunsite teaches reloading "up in your workspace" and holding the M1A in front of my face with only my stong-hand for countless tactical reloads had me plum tuckered out! Workouts should emphasize biceps, shoulders, and lower back. Do your stretches, too. It'll help a lot while getting back to your feet from position. In preparation for the class, I'd lost 25 pounds since October. I was grateful for my sub-200 lb weight, especially when dropping into prone!
Lights: The night shoot involves using hand-held and/or weapon-mounted lights. Not wanting to mount anything to the M1A, I'd brought a 205-lumen Fenix light (AA batteries) only to discover that, unlike Surefires, the switch doesn't activate the light until it's released. Grrrr... Nice light, but not "tactical". Lesson learned.
Transitions: Switching between my M1A (with its two-stage trigger) and my 1911 (with what is effectively a single-stage trigger) had me all over the target with the sidearm. It was rather embarrassing, actually. Perhaps my XDM is a better companion to my M1A than the 1911. (Yes, I know: heresy.)
The assistant instructor had one of the new "heavy" (7.62x51) SCARs. All I can say is, "Interesting...."
So, tha-tha-that's all folks -- thanx for hangin' in there through all that verbiage! I loved the class, even though it took a lot out of me. And I certainly don't fear the irons any more! Hope this helps anyone else considering the class.
Ciao!
TCM
(who earns a living from neither Gunsite nor Springfield Armory...)
20110327
QFTD
Airports today are what a certain group of statists want to turn the entire U.S.A. into if they get a chance. These bastards have not captured a single terrorist, or stopped a single terrorist attack. American citizens have done that . . .
This is not America, at least not the America I want to live in.
WTQ
20110320
Remember when a State government was this big? Me neither
A plaque is set in the grounds in Tuscaloosa, where Alabama's former State Capitol once stood. The plaque shows the floor plan. This is the second floor with the House at one end and the Senate at the other.
The Governor, several of his Secretaries, and the Supreme Court shared the first floor.
In its time it must have been an opulent building, one that inspired pride in all Alabamians. Damn, even far-flung Wyoming's government has spread into many more buildings than this.
20110219
Do you know what time it is?
NRA BOD ballots arrived in the American Rifleman.
Any suggestions on voting for true friends of Liberty?
Any suggestions on voting for true friends of Liberty?
20110202
Dancing in blood is, well, what They do
Matthew Vadum reports in WashTimes:
Of course there is a suggestion that these threats come from Tea Partiers or other friends of Liberty. Rubbish.
From what we have seen of the attempt on Representative Giffords's life, Piven's movement---not ours---is ready and willing to take advantage of martyrs.
Why would we wish to give one to them? Let The Nation look among its own for the source of threats against her.
I, for one, truly wish Frances Fox Piven a long, long life wherein she sees her philosophy abandoned, her beliefs discredited, and her health preserved by doctors taking their payment in cash.
Shocked staffers at the Nation report that the publication’s website has been flooded with angry comments, expletives and unprintable threats against Ms. Piven's person.
Of course there is a suggestion that these threats come from Tea Partiers or other friends of Liberty. Rubbish.
From what we have seen of the attempt on Representative Giffords's life, Piven's movement---not ours---is ready and willing to take advantage of martyrs.
Why would we wish to give one to them? Let The Nation look among its own for the source of threats against her.
I, for one, truly wish Frances Fox Piven a long, long life wherein she sees her philosophy abandoned, her beliefs discredited, and her health preserved by doctors taking their payment in cash.
20110128
goings on in the Middle East
. . . prompt talk of an 'internet revolution.' Apparently an internet revolution won't work, or hasn't yet worked in Egypt, because the internet can be seized by the thugs who'd be displaced by the revolution.
So maybe there needs to be development of a revolutionary internet. Hinted at here.
Small, low power, short-range digital radios that relay a short packet one to another. Make them small enough, and cheap enough, that they can be stuck quietly to motor vehicles, even those of the thugs, so they circulate. Each radio repeats a message until another radio gets it.
If enough of them are in close proximity, they can either speed up bandwidth to relay files (photos, for example), or dice up transmission timeslots smaller so more stations can participate. Or both.
Allowing a huge number of hops is acceptable.
The thugs would spend valuable time finding or jamming enough radios to impair the network, while you're deploying more.
For those of us outside the isolated country, we can smuggle or airdrop more of them in. Hell, fasten them to migratory waterfowl. This is something we could already have done for our liberty-minded friends in Egypt.
It's not the internet you grew up with. It won't be internet protocol at all, in fact. But it beats being deaf and blind.
So maybe there needs to be development of a revolutionary internet. Hinted at here.
Small, low power, short-range digital radios that relay a short packet one to another. Make them small enough, and cheap enough, that they can be stuck quietly to motor vehicles, even those of the thugs, so they circulate. Each radio repeats a message until another radio gets it.
If enough of them are in close proximity, they can either speed up bandwidth to relay files (photos, for example), or dice up transmission timeslots smaller so more stations can participate. Or both.
Allowing a huge number of hops is acceptable.
The thugs would spend valuable time finding or jamming enough radios to impair the network, while you're deploying more.
For those of us outside the isolated country, we can smuggle or airdrop more of them in. Hell, fasten them to migratory waterfowl. This is something we could already have done for our liberty-minded friends in Egypt.
It's not the internet you grew up with. It won't be internet protocol at all, in fact. But it beats being deaf and blind.
20110122
recreational Facebooking, and more
We do maintain a Facebook account, connected to our real-world identity. Recently, it has provided me some amusement in the form of interacting with the metrosexual people I knew in my teen years.
They spasm at the very mention of Sarah Palin. So I defend her often, by linking to or 'liking' the articles that refute her post-Loughner accusers.
It makes them only more deranged. I giggle.
But then I remember it isn't funny. An innocent person is accused of fomenting hatred and inciting violence. A mentally-ill man is ignored by his local elected peace officer, and his sworn deputies, who could have initiated court proceedings against him. He could have received treatment; at the very least, he could have been kept away from firearms.
No, it isn't funny. And it isn't about a former governor of Alaska either. Nor about talk radio.
I take some comfort from the observations that the psychotic's target, a legislator, lives and struggles to recover; the sheriff, whose badge clots with the blood of the psychotic's victims, may answer for his failures by facing a recall; the nation seems to reject idiotic calls to punish the weapon. Some comfort, not much.
I also think of the torture that the shooter must have felt, years ago, as he sensed that his grasp of the world was failing. The greater torture of realizing that people around him notice that he has changed, but have done little or nothing to help him. What of the abandonment, the isolation, as friends, classmates, employers, even family gave up on him?
They spasm at the very mention of Sarah Palin. So I defend her often, by linking to or 'liking' the articles that refute her post-Loughner accusers.
It makes them only more deranged. I giggle.
But then I remember it isn't funny. An innocent person is accused of fomenting hatred and inciting violence. A mentally-ill man is ignored by his local elected peace officer, and his sworn deputies, who could have initiated court proceedings against him. He could have received treatment; at the very least, he could have been kept away from firearms.
No, it isn't funny. And it isn't about a former governor of Alaska either. Nor about talk radio.
I take some comfort from the observations that the psychotic's target, a legislator, lives and struggles to recover; the sheriff, whose badge clots with the blood of the psychotic's victims, may answer for his failures by facing a recall; the nation seems to reject idiotic calls to punish the weapon. Some comfort, not much.
I also think of the torture that the shooter must have felt, years ago, as he sensed that his grasp of the world was failing. The greater torture of realizing that people around him notice that he has changed, but have done little or nothing to help him. What of the abandonment, the isolation, as friends, classmates, employers, even family gave up on him?
20101130
Bacchus nails
When you catch me doing journalist-like things, it’s because the lazy fuckers who claim to be journalists aren’t doing their fucking jobs.
Over here.
20101119
My National Ammo Day Haul
Fuze asks and Fuze gets.
200 rnds 9mm, 115-grn FMJ
50 rnds 22 Mag, 40-grn HP
50 rnds 38 Special +P, 125-grn HPs
(The latter are for Barbaloot to test in a couple of .357 Ruger revolvers real soon like...)
All of it picked up from Sportsman's Warehouse on the way home from work. I'd forgotten about NAD until I read Fuze's post.
So mark me down for 300 rounds. I did my part!!
TCM
200 rnds 9mm, 115-grn FMJ
50 rnds 22 Mag, 40-grn HP
50 rnds 38 Special +P, 125-grn HPs
(The latter are for Barbaloot to test in a couple of .357 Ruger revolvers real soon like...)
All of it picked up from Sportsman's Warehouse on the way home from work. I'd forgotten about NAD until I read Fuze's post.
So mark me down for 300 rounds. I did my part!!
TCM
And it's still National Ammo Day!
MidwayUSA ships Rainier 200gr .45 plated flat point. Ordered to arrive today.
C'mon, let's see everybody's Ammo Day hauls.
20101114
used HP Photosmart 2575, cheap
Amusing email from Hewlett Packard:
Having just kicked my last HP printer to the curb, I could care less about getting as settlement an e-credit from HP toward the purchase of another.
And as much as I dislike the practice of litigating every wrong everywhere every time, I'd almost like to see the attorneys open this can of worms and spill it on the table. I was responsible for feeding an HP all-in-one in a TOC, artificially setting its date to 5 years in the past so we could keep using expired inkjet carts. I'm also still trying to remove the last auto-updating HP bloatwares from several computers.
The third lawsuit (Blennis) claims that HP designed certain inkjet printers and cartridges to shut down on an undisclosed expiration date, and that at this point consumers are prevented from using any ink remaining in the expired cartridge and from using all of the printer's functions until the expired cartridge is replaced. HP denies all these claims. . . . the parties agreed to a Proposed Settlement in order to avoid the expense and risks of continuing the lawsuit.
Having just kicked my last HP printer to the curb, I could care less about getting as settlement an e-credit from HP toward the purchase of another.
And as much as I dislike the practice of litigating every wrong everywhere every time, I'd almost like to see the attorneys open this can of worms and spill it on the table. I was responsible for feeding an HP all-in-one in a TOC, artificially setting its date to 5 years in the past so we could keep using expired inkjet carts. I'm also still trying to remove the last auto-updating HP bloatwares from several computers.
20101109
20101104
TCM stares down a troll...
...in comments over at The Truth About Guns.
Probably not my best effort, but it'll do.
Edit:
Apparently, I (shamelessly?) read the TTAG posts chronologically, thereby missing this response. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the anti-gunners revert to ad hominem attacks. Reasoned discourse, my ass.
TCM
Probably not my best effort, but it'll do.
Edit:
Apparently, I (shamelessly?) read the TTAG posts chronologically, thereby missing this response. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the anti-gunners revert to ad hominem attacks. Reasoned discourse, my ass.
TCM
20101009
Hie thee off to Alphecca
Republicans are contorted in the pantaloons over NRA endorsements?
Please leave something in the tip jar for Jeff.
Please leave something in the tip jar for Jeff.
20101002
I suddenly find myself wondering
I suddenly find myself wondering why i need to tell a bartender what "neat" means
20100923
20100922
OK, I'll play!!
The Cabinet Man here...
Below is my "on the body" carry rig:
That's a Springfield Armory XDm in 45 ACP. It rides in a Blade-Tech IWB holster with pull-the-dot loops. The spare mag and a Surefire Z2 Combatlight ride in a Blade-Tech combo pouch. All of that gets strapped on with a Wilderness Tactical 1-1/2" polymer-lined Frequent Flyer belt. The rig conceals pretty well as long as I'm wearing baggy shirts or a vest/jacket. It's surprisingly comfortable, too!
TCM
Below is my "on the body" carry rig:
That's a Springfield Armory XDm in 45 ACP. It rides in a Blade-Tech IWB holster with pull-the-dot loops. The spare mag and a Surefire Z2 Combatlight ride in a Blade-Tech combo pouch. All of that gets strapped on with a Wilderness Tactical 1-1/2" polymer-lined Frequent Flyer belt. The rig conceals pretty well as long as I'm wearing baggy shirts or a vest/jacket. It's surprisingly comfortable, too!
TCM
20100921
Carry rigs
SaysUncle asks, "what's your carry rig?"
Milt Sparks Summer Special above, Dillon kinda Yaqui slide below.
Biter the stainless Commander is comfy in either. She rode in the Sparks all day today.
El Paso Saddlery two-mag carrier (from CheaperThanDirt) not shown.
And visible in the upper edge of the pic is the steel cable for the Center-of-Mass in-car safe, which is indispensable.
Milt Sparks Summer Special above, Dillon kinda Yaqui slide below.
Biter the stainless Commander is comfy in either. She rode in the Sparks all day today.
El Paso Saddlery two-mag carrier (from CheaperThanDirt) not shown.
And visible in the upper edge of the pic is the steel cable for the Center-of-Mass in-car safe, which is indispensable.
20100911
No irreversible damage
The cheap milsurp plastic grips on Beater the utility blaster cracked, right across the panel, through the upper screw hole. Both panels.
A cast-aside 6' slab of 1/4" Lexan was looking at me from the corner of the garage, like the Cheetos cheetah: "you know you want to do it."
I hacked out two pieces about the size of M1911 grip panels, and started rasping away anything that looked like it didn't belong there.
The WECSOG grip panels aren't done. They are fitted to the frame, with the countersinking and the relief for the detent plunger doodad, and the outline. But the contouring is only begun.
When it is to the desired contour, it will be stippled for texture.
20100831
Bleg: .22 top end for Glock 23
Who has the best .22LR conversion for Glock 23?
It's not a 4th-generation. Aside from that, all I can tell you is the serial number.
Flinch needs to be programmed out of the spousal unit.
It's not a 4th-generation. Aside from that, all I can tell you is the serial number.
Flinch needs to be programmed out of the spousal unit.
20100829
QFTD
In comments on Reason.tv's coverage of Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor event, M. said:
Pop quiz: which would our Founders have thought the smaller of the two entities?
'nother: how much smaller would it have been, say as a measure of how many persons were employed by, or paid by, one entity versus the other. Or say as a measure of how much spending is done by one versus the other.
I caught some of Beck's radio program last week, as he and his staff were discussing Brian Williams's appearance on Letterman. Letterman was asking Williams, as if asking Beck and the Tea Partiers through him: "taking our country back from whom?"
At the time I couldn't answer concisely, and in a way that wouldn't spawn countless challenges. Maybe the answer is concisely right there.
Jefferson and Washington would never [have] confused the public sphere with the machinery of government.
Pop quiz: which would our Founders have thought the smaller of the two entities?
'nother: how much smaller would it have been, say as a measure of how many persons were employed by, or paid by, one entity versus the other. Or say as a measure of how much spending is done by one versus the other.
I caught some of Beck's radio program last week, as he and his staff were discussing Brian Williams's appearance on Letterman. Letterman was asking Williams, as if asking Beck and the Tea Partiers through him: "taking our country back from whom?"
At the time I couldn't answer concisely, and in a way that wouldn't spawn countless challenges. Maybe the answer is concisely right there.
20100827
It just occurred to me . . .
. . . that Hannibal Lecter cut his hand off needlessly at the end of Hannibal.
Note that he cut his hand off to escape the handcuff that Clarice slapped on him in the scene right after Hannibal fed Ray Liotta's character part of his own brain.
But didn't Hannibal free himself from handcuffs in the Silence of the Lambs, in seconds, while the deputies were bringing him dinner? And he did so under spartan conditions, where he had to find or smuggle an improvised handcuff key.
So back to Clarice's kitchen. If Clarice had a frigging meat cleaver suitable for severing a man's hand at the wrist, she probably had many other items lying around, as in within three steps of the cleaver, that would have gerry-rigged a handcuff key as easily as the ballpoint pen tube that he used in Silence.
Clarice was heavily doped and not likely to put up much of a fight to this improvisation---the handcuffing was all she could pull off without passing out.
I must conclude that the cleaving of his hand was a dramatic flourish, not a true necessity for a fiend as clever as Hannibal Lecter. I haven't read the book, so I don't know whether that even happened in the book, and the book controls.
Discuss. Submit your coursework in the Comments, in APA 6th edition format.
Note that he cut his hand off to escape the handcuff that Clarice slapped on him in the scene right after Hannibal fed Ray Liotta's character part of his own brain.
But didn't Hannibal free himself from handcuffs in the Silence of the Lambs, in seconds, while the deputies were bringing him dinner? And he did so under spartan conditions, where he had to find or smuggle an improvised handcuff key.
So back to Clarice's kitchen. If Clarice had a frigging meat cleaver suitable for severing a man's hand at the wrist, she probably had many other items lying around, as in within three steps of the cleaver, that would have gerry-rigged a handcuff key as easily as the ballpoint pen tube that he used in Silence.
Clarice was heavily doped and not likely to put up much of a fight to this improvisation---the handcuffing was all she could pull off without passing out.
I must conclude that the cleaving of his hand was a dramatic flourish, not a true necessity for a fiend as clever as Hannibal Lecter. I haven't read the book, so I don't know whether that even happened in the book, and the book controls.
Discuss. Submit your coursework in the Comments, in APA 6th edition format.
20100824
An exposure to 60Co
Still catching up on back issues of Liberty, which yields another QFTD, May '07 in fact:
Jason's post was inspired by discovery of salmonella contaminating peanut butter.
Would irradiation have worked on eggs?
Contaminated food scares seem to be more common now than when I was a kid. I don't know whether it's true or just more noticeable. It it's true, I'd like to know whether it's because food processors (or regulators) are just more careless, or we're just producing so much more, or exchanging foods more widely across the planet, or perhaps the contaminating organisms are just tougher now and breaking through the formerly adequate measures that processors have deployed against them.
Regardless, a few more scares like this one and maybe more Americans will be open to a broad use of irradiation, and vigorous tracking of which foods, and handling methods, yield better safety.
. . . only about 1% of our meat and produce is irradiated. The FDA has dragged its feet, considering irradiation some kind of food additive. They allow irradiation of meat, but with a warning label about possible risks! No such label is required for untreated meat that is laden with microbes . . if Public Citizen, food activists, and the FDA had been around in Pasteur's time, we wouldn't have pasteurization today.Gary Jason in Bug Out, Reflections
Jason's post was inspired by discovery of salmonella contaminating peanut butter.
Would irradiation have worked on eggs?
Contaminated food scares seem to be more common now than when I was a kid. I don't know whether it's true or just more noticeable. It it's true, I'd like to know whether it's because food processors (or regulators) are just more careless, or we're just producing so much more, or exchanging foods more widely across the planet, or perhaps the contaminating organisms are just tougher now and breaking through the formerly adequate measures that processors have deployed against them.
Regardless, a few more scares like this one and maybe more Americans will be open to a broad use of irradiation, and vigorous tracking of which foods, and handling methods, yield better safety.
20100823
QFTD
The right to honestly acquired private property does not depend on people's deserving their property. People do not deserve their livers or good looks, either; yet they have a right to them.
Leland Yeager paraphrasing Tibor Machan in Liberty, July 2007; sorry, article itself not online
20100815
45 ACP Shotshell Handloads for Revolvers
(In the CD player: Ixnay on the Hombre, The Offspring)
As most of you are aware, CCI is pretty much the "industry standard" for pistol-caliber shotshells. The little buggers are sold mostly to snakeaphobes, though I'm sure a few are bought just for kicks. CCI makes these shotshells in three (centerfire) semi-auto calibers: 9mm, 40 S&W and 45 ACP. Unfortunately, CCI specifically calls-out that these three shotshells are not to be used in revolvers of respective caliber. They bind-up the cylinder in rather unpleasant ways. Because I'm an RTFM kinda' guy, this has not happened to me personally. I've learned from others' mistakes.
While I'm sure that heapin' plenty of God's little critters have succumbed to CCI's factory loadings across the available calibers, I've always felt that the .4X were the smallest loadings I'd trust for serpent. I have a handy-dandy SP-101, which would be an ideal setup were I trusting in the 357 shotshell. But not so much trust here. Next up is the 44 Mag, of which I have two candidates. One is a Redhawk that's a bit too unwieldy for the task, the other a 2-1/2" Taurus Tracker. The latter has a ported barrel which, unfortunately, CCI says is a "no-no" for the shotshells. (RTFM, remember??...) So the 44 is out. The other two .4X offerings are 45 ACP and 45 Long Colt. I want something that can guarantee a follow-up shot so the 45 ACP in a semi-auto is out. I don't have a 45 Long Colt so that's a non-starter.
What's a girl to do?
Well, what I do have are two 45 ACP revolvers. A S&W 625 and a 325 Thunder Ranch, both with 4" barrels. The 625 isn't a whole lot lighter than the Redhawk but the 325 is very light, being divined of a magical Middle Earth compound known as scandium. Knowing that I can't use CCI's 45 ACP shotshells on this platform, I figger'ed I'd set out to roll my own 45 ACP revolver loads.
And roll'em I did!
(It's at this point that I must interject that reloading data follows. This data worked wonderfully for me, in my gun, with the batch of components I had on hand, on the day I did the testing. The same cannot be assumed for you. By duplicating these loads for your own use, you assume all risk of death, dismemberment, or damaged guns and hold harmless Yours Truly in the case that any or all of those unfortunate events actually come to pass. Legal mumbo-jumbo, blah, blah, blah...)
Referring back to an article written by Mike Venturino (American Handgunner, Jan/Feb 2007), I started formulating a plan. Mike loaded his 45 Long Colt shotshells with 45 caliber Speer shot capsules, #12 shot, and Unique powder. So I snagged a box of the capsules, scrounged a ten-pound bag of #11 shot, whipped out my own jug of Unique, and set myself to loading. I went with #11 shot since I wanted something larger than #12. (If you've ever seen #11 or #12 shot, you'll understand that "larger" is a strictly relative term...)
The shot capsules hold 163.5 grains of #11 shot, or about 408 pellets. The capsule and shot combined weighs almost exactly 180 grains. Mike used 9.0 grains of Unique in his 45 Long Colt load. Speer recommends 7.5 grains for the 45 Long Colt. So I figger'ed I'd start with 6.5 grains of Unique for the 45 ACP. I seated the capsules by hand -- squishing them in place between a scrap piece of 2x2 and my reloading bench -- to an OAL of 1.55", +/- 0.03 depending on who manufactured the shell casing. I used a 45 ACP Lee Factory Crimp die to make a taper crimp. (Since I also have a 45 ACP roll crimp die, I tried that. Fail. It just managed to crack the capsule and send #11 shot scattering everywhere...)
As you can see, the capsule extends quite a ways out the mouth of the case, despite a rather deep seating.
But it still fits in the 325's cylinder with plenty of room to spare.
Just for grits-n-shins, I tried chambering one of them in my 1911. It didn't work, the capsule catching the rifling well before the case could headspace.
Then it was off to the range. (Unfortunately, I forgot the camera. So here are your thousand words...)
In a nutshell, the experiment was a success!! The patterns made at roughly 10 feet were exactly what you'd expect: ~18", with good distribution. Recoil was noticeable but mild. There was nothing untoward as a result of using the capsules: no plastic shards flying about or jamming up the cylinder works. Cases extracted w/o problem. Sorry, no chrono data.
One thing I wanted to check -- and I'm glad I did -- was "capsule creep" due to recoil. I loaded one moon clip with five of my 200-grn FMJ match rounds and one shotshell. I "staged" the cylinder so that the shotshell fired after the five match rounds. Indeed, the capsule crept out of the case and would have bound the cylinder. Admittedly, I didn't have the tightest taper crimp on these loads. I'll need to do a bit more experimentation on the crimp. Probably a few cycles of "tighten it until it snaps, then back off a 1/4 turn." Even if I can't get the exact crimp I want, the shotshell would always be staged to fire first and recoil creep would be a non-issue. Still, I wanna' get it right...
Finally, Mike V. used the "potato test" as criteria for an effective shotshell load. He believes that if one of these babies blasts apart a raw potato, it's good enough for snakes. Well, my 45 ACP loads sent a spud to the Big Potato Patch in the Sky. In many pieces!
So, if you have 45 ACP revolver that you wanna' roll some shotshells for, have at it. It can be done.
TCM
As most of you are aware, CCI is pretty much the "industry standard" for pistol-caliber shotshells. The little buggers are sold mostly to snakeaphobes, though I'm sure a few are bought just for kicks. CCI makes these shotshells in three (centerfire) semi-auto calibers: 9mm, 40 S&W and 45 ACP. Unfortunately, CCI specifically calls-out that these three shotshells are not to be used in revolvers of respective caliber. They bind-up the cylinder in rather unpleasant ways. Because I'm an RTFM kinda' guy, this has not happened to me personally. I've learned from others' mistakes.
While I'm sure that heapin' plenty of God's little critters have succumbed to CCI's factory loadings across the available calibers, I've always felt that the .4X were the smallest loadings I'd trust for serpent. I have a handy-dandy SP-101, which would be an ideal setup were I trusting in the 357 shotshell. But not so much trust here. Next up is the 44 Mag, of which I have two candidates. One is a Redhawk that's a bit too unwieldy for the task, the other a 2-1/2" Taurus Tracker. The latter has a ported barrel which, unfortunately, CCI says is a "no-no" for the shotshells. (RTFM, remember??...) So the 44 is out. The other two .4X offerings are 45 ACP and 45 Long Colt. I want something that can guarantee a follow-up shot so the 45 ACP in a semi-auto is out. I don't have a 45 Long Colt so that's a non-starter.
What's a girl to do?
Well, what I do have are two 45 ACP revolvers. A S&W 625 and a 325 Thunder Ranch, both with 4" barrels. The 625 isn't a whole lot lighter than the Redhawk but the 325 is very light, being divined of a magical Middle Earth compound known as scandium. Knowing that I can't use CCI's 45 ACP shotshells on this platform, I figger'ed I'd set out to roll my own 45 ACP revolver loads.
And roll'em I did!
(It's at this point that I must interject that reloading data follows. This data worked wonderfully for me, in my gun, with the batch of components I had on hand, on the day I did the testing. The same cannot be assumed for you. By duplicating these loads for your own use, you assume all risk of death, dismemberment, or damaged guns and hold harmless Yours Truly in the case that any or all of those unfortunate events actually come to pass. Legal mumbo-jumbo, blah, blah, blah...)
Referring back to an article written by Mike Venturino (American Handgunner, Jan/Feb 2007), I started formulating a plan. Mike loaded his 45 Long Colt shotshells with 45 caliber Speer shot capsules, #12 shot, and Unique powder. So I snagged a box of the capsules, scrounged a ten-pound bag of #11 shot, whipped out my own jug of Unique, and set myself to loading. I went with #11 shot since I wanted something larger than #12. (If you've ever seen #11 or #12 shot, you'll understand that "larger" is a strictly relative term...)
The shot capsules hold 163.5 grains of #11 shot, or about 408 pellets. The capsule and shot combined weighs almost exactly 180 grains. Mike used 9.0 grains of Unique in his 45 Long Colt load. Speer recommends 7.5 grains for the 45 Long Colt. So I figger'ed I'd start with 6.5 grains of Unique for the 45 ACP. I seated the capsules by hand -- squishing them in place between a scrap piece of 2x2 and my reloading bench -- to an OAL of 1.55", +/- 0.03 depending on who manufactured the shell casing. I used a 45 ACP Lee Factory Crimp die to make a taper crimp. (Since I also have a 45 ACP roll crimp die, I tried that. Fail. It just managed to crack the capsule and send #11 shot scattering everywhere...)
As you can see, the capsule extends quite a ways out the mouth of the case, despite a rather deep seating.
But it still fits in the 325's cylinder with plenty of room to spare.
Just for grits-n-shins, I tried chambering one of them in my 1911. It didn't work, the capsule catching the rifling well before the case could headspace.
Then it was off to the range. (Unfortunately, I forgot the camera. So here are your thousand words...)
In a nutshell, the experiment was a success!! The patterns made at roughly 10 feet were exactly what you'd expect: ~18", with good distribution. Recoil was noticeable but mild. There was nothing untoward as a result of using the capsules: no plastic shards flying about or jamming up the cylinder works. Cases extracted w/o problem. Sorry, no chrono data.
One thing I wanted to check -- and I'm glad I did -- was "capsule creep" due to recoil. I loaded one moon clip with five of my 200-grn FMJ match rounds and one shotshell. I "staged" the cylinder so that the shotshell fired after the five match rounds. Indeed, the capsule crept out of the case and would have bound the cylinder. Admittedly, I didn't have the tightest taper crimp on these loads. I'll need to do a bit more experimentation on the crimp. Probably a few cycles of "tighten it until it snaps, then back off a 1/4 turn." Even if I can't get the exact crimp I want, the shotshell would always be staged to fire first and recoil creep would be a non-issue. Still, I wanna' get it right...
Finally, Mike V. used the "potato test" as criteria for an effective shotshell load. He believes that if one of these babies blasts apart a raw potato, it's good enough for snakes. Well, my 45 ACP loads sent a spud to the Big Potato Patch in the Sky. In many pieces!
So, if you have 45 ACP revolver that you wanna' roll some shotshells for, have at it. It can be done.
TCM
20100807
more Grendel reloads
Crosswinds exceeding 30mph today.
BobbieJo sent some more 95 grain Hornady V Max downrange today. All were CCI 200 primers, Wolf brass. 5-round samples at 100 yards.
29.0 grains WC846, mild crimp. Average 2528 fps, SD 13.0 fps. All stayed in a 4" square at 100 yards
29.5 grains WC846, no crimp. Average 2591 fps, SD 25.1 fps. Not as well confined to 4" square.
29.5 grains WC846, mild crimp. Average 2600 fps, SD 17.2 fps. About the same spread as without crimp.
Elevation 6300 feet above sea level.
BobbieJo sent some more 95 grain Hornady V Max downrange today. All were CCI 200 primers, Wolf brass. 5-round samples at 100 yards.
29.0 grains WC846, mild crimp. Average 2528 fps, SD 13.0 fps. All stayed in a 4" square at 100 yards
29.5 grains WC846, no crimp. Average 2591 fps, SD 25.1 fps. Not as well confined to 4" square.
29.5 grains WC846, mild crimp. Average 2600 fps, SD 17.2 fps. About the same spread as without crimp.
Elevation 6300 feet above sea level.
20100801
Gear Review (of sorts): Fenix LD20 R4
[In the CD player: Lush, Gala...]
The wife and I currently use two 20th century bicycle headlights that use incandescent bulbs and lead-acid battery "cells". Categorizing these systems as marginal is something of an understatement. They're heavy, bulky, and not all that bright, even with recently-replaced battery packs. Unless it's absolutely pitch black and we're pedaling along at a lazy 10 MPH, they cannot be trusted to properly illuminate the roadway for us to clearly identify road hazards. At best, they'll alert a driver to our presence at night. Maybe. Bicycle lights have come a long way since I first invested in these systems almost 15 years ago. But they can still be expensive.
Then I found an alternative.
What we're gonna' talk about today is the Fenix LD20 R4 flashlight. (This is the newer LD20, that has a max 205 lumens...) I first caught wind of this little guy by way of the kind folks over at EcoVelo. There'd been a couple posts over there about using flashlights for bicycle lights and I really liked the idea. What appealed to me about the LD20 was (1) it's price, given that it can fill two roles, (2) the fact that it can take AA batteries, and (3) that it uses a constant-current LED drive circuit.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Most of the really bright flashlights (Surefire and Streamlight, for example) run off of CR123A batteries. These flashlights are great and I own several of them. The Missus gifted me a Surefire LED model that's bright enough to weld with! But I want something that uses rechargeable batteries, specifically rechargeable AAs. The problem with using the AA rechargeables is that their charged voltage is only ~1.2 volts. This voltage is low enough that most of my electronics gear fusses that the power is running low when I just installed freshly charged batteries. This is where the LD20's constant-current circuit comes in handy. Within reason, it doesn't care what the battery voltage is, as long as the batteries have the capacity to run the circuitry. Which the AA rechargeables do!
I won't go into a lot of detail about the LD20 'cuz you can get all that info for yourself just by following the linky. But the "added value" of the time you've spent reading this post is how the LD20 behaves while using different battery types. The Fenix web-site gives out the basics on time-vs-brightness, but what they don't tell you is under what conditions the tests were conducted. Well folks, I think I can answer a few questions about that since I was curious enough to conduct my own tests.
I borrowed a PIC microcontroller board and a photocell from work. I rewrote a mess of C code to turn the board into a data logger, rigged a cardboard box to act as the test rack, and proceeded to test the LD20 with five different types of batteries: Energizer Ultimate Lithium, Energizer Rechargeable (older), Energizer Rechargeable (newer), Energizer Alkaline, and Sony Eneloop rechargeable. The older Energizer rechargeables are probably four years old, though their charge/discharge count is pretty low. The newer ones are spankin' new, not even two weeks old. I used the 50 lumen setting for all the tests, which Fenix says provides 13 hours of runtime. (And the 50-lumen setting provides quite a bit more light than our current bicycle light systems.) Testing was done inside, so, say............, 75F.
.JPG)
The following graph shows relative brightness over time. I couldn't tell you what the exact brightness is in lumens, it's just the reading off of the A/D converter attached to the photocell. Just assume it's the advertised 50 lumens. This graph makes it obvious that the constant-current circuit is doing its thing: when the batteries are dead, they're dead!!
As one would expect, the Ultimate Lithiums produce significantly better results than the other batteries. However, they're not rechargeable and they're wicked expensive at over $2 each!! They would be a good choice, however, for emergency operations where long run-times (and shelf-lives) are important -- and cost is not. (Lithiums will also perform better at temperature extremes than the other batteries will...) The other four batteries are quite comparable in their performances. The good news is that the rechargeables -- even with their lower full-charge voltage -- have capacities nearly equal to that of the alkalines.
To summarize the run-times:
It looks like we have a winner! Of course it remains to be seen how the rechargeables will work in colder weather, which is really the only time we need to use lights on the bicycles. But even if they give us a full week's commuting between charges (~6 hours, worse case), then they'll work great. So check back in about 6 months and we'll update on how this arrangement works. Until then .............. ciao!!
TCM
The wife and I currently use two 20th century bicycle headlights that use incandescent bulbs and lead-acid battery "cells". Categorizing these systems as marginal is something of an understatement. They're heavy, bulky, and not all that bright, even with recently-replaced battery packs. Unless it's absolutely pitch black and we're pedaling along at a lazy 10 MPH, they cannot be trusted to properly illuminate the roadway for us to clearly identify road hazards. At best, they'll alert a driver to our presence at night. Maybe. Bicycle lights have come a long way since I first invested in these systems almost 15 years ago. But they can still be expensive.
Then I found an alternative.
What we're gonna' talk about today is the Fenix LD20 R4 flashlight. (This is the newer LD20, that has a max 205 lumens...) I first caught wind of this little guy by way of the kind folks over at EcoVelo. There'd been a couple posts over there about using flashlights for bicycle lights and I really liked the idea. What appealed to me about the LD20 was (1) it's price, given that it can fill two roles, (2) the fact that it can take AA batteries, and (3) that it uses a constant-current LED drive circuit.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Most of the really bright flashlights (Surefire and Streamlight, for example) run off of CR123A batteries. These flashlights are great and I own several of them. The Missus gifted me a Surefire LED model that's bright enough to weld with! But I want something that uses rechargeable batteries, specifically rechargeable AAs. The problem with using the AA rechargeables is that their charged voltage is only ~1.2 volts. This voltage is low enough that most of my electronics gear fusses that the power is running low when I just installed freshly charged batteries. This is where the LD20's constant-current circuit comes in handy. Within reason, it doesn't care what the battery voltage is, as long as the batteries have the capacity to run the circuitry. Which the AA rechargeables do!
I won't go into a lot of detail about the LD20 'cuz you can get all that info for yourself just by following the linky. But the "added value" of the time you've spent reading this post is how the LD20 behaves while using different battery types. The Fenix web-site gives out the basics on time-vs-brightness, but what they don't tell you is under what conditions the tests were conducted. Well folks, I think I can answer a few questions about that since I was curious enough to conduct my own tests.
I borrowed a PIC microcontroller board and a photocell from work. I rewrote a mess of C code to turn the board into a data logger, rigged a cardboard box to act as the test rack, and proceeded to test the LD20 with five different types of batteries: Energizer Ultimate Lithium, Energizer Rechargeable (older), Energizer Rechargeable (newer), Energizer Alkaline, and Sony Eneloop rechargeable. The older Energizer rechargeables are probably four years old, though their charge/discharge count is pretty low. The newer ones are spankin' new, not even two weeks old. I used the 50 lumen setting for all the tests, which Fenix says provides 13 hours of runtime. (And the 50-lumen setting provides quite a bit more light than our current bicycle light systems.) Testing was done inside, so, say............, 75F.
.JPG)
The following graph shows relative brightness over time. I couldn't tell you what the exact brightness is in lumens, it's just the reading off of the A/D converter attached to the photocell. Just assume it's the advertised 50 lumens. This graph makes it obvious that the constant-current circuit is doing its thing: when the batteries are dead, they're dead!!
As one would expect, the Ultimate Lithiums produce significantly better results than the other batteries. However, they're not rechargeable and they're wicked expensive at over $2 each!! They would be a good choice, however, for emergency operations where long run-times (and shelf-lives) are important -- and cost is not. (Lithiums will also perform better at temperature extremes than the other batteries will...) The other four batteries are quite comparable in their performances. The good news is that the rechargeables -- even with their lower full-charge voltage -- have capacities nearly equal to that of the alkalines.
To summarize the run-times:
It looks like we have a winner! Of course it remains to be seen how the rechargeables will work in colder weather, which is really the only time we need to use lights on the bicycles. But even if they give us a full week's commuting between charges (~6 hours, worse case), then they'll work great. So check back in about 6 months and we'll update on how this arrangement works. Until then .............. ciao!!
TCM
20100717
Hallelujah!
Old Western Scrounger still breathes!!!!!
I hadn't ordered anything from them since before the intertubes.
Found via Gibbs Rifle via SayUncle.
I hadn't ordered anything from them since before the intertubes.
Found via Gibbs Rifle via SayUncle.
20100711
aftermarket AK replacement parts
This is either an opportunity for an enterprising cottage industry type, or a bleg:
Who makes high-reliability domestic replacement parts for the Kalashnikov? Extractor, extractor spring and pin, firing pin and retaining pin, mainspring?
Sure, the original Warsaw Pact parts are making their way to the States, and probably in volumes that make aftermarket parts not worth the bother. I'm tempted to just get another kit or two (the ones with the worthless cut-up barrels) just to have replacement parts. But I'd probably just get Amerikanski barrels and build them.
Anybody have a lead?
Who makes high-reliability domestic replacement parts for the Kalashnikov? Extractor, extractor spring and pin, firing pin and retaining pin, mainspring?
Sure, the original Warsaw Pact parts are making their way to the States, and probably in volumes that make aftermarket parts not worth the bother. I'm tempted to just get another kit or two (the ones with the worthless cut-up barrels) just to have replacement parts. But I'd probably just get Amerikanski barrels and build them.
Anybody have a lead?
If Glenn really wanted a solar-powered air conditioner
We should borrow recreational vehicle technology. I grasp the concept of the latent heat of vaporization, though this article on propane-powered RV refrigerators is a bit harder to follow.
What could be so difficult about scaling this hardware up to a size that could air-condition a house? The difficult part is radiating away the heat after the hardware is done with it. That task would be enhanced with a leetle photovoltaic power to drive a fan over the radiator.
Such a system would be about as obtrusive and unsightly as existing A/C units, if the solar collector and radiator can be hidden in roofing and chimneys. This is where engineers earn their pay. There would be greater difficulty selling these units past the esthetics prudes of homeowners' associations, than getting the equipment to work.
It's not as if we'd be dealing with dangerous or exotic materials: ammonia and water and a bit of hydrogen. The hydrogen would have to be replaced periodically, but that's easier, at the scales of the service technician and of the national economy, than powering automobiles with hydrogen.
Durability? Remember, the existing units are mounted on moving vehicles, getting vibrated and going through temperature and humidity cycles. It should be cake to build a unit like this suitable for home use in a climate with a lot of direct sunlight, like Colorado or Wyoming. Then it has the added Gaia-closed-cycle-ness of making more cold air when more is needed. Let's not burn propane to do this.
The domestic water heater can probably be integrated into this equipment too. Waste heat, remember?
What could be so difficult about scaling this hardware up to a size that could air-condition a house? The difficult part is radiating away the heat after the hardware is done with it. That task would be enhanced with a leetle photovoltaic power to drive a fan over the radiator.
Such a system would be about as obtrusive and unsightly as existing A/C units, if the solar collector and radiator can be hidden in roofing and chimneys. This is where engineers earn their pay. There would be greater difficulty selling these units past the esthetics prudes of homeowners' associations, than getting the equipment to work.
It's not as if we'd be dealing with dangerous or exotic materials: ammonia and water and a bit of hydrogen. The hydrogen would have to be replaced periodically, but that's easier, at the scales of the service technician and of the national economy, than powering automobiles with hydrogen.
Durability? Remember, the existing units are mounted on moving vehicles, getting vibrated and going through temperature and humidity cycles. It should be cake to build a unit like this suitable for home use in a climate with a lot of direct sunlight, like Colorado or Wyoming. Then it has the added Gaia-closed-cycle-ness of making more cold air when more is needed. Let's not burn propane to do this.
The domestic water heater can probably be integrated into this equipment too. Waste heat, remember?
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