and from deep in the forest, the Gi-Joe gang says "Hi!" too.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Forecast: c-c-c-cold, 31-degrees
My wife's taking a vacation week and today we headed over to the coast.
Pacifica is an interesting little town on the Pacific coast south of San Francisco, broken in length by the flat parts where people actually live. The rain on Sunday and Monday had cleared the air and visibility was phenomenal. I wondered what those rocks out there were and it turns out, as far as I can tell, they're the Farallons, some 27 miles distant.
Despite the bright sunshine it was pretty damn cold, and since we were on the coast it was windy. We had lunch at a really great place called Nick's that's been there since the 40's and run by the same family, and had a giant crab-sandwich on toasted French bread. While leaving I ran into Nick at the bar, and he graciously put his hand out to shake so I took it and said, "Great place you got here!" Duh!! My dad would love it, this is crab season and the food was really good.
In one antique store we found some funky old tiki-glasses that will go well with out other tiki stuff and barware, and in another a carving of a porpoise -- and given a little equal time for my passion in another store (a gunshop) I found an interesting little black aluminum nick-nack from Sweden called an Aimpoint... Kewl! Christmas comes early for us!
I brought Big Louie the Monstera inside off the balcony so that the frost and chill tonight wouldn't kill it - he's a tropical guy, cold is a bitch.
UPDATE:
Oh yeh, this is that with which I wound up...uh, or whatever. ;-)
Pacifica is an interesting little town on the Pacific coast south of San Francisco, broken in length by the flat parts where people actually live. The rain on Sunday and Monday had cleared the air and visibility was phenomenal. I wondered what those rocks out there were and it turns out, as far as I can tell, they're the Farallons, some 27 miles distant.
Despite the bright sunshine it was pretty damn cold, and since we were on the coast it was windy. We had lunch at a really great place called Nick's that's been there since the 40's and run by the same family, and had a giant crab-sandwich on toasted French bread. While leaving I ran into Nick at the bar, and he graciously put his hand out to shake so I took it and said, "Great place you got here!" Duh!! My dad would love it, this is crab season and the food was really good.
In one antique store we found some funky old tiki-glasses that will go well with out other tiki stuff and barware, and in another a carving of a porpoise -- and given a little equal time for my passion in another store (a gunshop) I found an interesting little black aluminum nick-nack from Sweden called an Aimpoint... Kewl! Christmas comes early for us!
I brought Big Louie the Monstera inside off the balcony so that the frost and chill tonight wouldn't kill it - he's a tropical guy, cold is a bitch.
UPDATE:
Oh yeh, this is that with which I wound up...uh, or whatever. ;-)
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Red-Dot Range-Time
UPDATE - For all you readers coming to this picture in the Archives -
DON'T: Buy A Teh-SUXOR RED-DOT like the lousy $29.95 BSA one from Wal-Mart that BROKE ON THE FIRST SHOT.
DO: Use Wal-Mart's generous return policy to take it back and get your damn money back.
THEN: Buy an Aimpoint or something.
At the point of the green arrow, there's the dot (I enhanced it since it didn't scale-down very good). The Blue arrow points to the rear ghost/peep-sight and the space underneath the scope, through which you can just see the top-half of the front sight blade - it's co-witnessed!! Yay!! (Which turns out to be valuable.
(UPDATE: Also turns out to be impractical and useless WHEN THE CHEAP SIGHT BREAKS.)
I was aiming at the lower bull on the circled target out at 100-yards. I could it hit it with the iron sights, but...
Here's the second shot, no dot. It went away. Dot-gone. POS BSA Scope from Wal-Mart. Pbbbththth!!
So naturally I fiddled with it, un-screwing the battery and dorking around until the dot came back on, and the it went out again. It turns out that it sorta will stay illuminated, just not at any actual click-setting. The illumination-power knob has to be "bumped up" against/between a click-setting. I managed to twirl the windage and elevation knobs a bit to center it better but the whole thing was a lost cause. It was my enthusiasm that lead me to charge ahead, now I'm going to have to go back and charge a return!
The good news is that the Pro-Mag magazines still have a FTF at around the last round, but the ones from Numrich don't.
So it was an eventful day and we learned a lot, experience is a mighty fine teacher and any time at the range is good time.
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!! I have a lot to be thankful for.
DON'T: Buy A Teh-SUXOR RED-DOT like the lousy $29.95 BSA one from Wal-Mart that BROKE ON THE FIRST SHOT.
DO: Use Wal-Mart's generous return policy to take it back and get your damn money back.
THEN: Buy an Aimpoint or something.
At the point of the green arrow, there's the dot (I enhanced it since it didn't scale-down very good). The Blue arrow points to the rear ghost/peep-sight and the space underneath the scope, through which you can just see the top-half of the front sight blade - it's co-witnessed!! Yay!! (Which turns out to be valuable.
(UPDATE: Also turns out to be impractical and useless WHEN THE CHEAP SIGHT BREAKS.)
I was aiming at the lower bull on the circled target out at 100-yards. I could it hit it with the iron sights, but...
Here's the second shot, no dot. It went away. Dot-gone. POS BSA Scope from Wal-Mart. Pbbbththth!!
So naturally I fiddled with it, un-screwing the battery and dorking around until the dot came back on, and the it went out again. It turns out that it sorta will stay illuminated, just not at any actual click-setting. The illumination-power knob has to be "bumped up" against/between a click-setting. I managed to twirl the windage and elevation knobs a bit to center it better but the whole thing was a lost cause. It was my enthusiasm that lead me to charge ahead, now I'm going to have to go back and charge a return!
The good news is that the Pro-Mag magazines still have a FTF at around the last round, but the ones from Numrich don't.
So it was an eventful day and we learned a lot, experience is a mighty fine teacher and any time at the range is good time.
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!! I have a lot to be thankful for.
Garand Details
I didn't notice before but I have a NM front sight!
The Op-rod is a NM one too, as well as the rear sights.
The barrel says 7-44 which is a close match to the receiver SN#.
And the bolt is the usual, late model replacement - I thinnk...?
The muzzle is pretty good...but damn it's hard to take a good picture of the bore.
The Op-rod is a NM one too, as well as the rear sights.
The barrel says 7-44 which is a close match to the receiver SN#.
And the bolt is the usual, late model replacement - I thinnk...?
The muzzle is pretty good...but damn it's hard to take a good picture of the bore.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
394-1X Seven-sevens
Ok so I suck. All that load-workup drama and then this - at least the brass tended to pile itself up in one general location more than before, which seems credible since I sorted out all the same headspace-stuff.
73 Offhand (done better and worse) , 83 Rapid-sitting (that's better), 78 Rapid-prone (mostly done better), 160 Prone - below my average. At lest I only tossed one Six out there.
One of those sixes in the upper left was a .223 shot from my neighbor, meanwhile I collected on aggregate the most sevens. Some reloading manuals suggest 48-grains, some suggest the 168gr. HPBT - but I have a dirty little secret, maybe I should clean the barrel more often.
Anyhow the clubhouse looks groovy.
UPDATE: Well, obviously it's really not any kind of "Clubhouse" -- it's a shed where we store crap: targets, target-backers, and stuff.
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Rail
I got the rail for the Carbine.
You can see where the mount clamps, it's forward - you're supposed to leave a gap fore and aft so it doesn't bind on the barrel-band or on the receiver.
The clamping system is a lot like the hand-guards that clamps to the handlebar of my KTM off-road bike.
UPDATE:
The rail installed pretty good.
I used the steel-ruler to check and insure it wasn't touching at either end by using it as a shim, and then to insure it was evenly rotated side-to-side with the same gap between the wood. While tightening the four screws it was necessary to maintain the same relative gaps-to-metal. A feeler-gauge might have helped.
I took it in and out of the stock several times checking clearances also before a final tightening.
Looks ok to me...Gotta figure out what-height rings work. Regarding ring-height, in an email reply the Ultimak guy said, "When mounting to the Carbine, the motto is ALAP (As Low As Possible)." So far I'm happily impressed with their customer service.
You can see where the mount clamps, it's forward - you're supposed to leave a gap fore and aft so it doesn't bind on the barrel-band or on the receiver.
The clamping system is a lot like the hand-guards that clamps to the handlebar of my KTM off-road bike.
UPDATE:
The rail installed pretty good.
I used the steel-ruler to check and insure it wasn't touching at either end by using it as a shim, and then to insure it was evenly rotated side-to-side with the same gap between the wood. While tightening the four screws it was necessary to maintain the same relative gaps-to-metal. A feeler-gauge might have helped.
I took it in and out of the stock several times checking clearances also before a final tightening.
Looks ok to me...Gotta figure out what-height rings work. Regarding ring-height, in an email reply the Ultimak guy said, "When mounting to the Carbine, the motto is ALAP (As Low As Possible)." So far I'm happily impressed with their customer service.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Bent Decapper
When I started off prepping the brass I ran into a snag.
It took a couple wrenches to free-up the pin and the eliptical expander is still in good shape. I've never been a big fan or impressed by the old-style pin that locks into place by crimping force rather than mechanical advantage. Unless I really cranked-down on the spindel collet to hold it in place, the pin would often gradually back up. Cranking down hard on the collet also deformed the hexagonal flats with the wrench. It just looks bad and it shouldnt. But I am saved, they now make a threaded version to which I'm necessarily going to have to upgrade.
It took a couple wrenches to free-up the pin and the eliptical expander is still in good shape. I've never been a big fan or impressed by the old-style pin that locks into place by crimping force rather than mechanical advantage. Unless I really cranked-down on the spindel collet to hold it in place, the pin would often gradually back up. Cranking down hard on the collet also deformed the hexagonal flats with the wrench. It just looks bad and it shouldnt. But I am saved, they now make a threaded version to which I'm necessarily going to have to upgrade.
Shoulder Comparator
The question is, how much does shoulder dimension affect accuracy?
I'm running the decapped brass through a Stony Point Comparator and separating them based on a wide variety of readings, from 2.043 to 2.051 - with many so-far at 2.047-8 and another group at .045 -- and boy is it tedious.
Maybe I should just separate them by weight.
Man, I have the most boring hobby sometimes...
UPDATE:
Ok here's the deal, according to my abusive dial-measuring technique: in the blue box on the left they're all 2.045 (quite a few) and in the blue box on the right they're all 2.043 (second spike on the curve) and the ones in rows on the loading blocks are each a line different starting at 2.040 at the top and going to 2.050 at the bottom of the picture. A few are off-the-chart like the one in the comparator in the center at 2.036 that's the same as the other one off the block at the top of the pic. Also there's another grouping in the row at 2.046 and a larger group at 2.047 - it's just weird I guess, the way they're spread across a curve with two "plateau" points.
I'm going with the plateaus when I load.
I'm running the decapped brass through a Stony Point Comparator and separating them based on a wide variety of readings, from 2.043 to 2.051 - with many so-far at 2.047-8 and another group at .045 -- and boy is it tedious.
Maybe I should just separate them by weight.
Man, I have the most boring hobby sometimes...
UPDATE:
Ok here's the deal, according to my abusive dial-measuring technique: in the blue box on the left they're all 2.045 (quite a few) and in the blue box on the right they're all 2.043 (second spike on the curve) and the ones in rows on the loading blocks are each a line different starting at 2.040 at the top and going to 2.050 at the bottom of the picture. A few are off-the-chart like the one in the comparator in the center at 2.036 that's the same as the other one off the block at the top of the pic. Also there's another grouping in the row at 2.046 and a larger group at 2.047 - it's just weird I guess, the way they're spread across a curve with two "plateau" points.
I'm going with the plateaus when I load.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Pigstickers
Had a request for pointy-pictures from the previous-post comments.
Click to enlarge in a separate window.
Left to right, the first is an Aerial Cutlery Co. M4 for the M1 Carbine. Aerial was the smallest maker with only an estimated 91,898 made (Imperial made over 900,000). The second is your typical beater M1 made by Utica Cutlery Co. for the M1 Garand - one of the larger manufacturers with an estimated 750,000 made, and the last is a Springfield-Krag 1900-dated bayonet with a second type scabbard.
For all your US Military knife and bayonet questions, these guys really have the answers!
Click to enlarge in a separate window.
Left to right, the first is an Aerial Cutlery Co. M4 for the M1 Carbine. Aerial was the smallest maker with only an estimated 91,898 made (Imperial made over 900,000). The second is your typical beater M1 made by Utica Cutlery Co. for the M1 Garand - one of the larger manufacturers with an estimated 750,000 made, and the last is a Springfield-Krag 1900-dated bayonet with a second type scabbard.
For all your US Military knife and bayonet questions, these guys really have the answers!
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Ibuprofenage
Ow-ow, aches and pain - results from some work with a pick and shovel. I met my Expert friend down at the Range yesterday to do some trenching work on a club improvement - a poured concrete t-shaped slab between the two containers we have. It's about thirty feet on one side and fifteen on each other.
Eric the carpenter had already set-up the two-by-four forms and laid some wire mesh, but we needed to go down about eight-inches with a perimeter trench, so the edge of the concrete would have a thick lip and some strength.
The ground where the range is situated is like rock, straight-up serpentine with more rocks and decomposed granite mixed it - each inch is a battle, it's not even dirt. It reminds me of a friend who's husband is a builder on the Big Island, she said the cool thing is they do a fair amount of work with dynamite, blasting the blue-stone lava. I wished we had some. Fortunately the weather stayed cool as we slaved away. It was good to do some physical work after sitting around so damn much this year. We talked about guns of course, and what would be the next one - what direction we were taking in shooting, and how decisions to add windage or take it off can lose points in a Leg Match (for him, not me!) - and I talked about my little Carbine Project, while he talked about a really neat old Sharp's long-range rifle he wants...
Now, it's evening again on the day-after and I'm gonna go the the fridge and get a beer. And then another.
Eric the carpenter had already set-up the two-by-four forms and laid some wire mesh, but we needed to go down about eight-inches with a perimeter trench, so the edge of the concrete would have a thick lip and some strength.
The ground where the range is situated is like rock, straight-up serpentine with more rocks and decomposed granite mixed it - each inch is a battle, it's not even dirt. It reminds me of a friend who's husband is a builder on the Big Island, she said the cool thing is they do a fair amount of work with dynamite, blasting the blue-stone lava. I wished we had some. Fortunately the weather stayed cool as we slaved away. It was good to do some physical work after sitting around so damn much this year. We talked about guns of course, and what would be the next one - what direction we were taking in shooting, and how decisions to add windage or take it off can lose points in a Leg Match (for him, not me!) - and I talked about my little Carbine Project, while he talked about a really neat old Sharp's long-range rifle he wants...
Now, it's evening again on the day-after and I'm gonna go the the fridge and get a beer. And then another.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Big Bro' Little Bro'
Request for Pics from previous-post comments. Click to enlarge in a separate window.
Oops have to fix the clicky-thingy.
Oops have to fix the clicky-thingy.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Carbide Carbine Dies
These new dies are heavier than the old one's Chet gave me, but I won't need a bunch of fussy-sticky-gooey lube either.
In researching .30 Carbine ammo, one of the key explanations I repeatedly came across regarding its effectiveness was related to bullet expansion. The 110 grain FMJ bullet travelling at 1900 feet-per-second is roughly akin to .357 Magnum velocities and power, and simply zips through stuff without expanding or opening-up. At one Point Winchester made a Super-X HSP - Hollow Soft Point - and loaded it in a $40 per-box factory load. I can't find a bit of it. I did find some $30 per-box soft-point loads, but not the hollow-points. So I decided to embark on another voyage of discovery and I assembled the final additional components I needed, including the CCI #400 Small Rifle primers (ooh, shiny silvery!), and a box of Hornady 110 grain round-nose bullets - couldn't find any of the fabled Speer "Varminter" hollow-points at my local gun emporiuims. There was a spire-point but it featured an abruptly sharp and pointy tip (ogive?) and I wasn't sure it would feed any good from the magazines. I've got brass and I've got H-110 so that's that.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Mystery Fox, Inadequacies, and ROTC
It happened again, all my bookmarks under the sub-folder I titled "Bloggers" disappeared. Funny thing is when I go and use "Search:" on an individual bookmark in the sidebar-window, it finds it...But it won't tell me where it is. Somebody tell me this is a hidden feature?
Saturday was a practice match, which is exactly like a regular match but less intense and also the day when we introduce new guys to the M1 Garand, have them go through the manual of arms, practicing sighting and loading etc., and then bring them onto the 2nd relay and shoot. So I shot in the first relay and poorly, maybe bumping up the H-4895 to 47.2 grains wasn't the answer.
I collected a bunch of damn sevens and eights rather than tens and X's.
Sunday was the day we had a compliment of ROTC kids scheduled to train in rifle-shooting with smallbore (.22) and high-power (.223) bolt guns. They looked swell in their new digital cammo and it was fun, and I was glad to help out the club - our future depends on kids.
Saturday was a practice match, which is exactly like a regular match but less intense and also the day when we introduce new guys to the M1 Garand, have them go through the manual of arms, practicing sighting and loading etc., and then bring them onto the 2nd relay and shoot. So I shot in the first relay and poorly, maybe bumping up the H-4895 to 47.2 grains wasn't the answer.
I collected a bunch of damn sevens and eights rather than tens and X's.
Sunday was the day we had a compliment of ROTC kids scheduled to train in rifle-shooting with smallbore (.22) and high-power (.223) bolt guns. They looked swell in their new digital cammo and it was fun, and I was glad to help out the club - our future depends on kids.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Leftovers
One of the problems with cooking to much sauce is what to do with it all later? The two remaining pieces of Osso Buco were put in oven-safe dishes, covered with cling-film and tinfoil, labeled with a fat Sharpie, and went into the freezer.
Still we had a two-inch deep puddle of delicious sauce in the big pot that would be criminal to throw away: Chicken Puttanesca. I fired up the little Magma grill and turned on the oven again.
After giving two small packets of thighs a searing turn at the heat and some kewl grill-marks, they went into the stockpot. In addition I tossed in some kalamata olives for that puttanesca flavor.
See, it looks a lot like the osso buco because the same procedure to make one makes the other, but with some olives and other stuff. Basic building-blocks. Then again into the oven, but just for an hour at 350° since it's chicken.
UPDATE: My wife says, "An hour and a half." Who am I to argue?
Still we had a two-inch deep puddle of delicious sauce in the big pot that would be criminal to throw away: Chicken Puttanesca. I fired up the little Magma grill and turned on the oven again.
After giving two small packets of thighs a searing turn at the heat and some kewl grill-marks, they went into the stockpot. In addition I tossed in some kalamata olives for that puttanesca flavor.
See, it looks a lot like the osso buco because the same procedure to make one makes the other, but with some olives and other stuff. Basic building-blocks. Then again into the oven, but just for an hour at 350° since it's chicken.
UPDATE: My wife says, "An hour and a half." Who am I to argue?
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
RCBS Mystery Achievement
Among the things I got with the press when I set-up the reloading bench was this. I have no idea what or how it operates, I don't believe it's for a rifle cartridge and the green box has no label or indicator.
I arranged it in a couple different ways.
The spring loaded whatchamajigger can pass through the center unless you snap in the shell-holder or anvil or whatever it is.
It could be some kind of...crimp-remover?
I'm needing a clue here. The threads allow it to go in topsides, and the shell-holder notch will accept whatever shell-holder so the brass would hang upsidown? Then you can put the anvil on the ram...for what? Must be some kind of goofy hand-gun thing. ;-)
UPDATE: I'm a dumbass but I think I got it figured out (finally).
I arranged it in a couple different ways.
The spring loaded whatchamajigger can pass through the center unless you snap in the shell-holder or anvil or whatever it is.
It could be some kind of...crimp-remover?
I'm needing a clue here. The threads allow it to go in topsides, and the shell-holder notch will accept whatever shell-holder so the brass would hang upsidown? Then you can put the anvil on the ram...for what? Must be some kind of goofy hand-gun thing. ;-)
UPDATE: I'm a dumbass but I think I got it figured out (finally).
Uh-huh - Kerryistic vocal shenanigans again
From Fetching Jen we get this the average Military response to Dithering-John Kerry's merry-mumblings.
And blissful comments from the bubble-people on the Deep Ultra-Blue state of their mirror-minded reflection, detatched and insulated from the rest of the country by more than miles. Sheesh, the constant cranial impacts have calcified all their conclusions.
And blissful comments from the bubble-people on the Deep Ultra-Blue state of their mirror-minded reflection, detatched and insulated from the rest of the country by more than miles. Sheesh, the constant cranial impacts have calcified all their conclusions.
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