Everything I needed to know about Islam...

From The Trainer.

Mission Petition

If I could only have one [thing] at this point in Iraq, it would be more time."-- General David Petraeus July 10, 2007

Here's a quickie from the Victory Caucus, a petition to stand by the mission:

Iraq is now the central front in the War on Terrorism - not because Americans want it to be but because America's enemies have said so and made it so. Al-Qaeda and Iranian-backed militias are determined to drive the United States out of Iraq. Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups would then use that country as a safe haven from which they can mount attacks on the U.S., its interests and allies.

Check it out.

Tracking Flights

I'm headed up to The Airport in a while to pick up some friends who are flying home from Blighty, but not to worry or hurry - I'm watching their flight on Google Earth and they're still over Canuckistan. Big Brother shows that they're passing Mount Yamnuska and Barrier Lake - they're outside of Calgary. I found a geeky Flight-tracking program that allows me to watch their progress - Big Brother indeed. Westjet Flight 743 out of Ottowa crossed their path some 25-miles ahead at 397 knots, headed for the coast while
Air Canada flight 194 out of Vancouver and headed for Montreal is passing behind them.
Freaking amazing...

Old Album

I never had much of a record collection because I never had a record-player until after College, so in the past years it was relatively easy to transition straight to MP3's.
But over time and along the way I came across a few interesting albums and picked them up despite my limitations, including this funky one of Cowboy music. I have it hanging on the wall in a picture frame now. It's too bad there's no Gringo Pistolero on it - that would have knocked sales through the freaking roof I'll betcha.


(click to embiggen)

Welcome Belatedly

I was caught-out by the fact that I haven't reciprocated with The Unforgiving Minute, who is among my frequent perusals.
I have a bunch of catching up to do on that score, and any gentle reminders would be appreciated, not scorned.
And go buy some ammo on Tuesday the 28th.

UPDATE: Aw hell let's not forget Les Jones - Kiss Me, I'm Peevish, and there's Tweety at NBR's Spot, and the Sharp As a Marble genius of Rob Allen.

2nd National Buy-Ammo Day

As many of you already know, the PSH*-Brady Campaign to Deny Rights, along with His Foul Greasinence Jesse Jackasson, are going to stage a loaded-diaper whine-fest on August the 28th. It figures, that's a Full Moon and Lunar Eclipse, and that'll set the Moonbats and their werewolf buddies howling every time.

So go buy some of your favorite ammo, patronize your favorite Gunporium, pump up your local Gunconomy, and I'll guarantee you that you'll shoot just like this!!

(the one by the X is a double)

Shamelessly stolen from Fodder who did all the heavy lifting are these links:
Firearms Coalition - War on Guns - Traction Control - Say Uncle

(*Pants-Sh*tting-Hysterics)

Freedom's Watch

Alert from the Victory Caucus that there's a player in town helping our side fight the Media War - the War that the blind-pig ignorant MSM-Moguls are busy working to lose.
The goal is for Congress to continue to fully fund the troops, with the objective of WINNING - not losing in a limp-dick pullout as HarryReid, Schumler, Pelotzi and the rest are so wont to do. There is plenty of good news coming out of Iraq that goes unreported and disdained by the mainstream pig-trough snufflers who are so eager for a defeat-repeat like that which they "won" in Vietnam. Yeh, Holiday in Cambodia.
With the intention of WINNING rather than LOSING, finally here's some media pushback coming in the form of radio and television advertisements that will run and feature an 800-number for us hoi-polloi to call our dis-representatives and urge them not to surrender to terror.
My representative have already surrendered to the Communists, zombies, pod-people, illegal aliens, Unions, and the slimy political opportunists who call themselves California Democrats - which they are. They practice the French Art very well and will personally come to your house and surrender to your dog, cat or parakeet just to get in extra practice-time, so I don't expect them to get the sand out of their ears or ass any time soon - but the rest of the country is not lost and such Media reinforcements are greatly welcome!

It Aint Guns That's the Problem

Hat-tip to Oscar Poppa for this not-so-little gem that's no doubt been seeing wings around the Gun-O-sphere.

Harvard Journal Study of Worldwide Data Obliterates Notion that Gun Ownership Correlates with Violence

My favorite includes the International data that's constantly and falsely being thrown over the fence by the turd-slinging, deluded and wishful-thinking Left: For example, handguns are outlawed in Luxembourg, and gun ownership extremely rare, yet its murder rate is nine times greater than in Germany, which has one of the highest gun ownership rates in Europe. As another example, Hungary's murder rate is nearly three times higher than nearby Austria's, but Austria's gun ownership rate is over eight times higher than Hungary's. "Norway," they note, "has far and away Western Europe's highest household gun ownership rate (32%), but also its lowest murder rate. The Netherlands," in contrast, "has the lowest gun ownership rate in Western Europe (1.9%) ... yet the Dutch gun murder rate is higher than the Norwegian." (Psst! Anybody wonder which has the higher population of recently subsidized nonnative immigrants from the Mid-East adhering to a particular authoritarian religion?)

The reason that gun ownership doesn't correlate with murder rates, the authors show, is that violent crime rates are determined instead by underlying cultural factors. "Ordinary people," they note, "simply do not murder." Rather, "the murderers are a small minority of extreme antisocial aberrants who manage to obtain guns whatever the level of gun ownership" in their society. (my emphasis)

And just for fun, going back to the Supreme Worker's Paradise, that bastion of Marxist-Leninist Collectivism: "...they establish that Soviet murder rates far exceeded American murder rates, and continue to do so today, despite Russia's extremely stringent gun prohibitions. By 2004, they show, the Russian murder rate was nearly four times higher than the American rate. "

The Roar of the Cannon

This was about as interesting as it got at Saturday's match.

One of our older club-members built this 1/4" copy of a small civil-war mortar as a golf-ball canon in the free-time he had while at Gunsmithing School up in Lassen.

The flash was bright but all I got was smoke.

I shot an X-offhand in the first stage and it went downhill from there on my way to a 360-1X. I guess it's a matter of getting used to the new rifle, but my buddy the Distinguished shooter agreed that it was indeed a crappy day when he shot a disappointing (to him) 480-16X.
Given the heat and brightness there was a lot of mirage to contend with, and I'm more certain than ever that I need a more powerful spotting scope and a stand that doesn't wobble around so much. The smaller caliber holes are more difficult to resolve at 200-yards with my old Meopta Hermes 70 spotter, which I was thankfully influenced by this article to buy. It's a fantastic scope, but now I need more, and without resorting to Lasix, I need an 80mm objective. Slow prone wasn't too terrible and I only threw one six out of the black, but it wasn't enough to make-up for the lousy rapid stages. Oh well!

Giant Mutant Freakish Aliens

Yeh OK, I'm sure that somebody's else has got bigger Hibiscuitses.   We have a few pots out on each balcony that semi-constantly rotate plants - the Bird of Paradise was another nuclear mutant with weird leaf-growth so we got rid of it after it bloomed a few times. This was the biggest damn thing we saw flowering at the nursery. Now it's got four going all at once - one will probably kick-off by nightfall. All's I do is water 'em, and I often forget to do that.

Victory Caucus

The Victory Caucus was relaunched a few weeks with a new site design, and now they need our help.

August and September are crucial months for the war effort, both on the ground in Iraq and here at home. In September --- most likely right around September 11th --- General Petreaus will deliver his report to Congress, and defeatists are doing everything in their power to discredit and dismiss the General's findings before he even delivers them. At The Victory Caucus, we aim to ensure they fail, and that the American people get an accurate an honest understanding of the progress being made and the prospects for genuine victory.

Right now the key media battlefront is local, it's in your town-district-state.

Sucks to be in a Blue Town, in a Blue gerrymandered District, in a Blue gerrymandered State run by the most feeble-minded, worthless, and callow Legislature in history on BOTH sides of the aisle.

Congressmen and Senators are back home during the August recess, and while they are there they need to hear from supporters of victory. If you haven't done so already, try to find out if your Congressman (and Senators) are holding "town hall" meetings while they are home --- or just try to reach them at their office.   (Yeh, just try - sorry I've been infected by Systemis Libtardis: Californicynicysticism)   Let them know how you feel: if they have been strong on the war, thank them   (Can't think of a single one around here),   and if they haven't --- politely let them know you hope they'll change their mind.

I've tried to let them know, and each and every time I am met with a kind of kindergartenish and Grade-School playgroundspeak. The rhetoric of "I Know Your Are But What Am I?" wherein they turn my statements upsidown and then agree with the opposite. It's the aids and worker-bees of the Collectivist Hive, the special-needs and trust-fund minions working for the puppet-masters: Pelosi, Boxer, and Frankenfeinstein. Anyhow the Victory Caucus needs our help whatever it may be.

Say 'Ello to my Leetle Frien'

Inspired by the post of poor, ill, Phlegmfatale (go wish her well), this is yet another derivative-posting.
What DO we have here? It's a miniature rocket-ship sans payload! It's the pimple-faced Teenage Rocketeer next to the hulking Sgt. Rock of the ThuttyAwghtSix Infantry Division. It's .223 vs. .30-06 brass and 53 flat-based copper-clad grains against 155 boat-tailed ones.


And it's also what those small holes in the red-plastic tray are used for. I've fallen desperately behind in things, with still a half-hundred-plus '06 loads to load, and here already arrived are more of these tiny chaps. It's a slump and a conflict.
The only thing saving me from jumping-in and deep-sixing myself in total organizational meltdown is that I have no .223 shell-holder. I just need to get the Garand loads done and out of the way. I hate being scattered and disorganized - it eats at my brain. But I also need to go outside and walk around in the sun because it's a fine Summer day with gentle breezes and a huge waste to spend it indoors.

So in the end, to preserve and guard me from Chaos remains the the duty I started, have to finish those stalwart loads. 46-grains of H4895 must be first dispensed into the primed Nosler brass that's been sitting patiently for months before I proceed to duplicate that process in miniature. I need to keep my eyes on the front sight.


On another note, the Reno thing has gone iffy and fuzzy - timing is not shaping up. But it's since it just fuzzy, maybe things will clarify and resolve in the interval.

UPDATE: So, wha'd I do?   (Isn't that what the dude, caught red-handed with the crack or hiding in the bushes, on an episode of COPS always says??)

I went and bought an RCBS #10 shellholder for .223 Remington...Nobody try to stop me!

Run What Ya Brung - Blonds, Brunettes, and Redheads.

Since the UPS Fairy carrying brass, bullets, and dies in the Midway order has not yet arrived I went ammo buying. I settled on 55-grain bullets, who knows why? Oh yeh, the guys at Imbert's recommended them - a box of 50 Black Hills remanufactured ammo (some kind of FMJ pills in Lake City '05 brass).

As Practice approached and time stretching away into infinity, I got anxious and decided to buy more. Problems I heard about ammo-dryness had not fully comprehended until engaged intimately. There was none of that Black Hills to be found. So away I went, nibbling around here and there like a timid Gun-bunny. I avoided a patch of suspect Foreign Stuff in plain brown wrappers printed in a blotchy variation of Klingon.
In rising desperation I went to a Gun Haute-Boutiquerie and bought the upscale and spendy prom queen Federal Premiums -- spendy, but with adorable little red-headed Nosler Ballistic Tips, like perky nipples, how cute!!
Having now spent moreon twenty than what fifty had cost a few weeks earlier, in a flash of Miserly Geniuzs I trucked myself over to Wal-Magoo. Someone at Wal-Magoo must be a Raiders fan (with a big Mercedes Benz hood-emblem around their neck), for all's what was there was also Not-Cheap. But again who could resist the adorable little Silver and Black nipple-tips! They were cute little Winchester 55-grain beauties, and that's what went downrange in Slow Prone. Uh-huh. Black-beauties, black rifle - maybe it's a thang.
To begin the match as my five sighters and learn how to handle the new rifle, I started with the blonds first - the golden FMJ Black Hills bullets. I was somewhat disappointed when one shot just disappeared. New-rifle? I figured it was a miss...until the paster stuck a black square over the X in the center of the target. Hey! I just couldn't see the hole (need a new scope?) and is this recollection a future premonition of events to come? cue Twilight-Zone music.
The Offhand stage was shot with ten of the perky little redheaded beauties, and wasn't too bad, but with a lot of Sevens the prom queens were p'haps a little fussty.
For The Rapids I returned to the sleek, golden cougars of the Black Hills - the been-around-the-block-before-babes. Hey, they should be experienced with the stage's particular male style "talent." And they were, with a good bunch of sit-down Tens and Nines.
In the Fast Bellyflop I also used them to pick up an X, besides more Nines and Eights. It was all over in a flash - but they delivered at an affordable price in a stage where experience counted.
Slow prone was the hot and sweaty with the silver-tipped Ballistic-babydolls and four X's. Still there were a bunch of Nines and Sevens too. I'm not as young as I once was...
I'm gonna have to work at the reloading-bench doing a lot of Press Curls and Brass Management to equal that performance.

That's how the dance card played out.

Match Update

Unfortunately the pictures I took in Practice range from the boring to the mundane. If you want to see who made the upper and what the rifle looks like , follow that link. It's pretty generic look, fulfilling the vanilla statutes of Service Rifle - but with that Wilson barrel it's also damn heavy! I could see getting another, lighter and shorter upper for other events.
The day dawned bright and clear and hot - and I was sweating it out on station 14 in the first group. We had a lot of new shooters taking the introductory M1-Garand familiarization and manual-of-arms class, who would shoot later in Relay-2.

200-yards to go...
Some of the guys poke fun at my old, modified golf-cart arrangement, and I'm looking to get a proper stool on wheels - it's just a matter of time...
After the final stage ended and I took a look a the score I couldn't see why a good group would have two visible misses, so I went back to look at my target and called over one of the senior club guys and asked him if he thought that the slightly elongated X in the center was a double, and he said, "Definitely!" So that was one missed shot resolved.

1-3/4" inch center...

I asked my neighboring shooter to take a look at his target, and there amid the .30-caliber holes was one, little, perfect .22 hole smack-dab in the middle of the X. Some vindication for the lost shot, I did it on purpose!
The guy who brought this unit had a fun shoot but was done quickly. He was low in the rapids and chewing up the target frame (bad boy!), I think in the slow stage it was just too hard to aim accurately without firing quickly!

I think I'm Gonna Like it Here -- Range Report.

On a hot sunny day with temps in the 90's and new rifle that I'd never shot before, of a type I'd only fired three or four times from a bench, I shot a 396-5x across-the-course.
The boring part: A Ten, a Nine, and seven Sevens in Offhand - with two Fives. A couple Tens, five Nines, some Eights and a Seven in Rapid Seated. An X, and three each: Nines, Eights and Sevens in Rapid Prone. Four X's, six Nines, an Eight and six Sevens with three Sixes in Slow Prone. I tried to take my time and breathe carefully, staying on the front post.
Should have been a 406-6x, but one of those beautiful and carefully sighted-in X's, the most beautiful of all for being dead-smack-in-the-X-crossbars'-center, went onto my neighbor's target... Sheesh. Goober!! But not bad for never firing this thing before. There are adjustments to make. Pictures to come.

GunBooger Rendezvous!

We're goin' we're goin' we're goin' to the Gunbooger Rendezvous in Reno!
Yeehaw!
Circus-Circus should be a bit better than the all-nighter at the Jackson National Hotel, up in Gold Country, where a sobbing drunk beating on the wrong door implored us to reconcile, and at four in the morning some gay Mexican was playing opera music on the blaster soundstation out of his lowered Acura in the parkinglot at 120db.
Sheesh, that was the first time I realized I really shoulda had packed a gun...

Wednesday Range Closed

I went down for the Club's unofficial ad-hoc Wednesday mid-morning Old-Guy/Unemployed-Guy practice session...and nobody was there. Sucks to be me, all geared-up and nowhere to go. I didn't get to see how the 11º target crown would work-out at 20-yards, will have to wait until Practice on Saturday morning.


Meanwhile I have this software UI graphics job I'm working on and there are some pinch-points developing between The Big Guy and his Engineering staff, with me thrown into the mix. We can work it out, it's all about Pixelestate: Location, location, location...
UPDATE: "20-yards" Whaa? No, 200 yards. Tomorrow morning, we'll see...

Gunbloggerroll Addition

Just a quick Update: Target Rich Environment, who's in my invisible to you Firefox collection of Gunblastic Bloggerados, and now finally on paper and in print. Unfortunately I have many more bookmarked Bloggers than hours in the day to read them all, not even counting Blogworld which I have broken down by: the Anglosphere, Continentals, Baharatia Bloggalnadu (Asian Sub-continent) and more. And then there's a huge list going from Chick Bloggers, Dude Bloggers, teh Funny!, Econometrics... to Strategeristics and Milbloggers. Oh well.