Seasonal Greetings

Merry Christmachaunakwanzicamas to everyone.

And if that offends you, Happy Festivus to you.

What's been going on.

Not that anybody else cares.

I am pretty proud of myself this week.  I managed to hit 3 places featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

On Sunday, El Indio in San Diego, CA.
On Tuesday, Rino's Place in Boston, MA.
and Today, Clanton's Cafe in Vinta, OK.

So far, the food is 3 fer 3 as in great eats.  I'll try to hit another place or two tomorrow in Indiana and Ohio.

In Memorium

My dear friends, the Farm Fam, lost their matriarch last night.  She finally figured she'd kicked cancers butt long enough and she'd throw it a bone.  My prayers go out to the family.

For what it's worth, Blogorados will never be the same for me.

To paraphrase John Donne,

 "...Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,..."
 

It tolls loudly this week for those I care about.

Things I overheard

So, I'm sitting on the hotel eating my breakfast and the people in the table behind me are having a little political discussion. And I overhear one of the ladies there say, "I'm a Liberal, Black, American, and I'm never voting for Obama again." And the bonus is she's in college.

That warms the cockles of my heart.


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Location:Columbus, OH.

Made me think

Does anyone else think the "See Something, Say Something" commercials don't pass the Jews in the Attic test?


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Quick Thought.

I see a lot of similarities between the #OWS and the Revolutionary Council of France.  And no, that's not a good thing.  Read a history book.

I don't know what the Californians get all excited about....

http://ww2.cox.com/myconnection/tulsa/today/news/national/article.cox?articleId=D9QR21U01&moduleType=apNews

But seriously, they managed to shake things up here just a little bit.  I actually had to listen to the radio and hear them talking about it to figure out what it was I felt.

I hate airports

So, I'm on my way to Columbus OH, for a last interview for a job in Lear 45's up there. And I've decided to come clean finally.

I hate airports.

I know that's shocking to see. Doubly so because I'm a pilot and we, you know, kinda have to use them.

And don't get me wrong. I love to fly. Best office window view you could ever get, all the buttons you'd ever want to push, etc.

But when I have to use the airlines to get anywhere, I'm virtually bombarded with reminders of why traveling this way sucks. Normally, I don't have to worry about the suckage. Being a corporate pilot, when I'm flying the trip, rarely do I use the main passenger terminal at the airports. In fact, we actively try to avoid using the same airports airlines use. And if we do, we'll use the private or general aviation terminal. No lines, no TSA gropings, no gigantic fat guy who just sat in the gate seat RIGHT NEXT to me when there's 80 open seats all around us. WTF, srsly dude?

Great, we're boarding now. And only 20 minutes late too.


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Location:DTW

My thoughts on this video.

This video:



came out just after the OccupyOaklanders were dispersed/arrested by the police.  I've watched it several times and I've come to some conclusions about this.

She used the term "chemical weapons" twice.  Once before the cut to the Oakland Police Chief's comments and once after.  Notice the police chief didn't say chemical weapons and I would have to doubt that the officer who made the announcement before tear gas was deployed used that term.

When asked if this was an "appropriate response", she pauses and looks up and left.  As if she is trying to remember what she was told.

Call me crazy, but she had to have been coached.  And badly at that.  I can see whoever coached her telling her to make sure to use the words "chemical weapons" but not telling her that throwing bottles and rocks at the police is assault.  So, she's grabbed from the crowd, told what the interviewer will ask, instructed to use the incendiary catch phrases and then gets blindsided when the talking head decides to ask a preliminary setup question not on the script she'd been handed.  At which point the fail became avalanche like in proportions.

I have no idea.

No, seriously.  I have no idea what the fuck she is saying here.  I mean I recognise that the words are English but I'm not sure she's actually, you know, speaking it.  OOH! Maybe she's just getting out of one of them tent revival meetings and she's still speaking in tongues.

Note to #OWS

Always a classic.

What I'm watching on YouTube right now:

On a serious note...

As another Blogorado comes to an end, I think it's time we talked about one of the down sides to the gathering.

It's a documented psychological phenomenon. I'm talking about PBD syndrome. Post Blogorado Depression Syndrome.

Years of research by many of the most noted doctors in the field have studied it. I feel it's important that I post here their recommendations.

Currently there is no known cure. You will feel depressed for the next few days to a week. It's Okay. Spend some time in bed. I find crying into your pillow or favorite Teddy bear works. (I use Ambulance Driver). And remember we're gonna do it next year.

So, buck up, little campers.

This has been a public service announcement. I now return you to your regular scheduled blog reading.


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Some pics

Give me a big kiss baby.


Worlds most pissed off bull snake.


We had ditty martoonis matty dartoonis datty mitannos... We're drunking... Dammit! Figure it out.

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Location:Blogoradoville

Blogorado, The Epic Trek Out

Okay, it's after 10 pm, Blogoradoville time, and I'm checked into a new hotel.  Well, new for me anyway. I am posting this from the hotel that is a registered historic landmark for the state of BlogoradovilleState.  I like it.   There's a picture of the Duke on my wall. 

Today started early.  I met NFO at his hotel in Tulsa and we loaded all the rifles and other assorted implements of shootiness and hit the road with some vague plans to do some stuff and maybe some other stuff too.  If we get time. And aside from the usual construction suspects getting across the state was easy.  Except for listening to the great anointed one do a multi-hour news conference were he managed to be condescending, berating, belittling, and more general fear mongering.  My blood pressure....

We ended up calling Lawdog, Phlemmy, Expert Witness, The Great Tam herself, and Ambulance Driver and coordinated a meeting in Amadillorillo for a late lunch with plans to caravan the rest of the way to Blogoradoville.

Two words, Cat Herding.

We eventually lallygagged our way to Blogoradoville where Mr and Mrs Sci-Fi and Christina_LMT were already there.  Having successfully managed to avoid any lallygagging, ambling, loping, or other forms of non-urgent perambulations coming from the other direction.

I ate too much. 

Somehow, FarmMom has gotten better at making fried chicken.  Yes, I know. It's shocking.  I still find it hard to believe myself. But the oily proof was all over my hands and face by the time I raised the white flag.

Tomorrow, we finish the set up on the range, scope out a direction that will give us 6 miles of clearway for long range shooting, rezero for the altitude, and probably eat too much again.

Tomorrow, Tractortracks and her squeezetoy, Salamander and his family, Evyl Robot of the quality holsters with his sexay holster model, InJennifersHead and their offspring, plus a couple of others will arrive.  It looks to be a good group.

Honestly, I plan to blog something and maybe have pictures too, maybe, everyday.  But, as the saying goes, a plan is just a list of things that won't happen.  So, we'll see how I do with that.

Late night levity.

I saw this on my Fox News feed.

7 Bears Rounded Up in Yellowstone Mauling Probe

And all I could see was the police line up for that.

"Don't worry ma'am, they're behind a two way mirror and can't see you."
"Number three, step forward and say, 'Hey Booboo, let's get us some pik-a-nik baskets!'"
"ROWRRRRRRRrrrrrGROWRRRRrrrrr"
< sob >; "That's him, officer!"

I'm sending this one out to my CO homey, Salamander. A known Ursinophiliac.  Don't try to deny it.

Edit:  Sorry, the above clicky-linky to Sal's blog is the old blog, you can currently find him terrorizing the bears at http://armedandamphibious.wordpress.com/.  Sorry for the mix up.

Edit edit:  After I published this again, I realized that maybe using the word "terrorizing" will pop me up on a couple of gub'mint three letter department's radars.  Oh well, another day, another watch list.

I haven't mentioned politics in a while.

I suppose there are a few reasons for that.  But I have to say.

The only job I want the great anointed one to talk about is he won't be seeking a second term for the one he has.

We didn't forget...

My commemoration of the fudamentalist islamic terrorist attacks of 9/11 was to go to the range today.  I skipped the rally across from the Mosque in town and decided that punching holes in paper would do for me.

I packed the Barrett, an ammo can of .50BMG and the usual range stuff and set up for some long range shots.  It's was slightly longer than 500 meters when we had everything set up.

I'm disappointed in myself.  My zero is way off.  5 rounds and only 1 hit and I was holding a mildot and a quarter left to hit. I'll go back out next weekend and sit down and get that zero perfect.

The other thing I was commemorating today was the death of my friend Chris Horton, late of the 45th Inf., Oklahoma National Guard.  He was one of the men killed in a fire fight in Iraq on Friday.  Please send out a prayer for him. He's survived by his wife and family.

Answering a request.

Yes, I am.  Don't act so shocked.  Someone asked to see a pic of the zeroing sticker on my Garand.  So, here's a quick pic of it.  Sorry for the quality, but I'm using my crappy phone camera and I was trying to balance the stock, hold the phone and snap the pic at the same time.  I needed an extra hand. Anyway, here ya go.

As you can see, it's in some sort of modern Elvish.  At least I think that's what they speak over there in Dane-land. 

They said the sight should be set for 15 clicks up from bottom and 1 click right of center.  And that was spot on.  I still don't know why the Danes gave up such a good rifle. But I want to thank them for it.

Thank you, Dane-land type peoples. It's an excellent rifle and I'll give it a good home.

Range Day Report.

This time with pics!

Since hunting season is quickly approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to make sure that I can actually, you know, hit stuff with my rifles.  And since every other hunter and his kin are probably having the same idea, I figured now would be a good time to get out there.  Early enough that maybe only the black powder guys are out, late enough that I'm not doing it in OMGLOLWTF heat.

Nice day today, upper 70's to lower 80's with a good breeze straight down the range.

I loaded up the Garand, the M14 and the AR.  Because I just wasn't sure what I'd be hunting and with what.  It was actually a quick rezeroing session today.  I'd had the Garand looked at by an expert since I'd shot it last and he'd moved the rear sight around.  But the Danes were nice enough to leave their zeroing sticker on the inside of the stock, so I used that and I figured I'd see what that did for me.  The M14 really hadn't been messed with too much and the AR had only had a rough zero from when I first shot it right after the build.

Like I said, quick day.  The upper left is the Garand using the Danes zero info.  I guess they do know how to shoot over there.  Or at least some of them do. The upper right is the M14.  Both of them using iron sights. Not bad, if I do say so myself.  Center is the AR using a 4x ACOG.

Here's a close up:

The first 3 were at 6:30 - 7 right on the edge of the X ring.  I adjusted up 3 for the next group and up 2 more for the final group.  With one flyer at 9.

I then finished the clip or mags on a half size steel torso at 100m.  Went 6/6 with the Garand, 17/17 with the M14, and 15/20 with the AR.  I think I was sighting wrong with the ACOG.  I was aiming between the shoulders and hitting head shots.  Which makes sense for the trajectory/zero/distance.  I should have aimed at the lower COM and expected shots in the breastbone/heart region. That's why I missed 5 with the AR. That's my story and I'm sticking too it. 

Then I had Chicago style pizza at the new place 2 blocks from home.  Yummo.

Never Forget...

Today is International Bacon Day!

Scifi Books Meme.

I can't remember if I'd done this before, so here goes... (maybe again).

The NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy novels with the ones I have read in bold:


1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. 1984, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick
22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne
38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings
42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke
77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson
96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony (But not all of them, just the first dozen or so)
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis

Fifty out of one hundred.  Not bad, but I see an Amazon purchase in my future.

Accusations fly....

Last weekend I was accused of being a gear-do.  Now, since I'm always on a limited budget and thus I have to be careful about what I get and why, I was a bit surprised, to say the least.  I'm not one to rush out and get the latest doodad or gizmo just because.  Well, aside from the latest AR build that is.  But in my defense, that build took more than a year to finish and on an AR, "just because" is a valid enough reason.

But since I'm labeled as one, I thought I aught to do a gear review.  In for a penny, in for a pound.  Or maybe, damned if I do, damned if I don't would be a better one.  Anyway, here goes. My first gear review.

For my first gear review I'm going to review a rifle carrying case. After the latest slew of builds I was left with two rifles without a carrying case.

The two on the right.

My first thought was, "Cool, two carbines. I'll get a double rifle case.".  The more I thought about it though, the less the idea appealed to me. Because I would only be carrying both rifles at the same time on very few occasions, namely Blogorado and events like that.  The M1 Carbine just wont get shot that often.  The occasional range trip really.  It's not going to be a hunting rifle like the AR or the M14 are.  Also, my rifle bags tend to be bulky for whatever reasons, I figured I didn't want to make one doubly so.

So, I sat down and mentally listed what I wanted in a carbine rifle case.  Since most of my ready range stuff had migrated to a separate range bag, I decided I didn't need a case that could carry everything for a trip to the range.  That cut down on size.  I wanted something that I could carry around easily.  By that I mean in and out of the Jeep without having to fold the back down.  I also wanted something that didn't scream rifle.  So, I had a list of sorts.  Something discrete, with a shoulder strap or straps, needn't carry more than the rifle and maybe a couple of mags,

So, I went hunting and found this.

It's available at Cheaper Than Dirt.  It's called the covert carbine discreet rifle case.  Which aside from being named by the Departmental Office of Redundancy Department, really fit the criteria I had in mind. 

It doesn't scream rifle. It does scream equipment, but unless you're a gunnie, you won't immediately think rifle.  It holds the AR, in a broken down form, and two mags quite nicely.  Has carrying handles or a shoulder sling that can be tucked into a pocket in the back, and three pockets on the front for other items. 

See, it can fit a 16" barreled AR Carbine plus optic and a couple mags with no problem.

Granted with the Trijicon on it, it has to fit crosswise, but that's just the way the optic is mounted.  You could just as easily remove the optic.  Everything will still fit in it. 

Things I like about this.  Size for one.  It's easy enough to move it in and out of the Jeep without having to do any fancy maneuvers. The center padded divider.  Your rifle isn't going to beat itself up when it's broken down and in the bag. In fact the padding all the way around this bag is nice for protection. The carry options.  The carry handles are good enough, solidly double stitched. In fact the construction quality of the whole thing looks to be on the better side and I'll keep you up to date on how it holds up to daily use. But the real ace is the shoulder strap.

It's nice and wide where it needs to be, namely across the top of the shoulder. So, even as light as this bag is, it wont ever dig into the shoulder if I have to trek it in the bag any length of time. And it's truly ambidextrous.  Either bottom strap can be buckled in to the bottom of the shoulder strap and the other either tucked away or buckled to the side of the strap to add stabilization.  So, you can easily set it up for offside carry if that's your concern.  The back of the bag has plenty of breathable fabric to help keep it comfortable in hot weather or if you're carrying it for extended periods.

Things I don't like.  The red straps on the inside of the bag.  Yes, they would be good for extra security for the rifle upper and lower, but I don't see a need for them really and they just get in the way.  The three front pockets are basically useless with the rifle in the bag.  There's no give to them and with the rifle on the inside anything you put in them is gonna be sticking through the front or poking your rifle in the bag.  If they'd made them with some way to expand along the sides, that would have been better. Maybe a bit more MOLLE webbing.  There's some on the shoulder strap, but that's about it. But then, a lot of that would have defeated the idea behind the whole "discrete" thing.

I've had friends point out that some states get all PSH'y if you have an assembled rifle in your car and this would be perfect for toting your AR to the range and back, rather than that giant blue plastic case that it came in.

Others of you out there are going to scream that the rifle is disassembled and therefore useless if I happen to need it in a hurry.  First off, I'm not a first responder.  I'm probably never going to need the rifle in a hurry like that.  If, by some wild stretch of the imagination, I did end up like that, my situational awareness is shit and I deserve what I get.  Secondly, come on guys, it's two take down pins.  Last night, because I knew you'd make this argument, I had the thing out of the bag, assembled and loaded in under 30 seconds.  In the dark. If you can't slap two take down pins in faster than I did without the blindfold, then you need to review your understanding of the AR platform.

So, there you go Vine, this geardo has done a geardo review for you.  I didn't rush out and buy the shiny, or pick the first thing I saw that had "tactical" in the title.  I figured out what I needed, what I wanted and got the best bag to fit the requirements. Although maybe that makes me a thinking man's geardo. hmm....

What I did on my summer vacation.

I went to Blogoradoville this last weekend.  A couple of us gathered there to help do some setup for this years Blogorado.  The plan was to start work on the Blogorado Battle Buggy and maybe do some setup on the range.

We actually stayed mostly to plan.

Here are a couple of pics of the buggy.  Coming along nicely, don't you think?

I'm trying to convince them that this should be the Blogorado flag.  The Skull and Bewbies.  I'm finding it a tougher sell than I first imagined.  Can't figure out why.

It's a double dip recover?

So, the DOW drops 400 or so point on Friday, then another 600 some on Monday when the great zero stood up at the podium, you know the one that has the seal and everything, and said "Move along, nothing to see here... Nothing to see..."

Quick math... carry the one...

That puts us down 1000 points at the beginning of Tuesday.  When the market creeps up 400 that day, we've got talking heads touting the "Obama Recovery"... ZOMG We all be saved! Praise the Lord Anointed One.... 

Now, today that the market has dropped all it was able to get yesterday and then some by noon, the crickets chirping is deafening.

Edit: And in further news, in true liberal form, they're calling for "reform" of the credit ratings system.  Figures, if something happens they don't like because of their actions... Well, just cheat till it goes away.

I listened on the radio....

To the President's speech today....

I think he's got Baghdad Bob writing for him now.

M1 Carbine project.

Just a quick note on it.  Since it was OMGLOLWHT hot today as well as threatening to rain, I decided to spend the day cleaning cosmoline off the parts.

One thing led to another and I finished the day with an assembled rifle.  Not bad considering I had none of the special tools and the trigger group was literally in individual pieces.

No pics yet.  When I'd finished I found out I have none of the parts that go on the stock.  So, no recoil pad w/ screw and nut, barrel band spring, butt pad and screw.  Also, the barrel band screw is stripped out, so I had to find replacement front sight keys and pins so I can replace the barrel band with a new one.  I think the new barrel band will be the kind with the bayonet lug (type 3).

Parts are on order and as soon as I get everything together I'll post pics.

p.s.  BTW, the plan for the M1 Carbine has always been to build a stock rifle.  It's gotten so that all the ones I'm finding at the gun shows or in the shops are either basket cases too unsafe or shot out to shoot or museum quality pieces that I'd be afraid to shoot for ruining their worth.  And what I wanted was something that I could pull out and take to the range for some fun with no worries one way or another.  I should have enough parts for two by the time I'm done and still be no more than what they're charging for one of those reproduction Auto Ordnance ones.

It's the desert....

Travelling around my city and it's surrounding communities, I realized today that after Lash's closed there was no one who carried basic gun parts for sale except Medlock's.  That's a shame.  But, Medlock's prices are really good and they're a local business.  Plus they carry .30 Carbine ammo as cheap as I can find it anywhere on the web.  (Best price is 43 cents a round right now.)

Piston AR Build: Range Report

Okay, as promised I got to the range today to sight in and test fire my new Adams Arms Piston AR.  But since it hit 115 F today. I opted to wuss out and go to the nice air conditioned brand new indoor range.  Sighting in was without issues, and even though I was generous with the trigger pulls I had it zero'd in at 25m inside of 10-12 rounds.  I must say the ACOG Horseshoe reticle is nice.

The rifle, on the other hand, was not without problems.  Almost from the beginning I had FTE issues.  By the end of the first magazine, it was happening pretty consistently.  I broke the rifle down and examined the bolt and extractor.  One thing I forgot to mention in my build report was that I'd installed one of Brownell's improved extractor kits.  The spring was supposed to be good for 50,000 rounds and was also supposed to improve extraction.  This kit is shit.  Everybody I know who's installed this kit has had the same issues regardless of DI or piston systems.  As a product review for Brownell's extractor spring kit. Don't waste your 10 bucks.  Oh, and the extractor pin supplied with the kit was a roll pin which is incorrect for that part.  So, I broke out my tool kit, got out an extractor spring and pin from some DPMS spare parts kits, put those on the bolt and ran the next 90 rounds without an issue.

So, in summary, the rifle runs great, the piston is working as advertised, the ACOG is a dream, and I'm a happy camper.

Piston AR build Report.

For one reason or another it's taken me a bit longer to do this build than usual.  But it's finally together. 

Specifications:  It's an AR-15 built up using AeroPrecision's upper and lower receivers.  I have to say that these are a very snug fit with no play at all between the two receivers.  In the lower I used a Rock River National Match 2 stage trigger,wolf springs in the buffer and non-trigger related springs.  All the pins, roll pins and internals came from a DPMS kit.  But, considering that everyone gets their fiddly pieces from the same couple of manufacturers, one kit is as good an another.  Although I did get a KNS anti-roll pin kit for the trigger and hammer pins.

I put MagPul's extended trigger guard, BAD lever and the UBR buttstock on it.  In fact it's all MagPul furniture, including their MIAD grip and MOE Midlength Hand Guard.  I'm waiting on a rail to arrive and when it does I'll have MagPul's AFG attached to it.

The upper, as I said was AeroPrecision, is an A3 flat top with M4 feed ramps.  On to this I stuck a BCM stainless steel 16" midlength barrel.  I am also using BCM's GunFighter charging handle.  The BCG is an Adam's Arms made for their piston kit.  Which also means that the gas block and piston, piston rod, etc. are all from the kit.  On the front of all this is AAG's 51T flash hider.  And yes, I do plan to someday put a can on it.  I'm just waiting on paperwork and money for that.

On top is a Trijicon ACOG T31H 4x scope.  I went with the horseshoe reticle for a couple of reasons.  It tends to cover up less of the target and, for me, it's a little easier to do the hold under/over for range shots.

On the dust cover you can see I engraved the model name of this rifle. Yes folks, this is the TACTICAL SCHMOO rifle (TM pending).

Below are a few quick snaps I took of it. With some closeups of the various parts. There were a couple of parts that needed to have the loktite set on, so I'll put up a range report for it on Wednesday.

Now before the flames start, this AR build was all about "because I can". So, why the piston? Because I can. Why all MagPul? Because I can.  Why the ACOG? Because I can.  Do you see a pattern developing here?  So, when you start screaming at me in the comments about how a piston will never run right or that trigger teh suxxors or whatever bee you have buzzing in your bonnet.  My reply to you will be... because I could. 

I only have one more project gun on the books right now.  And I'm expecting the last few part to finish it to show up in the mail this week.  So, keep your eyes open for another build report sometime this month or the next. 

p.s. The last pic is the parts I have for that last build.

Geek Quote of the Day.

Heard on the IRC today:

Salamander: I looked behind me and saw only one set of footprints. Jesus looked at me and said "The sand people travel single file. To better hide their numbers."

You have to understand this came out during an argument over who was more disorganized, the Star Wars Rebel Alliance or the US's Founding Fathers......

The world ain't gonna geek itself.

What I'm listening to right now.

Interesting comment.

NOT!

I'm so glad I have comment moderation on now.  I got comment from some Maj-somedood Almadinnerjacket.  No, I'm not gonna put his real name up or link to his profile. 

Listen Maj-i-fucktard.  My blog isn't here for your money making scam.  It's here solely for my enjoyment.  I blog about what I want or need to and that's it.  It's not some fucking money making machine for me (like my 5 readers could generate more than .00001 cents per century) or for anyone else.

I don't give a fucking wisp of a hair of a rat's ass if you're having trouble making college tuition.  You can do what I did and fucking get your lazy ass off your flea infested couch you picked up on some corner and work your way through school. Oh, and put the bong down dude, you can't put epic dope fiend down on your resume and expect to get a job after school anywhere. Except maybe isolated parts of San Fransisco. 

And if you think that making up a name that sounds vaguely middle eastern or oriental is gonna guilt me into entering your little ponzi scheme, think again cheddah-head.  Our college system is so fucked you actually qualify for more free fucking financial aid that you never have to pay back then if you'd chosen the name Joseph Smith.  So, you know what you can do with your bleg for money for your fictitious college ed-a-ma-k-shun?  You can cram it up that waste of space ass of yours and have your roommates take hits off of it.

Oh, and if I ever see you try to put any comments up on my blog again, I'll hunt you down and beat you like a red headed step dog's unloved annoying cousin.

p.s. holy crap, when did I become my grandpa?

I stepped outside...

And my hair burst into flames!




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Location: Tulsa,United States

New EDC knife.

As some of you may or may not know.  I lost my favorite EDC pocket knife while trying to get back from deepest, darkest bad continent.  So, I had to replace it. 

What I had before was a Boker Subcom like in this link.  I loved that thing.  It may have been small, but it fit nicely in the hand, was flat enough that it's not uncomfortable to sit on for good periods of time, held an edge through daily use, had a thick enough blade that it wasn't going to easily break using it to pry or as a screw driver, and the blade was multifunction enough that I could use it to open envelopes or open... other things to the bone.  Had a nice little clip sturdy enough to hold it in the pocket or on the belt without popping off or slipping away.  In short it was the best knife I'd found for EDC in a long while.  The only issue I had with it was it was a liner lock, not a frame lock.  But that's a personal thing.  I feel that liner locks may collapse more easily than a frame lock.  Mind you, I have no experience or evidence to prove that.  The lock looked like it engaged well enough that I probably would never had had that issue.

So, having found something that worked well for me, I wasn't going to spend weeks and loads of money finding something new.  When I went to replace the Subcom, I found that they had a new Chad Los Banos Subcom Titan available.  Still had the good clip (now titanium), and 440C Stainless Steel blade.  But now, the frame is titanium.  All the features that I liked about my original Subom are still there, but just enough improvements to make it worth it to get this and not just replace my original Subcom F.

Below are some pics of mine.  The bottom pic has a quarter in it so you can get an idea of scale.  This may seem like it's too small to be an effective knife.  But honestly, it fits into the hand very nicely and once you have a grip on it, it's not gonna slip out of your hand easily.  And open, it's overall length is 4 1/2" with a nearly 2" blade length.  Plenty long enough unless you have hands like Matt G, or Gigantor the freakishly large being from Planet Bigtron 4.

While it may not be truly ambidextrous, the clip can be flipped from top to bottom and the thumb stud is on both sides of the blade.  But if you want to know all the specs, just follow the link to the Titan above.



Oh and for the record,  while this may have turned into a product review and praise piece.  I bought this knife with my own money and am not being compensated by Boker or their US subsidiary for this post. 

Strictly for Educational Purposes....

I realize it's been a while since I blogged anything. So something educational. This is strictly for perspective only.

 

On the right is the 12.7x108mm cartridge used by the Soviet Union and Warsaw pact countries.  In the center is the .50BMG round or 12.7x99mm (NATO designation) round.  And on the left is a lope eared bunny with a switchblade.

Earwoms

What I'm listening to now.

Okay....

I've had enough of people asking, so here's THE blog post.

I'm not dead, yet.

OBL dead.

Apparently, The Anointed One micromanaged the intelligence and operation that resulted in OBL's death.  I wonder how he fit that in between all the golf games. 

Seriously, if his press conference was to be believed.  He was directly involved in all the intelligence and all the briefings.  And then he apologized to the world for America.

Oh and Quote of The Day:
From IRC's #Gunblogger_Conspiracy
(NinjaViking): I wonder if OBL will be counted as another tragic victim of senseless gun violence

Changes, and not the way we'd want them.

Both Libya's and Egypt's regime changes started as food riots. 

Now watch what current gas prices are doing to the price of a gallon of milk.

When gas hit this price at the pumps last time, Bush signed an executive order suspending the moratorium on oil exploration.  And gas prices plummeted to under 2 dollars a gallon in the space of weeks.  Mind you, no actual drilling took place. Just the fact that it could brought price speculation down.  This regime says they can't do anything about it, but they'll form a commission to look in on price gouging by the oil companies.  Seriously?  They banned exploration, banned new drilling, banned just about anything that would make us more energy independent as a nation and when prices do what they will do when that happens, they try to blame someone else.

But, I'm not surprised. This regime believes corporations are evil, that capitalism is evil, that freedom is evil, that being an adult and standing on your own two feet is evil.  This regime would love to see European prices at the pumps here in the states.  It would make their dream socialist state that much closer.

On a side note, have you seen some states are proposing a usage tax on electric and hybrid vehicles to help offset the drop in revenue from sale of gasoline?

How's that hopey changey thing working out for ya?

New Easter Tradition

My new Easter tradition will be shooting an M1 Thompson.  Now if I could only afford one... or to shoot it....

Sorry, no pics from today's range visit.  But trust me, shooting the Thompson was F.U.N.!

On Tuesday I fly back to darkest dark continent to start making buckets of money again.  If you haven't guessed.  I'm squeezing in all the shooting I can because I'm looking at a long dry spell ahead.

Naming the BAG Day Rifle

Since everyone seems to think that that's what it's name is. Or at least that what they've called it when they see it for the first time. I'm naming the new rifle:

"Holy Mother Of God!"

Or HMOG for short.

BAG Day Zeroing and Range Report

As most of you know by now. I bought a new rifle from Sal’s Funstore back on the 7th.

Yeap, it’s a Barrett M82A1 in .50BMG. Kinda purty, ain’t she. I went with the Trijicon 5-20x50 optic with standard MilDot reticle.

Anyway, I picked up 20 rounds of Barrett’s 660gr M33 for zeroing and another 10 rounds of American Eagle XM33c for fun and went to the range yesterday.

I had crunched some numbers on a ballistics calculator and while Barrett recommends a 100 yd. zero. I opted for a 250 yd zero this time. For two reasons. One, the bullet drop beyond 250 basically lined up with the mildots on the reticle. First dot down was almost 400, next was about 500, etc. With the top of the bottom post at 800. This would make hold over easier to judge on quick shots. And two, I could set the zeroing target up at 50 yds and that would correspond to 250. Since the longest range I have is 300 yds and the 200 yd berm would have been in the way of an actual 250 yd shot, this seemed like the best solution.

Ammo: Barrett M33 factory reload ammo, 661 gr projectile, ballistic coefficient of 0.620, muzzle velocity of 2750 ft/sec.

Atmospheric conditions: Alt: 640 ft., Temp: 68 degrees F, Pressure: 29.70 inHg, Winds were 310 at 13kts according to the airport. (It was a really nice day yesterday.)

It took 4 rounds to get it onto paper and then another 7 to zero and confirm. (Both Geoff and I shot confirming shots. By the way, I want to thank Geoff for the excellent pics of the rifle. Most of the pics here are his doing.)

After that, we were joined by Levi, the range master, and we moved down the bays to one that had some cars sitting on it. I had to see what shooting through the engine block on a car would do. The three fresh holes in front of the tire are mine.

And the gigantic exit hole in the same position on the other side too.

I would have taken pics of the giant divot in the berm behind the car, but we were laughing too hard at the time to remember. Come on, that was just fun! So, yes. The .50BMG will shoot through the engine block of a car, no worries.

After that we moved to the 300 yd berm and knocked over some steel plates there. I mean literally knocked them over. I guess even at 300 yds there’s a butt load (that’s the technical term for ‘a lot’) of kinetic energy left in a .50BMG bullet.

This is an artsy shot by Geoff.

And another.

Range day.

At the range sighting in the new rifle. Range report to follow.




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Home again

I'm finally home again. I love all y'all dearly, but damn, that was too much time driving.  Next time y'all can come here.

Bring beer.

Quick Update

Just so you all don't think I fell off the face of the earth again and landed in Africa. I'm still in the US. I'm up in Jayhawk territory visiting friends from college with their 3 grade school aged boys. I still haven't gotten to the range to do a sighting or range report on the new OMGBFR.  But rest assured, I'm as anxious as the rest of you to do it.  It should be sunday or monday when it happens.

Till then, stay warm.

QoTD

Heard on Sean Hannity today.

Gold is the money of kings.
Silver is the money of gentlemen.
Barter is the money of peasants.
But Debt is the money of slaves.


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Location:On the road.

Blogorado Bleg

As most of you have probably seen over at FarmGirl's blog, she's involved herself in a Kinetic/Potential engery experiment last week with an Elk. Well, I've been informed that we have a unique (an unique?) opportunity here. If we can get enough together to beat what her car guy would offer her for salvage (she says between 5 and 6 hundred) we can have ourselves our very own blogorado war machine! We chop off the top, maybe pull the bumper and front fenders off, mount the quad crossbow on a pole behind the front seat.... Something like this maybe?

Collander hats are optional. (Don't look at me! I was all for making them required, along with post apocolyptic ass-less chaps.)

I'm in for a hundred, Farmmom said she'll kick some, Vine said he'd kick in as well.

Please, I'm blegging you, please give to the blogorado war machine fund. ITS FOR THE CHILLUNS!

Actually, just leave a comment on this post and we'll add it up and figure out how to get her the money.

Edit:  I coordinated with FarmGirl and we can use her tip jar.  Just go to FarmGirl's blog, hit the tip jar or click

and enter as much as you want.  Just make sure you put War Machine or "Vine in Ass-less Chaps" as a comment on the tip.  If we hit 1000, we can keep Vine from wearing ass-less chaps and really do a bang up job on the war machine.

Uzi Money

Here's what happened today. And just to head off the wild rumors, no I did not buy an uzi.

The traffic leaving the airport is always bad. I mean an hour to get 1/2 a mile bad. So, we decided to try going the opposite direction and see if it was any quicker. (In crash investigations, this is referred to as link one in the chain that led to the badness).

It looked like a fairly easy navigation (for Luanda) problem. Basically 3 roads, all listed in yellow on the maps. (That means they're 4 lanes, divided, PAVED and at least marginally free of the pot holes that swallow elephants.) Link 2.

Somewhere before we even got to the second road, we got lost. I mean we probably took the wrong exit out of one of the roundabouts. Link 3. The road very quickly stopped being 4 lanes, stopped being divided. Hell, stopped being paved, and don't even ask about the pot holes.

We found ourselves driving through that unique style of shanty town that is 75% of Luanda. It was a rough neighborhood. So we stopped using any sort of map and just kept prominent landmarks at the same relative bearing to us and followed were most of the traffic was heading. Hey, they've got to be going "out of here" eventually. Link 4.

About half an hour after starting this bounce between ruts and pot holes we come upon a traffic jam. Only about a dozen cars bottle necked at an "intersection". We don't know if someone hit someone, a car broke down or what. But there are cops on the scene. Not a good thing in this country. There is no "To Protect and To Serve" motto on the police cars here. If the cops are here, someone's getting beaten, thrown in jail, sent away, or any combination of the three that the cops take a whim to.

After about 15 minutes, (no time at all in Luanda) the traffic starts moving again. Right past the cops. Now, we're two white guys, in civvies, in a part of town that two white guys in a Hyundai Getz should NOT be in. The traffic snakes it way past the cops and the bigger meaner of the two takes that chance to cut in front of us to get across the dirt rut that's the road. Johnny is sitting next to me saying, "Just go, JUST GO" out of the side of his mouth and I'm doing my damnedest to not look the cop in the eyes while mentally levitating all the other obstacles out of my way. Just as the cop gets to the other side of our car, he looks in, sees said white guys and the following flashes across his face.

1. Surprise, because hell, two white guys here, just ain’t possible.


2. Anger, what the fuck are two white guys doing here!


3. And whatever someone’s face looks like when they realize they’re about to get to beat two white guys in a part of town that they ain’t supposed to be.

At which point I gunned the engine and moved with alacrity away from the scene.

Pucker factor, about 6.5 Cops carry uzi’s here, or AK’s if they’re feeling bad.

People back in the states laughed when I told them that I keep a bunch of hundred dollar bills in my wallet as “Uzi Money”. (No, I’m not gonna tell you exactly how much, but there are more than 3 figures to the left of the decimal point.) When someone sticks an uzi in my face on this continent I’m gonna shove hundreds at him till he goes away. That is what uzi money is.

Random sighting today

I was at the shopping center in Luanda Sul today and saw this in the bookstore window. I was pretty much gob-smacked.

My initial thoughts on Libya...

and the US's involvment in this "Police Action". And they're not happy ones.

I can't help thinking the only reason Obmama did this was so...

1) He'd APPEAR to be tough to the people in the US and

2) He's set up the precident that the UN takes precidence over the US in international matters. Now, he only does what the UN wants and not till they want it.

So when the UN says we need to go into Ohio to stop whatever, then he'll get to say, "We have to, because we let them in Libya, See... See? Let me be perfectly clear...".

In the Immortal Words of...

The Great Bill Murray...

Koo Chakalaka-laka, Koo Chakalaka-laka, Koo Chokalaka-laka....

Random Thoughts

The Cricket World Cup roster is composed entirely of countries that used to be colonies of once Great Britain. And they complain about us calling it the Baseball World Series.

All the sports in the US have "ball" in the name. Baseball, Basketball, Football... None of them do outside of the US. Rugby, Cricket, Soccer... Were they worried we wouldn't know it was a sport if they didn't specifiy the ball? (While I'm all for the name Handegg, it just doesn't have the recognition that Football does, no matter how much more accurate and appropriate it is.)

Rugby RAWKS over Handegg, that is all.

A few days rest.

I've got a few days on my hands now. The airplane is down for inspections. It should be back up sometime next week and we have to go pick it up then. But until then, I've got a time on my hands again.

As for all the upheaval that's rolling across the continent... Well, it ain't here so much. You'll notice that it's mostly centered on countries that are predominently muslim. Angola is outside of that belt. That isn't to say it can't happen here, just that it hasn't. Yet.

Right now, northern Africa is a lot like central Africa a decade or two ago. Enter at your own risk.

It's beef for chriminey...

I've come to believe that South Africa, as a general rule*, can take a piece of beef, no matter how bad and truly make it terrible.

*There may be individuals who are the exception. But if there are, they don't live in South Africa.

Random trip continued.

The differences between Windhoek and either Luanda or Menongue are astounding. You could pick Windhoek up from Namibia and put it down anywhere in Europe or America and you couldn't tell that it wasn't always there. I guess that's what 20 years of war and strife will do to a country.

Windhoek has a very European feel. Well more British, since they drive on the wrong side of the road. But nobody is perfect.



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Location:Windhoek, Namibia.

Eerrrp?

I think they fed me snake tonight.


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Location:Menongue, Angola.

Pics from a random trip

I've been farmed out to a different company for a trip this weekend. We're hopping around southern Africa in a Lear 60. First stop is Menongue (field elevation 4500 ft.) where we stayed at a lodge that was a funny mixture of the traditional and the modern.



But it's still pretty cool.



(Yes, I'm still using my crappy iPhone camera. I'll get a better camera when I can.)




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Observations.

In a surprising hollywood got it right moment.

Women here actually do carry everything in baskets balanced on their heads. I read somewhere they can carry up to 10 times their own body weight.

Here we are.

Or me rather. I'm sitting in a hotel in Luanda, Angola now. Waiting to hear from the new job. My thoughts on Africa so far. South Africa was a strange mish mash of England, America and something all their own. But that may be because I was in a casino for the 4 days I was there. Angola is seriously under construction. There are buildings going up everywhere. Most of the money appears to be coming from China. At least that's what all the electronics and other machines are labeled in. Someone told me that China put 5 billion into Angola last year alone. But that's not surprising when you consider how much untapped resources Angola has. If I were a country bent on massive development like China, I'd put a lock on all the resources I could for at least the next 25-50 years. Oil, minerals, diamonds, Angola has it all.

Talking with the other pilot I came over with, the dollar is crashing bad against all foreign currency. Not surprising, given the way they've been treating the printing presses back home.

One thing that struck me as I came in were all the crashed Migs that were still scattered around the airport and I'm told there are still hulks of tanks left over from the war with South Africa down south in Angola. I'm told there was a very large tank battle in Angola. I'll have to do the research on that and read up on it.