31 August 2012

Bonus Pt 2

I got another bonus this go-round, a bit earlier than expected.

I'm building my benchwork, rebuilding the doors on my small shed, and purchasing more reloading supplies.

Reloading supplies on their way to me include a digital scale, a set of calipers that I really don't need just yet, and bullets in .45 and 6.5mm. Later I will go find small primers and pistol powder and then drop by Range Partner's to get the .45ACP brass that he's not going to use.

Additionally, I have two extra days off this weekend so I have plenty of time to finish all of my projects.

But right now I'm going to let my paint dry and wait for it to cool off a bit before I start back in on the doors.

30 August 2012

Bling!


The stainless steel letters and trim on the front of the top cover really stands out.


I had the top cover side pieces laser engraved, they came out looking great!


Front view with everything installed.


Right side with everything installed.


Left side with everything installed.


It was almost a shame to put the strut tower brace back on.

So Glad

that my days of international travel are over. I've never had a passport (I did all my international traveling on a military ID) and can't really think of a compelling reason to get one. I've seen as much of the rest of the world as I need to and I'm just as happy to stay to home now, thanks.

29 August 2012

Are We Really That Thin Skinned?

Some fellow by the name of 50 Cent, who I understand is a musician of some sort, had a commercial on the radio advertising SK Energy Shots.

At any rate, Mr. Cent (who apparently is a person of color) starts off his advertisement with a rather flat monotone about how being tired took away the bass notes in his voice and made him sound "like a white dude."

I kind of thought the advertisement in question was rather humorous, but apparently someone took offense. Today as I was listening to the same commercial the line had changed to "like some dorky dude."

I think it was much funnier the other way.



And with that, I'm off to bed.

Knock Knock

Who's there?

...

oh...poop.

27 August 2012

As Expected



I turned off the word verification because there were some problems with commenting here.

Since then I have had to delete several spam comments being attempted on older posts. Spam-bots must die by fire.

This is one of the reasons comments are moderated, but I'm hoping that those of you who want to leave legitimate comments can now do so.

Thanks for dropping by!

26 August 2012

Aw, Damn

Thanks Neil. You were a hero whether you wanted to be or not.

Stangs R Us Show

Stangs R Us Mustang Club in Dunn, NC had their annual show on Saturday. It was well attended and the weather cooperated by being cloudy (and thus less sun-burny) but rain-free.


The Heart of Carolina had eleven cars show, six of them took trophys home. The Best of Show was this absolutely beautiful 1956 Crown Victoria that had been rebuilt using a Roush Mustang as the donor car. It was very well done and sported the Roush Stage 2 supercharged 4.6 liter engine.

 There were a lot of nice cars out there to see.












Afterwards we convened on the Brickyard for our monthly cruise-in. It was a good way to end out the day.


23 August 2012

Well, Bless His Heart!

Someone doesn't like the South much.  Good thing no one is forcing him to stay.

(Please do note the link is to a rather scathing review of the book in question, so it's safe.)

Note: I have to admit to being a damnyankee* because I was born and raised in Iowa, a Union state (southern Iowa, but Iowa nonetheless). In my defense I have lived south of the Mason-Dixon since I was eighteen.

*There are two allowable definitions: 
1) The only kind there is.
2) Northerners who move south and won't go the f**k home.

Under The Hood

When I get the stainless steel inserts to go in these, they are really going to pop.




22 August 2012

Bonus Payout

My bonus arrived yesterday. When I got up to go to work this box was sitting on the counter.


I didn't get a chance to play very long, having that whole work thing to do, but I did  verify that the #10 shell holder for the priming tool is the wrong size for 6.5x50 Japanese, regardless of what the instructions say. However, the #2 shell holder, used for .45ACP, is just the right size.


I have to work tonight as well so I won't get a chance to unpack everything until tomorrow, and it will still be a while before I have everything set up.  But, I am on my way.

Now I need some powder and bullets for the pistol cartridges.

20 August 2012

My Precious

I got the call this afternoon.


The only flaw is the replacement wheel is the wrong color, a mistake when it was being reconditioned. A replacement is being ordered and should be here Friday.


Until then I'm debating whether I should drive it to work or not. I don't usually drive it to work because I can get really dirty there, but I haven't driven it for over two weeks.

Gee...I wonder what I will do...

19 August 2012

The Only Thing

that bugs the hell out of me in this story is this statement:

"Police said Lewis will not be charged for shooting the suspect."



Drives me nuts every time I see this, as if there is a question that someone should be charged for defending their own, or their loved ones, life, liberty or property against loss by force or fraud. After all, “Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.”
Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

I could throw in the usual pontification about how the gun grabbers would rather that Ms Lewis and her daughters occupy the moral high ground...likely along with the physical underground...by not defending themselves and being victims instead, or point out that the gun puts a 100lb woman on equal footing with a 250lb assailant, but the choir has already heard this sermon and the grabbers aren't listening anyway.

Well done, Ms Lewis. Teach those girls how to shoot as well.

Hat tips go to Sean and Emperor Misha. Kind of surprised that Jay G doesn't have it, but I guess it wouldn't go on the DGC because the G is not, in fact, D.

18 August 2012

Who Is John Galt?

From comments at Ace of Spades HQ; this ended up deserving it's own post:

As a small business owner all I can say is that I think the current sentiment in the small business community is that we didn't sign up for this. Y'all can vote for whatever the hell you want but we are not going to be a part of it.

I have seen more owners get out of the business or retire in the past couple of years than ever before and with the ACA on the horizon the jobs these businesses produced will not be replaced. The economics no longer work. This is why unemployment is always so high in socialist countries. What you have to go through to have employees is just brutal.

But here's the thing about what Obama said --- he has it exactly backwards. The government didn't build any of that he is talking about --- we built it. We are the ones who paid for it. Not only did we build our businesses we built the schools and the roads and everything else he thinks was generated out of thin air. If you want to get technical about it the businesses and taxpayers that came along before we did built it all and now we are building what comes next.

And not only that, but we did it with the albatross of a predatory, corrupt and overbearing government hanging around our necks at every juncture.

And now we have had enough.


This is only the first half, go to the link to read the rest.

Exciting Life

Last night the dryer gave up the ghost. Not the whole thing, it just wasn't heating any more.

I mentioned it once before, how it has very likely been pressed beyond its design limits and still keeps chugging along. Fortunately the dryer element is still available, and I have no doubts that once it goes back together it will perform like it used to.

The element has been ordered...from Amazon, of all places, an outlet that once dealt in only books but has branched out dramatically*. It should be here Tuesday earliest, and then a good cleaning with the vacuum and it should be good for another seven years of hard use.

I still do not have a shiny red car in my driveway. This makes me sad.

And that's my exciting life.

*Amazon was acting as the middleman in these transactions, they were not actually selling them from their site. You still need an FFL to complete the sale. For now it looks like that vendor has pulled his site.

17 August 2012

Now I've Done It

I got a bonus from work. It was a bit more than I expected, which was good.

I bought one of these with it, along with the dies needed for .45ACP. I need to get a few more various things, but this should be enough to get me started.

Since the kit comes with one of these it looks like Range Partner has just acquired one of his own. Now I have to collect my .45ACP brass (or I could just buy it from Range Partner, that might be the better choice for now).

The bonus didn't cover everything but it was close enough.  I am being told there will be an annual bonus as well, so I'll get the rest of what I need with that in a couple of months.

Next step is to clear out some of the OPC* from my shed and build a sturdy bench for everything to mount on.  I have four lightweight benches which can be rebuilt to be two shelves, so that should provide more than enough room.

After that I need to come up with some electricity in the shed and cut a hole for an AC unit so that it's not unbearable in there as I'm working. An extension cord from the outside receptical of the house will do for now, but I want to run a line out from the main fuse panel to do it right. I wonder what that will cost me...

Anyway, I'm expecting a big box of happiness in the next week or so. If the body shop calls today my joy will be complete.

FWIW, the reloading stuff won out over this in the "what should I spend my bonus on" debate. The red coil covers will look kind of plain without the bling, but it will be OK for now.

*OPC = Other People's Crap

16 August 2012

I Haz A :(

Sure would be a good time for a nice convertible ride...

I hope they call me soon.

15 August 2012

11 August 2012

It's That Time Again


Is it really a donation when you get stuff?

Go there now!

10 August 2012

Things That Go Bang

Today was the day I learned how to assemble some ammo. With materials in hand off I went to Range Partner's abode.


Two of the cases got ruined setting the resizing/depriming die, but they were the only casualties of the day. One of the bullets was also sacrificed to set the depth, but we did manage to finally extract it so that we could re-use the brass.


Forty eight cases deprimed, resized and ready for primers. This is when I found out my brand-new priming tool shellplate is too tight for the cases, they didn't want to seat all the way into the shellplate so we ended up not using it. In a fortuitous turn of fate .45ACP has the exact same case diameter as 6.5x50 Japanese, and since RP was using his progressive press for .45 we just took the turret off of it and used it to put the primers in. I'll have to work the shellplate over with a file to get the cases to fit right.


Anatomy of a primer. I had never seen the inside of one before and at first I thought they were just crimped over like shotgun shells. When we pressed the old primers out I saw that they actually have a three-point insert to hold the bangy bits (if you will excuse my use of the technical term) in place.


The first reload. 129 grain SST Hornady bullets atop 37.0 grains of Hogden 380 powder. In the background you can see RP at the scale measuring out the powder for the next go-round.  This step was kind of anticlimactic, a light pull and it was done. Depriming took a bit more force, but this step takes little to none.


Twenty to a box. The picture is fuzzy, apparently my camera didn't want to autofocus on this one.


Compared to a factory load. Again, sorry about the picture quality, the camera was apparently more fond of the background.

After this we took the rifle out to the range where I verified my inability to hit the broad side of a barn with it. I shot up eight of the reloads and then forty of my factory loads just to see if we could get the rifle zeroed in with varying degrees of success. The good news is, the reloads go bang.

We will have to haul out the bench rest on the next session so that we can accurately zero it in and see where the POI is between the factory loads and the reloads. The good news is the reloads cost half of the factory loads (so why didn't we shoot those? I want the SSTs for another purpose, the factory loads are FMJs) so shooting this rifle has dropped from ridiculous (as compared to ZOMG!) to merely annoying.

I also put a little more than 150 rounds through the Glock, and while I did have two minor FTFs (actually the slide failed to return all the way to battery) on the Tula ammo that were quickly cleared (a quick smack on the back of the slide with the heel of the hand put them both right in where they belonged) both RP's light reloads (70%) and the Winchester white box feeds and fires with nary a problem. I am pretty well convinced the 15 lb springs were just what was needed.


PSA for the day, while at the range wear your hat. One of my rounds went straight up and came down behind my glasses. Hot brass gets your attention!

After the range session we took my 48 newly emptied cases and made 48 more completed rounds, carefully separating out the eight twice-fired cases (good thing the primers were different colors). Those eight went back into the gun safe when I returned home in a box marked Reloaded x II, they will get put back into rotation when the rest of the reloads have been reloaded again.

And now I just need the dies for .45ACP and a reloading press kit and I'll be all set!

09 August 2012

Palate Cleanser

And now I have that out of my system...

The last of my shooty toys got here today. I tried to install them all but they wouldn't fit right, the adapter ring would not seat all the way into the slide. I assembled the Wolff guide rod and springs and everything seemed to go together, but when I put the slide back on the gun and tried to cycle a round in I couldn't get it to go. With the adapter the guide rod was too long and the slide wouldn't cycle all the way back.

I disgustedly removed everything and put the stock guide rod back in, but later on out of curiosity I assembled and installed the Wolff guide rod without the adapter and everything went swimmingly. I must have a Gen 3, I thought it was a 4 but the guide rod is for a 3 and below and needs the adaptor for a Gen 4. A serial number check would tell me for sure, but it is together and functional so I'm happy.

EDIT: Range Partner has confirmed it is a Gen 3, not a Gen 4. Anyone need an adapter ring?

Tomorrow I am going to make some ammo, go shoot it up to compare it with the factory loads I have, then maybe load it up again. I'm also going to shoot at least 100 rounds of white box Winchester (and maybe some Tula and some of RP's reloads for good measure) through the Grok and see how the softer springs do.

Hopefully I get all of my toys back tomorrow.

WTF?

Seriously???

My wife got murdered by cancer two years ago.

This guy gets more clueless and classless by the day.

07 August 2012

Sometimes, It's Just Easier

to let them go.

Old NFO had a post up a couple of days ago that reminded me of a story my oldest daughter once told me.

She works in a truck stop near Jacksonville Florida, right off the interstate, so she gets an interesting crowd. For instance, if you have ever seen the video of the drunk stop where the cop asks the stop-ee's help in putting down a tape stripe and he face-plants when he bends over to put the tape down, she got to see that live, in technicolor and surround sound.

Anyhooze, one day a traveler came in asking for directions. Specifically he wanted to know how much further south he had to travel to get to South Carolina. Eldest Daughter dutifully explained to him that since he was in Florida he would have to go north two states to get to South Carolina, a distance of about 150 miles up I-95.

He informed her that he was not going to North Carolina, he was going to South Carolina, ergo he must travel south and not north. Try as he may, he just couldn't get that through her thick head. Finally she just pointed him back towards the interstate and wished him well along his journey.

Sometimes I wonder if he ever figured it out, but for some reason I'm thinking he's stuck in Key West wondering where the rest of the road went.

And with that I'm off to bed. Everyone have a great day!

06 August 2012

Morning Notes

The pony is in the shop. I'm expecting it back in a fortnight, but if it takes longer I'll wait impatiently. They do a good job, but they won't rush it.  That's fine by me.

This jackass that shot up the Sikh temple is being bandied about on the news as an ex-soldier. He was discharged FOURTEEN YEARS AGO!!!! under OTHER THAN HONORABLE conditions. He was no more soldier than I am. He was a low-down despicable substance that passes out of whales and lies on the bottom of the ocean and now he is Satan's personal play toy. He got off easy if you ask me.

Lindsay Graham says he likes Harry. Good enough reason to put him on the ashpile. Of course he does go on to say that what Harry is saying about Mitt and tax returns is wrong, so there is that.

I'm ready for November to get here and be gone.

Off to bed, to sleep, perchance to dream.

04 August 2012

More Toys

I've been having FTF/FTE problems with the Glock since I got it.

Unfortunately the Glock 36 is somewhat infamous for these things. My malfunctions are more a failure to completely eject the spent brass, the slide cycles forward and the brass gets caught lengthways in the ejector port. I've only had a handful of times where I have had to drop the magazine to clear the malfunction, but it has happened.

The first time was during my CCW qualifications but I thought it was the ammo. The next time was at Tigerswan where I got a lot of practice clearing malfunctions. During the latest range session I tried Range Partner's handloads and had the same issues. In fact, since the handloads were loaded a bit light the G36 would not cycle them at all without jamming them lengthwise in the slide, three shots fired and three identical FTEs.

This convinced me that a lighter spring might fix the issues, so today I sat down and ordered a 15 lb Wolff guide rod and spring set and a recoil conversion insert for it. When they get in I'll install them and try RP's handloads again to see if there is a difference. I'll also go through a Winchester white box of 100 to see if there are any FTEs in a large number of rounds.

I also discovered there is a voluntary recoil spring recall from Glock, so Monday I'll call them and get that going as well.

I sure would like to have this thing work reliably.

03 August 2012

Here's A Question

North Carolina state law prohibits carry, concealed or otherwise, anywhere that a fee has been charged for admission.

I am presently at the skating rink where Youngest Son is meeting his girl. They don't really charge admission, they charge a fee for skate rental. He paid to get in, but I did not. There are no signs clearly displayed that would otherwise prohibit the carry of weapons on the premises.

So since it's not technically a fee for admission, does the prohibition apply?

I guess it would be up to the judge to decide.

You Have The Right

to be an asshole in public.

You do not have the right to drag your employer into it.

Adam Smith was not fired for being an asshole in public. He was fired for bringing discredit upon his employer. His employers reaction was entirely appropriate and predictable.

The young lady at the window deserves all the credit she has been given. She was calm and professional throughout the entire exchange, even though you could tell there towards the end she was having to struggle to remain that way. Well done. You are an example for all in customer service to follow.

And as a final note, it's not censorship until the government goons come and take you away. No .gov involvement means no 1st Amendment violation.

02 August 2012

Birthday Presents


The powder is Hogden H380, on the recommendation of the guy behind the counter because it's ball powder so it's easier to meter. It was either that or IMR 4350, and the counter guy said they were ballistically similar otherwise.

The Galco was an impulse purchase, I have a Tuck N' Go but never really have been overly fond of the J hook that depends on the waistband of the pants to hold the holster and gun in position. It holds the pistol very well, it is a good concealed carry, and I like the fact that the J hook is harder to see and it is possible to tuck a shirt, but I haven't been tucking my shirts as much lately anyway.

The Stow N' Go is basically the same holster only with a belt clip instead of the J hook. The good thing is that there is more support since the belt clip goes over the belt and uses it for extra support. The downside is that the Stow N' Go doesn't allow for tucking a shirt, but as I said I'm not as prone to do that these days. I'll continue to use the Tuck N' Go for that if I need to. Of course both of them will very likely go into the holster box forever as soon as my Fugly gets here.

The little light was also an impulse purchase, I've been thinking a bit about what Tam said regarding having a light handy and it's a good idea. It's a Nano Light made by Streamlight, it has it's own little clip to put it on a key chain that is easy to detach, and is pretty bright given its diminutive size. And for the price, I couldn't beat it.

Best of all I've found a new merchant of death at which to spend my money, it's close to the shooting range so I can drop by on range days and it has lots of stuff to tempt me.

On second thought, that might not be such a good thing...

General Housekeeping

Spiffing up the old blog-roll. Please welcome Eastern Iowa Firearms Training and Old NFO, glad to have you gentlemen!

There have been a few drop-offs as well, a final farewell to Annie (hard to imagine she's been gone for a year already) and the rest because they haven't posted anything for a year. If you are one of the delete-ees and want to be re-added, just let me know.

Well, I'm off on my powder search. Wish me luck!

Another Year Older

Yay me, 46 laps completed so far.

After a while it's just another day, innit?

I'm in search of powder today.

On a related note, new co-worker is a shooter and a reloader as well, so that's nice.

01 August 2012

Olympic Gold

Congratulations to all our Olympians, particularly the winners of the skeet shooting competition.

Kim Rhode took gold with the record breaking score of 99 out of 100. Additionally, she is the first American Olympian to win five medals in five consecutive Olympics. Gold medal and two records? Way to go!

Vincent Hancock not only took the gold, but once again set a record with an incredible score of 148 out of 150! Well done!

Not to be outdone, swimmer Micheal Phelps has also set a new record, winning 19 medals overall. Previous record holder Larisa Latynina, a gymnast who won 18 medals while representing the Soviet Union in the late 50s and early 60's, says she is happy for him.

I am, too.

Getting Licked

You might remember this.

I was going to let everyone know what show it was for and when they were going to air the episode, but they sneaked it in under the radar.

As chance would have it my little Firefly does appear, several times, and you can even catch a glimpse of y'r humble scribe if you look quick enough (sitting in a chair behind the car).

The show, in case you had not guessed, was Lizard Lick Towing, episode 221, and it aired last Monday, the 30th of July. So much for the advanced warning. We are in the first half of the show.

Cringe-worthy moment, when they are looking at a 2008 GT-500 convertible (one of the Heart of Carolina cars, natch), Ron says that Mustangs are his favorite cars and mis-identifies this one as "a real Cobra."

You can catch the entire episode here (requires that you have cable or dish service with a supported network...and Time Warner isn't one of them, go figure. Good thing I have the DVR) or on Netflix.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: The episode will re-air on Sunday, August 5th, at 3 PM. I have more pictures here.

Not Too Bad

First week with the newbie, he doesn't like nights but I think he'll be OK.

The insurance company came through with the funds, the body guy is ordering parts, the car should be in the shop next week and I should have it back before the middle of the month.

It's August, which means it is about time to change my header pic again. I think I'll go with Myrna Loy, she has the same birthday as me.

I have to pick up some powder this weekend as well.

And finally, appropos of nothing I suppose, CPI Security commercials really annoy me. The only thing they are missing are the fuzzy bunnies. A gun in hand is worth a hell of a lot more than a voice on an intercom, but I guess it would make for a pretty short commercial (door gets kicked in, BLAM! uh yeah...just have them send the coroner around, thanks).

Have a great day!