Serenity Sequel?

From xkcd.com

Making Browncoats

Brigid and Guffaw have stories up about creating Firefly fans, which leads me to mention this.

My 12 year old accompanied me to Charlotte last Friday for a get-together with some Mustang folks. It's a three hour ride from here to there, so he took a DVD player along.

What did he take to watch? Firefly!

I've often thrown Firefly quotes out, one of my favorites is "I'd like to be king of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat."  When he saw that episode he laughed right out loud.

I think he's hooked.

Finished!

The grip is here and the conversion is complete!

I think it turned out pretty well.

Parts used for 922r compliance: Tapco trigger group (3 parts), buttstock and pistol grip, and a Leapers UTG quad rail system (foregrip).

That gives me six of fifteen (I don't have a muzzle attachment) US made parts, and if I throw in the Surefire US made magazine bodies, followers and floorplates I have nine.

That means I am in compliance no matter which magazine I use, which was the purpose of this operation from the start.

I'm happy with it.

UPDATE: Range time has been scheduled. I can't wait to try it out.

Time Flies

I was updating my quarterly maintenance schedules last night and setting up for the next quarter, and the maintenance done last night will next be due on December 25, 2011.

Christmas is 90 days away and once again I am nowhere near ready.

It doesn't hit as often, but when it does it hits just as hard.

Saiga Conversion

The hardware I was looking for showed up Saturday.

Unfortunately the pistol grip I was hoping to re-use is not going to work.

Twenty more bucks plus shipping and I have a Tapco pistol grip on it's way.

It should be in this week sometime, and then I'll finally get this darn thing done.

The conversion itself isn't hard to do and I think I will really like the way it works when it's done.

Pics when finished.

Weekend Fun

It's been a pretty busy weekend.

Friday night Youngest Son and I saddled up and rode to Charlotte for a meet and greet with the Carolina chapter of the Mustang Forums. There were seven cars, six of them were California Specials and the last had CS wheels. This has been a recurring theme with the Carolina MF'ers meet and greets.

Saturday morning at 5:30 AM I left the house heading for the Heart of Carolina Mustang Club 18th Annual Car Show. The weather started out

spitting rain so we didn't have the turnout we were hoping for, but we still had eighteen cars in the judging ranging from a very clean 65 fastback to a brand-new 2012 California Special. We also had two non-Mustangs, a Galaxy convertible and a superb 71 Torino.

Once we got the cars in and parked the sun blessed us with it's appearance and it turned out to be a pretty good day.

More pics for the Carolina MF'ers can be seen here, and more pictures from the HCMC car

 show are here.

It was a busy two days, but it was a lot of fun.

And here's something to ponder. The weekend before the originally scheduled car show weekend was beautiful, the originally scheduled weekend and the weekend it was actually held were both wet, next weekend is supposed to be beautiful again.

Where Do We Get Such Men

As promised.

On 15 September 2011 SGT Dakota Meyer, USMC, was awarded the Medal of Honor for service as set forth in the following citation:

Corporal Meyer maintained security at a patrol rally point while other members of his team moved on foot with two platoons of Afghan National Army and Border Police into the village of Ganjgal for a pre-dawn meeting with village elders. Moving into the village, the patrol was ambushed by more than 50 enemy fighters firing rocket propelled grenades, mortars, and machine guns from houses and fortified positions on the slopes above. Hearing over the radio that four U.S. team members were cut off, Corporal Meyer seized the initiative. With a fellow Marine driving, Corporal Meyer took the exposed gunner's position in a gun-truck as they drove down the steeply terraced terrain in a daring attempt to disrupt the enemy attack and locate the trapped U.S. team. Disregarding intense enemy fire now concentrated on their lone vehicle, Corporal Meyer killed a number of enemy fighters with the mounted machine guns and his rifle, some at near point blank range, as he and his driver made three solo trips into the ambush area. During the first two trips, he and his driver evacuated two dozen Afghan soldiers, many of whom were wounded. When one machine gun became inoperable, he directed a return to the rally point to switch to another gun-truck for a third trip into the ambush area where his accurate fire directly supported the remaining U.S. personnel and Afghan soldiers fighting their way out of the ambush. Despite a shrapnel wound to his arm, Corporal Meyer made two more trips into the ambush area in a third gun-truck accompanied by four other Afghan vehicles to recover more wounded Afghan soldiers and search for the missing U.S. team members. Still under heavy enemy fire, he dismounted the vehicle on the fifth trip and moved on foot to locate and recover the bodies of his team members. Corporal Meyer's daring initiative and bold fighting spirit throughout the 6-hour battle significantly disrupted the enemy's attack and inspired the members of the combined force to fight on. His unwavering courage and steadfast devotion to his U.S. and Afghan comrades in the face of almost certain death reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Corporal Meyers has since been promoted to Sergeant.

Thank you, Sergeant Meyers.

US Navy photo

It's Not About Dying

It's about living.

A quote of the day, if I ever heard one, and another spot-on post on the Range.

If Brigid is not one of your daily reads...what are you waiting for?

Okay

Og started it, and here's my submission.

I've had it long enough that I don't remember when or where I got it, and I have no idea what it is.  All I know is that it is in my pocket whenever I have a pocket for it to be in.

Next!

Optical Illusion

They say that if you look at this picture long enough you will be able to see a car of some sort.

More of the same here.

HT: Free North Carolina

SCoaMF

"To the degree the press neglected its function as watchdog and turned cupbearer to a styrofoam demigod, it is a partner in the flaws and failures of what is turning out to be one of the most miserable performances in the modern history of the American presidency."

HT: Ace of Spades HQ

In The Mail

The clips for the Mosin.

It really is easier to load it with stripper clips rather than one at a time.

If the hardware for the Saiga/AK ever shows up I'll complete that, too.

Then it will be range time for all the rifles.

UPDATE: The Saiga hardware is on the way.

We The People

of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.



How many of you were able to read this without singing it?

Happy Constitution Day!

I Deserved That

In this post I took a swipe at one of the good guys just to see if he was awake.

He was.

And now it's time for me to walk it back some.

I don't have the temperament to be in law enforcement. I know that about myself.  I don't have the patience to deal with people as a general rule, and that's one of the several reasons I didn't take up the offer to join one of the countless police forces across the country when I retired from the Navy.

I'm better off dealing with machines. Machines are predictable and they follow the script, and when they don't you can figure out whats wrong, fix it, and they're back on point. People, not so much.

Most of us are going to have very little interaction with the police, and for the most part when we do it is going to be the mark of a bad day.  That means that usually the guys (and gals, can't forget them) in blue don't get to see us at our best.

Just like all of us have bad days, they are human, too, and they have bad days as well.  It's the bad days that get caught on tape and put on the news.

Yes, there are bad cops out there, but for the most part I believe that the men and women who are out there answering the call are good people. We never hear about them because we aren't likely to comment on a positive interaction, only on the negative ones.

So here's to the good guys. Thanks for being there.

(And besides being one of the good guys, Wyatt has excellent taste.)

Guns I Want

in order of wantingness:

Ruger Blackhawk in .357

Remington Model 700 CDL in either 30.06 or 7mm This niche has been filled quite nicely with the Mossberg 100ATR. I think I still want something in 7mm later on though.

Mosin M38 carbine

M1 Garand or M1A Springfield

M1911, manufacturer not important

AR-15 pattern EBR  Screw Armalite, they can keep their crap for the Only Ones. Don't want one now, not even from another manufacturer, cause "AR stands for Armalite" and they can all trot off to hell. So I actually have an AR-15 pattern rifle in 6.8, on a 3D printed lower. ;) The 3D printed lower fell apart so I got me one of them there 80 percent lowers instead.

I'm sure that more will be added to the list over time.

EDITED TO ADD:

Winchester Model 94 Short Rifle, but I think this one should be closer to the top...maybe between the Remington and the Mosin.

Saiga 12 gauge shotgun converted to the AK trigger group

Marlin 795 Purchased 5/13/13

M1 Carbine, this goes on the same line as the M1 or M1A. Any (or all!) of the three would do. Not a 30-06, removing this one from the list. Too bad, it's still a nice looking gun.

Glock 19 Purchased 8/30/13.

MKA 1919 shotgun, because the EBS Project is lonely (and also because "AR-15 shotgun ZOMG!!!)

Vepr Tactical Sniper Rifle because I certainly have enough rounds for it.

CPL Dakota Meyer

Former Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor in a ceremony today at the White House.

A full write-up will be made when the award is posted to the official CMoHS site, but until then, Well Done Marine.

Falling Down The Interweb Hole

So earlier when I put up my post about HR 822 (thanks Sean) I saw a link to recent news articles about a quarter of the way down the page.  In those links was an article about law enforcement opposing the resolution.

I tend to judge some things by who is opposed to it, so this to me seemed like a positive endorsement of HR822 (like I needed another one). However when I clicked on the link I found that there seems to be only one entity that opposes the bill - the Philadelphia PD.

The Philly PD does not have a good track record where guns are concerned, so this seems to be pretty par for the course. (Sorry Wyatt, you are known by the company you keep.)

The story they quoted was of one Marqus Hill (not Marquis, Marquis Hill is a trumpet player) who, after being acquitted of murder in 2005, was denied permission to get his concealed permit back. Philly, it seems, is a one-time-good-deal jurisdiction where gun permits are concerned. More symptoms of the disease, dontchaknow.

Marqus did what many other Philly residents do - he applied for a Florida non-resident permit. Since Florida is a must-issue state, and since Marqus did not have any felony convictions, the permit was issued.  And, since PA reciprocates with FL, that means he was once more legal to carry in Philadelphia.  This, by the way, is the issue that sticks in the craw of the Philly PD - they said no and the citizen, rather than meekly go away, went around them.

Fast forward to 2010; Mr Hill sees some teenagers out minding their own business selling lemonade and cookies - oops, change that to burglarizing cars, his being among them - and he shot one of them. Thirteen times.

This incident is being used as a good reason not to allow national reciprocity, because if you do that then...what exactly?  Since Mr Hill was already holding a valid permit recognized by the State of PA, what would the proposed law do that is not already being done in this particular case?

I'm not condoning the actions of Marqus Hill, I was not there and I don't know the particulars of the case. Perhaps he is a bad, bad man and needs to be buried under the jail, perhaps he lives in a bad neighborhood and felt threatened enough to shoot thirteen times, I don't know and until the facts come out in the trial neither do you. That's how we still do things here for the most part, first we have the trial and then we have the execution (except in the press).

I'm also not going to go into depth on the obviously flawed reasoning of the Philly PD or Philly, City Of regarding gun laws, and I'm certainly not going to go off on a well-justified rant as to the appropriateness of having to obtain permission to exercise a Constitutionally protected natural right.  I think you know where I stand on such issues.

Instead I am going to quote the infamous Tam: "Where the hell do you get off thinking you can tell me I can't own a gun? I don't care if every other gun owner on the planet went out and murdered somebody last night. I didn't. So piss off."

And now back to the actual subject of this post.

Whilst searching for the above quote I found where she had linked a post at Popehat, which had linked a post to here.

This brought me full circle back to Tam's for this post.

And that is how you get to the point where you are nursing your second beer thinking about the good old days of the Clinton presidency.

And while you are at Popehat you must read this. Priceless.

Reschedule

The Heart of Carolina Mustang Club annual car show has been rescheduled for the 24th of September.

If you are in Cary NC on the 24th, please do drop by!

Just as well I guess, the car had flaws in the clearcoat so it had to be sanded and repainted.

I should get it back Monday now.

Reciprocity

There is an interesting piece of legislature winding its way through Congress right now.

Official Summary

2/18/2011--Introduced.National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011 - Amends the federal criminal code to authorize a person who is carrying a government-issued photographic identification document and a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm in one state, and who is not prohibited from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm under federal law, to carry a concealed handgun (other than a machinegun or destructive device) in another state in accordance with the restrictions of that state. 

Go here to voice your opinion.


HT: An NC Gun Blog

The Waiting Game

The car should be ready tomorrow morning.

As I write this it is 86 degrees and the sun is shining.

Tomorrow will be in the 60s with rain.