Ammo Pricing

Found a website, gun-deals.com, that has a list of cheap ammo with shipping prices to arbitrary zip codes.  To wit: .223/5.56 Nato and .308/7.62 Nato.

Split Tongue

Don't ask me how I found it.  The YouTube channel of the infamous split tongue chick, that is.  No recent posts, though--perhaps due to a mod gone awry...?

Eclipses

How to view solar eclipses, like the one I missed on Sunday (2012.05.20)....

Adding Towing Capability to a RAV4

I'd like to add towing capability to my RAV4, but before I go ping the Toyota dealer, who seems to be way expensive on things like 30k service, I did a little searching.  One guy posted an installation guide on the OEM hitch itself.  However, the factory towing package also has an upgraded radiator, alternator, fan coupling, and wiring harness; one forum post indicated that the first three could be had for $160.  Installation of course would be another matter....  RAV4World, which had a link to the installation guide above, also has a thread on the OEM hitch.

I suppose I should confirm whether my "trucklet" (apparently that's the in-term for SUV...) has the mount points on the frame; I doubt anything extra would be added, though, in these days of cost-cutting.

Paper Metal Investments

So I'm looking for securities tied to gold/silver for two reasons: 1) for convenient trading to play gold vs. silver ratios, and 2) to invest in gold/silver with retirement dollars, since I have more cash there to invest.

There are a number of ETFs, including GLD, SGOL, AGOL, and SIVR.  The downsides include a large ratio of shares to physical holdings and gains taxable at the higher collectible rate rather than long-term capital gains.

In my reading online another option came up: Sprott's trusts PHYS and PSLV, which offer physical holdings in gold and silver with convertibility to metal and potential tax benefits.  I'll have to check out the prospectus.

Addition: Regarding how the IRS views ETFs in IRAs, apparently there are two private-letter rulings that state that gold/silver ETF shares in an IRA aren't collectibles for tax purposes.

Compressed Earth Blocks

While searching for plans for concrete block raised garden beds, I came across mention of compressed earth blocks (CEB).  Several companies make machines to make the blocks, which are constructed out of the local soil on-site.  That saves moving tons of concrete blocks around.  I have questions about the durability of the blocks, but the thermal mass should provide big cost savings.  AECT has fully automated machines, presumably at fairly high cost.  One blog notes that a Thai manufacturer produces a manual machine for under $1k, but getting it might be a nightmare, much less parts and support.

Charitable Conservatives

A long while ago, D.V. at work had mentioned a study he'd read about where conservatives donate much more in terms of percentage of income than liberals.  I had occasion to look that up, and found a couple references (NYT, RCP) to a 2008 study by Arthur Brooks.  No surprises there.

Maybe liberals think that spending tax dollars on entitlements is equivalent.  However, there's nothing charitable about spending someone else's money to assuage one's guilty conscience.

Suppressors in MN

Apparently there's been some movement recently on the legality of suppressors in Minnesota: FFL holders (though not collectors) are allowed to possess suppressors for soliciting sales to law enforcement or military.  Hmm...I may need to get my Type 01....

Blog post from GEMTECH (a suppressor manufacturer)
Discussion on Arfcom

Googlefu turned up a 2011 thread on SilencerTalk as well.  Suppressor freedom in MN now!!

The C&R Discount

In the vein of a prior post on stores who give a C&R discount, I found another list on THR that appears to be even more comprehensive.  Graf & Sons just sent me a catalog...I'll have to see what their discount is.  I just ordered something from TAPCO not too long ago; wish I'd asked about a price break.  Ah well.

Pricing in Gold

This showed up in my FB feed: charts showing the value of various commodities in terms of gold over time.  The one showing the value of the dollar is most telling.  For almost 200 yrs it was nearly constant, except when FDR devalued it in 1934, then from 1970-1980 it tanked, and declined greatly again from 2000-2010.  The 1934 devaluation was 41%—that should put the rest of the chart in perspective.

.308 vs. 7.62x51mm

Apparently the maximum cartridge headspaces are the same, but the chamber headspace is different.  According to one article (apparently by SayUncle, on an early team blog with Eric S. Raymond, Smallest Minority, and others):

Chamber Headspace
	7.62x51mm	.308 Winchester
Go	1.6355"	1.630"
No-Go	-	1.634"
Field	1.6455"	1.638"

Cartridge Headspace
	7.62x51mm	.308 Winchester
Minimum	1.630"	1.627"
Maximum	1.633"	1.633"
Average	1.6315"	1.630"

SAAMI has a .308 Win spec up on their site.  It would seem to indicate that the min/max dimensions for .308 are 1.630"-1.640" chamber and 1.627"-1.634" cartridge, slightly different from the above, although there have been revisions of the standard.  I'm still looking to see if the NATO standards are available.

According to an old rec.guns post by Bartbob: "New cases typically end up with a fired-case headspace dimension of about .001-inch shorter than the chamber's actual headspace."  So if using fired brass to estimate chamber headspace, add 0.001" to the mic'ed dimension.

As an aside, TM 9-1005-223-10 is the M14 operator's manual.

M14 Info (ChiComs & Mags)

Rifle Company's forums have some info that I should troll through.  One thread on M14s:

One very nice thing about the Polys (& Norincos) is that geometry/dimension wise, the receivers are pretty much spec with USGI receivers. Unfortunately, with the Springfield made receivers that may be a hit or miss proposition. If one is planning on scoping their rifle, one might be better off with the Chinese made receivers. There are too many horror stories floating around about SAI receivers not being in spec, and needing a specially machined mount to work. Smith Enterprises supposedly has a special setup for measuring this. Plus, the bolt holes for the mounts are often miss machined/drilled/tapped on the SAI receivers.
The major "problem" areas for the Chinese receivers are:
#1. Sight knobs may be soft. Easy fix. Garand kobs work, and aren't very expensive. Note, all Chinese made knobs are marked WCE.
#2. Trigger/hammer may be soft. Easy fix. Again, Garand parts work, and aren't very expensive. Chinese made hammers and triggers are unmarked, while USGI hammers and triggers are stamped with letters and numbers(triggers may be iffy).
#3. Op rod spring may be a bit small and soft. Very easy fix. Replace with USGI spring.
#4. Stock is soft and ugly. Easy fix. Replace with USGI stock. Though there needs to be a slight mod to the stock to the shorter Chinese connector lock pin to stay in place.
#5. Bolt may need replacing. Most difficult fix. Hopwever, just replacing the bolt with a USGI bolt fixes any headspace issues. Often, it requires very little work other than a bit of lapping.
None of these fixes is expensive, and most can be done by the person with little or no experience.
At a good enough price, and I could easily talk myself into another Chinese rifle...............not that I need one. Unfortunately, the price keeps going up, since more and more people are finding out how good a bargain they are.

Another good one is a post on the differences between Chinese and USGI parts.

There's also a post regarding how to tell USGI mags from fakes.

Spring Link Dump!!

Some of these have been in my reader for a while.

Email from the Koch Institute regarding the Kochs' dispute with Cato: At first I was highly disappointed at the notice of the "takeover bid", but to be honest, I wasn't even aware of the history that Cato was originally the Charles Koch Foundation.  Now I'm not sure what to think.  It seems to be a trend that some of these advocacy organizations turn out to be driven primarily by the egos of their executives, e.g. Wayne LaPierre at the NRA.

So it turns out that extreme liberals don't really understand their opponents positions on the issues.  Surprise, surprise.  I've found empirically that they tend to not spend the time to educate themselves, preferring to wallow in their own poorly-formed, ill-considered ideology.  The study referred to is interesting.

From WSJ:

• Gardening tips for beginners.  I have dirt and seeds.  Now what?
• The end of the sophisticated playboy era.  The nouveau rich don't know how to live.
• How to tell when it's just another fight, and when it's over.  One can always make it work—it just depends on how much one is willing to sacrifice.  If both people are willing to sacrifice, that's a relationship that will survive.

Regarding the Trayvon Martin case:

• Thomas Sowell's Race and Rhetoric and some more commentary on "race hustlers".  Headline from the early '90s: "White-Black Disparity in Income Narrowed in 80’s, Census Shows"—what happened since the Reagan Era?
• John Lott's opinion on the relevance of Stand Your Ground to the case, and follow-up piece on Fox.

An opinion on the use of the term "gun culture": I disagree, because the extreme left has made this a culture war.  Nonetheless, it's an interesting point.

Federer Lindor Commercial

While the wife watching the Sony-Ericsson Open, we saw the Lindt commercial with Federer.  I fly fairly regularly and have grown to despise the TSA, but that's some funny stuff.  The 30-second version is on YouTube, as well as an extended version (which is even better).  There's even a behind the scenes video!

PTR Commentary

My remarks on a link to an article posted by SayUncle:

I like mine: from sandbags I was getting 3" at 200yds (1.5 MOA) with old Australian surplus using a Hensoldt 4x scope (with temps in the 30s, so I was probably getting a cold-bore shot every string...). The recoil is heavier than an AR-15, but you get used to it. Especially if you put the wide handguard and Magpul PRS stock on there, which makes it really heavy!

Downsides to the HK91-style rifle are two: it beats the hell out of brass, and it doesn't have a last round hold open. The former is only an issue if you reload (which is why I only feed mine surplus). The latter is a serious demerit, IMO, as I'm not going to stick tracers in for my last couple rounds. Still, as Boston T. Party opines in his "Gun Bible", it'll pretty much always work, which is what you want in an SHTF rifle.

CDNN has the best price on the gun. RTG has good prices on surplus accessories; buy new at HKParts if you're rich ;-)

I still despise CTD, though....

Stripper Clips

An old post by Mr. Vanderboegh has convinced me that I need to load ammo on stripper clips, keep the clips in bandoleers, and stow the bandoleers in .30-cal ammo cans.  I may need to find myself some .223 stripper clips....

ChiCom M14s

So I'm back to wrestling with whether or not to get a Chinese M14.  Obviously, I'm not enamored with the fact that it's Chinese-made, considering that they're our main political and economic opponent.  However, I'm hesitant to pay $1500+ for a cast receiver.  According to BTP, SA has had some trouble with their cast receivers (it's unclear if that's fixed or not) and while he mentioned the Chinese forged receivers, he said that they were soft and need heat-treating to bring the hardness up.

As a result, I was reading forums and came across this one on Calguns:

Ever wonder where Springfield Armory Inc gets its "investment cast" commercial parts?...Answer: Wayne Machine Inc. Where is Wayne Machine Inc located???...Answer: Taiwan.
http://waynemachine.com.tw/

If you think your buying a full fledged American built, American made, American parts rifle....think again buddy. ;)

Another source notes that small parts come from China, whereas the receivers are Canadian, and yet another forum actually references a business info page that mentions SA.  So...that kind of eliminates the "buy American" argument, since I can't afford an LRBArms M14SA.  Yet.

In the past, I've bought Chinese products where I couldn't get equivalent features in a U.S.-made product.  Of course I could get an LRBArms gun, but we're talking 3x the price.  Now I'm more of the opinion that I buy something cheap first, figure out what I want, and then spend the big bucks to get it.  Practicality before ideology?

There were a couple M14 gunsmiths mentioned on the forums:

• Warbird Custom Guns - bolt conversion with refinish, $200; rebarrel $75 (plus barrel, of course)
• Arrington Accuracy Works - no prices listed, but one forum mentioned them as doing heat-treat/bolt service

And then there's Smith Enterprise, but I have a feeling I can't afford to have them do the work--if I could, I might as well go the LRB route!

In a Christian Science Monitor article about America's "gun culture", reference is made to an essay that suggests that with the 2A, the notion of civic engagement implies that people ought to "participate in . . . law enforcement and defense of liberty":

The pro-gun movement has been expanding ever since, aided in part by favorable legal rulings and writings. In 1989, Mr. Levinson, the Texas law professor, wrote a notable essay in the Yale Law Review in which he suggested that citizen participation in government might extend to the Second Amendment.

Levinson looked specifically at whether "ordinary citizens [should] participate in the process of law enforcement and defense of liberty rather than rely on professionalized peacekeepers, whether we call them standing armies or police." Gun rights activists consider it a hinge moment in the gun debate, since it marked one of the first such dissections of the Second Amendment by a liberal legal scholar.

That's quite a notion, especially for a liberal scholar (as the article notes).  Sounds right to me—there haven't always been so many professional LEOs running around.  The essay, entitled The Embarrassing Second Amendment, is available online.

RDIAS

For some reason, I got the urge to read about registered drop-in auto sears (RDIASes).  I'd love to own a machinegun (although in my crummy state I can only own C&R MGs) and a RDIAS seems like a good option.  Being drop-in, it can be moved to another lower receiver, as being the registered part, it's not limited to one lower.  Plus, an RDIAS works with .22LR conversions, so one could burn through 1k rounds for less than $50.

Well, Google turned up a few interesting hits:

• Quarterbore's DIAS page, with great pictures (the toolbox case for AR-15s is cool too!)
• A discussion of RDIAS vs. RLL vs. RR on Arfcom
• An Ohio gunsmith who works on NFA weapons and can fix damaged RRs

Ah, I wish I were rich and lived in a state that didn't suck from the perspective of gun laws.  Maybe it's time to move, or buy some land in a neighboring state....

rec.guns AAR from 2000

Sharp as a Marble linked to a recap of an old rec.guns post on The Smallest Minority, where a pawn shop owner ended up shooting a guy, who'd stabbed him with a sword, with a .25 ACP.  Pretty crazy stuff.  Better to have a gun than no gun—but I'd still rather be carrying an ACP two-tenths bigger in diameter.

Self-Defense

An old friend (who happens to have become a Democrat) messaged me the following link on Facebook: What Everyone Should Know About Trayvon Martin (1995-2012)

From those details, it doesn't sound like the shooting was justified.  Permit-to-carry holders, in MN anyway, are required to retreat (unless in one's home).  Chasing down a suspect isn't acceptable, also because it doesn't demonstrate a reluctance to participate in a confrontation.  Neither is shooting someone who doesn't exhibit immediate intent to inflict great bodily harm or death.

It's hard to tell from the news who the victim is.  The novel Bonfire of the Vanities comes to mind.  (Where the outraged community and leaders twist the facts to make one of the perps out to be a victim.)

I also came across a forum thread on Minnesota Carry where a permit-holder shot a guy who'd robbed another woman, and according to some accounts was pistol-whipping her, after he was fired upon.  Again, it's hard to tell from the news, but it sounds like the bad guy was really a baddie, as he was a felon who had been freed on a catch-and-release program.  (A felon possessing a firearm is also illegal.)  The guy's mother and sister claimed injustice, but they too have criminal records: the mother for drug possession and the sister for receiving stolen property.

The really fucked up thing is that the judge, Toddrick Barnette, who released the dead perp, is the same asshole who stuck the late MN gun-rights icon Joel Rosenberg with $100k bail after Joel was arrested on a technicality (apparently there was an unused courtroom in the building that allowed them to claim he carried in a prohibited place).  Hmm.  I'm guessing the judge is a Democrat.

Aguila Colibri

Aguila Colibri is a brand of "quiet" .22LR cartridge, a light bullet propelled by only the primer.  I'd considered these for indoor use, but the lead in the primers would be an issue.  Comments on forums seem to indicate that penetration is an issue, especially at practical distances.  Sounds like a Super Colibri out of an 18" barrel is the best of the two for velocity and penetration without excessive noise.

Homebrew Explosives

From a GRE post by Kurt Hofmann, I followed a link to this great archive of homebrew explosives information.  One reason to get a place in the middle of nowhere is so that one can try some of this stuff out without having the po-po knock on your door....

HDDs Gone By

old gold: Some information on HDDs gone by from the Land Down Under.

Wikipedia has a list of defunct HDD manufacturers, as well.

Metal Spigots

Most gravity-pressure water filters have plastic spigots, which sucks.  There are a couple sources for metal spigots that I've found online, but one of them is only in Europe.  The commercial dispenser spigot manufacturer is Tomlinson.  Unfortunately, the type with a watch glass is still a plastic body.  I suppose the other alternative would be to have a machinist make one to spec.

The Purpose of Armed Citizenry

Another post by Vanderboegh worth rereading.

HDD Industry Consolidation

• Rumors from The Register circa 2012.02.08 regarding Toshiba as the buyer of Desktop drive assets from WD/HGST.
• Verification of the rumors via WD's press release dated 2012.02.28, with additional information that WD will have to acquire Toshiba's Thailand plant in exchange.
• Article on China approving the WD acquisition with conditions on 2012.03.02, similar to the EU's objections.  (A translation of the article was made internal to HGST; the linked article has a rougher translation.)
• The FTC issued a proposed order to accept the WD acquisition with divestiture of 3.5" assets on 2012.03.05, apparently in response to China's approval.  However, it appears that there's an open period for comments for 30 days, implying the approval hasn't been given yet.

Drones over the U.S.

The AP has an article about the use of drones over U.S. soil.  Sounds like a good impetus for the technically savvy to start building anti-drone drones for a hobby.

わらしべ長者

話のなかで谷口さんが使って、説明してくれた、わらしべ長者。

Silver

I don't even remember where I found this, but I came across an article claiming that in the afternoon on 2012.02.24, major dumping of silver contracts occurred.  I've not been able to verify this claim from a reputable source, however.  It's not clear where to get charts with that kind of detail.  Perhaps the silver ETFs' volumes would reflect this?

In trying to locate a source, I found a page noting gold-to-silver ratios (GSR).  The strategy noted is quite interesting: look at the average ratio, and when it's less than 1 sigma low convert silver to gold, and when greater than 1 sigma high convert gold to silver, with the idea to play the ratio to increase holdings.  Perhaps I should try this with paper holdings to make conversions easier.