Big-Bore Airguns

Found this one via Codrea's blog: "Quackenbush Air Guns".  Unfortunately the guy isn't taking orders at the moment.  A .50-cal bullet at 800 fps from an air rifle?  For under a grand?  Sign me up!  Oh wait, there's an 8+ month wait.  Well, there's gotta be other manufacturers out there...?

Liberty Training Rifle

The recommended rifle for an Appleseed shoot is the so-called "Liberty Training Rifle", described both on the Appleseed forums and the blog.

The suggested sights are "Tech-SIGHTS" (dunno what's up with the capitalization).  The set for the 10/22 replace the front dovetail sight and screw into the factory scope rail holes in the receiver.  I've heard that the sights are made in China, though, which would be highly unfortunate.  The other two open sight options I've seen are Eagle Zephyr and Williams FireSights; the former appears to be no longer made, and the latter is poorly reviewed.  Apparently one of the first appearances of the Tech-SIGHTS was on the forums on The High Road.

Vortex and Primary Arms Red Dots

AIM Surplus just posted the Vortex SPARC scope in their Facebook updates.  I'd never heard of it so I'd checked the manufacturer's page.  A little searching on the forums seemed to have mixed reviews, but the negative ones weren't by people who've actually used the device--just people who prefer Aimpoint's or Trijicon's offerings.  People who actually own the sight seem to like it.  One post referenced a Primary Arms red dot, saying that if you're not going to go with the gold standard you might as well go with the el cheapo solution.

American Precious Metals Exchange

I found APMEX when looking for alternate sources for gold/silver.  They have some backdated coins and accept credit cards.  They're located in OKC.

Implements of Fire

Joel at work sent me a link to AK47, an Italian design shop that does mostly patio fire implements.  Pretty funky stuff.

Ads

...that I got in the mail.

• Coleman's Military Surplus (milsurp in mostly small quantities)
• United Country Real Estate (looking for land?)
• Excalibur Dehydrator (made in the U.S. apparently)
• LED Ropelights (coupon code GET10)
• Bradley's Military Surplus (mostly military-style stuff rather than surplus)
• Sierra Trading Post (outdoor wear)
• Gourmet Mushrooms (grow your own)
• Minelab (metal detectors)
• Mantis (tiller/cultivator)

Kit

From the always useful Sipsey Street, there's a link to a description of a bug-out bag called a "speed bag", which links back to a Sipsey piece on first aid kits.

Gotta have quikclot or similar for temporary patching of gunshot wounds....

Contrarian Stocks

WSJ had an article a couple weeks back about how often the stocks that Wall Street likes at the start of the year aren't the ones that turn out at the end of the year to have performed well during the year.  The list:

The ones they like:

• Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Apple
• Agilent Technologies
• Compuware
• Halliburton
• Express Sprints
• EQT
• Celgene
• Google
• R.R. Donnelly & Sons

The ones they didn't like:

• AIG
• Apartment Investment & Management
• Brown-Forman
• Diamond Offshore Drilling
• Ameren
• Eli Lilly
• Nicor
• Berkshire Hathaway
• Cincinnati Financial
• Sears Holdings

Might be worth a look—if it's not too late.

DuPont Analysis

Via a Motley Fool article, I read about the DuPont identity, a formula that describes the elements of return on equity (ROE):

ROE = ( net profit / sales ) x ( sales / assets ) x ( assets / equity )

Put another way, the rate of return to stockholders is the profit margin times asset turnover times leverage, which makes intuitive sense.

Mosin-Nagant

Some informational links regarding the Mosin-Nagant M91/30:

• FAQ at 7.62x54r.net
• Disassembly instructions at 7.62x54r.net
• Manual from Century International Arms
• Info at world.guns.ru
• Lots of info at SurplusRifle.com

Slings

In searching for U.S. web sling manufacturers, I turned up a link on THR that had pointers to instructions on how to use the military leather and web slings.  The links were busted, but I found them again on the site.

Also, it appears that CJ Weapons makes slings in the U.S., in both cotton and nylon web varieties.  My guess is that CDNN is selling their slings, but it's not clear.  KMK said that CDNN's are made in the U.S., whereas the Fred's ones are made in China.  Hmm.

Anti-Gun Bozo

This anti-gun chick, Jackie Kuhls, is full of shit—she has no idea what the fuck she's talking about.  "Assault weapons" is a recent term, and it refers to semi-automatic versions of military weapons that have features deemed undesirable by anti-gun factions, such as pistol grips, large capacity magazines, and an intermediate cartridge between that of a battle rifle and a pistol.  "Assault rifles" would be the proper term for what she's describing, but those are fully-automatic machineguns which are heavily regulated under the NFA.  Lawfully possessed MGs have only been used in crimes twice, and once was by a police officer.  However, the posterboard the anti-gun chick is holding shows a M10 or M11, which is a submachinegun and not considered an "assault rifle" but rather a "machine pistol" in either .380, 9mm, or .45.  That would not pierce most police body armor.  5.56x45mm or 7.62x51mm would go through body armor without reinforcing plates design to absorb a rifle round.  People like this make me sick: they know absolutely zero about the item they're villifying.

Political Reading Memo

Woodrow Wilson's interventionism set the stage for bad U.S. foreign policy in the 20th Century.  His Fourteen Points speech proposed the League of Nations, which, while not ratified by the U.S., proved ineffective in forestalling World War II in Europe.

Bretton Woods was the system that pegged world currencies to gold, which was terminated by Nixon.

Jesus, when was the last good president we had in the U.S.??

Sued

A few days ago a coworker asked me and MRG to produce a list of products since Jan. 1, 2003 with the corresponding data channel used.  He said it was for a patent lawsuit, but didn't have additional information.  Yesterday he told me that the plaintiff is a company called Lake Cherokee, so we googled it and found the lawsuit: Lake Cherokee Hard Drive Technologies v. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, LSI Logic, STMicroelectronics, Marvell Semiconductor, et al.  ("Hard Drive Technologies"?  What the fuck do they do besides sue real HDD-related companies?)

Turns out this has to do with something I heard about a couple months ago: the senior integration guy was looking for specs dating back to the late '90s.  This was before I joined, but I knew where to find the info.  The first item in the lawsuit shouldn't apply to HGST, because the internal channel's error measurement circuit predates '98—we have prior art.  The second one might be applicable; I don't actually know the details.

Slamfire Shotgun

I'd heard that old Winchester 97 shotguns can shoot by holding down the trigger and pump-cycling the action.  That got me thinking as to whether the disconnector could be removed from the trigger group of a Remington 870 to do the same thing, so I searched for such info.  After all, someone on the interwebz had to have tried it.

Apparently it's not possible on the 870:

as one who performed warranty repair on both mossberg and remington, their nomenclature for disconnector is the part that leaves the hammer cocked when you cycle the arm with the trigger pulled. it would be pointless to disable these parts, because the design of those two particular arms would only allow the hammer to follow the bolt. it would not behave like an old ithaca 37, or win '97 or old m-12.

The poster also brought up the good point that such a modification might be considered a machinegun conversion, since continuously depressing the trigger might be considered a single trigger pull.  A different forum post noted that the Ithaca model 37 has the same behavior as the Win 97.  Whether that's true of new production guns isn't clear.

Pendrive Linux

Just read a mention of multiple bootable OSes from a single USB memory stick via Pendrive Linux.  There's the universal installer and multiboot.  That could be fun to play with.

Pin-Ups

It must've been via View from the Porch that I came across Pin-Ups for Vets.  There isn't much info on the lady running the charity, Gina Elise, but I do like those old-style pin-up photos.  Occasional Dillon model Cathy Rankin (featured in the Blue Press) also has her own similar calendar.  I rather prefer brunettes, myself.

Cooper CS4 Touring Tires

Well, the car needed new tires.  I'd let the rears get down to 1/32 tread, and with the weather the way it is, there's no avoiding getting new ones.  The dealer recommended Cooper CS4 tires.  I was skeptical because they're not what I would've considered a major brand.  Plus, they were asking an arm and a leg.  So I did a little reading, both on consumerreports.org and other review sites, and found out that the tires are actually made in the U.S.  Furthermore, the online prices for the tire discount stores for comparable products were actually more than what the dealer was asking: Tires Plus wanted over 6 benjamins for Bridgestone Turanzas, and those aren't as highly rated in CR as the CS4s.  Given that, I went with the CS4s.  Unfortunately that means I won't be getting myself a Christmas present this year...damn, I was hoping to get a Garand or an AK-47.

We'll see how they perform in this wonderful weather.  I'm gonna have to break out the snowblower (doesn't that sound like a term for a cokehead?) when I get home to clear out the driveway before I can pull into the garage!

WECSOG

The Wile E. Coyote School of Gunsmithin'.  Interesting how-to on building a FAL out of a parts kit.  Maybe after I build an AR-15 upper I'll try that one next.

Pietta Black Powder Revolvers

Lately I've taken notice of black powder revolvers made by Pietta in the Midway and Cabela's catalogs.  I've thought it'd be interesting to have a black powder gun, since you can fairly easily craft powder for them, and they're fairly inexpensive.  Plus, one can get .45 Long Colt conversion cylinders, although those cost almost as much as the revolver itself.  That presents an interesting concept: for less than $500 you can get a pistol that shoots metallic cartridges and is completely under the radar, i.e. no 4473 and no background check.  I'm surprised that the anti-gunners haven't blown up over this one.  Granted, the .45LC cylinders are only for cowboy loads, not smokeless powder, but still.

Low-tech Magazine

I posted this to my other blog (or should I say blag), but via the Woodpile Report I came across Low-tech Magazine and an article on historic electric cars.

My response to a Facebook comment on my post:

My beef isn't with car companies per se. It's with our mentality in general that says "oh this is new and glorious" when it's really older than grandma. And technology evolves quickly in some ways and unexpectedly slowly in others, usually determined by our focus as a society.

The rest of my response degenerated into a rant against unions, but I suppose I can't help from veering off when all the subjects are interrelated.

FFT Zero Padding

The fairly new guy in the RIL department (which I just was moved to) has a master's in signal processing.  Since I didn't have an even number of samples for the Fourier transform, I was using the DFT, but he claimed that zero padding to power-of-2 FFT lengths is legit.  Apparently it is.  However, there are bin shift concerns [ni.com] when doing so because the bin number and size are determined by the number of samples used.

HK. Because you suck. And we hate you.

Larry Correia is a funny guy.  Mention of the HK rant has crossed my screen before, but I'd never read the whole thing.  It's hilarious!  I say that as a guy who likes his HK91 clone.  I'd dearly love to get an MP5 submachinegun or even a G3, but I'm a civilian and I'm too poor.  I'd even like to get a real semi-auto 91, but for 3 grand, it's probably more practical to get an M1A and some training.  I'm also pissed off about their piston AR-15 that doesn't take standard lowers.  Ah, HK does have an Apple-like aura about them, except they're not as ergonomic.

As an aside, you can tell a real HK fanboy from a poseur because the former knows how to pronounce 'Koch' in English (it's 'Coke', as is Koch Industries).  I'm kind of a fanboy, but I'm also a realist.

Jicama

Last week a coworker told me about jicama (pronounced "hicama"), an edible root.  Funky.  If I can get ahold of some, it'd be interesting to try.  (And what's up with that scientific name, "Pachyrhizus erosus" ?! Sounds...cool.)

Much Ado

I'd commented on a post by David Codrea regarding the ATF open-bolt decision and the recent semi-furor that one of the "Threepers" is trying to stir up.  To be honest, I still don't get what the big deal is all of a sudden, as we've lived with this ruling for like 20 years.  Well, other than as Mr. Codrea states, the discussion of "shall not be infringed" being chucked out the window.  But I felt special that Mr. Codrea responded to my scrawl!

Hi, I also commented on Mr. Vanderboegh's blog post in a similar vein to note that it seems that the critical distinction is that the disconnector and "trip" must be modified. From the ATF ruling that you quote:

"The disconnector and trip are designed in the SM10 and SM11A1 pistols and in the SAC carbine (firearms) in such a way that a simple modification to them, such as cutting, filing, or grinding, allows the firearms to operate automatically. Thus, this simple modification to the disconnector or trip together with the configuration of the above design features (blowback operation, firing from the open bolt position, and fixed firing pin) in the SM10 and SM11A1pistols and in the SAC carbine, permits the firearms to shoot automatically, more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. The above combination of design features as employed in the SM10 and SM11A1 pistols and the SAC carbine are normally not found in the typical sporting firearm."

So the guns in question aren't MGs out of the box any more than an AR-15. I mean, I can easily REMOVE the disconnector from my AR-15 and I'd have an unregistered MG according to the ATF: with one pull of the trigger, it'd dump the mag. (And poor engagement surfaces on the disconnector is what screwed David Olofson and landed him in the pen.) Now I'm not one of the prags arguing for compromise or restraint. However, with regard to the last statement of the ruling ("The above combination of design features as employed...are normally not found in the typical sporting firearm."), I could see the Brady bunch using the existing ATF ruling to attack semi-automatic weapons of any kind, particularly "evil" black rifles. Or is forcing their hand what Mr. Vanderboegh had in mind?

Someone else had posted this excellent quote from Frederick Douglass. The dude knew what he was talking about.

"FIND OUT JUST WHAT THE PEOPLE WILL SUBMIT TO AND YOU HAVE FOUND OUT THE EXACT AMOUNT OF INJUSTICE AND WRONG WHICH WILL BE IMPOSED UPON THEM; AND THESE WILL CONTINUE UNTIL THEY ARE RESISTED WITH EITHER WORDS OR BLOWS, OR WITH BOTH. THE LIMITS OF TYRANTS ARE PRESCRIBED BY THE ENDURANCE OF THOSE WHOM THEY OPPRESS." — FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AUG. 4, 1857

Claire Wolfe

I don't know why I didn't find this sooner, but Claire Wolfe has a blog.  At Backwoods Home, no less.

I'd searched a year ago.  Apparently she only started that particular blog this year.

Emergency Funds vs. Debt Payoff

This doesn't really apply to me per se, since I have a cash cushion, but some folks I know would do well to consider the points in the article.  I would argue for building up an emergency fund at the same time as paying off debt.  True, there is an impact due to the cost of the loaned money that's not being paid off, but there's no guarantee that the credit line won't be cut off, so the emergency allocation needs to be there.  Similarly, it doesn't make sense to put all your available capital into payments on a house loan because there's no guarantee that you'll be able to get a home equity line of credit when you need it.  "A bird in hand is worth two in a bush," as they say.

Barry isn't a lawyer?

An article came up in my reader about Sarah Palin considering a run for president in 2012 (ugh).  One of the comments was the following:

Consider this:

1. President Barack Obama, former editor of the Harvard Law Review, is no longer a "lawyer". He surrendered his license back in 2008 in order to escape charges he lied on his bar application. A "Voluntary Surrender" is not something where you decide "Gee, a license is not really something I need anymore, is it?" and forget to renew your license. No, a "Voluntary Surrender" is something you do when you've been accused of something, and you "voluntarily surrender" your license five seconds before the state suspends you.

2. Michelle Obama "voluntarily surrendered" her law license in 1993.

3. So, we have the first black President and First Lady - who don't actually have licenses to practice law. Facts. Source: http://jdlong.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/pres-barack-obama-editor-of-the-Harvard-law-review-has-no-law-license/

4. A senior lecturer is one thing. A fully ranked law professor is another. Barack Obama was NOT a Constitutional Law professor at the University of Chicago.

5. The University of Chicago released a statement in March, 2008 saying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) "served as a professor" in the law school-but that is a title Obama, who taught courses there part-time, never held, a spokesman for the school confirmed in 2008.

6. "He did not hold the title of professor of law," said Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky, an Assistant Dean for Communications and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago School of Law. Source: http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/03/sweet_obama_did_hold_the_title.html ;

7. The former Constitutional senior lecturer cited the US Constitution the other night during his State of the Union Address. Unfortunately, the quote he cited was from the Declaration of Independence . not the Constitution.

8. The B-Cast posted the video: http://www.breitbart.tv/did-obama-confuse-the-constitution-with-the-declaration-of-independence/

9. Free Republic: In the State of the Union Address, President Obama said: "We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal..

10. Um, wrong citing, wrong founding document there Champ, I mean Mr. President. By the way, the promises are not a notion, our founders named them unalienable rights. The document is our Declaration of Independence and it reads: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

11. And this is the same guy who lectured the Supreme Court moments later in the same speech??? When you are a phony it's hard to keep facts straight. The only ones that haven't seen through this clown and the band of idiots that surrounds him are those that are fleecing this Country for all it's worth. I hope and pray that common sense will prevail in the next election or this great Nation is finished! This is amazing! I checked the Illinois Bar site and this is absolutely true. Both voluntarily gave up their licenses. How in the HADES did the media not report on this?

Other than the goofy numbering of the points, whoa. I'm not at all surprised that the media didn't report on his surrendered law license.

Edit: Ah, it sounded too good to be true.

Dot Torture and Reasons to Own Guns

Tamara's blog had a couple interesting posts yesterday.  One was a pointer [her blog] to a pointer [Guns & Coffee?!] to a funky course of fire called "Dot Torture".  3 yards, 50 shots, some one-handed including some weak-hand, some from the holster.  I'd love to try it, but my range doesn't allow presentation from the holster (argh).

Then there was a vector to a thread, circa 2000, on The Firing Line that lists 23 reasons to own guns.  I'll reproduce the list here, 'cause it's awesome!

1. So that you can call yourself a "collector" instead of a gun nut.

2. Because the notion of "the right gun for the job" can be interpreted any way you see fit.

3. Because each of your great-great-great-great-grandchildren should have something to remember you by.

4. Because when Armaggedon strikes, and you rush to the gunstore, and the only box of ammo they have left is 6.5 x 55 mm, and you have nothing to shoot it out of… well, aren't you going to feel pretty darn foolish.

5. Because diversity is our greatest strength.

6. Because you owe it to your fellow gun nuts to make them look reasonable by comparison.

7. Because every gun teaches you something.

8. Because you can.

9. Because every time you buy a gun, you're keeping it out of the hands of a bad person.

10. Because you want to be able to identify with the hero in any action flick.

11. Because Elvis would.

12. Because if time travel is ever perfected, and you can bring all of them back to the Alamo, Davy Crockett, Bill Travis and Jim Bowie are going to think YOU THE MAN!

13. Because one day, when you're famous, every gun you ever owned will be worth a fortune.

14. Because when the government makes a list of every kind of gun you're not allowed to own anymore, you'll have a few that they never even thought of.

15. Because when the cops lay all your stuff out on a sheet, take a picture of it, and publish it in the local paper, you want all the other gun nuts to be envious.

16. Because .25 autos need love too.

17. Because owning at least one of everything is the only known cure for that woozy feeling you get when you stare into the cases at the gun store.

18. Because the more guns you keep in your safe, the harder it'll be for a crackhead to load it onto a handtruck and cart it out the door.

19. Because your dot-com stocks may crater but you'll always be able to swap a Glock for airfare out of any Third World hellhole on the face of the earth.

20. Because unlike computers, the guns you buy now are not going to be available cheaper and more powerful in six months.

21. Because "number of deadly weapons owned" is an extra credit question on the entrance examination to Valhalla.

22. Because you don't want to be "out of it" when the merits of the Nambu Type 14 are discussed on the API list.

23. Because Bill Clinton doesn't want you to.

I'm rather partial to 5, 18, 19, and 20.  As for 4, well, I've got that covered....

Uncalled For

Brent at work sent me a link to a Post-Bulletin article detailing an exchange from one of the councilmen who I despise and a builder.  Since the P-B flushes articles over a certain age, here's the text:

A testy exchange between a Rochester City Council member and a spokesman for the Rochester Area Builders organization at a recent public hearing prompted a demand for a public apology.

"I feel that was uncalled for," said Jay Burke of the Nov. 1 exchange between council member Michael Wojcik and Tony Lehrman, who represents the builders group.

Lehrman had told the city council about the builders group's opposition to a proposed ordinance requiring streetside trees be planted in new developments. Wojcik peppered Lehrman with pointed questions for a few minutes before council President Dennis Hanson put a stop to the exchange. The ordinance eventually passed on a 4-3 council vote.

Burke, who owns a building company, Heartwood Homes, and has served on the city's Planning and Zoning Commission and Energy Commission, described Wojcik's actions as violating "proper decorum" for public officials. He sent a letter to the city Friday and spoke to the city council Monday.

Burke said the exchange left several audience members, and even a few city council members he said confided in him, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed. Read about it in Tuesday's print edition.