reasonablenut

We made it out to the range last Thursday. It's been weird with the snow lately, because any moisture causes the range to fall apart. The berms and roads fall apart; the truck has a hard time; you end up tracking mud back to the office, etc.

We got out and the range was fuller than I've ever seen it. 2 practice ranges, 3 action pistol ranges, and 2 rifle ranges were damn near full. We ended up settling at the short rifle range (200 yards) as we were trying out the Old Man's new Taurus Thunderbolt in .45 Colt.


It's a bit of a weird gun, in that it fires a pistol round, is a pump action, and has a 26" barrel. From the limited practice we had, it's a solid shooter. I wanted to do some more close range shit but we were stuck with 200 yards.

I shot 1911s and ARs. I'm the unimaginative one. One of my 1911's was failing to reset the trigger. The other one did fine.

I melted a case strap on the barrel of my AR carbine a couple of months ago. I came up with myriad solutions to the problem but ended up adopting the Old Man's remedy. He said to shoot it until it's as hot or hotter than it was when the strap melted and just wipe it off. That's what I did.

My girlfriend wanted me to find the Tampax website. I didn't ask why. There might be a Zumbo of the menstruation world or something.

I found the site and one of the options was "Ask Iris." So I did.

This is what I found.

Dear Iris,Hi. My daughter wants to use tampons, but I'm afraid that it will
take away her virginity. I have heard that if you use tampons long enough and if
you do the splits and active stuff like that then you can lose your virginity.
Is this all true and should I let my daughter use tampons?Thanks,Wondering

Dear Wondering,Virginity has to do with sexual relations...not using
tampons or doing splits. Many young girls start using tampons early on because
they are swimmers or athletes. The hymen, which partially covers and protects
the opening to the vagina is so fragile that it is stretched or torn during many
activities. I see no reason why your daughter couldn't use a tampon if she can
read and understand the instructions for insertion and safe use. The decision is
yours and hers.Iris

Maybe we should die out as a species.

I have to say, I am not often critical of the gun blogs as a whole. But I have to hand it to just about everybody on my blogroll; stop freaking out.

Zumbo is an old school hunter who probably thinks the .30-06 is the finest cartridge ever made (I'd tend to agree with him.) The guy made one asshole comment about "terrorist guns" from some varmint camp at 3:30 in the morning.

The guy is fat and old. He probably thinks the M-16 is a shitty rifle and that .223 is for plinking cans with your 8-year old son. He's never seen a pimped out AR varmint rig. He's ignorant and because of his ignorance he said something dumb.

Then you assholes bear down. I've never even heard of Outdoor Life magazine, but from the sounds of it, I'm the only prick in the Western Hemisphere who a) never had a subscription and b) isn't canceling that subscription as we speak.

There will always be divisions in the pro-2A camp. Dumbass doesn't understand you so you compare him to Brady. I read the whole comment thread following that post and not a single fucker had anything positive to say. If "Tactical Tommys" want "Elmer Fudds", or whatever the favored nomenclature is, to agree with them, then stop shitting on one another.

And more than that, it's boring reading 25 blogs bitching about some fat hunting correspondent I've never heard of. Do a fucking range report, you lazy fucks.

UPDATE: Carnaby didn't smell blood either. Anybody else I falsely impugned, let me know. Otherwise keep posting on the Remington statement and all of the other sponsorships you lot cost the poor old retard.

UPDATE II: Apologies to Carnaby's mom, as my language was a little caustic and scatalogical. No offense was intended.

Today we received a UPS order. It consisted of 1,000 rounds of .308 South African, 300 cases and bullets in .45 Colt, dies for the previously mentioned caliber, and a book my instructor told me to read.

Needless to say, it was a heavy stack of shit. The poor guy had to pull out a hand truck to get the load in on one trip. With the Old Man's new pup, it takes two of us to receive. One has to control the dog and the other has to sign. That was the case today.

Anyway, the UPS guy starts asking us about loading. Apparently, he owns a .300 Win Mag and the shit he's firing costs about $35 for a box of twenty. We lectured him a bit on the economics of loading and I emphasized that it really doesn't take that much space (White Lie.)

He said he slings the shit all over town.

I'm starting to feel like I'm in Fight Club.

I'm at a loss as to how one goes about fitting one of these. It seems that there is no standard, no principle, and no textbook when it comes to this sort of thing. They all look fucked up to me.

In New Mexico, these jerk-offs get together every two years for sixty days and try to solve "problems." While Albuquerque has banned cell phones while driving, the state is working on COCKFIGHTING. Yes, that is the august issue in this session and I'm deeply concerned about its outcome.

Otherwise, our gun lobbyists are really old men. One of them is my kitchen table FFL; another was my CCW instructor; and another is some guy I met in the course of business. These old guys drive up to Santa Fe every morning (call it an hour and a half commute) and then hang out until they get done what they deem necessary. If I'm that dedicated when I hit 70, I'll be thankful to be able to help.

There are two gun bills that have been introduced and pushed this session. The first one concerns carrying in a package liquor store. The way NM works, you can't carry (loaded) if there is a drop of alcohol in your blood. When they initially passed the CCW law, it contained language that bars you from carrying in a restaraunt or bar that serves liquor and also bars you from carrying in package stores. Therefore, as the law stands, you can't carry in a grocery store. Apparently the package-carry repeal stands a good chance of passing.

That doesn't concern me as much as what has happened with the second issue.

Castle Doctrine laws have passed in several states. A Florida-style Castle law has been introduced, but appears to be doomed. For those of you who aren't familiar, Castle Doctrine basically states that if you shoot a person in your home, the preponderance of innocence falls on you. Florida has passed the most comprehensive one (and blood has run in the street.)

This bill is stalled and faces little chance of passing. As DUI paranoid as this state is, I thought the booze thing had a better chance of dying. I mentioned this to my father and he cleared it up for me. Under Florida-style Castle, the fucking trial lawyers lose. Half of legislators are what?

The main asshole holding this up is a lawyer I ran into when he was in private practice. He was a shitty lawyer (he was on my side.) Now he's a shitty representative. He's killing the Castle bill.

If you feel like wishing him well, his name is Al Parks. The NRA lists his email as such:

alpark.nm@gmail.com

I'm also posting a test picture of an XD that really has nothing to do with anything.

As recently stated, this project is going to last a good while longer than I anticipated and involve a little more cash than I was initially willing to commit.

In light of that, I continue to paper down the extractor to fit the frame. It still doesn't fit.

Today, me and the Old Man got the barrel link attached to the barrel. I've been screwing around with this for weeks. Sarco advertised that this frame was tight from the assembly line and the pin holes, especially, may need some work.

When we ordered the frame, I thought it was merely a stripped slide and lower frame. It ended up coming with a barrel. If the project works out, I might replace the barrel and trigger at a later date, but for now we were fucking with the Rock Island barrel and standard Brownells barrel link and pin.

I pounded on the barrel link for ever and got nowhere. I freezed the pin to contract it; oiled shit to where you could drive a Mack truck through it and it was all for naught.

We finally took a drill bit to it today. Fucking around, we figured it needed a 9/64 or 5/32 bit to rout out the hole. We're Americans and we think in terms of standard measurements, not metric. Doesn't matter anyway.

Turns out, we needed something closer to a 19/128 bit. My Old Man is an experienced mechanic and wood-worker and didn't even think this bit existed. Google changed that. Turns out, there are bits that match wire gauges and have number designations. There are also bits with letter designations, but I don't know what the fuck that is for.

Pulled up a table, and the barrel link hole matched up with a wire gauge bit. Ordered this set off of Midway and I'm hoping that will cover it.

Two questions: Can anybody explain the pin diameter standards?

Additionally, I was going to post a nifty picture with this post, but Picasa/Hello, or whatever the hell it is, died. Good photo posting freeware?