Quote of the day–Richard Nixon

Sure there are dishonest men in local government.  But there are dishonest men in national government too.


Richard M. Nixon
[Nixon was right–examples abound from Chicago to the Whitehouse (have you paid your taxes recently?). And as a country that celebrates diversity we elect them to office to represent us.–Joe]

Gun Blog .45 wins by five seconds

I went to a steel match today and shot with both my .40 STI and the Gun Blog .45 by Para. I’d been practicing with the .45 a lot more than the .40 because I wanted to learn how to shoot it reliable. I did pretty well with only a couple times getting the grip slightly wrong and not getting the grip safety fully disengaged. What was a little disturbing however was that I did better with the .45, which has a double action trigger, and a sight radius a full inch shorter than my .40.


There is another variable however. I always shot the stage with my .40 before the .45. So I had the advantage of practice on that particular stage before shooting with the .45.



I don’t know if it means anything or not. More tests are needed. But here are the results for your examination:


































































































































































































Lewiston Pistol Club Steel Match


Steel Match – 22 February 2008


Place


Shooter


Class


Showdown


Pendulum


Smoke & Hope


5 to Go


Roundabout


Total


Time Down


1


Adam Mcintosh


Limited


15.54


19.55


11.11


17.44


11.55


75.19



2


Don W


Limited


19.78


22.23


12.65


18.20


14.06


86.92


11.73


3


Roger Watson


Limited


16.78


21.86


13.97


22.76


17.69


93.06


17.87


4


Todd Dow


Limited


20.94


23.16


14.82


22.95


16.01


97.88


22.69


5


Joe Huffman (.45)


Limited


18.58


26.06


15.28


22.45


16.07


98.44


23.25


6


Joe Huffman (.40)


Limited


19.18


33.1


14


22.85


14.83


103.96


28.77


7


Erik Elzea


Limited


21.34


30.67


15.40


19.93


20.42


107.76


32.57


8


KW Hipps


Limited


31.49


24.59


13.90


22.51


17.73


110.22


35.03


9


Roger Watson


Revolver


22.71


35.62


16.17


22.69


17.60


114.79


39.6


10


Jason Ewing


Limited


23.79


32.13


17.44


23.72


20.10


117.18


41.99


11


John Grimes


Limited


29.60


30.64


21.01


43.11


27.15


151.51


76.32


12


Caleb Frederick


Limited


78.67


94.57


22.48


87.54


43.08


326.34


251.15


Yellow Cells denote stage winner


Son-in-law Caleb was handicapped by using my old Ruger P-89 which hadn’t been cleaned, lubricated or fired in several years. It jammed on nearly every string of fire and many times more than once in a single string. I showed him how to clean it when we got home, gave him a key to the range, a 1000 rounds of ammo, and told him to do some further testing.

Quote of the day–Edward Abbey

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.


Edward Abbey
(1927 – 1989)
[For some reason this struck me as perhaps describing our political and economic future. Dangerous but yet full of opportunity.


But then on a physical front I’m suspicious that our universe is actually a black hole with an event horizon several billion light years across and we are rushing toward the singularity at the speed of light on the time axis. So, in the long run, it doesn’t matter even if we do get off this planet and out of the solar system everything we know will be ripped apart down to the sub atomic particle level eventually anyway.


Have a nice day.–Joe]

Boomershoot 2009 supplies

A couple weeks ago I confirmed the reservation for the Saturday dinner location and the caterer. It is NOT at the usual place. It is a block or so down the street at 330 Michigan Avenue (VFW Building).


Earlier this week I confirmed the dates for caterer for the on-site food. Breakfast and lunch will be available Friday, Saturday and Sunday.


Yesterday I put in a request for quote on delivery of 275 pounds of potassium chlorate. One of the three main ingredients in Boomerite.


A few minutes ago I ordered $500 worth of cardboard boxes, labels, and zip-lock bags.


I should have picked up some small plastic gloves (some of the women making explosives have small hands) when I was out shopping with Xenia for her wedding supplies earlier today. I’ll get those another time.


I still need some more ethylene glycol (again for Boomerite).


Son-in-law Caleb says he is going to make the stakes used for holding the targets from some old pallets he got for free.


I really should start printing out badges since the event is full and I have all the names. The few new people from the probable cancellations can be put on one page of badges a few days before the event.


I think everything is under control for another great event.

Quote of the day–Philippa

It’s quite wonderful. If you’d told me at 28 that this would be happening, I’d never have believed it.


It’s great sex, but it’s not with my husband. To be absolutely honest, he’s the last man on the planet I’d want to have sex with.


Philippa
Age 48
Sex and the older woman
[Interesting. Barb and I knew a woman that told me essentially the same thing. The woman’s husband was nice looking and as near as Barb and I could tell a great guy in every way. But the woman said she found sex with him repulsive and she proceeded to have affairs with numerous other men. Barb and I severed contact with them after the woman told me of bringing some married officer from the Pentagon to her home to have sex with in the living room while her husband and infant child were upstairs asleep. Not only was she on some sort of path to self-destruction but it was risking national security by making the officer vulnerable to blackmail.–Joe]

Montana got their attention

Someone at the U.S. Treasury department is checking out the proposed (and making good progress) Montana law telling the Feds to stuff it on guns that don’t cross the state border.


Via my SiteMeter:




























































































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Quote of the day–M. Carol Bambery

The District would like to restrict women’s choice of firearm to those it gauges most appropriate rather than to allow rational women the ability to decide whether a handgun is more suited to their needs. Petitioner’s Brief cites two articles from firearms magazines in which a shotgun is mentioned as appropriate for home defense. Pet. Br. at 54-55. An assembled shotgun is certainly better than nothing and could provide deterrence benefits provided it is accessible to a woman. However, most women are best served by a handgun, lighter in weight, lighter in recoil, far less unwieldy for women with shorter arm spans, and far more easily carried around the home than a shotgun or rifle. Moreover, women who are holding a handgun are able to phone for assistance, while any type of long gun requires two hands to keep the firearm pointed at an assailant.


M. Carol Bambery
Brief of amicae curiae 126 women state legislators and academics in support of respondent.
[It’s called Freedom of Choice. And ultimately the Supreme Court said it was a specific enumerated right too.–Joe]

Boomershoot prep–a 150 pound tripod

This time of year (66 days until Boomershoot) not just me but participants start putting the finishing touches on their plans for the big event. Here we see the results of Bruce Da Squirrel Hunter Boomershoot project:



Here is part of the story from Bruce himself:



Well I finally finished my year long project of building a completely new Polished Stainless Steel Tripod. This couldn’t have happened without the wonderful help of .223 Bill Lester and Fred Forgone working with me hand and foot to get this project completed on time for April 30th and Boomershoot once again this year. I think Fred has more gray hairs this year with me bugging him non-stop for his assistance with so many miscellaneous parts and devices even on his days off.


My hat is off to .223 Bill and Fred for sticking with me and letting me drive both of them nuts for a year while we invented and built what I believe is the best shooting platform ever invented. This Stainless Tripod was .223 Bill’s first production unit since his personal prototype which was made from mild steel. A true craftsman and dedicated friend.


This years project was invented after last years highly modified hunting tripod which had a 55 pound railroad track hanging from the center of the pod which made the total tripod with rifle weigh in at approx. 130 pounds.


After great success with that unit, I was still unhappy about having to hold and adjust the rear of the rifle for every shot. My heartbeat was moving the crosshairs too much in the excitement of Boomershoot.


So back to the drawing board and the current project for this past year has been: “How do we build a better mouse trap”?


Well, you start with the best pair of talented craftsmen who can invent right along with you and build dream toys with a common goal of hitting 7 inch targets all the way out to 650 yards and 700 yards.


The attached photos show my first dress rehearsal of the unit in my living room as my garage isn’t big enough with two cars in it to allow me to set this monster up in. The rifle is a Remington 700 Long Action and a Hart Custom .25-06 fluted barrel. The rifle is the only item carried over from last year.


The new tripod has an aluminum front Anti-Cant device and the rear has a polished mild steel Micro Elevation / Traversing Device. Along with these two items is a Mono-rail Anti-lift device up front that I also invented, a modified design instead of the two rail system I employed last year.


Hopefully the recoil will be less then last year with the overall increased weight (150lbs) and the much larger footprint of this unit. I had the .25-06 recoil down to that of a .22 long rifle last year. If this unit does what I think it will, there won’t be any recoil this year.


This new tripod still needs to be field tested, but I have a feeling that this will be one sweet tripod to shoot from.


I can’t wait for Boomershoot and the chance to really put all this work to the test.


Thank you once again Fred and Bill for all you did and sacrificed for me.


We might just once again hear the call of the wild “ReAdjust”

I knew they were stupid but WOW!

You have to wonder if they need help figuring out how to breath when you hear of people like this:



Why can’t there be more stringent laws against guns in Salinas?


Salinas police Cmdr. Dino Bardoni was the first official placed in the hot seat tonight as a townhall meeting kicked off at Sherwood Hall on North Main Street.



The initial question was posed by Peter Valdez of Salinas, who wanted to know why gun locks couldn’t be enforced in the city – forcing gang members to lock their guns in order to transport them.




“Gang member are not going to adhere to the law,” said Bardoni, referring to how the criminals use illegal guns. “The problem is the outlaw element that is carrying the guns that we can’t control at this point.”



He is one of six panelists participating in a townhall meeting geared to community members who have concerns about the ongoing gang problems in the city that have so far killed six people in 2009.


The emphasis above is mine.


Unfortunately they probably not only know how to breath but have reproduction and voting figured out too. I figure that is the only explanation we have for the existence of all the people that want to ban guns.

A gun joke

From the comments here:



An old Italian Mafia Don is dying and he calls his grandson to his bed.

“You lissin-a me. I wanna for you to taka my chrome plated 38 revolver so you will always remember me.”

“But grandpa, I really don’t like guns. Howzabout you leava me your Rolex watch instead.”

“Shuddup an lissin. Somma day you gonna runna da business, you gonna have a beautifula wife, lotsa money, a biga home and maybe a couple a bambinos.

Somma day you gonna coma home and maybe find you wife inna bed with another man. Whadda you gonna do then……pointa to you watch and a say, Times Up?”

Quote of the day–Henry Hazlitt

There are men regarded today as brilliant economists, who deprecate saving and recommend squandering on a national scale as the way of economic salvation; and when anyone points to what the consequences of these policies will be in the long run, they reply flippantly, as might the prodigal son of a warning father: “In the long run we are all dead.” And such shallow wisecracks pass as devastating epigrams and the ripest wisdom.


Henry Hazlitt
Economics in One Lesson
Part One: The Lesson
1946
[Yes. That was said in 1946.–Joe]

Only one third pound?

Someone had 150 pounds of explosives stolen. The cops put on a demo for the media to show how dangerous just a small amount of explosivs are. They detonated one third of a pound for the cameras. Here is a still shot (more where I found the one below).



Okay, whatever. For the last several years the smallest targets we have used (the three inch square ones) at Boomershoot have been one half pounders. The four inch square targets we use the most of are approximately one pound. The largest (the seven inch square) ones are two pounders. They lost 150 pounds? We went through over 10 times that much last year.

NRA wins in 3-0 victory

Via the Triangle of Death:



Today, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in support of allowing employees to store legally owned firearms in locked, private motor vehicles while parked in employer parking lots. This decision upholds NRA-backed legislation passed in 2004.


“This is a victory for the millions of American workers who have been denied the right to protect themselves while commuting between their homes and their workplace,” said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. “This effort was aimed at skirting the will of the American people, and the intent of legislatures across this country while eviscerating Right-to-Carry laws. This ruling is a slap at the corporate elitists who have no regard for the constitutional rights of law abiding American workers.”


Keep in mind this only applies to states that have passed such laws. Currently that is only a handful of states.


I have mixed feelings on this. It’s a balancing act between property rights and gun owner rights. Generally I just remain silent rather than cheer for either side. But I have to admit it makes it more publicly acceptable to be a gun owner. Just as requiring a license to carry wouldn’t be necessary in a Utopian world it did make it more acceptable to the general public.

Quote of the day–Dmitry Orlov

Right now the Washington economic stimulus team is putting on their Scuba gear and diving down to the engine room to try to invent a way to get a diesel engine to run on seawater. They spoke of change, but in reality they are terrified of change and want to cling with all their might to the status quo. But this game will soon be over, and they don’t have any idea what to do next.


Dmitry Orlov
February 13, 2009
Social Collapse Best Practices
[I found eight quotes for my database so far and I’m only about half way through his post.–Joe]

Cracks are appearing

If this and this (both via Say Uncle) pass and the Feds don’t bring in their lawyers and thugs I hope they soon start selling variants built on this:



Picture also from Say Uncle.


California, Kansas (another H/T to Say Uncle), Washington State and many other government entities are in or near economic crisis mode. If the Feds think it is politically unacceptable to allow banks and automakers to go bankrupt what are they going to think about states going bankrupt? Bailouts for local governments must be in discussion behind closed doors if not openly.


But the Feds are broke too. It just doesn’t show up quite a readily because they own the money printing presses. President Obama says he “will pivot quickly to address a budget deficit that could now approach $2 trillion this year” (H/T to Tam and pdb). That can mean little more than increased taxes. If history from other countries in similar situations is any guide when things get bad enough you can expect direct confiscation of your retirement funds and savings as well as nationalization of various industries who remain profitable. The rational used will be something along the lines of “the government must not fall so anything we do to prevent it is justifiable”. They have guns and they won’t be afraid to use them to take whatever they think they “must” have. The U.S. Constitution was written with enumerated powers granted to the government but court rulings early in the last century shattered those walls. The Federal government will attempt to get more and more “control of the situation”. More planning and “guidance” from the “central committee” such as the “car czar” and more regulations for the banks (which helped bring them down to begin with) will fail in a big way. Many of the politicians and “intellectuals” have no industry (real world) experience. They have been living off of the public dole where money is obtained via the point of a gun (taxes) and they don’t have a clue (see also this comment clues, lack thereof) as to how reality really works. Obama is believed to be the savior of the world (see the I Love You Obama Woman, the response from France, as well as all the other adoration such that we have never in our lifetime seen for a U.S. president–only dictators in other countries). To the best of my knowledge he is the most inexperienced president our country has ever known, he is facing the biggest crisis our country has seen in 80 years, he is a socialist, and his advisers are socialists. His solutions are all going to involve more power and control for the Feds. More power and control in the hands of those that have only the flimsiest of connections to the real world and no experience. It’s a recipe for disaster.


The only bright spots I see are some states, such as Montana, Tennessee (see the first two links in this post), Arizona, Washington, Oklahoma (via Sebastian), and New Hampshire (via Sebastian and email from hunter006) are thinking about going all Ninth and 10th Amendment on us. There could be some serious cracks appearing in the creeping Federal tyranny we have been experiencing. Within a few years we could be (almost for certain?) looking at some new form of government. What will it be? The Orwellian vision of a a boot stamping on a human face … for ever? Or something else as certain states and people take a successful stand against the socialists?


I’ve been thinking for a long time that the world is due a new form of government. Tribal leaders, witch doctors, kings, dictators, democracies, republics, and others have all had their day (and dark nights) in the limelight. But instantaneous communication and near instantaneous travel makes for some interesting thought experiments. I’m not sure The Probability Broach type world is practical but there may be something else that is. This crisis may be the impetus to figure it out.

Quote of the day–Robert Higgs

For the economy in general, doing nothing is vastly preferable to doing the stimulus package, but doing nothing is not a political option; indeed, it would be political suicide. Given the dominant ideology and the political institutions that now exist, economically rational public policy is incompatible with political viability…. Having hit bottom, the politicians can only do one thing: keep digging. If Hell is down there, they’ll reach it, sooner or later.


Robert Higgs
Senior Fellow at Independent Institute
The Lighthouse Volume 11, Issue 7: February 16, 2009
[I was tempted to just use “rational public policy is incompatible with political viability” as the QOTD, but the mention of politicians attempting reach Hell was just too appealing.–Joe]

Hey! I know that guy!

Never mind the 1600+ yard (that is 0.91 miles) hit on a 12″ diameter plate, the guy in the video (you get to see him toward the end) is someone I know. He has been to Boomershoot several times and Barb and I went to high school with his Aunt Shirley. He also used to shoot a lot of IPSC at the same events I went to.





Oh, he is also a gunsmith. I suspect he made the video to show off some of his work as well as his talent.


Thanks to Boomershooter Michael who had the following to say about the video:



Spring is coming, and a not-so-young man’s thoughts turn to . . . Boomershoot. 🙂


Well, close enough for now.