All your guns

Posted on by
8

Democrats are in some sort of crazed frenzy:

If you want to see how extreme the Democrats have gotten on gun control, you just had to listen to a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week.

It is one thing for Democrats such as Beto O’Rourke and Rep. Eric Swalwell (R-CA) [This should be a ‘D’.–Joe] to call for confiscating AR-15s and civilian versions of AK-47s. But in the committee hearing this past Wednesday, the loudest applause came when Democratic witnesses called for bans on all or at least the vast majority of guns.

“I believe that any weapon that can be used to hunt individuals should be banned,” announced Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall M. Brackney in the hearing. Brackney and other witnesses showed just how far the Democratic Party has gone on gun control in only a few years.

Brackney was given a chance by Congressman Greg Steube (R-FL) to correct the record if she might have misspoken, but she only doubled down. Steube pointed out that any firearm could be used to hunt people down, and Brackney responded by repeating the point. She only clarified that police and the military would still be able to have guns.

Ten years ago, if a Democrat witness had suggested banning all guns, one can only imagine that Democratic congressmen would be desperate to disassociate themselves from those comments. But not now. Not one, single Democrat expressed any disapproval.

The only good thing about this is that they have overreached. This will make them vulnerable at the polls and in the courts. If we play our cards right they might even be slapped down harder than in 1994.

But don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns. These monsters have come out of the closet and shown their true colors for everyone to see.

Project Diesel Memento

Posted on by
2

This morning I received an email from Ken in NH:

Raymond doesn’t name check you, but you are mentioned indirectly:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20190930-00/?p=102942 

Also, I think you promised to tell us about the ammonium nitrate souvenirs some time ago. Any interest in writing that soon?

I sort of remember making that “promise”. I went to Raymond’s blog and found Ken had linked to my post on the same topic making it easier to find. Raymond makes reference to me in his post with:

One of the DirectX developers owned a farm and gave each team member a small plastic bag of ammonium nitrate as a souvenir.

You might think it odd he mentions the farm but not Boomershoot. This was in 1997, over a year before the first Boomershoot event. I was working on the explosives at the time but had not yet found something that worked. I had the ammonium nitrate but hadn’t yet figured out how to make it go boom with rifle fire.

Back to the 13 year old “promise”. It’s time to deliver.

I went looking for the 22 year old Word document. Yeah, I’m a packrat and knew I wouldn’t have deliberately deleted it.

I found two documents:

Directory of H:\Humor

09/30/2019  11:33 AM    <DIR>          .
09/30/2019  11:33 AM    <DIR>          ..
07/22/1997  03:56 PM            35,328 Diesel.doc
07/22/1997  04:00 PM            19,456 Diesel2.doc

Diesel.doc:

Project Diesel Memento

Enclosed you will find about 1/4 pound of ammonium nitrate (N2H4O3). When mixed with approximately 1 teaspoon of diesel this common farm fertilizer could be made to explode with the force of several sticks of dynamite. If the charge were properly placed in the ground it would probably make a hole about large enough to bury a person (or two in the case of Raymond Chen).

As it stands, and even if mixed with diesel, it is extremely difficult to detonate. On the farm we used 1/2 stick of dynamite which itself required a blasting cap to be detonated. It requires extremely high pressures (several thousand PSI) and heat to detonate. On the farm we would bore a hole in the hard dirt and clay under a stump and firmly pack in about a pound of it (mixed with diesel and the dynamite booster) to “liberate” the stump from the ground.

Other means of detonation exist, see for example New and Improved C-4 — Better-Than-Ever Recipes for Half the Money and Double the Fun by Ragnar Benson or The Anarchist Cookbook. I have extreme doubts about the accuracy of the recipes in The Anarchist Cookbook and have been unable to get Benson’s recipes to work when attempting to detonate the mixture with rifle fire (as he claims will work). So, if you want to use this to blow something up you will probably have to obtain some dynamite and blasting caps or ask Timothy McVeigh for help (I believe he actually used nitromethane, not diesel).

Regards,

Militia Joe from Idaho

The Militia Joe from Idaho reference is to a skit I created for a Swine Before Pearls television show in 1995 while I was working at Microsoft on Direct X 1, The Manhattan Project.

Diesel2.doc:

July 22, 1997

Raymond,

One is for you (if you want it). Please give one to NWilt. The others you can distribute as you see fit (trinkets for the natives, whatever).

Have fun!

See you soon. You are coming over for harvest, right?

Regards,

I printed something like 20 copies of “Project Diesel Memento”. I put about a quarter pound of ammonium nitrate in “Seal a Meal” (as they were called at the time) bags. This was sealed off in the bottom part of the bag and the printed text was put in the top part of the bag and sealed. I then shipped the entire set to Raymond at Microsoft with the cover letter shown in Diesel2.doc.

NWilt was my manager when I worked on Direct X 5, Project Diesel. It was probably about 2012 when NWilt contacted me and invited me out to lunch. He told me he still had the Project Diesel Memento.

And now you know the mementos story I “promised” to tell so long ago.

Quote of the day—Eric Boehm

Posted on by
4

Of all the places to argue that only the government should be trusted with guns, Beto O’Rourke picked…Kent State University.

Eric Boehm
September 27, 2019
Beto Goes to Kent State, Argues Only the Government Can Be Trusted With Guns
[One might claim Beto pegged the irony meter. More careful reflection should bring to mind that leftist governments regard shooting disarmed civilians with little or no risk a feature, not a bug.—Joe]

Cleaning brass

Posted on by

In the comments Sendarius asks:

When you say “clean”, how do you do that?

Vibratory tumbler with dry media?
Rotating tumbler with wet media?
Power drill with a Brasso-soaked rag? /jk

I have been using a Lyman tumbler with walnut shell dry media for years, and I am considering switching to wet solution with those tiny stainless steel rods.
Others at my club have made that switch, and their brass looks amazing.

Any thoughts?

I first sort the brass using a set of these (Amazon also has them for $10 more):

image

This is how the brass ended up in a five gallon bucket.

There is a similar product available for less money but I have not had my hands on them so I can’t compare the quality:

image

Amazon sells it for the same price.

I then put the brass in an ultrasonic cleaner (I bought mine from Harbor Freight several years ago but Harbor Freight is slightly more than Amazon for what appears to be the same product):

20190929_124113

I use Hornady One Shot Sonic Cleaner Ultrasonic Case Cleaning Solution. I tried a homemade recipe using vinegar and Dawn dishwashing detergent but this works much better. I run the cleaner for at least 24 minutes (three cycles of 480 seconds each).

After the cleaning the brass may not look that great. But most of the remaining dirt/tarnish will come off in the rinse.

I then dump the brass and cleaning solution into a colander:

20190929_133100

I stir the brass with a gloved hand to remove most of the liquid.

I then rinse the brass in tap water:

20190929_133330

Again I stir the brass with my hand.

I drain and rinse two more times. The final rinse is done with distilled water from my dehumidifier.

After the final draining I put the brass on a rack above my dehumidifier. I built the rack from PVC pipe, a plastic screen, and transparent duct tape:

20190929_123929

The dehumidifier puts out warm dry air. I usually let it run for about eight hours and I may stir the brass a time or two.

When cleaning rifle brass I may remove the primers before cleaning. This will result in clean primer pockets as well as a clean interior and exterior.

If I want really shiny brass I will first run it through the vibratory cleaner with the usual corn cob or walnut shell media and a brass cleaner additive. I then follow up with the ultrasonic cleaning.

For many years I just used the vibrating cleaner with the corncob or walnut shell media but the ultrasonic cleaner gave me a faster throughput and the cases are cleaned on the inside as well as the outside.

I considered buying a wet, stainless steel pin, type cleaner but I decided what I had worked well enough.

Quote of the day—Carl Bussjaeger

Posted on by

Recently, we learned that Florida is apparently using its “red flag” law an average of five times a day.

Five times per day. That’s 1,825 people flagged per year.

…

“Red flag” goes into effect. Homicides go up. Firearm homicides go up. Suicides go up.

They don’t work. The vast majority of firearm homicides are committed by people who aren’t supposed to have guns anyway, and who will get them; generally in an unlawful fashion.

“Red flag” laws may even make suicides worse, by aggravating already disturbed people while leaving them on the loose to die by other means, and by not Baker Acting them so they get help. If I’m correct, 2019 suicide numbers in Florida may well be even worse than the significant increase of 2018.

Carl Bussjaeger
September 28, 2019
Florida Red Flag Law: How is it working out?
[Great research!

If only the facts mattered. As anti-gunner Joe Biden said “We choose truth over facts.”

These things will have be resolved in some other way than public debate and legislative action, perhaps the courts, because facts are mostly irrelevant to the political left.—Joe]

The transcript

Posted on by

We have Democrats demanding impeachment over a call President Trump had with the president of the Ukraine:

This was the week the Democratic caucus wanted to move forward, or at least discuss, presidential impeachment — loudly, urgently, overwhelmingly.

…

Adam Schiff, the head of the House Intelligence Committee, said that he and his colleagues would be working on their Ukraine probe through the two-week congressional recess, which begins this weekend. “The fast action—and discussions about resorting to a little-known congressional power to detain, arrest or fine recalcitrant witnesses—suggests the House could vote on articles of impeachment as soon as late October,”

…

“Today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry,” Pelosi told reporters on Tuesday. “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.”

Thursday and Friday mornings I had the “free” breakfast offered by the motel I was staying in. The television on both days was on CNN where talking heads talked about how terrible the crimes President Trump had committed.

And this afternoon commenter John Schussler said,

we have the leader of the party, Trump, well on his way to impeachment for trying to ensure his political future and that of his party by extorting a foreign power.

This evening I read the transcript of the call. I cannot find anything even hinting at the “extorting a foreign power” and that can be construed as a crime.

We even have Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky denying such claims:

When asked by reporters about the call on Wednesday in a joint press conference with Mr. Trump, Zelensky said that “nobody pushed me.”

I’m inclined to agree with Chet:

I did not expect a crisis until the election, but it now clear to me that the crisis has arrived. The left is now attempting to overthrow our government using any pretense.

I suspect the frenzy demonstrated by democrats since President Trump’s election in 2016 will make the history books. It will be studied by psychologists and sociologists for decades as as an example of one of the greatest mass delusions of all time.

Read the transcript for yourself.

It’s time to clean some brass

Posted on by

I haven’t reloading any .40 S&W ammo in a long time but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been shooting any. Here is a partial illustration:

image

This is what I have picked up of the floor after practice as the local range before I sorted and cleaned it. Maybe five percent of that is 9mm or .45 ACP that got mixed in as I scooped it up. That this bucket is full means I don’t have a place to put the brass I’ll bring home from the range this week.

It’s time to sort, clean, and put away some brass.

Revolvers must go through the revolving door

Posted on by

Yesterday I saw this sign on a door:

20190927_153146

I was struck by all the ambiguity. How many different plausible interpretations are there? Here is my first cut at the set:

  • No guns allowed beyond this point unless you go through the revolving door.
  • Long guns and pistols are okay but no revolvers may pass through this door.
  • Do not use this door, use the revolving door, because of revolvers.
  • Revolvers must be taken through the nearby revolving door.

Quote of the day—Publius Decius Mus

Posted on by

Among the many things the “Right” still doesn’t understand is that the Left has concluded that this particular show need no longer go on. They don’t think they need a foil anymore and would rather dispense with the whole bother of staging these phony contests in which each side ostensibly has a shot.

Publius Decius Mus
September 5, 2016
The Flight 93 Election
[H/T Oppo.

This was clearly visible in September 2016 and it is now arc light illuminated three years later.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Kender MacGowan

Posted on by

I’d be ok with Beto trying to take guns if he promises to do it personally.

Kender MacGowan
Facebook post.
September 14, 2019
[H/T Basil.

I see two ways this working out:

  1. He uses his own money to “buy back” the guns at a price people are willing to sell.
  2. He attempts to confiscate them from unwilling owners and he is arrested, prosecuted, and goes to prison or a mental ward.

Regardless, it’s pretty funny to think about.—Joe]

Quote of the day—J.D. Tuccile

Posted on by

Now that lifestyle and political affiliation correlate so closely, it’s awfully easy to taunt the “enemy” by waving a few cultural banners in their faces—or by putting legislation to partisan use. Why run afoul of protections for free speech, thought, and assembly when you can just torment people by piling restrictions on the things they enjoy in life? You can camouflage the targeting as a policy dispute, even though your teammates nudge-and-wink understand that it’s all about sticking it to the latte-sippers or bitter clingers.

Weaponized law. How can that go wrong?—except in every conceivable way.

…

A little cultural flag-waving is just fine, but it emphasizes very real tribal divisions that raise the stakes in policy disagreements. Law is too dangerous a tool to leave in the hands of opposing tribes who just want to use it to bludgeon one another.

J.D. Tuccile
April 25, 2017
When Laws Become Partisan Weapons
[It’s an escalating process. Each side wanting revenge for the wrongs they have suffered at the hands of their political opponents. This is another justification for strictly limiting the powers of government to the essential services which cannot be practicably supplied by private enterprise.—Joe]

It’s what leftist do

Posted on by

Union County high school teacher reportedly told students VP Pence should be ‘shot in the head’

A Union County high school teacher is under investigation after reportedly making threatening comments to a class of students, saying the vice president should be shot.

The Cuthbertson High School teacher called out VP Mike Pence while he was visiting NC, allegedly telling her students he should be “shot in the head.”

Leftists are inherently violent. It’s part of their nature. The 100+ million people murdered in the 20th Century by their own government were almost all victims of socialist and communist governments. It should come as no surprise those on the political left in this country want to murder their political opponents as well. And this explains the increasing shrillness to ban the guns most useful to defend ourselves from them. They are just more visible in the expression of their intents now than they have been in the last 40 years.

Quote of the day—JPFO

Posted on by

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership calls for immediate censure of Robert “Beto” O’Rourke by Congress, for insisting that if elected he would take guns from Americans, a blatantly illegal act. We call for an immediate and unequivocal renunciation of that position by every politician seeking office, unless they come out and publicly demand repeals of The U.S. Bill of Rights. Do not be cowards–face us and admit where you stand.

JPFO
September 18, 2019
Democrats have “come out of the closet,” cheering to disarm the public.
[Censure is not enough. He should be prosecuted.—Joe]

Ammo aging

Posted on by

This last weekend I finally got around to doing some chronograph work on some (relatively) new loads I made last February. To make sure the chronograph was all set up correctly I fired some old rounds that weren’t marked but I was pretty sure what they were. The mean velocity should verify or disprove my hypothesis as well as do the function check on my chronograph setup.

The mean velocity was 3507.92 fps. I looked up the last time I had reloaded and chronographed the ammo. I last reloaded that bullet in April of 2001 and chronographed them using the same gun in May of 2001. The mean velocity from over 18 years ago was 3506 fps.

The ammo (and gun!) aged better than I expected. I like Varget powder even more than I did before.

Quote of the day—Sheila Jackson Lee

Posted on by

I’ve held an AR-15 in my hand, I wish I had it. It is as heavy as 10 boxes that you might be moving and the bullet that is utilized, a .50 caliber, these kinds of bullets, need to be licensed and do not need to be on the street.

Sheila Jackson Lee
September 16, 2019
[Via Sheila Jackson Lee Claims An AR-15 Fires a .50-Caliber Round, Weighs As Much As ’10 Boxes’.

Lying is what they do. It’s a critical portion of their culture.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Sean D. Sorrentino

Posted on by

This is the world that the gun banners want you to live in. After they ban the guns, they want to ban anyone from renting a gun from a gun club, taking multiple training classes to get certified, and using that gun in organized pistol competition.

They hate you. Never forget that. They can’t be bargained with. They can’t be reasoned with. They don’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

Sean D. Sorrentino
September 20, 2019
This is the world the gun ban fans want us to live in
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Lyle

Posted on by

Saying we’re “rebelling” against the elite is to assume that they’re the authority. No; they’re the rebels, see. One does not “rebel against” robbers, rapists, arsonists and vandals. One upholds the law. Upholding the Law of Liberty is not “rebellion”. Violating it is.

Lyle
September 16, 2019
Comment to Quote of the day—A. R. G. @AdamRobGoCop
[I look forward to their trials.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Will Wilkinson

Posted on by

They’re unmoved by the mounting heap of slaughtered innocents, by schoolkids missing recess to rehearse being hunted. It’s a sacrifice they’re willing to let other Americans make, because they think democracy’s coming for their power, and they’re right.

Will Wilkinson
September 18, 2019
Why an Assault Weapons Ban Hits Such a Nerve With Many Conservatives
[It’s nice of Wilkinson to admit a few things:

  1. Rights are irrelevant in his misshapen view of our country as a democracy instead of a republic.
  2. It is the intent of the political left to remove conservatives/deplorables from power.
  3. It is the intent of the political left to confiscate the most popular firearms in this country.

These admissions provide more validation for the point made the other day. They are not after your guns. They are after you.

I look forward to his trial.—Joe]