Tuesday, November 19th, is National Buy Ammo Day. Be sure to do your part. If you can’t find some in a caliber you shoot, but a new gun for the ammo you do find. (I’m partial to 6.5mm, aka .264 caliber). If you can’t / don’t want to do that, load some of your own.
Just a friendly reminder.
A short one this week.
Have a good Friday and weekend.
A classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F9l-Wp4itQ
Johnny Cash wrote and performed for a lot of songs over the years, and a lot have something to say. In spite of the title the moral in this one seems to be as much “avoid strong drink” as it is that on any given day you might meet the one guy faster than you. Leaving it behind means that it’s an option you don’t have.
I do like one of Heinlein’s ideas from “tunnel in the sky.” The idea of going unarmed means you think “hide!” and “run!” rather than “I’m a tough SOB,” and a more cautions attitude can be a great life-saver. I think better training is a better choice that actually being unarmed, but hey, whatever gets you to the right mental place.
When I went to college in the fall of ‘73 they were teaching engineering students like me how to use slide rules. But the HP-35 scientific calculator had been introduced in 1972 and a few other students had them. It was an amazing thing. The HP web page (linked above) says:
HP asked a local market research firm to do a market study. They did and determined that the HP-35 Scientific Calculator would never sell because it was too expensive. Bill said “We’re going to go ahead anyway.” The product was so popular that HP couldn’t make them fast enough.
Bill remembered, “We figured, in the first year, if we could sell 10,000 calculators, we’d break even. We sold 100,000.”
I played with one for a little bit and then went to the University Book Store and bought one. It cost $300. That was a lot of money then. An entire year of school with books, tuition, room, and board was on the order of $2000.
I brought it back to my dorm room and the engineer across the hall from me came over and we played with it until dawn. It was absolutely amazing.
I eventually owned several different HP calculators. I programmed them and spent a lot of time “crunching numbers” for my electrical engineering problems.
I had gotten at least two different battery packs in the late seventies for my ‘35 when the old NiCads died and then ran it on the charger for years. The power switch got a little flakey and some of the keys got some bounce in them and I would have to sometimes fiddle with it to get it to work right. But it always would come through for me.
My HP-35 sat on the shelf a lot after I got newer calculators but when I set up my reloading bench back in the mid ‘90s I got it out and left it there. I would use it for estimating how many rounds I could get from a pound of powder or muzzle velocities and “power factors” from alternate powder charges or bullet weights.
As I was unpacking my gun room today I plugged it in and it would not turn on. I don’t know if it is the power supply, the power switch, or something else. It doesn’t really matter at this point. As of last month I have had it for 40 years.
I have another HP calculator I’ll put on my bench. If it lasts 40 years from when I bought it then it should last for at least another 10.
I seldom hunt but I do know a fair amount about ballistics. I only see one thing I disagree with on the info graphic I found here:
I’m pretty sure a .50 BMG would work fine for even the largest “Jurassic class” game.
Optics Planet is giving away a free trip to Las Vegas plus a bunch of knives and a meeting with “The Gunny”. The knives include:
The odds of winning depend on how many people enter so please don’t enter as it decreases my odds.
I use paper only infrequently and when I do it is almost always with a pencil so pens are of very little interest to me. But having a pen with obvious rifle cartridge components does make a good statement. And I’m sure there are people for whom it would make a good gift so I give you this:
Marty Robbins is a classic singer of country, gospel, and rockabilly from 1948-1982.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjWMNKnfjd8
Running gun is a good example of the “gunslinger ballad.” Tells a simple story, good music, clear vocals.
A drone from PETA? Think of it as another trap shooting opportunity.
Jeff Soyer
October 24, 2013
PETA Now Using Drones to Spy on Hunters
[I wonder what the legality of shooting down a drone is. Shooting it down over the owner of the drones property almost for certain is illegal. Shooting it down over public property probably is is illegal. But shooting it down over your own property or the property of someone who gave you permission? That might be legal.
To do this right I think you should do it in one of two ways, neither of which is that suggested by Jeff:
I’d give you bonus points if instead of the clay pigeon you launch a milk jug filled with gasoline in combination with the explosives such that the detonation of the explosives disperses the gasoline and ignites it. It would sort of be like using a tactical nuke to remove a stump in the back 40 or an artillery shell loaded with sarin gas to take out the wasp nest. It would be more expensive than necessary but with PETA “making a statement” and “sending a message” is probably more important than the loss of the drone.—Joe]
Lynyrd Skynyrd is a country rock band that has been around a while, originally forming in 1964, and having their strongest popularity in the 70s. They lost three member in a plane crash in ’77, but still had enough to reform for a while later.
This particular song is pretty basic country-boy southern rock with clear vocals.
I’ve been asked by non-hunters a couple of times variations on “you think it’s fun to kill innocent creatures? Are you mental?” I replied that of course killing isn’t fun. But it got me to thinking… what IS the “fun” part of hunting? Continue reading
Perusing the WA hunting regs, I see nothing at all about using suppressors. In the part about Prohibited Hunting Methods it talks about caliber, crossbows, shooting across roads, etc. But nary a word can I see about suppressors. Is it legal? Anyone know for sure?
This song is one of the songs that made the band famous, being released on their multi-platinum hit Hysteria album in 1987.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzwhDIRfrJ8
Def Leppard is a classic hard rock band forming in 1977, and is still active. They have sold more than one hundred million records.
Classic sort of Country Western style. Classic sort of story. Sort of funny.
Rodney Atkins was born in 1969, but didn’t really get into music professionally until 1997. He has a few albums and hits.
Not really about guns, but a cool title and an interesting song, particularly if you like blues.
Jack White a relative piker (born in’ 75) compared to most of the folks that have made the Friday gun-song list, but he’s got some talent. I always find it fascinating how many different types of voices can sound “good,” even when they are not really what I’d call smooth. His voice sounds pretty rough and strained to me, but still “good.” it is a bit like listening to the “Perhaps Love” duet between John Denver and Placido Domingo: Denver sounds great, until the professional tenner starts singing, and you realize how much difference there is in the “quality” of their voices.
Me? I sing in the (off)key of pirate, and hov no professional training or knowledge or particular skill, but I sort of know what I like when I hear it.
The Clash was a popular punk rock band mostly in the late 70s and 80s. Surprisingly, they were a fairly political band. A lot of punkers were against “the man” and leftists, and they were no exception there, but they also didn’t like the bleak “nothing is worth it” nihilism that so many embraced to justify their lack of morals.
Anyway, another Friday, and other gun song.
A couple weeks ago I moved a guy that was really into audio stuff. His place was filled with speakers. He loved them more than anything. They are his life. We move different things for different people. For him it was his speakers. For you it is books and lead.
Mike
September 15, 2013
[As I mentioned earlier I moved to a new clock tower on Sunday. Rather than climb all those stairs with all those heavy boxes, two gun safes, and other stuff I hired movers. For the most part Barb and I just directed and supported them with fluids and food. One of the movers was more chatty than the others and told me the story above.
Interesting observation even if it wasn’t entirely complete. He didn’t see the assembled bed or some of the other articles from that room.—Joe]
Herra Kuulapaa has some really cool high-speed photos of guns being fired. I don’t want to take his art without permission, but they are pretty good. Pistols, revolvers, AKs, differences in powder, muzzle-breaks and not, pretty good selection.
Pretty dark song, but it’s one of the reasons for gun ownership – sometimes, you just have to take care of things yourself. If you do, the only question is just how unpleasant it will be in the details.
Aerosmith has been around for a while, rocking out starting in 1970 (wow – 43 years ago!) (wiki for them here) Most of their stuff is hard rock, but they have a few that are not quite so head-banger.
After separating from my wife last year I moved everything out of the house without any sorting and disposing of old stuff that really should have been thrown away years ago. There were hundreds of used targets. Over 99% of them should have been thrown. There were a few that I was pleased to find as I was sorting and throwing away stuff today.
This is one of them:
These are the first two shots son James ever fired. It was July 11, 1993. He was shooting the first gun I owned. That was over 20 years ago when James was nine years old.
I remember daughters Kim and Xenia first trip to the range.
Kim’s first target was a milk jug filled with water which she hit. I’m pretty certain that would have been throw away even by a packrat like me.
Xenia, IIRC, missed the target (shooting a 9mm handgun as I didn’t have a .22) and didn’t want to shoot again that day. But what do you expect from a four year old kid?