Bryce’s first mini golf

Posted on by

Grandson Bryce is four years old and today Jaime, Sherry, and I took him to a mini-golf course.

WP_20170903_11_37_36_ProAdjusted

Bryce seemed to think it was great fun. Despite numerous attempts at improving his technique he had his own way of doing things which resulted in a large number of misses and countless strokes. He also had some serious modifications to the rules. But we figured as long as he was having a good time that was all that mattered.

WP_20170903_12_09_13_Pro

WP_20170903_12_09_30_Pro

WP_20170903_12_09_32_Pro

WP_20170903_12_09_42_Pro

Jaime skunked all of us with a four under par score.

MiniGolfScore

She told us the secret as we got near the end and everyone knew we had no hope of catching up to her. The purse accessory, the ball, and the shirt and shoes all have to color matched. You think that as simple as that is someone would have told me long before this.

Quote of the day—Grizzled_Stranger

Posted on by

Of the more than 57,763 restrictive gun laws called gun controls we know of, not one has made anyone safer, or one has reduced crime, and not one has reduced the incidence of politically motivated murders. Given that not one gun control law has produced the promised results, to cut crime, make people safer, or reduce politically motivated murders, perhaps it would be well to examine just what these wonderful laws that were going to eliminate crime, guarantee safety for all, and stop murders such as the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand actually do.

…

Given the facts, and that the facts are easy to obtain, why are we having this demand for gun control, a law that has never delivered on advocates promises, why the demand to add to the longest consecutive string of failures in human history?

Grizzled_Stranger
August 31, 2017
Comment to A case for gun control
[Note: I corrected a few typos from the original.

Grizzled_Stranger is, almost for certain, asking a rhetorical question. As I have asked many times before, “Since we know gun control doesn’t make the general population safer, what is the real reason some people advocate for gun control?”

Most people these days know the answer. It’s about control, it’s not about public safety. Many people feel their own lives/minds are out of control and it makes them feel good if they can control something and/or someone, even it is other people and/or their property.

For others, they like the power of being able to control other people. People with guns are not nearly as easy to control as those without guns. These people have the same mindset as Vladimir Lenin.—Joe]

Dot Torture take 3

Posted on by

Today I shot the Dot Torture target at five yards again:

DotTorture5Yards

The first time I tried it I had two misses. Then one. And now none.

It’s not as clean as I would like. There are some hits that are less than a half bullet diameter into the dot. But it is 50 out of 50 points at 5 yards.

Primer removal failure

Posted on by

This is twice in about 500 rounds that I have seen this happen:

IMG_8737CroppedIMG_8739CroppedAdjusted

Instead of popping out whole, the primer fractured and only part of it came out of the primer pocket. I thought the first instance was just a very odd fluke. But this is twice in a very small set of used brass and I don’t recall this ever happening before in the over 100K times I have removed primers.

Update: I had this happen with three more cases out of about 150. All with R-P headstamps. I bought this brass used. It would be interesting to know the history of these cases.

It’s the radiation, Stupid

Posted on by

They started with weightlessness as the reason, they did drop the R-word in the middle (can’t throw out all credibility), but only in passing, then reinforced the weightlessness meme again at the end.

I see it like this (because this is how it is); you can’t get the money if you aren’t offering the hope of something exciting (like a Mars colony) or something excitingly catastrophic (like the end of the world unless government has total control). Therefore you can’t come out and say that a Mars colony is a stupid idea because then you lose your funding.

In fact you’d have to live underground on Mars, or die of radiation. If you’re going to live underground, well, you can do that here on Earth much more easily and cheaply. AND…you don’t want to do that anyway, because living underground forever is boring, so forget the whole thing.

On second thought, no; I’m wrong about all of that so give me a hundred billion dollars and I’ll get you’re dumb ass to Mars. You’ll need to pay in advance.

Quote of the day—David B. Kopel

Posted on by

The Japanese Constitution, in stronger terms than its American counterpart, guarantees, social equality for women, creates a right to counsel, prohibits prolonged detention, outlaws courtroom use of confessions extracted under duress, and bars convictions based solely on confession. Today, every one of these provisions is routinely violated; action in accordance with those constitutional commands is the exception rather than the rule.

David B. Kopel
1992
The Samurai, the Mountie and the Cowboy
[This reinforces a lesson I have learned many times in other domains and contexts. If you don’t have the means to enforce a contract the contract can and will be violated. The Japanese peasantry were long forbidden to own weapons. Any constitutional “guarantee” in such an environment is laughable. And even in our political environment only a tiny shadow of the constitutional limitations of government are enforced. But one can imagine how, with the right to keep and bear arms, it could be enforced and the limits to government restored.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Mac Slavo

Posted on by

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that the climate change debate is over, and that the science on the matter is settled. Don’t let them fool you into thinking that there’s a strict consensus among scientists regarding global warming (and even if there was a 100% consensus, just because a lot of people believe something doesn’t mean it’s true). The people promoting the theory of man-made global warming have been caught lying too many times for us to blindly follow them.

Mac Slavo
August 23, 2017
New Climate Study Throws A Wrench In The Global Warming Debate: “Our New Technical Paper… Will Likely Be Ignored”
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

We have some hope

Posted on by

Dianne Feinstein made herself an enemy of gun owners for decades (see also here, here, here, here, here, and here). It has been clear she will never be voted out of office. She will only stop being a threat when she retires or dies. Now we have some hope it will happen relatively soon:

Feinstein — who at 84 is the oldest U.S. senator — also left politicos wondering whether she plans to run for reelection next year.

Although Feinstein was a motivator for me to create Boomershoot. So, I suppose she does have that going for her.

News you can use

Posted on by

Do you like to live dangerously?

These are the most dangerous sex positions.

They left out “in bed with a woman who has a jealous husband”.

Posted in Sex

Rounds in the last month

Posted on by

In August I loaded 148 rounds of 30.06 for daughter Kim and 2644 rounds of .40 S&W. This used up all my 30.06 brass and before I do any more 30.06 she is going to have to do some shooting. The .40 S&W was 722 rounds of Black Bullets for USPSA matches and 1922 rounds of Montana Gold bullets yielding Major Power Factor for practice at indoor ranges.

This brings my lifetime reloaded ammunition totals to:

223: 2,424 rounds.
30.06: 756 rounds.
300 WIN: 1692 rounds.
40 S&W: 74,709 rounds.
9 mm.log: 21,641 rounds.
Total: 101,222 rounds.

Year to date I have loaded 15,504 rounds. I’m on course to reload about 20,000 rounds this year for a lifetime total of over 105,000 rounds.

Quote of the day—Rabbi Dovid Bendory

Posted on by

A funny thing happened after the election…the Left started buying guns.

…

I know, because I was approached by several congregants in synagogue, and when I asked why they had a sudden interest in firearms ownership, they told me they were concerned about the need to defend themselves against a government out of control. (Ironic, that
explanation—when we freedom-lovers felt that way about then-president Obama, a real and demonstrated threat to freedom, and we were mocked and ridiculed.)

I don’t know where this will lead us. But I do know that many of these first time buyers are in for a surprise when they learn that the Second Amendment community is welcoming, open, and tolerant. That we’re happy to greet new shooters of any political or social background. But more than any of this, I hope they learn the Second Amendment is a right, not a privilege.

Rabbi Dovid Bendory
Rabbinic Director, JPFO
A Funny Thing Happened After the Election
The Bill of Rights Sentinel, Vol 1, No 9, page 3
[A better way to tame an out of control government is to dramatically trim its powers. One would think an explanation of constitutionally enumerated powers would be sufficient enlightenment but, as those who wrote and ratified the 2nd Amendment into The Bill of Rights knew, sometimes words are not enough and more drastic measures are required.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Patrick Morrisey

Posted on by

Banning certain types of firearms steps on the Second Amendment. Law abiding gun owners routinely use these firearms for self-defense or sporting. Such an unconstitutional act cannot stand.

Patrick Morrisey
West Virginia attorney general
August 29, 2017
Attorneys General From 21 States Ask Supreme Court to Hear Suit Against Maryland’s Assault Weapons Ban
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

F.A.S.T.

Posted on by

Today, in addition to the Dot Torture Target, I shot the F.A.S.T. (Fundamentals, Accuracy, & Speed Test) target:

WP_20170829_12_55_21_ProCroppedAdjusted

The individual shot times, in seconds, are:

  1. 1.93
  2. 0.78
  3. 2.81
  4. 0.48
  5. 0.43
  6. 0.40

Total: 6.83 seconds.

That’s just barely in the “Advanced” ranking and a long way from “Expert”.

I shot about four or five practice targets before I got one where everything was working reasonably well. The slide lock reload is really painful. In action shooting I try to always plan my reloads so I never go into slide lock and frequently reload with half full magazines in the gun when I’m on the move between shooting positions just to make sure I avoid the slide lock. The reload time shows my lack of practice. I always hesitated as I started to engage the target again before I racked the slide. I think I can do better on the first shot too. I can see shaving 0.50 off my time without too much effort, but getting to “Expert” may be beyond what I can accomplish.

Dot Torture take 2

Posted on by

Today I shot the Dot Torture target at five yards again:

DotTorture5Y_20170829

Last time I missed two. This time I missed one. It’s better, but I know I can shoot it clean if I don’t rush it quite so much.

Tam cleaned hers at three yards.

Quote of the day—Brien Lundin

Posted on by

If they don’t want you to know about it, if they don’t want you to own it, you probably should.

Brien Lundin
August 14, 2017
If They Don’t Want You To Own It, You Probably Should
[Lundin was talking about gold, but my first thought was more along the lines of explosives, guns, and ammo.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Charles C.W. Cooke

Posted on by

There is little comfort—and there ought to be little comfort—in being told that your own death is worth the benefits that accrue to other people. In the sixth century, the Emperor Justinian presided over the compilation of the Digest of Roman Law, a core precept of which was, “that which someone does for the safety of his body, let it be regarded as having been done legally.” This notion was echoed by a host of British philosophers and legal scholars of the 17th and 18th centuries. In his Treatise, John Locke cast self-defense as a “part of the law of nature,” and insisted that it must not be “denied the community, even against the king himself.” William Blackstone concurred, holding that the right to protect one’s life and person was “justly called the primary law of nature” and cannot be “taken away by the law of society.” In most cases, Blackstone submitted, the courts were sufficient to resolve disputes between citizens. In the case of physical violence, however, he argued that it was tyrannical to deprive a man of the means “immediately to oppose one violence with another.”

Charles C.W. Cooke
August 9, 2017
Brits Vs. Guns
[I am of the opinion that a society which does not recognize the right of self-defense is in the process of committing suicide. They are mentally ill and a threat to themselves and others.—Joe]

Sign of the times

Posted on by

In Bellingham Washington yesterday:

WP_20170826_18_20_01_Pro

I keep waiting and wondering what the Federal government is going to do about the enforcement of the Federal laws against marijuana. And I wonder how that resolution will be reconciled with the states which have passed Firearms Freedom Acts.

These are two “elephants in the room” which the politicians appear unable to see.

Quote of the day—John Robb

Posted on by

If we are unlucky, we won’t see meaningful change and this existential crisis will drive us into authoritarianism.  The form of this authoritarianism depends on which network wins.  If the bad boy network dominates, we could see a dictator like Putin (or much worse) climb the ladder of chaos by scapegoating and purging enemies of the state.  If the mean girl network gains control, we could see intersectional identity (all identities are in a perpetual struggle for dominance akin to Communist class warfare) mutate into an ideology that violently purges groups of people who become obstacles to progress.  In their extreme forms, both of these outcomes could create big piles of bodies.

John Robb
August 23, 2017
American Politics: Bad Boys vs. Mean Girls
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Chris Cox

Posted on by

Each month when I write about our right to keep and bear arms, it’s difficult to predict what the state of play will look like by the time this article hits your mailbox. This is especially so when it comes to the dizzying array of fake news from an opposition that is not only increasingly desperate but also increasingly detached from reality.

This time, however, The Washington Post made it easy. In July, the Post published a story that is so ridiculous, so outlandish in its shading of the truth, that it may very well take its place alongside Rolling Stone’s timelessly ludicrous “expose” on America’s five most dangerous guns (i.e., pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, and derringers). The story ran under the headline: “Gun-control advocates pushed back a tough year at the state level, and they’ll take the win.”  The basic premise of the Post article is that gun control is “winning” because it’s not losing as badly as it conceivably could.

That’s right. According to The Washington Post—maybe America’s second-most prominent nationwide newspaper—“gun control” is “winning” at the state level in 2017.

…

The Post article glosses over the fact that the ratio of pro to anti-gun bills actually signed into law at press time was 20:1. Only in the modern era of fake news running amok would that ratio result in the clear loser proclaiming victory and the media reporting it as true.

Chris Cox
August 25, 2017
Gun Control Advocates, Cheered on by the Media, Claim Victory in Losing
[This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. We’ve know for a long time anti-gun people can’t even do numbers, let alone arithmetic.—Joe]

Dot Torture

Posted on by

Last week Say Uncle linked to the Dot Torture target. Paul Koning sent me an email about it too, so I printed out a few and tried it today at five yards:

DotTorture15Y_20170825

It’s tough. Those are 2” circles. I can usually do a 1.5” six shot group at 10 yards. But that is a group size, not putting them inside a 1.5” circle. And that is six shots, not 50 shots. Just going from six shots to 50, with the same base accuracy, bumps my group size from 1.5” to 2.57” (Modern Ballistics will tell you this if you speak to it nicely). Then you have to make sure you are centered exactly in the circle.

I adjusted my sights after shooting the #1 dot which helped. I still dropped two.

I think I can clean it at five yards. I’ll try again when I’m not intent on working on shooting faster.