Blog O'Stuff

LRGC 5th Annual Kalashnikov Match

2012-01-28T17:09:00.001-05:00

This morning I participated in Langhorne Rod & Gun Club's 5th Annual Kalashnikov match. The match is open to shooters with "capitalist rifles" ;) but is meant primarily for AK shooters. For example, due to the AK's stock sights, most targets are kept to 100 yards to less, although we did shoot at torso-sized steel plates from 200 yards from behind a barricade.

I shot my Century Arms Vz-2008 (Vz-58 clone) which for the purposes of the match was classed with the AKs. I came in 2nd overall in points, and won the final stage, which is shooting at a piece of wood lath at 25 yards, with the goal of cutting it in half. As winner of that bonus stage, I won $30, which covered my match fee, gas, and tolls, with some money to spare.

I bought the Vz-2008 a few years ago. The first time I took it to the range I had nothing but problems. It seems that when it Century's subcontractors parkerized it the finish was too thick, so I got constant jams and stuck cases. I took the rifle home, degreased it and put Flitz on the bearing surfaces, then worked the action about 50 - 100 times to polish the insides. The next time out it had some malfunctions, but once I got approximately to the 200 round mark it started functioning well. I've put about 600 rounds through it since then with no malfunctions at all.

My Vz-2008 is basically stock. I did wrap the metal folding stock with paracord to protect my cheek, since it has the cross section of an I-beam, and put a Russian-style recoil pad on the butt to increase the very short LOP. I also replaced the incorrect and basically useless AK-style slant muzzle brake Century installed with a Czech military-style muzzle brake from CNC Warrior. The Czech-style brake is noisy but very effective at taming muzzle flip. The rifle has a milled receiver but weighs about as much as an AK with a stamped receiver (~6.4 pounds) empty. Wikipedia has a pretty good article on the Vz-58 here.

AIUI, semiauto Vz-58s have become pretty popular up in Canada since they are less restricted than AKs.

As one of the top two shooters I got an invite to LRGC's annual invitational practical rifle match in April.

All in all, a pretty nice Saturday.

Getting Back Into Archery

2012-01-27T22:05:00.000-05:00

In my teens and twenties I was into archery. Back in junior high school, I was in the archery club, and brought my recurve bow with me to school on the bus. I suppose nowadays that would result in the local SWAT team being called out. Anyway, last month my 7 year old daughter expressed an interest in learning how to shoot a bow, so I got her a youth set from Three Rivers Archery. Naturally, if she was going to be shooting a bow I wanted in on the action.

However, when I strung the one bow I still had, a 55# draw Martin Howatt Hunter recurve, I realized that I was way over-bowed with it. I hadn't shot a bow for probably about 15 years and therefore, I'll need to work my way up to shooting a bow at that draw weight.

So, I picked up the current issues of Primitive Archer and Tradional Bowhunter magazines, as much for the ads as for the content. After considering several options I ordered a 40# Magyar Horse Bow from Seven Meadows Archery. Service from SMA was fast and I shortly had the bow in hand. The picture below shows it with the Martin.

One of the reasons I decided on a horsebow is simply that it's different. I didn't have any interest in getting a modern compound bow, so I was looking at traditional longbows and recurves. The horsebow is just neat, so after reading several reviews online I went with this one.

The bow was made by Istvan Toth in Hungary. The limbs are fiberglass, while the rigid tips, called siyahs, are made from ash. (Traditionally, the limbs would have been made of a laminate of wood and horn held together with fish glue.) The handle and limbs are covered in leather, and both sides of the grip have an ash side plate, so the bow is ambidextrous.

I'm shooting cedar arrows with 100 grain field points and turkey feather fletching, bought from Three Rivers Archery. The bow shoots them fast and straight. There is a bit of hand shock when shooting, due to the siyahs reaching their forward position and stopping abruptly. I don't find it objectionable.

Traditionally, horsebows were shot with a thumb release. In this style of shooting the archer draws the bow using his thumb, wrapped around the string and supported by his index finger. Doing so requires the use of a thumbring made from metal, horn, or leather. I bought a leather thumbring along with the bow but found it very uncomfortable to use for more than a few shots. So, I've added another layer of leather and will be trying it out again. In the meantime, I've been using a Mediterranean release, which should be familiar to most Western archers. Shooting this way, the index finger is on top of the arrow nock with the middle and ring fingers below it.

So far my shooting has been limited to about 10 yards. If I can get accurate out to about 20, I may take the Toth bow deer hunting on private land where I can get short range shots. In Pennsylvania the minimum legal draw weight for deer is 35#. With a 40# draw and sharp broadheads, penetration should not be a problem.

Here's another pic of the bow, resting on top of my target. I shot this using some old Easton XX75 aluminum arrows I had left from the 90s.

Considering I was able to do this after a 15 year lapse, I'm happy with my shooting. It'll only get better with more practice.

Aside from shooting the horsebow and teaching my daughter how to shoot, I'm also working with a friend in processing an oak which fell on his property into bowstaves. We're planning to make a couple of flatbows at first. I bought a copy of The Backyard Bowyer: The Beginner's Guide to Building Bows for my Kindle, and it provides some good instruction on making simple self bows and backed bows. I'll post more on this after we've made some more progress.

After Rethinking Gun Control, Next Steps

2012-01-26T20:47:00.001-05:00

In my last post I discussed Jared Silverman’s article, Rethinking Gun Control. I wanted to follow up on that with some recommendations on what a new Jewish American gun owner might want to buy after getting some training.

In my opinion, the most versatile gun that one can own for defense is a handgun, for the simple reason that it can pull double duty as both a home defense weapon and one that can be kept with you when you’re out and about. A gun is like a fire extinguisher, it’s only useful if you have one available (and know how to use it, of course).

Luckily for the modern American gun owner there is a wide choice of handguns available for self defense. For new shooters, I recommend buying one with the following characteristics:

Semiautomatic
Firing the 9mm Luger/Parabellum/NATO cartridge
Made of stainless steel or have a good rust-resistant finish

Semiautomatic pistols are those which fire one bullet per pull of the trigger and which are fed from a detachable magazine which holds the ammunition (with the exception of some antique designs we won’t consider here). Common examples of modern semiautomatic pistols are the Glock 17 and 19, Springfield Armory XD-9, and the Smth & Wesson Military & Police 9. All of these have plastic frames with metal parts made of either stainless steel or finished with an anti-corrosion treatment.

I’m recommending a semiauto as opposed to a revolver because they are easier for new shooters to fire accurately, plus they hold more ammunition, which would be important if dealing with a group of assailants. They are also easier to maintain, and modern designs handle abuse and neglect better than revolvers.

I recommend choosing a pistol which fires 9mm ammunition because the 9mm is widely available, affordable, effective, and does not recoil very much, so it’s easier for new shooters to become proficient with.

The stainless or rust-resistant finish is important because it reduces (but does not eliminate!) the amount of maintenance the owner must perform.

Don’t rush into buying a self defense pistol. It’s an investment of several hundred dollars, so if at all possible, try to handle a variety of guns and see which one feels most comfortable in your hands. If possible, go to a range where you can rent and shoot them to see which one you like best.

For example, the pistols I mentioned above are all high quality, reliable designs. However, I’ve found that Glock don’t fit my hand well (which is a shame because they are extremely reliable and relatively inexpensive). When I decided I wanted a modern, polymer-framed semiauto pistol I shot my father’s Smith & Wesson M&P-9, and then handled one side by side with a Springfield XD-9, an example of which I’d fired before. After handling the S&W and the Springfield next to each other I decided to buy the Springfield because it felt just a little bit better in my hands. I’ve been very pleased with it.

After you’ve chosen what gun to buy, then you should lay in a good supply of ammo and get training. Over on The High Road, we use the expression “BA/UU/R,” which stands for Buy Ammo, Use Up, Repeat.

Part of the training you need to take is making yourself familiar with the laws in your jurisdiction regarding the use of deadly force.

Rethinking Gun Control

2012-01-23T14:58:00.000-05:00

It is about time that an article like this appeared in a mainstream Jewish publication. It is well past the time when Jewish Americans should be carefully reexamining their support for gun control.

The author of the piece, Jared Silverman, is a Jewish attorney in West Orange, NJ.

The news from northern New Jersey this week was not good. Several Molotov cocktails and other incendiary devices were thrown at Congregation Beth El in Rutherford early on the morning of Jan. 11, igniting a fire in the second-floor bedroom of the rabbi’s residence above the synagogue.

This was the fourth anti-Semitic incident in Bergen County within a three-week period. A fire was intentionally set at a synagogue in Paramus and anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered at synagogues in Hackensack and Maywood.

Silverman also notes that Alan Dershowitz has warned that anti-semitism is becoming increasingly mainstream.

It should not be news that Jews are at risk of violent acts from others who hate us. After all, we only have a several thousand year history of being enslaved, expelled, and slaughtered by non-Jews. Sometimes this was at the hands of thugs and others at the hands of governments. Regardless, Jews have the right to defend themselves. Having that right, they should have the means to do so.

Unfortunately, Silverman goes on to state that,

I believe guns should be licensed and their owners properly trained. I also want to emphasis that there is a difference between ownership and the right to carry. It is difficult to get a permit to carry a concealed gun.

As Jews, we have often been the victims of officially-sanctioned oppression. Giving the same people who might someday want to do you harm a say in whether or not you have the tools to resist them is simply foolish.

Now, I do agree with Silverman that any new firearms owner should get training on how to safely, effectively, and legally use a gun. I disagree in that such training should be mandated by the government, for the same reason I'm against licensing. It is all too easy for training requirements to be setup in such arbitrary and capricious manners that they are impossible to comply with, as recently seen in Chicago.

Further, Jews should not wait until they are the victims of anti-semitism before arming themselves. By the time that happens it could be too late. On top of that, competence with firearms takes time to develop and is perishable skill. You need to know how to use it, and use it well, before the time comes when you need it.

Silverman's view on the difficulty of obtaining a carry permit is colored by his experience as a NJ resident. In NJ, it is difficult to legally purchase a firearm but damn near impossible to get a carry permit. However, in most of the United States, Americans are able to get a permit to carry a firearm as a matter of right, although in many states that right is conditioned on getting trained. On the other hand, the neighboring state of PA has no training requirement for a license to carry a firearm, while AK, VT, and AZ do not require law abiding citizens to get a license to carry a gun for protection.

Regardless of training requirements, Jews should get a license to carry a concealed firearm, as long as doing so is possible. Antisemetic crime is not confined to the home, indeed as Silverman described at the beginning of his article, Jews should be prepared to confront it at synagogue, and elsewhere.

In some of my prior posts to this blog I have stated that "Never Again" requires more than harsh language. If we as Jews are serious about preventing another Shoah (Holocaust), we have no one to depend on but ourselves.

So where do you start? The largest organization providing firearms instruction is the National Rifle Association. (Indeed, it was founded in 1871 to promote marksmanship training. The NRA only became active in gun control politics in the past 40 - 50 years.) You can find courses local to you at http://www.nrainstructors.org/searchcourse.aspx/. Information about the content of the various courses are available at http://www.nrainstructors.org/CourseCatalog.aspx.

The NRA is obviously the largest and best known organization working to protect your right to keep and bear arms. One that should be of particular interest to Jews, though, is Jews For the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. And if you think the NRA is radically pro-gun, you should check out JPFO. ;)

{Hat tip to Alphecca.}

Skyrim

2011-12-17T18:45:00.002-05:00

Back in the 90s I did a bit of computer gaming, e.g., Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem 3D. However, it's been several years since I did any gaming. After seeing a thread about Skyrim which made the point that it allows you to participate in sword and sorcery fantasy more effectively than movies, along with posting a link to an in-game video, I decided to give it a try.

I'm running it on my Microcenter Powerspec B707 PC that I got last year. However, I had to upgrade the video first, which in turn required a new power supply. Today I picked up an EVGA nVidia GeForce GT520 PCI-E video card and a 650W Antec power supply. Swapping the PS was simple and adding the video card presented no problems. It's replacing the box's onboard video; I didn't replace an older video card.

As for the game, wow! I watch virtually no TV and I've been to the theater maybe six times in the last decade. There have been a couple movies which I eventually saw on TV that I'd wished I'd seen in the theater, but as far as I'm concerned, Hollywood could drop off the face of the Earth and I wouldn't miss it one bit. Skyrim, in contrast, has me looking at getting back into gaming. I figure I'll play it for awhile and then start looking at other games.

New Mobile Format

2011-12-04T11:13:00.001-05:00

This morning while poking around in my Blogger Dashboard I saw that they now offer a mobile device viewing option, which I’ve enabled for both Survival & Emergency Preparedness and Blog O’Stuff. Hopefully, this will make both blogs more accessible to mobile users.

Income Inequality, Job Creation, and OWS

2011-11-28T13:37:00.001-05:00

One of the memes being pushed by the socialist left and their current lackeys in the Occupy Wall Street/Philadelphia/Oakland/etc. movement is income inequality, or more specifically, that income inequality in and of itself is bad. This is simply wrong.

Like it or not, certain professions are worth more in a monetary sense to society than others. For example, engineering generally pays more than social work, because society places more value on the engineer's product than that of the social worker. Likewise, someone working in finance may earn more than an engineer. And generally, those who create jobs for others are also compensated more than someone who does not create any jobs.

If someone earns more than me, that's no skin off my back. Good for him. If he makes $1,000,000 per year while I make $100,000, dragging his income down because "$ARBITRARY AMOUNT is enough" does not improve my lot. Even it it did, that would not make it right. Just because somebody has something I want doesn't make it right to appropriate it for my ends. The best word to describe such conduct is theft.

One thing the collectivists have either forgotten, or more likely never learned, is that a rising tide lifts all boats. Despite a vast gulf in wealth between the richest and poorest in this country, even the poor are much better off than they were even a couple decades ago. "Poor" people in the US generally have running water, TV (often with a cable or satellite hookup), plenty of clothes, and cars. Hell, a lot of them are fat because they sit on their asses and eat junk food.

Only if someone makes his money dishonestly or at the expense of others, e.g., Bernie Madoff, should we be concerned with how he made it, how much he made, and whether he needs to return it. Unless that's the case, we should encourage entrepreneurship, which results in more jobs, which in turn results for more prosperity for more people.

Now, one thing which does need to be stopped is crony capitalism, in which politicians rewards their donors with lucrative contracts, tax laws, or loans made to credit-unworthy borrowers. E.g., General Electric not paying any income tax, or the ill-advised loans to Solyndra. However, crony capitalism isn't the result of income inequality, it's the result of corrupt politicians implementing big city machine politics on a national scale.

Another thing which the OWS-types fail to understand when they complain that "rich S.O.B.s" haven't started any companies to give people jobs is that starting such a company nowadays subjects you to a regulatory nightmare, pretty much regardless of what industry you're in. When starting a company not only do you need to come up with working capital you also need to retain the services of accountants and lawyers so that you can ensure that you abide by a mountain of laws because the Federal government is involved in all aspects of your business. And this is of course on top of the regulatory B.S. you need to deal with on a state and local level. More than a few entrepreneurs with good ideas have basically said, "fuck it, why bother?"

Packing and the Friendly Skies

2011-11-22T09:53:00.001-05:00

Here's an interesting article describing why if you must fly, having a firearm in your checked luggage may be the best way to prevent your bags from being pilfered.

{H/T Sipsey Street Irregulars.}

Best Comment I've Read Yet About the Cain Sexual Harrasment Claims

2011-11-04T15:19:00.000-04:00

Posted by KeithC on Arfcom:

This fucking country, I swear. Two unnamed women say - through lawyers - that a man may have "made them feel uncomfortable during their interactions" and the press is pissing all over itself to make it into a "J'accuse!" moment. Meanwhile, a man who openly admits to snorting coke, hanging out with "college revolutionaries", mentoring under a racist preacher who condemns America at every turn and starting his "community organizing" career in the living room of a guy who's actually blown shit up on American soil in the name of communism is elected to our highest public office, where he presides over running guns to narcos, instructs his DoJ to file suits against states looking to protect themselves from foreign invasion but to avoid investigating civil rights violations of black guys swinging pipes and telling whitey to "vote the right way" and then supports "proud Marxists" as they close businesses and burn public property. Yeah, it was a run-on sentence but it's runaway lunacy so I think I can be forgiven. And that was just the "last week's news" version of the crap he's done.

Yeesh.

Link.

The liberal media is scared shitless of Cain, so they're pimping this story for all it's worth while ignoring the very real, documented failings of their preferred candidate.

Men's Warehouse Sides with OWS

2011-11-04T11:10:00.001-04:00

I just verified this personally. Men's Warehouse posted this on their Facebook page on Wednesday:

We closed our store near Oakland City Hall today, for one day, to express the company's concern for the issue of wealth disparity in our country. The issue affects our employees and customers across the political spectrum.

Link. (You'll need a FB account to view.)

Really!?!? Screw them. In the past year I bought two suits, two dress shirts, and two ties, plus rented a tux from MW.

They won't see another cent from me now.

The 99%ers

2011-11-03T10:51:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I posted some pictures I took of the Occupy Philadelphia crowd that invaded the Comcast Center on 11/2/11. Here are some pictures I saved from the 'net of the Occupy Oakland protests of October - November 2011.

Click the pics for full size images.

Remember that Obama has publicly expressed support for the so-called 99%ers. As of 11/2 they are rioting in Oakland.

And people have the temerity to say that we as civilians have no need for semiautomatic rifles with large magazines? Bullshit.

"Occupy Philadelphia" Occupies the Comcast Center

2011-11-02T14:12:00.000-04:00

Today the "Occupy Philadelphia"commies decided to try to occupy the Comcast Center at 1701 JFK Blvd. in Philadelphia. It's the tallest building in Philly, and probably the largest symbol of "evil greedy corporations" in the city.

A coworker of mine got caught up when they tried to bum rush the building. He's fine but a few of them managed to get in before building security and police blocked the doors.

They are shown in the pics below sitting on the floor up against the glass wall. Police and security are now preventing anyone without an employee ID from entering.

As of 14:00, we can still get out of the building via the underground concourse to Suburban Station, and via the Arch St. exit.

Click the pictures to view them larger.

Oh, by the way, I asked my coworker and he said they smelled pretty bad.

Update at 16:30: Nine protesters were arrested after they were asked to leave but refused.

Edit 11/2/11: Welcome to the many new readers who've come here from Arfcom, Pagunblog.com, and elsewhere! Please take a look around and read awhile.

Book Review: Day by Day Armageddon

2011-10-05T18:38:00.000-04:00

Last night I finished reading Day by Day Armageddon by J. L. Bourne. It's a pretty good zombie apocalypse novel.

I found quick reading with an engaging story. It could have benefited from some editing. There are numerous spelling errors, but on the other hand that helps give it the flavor of a hastily written journal, which the format in which it's presented.

The protagonist is a naval aviator who is home from deployment when the SHTF. Shortly after he starts his journal, the zombie apocalypse strikes. The novel follows his adventures for several months in a world now ruled by the undead.

Other reviews have pointed out that the degree of preparation and skills possessed by the main character are a bit far fetched. This may be true. Of course, this is a zombie novel, not a documentary, so the author gets some slack in that area.

Overall, I found it a good read. I just downloaded the Kindle version of the next book in the series, Beyond Exile: Day by Day Armageddonand plan to start it tonight or tomorrow morning on my ride into work.

Book Review: Dead Six by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari

2011-10-05T18:22:00.000-04:00

I recently finished reading Dead Six by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari. It's one of the best thrillers I've read.

The book's format is unusual. Like some novels, it's written in the first person. What makes Dead Six unusual is that it's written in the first person, but for two different characters. Each author wrote the first person narrative for one of the two main characters. You might think this is a recipe for a disjointed story but they managed to mesh the two narratives together very well.

Dead Six includes a lot of action involving secret government agencies, ex-military men, and terrorists. I won't put in any spoilers, but the bad guys get theirs (for the most part), but the good guys aren't invincible. The action is intense and the technical details are accurate.

I highly recommend this book.

TSB and Flintlock.org Back Online

2011-08-22T20:27:00.002-04:00

I finally have The Shooters' Bar and Flintlock.org back online. TSB remains the Internet's oldest freely available list of pro-Second Amendment attorneys, having its inception as a post on Fidonet back in 1997.

I had been using Flintlock.org for photo hosting and that remains my primary use for the domain, but unfortunately all the links I had to the old site are broken. I used Hostgator's automated tool to install Gallery for my image hosting. When I was hosting it at home I was using Zenphoto.

The box on which they were hosted -- shoebox.davemarkowitz.net -- got zapped when lightning struck close to my house last week. I decided that instead of hosting them behind my cable modem as I'd previously done, I'd use a web hosting provider instead. After checking out a few I decided on Hostgator, which seems to offer a good balance of features vs. cost.

It was very handy at times to have a Linux box available via SSH and SFTP. I used it for testing remote access to various sites, an SSH proxy, and the occasional file transfer. I haven't decided if I'll gut the case and replace the innards, or maybe just leave my Windows 7 PC on and accessible via Logmein. Or maybe I'll just bag the idea of having an always-on, remotely accessible system.

The Shooters' Bar Temporarily Offline

2011-08-18T21:52:00.001-04:00

The server on which I was hosting The Shooters' Bar appears to have gotten zapped by lightning. The site will be offline until I make alternative arrangements.

Hoppe's M-Pro 7 Gun Cleaner

2011-08-17T19:45:00.003-04:00

After reading a recommendation for it as an effective, odorless carbon remover, I ordered an 8 oz. bottle of Hoppe's M-Pro-7 gun cleaner from Amazon last week. This past weekend I gave it a try, and based on the results, I am now a fan.

I gave M-Pro 7 a tough test. I went camping over the weekend and brought two guns with me. The first was my Euroarms Rogers & Spencer black powder percussion revolver. The second was my 1945-vintage M-1944 Mosin-Nagant carbine, shooting some early 1960s-vintage Soviet surplus 7.62x54R light ball ammo.

We shot the R&S with 30 grains of Swiss 3Fg black powder. Swiss powder burns cleaner than Goex, but it's still black powder and leaves behind plenty of fouling. We put about 36 to 40 shots through the gun. Afterwards, no more than 6 patches wet with M-Pro 7 got the bore clean. It was similarly effective on the rest of the gun.

The Soviet surplus ammo we fired through the Mosin-Nagant is some of the dirtiest "smokeless" ammo I've shot, and of course it has corrosive primers. I also put a 5 round clip of Hungarian light ball through the gun. Again, only a few patches wet with M-Pro 7 through the bore got it clean. I followed up with a patch wet with Ballistol to verify that M-Pro 7 hadn't left anything behind, and it too came out clean.

We did our shooting on Saturday, I cleaned the guns immediately thereafter, and then I checked them the following Monday. Neither gun showed any signs of corrosion. I ran a patch wet with Remoil through the Mosin's bore and it came out green, indicating that the residual M-Pro7 and Ballistol left in the bore had been attacking copper fouling.

I am impressed with M-Pro 7. It is odorless with no fumes, not flammable, doesn't require any special ventilation, and according to the MSDS doesn't contain anything especially nasty. After years of using smelly, carcinogenic gun cleaners I think I found my new favorite.

Evernote

2011-08-16T10:09:00.002-04:00

A main use for my iPad is for note taking in meetings. I've looked at a few applications and have come to like Evernote. The killer feature as I see it is that it automatically syncs notes via the cloud between my iPad, MacBook Pro, and iPhone. Your notes can also be viewed online in a web browser. This way I can access my notes pretty much wherever I am, since I always have at least my phone. You can also have notes that are local-only, i.e., not synced across the Internet.

Among other things, I plan to start putting my technical reference notes into Evernote so I can easily find them, and so I can access them no matter where I am.

One caveat is that notes are not encrypted, so be careful about putting sensitive data on synced notes. Evernote does allow you to encrypt text within a note, but not the entire note. Even so, I do not plan on putting online the spreadsheet I use to keep track of my accounts, usernames, and passwords. That will stay inside a TrueCrypt volume.

Another feature with which I'm experimenting is sharing notes. This can be useful for groups. So far, the one shared note I've created is Black Powder Revolver Notes, which I've shared with a friend who just picked up his first caplock revolver.

A basic Evernote account is free, while a Premium account is $5/month or $45/year. Both allow you an unlimited number of notes in your account, but the free account is limited to 60 MB of uploads per month, and the max note size is 25 MB. The figures for Premium accounts are 1 GB uploads per month and 50 MB per note. The free version also has some limits on the types of files you can upload. You can see the full list of differences here.

Evernote is a handy program, especially for tech professionals. I recommend giving it a look.

How to Make a Lockable Ammo Can

2011-08-06T10:23:00.001-04:00

I ran across this video on Youtube showing how to make a lockable ammo can, and thought it worthwhile to pass on.

Monster Hunter Alpha

2011-07-27T13:04:00.001-04:00

On Monday I bought Larry Correia's novel Monster Hunter Alpha as a digital download from Baen Book's Webscriptions.net. Last night, I stayed up late and finished it. MHA may be the best book in the series yet.

Unlike Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta, the main character in MHA is Earl Harbinger, head of the independent monster killing company, MHI. The book delves into Harbinger's background and provides more depth to the character than in the first two novels. Along the way, Harbinger encounters a nemesis from his past, a witch with a score to settle, has to deal with a competitor, and has to fight an uber bad ass werewolf. As always, the Feds make an appearance in the form of agents from the US government's top-top-top secret Monster Control Bureau.

Correia's characterizations and wordsmithing are getting better. His sense of humor provides comic relief, and as with his previous novels it's nice to read a story not riddled with mistakes about guns. It's also good to read a story in which the author is clearly in favor of the right to bear arms in defense of oneself and one's neighbors.

I give Monster Hunter Alpha an enthusiastic two thumbs up. It is 100% pure awesome, covered in awesomesauce.

Adding e-Books to Kindle in iPad

2011-07-26T09:52:00.002-04:00

Since I got my iPad last week I've been using the Kindle app on it to read e-books, instead of carrying both it and my Kindle around. Yesterday, I bought Larry Correia's Monster Hunter Alpha from Baen's Webscriptions.net, whereupon I realized that there's no straightforward way to load e-books purchased from some place other than Amazon onto the device to read them. (If you're not using an e-book reader, you can get Monster Hunter Alpha in the Dead Tree Edition here.)

After a minute on Google I found a solution, using Dropbox, which I access from my computers and my iPad.

On your computer put the .mobi e-book file in your Dropbox folder and wait for it to sync.
Then go on your iPad, open Dropbox and then click on the e-book file. The Dropbox app cannot read the file and asks you what program you want to open it with. Select the Amazon Kindle app, and it'll download the book to the the Kindle apps local data store.

It would be nice if Amazon would let you leverage their Cloud Drive free online storage space for Kindle-format books purchased elsewhere, and then let you access it from the Kindle app on the iPad.

Edit 7/27/11:

Apparently, e-books from Webscriptions.net are available in a format supported by Apple's iBook app, and to which you can add them using iTunes. Clicky here.

iPad 2

2011-07-22T08:47:00.000-04:00

At work my department will soon be receiving about 20 iPad 2s for development use. Since I'll be managing them, my boss felt I should have one for my own use. So, on Monday I came home with a shiny new white 64 GB iPad 2 with both WiFi and Verizon 3G capability. (If I want to use the 3G I'll have to pay for it myself.)

So far, I've been using the heck out of it. The screen is very nice and clear, displaying both text and graphics nicely. Speed seems good for the apps I've used. On my home network I'm getting about 12 to 14 megs down, about 10 mega slower than what I see with my MacBook Pro. The iPad has a slower processor, so that makes sense.

When typing I find that it's much easier if I put the iPad in landscape orientation, providing that the app I'm using supports it. The onscreen keys are larger in this mode.

My use has primarily been for browsing, reading a couple forums using Tapatalk, and using the Amazon Kindle app. Compared with a Kindle, the iPad is more versatile since it allows you to do more than read books, but as an e-book reader, the hardware Kindle is superior. The grayscale Kindle screen, which isn't backlit, is superior for reading in bright light; there is more glare on the glossy color screen of the iPad. However, the iPad is superior for viewing PDF files, which don't display well on the Kindle. The Kindle's e-ink display uses a lot less juice than the iPad's backlit LED. A Kindle can go weeks between being charged, while an iPad will go about 8 hours of active use.

Compared with the Samsung Galaxy tablet I got to play with a few weeks ago, the iPad is better. The iPad's larger screen versus the Galaxy's 7" display is more usable. (Obviously a 10" Galaxy would fare better in this regard.) The OS feels smoother, and Safari is overall a better browser than the stock Android 2.2 browser, with at least one caveat, see below.

So far I've bought a couple applications through iTunes: iSSH and GoodReader. I've also installed Noterize, Evernote, an RDP client, and Dropbox. ISSH allows me to access my servers at work over a WiFi bridge onto my lab network. GoodReader allows me to view many file types, including .doc, .xls, and PDFs, and manage files. It also integrates well with Dropbox.

I mostly typed this post in Evernote on the iPad with some final touches on my Mac. Evenrote is an extremely neat notes and clipping program which can sync your files across multiple platforms and the cloud. (I used Evernote for this post because Safari on the iPad doesn't work with Blogger for some reason.)

Taking notes is something I see as becoming one of my main uses for the iPad, so I need to settle on a good solution for it.

Since this is a company owned device, I was able to get approval to have ActiveSync enabled on my Exchange account, which means I can now get my work email and calendar on it. I'm going to like not schlepping my laptop to meetings.

When I first handled an iPad last year I was a bit underwhelmed. I didn't like how it felt. The iPade 2 is noticeably slimmer and lighter and feels a lot better in the hand. I can see why Apple has had a he'll of a time keeping up with demand.

For heavy content creation a laptop or desktop remains superior to the best tablet. But for note taking, email, checking my calendar, or light web surfing, the iPad works extremely well.

W000t!!!!

2011-07-06T20:57:00.001-04:00

I just found out that I made it into the Contagion 2011 Zombie Shoot.

They've scaled it back this year, down to 125 shooters from 200 last year, so things should move a bit quicker this time around.

{Happy Dance}

It's Not "July 4th"

2011-07-04T11:31:00.001-04:00

It is Independence Day.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

Samsung Galaxy Tablet

2011-06-30T08:52:00.002-04:00

Over the past couple of days I got the chance to play with a 7" Samsung Galaxy tablet with WiFi and 3G from T-Mobile at work. We haven't activated the 3G so I only got to use the WiFi. This isn't a full review, just some first impressions.

The overall feel of the Galaxy is much like a large Droid phone. The OS is Android 2.2 "Froyo." I mainly used the Android browser, Firefox, Opera Mini, and Facebook.

Size of the Galaxy is almost the same as my Kindle, but it's heavier because of the glass touchscreen. Workmanship is solid and the device feels well made. The screen looks very good and the device feels pretty speedy in most applications. With a 7" screen it's larger than the big Android phones like the HTC Thunderbolt but it can still fit into a back pocket of one's jeans. However, this is small enough that you'll often want to zoom in on web pages to read what displays as fine print.

AIUI, the WiFi-only version of the Galaxy has a slower processor than the 3G/WiFi version. Something to consider if you're in the market for a tablet and considering the Samsung.

I did a little bit of reading using the Kindle app. Text displays nicely but for reading a Kindle device is still better due to the lack of a backlit screen. The Kindle's e-ink technology provides a non-glare screen that doesn't cause eyestrain like an LCD display. I found that when using the Kindle app on the Galaxy I preferred it set to have a black background and white text, since this was easier on my eyes.

The Galaxy comes with a USB charger but uses a proprietary connector on the device itself. The connector looks much like an Apple Dock connector but they are not compatible. IMO it would have been better for Samsung to have used a regular Micro-USB connection.

Other ports on the Galaxy are a microSD card slot which supports up to a 32 GB card, and a SIM card slot. The microSD card slot is the biggest advantage devices like the Galaxy has over an iPad, IMO.

The stock Android browser sucks. I didn't realize how badly it sucks until I changed my cell phone from an original Droid to an iPhone 4 back in April. In my experience, the Android browser doesn't render pages as nicely as Safari on the iPhone, or Firefox or Opera Mini on Android. It's also slower than the other browsers and scrolling on a page is frequently choppy, especially on pages with many objects, e.g., AR15.com.

The included YouTube app works well.

The stock Gmail application works as well on the Galaxy as it does on a Droid phone. Compared with the unified mail app on iPhones I like the Gmail app better. For example, I like being able to delete a message with one tap vs. two or more on the iPhone.

One advantage that Android tablets, including the Galaxy, have over iPads is that you do not need a specific application on your computer to manage the device. IPads need iTunes for device activation and management, although it's my understanding that this will change in iOS5. In contrast, an Android device can be activated by itself and if you do connect it to a computer, it mounts just like a USB drive, allowing you to drag and drop files right onto it.

Overall, my initial impression is that the Samsung Galaxy is a good tablet computing device. How it'll hold up over the long haul I can't say. Both my wife and I have experienced increasing device flakiness with our Droid phones after about a year of use. How much of that is due to hardware and how much due to software I don't know. Also, were I purchasing a tablet I'd want a 10" screen.

Another Pietta 1858 Remington Range Report

2011-06-11T23:14:00.002-04:00

Tonight I got my stainless Pietta 1858 Remington back out the range and was able to try a few different things.

Earlier today I took my supply of Wonder Wads and relubricated them with my homemade mixture of beeswax, mutton tallow, and canning paraffin wax. I also added some more paraffin to the mix to make the lube harder for warm weather. This worked out really well and seemed to keep powder fouling down better than my first try.

The second thing I tried was using toy caps instead of percussion caps. The kind I used were the plastic ring caps, bought at a local supermarket at $2 or $3 per a couple hundred. In comparison, Remington No.10 percussion caps sell for $6.95/100 at Cabela's. To use the toy caps I had to first cut them apart with a set of dykes.

The toy caps worked well. They are a snug fit on the Pietta's nipples. Most of the caps stayed intact on firing though some split. None caused jams and it looks like it would be much more difficult for the plastic caps to cause jams anyway, compared with regular copper caps.

Out of about 30 shots I did have a couple of misfires on what I think were clogged nipples. The nipple pick I had with me -- a straightened out paper clip -- was too thick to poke all the way through the nipple flash channels. However, I put a CCI cap on the misfired chambers and they went off immediately.

They aren't as hot as CCI or Remington percussion caps but they didn't have problems igniting black powder so long as the nipples were clear. How well they work with Pyrodex or Triple 7, both of which have higher ignition points, remains to be seen. Likewise, I'll want to try them on a sidelock percussion rifle to see if they are strong enough to handle the longer flash channel. At the very least, they are a viable alternative for target shooting with black powder in a percussion revolver.

I am assuming that the toy caps are corrosive. The caps I had as kid certainly were. This isn't a big deal since I'm cleaning with water based solutions that dissolve both black powder fouling and corrosive primer residue.

The final new thing I got to test was Swiss black powder. I bought a pound of it last month with the intention of trying it after I emptied my powder flask of Goex. That happened as I was loading my last cylinder. I fired off the three chambers loaded with Goex, then refilled my flask and reloaded.

The Swiss powder is impressive, packing more of a punch per volume than Goex. Shooting a 30 grain load of Swiss 3Fg in the Remington feels like shooting a 30 grain load of Triple 7 3Fg. It's noticeably more powerful than Goex, judging by the recoil.

Even more impressive is how clean it burns. I fired only six shots with the Swiss, but when I went to clean the gun I was amazed at how clean the bore was, even though I hadn't cleaned it before switching powders. My cleaning patches came out almost entirely clean after only three patches. Based on past experience, if I'd just shot Goex it would have taken at least six or seven wet patches through the bore before they started coming out clean. It appears that the cylinder full of Swiss 3Fg blew out most of the nasty fouling left behind by the previous 39 shots loaded with Goex. I'm looking forward to my next range trip to see how clean it is, without having to deal with Goex fouling.

As a side note, I went with my dad who brought along his Ruger SR-1911. As of tonight he has 500 rounds through it with only a couple malfunctions. It looks like it's a good choice for a well made, reliable production 1911.

Colt 1862 and Remington 1858 Range Report

2011-05-14T23:55:00.000-04:00

Today I took a spin up to Cabela's in Hamburg, PA. I'd hoped to be able to buy a 1,000 round bulk pack of Remington No.10 percussion caps at Cabela's, but found that they don't carry them in that quantity in the store. They only sell the 100 cap tins in the store. So, along with a few other items I picked up two tins.

On the way back I stopped at Dixon's and wound up buying an Uberti Colt 1862 Pocket Police percussion revolver. My dad had a Second-generation Colt 1862 when I was a kid that I enjoyed shooting so I recently developed a hankering for one.

The Pocket Police is one of the less common 19th Century percussion Colt revolvers. Colt made made from 1861 through 1873 and I've read different production figures given, from 20,000 to about 47,700. It's a 5-shot .36 caliber revolver built on the small frame originally used for Colt's .31 caliber guns. The originals were made in several barrel lengths; my replica has a 6.5" barrel. It weighs about 26 oz. The overall size is similar to a Ruger Single Six.

The Uberti's external finish is very nice but the action is not as smooth as older Ubertis I've handled and shot. For example, my Uberti 1851 Navy came from the factory with a very slick action. I may do a complete tear down and carefully polish the internals.

I put 20 rounds through the 1862 tonight using 12 grains by volume of 3Fg Triple 7 powder, a Wonder Wad, a Hornady .375 ball, and Remington No.10 caps. It took me about 10 rounds to get on paper at 10 yards. My target was a paper plate and it turns out that the gun shoots about a foot and a half high at that range, due to the tiny front sight.

Unfortunately, I ran into some trouble with the '62. After the 13th or 14th shot, the lug attached to the underside of the barrel, to which the loading lever is latched, fell off. It landed on the table I was shooting over and I was able to tap it back into place but after several more shots, it fell off again. I decided to call it quits with the Uberti then. I'll reattach it tomorrow after making a few divots inside the dovetail so that it stays in place. Darn annoying.

The small frame Colts seem even more prone to cap jams than the larger framed models like the 1851 Navy or 1860 Army. There's just less room for the cap fragments to fall out of the gun. I had several spent caps fall off the nipple and lodge between the hammer and frame. It's a good idea to invert the gun every time you recock it, to let cap fragments fall free. The Remingtons and Rogers & Spencer handle cap fragments much better than the Colts.

However, the Colts are much less susceptible to binding from powder fouling than the Remingtons. I attribute this to the Remington cylinder base pin that has part of it cut away to clear the screw which retains it and the loading lever. The cutaway area lets powder fouling in. The Rogers & Spencer has a cylinder base pin similar in size to the Remington, but lacks the cutaway section, and handles powder fouling very well. The Colt base pin is larger in diameter than either, doesn't have any cutaways to let fouling in, and has grooves in it to hold grease.

Because of problems with several new guns I've taken to always bringing more than one gun with me whenever I go shooting. So, after cleaning off the Uberti, I did some shooting with my .36 Pietta 1858 Remington "New Army Police" (Remington never marketed a gun with that name).

My load was the same with the Remington although I increased the powder charge to 20 grains. Unlike most percussion revolvers which shoot high from the factory, this one actually shoots a little low. One of these days I'll bring a file with me and take a little off the front sight to raise the point of impact.

To keep the powder fouling under control I pulled the cylinder base pin after every 6 - 12 shots, wiped it off, and relubed it with Ballistol. I think it might be less prone to fouling with better lubed wads. The Wonder Wads I used tonight are lubed with Bore Butter, which works fine but they could use more of it. For example, last week when I shot my Euroarms 1858 .44 I used my homemade wads with much more lube, and the gun didn't bind as much.

Overall, the Pietta Remington was a pleasure to shoot. Recoil is mild due to the light ball and the heavy gun (it's built on the same frame as their .44s.) Accuracy was good with my 10 yard, one-hand group being about the size of my palm. I was pleased to see that it shoots .375 balls well. I'd bought this box over ten years ago for use in my Uberti 1851 Navy. In the '51 .375s group like I'm shooting a smoothbore, but the gun is very accurate with .380s.

Overall a good day. I'll post a followup on the Uberti once I get the kinks worked out.

UNetbootin

2011-05-11T11:02:00.000-04:00

Unetbootin is a nifty open source utility for creating bootable USB flash drives of various Linux and BSD distributions. Such drives are useful for installing an OS on a machine which doesn't have an optical drive. I've also found that doing an OS install from a flash drive is usually faster than doing it off a CD or DVD since disk read/write is faster.

Up until recently UNetbootin ran on either Windows or Linux. I noticed this morning that there's now an OS X version. I grabbed it and I'm now creating a bootable flash drive with Ubuntu 10.04 Server LTS on it for an upcoming project.

Incidentally, this is a good use for small flash drives you get as promos. The 1 GB unit I'm currently using was used to distribute the course materials for the PBI Intellectual Property Law Institute I attended last month.

It's possible to create a bootable flash drive for installing Windows, but doing so requires different tools. I'll tackle that in another post.

Range Day

2011-05-05T20:44:00.000-04:00

Today started out being a potentially very crappy day but wound up being quite good.

The past couple of days I was having problems starting the '07 Nissan Xterra that I bought back on April 23. I was also hearing some sort of noise at low speed. Yesterday I called Peruzzi Nissan, the dealer from whom I bought the truck, and made an appointment for this morning.

The starting problem turned out to be a bad battery. They told me that they checked it and it had a bad cell. The noise I was hearing was a loose heat shield that they tightened. I was at Peruzzi for about an hour and a half and got home around 10:00 AM. It seems to be starting and running fine now but I guess the real test will be if either problem recurs. I really hope this is the last time I need to take the Xterra in for unscheduled service.

Since I'd already scheduled a flex day and we had a beautiful Spring day with the temp in the low 50s, I decided to go to the range.

I brought my "Cowboy Pimp Gun," a Ruger Single Six in .32 H&R Magnum. I named it that due to the faux ivory grips and color casehardened frame. I also brought my Euroarm 1858 Remington percussion revolver.

Today I shot at 25 yards and started with the CPG. With PPU 98 grain LRN .32 S&W Longs it shoots about a foot low at 25 yards. The trigger has almost no takeup or creep, but is heavy, probably at least 8 pounds. My groups were nothing to brag about. I may look into getting a trigger job.

The Euroarms got more of a workout. Last week I'd made up 20 combustible cartridges, something I haven't tried before. They consisted of a .457 Hornady round ball and 30 grains of Goex FFFg black powder inside a cartridge case made from nitrated cigarette rolling paper. Such cartridges made from nitrated paper or intestine were very common in the 19th Century, especially during the Civil War and for several years afterward. Properly constructed they greatly aide in quickly loading a caplock revolver.

My paper cartridges, on the other hand, need some work. I need to use a mandrel with more of a taper to ease loading into the chambers and to cause the paper to rupture more when the round is rammed home. I did have several ignition problems, probably due to an excessive amount of paper at the base of the cartridge. For my last 5 shots with the paper cartridges, I put a few grains of powder from my flintlock priming flask in the chambers before loading the cartridges. These all went off on the first cap.

Note that if you are shooting a percussion revolver and on a round the cap pops but the charge does not fire, if you then fire the next round in the cylinder there is a high likelihood that you'll get a chainfire. What happens is that when the cap from the failed round fragments it unseals the back of that chamber. When you fire the next round there is flashover and it's enough to get both chambers to fire. This happened to me a couple times today until I realized what was happening. (I have actually been meaning to test this because with a properly fitting lead ball in a good condition revolver, I do not see any way it is possible to have a chainfire from the front end of the cylinder. As far as I'm concerned, the most likely source of a chainfire is from a missing or poorly fitting cap.)

One thing I noticed when shooting the paper cartridge is that they smell different from loose powder and ball. It took me awhile to figure out the aroma, but it bears a resemblance to the smell of a spent model rocket engine.

After my cartridges were used up I pulled the cylinder and found bits of paper in the chambers, which I cleaned out before continuing with loose powder, ball, and wad.

For the remainder of my shooting I used Hornady .454 balls and 30 grains of powder measured with a flask. Compared with the .457s I've used before the smaller balls load a lot easier and still give acceptable accuracy. I will probably use them from now on in the Euroarms and my Pietta 1858 Remington .44. I also plant to try them in my Rogers & Spencer to see if they are as accurate as .457s. I'll continued to use .457s in my Ruger Old Army as that is the specified size for it.

The wads I used today were from the first batch of homemade wads I made a couple weeks ago. To make them I ordered some 1/8" thick hard white 100% wool felt from Durofelt.com out of Little Rock, AR. I'd read about Durofelt on The High Road and their product came highly recommended. I also picked up a set of hollow punches from Harbor Freight. I used the 7/16" punch that I'd reamed out to about .45" using my Dremel. After punching out the wads I lubed them by soaking them in a mix of mostly beeswax with some mutton tallow, melted in a double boiler. Once the lube solidified the wads looked like little lube cookies.

Note: Melting mutton tallow on the kitchen stovetop is almost guaranteed to piss off the wife. It reeks.

I'm quite pleased with my homemade wads and don't see myself buying Wonder Wads anymore. While the Wonder Wads work fine, the homemade wads hold more lube, seem to keep the powder fouling softer, and the gun binds a bit less. I'll have to see how my lube mixture works in hot weather, as I might want to add a little paraffin canning wax to the mix to stiffen it a bit. As-is the mix might work well for lubricating the cylinder base pin of caplock revolvers.

Overall, a pretty good day.

iPhone Battery Note

2011-05-04T09:54:00.000-04:00

Last night I fully charged my iPhone before turning it at about 10:20. I left it on overnight with WiFi enabled to see how much of a charge would remain this morning. When I checked it at about 7:00 today I was pleased to see that it was still at 97%. My Droid would've been well below 90% even when it was new.

Nevertheless, the lack of easy access to the iPhone's battery led to me to purchase Duracell Instant USB Charger, yesterday from Amazon. I'll keep it in my bag as an emergency backup should I need it.

So does this mean that ...

2011-05-02T11:54:00.000-04:00

... we'll no longer have to take off our shoes and get molested by TSA flunkies before boarding an airplane? No?

Thought so.

US Navy SEALs...

2011-05-02T11:43:00.000-04:00

They be climbin' in yo window and snatchin' yo people up!

And in some cases puttin' a bullet in yo head!

(With apologies to Antoine Dodson.)

Recent Black Powder Shooting

2011-05-01T22:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I did something I haven't done since the 1980s, shot in a black powder rifle match. My club held our "Spring Fellowship" match. We only got a half dozen shooters but it was a really fun day and I came in third. Here's my last target of the day, with one shot fired at each bull.

By the time we got to this target we'd been at it for a few hours and I was pretty tired. I was having problems with my flint not sparking and managed to yank the shot on the bottom middle bull out of the black. Can't complain about the bottom left bull, though. ;-)

We shot at several targets offhand from about 30 yards. Small targets. IIRC, 4 of us shot flintlock rifles while there were a couple caplocks. I shot my customized left hand Dixie Tennessee Mountain Rifle. It's a .50 caliber flintlock which has been remade into a Pennsylvania-styled rifle. My load was 65 grains of Goex FFg black powder, a Hornady .490" round ball, and pillow ticking patches. This is a mild recoiling, accurate load.

Lately when shooting patched round balls, I like to cut my patches ahead of time. I found a couple of years ago that a John F. Kennedy half dollar is the same size as a patch for a .50 caliber round ball, so I use one as a template and cut and lube a bunch beforehand. Compared with cutting them on the muzzle it saves a lot of time at the range. The patches were lubed with Track of the Wolf's Mink Oil Tallow patch grease. It has a very mild smell and works really well as a patch lube and to keep fouling soft. Yesterday I mostly wiped the bore after every other shot, but a couple times went three shots between wiping. I use Windex for cleaning the black powder fouling. It's cheap and works as well as anything else I've tried.

Most of my range time in the past couple of months has been shooting black powder guns. My father turned 70 back in March and along with my brother, we bought him a Euroarms Rogers & Spencer percussion revolver from Dixie Gun Works. While I was ordering the revolver for him I added a second one to the cart for me. This is mine:

This is the Euroarms "London Gray" finish, which as I understand it is some sort of nickel plating. It's not stainless.

It's become one of my favorite pistols. The R&S handles powder fouling and cap fragments as good or better than a Ruger Old Army, which is the penultimate development of the cap and ball revolver. Unlike Remingtons, it doesn't bind from powder fouling, and unlike Colts, it's not susceptible to cap jams. Plus, even with the poor 19th Century service sights, it's accurate. I shot this target at 50 yards about a month ago, using a two-hand offhand hold:

Although I pulled a few shots to the right edge of the paper, most of the 25 shots were within the -1 zone of the IDPA target, with about half on the paper plate. Load was a .457 Hornady ball, a Wonder Wad, 24 grains of Goex FFFg black powder, and a Remington No.10 percussion cap.

A Couple of Major Upgrades for Me

2011-05-01T21:39:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted much on this blog recently but I've had a couple of significant (to me, anyway) upgrades.

First, I finally decided to replace my 1997 Ford Expedition, which I had since 2003. The brake problems back on April 4th were the final straw. This was the second big repair bill I had on the Ford since the Fall and with a 14 year old truck, I just saw more big bills coming. Even though it was in generally good shape car parts in general start failing due to age, and I figured it was only a matter of time before I got stuck somewhere.

So, I did some looking around online and on April 23, I bought a 2007 Nissan Xterra with about 29,000 miles on it from Peruzzi Nissan in Fairless Hills, PA. I got what I think is a decent deal. I negotiated the price down to a bit over $18K, got $3K for the Ford in trade, put another $2K down, and I'm financing the rest. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have a car payment again but I should now have a reliable vehicle that gets better gas mileage than the Expedition. My new ride:

I've wanted an Xterra since they first came out about ten years ago. So far, I'm loving it.

The other upgrade was to my cell phone. I'd been using one of the original Motorola Droids since Black Friday 2009. For most of the time I owned it I was happy with it but the past couple of months it felt like it was degrading. I.e., slowing down and crashing a lot more than previously. After rooting it, I tried a couple ROMs (Bugless Beast and Cyanogenmod). Cyanogenmod was generally good at first but after a short while, the phone started misbehaving again. I considered another Android phone like a Droid X or an HTC Thunderbolt as a replacement, but last Friday I went to the Apple store on Walnut St. in Philadelphia on my lunch break to look at the iPhones. I checked out an iPhone 4 on Verizon, liked what I saw, and decided to give the Apple phone a try. I got the 16 GB VZW model, a bumper to go around the phone, and a car charger.

I've only had it a couple of days but compared with the Droid it's much faster, the UI seems smoother, and overall feels more polished. I still don't like that you need tools to get at the battery or that storage is non-expandable. OTH, I never filled the 16 GB microSD card in my Droid. As for the battery, I'll pick up an emergency cell phone charger.

A couple specific items on the iPhone which are better than the Droid are the maps application and the camera, both of which load much more quickly. The iPhone camera takes better pictures, too.

Call quality seems equivalent to the Droid. I use only a fraction of my 450 minutes each month but use the heck out of the data features, especially email. I'll be able to get ActiveSync enabled on my Exchange account at work and then iOS's native Exchange support will allow me to get my mail and calendar, without installing any extra software. A few coworkers use iPhones for their work email and calendar and reported they works well.

OTH, the Android OS's support for widgets is a point in its favor, as is the better customizability when it comes to notifications. For example, the Android phones make no differentiation between ringtones and test message notification tones. On the iPhones, ringtones are different from text message notification sounds. So, while I was able to make some customer ringtones in iTunes and copy them to the phone, I couldn't use one for text messages; I'm stuck with the sounds Apple loaded. LAME.

If you use a Mac the integration between the computer and phone is impressive. For example, when I did my initial setup iTunes read the configuration of the email accounts I had setup in Mail.app and transferred them to the phone. Likewise, you can sync Safari bookmarks on your computer and the iPhone. (I've had an on-again/off-again relationship with Safari on the Mac. I will say that Safari on the iPhone is quite a bit better than the stock Android browser.)

I still have a great deal to learn about the iPhone and will try to post about new things I discover.

Gas Pump Activism

2011-04-25T11:27:00.002-04:00

Not the usual "boycott the gas stations on such-and-such at date."

LINK.

Dammit

2011-04-04T09:57:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I was driving on I-76 when I needed to hit the brakes because some idjit decided to pull into my lane ahead of me. As I did something felt like it popped and the pedal went almost all the way to the floor. At first I thought, “Dumb ABS” but then realized something was amiss. Aside from having to push the brake pedal all the way in, the parking brake now won’t go off.

So after getting the kids off to school I took the truck up to the service station at the end of my street. I wonder what this is going to cost to fix.

One very nice thing about having a 14 year old vehicle is that I have no car payments. On the other hand, I had to have some suspension work done on it back in the Fall. It may be time to start looking for a new set of wheels.

Crap.

ETA at 16:30:

Well, there goes another $1600. It needed a new brake booster, a seal, brake lines to the rear brakes (which required dropping the gas tank), and brake fluid flush. While the gas tank was off I also had them swap out the fuel pump since it has about 120K on it.

Easytether

2011-03-31T10:30:00.002-04:00

I’m spending today and tomorrow at the PBI Intellectual Property Institute. The course materials were distributed as PDFs on a thumb 1 GB drive, which is a nice alternative from a pile of the normal yellow paperback books. I brought Hobbit, my MSI Wind netbook with me but the PDFs PBI created have problems displaying in Foxit Reader. So, I wanted to tether Hobbit to my Droid and download the Adobe Reader installer.

Unfortunately there’s no WiFi and yet again, PDAnet decided to not work. Previously it’s been mostly usable under Windows but the Mac port was very flaky. Today, I couldn’t get online in Windows 7. I decided to give Easytether a try. I installed it through the Android Market, then downloaded the desktop client on my Droid and transferred it to Hobbit via USB.

So far, so good. I’ll give it a try for awhile and if it continues to work well I’ll buy it. For $9.99 if it continues to work it’ll be worth it.

Bought an Amazon Kindle

2011-03-28T10:39:00.003-04:00

Up until my mid-20s I could have been classed as a "compulsive reader." Even through college, I devoured fiction and non-fiction books (mostly sci fi, fantasy, and history) constantly. As a kid, when bored I was known to pull out a random volume of the Worldbook Encyclopedia and get lost for a couple hours. (Yes, I was a nerd.) Then, I went to law school and had very little time for recreational reading. Simultaneously, I got hooked on online fora -- first via FidoNet, then the Internet. Thus, my book reading became very intermittent.

When I left my job as a field engineer for an office job back in 2004 I started commuting via train. Rather than getting back to reading books I got myself an MP3 player (Creative Labs, IIRC), and then in 2005, a 60 GB iPod. I've been rotting my brain with rock and roll ever since.

Last Friday my iPod locked up solid. It wouldn't mount as a disk on my Mac and I had to let the charge run down. In the interim, I loaded up the SD card on my Droid with a bunch of music so I have something to listen to. I currently have the iPod connected to my Mac and hopefully it'll work OK after charging.

But I've been wanting to get back into reading more and took this as a motivator to do so. This being the 21st Century, I decided on getting an e-reader, and currently the standard to judge them by is Amazon's Kindle. On Saturday, I picked up a 3rd generation WiFi-only Kindle at BJ's Wholesale Club. I went with a WiFi-only unit since I have WiFi at home and at work, and it also allows you to access AT&T WiFi hotspots for free. So I didn't feel the need to get one with 3G.

The Kindle came with a quickstart guide and a charging cable. The charging cable can be plugged into a computer's USB port for either power or transferring files, and also includes an A/C-to-USB adapter. ~~Unfortunately, it does not use a standard micro-USB cable.~~ See below. A spare charger is $20.

I also bought Amazon's leather case with a built-in LED reading light that gets its power from the Kindle. With the case on the device feels more like a book and seems well protected.

I. Am. In. Love. While I'd briefly considered getting a tablet, the Kindle has some advantages. First, at $139 it's a lot cheaper than an iPad or Xoom. So far, the reviews of Android-based tablets have been mostly meh. Second, with wireless turned off, a fully-charged Kindle should not need recharging for nearly a month. Third, and to me most important, the Kindle's "e-ink" display is perfect for reading text. I probably spent about 20 hours over the weekend reading books on the Kindle and I had no eyestrain. There's no way that I could say that if I'd been using a tablet with a backlit screen.

One of my favorite publishers -- Baen Books -- has been especially good about embracing e-readers and providing content for free via http://www.webscriptions.net and http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/. I downloaded several of John Ringo's novels via the latter over the weekend and so far have blown through Into the Looking Glass and Vorpal Blade, and I'm now about halfway thorugh Manxome Foe. (Links are to the paperback versions since they aren't currently available through Amazon's Kindle store. Go to the Baen sites for e-book versions.) But don't worry, I'll be buying some e-books to support Baen's authors once I get through the free stuff.

You can buy Kindle books from Amazon right on the device but so far I've used my Mac to browse the Kindle bookstore. If you have One-Click enabled for your Amazon account and you have the device connected to WiFi, you get your book within a minute or two. This morning I purchased Finland's War of Choice: The Untidy Coalition of a Democracy and a Dictatorship in World War II. (The Winter War and Contiuation War have been of interest to me for a long time.)

The Kindle's UI is simple and very good. Reading a book on the device is much like reading a "real" book. Instead of physically turning a page you just press the right or left arrow key. If you turn the Kindle off it comes right back to where you left off, when you power it back on, no need for a bookmark. You can set book marks and make annotations. There's also the ability to access a dictionary from within a book you're reading.

The Kindle also supports MP3 format files so you can listen to music while you read, or listen to audiobooks. It includes a WebKit-based browser, but having a grayscale-only screen, browsing pages with any kind of images is going to be a less than optimal experience.

E-book files tend to be small and Amazon claims that it'll hold up to 3500 of them. The ability to carry around a library in a package which will fit into a large pocket is remarkable.

I can't recommend the Kindle highly enough.

Edit 3/29/11:

I am apparently a moron. Because the micro-USB port on the Kindle is rectangular instead of a trapezoid like normal micro-USB ports, I needed to rotate the plug but didn't notice that. It will in fact use a regular micro-USB cable. {sigh}

Quote of the Century

2011-02-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

"How come Jimmy Carter's always going off to watch ballot boxes in Nicaragua and Liberia when Chicago's so much closer to home?"

--Tamara K.

Rooted my Droid

2011-01-25T10:33:00.000-05:00

On Sunday I took the jump and rooted my Droid phone. "Rooting" a smartphone gets you administrative access to the device, which in turn allows you to do some neat things like

Make a backup image of the ROM's filesystem to the SD card.
Run applications that allow you to do things not enabled by default, such as turning your phone into a WiFi hotspot.
Run alternative ROMs.

To root the Droid, I followed the instructions found here. One of the first things I did after rooting was to install ROM Manager, and make a backup of my existing setup to my SD card. I then installed the Astro File Manager and had it make a backup of all the apps I had installed. With that done I went into ROM Manager and used it to download and install the Bugless Beast ROM. Per the instructions I allowed it to wipe the data cache, which also has the effect of removing all the apps you've installed. One feature of Bugless Beast that I like is that it will automatically restore your applications from some backup formats, including Astro File Manager's.

I've been running Bugless Beast now for a couple days and so far, so good. By default it overclocks the Droid's CPU to 800 MHz. This made the phone feel a bit warm so I set it back to the standard 600 MHz. At some point I may try CyanogenMod or other ROMs.

According to Leftists ...

2011-01-09T19:50:00.000-05:00

... this graphic from the Democratic Leadership Council is perfectly acceptable political discourse:

... but this is unacceptable, inflammatory rhetoric:

I guess it's OK as long as Democrats are doing it. Hypocrisy? Naaaah.

More Lies From the Mainstream Media

2011-01-09T12:08:00.000-05:00

The blood of the victims of yesterday's shootings in Arizona was hardly dry before lefty pundits started accusing Jared Loughner of being a right-wing nut, and blaming Sarah Palin and the Tea Party for a creating a climate where such an act was inevitable. And viewing the comments on various news stories shows that these pundits do indeed have an audience willing to lap up their drivel. But jumping to such conclusions only makes you look like an idiot.

It turns out that Loughner shows many of the signs of paranoid schizophrenia, and has been described by at least one former classmate as a "left-wing radical." LEFT-WING. Loughner's list of favorite books on his YouTube page reflect his schizophrenia, including works from Ayn Rand (an odd choice for him), George Orwell (a socialist), Hitler's Mein Kampf (National SOCIALIST), and The Communist Manifesto. What Tea Partier would include that?

Oops.

Unfortunately, Loughner is only the latest in a long line of left-wing crazies to perpetrate violent acts. For example:

* The riots in 1968 at the Chicago Democratic Convention
* The Symbionese Liberation Army
* The Weather Underground
* The Animal Liberation Front
* The Earth Liberation Front
* The Unabomber
* The guy who flew his plane into an IRS building last year
* The Black Panthers and the New Black Panthers

And that's only examples from the USA. If you look beyond our borders it's clear that it's been the LEFT who has committed more murders to advance their agenda than any others in history. Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot were all left-wingers. And so was Hitler ("NAZI" is an abbreviation for National SOCIALISM.) How many millions did they murder?

The mainstream media likes to gloss over these acts because in some degree, they view the perps as being on the same side. After all, members of the MSM overwhelmingly identify themselves as left-wing Democrats. Every time the MSM puts blame for left-wing violence on the right, they are not only covering for their buddies, they are committing libel. It's disgusting.

Thank God we have the Internet today to challenge and expose the MSM's lies.

Microsoft Security Essentials v2

2010-12-25T19:18:00.001-05:00

Without much fanfare, Microsoft has released version 2 of its Security Essentials antivirus and antispyware program. This was not an automatic update. I read about it in the Urban Commandos forum on AR15.com and downloaded the installer manually.

I’ve been running MSE on a number of machines now for over a year and it’s been both trouble free and better performing than my previous choice in free AV software, AVG.

If I notice anything weird I’ll make a note of it.

Strange VMware vSphere 4.1 Issue

2010-12-14T15:12:00.000-05:00

I ran into a weird issue over the past couple of days while trying to deploy a couple of CentOS 5.5 virtual machines onto my vSphere 4.1 server.

I created a VM to serve as my template for future VMs, then exported it as an OVF template to my laptop. (I do not yet have a vCenter management server, so I'm stuck running the vSphere Client inside an XP VM running in VirtualBox on my MacBook Pro). Probably due to our network, the export took a couple of hours.

I then deployed two VMs from the OVF file. Import went much more quickly than the export, thankfully. When I ran the "system-config-network" tool to configure the IP address, subnet mask, gateway, hostname, and DNS settings, I noticed there was a duplicate of eth0. The dupe wasn't present in my original VM. If the dupe was not removed, running /sbin/ifconfig displayed that eth0 had all the correct info, but the machine could not reach the network.

Through trial and error, I discovered a workaround. Upon running system-config-network, if a duplicate eth0 is present, select it. Then blank out all values, save and quit. Next, reboot the VM and once again run system-config-network, and configure eth0. After doing all this networking worked properly and I was able to SSH into the VM from my laptop.

Once we get a vCenter Server I shouldn't have jump through these hoops. vCenter includes the ability to clone a VM without doing an export and import, so setting up new VMs should be much simpler and faster.

Wet Day at the Range

2010-12-12T20:10:00.001-05:00

Today the weather was rainy and in the 50s but I didn’t let that stop me from getting out to the range. The firing lines at my club are covered and surrounded by walls on three sides, so they are great for shooting in inclement weather.

I took the Century Arms C93 HK-93 clone along with my Century VZ-2008, a VZ-58 clone.

I put 240 rounds through the C93, 80 being Prvi Partizan M-193 5.56mm Ball with the remainder being Wolf .223 55 grain JHPs. The best thing I can say about the Wolf is that it was cheap. Compared with Prvi Partizan, Winchester, or Federal ammunition it’s rather dirty, downloaded, and inaccurate. Plus, it smells bad when you shoot it. However, my Colt AR-15s, Ruger Mini-14, 5.56mm AKs, and the C93 all seem to function fine with it.

After my first outing last weekend with the C93 I’d cleaned the bore and the inside of the receiver, but not field stripped the bolt carrier group. I just saturated it in RemOil, wiped off most of the goop, relubed with automatic transmission fluid*, and reassembled the gun. So, when I took it down for a full cleaning today, after having put 400 +/- rounds through the gun, it was filthy. It may have been dirty but it ran just fine and showed no signs of sluggishness. I suspect it could have gone many hundred more rounds without a cleaning as long as it was lubed.

So far, the C93 has 400 to 420 rounds through it with no malfunctions. I measured the bolt gap before my first range trip at 0.010”. After a good cleaning tonight, I measured it again and it hasn’t shrunk.

My first Century C93 was a lemon but this one is a keeper. Unfortunately for my wallet, I’m liking the taste of HK Kool Aid and have been eyeballing the PTR91, Inc. “GI” model, which is a G3 clone. The first time I ever shot an HK was an HK-91 in .308 over 20 years ago, and I was wowed by the mild recoil. Several years ago I owned a Century C91 G3 clone but wound up trading it off, even though it seemed to run fine with the 100 or so rounds I fired through it. Probably should’ve kept that one.

Anyway, a couple of months ago I installed a muzzle brake on my VZ-2008. The brake was from CNC Warrior and is a replica of the Czech military issue brake. It’s very effective at reducing muzzle flip and recoil, at the expense of significantly increased muzzle blast (which is typical of muzzle brakes). The blast is even more noticeable when you shoot the rifle from under overhead cover. Good ear protection is mandatory.

Because the brake reduces muzzle flip, which starts while the bullet is still in the barrel, I found that the point of impact was lowered by about a foot at 100 yards after I installed it. So, today my goal was to get a 25 yard zero, then fine tune it at 100 yards. I wound up only shooting on the 25 yard range. With the rain I didn’t feel like loading and unloading my truck to move over to the 100 yard line.

I shot 80 rounds of Brown Bear 7.62x39 123 grain FMJ through the VZ-2008 today. The rifle required a break-in period of about 200 rounds, along with some manual polishing of contact points inside the action after my first range trip with the rifle. The phosphate finish was so thick inside the action that it caused failures to extract and eject due to short stroking. This may be uncommon, as I’ve read other VZ-2008 reviews online and I’m the only person who seems to have reported it.

Including today, my past two or three trips to the range with the VZ-2008 have been malfunction-free. The VZ-2008 and I got off on the wrong foot but we’ve made up. I now consider it a tested, reliable rifle after about 400 trouble free rounds.

There are two things I’m not thrilled with on the VZ-2008, however. First is the folding stock. It’s an original Czech stock and while it’s very sturdy and allows for storage in compact areas, it isn’t real comfortable. I’m toying with the idea of installing a fixed stock. Another option would be to install an Ace folder like I have on my Arsenal SLR-101SG. The Ace stocks are as comfortable as a fixed unit but still allow storage in small areas.

Second is the design that Century chose for the selector. It rotates backwards from what would be ergonomic. I.e., rotate it down to put the rifle on safe, rotate it up to fire. AIUI, Czech-made semiauto VZ-58s like those from Czechpoint USA have selectors which work the opposite way. I may be able to fit a Czechpoint selector to my rifle (a member of Arfcom reported doing so with his VZ-2008), which would be a big improvement.

A VZ-58 clone a good choice for someone who wants a semiauto rifle generally similar to an AK but wants something a little different. It’s also a good choice for folks stuck in jurisdictions which prohibit AKs. I understand that VZ-58s are popular up in Canada (with the magazines blocked to 5 or 10 rounds). Also, Connecticut bans Kalashnikovs in 7.62x39 (but not 5.45 or 5.56), but does not ban VZ-58s or clones.

Incidentally, I’ve found that Bulgarian surplus 4 cell pouches for 30 round AK magazines work perfectly for VZ-58 mags. They also work for HK-93/HK-33/C93 40 round mags, but you have to cut a new hole in the tab which secures the top flap.

* I’ve been using ATF as a gun oil for about 16 years. It’s cheap, a quart last forever, and works really well. ATF is a decent cleaner for carbon fouling, too. Just don’t get it on your clothes because it stains.

Obamessiah Has Left the Building

2010-12-11T09:40:00.000-05:00

In an administration chock full of "WTF?" moments, this takes the cake:

Here we have a sitting president in the midst of dealing with a tremendously important piece of legislation, the passage of which will have a significant impact on an economy circling the drain, and he can't even finish a press conference because he's kept FLOTUS waiting on a Christmas party. And he hands things over to a previous president?

Holy. Fucking. Shit. This is by far the least presidential thing I have ever seen.

In his prior jobs as a state and US senator, Obama had the bad habit of voting "present." Now he's not even doing that. Hell, Stevie Wonder can see that this ship doesn't have a captain now.

And don't think for a moment that our foes around the world haven't noticed.

Grandma Got Molested At The Airport

2010-12-09T15:49:00.000-05:00

Good Day at the Range

2010-12-05T20:08:00.001-05:00

Today I took my Century C93 (HK-93 clone) and my SAR-1 AK to the range for function testing and zeroing.

The C93 is a replacement for one I bought about a month ago which would not cycle when I shot it. I got the replacement rifle this past Wednesday. Today I ran around 160 - 180 rounds of Prvi Partizan M-193 Ball through it with no malfunctions, and zeroing it at 25 yards required only minor sight adjustments (elevation only, windage was spot on). This was quite a refreshing difference from the rifle I first bought. I'm very happy with this one.

After I received the rifle on Wednesday I measured the bolt gap with a feeler gauge. It came in at 0.010”, which is within spec but on the low side. After shooting it today I measured it again and so far it’s unchanged. I already have a set of +4 rollers on order from Robert RTG, along with an HK sling and a couple of other small spare parts.

While I was annoyed at Century for them having shipped a non-functional rifle, they did make it right, and fairly painlessly. Someday down the road I wouldn’t mind getting a Vector Arms V93, which is an HK-93 clone with a reputation for quality. However, for now the C93 looks like it’ll be a good shooter, and at about half the cost of the Vector.

I've had the SAR-1 for a few years but recently installed an Ultimak with a Bushnell TRS-25 red dot sight on it. Since the Ultimak replaces the gas tube I wanted to verify that it still functioned OK, and make any necessary adjustments to the iron sight zero. As expected, the rifle functioned flawlessly through 90 rounds of Wolf Military Classic fed from 3 Finnish surplus Valmet mags. It turned out to still shoot to POA at 25 yards with irons. I was doubly pleased to find that I didn't need to make any adjustments on the Bushnell, either.

I'll verify zero at 100 yards with both rifles but they should be GTG.

An extra bonus was that with the temps in the mid-30s, I had the 25 yard range to myself.

Hanukkah 2010

2010-12-01T13:50:00.001-05:00

I took today off so as to not lose an unused vacation day by the end of the year. I just finished peeling and cutting up a bag of potatoes that my wife will turn into latkes tonight, since it’ll be the first night of Hanukkah.

In brief, Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Jewish rebellion lead by Judah Maccabee over the Seleucids who had officially repressed the Jewish faith and desecrated the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Back in 2004 I put up a Hanukkah post bemoaning the choice of many of my co-religionists to support gun control. The Shoah (Holocaust) was a mere 65 years ago, within living memory of many, and still, many, perhaps most Jewish Americans still fear and loathe guns and would see civilian controlled or banned. For a people who values learning so much, we can be damn stubborn.

Thankfully, the past couple of years have seen two major victories for Americans who value their right to keep and bear arms, as a safeguard against criminals and rogue governments.

In the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment does indeed protect an individual right to keep and bear arms, independent of membership in the militia. In 2010, SCOTUS extended the RKBA by applying it to the states with its ruling in McDonald v. Chicago. As with earlier decisions which extended the protections in the Bill of Rights to the states, the full extent of the protection the RKBA will be afforded will only be seen after more protracted litigation. But Heller and McDonald were major steps in preserving our liberty.

As Jews, we should be especially thankful for the right to keep and bear arms. Since the Romans sacked Jerusalem and forced the Diaspora, Jews’ ability to defend themselves against violence has been curtailed as a matter of official policy. In contrast, Jews in most of the United States can take up arms to defend themselves and their faith.

While the likelihood of official repression of Jews in the United States is remote, we cannot be complacent and adopt the “it can’t happen here” mentality. Not in the age of resurgent Islamic fundamentalism, lax border controls, and jet air travel.

Since 1972, over 300 Americans have been killed by Muslim terrorists, not including the over 2700 who died on 9/11. Many of them were targeted because they were Jews.

Unfortunately, the leaders of both major parties have been skittish of calling a spade a spade, with President Bush’s description of Islam as a “Religion of Peace” being the most notorious example.

Perhaps even worse is the current administration’s pro-Islam stance. Beginning with Obama’s duplicitous 2009 speech to the Muslim world in Cairo and continuing with a policy toward Israel which can be described at best as ambivalent, but more accurately as pro-Palestinian, Jews should be wary of Washington’s stance towards them. We should not be fooled by his close association with kapos like Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, or the worst of all, George Soros.

Overseas, we’ve seen a resurgence in anti-semitism in Europe, while Arab children continue to be fed a diet of anti-semitic propaganda in the form of entertainment. See this for example. And need I mention the Iranian quest for nuclear arms, promoted by Holocaust-denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, against which the West seems ready to do nothing?

Instead of taking serious steps, the current administration engages in security theater, the most obvious example lately being the TSA’s “porno scanners” at airports.

Worldwide, the situation for Jews is probably more perilous now than any time since 1945.

So what should we as Jewish Americans do?

First, stop supporting politicians who support gun control. Not only is gun control counter-productive in reducing violent crime, supporting it foments anti-semitism when you have people with names like Bloomberg and Schumer backing it. Being armed may not save you from a nut who’s turned a 747 into a human-guided cruise missile, but a pistol can give you a fighting chance against terrorists in a Mumbai-style attack.

Second, stop supporting politicians who refuse to call Islamic extremism and terrorism by their proper names. Stop supporting politicians who think American vets returning from Iraq are more of a terrorist threat than Muslim radicals.

Third, stop fearing the “religious right,” in which the mainstream media has included pretty much anybody who regularly attends church. Guess what? Observant Christians are some of the best allies that Jews have today in the US. While we may disagree on theology, many of them accept Jews as G-d’s Chosen People and are staunch supporters of the State of Israel. Indeed, many Christians are more supportive of Israel than a lot of JINOs (Jews In Name Only).

Fourth, take the coverage by the mainstream media of the Tea Party movement with several helpings of salt. You may hear some Tea Partiers talk about social issues, but the bedrock of the movement is about getting the government out of your life. Historically, governments have been the Jewish People’s worst enemies, whether the government in question was lead by a Pharoah, Seleucid king, Roman Caesar, a Caliph, a Pope, a Tsar, a Furhrer, or Politburo.

Finally, exercise your right to keep and bear arms. In Biblical times, the Jews were an ass-kicking people. More recently, Israel has repeatedly stunned the world with its feats of arms. In contrast, most Jewish Americans have adopted a pro-government victim mentality. It is past time that this passive attitude be discarded. “Turn the other cheek” is not a concept consistent with Jewish theology. In the Talmud, we are instructed that, "if someone comes to kill you, get up early in the morning to kill him first." (Berakhot 58a; Yoma 85b; Sanhedrin 72a). Judaism does not require you to submit to an assailant. Indeed, precisely the opposite is true.

Happy Hanukkah and may you dreidel always land on gimel.

2010-11-25T09:28:00.002-05:00

QOTD

2010-11-23T18:51:00.000-05:00

"If all Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They'll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their heads. But if an American wants to preserve his dignity and his equality as a human being, he must not bow his neck to any dictatorial government."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower , Dec.9, 1949

What to do ...

2010-11-15T15:23:00.002-05:00

... upon bringing home a new (or new to you) gun.

Several Updates at The Shooters' Bar

2010-11-14T09:50:00.000-05:00

This morning I made several updates to The Shooters' Bar, my list of pro gun rights attorneys. If you need an attorney practicing in any area of the law take a look, it's not just a list of "firearms lawyers."

Saturday Night Range Report

2010-11-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

Dad and I went to the range tonight. I brought my 3" Ruger SP-101 (model KSP-331X) and my Browning Hi Power Practical. Dad brought along new Rock Island Armory M1911 made by Armscor in the Phillipines.

I put about 60 rounds through the Ruger. It shoots nicely. Easier to pack than a K-Frame but a whole lot more pleasant to shoot than a J-Frame, especially with .38 +Ps. (The indoor range at Dad's club prohibits magnums, and I can't see myself shooting many .357s in a 27 oz. gun anyway.)

The .38s I shot in the Ruger consisted of 50 rounds of Winchester 148 grain wadcutters, 5 Winchester 158 grain LSWCHP +Ps, and 5 Double Tap 158 grain hard cast LSWC +Ps. Compared with my S&W Model 640, the Ruger is much easier to control with full power .38s, due to the weight and the excellent Ruger rubber grip.

Before tonight I hadn't tried Brown Bear ammo in my BHP. Unlike most American made ammo, Brown Bear has a steel case with a lacquer coating to prevent rust. Some guns have functioning problems with steel cased ammunition, so I recommend testing any semiauto firearm with at least 100 rounds of steel cased ammo before purchasing a large quantity.

My Springfield XD9 has gone through several hundred rounds without any issues. Since it's relatively cheap I was hoping the BHP would also function well with it. I was not disappointed. I put 100 rounds of the Brown Bear through the gun using 3 different Mec Gar mags, and 3 KRD (Argentine) mags. I also shot 50 rounds of Blazer Brass. As expected, I had zero malfunctions.

I picked up the KRD magazines several years ago, before the ban on new "high capacity" magazines sunset in 2004. At the time they were about the only >10 round BHP mags available for less than an arm and a leg. Compared with Mec Gars they are a bit rough, and one in particular seems vulnerable to follower tilt. I plan on seeing if I can smooth them up a bit but until then, they are range mags only. Note that Mec Gar is the OEM for Browning Hi Power magazines. However, Mec Gar branded mags are available for slightly less than half the cost of Browning branded magazines. I'll be getting some more Mec Gar 15 rounders.

Compared with the Blazer Brass ammo, the Brown Bear was dirty and smelled bad. However, it cleaned up easily with some Hoppe's No.9 and I can tolerate the stink. AIM Surplus currently has it in stock at $8.25 per box of 50 when ordered 10 or more boxes. I regard it as a good deal if you don't reload 9mm.

Dad put 71 rounds through the RIA M1911. He had 3 malfs, all of which could be cleared with a "tap, rack, bang." The owner's manual notes that the gun has a 500 round break-in period. He thinks that 2 of the malfs were probably due to the magazine which came with the gun. He also used a couple 7 round Wolff mags which have run perfectly in his Colt M1911A1. (The Wolff magazines are really good, and even have a dimpled follower. Highly recommended.)

I didn't put any rounds through the M1911 but I did dry fire it a few times. I'd guestimate the trigger pull at around 5 or 6 pounds and pretty crisp. Quite suitable for a self defense pistol, IMO.

My impression of the RIA 1911 is that it's a pretty good gun for the money. He paid $400 OTD for it. Fit and finish are suitable for a service grade gun. The metal is parkerized. The grips are plain, uncheckered wood but the finish is well done. Overall, it looks almost identical to a USGI 1911A1 except that it has a lowered and flared ejection port, and the magazine well is slightly beveled.

If the RIA was my gun, I'd replace the sights with ones easier to see, install an ambidextrous safety, use either Chip McCormick, Wolff, or Wilson mags, and maybe replace the grips with some nicer looking wood. Other than that the RIA M1911 seems like a very good self defense pistol right out of the box.

Veteran's Day

2010-11-11T08:25:00.000-05:00

To all veterans who have served to defend our freedom:

Thank you.

In Honor of CA's Choice for Governor Last Night

2010-11-03T14:34:00.000-04:00

Today my coffee is sweetened...

2010-11-03T08:38:00.002-04:00

... with Nancy Pelosi's tears.

This Year’s Jack O’Lanterns

2010-10-31T14:12:00.001-04:00

Yesterday the girls and I made Jack O’Lanterns. I had them draw out on a sheet of paper how they wanted theirs to look. Alexandra wanted “funny” while Amanda wanted “scary.”

They came out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Alexandra’s is on the left, Amanda’s is on the right.

VMware Training and a New PC

2010-10-31T13:45:00.001-04:00

Last week I attended a five day course on installing, configuring, and maintaining VMware vSphere 4.1. My employer purchased an "all you can eat" license earlier this year, and I've been asked to implement it on one of our networks. Since I have no prior experience with vSphere I asked my boss for training. It turns out that we had some training credits which expire at the end of 2010, so I was able to register for this couse at no cost to my department.

I am very impressed with vSphere, as well as VMware's vSphere Client management program. I find it well designed with a very good user interface. It runs on Windows only, unfortunately. I wish they had an OS X client. At work I have a Windows 7 VM inside Paralles Desktop on my MacBook Pro which I can use. I also recently setup a four year old Dell Precision Workstation 470n which I scrounged. It's running Windows 7 x64 with 4 GBs of RAM so it runs much more smoothly than the VM on my laptop.

As a side note, the VMs I have running inside of Parallels Desktop have gotten a lot slower recently, especially the Windows 7 VM. I am thinking of dumping PD and installing VirtualBox.

Because vSphere is basically a means to run other OSes as applications on a host I decided I wanted to have a way to refamiliarize myself with any number of OSes on a system at home. To that end, yesterday I did something I haven't done in 12 years: I bought a new desktop PC running Windows.

For the past 10 years or so I've built my own machines. I have two tower cases which are well designed and which have been used in several incarnations of motherboards, CPUs, and operating systems. However, I just didn't feel like putting together a new PC, especially since I can now buy a very powerful system for under a grand.

So, yesterday I did some searching on Microcenter's website and purchased a PowerSpec B707 mini-tower system for $699 plus tax. The basic specs are:

1. Intel Core i5 - 655K 3.2 GHz dual core CPU
2. Intel DH55TC motherboard with integrated video (VGA and DVI), sound, Gigabit LAN.
3. Samsung 1 TB hard disk
4. 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi (which I have disabled since I have an Ethernet connection)
5. DVD+/-RW drive
6. Media card reader
7. 300W power supply
8. Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
9. 4 GB of DDR3 RAM (expandalbe to 16 GB)

Because I bought the system with the idea of running other OSes inside VMs I wanted to increase the RAM. I found an OCZ 4 GB kit (2 x 2 GB DIMMs) at Microcenter for $69.99 less a $20 mail-in rebate, so added that to the cart.

Microcenter allows you to place an order on their website and arrange for in-store pickup in 18 minutes, if they have the items in stock at your local store. I did that and was in and out in about 10 minutes.

The PC came with a cheap Inland USB keyboard which I'm using currently but will probably replace due to the mushy feel. It also came with an Inland mouse which I left in the packaging, in favor of the Logitech mouse I already had. The machine didn't come with a monitor which was fine, I'm using an Acer AL2016W 20" widescreen LCD display that I bought last year. I'm using the DVI port and it looks good.

The PowerSpec box came with no crapware installed which was a pleasant surpise. It did include a trial version of ESET NOD32 antivirus which I removed in favor of MS Security Essentials, and also an installer for MS Office 2010 Starter Edition (lobotomized versions of Word and Excel supported by ads).

The machine is quite zippy for my uses: web browsing, light office use, as an SSH client, and to run VMs inside VirtualBox. I haven't really pounded on the box yet but so far the CPU usage is minimal most of the time and I'm only using about half the 8 GB RAM that's installed in the system.

So far I've created VMs running Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows XP Pro SP3. I unfortunately need the XP VM to run a VPN client which doesn't work in Windows 7; I hope to lose that particular need in the next few months. My next VM will probably be Windows 2008 Server R2.

Another use of this box will be for me to evaluate various remote control applications. I have GoToMyPC, LogMein, and TeamViewer in mind.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011

2010-10-20T21:02:00.000-04:00

Sunday night my work email account got migrated from an Exchange 2003 server to a bright, shiny, new Exchange 2010 box. One downside to this is that WebDAVS access is no longer supported, so Monday morning I had to upgrade Entourage 2008 to Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition. This went pretty smoothly.

In general I've been pretty pleased with Office 2008. I'm a light user of Word and Excel, and a very light user of PowerPoint (i.e., I only open up PPT when I can't avoid it). My primary app in Office was Entourage for my email and calendar. With WebDAVS enabled I was able to securely check my email without having to use our VPN. Compared with Outlook on Windows, Entourage's support for shared calendaring is somewhat lacking. Also, I was unable to search our Global Address Book without either being on the corporate network or being VPNed in.

Monday afternoon in the day I got access to Office 2011 and installed it on my MacBook Pro. The biggest change between 2008 and 2011 is that Entourage has been replaced by Outlook, an application missing from the Mac since Office 2001, IIRC.

Back before I moved to a Mac for my primary platform, I loathed Outlook on Windows. In prior positions I've supported Outlook 97, 98, and 2000. I've used those versions as well as 2002 (AKA Outlook XP). For me it was always a slow, buggy app with an interface I didn't particularly like.

But so far Outlook 2011 is mostly working well. We've noticed one bug when trying to schedule meetings when a participant is still on the Exchange 2003 server. Specifically, the times shown on that person's calendar will be off by an hour. Until everyone is migrated I'll just use Outlook Web Mail for scheduling meetings.

One thing I thought was interesting was that Office 2011 installed alongside 2008. This is a very good feature, allowing easy rollback. The Office for Mac team also did a good job with the migration features for Entourage to Outlook. Outlook imported my Entourage profile seamlessly, including the server configuration and account info. It took about 10 minutes to import my profile and setup connectivity to the server.

Outlook allows me to search our Global Address List remotely even if I'm not VPNed in. This will be nice.

Another feature greatly anticipated by many people wanting to switch from Windows but stuck because they rely on Outlook was the lack of an easy way to migrate emails from Outlook .PST files. Well, Outlook 2011 can read .PSTs, though it stores messages, contacts, etc. in a different format. This will be useful for a few of my coworkers.

As for the interface, either the Outlook Mac interface is greatly improved cf. the last version I used on Windows, or my reaction to it has mellowed. It's actually pretty decent. Likewise, the rest of the Office apps share the "ribbon" interface introduced with Office 2007. A lot of folks hated the ribbon but I actually like it. So far I haven't used either Excel or Word very much so I don't know how they'll compare with the 2008 versions.

I'll post follow ups if I run into any weirdness.

Firefox 4 Beta 6

2010-10-20T20:32:00.000-04:00

Today I installed Firefox 4 Beta 6 on my MacBook Pro and a Dell Precision Workstation running Windows 7 Enterprise.

My initial impressions are favorable. The user interface has been revised and is now somewhat Google Chromeish. The default toolbars are minimalist and tabs are displayed on top the address bar, rather than below it. I prefer having the tabs below the address bar so I'm happy to see that it remains an option.

Compared with Firefox 3.6, FF4B6 seems to load pages faster on both OS 10.6 and Win7. This may in part be due to some of my extensions not being supported in FF4 yet. However, FF4 is supposed to offer speed improvements.

I used FF4B6 for most of the day and didn't run into any noticeable issues. We'll see how it goes with more use but so far I'm pleased with it.

I Have Now Seen Everything

2010-10-16T21:26:00.000-04:00

Dropbox on Android Phones

2010-10-15T09:14:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I mentioned that I started using Dropbox for backing up some of my critical files, and syncronizing them between my MacBook Pro and my MSI Wind netbook. I recently installed the Dropbox application on my Droid and was impressed with it this morning.

Using my Droid, I took a picture of a screen to record a firmware revision. I figured that I would then email it to myself. Instead, when I went into the Droid's picture gallery and selected the "Share" menu, not only was I given the opportunity to send it via email, MMS, Facebook, Twitter or Picasa, but to add it to my Dropbox. I chose Dropbox and by the time I was back at my desk, the photo was in my Mac's Dropbox folder. Compared with email or MMS, this eliminates the steps of addressing and sending an email. And it's certainly more convenient than digging out a USB cable to connect the phone to my computer.

A basic 2 GB account is free but if you refer someone you'll get an extra 250 MB of space, up to 8 GB total. You can also get a free 250 MB by 5 of the 6 tasks listed in the "Getting Started" tab viewable when you login to your Dropbox account on the web.

{Blantant self promotion.}If you're interested in this sort of product and want to try Dropbox, please click on my referral link, here. I could use a little more space.{/Blatant self promotion.}

Monster Hunter Vendetta

2010-10-09T14:13:00.001-04:00

The mailman just brought my copy of Larry Correia's latest release, Monster Hunter Vendetta, the follow up to his debut novel Monster Hunter International. I'm expecting MHV to kick as much ass as MHI.

Now, off to the back porch with some port, a cigar and MHV. Any productivity for the rest of this afternoon is highly unlikely.

Update 10/13/10:

Monster Hunter Vendetta rocks. I liked it even better than MHI. Great villain, some extremely funny comic relief, and it sets up future books in the series. If you like guns and monsters, buy it now.

Range Day

2010-10-03T21:33:00.000-04:00

We had a beautiful Fall day here in SE Pennsylvania today, and I got to spend it at the range.

I brought three rifles with me: an Arsenal SA M5 AK, Century Arms VZ-2008 Sporter (VZ-58 clone), and a Century Arms C93 Sporter (HK-93 clone).

I've had the SA M5 for several years. It is an AK with a milled receiver, made in Bulgaria, and chambered for 5.56x45mm. I needed to zero the rifle, since I had recently reinstalled the original rear sight in place of a Mojo peep rear sight. I also wanted to test out two new 30 round magazines and a CNC Warrior flash hider.

As expected the rifle shot well although I did have one misfeed with an older 20 round mag. The new 30 rounders worked fine, as did the flash hider. The rifle originally came with a muzzle brake, which I'd replaced for awhile with a Bulgarian 24mm flash hider mounted via a 14mm to 24mm adapter. That added too much weight to the muzzle, so I replaced it with the CNC Warrior Norinco Type 84-style flash hider.

The ammo I shot in the Arsenal was Prvi Partizan (PPU) 55 grain M193 Ball. In my experience, PPU makes quality ammo. I was able to keep my 100 yard groups about the size of the bull on an SR-1 target. The rifle should be able to do better but for me the open sights with a short sight radius is the limiting factor. However, one of these days I'll have to try some ammo with heavier bullets, since the rifle has a 1:7" twist, which should shoot well with bullets up to 77 grains.

I bought the VZ-2008 a couple years ago. It's based on the Czech VZ-58 assault rifle but of course semiauto-only. My initial experience with the VZ-2008 was problematic. The receiver is parkerized and the finish was bit thick, so much that the first time I had it out to the range I had to "mortar" the rifle open after about half the shots. Since then, I've smoothed out the rifle's innards by polishing them with Flitz and putting a few hundred rounds through the gun. When I last shot it a couple months ago it ran fine.

Today I put 60 rounds -- two full magazines -- through the VZ-2008 and had no malfs. The last time I shot the VZ, the stock was really whacking my cheek, so I decided to see if installing a muzzle brake would help. CNC Warrior makes a copy of the Czech military brake, so I ordered one last month.

The new brake definitely lessens recoil and muzzle flip. As expected, it greatly increases muzzle blast. Overall though, I find the rifle more pleasant to shoot with the brake so it's staying on the gun. It did affect the rifle's zero, dropping the 100 yard point of impact by about a foot. I didn't really have time left at the range to futz with the sights, so rezeroing will wait until my next range trip with the rifle.

As with the Arsenal AK, my usable accuracy with the VZ-2008 is limited by the open rear sight and short sight radius. I got about 6" groups at 100 yards.

The VZ-58 is a neat rifle, often mistaken for a Kalashnikov. They look similar but the only thing the VZ shares with an AK-47 or AKM is the chambering, 7.62x39. Nothing else is interchangeable, including the magazines, unfortunately.

The VZ has a milled receiver but weighs about as much as most stamped receiver AKs.

The AK uses a long stroke gas piston operation, while the VZ-58 has a short stroke design. If anything, mechanically, the VZ-58 is closer to the WW2 German STG-44.

Most 7.62x39 AK magazines are made from steel, while the VZ-58 mags are aluminum. The VZ-58 has a last round bolt hold open and a charger guide on the bolt carrier. With the bolt locked back and a magazine in the rifle, you can load the mag using SKS stripper clips. The AK has no last round bolt hold open.

Things did not go as well with the C93, my new HK-93 clone.

Before buying the C93 I'd read up on them on several online forums. Reports were generally good. However, I am finding that my rifle is short stroking with every shot. This turns it into a heavy and awkward straight pull bolt action rifle.

After buying the C93 last week I field stripped and lubricated it, and measured the bolt gap, which was in spec. I used the same PPU M193 Ball in the C93 as in my Arsenal AK. I figured if the rifle's mechanism required a break in period it would do better with full 5.56 NATO spec ammo than .223 Remington spec loads, or worse, Wolf steel cased ammo, which is noticeably underloaded.

But even with the PPU M193, the C93 fails to eject empties. When I manually extract and eject the cases, they looked OK -- no swelling, just the typical sooty striations typical of HK roller locked rifles. All of the empties, except one, extracted easily. One empty required a bit more force to extract.

I haven't had the chance to field strip the C93 since returning from the range. When I do I plan to check for any spots where it appears internal parts might be binding. I'll also make sure the chamber is clean and will try to see if there are any burs.

Hopefully I'll get to try the C93 again soon. Next time, I will probably try some Lake City XM-193 Ball, just in case the rifle works better with it.

Functional issues aside, the C93 is extremely pleasant to shoot and seems to be accurate. Compared with my Colt AR-15A2 Gov't. Carbine or even the Arsenal SA M5, the C93 is heavy. Also, in my experience the HK roller locking system soaks up a lot of recoil. To me, the C93 has even less felt recoil than an M1 Carbine. If the C93 doesn't start functioning OK the next time I try it, I'll have to send it back to Century to get fixed.

Some Mac Consulting Today

2010-10-02T16:25:00.000-04:00

This morning I went over to a client's home to do some work on his Macs.

He has an older Intel iMac which was still running OS 10.4 Tiger. He was without a backup system for it, so the last time I was there I recommended he upgrade it to OS 10.6 Snow Leopard and getting a USB hard disk to setup as a Time Machine drive.

The first thing I did after arriving was to connect the Western Digital Elements 640 GB USB drive, copy over the Documents, Desktop, Pictures, and iTunes folders. (It's a bad idea to upgrade an OS without first backing up all of your data. Upgrades often go awry.) Once everything copied over, which took about 40 minutes, I popped in the Snow Leopard disk and rebooted into the OS X installer.

After about 45 minutes the iMac was upgraded to OS 10.6.3, so I then ran Software Update and grabbed the 10.6.4 update, along with several other updates. This took another 20 minutes or so.

With that squared away I reconnected the WD hard disk and configured Time Machine to use it as a backup disk.

While the iMac was getting backed up before the upgrade I took a look at his Mac Mini.

The Mini had been setup to do Time Machine backups to a Western Digital My Book external drive via FireWire 800. It looks like the drive is toast, since when I was there a couple weeks ago I'd reformatted it. Time Machine worked OK for about 4 days then started failing. Today, it kept crashing the Finder when I connected it. I even connected it to my MacBook Pro and reformatted it, but it still gave errors. He's going to try to return it and get another USB or FireWire disk.

Finally, while there I also installed a hand-me-up 8 GB iPod Touch from his daughter to the Mini, and upgraded the firmware from 3.x to 4.1.

Not a bad way to spend a few hours and make some extra money.

The Restoring Honor Rally: A First Hand Account

2010-09-01T14:08:00.000-04:00

Over at Noisyroom.net.

I've known the author, Ken O'Donnell, online for a few years, as well as met him in person a couple of times. He's good people.

Garmin nuvi GPS Recall

2010-08-28T20:22:00.000-04:00

From Garmin:

Garmin is voluntarily recalling certain nüvi devices that contain a specific battery that was manufactured by the battery supplier within a limited date code range. Garmin has identified potential overheating issues when certain batteries manufactured by the third-party battery supplier within a limited date code range are used in certain Garmin nüvi models with a specific printed circuit board (PCB) design. It appears that the interaction of these factors can, in rare circumstances, increase the possibility of overheating, which may lead to a fire hazard. Although there have been no injuries or significant property damage caused by this issue, Garmin is taking this action out of an abundance of caution.
The recalled devices include a small subset of the following nüvi model numbers:

nüvi 200W, 250W, & 260W
nüvi 7xx (where xx is a two-digit number)
You can determine your nüvi model number by looking at the label on the back or bottom of your nüvi.

Go to Garmin's site and enter in your device's serial number. It'll tell you if your unit needs to be sent in for service.

Sysadmin Tip: Walk Away

2010-08-28T17:31:00.000-04:00

This morning I went down to my gun club to install a Linux box to serve as our new and improved email and web server. Although I had performed several setup tasks after I built the box here at home, I left many of them until I had it onsite with the correct IP, hostname and domain configuration.

As I was working on it I did something which totally FUBARed Apache to the point where it wouldn't even start. After pounding on it for about a half hour I got so fed up that it was pointless to continue, as I wasn't making any progress.

So, I walked away. (Actually, I drove down to the 25 yard range and put some lead downrange.)

Once I got home I logged back into the server and within about ten minutes had Apache up and running.

Sometimes you need to just walk away for awhile.

Thank you

2010-08-28T17:04:00.000-04:00

Thank you to those readers who have purchased stuff after clicking on a link to Amazon.com from this site. Every so often I get a gift certificate from them which helps on my own Amazon orders.

By no means am I making any significant amount of money from my Amazon affiliate links, but their gift certificates are a nice surprise when I do get them.

Standalone vs. Cell Phone Based GPS

2010-08-23T08:20:00.000-04:00

A family trip this weekend reiterated for me why I do not think that cell phone based GPSes are viable 100% replacements for dedicated GPSes in your car. At least, not yet.

We went up to Sullivan County, NY visit with some of my family. The route we take to get there passes through NE PA, including the Delaware Water Gap. My cousin, who's house we went to, lives in a rural area in which cell phone signal is spotty and often depends on how you orient your phone.

For navigation we had directions but also brought my Garmin Nuvi 200W, and both my wife and I have Android-based smartphones (a Droid and a Droid 2) with GPS integrated with Google Maps. The Droids use the Verizon 3G data link to download maps on the fly. In contrast, the Garmin stores maps locally.

We had no or poor cell phone signal, or no 3G for a good part of the drive. Notably, the times when we had no signal were the times when the GPS was most needed. I.e., rural back roads with poor signage and no street lighting. If we had needed to depend on a phone-based GPS we'd have been out of luck.

There are a few applications designed to allow you to download and store maps offline in case you lose your cell phone signal, e.g., Maps (-). However, this may not help you if you need to significantly deviate from your route, or if you need the GPS in an emergency and the cell network is down.

If your cell phone GPS usage is limited to areas with good cell coverage and don't consider your GPS unit as part of your emergency preps, then you don't need a standalone unit. As for me, I'll be updating the maps in my Garmin soon.

New SAS Smock Review

2010-08-14T11:41:00.002-04:00

Over on Survival & Emergency Preparedness.

Tyrannosaurus Debt

2010-07-25T08:44:00.000-04:00

This morning I put in the Schoolhouse Rock DVD for the girls and they said that they wanted to watch the "Money Rock" category. I was stunned when this one came up:

Hopefully more kids get to see this. I'd say that every member of our politcal class should watch it but they don't give a crap.

I think the Money Rock videos were made in the '90s. They certainly weren't around in the '70s.

Dropbox

2010-07-24T08:18:00.000-04:00

Dropbox is a cloud-based file backup, storage, and sharing site which uses Amazon's S3 service as the backend. I've recently started using it as a way to keep certain files and folders automatically synced between my MacBook Pro and Hobbit, my MSI netbook.

You can access a Dropbox account via a web browser or applications which install on Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux. So far, I'm using the OS X and Ubuntu versions and they work very smoothly. On a Mac you can access your Dropbox folder just like any other folder in the Finder. On Ubuntu, I'm using the Nautilus file manager plugin.

If you allow the Dropbox app to run automatically when you login, it will automatically sync the local folder with the one in the cloud. If you have Dropbox installed on more than one computer it will automatically sync the folder across all of them.

The free, basic Dropbox account gives you 2 GB of storage. Additional storage is available for a monthly fee. {shameless plug}Also, if you sign up by clicking the links in this post or in my sidebar to the right, I'll get an additional 250 MB of space (up to 8 GB), and you'll get additional space, too.{/shameless plug}

Patriot Xporter XT 16 GB USB Flash Drive

2010-07-23T16:16:00.001-04:00

For the past couple of years I've had a Microcenter house brand 8 GB USB flash drive on my keychain. It's handy for keeping a backup of my most critical data with me at all times, as well as keeping installers for various Windows programs easily available.

I noticed over the weekend that the drive was starting to act a little flaky. A couple of times when I had it connected to my MacBook Pro when it dismounted itself. This might be a sign that it's dying.

I've wanted a USB drive with a bit more capacity and with faster read and write speeds, so this gave me an excuse to get something new. So, I ordered a Patriot Xporter XT Boost 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive PEF16GUSB. It's $42.99 with free shipping from Amazon, and there's a $15 mail-in rebate if you order by 7/31/10. The final price will be about the same as what I paid for the 8 gig Microcenter drive a couple of years ago.

The drive is encased in a soft rubber outer shell with the cap made of the same material. The packaging claims that it's water resistant. We'll see how durable it is. I expect it to show some wear after awhile since I carry it around in my pocket.

Without taking any scientific measurements, it's obvious that the Patriot's read/write speeds are faster than my old 8 GB Microcenter drive or a Kingston 8 GB drive I have at work. After getting the Patriot I booted my MSI Wind into Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Remix and used it to turn the Patriot into a bootable UNR install drive. I then booted the netbook off the Patriot and performance was a bit snappier than when I'd done so using the Kingston drive.

I didn't really want to keep the Patriot as an Ubuntu disk, so I rebooted the Wind into Windows 7 Home Ultimate and did a quick format. (I did this in Win7 because I wanted to ensure that the drive would remain readable in Windows. Since reformatting the aforementioned Kingston as FAT32 in OS X and Linux, I've had problems reading it in a couple Windows boxes.)

With the Patriot once again blank, I stuck it in my MacBook Pro and copied over the same stuff I keep on the Microcenter drive, plus the 4 GB TrueCrypt volume in which I keep my private data. The data transfer went smoothly, much faster than with the Microcenter drive.

My initial impression of the Patriot Xporter 16 GB USB drive is quite favorable. My one area of concern is the keyring loop molded into the rubber casing. I carry my USB stick on an A&P Mechanic's keyring from Countycomm, and I can see this wearing through the loop. To minimize wear, rather than attaching the Patriot directly to the keyring, I attached it with a cable tie.

I Like It

2010-07-19T16:36:00.002-04:00

I write like
William Gibson

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

{H/T GWA.45}

Book Review: The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse

2010-07-17T21:10:00.000-04:00

Over on Survival and Emergency Preparedness, I've posted a review of The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse.

Check it out.

SAF Sues In New York To Void 'good Cause' Carry Permit Requirement

2010-07-15T22:13:00.000-04:00

Press release from the Second Amendment Foundation:

For Immediate Release: 7/15/2010

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit against Westchester County, New York and its handgun permit licensing officers, seeking a permanent injunction against enforcement of a state law that allows carry licenses to be denied because applicants cannot show “good cause.”

SAF is joined in the lawsuit by Alan Kachalsky and Christina Nikolov, both Westchester County residents whose permit applications were denied. Kachalsky’s denial was because he could not “demonstrate a need for self protection distinguishable from that of the general public.” Nikolov’s was denied because she could not demonstrate that there was “any type of threat to her own safety anywhere.” In addition to Westchester County, Susan Cacace and Jeffrey Cohen, both serving at times as handgun permit licensing officers, are named as defendants. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, White Plains Division.

Attorney Alan Gura is representing the plaintiffs, along with attorney Vincent Gelardi with Gelardi & Randazzo of Rye Brook, NY. Gura recently represented SAF and the Illinois State Rifle Association in their landmark Second Amendment Supreme Court victory over the City of Chicago.

Under New York Penal Code § 400.00, handgun carry permit applicants must “demonstrate good cause for the issuance of a permit,” the lawsuit alleges. This requirement violates the Second Amendment, according to the plaintiffs.

“American citizens like Alan Kachalsky and Christina Nikolov should not have to demonstrate good cause in order to exercise a constitutionally-protected civil right,” noted SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “Our civil rights, including the right to keep and bear arms, should not be subject to the whims of a local government or its employees, just because they don’t think someone ‘needs’ a carry permit. Nobody advocates arming criminals or mental defectives, but honest citizens with clean records should not be denied out of hand.

“Thanks to our recent victory before the Supreme Court,” Gottlieb stated, “the Second Amendment now applies to state and local governments. Our lawsuit is a reminder to state and local bureaucrats that we have a Bill of Rights in this country, not a ‘Bill of Needs’.”

The case is filed as Kachalsky v. Cacase, U.S. Dist. Ct. S.D. N.Y. 10-05413

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers and an amicus brief and fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.

iPod Hell

2010-07-09T10:23:00.000-04:00

I spent a few hours over the past two nights in iPod Hell.

The other night, Judith decided she wanted to be able to run apps on her first-generation iPod Touch. To do so she needed to upgrade the firmware since it was still on v1.x. So, we hooked it up to her MacBook, went to the App Store in iTunes, and bought the v3.1.3 firmware upgrade for $4.95.

ITunes downloaded and installed the firmware but something went awry, and it bricked the iPod. The iPod would apparently boot and was able to sync, but the display never reached the Home screen. Also, it was unresponsive to pressing either the Home or power buttons. I had Judith leave the iPod on overnight in the hopes that draining it, then connecting it to her Mac might allow it to boot. No dice.

I then tried a factory reset and restore, with it connected to Judith's Mac. Again, no difference.

Finally, I connected it to my Wind Netbook and did a factory reset and restore, which got me to the Home screen after it wiped and restored the v3.1.3 firmware. Judith was then able to connect it to her Mac and resync all her music to it. She was also able to download and install a bunch of free apps (games mostly) to the iPod.

Yesterday we let Amanda spend her birthday loot on her own 8 GB iPod Touch. Aside from a game and music player, I'll rip some of her DVDs using Handbrake so she can bring it with her on long rides in the car instead of her POS portable DVD player. I told J. to go ahead and connect it to her Mac but she wound up putting a bunch of her music on it, instead of Amanda's. {sigh} So, I factory reset it and will connect it to Amanda's MacBook Pro (my old machine) so that in the future playlists won't get mixed up.

What a PITA.

Press Release from GRNC on Bateman v. Perdue

2010-06-30T08:47:00.000-04:00

Grass Roots North Carolina / Forum For Firearms Education

Post Office Box 10684, Raleigh, NC 27605

919.664.8565 / 919.562.4137 (Fax) www.GRNC.org

Contact: F. Paul Valone, President, Grass Roots North Carolina*

Telephone: 704.907.9206

E-mail: president@GRNC.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 6/29/2010

* *

GRNC Joins Suit Against North Carolina Gun Ban

Lawsuit follows Supreme Court McDonald v. Chicago decision

RALEIGH, NC – Grass Roots North Carolina has joined Michael Bateman, Virgil Green, Forrest Minges, Jr., and the Second Amendment Foundation in a lawsuit against the state’s emergency powers gun ban.

Named in the suit are North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue; Reuben Young, secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety; Stokes County and the City of King.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the lawsuit contends state statutes forbidding carrying of firearms and ammunition during declared states of emergency, as well as laws enabling government officials to prohibit purchase, sale and possession of firearms and ammunition are unconstitutional because they forbid the exercise of Second Amendment rights as affirmed by Monday’s Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. Chicago.

Plaintiffs are represented by attorney *_Alan Gura_*, who won the recent McDonald v. Chicago Second Amendment case and the landmark D.C. v. Heller case preceding it. Local counsel includes Andrew Tripp and Kearns Davis of Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLC.

Background:

· Since 2004, at least 12 states of emergency have been declared, especially in the state’s hurricane-prone coastal areas.

· In February King, NC declared a state of emergency for impending snowfall, posting signs prohibiting the carriage and sale of firearms and ammunition, infringing upon its citizens’ Second Amendment rights.

· On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of applying Second Amendment scrutiny to state gun laws.

Says GRNC president Paul Valone:

“North Carolina’s legislature has chosen to infringe upon citizens’ ability to protect themselves and their families in times of need. When King, North Carolina banned guns and ammunition in response to pending snowfall, it clearly highlighted the unconstitutional restrictions endured by lawful North Carolinians.”

Grass Roots North Carolina

GRNC is an all-volunteer non-profit dedicated to preserving individual freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. Since 1994, GRNC has conducted grass roots mobilization on legislation impacting Second Amendment issues, as well as voter education and through the GRNC Political Victory Fund, election action to further legislative goals.

The Next Case After McDonald v. Chicago

2010-06-29T16:02:00.000-04:00

The ink is hardly dry on McDonald and Alan Gura and the SAF are already making their next move, this time in North Carolina.

This time, they are seeking a permanent injunction against the enforcement of NC's law allowing the suspension of the RKBA in the event of a declared emergency.

{H/T Snowflakes in Hell}

More Thoughts on McDonald v. Chicago

2010-06-28T15:31:00.002-04:00

IMO, the McDonald decision is interesting for several reasons:

1. The right to keep and bear arms (RKBA) is recognized as a "fundamental right," which places it on par with freedom of speech and freedom of religion, among others. Although the level of scrutiny wasn't specified, I'll be very surprised to see anything less than strict scrutiny apply.

Strict scrutiny won't necessarily void gun registration schemes, but it will void outright bans, discretionary licensing requirements (see Scalia's discussion of "arbitrary and capricious" licensing requirements in Heller), and prohibitive taxes or licensing fees.

It should also void the Lautenberg Amendment, which extend the class of prohibited persons to those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence crimes. AFAIK, this is the only instance when a fundamental right is revoked based upon a misdemeanor.

Related to the above, the court's recognition of the Second Amendment as protecting the RKBA especially as it relates to the right of self defense may prove to be the undoing of the "sporting purposes" requirement in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922.

2. Alito discussed in detail the intent of the 14th Amendment's framers to protect the RKBA of recently freed slaves, which was being restricted by gun control laws in the South. The racist roots of gun control laws are clearly laid out in this opinion.

3. Scalia's concurring opinion was more about eviscerating Stevens' dissent than taking another tack on incorporation. Scalia absolutely trashed Stevens' judicial philosophy.

I would really like to have dinner with Scalia. :-)

4. Thomas concurred in the result but felt that the Second Amendment should have been incorporated via the Privileges or Immunities Clause, essentially overruling The Slaughterhouse Cases. At least since the mid-90s (when I took ConLaw in my 2L year), academics have viewed the reasoning in Slaughterhouse as bogus. My own reaction upon reading it was, "WTF?!?" I suspect the reason the court declined to follow this road to incorporation was that they weren't able to get at least 5 justices to agree to it. So, they took the safe way out.

5. None of the justices in the minority on Heller voted in McDonald to incorporate the Second Amendment, despite the fact that Heller established the individual nature of the right. Instead, they continued to fight tooth and nail against extending the protection of the 2A to all Americans, letting their own personal ideologies overcome their judicial reasoning (such as it is). Shame on them.

What now?

Well, despite what the mainstream news is reporting, the court in McDonald did NOT strike down Chicago's handgun ban. Rather, it remanded the case to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had previously upheld the trial court's dismissal of the case. So, the case can now either go back down to the district court level for trial or perhaps the appellate court can rule on whether the Chicago law violates the Second Amendment.

It's quite possible that Chicago will revise the law to bring it into what it feels is compliance with the constitution, but this fight isn't over by a long shot. A lot of how McDonald proceeds will depend upon how many taxpayer dollars Fuhrer Daley wants to waste.

Aside from the Chicago law, others are now ripe for being challenged, including the draconian and arbitrary pistol ownership licensing schemes in places like NYC, CA, and NJ. Additionally, the assault weapons bans in NY, NJ and CA are in jeopardy.

With the Second Amendment now recognized as protecting a fundamental right, discretionary carry license laws such as those in NY, NJ, MD, and CA may also eventually be replaced with shall-issue laws.

But no matter what, we need to recognize that the enemies of freedom have never given ground willingly, and we still have a long fight ahead of us.

Edit 6/29/10: This post seems to be generating a lot of visits. If you're new to this blog, welcome, and please do check out the rest of my posts.

McDonald v. Chicago - WE WON!

2010-06-28T10:19:00.003-04:00

SCOTUS just released their opinion in McDonald v. Chicago, which challenged Chicago's handgun ban. The court held that the Second Amendment DOES apply to the states, based on the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment.

As expected the decision was 5 to 4.

Full text of the decision is here:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1521.pdf

I haven't yet read the entire decision, and will offer more comments after having done so.

Another Wheelgun Night at the Range

2010-06-21T08:36:00.000-04:00

Having been laid low with a sinus infection for most of the past week and a half, I really needed to do something enjoyable. So, Saturday night I went the to range with my dad and did some shooting.

As is usual for our Saturday night range trips, we stopped at Wal Mart to see what ammo they had in stock. Dad wanted to pick up some .45 ACP for his Colt 1911, since he'd shot all of his handloads. No dice there, so he just wound up shooting his S&W Military & Police 9mm. (We noticed they had plenty of 9mm and .40 S&W.)

I picked up three boxes of Winchester white box .38 Special 125 grain JHP +Ps, and a single box of Remington .38 Special 130 grain ball.

I brought two guns with my tonight. First was a World War II vintage S&W Victory Model Military & Police .38 Special which I bought back in May. Additionally, I brought along my S&W Model 28-2 .357.

S&W Victory Model .38 Special

This was my first time shooting the Victory Model. As expected it runs like a champ and is very accurate. I put a 50 round box of Winchester 148 grain wadcutters into one fist-sized hole at 7 yards shooting double action. Dad put a couple cylinders through it, making a rather small one hole group. The action is extremely smooth, especially considering it's unlikely that gun has been shot much, based on its exterior condition.

Aside from the wadcutters I put two or three cylinders-full of the 130 grain Remington loads through it. I bought this ammo mainly out of curiousity, never having tried this GI-type load before. It's hotter than the 148 wadcutter load and with the old style skinny service grips, the Victory Model wacks my hand with them.

After putting around a box and half of ammo through the Victory Model I took out the Model 28. Dad's range doesn't permit shooting magnum loads indoors, so I shot it with .38s. Wadcutters are real easy shooting in the big N-Frame, while the 130 grain Ball loads were still very pleasant to shoot. I also ran about a half box of the WWB .38 125 grain +Ps through it. They, too, aren't bad to shoot in that gun.

Since my last range trip a few weeks ago, I'd replaced the Herrett's Shooting Star wood grips on the Model 28 with a set of Pachymar Presentation grips I had in my spare parts stash. I'd originally bought them for a 1937 Brazilian contract S&W .45 ACP revolver. I'll be taking them off. They cover the backstrap, which makes the trigger reach too long for me and throws off the gun's balance. I may buy a set of Pachymar Grippers with an expose backstrap. I have a set of these on my S&W Model 625, so I know they're comfortable.

New Home WiFi

2010-06-17T09:39:00.000-04:00

This past week and a half has been a real PITA at Chez Markowitz. All of us, except my younger daughter, came down with some form of sinus/bronchial crud. I missed two and a half days of work last week, a half day this week, and still have congestion and a cough. So, when Judith called me up Monday afternoon to let me know she couldn't get online at home, and that one of my UPSes was beeping, I was not too happy.

Something caused one of our breakers to trip. After getting the UPS back online I found that the SMC 802.11n WiFi router which I've been using as an access point for the past couple of years was dead. No lights, no nothin'. So, after getting a bite to eat I took a trip down to Microcenter.

I looked over the various WiFi routers and access points they had on hand and wound up getting a Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL. I could've gotten it cheaper at Amazon or NewEgg but didn't want to wait several days for it to arrive, since we all use wireless access daily.

I chose the WRT-54GL for a couple of reasons. First, it has a very good reputation for reliability. Second, there are several projects which are dedicated to providing open source firmware which extends the box's functionality. E.g., dd-wrt, OpenWRT, and Tomato. As explained below I'm using it only as a switch and a WAP for the time being but this might change in the future. (Note: If you're interested in putting 3rd-party firmware on a Linksys router, make sure you buy the WRT54GL.)

Why an 802.11g router instead of a new 802.11n router? Even with the 802.11n SMC, I had to keep it in g/n mode, since we have a few g-only devices. E.g., Judith's iPod Touch, my Droid, and an Apple iBook. In g/n mode I wasn't seeing any better performance than with it in n-only mode. Also, I the Linksys's Fast Ethernet ports are not a handicap for my needs, as they are plenty fast to handle my Internet connection. Internet speed tests give results about the same as before. We don't do any major file transfer between systems on the LAN. I just don't need Gig-E now.

One advantage of the SMC box was that you could put it into bridge mode, which disabled the routing functions. My router is an SMCD3G DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem/gateway, so I don't need the WiFi box to do routing. The WRT-54GL does not support this, so instead of connecting it to my SMCD3G via the WAN port, it's connected using a LAN port. The DHCP server is turned off on the Linksys so there's no conflict with the SMC's.

After using the WRT-54GL for a few days it seems like the WiFi signal coverage is a bit more uniform than the dead SMC gave me. So much for 802.11n as a range extender. Aside from wireless protocol, antenna design and transmit power play a big role in the range of one's WiFi device.

My home webserver, showebox.davemarkowitz.net, is plugged into the Linksys box. The web server has the same publicly-routable IP it's always had, while the Linksys has a private IP on the same subnet as the SMC's private LAN interface. There's no problem with running more than one network on the same wire.

Finally, along with the WiFi router, I bought a new APC UPS Monday night. My old Back UPS 650 was due for a replacement. This time I got a 1000 VA APC box, which will provide backup power to shoebox.davemarkowitz.net and the Linksys. I have another Back UPS 650 powering the SMCD3G, my Arris eMTA, and our cordless phone base unit. I can wait awhile before I'll need to replace that one.

Save the oceans from the Evil Oil Companies

2010-06-09T10:00:00.000-04:00

Farm whales!

My green energy solution: Factory whale farming.

We would first need to secure a large enough facility for the farm. With the recent crude oil based disaster hurting the local economy, Louisiana would be the perfect location for cheap land and labor. The New Orleans Super Dome has had a history of problems and should be closed. We should be able to purchase it for a song.

We would have to caulk the doors and ticket windows – possibly spread a layer of sealant over the entire stadium and bleacher section. There aren’t a lot of windows, so the public doesn’t have to see the slaughter house and cry about “veal production”.

Using the pre-existing pump facilities associated with the levee system, it should be easy to fill the dome with sea water. We could re-circulate the water back into the storm sewers and repeat when the smell gets bad.

The most difficult part would be catching the breeding stock of Sperm Whales. That will have to be determined later. Breeding will require large quantities of lava lamps and Berry White CDs.

Feeding will be a breeze. As Obama bows to the environmental nut-jobs and stops oil drilling in the U.S. people will need clothing. Some other ARFCOM entrepreneur will need to begin a large scale leather farm. He can supply us with dead, skinned cows to feed the sperm whales. In return, we’ll provide him ground up whale meat for fertilizer and animal feed.

Brilliant!

Gulf Oil Spill Timeline

2010-06-09T08:31:00.000-04:00

From the UK, here is a page giving a detailed timeline of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. One thing which I've found to be very interesting is the graph at the bottom of the page comparing this spill with others. It's still dwarfed by the size of the 1991 spill engineered on the orders of Saddam Hussein, in an effort to frustrate Coalition forced in Gulf War I.

In a related note, I researched a little about ship sinkings in the Gulf of Mexico during World War II.

42 ships were attacked by U-Boats in the Gulf of Mexico during World War II.
25 of these were tankers.
28 of the 42 ships were sunk
Another 4 were sunk in the GoM in 1943 (2 tankers and 2 freighters).

Source.

Although there no doubt was environmental damage, even with all that oil being spewed into the Gulf of Mexico, it wasn't killed.

I post this not to minimize or somehow negate the significance of the current oil leak, but it does provide some cause for optimism.

SCCSFA Junior Rifle Program

2010-06-07T18:41:00.000-04:00

My shooting club, the Southern Chester County Sportsmen's and Farmer's Association, will be starting a junior rifle program in the Fall.

Full details here.

Obama's Gulf Oil Spill

2010-06-05T08:24:00.000-04:00

The hypocrasy of the MSM in how they are giving Obama a pass on his lack of engagement, vs. how they pilloried Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina is telling.

As the president, Obama could help marshal resources from the Federal .gov and other oil companies and clear through bureaucratic gridlock. Instead addressing an emergency of national import, he goes on tours to promote other parts of his agenda, raise funds for political allies, and goes on vaction.

President Present, indeed.

PA to Vote on Castle Doctrine 5/25/10, Plus Three Antigun Bills

2010-05-24T10:51:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of PAFOA:

Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Castle Doctrine legislation – a move we’ve been waiting on since November 19 when they held a hearing! However, it comes at a price.

In addition to the vote on the important self-defense reforms, the committee is planning to vote on three anti-gun bills on the same day!

Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee today. Tell them that you want their support on HB40 – the Castle Doctrine bill. This specific Castle Doctrine bill will ensure that law-abiding gun owners can feel safe knowing that they can defend themselves from attackers whether it is inside or outside your home. It also protects citizens from the expense of fighting civil lawsuits filed by criminals or their families when self-defense was justified.

But tell them that they must vote down the three gun control bills:

* HB1043 which would create a “Firearm Trafficking Czar” and lead to another bureaucratic agency looking for ways to restrict gun sales in Pennsylvania.
* HB1044 that would end preemption and allow cities to create their own gun bans and carry rules, and
* HB1045 that would arbitrarily ban certain semi-automatic firearms in the Keystone State.

Self-defense reform should not come with a price that includes gun bans, wasteful spending on a new government-funded anti-gun leader, and gutting our state’s gun laws.

Contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee today. Based on the response to Castle Doctrine in other states, we know that gun control groups will get involved in this fight, making it seem as if we will have gun fights on every street corner. As we know, such dire predictions have yet to come true. Make sure you voice is heard! Call, e-mail, or even tweet – just make sure your voice is heard!

Go to PAFOA's site for links to email the House Judiciary Committee members.

Amazon Sales on Swiss Army Knives

2010-05-24T09:38:00.000-04:00

FYI, Amazon is heavily discounting Swiss Army Knives. No emergency/survival kit is complete without one. (Yes, that's an Amazon Associates link.)

Wheelgun Night at the Range

2010-05-23T08:57:00.000-04:00

Last night I had a good time at the range with my dad.

Not feeling like chasing brass, but feeling that it was too long since I shot it, I brought my Smith & Wesson Model 28-2 .357 Magnum revolver. As always, I also had my Three-Screw Old Model Ruger Single Six in .22 LR.

Because my dad's gun club doesn't allow .357 Magnum on their indoor range, I shot .38 Specials in the big Smith. They were Winchester-Western 148 grain wadcutter target loads, which are very mild in a K-Frame, much less an N-Frame. The Model 28 of course ran like a top and shot these loads very accurately. I have a 35 shot group fired pretty quickly double action from 7 yards which can be covered by the bottom of a soda can.

I bought the Model 28 back in the mid-nineties. I traded an Astra 75 9mm towards it, plus maybe a little cash. It has a four inch barrel and Herret's Shooting Star stocks which came of my dad's six inch Model 28 (He didn't like them, I did. Go me.)

Click the thumbnail for a larger picture.

N-Frame .357s are the bee's knees IMO. I really want to get a Model 27 with a 5" barrel but they aren't exactly growing on trees.

I ran only about 24 rounds through the Ruger, single action, one-handed. My group was about two inches. The gun might shoot a bit better with target ammo but I keep a box of Federal high speed bulk pack .22 LR in my range bag along with the gun. (I still need to snap a good picture of the Ruger.)

Dad brought along his S&W Military & Police 9 autoloader. I put 10 rounds through it. It's a nice pistol but I'm happy that I got my Springfield XD-9 instead when I decided I wanted a plastic 9mm. The XD fits my hand better. Dad also brought along his five inch S&W Model 625, an N-Frame in .45 ACP. I have an older 625 and it's probably the most accurate handgun I own. I've used it to reliably hit old rotten green peppers and apples from about 20 yards when shooting double action. Here's a picture of my Model 625:

(The knife is a Camillus Becker BK-7. The clips are RIMZ synthetic moon clips.)

Mac OS X to Droid Tethering Over USB

2010-05-18T15:24:00.001-04:00

I occasionally find it handy to tether my laptop to my Droid for Internet access. I've used PDANet for this in the past but due to some kind of an update, USB tethering to my Mac broke and I have not been able to fix it. Blutetooth tethering works but it's slow.

Today I did some googling and ran across these instructions for tethering using free software. It requires a more involved setup than PDANet but it works and the speed is pretty decent, about 1.5 Mbps down x 0.45 Mbps up.

I noticed that when I terminated the tethering session, before I could reconnect I had to physically disconnect my phone from my laptop and restart the azilink program on my phone. That's a bit inconvenient but I'm willing to put up with a little quirkiness when dealing with free software.

Edit 5/23/10:

I'd call this pretty darn acceptable:

Book Review: A Frozen Hell

2010-05-14T14:41:00.000-04:00

Recently I finished reading A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940
by William Trotter. I'd rate this as one of the best books on military history that I've read.

Trotter does a very good job of covering the background to the Winter War, explaining both the then-recent history of Finland and the geopolitical situation in the months leading up to the war. He also provides a good background on Stalin's motives as the aggressor.

Notably, Trotter devotes an entire chapter to Marshall Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, Finland's military commander. Mannerheim was an interesting character. Born of Swedish-speaking Finiish nobility in 1867, he served in the Tsar's army from the 1880s through the end of World War I, until Finland's independence. He was a bit of an anachronism, but for Finland, he was the right man at the right time, though not without his faults. For example, during the Continuation War (1941 - 1944) he had a problem with micro-managment which may have lead to his being surprised by the Soviet 1944 Karelian offensive. Being overly focused on minutae lead to his missing larger developments.

The Winter War is a classic David-and-Goliath story. This is true not only because of the disparate sizes of the belligerants, but also because of the disparity in armaments. The Finns held on against the gigantic Soviet onslaught for over three months not only in spite of incredibly lop sided numbers, but also lacking any significant armor, minimal artillery, and hardly any airpower. Even looking at weapons organic to infantry units, the Finns were ill-equipped. Supplies of anti-tank weapons and ammunition were low. It was a combination of the Finns' sisu (guts/grit/intestinal fortitude), excellent leadership, and mind-boggling Soviet incompetence which enabled the Finns to hang on against staggering odds and dish out far more than they got.

The Soviets' poor performance can be ultimately blamed on poor leadership. Much of that can be blamed on Stalin, whose purges gutted the Red Army's officer corps during the mid-1930s. Political reliability was valued more than military competence. Thus, unrealistic, idealogy-driven assessments of the Finns lead to unrealistic military goals, insufficient planning, and hampered battlefield decision making, since tactical decisions had to be approved by unit political officers. Political correctness took precendence over reality. One might not that we could learn something from this in confronting the social and economic issues of 2010 America.

If you're looking for a good recounting of the story of a war with which too many Americans are unfamiliar, pick up a copy of A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940.

SCCSFA June Muzzleloading Rifle Match

2010-05-12T11:22:00.002-04:00

The Southern Chester County (PA) Sportsmens' and Farmers' Association will be holding a muzzleloading rifle match on June 24, 2010. Full details including directions to the club can be viewed here.

I'm Not Dead

2010-05-11T21:32:00.000-04:00

Long time, no post.

While waiting for me to come up with something of interest for this site, you might be interested in my review of the Safepacker holster from The Wilderness, over on Survival and Emergency Preparedness.

The Window War Just Got Hotter

2010-03-25T15:03:00.000-04:00

And this time, it looks like the left is kicking it up a notch.

Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor said Thursday that his Richmond campaign office has been shot at and that he's received "threatening e-mails"....

Cantor said "a bullet was shot through the window" of his campaign office. The incident happened Monday, Fox News has learned, the latest in a rash of apparent threats and acts of intimidation against members of Congress.

Link.

Cantor is a Republican, the House Minority Whip.

Most political violence in the US has historically come from the left. E.g., the Black Panthers, SDS, and the Weather Underground.

Most people on the conservative side of the aisle just want to be left alone to go on with their lives and to keep the fruits of their labor. It's the leftists who want to seize property of the productive class in some misguided attempt at redistributive justice. You can only push people too far before they snap. If the progressives keep this up -- and I see no indication that they are backing off -- they will experience backlash greater than they can imagine.

Sharing Volumes Between Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux

2010-03-25T09:34:00.000-04:00

As anyone who's read this blog for awhile knows, I use a couple of different laptops. My primary machine is a Macbook Pro running Mac OS 10.6.2, while my secondary machine -- Hobbit -- is an MSI Wind netbook, currently running Windows 7 Ultimate.

The Mac is owned by my employer while I own the Hobbit. Since I use the Mac for personal purposes as well as work-related tasks (which is OK with my employer) I needed to have a reliable means of backup in the event I change jobs.

On my desk at work I have a Lacie Quadra drive which I use for Time Machine backups over FireWire 800 (it also supports FW400, USB, and eSATA). It would be pretty easy to restore my data from it to a personally-owned Mac. However, getting that data onto a PC would be a real chore, requiring the use of a Mac as an intermediary.

I also wanted a portable means of backup that would work with either machine and that wasn't dependent on a network which might not be available. I might also need to access my data using a Linux system. The cheapest means of doing so is a USB hard disk.

The USB disk I chose is a Western Digital Elements 640 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive WDBAAR6400ABK-NESN. It's a 2.5" drive in a plastic external case. It's bus powered, so no external power supply is required. Compared with the FW800 connection on my LaCie, or even a FW400 connection, USB 2.0 is noticeably slower for sustained transfers. However, this isn't much of an issue once the initial sync is done.

One problem you run into when sharing disks between Windows and either Mac OS X or Linux boxes is the NTFS file system. Linux has its own filesystems. Macs use HFS+. PCs use NTFS. Mac OS 10.6 includes read-only support for NTFS. Windows 7 cannot read HFS+ disks without third party software.

Luckily, there are solutions for sharing an NTFS volume between a Windows machine, and a Linux or Mac OS X machine. Th one I picked is called NTFS-3G and is available in a higher-performance, proprietary version, as well as a free open source version. As described in Wikipedia, "NTFS-3G is an open source cross-platform implementation of the Microsoft Windows NTFS file system with read-write support." NTFS-3G is availabele for OS X, Linux,

I installed the open source version of NTFS-3G on my MBP and so far it's worked very well. I have'n had problems syncing data between the Mac and the WD disk using CronoSync. Likewise, I am able to sync the WD disk to Hobbit, using Microsoft's free SyncToy.

Now I have a backup which I can share between my Macs, Windows and Linux boxes. That's pretty handy.

Kipling Had Something to Say About This Mess

2010-03-24T11:58:00.000-04:00

The Gods of the Copybook Headings
Rudyard Kipling, 1919

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four—
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

235 Years Ago Today...

2010-03-23T11:33:00.000-04:00

...Patrick Henry gave this speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses:

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the house. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the house is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at the truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the numbers of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received?

Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlement assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation.

There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free--if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extentuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

And today, President Obama signs a bill into law, placing chains upon the American people the likes of which have never been seen before.