Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

Remember The Soldiers

Every Memorial Day, I am reminded of the terrible cost of freedom. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who've made the gravest sacrifice are the people we remember on Monday. As you enjoy your cole slaw and baked beans this Monday afternoon, take a minute to remember what these people did to earn the freedom we daily take for granted.

Remember that this very day, a soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, or Coast Guardsmen is imperiling his safety, and possibly losing his life in the Iraqi Theater of Operations so that Islamofascists will be convinced of the futility and ineffectiveness of flying airliners into skyscrapers as a means of effecting political change in their adversaries.

posted by: underwhelmed at May 28, 2005 17:31 | link | comments (6) |

Today's First Reloading Session

Range Report May 24^th

Conditions:

1100 – temp 78° and sunny. Wind calm. Humidity 25%, pressure 29.91”

Loads:

Handloaded .303 from FTR Fazarkerly (SMLE pattern), rifle in new condition. Federal brass, Hogdon H380 powder (worked up 40-44 grain loads), Hornady SP 150 grain copper-jacketed bullets. Each round was 3.035” combined overall length. My chamber measures 3.058”. Primers are CCI BR-2 Long Rifle. Brass was trimmed to 2.211”. Every piece was hand measured. Cartridge weight variance was only 1.18 grains, bullet weight variance was +/- .4 grains. Hornady’s stats on these bullets:

Diameter: .312"

Weight: 150 gr.

Ballistic Coefficient: 0.361

Shooting experience, groups:

Distance 100 yards, iron sights (used flip-up (small) sight set two clicks below “2” mark

1. 40 grains H380: Shot 7 rounds into target:

2. 41 grains H380: Shot 7 rounds into target:


3. 42 grains H380: Shot 7 rounds into target:


4. 43 grains H380: Shot 7 rounds into target:


5. 44 grains H380 Shot 7 rounds into target (note this is a max load)

Results:

I will be using 44 grains of H380 to do the job. Stewart, Family Shooting Center ’s Rangemaster Extraordinaire, advised me to back the sizing die 1/8^th turn – this will effectively neck-size the rounds without resizing the case too severely, and thus may get some more life out of the cases. The .303 chamber is cut overly large, and cases tend to fire-form themselves to death. He suggested that I next work on the Over All Length issue, working up load groups to within .005 of my measured OAL. I am to then work on powder charge between 43 and 44 grains, as that may yield some more accuracy. Next comes primers.

Conclusion:

Reloading is fun. It’s exactly what everybody else told me it would be like, and the results are not confusing. I suspect that since I've never used handloaded ammo, over the years, I got flyers from rifles not simply because I was shooting poorly that day, but because the loads from military factories and from the ammo producers are machine-made junk – hand-loaded stuff works great for YOUR particular gun. It’s like having shoes tailored for your feet; they’re not a size 11, they’re a size 10.741…

Shooting a 2 MOA group out of an iron-sight gun is as about good as it gets – for this shooter’s 40 y.o. eyes.
Reminder: Click to #2 on the micrometer sight – it will raise point of impact; you should be looking at groups about 1.5 inches high, to zero @ 200.

What’s next:

44 grains works in this gun. I may attempt to load 43.2, 43.4, 43.6, 43.8, and 44 at the current COL to see if I get better results, as I would prefer to get the most accuracy at the lowest pressure I can – when I start changing the OAL to “fit” the rifle, the pressures can build up when you seat those rounds closer to the rifling. If the rifle shoots accurately at 43.6 grains, then maybe a change in OAL won’t cause an overpressure.
I will scope the rifle soon, and can possibly work out even better loads when that happens, including changing bullets and powders to see if I can pursue even tighter accuracy.

posted by: underwhelmed at May 24, 2005 20:50 | link | comments (3) |

The Long Awaited BloggerShoot Report Is In

Range Report: May 3rd

Participants: Publicola, Wadcutter, Me

Guns: P-Cola’s fabulous sporterized P17 rifles, his beautiful laminated-stock Garand (with T-37 flash hider, trés-cool), his nickeled Beretta 92F, and his neato-Ruger 10-22. Wadcutter brought a couple of handguns – a CZ with wood grips that was a joy to hold and shoot, and some other handgun. I can’t remember, as it’s been so long! I had the Garand, my new Mega Machine Shop AR15 that I built, and a Winchester Model 121 single-action bolt-gun in .22 LR. I also brought the pip-squeak .32 Kel-Tec P3AT handgun.
Targets and action: I got to Left Hand Canyon first. While there, I set up some clay shotgun targets to sight in the Winchester . Having bought the rifle from a friend’s mom after it sat in her closet for 30 years, I went through it and cleaned it up – there’s hardly any wear on the damn thing. I mounted a cheapo $10 scope on the rifle, and got it sighted it, although this took me nearly 80 rounds. I intelligently discovered, after 35 minutes of frustration, that I was moving the scope in the wrong direction (It’s been YEARS since I’ve sighted in a scoped rifle – that’s my excuse and I’m stickin’ to it). Once I had the little gun roughed-in, I was plinking shotgun targets with it mercilessly, although quite a few hits merely poked small holes in the targets without breaking them up. .22 is little more than a BB, really.

At that point, the boys arrived. I helped P-Cola and Wadcutter hump literally 300+ pounds of gear from their cars into the canyon. Winded but delighted at the company, we set up shop. P-Cola brought a chrono to the canyon! We laid out a blankie to cover the ground, and a tent groundsheet to catch spent shells. P-Cola reloads.30-06 for his P-17s. I haven’t bought dies yet for the Garand, so I gave my spent shells to him.

I took 100 rounds of .32 with me – that Kel-Tec is pleasant to shoot, with little recoil and perfect functionality. I elected to make my opening mag a fun one – taking aim at shotgun target 45 yards away, I managed to vaporize it with my second shot! I screamed, Dean-like, in triumph at the feat; the clay discs are only 4” in diameter. Shooting a round that has immense bullet drop at 45 FEET was like shooting a mortar at three times the distance. Coupled with the fact that I was shooting offhand, my hitting the target meant that the shot was a desperate mix of luck and good estimation. I would not want to get caught in a long-distance gun battle (like more than 20 feet) with a little popgun like that!

Wad let me shoot his remarkable CZ – that gun had no problems vaporizing targets at 45 yards. The CZs are real handguns: chunky but handsome, accurate as hell, fun, and low-recoiling with 9mm, in addition to being super-cheap to shoot. 9mm has become unwisely disrespected in the American shooting community (it’s become the .38 of it’s day); its value has gone into the toilet. Doesn’t make it any less accurate, reliable or dangerous, fads-be-damned.

P-Cola set up his chrono. We chronographed a few rounds with it; my Garand put out 2876 FPS from 168 grain USGI milsurp Black Tip MG ammo. I was rather surprised at the velocity – I didn’t think .30-06 ever went faster than about 2700 fps, especially in a semi-auto gun, and not at 168 grains, either. We shot my Kel-Tec through the chrono for laughs, 777 fps seemed roasting hot for the amount of drop those bullets have. Maybe P-Cola's chrono reads fast - or the 7,000 ft. altitude was messin' with it.

That’s when something funny happened – P-Cola was shooting his Beretta through the chrono and blew off a shroud-arm, then hit the top of the device, sending it sprawling. Flummoxed, we rebooted the unit… and it worked! Wad said that he wasn’t surprised; solid state electronics can take a hell of a pounding. P-Cola was getting some bullet setback that was leading to dangerously high velocities in the Beretta, so he put that handgun away and broke out the bolt rifles. He let me fire some – I described his nicely-stocked-and-scoped P-17 as “death on a stick.” It just shoots where you point it, big cones of copper jacketed love hurtling downrange at jaw-dropping (and shoulder-bruising) velocities. These were rifles for MEN, not boys. This ain’t your kid’s .22!

I fired my Garand at various clay targets 140 yards away from the prone position. I hit or knocked down (from impacts so close they blew the ground supporting the targets away) every target with one shot apiece – the Garand, as you know, was accurized by the world-famous Clint Fowler, and shows the results in the tiny groups it produces. Wad fired my rifle and smiled in amazement. My AR, wearing its new Hakko Tac-Point (all the Trijicon/Aimpoint snobs are puking, assuming they’ve read this far) was sighted in and functioned, as always, flawlessly, accurately, and wonderfully, with the experience only being marred by the YHM free-float tube shooting loose – I should have loctited the damn thing before I hit the range. Oh well, live and learn.
All in all, it was a super fun day – I got to see my blogging friends again, shoot their cool guns, and make hash out of clay. I remember one shot I made with my Garand that emphasized the difference between.223 and the .30-’06: I nailed a Maxell House can that P-Cola brought, and sent it sailing 40 feet into the air. I sure wouldn’t want to get hit with anything like that. .30 cal ROCKS!

posted by: underwhelmed at May 24, 2005 20:28 | link | comments |

Disturbing Story From Phoenix - Has The Invasion Begun In Earnest?

Didn't think so. Nice Barrett .50 cal there, too. Hope he doesn't visit Kalifornistan with that thing - it's illegal there. I'm sure if this trained killer got caught shooting Border Patrol agents with it, he'd claim he was an illegal alien, and the ACLU would descend on him like flies on horseshit (an apt analogy) and defend him to the death.

posted by: underwhelmed at May 23, 2005 05:34 | link | comments (2) |

Silly Brits In The Desert

posted by: underwhelmed at May 21, 2005 22:02 | link | comments |

Religion Of Peace, My Tukas!

Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris of the Palestinian Authority has some real charming things to say about Jewish folk:

"...Israel is a cancer spreading through the body of the Islamic nation, and because the Jews are a virus resembling AIDS, from which the entire world suffers.

"You will find that the Jews were behind all the civil strife in this world. The Jews are behind the suffering of the nations."

It's great to hear the voice of reason and sanity prevailing in the Palestinian Authority. Go here to read the entire article; The Great Holy Man has some other priceless quotes.

The Religion Of Peace has got to drop guys like this, or they're going to become candidates for a world-wide purge.

posted by: underwhelmed at May 18, 2005 09:07 | link | comments (2) |

We Need A Waiting Period On That Dangerous First Amendment

Surely, we need to curb the dangerous and reckless abuse of First Amendment rights:

"More than 115 dead or injured, and now a lame “apology” from Newsweek; maybe it is time for the press to accept waiting periods before exercising its First Amendment rights in the same way the press has backed waiting periods on law-abiding Americans before exercising their Second Amendment rights."

Go here to read the story firsthand...

posted by: underwhelmed at May 16, 2005 18:02 | link | comments |

This Quote Will Be On My Site Forever

I read this on a newsgroup the other day - I got chills up my spine at the intelligence of the ideas and the grace of the language, and the apparent fact that it was written over two-hundred years ago impresses upon me that while we might be in an age of technological wonders, all the great ideas about society and mankind were figured out before the industrial age began.

Here's the quote:

"A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always vote for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a Democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complacence to apathy;
from apathy to dependence;
from dependency back again into bondage."

~ Attributed to Alexander Tytler, Scottish historian, supposedly writing in 1750 about the fall of the Athenian republic over 2000 years earlier. However, the actual author of the quote above has never been fully verified nor has the original quote been found in any writing prior to the mid 20th Century.

So, which stage are we in? Complacence to apathy? Apathy to dependence? Are we headed down the rocky road to Bondage?

posted by: underwhelmed at May 16, 2005 17:06 | link | comments (2) |

Jay Leno Has A Penchant For Extremism

Should he be banned? After all, he is indeed the Godfather of Weird Cars!

(bandwith-impaired crybabies lookout, this movie is over 4Meg)

posted by: underwhelmed at May 16, 2005 15:56 | link | comments |

Just What Every Kid Needs!

A Fighting Hamster!

posted by: underwhelmed at May 16, 2005 15:51 | link | comments |

Apology Post

I have been engaged in the work-intensive effort of preparing my home shop for the hobby of reloading my own ammunition. This has taken nearly superhuman quantities of time and energy; there's much to learn to prevent your hand from getting blown off if you screw something up. Being middle aged, I am cautious before all else. My blogging has taken some hits as a result, and I apologize for the lack of posts.

I will be shortly posting about a small blogger shoot that I attended with the great Publicola and Wadcutter. We had a great old time in the hills of Boulder. Much lead was sprayed downrange and some targets were violently disintigrated, but that tale will be told another day. Stay tuned, faithful reader. (notice how I use the singular; I am probably the only reader of this blog! )

posted by: underwhelmed at May 15, 2005 07:41 | link | comments (2) |

Long Row To Hoe

Things are looking up in Iraq, but there's still a long way to go. Rumor has it (heard this on the radio) that the citizens of Al-Qaim are tired of the foreign insurgents murdering their kids - it looks like they've gone house-to-house to remove these sub-humans from their village. I am suspecting that some of the dead highlighted in this article are terrorists, killed and left unburied (a pretty big sign of disrespect in the Muslim world) by an angry impromptu citizen's militia.

posted by: underwhelmed at May 15, 2005 07:34 | link | comments |

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