PawPaw's House

New Posts

2007-08-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

New posts are up over at the Wordpress site. Go see them.

I'll probably be completing the move to the new site in the next several weeks. I'll continue to update here. In the meantime, you might start adjusting your bookmarks to the new site.

Wordpress

2007-07-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with a new (to me) program and I've set up a site in case I want to get away from Blogger. You can see it here. I'm not ready to move yet, but I've published a posting at the new site about practical rifle marksmanship.

Give it a read, and tell me what you think about the new site. It's rough right now, but hopefully I can learn enough to move to the new site and get away from some of the problems I've had with Blogger.

Shotgun Shells

2007-07-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

I was at Momma's today, bushhogging. When I finished up, she said she found something that Daddy had hidden and she went looking in the closet.

A full box of Winchester Western #6 lead shot in 16 gauge. These fit the Model 12 shotgun that I inherited.

If I'm interpreting the store sticker correctly, these were stocked in September of 1982 and sold for the price of $6.47 at Howard Brothers, a local retailer that pre-dated Wal-Mart. I don't understand why Dad had these hidden. They're still legal for upland game, although not for waterfowl.

These shells are still in fine shape, and there's no doubt in my mind that they'd fire if I loaded them in the shotgun. That's not likely to happen, though. I think I'll keep them with the shotgun to be passed along when the time is right.

Muscadines

2007-07-29T18:19:00.001-07:00

Momma has had muscadine vines since she and Daddy moved to Deville. This morning after church we went over to Momma's so that I could diagnose a broken tractor. As my son and I saw what was wrong (belt had slipped off pully), Milady wandered out to the vines with the grandsons and started pickin muscadines. By the time we fixed the tractor, she had picked two gallons of grapes.

This afternoon, she made jelly. I've got ten pints of homemade muscadine jelly behind me on the counter, jelling.

Heh-heh. Life is good.

In the Mail

2007-07-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

I find in the mail today, a badge.

This is a replica easily found on the Internet. It seems that the administration of Kansas City at one time decided that they needed an officer to inspect the various brothels that serviced the cowboys who brought cattle in from the drives.

That had to be a good job for a single man. A married man would have had distaff problems holding the job.

I collect badges. Normally non-replica badges from little agencies. I find them at flea-markets and antique shops. Still, this one will find a prominent place in my collection. Thanks, Junior.

Who is Qualified?

2007-07-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

We're having an election in October, and a plethora of public officials have to stand for re-election. We're electing statewide officials, and parishwide officials and the campaigning has begun.

The question on everybody's lips is Who's Qualified? In Louisiana, it ain't that simple. Right now, none of them are qualified because the qualifying period hasn't begun. There are a bunch of folks who have announced, but the qualifying period isn't until September 4-6, 2007. Right now none of them are qualified.

Then, it's just a matter of attesting to some fairly simple prerequisites. For example, lets say that Candidate X has announced for Sheriff. He's lived in the parish for the past 20 years, but never spent a day of it in law enforcement. Candidate X's only job for the past 20 years has been running a honky-tonk. On September 4th, he goes down to the Clerk of Courts office and pays a qualifying fee, attests that he has been a resident of Louisiana for two years and a resident of the parish for one year. He signs the form and he has qualified for Sheriff. His name will be on the ballot and if he can get a majority of the votes, he'll be Sheriff.

Now, lets say that Candidate Y has also announced his candidacy for Sheriff. He's also lived in the parish for 20 years, but all of his career has been in Law Enforcment. Lets say that he retired from the City police, then went to work for the Sheriff's office and attained a great deal of success as a modern police officer. Let's further say that some emergency takes him away from the parish during the qualifying period. Due to circumstances purely beyond his control he is not able to appear at the Clerk's office during the qualifying period, pay his fee and sign the form. He is not qualified, and his name will not be on the ballot. Nothing Candidate Y does will change that fact. He ain't qualified.

It sucks. He can run again next time. The lesson here is that being qualified for the job doesn't mean the same thing in politics as it does in the private sector. There is no great career progression for political office. It all boils down to who goes to the Courthouse and pays the fees. If you want your name on the ballot, nothing else matters.

You can see the qualifications for candidates, from governor to constable, here. It's a .pdf form, so be warned.

Hell, in Louisiana, you don't even have to be a Medical Doctor to be the Coroner.

Ranges

2007-07-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

In the hustle and bustle of ordinary life, it's hard to find ranges where the general public can shoot.

It appears that Fort Polk, LA hosts a MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) range for its soldiers. The website says that it's open to the public. It hosts archery, shotgun, pistol, and centerfire ranges with berms out to 500 yards. The website says:

Hunters and marksmen not assigned to Fort Polk are welcome to use the Wildlife Management area and Recreational Shooting Complex if they follow a few basic guidelines. These rules are designed to make access to available leisure activities more convenient, while assuring the safety of the post population and its visitors.

In accordance with JRTC and Fort Polk Regulation 190-3, unloaded firearms must be separated from ammunition and will not be easily accessible to the driver or occupants. The weapon must be in the trunk of a car, in a truck tool box, camper, or bed. The ammunition must be in a separate location.

The Shooting Complex is open on Wednesdays - Fridays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Shooting Complex can be reached by telephone at 337-531-6591 or 337-531-5350.

I'm going to have to look more closely into this range. I've been wanting to try my hand at shooting past 100 yards.

$3 billion

2007-07-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

Three billion dollars. That's a lot of money. Hopefully, enough.

It seems that the Senate, in a weird conjunction of common sense and paying attention to the people, voted to supplement $3,000,000,000 for border enforcement, saying:

“There is hereby appropriated $3,000,000,000 to satisfy the requirements set out in section 1002(a) and, if any amount remains after satisfying such requirements, to achieve and maintain operational control over the international land and maritime borders of the United States, for employment eligibility verification improvements, for increased removal and detention of visa overstays, criminal aliens, aliens who have illegally reentered the United States, and for reimbursement of State and local section 287(g) expenses. These amounts are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 204 of S. Con. Res. 21 (110th Congress).”

Michelle Malkin is all over it. And Harry Reid even admitted he was wrong.

Newspapers

2007-07-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

Newspapers are going through changes. The internet has changed the way we get our news, although there are still people without internet service, or those folks who don't care a whit about the internet.

This post ain't about that. Used to be, newspapers were wrapped with a rubber band. A simple rubber band. A lot of households had a drawer or a bowl or something that collected these rubber bands. No one ever needed to buy a rubber band if they subscribed to the newspaper.

Although I read my news off the Intertubes, my lady still insists on reading the paper with her coffee. She subscribes. I've been going out and getting her newspaper every morning, and I've noticed that whatever the weather the newpaper now comes wrapped in a plastic bag.

I needed a rubber band the other day and couldn't find one in the house. I had to go to the store and buy a bag of rubber bands. In 50-something years, that was the first box of rubber bands I had ever bought for household use.

Thanks, newspaper guys.

Antiquing

2007-07-25T05:37:00.000-07:00

We went antiquing yesterday. My lady and my daughter-in-law enjoy such things, and there are certain items I look for, so I enjoy it too, but not enough to plan it.

We started the morning in Natchez, MS, on Franklin Street, the center of antique shops in Natchez. We quickly learned that the antiques on Franklin Street are priced for a level of consumer that our pocketbooks won't support. While it was fun to browse, the level of the shops there was so very retail. The shop owners were very knowledgeable, knowing the history of most of the pieces. Still, $25,000 for a four-poster bed is a bit much.

After lunch, we went to the Deep South Winery where Milady picked up a case of wine. You can, of course, click on the pictures for a larger version.

Then, we got on Highway 61 and headed south, toward St. Francisville. We stopped in the little town of Woodville, MS and hit a few shops that were closer to our style. We prefer the musty little shops that combine antiques in a flea-market atmosphere. Milady stumbled upon an anitique badge for my trifling collection and my son found some books in a bookrack in the back of one store. We tried to quibble, but quibbling wasn't on the menu. Posted price was posted price, so we made our decisions and traveled on.

If Charleston is considered the birthplace of the Confederacy, then Woodville is one of the incubators. Woodville, MS touts itself as the boyhood home of Jefferson Davis.

In St Francisville we stopped at a lovely old church with a magnificent cemetary. We took snapped some photos as we refreshed ourselves among the stately oaks and contemplated the lives of the people populating the graveyard.

Then, we took the ferry from St. Francisville back to our side of the river and turned north, for home. A case of wine, some trinkets, a couple of books and a chance to spend the day with my son and his wife. It was a good day.

Fire-building

2007-07-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

I'm an Eagle Scout. I've built a lot of campfires in my time. Eagle Scouts pride themselves on being able to build a fire in any weather, any conditions with nothing more than what we find on the ground and two matches. We're tested on it. The test is often in less than what one would consider ideal weather conditions. You only get to fail this test once. One tip is that preparation is 95% of fire-building. Don't strike the match until you've gathered everything you need, have sorted your firewood into tinder, kindling and fuel, and have everything close at hand.

I've even used something called a featherstick.

Yet, until this morning when I went over to the LawDog's place, I had never considered using steel wool as firestarting material.

Go thence, and be enlightened. He'll even teach you to make a featherstick.

One old Eagle tip. If you're ever in the deep woods, lost, in the rain, cold and miserable. If you can find a cedar tree, you're in like Flint.

Liquid Alox

2007-07-22T15:17:00.001-07:00

Back when I started casting bullets, Lee Precision sent me a little bottle of liquid in an order for a bullet mold. Lee Liquid Alox.

Alox, of course, is one of the ingredients in the NRA standard bullet lube, which is 50% beeswax and 50% Alox. It makes a great stick bullet lube that has been used by thousands of cast bullet shooters to shoot millions of bullets.

Alox is a proprietary name of the Lubrizol Company. They make it in a variety of properties for a variety of purposes. Mr. Lee buys Alox in barrels and packages it in the familiar little bottles that he ships all over the world. Over the years, we who wonder about such things have decided that Lee is probably buying Alox 2138F and repackaging it in those little 4 oz bottles.

I've used Liquid Alox since I cast my first bullet. It works. Purely and simply, it works really well. The downside is that it's messy, in that to use it you dip or dunk the bullets in it, then set them out on a piece of wax paper to dry. It dries overnight into a waxy coating that sticks to the bullet. When I am casting pistol bullets, I normally shoot them "as cast" with no sizing. After the bullets have cooled, I put them in a zipper bag and squirt a little Liquid Alox on them, then knead the bag till they're all coated. Then I pour them out on a piece of waxed paper and let them dry on my bench. I've got a bunch out there right now, drying.

Rifle bullets get pushed a little harder than pistol bullets, so they get two coats. After casting, I apply Liquid Alox like I do for pistol bullets. After they're dry, I seat a gas check then apply another coating of Liquid Alox to cover the sized bands. After they dry, they're ready to load. I'm able to drive cast bullets over 1800 fps through my rifles without leading.

Many shooters have tried to make a better bullet lube, hoping to extend their range, or get that extra velocity, or induce some property that is important to them. Bullet casters are experimenters and I wouldn't give a hoot for a bullet caster that hasn't at least once tried to improve on his lube. There are many published recipes on the web and there are many secret recipes for bullet lube. Some are wonderful, some are not. It's the quest that's important and the furthering of knowledge that's important. The do-all, magic formula that lets the bullets fly at light-speed, with extreme accuracy is the quest.

For day in, day out use, I've been unable to improve on simple liquid Alox.

Half Shaft

2007-07-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

PawPaw is going to be mechanic-ing today. Stepson's girlfriend has a Dodge Neon that needs a half-shaft. I'm going to walk stepson through the process. It ain't rocket science, but it is mechanics.

My second son is an ASE certified Dodge mechanic. He considers Neons as disposable cars. I tend to agree with him. He doesn't want any part of this job. Not because it is beneath him, but because he does them for a living.

I'm really not looking forward to this job.

.264 Winchester Magnum

2007-07-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

If you crawl around gun shops long enough you get the inside track on some deals. My favorite counterman has told me that there is a rifle in hock that I might be interested in. It is a Remington 700 Sendero, with that good Remington fluted barrel, mounted with a Leupold 3X9 VariXII scope. He tells me that the rifle will be out of hock by the middle of August and that if I want it, he can guarantee me a very good price on it.

Well, hell. Decisions, decisions.

The .264 Winchester Magnum is one of four magnums (.264, .300, .338, and 458) introduced by Winchester during the late 1950s. It was designed as the ultimate long distance big game cartridge. In its most standard load, it throws a 140 grain bullet at 3100 fps with a muzzle energy (ME) of 2850 ft/lbs. This is good ballistics, but it takes 77 grains of powder for that velocity. It isn't a terribly efficient loading, yet it is certainly a flat-shooting cartridge and uses those wonderfully efficient 6.5 mm bullets.

The .264 Winchester Magnum has a reputation as a barrel-burner. With the powders available when the cartridge came out, I don't doubt that it had trouble with barrel erosion. With the good powders available today, barrel erosion shouldn't be much of a problem. In the old days, the barrels started burning out somewhere past 1000 rounds. If I buy this rifle, I probably won't shoot it more than 20 rounds per year. Even if I shoot 50 rounds per year, it would be 20 years before I'd need to rebarrel it. One of the kids would probably have it by then.

The 6.5mm cartridges never really caught on with American shooters, yet the bullets routinely offer good ballistic coefficients and great downrange performance. Guys who like the 6.5 like them a lot. Remington recently anointed a 6.5 wildcat, making it a factory cartridge based on the .308. They call it the .260 Remington and my sister-in-law used one to take a nice deer last year.

However, my .30-06 shoots a 150 grain bullet at almost 3000 fps using 52 grains of my surplus 4895, for a ME of about 2800 f/p. Sighted 3" high at 100 yards, it's just 4" down at 300 yards. 300 yards is the outside limit of the range that I'm going to pull the trigger on a game animal.

Any deer hit with a 6.5 bullet at 2850 f/p versus a .30 bullet at 2800 f/p ain't going to know the difference. It won't matter a whit to the deer.

Yet the question remains. Do I want that Sendero? In the end, it'll really boil down to the price. Sometimes, a good deal is hard to pass up. Then again, I might just save my pennies and wait on the next deal to come around the corner.

What do y'all think?

More on cast loads

2007-07-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

jpg asks in Comments:

Question: Have you ever weightd the contents of that 2.2 cc dipper? I have a couple of scales but no Lee dippers. And my insulin syringes only hold a max of 1 cc ;-)

Yeah, jpg, I have. The short answer is that the 2.2 dipper holds 27.5 grains of my lot of surplus 4895. Your mileage and your 4895 might be different.

However, 4895 is really easy to use for reduced loads, using either cast or jacketed bullets. The Hodgdon site tells us that:

For years, H4895 has been the top choice by cast bullet shooters. For this type shooting, loads are reduced even more than the hunting loads listed herein. To create loads of this type for target and plinking, we recommend our 60% rule with H4895. By taking the maximum charges listed in our Annual Manual with any given cartridge and multiplying it by 60%, the shooter can create a 1500 to 2100 fps load, depending on the bullet weight shown. This works only where H4895 is listed. Do not use H4895 in a cartridge where it has not been shown.

I have found that this 60% rule works with my surplus 4895 as well as canister grade IMR 4895. I can't recommend this practice due to liability concerns, but I haven't gotten in trouble in practice.

The Hodgdon manual lists 46.7 grains of H4895 as the top end load for a 175 grain bullet in 30-06. 60% of that is 28 grains of powder. My 2.2 cc dipper loads really closely to that at 27.5 grains.

Using dippers instead of weighing individual charges makes sense for me on a couple of counts, not the least of which is that powder is hydroscopic, that is, it retains moisture. 28 grains of powder might be different in dry Arizona than it is in humid Louisiana, but 2.2 ccs is the same everywhere, even Texas.

Try cast bullets in your .30-06. They're generally less expensive than jacketed, they are useful as practice and plinking loads, and even as hunting loads when the hunter limits his shots to reasonable ranges. There is something satisfying about taking an animal with a bullet you cast yourself, in a cartridge you loaded yourself.

Shooters that make cast bullet loads for the .30-30 tell us that the 311041 at 1750-1800 fps does just fine when used on whitetailed deer. My cast loads with the 30-30 gives me an average 1880 fps out of my 20" carbine. That same load gives me an average 1794 out of my 22" barreled 30-06. From either rifle, it's a good load for 125 yards, which is plenty of range for the north Louisiana woods. If I need a beanfield gun, I'll take something else.

Richard C. Reid

2007-07-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

You may remember Richard C. Reid, the shoe bomber who tried to take down an American Airlines flight with a bomb in his shoe. Reid pled guilty in 2002, but in his statement, said that:

After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah," defiantly stating, "I think I will not apologize for my actions," and told the court "I am at war with your country

He's been sentenced. In 2003. If this is old news to everyone but me, I apologize. I had never seen the transcript of sentencing. The presiding Judge, William Young, sentenced him to three life sentences plus 110 years, then gave him a verbal smackdown in the sentencing statement.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier. You are not----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

You can read the whole thing at the Snopes page dedicated to Urban Legends.

Bushhogging

2007-07-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

I was bushhogging yesterday at Momma's house, cleaning up some tall grass and briars in a couple of acres that are infrequently used. Several years ago, Daddy planted pine trees on that area and I was about 80% finished when I got the exhaust stack of the tractor tangled up in some limbs. The tractor in question is a small International 244. It's a 24 horse tractor with a 3 cylinder Mitsubishi diesel.

I managed to stop the tractor before any irreparable damage was done to the tractor or myself. I say irreparable because I managed to break the exhaust stack. Well, hell!

Those of you who have driven small tractors across brushy fields and lots know that somtimes limbs strike the exhaust stack. In most cases, the limb bends and the tractor proceeds and no note is made of the incident. In one case out of a thousand, the limb doesn't bend, the exhaust bends and the old welds break and the limb catches the driver across the forehead. It's exciting if you don't get on the brake quickly enough. In this case, my cap was brushed from my head and managed to take a trip through the bushhog. It was an old cap. I retrieved it later, some the worse for the experience.

So, now this morning I have to find a muffler shop that'll put together what I ripped apart. I better get busy.

311041 Loads

2007-07-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Regular readers know that I like the Lyman 311041 bullet in the .30-30 WCF. I keep a couple of hundred cast and ready to go and when my supply gets low, I cast some more. The 311041 is a bullet that falls from the mold at a nominal 0.311 inch. I lube it with Lee Liquid Alox, add a gas check and size to 0.309, then lube it with Liquid Alox a second time. Ready to load in the case, it weighs 173 grains.

This morning, after I was finished bush-hogging at my Mothers place, I set up a target at an estimated 75 yards. I say estimated, because I know where the 50 yard mark is in that pasture and I walked past it about 25 yards.

I took out the Winchester 94 that lives under the seat of the truck and loaded it with my cast load of a 311041 over a 2.2cc dipper full of surplus 4895 with a CCI primer. This load gives me an average velocity of 1877 fps, with an SD of 22.7. It is an accurate load when I do my part.

That's one four shot and one five shot group with a sight adjustment. The last group is above the target, which is about where I wanted it. My ballistics calculator tells me that this load should be good for deer out to 175 yards, which is a lot farther than I'm willing to shoot at a deer with iron sights.

The next target is the same load, just in a different caliber. It's the same 311041 bullet with the same 2.2cc of surplus 4895 and the same CCI primer. It's loaded in the .30-06 caliber. This load will be shot from the Remington 760 with the red dot sight. It gives me an average 1794 (Sd 33.8) from the 22 inch barrel on that rifle.

I need to move that sight left four clicks, but otherwise, it's ready to go. That load from that rifle should be good out to 125 yards or so. I believe that the red dot sight helped shrink the group size from what it would have been with iron sights. The load lost a little velocity in the transformation from .30-30 to .30-06 but either of them are capable of dropping deer sized game at 100 yards.

For the record, both these targets were fired from a standing supported position, not the bench. I'm through with the bench until the hunting season is over. I'm confident that I have two winners here. Now I only need to do final sighting with the bolt guns and I can quit obsessing over the firearms and loads and start obsessing on getting my hunting area ready for the season.

We've got about 105 days before the start of the deer season.

Rainy Monday

2007-07-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

Whaddya do when it's a rainy Monday afternoon and you're tasked with entertaining two young boys?

That's simple, start puttering on the bench. In a few minutes, they'll come and ask to help.

That's the elder one helping me by flaring brass for .45 ACP reloads. His younger brother helped by decapping 50 rounds. When you're doing batch processing, it helps to have a couple of young'uns doing mindless chores. They're not ready yet for capping or charging or seating bullets, but the time will come... the time will come. In the meantime, they're learning to operate the press under adult supervision. Afterwards, a supper of chili dogs, some day old birthday cake, and I sent them home all sugared up.

I'm sure their Momma appreciates it.

Brilliant!

2007-07-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here's why they'll never win. In California, the gun-fearing-wussies (GFW)in their heavily Democratic legislature have so crafted a law that defines an "assualt weapon".

12276.1. (a) Notwithstanding Section 12276, "assault weapon" shall also mean any of the following:

(1) a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and any one of the following:

(a) pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the weapon.
(b) thumbhole stock.
(c) folding or telescoping stock.
(d) grenade launcher or flare launcher.
(e) flash suppressor.
(f) forward pistol grip.

Yet, some California shooters have crafted a stock for a common hunting rifle that complies with the law and allows the shooters of California an opportunity to enjoy the firearms that our Founding Fathers protected and our hunting brethren in many other states enjoy.

They call it the U15 stock and it does away with that most frightening, child-killing, bullet spraying, part of the rifle: the pistol grip. For your edification and appreciation, I show you the California legal hunting rifle.

While waiting for gasps of appreciation and cheers of adulation to die down, I'll mention that this stock modification makes the common AR15 legal in California. It isn't a bunch of gun-nuts trying to get around the California law, it is a bunch of shooters trying to comply with the law. You'll notice that the rifle in question doesn't have a pistol grip stock. Nor does it have a grenade launcher or a flash suppressor. (That thingy on the end of the barrel is a muzzle brake.)

It is ugly as a Tuesday hangover, but it certainly complies with the law. No longer will California shooters be made an instant outlaw by possessing a dreaded pistol grip. Pistol grips, as you know, are designed to instantly change the mental fortitude of a reasonable sane person into one who would stalk schoolyards and rob banks. People possessing pistol grips might even conduct drive-by shootings. It's all about how a rifle is designed, not how it's used. And, the stock is reasonably affordable, just $228.00, plus shipping. I can see that they're going to sell a boat-load of these things.

Bushmaster and DPMS ought to contract it as an accessory that can be added at the factory. Were I the marketing guy for Bushmaster, I'd order a couple of hundred and ship the completed rifles to stores all over San Francisco.

I'll close with a quote from the unstoppable Kim duToit, where I got the story.

5:00 Monday

2007-07-16T12:20:00.001-07:00

**UPDATE** I was wrong. Senator Vitter says he's going to Washington to do the important work that Louisiana needs him to do.

Vitter didn’t take any questions and preemptively answered any questions about a possible resignation by saying that he was eager to continue his work in the U.S. Senate.

Original Post below:

Your Right Hand Thief links to an article that says our Senator, David Vitter is going to make a statement at 5:00 p.m. today from Metarie, LA.

Vitter, R-La., scheduled a Monday 5:05 p.m. CDT appearance in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, where he was to issue a statement. It was unclear whether he would take questions.

Hell, I wouldn't take questions. I'd simply resign. Hopefully, Senator Vitter will do the same.

Then, our governess, the Queen Bee herself, could appoint a Senator until we could get an election going. We have a statewide election in October. That would be plenty of time for the players to get ready. Qualify in late August, run in October, runoff if necessary in November.

I've never been much of a political pundit, but I put the odds at 60-40 that David will resign this afternoon.

It would be the right thing to do.

In a couple of hours, we'll know if I am right.

Red Dot sights

2007-07-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with a low-end Simmons red dot sight. I've never had any experience with these type sights and I thought it was time to get acquainted. The price was certainly right, under $40.00 at Midway USA.

I mounted it on a Remington Model 760 pump action rifle in .30-06. .30-06 is a fairly serious caliber, a benchmark of rifle cartridges. I wanted to test the sight against recoil with a common cartridge. It has held up well so far, with the sight holding zero after a hundred or so rounds of ammunition.

This is not a scope, it's a sight. It is not designed for precision work, but for quickly shooting at targets of opportunity. The red dot subtends 5 minutes of angle, which is 5" at 100 yards. The sight has 11 settings for brightness on the rheostat, which makes the sight useful during bright sunshine and during total darkness.

Using the sight on a police range, I was routinely able to make head shots at 50 yards on a man-sized silhouette. I had the rangemaster turn the target away, then present it for two seconds. I put the rifle at the low ready position and when the target presented itself, I came to the offhand unsupported position and fired one round. Head shots were easy in the time allowed. Two seconds. The target reset after two seconds. If I had tried this at 100 yards, I'm confident that the shot would be successful.

This isn't a precision scope. It is a quick sight. The red dot presents itself against the optical plane and once adjusted for the ammo used, it is a simple matter to place the dot on the target and squeeze the trigger. It is very fast.

Parallax, you ask? Oh, there's plenty. The red dot moves around as you look through the sight, but your brain (that magnificent ballistic computer between your ears) tries to center the red dot through the sight. I suspect that at 100 yards, it might have as much as 24 or 36 inches of parallax, so I took some photos to show how the sight works.

Here's a photo through the sight. The red dot is out of center and is high in the sight. It appears against the base of the tree in my neighbors yard.

This photo shows the sight out of alignment with the red dot at 8:00, almost out of view. The red dot is nearly obscured by the body of the sight, yet it is still on the base of the tree.

Here, the dot is low in the scope, yet it still presents against the base of the tree. The rifle wasn't moved as I shot this series. I took these photos against a stationary rifle. I feel confident that if I had to engage that tree, the bullet would have hit the target, even if I didn't center the sight in the picture.

However, our brains try to automatically center a dot in a circle. So, a quick movement, the dot would center and the shot would be made. It takes longer to write about it than to do it, and I find this sight to be extremely fast.

This sight would probably be just the ticket for fast snap-shooting at short range, in a still hunting scenario where the targets present themselves quickly. It doesn't take the place of a good scope, and shouldn't be interpreted to be the best sight for deliberate, long range fire. However, many times shots present themselves at ranges under 125 yards and this sight might be useful at the beginning and end of the hunting day, and in deep woods where a front sight isn't always visible.

There is the problem of batteries, though. I'm still using the original that came with the sight, but I'm careful to turn the sight off when I'm not carrying the rifle. Good practice would probably demand that I obtain a couple of spare batteries before hunting season.

Birthday

2007-07-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

We hosted a birthday party today for my mother-in-law, the unsinkable Miss Reba.

She turned 86 and she's still getting around and keeping her own house. Two years ago she broke her wrist working in the yard. Then, she fell while digging a ditch and was stove-up for a while. But, she's all healed and doing well.

She's still enjoying a toddy, occassionally.

I hope when I'm 86 I'm still able to hoist a magnum from the ground to my waist. And I hope Miss Reba continues the same exercise plan for many, many years to come. Miss Reba got clothes and jewelry and candles and bottled spirits. Not a bad birthday at all.

For today, a number of us cooked and we gathered at PawPaws house for the festivities. We had beans and tater salad and green salad and grilled chicken and sausage and pork tenderloin. It's been all cleaned up now, the kitchen is straight and the guests have departed. The grandsons are still in the pool.

Pawpaw needs a shower and a nap.

Happy Birthday, Reba.

Rain

2007-07-13T16:23:00.001-07:00

Gene Hill once wrote that rain may be the oldest sound to reach the porches of man's ear.

As I write this, a glass of tea sits at my elbow. My head and shirt are wet and it's raining outside. What the weatherman calls a local thunderstorm. It's a gentle rain, pattering on the concrete outside, cooling the afternoon and settling the dust.

I like rainstorms like this, whether I am in the woods or in town. The world seems to take a breath and get under cover while the rain rearranges the day. The lightning crashes and the rain falls in sheets only for a little while, then settles into a gentle dousing, wetting everything thoroughly. Were I a paleo-hunter-gatherer, I would adjust my schedule, looking for game in the sheltered areas that exist in every woods. I'd move slowly, letting the rain hide the sounds of my movement and stopping frequently, scanning the gloom under the conifers for my prey. On the morn, I'd track for half a day, knowing that all the tracks are as fresh as the rain.

As it is, I am a modern suburb dweller, so I stand under my carport and drink my tea, watching a honeybee take refuge under the bumper of the truck. I'm intrigued because I haven't seen any evidence of beekeeping here, yet standing on the concrete drying her wings, sits the undeniable evidence.

The wind is out of the west and the rain is moving slowly east. It'll be over soon.

Budget under the knife

2007-07-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

I see that Governor Blanco has cut $65 million from the state's $30 billion budget. She targeted such things as:

The governor late Thursday issued vetoes to House Bill 1 that actually don't affect many projects or programs. The largest cuts, $46 million and $18 million for barrier island work, could be restored if the state sells the remaining portion of a tobacco settlement instead of waiting for tobacco companies to pay it over the next 20 years.

I see she also veto'd $40,000 for the SugArena and $75,000 for scholarships for the Southern University Marching Band.

Before we start thinking that the Governor is getting all conservative on us, we've got to remember that $65 million dollars is not even a quarter of a percent of a $30 billion budget. $65 million sounds like a lot of money, and I'm sure I could live on it without too much trouble, but $65 million for a state government ain't much money.

It's a start, but it ain't much.