70 years ago...

70 years ago today..


Those poor bastards in the Indianapolis began their ordeal.

Forgotten by their command, they floated for 4 days in the Pacific after being torpedoed on their way from Guam to the Phillipines...No one was looking for 'em....A LOT of people failed the men of the Indianapolis that day and the next...

No one was even looking for them. Found by accident .

4 days.

880 went into the water..

217 came out.


Kinda like this story:

MH 370 washes up on shore.

Seriously, at least a piece of it.

or so it appears.

Seems that a piece of what appears to be a 777 (and there is only one missing) wing or flap washed up on the shore of Reunion Island....But how long ago it washed up no one knows.

It is, at least, something to go on.

Maybe, at long last, someone will know, for sure, what happened. Maybe the rest of the wreck can be found.

Maybe.....

It's alive! Alive I tell you! ALIVE!!!

Well, not really...... But it IS finished.

The Non Ruger 10-22, that is.

(as always, click pic to embigginfy)

ain't it purty?

Tactical Innovations receiver (red) (w/Black Bolt).

Whistle Pig blue fluted 18.5" lightweight Barrel. (You need one of these for your 10-22 as well....)

Kidd 2 stage trigger (12 oz/12/oz.) (You need one of these for your 10-22)......Very pricey. Very. But OMG! so very sweet.

Red/White/Blue because ...'Merica! And I felt like it. Colors ain't gonna make it shoot any better, I know, but since I was building it.......and it didn't cost more or anything...


The assembly will live, for now at least, in a surplus to needs Hogue stock that I had laying around (until I find a decent adjustable stock). I trimmed the stock to free float the barrel. You can pass a bill all the way to the Vee block.

And it will wear, for now at least, a 4-12 x 50 Tasco that I also had laying around. There will be an upgrade in the future, but I'm gonna have to save my pennies for a while to find the right glass for this rifle. (and there isn't anything wrong with the Tasco....it is a decent scope that has served me well in the past.....it is likely older than some of my readers)

This assembly was not entirely drop in. There were issues with tolerance stacking, but I have to say that Tactical Innovations went out of their way to help. So did Whistle Pig. (Kidd was just sure that their trigger wasn't at fault and blamed everyone else.....) I had light strikes on the rims resulting in unreliable ignition, which turned out to be a bit of tolerance stacking.  But once that was solved (with help from Tactical Innovations who went out of their way to make things work for me) everything else went smoothly.

The receiver is a well machined piece of metal.

The barrel is a work of art.Very light too. I chose not to get one with a threaded end for a silencer, because that combination of color and flutes and threaded end wasn't stock....but Whistle Pig did say they would make one for me for a reasonable price....

The trigger is great. Not cheap, Expensive, in fact... but worth the cost...

Total weight is 5.6 lbs...but 2 lbs of that is the Hogue stock.

This weekend is busy, but I should get it to the range soon .

Range report to follow...

Other parts I used:

Kidd Vee block (and screws), Nicely machined piece. Much higher quality than others I have seen.
Kidd polished trigger pins. (these fit perfectly. If you warm them up in your hand, they won't go in.)
Kidd bolt handle/return spring. (IMO the best on the market).

American National Firearms bolt buffer. These never seem to wear out. I have one in a rifle that has over 23,000 rounds through it and there is zero appreciable wear on either the pin OR the bolt.

Now if I could only find decent aftermarket mags, then I can have an entirely Non Ruger 10-22.

I think I will call it Captain America

(And I paid for everything, so the FTC can go eat a large block of cheese)

Yeah, Kinda like that

Only my attitude is less productive.

never can have too many

Straps, that is. When hauling crates or equipment on a flatbed trailer, you can NEVER have too many straps in your truck....and (up to a point) there is no way to have too many tieing your load down tightly.

Hauled a three point backhoe from Chicago to my home. 3 ratchet straps over the top holding the crate down tightly to the trailer.

One each fore and aft to keep it from sliding back and forth front to back or side to side.

so that was 4 straps.

After about a mile down the road, two to keep the cover from billowing.

When I was strapping the thing down, the guys at the warehouse/freight yard said I was overdoing it.

Then I went from 70 to 10 in about a hundred feet when there was a wreck in front of the guy in front of me.

Glad I had those extra straps. 2000 lbs (not that much unless it breaks loose) would have made my day when it hit me in the back.

True sportsmen foil the efforts of bureaucrats.

So it seems that the South African shooting team and the New Zealand shooting team (coming to shoot at Camp Perry) both had their match competition ammo hijacked stolen confiscated at the point of entry  (they should have hand carried it through Mexico and across the border, then no one in our government would have cared or noticed).

So what happens? Shooters here in the US step up and collect components, presses and build loading benches so that these sportsmen can load their flavor of ammo and compete on an even field with the others.  Kudos to them, and to the companies that donated.

Class.

Unlike the assholes in Customs and Border Patrol. And their bosses. And ultimately, Barry.

Other databases hacked

Seems that the FedGov Healthcare database was hacked...

And no one heard about it on the MSM.



Odd, that. Very odd.

Or not.

No one really knows the extent of that data breach. Might be big, might not.

Gah.

Busy, for a day off.

The Non-Ruger 10-22 rifle is languishing, waiting to be finished.

Best laid plans and all that. Mayhaps I will get to it tomorrow.

Mebbe not. Shall see what happens.

I'm no EMT

And I freely admit that my knowledge of advance trauma care is .....limited. Maybe nonexistent, really. And having posted this, I am likely going to get to find out what kind of gravy goes best with shoe leather.....

But I can't help but wonder about the actions and decisions of the EMT's as seen from the outside at a distance....Yeah, I am armchair quarterbacking here, and all that....

But:

Here's the thing: I live near an area that the EMT folks use to land the LifeFlight helicopters and  to transfer patients.

So, today, about a mile from this area, there is a Motorcycle vs Truck accident, with predictable results.

Now, the ambulance picked up the motorcycle rider, and brought him to the transfer area. Where they sat for approximately 15 minutes waiting on the chopper.

The copter landed, and still, the victim was in the ambulance for another 40 minutes I assume they were trying to stabilize him or stop bleeding long enough to get him to better care.

However:
When you add in at least 15 minutes flying time to a trauma center in either Chicago or South Bend (likely Chicago is better, and closer by a minute or two and that was the direction the chopper flew off towards).....you are at, with the time spent in the ambulance on the ground while the chopper is waiting, at or beyond what it would take to drive to said hospital (Ferinstance, *I* can get to the trauma center in Chicago (Northwestern Memorial), in "normal" traffic, in 45 minutes, maybe 55 if traffic is heavy....and I don't have red lights and a siren.

Now, I don't know if the EMT's can do more sitting still than they can in a moving ambulance, but time from pickup to hospital had to be, including while the chopper waited on the ground, at least at least an hour and 10 minutes....which is actually MORE than what it would have taken to 'Scoop and Run" to the Trauma Center by road. Remember, road time is 45-55 minutes in my personal vehicle, no lights, no siren, etc. There is a "Normal" hospital with an emergency room less than 15 minutes away by car ...likely about 10 minutes by ambulance....maybe a minute or two less. One would think that they would have brought him to a nearby emergency room, stabilized him there, then, if need be, transported him via chopper from hospital to hospital. In the time the ambulance was waiting for the chopper to arrive, (not the time the chopper waited on the patient to be moved from the ambulance) he could have been in an emergency room....perhaps not a Trauma Center, but a much better equipped facility than the back of an ambulance.

Again, I don't know if sitting still allows the EMT folks to do more than what they could do moving...if so, then the ground hold maybe makes sense. If not, them there was no real reason for the Chopper that I can see. .

I just don't understand the concept of hurry up and then wait.....then Wait and Hurry up! If you need the chopper, then I would assume time is of the essence....And if it isn't, then why call the chopper to begin with?

Again, I may be doing the EMT's, professional that they are, a disservice by questioning their actions. If so, I will apologize in advance. Perhaps there were unforeseen circumstances that changed things as the situation unfolded.

But it really doesn't make sense from the outside.

I remember

Where were you? The first time a man set foot on another celestial body.



46 years ago.

My, those men had balls that clanked,

And Our nation, one of the youngest, helped put them there.

Using Feet and Inches and Miles and Pounds, not the metric system.

Odd that.

So lemme see....

Iffen I got this straight:

Dylan Roof was a terrible person, who represents all of us white people....We secretly hate black people and want to kill them all because  Confederate Flag....

But Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez was a lone gunman who did not represent any culture or religion..... was merely a lone psycho who was not motivated by anything like Islam....

All the parts are here!

for the Non-Ruger 10-22. (although I may have to use factory Ruger mags unless I wanna go with extended capacity ones) (ETA: Oops, I forgot to order a bolt buffer....Amazon, Baby!)

Now there is the fitting of the barrel to the receiver, the receiver to the stock, and other small fitments.

Damn it though, I'm fairly busy until Monday afternoon. Lots of fine work to do to assemble this .

It's gonna be pretty. Red receiver, blue barrel, white stock....'Cause 'Merica! that's why.

Pics as I have time.

Lets be real here:

Everyone is pointing out that the recruiting office in Chattanooga was a "No Guns" zone. and everyone is at lest insinuating that had those folks been allowed to arm themselves that things would be different.

Maybe.

Probably not, however. Likely nothing would have changed. The asshole (I won't bother naming him, everyone else has used his name way too much) reportedly used a "High Powered Rifle" to shoot at the recruiting center and kill the marines from OUTSIDE the facility.

Shot through the glass.

When you are working, or shopping are you that vigilant that you are watching the people 100 feet away OUTSIDE THE BUILDING?

I'm likely one of the most....some might say...paranoid...people that I know. If I could remount my eyeballs to scan better, I'd have it done. Always in "Condition Yellow" .Yet I'd have likely missed a threat outside the building a hundred feet away while I was working as well.

You can't be 100% vigilant all of the time and still be out in the world doing things and getting wotk done. At some point you have to look at what is in front of you. Do a job, read a printout or a computer screen.

You are probably at home reading this. And if you are reading this, then you aren't scanning for threats...... what about the guy driving by pointing a gun at your house?

Oh, you didn't see him? All you heard was when he popped of three or 12 shots at the walls in which you reside?  Yeah, well, too late.

And you CAN be armed. Not that it matters, really. The Marines weren't looking for a threat. Had no reason to believe that there was one....Even if they had been armed. what would have changed?

Sudden Jihadi Syndrome?

I mean, we haven't had one for a while. Strangely, people of other races/culture/religion just don't seem to have the issues,



And he is quoted asking, at the end of this article :"My name causes national security alerts," the quote reads. "What does yours do?"

Well, now you know why your name gets special scrutiny, junior.

Wanna be treated like everyone else? Stop going "Islamic nutball killing machine", and keep others who look like you from doing so as well. Condemn those who go "Sudden Jihad" and shun their supporters...

That would go a long ways to help you.

ETA:

Murphy has some thoughts about the subject as well

I agree

Wholeheartedly.

Let us hide the evil that is islamic flags

It is after all only logical. Somehow, dead black churchgoers were killed bu the confederate flag.

This mess in Chattanooga where 54 marines were killed bu someone who was islamic.

Let us tear down those flags then. And, while we are at it, let us burn the book from which he got his inspiration.

'Tis only logical.

Now if we could just make that happen here in the US....

Australia has slammed the door shut on any new government-funded investment in renewable energy schemes as Prime Minister Tony Abbott extends his “war on wind power”.

How many BILLIONS has the western world spent on the wind boondoggle?

Look: wind and solar are a great idea if you cannot easily use another fuel, or if you have very limited or intermittent needs, or cannot easily bring power in from the grid.

But as main baseline generation? Nope

Never work. Ever. History has borne this statement out.

Parts arriving....WTF is an "Other" anyway?

So the Non-Ruger 10-22 is coming together....at least the parts are becoming co-located...

Picked up the receiver from my FFL today. 4473 and all. The ATF(e) calls it an "other" .... why?

The Kidd trigger is very sweet. 12 oz and 12 oz  2 stage...Very, very nice. .... the pins holding it in place in the receiver are at exactly the right size. If you hold 'em in your hand too long, they won't go into the holes in the receiver. Very close tolerances in all of these parts....

So I have receiver, bolt, cocking handle/recoil spring, trigger. Barrel is on the way. I have a Hogue stock that the assembly will live in until I find a better stock. For starters, it'll get an old Redfield 4-16 X 40 scope that I have laying around to wear until I find something better.

I fully expect that the gun will shoot much better than I can. We shall see. I should be close to MOA shooting, even if it is .22LR.

Like ISIS or the Taliban

Only here in the United States....

NAACP wants carving at Stone Mountain removed, and all other "Confederate Symbols" removed from every government building. 

Remember the Buddahs in Afghanistan? The statues at Ninevah? irreplaceable, but destroyed by religious whackos.

Same attitude, same poor thought processes.

But Fundamentalist are often like that.

efficiencie

So the pieces for the Non-Ruger 10-22 are beginning to trickle in.

notes:

When you order from Kidd, the parts are shipped, apparently, just before you finalize the transaction. I realized that I had forgotten to buy a bolt handle. I went back FIVE minutes after completing the first transaction, and the order had already shipped. Had to pay shipping twice. I mean, I got the notification of shipment from USPS....tracked that it was picked up as I was trying to modify the order.

Similar experience with Tactical Innovations: less than an hour from getting the paperwork for the FFL to them, and the receiver shipped. I get to pick it up tomorrow.

My Whistle Pig barrel should be here Wed. Shipping on that one took 2 days to happen. I shall have to complain.....

yeah, like that'll make a difference

I mean, really, like exhuming the body of Nathan Bedford Forrest....Yeah, that's gonna put everything right.....right?

Gonna fix the issues, yessir, it will. Because confederate....Slavery, KKK......
DoublePlus UnGood bad JuJu to some folks.

WTF?

Are you idiots gonna insist that we Nuke Africa? "cause you do realize that your ancestors likely were sold into slavery by .....other Africans, Maybe we should kill all the Muslims, because the slave traders who bought your ancestors from the other black people and sold them to the shipowners who brought them to the US were likely Muslims......

Are you fools trying to erase history, rather than rise above it?

You can't erase it....and your attempts to do so won't fix your problems, most of which have nothing to do with white people.

Fools.

It is rumored

That President Lincoln has been misquoted as saying:

'If you read it on the Internet then in must be true"

Oddly, I cannot verify this through Google.

yep

Exactly correct

What, exactly, has changed by the removal on the Confederate flag?

What has been fixed?

I still fail to see where the flag hurt anyone, and I fail to see where this is gonna fix things for the Black culture and for black people.

The flag didn't cause their problems, and removing it changes nothing.

It isn't white Confederates that keep Black people poor and depending on the Government for help... It is poor Black Culture that does it.....

So tell me. What, really, has been accomplished by removing that flag?

That bit I wrote about below?

It has begun.

REBELLION: These 5 Governors Just Vowed to DEFY Obama’s New Executive Order

Hey, if Immigration laws, then why not this?

Sanctuary cities

These are cities where, for some reason, the flouting of immigration laws is accepted.....by the people, by the lawmakers, by the police, by the state governments in which they exist, and by the Federal Government...

Why?

Why is the flouting of any law acceptable? It isn't that the law is illegal....It isn't that the laws are not enforced elsewhere in that state or in the country.....just in certain cities where the Mayor or whatever they call the leader of that municipality has "Decreed" that these Federal and State laws will not be enforced........

In other words, the Mayor of San Francisco has declared that we can ignore certain laws...

And the higher governments accept it, and acquiesce....They, by failing to enforce the laws, agree that it is acceptable to break them.

What if a municipality (or a state) were to decide that other Federal laws were acceptable to ignore?

Say gun laws, or marriage laws. O laws regarding finance?

Or, say, tax laws?

What would happen then? If it came about that the city of, say, Ottumwa, Iowa decided that all laws regarding the manufacture (or transfer) of firearms were null and void, would the Federal government look the other way? How about the State?
How about if Reno, Nevada decided that there need be no licences to handle nuclear materials? How about if Ogden,Utah decided that there need be no currency or banking laws, and allowed anyone to deposit any amount of money in a bank, with no records as to where it came from? What if the town of Athens,Georgia outlawed homosexuality...Made it an offense punishable by a year in jail?

Would the Feds just shrug and look the other way?

While I do feel that there are too many laws, and many are unconstitutional, these are laws. Either enforce them, or take 'em off the books.

Why does the Federal Government fail to enforce their own laws in "Progressive" cities? Why is that acceptable?

Prudence? Or unrealistic fears?

Or just more gun control propaganda?


So the Plainfield, Illinois police were called because some kids were playing with airsoft rifles. 

They confronted the kids, This we know.

The officers claim the kids pointed the rifles at them, and they reacted (as they should have, if their version of the story is true) and nearly shot one of the kids.

The kids claim they were playing in the woods, and never pointed the rifles at the officers., who drew on them immediately....

Which story is true? We don't know. Kids tend to bend the truth....but so do officers these days....Hard to judge.

But these were kids, not adults. Plainfield is a fairly affluent suburb of Chicago. Not an inner city shithole.  Kids. Fairly young men, not adults, or even adult sized kids.

One would expect officers of the law to have a bit more sense.

This coulda been ugly...very ugly.

Methinks the officers overreacted just a bit.....Perhaps. Pointing a gun shaped object, orange tipped or not, at anyone is not a good idea. How would you react?

Now, having said that, the difference in appearance between an airsoft rifle and a real one is the orange tip, which can be painted on a real rifle for less than $5.00. Can of paint and some tape and 10 minutes, plus dry time.

I am glad everyone went home that day with no extra holes in their body.

And another example

Of the courts doing social activism rather than adjudicating .....you know....laws...

Federal Judge Orders Cancellation of Redskins Trademark


THis is as bad as the judge releasing Bill Cosby's testimony because he was "moralizing"....it was punishment, plain and simple, because the judge didn't like Cosby's message.

THese judges need to be recalled....Judges shouldn't be activists, they should be JURISTS.....if they can't be jusrists first then they should be removed.....or shot for failing those they serve.

Food for thought?

I bet this breaks the race thing WIDE OPEN....

Lower class welfare type black economically disadvantaged people moving to upscale neighborhoods. Those same neighborhoods being forced to diversify by adding "lower income housing"

Yeah, that'll make things all hunky-dorey. Lowlifes are lowlifes, no matter what the melanin content. Those "Progressives" will quickly learn why lower income people of all races live in shitholes....

Sadly I was too busy

To remember the birthdate of my favorite author.

Happy Birthday RAH...Sorry I'm late

It ain't free

Was talking with a dude about what we did this weekend.

Mentioned that I had split a rick (8' X 4') and half of wood. Got my exercise.

"Oh, you heat with wood? Cool!"...."Must be nice to have all that free heat...wish I could do that".

Well, first of all, you could "do that", if you own a home....and chose to.

Second, it isn't free. There is the sunk cost of the chainsaw, axes wedges, sledge, racks, etc. Plus the stove itself.

Then there is the sweat. Lots and lots of that. (not that I don't need the exercise... and, as far as I know, no one ever drowned in sweat). But sweat there is, in plenty.

Sweat when you cut it after the thunderstorm that brought it down....

Sweat when you haul it home.

Sweat when you stack it so it can cure.

Sweat when you split it.

Sweat when you stack it so it will dry after it is in stove sized pieces.

Sweat when you bring it inside to burn.

And it is nice when you burn it. And it keeps me in shape.

But it ain't "free". Not by a long chalk.

It occurs to me....

That our Founding Fathers, and the rest of the colonials that fought the British Army (of occupation, really) committed what was, essentially, treason,  for far fewer transgressions of rights than we experience today from our own government(s).

Methinks that August has too few Holidays. Perhaps we should add another....the Second Day when we celebrate Independance...a day to commemorate when the American People rose up and said "enough!" and threw off the yoke that our current government has imposed upon us. Perhaps, on this first day of Independence, we should consider their example.

I am thinking 8/8 has a nice ring to it......

Something to think about.

Our forefathers would have revolted a long time ago, doncha think?

So the Feds are are asking you to be vigilant

this weekend.

Not a bad idea.

But Srsly, folks, you should be vigilant EVERY DAY.

Not just when good old Uncle says so.

Pay attention every day, every moment.

Be aware of your surroundings, who is there and what they are doing....Look at body language. Groups. Singletons. Odd behaviors....people out of place. Actions that are not normal for the area...

Just friggin' pay attention. Not just The 4th and maybe the 5th...Every day.

Were I a terrorist, I'd skip[ this weekend and do something on Wed.

Independence Day

People should call it that..... not "the Fourth of July".

The day our forefathers the people who made this country, said "Fuck You" to the king.

And signed their names to the document.

That took balls.

Don't let what they gave us get all tossed around by a bunch of whiney Liberal assholes who think they know better.

Don't let em fuck up what is, still, the best damned country on this mudball.

Ffnorgh

I have things to get done today, I be having Friday and Saturday off, and therefore haveta get all of my stuff done on Friday 'cause Saturday is like a special day.....According to the sale paper, anyway.

Meh.

Just not feeling it.

Just sayin'

Yeah, I know it is late.....

Still funny though

Aaaannndd... you knew it was coming

Now comes the equal rights battle for people who want to be married to many people.

Just five days after the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage a right, a Montana polygamist who has appeared on reality TV is threatening to file a lawsuit to strike down a state marriage law that limits marriage to two people, so he can marry a second woman.

“It’s about marriage equality,” Nathan Collier told reporters in Montana on Wednesday, using the term supporters of same-sex marriage prefer to advocate for their cause. “You can’t have this without polygamy.”


Look: I don't care if you have a relationship with your lawnmower (as long as the lawnmower can consent and is of legal age....), but really, we all knew that this was coming as soon as the Gay Marriage case was adjudicated. I personally think the State should only record the contract between consenting partie(s) for legal purposes (next of kin, consent/healthcare decisions, inheritance, etc) and leave "marriage" to other organizations to solemnize. 

It does, however,  appear to be an attack on "Marriage" in our culture. 

Officially jumped the shark

TV Land has pulled "Dukes of Hazzard" reruns.

Because "confederate Flag".

Flag bad

This is completely insane now. I can (maybe) understand Amazon and Ebay and WalMar'ts actions....but this is now groupthink gone way too far. Despite attempts, you can't rewrite all history.

I guess this action somehow fixes all the issues? Makes the world a better place?

A Damned Good Question

Are Republican Leaders being blackmailed?

I'd like to believe otherwise, but it it, really, the only explanation that I can see that makes sense.

Unless, of course, they are selectively replaced by something from a pod or whatever.....