On The Road On The Gun

The rig hummed along, thank you very much after a fortune spent at the aptly named "shop," and all was well with rural Texas as I drove to visit a sick cowboy. We talked about liturgy and society at the ranch as well as the Holy Cross Fathers.

Their erstwhile supremo married a nun who'd got herself into trouble for witchcraft in Africa, Una Kroll. Una went on to champion womyn priests and died last year. I don't know if she remained married to the former monk. 

After anointing my friend I drove to Waco. "What you going there for?" he asked, hopefully recovering his spirits. "To get some things for my new gun," I replied, quick as you like and then some, "It's a 7.62 battle rifle."

Fun Guns on Franklin supplied the deficit along with the extra bonus of late '70s music on the store jukebox. Go ahead, shop for AR15 barrels, Magpul accessories and all things weaponry while listening to the Clash.

"I say," I asked a youthful shop assistant, "Are you the only deadly assault rifle store in town that plays Machine Gun Etiquette and God Save The Queen on some kind of loop?" The pleasant young man looked embarrassed, made a needless excuse and took all my money. Thanks a lot, Malcolm  so-called McLaren.

Wallet several pounds lighter I headed for home and a kid who wants to enlist. He's at the gym now working out and he'll have to if he's going to lift the new rifle. So will I.

Gun rights,

LSP

Fog of War, Spaghetti Update

The fight against evil doesn't stop because there's a bit of fog on the road, making Lake Whitney look like a scene from an Arthurian legend. That's why you have to climb in your truck and brave the fog of war on the weather to get to Mass.

Also, like any soldier, you need to eat right in order to take the fight to the enemy, so I'm grateful for all the spaghetti suggestions and offer the following update.

I like everything about this safe space.

One senior member of the intelligence community sent in this helpful tip: "You might want to add some gunpowder for flavor." Good call, I will. An art philosopher recommended "a pinch of sugar" to reduce acidity and Marmite as a flavor enhancer. Well said, I'll take that as an imperative! Then a well known nature theologian said "add some shrooms!" Alright, I will.

Another pundit again told me to add some ginger nutmeg and a bit of chili powder to the sauce "because that's the way the Italians do it." Right on, I'm up for it.

Some Italian Handgun

Then there's the gun. Several firearms specialists said "no, a handgun is not 'optional'," you need it to "defend your dinner." OK, I'm convinced. Logic.

Defend Your Dinner! And Your Rods! With, er, a .303 Battle Rifle.

So thank you for the helpful suggestions. The quest for the perfect Spaghetti Bolognese continues.

God bless,

LSP

Dragunov!

A Dragunov

OK, you've been hunting all morning and you'll go out again in the evening, but what about the afternoon, after lunch? You shoot, a lot, at the compound's range.

I won't lie, the team had enough weaponry to equip a small insurrection; one of those guns was an old SovBloc Dragunov. I'd never fired one and was keen to get started.

PSO1 Reticle

Developed as a designated marksman/sniper rifle, the semi-auto Dragunov fires a punchy 7.62x54 bullet from its 10 round magazine and boasts a fixed 4 power scope, complete with bullet drop compensator and a range finder going out to 1000 meters. You have to admit, those Sov snipers must've had pretty keen eyes to engage targets at that distance. With that in mind, I chose to pit my wits against some paper at 100.

Downrange

And was happily surprised at the result, with a couple of dead-on bullseyes and a few flyers. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say I liked the obsolete redtech scope. Get the chevron on target and squeeze the, admittedly clunky, trigger. Bang, take that, enemy of the revolution!

Kids Love a Dragunov

What's the verdict? I felt the Dragunov we tested was more of a battle rifle than anything else, lacking the kind of precision and optics that you'd expect from a sniper rifle. But hey, it has iron sights in case the old school scope breaks down and you can even fit a bayonet to the barrel. Useful, when your position's being overrun by fanatical Jihadis in Russel Square, or Syria.

More to the point, it's fun to shoot and works well enough if you do your part. So get one, if you're looking for a Sov 7.62 battle rifle with a rugged scope, just don't expect a lot more than that.

Gun rights,

LSP

Oh Canada!

Don't get me wrong, I love Texas. But sometimes I get the urge to travel into the icy vastness of Canada, which is what I did on the Feast of the Holy Innocents. 

Stephen Ave - Alright By Me

I like Calgary; you can walk about downtown, go to restaurants, shops and relax under the bison head at the Hyatt bar. I always think it's a cross between England and the U.S., except of course that it's an oil and gas boomtown.

Shops

But whatever, you can also visit Pro Line Shooters in Inglewood. It's a small gun shop on 9th Ave in Inglewood, not too far from the center of town and distinguished for its barbershop. This means that you can get your hair cut and then buy a gun. Back in the day the barber was a communist called Doug and we got on well, despite divergent politics. He was a great character but died a year or so ago, may he rest in peace. They sell Sigs there, which the owner told me he didn't much like. We swapped stories of Browning Hi Powers and the force of large caliber battle rifles. He was very against the 5.56 and thought it was introduced to suit the small stature of our one time South Vietnamese friends. That was new to me.

What's that huge new NSDAP structure in the background?

Speaking of Inglewood, St. John's church, which left the bizarrely tiny ACoC (Anglican Church of Canada) to join the Roman Catholic Church, has been allowed to keep its buildings. 

If I was a betting man, which I'm not, I wouldn't have wagered my fighting monkey on the odds of that. Well done ACoC for doing the right thing. Then, all too soon, it was back to Texas and the mission field.

Fighting Monkey

Good city, Calgary. Visit if you can and say a prayer for St. John's, Inglewood. Well done them for keeping their buildings and avoiding a lawsuit.

Cheers,

LSP

Shoot The Carbine!

I've learned something new and it's this; ARs seem to get really dirty when you shoot them but, and this isn't new to me, they're fun to blast off, which is why I stopped being gun indecisive and bought one. It isn't fancy, just a 5.56 flat top carbine and I can always trick it out later with optics, different handguards etc., if the desire's there. It might be handy against wild dogs, coyotes and revisionist clergypersons, if they present themselves, but first things first - zero it in, which I did.

I found it worked better with a Magpul flip-up iron sight than it did with the supplied carry handle. Perhaps the latter was defective as it wouldn't sight in till the windage was dialed all the way to the left. The flip-up didn't have that problem and soon came to rest not far off mechanical zero - elevation at the front sight post didn't seem to need adjusting.

So I advanced to contact against the paper adversary and its Green Bucket and Ice Tea Can allies. I won the firefight, fortunately, doubtless helped by the opposition's inability to shoot back. Ice Tea Can went down spectacularly, exploding into the air in several parts - huge fun.

As the sun began to set the 'value packs' ran out and it was back to the parsonage for meditative weapons cleaning and reflection on tomorrow's homily; water into wine. I'm all in favour of that, preferably in great, or 'industrial strength' quantities.

Self-verdict on latest gun? Worth every penny, for sheer enjoyment. Next stop - get sinister black Deathstar battle rifle in .308 - more stopping power you see.

Good shooting,

LSP