Texas is Great

Why is Texas great? Well, simply because it is. I like the guns, dogs, horses, BBQ, farms and general sense of freedom, the religion's not bad too - at least from a trad Anglican perspective; lets hope all that increases instead of the opposite. Speaking of farms, here's a picture of Bonnie shifting bales out of her pickup. I offered to help but she just grinned and fired away till they were all sorted in no time flat - Bonnie's 70 - I probably would have slowed her down...

Apologies for not visiting the blogs - life's been strangely busy...

God bless,

LSP

Good Sunday

Woke up to a beautiful morning and birds all over the church car park. They were quiet because of intense pecking after food. Then pick-ups arrived...

and the Mass was sung. Managed to get horses and guns into into the sermon, which seemed to go down well. Then it was on to the next Mission, where everyone seemed pretty fervently into the service. Had an interesting conversation about red-dot optics with one of the Ushers - I've discovered that mounting my Aimpoint copy co-efficient with iron sights brings the dot more sharply into focus. He found that the same thing made him see double, which is confusing, but I have to admit I don't know the biology of the thing. The proof, I suppose, is in the shooting.

With that in mind, have a blessed Sunday.

LSP

Roving About

A gun, one of Tom's

The last few weeks have been busy, taken up with guns - I need more of them, but who doesn't -

Church,

Bishop Iker, Good Man

horses,

dogs,

Cats on the porch - they're not allowed inside,

and plinking.

Horses have moved to new pastures, where there's far more space and plenty of opportunity for going fast, which I like. Opportunity for coyote hunting too - not to be wasted. More anon.

God bless,

LSP

Ordain Them All!

My old friend, the Fact Compiler, reminded me of the latest Episcopalien addition to Holy Order; you can read about her here. Now, where's the gay deacon doll? Apparently in the making.

On a different theme, had a thoroughly enjoyable encounter with horse and gun yesterday, achieving a "counter canter in a ten meter circle." Evidently it's something to be proud of - I wasn't aware of that, just cantering about in a circle before galloping fast and foolishly in the direction of the stables. The beast was picking up speed, which I encouraged, before sensibly obeying the signal to turn away from a near invisible 'hotwire.'

We'll have to see if WAC (Worldwide Anglican Communion) has as much sense.

Cheers,

LSP

Clean the Gun, Clear the Head

One of the reasons Texas is great is the fact that you get to see dogs in the back of pick-ups as you go off for a shoot. I try to get out a couple of times a week to blast away, or plink about with a .22, which is an old bolt action J.C. Higgins with iron sights. Nothing fancy, but accurate - I like the deliberation of working the bolt and focusing on the front bead sight, also the length of the thing works well for me. So that rifle gets plenty of use, but just because it's a lowly .22 doesn't mean it somehow cleans itself.

Speaking of which, I gave it a well needed take-down this evening by way of displacement activity and as usual found cleaning the weaponry clears the head. There's doubtless a moral in that, but I'll spare you the sermon. Here's a picture of some saddles instead.

Stay on the horse, shoot straight and have a blessed Sunday.

Gun rights,

LSP

Eschaton

Along with the ride and shoot imperative goes a bit of reflection on the Revelation to St. John the Divine. Why? Because apocalypse seemed suitably Lenten and I foolishly told one of the Missions that I'd teach a course on it - something I've never done before. Farrer gives a powerful account; here's an excerpt, on bestial numerics:

"The number of the Beast reveals him as both the instrument of judgement on the wicked and the object of judgement himself. But that is not all. St. John takes up two mathematical properties of the 666. First, 666 is what we should call the recurrent decimal for 2/3. St. John's age did not talk about recurrent decimals, but of course St. John could recognize 666 as two-thirds of that standard quantity, the thousand. Why is Antichrist two-thirds? because the angels of the trumpets (showing the enthronement of pagan power) have destroyed one-third of everything before he begins to reign, and the angels of the vials return with total destruction as he comes to his end. In the interval he reigns over a kingdom of two-thirds."

Farrer goes on to describe 666 as the triangulation of 6 x 6:

"666, therefore, is a 12 fold triangle with a periphery of 30 x 3 1/2. St. John's calculation of the period of the Beast's reign, in days, is 12 (months) x 30 (days) x 3 1/2 (years). The coincidence between this reckoning and the factors of the 666 triangle is no mere accident... the purpose of the artificial reckoning is to exhibit the Beast's fatally limited reign as a function of his number."

There's a lot of mathematics in the Revelation, unfortunately for me, but whoever said life would be easy?

Speaking of maths, my Revelation class added up the number of horses that were collectively owned by the people in the room and came up with 21 beasts. A decent little force multiplier if things get all eschaton and we have to leave the Union of the False Prophet.

God bless Texas.

LSP

Shoot the Snow

It began to snow, which prompted the question,

"What you gonna do LSP, shoot the snow?"

Resisting temptation to put rounds down range, I got on the highway,

and drove to Dallas, which had a record 12" of the "white offender".

Remarkable weather for Texas and caused, evidently, by "warming". Last year, when it was colder, we were having BBQs on the back lawn. Well, its hotter now, so we can't.

Have fun in the snow.

LSP

Apocalypse

I've been hearing rumours for months, from friends who seem to know about money, that we should expect something nasty on the financial front. I was a bit skeptical, to be honest, but this latest from the Wall Street Journal's Marketwatch seems more than a little scary. Here's an excerpt:

"The Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 subprime credit meltdowncombined. A huge market blowout. And as Bloomberg-BusinessWeek predicts: "The results won't be pretty for investors or elected officials."

After the global-debt bomb explodes don't expect a typical bear correction followed by a new bull. Wall Street's toxic pseudo-capitalism is imploding. Be prepared for a massive meltdown. Yes, already the third major bubble-bust of the 21st century, triggered once again by Wall Street's out-of-control Fat Cat Bankers. And it's dead ahead.

Can your family survive in the anarchy after the debt bomb explodes?

America's already descending into economic anarchy. We're all trapped in a historic economic supercycle, a turning point that must bleed through a no-man's land of lawless self-destructive anarchy before a neo-capitalistic world can re-emerge."

I'd say that wasn't very encouraging. Off to study The revelation to St. John the Divine as interpreted by Austin Farrer - Rebirth of Images, well worth the read.

Stockpile ammo and food,

LSP

What Gun?

Woke up to a beautiful morning, the sun was rising on frost covered grass and all was still save for the distant sounds of shotguns firing away on the farms. Then it was a spirited Mass and off to the next Mission; fine, until Global Warming and its friend, the New Ice Age, stopped my pick- up from starting. Disaster! Until a friendly parishioner lent me a car to complete the journey.

As I drove along my mind turned towards that burning and knotty issue - what gun to buy? Part of me thinks, "Get an M4gery", sure, but what brand? What caliber? .223 or .308 - maybe something else again... Bushmaster or Armalite? DPMS or Colt? etc. And with what optics/flip up iron sights?

Then again...

Why not get an M1A? Tempting. Or should I just be sensible and get a Tikka T3? No easy choice, is it, but then again, who ever said life would easy?

All advice welcome. Forgive the incessant questions.

Have a blessed Sunday,

LSP

I Like Guns

Found this at Conservative Scallywag. Result.

Must get more of them...

Happy shooting,

LSP

Headspace

CZ from B&BS armoury

Apologies to all but I've badly neglected the gun side of things; so here's some headspace technics from Tom at Boomers - no mean info for those, like me, who enjoy milsurp rifles and more importantly shooting them. Thanks mate; you'll be glad to know I made the effort to get my Lee's headspace checked by a 'smith...

A lot of people think they understand headspace, but they really don't. Even a lot of gunsmiths, reloaders, and otherwise intelligent people. The Parson asked me if I might be interested in writing a guest bit and I thought this is something that would be worth addressing as there are so many mythical ideas out there. Static headspacing is pretty simple, either the cartridge chambers within .001-3" of chamber print for cartridge or it doesn't. There are many problems, though, with this simplistic view of headspace. I shall attempt to address them in detail.

To simplify things, we shall assume that all cartridges are exactly the proper over-all length, which is of course not true with any factory ammo. We shall also assume that the chamber throating has been properly done. Also a falsehood in 99.9% of factory barrels.

First off, SAAMI specs are sloppy. Going by field gauges and go and no-go gauges will keep your case from rupturing, which is a good thing, but it isn't much of a path to accuracy or precision. Gauges generally accept .005-.006", I don't. You will see why this is important shortly.

Headspace is not a static thing in the firing of any kind of metallic cartridge firearm for a number of reasons. First off, there are the variable of action strength, design, and metallurgy. Break action guns are the springiest and falling block and interrupted thread artillery style breeches (almost never seen on small arms any more) are the stoutest. Therefore starting with perfect or near perfect headspace in a static sense in break action guns is especially critical. The weaker the action the more critical it is to get things right. Blowback semi-autos, delayed or not, also are sensitive not only in accuracy but in probability of misfire if headspacing is not correct.

When you have chambered a round in your firearm with a proper OAL cartridge and SAAMI acceptable static headspace all is apparently well. What goes un-noticed is what actually happens when you press the trigger and fire the round, as it's not directly observable under normal conditions in most types of firearms. When the hammer drops/striker moves forward and the primer is whacked, you are hammering SHARPLY AND VERY HARD on the primer if all is well. The denting of the primer cup absorbs much, but not all of this energy. You are whacking a tube of thin, soft, brass (varying in those properties somewhat depending on how it was annealed and if it has work hardened or not) and more gives than just the dent in the primer. We assumed proper OAL and chamber but keep in mind for reliability: If the chamber is wrong or the OAL is wrong, or both, you may get a misfire beause the primer strike mostly punted the cartridge forward in the chamber and you got a light primer strike resultant of that.

Break open guns have a great virtue for examining the results of this because as my amigo Mike Bellm of Bellm TCs has said many a time, "You CAN DIRECTLY not only SEE what happens, BUT you can also measure the results." He and I have discussed this many a time regarding accuracy and misfires, He is lucky enough to be working with BPI/CVA/Bergara Barrels on product designs and manufacturing methods and recently was over in Spain working with the Bergara Barrel Factory. In a recent email from Mike, he mentioned:

This today from the head tech at BPI/CVA/Bergara that I work with regularly and who took me to the Bergara plant in Spain the first of last month:

"I don't remember if I mentioned it to you or not but I dropped some loaded .35 Whelen rounds in a barrel and measured from the breech to the ctg base.

Average about .005". This was very consistent through this partial box. I
then dropped in a few misfired rounds that had been hit by the firing pin.
The average measurement went from .005" to .014"! Proof enough for me to
believe that the blow of the firing pin is crushing the shoulder."

..... and I have to add, all the more reason for YOU to be able to take the measurements and find these things for yourself, then make your own corrections as necessary.

That is a total collapse of .009" at the shoulder!

Rather interesting, is that not? Belts on belted magnums provide some insurance against such behavior, provided the belt is properly placed on the cartridge and the chamber is properly cut for the belt, which is not always true. I've gotten A-Square brass where the belt was misplaced significantly. I'm naming them directly here because if you Google their brass prices for safari rifle cartridge brass alone, not cartridges, you can see why it was vexing when they refused to talk to me about possibly replacing it with dimensionally correct brass. Didn't answer the phone messages or emails. Belts .008-.011 short of appropriate forward bearing surface are not acceptable and are of no use but scrap/example of shoddy product. I know this is a Christian page but some things aren't very forgivable if you wish to remain in business. Anyway, if the belt is wrong or the chamber isn't cut properly for the belt, your headspace will be variable dynamically even with a belted magnum designed to prevent case movement and assure proper headpsace because it will be headspacing via projectile on the chamber throat/barrel leade and/or case mouth and/or shoulder. Rimmed cartridge movement is primarily determined by the strength of the rim, provided the chamber and OAL are correct and the counterbore for the rim is correct.

So, you see why .001-.002' of headspace is a good idea for consistent shooting now? Dynamically, your acceptable static headpace very well may not be acceptable.

You can test your own firearms by loading empty cartridges with deactivated primers to correct OAL and "firing them". Then you'll know how much variation there is in the brass you are using/whether or not there are chamber issues. Then fix what needs to be fixed, if you find much variation. You'll make misfires very unlikely and gain accuracy.

Remember, mi amigos, all firearms may be interesting, but only accurate firearms are particularly interesting for anything but hanging on the wall and making loud noises.

Happy Shooting.

And a blessed Advent,

LSP

Bad Laterals, Worse Science Czar

For some strange reason the Texas flag was missing at the Stables but that didn't put me off riding too much. Cantered about for a bit and worked, mostly unsuccessfully, at Laterals. As you'd expect, this is when you get the horse to go forward at an angle, or in my case get it to go in circles, annoyingly. Shot quite well though, which is always satisfying.

Interesting to note that 'Climategate' or 'Warmaquiddick' is picking up steam, not least with "Lift up a rock and another snake comes slithering out" John Holdren's involvement. Holdren's our 'Science Czar'; he's a Soylent Greener eugenicist in favor of forced abortions and sterilization. Just how many of these wicked Sangerites are in power here?

Terrifying.

Shoot straight.

LSP

All Souls

Have a blessed Feast of All Souls. Some disagree with praying for the departed and asking for their prayers because they think it idolatry. Others think it pointless; I think I need all the help I can get. S0,

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine

Every blessing,

LSP

PS. Just heard from pratsinpower that we're to have some beasts called 'Play Rangers' to look after the children. Enough to make me reach for m'gun - or several.

Keep It Clean...

...or it won't work. Likewise, stay on the horse.

With those somber thoughts in mind, here's a sunset from the LSP truck to lift the spirits in our dark and barbarous times.

Many thanks to Albert at TROC for suggesting people say a prayer tomorrow for those who lost their lives at the WTC and to GNN for the harrowing images.

Requiescant in pacem.

LSP

Foresight

Some people get bewildered by iron sights because they're so used to shooting with scopes, but what happens if the scope goes down? Here's some useful pictures viz. correct sight alignment. As we know, focus on the foresight and don't worry about the rear sight and target blurring.

This excerpt from Random Acts of Patriotism describes it well:

"Focus your eye on the front sight. This should make the rear sight a bit fuzzy, that's fine. The target will also be fuzzy. So... you have to know, and the drawings do show it to some extent, that the image you are seeking is a sharply focused front sight post centered inside a blurry rear sight and resting on a blurry out of focus target."

Allied with proper hold on the weapon, controlled breathing and instinctive position, shooting should be accurate, even if distance eyesight isn't that good - after all, it's only a matter of a few feet from eye to the principle point of focus, the foresight, or 'front sight post'.

Of course you can forget all that and adopt the Imperial Stormtrooper principles of marksmanship by simply blazing away without hitting anything much, which is fun too, if not as productive.

For some reason this puts me in mind of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who played such a major part in kicking God out of our schools and ended up dismembered, along with one of her sons and grandaughter on a ranch in Texas. She founded "American Atheists"; you can read about her bizarre murder by criminal atheists and its investigation in Crime Magazine. Its rather gruesome.

Off to shoot some guns.

LSP

Freedom Of The Gun

Various Guns

I love guns and I find there's a freedom in shooting, especially out in the country, that's powerful medicine for the soul. I don't want to lose that and so, amongst other reasons, I support 2nd Amendment rights. These stand, I think, for a whole host of other liberties. Read Conservative Scallywag, as interviewed by The Liberty Pen:

tLP: That is one of my favorite quotes from Jefferson ("The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."). What, in your opinion, are the reasons the Democrats are so intent on dissolving gun ownership and all associated rights?

CS: Simply put, it is about control. Control over what we eat, drive, what doctor we see, how much we earn, who we hire, or even live by. Absolute control over our lives…

Even today, I think Jefferson stands. Remove the right to bear arms and what other freedoms follow? You know the saying, "give 'em and inch and they'll take a mile." Neither fraction is one I'm keen to give up.

Thanks, Conservative Scallywag, for the answer and Liberty Pen for putting the question. See the whole interview here.

Good shooting,

LSP