Edinburgh Garrison RSM - For LL

 

Behold the power of the RSM, and well done those boys. LL, this short infovid's for you, respect. In other news, we had our diocesan convention this morning and it was incredibly, mercifully short. Upshot? They made me a Rural Dean. What does a Rural Dean even do?

I guess we'll find out. My guess is... fish, shoot, listen to Waylon, ride again, drive rigs, say Mass and get rural on a Dean tip. But seriously, if you'd said in the mid '90s and beyond that I'd be Priest-in-Charge of two country missions between Dallas and Waco, well, I'd have laughed.

How preposterous. Hey, the joke was on me, and I thank God for it. No kidding.

Your Pal,

LSP

Time To Shoot

 

So what kind of LSP are you, and by the way we doubt that's your real name, if you don't even shoot? Good question, punters. To set the record straight I headed for the range this morning.

There it was, hot as an oven under the Texan sky, and I was on a mission. Viz. Zero in a new and specially crafted AR15. But at what range? There's plenty of pros and cons to the 25, 36, 50 and 100 yard zero, and beyond, but I went for 36 because that's where the shooting bench had been moved respective to the nearest available target. 

 

After a quick bore sight, the weapon was on paper in the 9 ring and I dialed up twice to hit the X on the third shot. Awesome, rifle and optic worked, except that wasn't quite true. Sure, the gun was on but it wasn't cycling. Why? Because the cunning armorer who'd put the beast together hadn't installed its gas block correctly, it wasn't aligned with the barrel's gas port, turning the DAR (Deadly Assault Rifle) into a one shot wonder.

Huh. After a few shots on a steel turkey I moved over to .22 plinking with a Ruger American. A heavy metal bird took a beating along with a small spinner, and then it was time to head for home and a serious meeting with Block, Tube, Pin, Barrel & Co.

You see, the builder of this gun somehow forgot, perhaps he was distracted, that he was working with a 16" barrel. He thought he was assembling an 18" setup and labored accordingly. This meant the gas tube was too long and when fitted to its block didn't align with the barrel's gas port. No hot gas working that famous impingement system, you see, and thus no BCG cycle. What to do?

Utterly Wrong

Stare in slack-jawed, NRA consternation at the offending article and the sheer, brazen, literal incompetence of it all? Take it to a shop and ask them to fix it? Or do it yourself. I chose the latter route. It's not hard. Remove the hand guard, tap out the gas tube's retaining pin with a cleverly small hammer and roll pin punch, then loosen the gas block, slide it forward to the awesome Surefire SOCOM muzzle brake, which demands a suppressor, and remove the gas tube.

Right? Let's See

Well done, you're nearly there. Next step, produce a gas tube for a 16" barrel, clean it, mine was dirty, and press the tube into the gas block. Make sure the retaining pin holes on tube and block align, then tap the retaining pin back in. Replace hand guard. Done.

At least that's the hope. It looks right, but I'll test the offending article out tomorrow on another range at a church shoot. It'd better work or there'll be trouble, and then some.

#2A,

LSP

Clean It Up

 

Some shooters have White Lightnings, others have Silver Pigeons and more besides, and I won't say they aren't awesome, because they are. But here at the Compound it's pretty much basic budget guns, and they're alright too, provided they work. Which they do, thank God, but here's the thing.

Unless you clean the gun, no matter how pricey it is, even if it's made by the finest gunsmiths by appointment to the Crowned Heads of Europe or Saudi Arabia or the Bush/Clinton crime family or the Great Xi himself, well they're not gonna work if they're not cared for.

So clean those guns even if they're "workhorses" and hardly about to grace a Beretta Gallery. Admonition in mind, I went to work, all the while checking the news to see what was up in the world. 

Disaster! Lo and behold, since the team went fishing and shooting, South Africa collapsed, Cuba took to the streets, the French rioted along with the Greeks and we have to ask, is the disorder spreading? Maybe we should shoot and fish less?

Smart people are cleaning guns.

Cheers,

LSP

April Fools Shoot

CC swung by from the metrosprawl with a truckload of guns, he especially wanted to see if an old Winchester 1200 pump worked after visiting an armorer. We drove out into the Texan countryside to find out. 

Fail!

The 1200 was up first against the clays, which call themselves White Flyers even though they're orange. Anyway, hopes were high that the Winchester was going to work, it usually doesn't, and CC lined up to shoot, "Pull!" and off flew the orange adversaries into a big sky. Boom, down went a few clays, it looked like the gun was working.

A Glock & A Ruger

Until it didn't. After the first few rounds the troubled beast didn't want to feed, had trouble ejecting and then stopped firing altogether. You'd chamber a round, squeeze the trigger and... nothing. I advised CC to sell the April Fools gun to a pawn shop or part ex it for something useful.

Winchester Model 90?

We changed over to a CZ Bobwhite 20 and merrily smoked skeet till all the ammo was gone. What a lot of fun and what a great little gun. Thanks, TC. After a short bout with a Ruger Redhawk (sorry, Security 6) .357 Magnum and a Glock 21 .45, it was time to plink.

The Range

Shotgun shells, cans, milk jugs, bits of broken skeet, steel plates and more all fell under a deadly hail of .22 LR sent via Ruger and Remington. Hours of enjoyment and then it was time to head back to the Compound, a good time had by all.

Big Sky

In related news, New Zealand's banned pump action shotguns so that only criminals can have them. Now they're much safer.

Gun rights,

LSP

Climate Change Shoot

One of the weird things about the climate is that it changes, no matter how much tax you pay or don't pay our elite rulers. Take Texas. 

Texas famously doesn't pay the weather tax and it's been raining for the last two days, it's been cold too. Go figure, thwart the Illuminati at your peril, but what happened? It stopped raining. That meant shoot.

We loaded up the rig with shotguns and pistols and headed out to the range. Wrap up warm? No, don't bother, the climate's changed and now it's hot and sunny. Wear your Wellington boots though because the range isn't far off a swamp. 

Right out of the gate Junior LSP was smoking clays with a Mossberg 835 Ultimag 12. Good work, kid. I followed on and shot pathetically. Dismal fail. 

But congrats young 'un and congrats 12. I thought the Mossberg was broken and needed a new set of extractors but no, the old beast was right on the money. Word to the wise, clean your weapons.

Next up, CZ's handy Bobwhite SxS 20. Great little gun and we knocked the orange clay adversary out of the sky like screaming Focke Wulfs going down over the Oder. 45s followed, a Glock 21 and a Beretta PX4 Storm.

Here's the the thing. I bought the Beretta years ago when I was pretty much a novice at pistols, apart from a brief exeat with Her Majesty's finest Brownings, which were as rubbish as I was. We made a team, the pistols couldn't hit anything and neither could I.

Whatever and fast forward, I shot thousands of rounds through the jolly PX$ Storm and there it was. Then, thanks to White Wolf Mine Consultancy Plc. I invested in a Glock 21. Same caliber, better gun.

Don't get me wrong, the Beretta's fine, it works, and I like the ergonomics of the grip, but the Glock's better. 

It's simpler, with less parts. It sits lower in the hand. It's sights are better. It's more substantial. Its magazines carry 13 rounds compared to the Storm's lacklustre 9 or 10. The Storm seems lightweight and toylike in comparison, imo.

Whatever, both guns were right on and the kid shot like a champ, plates swinging away like fury. I was impressed.

Then it was time to head for home in the light of a setting Texan sun, mission accomplished. Had we paid our Illuminati rulers some kind of tax for the privilege? 

No, we had not. Had the climate changed? Yes it had. 

Love,

LSP

Backyard Crossfire

Perhaps you don't have the time or the budget to get out to the range as often as you'd like and blast away, but you still want to shoot. So what's the solution?

Get a CO2 pistol from Walmart, some BBs and set up a backyard range. Need some trigger time? Simple, walk out on the back deck and unleash BB fury on the opposition. In the Compound's case that's two small Canada Dry ginger ale cans and a cardboard box.

As the backyard range develops we'll make the targets more interesting, unicorns, Hillary heads, Cryin' Chuck, Soy Boy Schiff, Justsin Welby, whatever, the sky's the limit.

And look, I know you're supposed to train on the weapons you use but a blast's a blast and I'll vouch for Crossman's semi auto .177 XCP. It comes with a detachable steel magazine, fiber optic sights, a safety and a rail. And all for $29. 

Is it accurate? Extremely. Is it tactical? Very. Do women love them? I'd have thought that was obvious.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Clear The Brush

It was a day much like any other day, the objective being to clear brush from the church. So I drove Sleeping Beauty and his pal, Funboy 2, to one of the missions after the usual exercise of Morning Prayer, walk the Shadow Wolf and all of that.

Work Harder!

The men of the mission were already hard at work, chainsaws in hand, and we stuck right in. Clear that brush! was the prime directive.

A Smoker

Then a political philosopher turned up with a smoker and the fun began as mesquite met heat and the delicious aroma of hot links and other delicacies spread over the work site. Next time it'll be Elk and Boar but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Typical Brush Pile

Several hours later the work was done and we'd gotten off light; imagine the settlers of the last century, clearing and working the land. Put yourself in Montana or Alberta during the winters of the 19th C or for that matter, Texas in the summer before air conditioning. 

They were tough, no doubt about it, and rainbow riding didn't loom large on their radar. Doubtless they had other things to think about.

Funboy 2

We will too, when everything comes crashing down under a mountain of irreparable debt and our money's exposed for the rotten fish head that it is. Good luck with that, all you who live in a city and just about anywhere else.

Eschaton

Speaking of which, smart people are building compounds and learning to ride, shoot, fish and hunt if they haven't already mastered these forward looking skills.

Yours truly,

LSP

Fire On The Mountain

One of the things some local Baptists do well here is a men's prayer breakfast. They meet every Friday and they're a good, straight-up group of guys who like to ride, shoot and fish and aren't ashamed of their faith.

I like to go for the prayer and fellowship and to hear a short, simple but direct message. Today's was on Elijah and the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings. Elijah called down fire from heaven and confounded the evil prophets of an evil god. These met a grisly end, which serves as a warning to the idolatry of our dark and increasingly barbarous age. So be filled with the fire of God that is the fire of love, and repent.

Texas This Morning. Note Water

My mind went back from that to Exodus, the burning bush and the Divine Name, I AM THAT AM, or, in the Septuagint, He Who Is, and then forward in time to Pentecost and the tongues of fire that rested upon the Apostles.

No Comment

Some say that the episcopal mitre represents this fire. Others again point to the awkward bit in the Gospel about wolves in sheep's clothing, to say nothing of the demon Baal and its false prophets.

Make of that what you will.

LSP

Anglo-Catholics, This One's For You. A Confession

I know it's terribly confusing, but there's a movement, or a shadow of a movement, within Anglicanism that asserts catholicity for our part of the church. Scripture, creeds, sacraments, apostolic tradition, piety, liturgy, salvation, the nature of the church herself, all these and more are viewed and believed in through a catholic lens.

Now, as a part of this movement, such as it is today, I have a confession to make -- and yes, make yours before Christmas, if you can -- there was a time, not so long ago in the greater scheme of things, when I felt that if I didn't have this:

St. Nicholas du Chardonnet

I wasn't somehow cutting it. But I got this:

Rural missions in Texas. Not shrines in Boston, New York, Philly, Chicago, or even Texas, for that matter. And you know what, I don't feel shortchanged for a moment.

Don't get me wrong, I love a Solemn High Mass as much as I loathe, scorn and despise liturgical dance, or the monstrous regiment of priestesses, women bishop figures and associated clowns. But here's the thing -- don't let yourself become that most ridiculous and pathetic of creatures, a church snob. God will surprise you. In my case, that's been for the good.

Don't Teacup, Fool

In related news, I've reminded the bishop that it'd make a lot of sense to put a new rule in place regarding postulants for ordination. Viz. If you can't ride and you don't shoot, you can't get in.

That is all.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Why America's Not Ready For Ebola

Because nothing says 'safety precautions' like rolled-up sleeves on a HazMat suit...

Thanks, ZeroHedge, for that.

And while we're at it, how's our "boots on the ground" war on Ebola doing, as ISIS savages close in on Baghdad?

According to one military source, "The 5.56 caliber round is comparatively small. Ideally suited to engaging a small but deadly virus."

Stock food and water, buy ammo, learn to ride. If you haven't done these things already.

That's my advice and I'm sticking to it.

LSP

Get in the Saddle

"For a so-called horseman you sure don't seem to do much riding, LSP," I hear you say, pointedly. Well not so fast. Monday being as good a day as any, I pulled on my Ariats, loaded a Circle Y in the truck and headed off to ride.

Keena

Which is what I did, on Keena, an old Polish Arabian mare who used to race and still has plenty of go. But I didn't push it, just walk, trot and a few short canters around Mesquites.

Front Office

Great to be back in the saddle again and next time I'll open things up a bit for a gallop. Good for mind, soul and body, provided you don't come off and break, obviously.

Ride on,

LSP

Brandon Texas

I'll be driving off to Windsor/Detroit next week so I thought I should get some practice time at the range. That takes me through Brandon.

Brandon's Post Office

There's not a lot there, some dirt roads, a few houses, an abandoned Presbyterian church, a small Post Office and a Co-Op.

Brandon's Co-Op

Some people are afraid of places like Brandon. Perhaps they should be.

T Posts

I find the Brandonites I know friendly, unlike the Austin leftists who'll rip you off in the maze of a labyrinth and at the drop of a dreadlock.

Shoot, Ride, Fish

Shoot straight,

LSP

Riding Around

Got up early to go for a ride in the comparative cool of the morning; the neighbour's birds had escaped their backyard prison to find freedom in the church car park. They were pecking about, pleased with themselves.

Horses were in good form too, intrigued by the addition of several donkeys to the field, which they found strangely fascinating. Enjoyed the ride; practiced sitting and posting trot, two point, serpentines, spirals and cantered about for a bit. Hugely uplifting - then the heat began to rise...

So 'Be-Bop' went back to his stall and I headed off to shoot targets at the stock tank and talk church. Very relaxing after charging about the pasture and a great way, I think, to spend the morning - of course my equine objective is to go extremely fast for long distances while jumping over obstacles, preferably in pursuit of something. But all in good time.

Arrived home to discover the birds had retreated to their gaol where they'd found food - doubtless a metaphor for something if you care to make it.

God bless,

LSP