A whiff of grapeshot smells like victory

Gleaned from NRAhab, check out the link below...

SnowflakesInHell - holy canister shot, Batman!

What beautiful shots! That had to cost a small fortune. Watch the tracking shot in the middle, you can see the mach waves, and if you're *really* astute you could measure the angle and calculate the speed of the shot...

w00t.

Had Boothroyd's, and Ezell's book just came in today.

W00t :)

Cover your eyes.

I know the political world is all hot and bothered by the primary season, but this blog has been and will remain empty of any news, opinion, or information about the latest grand race.

Why?

My reminder is that I need to stay out of the comment sections of dedicated political blogs. They are cesspools; nothing more than a gaggle of chickens pecking at each other... tit-for-tat amongst barely literate assholes who think they're clever and vacuous shills who's favorite party candidates' words ring round empty skulls like a hawk's shriek in a canyon.

They make me ashamed for my country. I see some posts and come nearly to tears that these people have the gall to call themselves free Americans.

It's enough to make someone descend from a position of finely meted libertarianism to blistering anarchy. Screw'em all and let the gods sort it out.

Nobody '08, for the good of the independent citizen.

Interesting, but not new.

The Boberg XR-9. I saw the videos and cutaways (see here from NRAhab) and thought "wow, that's incredibly neat".

Well, if I thought in English that's what I would have thought... my thoughts tend to run in images as far as engineering things is concerned, but DIGRESS! DIGRESS!

Anyhow, I was impressed, but something tickled the back of my skull about this gun. Last night, I whipped out my handy (10lb) copy of Boothroyd's "Handguns" and:

Check this out

That's the Gabbett-Fairfax Mars. The book has a cutaway drawing that I can't find in internetland; but essentially you can see what goes on if you note that the end of the chamber on that pistol is well behind the grip. Yes, the GB Mars draws the cartridge rearward from the magazine in a lifter assembly and stuffs it in the barrel.

Now, the Boberg is a USEABLE pistol where the Mars wasn't so much since it's ejector design was severely lacking, tending to toss brass directly rearward. But, it's a culmination of a design tried first over a hundred years ago.

Every time I close my eyes...

Well, maybe not that. But, every time I manage to start setting asides a little nest egg, some "non-earmarked" cash, a deal comes along that I can't refuse.





I would have been *dumb* not to buy this gun at the offered $200.

And I shot a quick 2" at 15 yards (20 rounds) with it, too.

I ain't just happy, I'm pleased as punch :)

New! EXTREMELY RARE!

It's... a political post! Even though I have nothing to say about the presidential farce, this still falls under the realm of politics and it's rather hot-button, at least for us.

Georgia. Tennessee. Disputed land accompanying Nickajack reservoir.

See, Georgia claims that an 1818 land survey screwed up by placing the border south of the 35'th parallel, and apparently had no problems with that border in the ensuing 189 years. Is there a statute of limitations on border disputes?

Anyways, I wanted to point out one problem with Georgia's logic on this matter, and I may be incorrect on how this was actually handled, but I'm pretty sure the Federal state of Georgia ceased to exist on January 19, 1861.

In my opinion, and until I get proven otherwise, the border accepted on readmission, June 18, 1870 is the final answer and Georgia's legislature can go suck mud.

Now, if they wish to *request* a little juice from Nickajack, I'm sure we'd bend over backwards to help. Try to seize it, and we'll make the Battle of Athens look like a paintball game.

And... and... and...

Dr. Strangegun's blog... guns, electronics... and now cars.

Well, car anyways. I picked up a new project a few days ago, and sparing you *all* the photos I leave you with this one:



This is the car being called, for now, the white shadow. And not Ken, either (yes, in theory I'm too young to know about that show, but I know about a lot of things I "shouldn't").

Anyhow, it's a '93, 2.2 TBI with a 5 speed stick, and was an AC and radio delete car that I think was a service car for some governmental entity around Oliver Springs. 111K on the clock and it cost me $1400... not bad. Runs like a top but has some issues, and I'll be fixing them shortly since parts are on the way. What's coming?

-polyurethane shift linkage bushings
-instrument cluster with tachometer (right now, just has base model bare minimum guages)
-front and rear speakers
-2 yards of foam backed headliner fabric
-a decent scrubbing for the motor and everything else underhood

I figure I'll work on this a couple months and then add it to my insurance when it rolls out of the 2007 cycle so I won't have to give out make-up payments for the remaining premium. No AC isn't an issue for me here since it's a white car so it won't get unbearable with the windows down, but I can always just drive the truck for a month or two during the hottest times of the year. A head unit, antenna, and floor mats are on the books for later on once these initial fixes are done.

Plans for modification? None, really. I might stiffen the suspension but not harshly... I wanted this as a cheaper commuter than the truck. Considering I drive 50 miles a day and should get ~32mpg out of the shadow, I ought to make up the purchase price (at $3/gallon) in... a little over four years. See, that's never a good reason. What is a good reason, however, is now I'll have a sprightly little runabout that costs pennies to insure, is fun to drive, comfortable, and eminently more practical as a people/grocery mover than the Sonoma is. I keep a tray in the passenger seat of the truck so essentially it's a one seater, and I have to tie my grocery bags shut to keep them from fluttering away after they've dumped their contents out in the bed.

So basically, the truck gets me during hot days, when I need to carry the big stuff, and when the shadow's out of commission. All other trips are shadow territory.

And now, I get to figure out what to do with the stripped-down, brutal, ex-rallycross car, the blue shadow.