Nice Shootin', Cousin Lew!

Friday Fertography

I Couldn't Resist

I sure loves me some NFL Network on the Dish.

Scruffy talking heads will not be a regular feature here. Sent to Fox News at Shep's request.

When Clones are Illegal

Umm, undocumented....

"No Loitering" is a lot more concise...

WTF

H/t to Nitro68

Answers

Folks, I already have a Dillon progressive press (in addition to a couple of RCBS rockcushers). The reason I got out of reloading is that I'm not very good at it. The first batch of .45 wouldn't cycle in my Para; I've got to learn to be more meticulous (anal, in a good way). I took the pic at this angle so the layer of dust on everything wouldn't be obvious.

I promise to wean myself off Wolf ammo (except for 9-mm). The offending cartridge was from the very last of a 1000-round case that caused me no trouble otherwise. The case I just opened is of the lacquered case variety (the offending case was not). I also have a half-case of 62-grainers on hand. "Brass-only" is on my ammo Christmas list this year, but I figure using up the rest of the Wolf .223 is still statistically safer than me shooting stuff I reload myself.

As for pistol ammo, too many of my guns don't like the .40 and .45, but my Uzi runs great on Wolf 9-mm. After its trip to the gunsmith, it'll tolerate Winchester White Box, so that might be an option after I'm through the next case.

KaBOOM Update

POF-USA did an autopsy on my kaBoomed upper:

We inspected the uppers head spacing and chamber.
The result from our inspection show the barrel is still head space correctly and the chamber is to spec. The case at the base of the cartridge gave way around the primer.
This could have been caused by a overpressured round or the cartridge case many have been fatigued / cracked during manufacturing processes.

They're going to build me a new upper and bill Wolf for it.

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday

Got a caption or photoshop for this unsourced picture? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your old Avalon Hill war games!

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday PM.

Let me start it off:

The real reason Scully stopped blogging.

Winner! Ator of the Lone Blade Clan wins with:
"How the Hell do you choose between 2 hours of fun and 5 minutes of pleasure!?"

(How he can beat a video game in 5 minutes is beyond me...)

Other Contests:

Support Your Local Gunfighter
Bullwinkle Blog
Gone Rick Motel
Right Pundits
Outside the Beltway
Public Pondering

Cactus Combat Shotgun Match

Lots of Fun. Lots of Sun. Lots of Bang-bang. Lots of Reloading. No Prizes. Cost: Fifty Bucks. But I'm not bitter. You know, Fool me once. Must have been premium imported clay pigeons we were shooting. Anyway....

Here's the monster stage we shot first. A hard-covered Texas Star, three slug targets, a plate rack, eight fish-in-a-barrel clay pigeons, and 10 other suspended clay birds to break.

Jon was probably not the only one to run out of ammo (VIDEO).



The next stage was two slugs each to the near three targets, a mandatory reload, then engage the far three. I tried to shoot fast from a standing position, but drilled a hostage. Jon (right) shot much faster but tagged two no-shoots.





The "Birthday Cake" was the torture test, especially for us old, out-of-shape folks... plus guys with pump guns. Two shots from each of the eight shooting positions before make-ups could be made; no more than two shots in a row from any position. Jon and I switched to full choke; Jon almost aced the Birthday Cake (VIDEO).








Here's Russ from Cavalry Arms on the fourth stage we shot. More awesome pics here. The stage was four shooting boxes, four arrays with four targets each. In the middle of each box was a penalty pigeon. Don't step on it!

For some reason, I suffered a severe brain-fart on this stage. Jon not only shot fast, he reloaded like a maniac (VIDEO).






Our last stage was another long one: 8clay + 6slugs + 8clay + 8clay. My camera had run out of memory by this time, so I hoarked another of Russ' pics.

Not Spam

Baby Sis sent me this pic of the family Thanksgiving get-together feast beast platter. I had a Spam, egg, and cheese burrito myself. The rest of the Spam went into a pot of 4-Hour Hot Beans. Scary thing is when the habanero assumes the color of everything else in the batch... uh, oh... I could be in trouble with the next spoonful!

Thankful

The Stuffing is Strong in this One

At Least I'm Not a Hoofty

But that's not even on the list. Saw this meme all over the place today. As a kid, I'm sure I had a slight southern accent (TN/TX/LA) but got it hammered out of me by periodic moves back up North (PA/MA). My four years of high school in PA (after Dad retired) failed to press the rural PA "hoofty" accent on me. After that, it was the melting pot of the USAF, which pretty much levels the linguistic playing field for all but the most deeply ingrained accents. Baby Sis, the only one of us kids who didn't get dragged all over the country, is the only family member with a touch of the Hoofty in her voice. Gotta thank the family for minimizing that! Can't have my baby sister growing up sounding like a heevahava.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
The West
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

France, I'll Bet

Tell Me I'm Wrong

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday

Got a caption or photoshop for this unsourced picture? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your old Avalon Hill war games!

Check out the links in Drinks Ordered for photoshops!

Judging begins Monday PM.

Winner!

Wyatt Earp of SYLG with:

Off-screen: "What do you think of Sun?"

Paris: "It's hot!"

Other Contests:
Support Your Local Gunfighter (I got 1st Place last week!)
Bullwinkle Blog (1st Place last week!)
Gone Rick Motel
Outside the Beltway
Baboon Pirates
Right Pundits
Public Pondering

Clock's Up!

Twooooooooooooooo!

After Halloween

...you can probably find some good deals at yard sales.

National Ammo Day Tomorrow!

Yeah, I shopped early. If one of the purposes of National Ammo Day is to empty the store shelves of ammo... if you really need ammo, you gotta act before Ammo Day succeeds. Next week, I'm heading up for the Cactus Combat Shotgun Match and there no. freaking. way. that I'm gonna shoot maximum power slugs, especially when the match calls for 40 of them!

Hey, Mr. Giambalvo

You might want to initiate a corporate urinalysis policy soon.

And you York PA readers... if you're getting service from Giambalvo Motor Co., watch out for the wasted employee.

Personally, I might have to take the toll roads away from York this winter.

Update: Got a nice Email from Mr. G. himself. They do drug testing for all employees... and heck, it could even have been a customer. I might take I-83 after all. :)

Math Geeks

They creep me out.

Friday Fertography

Mmm... liquid rasiiins....

iWoman

Lightning Washes Up

Billy Budd and Gregor both pointed out this story to me.

What's Playing in the Saloon?

At the moment:
Stream - Dave Matthews Band
Just a Gigolo - David Lee Roth
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights - Freddy Fender
You Really Got Me - Van Halen
Last Cup of Sorrow - Faith No More
A Day in the Life - The Beatles
Lost in your Eyes - Debbie Gibson
Trip Like I Do - Chemical Brothers
Put Your Lights On - Everlast
Proud Mary - CCR

Yes, Debbie Gibson, dammit! I got some Barry Manilow and Disney musical soundtracks further down the list. Wanna make something of it?

Five Favorite Aircraft - My Pretty Ones

My final list: pure aesthetics:

5. The A-5 Vigilante was designed to poop a nuke out the rear as it streaked over Bad Guy Land. Only in America! You'd think the Germans would have thought of this. "Esse meine nuklear scheisse!" "Okay!"

Danke, Frau Kartmann.








#4. B-70 Valkyrie - The Soviets built the MiG-25 FOXBAT because they were scared witless over this experimental bomber. They must have realized it was too beautiful not to produce in quantity. They were wrong about many things.






#3. The Lockheed P-38L Lightning started my love affair with Kelly Johnson's Skunk Works products. The Lightning has to share a spot with the F-104 "Starfighter" which actually looks more modern than anything built today.












#2. P-51D Mustang - Cadillac of the Skies!

This baby's lines make me think of a Spitfire made by Volvo. With fuel tanks made of Win!










#1. Supermarine Spitfire (various marks):
What kind of engineer could produce wings like that and not be a poet?

Five Favorite Aircraft - Fantasy League

After years of playing war games, both on the tabletop and the computer, I've developed an affection for a few odd aircraft.

5. Brewster Buffalo. I never flew it well, but it's a saucy little airplane a la the Russian I-16 and the Italian CR.42 (i.e., something Jon could whip my ass with). Historically, it was no match for the Japanese Zeroes it faced, but it acquitted itself well on the Russian front in the hands of the Finns.









4. Mitsubishi Ki-67 "Hiryu" (Peggy)
Apologies to Eagle1, who correctly ID'd the Betty that I thought was a Peggy. Playing Avalon Hill's Air Force/Dauntless games, we learned that Peggy could pull off some fighter-like moves and had a considerable defensive battery. We dubbed the Bladerunner soundtrack's "End Title Reprise" as "Peggy Music," which we'd cue up whenever a Peggy was played.

3. Focke-Wulfe 190-D9 Made it fun to fly as a German.






2. Yak-3 Between this one and the La-7, the most kick-ass Russian fighter. Generally stingy with ammo, one variant had a heavy cannon that could ruin a Nazi's day with one shot.



1. MiG-19/F-6 (FARMER) The closest I've come to gaming
this one was a MiG-17 in Janes' US Navy Fighters. Why the FARMER? It's got the Second Best 30-Millimeter in the Pacific, times three! I got to sit in the cockpit of a defected N. Korean F-6 in the mid-80s and watched another one zip across the DMZ in the mid-90s. So many of those guys defect... they must think their careers suck. Guess they don't appreciate flying a classic!

Weekend Caption/Photoshop Contest

Sticky until Monday

Got a caption or photoshop for this AFP/Yahoo! picture? You could win a coveted Blog Ad on my side bar!

Leave a caption or photo link in comments, or Email a pic to me at the address in my profile. If you're sending a large animation, please provide a hot-linkable URL.

You need not own a blog to win! I'll advertise your favorite charity, web site, or even your old Datsun!

Judging begins Monday PM.

WINNER! Gregor the Sad Old Goth wins with: "You have runch special? Dat one from corumn A-cup and one from corumn B-cup. Tank you velly much."

Other Contests:

Gone Rick Motel
Outside the Beltway Doh!
Public Pondering
Support Your Local Gunfighter

Uh...Thanks Google!

November ACTS - Smoke Em

Well, if Desert Cat can show you his DQ stage, I can trot out this embarrassment. For some reason, my RediMag drops my fully loaded mag only during a match. That's not the least of my Tomfoolery. You'd think I could keep a round count on the stage I designed.

At least I didn't miss with the grenade!

November ACTS - Tired

Another fine Desert Cat video! The trailer added a different dimension to this old favorite brought out of the play book; Russell would eat a couple FTEs when he rode cover a little too tightly, tagging the trailer instead of the bad guys. Another shooter ate some splinters in the same mistake. I had a couple of misses on this stage, but made successful engagements by taking my time in a hurry. I tended to attempt headshots on every hard-covered target. That's not a bad habit to get into.

November ACTS - Jail Fight

Hurray for Desert Cat's YouTube account! Our first stage centered on reloading and not sticking the muzzle out the portals. Since we were operating inside our fortress, I didn't ding anybody for dropping a mag containing ammo (you're not leaving it behind, really). Also, since we're theoretically shooting from the cover of darkness inside the house, I was a little loose on riding cover. I'm sure there's good tactical reasons for not sticking your muzzle out the window; it's a sniper tactic, for sure -- I'm going to fight making it a universal practice, though.

November ACTS - Long & Short

(Video courtesy of Desert Cat)
I'd submitted a stage to use the 100-yard range, but the MD combined a simpler version with a house-clearing exercise that wound up being rather fun. Take note: before addressing long-range steel, brief your RSO on your planned target sequence!

The so-called "window!" penalty was born on an earlier stage that forbade us to poke our muzzles out to where the noise wouldn't deafen us. I guess they're afraid of some boogy-man who'll snatch our muzzles and yank our rifles away. I hope he brought his oven mitt... I've got a nasty burn from just brushing a hot barrel with the back of my hand.

November ACTS

Porch 911... I loves me some puns.

Since we're not supposed to be doing hot re-holstering, I developed a scenario to justify grounding your loaded pistol: so your sweetie can defend herself while you go outside and handle the bad guys. "Call 911!" is just a square-filler; you know cops are only good for filling out the paperwork and tagging the bodies.

Unless you're lucky like Scott... a TPD unit just happened to be there right after he was car-jacked.


Mentors and Tormentors
Too bad Aaron (left) and Kelly shot with another squad. I engaged in a little trash-talk with them during set-up... nothing like a little external pressure to put you on your game. It sure worked for Aaron, who kicked my ass. I'm proud to be Kelly's nemesis if that helps him improve his game. Russell (above, with timer) is usually on my heels if I'm not on his. Jeff, Desert Cat, and Daisy Cat are just like me: not especially athletic or coordinated (all I've got going for me is over ten years of playing the gun games and having settled on some good gun choices along the way). No trash talk for these folks; time to play the teacher. Save the trash talk for the spry young guns.