A Fire Before It Rains

My fire pit was full of dried brush so I decided to light it up before the rain predicted for this afternoon. As the brush got going good I threw on some well seasoned split hardwood to get it good and hot. The 2x4's are from a bench that needs new wood, so I took the chainsaw to it and cut about an inch away from the uprights. I won't add any more wood and just let it burn down.

 

 

 

Now there will be room in the fire pit come January if I need to dispose of my Christmas tree. I will offer it to the farm next door again first because the goats love it.

Black Friday? No... Bang Friday!

A weekday off means the opportunity to go to my club range. I loaded 200 rounds of .45 ACP last night, planning on shooting my Colt MarkIV Series 70 (which hasn't been shot in years) and my 45 Shield. I also had some old reloads, both purchased and my own to burn up. I wanted to do some more work with my two current carry guns from holster draw. The long guns were mostly going to be for fun banging the gongs, except my sniper type rifle. That was going to entail some scope range changing, as well as a comparison between my precision hand loads and commercial ammo.

PISTOLS 

First up was my Colt Mark IV Series 70. When I bought it in 1983, it was pretty much in standard government type issue, just like a 1911 marked "U.S. Property" would have been, but with a shiny blued finish. Mine now wears adjustable sights, a rubber Pachmyr grip, has a slide stop bushing, all new springs, pins and screws, and a barrel bushing compensator. Internally there are some bits from Chip McMormick. Skeletonized trigger and hammer, a high rise beaver-tail safety, and a sear set. I had forgotten how well this gun performs. After reacquainting my self with some target practice. I easily whacked the swinging plates at 25 yards, and then went to bowling pins. My hard hitting 200 grain flat point rounds hit the pins on the blue "American Bowling Congress" shield and took the pins cleanly and completely off where I had them sitting. This was my pin gun from back in the day, even before I tweaked it. I won my share of matches back then, maybe I'll get back into it.

Next up was the S & W 45 Shield for some draw and fire practice from both my OWB and pocket holsters. 7 yards at a B-27 silhouette using some older Hornady Critical Defense rounds I had put aside for this practice session. Recoil is only slightly more than my target rounds and easily manageable for me.

The last pistol I shot was my Ruger SR9c with some draw and fire practice from my On Your Six Designs OWB holster. I was going to do a full "Dicken Drill", but since I didn't have a shot timer and was trying more than 7 yards for the first time with a carry gun, I opted to start at 25 yards. I did OK, and am confident I could take out a target from behind cover, especially if I can brace myself. I then went to holster draws at 7 yards using a B-27 silhouette target. I did notice that I never had one instance of fail to fire with light primer strikes like I did on my last outing. Amazing what gunk inside the slide in the area of the firing pin will do to reliability. This is the first time firing it since I did that thorough cleaning. I only fired my 115 grain round nose copper plated hand loaded target rounds. I did not shoot the (ghost gun) other pistol in the case, or the Ruger GP-161 I had loaded on my hip for the day.

 

RIFLE

Another member and his guest showed up to shoot. The member has a S & W M&P 15-22 he brought just to plink with, but his guest was looking to verify zero on a Winchester Model 70 in 7mm Remington Magnum. I put my shooting on pause because he asked for my assistance. As far as he knew, his rifle was zeroed and he was just going to verify zero and holds. Well, something was amiss, because he wasn't even on paper at 100 yards and he asked me to try it out. First off, that rifle has a much stiffer trigger than I was expecting or used to, but at 100 yards I was holding on the center and should have been at least on paper. Nope. Then he started fiddling with the scope and things did not improve. I recommended they stop trying until they can shoot against a large sheet of paper to see where it is really hitting. They agreed and packed it in. The guy said the ammo was $47.99 for a box of 20. YIKES!

I brought several rifles with me but only fired my sniper type rifle. Rather than try precision shooting, I decided to engage targets as though they needed to be quickly eliminated, which would be more real world. I started at 200 yards with the 5 remaining rounds of PPU commercial ammo in the box to give me some more fire formed brass. At 200 yards it would have definitely been a kill, but the group was large and to the right of center. That was to be expected, since the commercial ammo is loaded with .308" bullets and my barrel slugs out to .311" I put 3 rounds on paper and whacked the 200 yard 12" gong twice. Then I switched to my precision loaded ammo using .311" Sierra MatchKings. Much tighter group at 200 yards and in the center of the target. I then dialed the scope back to the 100 yard zero setting and put 3 rounds right in the center of the target at 100 yards. Dialed back up the needed two inches of elevation and easily plugged the 6" gong at 200 yards, which makes a distinctive sound when hit. Back down to the normal setting and 2 rounds dead center of the 12" 100 yard gong (I saw the paint removed where the bullet struck) and that was that. There was no need to burn up any more precious ammo. I am confident in my ability to eliminate long range targets. Right now my dope card for actual fired rounds only goes to 200 yards, and until I can shoot at longer ranges, I have the estimated required elevations.

I packed everything up and spent the rest of the afternoon at the clubhouse, hanging out with several of the other members.

SECOND AMENDMENT NEWS

In the wake of the tranny club shooting in Colorado and the Walmart in Virginia, the demented meat puppet at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is ratcheting up his anti-gun rhetoric being pushed by his string pullers against all semi-automatic firearms, no longer just dreaded black rifles. HEY FUDDS & BUTTERS: think your favorite hunting firearm is safe from the gun-grabbing hoplophobes... HA!

Keep your powder dry and rope nearby.

Nice Addition

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.

 

So this arrived last night and got put into service this morning.

Proctor-Silex Model #31124 6 slice/12" pizza Toaster Oven

Our firehouse has a simple residential type kitchen, not the big fancy commercial kitchens like you see on TV shows or in movies. We have an electric range, a microwave, a side by side refrigerator, and a four slice bread toaster. No dishwasher either. We have other things like crock-pots and coffee makers, but nothing fancy. When the station was built, career staff manning the station was unheard of. Now several people are in the shift rotation, and everyone brings leftovers or cooks. There have been many times I wished we had a toaster oven for leftover pizza, chicken wings, Marie Calendar's pot pies, or appetizers like jalapeno poppers or pizza bites. Homemade cornbread or muffins sliced in half don't fit in a slice toaster. So I proposed getting one to the leadership. This came from the Proctor-Silex website direct and listed for $74.99. On the main page is a 20% off coupon good until December 5th and all orders over $50 are free shipping. With Kommiecticut's money grab off the sale (sales tax) made the total come to $63.80. I made the purchase and had it shipped to my house, and the department has agreed to reimburse me.

I chose this particular model for a reason. It is a newer version of the one I have on my kitchen counter that we ended up with after my wife's grandmother passed away in 2008. When we cleaned out her place we were using a small Back & Decker unit, so grandma's was put up in the attic. Being from the depression era, Grandma Gladys saved everything, so it was safely stored in the original box and packing. When the little Black & Decker unit died, we put the Proctor-Silex into service. It has been over 10 years and still works great.

The toaster oven got its inaugural use to warm up the Thanksgiving blueberry pie for dessert this afternoon. My wife cooked a Thanksgiving turkey dinner and brought it down to the firehouse with her handicapped brother from his group home. She's awesome... what a feast! One of our engines needed fuel, so I took her brother with me to get diesel up at public works across town. He thoroughly enjoyed it. I did run the lights, siren, and air horns on the ramp before we got on the road.

So Now We Need Common Sense Rope Control?

Noose found at RHAM High School - Fox 61 CT

But was it really a noose? Ever since NASCAR's Bubba Wallace noticed a garage door rope pull that had loop tied on the end and called it a noose, that turned out not to be one, the media have stopped showing photos of the suspected noose in subsequent "incidents," of which there have been several here in Kommiecticut.

Looks more like a simple loop than a noose to me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So before the mental midgets start calling for rope control, let me offer my expertise with ropes and knots as a certified Firefighter III. I carry this length of rope in the truck box in the bed of my pickup truck. It is in an organized untwisted coil, so whether I had to throw it for a quick rescue or use it to tie an object down, it will deploy properly.

 

This is the running end of a rope.

 

This is the same piece of rope with a simple half-hitch or "granny knot" in it. It is not a noose.

 

This is the same piece of rope with a bowline tied in it. It is a loop that stays in position and the knot actually gets tighter with tension, but is easily untied. It is one of the most useful knots in the fire service. This is what is usually tied on the end of garage door release ropes. It is not a noose.

 

This is the same piece of rope with a slipknot tied in it. Useful if you don't need a lot of strength and want the loop to tighten when you pull the standing end. OK for light lashing. But it is not a noose.

 

Now this... THIS is a hangman's noose. If tied correctly the loop is adjustable, the knot normally has 13 turns (I was lazy tying this one so it got 11), and the end is locked into a loop at the top of the knot. 

 

When a person is properly executed by hanging, the loop is placed around the neck and snugged up. The knot is positioned dead center at the back of the skull. This causes an instantly fatal C1-C2 fracture that severs the spine at the brain stem. The amount of free rope to allow the condemned to fall properly is based on a weight chart like the one below. Too much rope and free fall distance will rip the head right off. Too little rope and the condemned slowly dangles and strangles, suffering for several minutes.

Now the last documented lynching of a black man for simply being black was Michael Donald carried out by the KKK on March 12, 1981 in Mobile Alabama. While tragic, it was pretty much a one-off since regular lynchings stopped years earlier. I get it, it's a painful reminder of a horrific past. But every rope with a loop in it is NOT A HANGMAN'S NOOSE unless it is specifically tied as one. And even if it is, what is the context? When I lived in a more urban area where we had fun on Halloween with lots of Trick-Or-Treaters, a skeleton in a hangman's noose was always part of my display. No one was offended. However we moved from that house in March 2004, so 2003 was our last Halloween. Wokism wasn't a thing yet.

IMHO, the only people that should REALLY fear the hangman's noose, is the fucking commie traitors of the Uni-Party Establishment that permeate every level of government. Because swinging at the end of a rope is one of the ways they will be dealt justice.

I Am An Advocate...

... for shooting them in the fucking face when they come to your door to remove your children. From the blog The Wanderer:

"At issue is SB 107, legislation signed into law in late September by Gov. Newsom. Essentially, the measure allows California courts to take what is termed “emergency jurisdiction” of any child who comes to the state for “gender transitions.”
Essentially what this means is that the state can strip parents from any state of their custody rights if their children seek such sex mutilations in California — or even through telemedicine with a California-based doctor."

RTWT here