Belle Calls Bullshit

We come this morning with this tale of woe from the Big Easy.  Belle calls bullshit.  She was a nurse for over 40 years.

Belle calls bullshit because this lizard is claiming that he is a licensed nurse that can't find a job.  There is a nationwide nursing shortage in every employment market.  This guy might not be able to find the job he wants, but he could go to work tomorrow.  He might have to start as an ER nurse on the night shift, but the jobs are available. This guy doesn't need SNAP, he needs to go to work.

Spooky SNAP

 Today is Halloween, a celebration beloved by millions of Americans.  After a night of goblins, ghosties, and things that go bump in the night, Americans are poised to waken tomorrow to the pause, perhaps the end, of a program that began in 1939.

Originally called the Federal Foos Stamp program, it began to give Americans a temporary leg up when times were tough. It has now morphed into a bloated entitlement program. Democrats, through their hubris, are set to let it expire in the short-term beginning November 1st.

This program has been around since 1939, and although intended as a temporary measure, some folks have been on it since birth.  Now that it is poised to pause, the outrage is palpable and loud.  Videos of outrage are filling the internet, with people saying that if the Democrats pause their benefits, they will simply go to Wal Mart and steal it. My, my.

This ain't Wal Mart's fault.  But thankfully, the technology has caught up with stealing. There is an App for that.  I'm hearing that in some markets, Wal Mart will suspend in-store shopping.  If you want to order groceries on the app, they will bring it to you in the parking lot. This technology has been around for several years, and I myself have used it when convenient.

Again, these are all wild-eyed, hairy-assed rumors, but it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. The Senate Democrats could end all this by simply voting to fund the government at current levels.

Range Day

 Belle had errands to run this morning, so I loaded a couple of rifles in the van and headed out to the Woodworth range for a little recoil therapy.

I started out with the Winchester 94 carbine.  I haven't shot this rifle since Junior Doughty died, and I felt like the old gal needed a little range time.  That rifle is fitted with a Williams pep sight and I quickly realized that I could not pick up that front bead sight against the tree line.  That sight just disappeared in the clutter of the ben and shadows.  My old eyes let me down.  I need a high-resolution front sight on that rifle. I'll do some research, but my first inclination is to install a Fire-Sight.

So, putting the levergun back in the case, I took out the Ruger 10/22.  I had not fired that rifle since I swapped the factory stock for the Boyds AT-One. That rifle made me feel a little bit better, so I re-zeroed with the new stock, then fired 10 shots on a fresh target.

Not too shabby for an old blind man.  I will own those two flyers, but I still feel that the trigger on that rifle is a bit crunchy. Ruger makes a better trigger, as does Timney and Volquartsen. The cost of those triggers are more than the cost of anew Ruger 10/22 and it becomes just a matter of how much I want to spend to refit the trigger group.

Decisions, decisions.

Optimum Still Sucks

 I awoke this morning to another Optimum service outage. I called it in and got the familiar robot. Optimum knows that there is a service outage in my neighborhood and are working diligently to restore service.

I especially like the part in their spiel when they tell me that I can go online for more information.  How, exactly, and I supposed to go online when the internet is down? That is a question that no one has been able to answer.  Just a dumb-ass robot answering the phones. Telling me what I already know.  

Optimum still sucks.

Cleaning Rods

 If you are a shooter, you need a cleaning rod. Yes, there are other ways to clean a barrel, but a cleaning rod is indispensable to your bench.  Yes, I like Hoppes Bre Snakes, and yes, I use them. But, for a deep cleaning, nothing beats a good rod and a brush.

I realized last night that I had no clue where my .22 caliber rod had gotten off to. I know exactly where my rod for medium bores is hanging, but the .22 rod seems to have grown feet and wandered off. I'm a big fan of Dewey rods, so I went to my favorite retailer and ordered one.  It will get here in a few days, and in the meantime, I need to pull my bench away from the wall and screw a clip to the back of it so that the rod will have a home.

Dewey rods are a little more expensive, but they are really nice.

Glock Perfection

 So, evidently, there is some hysteria going around that Glock is coming out with a new generation that changes the disconnector to make it harder to mod the gun to help it go full auto?

So let me ask, just exactly how much toilet paper do you have left over from the Covid hysteria?

Manufacturers make changes constantly. Sometimes to help manufacturing, sometimes to defend from possible lawsuits, sometimes to protect patents. Glock is no different than Smith and Wesson in that regard. The Smith revolver I'm carrying right now is on its 16th manufacturing change.

Don't freak out.  There are literally millions of old-generation Glocks on the used gun market.  We're not going to run out anytime soon.

What A Dumb Broad

 Watching the news this morning, I stumbled across this clip from Gutfeld! talking about Sunny Hostin, the brain-dead host of a show called The View.  You can watch the clip here.

Hostin claims that she lives in an all-white neighborhood.  He son was training for the Junior Olympics and she took her son to the police station and told the cops that her son was training, and that they should leave him alone as he ran through the neighborhood.

Hostin doesn't understand how "the cops" work. Generally, in any agency that that provide 24/7 protection, there are four shifts. The cops you might contact on Monday, aren't there on Wednesday. The cops that are there during the day, aren't there at night. Generally, there is some sort of "pass-on" log, where information is passed from one shift to another, but unless they took a photo of Hostin's son, no one knows what this kid looks like. The story is preposterous on its face.

And, as comedian Jamie Lissow points out in the clip, if Hostin lives there, it's not an "all-white" neighborhood anymore.

Thursday Thoughts

 Another beautiful day in central Louisiana. It's full-fledged autumn.

I went to the cardiologist yesterday and he gave me a clean bill of health. He doesn't want to see me for another year. At my advanced stage of decrepitude, I felt like that was pretty good news.

At the local, club level, we have our last Monthly Match this weekend.  Several years ago, the club voted to not hold regular matches during November and December.  Too many holidays and deer hunting.  I actually believe that it was more about encroachment on the hunting than it is the holidays.

It's going to be a lazy Thursday around here.  I intend to accomplish it without starting a single gasoline engine.

Melissa

 It's late in the season, but it looks like Tropical Storm Melissa has formed in the Caribbean.

The spaghetti map is all over the place, but I'm sure it will firm up in the near future.  Still, it looks like some of the islands in the Caribbean are about to take a hit.

I'm not worried about it coming here.  We're having regular cool fronts roll through and that should provide enough steer in currents to keep her away from us.

Justice

 I'm seeing on Fox News that some asshole who was involved in the October 7th attack in Israel has been apprehended in Lafayette, LA.  It seems that he lied on his visa application.

It seems that he was in Gaza on the morning of the attack, got together with some other radical assholes and went into Israel to participate.  His cell phone records show that he as in one area that was particularly hard hit.

He's in the lockup in St. Martin parish.  His visa problems are the least of his worries.   If he gets turned over to Mossad, things may start to get really grim.

I wonder why he picked Lafayette to settle down?

Autumn

 Rain on Saturday night and this morning cool temps. When I awoke this morning, the temps were in the high 40s and it was cool on the back patio.  It's cool enough that I am going to make a stew for lunch.

Sunday is our day for family and friends.  We cook "big" on Sunday and feed anyone who drops in.  Yesterday, grandson Lucas was here with his parents. They had to leave early so that Lucas could attend a shooting practice with his 4-H shooting team.  He shoots rimfire position and silhouette.  His dad wanted to weigh his rifle so we took out the scale.

Luke's rifle is a Ruger 10/22 that has been heavily modified. Dad freaked out when he saw the weight on the scale. For sanctioned competition, the rifle is overweight.  It needs to shed over 1/2 pound. We talked options and he has a plan for that.

Ruminations

 Looking at the nationwide Democrat rallies this weekend, I am struck by the "No Kings" moniker. The  most recent President we have had that resembles a constitutional monarch is Joe Biden. He really didn't have any power, except what his inner circle allowed him to do.  Basically bereft of ideas, he had no clue who his country really was.

Others have noticed that during the Covid disaster, the people were ruled over by a small cabal who  destroyed business, closed schools, denied disagreement and limited civil liberties. Now that we are in a government shutdown, the very agencies who ruled us with a heavy hand are the same ones that are being gutted.

Karma is a bitch, and payback is a motherf****r,

Weights

 I was digging through the gun safe yesterday and started wondering about gun weights, so I got out the digital scale to put some numbers to my favorites.

My favorite competition gun is a Cimarron Model P.  According to the scale, it comes in at just a hair under 2 lbs, 4 oz.

Next up was my old Saage 110 in .30-06.  It's 8 lbs, 4 oz.  Not bad for a full-sized rifle with scope. This one is my go-to deer rifle.  It has accounted for several pounds of venison.

So, then I took out the Ruger 10/22 with the Boyds stock. Nearly 7 lbs, 7 oz.  That Boyds stock added a few ounces to the little rifle, but I feel like the upgrade was worth it.

Then, I saw an old safe queen that hadn't seen daylight in a while.  My old Winchester 94.  It's light and handy and sure needs to be taken to the range.  One ounce over 6 pounds.

Yeah, I need to get that old gal out to the range. Maybe we will do that next week.

Who Cares?

 It may be the oldest argument in the hunting world.  The subject of countless campfire discussions. The old .270 vs .30-06 argument.  Folks have been arguing this since 1925, which reminds me.  This cartridge is 100 years old.

The basic truth is that I have autopsied lots of whitetail deer. They can't tell the difference.

There are small differences in the performance of each cartridge, but both are absolutely up to the task. If you deliver a well-constructed bullet into the vitals of any medium game, the fun is over and the work begins.

So, Happy Birthday to the .270 Winchester.  It's been 100 years and still going strong. It's one of the greatest cartridges ever developed. Is it any better than its parent .30-06?  The deer, or for that matter the elk, certainly can't tell the difference.

We're Back

We are back.  Just rolled in a hour ago.  Spent a week visiting with our CFDA family and our Missouri family.  We had a ball, hugged a lot of necks.

This week, Kent Rollins is talking about two old recipes, Mac and cheese and SOS.  I've got to try that Mac and Cheese recipe. I  didn't know that it was invented prior to the Civil War.

Shooting with Billy

 Today, the Randolph County Rangers, a CFDA club, hosted a 10-year anniversary shoot.  Their head honcho, Diamondback Billy, is much beloved in the sport and hosted a good time at his club house.

We spent time with shooters from Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky, refreshing old friendships and catching up on the latest rumors.

I did get to watch Jackass Jiles, one of the fastest shooters in our sport, hit a 0.915 (which is excruciatingly slow).  Oh, we laughed.  On his next shot, he redeemed himself, hitting a 0.295 (which is exceedingly fast).  In our game, we start with the revolver holstered.  When the light comes on, we draw, cock that single-action revolver, and fire.  If the bullet strikes the target, you get a time. To manipulate a single-action revolver to unholster and strike a target in under 1/3 of a second is phenomenal.

In the ladies division, Belle took a minor trophy and got a cash award. Once again, my lady has proven that she is a Professional Gunfighter.  She had been paid cash for her skills.  I, on the other hand, finished comfortably in the middle of the pack.

Tomorrow after breakfast, we head north to Missouri to visit with family for a few days before we head home.

Pocahontas, AR

 We are in Pocahantas, Arkansas for an invitational shoot tomorrow We were invited. I did not realize how much crop agriculture there is in northwest Arkansas.  

It's after harvest time and the farmers are burning off the stubble.

That's a smoke funnel, rising from a field several miles from the highway.

We are in the hotel, ensconced for the evening.  We start shooting tomorrow at 9:30

Leftovers

 Yesterday, Belle was hungry for chicken, so I found some boneless chicken breasts, pounded them flat, cut them into strips, the rolled then in seasoned flour, an egg wash and panko crumbs. Fried then golden brown with mashed potatoes and cream gravy.

Only problem, I cooked way too much. This morning, I was hungry for a jambalaya for lunch, so I took those leftover chicken strips, cut them into morsels, then added sausage and made my basic chicken and sausage jambalaya.  Except I didn't have any Rotel tomatoes.

Oh, damn.  That fried chicken jambalaya was the best I've made in a while.

I don't know what we're having for lunch tomorrow.  Like Scarlett O'Hara, we will worry about that tomorrow.

No Way

 I've been peripherally watching the YouTube riflemen talk about the latest and greatest rifle cartridges. 

The topic that seems to be bantered around is heavy bullets in common bore sizes. When we increase the weight of a given bullet, it gets longer in the bore.  That requires a faster twist to stabilize the bullet. Of course, with a long skinny bullet we get better ballistic coefficient.  That translates into greater energy downrange.

I ran into this problem when I was working up loads for the .243 Winchester.  The standard 1:10 barrel would stabilize bullets up to 100 grains, but when I started playing with those lovely long, skinny 107s, I started having stabilization problems.  No problem, just back down to the 100 grain bullets and place your shot.

 Other folks have talked about the demise of the .270 Winchester. Like this clip from Ron Spomer. It seems that the Western hunters wanted a faster twist in the .270.  And, it appears that Browning is offering a 1:7.5 twist.  That's fine, that's all well and good.  The .270 Winchester is far from dead. There is no telling how many thousands of them are in closets, safes and gun racks across the country. The .270 Winchester ain't going anywhere.

Wild and Wooly

 Haven't been posting much.  Things are wild and wooly in a good way. A family event over the weekend, and this week spending time with a grandson who is in town for a week 

We're leaving on Friday for a week out of town, and when the day gets done, I realize that I haven't posted.  We're good, we're real good..  

Right now I'm trying to figure out the safety interlock on a Cimarron single action revolver.  The old Colt SAA had a well-known feature of allowing the firing pin to rest on a live primer. That is why the old-timers generally carried five in the cylinder and let the firing pin rest on the empty chamber. Nowadays the manufacturer of Colt clones are tying to idiot-proof the gun and are putting an interlock that only lets the firing pin protrude when the trigger is firmly to the rear.

I have one that is causing me grief, and a new shooter came by with the same gun and the same problem.

I have to figure this out.

Optimum Sucks

 Optimum is my TV and internet provider. They suck.

Internet went out about 7:00 pm last night.  I was watching an old movie online.

It is currently 0840 local and the internet is still out.  I'm connected on a mobile hotspot.

I called it in, and the answering machine told me that there is an outage in my area. I already knew that. No word on when it might be fixed, no indication of any sense of urgency. This is becoming a regular thing.  For no apparent reason, the internet connection goes tits-up.

Optimum sucks.

Doing PT

 SecWar Pete is taking flak from the usual suspects over insisting that every service member (including fat admirals) do hard Physical training every duty day.  Let me say this about that.

In 1973 I took basic training at Fort Knox. It was not uncommon to the the Commanding General pounding the pavement with us.  We had a horizontal ladder outside the mess hall that we had to go through, after PT, while in the breakfast line. Twice during my basic training cycle, the CG came over, talked with the trainees and had breakfast with us.

In 1990, in the runup to Desert Storm, we were training with the 5th Infantry Division at Fort Polk.  Every morning for PT, we could see the Commanding General out there sweating with the rest of us. Not uncommon at all.

Let's be fair.  Every day I was in the Army, I detested PT.  I hated running.  But, I knew the standard and met it. I was not astonished when people who would not meet the standards fell by the wayside.

Officers lead from the front.  The idea that the SecWar had to remind the flag officers of that fact is anathema to the culture of the military.  That should go unsaid. If an officer is not leading from the front, then he should trot down to the personnel office and fill out the retirement papers.

SecWar Pete should stay the course.  As my uncle, a WWII pilot told me, when you're taking flak, you are over the target.  It seems to me that Pete is directly over the target.

Shut Down

 I awaken this morning to see that the federal govt is shut down. Whatever that means.  I checked my account and see that my DFAS deposit hit the bank.  That's good, I can pay the light bill this month.

I understand that the federal parks are closed, but I didn't plan on visiting one anyway. Other than that, I'm not really sure how a federal shutdown affects much of anything.

With Pete changing the name to the War Department, I wonder if the Defense Finance and Accounting Service is going to change its name?