Weaver Scopes

Once upon a time, there was a little scope company in El Paso, TX, the Weaver outfit. They made scopes for American hunters that were legendary in their time. Good, solid hunting scopes. The K4 and K6 were magnificent and the target line of scopes, the T36 and T24 were regarded favorably among the benchrest guys.

Then, the company passed, as all do eventually. Weaver scopes are today made in Japan, and they're good optics. My .30-06 Savage wears aWeaver K6, and I'm really pleased with that scope. There's nothing to tinker with, no power ring to use. The scope is a 6 power. It's been dropped from deer stands and it's been dinged around in pickup trucks and four-wheelers. It just works. It holds its zero really well, it has enough power for the shots I intend to make and it's rugged.

I own variable scopes. They're okay, but I've long preferred fixed power scopes. Recently, I find myself surfing Ebay, looking at old Weaver and Lyman scopes. There are some remarkably good prices on what were once considered top-of-the-line rifle scopes.

If I bid on one and win it, I hope I won't be disappointed in the quality of the optics.

Sunday Humor

My ole buddy David sent me some charts that seem to explain a lot of things.



That might be true for some guys, but when I do something wrong, I know about it right then.



For some folks, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know lots of Beatle songs.



That's the truth. When I hear a car alarm, I figure that some idiot set off his own alarm. Then I check to see if it's my truck.

Thanks, David.

Sunday Morning Dawg

I was walking around the school last week and found a small yellow ball. The dog likes to carry and play chase with little tennis balls, but I thought he might take to the little yellow rubber one. So, I brought it home and dropped it on the floor.



He's rather possessive of it. He gets rather outraged when I try to take it from him.

Abolish the Department of Education

Every Republican candidate in the next several years should adopt a platform plank to abolish several government agencies, starting with Education. Not reform it, not rename it, abolish it. Put all those bureaucrats out of work, via legislation.

I've been working in the school system for eight years and it's been my distinct impression that the DOE is mandate-driven and more concerned with grant applications than actually spending money to educated children. During the Bush era, the cry was No Child Left Behind and from all I can see, it actually set education back several years. I don't know if we'll ever recover from NCLB. I try to stay abreast of educational issues and this latest Race to the Top, sponsored by now Sec'y Edu Arne Duncan.

Heritage.org talks about this latest education initiative and how it seems to be more of a teacher-union protection scheme than anything else. One paragraph in particular strikes home.

Proven education reform leaders like Louisiana and Colorado also lost points and finished out of the money because their state’s chosen reforms threatened union priorities. Meanwhile Hawaii (which the Data Quality Campaign ranked 17th for education data systems, which the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ranked 34th for the strength of their charter laws, and which got a D- from the National Council on Teacher Quality) finished third and will receive $75 million. Oh, but they had 100% “buy in” from the unions. So much for Secretary Duncan’s claim that RttT was committed to “putting the needs of children ahead of everyone else.”

So, Louisiana loses because we put education reform ahead of teacher unions, but Hawaii gets the unions to buy in and gets funded. Where does Obama hail as his home state? Amazing.

The Department of Education is a drain on our tax dollars and should be immediately abolished. That seems like a good priority for Republican candidates everywhere. Then we can begin abolishing other agencies, like the EPA, and BATFE

EPA Lead Ban - Nevermind

It appears that the EPA came to its senses and decided that they had no authority to regulate lead bullets used in ammunition.

Just two days ago, the EPA announced that they would take comments until the end of October as to whether they agreed that lead-based ammunition and fishing sinkers amounted to such a dire threat to the environment that the EPA should ban both. Looks like they heard enough comments, at least on ammunition:

I know that I, and a bazillion other folks had filed comments on the proposed ban. That's grassroots work at its finest. Some of the big players weighed-in too.

Agreeing with the position of the NRA and the firearms industry, the agency explained in a news release that it “does not have the legal authority to regulate this type of product under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).” Further crushing the hopes of anti-gun and anti-hunting activists, the release added: “nor is the agency seeking such authority.”

I bolded that last line, because I find it interesting that an government agency publicly says that they're not seeking to expand their authority.

Maybe the left-wingers in the government have decided that gun control is a battle that they don't want to fight. It's become a loser for them. However, the comment period will remain open until September 15th, while the agency tries to decide if it wants to regulate lead fishing sinkers.

If the EPA thinks they stirred up a hornets nest now, wait till they try to regulate the fishermen. That's got to be another losing battle.

Hat tip to Hot Air.

Where's Your Congressman?

I found this over at the Cripple's.



Good question.

Remember, Twain said America has no distinct criminal class, except Congress.

Harry Reid Endorsement

It looks like the NRA is withdrawing its endorsement of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

After careful consideration, the NRA-PVF announced today that it will not be endorsing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for re-election in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Nevada.

Oooh! Snap!

I guess that Harry pissed them off when he supported the Kagan nomination for the US Supreme Court.

Harry Reid and Sharron Angle remain locked in a tight race. It appears that many voters will be holding their noses because they like neither Reid nor Angle.

Hell, I know the way they feel. I like neither Vitter nor Melancon, yet that's what the polls are saying will be my choice.

Tomorrow morning is the primary election for US Congressional seats. As a Republican voter, I'm pulling the lever for Todd Slavant for US 5th district, and Chet Traylor for US Senate.

I've got to vote my conscience and Vitter seems to be a sleaze. He's been good for Louisiana, but his "great sin" doesn't make sense when you run on a family values ticket.

Hat tip; Say Uncle.

Graphs and Charts

It's easy to look at a graph and a chart and try to understand what's happening. If you look at this CBO chart, you'll find what the stimulus has cost us over the last several years. The red is the stimulus, the blue is the cost of the War in Iraq.



I lay the blame for that squarely on Congress' doorstep. They pass the budget. So why did the deficit spike in 2008? Simple! The Democrats took control of Congress.

There are Congressional primary elections in Louisiana this weekend, and I'm not voting for any incumbent. Not one.

Best Deer Rifle

Sometimes I get asked, what's the best rifle/caliber/bullet for deer hunting?

That's easy. Deer are fairly easy to kill. A good deer is about the same size as a good goat and I've killed goats with a knife.

The plain fact of the matter is that whitetail deer have been killed with virtually every caliber known to man. Whether it's a fast stepping .22 caliber, or a massive .45 caliber, you can kill a deer with it. Ethical hunters don't want to needlessly injure a game animal, so they try to pick calibers with enough power to do the job cleanly. Certainly, the old .30-30 is a capable deer cartridge, as are any of the .30 caliber cartridges. As are the 6mm calibers, the .25 calibers, the 7mm calibers and all the rest.

Deer are fairly easy to kill, if the hunter can place the bullet in the vital organs. So, the requirement is that the ethical hunter must be able to place the bullet where it will do the proper job.

It's late August and in most places the regular gun deer season will be opening in about eight weeks. It's time to tune-up our sights and make sure that we can hit the game properly for a fast, clean kill. In short, it's time to get to the range.

After a quick session on the bench to verify your zero, get away from the bench and practice with normal shooting positions. Standing, kneeling and sitting. If you can only afford one box of ammunition, use five to zero the rifle, use 10 to practice your positions, and keep the remaining five rounds for the game fields.

I bet you won't need any more ammo than that to bring home the venison.

EPA Considering ban on lead bullets

I talked about the petition a couple of weeks ago, and evidently the EPA is considering regulations that would ban lead bullets in the United States.

Remarkably, their commenting period ends two days before the Congressional elections in November. What exquisite timing. The remarkable thing would be to have the EPA ban lead bullets just before the elections, and during the hunting season. You've never seen a backlash like that would cause.

The odd thing is that they're considering this under the auspices of the Toxic Substance Control Act or 1976. In that legislation, Congress specifically exempted ammunition from consideration under that act.

The EPA is run by a woman named Lisa Jackson, a virulent anti-hunter. Personally, I think that a good dose of tar, feathers, and a long pole ride out of town would be good for Ms. Jackson.

The National Sports Shooting Foundation is all over this and there are links at the website where shooters, hunters and fishermen can go to leave comments. Be polite. Be firm.

Damndest Wreck I've Ever Seen

From WDTN Channel 2, we get this video of a one car auto accident caught on a cruiser's camera.

Damndest thing I've ever seen.



Thanks to Joe Hecksel.

Our Military

I'm a fan of our military personnel, especially those serving now. We've been embroiled in a war since 9/11 and the people who stepped forward are my heroes. Each and every one.

Desert Storm was my war, and when we whipped Hussein's Republican Guard at 73 Easting, and later when we ravaged his forces at the Highway of Death, I thought I had seen superlative military valor.

I was wrong. The men and women who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown valor beyond my altogether insufficient capacity to recognize it.

Say Uncle posts today on how some places exempt military personnel from the required training to obtain carry permits. He reports that Tam commented

There’s a different set of rules for shooting someone at West Town Mall than there is for shooting someone in Fallujah

She's right. There is a huge difference.

I am so very proud of our Armed Forces and I stand in awe of their accomplishments.

Bullets and Comments

Rivrdog and I were talking about the .243, and in comments he asked what bullet I was using for my favorite reload in that caliber.

A while back I was surfing the Accurate Shooter website and got on to their .243 page. One thing led to another and I started thinking about Reloder 22 and some Hornady blemished bullets I had bought a couple of years ago.

Because the bullets are blems, the seller wouldn't identify them by maker or number, but I got a few knowledgeable reloaders together and we looked at bullets, the consensus being that they are Hornadys and they appear to be the 6mm caliber, 100 grain boat tailed soft point with cannelure, #2453.

Understand, reloading is very variable, and each barrel is different. My load map may not be safe in your rifle, but the load I'm going to talk about is safe in mine. It shows absolutely no pressure signs of any type. If I'm not very sure about what I'm doing, I stick with published recipes. With that caveat out of the way, we can proceed.

My rifle is a bone stock Savage 10 Hunter model. It still wears the original tupperware stock. I haven't done anything to it except to mount a scope and shoot it. It turns in good accuracy with most ammunition, but when I combined the Hornady blem bullet and Reloder 22, something special happened.



This is not a cherry-picked target. This load will make a group like this every time I do my part. I like my hunting rifles to be sighted 2" high at 100 yards. When I looked through the chronograph and saw that the bullet was traveling over 3100 fps, I was floored. Combine that big-for-caliber bullet with that speed and we've got one heck of a hunting load.

I consider the .243 to be an overbore cartridge and it's my experience that the slow burners work good in overbore cartridges. Listed at #126 on the Hodgdon chart, I consider Reloder 22 to be a slow burner. It's good in the .243 and the .25-06. I also use it for some loads in the .30-06.

If you haven't tried Reloder 22 in overbore cartridges, you're missing a treat.

Sunday Morning Dawg

Sometimes the dog sits beside me with a disgusted look on his face, like I've forgotten something vitally important.



Food? Check. Water? Check. He just came in from outdoors, so I don't know what the problem is.

Sorry, pup! Until I figure it out, you'll just have to make do with what you've got.

Links and hits

A link from Say Uncle is good for about 800 visits.

He linked on Friday to a blog post on Tuesday and my sitemeter jumped about 800 visits.

I write this blog to amuse myself, to keep in touch with loved ones and to jot down stuff I might want to remember later. It's a journal of what's going on in my life. I check the sitemeter once a month or so from idle curiosity.

This little blog gets about 250 visits a day. When it jumps to over 1000, I start looking at the referral logs.

Interesting.

Wondering

Every so often, I get the hankering to build a rifle. When this muse gets under my skin, I know exactly what I want.

Savage short action, with a varmint taper barrel, chambered in .243 Winchester with a 1:8 twist. A good stock, probably a Bell and Carlson Duramaxx. Good trigger, probably an Accutrigger if I can find an action with an accutrigger, or a Timney or Rifle Basix if the action doesn't have an Accutrigger. Swift scope.

In short, a poor man's target rifle. What would I use it for? I'd like to lay on the line with the rifle mounted on a bipod and shoot targets 300 yards away. Or set it up on the bench and let the grandkids learn about such things.

The funny thing is, I've got rifles that will do all these things, but I want to build a rifle. I haven't done it yet, but the hankering keeps coming back.

Chicken Spaghetti

I'm on the hook for supper, and I've decided on a chicken spaghetti.

It's a simple recipe.

Onion
Bell pepper
Whole cooked chicken
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can original Ro-tel tomatoes
8 oz Velveeta Cheese
1 cup half-and half (I use fat-free)
1 pound spaghetti.

Peel the chicken from the bone and cut meat into small pieces. I generally just pull it apart with my hands.

Chop the onion and bell pepper and sautee in a little oil. Add chicken, Ro-tel, cream mushroom soup, cubed Velveeta cheese and the half-and-half. Let it simmer for a half-hour or so.

Boil spaghetti. Drain.

Mix everything together in a baking dish. Bake it until it firms up. About a half-hour or so, in a 350 degree oven.

Serve with garlic bread.

It's what's for supper.

Grilling

I love my big charcoal drop-box pit, but it's way too big for cooking a couple of steaks. The thing takes five or six pounds of charcoal to heat up the pit, and that doesn't make any sense for cooking two little ribeye steaks.

Last week, Milady was at the auction and found an outdoor George Foreman grill. This thing is electric, but I bet it'll cook a steak just fine. She got a heck of a deal on it, and I don't believe it's ever been used.



Sorry about the photo quality, it's so humid outside that when I brought the camera to the patio, the lens immediately fogged over.

However, inside, I have marinating two little ribeye steaks. They've been in a garlic/herb marinade for the past hour, and they're looking good.



When Milady gets home we're going to nuke some potatoes, crank up that little grill and see how it does. I'm betting it'll do just fine.

Gun Handling

Say Uncle embedded a gun handling video and when I watched it, I thought that the skills were pretty good. When I went to AR quals last week, we talked about magazine changes and they showed me a technique I'd never seen.

Of course, I haven't been considered an operator in twenty years, but some of the skills are still applicable to an old cop in his autumn years. The technique is fairly simple. When you experience a stoppage, push the rifle away from you and rotate it so that you can see into the ejection port. If the bolt's back, you've run dry, so engage the magazine release with your trigger finger and snap the rifle, rotating it clockwise. This flings the magazine out of the rifle, emptying the mag well for a fresh one. With practice, it's pretty quick and the video shows the guys making mag changes with expert speed.



The best of all worlds would be for the magazine to drop free as soon as the release is pressed, but with the AR platform, that doesn't always happen. With the nine magazines I currently have, only two of them will drop free. However, this little technique will eject the most stubborn magazine I've found.

The fact that the video is set to Johnny Cash is a double-added bonus.

Hat tip to Say Uncle.

Back to Work Monday

I went back to work today, prepping for the opening of school on Wednesday. I enjoyed the time off and still have a list of stuff that I would like to have done on my time off.

When I was a kid, we went to school on the Tuesday after Labor Day and were finished the Friday before Memorial Day, barring any unforseen events like snow or hurricane. Nowadays it seems fashionable to start school early in August. I'm not sure I understand why, but we've all go to live with it.

As we live through the heat of August, I am comforted by the fact that September and October approaches and in the great circle of events we have to live through August to be able to enjoy October. In just a few more weeks I'll start making regular treks to the hunting lease to prepare for the autumn hunting seasons.

I'm really looking forward to that.