Water Heater

 I built this shop during the winter of 16-17 and installed the kitchen during the spring f 2017.  I installed a small 4-gallon water heater under the sink so that we could wash dishes. I came in from the range yesterday and found that it was leaking.  Well, hell.

Went online to Lowe's and Stine's and didn't see anything there I liked.  Belle searched Amazon and found a small on-demand heater for less than $100.  Overnight shipping, it came in this morning. I snatched the old one out from under the sink, made a trip to the hardware store, came back and installed the new one. It's different, but it works.  Plug and play. The temperature of the water is dependent on how fast the flow.  Wide open, it's just over body temp, but if you throttle the flow down to a trickle, it gets hot enough that you don't want your hand under it.

We'll try this out and see how it works. There may be a learning curve, but if we don't like it, it is easy enough to snatch out of there.

About That Core-Lokt

 A commenter notes:

Ah, another person who finds that the tried and true Core-Lokt is still a very good round, and quite capable of taking care of any problem that the more modern, computer designed bullets can take care of.

I came to the Core-Lokt in 1974 when I bought my first centerfire rile. Up until then, I had been a shotgunner, hutting squirrels, rabbits, ducks and geese.  I came to deer hunting in college and decided that I needed a rifle, rather than shooting them with buckshot.  So, I saved my pennies and bought a Marlin Model 336 in .35 Remington.  Quite a purchase, it cost me ~$100, which represented a week's pay for a pore, starvin' college student who was living in his first apartment.

For ammo, I picked up a box o Remington's 200 grain ammo and never looked back.  I hand been reading all the literature and knew that deer run away when shot.  When I got my chance a month later at a middling buck, I was a bit surprised when he dropped straight down. He was Dead Right There, in the middle f the trail where I spotted him. I hunted with that rifle for the next 15 years and never had to track a deer.  They all flopped.

In 1991 I decided that I needed a new rifle.  While brewing the used gun racks, I found a Remington Model 7 in 7mm-08.  It had a Leupold scope and the tag said $400.  I bought it and the counter guy threw in a box of Remington's 140 grain load. (As I think about it, that rifle also represented a week's pay.) That rile shot that ammo like a laser beam, throwing those Core-Lokt bullets into the same hole with boring regularity. I made some great shots with that rifle.  I lost it during a financial crisis stemming from the Great Divorce. Truth be told, I mourned the loss of the rifle more than the loss of the woman.  Funny how that worked out.  I never bought another 7mm-08.  Too many old memories, I guess.

Don't get me wrong, I have used other bullets.  I'm a big fam of Sierra's whole line, and I like the Nosler Ballistic Tip.  I've used the Barned Triple-Shock  And, I have a load in .243 Winchester that uses the Hornady VLD.  Bullet technology is amazing these days.  But for sub-3000 fps and under 200 yards, it is hard to beat the Core-Lokt.  It just works.

Tuesday Tidbit

 Watching the news while sipping coffee, I notice that the French are continuing their ancient tradition of being overrun by foreign powers. One would think that they had learned their lesson during the first half of the 20th century, but from what I'm seeing, they learned nothing.

I, for one, am not interested in another French intervention.  Belle's father was in the Army during the first French invasion, and I had uncles who served during the second French occupation. They need to save themselves this time.

On a related note, I reckon that anyone who advocates for open borders should at least be morally consistent and leave their hones unlocked which they leave for the day. Consistency, like charity, starts at home.

Now, though, on a more local note, I need to spend some time studying ballistics charts. I need to review the ballistics of the .30 cal, 170 grain round nose Core-Lokt.  Fpr the record, the ballistic calculator I use is here..  You need to know the muzzle velocity, the ballistic coefficient of the bullet, and the sight height.

Sunday Reflections

 We buried Bill yesterday. It was a pretty good crowd.  Bill was a man o many parts, all o them good, steadfast parts.  He was an Eagle Scout, a basketball coach, a competitive shooter, a retired educator. His widow asked the shooting club to wear our regalia and serve as "honorary pallbearers".  Of course, we were honored to do so.

I am a decrepit old man.  A lifelong smoker with a body wrecked by years of service on armored vehicles, along with the attendant bad habits that characterizes cavalry service. Yet, when it came time to bear the pall, there were not six o his healthy friends who could lift a casket. I was pressed into service as a pall bearer.

Later that afternoon, stirring a roux, I was struck by the irony that I have recently carried three healthy men to their grave. I'm not complaining, you understand, simply stuck by the irony that "healthy" friends are dyeing off. The last two did it right.  They had a good day, enjoyed a pleasant evening, kissed their wives good night, then rolled over and went to sleep. No lingering, no drama, just went to sleep. That is the way to do it.

I hope, when my time comes, that is the way I'll go.  I also hope that I have enough chain-smoking, semi-alcoholic friends to carry me to the hearse.  Those "healthy" folks can't seem to carry the burden.

Resource Officers

 In the post below, where I said that every school should have a dedicated Resource Officer, one commenter made a common mistake.  

 If a bank can pay one or more individuals to be present during business hours, a public school with resources vastly more precious should be under protections as well.

The public school system should not pay one red cent for Resource Officers.  The funding should come 100% from the police agency.  There are several good reasons for this.

First, school administrators have no idea what cops do for a living, and frankly, most of what a Resource Officer does is sit on his ass. The good ones are moving most of the time, learning the school and keeping watch.  Wandering through the parking lots, or judging the fencing around the perimeter.  But, there is a lot of sitting on your ass.  Administrators hate this and will try to put the Resource Officer on duties that are not related to law enforcement.

Second, administrators hate bad press.  When a cop does his job, it generates reports.  Administrators don't like it when the cop assigned to the school actually makes an arrest in the building or on the school grounds. They think it reflects poorly on the school.

The Resource Officer needs the authority to make arrests in accordance with the law.  I worked in a high school and my basic yardstick was that if any other person could be arrested for the crime at Wal Mart, they could also be arrested for the same crime at the school. I did not arrest for every school yard tussle, but I had broad discretion to do so. The students knew this, and so did the faculty.

My assignment was in a high school.  I normally wrote 110 reports each year, and made 25-30 arrests per year.  Sometimes the principal like it, sometimes he didn't.  I always worked well with my principals, but they knew that I worked WITH then, not FOR them.

Third, cops cost more than teachers, at least locally. If the administrators had the option of hiring an additional cop, or an additional teacher, what might they do? We estimated that it cost the Sheriff's Office $75K per year to put an officer in a school. At that time, they could get a new teacher, fresh out of college, for about $45K per year.

Our Sheriff was smart about funding.  He asked the people for a 1-cemt sales tax to fund the Resource Officers. The voters approved it in a parish-wide ballot.  The school administrators didn't want it.  They were aghast at the idea. But the voters approved it and the school-house folks knew better than to resist. 

Casual Violence

 The news is buzzing with reports of a school shooting in Band, Oregon yesterday.  Three students and a teacher are dead, along with the suspected shooter.  This is a tragedy, but one that might have been amplified if not for the courageous action of a community member.  According to CNN:

A community member who saw the teenager entering Silver Rail Elementary School at about 1 p.m. followed him in before engaging him in gunfire, killing him before responding officers arrived, Krantz said.

Well Done, community member.  What we have here is a "good guy with a gun".  My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, along with deep respect to that "community member". Without that intervention, this could hae been much worse.

I spent the last 15 years f my career as a School Resource Officer.  It is my considered opinion that every school in the nation needs at least one Resource Officer, trained in this very demanding specialty of law enforcement.

Ruger Discontinues

 Belle clued me in to a rumor today that Ruger is going to discontinue a big part of their product line.

Guns.com has the skinny ,but if true, then the revolvers are gone, the 77 series rifles, the Ruger No 1, many of their carbines, and some others.  They list the Ruger Vaquero as gone, and those of us who play Cowboy games are wondering if the New Model Vaquero is also on the chopping block?

Wow.  It looks as if Ruger's catalog can now be printed on a leaflet.  What's left?  A few pistols and ARs? I guess we will have to wait and see.

UPDATE:  The American Rifleman says this about that.

Effective immediately, Ruger is ceasing production of its LCR, SP101, GP100 and Bearcat revolvers. The company plans to complete its final production runs of the following models for 2026: SR1911, LC Carbine, PC Charger, PC Carbine, LC Charger, Redhawk, Super Redhawk, Blackhawk, Super Blackhawk, Single-Series revolvers, Vaquero, No. 1, 77-Series rifles, Hawkeye and Ruger Precision Rifle.

That is two sources.

Eley Target

 I was ordering some cleaning brushes and decided to go see what was available in .22LR.  I found some Eley Target at a pretty fair price. It's about a third the price of Tenex.  What the hell, I dropped a brick in the cart and checked out.

When it came in yesterday, I was a bit surprised at the packaging.  I've bought a lot of .22 ammo over the years and bicks o .22 generally come in cardboard boxes.  Not this stuff.

Next time I take the .22 out, I'll give this stuff a whirl.  If it groups well through by barrel, I have a winner.  IF not, it will serve r plinking ammo.  I just thought it was weird, wrapped in plastic rather than cardboard.

Anyone have any experience with this stuff?

As a young Dad, raising sons and cattle, I remember buying Peters .22LR at the farmers Co-op for $10.00 a brick.  With three young sons, I bought a lot of that stuff.  It shot well enough for taking squirrels, rabbits, and the occasional stray cat.  That is a story my boys tell and we will leave that one for later.

UPS, Please

 I get packages, just like everyone else.  Sometimes UPS, sometimes FedEx, sometimes Amazon.

UPS is problematic.  Their drivers are lazy, ignorant, or both.

Today, for example.  I ordered some ammo and some cleaning brushes from MidwayUSA.  UPS sent me a delivery notice. "ON THE PORCH".  I have two porches, so I went out to the front porch.  The one by the front door.  No package.  I went out to the back porch. No package.  Honestly, I doubted that the driver would have left it on the back porch, because that requires opening a gate. Still, no luck.

Belle and I started looking, and she found it leaning against the garage door. Which is not a porch, nor is it near a porch, nor is it where they said they left it. So, the driver is either lazy, ignorant, or both.

When I picked up the package, I found a hole in the box.  Luckily, nothing had spilled out, but I doubt that Midway shipped it with a hole in the box.

MondayNotes

 It's been a wild weekend.  Belle got home late Friday afternoon. Her brother survived surgery and is doing well in recovery.  We hosted a club practice on Saturday. One of our oldest friends was there to shoot.

Bill is a founding member of the club.  If the doors are open, he is there.  He had a scare with prostate cancer a couple of years ago, but beat it with treatment.  It slowed his draw down a lot and he has been working on his speed. On Saturday, he was showing his old style, and making hits in the high 4s.  About one o'clock he took off his revolver and went home.

Bill's wife called on Sunday morning. Saturday night, Bill had a heart attack and died.  Just like that. Gone. It's been two days and I'm still processing the news.

It was a cray weekend.  I need to take my suit to the cleaners, and I'll do that tomorrow.  I'll soon have a funeral to attend.

Execution Date Set

 I'm only going to use his name once, so listen up.  Do you remember Nidal Hassan? He was a US Army officer and psychologist who perpetrated a mass casualty event at Fort Hood in 2009.  He killed 13 people and injured 32 before he was captured.

Yeahh, this is the asshole who abrogated his oath both as an officer and as a physician and decided to go all Aloha Snackbar at the Fort Hood reediness center, a place where soldiers and dependents get ID cards and register vehicles. So, he brought a pistol and started shooting people, because Aloha.

Well, it seems that the War Department has decided to Aloha his ass by firing squad at Fort Hood on December 3rd.  Rumors are that it is going to be a public execution. We're talking livestream here.

If they are thinking about a good old-fashioned stand-him-up- and-shoot-him, that is too good for him. I'd get a bit more creative.  Maybe a couple of kneecap shots just to start the party.  Or, maybe after a quick coup de grace, feed him to a herd of hogs. They could stake him out somewhere and eh would be gone in three days.

A standard killing and burial is too good for this asshole.

Coming Ashore

 Isaias is hammering Fort Walton/Destin/Pensacola right now.  I'm watching Ryan Hall, who does a great weather channel on YouTube,

I shared texts with Termite, a frequent commenter and good personal friend, who is currently on an offshore rig riding it out.  They couldn't leave the rig yesterday at shift change, so they are drawing overtime pay until the helicopters can get out to pick them up. Probably tomorrow.  Termite is fine, eating well, and drawing overtime.  Hopefully, he will drop by next week, drink a beer, and tell me all about it.

Cooler

 Awoke this morning, got coffee started then walked outside to the patio to let the dawg get his morning constitutional.  Chilly outside, almost brisk. Checked the thermometer, 57F.  Clear skies, low humidity.

Florida and Alabama are bracing for what looks to be a major hurricane. This thing has shifted east enough that I expect no impact from it at all.  That is fine with me.  While I don't wish disaster on anyone, it is okay with me if hurricanes go somewhere else.  I've lived through mine, some worse than others.

Belle has been out of town for the past two days helping her older brother.  She is due back this afternoon, so the dawg and I have been batching it here on the acre.  The dawg has not starved, but he is a bit concerned, wondering where she went.  He will be quite excited when she pulls into the driveway. I can't say that I blame him.

Isaias

 As Thursday morning begins, all the weather watchers are focused on that unpronounceable storm in the Gulf.  It's coming ashore tomorrow, that is for sure, the question is where it will make landfall.  Current models put it making landfall at Pensacola, but that is subject to change.

The other question is how much of the SEC is it going to disrupt?  Will it take out Georgia at Alabama, will it disrupt LSU at Kentucky? The big question is timing. And power outages.  There are plenty of smaller schools in the path of the storm and many of them have games scheduled in lesser conferences.

The weather falls on everyone equally.  The rich and the poor, the strong and the feeble.  It simply seems to hurt the poor and feeble more often.  If I lived in Mobile or Pensacola, I would be considering a weekend trip.  Somewhere west and away from the coast.

Isaias?

 Yesterday while posting, I blindly asked Copilot what the next storm name might be, and it told me Cristobal.  Imagine my surprise when I awakened this morning and find that the tropical depression has been named Isaias.  So much for AI, I suppose. I need todo better research.

At any rate, we have another named storm, and this one is predicted to become a hurricane. Which means we have a cone.

That is an interesting cone, if only for the prediction that it is headed for the Gret Lakes.  It appears that this one is headed for the Mississippi coast, but as always this is subject to change.

Late Season

 This hurricane season has been mild, to say the least.  This is the first year I can remember when we have gotten into October without a hurricane.  Maybe that is about to change, as we are watching a storm that everyone is convinced will soon organize into something bigger.  The tracks I've seen has it coming ashore this weekend, somewhere between southeast Louisiana and Pensacola, FL.

At this point, everything is subject to change and we will have to keep an eye on it.    If this thing organizes, it will become Cristobal.

Weather Change

 We didn't get as much rain as expected this weekend, but it is cooling off. Overcast this morning with drizzle before daylight.

Shortly after daylight, I watched a teal make a low pass over the pond.  He decided against it and headed toward Catahoula lake. Teal are a harbinger, being the first ducks to make the trip.

The shop is cool this morning, with one A/C unit running, and it has cycled off.

A lot less hummingbird traffic around the feeders this morning. The smart ones left yesterday, riding the northerly breeze southward.

It's not time to break the flannel out, quite yet, but it won't be long.

** UPDATE TO ADD:  After a few minutes, I decided to make a test run on the propane heaters in the shop.  Both Belle's big heater and my small one passed the initial start-up.

Silly Memes

 So I was watching this meme, asking how "country" this respondent might be.

Have you ever fired a shotgun?

Have you ever waded barefoot in a creek?

Have you ever used a slingshot?

Have you ever started a vehicle with a manual choke?

Have you ever taken ashes out of a wood stove?

Have you ever carved you initials in a tree?

Have you ever siphoned gas with a hose?

Have you ever split wood with an ax?

Have you ever eaten fried bologna?

Have you ever hanged laundry on a clothesline?

Nonsense.  Those questions don't determine "country".  I did all of that before I was age 12.  I wasn't reared in the country; I was reared in a subdivision. on the edge of town.  I raised my kids in the country, deep in the woods, and they also did all that before they were 12.

Oops

 Are y'all seeing this bullshit about this woman in Tennessee who was supposed to be executed last night?  Something or someone botched the execution and she is in the hospital following the procedure.

I'm generally a proponent for the death penalty.  We have to make sure that the penalty is quick and effective.  Whatever happened last night in Tennessee was neither.  The follow-up investigation will be fun to follow.

Ain't Dogging

 In yesterday's post, I talked about the Hornady LeverEvolution bullet, and I'm not dogging on that ammunition.  It is my opinion that these new bullets did several things very well.  They split the difference between the tadeonal 150 and 170 grain load with a 160-grain bullet.  They upgraded a 19th century cartridge and brought it into the 21st century.  The big thing these newfangled bullets did was to get grandpa's old rifle out of the safe and back into the range, where it could bark the other dogs.

I bought my first lever gun in 1973, where at the tender age of 19 I walked into Howard Brothers department store and put down $87.50 on a brand-new Marlin 336.  It was on sale the week before deer season, down from $94.99 and I thought it was a pretty good deal.  I still have that rifle, though it lives at my son's house.

Junior Doughty and I played with Handi-rifles for a time in 2008-10.  As such, I loaded a bunch of ammo for the .30-30 with pointy bullets, specifically the Sierra Game King.  These bullets would be dangerous in a tube fed levergun, because pointed tips and recoil are a thing.  Junior and I put them through their paces and they performed well in the Handi-rifle, which we all know is a single shot.

The Hornady ammo is a good thing, if only for the reasons stated above.  For my shooting, and I suspect for many of us, the old ammo still suits us fine. My preferred factory load in the .30-30 is the old Remington green box load with the 170 grain round nose soft point. For deer, hogs, black bear, it is entirely sufficient as long as the range is under 125 yards and you can put the bullet in the vitals.

The cartridge is a handloaders dream.  It has a long sleek neck that is perfect for cast bullets and a moderate charge of the old IMR 3031. It can be loaded with a hand press on the kitchen table.  Crimp the bullet so that it doesn't set back in the tube magazine under recoil and you will be fine.