Here we go

"ARMS DEALER BUSTED IN ARIZONA!!"

Weeeeeeeeell, maybe not so much. I may eat crow over this one, but I doubt that it will come to that.

First and foremost, if this guy was such a dangerous human being, than why was he only briefly detained? What is he charged with? So far I only see him "accused" of a "federal firearms violation.

Second, where are all the "assault thingies" that he was allegedly selling? All I see are walnut stocked pump action Winchesters and pearl handled 1911s. Whoopidy doo.

Next, ATF agent Tom Mangan is running this piece, so that should tell ya that this might not be on the up-and-up.

Lastly, if the guy used to be a licensed firearms dealer, than it makes sense that he would have "over a thousand" firearms at home, and that he would be a collector. So he still buys guns, which would be "replenishing" his stock in ATF speak.

As for him not conducting background checks, is there a mechanism in place for private Citizens to conduct them? If not, and I don't believe there is, than that accusation should be retracted. You can't accuse someone of not doing something that they have no way of doing in the first place.

Seems to me that there is the typical lack of substance here, and that maybe the ATF needed a scalp to nail to their wall. It was this guys ticket they punched. Too bad.

Cop kills swordsman

Crazy sword wielding articles aren't that hard to come by these days. This one is like all the others, kinda blah, but the point remains (feel my pun!) that sharpening a piece of metal is easy to do, and swords are every bit as effective as a weapon as a firearm.

In through the out door

Yeah, it's the title to a Zeppelin song, but it's also the title to a post about the shitty court system in Central Virginia.

Burton Leon Brown III, 28, was charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and reckless discharge of a firearm. Brown was placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond.

So what does this happen to do with Zeppelin again? Nothing, but it has everything to do with several municipalities and counties in Virginia previously letting a violent and dangerous guy out of prison over and over again so that he can joyride at 2 a.m. while firing his gat out the window of a car within a mile of my house.

I don't what the hell is going on in my AO, but y'all need to get your shit together and start holding on to these guys. I'm tired of hearing about some vicious yahoo getting the kid glove treatment his whole life from my county court, and then doing something really stupid that gets people hurt.

Back to this particular yahoo, a quick search of his name in the Virginia court database reveals that this scumbag has such accolades as obstructing justice and assault and battery of a police officer, making him already a felon who cannot legally own a firearm. There's lots of other piddly stuff in there too, but the fact remains that this guy has a history, and now he needs to be history.

Just so we're clear here, if I rack up charge after charge in a particular locale, and then sometime later punch a cop, I can go about my business after paying $900 and change and giving up my drivers license for a month and a half. Good to know. I wonder how much I would have to pay out for shooting a handgun up in the air while driving?

The persecution has begun!

"Early on Thursday morning, wildlife biologists and technicians descended on the park and netted the birds. The biologists, who work with the wildlife services division of the United States Department of Agriculture, then packed the geese two or three to a crate and took them to a facility where they were gassed with lethal doses of carbon dioxide, said Carol A. Bannerman, a spokeswoman for the wildlife services division."

Holy smokes! Thousands of geese across America are being rounded up and exterminated.

Too bad they didn't pull up with a box truck full of Winchester shotgun shells and let the locals make a day of it. Think about if they charged ten dollars admission per goose - that's a profit that could go towards fixing the roads or installing gunshot detectors or something. And don't tell me it's inhumane; it's much more ethical than netting and gassing.

So what about the carcasses?

The bodies are frozen, chopped up and fed to captive raptors and bears.

Coooooooooooool. Now, I'd pay to see them fed to raptors and bears! I'd pay triple to see them fed to raptors and bears while still alive!! I wouldn't pay to watch homeless people eat them though. But it is a good cause!

The lesson that we can all take away from here though is to not poop in the park, or you may be the one netted, gassed, and fed to a homeless guy. Nom nom nom nom!!

Target practice, cartel style!

Militaryphotos.net has a good thread on the guns of the Mexican drug cartels.

Gunshow guns, the whole lot of em'. What, you don't believe me? Have you noticed at how far the prices on gold plated AKs have dropped?

Yeah, me neither.

Ever the optimist, I notice the piss poor gun handling of these guys, as well as their "marksmanship." I mean, who doesn't fire rounds into the air when they go to the range?

Update: Check out the Browning 1919 machine guns! I just turned several of those down a few days ago from a sale offer through Bass Pro Shops. They were giving them away with the purchase of Barska spotting scope, but I already have a pile of 1919s rusting away in the closet. Sometimes I think that getting machine guns is too easy here in the US.

First aid stuff

Something on my "to do" list that is long overdue is to put together some first aid kits; one for the car and one for the house. My Xterra comes with one that's pretty nice, and I've even added a couple of things.

If you're shopping for things to put in one, or are trying to start from scratch, go on over to Hell in a Handbasket for some ideas. Also, check out the comments section for some reader weigh in. Excellent ideas in there!

Shootout ends well

Everyone got shot, and everyone lived. Well, so far: the bad guy is still fighting for his life. I don't have much sympathy for an armed robber.

The CCW wave is gone in Virginia

It looks as though most of the Virginian's who wanted to carry a concealed gun have already kissed the royal hand: permits are down the first part of this year.

Never leave a man behind

A good article on how a Soldier from WWI was found in France and returned to the family in the US. Some forensic and gool ol' fashioned investigative work was involved in this; I had no idea that DoD had such assets out and about looking for our fallen every single day. Good to know.

This comes on the heels of my family finding out that my grandfather, who served in WWII and Korea, and my grandmother, may be lost in Arlington National Cemetery due to the rampant stupidity that was discovered there recently.

Hopefully Pvt. Thomas Costello gets better treatment.

Traced to the US, no doubt

Adding more and more nails to the Mexican Drug Farce coffin, militant cartel gunman attacked Mexican federal police this weekend with grenades. Who wants to bet that the grenades were either M61 or M67 type made in the USA?

Any takers?

I ask because that would mean that, you know, the grenades could be "traced" to the US. Probably came from a gunshow, or the back of an NRA gun dealers van, or even Gander Mountain - they had a buy-one-get-one-free sale on foreign and domestic grenades this weekend. I hear that next month, they're giving away mortars to the first twelve people to buy a gun safe, so keep your eyes peeled!

What's old is new again: Home Improvement Edition

Regarding yesterday's A/C fiasco, I dialed up a number from the Good Ol' Boy network to ask an electrician buddy of mine about what he knows about central A/C units. Electricians know probably more about the HVAC trade than folks in any of the other trades combined, and even that knowledge is extremely limited.

You HVAC boys have that market shut like a lock.

My buddy didn't have much information for me other than he would come over and help me in any way he could. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, SailorCurt dropped me a comment with a link to a post he did on fixing his A/C unit. I read that post several times.

Could these frickin' things be that simple? I've set dozens of A/C units on the pedestal, leveled them, and then wired them up, but I've never really looked inside of one. The voodoo involved in making them work is the specialty of the HVAC boys; they go down deep within the heart of these units and add magic potions mixed from elven babies blood and unicorn tears. The units themselves are expertly forged by the hands of mighty dwarfs, crafted from the finest aluminum hewn from inside the Stickitooomeee mountains. I just envisioned them being so complicated considering that they cost thousands of dollars, they have to be installed by experts licensed. . . LICENSED!!. . . to add the magic potions, and some of them are even powered by trains that you can't even see! Nothing can stop those ones.

So imagine my surprise when I opened mine up and found out that Yup, it's just a run-of-the-mill compressor with a radiator like thingy surrounding it, and a simple motor with a fan. A consult with Google-The-Wise showed that the HVAC boys affectionately refer to them as "squirrel cages."

I've got it now.

Armed with SailorCurt's post, and my new found confidence that I can swap out a motor and make it work as long as the compressor is still good, buddy and I set about to make my world a better place. Good buddy noted that he had an A/C unit that the Direct TV installer had climbed on and broken, but that the fan motor and capacitor were still good to go. It was about five years old, but had only operated for a few weeks when the incident happened. Basically it was all brand new, but would it fit?

Like a glove!

Now the only problem I had was that the new fan spun the wrong way; the 3-blade fan that came with the new motor was too big, and the 4-blade fan that was on the old motor was pitched the wrong way. New motor with old fan went into the A/C unit, and managed to get my house down from this, taken last night:



To 81 degrees this morning. I went out to check on things this morning and the A/C was kinda milling super hot air around the unit, instead of blowing it out the top. These A/C thingies are really pretty neat; the fan pulls the coolest ambient air around (the air closest to the ground) through the coils (radiator looking doodad) and up out the top, all while also drawing the super hot air around the compressor (at the bottom of the unit) out the top with it. It's like the radiator in your car, only with the fan on top of the motor blowing the hot air out a big vent in your hood. Smart!

Thinking about it last night, I realized my remedy was to cut the thin aluminum blades of the fan that was on the new motor. Measuring carefully and guiding the Sharpie along by edging my fingers along the curved end of the blade, I marked off about an inch and a half of blade which was easily scored by a razor knife. The cut part peeled right off just as pretty as you please. The fan's hub is steel, and I didn't mess with it. One thing to know is that the fan is balanced, so cutting it runs the risk of making the whole unit wobble when it spins. Mine now has a barely perceptible wobble, which I can fix with the counter weights from my old fan. . . .on a cool day; it's good to go right now. When I fired it back up this morning, I could see it draw the ambient air through the sides of the unit like it's supposed to, and hot air was blowing right out the top.

All should be well now!

My kids were up until close to midnight last night, and everyone was in a foul mood from the heat. We had little room fans set up all over the place to make sure there was some circulating air, but it was still miserable. The bad part about it is that all of this could have been prevented with a little preventative maintenance.

The reason the old fan siezed up is because one of the two 125 volt lines that feed the motor had long ago come loose - long enough that the exposed copper was slightly corroded. The fan, running on half power, and with a full load from struggling against the heat wave on the East Coast, over taxed the capacitor, which was visibly bulged when I took off the electrical panel cover on the A/C unit. If I had shut the power off and looked over the daggone thing this spring, I probably could have avoided the whole fiasco entirely. Just the same though, ordering a new motor and capacitor costs less than a hundred bucks, which is way better than calling Home Despot to send out a barely trained installer to replace your A/C unit for $5,000.

Some things can be done yourself.

I'd like to give a big thanks to SailorCurt for his very helpful post! I really appreciate it!

What was old is new again

I got my Suunto watch back yesterday. Truth be told, Suunto had the watch fixed and back out the door in about a days time, which is awesome; the reason I got it back yesterday is because FedEx took their sweet ass time during delivery. Looking back, I dropped the watch into the package on Thursday the 24th, Suunto emailed me about the price to fix it on the following Monday, and had it in the mail on Tuesday. That's fast.

I did have to pay $55 for the service since the watch was well out of warranty, but for my troubles I basically got a brand new watch. They replaced the case, the face, and the bezel; I also got a new set of D-rings - I had ordered these with the crappy velcro strap about a year ago and used them with a Zulu strap which I highly recommend. The crappy rubber strap that came with the watch rotted off, so it needed a high quality replacement.

Let's recap.

Here is what I sent:



And here is what they returned:


I didn't buy this watch to wear to the Prom; I bought it to withstand the harshest environments on the planet, which it has. After four years of abuse, it looked like it was flogged with a sock full of nickels, and now it looks cool again.

I'd say that Suunto makes a great product and stands behind it. Good on em'.

Now I want to buy more of their stuff! See how that works!

It's all about the timing

The A/C unit in my house went out yesterday in what is the start of a week long heat wave. The sleeping conditions were rather eventful last night, to say the least.

Good times.

The fan was seized up this morning, but I managed to get it spinning again with the help of a meat fork from my grill. Maybe with some tender care the thing won't die on me yet. If its time really has come, I will be shelling out the equivalent of a new rifle for a new A/C.

My 3rd of July

What a great day! Yesterday I spent a few hours casting bullets while everyone around me was shooting fireworks into the air. Sure, the bigger ones wake the kids up every now and then, but this comes around once a year, and I like the scenery.

Anyhow, I learn more and more every time I give this a shot, like not smelting at 900 degrees unless you want fluffy purple bullets. The zinc wheel weights usually float to the top, but when the heat is high they can and do melt. Ooops.

Here is yesterday's booty:


Click to make bigger and more beautiful.


See those eeensy weeensy little ones? Those would be 102 grain boooolits for my Kel-Tec P3AT! No more ammo shortage for this guy. Dies are in the mail. Now to expand on my shell casing collection, and I will be mass producing those as well.

Range report to follow hopefully in the next week or so. In the meantime, I'm going to smoke my single stage press making .45 ACP. The zombies could be braying on my door as early as tomorrow, so I have to be prepared.

Happy Independence Day!!!!

Stay safe out there!

Or you could just wear bubblewrap

"Strong currents, debris such as tree branches and slippery rocks have caused injuries and deaths. It is safer to enjoy the river from somewhere outside the water, rather than in it."

Yeah, nothing sucks more than enjoying cool clear water by getting in it. What a moron.

If you can't swim, than wear a life jacket and swim with sober friends; you won't have any problems. It is a deadly river, sure, and you wouldn't know by looking at it. The reason people drown in it all the time is because they're usually drunk, or can't swim (well), don't use the buddy system - it's really just a lack of what is generally refered to as common sense.

I hear that skydiving and lion taming are very safe, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to give it a shot on my own; common sense says that I would find some competent buddies to help me out, and I wouldn't be shitfaced on my first try. Lions look all nice and cuddly and all, but I know that looks can be deceiving. That's why I would be careful.

Every year though, several people drown in the Rappahannock, and usually two drown on the 4th of July. Sometimes a child drowns, and it breaks my heart. The parents are always to blame; youngins should be wearing their life jacket, and both parents should be sober.

The numbers are sobering: 85 people have drowned in the river since 1985. The last ones were in June 2008. The victims were a 51-year-old Stafford man and a teenager from Maryland.

Sobering is the key word that people don't get.

So enjoy the water. Get in it if you can; it's a very historic part of this nation, and it's a cool place to be. Sure, if you want to tie one on then stay on the shores, but if you're of a sound mind, don't let this "official" rain on your parade.

An Arsenal of One

During the night, someone broke into the vehicle and made off with a Colt M-4 rifle, two loaded M-4 magazines and two loaded .40 caliber Glock magazines. The thief also took two sets of handcuffs, two Montgomery County Police badges and a baton.

One rifle = arsenal. This is, of course, NBC News we're talking about; sensationalism runs rampant in this organization. They are but one half step above grocery store tabloids that run stories about bat-boys and B1 bombers on the moon.

Interesting that a Maryland cop gets issued an automatic weapon, and then leaves it in the car overnight to get stolen by a scumbag. Can Maryland Citizens own full auto weapons legally? I bet if they do, they don't leave them in their car.

No word on why the thief bothered to risk life and limb to steal such a weapon from a cop when he could have just been issued one at a Virginia gun show for a few dollars.

Ooooh Oooooh!! A caption contest!

You must enter!

It seems that Clay Jones, on his blog at Fredericksburg.com, has an opinion, and he wants you to be a part of it!

Go on over and show Clay just how much you treasure his anti-gun opinion, would you?

Here's my entry:

More stupidity on the Virginia restaurant carry

You absolutely have to check out this shamelessly biased video on the matter from NBC Washington.

That is no accident. In case you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, the commercial at the beginning of the video is a cyber-stealing awareness video that has two masked men with rifles walking into a bank while firing on full auto.

Jackie Bensen is the reporter in the video, and whether or not this is her doing, she is still accountable.

She did give Jim Snyder of the VCDL a crack at his take on the law, which he helped push through. Still, there's just no covering up the bias.

Virginia laws in effect today

Concealed carry in restaurants that serve alcohol is legal today, as well as being legal to transport a firearm in a vehicle's locked compartment. Also, you can ask Master to renew your concealed carry permit by mail, and court clerks now have to tell you that you can appeal a denied concealed carry permit.

Not too shabby.

Do notice some of the people's confusion in the comments at the article.

Oh yeah, and check out the picture to the article on NBC Washington's front page. Smart anonymous reporter takes you back to the Wild West, despite the Wild West not being very wild. Predictable.