Whatisit?

Took Sienna for a walk the other day.

We saw this, obviously some kind of modern abstract sculpture:

Whaddya know?

Yep, just the two of us out for a walk.  A dog and her old Giza owner...

Range Report

   So, Grasshopper oldest son and I went out to the range today. He, to get in some more practice with his new polymer frame 'lightning bolt in the palm of your hand', and I, to test some 'Doc Brown' crazy scientist load recipes¹ in the same caliber, albeit in a steel-framed platform.

• For evaluation purposes, I'd loaded 10 rounds each, using Hodgdon Tightwad, IMR Trail Boss, and some discontinued Winchester 571 propellant, all utilizing Federal #150 large pistol primers, and Xtreme Bullets 200 grain copper plated projectiles.

Some of the usual suspects

• Just for grins, we started with the leetle guns, shooting leetle boolits at the steel falling plates.  It's kinda like eating crackers between wine tastings to 'cleanse the palate', or stretching before yoga (if you're into that sort of thing) helping to get one's mind focused on the proper mechanics of shooting firearms.  At this stage, I practiced until I could drop all 6 plates offhand with son's rifle (not too hard), and also with my revolver (a tad more difficult).
• To his credit, he was able to drop 4 of the 6 with his hand cannon, despite having only a 3.3 inch barrel, and a commensurate sighting radius.  Young people can do stuff like that.  I was not able to match his proficiency at this stage with my full-sized Goliath dropper.
• Curiously, his proficiency was somewhat less when using my beeg gun,  so there!  Go figure.

Good form, Grasshopper!

• Finally, the main event, testing the new loads. We moved down to the pistol range with the overhead trolleys and brass catchers.  As I noted in the last post, I was suspecting one of the three loads to do its impression of a raging dragon, due to the slow burning powder, but I am happy to report that that did not happen - in fact it was as tame as the Geico lizard (gecko):

571 Winchester powder, with mild recoil, no muzzle blast

• Conclusion:  All of today's test loads can be considered successful.  Having made notes during the testing, any/all of them can be increased, as no signs of dangerous pressure were noted.  But, inasmuch as I was doing 'proof of concept' testing, my objective was not to build full-house loads, just some that will safely and reliably cycle the slide for range practice.  To that end, the data collected showed - to my surprise and delight - that the Winchester 571 (of which I have copious quantities, with no other real applications) delivered the best groups, and appeared to be the cleanest burning (not what I expected).
• Exercising the mind, beautiful north Texas weather (low 60s), spending time with my son - I am blessed.

¹  The characterization of today's session as being experimental is purely for the sake of hyperbole/entertainment.  Reloading firearms ammunition is a serious pursuit - all of today's tested loads were well within the propellant manufacturers' respective published load data.

Saturday's Situation

• How did I miss this?  Somehow it completely flew under my radar that PMac had released a boxed set of other artists performing his (some of it co-written with John) music, titled The Art of McCartney.   I discovered it when looking up Heart's cover of Band on the Run.

• Willie does Yesterday.  The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens does a cool The Long and Winding Road.  Vince Furnier, who I dig, does a decent, but unremarkable Eleanor Rigby.  I haven't checked out all the tracks yet, but one that is genius has to be K[icking] I[t] Simmons & Stanley's rendition of Venus & Mars/Rock Show.

Funny.

• It can be had in several formats, including MP3 (really?), and of course, CDs.  But seriously, to be legit, you'll want to shell out the £64.99 for the four record - as in vinyl - offering.

• Then, you'll want this, for just $749.00 US:

This is Sota's base model

• Or at least one of these:

As a kid, I had a GE clamshell record player

made of beige plastic

• My dad handed me down a Fairchild 412, dual belt drive reduction system and about a 12# platter, when he 'upgraded' to an AR turntable.  35+ years later, I'm convinced the Fairchild is the better machine:

Stock image, missing its rubber mat.

• I can't remember if 'mine' has an Empire, Stanton, or Pickering cartridge on it.  If memory serves, it's a Stanton 737 - I'll check next time I'm at the folks' house. The correct cartridge,of course, for such a venerable machine, would be a Shure V-15 type III or IV, IMO.  My Technics at home wears an Audio Technica.  Wish I had scooped up a bunch of clearance NOS cartridges at the dawn of the CD era - dirt cheap at the time, they'd be worth a fortune now.  (Update: It's an Empire 2000 E)
• When the Lord comes to restore order, harmony and righteousness to the world, vinyl will again rule, and I will be prepared, as I have 4 or 5 turntables (not counting the Fairchild), and a couple of reel-to-reel (Sony, Akai) units.
• In the meantime, I am nonetheless considering getting one of those Bluetooth receiver doo-dads so I can set my phone's media player on timer mode at bedtime, and stream shuffled tunes to my den stereo.

• If I make it to the range tomorrow, planning to test some 200 grain loads, using Titewad, a very fast,  and 571, a very slow (for handgun cartridges) propellants.  I'm kind of anticipating the latter will have an unacceptable amount of muzzle blast, even in the full length platform, but, we'll see.
• Miniature 'capsules' to be placed atop the Atlas .IV-V ACP (advanced copper payload) delivery system:

Weekly wrap-up

My scattered musings of the week behind:

• The weather looks like it will break good for the weekend - yeah!
• I need to get some of these:

Pretty close to actual size

(if you're usinga 19" screen -

iPhone, not so much)

• There are a lot of really ugly grip designs out there these days. I happen to be partial to wood, typically a dark, dense variety with russet overtones.  I like figure, but it should roughly run longitudinally with the grip - I once returned a set of Hogues because the left and right grips ran at different angles to the frame, which gave off a bad firearms feng shui.
• Suffice to say the following is not my style, though I do have some Z-max rounds in the mag - to keep the undead at bay, should the situation arise.

Who dares debase a 1911 so? Heresy!

• If I were buying a platform to which to affix the above, it would be in the Commander size, even though mine isn't.  Again, it just seems to have pleasing proportions.
• The trend toward outlandish beavertails on the grip safety strikes me as weird.  I mean, I can understand adding a bit if hammer bite is getting to you, but not so much as to look like it's from Dungeons & Dragons Outfitters.
• Traditionalist as I am, if I were buying to carry on my person, it would not be of the above style - too heavy - would go polymer.  And, Heaven and Col. Cooper forgive me, might even be in a sub-caliber.
• The burger chain Carl's Jr. has apparently pulled off another marketing coup, featuring a hawt chick billed as the next Kate Upton seemingly nekkid.  I'm amazed at what mainstream, once respected outlets will now report as news, including this story.  Can one argue we're not pretty much in a modern Sodom & Gomorrah?  Nonetheless, it's marketing genius - as every dude that hears about it will Google it - even if they don't see it during the big upcoming football contest.
• Yeah, I know - I'm a prude.  Deal with it.
• Had the opportunity recently to handle one of these, which is in the proper - not sub - caliber, and may get to shoot it this weekend.

Not quite life size.

• Its owner tells me that its quite pleasant to shoot, despite being very lightweight.
• Some group on the Kimmel show is performing Band on the Run, sounding like the Bee Gees.  Odd.
• Update: I went to look at the TV. It was actually the Ess Dubs, as in the Wilson sisters, Ann & Nancy.  I was a big fan of theirs in high school.  And they didn't really sound like the Giblets after the first verse.  Nancy looks great these days - always thought she looked anorexic back when.  Ann - definitely not anorexic.
• Accidentally scared the dog tonight.  Found some old primers in the garage that I had not hermetically sealed [in a mayonnaise jar] and was concerned they may have been degraded by humidity.  So I tested a couple of them - sans propellant or projectile of course - in John Moses' masterpiece.  So now she's tightly curled up at my feet for safety.
• I tested one with the lights off - muzzle blast 7-8" beyond the 5" bbl.  I may have found a new form of entertainment.
• Couple of months ago I bought a 400w small electric heater on clearance @ Aldi for the bathroom.  Later, found another (at a different store, also on clearance).   Conclusion:  With both doors to the MB (13x16) closed it will keep me toasty at my blogging desk if placed right near my chair, even if I'm not using any other heat source.  The other heats the bathroom nicely (I have it set on a timer to come on about 45 minutes before I get up).  For $6.99 each, I'm quite pleased with them, since my other area heaters use 1300/1500w (although I am partial to the Lasko terra cotta looking oscillating model).
• Here's a machete I like, from El Salvador, I think:

I dig the planishing on the blade

• Kroger's Banana Split ice cream is the bomb.
• The post-midnite rerun of the local news ran a 'story' on the nearly nekkid chick mentioned before.  The Carl's Jr. commercial she's in features Uncle Ted's Stranglehold, so maybe I was too harsh earlier.

Thursday's Thoughts

...on a dreary day in north Texas:

•  I had the SOTU on the other night, but watched very little of it.  Much ado about nothing.  I am, of course, no fan of the current POTUS, but I saved myself considerable angst by not getting too invested in what he was saying, since really none of it matters.  
• One of the news sites said it marked the first SOTU to mention 'transgendered' persons.  
• Speaking of which - while waiting to fill a prescription the other evening, I perused the People mag or somesuch (they didn't have G&A on the waiting area coffee table), which says former decathlete Bruce Jenner is almost ready for his/her reveal, replete with several pictures.  Very odd, but hey, whatever.  If people want to change their personal plumbing, fine - as long as they're not asking for society to foot the bill, as some states' correctional systems are attempting to do.
• The resilience of the stock market amazes me.  I would not have believed that fundamentals would have supported Dow 18,000 (actually I still don't - seems more like technicals to me).  Nonetheless, despite a couple of recent pullbacks, we haven't seen massive, long-term slides, and the recoveries have been reasonably prompt, and vigorous.  The revaluation of the Swiss franc seems to have been taken in stride.
• Is a beaver doctor a regular veterinarian?  A super-sized beaver was recently treated and released in Arizona.
• Over the weekend, I read that there is a new state park straddling Palo Pinto and Stephens counties, W/SW of Strawn, and NE of Ranger Hill.  It would be cool if that brought a resurgence of business to Thurber, which had a WWI population nearing 10,000.  I'm wondering if any of the former coal mines are within the park boundaries.
• Middle son decorated oldest son's truck recently:

• Here is an awesome addition to your canvas-walled glamping tent, although I suspect you could find something nearly as cool for less money at Tuesday Morning.  It would probably be out of place in a Camping Doughnut, though.
• One of the talk radio hosts, broadcasting from the Stock Show, was talking about women wearing yoga pants in public. His point was that women should exercise some discretion.  Now there's a lost cause - expecting anyone in modern society to use discretion?
• I can understand testing the limits of 4wd vehicles on harsh terrain.  Not so sure about the wisdom of leaving the glass in the vehicle.
• Radio yakker Mark Levin seriously gets on my nerves.  He's about as effective winning converts to conservatism as that guy from Open Carry Tarrant County is at promoting the 2nd Amendment.
• The Red Tail Squadron's P-51C, s/n 42-103645, born in Dallas, is in need of maintenance funding.

• Umm, the second paragraph of this webpage didn't translate well from the British.  If I had a spare £349.00 sitting around, I would buy a pair of these, though:

• Of course, then I'd have to get some pants like this:

Le Freak

Well, here's a new kind of weirdness that I never knew existed.  I mean, I'd seen the 'furries' on CSI and stuff.

Did the aliens come when I was in my 40s and suck up all the normal people?

Soul Revival

In the words of Don Henley:

A lot of things have happened

Since the last time we spoke

Some of them are funny

Some of 'em ain't no joke

And I trust you will forgive me

If I lay it on the line

I always thought you were a friend of mine

Actually, nothing really dire, though I have been too busy - or too lazy - to blog.

At the urging of an old friend, who told me I needed to take some 'me time', get some exercise, and walk my dog - I slipped the phone into my jacket yesterday, popped in my earbuds, leashed Sienna, and set out for a nice walk to clear my mind, if only for a while.

Here's some of what played on the shuffle list:

• Heart - Dreamboat Annie  (...little ship of dreams)
• Sweet Baby James Taylor - Never Die Young  (They were ring-around-the rosie children, we were circles around the sun...); Baby Boom Baby  (Something 'bout something that you had to do...); That's Why I'm Here  (Got your baby, got your blanket, got your bucket of beer...)
• Mary-Chapin Carpenter - Come On Come On  (It's a loss you never get over the first time you lose...); Something of a Dreamer (But a dreamer's never cured...);  Slow Country Dance (And love's never easy or ever as true...)

Do I have to sit here?

• Joe Walsh - Over and Over  (If you're looking for answers, open your eyes...)
• Emmylou Harris - Easy From Now On  (It's a quarter moon in a ten cent town...)
• Stephanie Lynn Nicks - Planets of the Universe (Let there be light in this lifetime...)
• Dan Fogelberg - There's a Place in the World for a Gambler (There's a light in the depths of your darkness...)

Public art...

• New Radicals - You Get What You Give (First we run and then we laugh till we cry...)
• Michael Murphey - Loners (...disconnected, misdirected, loners - day by day we're learning to be loners) 
• Karla Bonoff - Lose Again (Save me, free me from my heart this time...)

I'll sit here, but just for a second...

• Linda Ronstadt - Hasten Down the Wind (Now he agrees he thinks she ought to be free...) 
• Chicago - Wishing You Were Here (...So I guess that's how it is.)
• Jackson Browne - For Everyman (...And hold out that strong and gentle Father's hand.);  Fountain of Sorrow  (...loneliness seems to spring from your life like a fountain from a pool.);  Here Come Those Tears Again  (Just when I was gonna make it through...); The Naked Ride Home  (I failed to hear the heart that was beating alone...)
• Clapton - Wonderful Tonight  (...you just don't realize how much I love you.)

Willie Robertson - build a duck blind here!

As I'd taken an insulated mug of hot tea with me, on the return I made a pit stop at the rec center, conveniently featuring a baño accessible from outside (I tied Sienna to a door handle).  Glad I didn't have to take a seat...

Yeah, that would chill your cheeks.

But, they thoughtfully have a thermostat to keep it from getting too cold...