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Scope

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Replaced the scope of FuzzyGeff's I broke back in April.

His Bushnell Sportsman 4-12x40 that I broke has been replaced on his AR with the Nichols Bullet 3-9x40 that was on his Weatherby Vanguard.

The Weatherby now sports a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x42 with BDC reticle.

Now I have to get them zeroed for him.  It's the least I can do after ruining his Bushnell.

Vortex seems to do good work, the glass seems quite clear.

Pics later.

Qualified

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I remember once thinking that I wasn't qualified for all manner of government positions.

Looking at the people appointed of late, I think my only real disqualification is that I'm not registered as a Democrat.

I could be a czar!

Alles en Ordnung

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If you're a member of a local range, you shoot free.  If you're not a member, you pay $14 for the day.

They've had a problem with members loaning their membership cards to friends so they now require ID to shoot.

Even if you're not a member (I am not).

So I asked, "if you find out I am a member are your going to make me shoot for free?"

Again

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Look, another war movie where everyone dies.  Beautifully done, but haven't we seen this already?

It'd make me furyous but it was so entirely predictable.  I'm a lot sick of the convention, they only reason the characters are given any fleshing out is so that I care when they are killed.  They've no value other than to extract that emotion from me and I am fed up with it.

Never mind that the basic set up for the battle is pretty much exactly Saving Private Ryan.  Hold and delay the SS (ever notice it's always the SS and not Whermacht Heer?) at the bridge crossroads?

I fear a real live Tiger I instead of a T-34 dressed for the part won't be enough to salvage it.

I'm also a little disappointed that I can read the entire movie without seeing it.

Scoping Things

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Olga with the Nichols Bullet 3-9x40mm that used to reside on FuzzyGeff's Weatherby Vanguard.


Weatherby Vanguard VGS in .243 Win. wearing a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12x44mm scope.

I think the departed Bushnell Sportsman 4-12x40mm was better glass than the Nichols, but not as good as the Vortex.

The view through the scope:

It's beyond me to get the background and the reticle in focus at the same time.  That's the Dead-Hold® BDC reticle, by the way.

Multi-coated, like every scope...

The coatings matter, "multi-coated" means something.  What's lacking in information about most scopes is what the coatings are doing for you.

Resettable turrets!

In this instance you get it zeroed, then unscrew the center screw, take off the knob and place it back down with the 0 lined up with the line.  Kind of (sorta) like a Garand rear sight, actually.

I'd originally planned on getting a Bushnell Banner 4-12x40mm to replace the scope I broke.  Then I got to handle one.  Not near as nice as the Sportsman.

Pupdate

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He goes in Thursday morning to have the offending tooth removed and abscess eliminated.


Special thanks to everyone who generously donated to the cause!

Atlantis The Lost Empire

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I am spoiled by Japanese animation.

If Atlantis: The Lost Empire had been done by an anime studio, that gun that looks sort of, kinda like an SMLE would BE an SMLE.  As would the Broomhandle and P.38/Luger thing.

Ducks In A Row

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Doing things in the proper order is the right way to do it.

That's why the dog's vet is paid.

That's why FuzzyGeff's scope is replaced.

That is why I don't have a MAS 49/56 in 7.5mm.

In order of obligation rather than desire.

I feel like such an adult!

Oh and pay the bills every month!

ISISAF

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So what!

Someone will be along to dig up how successful the NVAF was.

Two huge things about that.  Stupid rules of engagement and the poor performance of the missiles with all our eggs in the single "use missiles" basket.

The third thing is the poor tactical thinking that came from acting as if the missiles behaved liked the sales brochure rather than as they behaved.

Most Sparrows dropped off the plane and fell to the earth when fired over Vietnam.  Hardly any lit and few of those guided and even fewer scored a hit.

But when you compare the AIM-7E to the AIM-7E-2 you see a marked contrast in performance.

The AIM-9B Sidewinder is about useless against MiG-17F and MiG-21F.  But the AIM-9D actually started doing what the manufacturer claimed the B could do...

And in the past 40 years we've not sat on our hands in weapons development.

The AIM-7E-2 Sparrow, despite being far FAR better than the AIM-7D and AIM-7E it supplanted was still called "the great white hope".  A fire and pray missile.

The AIM-7M is greatly improved, and it's not much carried any more when they're serious.

The AIM-120 AMRAAM is the present "medium" range radar guide.  It's known as "Fido" to the pilots, as in "sic 'em Fido!" From ranges that nothing ISIS has access to can reply.

If things get to where they can shoot, the AIM-9X shoots farther than many of their semi-active radar guided missiles, and that assumes they lay hands on a MiG-23 or two.

Their best hope is to lay hands on a MiG-29 which has excellent missiles, but it also has a far more western maintenance requirement...  You know extensive, intensive and knowledgeable.

The couple of pictures I've seen of their "air force" have been in L-39 Albatros', a trainer that can carry a light load of air to ground munitions.  They might have some MiG-21s, but those are getting very long in the tooth to take on a first world opponent.

People might bring up our air-to-air record over the Balkans.  It's noteworthy that we flew with ordnance we were "getting rid of".  Older Sparrows and Sidewinders.

And there's always Israel to compare with concerning how things go for Russian gear supplied to iron age heathens...

Another thing to remember about modern Russian aircraft is they have always been willing to accept many fewer hours between overhauls than we were.  It makes their engines give a bit more thrust per mass, but it also means you need more engines and have a lower mean times between replacements and failures.  This is also very true of their electronics.  They've also not yet internalized the "make things easy to access" lesson we learned the hard way so they often end up taking an entire plane apart to get at a module that has failed.

Very Pretty For A Demon

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Cuban missile crisis gone hot scenario.

I got three, wingy got one.

The Demon is a tubby pig, but it can turn well.

Oh, and OK Three-Wire.

Do You Know Where It Is

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All these prepper sites.

Not one article on the importance of having a towel.

Not ONE.

10/

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Why 10/ and not 10/22?



Because there ain't no .22!

I'm here all night, try the veal.

The Eighties

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I blame Tam, yes, let's all blame Tam.

She got me to tune in Magnum PI where I am watching a gun battle where an overturned couch is stopping a fusillade from an Uzi at about three yards.

I watched Magnum because Miami Vice doesn't play on Encore.

I shake my nostalgic fist at she!

Recovery

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Shi Shu is returned from his surgery.


He's a little tuckered out still.  Post-op, antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory.


Once they got in there they discovered the cause of the abscess.  He'd managed to fracture both the pre-molars that got removed.  The left one had abscessed and the right one was poised to.

They're concerned that his canines are worn down like they are, but he's got some time before it's a real problem.

Does the tooth fairy visit dogs?
You can tell the pain is over just by how he's laying.  He's actually resting on the bad side.

Thanks to everyone who contributed funds to his surgery!

Rekindled

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For a long time I've wanted to own a Luger.  Tam's recentposts have rekindled the urge.

Never mind that the couple of times I've actually shot a Luger were pretty disappointing.

The first was a stainless Stoeger in 9mm that flat refused to run on any brand of ammo that Jacobson's sold.

The second was a super pristine 9mm that liked "124 gr NATO" loads for reliability but would hit 5" high and right with it.  115gr Winchester White Box hit dead center but would choke every other round or so.  The "NATO" ammo was also very, um, stout on the recoil side of things making the owner wonder how long it would remain pristine if he kept shooting it.  He was not mollified at all by my saying that it wasn't going to remain pristine if he kept shooting anything at all.

To me the grip angle seems perfect, until you actually go and shoot, then it's just all wrong in how it feels during recoil and putting the sights back on target.  Since a Ruger Standard doesn't bug me, I think it's just how it's directing the impulse with the toggle that's making the wrongness.  Perhaps if I had one that ran that we were willing to shoot a lot I'd get used to it.

There's the rub.

Lugers are freaking expensive!

The cheapest one I saw at the gun show where I bought FuzzyGeff's scope was still over a grand.  I noted the prices because I keep needling Marv that everyone should own a Luger at least once in their life, so I pointed out EVERY Luger for sale to him.

Thanks to the Hi Power and G17 I stock 9mm now, so a Luger wouldn't add to the accounting problem.  Assuming that it likes the ammo I stock...

I have to admit that the original 7.65x21mm has more appeal; but one must be pragmatic when dabbling at the bottom rungs of such a competitive collector's market.

I think I will continue to watch Luger from the sidelines.  Off the top of my head there's at least ten things I'd rather spend $1,000 on and nine of them aren't guns.

Qapla!

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I managed to take FuzzyGeff's AR to the range to zero the scope without breaking anything!

Boresighted, really.  FuzzyGeff will have to confirm the zero next time he visits.
Kaylee and Sabrina are likewise zeroed after their barrel swap.  I am really pleased with how Kaylee handles with the 11.5" barrel.  Sabrina feels much the same as before, except there's barrel out there instead of an over-long flash-hider.

Since all three rifles are 1:9 twist, zeroing was done with Double-Tap brand 62gr SS109 FMJ-BT with an advertised velocity of 3,205 fps from a 22" barrel.  Who knows what the actual velocities were from 20", 14.5" and 11.5"... I don't have a chrono and the range wouldn't let you place one down range anyways.

Something Odd

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The Aimpoint was zeroed on Kaylee with a 14.5" barrel.  It still is without changes.

That's odd enough.

Also without changing anything, it's aligned correctly with the irons on Dottie.

It's cool that I can swap the scope between them without messing with the adjusters though.

Oh Really Now?

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From Wikipedia: "[T]he Jaguar M had suffered handling problems when being flown on a single engine and a poor throttle response time that made landing back on a carrier after an engine failure difficult."

So landing it when one of two engines failed was "difficult"?

As opposed to the easy task of landing a single engine plane the same number of engines out?

PC

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It's so rare in film...

Matthew Quigley is a player character.

Sticks to the longest range, highest damage weapon.  Has nearly all of his points in Guns/TL5 (Rifle) plus associated gun advantages and talents (thanks Siege) but also a fair number into skills he very rarely needs or uses.

He gathers up all the guns laying around to confront Major Ashley-Pitt.

Plus he engages at the maximum possible range to minimize the danger of return fire.

Definitely a Player Character.

Creation

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Oh, Hillary, you silly creature.

Let's cover this again.

Jobs are a side effect of business.  Business is a side effect of commerce.

Commerce causes businesses to be created.

Businesses hire people.

So, yes, businesses create jobs.  But only successful and profitable businesses.  Businesses that have grown past the point where a sole proprietor can do everything that needs done.

A basic example is a hot-dog stand.  At some point there will be too much business to both run the register and cook the food or accept that some customers will not be served.  If the owner decides to run the register and hires someone to cook, that's a created job!

The government can't really create such jobs.  The best they can do is to keep out of the way so that our business owner can afford to hire someone when they get so busy that they need someone to cook while they take orders.

The government can easily destroy jobs by adding taxes, fees, regulations and compliances that eat time and money that would otherwise go towards paying employees and keeping the business profitable.  Government can even destroy jobs thru such additions to the things a business needs.

In the hot-dog stand example, a government mandate to use a given amount of alcohol made from corn as a vehicle fuel will cause the price of the meat used in the hot dogs to rise from increased feed costs, and that will, in turn, force our business owner to raise prices or cut costs (including reducing profits).  If the good being sold is particularly inelastic in the price the customers are willing to pay, then the increase in meat costs must come from reductions in other costs.  Such as extra employees.  Inelasticity will cause customers to stop buying when prices go up, reducing revenue and once again forcing the owner to cut costs...

It's a fascinating topic.

In commerce, it's very rarely a zero sum game were the seller gets something and the buyer doesn't.  In nearly every transaction, both the buyer and the seller walk away with something they wanted.

Government, on the other hand, is almost always such a game.  Government adds costs and creates restrictions that prevent one party or another from getting what they want.
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