Posts Made By: James C Chandler Jr

Thanks for the good info, Thomas

Had occasionally wondered about all that empty space in the cartridges. My light target loads for .357 and 9mm seemingly just have barely a dash of powder rattling around in there.

Had wondered if it matters to accuracy where that tiny pile of powder might happen to be when the primer goes off. Even with a practically-empty cartridge, the handloads seem more accurate than factory ammo. Can't be credited to skill. Am not gifted with skill.

Sounds like an interesting powder.

Thomas Holst said:

[COLOR="Red"]This post is for you handloaders out there.[/COLOR]

With the price of ammo skyrocketing over the past few months, I recently got back into handloading, primarily for .45 Colt. When I bought my supplies, I went back to the same powder I'd used years ago; "Unique" (Alliant Powders) for moderate target loads in several pistol cartridges. It didn't take me long to realize that it was the same dirty burning powder it was 25 years ago. Since it's a relatively low-volume-per-grain powder, I also had to be careful not to accidentally double charge the big .45 Colt cases. It doesn't even begin to fill the case, causing inconsistent ignition and velocities.

On a recent visit to my local indoor range, a friend recommended I try a relatively new powder call "Trail Boss" (imported from Australia by IMR), which is designed for Cowboy Action Shooting but also works well for many revolver target loads. Its main claim to fame is that it, for lack of a better word, is "fluffy", taking up a lot of space in large revolver cases. In fact, a standard 1 lb. size can of this powder will only hold 9 oz. This has several advantages:

1. It's virtually impossible to double charge a case without noticing the powder overflowing.

2. Its volume keeps powder close to the primer flash hole for consistent ignition and velocities.

3. It's fast burning like "Bullseye", requiring similar charges (by weight) and therefore fairly economical.

4. It's very clean burning with no trace of unburned powder.

5. It produces almost no muzzle flash.

6. It doesn't stink like some other powders.

7. Its silver colored round flat flakes with holes in the middle cannot be mistaken for any other powder.

After testing my .45 Colt handloads with 250 gr. cast bullets and stepped powder charges, I think I've found just the right combination for my revolvers. IMR Trail Boss has lived up to its claims. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.

Mike Strieber said:Our nation is being run more and more everyday by political ideology. It's sad that Obama surrounds himself with such political hacks like this buffoon and Rahm. Especially considering the obvious influence they have on him. Obama's administration alone will do, and is doing, more to revitalize the Republican party than any other entity.
Mike

Yep, and Carville disagreed, offering opinion that the tea bag thang is harmless and hurts Republicans. Difficult judging the sagacity of such calculation. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day (or once a day if it is a 24 hour clock).

This is the same Carville who predicted that public outrage against the Clinton impeachment would defeat the Republicans in 2000. Maybe that happened in some alternate universe, but public outrage in our timeline was generally forgotten by Y2K except by moveon.org.

I expect O to wear out his welcome soon enough-- Simply because all the presidents do eventually wear out their welcome. Eventually the public fatigue aspects of over-exposure will outweigh any propaganda benefit from such overexposure. IMO O and crew could best delay the inevitable by staying out of the news as much as possible, so that people might be more interested in listening to the slow halting speech pattern when it only occasionally surfaces.

IMO it will not do tea party folk much good if O admin excesses drive 50.000001 percent of voters back into the arms of the lonely jilted GOP-- IF it is the same old GOP. "Please come back honey. I quit drinking, got a steady job, and promise not to beat you any more."

Both GOP and DNC are tiny variations of big-government policy. Microscopic differences which are magnified in order to fool voters into thinking that there are substantial differences. If 50.000001 percent of voters return to the loving embrace of the old GOP, then that merely trades one big-government vision for an alternate big-government vision.

I suspect the Tea Party folk primarily protested big intrusive government rather than minutia between the DNC and GOP flavors of big government. Coke vs Pepsi.

GOP will eventually get power again, but if it is the same old GOP, it won't give the Tea Party folk any more satisfaction than the DNC flavor.

Greens and Constitution Party seem alternate re-mixes of big government. But if those guys could win at least it would give us a different flavor of oppression for awhile. Spread the wealth.

Perhaps Libertarians are the only alternative that would actually deliver smaller government, unless the GOP is capable of morphing into a bigger version of the libertarian party.

However, it is quite possible that the majority of citizens are in love with the concept of big government. If so, then it makes perfect sense to continue as always, arguing Coke v Pepsi, with Dr Pepper and Sams Cola trying for a little traction on the periphery .

Hi Dennis

You probably know more about it than me. I have a Q70-38mm. It gives very impressive view from a C102 F6.5 achromat. For some perceptual reason the huge eyelens gives the impression of being much wider than the published 70 degrees, though it is surely just an optical illusion or the manufacturer would claim a bigger AFOV spec. The eyepiece has really big lenses. It is not extremely heavy.

Though higher F-ratio scopes are supposed to be friendlier to 'inexpensive' eyepieces, my F-10 CPC-1100 is not as friendly to the Q70 as is the F6.5 achromat. It is not a bad view, but the least favorite eyepiece in the CPC-1100. The CPC-1100 appears well-aligned, and other (shorter) eyepieces work great.

The Q70 exposes more astigmatism in the CPC-1100. Dunno if it is astigmatism in my eye because of the big exit pupil. I didn't notice this as much in the F6.5 refractor, which has a BIGGER exit pupil.

Or perhaps it would be expected in the SCT nearing the max field of view of that design, and has little to do with the eyepiece. Have not had a chance to try something like a Pan 35 in the CPC-1100 to know if some other long eyepiece would perform better.

Since the TitanII is rumored to be a Paragon clone (possibly improved in some aspects), and since the TitanII is pretty light-weight compared to the others, I've been tempted to get a TitanII to see how it works out. But it may be 'safer money' from my perspective to go ahead and get a Pan35 and then if it shows astigmatism, I'll know it probably ain't gonna get any better .

Yes I think the odds are rather high that O will face a terrorist attack scenario. Hopefully the response will be appropriate, and not another case of "never let a good crisis go to waste."

If attacked from the OUTSIDE ferinstance I wouldn't be surprised that emergency domestic gun ban and confiscation would be hyped as essential to homeland security. Then pass more draconian homeland security surveillance measures. Pay zillions of dollars for Chinese security cameras, and then pay ACORN cost plus to subcontract their installation. With moveon.org and ACLU cheering every new turn of the thumbscrews.

Hopefully the response will be less nonsensical, but until now the responses to our 'emergencies' have not seemed especially sensible.

Lee Spain said:

I worry about some of the bad ideas floating around in the GOP. I don't like the "Fair Tax" and I don't think that a stimulous is necessarily a bad idea in a recession. I would rather see a debate that focuses on whether the government is buying the right things, setting the right priorities, is spending the money efficiently, and is executing programs effectively.

...but...

Obama needs to pay attention to the tea party crowd. GWB and Obama have angered a lot of people with their desperate and ill-conceived spending packages. At this point, I'd just love for elected officials to read bills before they vote on them.

Hi Lee

The problem with a stimulus, is that this new deficit ain't ever gonna be reduced, and it ain't ever gonna get paid off. It is just gonna get worse regardless of Republicans or Democrats in office. PERHAPS the bleeding would be a little less severe under Republicans, but thats about it.

Some unimaginably large political sea-change would be necessary for this prognosis to change.

The govt is like a middle-class credit card addict. Right now we are in the cycle where the fellow is out of work and he's paying rent and groceries on the credit card.

But later when the guy gets a nice job and the money is rolling in, he won't pay off his cards. He'll spend all that new money PLUS charge some more on the credit card, to buy all that stuff he had to 'do without' in the hard times.

The rationalization for credit purchasing is perfect for all occasions. When times are lean, it is new temporary debt just to get by. When times are fat, it is new temporary debt that is completely responsible because there is plenty of money rolling in and eventually the guy will buy everything he 'needs', and after that he'll pay off the card.

That is the main issue. They won't quit deficit-spending when the economy recovers. When taxes start rolling in, they will continue deficit-spending to buy all the stuff the USA 'needs', happy that all those taxes will EVENTUALLY pay down the debt (usually projected to happen 10 or 20 years in the future after the big-spenders are out of office).

That data needs digital signal processing to expose the hockey stick hiding inside (just joking).

Rod Kaufman said:

I've got a llama .22 caliber semi-auto pistol that need its sites aligned so it can be reasonably accurate when fired. I assume I can take it to a local gun shop and have it aligned, right? What's the going rate for this service?
I'd like to take my teenage daughter target shooting and this model should be easy to hold and fire. It seems to work well with minimags whereas lessor rounds tend to jam it.

Hi Rod

Is your Llama the XV shown about halfway down this page?

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=22655

It looks like a neat little gun, and may be a quasi-collectible, dunno.

Another thread I found with a picture (there seem many hits from a google search string like [llama .22 pistol]--

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=22655

===

As Michael said, you need to find out if the point of impact is consistent. Using as steady a rest as you can arrange, fire at a paper target aimed at the bullseye, as squeezing the trigger as consistently as possible, perhaps 10 or 20 times.

Some ammo is not as consistent as other brands. If you had a pistol or rifle 'locked down' in a solid stand so there is no shooter variability, some brands of ammo will have a tighter group than other brands. I've had poor consistency with the Aguila brand of .22 LR ferinstance, but some consistency has to do with the individual gun and the individual batch of ammo.

If you get an off-bullseye but consistent group, the sights need adjustment. If the group is 'all over the place', either you need another brand of ammo or a gunsmith to look for problems in the pistol.

If your pistol is something like that Model XV, then the rear sight fits tightly in a dovetail on the slide. Unless someone added an adjustable sight to it sometime in the past-- To correct left-right aiming issues, you can get not-expensive brass tapping hammer with a brass sight drifting punch. You gently tap the rear sight to one side or the other until you are sighted-in.

If the vertical aim is pretty far off, perhaps the easiest thing to do is adjust your aim-point when firing. Aim a little high or low. A lot of old-time shooters didn't have very good guns but didn't have much money and kept the same gun a long time. Those guys could be deadly accurate, because they knew just how much to aim away from the target to compensate for the screwed-up sights.

If your groups are pretty tight but fairly far-off vertically and horizontally, you could have an adjustable sight put on the pistol. Adjustable sights have left-right and up-down screws you can tweak to make the point-of-aim agree with the point-of-impact. If the sight dovetail agrees with the gun's dovetail, they can be user-installable, but the one time I did that it was a lot more annoying than I expected and would likely pay a gunsmith to do it next time .

If such an adventure would cost more than about $75 (likely), then unless .22 pistols are unobtanium in your area because of the Attorney General Eric Holder Gun Stimulus Plan, maybe a nice modern little .22 target pistol would be better use of the money? It is difficult to find much fault with Ruger .22 target pistols for general plinking, and some models are not terribly expensive.

Is Caldera being thrown under the bus, or falling on his sword for fearless leader, or being fired for incompetancy, or what?

About all that link says is that Caldera's office approved the photo-op, and that caldera had been advised by his deputy to inform chief of staff Jim Messina.

The article doesn't say who thunk up the initial idea for the photo-op. Was it some low-level PR employee, or was it Jim Messina, or was it Obama, or who? If the idea came from 'down the foodchain' then Caldera looks pretty incompetent for not asking supervisors for authorization. If the idea came from 'up the foodchain', then the guy was just following instructions, and the fellow who should be fired is senior of Caldera?

It is a 'racist practice'. But may be locally beneficial. Dunno. 'Common knowledge' which is always suspect, holds that some successful ethnicities have become successful by attracting money into the neighborhood and then keeping it there by buying local.

It would be a benefit to have wealthier communities regardless of the ethnicity of communities.

When I was doing social work, there were poor urbans, all races. And there were poor rurals, all races. Because of geography the problems were not identical. But one might guess a general problem was that too little money would flow into those areas, and too much money would flow out of those areas.

A 'buy local' mindset doesn't necessarily offer a global advantage in a zero-sum game. Perhaps it offers advantages in non-zero-sum games. Dunno.

Seems logical that if you want yer own neighborhood to get better/wealthier, that spending most of yer money with neighbors would encourage that. Regardless if the neighbor is green, gray, or blue.

A black feller who lives on the most blighted street in town-- Dunno if he is guaranteed to help his street if he makes a policy to buy from some black merchant out in the burbs. Dunno.

Here appears to be the original text of the "MIAC Strategic Report", "The Modern Militia Movement".

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13290698/The-Modern-Militia-MovementMissouri-MIAC-Strategic-Report-20Feb09-

"Political Paraphernalia: Militia members most commonly associate with 3rd party political groups. It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitutional Party, Campaign for Liberty, or Libertarian material. These members are usually supporters of former Presidential Candidate: Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr.

Anti-Government Propaganda: Militia members commonly display picture, cartoons, bumper stickers that contain anti-government rhetoric. Most of this material will depict the FRS, IRS, FBI, ATF, CIA, UN, Law Enforcement, and "The New World Order" in a derogatory manner."

"Literature and Media Common to the Militia:

Zeitgeist the Movie: Anti Federal Reserve System film.

America: Freedom to Fascism: Anti-income tax film.

The Turner Diaries: Novel that depicts the violent revolution of the United States Government and a war that leaves only a white population. This book was promoted by Timothy McVeigh and said to be the motivation behind the Oklahoma City Bombing."

====

Editorial and attempted morbid humor: It can only be hoped that some future mad bomber would be a worshipful fan of novelist Henry James. This would relieve university literary students from the onerous task of pretending to read and appreciate such tedium .

If this is not possible, then perhaps the Mad Bomber would at least be a Harry Potter fan, or perhaps a Scientologist.