Aug 22, 2011
Confession
For about 30 seconds a sarcastic post appeared here. Something made me double-check a fact, and I discovered I had badly misread a line the source material. So, for the first time ever, I dumped a post down the memory hole. I owe special apologies to readers who may find it on one of the blog-feeding services.
Aug 21, 2011
Going Nuts in Burt, Iowa
It will pass, but for about 16 hours I've had the feeling that I am too smart for this world and should spend the day knocking off a few IQ points by watching television.
The hubris results from a huge gun auction in thriving Burt yesterday. When typical opening bids are at retail and escalate from there, you feel pretty damned brilliant for the simple act of keeping your hands in your pockets.
For instance: Kimber .45 Pro Carry, MSRP $888 NIB, hammers down at $1,050. This happened early, letting us know we were in the wrong place.
The feeling was confirmed. A rattle-trap Winchester 1897, haphazardly polished and reblued, stock varnished, generic butt plate, brought $625. Other sells followed suit.
But, well, you don't drive 175 miles and come home empty handed. That would be against nature. So I laid in 12 new magazines for a Mini-14 -- $73.42 with the tax, or about six bucks per. The details, just in case Congresswoman Pelosi is keeping track: Four 20s from Ruger, still bubbled, and eight after-markets, including three more 20s, three 30s and, yum-yum, two 40s. Vive la revolucion!
'course, my pardner Jeff the gunsmith had to go and ruin even that by grinning, "What's it going to cost you to fill those up?" The answer, if you go by the price of .223 sold at the same time and place, is about 65 cents a bang.
Ahh, the gun game. Maybe all of us who play it are the real dummies.
... (pause to ponder) ... No, come to think of it. Ths kind of thing may actually reflect the popular view that the Federal Reserve Cartoons we trade for shootin' arn would be worth more if they were soft enough to wipe with.
The hubris results from a huge gun auction in thriving Burt yesterday. When typical opening bids are at retail and escalate from there, you feel pretty damned brilliant for the simple act of keeping your hands in your pockets.
For instance: Kimber .45 Pro Carry, MSRP $888 NIB, hammers down at $1,050. This happened early, letting us know we were in the wrong place.
The feeling was confirmed. A rattle-trap Winchester 1897, haphazardly polished and reblued, stock varnished, generic butt plate, brought $625. Other sells followed suit.
But, well, you don't drive 175 miles and come home empty handed. That would be against nature. So I laid in 12 new magazines for a Mini-14 -- $73.42 with the tax, or about six bucks per. The details, just in case Congresswoman Pelosi is keeping track: Four 20s from Ruger, still bubbled, and eight after-markets, including three more 20s, three 30s and, yum-yum, two 40s. Vive la revolucion!
'course, my pardner Jeff the gunsmith had to go and ruin even that by grinning, "What's it going to cost you to fill those up?" The answer, if you go by the price of .223 sold at the same time and place, is about 65 cents a bang.
Ahh, the gun game. Maybe all of us who play it are the real dummies.
... (pause to ponder) ... No, come to think of it. Ths kind of thing may actually reflect the popular view that the Federal Reserve Cartoons we trade for shootin' arn would be worth more if they were soft enough to wipe with.
Aug 20, 2011
Party time on the prairie
I was suuuch a good boy yesterday.
A half-cord of logs became cut to firewood length, and a little of it even became split. (Yeah, I have a prosaic earwig this morning, thinking of the frontier editors who referred to the corpse on the saloon floor as a man who became shot. The ultimate in objective journalism.)
Anyway, a man of my age who has been so diligent deserves a reward. So, by golly, I am going to go here. (PDF Alert.)
Lots of pretty playthings for libertarian terrorists, eh?
A half-cord of logs became cut to firewood length, and a little of it even became split. (Yeah, I have a prosaic earwig this morning, thinking of the frontier editors who referred to the corpse on the saloon floor as a man who became shot. The ultimate in objective journalism.)
Anyway, a man of my age who has been so diligent deserves a reward. So, by golly, I am going to go here. (PDF Alert.)
Lots of pretty playthings for libertarian terrorists, eh?
Aug 19, 2011
Blog stuff
Borepatch is now on the TMR blog list, and I'm ashamed it didn't happen long ago.
And I should have noticed earlier that Ed Foster signed on as a TMR follower. This will keep me a little more honest with my off-the-wall comments on gun technology. Ed +knows+ guns and gun design.
Welcome to you both.
And I should have noticed earlier that Ed Foster signed on as a TMR follower. This will keep me a little more honest with my off-the-wall comments on gun technology. Ed +knows+ guns and gun design.
Welcome to you both.
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