BrianK

Was there ever any doubt? I never thought so. That's what prompted me to say "fuq it!" and decided to start to buy unconstitutional tax stamps to get the firearms I wanted. Previous to figuring out that I was already on "the list" I didn't want to be in the registry. But in for a penny in for a pound. The answer is the same either way.

Update... Saw my eye Dr yesterday and she started the ball rolling to get my eyes fixed. I had an ophthalmologist who retired and his replacement seemed to think he was God so I got rid of him. But my present Dr says that he does really good work and strongly suggested that I go to him (there are others locally, she has seen his work and says that he's the best). So that's what I'll do. Just waiting for the record of yesterdays visit to get to his office, then if his office doesn't call me within a week to set up an app't I'll call them. I still don't know if I'm a candidate for the UV light adjustable lenses.

too funny!

That was time very well spent! Thanks Doc!

Knowing nothing 20/20 is what I lean to also. It would be nice to wake up, look at the clock and read it without looking through a pinhole that I make with my fist. I've been doing LOTS of reading online and see that there are many types of replacement lenses, including one that focuses similar to the lens that will be removed worked. I don't know prices and really need to talk to someone in the know and that'll happen soon. But I don't want to make the wrong choice and screw up my shooting. Shooting is what I do. My wife had it done and she chose to keep her nearsightedness and continue to wear glasses. But I think I'd like to not be forced to wear glasses. Right now I can't read road signs on the interstate until I'm right on top of them, and I like to see the night sky and right now I can only see the brightest stars and planets so I can't navigate the night sky. And of course it's screwing with my shooting. I was blaming the scope, and it was partially to blame by throwing a cone of light onto the cataract. Aging sux! I used to be superman but not anymore. Tell my brain that! It still thinks I'm 18 years old.

Yesterday my wife had an app't with my eye Dr (we use the same one) and I wanted to briefly discuss the cataracts with her (my Eye Dr. . And she agreed that it sounds like it's time to get the cataracts taken care of. There's a 2-3 month wait then it happens for both eyes in 2-3 weeks. I've been wearing glasses since the 3rd grade and I know that they can give me 20/20 vision if I want that. But there are other options. If anyone knows what they are and the pros and cons I'll be a sponge for the knowledge. FWIW, I think I'll need to wear safety glasses 'cause an eye Dr decades ago told me that my eyes have lost the ability to blink if something contacts them. I also have bifocals so I guess it'll need correction for close in work. But I'm certain about none of that. I'm speculating. I'm nearsighted so right now my close in work is excellent. But anyway, if you're knowledgeable I'd like to read the pros and cons.

Our weather has been moderating. One night it got down to the minus teens. Today in the sun it was 48, but the wind is the killer; makes it much worse. Other than that it's a pretty nice day. Come on spring weather! It can't come fast enough. 2 more months.

Exactly. I saw it as a sort of insurance policy. That's why I can remember that idiot officer who'd have done the job w/o a sidearm so vividly. Totally clueless as to what a shift could hold. To make matters even more screwed up... The full timers who couldn't shoot were allowed .357 Mags in their handguns. Part timers, of which I was one, could only put .38 Special in theirs. But I handloaded. The physical difference between a .38 and .357 is the brass of a .357 is .1" longer to prevent the .357 from being put into a .38. If the revolver can take .357 pressure there is nothing stopping a handloader from loading .357 loads into .38 brass. So that's what I did. Externally it was a .38. But no one ever asked to see my cartridges. So I could have used .357 brass. The thinking was that if a full timer who couldn't shoot (some definitely could) needed more ammo we could throw them ours. Yeah, he wasted his ammo to no effect so I'm going to throw him mine? I don't think so. Just stay under cover and I'll get the job done. Back then the ammo load was 18 rounds. I was waiting for an opening as a full timer. When it came up, for political reasons they had to hire a woman. My 2nd DEI middle finger in my direction. Back then (50 years ago) it wasn't called DEI, but it was definitely a political hire and everyone knew it. Even I knew she was going to be hired. FWIW. I absolutely love seeing women who know their way around a firearm. I see it all the time in competition today. That's changed a lot in the last decade..

Cops can be firearm knowledgeable, but not all cops are. And they are a cross section of society and there are morons everywhere in society. I was a LEO at one time. I knew cops who could barely qualify with their handguns. Some needed "special" qualification when no one else was around as a witness. One officer stated that if he wasn't forced to carry he wouldn't. I never qualified with less than a 298 out of a possible 300. "Please get out of the car so that we can remove the handgun for your and my safety.". Right. He wasn't shooting and he was compliant so leaving everything alone where it was was the safest way to handle the stop. What a jackass. The officers outside the vehicle could see everything and had the added ability of free movement while the drivers movement was restricted. Yeah, moron cops. And they wonder why they can have bad reputations? OK, we saw the downside. So what was the potential upside from any actions the officers were suggesting? The driver was compliant. Sorry, but that video just pisses me off. I really hate DEI hiring instead of hiring from merit. I've been screwed over by DEI hiring more than once. Then there's this classic display of "I'm the only one professional enough to carry a Glock .40". I have a nephew who's an officer in Deal, NJ. . When he was a child we tried shooting, and immediately after the safety talk, he fired a magazine safely then turned around and swept everyone with the gun not 2 minutes after the safety talk. End of shooting for the day (actually forever) with me. But he's a cop and his mother wanted a handgun. I discussed her needs with her she then listened to her idiot son, and did I mention he's an officer in Deal, NJ? That vast repository of firearm knowledge. She bought what he told her to. Then she, knowing nothing at all about how to even hold a handgun, he loaded it for her. I asked if she knew how to unload it or handle it safely? Have you taken the course that I suggested so that you can use it safely? The answers were no. "Then have the person who loaded it for you unload it and make sure the chamber is also empty.". Did I mention the idiot who loaded it for her is a cop in Deal, NJ? And she wanted me to teach her how to use the handgun. "No thank you. Get someone in NJ to teach you.". I wasn't getting anywhere near that accident waiting to happen. I could hear it now if she had ever had to use it..."But Brian taught me...", even if I taught her the exact opposite.

Yesterday Pink Floyd, today Blue Jays then John Denver.

My wife told me it was -17 this morning. I didn't check, I just knew it was cold. But today got into the low 30s in the sun. It's going to cloud over tonight and get a bit warmer as the night progresses with show showers tomorrow.

I like that wood smoke smell too. Unfortunately our newish wood stove burns so clean that it doesn't have that smell and the smell it does have out the chimney is unidentifiable as being from wood. But I get the wood smoke smell from the neighbors. This morning at 0730 it was -4 and right now it's 2 degrees. But the forecast is for a colder Wednesday morning than today (-8). Throw another stick of wood in the stove.

Yeah, the temp is dropping here also. At 5ish it was 12 degrees and it's expected to gey to near zero by morning. So I lit the wood stove. That only happens if it's going to be <20 degrees for at least a day. We're expecting to keep that fire going until the end of the week. Of all the ways we can heat our home, heat pumps, oil, or wood I far prefer wood. The heat is steady. The dog likes it too since she can curl up in front of it, where she is as I write..

Very unusual winter so far (Maine) just another of many. The left will claim man made global warming and I don't deny the climate is changing. BUT and that's a big but, we're between glacial periods (aka an inter-glacial period). No one left a written record of what happens during these so we have no idea what to expect. Plus the output of the sun also changes and we have that going on now as well. And the left is on what, the 3rd "We have 20 years before we all die!" the sky is falling predictions. (Do they even still do them after the 1st 2 failed predictions?) But anyway, it took forever for the ground to freeze. Very little snow so far and what we have gotten has melted due to warmish rain. Today in the sun it was in the mid 40s. Not bad for mid January. But that is going to change. We're headed back into the deep freeze. Not like 40+ years ago where we'd get <-30 degrees but cold for today. We also might get up to 8" of snow but the ground is frozen so I can move it. I'm likin' this weather. Screw the polar bears. They'll find something to eat. Plus we need the Territory of Greenland to thaw so that we can drill and look for minerals. Approx' 2 1/2 months until it's warm enough for me to even consider shooting again. I hate wishing my life away, but "Come On Spring! "

Thanks for that!

A few days ago we had snow, actually the 3rd small snowstorm but it was starting to accumulate so I decided to plow it. Backing up a bit... When we started to get snow the ground still wasn't frozen. If I plow on unfrozen ground the snowplow will tear up the lawn and make one heck of a mess. So I didn't plow the 1st 2 storms. But we'd had some cold weather and I had my fingers crossed that it was frozen. Some places were and some weren't. Yeah, I made a mess that'll need to get fixed in the spring. Then we got a few inches of warm rain and most of the snow is gone. Now it's been cold for the last few days and the ground has to be frozen by now! No snow in the foreseeable forecast. But it'll get here again eventually. Shooting is definitely done until spring.

FWIW, it can be that easy, if one only considers oneself and not others. There could be children and what happens with them? The right solution in that case could be making the childs room the safe room. In my case there is no way that I'll allow a home invader to get close enough to enter my doorway. Distance is my friend and the home invaders enemy. So I will inform the invaders that entering the hallway means I shoot. That's a 13 1/2 pace shot, approx' 40', from my place behind cover. That should give me plenty of time to make sure the perp is properly ventilated and that he has plenty of time for the trauma to take effect since not every shot is immediately effective. No, the doorway to our bedroom is WAYYYY too close. But everyone has their thoughts on what is right for them and that's the way it should be.

Nice looking roast! Great minds think alike. I made a 2 1/2" thick cut bone in rib eye Sous Vide for Thanksgiving dinner. I asked the wife what she wanted with it and she told me cauliflower "potato salad". That was fine with me cause I'm in ketosis and can't eat starch. Well, I can eat starch but I can't eat it and stay in ketosis and I definitely want to stay in ketosis (6 1/2 years now).

Maine's pretty big for an eastern US state so we can get different weather in different parts of the state. But we got the same snowstorm as your buddy got, but I'm of an age where no snow is nice snow. In the past the cold and snow didn't bother me. But today? I can do without it. It's something I tolerate for our spring, summer, and fall seasons. Anyway, it started as rain, then the snow started to mix in and changed to all snow for the night, very heavy wet snow. Maine is 90% wooded and the power lines are in the air when the tree limbs weighted down they touch the high tension lines. Early on we lost power twice for a second each time as fuses (I assume) burned out and the power got rerouted. Then at 10:30ish we lost it for good. But I have a PV solar elec' system and switched over to battery back up. The next day was sunny and the batteries were back up to 99% capacity at dusk. I tried to tie into our utility power and sometime during the day our power had been restored. But the snow is still with us. Thankfully we only got 6" that's close to 3" now due to settling and melting. I did my best to pack it down with the truck tires. Next time it snows the ground should be frozen and I'll be able to plow without plowing up the lawn. 🙂 My wife hopes for snow and I hope for rain in the winter. I don't need to plow rain. Last year I plowed 2 or 3 times and one of those was just out of winter boredom. I'm hoping for another winter like that this year.

That cold is headed our way in a few days.

ARRRGH! I wanted to get to the range to better test the new barrel even though my eyes are the weak link in the shooting "system". But when the conditions were "right" I had scheduling conflicts, or we had typical autumn weather, meaning too much wind. Now it's too cold and our snow season has arrived and I freely admit that nowadays I'm just a wuss and don't want to endure the cold that I would have tolerated even a decade ago. The public range remains open all year, but the club I belong to has probably closed the 300 yard range that's down a steep drive. But all isn't lost. I'm going to press my eye Dr to get my cataracts fixed before springtime. I also converted the rifle into a sort of bastardized target version with the 5-25x scope and buttstock but with the ULW barrel in place since precision shooting is just easier with those add-ons. I want to see what the barrel will do and not what I can tolerate to get good accuracy.

Update: It appears that the seeds I planted have started to sprout. I suggested one way to set up a safe room (note: NOT a panic room a safe room is much different) with super bright lights to set up a "wall" of light that the protector with firearm gets behind (also behind cover). Remember the old flash bulb flash photography? Now think instead of a flash, continuous light. Anyway, the week of Veterans Day a manufacturer of such lights had a sale and he bought 2. One with 16k lumens of output and another with 8k both lights have wide angle flood type beams. Perfect. He mentioned that next on the list were firearms. Also mentioned that he's reading Clive Cussler (?) novels and now he knows what a bullpup and other terms he runs across mean.

Last 2 days have been cold, heavy winds, with lotsa rain. We could use it to get us out of our drought (Maine). It helped but it's not all we need to recharge the aquifer. We don't have a water problem, Maine would need to turn into the Sahara for that to be an issue for us, but others with marginal shallow wells can have problems. Today is overcast with even heavier winds.

It was painful to watch the guy try to get the rifle into it's case. Tulsi G is all full of surprises. So why the H was she EVER a democrat!!??? Clearly the confusion has left her.

Since we basically have no information all we can do is take blind shots. When mounted is the can in alignment with the bore? Basically, was the barrel threaded to make that happen? How is the can held onto the barrel? If it's with an adapter was the adapter removed from anything else and the threads not dressed to clean them up before reuse? That has been known to produce misalignment.