In the news

I skim the headlines for the NYTimes most days. I read a few stories, but mostly a quick skim is enough for me.

This headline caught my eye today:
"In New Jersey, a Civics Lesson in the Internet Age"

A college freshman made a facebook page encouraging high school students statewide to make their voices heard about budget cuts in the public school system. New Jersey, like many states, is facing tremendous budget shortfalls and struggling to balance the books. Like so many other places, the first cuts that are threatened are teachers, cops, and firemen. The sheepdogs and the shepherds.

Students are upset - understandably so. Of course, most of them aren't paying taxes yet, so the idea of a hike in the property taxes is a bit of a theoretical proposition.

What got me, though, were these two bits:

Michael Drewniak, the governor’s press secretary, released a statement on Tuesday saying that students belonged in the classroom. "It is also our firm hope that the students were motivated by youthful rebellion or spring fever," Mr. Drewniak said, "and not by encouragement from any one-sided view of the current budget crisis in New Jersey."

and

But in many other places, students came to school ready to make a political statement. Emma Wolin, a junior at Columbia High, walked out of second-period Spanish with several classmates, even though the school had warned that they would face detention.

Mr. Drewniak is trying to spin this as "kids being kids". It isn't. Not at all. Senior Skip Day is a child's prank. Walking out of class to make your views known is exercising your rights - doubly so because the schools made it clear that these actions would have consequences.

These young protesters may not have a complete picture of what they are protesting - but they are willing to take consequences in order to make their voices heard, and for that, I applaud them.

Range Report

Took the new pistols to the range this afternoon with MrsZ. Not a long trip, but enough to play.

I had a box of cowboy loads (240gr, 750fps) for the Dragoon, so I loaded that up and let fly at ten yards or so. Three inches left and perfect elevation. Checked my .44Spl Keith loads - also left, also perfect elevation, with a much sharper bark. A half-turn of the windage screw and it seems to be dead-on.

I gave MrsZ the first crack with the 5946. She is a very deliberate shooter, takes her time with every shot, and makes them count. It took nearly 90 seconds for her to empty the 15-round magazine (including the interruption after ten rounds for her to ask why it hadn't locked back yet)... but when we went to look at the target, it's obviously working for her. A ten-yard group on poor Zombie Steve that was about 6" diameter and mostly head shots:



I popped in a magazine and did a rapid-fire group at my target ... and I'm ashamed to say, hit in the black ONE of fifteen rounds. I switched to a clean target and found that, for me, I'm hitting way low and a hair left. (Conversation with the Conspirators today leads me to believe this is likely a shooter issue, not a gun issue. Further testing is indicated. How terrible!)

For the record, I did try the plates with the 5946, and made 4 out 15 hits on the 150-yard 12" plate. Go figure.

I'd brought along the AR and reached for the 200- and 250-yd steel, but decided to try off-hand instead of from a rest. 7/10 on the 200 and 4/10 on 250, off-hand irons. I'm content with that kind of result.

Played with the 795 a bit; that continues to be a fun little plinker.

DaddyBear: per earlier conversation, magazines for the 795. I have not ordered so can't comment on service/shipping, but that's the best price going.

Brain Dump

A few things rattling around in my head.

At our fire department banquet this winter, a lifesaver certificate was presented to several members on behalf of an AED manufacturer. They had a save last year - a legitimate save, not a clinical save, in that the patient has resumed a normal life. Bystander CPR and an AED on the squad saved this guy.

The certificate they received is framed and hung on the station wall. It's a piece of paper and has a manufacturer's logo prominently emblazoned on it. What's worth more to those firefighters is the handshake of the guy they saved.

The AHA and ARC keep trying to decide what the "best" CPR is. 5:1, 10:2, 5:2, 15:2, 30:2, compressions only, etc etc etc. I think I've seen all those ratios go by in the nearly twenty years I've known CPR. (Dad was an instructor and taught it to me when I was about ten. I couldn't be certified but I knew how to do it.)

"Certified" is nonsense. The exact ratios are nonsense. Knowing how to do effective chest compressions (and rescue breathing if you are so inclined), plus early defibrillation is what saves lives. Take a class once. Even if your card expires, the knowledge doesn't, and could save a life.

I've had to do real-live (real-dead?) compressions once, and have played go-fer on more than a few others. It's not fun. It's not exciting. There is no dramatic music playing in the background as William Shatner narrates. You will feel ribs cracking under your palms. Your patient may well vomit on you. That's reality - but reality isn't often pretty.

Find a class nearby and sign up. It's usually free, many fire departments and sometimes churches will host the class. If you can't find something nearby online, call your local American Red Cross chapter and ask. Plan on giving up a couple weeknights or a Saturday. I think the current CPR class is 4-6 hours. Add in First Aid for good measure and go to 10 hours.

Isn't it worth it to save a life?

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I re-organized my reloading cabinet today. I need to set aside some money and make an order from somewhere. Brass and bullets mostly. Need to stop by the local reloading shop and get a few more pounds of powder. Another pound each of 2400, H4831, TrueBlue (keg?), a jar of TrailBoss, and need to look into good powders for full-house .44Mag and .30-30Win loads.

I've got more primers than I thought, nearly 10,000 total. Small and large pistol, small and large rifle, and a thousand of small pistol magnum match that I snagged during the worst of the shortage and have yet to develop a load for.

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While doing the reloading cabinet, I worked my way down the row and checked the ammo cabinets... and smiled to myself. I continue to be amused when the media breathlessly announces an "arsenal" of three guns and "thousands" of rounds of ammo. It is inevitably a 10/22, a pump-action shotgun, and a low-end centerfire rifle in .30-06, plus a half-dozen bricks of .22, a flat of trap/pheasant/duck loads, and a few boxes of Remington CoreLokt 180gr hunting ammo. I smile because I see that, and the only thing that comes to mind is, "Pikers."

Also, if you Google the definition of "arsenal", you will find that it is generally a whole building, usually government-owned, and three Fudd guns with a few boxes of ammo probably doesn't count. (If you search only on the word "arsenal" you are greeted with LOTS of information about an English football club.)

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Working night shifts has SEVERELY cut into my range time. I've got TWO new-to-me guns that have yet to go bang, and I'm itching to ping steel with the rifles (and pistols?) again.

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Need to find a new doctor. My primary care doc retired last year, and I haven't been troubled to find a new one yet. The fire department requires and provides an annual physical that covers the basics, and refers you to your own doctor if anything unusual comes up. Nothing has. However, I'm starting to show minor symptoms (fatigue, cold, unable to lose weight, etc) of a hypothyroid condition (Hashimoto's Thyroiditis) that was diagnosed and asymptomatic when I was twelve or thirteen, and it should be checked up on and treated if necessary.

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I think that covers it for the day...

BAG Day, Round 2

Actually, this was a trade, not a purchase, but it's still a new-to-me acquisition!

UPS tracking info got all FUBARed - it had actually been delivered to my FFL on 4/14, but he didn't open packages until late that night and I was out of town for the weekend. I picked it up Monday. Traded away my S&W 647, which is a sweet little rimfire for small game hunting, but I decided it wasn't quite my cup of tea.

So, without further ado, BAG Day #2!









It's an Interarms Virginian Dragoon, 7.5" barrel, in .44Mag. Beautiful single-action with one of the nicest triggers I've ever felt on a wheelgun. No kidding, this has a cleaner break than any S&W I've shot in SA, and perhaps two or two and a half pounds.

It's a three-digit serial, so dates to the mid-70s. On the butt it's engraved "Sic Semper Tyrannis" - the Virginia state motto, which translates to, "Thus always to tyrants". Words to live by...

Range report later this week, I expect. Any pet .44Mag loads out there?

Gun laws

Over at Stuck In MA, JayG writes a post about gun laws on his adventure south.

He is promptly corrected (in comments) on aspects of gun law in every state mentioned.

I've met JayG. He's not a dumb man. Seems to be relatively well-spoken, articulate and reasonable. Using him, a pro-gun person if I ever saw one, as an example:

If a reasonable man cannot correctly determine the legalities of transporting his firearm(s) from one state to another, there is something inherently wrong with the legal arrangement.

Jay was smart enough to check the laws before driving and still missed a few. If Bob the Electrician (related to Joe the Plumber, but votes conservative) is heading out for vacation and tosses (or forgets that) his heater in the truck, he's well on his way to some expensive lawyer bills.

This patchwork of laws needs to get smoothed out and corrected, and states need to understand and adhere to the Firearm Owners Protection Act.

(BTW, Jay, I hope you made sure there wasn't a single solitary round of hollowpoint ammo in the G-mobile... that'll get you some extra attention in NJ.)

Look for a new post this evening with BAG Day Item 2!